No matter if you are a pessimist or an optimist, Derek Esposito's life wasn't a good one nor a bad one. It was just a mediocre insignificant existence.
His father was a bipolar abusive man, capable of disappearing is his bedroom for days during the depressive phase. He would wake up only to eat, use the bathroom and the occasional "let's make your life miserable" fit of rage.
During his euphoric phase, he would work like a madman, but not having any talent either as a businessman nor as social climber, he was unable to both being successful and establishing the right connections.
In his natural state, whenever he decided to actually take his medications, he was just a coach potato that would stand up and go to work just to avoid the blame and spite from neighbours and peers.
Whatever was his mental condition, he always was a perfect example of an abusive father.
His sons were always a disgrace in his eyes.
They never studied hard enough, never were disciplined enough, nor did show enough respect.
And he was always there to remember them how wrong they were.
He would yell at them for the slightest mistake, constantly reminding them that they were just parasites that leeched off his hard work.
And when words weren't enough or when they did fail to meet his expectation with school grades or chores, there was no teacher like his leather belt.
Hence, Derek and Carl had to quickly learn how to fend off for themselves, since their absent-minded mother practically forgot about them right after giving birth, dedicating her life in pursue of peace and quiet, staying as far as possible from her spouse tantrums.
Derek was two years older, and desperately tried to take care of his little brother, but to no avail.
They grew up watching and reading stories about heroes protecting the weak and upholding justice. But no hero ever appeared to save them.
Every week they would be forced to go to church to worship a nondescript benevolent god and his son, the saviour of all mankind. But no matter how much they prayed or how good they were, no miracle occurred.
So, they simply stopped believing in heroes and instead of wasting time with prayers they crammed.
School was their only oasis, but that lasted only until the sixth grade.
Once in middle school, it didn't even take a month before the bullying started.
Their cheap clothes and gloomy disposition made them the easiest targets. They were so used being tossed around and insulted that they didn't even bother trying to fight back.
For a long time, Derek had considered it the worst moment in his useless life. After a month, he knew he could not take any more of that, so he tried to make things better.
He reported his father's abuses to the social services with an anonymous email, but being overworked and understaffed the social work assistant made a brief visit and never came back.
Then he tried to end the bullying by reporting their aggressors to a teacher, which in turn washed her hands by reporting it to the principal. The principal did not want to meddle with what he deemed as childish pranks, so he called Derek's parents to inform them of the problem, hoping they would let it slide. And at least his wish came true.
Derek, instead, took and extra beating for not being man enough to face his own problems.
"Are you really that stupid to never learn anything from me? Never delegate, if you want something done right, do it yourself!"
Derek had never felt so helpless and desperate, so that night he bawled his eyes out, until he fell asleep. That had been the last straw.
The next day he felt different, clearheaded like never before. It was not the time for despair anymore, he needed a plan.
It would take him years to realize that something inside him had died. He was no longer able to trust, hope or develop any sense of kinship. He was surrounded by enemies, and to survive Derek needed to be able to fight back.
So, Derek asked his father to let him join a dojo and learn martial arts, and to his surprise he did not have to beg or even ask twice. His old man was glad that his wimpy and scrawny poor excuse of a child was finally interested in becoming a man. His only condition was that Derek was not allowed to quit for at least one year, otherwise he would have to pay for it.
Not only Derek started practicing aikido almost daily, he would also wake up two hours earlier every single day to build muscles doing push ups, squats, sit ups and running until he was out of breath.
In a few months he was finally able to do every day 100 push ups, sit ups and squats and run for at least 10 kilometres before going to school.
Aikido soon revealed to be a perfect choice for his situation. At low level was mainly focused on self defence but there plenty of space for attacking and fighting dirty.
By practicing martial arts, he finally discovered something he was good at. He was not particularly nimble, nor a fast learner. His hand to eye coordination was also average at best. His talent lied in the ability to spot the best time to hit a sensible spot during a block or a defensive manoeuvre.
Even when the sensei was teaching sword or tanto arts, Derek was always able to grasp the killing moves at his first try, sometimes even before the sensei completed the practical demonstration.
It was an exciting yet disappointing discovery since his only talent had no practical use. Even if aikido was a sport with tournaments instead of a discipline, hits to groin, eyes and trachea were universally forbidden.
For months Derek kept training hard while keeping a low profile at school, planning his next move.
At the end of the first semester, Derek stopped hiding from the bullies and started replying in kind to every single insult they threw at him, using the best quick-witted roast lines he had found online. Derek paid attention to never go to the bathroom or to remain alone for too long, always keeping and adult witness in line of sight.
It did not even take a full day before his enemies were fuming and outraged. Only when the veins almost popped out their necks, he threw his bait.
"I have enough of your sh*t, as*holes. Meet me in an hour behind the grocery shop between Lincoln and the 3rd. Or are you too scared?"
"Since you seek death, I will happily grant your wish, you fag*ot. It will only be you and the three of us, alright?"
Derek nodded without believing him in the least. And he was right.
When they entered the back alley, they had brought along two more people.
Derek was waiting for them, leaned against the wall at the end of the blind alley.
"There you are. I was starting to think you would stand me up."
They started laughing. "Sorry we were late. Hope you do not mind we taking some friends for the party."
Derek shrugged, while grinning from ear to ear.
"No problem. No matter how much, worthless trash is always trash. I chose this alley because it's fully equipped with enough dumpsters to accommodate all of your friends."
The last line hit a nerve so they charged at him blindly.
"Gang up on him, guys! Do not let him escape! Let's how him who is the trash."
And so, they fell into his trap. Derek had come here preparing the terrain, and choosing the best spot the fight. A blind alley to not make them escape, the end of the alley so they would not notice the trip wire due to the dim light.
The first two fell down hard on the concrete, and those behind them were so worried about not trampling on their friends that never saw the steel pipe coming.
They did come in numbers, Derek had come fully armed. Using the pipe as a sword he quickly hit them respectively on the head, the side of the knee, in the groin. Only then he started hitting the two that were trying to get back on their feet.
While they were moaning and sobbing on the ground, he used a small knife to cut the trip wire, then he started beating them again and again with the metal pipe giving a special attention to the nether regions.
Deeply inside he knew what he was doing was wrong, but he could not care less. If the world was built to be unfair, the only possible course of action was to make it unfair at his advantage.
So, he took out the taser that he borrowed from his father and tased them until unconscious. Then he stripped them completely and took multiple photos of each one of them and even filmed them after arranging them so that they would seem to be spooning to each other. Then he splashed them with a bucket of cold water and sealed the deal.
"Sorry to ruin your Brokeback Mountain moment girls, but I need your attention for a minute."
When the bullies woke up, they were still in so much pain they could barely notice that they were naked and embracing each other. Retorting to Derek while he had still a firm grip on the steel pipe was out of question, so they kept quiet and listened.
"I have made quite a scrapbook of you, even a short movie, uploaded it on my computer and even into the cloud. And it would be terrible if someone, I do not know, like me, for example would upload them on all the biggest image hosting sites. You know how they say, internet never forgets."
The bullies started crying and begging.
"Imagine how terrible would it be! Whenever someone would Boogle your names, be it your grandma, your girlfriends or even the colleges you were willing to apply to, the first thing to appear would be those photos!"
"Dude, no!" "Please, I do not even know you. I was just making a favour to a friend!" "It was only a joke, please forgive me!"
The choir of begging gave him the goose bumps. Derek wanted to puke at their hypocrisy.
"I do not care for your pathetic excuses! From this day onward, you will leave me alone. And you better pray that nothing happens to me, because the cloud is set so that if I do not enter the password every day, it will upload them everywhere."
Without waiting for their reply, he turned back and walked away.
"Almost forgetting, I randomly threw your clothes in the dumpsters, can't remember which is which. If you don't want to go home in your birthday suit, you better start digging. So long, suckers!"
Derek returned home euphoric, almost singing. He had never felt so proud of himself and had the completely undeserved confidence that he would never think about those b*stards ever again.
Chapter 2 Prologue 2
The bullying ended, but his social life never stopped being miserable. How could he possibly make any friend with such a shameful private life?
He had to constantly hide the bruises with long sleeves and had run out of plausible excuses for his streak of black eyes months before. His classmates and professors simply pretended to not know and he just pretended to believe being that good of a liar.
It was painful, but manageable. He still had his little brother to share that pain with. Carl was all he had, his family, friend and confident. He was Derek's whole word.
But when that age came, he started having crushes toward girls in his school, and those feelings weren't as easily suppressed. Once again, he felt utterly helpless.
He could not tell anyone about his problems, could not allow people to get close to him, otherwise he would have to think of an explanation for not being allowed to bring any friend home. Let alone a girl he liked.
Derek was tormented by cruel thoughts, often demanding the heavens why what others took for granted was but an impossible dream for him.
Fueled by the hormonal storms Derek rage started growing relentlessly. He started having troubles sleeping at night, thinking about all those lovey-dovey couples out there.
Derek knew he was different from them. His crippling flaw wasn't being shy or having a bad case of acne. His problem couldn't be cured by any doctor, because it had a name and surname. Ezio Esposito, his trash bag of a father.
Derek started conceiving plan after plan to get rid of him, even if that meant killing him. At night he would device elaborate and meticulous plans that often involved prolonged torture, making Ezio suffer like Derek did for all those years.
But when morning came, he would always realize it was a dumb plan. More wishful thinking than anything else.
Derek lacked the means and the ruthlessness necessary for getting rid of Ezio. No matter how much he hated him, Ezio was still his father and he was just an angry teenager.
Kill Ezio? Sure. And what about then? Live a whole life ridden with guilt? Running away from home to avoid being the arrested? And with what money?
Killing Ezio would have meant abandoning Carl forever, and destroying any possible chance of being happy in the future.
So, every morning Derek would swallow his plan along with the porridge and move on. His only real prospect was to cram as a madman, get a scholarship and get out of that hell as fast as possible.
Time flew, and in the blink of an eye is was the last summer before Derek's first year of high school. Despite the hot climate, his heart was cold as ice.
Derek had already hit his grow spurt. That combined with his martial arts and muscle training had given him a mean look.
Ezio was aware of that, and being a coward had started to avoid beating Derek as much as possible making Carl the new favourite target.
Derek had already tried standing up for his brother, but the only result had been Ezio buying a nightstick from the local Army Surplus and getting beaten with it instead that with Ezio's bare hands.
He saved Carl from that by begging and crying, and only because the ruckus had alarmed their neighbours.
So, whenever Ezio threw one of his tantrums, Derek could only watch his brother getting beaten, again and again.
Then, one morning Ezio received his first big commission in years. So, he wore his best suit despite the heat and had Derek preparing him the briefcase and the laptop.
Ezio was in a real hurry, he could not afford his competitors to snatch this whale. It could have been his career making commission!
Derek rushed to the door, where Ezio was already waiting, and helped him adjust the laptop's satchel.
Ezio ran to the elevator, pushing the button like a madman but the light remained red.
Cursing his damn condo, the building manager and his rotten luck Ezio made a rush to the stairs.
And that's when Derek noticed it. Turning his head to follow his father, Derek noticed that the light made odd reflections on the hallway's floor.
Ezio had just passed in front of him when he realized that the janitor had just washed the stairs but forgot to put the wet floor sign.
It happened all in an instant. Ezio made a long heavy stride, all his weight down and forward and then his foot slipped.
Derek could have warned him, could have even extended an arm and prevented the fall. But instead he chose to remain still.
Ezio tumbled down the stairs, bounced on the next alley and tumbled again crashing downstairs. His body was a broken mess, all his limbs bent in unnatural angles.
As any teenager, Derek had his smartphone at hand, so he started to make several photos to prove that the floor was wet and there was no warning sign.
His mind was already planning on hiring the best shark lawyer he could and sue the building managing firm responsible for his condo.
Only then he carefully walked down the stairs to confirm Ezio's death. He was there, incapable of making a moan or asking for help, but his eyes were fixated on Derek, begging for help.
Derek grinned to him and said: "Do you really think I am so stupid to never learn anything from you? As you more than once taught me, never delegate. If you want something done right, do it yourself. Your smartphone is in your pocket, take it out and call 911. I'm just a failure of a son, I do not want to mess this up for you, daddy."
Ezio's eyes were full of shock and hate, but that lasted only a moment. His head went limp, his gaze blank.
A laughter fought to came out, but Derek suppressed it. Instead he started shouting for help putting on his best terrorized son impression.
As always, Derek's mother was too obsessed with her problems, her grief, her feelings to bother looking for the lawyer, leaving everything in Derek's hand, since Ezio was no more.
Three birds with one stone. After a careful research he contacted and hired the best shark lawyer they could afford, so that Derek would be his client instead of his mother.
He told him everything about his father's incident, the abuse, and the need to make so that the money would be split between the three of them, mother and sons.
Both Derek and Carl were very firm on that point, they wanted the lawyer to start the process to get emancipation. With the money from the compensation and the inheritance, they had enough to be self sufficient until Derek could provide for them both.
What followed was the happiest period in their life. First, they obtained the inheritance, and shortly after they got emancipated and moved away from their mother's place.
Not even a month later, they received a very generous settling offer from the building manager. They used it to settle up and make proper plans for the future.
During the following years, bullies were not a problem. Derek and Carl were now both martial artists and had each other's back. Finally they could experience having friends and girlfriends, their domestic nightmare finally over.
They suffered many disappointments though, since too many of those so-called friends turned out to be people that wanted to use their parent-free house as a party house.
Also they had an hard time figuring what being a normal teen was supposed to be. While their peers seemed only interested in having fun and skipping classes, they were focused on studying and saving as much as possible.
Derek and Carl would spend holydays and vacations doing part time jobs to slow down the thinning of their bank account. They were not poor, but not rich either.
They knew they had to save as much as possible, in case rainy days would once more fall upon them. But all in all they had a good life.
Derek got a scholarship and obtained a bachelor degree in chemistry, soon followed by a master in biochemistry. Carl was doing well too, already got his engineering degree, ready to study for his master and already had a fiancé.
Despite being really happy for his little brother, that was really a painful thorn in Derek's side. He had always been the more socially inept between the two, and never managed to get into a stable relationship, not even in college.
Derek had no problem talking to girls, the problem always lied in him being picky and ended in his inability to trust. He had had many crushes, but never fell in love.
At the beginning he put the blame on his bad luck, always finding shallow or idiotic girls. After finding more than one good girl, he put the blame on his dark past.
But when confronted with Carl's happy relationship he could only blame himself. While Carl had suffered almost the same things, he got out much stronger and pure than Derek.
Derek was just too scared of being hurt again to let any relationship grow above a certain level, and that was an enemy that he could not just beat up.
Derek accepted the first decent paid job he got, working in the night shift of a big chemical company in the Q&A department.
Carl had shared with him, as a graduation present, that he was willing to propose to his fiancé as soon as he got his master. Hence Derek needed money because he had only two years to save enough to give his little brother a decent wedding.
Derek did not like his current job, but it was a way to start his working career and filling his curriculum. Also it was well paid, and he resolved to use the company insurance to seek for psychological counseling.
He knew he had problems and wanted to work them out. Derek consulted several doctors before finding someone he was able to work with, and after several months he felt he was finally starting to make some progress.
But alas, such happiness was not bound to last.
Chapter 3 Prologue 3
It was a Friday evening, and Derek was getting prepared for work.
He was still stuck doing Q&A because the pay was too good and no matter how many times Carl said he wanted a small ceremony, Derek was sure that whatever they planned to spend, it would at least double in the end.
It was a goddamn wedding; hence things were supposed to blow off proportions at some point. That's just how they work.
Derek was adjusting his shirt when the smartphone rang on the notes of "Night on Bald Mountain", the pre-set ringtone for unknown numbers.
"Derek Esposito, who is it?"
"Mister Esposito, this is the Saint Joseph hospital." The female voice sounded worried. This together with the word "hospital" sent him a shiver down his spine.
"Is Carl Esposito your brother?" Derek could almost hear her biting her nails.
"Yes, what happened?"
"He was involved in a car accident and is in serious conditions. You should come here as soon as possible. The doctors need you since you are his healthcare proxy and the patient in unconscious."
"A car accident?!?" Derek yelled while rushing out of the door and looking for a cab.
"We don't have any fuc**ng car! What the hell happened?"
"I'm sorry, I am not at liberty to say. The doctors will explain it…" Derek hung up on her. He had no time for useless babbling, only for a goddamn cab.
Every second in the traffic was torture, and when he finally arrived it was too late.
The surgeon and a police officer explained to him that Carl had been run over by a drunk driver. The culprit had run off and the police was still looking for him.
A bystander had immediately called 911, but because of the traffic jam caused by the accident it took hours for the ambulance to arrive.
So, when Carl arrived at the hospital he was already in critical conditions. He had multiple fractures, ruptured spleen and internal bleeding, requiring immediate surgery.
Derek had been called while Carl was just entering the OR.
They had done their best to save him, but Carl had lost too much blood, so there was nothing they could do. They offered Derek their condolences, but all he could hear was white noise.
"Let me see my brother." He begged.
The body was covered by a sheet, only the head visible. Derek could still see traces of blood on the face of his little brother.
Derek left his number to the police officer to be kept updated about the investigations, and then returned home.
The culprit was quickly apprehended thanks to the traffic cameras. It turned out to be a kid, barely seventeen years old, that had stolen his old man's car and then got drunk and high with his friends.
Derek lived the months before the trial in anguish. The damned DA had decided to prosecute him as a minor, and the even more damned judge had granted him house arrests. All while his little brother, his Carl, was dead because of him.
"How could they do such a thing?" Derek would yell and argue with anyone willing to listen to him. "Why all this talking about the rights and the future of that little sh*t? What about my brother's rights? What about his future? Carl has none because of him! What kind of justice is that?"
Derek visited multiple times the DA office, expressing his outrage and demanding them to ask for the maximum sentence. They were always kind and accommodating, and promised him that they would not forget about Carl.
When the day of the trial finally come, Derek's world died one more time.
The DA and the defence attorney had come to a settlement.
Since Chris Wainright, this was the name of the murderer, was still a minor and that was also his first offense, he had accepted to go in rehab and do six hundred hours of community service. If Chris would complete his rehab program and did not commit crimes in the next three years, then he would be a free citizen with no criminal record.
Derek was too dumbfounded to even be angry. When the session was over, he just walked to the DA and asked a single question with muffled voice.
"Why?"
And then with their most kind and accommodating tone, the DA assistants explained to Derek that Chris was just a kid from a good family that had made a dumb mistake.
He had a brilliant future ahead, Chris had already been admitted at the Cal Tech and this was his first offense. Also, his parents had hired a great lawyer and the judge would likely be unwilling to destroy Chris' life.
Despite their expectations, Derek did not make a scene. Derek's fire was extinguished, he had no more tears to shed.
In the following days, Derek lived by going through the motions. He kept following his routine like nothing had happened, his brain still refusing everything that happened in the last half year.
The only thing that made him feel alive, was that constant headache that had started shortly after Carl's death. According to his doctor it was a stress related symptom so with all that had happened, Derek had just been swallowing aspirins and paracetamol like they were candies.
But the pain never did go away, instead it was getting worse. Derek finally found the strength to get a serious check-up, and once again bad news were waiting for him.
According to the full body scan and the follow-up biopsy, he had stage two pulmonary cancer.
"But I never smoked in my whole life!" Derek exclaimed more amused than scared.
"Indeed, it's odd." Doctor Monroe, his oncologist, was quite puzzled.
She was a good-looking Hispanic woman, maybe five years older than Derek. In another moment he would have probably asked her out.
"You told me you work for a chemical company, right?" Derek nodded.
"Such an aggressive cancer is too uncommon to be a coincidence. My personal opinion is that their ventilation system failed. You and God knows how many more people have been breathing poison from quite some time."
"But we wear masks the whole time we work with the chemicals, and speaking for myself, I follow the safety protocols to the letter. My colleagues always mock me for it!" Derek was still in disbelief.
"Then maybe the masks are cheap pieces of junk. Or maybe the lab or the storage, if not both have leaks. These corporate scumbags only seek profits.
It would not surprise me in the least if they cut from the safety budget to put more dividends in their pockets."
Doctor Monroe was too outraged, even in his catatonic state Derek could tell there was more to it.
"Doctor, what are you hiding from me?" He asked, looking her straight in the eyes for the first time.
She nibbled on her lower lip for a while before answering.
"Between you and me, you are not the first case from your company. I have already reported it to the Department of Health and to the federals. If I were in your shoes, I would get a good lawyer and sue the soul out of them. You'll need a lot of money for the treatments."
"I agree on the lawyer, but I refuse any treatment. I'll just take palliative care."
Doctor Monroe jumped from her chair.
"Do you realize that without the proper treatments you have six months, a year at best to live? Also, as I have already said, your cancer is really aggressive. We need to start as soon as possible if we want to a chance to beat it."
The situation was dramatic, but Derek found all those "we" words hilarious, so he could not refrain from chuckling.
"We barely know each other, doctor. So, we have nothing to do if not going separate ways." Derek said to her with an icy tone.
"What do I have to live for? I have no family, no loved ones. My little brother's ashes are all that is left to keep me company. I could die tomorrow and I would not give a s**t!"
They parted on bad terms, but she still gave him her number, in case he changed his mind or simply needed to talk. Derek called his old shark lawyer and explained everything.
Years had passed but they would still send each other Christmas cards.
Derek had kept tabs on him, just in case. He had now more grey hair than before but was still a first-class shark.
Derek stopped going to work and started spending his money without much care. He would go to all the fancy restaurants he had always wanted to try, bought the suits he always dreamed about and only ate his favourite foods for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Derek would spend most of his days playing games on his brand-new gaming PC and revisiting all the spots that held a significance for him and Carl.
Then, twenty-four days after the diagnosis he had an epiphany.
Chapter 4 Fall and Ascension
It was a night like all the others since he had quit his job. Derek would wear one of his new suits and wander off the city, to see what would it kill him first, the cancer or a random crazy head. Once reached exhaustion or simply boredom he would then take a cab and get back home.
Derek was walking with quick strides, high on his medications when he saw him. Chris Wainright. He was holding a bottle of liquor, ill-hidden inside a paper bag, from which he would drink in big gulps.
Chris was talking and laughing loudly with a teen girl that was showing a lot of skin. She was holding a joint, taking big puffs, until they traded and got into a car.
It was a custom painted muscle car. Not the same Camaro that Chris had used to kill Carl, it was even bigger and more expensive.
In that moment, Derek wanted to puke blood. How could he possibly have forgotten about that little b*astard? Had his cancer really screwed up his brain so bad to be willing to let such a loose end slip?
The tires screeched and the car started suddenly, almost running over a woman that was crossing the road. The skimpily dressed girl rolled down the window, yelling insults at the woman that was still frozen in fear.
Derek could almost hear that couple of idiots laughing. Gritting his teeth, he called a cab and started to plan his final act.
First, he started to stalk Chris on all the social networks, learning all his routines and habits. Then Derek began to follow him, and planted a GPS tracker under the Camaro to always know his exact location.
Simply skimming through Chris' Chirper, he found at least fifty violations of the parole deal. While following him, Derek took many photos of Chris abusing alcohol and drugs.
But Derek had no intention to submit the evidence to the police. What could he possibly gain from that? Chris would just get another slap on the wrist and then start being more careful.
Derek had not the luxury of time, nor the willingness of doing what the so-called justice system was supposed to.
Less than a week later, by checking Chris' Bookface page, Derek learnt of a rave he would participate to. Derek double checked his equipment and jumped into his new car, a black 1967 Chevrolet Impala.
The best car to hunt monsters with. The rave was "secret", hence it would take place in some run-down abandoned location.
Derek followed Chris closely, and as soon they were away from traffic cams he run into the Camaro from the side, forcing Chris to halt.
As soon as Chris stepped down of the car, Derek took him down with a stun gun, and then quickly proceeded to check if the Camaro had more passengers.
It seemed to be his lucky night, Chris was driving alone. Derek searched him and crushed every electronic device he could find, bitfit, smartphone, even Chris' keychain.
Derek tied him hands and feet and ball gagged him. Then he destroyed his own smartphone and the GPS tracker, tossing everything outside the road.
Then he moved Chris in the trunk of the Impala, headed toward a party only for the two of them.
Derek drove to an abandoned warehouse in the old industrial area. He had already got rid of the lock and chain that kept the big metallic doors closed, replacing them with his own.
Inside the warehouse there were only two chairs, both bolted to the ground, a bucket and several water tanks.
Derek opened the trunk, discovering that Chris had regained his senses so he tased him again. Then he took Chris to a chair and started tightly binding his arms and legs to it.
Then Derek splashed him with a bucket of water forcing him to regain focus.
"Hello, Chris. My name is Derek Esposito, and you killed my brother. We need to talk."
Chris tried getting out of the restraints, and while commending his efforts, Derek violently hit him in the groin with a nightstick. The pain paralyzed him.
"Were was I? Oh, yes. The last time we saw each other was during your farce-trial. Do you remember me?" Chris' panting intensified.
"Good. Let's get straight to business." Derek took two digital timers out of the car, setting the first to thirty minutes and the second to two hours, forty-four minutes and sixteen seconds.
Then, he pulled out a gun and double tapped Chris' liver. His scream was muffled by the gag ball, but the shots echoed loudly in the empty warehouse.
Derek started both timers simultaneously and came in close, checking the blood. It was dense and black, a clear indicator of a crushed liver.
"Now before the real pain settles in, I need you to take a good look to the timers, they are really important." Chris was crying and screaming, so Derek had to splash him again and pull him by hair to get his attention.
"The first timer marks how much time you have left. After it rings, even if someone should miraculously break through that door and rescue you, you would be dead anyway. You have only so much time until your system gets flooded by toxins unfiltered by the liver, to the point that no transplant can save you. The second timer is a surprise. We'll get to it in time. For now, your only task is to stay awake and savour every moment of pain, like Carl did."
The time flew, Chris kept screaming through the gag ball, and soon the fist timer rang.
Chris started sobbing even stronger, sometimes stopping only because overwhelmed by the constantly rising pain.
Derek would speak to him no longer, he would just pace back and forth, occasionally checking the second timer.
Every time Chris fainted, Derek would splash him and force him to stay awake before refilling the bucket.
When the second timer rang, Derek finally spoke again.
"I have bad news and I have good news. The bad news is that I lied before. I thoroughly researched liver injuries, and with such crushed liver you had no hope to begin with. Even if I had shot you in front of the best hospital in the USA, unless they had a compatible liver at hand, you would have died. I wanted to give you false hope, as happened to my brother while waiting for help. The good news is that you just suffered as long as Carl did. I may be many things, unrelenting, vengeful, a liar, a murderer but I am also fair. So your suffering ends now."
Derek pointed the gun to Chris' head and double tapped him.
Then he pointed it to his own head.
"Little brother, I'm coming. Wait for me." And pulled the trigger one last time.
While Derek's body was still falling, his consciousness was basked in light and he felt pulled toward the sky.
After months of grieving, a whole lifetime of misery and pain, Derek felt that all his traumas and hatred were fading away.
Derek had never experienced such bliss. In this new form he felt no negative emotion, he was in peace with his past, unafraid of his future.
Derek was enjoying a present that he felt could lead to endless possibilities, and there was no right and wrong, success or failure. He would simply be, no strings attached.
That intoxicating feeling lasted until he suddenly woke up, alive and breathing.
All his negative emotions returned, plunging him back into despair. Derek cursed inwardly while trying to focus his eyes. Maybe it was because of the shot to the head, but his vision was blurry.
"So much for the perfect plan. Some idiot must have rescued me and somehow I survived the journey to the hospital. I am still alive. I still have cancer. I am still alone." But when his eyes finally cleared up, they strongly disagreed with his reasoning.
Derek was in some kind of huge metal corridor surrounded by dead bodies. Alien dead bodies to be precise. They were all wearing some kind of full body armour, that resembled some kind of sci-fi space suit.
"Where the f**k am I? What the hell does this mean?" He screamed while trying to get up, only to fall back on the floor.
He fell hand first, and only then he noticed that he was wearing a space suit too, and that his hands, all four of them, had three fingers each.
"WHAT! THE! ACTUAL! F**K!"
Chapter 5 Collateral Damage
After much screaming and freaking out, Derek finally regained his composure and started to analyse his current predicament.
The first thing that caught his eye was a huge hole in the space suit at the chest level. The contours of the hole had burn marks all over it and there was a lot of purple jelly on both his suit and the dead bodies.
That meant the purple jelly was coagulated alien blood. Derek turned his head to see the spot where he had woken up, noticing a lot of blood and even something that he found safe to assume were some kind of splattered viscera.
"This makes no sense." He thought. "All the evidence points to the fact that this body was dead as Julius Caesar until I somehow happened to inhabit it. And for whatever reason, it's also fully healed. Oh man, this means all religions are dead wrong! Luckyly I never believed in any mumbo jumbo, otherwise I would be really disappointed right now."
Derek then proceeded examining his new body. It had four arms, only two legs but all the limbs were long and skinny. The legs were reverse jointed, like those of a cat. Both hands and feet had only three fingers each.
Derek was really curious about his facial features but there was no reflective surface in sight. So, he tried feeling his face with the fingers, but the suit turned out to come with a helmet, which did not impede his senses though.
The only thing he could establish was the shape of the helmet, and based on it Derek's new head should have been something similar to a shark's dorsal fin.
Then he tried to speak. "Test, test. Derek Esposito. One, two, three." He could somehow do it, but it was still English. That meant that he did not inherit neither the muscle memory nor the intellect from the body's previous owner.
Derek tried getting up, but the centre of gravity was too different from his old body, so he had to give up and proceed crawling like a baby.
So, he started examining the corpses to make heads or tails of what was happening around him. Judging from the suits, there were two factions at war.
One had a red coloured space suit, and the other, which Derek was donning, was grey. He had no idea which side was winning, but it would not make any difference to him anyway.
Unless the suit was equipped with a universal translator, he was uncapable of communicating. Enemies would kill him on sight, allies would probably ditch him like garbage.
"Who would ever want a rambling idiot, incapable even of walking during a life or death situation? I'm not even here from a day and I am already as good as dead."
Refusing to give up, Derek managed to get up by leaning on the walls and started exploring.
The corridor had many doors, yet his choices were painfully limited, since he could only go through the open ones.
Derek had no idea how to open the doors nor how to operate the control panels that he found along the way. He tried pushing buttons at random but nothing happened.
And he was starting to get hungry.
"Will I die like this? Starving in a goddamned space ship, alien planet or whatever the f**k is this? I don't know what this useless pile of flesh eats! Even if I stumble on a mountain of food, I have no way to know what is what. And even if I did, I do not know how the heck to remove this helmet."
After walking for several hours, hunger and frustration drove him to hysteria. Derek screamed an kicked whatever was within reach, until exhaustion made him fell asleep.
When he woke up, his mind was clear again.
"This is a nightmare. I am all out of options, to the point that even if I wanted to kill myself, I would not know how." He banged the back of his head against the wall to keep frustration at bay.
"I never thought about this, but being reborn in a sci-fi environment is truly the worst-case scenario. Alien body, alien customs, complete lack of the new species common sense. And to make things worse everything here is so high tech that I cannot even operate a door. Heck, every god damn button could be tagged and it would still be useless to me since I don't know their language."
His hunger was rising and he was feeling weaker by the hour. Having no time to lose, he started wandering again, this time banging and screaming at every door he met, trying to draw some attention
Derek was on the verge of fainting again due to hunger and exhaustion when finally a door opened up.
The shock was great enough for him to lost his grip and fall to the ground. On the other side there were grey suited aliens in a wedge formation.
Every one of the was holding some kind of long metal staff as it was a rifle. Derek didn't even attempt to get up, he just waved a right hand, hoping it was a peace sign.
*"Captain! That's Xa'rk! His life signal getting back online wasn't a glitch in the system, he is still alive."* (from this point onward * means words that Derek does not understand)
The formation opened and a taller and bulkier alien closed in. The soldiers never lowered their weapons nor lost focus, waiting for the attack order.
*"What are you doing on the floor, soldier? And how in Thrak's name did you survive that ambush?"* The captain asked with a coarse voice.
"Dude, I have no idea what you did just said."
*"What is he rambling? Medic, any reading on that blaster wound?"*
A purple dressed alien walked forward while scanning Derek's body. *"None, sir. It's not any dialect in the empire. And the scanner confirms that the hole in his armour is definitely from a Corellan blaster. I have no idea how he survived it unscathed. It's a miracle."*
*"It's a liability."* The captain's tone was grim. He took a staff from a soldier's hands and by pushing a button it became a glaive, whose blade was made of pure energy.
"Well, seems that I'm going to die from a lightsabre. It's cool, one hit and I'll be turned into dandruff. Lucky me, another painless death incoming."
When the captain plunged the glaive into his chest, it did not make any burning sound. It pierced him from side to side, bleeding him to death.
The blade was not a laser-based weapon, but a hard-light construct, making it no different from an ordinary glaive.
*"Listen up, soldiers. Xa'rk was a good soldier and we will remember and mourn him as such. When and if we get out of this alive. But that thing, whatever that is, is a risk we cannot allow to take. Not with Prince Rek'hart in our care and those Corellan rebel scums still at large. Better some collateral damage than a spy among our ranks. Now shut that door and check the perimeter again."*
This time, death was far from painless for Derek. He felt like his chest was on fire, but what really hurt wasn't the wound as much the lungs.
Derek was struggling to breathe. Every breath was shallower and more difficult than the last. Blood started gurgling from his mouth, and he felt like slowly drowning.
His throat kept contacting trying to draw in air, but to no avail. It took Derek less than a minute to die, but for him it seemed to last forever.
Once again, he found himself basked by blinding light and pulled towards it. Just like the last time, he felt all his worries and rage fading, but instead of enjoying the feeling he was simply annoyed.
Derek had never believed in any god, hence he never believed in heaven or hell.
"Humankind has always been a terrible race" He thought. "It's impossible to define someone as truly bad. Most of the times the bad guys are simply people who never got a chance to be anything but criminals.
Then there are people, like me, whom life had pushed and pushed until they broke. Not to mention psycho and sociopaths. How could someone that is born bad be sent to hell simply because his head is malfunctioning?
Hence, I have always believed that either there was an afterlife for everyone, or no afterlife at all. Death is supposed the be final spirit level, good or bad, rich or poor the destination has to be the same.
Instead I got this cheap excuse of reincarnation screwing with me.
What purpose being reborn could possibly have if I retain all of my memories?
Whatever body or planet I would end up in, I would still carry my baggage, so once outside the light all my pain, rage and contempt toward humankind would prevent me to learn whatever lesson I am supposed to learn!"
Inside that otherworldly space, he had the clarity to see that his psychologist was only half right. He could only change if he wanted to, but because of all his past experiences he had no will to.
It was a perfect example of a catch-22 paradox.
Suddenly, he was pulled downwards and away from the light.
His vision was a blur, but he could still hear a lot of commotion around him.
Giant hands were holding him still while he was puking god knows what, and judging from the breeze on his buttcheeks he was naked.
"I don't know what the heck is going on" He thought "but I bet I am in deep sh*t again."
When Derek was finally able to see again, he discovered that the hands were not gigantic, the issue was him being very small. A baby, to be precise.
*"He is alive! I did it! I managed to save your boy's life."*
A further inspection revealed that said hands belonged to some gibberish rambling old hag. Derek was currently inside a wooden shack, surrounded by people dressed with rags that could be called clothes only if they were part of a 1000 AD themed renaissance fair.
"Man, I hate being always right!"
Chapter 6 A New Beginning
*"He his alive! I did it! I managed to save your boy's life."* (please, remember that * means words that Derek is not capable of understanding.)
After the midwife triumphantly said those words, the room exploded in cheers and tears of joy. The people in the room were hugging each other and the mother in turns.
Meanwhile, Derek lied limp in the midwife's arms, looking left and right trying to determine how bad was his current situation.
"Well, well. What do we have here? The bedridden woman is clearly this body's mother. She definitely needs a bath." After delivery, the sheets were stained with blood, urine and feces.
"The crying, rough looking man should be the father. I wonder if he is crying for my sake or just because he was afraid of losing his wife. I bet the second one. Then I have a bigger brother and a sister. This is bad."
Suddenly another woman entered the bedroom bringing with her a little boy and a girl that raced to the bedridden woman.
"Oh dammit! This is even worse that I thought. So far I have only two possible choices. Option one, grow into this large family, fighting every day for the few available resources. Malnourishment is most definitely a given. Then, when I am old enough, starting to work with father and brothers, getting married, having children, etcetera. Option two, wait until I am tall enough to grab sharp objects, put me out of my misery and take another spin hoping for a better outcome. I think I'll go with option number two."
Meanwhile the room had become silent. The midwife had already finished cleaning the newborn, wrapped him up in a clean cloth. During all this time Derek neither moved or cried.
*"Nana, what's wrong with the baby? Why is he not crying? It never happened before!"* The mother was worried, and ignoring the pain was trying to get up.
*"Shush, child, and don't you dare to move. I still have to heal you."* The midwife tone did not leave space for reply. *"I delivered dozens of children, a silent one is rare but nothing special. Do you want to see how strong he is? There you go!"*
She unwrapped him from the cloth, and while holding him gently gave a little spanking, to force him to cry.
Derek grunted a little, while staring at her in dismay.
"Want to play rough, old hag?" He thought. "Fine! You just triggered my trap card! Twin Flood, activate!" And out of the blue he relieved both his bowels and bladder.
The backdoor attackers splattered all over her feet, while the front door flood struck her on the face and chest.
Derek started giggling loudly.
*"Well, this wasn't exactly what I was expecting, but as you can hear for yourself, this little imp is breathing just fine."* The midwife handed the baby to another woman to clean him.
Derek kept giggling, proud of his work. After washing her face with warm water and a cloth, the old hag moved her left index finger drawing a circle in the air, striking it through in the middle from right to left. Then she pronounced a single word.
"Ekidu!"
A black energy manifested on her fingertip. She proceeded to point it over her wet dress and then over her shoes. The smell of feces and urine suddenly disappeared and so did their source.
With his mouth agape in shock, Derek watched as his poop would dry and crumble, turning into dust. It was akin to watching one of those fast-forwarded videos where in one minute you could see a seed becoming a flower.
"Heisenberg's beard! She is not just an old midwife! She is a real magician, in the flash! I have never been so happy in my whole three lives of being so dead wrong!"
Derek was ecstatic, and not only because that world had magic, but also because as soon as he heard the word Ekidu, he had felt something clicking inside of him.
Like if something deep inside of him had started taking root, and suddenly had become engrained in the very fabric of his new reality.
He started repeating obsessively the magic word in his mind, and trying to engrave in his memory every detail of the circular finger movement.
*"Now that I'm clean let me stop that bleeding, dear."* The healer approached the mother and placed her hands above her nether regions.
"Is it time for another magic? Show me, please!" Derek begged in his mind.
Nana first spreaded he fingers wide then started to move both arms in a circular motion, first up over her head, then opened her arms as much as she could before joining her hands, palm against backhand, at her navel's height.
"Vinire Lakhat!"
Derek, all wrapped up, tried to mimic all her movements, step after step, memorizing every single detail he could grasp, no matter how small.
A sphere of light enveloped Derek's mother lower body and she quickly recovered her complexion. The pale skin reverted to a healthy pink, while all the traces of pain and fatigue disappeared from her face.
Once again, something clicked inside him. After the dark magic, he could clearly feel that simply by hearing the power word, a connection had been established between him and light magic. Derek could not stop grinning.
"If, and I say if I have enough magical talent, it would mean there is actually a third hidden option." He thought. "I can become a magician and live free for the first time in my life! No shackles, no responsibilities! But it's better not get over enthusiast. With my luck I could just have a poor talent or…"
His reasoning was abruptly interrupted, the woman that had held him until that moment was handing him to his mother.
*"Nana, are you sure he is all right? He has yet to cry, and giggle or not he is too quiet. With all that happened, I am really afraid that something is wrong with him."*
After those words, the noisy room turned gloomy. Afraid that he was somewhat responsible, and quite eager to explore option number three, Derek did his best baby impression, giggling, smiling and doing raspberry sounds.
Nana felt her professional pride hurt by such allegations, but it wasn't her first time with an anxious mother.
She knew Elina since she was still a child, and had delivered all her babies. Nana could not deny that this delivery had been one of the most difficult of her career.
The labour had lasted hours and she had been forced to cast healing spells multiple times to stop the bleeding. When she finally could see the baby's head, she knew something was wrong.
Elina was fighting with all her strength but the baby was limp. So, she had rushed and used her hands to pull out the baby as fast as possible, only to discover that he was being strangled by his own umbilical cord.
After cutting and removing it, she had tried all her best spells, but to no avail. For a whole terrible minute, Nana had believed the child was lost.
But then the healing light had finally activated, forcing the baby to puke, clearing his airway. Then and only then Nana started affording the luxury of relaxing.
Healing magic was no miracle. It could enhance the life force of the patient making easier to recover from an illness or healing from an injury but it could not create life.
Nana was sensitive, so she understood that Elina didn't need a lesson about magic, just be reassured about her child's health.
*"Worry not, my child. I can prove it to you that all is well."*
With a warm smile, she caressed Elina's cheek and took Derek from her arms, removing the cloth like she was revealing a treasure.
Nana carefully adjusted Derek in the crook of her left arm, then she circled her open right hand all around him and said:
"Vinire Rad Tu!"
A small wisp of light came out of her palm, dancing around the baby before penetrating his chest.
The light spreaded from head to toe, making him emit a dim light.
*"See? If there was even a scratch on his body my injury detecting spell would leave that area bleak. Your little sun is fine."*
The energy flowing through his body was making Derek feel empowered. In his old life he had felt like that only few times.
When he got his degrees, when he finally abandoned his parent's home, when he beat up the bullies. But all those times it had been a fleeting emotion, lasting few seconds at best.
Now it was different, it wasn't just adrenaline. Real magic, real power was coursing through every fiber of his being, making him feel invincible.
So, when the spell started fading off, he could not accept that.
"No! Come back to me! Give me my power back!" Derek screamed inwardly.
He focused on the last strands of energy, willing for them to stay. He could not cast the spell on his own, but he could still feel the lingering power and started feeding it with his own.
Derek's light stopped dimming and instead grew stronger and stronger.
Nana was dumbfounded. She had never seen anything like that before. That was not how the spell was supposed to work.
Derek wanted it to last forever, but a second later he fell asleep due to mana exhaustion, and the light disappeared quickly.
Nana wrapped up the baby again and returned him to his mother's embrace.
"Nana, what was that?" Elina asked full of wonder.
The old healer had no idea how to answer. Many possibilities popped up in her head, and all of them would require long explanations that would needlessly make Elina worry and maybe even forcing Nana to repeat the spell.
Had been a long day, and she had no intention on prolonging it even a second more than necessary, so she borrowed a line from her childhood's favourite fairy tale.
*"My child, I think the new-born may be blessed by the light. There is no need to worry, only to rejoice."*
Chapter 7 A Baby’s day
Derek's first days as a baby were peaceful but far from boring. He had no responsibilities, all he to do was eat, sleep, poop and the occasional baby noise or finger grabbing routine.
That left him with all the time he needed to think about his future.
On Earth it was no mystery that kids had a greater potential for learning than adults, and since his family seemed human, or at least human-like he could hope for that to be true also in this dimension.
From what he could see, his body was no different from a baby from planet Earth. He could hear his heartbeat, his chest inflating and deflating while breathing.
Even the reproductive apparatus was the same.
The same could be said for his new family. If it wasn't for the existence of magic, he would have simply thought to have travelled through time, but things clearly weren't that simple.
Derek quickly dismissed all the "what race am I now?" hypothesis as overthinking.
One of the advantages of being a baby was that ignorance was perfectly fine, when the time came, someone would teach him.
He determined that he had two priorities: number one, learn their language. All babies are supposed to learn their native language, and he had only so much time before being considered a retard, so he could not slack off.
Number two, he had somehow to figure out magic, or at least its foundations. And that also had a deadline, since his learning potential was at its peak only until his brain stopped growing.
After that, he would not be different from anyone else with the same talent and disposition for magic.
So, he set magic as his first priority. Being considered a slow learner was much better than being weak for life and forced to take another spin at reincarnation.
Derek spent his first day in the new world in bed, together with his mother, while his father would sleep and rest in the boys' room.
Whenever someone talked to him, he paid close attention, trying to figure out common words or patterns.
The rest of the time he was not eating or the cloth diaper being changed, he would try to cast one of the three spells he knew: Ekidu, Vinire Lakhat and Vinire Rad Tu.
Every attempt was a failure, he could not feel even an iota of power inside himself. Comparing what he saw from what he knew from Earth's Dungeons & Looting, those spells had clearly a verbal and somatic component.
But that couldn't be all, or at least he hoped so, otherwise until he was able to talk all his efforts would have been wasted.
Failure after failure, his anxiety grew stronger. Fear of the unknown and of tomorrow started to build up. Also getting used to poop and wet himself wasn't a pleasant feeling either.
Thankfully, his mother showered him up with nothing but love and affection, making his day not a total loss. Despite his bias about mothers due to his previous life, Elina managed to make him feel loved and protected. That wasn't half bad at all.
The final outcome of his first day was zero progress in magic, no progress with language. But his mother seemed to be a good parent, and he finally learned his new name: Lith.
The second day turned his world upside down.
Elina, showing the strength of a wild ox, decided she was sick of resting and got up to help doing the daily chores.
Lith had the opportunity to see her full figure. Despite giving birth the previous day, she was a good-looking woman, in her early twenties. She was definitely well endowed in all the right places, with a fit body honed through hard work. Her shoulder blades long hair was of a beautiful light-brown colour, with shades of red all over it
Just the light of the candle made it look like there were flames dancing within. "Seeing mother with her hair down in a sunny day must be quite a sight to behold." Derek thought
Maybe it was because Lith was still a baby, maybe because of the mother-son bonding, but Lith felt deeply proud of her.
He also discovered that she seemed to not use bra or underpants.
Once finished dressing, she wrapped up Lith, making impossible for him to move. Then Elina placed him into her sash, using it like a baby cradle so that she could easily hold him with only one arm with minimum exertion.
She walked out the small bedroom and found her older daughter, Eliza messing with the fireplace.
*"What in the Great Mother's name do you think you're doing, Lily? The sun is not even out, you should be sleeping. You know you are not allowed to mess with fire!"*
She said with a hiss, trying to not wake up the house.
*"I'm sorry, mom. I just wanted to make you all a surprise. Let you wake up in an already warm house and breakfast ready."* Eliza's face showed only sincere concern.
*"There is no need to worry, silly bee. Your mommy is a pro with kids."* Elina said while ruffling her hair.
Eliza, together with her twin brother, was the eldest child. She was eight years old, and her blonde hair with shades of black was the reason for her moniker.
Elina shooed her away from the fireplace and with a flick of a finger lighted the fire.
"Infiro!"
"Thanks heavens!" Lith rejoiced. "Once again I had that weird feeling when discovering a new type of magic. This proves I wasn't just imagining stuff!"
Elina sent Lily opening the windows' shutters to let the dawn light in while she prepared breakfast.
Elina took several vegetables out of a cabined and proceeded chopping them with a knife. Some had a familiar look to Lith, like some semi potatoes and odd coloured carrots. The others were all a mystery.
The idea of having such breakfast made Lith almost cry. In his past life he never liked vegetables, they were all bland tasting. No matter how much of them he ate, within half an hour he would be hungry again.
Elina shoved everything inside a small copper cauldron and with the help of a hook hanged it on a metal bar over the fire.
Then with a finger-snap she conjured water out of nowhere, filling the cauldron.
Both Lith and Eliza were ecstatic, even though for completely different reasons.
For Lith it meant hope. Spells could be casted without words or precise hand's movements, and that showed him that there was a real chance for him to practice magic while still being baby.
For Eliza was a reason for pride. Magic was common, but every time Elina casted a silent spell it was like watching a real magician at work.
*"You are so amazing, mom!"* Eliza's eyes were full of admiration. *"Will I ever be as good as you with magic?"*
*"Of course you will, silly bee."* Elina replied with a kind smile, while inwardly adding: "After ten plus years of chores, every single day."
After a while, everyone woke up to have breakfast together. The family consisted of Raaz (father), Elina, two daughters (Eliza and Tista) and two sons (Orpal and Trion).
Lith could then establish with depressing certainty that there was no such a thing as an indoor bathroom.
From what he could see the house consisted of a big room used as dining room, kitchen and pantry with three doors that lead to the various bedrooms and nothing else.
The breakfast was relatively quiet, so he had no problems learning the word for water magic when his father filled some jugs.
"Jorun!"
After everyone left for their daily routine, Elina moved along with Lith to a rocking chair. During the morning he had to pleasure to discover that in the new world the daily chores like washing the dishes or cleaning the floors were all performed using magic.
From her rocking chair, Elina would simply twirl her index and medium finger while reciting "Brezza!" to generate up to three small whirlwinds that she would move all around the house to collect and get rid of the dust.
Whenever someone would dirty the floor with earth or mud, a flick of the wrist and a "Magna!" would send them back through the same door they were brought in.
Lith was delighted discovering how common the use of magic was. Everyone in the family, even the younger ones, would use magic to make their life easier.
When bedtime arrived, Lith was dying to try some magic. He had waited so long for his hands and feet to be finally free.
Elina fell asleep almost instantly, yet Lith was impatient enough to have the impression of having waited for hours.
After a full day of thinking, he had decided to try only air magic first until he was confident enough in his magic control abilities.
Fire was just too dangerous for a novice, while water and light would easily wake up his mother. He could not spot any dirt to control in the dim light of the room, and was too afraid to mess up with darkness magic until he got a better understanding of it.
So, he twirled his little arm and said: "Eaa." Nothing happened.
Lith tried and failed countless times before giving up. He did not know how long his baby body would have lasted until falling asleep, so he stopped despairing and started thinking.
Magic was common, whenever he heard for the first time an elemental magic word, something inside him had clicked, like creating a connection with the elemental energy.
Those were all good news, but he still couldn't make head or tails why he was always failing. He never expected succeeding at the first try, but he had thought that something would have manifested.
A random tiny gust of wind, a magic spark, anything would do.
So, he started thinking back to when the healer had filled him with power. That feeling was not new to him, but he never experienced it so intense.
Lith searched his memory until he found the answer. It was the same sensation that he had when he started practicing aikido, while learning the basic breathing technique.
"Well, I have nothing to lose. Let's give it a try."
Lith breathed in through his diaphragm, the anus relaxed, to get the world energy in.
Then he would contract the anus, holding the breath for some seconds to let the energy settle in before breathing out relaxing his whole body.
Back on Earth, he had always thought that the intoxicating feeling he experienced during his first days of practice was just some kind of placebo effect.
His naïve young mind deluding itself that the weak could miraculously become strong just believing and practicing in all that Ki/internal energy nonsense.
But what if he later stopped experiencing that sensation only because his native world energy was just too thin?
After some time, Lith started to feel a tingle all around his body, and then the energy seemed to move and condense inside his solar plexus.
The more he performed the breathing technique, more clearly he could sense the energy getting more stable.
In his old videogames, mana was always blue. So, he visualized a blue sphere settling in inside his solar plexus.
After a while, Lith felt brimming with power. After holding his breath one last time, he twirled his little arm before commanding: "Eaaa!"
The wind generated barely tweaked his mother's hair, while he had aimed for the blanket.
Yet he could not stop grinning.
"This is really a great start!"
Chapter 8 Unrelenting Practice
In the following weeks, Lith's days consisted of a strict routine.
During the day, when he was all wrapped up, he would only focus on practicing the breathing technique and learning as much as he could about his family and their language.
At night he would practice magic until exhaustion made him fall asleep. Then as soon as he woke up, he would start again until Elina would get up for the day.
More than once he tried taking a break, but it would never last long. Living as a baby was not easy, on the contrary, was very stressful.
He could not speak, even the words he had already understood to not scare his family. He could not move, he could do nothing but watch, sleep, eat and relieve his bowels.
He was not used to be so helpless and dependant on someone else for every little thing. Too much free time would bring him to the verge of insanity.
So, he would practice and practice, trying to adjust to his new reality without overthinking about how absurd and irrational was his situation.
As Lith's powers increased, so did his control, and after a few weeks he felt confident enough to try earth magic and water magic.
He would always be careful, never conjuring more than a few droplets of water or manipulating a handful of dirt. He discovered that it was possible to make the elements float in mid-air, changing their shape and size by continuously spending mana.
After that, he shifted his night training on focus and control rather than power. His mana was very limited and he much preferred doing few elaborate tricks perfectly rather than a lot of stuff at the risk of blowing his cover.
No matter how common magic was, Lith doubted that a baby practicing it would be any less than shocking, or even terrifying.
Lith was afraid of being abandoned by his family, or even worse killed.
He was once again scared of death, since now he had too much to lose. What where the odds to find another world where magic existed, to be born as a baby in a loving family?
Zero, none, nada, squat.
He had to play his cards well, and play them as close to the vest as possible. Before revealing even a hint of his talent, he needed to know what the standards of that world where.
How much talent was considered good, how much divided being considered a genius from being labeled as a monster?
His mind was constantly filled with worries and only training would alleviate his anxiety.
After three months, he had become good enough at silent magic to try fire magic on the fireplace.
The fire was already lit, and when everyone was busy talking and eating during breakfast, he tried making the flames dance at will. It ended up in failure, since the flames were too strong and the distance too big for his mana to have any effect.
Yet he kept trying, since he could still sense the flow of magic going from himself to the fireplace, hence making it a good training to expand his mana sense and range.
The only downside of all that training was that Lith would get hungry faster. Luckily, he was not Elina's first glutton and she had no shortage of milk.
Another month passed, and Elina started weaning him.
This event was meaningful for two reasons. The first was Lith noticing that food wasn't abundant in his household, so even if he still had not a rich vocabulary, he could still read his parents worried expressions every time he needed to be fed.
Despite still being a cold hearted, cynical misanthrope at his core, Lith could not help but feel guilty about it.
They loved him like a child, while he would consider them nothing more than hosts, like a parasite. The only exceptions were Elina and Eliza, his big sister, the only one that along with his mother would take care of him.
With their constant love, affection and care had managed to crack his emotional defensive wall. The more time he spent with them, the more he would consider them part of his real family, not just people that he was leading by the nose.
So, he started limiting his training to not exceed the amount of food they could afford.
Even that required quite a few tries to find the right amount, since too little would cause even more worry than too much.
The second reason were world changing discoveries.
Being forced to stop training magic as much as possible, Lith now had free time that he used to dedicate that time by practicing the breathing technique, that he christened "Accumulation".
That way, his inner energy, that he had long dubbed as "mana core", grew faster to the point of hitting a bottleneck.
Apparently, his body wasn't big or strong enough or both, to hold and indefinite amount of mana. Lith never noticed before because his baby body was rapidly growing, and he had only so much time to expand the mana core.
So, without realizing it, his body and mana core had developed together.
But now the balance had been broken, and practicing Accumulation would make every fiber of his body ache, so he was forced to stop.
Luckyly he was still well fed and developing fast, so despite not being able doing any physical exercise, the bottlenecks would not last long.
The second discovery was the result of him being forced not to practice magic or use Accumulation.
While studying his bottleneck status, he found out that it was possible to modify the breathing technique by removing the breath holding step. That way, the world energy would just flow in and out his body, energizing him like a good night sleep.
Lith named this new technique "Invigoration."
After several tries, he discovered that the world's mana could allow him to stay awake for several days, but not indefinitely.
Each time he would use Invigoration, the energizing effect would last less and less, and only sleeping would reset its effectiveness.
But the most important discovery, as almost always happens, was made by chance.
After adjusting his food intake, Lith's greatest enemy had become the hunger. Not the slight appetite that can be fixed by a candy bar or the hankering after a busy morning.
It was the kind of hunger that never goes away, always lurking, even right after a meal. Even though Lith was not starving, it was something that he had never experienced.
Even among all the misfortunes of his first life, food had never been an issue. He had always been able to eat to his heart content, even allowing himself to be picky about food.
But now he was so hungry that he ate until the last bite, and if his body had allowed him to, he would not hesitate licking the plate clean.
In the good days, when the portions were larger, it was like white noise, annoying but easily ignored. But during the bad days, either because the rations were smaller or because he had lost himself in the practice of magic consuming too much mana, it would become a thorn in his head. He would be so hungry to have a headache all day long, often feeling light headed and incapable of focusing. Food would be the only thing he would think or dream about.
Of course, he was not the only hungry one in the family. Aside from Elina, only his siblings Orpal and Eliza would be tasked to feed him.
And while Eliza had a big heart and strived to be like her mother, Orpal was angrier and hungrier by the day. He would often daydream about the days when he and his twin were the only children in the house.
Now not only he had to fight each day for his parents' attention, but also for the food, clothes and so on.
Once he had a room only for himself, then he had to share it with Trion. It was just a matter of time before Lith would come to take away what little personal space he still had.
Orpal could not understand why a family as poor as his own would keep making kids.
It was winter, so there was not much work to do. Hence there weren't many occasions to restock their food supplies, and they had to last until spring.
It was the toughest time of the year for all the farmers' families, since the food was meant not only for men but also for the animals.
Orpal was sick of seeing Lith gobbling all the food, to the point of dubbing him "Leech".
So, whenever it was his turn to feed the little vermin, he would take some spoonful for himself. But Lith was not easily bullied.
As soon as he noticed the spoon was not aimed to him, he would start to cry madly, and Elina would run to his side, foiling Orpal's plan.
Lith never cried, unless he needed to be fed or changed, and that made their parents both really happy and paranoid about him. Since he would never cry wolf, they took every wail very seriously.
That day was a really bad day for Lith, starving because of his growth spurt, and was Orpal's turn to take care of him.
Both their parents were out, one of the cows seemed to suffer from frostbite.
So Orpal took the plate full of creamy soup for the baby, and gulped down a full spoonful.
Lith immediately started to cry, but there was no one to hear him.
"Cry all you want, *Leech*." Lith was now able to understand most of the common words, included Orpal's mockery. "Today is just you and I. No mom in a shining armour to come to your rescue." After saying that he gulped down another one.
Lith felt like he was going crazy. Once again, he was helpless, his so called magic useless in time of need. What could he possibly do, aside from blowing his cover?
Ventilate him? Wet him? Using fire was too dangerous, a single meal was not worthy burning down a house.
Lith's hunger was eating him, and his rage went above and beyond what he would have ever thought possible.
"You fu**er!" He yelled inwardly. "Feeling so tough robbing a child?"
Then he saw the third spoonful, making a good half of his meal gone, moving toward Orpal's smug face.
Lith's anger reached a new peak, his hatred burning like a fire.
"You are not my brother!" He yelled inwardly. "You are nothing but a filthy thief, trash!" And then, more than clicking, he felt something breaking inside like a dam that could not hold the raging waters anymore.
"I HOPE YOU CHOKE ON THAT SPOON, YOU SH*T!" Lith waved his arm against Orpal in a final struggle, and then it happened.
Lith felt the mana going out to his body, reaching the spoon already in Orpal's mouth, and pushing it down, hard.
Orpal started to choke, and after removing the spoon from his throat he started puking.
Lith was so astonished to almost forget about both his rage and hunger.
He had discovered something wonderful, a power that no one else in his family seemed to have.
Lith had discovered spirit magic!
Chapter 9 Understanding Spirit Magic
At that time, Elina and Raaz (father) were coming back to the house Upon hearing Lith's desperate cries they ran back to check on him.
When they found Orpal on the ground, puking, they understood what had happened. They already had suspicions, since whenever Orpal fed Lith, he was always hungrier than usual.
But now they had proof. Inside the pool of vomit, the undigested creamy soup was as clear as the day.
Raaz became red with anger. *"You little…!"* But had to stop, his other children had returned as well. "I am very *disappointed* in you, Orpal." Said Elina, seeing that her hubby was too angry to speak.
*"From now on, Elina will be the one feeding Lith. You can take all her shifts in the stable, since I don't think that even you could eat hay."*
"But mom…" Orpal said trying to defend himself. He hated cows and their smell.
*"No buts, young man!"* Raaz yelled. *"And that is not punishment enough! Elina, feel free to prepare one more bowl for Lith, and take the food from Orpal's share! He must learn that bad actions have consequences!"*
They were speaking too fast for Lith, and there were too many unknown words. But Orpal had just turned pale, so it had to be good news.
Orpal started crying and apologizing, but Lith made sure to cry louder, so Raaz and Elina both ignored his pleas and sent him to take care of the animals.
After being fed with a generous serving of soup and milk, Lith could finally focus on what had happened. After days of trial and error experiments, he had grasped the basics of his newfound ability and gained a much deeper understanding of magic.
Lith had discovered that when he casted an elemental spell, it actually consisted in a three-step process. First, he would emit the mana, then he had to mix it with the world energy that he was trying to manipulate. The last step was the hardest one, controlling the spell and its effects.
Spirit magic skipped the second step, it used only his own power, without borrowing elemental energy. That made it more difficult that any magic he had practiced so far and more mana consuming.
It also required much more focus compared to normal magic. Pure mana had no physical form, so he could not rely on his eyes for manipulating its effects.
All depended on his willpower and imagination. The clearer was the mental image of the action he wanted the mana to make, the better the result.
The range was also very limited, barely reaching a meter (3,28 feet) radius.
Despite all it's strict limitations, Lith started to practice anything but spirit magic. The ultimate discovery about it, was that every improvement he did in spirit magic was also passed on all other kinds of magic.
He didn't need to switch practicing between them anymore, and so he progressed in leap and bounds compared to before.
From time to time, he would use a random elemental magic to check on his progress, reaching a new understanding of the profoundness of that element.
The progress Lith made allowed him to also improve his breathing techniques.
Through Accumulation, he could now not only perceive how his mana core changed in size with practice, but also have a rough understanding of the amount of mana contained in his body.
Using Accumulation he would feed the world energy to his mana core, allowing it to expand from the size of a pinhead to that of a glass marble.
Once the mana core grew to marble size, further progress could only be made when the physical body forcefully compressed the mana core back to pinhead.
Lith had no idea how the phenomenon worked, and had found no way around it. Mana core and body development had to go hand in hand, there was no shortcut.
Bottlenecks happened when Lith tried to use Accumulation when the mana core was still at its peak size. The world energy would be rejected by the mana core, going wild through his body and damaging it.
By continuously undergoing expansion and compression cycles, his mana capacity was already incomparable to when he was just a new born.
After discovering and practicing spirit magic, Lith had a much finer control of his mana, inside and outside his body.
He managed to modify the Invigoration technique, so that when he breathed in the world mana, he would combine it with his own, temporarily exceeding his limits
Then he would expand the resulting energy, moving it from the solar plexus outwards, until even his body hair would be overflowing with mana.
Ever since he invented Invigoration, he had noticed qualitative changes to his body. Lith was now better at withstanding cold and head, and he would hardly ever get sick.
When his whole family would catch a cold, he would either get over it before the symptoms manifested or recover in a few days.
"Unless it's all a crazy coincidence, improving Invigoration is the only mean at my disposal to temper my body. If I am right, this means that I can use it as a crutch until I get big enough to do physical activity." He thought.
"Hopefully, it should also help me overcome my bottleneck periods faster. It's a gamble, but it shouldn't do any harm. Also, between hunger and bottlenecks, there isn't much I can do as a seven months old baby."
As for his family life, it also experienced some changes during the following months.
After the soup incident with Orpal, a divide opened between the brothers. Lith was vengeful by nature, and so was his brother.
Sometimes, when Orpal was angry, would call him Leech instead of Lith, since he always called him like that in his mind.
Every slip of the tongue would cost him a serious scolding, and when he did it while harshly arguing with his parents, even a good spanking.
Orpal blamed Lith for all of his misfortunes, the little runt always giggled when he was having a hard time.
The relationship between Lith and his parents, instead, kept getting better and better.
He had already started saying babble words, making sure to say "Mama" when Elina embraced him and "Dada" whenever Raaz came near him.
"If this world is even a bit similar to Earth's middle age, is better to stay in my old man's good book until I am self-sufficient." This was Lith's reasoning.
He was still very afraid of father figures, and the two of them didn't had much a relationship anyway. Raaz would always be busy with something, letting his wife and eldest daughter spend the most time with the baby.
To his defence, he had just wrongly assumed that Lith was too little to notice, and that they would have time catch up later in the future, like he did with his other sons.
Raaz really loved him, and Lith never ceased to amaze him. He couldn't remember him crying for no reason, not even when teething.
If someone bumped into his cradle or raised his voice while Lith was asleep, or at least pretending to, he would not make a sound, just look around before going back to sleep.
Lith increasingly grew fond of Eliza, it was more like a loving aunt than a sister to him. He could see himself in her, taking care of her little brother like he did with Carl.
He would have loved to express this love, but all he could do was smile and laugh as soon as he saw her, and call her "Lala". She was in fact the only one, beside his parents, to have a babble name.
It wasn't much, but it meant the world to her.
And so, time went by. After six months from his arrival, Lith was put on the ground for the fist time and started to crawl under strict supervision. At the ninth month he started to walk and graduated himself from babble words to real ones.
On the day of his birthday, after discovering they had birthdays in that world too, he allowed himself to use simple phrases and started to make questions to complete his vocabulary.
Knowing nothing about babies, it was very stressful finding the right timing for every little thing. Luckyly, Lith could always resort on cheating to find out the proper time for him to "learn" to do something. He was already capable of understanding most of what he could hear, so he would always be open to "suggestions".
If Elina was dying for him to finally say "Mommy" instead of "Mama", he would wait a couple of days before making it happen. If Raaz cheered for Lith running to him, he did.
The real problem was paying attention to everything Raaz, Eliza and Elina said while being seemingly completely oblivious about their words.
Another problem was that once they let him roam free in the dining room, they gave him also small wooden toys expecting him to play and explore his surroundings.
Lith already knew the dining room as the bac of his hand, and there was not much to see in the first place. Yet he had to pretend to be curious about it.
That was the hardest thing he had ever done since becoming a baby, and scared him to death. He had no clue how a child would explore such bland environment, and his paranoia about blowing his cover made him sweating bullets.
Seeing the expectation in their eyes, he started from the nearest thing, the fireplace. The fire was not lit, the logs were cold and covered in ashes.
When he got closer, Raaz stopped him.
"This is the fireplace. Now is safe, but fire is bad. Fire hurts. No touching it, never."
Lith looked at him, seemingly confused, before trying to put his hand in the ashes. Raaz grabbed his hand, blocking him.
"Fire is bad. No touching it. Never." His father repeated.
Lith stared in his eyes like he was deeply in thought, before asking: "Fire bad?"
"Yes, very bad." Raaz replied while nodding.
"Okay." Lith moved away from the fireplace and got close to the table. When he tried climbing up a chair, almost falling down with it, Elina ran to his rescue.
"Good gods, this little one sure likes danger." Seeing their increasingly worried expressions, Lith believed to have found a way out that torment.
He would keep putting himself in danger, trying to climb on the table and going into the kitchen rummaging through pots and knives.
Quickly they decided that adventure time was over. They made him sit on an old cloth spreaded over the wooden floor, and gave him toys to play with while they recovered from the stress.
He had a little wooden horse, some kind of cart, and an odd-looking dog thingy. Playing was much easier to him. Lith did not need to create stories or explaining what he was doing.
He could just use playtime to practice spirit magic. Lith would actually never use his hands to move the toys, making them float as close as possible to his fingers.
He really enjoyed those moments. Lith could finally openly rejoice, scream and laugh anytime he made a new discovery or a breakthrough, and all his parents would see was a happy child lost in his fantasies.
"Who would have ever thought that such a quiet little fellow could have such a vivid imagination." Raaz said with a big, proud smile on his face. "Look at him. All he has is just some old toys, yet it looks like he has the whole world in the palm of his hand."
Chapter 10 Growing pains
The following years weren't easy on Lith.
He was finally allowed to do a lot of questions, filling most of the holes in his vocabulary and starting to finally learn about his family and the new world.
He learnt that they were living in the village of Lutia, that was part of the county of Lustria, which in turn was part of the Griffon Kingdom.
His parents knew about the neighbouring countries by name, but that was it. They knew nothing about the life outside the village, nor they cared about it.
In their eyes the king was some sort of mythical beast, they put all their faith and worries in Count Lutia. Not only he administered justice and taxes in the county, he would also always take part in Lutia's spring festival as the guest of honour.
His parents never mentioned to their children anything about magic, wars or history. They only told them tales that could be easily dismissed as bedtime stories even in this new world.
All of their stories were filled with beautiful princesses, valiant heroes and villainous tyrants.
Lith was truly dissatisfied by such little information. He wanted to know what was the planet's name, what was the stage of scientific development it had developed.
He wanted to learn about the history of magic, the lore, the legends, anything that could give him at least a clue about what to expect from life.
But it was clear they knew little more than gossip, so he could not make questions he was not even supposed to think about.
At least his family tree was much easier to fully understand. Elina and Raaz had married very early, even by village standards, barely sixteen.
Raaz, being an only child, had inherited his father's farm, where they were currently living. Elina got pregnant shortly after the marriage, giving birth to the twins Eliza and Orpal.
Then she got pregnant again every two years. Thant meant that Raaz and Elina were currently 25 years old, Eliza and Orpal 8 years old, Trion 6 years old, Tista 4 years old and finally Lith 2 years old.
In fact, most of the information were leeched from his siblings' questions, Lith was mostly limited to a "What's this? Why is that?" kind of question.
Spending more and more time with the rest of the family, he also discovered why despite his father owned such a nice farm, with its own barn and henhouse, had so much problems putting food on the table.
Tista was born with a congenital condition that prevented her from doing any physical exertion and made her also prone to illness.
Fast pacing was enough to leave her out of breath. She would chough from time to time, and when things were about to turn for the worse, the cough would become violent.
At that point one of her parents would have to run to the village to let Nana visit and heal her. But she could not really cure her, only alleviate the symptoms and return her to her natural state.
And while a check-up wasn't expensive, the treatment was. Also, even if Raaz did go picking her up and then brought Nana back home, it would still cost an extra.
Doing a round trip meant her losing business, so she required compensation.
It was the constant need for the healer to put such a strain on their budget.
Lith felt very sorry for her. Despite not having spent much time with Tista, she was precious for both Elina and Eliza, and that was more than enough to make her precious for him too.
He felt helpless, cursing his inability to ever practice light and darkness magic. Light magic required a patient, and until he had gained a solid grasp of how it worked and what was this world's human anatomy, he would not dare putting anyone's health at risk.
Darkness magic was another story. Lith had only seen it once, no one in his family used it. And even in that one occasion, he had clearly felt the destructive power it held.
He was also biased against it, since on Earth dark magic would always be associated with evil practices and undeads, so he had no desire to dabble with something potentially horrifying.
Lith could only live on, hoping to eventually get some training in magic, while enduring the madness that he was getting used to call family life.
He had to be lively, but not too much. He had to be curious, but not too much. He had to run around but never get out of the door.
His parents were never satisfied. If he tried to sit in corner meditating, they would worry because he was too quiet or too lazy. If he tried to move around or help them, he would be scolded for getting in the way.
They refused to teach him chore magic (that was the name of the lesser spells they used on their daily life), and prohibited him to learn them.
Lith could not go outside without being accompanied by someone, could not get near to the fireplace, could not make too many questions.
Everything was basically prohibited until he "grew up".
More than once Lith wanted to scream "I may be biologically young, but I am actually the oldest in here, dammit!" but all he could do was suck it up and obey.
His feud with Orpal never resolved, and he could clearly feel Trion's hostility on his brother's behalf. Clearly Orpal was for Trion what Eliza was for Lith, his role model.
Unlike Orpal, Trion would not completely ignore him, even when their parents were absent. But Lith could clearly see that every time his brother helped him, it was just to be polite. There was no kindness between them.
Lith quickly started ignoring him in return. "I have already spent half of my old life being worried about dysfunctional family members. Been there, done that. So thank you, but no thank you. If you want to be a jerk, be my guest. I don't give a damn about you." These were his thoughts about the matter, so he let things fester.
Once he became three years old, he could not take it anymore. The boredom caused by the cold winter months where he was basically stuck at home 24/7, aggravated by the constant hunger was about to drive him insane.
It was a stormy afternoon, and the family was gathered around the fireplace. Elina was teaching her daughters how to sew. Raaz was teaching Orpal how to carve wood, while Trion and Lith were only allowed to watch. They were still too little to handle any sharp object, even sewing was off limits.
Lith had already asked, baffling his father and flattering her mother. "You are too little, and your hands are still too clumsy." She replied.
And Elina was right, Lith's body felt even clumsier than his old one, before he started practicing martial arts. Just the thought of all the lost muscle memory was enough to make him cry.
So, he patiently waited that Raaz finished instructing Orpal, and then Lith mustered all his courage and asked him to teach him how to read, write and count.
Raaz was flabbergasted. "You are too young! Usually kids wait until they are six years old to go to school and learn. Don't you think is boring?" That was the philosophy every man in his lineage had always uphold.
"Boring? What could possibly be more boring than sit here doing nothing? Like yesterday and the day before. And probably tomorrow too! Please daddy, try me! I beg you, please, please, please!"
Raaz didn't know how to say no. Lith had never asked him anything before.
"Even when he is clearly still hungry, if he notices there is no more food, he never asks for more." He thought "Unlike Orpal. I don't know if is Lith that is too good, or I am just spoiling Orpal too much."
He really wanted a way out, but Elina was already staring at him. Her hands never stopped sewing, her mouth explaining the girls what they were doing wrong, but her eyes were clearly set on him.
"Dammit, what can I say? Learning does not even require dangerous tools… That's it! The tools! I'm such a moron sometimes."
Raaz looked in Lith's puppy eyes, his heart squeezed as in a vice, but he still replied: "I'm sorry son, we have nothing you could possibly write on. So, I can't teach you."
Lith had considered things through before asking, so he had already a solution at hand. He picked the biggest tray they had, and filled it with the ashes collected in a bucket beside the fireplace.
"Now we do! We can write as much as we want!" Raaz was amazed by Lith's ingenuity, and so was Elina. He was about to object again when he noticed that the stare had turned into a frown. Her hands were moving too fast, and that meant trouble for him.
There was a storm outside, he could not run away from the one that was brewing inside. So with a deep sigh, he gave up.
"From what do you want to start?" Raaz could only hope that Lith would get bored fast and let him return to his leisure.
"Count!" Lith promptly replied. So Raaz sit on the floor beside him and started drawing lines in the ash. Lith was ecstatic.
The numbers they used had a different shape from the Arabic numerals, but aside from that they were identical in use, even the calculation methods were the same.
So, he kept the new numbers in the upper row to learn their shape, and then started doing the multiplication tables. He could actually do such simple math in his head, but he needed to engrave the new numbers in both his mind and body.
Once he finished, Lith started taking requests from his audience, and when Orpal sarcastically asked "How much is 124 times 11?" he quickly replied with flat "1364" leaving them all speechless.
Elina could not help herself standing up and lifting Lith up in a big hug.
"My little genius! I'm so proud of you!" In less than one hour he had mastered what it would take others a full year to do. Eliza and Tista soon joined her in the embrace, congratulating their little brother, while the male side of the family was still flabbergasted.
In rural areas they learned how to count only to not get ripped off when they sold or bought merchandise. So, they remembered only addition and subtraction, letting the useless multiplications and divisions fade away in their minds.
Reading and writing required more time, but it was equally simple. Lith already knew most of the words and how to spell them. He only needed to learn the alphabet and memorize it, to be able to read and write.
Once again his family was stunned, and the only one not rejoicing with them was Orpal, left alone with his envy and scorn.
Chapter 11 I know that I know nothing
Having officially learned how read and write, Lith practiced every day. While his family considered him a genius, he knew better. Needing to practice hard to memorize just twenty-one letters and ten numbers, Lith did not feel much brilliant.
Striking the iron while it was still hot, he asked Raaz to carve for him a wooden ruler, 50 centimetres (19,7 inches) long and 3 centimetres (1,2 inches) both high and wide.
In the front he had engraved all the alphabet, on the back the numbers. It was Lith's clutch during his homework, a tool necessary for him to be free of practicing anytime without bothering his parents.
Raz was still on cloud nine, so he didn't make any question about the oddly big sizes Lith requested. He could have easily made it much thinner and shorter, making it easier to carry around. But Lith refused the proposal, begging him to fulfil his wish.
Lith had not missed Orpal's hostile glare every time someone called him a genius. He had to be sure for it to be not easy to break or go missing by "accident".
It was also the perfect pretext to always carry around something he could practice spirit magic on.
When the weather finally cleared up, Elina decided that it was the perfect moment for Tista to be checked out by Nana. With all the cold and wind during those last days, no matter how much effort Raaz and Orpal had put in the house's maintenance, it had still been kinda drafty.
Tista had been coughing enough for Elina being seriously worried about her. So, she took the mule cart and brought Tista and Lith to the village of Lutia.
The bad weather had lasted too long, and the accumulated farm work needed everyone's help to be finished before another frost wave arrived.
She had to bring Lith along, he was too small to be left alone. After stuffing them with the warmer clothes they had, the trip began.
Lith was really happy, it was the first time for him seeing the world outside the farm's bounds. There was much he could learn from such experience.
On the road they were bothered more than once by stray graaths. They were wasp like insects with a venomous sting at the end of their abdomen. Compared to Earth's wasps they were much hairier, and blue instead of yellow.
"Why in the Great Mother's name are they still around?" Elina complained. "They are supposed to be asleep during winter!"
One graath was particularly stubborn and despite all their shooing, it kept going back until it got too close to Tista for comfort.
Lith slammed his hands hard, missing it entirely. He was still nimble as a brick, but his spirit magic wasn't.
It had already reached a radius of full ten meters (32,8 feet) radius of effect, so the graath was squashed effortlessly.
Lith showed the prey with pride. "Don't worry big sister, I'll always protect you." After hugging him, Tista was really curious about the dead insect, but Elina was still worried by the venom, so after throwing it away, they resumed their trip.
When they came in sight of Lutia, much of Lith's doubts got cleared up. It wasn't just his family, the whole village resembled closely one of those early middle ages drawings he had seen in history books.
There was no sign of any complex technology, even a windmill or a watermill would have been considered a marvel of science.
When Lith asked Elina about the village, she explained that only artisans, scholars and merchants lived there, the rest of the population lived in their own farms tending the fields and raising livestock.
Lutia consisted in a few dozens of one or two stories high wooden houses well-spaced between them. Not even one was made out of stone or bricks.
There was also no road pavement of any sorts. The space between the houses was just like the road to the village, bare earth and mud.
From the signs hanged outside the buildings, he could spot a blacksmith, a tavern and a tailor shop.
The bakery didn't need any sign or advertisement, the delicious smell that came out its chimney was enough to make every passerby's mouth watery.
Lith's hunger stroke so hard that he already knew what he would have dreamed about that night.
When they arrived at Nana's house, Lith was surprised noticing it was bigger than their own, yet Elina had told him more than once that Nana lived alone.
In his eyes it meant that either she was from a rich family, or more likely healing was a lucrative business. Lith decided that he had to master light magic as soon as possible.
The door was open, and inside Lith felt the familiar feeling of a doctor's waiting room. Inside there was a single huge room that smelled of medicinal herbs and incense.
At the end of the room, on the left there was a door, probably leading to Nana's living quarter. On the right there was a huge wide curtain, behind which Nana was visiting and treating the patients.
The rest of the space was filled with benches and chairs, and many of them were already occupied.
It seemed that many families had decide to make use of the good weather. Elina removed all the extra clothing from her children before instructing them to be quiet and don't disturb others.
The waiting room was filled with bored mothers, and soon Elina joined the chatting, sharing her experiences and advices with them.
Lith could wander around undisturbed, the women were too busy keeping their children under control to take notice of his existence.
The room was bare and uninteresting, but once he got close to the curtain he stumbled on a treasure. He found a small open cabinet, filled with books about magic.
"Maybe in this world is the equivalent of a doctor hanging his degrees and masters." Many of the titles were specific about an element or its application, but one caught his eye immediately.
It had "The basics of magic" written on the cover. After checking that no one was paying him attention, he grabbed it and started reading.
"I'm only three years old. I can afford a better to ask forgiveness than permission attitude." Lith then moved to a corner, giving his back to the curtain hoping to go unnoticed as long as possible.
It was clearly a book for beginners, so he skipped the introduction going straight for the elements' description.
Lith discovered that water magic was not just about conjuring and manipulating water, it also allowed the user to lower anything's temperature. Any magic apprentice was supposed to be able to generate ice, and use it as a mean of both offence and defence.
Air magic too had an ability that he had never taken in consideration. Air magic highest peak was weather control, but even at the basic level a mage could generate lightning.
Fire and earth were just plain and simple as he had pictured them all along, so he moved to the last two elements.
While reading, it became clear to him that because of magic, whoever had written the book had no idea what anatomy was.
The book would speak about the importance of keeping a wound clean, there was no use of terms like disinfection or sepsis, so he barely found unknown medical terms.
Lith remained dumbfounded upon discovering that light and darkness were explained together instead that in separate chapters.
According to the book, both elements were the bread and butter of any healer. Darkness magic could be used as a weapon, but it was not explained in detail.
The author was very clear stressing out the fact that he was not a fighter, and that beginners should never bite more than they could chew.
Then he proceeded to explain that darkness magic wasn't either good or bad, just an element like the others. It was an invaluable tool for a healer, since it allowed to clean wounds, tools or even to fumigate houses from rats and insects to avoid the spreading of diseases.
Also, it was the only way of getting rid of parasites that had grown inside the patient, since light magic would allow the healer to detect their presence, but could do no harm to them.
Light and darkness worked best when used together. Light magic specialty was the ability to perceive life forces and scan them for anomalies. It also allowed to correct such anomalies and to guarantee an instant recovery from most diseases.
Restoring broken bones was more difficult, and was explained in another chapter.
Lith felt incredibly ignorant and stupid. He could have discovered most of those elemental properties on his own, if he hadn't been blinded by his narrow-minded superstition.
"How could I possibly have been so idiotic? I have lived here more than three years and I am still thinking like this is a video game with fixed rules and levels?!? Darkness is evil and light is holy or something? No, this is science, dammit, the same one I studied all my life. If fire magic is converting mana into heat, then water magic is nothing but converting mana into cold, condensing the water in the atmosphere and turning it into the liquid state. It's all so obvious, it's like the damned Culumbus' egg!"
He was about to turn the page and learn about healing broken bones when a firm hand squeezed his shoulder, locking him into place.
"That's not a toy, young man. I really hope that you have not damaged it, otherwise your family will have pay for it dearly."
Chapter 12 Learning a Trade
Lith had been so engrossed reading to forget where he was, throwing caution to the wind. When Nana caught him red handed, he was startled enough to yelp.
"I thought I knew every single rascal, but I fail to recognize this one. What's your name, kid?"
"Lith. What's yours?" He replied while making puppy eyes. Nana was now more curious than angry.
"Lith? Do you mean Elina's little imp? No wonder your face is new to me, you were just a new born the last time I saw you."
Nana's presence had made the chatter stop. Some women wanted to ask her how long until their turn, others were just curious, Elina jumped out from her chair apologizing on Lith's behalf.
"There's no need to apologize, Elina." Nana said. "No harm, no foul. The little imp has not damaged the book while playing with it."
"Yes mom, there is no need to apologize." Lith hated when someone spoke of him like he wasn't there. "And I was not playing with it, I was just reading."
"Reading? Young man, how old are you? Three years and something? If this is a joke, it's not funny. I never expected one of Elina's children to be such a liar."
"He is not lying. During the last storm, Lith was bored, so he asked his father to teach him how to read, write and count. Here is proof." Elina handed Nana the wooden ruler.
Elina's rebuttal had caught her by surprise, she realized to have struck a nerve. After studying the ruler, Nana had to admit it was a clever learning tool.
"Tell your husband that this thing is really a good idea. He could sell it to teacher Hawell. It never hurts to have extra money."
Elina wouldn't let her change the subject, not until she apologized for calling her son a liar.
"Raaz didn't invent it. Lith did, so he could study alone without bothering anyone."
Nana was shaken by all those sudden revelations. Her pride wanted to avoid apologizing, but insinuating that Elina too was lying in front of all those people would have hurt her whole family's reputation.
"So, young man, how much is seven times six?"
"Forty-two."
Nana took the book from Lith's hands, and after opening a random page, she gave it back.
"What is written there? Start from the top of the page."
Lith suppressed a smirk. "The first thing to understand while studying magic is that it's just a tool. Anyone can use it, but only few can actually use it properly. In fact…"
"Okay, that's enough. I owe you an apology Lith." Yet she said it while looking at Elina. "Seems your son is indeed blessed by the light, dear."
The room was once again resounding with chatter, but this time they were all discussing the same topic.
"What does Nana mean with blessed by the light? Isn't that just a fairy tale?"
"I wish my son was that smart. Every morning just sending him to school is a war of attrition. Not to mention getting some actual results!"
Those were the most common comments.
Lith kept hitting the iron while it was still hot.
"Can I…" Suddenly he realized that he ignored the word borrow. "take it with me for some time? I will return it as it is. I promise."
"And what would you do with it? Can you already use magic?" Nana's reply would have normally been quite different, but she had had enough surprises for the day and could not afford anymore sarcasm or scepticism.
"Yes, I can." Lith replied before realizing his mistake.
"I'm an idiot! I just blew my cover! Years of careful planning, ruined by this big mouth of mine. The only thing I can do is damage control."
"Really? And what can you do?"
"Yes, Lith. What can you do?" Elina rebuked. Her right foot was furiously tapping the floor in annoyance, Lith knew he was in trouble.
"I can do wind and water chore magic." He said with a low apologetic tone, while staring at his own shoes.
"I'm sorry, mom, I know you prohibited me to use any magic. But everyone else in the house always uses it, and I was so bored."
The chattering increased in volume. Elina was really angry, but she could not scold him in public. Not when they were staring at them with admiration.
"Nana seems really impressed. Maybe this is a turning point in Lith's life. If she takes him as her apprentice, we could have a healer in our family. I can't ruin this opportunity."
So, she kept silent, wondering about his son's future.
"Would you please show me?" Nana asked, smiling for the first time.
"In for a penny, in for a pound. Here goes everything." Lith thought.
"Brezza!"
Lith twirled his middle and index finger two times, creating as many tiny whirlwinds that he used to quickly sweep the room. He pretended to lose control from time to time. His goal was to impress, not to brag or scare people out of their wits.
"Oh! Oh! Oh!" Nana laughed in admiration. she could see more and more of her in the little imp. Nana too had been a precocious brat. When she was his age her talent was better, but Lith was still a sight to behold.
Usually men were less talented for magic, since women with their prerogative to give birth, were naturally more in tune with the life force of the planet. Some called that world energy, others simply called it mana.
Also, country boys were usually blockheads, more inclined to hard works in the fields or in the military rather than spend years on books.
"Now I want you to do a thing for me. You said you can conjure water, right?"
Lith nodded in response.
"Now call upon water, it does not matter how little. But then, you have to not let it fall. You must make it float, like this." A perfect sphere of water the size of a fist appeared half a meter from Nana's open hand.
Lith could not comprehend the why of such a specific request, but he complied.
"Jorun!" He conjured less than a glass worth of water, keeping its form irregular and instable. Lith could not afford any more mistakes, his focus peaked trying to make his lack of control convincing.
The water floated for three seconds before falling off. But instead of hitting the floor it started floating again, becoming another perfect sphere orbiting around Nana's spell like the Moon does around the Earth.
Lith was flabbergasted. Not by Nana's control on the mana flow, he was already able of doing the same, if not better.
He could not avert the eyes from the spectacle in front of him. Both spheres of water were constantly spinning on themselves, reflecting everything around them. They would capture the light from the sun, turning it into sparkles of rainbow.
Lith had always seen magic like a force to be reckoned with, a great tool to build his future with. But he never thought of it as beautiful.
For the first time in over three years he was not pretending anymore. He was simply amazed, staring at the dancing lights while the memories of his old life flooded his mind.
He suddenly remembered all the hours that he spent as kid, hiding in the planetarium together with his little brother Carl. They would dream of becoming astronauts, to run away to the stars where no one would ever hurt them again.
And just like that his grief returned, stronger than ever, fighting the joy out. The pain for the loss overwhelmed him, tears started streaming from his eyes.
"Lith, are you all right?" Elina voice woke him up from his stupor.
Realizing how weak he had allowed himself to be, Lith felt deeply disgusted.
"Water is just water, no need to get soft over a measly light show. Soldier up and follow the plan." Lith steeled himself sealing away all the feelings that he deemed useless. "I'm done getting hurt." He thought.
"Yes, mommy, I am alright. I was just moved from the old lady's magic."
"My name is Nerea, Lith. But everyone calls me Nana."
"Why Nana?" Nana was usually a term of endearment used for the family's grandmother.
"You see, when I was still was a young maiden, everyone called me by my name. But then time passed, and I helped so many children come into this world that they started to call me Mama. After even more time passed, those children had children of their own, and they started to call me Nana." She ruffled Lith's hair.
"I have a proposal for you. Now you are too little, but when you become six years old, instead of going to school together with those blockheads, you could come here instead. So, you could read those books as much as you want. And maybe you could learn a trade. Mine."
Lith tilted his head, playing dumb.
"I don't know, you don't seem nice. I would like the books, though." He replied while hiding behind his mother, only half his face visible behind her legs.
Elina didn't know if to laugh or cry. Her dream had come true but Lith didn't understand what he was turning down.
"Please, excuse him, Nana. He is just three years old, he has no idea what he is saying. He doesn't even know the importance of apprenticeship."
"Three years old." Nana repeated. "It's almost too good to be true. But you are right, if he had to choose between gold and toys, he would probably pick the latter.
We'll have this conversation again three years from now." She knelt down, looking Lith straight in the eyes.
"If you don't become dumb as all the other boys in this village, I'll take you as my apprentice. If you are still interested in magic and books, of course."
Lith nodded, grabbing his mother gown, looking for protection.
His weak and scared appearance hid his inner rage.
"Three years? I could have as well starved by then! And all because of you, greedy hag." He was so sick of being hungry, he wanted to bite her out of frustration.
"Calm down, Derek, and remember all of your lessons. Suck it up and grow stronger, because only strength will make you free. Only power will keep your family safe."
Chapter 13 Learning a Trade, again
Nana's work ethic didn't allow for favouritism of any kind. Lith may have been his future apprentice, but Tista had to wait for her turn like everyone else.
Lith hadn't been so happy of being stuck in the queue since his student's days in college, when he would use every single second to review his weakest subjects.
"So much to read and so little time. Better to cram light and dark magic since they are the only elements outside the physics as I know it. In the best-case scenario, it will take years to get my hands on a book again, and there is only so much I can learn as self-taught."
When it came their turn, he studied carefully how the healer performed the light magic Vinire Rad Tu.
It was the same life force detecting spell she had used on him three years ago, and this time he had a better understanding of magic and a way better standpoint.
Being next to her, Lith could appreciate every gesture and hand movement Nana used to amplify the spell effectiveness. The light enveloped Tista's body, quickly turning grey around her chest, clearly outlining the shape of her lungs.
"I have good news, and I have bad news. The good news is that Tista's condition is the same as always, there is no sign of degeneration this time. The bad news is that it doesn't seem to be improving either. I'm afraid that she will remain like this forever. The more she grows, the lesser the chances that her body will be able to somehow fix itself."
The air in the room turned heavy, a lifetime of illness was barely better than no life at all.
Lith was so shocked to completely forget about the books. The whole world meant nothing to him if he could not share it with the only three people he loved and trusted.
They came out of Nana's house in low spirits, returning home without speaking a word.
Once arrived, Elina shared the bad news, searching for Raaz arms before starting to cry. One by one, the whole family burst into tears, hugging each other in search of comfort.
Lith allowed himself to cry, cursing the cruel fate that had befallen his sister.
"What good is magic if I keep being helpless? Why do I keep reincarnating, simply to replace one living hell with another? Is this just bad luck or is it my fault? Could it be that in some previous life I committed such an atrocious act that now all those I love are cursed? Could this be my punishment?"
During the following days Lith kept second guessing every life choice he made, before accepting the fact that bad things happens. Tista was already ill when he resurrected for the second time, it couldn't be his fault.
Having been accepted as Nana's apprentice, he could now practice magic openly. Soon he proved capable of cleaning the whole house by himself, relieving his mother and sisters from all the chores.
Thanks to darkness magic, cleaning dishes and cauldrons became a matter of minutes. Nothing organic, be it food residue or grease could escape being turned into dust by a single spark of dark energy.
He also made countless experiments with light magic, in search for a cure. Yet all he managed to do was keeping the symptoms at bay. Tista now needed much less treatments from Nana, but was still prisoner in her own body.
This caused Orpal to hate him more and more.
"Show off! How I am supposed to enjoy my life with him constantly breathing on my neck? Not only Leech shares the housework with mom, but also spends so much time with Tista. Mom and dad always praised him for his so-called talent and intelligence. And now they never shut up about Leech saving the family a lot of money, by tending Tista's condition on his own. No one gives a damn about me wasting my time and sweat doing all the farm work! Gods, why did you let him live? Why you didn't give me any talent?"
Oblivious of his brother's feelings, Lith was not coping much better. His magic power and comprehension of mana kept growing, but it could not erase the perpetual taste of failure that accompanied him.
In the following year he could not feel any joy regarding magic, every discovery was useless, all his power meaningless.
And so, he was finally four years old. The period between four and six years in Lutia was called "the golden age" since the child was big enough to have some freedom and too little to be of any help in the daily activities.
They would be allowed to play all day without a care in the world. It was the perfect time to make friends and grow closer to one's own neighbours and deepen the ties between the families.
The day of his fourth birthday, after he finished the chores, Eliza introduced him to all their neighbours before returning home.
He was supposed to socialize and play, but Lith had other plans. There was no amount of failures or grieve that could make him forget for long the hunger that consumed him since he was barely five months old.
Raaz's farm was on the western edge of Lutia's farmlands, a little less than a kilometre (0.62 miles) apart from the great woods known as Trawn.
Despite the pretentious name it wasn't particularly dangerous. The people who lived in nearby villages depended on the forest as their primary source of timber for their everyday life.
Trawn was also abundant in wildlife, so those bold and lucky enough would go hunting all year around, searching for precious meat, warm fur or both.
It was impossible to meet monsters in the forest, unless one went several kilometres deep. Since there was no need for exploring Trawn in detail, the inner areas were still uncharted territory.
There was a reason if Lith had never practiced martial arts in the new world, not even the footwork. The constant practice of magic required a lot of energy, and his household lacked the necessary resources for his training.
Lith was already skinnier than all of his siblings, any more exertion and he would turn in a pile of bones. He needed food.
But being a city boy, he knew nothing about butchering, he needed a teacher. And that was why he was headed for the house of Selia Fastarrow, the only hunter among their neighbours.
"The problem is that I have no idea how to get her to help. I'm still too little for apprenticeship, and even if I wasn't, it's unlikely she had not heard about Nana's offer. She has nothing to gain helping me. I can only hope she is a kind and benevolent woman."
Selia's house was a single-story wooden house, much smaller than Lith's, about sixty square meters large. There was no henhouse or barn. Except for the space in near proximity of the house, the fields were uncultivated, full of weeds, tall grass and whatever the wind hand planted over time.
"She clearly has no interest in farming and stockbreeding, and that's good news. Means her business is good enough. I wonder what's in the shed near the house. It's almost as big as the house itself."
Lith knocked, his innards tied in a knot from the nervousness. The door opened almost immediately.
"You again? Are you lost or something?" Selia was a woman in her early thirties, 1.7 meters tall, the skin tanned from the years long exposure to the sun. Her black hair was kept short with a haircut identical to Earth's military standards.
She could have been considered very cute, but the small bosom coupled with her sharp eyes and rough attitude made her manlier than most farmers.
She wore a leather hunting jacket over a green shirt, green cargo pants and brown hunting boots with a soft outer sole to limit the noise made while moving.
"Hi miss Fastarrow, I need a favour. Could you please teach me how to skin and gut animals?"
Selia raised an eyebrow. "Why?"
"Because I am hungry." Not having any lever on her, Lith had decided that truth was the best policy. "I have been hungry long enough to forget how being full feels. I know I can hunt, but I also know that without proper handling meat goes bad and is inedible."
"No, you got me wrong. I mean why should I help you? What's in for me?" Now she was knitting her eyebrows.
"What do you want?" Lith asked while bottling up the urge to kill her slow and painfully. He was hungry enough to see her as quarry.
"Honestly, I don't believe a runt that barely reaches my belt can hunt anything, not even a rat. And since teaching is a waste of time, it demands compensation."
She scratched her chin searching for a deal bad enough to drive the pest away. She never wanted a child of her own, let alone dealing with someone else's.
"So, if you want to learn from me, first you must bring here some game. If you mess up while playing butcher, you'll ruin my merchandise, wasting my goods and time. So here is my deal, whatever you bring me, I'll teach you how to skin and gut it. But half of it is mine for the trouble. Take it or leave it."
"So much for the kind and benevolent woman, this is plain extortion." Lith thought.
"I'll take it. How long will you stay home?" He replied.
"I'll be here all day, I have a lot of work to do. Why?"
"Because when I get back with my prey, I'll need your help. Don't forget our deal."
Lith turned around, moving toward the woods. Seeing the little runt act all tough, without a bow, traps or even just a bag for the game, Selia could not help but laugh out loud. That until the door suddenly slammed on her face, sending her butt first on the floor. After getting up, she went to the nearest window.
Lith was still in the same spot, but his face was turned towards her door, his eyes glowing bright in the dim light of the dawn.
After getting at the edge of the woods he activated the light spell Life Vision. It was one of his creations from the last year of practice. By infusing his eyes with light magic, Lith was able to see living beings as coloured, while the rest of the world was turned into shades of grey. The stronger the lifeforce, the bigger and brighter was the light emitted. This way he could easily spot animals, even if they were hiding underground, in bushes or inside a tree.
Lith did not need to hunt something big, as long as it was meat it was the perfect prey.
Most of the animals would run away as soon he came too close, but not all of them. Birds and squirrels perched on tree branches felt safe. But Lith's spirit magic had reached a range of over twenty meters (21.9 yards), they were all within his reach.
He only needed to extend his open hand towards the quarry, then squeeze and turn it for a neck to be broken. In less than twenty minutes he had killed 2 odd feathered birds and two squirrels.
"I could catch more, but I want to pay that harpy as little as possible."
While returning to the huntress' house, his greed was debating fiercely with his rage.
"Dammit! I wish I could just ask my father. Our farm has a henhouse, we eat chicken, so he must know how to butcher it. But if I do, then I will be forced to share MY quarry in equal parts. And if there is something that I hate more than being robbed by that harpy is the idea of Orpal and Trion having the same amount of meat as me. Or worse, even more, being older. I hunted this game! This meat is mine, MINE! They will only be allowed to eat my scraps when and if I want so!"
When Lith got to the door he had calmed down, the rage hidden by his business face. He took deep breaths before knocking again.
When Selia saw him, was on the verge of mocking him, calling him a quitter for giving up in less than an hour. But then Lith showed her his game, making her whole "Never underestimate how hard a hunter's job is" speech die in her throat.
Chapter 14 Learning a Trade, again 2
"How did you do it?" Selia asked, still recovering from the surprise.
"Magic. I am blessed by the light. Didn't you hear the news?" Selia started rummaging her brain, until the answer made sense.
"Ohh! I get it now. You are the magic kid that's on everybody's mouth in Lutia. That's explains a lot, including your shitty attitude."
"Excuse me? You found a scrawny kid on your door, asking for help. And what you did was send him away with a rip-off deal, even laughing at his efforts, and I am the one with a shitty attitude?" Lith was now so angry that even the idea of sharing his prey did not seem so bad anymore.
Selia laughed out loud. "Kid, you really are funny in the head. First, when you come at the door of a stranger asking for help, the best you can hope for is to be sent away with a polite kick in the butt. If I had to comply with every madman's request, I would be broke in a jiffy. Second, you had the guts to slam the door at me and then come back like nothing happened. That's a shitty attitude."
Listening to her point of view, Lith could only agree. For four years he had been a recluse, his only interactions with the family members. He had got too used getting a yes as an answer, forgetting the basic social interaction rules and even common sense.
His hunger didn't help either, making him single minded and prone to anger. Lith realized that Selia was right, and what he did that morning was just a temper tantrum.
"I'm really sorry." He said earnestly, looking her in the eyes. "I have no excuses from my behaviour. I would understand if you wanted to call off our deal."
Selia started laughing even harder.
"Hold your horses, kid. I said that you are crazy and rude, and I like that. As you so kindly pointed out, I'm a bit of jerk myself. And dog does not eat dog, our deal is still valid."
She handed him a small knife with a wooden handle.
"Rule number one, bleed out the game as soon as possible. If the blood starts clotting, the meat is ruined. Make a deep incision in the neck and then hang them upside down, to make the blood drain out." She pointed him to a clothesline.
"When you don't need the fur, I always cut off the head directly, makes things faster."
Lith put down the knife and conjured water, making it coat his whole hand. Then he froze it, turning it into a razor-sharp blade, cutting off the birds' head, using the knife only for the squirrels.
Selia whistled with approval.
"Nice trick. You don't shy away from blood, don't you?"
"As I have told you before, I am hungry. Too hungry to care about big round eyes or a warm fur, I only see them as food."
Selia gave him thumbs up. "That's the right attitude for a hunter!"
Then she took the animals and hanged them, thinking the clothesline was too high for Lith to reach. Lith did not feel the need to correct her.
"Since we are building a master-apprentice relationship and all that cr*p, mind you telling why come to me instead of your father or mother? I don't know your family, but this is something that any farmer knows how to do. It would be too expensive having someone else butcher your livestock."
"Indeed." Lith concurred pondering how to answer. He looked her straight in the eyes before asking. "Juts between us, master-apprentice secret and all that cr*p?"
Selia nodded, surprised receiving an actual answer instead of a cranky remark.
"As far as I can remember, me and my brothers never had a good relationship. Things are pretty bad, especially with my older brother."
Lith decided that he needed to take that load off his chest. Talking to a stranger was the best way to relieve his stress and ruin Orpal reputation. Truth was indeed the best policy.
"I do not know if it's because of my magic, but I always ate a lot. That would not be a big deal if I hadn't four siblings, one of which has a congenital condition. Her treatments cost quite a lot, and that is barely necessary to keep her house ridden."
"Thank the Gods I'm an only child. But what does that have to do with your older brother?" Lith pretended to not have heard her.
"This means that despite my parents' hard work, we don't have much food on the table." Lith pointed at his thin arm, to make her feel guilt. "And my brother is a growing boy too, so he would like to have much more chow than he actually has.
From time to time, especially during winter, he had fits of rage, where he would accuse me of everything that goes wrong in his life. He often said things like:
Why the heck did you have so many children if you cannot properly feed them? Why does he have to get almost as much as food as me? He does nothing, while I work my ass in the fields all year around! This is not my brother, this is a Leech that is sucking my life away! I wish you died that cursed day!" Lith did his best Orpal impression.
"Are you making this up to make me feel guilty, kid? Because that's sick." Selia was knitting her eyebrows, doubting someone could say such things to his little brother.
Lith shook his head, sighing.
"I wish."
"Did your father give him a good beating? Maybe that could help him come to his senses."
Lith shook his head again. "No. This started when I was still very little, and even when my father resorted to spanking, it only made thing worse. To the point that I now sleep in the girl's room."
Selia bit her lips, to avoid making a sex joke. "Too soon."
"Too soon for what?"
"Nothing. Please continue."
"That was until a year ago. Then I started practicing magic, and soon I was skilled enough to do almost all house chores by myself. Sometimes I help with the livestock too. I even managed to keep my sister's condition under control." Lith took a deep breath before finding the strength to add "Most of the times."
"Then everything should be good now, right?"
"Wrong. The house needs repairs, and so does the barn and most of the working tools. If you also take in consideration all the random sh*t that happens and takes priority, I don't see our situation getting any better soon, and neither does my brother.
Now he can't put the blame on me anymore, so the last time he took it out on my ill sister, saying things that I refuse to repeat out loud." Lith spat on the ground to get rid of the dirty taste the memory gave him.
"To the point of saying that it would be better for her to…" Lith pointed at the hanged game.
"To put her down like an animal? Kid, we may be jerks, but your brother is a lunatic."
Lith gritted his teeth, remembering Orpal's exact words.
"It would be much better for her, for all of us! She can't run, she can't work. Tista will never be able to make friends, fall in love or have children of her own. She is bound to be a burden for the family. And what will happen when you guys are no more? Who will take care of her? Eliza? Or maybe the little Leech wonder?"
Lith could still vividly recall his mother crying from those cruel words. Eliza and Tista running into her arms. Raaz beating Orpal so hard he could not walk for days.
"Indeed." He replied to Selia with a growl. "And that's is why I despise him and don't want him to touch a single bite of MY game."
"I get it. I don't even know him and already hate that guy's guts too."
"No, I don't hate him." Lith corrected her "Hate, just like love, is an irrational feeling, while my contempt for him has sound foundations."
"Wow! Such profound notion for someone so young. Worthy of a hunter!
Now enough chit chat, it's time to get to work."
Selia took down the squirrels, passing one to Lith.
"We will start with the little critters. They are smaller and better for practice, since even if you mess up is no big deal, there is not much meat in here."
She placed a squirrel on a cutting board, and prepared another for Lith.
"What I am going to teach you stands for most rodents, but just in case, if you ever find a rabbit that still has a snow-white fur, bring it to me. It is valuable only until it starts turning brown for the spring. Even a tiny mistake can ruin the fur, lowering its value."
Selia handed him the short knife again. "If you want me to teach you properly, let's do things my way. Use the knife, do as I do and follow my instructions."
Lith nodded in approval.
"On the squirrel's back pinch its hide and cut it near the base of the neck so to expose at least half of it. Now use your index finger and middle finger on both hands to create an opening after you have made the cut. Use your fingers to hook up under the skin and pull one hand towards the rear and the other hand towards its head..."
During the process, Lith noticed that beside being disgusting, skinning a squirrel was like taking off a sticky wet glove.
After that Selia showed him how to remove the head, the legs and the tail.
"I know is a bummer, but that bushy tail is no fur, is all goddamn body hair. You can still use it to stuff things, is very warm and soft. Now comes the tricky part.
When we proceed to gut anything, be careful while making incisions. If you cut open the bladder or the intestines, the meat is ruined by bile or feces. There is no saving it. This stands for all the animals, so pay attention, kid."
Gutting the squirrel was bloody and gruesome, but Lith could already smell the meat at the end of the tunnel, so he barely felt any discomfort.
When they finished, Selia put both squirrels on a skewer, to roast them in her fireplace.
"While we wait for our morning snack, I'll show you how to scald a bird for the plucking. As the name implies, water must not be too hot or cold, just enough for you to immerse a finger without getting a burn, but unable to hold the finger in for more than a second without burning yourself. That's proper scalding temperature."
Selia took a big cauldron, positioning it over a campfire she had always ready on the back of her house.
"It can be a messy job, so it's better to do it outside whenever is possible."
The smell of the meat cooking inside was making Lith's mouth watery, he could not afford the risk of them burning.
"Jorun!" At his command the cauldron became immediately filled with water.
Lith then stuck his hand in the water casting "Infiro!" making it emit steam.
Selia whistled again with approval.
"Fast and efficient. I'm starting to regret this master-apprentice stuff less and less.
I now understand why that old hag of Nerea called dibs on you. We should be ready to go, but first…"
Selia went inside briefly, returning with two little plates of roasted squirrel.
Before she could even pass him his plate, Lith had already snatched the food, wolfing it down like there was no tomorrow. He sucked and gnawed until only bones were left.
After licking every single of his fingers, he returned to his previous calm and composed demeanour.
"Good gods, such a gentleman." Selia's voice was oozing sarcasm. "Would you like another serving? Because that seriously creeped me out and I know a thing or two about…"
Her mockery fell on deaf ears. Lith's eyes could only see the second squirrel closing in. As soon as Selia pretended to offer him her share, his hands were already moving.
After devouring the last squirrel, Lith noticed that Selia was frozen in place.
Her mouth was open but no words were coming out of it, the plate still near his face.
He gently put the bones back into the plate.
"There was no need to hold the plate for me, but thanks. That was very kind of you."
Chapter 15 Changes
After resolving the morning snack incident, Selia prepared the working table for the remaining game.
"The birds you caught are called blinkers, because they get scared easily and are very quick to fly away. Usually you need luck and skill to take them down from a distance. Whatever magic you performed, it made a clean kill. Aside from the broken neck, both the feathers and the body are unscathed."
Lith accepted the compliment with a small bowing.
"It's just a matter of finesse in using air magic, nothing special."
Selia's curiosity was far from being satisfied, but she decided not to pry further.
"Scalding is easy and quick. You only need to throw the poultry in the cauldron for about 45 seconds. Is better to gently stir the water in the process, to clean the birds from dirt and external parasites. It also helps loosening most of the feathers. Never scald too long, or the meat could start to boil. Not to mention the risk of rupturing the organs, ruining the meat."
Lith took charge of the scalding process, waving his right hand to take control of the water in the cauldron, stirring it and adjusting the force of the current according to Selia's directions.
"Dammit, kid. You are really starting to make me regret to have never given a damn about magic or learning it."
"You don't know how to use magic?" Lith was astonished.
"No, and before today I was proud of it. I consider chore magic a simple parlour trick. Why waste my time learning how to do things with it when I get faster and better results by using my hands?" Selia shrugged. "Now get the blinkers out of the water, time to get serious."
Beside the scalding and the plucking that replaced the skinning process, gutting poultry resulted really similar to his previous experience with the squirrel, except he had also to remove to crop, the neck and the oil gland.
Once they finished, Lith's eyes enjoyed the results, noticing that aside from the blinker's skin being a little more porous compared to a chicken's, it was just a roast away from what he would purchase back on Earth.
"How do I cook it?"
"Still hungry even after two squirrels?"
"Yes, very." The previous meal was just an appetizer, he was far from satisfied. "Please, let's use the outdoor campfire. I need to get used to not using a fireplace."
Selia slammed her hand on her forehead. "Right, right. I almost forgot about your family issues."
After instructing him how to choose the right spot for a campfire, she showed him how to improvise a kebab with wood sticks. The final lesson was about how high to set the kebab to avoid burning the food and how to recognise when it was ready to be eaten.
After memorizing everything, Lith imbued his eyes with fire magic, activating the Fire Vision spell, that granted him an improved version of thermal goggles.
He then started to weave together fire and wind magic, keeping the heat stable with no hot or cold spots, while using air currents to cook every nook and cranny of the meat evenly.
Such fine control required for him to move both his hands and feet, to watch his meal from different angles and adjusting the mana flow.
His movements were akin to a combination of martial arts katas.
Selia was about to mock him about how performing a victory dance for a single blinker was a little extreme, when the delicious smell reached her nose.
The blinker was getting roasted with a speed visible to the naked eye, the skin turning into a crispy crust, releasing the fat that was masterfully spreaded evenly.
The smell was so good that her stomach started grumbling, despite she had consumed her breakfast less than two hours ago.
Lith lifted the skewer with spirit magic and after lowering the temperature to avoid burning himself while eating, he started wolfing down the meat ripping it apart with his bare hands.
First the drumsticks, then the breast and lastly the wings.
It lacked salt, and the meat wasn't as tender as a roasted chicken since they had not let the meat undergo any maturation. Nonetheless it was the best meal Lith had ever had.
"I can't believe it, I cannot feel the hunger anymore." Lith fell to his knees from the happiness, his eyes wet on the verge of shedding tears.
But that moment passed quickly.
"I need more! I can't allow the hunger to cripple me again." Lith looked at the sun, there were still a couple of hours before noon, he had still time for more hunting.
"Master Selia, I need a favour. I need a place to hide my own game, the one I am not willing to share."
"Just call me Selia, hunters do not waste time with honorifics, we are practical people."
She waved her hand dismissing the need for a title.
"As for your request, I don't make favours, only deals. What about this: from tomorrow onwards you will come here every day and clean my house, and maybe from time to time cook something for me with that silly dance of yours.
In exchange, I will keep your personal meat safe and sound, and whenever you cook for me, we will share the meal evenly. Deal?" Selia offered him her hand.
It was still a rip-off, but it was his only option.
"Deal. I have only one rule. I don't do laundry."
In the next days Lith's house resounded with much more laughter and joy than usual. Him bringing game home had raised some questions, but nothing he couldn't explain easily.
The food helped everyone to relax and let go of the stress of the past. Even Lith and Orpal started to smooth over their relationship, limiting the glares and insults to a couple every day.
But more importantly, Lith could finally start practicing martial arts again. His routine was very simple, hunting in the morning, magical training in the afternoon, martial arts at night.
Thanks to the Invigoration breathing technique, Lith was now able to stay up for almost a week before being forced to rest.
He would sneak out of the house as soon his Life Vision spell confirmed that everyone was asleep.
Once outside he would create mud dummies with earth magic to both practice martial techniques and temper his body. His first priority was the footwork.
Maybe it was because he was only four years old, or maybe it was the lack of activity due to the previous constant hunger, but his body was embarrassingly clumsy and lacked coordination.
Whenever someone threw anything at him, even a chestnut from a meter away (3 feet), he would either miss it entirely or dunk it on the floor.
Lith knew that despite his spellcasting was very quick, especially spirit magic, it was not instant. He could not afford to become a sitting duck as soon as someone closed in too much.
Learning magic was powerful, but not omnipotent. What good could possibly do to him being able to topple mountains only to get killed by a random thug that managed to snuck up on him.
Even back on Earth Lith had always thought that considering mind and body as separate entities was dumb. Exercise had always allowed him to relief his stress and relax his mind. Exactly like studying always allowed him to perform at his best, be it at work or martial arts.
Brute strength was just violence, pure intellect just ideas with no substance. Only when mind and body were trained together the body could perform as the mind required.
About a week after Lith had begun training, something happened.
He was alone at night, practicing footwork by circling around the dummies, when he felt that something was wrong.
Pain burst from his mana core and quickly spreaded to his whole body, accompanied by a head-spinning nausea like he had never experienced before.
"What's happening to me?" He screamed inwardly. "This can't be a bottleneck, the last one resolved just yesterday, and no bottleneck ever felt like this."
Soon he started gasping for air, incapable to stand up anymore and writhing in pain.
"I can't die! I don't want to die again, not after enduring so much. I refuse to become some slave in a distant galaxy or an old man waiting for death. I had enough! I refuse to die!"
He used all his willpower to convert every iota of his mana into light magic, fighting off the affliction that was tormenting him, but to no avail.
The pain got worse and worse, his power incapable of keeping up.
When he surrendered, the burning sensation was finally free to rise all the way up to his mouth.
Then he started puking lumps of a black, sticky substance that looked like tar but smelled like something had died and rotted for weeks under the summer heat.
They were the size of a nut, but the strain he felt was akin to have barfed two elephants walking side by side.
The stench was so bad that even in his incapacitated state he found the strength to summon some dark magic to destroy them without leaving traces.
Lith spent the next minutes spitting, drinking, even eating grass to get rid of that revolting taste in his mouth.
When everything returned normal, Lith was too exhausted to practice, so he had to use Invigoration to return his body to peak condition.
As soon as Lith started executing the breathing technique, he discovered that he was now able to sense his mana core with much greater clarity.
While absorbing the world energy with Invigoration, he could feel and manipulate the mana flowing through his blood vessels and his organs to the point of visualize even the residual magic in his hair.
Despite his eyes being closed shut, Lith could see inside his body as he was observing a state-of-the-art full body scan 3D.
Still dizzy, he tried performing the footwork exercise again. Lith's movements were still far from perfect, but he no longer felt like having two left feet.
"It's an amazing improvement considering that until a minute ago my goal was stop tripping on my own feet. I wonder…"
Lith stretched forward his right hand opened, applying spirit magic to the head of the dummies.
"The best I could do before, with so many targets at once, was to squeeze them a little. And now..."
He clenched his fist, faster and harder than ever before.
The dummies' heads popped like balloons.
Chapter 16 Encounters
During the following days, Lith made several discoveries about the changes he had undergone. His body felt lighter than ever, all his physical abilities augmented, all his senses sharper and heightened, compared to before.
There had also been cosmetic changes in his appearance. The moles on his body had visibly shrank, his skin was smoother than after a Spa treatment back on Earth and most of the freckles around his nose and eyes had disappeared.
Lith took note of all these changes, trying to understand what had happened, but he could not care less about beautifying effects. Even with no moles and freckles at all, he would still look like a crude hillbilly.
If his mother had passed anything to him, he was unable to notice. Unlike his sisters, Lith had nothing of her beauty or grace. Elina moved like a ballerina, while he was rough and clumsy enough to feel like a caveman.
Lith had deep set eyes like his father, a high forehead and a nose a little too big to be proportionate to his visage.
He wasn't ugly but not even cute. The best he could give himself was a solid six out of ten. Lith's only hope for improvement was the teenage growth spurt, to get rid of his thin and scrawny build.
Figuring out the changes in the mana core required even more time. Lith understood that his mana had undergone a qualitative change, becoming purer and denser.
This allowed him to cast stronger spells, also reducing the time he needed manipulate elemental and spirit magic, resulting in faster casting speed.
Through Invigorate, he could now spot the presence of that tar-like material scattered all around his body, in his organs, blood vessels and even in the neural pathway.
Whenever he used the Accumulation technique, he could feel the smaller tar-like particles being pulled toward the mana core, while the bigger ones would fragment over time, shrinking in size before actually moving.
Confident in his new strength, Lith started getting deeper in the woods, hunting for bigger preys. He was no longer afraid of predators. Instead of avoiding them, he started looking out for them.
Lith wanted for his family to have enough fur to make a set of warm clothes for everyone. He was sick of being forced to wear so many layers of clothes during winter, that he was unable to walk properly, swinging every step like a penguin.
The problem was that Lith still moved through the forest making a lot of noise, exuding enough killing intent to scare away anything that wasn't stupid or desperate enough to stand in his way.
It was only thanks to the Life Vision spell combined with spirit magic that he was still capable of hunting. The spirit magic range had expanded to over 30 meters (32.8 yards) range, so he could easily kill any animal that tried to escape by climbing trees or by taking flight.
When Lith wasn't able to catch anything, he would shoot down any bird that made the mistake of flying within his scope.
One day, Lith was exploring a new area of the Trawn woods, hoping to find a fur wearing meal, killing two birds with one stone.
While looking at a small mound, his Life vision spotted three lifeforces hiding a few meters underground. They were not strong enough to be predators, but they were big enough to be a perfect lunch.
"If those are rodents or other smart animals, there could be more than one exit. I have no time to waste, I'll force them out!"
After getting on the highest spot of the mound, always keeping both eyes on the prize, he used earth magic.
"Magna!" The ground around him started to shake, making the burrow and the small tunnels collapse. The creatures started panicking, taking the most direct route out.
Lith started running, following their underground movements as close as possible, not letting them get out of the spirit magic range.
From a well-hidden hole near a bush, came out three big fat rabbits, two of them still wearing a snow-white fur.
"Lucky!" Lith screamed while snapping his fingers, forcing the rabbits' neck to a 180° turn.
"I'll keep the brown white one for myself, while I'll trade the other two pelts with Selia for some fur of lesser quality but much more quantity. Today is really my lucky day."
Lith was so used being alone in the woods to always think out loud, to break the feeling of isolation. He hung the rabbits to his belt by the ears and started walking toward Selia's house.
After a few steps, Lith heard an odd sound closing in. He had never heard it before, so he started looking around for its source. Soon he could see two horses in the distance, galloping in his direction.
"F*ck! It seems I have been too loud. Fight or flight?" To answer his own question, he activated Life Vision again. The horses were just horses, while the men were far from impressive.
The one taking point was barely as strong as Selia, while the one behind was even weaker than Raaz, Lith's father.
Lith forced himself hiding a cruel smile. "Well, well. My first encounter with complete strangers in this new world! Are they good people? I bet that humans are humans everywhere. This would mean that they are a**holes! I can't wait to find out!"
Lith stood there, waiting for them to arrive.
The first man was clearly a servant, dressed in a hunter suit made of leather of low quality with a crest on both his chest and shoulders. He was an unshaven middle-aged man, with pitch black short hair, mean and angry eyes sitting on a face worthy of a mugshot.
The one behind him was dressed with a suit of much better quality, probably brand new. He wore the same crest on his chest, but this one seemed to be made of silk and gold embroidered.
He was a kid maybe sixteen years old, with a handsome face and the build of a swimsuit model. The tight-fitting leather emphasised his muscular body moving in tune with his horse.
Lith felt really pissed off, and he knew exactly why.
"I really hope he is as much of a d*ck as he is handsome. Otherwise not only I will be forced to start to believe in prince charming, but I will also die of envy."
"Hey, kid!" The servant had a rude tone of voice. "What was that noise from before?"
Lith put on his best innocent expression, playing wolf in sheep clothes.
"Good day, sir. It was just me hunting. I'm sorry if I scared you." Lith's voice sounded genuinely apologetic. He wanted to give them the benefit of the doubt.
"Where did you get those?" He said ignoring Lith apologies and pointing at the rabbits.
"From a rabbit hole. They are my game." Lith smiled keeping watch on both of them.
"Give them to us, now. They will make a perfect muff for my mother."
The handsome youth had also a beautiful voice.
"If you are really sorry, you should offer us proper compensation. Even a commoner like you should know the basics of decency." He said with a mocking smile.
Lith dropped the act like a live grenade.
"Seriously? Robbing a kid in broad daylight? Don't you have any shame?"
"Kid!" The servant rebuked. "Do you know who are you talking to? He is the son of baron Rath, lord of these lands."
Lith started laughing out loud.
"Please! Trawn woods has no owner, except maybe count Lark. Stop spewing bulls*it just to cover your sorry a*s. And besides do YOU know whom are you talking to? I am the supreme mage!"
"See what happens when you waste your breath on commoners, Korth?" The young noble took up the short bow he carried on his back, nocking an arrow. "They are just too stupid, it's in the nature of things."
He shot the arrow with perfect aim towards Lith's heart.
But Lith was far enough, and had kept many spells ready on his fingertips. With a wave of his hand, a strong gust of wind hit the arrow on the side, making it spin out of control before harmlessly hitting the ground meters away from its intended target.
Despite being flabbergasted, the young noble was able to keep his cool, nocking another arrow while ordering Korth to kill the kid.
Lith raised his left hand, freezing Korth in place with spirit magic, while with the right he took control of the arrow, that slipped away from the youth's fingers before stabbing him in the eye.
The youth fell from his horse, screaming in pain
"To think that I even bothered giving you guys a chance to get out of here alive." Lith sighed shaking his head.
"Wait! If you kill the young lord, you and whoever you love will die! Think about it."
Lith started laughing again. "Really? And how could they ever find out what happened here?" Lith moved his left thumb, and Korth noticed with horror that his right hand was moving against his will, unsheathing the hunting knife he carried at his belt.
"Wait, please! Have mercy! Don't do this, you are just a kid!" He begged.
"So, when you want to kill, you kill. But when you lose, I am supposed to show mercy?" The spite in his voice was palpable. Lith lowered his ring finger, bringing the knife at Korth's throat.
"Since you are just a servant, I'll give you a clean death." With a flicker of the little finger Lith forced Korth to cut his throat from ear to ear.
Then he approached the young noble that was still writhing in pain, uncaring of what just happened to his loyal servant.
"As for you, you are the kind of guy I hate the most!" With one hand Lith kept him frozen at mid-air, while he used the other to punch him nonstop.
"You have f*cking everything! Money, beauty, a bright future, and all you can do with such treasures is screw those who are already struggling to survive?"
Lith hated humans more than everything, even back on Earth the only thing keeping his rage in check was his responsibilities towards his family.
But in the new world there was no cameras, no GPS, nothing. There was only power, and for once he was the one holding it.
"You know, I have a very ill sister." Lith said after venting out. "I could never practice darkness magic on living beings, because using it on animals is just plain cruel. You, on the other side, are just a monster with the face of a man. You will make a perfect specimen for my research."
Trawn woods resounded with screams for hours before death could come to claim her prize.
Chapter 17 Encounters 2
While Lith was approaching Selia's house, he felt a profound sense of shame tormenting him.
"It's a shame to waste so much good equipment and horse meat, but I have no plausible excuse for it. Our farm could really use a couple of horses, but what if someone recognized them? Too many risks for so little reward, destroying everything was the right thing to do."
Once he had finished with his experiments, Lith used darkness magic to wipe out any trace or proof of what happened, turning everything into dust.
Selia was so excited seeing the two rabbits to let slip her dire need for them, to fill the order of a very generous client.
Respecting his master's teachings, Lith exploited the situation.
"Hunters don't do favours, they make deals." He quoted.
In exchange for the snow-white rabbits, Lith managed to get a full set of warm clothes of lower quality and Selia would personally tan the remaining pelt for free.
That and the three rabbits ready for the cooking earned him great praise from his family, except Orpal. Over time he had started to consider all the food that Lith brought home for granted, so his hatred and envy returned stronger than ever.
"That little Leech! Hunting with magic is easy, any idiot could do it. Everything he does is a slap in my face. I never get the respect that I deserve as the firstborn, and it's all his fault! First, he flaunts his luck hunting, then he plays martyr, asking mother and father to let that piece of trash of Tista be the first to have fur clothes. What can Tista possibly do with them? Getting ill with style? No, Lith did it on purpose.
He knows that my stupid parents still resent me for telling the truth about that cripple. Lith did it only to make me lose face compared to him."
The truth was quite different from Orpal's self-centred interpretation.
Lith really loved Elina (mother), Rena (big sister) and Tista (ill sister), while Orpal was never on his mind. He cured anyone in the family without being asked to, except for Orpal. But not out of spite or anger, but simply because his existence was irrelevant in Lith's eyes.
If Orpal lived or died it was not his problem. He would not do anything to harm him, but would not help him either. For Lith they were complete strangers living in the same home.
The reason why he had wanted Tista to be the first to benefit from his luck, was that Lith hoped that with warm enough clothes his sister could finally spend more time with him and Rena during winter, playing in the snow.
In Lith's eyes the image of Carl would often overlap on Tista's visage. He loved them deeply, and both of them were victims of a cruel fate.
Lith wasn't willing to let anyone or anything, not even a congenital condition, take his loved ones away from him.
He suffered at the thought of how little of life she could enjoy. To give Tista the opportunity to experience speed and the feeling of the wind on her face, Lith built for her a swing with the help of their father, Raaz.
It was nothing special, just a wooden plank attached to four tight ropes hanging from a reversed U-shaped wooden framework with triangular standings. Yet the result was awe-inspiring for his family.
Swings seemed to be unknown in the new world, or at least they were in the Lustria County.
Raaz looked at the result of their work in admiration.
"It's amazing. Why the three wooden beams instead of just one?"
"Safety reasons." Lith explained while using earth magic to make the last 10 centimetres (3.9 inches) of the beams sink underground, making the swing impossible to topple by bad weather or a too vigorous movement.
"That way both ends are like a chair. Multiple legs mean that the weight is equally distributed among multiple beams, making the stress per beam significantly inferior."
"Off course! Now that you explained it is so simple. By the way, how do we call this thing?"
Lith was at loss for words, he had no idea what the word for the swing movement was and he could not ask that now.
"Err... It's a rocking chair."
"Dammit, why I always screw up with the little details? That's not a rocking chair, but it's the closest thing I could think about with my current vocabulary."
Tista fell in love with his present, and the rocking chair became soon a popular pastime in the family, to the point that Raaz had to build a couple more to avoid quarrels.
Furthermore, after his experiments with dark magic, Lith spent the following months trying to apply both Life Vision and Invigoration while treating Tista's symptoms.
"If I can manage to have for Tista's body the same imaging that Invigoration grants me for my own body, I could have a better understanding of her underlying condition. That would mean having much better chances of finding a cure!"
In the blink of an eye it was almost winter again, Lith's fifth birthday was approaching.
Lith was determined to capitalise on every single day before the great cold arrived, to catch as much game he could to fill the house's storeroom to the brim.
He had no idea how cold the incoming winter would be, and even if he was probably strong enough to survive a storm, he doubted his parents would allow him to test his theory.
During the last year Lith had explored more and more of the Trawn woods, learning how to move without alarming the animals. He had also discovered new uses for dark magic.
His newest spell, the Shroud, allowed him to cancel out his body smell and aura by enveloping Lith in thin layer of dark energy, making impossible for most animals to notice him, either by nose or instinct.
But it wasn't an easy task, even a small misstep would turn the Shroud into full-blown killing intent, making the whole woods aware of his presence.
That day Lith was raiding a new area, deep in the Trawn woods, investigating an odd feeling that had tormented him for days.
In certain areas of the woods, Lith could hear an annoying buzzing sound, and until that day he had always ignored it. Lith had always thought that it was the call of some weird, unknown animal, but in the last days the noise had gotten stronger and persistent.
"Damn, whatever this is, it reminds me of my desktop's Uninterruptible Power Supply unit whenever there was a black out. It's ear piercing."
Lith could not help but to imagine it as a desperate cry for help. He did not understand how he got that idea, but his gut was telling him that it was something important.
Ever since Lith had learned martial arts back on Earth, he had always followed his gut feelings when he had nothing to lose, and this was definitely the case.
The closer he got, the louder the noise. Lith knew he was on the right path.
He was running at full speed when he heard a bone chilling howl. Lith immediately used two of his life saving spells, Shroud to conceal himself, and the air spell Lightsfeet to float a few centimetres above the ground, making his movements noiseless.
Both required a lot of concentration, but it was better to spend some mana rather than stupidly endangering himself. Calm and focused, he searched for the source of all that noise.
"Holy sh*t! That's a Ry!" Lith exclaimed inwardly after quickly hiding behind a huge tree.
A Ry was a magical wolf beast, the apex predator of the Trawn woods. Magical beasts were more common and weaker than monsters, but they could still easily take apart a fully armed soldier.
Not many animals could turn into a magical beast, they needed a great talent for magic and enough time to feed off the world energy.
Once an animal became a magical beast, it could use its mana to boost its physical prowess and even developing spells that employed elements they were attuned with.
The Ry was almost as big as horse, with a fire coloured thick fur.
Lith could not understand why a Ry would come so close to a human settling, Rys were intelligent beasts that avoided unnecessary trouble. If humans did not disturb them, they would return the favour.
Lith felt pity for its prey. After making sure being upwind he cancelled both spells to save precious mana, getting a better understanding of the situation.
The Ry kept howling and growling, as it was in pain. Lith noticed that every time the Ry's snout got close to the ground, the buzzing sound would become high pitched and the magical wolf would whine in pain.
Now more curious than afraid, Lith activated Life Vision to estimate the Ry's power.
What he saw made him gasp loudly.
The Ry was unbelievably strong, with a mana flow almost on par with Lith's. But the real reason for amazement was a second mana flow, that belonged to the source of the buzzing sound.
It was a little stone, smaller than a thimble.
"What the f*ck? That pebble is alive? That explains everything! The noise it emitted must have lured here the Ry, just like it did for me. Taking into account its reactions, the noise is much more annoying for the Ry than for me. I never heard of rocks with mana flow, that thing must be a magical item. I cannot let that brute destroy it."
Throwing caution to the wind, Lith decided to take action and save the magic stone.
"The Ry's lifeforce is incomparable to mine, but if I manage to avoid it getting close, I know I can win. His mana flow is inferior to mine, and from what Selia told me magic beasts have no offensive spells."
First Lith activated Shroud again, then he started weaving his strongest spell.
"Plague Arrow!" A bolt of dark energy flew from his joined hands, hitting the Ry from its blind spot while it was trying again to crack the noisy stone with its teeth.
The screeching sound and the spell hit both at the same time, making the magical beast almost lose its footing.
Plague Arrow was a spell that injected a dense mass of darkness magic in the victim, disrupting both the mana flow and the life force. Lith had charged it as much as he could, to get as much advantage as he could.
Before the Ry could turn around to search for its enemy, a stream of lightnings erupted from Lith's palms, hitting the magical beast with enough strength to knock it down.
While increasing the distance between them, Lith cancelled Shroud for Life Vision. Despite the sneak attacks the Ry was still alive and strong.
Lith focused his spirit magic, using both his hands, trying to break its neck as he had already done countless times.
The Ry wasn't stupid, as soon as it felt the ominous sensation on his neck, it contracted its muscles, reinforcing it with mana and making it harder than steel.
"F*ck! So much for my advantage. If only I could use fire magic you would be already roasted to death. Could you please go away? That thing is mine! Mine!"
Lith conjured several ice javelins, throwing them at the magical beast from multiple angles simultaneously.
The Ry easily dodged them all, retaliating with a powerful magical roar.
Lith was only saved by the distance, having the time to realize that a massive wind blast was heading his way. He stepped back at the moment of the impact, using his own wind magic to dissipate the blast.
His sleeves got turned into confetti, but aside from some flesh wounds he was fine.
"F*ck me sideways! Thanks a lot, Selia. Magical beasts do not have offensive spells, sure. It seems this Ry never got the memo, though."
The Ry charged at Lith, using its wind blasts to disrupt his rhythm. Lith did his best to keep the beast at bay, but the difference in physical prowess was overwhelming, it was only a matter of time before getting caught.
"Okay, when you can't win, just run. Plan B, fight dirty!"
Lith stopped running away, to prepare his last attack plan before throwing the towel.
He conjured many ice javelins, but did not throw them, he left them floating in mid-air all around him.
After a moment of hesitation, the Ry chose to ignore them charging straight at that insolent pest.
"That's a good boy! Eat this! Twin spell! Flash&Bang!"
Lith's right hand produced a massive flash of light, for a moment it was like a second sun had appeared. His left hand, instead, used wind magic to produce a noise comparable to an explosion.
The Ry tumbled from the pain, its eyes and ears bleeding, while Lith was unscathed. He had learned long ago that as long it was infused with his mana, his own spells would do him no harm. He could cover himself in fire, ice or lightning without a scratch.
When the Ry crashed against a tree, Lith finally used the javelins, throwing them with all the force he had. All of them hit the target, but the thick magical fur prevented them from impaling it, piercing only through a few centimetres of flesh.
Lith immediately checked with Life Vision, the results appalling.
The Ry was definitely wounded and weakened, but far from being dead.
"Dammit! So much effort for so little damage. If it continues like this, I am the one who is most likely to run out of steam or luck. The Ry only needs one hit to kill me. It's not worth the risk."
Lith used spirit magic to recover the magic stone before running for his life. The stone was full of teeth marks, its sharp surface prickled Lith's skin.
"So long, sucker!" Lith screamed at the still stunned magical beast.
"See you again in a few years, let's see if you dare attack me again!" Small drops of blood touched the stone, and the noise stopped.
The Ry was still trying to make head or tails of what had just happened. It only wanted the damn noise to stop hurting his ears when that fierce man-pup showed up.
The Ry had tried to scare him away and to teach him a lesson, but it ended to be the one getting schooled instead.
"Bah, who cares." The Ry thought. "I wanted to get rid of that stupid rock and in one way or another I got the job done. That was one feisty pup, though. I pray that he shows more consideration towards his pack than he did for me. Otherwise when he grows up, he will be a scourge to his kin. Stupid humans and their greed bring only troubles. They are incapable even of taking care of their own."
The Ry, leader of all the packs in the Trawn woods, shrugged away the javelins before returning to its family.
Chapter 18 New Solutions, New Problems
Lith kept running until he was out of the woods, turning his head from time to time to check with Life Vision is he was being followed.
"There is no trace of the Ry, but better safe than sorry. I'm afraid I have pissed off that thing quite bad. It's better to give it some time to vent off and search for easier preys."
He was near Selia's house, when he finally remembered about the magical stone. Lith activated Life Vision, getting a good look up close.
The first thing he noticed was that the rough edges on the stone had smoothened up, it did not prick his skin anymore. The surface was still rough, but now looked like a stone marble.
The buzzing sound had stopped from a while, and the magical stone's life force, despite being still at the same level, had changed significantly.
Back when he saw it for the first time, its life force was like a candle about to burn out of wax, now it had become steady, with a regular pulse.
Warning Selia about the magical beast took priority, so he hid the stone in a leather pouch he always carried at his neck before knocking at her door.
Lith explained her everything, describing in detail the size and power of the Ry, leaving her flabbergasted. Of course, he never mentioned their fight.
Lith told her that he had fled as soon as their eyes met, and that he got away only thanks to his magic, showing his tattered sleeves as proof.
"Good gods, kid." She still refused to call him by his name. "You have been really lucky it took it easy on you. Had the Ry decided to give you chase, we would not be having this conversation. Nonetheless, thanks for warning me first, instead of going to your parents." Selia ruffled his hair.
"How do you know I came here first?"
"Because if you didn't, your parents would have probably locked you up in your house, and one of them would have come here to warn me in your place."
Lith froze up. He had just dodged a bullet much scarier than any Ry.
"You are right. Is better not to tell them, otherwise my hunting days may be over forever."
"Yeah. I suggest you taking the rest of the morning off. Make up and excuse for those sleeves and go home." Selia walked over the shed near her house where she kept her game maturating.
"Take these as a thank you for the heads up." She handed him a rabbit and a blinker, ready to be cooked.
"I was about to go in the woods. I think I will follow my advice, instead, and keep tanning the remaining pelts. I'll go to hunting in the afternoon, when it should be safer."
Lith thanked her with a deep bow, he knew how precious meat was in Lutia, even for a huntress as good as Selia. Not to mention she had just saved him from perpetual house arrests.
He spent the rest of the morning trying to understand how to use the magic stone. It appeared to be feeding off Lith's mana. Not leeching it like a parasite, more like nibbling at the mana that he naturally released being talented in magic.
The stone would simply breath in what Lith's body breathed out, nothing more.
Lith tried injecting mana into it, but to no avail. Then he casted elemental spells while holding the stone, to check if their strength, cast speed and area of effect were affected in any way.
All of his experiments gave no results, the stone looked just like any other.
"Stones do not have such a clear mana flow, and certainly they do not have any life force. Maybe this thing needs time to heal, to recharge or something. The Ry messed it up quite bad, let's hope is not broken. Unless it starts harming me, I'll keep it. Maybe is some kind of treasure, or maybe I can find something about it on Nana's books. I just have to be patient."
The last days of autumn passed on uneventful, until winter arrived.
Having reached the five years of age, Lith revealed a little more of his magic talents, proving to be invaluable to his family.
He would wake up first and warm up the whole house with magic, even the floors. At that point the fireplace was lit only because was cozy, and because rounding up around the fire, especially during the stormy winter evenings, was a family tradition.
Even the cooking was entrusted to Lith. Elina would prepare the meal, and Lith would cook it faster and better than a ventilated oven, keeping the soup warm for everyone during the whole meal.
He could not go hunting anymore because of the bad weather, his parents had been adamant on that. But Lith could still go to Selia's house to perform the chores for her.
During the last year, she had become so lazy to become dependant on Lith for keeping her house clean and her tools sterilized.
This meant killing two birds with one stone for Lith. Now he had an excuse to go fetch his private stock of meat whenever he got hungry, and Selia had to pay him for the chores.
Lith would do it for free, just to get out of the house, but his parents would not agree. So, Selia paid him a few copper coins to clean her house, and some more for Elina to do her laundry.
Both Elina and Raaz would welcome any extra income, and doing the laundry for eight instead of seven wasn't much an effort. Especially since Lith provided her an endless supply of hot water.
"Nice to meet you, I am Lith, boiler supreme." He would grumble inwardly every time.
In the first weeks of winter, Lith made a very important breakthrough. He finally understood how to use Invigoration's body imaging on others.
He was now able to let his mana seep into another person's body, and slowly take control of their mana flow, allowing Lith to know everything about the subject's physical condition.
The only way to achieve such a result was to keep physical contact, searching way ins for the mana without harming him/her.
Lith immediately used it on Tista, and his findings were appalling.
Her body was full of the tar-like substance, that for the lack of a better term, he had dubbed impurities. And the cause of that was her lungs.
Barely half of Tista's lungs were made up by a healthy tissue. The rest appeared like a black-brown mass that actively produced impurities, that over time filled the healthy tissues of her lungs and windpipe, making her cough first and ill later.
After giving it some thought, Lith was sure to have found a fix better than everything he had done before, but much more embarrassing.
Even though now his real age was that of a thirty-year-old man, he was still in a five years old body, which found extremely uncomfortable the idea of speaking of certain matters, especially with the family women.
After some deep breaths to calm down, he called Raaz and Elina to ask for their help and permission.
He had to dumb down the procedure quite a lot to get them to understand.
"Basically, I cannot cure Tista, not yet. But I discovered a way that should make her feel much better. In the best-case scenario, she could even get rid of most of her symptoms."
"And in the worst-case scenario?" Raaz asked full of worries.
"At worse she will be the same. That's I'm certain of it. But I need you to trust me."
Contrary to his expectations, they did not make any objections or question. Their trust in Lith's mastery of magic was boundless, and in their eyes, he was just a five-year-old, while Tista was barely seven.
She had yet to mature in every way, for them it was like yesterday when they bathed together in the wash tub.
The first phase was the easiest. Lith would take control of Tista's mana flow, overloading her body with his mana, and forcing the impurities to move away from the inner organs and toward the skin.
She would just feel hot the whole time, like having a mild fever.
Once most of the impurities were about to surface, Lith demanded to be blindfolded and that either Elina or Rena witnessed the process.
Tista was just a kid, and Lith feared that overtime suspicions might arise. During Earth's middle ages, incestuous relationships were disgustingly common, and he rejected even the idea of being thought of as a pervert.
The second and last phase required Tista to be soaking in the wash tub, that had been previously filled by Lith with hot water and soap.
He clearly remembered the stench the impurities gave off, and during winter ventilating the house was difficult, especially in Tista's condition.
Cold was her worst enemy.
Then, he could finally extract the impurities by using mater magic, creating and manipulating flows that would massage Tista all over her body. Lith would destroy the impurities as soon as possible with dark magic, preventing them to release their smell.
It was a difficult process that required using water and darkness magic, all while keeping Invigoration active. After the treatment, he would also use water magic to remove all the water still on her body, and then mix fire and wind magic to obtain a makeshift hairdryer.
When it was finally over, Tista looked like she was just back from a spa, while Lith looked like he had just got back from mining, drenched in sweat and out of breath.
"How do you feel?"
Tista made some deep breaths.
"I never felt so good! Like, ever! Also, I always dreamt of having a winter bath, instead of having to resort to warm water-soaked towels. Thanks, lil bro, you just made two of my wishes come true!" She tried to hug him, but he raised his arms in defence.
"Please, no. I'm disgusting right now, do not ruin my hard work. I now need a bath, some food and two hours rest, minimum."
Both his mother and big sister, nodded.
"Lith, dear, what was that thing with the water that you did?" Elina asked.
"Do you mean the…"
"Dammit, I can't tell her I was imitating a hydromassage, they do not have latin here. Nor I can call it a Jacuzzi or something. Whatever, I'm too tired for this sh*t."
"… water massage?"
"Yes, that! It seemed so relaxing. Tista has fallen asleep many times during her treatment. Sure it must be pleasant." Rena's words were filled with expectation.
"And that thing for drying her hair, could you do that again too?" Elina raised the ante, their aim more and more obvious by the second.
Lith was on the verge of collapsing, he had no time to spare with niceties.
"Are you implying that you would like a hot water massage too?"
More nodding followed, their hands joined in a silent plea.
"But… but…" Lith stuttered. "Both of you are…"
He was trying to find a polite way to say "hot". Lith could still remember Elina's naked body when he was still an infant, and she had aged very well.
Rena was now eleven. Maybe it was the countryside lifestyle, maybe it was related to the new world, but she had already begun her growth spurt, developing some curves, being nice and soft in all the right places.
Lith already had so many qualms for his little sister, and Tista was as flat as a board, only her long hairs gave her away as a girl instead of a boy.
"We are family. And all of us have dreamt of being able to take a bath during winter without catching a cold or worse. You have no idea how smelly we become by working in the barn, surrounded by the livestock smell and their dung. Sometimes the smell is so bad we can't even sleep at night. Couldn't you help us too?" Elina, his mother, completely oblivious of Lith's worries tried to play the guilt card.
Lith gave up.
"Fine, just let me rest a bit and then I'll help you. But you still need to blindfold me, and I demand a witness!"
They both started laughing out loud.
"Why so many qualms? You are just a baby, not some thug."
"I would like to say that I am a gentleman, but I do not know the word for it. I could say that I am a man, but that would make them laugh even harder. Stupid five-year-old body." He thought.
"Decorum." It was the only word in his vocabulary he could resort to.
"Damn, this is going to be a fricking long winter."
Chapter 19 Conflicts
As Lith predicted, his fifth winter revealed to be quite interesting.
Treating Tista's condition required two session per week minimum, each one lasting around four hours. Two for the treatment itself and the remaining time for him to bathe and recover his strength.
Manipulating Tista's mana flow while simultaneously using fire, water and dark magic took its toll every time. The good news was that with so much practice, he was becoming accustomed to casting and maintaining several spells active at once.
Every treatment was easier than the previous one and her symptoms were quickly improving. Tista was now able to help with the house chores and the livestock.
She could even afford making long walks outside, when the weather was good.
The bad news was that Lith's relationship with his brothers was now uglier than ever before. Every time Tista got better, someone would reproach Orpal for his past words, and if no one did, then Tista would.
Orpal's fits of rage had really hurt her, his cruel words had shattered the image she always had of her perfect family, of her caring big brother.
Tista had been humiliated and betrayed, and she was not going to forget that easily.
Also, soon after hot winter baths had become available, Raaz too started to bathe often.
Orpal and Trion were the only ones left out. Orpal because he could not stand the thought of having to ask something from Lith, especially if he had to do it politely.
"I'm the eldest brother, I'm not supposed to beg runts for favours. I'm supposed to give orders and be respected for it! That Leech now has turned even the cripple against me! And I can't put Tista in her place, otherwise she will make me look like I'm the bad guy who picks on a sick little girl. Manipulative b*tch!"
Trion was between a rock and a hard place. He deeply loved Tista, but he also loved and respected Orpal. Trion was the only one by his side, so he had not the heart to betray their bond.
With everyone else fresh and clean, their smell stuck out like a sore thumb. Even with all their family goodwill, disgusted grimaces were impossible to avoid from time to time.
The first time Tista dubbed the duo as Orpoop and T-reek, she brought down the house with laughter. Orpal and Trion blamed Lith for their humiliation, but he just ignored them like he always did.
Raaz made for Lith a pair of snowshoes, spending more and more time with him. Raaz also started imparting him lessons about how to operate a farm and teaching how to whittle. Lith was still very young, but knowing he was able to skin and gut his game, Raaz thought there was no risk for him in handling a carving knife.
Orpal and Trion lived the situation differently, though. Until then, Lith had spent most of his time with the girls, letting Raaz spend all his free time with the boys. They felt wronged twice, once because Lith was robbing them of their dad time, the second because he always refused teaching them whittling before they reached the age of eight.
Things got even more unpleasant for Lith after midwinter. Every time he would treat Tista, he could notice that something was off. Both his mother and sister had an odd look in their eyes.
Often, they would open their mouth, only to close them right away, giving him the silent treatment for hours. Lith couldn't figure out the reason of this behaviour, so his mind started spinning like crazy.
"Do they believe me a pervert? Have I looked at them in an inappropriate way? Maybe they are starting to suspect something. Maybe they know I am from a different world!"
Lith's full blown paranoia wouldn't give him a second of rest, preventing him to have a good night of sleep. He heard them sighing too often, something was definitely off.
It took Lith all his courage to muster the strength to face them and ask for the truth.
The confrontation took place in the girl's room, where they were all gathered for Tista's treatment.
"Lith, did you really not notice any changes?" Elina asked pouting.
"Yes, I did. Tista is feeling much better now, right?"
"Off course there's that. But don't you notice anything here?" She waved her hand, going from Tista's head to toes.
"That's my sister."
"And?" She prompted.
"Her health is getting better, nothing is getting worse. Tista is still Tista." For the first time in his three lives, Lith could spectate with his own eyes a synchronized facepalm outside internet meme gifs. Rena was fuming.
"Really? Don't you notice that her hair is soft and silky? That it never tangles or get split ends?" Tista had light brown hair with shades of purple all over them. Ever since the treatment began, the colour had got more vibrant and visible.
"Shades of purple, uh. This is really another world after all. I wonder why women do have them and men do not." Lith thought.
"Now that you mention it, yes I do. But normally I don't care for hair, I keep mine short for a reason." Rena shook her head.
"Don't you even notice that her skin has got smoother? With no imperfections? That she is growing taller and slender than her peers?"
Lith kept scratching his head. He knew nothing about the average girl. Also, they were simply describing the side effects of removing impurities.
"And why is that a problem? Aren't those all good things?" This time even Tista joined the facepalm.
"They are envious of those things, dummy! They just want you to do the same for them."
Lith was flabbergasted by such trivial demands. "All those grimaces, the silent treatment, all of it for such a stupid reason?"
"Lith, dear, being attractive for a girl is a pretty big deal. For your sisters could mean getting the possibility to choose between just a wealthy man, and a good, wealthy man. It can affect their entire life, their happiness."
That sounded right to Lith's ears. "How could I have not thought of that?"
"While for your poor mother, it means that she can finally make all those pompous, high and mighty neighbours of her, that keep bragging about having so much more money than her, flaunting all the pricy beauty creams they can afford, kicking themselves out of envy!"
That sounded right to Lith's ears too. He accepted with a sigh, and his life finally returned to normal. He had to spend at least three afternoons a week for all the treatments, but it was worth it.
All that practice made his mana core grow steady and fast, his control of mana and cast speed improved by leap and bounds.
Right before the end of winter, he was forced to take in a new customer.
With the weather improving, the neighbouring families started meeting often. Sometimes for a visit, more often they would simply bump into each other while trading goods at the village.
And that was driving Raaz crazy.
"Lith, you have to help me!" His plea was desperate. "Your mother looks at least ten years younger, and I am starting to look more like her father rather than her husband. People keep murmuring how she was unfortunate marrying me, that she could have got so much better. Please do your thing on me too!"
Lith had heard the rumors. They were mean and petty, and deserved to be faced head on. He would not allow anyone to speak ill of his dad.
"Fine, but only at some conditions, the same I asked from mom. One, secrecy. Nobody must ever know outside you and me. Think of all the bad people that could want to exploit me."
Raaz nodded.
"Second, you will never talk about it with Orpal or Trion, nor ask me to do it for them. I don't care if they fall on love or want to marry. They made pretty clear what they feel toward me and Tista. I will not endanger my safety for them. Take it or leave it."
Raaz wanted to object, remind Lith that they were family too. But their behaviour had only gotten worse after being forced to spend so much time together during winter. Raaz had to scold them multiple times just to make them behave properly.
"I can only hope that when they grow up, my sons will be able to mend their relationship. I can't force them to get along."
And so, he accepted.
A few weeks later, Lith was headed to Selia's house for the usual cleaning, before going hunting. The dawn's light made the world around him look like out of a fairy tale.
The thin layer of snow was immaculate, reflecting the orange light over the weeds and trees along the way. His surroundings were completely silent, the world still and at peace.
At the next clearing, Lith took out the magic stone out of his pouch, observing it in the morning light.
During the winter months the magic stone had mended most of the teeth marks. Both its life force and mana flow had tremendously improved, but it was still useless as the day Lith found it.
"Just my luck." He sighed. "I risked my life facing that Ry for nothing. Let's hope I can find something in Nana's books, otherwise my only option it's to find someone willing to buy it."
Lith was really impatient to start his apprenticeship.
It meant being finally able to study magic from books instead as a self-taught. Also, as an apprentice healer, he would get practice magic and be paid for it, gaining the village recognition and respect.
So many birds with just one stone.
After putting the magic stone back into the pouch, Lith arrived at his destination and opened the door. That day Selia was out of town to sell her merchandise, so she had left the door open for him
It didn't take him much time to clean everything and leave.
As soon as he walked out the house, he got hit in the head by a wooden stick.
Lith's eyes went blurry, he felt someone pushing him back inside, making him fall to the ground with a kick in the stomach.
"Look who's here, the little Leech!" Lith recognized that voice, he was one of Orpal's friends.
Four boys quickly surrounded Lith, kicking him while he was still down, while a fifth closed the door after checking that no one did notice them.
"You little arrogant piece of sh*t! Orpal told us all about you. How you humiliate him every day, how you even dare stealing his food!"
"Yeah!" Another one yelled. "He is your big brother, it should be him getting the best part of the game, not you, little ungrateful runt!"
"Less yelling and more kicking, Trant! Remember Orpal's words, if Leech gets the chance to use his magic, we are finished!"
Despite Lith was curling up, desperately trying to shield his head and stomach, another kick grazed his face, making one of his baby-teeth fall.
"I know what to do!" Trant moved forward gripping Lith's hands with enough strenght to crush them. "Let's see how he does magic without hands!"
By coming that close, Trant had forced his friends to stop kicking, and a moment was all that Lith needed.
He released all the lightning he could muster, shocking Trant out cold.
But before he could do anything else, the wooden stick hit him in the head again, making him collapse.
"You d*ckhead! How dare you hurt your seniors! You deserve to die!"
The beating resumed, this time with no hint of mercy or holding back. Lith started coughing blood and teeth.
The four had him surrounded, Lith tried multiple times rolling out of the encirclement, but he would be sent back in the middle every single time.
Lots of feelings were ravaging his mind, while his body was burning with pain. The spite for his brother's betrayal, the rage of being assaulted by boys with double his age and size. But most of all, he felt helpless, and afraid of death.
"Damn magic! What use are you if I don't have the time to concentrate? Stupid stone, I kept you hanging from my neck for months, do something! Help me! Somebody, anybody, help me!" All his silent pleas went unfulfilled.
While his conscience was fading, Lith started cursing himself for his weakness and helplessness.
"Magic, martial arts, all that careful preparation, useless." Oddly, his last thought was not for his family or revenge, but for his last opponent.
"If only I was as strong as a Ry! He stopped my spirit magic so easily by…"
His survival instinct kicked in, his mind and body acting in unison.
"By infusing himself with mana! And I can do that too! It's the same principle behind Life and Fire vision!"
With each breath he started calling upon the elemental energy, but instead of wasting time giving it a form, Lith let it merge directly with his mana core, infusing himself with earth magic.
His whole body started hardening, the pain getting duller and duller. Lith also infused himself with light magic, accelerating his healing and preventing himself from losing consciousness.
Soon he was able to ignore the kicks, springing back up in one fluid motion.
"What is earth? It's just a mix of minerals and organic matter, the same as my body. I can be immovable like a mountain!"
With that thought, he further hardened his head, before headbutting from below the chin of the assailant in front of him.
Before the remaining three could recover from the surprise and resume the encirclement, Lith raised his guard. The left arm forward for blocking, the right arm ready to strike.
Orpal's friends were scared, after Lith knocked down their leader with the headbutt, the only thing on their mind was to prevent him to use magic, so they rushed forward, not giving him time to recover.
The closest assailant tried to punch Lith in the face, to disrupt any casting he could attempt.
"60% of the human body is made of water. I can be formless like water."
Lith's left arm, imbued with water magic, coiled around his opponent's right arm like a snake.
"The body burns calories to produce heat and energy. I can be destructive like fire!"
Fire magic burned through his muscles, granting Lith short bursts of explosive strength. By flexing his left arm, Lith broke the immobilized limb in three points, elbow, ulna and radius, while his right fist hit the opponent on the nose, pulverizing it.
The pain made the boy faint, his nose bleeding profusely.
The remaining two fell into panic, and tried to run away.
"Nerves, synapsis all the information and orders in the body are transmitted via electrical impulse. I can be fast as lightning!"
Lith imbued all his body with air magic, becoming fast enough to blink in front of them, punching both in the gonads at the same time.
All of his opponents were down, sobbing in pain or fainted.
Lith spit a mouthful of blood, while contemplating the results of his last experiment.
"Seems that this new magic puts too much strain on my body. Maybe I'm too young, maybe I took too much damage, whatever. I have all the time in the world now."
"I need to decide what to do with you motherf**kers." Lith said while using light magic to heal his internal injuries.
"It may take a while, but you'll get my undivided attention. Enjoy your stay."
Lith sat on the couch, his left hand on the chest, performing the healing.
The right one was open in front of him, releasing five streams of lightning that enveloped the five boys like tendrils, making them scream with agony.
Chapter 20 Break Ups
The original plan was to kill them all, erase the evidence and then make Orpal have an "unfortunate accident". As Lith calmed down, however, he realized that it was an idiotic plan full of holes.
"If five young men disappear suddenly in a sleepy village like Lutia, it is bound to cause a commotion. Also, Orpal knows they were here. Once he discovers they are nowhere to be found, he could come too close to the truth for comfort.
I don't want to give him any kind of leverage on me. There is also the possibility that these blockheads shared their plan with their siblings. Killing is the wrong answer here, too many things can go spiralling out of control. Worst of all, if I make Orpal disappear too, the whole family would worry and grieve for him. Most certainly I don't want to turn him into a f*cking martyr! I want him to pay. To suffer for his whole f*cking life!"
While in deep thought, Lith would release streams of lighting from his right hand, keep the spell active for a couple of seconds, then give his assailants a few moments of relief before zapping them again.
They had already lost control of their bladder and bowels multiple times. When they were not writhing in pain, they were sobbing and begging for mercy.
"I can't let off this trash easily either. Always remember to pause between lashes. The short interval without pain fills them of false hope that it's finally over, making the next hit more painful than the previous. To punish them is not enough, I want to break them!"
There were too many variables. Lith was sick of running circles, so he decided to resort to an modified version of his very first plan, back on Earth.
"Those guys were trash too. I wonder how they reacted after my death, when the photos got leaked all over the internet with their names tagged."
Lith had a cruel smile at the thought of his revenge, backstabbing them after so many years.
With a final spell, Lith made the five lose consciousness and started arranging their bodies with spirit magic.
"I must keep both spirit and fusion magic a secret, so I need to create a stage from which I could end up a winner with just normal magic. An encirclement is too much for a five-year old, I'll fan them out."
He put back the wooden stick in the hand of his owner, making sure it was smeared with blood.
Lith was arranging the final details, when he heard someone calling his name from afar.
"Sh*t! I took too much time thinking. My family must have sent someone looking for me. This screws up a good part of my plan, dammit. I must play it by ear and hope they did not send Orpal, or it's going to get ugly."
Lith looked through a window, spotting Elina approaching Selia's house with long and fast strides.
"Good, it's mom! Rena or dad would have been better, but I can work with this."
When she got close enough, Lith responded to her call with a moan, slowly opening the door while begging for help.
Elina started running with all her strength, and once inside what she saw was bone chilling. There was blood everywhere, teeth on the ground and Lith was almost unrecognizable.
He was losing blood from multiple injuries. His face was swollen to the point that his eyes were barely visible amidst all the black and blue.
Lith was holding his left arm like it was hurt, and just by talking he could make her notice his bleeding gums and missing teeth.
"Mom! Mom! Thank the gods it's you." Lith voice was distorted by the injuries into a lisp. "I was so afraid they would get up before I could call for help. They tried to kill me, mom, and I have not the strength to fight anymore."
Elina quickly embraced him, feeling him yelp and shivering from the pain caused by even such a gentle touch.
"My baby! My poor baby. Who did this to you?" The two of them started to cry at the same time. Elina because she was scared to death, Lith because while in his mother's embrace he could finally allow himself to vent all his rage and fears.
"Orpal! It's all Orpal's fault! These are all his friends They even told me their plan when they thought I was about to die!"
Elina was shocked by those words, refusing to believe such a terrible thing. But those five really were Orpal's closest friends. One of them, Rizel, was even holding his grandfather's wooden stick, and it was stained with blood.
Elina looked at Lith's head, easily spotting the bruises and cuts shaped after the cane.
"Why would they assault you otherwise? And how could they possibly know that today Selia was out of town?" Elina thought out loud.
Among the sobbing and crying, Lith was inwardly smiling. Feeding her facts was a last resort, it would have a much deeper impact if she put the pieces together by herself.
"Can't you heal yourself, even a little bit?" Elina's voice was full of worry, her son's condition seemed dire. Lith was expecting this question.
"Now that I had the time to recover, I could. But I won't."
"Why?" That answer made no sense to her, Elina started worrying his injuries were affecting his mind.
"Because when you and dad decide what to do with Orpal, I want you to take a good look of what he did to me!" Lith screamed, coughing a mouthful of blood from a wound he had reopened on purpose.
"Orpal has always hated me! Always will! No matter if I help you all with chores or your health. He does not care how much game I bring to the table or money to our house, nothing is ever enough for him!" Lith kept screaming and sobbing.
"Am I such an awful son, such a terrible brother to deserve this?" Lith hugged her with all of his strength, bawling his eyes out.
Elina was at loss for words, but only for a moment. She held her son tightly, raising him up from the ground and carrying him back home.
Then she brought the whole family to Selia's house to let them witness the scene with their own eyes. The matter was too serious, she could not hide it from her children.
When Orpal saw Lith, he became pale as a ghost. Elina refused to call him by his name, and if glares could kill, he was certain that she would make him leave the fields feet first.
"What the heck went wrong? Those morons knew the plan! They had only to rough him up. Teach him respect and humility. But most importantly to force him to shut his f*cking mouth up! Now my stupid parents will never let me hear the end of it."
And when he saw all the blood on the floor, with his friends still there and out cold, he felt his life falling apart.
As soon as Elina let him do it, Raaz embraced Lith before checking his conditions. After that he looked around the room, easily recognizing the five culprits.
"Rena, go call their parents. Take Tista with you, I don't want her to hear what I am about to say." Raaz was even paler than Orpal, clenching his fists so hard that they started to bleed.
Elina had whispered to him only three words after coming back with Lith.
"Orpal did it." In the beginning, he had refused to believe that one of his beloved children could do something like that, but the truth appeared so horrifyingly simple to his eyes.
No one outside of the family knew that Lith worked for Selia. No one else could possibly know that exactly on that day and time Lith would be left alone in Selia's house.
But the most painful and irrefutable truth was that no one but Orpal could possibly resent Lith so much. He barely knew anyone outside of his family and their closest friends.
Lith had always been working so hard to help all of them, especially Tista, that he never had the time to make friends or enemies.
Raaz felt those thoughts ripping his heart out of his chest, but he had to know.
"Did you do it?" Raaz looked Orpal straight in the eyes.
A terrible silence fell in the room, revealing the truth that Raaz was trying so hard to deny, looking for a possible alternative explanation.
But there wasn't any.
"How, how could you possibly do this to your brother?" Tears were streaming from his eyes.
"Dad, I swear, it's not like you think! I can explain!" Orpal mind was desperately trying to find a plausible excuse.
"Is there anything to explain?!?" Raaz roared out of anger.
"Aren't those your friends?"
"Yes, but…"
"It wasn't you telling them what to do? It wasn't you planning how, when and where to ambush Lith? Causing him to be almost beaten to the death? In the gods' name how could you possibly explain all that?"
"Because that wasn't the plan! They didn't listen to me, just like you! You never listen to what I say! You never let me have my way, always siding with Leech and the cripple. You are never on my side! Never!"
"They got carried away? Is that your explanation?!?" Raaz didn't know if to laugh or cry.
"Do you mean that ambushing and beating your brother, my son, is perfectly fine as long they do it with moderation?" He raised his fist, tempted to give Orpal a taste of his own medicine, but Elina stopped him.
"Too much blood has already been shed today. Don't do it. You'd only harm yourself, he is beyond saving." Elina was crying too, but her face and tone were stone cold. She had already made up her mind.
Raaz was too broken to stand anymore, he needed to sit down on a chair, weeping.
"You are right, my love. I have lost count of the times I have tried to make him understand that respect is something that you must give before receiving it yourself. That we were his parents, not his friends. We are supposed to help our children understand their mistakes, not enabling them. The gods know if I haven't tried to teach him that his siblings were not his servants, that a man's authority lies in the responsibilities he shoulders, not how strong he is. I know I have not been a perfect father, but I did the best that I could. I don't know what to do with him anymore, Elina." Raaz wiped his own tears, looking for his wife's support.
"I agree. Even now he doesn't show any remorse. He never loved his brother, stealing his food and calling him names even before Lith was able to walk. He is clearly unable to understand the enormity of what he did. I believe that if we allow this to continue, he will do it again. If not to Lith, to Tista. And I'm not going to let him doing more harm to our family."
She held Raaz's hand tight, searching for the strength she needed.
"I think we should disown him. Strip him of his name and report him together with his accomplices for attempted murder to the village militia."
"Thanks, my love." Raaz had no more tears to cry, his resolve steeled like his voice.
"I don't think I had in me the strength to say it."
Chapter 21 Revelations
After those words, Orpal fell to his knees. His world was crumbling beneath his feet. All he knew, all he had planned and dreamed about, had disappeared in the space of a single word.
Disown.
It meant that he was dishonourably banished from his own family, leaving him with nothing he could call as his own. He had just become a nameless, penniless orphan.
When the parents of the other boys arrived, things escalated quickly. Seeing their boys broken and unconscious in a foreign house, stinking of their own feces and urines, they demanded for an explanation.
They were all long-time friends, so it was easy for Raaz making them calm down enough to have a civil conversation.
"You" Raaz ordered the nameless one "explain what you did."
Despite being still shocked, he was already angry enough to return to his old self.
"If I must go down, I'll bring them all with me. We'll share the same destiny, so I won't be alone. I refuse to be the only one to pay for this!" He thought.
The nameless one confessed that he had always hated his brother, and how he had planned to teach him discipline and respect with the help of his friends.
When he had finished, everyone in the room was appalled, refusing to believe those words. They had always known Orpal as a good, kind young man.
"Lith, can you tell us what happened here exactly?"
Lith acted like he was reluctant to leave his mother's embrace, and after a dramatic moment of pause, he stepped forward. He made sure of limping and holding his left arm, while wincing with pain at every step.
"As you all know, my family has a lot of expenses, and my sister is ill. So, since I am quite talented in chore magic, Selia pays me to clean her house too. I give the money to my parents, to help them make ends meet."
"I have carefully picked the words for this speech." Lith thought. "If they don't feel pity and compassion for a beaten up five years old after this sob story, these guys are full blown psychos."
"Today miss Selia is out of town, so I was alone in here when your sons suddenly barged in and started beating me." He held out his arms, turning around to let them see how battered he was.
"I tried to defend myself, like my dad taught me, but they were too big and too strong." Lith started sobbing again. "I had to use magic to defend myself, I was so scared! I really thought I was going to die." He returned between Elina's embrace, weeping non-stop.
"Poor kid." Said Bromann, Rizel's father, picking up the wooden stick from his son's hand. "This piece of trash even dared using his grandfather's only memento. Elina, Raaz, Lith, I offer you my most sincere apologies. I have failed as a man and as a father, to raise such a snake in the grass. Whatever is your decision, I will comply without questions. But first…"
Bromann splashed Rizel's face with a bucket of dirty water to get him conscious.
He needed to hear the truth from his own son. He still could not fully believe even his own eyes.
"D… dad? What are you doing here?" Rizel held his chin that was throbbing with pain, when he suddenly recalled what had happened.
All the eyes were on him, including Lith's. The same cold eyes, glowing with blue energy Lith had before unleashing lightnings.
"I make the questions, young man. And if you don't want another beating or worse, you'd better tell the truth. What in the gods' names were you all doing here?"
Terrified by both his father and his tormentor, Rizel could only say the truth.
One after the other, the four remaining boys were woken up and forced to tell the whole story. One of them tried to expose Lith's torture, but his father made him shut up with a strong slap in the face.
"Five against a little kid and you have the gall to blame him for going all out? Our families are friends from generations, your actions dishonoured us all! When we get back home, I will show you what real torture is!"
"What a moron!" Lith laughed inwardly. "Their credibility is less than zero, they can tell whatever they want. It will only appear as the pathetic excuse of a criminal caught red handed."
"Raaz, what do you want us to do?" Bromann asked.
"I am going to disown Orpal, and then report all of them for attempted murder. I won't ask anything from you. We all know how hard is being a parent, especially in moments like this. I just wanted you to hear it from me, before I go to the village chief."
"I will not disown my son. Not yet at least." Bromann said. "But I can promise you that I will do nothing to defend him in any way from the consequences of his actions. And when he will be back home, I will make sure that he will never have the opportunity to harm your family again!"
So, they all went to Lutia, where the village chief listened to the six boys' confessions before pronouncing the sentence.
"After hearing all the facts and testimony, I hereby sentence the six of you to four hours of pillory, where you will be shaved of all your hair and whipped ten times for your crimes. After that, you will spend three days in jail to reconsider your actions.
Any objections?" All those present shook their heads.
"I have a question." Lith said.
"For me or for the prisoners, young man?"
"For them. Can I?"
"But off course. Ask them whatever you want."
Lith nodded, and moved in front of Rizel.
"Did Trion know?"
"Off course he did!" Orpal screamed. "He is always stood by my side, unlike you, Leech." Lith ignored him.
"Did he?"
"No." Rizel looked at Orpal with eyes filled with disgust. "We planned everything when we were alone. Orpal said that he did not trust Trion enough. That Trion is a spineless coward, and that he feared that he could rat us out."
"Thanks." Lith then spoke to the village chief again. "Could you please reduce his sentence? His sincerity helps my whole family, it clears our doubts and my brother's name as well."
"But off course! If the victims asks for mercy, how could I possibly refuse? Rizel will only receive five lashes, and after the pillory time has passed, his family is free to bring him home. Is that okay for you?"
Lith nodded, and Bromann shook Lith's hand while his wife was weeping with joy.
"Thanks, Lith. That means a lot for my poor Lisa. I will not forget your kindness. I'm sure you'll become a great man, just like your father."
Lith was completely satisfied with that outcome.
"I didn't know that disowning a son, especially the firstborn, was possible. Everything went even better than I imagined. Orpal's friends can't wait to get some alone time in jail with him, and once his sentence is over, he is doomed. Either someone from the village adopts him, something that I find hard to believe, or he will be deported to the nearest orphanage. I hoped to get rid of Trion too, but maybe that's for the best. I don't think my parents can bear losing two sons at once. And between their happiness and getting even with that idiot, they come first by a landslide."
The following days were really hard for Raaz, Elina and Trion. The couple needed quite some time before overcoming their grief.
It was really hard for them to accept that the kind and bright boy that they brought up for almost twelve year was gone forever. Even worse, they started to suspect that the Orpal they knew never really existed.
Thinking back about all the bad things he did and said over the years, he might as well have been deceiving them all along,
Trion was the one having the hardest time. He had lost his favourite sibling and his family's trust at the same time. Despite Rizel had cleared his name, the suspicions remain. How could he have been so close to Orpal and yet never noticing anything?
"I can't blame them. In their shoes I too would think of me as either a liar or a complete idiot." Trion didn't know if to laugh or cry.
Lith, Rena and Tista, instead were having the time of their life, even if they did their best to avoid their parents to notice.
They would get more and better food, clothes and they did not have to tolerate Orpal's mean words and petty jokes anymore. Plus, there were all the gifts that five families sent them as an apology.
Both the girls had stopped considering Orpal as a brother from the day he had proposed to get rid of Tista, calling her a cripple.
Lith was above and beyond them, he never considered him his brother. His only worry was for his parents, so he tried to lessen their burden as much as he could.
Lith's magic was now strong enough that he could till and plough the fields with earth magic.
He could also hunt for much bigger preys, his aim set to deer, boars and bear, whose pelt could be sold for a pretty penny.
The time for the spring festival was nearing, and Lith wanted some extra pocket money to buy something nice for his parents and sisters. Trion was still a stranger to him.
The spring festival was held midspring, during the equinox, to celebrate the time when the light finally overcame the darkness and cold of winter.
Lith was happily playing around the Trawn woods, looking for the best opportunity to kill a huge boar.
"Dammit, it's neck and skin are too thick to break with my current level of spirit magic. Fire and thunder could easily put it down, but that would mean damaging either the pelt or the meat. I need to get creative."
The boar movements were easy to predict, since it would always charge in a straight line By using air fusion, Lith's body was fast enough to dodge the charges with ease, as long as he managed to prevent the beast from coming too close.
"When an ox went mad, my father told me that the best way to put it down is to strike at the legs, instead of the head. Once you take away their mobility, beasts like this one are easy prey."
At the next charge, Lith conjured a thick layer of ice before dodging. When the boar stepped on it, it lost its footing, spinning on itself like a top.
The boar crashed against the huge oak Lith had aligned it with, its bones snapping on impact. Lith closed in enough to not miss his next shot, but always keeping a safe distance.
"A cornered prey is the most dangerous one. Always respect the prey, never underestimate it. It only needs one hit to kill you." Lith remembered Selia's teachings.
Lith made a finger gun, aligning it with his target before shooting an ice arrow that penetrated in the boar's right eye, puncturing its brain.
The beast collapsed on the ground, but Lith shot another arrow in the left eye too, just to be on the safe side.
"Okay, dead it's dead. Now the problem is how the heck do I carry it out of the woods? My spirit magic may not be enough to carry a several hundred kilograms dead animal all the way until Selia's house. And even if I actually manage to do it, how can I explain it?"
Lith was nervously tapping with a finger on a nearby tree, trying to find a solution before having to fight to defend his game, when the dead animal suddenly disappeared.
"What the f*ck?!? Since when do boars vanish into thin air? Who's there?"
He promptly activated Life Vision, scanning the surroundings in search of his enemy, but the only living beings he could find were small birds and rodents.
"Okay, this is getting creepy, but I need to get my boar back."
The boar appeared back, very close to Lith, making him jump away in fright.
"Why are you messing with me? Who are you?" Lith screamed while checking out the best escape route.
"And invisible enemy could easily kill me. Screw the boar, I need to get out of here fast." He thought.
"There is no need to escape." A gentle feminine voice replied in his mind. "I'm not your enemy, my host."
"Okay, if you want to scare the sh*t out of me, you're doing a great job. What do you mean with host? Where the heck are you?" Lith kept looking around, the enemy somehow was untraceable even by his magical senses.
"Stop looking around, host. I'm here were you put me. Around your neck."
Lith instinctively grabbed the pouch and threw it away. He could finally notice that both the life force and the mana flow of the stone were bigger than ever.
Lith had always kept it in a blind spot, and since it was useless, he forgot to check it with Life Vision since the day of the ambush.
"Okay, I hate riddles. Tell me who or what you are, or I'll leave. As much as it pains me losing such a game, it's not worth having a creepy, mysterious stone talking in my head 24/7."
"Please, don't!" To voice turned desperate. "I'll die without my host."
"Enough with the riddles!" Lith screamed out loud. "What the f*ck are you?"
"Our minds are linked, it's easier to show rather than tell."
Suddenly Lith's mind was filled with images and memories that were not his own. He could have thought of having been teleported away, if the images weren't full of holes, allowing to still see part of the woods through them.
"I'm sorry, but my powers are almost depleted, this is the best I can do."
Lith could see a gigantic tower, whose vault was so deep to reach the bottom of the ocean, it's top so high to touch the sky. He could perceive that the whole structure was a giant magical artifact, pulsing with mana.
At some point, the owner of the tower had died, and without his/her mana to nourish its core, the tower began to decline. Centuries passed, while the tower kept looking for its next host, using illusions to send away those it deemed not talented enough or unworthy.
Over time, the tower spent all his powers, and to avoid death it had been forced to an extreme sacrifice.
To prolong its existence, it started to consume its own walls, floors, everything within itself, even its memories.
More centuries had passed, now only the tower core was left, barely the size of a pebble. It had nothing left, except its sense of self. Preferring death rather than becoming a mindless tool, the tower core attempted a desperate gamble.
It sent a signal that any being with the bare minimum magical powers to sustain its life could perceive. The clock was ticking, every second that passed, the tower core could feel its life slip away.
When the one answering the call resulted to be a Ry, the tower core had tried to communicate with no results. The beast mind was too different from the first host, making the mind link impossible.
Hope was lost, the tower core could only wait for its end.
But then a saviour arrived, saving the tower core from the beast's maw, using his own blood to bond himself with the tower core, right before it fell into a deep slumber to recover from its wounds.
The images disappeared, leaving Lith alone with the pouch and the dead boar.
Lith's mind was overwhelmed, incapable of any thought outside stupid jokes.
"Does that make us married or what?"
Chapter 22 The Stone’s Real Worth
"Why do you say that?"
"Well, back on my world, being bonded for life with someone you would not have any intimacy was the joke definition of marriage."
"That's funny." The voice chuckled. "And also kind of sad."
"Never mind the jokes. Let me get this straight: you once were a mighty artifact, full of treasures and knowledge. But now everything you had and knew is lost, and you are dimished to the size of a marble. Am I missing something?"
"No, all your statements are correct."
"Also, you did not pick me because of my talent or virtue, but simply because I possess, and I quote 'the bare minimum magical powers to sustain your life'. That makes me nothing more than an off-brand life support system."
"That is not exact. I am now bonded with you until your death do us part."
"That sounds more and more like marriage." Lith grunted.
"I am no parasite, you can see me as a symbiote. We will both benefit from our relationship."
"How? Are you saying that if you manage to get your strength back, you will also recover your memories and magical artifacts?"
"No, those are lost forever. I'm just like you. When you grow up, can you spit back the food you have eaten in the past to pass it on someone else? No. The same applies to me."
"Then what's in for me? The pleasure of your company?"
"At the moment all I can offer you is a pocket dimension."
"Say what?"
"One moment, I'm looking at your memories to make it easier to understand. It works like a Dungeons & Looting's Bag of Keeping."
"That's interesting." Lith pondered. "An interdimensional space where I can store my stuff without being hindered by its weight. How big is this pocket dimension?"
"Ten cubic metres big. It can store anything that amounts up to such volume, no matter the weight, as long as it's something inanimated."
A cruel intuition flashed in Lith's eyes.
"Can it also store things like lightnings, fireballs or incoming arrows? If so, it would be an invaluable tool for both offense and defence."
"No." The voice killed Lith's hopes. "The pocket dimension is outside space and time, so it rejects both life and kinetic energy." Feeling its host disappointment, the voice added quickly.
"This also means that whatever you store will not rot, cool down or warm up. A roasted blinker would be kept hot and tasty, frozen in the moment you finished cooking it."
"That barely qualifies as a silver lining." Despite their chat was quite long, it was only happening inside their minds. Barely a second had passed after Lith had accessed to the stone memories.
"Whatever. At least you save me from my current predicament. Now I know how to bring the boar back, I just need a decent excuse to explain how I managed it."
The stone mind-shrugged.
"Keep it simple. Drop it to the edge of the woods, and tell Selia that you managed to kite it to that spot before killing it. It should be easier to believe that the truth."
Lith nodded.
"Resourceful and smart. The fact that our minds are linked still creeps me out, but thanks to that I can see you have no malice or hidden agenda towards me. If you really are what you say to be, I'll keep you. True loyalty is a too rare commodity to turn it down when you find it. So, until I am convinced of your good faith, consider yourself on probation."
Lith put the pouch back at his neck and the boar in the pocket dimension.
"By the way, I can't keep calling 'you' and 'stone'. Don't you have a name?"
"No." The voice sounded really sad. "It's lost, like everything else."
"Don't be a pouter. A name is just a name. You can call me Derek, Lith, host, CZ DELTA, whatever. I'll always be the same cynic, misanthropic, lying, cutthroat guy I have always been. Would you like me to name you?"
"Yes, please." Lith had it ready since he heard the tower core's story.
"You are supposed to be a great artifact, so I'll name you after the greatest, albeit fictional, magical forgemaster that I always admired when I was a kid. Solus."
"Thank you, Lith. I like how it sounds. And I really appreciate you named me after someone you loved, rather than give me a pet name like Happy or Lucky."
Lith had the odd feeling Solus was mind-blushing.
They spent all the time on the way back chatting. Lith was really interested in understanding the limits and use of his new partner skillset.
After assessing that both Lith and Solus could activate the pocket dimension, he proceeded to pick the right spot. It needed to be close enough to the edge of the woods and covered enough to make spotting the boar from a distance impossible.
"There are countless things that can go wrong leaving a dead animal alone, even for a few minutes. A passerby that then claims it's his kill, a scavenger believing to have lucked out a free meal, take your pick. With my luck, I never trust the odds."
"You trust no one." Solus turned to a flat tone.
"You bet. That's life rule #1. Rule #2 is 'No good deed goes unpunished'."
Lith then used earth and wind magic to mess up the surroundings, mimicking the signs of struggle left by his previous fight with the boar.
"Bah! All this effort and I get such a sloppy result. If Selia throws a second glance at this scene, she'll expose my lie. I can only hope the prize catches her eyes enough to not make any question."
He then gently dropped the pouch on the ground.
"As soon as you receive my signal, take the boar out the pocket dimension. I'll be back in a jiffy."
Without waiting for a reply, Lith started running at full speed towards Selia's house. Once out of their mind link range (10 metres/10.9 yards), Lith could finally breathe a sigh of relief.
"Dammit, leaving her like that was d*ck move. She surely knows the real reasons why I did it. It's hard to accept someone else in your head, reading every single of your most embarrassing thoughts and memories. Not to mention that in D&L every sentient artifact was usually a bag full of troubles, trying to mind-control the owner or something. I know that it's just fiction, but still…
What if I just stumbled in this world's Lone Ring, like in Vasyli Bolkien's books?"
Lith shrugged his head, his body covered in cold sweat.
"I bet that as soon we are back together, she will have access to this inner monologue too. F*ck my life. No pain, no gain. If she really is what she says, she's worth the risk. At least I'll have someone who finally knows the real me."
A few minutes later, Selia and Lith were approaching the drop spot, riding the two-horse cart she used to move around the heaviest goods.
"Is it really that big to require two horses?" She asked sceptically.
"I think one should be enough to move it once it's loaded. The second is necessary to drag it on the cart easily."
Once Lith and Selia jumped down their ride, he gave Solus the signal. Selia detached the horses, guiding them by the bridle.
Lith took with him the thick ropes necessary to make a harness for the boar, making it easy for the horses to drag it out of the woods and into the cart.
When Selia saw the game with her own eyes, she whistled with approval.
"Good gods! This thing must be around 300 kilograms (661 pounds)! You weren't boasting as usual."
"I never boast." Lith used spirit magic to stealthily recover the pouch, while Selia was engrossed sizing the beast.
"Please, all men do." Selia clicked her tongue. "You are not an exception. With all your magic and secrets, do you want me to believe you do not enjoy your short, dark and teethless act?" She added laughing out loud.
"It's not my fault I have a lisp now!" Lith was pissed off by her non-stop mockery of his new voice. "Will you ever let me hear the end of it?"
"I'm sorry, I really am. It's just that your tough boy attitude is even more hilarious now that you have a lisp." The first time she had heard him call her "Phelia", she had laughed hard enough to fall from her chair, hugging her belly.
"Judging from its size, it was really close to become a magical beast. We could have sold it for a much bigger sum, it's kind of sad." She sighed.
"Yeah, and if it was a magical beast, I would be much deader now." Lith rebuked.
They kept bickering until the boar was safe and sound on the cart.
Only once they got back to her house and started bleeding out the game, Selia got her business attitude back.
"The most valuable piece is the head. If we can find a noble willing to stuff it, hang it over his fireplace and take the credit for the kill, we can sell it really well. The pelt and the meat are nothing special, do you have any plans about them?"
Lith nodded. "All this meat will allow me to skip hunting for a while, so I prefer to keep and maturate it. As for the pelt, it should make a nice carpet for my parents' bedroom."
"Always a family boy, huh?" Selia ruffled his hair, this time there was no mockery in her voice. "I'm so proud of you being so considerate toward your family that I'll tan it for free. I still get half of the head price, though."
"Perfect."
"Good! Our best shot is with Count Lark himself. He is both loaded and very proud of his hunting skills. I must reach my contacts in his manor to test the waters. Fingers crossed!"
Lith suffered at the idea of losing so much money, but half was better than nothing. He didn't know how to tan pelts or stuff heads, and lacked both time and instruments to do it.
And even if he did, he had no way to sell the merchandise outside his little village.
After Lith left Selia, he and Solus started chatting again, feigning ignorance about each other's feelings.
"Solus, I think that your help will be invaluable to bring my martial arts training to the next level."
Chapter 23 Heart to Hear
Until that moment, Lith's martial training had had been really sloppy. Despite all his efforts, in a whole year of practice he had barely managed to regain the skill level of a 4th kyu of aikido (the equivalent of an orange belt for karate).
The only aspects he had managed to step up to the 3nd kyu (the equivalent of a green belt for karate) were the footwork and the fall techniques, and that because the initial progression depended completely on him.
Without a sparring partner, someone that could watch his moves and help him correct his mistakes, there was only so much that he could do.
He could either make a mud dummy move or train himself, he was not at the point that he could do both at the same time. Making a rough mud doll perform human like movements required a lot of concentration.
That meant that he could only put the dummies in position and then practice while they were once again still. Lith's body was even clumsier that his original one back on Earth, to make real progress he needed to be hit, to be thrown around, to practice all his moves on a moving target.
But Lith couldn't ask for help from anyone. How could he possibly explain that he wanted to practice alien martial arts? What help could anyone give him, not even knowing the basics of the basics? That's why he usually practiced in the middle of the night.
And Solus was the perfect solution for his problem. After further merging their minds, they had discovered new uses for the tower core. Lith had just to plant her into a mud doll to turn it into a quasi-golem, finally getting his sparring partner.
Solus had all the human senses and more, and with Lith permission, she could consume his mana to perform spells he knew in his stead. Her nature was that of a magic tower, she was supposed to overseer countless floors and devices.
Even in her weakened state, moving a poor excuse of a mud golem was easier than pie. Solus further improved Lith's idea, managing to make the golem's body soften at the right times, before hitting or being hit. This way she was able to put enough strain on Lith's body to train it, and avoid any possible injury by accident.
She also had access to all his memories, including all of his masters' teachings. Solus was able to use those memories to correct Lith's mistakes and help him improve by leap and bounds.
Thanks to Invigoration, Lith was now able to stay awake for a whole month before his performances started declining, forcing him to rest. So, thanks to Solus, whenever he would meet a bottleneck, he would train martial arts.
He only needed to take a short break when the fatigue became too much. Light magic would mend his muscles, making them recover and grow stronger in a matter of minutes, dissipating the accumulated lactic acid at the same time.
During those moments, Lith and Solus would chat heart to heart.
"So, what do you plan to do in the future? Why do you put so much effort in all this training? Magic, martial arts, hunting. Why don't you stop from time to time, just for smelling the roses?" Solus asked.
"Whenever I do stop, I start thinking about the future. And that scares me to death. I already know that death is a trap, forcing me to switch one hell with another.
I don't want to live all my life in a small village, just the idea is equivalent to the death penalty. Doing the same routine every day, in a prison without bars where I am forced to lie every single day, waiting to die and start all over again.
I can't bear this thought. My plan is to test this body's limits, get as strong as I can, so that once I reach adulthood, I will be able to explore this world, and see if it's worth living in.
If either this body or this world meet my expectation, I will strive all my life to find a way to prevent me passing into another world after my death."
"How?"
"I don't know, I'm still as ignorant as a baby about magic. All I know is its practical use, I have no idea if it's possible to create magical artifacts.
But if my hypothesis is right, I could become a lich. Even better, I could find a way to bind my soul to this world, so that in case of death I would remain here, possessing the nearest available corpse. I hope that when push comes the shove, I will also have found a way to retain both my magic core and muscle memory."
"And what if both the world and your body fail you?"
"In that case, I would not mind starting my journey once again. If I have to live a sh*tty life in a sh*tty world, might as well depart early.
I'll keep moving around until I roll my 100, and get born as a perfectly healthy young master of a filthy rich family, a chosen one or whatever. Is just a matter of luck."
"What about your family? Are you going to abandon them like that?" Lith pondered seriously about that matter.
"Off course not. Making them lose their son, their brother for no reason, without even giving them a body to bury is too cruel, even for me. I'll stick around until my family needs me before checking out."
Solus giggled.
"Don't you see? Things are not actually all black and white as you make them. When you awoke in this world, you couldn't wait to die. To 'reroll' as you say.
Then you chose to stay for the magic. Now you are willing to continue this life for someone else's sake. Give yourself some time.
The bad people you met have reinforced your bias on life, but the good people are also slowly changing you. At the beginning you couldn't care less about Tista's life, now it's all you think about.
You hated both Elina and Raaz even before knowing them, because of your issues with parental figures. Thy are not your parents back on Earth, this planet is not Earth. Give it a chance before doing something so extreme."
"How do I know you are not telling me all this stuff only to keep your host?"
"Easy peasy, read my mind." After checking it thrice, Lith could not find any hidden agenda or egotistical reason.
"Dammit, all this mind-link stuff is so irritating. I cannot get out of this argument with mistrust or doubts. It's my loss. For now, at least. You are barely a month old, life will change you. It always does."
Solus giggled again.
"Or maybe it will change you, and you will start warming up to me. And then you will have to take care of me for your whole life, hubby."
Lith felt a cold chill run down his spine.
"Please, don't call me like that. I'm ready to go again. Don't go easy on me!"
"I never do." Solus replied, getting on Lith's already shaken nerves.
Thanks to all that exercise, Lith would quickly overcome any bottlenecks, and soon he could feel the bottled-up impurities trying to find their way out again.
Lith had pondered if it was the case of getting rid of the impurities in the same way he did for the rest of his family, but after discussing it with Solus, he decided not to.
The purification treatment he had devised for Tista was an artificial method, and even though it gave the same benefits in term of physical appearance and resistance to illness, their magic power and physical prowess never got enhanced.
Lith had no idea why the impurities had to travel to the mana core before getting expelled, inflicting such excruciating pain. But it was worth the cost.
It happened during one of their sparring sessions. As soon as Lith realized what was happening, he quickly undressed himself to not taint his clothes.
This time he offered no resistance, discovering that it wasn't so painful after all.
Lith puked much more impurities than the last time, letting them came out of all his pores and orifices.
The stench was so bad he was about to faint before managing to destroy them with dark magic.
He was completely exhausted, this time not even invigoration could replenish his energies, he needed to sleep.
"After a bath. I stink so bad I could raise the dead." Solus ignored the obvious remark.
"It's exactly as you remembered. Whatever happens to you, is like a sword getting tempered and purified at the same time. Both your body and mana core had undergone qualitative changes again.
I think your potential skyrocketed, promoting you from my bare minimum requirements. You still need to work hard to develop it, though."
And so, Lith continued his routine until the day of the spring festival came.
Chapter 24 The Spring Festival
It was without a doubt the worst day of the year for Lith. He would be forced to spend the full afternoon away from home, surrounded by complete strangers and robbed of any privacy or personal space during the festivities.
All the families in the village would gather for the festival, forgetting about all their daily problems and miseries, since everything from decorations to food and drinks were paid by Count Lark.
He would also take part in the whole event, to keep his bonds with the community strong and maintain his reputation of a fair Lord, instead of being just a faceless guy who collected taxes making their lives even harder.
The festival was comprised of three parts.
The morning would still be spent like a normal day's work, to let foreigner merchants and carnies prepare their stands and arrange their merchandise.
In the evening the families would gather and check out the stands, searching for trinkets and jewellery to buy with their extra money to add them to their daughters' dowry.
The food would mainly consist of appetizers, like fresh fruit and vegetables, with skewers of different kinds of meat and even exotic food, brought by Count Lark for the occasion, like saltwater fishes and seafood.
The only drinks available would be water and light beer.
After the sunset, huge braziers and torches would be lit all around the village, while the Count's workers would prepare the stage for the festival main event, the election of the Spring Maiden.
All the girls fifteen and sixteen years-old could take part in the Spring Maiden contest, which was more like a debutante ball rather than a beauty pageant.
It was the opportunity for all the young maidens of marriageable age to show off their beauty and virtues, in hope to catch the attention of as many suitors as possible.
The judges of the Spring Maiden contest were always the same, Count Lark, the village chief and Nana.
After the election, the real food would be brought out, with lots of roasted animals, soups and caramelised fruits. Both pure and watered wines would be available, raising the spirits for the finale.
The last part consisted of a ball, encouraging the eligible bachelors to approach one or more maidens that may have caught their eye.
Each part would affect Lith's mood differently. The first would cause extreme boredom, tempered by the fact that he was still allowed of moving alone.
The second was akin to torture. He would be forced to sit on his father shoulders, staring for hours at a bunch of little girls he did not give a damn about.
The third was the best one, but only because it was very short. After some dancing, his parents were too tired to remain any longer, and would finally bring him back home. None of their children was yet of marrying age, so they had no reason to linger.
For the first time in his new life, Lith had some money in his pocket, so he could check out the carnival games that offered the best prizes.
"They cheat, I cheat. Let's play this fair and square."
Using spirit magic he won a beautiful stuffed bear for Tista, beating a ring toss game rigged by unbalanced rings. From a crossbow shoot game he got a silver coated hair comb for Rena. All he needed to do was to use two strands of spirit magic, one to guide the dart to his target, the second to force it to crumble. Last, but not least, a silk ribbon for his mother from a Wheel of Fortune stand.
The carnies were flabbergasted, but trying to bully a local child in front of so many villagers, not to mention Count Lark, would have earned them nothing more than the beating of a lifetime and a permanent ban from every event in the county of Lustria.
They started to keep an eye on him, but Lith was not greedy and left after getting the three prizes. He actually wanted something for Raaz too, but all they had were feminine products.
The carnies hoped to lure the young boys into wasting their money, trying to impress the girls with expensive presents they could not afford without gambling.
After distributing the presents, Lith searched for Nana, he wanted to have a chat about magic with an expert. He found her sitting on a bench near her house.
The first thing he did was looking at her with Life Vision. Her mana flow was way bigger than Lith's, but her life force was weaker than Tista's.
Nana was a over sixty years old woman, but she looked like an eighty-year-old Earth woman. Her back was so hunched that she needed a cane to walk properly.
She had sharp grey eyes, a face full of wrinkles and a big aquiline nose. Nana always wore a shawl over her head, to avoid her long grey hair bothering her during work.
At a first look she seemed an inconspicuous old lady, but when you got near, you could feel the raw strength exuding from her body.
"Must have had a rough life." Solus commented.
"Hello, Nana. How are you?" Lith asked politely.
"Hello to you, little imp. You sure are growing fast, aren't you?" Just like Elina had noticed back in winter, Tista and Lith were growing taller and slender than their peers. The same was happening to Rena too, after she had received Lith's treatment.
Lith was already over 1.1 meters (1'8'') high, his shoulders broad like he played water polo.
Lith nodded. "Yes, I do. Can I ask you a question?"
"As long it's not about my age, be my guest." Nana laughed.
"Nana, are you a strong magician?" Nana was surprised, the question not very childlike.
"Yes, I am. When I was still a young girl, I even got a scholarship for the prestigious Lightning Griffin academy, and I managed to graduate without any problem." Nana straightened up proudly, remembering her years of glory.
"Then how did you end up being a healer in Lutia?"
"How tactful of you, Lith!" Solus rebuked him.
"Children are allowed to be rude. It's one of their few privileges."
Nana's mood turned gloomy.
"You see, Lith, in this world there are commoners, nobles and mages. A strong mage has a status on par with the nobles, depending on his/her magic power. Back then I was very strong, but not a genius. Sadly, I was also stupid and naïve, so I made some very bad choices and ended up alone, without anyone backing me. I had only two options left. Either submit to a powerful noble or living free with the status of a healer. Guess what I picked?"
Lith became gloomy too, the idea of losing everything after working so hard for it made his future look even scarier.
"There, there kid!" Nana brightened up. "Let's not spoil the mood and enjoy the festival."
After leaving Nana alone, Lith thought back at her words about his growth, and stopped in front of a mirror on display, watching his reflection.
He could only sigh in resignation.
"No matter how many impurities I expel, I managed to fail even at the gene pool lottery. I took so much from my dad and so little from my mom.
When I look at myself while brooding, rather than cool I like some kind of psycho kid escaped from juvie. If I smile, now that I miss so many teeth, I'm not even cute. Even all dressed up, I could barely pass for a street urchin from one of Dicken's novels."
Solus tried to brighten him up, but to no avail.
Later in the evening, Count Lark introduced to the village elders his guest of honour.
"Chief Yurok, sage Nana, allow me to introduce you the young Ricker Trahan, son of my dear friend, baronet Lokar Trahan. This young lad is a really talented magician, that in the future will bring glory to our county." Count Lark was a magic enthusiast, always trying to sponsor promising youths from his land.
"Nice to meet you, young man." The village chief saluted him with a polite bow, expecting the other to offer him his hand or at least reply to the bow.
Ricker instead kept looking around, his eyes filled with contempt.
"The pleasure is mine." He replied with a cold tone.
"Ricker, where are your manners?" Count Lark rebuked him mildly. "Sage Nana was a powerful and renowned magician in her youth. Feel free to ask her for advice. Her experience could prove invaluable to overcome any difficulty you may encounter during your studies."
"I have no doubt about that, my Lord." Ricker bowed this time, but to Count Lark.
Nana had seen enough nobles in her life to recognize the type. A high and mighty young master, pampered enough to believe that only nobles could achieve greatness.
The people of the village were having a hard time tolerating so much disrespect towards their elders, but for the Count's sake they limited themselves to angry whispers.
"Oh, oh, oh! You got yourself another spunky one, dear Lark." Nana laughed without any warmth.
Ricker shuddered at such lack of respect, the old bat calling the Count by his first name without honorifics. But he knew that Lark was a sucker for magicians, and judging from her attitude, he had granted the old bat the right to do so.
"He has every right to be proud, dear Nana. Next year he will turn twelve and apply for a Lighting Griffon's academy scholarship, and with a little luck he will enrol just like you did back in the day!"
Ricker failed to repress his amazement, knitting his eyebrows at Nana.
"By the gods, how could such a commoner get admitted into the academy?" He thought. "She must have cheated her way in, no doubt."
"Really?" Replied Nana with exaggerated enthusiasm "Why don't you ask him to show us what he is capable of?"
Count Lark gladly accepted, and per his request soon was set up a one meter (3'3'') high stump with a head of lettuce on its top.
Ricker had to stay at least 10 metres (11 yards) away from it and knock it down. It was a very basic exercise for anyone who wanted to become a magician, often use to quickly get rid of unworthy candidates.
Only those with real talent for magic were able to use chore magic at such range. For normal people, magic had a range of a metre or two.
To learn something outside chore magic, one had to either enrol in a magic academy or buy very expensive books.
"Young man, do your best!" Count Lark's voice was full of enthusiasm.
Ricker had done that exercise countless times, but always alone. This time he was surrounded by commoners, clearly hoping to watch him fail and get the chance to ridicule him.
Even worst, count Lark was putting a lot of pressure on him. In Ricker eyes this wasn't a simple test, but a matter of life and death.
Feeling countless eyes on him, he lost his concentration while performing the hand signs and stuttered the magic word.
"I-Infiro!"
He produced a chestnut big fireball, that almost missed the lettuce. Yet with a small boom the head of lettuce got knocked off.
No one applauded except for count Lark.
More than one "That's it?" could be heard among the crowd.
Nana walked slowly to the vegetable, bringing it back for the Count to examine.
"He messed a few key hand signs, stuttered the magic word, and missed the lettuce entirely. It only got knocked off because of the explosion." Nana remarked coldly.
"I would not keep my hopes up, Lark. When I was his age, I was able to actually hit my target without performing signs nor using magic words. They admitted me only because of my perfect silent magic." Nana's grey eyes were staring at Ricker in contempt.
"Well, he is still young, that's why I brought him to you. He has another full year to prepare for the exam. There is still time to fix the small mistakes. I was hoping you could mentor him."
"I would be glad to, I really would. But between the villagers and my disciple, I already have my hands full. I'm too old to take care of two youths, and my apprentice takes precedence. As you know, a magician's word is her bond."
"You have an apprentice?" Count Lark was shocked no one had informed him about such critical matter.
"Yes." She nodded, smiling in Ricker face.
"He learned to read and write and the age of three, and by that time he had already learned chore magic all by himself."
"Marvelous!" Count Lark excitement was a slap in Ricker's face.
"Yeah, he is also my disciple." Selia stepped forward, adding fuel to the fire. She and Nana politely detested each other, but between her and a stuck-up obnoxious brat, she would always choose the devil she knew.
"He hunts in the Trawn woods from the age of four. Even if he can only hunt blinkers and critters, he would never miss a moving target, let alone some deadweight lettuce."
She then whispered to the count's ear: "He is actually the you-know-who that provided the you-know-what."
"Fantastic! Excellent! When can I meet him?" His monocle jumped out of his eye orbit from the happiness.
Ricker was on the verge of exploding out of anger.
"Can't he see they are just leading him by the nose? How can someone with such a high social status like the Count trust even one word from these commoners?
Lying and cheating is in their nature. They are just trash, trying to stoop us at their level to make themselves feel better about their pathetic lives! If that old bat is a magician, then I am the crowned prince.
Why do I have to bear with all her nonsense? And how come even a gut-stinking hunter can freely speak to a Count? This evening could not turn any worse. How the heck I managed to let my father convince me to come to this pigsty?"
"Here he is!" Bromann shouted triumphantly, forcefully dragging Lith by his arm.
He had no idea what was happening. Lith was with his family, nibbling at a caramelized apple, when Bromann appeared out of the blue, babbling about the village honour or something.
Too many eyes were on him, Lith's intuition told him that something was wrong, so he decided to play it close to the vest.
"Count Lark, I'm honoured to meet you." It didn't take a genius to understand that the overdressed beanpole with the monocle had to be the lord of the land.
Lith greeted him cupping his fist, performing a deep bow. He then proceeded greeting the village chief, Nana and Selia, making his bow deep according to the respect they deserved.
Lastly, he turned towards the ill looking kid standing next to the Count. He had to be around ten years old, 1.4 metres (4'8") high. He was wearing a silk white shirt over high-end leather pants. His face was all red and sweaty, like he had either run for his life or been bitten by a venomous snake.
The situation made no sense to Lith, but since no one seemed worried about the kid's health, Lith did what he was supposed to.
"Greetings, honourable guest. I hope you enjoy your visit in our village." Lith cupped his fist again, making only a small bow. He had no idea who that kid was, and Ricker could not find the strength to introduce by himself.
The Count seemed to have completely forgot about his existence.
"Oh, oh, oh!" Nana laughed. "See, Lark? Manners. That's something so many youngsters lack nowadays."
Lith kept looking around, waiting for someone to explain what was happening.
"Can I be of assistance?" He asked.
Ricker once again needed all his willpower to prevent himself from throwing a fit of rage.
"This is their prodigy? A toothless bum? I should ask the Count to whip them all to death for their blatant lies! Simply outrageous!"
"Yes, Lith." Selia stepped in again. "Count Lark loves magic in all its kinds and forms, and I was just telling him about how you kill blinkers without ruining even a feather. Would you mind to show him?"
She took out a wooden stick, holding it up for the Count and everyone else to see.
Lith sighed with relief.
"All this fuss for chore magic? They almost gave me a heart attack. If it's just to entertain some bored nobles, why not? If the village thrives, so will my family."
"Brezza!" After twirling twice his middle and medium finger, a small vortex enveloped the stick. Outwardly it was just like the ones every housewife used daily to clean their houses, but looking at it closely one could notice that it was actually two different vortexes, one spinning clockwise and the other counter clockwise.
This way the spell applied a huge strain to the stick in the point where the two vortexes connected, causing it to break almost instantly.
Lith had invented it after Selia had started bothering him too much about how he killed the blinkers. He could not show her spirit magic, so he came up with this trick.
Ricker wanted to rebut saying that Lith was standing barely a meter (1.1 yards) away from the stick, but even he knew how hard it was to use two different spells at the same time. He also knew that such an objection would be met by the old bat requesting him to do the same. And he had no idea how to.
Nana waved her hand, and a villager put another head of lettuce on the stump.
"Lith, be a dear and knock that out, please."
Lith was getting more and more confused. The Count now had stars in his eyes, looking at him like some mythical beast had descended from the heavens, while the noble kid was as pale as a ghost.
"What the heck is going on here? Why the Count is so engrossed by cheap magic? And why no one cares about that poor kid? Whatever he has is getting worse."
Lith shrugged before flickering his middle finger while saying: "Jorun!"
An ice dart hit the lettuce dead center, making it roll a few meters away.
"Without using hand signs!" The count gasped, his voice so faint that Lith could not hear him.
"One last thing, dear Lith. If you manage to indulge this poor old lady, I will treat you and all your family for free until you start your apprenticeship. Are you willing to humour me one last time?"
Lith had no need to think before accepting. Despite his best efforts, Tista still needed constant care. From time to time they had still to seek for Nana's help and it wasn't cheap.
Nana smiled, full of confidence enough for the both of them.
"Bromann, toss one of those as high as you can."
Bromann threw a head of lettuce with a lob shot, sending it about three meters (10") high. When it reached its peak, Nana made a simple gesture, cutting the air horizontally with her extended hand and fingers, conjuring ten ice darts.
Five struck its left side, five the right side. When the head of lettuce started falling, Nana cut the air again, this time vertically, splitting it evenly in four parts.
Then she simply opened her palm toward the sky, conjuring four small vortexes that brought down the four pieces slowly.
"Damn! Not only Nana's mana flow is still superior to mine, but her skill level is above and beyond my expectations. I could probably achieve the same result, but I'd need both hands and something more than just a casual wave of the hand.
Now I understand why everyone in the village holds her in such high regard. She is likely to be the reason why the village of Lutia is so peaceful. If she can do so much with simple chore magic, I can't imagine what she can do with a real spell." Lith thought.
"Now is your turn. Bromann!"
Another head of lettuce, another lob shot.
Lith knew it wasn't a contest, he wasn't supposed to perform as good as Nana.
Until Lith could get a clear picture of how much talent was considered good, how much to be considered a genius level and how much for the "burn that monster" label, he had to play it safe.
When the shot reached his peak, Lith made hands signs with both hands shouting "Jorun!", conjuring four ice darts, two per side. When the lettuce started to fall, he used "Brezza" to cut it unevenly in half, using it again to summon two vortexes to bring the pieces down. Once again, they were rotating in opposite directions, the phenomenon highlighted by the slowly spinning lettuce.
"In for a penny in for a pound. They already know I can do it, if I have to entertain the Count, might as well do it with a little swag."
The crowd exploded into an applause, soon joined by and ecstatic Count Lark that still could not believe his own eyes.
Nana sent Lith away to his parents, reassuring him that she would keep her side of the bargain, before speaking again to Ricker Trahan.
"And that, young man, is what real talent for magic look like!"
Ricker could not hear her, thought. Back when Nana had showed her skill, he had fainted standing up.
His mind could not accept that all the certainties he had grew up with, had proven to be nothing more than convenient lies.
Chapter 25 Ambush
After the end of the spring festival, nothing major happened, and Lith's life returned to his usual routine.
Solus proved to be of invaluable help for his magical training. Despite having lost all her past knowledge and being quite naïve in the ways of life, she was by far the brighter of the two.
Solus was not limited to the humans' five senses, but actually had twelve. Solus was certain that by regaining her powers she would be able to awaken even more.
Solus' sense of mana helped Lith to better understand the laws of magic that determined the innate talent and the mana capacity.
Her mana sense was similar to Lith's Life vision, but much more profound and accurate. Solus could see the mana flowing even from blades of grass or pebbles. When looking at someone, she was immediately able to grasp their magic talent.
Even more important, she was able to use her mana sense even on Lith's memories. According to Solus, all the information needed for the mana sense were also contained in the visible spectrum, but the humans lacked the means to interpret them.
"When you were on Earth, you had no mana core. Your native world had basically no mana at all. The same thing happened on the alien spaceship.
But when you were born here, you started with a very little blood red mana core. By absorbing and processing the world energy with your breathing technique, you managed to develop it from red to orange."
"Four years of unrelenting practice just to promote it to the next rank?" Lith was quite depressed by the news.
"Not quite. Your mana core also keeps changing and developing as you grow up, and this happens to everyone else too. At the moment of your birth, Tista's mana core was already field poppy red, and turned brighter every year. Right now it's light orange, and it would not surprise me if after her final growth spurt it turned yellow, or even green. She seems to be fairly talented for magic."
"And that where does it leave me?" Lith kept feeling worse about himself. "Am I really a complete failure in everything? Looks, talent, can't I do one thing right?"
"Stop moping around and listen to me. You keep forgetting that you are two years younger and I have no idea if males and females develop their mana cores at different rates. Also your constantly skipping steps makes hard for me to understand what your base talent is. After every cycle of expansion and compression, your mana core would turn one shade brighter. Every time you expel impurities from your mana core, it skips to the next level. Right now is deep green."
"Is it me, or this mana core strength seems to be somehow related to the light spectrum?" Lith pondered. "A prism can break down white light in its basic components: red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue, purple."
"Agreed." Solus mind nodded. "But it could also somehow be related to fire. Flames follow the same principle, a yellow star is colder than green one and so on. Our real question is: Is the final step for a mana core to turn purple or white?"
Lith shook his head.
"I'm starting to get a head splitting headache. We'll face this like I did for college back on Earth, one exam session at a time. Even back there, if I started to think about all the exams that I had to pass to get my degree, only to start right back for my master, I would go into a deep depression." The memory made him shudder.
"So let's focus on the present. I'm deep green, what about Nana?"
"She is the only person with a light cyan mana core. To be born with such talent, she is really impressive."
"Is there anyone else talented in the village?" Lith had to be aware of the possible competition.
"No. The ill kid count Lark brought along had a bright yellow mana core, but I don't think he lives close by."
Lith sighed, all that information overwhelming him. For so many years he had deluded himself into thinking he was special, stronger than anyone else.
Now he felt like the proverbial frog in the well, finally discovering the vastness of the sea.
"Enough moping around, let's roll up our sleeves and work hard. Nothing that's worth having comes easy."
Lith and Solus kept practicing together for the whole year, growing closer and closer like fraternal twins.
Lith's birthday was on fall, but all major activities in the village would be suspended until the next spring. Since Nana's offer was to replace the two years public school with an apprenticeship, Lith too had to wait until spring to begin his magical education.
In the late winter the weather cleared, and the trades between the village and the farm houses became more and more frequent.
Thanks to this, Nana was able to let Lith know the date she had set for starting his apprenticeship, entrusting the message to one of his neighbours that had come to her to heal a nasty wound suffered while repairing the roof.
When the day came, Lith woke up early, determined to keep his routine of cleaning both his house and Selia's before going to the village.
The huntress had done so much for him that Lith considered her as an aunt. A stingy, nagging one that would make rip-off deals, but an aunt nonetheless.
That morning the house was in turmoil. All his loved ones were so excited at the idea of having a future mage in the family, to be barely able to eat their breakfast, spending all their time and energies giving him unwanted and obvious advices.
"Do not be late. Is better getting a little early rather than late."
"Be obedient and respectful. Nana is giving you a great chance!"
The reason why everyone was on edge was that despite they considered the first day to be of vital importance, Lith he had to go to the village alone.
The house was in dire need of repairs, and with Orpal gone they needed all hands on deck to also take care of the fields and animals.
Lith didn't mind it at all, it was just a thirty minutes' walk that he had done countless times. Raaz and Elina, though, felt like they were abandoning their child in his hour of need.
Lith rushed out of his house, to escape from that barrage of worries. He had been very calm about the apprenticeship, it wasn't his first rodeo, afterall.
But they had managed to make him nervous like a teenager at his first date. After finishing the chores at Selia's house and collecting his usual payment, Lith restlessly looked at the sun.
"Dammit, it's still barely dawn. And here I was, shuddering in fear. I still have a lot of time."
Lith walked briskly toward the village, hoping that at his arrival Nana would at least be already up. Arriving so early to give her the wake up call would have been quite embarrassing.
When he arrived midway, Lith noticed something odd. There was a horseman standing on the side of the road.
It was already unusual finding a stranger so early in the morning, but what really alarmed him was that the man wasn't moving. Whoever he was, he was clearly on patrol.
As soon the horseman noticed Lith, he took out a silvery whistle from under his shirt, emitting a high-pitched noise.
Lith kept moving forward, but slowly, ready to react at any moment.
Soon the scout was joined by four other horsemen, and they started trotting toward Lith in an arrowhead formation.
Lith stopped moving, many spells ready at hand.
"Kid, are you Lith? Son of Raaz and Elina?" Said the horseman on point. He was a middle-aged man, with brown hair and eyes. He had perfectly trimmed moustaches, and everything from his straight up posture to his commanding tone identified him a military of some sort.
Looking carefully, all the horsemen had the same vibe, marching perfectly aligned. Yet they wore casual clothes, white shirts over leather hunting pants.
"Isn't a little earlier to go out without the matching leather jacket?" Lith thought. "Unless off course they need to avoid showing any household insignia."
"Who are you, mister? My mother always tells me that I am not supposed to talk to strangers." Lith decided to stall for time, while he and Solus checked their surroundings for lookouts or possible reinforcements still in hiding.
"I perceive only five human males, above average physical strength, deep red mana cores." Solus reported. It was the same thing Lith had determined using Life Vision, but four eyes were better than two.
"I ask the questions, kid. Are you the Lith that is supposed to start his apprenticeship today?"
Lith grimaced.
"Whoever sent this hired muscle, knows way too much about me."
"I am." Lith retorted fiercely. "And it's none of your business."
"I'm here to give you a friendly advice, son. Today you are feeling very ill, and it's best for you to go back home and stay in bed all day."
Lith anger started to grow and he didn't care about hiding it.
"I'm feeling perfectly fine, thank you. Now scram!"
The five men lowered their hands to the weapons hanging from their belts, the reins held tight ready to the charge.
"Last chance, kid. Turn back now. I know you have such a pretty house and such a beautiful mom. Not to mention two gorgeous sisters ripe for the taking. It would be really sad if something bad happened to them."
Lith released such a powerful killing intent aura, that the horses took a step back. The hair on the horsemen's neck suddenly standing up.
"I wanted to play this nice and slow, but I just changed my mind."
With a sweep of his right hand, five wind blades struck the horses' legs, making them whine in pain while collapsing on their sides.
"Now you cannot retreat anymore."
The man with the moustaches and his right-hand man managed to dismount with a roll, avoiding getting crushed by the falling horse. The other three weren't so skilled.
"Kill him! Go! Go! Go!"
"Kneel!" Lith voice was cold, his words fell on the two men like boulders, making them instantly fall on their knees.
Lith's spirit magic was stronger than ever, and he wasn't holding back even one bit.
"What the heck? Sarge, I can't get up!" Screamed the right-hand man struggling on the ground.
"I never allowed you to talk or to look at me. I said kneel!" Another wave, even stronger than the previous one, pushed their heads toward the ground.
Despite dropping their weapons to absorb the impact with their hands, they still hit the ground so hard that they started to bleed.
"Much better. Now let me dispose of the garbage before resuming our talk." Lith walked over the closest horseman, still under his horse, the leg stuck and broken, making him scream and wince in pain.
With a wave of the hand, turned both their heads 180°, the necks snapping like a dry log tossed into the fire.
"Stay away! Stay away from me, monster!" Screamed the next in line, crying in desperation.
"Am I a monster? Wasn't you the one ready to burn a house full of innocents, to r*pe a barely eight years old child?" Without waiting for his reply, Lith clenched his fist, distorting the man's head before making it implode like a walnut.
"Please, please! It's not my fault! Have mercy! I was just following orders!" Said a blonde, handsome youth trying to free his trapped leg.
"Just following orders… I could lecture you about the many atrocities that men like you did with such an excuse. But you see, I'm just the same. I'm just following orders too! Mine to be precise!" A fire bolt struck both horse and rider, turning them into a pyre, screaming in agony.
Lith returned to the kneeling men. They were still struggling to escape his control, their faces pales as ghosts, gritting their teeth while exerting every ounce of their strength.
"I'm sorry." Lith said with a cherubic smile, while letting them raise their heads. "But my Puppet Master spell isn't so simple. It takes more than a touch of strength and a spoonful of wishful thinking to escape from it."
The two men wanted to beg for mercy, but their mouths refused to open. It was like their teeth were fused to each other.
"Now, I have good news and bad news. The bad news is that I don't need both of you. And between the pack leader and a lackey, the choice is obvious. The good news is that I allow you to speak. Any last words?"
"Please, don't! I just married, I needed the prize money from my Lord! My wife is expecting a child! I could not allow to lose my position."
Lith emitted a cruel, joyless laugh.
"We'll have to agree to disagree. You say wife, yet all I can hear is widow."
Lith put his left hand on the man's head, turning it into a block of ice.
It fell to the ground, shattering into countless shards of bones, skin and brain matter.
The man with the moustaches started to puke uncontrollably, but his mouth was still tight shut. Some barf managed to escape from his nose, the rest he was forced to gulp it down over and over, to avoid chocking.
Lith raised his hand, making the man with the moustaches float in mid-air upside down, so that he could watch him straight in the eyes.
"And now, you have only two choices. You can tell me what I want and die without suffering too much. Or you can keep resisting, suffering through unimaginable pain and agony before telling me what I want to know. You have free will after all."
Chapter 26 Truth
At those words the man steeled his resolve, recovering the courage worthy of a soldier that had looked death in the eyes many times on the battlefield.
When Lith allowed him to speak, he wasn't afraid anymore.
"I am knight, my honour lies with my Lord! I will never betray his trust, you filthy mongrel!"
"Oh my, you're so helpful! Thanks to your friend there, I already knew there is a Lord behind the ambush. But I thought you were just mercenaries. Are you telling me you are actual knights? Maybe his personal guard?"
Realizing his mistake, the knight bit his tongue, literally, trying to die before letting anything else slip out his mouth.
"Tsk, tsk! Not so fast!"
Lith froze him in place again, forcing the teeth away from the tongue before healing it with light magic.
"You are way dumber than you look." Lith never stopped smiling, talking to him with the calm a collected manner a mother would use with a small child.
"I'll spell it out for you. Not even death can save you from me. I can take you apart, piece by piece, and then put you back together, like the flesh puppet you are."
Lith's eyes lost any trace of humanity, his voice exuded only hatred and rage.
"But if it's pain that you want, I can give you plenty."
Lith clenched his fist, and suddenly the knight felt his nether regions squeezed and crushed, like into a vise. The knight's eyes filled with tears, his mouth was only able to emit gargling sounds.
Lith would release the grip from time to time, giving him some rest, before twisting and turning his hand and so the knight's gonads.
"Are you ready to talk?" The knight was still in so much pain he could barely understand his words.
"No? Not a problem, I just wanted to test my new and improved Plague Arrow."
After a bolt of darkness hit the knight in the chest, Lith released him from the Puppet Master grip, letting him sprawl on the ground.
"One."
Before the knight could start looking for his weapon, he found himself shivering in cold, while his teeth were rattling uncontrollably.
"Two."
He ended curling up, hugging himself trying to find some precious warmth.
"Three."
Suddenly the cold was gone, the knight started sweating bullets. He felt terribly hot, like when he had been forced to stay on guard for hours under the scorching summer sun.
"Four, five."
He felt suffocating, so he tore away his shirt, gasping for air. The knight's throat was so parched that he started gulping down handfuls of snow, thanking the gods for its fresh relief.
"Six, seven."
Then it was like his blood had started flowing in reverse, all his body was coursing with pain. The whole world had become the knight's enemy. The ground hurt his skin, the snow his throat, the light his eyes. There was no safe position he could find, he could only switch from one torture to another.
"Eight, nine."
The knight's veins were full of poison, his own saliva tasted like acid. The knight started to puke uncontrollably, until nothing but bile remained inside his intestines.
"And ten! Ready to talk now?" Lith dispelled the Plague Arrow using light magic.
"Please, no more. No more! If you waste any more hours you'll play right into their hands!" The knight was barely alive, but at least had a sliver of hope. By enduring all that torture he now had a bargain chip.
"Hours?" Lith laughed.
"I killed your soldiers in what, three minutes? Barely another minute has passed since you told me about your knighthood. Even rounding that up, it make five minutes at worst. What hours are you talking about?"
The knight was shocked, that couldn't be right. He looked at the sun, searching for a proof to expose that cruel lie.
But the sun was still raising over the horizon.
"Gods have mercy, how can all that pain and misery last a minute? It seemed hours long."
"You really are stupid." Lith paralyzed him again. "It's a minute from the moment you tried to bit your tongue off. The Plague Arrow lasted barely ten seconds. Didn't you hear me counting out loud?"
"It seems that the Plague Arrow distorted his sense of time." Solus was studying the specimen's body reaction to the new spell. "His lack of mana must have allowed the dark energy to reach his brain, altering his perceptions."
Lith was on cloud nine, it was all too perfect.
"I'll ask you only a second time. Are you ready to talk?"
The knight's mind broke down, forgetting all about his vows and his honour. All he wanted was the pain to stop. Even death seemed alluring in comparison.
So, he told Lith everything. About how after being humiliated during the spring festival, Ricker Trahan had reconsidered Nana's worth.
He had understood how lacking his preparation was, and had become determined on becoming her only apprentice.
After taking the matter to his father, Baronet Trahan had explained to his stupid son the enormity of his mistake. Nana held a huge grudge against nobles, and since they had started off in the worst possible way, begging or bribing her would be useless.
The only option available was to remove the competitor out of the picture, hoping that Nana would be willing to replace one pupil with another more reliable.
The reason why they ambushed Lith was the same that prevented Baronet Trahan from coercing Nana to do his bidding. He could not afford to make her angry, otherwise the whole Trahan household would be wiped out.
Despite Nana's fallen status in the mage association had stripped her of most of her privileges and authority, she was still a member nonetheless.
In the County of Lustria she held an authority equal if not superior to that of Count Lark himself, and that meant that she was free to execute lesser nobles like them on a whim.
Nana would not even need to justify herself for such an action, just explain her reasons to the association by writing a letter. A mere formality.
That was why Baronet Trahan had sent his personal guard on an undercover mission. He had stressed countless times the importance of not creating a fuss.
Nana should never come to suspect anything.
Their orders were to make Lith drop off from his apprenticeship by intimidating and threatening him. If none of the above worked, their job was to make him disappear without leaving any trace.
"During the spring festival, Nana told me that powerful magicians are like nobles, but I never expected that she actually was such terrifying existence. Seems like my choice of becoming a mage has much more ramifications that I imagined.
Status of a noble, even a frigging mage association! All this stuff is giving me a headache. Now, what to do with this dirtbag?"
It was a rhetorical question, but Solus replied anyway.
"Disposing of the bodies would backfire on us. If we want to make this Baronet pay, we need the bodies and some proof that links him to the ambush."
Lith mind nodded. "My same thought exactly."
"Last question. Where are the leather jackets with the Trahan family crest?"
"W-we left them at home. We could not allow anyone to notice us, it would mean implicating the Baronet."
The knight was terrified. Lith's eyes were turning black, glowing with dark energy.
"Wait! The whistles! We brought along the silver hunting whistles the Baronet gifted us when we swore our allegiance to him! They bear his family crest too!"
"Thanks, a deal is a deal." Lith double tapped the knight's head with ice arrows, killing him painlessly.
He then collected all the whistles from the dead bodies, taking care of erasing the traces of his spirit magic.
"Those twisted necks and imploded head could rise too much questions. Let's cover our traces. I simply need to cut off the former and freeze the latter."
After that, Lith used air fusion to rush toward the village. Being forced to wake up Nana was now the last of his worries, he wanted revenge.
Air fusion allowed him to reach a speed of 60 km/h (37mph), so he arrived in less than two minutes, but once at the village's outskirts he had to cancel the spell.
"I can't allow anyone to see the fastest kid alive. Damn, I want those books so bad! I need to know if spirit and fusion magic are of public knowledge or still unknown. I can't risk exposing my aces in the hole unless is a matter of life and death."
Lith kept running until he could spot Nana's house on the distance, and when he saw a luxurious stagecoach right in front of her door, he pushed the pedal to the metal.
"Lady Nerea, I beg of you, be reasonable. Consider the bigger picture!"
Lith could not hear from that distance, and even if he could, he was too focused closing in to pay attention. Solus had no such problems. In the last year she had not acquired new abilities, but her senses had become much keener.
"A farm boy has so many things to take care of. Magic is a strict mistress that demands time and resources, all things that my dear son can provide aplenty."
"I'm sorry, dear Baronet." Nana's voice was polite but devoid of any warmth. Her hands were clutching so hard on her cane to turn white.
"A magician word is her bond. I'll wait for Lith all day, if necessary. And in my opinion raw talent and a sincere disposition are much more important foundations for a magician.
Things that your son is clearly lacking. Or do we want to pretend that his rude words and acts during the spring festival never happened? I may be old, but my memory has yet to fail me."
Ricker Trahan was pale as a ghost. So far, his father's plan didn't seem to work. They had spent the last half hour in a one-sided negotiation.
If everything failed, he knew that his father would skin him alive in case he didn't manage to enrol in the Lightning Griffon academy.
Baronet Trahan had invested countless resources to give his son all the books and teachers he could afford.
The idea of all that money and efforts, wasted because of Ricker's arrogant ignorance while dealing with the best magician in the County, was enough for the Baronet to disown Ricker.
"Ah ah ah! Now let's not be so hasty, Lady Nerea. It's normal making mistakes when we are young. The important is to learn from them and never repeat them.
I know that Ricker has quite a temper, and I apologize for his behaviour. I can assure you he is terribly sorry for what he did"
Ricker had never felt so humiliated. They kept talking about him like he was not there.
"Also please, consider that punctuality and reliability are very important when walking the path of magic. Yet I do not see this Lith anywhere near, while my son is right here.
Don't you think that maybe a farm boy cannot understand the privilege you are granting him? Life in the wilds is very hard on the youths, I honestly fear his parents had not the opportunity or the time to impart him a proper education.
I can understand your position, you gave him your word and knew him for so long. But I can't stand the idea of such an opportunity wasted on someone that cannot give you the respect you deserve.
Also, I can guarantee you that if you take Ricker as your disciple, I will reward you handsomely. Not to mention that in case he got admitted to the Lightning Griffon Academy, we will never forget your help and generosity.
I am ready to commit as of now that if my son reaches the greatness he deserves, he will do anything in his power to clear your name. What do you say?"
Nana snorted.
"I would like to say many things, but it doesn't seem to be necessary. The reason why you don't see him is because you are looking in the wrong direction. Lith is the panting little imp right behind you."
Chapter 27 Annihilation
At those words, father and son turned around just in time to see Lith rush past them, stopping only when he was already in front of Nana.
Now that he was close enough, Nana could notice that Lith's body was covered in cuts and bruises. Some were quite deep, but had been already roughly treated with light magic. They were still bleeding, but Lith's life was in no danger.
"What in the gods name has happened to you? As far as I know the roads to the village are safe." Nana did not miss the panic flashing in the expression of the two nobles in front of her.
Lith was still bent downward, hands on his knees, trying to catch his breath.
"Was it really necessary inflicting yourself all those wounds before coming here?" Solus asked, still worried about Lith.
"No pain, no gain." Lith responded telepathically. "Coming unscathed out of a sink or swim fight, alone against five knights, would have been too suspicious. These wounds serve two purposes.
First to make Nana angry enough to do what must be done. Second and most important, to avoid any further investigation. If there's anything this mess proved, is that too much attention is bad. The higher I get, the more dangers I will have to face.
Right now, I have no backer. All that stands between my family and the Baronet is Nana. I can't protect them at all the times. It was a stroke of luck that they had to target me.
In the future I must be careful of not crossing the wrong people, at least until I get enough power or backing. I don't care about magic or wealth if I don't have anyone to share them with. No one will ever be taken away from me. Never!"
The whole conversation with Solus lasted barely for a second.
Still panting and wheezing, Lith told her about the ambush.
"When I was coming here, five horsemen tried to coerce me into giving up on my magic schooling. When I refused to submit, they tried to kill me! Thank the gods I managed to kill their leader before they got too close.
With him dead, their formation went in disarray and I managed to kill them before they killed me." Lith sniffled, covering his eyes with a hand, pretending to be fighting back tears.
"Gods, I don't know I managed to do it. It's all a blur."
Nana performed skilfully a series of hand signs before saying "Vinire Lakhat!"
A warm sphere of light magic enveloped Lith's body, healing all his injuries.
"That's enough, Lith. I can easily imagine the rest." Nana caressed his head, trying to comfort him.
"You did your best to treat your wounds, before rushing here to warn me against this scum noble." She raised her cane, pointing it toward the Baronet's face with an intimidating manner.
"Please, Lady Nerea, don't rush to judgement, I…"
"Enough with your fake sycophancy!" Nana was bursting with rage.
"Do you want me to believe that all your talk about respect and punctuality and the attack on the boy's life happening today, at the same moment, is just a sheer coincidence? How stupid do you think I am?"
Baronet Trahan knelt down, his hands on the floor in submission.
"Please, Lady Nerea, believe in my good faith. I know nothing about it. The kid is still scared and traumatized, maybe his memory about the assault is confused. Also, he doesn't have any proof. Don't take hasty decisions before considering all the facts."
The sight of his father, kneeling to a commoner, shocked Ricker deeply. Yet he kept enough of his cool to remember what was ta stake, so he kneeled too, begging for mercy.
"Good faith my wrinkly a*s! I have met enough nobles to understand how your kind thinks, and how cheaply you value a commoner's life. I think…"
Nana stopped talking, Lith was tugging her arm repeatedly. She knew he was smart enough to understand that she was fighting for him. For interrupting her like that, Lith must have had excellent reasons.
He was showing her five silver whistles, one of which had burnt marks. Nana took one and started examining it.
She barely needed a second to recognize the Trahan family crest engraved on it's top.
"Well done, Lith." She whispered. "Even in the face of danger, never let your emotions cloud your judgment. That's the way of a true magician."
She was kindly smiling at him, like a grandmother proud of her grandson achievements. Then, always keeping her back at the Trahans, she quickly performed some complex hand signs before whispering "Ekidu Ruha."
Nana's eyes briefly glowed black with dark energy.
Ekidu was root magic word for darkness magic, like Vinire for light magic or Infiro for fire magic.
She was casting a dark spell, Lith couldn't wait to see its effects. At the same time, though, the way she used the spell threw him in confusion.
"Why taking the trouble of performing hands signs and using words? Nana knows silent magic, I've seen her do it already.
Couldn't she just do it silently in front of them? I can't believe she is using a complex spell that requires that much caution just for those weaklings."
Nana turned around, poking father and son both with her cane.
"She has just hit them with her spell." Solus notified Lith. Everything had happened in an instant, without releasing even a magic spark. If it wasn't for Solus' mana sense, Lith would have missed it entirely.
"Enough with this charade. Do you want proof? Is this proof enough?"
She shoved the silver whistle in front of the Baronet's face, that turned red, then white and finally green. He had to use every ounce of self-control he had to stop himself from panic puking.
"Now get out of my sight! If anything ever happens to my apprentice or his family, even if one of them breaks his fingernail, it's you that will pay the price."
The two of them got back on their feet, running toward the stagecoach without saying a word. Lith was both shocked and disappointed by Nana's behaviour.
"So much for her hatred toward nobles. Who would have thought that after everything she went through, she would still be so merciful? F*ck!"
Nana went to the bakery, to talk to the coachman that was eating some pastries while waiting for his master.
"Hey, kid" The man was actually in his mid-twenties, around 1,77 metres (5'6" tall). He had blonde hair and a kind, perfectly shaven face. "What's your name?"
"Andy." He replied while nibbling at a cream puff.
"Andy?" Nana raised an eyebrow. "Gods be my witnesses, it's a really strange name."
Andy shrugged.
"Is actually just a nickname. Better than my real name, though. Many people found Hasa Diga Eebowai too hard to pronounce."
Nana was flabbergasted.
"Anyhow, what do you need me for, Lady Nana?"
"You seem a nice man, so here is a friendly advice. Bring your master back home as fast as you can, then find yourself a new job." She winked.
Andy dropped the cream puff like it was hot, deeply bowing to Nana before running to the stagecoach.
Nana returned to her house, opening the door to let Lith go inside.
"And now what?" He was barely repressing his disappointment. "Do we wait for their next move?"
Nana laughed heartily.
"Their next move? They will drop dead before arriving to their pompous home. What do you think that darkness spell was for? I just wanted to avoid making a fuss in front of the whole village."
Lith suddenly felt very stupid.
"Well played! This will teach them a lesson." He could finally sigh with relief.
"Far from it." Nana said with an ice-cold tone. She went into her private quarters, quickly followed by Lith.
Nana's house was really similar to Lith's, but the dining room was smaller, and instead of three bedrooms there was just one. The other two rooms were occupied by a study room and an alchemic lab.
She went in the study room, opening one of the desk's drawers with a key she wore around her neck. Nana then took out a wrapped cloth, revealing a silver amulet.
It had a nut-big gemstone in its center, with arcane glyphs engraved all over.
Lith didn't need Life Vision to know it was a magical item.
"This is a communication amulet. Every member of the mage association gets one. Now give me a minute to do a full report about Baronet Trahan's attempt on my disciple's life.
They hate when some small-time noble messes with us. Before I put this back into the drawer, their whole bloodline will be wiped out. That will teach all those damn nobles a lesson."
Lith deeply bowed to Nana, inwardly apologizing for doubting her character.
"Master, your disciple awaits your command."
The report was indeed brief. Once activated, the amulet generated a small 3D hologram of a middle-aged bald man, sitting behind a clean and orderly desk.
All Nana had to do was to introduce her disciple, say the name of the noble and the mage on the other side had already started giving instructions.
Nana gave nonetheless a short description of the facts, showing the silver whistles as proof. Lith could see from the man's expression that he could not care less about such minor details.
He still took note of everything, even somehow scanning the whistles through the amulet.
After everything was said and done, Nana gave Lith his first assignments.
"Start by reading 'The basics of magic'. Is the book you tried to borrow three years ago." Lith nodded.
"Read it carefully, if there's anything you don't understand, feel free to ask me. In case there is a client, wait for me to finish. If there's no emergency I'll answer you, otherwise you will have to wait.
You can use my study. When you have finished with the basics, I'll give you your first tier one magic book."
Lith ran back in the waiting room, fetching his prize. After sitting behind the desk, with the thick book in front of him, he could not avoid thinking back at all those years spent cramming during college.
He was back being a student, a familiar and reassuring feeling.
Lith pushed emotionalism aside, and opened the book, reading it from the author's foreword.
"My name is Lochra Silverwing. I am known as the wisest sorceress of the Griffon kingdom, and also the only one of my generation to achieve the title of Magus…"
"What the heck is a Magus? Isn't it just a synonym for mage?" Lith paused for a second, taking the mental note to ask about the magicians' hierarchy.
"… I want to dedicate this book to all my female readers, in hope that they can make good use of it and unleash their superior potential.
In a world scourged by wars waged by men, it's of the utmost importance for us women to keep our leading position in the magical field. Let our calm minds soothe the savage fury that dwells in their hearts."
"What the actual f*ck?!" Lith cursed, jumping off the chair.
He ran straight to Nana, the book still in hand, in dire need of explanations.
"Sorry to be the one to break it to you, but it's the truth." Nana chuckled.
"Like men are stronger physically, women are more apt towards magic. It's the nature of things." (see chapter 12 for more details)
"F*ck me sideways!" Lith inwardly screamed, amongst Solus giggles.
"Does this mean that I start right on the back foot?" Was what he actually said.
"Yes, little imp. Be it the Griffon kingdom, the Gorgons empire or the Blood Sand desert tribes, usually women hold most of the key roles in the various mage associations. Even I never expected to have a male disciple.
Back when I attended the magic academy, 70% of the students were female. I don't think things have changed much. If you aim for the top spots, they'll be your fiercest competition."
"Great." Lith felt dejected. He wasn't the kind of man to discriminate, he despised humans regardless of their gender. What dispirited him was the idea of being once again on the losing side of life.
"Not rich, not talented, not handsome. I even managed to be of the fairer magical sex. Just splendid." He thought.
"There, there." Nana patted his head. "Don't be depressed. History is full of very powerful male mages. It's the talent that matters the most, not the gender. One day you could even become a Magus."
"Oh, yeah. I almost forgot, that was my second question. What's a Magus?"
Chapter 28 True Magic
"The magic community is like a separate society, and just like any society it has a clear hierarchy. First there is normal people.
Anyone is capable of using chore magic, but their range barely reaches two metres (2.2 yards) and are incapable of executing any complex task. They are not even considered people. Most mages refer to them as cattle.
Then comes those like you, that can use all the six elements, can perform complex tasks with magic, but lack a proper magical education.
They are referred to as magico (males) or magica (female) and are the real grassroots of the magical community, from which mages can expect a magically talented offspring.
Even if it's considered uncommon, a magica can sometimes be accepted by a magic academy and become a full-fledged magician, like it happened to me.
A magico usually becomes a medicine man in a village or city, depending on his talent. A magico becoming a magician is even more uncommon, but far from rare.
Terms like mage, witch, sorceress, warlock are all just different words that identify someone that managed to enrol in a magic academy and complete the five years course necessary to be recognized as a true member of the magic community.
At that point, one has just to follow his ambitions. You can become the personal mage of a noble, I you enjoy life at Court. Others choose to devote their whole life to study magic or create specific artifacts.
As long as you don't do anything to contribute actively to the development of the Kingdom or the Mage Association, you'll only remain just a mage, no matter how powerful you are or what you accomplish with your experiments.
Remember, no mage can be forced to share his/her spells or discoveries in the magic field. Not even the King himself can openly violate this rule.
But what you keep for yourself has no worth for society, hence it gives you no merits.
Only by sharing your knowledge or by using it to perform tasks from which the Kingdom or the Magic Association take great benefit, you can be elevated to the status of archmage.
They are for the mages what dukes and marquises are for the nobles.
And finally, there is the Magus. A Magus is someone whose power is equal only to his outstanding merits toward the community and the knowledge he shared with the Magical Association.
A Magus usually ensures to those who come after him a deeper understanding of magic, and the means to achieve better foundations than their predecessors.
A Magus is a King to mages, and a god to men. Very rarely there has been more than one. Whenever any country has two or more Magi, it's considered to be in its golden age, everything becomes possible."
Lith was far from impressed.
"Basically, is just a fancy title that some old fogey forces on you after milking you dry. I don't know if by becoming a Magus I would feel just sad or simply lose all my self-respect."
"You insolent whelp!" Nana was outraged by such disrespect. "Without Magi like Lochra and their legacies, people like me would never get the chance to pass the entrance exam of any academy, no matter how small or insignificant.
It would remain a privilege for those with an outstanding talent, or that come from noble or magic families.
Simply by writing that book, she willingly sacrificed a great advantage she had over all the rest of her peers!"
Lith shook his head.
"I see it differently, Master. In my opinion, you do have an outstanding talent. If in the past even those gifted like you wouldn't be accepted, in the long term this would have led the magical community to dwindle, if not to completely disappear.
Being born in a wealthy or talented family only gives you more resources and schooling, but the talent is decided at birth.
Hence Lochra must have written that book not out the goodness of her heart, but to correct a dangerous flaw in the magical community. It's true that magic allows to beat quantity with quality, but there is still strength in numbers.
Without people like you, maybe even like me, there wouldn't be enough new blood, and magic would sooner or later disappear. This is the reason why I can't see her book as a gift. She needed us, and badly."
Nana opened her mouth to rebuke Lith, but stopped halfway. She pondered a while before speaking again.
"Dammit, Lith, whatever your mother fed you with as a baby, I wish I had it too when I had your age. I never looked at it from this perspective, yet I can already sense enough truth behind your words to not dismiss them as child babble."
She sighed deeply with regret.
"I wish I was so profound back in my days. I would have avoided so many stupid mistakes."
"Yeah, sure." Lith thought. "A over thirty years old man that comes from Earth and is not able to see that much would be a complete idiot. Scholarship here or on Earth are the same.
Either a way for the rich to get rid of some of their sense of guilt for being filthy rich, or the manifestation of their fears.
The fear of not having a doctor, a lawyer or any professional help when they need it. If just having an offspring would suffice for their needs, they would have closed the schools centuries ago."
The door of Nana's waiting room opened, the first client of the day had arrived.
"Time to make some money. Do you have any other questions from the foreword?" She tried being sarcastic, but was still dwelling on Lith's words, so she lacked the proper tone.
"Only one. I may need to take notes. Is there anything I could use to write?"
"But off course." After confirming that the woman and child that just entered the waiting room simply needed a medical check, Nana asked them politely to wait for a minute or two.
Nana and Lith got back to her study room, where she gave him a big, thick book with a red hard cover. Its pages were completely blank.
"This will be your first grimoire. Treasure it dearly. Paper is rare and expensive by nature. It's sold by weight, and it's more precious than silver."
Lith was stunned by such news. The book was twenty-seven centimetres (10.7 inches) long, seventeen centimetres (6.7 inches) large and three centimetres (1.2 inches) thick. It was huge.
"I-I…" Lith stuttered for the second time in his new life. "I don't know what to say. I can't believe you would do such a thing for me, it must have costed you a fortune. I'm deeply moved." A tear appeared on the back of his eyes.
Nana laughed heartily.
"Oh! Oh! Oh! So wise yet so naïve. You bet I wouldn't! Money doesn't grow on trees. If it were for me, a few pages would have sufficed, little imp."
The warmth in his heart died as quickly as it had appeared.
"Then who do I have to thank for it?"
"Count Lark, who else? That noble is a magic enthusiast, he sent it to me as soon as he was informed of your apprenticeship. Now more studying and less flapping your gums. You are here to learn magic, not to chat!"
Nana left in a hurry, hoping to avoid her waiting room getting clogged up with patients.
Lith sat back behind the desk and resumed reading. Most of the contents of Lochra's book were old news to him. He had discovered them by himself through countless trial and error experiments.
He could only sigh in regret.
"If only I had this book as soon as I was reborn. I wonder how powerful I would be today."
Whenever Lith would find something noteworthy, he would write it down in his grimoire. Lith could not trust his bad handwriting, so he would dip his finger into the inkwell and then use water magic to spread the ink on the page, and then to dry it.
The result was a whole page written with an outstanding calligraphy, even copying illustrations when necessary, in perfect English. All in just a second.
"Ah ah ah!" Lith inwardly laughed. "I don't need a secret code. I am the only one that speaks English in this world. My secrets are safe with my grimoire."
"They would be safe either way. Don't forget my pocket dimension." Solus chimed in.
"One more layer of protection never hurts. There is no such thing as too careful."
Lith found the sections about fire, water, air and earth quite bland. He already knew almost everything written in the book, but he read carefully every word.
Nana allowed him to read only until lunchtime, then he was forced to go back home and resume his previous routine, switching the hunting time from morning to afternoon.
It took him three days to get to the juicy part. Lith was aware that being a self-taught, light and dark magic were his weakest subjects. They were the only two elements that didn't exist on Earth, after all.
He spent a whole week on the light and darkness section, taking countless notes and finally understanding how shallow and rough was his mastery over those elements.
"Amazing, simply amazing. It never ceases to impress me how profound is Lochra's understanding of light and darkness. Her description of the mana flow in the patient's body is just peerless. I would have never thought of that on my own.
Only now I finally understand why she wrote about them in the same section. Light and darkness are not separate elements, but two sides of the same coin. Darkness is of paramount importance for healing diseases and congenital conditions.
Once I have fully absorbed all this new knowledge, I might even be able to cure Tista for good. If I really manage to do that, I will rethink my view about being a Magus."
Lith read that section again and again, until he became certain to have not missed anything. His magic power hadn't increased much, but his comprehension was now on another level for all the six elements.
Lith was sure he would be able to achieve even stronger foundations, also improving his spirit and fusion magic. But with his confidence, also new doubts arose.
"The more I learn the less it makes sense. How is it possible that with all this knowledge in her hands Nana didn't manage to cure Tista over the years?
Why she needed both hand signs and a magic word to kill Baronet Trahan and his son? A finger snap should have sufficed."
Lith decided to postpone those question until he had fully understood Lochra's book. Maybe he was missing some key element, or maybe it wasn't as easy as it appeared.
Nana was delighted learning that he had finished the whole book in just a week, and immediately gave him his first tier one magic spell book.
"Let's see if you are good at practicing magic as you are with its theory."
Lith took the book from her hands, treating it like a precious gemstone that could easily break. He walked solemnly to his desk, opening the book full of anticipation.
He would have never imagined to be disappointed to such a extent.
"What the f*cking f*ck is this? Is this how a spell book is supposed to look like?"
"By my core, what is this cr*p?" Solus cursed for the first time in her life.
Both Lith and Solus were too flabbergasted to make any further comment. So, they closed the book, re-opened it again, discovering it was unchanged.
They had expected for it to be filled with instructions about how to manipulate the mana flow in the mage's body, how to better connect with the world energy to obtain spells whose power was incomparable to those they already knew.
Instead all they found was an odd mix of a spelling book and a hand signs instruction manual. Not to mention that they already knew all of those tier one spells, just with different names that Lith had invented over time.
"Blasting Sphere is just a Fireball, Piercing Ice is identical to my Frost Lance, if not worse."
Lith did go back to the foreword, noticing that this book had not been written by a Magus, and was just a collection of the most common spells.
By reading the instructions for Blasting Sphere, Lith noticed how the author stressed out the importance of executing the hand signs in the proper order with precise movements.
Even the magic word was split into syllables, to help the student learn the correct pronunciation and accent. After skimming through the whole book, Lith couldn't find any mention of how to perform them with silence magic.
Becoming more and more confused, Lith went to Nana for advice.
"I'm sorry Lith, I had forgot how frustrating and painful is going from the simple and easy silent chore magic to the much more complex real magic. Only tier zero magic can be silently cast. All the superior tiers of magic require both hand signs and proper spelling of the magic word."
Lith's head was spinning so fast he had to sit down for a moment.
"This makes no sense at all." He thought. "I use silent magic with my ice spears and fireballs all the time. I wouldn't be alive otherwise."
Then a sudden thought erupted in his mind.
"Maybe I am special, after all. Maybe I use a different kind of magic because I came from Earth. Maybe I am some sort of chosen one!" Lith was both scared and flattered at the idea.
"None of the above." Solus words abruptly doused his enthusiasm.
"Thanks for the vote of confidence. Much appreciated. What's your explanation then?"
Lith could feel Solus's mind spinning so fast that it was hard for him to follow her reasoning.
"If my hypothesis is correct, then you, like Lochra Silverwing and all the other past and present Magus, are one of the few people in this world to actually use true magic."
Chapter 29 True Magic and Fake Magic
"What do you mean with 'true magic'?" Lith said.
"At this point is still too early to tell. Off course if you are too curious you can look at my mind right now, but I don't know how helpful could it be."
Lith merged his mind with Solus, discovering she wasn't exaggerating at all. Her mind was full of 'ifs' and 'buts', constantly examining facts, revisiting memories, making one speculation after the other before dismissing them.
"What can I do to help you?"
"I need two things. First, all the books about the history of magic you can find. Second, we need to get out of here and do some experiments. I'll explain everything later."
Lith went to Nana, asking her for help.
"Sure, I have a magic history book. But is not such an interesting topic, so I only purchased one covering the last couple hundred years. Is that enough for you?"
Lith shook his head.
"Can you please contact Count Lark and ask him if I can borrow some more from him?"
"You sure are an oddball. First you beg me to teach you magic…"
"I never begged. It's you who offered to teach me and I accepted."
Nana pretended to not have heard anything and continued.
"… and now that you get an opportunity to practice real magic, you want to bury yourself in history books?"
"After pondering about what you told me and what Magus Lochra wrote, I understood that I need to understand the past to comprehend the present and plan for the future." Lith improvised, digging up an old family motto.
"Makes sense, sort of." Nana conceded. "I'll contact Lark via the communication amulet and see what I can do."
"The Count has one too?" Lith asked in surprise.
"It's not some sort of secret or anything. Nobles, merchants, soldiers, no matter your background, as long as you can afford the price, you can get yourself one."
Lith thanked Nana before returning to the study room. The book was very detailed, recording both historical turning points and lore.
Lith didn't know what they were looking for exactly, so he read carefully, skimming only the parts about conflicts between countries or Magic Associations. Instead he focused on studying the life of influential mages, archmages and Magi.
After spending a few hours researching the past, he had already found a recurring pattern in the rise of the Magi. Some were recognized as geniuses at an early age.
But most of them had started being considered mediocre at best, never achieving noteworthy results until at some point their talent simply skyrocketed.
It usually happened between the thirty and the forty years of age, well past their supposed prime, when the magical community had pretty much forgot about them.
Of course, the author had no idea of what happened to cause such a turnaround, so he just presented the theories most popular at the time. Too bad that those paragraphs resembled more a work of fiction than history reports.
According to some rumors, Magus Elista had married in secret the god of magic, while others claimed that she had found a mystical amulet from a lost civilization that was able to grant her unlimited mana.
The same had allegedly happened to Magus Morgania and Frejik. An obscure start, followed by a sudden rise in power and glory, with no plausible explanation outside fairy tales and divine encounters.
"Could this be what Solus was looking for? Maybe what changed them wasn't some insane stroke of luck, but the discovery of the 'true magic' Solus mentioned before."
Lith was about to close the book, having ran out of Magi, when Solus stopped him.
"Turn the page, please." Lith had no idea why, but did as instructed. By quickly reading through the page, he noticed it was about some disorders in a faraway place, during which several low ranked mages had died.
Solus had him flipping every page until the book ended.
It was already lunchtime, so Lith started walking back home.
"Did you find anything important?"
"Yes, I think so. I just need us to perform some experiments to put my theory to test. If I am right, once you experience the difference between fake and true magic, you'll be able to understand my reasoning.
I hope that once you do, you can help me fill the holes I am unable to explain."
Lith's mind and heart were in turmoil, the road seemed to stretch endlessly in front of him. Even when he sat around the table together with his family, he was unable to hide his unpleasant feelings.
"Dammit! Dammit all this cr*p! First my real origin, then spirit magic, fusion magic and now this? How many secrets do I have to keep to protect myself from this world, to protect my family from me?
Couldn't I just find a magical hammer or something, granting me godlike powers? Or maybe just be handpicked by an ancient magician, to become the champion of order just by speaking one frigging word? Why does everything have to be so complicated?
I really love my family, except for Trion, but I can't be honest with them. At this rate, I will never have friends, a lover, anything. I will be forced to spend my life alone with my secrets."
"No. Not alone." Solus's voice resounded in his mind, full of kindness and affection. The tower core around Lith's neck pulsed, releasing gentle waves of mana that enveloped his body like a warm embrace.
Lith's mood lightened a bit, allowing him to have a pleasant meal and conversation with his family, telling each other the respective day's work.
After doing the dishes, he was finally able to leave home and go to the Trawn woods. Lith had his own special glade, deep in the woods. A place spacious enough to train his magical skills without endangering trees or wildlife, away from prying eyes.
Lith and Solus double checked their surroundings for intruders or magical beasts. Finding none, Lith could finally take out his grimoire from the pocket dimension and start memorizing the simplest tier one spell he had found in Nana's book.
"We don't need something powerful or complex for our experiments. Only something to compare with your own spells. The faster you master it, the sooner we'll have our answers." Solus explained.
The spell was Piercing Ice, a watered-down version of the Ice Spears spell that Lith used against huge opponents like the Ry or the boars. Its magic word was "Joruna Lituh", with accents on the u for Joruna and the i for Lituh.
The hand signs required to start with the indexes' fingertips touching themselves, before pulling them away, drawing in the air a 7 with the right index while the left one had to execute mirrored movements at the same time.
After that, the left hand had to stop, while the right index had to rotate, drawing a full circle before pointing at the target.
The expected result was conjuring and shooting a giant ice shard against an enemy.
"Holy sh*t! And this is a simple one. So much effort for so little return."
At his first try, Lith managed to conjure some kind of giant fork that travelled forward for a couple of meters (2.2 yards) before crashing on the ground.
"You did not aspirate the h." Solus remarked.
Then it came a boomerang that almost chopped his head off.
"It's Lìtuh, not Litùh!"
After a series of non-life threatening failures, Lith had to admit he wasn't able to learn both the pronunciation of the magic word and the hand signs at the same time. So, he had to sit down and recite the spell until he got it right.
After that, he had to face head on his poor hand-eye coordination.
"That's not a seven, more like a one. Do the second line steeper!"
"You are supposed to draw a circle, not an egg!"
"Will you stop your left hand during the last movement, please? Otherwise we'll never see the end of it."
Failure after failure, Solus kept nagging in Lith's mind, correcting the many mistakes he did during each try.
"If you are so good, why don't you do it yourself?" Lith rebutted, bursting with frustration.
"Sorry, I do not have a body. Not to mention I cannot perform any spell unless a) you first know how to do it and b) you give me the permission for it."
It was a long afternoon for Lith, full of cursing, sweating and casting, not necessarily in that order, before he finally managed to get Piercing Ice right.
He kept repeating the spell until it became a second nature to him.
"I can't believe I had to work so hard for the simplest spell. I have barely an hour before the sunset. Hey, Solus is it enough time, or do we wrap things up for today and go back home?"
"Is more than enough. Tell me, how does it feel using magic that way?"
"To be honest, it does not feel at all. I'm so focused on all that cr*p that I can barely breath."
Solus mentally nodded.
"Perfect. Now cast your Ice Spears spell, shooting only one spear."
Lith was so tired to need to actually use the magic word.
"Jorun!" With a flick of the wrist, Lith conjured a slender, sharp ice javelin that struck the nearest tree faster and harder that the Piercing Ice.
"Now focus, how did you do it?"
Lith couldn't understand all those apparently stupid questions, but he trusted Solus enough to know she wasn't just trying to piss him off.
"Like usual. First, I mentally visualized the effect of my spell, things like the shape of the spear, the trajectory, etcetera.
Then I used my mana core to generate enough mana to support my spell, taking in account the size of the spear I wanted to conjure and how strong I wanted it to strike.
Finally, I projected my mana on the outside, mixing it with the world energy to have access to the water element and voilà! Order up."
"Okay, now use Piercing Ice, again. This time do it slowly, try to feel how your mana flows according to the spell."
Lith needed a few tries before succeeding in the task Solus had assigned him, the result was astonishing.
"What the heck? As soon as I start with the hand signs, a portion of my mana leaves my body. And there is more. The magic word determines how my mana interacts with the world energy, in this case the water element, while also giving the spell its shape and size."
Lith could tell that if Solus had a face, now she would have had a smug grin from ear to ear.
"You are almost at the finishing line. Do Piercing Ice again, but try making the ice shard bigger."
"I can't." Lith was flabbergasted. "If I try adding more mana the spell becomes unstable and dissipates."
Solus asked him to try generating a second ice shard, then to make the single shard faster and finally to alter its trajectory right after it materialized. Lith's answer was always the same.
"I can't. The whole spell is set in stone. Once I learned the proper signs and pronunciation, I became nothing more than a mana source and a targeting system. My mana core and imagination play no part in this type of spell casting."
Lith suddenly reached enlightment.
"And that's why you consider it fake magic!"
"Calling it fake magic is a little extreme, but for simplicity's sake let's call it that."
Lith could sense Solus brimming with pride.
"Now I can finally share my theory with you. First of all, I'd like you to think back about all the steps necessary for you to use true magic."
Solus paused for a moment, giving Lith time enough to think.
"What's your point?"
"My point is that what you so casually dismiss as 'usual', is actually a really complex feat, much harder than fake magic."
"Hmmm. Sorry, I still can't follow you."
Solus mind-snorted in frustration.
"True magic isn't as simple as you make it out to be. It requires to be aware of your own mana core and to be able to generate the right amount of mana for each and any spell. Too much mana and it would backfire on you, too little and it would not succeed.
It also requires to be able to project your mana outwards, reaching out to the world energy by yourself. I doubt even Nana would be able to do that."
Lith found that last part hard to believe.
"When you put it that way, sure, is not an easy feat. But is what everyone does with chore magic. What's the difference between true and chore magic? Why no one else uses it?"
"The difference is in the amount of mana required. Chore magic needs little mana, so you can use it even without activating your mana core, while true magic may require great amounts of mana, according to what are you trying to accomplish."
Seeing as Lith was struggling, Solus started to use a monotone, lecturing tone.
"Chore magic is the very foundation for magic, it teaches you everything you need except how to activate the mana core. Fake magic is like a crutch, a foolproof 'magic for dummies' spellcasting method.
You only need to learn a few words and gestures and it does everything by itself, as long as you have enough mana. My hypothesis is that chore and fake magic are taught in this order as a training course towards true magic.
But only few, like the Magi, understand that fake magic is not about finger movements and spelling words, is about perceiving the mana flow and learning how to control it.
Your breathing exercises are a crutch as well, but a good one, since they helped you accessing the mana core, making you aware of the mana flow. Fake magic, instead, is a bad one, since it makes its users too reliant on its power.
Most fake magic users are so obsessed by details like hand signs and pronunciation, that live their whole lives without noticing what lies beyond. Fake mages, especially those with great talent, become so complacent being able to do what no one else can, that they never stop for a moment to ask themselves why. Is kind of ironic."
Lith was astonished. Everything made perfect sense.
"But if you had all this figured out, why didn't you tell me? What are those holes in your theory you mentioned earlier?"
Solus was embarrassed, but replied nonetheless.
"Because I can't answer some key points of my own theory. If I am right, why is fake magic the only one available for everyone? Why true mages kill whoever tries spreading it to the whole world?"
"Say what?!?"
Solus merged their minds, showing to Lith all the things she had noticed reading the history book. How so many theorists and rising mages had all died in accidents or mysterious circumstances, often right after announcing to the magical community a ground-breaking discovery.
Others, instead, would be dismissed as frauds, before going mad and disappear.
Lith could only laugh his heart out.
"Oh, my. Solus, you are so smart and yet so naïve in the ways of mankind. The answer is really simple. Do you know why back on Earth we had traffic jams? Because everyone could get a car.
Would you really let any madman, any naïve fool gets his hands on this kind of power? Fake magic is a mean to control the masses, it's not the final test like you think.
After one discovers true magic, the final test is proving to be smart enough to silently join the club and reap the benefits. And if you don't like the club rules, the only way out is death."
Chapter 30 True Magic and Fake Magic 2
When they finished comparing notes about Solus' explanation for true magic, it was already late. Lith had to rush to get out of the woods before it became too dark. He wasn't afraid of night time predators, his mother Elina, though, were another story.
"If I come back too late, I'll get grounded for weeks. Darn it all, I hate curfew so much!"
He did not want to come back home empty handed, so he took out of the pocket dimension a couple of fat blinkers he had saved for moments like that.
The next day, Nana informed Lith that the Count had agreed to help, and that some of his best books were on their way.
Lith was forced to pretend being still engrossed in Nana's history book, it was too big to finish it in one go. He spent that day abridging all the tier one spells on his grimoire, keeping only the name, hand signs and pronunciation instructions and a short description for each spell.
"I don't need to waste precious pages on this cr*p. I can fake out the hand signs by moving my hands fast, but I still need to remember each new magic word when I pretend to use fake magic.
Also, if Nana wants to put me to test, I need to show her my proficiency. Sigh, all this brainless memorizing will drive me crazy. The silver lining is that by learning this stuff I can predict an enemy's spell and counter it if necessary."
More than once, Lith found himself wishing Solus could move his body at will. She had a much better memory, and it would save him a lot of time and effort.
The only spell Lith was really eager to try was the air magic Floating Body. With this incantation one could make float in mid-air anything or anyone weighing less than one hundred kilograms (220.5 pounds).
It had many uses, like braking a free fall, moving a severely injured patient without bumps, or moving without leaving traces and making noises while hunting or on scouting.
This was something that Lith had attempted many times on his own but with no success. He could easily make others float with spirit magic, but not himself. It was really hard balancing his whole body while focusing on the spell, the same could be said about using air magic instead of spirit magic.
A minor mistake would make him float upside down or make him spin like in a washing machine. Lith never managed to float properly, let alone moving.
"If Solus is right and fake magic is a training course, I can use this Floating Body to learn how to float for good. Then, the most natural step is evolving it into a flight spell. I can't wait to soar through the skies like my childhood heroes!"
Right after lunch, Lith went back into the woods and started practicing. Floating Body's magic word was "Brezza Ri Lak", so he had no problems with pronunciation. The hand signs, instead, were quite complicated.
Having learned from his mistakes, Lith first made sure he had got the magic word right before moving to the hand signs. He took it slow and easy, he didn't need to learn how to fast cast it, only to learn from the spell how to distribute the energy.
After only a few tries, Lith managed to cast the Floating Body properly. It was an odd feeling, much different from what he had expected.
To float it did not require a single strong updraft, but hundreds of them at the same time, each one pushing upwards with the same force to keep the balance in check.
"This is much worse than I had anticipated. No wonder I always failed in the past. Now, according to the book, Floating Body makes me weightless, standing in place. To move I need either external support or air chore magic."
Lith started to generate weak winds, moving around like a toy drone.
"This feels great! This spell has countless applications, I wonder why it's just a tier one despite being so elaborate."
"Because it lasts only one minute" Solus reminded him while Lith was already falling to the ground.
After experimenting with Floating Body a few times, Lith used his own mana flow to replicate the spell. Soon it became apparent that he wouldn't be able to do it in a single afternoon. True magic, after all, was really more difficult than its fake counterpart.
Angry and frustrated, Lith started grumbling non-stop.
"It's all so annoying, having to learn two kinds of magic for every damn spell. I'm telling you, Solus, I have seriously considered using Floating Body instead. But if I am stupid enough to do so, then I would be forced to learn all its upper tier versions, and who knows at what step lies actual flight.
This way, instead, once I get some solid foundations, everything else should come easy. Or at least I hope so."
Lith spent all day and night practicing his new spell, Levitation, but when morning came, he had yet to succeed.
The following day, a small crate of books was delivered to Nana's house, and she promptly handed it to Lith.
"If they were mine, I would never allow you to bring them out of my house. But the Count explicitly told me you are free to bring them home as you see fit. Lark is a very generous man, don't abuse his trust."
At first, Lith was really pissed off. He had completely forgot about his plea from help, and now he was flooded with useless books that he had to pretend to read. After two whole days as a shut in, his body was craving for some action.
But then he noticed that there weren't that many history books, most of them were biographies and autobiographies of past and present prominent mages, archmages and Magi. He finally had at hand the information he needed about how much talent he could reveal safely.
Lith could finally see a light at the end of one of the many tunnels he was stuck in. So far, his apprenticeship had only added more problems to his life, getting lucky for once, made him feel really good.
He took note in his grimoire of all the feats his role models accomplished and at what age they managed to do it. Then it came the most serious part, deciding how far to push his act.
"I'm of humble origins and with no backer. Mimicking a Magus is like courting death. If even revealing less talent than Nana brought a noble to try to kill me, showing so much skill would put me on the hit list of all the major families."
"Agreed." Solus chimed in.
"The best choice is to keep being below Nana's talent. If Count Lark starts protecting you, you can ramp you up to her level. A male mage of that skill would definitely be noteworthy. From then, is better to adjust your power talent based on how things develop."
"My thoughts exactly." Lith mind nodded.
During the following weeks, while at Nana's house, Lith and Solus split the tasks at hand. Lith crammed all the tier one spells while Solus would read the Count's books and take note of every relevant detail.
Lith gave her control over both spirit and water magic, making her possible to flip books and write an appendix on the grimoire.
During the afternoon, instead, they would try to make Levitation work. Little by little they were working out all the problems, sometimes even improving Floating Body foundations.
Lith completed Levitation after over a month of hard work, and by that time he had also already mastered all the tier one spells, but he was forced to wait. According to the Count's books, that was a feat worthy of a future archmage.
So, he had to wait for another half a month before revealing to Nana the fruits of his endeavours. She was truly impressed by Lith's skill and determination.
Nana had told him that back in the day she had needed less than a month to memorize all the book, and despite Lith being of lesser talent, he had managed to accomplish the same result with just two weeks of delay.
Nana had expected that it would take him no less than two whole months.
Nana offered him to help her during the busy hours, and Lith gladly accepted. Until completing Levitation he had not hunted for over a month. Not only the reserve of game he kept in the pocket dimension was almost depleted, but that huge break had also costed him a lot of money.
Lith needed to make up for the lost time. Officially he only knew two tier one light spells, Vinire Rad Tu (the illness/injuries detecting spell) and Vinire Dan, a basic healing spell, capable to treat coughs, light colds and not too deep cuts.
Hence, most of the times he would only get the diagnosis fee, since it would be Nana treating the patients. He could only get to heal minor injuries, yet his profits weren't that bad.
Nana's business had deep roots, people from all the neighbouring villages would come to seek her aid.
By spending more time in the front office, Lith discovered that Nana was so much more than a healer for the people of Lutia. She was also their protector and the strongest law enforcer.
Simply by living there, most bandits would avoid the village, and those who were brave enough to attack would quickly meet their maker before doing any real damage. Nana was also the shield for all the local merchants and population.
No foreigner merchant, young master or young mistress could bully the people of Lutia without incurring in her wrath. Sometimes she would be called even to put an end to a drunken brawl.
Lith found hard to believe she had such disposition toward the people she served, always standing ready to intervene whenever was necessary.
One day, after Nana taught a lesson to a young noble and his bodyguards, believing that he could forcefully take any maiden that suited his taste, Lith decided to find out the truth.
The old hag had already proven that she cared about money more than everything. Lith had fallen for her kind act more than once, so he wanted to know what her real angle was.
Being rude to his mentor was definitely a bad idea, so he went with a subtler approach.
"Master, I really don't know how to express my admiration for you. Taking care of the safety of the village, basically all by yourself, and asking nothing in return. It's really impressing of you."
Nana laughed out loud, sounding ominous like the plumber, back on Earth, that once Lith had been forced to call during a national holiday.
"You really are hilarious, kid. Sometimes you are so wise I almost forget you are just six years old. But whenever you come out with this nonsense, you really look like a naïve child. Off course I get something in return. Have you ever wondered why my treatments are so expensive?"
Chapter 31 Kindness and Retribution
"Actually, yes. Many times. But I always thought those were the normal fares for a healer." In the moment he said it out loud, Lith remembered how ignorant he was in the ways of the new world.
"They are not." Nana shook her head. "Listen, little imp, in a few years you are going to get out of this village and face the world. Not everyone is kind as your parents, and most nobles are not like Count Lark.
For the average person life is hard, most of the time unfair, and hard work means nothing without luck and opportunity. I don't tell you this because I want to scare you, only because I don't want you to make my same mistakes.
You need to wise up, so let me tell you a story. Once upon a time, a mage fallen from grace decided to return to her old village, to settle in and forget about her failures. At first, people were scared of her, thinking she would abuse her power and authority to settle old feuds.
But the mage was too tired and bitter for petty revenges, she only wanted peace. So, when she became a medicine woman, doing nothing but tending to the ill and wounded for a fair price, the villagers were really happy
And when they noticed that since her arrival brigands, merchants and nobles treated the village with much more respect, they became ecstatic. But bad things kept happening from time to time, since the mage had no interest in playing hero.
So, the people in the village offered her a deal. They would pay her a certain sum in exchange for her help. Everything was perfect, and everyone was happy for a while. Then, the villagers, the only ones whom benefited from her protection, decided to make a little change to the initial deal.
Sure, peace and quiet were doing wonders for business, and the presence of the mage brought so many people from the neighbouring villages to get treatment, but that sum each year was a burden to their profits.
Not even the fact that the County's most important noble had made the village the permanent seat for the local spring festival was enough to satiate their greed.
So, they decided to convince the local farmers that it was in their best interest to help the villagers cover the sum they had agreed to pay to the mage. You may ask how did they managed to do it. Well, let's just say not appealing to the goodness of their hearts.
They simply threatened the farmers to change the exchange rate of their goods to the point of making their life a living nightmare. And what could the farmers do about it? Nothing.
They needed the blacksmith for their tools, the merchant to buy and sell cattle and crops. You can easily imagine the rest. Without the villagers, the farmers were cut off from the rest of the County.
By refusing, every single farmer would have to travel for days, each year, even to buy a new plough. Not to mention how hard and perilous would it be moving the cattle and the crops to the nearest merchant, all while leaving family and fields unattended."
Lith nodded, a ferocious expression on his face.
"Let me guess. According to the new deal, every time the farmers needed the help of the mage, they would pay a share of the agreed sum."
"Just like everyone else." When Nana had finished her story, she, could read the rage and disgust in the eyes of her disciple.
"There, there, Lith. I didn't mean to make you angry, the purpose was to show you what normal people, even good people, do to each other on daily basis.
We are good friends and all, but that is until our pockets or families get involved, then one own's priorities come first.
Life is hard for everyone, but for mages is even worst. Normal people see them as monsters, nobles as something to submit or exploit.
But the worst comes always from your own. Even in the magical academy you will find hidden ranks, hierarchy, and the competition will be tougher than you can imagine.
The pressure both families and teachers put on those poor kids quickly turns them into ferocious beasts. They get measured, judged and looked down upon for every mistake they make.
Social status, wealth, talent, the more they have the higher the expectations for them."
Lith was starting to get confused.
"So, do you want me to go easy on them? To don't judge hastily? To try making friends rather than enemies?" He was inwardly scoffing.
"Gods forbid it! The very opposite!" Nana yelled in desperation, flapping her arms like a hysterical bird.
"I already told you, you need to wise up. Don't fall for the first nice act someone performs. How do you think they will treat a dirty poor country bumpkin?
How do you think they treated me? At first you will easily make friends with the students from the lower classes, but as soon you'll reveal any talent, you'll be surrounded by only two kind of people.
Those who want to destroy you and those who want to suck up on you. Stay away from the former, and ever further from the latter, otherwise you'll end up like me.
Naively believing to have lots of important friends, until you make one single mistake, and then they pile up on you like everyone else, leaving only scorched earth around you." When she finished talking, Nana looked really tired and bitter, staring at the floor with watery eyes, she seemed to have aged about twenty years.
Lith pondered for a while on her words, before giving her his answer.
"I appreciate the thought and will treasure your words forever. But I also hope you'll understand that your story kind of pissed me off big time. So, here is my plan for the immediate future…"
When Nana finished listening to Lith's idea, she laughed heartily, going back to her old snarky self.
"That's what I am talking about. Good boy! I'm finally starting to rub some good sense on you. You have my permission, but do it only in my absence, it would be bad for my revenue otherwise. If anyone complains or tries to do something funny, I'll cover for you."
In the following months, Lith had to prove time and time again his magical skills as a healer, before Nana gave him a tier two spellbook to learn from. This allowed him to expand his official skillset and be recognized by the people of Lutia as a true healer.
Lith was finally able to enact his plan.
Nana wasn't always at her home office. Sometimes she had personal business to attend to, but most of the times it was because she had to do house calls for patients that cannot be moved.
During those times, Lith was in charge of everything. Those who could afford to, would wait for Nana to return. Lith was still six-year-old after all, he didn't seem trustworthy enough to put someone's life in his hands without Nana's supervision.
But emergencies couldn't be planned, so there was always someone desperate enough to come for his help. His first real patient ended up to be Lukah, Rizel's youngest brother (see chap 21).
He was just a toddler, so his mother, Lisa, had a terrified expression when she brought him in. Lukah was crying desperately, his left arm purple and swollen, bent in an unnatural angle.
Lith hadn't even finished pulling the curtain to give them some privacy, that Lisa laid Lukah on the bed and started to beg for Lith's help.
"It's all my fault, I'm so stupid. I was cradling him in my arms, while preparing lunch, when he started squirming and fell. Can you please help my baby?"
Lith quickly waved his fingers into a "Vinire Rad Tu!" A small wisp of light danced around the baby before penetrating his chest. The light spreaded to all his body, becoming dimmer around his chest and left arm.
Immediately after, Lith faked a "Vinire Lakhat!" Guided by his willpower, the light magic first dulled the pain, then it made the bone fragments reattach themselves to the ribcage and the arm.
Lith used his Invigoration breathing technique on the baby, using the imaging it provided him to make sure that the bones were perfectly healed and aligned before interrupting the spell.
"He had a broken arm and cracked ribs, but now is as good as new." Lukah was still crying, but now he was moving both arms, his skin pink and with no traces of bruises.
Lisa sighed in relief, thanking Lith with a deep bow before handing him the money.
It was Nana's usual fare, four copper coins. Enough for a family of four to eat well for one day.
Lith took only two, what she would have paid without the village protection tax. Seeing that she was confused, Lith whispered:
"I know about the deal with the villagers, and I am not Nana. I protect no one. Also, us farmers need to stick together, am I right? Please, keep your lips sealed about it, otherwise the next time I will be forced to ask you for the full price."
Lisa was chocked, her eyes watery. She did not know what to say.
"Then can I ask you to check my leg too? It hurts from a while, and the pain is not getting any better over time."
"Is that how the little Lukah managed to slip away?" Lith asked.
"Yes. A few weeks ago, I took a bad fall while repairing a hole in the roof. At first it didn't hurt much, and with a baby we could not afford a visit for every small thing."
Lith used Invigoration again, using the injury detection spell as a cover.
"Holy cr*ap, her leg is badly cracked. It's a miracle she was still able to walk without a limp."
After healing her, Lith was conflicted about taking the rest of the money. He could see Elina in her, all the sacrifices his family had made just for keeping Tista alive were always vivid in his memory.
Lith couldn't avoid empathizing with the daily struggles his neighbours had to face every day, perceiving them as real persons, like him, instead of dismissing them as trash, like he always did with those he killed in the past.
Luckily Lisa took the choice for him, handing the money and opening the curtain before he could say a word.
"What a proud woman, truly deserving my respect. Next time she comes, I'll perform the healing while checking up the wound, so she won't get to pay."
Those four copper coins were the heaviest Lith's hand had ever held. Lisa's family would have to skip a meal or two to cover for that expense.
From that day onward, Lith would do the same thing for all the farmers, always prompting them to silence. Soon his reputation grew wildly outside the village's borders.
Inside those same borders, though, things were quite different.
On another occasion, when Nana had been called away, another kind of patient walked in. It was Renkin, merchant and richest man in the village, barging in while carrying his son on a makeshift stretcher, with the help of one of his assistants.
"Nana! Where in the nine hells is that wretched healer when you really need her?!"
"She is away at the moment." Lith moved forward, making way for the stretcher. The boy was around fifteen years old, his black hair stood out on his pale face. He was bleeding from his leg, despite the wound was tightly wrapped up.
"Where is she?" Renkin yelled.
"The men repairing the Colen bridge had an accident, she will be back on the afternoon at best."
"You idiot, can't you see my son is dying? I do not have that much time!"
Lith snorted in annoyance.
"If you have to yell and be rude, that's the door. If you want me to take care of him…" Lith extended his right hand, while pointing with the left at a sign on the wall that said: "Payment up front. No refunds."
"Paying you?! What are you, four?"
"Almost six and a half. Again, if you aren't going to pay, make space for real clients. If you want miracles, feel free to pray. But do it outside." Lith's tone was stone cold.
"Okay, okay!" Renkin gave up. "Here is you goddamned four copper coins."
"Eight." Lith stopped him before he could take the money out of his pouch.
"That's clearly a deep wound, requiring two tier two spells, if not even a tier three. Either way the price is set to eight copper coins." Lith pointed to another sign, stating the prices:
"Check-up: 1 copper coin. Tier one spells: +1 cc. Tier two spells: +3 cc. Tier three spells: +7 cc"
"But those are Nana's prices! You are not Nana!"
"Really?" Lith mimicked his Master's snarky tone. "What gave me away? The age? The height? The gender? You are really perceptive, worthy of a merchant."
Renkin was choking on his own anger. Such an arrogant little brat!
"I meant that you shouldn't ask so much! Didn't your Master tell you about our agreement?"
Lith just pointed to the end of the second sign, where "No discounts, ever" was written in big bright red words.
"Don't you have a heart? How can you ask so much? You are so young and inexperienced, after all!" In all his years as a merchant, Renkin was proud to have never overpaid any product. He was determined to get a discount at all costs.
"I could argue that I don't think you ever gave a discount to someone just for pointing out your age or likeability.
Also, which one of us his bargaining on his son's life? I doubt all healing magic in the world would do him any good once he bleeds out."
Finally remembering about his beloved Garth, Renkin finally paid the fee, letting Lith do his job.
"What happened?" Lith asked after using Vinire Rad Tu coupled with Invigoration, sensing a deep cut wound that missed the femoral artery by an ich.
"This blockhead and his idiotic best friend had the brilliant idea of practicing their swordsmanship with real swords, that's what happened."
"He lost a lot of blood." Lith said after completely healing the leg. "Keep him at rest and make him eat rare meat."
Later, that day, when Renkin returned to complain to Nana about her disciple, she laughed hard in his face for a whole minute, before shutting her door in his face.
Chapter 32 Merits and Trus
Two more years passed, Lith was now eight years old. During that time, he had mastered all the spells contained in Nana's books, which brought his official skill set up to the most common tier three spells.
Books about superior tiers were extremely expensive, and Nana had no interest in acquiring them. She had her own grimoire, after all. The books she bought over the years were mostly for display, to show her clients what they could purchase.
But while his skill in fake magic stagnated, Lith used those years to deepen his understanding of true magic. His grasp on its profoundness and foundations had improved greatly.
By practicing true magic every day as a healer, he had gained such fine control on both light and darkness magic that he had finally acquired the necessary skill to permanently get rid of Tista's congenital condition.
The problem was that despite all his efforts, his mana core was not strong enough to perform the treatment Lith had devised.
During those years he had used Assimilation whenever he could, making his mana core going through multiple cycles of expansion and compression, turning it from deep green to bright green.
But it was still green. Lith's impurities had yet to reach the mana core, and until that happened both his mana and body would not undergo through qualitative changes.
He had reached a bottleneck, and had no idea how to overcome it.
Solus too had changed quite a lot. She was no more limited to her pebble form, but could actually turn into any shape while retaining the same overall mass.
That allowed Solus to take the form of a smooth stone ring, that Lith wore on his right middle finger.
When she asked him why a ring on the middle finger, Lith replied with an odd short poem related to a green ring of power. It was something related to his childhood, of which he was really fond of.
Along with some of her power, Solus had also regained a new function, something that Lith called Soluspedia. It was another pocket dimension, but specifically crafted for books and any means to store knowledge.
All the books that Lith stored in the Soluspedia, he could consult with but a thought. For example, by storing his grimoire he didn't need to memorize anymore the magic words and hand signs for the fake magic spells he had learned.
Lith still had to practice the hand signs and pronunciation, but he only had to think about what he needed to remember everything up to the smallest detail. The same applied for maps, herbals and bestiaries.
Lith had given almost everything he had earned as a healer to his family, allowing them to have a much easier life and accumulate a decent dowry for Rena and Tista.
Whatever he kept for himself, he would use to buy the most detailed compendiums he could find about the most useful topics, like law, court etiquette and even a vocabulary.
As long as they were in the Soluspedia, Lith knew them inside and out. What made him inwardly gloating, was the fact that he could buy even those items that were almost crumbling or defective, resulting to be highly perishable.
That wasn't a problem for him. Just like for the pocket dimension, they would be frozen in time, and hence potentially last forever.
After his eight winter ended, Lith received a call from Count Lark on Nana's communication amulet. The event took him by surprise, the Count had never contacted him before.
Having had plenty of video calls and job interviews on Discort and Skope back on Earth, he was familiar with that kind of meeting. Lith bowed deeply as a salute, while cupping his fist.
"Dear Lith, you are always so polite. No need for all the formalities, you are among friends now." Count Lark had a convivial and friendly demeanour, making him seem more like an uncle calling his nephew rather than a Lord.
"Count Lark, to what do I owe the pleasure of this call?" Lith looked at Nana, standing beside him, in search for approval. She nodded while staring at the magical hologram of the Count.
"You have accumulated quite some merits, I wanted to know if you plan on using some of them." Merits were something that anyone who contributed to the welfare of the kingdom would receive and could be exchanged for privileges or commodities.
A convict could have his sentence shortened by serving in the military and earning merits, a farmer could get more land for free, a scholar could get a recommendation for a government job.
"Merits?" Lith was taken aback. "I didn't do anything to earn such things."
"Quite the contrary, dear Lith. Every year I receive hundreds of commendation letters from the farmers and their families, about the outstanding job you are performing as a healer."
Since Lith had started to give treatments for half the price to the farmers, they would wait for Nana to leave the village before going to get medical care. Nana knew it and did not care.
They still needed her for the emergencies, and the house call extra fees covered whatever profit she may have lost.
"A letter counts for earning merits?" Lith asked, still confused.
"One letter, no. But dozens, hundreds of letters all about the same person for a prolonged period of time, off course they do. Do you have anything in mind the kingdom can help you with?"
Lith pondered for a while, while accessing the law book in Soluspedia. More land was suicidal, his family was already stretched thin, and they cannot afford hired help.
The kingdom would not trade merits for money, but Lith could still get the next best thing.
"Do I have enough for my family to be exonerated from taxes this year?"
Count Lark dropped his monocle from the shock, the mouth ajar.
"Taxes? Your family still pays taxes?"
"Yes, we are law abiding citizens, your lordship." Lith was almost as confused as the Count, but with a better poker face.
"I'll flay my accountant alive!" The Count jumped off his chair, his face red from anger.
"I told that incompetent fool to exonerate your family since the day Lady Nerea took you under her wing! I swear to the gods, I'll fire that man with such bad references he will never find another employer."
Lith tried to calm the Count down.
"Maybe is for the best. I'd prefer to be exonerated because of my merits, rather than for being a magician in training."
The Count sat back down, a perplex expression on his face.
"Why? The result is the same, and you would get to keep your merits for future needs."
"It may seem just a matter of semantics but is not." Lith explained.
"If my family gets exonerated, sooner or later it will come out, and what happens next will depend on the reason why we got it. If it is because of my status, in the eyes of the community it would be an unfair privilege.
That could generate envy and grudges, and in such tight community it could prove to be toxic. Help and support from the neighbours are of paramount importance for a farm, and I will not stay there forever.
If we get exonerated because of my merits, instead, it would be something that the community has bestowed on me, as a sign of gratitude for my good deeds.
Being able to somehow repay their benefactor, would make them feel happy, and prevent them from harbouring ill feelings."
During all the explanations, Lith was inwardly crying out of joy, congratulating himself about purchasing the vocabulary.
"I can finally talk like I used back on Earth. The inability to express myself correctly has always been such a burden." He thought.
"Magic is indeed the supreme form of art." Count Lark nodded in agreement. "Only a magician can be so wise despite being so young. I am honestly impressed."
"A dragon whelp is still a dragon, after all." Nana chimed in. "The boy is not only wise beyond his age, but also is blessed by the light. He is talented enough to have already invented his own light spells.
Lith's skill as a healer is almost at the same level I had back at his age, and he even created some cosmetic spell for his sister. She has the fairest skin I have seen in my whole life. This is just between us, off course."
Lith was smiling and nodding, but he was actually scared to death. Nana seemed to have seen through some of his deception.
"Wonderful! Just wonderful!" The Count jumped off his chair out of joy, losing once again his monocle. "Thanks for your trust, Lith. I will keep your secret with me at all costs!"
After the call ended, Lith stared at Nana, unable to express his questions out loud. She laughed out tauntingly as usual.
"Don't be so shocked, I'm a mage too, after all. When some of your patients came back for a second opinion, after describing me their injuries, I was bound to discover the truth. Some of those wounds were supposed to be beyond your skill.
As for your mother and sister, you just overdid it, little imp. Whatever you did, made them too gorgeous. I commend you for doing it slowly and over time, but whoever knows a thing or two about magic would suspect something.
As for the Count, he too would notice, once Rena first and Tista later take part in the Spring Maiden contest. Or do you think he has acorns instead of eyes? It's better to play it this way. Lark is an honest man, the best noble I have ever met.
If he thinks he has your trust, he will do his best to uphold it. You are still his precious pet project, after all. I doubt he would risk to lose everything he has invested so far for such a trivial matter."
Lith could do nothing but agree.
"Master, you do not trust anyone, do you?"
Nana snorted.
"I barely trust myself. Besides, I am the only one who always fought for my best interests."
Lith bowed deeply, his fist cupped.
"Master, your disciple thanks you for your guidance and help. I will take your words to heart."
In the following days, Lith could not stop blaming himself for making such stupid mistakes.
"Dammit! Always so full of myself! I need to stop thinking I am always the smartest in the room. I can't keep screwing up on the small details, in the long run it could be prove to be fatal. Having such a bitter and cynic Master is a blessing in disguise.
We are basically two peas in a pod. She still suspects nothing, and I have to keep it that way. Having her by my side can help me grow as a mage and protect me from my own stupidity at the same time."
Aside from that, Lith's family got exonerated from the annual fees thanks to his merits, and as he predicted, that caused only joy and happiness in the neighbours. It had happened thanks to them, after all.
It was a slow day at Nana's house office, when two hunters barged in, bringing on their shoulders two more hunters, covered in blood.
"A magical beast!" The hunter in the lead shouted. "A magical beast is rampaging through the Trawn woods! Please, you have to save my men. That monster almost ripped them apart"
Chapter 33 Hunter and Prey
The people in the waiting room made space for the hunters, while Nana and Lith quickly dismissed their previous patients, leaving the beds free for the wounded men.
They were so desperate, that no one complained about Lith's age or diminutive stature. Before any of the two hunters could say anything, both healers spoke as one.
"Close the curtains and let me do my job."
They performed "Vinire Rad Tu", but rather than to find the cause of the affliction, which laid bare in front of their eyes, it was meant to check if there was a sliver of hope saving them.
Lith didn't even had the time to activate Invigoration, before noticing that the woman was already dead. He tried nonetheless, but there was no mana flow to manipulate, no life force to enhance with light magic.
"I'm sorry." Lith said closing the dead woman's eyes. "She was already dead before you got here."
Before he could continue with his bedside manners, Nana yelled to him.
"Get here, quick! We can still save this one if we work together!"
Lith rushed to the other bed, positioning himself at the man's feet while Nana moved behind the head. They both needed space to operate at their best.
Nana was right, Invigoration could still feel a mana flow, despite it being weak. The hunter's wounds were very deep, Lith doubted that fake magic could help him.
Fake healing magic would spread to the whole body, before focusing on the injury, and that caused it to need a few seconds to take effect. Even worse, the spreading and focusing process would cause the spell to lose some of its effectiveness.
True healing magic, instead, would directly affect the wound. Thanks to Invigoration, Lith was also able to pinpoint were to send the light mana with surgical precision, maximizing the potency of the spell.
"Nana's specialty is not light magic, after all. If she called me, it means that she hopes my personal spells can save this man."
For a moment, Lith hesitated. He would have loved to have the time to ponder about the risk reward ratio of that scenario.
He couldn't care less about the life of a stranger, he was much more scared of exposing his secrets, losing everything in the process.
"Screw it! Sooner or later I'll have to reveal my spells. I want to believe in Nana and give all this 'blessed by the light' cr*p a go. Play scared, die scared."
Lith started performing quick hand signs, mixed with ninja hand seals he remembered from an old movie. He had prepared that choreography since the last conversation with Count Lark.
"Vinire Eskla!" The light magic flowed straight through the hunter's blood vessels, repairing them and stopping the blood loss. With Nana keeping his conditions stable, Lith was able to bring the hunter to the point where fake magic could save him.
After that, he had to lean against the wall and slide down to the ground.
Lith was exhausted, he had never attempted something that required so much focus and mana for a prolonged time.
"Damn my stupid green mana core! If it was already cyan, maybe I wouldn't be forced to leave halfway through the procedure."
Luckily, Nana took all the credit for the success, relieving Lith from any possible questioning about his unknown spell.
After taking her forty copper coins, she warned the hunters' leader.
"He is alive, but barely. I don't know if he will make it or not. I can't even assure you a full recovery. His injuries were too deep, we did the best that we could."
"Forty copper coins, almost a f*cking half silver coin and that's all you have to say? A bunch of ifs and wishful thinking?" He yelled.
Nana clearly understood that the man wasn't really angry with her or Lith, he still could not accept the loss of one, if not both of his friends.
Yet she did not care.
When it came to anger, Nana was second to none. She had been the scapegoat for others' misbehaviour enough to last for a lifetime.
"Listen to me, young man, and listen well. I dare you find any village that hosts not one, but two healers capable of casting tier three spells!
If you want certainties, go find Krishna Manohar, the god of healing! He lives in the White Griffon Academy, just five hundred kilometres (311 miles) from here! And now get out of my house, before I make you!"
Even a grieving man knew that to further antagonize a mage whose eyes were brimming with power and whose voice generated wind blows was plain suicide.
The two surviving hunters could only comply.
While Nana was clearing the blood spattered around the room, Lith had managed to use Invigoration enough to recover some of his strength, so he followed them outside.
Trawn woods was too close to his house for comfort.
"Sir hunter, please wait!" They were already halfway toward the tavern.
The hunters' leader really wanted to vent his frustration on the little pest, but he had regained enough of his cool to admit that the kid was blameless. If anything, he had contributed saving the life of his little brother.
That and he was still scared sh*tless by Nana.
"No need for honorifics, young man. My name is Ekart Longran, and this is my sworn brother Flek Irotia."
"My name is Lith." The three men bowed to each other.
"The man whose life you saved is my little brother, Otum Longran. If I can do anything to return the favour, you just need to say the word."
"Could you please tell me more about this magical beast?"
Ekart shivered for a moment, his eyes closed by the fear that memory generated in his heart. But he was a great hunter, who had danced with death countless times. With every passing second, he was recovering both his courage and spirits.
"It's a huge Byk, do you what it is?"
Lith nodded.
According to the bestiary in the Soluspedia, a Byk was a bear that had evolved into a magical beast. They were in tune with earth magic, in rare cases also with fire magic.
"It all started around a month ago. The farms on the east side of the Trawn woods were being attacked by a mad beast. At first it would just slay some cattle, before returning to the woods.
But then that harpy of Baroness Rath put a huge bounty on the Byk, in hope to avenge his mad son. She believes he has fallen prey to the beast months ago."
"Rath." Lith thought. "The name sounds familiar."
"The psycho that tried to rob you of your bunnies." Solus reminded him.
"And that was the beginning of the end. After slaying some wannabe hunters, lured by the promise of easy money, the Byk got a taste for human flesh. From that moment, it started to hunt down his pursuers with elaborate traps.
When we understood how smart the Byk is, it was already too late. We managed to get away only because he was too engrossed in his last meal to chase us."
Lith bowed again.
"Thanks. I live near the woods, and your information may have just saved my family. Consider your debt settled."
Before he could turn around, Ekart grabbed his shoulder.
"I have been long enough in the business to recognize a fellow hunter when I see one. Listen to my advice, don't' go after it. That beast is unnatural. Not only is smart and cunning, it also moves at unbelievable speed.
No matter how fast you run away or chase it, it keeps switching places, li-like a ghost. I know it sounds stupid, but I believe it to be a vengeful spirit."
Lith thanked him again, before going back to help move Otum in one of the tavern's rooms and to clean the blood on Nana's house floor.
When he finished, Nana handed him twenty copper coins, half the fee.
"Go home and rest. You really are talented in light magic, but that spell is too draining for you. Use it only in case of emergencies."
Lith nodded, but before going back home he needed to purchase some things. He kept discussing the matter with Solus the whole time. Facing such a monster without more than one plan and enough preparation was idiotic.
After warning Selia, he spent the whole day resting and using Accumulation. In a life or death situation even a small power up could made the difference.
That night, he slept for the first time in two months. Lith wanted to be at his peak condition, he wasn't willing to take unnecessary risks. He woke up before dawn, leaving a note for his parents.
He then wore his brand-new leather hunter set, with metal protectors for the forearms, shins and heart, his last line of defence in case everything else failed. Once outside, after checking there were no witnesses, he casted the Soaring Hawk spell and took flight.
The Trawn woods was too big, and moving on foot was too slow. Using both his Life Vision and Solus' mana sense, he started looking for his prey, while moving near the top of the trees.
It didn't take long to find it, the Byk wasn't even trying to hide. Lith could trace it thanks to the bear claw marks on trees and rocks, until he found it eating a deer.
"So much for smart and cunning. How the heck can it still eat? It should have filled his belly many times already." Lith thought. "Nevertheless, let's see if I can kill it nice and easy."
The Byk was on the ground, while Lith was in the sky, the distance between them about 30 metres (33 yards), well within the spirit magic's range.
Lith sent a huge wave of mana, meaning to snap the Byk's neck in one go.
The Byk instinct was sharp. Even if it was still unaware of the new hunter, it could feel that something was off.
It infused his whole body with earth magic, so when the two mana flows clashed, the spirit magic was diminished to a neck rub.
"F*ck my life! Again with that sh*t, just like the Ry."
"It seems that magical beasts are able to use fusion magic to some extent." Solus commented.
"No duh, Sherlock. And what's worse is that fusion magic is spirit magic's bane. It can disrupt my mana flow making it useless. But that stands only for direct attacks…"
Having his first plan failed, Lith hid behind the tree while moving away from the Byk. Casting spells in mid-air still required too much effort, he also wanted to keep his ability to fly a secret from the prey.
Once on the ground, he took a roundabout path toward the Byk, using Float to not make noises, and a subtle dark aura to cancel out his smell and aura.
When Lith found the Byk again, it was still sniffing the air, looking at its surroundings.
Lith moved right behind its back, before unleashing a lightning as big as the crouched Byk.
It had no effect, aside from angering the magical beast and blackening some of its fur.
"Holy sh*t! I would have never suspected that earth fusion could shield from lightning."
The Byk roared its challenge, standing tall on its legs.
It was an enormous beast, at least four meters (13 feet) tall, with a weight close to a ton. Its fur was deep brown with shades of green, and its green eyes were staring at Lith with malice.
"Too big for comfort!" Lith summoned a strong wind, hoping to take advantage of that unstable position to topple the Byk and prevent it from charging ahead.
The Byk channelled even more earth magic, becoming heavier while digging deep into the ground with its claws. It managed to return back on its four, now standing 1.6 meters (5'3") tall at the shoulder.
"Magnificent display of earth fusion!" Solus couldn't hold her admiration. Lith was the same, but much more scared.
"Yeah, I'm clearly a noob compared to it. Ice Spears!"
Countless spears of ice appeared out of thin air encircling the Byk. Each one was two meters (6'8") long, ten centimetres (4 inches) thick and razor-sharp.
It was Lith's sure kill spell.
The spears came down at the same time, like a deadly rain.
The Byk didn't seem scared, though. It roared again, getting partially up on its legs, before slamming the front paws on the ground, creating a spherical shielding made out of earth and rock.
The spears crushed against the summoned barrier, inflicting no harm to the Byk.
Both Lith and Solus cursed as one.
"F*ck me sideways! Magical beasts use true magic too!"
Chapter 34 Unbelievable Speed
Lith's and Solus minds were spinning at full gear, but for entirely different reasons.
"What if magical beasts are the primordial true mages? What if human mages learned true magic by watching the magical beast hunting, like Chinese martial artists derived their moves from Earth's animals?" Solus pondered in amazement.
"What the F*ck can I do? I just revealed my trump card for nothing and my fusion magic is useless, since if that thing closes in, it needs only one hit to rip me in a half. Not to mention that air, earth and spirit magic would probably be useless against it.
I am only left with light, dark, fire and water magic!" Lith trembled in fear, but his body was ready to move, his mind never giving up on life.
The Byk charged through its own shield, intending to make things up close and personal. Lith reacted promptly, using air fusion to gain speed and keep their distance in check.
"You may truly be immovable as a mountain, but you sure can't keep up with someone fast as lightning!" Yet the two enemies' speed was the same. The Byk was indeed heavier, but the difference in physical prowess was enormous.
Not to mention, they were both slowed down by trees, rocks and undergrowth.
Lith felt reassured noticing that the Byk couldn't close in, since he could still resort to fly as a desperate measure.
"Unbelievable speed my pale a*s! This thing is fast, but not that much. Ekart and his men were either too scared or hallucinating."
The game of tag went on for a while, with Lith throwing ice spears whenever he could spot an opening, and the Byk using rock projectiles trying to shoot him down.
Lith knew that bears weren't supposed to smile, but on the Byk's muzzle he could clearly see a smirk, sometimes even emitting a "Hurr, hurr" sound.
"Is that a laugh? Is that b*stard actually just having fun?!"
While running, Lith moved the fight to his private clearing. He had finally found a path to victory, but he needed to have both hands and legs free, without worrying about tripping on roots or pebbles.
Also, the river Philo flowed nearby, greatly enhancing his water magic. Not having to conjure it anymore, Lith could focus only on the manipulation aspect.
The Byk moved forward slowly and triumphantly. It knew the prey was now cornered. In front there was only the raging river, while the Byk was plenty capable of cutting off any other escape route.
But soon it noticed that something was off. Not only the smell of fear was gone, the prey had ceased to run, standing firm with the river at his back, watching the Byk's every move with defiant eyes.
The Byk slowed down even further, trying to suppress its overbearing bloodlust and looking again at the surroundings. Suddenly it remembered about all those dangerous ice spears, realizing it was a trap.
But it was too late, it had already got too close to the river. Tendrils of water grabbed its legs, trying to drag the Byk in the water. The Byk reacted promptly, making tendrils of earth envelop his legs and body stopping the water in its tracks.
It knew it could not play only on the defensive, so it fired a barrage of stones against the prey. Lith didn't move and inch from his spot, either dodging the rocks, or using his own earth magic to deflect those he could not avoid.
It soon became a war of attrition, about whose mana would run dry first.
After a few of such exchanges, Lith infused himself with fire and earth magic, performing a roundhouse kick to send a huge stone back to the sender.
The Byk didn't miss that anomaly. The prey had never done such a thing, it was clearly a deception. As soon the stone come near enough, the Byk deflected it with a flick of a claw, using earth magic to avoid touching it.
That way it noticed that right behind the rock there was a dense black mass, Lith's Plague Arrow.
The Byk followed its instinct, and tried to dodge that slow bullet, but its own tendrils of earth were keeping it stuck in place! Before the Byk could summon any sort of magical protection, the Plague Arrow had hit his mark straight in its huge chest.
Pain started blinding the Byk, that became unable to notice Lith closing in while shooting six more Plague Arrows. The first to the chest, again.
The easiest target to enhance the crippling pain. Then he followed striking the four limbs once, to prevent the Byk from fighting back.
The sixth and last one to the head, almost at point blank, for the kill.
It all happened in barely three seconds. In that very short lapse of time the standstill had turned into a victory for the prey.
And that saved Lith's life that day.
As soon as the Byk let out an agonizing cry, a second one, even bigger came out rushing from the woods.
"It wasn't fast! There were two of them! That's why they could play with the hunters like a cat with a mouse."
Lith used air fusion to stay away, keeping the distance the same he previously had with the other Byk.
Luckily the second Byk didn't seem interested in pursuing him, and started to lick its partner affectionately.
"From its size, it should be a male. The only notable difference is that his fur has shades of black instead of green. No wonder the hunters weren't able to tell them apart." Solus observed.
"You better make use of this time to replenish your mana. We don't know what it's capable of."
Lith immediately used the Invigorating breathing technique, letting the world energy replenish his lost mana and washing away his fatigue. Thanks to the good night sleep, Invigoration effect was at its peak, and it would not take Lith long to recover.
After all, his body was in perfect condition, only his stamina and mana had been consumed during the fight.
"Filthy human! How dare you kill my spouse?!" The Byk spoke.
Lith had no time to be surprised, so he kept his breathing rhythm steady, aiming to stall as long as he could.
"Wow, you talk! I didn't know bears could talk."
"Lowly maggot! I'm not a bear! I'm Irtu, the new king of the woods, and she was my queen, Gerda."
"Sorry, your majesty, but if you wanted to live happily ever after, you should have respected my turf. I don't care what you do on the east side of the woods, but the west side is mine! Not to mention that I know a Ry that could refute your claim."
"A Ry?" Irtu moved away from the carcass, putting enough distance from the river to be safe from the man pup tricks. "You mean that weakling! The mutt is as good as dead." Irtu grinned while slowly moving forward.
"Don't come any closer!" Lith ordered. "If you leave now and promise to never return, we can close it here. Otherwise one of us will have to die."
"Hurr, hurr, hurr." Irtu laughed. "You will not die, murderer. I will just rip off your legs and arms. Then I'll follow your scent back to your burrow and will devour your family alive, in front of your eyes. Only then we will be even!"
Lith dropped the act like a live grenade.
"I never intended to let you walk away alive from here. I only had doubts about how much make you suffer. Thanks for clearing them up for me."
"Such arrogance for a weak man pup! I will not fall for your trickery, like my poor Gerda. I have watched the whole time. The only reason you are still alive is that she loved so much playing with you vermin, before biting your head off!
It's all my fault. I shouldn't have indulged her so much. If I had killed you back then, she would still be alive!" Irtu roared, getting even closer.
Lith had already fully recovered and some more.
"If you want so bad to apologize to her, let me send you to the other side!"
Despite all his provocations, Irtu remained calm and collected, always keeping a safe distance from the waters.
"He is too confident, I have a bad feeling about this. Why does he keeps advancing despite what happened to the other Byk?" Lith fought back the temptation of using all the extra mana from the world energy in one go, limiting to a single Plague Arrow.
Instead of dodging it, Irtu stood up on its legs, laughing cruelly.
When the Plague Arrow hit the Byk's heart, Lith could see thanks to Life Vision that instead of attacking its vital organs, the dark energy was being assimilated by Irtu's core.
"Hurr, hurr, hurr. Did you really think to be the only one that have mastered dark magic, maggot? Now die!"
Irtu jumped forward, and before Lith could take advantage of its inability to dodge in mid-air, four rock formations abruptly erupted from the ground, right were Irtu's paws were going to be.
That way the Byk was able to jump forward once more, his speed further increased by the four rock's borrowed momentum.
In less than a second Lith was robbed of his opportunity to counter attack, while Irtu had turned into a one-ton bullet.
To evade the attack Lith had not only use air fusion, but also to roll forward. The Byk was too fast for a real dodge, his only option was to pass under it.
After that point, things got worse. When Irtu landed, instead of creating a crater, the ground stretched under its legs like a trampoline, allowing it to resume the chase without a second of delay.
"What the f*ck?! You can do that with earth magic?" Lith bit his lower lip hard, cursing his own ignorance. He was a self-taught after all, the only knowledge he had about true magic was what he discovered experimenting by himself.
Clearly the Byk was a natural at magic, and had refined its mastery over earth through the years, aptly adapting it to best suit its hunting techniques.
Making a split-second decision, Lith kicked the ground with his left leg while using all the mana he could to infuse himself with earth magic, boosting his defence.
Thanks to the clean cut in his previous trajectory, Lith got only grazed on the chest from Irtu's claw. Yet it was enough to rip off his chest protector and graze the underneath skin.
Lith instinctively used light fusion to stop the bleeding and gain a healing factor.
The mid-air strike had messed up the Byk's tempo, so after the second jump it was forced to stop.
Lith used that moment of pause to activate Soaring Hawk and take flight. The opponent was clearly superior, he had almost run out of options.
"No escape!" Irtu roared, shooting a rain of rock debris against him.
Lith mimicked Gerda, using air instead of earth to generate a fast spinning barrier that deflected the sudden attacks. Yet his flight was interrupted, and he started to fall down.
Irtu grinned, getting up on its back legs, ready to catch him. He could already feel in its mouth the crunchy taste of the prey's limbs.
Lith was almost out of options. Almost.
From that angle, Irtu could not notice that Lith's right hand was now holding something, removing the stopper with a snap of the thumb.
At the last second, Lith stopped in mid-air with Float, while the substance in the flask kept falling and hit Irtu right on the head.
Suddenly the Byk was blind, his eyes burning like fire. A strong smell inundated his nose, making him sneeze and rendering it unable to sense Lith presence anymore.
"When I bought this horrible perfume, my idea was to use it to make a Byk lose my traces in case the worst happened. I never expected being forced to resort to such a gamble. Luckily Irtu does not know about Solus, nor her pocket dimension."
The flask materializing out of thin air was something unconceivable for the magical beast, taking it by surprise.
Irtu was still roaring in pain, the paws rubbing his eyes, when he got stabbed from all sides.
Thanks to the river, Lith's Ice Spear spell needed just a split second to strike.
Lith waved his hands non-stop, sending a barrage of spears until Irtu's corpse was so riddled with holes that he could see through it. And even after that, he sent another one piercing its head, right between the eyes.
"I always hated how in horror movies no one ever makes sure that the frigging monster is really dead, only to get backstabbed during the credits."
"You took a huge risk there, pretending to have lost control of the flight spell and going into free fall." Solus had objected to that last-minute contingency plan from the second Lith devised it, deeming it too reckless.
"What if the Byk impaled you with a rock spear? What if instead of waiting for you to come down, it had jumped to finish you off?"
"That would have been merciful. Irtu was too cruel to do such thing."
Lith replied without hesitation.
"It wanted me to feel despair and helplessness, to be conscious while it ripped me apart. In some ways we were quite similar, both hell-bent on revenge and inflicting pain to our enemies.
The only difference between us, is that I would never allow my bloodlust to drive me crazy. Gerda and Irtu were a threat to my family. That's the only reason I came here.
I prefer giving my enemies a painless death, even making Irtu's pelt worthless, rather than taking the smallest risk that they could harm one hair of my beloved ones."
Lith had just collected the two magical beasts' carcasses inside the pocket dimension, when his body started trembling in pain. A familiar hot sensation rising from his mana core.
Chapter 35 Prizes
"Not here, not now!" Lith inwardly screamed. "Until it's over, I will be a sitting duck!" He knew that it was impossible to hold back the impurities refining process until he was back home.
He had no choice but to offer no resistance, making it as fast and painless as possible.
Soon, black ooze started being excreted from all his pores and orifices. Lith's eyes and throat were burning from the nasty feeling the impurities inflicted on their way out.
Lith felt like a river of bile was coming out of his body.
When it finally ended, he was kneeling, hands on the ground. A huge puddle of the tar-like substance was below him, tainting the air with its putrid smell.
"Congratulations on evolving your mana core to deep cyan!" Solus voice was full of joy.
"You also should have lost at least a kilogram or two (2.2 or 4.4 pounds), judging from how much impurities you expelled this time. I can already feel the quality of your mana flow improving. My meals have never been so tasty!"
"Deep cyan?!" Lith coughed up some impurities that got stuck in his throat.
"All these years, the hard work, even risking my life against not one but two consecutive magical beasts, just for the worst cyan core possible?" He couldn't help but feel depressed and frustrated.
"I'm still below Nana's level, and she was born with that core! If she practiced my breathing techniques, there's no telling how strong she would be. She could probably already topple mountains and split the sea."
With a pulse of dark magic, he banished all the impurities into nothingness.
"Look at the bright side. Thanks to the break through, you should finally be able curing Tista. Isn't that what you wanted from the beginning?" Solus tried to console him the best that she could.
At that thought, Lith's mood lightened up immediately.
"You are damn right! Sometimes I am just a self-centered a*shole."
"Sometimes?" Solus sarcastically remarked.
"Okay, fine! Most of the times I let my hunger for power get the best of me. Happy now?"
Solus giggled.
Despite having yet to use Invigoration, Lith could already perceive the world around him more vividly than ever. The colours, the smells, the sounds everything was different. It was like being born again and experiencing the world for the first time.
Still feeling light headed, he splashed the river's cold water on his face, trying to regain his focus.
Suddenly, Lith could feel a shiver on the back of his head, his neck hair suddenly standing up.
Lith abruptly jumped back on his feet, turning around to discover that a Ry, the very same Ry from two years ago was silently walking toward him.
It had become bigger, its height at the withers reaching 1.6 meters (5'6"), and its red fur had gained shades of white, dancing in the sunlight like a wildfire.
Just trying the Soaring Hawk spell almost made Lith faint, so he was forced to cancel it while using Invigorate to regain his strength once again.
Yet Lith's mana core was still unstable after the evolution process, and therefore unable to assimilate more world energy.
"F*ck my life! I can only escape on foot."
Sniffing his stress and fear, the Ry spoke up.
"Fear not, Scourge, I mean no harm. On the contrary, I have come to give you my thanks. It was my duty stopping Irtu and Gerda, but you managed to precede me."
It threw a magnificent deer he was carrying on its back at Lith's feet. Both the skin and the antlers were in perfect conditions, aside from a single bite mark on the neck, where it had been cleanly broken.
"I noticed you humans prefer them like this, since after eating the meat you can exchange the rest for those things you call 'money'."
Lith didn't feel much reassured, he decided to keep stalling while he was catching his breath and searching for the best possible escape route.
"So, you can talk too, uh? Why didn't we have this conversation two years ago, instead of fighting?"
"Stop eyeing for an escape route. If I really wanted to kill you, I would avoid useless talk and strike when you are at your weakest. I am not arrogant and cruel like Irtu. I would not make the mistake of underestimating you again.
As for your question, it was you that attacked me first.
Also, do you know what happens when one of us speaks? Either the human faints or runs away. In both cases, they come back in numbers, even setting the woods on fire trying to kill us all."
The Ry growled at that unpleasant memory.
Lith relaxed a bit.
"Yeah, humans get scared easily. They think themselves all high and righteous, and don't like when someone or something they don't recognize as an equal threatens the status quo.
By the way, sorry for the sneak attack, but you were big, scary and destroying something really precious to me."
A light of understanding lit in the Ry's eyes.
"You mean the annoying rock that now you wear at your finger, I see. Then it's my turn to apologize for damaging your property and trying to kick you out of the woods. I only wanted the noise to stop, and you ceasing your attack."
"If I have to believe your words, why do you call me Scourge? Isn't that kind of offensive?" Lith kept moving, very slowly, towards the fastest way home, one step at the time, like he was just shifting his weight from one foot to another while chatting.
The Ry snorted, pretending to not notice it.
"It's no offence. You killed the king in the west, and with its life you claimed its title as well."
"That would make you the king in the east, I suppose. What's your title?" Lith moved another step.
"The Protector. My role is to keep both humans and unruly magic beasts at bay."
"It has a much better ring than mine. By the way, your majesty, I am not interested in kingships or messing with your turf. Feel free to take over Irtu's region or whatever it's called. I only hunt for my survival, not for sport or pleasure."
"And that's why you are still alive." Seeing that the human was too self-conscious about his weakened state, the Ry gave up and turned back, walking towards the woods.
Lith was still scared, yet had the presence of mind to store the deer in the pocket dimension. As soon as the magical beast disappeared from his sight, Lith ran out the woods, always making Solus look out for any possible menace.
Once outside, he changed into his usual clothing, deeming the claw rip on the chest too unsettling for his parents.
The closest he got home, the weaker he felt. The adrenaline rush was fading away, his body and mind were both battered from all that had happened. A splitting headache arose, making difficult for him to think.
When Lith finally arrived at destination, he was too tired to speak or even walk to his bedroom. He sat down on the nearest chair, sighing in relief, allowing himself to relax.
The next thing he knew was that someone had put him into bed, and judging from the lighting it was already night. He closed his eyes, pondering about what to do next, and when he opened them again it was already dawning.
Tista and Rena were still asleep, Lith decided to get up and prepare the breakfast for everyone, following his normal routine. It was in that moment that he realized how much had he changed overnight.
Not only his body was brimming with strength, he could also perceive his own mana flow without the assistance of any breathing technique. Lith needed but a thought to start floating, managing to get out of the bedroom without making the wood creak.
What had required so much focus just the day before, now barely needed his attention.
"If a tier one spell has become so easy, what about chore magic?"
Lith discovered that now he was able to use up to six spells at once, without the use of any gesture or magic word to help coordinate them.
Soon many small vortexes were cleaning every nook and cranny of the dining room, the air in the room getting warmer by the second, while plates and cutlery floated in their place.
By the time the table was laid, he had also finished washing and drying the floor.
"I have performed in less than a minute what usually took me half an hour! I have still a lot of time before having to wake everyone up. Solus, how do you feel?"
"Now that I know you are all right, just peachy. But since you were referring to my abilities, instead of my feelings…" From the tone she was quite pissed off.
"…both the Soluspedia and the pocket dimension have started expanding since your mana core stabilized."
"And what about you?"
"Thanks for asking without any subtle hint from my side." The sarcasm was palpable. "I am still recovering from the huge scare you gave me yesterday, but I'll live."
"I'm sorry, I know you wanted me to escape from Irtu and not take unnecessary risks, but I couldn't run away and live in fear, waiting for him to find and attack my family.
I have lived too long in terror of my father, back on Earth, to let the same thing happen again. I hope you can understand."
Wanting nothing more than change the subject to escape that awkward silence, Lith asked:
"What about Gerda's carcass? Can we take credit for the kill or would it arise suspicions?"
"There is no problem for Gerda, history is full of promising mages, even younger than you, killing a magical beast. Since there is no way to determine how strong it was, you can say that you ambushed it successfully.
Irtu, on the other side, is more problematic. Not only his pelt is useless, making him only good for racking up merits, but its corpse shows signs of a spell that should be around tier four or five, if not above. I'd say to save it for rainy days."
After deciding what to do with the various carcasses, Lith used the remaining time to practice Accumulation, while thinking about how to announce to his parents the treatment he had devised for Tista.
Among all the things he had gained since arriving in the new world, his family's happiness was still the greatest prize he could strive for.
Chapter 36 Out of Misery
Author's note: I do research my stuff, but please remember that this is a work of fiction, not a medicine textbook. If among you there is some nit-picky doctor, please be nice and cut me some slack. Enjoy your read.
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Lith spent the next few days familiarizing with the changes in both his body and mana core. Healing with true magic was much different from the on/off effects that fake magic used. Not to mention that the procedure for Tista required surgical precision.
So, he used his new job as Nana's assistant to master once again his mana flow. Lith also personally reported to Count Lark the slaying of the magical beast via Nana's communication amulet.
He gave the Count the chance to buy the perfectly preserved pelt, but for that the he needed to get in touch with Selia. Lith had no idea how to tan and preserve such magnificent fur, and neither did he know how much was its worth.
So, he had been forced to turn to the huntress for help, and Selia had accepted in exchange of 25% on the final price. The same fate befell the deer carcass.
Lith's goal was to improve his relations with Count Lark, by earning merits for both of them.
Through their confidential agreement, Lith would achieve merits because he had eliminated a threat to the County, while the Count would take the credit of the kill, being the one that had discovered Lith's talent and claiming to have entrusted him with the task.
According to the law book in Lith's possession, a noble would get great fame and honours, according to how his subjects performed.
While they would get merits, the noble would improve his social status and importance to the King's Court, raising his chances of achieving one more title with all the lands attached to it.
It was a perfect win-win situation.
Lith hoped to reel in Count Lark among his official backers. Having him has a patron was not enough. Being the Count a magic enthusiast, Lith was just one of the many talented youths he was sponsoring and nothing more.
Lith wanted their relationship to develop further, so when he finally could leave the village, he would have someone to rely on.
If there was one thing that he had learned from Nana's story, was that a country bumpkin like him was in desperate need of someone trustworthy in an influential position.
Count Lark was obviously thrilled at the idea that one of his proteges had achieved such a result. His hopes for Lith being accepted at the Lightning Griffon Academy skyrocketed, after so many failures, another success was on sight.
It would further raise the Count status in the eyes of the Court. Killing a magical beast was good, but finding and developing the talent of a powerful mage was much better. Mages were the backbone of the Kingdom, together with the military.
After settling his business with Count Lark, Lith had Solus help him completely rethink his concept of magic.
"So far I used magic just like a club, to kill and hit. But Gerda and Irtu have showed me that magic, in this world, it's not fixed as in Dungeons & Looting. I have been too narrow minded. It's not only light magic that can act at cellular level.
All kinds of magic can interact with matter, changing its properties. If Irtu could make the ground elastic, then I should be able to walk on water without freezing it first, by altering its density. I need more advanced spellbooks to understand magic's limits.
It's no wonder that Magi's talent increases exponentially after discovering true magic.
Not only they start with a better core than mine, so they can refine it to further heights, but they also become capable of replicating every single spell they saw until that point
While inventing a new spell takes a lot of time for a fake mage, finding the right balance between hand signs and magic words to obtain the desired effect, a true mage just needs to understand the underlying principles behind a spell to perform it."
Thanks to his battle with the magical beasts, Lith was able to quickly develop new spells, by either imitating their tactics or experimenting by himself.
After about two weeks, his body, mind and mana core were perfectly in tune, so Lith asked Rena to go to the village with Trion, giving him the opportunity to freely talk with his parents and Tista.
Trion and Lith were now in a more neutral relationship, there were no hard feelings left, but no trust either.
Lith had to dumb down a lot the concepts to make them understand the risks of the procedure. He was not a doctor, but they were his parents, and Tista was their beloved daughter and his beloved sister.
Lith would not proceed unless getting their informed consent, or at least the next best thing, since they understood very little of magic and nothing at all of anatomy.
"How sure are you about this thing?" Asked Raaz, holding Tista as tight as he could, like Lith was going to take her away.
"I'd love to tell you that everything will be alright, but I can't. I never tried something so big and complex. Tista, I worked years to develop this spell, just for you. The only thing that I can promise, is that I will give my best.
I obsessed myself nights and days with it, because I want you to be free and happy like anyone else, instead of being stuck in a cage, be it your body or this house, no matter how golden we can make it.
I want you to be able to run in the wind, walk in the snow. To get out of this house, to meet people, make friends, maybe someday fall in love with someone and being loved back.
I will do all I can to free you from these shackles, but I can't do it without your trust and consent."
Lith looked them in the eyes, one at a time, to show them his resolve and determination.
Tista escaped her father's arms, hugging Lith tight.
"Oh, Lith. When you talk like that you sound more like dad than a little brother." She said crying.
"Off course I trust you. You have always been by my side, taking care of me, even when I could do nothing but stay in bed all day. You worked so hard, giving me so much.
Food, clothes, you even invented the rocking chair for me (AN: is actually a swing. See chap 17 for more details). Mom, dad, I want to do it. Whatever happens, I could never regret having trust in my little brother."
Without saying a word, Raaz and Elina joined her in the embrace, all of them sobbing together, even Lith, so fond of their bond and so scared to lose one of them at the same time.
After Lith calmed down, he could finally start. On paper, the treatment was simple. By using Invigoration's real time imaging of Tista's body, Lith would use light and dark magic in synch.
Dark magic would destroy the damaged cells that composed almost half of Tista's lungs, while at the same rate light magic would enhance the healthy cells' ability to multiply, instantly replacing the lost organ tissue.
But even with his limited knowledge in medicine, Lith could see many underlying problems. The destroyed cells would release toxins and impurities in Tista's system, and if they accumulated too much she could die of shock or organ failure.
Also, regenerating a vital organ like the lungs was a delicate process, that would consume lots of her strength, and she hadn't much to begin with.
So Lith had decided to take things slow, treating only a minimal part of her lungs to begin with. Then he would use his control over her mana flow to expel from her body all toxins and impurities the dead tissue would release, and give her some time to recover before attempting another session.
During all the process, he took care of her eating and resting properly, to the point that Lith skipped hunting and magic training, only keeping his job with Nana to have a steady source of income while Tista was resting.
The whole procedure took over a month, but thanks to all his painstakingly efforts and meticulous bordering anal-retentive preparations, everything went well.
In some respects, even too well.
After the treatment, Tista's mana core had gone from light orange to yellow, and according to Solus, it kept evolving over time.
"Seems your sister was quite talented, but her illness prevented her core from properly grow."
"That's good." Lith nodded "As soon she completely recovers, I can bring her to Nana to learn magic. That way she will be able to learn a trade and achieve a social status on her own. What comes next depends entirely on her."
"Won't you teach her true magic?"
"That would be idiotic. She is just ten years old. If there's really some sort of global conspiracy and control over magic, that would mean putting her in danger. She deserves to finally have some fun. To live instead of just surviving.
I won't drag her into a beehive unless that's what she wants."
Lith made sure that everyone in the family understood the importance of keeping Tista's recovery a secret. Lith was still a no one, if the rumour spreaded, nobles or other mages could hunt them down to get their hands on the procedure.
Despite they regretted being forced to keep Trion in the dark, they accepted wholeheartedly. None of them was stupid enough to endanger such a hardly achieved happiness just for bragging.
Since according to Nana there was a chance for Tista of healing by herself with her growth spurt, they decided to stick with that version and claim it to be a miracle of nature.
Lith had got to the point of developing a spell to alter the results of Nana's Vinire Rad Tu, so that when she checked on Tista she would still appear ill, but slowly improving. This time he would not slip on the details.
Tista had to put up a façade every time Trion was around, but she soldiered up bravely. Being sick was a second nature to her, sometimes she even fooled Lith and her parents with her acting.
But whenever she could, she would walk with Lith through the Trawn woods, going together at his secret clearing where she could finally be free to run, swim in the river, sing and dance at her heart content.
Lith didn't regret even one moment spent with her instead of practicing magic or refining his mana core. Those things were of secondary importance to him.
He had started practicing magic only because of his hunger for power, to put this new world to the test before committing suicide again. But then he had fallen in love with his new family, and magic had become a tool instead of a purpose.
And that purpose was laughing and jumping around, in front of his eyes.
Lith couldn't and wouldn't hold his tears.
"Wherever you are, Carl, I hope with all my heart you too have found someone to love and to protect. I love you, little brother, and no matter how distant we are, you'll always be with me."
A few months later, Lith received an invitation from Count Lark, to join him for a day in his manor as his esteemed guest.
Chapter 37 The Invite From Count Lark
The whole thing happened in an odd fashion. Lith received a letter instead of an holo-call, and despite being addressed to him it was delivered at Nana's house.
Being the host, Nana took the liberty of reading it before handing it to him. She was just concerned for Lith's wellbeing, off course.
The letter said in a perfect penmanship:
"Dear Lith,
Thanks again for slaying the monstrous magical beast. You have served the County of Lustria and deserve to be rewarded accordingly. To this end, I would like you to join me in my manor in ten days since receiving this letter. We have much to discuss. I urge you to contact me as soon as you can via Lady Nerea's communication amulet.
Count Trequill Lark."
"What does this mean?" Lith asked Nana.
"It sounds so serious to be ominous. It doesn't even seem something a joyful and spirited person like the Count would write."
"Hmmm." Nana nodded, eager to avoid the outrageous accusation of being nosey.
"I can smell good news and bad news.
The good news is that isn't anything serious. Despite the somber tone, worthy of a payment order, Lark used a letter, this means it's nothing urgent or important, since he could afford to wait for the delivery and the reply.
The bad news is that all the above stinks of formality and etiquette. I fear that you are in for a whole day of boredom, while attending all the official business regarding your prizes and whatnot. As I always say, little imp, no good deed goes unpunished!"
"That's my line!" Lith inwardly screamed. "Not only you open my mail, you even steal my shtick?"
Even the following holo-call was awkward. Count Lark was uncharacteristically calm and composed, managing to not make any question about magic to Lith, nor losing his monocle, not even once.
After hearing that Lith had accepted his invite, he stated that his personal tailor would stop by later to take Lith's measurements, and that he would send his stagecoach on the set date, one hour after dawn in front of Nana's house.
Then, the Count politely but promptly ended the call, saying he had many things to attend. For Lith was like talking to a complete stranger.
The tailor arrived less than an hour later, he didn't give Lith any mean look or nasty remark. On the contrary, he somehow recognized him at the first glance, complimenting him for his height.
Despite being only eight years and a half, Lith was already over one meter and thirty-five centimetres (4'6") high, and in the County of Lustria any man above 1.75 metres (5'9") was considered tall.
"Keep growing up so fast and soon you'll be as tall as the Count, young man."
After the man left, Nana whistled in surprise.
"Good gods, I know him. That's the tailor that personally prepare the dresses for the Lark's family. It's even worse than I thought. This occasion must be something really big, like being invited to a ball kind of big.
This is one of those rare moments when I'm happy not being part of high society anymore. Prepare yourself for long awkward silences, insufferable small talk and being showed around like some kind of exotic beast."
Lith spent the next ten days in his usual routine, obsessing about Nana's words was pointless, since he had already taken those things in consideration when he decided to tighten his relationship with the Count.
Except dancing, of course. Lith had always hated dancing, even back on Earth, mostly because of his two left feet. But even that wouldn't worry him much, there was no way for him learning Court's dances in so little time.
Even if he managed to find a book about it and added it to Soluspedia, knowing was not doing, he would still need to practice. He could only suck it up and endure.
When the fated day came, a luxurious stagecoach stopped in front of Nana's house. It was all white, with the décors painted gold, drawn by four snow-white stallions.
A valet descended, bowing to Lith before giving him a small wooden box.
"My Lord, would like you to change into your new outfit, before getting into the stagecoach, good sir."
So much respect was dumbfounding for Lith, so he bowed back without a word, before going into Nana's living quarters to change.
He came out wearing deep blue velvet pants over hard leather shoes, a snow-white silk shirt and a blazer matching with the pants, with the Count's family crest gold embroidered over his heart.
"Holy sh*t! I'm probably wearing more money than my family's farm is worth. Judging from the crest, I guess Nana was right, he is going to introduce me to someone, and he needs that someone to know who I belong to."
Lith was alone on the stagecoach. After opening the door for him, the valet went sitting beside the coachman.
The ride lasted over half an hour, despite the horses' remarkable speed. Having nothing to do, Lith spent the whole time using Accumulation. His deep cyan mana core had yet to change by even a shade, it definitely needed more work.
When the stagecoach finally stopped, Lith looked out of the window, only to discover they were just at the gates of the estate.
Two fully armed soldiers talked to the coachman, inspecting inside, above and below the stagecoach before letting them pass.
"Going at full speed, armed to the teeth guards, a full check on the coach. Maybe Nana was wrong, this looks more pressing by the second".
Once inside the gate, and beyond the high grey walls, the stagecoach slowed down, allowing Lith to take in the full manor view. The park around the manor extended as far as the eye could see.
The air smelled of cut grass, flower beds and finely trimmed bushes adorned the cobblestone paths that went across all the park.
Halfway between the gate and the manor, there was a plaza, surrounded by benches, and at his center a huge pedestal with a marble statue of someone that Lith assumed had to be either the first Count Lark, or an ancestor of which they were proud of.
The manor itself was bigger than he had imagined, extending for at least 3,000 square meters (3,588 square yards), divided into a main building, a left and a right wing forming a reversed U shape.
It took almost five more minutes to actually get to the manor's entrance.
The more he looked around, the more he could feel something was amiss. One of the greatest changes happened after Lith's mana core evolved to cyan, was that alongside his five senses, also his instinct had greatly improved.
He was able to sense hidden dangers, like with the Ry, and to more easily grasp someone's real demeanour and intentions. So, he didn't miss that there were too little servants around, and those few he managed to spot had all a tense expression.
A butler in a white and deep blue livery welcomed him with a deep bow.
"The Count asked me to apologize on his behalf for not personally receiving you, Magico Lith. His Lordship also tasked me to bring you to his private quarters as soon as possible, where he will explain everything to you."
The butler's poker face was impeccable, but Lith could have cut the atmosphere with a knife. He followed the butler until a double door room guarded by four soldiers.
Looking through the windows Lith could see that there were even more guards on the outside, patrolling the windows and the glass doors leading to the park.
Inside, he found the Count nervously pacing around, two youths were sitting on armchairs, and both were showing signs of anxiety, either tapping their feet of fiddling with their hair.
Count Lark hadn't changed much since the last time he had saw him in person. He was in his mid to late fifties, around 1,83 meters (6') tall with a thin build, that made him appear even taller.
The Count had thick black hair with streaks of grey, a short-trimmed goatee of the same colour. His inseparable black rimmed monocle was attached to his breast pocket with a blue silk string.
As soon as he saw Lith, his somber demeanour returned to be filled with enthusiasm.
"Good gods, Lith, you are finally here!" The Count shook his hand with such vigour that Lith thought he was actually trying to crush it.
"But where are my manners. Allow me to introduce you my beloved children."
The two youths stood up and extended their hands in turns.
"This is my third born, Jadon. He is also the next in line to become the next Count Lark. Hopefully it should happen many years from now."
Lith shook his hand. Jadon had a firm but gentle grip, physically resembling his father, except being almost ten centimetres (4 inches) shorter and with a much more muscular built. He was in his early twenties, with pitch black hair and goatee.
"And this is my fourth born, Keyla. This young beautiful lady is almost sixteen, and ready to make his debut at the King's Court. They are the only family I have left."
Keyla was a petite girl, 1,53 meters (5') high, with flaming red hair with shades of gold and emerald green eyes. She was wearing an emerald green day dress that highlighted her hair and eyes. She fitted the Count's bill, except for the beautiful part.
She wasn't really well endowed for Lith's tastes, and despite all the make up she wore it was impossible to hide such a bad case of acne. And even without that issue, he would have considered her pretty at best.
Keyla offered him her hand, the palm facing downward. Lith didn't need his etiquette book to know that she was expecting a hand-kiss.
It was awkward for him, he never did such a thing even for his past girlfriends when things had got almost serious. Luckily after being dead and reborn twice, having faced killers and magical beasts, it would take much more than that to embarrass him.
So, he made a small bow while giving a short peck on her hand.
"It's a real pleasure and an honour for me to meet you all." Lith said following the etiquette.
"Now please, you Lordship, could you explain to me the reason of my summoning?"
The more he saw and heard, the less he understood. Lith couldn't figure out why the Count was giving him all those useless details, and why the hand-tailored dress he received was so similar to what Jadon was wearing.
The Count facepalmed himself.
"Oh! Off course, I'm so sorry. I'm still so shocked by the recent events that my head doesn't work properly. Let me explain, I called you here because I need you saving our lives. My wife wants to kill us all."
Chapter 38 Dysfunctional Family
"I beg your pardon?" Lith was flabbergasted.
"Dad! How many times I have told you to start explaining things from the beginning, not the end!" Keyla rolled her eyes.
"Yes, yes, my dear. You see, when I was Jadon's age I got married.
It was an arranged marriage, with the purpose to join the resources of the Lark and Ghishal households, that back at the time were both in dire straits, to get out of the insane debts that our profligate parents had left us.
The financial side of the business was a success. Between our combined annuities and by selling some of the residual assets, I was able to have enough capitals to invest in the right businesses.
Long story short, our families went from almost broke to being again two of the richest of the dukedom. And that's when everything fell apart between us. My wife, Koya, have never been kind or lovely to me, we were just business partners.
We never shared a common interest or ideal, but until we got our money back, at least it was bearable. After that point, our marriage was purely for show, and aside from when she asked me to attend to my marital duties, we had no intimacy.
I got four children from her, after all, and even got them tested with Blood Resonance magic to be certain they were actually mine. I might be a little airheaded, but I'm not that naïve!"
Both Jadon and Keyla became bright red, up to their ears.
"Dad! Too much information! Stick to the facts, please. This situation is already embarrassing as it is, don't add oil to the fire."
Jadon said, but the Count was inflexible.
"To be able to help us, Lith needs to understand what kind of woman we are facing, or do you want to underestimate your mother again?"
At those words, Jadon lowered his eyes and sat back down. Lith was really interested in the Blood Resonance magic, but he kept the question for later. Things were already confused enough already.
"Where was I? Oh yes. Right after our households got back on their feet, Koya soon became restless. She was obsessed with us getting more titles, more annuities, more lands.
To the point that she took part in the Court's power games and intrigues, trying to make allies to weaken our neighbours and take over their lands.
But after working hard for more than twenty years, I was content with what I had. Four beautiful children, a rich and prosperous household, a thriving County.
I just wanted to slow things down and enjoy the life I had built, while expanding my power and influence through hard honest work instead of underhanded schemes.
Off course she was furious, all her plotting was useless without my consent. After all, I wasn't married into her family, she was married into mine. And being the one that did all the work I kept the biggest share of the profits.
At that point, somehow, our constant arguing and mutual spite started affecting my firstborns. I don't know if it happened because they were born when I was still too busy to give them the proper care and attention, or if they just got more from their mother's side rather than mine. Only the gods know.
My eldest son, Lorant, started taking for granted his status as my successor, neglecting his duties and doing nothing but drinking, gambling and chasing skirts. My second born, Lyka, had always been a problematic child.
She was never content with what she had, always wanting more toys, more dresses, more jewellery. Nothing was enough for her. As my constant fights with her mother continues, she became angry with everything and everyone, throwing fits of rage for the smallest things.
She started beating the servants almost on daily basis, I lost count of how many ran away from this house because of her. Between Lyka and Lorant, it was like there was a competition about who would make me monthly spend more money, trying to cover up their misdeeds and compensating their victims.
I tried sending Lorant to all the military academies I could find, hoping that some discipline would straighten him up, but he always managed to get dishonourably discharged in a few months, if not weeks.
My last resort was giving him the position of responsibility in the household, but he would either not attend at all, or show up dead drunk. But when I discovered that he had begun not only deceiving maidens with promises of marriage, but also taking them by force I decided that enough was enough.
I publicly disowned him, stripping him of his titles and annuities, leaving him enough money to live an honest life, if he quit gambling, off course. I also told him that the next time he defiled a girl he would be judged like any other scoundrel, and pay for it."
At those words, Lith thought about Orpal for the first time in over three years.
"That a*shole should be away for at least another couple years. Maybe if I decide to take part in this episode of 'Game of Spades' and we survive, I can have the Count trace and eliminate him for me. That would be nice. I hate loose ends."
After a short break for a glass of water, Count Lark continued his story.
"My wife was outraged, for her Lorant's crimes were just 'boyish pranks' that we should indulge and forgive. But it was the Lark household that he was dragging into the mud, he was throwing away my money with gambles and loan sharks.
Not to mention that my reputation had become that of a corrupt and profligate noble. Even if somehow I didn't have any decency or honour within me, how could I entrust my life's work to someone that would dilapidate it in less than a generation?
Have I ever told you why I appreciate magic so much? It's because mages and nobles are so similar and yet so different. They both hold a power that allows them to destroy or save lives with a single word, to influence their surrounding just by being there.
I consider magic superior, because a mage's might come from study and discipline, and that means that he knows and understand the values of his power and the consequences of his actions.
Nobles, instead, get that power as a birthright. They take it for granted, and some live their whole lives considering perfectly natural for them to be superior, a higher existence. That's why so many of us end up abusing our status and authority.
But I digress. After expelling Lorant from the family, Koya wouldn't listen to reason, and neither would Lyka. She really loved her brother, and after he was kicked out, she became even more angry and violent."
The Count's eyes turned watery, he had to remove his monocle to rub them with a handkerchief.
"Have you ever heard about all those stories about nobles killing and maiming commoners for trivial reasons? Well, she turned out to be the living embodiment of all those stories, and when I discovered what she had done, the body count was already over a dozen!
I had no choice but to disown her too, pleading the King for mercy and losing a lot of my accumulated merits in the process. Despite everything, she is still my daughter.
My wife was brought to the brink of insanity, saying that it was all my fault, and so she left the house for good, returning to the Ghishals. At first, I thought that being apart would allow her to regain her senses and come back.
After a while, though, I really enjoyed the peace and quiet, and hoped she would never return. But then I discovered that she had brought with her our disowned sons, breaching my trust with a blatant flaunting of the King's law.
At that point, I applied for the marriage to be annulled, otherwise after my death she could reinstate them as family members, if not even as heirs to the County.
The annulment process would take a while, but I was certain to have settled that matter.
In the following weeks, I started to feel weak and feverish, and despite all Genon's assurances, my personal magician, I could tell that something was wrong. No cold ever felt like that or lasted so long.
So I started skipping my meals in secret, eating only fruits that I picked up myself, and guess what? My symptoms faded away. Only then I remembered that Genon was from my wife's side of the family. She had hired him personally, and so she did for more than half our staff.
After firing everyone she had brought in the house, I hoped to be finally safe, but then even Keyla and Jadon fell ill. I would have never imagined she would harm her own children, just for not agreeing with her!
At that point I was in dire need of a magical aide, but who could I trust? Competent magicians are hard to find, and at this point I don't trust anyone anymore. Who knows who may actually be sent by my wife or one of her associates?
That's when I sent you the letter with the help of my personal secretary, a man that I know and trust from decades.
I couldn't call for Lady Nerea's help, without her the whole district of Lutia would fall apart, not to mention it would be a sign of weakness. Who would entrust a County to a man incapable of managing his own house?
Nana have more than once assured me that your healing skills are on par with hers, and having killed a magical beast, I'm pretty confident that you are already more competent than Genon, who graduated in a minor academy only thanks to his father's money."
Lith closed his eyes, trying to assimilate all that information at once to decide his next course of action.
"F*ck! I'm in a dead end." He thought. "If I say no and he survives I'll lose everything I built so far.
If I refuse and he dies, not only all my efforts for making him into my backer will be for naught, but this wannabe Sersi strikes me like someone that after getting rid of her husband, will wipe clean all traces of his existence, and that includes me!
Unless she is deaf, blind and dumb she is bound to know how much the Count has invested in me, that puts all my family in danger. And I definitely don't want this Lorant guy come any close to my mother and sisters."
Feeling cornered, he had only one doubt.
"I consider myself a good healer and hunter, your Lordship, but I don't see how can I help, except by keeping you safe and healthy for the time being, off course. But that would be just stalling for time. If you don't have a way to make your wife yield, it could go on for years."
"No, rest assured that it won't. As soon as the marriage is annulled, she will not be able to make demands anymore about the Lark household.
Unless I am sorely mistaken, by that time she will be knee deep in troubles caused by our disowned sons and for violating the King's law by bringing them into her family despite being marked as a living shame.
Her only way out is to get rid of me, Keyla and Jadon to make my will null and void, remain the only inheritor alive and restore Lorant and Koya status. I just need you to keep us alive until the King signs the annulment documents."
Lith's mind was spinning at full gear, consulting with Solus to make sure to keep all his bases covered.
"That can be done. But I have some demands that I would like your Lordship to agree with before accepting."
From their expression, it was clear they didn't expect such request, yet the Count nodded without hesitation.
"To be able to protect you, I need to move inside you house until the matter is resolved, right?"
"But off course! That's why you wear the family colours and crest. That dress identifies you with one of my personal aides, second in authority only to me and my children."
"Good to know," Lith thought. "That explains why me and Jadon have almost matching clothes."
"And I am deeply honoured for it, but if I agree to help you, your wife could target my family too in retaliation. If I move in, I might need for them to come along, for their safety, and someone has to take care of the farm, or they will have nothing to return to."
Count Lark facepalmed himself.
"Oh Lith, I'm so sorry for doubting your loyalty. For a moment I thought you were going to refuse. You are right, I missed this possibility. I will make them come here as soon as possible, they will be my honoured guests as well.
I will send my sharecroppers to tend to your farm until everything is settled. Anything else?"
"Yes. I need free rein within your household. If your wife still has insiders, if not spies still here, I will need to resort to unpleasant means to sort them out. We cannot expect them to confess out of the goodness of their hearts."
Count Lark took out a handkerchief, cleaning his already shiny monocle to ease his nerves.
"Do you mean torture and interrogations? Do we really need to resort to that?"
"As a last resort, but yes. Desperate times call for desperate measures. But it should not be necessary, I can easily disguise as your guest while keeping a low profile. After all no one knows who I am, except the butler."
The Count started coughing up loudly, Jadon and Keyla looked at each other, before turning towards Lith.
"Actually, everyone knows who you are." Jadon said with an awkward smile.
"Well, but that doesn't mean they know what I am capable of."
When he saw them exchanging another look, while the Count kept coughing non-stop, Lith felt compelled to ask: "They don't, right?"
Keyla cleared her throat before standing up, prompting him to follow her.
"A picture is worth more than a thousand words. I think you need to see how you are depicted in the Painting Hall."
Chapter 39 Setting Up The Board
"How I am what?!" Lith yelled, having lost his cool for a second.
Now it was the Count's turn to become red up to his ears. Lith followed Keyla, resisting the urge to demand for her to move faster. All that situation had come completely unexpected, and was heavily weighing on his mind.
Since he had heard of the painting, Solus hadn't stopped laughing, projecting in his head famous statues like the David of Donatello or the Perseus by Antonio Canova, but she replaced the facial features with Lith's and switched Medusa's head with the Byk's one, grinding on his nerves.
"I swear that if that f*cker of the Count had me drawn naked or something, I'll kill him faster and more cruelly than his psycho wife ever could."
Luckily for the Count, that wasn't the case.
The painting was quite big, one meter (3'3") large and 1.5 meters (5') high, and represented the Byk, standing on his feet with glowing red eyes in a dark forest, occupying the center and the left corner.
Lith was drawn while facing the magical beast, offering only the left profile to the viewer. His small body occupied only the bottom right corner, engulfed in a magical aura. His left arm and hand were set ablaze, supposedly because of a fire spell he was casting.
The perspective and darkness-filled background made the Byk seem big and terrifying like a dragon, while Lith appeared as the only element of light, his face filled with courage and determination.
The enormous stuffed body of the Byk was placed a few meters to the right, half hidden in an alcove, to show the visitor the ending of the story depicted in the drawing.
"Well, it's not that bad." Lith thought. "It's not the tacky horror I had imagined, and I am not even idiotically beautified. That's my actual face. Solus, is it me, or I look kind of handsome?"
"Well, I don't know." She replied. "It's definitely a version of you that doesn't glare and frown all the time. More importantly, he doesn't look like he is there because he has lost a bet, like you do when you watch yourself in the mirror."
Lith sighed in relief. At least he wasn't portrayed in his birthday suit or in some kind of arrogant or overbearing pose. That would have been really embarrassing for him.
"What's the problem with the painting?" Lith asked, scratching his head in confusion.
"The problem is that my father showed it to every guest, servant and passerby that was willing to listen to him, recounting how you single-handedly defeated the malevolent beast in an epic battle of magic and wits." Jadon answered.
"That's quite an accurate recollection of the events, albeit entirely made up" Solus commented. "The Count would make an excellent story teller."
Lith dismissed Jadon worries with a wave of the hand.
"You are overthinking it. No one actually witnessed the fight, the pelt is almost completely intact, and everyone knows about Count Lark's obsession with magic and sponsoring promising youths.
They would more likely believe that either I lucked out or that the Count gave me some help, and is trying to lie me into a hero. No offence, your Lordship."
"None taken." The Count replied. "So, do you like it?"
He was itching of impatience, waiting for Lith's reply.
"What's not to like?" He shrugged. "I'm not an art expert, but it seems well painted. Both me and the Byk are depicted realistically. The only question I have is how could the artist know my…"
Then Lith's eye noticed the painter signature in the bottom left corner. It was a squiggly line, but with a leap of imagination one could actually read the name 'Trequill Lark'.
Lith turned around abruptly just in time to get a glimpse of Count Lark jumping with joy, before regaining his composure.
Having cleared that issue, they silently returned to the Count's private quarters, before resuming their conversation.
Lith pretended to be casting a fake magic spell, while actually casting his Hush spell. It would create a spherical air vortex that would make eavesdropping by conventional means impossible, by distorting the sounds coming out of the room.
"That will prevent anyone from listening. As I was saying, taking everything in account, no one would actually believe such a story. Off course the fact that everyone knows my face complicates things, but a covert operation is still feasible.
For how I see it, we have two options. Option one: I pretend to not live up to what the Count said up until this point and act like a half-baked magician. This will give the enemies inside and outside the house the confidence to carry on with their plans, like I am not even here.
It should make easier to capture whoever tried to poison you, but it also means that the assassin will embolden and attack more often. Consider that such person or persons, could be a small fish, hence even eliminating him/her would do us no good, they would be easily replaceable.
Option two: I play it big and loud, confirming all the rumors about me. That should put your wife on alert, forcing her to reconsider her plans and become more cautious.
That would mean a temporary peace, but the next assassination attempts would be conducted by a skilled person that would strike only after a careful preparation, giving him/her high chance of success.
At the same time, it wouldn't be easy to find another trusted mercenary on such short notice, if we manage to eliminate the first one.
Both paths are filled with thorns and dangers, so it's up to you to decide."
The room fell into silence, the three nobles were pondering about how they wanted to bet their lives.
"Isn't there a third option?" Keyla asked.
"If you can find one, sure. I am open to suggestions." Lith shrugged.
"I say that our best option is discretion." The Count had made up his mind.
"We aren't trying to beat Koya at her own game, we just need to stall for time. If we managed to survive on our own until now, with Lith's help things should be much easier.
Let's keep our real strength hidden as long as we can, so that when she finds out the truth, hopefully she won't have enough time to take the best countermeasures she could.
I know her well, she is cold and calculative, but under pressure she is much better at taking orders rather than giving them. It's happened multiple times in the past, and now it's not any different.
She could have pretended to accept my decision, to stay by my side despite our differences.
That way, even the first poisoning attempt would have succeeded, since my suspects arose mostly because I knew she wouldn't stand idly while losing the status and money that the title of Countess gives her.
But as always, Koya's bad temper got the best of her and she made a mistake after the other. So, what's our next move?"
"Until everything is resolved, don't hire new servants, it's too risky." Lith said.
"Aside from that, there is not much we can do, we are still on the defence. The only thing that comes to my mind is to introduce me to your staff, one small group at the time.
Those who are still loyal to you will look at me with curiosity and benevolence, while those who are your wife's payroll may feel pressured and lose their cool. It's a longshot but it's better than nothing."
Lith's plan was actually more complex than that, but it wasn't something he could share.
Between his Life Vision and Solus' mana sense, he would take note of everyone whose physical strength exceeded their occupation requirements or had at least a yellow mana core.
"Our best bet would be a male, middle aged with a strong body and mana core. It would make the perfect suspect." Lith thought.
"Why a male?" Solus asked.
"Because men are physically superior, even in this world. A woman would better suit a honey trap, but we already know that the Count doesn't fiddle with maids.
Middle aged because it should be someone the Countess planted long ago, to let him gain the trust and authority necessary to freely move in the manor. And a strong mana core would be a great tell for a hit man.
I doubt anyone with enough talent for magic would settle for a manual labour job without a really good reason. Also, if something magic related happens, it would be the perfect diversion, since women would always be the prime suspects being naturally more talented."
When the Count had told him to have fired half of the staff, Lith had deluded himself into believing that would make things easier for him to control. But reality begged to differ.
The remaining personnel still amounted to over fifty units, and that was only after not taking into account gardeners and stable workers, since they did not have access to the main building.
"Fifty-four f*cking persons! It's more than the whole village population. It took me hours just to meet them all!"
None of them had shown signs of stress meeting him, making his official plan a complete failure. The silver lining was that he had actually found possible suspects, the problem, thought, was that there were too many.
Lith had found among the staff sixteen people that stuck out for their physical or magical abilities. Yet he had no way of performing a background check outside directly asking them or their colleagues, but that would make his intentions too obvious.
He couldn't rely on the Count or his children for that, they barely knew their names and roles in the household.
Lith decided that for the time being, the best he could do was keep his own family in the dark. As long as he played his role as a weak magico, the safest place for them was the one further away from the eye of the storm.
He kept thinking and thinking, but he couldn't find a way out.
"Dammit! I'm really starting to believe that this time I am way out of my league. I'm no detective, just an out of practice chemist that now practices magical arts! This is not a problem that I can solve by killing or burning stuff.
The situation resembles more and more a frigging game of chess, and I hate chess! I suck at chess when the fight is fair, let alone when all I have is my queen (me), the king (Count) and two pawns(heirs)!"
Solus giggle was the first good thing he had heard the whole day.
"Well, if the board is so unfavourable, have you thought about cheating?"
Suddenly Lith's stone ring turned to liquid, splashing on the floor before returning to the form of a marble. Eight little legs came out of the stone marble, making it resemble a spider that started to move in circles around Lith.
"Nice little trick, don't you think?"
Chapter 40 Solus’ Adventure
"I wanted to give this a try since I gained the ability to change shape at will." Solus explained.
"It's amazing! What you can do in that form?"
"The same as always. Store things and use magic you know by consuming your mana. If you allow me to do it, obviously."
"Then what's the point? Last time we checked, our mind link was around 10 meters (10.1 yards). Sure, I could plant and use you as a bug, but then I would need somehow to retrieve you without raising suspicions. How far can you move on your own?"
"We are about to find out!" Solus started moving fast, first on the floor then up the wall, until she reached the ceiling. Then she moved on the opposite side of the room, putting 5 meters (5.4 yards) between them.
"So far so good. I feel I can move even further."
Lith opened the door of his room, checking with Life Vision that there was no one hidden in some corner or behind a secret passage he was unaware of.
Then he let Solus get further away from him. She kept humming the entire time, making possible to Lith to determine how the strength of their mind link changed with distance.
At ten metres (11 yards), it was perfectly clear, like she was still on his finger. After twenty meters (22 yards) it became muffled, he could still share her senses and communicate with her, but it required focus. At thirty meters (33 yards), her thoughts were barely a whisper.
"I don't feel so good, I'm afraid that this is my limit. If I get any further, I won't be able to receive your mana anymore and I will begin to consume my life force in order to move. My reserves are not depleted as when you first found me, but the idea of being all alone, bleeding energy at every step frightens me quite a bit."
Lith could understand her fear. She had already got very close to death once, and in order to survive, Solus had to pay a terrible price.
"If mana is the problem, let's see if I can do something about it." Lith created a string of mana with spirit magic, and used it to connect to Solus.
Suddenly everything was clear again, he could even feel her little body perform a joyful dance. Solus was able to proceed swiftly until the distance between them was fifty meters (54.7 yards), the new limit of spirit magic's range.
Sending her mana over a further distance required increasing focus and energy consumption on Lith side. It was like casting and keeping active several spells at the same time.
For Solus to reach the servant quarters, Lith required such concentration to became blind and deaf to whatever was happening around him, going into a meditative trance.
"This is completely unacceptable! I need to babysit the Count and his kids at all times. What would happen if we got attacked while I play the sleeping beauty? Not to mention how can I possibly explain to the Count my 'narcolepsy' without either losing his trust or revealing Solus' existence?"
Lith tried to open his eyes, to listen with his own ears instead of using Solus' senses. It didn't come easy, it was like pushing a car uphill, the slightest mistake and he would be back to square one. After numerous failures, Lith snapped.
"F*ck! If finesse doesn't work, let's go brute force!"
Lith forcefully awoke, his room was as he had left it, the door still barred from the inside since Solus had gone beyond his line of sight. He could hear and see again, but the burden on his mind and body was unchanged.
He could feel his mana being drained, his mind slower than usual. It was like trying to do mental calculation despite a commercial jingle you couldn't get out of your head. The mind link was still there, but it was blocked.
"Seems at this range I can either use my senses or hers, not both. It's not great, but still an improvement. I won't have to fall asleep at the weirdest times at least."
After closing his eyes again, Lith asked Solus to come back, and after her return, they planned their next moves.
In the following days, Lith would stay with the three nobles at all the times, barricading themselves in the Count's private quarters and surrounded by guards.
That way from the outside it would look like Lith's arrival had changed nothing, but appearances couldn't be more different from the truth.
Lith would make them drink only water he conjured, and before letting them eat even a single bite of any food, he would use magic to search for poisons and detoxify them.
He would also use Vinire Rad Tu, the light magic diagnostic spell, to cover up his use of Invigoration, his body strengthening/imaging breathing technique, to check up their bodies for slow release poisons they could have ingested before his arrival or any relevant anomalies.
The poison was mostly in the food, covered by spices and sauces and the only anomaly he could found was Keyla's acne.
"Poor girl! This sh*t doesn't cover only her face, it covers also her back and shoulders. I guess for her debut in society she will have to pick a dress that leaves a lot to imagination."
But while Lith was seemingly holed up, he was actually checking on his suspects, one by one. To avoid useless energy expenditure, he would establish his mind link with Solus before attaching her to a plate, tray or under a servant's collar.
She would then travel to the kitchens in search of her target, and only then she would send a small burst of energy to signal Lith to start feeding her again. She would then follow the suspect during the day, hoping to caught him or her red handed.
Usually she would get nothing out of it, but just the gossip was worth the trip.
"Sigh, since the Countess left, so many bad things have happened." Said a maid in her late twenties.
"Yeah, first someone tried to poison the Count, and then he kicked out a lot of our friends! I get that he is scared, but that was unfair." Said a valet that was barely eighteen years old.
"Shut up, idiot! And thank the gods we still have our job and references. This isn't a good time for slackers and whiners." Replied harshly a chubby maid over her forties.
"Personally, I have always considered her Ladyship nuttier than a fruitcake." Chimed in Poltus, the butler and head of the staff that had welcomed Lith at his arrival.
"Always nagging to the poor Count and asking for money. But this time, I think she may have a motive, that it pains me to admit, is almost justifiable." He said dramatically looking over his shoulder, like someone that knows too much.
"What do you mean? What do you know?" Soon Poltus was hard pressed to reveal his juiciest discovery.
"Isn't it obvious? I mean who in his right mind would stand up for those two worthless scums? They are nothing but human faced monsters, not even the Countess would dirty her hands with that trash!
I'm so happy they are finally gone. My daughter is getting lovelier by the day, you know. During the last year, I have spent every day in dread, hiding her from that walking d*ck of Lorant."
"Who cares about your daughter, old fogey, spill the beans!" Said the chubby maid.
A small crowd of servants had gathered up around him, and even if there was no one else around, he whispered like he was about to reveal a forbidden secret.
"I think that the kid that just arrived is the Count's fifth son!" All the presents gasped in astonishment.
"Think about it. Pitch black hair, very tall for his age, obsessed with magic. They are clearly made from the same mould! Otherwise why would the Count personally paint him and put the picture in the Painting Hall, among his family members?
Why would he send the family tailor to make him his dresses and ask the kid to join him in his time of need? A family must stick together!"
Soon the whole room erupted with shouts and chatter.
"That's why the Countess was so angry!" "It explains everything!"
"Do you think he could be the next in line of succession? Poor Jadon."
While everyone's imagination was going wild, Solus was really happy of being a magical construct at the moment.
She was laughing so hard that she could barely keep her form. If she had been inside a human body, she would be rolling on the floor, hugging her belly and gasping for air.
The gathering was going to last long, but luckily her mark wasn't that much interested in gossip and started to move toward the servant's quarters.
Solus promptly detached from the apron she was hiding under, and followed her quietly until she was able to latch on her shoe.
The maid was one of Lith's prime suspects, a member of the personnel that had access to all the family's meals and with a physical and magical strength above the average. Not much, but it was all that they had.
All the other previous suspects had been nothing but a bust. Sure, someone would steal silverware, another had an affair with another staff member, but that wasn't what Solus was looking for.
The young girl opened her room with a key and then walked in. All the staff's bedrooms were identical, eight meters (8.8 yards) long and six meters (6.6 yards) large.
There would be one bed next to the wall on the opposite side of the door, and two more beds alongside the side walls. The only source of light outside of oil lamps, would be a single big window, and each bed had a wooden chest were the servants could store their belongings.
As soon as she was alone, the maid started grumbling out loud.
"Those idiots! All they think about is gossip and make everything related to nobles' relationships out to be sordid. Who cares who f*cks who? I can't wait for this mess to be over. Since the staff was halved, I don't get to slack off anymore.
The Count has lessened our workload, sure, but with half the house to clean, now Pontus has double the time to check on our work. If I get any more demerits that old b*stard will take money out of my salary! Gods, I'm so tired."
She closed off the curtains, and then changed into her nightgown before going to sleep. Solus could only inwardly sigh.
"Guess this is just another bust. She really doesn't seem to be a cold-blooded killer. She is really cute, though, especially without all those baggy clothes on. I wonder if hers is the body type Lith likes, or if he will indulge on these images."
She chuckled.
"Guess not. Based on his memories it's too soon for his body to have those urges, and his mind couldn't care less. Even when I told him I got into the women quarters he didn't check my memories even once, he only listened to my report."
Solus used the Hush spell to prevent any noise to wake up the sleeping maid, adding a touch of dark magic to turn the room pitch black.
She then proceeded to open the chest. Using a mix of spirit magic and her body shifting abilities, picking up the lock was easy as pie.
While rummaging through the maid's personal belongings, Solus wondered about her life.
"It always feels so odd be away from Lith. I'm so used to constantly hear his thoughts, worries and memories that all this silence in my head feels really lonely. Even when he sleeps his mind always keeps me company.
After all these years, I still haven't figured out what he is for me. A companion? A host? A master, or rather my mother? He gave me a second life, after all, and my first happy memory begins with him.
The only reminiscences I have before meeting him are filled with the fear of dying or losing myself."
The search had given no results, there was nothing outside casual clothes, shoes, family mementos and harmless mails between her and her loved ones.
"Sigh, according to Earth's detective stories, the culprit should have with him/her a detailed letter from the instigator, money, a signet, a flask of poison or whatnot."
Being already in the room, Solus decided to also check the remaining beds and wooden chests, starting from the one on the left side of the room. It turned out to be even more bland than the previous.
"Two down, one more to go."
Solus opened the last lock, going through the clothes, the letters and the trinkets contained in the last chest. She turned an old pair of shoes upside down, when a hidden treasure fell into her hands.
"Well, well. What do we have here?"
Chapter 41 Screams Of Terror
Later, that day, when Solus returned with the identity of the culprit, a sample of the poison and the hilarious new gossip as prizes, she had expected Lith to be excited or at least relieved.
Instead he was brooding, with the same annoyed face he had when he was forced to spend quality time with Trion.
"Why so gloomy? We did it, we can take her out anytime we want. Smile a little."
"I would indeed smile if we managed to find her at the first or maybe fifth attempt.
Unless math has become an opinion the last time I slept, searching thirteen rooms out of eighteen, means you have searched thirty-nine persons, more than two-thirds of the staff members.
At this point we can as swell sweep the remaining five to verify if she has accomplices. Not to mention that this maid wasn't even on my list, the psycho wife would have bested me if not for your new ability."
Lith started pacing, his mind analysing the choices at his hand.
"You are a real party pooper, you know?" Solus pouted.
"Sorry, you did a great job, but put yourself in my shoes. First, it took us so long to find her that I am pretty sure the Countess has already noticed that something is wrong. The Count and his heirs have been poisoned daily, yet they are perfectly fine.
It's safe to assume that soon she will resort to a more direct approach. We need to move fast, before her pawn flees from the scene.
Second and most important, this new piece of gossip you brought me is a nightmare! Sure, is all fun and laugh, until you realize that if the rumour reaches the Countess' ears, she may even believe it.
And while I don't care being a target, the same can't be said about my mother! We must wrap this up quickly, and try to get as much evidence as we can, so whoever is handling the annulment process will be forced to speed his bureaucrat a*s up.
Then, I can ask the Count to bring my family here as soon as possible. When those blabbering fools see that I am the spitting image of my father, that stupid rumour will die out. Only then I will be able to focus on protecting the Count again."
"Well, yeah." Solus shrugged. "But you are forgetting about the bright side. If the Countess falls for this rumour, she will get really angry. And when she's angry she makes really stupid mistakes. Always such a pessimist. And you even dare to question why you look like cr*p in a mirror."
Ever since Solus had started following the suspects, Lith hadn't been sitting idly either. To make use of whatever she would find, he needed a plausible excuse.
At random times during the day, he would pretend to go investigating on his own, leaving the three nobles with the guards, while he would actually always remain in the vicinity, ready to intervene if necessity arose.
Also, he had asked the Count to give him a tour of his magical library, getting the opportunity to borrow some tier four books and store them inside Soluspedia.
Even when they were apart, Lith could still access both the dimensional storages, it would just take some effort to operate them.
That allowed him to further expand his knowledge about the possibilities of magic, and gave him several new ideas.
The next day, after Solus identified at least one of the Countess' agents, Lith started to prepare the final steps for his new plan, while Solus searched the remaining seven rooms.
It turned out they miscalculated, since both the butler and the head of kitchen had their private rooms, because of their status and seniority. Her task was made faster and easier by the fact that she had not to tail a target for a whole day anymore.
Solus could just get inside and search for evidence as soon the coast was clear. On Lith's side things were a bit trickier. First, he had to identify the poison from the sample Solus brought back. It was a colourless and odourless liquid.
He spreaded a small drop of it on his finger and another on his tongue, without swallowing it. It tasted sweet and acidic at the same time.
"What the f*ck? A pineapple pizza flavoured poison? This is disgusting! And here I hoped to have left that cr*p on Earth."
While his stomach was turning at those horrible memories, the areas where he had spreaded the poison became numb. After a while they became red and swollen. Since breathing was getting harder, Lith immediately neutralized the poison, before looking for it in the Count's books he had stored in Soluspedia.
"Thankfully, in this world they shouldn't have synthetic poisons outside the magical varieties. It shouldn't be hard to find the right one."
It turned out to be an extract from a rare type of blackberries-like fruit that usually grew in marshlands. The whiteberries, more commonly known as doomberries, in their natural state simply had a sweet smell and disgusting taste, but their juice if properly distilled and condensed was highly toxic.
Its low dosage symptoms matched the Count's story, like the effects Lith had experienced fitted the description of its concentrated form.
At that point, the final issue lied in finding a way to get a full confession without destroying the good image Count Lark had of him. Lith didn't miss how disgusted the Count had reacted at the mention of tortures.
Lith had no interest in arts, but from the way the Count had painted him, it was clear that in his mind the young magico was valiant and righteous, rather than a cold -blooded schemer with a penchant for inflicting pain.
"This is so stupid. Not only I have to save him, but I also have to do it in a way of his liking. Having a good man as a backer is both a blessing and a curse. I need to get creative."
Having almost run out of options, Lith needed check out books he had never thought could have any use to him, before going to the Count and explain to him the only plan crazy enough to have a ghost of a chance.
*****
A few days later, Lynna Crestwick was at her rope's end. The Countess was sick and tired of her failures, and had clearly told her to either get to job done or start running for her life.
"That ungrateful b*tch! After so many years of loyal service, always covering her sorry a*s, even volunteering to get rid of her deadbeat husband, that's how she repays me? Now I get why the sod wants to get rid of her.
I'll make a last attempt before getting out of here. I'm sick of being caught between a rock and a hard place, always watching my back. If even this fails, I'll escape to the Gorgons empire. I should be safe there."
She had no idea what could have possibly go wrong. Before getting fired, Genon had told her that the doomberry kiss was a powerful poison that even he would have a hard time to detoxify. Could the Count have an inhuman constitution despite being so thin?
During her shift in the kitchen, she waited for the plates to be left unattended before adding two spoonsful of poison into the Count's plate. It was impossible to miss, since even the napkins had the initials embroidered.
That dose would be enough to kill a dozen men, but she was tired of slowly rising the amount, day after day, waiting for something to happen.
Some hours later, she finally succeeded. After eating the soup, the Count had started to have difficulty breathing, his tongue swelling like a sponge.
Both the so-called-magician brat and Pontus, which back in the military had been a field medic, couldn't help him. The b*astard was finally dead!
Lynna, just like her co-workers, started sobbing uncontrollably. But while they were grieving, she was weeping with joy. Now she was safe, and with the sum she had agreed with the Countess, she could finally turn her lifelong dream into reality.
She didn't need anymore to work her a*s for someone else, it was her turn to live in a beautiful house, surrounded by servants.
Off course, first she had to wait for the investigation to be concluded.
Jadon, the new Count, imposed the martial law, prohibiting anyone to go out of the house without his permission. Lynna had nothing to fear, thought.
As soon as she spiced up the late Count's plate, she had thrown away the remaining poison and carefully washed the flask, before putting it back in the kitchen pantry.
During the rest of the day, every room was combed and every member of the staff had to undergo a long interrogation. When they finally let her walk, she was exhausted, all the stress and emotions had taken a big toll on her.
Also, she was starting to realize that she had actually killed a man, and a good one too. She tried to ease her guilty conscience by thinking of her future wealth and happiness, but instead she ended up second thinking everything she did so far.
"What if that b*tch breaks her word? Is not like I can expose her crime, after all. Even worse, what if my reward turns out to be a knife in the back or a poisoned drink? She doesn't need me anymore, I'm just a loose end.
Good gods, what have I done? Have I really killed a harmless buffoon, just for pile of gold?" The words 'pile' and 'gold' still had a soothing effect on her, so she decided to go to bed and put all that story behind her.
"What's done it's done, all the remorse in the world can't bring back the Count, may the gods rest his soul."
The problem was that her roommates wouldn't stop talking about what happened, it was the first time in years that a murder occurred within those walls.
After some yelling and bickering, she managed to get convince them to close the curtains and turn off the oil lamp.
Lynna had just closed her eyes when the doorknob started turning ad rattling, someone was trying to get in!
As soon as the light was lit again the rattling stopped.
"What was that?" "It must be another of Syka's stupid pranks! She's such an as*hole!"
"And how could she do it if all our rooms are closed from the outside? Martial law, remember?" Lynna pointed out.
When they were still trying to find an explanation, suddenly the room became so cold that they could see their breaths condensing, their room's window got all fogged up.
One of her roommates became really scared, banging on the door and calling for help, but no one answered. All they could do was to wear their heaviest clothes and cover themselves with the blankets.
Then, the oil lamp went out. No matter how hard they tried, it was impossible to lit it again. Panic started to ensue when the knob rattled again, even stronger than before, while their beds shook like during a quake.
"It's like in the old stories my grandmother used to tell me when I was little!" Screamed one of the maids.
"A vengeful spirit is trying to get in!"
"Grow up, Seria! There are no such things as ghosts!" Lynna was a woman of action, she never believed to folk tales. She raised her nightstand, to use it to smash the window that refused to open, when she saw him.
The late Count Trequill Lark was in front of her, despite her room being on the first floor. His whole figure was pale white, glowing in a dim light like a firefly.
His eyes were all white with no pupils, shedding tears of blood. Small blue flames were erupting from his snow-white hair, dancing around him while emitting screams of pain.
Their eyes were locked, Lynna couldn't look away, her whole body frozen stiff, the nightstand still raised.
"How could you do this to me?" The Count's voice sounded distorted and distant, barely a whisper, but they could hear it clearly as a shout.
Screaming in terror, the three women ran to the door, trying to open it and calling for help. When they looked back, the Count was already floating inside, despite the window being still locked.
When he extended his hand, they felt a jolt running through their spines, falling into a cold oblivion.
Chapter 42 No Rest For The Wicked
When Lynna woke up, she discovered she wasn't in her bedroom anymore. The moon was covered by clouds, and with only the dim light of the stars, she couldn't figure out her new location.
Lynna only knew she was now in the open. The cold night breeze and the rough feeling of the earth under her hands left no space for doubts. As her eyes started to adjust to the penumbra, she noticed some humanoid forms laying on the ground, only a few meters away.
Glad of not being alone, she slowly crawled towards them, while trying to remember what had just happened. Lynna was about to shake her roommates, when the moon shined through the moving clouds, revealing them to be skeletons.
Lynna started to scream, and when she recognized the nightgowns they were wearing as those she had seen countless times on her friends it turned into a shriek.
Around her, multiple figures started to move and moan. She tried to run away, but tripped into something soft and squishy, tumbling on the ground. When she opened her eyes again, she was staring at a tombstone where was engraved:
"Here lies Croblan Lark, beloved father and husband."
Lynna suddenly realized what was that place, why it did feel so familiar. That was Lark's family burial ground, were all the forefathers of Count Lark lied in their eternal rest.
In that moment, she remembered everything: the poisoning, the twisting knob, the ghost. She wanted to believe it was all a bad dream, but her foot still hurt after the fall. Lynna was about to lose her mind, when the moonlight revealed that the moving figures weren't undead, but other members of the staff she knew all too well.
Two of them were actually her accomplices, Zamon, the second oldest butler after Poltus, whose loyalty actually lied only with the Countess, and Bisya, a young maid that had been planted a couple years ago to keep an eye on the Count's private quarters.
The three of them had been tasked by the Countess to ensure her return to power, by eliminating all possible obstacles. It was only thanks to Zamon's and Bisya's help that she had been able to slip the poison in the food unnoticed, even when she wasn't supposed to be in the kitchen.
Either by relying on Zamon's authority or Bysia's flirting charm, she had managed to complete every task assigned to her after the Countess forced departure.
There were also two more staff members with them. Refia, a young valet she had often worked with, and Olmund, one of the many butlers of the household.
"Lynna, is that you?" Bisya looked confused, shaking her head, trying to regain her focus. "That scream of yours almost made my head explode."
"Where in the gods' name are we? Why I'm not in my room? I clearly recall…" Zamon's voice was cut short, the blood draining from his visage as he remembered the last events.
"The Count!" He exclaimed.
At those words, all five of them froze up in place, swept away by the terror caused by the unnatural encounter.
"The Count is back!" Refia said with a choked voice.
"And the gods know why, but he believes I'm responsible for his death!"
Soon they all started looking around, finding the corpses of their roommates. Their clothes were unscathed, while their bodies seemed to have aged centuries.
"Rorryk, why did this happen to you?" Olmund feel to his knees, near the remnants of his oldest friend, crying desperately.
"Shut up, you fool!" Zamon forced his mouth shut with a hand.
"In case you haven't noticed we are in a cemetery! Is better not to wake which can eternal lie." Zamon didn't dare emit more than a whisper, he was very superstitious.
Usually Lynna would mock him for his cowardice, but that night was different. She could feel her guts twisting and turning in fear, her body begging her to run away.
Suddenly the ground trembled, and a raging fire erupted from an open grave.
Count's Trequill Lark grave.
"How could you do this to me?"
The Count's spirit slowly emerged from the flames.
"Prepare to be judged by my ancestors."
From the tombs nearby the Count, three skeletons arose, unearthing themselves up to the waist.
"Murderers!" Wailed an old man's voice.
"Traitors!" Yelled a woman's voice.
"Vermin!" Said a man's voice.
The three skeletons were struggling to get free from earth's embrace, while announcing their verdict. The dirt, tattered clothes they wore kept ripping apart.
"The die is cast!" The Count's spirit said with an otherworldly deep voice.
"Confess!" He was pointing his finger towards Refia, who suddenly felt pushed down on the ground by an invisible force.
"I'm innocent! I swear!" He said, sobbing uncontrollably.
The three skeletons started to wail as one, in a cacophony of indistinguishable voices. Their hollow orbits emitted a red glow, like a candle had been lit within, and like the Count, blood tears started to endlessly flow along their cheekbones.
"Liar!" The Count yelled, and Refia was dragged by the invisible force towards the Count's open grave, whose flames started to rise and roar loudly.
The others tried to hold him by the arms, but the spirit's pull was too strong. When Refia was thrown into the fiery pit, he emitted an inhumane shriek while the flames turned from bright red to an ominous purple.
"He will serve me in the netherworld, to atone for his sin." The Count's spirit said.
"Confess!" This time he was pointing at Olmund, who promptly complied.
"I confess! I confess! It was me stealing the silk bolts, exploiting my inventory duty. That's why there was never enough."
"And how do you atone?" Said the spirit, its eyes reduced to two flaming slits.
"I'm so sorry! I swear!"
"Words are not enough!" The corpses on the ground arose, their orbits brimming with a red light. They lifted Olmund with their skeletal hands over their heads, and threw him into the pit.
"Rorryk, why?" Was his final scream before disappearing in the flames.
Before the ghost could pass his judgment, Lynna kneeled deeply, head on the ground, begging for forgiveness.
"I confess! It was me poisoning you, and those two are my accomplices!" She said pointing at the two survivors.
Zamon and Bisya tried to take a step back, but the skeletons had returned, surrounding them again.
"Because of you my children are alone in this world!" The ghost wailed in pain.
"It's only a matter of time before they join me in death! How do you atone?"
"I'm so sorry! I've been stupid, I have no proof. I threw away the poison and burned all her Ladyship's letters."
"Then burn yourself!" Lynna was then dragged by her dead roommates in the pit, only the flames put an end to her shrieks.
Zamon and Bisya kneeled too, going straight to the point.
"I can save your children!" Yelled the young maid. "I'm not stupid, I never trusted that b*tch as far as I can throw her. I kept all her letters, her orders, in case she broke her word! I keep them all under a loose board in the kitchen's pantry."
"As did I! Also, I know where she keeps hidden all her personal correspondence." The old butler rushed to add, fearing of becoming useless to his captor.
"She ordered the poison months ago! And there so much more to it! It's all in a secret compartment right under her bed. I swear, that's all that I know! Please have mercy of this old fool!"
"Magnificent!" Said the Count with his usual joyful and enthusiastic tone, clapping his hands in delight.
Suddenly he didn't sound otherworldly at all. The skeletons fell down like puppets whose strings had been cut, the fire went out and the Count came down to the ground with a thump loud enough to be heard.
"Was this all…" Zamon couldn't believe his eyes.
"A farce?" Poltus completed the sentence for him. "Yes, old weasel. I knew you were always up to no good." The traitorous servants were able to put a face to the old skeleton's voice.
"Jadon, Keyla, be a dear and go retrieve the evidence. At this point I can't trust anyone else." The Count's heirs came right after Poltus, nodding, before running back to the house.
Knowing he was doomed, Zamon still found the strength to watch into the open grave, finding out that everyone was still alive, just bound and gagged by tendrils of earth.
Thinking about what would befall to him and his family, the old butler was filled with regret. The long years of loyal service, the savings of a lifetime, all those careful plans for his retirements, shattered together with his hopes for a better tomorrow for his sons.
**************
Lith sighed with relief, he could finally come out in the open. If he could, he would pat his back by himself, the results had far exceeded his expectations.
Since Solus couldn't find anything in the remaining rooms, Lith had her follow Lynna day and night, taking note of all those she was the most in contact with, to round them up all together for the final act.
Which by the way, had been quite a hassle to arrange. To avoid blowing his cover, Lith could only resort to chore magic and spells up to tier three, like the Hoovering spell he had applied to the Count.
He had explained everything in detail to the Count, to avoid him being scared or surprised by the special effects he had in mind. Lith, off course, said he would move the skeletons with air magic, while he was actually using spirit magic.
The blood tears trick was an easy one, chicken blood that he prevented to clot with light magic, while using water magic to make it go down the cheekbones, pass behind the ear and through the hair to get an endless stream effect.
The single steps were easy, but keeping all those spells active at the same time, manipulating flames, blood, skeletons, had been quite exhausting, even with Solus's help. She had taken care of half the stage, but the mana she used was Lith's.
They were like two divers with a single oxygen tank.
The Count too was very happy with the result.
"Ah! Ah! Ah! I always knew that magic is awesome! Flying has been such a memorable experience. Not to mention their faces!" Count Lark was laughing like a kid after a successful prank.
"You should have seen their faces! Priceless! I never had so much fun in my life." He patted Lith's shoulder, covering him in white powder.
"Who would have guessed that old ghost stories from my books could be so effective. With a little tuning here and there, off course!"
"For being a goodie-goodie two shoes, the Count is quite a trickster." Lith thought. "Despite being so averse to torture, he had no qualms scaring so many people sh*tless. Guess he never heard about psychological torture and PTSD."
As soon as they got their hands on the incriminating evidence, Count Lark immediately used his communication amulet to contact the King's Bureau of Law and Order to submit them.
The night clerk assured him that they would move his paperwork on the top of the list, and that they would send royal investigators to shed light on the case.
Translated from the bureaucratic lingo, it meant that the Count's case would now take days instead of weeks. Lith wouldn't take any risks, not after showing so much of his prowess, so he had the Count make his whole family come to the estate the very next day.
He sent them also some clothes he had prepared beforehand. In such a palace, the lowest stable boy was better dressed than them, even if they wore their best suits.
When they arrived, one way or another, all the staff was assembled to see first-hand the mysterious woman who had spawned the Count's alleged fifth son.
They expressed much admiration for his mother's and sisters' beauty, and even Raaz received a lot of attentions.
When Lith sent Solus to check if the rumour had finally died out, she replied with endless laughing out loud and an unbelievable story.
According to her report, the household was now split into two factions.
The first one, that she dubbed #TeamLith, was leaded by Poltus, which refused to step back from his initial theory.
"Who would have thought that such an airhead like the Count could also be such a schemer? Not only he got himself such a beautiful and young mistress, he also had the smarts to choose a woman whose husband resembles him so much that he would never suspect the son isn't his own! That witch of the Countess can't hold a candle to such gorgeous woman."
The second one, #TeamRaaz, was leaded by Hilya. She was the head of the kitchen staff, first chef and also Poltus oldest rival in terms of both authority and gossip skill.
"Are you gone senile or what? The Count is too noble and chivalrous to cheat, even on such a treacherous hag! Clearly, he had an affair before their wedding, and Sir Raaz is the offspring of that love.
That means that not only he is the real Count's fifth son, but that the young mage and his beautiful sisters are all his secret nephews! That's why he cares so much about the boy, and why he has brought them all here now that the Countess is dead set to wipe out the whole bloodline!
How noble of him! He probably has protected them from the shadows all these years, to keep them safe from his wife's jealousy and ire."
Lith didn't know if to laugh or cry.
"How the f*ck did we come to this?"
"Sorry." Solus shrugged. "It seems that the Count's staff has the hobby of making everything related to nobles look sordid. Thinking ill of something makes even coincidences looks interesting, don't you think?"
Lith shook his head in desperation.
"Poor mom. She is just a forbidden love triangle away from becoming the main character of one of those chick flicks that were all the rage a few years ago on Earth."
Chapter 43 Burying The Hatche
Aside from the gossip, life in the Count's private quarters was really peaceful.
Count Lark took the initiative to explain everything to Lith's parents, taking the blame entirely on himself, and giving only words of praise to their son.
Raaz and Elina were actually quite angry, and wanted to give Lith a solid piece of their mind. But after the Count apologized, even bowing to them, they were too embarrassed and flattered to say anything, at least in front of him.
The whole family could not stop staring at the house. Walls made of stone, the luxurious furniture, the carpets. Everything seemed to come out straight from a fairy tale. Until that day, they had always thought they would never see such riches.
Lith started to wonder how long would it take for them to come back down to earth, when breakfast arrived. The delicious and sweet smell of the pastries immediately caught their attention.
"Just great." Lith sighed inwardly. "I could expect my family's reaction to the Count's house, and luckily out hosts are overlooking their quite rude behaviour.
My only hope is that they don't jump on the food like starving wolves. That would be too embarrassing!"
"Party pooper! Let them be happy, so maybe they'll beat your a*s less when you get back home." Solus rebuked.
"Point taken."
As soon as the cart entered the room, Lith's family mimicked their hosts behaviour, politely sitting around the table in an ordered manner, waiting to be served.
That was also the first time someone outside the family was treating them with such care, the girls couldn't stop giggling.
"What the f*ck?" Lith was fairly surprised.
It wasn't a maid pushing the cart full of delicacies, it was Hilya herself, accompanied by some kitchen personnel that Solus identified as her posse. It was the first time that Lith saw her in the flesh, and soon he understood why.
Hilya personally served the Count's family and then his own, showering everyone with compliments and attentions.
Her followers did the same, but with more tact and less enthusiasm. When they left, there was enough food on the table to feed a battalion.
"#TeamRaaz rules, b*tch!" Solus screamed.
Count Lark was both embarrassed and flabbergasted. Hilya barely served him on his birthday, and he had no idea why his usually impeccable staff had taken such liberties with his esteemed guests.
Lith signalled him that he would explain later, before stopping everyone in their tracks, preventing them to take even a single bite.
Usually that would have garnered him a lot of nasty words, but in front of their host they had to shut up and listen.
The mention of the past poisoning attempts made them inwardly perform a 180° turn, going from demanding revenge to gratefulness in just a few words.
Lith wasn't willing to let his guard down, he kept checking every single plate and forcing them to drink only conjured water.
It was really depressing for his family, since he was the only one having tasted hot chocolate back on Earth, but they soldiered up.
In the following days, the forced cohabitation would have been much more awkward, if the Count's private quarters had not been bigger than their house.
The women, leaded by Keyla, took for themselves the bedroom, the biggest and most comfortable room, while the men had to settle up for the anteroom and its soft sofas.
There were no more assassination attempts, since all the gathered evidence had caused a fuss for the Countess, and by remaining stubbornly holed up in the best guarded and easily defensible part of the house, the Count left her with no openings.
Koya Lark had looked in every nook and cranny, searching for leverage, but the Count had no weakness she could exploit, and that nasty magico kid was even worse.
After a thorough background check, she discovered he had no friends and no family outside those he had brought with himself.
Killing or kidnaping his lost brother, Orpal, could be considered making him a favour at best. The only person remaining was Nerea/Nana, his mentor, but that was suicide. If the kid was so powerful, what were the limits of that old hag prowess?
The Countess could only curse herself for always ignoring his husband hobbies, she had no idea who she was, or what repercussions messing with her could have. She knew nothing about magic, except what her cousin, Genon said to her in the past.
And even then, she had only pretended to listen to him most of the times. She decided to keep that as a last resort, if everything else failed.
Meanwhile, Lith's family was quickly getting accustomed to living in such a splendid manor, wearing only beautiful clothes and eating delicious food.
Aside from the random scare caused by a guard's sneeze or an animal in the garden, life had turned into a fairy tale for them.
Lith, instead, was quite annoyed. Since the first day, the Count, Keyla and Jadon had showered with praises Elina, Rena and Tista for their perfect skin and luscious hair.
"I'm so envious of you, girls. I wish I could get rid of these things on my face." Keyla sighed. Over time the camaraderie between the young ladies had grown strong.
"Yeah, you are already so pretty. If only…" Tista threw Lith a meaningful look, that he pretended not to notice.
Jadon interest toward Rena was embarrassingly obvious, and while he tried looking at her stealthily, such attention in turn got him as many stone-cold glares from Lith.
"I get that he is just twenty and horny as a boar, but she is just fourteen. Back where I came from that's bad. Plus, unless he wants to marry her, I'd rather neuter him. I won't allow him to ruin her future, treating her like a fling! Over my dead body!"
Rena was flattered by both the young man's attentions and his little brother care. Yet she was just dazzled by the house, not stupid. Elina had warned her many times about the young men, nobles or not, that would try to take advantage of naïve young girls.
She would accept compliments, but refuse any improper gift and avoided remaining alone with him. When Keyla and the Count noticed that if Lith's glares could maim, Jadon could easily fit into an envelope, they had a private talk with him.
After that the air in the room became a lot lighter.
Finally, the Count received the notification via the communication amulet that the annulment was finally done. He was once again a free man.
After confirming that Koya had been notified too, hence she had no more reason to plot against him, he could finally relax and step out of his room for the first time since weeding out the traitors.
The first thing he and Lith did was to contact Nana to explain her everything.
"That's why you were so serious." She pondered. "And why you took away my only helper. Lark, when we meet again, we have to talk about compensation, my business suffered because of your family squabble." She nagged.
"There, there, Lady Nerea. It was a matter of life and death, and the young Lith proved to be decisive in solving the matter."
"Hmm. Sorry, but I have to go. I have a business to attend. We'll talk later, especially with you, young imp. This lack of trust wounds my old heart." She said trying to act all old and frail.
Lith bowed and asked for her forgiveness, but his thoughts were quite different.
"Do you even have a heart? I'd bet all I have that the only reason you are pouting is that you have missed such juicy gossip for so long."
Contrary to their expectations, Nana called only a few hours later, and their next conversation had an entirely different mood. Nana was laughing her a*s off the entire time, managing to speak only briefly while gasping for air.
"Ah! Ah! Ah! You can't believe what just happened to me! Someone just tried to kidnap me. I'm serious!" A long laughing pause followed.
"It made me feel young again, like when I was still an adventurer. Guys dressed in tacky full black clothes, coming at me from all directions, it was hilarious!
You should have seen their faces when I took them down at once with a Corona Discharge!"
According to the Count's books, it was a very strong tier five lightning spell, Nana's true specialty was air magic, after all. Lith had no idea what it was exactly, it was mentioned, but not described.
He had already enough troubles understanding tier four spells, they were on a league of their own compared to the magic he had previously learned.
"They were so cute! They even had some minor magical items on them. I have no use for such trinkets, but I can still sell them for good money."
Lith was so envious. Magical items! He had yet to find any.
"Hey, that's offensive!" Solus pointed. "I resent that!"
"You are not an item, you are a friend." The pure sincerity of that thought sent Solus giggling and blushing in a corner of her mind, away from Lith's perceptions unless he explicitly searched for her.
"That makes the three of us even." Nana said.
"I hadn't this much fun in decades. I was almost considering to let some of them go and not submit a report to the Mage Association. Almost. So, Lark, this is my annulment gift for you.
From now on, you can choose to introduce yourself as bachelor or a widower. I'd go with widower, is more dramatic, chicks dig rich lonely men and makes less awkward explaining why you have two children already. Ta-ta!"
After the communication ended, both the men were shocked to their bones.
"You told me that your wife handled stress badly, but this is beyond idiotic!" Lith even forgot the most basic etiquette.
"Indeed." The Count didn't seem to notice. "The only explanation is that Koya had arranged Lady Nerea's kidnapping in advance, and when she received the news about the annulment, it was too late to call it off.
She is a close friend to both of us. Koya's plan would make sense if Lady Nerea wasn't the strongest magician in all the County. Not to mention that even if the plan succeeded, the result would be disastrous anyway."
Count Lark sighed.
"Koya, you never listened to me when I talked about magic and its rules. I hope they don't make you suffer too much. You are still the mother of my kids."
Thinking about the destruction that was about to befall the whole Ghishal household, including his disowned children, he could not avoid shedding tears of regret and compassion.
Lith moved behind him, patting his back while using his sheer willpower to suppress a hysterical laughter.
Lith and his family spent two more weeks as the Count's guests, fully enjoying his hospitality and the beauty of the whole manor, especially the park.
Now everyone had a room of his own, there was no danger anymore. That meant that away from prying eyes, Rena and Tista could freely mock their little brother for the Count's painting and the heroic aura he had depicted him with.
Living everyday with Lith, they really couldn't see him as someone great or overbearing. He was always their little brother.
Lith paid them no mind, their laughter was something he had fought so hard to protect. As long that they laughed happily with him, instead of him, sibling mockery was perfectly acceptable.
Elina and Raaz, instead, were really scared by the stuffed Byk, considering that their son had been reckless enough to face such beast on his own. When they would get back home, they would give him a talk, but not now.
There was no point in spoiling their first vacation in over thirty years. For farmers vacations were just myths, like dragons.
Lith used that time to get acquainted with the huge magic library the Count had assembled over the years, finally discovering what Blood Resonance magic was.
It was a recently discovered branch of light magic, and by using it a mage could ascertain if two people were blood related or even to whom a blood sample belonged.
"Interesting, back on Earth this could become the foundations for forensics analysis. Seems that this mage, Duke Marth (AN: name, not title) is still alive and well, teaching magic in the White Griffon Academy.
This makes two famous mages residing there. Maybe Nana went to the Lightning Griffon because of her air magic prowess, while the White Griffon specializes in light magic. Or maybe is just a coincidence, whatever. It's too far from here for me."
Returning home revealed to be a bit traumatic for his family. No more servants, no more slacking off, no more all you can eat buffet 24/7. It took many days and even more sighs, but soon they returned to their old routine.
The Count's sharecroppers had done an excellent job, they even repaired and reinforced the house, making it seem brand new. The Count had also sent them home with lots of gifts.
All the clothes that had been prepared for them, a lot of make up from Keyla, and a whole crate of food from Hilya. The cook was really fond of the family, and couldn't wait to have them back in the manor.
A night, Lith was training his martial arts together with Solus, when she felt an unknown mana core approaching. More curious than worried, he made her return to his finger and set up various layers of protection around the house.
Whoever he was, he was alone and not very sneaky. Now that he had stop practicing, Lith could hear him getting closer. The night birds and insects had gone silent.
"Who the heck are you?" Lith asked as soon as their eyes met.
The man in front of him wore an expensive robe, worthy of a magician in Dungeons & Looting, but now was all dirty and ripped in many points. He was unshaven, his hair was muddy too, and with only moonlight Lith couldn't discern its colour from the dirt.
"You!" The man had a pleasantly surprised expression on his face. "You have finally returned! I have waited for weeks, sleeping in the mud and eating only acorns and berries, but it was worth the wait."
"I'll ask you only one more time, who are you?" Lith yawned, the man was not making any sense.
"I'm Genon Ghishal! You killed my entire family! Prepare to die!"
Lith reacted by laughing his a*s off.
"Oh! I get it now! Bravo on surviving despite belonging to a family of braindead idiots!"
"How dare you! I'll kill your whole family, like you killed mine!"
Lith started laughing even harder.
"You?! With your pathetic yellow mana core? Even my little sister is stronger than you." Lith's words and countenance made no sense to Genon.
Outraged by such lack of respect and fear, completely different from how he had imagined the face off, while enduring all the hardships, Genon started casting a Lightning spell.
Lith responded by bringing his index finger on the lips whispering:
"Hush! We don't want to wake up the neighbours."
A second air dome, beside the one that Lith had previously set up, enveloping the whole house, surrounded the two men, covering a thirty-meter (33 yards) radius.
"Brezza Inidra!" Genon completed his spell, a bolt of lightning shot toward Lith, which was still laughing.
"Look up!" He said pointing to the sky, and like an obedient dog, the bolt turned 90° up, rising harmlessly in the air before dissipating.
"Seriously?! A tier two spell? How the heck did you manage to graduate from whatever backwater academy they sent you?"
Genon suddenly felt scared, what he had just saw made absolutely no sense. Not even his teachers had ever done something like that.
"You know, I am really stressed." Lith stopped laughing, his tone turning cold and detached, like he was talking to himself rather than to his opponent.
"I have spent weeks holed up, pretending to be weak and harmless! Playing the good f*cking kid role! But now I can finally be myself."
For the first time since he had achieved the cyan mana core, Lith went all out. His body released a brilliant cyan aura, filled with killing intent. His bones and muscles started to pop and creak, moving to accommodate that sudden surge of power.
His eyes glowed like torches, emitting an ice blue radiance while his smile went to ear to ear. His teeth shined like fangs in the full moon light.
Genon was scared but not frozen, starting to cast a tier three fireball, the strongest spell he could cast safely without risking it to backfire.
Lith stood there, tilting his head left and right, waiting for him to finish.
The fireball was a five meters (5.5 yards) radius sphere of raging flames, but the closer it came to Lith, the more it shrank, until it became the size of the marble, allowing Lith to catch it with his open palm and squeezing it out with a puff.
"Tsk, tsk. You can use everything but fire magic. The noise isn't a problem, but the light could alert someone, and we don't want that."
Genon had no idea what was happening, but he knew that remaining there was too dangerous. That wasn't a magico, but a monster. He tried to run away, but before he could get out the Hush zone Lith was already pinning him down.
"First you threaten my family and now you want to leave? That's rude! The night is still young, and I have so many things to experiment on you, yet. Let's play!"
Despite the protective barrier, deep in the Trawn woods, the Ry, king in the east, could feel the magic turbulence growing stronger.
"Take heed, my pack. Some human has threatened Scourge's cubs. Let's learn from his mistakes and pray together for his soul, so in his next life he will be wiser for this."
The entire woods resounded with howls until dawn came.
Chapter 44 Challenging Times
The next day, Lith was happy and relaxed. He kept humming the whole time while he cleaned the house and prepared breakfast, reheating the pastries to make them regain some of their fragrance.
The long permanence in the Count's manor had proved to him how stressful it was being constantly forced to hide his skill and powers. Being born in a backwater village, were no one knew jack about magic was a blessing in disguise.
He had got too used to the freedom and isolation living in a farmhouse guaranteed him, to the point that holding back and constantly pretending to use fake magic for a prolonged period was akin to torture for him.
After a long discussion with Solus about the problem, they decided that the best course of action was to find a way to not attend any magic academy.
According to the magic annuals he had read in the last weeks, it was possible to become a member of the Magic Association despite being home-schooled. It just required a longer and more difficult exams session.
The biggest difference between a home-schooled and a magic academy graduate amounted only in a matter of fame and prestige.
By being admitted and successfully passing the tests devised by famous and talented magicians, the student was bound to have an easier time whatever was the path of his choosing.
A home-schooled, instead, no matter the score he could achieve, would always be seen like a rogue magician with no references. He would first need to prove himself, by either performing voluntary military service or becoming an adventurer.
Achieving merits was the only way for a rogue magician to have access to a prestigious and well-paid job. Lith didn't care for any of that, he just wanted to develop his powers, staying away from the spotlight until he reached sixteen years.
At that point, he would be considered an adult, and could finally leave Lutia to start exploring the world in search for a solution to his reincarnation problem.
If achieving true death turned out to be impossible, he would need to work his way around by either becoming an immortal or binding his soul to the current world.
That would be the worst-case scenario, but at least if he died, he would still be reborn with all his magic knowledge and have Solus by his side.
Thanks to the money he got from the Count for saving his family, Lith had no need to keep working as a healer. Only when Nana was on house calls or away for personal matters, he would take her place in the home office.
Many farmers relied on his presence and discounted prices to afford all the medical care they needed, Nana's fares were too expensive.
Just because at the moment he had no need for an extra income, it didn't mean he had already forgotten how bad it was for a family being forced to watch one of their loved ones suffer, the helplessness felt when money dictated the difference between living and barely surviving.
Lith would spend most of his mornings exploring the Count's library, in search for tomes to borrow.
It was a room twice the size of his house, at least one hundred squared meters (109 squared yards) big, located in a corner point of the main building.
Both the west and north side of the room had huge windows, arranged so that the sun would manage to perfectly light it until dusk.
The bookshelves were placed from wall to wall, parallel to each other, and spaced so to avoid ridiculous domino effect in case one fell over, creating four corridors. In the center of the room there was a luxurious desk and a couple of armchairs.
The books covered all the topics, not just magic, it was the sum of all the knowledge the Count had accumulated through the years. Every time Lith returned home from the library, he would carry over a small chest full of delicacies.
Hilya would never let him go away empty handed.
The first book Lith picked up, was the Lightning Griffon Academy rulebook. Together with useless information, like how submit your application and what were the most common admittance tests, he found an answer to an old question.
The academy would last five years, and each year the student would need to prove a rising level of mastery of magic. The first year required learning at least twenty tier one spells, the second one thirty tier two, and so on.
"So that's why spells are divided into tiers. It's to identify the skill level of the magico compared to the official academic course."
Tiers from one to three were comprised of simple spells with a single effect. Tier three was basically the same as a tier one, but much more powerful and with higher requirements in terms of talent and skill.
From tier four, the effects would be much more complicated, like when Lith weaved together different spells with true magic. Tier four and five, based on what he could find, seemed to be greatly similar to true magic.
"That's probably why most mages never learn the truth about magic. Once they think they have reached the pinnacle, they simply stop asking themselves questions. They put too much attention to the destination and too little on the trip itself."
Aside from magic, Lith was also burdened by an annoying personal problem. After seeing his family, the Count was begging him on daily basis to help his daughter get rid of her acne.
"Please, the Debutante Ball is when a young noble gets introduced to society as an adult, in the presence of the King's Court. It's a very important event that can affect her whole life.
It can change not only her chances of finding a good husband, she could also be handpicked by the Queen as her personal attendant or even lady-in-waiting."
It wasn't that Lith didn't understand, such events had existed on Earth too, more like he didn't care much. For his canons, only one person could keep a secret. Two were a risk, three a whole crowd. Adding a fourth one wasn't much to his liking.
"Solus, what do you think I should do? The Count has done and is still doing so much for me, a hard pass would be extremely rude on my side. At the same time, I don't know how much I can trust Keyla, being a teenager."
"I'd say to play it smart. Nana was extremely vague about what you did, and the Count has no idea about the before and after, since he only saw your family after the treatment.
Explain to Keyla the dangers you are putting yourself in just by helping her, and after you are sure she has understood, cure only her acne, nothing more. This will minimize the risks.
The fact that you saved her life should matter to her. Not to mention that after what her mother put Keyla through, she shouldn't be that naïve anymore. She knows what does it mean to live under a sword of Damocles."
Following Solus' advice, Lith and the Count explained to her all the possible consequences of breaking his trust, both for Lith and her family.
Keyla was a smart girl, so she felt kind of offended by receiving such obvious warnings.
"First of all, thank you for your trust. First you saved my life, and now you are willing to risk your own safety to save my social life too. This is a debt I will never be able to fully pay back.
Second, don't worry for a second about my silence. An advantage is called like that because you are the only one who has it. I would rather cut my tongue than allowing my competition to get their hands on something like that.
No offence, dad, but I know all too well we are just small-time nobles in a backwater County. I need all the help I can, and even with no acne, with our status and riches we are still leagues behind the big noble families."
Lith choose to play it safe, making the process last weeks instead of seconds, so that her skin treatment would go unnoticed.
They kept Jadon in the dark, and he only noticed the changes when her skin had become smooth and her make up much lighter.
Thanks to Solus he was also able to keep the female staff under his watch, and when not even them noticed anything strange, Lith could finally sigh with relief.
By that time, the Count's mansion was back at full staff, and the whole house was busy preparing for a big party. The Count wanted to celebrate two happy events.
The first was the annulment, while the second had been something completely unexpected. Based on his prenuptial arrangement, the Crown had decided to assign to him all the lands and annuities of the Ghishals after their untimely disappearance.
Sadly, he wanted Lith to attend, to introduce him to all the neighbouring nobility.
"It's really important for you, I managed to get even Marchioness Mirim Distar to attend. She is for me what I am to all the Barons and Baronets in the County. Her Marquisate encompasses all the region and its Counties.
If you can, prepare a good gift for her. The only suggestion I can give to you is to prepare something with your hands, or even better, with your magic!"
Lith was unimpressed and uninterested, but having to live another eight years in the Lustria County, he could only soldier up and move on. Making a gift for a woman was already hard, making one for someone much richer than him was a challenge.
"Does she like games?"
"Yes, she loves all kind of strategy games. She is a smart and cunning woman, if there will ever be a war, gods forbit it, she would make an excellent general."
"And I suppose she is the head of the Distar household, right?"
"Once again correct. Her spouse married into her family, he is like a prince consort, his title as Marquis is purely nominal. Don't tell me you already have something in mind?"
Lith nodded and left, very sad at the idea of wasting a whole afternoon and evening being a wallflower.
His destiny was akin to that of Gerda's corpse, something to show and brag about, before completely forgetting about it and move on next gossip piece.
Chapter 45 Challenging Times 2
Count Lark had another dress prepared for Lith, specifically tailored for the occasion. It was very similar to the other day-dress he had received in the past, but black in colour and with a more elegant cut.
"It's amazing how similar party dresses are compared to Earth customs. All men wear almost the same dress, the only significant difference is the household crest embroidered on the chest pocket.
Instead, the women all wear different types of dresses, varying in colours, neckline and embroideries. Not to mentions the jewellery. Aside from family rings, men wear only monocles or pince-nez. They really resemble a flock of penguins."
Lith kept himself from the crowd as long as he could, there was nothing he could gain except awkward memories or curious looks.
Marchioness Distar revealed to be really important to Count Lark, to the point that he arranged their meeting privately in his quarters, while the party was taking place in the ballroom.
"Thank you so much for coming, dear Marchioness. You have no idea what it means for me having the possibility to share such a happy moment in your company."
"The pleasure is all mine, dear Lark, I wouldn't miss it for anything in the world." Her lips were smiling, but her eyes didn't.
Lith's instinct could tell that she was actually quite bored, and that she was there only because the Count must had persevered relentlessly to make her attend. He knew from experience how stubborn he could be.
Based on what the Count had told him, Marchioness Distar should be a woman in her late thirties, but even with the little make up she wore, it was hard to imagine her a day older than thirty.
She had a beautiful face with great proportions, eyes brimming with intelligence and curiosity. She wore her waist-long straight hair down, with no hairpin or barrette to adorn them.
She had dark brown hair, with shades of blue all over it. It was almost hypnotic to look when she shook her head.
Her evening dress was of a pale blue, with no neckline, covering even her shoulders. In contrast to all the other noble dames, the Marchioness wore evening gloves, and there were no gemstones embroidered in her attire.
She had clearly chosen a plain dress, hoping to either go unnoticed or leave early.
"This is the boy I talked you about so much." The Count laughed. "He is incredibly skilled, wise beyond his age and according to Lady Nerea, he is blessed by the light."
"Really?" The Marchioness didn't believe a word, but ruffled Lith's hair nonetheless.
Lith could feel that such gesture of intimacy was out of place, coming from such a grand dame. It also had no warmth at all. It felt more like a dog show judge checking the fur, rather than a caress.
"Sigh, as predicted, Trequill has once again wasted my time." The Marchioness thought. "It's just another of his childish delusions, finding a talented male mage in such scarcely populated land.
I would really love to tell him that the reason why women and magical beasts have coloured shades in their hair is the sign of the blessing from the six gods of magic. It would save so much of his efforts and my time.
Too bad that the Mage Association would make a huge fuss if I did. Those old fogeys and their reluctancy to reveal even such an open secret. Everyone in the King's Court knows it, be him/her a mage or not."
Lith could see she was disappointed, but had no idea why. Eager to go back home and do something actually meaningful, he bowed to her.
"My name is Lith of Lutia, your Ladyship. I'm glad and honoured to make your acquaintance. Please, accept this humble gift. Is not much, but I made it myself."
The Marchioness was pleasantly surprised.
"At least this country bumpkin acts humbly and knows the proper etiquette, instead of being all arrogant like he owns the place, unlike all his predecessors."
"Thank you, I'm much obliged." It's what she actually said even before opening the envelope.
It turned out to be a square shaped wood board, with sides about fifty-one centimetres (20 inches) long, with eight columns and rows of black and white alternating colours of wood.
After checking it with the Count, Lith couldn't be bothered much finding a proper gift, and went straight plagiarizing the game of chess.
The Marchioness interest was piqued, she had never saw anything like that before. The board was accompanied by the chess pieces and a booklet explaining all the rules.
Th differences from the common chess game were few but significant. First, the king and queen roles were swapped. Lith had to suck up to an important woman, making the king the game goal was plainly stupid.
Also, he renamed the bishops as mages and the pawns as commoners. Everything else was as it was supposed to be.
The Marchioness read the rules so fast that Lith thought she was simply skimming, instead she asked him a precise question.
"Why the commoners can become any chess piece if they reach the end of the board?" Although he had considered unlikely, Lith had prepared for this question, giving the answer the usual fortune cookie wisdom that the Count so much liked.
"Because when someone, even a commoner, completes his journey toward wisdom, life holds endless possibilities. After all, even the King's ancestors at some point have been simple commoners, before rising to power."
The Marchioness giggled softly.
"Well, it seems that at least the part about the wisdom is true." She thought.
"Fancy a game? Seems really interesting. You could show me the ropes. It would be a nice way to get to know each other better. You can understand a lot about a person based on how he plays, wins, but most importantly how he accepts loss."
Such outcome was completely out of his expectations. Lith was taken aback, he knew very little about chess, aside from the rules. He had never liked the game much, he found it to be too long and boring.
Why waste time with some pieces of wood, with so many VR games available on Earth? He had learned to play when he was very little, after reading a wonderful book about a chess player, but his experience had been far from pleasant.
He was too reckless and impatient, barely able to think one move ahead. Lith found no pleasure or emotion while playing chess, to him it was like a solitaire where you have to wait minutes to turn a single card.
Luckily, he was never alone. Solus had fallen in love with the game since she saw it in Lith's memories, viewing all the matches he had in the past and the ones he spectated.
"Solus take the wheel! Save me, please!"
"It would be a pleasure, your Ladyship."
After sitting at a table, the games began.
Even from her first game, the Marchioness proved to be incredibly intelligent, cunning and bold. She was able to think at least five moves in advance, always trying to figure out Lith's intentions and weak points.
Too bad for her, Lith barely knew what he was doing. He was the perfect straw man for hiding Solus real plans. He would just move the pieces as she instructed him to.
"You defeated her in barely thirty moves. Shouldn't you be a little more kind to her?"
The Marchioness clicked her tongue, asking for a rematch.
"To a smart woman like that? She would notice and get offended, naïve man."
"Maybe if you went easier on her earlier, she wouldn't notice now!"
"And where's the fun in that?"
Lith was flabbergasted.
"This is not a matter of fun! We're sucking up to her, remember?"
"Opps! My bad."
"Opps my pale a*s!"
Solus started to slow things down, but after just a few moves the Marchioness showed a displeasured face before toppling her queen.
"I clearly underestimated you and your game. I need more time to get acquainted with all the possibilities." She extended her hand, and Lith shook it.
She had a gentle but firm grip, Lith could feel no hostility from her.
"Mind if I show it around? I need opponents to get some practice."
"It's all yours. You can do anything you want with it."
After that, Lith left the two nobles discussing between them, all too happy to get away from that torture chamber.
After asking Jadon if he was finally allowed to leave (in a polite manner, off course) and getting a no as an answer, Lith was left pondering on what had just transpired.
"Hmm, maybe there is a silver lining in you crushingly defeating that woman."
"Really?"
"Yes. If we want to avoid being forced to enrol in a Magic Academy, we could just as well sabotage ourselves a little.
We already know that the Count has not the means to ensure our admittance. If we piss off the nobles a little, just enough for them to not back his recommendation, we'll avoid the whole thing without offending the Count."
"Good idea! Even if indirectly, you have already caused both the Ghishal and Trahan households to fall. Probably in the nobles' eyes you already have quite some demerits. You are already halfway there, you're quite good at being disliked."
"Thanks for the vote of confidence." Lith turned sour.
Solus inwardly cursed herself for the slip of the mind, and avoided apologizing. In that moment would only add fuel to the fire.
For the first time in years, Lith was actually hurt by those words, his anger silently rose.
When he heard someone belittling his endeavour of killing Gerda, he sized the opportunity to set his plan in motion.
It was a couple, likely father and son, commenting on the stuffed Byk exposed in a corner of the room.
"It's not that big." Said a chubby middle-aged man that barely managed to reach Gerda's navel with his head. "I'm sure you could have killed it too, Frenon."
"I don't know dad." Replied the ten years old kid that shared a striking resemblance with the man, only younger and thinner. "It seems big to me. And look at those fangs and claws. This Lith must be crazy to get near something like this."
"Bah!" Scoffed the man, making his double chin and his waxed brown curls tremble. "If you kill it with magic, there is no need to get close. It's just that simple. How can you be less bold than a commoner? I pampered you too much."
"I beg your pardon?" A stone-cold voice reached them from behind.
The two turned around, trembling visibly. They had recognized Jadon's voice, the future Count Lark and lord of their lands.
Even in his anger, Lith wasn't so reckless, he just ratted them out to his noble friends, leaving the dirty job to them.
"That was quite a rude remark, Baronet Hogum." Keyla's voice was fierce and loud, resounding through the whole room.
Lith was many times her benefactor, and hearing such a blatant lack of respect in her own house was simply too much to bear. Jadon thought the same, but his sister had butted in at the right moment, forcing him to step back momentarily.
"Ah! Ah! Ah! There's a misunderstanding." The Baronet title was the lowest, getting on the Lark's family black book was beyond bad.
"Are you implying we are both deaf or just stupid? Did you hear what I did too, dear brother?"
"I heard a nasty remark about one of our honoured guests, dear sister."
Before things could escalate further, the Marchioness chimed in.
"There, there. It's a party, let's try to be friends and not spoiling the mood."
Her appearance made all heads turn, the chatter instantly stopped.
"Besides, it's so simple to separate the wheat from the chaff. What about a little magic challenge?" The room roared in an applause.
Under the Marchioness lead, the crowd moved outside. The park was already perfectly lit up, since after dinner the party was supposed to move outside, to enjoy the fresh night breeze while drinking properly aged liquors.
She made the two boys stand twenty meters (22 yards) from each other, before explaining the rules.
"This will be a friendly match, so it ends on first blood. Only magic is allowed. I want no underhanded tricks, also seriously harming the opponents is prohibited. A mage without control is no different from a violent drunkard."
Strangely, the Marchioness said that while looking only at Lith, and that pissed him off even further.
"So, just because I'm a commoner, she treats me like a barbarian? So much for losing with grace! Such a hypocrite."
"I'll be the judge. If I say stop, you better stop." Fuel was added to the fire.
Both the youths nodded. Lith put his arms behind his back.
"You know, I really wouldn't be in your shoes. If you win, you prove nothing. You would have just beaten a lowly commoner, like everyone expects you to. But if you lose…" Lith paused dramatically, still waiting for the start signal.
"Wouldn't be terrible, losing in front of all these people, proving to be less talented and bold than a commoner?"
The young Baronet started gulping loudly, turning constantly toward the crowd, suddenly realizing the pressure of the challenge.
"Begin!"
When the Marchioness voice rang out, he was so stiff that he had yet to move, when Lith opened his palm while yelling.
"Scram!"
A powerful gust of wind made Baronet Hogum fall on the ground.
"Lith of Lutia wins!"
The crowd was surprised, a murmur started spreading like wildfire.
"Why did she stop the match so suddenly?" Everyone asked.
The Marchioness helped the boy to get up and brought him closer for them to observe. There was a shallow cut on his left cheek, going from his nose to the ear.
"Just with chore magic?" "From that distance?" "Impressive. That's how he has single-handedly killed a Byk."
Lith puffed his chest, his anger subsiding enough for him to avoid further mockery on the expenses of his defeated opponent.
A small girl quickly rushed to the Marchioness, making a perfect bow to her while whispering something, her face all smiles and pleasantries.
She was so petite to appear ageless to Lith. She could be eight years or thirteen years old, he couldn't tell. She was definitely flat as a board, with gold blonde hair with shades of red. Her dress had gemstones the size of an acorn embroidered into it.
"The brat must be loaded." Lith thought.
"Be careful. While the boy was just a yellow core, she has a green one." Solus warned him.
Lith inwardly scoffed.
"Lucky b*stard."
"Lith, this is Minnea Tristarm, daughter of the Viscount Tristarm. Minnea, this is Lith from Lutia."
"Nice to meet you." The girl performed a barely noticeable curtsy.
"The pleasure is all mine." Lith returned the rudeness, by performing such a small bow that it could be easily confused with him checking if his shoelaces where properly knotted.
"Minnea was really impressed by your feat, and would like to challenge you to a different kind of competition."
"It would be an honour performing for her Grace. My father had tried for so long to get an audience with your Ladyship."
"Obnoxious brat!" Lith thought. "She has been watching the Marchioness the whole time, speaking like I'm not even here. You are in for a surprise."
They moved back into the ballroom, were the servants promptly prepared a small round table. A single candle was standing on its center.
"This is a magical competition that's really popular within the capital." The girl kept looking at the Marchioness, while she explained the game with a condescending tone.
"Real mages are not mindless brutes. Real power comes from the mind."
"Spare me the details and explain the rules." Lith tone was even more condescending.
"It's really simple." Minnea looked at him for the first time.
"Each of us picks a colour, the one that manages to keep the candle of the chosen colour for ten seconds is the winner. Is it clear?"
Lith yawned.
"I'll take the yellow."
"And I the red, like my hair. Is my favourite colour."
When the Marchioness gave the start signal, Minnea tried her best to turn the candle to red, while Lith was checking his nails length, yawning from time to time.
Soon the ten count was completed, and he tried to walk away.
"Wait! I demand a do over." The girl was bright red from the embarrassment.
"Why?" Everyone asked.
"Do you realize that keeping control of a flame is much easier than taking it over?"
Lith could easily see through her allegations.
"Are you insinuating that by exploiting the natural colour of the candle I took control of it before the challenge started, getting an unfair advantage?" He laughed.
"You can understand a lot about a person, based on how she plays, wins, but most importantly how she accepts loss." Lith quoted, looking straight in the Marchioness eyes.
"Let's have a do over, then. This time I'll pick cyan. Feel free to get a head start. I'll commence my attack only when the flame is completely red, so we'll be even. Agreed?"
Eager to restore her wounded pride, Minnea nodded while she was already turning the candle to a bright red.
"Can I?" When both the Marchioness and Minnea nodded, Lith started sending tendrils of mana toward the candle.
Slowly but inexorably, many cyan spots appeared inside the flame, taking it over in less than a minute.
"I yield." Minnea didn't wait for the ten count, the outcome was painfully clear to her.
"Do you want another do over?" Lith hissed bending forward, getting really close to her face, his eyes reduced to fiery slits brimming with mana.
"Lith, your mana is overflowing." Solus warned him.
"Let it burn."
Minnea shook her head, before running back to her father.
No one dared to challenge him anymore.
The rest of the evening was full of chattering and gossiping, but otherwise uneventful.
"This should be plenty enough to make any academy in the region reject our application."
End of book 1
Chapter 46 A New Beginning
Almost four years had passed, and over time many things had changed.
Two years ago, when Lith was still ten years old, Rena had reached adulthood. She participated to the Spring Maiden contest, winning it by a landslide.
Between the clothes from the Count, the make-up from Keyla and the beauty treatment from Lith she had basically no competition.
She has soon started to hang out with several young promising bachelors, before finding the right one. His name was Senton, and he was the son of the blacksmith.
After dating for almost a full year, they were ready to marry.
In that same year, Tista had reached her growth spurt at the age of twelve. She was officially healed from her congenital condition and had started to practice fake magic under Lith's and Nana's guidance.
Her mana core had become deep green, and according to Solus, there was still space for it to grow at least up to bright green. Tista was finally able to get out of the house without supervision, starting to make friends with the children of the neighbours.
It was too late for her to try to attend to a Magic Academy, she barely knew the basics of chore magic, but she didn't mind. After being prisoner of her own body for so many years, she had no interest in perpetual challenges.
The only thing she really wanted was to enjoy her new life, trying out all the things that had been forbidden to her before. Becoming a magica and inheriting one day Nana's business was already beyond every expectation she ever had.
Even Lith's household had deeply transformed. Between his magic, the help from the Count and all the money he was able to earn, the walls were now made entirely of stone, only the floor and the roof were still wooden.
He had also built a new bedroom for himself that served as a study too. Lith was getting too old to keep sleeping with his sisters, and had no intention of moving in with Trion.
He demanded his personal space and privacy, and since he was the one paying for it, no one could make any objections.
As for Lith himself, he had changed deeply, at least physically. Despite having yet to become twelve years old, he was already one meter and sixty centimetres (5'3") high. His thin and scrawny build was only a memory.
Now he had broad shoulders, his muscles were well developed but not ripped, rather cleverly chiselled. He didn't want to stand out nor to carry useless weight, Lith wasn't planning on becoming a soldier, after all.
He was plenty content with a far from average build and a body that was able to react instantly, according to his will. His mana core was still cyan, but not deep anymore, halfway through the light cyan that would precede the next evolution.
A mana core on the strong end of the spectrum had proven to be much stronger that the previous ones, but at the same time it put a much stronger burden to Lith's body. He had reached a bottleneck that couldn't be overcome with training or study.
Only after hitting his growth spurt, his body would become strong enough to allow him to refine further the mana core. Before such event, the use of Accumulation would bring to him only pain and no benefits.
(AN: Accumulation is the breathing technique that allows Lith to absorb the world energy into his mana core, making it grow stronger through expansion and shrinking cycles, with the mana core turning of a lighter colour at every cycle.
See the end of chapter 7 and chapter 9 for more details)
Also, since now all of his clothes had the Lark's household crest on either the shoulder or the chest pocket, he made full use of his newfound authority, protecting the village in Nana's absence. For a fee, off course.
The only criminals he would take out for free, were those with a nice "Dead or Alive" bounty on their heads. Lith would strictly deliver them feet first.
Now that he was almost twelve, the number of spells and the skill level he could reveal had increased exponentially, since now he officially had more than six years of magical training.
Seeing him fly around or hunting for pelts or bounties had become a common occurrence in the Lutia village. By having three healers and two protectors, the village kept growing in fame, size and population.
It was only thanks to him that Rena and Senton were able do date each other. Previously, the idea of the son of an artisan marrying the daughter of a humble farmer would have been preposterous.
Inside, though, Lith had changed very little. He was still the cynical, mistrustful broken man he had always been, with no real friend or loved one outside his family and Solus.
Having to deal with criminals, chasing away profligate boys that molested his sisters and interacting with the nobles, had further rooted in his mind the idea that mankind, even in the new world, was a plague that he had to avoid.
His only real confident was Solus, and despite all her attempts, she had not been able to change his mind, even one bit.
He was also in a very bad mood.
"Dammit, tier four spells are really hard. I can manage to reproduce them with true magic, but I still feel they are somewhat lacking. Either when I cast them with true or fake magic, something keeps feeling amiss."
"Yeah." Solus mind nodded. "Maybe is just my impression, but this kind of spells is supposed to hold some deep and profound concept that we are not able to grasp. Maybe, if we had access to tier five books…"
"Ifs and buts are just a waste of time. Who would have ever thought that Count Lark wouldn't buy them? He is still dead set to send me to the Lightning Griffon academy, no matter how many times I repeated I preferred being home-schooled."
"Well, you knew how stubborn the Count can be. Also, from his point of view, not buying the books kills two birds with one stone. He manages to save a mountain of gold and forces you attending the academy at the same time."
During those four years, Lith had relentlessly tried to convince the Count that an Academy was not good for him, even resorting to use the need to protect his family and the village as a leverage.
Bu the Count was immovable.
"Dear Lith, you have a dire need of the Academy, and I say this only in your best interest. I cannot stress out how important is to learn how to properly interact with your peers and establishing the right connections.
Not to mention that you have no friend of your age! You need to socialize, fall in love, even. Otherwise you'll grow into a cranky and cynical man."
"Been there, done that." Solus giggled.
"Also don't worry for your family. As soon as you enrol, they'll gain a newfound status, and until your graduation the Magic Association will take personal care of them. At that point, not even the most reckless madman would try something funny."
Lith had run out of excuses, and could not tell him the truth.
He was sick and tired of being looked down by nobles and foreign merchants, and even resorting to violence or intimidation after a while had lost much of its luster.
Lith just wanted to be left in peace and treated with respect, like any normal human being.
He didn't know how long he could suffer the contempt and abuse from his so called "peers" at the Academy, before shoving their high and mighty attitude up their throat, after taking detour through their a*ses.
The idea of not being able to practice true magic, spirit magic and fusion magic was enough to give him a big headache. In an Academy he would be crippled, losing all of his advantages to not blow his cover.
It was a lose-lose situation.
Lith's mood was made even worse by the thought of Rena moving out the household. After what happened to Carl, he had developed an obsessive-compulsive need to know where everyone was at any given time.
He needed to feel that everything was under his control to be in peace with himself.
"If you really love them, you have to let them go." Solus tried to console him.
"After all, Academy or not, when you reach sixteen years and leave the house, what are you going to do? Stuff them and store them in the pocket dimension? You need to learn to let go and focus on what's really important for you.
If you really wanted to make them your puppets, you wouldn't have cured Tista. Her illness was the perfect leash, yet you willingly choose to free her. They are not Carl. The whole world is not filled with trash like the one that killed him."
Lith's mind recognized the truth in her words, but his heart refused to. It would keep screaming "F*ck the world! They are mine! Mine! Mine!"
"Is this what a father feels when his children leave the nest?"
He couldn't avoid noticing that even Raaz, despite all the smiles and happiness he showed, was actually quite depressed losing his eldest daughter.
"If I'm like this with adults, I'm afraid to discover what I would become if children were involved. It seems I am destined to be single for life."
Now that Lith was eleven year and a half, he had reached the minimum age requirement to apply for a scholarship at the Lightening Griffon academy.
Count Lark was waiting for him at his manor, from where they would travel to their destination by stagecoach. According to the Count, flying in the vicinity of any building owned by the Mage Association was strictly forbidden.
Even to get in the vicinity was needed a special pass and to have set up an appointment through the proper channels.
The academy wasn't that far, but using a stagecoach would require several hours of boredom. While looking through the window, Lith could only hope that all those years of preparations and self-sabotaging would pay off.
Being actually accepted in such an institution, away from home, would be the beginning of his worst nightmare.
Chapter 47 Odd Developments
It was in moments like that that Lith felt how heavy a bottleneck was. Normally, in such a situation, he would use Accumulation, turning a downtime into a training session while also studying how his body was developing.
But now that option was unavailable, and being stuck in such state for almost a year, he knew his body inside out, to the point of memorizing where every impurity was located.
After half an hour, he was about to fall asleep.
"Hope the Count doesn't mind me snoring a little."
"Lith, why don't we open Nana's goodbye gift? I'm really curious." Solus said.
"I'm not. That stingy old hag just gave me a piece of paper. I bet it's a list of souvenirs she wants me to buy for her."
A small friendly bet was better than doing nothing, so he took out the small envelope and read its content. Lith had lost the bet, it was a brief letter.
"Dear Lith,
Now that you are going to a Magic Academy, away from the prying eyes of your parents, you deserve to know the truth. Chore magic holds a forbidden spell that I never taught you. Now you are old enough to know."
It followed a short but precise description on how to use darkness magic on himself to avoid unwanted consequences from the intimacy with girls. It was a birth control spell. The letter closed with a
"Remember to always be a gentleman and have fun! You'll thank me later.
With love, Nana"
"What a dirty old lady. I'm not even twelve." Lith couldn't stop from laughing out loud. The idea of Nana being the one worrying about his sex life was hilarious.
"It's this about something Lady Nerea wrote? An anecdote? Can I see it too?" The Count was very curious, seeing Lith laugh was a rare occurrence.
After reading the message, Count Lark became purple from embarrassment. The scene made Lith laugh even louder.
"Oh my, the Count is such a softie. Getting flustered by such stupid thing. Sometimes he seems straight out of a manga."
"Lith, this is no laughing matter." The Count said.
"I appreciate Lady Nerea concern, but I still find it ill-timed and vulgarly expressed. The matters of the heart should be treated with more tact, especially with someone young as you are."
Lith couldn't help but renew his laughter.
"He really called it 'matters of the heart'! It's just sex, man!"
The light mood didn't last long, the long trip soon made both the men fall asleep.
When the coachman woke them, they were already arrived.
The sight of the Lightning Griffon academy was truly impressive.
The building itself seemed an enormous castle, straight from the wet dreams of a medieval engineer. Yet it was impossible to see it clearly, they were still too far.
The academy was in the center of a huge forest that extended in all directions as far as the eye could see.
"That explains why it's so distant from populated areas, is basically a County of its own. The forest may even have an extension superior to the Trawn woods." Lith thought.
"Why do we stop here? We are still very far, how are we supposed to reach the academy?"
The Count was excited like a kid in a candy store.
"Don't worry and follow me."
He brought Lith to a small brick house on the edge of the forest, were two men were sipping tea while idly chatting.
The Count introduced himself and showed them their permits.
The man that was now holding the papers whispered a few words, the ink rearranged itself, coming out of the sheet and forming some kind of magic circle on the ground.
"Even the permits are a magical item?" Lith was shocked.
"I sensed some mana coming from them, but I supposed it was just some kind of magical seal of authenticity, not something this complex." Solus explained.
"Sh*t! We are completely in the dark about magical items, and there's no mention of it in any book we read so far. Either we find a way to correct this situation, or our travels will be much more difficult in the future."
Following the man's instructions, Lith and the Count stepped inside the circle, that instantly became a translucent yellow sphere.
It gently rose up in the air, before starting to fly at break-neck speed toward the castle. Despite it was moving faster than Lith ever did before, they felt no different than standing on the ground.
"This thing is like gyrostabilized! What a brilliant idea!" For the first time Lith was almost regretting is choice. Almost.
The trip was short, but Lith still managed to see many huge magical beasts running inside the forest. They even almost collided with an eagle the size of a piper aircraft. Its eyes were full of scorn, shrieking at them something that sounded a reprimand.
"Is it me, or there are only magical beasts in there?" Lith asked the Count, who nodded.
"Yes, magical beasts and monsters, off course. They'll explain everything to you once you enrol." The Count had a fatherly tone, but Lith could clearly hear a hint of condescension 'I told you so'-like.
The sphere landed on a balcony before dissipating. A twenty-year-something girl wearing a magician robe was waiting for them.
She guided them through magical escalators and corridors, before leaving them into the Headmistress antechamber. She had talked via a small communicator amulet the whole time, giving orders about menial duties.
In Lith's experience, that meant bad news. Whenever he had a job interview, the secretary attitude towards the applicants was a tell about how the company treated his employees and what where their expectations about a candidate.
She had ignored them the whole time, not giving them a tour or an explanation about any of the magical marvels they had encountered.
For someone who wanted to be rejected, though, it was good news.
The Count was too mesmerized to notice, his eyes were moving to every single piece of furniture, his mouth agape in admiration. The room itself was a prodigy.
Despite no visible source of light, be it windows, torches or light stones, every nook and cranny were lighted as the morning sun was shining above their heads.
"What do you think of this?" The Count asked as a rhetorical question, expecting Lith to show an enthusiasm equal if not superior to his.
"Honestly? I find it pretentious and stuck-up. Everything in the room feels like his master is looking down on us, trying to intimidate the guest and put him in his place."
"Really?" The Count's dream bubble popped up abruptly.
"Yeah. I mean little splendour is fine, but this? It's too much." He pointed at the gold decoration that kept shifting to silver and platinum, and at the gemstones embroidered at every corner, like shining eyes staring at them with contempt.
"Also how do you explain otherwise that girl rude attitude? She barely looked at us at all."
"Oh dear." The Count gulped. "Now that you point that out, this room resembles very much the King's antechamber for the unwanted guests."
"Is there such thing?" Lith was curious.
"Yes, is kind of an open secret. The King's room has more than one waiting room, depending on how much he cares about the visitor. The one for the unwanted guests is filled with tacky stuff like this, to remember the visitor the Crown's power.
It's also filled with painting depicting the previous Kings and Queens slaying rebellious nobles or mages. Depends on whom he wants to pressure."
"Like these ones?" Lith pointed to many magical paintings, all of them where short movies, showing how the Mage Association got rid of entire families of unruly nobles throughout history.
The event depicted would go to the point of showing the bloodshed, the mansions set aflame, before starting to tell their story back from the beginning.
"Precisely." The Count swallowed loudly.
Expecting to have to wait for hours, Lith made himself comfortable, trying to get asleep again. He wasn't disappointed. When the Count woke him up, he could see from his face that he had quite some pent-up stress.
He had waited patiently for long enough to get the message.
"Don't say a word. If we want to salvage this thing, we need tact and diplomacy. Leave everything to me." Count Lark said with barely a whisper.
The Headmistress' office was much less tacky than her antechamber, resembling very much a common principal office from Earth. She was a woman at least as old as Nana, but time had been kinder to her.
Her face was full of wrinkles, but her eyes were full of energy and life. Unlike Nana, she was ready to live a long life and stood straight as a string
Her hair was almost completely grey, only some shade of yellow still remained. She wore a robe with the colours of her academy, it was of a light blue, while all the decorations were of a bright yellow, most likely gold.
The way its fabric had been woven, made it seem like every movement of the Headmistress was the wind moving through the sky, while the gold embroidered appeared and disappeared like sudden lightnings.
She had only smiles and nice words, but Lith's instinct could sense no warmth in her.
"Dear Count, we haven't met for too long!" She extended her hand to him.
"You are too kind. It's only my fault that I can't bring you enough promising youths." The Count's poker face was impeccable. All traces of stress and anxiety had disappeared. His words were calm and gentle, like meeting a long-lost sister.
"Please, have a seat. Sorry for the long wait, but as you know this is the busiest time of the year." The apology sounded fake like a three-dollar bill.
"Do not apologize, I completely understand. Now, sorry if I go straight to business, I do not want to waste any more of your precious time."
The Count took out a folder that contained a chronicle of all feats Lith had accomplished, together with his official merits count.
The Headmistress pushed the folder back.
"No need. We always do a full background check on every applicant. I must say that you brought me a really interesting fellow."
This time it was Lith turn to gulp loudly, cold sweat going down his spine.
"What the heck did I do wrong?"
She took out a folder of her own, much thicker than the previous one.
"I can see that this young man, Lith, has earned a lot of merits by healing the poor and by getting rid of many of the menaces that threatened your County. Did you know that the criminal underworld has nicknamed him Scourge?"
"Beats me how the heck my beast title reached their ears. How can delinquents and magical beasts view me in the same way?" Lith thought.
"It seems that he likes his bounties dead as a doornail, and that's good. Being merciful with the scum of earth can only bite you in the back, sooner or later. He also had quite a number of magical challenges with some noble youths."
"And that's bad, right?" Lith clenched his fist, full of expectation.
"That's good too. A true mage must not fear to defend himself or his name, in our business talent and power are more important than etiquette.
Not to mention that those who have not the skill, should not fly too close to the sun and then complain about getting burned."
Lith felt like the earth was collapsing under his feet.
"So instead of sabotage I self-promoted all this time?! F*ck me sideways!"
"But…" Suddenly Lith's hopes revived, like a phoenix risen from its ashes.
"… sadly, I must say that he doesn't meet the requirements for a scholarship. I'm really sorry."
"F*ck yes! I forgive you, deceiving b*tch! I did it, and that's what matters."
The Count turned pale as a ghost.
"May I know why? Talent, skill, heart. I dare to say he is the best one I ever brought here so far." His voice was broken, Lith felt bad for the poor man.
"Off course you can, you deserve to know. You see, the real problem lies not in your protégé, but rather in his mentor."
"Excuse me?" Blood flushed back in the Count's face.
"Nerea is a fallen mage, akin to a disowned son of the academy, if not of the whole Mage Association. Like for nobles is forbidden to help a relinquished of their own, the same stands for us, or at least for me.
She has brought shame to the institution, and up to this very day she keeps meddling with us. Not to mention that even if indirectly, Lith has been involved in the purge of two noble households.
As a mage, I can't stress enough how despicable I find dragging the Mage Association into every single petty squabble. It's an abuse of power, and I want to send a message to all the rogue mages out there by rejecting her disciple.
You can try bringing him to other academies, but I think their answer will be the same."
"What?!" The Count was now bright red, his eyes almost popping out from the rage.
"Lady Nerea has protected and helped Lustria County for years, while everyone else did nothing! This young man saved my life, my family.
He did what he did only for self-preservation, and you are telling me that you are willing to ruin his life for your own petty revenge? For politics?"
"How dare you speak to me like that in my office!" The Headmistress jumped up from her armchair, her eyes glowing with power.
"I dare! I double dare and call this bullsh*t!" Lith never thought the Count to be such a brave fighter.
"You are just sacrificing a mage, and a powerful one, for your own political gain! Lith, let's go. The air stinks in here."
Before going out the door, the Count turned back, yelling.
"This doesn't end here! I'll let everyone know how the Lightning Griffon has stooped. You'll never get again a single copper coin from my County or any of my retainers. And by the way, he is the inventor of the chessboard on your desk."
The door slammed behind them, without giving her the opportunity to rebuke.
"Man, seriously? So much for tact and diplomacy. You are a mall cog in a big machine. Your threats are nothing but wishful thinking."
Lith happiness was clouded by the worries about the consequences that the Count's fit of rage could have on both his homeland and his friend. Count Lark had fought for him fiercely, and that was something Lith would never forget.
Chapter 48 Helpless Rage
The Count was true to his word, and the news about what happened in the Lightning Griffon academy spread like wildfire in Lustria County.
The villagers of Lutia and its outskirts were simply outraged. Life was already hard as it was, the idea that even if talented a commoner had to suffer from political plays was a slap in the face of all their hopes and dreams.
Despite her attitude, Nana was a saviour to most of them, to the point of considering her part of their own family. Countless people knew all too well that without her, too many babies would have never been safely delivered.
Seeing their benefactor treated as a plague, tainting everything she touched, was too much to bear. The same thing applied to those few noble families she associated with for her personal affairs.
Hundreds of letters were sent to Count Lark, who in turn forwarded them to the King's Court. Now that he had regained his cool, he realized how of little importance was his County and funding to such a large institution like an academy.
Even if coupled by so many letters, his official complaint about the Headmistress violating the rules to pursue her political agenda, was bound to rise little if no interest in the Court.
He sent it anyway, surrendering to fate without even attempting to fight was something that he would have regretted his whole life.
Lith's family was as furious as helpless, cursing the academy for its unfairness and themselves for their impotence. Lith was the less disappointed one from such turn of the events.
One way or another his plan worked, and that was good. On the other hand, though, that trip to the academy had been an eye opener about how ignorant he was about the new world and how fake magic had developed through the centuries.
Solus had confirmed to him that while the rude secretary had a deep cyan mana core, the Headmistress had a fully developed blue one. Lith had always felt so proud being one of the only two cyan core holders of the County, but not anymore.
He started regretting not having the possibility to at least check the other students and personnel of the academy, even if just to collect data about what was the average power level in the outside world.
Now that he was forced to follow his original plan, he had discovered so many unexpected flaws in it. The first and most annoying one was being forced to rot for another four years in Lustria County, where his talent was doomed to stagnate.
On their way back, the Count had confessed to him that rather not wanting to purchase tier five books, it was actually impossible for him. It wasn't only a matter of price, that would be enormous anyway, but he lacked the connections to obtain them.
He had already acquired all the books he could, which included only those that the Mage Association was willing to share with the general public. To get more he would need either a stroke of luck or the Association had to change its rules.
Both the events were highly unlikely. That meant that he was stuck with tier four spells that he had learned without understanding their purpose.
It was frustrating for him, like memorizing a mathematical equation just to pass a calculus exam, but knowing that you had been uncapable to comprehend the underlying meaning of it.
And during all those years of boredom, all the other magicians in the world would continue their education, shaving off four years of magical practice from the advantage he held.
Lith was still better than his peers because while they started their studies at six years of age or later, he had already started as a newborn. But soon all his hard work, the sacrifices, the hunger, would all turn out to be a fool's errand.
The second flaw was that he had completely underestimated the importance and distribution of magical items. He hadn't seen much, but it had been plenty enough to give him an itch in his head he could not scratch.
If it was possible to create such useful items with fake magic, then with true magic he would likely be able to wield and create superior version of those items, getting an even upper hand against other magicians.
Now, instead, he had no idea how they worked or how to acquire them. With enough knowledge, it could be even possible to help Solus regain her powers faster, maybe even reforge her or something.
"F*ck, I'm not just a frog in the well. I am a frog in a well in the middle of nowhere. Considering everything I saw in less than an hour, is not surprising at all that true magic is still a secret.
A fully magically equipped fake mage could probably fight with me on equal footing. I have no idea of the scope and availability of magical items.
Even if somehow, I manage to keep expanding my knowledge, my future travels are bound to be much more difficult than I had previously anticipated.
The only silver lining is that outside the biggest families, they should not be too much common, and that I managed to avoid five full years of being a bullied cripple.
But before calling myself lucky, I need more information. I am starting to suspect that I underestimated my circumstances a lot. Nana and Lark have a lot of explaining to do."
Lith took flight and moved towards Nana's house. The Count was just a magic enthusiast, after all, while she had actually attended to one of the six big academies, so she was bound to have much more inside knowledge.
At his arrival, he found out that Count Lark was there too, and had sent some villagers searching for Lith. Both of his patrons wanted to speak to him.
Since the waiting room was filled with patients, Lith helped Nana and Tista clear the queue so that Nana could leave Tista in charge and take a break for their talk.
Once inside Nana's living quarters, the three of them sat around her kitchen table.
"First of all, Lith, allow me to apologize. I never expected that old hag of Linnea to be willing to escalate our enmity to the next level. Making you pay for my mistakes, whether true or alleged, is beyond unfair.
But aside from that, from what I hear from Tista, you are taking this situation all too well. You still don't understand how wronged you have been, and that's also my fault. I stupidly respected the academy rules and kept its open secrets.
But since they are playing dirty and Lark is still willing to submit to apply in your stead for the remaining five big academies, I need to play dirty too and violate my oath.
If you want to have even a 1% chance of being admitted, you need to give your 100%, if not more. Enough with this crappy 'whatever' attitude of yours. There's a lot at stake, and we need you to take this seriously."
Lith knitted his eyebrows.
"What oath? What secrets? What are you talking about? I read that stupid academy pamphlet countless times. Sure, unless some miracle happens, I will not get to study tier five spells, but that's it. I can still become a member of the Mage Association.
To be honest, the idea of spending five years locked up with arrogant rich kids trying to stab me in the back is far from alluring. I can easily imagine what they would put me trough, day after day.
So, if it amounts to just some books, then thanks but no thanks."
Nana shook her head.
"It's so much more than just books. You see, you are right about the being look down upon and the daily bullying. The problem is that you are wrong about everything else. In your case, just like me, you wouldn't need five years, just two."
"How, exactly?" Two years were still a long period of time, but much more manageable than five, he had to concede her that much.
"The first three years cover the basics of magic. They teach things like the importance of accuracy in hand signs, accents, that kind of stuff.
Unlike you, many kids have to learn etiquette, history, geography, all kind of topics, not just how to read and write.
Otherwise they would be an embarrassment for their parents. In the Court life, they must also learn how to ride a horse, swordsmanship, playing an instrument, everything their parents need to brag about during social events."
Lith nodded.
"That off course takes time. Time that they cannot dedicate to the magical arts, hence needing to study the basics of the basics, even chore magic. You don't expect a young duke doing chores, do you?
Those like us, instead, need to go to the Academy only for the last two years, and the endless benefits it brings!"
At the words 'endless benefits' Lith's mouth was watering, his mind starting to second guess his decisions so far.
"What kind of benefits?"
"Have you ever thought why even the rich and the nobles send their kids there? If it was just about books, many students would rather avoid all the competition, just like you, and study in the safety of their homes.
What makes entering in one of the six big academies so alluring are the three benefits that only them can grant:
the access to all kind of spellbooks, the possibility to take one or more specialization courses and even more importantly the free access to magical items!"
Lith mouth was agape from the shock. Nana used his uncharacteristic silence to strike the iron while it was still hot.
"No matter what the tier, there are countless spells out there. Those you have studied here and at Lark's house are simply those that the Mage Association deems so common to be released to the public.
All the best spells, especially from tier four and five, are strictly controlled, and getting hold of even a sliver of knowledge is incredibly hard.
Only in a great academy you have free access to every topic, without restrictions, allowing you to build a great grimoire even before you set your foot out of the door.
If you get admitted to the fourth year, everything of tier four or below will be yours to take."
"What about the specializations?"
"Hmmm. That's complex to explain, let me make you a simple example. You are a healer, right?
Should you choose to become a master healer, not only you would be taught spells that even allow to regrow lost limbs, but most importantly, the secrets on how to more easily create your own light spells. The same applies to every specialization."
"What's your specialization?" Lith asked.
"I'm a war mage!" Nana puffed her chest with pride. "I was taught the secrets behind air magic, and back in the day I could have wiped out whole battalions all by myself.
Lightning hasn't many applications, but when it comes to destruction, is second to none.
But now let's get down to the juicy part, the one that I still regret the most.
The possibility to have access to a myriad of magical items."
Chapter 49 Doubts And Regrets
Lith's interest was really piqued, so he let Nana continue, keeping his questions for later.
"Based on how a student performs, she is able to gain or lose points…"
"Individual points or group points?" Lith felt so dumb. He had not even finished his previous thought, that he already had been forced to contradict himself.
"I swear, if there's some kind of retarded household competition, I'll take back every second-guess I had about my choice."
Nana raised her eyebrows in disbelief.
"Do you even remember what did I tell you the last time about the academies and their students? Should you put a juicy slab of meat in front of ferocious hungry beasts, do you expect them to cooperate for it?
No! They would rather eat each other heart out. Off course the point system is individual. It's very similar to the merit system, but instead of gaining credit from the Kingdom, you gain it from the school itself.
The points are the only currency allowed inside the academy, and with them you can afford lots of things. Magical potions, enchanted items and even rare ingredients for you experiments. Obviously, the higher the value, the higher the price."
From the long pause, Lith assumed that she had finished and was waiting for his questions.
"What are magical potions? It's the first time I hear about them."
"Magic potions are like special spells in a vial. The most basic are alike to healing spells, but between the infirmary and the fact that everyone knows light magic, they are rarely purchased.
The more precious are those that allow the user to become temporarily faster, stronger, or even harden her skin if she suspects she will be forced to a melee fight."
"What about mana potions?"
"Mana what?"
"Isn't there any kind of potion to quickly restore one's mana?"
Nana laughed heartily.
"Kid, knowledge is shared on voluntary basis. If any master Potionist ever discovered something like that, he would keep it for himself. At least that's what I would do."
Lith was underwhelmed, potions seemed a poor imitation of his fusion magic.
"Not only they are consumable items, but you even have to waste your time bringing them around and replenishing your supply when needed. Plus, fake mages don't even have something like Invigoration.
The only good thing about potions, is that I can pretend to use them while I use fusion magic instead. Aside from that, they are not very interesting."
(AN: Invigoration is the breathing technique that allows Lith to quickly regain mana and stamina, to the point that he is able to go on for months without needing to sleep.
The longer he uses it, the shorter its effects last. The only way to reset its effects is to actually sleep. See chapter 8 for more details)
"I understand." Is what he actually said out loud.
"What kind of magical items can be purchased?"
"Every academy has at least ten Forgemasters residents. They act as both teachers and researchers in the magical field.
They usually put out for sale their lesser works, but they can even bring out high grade magical items, when the academy wants to stir up a rat race, like right before the final exams.
The most useful items I had, were a dimensional amulet and rings from tier one to three. The dimensional amulet allowed me to bring around whatever I needed without suffering its weight, while the rings were able to store spells of the same tier, allowing for an instant cast."
Lith didn't miss the strict use of the past tense while referring to her possessions. He felt sorry for her, but instead of hyping him, her speech was having the opposite effect.
"A dimensional amulet? Is it some kind of magical storage item?" He played dumb.
Nana nodded.
"Brilliant as usual. Yes, dimensional rings and amulets can store anything inanimated up to a fixed volume of space, regardless of the weight.
The lowest class has only a few cubic meters available, the highest class can store even fifty cubic meters (65 cubic yards). The size of a whole small house."
The underwhelming feeling was getting deeper.
"Solus, how much can our pocket dimension store?"
"At the moment the storage can hold thrice as much the so-called highest class, and is still expanding. The library space, or Soluspedia, as you call it, is now around thirty cubic meters (39 square yards) big. And it's also expanding."
Lith's poker face was good, but not that good. Nana could see that he wasn't impressed at all.
"What's with that face? Do you understand or not that whatever you get during your studies, you get to keep it once you graduate? Have you any idea how difficult and expensive is to purchase even the lowest magical item?"
Lith closed his eyes while rubbing his forehead.
"How can I even pretend to be interested in something that I already have or I can do better? Sure, those things would help me greatly keeping hidden my true magic. Whenever I employ an instant cast, I could use the rings as a cover. But that's it."
Being an expert liar, Lith knew what his limits were. So, he changed topic.
"The Forgemaster's job seems really interesting. Is it possible to specialize in such field? Does one need to also be a blacksmith to become a Forgemaster?"
"Yes, it's among the available choices. And no, blacksmithing is not required. A Forgemaster does not create anything, he just imbues objects with magical properties, be it a ring, an amulet, a chair or even a day dress.
They can't possibly master all the craftsmen jobs. Most of them prefer to just learn the basic of their favourite trade, though. So, a Forgemaster specialized in rings will know something about goldsmithing, and so on."
"That's really interesting." And for once Lith wasn't just pretending.
Out of the three topics, the only ones that really interested him were the books and the specialization. With an endless supply of knowledge, he could easily recreate or invent all kinds of spell with true magic.
But that was still something that he could figure out on his own, with time and experience. Becoming a Forgemaster, instead, would be a priceless treasure for him.
Lith had no knowledge about such arts, hence he could never grasp even the basics without an external help.
But once he had uncovered the underlying principles of forgemastering, coupling them with true magic and the academy's library, he would be able to unlock infinite possibilities.
Just the ideas about magical items that came to him on the spot were enough to give him an adrenaline rush.
But when his excitement was at his peak, a sudden thought sent chills down his spine.
"Before getting my hopes up, can you explain to me how one does get points? There is no such a thing about daily challenges between students, tournaments or something, right?"
Nana laughed her a*s off.
"That's such an idiotic idea! Not even the wildest rumours would go that far. Otherwise they would be called magic graveyards instead of academies. There's already enough violence going around as it is.
If any Headmaster started to reward students for their behaviour, only a dozen mages would graduate each year, and no one would make their children enrol. A war battlefield would be much safer."
Lith could sigh with relief, one of his biggest worries had just faded away.
"Points are earned mostly through how a student performance in class and during practical exercises. Any feat that benefits the academy, like sharing personal spells, gives additional points.
But the real motherlode are the quarterly exams and the finals. All points can be converted anytime, even after graduating successfully, that's why there is so much competition for the top spots.
Beware, thought. Even if discipline won't give you any extra point, it can easily make you lose a lot of them. Aside from failing tests repeatedly, is the only way to lower your score.
If it goes to negative, you'll be forced to compensate by giving back everything you might have already bought. That's how I lost everything I had."
Nana sighed, her voice filled with sadness and regret, tormenting her neck where probably her dimensional amulet used to be.
Count Lark intervened, explaining their reason to hide such things from him.
"We didn't tell you any of this before, to not put you under any more stress and to not raise your expectations about your future too much, in case of failure.
Most of the applicants get rejected. In the past, when such knowledge was publicly available, there have been countless suicides among the youths that either couldn't bear the pressure or handle the failure.
Especially for those of humble origin, being admitted in a magic academy is the only way to escape their destiny. To a lesser extent, the same could be said for nobles' and merchants' sons that are not in the line of succession."
"I can see that happening. But honestly, I don't see the point in telling me all this. Is not like I got rejected for lack of trying." He lied.
"What do you expect me to do? Travel through all the County looking for magical beasts? Cause disasters just to be able to solve them? Honestly, I don't think there is any amount of merits that could change my situation."
The Count shook his head.
"We don't expect you to do anything but your best. You have spent years trying to dissuade me to not send you to the academy, and don't think that I didn't notice your total lack of enthusiasm during our trip.
You acted the whole time like it was all about someone else, someone you didn't care about. You didn't stand up for yourself, you only wanted to get out of that room!"
"Well, maybe you are right. But maybe I just wanted to avoid the Headmistress killing you on the spot. Also, it was you telling me to shut up. It would have been beyond stupid adding oil to the fire." Lith wasn't lying.
In that moment, when he had saw the Headmistress' eyes overloading with mana, he had been seriously worried about the Lark's family destiny, and had decided to drag the Count away as soon as possible.
"Point taken. You are right." Count Lark sat down with a depressed face.
"Bottom line, we still have a few cards to play. Most likely, nothing will come out of them. But if by any chance we succeed, we need you to do more than sit on the side-lines. That's the point."
Chapter 50 Darkness Falls
That long conversation had been pretty exhausting for Lith, adding new weight to his burden. Not for the information he acquired, all in all he felt his opportunity were still pretty good with or without an academy.
The only adjustment to his plans was that after joining the Mage Association as a de facto outer circle member, a rogue magician, he would need to rack up merits as soon as he could, to get himself an apprenticeship with a good Forgemaster.
Normal merits would do him no good, he needed those he could earn as a magico, serving the Mage Association as best as he could.
The only real problem with his current situation would be rotting for yet four more years, like the proverbial frog in the well.
The reason why Lith felt so down, was that he had finally realized how much his friends had invested in him, not only in terms of money, but also time, passion and hopes.
It wasn't the failure bothering him, but the fact that with his brash and uncaring attitude, he had hurt their feeling, treating the whole thing as a joke. Lith had to admit that in their shoes, he would feel like having casted pearls to a swine for years.
Sure, Count Lark wasn't as judgmental as him, but Lith could see how deeply he cared, and how wounded he was after the last rebuke.
It was the first time that Lith felt that by having won an argument he had actually lost the war.
But aside from second-guessing, there wasn't much he could do at that point. So, he promised himself to reconsider everything with a fresh set of eyes if the opportunity arose, and decided to move to a more pressing problem.
Lith had yet to solve his problems with tier four magic, and asking Nana was out of the question. It would reveal too much to her, exposing how deep his comprehension of magic was, despite being a self-taught.
The only card he had yet to play was to ask the help of his friend, the Ry king in the west of the Trawn woods. Thanks to his cyan mana core, Lith had become less scared of it, and during the last few years they had developed an odd relationship.
Lith would use him as a confident, sometime asking it advice about fire and wind magic, the two elements the Ry could use. In exchange Lith would help him with the problems in the east zone of the woods.
After Irtu's death, there wasn't a magical beast strong enough to take its place, and from time to time the power struggle among the various factions would affect the balance of the forest.
In those situations, the Scourge and the Protector would join hands to force the magical beasts to a truce.
At the moment, tier four fake magic was a mental bottleneck that neither he or Solus could overcome. Despite being able to cast all the spells he had found in the Count's books, they kept making no sense to him.
It was something unacceptable, eating Lith from the inside.
He had always hated riddles, unless he was the one giving them.
Lith had almost arrived home, when he caught a familiar smell.
"What the heck are you doing outside the woods? If someone sees you, it could trigger a witch hunt. The last thing I need right now is you having a bounty on your head and me having to explain why I'm not interested."
"I know." The Ry replied. "But desperate times call for desperate measures. A monster has appeared in the woods, strong enough to pose a threat for my cubs as well for yours. We need your help."
"I have never seen the Ry scared before, whatever this is, it must be damn important." Lith thought.
After agreeing to help, the Ry asked him to hop on its back, before running at full speed towards the woods. Between the use of air fusion and its physical prowess, Protector was able to easily reach the 300kph (186 mph), it would be a short trip.
When going so fast, the Ry would conjure a wedge-shaped wind blade in front of itself, so to protect their eyes and face from insects and dust, that at that speed would hit them with the strength of a bullet.
It would also create a slipstream effect, allowing it to go even faster.
Lith's horsemanship amounted to the result of one lesson, two lifetimes ago, so he needed all his focus and willpower to not fall down.
The Ry had a thick and soft fur, but not being able to follow its movements, he was forced to use both earth fusion and light fusion to prevent permanent damage to his nether regions.
"What the f*ck it's this thing? Is it really necessary to go so fast? If it keeps like this, I don't know if there will be enough of me left to do anything!"
"Quit whining, we are almost there. And yes, speed it's of the utmost importance when facing an Abomination."
Lith's mind went through all the bestiaries he had in Soluspedia and all his table top and videogames RPG memories before giving up.
"What the heck is an Abomination? Why is it so dangerous?"
"You don't understand. We don't call it Abomination for what it does, but for what it is!"
They were headed north, in a region of the woods that he had never visited before. It started slowly, like the tension in the air before a storm. Only when they got deeper in the woods, Lith could understand what the Ry meant.
Soon the grass started to thin out, until there was none at all. The earth laid bare, with no undergrowth of any kind, dried and crumbling as after a months lasting drought.
The trees around them had their bark completely blackened out. They had no leaves nor branches left standing, resembling giant wooden stakes. There was no sound at all, everything seemed out of a post-apocalyptic movie, after a nuclear fallout.
The natural landscape was completely destroyed as far the eye could see.
After a while Lith could clearly hear the sounds from a battle, so he focused his eyes, enhancing his eyesight.
They were closing in to some kind of moving shadow, locked in ranged combat with a Gylad, a stag magical beast with a shoulder height of over two metres (7 feet) and weighting at least nine hundred kilograms (2,000 pounds), its fur light brown with shades of blue.
Attacking the shadow from the flank, there was also a Shyf, a puma magical beast as big as a tiger, with a shoulder height one and a half metres (5 feet) and weighting over three hundred kilograms (660 pounds). It had a honey-coloured fur with shades of green.
"The Gylad is the king in the north, Lifebringer, while the Shyf is the king in the south, Reaper." Protector quickly introduced Lith to their allies.
"That thing is the Abomination. Stay away from it as much as you can, or it will suck you dry like everything else."
The Abomination was oddly shaped, it could stand up on its legs, resembling a man with very long and thin limbs, or would stand on all four, becoming large and stumpy like a pig a kid had drawn.
"What the heck is that thing?" Lith unleashed five fireballs with a wave of the hand. The Abomination was surrounded by a thin black fog, with a radius of fifteen meters (16.4 yards).
By traveling through the fog, the fireballs shrank in size, and when they hit the resultant explosions were halved compared to their usual effectiveness.
The Abomination emitted a low-pitched scream that resounded of desperation rather than pain.
The Ry howled, conjuring a pillar of wind that pinned down to the ground the shadow creature, allowing the other kings to rest and regroup.
"That's your idea of back up? A human?" If someone ever thought that a stag could not look ferocious, by looking at the Gylad he would be forced to think again.
"Less yapping, more catching your breath." The Shyf panted heavily.
"If he's good enough to take down Irtu and Gerda, he's fine by me."
Lith noticed that one of the Shyf four legs was actually made of earth, the real one was unnaturally atrophied and dried.
"A prosthetic limb out of earth magic? What an amazing control must it have, to move it like a real one. I wouldn't even notice if the Shyf wasn't so close."
Having noticed Lith staring at it, the Shyf explained:
"That's what happens when you are so arrogant to let the Wither close enough to touch you. I would be dead if Lifebringer hadn't caught his attention long enough for me to escape."
"Wither? Isn't that an Abomination?"
The Gylad scoffed. He wanted to reproach the Ry, but the pillar of wind was dissipating, so he preferred bringing Scourge up to speed rather than wasting time bickering.
"An Abomination is when a creature of the forest fails to evolve. Normally they die on the spot, more rarely they lose control of the world energy, becoming mad. Abominations are incredibly strong, with exceptional powers that make them strong as monsters.
Being mindless beings, usually a king is more than enough to put them down. In very rare occasions, we all gather up to kill a unique Abomination, like in this case. It shouldn't be difficult understand why we call it Wither."
The Gylad pointed with its snout to the dead woods around them.
"How the heck did he do all this damage?" Lith couldn't believe that three creatures of such power couldn't take down a single monster.
"Simply by existing." The Ry explained. "Wherever it goes, everything dies. Whenever we are about to kill it, its body becomes so formless that not wind, ice or earth can pin it down.
So, it escapes to a healthy zone of the woods, heal itself and we have to start everything from scratch. We are fighting it from three days, we can't hold on much longer. That's why I decided to ask for your help, Scourge.
Unlike us, all the elements obey your command."
Lith nodded, trying to assimilate all that information.
"They are fighting from three days? Holy sh*t, that's some stamina. Solus, analysis!"
"Yes, skipper, I mean Lith. All the kings have a cyan mana core, but the Protector is the one more likely to have a breakthrough in a few years."
"I meant the Wither! Misty aura, shadow body, is it an undead?" Lith watched the creature writhe and moan under the dissolving pillar. According to Earth's fantasy literature and the new world lore, undead were supposed to have red glowing eyes.
The Wither's orbits were pitch black, like the rest of its body.
"It's not an undead. Its lifeforce is nothing like I have ever seen before, and neither is its magic aura. What the heck could a black mana core mean?"
Chapter 51 Darkness Falls 2
"Black?!" Lith was flabbergasted, according to their light spectrum theory, a black mana core would indicate the complete absence of any form of mana. In a world were even rocks had it, how could a living being have none?
He immediately activated his Life Vision. (Lith's original spell. See chapter 13 for more details)
"F*ck me sideways." Despite the small build and the thin limbs, the Wither was emitting an energy signature stronger than the four of them put together. To his eyes it was like staring into a black sun.
The three kings and Lith surrounded the Wither with a square formation, alternating attacks with paralyzing spells. If the Wither moved in a direction, the whole formation moved along with it, trying to prevent it getting closer or away.
Lifebringer was capable of using earth and water magic, using the first to slow it down, and the second to attack with a torrent of razor-sharp ice blades.
Reaper used both air and earth magic, using mainly air to restrict the Wither's movements and lightning to attack. Speed was crucial in inflicting damage, the black fog surrounding the Abomination was capable to eat away everything, even sunlight.
Protector's fire magic was useless, he could only use air magic, following Reaper's lead.
Despite Lith's help, the situation wasn't getting any better. As the Wither weakened, it always started ignoring the attackers and forcibly move toward a new area, to replenish its vitality.
Lith's and Solus's brains were spinning at top gear, trying to find a way to end the struggle.
"If it's alive, why can't we kill it? What are we doing wrong?" After another two acres of woods were lost, Lith's Life Vision could see the three kings' mana and stamina dwindling.
It was only a matter of time before the Wither had all of them for dinner.
"F*ck! Is this the level of strength of a monster? If it wasn't for the formation and their impeccable teamwork, I would have died within the first minute! Also, how the f*ck do they have so much energy after three days of this?
I'm here from barely an hour and had to use Invigoration thrice to replenish my energies. I don't even remember when was the last time I actually slept, my timer is ticking even faster than theirs. Magical beasts are damn overpowered."
"Protector!" Lith called for him, being the closest to his position.
"I'm going to get close, there's something I have to try. If I am right, you should notice immediately, so leave me there. If I'm wrong, pull me out as fast as you can!"
The Ry was too busy conjuring a lightning storm after another, so he just nodded.
Lith broke the formation, entering the black mist. He immediately felt his body becoming heavier and heavier, his life and mana were slipping away with every breath, allowing the monster to get stronger again.
"If that thing has a black mana core, maybe is like a darkness elemental. That should mean that light magic is its weak point. I need to get closer to hit it with my most powerful healing spell."
Light and darkness magic had by nature a shorter range than the other elements, and moved slower when casted against a target. Lith needed to get close enough for his next spell to hit, not giving the Wither enough space to dodge the sudden attack.
As soon as Lith started merging his mana with the world's light energy, he felt a strong pull at the level of his mana core. The spell was getting drained even before manifesting, the Wither suddenly looked stronger, his body less ethereal.
His low-pitched scream of agony was now a moan of pure joy.
Suddenly Lith remembered the words of the Lochra Silverwing (see chap 27). Hers was the only book he had ever copied from the first to the last word, reading it over and over while mulling over new spells.
Lochra Silvering was a Magus, and most likely another true magic user. Her wisdom was something Lith treasured deeply.
"Dammit, how can I always be this stupid? This is not a video game, there is no such thing as elemental vulnerability. Magus Lochra repeated it over and over, light and darkness are not opposites, but two matching pieces of the same puzzle.
Darkness greatest bane is not light, but darkness itself!"
Lith cancelled the healing spell, spreading out a dark aura of his own. The two forces started colliding, emitting black sparks every time they came into contact, trying to cannibalize each other.
Lith's aura was weaker, but he was free to manipulate it whenever the two dark fields clashed, condensing it were the enemy's defence was weaker.
The Wither, instead, was constantly harassed by the three kings' attacks, disrupting its focus and weakening its life force.
The Wither's body was getting incorporeal again, but this time he could not turn his back and run, otherwise Lith's dark aura would consume it mercilessly.
Lith was full of joy, intoxicated by bloodlust and the pride of having finally cleared the mystery.
"That creature is not burning with power, rather it's bleeding it from every pore or whatever it has! That's why it need to relentlessly feed on so much energy. Its metabolism is akin to a shark, if it stops, it dies!"
The Wither was getting weaker and weaker, its high-pitched scream filled with fear and pain.
Thanks to their coordinated efforts, Lith's aura managed to consume a whole chunk of the Abomination, giving Lith a sudden, unwanted enlightening.
It was very similar to what happened with Solus the first they introduced to each other.
Lith was once again inside a memory.
He could see himself as a young bear, striving to become strong enough to surpass Irtu's strength and become the new king in the east.
Somehow the young bear knew about mana cores, and was able to refine its own in a way disturbingly similar to Lith's.
But unlike Lith, the young bear was a natural at both earth and darkness magic, so it continued to relentlessly refine its mana core, even when it got painful. Its hunger for power grew along with the mana core strength.
Tired of waiting for its body to develop naturally, the young bear decided to try at all costs to evolve the mana core from green to cyan, so to become strong enough to claim the title of king.
It fought against the pain, bravely and recklessly at the same time, until it made it!
But its happiness lasted less than a day. The mana core was too big and strong for its young body, and soon started to fall apart, while the energy contained inside started to leak out.
Darkness magic went out of control, the survival instinct kicked in, trying everything just to survive a second longer. The young bear let the dark energy overflow, until it became the Wither.
Lith's bloodlust dissolved like a bubble.
"That poor b*stard it's not a monster, he is me. A me who failed promoting his mana core, too eager to do things his way to care for the consequences. A me that just wants to live, fighting against an unfair life."
Becoming aware of his opponent's story, Lith no longer wanted to play with it. Its screams of agony were a torture for his heart.
"I'm sorry for what happened to you." He said. "I'll do my best to give you a peaceful death."
Lith's compassion didn't make him lose his cool, on the contrary it gave him a renewed focus. He knew that to achieve his goal he needed killing intent, not mercy, so he looked inside himself in search of hatred.
He recalled his first life, his father's abuses, his mother indifference, until the day Carl died. He remembered the burning anger and desperation, how it peaked before Carl's murderer got his joke sentence.
His angriest day happened when he was planning Carl's funeral. Out of the blue, after ignoring their lives for years, his mother had the gall to come to his door.
Crying, she asked for his forgiveness, offering to pay for Carl's memorial service. Lith could still remember his eyes seeing red, his right hand holding her throat, trying to squeeze the life out of her.
That woman, that seemed to strong and cruel when he was little, was now a frail little thing.
She begged him to kill her, to let her atone for her mistakes and join her little boy in the afterlife. It was then that Lith anger burned brighter than ever. He threw her out of his house, alive and well.
"Too little and too late, you b*tch! I hope you live a long and miserable life, knowing that for both your sons you were nothing but an embarrassment, a sh*t that they flushed out of their life as soon as they could." Those were their parting words.
In a corner of his mind, Solus was crying for him. Yet she couldn't avoid noticing that despite all he had done, Orpal amounted to nothing in Lith's mind. His existence was merely an annoyance.
Focusing all that rage and anger in his fist, Lith released a stream of dark energy that struck the Wither's mana core, forcing it to crumble, unable to withstand the conflicting forces from within and outside.
After that, the young bear agony finally ended.
Its purified spirit finally able to return to mother earth's embrace, in search for a new life.
Chapter 52 Unexpected Answers
After the battle concluded, everyone dropped down on the ground, finally able to relax. Despite the victory, there was no place for joy or celebration. The Trawn woods would bear a scar that could take, months if not years to heal.
The three kings were already discussing how to rearrange the borders of their areas of influence, to prevent future food shortages to affect them too harshly.
Lith, instead, was still pondering on the young bear memories, comparing their lives. It was only because he had been reborn in a good family that he had not ended up obsessing with power, being able to afford taking care of his body.
In its place, with the fierce competition of the wilderness, he may have been tempted of doing the same. All his life up to that point had been all a huge risk/rewards assessment too, Lith had simply been luckier.
It was the second time in a single day that his victory had been hollow. He started to feel depressed, making the adrenaline rush dissolve much faster. Soon exhaustion would have taken its toll, he needed some real sleep.
Before going home, thought, there were still some things he had to do. First, he gave the Shyf a whole boar to eat, then Lith proceeded to heal its atrophied leg.
He couldn't do it before, because the fatigue from recovering from such a wound, coupled with its already debilitated state from the prolonged battle, would have made the Shyf faint.
Being a healer was almost a second nature to Lith at that point. He also wanted that whatever happened next in the woods, they would face it on their own. Lith had already enough on his plate, all he wanted was to sleep and eat for a week straight.
Second, he finally could express not to one, but to three powerful magical beasts, his doubts about tier four magic with a practical example.
With the energy he had left, Lith executed with true magic a scaled down version of the tier four Lightning God's Finger spell, weaving together fire and air magic to conjure a small sphere of plasma.
"The real deal would be bigger, hence doing more damage but also requiring much more energy." Because of its nature, plasma was highly volatile and would disperse at the smallest mistake.
It could indeed generate temperatures in the orders of thousand degrees, even striking with surgical precision, but it was incredibly slow to move, and Lith couldn't find a single practical use to justify spending so much mana in just one spell.
Both the Ry and the Shyf were natural air magic masters, so they could immediately understand the nature of the spell and its underlying effects.
"That's just useless!" Reaper blurted.
"It the prettiest waste of mana I have ever seen." Protector laughed.
"With much less energy and effort, you could wipe away an entire acre of the woods. I think the problem is not you, but the spell itself.
According to what you told me in the past, humans deems each other so stupid and untrustworthy that they divided magic into steps, or tiers, as you call them.
In my opinion either the human that invented that cr*p did have more free time than brains, or the spell is incomplete on purpose."
"Are humans really so idiotic? To teach their cubs how to kill a prey but not where the best parts are?" The Shyf was flabbergasted at the idea.
"Another dead end." Lith sighed, his depression getting worse. The Ry was his last hope to make head or tails of the magical conundrum.
"I'm sorry, Scourge." The Ry said. "But us magical beast have a much more practical view about magic, most of your human issues are either senseless or idiotic to me. Another problem is that we are uncapable of controlling the whole world energy.
Only king level beasts can manipulate two elements, while the most complex spells you showed me sometimes use three or more.
I would love to help you further, but between my duties and this tragedy, I need to focus on avoiding the impending famine. Sorry."
The Ry and the Shyf left him, starting to discuss how to make the whole forest, especially the zone most damaged by the Wither, survive the coming winter.
Lith could feel his headache getting worse by the second, so after bidding them goodbye, he started to move as fast as he could towards home.
"So much for a second and third opinion. If the Ry is right, then we are f*cked up big time. No academy means no tier five spells, which in turn implies that we will be stuck with tier three as our main source of inspiration.
Not to mention that I really do not envy all those students that waste a whole year of their life practicing incomplete spells."
"Actually, I have been pondering about what Nana told us, and I think there is yet another possibility. Maybe tier four and fire are so rare to come around because they are strictly related to a mage specialization." Solus suggested.
"What if the Lightning God's Finger isn't an offensive spell, but rather an energy source for constructs? Or maybe it's the only way to carve magic runes in the hardest materials used for weapons or armours.
We know nothing about forgemastering, potion brewing or anything related to indirect magic."
"F*ck! You are probably right. And that adds insult to our injury. Seems we are destined to live four very uninteresting years."
As soon as he came home, Lith refused to move a finger, going to bed right after dinner, hoping that the next day would bring him good news.
Yet months passed, his birthday was getting closer and so was the deadline for applying to any academy.
Meanwhile, Count Lark hadn't been sitting on his hands. He had used every single opportunity, every pretext, no matter how flimsy, to seek audience with the King, and when that failed, he worked his way down the Court's hierarchy.
He had pestered everyone so much that many would hide at his presence, or pretend to not even notice him to not give any opportunity to persist in his fool's errand.
But the Count was a stubborn man, he knew rules and regulations inside out, and by using real problems related to Lustria County as a cover, there was only so much they could do to avoid him without setting a dangerous precedent.
He was able to endure hours long waits like they were nothing, and then still have the energy to plea for his case until his hosts were so exhausted that to get rid of him, they had to at least promise to consider his claims.
When Headmistress Linnea talked about wanting to send a political message, this wasn't the result she was hoping for. Soon her name would get associated with ingenious curses and swearing, and so her bloodline until the seventh generation.
Count Lark soon become a hot topic, receiving the same degree of attention an impending flood or plague would get.
One way or another he achieved part of his objective, making the whole Court discuss the possible implications that Headmistress Linnea's new rule could cause in the future.
Was it really worth to bar the road to a promising magician because of how or where did he/she learn her spells? Why punish the victim of a crime just because he/she had asked to uphold the law?
Should a Headmistress of such an important institution be allowed to change the rules of admission on a whim, without any form of control?
An important discussion like that needed time, but most importantly peace and quiet, so the Court unanimously resolved to grant Marchioness Distar, the true ruler of Lustria County, extraordinary powers, to face Count Lark as she thought best.
In other words, she was left with the short end of the stick.
Now Count Lark would relentlessly pester her, while everyone else would live happily ever after.
Marchioness Distar already had her fair share of trouble, Trequill Lark was just the icing on the cake. She pondered more than once to use her newfound authority to behead him, but her good sense and all her personal advisors stopped her.
Lark was one of his best retainers. He was sincere, didn't skim on the taxes, never had sordid affairs that she was forced to cover up.
Not to mention that under his guiding hand, Lustria County had been flourishing for over twenty years, without that the Marchioness and her mother before her had ever to move a finger.
It was a well-oiled machine, and honest to boot! Replacing him would cause her much more trouble than executing him would prevent.
Having her back against a wall, she decided that honesty was the best policy. Lark was a loving father, after all. Maybe he would understand her position and leave her alone if he knew the truth.
After granting him the thirty-seventh audience in less that three months, she explained to Count Lark her family's plight.
"As you know, the higher you get the more trouble you incur into. A few weeks ago, my family experienced an attempted murder. Thanks to the safety measures we have surrounded ourselves with, it failed. But it didn't pass without consequences.
One of the assailants, managed to reach my daughter. Her magical protections took the brunt of the hit, reducing a deathblow to slightly more than a pinprick."
"All is well that ends well." The Count commented.
The Marchioness had to stop herself from slapping him to death, rubbing her forehead instead, trying to calm down.
"I wish! Because of that pinprick my daughter has been cursed"
"Cursed?" Count Lark's monocle jumped out his orbit from the surprise.
Usually he would scoff at such preposterous concept. In all his years of exploring magic curiosities from all over the world, he had encountered curses only in the bedtime stories he read at his children.
But the Marchioness glare induced him to put his monocle back in place and let her continue.
"Yes, cursed. I wouldn't believe it myself if I hadn't seen it first-hand. When the healer tried to help her, preventing a scar, instead of disappearing, the wound became bigger.
I tried everything, calling renowned master Potionists, healers, medicine women, shamans. Nothing worked.
Now the only thing that keeps my ever-bleeding daughter alive is the constant consumption of potion and the help of my personal magician, Ainz.
As you know he is considered a genius, maybe the best ever graduated from the Black Griffon academy.
To make things worse, when the assailants understood they had no chance of escaping, they chose to blow themselves up, destroying all the evidence. There was no one to interrogate, nothing left to examine to understand what they had done!"
"This is fantastic!" The Count thought.
"This is terrible!" The Count actually said, keeping his best grieving face.
Chapter 53 Unexpected Answers 2
"I know you will call me an old fool, but I think I have the solution to your problem."
"If you are referring to your little protégé, you are more than a fool, you are certifiable. I tried, Ainz tried, I could write a book with the names of all those who tried.
I can only hope for Krishna Manohar, the god of healing, to return soon. Only he can save me from this anguish. The only reason he is not here yet, is because that goddamn lunatic is nowhere to be found.
He is doing his experiments in some remote village, forsaken by both humans and gods. He even left his communicator behind, to not be disturbed. My mother always said that bachelors are unreliable, and damn if she was right.
If that b*astard had a wife, a husband, even a cat, someone would know where to find him!"
"I completely agree with you. Only a married man truly understands the burden of responsibility." Count Lark suck up to her.
"But allow me to say that you are underestimating my protégé." Lark ignored the ferocious snarl from the Marchioness and pushed forward.
"As I told you more than once in the past, he is blessed by the light. I'll share with you a family secret, he actually helped my daughter with a similar problem."
"Your daughter was cursed?!" The Marchioness rose an eyebrow in disbelief.
"Sadly, yes. It plagued her life for years." Count Lark knew that the best lie was the one shrouded by a half-truth. Keyla had always called her acne a curse, after all.
"What do you have to lose? If I'm wrong, we'll leave, and you will never hear from me again, outside official business."
"Is that a promise?" It was too good to be true.
"I swear on my ancestors. If he fails, the only things we will ever talk about are County matters."
After shaking his hand to seal the deal, Marchioness Distar had him contact Nana, which in turn called Lith.
When he arrived to Nana's house, Ainz was already there, waiting for him.
He was a man in his mid-twenties, wearing a full black robe that covered his entire figure except his head and hands. He had long fingers, pitch black hair and eyes, with some odd black shades that seemed to devour sunlight at contact.
Ainz had sharp, and intelligent features, with a blood red gemstone embroidered on his chest.
"Aside from the tacky gem, that's the kind of man I would gladly marry one of my sisters to. Too bad he is too old, noble and tacky." Lith thought.
Ainz gave him an odd look, but his eyes didn't betray any emotion.
"My liege requires you help, young magico. Do you know how to fly?"
Lith nodded, swallowing back a snarky remark.
"Then go in that direction as fast as you can." Ainz pointed at north, northeast.
"I'll follow you closely."
Lith pretended to cast a personal spell, wriggling randomly his fingers and counting backwards from ten to seven, in English. By mimicking the Ry, he coupled his best flying spell with the slipstream effect one, reaching a speed close to 500 kph (311mph).
It took Ainz only a bit of effort to catch up with him.
"Not bad! Purple mana core guys are really impressive." Both Solus and Lith wanted to see with their own eyes what someone with such talent was capable of.
"Impressive! So young and he already has devised some personal spells. Maybe the old lunatic isn't so crazy, after all."
When they reached the Marchioness' house, Ainz moved so fast through all the barriers and guards that Lith didn't manage to take a proper look around. He had to spend all his energies just to keep up with his pace.
Before he realized it, he was in a fancy parlour. Both nobles stood up at their arrival.
"That was fast, Ainz." The Marchioness seemed pleasantly surprised.
"The young one seems to have more than one ace up his sleeve."
"Is this commenting my skills supposed to be subtle or something? Seriously? How stupid to you take me for?!" Lith was seriously pissed off, but the looks from the Count and his guilty conscience kept his mouth at bay.
The Marchioness gave Lith an abridged version of the story, dragging him to her daughter's bedroom without giving him the time to think or even express his opinion.
"I get it already! You don't have any faith in me. Quit dragging me around like a f*cking parcel!" Lith thought.
He was seriously considering failing on purpose, just to get even with her, but from Lark's troubled face, his instinct could tell that there was more at stake than the life of a girl.
Just from his countenance, Lith could deduce that the Count had exerted a lot of pressure just to get him to that spot. Lark had faith in him, and judging from the Marchioness expression, she was clearly expecting, if not straight wishing, for Lith to fail.
It wasn't the time to stand on the side-lines anymore, he believed that if the Count assumed he could do it, there shouldn't be any risk playing his "blessed by the light" card.
After catching his breath, he performed more finger wriggling while counting up from one to three, in English, while activating Invigorate on the poor girl.
It was a beautiful young woman in her early twenties, with only cotton gauzes to cover her chest area, compressing a huge wound, ten centimetres (4inches) wide that cut her diagonally from the left shoulder to the right hip.
After a few second, he could only say.
"Interesting."
The Marchioness scoffed, everyone before him had said the same word.
"And?"
"And it's not a curse. Just some kind of magically laced poison."
"What?!?" The Marchioness lost control, stamping her feet on the floor.
"You heard me." Lith was tired of being looked down upon, treated like some illiterate barbarian. "It's a slow release poison that disrupts the effects of light magic, turning any attempt to cure it into a new wound. Simply brilliant.
It's almost impossible to cure such condition."
"Almost?" The Marchioness knitted her eyebrows. "Are you saying you can cure her?"
"Yes." He nodded. "It will take about a week to make the proper adjustments to one of my spells. It's the same thing I did for Count Lark a few years ago, just more complicated." They hadn't arranged together this speech, it was the truth.
It was just like Keyla's acne, only instead of removing natural impurities, he had to remove the artificial ones in order to make the healing possible.
"Kid, my daughter's life is no joke. I tried, Ainz tried." She pointed to the black obsessed mage. "Are you sure?"
"She tried?!" Lith thought. "Solus, didn't you tell me she had just a red mana core?"
"Indeed, and is still red."
"Try scanning her clothes, accessories, anything that doesn't have any mana."
"Her barrette!" Solus exclaimed. "It has no magic flow, but that's impossible! This means that even items capable of hiding one's talents do exist."
"Forgemaster is definitely a specialization we have to take."
"Pretty sure. I will be back in a week and…" Lith tried to move, but the Marchioness stood in his way.
"If what you say is true, you'll stay here and cure her as soon as you are finished, not a second later!"
Lith was enraged even more, he was being taken hostage by a grief-struck madwoman abusing her power, but remained silent. Both Count's Lark and his family were in danger.
When Marchioness Distar noticed Lark's shocked gaze, she had already gone too far.
"It is never wise mistreating a healer, my liege." Ainz used one of his personal spells, sending in her ear a whisper that only the Marchioness could perceive.
"Healers tend life, but how you relate to them changes their attitude and care toward their patients. If Manohar is unavailable in the future, if this Lith can actually do what he says, do you really want to make an enemy out of him?"
"Please, save my daughter." The Marchioness said with a deep bow. "If you manage to heal her, I will send you to whatever academy of your choice. I swear to the gods."
"This is much better." Lith thought.
The following week was pretty stressful for him. Being paranoid, he was sure the Marchioness or one of her servants would spy on him 24/7. Lith had to sleep every night, and spent the following days pretending to experiment with hand signs and accents.
He could actually cure the girl right off the bat, but that would have been too fast. Lith had followed Count Lark's advice, preparing himself for revealing at least part of his talent.
When Manohar was his age, he had solved a similar case in less than three days. Lith didn't want to appear as good as him, so he took as reference another contemporary great healer whose records were stored in Soluspedia.
"I can't be too much of a genius, but being average is out of question. To achieve what I want I must be treasured, but not envied or used as a paragon. Scoring 90/100 is more than enough for my needs."
A week later, he entered again in the young lady's bedroom, under the eyes of her family and Ainz.
Lith first put his hand on her sternum, taking control of her mana flow and forcing the poison to move in a single spot before extracting it.
Then, he made it float in a bubble, before dripping it in a vial he had made prepare beforehand.
After that, Lith executed his best healing spell, closing the wound in one go, without leaving a mark or a scar.
The girl immediately regained a healthy pink colour, her breathing turned from quick and shallow to strong and steady.
Marchioness Distar couldn't believe her eyes. She quickly unwrapped the gauze, barely giving Lith and the male side of the family the time to turn around.
Doing it left him full of regrets.
"Be strong, old man. We are still physically young, there are still plenty of wonderful breasts waiting for us in this new world. Think of it as an investment. It's better to start our relationship with our new backer with a clean slate."
While the Marchioness was hugging her daughter, sobbing, Ainz took the poison to analyse it, while Lith exited the room, waiting for the permission to go back home.
Chapter 54 A Good Start Is Half The Job
A few days later, Marchioness Distar summoned Lith once again, this time in a proper polite way, giving him time to prepare and an explanation for their meeting.
They met in a neutral territory, in Count Lark's lounge. Contrary to etiquette, the noblewoman stood up when he entered the room, making a curtsy even before Lith had greeted or bowed to her.
"Welcome, young mage. Thanks for saving my daughter's life. No one knows how much time she had left in such conditions."
"I actually do." Lith thought with a cruel inner smile. "She had barely two weeks left when I first visited her, before her organs started failing one after the other. Luckily, she has a tough skin, so I wasn't forced to play the sink or swim healing attempt.
I wouldn't have cured her before at least five days, my safety comes first. I can waste time and lose opportunities, but I will not gamble my whole life for a stranger, no matter who he or she is!"
"Also, I have several reasons to apologize to you. First, for how I treated you. I was rude and condescending. I shouldn't have tried forcing your hand, but I was desperate at the time. Your sister was ill too, I hope you can understand me."
Lith inwardly sneered.
"You only say this now, because I succeeded and you are afraid of needing my help again in the future. I feel no compassion for the likes of you."
"No need to apologize, your Ladyship. Life sometimes burden us with a weight we are unable to carry, and desperation can make even the best of us lose his morals." Was what he actually said. He needed a new and more powerful backer.
Being friends was of secondary importance, their relationship was strictly business related. It was important to lay solid foundations for it, putting aside pointless grudges. But he wouldn't forgive nor forget.
If she failed or betrayed his trust, it was a good thing that revenge is a dish best served cold.
The Marchioness shook her head.
"I think that your forgiveness is still undeserved. I lied to you that day. I have no authority outside my Marquisate, so I cannot guarantee your successful enrolment in any academy outside the Lightning and White Griffon."
Her gown had many small pockets, hidden by the complex embroideries. From one of those, she took out a ring bearing the King's crest.
"It's a long and boring story…" She said looking furtively at Count Lark, suppressing an ironic laughter.
"...but what it matters is that at the moment in my Marquisate I hold a power on par with the King, so both academies can only accept my orders."
Lith wasn't yet completely convinced that going away, even for just two years, was the best course of actions. He decided to test the waters first.
"Wouldn't be possible to be home-schooled? If you hold such authority, it should not be a problem giving me the same benefits I would get from an academy and private tutors. After all, the location isn't that important."
"It actually is. The forests surrounding the academies play a big part in both the points and grades system. Also, yes, if you insist, I could achieve what you asked, but bear in mind that my situation is merely temporary.
Once the Court finishes deliberating the current matter, everything would get back to normal and I'm not sure to have all the resources you'll need. On the other hand, if you enrol in an academy now, it would be like according to a King's decree.
And once inside, even if I lose my almighty status, you would be protected by the rules of the kingdom and of the Mage Association. No one would be fool enough to make an enemy out of the King. Archmages and Royalty are deeply intertwined."
"It sadly makes sense." Lith inwardly sighed. "It's best to exploit the situation to its fullest. Between her desire to make up to me, no matter her reasons, and her temporary King status, I should be able to get some extra safety measure.
If only half of what Nana told me is true, I'll need every advantage I can get to avoid useless drama and pointless face-slapping."
"I understand. I think that going to the Lightning Griffon is out of question, the Headmistress will probably want my head on a stick either way."
"I wouldn't be so sure." The Marchioness replied. "Anyhow, with your talent as a healer, I had guessed you wanted to go to the White Griffon. You do know it's the school with the biggest light magic department, right?"
"But of course." Lith lied through his teeth. "But I'm also quite interested in the art of forgemastering. Which academy would be the best choice for such specialization?"
"Any of them." Marchioness Distar shrugged. "They all have good Forgemasters, but the great ones avoid academies like the plague. Artists like to be free, while in an institution they have to take care of paperwork, teaching, the student's items.
All things that would keep them away from their research. Not to mention that for an academy Forgemaster, keeping the nature of his research secret is much harder. To get funds from the academy, you have to share. All great mages hate sharing."
That piece of news reassured Lith.
"White Griffon it is, then. How long will the trip take?" Lith recalled that Nana once stated that the academy was more than five hundred kilometres (311 miles) away from Lustria. Even if it was just for an audience, he would need to pack some clothes.
"From my house? Considering that we first have to speak with the Headmaster, and then you have to take your admission exam, I'd say three, four hours tops. You'll get home in time for dinner, that's for sure."
Lith found difficult to do the math. Even flying at his top speed, he would need at least two hours to get there and back, not to mention that the Marchioness didn't seem the type to fly that long, messing her hair and dress right before meeting the Headmaster.
But they were already off a rocky start, Lith preferred to pretend to have understood everything, instead of flaunting his ignorance once again, destroying that little of respect he had gained so far.
Seeing his conflicted expression, the Marchioness completely misunderstood the situation.
"Don't worry, young mage. It's just the admission exam. You will get the opportunity to say goodbye to your family and friends. The academy will not start before another two months. You have plenty of time to settle all your business."
Lith thanked her with a deep bow.
"Please, don't thank me yet. I hope you'll accept this as part of my apologies."
She handed him a communication amulet, very similar to all those he had seen up to that point, except for the fact that it had only one rune on it, right on its center.
"To mark it as your own, just send some mana in the stone." Lith did as instructed, both the gemstone and the lone rune lit up, like they had become scorching hot.
"To exchange your contact rune, you just need to make two amulets touch while they are activated." Both the Count and the Marchioness held their amulets out, every time they touched, their rune got impressed on Lith's amulet and vice versa.
The Marchioness amulet was completely covered in runes already, to accommodate the new one, all the other runes shrank in size, just enough to leave enough space for another of the same dimension.
"There's no limit to the number of contact runes an amulet can hold." She explained.
"This will help you get in touch with me or Lark if anything happens. It will also make staying in touch with your family easier." She gave him a little box, holding a second amulet.
"Only one person can activate it. So, your family has to choose wisely."
Lith bowed profusely, that gesture had taken a big burden off his heart. She had explicitly offered as his backer, and thanks to the amulet he could always help his family through the two nobles, if necessity arose.
The appointment was set at the Marchioness' house at noon. Lith always had trouble with time, so he arrived early, to stay on the safe side. Servants treated him with the utmost respect, but were unable to hide their surprise
Clearly the rumors in the house had spread fast, and he probably didn't fit the image of the great healer that saved the young mistress that they had pictured in their heads.
Marchioness Distar made him wait but a few minutes. She wore a simple day dress, her long hair down. It was impossible to suspect that she was actually the Lord of the entire region.
"You are already here. Good. Let's move."
"On foot?!" Lith couldn't avoid asking.
"We could take a stagecoach, but it's a waste of time. The Mage Association's branch is right there." She pointed to another luxurious building, not even a hundred meters (110yards) away.
Lith bit his lower lip, thanking fate for being still short enough to make impossible for her noticing his shocked expression when he wasn't looking up.
The door was closed and with no guards, yet all she had to do was to press her family ring where the keyhole was supposed to be to open the way.
The inside of the house resembled very much an embassy. The clerk at front desk stopped them in their tracks, asking for their proof of identity and the reason of visit.
The Marchioness handed to him a piece of paper that appeared out of thin air.
"She probably has a dimensional something on her too."
The clerk passed the paper over a blue gemstone set into the desk. When both glowed of a pale blue he said.
"Everything seems all right. Your destination is right beyond the door."
He waved at the wall at his right, appearing incredibly stupid in Lith's eyes. But then several rune markings appeared from the wall, forming a small ring of energy that quickly expanded, becoming big enough for both of them to pass through.
"A real dimension door! If I have to choose between healing and forgemastering, I'll take the second without any regret."
It took but a step to travel all the distance between the capital of the Marquisate and the Headmaster office of the White Griffon. Lith recognized it because it was almost identical to the Lightning Griffon one.
The only differences were how the furniture was positioned, and the Headmaster personal effects on display. Books he had written, certificates of merit from both the Kingdom and the Association. They covered the whole wall behind his desk
"No frigging antechamber?!"
The Headmaster was waiting for them, he stood up as soon as the door appeared, approaching Marchioness Distar and welcoming her with great warmth.
"Marchioness Distar! Is always such a pleasure to meet an alumnus of our academy, even if she graduated before my time." Without waiting for her reply, he made her a deep bow, that she reciprocated.
"Headmaster Linjos, is an honour to have the chance to finally meet you. I heard a lot about the incredible feats you managed to accomplish at your young age. It's no surprise at all that for you becoming the youngest Headmaster ever."
"You are too kind. Excuse me for my bluntness, but I was really surprised by your sudden request for an urgent meeting. Has anything else happened to your family? Is there anything else that White Griffon can do for you?"
Linjos was deeply embarrassed, the academy was about to resume its activities and Manohar was still unreachable. The Headmaster had taken multiple notes to reprimand him sharply.
Taking a short personal leave was okay, disappearing for almost six months straight, not so much.
"Thanks for your interest, but my family managed to survive, one way or another. The reason for this audience is that I wanted to introduce you this brilliant young mage. He is pretty famous, you should have heard of Lith of Lustria."
"Ah!" Finally recognizing the youth behind her, Linjos stepped back. A beehive had just walked unannounced in his office.
Chapter 55 Politics And Ideals
Linjos was a man in his late twenties, about 1,77 meters (5'9") high. His ample mage robe made his build a mystery, he could as well be a mountain of muscles or thin as a stick. He had a perfectly shaven long face, a cleft chin and an aquiline nose.
His hair was chestnut brown, with shades of silver. His brow eyes were brimming with intelligence and worry. Lith could almost hear his panicking thoughts.
"Judging from the difference in treatment Lark and Distar received, he must be aware of how powerful she is at the moment. I am really curious to see how this will play out."
The Headmaster's bushy eyebrows were wriggling like furry worms, while he was deciding how to face the unexpected event.
"He too has a light blue mana core." Solus observed. "He is weaker than Ainz, but stronger than anyone else we met, except for that b*tch Linnea. Blue must be the minimum requirement for the position."
"Well, this is really embarrassing to say, dear Marchioness, but I don't know if I can help you." Linjos considered Linnea's political stand bulls*it, he had fiercely opposed to her motion during the last Headmasters Council.
But he had lost, even if by a small margin. The rules were clear, he could only follow the regulations approved by the majority of the Council.
"Well, I think it will be easier than you think." The Marchioness sat down on an armchair, inviting Linjos to do the same. Watching the Headmaster getting ordered around in his own office, filled Lith with joy.
"I wish it was me, being so powerful to make them all bend the knee! No more hiding, no more lies. Just unbridled power!"
"What do you mean?" Linjos asked after sitting behind his desk.
"You see, I am partially at fault for this whole situation. If I had just told the truth from the beginning, nothing would have happened. But I had my own reasons, so I hope you do understand how confidential it is what I am about to share with you."
The Headmaster's interest was piqued, and while Lith had no idea what she was talking about, he was a liar skilled enough to know when to shut up and get her back.
"Of course, everything you say will never get out of this room. You have my word."
"You see, I met Lith a few years ago, and I was so amazed by his skill and talent that I took him as my apprentice." She closed in to the desk, almost whispering.
Both men were taken aback by that revelation.
"So Nerea actually taught him only the basics, it was actually I that imparted to him the ways of magic. The problem was, and still is, that my family is under the scrutiny of too many eyes. I have too many enemies.
So, to prevent that one of them could snuff him out before he could achieve his true potential, we decided to keep everything a secret and let the world think that Count Lark and Nerea were the ones actually taking care of him."
"That would explain a lot!" Linjos exclaimed in shock. "His achievements are too outstanding for someone without a proper background. Not to mention why the Court has taken the matter so seriously, despite it came from a low noble appeal."
"Well, f*ck you too, mate." Lith thought. "Diss Lark one more time, and you and I will have a problem."
"Exactly." The Marchioness nodded, passing him several papers that came out from one of the rings she wore.
"I still can't afford the truth to see the light, you know what happened to my daughter. So, I would really like to avoid officially forcing you accept him with the authority entrusted me by the King. It would raise a fuss on multiple levels.
I hope that you can understand my position, and that those documents will give you leverage enough to defend your standing, if the Council tries to reprimand you."
Linjos read the papers, and at some point, almost jumped up from his chair.
"He is the one that cured your daughter and extracted the magical poison our labs are currently studying?!" He simply could not believe his eyes.
The best healers among the Griffon academies staff had tried and failed, while this kid was supposed to have correctly diagnosed the nature of the illness and managed to cure it.
"I'm sorry for being rude once again, but all the testimonies come from your family members. The Council will surely object that this is just a ruse to force their hand. This story is simply unbelievable."
"Go to the next page, please." She didn't even care to hide her smirk.
The second page was also a statement. Ainz was one of the witnesses, and reported everything he had seen during that day, giving a professional assessment on Lith's skills, pointing out and describing the numerous personal spells he had witnessed him using.
Linjos went completely pale.
Ainz testimony was a sworn one, just like the others, but coming from a mage it had a completely different significance from that of a noble.
Doubting his word was the same as calling him a liar and an incompetent, the consequences of that would be terrible.
Despite being so young, his talent and power were beyond question, not to mention that the Black Griffon would become a sworn enemy of anyone who tried to taint their genius' reputation.
Such a heavy insult could even bring Ainz to personally challenge whoever dared to question his judgement, and there was no Headmaster that wanted to face him in direct confrontation, be it a magic duel or contest of wits.
The two documents were more than enough to defy the will of the Council without repercussions, but Linjos wasn't the kind of man who acted on impulse.
"The fact that I can, doesn't mean that I must do it." He pondered.
"Whatever I do, I will face a different backlash, either from the Marchioness or the Council. From a political standpoint there is not much difference, and that makes my decision much easier.
If this kid is really so talented, it would be a crime against magic to blindly follow the orders of those old fogeys. I remember well how they opposed to me becoming Headmaster, claiming I was too young, too 'radical' for the position.
It's time to teach them a lesson. Their wrinkly as*es have been rooted to their chairs for so long that they have forgotten about the passion that teaching magic requires.
I accepted the position the Queen offered to me, because I was disgusted seeing how academies were being reduced to paper-pushers, neglecting to nurture true talents and bootlicking those who are already powerful for petty political gain."
The Marchioness waited patiently. Being thoughtful was a plus on her book, only idiots and lapdogs would mindlessly charge toward danger.
"I will be glad to take your disciple in my academy, but only if he reaches the minimum requirements. Under my guidance, there are no favouritism in the White Griffon."
Both the Marchioness and Lith had no objections. Lith had been instructed about the admittance test by Nana well before his visit to the Lightning Griffon, and before going to the White Griffon he had asked confirmation from the Marchioness.
Nana's admittance had happened decades ago, something could have changed over time, but from Distar's experience, the structure of the exam was still the same.
Headmaster Linjos used his communication amulet to assemble the Heads of all the magical departments in the test room. Lith was curious about exploring the academy, but the Headmaster opened another dimensional door, bringing them to destination.
It was a big square room, with each side thirty meters (33 yards) long, that seemed carved out a single huge piece of stone. The walls, floor and ceiling were all smooth with no gap except for a door.
The only pieces of furniture were several chairs lined up against a wall, were the Marchioness, the Headmaster and the faculty heads sat as soon as they came out of several dimension doors.
Lith felt a new respect for fake mages. Compressing space with such ease, allowing instant movements was something beyond his wildest dreams.
When all the seven Heads arrived, the Headmaster said:
"Show us your basics."
He was asking Lith to show his proficiency with chore magic, the foundation of all magics.
"If only you knew what you are missing…" Lith Inwardly smiled.
Lith took a deep breath, stimulating his mana core to its maximum output. He stood straight, extending his right hand upwards, right above his head, generating a sphere of dazzling white light the size of a chestnut.
His sharp earing could already listen to some whispered comments.
"Perfect silent light magic. Trivial but effective." "Hope he can do something better, I have so much paperwork in my office…"
Lith openly smiled, moving his arm clockwise, and when it reached two o'clock a fiery fireball appeared.
"Two kinds of perfect silent magic! Not bad, for a commoner." "Double casting, finally something interesting."
The arm kept moving in a fluid movement, not letting them the time to chat. At four o'clock a small thundercloud appeared. The audience started to get interested.
"Triple casting at twelve years?" "What the f*ck? Triple perfect silent…"
The arm reached six o'clock, a blot of pure darkness started consuming the light, pulsing with hunger. Both the Headmaster and the Marchioness had already understood what it was, but while the Marchioness had seen Lith in action, Linjos was shocked.
"It couldn't be Silverwing's…"
At eight o'clock rock, dust and dirt condensed into a small round stone, while at eleven o'clock a small bubble of water constantly shifted between gas, liquid and frozen state.
"By the gods! Hexacasting with perfect silent magic!" "That's almost Magus Silverwing's Mana Hexagram." "The last student that managed to do that…"
The Headmaster hit the department Head with the elbow, forcing him to shut up. Lith's interest was piqued. Why interrupt him? Was the identity of the student a secret?
"There is no almost." He thought.
His arm didn't stop, at the second round of his arm, the single dots of energy became connected by tendrils of power, forming a perfect hexagram inscribed in a circle.
Through the shared connections, energy started to circulate, until the single elements disappeared, leaving only a golden hexagram floating in the air. (AN: If you have problems imagining the result, just look again at the book's cover :P)
That was the reason why Nana had been admitted back in the day, and she had passed it down to Lith.
Lochra Silverwing's Mana Hexagram was a rare feat, that barely a magician out of a hundred was capable to perform. It was an exercise that demonstrated not only mastery over all the elements, but also a deep understanding of the flow of mana.
It emphasized the mental strength and focus. It was an unwritten rule that whoever was capable of casting the Mana Hexagram was automatically admitted, even if he/she was a slave.
After that Lith started to cast fake magic spells as fast as he could. Now he had to prove his mastery and control over the first three tiers of magic to skip the beginner's years.
He was supposed to cast at least twenty tier one spells, but he performed thirty. He could have done more, but avoided to.
Lith had already studied and memorized all the White Griffon records, if geniuses scored 110/100, 90/100 was a perfectly fine result for him.
He didn't want to get too much spotlight, just enough to get his talent recognized and maybe turn some professors into his backers, to spend the next two years in the most calm and peaceful atmosphere.
He was there to learn, not to fight. Lith stopped at tier three spells, going further would be too dangerous. Not only he would have exposed too much talent, but he would also risk to skip even the fourth year.
Specialization courses started on the fourth year, and Lith wanted to remain in the academy long enough to assimilate everything it had to offer about forgemastering, and maybe even healing. Not to mention he still needed powerful backers.
When he finished, there was no applause or congratulations, but the convened mages huddled up, starting to discuss wildly. Their 'whispers' were loud enough that even with his old earing Lith would still be able to listen to them.
"Outstanding performance." The Marchioness had left the group as soon as the discussion started, she had no place in it.
"Thanks." Lith pretended being tired and short of breath.
"Do you think I'm in?"
"Most definitely, unless heaven and earth turn upside down."
Chapter 56 Bargains And Promises
"Nice trick, by the way. Silverwing's Hexagram is an uncommon skill for an admission exam, but generally those who are capable of performing it are fighting oriented mages, that don't apply to either White or Black Griffon.
I must admit to have underestimated you. I would have never expected a country bumpkin to have such deep knowledge, and to be able to exploit it to turn a good performance into an excellent one. They have not seen one of these in decades."
"F*ck me sideways!" Lith's smug and thoughts were polar opposites.
"Either Nana didn't know about this, or she set me up. Let's hope my score isn't too high. I don't want some 'school princess/prince' bother me because of it."
In a matter of minutes everything was settled, new dimension doors opened and the mages disappeared without saying a word.
Back into the Headmaster's office, Linjos gave them the result.
"Congratulations, young…" He remembered that Lith had no family name.
"…mage. Your admission at White Griffon has been approved unanimously with a score of 93/100. Your actual score was 88, but since it has been years since an applicant was capable of performing the Hexagram, we awarded you 5 extra points."
"88/100?!" Lith thought. "Either I limited myself too much, or someone is really cranky today. The Hexagram proved to be a wild card, but luckily my score is still within the expected range."
Linjos continued his speech, unaware of Lith's worries.
"I look forward to see you back here in a couple of months, to start your specialization years. Here, this is some material you can study and revise to take your choice."
The Headmaster gave Lith seven small books, the first six were about elemental specializations, while the seventh one was about item creation. Lith took them all avidly.
"Those are highly confidential. You are not supposed to show them or discuss about their content with anyone outside the White Griffon."
Linjos tone was dead serious, Lith gave his most heartfelt assurances.
"Perfect. Any question before I call in the wardrobe for your uniform?"
"Yes, one. What is the academy position about bullying? As you know, I come from a backwater village, my father is a farmer, and I don't even have a last name. In my experience, even the best of us tend to look down upon me, if not worse."
He threw a meaningful look at the Marchioness, who pretended not to notice.
Headmaster Linjos puffed his chest with pride, straightening up his back even more.
"Glad that you asked. Before my time, commoner's and merchant's children had quite a rough experience. But I have established a zero-tolerance policy for bullying and violence in my academy. I hope to set up an example for everyone.
The Queen picked me up for this position because even as a student, I fought hard to defend the rights of the less fortunate. No matter their origin, powerful mages are too precious assets for the Kingdom, to allow some spoiled brats to ruin years of hard work.
You have no idea how many academies' alumni have defected our Kingdom to get their revenge. The Court is giving this matter the utmost importance, that's why I expect many heads to fall in the next years."
Just thinking of how many brilliant mages, even geniuses, had their lives destroyed by abuses of power, made Linjos heart bleed. Once they grew in power, they had left their home country with no hesitation, turning into a thorn in the side of the King.
Their rage was unbridled, the only way to make them come back would be to wipe out entire ancient noble families, but that was something outside even the King's reach. It would start a civil war, he had to choose the lesser evil.
But that didn't mean he would let that evil to keep eroding the Kingdom's backbone.
"Yes, that's exactly what I'm afraid of." Lith didn't feel even a bit reassured by his words.
"As a hunter, I learned that a cornered beast is the most dangerous one. What if, hypothetically, I would be harassed by one or more influential people?"
"I would stand by your side, and give them the proper punishment!"
The answer was too quick.
"Man, this guy is green. Either he comes from a fairy tale, or has not been in the real world long enough for it to bite his a*s." Lith thought.
"I'm sure of your sincerity, but please, think about it. Prince whatever harasses a country bumpkin and gets reported. It's just the victim word against someone who has at his back political and magical influence. What could you do?"
"I would order for an exhaustive investigation, listening to all the witnesses."
"And what if the witnesses get intimidated? Or if there is no witness at all? Are you telling me you could still do something?"
Linjos long face seemed to become even longer.
"No, I could not. Prince whatever would at worst get a reprimand, and I could only ask the staff to keep an eye on the bumpkin."
"Isn't there anything at all you can do to prevent this?" Lith was seriously rethinking everything. Getting admitted with a high score and having just Count Lark as an official backer, would make his permanence a nightmare straight from day one.
"With all the magical marvels you got, isn't there some kind of alarm? A panic whistle? A 'gods please, someone, anyone save me' device?"
"Actually, there is." Linjos words made Lith sigh with relief.
From one of the desk's drawers, Linjos took out a big wooden box twice as big, full to the brim of black pearl-lookalike spheres the size of a baseball.
"Lucky bastard! Even his drawers are pocket dimensions. I want to learn forgemastering so bad."
"These spheres are actually magical items, called Guilty Ballots." The name was self-explanatory. Even in that world, justice was represented holding a scale.
The jurors would cast their vote by setting black spheres on one of the plates for a guilty verdict, white on the other for an innocent one.
"Once you imprint one as yours, just like for a communication amulet, the Guilty Ballot will record every word and action happening around you as soon as you send some mana into it.
A second mana pulse would trigger a call for help, alerting the academy staff that something is wrong. It would also work as a beacon for Warp Steps, allowing us to intervene immediately."
"Warp Steps, uh?" Lith thought. "I'm a man of tradition, dimensional door sounds much better, but when in Rome, do as the romans do."
"Thank you very much! That's exactly what I hoped for." Lith grabbed one without a second thought.
"Wait, there is a reason why I didn't offer it to you immediately."
Lith wasn't much interested, but he had to keep appearances.
"Is there any side effect?"
"No, the Ballot itself works perfectly, it has been made by the best Forgemasters, after all. The problem is that its use is socially frowned upon, by both students and teachers. I must warn you that it's much more famous as the 'coward's end'."
Lith hid his mouth with a hand, pretending to be in deep thought, while he was actually grinning in disgust.
"Yeah, right. I had enough of this bullsh*t back on Earth. 'You need to learn how to stand up for yourself', they said. 'A little bullying helps you build your character and prepare you to face real life' and all that cr*ap.
Then, all those as*holes of teachers would be the first to cry when one of the victims committed suicide, or even better if they took up a gun to settle their scores."
Seeing that Lith wasn't replying, Linjos continued.
"Very few students have picked a Ballot, and even those who did, usually returned it after some weeks. Isolation and ostracism are another form of violence I can do nothing about.
And for someone away from home for the first time, a bad friend is better than none at all. It could prevent you from socializing, keeping everyone away from you, even those who could actually become your true friends.
Please, have faith in me, I will stand by your side, no matter what. All the teachers I handpicked share my vision and will do all they can to help you."
Lith wanted to sarcastically laugh in the face of his groundless optimism and wishful thinking.
"Thank you very much for your concern, but as I can see it, it would be a thorny path with or without it. Besides, I decided to join your academy to quench my thirst for knowledge, not to make friends.
Without the Ballot, I would be in the hands of fate. With it, instead, if you are right, I will never need it, nor ever be forced to reveal I do possess one. If I am right, we both will have our backs covered, and you will have what you need to pursue your ideals.
It's a win-win situation."
Lith tried to be polite and accommodating, but in his mind, he could see several flaws in Linjos' pep talk.
"He admitted not being able to purge all the bad apples, this means that I need to be wary of both students and teachers. Not to mention that we barely knew each other. How can he possibly be so naïve to expect me to take his word at face value?
For all I know, he could as well be a strawman with no actual power, that a rotten system has put into this place just for marketing. Only time will tell me if this guy is just a frigging paintjob on a rust bucker or the real deal."
Linjos sighed, but insisted no more. It hurt his pride and spirit seeing such a young man being so cynical. When he had started as a Headmaster, he had always pictured himself as a charismatic figure, capable of instilling trust in his pupils.
But being a mage, he was more pragmatic than idealistic, and recognized the truth behind Lith's words.
"After Linnea destroyed his future, it's natural for him to be biased. I'll show to both him and the Queen that my methods work. The Ballot is a sad relic of the past, born because of the incompetence of my predecessors.
Nobles and commoners can and will go along!" Linjos thought.
After concluding that matter, Linjos summoned in his office a wardrobe clerk, that delivered a uniform way too big for Lith's size. It consisted of a white shirt, blazer, pants, a robe and black shoes. The embroideries instead were of a pitch-black colour.
"At the moment, the uniform is at its biggest available size. Our Forgemasters enchant them so that they are able to perfectly fit the wearer. As you grow over time, it will expand, so you will not have to change it.
The uniform has many other properties. They are all described in a note inside the chest pocket, with one exception."
Linjos took out his shirt's cuffs and an unused Ballot, bringing them close. The black sphere suddenly disappeared.
"You do not possess yet any dimensional object, and you cannot walk with a Ballot in your hand the whole time. So, our uniforms' cuffs possess a hidden function, a very small dimensional storage that only applies to Ballots.
As far as I know, aside from us and the Forgemasters, no one is aware of its existence."
Lith nodded, sending mana to the Guilty Ballot in his hand. The magical item absorbed greedily the energy, imprinting Lith's mana as its master. In many ways it was similar to Solus, yet the differences were like heaven and earth.
The Ballot needed Lith's mana to function, not to live, and it was incapable of absorbing it on its own. Through his mana flow, Lith was capable of making it start/stop recording, projecting the recorded images and sounds.
"This thing is dead as a doornail. Is just like some kind of CCTV and I'm the power plant. The uniform, thought, has some pretty sweet properties." Lith thought while skimming the instructions.
Before leaving the Headmaster office, Lith received even more booklets that described the academy's history, its forest, how the student point system worked, and so on. There was enough to fill a small library.
Thankfully, the Marchioness offered to carry them for him in one of her dimensional pockets.
"Dammit, if it wasn't for Soluspedia, it would take me months to read and memorize all this stuff. Between knowing the White Griffon rules and regulations inside out and the Guilty Ballot, I should have what I need to survive the next two years. Maybe."
Chapter 57 A Bad Start Is The Other Half
Author's note: from this chapter onward i will put a - before a inner monologue/ telephatic dialogue.
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There was still some time before the start of the academic year. Lith spent most of it reading the Headmaster's books and planning his future. According to the school records, most students would achieve only a specialization.
Good and great mages would achieve two, while attaining three or more was the sign of a true polymath genius. It wasn't enough attending the courses to be considered a specialist, one should also possess considerable talent in the field.
And like most things in life, genius couldn't be evaluated with just numbers. Krishna Manohar, the resident god of healing, had only two specializations, simply because he had no interest in other topics.
His second one was as Battle Mage, and even in his biography it was mentioned only once, for the sake of completeness.
Yet Nana having only one specialization felt wrong on so many levels, that Lith decided to take a pause from his studies to ask her why.
Those days, the White Griffon uniform was the only dress he would wear, not for swag, as much for practicality. It was capable of self-cleaning, getting rid of any dirt or sweat, and to offer some degree of protection from both physical and magical attacks.
It allowed him to be more relaxed during his day life and when hunting. It was like wearing a full armour, but light as silk. It could withstand a bear's claw strike without ripping, but Lith would still feel the blunt impact.
He had made many experiments, to test its reliability and limits. Oddly enough, the protection was extended to his head and hands too, despite being uncovered. The robe, though, was still stored in Solus' pocket dimension.
Wearing it would strengthen the protective effect, but it was too long and unpractical to use. It would get caught in trees, bushes, everything.
Not to mention that being stealthy while wearing an oversized bathrobe was nigh impossible.
-"I said this back on Earth and I'll repeat it now. Mages' fashion sense sucks. Capes and robes are idiotic to wear, they make you so easy to grab and slam around like a carpet."-
Lith could have flown, yet he preferred walking. Those were his last moments of true freedom, and he wanted to enjoy them to the fullest.
At Nana's home office, everyone showered him with praises and congratulations, giving the healer the time to speak with her former apprentice.
"Sorry to disappoint you, young sprite…" Ever since Lith had saved Count Lark's family years ago, she had promoted him from little imp to sprite.
"…but I only have one specialization." She winked blatantly, despite they were alone in her private quarters.
"Here is an unrequested advice. Life is unpredictable, and many things you'll need to survive are not written in any book." She winked again.
"You need to lean them by experience."
"I understand, sorry to have wasted your time." Lith winked back.
"Do not apologize, dear. It's always a pleasure seeing you. And don't even think about leaving without saying a proper goodbye, or when I'll die, I'll haunt you as a ghost!"
"Please, if it's true that weeds never die out, then you'll probably outlive us all!"
Lith bought some fresh pastries and white bread, before returning home.
-"I can't decide if the idea of hidden specializations is more interesting or disturbing. I wonder if Nana's second talent is the real reason for her downfall. Maybe she was a magical assassin that either failed an important mission or was framed.
Either way, to avoid repeating her mistakes, I must stick to the plan, get my specializations and as much backers as I can. And to get them, being a healer is the best bait.
The Marchioness proved to me that no matter how rich and powerful, they are still scared sh*tless of death. Also being a great healer brings you more clients than envy. If they see you as an asset, those in power don't feel threatened by your existence."-
Lith's last months went by peacefully. Count Lark held a small private goodbye party, attended by Lith's and Lark's family, Nana and Selia. Hilya, the first cook, still believed in #TeamRaaz, so she went all out for the occasion.
She even called him "Young Master" a couple of times, embarrassing both Lith and the Count. They didn't know if to laugh or cry, rumors indeed die hard.
The only sour note was the presence of Senton, Rena's soon-to-be husband. Lith had still a hard time letting his sister go, so when he shook the man's hand, he reminded him two truths.
"Remember, when you marry a woman, you marry her whole family." Lith said out loud, triggering laughter and joy in the participants.
"And I know where you live." He threatened him, whispering in Senton's ear when they were embracing.
The Marchioness had been invited too, albeit only out of politeness, but she could not intervene, and for a good reason. Her family had been attacked once more, and she had her hands full trying to identify the instigator.
His first day of school, Lith left home before the sunrise. All his belongings were sadly able to fit in a chest smaller than an armchair, that his father Raaz had handmade for the occasion.
Despite the happy circumstances, his parents cried like he was about to go to war.
"Oh, Lith, promise to write me every day." Sobbed Elina, his mother while hugging him strong enough to squeeze the air out of his lungs.
"Mom, we have the communication amulet, remember? Do you really want to wait for the mail to be delivered?"
"Of course not, you silly. Call us as soon as you have a minute to spare." She said throwing him into his father's arms.
"Remember, little one, no matter how far you will be, you'll always have a family and a house here." Raaz's cheeks were streaked with tears, his voice broken.
"Far? Dad, between flight and Warp Steps I'm barely an hour away from home. I'll be back at the end of the first trimester, in time for the Spring Festival."
Lith was moved and confused by their feelings. Back on Earth, when he and Carl had left their home, their mother send away gift had been changing the door locks.
His sisters' goodbyes were much more joyous. They were both moving on with their lives, and were happy that their little brother too was able to pursue his dreams.
Trion was nowhere to be seen. Their relationship had never mended, and the more power and authority Lith gained, the more Trion felt a stranger to his own family.
He had left home as soon as he turned sixteen, announcing his decision to perform voluntary military service and marry outside the family, leaving Tista to inherit the farm and the house.
Lith left home, making the chest fly alongside him. Only when he was far enough, he stored it inside the pocket dimension and went pedal to the metal.
He took it out before approaching the nearest Mage Association branch, keeping it floating while he walked through the Warp Step to the academy. An attendant accompanied him to his personal room, in the fourth-year wing of the castle.
To avoid hazing, each year had a separate wing for its classes, living quarters, even the canteen. Students from different years had no common spaces.
After imprinting the room with his mana, becoming its master, Lith left his chest and dismissed the attendant. He had the map of the castle copied and stored in Soluspedia, hence needing no help to reach his classroom.
Regardless of the chosen specializations, the students of the fourth year had some classes that everyone had to attend. Theory of Combat Magic was one of those mandatory courses. (*)
Lith was one of the first to arrive, the classroom was almost empty, except for a few students that had already occupied the desks in the last row.
The classroom resembled a lecture classroom from a college, with a pitched floor and the desks arranged in a semi-circular shape. At a first glance, it seemed to have a capacity of at least two hundred students.
In any other circumstances, Lith would have admired the perfect lighting of the room, the magnificence of the marble floor, the refined craftmanship of the desks. Each one was made with the best materials available, drawing a merciless comparison with his old college.
At that moment, however, his eyes were only noticing how all those present had sighed in relief seeing him. Judging from their positioning and nervousness, they were clearly trying to lie low and go unnoticed.
Lith had walked enough in their shoes to know what it meant, and how futile their effort was.
-"Poor guys, you still haven't learned that you can't avoid trouble when it's the trouble looking for you, uh? Just like in middle school, the preys come early to avoid contact, while the predators take their sweet time."-
He chose a seat in the middle row, not too close, but not too far. He would still be able to see clearly the professor and read from what appeared to be a chalkboard.
-"Sigh, I would love to sit in the first row, but I bet that's the cool kids' gathering spot. It's better to avoid useless arguments and stay in the safe zone. If someone comes to bother me, it would be on purpose."-
Lith took out his notebook and inkwell, to prepare for the lesson, hoping things to go smoothly.
According to Nana, the real class hierarchy would be established from day one. Both he and Solus remained alert the whole time, while the classroom was getting filled with people.
Some sneered looking at him, others shook their head with a sad expression, deeming him too dumb or naïve to know his place.
-"It's very interesting." Solus said. "The worst mana core I detected is bright green, all the rest are different shades of cyan or deep blue. It's not a surprise that so many of Lark's proteges failed at the admission."
"Yeah, peachy. Not only I am not the top dog mana core-wise, I cannot use any magic outside the fake one. Eyes on the prize, Solus, this is Sparta. Based on the glances I received, the situation may be worse than I expected."-
When only fifteen minutes remained before the scheduled start of the lesson, three girls waddled in like they owned the place. Lith threw a quick glance in the back rows, and judging from the cowering behind the desks, the queen was in the house.
After shaking his robe's right sleeve, he braced for impact.
They were chatting among themselves, looking around the class like hungry wolves in a butcher shop. He could hear the one on point, a red-haired girl, say:
"Let's give the new guys a proper welcome."
They walked up the stair, until they were in front of Lith's desk.
"Hey, shorty, what are you doing so close to my desk? Your filthy peasant smell makes me nauseous. Scram to the last row together with the rest of the garbage!"
Said the red-haired girl, that was barely five centimetres (2 inches) taller than him, while her two companions giggled and sneered eerily.
-"What the f*ck?!" Lith thought. "This seems out of Aesop's 'The wolf and the lamb' fable. I bet that even if I was already sitting in the last row, she would harass me for not respecting my seniors or something.
She is looking for a fight, no matter what I do. Solus, let's go with the worst-case scenario contingency plan."-
"I am sorry?" Lith replied with his most innocent tone. "According to the White Griffon rules, I have the right to sit whenever I want. You have no authority to order me around. Please, leave me alone and we can all forget about this incident."
Lith was really disappointed inwardly. A least on Earth bad girls were hot stuff, these three, instead, were barely cute, with average curves and the charisma of a rotting opossum.
"You insolent fool!" She snarled at him. "Don't you know who I am? I…"
At that point, Lith activated his Hush spell on both his ears, preventing himself to hear the load of bullsh*t the girl was spewing.
He knew his temper enough to know that otherwise he would have probably lost his cool, especially if she mentioned his family. Falling for their provocations would mean giving them and others an excuse to harass him.
-"Hey, Solus, I can't read lips, but I guess she is making herself appear high and mighty, flaunting her family status. All while belittling me and my physical appearance. How close did I get?"
"Very close. By my maker, this girl really has a way with words. If I had a body, I would kick her a*s already. The things she is saying about you! She is just the worst! Not to mention those two harpies, ganging up with her at the right time."
"Please, do not give me any details. I am already outraged, don't add any more fuel to the fire. It's time to put the Headmaster's word to the test. I won't stand for this sh*t one more…"
Before he could complete the thought, Solus interrupted both him and the spells.
"That's your cue!"- Lith barely made in time to listen to the:
"Are you listening to me?"
"For the gods' sake no, sweetheart. Your voice is so squeaky that it would make me rip my ears off, if I had to actually listen to all your whining and ranting."
The three girls were silenced out of shock.
"Sweetheart?" Someone in the classroom echoed.
"It's just a figure of speech, of course." Lith replied as it had been the leader of the pack speaking.
"You're not blind. I'm pretty sure that, despite your over inflated ego, you know deep inside your rotten heart that you are almost as ugly on the outside as you are on the inside.
We have nobles even in my backwater village, but you win the prize for the one with the longest stick up her a*s and biggest sh*t in her nose hands down, that much I have to give it to you."
Lith had only one way out of that situation, the least he could do was let off his chest all the pent-up rage.
"How… How dare you?!" The girl face had turned purple, her eyes were popping out of rage and brimming with mana.
"Look, kid, the lesson is about to begin and I'm already bored. Maybe you are used to scare people with your ugly mug and annoying voice, but I faced much worse in my life. Now scram, before I report you for harassment.
This isn't your home, this is one of the six great academies, it has rules!"
Since they meant to harm him anyway, he would give them all the rope they wanted, hoping they would end up hanging themselves with it.
The girl laughed heartily.
"Rules? I don't give a damn about the rules, I could kill you right here and now and get away with it in less than an hour. Do you think any of these cowards would dare to say a word?
That anyone from a noble or magician family would waste even one breath for a filthy peasant? The likes of you shouldn't even be here, your kind does nothing but taint this place and ruin magic's good name."
Lith stood up indignant, ready for the grand finale.
"How dare you? I spoke with the Headmaster when I enrolled, he said…"
The girl on his left cut him short.
"Who? That loser? My father says he is so young that he probably still wets himself at night."
"He is just a strawman, like all the Headmasters." Added the one on his right. "He is just a puppet in the hands of the great families. You are all alone in here, country sh*t."
The leader of the pack had regained confidence, her arms were crossed in front of her chest, a smug grin going from ear to ear.
"Now get your filthy a*s out of that chair, kneel to me and lick my shoes clean. If you do it, I promise not to beat you too hard."
Their fists were now set ablaze, their mouths and hands moving in unison, each one casting a different spell.
Lith just took his right hand out the robe's long sleeve, revealing a small black sphere. Magic was gently coursing and pulsing within it.
He put it front of her horrified face, the smiles and spells had disappeared, the whole class fell silent.
"Once more, with feeling"
Chapter 58 Aftermath
"A Coward's End?!" The classroom exploded with exclamations of shock and outrage. Everyone knew what it was, but no one had actually used it in years, to the point it was considered just a myth.
"How despicable!" The leader of the pack was desperately trying to search for a way out, this was the first time she had her back against a wall.
"You made me say those things, I just fell into your trap, it's all your fault!"
Lith laughed his a*s off.
"Seriously? That's your excuse? 'He made me do it'? You did it all by yourself, and everything that happened since I walked in the classroom has been recorded. I doubt anyone would find an image of me begging to get my a*s kicked."
She had realized the idiocy of her plan the moment she said it out loud, so she decided for a subtler approach.
"Look, I get it. We started with the wrong foot, but we can still fix everything."
"But of course! I can report everything to the Headmaster or use the Ballot for summoning help, either way you'll permanently be out of my hair forever."
The girl turned as pale as a ghost, but refused to back down.
"Don't you have any shame? Incapable of doing anything on your own, hiding behind a crutch made for cripples and weaklings? It's no surprise that you commoners can't get any respect in here, you do not deserve it!"
Lith laughed even harder.
"Playing the pride card? Maybe if I was a five-year-old, it could even work. But you know what? It's rich hearing a speech about shame and incapacity from you. The pot calling the kettle black.
You are three years older than me, and together with your friends gang up against one. To make things worse, the only reason you did it was to torment someone you consider an inferior being, just because you think that you are untouchable.
You can call me a coward for using a Ballot, but then what's your excuse? You are nothing but three pathetic little girls, used to hide behind their parents, that cower in fear when they have to face the consequences of their foolish actions.
It's not being brave or strong, when the only reason you are so cocky is because of your family name. That's cheating. If you really think what you are doing is right, you should attack me, Ballot or not Ballot, uncaring of the consequences.
After all, the Headmaster is just a puppet, your words. If the White Griffon is really in your hands, what do you have to fear? But if you do not make a move, is because you know that you are wrong, and that you are just a hypocrite!"
She wanted to kill that little bastard, shove all his words down his throat, but she could not, and neither could her friends. They were already at risk of being expelled, the only option remaining was damage control.
The Headmaster had issued a zero-tolerance policy against bullying, and everyone in the Court knew that there was the hand of the Queen pulling his strings.
Her father, Duke Hertia, had been crystal clear with her.
"Do whatever you want, I'll cover for you as long as you don't get caught red handed. I don't give a sh*t about commoners' or small nobles' lives, but I worked too hard to lose everything for such a petty reason.
If you are so incompetent to leave proofs, our family will be put under scrutiny, our assets frozen during all the investigation. I'd rather threw you to the wolves, than putting the family name at risk. I can always have another daughter, after all.
It's only my Dukedom that's irreplaceable."
Too many mages had defected the Griffon Kingdom after graduating from the academies, trading all the secrets they had learned in exchange for the promise of revenge and riches.
The system had proven to be corrupt decades ago, but now it was crumbling under its own weight, snowballing out of control faster and faster.
Despite the noble families and magicians' bloodlines had always opposed to the changes, after losing two Magus level mages due to the unfair treatment they had received, both the Queen and the Mage Association were out for blood.
During the past year, Duke Moniar's son had been proven guilty of causing a brilliant young mage to move to the Gorgon Empire, where he revealed to possess an outstanding talent.
The Duke had defended his son's action until the verdict, and ended up serving the same sentence. The Queen had stripped him of his title and all of his possessions, passing them to the next of kin.
He took his life the day after, incapable of accepting the loss.
The standstill between Lith and the girls lasted until Professor Trasque entered into the room. Lith walked up to him, the Ballot still in hand.
- "Please, don't be a jerk. My day has barely started but there still plenty of time for going from the frying pan to the fire. Please, don't be a jerk!" He wished as strong as he could. -
When Lith regained his cool, he noticed that Professor Trasque was fairly young. He was pretty handsome, around thirty years old, one meter and eighty-two centimetres (6') high and with the build of an athlete.
His dark brown hair had a military cut, yet he had a stubble, no robe and the sleeves of his shirt were rolled up to the elbows, revealing his muscular arms.
- "Seems more an adventurer than an academic. Either way, judging from his age, he should be one of the professors the Headmaster handpicked. I need some frigging luck!" He thought. -
Lith bowed deeply to him before speaking.
"Professor Trasque, please I need to report to the Headmaster. My name is Lith from Lustria and…"
An odd light shone in Trasque's eyes at those words.
"The sassy kid! I knew I recognized your face from somewhere. Man, did you really manage to get into trouble even before the first period? This academy is way sh*ttier than I thought. Who's the jacka*s this time?"
Still dazed from the professor's mettle, Lith managed to point at the three girls.
"Hmm. I have no idea who they are. It's my first year too, you know. But I'm sure that with the coward's… I mean the Ballot, we'll solve everything in a jiffy. Go get them, tiger. I'll wait for your return before starting the lesson."
After almost drowning Lith with his words, the chatterbox stamped his left foot, opening a Warp Steps straight to the Headmaster's office. As soon as Lith crossed the threshold, it closed behind him.
Lith greeted him with a small bow, too depressed to keep up with etiquette, handing him the Guilt Ballot without saying a word.
"Already?" Linjos was even more shocked than Lith.
"Yes. I don't know the range of this thing, but they called it 'a proper welcome'. So much for a safe environment."
Linjos took the Ballot, placing it on a small tripod. It projected a 3D hologram of the recording, starting from the moment Lith had taken it out from the cuffs.
Contrary to Lith's expectations, even that phrase was perfectly audible by adjusting the audio settings.
When it ended, Linjos was hiding his face between his hands, full of shame and embarrassment.
"I'm so sorry, I had no idea the situation is so dire. A Headmaster that has no knowledge or control of his own academy, I must look like a fool in your eyes."
- "That's quite an understatement." Lith thought, but since his entire academic career rested on Linjos' shoulders, he decided to give him the benefit of the doubt. -
"Headmaster, I don't mean to be rude, really, but that was the daughter of a Duke. Right now, what really concerns me is what will happen to her, to me, and more importantly, what can you do to guarantee my family's safety."
Lith was seriously worried about the consequences of that clash, but he couldn't back down again and again out of fear. Even forgemastering wasn't worth having his self-esteem and body broken every time some rich kid wanted to have fun at his expenses.
Linjos didn't fail to notice how depressed and downcast Lith was, and that hurt even more than just his pride. He had failed another of his precious students.
"Don't worry about it. The three of them will be punished according to the rules. As I said to you the day we met, I don't do favouritism. You are the victim, nothing will happen to you.
And your family is safe, as a student, every single one of them is under the protection of the Mage Association, not even a Duke would dare defying their will."
"Yeah, right." Lith scoffed. "Like I should have been safe here, nobles shouldn't abuse their status, and so on. Again, I mean no disrespect, Headmaster, but reality doesn't give a damn about 'should' and 'could'.
People do things simply because they can, especially when they know they will go unpunished. What do you think would have happened if I didn't have the Ballot? You would probably be scraping off the floor my remains with a spoon.
Officially, my only backer is Count Lark, and to make things worse, a Duke is a title even higher than a Marchioness. I don't think Duke Hestia would be much impressed by a piece of paper that says 'Please don't. Be a good man'."
At those words, Linjos had a dazed expression, then he shook his head and took a deep breath.
"I'm sorry, Lith, I forgot you know nothing about these matters. After all you are just…"
- "Is he really going to add insult to the injury?" Lith thought. -
Yet Linjos stopped in time, managing to correct himself by the skin of his teeth.
"…unfamiliar of how seriously this kind of things are considered. You see, every magician, but especially the students that have yet to reveal their true potential, are all considered as properties of the Crown.
That's why all the academies' uniforms are so flashy to the point of being almost tacky. It's a warning, just like for poisonous animals. Harming one of you, or using your families as a bargain chip, is considered an act of treason against the Kingdom.
Treason is the worst crime anyone could commit, is the equivalent of harming the King himself, and is punished by torturing and killing not only the responsible, but also his bloodline until the third generation, with no exceptions.
It's an open secret in the Court, that once one gets admitted to an academy, a full team of royal spies watch his/her loved ones 24/7. That serves the purpose of protecting them from internal and external enemies.
Without such precautions, envoys of the Gorgon Empire or any other powerful influence, could coerce our students in betraying their country. No one would be so stupid to leave a gold mine unprotected.
As much as it saddens me to say it, in all the academies' history, the successful attempts can be counted on one hand. The real problem is what happens within the academy walls."
- "Records can be forged, and spies can get bribed." Lith thought. -
"Are you sure is not better for me to drop off the academy and take private lessons? Power and prestige are meaningless to me if I have to one to return to…"
"Over my dead body!" The Headmaster jumped up from his chair, it was the first time for Lith seeing him angry.
"I didn't tell you earlier to not put pressure on you, but our labs have finished analysing the poison you extracted. When they knew that you also applied for a Master healer specialization, well, let's just say that the Light department has the butterflies in the stomach at the idea of having you among their ranks.
You have already been marked as an A rank student. As such, your family's security detail is composed only by members of the Queen personal units. Would you like me to tighten the security even more?"
"Yes, please." The Headmaster left the room to give the proper instructions, and Lith used that opportunity to contact the Marchioness, explaining her the situation and asking for help.
"Duke Hertia, I know him well." She said. "He's a venomous snake, but he is very greedy. He would rather exterminate his whole family rather than losing an inch of authority or prestige. If Linjos said he will take care of it, you can believe him.
I made a full background check on him, he is really the good guy he seems."
"Do you still have your extraordinary authority?" Lith asked.
"Yes, why?"
"If it was your family, what would you do?"
"Everything I can, I get it. I'll make sure the Association does his job properly, and put some extra guards in Lutia. If anything happens, I'll make you know."
After thanking her profusely, Lith interrupted the communication.
- "A rank, uh? So far so good." Lith thought, but he felt no joy for his achievement.
"I put myself in this golden cage, it's time to put its bars to the test. I don't give a sh*t about Dukes, Queens and politics. If anything befalls my family, I will put everything I have to wipe out the Griffon Kingdom off the maps!" -
Chapter 59 Alone In The Crowd
Lith returned to the classroom with another Warp Steps, so the first period ended to be delayed by only twenty minutes.
Professor Trasque winked at him with a kind smile, sending him back to his desk before starting the lesson.
The three girls had been forced to stand up alongside the chalkboard the whole time.
"There's no reason for you to get comfortable, since you are going to leave us soon." Trasque had a cold smile the whole time, he seemed to be taking great joy from their misfortune.
As soon as Lith returned, the three girls were called in the Headmaster's office. Only then the Warp Steps closed and the lesson began.
"First of all, let me introduce myself. My name is Jian Trasque, and I was born a commoner." He took a long pause, letting those word echo through the class, taking a mental note of whoever made a disgusted or disapproving face, for future reference.
"Back in my days, I got rejected by the Fire Griffon academy. I was forced to join the Association as a home-schooled, and then worked my way up as an adventurer, until I managed to get my specializations.
My talent has been acknowledged to the point that I was offered a position as a Professor in this academy, and the Fire Griffon Headmaster got fired for being an incompetent old fool. If any of you shares his vision, feel free to join him."
Trasque pointed at the door.
"No one? Well, then let's start with the good stuff. Theory of Combat Magic, you'll be asking yourselves: what the heck does it even mean? You all are proficient in the first three tiers of magic, what I could possibly teach you?
The answer is: how to keep you alive by revealing the true value of the so neglected chore magic. I know, the name is horrible, but since the dawn of academies has helped examiners to separate the wheat from the chaff.
Have you ever asked yourselves why it was the first thing they required you to perform? Because here, inside one of the great academies, from now on you'll learn how to love and respect it with its true name: the first magic.
First magic is the reason why a mage can live long enough to have children. Sure, is weak, but do you really believe you'd have the time for even a tier one spell if someone tries to stab you? The answer is: no, you wouldn't.
Without first magic you would die, wasting all the time, effort and money that your parents and the academy have invested in your formation."
The lesson proceeded with Trasque making examples of different life and death situations and how to survive by using simple tricks of first magic.
Most of the class was furiously taking notes, only Lith and a few others of the over two hundred attendees would look around, surprised by the ignorance of their peers.
- "Can you believe, it, Solus? Those noobs are taking notes with a frigging pen! Now I understand why this course is mandatory for all. I doubt many others have spent the last eight years hunting and refining their skills."
"First magic." Solus pondered. "For a second I expected him to call it true magic. Most of the tricks he is explaining, you invented them back in the crib. If all his lessons are like this one, it will be quite boring."-
After two hours, the lesson came to an end.
"And that's it for the explanations. This part is covered, albeit less charmingly, in the first twenty pages of your book. For the next lesson, I expect you to know them inside out, together with pages from twenty to fifty.
The best way to learn the theory behind a fight, is experiencing it first-hand, so we won't meet again in a classroom, but only in training rooms. From the fourth year onwards, you are required to get your hands dirty.
You will study in your free time, if you need to. The same stands for all classes, the first lesson is explanatory, then comes only practice. Those who don't keep up will fail and be expelled. Remember that there are no second chances, always give your best."
All the students had worried expressions, one thing was reading and memorizing from a book, having an exam every three months. Another was being constantly tested, day after day, pushing you to your limit.
Since the next lesson was also a mandatory course for all, the class wouldn't change. There would just be a short break before the next Professor arrived. Lith took immediately out the Ballot, just to stay on safe side.
As Linjos had predicted, Lith's desk was avoided like the plague, all the students threw him looks filled with contempt and disgust, even the commoners from the last rows.
- "Well, at least they all agree on something." He thought. -
Lith stood up to stretch his legs a little bit, and he noticed that wherever he would go, people would make way for him, keeping themselves at least two meters (2.2 yards) away.
- "That's actually pretty sweet. I wish had a Ballot whenever the metro was too crowded or every time I got stuck in a line. He travels best who travels alone."-
Lith checked up his schedule, Professor Nalear was in charge of Principles of Advanced Magic.
"Another cryptic title. It's too bad they have yet to give us our books, or I would already have stored them inside Soluspedia. I don't have the time to read it the old-fashioned way. Damn if I hate riddles."-
When Professor Nalear entered the room, Lith's heart skipped a beat.
She was in her mid-twenties, around 1.7 meters (5'7") high. Her face had an oval shape with delicate features, her honey blonde hair with shades of purple were pulled back in a pony-tail.
She wore almost no make-up, accentuating her natural beauty. Despite her robe being completely buttoned up, it was not baggy enough for Lith's highly trained male eyes to be incapable of measuring her three sizes.
With every stride she took, he was able to appreciate her soft curves more and more.
- "Wow! She is stunning!" Solus commented. "After the swimsuit model Professor Trasque, I'd say that Linjos had quite the taste in picking the new staff, right Lith? Lith?!"
Solus was worried, her host head was empty. She could only hear some kind of white noise.
"Lith, are you alive or what?" She mentally screamed, making him regain his rationality.
"Solus, I'm in trouble. The woman that just walked in is a 10/10 on my personal scale. I never believed a real 10 could actually exist in real life! And even worse, this stupid body has just decided to experience its first crush!"
Solus was flabbergasted.
"Are you crazy? Right here and now? With all that is at stake, you want to become the teacher's pet?"
"Do you think I have any choice? I know that a twelve-year boy has less chances with her than a snowball on the Sun, the problem is that my body doesn't give a damn! It was only a matter of time before hormones would screw up my teenage life.
I need your help to keep my cool and avoid acting like an idiot. It's a lost cause, but at least we can do damage control. Please, I want to avoid shameful memories like those from high school!"
"I'll do my best." Solus assured him, soothing his chaotic thoughts and draining the excess mental energy. -
"Good morning, boys and girls. My name is Valesa Nalear, nice to meet you all."
Her voice was nothing special, but to Lith's ears was a choir of harps and violins.
While looking around, she noticed that some spots in the classroom were packed, yet there were still lots of available seats around Lith. When she asked for an explanation, Lith raised the Ballot in his right hand.
Her upper lip curled up in an expression of disgust.
"Despicable." Her words sounded like she was trying to spit something disgusting out of her mouth.
The whole class erupted with mockery and laughter Strong of the teacher's support, many students threw some trash at Lith, despite the Ballot.
Lith felt his heart sank. All the warmth he had felt until a second ago, the silly hopes and dreams of friendship bordering love that he had nurtured, burst like a bubble. Only cold and darkness remained inside of him, making even that pain feel good.
- "That's right." He thought. "Do you see now, stupid pubescent body? That's what happens when you lower your guard. Wishful thinking bears only sour fruits made of tears and disappointment.
The silver lining is that I managed to put an end to this mad crush fast, sparing me countless humiliations. I must remember it, and remember it well. Rule #1: trust no one. Always expect the worst out of everybody, and you'll never be disappointed."-
The class was still laughing, when Professor Nalear roared:
"Silence!"
When the shower of garbage ceased and order returned to the classroom, she spoke with a voice full of rage, her green eyes reduced to two fiery slits.
"I wasn't talking about him, but about you filthy maggots!"
- "Or not!" Lith thought, surprised by that sudden turn of events. -
She looked at the various groups of people all over the class, glaring at them with fury, while a blue aura emerged from her body, making her robe move like she was amid a storm.
Her hands moved too quick for the eyes to see, even Lith's heightened senses could only perceive a blur. Suddenly, one of the guys that had thrown trash at Lith was suddenly pulled toward Nalear.
He was floating in mid-air, desperately holding his neck, gasping for air.
- "Isn't that spirit magic?!" Lith thought, shocked. "It closely resembles my Spirit Choke, I can barely spot any difference. Could she be a true mage too?"-
"You b*stards!" She roared. "Do you have any idea what the likes of you pulled me through during my academy years?
Only because I was a pretty girl and my father was just a lowly knight, you guys always tried to turn me into your plaything, harassing and molesting me every single day. But the worst always came from my so called 'girlfriends'."
Her hands moved again, pulling another of those who had thrown trash, but this time it was fifteen years old girl, wearing a heavy make-up.
"Always calling me a sl*t at my back, spreading rumors and trying to lure me into traps to give their male friends the opportunity to 'have some fun'. And that only because I was more talented than them, so they needed to 'put me in my place'.
The only reason I am still alive and sane up to this day, is because I too took a Guilty Ballot!"
The two youths in mid-air had started to turn purple, their eyes shedding tears of fear and desperation.
"What's the matter?" She mocked them. "Aren't we just having fun among friends? According to your rules, might makes right. Not only I am a Professor at this academy, I'm also an archmage, which puts me at the level of an archduke."
She looked straight in the boy's eyes, grabbing his throat and lifting him up with only one hand.
"That makes your father's Marquis title a joke. I could kill you right here and now, and then claim you tried to r*pe me. Not only no one would dare to doubt my word, I could even ask for satisfaction, personally wiping out all your filthy family!"
She then did the same to the girl, her feet daggling in the air in search of support.
"And what about you, ugly b*tch? Why are you not laughing anymore? Why don't you go crying to your mommy, Duchess Baran? I want to see her face when I will rip your heart out in front of her eyes and make her eat it raw as an apology for being weaker than me!"
Only when their faces turned blue for the lack of air, she let them go, throwing them away like trash. Professor Nalear immediately conjured water, washing her hands like touching those two could stain her very being.
- "By my maker!" Solus was blown away. "Now I finally understand! Headmaster Linjos didn't choose his staff based on physical appearance. He replaced the old professors with talented people that have been victims of the system in the past!
This way not only he is sure to have at his service someone that can truly empathise with the victims, but also people that will never back down in front of abuses of power. They are all hell-bent on revenge, if they cannot change the system from inside, no one can."-
Despite their symbiotic link, Lith wasn't able to hear a single thought Solus had sent to him. He watched the events happening in front of him in a daze, his mind blank, incapable of accepting reality.
"Please, marry me." He suddenly blurted out loud.
Chapter 60 Alone In The Crowd 2
When Lith realized what he had done, it was already too late. His face blushed up, even the end of his ears turned to bright red.
- "Smooth move, stud." Solus mocked him mercilessly. "Too bad you forgot the flowers, the chocolate, and more importantly, the ring. What will she think of such poor performance?" -
Professor Nalear giggled, making Lith turn to an even brighter shade of red. He felt so ashamed of himself, that he could only hide his face between his hands, incapable of watching her, while banging his head on the desk.
- "You f*cking idiot!" He inwardly screamed. "Since when do I have a d*ck for brains? Just when I thought that things couldn't get any worse, I turn out to be my worst enemy." -
"I'm honestly flattered by your feelings…" She said while still chuckling.
"… but I'm not into kids. I'm looking for a tall and strong mage as a life companion. If in six years I'm still single and you haven't changed your mind, I will be happy to resume this conversation."
Lith wanted to cry and run away, spending the rest of his life hiding in the deepest hole he could find. But he had already made a fool out of himself, there was no reason to add insult to injury.
He took some deep breaths to calm down, using water magic to cool down both his face and nether regions, finally regaining his focus.
- "If I apologize, I will make everything worse." He thought. "She reacted like I was joking, let's play along. The more I stir it, the more it will stink." -
"Now, before going back to the course's topic, one last word of warning for you scum. The next time I catch you doing something disrespectful towards one of your classmates, I will make every single one of you regret not having a Guilty Ballot.
Are we clear?"
No one dared to reply.
"Perfect. Let's forget about your pathetic, miserable existences, so I can explain to you what Principles of Advanced Magic is about."
She approached the chalkboard, a long and thin piece of mineral appeared out of thin air in her hand, allowing her to draw a human silhouette.
"As you should already know from your first three years, every human possesses a certain degree of talent for magic. The extent of such talent is defined by the amount of mana one has stored into his mana well."
Lith followed her speech with interest.
- "So, they really have no concept of the mana core." He thought. -
"An individual talent can be roughly split into three categories: the normal human, …" She hit the chalkboard at the level of the silhouette's knees, and suddenly the empty space within it was filled by a glowing blue light up to that point.
"… the magico/magica, …" This time the mineral hit at the chest level, and the light rose up accordingly.
"…and finally, the mage." The whole empty space within the silhouette was now filled to the brim with a pulsing blue colour.
"While performing the first three tiers of magic, hands signs and magic words are the equivalent of a bucket, that once dropped in the mana well allows you to extract the right amount of power.
Hence, the spellcasting will be successful, as long as you are capable of forming a perfect bucket. Sadly, from tier four and up, this process no longer works.
This kind of magic requires such an amount of mana, that there are only two ways of extracting it from the well. The first one, that you can learn in minor academies or in the books available for purchase, is to create a bigger bucket.
This method is feasible, but most of the time impractical. It requires so many magic words, hand signs so complicated that either your opponent is a rock, or you work with a team that keeps it occupied during a very long spellcasting time.
Just like using a bucket too big and heavy, extracting mana that way out of the well requires much more time and effort than just using the old bucket twice."
- "What the f*ck?! This is exactly what I learned from Lark's books. This explains why it took me so long to perform them correctly with fake magic." -
"The second one, is only available in one of the six great academies. What I am going to teach you, has its roots in the first magic's multi casting skills. Professor Trasque should have stressed already the importance of first magic, right?"
The whole class nodded.
"Multi casting means the talent to form and control more than one bucket at the time. Let's say that a mage capable of double casting, potentially can control up to two buckets. That's the minimum requirement for tier four spells.
Some may require even three, while only tier five magic demands an even higher multi casting capability. Please, understand that all this talk about buckets and water is just an oversimplification.
In advanced magic, mental visualization is a key element for success. You can choose to imagine it as a jar of wine, a chest full of gold, whatever fits your bill is fine. Always remember that the second method has a much faster cast time in exchange for a greater focus and mental strength.
It's up to you to learn how to form and control more than one 'bucket' at the time. Hand signs and magic words are still necessary to form the first one, then you need to be able to sense it and generate as many copies as you can.
Those who are incapable of learning such method by the end of the academic year, will be dismissed as of insufficient talent. Money and status cannot help you, only talent and hard work will guarantee your promotion."
The lesson went on for another two hours, and soon was lunchtime.
Lith was so engrossed in what he had learned, that he completely forgot about his crush and the poor impression his previous marriage proposal could have left.
He said goodbye to Professor Nalear before leaving the classroom, but didn't give her a second look or even a thought.
- "The more I learn, the more fake magic does indeed resemble true magic, but most of the things she explained are completely wrong. The only right thing she said was about mental visualization.
If one does not realize the existence of the mana core, the approach about magic is too passive to be effective. It's not a matter of water and buckets, more like about how to build and fine-tune a power plant that can provide energy for countless applications.
According to her theory, a fake mage with 100 mana points can only produce as much energy.
A true mage, instead, despite having the same amount of mana, by stimulating the core can generate an output that depends on the situation, bringing it up to 120, or even 150 if necessary.
Sure, the physical burden would be remarkable, but everything is better than being dead. Not to mention that this difference allows a true mage a versatility that fake mages can only dream about." -
Thanks to the academy map stored in Soluspedia, Lith was able to move faster than anyone else. While others would get lost or needed to get directions, he managed to arrive at the canteen first.
Once again, the skill of the Forgemasters left him speechless. It was nothing like his old high school cafeteria. There was no cash register, no need to form a line or pick up a tray.
The room was of rectangular shape, five meters (16'5") high, with the long side 200 meters (219 yards) long and the short side 100 (110 yards) meters long. Except for the door he came from and the floor, all the other walls had been turned into windows on the outside world.
Lith knew that above the fourth floor, where he currently was, there was still the floor for the fifth year and many others, yet by looking up he was able to see the brilliant light of noon.
The room, like all the others, was perfectly lighted. The whole canteen was filled with rectangular dinner tables, each one capable of accommodating up to six people.
The tables were evenly spaced among them, allowing to walk to and fro them with ease, even when the room was at its max capacity.
Lith chose a corner table with a corner seat. Having a wall behind him and another at his left, no one could get to his back without him noticing.
- "Interesting, they choose to make the cafeteria look like a panoramic restaurant. Probably to let the students remember how the outside world looks like, and to avoid the claustrophobic feel that windowless rooms give." -
Once he sat down, he discovered that the chair was somewhat bolted to the ground. Lith could not move it, but as soon his butt touched the cushion, the seat auto adjusted its height and size to a perfect fit.
The only thing left for him to do was placing his order. Lith put his hands on the table, injecting a small amount of mana, activating the embedded communication device.
"I'll take fillet steak, 2 centimetres (0,8 inch) high, medium rare. Also, a vegetables cream soup, a side or roasted spiced potatoes. To drink red wine or beer are equally fine."
A small Warp Steps appeared in front of him, delivering his order with the exception of the alcohol.
"Sorry, sir." Said a voice coming up from the still open Warp Steps.
"Only sixteen years old students are allowed to drink fermented beverages, and only moderate quantities. You can choose between water, milk and fruit juice."
Lith sighed deeply. It would not be the same without some spirits to lighten up his heavy mood.
"I'll take water."
Soon he completely forgot about his problems, the academy's chefs were worthy of a five-star restaurant. The meat was tender and juicy, without nerves. It simply melted in his mouth.
The potatoes were crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, spicy enough to make his blood run and pleasantly tickle his tongue.
The cream soup was excellent as well, but Lith ate it for last. He hated vegetables, of any form and kind. Yet he left the plate clean, he knew how important it was keeping his diet balanced while his growth spurt approached.
He managed to enjoy his whole meal, ignoring the people around him and only looking at the forest outside. It stretched as long as his eye could see, and during his brief time in the canteen he was able to spot many beasts and herbs he had never seen before.
- "I wish I could take seconds, but if I eat too much, I will be so sleepy that I will be barely able to pay attention. It's my first lesson for my Master healer specialization, and first impression is very important."-
Despite considering himself to already be a great healer, Lith was really curious about tier four light spells, since there was none in all the books he had previously access to.
- "Over the years, there were so many things that I wasn't able to come up with a solution for, so many patients I have lost. This is my occasion to learn from the masters and impress them.
If I manage to keep my status as an A rank student, my life will be much easier!" -
Chapter 61 A New Lesson
After finishing his delicious lunch, Lith had one hour off. No one had approached his table, and that made him actually very happy.
He was very fond of his personal space, not to mention he had no desire of wasting time doing small talk with a lot of kids.
Despite his physical appearance, Lith's mind was that of a grown-up man, that between his three lives had lived for almost forty years.
Except for being hormonal, due to his teenage body, and being addicted to oxygen, there was nothing he had in common with his classmates.
From that perspective, isolation was a blessing in disguise. If he spoke to no one, it was impossible for anyone to notice how different he was from his peers.
He and Solus had already discussed during the meal, both regretting that, for security reasons, the academy would not make any book available for the studying until the end of the first day.
- "It's such a pity." Solus said. "If we had them, we could already put them into Soluspedia, getting light years ahead of the other students. Instant knowledge!"
"Yeah. But I can understand the importance of this rules. Specializations are exclusives of the six big academies.
If they just delivered them at the students' homes, before the beginning of the year, their contents would be accessible to all the family members. This kind of knowledge can't be released without supervision."
"And what about once the students get the opportunity to go back home, at the end of the trimester?"
Lith mentally shrugged, his stood up from the chair and started walking towards his room.
"By that time, they already have gained the status of students. According to what Linjos told us in his office, they are both protected and kept under surveillance. My guess is that the books can't leave the academy's premises.
The only things one can take out, are what he has learned or copied in his grimoire. If you love your family, you will not put them into danger by disclosing state secrets that could cost them their and your life.
If you hate them, instead, the moment they try to coerce you, you just need to rat them out to get rid of them for good. It's a win-win situation." –
Once back into his room, Lith called his parents. He had left home only seven hours ago, yet the enthusiasm they showed him was like he had disappeared for years.
"My little bay!" Elina was on the verge of tears. "Are they treating you all right? Are you eating properly?"
"Yes, mom. Everything is fine." He lied through his teeth. "The Professors I met today were all amazing. My classmates are kinda stuck-up, but so far so good. Not to mention the food. I wish I could bring you some, it's just wonderful."
Contrary to his expectations, time flew by, and he was forced to leave Tista in a hurry, after giving her a consult about a patient of hers.
All the activities related to each year, took place on their own floor.
The problem was that each floor was so big that getting lost or taking a long detour was pretty easy. In Lith's case, he had miscalculated the time he needed to reach the classroom.
Only when he heard resounding the gong that announced the beginning of the lessons, he had realized how long he had spent chatting.
- "F*ck! The first thing I'm going to re-invent as soon as I become a Forgemaster, is a damn wristwatch. How the heck does people keep track of the time?" -
Solus calculated that even going double time, Lith would have not made it, so he was forced to run. To avoid smelling on his first day, he used water magic to collect the sweat in his palm as soon as it formed, sending it straight in Solus' pocket dimension.
Despite all his best efforts, he was the last one to arrive. Luckily, thought, the professor in charge had yet to show up. According to the schedule, Lith would have met Professor Marth, the very same that had created Blood Resonance magic.
It was a great opportunity to get his attention, and maybe, if opportunity arose, share some of his knowledge with him. Having one of the Light department's top experts as his backer, or even better as a mentor, could be a real game changer.
- "Be cool, and try not to sound desperate, old man." Lith thought to himself.
"We have a full year ahead together, maybe even two. I need to play my cards right, keep my admission score while improving my status. I don't give a damn about friends. The other students are useless.
Allies, on the contrary, can help me keep my family safe from the like of Duke Hestia and provide me with the resources I'll need to set my own Forgemaster laboratory. I can't waste years grinding for gold, I need time to travel and find the answer to my resurrection problem." -
The classroom was much smaller than the one for the mandatory lessons. It was a square room, with each side twelve meters (13 yards). In front of the chalkboard, there were three rows of desks, separated by small corridors.
It could accommodate comfortably up to fifty students, yet according to Solus, there were only twenty-six students attending, Lith included. He occupied the closest spot to the chalkboard, sitting near the other students.
When they threw a mean glare at him, he just took out the Ballot, forcing them to shut up and mind their own business. After what had happened that morning, they didn't dare to move away from him.
Not to mention doing that would mean getting even farther from the chalkboard and the Professor. The floor was even, making it already hard to see through all the heads in front of them.
The man who walked in the room was outstanding in his own way. He was quite short, barely over 1.55 meters (5'1") high, at least sixty years old.
The top of his head was completely bald, the hair he had left on the sides was snow-white and so were his waxed handlebar moustaches. His belly was so big that it made hard to guess if he was larger than high.
That, together with his pure white robe, made him resemble a real life Humpty Dumpty.
"Hello, dear students. I'm Professor Vastor, and I'll guide you through your first steps in the light magic Master healer course."
Not everyone was as ignorant as Lith, most of them already knew what Professor Marth looked like. Before Professor Vastor could finish his introduction, the class was filled with saddened groans.
His disgruntled expression to such reaction, expressed clearly how angered he was by that blatant lack of respect.
"I'm very sorry to disappoint you, but as you should have predicted, Professor Marth can't waste his precious time with the likes of you. The whole light magic research department rests on his shoulders, so you'll have to settle for me.
Words cannot express how it saddens me, to notice that even country bumpkins have more manners than the high and mighty nobles."
He wasn't referring to just Lith, but to all the students that thanks to their poor background had failed to recognize him, looking at him with admiration despite his funny appearance.
"I have good news and bad news, for all of you. The good news is that we won't spend two hours in this class. I'll just explain to you the differences between tier three and four of healing magic, after that we will move in the academy's hospital.
There we will do some trial rounds of our resident patients, giving you the chance to meet both Professor Marth and Professor Manohar, if we are lucky enough."
The class exploded in cheers and applauses.
- "What the heck?" Lith thought. "Where do they think we are, at the stadium? Back on Earth my college professors would have skinned them alive for such behaviour." –
Vastor had a very Earth-like expression at the moment, his hands were trembling with rage, dilating his nostrils at every breath.
"The bad news…" He continued, cutting them short.
"…is that it means I will start evaluating you all right off the bat. Even today's rounds will help us evaluate your skills, separating the gold from shiny trash."
The room fell silent, most of the students in the first row had lost all their enthusiasm. Some were having stomach cramps due to nervousness, others seemed on the verge of puking.
It wasn't at all as they had imagined their first day of specialization would be.
Professor Vastor was delighted by the result of his speech, curling his moustaches with a sadistic grin on his face.
"Let's not waste any more time. I'm sure you can't wait to stop listening to my gibberish and become real healers, like your hero, Professor Marth."
- "Man, I don't need tier four magic to diagnose Professor Vastor a really bad case of 'Envy syndrome'. Being so petty at his age is really sad." Solus said.
"Yeah. Happens when you lose your throne to someone younger and more talented. I feel the same way." Lith replied, thinking how lucky his classmates were, being born with cyan mana cores, without having to work hard for years to reach that level. –
"First of all, who can tell me what are the greatest limitations of tiers one to three of light magic?"
Lith raised his hand, but so did everyone else. Vastor chose one of them at random to answer.
"You, with the snob face. Feel free to share with the class." He said pointing to a girl with shoulder length black hair in the first row.
"Professor, my name is actually…"
"I don't care." Vastor cut her short.
"I expect at least half of you to drop out within the first six months. I won't bother remembering your names."
Most faces turned red with anger, while Lith was inwardly smiling.
If compared to most nobles he had encountered in the past, Professor Vastor was really polite. At least he didn't discriminate, he treated everyone like cr*p.
Chapter 62 A New Lesson 2
The black-haired girl was simply outraged. She belonged to one of the ancient noble families, admired and respected in all the Griffon Kingdom. She had always been treated like a princess of royal blood, no one had ever dared disrespect her.
Now, not only she had to endure all those harsh words, but also had no way to bite back Professor Vastor. Threatening a mage belonging to an academy, was like spitting towards the sky, it would always backfire.
All he had to do, was give her a bad evaluation to put an end to her career as a healer. Having five siblings and being at the bottom of the line of succession, magic was her only redeeming feature.
She could only swallow her pride and answer:
"The lower tiers of light magic have two insurmountable limits. The first being that light magic can only enhance the recovery of the patient. If he/she suffered from an excessive blood loss or is already on the verge of death, healing magic is useless.
The second limit…"
"Okay, enough. Your turn, edgy face." He cut her short, pointing his finger at Lith.
"The second limit is that it cannot regrow lost body parts, be it organs or limbs. Clean cut fingers or extremities can be reattached, but only if well preserved and within an hour from the amputation."
"Correct and correct!" Vastor almost sounded disappointed.
"Now, who can tell me how, hypothetically, the first issue could be solved?" Everyone raised his hand, once again.
"You, with the pauper face." He said to a petite girl with long brown hair, sitting a few desks away from Lith. Because of her small and scrawny build, it was hard to imagine her twelve years old, she looked barely a day past eight.
Clearly, she had suffered from malnutrition for a long time. Lith's sixth sense told him that the academy's uniform was probably the first pretty clothes she had ever had.
With all the stress from her first day of academy, the threats and insults from Professor Vastor had been the last straw for her. When she tried to answer, only hiccups came out, she was fighting back her tears.
- "What a d*ck." Lith thought. -
His hand instinctively played with the Ballot, but he didn't activate it. It was her problem, not his. She had done nothing for him when he had been bullied twice that morning, that made him eager to return to favour.
His movements, though, didn't escape Professor Vastor eyes.
- "Oh, for f*ck's sake! I had almost forgot about the bum with the Ballot. If that thing is recording and he bothers reporting me to the Headmaster, I will be in deep sh*t.
Linjos has been crystal clear that professors' tough love is now considered bullying, and has tried more than once to fire me. He's just waiting for an excuse to replace me with one of his angry lackeys. Dammit, I'm too old to lose such a good job."-
"I'm so sorry, young miss. I didn't mean to offend you. There, there. Take your time before answering." His voice was suddenly all milk and honey, offering her a handkerchief from his chest pocket.
Despite her frail looks, she needed but a second to compose herself.
"The only way to do it…" she replied sniffling from time to time.
"…would be to somehow infuse the patient with an external source of life force. But that's impossible. I worked as a healer since I was six years old, I've tried countless spells and always failed.
Light magic cannot create or pass energy, only nourish what is already there."
The whole class nodded.
- "Heck if I know." Lith thought. "The only patients I have ever failed were those that arrived too late for being saved. Not even my true magic could transfuse life force." -
"Correct, young miss!" This time he sounded genuinely happy, the class was starting to think he suffered from severe mood swings.
"And don't worry, here at the light department we will fix your growth problem in a snap, you have my word." After making sure to be outside hot waters, he resumed his snarky tone.
"The little one is right, light magic cannot do it. No matter how talented the mage or how complex the spell, it's impossible. Yet tier four light magic can. Anyone wants to take an educated guess?"
The classroom fell silent, no hand was raised.
Professor Vastor sneered at their ignorance, puffing his chest.
"Oh, oh, oh! Seems you still have much to learn. But you have come to the right place. The answer is: it's only possible by mixing it with darkness magic"
"What?!" "How?!" "The f*ck?!"
Professor Vastor ignored their shocked expression and the exclamations filling the air, while waving his hands in the air, generating with first magic a black and white circle identical to Earth's representation of Yin and Yang.
"The greatest legacy left us from Magus Silverwing, is the knowledge that light and darkness magic are but one. They perpetually dance together in all things. When one pushes, the other pulls.
When light steps forward, darkness steps backwards and vice versa. When they are in harmony life thrives, otherwise only death awaits. The key to tier four light magic is weaving them together.
Dark magic takes the energy from the donor, while light magic allows it to enter the patient's body without backlashes. Balancing them is the key to success."
- "F*ck me sideways!" Lith though. "How can I be so stupid? I read that goddamn book hundreds of times, I should have understood this years ago by myself. I wish I was more talented in magic, or at least smarter."
"Hey, that's offensive!" Solus rebuked. "I'm way smarter than you, and I have failed nonetheless. The real problem is that our approach to magic is too naïve. By my maker, I hate feeling so useless. If only I still had my memories…"-
"Excuse me, Professor, I have a question." Snob face awoke them from their self -pity moment.
"If here at the White Griffon we mix light and dark magic together for healing, what's the difference between us and the Black Griffon? Can't they do the same?"
"The difference, dear snob face, lies in the purpose. Here at the White Griffon, we are proud of our light magic department, where we can cure almost everything.
At the Black Griffon, they specialize in destroying things."
The rest of the hour Professor Vastor showed them again and again the simplest tier four light magic spell, until everyone was capable of performing it.
The fastest students turned out to be young miss, an arrogant faced kid, snob face, and edgy face, in this order.
Lith had done his best. He needed to experience the spell with fake magic, before being able to reproduce and enhance it with true magic. Yet he ended up in fourth place.
After that, Professor Vastor opened a Warp Steps that brought them right outside the academy's hospital.
- "Lith, by keeping open the portal for so long, the Professor gave me the time I needed to clear its mystery. The reason why the staff can open them with such ease, it's because of the ring with the academy's insignia they wear.
The whole castle is a giant artifact, they simply use the rings to tap into its powers. If your uniform has so many functions, I can't even imagine what something as big and powerful as this building can do." -
Lith didn't reply, he just wondered how powerful Solus could be, compared to the academy, if she regained her old power. He had only found mentions of magic towers in fairy tales, and they were described as something unfathomable.
According to the lore, within his own magic tower a mage was nigh omnipotent. But fairy tales also told about fairy godmothers, elves, sprites and happy endings, and he had yet to meet someone that took any of those things seriously.
When he had spoken about them with Nana, Lark and the Marchioness, they had all mocked him for his childish daydreams.
When the students entered through the double doors, they found hard to believe to their eyes.
The academy's hospital ward would put any Earth's hospital to shame. The floors were able to self-clean, the beds would move and massage the patients' bodies to avoid bedsores, constantly keeping in check their vitals.
The air was fresh and clean, free of the smell of disinfectants that usually plagues those places. Everything looked more like out of a celebrity resort rather than a place where people went to die.
"What a marvel of magic!" Said the arrogant faced boy from before, a fifteen-year-old 1.65 meters (5'5") high with red hair. "But I suppose it was to be expected, since you were the one designing the whole thing, Professor Vastor."
"Yurial, my boy!" Professor Vastor finally recognized him.
"Long time no see. How is your old man, Deirus? Being an archmage is a big burden, you must be ready to step in and help him as soon as possible."
"My dad is doing fine, thank you. I'll send him your regards. With your help I'm sure I will be able to keep up the family tradition."
"But of course! Mage bloodlines are highly treasured here at the light department. I hope you'll show all those snotty nobles and poor commoners what a true magician is made of."
- "I stand corrected." Lith thought. "He does discriminate, just not the way I am used to. He seems to be a sucker to magical families instead of noble ones. I guess not every Professor can be like Trasque or Nalear." -
Just thinking her name sent a warm feeling through his body, that Lith hastily suppressed. He despised himself for his weak, hormonal body, wasting his precious time and energies on teenage delusions.
Lith could not afford any slip ups, the trial round was about to begin, and he was determined to shine among his peers.
Chapter 63 The Importance Of Status
Professor Vastor was true to his word, he brought them to the hospital's Intensive Care Unit (ICU), and asked them in turns to diagnose the nature of the patients' condition.
Vastor would take notes about their answers, to confront them with the charts. He wasn't allowed to gave them scores on their first day, but he didn't hesitate to harshly reprimand those who missed any detail, humiliating them in front of the class.
Because of the nature of the task, the class was split into two groups, right after each one of them had examined their first patient. The following rounds allowed Vastor to further split the groups based on the students' degree of expertise.
In the first group, belonged those who had chosen the Master healer specialization, lured by the prestige the title implied. Yet they lacked either any experience in the healer practice or the resources to have a proper tutor to make up for it.
Vastor was immediately able to spot them, since they were only able to use Vinire Rad Tu, the ubiquitous tier one diagnostic spell.
In the second group, instead, there were snob face, edgy face, young miss, Yurial and all those who had at their disposal a diagnostic personal spell or even more than one.
Much to his surprise, the archmage's son Yurial was equalled in talent and precision by the snob faced girl, while the young miss and the edgy faced kid ran circles around even them, standing out like hawks among crows.
Especially edgy face had proven to be capable of finding minor details, that even the academy's Master healers had missed in their diagnosis. It was nothing big, but he was also able to suggest ways to improve their prognosis, hastening the healing process.
Vastor hadn't arrived at his age and social standing by letting something insignificant, like his personal prejudices or preferences, stand in the way of his best interests.
- "Commoners or not, those two smells of success. Even that snotty faced brat is damn good, if she is able to hold her ground against a pureblood like Yurial. I have always been proud of my knack for recognizing true talent.
I don't care if the spotlight I'm under is mine or someone's else. As long I get to maintain my status and position, anything goes. I have to get in their good graces before anyone else.
After they get famous, I would be a nobody. Right now, I'm all their world. Time to jot down some names and remember them properly." -
"I'd say we have some winners." While talking to the top four students, Vastor's voice had lost any trace of sarcasm and disrespect. He spoke with a soft and amiable tone, like a grandfather talking to his beloved grandkids.
"Would you mind to introduce yourself properly to the class? It would motivate them to work hard enough to compete with you all."
- "If they are delusional enough to believe they even have a sliver of hope, of course." He inwardly sneered. –
In his mind, Vastor had already separated the cream from the milk, and the milk from the p*ss. He was merely being polite.
"My name is Friya Solivar." Like everyone else, she was wearing pants not a skirt, so while doing the curtsy she held up her robe instead.
"My mother is Duchess Solivar, I hope you have heard about her."
Vastor's eyebrow rose, while he was racking his brain trying to remember.
"Ah, yes. I heard only praises about how she managed to stop that terrible flood last year. Such an ingenious woman was bound to have gifted daughter. I'm sure you have a bright future ahead of you."
He skipped Yurial, he doubted that even those boneheads could have missed him flaunting his status of archmage Deirus' heir.
After making a few gestures to one of his attendants, Vastor stood in front of the petite girl, smiling kindly.
"My name is Quylla from Cerea. I'm twelve years old." Quylla didn't know etiquette or how to introduce herself, so she just made a deep bow while sharing what she deemed to be relevant.
"So young yet so skilled! You truly are a diamond in the rough." Vastor received from his attendant a bottle containing a purple liquid, that he gifted to Quylla with a small bow.
"Here, this is one of the best tonics our master Alchemists can prepare. Drink a glass of it every night before going to bed, and you'll grow up like a mushroom. I'm sure you'll become a beautiful lady."
Quylla took his bait, line and sinker, blushing up to her ears for the compliments. She had never received anything so precious in her life, so she held the bottle like a baby, stuttering her thanks.
Contrary to his expectations, edgy face had taken out his notebook, literally jotting down what the others had said. He made the brilliant move of using water magic to write instead of a pen.
- "Perfect silent water magic. My gut never fails me." - Vastor's smile widened, he was sure to have struck a gold mine.
"Showing respect to your competitors is always a smart move, young man."
Following the etiquette books he had stored in Soluspedia, Lith took a step back, in sign of respect towards Professor Vastor, before performing a deep bow.
"I always write down everything that's significant, to make it easier to remember. The three of them are the only ones worthy of attention, after all."
After the poor figure he did during Professor Nalear's class, Lith was brimming with confidence. Thanks to Invigoration, he was certain to have performed better than anyone else.
For the first time in his life, he didn't feel anymore like a frog in the well. He had finally found something he was actually the best at.
After how his classmates had treated him, Lith didn't care to keep up appearances. He was already a pariah, someone they threw trash at without a care. He had nothing to lose anymore.
Lith would treat them just like they did to him, with spite and showing no mercy.
"My name is Lith from Lutia. I'm twelve years old too."
"Twelve years?! Lith?" Lith was already taller than him, (AN: Lith is 1.6 m aka 5'3" high) so Vastor had failed to recognize him.
"I've heard so much around you. Heck, everyone here has. Guys…" He was allegedly talking to the whole class, but he looked only at the other three, to make sure they paid attention.
"…Lith, here, is the one that cracked the so-called 'curse', a unique poison that had eluded even the best of us. Have you heard about it?" Friya and Yurial nodded, while Quylla and many others shook their heads.
Vastor's heart bleed at the idea of wasting so much paper, but he couldn't make a single copy of the report just for Quylla. The other students would have complained about such blatant discrimination.
While his attendant was handing the reports, he kept tending at his gold mine.
"A twelve-year-old hexacaster, with great talent in light magic to boot, that's how he got his admission."
Between his build, height and everything they had learned in the last minute, Lith's classmates were looking at him with new eyes, even a hint of respect. Friya and Yurial regretted what they had done earlier.
If instead of throwing trash at him they had managed to get on his good book, maybe he could have taught them so much. For a second, Friya thought that she was the only one to have another chance.
After what happened earlier, this Lith was clearly sensitive to feminine charms, and she was quite pretty. But when she smiled at him, opening her mouth to start chatting, he sent her a cold glare that sent shivers down her spine.
His eyes were empty, like those of a predator that's about to rip its prey apart. Friya swallowed back her hopes and pretended that nothing had happened.
"Lith, my boy, you should smile more. If you keep glaring at everyone, how could they notice how handsome you are?" Vastor patted his shoulder.
- "Me? Handsome? What a bootlicker! How can he even think I didn't notice his 180° turn of attitude?" Lith thought.
"I think he knows you did, he just hopes you don't care." Solus replied. "As for the handsome, yeah, you are not at Trasque level, but maybe if you drop the teenage serial killer look…" –
Quylla too was regretting what had happened earlier, but for entirely different reasons. She didn't do anything against Lith, but she hadn't helped him either. Like the others, she had always kept her distance.
In hindsight, she maybe would have helped another commoner of her own age. But he was tall and scary, so she mistook him for a noble. Not to mention that her class scared her even more.
"Well, enough with the rounds, I already got what I need. Let me show you all where the real magica happens."
Vastor walked them through few corridors and into another ward. The plaque above the door was self-explanatory "Missing Limbs".
"As you should have realized, this is where we move the patients that have lost one or more limbs, after stabilizing their conditions. We can actually regrow them from scratch, but it's a long and difficult spell. Follow me."
The ward was almost empty, only a couple of beds were occupied. Unlike the ICU, it was filled with flowers and magic paintings, making the atmosphere soothing and relaxing. The walls were magic frescos, depicting sunny woods, so vivid to seem true.
Professor Vastor brought them around the bed of a twenty something years old blonde guy, that was missing his right arm. Only a small stump remained.
"Students, allow me to introduce you captain Zarran. He lost his arm in a skirmish against the Gorgon empire, while defending the northern borders of your Kingdom."
The man was clearly embarrassed. Unlike most of the ICU patients, he was awake and clear-headed. Despite they were politely greeting him, he couldn't help but feel like a horse at the market, ready to be probed and examined mercilessly.
Suddenly, the ward's double doors opened again. The man that walked in, drew the attention of all the staff and almost all students. From their gasps of admiration, Lith could deduce that he was either Professor Marth or Manohar.
- "Bright blue mana core." Solus pointed out. "My money on him being Marth."
"Not accepting the bet." Lith replied. –
"Professor Marth, so nice to see you." Vastor said with a smile from ear to ear.
"I was just about to explain the fourth-year students the regrowth procedure. Do you want to do the honours?"
Chapter 64 The Importance Of Status 2
Professor Marth was a man around forty years old, about 1.78 meters (5'10") high, with thick blonde hair. Aside from his goatee, his face was perfectly shaven, revealing a calm and youthful appearance.
Judging from the bags under his eyes and the slouching posture, it was evident that he lacked sleep. It was no wonder that he had asked Professor Vastor to stand in for him.
When he saw the students, he straightened up, smiling at the small crowd.
"Gladly, dear colleague. Sorry to have missed our appointment, kids. Since Professor Manohar returned, things have been hectic, there's a lot he needs to catch up with."
The class made a small bow, accepting his apologies, eager to learn from one of the two most famous heads of the White Griffon light department.
"First of all, the impossibility to regrow limbs or organs is a common misconception. The human body actually has such capabilities, but they are normally dormant. To temporarily awoke them, is necessary a huge amount of energy.
We are talking about so much mana, that is impossible for a single mage to perform the spell alone. Usually the procedure requires two teams. The first one to perform the spell, setting the regeneration process in motion.
The second one, instead, has to give energy to the patient for him to survive. Otherwise, the strain from growing a full limb in a matter of minutes would drain his body of all the nutrients, killing him on the spot.
Most organs are even trickier, since time is of the utmost importance. A single mage can regenerate small ones like kidneys, but bigger or vital organs usually require too much energy. It's best for a lone mage to keep the vitals stable while calling for help."
- "Interesting." Lith thought. "Based on the little I know, maybe the large mana expenditure is due to the fact that what they actually do without knowing it, is collecting and stimulating adult stem cells in the patient's body.
That or in this world they have a healing factor, but I highly doubt it.
If I am right, with true magic I could do all by myself, but it would take days if not weeks. The on/off nature of fake magic, makes things too hard for both the healer and the patient. True magic, instead, allows to divide things by steps, like I did for Tista." -
Professor Marth continued.
"You are in for a treat, since I was just to about to start growing captain Zarran a new right arm."
The soldier smiled awkwardly, he wasn't feeling like a market horse anymore, more like a lab rat.
"The first step is to take in consideration the sex and the build of the patient, then choose the best limb template at our disposal."
"Template?" Lith echoed dumbstruck, drawing on himself reproachful looks from his peers.
"Yes, template. We can't allow the new limb to grow endlessly, the spell needs specific measurements to work properly."
An assistant brought to Marth a cart full of wooden arms, that the Professor compared to the remaining limb, searching for the most similar one.
"Each of these models corresponds to a different spell. Here at the White Griffon we have the biggest archive of regenerating spells of all the Kingdom. I like to think that in part is thanks to my work."
After choosing the best fit, Professor Marth called the rest of the team via his communicator amulet, forming two teams of three mages each.
"Technically, two mages per group should be enough." He explained. "The third one is to be sure that everything goes fine. This is no warzone, there is no need of taking unnecessary risks."
Both the spells took only a few seconds to cast, the new arm started to grow back at an amazing rate. After about half an hour, the new limb was completely formed. The class exploded into an applause, all the medical staff accepted it with a small bow.
Captain Zarran was crying out of joy, flexing his new fingers. He still couldn't believe it, in his eyes it was a miracle. He was a cripple no more, soon he would be able to resume active duty, instead of being locked behind a desk.
The only discordant note in all that joyous atmosphere was Lith. He was closely looking to both arms, noticing the differences. The real one was much more muscular, with a higher bone density plus the new one was even a little shorter.
He offered Zarran both his index fingers.
"Squeeze them as hard as you can."
After that test, he shook his head.
"Professor Marth, is it normal for the new arm to be so out of proportions and weak?"
He could see most of his classmates glaring or signalling him to shut up.
- "Morons." He inwardly sneered. "In any scientific field, researchers are always looking for curious people, that make questions and challenge the standard knowledge. They have no need for trained monkeys that just follow orders.
Without doubts there is no progress, only stagnation. Kids are so naïve." –
"Yes, it is. It will take a couple years of training and therapy, but after that, it should be as good as the old one. Good catch, is rare seeing someone so young showing such attention to the details, instead of pestering me to teach him some spell."
The praises made his classmates feel stupid as sheeps. Professor Vastor was giggling.
- "I knew it! Pure gold. Thank the gods for my knack." –
"Why? Is there something wrong? What would you do differently?" Marth asked.
Lith pondered for a while before replying. He could not believe that such opportunity would have presented itself right off the bat. All those years spent preparing to teach Tista healing magic, were about to get him an unexpected pay-off.
"Professor, I do not mean to be rude, but how much do you know about anatomy?"
Professor Marth tilted his head by the side, surprised by the apparently silly question.
"I know everything I need. The shape and position of the bones, what and where are the various organs, and so on. I'm a healer, not a doctor. I only need to know the necessary for magic to perform at its best."
Realizing how shallow was their knowledge, Lith understood that the use of magic must had slowed down, if not completely stopped, the scientific progress in the Kingdom. He wasn't disappointed, quite the contrary.
It just made what he had to offer even more precious.
Lith ripped off a blank page from his notebook and then used water magic to write down in detail one of his fake magic personal spells that he had created for Tista years ago.
"An image is worth a thousand words." He said handing the page to Professor Marth.
"Are you really willing to share your diagnostic spell with the academy and the Kingdom?" Professor Marth was dumbstruck, while Professor Vastor was pale as a ghost.
- "He can't be that dumb! Why the heck is he giving up such an advantage against his competitors? Can my knack have finally failed me?" He thought. –
"It's not a diagnostic spell." Lith explained. "It's something I created long ago to get a better understanding of the human body. I don't even use it anymore, but I think it could be critical to your research in this field."
Both the Professor sighed of relief, they both had seen too many talented youths so eager to please to make irreparable mistakes.
Full of curiosity, Professor Marth studied the spell. It was really easy, without a doubt a tier one spell.
"Done. Now?"
"Please, use it on the captain's original arm."
After performing the hands signs perfectly, Professor Marth said:
"Vinire Mark Urth!" Generating a small wisp of light, that on contact, enveloped the arm in a warm white light. Suddenly his mind received streams of information, that left him speechless.
The spell was an intentionally weaker, flawed and inaccurate version of what Lith was able to see thanks to Invigoration. The difference between the two were like heaven and earth.
The spell was incapable of showing injuries, to detect the mana flow or core or even the life force. To prevent Tista to accidentally stumble on true magic, Lith had made sure that everything was as he had planned.
It had no hint about any of those elements, the only way to add them to the spell, was rebuilding it from scratch and knowing already what to look for. Its purpose was to teach Lith's sister anatomy in detail, without dismembering humans, like he did.
As it was, Vinire Mark Urth did nothing more than show a fixed 3D imaging of the body part it was used on, giving the user a perfect understanding of the patient's body.
"This… This is…" Professor Marth was flabbergasted, considering all the possible applications of the spell.
"You see, If I were in your shoes, using this spell…"
"Hold that thought!" Marth cut him short, running away with the page clenched in his fist.
He returned after barely a minute, dragging another man from the arm, like a petulant child.
"No means no!" The dragged man screamed. "You cannot disturb me every time some stupid noble is about to die! Be it the King or his children, I don't care. If I spend another hour with all that paperwork, it will drive me crazy!"
"For the last time, no one is dying! Shut up and listen!"
Everyone was pointing to the new guy like he was some mythical beast.
- "Purple core! My money on him being Manohar." Solus yelled.
"Why do you keep trying to con me? What use do you have for money?" –
While Lith and Solus were having a mind-quarrel, Marth explained everything to Manohar, handing him the spell. After he performed it too, both Professors looked at Lith with eyes full of expectation.
Manohar was a man in his late twenties, with black hair and shades of silver. He was around 1.74 meters (5'9") meters high, with a slender build and a stubble at least three days old.
"Please, continue." Said Marth.
"As I was saying, I would use this spell before sending the most valuable soldiers to the front to be able to recreate their original limbs if necessity arises. That would avoid all the side effects of the spell that you just showed me.
Also, in cases like this one, I would take the information from the remaining arm and use it to generate a mirror image to replace the lost limb. The left and right limbs are not the same, but the result would still be much better than this one."
"And that is not all!" Manohar chimed in, a crazy light had appeared in his eyes.
"We could even devise a spell that's capable of taking that information by itself, and generate the limbs accordingly! We could finally throw away all those useless templates, using only one spell instead of many."
Everyone was shocked at the idea. Manohar often disappeared without notice or acted like a tantrumming child, but that kind of madness was the sign of the true genius. He had been able to see farther than the spell's creator in a matter of seconds.
Manohar took out his communicator amulet, opening the connection with the administrative department.
"What's your name, kid?" He asked.
"Lith from Lutia, sir."
"Ah! I should have known it! Finally, another smart mage to talk to. You have no idea how hard it is for me. Only Marth and a few others are able to have a proper conversation, everyone around here is so stupid!"
"Harrumph." A voice from the communicator amulet stopped his ramblings.
"Oh yes, I almost forgot. Points assignation for the student Lith from Lustria for sharing a tier one spell. 1000 points."
"1000 points?!" Repeated the male voice from the communicator amulet in disbelief.
"1000 points!?" Exclaimed almost all his classmates becoming green with envy.
"1000 points?" Asked both Lith and Quylla, that being for the first time in the academy had no idea if they were many or few.
"Yes, 1000 points! Is it so hard to understand?" Manohar was outraged by the academy having the gall to hire a clerk dumb or deaf if not both.
"I know it's too little…" He said apologetically to Lith.
"… but I can't give you more until I discuss it with the board. Also, you'll get compensation for each and every one of your suggestions. Good ideas are priceless in the research field. Be kind and graduate quickly.
I need more people like you and less idiots like this secretary, around these parts."
"Sir, the communication is still open." The clerk did a great job keeping his voice emotionless.
"I know it's open, you idiot. That why I'm telling you to get your ears fixed. I can't do nothing for your brain, but never give up hope. Magic advances every day by leap and bounds."
The clerk politely hanged up the call.
"How did you create this spell?" Marth interest was piqued. The idea was simple yet ground-breaking.
"He can save it for his biographer!" It was Manohar turn to drag Marth away by the arm. "To the paperwork, for the life on me! And then to the board! You do the talking, I don't speak stupids."
The gong resounded once more, marking the end of the lessons. After saying his goodbyes to Professor Vastor and to his three competitors, Lith walked away towards the Prize Hall.
Based on his understanding, it was time for a little shopping spree.
Chapter 65 Judging A Book By Its Cover
In the White Griffon, like in all the six big academies, students from different years had no common spaces, to avoid the older and stronger seniors to haze their juniors.
This feat had been achieved simply by having each academic year take place on a single floor. On the ground floor of the castle, there was the welcome area for the visitors and the Secretariat, were clerks would take care of the academy's paperwork.
The first floor accommodated the first year of academy, the second floor the second one, and so on.
Above the fifth floor there were the staff's living quarters and their personal labs, but most of the space was noted on the map as either empty or assigned to nondescriptly named departments.
Lith suspected that all the academy's private business, like the hidden specializations' training courses, took place there.
In that moment, thought, while looking at the castle map with Soluspedia, Lith wasn't wondering about the academy's mysteries, rather he was cursing its faulty design.
- "Dammit! It's no wonder that the Professors always move around with Warp Steps. I didn't realize it at first, but even a single floor is like a small city, much bigger than the whole Lutia village.
The Prize Hall is quite far from the hospital. It will take me at least ten minutes to reach it, and much more to return to my apartments. I hadn't planned on doing this much cardio! I'm tired, the only things I want to do are sleeping and eating.
The only silver lining in this situation, is that everyone is suffering the same fate. After the gong, Professor Vastor left on his own, leaving us stranded in the ward." –
With all that had happened during his first day, the psychological burden on Lith's mind was enormous.
Facing bullies, holding himself to use true magic, being forced to tolerate so many idiots without kicking their as*es, was something he was no longer used to. Since his rebirth, he had always kept the human interactions to a minimum.
Now he was constantly on alert, he couldn't lower his guard for a second, the Ballot always at hand. He couldn't wait to lock the door behind him, and finally have some peace and quiet.
- "I don't know if we'll ever be allowed to use Warp Steps in here…" Solus pondered.
"…but why exactly aren't we floating, flying or something? There is no rule against the use of magic within the academy, except if used to harm or harass others."-
Lith froze on the spot, facepalming because of his own stupidity.
- "Either I'm too tired to think clearly, or you are definitely smarter than I look. I love you, Solus." Lith thought.
"I love you more." She replied. –
Lith pretended to cast a personal flight spell, and then zoomed away sticking with his back on the ceiling. The ten minutes trip became a one minute flight at low speed, Lith couldn't risk crashing against someone else.
During that time, Lith contemplated how having a symbiotic relationship had changed his life. He was not thinking about Solus having a 360° 40/10 sight, her pocket dimension or any of her capabilities.
What never ceased to amaze him, was how he had come of being used to think of himself as "we" rather than "I" in his own thoughts. Despite the terror that she had struck in his heart after their first meeting, Solus was now closer to him than his sisters.
They shared even his dreams, while he was asleep.
When he arrived, the Prize Hall was a complete disappointment. Lith had imagined it like a library, but filled with magical treasures, with the shelves occupied by items and their descriptions.
He had thought about browsing through them, asking the clerks' help from time to time, but reality begged to differ. Squeezed between the Battle Mage and the War Mage training halls, stood something that closely resembled an ATM.
On the flashing display there was the blinking image of an opened palm, so Lith followed the fool-proof instructions, sending mana into it. The display turned bright, making a 3D hologram of a clerk appear.
It was a chubby woman in her thirties, with a tired face that put Lith's to shame. Her eyes focused on his face, Lith could see her fiddling with some kind of crystal.
"You are Lith of Lutia, right?" The crystal in her hands was projecting a detailed image of his facial features.
Lith nodded.
"Is anyone there with you? Is someone forcing you to spend your points?"
"No." Lith was cynical and paranoid, yet he was surprised by how bad things in the academies had to be, to enforce such protocol.
The woman pressed another crystal, and a bubble of light enveloped Lith.
"You are in a safe zone. No one can see or hear us now. Do you need help? I can send you a guard in a second with Warp Steps. Are you sure everything is fine?"
"Yes, I am fine. Thanks for your kindness."
"1000 points on your first day?!" The woman sounded sincerely amazed.
"Kid, you have hit the motherlode, feel free to check our inventory."
On the screen appeared something similar to a web page, that he could navigate through by using mana.
Dimensional items' prices ranged from the 100 to over 300 points, magic storing rings costed 100 points per tier. There were also weapons available, but Lith had never held a real one.
His training, back on Earth, made use only of wooden swords, knives and spears. The balance was completely different, and without a proper training they would be useless against a skilled opponent. Potions were the cheapest objects, costing 10 points each.
The most expensive item was the uniform, costing 5000 points. That would allow Lith to keep it even after concluding his studies, and have it looks changed to something less flashy.
Sadly, there was no wrist or pocket watch available.
He bought the cheapest dimensional amulet (80P), one magic storing ring for each of the first three tiers (600P), and a physical enhancement potion of each type (30P). Lith now had all he needed to mask the use of true magic and Solus.
The clerk sent him the items via Warp Steps one at a time, asking him to imprint them in front of her, for security reasons. Even the potions were no exception.
On his way back, he stopped at the canteen. It was too early for dinner, but he was in dire need for comfort food, so he stored a hot chocolate cup and some pastries before going back to his room.
The books had yet to be delivered, so he could finally relax and contemplate his purchases. The first thing he did, was use the speed, strength and skin hardening potions, comparing their effects with Fusion magic.
After filling them again with coloured water, all he had to do was to pretend to drink one of those to be able to activate Fusion magic without arising any suspicions, as long as he kept the effects similar.
Only when he went to the bathroom, he realized how big his room was. It was very similar to a one-bedroom apartment, around fifty meters (55 square yards). It had a double bed in the top right corner, his chest was in front of the bed.
A couple of meters to the left, against the wall, there was a wooden wardrobe.
On the left wall there was a hardwood desk and a chair for his studies, with a couple of empty bookshelves mounted above it. Furniture aside, the room was empty, making it appear even bigger.
An inner door lead to the biggest bathroom he had ever seen, occupying over a third of the room. There was a real toilet and a sink in front of a mirror, both with running water.
Lith was on the verge of tears, after all those years he had almost resigned himself to pee*ng in the wind and poo*ing in a hole in the ground. Even at Count Lark's home the best he could get was a chamber pot.
Most of the space, thought, was occupied by a bathtub big enough that could comfortably accommodate four people.
- "Is it me, or whoever designed this room has a dirty mind? First the double bed and now this?" Lith thought.
"Makes sense, considering they are piling up teenagers without parental control. Remember the spell Nana gifted us before going to the Lightning Griffon?" Solus pointed out.
"Actually, I had almost forgot it. But seeing how fast Tista and Rena developed, even at twelve years it mustn't have been hard for Nana finding a partner. I am tall for my age, but still hairless and shorter than most my classmates.
Not to mention that, even the idea of touching a kid makes me want to puke." –
Lith then took the most magnificent, comfortable dump since his rebirth. That moment alone made every hardship he experienced since coming into the academy fade away like a bad dream.
After that, he took a long hot bath, or at least that was the plan. He had barely dipped his body and lathered his hair when someone knocked at his door.
"I knew it! This should be the fourth law of thermodynamics: whenever a body and soap meet, a parcel arrives!"
Furious, with a wave of the hand he used water magic to remove most of the water and soap from his body, pulling out his uniform from the pocket dimension right on his body, like he had never undressed.
As predicted, a clerk had come to deliver him all the books required for the fourth year of academy. Noticing his frown and wet hair, the clerk guessed what had happened and left after making Lith sign his register.
After a bath and another call home, Lith went to dinner.
He was about to consume a delicious stuffed blinker when something unexpected happened. His perfect solitude was interrupted by three known individuals approaching his table. Lith stopped them before they could sit down.
"Sorry, but we have a saying in my village. The best way to enjoy a blinker requires only two guests: me and the blinker."
"We didn't want to share it, we just wanted to sit here, with you." Yurial said.
"Really?" Lith knitted his eyebrows. "Aren't you afraid of the consequences of associating yourself with a pariah?"
Yurial laughed at the idea, drawing all the eyes in the canteen. The only thing the others knew, was that the four of them belonged to the same specialization. Expecting a fight to break out, the room fell silent.
"What's there to be afraid of? My father is an archmage, he can wipe out most of these guys with a finger snap. Besides, powerful mages should stick together."
"Yeah? What about the glass flask you threw at me this morning? Or the dirty handkerchief she hit me on the head with?" Lith said while pointing at Friya, who became red from the embarrassment.
"How do you know it? I was right behind you."
"I'm that good."
"I admit it, we started with the wrong foot, but there's no reason we cannot be friends." Yurial said with a confident and charismatic attitude.
"Friends?" Lith stood up, the audience even stopped chewing, trying to eavesdrop their conversation.
"That's the son of an archmage!" "Guess he doesn't fear the coward's end." "I hope they kill each other." These were some of the comments that Lith and Solus managed to perceive.
"If you were in my shoes, would you really be friends with someone that first mistreated you, only to act all friendly when he has discovered your talent? My educated guess is no.
You all should have been smarter, and not have judged a book just by its cover. Lucky for me, you revealed your true nature, so I won't buy your nice act."
"I admit it, I was wrong and I apologize for that." Yurial was unrelenting, Lith had to give him that much. "You may not like us, but try to be more pragmatic. If they see you with us, your life will be much easier."
"Point taken." Lith replied. "But right now, I don't feel like making 'friends', maybe another time." He extended his hand to Yurial, who promptly shook hit.
"Thanks for not threatening me with your dad's power. Much appreciated."
"Would have worked?" Yurial asked with a smile.
"No, I would have called your bluff. Neither you or any archmage, strikes me as someone so petty and short-sighted, of making an enemy out of entire academy for something so trivial."
Yurial accepted the compliment and walked away, closely followed by Friya. Quylla remained behind, staring at Lith with her big puppy eyes.
"Sorry for not helping you this morning, but I was too scared to move." She said in a low tone. "They aren't bad guys, I think they deserve a second chance. They have been really nice to me."
Lith snarled, closing his face to hers in a threatening manner, but his voice was actually calm and caring.
"Listen well, short stuff. Never trust people just because of a few cheap words or presents. To them our talent is just a tool, they do not consider us as equals.
People will always be nice and friendly until you serve your purpose, but at the first mistake they'll drop you like garbage. Stick to those two, but don't let them use you. And now go, before someone thinks we are friends.
Either you take a Ballot too, or stay the heck away from me. Go!"
Lith yelled the last word for the others to hear. In his eyes Quylla was destined to end up like Nana, unless she managed to wise up and shed away her childish naivety.
Finally alone, Lith sat back down and started to wolf down his dinner.
- "You'll see, you bastards. It's only a matter of time before this young snake from Lutia becomes a dragon and swallows you whole." -
Chapter 66 Error Of Judgmen
The next day, after breakfast, Lith could notice that people were looking at him with astonished eyes. He had no idea if it depended by his new set of rings and the amulet in plain sight, over the shirt. After all, only the user knew its quality, they looked all the same.
Another possibility was that the news from the Master healer class had started to spread. Either way, he didn't care. Lith just waved his hand to those who stared at him for too long, giving them the finger and forcing them to turn around.
The first lesson would be with Professor Trasque again, this time in Theory of Combat Magic's training hall. While everyone else was on foot, checking the map from time to time, Lith flew straight to destination, arriving several minutes earlier.
He spent that time with Solus, reviewing all the contingency plans they had prepared against Professor Nalear's dumbing effect.
Thanks to Soluspedia, he had no need to read and memorize what was required for any lesson, but he still needed to practice the accents and hand signs.
Knowing was not doing. Still, Soluspedia had given him a lot of spare time, compared to his peers, and he had used that time to prepare for the worse.
Lith had no idea if his new body was so much worse than his old one against hormones, or if his problem was psychologic.
Maybe he was so disaccustomed to strong positive feelings, that the unexpected first crush had been able to caught him off guard. All the good things that happened in his life, he had obtained them through effort and hard work.
He wasn't used for things to go well just because of luck. Lith needed years of constant care and affection, before accepting that his new family was composed by good people.
And now, out of the blue, he had such strong feelings for a complete stranger, that just thinking about her, would make him feel all warm and fuzzy inside.
- "If just the idea of looking into those eyes, bright green as a luscious forest during spring, under the noonday sun, makes me weak in the knees and dries my mouth, I'm scared to death by what the real thing could do." Lith thought.
"Yeah, agreed." Solus sneered. "It's only getting worse, you are only a few bad rhymes away to write her a poem."
"Yes." Lith inwardly sighed. "The good thing is that unless I think about her, I'm able to be my usual self. I must avoid turning into a rambling fool if she comes near me. Solus, I'm depending on you in case sh*t hits the fan. Do your worst." –
The training hall was even bigger than the canteen. The space inside was completely empty, except for circular rings with a diameter of ten metres (11 yards), evenly spaced among them and spread throughout the whole room.
Lith's train of thought was interrupted only when he saw Professor Trasque arrive, followed by Headmaster Linjos. After all of the students had arrived, Linjos made them sit down on the ground. He had something to tell.
"If any of you is asking himself why Lady Hestia, Lady Vark and Lady Carn haven't attended any of yesterday's lessons, the answer is they were busy packing their stuff. As a matter of fact, they have been dishonourably expelled from this academy.
The terrible events that transpired yesterday, have been added to their personal files. They can apply to other academies, yet I doubt anyone will give them even a probation admittance.
I am not telling you this because I want to threaten you. I just want you to realize that your actions have consequences. Life isn't a game, there is no do over. More importantly, I want you reflect about the society you want to live in.
Does anyone of you know that, despite at the beginning of each year six out of ten students belong to the great noble families, seven out of ten of those that actually manage to graduate are just commoners, merchants and small nobles?
And why is that? Because while the nobles waste their time harassing others, thinking that their family name will always solve every problem, the others work hard, knowing how important magic is. They don't have the luxury of a second chance.
If a noble fails, he just returns to his beautiful manor, his whole life is still planned ahead for him. Those who succeed, instead, have too much to lose, and their motivation keeps them focused. Most of the time, a huge part of that motivation is revenge.
Do you realize how many mages have destroyed entire noble households because of past grudges? Do you really want to live in a world were commoners tremble in fear of the nobles, while the nobles in turn fear the mages?
It's because of this flawed morality that our Kingdom is slowly devolving into chaos. The academy rules don't just protect the commoners from you, they also protect you from the mages of tomorrow.
Might makes right is all fun and games, until you find someone stronger than you. Then, it becomes a nightmare, were you can lose everything on a whim of your better. Law is a shield to defend the weak, not a sword to threaten others' lives.
I hope that you all take my words to heart. Thanks for your time."
As soon as the Headmaster left the room, the air filled with comments about the news. It had been years since the last time someone managed to get expelled, and it only happened because a Professor witnessed the events.
It was easy to predict where the discussion was headed, so Lith took out the Ballot and stood up near Professor Trasque. He had joined the academy a little more than 24 hours ago, and all that mean looks routine had already bored him to death.
Trasque didn't miss any of it.
"Still blaming the victim, uh? Our Headmaster is really a good guy. He really believes in you lot. As for me, I believe that humans are too arrogant and self-centered to have any concept of pain outside their own.
People are only able to empathise with things they experienced hard enough to get hurt themselves. That's why I took this job."
The contrast between Professor Trasque's handsome face and the cruel smile he made, managed to make it even creepier.
- "Between his veiled threats and the grins, the Professor really seems a full-blown psycho. I doubt he'll receive many love letters from the female students."
"Harrumph." Solus objected. "The pot calling the kettle black. That's the same face you do almost every minute of the day."
"Do I really have such an unsettling expression?!" Lith was flabbergasted.
"No sh*t, Sherlock!" –
"Now, let me explain today's lesson." Professor Trasque continued.
"These rings are special. Once activated, they become a closed cage, nothing can get in or out. I can also modify their internal structure as I see fit."
With a few flicks of his fingers, the pavement rose in different sections of the nearest ring, forming first a small corridor, then a stairway, and lastly an L shaped path.
"You will enter in this ring, in pairs. I'll prepare for you different scenarios, and in each one there will be an assailant and a victim. The assailant can either use first magic or a knife like this."
Trasque showed them a blunt piece of metal that could barely pass for a wedge.
"The victim can only use first magic for self-defence. The scenario ends as soon either one gets a direct hit."
Seeing a little too much enthusiasm in some of the students, he decided to make things clearer.
"I know what you are thinking, but it's not as it looks like. This room is for training, not fighting. It means that even winning every scenario, no matter as victim or assailant, won't necessarily give you any point.
You are here to learn how to handle difficult situations. What it really matters is not the result, but what you learn from experience. There's a lot of you, so we'll use two rings simultaneously. Don't worry, it won't take long.
This is a real-life simulation, not a bard's tale. Each try will last around five seconds, ten if you really take things slowly. We have plenty of time. To follow the Headmaster's wishes, I divided you in pairs composed by a commoner and a noble.
Let's do a few warm-up rounds, to give you an idea. Mister 'most wanted' here, has just volunteered. Who else?"
Seeing no raised hand, he picked a random student.
- "Solus, since I have impulse control issues, limit my output to Nana's first magic level."
"Copy that." –
In the first round Lith was the victim, while the assailant was a fifteen years old girl with shoulder length curly red hair. Despite she was at least five centimetres (2 inches) taller than Lith, she had no confidence in her physical skills, so she decided to use magic.
When Lith saw that she was actually performing hand signs for first magic, he weaved together two spells. The first made a thick layer of ice appear under her feet, while the second was a wind blow, the equivalent of a push.
When she tried shifting her weight to resist the push, she slipped, falling down head first. Trasque started laughing his a*s off. The fight had lasted barely two seconds.
"I'm sorry, I really am." He said while helping her to get up, healing her broken nose.
"I completely forgot he is a perfect silent hexacaster, that made a living out of hunting since he was four, while you led a pampered life, composing poems. There was no malice on my side, gods are my witnesses."
No one believed a single word he was saying.
"Jokes aside, that was terrible on your side." He said to Lith.
"Let's see if the problem it's you or your opponent. Who is capable of at least silent triple casting?" Few hands were raised.
"Okay, among you, who received military training?" Among the remaining ones, Trasque picked the biggest guy he could find. It was a fifteen-year-old boy, already 1.77 meters (5'9") high, weighing at least 80 kilograms (176 pounds).
His muscular body resembled that of a marine.
As soon as Trasque let them start, Lith threw the knife at his victim, guiding and accelerating it with a sliver of air magic.
The student dodged it easily, but not having any real combat experience, he kept his eyes on the knife until it clashed with the translucent yellow barrier that enveloped the ring. When he looked back at Lith, he was already in front of him.
Lith's right hand released a blinding light with the same intensity of several cameras flashing together, while the left one was holding a small ice knife, aimed to the victim's throat.
"Okay, stop." Trasque appeared between them, grabbing Lith by the wrist.
Once again, the battle ended a second after its start.
"Kid, I don't remember stuttering. Your performance is a perfect example of what you don't have to do. Get off the ring. Minus twenty points for you, and that's because this was just a warm up. The next time you do that, it will be much worse."
Chapter 67 Impulse Control Issues
Lith came down the ring with a dumbstruck expression, trying to understand what had just happened.
- "Maybe Professor Trasque wanted to teach you respect for the opponent. By beating them like that, you abused your power, and that's exactly what the Headmaster criticised earlier." Solus pondered.
"Trasque caring for respect? After how he threatened everyone and how he laughed in the face of that girl? Unlikely." –
Lith stood there, watching the other students performing their training. As Trasque predicted, every exchange was fast, but not as fast as Lith's. The performances he saw were mediocre at best, no points were assigned, but none were deducted either.
He was about to ask Solus to replay for him the exact wording Trasque had used, when he finally understood.
In the following two hours, whenever it was his turn, Lith would let his opponent perform his/her attack before neutralizing it when he played the victim, while as the assailant he would give them the time to react.
Doing so costed him several defeats.
Despite all his battle experience against savage and magical beasts, letting the opponent set his/her own rhythm would sometimes put him at a disadvantage that was unsurmountable in such a limited space, with only first magic.
Lith spent most of the time spectating the others, often clicking his tongue at a bad move or to his own stupidity. At the end of the lesson, most of the students were mentally exhausted.
The uniforms protected them from any harm first magic could do, but in such a competitive environment, even a simulated life and death situation was faced as real.
Playing in both roles, had made them realize how easy it was to take their lives, how big was the advantage that having a weapon granted during an ambush.
Only very few of them were actually capable of using first magic properly, the others were forced to improvise on the spot, desperately trying to score at least a win.
Lith was still fuming when Trasque came to him.
"Have you figured out your problem?" Trasque asked.
"Yes. This is an academy, not a battlefield. Hence my problem is an impulse control issue. During the warm up rounds, I took my opponents down so fast that neither of us could learn anything from the training.
In a real-life situation that would be good, but this is just an exercise, where I lost control on my pride and bloodlust. I risked to lead the others by example, making them so focused on winning to not learn neither from their fights or those of the others."
Trasque had a pleased expression.
"Not bad, kid. You avoided ranting about my allegedly unfair judgement and actually self-doubted yourself. Usually kids your age are incapable of introspection.
For that, I'll give you ten points for having learned your lesson, but the total still remains minus ten points, because I want you to remember it. A mage incapable of controlling his actions, is a danger to himself and others."
Lith bowed to him in sign of respect before leaving for the next class. Ten points were worth the Professor's respect, yet he realized that his reactions were out of proportions.
He was used to always be calm and collected, while now he was acting like a caged tiger trying to forcefully escape.
- "This is so unnatural for me. Why didn't I pretend to accept Yurial's peace offering yesterday? I had all to gain and nothing to lose. And today I wasn't able to grasp the meaning of the exercise until it was too late.
Could this be another effect of the hormones, or is it my body somehow rejecting my mind?" –
The thought was quite frightening, so Lith used Invigoration while walking, checking every nook and cranny of his being, searching for a clue. At a first look, everything was fine, everything was as he remembered from over a year ago.
But then he noticed that the impurities in his body had moved a little toward his mana core, yet that made no sense. It would only happen when he refined his internal energy, and he had long been stuck by the bottleneck.
So, Lith focused on his mana core and discovered the source of all his troubles. It was pulsing, like a heart, at every beat it would turn to a lighter shade of cyan, while turning back at its normal colour when at rest.
- "Oh F*ck! My refining of the mana core has overlapped with its natural evolution. My core gets stronger over time, like everyone else's, but I have pushed mine so far that my body can't tolerate any further strengthening.
My body and core will be at war, until the latter isn't allowed to expand properly. That's why my first crush hit me so hard, the imbalance is also affecting my mind. From now on, I better count up to one hundred before taking any decision." –
The fear of ending like the Wither, sent chills down his spine. It was a fate far worse than death, and he could do nothing about it but hope for the growth spurt to finally arrive.
He was so depressed, that when he reached the Principles of Advanced Magic training hall, he barely noticed Professor Nalear.
The room was almost identical to the one they had just left, but instead of rings, strange contraptions occupied most of the space.
They consisted of a small pedestal, from which came out a reversed test tube, 1.8 meters (5'11") high, containing a black sphere made of metal. Every 30 centimetres (less than 1 foot) there was a mark on the glass, for a total of six marks.
"I hope you have studied and understood the first spell of your book, as I recommended last time, because that's what we are going to do today. Contrary to all others tier four spells, Lift works almost like an inferior spell."
She recited the spell, "Brezza Reale", and the weight inside the contraption in front of her rose completely above the first mark.
"The problem is, it has no use outside practicing higher magic. What you did just see, is the effect obtained by casting it as it was tier three. But…"
She recited the spell once again, and this time the weight arose above the second and then the third mark before falling down.
"…you can freely add as much buckets of mana as you want. Your goal for this lesson, is to manage to rise the weight to the top of the bell jar. You have two hours. To barely pass, doing it just once is enough.
Ten times out of ten means passing with flying colours. Choose your station and start whenever you want. For those who don't remember the spell, you can study it now, but the time limit is always two hours, starting five minutes ago."
Professor Nalear ignored all the swearing that followed the students taking their position.
"Is she crazy?" "This is insane! How can they demand for us to become hexacasters in two hours?" "If this is her way to get even with us for yesterday, I'll report that b*tch to the Headmaster!"
Those were the politest remarks addressed to her.
Lith chose a bell jar in line of sight with Yurial, intending to use him as a beginner standard.
According to the school records he had in Soluspedia, an A rank magician was able to complete the exercise within half an hour, a B rank in more than one hour, C rank and below could fail.
That gave him an idea of how much time before succeeding, but not how to begin. Since Yurial managed to start from the third mark, he did the same just a minute later. The exercise was incredibly boring for Lith.
For a true mage, Lift was an oversimplified spell, that made getting the weight up to the last mark easy as cake. Compared to achieving the same feat with spirit magic, it was ten times easier.
Lith could have done it at the first try, but that would make him too outstanding. The worst part was that the only way he had to measure time was for Solus to count the seconds.
After fifteen minutes, he allowed the weight to reach the fourth mark. After a little over twenty it reached the fifth, and less than five minutes later it reached the top. The bell jar turned red, emitting a "Ding!" sound.
Lith was so startled that made a little jump back.
"Seems someone finally made it." Professor Nalear came to his side, her hair smelled like roses, making Lith's pressure spike.
"Twenty points for getting the first spot without any help." She said in her communicator amulet.
"But are you capable of doing it again?" She asked, coming dangerously close.
Solus did go straight for protocol omega, generating cold spots under his armpits and at the back of his neck, to avoid Lith sweating bullets.
"Yes, of course." He tried focusing on the spell again, despite having troubles swallowing down, like he had a tennis ball stuck in his throat.
The weight rose once again to the top, producing another ding.
"Interesting, I can see the weight has a fluid motion. Five steps?"
"Yes, once you get the gist of it, is quite easy." He said looking at her nose instead of her eyes.
"Okay, champ. Since no one seems to be brave enough to ask for a hint, humour me. Try going slower, put half a second between every step."
Lith did as instructed, discovering that the spell was actually really versatile, allowing to add mana freely, without fixed intervals, as long as the amount was always the same.
"Bravo! Now try faster, like you want to break the bell jar."
Soon the situation degenerated in a series of "Faster", "Slower" and "Not so rough, be gentler".
Despite she was clearly referring to the handling of the weight, carrying no double entendre whatsoever, those words conjured in Lith's feverish mind images that were completely unrelated to magic.
Despite doing his best to focus on the task at hand, while Solus was cooling him off as fast as she could, only Lith's paranoid nature ended up saving him from embarrassment.
That morning he had bandaged his nether regions, so that in the worst-case scenario, the rise of the spear hero would cause no bulge in his pants, keeping it sticking to his abdomen.
Chapter 68 Racking Points
"Well, we have just passed half an hour from the start of the exercise." Nalear said after her communication amulet emitted a low ringing noise.
"Seems I have nothing more to teach you about Lift. Now, do me a favour. Soon many will start to get scared or frustrated, and will call me for help non-stop. Be a dear and give hints or suggestions to your classmates stuck at least at the third mark.
I'll take care of the desperate cases."
Lith had nothing to do for at least another hour and a half, so he accepted, rubbing his forehead and closing his eyes, to not look at her face.
"Great! Ten points for demonstrating complete mastery of the Lift spell, and another ten for helping me out." She made a smile so radiant that would have made protocol omega useless, despite Solus' best efforts.
But Lith had timed correctly his thank-you bow, avoiding her gaze, and immediately turned back. He had so many people to look down upon, that he felt like a kid in a candy shop.
Yurial had made no improvement, but Lith didn't feel compelled to help him. He'd rather preferred for his help to be openly required, if not begged for.
After looking around, he noticed that Quylla too wasn't too far away. She seemed to be swamped at the second mark, sometimes managing to reach the third.
She was 1.35 meters (4'5") high, with such a scrawny build that she could hope to weight over 30 kilograms (66 pounds) only if soaking wet. She looked so frail and weak that a gust of wind would be able to carry her away any moment.
- "It's amazing how she managed to get a bright green mana core despite being so malnourished. If the tonic she received from Vastor really works, I wonder how powerful she will become." – Lith thought.
"Need a hand?" He asked. She was a commoner too, and up to that point, the only person that had apologized to him without a hidden agenda.
"Yeah, thanks. What am I doing wrong?"
"Nothing, is just that you failed to grasp the spell's explanation." Quylla looked at him with a downtrodden expression, racking her brain while her neighbours at the fourth mark were sneering at her.
Lith was really tempted to kick them in the nuts, but alas, too many witnesses.
"If you remember, it mentioned that this exercise requires creating five steps, right?"
"Right." Quylla nodded, taking a break to give Lith her undivided attention.
"Every step pushes the weight above a mark, so you may think that you need to create five steps, or if you prefer, five small pulses of mana, to push the weight up to the top."
She nodded again.
"But the book never mentioned that you need to generate them all together. Lift gives you a wide window of opportunity to create the steps."
Noticing that she still wasn't understanding, he dumbed down the concept.
"Imagine that you must walk a stair to get to an upper floor. You need five steps to do it, and it's your mana that creates them. Even if you can maintain only two steps at a time, it's plenty enough.
You just need to get up to the second step, let the first one dissolve, create the third…"
"Move up to the third, rinse and repeat!" Quylla completed the thought. "That's why the book called them steps instead of pulses or pushes. To be honest the choice of words had puzzled me quite a bit."
Lith nodded.
"Otherwise it would require to be able to cast five pulses at a time, and it would be completely unreasonable for the second lesson."
But Quylla was listening no more. After thanking him quickly, she went back to practice, managing instantly to always reach the third mark. In less than ten minutes, another ding resounded.
Her neighbours had long stopped sneering, and once they managed to find the courage for asking Lith for an encore, he was nowhere to be found. Quylla ignored their requests for help, working hard to master what she had just understood.
After her, Lith helped Yurial and then Friya. He had yet to decide what to do with them, but he had nothing to lose in the exchange. He would kill two birds with one stone, showing them his superiority while also making them feel obligated.
Managing to establish a relationship on equal terms with the heir of an archmage and the daughter of an influential noble, would discourage his peers to show open hostility if not force them to avoid any further harassment.
Soon, his outstanding performance in the light department would be well known, very few would dare to move against him once Marth and Manohar had shown such interest towards him.
All he needed was just another push, and all the young master/mistress drama would become a relic of the past.
At the end of the lesson, Lith received ten more points from Nalear, since many of those he helped had managed to completely understand the true nature of the exercise.
- "That makes fifty points!" Solus was ecstatic. "Too bad we must also deduct the ten Trasque took away."
"It's no use crying over spilled milk." Lith replied. "Besides, after lunch we will have our first Forgemaster lesson. I can't wait to get my hands on it!" –
At lunch, Quylla, Yurial and Friya tried to join him once again, and this time Lith didn't send them away. He was curious to see what they had to offer in terms of knowledge and power.
Instead, he ended up swamped in small talk. Lith had completely forgotten what high-school conversations were like, how teenagers mostly talked about boys, girls or whine about their teachers.
"Seriously…" Friya stabbed her lasagne like she had a personal vendetta against it.
"… what kind of Professor just puts you in a room and demands that you figure out everything by yourself? How big of a jerk can she be?"
Lith listened on and off to her, so when the topic at hand became his area of expertise, he was ready to answer the question he had just misheard.
- "At least a double D cup." He thought.
"By my maker, don't you dare say that out loud!" Solus mind-scolded him –
"I bet your family hired a tutor for you." Yurial chimed in, shaking his head at her remark.
"Yes, why?"
"Only tutors spoon-fed magic. My father never explained anything to me, unless I was uncapable of understanding something on my own. He would just give me books and demand results."
Being clear-headed again, Lith joined the conversation.
"By the way, why your father didn't teach you all these exercises beforehand? It would have given you quite an edge, and I don't think the academy would care."
Yurial shook his head again, sighing.
"Oh, yeah. Just because my father is an archmage, I have all the knowledge of the world at my fingertips." He said gritting his teeth.
"I wish it was like that. Until my great-grandmother became a mage, our was a family of commoners. The two things she passed down on his bloodline are: the spite for nobles, no offense." He said raising his in sign of apology toward Friya.
"None taken." She replied, while actually shivering with fear. The Headmaster's words were finally clear to her. People like Lith would resent the nobles that abused their authority, and so would magic bloodlines.
- "That's why the King is so hell-bent on changing the system." She thought. "Over time, us nobles are isolating ourselves from the masses. If it keeps up like this, soon the status of noble will be like having a bounty on your head." –
"And her hard-working nature." Yurial continued. "In my family, the less you do, the farther you get from the line of succession. Some of my profligate siblings are as good as disowned, with no money or authority of their own.
The reason why I am the heir is because of my talent and efforts, and I could lose the title anytime if I start to slack off. When I asked my father to teach me the secrets of the academy, do you know how he replied?"
Yurial made a stern face, speaking with a low, harsh voice, mimicking archmage Deirus demeanour.
"Son, your grandfather was just a noble, not even a mage. My foundations and resources for magic where nothing compared to what I gave you. If you cannot achieve as much as I did despite all that, teaching you is pointless.
For our Kraston family to prosper, you need to be able to walk with your own legs. Getting unfair advantages make you lazy and reliant on other's help. There are no shortcuts in life to achieve what really matters. Now go back to work!"
The whole table giggled, Yurial had got so immersed in his persona to yell the last part, drawing on him the looks of their neighbours. Realizing his slip-up, Yurial had become red, so Lith asked Friya about her tutor, to cut him some slack.
"I asked her countless times." She sighed.
"But she always replied that our money was buying her services, not her loyalty. And that she had no intention of taking the smallest risk with the Mage Association for such a little sum." Friya scoffed.
"With the amount we paid her, we could have probably built a fortress. What about you, Quylla?"
Quylla was wolfing down her second serving of lasagna, looking at Lith's steak like a hungry tiger. The mouthful she had taken was too big for her to talk, so they had to wait for her to be able to swallow.
"I had no tutor." She explained, while trying to wipe the sauce off her face.
"The healer of our village had been killed by some bandits, so his books were available for everyone. I was an orphan, too weak to work in the fields, so I began studying them.
Once I understood magic, I became the next healer, until the Duke that was managing the rebuilt of the village heard about me. He built a house for me, and when I became old enough, he recommended me to the academy. You know the rest."
She returned to give her meal all the care she could.
"That story is really impressing." Yurial said. "But at the moment I am so amazed by the amount of food you are eating that I cannot think about anything else."
"I swear, she wasn't like this yesterday." Friya said.
"It must be Vastor's tonic." Lith said. "She is shorter then me by a good head, yet she is eating more than me. I guess she needs a lot of food to catch up. Mind if I touch your head?"
Quylla violently blushed, tried to say something, but her mouth was full again, so she just nodded, lowering her head. Lith pretended to cast a spell while actually activating Invigoration.
"Your muscles are severely undeveloped, and your bone density is terrible. You need to drink more milk, for your skeleton."
"It's the first time I hear this." Yurial asked with a curious look in his eyes.
"Mind to explain?"
- "Yeah, sure! How can I possible explain the concepts of vitamins, proteins and calcium when your language lacks even the words necessary to describe them?" – Lith thought.
"It's an old saying from my village. Meat for the muscles, milk for the bones. How do you think I got so big at twelve?" Was what he actually said.
Despite being three years older than him, Yurial was just a few centimetres taller than Lith, while Friya was five centimetres (2 inches) shorter than him. To Lith's amazement, the three of them ordered a bottle of milk each, starting to drink it instead of water.
Chapter 69 New Specializations
As soon as everyone finished eating, Lith left with the excuse of needing to prepare the final details for his first Forgemaster lesson. The actual truth was that having a conversation with them, about anything but magic, made him want to rip his ears off.
- "Damn! Now I remember why back on Earth I never took a babysitter job, unless I was desperate for money. Kids are so annoying, always worried about what others think of them, obsessing themselves with the stupidest things." -
While he was walking toward his room, he noticed a group of four, one girl and three boys, that had pinned another girl in a corner. Before Lith could walk away, the bullying quickly escalated in a beating.
Lith never stopped walking, he just threw a glance of them, curling his upper lip in a disgusted expression.
- "Shouldn't we help her? Four against one is unfair." Solus asked.
"Life is unfair." Lith replied. "I don't know, nor I care for her. Besides, what could I do? Even if I saved her this time, as soon as I turn my back, they would beat her twice as hard for revenge.
If she is so stupid to prefer getting beaten instead of taking a Ballot, that's her problem. I don't plan on opening an idiot shelter." –
Back in his room, Lith took a long bath, discussing with Solus what they had learned from the book and how far it was safe to reveal his talent and mastery.
Soon the first gong resounded, indicating that fifteen minutes were left before the beginning of the next period.
Lith flew at full speed, discovering that the lesson would not take place into a classroom, but inside the Forgemastering training hall, right beside the Alchemist training hall.
When Lith landed, both the doors were still closed and many people were waiting outside. The students were mingling together.
From what he could understand, the two specialization courses would take place simultaneously, allowing people to meet before and after the lesson.
- "I'm really interested in the Master Alchemist course." Solus said. "I think it would be a perfect complement to Forgemastering. Who knows, maybe we could even fuse them together, obtaining powerful single-use weapons for when we are out of mana."
Lith's interest was piqued.
"Yeah, it would be great. Too bad I cannot afford another specialization, that would mark me as a S rank student. Besides, I can't be in two places at once."
Solus mind-shrugged.
"That's not a problem, since there's two of us. I'll piggyback on one of the students with my shapeshifting abilities. We'll get two specializations for the price of one. Wish me luck. See you later!"-
Before Lith could stutter a surprised reply, Solus had already left his finger. She turned into a snow-white blot, using the crowd as a cover, while she got under the robe of a kid with the Master Alchemist textbook in his hand.
Lith was so shocked that his mind went completely blank, until the Professors arrived and opened their respective doors. Lith followed her inside the Forgemaster training hall, still incredulous of Solus sudden departure.
Only the mocking laughter of one of his classmates managed to woke him from his daze. Luckily, it wasn't Lith the target, but another student that was whining about having forgotten his book.
Lith immediately regained his focus.
- "Keep calm, old man. Sh*t happens, this is just a small setback. We'll get her back in a couple of hours." -
Thanks to their mind link, he was still able to perceive Solus presence in the next room, just like her was able to keep moving, since they were less than one hundred meters (110 yards) apart.
But because of the distance and the magical nature of the White Griffon castle, they weren't able to share their minds as usual. It was like being in a crowd in a club event, they were still able to communicate, but it required effort.
He could perceive that Solus's mind was paying attention to something, the other lesson seemed to have already started.
"Hello, boys and girls. My name is Professor Lyca Wanemyre, and I will be your instructor in the path towards becoming Forgemasters.
My class will be different from all the others you follow, because forgemastering is different from any kind of magic you have ever learned. You have just moved your first step in the seventh department of the White Griffon, the crafting department."
Professor Wanemyre was a woman in her early thirties, 1.65 meters (5'5") high, with long black hair with shades of red held up in a chignon. She was wearing skin tight working gloves that highlighted her long and nimble fingers.
She didn't have her robe on, so it was impossible to hide her soft, luscious curves. Professor Wanemyre was better endowed than Nalear in every aspect, and despite she wore no make-up, that made her heart-shaped face stand out even more.
Her demeanour was less flashy and jovial than Nalear, her calm and composed attitude were those of a mature woman, not of an exuberant girl.
Lith could empathise with his male classmates, that were gulping non-stop, while staring at her with dumbfounded expressions.
- "Lucky me." Lith thought. "Seems that my heart is too little for more than a crush at a time. I couldn't bear acting out as an idiot again." –
Wanemyre paid no attention to the agape mouths and the bright red faces. Her students were barely teenagers, she was used at their first meet reactions.
"So many mages are so fixated on elemental magic, that they never mention the arts of crating to their disciples.
So, I applaud you for choosing a specialization too often inglorious and underestimated, instead of making things blow up with fire and lightning like most of your peers.
Contrary to what you may have heard or imagined, Forgemastering doesn't require a forge, a hammer or ingredients.
Sure, some proper magic imbued items like mana crystals or the fur of a magical beast or monster, can improve the results, but that's material for another lesson. Let's start with the basics. Who of you went ahead and learned about forgemastering from our book?"
It was mostly a rhetorical question, the books had been delivered just the day before, and between the classes and the self-study, she wasn't expecting much. Yet a couple of hands were raised.
"The early bird gets the worm! Good. Describe to the class how a generic forgemastering spell works." She was pointing at a fifteen-year-old boy with red hair, the only one to have raised his hand beside Lith.
"Uhhh, well, uhm… first you need to draw a circle, and… uhm." He actually has skimmed the first pages, and had raised his hand to make an impression on the Professor, he never expected to be questioned.
Wanemyre shook her head.
- "So typical of teenagers, always thinking with the head in the pants first. At least this time I got only two posers." – She thought.
"You, with the mean eyes, mind to step in?"
Lith ignored the remark, replying promptly.
"Forgemastering requires drawing two magic circles, one inscribed into the other, with a series of magical runes between them. The number and type of runes depends on the nature of the enchantment to apply.
The circles must be perfectly drawn with no imperfections, and even their radius matter. It must be as close as possible to the size of the item that is going to be enchanted."
Wanemyre whistled in surprise and approval.
"Very well said. Where is your book, by the way?"
"It's all in here." Lith tapped his temple with the right index finger.
- "No way I take it out. Until it's in Soluspedia, I can quote it word by word." – He thought.
"Really?" The Professor raised an eyebrow in disbelief.
"Then do you mind drawing for the class the dimensional amulet circle? Page 22, diagram 4." She sneered.
While everyone was flipping their books, Lith closed in to Wanemyre, who pointed to him a flask holding a pungent smelled liquid.
- "I wish Solus was here. She would be laughing like a madwoman, mocking me for my know-it-all façade." – For the first time in so many years, Lith felt alone, and he didn't like that feeling, not one bit.
The room was so silent that he could listen to the steady beating of his own heart. There was no voice in his head, cheering for him or trying to make him laugh, everything felt pointless and hollow.
With a series of gestures, several drops of the liquid flew in the air thanks to water magic, splashing on several points of the perfectly smooth white stone table between Lith and the Professor.
The internal and external circles took form simultaneously, one drop moving clockwise, and the other counter-clockwise.
The innermost circle had a radius of ten centimetres (4 inches), while the other had a fifteen cm (6 inches) radius, leaving about five cm (2 inches) between them for the runes.
Only after completing both circles and checking that there were no imperfections, Lith moved the remaining drops, forming one of the thirteen runes at a time, devoting all his focus on each one.
When he finished, Professor Wanemyre clapped her hands loudly, and after a second, the class unwillingly joined her.
"Bravo!" She said. "You weren't pretending, you really studied. Sorry if I doubted you. Thirty points for your performance, and ten more as an apology. I guess I should have expected as much from Manohar's and Marth's new friend."
At those words, all those who were planning about revenge or how humiliating Lith without incurring in the Ballot, immediately took a 180° turn. It was already hard hiring Manohar as it was, if angered, there was no telling how he would react.
Not to mention that being the Royal Healer he held an enormous amount of influence and political power, he just didn't care using it. It was better not to rattle his cage.
"If I asked you to, would you be able to continue the explanation?"
"Yes." Lith answered. "But I hadn't the time to go much further, plus I don't believe I have fully grasped the contents. My exposition would be lacking depth and true knowledge." The first part was a lie, just to avoid standing out too much.
Reading twenty pages wasn't much, but the whole book was another story. The second part, instead, was the truth. If books were enough, anyone could get infinite specializations simply by going to the academy's library.
"Humble and honest to the boot, worthy of a Forgemaster. Another twenty points for you, Lith. Feel free to gather around here, everyone. Since your classmate has gifted us with a perfect circle, it would be wasteful not to use it.
I'll give you a practical demonstration of forgemastering."
Chapter 70 A Third Specialization 2
Professor Wanemyre opened a desk drawer, filled to the brim with cheap looking pendants.
"We buy them in stocks, just like the rings." She said picking one at random.
"The only way to differentiate the various rings, is by the stones embedded within. Red for dimensional items, blue for tier 1 magic storing rings, yellow for tier 2, green for tier 3. Tier 4 magic storing rings and above are not available in the Prize Hall.
As it is, it's just your average silver pendant." She placed it at the center of the innermost magic circle. After that, she called for help via her communication amulet and waited for her assistants to come.
"Fun fact: dimensional amulets are usually preferred to dimensional rings, since most mages prefer to have as many magic storing rings as they can. We still have to discover a way to use something other than rings for instant casting."
The door of the classroom opened, a man and a woman dressed like the academy's staff stepped in, and took place beside the magical circle, starting to chant the same spell.
With each cast, the space within the circle was filled with pure non elemental mana, to the point that the air inside started to crackle and pop with power. The energy became dense enough to lift up the amulet from the table.
"To use a blacksmith analogy, the circle acts as a magical furnace, withholding the stored mana within and saturating the item that has to be enchanted. The circle must be perfect, or the mana would leak, leading to a defective product." She explained.
"The higher the mana density one creates, the better the item will be. But that also mean that the Forgemaster will consume a greater amount of mana for the enchantment.
If the forgemastering spell used is weaker than the mana accumulated inside the circle, it will have no effect. A true Forgemaster must always be aware of her limits, balance is of the utmost importance in our line of work.
If the mana density is too low, the item will be useless. Too high, and it would cost so much to not have a market value, unless you do it for yourselves, of course."
When the assistants stopped chanting, Wanemyre stepped forward, gesturing the students to move away. Then, she started casting several consecutive spells, both her hands and voice almost never stopped.
One by one, the runes that Lith had drawn between the circles, started moving from their original position, taking place around the amulet. They formed an energy sphere, absorbing the mana from the surrounding space and injecting it in the amulet.
When the last rune completed the sphere, all the available mana had been compressed to the point of being barely able to enclose the pendant.
With a final spell, Wanemyre fused the sphere with the amulet, the runes shined on its surface for a few seconds, before disappearing forever. Only then she took the amulet in her hand, showing the class the result of her efforts.
"This little thing here is a top-quality dimensional amulet. Its value is about 340 points in the Prize Hall and above three hundred gold coins, if you were to buy it with cash."
The idea of so much money condensed is such a little thing made even those born in wealthy families gasp in amazement. It was enough to build a manor and buy its land. Furnitures and pieces of art to furnish it, would take at least another amulet, though.
"Now, here a few things that books don't explain, and that you may have missed during the whole process. I'm especially referring to those that paid more attention to my chest rising and lowering, rather than to my brilliant performance."
She glared to some of the male students, whose faces turned to a bright purple, while squealing excuses and apologies. Lith felt compassion for them. If it was Nalear instead of her, he would probably be in their shoes.
The female students, instead, made fun of them, calling them perverts and other non-endearing terms. Professor Wanemyre was fuming, there was only so much she was willing to bear, even from teenagers.
She took pride in her talent and deep expertise, being treated like a slab of meat was the worst insult anyone could do to her. She covered her chest with her arms before taking a deep breath to calm down, in order to continue.
"Not everyone is able to become a Forgemaster. That's because together with the War Mage, is the specialization that requires the greatest mana capacity.
While for a War Mage it determines how much destruction they can bring, without a huge amount of mana, a Forgemaster cannot create the most powerful enchanted items in our repertoire.
Mana capacity is needed, not only to overcome the high mana density required for a great item, but also because every single rune requires its own spell to be engraved in the object.
Each spell is relatively simple and short, but you must need to be able to cast them in a rapid succession without delay. This because as soon the magical furnace is loaded, the mana tries to escape, and even a perfect circle can only hold on for a while.
Usually, after ten seconds, the circle destabilizes, and the mana begins to leak. This means that I had to cast thirteen spells, one for each rune, plus another to permanently imprint the energies in the amulet, for a total of fourteen spells.
Each of them was able to overcame the mana density, and I had to do everything within ten seconds, or I would have just wasted a lot of mana for nothing.
Bear in mind that once an object is saturated by mana, if the forgemastering process fails, it cannot be repeated. The energy remnants from the previous failure would still linger, making any further attempt a waste of time.
Even this castle is the product of the work of countless Forgemasters. Every single stone has been enchanted, before assembling them as you see it today. Otherwise it would be impossible to imbue with magic something this big.
And that is just the first requirement. The second is that a Forgemaster must be a jack of all trades, no matter if she is a master of none. In my line of work, I need to be proficient in all the six elements.
You will also need patience, love for research and a strong build. Manipulating this magnitude of energies is not something pipsqueaks can afford to do, not without incurring in permanent damages that would accumulate over time"
Lith rose his hand.
"Yes?"
"I can understand most of the items I saw in the Prize Hall, and link their properties with the six elements. But I don't get how Warp Steps and dimensional items work. What element do they belong to?"
"Excellent question. The answer is: to all of them. The only force that can bend space and time is gravity. Powerful Forgemasters of the past, discovered that air and earth magic are the bare minimum to create such powerful gravity.
But to stabilize it, to make such items not only reproducible but also to allow fine control over them, all the elements were required. It's a field of research that has never gone dry, there are still so many things to explain."
- "I think I understand." Lith thought. "They need the electromagnetic waves from the lightning to resonate with the gravitational pull earth magic generates, and enhance it to bend time and space.
Fire and water magic probably allow to avoid side effects, like the formation of vacuum, overheating or freezing while creating such powerful gravitational force.
I can't even fathom what darkness and light are used for, thought. They didn't exist back on Earth, science can't help me with them." -
During the rest of the lesson, Professor Wanemyre proceeded to explain how they would manage the rest of the course. She wouldn't allow any of them inside the training hall again, until they had learned the theory behind forgemastering.
Having students messing around with magic circles was too dangerous, since high density mana was highly volatile and could cause huge explosions, if not controlled properly.
After that, they would need to memorize all the basic runes and how to combine them, until being able to produce all the basic enchanted items.
Only those who passed all the tests would be admitted to the fifth year, learning how to add multiple properties to a single item.
By the end of the lesson, Lith was fuming like a volcano, ready to explode.
Being in the first row, helped him to better understand Professor Wanemyre's teachings, noticing the finest details about how to draw runes.
At the same time, though, he was also able to feel the pressure coming from all his classmates standing behind him.
In normal conditions, he would find disgusting the idea of being surrounded by strangers, hearing their whispers and being subject to their glares, yet he would bare it all.
But since his mana core and body were at odds, constantly fighting and messing with his mind, it was much harder for him to control his reactions and hide his emotions.
It was Solus' voice and presence that helped him paying them no heed, using their bond to soothe his most violent reactions. In the last two hours, though, they had been separated.
And now Lith was forced to wait for her outside the training hall, since the Master Alchemist lesson had yet to finish. It was really irritating for him, standing alone in a crowd for the umpteen time since his first life.
Even during high-school Lith had always been different from his peers, focused on paying the bills instead of goofing around. Seeing their carefree attitude, how easy it was for them to relax and make friends, made him green with envy.
Suddenly, the Alchemist training hall opened, and a small insect came out of it, reaching Lith's leg unnoticed and then turning into a liquid, going back toward his hand.
- "Sorry it took so long, but everyone made so many questions that the Professor forced everyone to stay behind. Want to grab something to eat?" Solus asked.
"Good idea"- Lith anger dissolved like snow on the Sun.
Chapter 71 Change Of Plans
- "Before going to the cafeteria, can we please go to the Library? I need to copy the whole book to be able to follow properly the next lessons." Solus asked.
"How do you plan on doing that? My Forgemaster schedule is full of theory, I doubt we will cross the Alchemists again."
"That's why I stole a schedule from an airheaded kid. We just need to make time so that you can give me a ride back and forth. Now I'm strong enough, surviving two hours by myself is easy as pie." –
In a corner of his mind, where Solus couldn't read unless she willingly searched for it, Lith added:
- "Wish I could say the same." –
On the road to the library, they shared their memories of the respective lessons, yet Lith omitted all the parts where he suffered from loneliness and isolation. In his mind it was a sign of weakness, something to be ashamed of.
- "By my maker! Another hot teacher? Even the male Professor from the Alchemist class was quite a sight for sore eyes, the girls wouldn't stop staring at his a*s every time he turned around to write on the chalkboard.
Do you think that it depends on their mana cores, or is it just a marketing move on the Headmaster part?"
"Both are possible, but I believe the latter to be more likely. Young minds are easily swayed around, especially if their hormones are properly channelled.
Back on Earth, my medium school music teacher was so hot that all the boys in the class learned how to play at least an instrument properly. Some even started listening classical music, just to impress her." –
When they reached their destination, and opened its double doors, the academy's Library turned out to be exactly as Lith had imagined the Prize Hall to be, except with books instead of magical items.
The bookshelves were full to the brim, forming corridors between themselves. The room was so big that Lith suspected they had made it with dimensional magic. At the entrance, a clerk in his mid-twenties asked if he needed help.
Luckily, the library had been organized well, and with the clerk's directions Lith was soon back with the Master Alchemist textbook and all the tier four magic books he managed to carry with him.
On every shelf there was a tag, stating that the use of dimensional items was prohibited, and Lith would never risk getting banned by such gold mine.
"I'll borrow these books, please." He said.
The clerk was shocked by the amount, it was more than the average person would borrow in a whole year.
"Sorry sir, the max allowed is three books at a time."
Lith clicked his tongue, picking the book for Solus and a tier four spellbook each for the War Mage and Battle Mage specialization. He was eager to find out what spells of mass destruction looked like and how to improve his battle spells.
Cross checking Lith's profile with the books of his choosing, the clerk inwardly smiled.
- "Sigh, so young and naïve. He is clearly biting more than he can chew, but at his age, everyone dreams of being a genius." –
Back in their room, they spent all the time before dinner copying the books. They had long prepared for the mammoth task, bringing with them enough empty books and ink in the pocket dimension to put the Encyclopaedia Britannica to shame.
Solus' task was the longest one, she needed to copy every single page, while Lith would just make an abridged version of each spell, copying only hand signs, accents and a short description alongside its name.
That would make possible for him to recognize those spells on sight, so when facing another mage, he would have the opportunity to take the necessary countermeasures. It would also allow him to reproduce them with true magic without being discovered.
At dinner, he sat once again with his fellow healers. As much his heart cringed at the thought of their company, he wouldn't be at the academy forever.
Lith needed reliable connections in the outside world too. Besides, he had just discovered how lonely he really felt without Solus.
He needed to get back in touch with his human side.
The mood at the table, though, was gloomy. Friya kept stirring the food in her plate, just nibbling from time to time. Quylla wolfed down her food, again, but there was no joy in it. She kept avoiding their gazes, like she expected to be scolded any second.
Lith was gripped by his inner conflict. He would have much preferred being alone with Solus, yet he needed to get a hold of his emotions, like the adult he was.
Now that he had a cool head again, he had realized that even Professor Wanemyre had called him "mean eyes" at their first meet. Solus had proven to be right all along, he couldn't keep glaring all his life.
He had to make peace with his inner self, or at least learn again how to control the emotions that showed on his face. To achieve any of that, he needed to be around people, either learning to appreciate their company or at least to fake it.
Yurial had the impression that someone had died, and he was the only one kept in the dark.
"Friya, how was your day?" He said trying to break the ice.
"Terrible. It's just the second day and I needed help to succeed in Nalear's class and in my Mage Knight specialization. Don't get me started about Trasque.
I don't know if it felt worse scoring so few wins, or his smug grim every time I lost to a commoner.
Why that stupid tutor of mine didn't focus more on chore magic? I feel so stupid and insignificant. I have always considered myself as someone talented, special.
Yet now I am just another noble that everyone makes fun of, either because of my looks or my lack of skill. I am so tempted to give up, but I'm the first person in my family to get accepted in one of the six great academies.
I cannot waste this opportunity."
"It's perfectly normal to feel that way." Yurial replied. "I didn't fare any better today, and my father is an archmage. But from Nalear's class, I learned that it's better to swallow my pride.
I didn't hesitate to ask for hints during my Warden specialization, since time is part of the grade.
What about you Lith? Why are you feeling so down? I heard you aced your forgemastering class, gaining quite some points. You should be walking on air, don't let yesterday's bad memories ruin your day."
Lith put down the silverware, trying to collect his thoughts.
"Being harassed is never pleasant, but I faced worse. I'm not worried about that. As for my success, I'll admit it was quite pleasant. If I dismissed it saying things like 'it was nothing much', I'd be a lying hypocrite.
But Like Friya, it's my first time too being away from home, surrounded only by strangers. It helped me realize that I spent so many years hunting in the wild, that I forgot how act like a human. Be honest with me, do I glare a lot?"
"Every second." "Yes." "Always." The consent had been unanimous.
Lith didn't trust them, so he had shared with them just a secondary issue. He was actually talking about his real worry with Solus, to make his expression match his emotions.
- "As much as it pains me to admit it, I'm worried about the future. Now I have everything planned out, but what if I succeed? I have no purpose outside making me immortal, and at the end of the day, is it even worth it?
Rena has already left, Tista will sooner or later marry, and my parents deserve to finally have some happiness and time on their own. But where that leaves me? Outside my family and you, I have nothing and no one that I love.
I can't live my life for them. Not only I would become a burden for them, but it would also aggravate my problem. Sooner or later, everyone will die, and I will be left alone. What worth could possibly have a world devoid of joy?"
"Oh Lith, you are really hopeless." Solus was really moved, he had actually put her at the same level of his family, outside a joke context.
"You are just twelve, yet you already worry about something that will happen decades in the future. I told you back then and I'll tell you again, give this world a chance. Over time, many things can happen or change.
Focus on the present, whatever problem you'll have, we will face it together. Trying to control and predict everything is a desperate endeavour, and it will eat you from the inside." –
"My father always says that from great power comes great isolation. But don't worry, Lith. That's what friends are for. To shed a light in your darkest days." Yurial patted him on the shoulder, trying to console him.
In another moment, Lith would have sneered at him, pushing his hand away.
But thanks to being able of making small talk with strangers again and mostly to Solus' words, he managed to actually relax his expression for the first time since in the academy.
"Thanks, Yurial." He said with a smile.
- "Friends, uh? Then why are you consoling me and my small problem, instead of Friya that has much bigger issues? Not to mention he completely ignored Quylla. Friend my a*s, you are just trying to suck up to me." –
"What happened to you, Quylla?" Lith asked.
She followed his example, taking a pause from eating to talk easily.
"Honestly, this academy sucks hard, it's even worse than my village. Before becoming a healer, I was considered a burden because I was too small and weak.
After learning magic, since I was much stronger than my predecessor, everyone started treating me like a monster. Even as a child, I could tell that they were afraid of me, of what I could have done if I wanted revenge.
I always felt different and alone back home, so I decided to come to the academy, hoping to find others like me. To make friends, to have a magical family that could understand me, someone to actually trust."
The more she spoke, the angrier she became.
"Instead my bubble burst from day one. Everyone here pushes me around, calling me names like cockroach, skank, and after I started taking the tonic, even pig. I'm sick and tired of being afraid. In hindsight, I was better off at the village.
At least there they feared and respected me. Here I'm a laughing stock, either because I'm short, ugly or because I picked only a specialization. But what could I have done?
I never learned how to fight, my body can barely withstand powerful healing magic, let alone more violent kinds of magic. During Trasque's lesson, I lost all my fights, and even if they humiliated me, he never reprimanded one of them! I hate him too!"
To be fair, no one had dared to humiliate anyone, not after Lith had so easily lost points at the beginning of the exercise. Trasque had let them fight fair and square, the problem lied in Quylla short arms and flimsy build.
Being unable of using any kind of silent magic, except for the light one, even girls of her age could overpower her with a single hand. Using magic or a weapon was just overkill.
Lith: "Guess the only one that had it easy is Yurial." Friya: "Yeah, mister 'archmage heir'. No one has the guts to mess with him." Quylla: "F*cking lucky b*stard."
Suddenly, an honest smile appeared on Lith's lips. The mood around the table suited better his tastes, so full of anger, mistrust and deception. He saw potential in each one of them, especially Quylla.
She resembled a young Tista that he could turn into another Lith. He was the only one, aside maybe from Professor Vastor, that knew that once her body developed properly, her mana core would have no limits to its growth.
Cyan for sure, maybe blue, if not purple.
"Well, Quylla, people don't need a reason to pick on you." Lith said.
"They need one not to. And the best reason you can give them is a Guilty Ballot. Think about it, I am tall for my age, talented, or at least so they say, and yet I get harassed on daily basis.
If the tonic works and you start to grow, nothing will change. Remember Nalear's story, she had talent and looks, yet survived only because of the Ballot. You should learn from her, and not repeat her mistakes."
He could see from their faces, that both Quylla and Friya were seriously considering the idea of getting a Ballot of their own. Lith needed a few deep breaths, to find the strength to say what he needed to.
"As for your problems with first magic, I…" He needed his sheer willpower to keep his expression relaxed, instead of acting like someone that was spewing poison off his tongue.
"I could teach you all. We don't have lessons during the weekends, we would have plenty of space and time." The table exploded with cheers, his proposal was immediately accepted.
Lith knew that respect and trust were something that had to be given, before they could be given back. Yurial and Friya had both a light cyan mana core, like Nana, but theirs could still grow.
Quylla had a bright green mana core despite her childish body, so for her the sky was the limit. Even without his help, it was just a matter of time before they mastered first magic.
He would exploit their desperation, giving them what they wanted before it lost its value. Just like when he helped Marchioness Distar, it was the best moment to make his investment.
Chapter 72 Mock Exam
In the following weeks, life at the White Griffon academy became more hectic by the day. After the Lift spell, Professor Nalear made them learn more educational spells with increasing difficulty and restrictions, putting the students to test at every lesson.
Professor Trasque started making use of all the available rings in the training hall, giving them military trained soldiers as sparring partners. They were equipped with enchanted armours, and would use a different weapon every lesson.
The students, in turn, could only use one element, based on the scenario Trasque had devised for each training session. After every defeat, their partners would teach them footwork and point out their mistakes.
The Master Healer lessons went without a hitch. The divide between Professor Vastor's favourites and the rest of the class, became so wide that soon no one dared anymore to hope stealing their spotlight.
The only thing left for the other students, was trying not to fall too much far behind and placing their bets about who would come out on top.
Most of the Forgemaster courses took place in a classroom. Professor Wanemyre, or one of her assistants, taught them how to differentiate runes based on the elements and how to combine them to obtain different effects.
Solus was enthusiast about the Master Alchemist lessons she kept taking, and promised Lith a big surprise. She had quickly finished copying her book and now the two of them would raid the academy's library at every visit.
As for the private lessons, they went smoother than Lith had expected. After a month, Quylla had already mastered five kinds of silent magic, while Friya and Yurial were struggling with the fourth one.
(AN: normal first magic requires hand signs and magic word, silent magic just the word or the signs, perfect silent requires only gestures to better direct and control the conjured effects)
Her learning rate was terrifying, worthy of someone that managed to enter the White Griffon with no mentor. Lith suspected her to be a genius, and kept a close eye on her.
Thanks to the tonic, she had grown of 5 centimetres (2 inches) and had gained 10 kilos (22 pounds). She was still thin, but her mana core had already evolved to deep cyan.
Over time, he had managed to gain their trust and confidence, or at least so he hoped. Lith decided to teach them only silent magic, keeping the secrets for perfect silent magic and multi casting for himself.
He wanted them to be reliant on him, not dependant, or it would dampen their growth and self-confidence. Not to mention he had no desire to give away such precious secrets and get nothing in return.
Lith had proved them that they could trust him, now it was up to them to return the favour and show their usefulness.
It was exactly a month after the beginning of the private lessons, that all the fourth-year students were summoned by the Headmaster in the Main Hall at the ground floor, right after breakfast.
Several Professors appeared as soon as the gong that signalled the nearing start of the lessons resounded. They opened multiple Warp Steps, bringing them to their destination.
The abrupt change of their routine left them confused. They had started that day like any other, preparing the spells and the books for the daily courses.
"Hello, my dear students." Linjos said when the last Warp Steps closed.
"I hope you enjoyed breakfast, since it will be the last decent meal you'll get for a while. At least, if you are good enough. Today, you will start the mock exam, to prepare for the trimester's finals.
You will be split in groups of five, according to the specializations of your choice. Each group will be composed by two attackers, two defenders and one healer. Your current evaluation will affect how your group will be formed.
The duration of the exam is one week. It will take place in the forest surrounding the White Griffon. The only thing that's required from you is to survive as long as you can.
Don't worry, it's a controlled environment, the Professors will rescue you in case anything goes wrong. Questions?"
Several hands were raised, Lith's was among them.
"Lith from Lutia, speak freely."
"I thought there would be no tournaments or competitions." Lith said. "Why this change?"
Linjos chuckled.
"It's no competition. The forest is really big, different groups will go in different areas.
The chances of meeting are nigh zero, and even if it happened, a team disrupting another would be immediately stopped, with devastating effect for its members grades.
I forgot to specify that you will be constantly monitored, so beware what you do or say."
His voice became cold during the last phrase, searching in the crowd for the most troublesome figures. Then, he pointed to a girl.
"Histi Cawfor, speak freely." Lith recognized her, she was one of the last placed in the Healer class.
"Isn't this setup too unfair? Forests make no favours, if the groups are formed based on the evaluations, isn't it like dooming those who are still struggling to failure?" She was of course speaking of herself. There wasn't a single topic where she shined, yet.
"You misunderstood my words." Linjos shook his head.
"The groups will work on equal footing. What I meant before, was that they have been assembled so that all the groups have the same rank. I would never allow such a pointless exercise.
This is an opportunity for you to socialize and learn to rely on each other. The test is meant for the whole team, not for the individuals. If the Kingdom will ever call for your help, you won't get to choose who to work with, you'll need flexibility and solidarity."
Murmurs filled the air, the students who reputed themselves good were already cursing their trashy teammates before even knowing them, while the bottom feeders were praying the gods to give them someone that would lead to an effortless success.
All hands went down at that point, so Lith raised his own once again, while the sorting had already begun.
"I'm sorry, Headmaster, one last question. I get that this is a team effort, but what if someone fells to a beast and get saved by a teacher? Can he get back in the team, or does the whole group fail?
"He/she will be considered to have 'died' and returned to the castle. If only one member remains, a group is considered as wiped out. Needless to say, harming your own group is forbidden. You have to solve your differences, not escalate them."
Suddenly the air was shaken by a furious bellow.
"What do you mean I am in the same group of this commoner trash?!"
Curious, Lith asked to Linjos, who explained to him she was the one on the top of the Battle Mage specialization, and was referring to a girl that was quite far behind her.
"Thank you for pointing it out, young mistress." Said Professor Binlow, the one in charge of the battle mage classes. The girl put up a big, satisfied smile, finally something was going her way.
"Minus fifty points for questioning orders, and another minus fifty for having the gall to say that to my face!" He yelled at her like a true drill sergeant, making her cower.
"Without discipline there is no victory. An arrogant leader who disrespects her soldiers, can only lead them to defeat! Besides, who's trash? Have you ever fought something in your life? How do you know how she reacts to danger? Or how you do?
Real fights are different from the classes, and usually those who flap their gums more are the first to fall in battle. Now shut up, unless you want to lose another fifty!"
Having lost half her points in one go, she obeyed.
Lith ended up in a group of three girls and a boy. He didn't know any of them, so he tried to do his best to act friendly, like he did with the healers' group. In the last month he had regained quite a bit of his social skills, and lost his edgelord demeanour.
When Professor Trasque opened their Warp Steps, he was ready to move forward, when one of the girls grabbed him by the shoulder, forcing him to a halt.
"Professor Trasque, you haven't told us who is the leader. The chain of command must be clear."
Lith facepalmed inwardly, while Trasque, with his usual sass, did it openly.
"Good gods, are you deaf or what? This is a group exercise, between people that don't know each other. Is up to you to decide who is the leader, and is a choice that has nothing to do with grades, status or prestige.
A leader doesn't just yap orders around, she will also bear the responsibility if her team fails. Is it clear?" He glared at the nearest girl, before pushing them all through the dimensional door.
Once inside the forest, all Lith's senses went on alert. It was a completely unknown environment, he could rely on the books inside Soluspedia to recognize plants and animals, but they were of little use for survival.
Magical beasts would not give him points for his expertise, they would only try to rip him apart, dooming him to failure.
He was looking at the tree barks, while sniffing the air with his heightened sense, trying to ascertain the nature and kind of the local predators, when the worst noise possible reached his ears.
"We still have to decide first who's in command." Said another girl.
- "F*ck me sideways! How can anyone be such a bonehead? If they keep up like this, we'd better surrender." – He thought.
All his efforts to talk sense into them ended up in failure, they accused him of trying to steal the spotlight again, like during the common classes.
Lith had even opened his speech saying he had no interest in being the leader. He just wanted them to be quiet and start moving. That just made them angrier, yelling at him to stop ordering them around.
In the meantime, a few dozen kilometres away, the ruler of the forest was taking its first morning nap, snoring soundly. One of the giant front paws was pressed against its eyes, shielding them from sunlight while enjoying spring's warmth.
With each of its breaths, the world energy would enter its body, nourishing and strengthening the mana core, pushing it forward to the next evolution. Numerous small birds scampered on his curled massive body, chirping boldly.
Nothing would dare attacking them while on the highest throne.
"Boss! Boss!" An enormous Ry, its height at the withers reaching 2 meters (6'7"), with a golden fur, with shades of red and yellow, approached galloping. The birds gave it no heed, continuing their business.
"Wake up! It's that time of the year again."
The Scorpicore's body shook up, suddenly alert and clear-headed.
"Oh gods, no! I'd swear I had cubs until just a few months ago. Finding a decent mate is such a hassle! Not to mention how much care those adorable furballs require. Thanks, M'Rook, but I think I'll hard pass. I need some me quality time."
If a living human soul was allowed to spectate, he would see a Ry facepaw itself in frustration.
"Not that! I mean the man-pups from the made-mountain have invaded your turf once again."
The Scorpicore stood up on its four, stretching its spine and front legs with cat like movements, forcing the birds to fly away.
"You moron, you should have said that earlier!" It growled, towering above the Ry like an adult with a child.
"Finally some fun! Alert all the dens, I hereby declare the game season open!"
Chapter 73 Mock Exam 2
Author's Note: the [] marks beasts speaking beast tongue, not human language.
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The Scorpicore was a monster big enough, to make any sane man willing to face it rethink his life choices, no matter how brave he was.
Its shoulder height reached almost the three meters (9'10"), it had a scarlet red fur and mane, with shades of white, black, blue and yellow. Actually, there were also red shades, even though only an interior decorator could have noticed them.
The monster had the body and the head of a lion, bat-like membranous wing coming out from his back and the tail was that of a scorpion.
From one of its pocket dimensions, the Scorpicore took out a gold rimmed pince-nez, that as soon touched the snout, grew big enough that each of its lenses became the size of 17" screen.
["Let's see where are the nearest playgrounds."] Thanks to the magical glasses, the monster gained an ability that closely resembled Solus's mana sense, paired with the ability to zoom in like a telescope.
["One group is near the green spring, another in the river clearing…"] Despite the great distance, it was able to locate the groups of five unknown mana cores, identifying the students' drop spots.
["Order and chaos, these humans have no imagination. Everything is identical to the last time! Where's the fun in that?"]
While grumbling about mankind's lack of originality, the Scorpicore started sending teams of three magical beasts to intercept the humans and banish them from the forest.
["Rules of engagement?"] M'Rook asked.
["Same old, same old. Make a roar, growl, po*p on them, whatever. Let them somehow notice your arrival, otherwise everything will be over before we can say 'order up'. As long as the Headmaster doesn't break the rules, we'll play along."]
["The who?"]
["By the Great Mother, M'Rook, you are an excellent second in command, but you need to start to pay attention to human's hierarchies. The Headmaster is the boss of the castle, the thing you call made-mountain."]
It had almost finished dispatching the clean-up teams, when it noticed a pleasant surprise.
["Wait a minute, there is one group of six mana cores instead of five. I call dibs on that!"]
["What's a mana core?"] Asked a Cron, a hawk evolved in a magical beast, the size of a small piper plane.
["You are too young for that, Sentar. Survive another twenty years and I'll teach you how to evolve again."]
["Boss Scarlett, you are making no sense, we are already at the pinnacle, right?"] Sentar tilted its head diagonally in disbelief.
["Yeah, right, and I was a born a Scorpicore. No dimwit, magical beasts are just a step. Before evolving in a Scorpicore I was just a Shyf (AN: see chap50), and before that I was a cute and cuddly house cat."]
Scarlett rolled on its back, exposing the giant tummy to the sun, purring like a muscle car. Despite all its efforts, it was more disturbing than cute.
["You are joking right?"] Asked M'Rook.
["No, I'm not. It's not like only you forest folk can turn into magical beasts. And if you keep doubting my word, I'll rat you out to one of my dragon friends that once was a lizard.
I'm sure he will be happy to have you all for dinner, with some good red wine."]
The various magical beast preferred swallowing down their incredulity. Boss Scarlett told them the most ridiculous stories all the time, yet every single one of them turned out to be true.
["M'Rook, Termyn, Sentar enough chatting, follow my lead!"] With a single flap of its wings, the Scorpicore took off. Only Sentar was able to follow it, while M'Rook and Termyn, a Cingy (boar type magical beast), could only stare up.
["What a d*ck."] They said as one, while the Scorpicore was laughing its a*s off.
["Have you seen their faces? This joke never gets old. They are too serious. They need to learn how to sit back and relax. When I was your age…"]
Sentar stopped listening to the Boss' rantings, just nodding from time to time and giving a random answer.
Meanwhile, Lith's group was still arguing. Everyone wanted to be the leader, to prove themselves being as good as the so-called top tier students. Lith could only think of them as four caged hungry dogs, with only a piece of meat.
The problem was that the cage restricted only them from harming each other, it offered no protection from real threats. Every second they spent yelling and arguing, was like setting up the table for all the beasts in the proximity.
He had already tried all the diplomatic approaches he and Solus could come up with, but with no result. Him being a top tier, made them dismiss all of his proposals as attempts to rack more points at their expenses.
Sick and tired of their childish behaviour, Lith summoned a strong gale, that took them by surprise, making them fall butt first on the ground.
"Listen up, you idiots." If being nice didn't work, he could as well return to his original demeanour.
"Do you see that, that and that?" He pointed at several claw marks on different trees nearby.
"Those are not rustic decorations to embellish the landscape. Beasts use them as territorial marks, meant to warn intruders they are trespassing in their turf.
If you take a second to look away from your ego, you'll notice that this area is being contended by several magical beasts. Each of them is capable of leaving claw marks the size of a book, and your rantings are alerting them all!
This is a group survival test, we are supposed to get along, put aside our differences and work as a team. I want anyone watching us know that if we get wiped out before even an hour, it's all these idiots' fault!"
He said looking around, having no idea were the magic cameras could be.
The speech, especially the last part, worked like a charm. After getting back up, they didn't even complain about the surprise attack. They reconsidered their actions from the beginning, and prayed the gods to turn back time and give them a do over.
Being the gods otherwise busy, the timeline kept moving forward, and so did Lith.
"I am no leader, I always hunted solo. But one thing I know: in a dangerous environment the key to survival is being as stealthy as possible. We need to find a place where to hide during the day, and easily defensible at night.
We must leave before…"
The high-pitched shriek of bird of prey filled the air, while the ground started trembling below their feet.
Lith stopped talking, immediately taking the three fake potions out of his dimensional pocket and gulping them down. He could now activate fire, earth and air fusion magic without arising any suspicion.
(AN: by infusing himself with said elements he has just become faster, stronger and tougher. See chap19 for more details.)
Before he could finish drinking, Sentar swooped down, kidnapping the cutest of the two black haired girls from the group, and taking her up in the air.
- "What a moron." The Cron thought. "Still defenceless despite my warning. Fourth years are the worst opponents, barely offering any resistance." –
Cursing whoever Professor had picked his teammates, Lith could only watch the Cron getting higher and higher, supporting its flaps with powerful updrafts.
- "I wish I could run away and let them get what they deserve. I hate teamwork!" – Lith thought.
Everyone else was still in a daze, refusing to accept reality.
"What the f*ck are you doing? Someone must take flight and save her! With her arms locked in the talons, she can't use magic!" Lith wanted to beat them to death himself.
"A monster, another monster!" The high-pitched little girl-like voice actually belonged to the only other boy of the group. He was pointing at a black mass, as big as a carriage, approaching at break-neck speed.
It was Termyn, the Cingy, joining the fray while announcing his presence causing small quakes as he closed in.
"F*ck you all! If you want to stay on the ground, take cover while I…" Lith realized that talking was useless. The two girls had fallen on their knees, hugging each other, while the boy, judging from the repugnant smell, had pi*sed himself.
- "Now I get why Trasque was so hard on me and them the second day. Yet it was all for naught!"- Lith thought.
A Cingy was a tough opponent, and Lith could only use fake magic. He needed to keep his three rings' charges only for desperate situations. Being all five of them still in play, he racked his brain searching for a solution.
- "Wait a minute! Usually Cingy are limited to the use of water and earth magic. I can exploit that! Magical beasts do not control all elements." –
Termyn was unable to escape its boar nature, charging straight toward the prey. It saw an evil eyed kid starting to chant something, so Termyn activated one of his best defensive spells, Mountain Body.
The Cingy knew all too well how predictable was its attack pattern, so he never underestimated an opponent. Mountain Body raised its body weight and defence to the limit, making it impervious against weapons and magic alike.
- "Chant all you want kid. You'll never finish your spell in time, I'm too fast. It will be your requiem!" – Termyn inwardly sneered
Yet the chant ended right after it started, and Lith began a new one, while a small yellow orb flew in collision course with Termyn.
- "What an idiot! My earth magic is the perfect counter to air magic. Zap me, push me, whatever. It will never work!" -
When the two collided, nothing happened, not even a small spark against its hide. The Cingy started to think that the boy had misfired out of fear. Then, Lith completed the second spell too.
"Brezza Reale!" He had invoked the training spell Lift.
Suddenly, Termyn felt like a gentle caress on its belly, yet it managed to push it several meters in the air, like he was just a balloon. Then a second and third push came, making it rise above the threes.
Hidden between the bushes, Scarlett was watching the whole scene, giggling under its whiskers.
["Termyn, you idiot, the first was a basic Float spell. It wasn't meant for damage, but to make you weightless and set-up for another quick spell, to take you away from the ground and make you helpless. Pride goes before a fall.]
Listening to the Boss' explanation, the Cingy understood what had happened, and started laughing at itself.
["Damn! Such a feisty brat! I'll keep you for last!"] He yelled at Lith, that unable to understand animal-speak, ignored the beast's oinks reciting his third spell.
One of the greatest advantages from forgemastering, was that he had trained chaining short simple spells for over a month, making him able to move his fingers and mouth non-stop, no matter he was using fake magic, like before, or using the true one.
Lith reconsidered Lift value, since it allowed him to keep pushing away the Cingy even when he was casting another spell. After he finished casting his true magic flight spell, he rushed to save the girl.
Sentar was slowed down by her weight, and everything had happened in barely a few seconds. He was expecting Termyn and M'Rook to have the situation below under control. When he perceived a magic perturbation in the air currents, it was too late.
Lith had coupled the flight and slipstream spell, making him faster than a bullet. He had scarce knowledge about magical beasts, but he remembered well how despite their big sizes, the birds' hollow bones made them frailer than they looked.
So instead of using a spell that could be easily countered by the opponent's air and darkness true magic, he just combined his speed with the hardness and the explosive strength from fusion magic to land an uppercut right under the beast's beak.
Because of his almost vertical trajectory and the fire generated by the friction between his fist and the fast air currents, it looked exactly like a dragon punch.
Chapter 74 Mock Exam 3
Sentar's head snapped back on impact, losing control of its flight and letting the prey go. To make things worse, Lith quickly snapped his fingers in succession, generating several flashes of light and booms near the Cron's head, making it blind and deaf.
- "Damn, I took my sweet time enjoying her screams and that's what I get in return. I was no Cron, more like a sitting duck. Now I can't even get where's the up and down. If I crash land because of a pup, the boss will never let me hear the end of it." –
Lith would have liked to keep striking the iron while it was still hot, but the black-haired girl was plummeting like a brick. Cursing her stupidity, Lith swooped down with a swing motion, first down then up, to avoid breaking her ribs during the catch.
The rescue was successful, but judging from the smell, Lith understood that she was relieved from fear on several levels.
"What the heck were you doing?" He yelled in her ear, thinking how ridiculous were in real life those romantic moments in action movies, right after the hero saved the damsel in distress.
Between the smell and the impending danger, there was no space for romance and tender one liners. The only thing they both wanted was a safe haven and a hot bath.
"Don't you know first magic? Why did you let it drag you around like a sack of potatoes? More importantly, do you know a flight spell?"
She nodded while holding him tight with both arms and legs, like she was trying to get inside his clothes.
"Then go ahead and use it! My spell is not meant for two, I can only glide while carrying you around. Once that thing recovers, we will be doomed. Do something, remember they are watching us!"
Free from the grip of fear, she realized that the whole staff of the academy had been spectating at her humiliating performance. The girl became purple from head to toe for a second, before letting him go and chanting her flight spell.
"Let's get the others and retreat! In the open we are too disadvantaged."
They both quickly returned to the ground, pulling the other three back on their feet, and literally kicking their a*ses to force them to recover from the terror and get them moving.
"Take flight, fast!" Lith yelled. "We have no hope of shacking them off on foot. But keep close to the ground, the Cron will turn us in mincemeat if we try to fight in its element."
To his teammates, Lith words sounded those of a strong and experienced leader, that had full control of the situation. The reality, though, like the Professors could assess while facepalming, was that he was just remembering them common sense.
"This year's batch is awful." Said Scarlett in its communicator amulet.
"They always are on the fourth year." Linjos replied with a sigh.
"Remember our pact, and don't be stingy. I want their weight's worth in meat, and I mean the good stuff, no bones or nerves. And tell your servants to play by the rules, you don't want to see me getting ugly."
Linjos had the communicator in conference call mode, so everyone could listen. The Professors didn't like being called servants, but they understood very well that in the wilderness the strong ruled above all.
The Scorpicore's help guaranteed that no student would be seriously harmed before being rescued, not to mention that such a powerful guardian defending the academy was worth far more than just meat.
They were truly blessed by having a monster at their disposal, reasonable enough to be useful, but stupid enough to not understand its true value.
After closing the communication, Scarlett had a smug grin on its feline snout.
- "Imbeciles, I don't care about the meat, I would do it even for free. Your stupid lessons allow me to train the magical beasts in anti-magician tactics. They use us as sparring partners, but that's a game that two can play.
Another bonus is that when the fifth-year students train in the forest, I get updated about the tactics they employ and the spells they teach. I bet they sleep much better at night, believing me a dumb monster that only wants food in its belly. –
Meanwhile, M'Rook had joined the fray, and was rapidly catching up with Lith's group using air magic to move faster and his sense of smell to not lose their traces.
Lith was on the verge of tears, this experience was a full-blown disaster. He was sick and tired of playing baby-sitter, but what choice did he have left? He slowed down, detaching from the group, appearing beside the Ry.
It followed a quick exchange of spells, since Lith never allowed M'Rook to get close to him. He kept moving in all the three dimensions, gaining a tactical advantage since the magical beast was only relying on its legs to manoeuvre around.
Lith wasn't trying to harm it, he used only tier one and two spells in quick succession, with the aim to ruin the opponent's focus and slowing down its movements.
- "Who the heck is this pup?" M'Rook thought gritting its teeth in raising frustration.
"It's like he learned how to fight from a Ry, he anticipates almost all of my moves. But that's impossible!" – In the Trawn woods, Protector's ears were burning.
Lith used a fine mist to detect incoming invisible wind blades, while moving around with no pattern to avoid lightnings. After stumbling on a conjured mound, M'Rook finally lost it, jumping with all its strength trying to catch the pup with the jaws.
- "Imbecile! That's what I/he was waiting for! You can't dodge in mid-air!" – Lith and Scarlett thought as one.
"Checkmate Spears!" Lith yelled, releasing the tier three spell stored in his ring. Thanks to various experiments, he had learned that he could store even charged up true magic spells, as long they didn't exceed the ring's capacity.
Hence, he was able to unleash his most powerful spell in its empowered version in a split second.
["F*ck me sideways!"] M'Rook whimpered when dozens of ice spears as thick and long as small trees encircled him from all directions, before crashing against its body.
Their mass was too big to deflect them with a simple air barrier, and fire would need time to melt so much ice before rendering it harmless. Desperate, M'Rook used its strongest attack, Flaming Tornado, on itself.
By combining its best fire and air spells, M'Rook used the strong winds to deflect the spears from its vitals, hoping for the scorching hot temperatures to smooth down their deadly extremities.
When the Tornado disappeared, M'Rook was alive and well, but its body was beaten and battered with countless small wounds. Between the spell and its tick fur, the spears hadn't managed to pierce, but they still hit like a truck.
Lith wasn't there to gloat or to deal another blow, he had already returned to the group yelling trivial instructions.
"Use the fist magic darkness spell Conceal, you idiots! Do you think a Ry's nose is for decoration? Hide your smell, now!"
He took out some old clothes from the pocket dimension, turning them into shreds with air magic, and sprinkling them with the sweat he had always forgot to throw away since the run to Professor Vastor's first lesson.
Then, Lith threw the shreds in the wind, hoping to create multiple false leads for the magical beasts to follow.
-"Not to be the Lith of the situation, but I don't think your group will last a week." Solus giggled at her own joke.
"No sh*t, Sherlock. I bet we will be wiped out by tomorrow."
"Tomorrow is too soon. My bet is full annihilation within three days."
"Deal." -
They kept flying for about ten minutes, before feeling safe enough to take a break. The group had come across a small hill, about ten meters (33 feet) high. With the backs against something solid, they could finally catch their breath.
Lith scanned the surroundings with Life Vision, allowing himself to relax only after finding nothing stronger than a normal beast in the surroundings.
"How many hours do you think have passed since the exam's start?" Asked the boy, looking around like a cornered mouse.
"Less than one." Lith replied after checking the sun's position.
"But if felt so much longer." Said the tallest of the black-haired girls. All of them had a dejected expression, there was no trace left of their previous overbearing pride.
Lith brought the index finger against his lips, remembering them to be quiet, then he started circling around the hill. The other four promptly followed him, forming a single line.
-"Aww, your ducklings are so cute, Mother Goose." – Solus said.
Lith made a complete lap, checking for caves. They had been lucky, there was none. A natural cave was too much a convenient asset to be left vacant, and he couldn't afford to drive off wildlife with the risk of being exposed.
After choosing a spot devoid of grass or vines, he used earth magic to create an artificial cave, by condensing the porous soil, and turning it hard enough to hold the improvised ceiling.
At the same time, Lith erected small stone pillars to support the whole structure. It wasn't much, but still big enough for all of them to sit and rest comfortably. While the others were looking at him in a daze, he added more pillars along the walls.
He wasn't an engineer, and preferred to be safe rather than sorry.
The boy walked toward Lith with a big smile and holding out his hand.
"I'm not going to touch any of you until you have cleaned yourself properly. I suggest using darkness magic, it will clean the dirt and remove the smell."
After everyone was cleansed, Lith used first magic to close the entrance with a thick layer of earth and to light the inside of the cave. Then, he pretended to cast a spell while activating Hush, generating a small air dome.
"Thanks to that, no sound nor smell can escape, so we can talk freely. I'd say that our introductions are long overdue. I'm Lith from Lutia, and I'm supposed to be the healer." His voice was exuding sarcasm.
Several kilometres away, Termyn and M'Rook had finally collected all the cloth shreds, destroying them to not be swayed anymore by their strong smell. Sentar landed near them, ready to report.
["Can't find them anywhere. It's like they disappeared."]
["Same." Replied M'Rook. ["Aside from these things I can't smell them any longer. Boss, we need your trinket."]
Scarlett scoffed.
["That would be unfair! It's you versus them, I'm just enjoying the show. You'll wait until after noon before resuming the search. You need some time to heal properly, and they deserve a little rest."]
Chapter 75 Day One
Not even an hour had passed from the start of the mock exam, and Lith was already tired and vexed enough to seriously consider the idea of throwing in the towel and return to the White Griffon.
His teammates were so embarrassed, that despite each of them opened their mouth more than once, not a single word came out. No matter what apology came to their mind, they all sounded too little and too late, even to them.
First, they had ostracized him, then they had ignored all of his warnings until it was too late. He was the only reason why they hadn't get instantly wiped out, despite all their undeserved confidence and embarrassing performances.
The two that had previously lost control of their bladder, had a particularly hard time watching the others in the eyes, and could only thank the academy's Forgemasters for the self-cleaning uniform.
"I'm Visen De Brae." The first one to muster the courage to speak was the boy, once again holding out his hand. This time Lith shook it, but barely, his anger still smoldering.
"I'm supposed to be… I mean I'm a Warden." He corrected himself, laughing nervously. Visen was a fifteen-year-old, 1.63 meters (5'4") high with brown hair and chestnut eyes. He had a regular build and a small mole right under his left eye.
"As such, my specialty is a sturdy defence. Wardens can conjure several kinds of arrays with any element, we can even alter the landscape if needed.
In time of war a Warden can easily build makeshift bridges and siege towers, we are the only defence an army has against War Mages. In times of peace, instead, our role is to build dams, castles, roads, whatever the Kingdom needs. Let me show you."
Visen casted an unknown spell, and placed his hands against a wall. Then he casted another, moving around the stone pillars and strengthening the whole structure.
"See? First, I checked the stability of the ground, then I fixed things so that the cave now is safe like a natural one." He kept smiling, hoping to have proven his worth.
Usually Lith would be impressed, even taking a mental note to check out Warden's spells.
- "A Warden that cannot even stop a Cingy despite seeing it coming from a mile away. What the f*ck has to smile for?"
Right now, it took all of his willpower to not strangle him on the spot, so he just nodded in response.
Then, the second one of the p*ssing duo stepped forward.
"My name is Milna Kratic, I'm a War Mage." She was fifteen too, 1.60 meters (5'3") high with shoulder length black hair. She had a fully developed slender body, but her round face had too many childish features to call her beautiful. She was pretty at best.
"I know what a War Mage is. My mentor is one too." Lith cut her short.
She became red from rage, but managed to hold it in.
"I can shoot down a magical beast with a single spell." She continued with a stone-cold voice.
- "You wish." - He sneered inwardly
"My name is Phloria Ernas, I am Mage Knight." She was the tallest of the group, 1.76 meters (5'9") high, with chin length black hair and the build of a professional swimmer.
"My specialty is defence too, but unlike a Warden, my skills are better oriented at covering a smaller are or a target. Mage Knights are also trained in the use of weapons." She said opening her robe, and revealing an estoc hanging by her side.
"Hi there, and thanks. I'm Belia Ulphar. As a Battle Mage, I'm a jack of all trades, or at least I am supposed to. According to my Professor, I should be able to hold my ground alone in every situation, or to support any team member needing help.
But considering my performance so far, either he is bad at teaching, or I'm a slow learner." She was 1.7 meters (5'7") high, with long blonde hair with shades of black held up in a pony tail.
Her honesty was refreshing for Lith, all the others were still kind of stuck up, flaunting their skill like it was actually worth something.
For a moment, he thought about lashing at them, reminding how useless they had been in an actual fight. But then he decided against it.
- "Calm down, old man. Rage will not get us anywhere. Besides, it's likely we are still being watched. They can lose as many points they like with their foolishness, but there is no reason for stooping down at their level." He said to himself.
"Yeah, remember what Shakespeare said: 'All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players'." Solus chimed in. "Oh, another thing, this is what I think about the test…." -
While listening to Solus, Lith took a few deep breaths to regain his composure. He extended his hand to every member of the group. They shook it immediately.
"Okay, let's forget what happened before. Let me share with you what I think of the current situation." At those words, the other four stiffened up their expression, expecting a scolding or for Lith to brag about himself.
"First of all, never underestimate a magical beast. Their intelligence is almost at human level, if you treat them as dumb beasts, you'll fail fast."
From the faces of his teammates, he could see that they were doubting his words, but had not the courage to say it openly.
"I fought several of them in the past. Some I killed, others I ran away from, with the tail between my legs. It's not just them being smart. As you have seen yourselves, they can use magic in a different way, with much shorter casting time."
With all that had happened, they had missed that part. His explanation not only made perfect sense, but also sent shivers of fear down their spine. Making them feel even more weak an insecure.
"I will not lie to you, if they weren't crippled by the inability to use more than two elements, I doubt I could ever defeat even one of them" Lith lied, belittling himself not for acting humbly, but to make them realize the strength of their enemy.
"And to be completely honest, I believe that we would have already been wiped out, if it wasn't for the fact that they are just playing along with the Headmaster's plan."
"What do you mean?" Phloria quickly regained her cool, intrigued by Lith's words.
"Think about it." He said rephrasing what Solus had told him earlier.
"This is just a bigger and improved version of Professor's Trasque exercise on the second day. Didn't you find odd that the magical beasts announced their presence before attacking? What sense does it make shrieking before swooping down?
The Cingy had no reason to perform that quake, it could have softened the ground and make its charge silent as cat's steps. Also, why attack one by one, instead of all together? They are clearly playing their part according to a script."
Milna scratched her head, thinking at full gear.
"That's why the monster bird kidnapped me, instead of biting my head off, or ripping me apart with the talons. I thought it was just playing with me before going for the kill. But this does actually make more sense."
Lith nodded.
"No one would send unexperienced teenagers in a dangerous and uncontrolled environment. If they are so certain to be able to rescue us, it means they have some kind of deal with the creatures.
But that doesn't mean we can't fail, or get severely injured. Otherwise why adding a Healer? To last for a week, we need to pool our resources and skills. In my dimensional amulet I have some food, potions and my hunter kit. What about you?"
An awkward silence fell in the cave.
"No food?" He asked I disbelief.
"Well, the canteen is opened 24/7. I had no reason to store any." Phloria replied, keeping her head low, fiddling the ground with her foot.
"What about the potions?"
"Never bought one." Milna said. "They are cheap, but I can't waste my points in one-use items. I never got why they sell them, they are useless." The others nodded at her words.
Lith scratched his head, resisting the temptation to pull out his hair.
"Useless?! How do you think I was able to cast so fast? To hit the Cron so hard to force it to release you, without breaking my arm?" He wanted to add more, but only swear words came to his mind.
"What the heck do you have in your dimensional items? Tell me at least there's something useful."
It turned out they were mostly employed for storing books, feminine products and personal items, like jewels, money and family mementos. Visen even managed to surprise Lith with his properties.
"I have only school books and, uhm…" He whispered in Lith's ear. "…other kind of books, you know, for research purposes. I can't have them lying around, so I always keep them with me. I can lend them to you if you need to relieve some stress."
Lith didn't knew if to laugh or cry, he hadn't heard that phrasing since browsing online comics back on Earth. He took out a plate of freshly baked cookies, stress eating them to calm his nerves and hasten his mana recovery.
The delicious sugary smell of almond pastries and chocolate chips immediately drawn everyone's attention. Lith shared them with a heavy heart, hiding behind his smile the wish for his teammates to choke on them and put him out of his misery.
The food managed to rise everyone's spirit, and when they run out of cookies they seemed refreshed and ready for action.
"I'll keep the rest of the food for emergencies. It would never last for seven days, splitting it among so many people. We need to hunt on daily basis. Who has any experience with it?"
Phloria and Mirna both raised their hand.
"Good! Do you know how to use first magic to help you during a hunt?"
"No." Mirna said, shaking her head. "But I think I'm speaking for everyone when I say that we now understand how ill prepared we are for this task. For any task, to be honest. Lith, you are the only one that seems to have an idea of what we are doing.
Do you want to be team leader?"
Their gazes full of expectations made him want to puke, there could be only a possible answer.
Chapter 76 End Of Day One
"I have always fought alone, I know nothing about formations or teamwork. And if I give orders, I can't cast any spell. I think it's better to have a skilled hunter, rather than a makeshift leader.
Anyone of you that has received military training, either as a strategist or a soldier, is much better suited for this than me."
- "Not to mention that I don't give a damn about any of you. I don't have any motivation for being a good leader. As long as I keep at least one of you standing, anything goes for me. The important is avoiding the wipe out." – He inwardly added.
Lith's teammates started talking to each other, honestly searching to determine who could best take charge, setting their pride and personal ambitions aside.
Reluctantly, he had to burst their bubble.
"Do you mind a simple advice?" Everyone turned towards him again.
"Whoever becomes the leader has a huge problem: we know each other's class, but not what we are capable of during a real fight. In a life and death situation, you can't give detailed explanations, only generic orders.
An order is good only if executed in a proper manner. You have experienced first-hand how easy is to freeze due to panic. In my case, I tend to let my bloodlust blind me. Both issues would cause any plan to crumble in the face of the enemy.
My suggestion is to put the leader matter aside, and just watch each other's back. Only by familiarizing with our skillsets and behaviours, a shoddy team like this has any chance of survival."
After the team agreed, Lith started explaining to everyone how to make use of first magic in the wilderness.
They had to use the darkness spell Concealment to hide their smell all the time, and never leave the cave on foot, but by using Flight or Float to not leave prints going in and out from the entrance. The same applied to hunting.
Coupling those spells was the best way to sneak up on a prey.
Lith, Mirna and Phloria left the cave, while Belia and Visen stayed behind. Visen decided to employ the time at hand to make the cave more stable, spacious and to solve what would be an inevitable hurdle.
Soon someone would be in need of a bathroom, and he doubted that anyone would consider the idea of going alone outside. Getting literally caught with your pants down was nightmare material.
Once on the outside, the hunting team relied on looks and hand gestures, trying to speak only as a last resort. Being a Mage Knight, Phloria decided to pair up with Mirna to protect her, while Lith would move on his own.
- "Sigh, I can't believe I have to babysit these kids."
"I know." Solus replied. "But it's the purpose of this whole exercise."
"Yeah, it took us a while to understand why during the second day Trasque didn't assign any points. It was because he wanted us to teach each other actively, not just beat the cr*p out of your opponent."
"And guess who do you have to thank for having understood the real nature of this test?" Solus giggled.
"And guess who do you have to thank for keeping me alive and avoiding you the trouble of finding another host?" Lith sarcastically replied.
"I'm sorry, your Ladyship…" He performed a mind-curtsy. "but while you enjoy the show in your front row seat, I'm the one in the Colosseum. So is not such an amazing result.
You can watch the bigger picture, but I must focus on teeth, claws and keeping my guts where they belong."
"Meanie! Like I don't worry all the time! A simple 'thank you' would suffice."
Lith felt like cr*p, snapping at her for no reason.
"I'm really sorry Solus. I know you were just trying to lighten the mood and cheer me up. It's just that I am already so stressed that I'd need some way to vent out. And thank you. You are the only one that knows all my flaws, yet still cares for me.
Thank you for all the help you give me every day, and for never stopping trying to make me into a better person." –
That was the first time his chatterbox mage tower had nothing so say. Her mind was blank as a slate. Lith preferred not to pry further, she was likely to be either angry at him or just too surprised to reply.
They often joked about it, but he had never earnestly thanked her before for meddling in his private life.
The woodlands were denser than the Trawn woods, despite all his experience Lith was at loss. They couldn't get too far away from the hill without risking of getting lost, nor they could split too much, in case something happened.
This time he couldn't cheat his way out with Life Vision and spirit magic. How could he possibly explain being able to spot animals underground on in tree trunks?
Mirna and Phloria weren't having better luck. Keeping two spells always active wasn't something they were used to. Double casting was demanding for their focus, and at the slightest slip up they had to cast them both again, consuming even more mana.
While Mirna's ego seemed to have recovered quickly, regaining her confident attitude, Phloria had never felt so ashamed in her whole life.
She was the most promising descendant in a bloodline of Mage Knights, yet she kept stumbling through her specialization course.
Her father had taught her personally both magic up to tier three and swordplay. He even made her fight wild beasts to give her real enemies. But now she realized that all her confidence was built on a lie.
She was so used always having him by her side that she never took any challenge seriously. Her father would always help her, if something went wrong.
At the academy, instead, she was alone.
The Professor was tough and demanding, the competition so fierce that her so-called friends were too busy fixing their own mistakes to pay her any attention. When the Headmaster had announced the mock exam, she had rejoiced, thinking it was her time to shine.
But she had never seen something so big like a magical beast. At the moment of truth, her nerves had failed her, turning her into a burden for everyone.
Despite Phloria's earlier brave façade, she was still scared out of her mind, trembling at any noise, her hand clutching the hilt of her sword so tight that it was white. Phloria could not help but envy Mirna.
She was so pretty compared to her, and despite all that she had went through, her will was rock-solid.
Mirna, on the other hand, reciprocated such feelings in full. She was jealous of Phloria, so tall and strong, she was bound to have lots of admirers. The reason why Mirna appeared so confident, was because she believed not having any more face to lose.
She had already gone below and beyond the bottom of the barrel, in her mind she could only rise up.
"Stop squirming like that, you are making me nervous too!" Mirna whispered. She couldn't bear anymore her guardian's twists and turns.
"Sorry. But I have an eerie feeling about this."
"This whole forest is an eerie feeling. Where the f*ck are the animals? I can hear animal's calls, but we still have to meet a single soul."
The minutes quickly turned into hours, and the only creatures they spotted where too far and fast to get any shot at them.
The sun had reached the zenith, so they decided to give up and check if Lith's luck had been any better. A few dozen meters away, Lith had come to the same conclusion.
Even using all the tricks in his book, his preys would amount to a poor meal for one person. He had never learned how to follow tracks or use traps, he had always been reliant on true magic. But while he was observed, those abilities were sealed.
Suddenly, an odd chirping resounded. The three of them listened carefully, hoping for a last-minute big catch. The more they listened to it, the less it sounded like birds.
It was more of a mix of a rhythmic cricket's chirruping and a mouse's high-pitched squeaking.
- "Solus, this sounds a lot like bats, but it makes no sense. They are mostly nocturnal animals. Not to mention it doesn't explain why all the other animals have gone silent."
"Definitely close, but not bats." She replied. "It's not squeaking, more like joints clicking." –
The noise kept growing in intensity, until it was all around them. Expecting another magical beast to attack right after announcing its presence, they tried to regroup as fast as they could.
The moment they lowered their guard, looking for each other's position, was the beginning of the end. From the treetops and countless holes in the ground, well hidden by the thick vegetation, countless spiders attacked them from all directions.
Some of them where small and round, their body size close to a basketball, while others were as big as a Labrador. Their black bodies were covered in long bristles, with red dots all over.
"Watch out! Those are Clackers!" Mirna yelled, but her words fell on deaf ears.
Neither of her teammates had ever heard of them.
- "F*ck me sideways!" Lith cursed. "None of the books in Soluspedia ever mentioned that insects or arachnids can turn in magical beasts. I have no idea what these things are capable of!" –
The attack had been too sudden, the clicking noise wasn't a warning, it was how the Clackers had coordinated their attack, leaving them no escape routes.
The spells in Lith's rings were useless. Checkmate Spears was a finisher against big opponents, against a small army it had no effect. The tier two ring held a healing spell, while the tier one was a simple blinding spell.
Sure, no one beside him knew what his rings contained, but that still left him with just three true magic spells. After that, Lith had either to accept the loss or blow up his cover.
He had no real weapon outside first magic, he had been caught completely unprepared.
Chapter 77 End Of Day One 2
The Clackers' strategy was simple and effective. After having surrounded their preys, they swarmed them in a one wave rush. The ones on the ground tried to overpower them, while those on the trees threw spider webs the size of a tablecloth.
All the while those that kept hanging from their threads spat poison non-stop, aiming for their eyes.
Lith did his best, using water magic to turn his hands into razor-sharp blades and cutting off everything that came too close, but there were simply too many. He wasn't used being ambushed, and never encountered such situations.
All the spells he had at hand, both true and fake magic ones, were aimed toward bigger single opponents, he had no idea how to manage a swarm of small enemies.
The girls were faring much better than him. As soon as Phloria had seen the Clackers, her father's teachings had kicked in, and she had quickly conjured a tower shield made of white-hot rocks.
It served as both offense and defence, since her own magic could not harm her. Spiderwebs would burst into flames like made of paper, the poison would just fizzle without any effect, while everything that touched the shield would lose its limbs if not its life.
From the moment she had recognized the nature of the enemy, Mirna had stuck her back against Phloria's, using her protection to put her War Mage specialization to use.
Mirna filled the space around them with ice shards as long and thick as an arm, raining down on the Clackers like they had a mind of their own, without missing a target.
She could freely cast a spell after the other, switching place with Phloria in case of attack while her magic exterminated dozens of enemies at a time.
Back at the White Griffon, Professor Vastor, who was in charge of surveillance for that area, contacted Scarlett demanding explanations.
"What in the gods' names are Clackers doing? This is not part of our deal!"
"Of course not." Vastor went into a daze, seeing through the communicator amulet that the Scorpicore was sipping tea from a porcelain cup the size of a bucket.
"Insects and arthropods have no respect for any hierarchy except for their own. I do agree that they are spawning too fast, though. A culling might be needed, but right now I have other business to attend. If you need our help, you just have to ask."
Scarlett scoffed at his face, picking a cookie the size of a plate.
"No, thanks!" Vastor closed the call, cursing the monster and its arrogance for trying to copycat humans.
"Thorman, get ready to retrieve three students." He said to a bulky middle-aged Professor, in charge of the Mage Knight specialization.
"One of mine, one of yours plus one." Thorman laughed at his colleague's lack of manners, setting the coordinates for the pick-up spot in his ring. He remembered his student, a talented girl that was allowing herself to get drowned in insecurity.
- "Linjos was right, after all. With the old rules, even someone like Phloria would have been eliminated before the hour mark. The academy's system needed to be changed." - He was now regretting being one of Linjos' fiercest opponents.
Lith's situation was getting worse by the second. Despite his heightened senses and reflexes, there was only so much he could do. The only reason he was still standing, was because he could use up to six first magic spells at a time.
Even so, he could only delay the inevitable. The Clackers were now so close that even if he was at liberty of using true magic, he would not have the time. No matter how many he killed, there were always more coming forward.
"Help! I need help!" Was the only thing he managed to scream from time to time.
Phloria, instead, was swept by euphoria. The spiderlings normally lacked fear, but the fight had long turned into a massacre. The flaming shield was impenetrable, and every time the sword flashed behind it, many would get mutilated or worse.
They had only two paths ahead, to retreat or die.
Mirna tried her best to keep up with her, but while casting she couldn't move very fast. Phloria was becoming increasingly reckless with her attacks, pursuing the enemies fleeing in front of her, uncaring for the consequences.
"What the heck are you doing? Come back here!" They were now several meters apart, enough for the spiders to surround Mirna again.
When Phloria realized her mistake, a Clacker hanging from a tree branch cut off its string, falling on top of Mirna and inflicting its venomous bite.
Before she could reach the ground, the Clackers swarmed over her. The smaller spiders bit her unconscious, while the big ones were carrying her away with their threads.
Phloria was between a rock and a hard place, no matter her choice, someone was bound to die! Lith and Mirna were in opposite directions, there was no way of saving both.
She remained frozen on the spot, incapable of making a decision, until it was taken out of her hands. Thorman appeared through a Warp Steps, right beside the cocoon containing Mirna.
His body was exuding a blue aura, whenever a spider closed in, it would me squashed by his war hammer. Thorman slammed it on the ground, holding it with both hands. The shockwave resulting turned all the nearby spiders into dust, while the cocoon at his feet suffered no damage.
Thorman loaded it on his shoulder, before looking at Phloria in the eyes with a stern look.
"I'm sorry for being such a cr*ppy teacher." And then he disappeared into another warp steps.
Phloria felt ashamed of herself. Once again, she had disappointed her teacher, and this time she had managed to do it in front of all the academy staff, while also failing her teammate.
The arm holding the estoc fell alongside her body, the weapon almost slipping out of her fingers, already touching the ground.
"What a poor excuse of a Mage Knight I am."
The Clackers noticed the opening and prepared to exploit it.
"Sorry if I exist, but HELP!" Lith yelled on the top of his lungs.
Between the previous ambush and Thorman attack, he was facing a far lesser number of spiderlings, so he took the chance to regroup with his companion.
Lith activated the tier one magic holding ring, generating a flash like another sun had appeared in front of him. The spiderlings groaned and took a step back, while he jumped above them to escape the encirclement.
Sadly, the Clackers had a poor sight to begin with. They sensed the outside world mainly through their bristles, capable of detecting the movement of their preys through the vibrations they created by moving.
Phloria could see a replay of what had just happened. Another spider fell from above on Lith's back, biting him right below the neck. Feeling his consciousness fading away, with his last coherent thought Lith unleashed Checkmate Spears on himself.
Being encircled, the ice spears would trample everything along the way, while being incapable of harming him. As much as he hated it, he had to pin all his hopes on a perfect stranger, who Lith valued more or less like a used car salesman.
After that, he fell limp on the ground, the venom quickly reached his brain, disconnecting it from the rest of the body.
Just has he had predicted, the spears turned into toothpaste all the Clackers between them and their target, before passing through Lith's body like they were just an illusion.
The spell created a path between them, but it was only a matter of seconds before more enemies reinforced their ranks.
Cursing herself for her stupidity, Phloria threw away the self-pity finally realizing what Thorman's words actually meant. Most Mage Knights' spells had a short range, but they had the invaluable virtue that they needed only one hand to be cast.
In less then a second, she conjured the Full Guard spell, creating a spherical blue aura with a radius of 1.65 meters (5.41 feet) all around her. The same Thorman used, with a radius slightly bigger than her estoc's range.
Thanks to Full Guard, she had no blind spots. Whatever entered the sphere would be detected, Phloria was able to strike with surgical precision without looking. It didn't matter if it was spit, webs or spiders, everything would be met by the shield or the sword.
Her estoc was the goodbye gift of her father, forged with a secret family technique. The point stabbed like a spear, while the sword's single edge would cut like a katana. She moved towards Lith's position, releasing small darkness bursts with each strike.
For so little creatures, the vital organs were closely packed to each other. The flesh would rot as soon it was cut, making even suicidal attacks useless. Each stab to the body or the head would mean instant death.
- "So cool. It's awesome." Lith feverish mind was still able the work, but barely. The venom was impairing both his nervous system and mind. "I… we must look into that. It's so… something."
"Lith, are you okay?" Solus was really worried. "You sound a lot like in the memories where you were drunk and under the effects of mar*juana. Your thoughts are incoherent and erratic. Are you sure you are okay?"
"Is okay. If death hammer man saves me."
"By my maker, you are getting worse! Move that a*s, sister!" –
Phloria charged forwards, using her burning tower shield as a ram, reaching Lith's side. She then used her free hand (NA: remember that the shield is conjured, she does not need to hold it, it floats by itself.) to cast the second spell Thorman reminded her of.
By planting her estoc in the ground, she activated Blast Guard. It generated a small flaming sphere that affected everything in the surroundings except for the space within a meter (3.3 feet) from her body.
To avoid accidents, she crouched down, holding her fallen comrade as close as possible. The spell had a short duration, but long enough for her to cast a tier three detoxifying spell.
"Come on, come on! I can't screw up three times in a single day! Snap out of it, you are the healer, not me!"
The spell was meant to neutralize the most common venoms and poisons, magical beasts' secretions were a class of their own. She realized how stupid she had been not purchasing any potions.
If she had them, maybe she could have saved both her team members, without having to rely on gambles and wishful thinking.
Like reading her mind, Lith started to cast the same spell he had used to save the Marchioness' daughter. Phloria spell served its purpose, giving him enough clarity to weave the spell and disguise it as a fake magic personal one.
A small orb of venom was expelled, preventing any further damage to his body, while he activated the second-tier healing spell in his ring, recovering a good chunk of his mind.
"If I were you, I'd start running." Lith said, chuckling like an idiot. His pupils were still dilated.
Phloria sheathed the estoc before lifting Lith with a princess carry, activating the flight spell stored in one of her rings. After what had happened earlier, she had prepared it in case she needed to escape again.
The tower shield moved on her back, preventing further assaults from above.
She took a roundabout path to lose the Cacklers before returning to the cave, activating Concealment again to hide their presence.
Lith would look at her stern face from time to time, giggling like a little girl.
"Look, Solus, I got my knight in a shining armour to save me!"
- "Lith, you are still confused. You are thinking out loud, please shut up!" She mentally screamed. –
"Who's Solus?" Phloria asked when the situation seemed to have calmed down enough.
"A good friend of mine. We know each other from years. By the way, isn't this the time when the hero tries to hit on his rescue? Please, don't try to kiss me, I don't think I could stop you right now, I like living too much."
Phloria's cheeks reddened, Solus couldn't tell if from embarrassment, rage or both.
"Why would I want to force me on you? Who the f*ck do you think you are?" The rage sounded genuine. Lith kept laughing.
"Ah, kids. So cute and naïve, getting embarrassed by stupid jokes. You need to get out more, get a life!"
"Who are you calling a kid? You are younger than me."
"Want to bet?" Phloria was getting annoyed, he was clearly out of his mind.
"Is Solus your girlfriend or just an ex?" If he was trying to embarrass her, it was a game that two could play.
"Nah. She's a girl and a friend, but that's it. We are both heartless and stone-cold, so we have a lot in common. Also, it would be really difficult get in touch with her. Get it? Get in touch!" Then he started cackling like it was the best joke ever.
She ignored him for the rest of the flight. Lith was rambling nonsense, sometimes even speaking some sort of gibberish (AN: aka English).
Back at the cave, she could finally relax, and with the help of the other two, they kept healing Lith until he was clear headed again. After cleansing his body from the last traces of venom, Lith shared a couple of freshly cooked blinkers.
"I don't know you, but I had enough for today. I'm not stepping out of here until tomorrow."
The motion was unanimously approved.
Chapter 78 Day Two
After the end of their shift, Vastor and Thorman went back to their quarters. Vastor waited until they were alone, before expressing his hilarity.
"Thorman, old friend, I would have never imagined you had it in you. Helping your student like that. Technically, that's against the rules." Vastor tone of fake indignation wouldn't have fooled a deaf man.
"I did no such a thing. I just used the spells that I considered best for the situation at hand. If she ended up copying me, how is that my fault? Are you going to report me?" It was a rhetoric question, Thorman already knew the answer.
"Are you kidding me? Your student ended up saving mine. The least I could do is gifting you that bottle of 50 years aged Blue Flame you keep eyeing every time you enter into my office. I'm glad you loosened the stick up your a*s."
*****
In an underground maze, several kilometres away from the castle, another kind of conversation was taking place. After slaughtering its way through the nest, Scarlett was facing the Brood Mother.
It was the creature responsible for the abnormal spawn rate of the Clackers. Every single one of them was one of her children. Its abdomen was that of a giant spider, with eight long longs, but in the place of the head there was a human-like figure.
It was like someone had attached a human, starting from the thighs, to the spider body. But it was a human with no distinctive features, its chitinous skin was grey, the hands had unnaturally long fingers ending in razor-sharp claws.
The head had eight eyes, and a long slit were the mouth was supposed to be, allowing it to speak.
["Look, I'm tired of playing hide and seek. I only came here because I know you are smart enough to understand me, and because I hate senseless destruction."] Scarlett was quite angry from the repeated assaults it had suffered along the way.
They had no effect except wasting Scarlett's time.
["What do you want, oh mighty ruler?"] The Mother's voice was low and hoarse, every word sounded more coughed rather than spoken. Yet it managed to laugh, sneering at the Scorpicore claimed title.
["Stop laying so many eggs. Your children are a plague for the forest, you have already invaded other's territories. I won't repeat myself a second time."]
The Brood Mother chuckled again.
["It's that so? Then I challenge you, oh ruler. The forest needs a new guiding hand…"]
Scarlett scoffed, it had heard that speech countless times, either from humans or magical beasts.
["Fine. Challenge accepted."] The conversation was cut short, much to Mother's annoyance.
Violating all the rules of the challenge, the Brood Mother attacked without notice, making the fully developed Clackers that guarded the throne room, each the size of a bull, coordinate with its attack.
The Scorpicore's roar struck in two waves. The first was a cold one, turning the whole underground nest in a frozen wasteland. The second was an ultrasonic one, that turned the newly formed ice sculptures in countless shattered pieces.
["Oh! I won. Big surprise! Long live to me."] Sad for having no witness of its crushing victory, Scarlett called Linjos.
"The Clackers' issue is solved. With the Brood Mother dead, the survivors will go into hiding until another comes up. Let's hope the next one will have more brains than brawns."
"Thanks for solving the matter so quickly." Linjos replied.
"What do you want in return?"
- "I like this human." Scarlett thought. "Always saying please and thank you, instead of treating me like a tool, like his predecessors did. I'll make sure he keeps his position." -
"Let's just say you owe me one. What's the survival rate of your cubs?"
"Better than the previous years, around 50% of the groups made it through the first day. It's time to kick things up a notch."
***
Back in the cave, Lith's group was finishing breakfast and planning the rest of the day. Everyone had much appreciated Visen creating a side-cave bathroom.
Despite everything was supposed to be a team effort, not all of them could be executed properly in front of others.
With so many mouths to feed, Lith's stash wouldn't last more than three more days.
Using magic burned a lot of calories, it exhausted both the body and the mind.
"Thank the gods you ended up in my group." Belia said gnawing away the last shred of meat from the bones. "After fasting for a whole day, I would have either surrendered or eaten Visen."
Everyone at the table laughed, but Lith.
"Why so glum, mate? And seriously, why do you keep so much food on yourself?" Visen asked. "Not that I'm complaining!"
Lith glared for a long moment, before closing his eyes and taking a deep breath.
- "We are not 'mates', lucky b*stard." –
"In order, not glum, envious. Because clearly none of you has ever starved. And the second answer is linked to the first. When you suffer from hunger as long as I did, you do not feel safe unless you have some food with you at all times."
Visen realized his blunder and tried to apologize, but Lith dismissed everything as an accident, proceeding to explain what they could expect from magical beasts. After he gave them all the key points from his experience, there were still a few things left to say.
"Never underestimate a magical beast. They may be stuck with just two elements, but they can use them in ways we can only imagine. Their casting time is incredibly fast, and to make things worse, our physical prowess is nothing compared to them.
They need just one hit to incapacitate us, or worse. My advice is to always keep your distance, and never play the game like they expect us to."
"Doesn't that mean that we are already screwed? We have already lost our biggest hitter." Visen wasn't much of an optimist about the situation, and neither was Belia.
"We have lost only one member. Our aim is to survive, not to beat them all into submission." After the previous day, Phloria had shed away most of her insecurities, becoming more decisive.
"The main problem is, that after pondering a lot about it, I came to the conclusion that splitting up was a mistake. This is a group exercise, staying in a cave isn't getting us anywhere. You two could have helped us a lot yesterday.
Not only Mirna could have been saved, but you would have gained battle experience. After fighting the Clackers, I feel I have grown a lot as a Mage Knight. None of us will truly understand his own abilities without putting them to the test."
"Agreed." Lith chimed in. "That's the reason why I taught you about how to use first magic in the wilderness and about magical beasts."
- "That, and because otherwise you would fall without teaching me nothing. Mage Knight's spells are something I have to replicate ASAP. I can't wait to see what those two are capable of.
Plus, I discovered a huge hole in my toolkit. I have to devise something against a swarm of small enemies."
"And what about a swarm of big enemies?" Solus asked.
"In that case, my only option is to run away." –
"Also, I would like to propose Phloria as team leader. For an unexperienced unit like ours, defence is more important than offence. Her skillset provides us the best options to stall and regroup. Not to mention yesterday she proved herself."
"It's an odd way to say: 'thank you for saving my a*s'." She replied.
"If we are keeping a score, I saved yours twice. First from the Cingy, then from the Ry. You are still an a*s short from getting the right to brag." He rebutted with one of his very few charming smiles.
The forced cohabitation, coupled with facing so many dangers together, had helped the group to develop camaraderie.
Despite all the hardships, Phloria was starting to enjoy their situation.
It was the first time since coming to the academy, that she was being looked up for her skill, not her noble title. Her teammates didn't hope for her to fail to feel better about themselves, they were counting on her.
Lith, instead, wasn't touched at all. For him it was just a temporary setback, something he had to cope with, exploiting that time to regain his people skills. He knew that over time, his edgelord demeanour would do him more harm than good.
The world was big and unknown, he needed to play by the rules of society and avoid useless conflicts. In the grand scheme of his plans, one week was barely a rehearsal.
No one objected to Lith proposal, he had already gained their respect. After seeing Phloria carrying him barely conscious, and listening to their story, Visen and Belia needed no more proof of her valour.
"Before setting out of here, here's my orders. Visen, you'll pair up with Lith, is better to keep attack and defence of each unit balanced. I'll take care of Belia. Second, switch whatever you have in your magic storing rings with your best last resort spells.
So far, nothing else worked, and things go downhill pretty fast."
Having learned from his past mistakes, Lith had already prepared, so he used that time to pass something from his pocket dimension to Phloria's, leaving her dazed.
"There something definitely wrong with your head." She said looking at his cold smile, while he was explaining his idea.
"But that's so wrong to be good."
The morning hunt did go much better than the previous day. By going the opposite direction of the Clackers' nest, they found much more wildlife. Lith managed to disguise multiple times spirit magic with air magic, claiming quite a catch.
Phloria helped too, while Belia and Visen focused on finding edible plants and fruits, their hunting skills were zero, and the others couldn't waste the precious light time teaching them.
Moving around for so long in the forest, it took Sentar only a few hours to find them and report their position.
["Do I have to announce myself and act alone like an idiot, again?"]
Making mistakes on purpose didn't upset the Cron, unless they ended up losing.
["No. New day, new rules. Only one of you has to be spotted, the others can lay low and coordinate their attacks with you."] Scarlett replied.
["One glove is off, let's get round two started!"]
Chapter 79 Day Two 2
It was almost noon, Phloria's group was about to call it a day, planning to resume after lunch. Belia was walking in the air.
After all that had happened during their first day, she had kept picturing the forest like a hellish place, with dangers lurking behind every corner. That morning, instead, had been so peaceful that she had managed to calm herself and regain a bit of self-esteem.
Visen was of a different opinion.
- "Damn! Seeing Lith's and Phloria going along so well after a single fight together, I was really hoping to get the opportunity to prove myself to them.
If a trembling jelly like Phloria has managed to become our team leader in one day, why should I be any different? My family is in the magic business from generation too, and my mom always told me that I am talented.
Too bad that the academy's Professors do not agree with her. With Phloria's foolproof plan and Lith covering my a*s, I could show those beasts who is the boss. Sigh, instead all I did was picking fruits like a f*cking monkey!" –
Suddenly, the wildlife calls that had filled the air until a moment ago went quiet. Sentar's shriek cracked the silence, announcing its presence.
Lith flew to Visen's side, while Phloria did the same for Belia. The 2 men units kept a distance between themselves of about ten meters (11 yards), close enough to be able to help each other in case of need, but far enough to not get caught by friendly fire.
Unlike the first day, Visen wasn't scared at all. Lith was already covering his back, so he started chanting his first Warden spell, confiding in his partner skill to buy him enough time.
- "Thank you, gods! This is really my lucky day, I feel we can do it. But since you are already listening to me, can I also have the hot teacher from Principles of Advanced Magic fall into my arms, completely naked?" –
Sadly, the mystic line between a man and his gods had to be gone bad. Instead of Nalear, it was Sentar diving downwards Visen, its talons spread wide for the kill.
Truth to be told, it was a female and was naked too, hence many could argue that two thirds of the youth's prayer had actually been granted.
Lith managed to finish his spell in time, conjuring three fireballs at once in a triangular formation along the Cron's trajectory.
To avoid getting hit, Sentar was forced to conjure a strong updraft to make a U-turn and avoid the blunt of the explosion. Seeing that all eyes were still following its movements, after gaining altitude Sentar started flying in circles and preparing a trap.
Coming from the opposite direction from their partner, Termyn and M'Rook tried to take the humans by surprise. Yet no one had actually paid any attention to the Cron, their casting uninterrupted.
Phloria had already conjured a tower shield made out of earth, its surface completely frozen. A perfect counter to most spells based on air or fire magic, the only elements a Ry could use.
Belia was now wearing a thin suit of armour, formed by countless shards of ice, the number of which was rising at dramatic speed, covering every inch of her body and forming odd spikes on her back and arms.
M'Rook had often seen that spell in the past years, the Ry knew it meant troubles.
["Termyn, we have no time to lose. If the armour fully forms, we'll lose our physical advantage against that pup and will be forced to rely more on spells."]
["Then what are we waiting for? I'll take care of the pups so dumb to use my elements, while you knock the others unconscious. Sentar has almost finished setting up the array, it's a foolproof plan!"]
["Stop thinking with your tusks, dimwit! It's all too obvious. This is either a trap or the most idiotic plan I have ever seen. Let's pretend to fall for it, but be ready to switch opponents once we understand their ruse."]
M'Rook had used an air spell, to keep contact with its partners, no matter how distant.
["Copy that, M'Rook."] Sentar replied. ["I'll give you all the covering fire you need, let's kick their a*ses and go home. I'm bored already."]
- "Phew! I'm glad I get to switch target with M'Rook." Termyn thought.
"I don't like the pup with the mean eyes, he gives me an eerie feeling. I can't put my knuckles on it, but he has a vibe that reminds me of Boss Scarlett." -
Termyn wasn't stupid, quite the contrary. M'Rook knew it, and that was the reason it had lashed at the Cingy's eagerness. Termyn had the sharpest instinct among the three, but this time was too embarrassed for sharing its readings.
Both the magical beasts charged at their opponents, M'Rook in a zig-zag pattern to not offer an easy target, while Termyn could only advance in a straight line.
- "Well, well. Look at that." Lith thought. "Seems that when not chasing us, they are not allowed to use fusion magic. First the Cron, and now the Ry aren't using air fusion speed boost to overwhelm us.
If I'm right, this is a rare occasion to go mano a mano with a magical beast. If I'm wrong, meh. I'll fall valiantly protecting the team and get the heck out of here." –
Visen had yet to finish his second spell, he needed more time. There were only so much Lith could do, with all the restrictions that the presence of witnesses burdened him with.
But having already drank another set of three fake potions and activating air, fire and earth fusion, he was still quite confident after discovering that his opponents had restrictions too.
Lith flew toward the Ry, manoeuvring in all three dimensions, forcing it to a stop.
["Not this again!"] M'Rook growled in frustration. Suddenly, switching targets didn't seem such a good idea anymore.
["Ah, M'Rook, my stubborn apprentice. Seems like yesterday when a man-pup gave you a good beating and I once again pressed you to learn how to fly. Any creature that controls air magic should do it. Refusing to, is a sign of either pride or stupidity.
Which one is your case, apprentice?"] Boss Scarlett's voice resounded in its ears.
["It doesn't seem like, it was yesterday! And you repeated that a hundred times already, I get it! Now shut the f*ck up! This pup is troublesome."]
Scarlett guffawed at the Ry trying to hide its shame and embarrassment behind an angry façade.
Meanwhile, Termyn had almost reached the girls. When the Cingy was about thirty meters (33 yards) from them, they both launched toward it two yellow wisps of air magic, one from the left, one from the right, in a X pattern that left Termyn no way to dodge.
- "Oh, sh*t! Not this again!" – Termyn thought.
Having learned its lesson, the Cingy dived nose first toward the ground, that opened under the girl's astonished eyes and turned softer than cotton, allowing the beast to burrow through like a hot knife against butter.
That move had caught them unprepared, but Phloria training kicked in. She kept following the tunnelling effect with her eyes, while casting a Mage Knight spell with her free hand.
Belia's armour was almost complete, and several full formed ice weapons were circling around her, waiting for a command. Like Phloria, she was readying another spell, cursing herself for not having bought any potion.
They had asked Lith if he could share them, but the imprint system made it impossible. From opening the stopper, to drinking the liquid, only the owner was allowed to do it.
There were only two possible options. Lith could drink and spit them into another bottle, but not only that was disgusting, it was also useless. Outside the flask, the magical properties wold quickly disappear.
The second one, was to pass the liquid mouth to mouth. Everyone had dismissed the idea without a second thought. In the heat of the battle it would have been suicidal.
When Termyn came out of the ground, right under the girls' feet, like a shark from a horror movie, it met Phloria's tower shield reinforced by the Tower Guard spell.
It enhanced the conjured shield density, raising its weight and hardness to that of a rock weighing several hundred kilos.
Despite Tower Guard, Termyn came out dazed but unscathed, while the tower shield shattered on impact, forcing Phloria to cast for a new one.
Lith too was having a hard time. Once the initial surprise was over, the Ry had decided to ignore him and take down the weakest link. The other pup was doing nothing but casting non-stop, with no apparent effect.
Much to Lith's disappointment, even with the potion-like boost from fusion magic, his physical attacks had almost no effect. The thick fur was like a cushion, taking the blunt of the hits and dispersing most of the kinetic energy.
- "Dammit! If only I could go all out with fusion magic, this would go differently." -
"Not on my watch!" Lith yelled, releasing his tier three spell Checkmate Spears to stall some more. But this time M'Rook had its legs on the ground, and had already experienced the spell's effect.
So, it used compact and high-density air shields to deflect all the spears it wasn't able to dodge while moving at high speed with air fusion.
- "F*ck me sideways!" Lith thought. "Their restrictions only apply when attacking, not defending." -
It took only a couple of seconds for Lith's spell effects to wear off, leaving the Ry with nothing more than a few bruises. Visen had yet to finish.
"How long does it take?" Lith yelled in frustration.
"And don't you dare answering until everything's ready!"
- "Perfection requires time!" – Visen inwardly grumbled, completing the second spell and starting the third one.
- "I swear that as soon I get back to the academy, I'll stockpile speed potions like there's no tomorrow. How could I be so stupid? I'd really deserve a good beating." –
Once again, Visen and the gods seemed to be perfectly in tune.
Sentar had finally completed the dark air array in the sky, making flying above the trees impossible for the four students, while thunderbolts and black arrows rained from the enormous magic circle the Cron had materialized.
The fast lightnings and the slower arrows coordinated their trajectories, leaving Phloria's team no way out but defeat.
Chapter 80 Day Two’s Aftermath
While Termyn was still in a daze, Belia didn't miss the opportunity to strike with her most powerful lightning spell. The Cingy was incapable of using fusion magic, so it took a clean hit, its whole body going into a spasm, keeping it an easy target.
- "Dammit!" Belia thought. "I was so scared when those things attacked, that's only thanks to Phloria's instructions that I didn't freeze again.
And to add insult to the injury, I was in such a rush that I ended using the Bladed Battle Armour instead of the Bashing one. Edged weapons are useless against such thick protections. F*ck my life. Here goes everything!" –
As soon as the lightning struck, Belia rearranged the ice shards that composed her armour, turning the gloves in war hammers, that she slammed with the combined strength of her arms and flight spell between the Cingy's eyes.
The impact was strong enough to make the beast take a few steps back, while shaking its head trying to regain focus. The several blades conjured from the ice armour, started to spin on their axis, turning into buzz saws.
Following Belia's will, they encircled the enemy attacking from all sides, managing thanks to their high-speed rotation to cut through the rock-hard skin.
Termyn scoffed at the girl's efforts.
- "Please! The first hit is for free, the next ones you have to earn them." -
Just like the day of their first encounter, the Cingy activated Mountain Body, its strongest defensive spell. Every inch of Termyn's body turned to a shiny black, its density raised to the extreme thanks to a massive flow of earth magic.
A short charge forward was enough to send Belia crashing against tree, stopping the blade swarm in its tracks. Phloria had no idea how to stop something so strong and heavy, yet she had to try.
It was in that moment that the situation turned for the worse, with lightning and dark projectiles raining from the sky.
- "That's a game two can play!" Visen inwardly screamed. "Gods, why in the heroes' tales they are never caught in the middle of a spell? Talking should be a free action!" –
It was his time to shine, yet he was forced to keep chanting the third Warden formation, while with his foot he activated the magic symbol he had engraved in the ground.
All he could do was use first magic to create a bang noise, alerting his companions.
Instantly, the entire area of the fight was surrounded by magnetite enriched stone pillars, that acted like powerful lighting rods and intercepted every single electricity magic-based attack.
- "Sh*t! I wanted to complete all three to maximize their effect, but we are losing ground every second. – Gritting his teeth, Visen activated the second array, creating a ten meters (11 yards) radius low gravity field.
The four mages had all stored a flight spell in their rings or were already flying, so they could instantly cope with the sudden change. Gravity or not, it made no difference to them.
But when Termyn tried to take on Phloria's shield, she only had to give it a strong push upwards to send it in the air, like the Cingy was just a balloon.
Belia's armour had already reformed, and she was ready to intercept the enemy.
According to the plan, she should have kept it in the air, exploiting the Cingy's weakness to wear it down with physical and magical attacks, giving Phloria the time to take care of the Ry.
But avoiding the sudden hail of dark bullets and foiling all Termyn's attempts to reach the ground, required all of her focus, leaving Belia no time to attack.
Termyn was conjuring tendrils of earth to get back down, generating at the same time thick ice shields to intercept Belia's spells and ice bullets to keep her away.
The Cingy couldn't allow to be hit by a Lift again, it would have been too humiliating failing twice for the same trick. Termyn was giving its all, swimming towards the tendrils.
All Belia could do was use her conjured weapons to cut the tendrils as soon as they arose from the ground, while dodging the combined attacks the magical beasts were raining on her.
Lith could only curse their bad luck.
- "Who would have thought that magical beast can use arrays too? Based on what I have seen, if I could use true magic, I could fight on par with one of them. But as a fake magic user, we need two of us to make one of them.
Even if Mirna was still with us, we would still be at disadvantage.
We have only until Visen's formations run out of juice before the wipe out. Got to take care of that Cron, and fast!" –
As soon as the second Warden array was activated, Lith circled around the flabbergasted M'Rook, whose legs were now a few centimetres floating above the ground, grabbing it by the tail and throwing it toward Phloria.
According to the plan, it was up to her to get rid of the Ry with the ace in the hole Lith had kindly provided. But even without the lightnings, Sentar's control on the array was on another level, compared to Visen's.
Sentar could freely manipulate the dark bullets aiming only to their enemies, greatly reducing the advantage the low gravity field granted the man-pups. The Cron would also reinforce the barrage adding wind blades, making any attempt to attack her allies even harder.
Despite always having refused to learn how to fly, M'Rook was a natural at air magic. Even just reacting by instinct, the Ry was able to move enough to avoid almost all Phloria half-baked attacks.
Seeing no other way out, Lith decided to resort to a ridiculous plan that had just popped in his head. Termyn was completely focused on Belia and at controlling the tendrils, its back was wide open.
The Cingy had yet to notice that Lith and Phloria had switched opponents.
Lith shoot a fireball at the ground below Termyn, the resulting explosion propelled it in the air, away from the earth tendrils and scattering the defensive shields.
Lith moved below the belly of the beast, pushing it upwards with all the speed and strength he could muster. Visen's array didn't cover that much space, Lith needed to gain momentum fast, before the reduced gravity effect wore off.
He soared the skies, willingly walking into Sentar's trap. Using Termyn as a shield, though, it was the poor Cingy that took all the damage in his stead, grunting at its opponent for using such a dirty tactic.
Sentar was forced to temporarily stop the sky array. Termyn could take lightnings all day and whistle the whole time, but darkness bullets were another story. Every time they hit, they would sap the strength and vitality of the victim.
When all the momentum had dissipated, and the Cingy started to plummet, Sentar hesitated for a moment. The Cron could see its friend had gone limp, its eyes were clouded by the fatigue and pain from all the friendly fire it had endured.
Sentar was worried that falling from that height, Termyn could get seriously wounded if it didn't manage to soften the landing.
Lith exploited their friendship, using that moment to reveal himself, casting his new and hopefully sure kill spell. Despite its name, Checkmate Spears had yet to defeat a single opponent.
"Burning Prison!"
Six fireballs appeared at the same time around Sentar, one above, one below and the others in a square shape, resembling for a moment a giant, flaming eight faced die.
Without giving the enemy the time to react, they all detonated together, inflicting heavy damages despite the air shield Sentar had managed to conjure at the last split second.
Back at the castle, having nothing else to do, the Professors were spectating and commentating their students' performances.
"That's my student!" Professor Vastor was puffing his chest with pride.
"I always told you, Thorman. Healing magic develops calm and foresight. That alone wins half of a battle." He said while actually looking at the Headmaster, trying to get extra funds from him, like everybody else.
"Bullsh*t!" Professor Wanemyre replied. "That's thanks to my classes. Only a Forgemaster can have such a quick casting and precision at timing his spells."
"Bah! You should get a full check-up as soon as possible. Clearly there is something wrong in your head." Vastor scoffed at her remark.
"What if I killed you both at the same time? You are ruining my show!" Manohar yelled throwing salty snacks at them. Unlike the others, he was sitting on a very comfortable looking armchair, surrounded by bowls filled with delicacies.
He was zapping from fight to fight, looking for something interesting. Right now, he was trying to follow Phloria's group from different angles through the surveillance mirrors.
"Man, this stuff is good." He said while eating a pretzel-like snack.
"We should record and sell it. I call dibs on the profits. I need more funds. Okay, Linjos?"
The Headmaster could tolerate the lack of honorifics, but the idea of making a business out the sweat and blood of his students was too much. Those were the lives of young adults, not the entertainment for some rich and bored noble.
Yet the idea had its allure. The academy was a black hole for money, no matter how much the Kingdome invested on it, there were never enough.
"I'm more interested in one student managing to develop a tier four personal spell after a month. Great job, Nalear." Professor Nalear replied with a polite bow, using the hand behind her back to give the finger to her boastful competitors.
Before the smoke dissipated, Lith was already charging full speed ahead.
- "I bet everything I have that the f*cking Cron is still alive and kicking. No matter how much I put in a single spell, it's never enough against a magical beast." –
And he was right. Sentar was injured, but far from being knock out. It had managed to compensate quality with quantity, conjuring a series of concentric air barriers, halving the spell effectiveness.
While the Cron was still dazed by the booms and the blinding flames, Lith appeared through the lingering smoke. Putting the potions finally at use, he punched Sentar multiple times, in the head and body.
Back on the ground, without covering fire, M'Rook was losing ground quickly. The array intercepted every lightning, while Phloria's shield offered protection against any quick spell it could whip up.
Phloria was managing to hit more and more often, her sword was perfect for piercing the thick fur and skin of the Ry, that was now bleeding from multiple points.
After using Blast Guard to throw her opponent off balance, she took out something from her dimensional amulet, using first magic to keep it on the tip of the sword.
At her next stab, M'Rook did its best to dodge, but Phloria still managed to use her superior mobility to stab through, injecting the Clacker's poison Lith had saved from the previous day in the enemy's side.
Chapter 81 Celebratory Banque
All those who where spectating, were so astonished to be at loss for words.
Scarlett and the Headmaster called each other so fast that it was impossible to know who had called who.
"What the heck is that thing?" Asked Linjos.
"How the heck did a fourth-year student got her hands on a Stunner Clacker's venom?" Asked Scarlett.
Having got his answer already, Linjos returned the favour.
"Yesterday that group was attacked by Clackers. One of the poisoned ones was recued and managed to detoxify himself. I never expected for him to actually store the venom for later use."
"Son of a…" Scarlett turned back at the fight, were the tables were quickly being turned.
Termyn had managed to land safely, but its energy reserves were scraping the bottom of the barrel. Belia, on the other hand, was could finally show all her prowess.
By rearranging the ice shard that composed her armour, she was able change the shape and size of all its parts.
Sacrificing her defence, she turned her limbs in giant swords, hammers, sickles, whatever came to her mind that was better suited to juggle the Cingy in mid-air, while her conjured weapons darted around piling up the damage.
Phloria kept sticking close to the Ry, while the venom started to take effect, making its movements sluggish and uncoordinated.
Lith instead, could feel that something was wrong. Despite all of his efforts, after a few blows Sentar had managed to put some distance between them, blocking the incoming attacks with air cushions that dissipated the force of each strike before it could reach the Cron's body.
- "Dammit! Solus, remind me never to get close to a magical beast until I get a decent weapon. First the Ry, now the Cron, I'm too weak to get anything from physical attacks, f*ck my life." –
"There, there." Solus replied. "Look at the bright side, you learned this during an exercise, instead of risking your life on a gamble."
"Yeah, you are damn right. This time the glass is half full, even for me." –
Lith stopped giving chase and started casting another powerful spell, but Sentar was too fast, even in its debilitated state. Swallowing its pride, the Cron admitted defeat, using air fusion and air magic to run away as fast as it could.
Sentar swooped down, rescuing Termyn from Belia's clutches before it was too late. With a sudden U-turn, it grabbed also M'Rook, using true air magic to make both its companions weightless.
It was only then that Visen completed the third array, conjuring multiple elemental spheres that would attack any opponent he would design as a target. Alas, there was no one left.
To his defence, the whole fight had barely lasted a minute, and every time he had to activate an array or dodge an incoming attack, his casting speed had been severely affected.
Wardens' spells were more suited to be prepared from the rear guard, rather than in the line of fire.
"F*ck!" He yelled. "Right now? All that casting and sweat for nothing?"
"Who cares?" Belia was on cloud nine. "We won! This time they were the ones running away. We should celebrate…"
"Where is Lith?" Phloria cut her short, refusing to lower her guard yet.
"Right here." Said a voice from above.
Watching his face, one could think they had actually lost. Lith could barely contain his anger and frustration.
- "Why did I even waste all that time learning martial arts again? They are useless against magical beasts, and against humans I just need the simplest spell to kill or incapacitate them."
"Well, maybe because you were so clumsy you would trip on your own feet?" Solus sarcastically reminded him.
"Also, they are not useless. All that footwork practice saved our lives countless times. If in the future you get cornered, what would have you said if you did not do it? 'Oh, why I was so arrogant? Why didn't I learn them again?'.
You are unbelievable, nothing is good enough for you. Too cold, too hot, too lukewarm. Enough with you control issues, quit whining and rejoice! You'll ruin everyone's mood." -
Just looking at him, everyone assumed back their combat position, believing Lith's demeanour was caused by an impending danger he was going to warn them about.
"Where is the enemy?" Asked Phloria looking left and right, keeping an ear out for any suspicious noise.
Lith used Life Vision, searching the proximities for any sign of danger.
"Gone, I'd say. Even from above, is all trees and small animals."
"So, did we really win?" A radiant smile appeared on Phloria's face, finally lowering her estoc. She turned towards her companions, her arms raised to the sky in sign of joy. The others followed her suit, getting close to each other.
Before something unspeakable, like asking him to partake in a group hug, could happen, Lith burst their bubble.
"Do you really want to start screaming in this gods-forsaken forest? I say that with all the ruckus we made, it's better to go back to our haven, before another uninvited guest shows up."
- "Party pooper!" Solus scolded him. "Nonetheless, let's get out of here. The rings are empty, and your mana reserves are dangerously low."
"I know. Using a tier four spell requiring hexacasting, while using three kinds of fusion magic really did take its toll. And I can't even use Invigorate too much. Having an apparently infinite mana capacity would rise too many questions." –
His words spoiled the happy mood, and by the time they got back at the cave most of the euphoria was gone.
"I still can't believe it." Belia's cheeks flushed at the thought of their battle.
"I resent that. My plan was rock solid." Phloria objected.
"Indeed it was. But you misunderstood me. I meant that I still can't believe I didn't screw up! After how I behaved during the first day, I was starting to believe I was a hopeless case."
"There, there. A single slip up means nothing, it can happen even to the best of us." Visen was mostly speaking about himself, trying to be supportive at the same time.
They started sharing the highlights of each one's contribution to the victory, patting themselves on the back and complimenting to each other.
Lith was already nauseous from all the niceties, seriously considering to cut off the next hand on his shoulder.
"If we want to eat more than hot air today, we need to prepare the meat. Has any of you ever skinned and gutted some game?"
Lith used earth magic to conjure several jars from the ground, to collect the non-edible parts before destroying them with darkness magic.
An awkward silence followed.
"I never hunted alone, before. I would always give my game to the cook. He always took care of the rest." Phloria was embarrassed, so she fiddled the ground with her foot.
- "Interesting." Lith thought. "Phloria does that every time she feels uncomfortable. I could exploit this tell, if I ever decide to plagiarize poker."
"Or if you are curious about who she is interested in!" Solus chimed in.
"What?"
"Come on, spoilsport. Don't you want to see some romance? You are all so young and hormonal, wouldn't be cute if two of your teammates hook up?"
"It would be a disaster. First their mind would become even emptier, and second, I don't want to spectate some kids making out. The cave is little and my patience short." Solus mind-pouted at him. –
According to Solus' observations, Phloria wasn't uncomfortable around any of her teammates. That was disappointing for her, she really wanted someone to jump on Lith, just to see his reaction.
"I know only the basics, but I'm a fast learner." Visen volunteered, winking at the girls.
- "Neither of them is really cute, but beggars can't be choosers." He thought. "I will show to the girls that a real man doesn't fear a little guts and blood." –
Having already experienced high school, Lith could recognize that look at first sight. It was what undeserved confidence mixed with desperation and the willingness to f*ck anything that moves looked like.
"Okay." Lith said hiding a cruel grin behind a kind mask.
"First, you have to drain the blood. To do that, you hang them upside down and then cut off the head." He made an exaggerated movement on purpose, sending a little blood everywhere.
Visen's face lost its colour, turning pale. Lith mercilessly handed him a big fluffy rabbit. Despite being already dead, its big round eyes were staring at Visen, like asking: "Why did you kill me?"
While Visen was trying to come up with an excuse to go back with the girls, Lith had already took the skin off of his prey, handing that too to Visen.
"Put it in a jar for me, please." Lith never stopped smiling with a kind and brotherly expression on his face.
Visen let the rabbit fall from the shock. When his hands touched the greasy and sticky side of the skin, he turned green, fighting against the urge to puke.
- "You're a monster!" Solus accused him.
"Guilty as charged." He confessed. –
"At this point, you need to perform a big incision, and pull out all the organs. Like this!" He turned the gutted rabbit toward Visen, to let him better appreciate the view.
Just to keep on the safe side, Lith reinforced the Hush barrier and conjured a pot really close to his teammate.
"Why are you still holding the skin?" Lith pretended to not have noticed he was frozen stiff.
"Here, toss away the guts for me, please." When Lith handed him the viscera too, it was too much for Visen. He fainted on the floor like a dead weight. Lith had expected some screaming and puking, but that was fine too.
"What happened?" The girls asked after hearing the thump sound. They had run in the bathroom after the first blood.
"Nothing. Seems Visen is not cut to be a hunter, though." After getting rid of the poser, Lith's movements became much faster and precise. It wouldn't take him long to finish.
"Does anyone know how to cook?" He asked.
"Are you asking that just because we are girls?" Phloria sounded quite enraged.
"No, just because I hope someone can give me a hand."
"Sorry." Belia said. "I know how to eat, though."
"What about you, oh fearless leader?" Lith poked her, since Phloria still refused to reply.
"I never got the chance nor the desire to learn. But I'm quite skilled at eating too, thank you for asking." Phloria took a mental note to at least learn how to butcher, otherwise her hunting skill would lack a practical use.
Before starting to cook, Lith cleaned everything and destroyed the jars and their content. He called the girls to wake up their fallen comrade and show them how to use first magic for cooking.
When the delicious smell of roasted meat started to spread, Visen fully regained his senses and appetite. Using so many powerful spells while fighting such a hard battle, had exhausted most of their mana and stamina.
They managed to wolf down everything they had got during the morning, leaving nothing for dinner. Despite not having salt or any spice, their meal was seasoned with victory and hunger, making that the best meal the three of them ever had in their life.
Chapter 82 Interludium
After lunch, the group fell asleep. The stress and the fatigue from the last two days weighted heavily on everyone, but Lith and Phloria were the most affected.
They had been on their toes non-stop since their arrival in the forest, the only moments of rest were those that they spent in the cave. Lith had pushed his body so hard during those days that he was aching all over.
He used Invigoration as much as he could, and that meant very little. From his experiments with the potions, Lith knew that the physical enhancing ones had side effects, just like fusion magic, that only proper rest could remove.
Invigoration could make up for them, but how could he possibly justify his ridiculous recovery speed? His mind kept searching for a solution, but without success. Restless, he started reconsidering his group's situation and chances of success.
The more he thought about it, the more the exercise didn't make any sense.
- "How the heck is a group of teenagers supposed to last for a whole week? With no prior notice nor someone capable of hunting, I can't see even a genius get past the third day.
The Headmaster's magical beasts attacked once a day, and each time it was much worse. If by tomorrow they get serious, it will be our end. And that's just the icing of the cake, there's also the fear, the need to search for food and shelter.
Not to mention things like those spiders that just want to eat you.
Sure, we could just hole ourselves in the cave, but if Solus is right, then we would only risk of damaging our grades. I don't know how long I can still hold on. The forced cohabitation is pushing me to the brink of insanity.
My hatred and rage are eating me from the inside, it's only a matter of time before I snap." –
Phloria's group woke up only for a frugal dinner, at the expenses of Lith's food stock, before going back to sleep.
The moon was shining bright in the sky, and from its favourite spot, Scarlett was contemplating the last piece of the puzzle that had fallen into its lap.
The Scorpicore was atop the tallest hill of the forest, the only place from where something of its size could sit comfortably while looking at its domain.
- "First, a group of five man-pups with six mana cores. That alone was beyond odd, but with the Clackers ravaging the forest, I had almost forgot about it. But then, somehow, one of those man-pups manages to remove from his body the Stunner Clacker's venom without it losing much of its potency.
I know it's not a big deal detoxify it with magic or an antidote, but extracting it from a victim? Not even a magical beast capable of using light magic would be able to accomplish such feat. Let alone a human, with their silly imitation of magic.
It would require to be able to locate and manipulate the venom coursing through the body with surgical precision. That's something that only an Awakened like me would be able to do. I need to have a chat with this pup, before this charade comes to its end." -
Scarlett's elite squad was in a deep slumber, resting to recover from the many wounds received that day. The Scorpicore set a powerful barrier around its beloved minions, so that no one could bother them without incurring in a sudden death.
Then, with a powerful flap of its wings, Scarlett took off, using his gold rimmed enchanted pince-nez to find where the anomaly was hidden. There were just a few dozen groups remaining, between that and its speed, finding the cave was a simple task.
Once outside, it suddenly realized to have overlooked a major problem.
- "Dammit, how the heck do I start a conversation without scaring the sh*t out of him?" Scarlett scratched its right ear with the back leg, searching for a solution.
"I got so used talking to Linjos and his minions, that I had almost forgot that my appearance can be quite intimidating. Kidnapping isn't a good ice breaker. I could enter after devolving to a cat, but why should he talk to me?
Damn, this is going to be harder than I expected." –
After pacing for a while, hoping Lith would somehow notice its presence and wake up, Scarlett decided to change its approach. Thanks to the pince-nez, it could see that the anomaly was a ring.
The artifact was different from everything Scarlett had ever encountered. Its curiosity was more piqued by the second. Scarlett decided that if the owner was unavailable, it could always try with the artifact.
Scarlett sent a tendril of mana, thin as a silk thread, to connect its mana core to Solus', establishing a telepathic link.
- "Whatever you are, I demand an explanation. What are you trying to accomplish in my domain? Why are you leeching energy from a helpless pup? Speak, or I will crush you between my fangs!" –
Scarlett didn't like humans much, but was still polite towards them, hoping to avoid useless conflicts. But when facing cursed objects, it would show no mercy, stooping down at their level and speaking the only language they knew: violence.
Hearing that alien voice resounding in her mind, Solus was terrified, instantly waking up. It had been such a violent intrusion that even Lith regained his senses, his conscience dragged along with hers.
- "What is happening?" He asked.
"I don't know, there's a voice in my head, and a giant monster thingy outside." –
Using Life Vision, Lith could see through the cave's walls Scarlett's silhouette and energy signature. His mouth went agape in front of the biggest and strongest magical creature he had ever seen.
- "Solus, what's its mana core?" His mouth went dry, Lith needed to lean against a wall to not fall on his knees for the shock.
"Bright blue, but there's something odd. The amount of mana it holds its beyond words. Is like the world energy is willingly seeping in its body. It's similar to your breathing technique, but unbelievably stronger. Lith, I'm scared."
"Same. Where the f*ck are the Professors? Without them we are dead!" –
Knowing there wasn't much he could do, Lith activated Invigoration, quickly replenishing all his mana reserves and restoring his physical strength. If he had to die, he would die fighting without holding back.
Watching the world energy flow inside the pup through its pince-nez, Scarlett winced of joy. One of its questions was already answered. He was clearly an Awakened too, now the problem was to ascertain how deep he had been corrupted.
Using another thread of mana, Scarlett created a separate mind link with Lith.
- "Fear not, I mean no harm, otherwise I would have just made the hill collapse, burying you all alive. I only want to understand the cursed object purpose and goal. I don't want to kill you, but if you try defending that parasite, you'll leave me no choice." –
Lith was so shocked hearing another voice in his head, that he started to believe he was actually going mad. Everything was happening too fast, and he could not make head or tails of those words.
- "What cursed object? Who are you and what do you want from me?"
Luckily, unlike his mind link with Solus, this one was active, not passive. It required Lith's will to pass information or thoughts, so he could channel his anger and conceal his fear.
"Do you deny having a living being at your finger?"
Since the monster knew so much, Lith realized that lying would be useless, the best he could do was hide part of the truth.
"No. But it's just a dimensional ring, it does no harm." Solus' real nature had to be kept hidden, otherwise the creature could take her for itself.
"You fool!" Scarlett sneered. "Who would give life to such a trivial object? Don't you realize how deep is its deception? I can't believe that despite being Awakened you are so stupid. It's clearly a lie, and you know it!"
"I'm a what?!" Lith asked. That conversation was making less and less sense.
Scarlett snorted, cursing humans and their inability to take care of their own.
"Another self-taught? Not bad, pup. An Awakened is someone that has learned to manipulate his own mana core. Not only it allows him to use magic the same way magical beasts do, guiding it with the mind instead of the body.
But also makes possible to refine the mana core, drawing in the world energy and permanently adding it to his own. It's what you just did, pup.
Now tell me, how do you call your talent? Every one of you I met gives it a different name: first magic, the supreme art, original magic, whatever."
"True magic." - Lith mind blurted without a second thought. He had finally met someone that could explain to him true magic.
Chapter 83 Interludium 2
- "True magic?" Scarlett sneered. "Another pretentious name for my collection, then. Why don't you come out? Talking this way is tiresome."
"What about my Professors? Aren't you afraid of them meddling?"
"No. Right now their surveillance mirrors just show you sleeping. It requires a bit of effort, but I can tamper with them for a while." –
Lith swallowed a lump of saliva. The monster wasn't lying, it could have killed him ten times already. But that only made the situation even more scary.
- "How do I get out without waking the others?" – A Warp Steps appeared in front of him, leading in front of the Scorpicore. Fighting hard to keep his knees from shaking, Lith started weaving all his strongest spells, preparing for the worst.
Scarlett stared at him with an inquisitive look. Despite being so close, it was hard to perceive any trace of corruption, and that was already a good sign.
"What do you want from me?" Lith asked with one spell ready for each of his fingers.
"I already told you, I just want your cursed object. After that, I will get out of your hair."
"My partner is no cursed object or anything. Is just an artifact, you are clearly mistaken."
"Do you even know what a cursed object is?"
"No." Lith admitted.
"You see, no matter how powerful an artifact is, it has no life. It's just an object."
Scarlett handed to him its pince-nez.
"This is an artifact, believe me. Now, use your true magic and tell me, does it feel alive to you?"
Lith used Invigoration and Life Vision, perceiving many and powerful magics within it, but no life. It had mana flow, but no mana core or life force.
- "Solus, what about your mana sense?"
"It indeed has more power than many of your Professors, but no mana core." –
"That huge castle is a massive and powerful artifact, but is it alive?" Scarlett pointed to the White Griffon with one of its claws.
Once again, both Life Vision and mana sense reported a huge flow of mana, but no mana core.
"No." Lith reluctantly said.
"Now, what about your ring?"
Lith used Invigoration for the first time ever on Solus. Just like in the past he had used Life Vision to see her mana flow and life force, Invigoration revealed a small yellow mana core.
- "Why didn't you ever tell me you have such a weak core?" Lith asked, surprised by the fact that she was so weak, despite all the years spent together.
"Well, you never asked. Besides, what did you expect? After almost starving to death, I was left with barely a red one. I still need time to recuperate." –
"It has a yellow mana core." Lith admitted.
Scarlett had to swallow down a huge scoff.
- "That confirms my worries. That thing is playing him like a fiddle. There's no way a living artifact has just a yellow mana core. It must be using some trick to cloud his senses." – Scarlett nodded, and proceeded with its explanation.
"Life cannot be created on a whim, from nothing. There are only two ways to give life to an inanimated object, and both require a terrible price. The first method, requires a mage or creature very powerful and very insane.
A cursed object is when someone takes out a huge portion of himself, and binds it to a powerful artifact. A Lich's phylactery is the most common example, but is not the worst kind.
Some creatures have a deep grudge or insane ambition, but no will to live forever.
So, they pass this obsession of theirs to the one object they are most attached, giving it life. But beware, despite having a mind of its own and immense powers, a cursed object is most of the times just a shadow of the worst parts of his creator.
It entices its new master with promises of power and glory, but every time they are used, the boundary between master and servant gets thinner. The mind link they share allow the object to tamper with the owner's mind, changing it little by little.
Until he becomes a copy of the object's maker, striving to complete its loose ends. And when the user dies, they just search for a replacement."
"What about the second method?" Lith was stalling for time, hoping someone would come to his rescue.
"Well, that's even worse. To the point it's part of the so-called forbidden magic."
"Forbidden?" Lith had never heard about any kind of magic being forbidden, not even necromancy.
"Yes. Forbidden magic is the most horrible thing a magical creature could do. Using the life of others to empower his creations. Such magic can give birth to miracles, but the price is too high, the risks immense.
It's an unnatural process, almost impossible to balance. One tiny mistake can turn the miracle into a nightmare. The most common case of forbidden magic, is when the mage is so obsessed by someone to resort to magic to bound him/her to an object.
The victim becomes doomed to an eternity of slavery, and after the death of its captor, the only things that awaits is madness. Still a prisoner, incapable of free will, doomed to obey whoever holds the magic's focus.
I am no hero, nor a self-proclaimed ally of justice, but destroying such abominations is an act of mercy towards the victims of this perverted kind of magic."
"Thanks for the lesson, but my partner is neither." Lith clenched his fists, unwilling to submit.
"Isn't there anyway to prove you that you are wrong?" He asked as a last resort, hoping to avoid a third death.
"Of course, there is." Scarlett's tail stopped waggling, assuming a question mark shape. Being the tail of a scorpion, rather than a cat, the gesture resulted threatening.
Lith took several steps back, his whole body ablaze for the mana he was about to unleash.
(AN: question mark tail means the cat is happy, waggling means nervousness.)
"Damn tail. Sorry, habits die hard." Scarlett put the tail under its body, in a signa of peace.
"I just need to touch you." The Scorpicore said raising its huge paw. "If I am wrong, which I consider highly unlikely, I will leave the both of you alone. You have my word."
It made sense, even Lith needed physical contact to use Invigoration. If the Scorpicore had a similar technique, it was bound to work the same way.
Lith nodded, and Scarlett pressed two digital pads on his forehead. Being much older and experienced than Lith, its Aura technique not only had all of Invigoration's properties, but it also allowed Scarlett to get a glimpse of the subject's true nature.
Under the effects of Aura, no deception was possible, both the body and the mind could not lie.
What Scarlett saw sent cold shivers down its spine. The body was fine, and so was the mind and the mana core, aside from a small imbalance caused by too much refining. It was something that would fix by itself, with time.
But where Lith's true self was supposed to be, there was only a bottomless void, made of rage, grieving and hate.
Staring into that abyss, the Scorpicore could see the abyss staring back, trying to taint its mind with twisted logic and unbridled fury. Circling the void, there where several lights, keeping the void at bay and preventing it to devour everything.
Getting closer to the lights, Scarlett was able to see that each of them had a face and a name. Carl, Rena, Lark, and so on. Only one light had a name but no face. Solus.
- "Order and chaos, what the heck is this pup? This is exactly what I would expect to find in a cursed object, not into any living being. If the corruption spreaded so fast, it means it's way worse than I thought. I will probably be forced to kill them both."-
To confirm its suspects, Scarlett touched the ring, only to once again remain completely dumbfounded.
Not only the mana core was yellow, making it the worst living artifact ever, but there was no trace of madness, pain or ill will. There was only a light, like the Scorpicore was used to see in cubs and babies. The being in the ring was so naïve to be upsetting.
The black dots encompassing the light had all the same name and face. Lith. Being so close to the abyss for so long, seemed to have affected the living artifact, making it less trustful and cynic.
- "By the Great Mother!" Scarlett's head was spinning. "The human is corrupting this thing? Not the other way around? What madness is this?!"-
Because of the shock, the Scorpicore took a step back, trying to rearrange its chaotic thoughts.
"Whatever you are, you are not a kid. You are a monster." Scarlett growled.
"Well, you are not that good looking either, at least according to human standards." Lith filled himself to the brim with mana with Invigoration. The beast's tone and glare had already said all he needed to know.
"Insolent whelp! Who cares about looks? It's not about what you do…"
"Is because of what I am." Lith completed the phrase, remembering Protector's words.
- "I'm sorry, Solus. It's been great knowing you. It seems you'll have the find another partner. Please, forget about me, and live as long and happily as you can." -
The disparity between Lith and his opponent wasn't something that could be overcome with dirty tricks or ingenuity. Lith was preparing himself to die, his only hope was to give Solus enough time to run away from the mad beast.
- "No way! It's only my fault. If it wasn't for me, this thing would have left you alone. I'm not leaving you. I have no chances on my own, I much prefer to go down fighting instead than running." –
Solus squeezed her ring form hard, preventing Lith to took it off.
Thanks to its Aura technique, Scarlett was still able to see both the mana cores, the ability had long lasting effects.
For a brief moment, the cores started to pulse in unison. The yellow one took the excess energy from the cyan one, turning green and allowing it to stabilize to the next level.
The two cores resonation allowed Lith's magic power to go way beyond his limits, to the point that the ring grew and expanded, covering the right hand in the form of a fingerless glove.
It was still nothing compared to the Scorpicore's strength, and yet the creature stared in amazement. Nothing that night made any sense, its patience had run out.
"I yield." Scarlett said, leaving Lith and Solus as shocked as the Scorpicore.
Chapter 84 Day Three
"You what?" Lith kept using Invigoration, overloading his body with mana. He had no reason to believe such a change of heart.
"Yeah, sorry. Finding so many mysteries at once overwhelmed me for a second. I will stay true to my word and leave you alone. I don't know what that thing is, nor what you are, but that's not reason enough to kill."
Scarlett noticed that aside from that fleeting second, both the mana cores had gone back to normal, the weak-a*s artifact was back being a ring.
"What do you mean saying you don't know what I am?" Lith was now more scared than before.
"You may have the appearance of a kid, yet you are not. You are closer to an Abomination, rather than a human being. The opposite stands for your partner. That thing is not a twisted perversion of life, but a living being like I never met before.
My reasoning was based on false assumptions. I almost let my arrogance guide my hand, and for that I apologize."
The Scorpicore lowered its head, it's menacing aura and aggressive stance subsided.
"Why did you think my partner is deceiving me?" Lith didn't know how to react. The only thing he could think of, was to act friendly but remain vigilant.
"Do you know that it's taking part of your life force?"
"Well, yes. When I found my ring, it was on the verge of death. We have helped each other ever since."
The pup kept spewing unbelievable truths like they were the most natural thing in the world. Scarlett's head was spinning. The Scorpicore took pride in its knowledge and wisdom, but none of it helped making sense in that mess.
On the verge of a nervous breakdown, Scarlett decided to perform a last attempt.
It placed the left paw on Lith's head and the right one on Solus, while activating Aura.
- "Their thoughts cannot lie. If the living artifact attempts to tamper with my readings, I will notice immediately." – It thought.
"Are you a human or an Abomination?" It asked Lith.
"As far as I know, a human." Truth.
"Were you filled with rage before finding your partner?"
"I think I was even worse before." Truth with sincerity on top.
"Do you have any ill will toward the human?" This time Scarlett asked Solus.
"No. I like him very much."
That answer brought the Scorpicore to the peak of frustration.
"Everything I ever learned is a lie!" It screamed in despair, letting them go.
Unable to hold so much mana any longer, Lith let it disperse. Still in a daze, the Scorpicore had turned its back, preparing to leave.
"Wait! At least explain to me what made you change your mind."
"The link between you two is not parasitic. That thing is not really sucking out your life force. On the contrary, it allows you to use a bigger flow of mana than you naturally could, preventing the excess energy to damage your body and using it as its nutrition.
Two birds with one stone.
Killing you is also out of question. You did nothing wrong. I have watched your team during these days, you have showed respect toward the forest and its animals. As long as you behave, you are free to live your life as a student.
It is none of my business."
The Scorpicore took the skies with a single flap of its wings.
- "A good-natured cursed object and an Abomination capable of retaining its self-consciousness. Now I have seen everything." -
Lith had so many questions left unanswered in a corner of his mind. What was true magic? What was the Awakened agenda? How to contact them?
But the only thing he could think about was the joy of being still alive. He didn't want to meet the Scorpicore ever again, at least until he was strong enough to hold his ground.
Lith went back to the cave, his body was already starting to experience the aftereffects of the mana overload. Moving as silently as he could, he went into the side cave bathroom, finally losing control of his bladder.
The next day, he needed to use Invigoration just to get back to his previous conditions. Between the physical and psychological stress of the encounter with the Scorpicore, he had barely been able to catch some sleep.
He was in terrible shape, and so were his companions. Magic could heal all wounds, but there was only one way to recover their stamina without rest. The healer had to share his life force with darkness magic, but Lith was the most tired of them.
While consuming breakfast, eating the herbs and fruits left from the previous day, Lith made his pitch.
"Guys, why don't we just give up?" Everyone at the table was surprised, but no one seemed outraged at the idea.
"I mean, look at me. I'm a healer, yet I fought in the line of fire from the first day. I already used every trick in my book, if those beasts come back today, I doubt we have a chance to make it.
We were sent here to learn, and damn if we learned more than a thing or two. Now we are physically exhausted and mentally tired. If this was a battlefield, I'd say that is better to retreat to fight another day, rather than fight a losing battle."
With deep eyes and aching bodies from two days sleeping on the ground, the proposal sounded quite alluring.
"As much as it pains me, I can't accept." Phloria spoke first. "If this was a battlefield, you would be right not once, but a hundred times. But this is just an exercise, and we have a lot to learn, even from defeat."
Lith nodded, he could not refute her reasoning.
"Yeah." Belia chimed in. "I understand your point, you are a skilled hunter, and was able to stand your ground from the first day. But yesterday was my first true battle, I can't give up after achieving so little. It would fill me with too much regret."
"My thoughts exactly." Said Visen with a fierce look. "I can understand the burden on your shoulders, but this is too important to quit like that. If you don't think you can cover for me, then don't. I need to learn how to fend for myself.
I refuse to be a burden to the group."
- "Fantastic." Lith thought. "The group of rascals had to grow up a spine at the worst moment possible. I am beyond exhausted. All I want is a hot bath and get finally free from big brother's eye." –
"Don't worry, Lith." Phloria patted his back. "I know that between the potions, the fighting and the healing, your body must be screaming in pain. I'll do my best to make your job as easy as possible."
Lith smiled, inwardly cursing his bad luck.
- "Yeah, and by tonight I'll be p*oping diamonds." – He inwardly added.
Once again, their day started by hunting, away from the Clackers' nest. They managed to gather meat and fruits, but remained on their toes the whole time. Phloria was having second thoughts about her earlier decision.
Lith was the only one that could use potions, and her first plan heavily relied on that to establish their tempo and not leave Visen open. His spells could turn tables, but required a lot of time to prepare, being their magnitude and area of effect that big.
But after going all-out three times in two days, she could see how worn out Lith was. His hands kept trembling, his pace was unsteady. Knowing potions' side effects, she thought they were the cause of his lack of vigour.
Instead, he was still suffering from the shock of the previous night. Being in a life or death situation was something he was used to. Being discovered as not being a kid, but rather an Abomination, had given him a real scare.
Was the Scorpicore right about him? And what about Solus' origins? Lith only wanted some peace and quiet to calm his nerves, yet he was forced to use Life Vision, alternating it with Solus' mana sense to not waste too much energy.
Both their abilities required focus and mana to be kept active, especially for Solus, with her weak mana core and poor mana capacity. Yet they had to do it, knowing that it was only a matter of time before the next attack.
For that day, Phloria was paired with Lith and Belia with Visen.
"Incoming!" Lith yelled, prompting his teammates to assume battle formation. There had been no warning this time, everyone was astonished by Lith's keen senses and sharp instinct.
Phloria and Belia managed to conjure their equipment, but this time the magical beasts were going all out. Infused with air magic, M'Rook and Sentar moved faster than ever before, blitzing between their rank and forcing them on the defence.
Phloria's team could follow them with their eyes, but sadly their bodies were not able to keep up. Without potions and so little experience fighting on the forest ground, their only hope was to activate the flight spell from their rings.
That relieved part of the pressure from M'Rook, but made Sentar even more dangerous. The Cron was able to move faster than an arrow, now that they hadn't the cover or rocks and trees anymore, striking with spells and talons.
In a few seconds, their rhythm was destroyed, and Termyn's arrival, sealed the deal.
This time the Cingy didn't charge at all, instead chose to move silently, making the ground soft as a carpet. Using its partners distraction, he waited for an opportunity to make its move.
As soon as the students' formation loosened up, he struck at their weak spot, Visen, knocking him out with a single hit of its tusks. Lith yelled to warn his teammates, but everyone was already locked in battle.
A Professor appeared rescuing Visen, and from that point it all spiralled out of control. In the academy's environment, Lith could barely exert half of his real power, and now that amount was halved again.
His body was devoid of strength, his mind out of focus, still replaying the conversation with Scarlett. But most of all, he lacked motivation.
He was sick and tired of pulling most of the weight of the team by himself.
- "It's my fault, I made everything too easy for them for too long. I attack, defend, heal, provide the meals, hunt and cook! At this point, they could as well shove a broom up my a*s, so that I can wipe the floor for them when walking.
If they want some experience, fine by me. But I'm done baby-sitting!" –
Lith was lost when a lightning left him temporarily stunned, allowing Sentar to strike his back. Termyn and M'Rook teamed up, taking apart Belia's armour like a tuna can, while Sentar kept Phloria busy.
M'Rook managed to bite her exposed neck, but stopped its fangs before doing any damage. After that, the three magical beasts disappeared as fast as they had come. The exercise was over.
Being the last one standing, Phloria was filled with regret and frustration. There were so many things that she had overlooked, too many mistakes she could have avoided with a more proper planning.
She finally realized her arrogance, always relying on Lith's apparently infinite tricks to keep the group afloat whenever something outside her plans happened. She should have given it more thought and less wishful thinking.
By putting so much burden on a single unit, any group was bound to crumble as soon as the key member was unable to keep up. When Professor Thorman appeared to take her back at the White Griffon, Phloria was still looking back at those last three days in hindsight.
They had made so many mistakes, her plans were actually so full of holes, that she couldn't believe they had managed to last for that long.
Chapter 85 Results
When Lith regained his senses, he was back in the Main Hall at the ground floor of the academy. While getting up slowly, trying to shake off the lingering effects of the hit at the back of his head, he noticed that the Hall was filling up quickly.
There were lots of Warp Steps opened. Some were being left active, allowing students from the fourth floor of the White Griffon to reach the Hall.
Most of the Warp Steps, though, were used by Professors going to and fro the forest, bringing back the students one by one.
- "I guess that the third day marked the moment when the magical beasts stopped holding back."
"Yeah." Solus said, glad to feel the safety of the castle walls all around them.
"Honestly, I am kind of surprised that so many people managed to survive this long. Not to brag, but I was sure our group would be the one lasting longer."
"I didn't." Lith replied. "There are too many variables to consider, like who had been warned beforehand by a relative, hence coming fully prepared, or how much time they spent outside.
Not to mention that maybe some groups were just lucky, being comprised of people that were actually able to cooperate, instead of needing someone that guided them step by step." –
Judging from the expressions of his schoolmates, no one had any idea what they were waiting for, or why they had been summoned back into the Hall. While he was still looking around, Lith noticed that his team had gathered around him.
"Seems you were right." Visen said. "There wasn't much I could learn by getting my a*s handed to me."
"You should have understood that teamwork is vital, but being able to stand for yourself is equally important." Trasque rebuked him.
"I mean, seriously? Why so few of you have used first magic during the whole exercise? The Headmaster will not let me hear the end of this. He is even considering to have you all retake the whole class from the beginning with a different teacher!"
"Well…" Visen tried to be as considerate as possible toward the Professor.
"First magic is good, but what could I have possibly achieved with it? I was trying to help my companions, they needed my arrays."
Trasque glared at him, clenching his fists.
"Well, for example you could have blinded the Cingy, so that when you attempted to dodge, it would haven't been able to intercept you. A failed array can be re-done, a fallen member cannot be resurrected. Next time, instead of playing the hero, consider the bigger picture."
Among those who heard him, most took Trasque's words to heart. Aside from conjuring water to drink, very few of them had ever considered using first magic, deeming it useless.
Remembering how she had used first magic to more easily slay the Clackers, Phloria stood straight as an arrow. Lith, on the other hand, could not stop rejoicing at the idea of getting rid of those blockheads once and for all.
When all the students were assembled, the Headmasters stepped forward.
"First of all, allow me to welcome every one of you back. That said, I have bad news and good news. The bad news, is that contrary to what many could believe, this was still a mock exam.
Hence no matter if you lasted one hour, one day or three, you all get zero points."
Linjos took a pause, letting the groans and curses to die out before resuming his speech.
"This was your last wake-up call, from now on you are on your own."
This time, Linjos didn't keep still while talking, he walked among the various groups, like a general inspecting his troops.
"You should have learned that your name, status and bloodline aren't going to protect you from an enemy, no matter how important you consider yourself. It's not only in the wilderness that such things hold no value, but also in the whole world.
Do you really expect for everyone to respect or fear a feeble thing like a name? When you are outside the safety of your home, no one will ask you to introduce yourself before attacking.
You should also have realized that petty behaviours create resentment. Many groups crumbled from the start, either due to past grudges or simply because some of you were deemed untrustworthy.
Last, but not least, it seems that many of you didn't understand the nature of this test. It was meant to show you a glimpse of what a real battle is, to allow you to fraternize and overcome your differences.
You were supposed to help and teach each other, not to barely lump together because you were said so." Linjos stared at several students, that seemed to shrink under his gaze.
"The week deadline was just a pretext, I never expected that some of you would the gall to hole up, hiding the whole time. This isn't a law school, what could you possibly learn from bending the rules?
The exercise is worth zero points, but such attitude cannot be tolerated. Any open violation of the rules will be punished by deducting points.
As for the good news, points will be awarded to those that according to their possibilities, helped their teammates. While the points' deduction is individual, those gained by all team members will be pooled and divided equally among those that cooperated.
Otherwise it would be unfair toward those that sacrificed themselves during the first day, or that fell because of someone else's mistake. Also, I didn't lie when I told you it would last seven days.
For the remaining four, you have no classes, you are free to rest, go home or self-study. It's up to you to decide. I hope that you will make good use of this time to think about this experience and learn from you mistakes. Dismissed."
After saying goodbye to his ex-teammates, Lith jumped in the nearest Warp Steps, walking double time towards his room. He and his bathroom had some serious catch up to do.
No matter how Visen had made the makeshift outhouse comfortable, it couldn't compare with a real toilet. Lith could finally use Invigoration, getting his strength back and relieving his sore muscles.
He spent the next half an hour taking a long hot tub bath, while conjuring several ice mirrors to get rid of the few facial hairs that haunted is still childish visage and cutting his hair with air magic.
- "Seems I was right about this exercise." Solus said while helping him with his cut. Without her help, Lith would have looked like an IRS clerk on a Monday morning.
"Did you have any doubt?" Lith replied, still wondering after all those years what was wrong with the haircut he had back on Earth.
"It's a system devised to teach stuck-up, conceited kids respect and discipline. Once you understand its goal, the rest comes easy. With a brain like yours, cracking the code was easy like connecting the dots numbered from 1 to 7." –
Solus would have liked to get praised more, but Lith's stomach kept grumbling loudly more and more often.
With a heavy heart, Lith dressed up. He would have much preferred to sleep for the next 24 hours, but hunger was still one of the things that scared him the most. He needed to eat and re stock.
He was already headed toward the canteen when Solus stopped him.
- "Aren't you forgetting something?"
"My pants are on and I have yet to plagiarize and sell underwear. So my answer is no."
"Your friends from the Healer class, silly. It's the perfect moment to get together and bond a little. After the mock exam, you surely have many things to share with each other."
"Please, have mercy. I'm so tired already, maybe next time." Lith cringed at the idea.
"I'm here only to hoard knowledge and connections." Solus said while making her best Lith's brooding tone impression. "I have no time to waste, I need valuable pawns once I become an adult again." –
Arguing with himself was beyond stupid, so he went to their rooms to invite them to an early dinner.
When it was Friya's turn, she had just finished washing herself too. Her cheeks where still rosy from the hot water. That coupled with the sweet smell of her skin and hair made Lith dizzy for a second.
- "Stupid body. Whenever it decides to grow, it will always be too late."
"Come on, she is so pretty." Solus still wanted her school romance, even if just as a spectator. "What's wrong with a fling?"
"She is a kid and I am old enough to be her father. Everything is wrong with that!" –
Once at the canteen, no one actually spoke for a while. They were all too focused on eating the first proper meal in days. Only after the second serving they began to share their stories.
"So, how long did you manage to last?" Lith asked hiding his sour mood behind a radiant smile.
"My group was one of the last returning to the castle." Yurial didn't miss the opportunity to show off.
"Everyone agreed making me the leader…"
"Lucky b*stard." "Poser." "Smartass." He ignored the crossfire of name-calling. Yurial was aware of the power his father's status granted to him, so he accepted their envy with class.
"… hence I managed to quickly make them assume a defensive formation. When the beasts arrived, they found us prepared. The worst part was standing watch at night in turns, sleeping in the open and eating grass and fruits all the time."
"Yeah." Friya agreed. "The lack of food and the dirt were terrible. My group was comical, we had two skilled hunters, but none knew how butcher the preys.
The smell of blood lured so many animals that we had to throw the game away and look for another place where to sleep. In the end we didn't find any, so when the we got attacked during the second day after a sleepless night, we lost two members at once.
After escaping by skin of our teeth, we surrendered the next morning. We failed at making a decent camp again, and with no sleep at all we were barely standing when the sun rose. What about you, Quylla?"
She was grinning from ear to ear.
"It was awesome! Best two days of my life." Her answer caught everyone by surprise.
"Care to explain?" Lith asked.
"Sure! First, you have to understand that everyone was pissed at me, since I'm the top of the healing class."
"One of the top students." The other three remarked as one.
"Sure, whatever." It didn't escape their notice that Quylla seemed much more confident and fierier than before.
"Since they knew being second rate at best, they started to call me 'just a healer' and ordered me to 'not be in the way'. So, when the attack happened, I did as they told me and ran like the wind on my own.
When the others managed to catch up with me, after being forced running away, I learned that our self-proclaimed leader had been pummelled by a Sym, a monkey type magical beast.
They started calling me a coward, and trying to put the blame of the defeat on me. At that point, knowing that we were being watched, I gave them a solid piece of my mind.
I told them that for all I cared we could fail from day one, and that I had no intention of letting them treat me like trash for a second longer. Things quickly escalated, and when one of them tried to hit me, Professor Vastor appeared, beating the cr*p out of all of them!"
Chapter 86 Results 2
Quylla stopped talking, laughing her as* off at the memory, while tears of joy rolled out her eyes.
"He is quite fast for someone his size, you know." She said as soon as he managed to catch her breath.
"He beat mercilessly the one that assaulted me and those that did nothing but watch as well. He then made clear that if they attempted something funny again, he would get them expelled. After that, my teammates and I reached an agreement.
I would help them, but only at the condition that I would not take watch at night and get the first choice about food. We didn't last long, but I had the time of my life, ordering them around.
So, when I got back at the castle, the first thing I did was getting a Ballot!"
Quylla took out the black sphere from her cuffs, slamming it on the table, drawing all the eyes on her.
"The feeling of freedom is intoxicating, Friya, you should get one too. I don't see why a smart girl like you has to endure morons all day long.
What about you, Lith?"
"We lasted until the afternoon of the third day, everything went fine." Lith cut his report short, it was time to get something back from his investment.
"During the exercise, I noticed that I cannot make full use of the potions without a weapon."
"You brought potions along?" Yurial was incredulous.
"Yes, I did. I bought them as soon as I got some spare points. I needed to get used to their effects, before using them in actual combat. I tested how long they lasted, their potency and how strong I could hit or get hit before injuring myself.
Nothing special, it's just the same thing we all did with the academy's uniform."
Judging from their blank stares, they had no idea what he was talking about.
"You do know that the uniform protects us, right?"
They nodded.
"And you didn't feel the need to check how it works? How much punishment it can take before ripping? What kind of blows you can take head on and what to dodge?"
Silence befell again.
"Well, between this and the potions, I'd say you just got yourself some homework to do during the next days." Lith said smiling encouragingly to them.
"Don't worry for the uniform, it can self-repair from small damages."
"Thanks for your advice." Friya said. "What were you saying about a weapon?"
"That even if I had it, I lack the proper training. Friya, your second specialization is Mage Knight. What weapon do you use?"
"Wow, I mentioned it to you only once and you actually remembered. I use a rapier. It's a quick and nimble sword, that easily pierces through an armour's joints, but it's not good for blocking heavy hits or cutting the enemy.
According to my mentor, with my build it's the weapon that suits me the best."
"Can you teach me the basics of swordsmanship?" Lith asked. "Having an enhanced strength is of limited use without a proper tool. Right now, when enemies come too close, I can only resort to first magic. I need more options."
"Maybe I can help too." Everybody turned to the unexpected guest.
"Mind if I join?" Phloria asked. "I didn't get the chance to thank you earlier."
- "Not you again." - He inwardly sighed.
"Not at all." Like a perfect gentleman, Lith stood up welcoming the newcomer. For a split second, he had been struggling to keep his amiable façade.
Despite how tired and stressed he was, Lith could only play his part.
"Guys, this is Phloria, my former team leader. Phloria, these are my friends from the Healer specialization, Yurial, Friya and Quylla." It had taken him a lot of practice to say the word "friends" instead of the more accurate "colleagues".
Back on Earth, when Carl visited his workplace, many had got slightly offended with him for introducing them as simply colleagues. At that time, he didn't care, it was only a dead-end temporary job until his brother attained his master.
Now, though, personal relations were of the utmost importance.
- I never understood why people have such a loose definition of friendship. A friend is someone that knows you. From things like your passions and ambitions to trivial things like your favourite book or colour.
As I see it, they are not my friends. They don't like me as a person, only my academic achievements.
They don't even know the names of my sisters."
"Don't be so hard on them, they are just kids." Solus mind-shrugged. "They have met you in a though moment of their lives and you have become close. You often spend time together, either in class or during the private lessons you gave them.
For most people, that's more than enough to call someone a friend. Especially considering you are not really open with them." –
"Thank him for what?" Yurial interest was piqued. Lith was far from bad looking, especially since he had stopped with perpetual frown and the murderous glare. Being both rising stars in the Light department, Yurial had tried multiple times to set a double date, but to no avail.
This was the first time that a girl that had come looking for him had not been dismissed with a polite excuse. Considering that they had spent a few days together and seemed in a good relationship, Yurial was hoping to get some juicy gossip.
- "He sure likes them tall." – He thought.
"Didn't he tell you?" Phloria was honestly surprised. Between her group's horrible start, and how they heavily depended on Lith the whole time, she had expected him to complain about them with his friends as soon as they met.
Instead he had welcomed her with one of his rare dimpled smiles, while the others clearly had no idea who she was.
"Tell us about what?"
"As much as it hurts my pride to admit it, he was the key member from start to finish. Without Lith we would have never lasted more than one day, let alone rack fifty points per day." Phloria sat down, ordering her meal.
Friya whistled with admiration.
"Thirty points each for three days is a great score, considering it was a surprise test. How did you manage to do it?"
Phloria chuckled.
"Sorry, I misspoke. I meant we each earned fifty points per day."
"One hundred and fifty points in just three days?" Yurial dropped his fork from the surprise.
"So much for 'nothing special'! Please, tell us all about it. For some reason Lith has been quite evasive, to use and understatement."
They didn't have to ask twice. Phloria told them how he single-handedly repelled the magical beast on the first day, how he found and built them a safe haven.
She put particular emphasis on the trick with the Clacker's venom and on how he taught them how to survive in the wild with first magic.
"You wouldn't tell at first look, but shorty here is a monster!" She said patting energetically his back.
The last word forced Lith to remember his encounter with the Scorpicore, sending a cold shiver down his spine. He didn't like the idea of being somehow related to Abominations, even less how close he had got to die.
Luckily, his stiff expression blended perfectly with the others. Everyone at the table was shorter or barely taller than Lith, despite being older. If he had to be considered short, what were they supposed to be? Gnomes?
"An artificial cave! How could I not think about it?" Yurial held his head between his hands in frustration. Being a Warden, things like that were supposed to be his specialty.
"Finding the hill was just a stroke of luck." Lith dismissed the whole thing with a wave of the hand. "I'm sure you would have done the same if you had the chance."
"Wow, I never pegged you for the humble type. In your shoes, I would brag about the exercise for at least a month." Friya said, looking at him in a new light.
"Phloria exaggerates things too much. Yes, I did my part, but it was a team effort. Visen actually made the cave stable and habitable, not to mention providing the outhouse and supporting us in battle with his arrays.
Phloria herself had a rocky start the first day, but she learned from her mistakes, and saved me from the Clackers. She turned to be an excellent leader, and it's only thanks to her plan that we managed to survive the second day.
She is the one that managed to envenom the Ry, I just gave her the means to.
Belia, well, she clearly lacked Visen's confidence or our battle experience, but she rose up to the occasion and did her part splendidly. I, on the other hand, am incapable of leadership, and proved to be short fused, often venting my stress on my teammates."
Lith resulted really convincing, mostly because he had been sincere. He had underestimated too many dangers, and lost control of his emotions more than once.
It was hard to draw line where his mana core issues ended and his anti-social behaviour started.
He knew he had a problem, but no idea how to fix it.
"Whatever." Quylla said. "Next time, I want to be in your group. Things would be so much easier."
"Dream on." Friya sighed. "There are only thirty-four healers for over two hundred and fifty students. Hence at least sixteen groups had no healer during the exercise. It's impossible for us to ever end up together."
"Maybe, and maybe not." Yurial said. "After the first trimester, students can go to the forest during the weekends, to collect precious herbs and materials for themselves or exchange them for points. Not to mention, it's all experience."
Lith felt that his plea for help had been lost in conversation, but the topic was quite interesting.
"Is mandatory a group for the forest? And will we be under surveillance again during our training?" He asked.
"No, there is no need for groups, one could go alone or with twenty friends. Although a five men group is highly recommended, especially for fourth years. And no, there will be no surveillance, we would be on our own.
The only safety measure is a panic button, very similar to a Ballot, but with only one function: a distress signal to call for help in case something bad happens."
- "Interesting." Lith pondered. "I could go alone to vent my stress, or with them as a shock therapy. Two days are too little to make me snap, but more than enough to steel my feeble social skills." –
"Isn't your team one member short? It would be a pleasure and an honour to work together with the top students of the Light department." Phloria's request hit their egos in all the right spots.
"How could we possibly say no to someone Lith holds in such high regard?" Friya stood up and shook her hand.
Since things were spiralling out of his hand, he decided to get the best of it, and ask Phloria's help too. But that was the wrong moment, his companions were too happy from having found a kindred spirit, and he was too tired to bring them back to reality.
Lith decided to postpone his request for swordsmanship lesson after the four days break. Because of the private lessons he had imparted them about first magic, he had never got the chance to get back home during the weekends.
It was time to correct that situation.
Chapter 87 Homecoming
Since Lith had been officially admitted at the White Griffon academy, the lives of the inhabitants of the village of Lutia had become easier and safer, especially for Nana. When news spread that the village was the birthplace of a mage, nobles had become friendlier, avoiding to break the law or cause any trouble.
Even passing merchants would be more likely to offer discounts, no more harassing the local smiths. The usual crowd of rogues and troublemakers, that usually hanged around the tavern during the night, had turned meek or left altogether.
Of course, such behaviour didn't come from the goodness of their hearts, nor from the fear of the youth that maybe in the future would become a great mage. Everyone knew he was away, and it would take no less than two years for him to return.
The reason for such sudden change of heart, depended by the fact that those who didn't behave had made the strange habit of disappearing without traces, kill themselves leaving behind a suicide note confessing their crimes or simply died in accidents.
What everyone but Nana ignored, was that a mage's birthplace was his starting fief. Being Lith evaluated as a Rank A student, one of the Queen's personal units was constantly monitoring the village, weeding out problems in the bud.
They had no way to distinguish a simple criminal from someone that, either by his own will or because manipulated, was attempting to harm Lith's family. Most importantly, they did not care.
As soon someone was identified as a potential threat, even if the investigations gave no results, they would get rid of the problem, just to be on the safe side.
The Queen kept them updated on Lith's performance and potential, stressing the importance of giving him no further reason to resent the Griffon Kingdom and defect.
After the results of the mock exam, it was only because of Duke Hestia's compliance toward the school rules, leaving his daughter alone in hot waters and not trying to take revenge, that he barely managed to keep his Dukedom and his neck.
(AN: Duke Hestia is the father of the leader of the trio that attempted harassing Lith during the first day. See Chap 57)
Based on what her contacts had told Nana, once Lith's talent had been recognized by Manohar himself, both the Court and the Mage Association had taken to heart his well-being.
For Nana it meant the chance to keep a big price on her services, despite having nothing more to do outside her role of healer.
"Oh! Oh! Oh!" She laughed enjoying another sunny morning. "Who would have thought that helping that young spirit of your brother could bring the new heyday of my life. It's never been so peaceful in years."
"How could my little brother have anything to do with it?" Tista chuckled, while using chore magic to clean the room.
Nana shook her head.
"Tista, my girl you outshine your brother in many things. Looks, kindness, bedside manners. There are just two things that you should really take from him."
"One is talent. What about the other?" Despite having learned spells up to tier three, Tista had still no idea how Lith had managed to cure her. She could only explain it with an abysmal gap in their gift for magic.
"No, I would never criticize someone about something innate. I was talking about being cynical and practical. You are too naïve for your age.
If your brother was here, he would look at me with his soul chilling glare, make a couple of questions to which I would answer enigmatically, and I'm sure he would understand what I mean."
"Lith doesn't have a soul chilling glare!" Tista rebuked her mentor.
"He is the most loving and caring little brother one could ask for."
Nana scoffed.
"Because he always treated you like a precious gem. Try asking your future brother-in-law what does he think about Lith. And when you do, look him straight in the eyes and don't let him change the subject."
Tista was about to rebut, when the door of the home office opened. Both the women turned their heads, discovering that it wasn't a patient, Lith had returned.
"Lil bro!" Tista welcomed him with a warm hug.
"You haven't changed at all!"
He held her tight, whishing he could kiss her on the head, but she was seven centimetres (3 inches) taller than him.
"I went away for a month, not a year! Or did you expect me to come back scarred from the battlefront?"
"Meanie!" She pushed him away with fake rage, giving a small punch on his shoulder.
"Thanks for everything you did for me, Master Nana. I wouldn't be in the academy without you." Lith hugged his old mentor too.
Nana enjoyed the embrace for a moment, asking herself if it hadn't been a mistake choosing to not have children. After her fall from grace, she had withdrawn, avoiding any meaningful relationship to not get hurt again.
Maybe it was just the old age, or maybe hanging with those two little brats had cracked her armour. In any case, it was too late.
"Why are you wasting time with this old bat?" Nana scolded him, poking him on the head with her walking cane.
"Your parents are worried sick about you. Tista, you can have the rest of the day off. Bring him home, use force if you must."
Tista giggled, taking his brother's arm before leaving.
"Someone feels clingy, today. Since when do you like getting spoiled?" Lith laughed at the affectionate gesture.
"Since ever, duh!"
During their walk, Lith noticed many youths suddenly changing direction or crossing the road.
Between her beauty, her status and income as the future healer of the village, Tista was one of the most coveted maidens. Very few cared about the fact that she was still two years from the marrying age.
Before Lith's departure, most were too scared to approach her. He had killed men at the age of six, a magical beast at eight, and was infamous for being overprotective of his family.
While mothers and girls praised his decisiveness, it struck fear in the hearts of the suitors, that now believed to finally have free hand with her.
"Is there someone in particular bothering you?"
Tista made one of her radiant smiles that could light up a room.
"No, thanks. I can defend myself. Besides, they are harmless."
"Are you sure? Accidents happen. You just have to say the word."
Solus jolted. Despite the casual tone and his bright smile, he wasn't joking at all.
Tista didn't notice, and laughed at the 'joke'.
"Speaking of accidents, the village lately has become really quiet. I feared that after you left, brigands would attack as soon Nana left the village. Instead the whole region has never been so safe in years."
Lith raised an eyebrow in disbelief, it didn't make sense until he remembered Linjos' words.
- "I had almost forgot my family is under surveillance. I must be careful not be followed when I perform my experiments." –
Since they spoke on daily basis with the communication amulet, Tista asked him why he had disappeared in the last three day. Lith told her everything about the mock exam, leaving her in awe.
"Five mages fighting together against evil magical beasts? What an experience! I bet you looked like the heroes of the stories dad always told us when we were little."
"Magical beasts are not evil. Some are good, other bad, just like humans. And we didn't look like heroes, more like scared teens. Plus, I'm terrible with people, and you know it. Have you not been listening or are you just trying to flatter me?"
Tista punched his arm again in reply.
When they arrived home, Lith noticed that the cultivated fields were bigger than he remembered, there were farmhands helping their parents. Now that all their kids had become independent, Elina and Raaz had decided to expand the family business.
When they saw him, they ran to his side, hugging him while crying uncontrollably.
"My baby, my little baby is back." Was the only thing they managed to say.
Lith felt incredibly happy and awkward at the same time. Happy for their infinite love, awkward because he had yet get used to it and because he didn't know if he deserved it.
The real Lith, their son, had died twelves years ago, replaced by an alien mind. He knew it wasn't his fault. He didn't kill the baby, nor he had chosen them willingly.
Sure, Orpal and Trion had damned themselves with their actions, yet it was the miraculous survival of the baby that had led them to those events. Lith felt responsible for breaking up that wonderful family.
- "Aren't you forgetting something?" Solus meddled with his train of thoughts.
"Without you, your mother could have died of childbirth. Remember how weak she was at the time? If she had been grief-stricken, she may have not survived, letting herself go without fighting.
Not to mention that we don't know what would have happened. Orpal might as well started targeting Tista instead of you, and we both know how she wasn't able to stand up for herself. She could have died, either by illness or by your sick brother's hand.
I can easily see him, teaching her a lesson resulting in her conditions getting worse. Sure, he would later apologize and realize his mistake, but I still think he would have gotten himself disowned.
Did you somehow force him to say all those mean things to Tista, making her, your mother and Rena cry all the time? Did you manipulate him into sending those five goons to beat you to a pulp? No. It was all his doing, and he paid the price.
It's much better having two healthy good children, instead of a hot-headed conceited a*shole. The only way Orpal had to be happy was to be an only child." –
Knowing the human nature, Lith was prone to agree with her. Stealing a newborn food, his obsessive need for attentions, were all indicators of a twisted personality. Lith hadn't forgiven Orpal, nor felt sorry for him. Only for his family.
Feeling Tista's warm embrace, seeing her safe and happy, quickly dispelled the doubts that were clouding his mind. Saving a single Tista or Rena, was worth killing a thousand Orpals.
Chapter 88 Solus’ Surprise
After entering inside the house, away from prying eyes, Lith made use of his newfound knowledge as a healer.
He used Invigoration to spot and fix all bone, muscular and even intervertebral disc damages accumulated in his parents' bodies over time, due to the hard work in the fields and the aging.
He also used tier four magic to not make them feel tired because of the treatment, borrowing them his energy.
"What the?" Raaz moved around, feeling the subtle changes.
"I feel full of energy and my knots have disappeared. It feels like I am twenty again!"
"Glad to hear it." Lith replied hugging his father. "I have learned so much in just a month. The academy has showed how limited my horizons were. There are many things I can still improve."
He also performed a full check up on Tista too. She was always fit as a fiddle, but Lith never stopped worrying about her.
They talked about his mock exam, of which Lith gave an accurate description, although removing the encounter with the Scorpicore from the picture.
Instead he put particular emphasis on how he developed a good relationship with his teammates and Phloria in particular.
The doctored version of the story was aimed to avoid them worrying about him being alone in the academy, hoping to help overcome their long-term sense of guilt for him never having any friend in the past.
His parents kept believing that Lith had spent his childhood alone, because the family needed money and food, forcing him to become a hunter first and a healer later. But that was only half the truth.
He had almost nothing in common with teenage magicians, let alone with young children. Work had always been an excuse, to avoid taking any unnecessary risk of blowing his cover.
After settling the matters with his family, Lith decided to take a walk in the woods. He needed some time alone, not only to sort out his chaotic feelings, but also to try to convert everything he had learned from the academy and its books in true magic.
Knowing that he could be under surveillance too, he walked toward his private clearing in the Trawn woods using Life Vision, while Solus scanned their surroundings with all the senses at her disposal.
- "Aside from us and the animals I can't find anything else." She reported.
"Same. I believe that it's possible for the Queen's men to have magical items that conceal their presence, but I doubt they can avoid all our combined resources. I use true magic, while you, well, beats me what you use.
Bottom line, I think we are safe. Probably they have been sent to keep an eye on external threats, not on me."
"Yeah, but it's better be safe than sorry." Solus gave her firs paranoid remark ever.
"By the way, do you remember that before the mock exam I talked about a surprise?"
"Of course."
"Well, time to reveal my new gift. We need a special place, so I need you to follow my instructions." –
Lith casted his slipstream flight spell, moving in an irregular pattern toward the destination Solus had pointed him to. At the same time, both of them were scanning their surroundings.
Following them at such high speed while remaining covert should have been impossible. They soon reached the inner part of the woods, where months before they had assisted the three kings against the Wither.
It was still a wasteland, only grass and weeds had started growing anew.
- "We are in the clear. I didn't notice anyone following us. Did you choose this zone because it provides no cover to our pursuers?"
"No, because it's one of the few spots that can serve our purpose. Thanks to my sense of self, every time I regain a new function, I always know how to make it work. This one is special, and needs a special spot."
"What's so great about this place? It's depressing and more dead than Julius Caesar."
Solus chuckled.
"Did you ever wonder why the Wither moved in this direction every time it managed to escape?"
"Normally I'd say it was just desperate, but I bet you have a better explanation."
"Bingo! I noticed it the first time we came here, but back then I couldn't make head or tails about it. You see, with my mana sense I'm not only able to differentiate people, but also landscapes.
That's because the world is literally full of mana, and some places more than others. During our travels, I noticed several spots were the world energy was much more abundant than usual, and this is one of them.
I believe that the Wither was looking for this place to leech the massive amount of world energy to survive the fight." –
Solus detached from Lith's finger in her usual spider form, reaching a clearing a few meters away, before starting to burrow into the ground.
In front of his astonished eyes, a blue pulse lit the clearing. At every beat, something came out of the ground. It was like looking at a fast-forwarded video, were one could see a seed become a flower in less than ten seconds.
But in Solus' case, the small pebble grew into a tower.
A puny, demolished tower, to be precise.
It barely reached 10 meters (33 feet) of diameter, with a single door flimsy enough to get carried away by a strong gust of wind. The tower only had the ground floor and no roof, debris covered it's top, like it had collapsed on itself.
- "This is indeed a surprise." Lith was impressed nonetheless. "Does this thing come with any defence mechanisms? If so, wherever we go, we will always have a place to stay, avoiding humans and beasts alike."
"First of all, this is not a thing, that's me!" Solus was quite pissed off being treated as an object. "And yes, I do have defence mechanisms. So, get your rude a*s inside, so I can activate them." –
Lith did as instructed, discovering that the structure inside was bigger than it looked on the outside. On his right there was a set of crumbled stairs going up, and another that seemed to go down unimpeded.
In front of him there was a single door, leading to a bedroom almost identical to the one Lith had made build in his house. Yet the bed was a king size canopy one, and the room had a private bathroom, just like his room at the academy.
"Mass displacement?" Lith asked in amazement.
"Yes." For the first time, he could hear Solus's voice with his ears. "Only part of this form exists in our plane, the rest is actually in the pocket dimension. Do you like this piece of home away from home?" She was clearly eager for a praise.
"Very, it's an amazing replica. I can't thank you enough for giving me a real toilet, it means the world to me."
Solus giggled.
"You are welcome. But this is not the surprise, just part of it. Go downstairs, please."
In the basement there were two more rooms, the first one was a perfect copy of the forgemastering training hall, down to the last small detail.
"I was able to reproduce both the potion and the forgemastering labs, even the equipment." She explained. "But I cannot create from nothing ingredients or consumables. Some things we can only buy them."
Lith opened the drawer supposed to contain rings and amulets to enchant, but just as Solus had announced, it was empty.
"Not a problem." He replied. "There is not much that I can do with my limited knowledge.
Luckily, when I told Professor Wanemyre that I wanted to do some practice on my own, she gave me a few rings and a bottle of the liquid for drawing magic circles. We have enough for a few attempts at applying true magic to forgemastering."
The only Forgemaster's spell Lith had seen, was the one for realizing dimensional items. He drew the circles and the runes with the utmost care, there was no one to help him in case something went wrong.
When he finished, he placed a pebble in its center. He wasn't expecting to succeed, only to study to mana flow to reproduce it with true magic.
So, instead of chanting, he used Invigoration to call upon the world energy and sent it to fill the magic circle. It was easy, and it didn't affect his mana reserves, since he was employing external energies.
Unlike Professor Wanemyre, he didn't fill the circles to the brim. Being an experiment, the less energy the better, not to mention he wanted to avoid creating top tier rings after just a month.
According to the books, it was sufficient to give the circles mana until the air started to crackle to obtain the lowest class dimensional objects.
Lith knew the thirteen runes and their spells like the back of his hand, he had performed them countless times during the lessons and on his own.
Remembering the characteristic feeling of each one, he weaved the runes' incantations in rapid succession. In Lith's mind, Wanemyre's performance, albeit exceptional, was like a kid playing a piano one key at a time.
He was convinced that to maximize the effects, the different spells had to complement and integrate each other, like in a magical symphony.
The runes rose in the air one after the other, forming a perfect ring around the pebble in the blink of an eye. Lith then started compressing the mana inside the runes. Soon all the energy was encompassing the little stone, trying to seep inside.
Now it was the most critical moment, Lith had to force energy and matter to fuse together. Things were going smoothly, but in the back of his head there was a constant alarm that something was wrong.
Suddenly, the energy mass imploded, pulverizing the pebble. Despite being unable to escape, the mana gone wild still managed to burn the circle, leaving a crack on the floor.
"Ouch! That hurt!" Solus said.
"Sorry, my bad." Lith said embarrassed by his failure. "Any idea what has gone wrong?"
"Right off the bat, I can come up with at least eight errors you did." She actually replied at his rhetorical question, leaving Lith in awe once again.
Chapter 89 Trial And Error
"First of all, Wanemyre said that the size of the circle matters, and you made it too big for a pebble. A smaller one would have been better to save ink and better focus the mana.
Also, you formed the mana sphere too fast, not giving it enough time to get properly imbued with magic. Then there is the matter of how you arranged the runes…"
Solus started nit-picking every single mistake he had done. According to his own earlier analogy, more like someone playing a symphony, Solus was making Lith feel like a button masher had attempted to go pro at fighting games.
Everything she said sounded right, and that made her even more irritating.
"Well, why didn't you tell me all of this earlier?" He grunted.
"How could I spot mistakes you had yet to do? It isn't my fault if being the wise one I am capable of learning from others' mistakes, while normies like you must stumble and fall before walking properly."
"Oh yeah, miss wisea*s? If you are that good, why don't you come here and show me how is done?"
"Gladly."
The room started pulsing with a white light, the crack in the floor disappeared. Then, another pebble flew on the ground, while several drops of ink hit the floor, forming the runes again in a perfect circular pattern.
"You have forgotten the circles, Solus. So much for being a wise one." Lith playfully mocked her.
"Do you mean this?" Suddenly the space around the pebble was filled with mana, perfectly contained in a circular shape, just encompassing the runes.
"How did you…"
"I learned Invigoration from you, and we are actually sitting on a geyser of world energy. Is not that hard to keep it stable, for someone capable of space displacement." She proudly explained, cutting him short.
"Do you mean in this form you are capable of keeping the mana stable without a limit?" Lith stopped their cheerful quarrel, shocked by the revelation.
"Well, duh! Why?"
"Because that means that time is no matter an issue, at least while I practice in here. This is a perfect magical furnace for a complete beginner like me!"
Lith weaved the thirteen spells again, following Solus' instructions and earlier advices. No more worried by the mana dispersal, he bid his time, making sure that the mana sphere was strong and stable, letting the energy seep in the pebble before the final step.
And so, the pebble melted before he could even attempt the fusion between matter and energy.
"Another failure! What did I do wrong this time?" Lith asked in frustration.
"Honestly, I don't know." Solus mind-shrugged.
"There were some things you could have done better, but in theory it should have worked."
Just to be sure they weren't missing anything, this time Lith put on the ground one of the spare rings, and with Solus' assistance, they repeated the whole process, but this time using fake magic.
The forgemastering went without a hitch.
"What the heck?" Lith could not understand why true magic was failing him.
"We did the same thing, step by step. Why did it work this time?"
"Third time is a charm?" Solus said without actually believing it.
They kept crushing, melting and vaporizing many pebbles, but at the end of the day their only success was the low-grade ring made with fake magic.
"It's almost noon, better stop, or your mother will worry."
"Yeah." Lith left the lab, heading back at the ground floor. His eyes wandered inside the bedroom, whose door he had left open.
"Solus, do you remember my comment about the dirty mind of those who designed the academy's rooms?" He asked while rising an eyebrow in suspicion.
"Yes, why?"
"Why does my room have such a big bed? And why the hot tub is clearly designed to comfortably accommodate two persons?"
"Well, I thought that maybe, sometime in the future, you would like to have some company." If he didn't know her any better, Lith would have swore there was a hint of mischievousness in her voice.
"Thanks for your concern, but I'll give a hard pass on that. I'll never reveal to anyone your existence, it's too dangerous."
With a sigh on her side, both the bed and the tub shrank.
"On second thought, keep the bed big. It's more comfortable that way."
Ignoring Solus' grumblings, Lith was about to exit, but stopped at the last moment.
"Is the coast clear?"
"Yes, in this form all my capabilities are enhanced by the world energy. I can even spot the three kings, despite how far away they are from us. I can't imagine someone escaping my detection. Even in my weakened state, I'm always a legendary mage tower!"
"You have yet to tell me what defence measures you can use."
"Uhm, not much, actually. I can turn invisible, and when you are within the premises, I can sink underground without leaving any trace.
At the moment my options are quite limited. I couldn't even sustain this form without borrowing such abundant external mana."
Lith was impressed nonetheless. Her cloaking, spatial displacement and mana manipulation were already at that level despite the yellow mana core. What would Solus be capable of once she reached the cyan level too?
Lith returned home fast as he had gone, to make it harder spot their new special place.
- "Don't you think you are wearing your paranoia cap too much?"
"No." Lith replied. "If I was the one supervising the village, keeping an eye on someone like me would be wise. In their eyes, I'm still a kid, our family isn't poor anymore but it's not rich either.
I have no real ties with the Kingdom, on paper I am the perfect example of a talented youth that could be easily swayed with promises of riches, power and money." –
Once again, neither of them spotted a tail, but that wasn't enough for Lith. His pursuers could just really be good at hiding or waiting for him to lower his guard.
Back at home, for the first time in a month, the whole family was reunited for lunch. Lith arrived just in time to hear Rena complaining that her fiancé couldn't join them because of his work.
Lith was secretly happy with that. After three days of pretending, he just wanted to be himself. He did not like Sentar, but since he never liked any of his sister's suitors it didn't mean much.
"Dad, I think this is partly your fault. You should stop glaring at him every time you think I am not looking."
"Since when do I glare?" Raaz put the right hand on his heart, feigning sincerity.
"You know that I like that boy, otherwise I would have never consented to the marriage."
"Please. Since I was twelve, you glared at everyone who got anywhere near me, no matter if kid, man or elder. You seem to have passed that skill to Lith. Senton said to me multiple times that whenever he is alone with you, he feels like facing a firing squad."
"That's sign of a guilty conscience." Raaz rebutted.
"Mine instead is clear." Lith chimed in. "I have always been frank with him." In fact, it was the barrage of not-so veiled threats that scared his future brother-in-law the most.
"You too, sis? Lil bro doesn't glare, he is only protective!"
No one in the family had the courage to tell Tista that her brother that she considered a hero in her heart, wasn't as perfect as she pictured him, so they happily changed topic.
Lith really enjoyed the meal with his family. Despite she did not have access to the high-quality ingredients like the academy's cooks, his mother's dishes were always the one tasting the best.
Raaz shared with him his plans for expanding the farm. The days when they had barely the money to keep the house standing were long gone. As soon his father finished, the family started with a barrage of questions he was unprepared for.
They wanted to know everything about the academy. How were the Professors, how his schoolmates were behaving, if he was eating well and so on.
Clearly, they had only half believed to Lith's daily reports, and wanted to have clear answers while looking at him in the eyes. It took quite a while to convince them that no one was harassing him and that both the Headmaster and the Professors were good people.
He even had to exaggerate his relationship with the exam's group, making it sound like they were already good friends. Contrary to his expectations, none of his parents seemed happy with such news.
"Lith, I don't think you should be so trusting. You barely know them from three days." Elina said.
"You see, not always people are like they appear. For every good and sincere person you meet, there is always another ready to say everything, just to get what he wants. I'm sorry dear, but it's the truth.
I wanted to hide this as long as I could, but your safety is more important than preserving your innocence. Even in our small village, since Nana took you under her wing, your rise in status has made many of our community proud, but many more envious of your success.
My friends kept me posted about all the gossip, how so many thought you were an arrogant brat at first. Then, once you started your apprenticeship, they started to wish for you to fail, just to feel better about themselves."
Raaz took Elina's hand, holding it tight.
"What your mother is trying to say, is that if even people that we know from years and almost consider as family can be so mean, the more the reason to be wary of strangers. Don't believe blindly in pretty words and kind smiles.
You don't know a person true worth until you really need their help. Always remember what happened to the poor Nana. So, don't try to change or force yourself to be someone else just to please a bunch of snotty kids.
If they really are your friends, they'll accept you for who you are. If not, know that is not your fault. It's just that the world is harsh, true friendship isn't as easy to find like in the bedtime stories I told you when you were little.
A real friend is like a treasure, hard to find, even harder to keep. Life will keep pushing you away, but you must never let go of a real friend."
Lith unconsciously rubbed his thumb on Solus' ring, making her giggle like a little girl.
- "I never expected my father to be so direct." Lith thought, without realizing what it meant to him thinking of the word 'father' without making it sound like an insult.
"I always took him for a simple and honest man, trying his best at a simple and honest job while taking care of his family. Who would have guessed that one day he would make me a speech about being cynic and distrustful?" –
While pondering about life's twisted irony, Lith realized the key element he and Solus had been missing to make true forgemastering work.
Chapter 90 Lith’s Surprise
Lith first instinct was to run away and test his theory, but he hadn't returned home to spend his time working, he really needed some real rest while enjoying the luxury of being his real self, with no strings attached.
"Mom, dad, thank you." He replied. "I know how cruel people can be. I learned it from experience since the day I started working as a healer. It started with that noble trying to kill me, and continued by showing me what a man can do to his wife, a parent to his own children."
He avoided mentioning brothers, since despite the passing of years, Orpal's name kept stirring a lot of pain in his parent's hearts.
"This village is not perfect, the world is not perfect. But I'll do my best to remain true to myself and make you all proud of me."
Lith could say that looking them straight in the eyes, since the wording of choice didn't mention what his morals were or how he meant to achieve his goals. In his mind, it was all a white lie to prevent his family from worrying about him.
He stood up and hugged his family one at a time, feeling the warmth of their embrace and love.
After finishing their meal, Lith insisted to be the one to do the dishes. Elina opposed at first, but before anyone could even move one plate, he had already washed and cleaned dishes, cookware and the whole room.
"Show-off!" Tista pretended to scold him.
They spent the following hour discussing the last arrangements for Rena's marriage, which brought several grunts from the male side of the family, and Lith's academy life, which brought several grunts from the female side of the family.
He had lived all his life as a monk, going from home to work and vice versa, and doing nothing else. They had hoped that being surrounded by so many girls, he would have found one of his liking.
- "Dammit, first Yurial tries to set me up with a date, then you, Solus, with all your innuendos, and now this? For crying out loud, who cares about romance at twelve?"
"You would be right…" Solus replied. "If this wasn't a world where people get married around sixteen and seventeen years of age. There's only so much time to just hang out for fun or make experience with the opposite sex.
Unless one plans to marry with his first girlfriend or has an arranged marriage, of course." –
After that, everyone had to go back to work. Daylight was precious, and only Lith was actually on vacation. Before going back to his forgemastering lab, Lith visited and treated all the animals in the farm and the farmhands his parents employed.
It would ensure the rise of their reputation and saved them quite some money.
Once back inside Solus's ruined tower form, he could finally share his enlightment. He had actually offered her to read his mind, to stop the pestering, but she refused.
With the growing trust between them, they rarely accessed each other mind, preferring to rely on their telepathic link, unless it was absolutely necessary.
"The problem with our earlier experiments, is that we were just imitating the form of the forgemastering spell, not his nature."
"Meaning?" Solus asked.
"Well, replicating a fire ball is easy, it's just an exploding flame. But what does exactly forgemastering do? What does each rune individually? That's the problem that we overlooked. Fake magic is like true magic with auto-pilot."
He took out the dimensional amulet he had bought from the academy, using Invigoration on it, while Solus did the same.
Unlike for normal unanimated objects, Invigoration was capable of tracing the mana flow cursing through magical item.
It revealed a mana sphere similar to a core, but much rougher and simpler, kept stable by thirteen mana patterns that insulated it from external influences.
"By my maker, how did you get the idea of using Invigoration like this?" Solus was amazed by this discovery.
"Actually, I didn't. It's all thanks to that Scorpicore. Remember when it passed me it's pince-nez to analyse it?" Solus mind nodded.
"That's the first time that I did it, but back then I was too scared to understand the implication of the lesson the creature imparted me. I don't know if it did it on purpose to teach me how to recognize cursed objects, or was just trying to convince me of its good faith.
Whatever was its purpose it taught me something new about true magic, and in turn the true nature of forgemastering. Unlike some hypothesized, forgemastering isn't about feeling the mana flow in an object and enhance it.
On the contrary, it allows to create a pseudo mana core, that has to be literally engraved into an object, and then stabilized by precise mana patterns, that feed on the world energy for self-sustenance and prevent the core from dissipating.
Unlike yours, the pseudo cores have no conscience, just a purpose. Without an external binding they would just dissipate in the thin air. To double check my theory, let's analyse the cuffs of my uniform too."
The pseudo core designed to store the Ballot was even smaller than the one in the amulet, but more refined.
"Well, this makes sense." Solus pondered. "The amulet can store anything, while the cuffs only the Ballot. To apply such restriction, the core must be more complex. But that means…"
"Yeah." Lith sighed. "It means that we will have to forgemaster all the items in the book with fake magic, just to study their cores and understand the underlying principles, before creating something really new."
Lith needed several attempts to understand how to carve the patterns inside an object without looking into it via Invigoration. Every test required a lot of focus and mana expenditure, but with every failure, he was closer to success.
"Well, now we also know why Forgemasters require so much mana. Even an inanimate object offers a tremendous resistance to the external energy. The more complex and powerful the artifact, the more complex the pseudo core must be.
If a 'simple' dimensional object it's taking so much time and effort, I wonder how powerful was the mage that created that pince-nez." Solus said.
"Probably it was his/her life's work." Lith replied.
"Yeah, it also explains why second attempts at forgemastering are useless. Every rune leaves a carving, if one creates a wrong pathway for the mana, the object becomes useless."
Lith nodded, noticing something unusual.
"Odd, I should have exhausted my mana many times over, yet I'm only starting to feel tired now, and I have yet to use Invigoration once."
"Maybe thanks to our bond, you have access to the world energy geyser too." Solus proposed.
"That would explain why in the legends mages were said to be invincible in their towers. Between an almost endless supply of mana and the tower defences, defeating them should be nigh impossible."
Lith and Solus kept working non-stop, and before sunset they had already realized their first dimensional pebble. Lith brought it in the bedroom, and Solus framed it right beside the entrance, adding a small tag with the date and a small incision.
"Our first work together."
After that, they created seven low-tier dimensional rings with true magic. He was certain to be able to craft even the high tier ones, but that would have been a fatal mistake.
Dimensional rings could not be kept hidden, they had to be used, otherwise it was like not having one at all. According to the academy's records, Lith creating low-tier objects was already an impressing feat.
Distributing freely high-tier ones would be madness, no less than putting a bullseye on his chest and back.
Before returning home, he went to Selia's place, her first mentor, the woman who taught him how to survive with his hunting skills.
"Look who's back! Still all dressed up and everything, I see." Selia hugged him, leaving Lith quite shocked. He never pegged her for the affectionate type.
"Well, yeah. This uniform can't get dirty and is almost indestructible. I have no reason to change outfit." He explained returning the hug.
"Wish I had one too." She sighed. "Since you left, doing the house chores is such a bother."
"This disciple is really sorry, Master Selia." Lith mocked her. "But I hope this will make your life easier." He handed her a ring.
She wasn't impressed at all.
"You know, is all right for a hunter to be stingy. But being smug while handing a cheap ring like this is below even us."
Seeing her disappointed, Lith laughed out loud.
"I admit the ring isn't worth more than ten copper coins by itself, but just like me, it's more than meets the eye."
He shortly explained her how to imprint the ring. Even someone who had never practiced chore magic could do it at the first try. After realizing what it was, Selia was left speechless.
"I did it myself." Lith explained. "It can only store three square meters (33 square feet) but at least you will not be bothered anymore by your equipment and your preys. If you feel lazy, you can even use it to store food and keep it warm."
"This… this is too much. I cannot accept it." Selia knew that such object was worth over thirty gold coins.
One could build a luxury house at Lutia with all that money. Not to mention it was an invaluable tool for a hunter, keeping the preys fresh before field dressing it or while looking for a good buyer.
She tried to give it back, but Lith closed her hand around it with his palms.
"You can, and you must. First because once imprinted, it's useless to anyone else, unless you die, of course.
And second, because despite you have always been a stingy, nagging Master that would make rip-off deals, it's only because of your help that my family was saved from hunger and starvation, and that's a debt that not even this ring can settle."
Chapter 91 An Old Friend
Lith never expected for Selia Fastarrow to get all sentimental, and in fact she didn't. Her eyes had barely the opportunity to get watery before she steeled up, replying with a giant grin.
"Now that you mention it, I really deserve this trinket." She said retrieving the hand from his grasp and using it to ruffle his short black hair. Selia was moved, but didn't like to show her emotions in front of others.
"It's only thanks to the secret stash of meat that I hid and tenderized for you that you managed to grow so big and strong. In a way, I'm part of your family as well." She said playfully, trying to lighten the mood.
"In a way? You are part of my family. Almost like an aunt" Lith replied, hoping to achieve a critical hit and make her tough mask crumble. He didn't really care much, otherwise he would have kept tabs on her health too during all those years.
But Lith's debt was real. Without her help and contacts, hunting beasts would have provided meat, but not money or clothing from the pelts and hides. Everything would have gone to waste, making his family's life much harder.
Lith wasn't willing to keep any tab open, nor he was enough of a scum to forget about someone just because she had apparently outlived her usefulness. Relations were important in such small community.
It was unlikely that whenever his family would need help, he would always be able to promptly return. Also, he had no idea how long the Court would protect them in his stead.
Between Nana and Selia, they would have the two most important local figures by their side, leaving the need to call for the Count or the Marchioness only in case it was absolutely necessary.
Selia hugged him tight enough to squeeze the air from his lungs.
"If I end up marrying and having children of my own it would be all your fault." She said sobbing a little.
"Who would ever guessed that rude little jerks could become so cute?"
- "Guess I exaggerated a bit. I didn't mean to crank the drama to eleven, just wanted her to feel indebted!"
"You monster!" Solus scolded him harshly. "Stop playing with the feelings of those close to you. I understand when you do it to complete strangers, since there is no trust between you. But that was just cruel." –
Feeling guilty, Lith consoled Selia for a while, and gave her the same treatment his parents had received that morning, removing all the accumulated damage and knots that over a decade of hunting incidents had inflicted to her body.
It only made her more grateful and loving, which in turn made Solus even more angry, scolding him all the way back home.
Later that evening, he gave one ring to each family member. Needless to say, the dinner got delayed half an hour because they would not stop making things appear and disappear, like kids with a new toy.
Nana had to wait until the next morning to get her own.
"I know is not much, compared to what you lost, Master. But it's all I can do at the moment."
Mindful about what had happened the previous night, Lith avoided stirring the heart of his mentor.
"Not much? Stop being stupid, young spirit. You have no idea what does it mean for me." She looked at it like it was a lost son.
"No Forgemaster ever accepted to sell me one of these, no matter the sum I offered. They were too scared sullying their reputation. I hope that once you graduate, you'll not change your mind and take me as your first client.
There is so much I still want to get back."
"It would be my honour."
Nana hugged him, holding back her tears.
- "What's wrong with these people? I got more hugs by strangers in these two days than in twelve frigging years!" He thought.
"Shut up and get hugged!" Solus commanded. –
After leaving Nana and Tista to their patients, it was time to deliver the last one.
Count Lark was very happy to see him, Lith could almost see stars in his eyes while he was staring at the present.
"Thank you so much, Lith. Having one of my proteges joining one of the six great academies is already a dream that comes true. But you managing to make one of these after just one month, goes beyond my wildest expectations."
"I just wanted to show you my gratitude. Without your help and perseverance, I would have stubbornly continued with the home-schooling, missing so many opportunities."
Lark patted Lith's shoulder, adjusting his monocle.
"There no need to dig up past mistakes. There are more recent events that I would like to share with you. For example, recently the Court and the Mage Association have finally deliberated about Headmistress Linnea's decision about you and Nana."
He made a dramatic pause, wanting to keep his guest on edge.
"And?" Lith prompted him to continue, taking bait, line and sinker.
"They deemed her decision reckless, overstepping the boundaries of a Headmaster's authority. Her rulings have been revoked, and being the one that presented the appeal, I was bestowed the title of Knight of the Griffon as a reward."
"What is it?"
"It's just an honorific title, thanks the gods, with no lands attached. Basically, I'm not considered a local nuisance anymore but a benefactor of the Kingdom. The most important benefit, is that when I request a hearing from the Court, it takes much less time now."
"How recently, exactly?"
"About two weeks ago. Why?"
- "Good to know." Lith sighed in relief. "If it all happened after the mock exam, it would mean that I'm overdoing things. I absolutely need to avoid standing out too much. So far so good." –
"No reason, just curious. What about Linnea? What happened to her?"
"Glad you asked." Lark had a smug grin, cleaning invisible dust from his monocle with a handkerchief.
"At first, she was just reprimanded. It doesn't seem much, but believe me, for someone with an oversized ego is huge hit.
Then she suffered the same fate from the previous Headmaster from the White Griffon. She has been relieved from her duty, and replaced by someone younger and more open minded."
"Is that a big thing?" Lith asked, being completely ignorant about mages' internal affairs.
"It's enormous. Headmaster is supposed to be like a noble title, lifelong. Being forcefully removed like that is the equivalent of marking her as a failure. She will never hold an important position again.
Is not as bad as what happened to Nana, but it's the next worst thing."
"Aren't they afraid she could defect the kingdom?"
"And go where?" Lark scoffed. "Sure, she can sell her academy's secrets, but that's it. No one would want someone deemed detrimental by her own country. She could get riches, but she has no need for money.
No one will give her status and power back."
Lith almost felt bad for her. Being rejected by her academy was the best present that any mage of commoner origins may ask. Without Linjos and his policy, even a Ballot would have been of limited use.
People like him or Quylla would have been likely forced to quit.
"And when did this happen?"
"About two days ago. Seems someone aced his mock exam." Lark winked at him.
- "Dammit, I opened my mind-mouth too soon! The Queen is too decisive, couldn't have let her resign by her own will with an excuse? What if she tries to get back at Nana? Or me?" – Lith inwardly cursed.
Lark seemed to read his mind, promptly easing his worries.
"Rest assured, they would not take unnecessary risks. If the Court and the Association shamed her like that, was to set an example.
I wouldn't be surprised if in a few months, when the investigations are finished, she would choose to disappear from the public scene. As in forever." Another wink.
- "That's a nice way to say she will be killed because deemed more dangerous than useful. I must be really careful not suffering the same fate. Being part of the political system is a double-edged sword. If I get involved too deep, they will not let me go.
They'll use my family to turn me in a dog on a leash." –
"Thank you very much, Lark." They knew each other long enough to avoid honorifics when alone.
"Sorry if I keep bothering you but, any news about my lost brother?" Lith had been true to his word, and made the Count keep tabs on Orpal, preparing to deal with him in case he ever decided to return.
"There is not much to add." Lark shook his head. "After getting into the orphanage, he was renamed Meln. As per your request, I moved him in an institution at the edges of the County, to make harder for him to get back in case of escape.
He had quite a hard life, from what I know. As soon as he became sixteen, he joined the military. Has been honourably discharged after two years. After that, he left Lustria County and never came back."
- "Two years of military service." Lith thought. "Enough to earn merits, get rid of the disowned brand and start a new life from scratch as a free man." –
"I'll keep an eye out for him. What do you want me to do, in case he returns?"
"If he has no ill will, then just contact me as soon as you can. Otherwise, I must ask you to do the same thing you would for your own family."
"Worry not!" Lark offered him his hand, and Lith promptly shook it.
"If I smell the slightest sign of trouble, I'll make sure he will never bother you ever again!"
Chapter 92 Solus’ Surprise 2
Author's Note: I have renamed Master potionist in Alchemists, sounds much better imo
---------------------------------
After a bit of chit-chat, the Count was forced to return to his daily routine. He had to manage both his and the fief that once belonged to her late wife's family. Even with the help of his children, it was still a mammoth task.
He knew very little of the neighbouring Milla County, and most of the old retainers where either corrupt or untrustworthy, resenting the Lark household for what had happened to their previous Lord.
Even after four years, there was still a lot to do and a lack of loyal personnel.
Lark had resolved to split the Counties, giving Lustria to his son, and the Ghishal's lands to his daughter. That way, both had the opportunity to make their spouses marry in the Lark household, allowing them a much ample choice.
Lith could not believe that both the Count's children would have an arranged marriage, while Rena had been able to spend her life with the man she loved. Nobles had an easier life, but even that came with a price tag.
Their personal life had to be sacrificed in the name of the responsibilities that their title involved.
Having still a couple of hours before having to return home, at Solus' insistence Lith went back to the withered zone, allowing Solus to take once more her proto tower form.
"That was mean on your side, you know?"
"What did I do wrong this time?" He sighed.
"I said that we have two labs, yet you didn't even glance at the alchemic one. Not even once."
"Maybe because I have no idea how a Master Alchemist works? It could be a room filled gold bars or candy canes, I could not make head or tails anyway."
This time, Lith entered the second door, right in the alchemic lab.
It was different from the Forgemaster room; it was full of stills and small bottles. There were a lot of glass jars, each with its own tag, marking the ingredient they were supposed to hold.
Yet just like the day before, everyone of them was empty. Lith walked among the jars, some were for trivial things like wood shavings or metal beads, while others were labelled with exotic monsters or magical creatures body parts.
Fur, claws, horns, everything seemed to have a use for Alchemists.
"Impressive." Lith admitted after examining what seemed like a production line.
"But I still don't get it!"
"Fine! Let me give you a recap of the first lesson."
Suddenly Lith found himself in Solus' memories, surrounded by ghost-like shapes that he supposed were students attending the lesson. It seemed Solus hadn't paid them much attention, they were so blurred to be unrecognizable.
The Professor, instead, appeared so real that Lith would have not be surprised if he turned towards him and asked what the heck he was doing there.
"Hello, my dear students. My name is Peln Reflaar, and I'll teach you everything you'll ever need to know about the art of alchemy."
He was a man in his early thirties, about 1.75 meters (5'9") high, with short blond hair and grey eyes. He also had perfect teeth, white enough that Lith almost expected him to shoot laser beams every time he smiled.
The tight-fitting clothes revealed a fit muscular body, full of vigour and energy. He was by far the most handsome man Lith had ever seen.
"Some of you, may have heard that an Alchemist is the cheap copy of a Forgemaster.
Alas, that's not entirely false, but it's not true either. The reason because the two classes are scheduled together, is because I am not going to lie to you. I won't sugarcoat any aspect of this job.
So, if at any time you want to leave and join the Forgemastering course, you can do it."
After a second, since no one was moving, Reflaar continued talking.
"First of all, you have to know that I am new to this job. The old Professor, like his Forgemaster colleague, had almost managed to make this class die. Alchemists already have a poor reputation, couple that with a belligerent fool, and you get a recipe for a disaster.
Most students choose their specialization courses based on what their parents want or what their heroes do. Do you remember a story with a valiant Alchemist as a protagonist? Well, me neither.
The crafting department has always been the ugly duckling of magic, and I don't see it changing in the near future. At least legendary rings, weapons and armours had to be enchanted, so albeit with a secondary role, Forgemasters appear in those stories.
That leaves us completely out of the picture, to the point that many don't even know of our existence. At this point, many should be asking themselves: 'what am I doing here?' or 'why should I take this class?'."
His dramatic pause worked, Lith was eager for an explanation.
"The answer lies here." Reflaar opened his left hand, revealing what it resembled an orange flavoured jelly bean. After letting the students take a good look of it, he backstepped a bit before throwing it against the far end of the wall at his back.
As soon as it hit the wall, the jelly bean exploded, releasing raging flames. Only the class' safety measures allowed the students to remain unscathed by both noise and heat.
"That, my students, was a tier three Fireball." Without letting them recover from the shock, he took out a wand, and with a flicker of his wrist lightnings crashed one after the other against the wall in the same spot the fireball had struck.
"And those were tier three Lightnings, all cast in rapid succession from a magic wand, with no casting time or mana consumption."
Reflaar then took a pause, allowing them to understand what he was saying.
"As I told you before, I'm not going to lie to you. Being an Alchemist is an amazing job. Where Forgemasters are like artists, spending lots of time and energy on every single one of their creations, we Alchemists are like bakers.
The fruits of our endeavours are not made to last, cannot be passed down through generations. They must be prepared quickly, in huge batches and for an affordable price, saving countless lives every single day.
While laymen just sort us crafters based on our products, calling Forgemasters 'permanents' and us 'consumables', I see our jobs in a completely different light. Forgemasters work to build a better future, but Alchemists are the ones nurturing the present.
All that you are going to learn here, makes the difference on every single battlefield, be it a skirmish or a war. Healing potions are vital for soldiers alone on the front lines.
A handful of fireball seeds can turn a battalion into ashes or, if planted by hand, secure a perimeter."
"That's true! They can be used to create a minefield!" Lith exclaimed.
"The great advantage of alchemy over forgemastering, is that anyone, even non magicians can proficiently use the things we create, not to mention the price is much lower.
On the other hand, though, a magical item is forever, an alchemical one cannot be recharged.
Another big difference between the two disciplines, is that alchemical spells require relatively low mana, so each one of you will be able whip up quite a few things before needing to rest. Questions?"
"What use do ingredients have?" Asked a seemingly female voice.
"Good point! You see, while tier one can be bottled up as they are, from tier two and up, a focus is needed for spells to retain their potency.
For example, the fireball seed I used earlier requires fur of a fire using magical beast, a Phoenix Rose or any other ingredient with a high fire affinity. The most valuable ingredients have all been found with a trial and error process, so feel free to experiment on your own. Next question."
"I've seen in the Prize Hall physical enhancement potions. Why I have never heard about such spells? And why those potions have side effects?" Said a male voice.
"That's an excellent one. The problem with such spells is twofold. First, their cast time is absurdly long. The best Alchemist can cast one of them in around one minute, and their effect lasts only for three minutes."
"One minute?!" Lith was flabbergasted. "Then they are useless!"
"That makes them useless in real battle." Raflaar's memory confirmed Lith's assumption. "That's why it's much better bottle them up and save them for a later use.
Remember, Alchemy is the art of always been prepared. With enough time, one of us can have access to the equivalent of several mages' worth of spells.
As for the side effects, injecting someone else's mana in your body is akin to poison. Even tier one physical enhancement spells require ingredients to mitigate such effects. They are the most expensive and useful potions for a mage.
That's why the Prize Hall only sells the tier one kind. To avoid students wasting points and focusing more on the permanent magical tools. Alchemy is easier to find, and more importantly, to afford.
Those of you that do not belong to really rich noble families, would not be able to afford magical items for a long time, without the points system. Any more questions?"
Students asked for explanations one after the other. Lith wasn't that interested in the finest details, so made Solus fast forward until the Professor gave a demonstration of an alchemic spell.
He stood in front of what looked like a huge separating funnel, connected with several glass flasks in a production line identical to the one in Solus' lab.
After a minute, with just a single spell, he filled the funnel to the brim, revealing several ingredients that had been placed within it, that were now being slowly absorbed by the magic liquid, before it got transferred into the flasks.
"See?" Reflaar said. "Ten speed enhancing potions for barely a minute of work. They would cost one hundred points in the Prize Hall, or one hundred gold coins in a shop. Even deducting the costs for vials and ingredients, the net income would be around eighty gold coins."
Then he proceeded to show how to create Fireball seeds before putting an end to the lesson.
Lith didn't know if to laugh or cry.
"This is all so complicated. Between my two others specializations and true magic, I already have a headache. It will take me years to understand Alchemy, I just do not have time!"
"Maybe, and maybe not." Solus replied. "Even in my ring form, I have access to both labs, and in my free time I have been experimenting with Alchemy during the last month.
When I am not in tower form, I have little mana, so I can only practice for a little before needing to borrow yours. Anyway, if we manage to get our hands on formulas and ingredients, I can prepare the simplest alchemic items on my own.
For the others, I will need your help. And once I learn things, I can teach them to you."
"Well, yeah, our mind link would speed up studying it, but I would still require practice and comprehension for… Wait a minute! You had access to the labs? That means you practiced the whole magic circle thingy. Right off the bat my a*s!"
"Ops." Solus mind shrugged. "You got me. Guilty as charged."
"And why all those students were so faded in your memories? It's like you never focused one any of them. Even the floor was pictured in more detail. Your perspective never moved from Reflaar…"
Thanks to their mind link, despite she had not a physical body, he could feel anxiety and embarrassment leaking from the surface of her mind.
"Solus, don't tell me that you have reached puberty too or something?"
"Absolutely not!" She yelled in a non-convincing tone, her voice gone up an octave.
"That would explain a lot. The constant pestering me about girls, the nagging about the lack of romance…"
"I don't nag!" She replied offended.
"Then I don't glare!" He scoffed.
Lith was about to mention the possibility of her having the hots for the teacher, but preferred to back down. If he was right, prodding her further would escalate the joke, leading to an argument.
He really hoped to be wrong, though. Solus having such feelings was one of the things Scarlett had warned him from. Whatever was her nature, longing for intimacy but lacking any means of even feeling human contact, was something too cruel to bear.
End of Volume 2
Chapter 93 There and Back Again
Lith spent his last free days studying Alchemy and Forgemastering.
Both the crafting disciplines were very hard to convert into true magic.
Alchemy was a weak subject for him.
He barely managed to understand the basics, leaving most of the work to Solus, while he studied his clothes, amulet and magic storing rings, hoping to understand how to replicate and enhance their pseudo cores with true Forgemastering.
Before leaving, Lith managed to pay a social visit to Protector, Reaper and Lifebringer. He wanted to be updated about the situation in the Trawn woods, but more importantly he was fishing for Alchemic ingredients.
During spring, animals would change their coats, and deer would shed their antlers. What for him was a treasure for them was garbage, so they had no reason to deny his request.
By simply grooming them for a few minutes, he had enough to stuff several pillows.
After returning to the Academy, life once again resumed its routine, with only a couple of changes. Lith obtained from Phloria and Friya training in sword arts, and in exchange Phloria would take part in his silent magic private lessons.
Adjusting their schedule proved to be a bit hard, but thanks to Soluspedia, Lith didn't need to study much. Worst case scenario he would not sleep and Invigorate himself to cram through the night and leave the afternoons free.
That, coupled with Phloria attending to only one specialization course, allowed him to practice often.
Months passed, and so the end of the first trimester came.
Many students were afraid of the finals, and started to compile a list of all the possible trials that could be required for them to perform.
Lith couldn't care less. If it was a written exam, with Soluspedia it would be a walk in the park. If the test was of practical nature, he was quite confident to be able to screw it up just enough to be in the top 10, but avoiding the top spots.
The day of the finals, they were all assembled in the compulsory courses' class, the only one that could accommodate all the fourth-year students, waiting for Professor Trasque to arrive.
Yet the one that entered the room was Headmaster Linjos.
"Good morning, my precious students. This time, I bring you only good news.
There will be no finals, because you have already taken all of them."
Most of those present went into panic, thinking that the mock exam had actually been a real one. All those that reached this conclusion, cursed the Headmaster inwardly, for the unfairness of crushing their grades after only a month of preparation.
"This is one of the changes that I have made to White Griffon system, that no one was aware of. You have been judged daily for three months, based on your preparation and the effort you put into the lessons.
I want you to know that rather than failure or success, special importance has been attached to your progress. To how you learned about your weak points and worked on fixing them.
After such prolonged and careful evaluation, any further test would be useless, especially written exams. They would only serve to see who is better at cheating, like often happened in the previous years.
The only way to get good grades with my system, is through hard work and perseverance, not by goofing off a whole term and hoping for a mad rush to be enough."
His tone became harsh during the last sentence, looking straight to some students that cowered behind their desks.
"Also, there will be no ranking, not until the end of the year. It's another toxic relic of the past, that only managed to sour relationships and turned friends into enemies. I will now give you your report card, but it's for your eyes only."
In front of each student appeared a blank piece of paper.
"To read its content, just imprint it with your mana. To those who have passed all their courses, you have my congratulations. For those who have failed one or more classes, you'll have to retake them entirely in the second trimester.
If you have problems with your timetable, I suggest you to drop a specialization, if you are taking more than one. Is better to achieve less than failing entirely."
Scared murmuring filled the air.
"To those that find such judgement unfair, feel free to bring the matter up to the Professors or to me, if you prefer. We'll give you impromptu make-up tests.
In case you succeed, the votes will be changed accordingly. There will be no punishment in case of failure. Dismissed. Take the rest of the day to plan your future properly. You have only until the end of today to ask for a second evaluation."
Linjos had yet to reach the door that everyone was picking his own report card, infusing it with magic.
Lith's one was as following:
Theory of Combat Magic: A; Principles of Advanced Magic: A; Forgemastering: A; Healing: S-. School points gained from daily evaluation: 3,365.
- "F*ck! What did I do wrong to get that S?"
"Do you mean aside from sharing your spell, proposing brilliant ideas on daily basis and removing the Clacker's venom from your body and weaponizing it in front of the whole staff?" Solus sneered.
"Dammit, Linjos keeps screwing up my plans. I can't ruin my average score during the finals if there are no finals. That man is diabolical."
"What is done is done." Solus mind-shrugged. "Let's see how the others fared." –
Looking around the class, watching the student's faces was enough to get an idea of their grades. Those who cried or cursed loudly had clearly failed at one or more classes.
Lith didn't have to go far, his four "friends" had taken the habit to sit next to him as soon they had returned from the four days break.
"What's with the sour face?" Yurial asked looking worried.
"Did something go wrong?"
"Let's get out of here." Lith replied with a whisper.
"To not betray Linjos' expectations, is better to talk somewhere private." He pointed with his thumb to the heart broken students.
Everyone nodded, then they got up and exited the room unnoticed. Yurial's place was the closest one, so they headed there
After closing the door behind them, Lith activated his Hush spell. He was almost certain that all the rooms were soundproof, considering the philandering style they were built for. But he wasn't the type to take chances.
"Well? How did it go?" Phloria prompted him.
"Mine is: Theory of Combat Magic: B+; Principles of Advanced Magic: B; Mage Knight: A+. School points gained from daily evaluation: 2,254."
Everyone gave her a short round of applause.
"Thanks, but I bet I have less points than you lot, since I got only a specialization."
"Yeah, we are almost the same." Quylla stood straight as an arrow.
"I got Theory of Combat Magic: B-; Principles of Advanced Magic: B+; Healing: A++. School points gained from daily evaluation: 2,382. Sadly, I still suck at the combat part of magic."
Another short round of applauses, with a side of whistles.
"Sigh, seems I'm not in the running for the top spot as a healer anymore." Yurial said with an apologetic voice.
"I got only Theory of Combat Magic: B; Principles of Advanced Magic: B; Warden: A; Healing: A. School points gained from daily evaluation: 2,530. At least I can console myself with the extra points."
He seemed really dejected. Taking out a specialization, the archmage's heir had scored two plusses less than a starving commoner.
"Don't beat yourself up, man." Lith said patting Yurial on his back.
"Quylla and Phloria performed outstandingly, but you are no worse in any way. Managing to score two As in both your specializations of choice is no easy feat."
Yurial humbly accepted the compliment, and so did the girls.
- "Now my only hope is that I didn't just shoot me in the foot unknowingly insulting Friya." – Lith though, trying to play both sides of the fence.
Luckily, she didn't seem upset.
"Yeah, you have done good. Mine is Theory of Combat Magic: B; Principles of Advanced Magic: B; Mage Knight: B+; Healing: A. School points gained from daily evaluation: 2,420."
"That's an excellent result for someone who's the first in her family to become a magician, with no legacy or training to speak of, except a second-rate mentor." Lith said to lift her spirit, while winking at Quylla.
It meant "I know that you and I got a worse start than her, but please follow my lead."
But instead of winking back, she blushed and looked away, leaving Lith in a daze.
"You have yet to answer my question, though." Yurial said with an inquisitive look.
Lith sighed, pondering if to tell them the truth or tune down his votes.
- "After all, I am their combat magic teacher and the fastest learner in advance magic. I doubt they will actually be surprised." –
And they weren't. There was no awkward pause before they started clapping and complementing him. Yurial even took out a laurel wreath from his dimensional amulet.
"I hereby crown you king of the hill."
"That was to be expected." Friya said. "Without you, I doubt I would have got a B in combat magic. Maybe a C, if not fail it entirely."
"I would have failed for sure." Quylla wasn't dejected at all, while saying it. On the contrary she was proud of her achievement.
"I never fought in my life, and never did much with magic beside healing."
"I would have surely achieved a solid C, maybe C+, but that's it." Phloria shrugged. "I learned a lot in these two months. Who knew that first magic was so useful?"
"I'm the same as Quylla, but for different reasons." Yurial said.
"I was so eager to please my father that I only focused on tier three magic. I always considered first magic a tool for servants. I knew nothing about it."
"If what you all said it's true, then you should go and report it to Trasque." Lith said returning the wreath to its owner.
Seeing their confused expressions at his words, he proceeded to explain.
"You heard Linjos, he is trying to change the system. New things are bound to have flaws, and need a proper feedback to be fixed. If you share with him your doubts and struggling with the course, you'll help the system, and as a result all other students.
He won't be angry at you for being honest, more likely you'll gain extra points."
"How do we know this is not a ruse for you to get even more merits at our expenses?" Doubt had reduced Quylla's eyes to slits. She didn't want to believe Lith making her look bad for his own profit, but she had learned to look out for herself.
"Easy, don't mention my name." He shrugged. "One of you can take credit for the lessons, for all I care. I'm not proposing this for points, but because I care for you and the academy.
Without Linjos, my life here would be much harder, and I think the same stand for most of us. Another thing, try to remember what he said about accepting your limits and working to fix them. I really think it would do you some good."
Lith left the room, letting them decide without him interfering.
After discussing it for a while, his words actually made a lot of sense.
"I really can't make head or tails about Lith." Yurial confessed.
"Sometimes he acts normal, but when it comes down to magic and responsibilities, it seems I am talking to my father instead of a friend. Always worrying about my future, me eating properly and learning my lessons."
"Agreed." Friya said. "At some point I started doubting he was only twelve, so I had a background check made on him. He is really twelve, and it's supposed to be the youngest child of his family. Then why do I get the impression he is…"
She struggled finding the right word.
"Raising us?"
Later, they decided to follow Lith's advice, and report everything to Trasque.
He asked them a few questions about what they had found particularly hard and challenging, and how they had overcome their respective bottlenecks.
"Seems a single Professor is really not enough." Trasque sighed. "Combat Magic has the highest rate of failure among all courses. We need to fix this ASAP. Thank you for your sincerity guys." He said snapping his fingers.
"I just raised your grade in my class by one notch. I'm really proud of your growth."
Meanwhile, Lith was in his room, taking a nap to catch up on his sleep.
A sudden knocking woke him up, prompting many curses. He was having one of his rare good dreams.
Seeing his frown, the academy's clerk apologized for the inconvenience and delivered him the new books.
The first one's title was: "Get out of my face. A comprehensive guide of all you need to know about dimensional magic."
The author's name was Khavos Rudd.
Chapter 94 Dimensional Magic
The following morning, Lith and Phloria were taking a small walk before picking up the rest of the team for breakfast.
Descending from a long line of Mage Knights, Phloria had more experience with swords, and since she had to attend only one specialization course, she was his main teacher between the two girls.
That allowed them to spend quite some time together, since both of them had free afternoons to practice swordsmanship. Actually, Phloria sometimes needed to cram at night, to catch up with her studies, but it was something she gladly did.
She would have not given up the weekend lessons about first magic for the world. Besides, once she managed to get to know him better, she really enjoyed his company. The same went for Lith, up to that point, she was his favourite.
Phloria was mature and level headed, speaking her mind so often that sometimes she came out rude. She also had various interests and hobbies, making her able to talk about almost every topic, not only about magic or Court life.
Lith enjoyed their talks, learning about the new world mentality and non-written society rules. Having lived most of his new life in a small village, Lith could learn more from one of her anecdotes that from an entire book.
That day Phloria wore her long black hair down, making them dance in his face every time she turned her head suddenly.
"Why are you still growing your hair?" Lith asked. "I thought that having them short was more convenient for a fighter."
"Yeah, you got that right. But during the last break, my mother kept nagging about me not being feminine enough. She said that if I cut them even shorter, people would mistake me for a boy. What a load of sh*t!" She grumbled.
Lith could only keep silent, inwardly agreeing with her mother. Phloria was very tall, even more than most Professors, and she still had plenty of time to grow further. She also had wide shoulders and enough strength to easily lift him, like during the mock exam.
"What do you think about it?" She abruptly asked.
"That I hope she didn't phrase it so cruelly. But I have to give it to her that you are prettier this way." Lith dodged the question with a compliment.
"Of course not, my mother is of noble origins, she would never be so straightforward. She just pointed out how hard it is to find suitors form me, adding how scared she is at the idea that our bloodline would die with me and all that cr*p."
"I thought you had siblings." Lith raised an eyebrow at such arguments. He clearly remembered that her parents had three children.
"I do. And when I pointed it out, she replied with the bogus theory that women are more likely to pass down a greater degree of magic. At that point I gave up. You know parents, you are always on the losing side of any discussion."
Lith nodded, not knowing what to say. No one had ever tried to control that aspect of his life.
"While we are at it, you do know that Quylla has it bad for you, right?"
"Yes." He actually suspected that Quylla was developing a crush, but he hoped that with time and not giving her special attentions, it would pass. He did not want to openly reject her and hurt her feelings.
"Yet I don't understand why."
"Well, she's an orphan. She clearly has daddy issues, and between your big brother and drill sergeant vibes, I'd say you make the ideal candidate."
"But why me and not one of the Professors or something? I mean, I'm nothing special, just…"
"Tall, good-looking, talented and caring?" Phloria cut him short. "You are right, is a complete mystery."
Lith glared at her in annoyance.
"That's not funny. Stop ruffling my feathers."
"Well, right now I have to take back the good-looking and caring part. With that face, you are creepy."
Lith's expression returned to normal.
"Much better. By the way, I would keep an eye on Friya too. It would not surprise me if her family sent her after you. Talented magicians with no family name are much sought-after."
"Please, I'm just a fourth-year student." Lith scoffed. "It's too soon for that kind of shenanigans."
"Nah, you are still too naïve. It's the perfect moment to start an approach to develop in the future without seeming too desperate or interested. During the fifth year it would be too late, one needs an edge over the competition.
It's not like they are going to make you marry after all. If you do not live up to their expectations, they can always back off at any moment."
"That makes sense." Lith furrowed his brow, thinking about the unexpected problem.
"Thanks for the heads up."
"You're welcome. But to be honest, you should thank my father. It's only when he asked me if I would mind a younger spouse that I realized what was happening."
Lith was afraid to ask the question, but he did anyway.
"What did you reply to him?"
"After stressing out that I don't mind a 'small' age gap, don't get me wrong, I don't want to end up marrying someone much older than me, I said that I would consider it. No reply was the only reply.
If I said yes, he would have sent my mother to make me change my mind. If I said no, he would have probably started arranging our marriage. He is kinda bull-headed."
"I see." Lith tried to keep his poker face, but unconsciously took a step away from her.
"Don't overestimate yourself, short stuff." She laughed at his move.
"I'm my own woman, I may bend on many things for my parents' sake, but love is not one of those. If they try to force me, I'm ready to become independent after the graduation. If I keep my grades as they are, people will line up to hire me."
From that point, they walked in silence, until they knocked on Quylla's door. During breakfast, everyone expressed their curiosity about the new lessons and their Professors, making bets about their looks.
Lith sneaked a look at Friya from time to time, and only when he realized that nothing had changed, he managed to put his paranoia to rest.
Because dimensional magic was a compulsory course, it took place in the fourth-year lecture class.
As soon as the last gong rang, Professor Rudd walked in.
He was a tall man, about 1,78 (5'10") high, with grey streaked black hair, and ice-cold blue eyes. He was in his mid-fifties, wearing the robe open and revealing a slim build.
Aside from Vastor, he was the oldest teacher Lith had ever met.
"Good morning, dear students." He spoke every word like he was spitting poison.
"I'm Professor Khavos Rudd, and I'll teach you dimensional magic. As you can see, I am not one of those hot stuff children that our beloved Headmaster Linjos placed in the academy. I'm one of the remnants of the old guard.
One of those that, allegedly, find a waste of resources to teach magic to those that not belong to mages' bloodline or at least noble families."
At those words, Lith, Quylla and Friya took out their Ballot, placing it on their desk. After one too many "practical joke", Friya had decided to follow Quylla's advice and got her freedom back.
Being noble, that speech wasn't addressed to her, but she still wanted to prove her point. Friya wasn't scared of putting herself on the line for her friends.
Rudd continued like he didn't see anything, despite the three of them were sitting in the front lines.
"Even in such hypothetical scenario, thought, I would still be a professional capable of leaving his prejudices outside that door. I expect you of doing the same."
All the commoner students didn't believe a word he said. Many started regretting not having a Guilty Ballot.
"Dimensional magic is a complex and deep subject, so do not expect of getting rid of me after just three months. My class is where we will separate true mages from simple birds. Even a magico can fly, but only a mage can do this."
After a quick wave of the hand and a hushed word, Rudd disappeared from the back of the class, near the chalkboard, reappearing in front of the first row of students.
His hands never stopped, before they could even gasp, he had already disappeared, materializing with his feet on a second-row desk, making a full round of the class before returning back to the point of origin.
"This spell is called Blink, one of the most common battle uses of dimensional magic. It's particularly useful to Battle Mages and Mage Knights to push forwards, since they use weapons. But everyone can use it to escape in a pinch.
Just to be clear, I didn't use any artifact, just my skills. If you aren't capable of doing this by the end of the course, you will never pass it. The good news is that failing my class will not prevent you from graduating, just mark your failure as mages."
He smirked looking at the student's worried faces.
A hand rose up from the middle row.
"What? I still have to begin explaining and you already have a question? I wonder how you got admitted here. Nonetheless, speak freely."
"Are you going to teach us teleportation?" Asked a red-haired chubby boy.
Professor Rudd broke out in a loud laughter, full of contempt and amazement. Most of the students understood that he wasn't laughing at the question, but at the boy himself.
"Teleportation? I haven't heard that word in years. It's a withered branch of magic, whose only success was to get the world rid of all the idiots that practiced it."
Chapter 95 Dimensional Magic 2
"The idea of teleportation was first born after realizing the limitations of flying. As you all should know, is impossible to move in such a way an army or its supplies.
It's not a matter of mana required, as much that it would take too much time. Not to mention it would offer a perfect target for an ambush, since non mages would be sitting ducks.
The first idea, was to just move a body much faster, but above a certain speed threshold, dust becomes dangerous as an arrow, insects hit like an avalanche. Adding a barrier strong enough to endure such hazards, would make the mana consumption prohibitive, even for a small group of persons.
So, some dumb idiot who read too many fairy tales, had the idea of teleportation, as in convert living matter in something else that could sustain high speed traveling, and reverting it back once arrived to destination."
Rudd laughed loudly, like it was the best joke ever, but when he noticed he was the only one laughing, his upper lip curled in an expression of disgust.
"How can you possibly be that dumb? Do you really not understand?"
He asked, without receiving any answer besides puzzled looks.
"In a fairy tale, it's great. But in reality? Converting living matter into something else, is just a fancy word to say 'killing'. How can you be sure that the thing that arrives on the other side is really you? What if a part of your body, your mind, or soul gets lost?
How do you think you could get it back? And more importantly, would the newborn thing even notice not to be the original? One thing is teleporting a rock, but living beings are much more complicated."
- "Interesting." Lith thought. "Is the same moral conundrum theoretical physicist had about teleportation back on Earth. Someone even made a Hollywood movie about it." –
"And don't let me started about the necessity of having perfect coordinates!" Professor Rudd continued.
"Rematerialize a little too high, too low or too close to a travel companion and bam! Instant death. Not to mention that the aforementioned insects, dust and even animals, are not bound to make space for your arrival. The tiniest hitch, and you have a fly for brains.
The last mage that attempted teleportation, materialized in the sky, hoping to avoid such issues, only for a flock of ducks to cross his path, making him die like the quack he was." This time, part of the class laughed at the dark humour.
"What I'm going to teach you, is the art of manipulating space itself, allowing you to arrive from point A to point B in complete safety in an instant, even if the two places are thousands of miles away."
Professor Rudd waved his hands in a circular manner, and soon two tiny black spots appeared. The first one between his palms, the second one right in front of the girl sitting in the middle of the front row.
With each magic word he spoke, the spots started to enlarge and stretch themselves in a specular manner, one extremity became almost circular, the size of a fist, while the other was so thin and small to be point-like.
They assumed the shape of a funnel, made out of energy, with both ends spinning at unbelievable speed.
- "Is that an event horizon?!" – Lith was shocked, to the point of standing up to better observe the phenomenon.
After just a second, the energy funnels had collapsed on themselves, leaving in their places two rifts in space. Professor Rudd extended his hand inside the first rift, making it reappear right above the girl's desk, taking the pen away from her fingers.
"Do you understand now? Bending space requires the same amount of energy and focus than teleportation would, but it's infinitely safer. Walking through a Gate is like going through a door. What gets in, gets out. No more and no less.
But do not get fooled by appearances. Even a simple trick like the one I just showed you has many limitations. First of all, it requires a clear line of sight, otherwise one cannot have a clear focus of the entry and exit points.
Secondly, even a small Gate requires at least the ability to triple cast, since you have to mix and control the energies of earth, air and water magic. Those are the most basic elements for a Gate.
Adding more elements allows to create bigger rifts, and it's the only way to make them stable enough to let more than one person walk through it. You will need to develop a deep understanding of these three elements, just for starters.
Despite what you may think, dimensional magic does not require enormous amount of mana, like some specializations do. The most important requirement is sensibility to small fluctuations of energy and space.
It's not something that you can brute force your way through. You must be able to feel the Gate growing, and adapt to its changes. If you don't feed it mana at the right time in the right place, it will never open.
Dimensional magic is not a specialization, it has no strict requirements that cannot be overcome with practice and hard work. On paper, is something that every good mage can do, even those with one specialization or none at all.
Tomorrow, we will start with nothing more than a simple parlour trick."
Rudd opened two small portals, barely the size of a coin, one above the other. Then he dropped a small pebble in the lower portal, and it reappeared from the upper one, falling down in the lower portal in an endless loop.
"Forewarned is forearmed. Better if you start reading your book from today onward, if you don't want to start with the wrong foot. Questions?"
Yurial raised his hand, receiving permission to speak.
"Professor, you said that teleportation does not exist, but what was Blink then? I didn't see any Gate opening."
"Excellent question, young man." For the first time since he had entered the room, Professor Rudd smiled kindly. Many were cursing inwardly, asking themselves if the question was really good, or rather he was appreciating Yurial's father.
"Dimensional magic is not just a matter of logistic and transportation, in the right conditions is also a perfect tool to defend or attack. But in such scenarios, you cannot expect the enemy to be kind enough to wait for you to finish, everything needs to be fast.
Allow me to show you Blink again, this time slowly."
The academy ring at Rudd's finger tapped into the castle's magic, opening two portals, one in front of the Professor and the other in the middle of the class.
But unlike a Warp Steps, where both ends were still, the portal in front of Rudd moved forward, making him arrive to destination without having to take a step.
"That's how Blink works, just much faster. Using dimensional magic in combat is the final test of skill for a mage. Another useful, but even harder application is the following. Please stand up, young man."
Yurial did as instructed, but as soon as he stood up, he found himself watching Professor Rudd standing behind his desk, while he was now in the middle of the room.
"This spell is called Switch. The name is self-explanatory, and requires two sets of portals, that if correctly timed, create the perfect diversion. Sometimes even an opportunity to kill.
Back in my days, I once found myself surrounded by archers using enchanted arrows. Their commander did me the favour of standing still long enough for me to time Switch so that while I was running away, he had become a fine spill cushion."
A cruel smile appeared on Rudd's face, remembering the shocked expression of the soldiers when they realized what had happened.
"But don't get me wrong, Switch is even harder to pull off than Blink. It requires that both targets are still, within a ten meters distance and a clear visual. But I digress. Anything further?"
"Is it really possible for a single mage to open a Gate to a location hundred, if not thousands of miles away?" Asked a petite girl.
"Yes and no. A single mage can open a portal leading to a very further destination, but he needs to have either enough mana to support the task, or a magical item to share its burden. Also, one cannot go in a location he has never been before.
Visualization is a key element, and so is the knowledge of the exact coordinates. Moreover, opening such a gate requires a focus. Something like this."
From his dimensional amulet Professor Rudd took out a small sphere with many arcane red runes engraved on it.
"Dimensional mages usually plant magical beacons in their most common destinations, making the opening of a portal much easier and less mana consuming. As I said at the beginning of the lesson, my subject is really complex.
Is better to avoid filling your heads with useless notions. Focus at the task at hand. One must first learn how to crawl, then to walk, and only then can worry about his running speed. Dismissed."
Almost at the same moment, the gong signalling the end of the lesson resounded. Many students had a worried look on their faces, and Lith was one of them.
- "This is really bad. Not only I have never practiced anything like this, but sensibility is not exactly my strong point.
Whenever I encountered a difficulty, I either cheated my way in with true magic until I understood the true core of the problem, or relied on fake magic's auto pilot to understand the magic flow.
What's the average success rate per year for this course?"
"According to the academy's records, is a little less than 60%." Solus replied.
"How many graduated students managed to score an A despite failing it?" Lith was considering dropping the subject, to avoid it affecting his grades. He could always copy the book and study at his own pace later.
"None." The answer left him dejected. "Turn that frown upside down! Even the most experienced kid here has barely six years of magic practice, you have more than twelve. Not to mention the Hexacasting and true magic."
"I know, but practice is not all. This seems a discipline that requires quite a lot of talent, and we both know I am no genius. Invigoration and true magic cannot help me like they do for Forgemastering and Healing. I'm afraid I have just hit a wall."
Chapter 96 A True Genius Worries
After dimensional magic, it was time for the specialization lessons. Professor Nalear's course was on forced hold. The number of students requiring a second evaluation had far exceeded expectations, a day hadn't been enough.
Phloria had the rest of the morning free, while Lith and the others went to the Master Healer class. Once at the academy's hospital, the students discovered that Professor Vastor had organized a small refreshment before officially starting the new trimester.
The class had gone down from thirty-four to twenty-eight student, and some of them had barely broke a C. Between those who had lost a friend and the ones terrified at the idea of suffering the same fate, very few were in the mood for celebration.
Vastor didn't seem to notice, though, and even if the report cards were supposed to be a secret, it wasn't hard to guess grades based on how he treated the different students. He devoted a lot of attention to Quylla and Lith, arousing the envy of many.
Those who like Professor Rudd were biased against commoners' bloodlines, would have given an arm and a leg to get the opportunity to teach them a lesson.
Yet they were well aware that because of the Ballots, the best they could do was get demoted from unsuccesful mages to expelled ones. Not to mention that instead of being reprimanded, Vastor had received an award for beating unruly students during the mock exam.
"Keep working hard, my dear pupils. And remember what I said at the beginning of our lessons. After the second trimester the class will be halved. We will be lucky if twenty of you manage to actually graduate as healers."
From how he was looking at the angered students, he had got a taste for it.
During the lesson, Lith's group had finally the opportunity to take the lead in delicate procedures like re growing lost limbs and organs.
Previously, the three men teams, one responsible for the regeneration and the other for keeping the patient's vitals stable, were both comprised of two professors and only one student.
Now the balance had shifted, and only a professor remained in each team.
When Quylla and Lith weren't in charge of one of the teams, Professor Vastor would always put them as second in command, ready to take over the procedure in case anything went wrong.
It took Lith a few patients to understand all the quirks and risks of regenerating a lost limb. The tier four spell couldn't be handled by just mindlessly pumping mana, or everyone could have done it, even without a specialization.
The whole process revolved around a delicate balance between the two groups of healers, with the patient as their fulcrum. The mage leading the regeneration had to keep the spell active, while giving the patient's body the time to rejuvenate.
With too short intervals between mana pulses, most of their effectiveness would be lost, making the procedure longer and more difficult. Also, it would put a great stress on the patient's body, with the risk that the new limb would be defective.
One had to give the vitals support team the time to reintegrate the patient's lost vitality during the process, burdening his metabolism as little as possible. The second team acted as a life force IV, but the drip rate had to be manually adjusted depending on the circumstances.
Too fast and the energy would be lost, just giving the patient a sensation of euphoria. Too slow and the massive drain caused by the regeneration could kill or permanently incapacitate him.
The teams had to coordinate between themselves, the first sending mana pulses spaced enough to allow the life force infusion to be effective, the second adjusting the flow whenever was necessary, to avoid the regenerative spell to be interrupted by a too prolonged pause.
Lith and Quylla quickly mastered both roles, receiving many compliments from the medical staff and thirty points from Professor Vastor. They were the only ones that despite occasionally losing control of the spell, would manage to fix things on their own, without needing a Professor to take over.
In Lith's case, he did it on purpose. Thanks to Invigoration, he was capable of having complete awareness of the patient's status.
Lith could understand with a glance when more life force was necessary or not, instructing the other team to speed up or slow down, and time the regenerating pulses so that the next one would arrive only when the previous was already losing effectiveness.
Yet he had to make mistakes, achieving perfection from day one would have been too eye-catching.
Even with the help of true magic, the task took a heavy toll on both his mind and body. The stress of handling a human life put a huge pressure on everyone, the patients were real persons and not test dummies anymore.
Because of the long pre operation phase, the students had been forced to spend time with them during the previous semester, to talk and know them personally. It was impossible to consider their lives just a number in their success/failure ratio.
And while Lith used Invigoration, the others could only rely on their magic sensitivity, listening to the patients' pulse and keeping an eye on their complexion and pain.
It was something incredibly hard, Lith had no idea how others could manage to do it.
The scariest thing was that despite all that, Quylla was just a few steps behind him. Even if stuck with fake magic, she was able to absorb like a sponge all the notions and suggestions Professor Vastor gave them, managing to get in tune with every patient.
Lith would have never been capable of doing that, at least not that fast. He learned by experience, little by little with every procedure, using Invigoration as a guiding hand whenever he had a doubt.
The more time they spent together, the more aware he was that it was only a matter of time before she revealed herself to be a genius. Her mana core was already on par with Lith's.
- "I can only pat myself in the back for taking care of her for all this time. If necessity ever arises, she can become an invaluable asset.
If she really is an S class healer, she'll relieve me of all the unnecessary attentions, avoiding for a simple A class talent like me to be pressured.
Besides, it's not like she can threaten my position. With my knowledge of biochemistry, biology and anatomy, I will always be the top in the theoretical field.
Who would ever guessed that all the extra credits seminars for the college would pay off like that?" -
All the other students didn't know if to laugh or cry at their helplessness. Envy and shame fought in their hearts, like two lions tumbling down a cliff. No matter which one would win, the result would be the same.
Even Yurial and Friya felt a tinge of jealousy while comparing themselves to them. But most of all, they were proud and happy for their friends. Lith had helped them countless times in the past, never asking anything in return.
What had started as a simple business relationship, had evolved in honest friendship.
As for Quylla, they could never resent her. At the beginning, Yurial had approached her just out of curiosity. He had considered her like a pet, someone talented that would be easy to manipulate due to her childish naivety and poor background.
But Quylla's growth as a person and mage had stunned him, leading Yurial to shed his prejudices and accept her as a peer. Now, after three months together, he felt deeply ashamed of his initial attitude towards her, and was trying to make amends.
Friya, instead, liked to think of her as the little sister she had always wanted. Quylla was honest and had a big heart. Their friendship had developed naturally from their first meeting, both suffering from the constant harassing from the other students.
When Quylla's body had started to change due to the rapid growth induced by the tonic, Friya had helped her managing her first period, teaching her everything about what being a young woman meant, becoming her confident.
When Friya had hit a wall during the Healer specialization, Quylla had volunteered to help her. Thy had started studying together, and whatever difficulty Friya encountered, Quylla had been always there for her.
She had never talked about her private lessons to anyone, not even trying to impress Lith, for whom Friya knew she had a huge crush. Quylla's humble and gentle nature had moved her beyond what words could express.
Friya had found in a stranger, something that even her own family had always denied her. She was ready to do anything for her little adoptive sister.
As for Quylla, she was thankful for tier four magic being so hard. Her work as a healer, with the constant pressure of having another human's being in her hands, was the only thing forcing her unruly heart to rest.
When they had first met, Yurial was like a Prince Charming out of the fairy tales she read as a kid. He was noble, powerful, rich, handsome, smart, and gentle. Almost too good to be true.
Lith, on the other side, had been more like a demon lord. Cold, scary, brash, talking to everyone like they were ants, glaring with soul chilling dead eyes. But after the first two days, something had changed.
She had noticed how indifferent Yurial actually was, sometimes even forgetting about her existence. Friya was the one actually caring for her, while Lith was… complicated.
When the first magic private lessons had started, he had lost most of his edge, becoming more supportive and helpful than Professor Trasque himself. He was the only one not staring at her for the amount of food she gobbled every day.
On the contrary, he would even encourage her to eat more, and help her keep her diet balanced. Lith would always worry for her safety, encouraging her to pick up a Ballot, even defending her when she still had to get her own.
In the last months, whenever students tried to "casually" bump into her, Lith would switch place with Quylla. No matter how big the other guy was, Lith would remain immovable like a mountain, while the other would fall on his a*s wincing in pain.
After a month from their first meeting, when she had her first period, he had been the one noticing her distress, relieving the pain with one of his personal spells and bringing her to Friya to get help.
As a healer, he was bound to know everything about it too, yet he had the sensitivity to avoid embarrassing her, letting another woman help her face that awkward situation.
It was after that moment that something inside Quylla had changed. Whenever she saw him, she would get butterflies in her stomach, her mouth would go dry. Each time they spoke, she needed sheer willpower to not speak fast, or giggle at everything he said.
Over time, he had become gentler and kinder, helping them whenever he could during the private lessons, answering all their questions and giving them pointers.
She started to admire his cold attitude towards strangers, not giving a damn about what they thought or said, having eyes only for his friends. Lith soon revealed to be wise beyond his years, knowing many things and having anecdotes about almost everything.
Sometimes, when they walked side by side, their hands casually touched. In those moments, she felt really hard to resist the compulsion to take his hand, to feel his warmth.
Other times, when she was alone in her room, her mind would go crazy with fantasies and delusions, making her feeling hot and fuzzy in the strangest places. When Quylla talked about that to Friya, she told her that it was perfectly normal, even though she blushed listening to the question.
When Friya explained what it meant, Quylla thought she would die of embarrassment. Luckily, there were just the two of them, and she knew that she could trust her friend.
Over time, she had learned to manage her feelings, mostly because she was too scared to do anything about them. Except that towards Professor Nalear, Lith seemed to be completely uninterested in girls.
Quylla was conscious that even if thanks to the tonic she was now 1.5 meters (4'11") tall, she was nothing special. Her figure was still undeveloped and very childish. She lacked Friya's curves or Phloria's innate charisma.
The only thing she could do was stay strong and hope for her feelings to fade away.
Chapter 97 Just a Warning
After the end of the lesson, the group went to lunch, finding Phloria waiting for them at their usual table.
- "I seriously think I have overestimated myself, thinking to be able keeping my nice guy façade for two whole years. If it wasn't for my big brother instinct, I don't know how many times I would have snapped already.
I really don't get these guys at all. To make things worse, no matter how much I force myself, I keep feeling I don't belong with them." – Lith inwardly sighed.
Solus had no idea what to say to make him feel better. Returning to the academy, right after spending some time with the people he loved, had made Lith depressed.
"Hey guys, how was your lesson?" Phloria asked.
"Same old, same old." Yurial shrugged. "Vastor keeps pushing forward those who are good, and spreads salt on the wounds of those who aren't. And while the class struggles with each task, these two monsters keep running circles around us mortals."
"How did your morning go?" Lith tried changing topic. Ever since his encounter with the Scorpicore, every time someone called him monster, he could not help but shudder.
He had realized that calling what happened to him 'reincarnation', was far from correct. He was more like an evil spirit from a horror movie, possessing the bodies of the recently deceased.
"Depressingly so. After Professor Rudd's speech, I was eager to check if his subject is really as hard as he says. Well, he lied. It's much worse than that. I spent the last two hours trying the 'parlour trick' we are supposed to perform tomorrow.
I read his book over and over, but I didn't succeed, not even once." She sighed.
"Are you serious?" Friya asked. "We have passed the first part of Professor Nalear's course. Could it be that the spell requires something she has yet to cover in her lessons?"
Everyone at the table turned gloomy. Two hours were the regular duration of a class, Phloria failing so badly was unprecedented, not to mention a bad omen. If she wasn't able to, it was unlikely that any of them could succeed.
Even Lith was on the same boat. Without true magic or Invigoration as crutches, he wasn't much better than them.
- "Solus, what is the average time for succeeding in the pebble trick?"
"More bad news." She replied. "The school records are not helping this time. The only thing reported is the number of lessons for opening a Gate."
"Lessons, not hours? This is worse than I thought. How many for geniuses, and how many for regular students?"
"Geniuses usually need around three lessons, the others around twenty." –
Lith almost chocked himself on bread when he heard that piece of news.
"Normally, I'd propose to gobble our lunch fast and go practice dimensional magic, to not let that old coot embarrass us." Friya said.
"But Phloria and I have yet to take our Mage Knight class for today."
"Same, I have Forgemastering later."
"What about we meet at Quylla's place after the end of the lessons?" Yurial proposed. "I bet that with her learning speed, by the time we get there, she will be able to teach us the basics."
That afternoon, much to Lith disappointment, Professor Wanemyre went back to theory lessons. In the first trimester, they had learned how to infuse a single enchantment in an object.
The topic of the new lesson was how to mix two enchantments together, introducing a new set of runes and magic circles whose complexity was on all another level. He was eager to get back in the lab and put them to test.
Because of Soluspedia, when it wasn't involved fine mana control or a particular timing in manipulating volatile energies, such lessons were just redundant for him.
He already knew every rune and circle, so he spent most of the lesson practicing how to draw them perfectly, instead of listening. The second forgemastering tome was a gold mine of inspiration for Lith.
Meanwhile, Yurial was diligently taking notes about the arrays Professor Tinnam was introducing. A Warden had a supportive role, he couldn't cast random spells like most mages.
It was important to understand in what circumstances a magic formation would do more good than harm. Since the Griffon Kingdom was at peace, Yurial had chosen such specialization hoping to help the development of his family's fief.
His wish was to become able to build dams, bridges and roads almost by himself, saving the money to hire more healers and teachers. One of his great-grandmother teachings, was that without its people, a Country was just a piece of land.
The new arrays were even more difficult to perform and hard to control than those of the first trimester, but at least the casting speed was the same. The biggest flaw of a Warden, was the long time necessary for a single spell.
After the lesson, he was about to leave, when he was approached by an old acquaintance. It was Lyam Lukart, the military looking guy that Lith humiliated during Trasque's second lesson.
Yurial knew him because he was the son of archmage Lukart. They had started the academy together, three years prior, but had quickly parted ways. The Lukart family was one of the oldest magician bloodlines, and were pretty stuck up about that.
Despite their fathers held the same status, Lyam had never treated Yurial as a peer, let alone as a friend. Following his family's teachings, he considered the Deirus household a branch family at best.
Having centuries of mystic legacy, a household with only three generations of mages was too young to be considered a real magical bloodline. Lyam demanded blind respect and loyalty from those he deemed inferior.
The Deirus household, instead, didn't give a damn about traditions, respecting only talent and achievements. Yurial couldn't bear Lyam's groundless arrogance, so after a while, he had politely but firmly put a distance between them.
"Deirus, do you have a minute?" Lyam asked.
Yurial put up his best smile, trying to cut that conversation short. Calling Yurial by his last name, was a polite way to underline their difference in status. Whatever Lyam wanted, he wasn't willing to give.
"Not really, Lyam. Dimensional magic seems really hard. I'm in a hurry to practice for tomorrow's lesson." Refusing his request was usually enough. For someone like Lyam, having to ask twice was akin to begging.
"Then let me accompany you for a while, I promise it will not take long."
Yurial was so flabbergasted, that for a second he lost his composure, but was quick to recover. He nodded, prompting the other to continue.
"You have been here as long as I have. What do you think of all the changes Linjos introduced?" The question was odd, but Yurial had no reason to lie or refuse to answer.
"Honestly, I don't know what to think. No finals, that terrifying mock exam, the new Professors and their scoring system. It's too soon to judge his performance, but I must admit that so far things have become more interesting."
That clearly wasn't the answer Lyam hoped to hear. His upper lip curled up in an expression of disgust, without even trying to hide his feelings.
"I get your point." He sighed.
"Tradition has value only for those who contributed crafting it, and live by it. But, you see, many people feel differently about what's happening. First the seed of a bad apple got accepted to one of the six big academies.
Then, an outstanding member of the magical society, like Headmistress Linnea, has lost everything in the name of diversity, just to quench the thirst for revenge of social climbers that got too close to the Queen's ear.
And now the prestigious White Griffon gets rid of its history, treating it as garbage, abolishing finals in favour of this farce of a grading system?" Lyam spat on the floor, uncaring of the disgusted looks people threw at him.
Yet his voice was calm and collected, Yurial doubted that anyone beside him could hear anything.
"Many people, both at the Court at the Mage Association, are not pleased with the course of these events. They would like the Queen to reconsider her decisions, taking her time to properly reflect before doing something this… drastic."
Yurial knew there was little if no trust between them, and how Lyam was being subtle, making no names.
"What all this have to do with me?"
"Well, some think that all magical bloodlines should stick together and try to correct this situation. People like Linjos need to be put back in their place. And for that, I'd like your help."
"I'm not going to hurt my friends!" Yurial angrily retorted. "Nor I am going to let anyone harm them!" His hostility only met an amused laughter.
"Your friends? It's what you think this is all about? No one cares who do you pick as boot boy, or what kind of wench you prefer for warming your bed, to each his own. Everyone has his eccentricities.
No one will touch your servants, there is no need to. What we want is to get rid of Linjos. To prove that all these so called 'changes' do nothing but let weeds proliferate, while real talents get smothered in the crib.
I came to you today, because I need you to persuade your father to join our cause."
"Good luck with that." Yurial managed to say. "Do whatever you want, but leave me out of this. Be it the old or the new system, is none of my business." He didn't know if to report everything to the Headmaster, but he wasn't stupid enough to reveal his intentions.
Keeping a neutral stand while deciding what to do was the best course of action.
"That's unfortunate." Lyam clicked his tongue.
"I really hoped you would come to your senses. Picking the wrong path in life can have terrible consequences."
Yurial looked around, noticing that the corridor was empty. No one was around anymore, only the two of them remained.
Before he could demand for an explanation, Lyam punched him in the stomach, following with a hook to the chin that sent Yurial to the ground.
Suddenly, several people joined the beating, carefully avoiding to hit his face or vitals. While trying to protect himself, Yurial recognized some of them, all heirs of powerful nobles or ancient magical bloodlines.
"The good thing about stupidity, is that up to a certain degree it can be beaten out. Even dumb dogs learn their lessons with the proper training." Lyam kneeled, using a powerful tier three healing spell on Yurial to leave no trace of the brutal aggression.
The pain, though, was still there. Yurial needed all of his willpower to not give them the satisfaction of begging to stop or screaming in agony. He hadn't made a sound the whole time.
"Tell your father that this was just a warning. We can't wait to have a proper talk with him too."
Chapter 98 Failures
When someone heard referring to the King's Council Chamber, usually his mind would think of the throne room.
More than twenty meters (66,6 feet) long and over ten meters (33,3 feet) large, a single red silk carpet with gold embroidered edges going from the three meters (10 feet) wide double doors up to the two steps that distanced the floor where nobles stood and the raised one for the royal family.
That way, even sitting on their gold thrones, carved to resemble a rampant griffon, they would be able to look down on everyone present, reaffirming they status and authority.
The whole room was lit by crystal chandeliers, fueled by magic, leaving no space for shadows or need for maintenance.
On the walls, magically enchanted tapestries would recount over and over the great feats that the current King had accomplished to be deemed worthy of his power. Both the floor and the pillars of the room were realized from gold veined marble, the most precious and robust material available in the Griffon Kingdom.
And that someone would be dead wrong. The throne room was perfect for holding social events or awarding a particular general or noble. But when it came down to state secrets, it was a security nightmare.
Between the main entrance, the servants' passages, the secret passages and the balconies for the spectators, circling around the room, a small army of spies could easily go unnoticed, even after searching the whole place with a tooth comb.
The real Council Chamber was located in the King's private apartments, inside of a heavily guarded tower. The room was about 6 meters (20 feet) long and 4 meters (13 feet) large with only a round table and wooden chairs as furniture.
The round table didn't mean that every opinion held the same importance, it was simply the only way to be heard from every side of the room without the need of shouting non-stop.
Aside from the furniture, the room was bare, with no windows and only one entrance. Both the floor and the walls were of a pale grey, there was no colour outside that of the magical stones the room was made of.
Most of the assemblies would last hours, and given the sensitive nature of the subjects that required the King's direct approval, discretion was of vital importance.
The whole place was enchanted to prevent eavesdropping, either by conventional or magical means, not to mention all the protections necessary to avoid the whole high command getting killed in one fell swoop.
In that particular day, the Council Chamber wasn't occupied by ministers or generals, but by the upper echelons of the Mage Association. In such occasions, it was the Queen's duty chairing the debate.
For the Crown to have absolute control over both political and magical matters, responsibilities were shared as such. The one of the royal couple most versed in the magical arts would become the head of the Mage Association.
The other, would be in charge of all the military power and oversee the ministers' activities. Together, they would hold all the keys to the Kingdom.
Queen Sylpha wore a simple blue satin morning dress, with long sleeves covering her arms. Despite being over fifty years old, it was hard thinking her a day past thirty.
With her square chin and sharp features, she couldn't be considered beautiful, but the aura of confidence and power she exuded coupled with her perfect manners, still made her quite charming.
"Your Majesty, we still cannot find Linnea." Said a bald middle-aged man with a grey goatee. "We are certain she hasn't crossed the borders yet. She would never leave her children behind."
The Queen dilated her nostrils in annoyance. Recently she would only receive bad news.
"And? I want results, not hypothesis! If you can't find her, she could have defected to the Blood Sand tribes or even hiding up my powdered a*s for all I care. What about the Gorgon Empire? Is it true that they are developing clairvoyance magic?"
The idea of their worst enemy being able to spy on them from a safe distance, caused the Queen to lose sleep over it.
"Yes and no." Sniggered an old woman with long white hair, held up in a pony tail. "Yes, they spent thousands of gold coins to indulge the Emperor obsession with prophets, seers and all that cr*p about predicting the future.
No, because up to date all those so called 'mediums' were only frauds. Some of them were actually our agents, that managed to drain considerable sums before disappearing."
"Finally, something goes right!" She slammed the table with her fist hard enough to make several goblets fall off.
"What about the great academies?" An awkward silence fell into the room, instantly ruining her good mood.
"Your Majesty, maybe you should reconsider your line of action." Said a tall middle-aged woman with short red hair.
"So many changes at once are hard to accept. It would be better to implement them one by one over time."
"One by one over time." The Queen echoed, drumming with her slender fingers on the armrest.
"Tell me, dear Bolna, how long has the Mage Association tried to change the rules nice and easy, to avoid unrest?" Her tone was calm and amiable, causing those present to shudder.
The Queen was many things, but amiable was not one of those. As any purebred politician, she was capable of hiding her emotions and thoughts whenever it was necessary, but her nature was that of a fiery woman, passionate in everything she did.
When speaking about state affairs with her counsellors, she would not mince words or waste time with niceties. Her being calm meant that a storm was incoming.
"Over forty years." The woman swallowed a lump of saliva, forcing herself to answer without trembling.
"Even before my crowning, yes. And how many rules have been actually been changed until now?"
"None."
"Last question. How many potential Magi did we lose during all this time?" Her voice had turned stone cold.
"At least four." Incapable of returning the Queen's gaze, Bolna lowered her eyes.
"All of them defected swearing an oath of vengeance."
"Let me get this straight." The Queen pulled back her chair, standing up. She was a woman of average stature 1.62 meters (5'4") high with a slender build.
Despite being held up in a chignon, the long black hair still revealed her uncanny gift for the mystical arts, with all the six shades of colours marking her as blessed by all the gods of magic.
"We lost four one-man armies for nothing but petty grudges, and your great idea is to keep up the 'good work'?" The Queen moved so fast that one could think she had Blinked, but the blur behind her told a different story. She had simply walked.
"Do you think that when the god of death returns from the Blood Desert, leading the army of undead that he has been raising for all this time, will he take his revenge bit by bit overtime, or just slaughter us all?"
Sylpha said while lifting her by the neck with only one hand, despite Bolna was taller and double her weight. None dared to interfere. All of those present were very powerful archmages, but there was a reason for Sylpha being the Queen.
She was capable of casting several spells with barely any delay, moving faster than a wild beast and ripping in half a fully armed knight with her bare hands. Many suspected she was actually a dragon in human form.
"Doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result is the very definition of madness." She brought Bolna's purple face near her own.
"Your masters should have trained you better." Sylpha clenched her fist, producing a snap, before throwing the body in a corner of the room. Bolna's head was now tilted at an unnatural angle, her limbs sprawled under the heavy magician robe.
"Now that we got rid of the spy among our ranks, we shouldn't lose so many agents anymore." She said returning to her chair.
"Bolna was a spy?!" Everyone was shocked at the news, questioning and discussing what had just happened.
"Yes, she was." The Queen rubbed her forehead with a sad expression. She looked tired and thin, with no trace of her previous vigour.
"The old families have their men and women planted everywhere. Academies, Court, even the Mage Association is not outside their grasp. They know I invested too much money and energies in the White Griffon.
If my project fails, it will be only on me. I would be left with no choice but leave everything as it is, hoping that my successor will have better skill and luck. I may even be forced to resign as head of the Mage Association and leave the position to one of my children.
I already have too many failures on my shoulders, another one of such significance and my authority and role would be greatly diminished. Even I would question my competence."
Th Queen's aides didn't know what to say, so they waited in silence for her to recover.
"Bolna's reports were all fake. The unrest is growing, many took their children failing grades or being expelled as personal attacks. They can't stand anymore not being in control."
She took out several folders from a dimensional ring, passing them to the old wizards, for them to see with their eyes how dire the situation was. According to the documents and the transcribed conversations, the Kingdom was on the verge of a civil war.
The new nobles, those who had risen in status thanks to their talent and achievements, be them of military or magical nature, weren't willing anymore to live their lives under the heel of an unfair system.
The old nobles, instead, felt their position threatened, and feared losing some of their privileges, or even worse, being forced to share resources that up to that point had been their exclusive.
The two factions were now too close in numbers and power, it was only a matter of time before the old balance crumbled.
"I know that despite being loyal to the Crown, many of you do not really support my idea." Sylpha sighed.
"But I need you to understand how much is at stake. No matter what your personal beliefs are, if the White Griffon turns out to be just another failure, we'll have a generation at best, before the Kingdom plunges into chaos."
Chapter 99 Information
After finishing the lessons, everyone was in Quylla's room, waiting for Yurial to begin practicing dimensional magic. Lith was very nervous, tapping with his foot while counting the seconds.
"Where the heck is he?" He grumbled.
"We have been waiting for him for…" Lith realized that without the sun, he had no idea how much time had passed.
- "Barely ten minutes." – Solus mind-rolled her eyes at his impatience.
"Over ten minutes! It doesn't take that long to fly over here. Maybe we should start on our own."
"Why so anxious? Don't tell me that you let that Rudd guy get under your skin." Friya mocked him playfully.
"He can believe whatever he wants. As long as he judges the students semi-fairly is fine by me. I don't fear the Professor, as much as his subject. Is nothing like I ever done before, and I will not relax until I know I can do it."
"Is the same for all of us, yet you are the only one freaking out. Do you know why?"
- "Because you are all a bunch of children that still believe in unicorns and rainbows. In real life, only results matter. No one cares for the reason why you failed or succeeded. The magical power of friendship has never solved anything, unless in works of fiction." –
"Because despite all of your talent, you are so single-minded on a task at hand to become obsessive. Ten minutes aren't going to affect our chances with dimensional magic. Try to relax. Sometimes one has to stop and smell the roses.
Who knows, maybe he has met someone special. I mean, any other guy I know would be delighted to be in your place, surrounded by girls. Yet you just nag all the time like my grandpa."
Lith didn't miss her poking Quylla's back, probably to encourage her to say something instead of staring at her own toes. She had been awfully silent since he had entered her room.
- "Is not like there's something embarrassing around. This place is as empty as mine. I wonder if I was so awkward at her age too." –
Despite she really wanted to join the conversation, Solus kept silent. Having access to all of his memories, she knew that the twelve years old Derek's past was better forgotten. There was only pain and misery there.
"I'm flattered by your feelings." Lith replied. "But it's better if we stay friends. It's not you, it's me."
Friya was left speechless, while Phloria was rolling on the bed laughing.
"KD after the first move! You better stay down, sister."
Before Friya could scold the two of them, they heard knocking on the door.
Lith quickly opened it, eager to begin, letting a groggy Yurial walk inside. He was leaning on the wall just to stand on his feet. His eyes were semi closed, like he was about to fall asleep any moment.
"Are you drunk?" It was the only explanation he could find. Yurial shook his head, while Lith helped him reach the bed. He clearly needed to sit down.
While the other girls started worrying, asking him what was wrong, Quylla used one of her personal diagnostic spells, finding that he was perfectly fine, just like Lith did with Invigoration while supporting him.
"He is not drunk." She said. "For some reason Yurial has barely the strength to walk."
"I can easily fix that." By using a tier four light spell, Lith gave him some of his life force.
Yurial finally managed to speak, telling them what had happened, down to the last detail.
"That b*astard beat me so hard that the healing spell drained all my remaining energy. I had to fight just to put one foot in front of the other. It's a miracle I managed to get here without fainting."
"What a scheming son of a swine!" Phloria snapped.
"By healing you not only he covered his tracks, but also left you so weak that even if you managed to call for help, it would have been too late. He can be anywhere at this point."
"Yeah. I need to inform my father of what happened. If I were you, I'd do the same. You come from a magic bloodline too, I'm surprised they didn't try to recruit you already."
"Maybe they did." Friya suddenly realized.
"Do you remember the cute guy that seemed wanting to talk with you, but walked away as soon as he noticed we were together?"
"The one we joked about being too afraid to confess in public? Yes, I do, but what makes you think he was one of them?"
"Nothing, just that it seems too odd to be a coincidence. We have attended the same classes for months and he chooses today to make his move? Also, was he afraid of me or my Ballot? Everyone knows I have one."
"It makes sense." Yurial nodded. "I think at this point is better if we all get one. Our family names make us targets. It could happen to you too, Friya. Contact your mother and see where she stands in this matter."
Lith was shocked contemplating all the possible consequences. It was ironic how he and Quylla were the least affected from the sudden turn of events. Being commoners, they had no value in a political struggle, at least for the moment.
If they really wanted to hurt Linjos' reputation, their existence as the top students of the Master Healer class would make them targets too, sooner or later. The other class wasn't a problem, there were better Forgemasters than him.
Or at least, it was what he had made them believe.
Friya, Phloria and Yurial took out their communicator amulets to inform their parents of the current predicament.
"Mind if I use the bathroom?" Lith asked. In a world were underwear did not exist and the uniform was the only dress they wore, it was unlikely there was something embarrassing lying around. But he wanted to make sure to not invade her privacy.
Quylla nodded, and after entering Lith used his Hush spell to prevent being heard before calling Marchioness Distar. Despite answering immediately, she seemed annoyed by the call, but as soon as she heard the news, her attitude changed.
"Good gods, those b*stards dared to involve their own sons. This is even worse than I thought."
"I'm sorry, your Ladyship, but you do not seem surprised at all. Can you please tell me what's happening exactly?"
Marchioness Distar drummed with her fingers on the desk for a while before answering.
"What happened today, is just a side show of the real struggle. It goes on from decades, with new powers demanding more equity, and the old ones fighting to keep things as they are. Every year, commoners rise to the status of nobles thanks to magical or military achievements.
But getting lands and titles means nothing if bureaucracy stands in your way at every step. Kings come and go, but paper pushers are forever. Over the centuries, all such positions have been taken over by the old powers, and they use it as a bottleneck to others' authority.
No one gets anything, unless they agree. And that made many people angry. In a way, they can even overrule the Court's orders, simply by delaying everything as much as they can.
So, the Court has started to replace bureaucrats, and that also made many people angry. The conflict between old and new powers keeps escalating, despite all the attempts of mediation.
Why do you think my family is under a constant death threat? Because in my Marquisate there is not one, but two of the six great academies, and they are key points in the balance of power.
Both factions want me dead, hoping to take my place and further develop their agenda."
"Both of them? Then what side are you on?" Lith asked in confusion.
"The Court's side. I believe in compromises. Radical changes lead to chaos on the short term, and the neighbouring countries would exploit the opportunity to invade us. No changes, instead, mean the collapse of the system.
If no matter how powerful you are or how much you contribute to your country, you do not get a proper reward, then you have no reason to remain loyal. Not when other countries work much better. That's why so many defect."
"But what does this mean for me and my family? Are we safe?" He had little to no interest towards political struggles, unless they involved Lark.
"Yes, you should be. Believe me, very little can get past the Queen's corps, and in the scheme of things you are insignificant. No offense."
"None taken." Lith sighed in relief.
"This is not the first attempt of sabotage, Linjos knows what to do. I'll let him know everything, so stay away from his office and don't draw attention on yourself. Stay out of it as long as you can, but keep me updated if anything else happens."
He promptly agreed.
- "If this goes on from so long, then I just need it to last a bit longer. In less than two years from now, is none of my business anymore." –
Chapter 100 Family Matters
While Lith spoke with the Marchioness, everyone was having a conversation with their respective families, deciding how to face the incoming storm.
Everyone but Quylla, of course. She had no relatives, hence she never spent precious points for a communication amulet. Yet it was the second time already she was considering getting one.
The first time had been during the four days break. While the others had returned to their homes, she had remained in the academy. Even in her old village, she had always been surrounded by people.
The bustling noise of the daily activities had become part of her life.
But during the break, she had no lessons to attend, nowhere to go, and no one to talk to. Ever since Quylla had got her Ballot, she had become an outcast, but she never really noticed up until that point.
She would always spend so much time with her friends, that being alone once in a while was actually pleasant. During those four days, though, the silence had started to scare her.
Walking along the empty corridors, Quylla felt like she was traveling through the belly of a giant dead beast, with only her steps' echo to keep her company. Being apart from Yurial or Phloria was meh, while from Lith was actually good, it gave her the time to sort her feelings.
The emotional rollercoaster she went through every time they met, was so frustrating that more than once she almost confessed, just to get rid of the uneasiness. Until the fear of being rejected kicked in, making her thank the gods for stopping her.
What she really missed was Friya's company. She didn't know if Lith was her first love or just a crush, she never had experienced anything like that before. What she did know, was that Friya was the closest thing to a family she had ever had.
They would spend hours together, not only for studying, but also talking about their dreams and hopes once they graduated from the academy. She would listen to all the stupid little things that crossed her mind, her fears and anxiety and never judged her for that.
And now, seeing them talking to their parents, gave her a sense of estrangement.
- "I know it's stupid, but maybe if I had one too, if I could call them whenever I want, I wouldn't feel so… different. – She thought.
Velan Deirus, Yurial's father, was so outraged that his eyes almost popped out.
"That Lukart scum. How dares treating my son like a dog? I was willing to remain on the sidelines, to see from which side we could profit the most. But this blatant lack of respect shows that if those old farts have it their way, there will be no future for us but servitude."
"What do you want me to do, father?"
"Tell Linjos what happened, get a Coward's… I mean a Ballot, and then wait for my instructions. Don't try to get revenge, if he is smart, Lyam has a Ballot too.
That little act was probably meant to either make you submit, or anger you enough to retaliate and get you expelled. Trying to recruit you like that makes no sense, unless they wanted to make us an example for other young magical families.
To show that they can reach us both on the inside and the outside. Would be a good plan, if we were some stuck-up self-righteous idiot nobles. I'll play this game by my rules.
Don't do anything stupid, son. Think before you act, and if anything new happens, contact me. Love you."
The conversation between Friya and his mother, Duchess Solivar was of a different tone.
"Sabotaging a new Headmaster? It has always happened, even to the most insignificant, petty bootlicker. Let alone to a young radical, uncaring for political gains." Her voice was bored.
"Everyone with half a brain knows there is a huge storm ahead, and I don't plan getting caught in the middle of it. We will remain neutral. In every war, the real winner is the one that does not take part in it, profiting from both sides.
Whoever comes on top, I'm covered.
Contact me only if you need to get out of the academy. You are the first real mage of household Solivar, act as one. Take no unnecessary risks."
Then she hanged up the call.
- "Well, I love you too, mother. Thanks for asking me if I was all right or if I needed something. F*ck you and your precious Solivar household! I'll do whatever I want. For once, I am in control. You need me, not the other way around! –
Friya was so angry that only Quylla's worried face prevented her for throwing the communication amulet against a wall.
Phloria's father, Orion Ernas, was of course well informed too. He was deeply involved in one of the factions that were closest to the Queen, so nothing she said was actually of any relevance, outside the attack on Yurial.
Orion had kept her in the dark, because he didn't want her to grow up scared by the rumors about the impending civil war. He had hoped for the stalemate to hold until she was big enough to choose what to do, but time was running out.
He told her the same things Marchioness Distar had explained to Lith.
"I think that they are closing ranks. Attacking a member of a magical bloodline means that they are not willing to tolerate neutrality anymore. Either you are with them or against them."
"What can I do for the Queen, dad?"
"You?" Orion laughed for the first time since that conversation started.
"What can you possibly do? You are just a kid, the real battle is out here, what has happened is barely a ripple effect. This is but the last attempt to sabotage in a long line. They have simply raised the ante a little.
Instead of worrying for the Queen, here is what you can do for me. Pick a Ballot, stay out of trouble, and if push comes to shove, attack first and ask questions later. Always go all out, no one can get killed in an academy, the castle does not allow for that."
"It's the first time I hear about this. How do you know for sure?"
"It's supposed to be a secret, but when your daddy was younger and hot blooded, someone dared to draw his sword against me. I lost my temper and…
well, let's just say that the academy's arrays saved a lot of people that day. Things escalated quite a bit."
"If it's a secret, aren't you breaking some rule by telling me?"
"Do you think I would put a 'secret' that the gods only know how many idiots like me know above my daughter's safety? I would rather see you safe and expelled, than let anyone put a finger on you."
At that point, Lith had already returned in the room. Not exchanging any pleasantries saved him a lot of time. Only Friya was already done with her amulet.
Lith didn't know what to do, being a commoner was a double-edged sword in that situation.
It meant that he and Quylla were more likely to be left alone, but at the same time that they had no way to help their friends.
When all the conversations ended, with the exception of Lith, they shared the information received. The Marchioness had made clear from the beginning that she had already enough on her plate.
Revealing their connection would only draw more attention, something that both were glad to avoid.
"I guess we both need a Ballot, now." Yurial sighed. Being a victim was a scary feeling for him. His family name had always been the strongest sword and shield, yet now it was reduced to a bullseye.
"We need to go to Linjos' office." Phloria nodded.
"And let everyone know that even powerful people like you are scared? That would mean playing into their hands." Lith objected.
"What do you propose then? Ignore my father's advice and wait for their next move?"
"That would be stupid. I say to play it smart." He took out his Ballot, pushing the button twice.
A Warp Steps opened, and Professor Trasque came out of it. When he saw where he was, he furrowed his brows in disapproval.
"Kid, a Ballot is not a toy. Don't try to give me the 'I accidentally sat on it' bullsh*t."
"We need to see the Headmaster, it's an urgent matter. I had to resort to the Ballot because we can't allow for others to know about it. I'm sorry if I caused a false alarm." Lith deeply bowed, even though if necessary, he would do it again.
Trasque's interest was piqued. He opened another portal, leading straight to the Headmaster's office. The room was immaculate as Lith remembered it.
His hardwood brown desk was right in front of a glass wall, capable of blocking the excess daylight or amplify it, keeping the lighting uniform during the whole day. Several pieces of paper were arranging themselves in ordinate piles after he finished looking at them.
Hearing the Gate open, he turned towards them. He seemed to have aged ten years since the last time they saw him.
Chapter 101 Triple Casting
Linjos was very tired, his face seemed even longer than usual, with dark circles around the eyes caused by the worries and the lack of sleep.
When he heard what had happened, he only sighed, turning to watch at the forest below.
"I really envy magical beasts. Things are so simple for them, taking only what they need, without caring for petty things like gold or grudges."
Then he turned back again, looking at Yurial in the eyes.
"I'm really sorry for what has happened to you, partly is my fault. And what makes me feel even worse, is that despite all my brave talk and efforts, you are not the first victim, and likely not the last either.
The most basic move to get rid of a Headmaster, is to make the environment toxic through violence and intimidation. Academy's life is already very hard and demanding, it doesn't take much to make it unbearable.
When that happens, the number of graduates plummets, the academy's reputation rapidly declines and a new Headmaster gets chosen. Usually, it happens during the last trimester. The timing of the events suggests someone really wants to get rid of me.
I guess they didn't like me taking cheating off the table. You have no idea how many noble slackers have failed right off the bat." He sighed, again, taking no pleasure from their misfortune.
"As for the Ballots, I can't. There is none left."
"Is it because Lukart and his goons? Did they take them all?" Yurial was worried, remembering his father's words.
"Actually, no." Linjos replied with a smirk. "After what happened between Lith and Lady Hestia became the talk of the academy, a lot of first- and second-year students came for the Ballots. The ones I gave you two young ladies were among the last ones.
There were just about twenty to begin with, so I already ordered a new batch. The problem is that since their power source is the castle itself, the crafting method is quite complex. It will take some time."
Phloria swallowed a lump of saliva, regretting not having got one before.
"You have three Ballots and only five people." Linjos shrugged.
"You will manage somehow. In the meantime, I'll do everything I can to ensure everyone's safety. But remember, each floor is really big, and I have only Professors at my disposal, not an army of watchmen, so be careful."
Back in Quylla's room, Yurial, Friya and Phloria felt dejected and stupid. The world as they knew it had collapsed under their feet, the peace that they had taken for granted seemed to be about to end.
All the dreams and expectations they had cultivated during all those years in the academy seemed so stupid and insignificant, compared to the idea of a civil war that could kill everyone they loved.
And then there was the feeling of being cast aside. Even if they did it out of love, their families hadn't trusted them enough to tell the truth. Friya's case was the worst, since she now knew to be considered nothing more than a tool to an end.
Yurial was so shocked that even the earlier aggression's memory was already fading in the background.
"I can't believe I have been so stupid! Warden and Healer are just useless specializations. What my father, my family need is a warrior, a leader. If only he had been honest with me, I would have chosen wisely."
Lith kept silent, letting him vent off his frustration. He knew by experience that when something that big happened, the words of a stranger would sound empty. Yurial needed time to accept the change.
"I'm sorry guys, I don't feel like doing anything right now." Phloria said.
"I need some time to think. Most importantly, I need to make sure that my brothers are okay." Despite not having a Ballot, she darted out of the room before anyone could offer to escort her.
Yurial followed her so fast that he didn't need to hold the door open. He walked in long strides, inwardly hoping for someone to attack him again. He really needed a way to vent all the pent-up frustrations.
As for Friya, she felt enraged for her mother's condescending tone, but at the same time she was deeply scared. Too much to remain alone, she had no one to turn to for comfort, except the two that still remained in the room.
- "Dammit, this is the story of my life!" Lith inwardly cursed. "Everything that can go wrong, always does. Be it on Earth or here, nothing has changed. As soon as I fix a problem and try to get some peace, another one pops up.
At this point, these kids are just a burden. They have too much to lose, but I can't afford the luxury of being depressed. I need to gather as much as I can, in case sooner or later I'll be forced to leave this Country full of idiots." –
"If you need some time alone, I completely understand." He said to the two girls, while hiding his clenched fists behind his back.
"I'll take my leave."
"What about the dimensional magic practice?" Quylla asked.
"I beg your pardon?" Those were the last words Lith expected to hear.
"I'm sorry for what happened to Yurial." Quylla was sitting on the bed, swinging her legs in a very childish manner, yet her cold eyes were nothing like those of a kid.
"But honestly, all that happened today just proved what I said on the second day. This academy sucks, or better, the whole Kingdom sucks. All my life, I survived only thanks to my skills, and once I got here, nothing changed.
I don't care if this Country burns, it has never done anything good for me. But you guys did. You are the only ones that ever cared for me, and I don't want to risk losing you getting involved in this nonsense.
If everything goes south, dimensional magic is our best way out of this nightmarish place."
That was a feeling Lith could relate to. That speech bordering treason was music to his ears. At the moment, Quylla was the most important piece on his board, if someone could help him, that was her.
After Friya reluctantly agreed, they started practicing the Loop spell. According to the book, unlike all the other tier four spell they had learned so far, generating a Gate required handling three magic pulses at once, one for each element.
Being an educational spell, Loop required from the student only to properly handle the different energies, while the two portals' size, distance and duration were determined by hand signs and magic words.
After casting the spell for the first time, Lith generated three mana pulses of the same magnitude, one made only of earth, one of air, and the last of water magic. Following the instructions, Lith made the first two energies merge, forming a yellow wisp of light between his hands.
That was the easy part. The small energy core was highly unstable, hence the difficulty of the exercise consisted in giving it just enough water magic to quench the excess energy.
Lith tried to go slow and steady, resulting in the yellow wisp dissipating under the conflicting forces repulsing each other.
"Damn if it's hard!" Before he could start doubting about the moral integrity of Professor Rudd's ancestors, he noticed that Quylla was looking at him with admiration.
"How did you do that?"
"What are you talking about?"
"That light. Sure, there were supposed to be two small black dots instead of a single yellow one, but it's more than I achieved this whole afternoon."
Lith furrowed his brow in disbelief. That was just the first step, and he didn't even manage to do it right.
"Do you have the same problem?"
"Yeah." Friya nodded.
"Do you know how to triple cast, right?" He asked, receiving another affirmative response.
"Then show me." If what they said was true, there was no possible explanation for their utter failure. He needed to check.
Lith made them perform in turns a single chore magic spell, then they had to keep the first one active while generating a second and a third copy of the same spell.
The result was mediocre. With each copy, the size and intensity of the magical energy dwindled.
"That's not triple casting at all! It should be like this." With a wave of his hand, Lith generated three identical small flames, making them contract and expand at unison.
Soon it was clear that without solid foundations, they couldn't even attempt the first step of Loop. Lith was really conflicted about teaching them how to multi cast, it had never been part of his plan.
But during the last Master Healer class, he had understood why his mana sensibility was so low. It was because he had never practiced it. Thanks to true magic and Invigoration, he didn't need to feel the energy flow, because he could see it.
His companions, instead, could only rely on their instinct, and that resulted in honing their magical senses over time. Until that moment, he had been like a sighted man leading the blind.
But if his fears were correct, to learn dimensional magic Lith had to develop his mana sensibility. Having no idea how to do it, he would need their help.
"First of all, let's set aside Loop for the time being." He started explaining.
"Multi casting will require for you to concentrate only on first magic. The three key points are focus, willpower and visualization. It's like picturing in your head different persons at the same time." He made appear three different flames.
"If you focus too much on a single subject, the others will blur." One remained stable, while the other two started to change randomly in shape and size.
"Forget normal magic, where you can do everything one step at a time, like reading a list. You must be able to split your focus evenly, and that requires a strong willpower, and a clear visualization of the effects you want to create."
Contrary to his wishes, they spent the rest of the afternoon practicing first magic, while Lith could only assist and guide them at the best of his possibilities.
Chapter 102 Progress
Reading the reports about the internal struggle that was taking place in the Griffon Kingdom, the Mage Empress had the impression of reading an history book. Centuries ago, the Gorgon Empire had faced a similar crisis.
After Magus Lochra Silverwing had divulged her magical inheritance to the whole world, the mystical arts had started to improve by leap and bounds. The knowledge she had released, had interrupted the long stagnation period magical research had suffered.
As any change, thought, along with new solutions brought new problems. Until that moment, magic had been limited to tier three spells, and that had allowed to rich and powerful families to hold a monopoly of it.
The inheritance contained the basis for many tier four spells, and planted the seed of what would have been known as specializations. Realizing the countless military applications, the upper echelons of every Country were put in a bind.
Keeping the use of magic limited only to the scions of their families, would make achieving any progress slow and difficult. Magic had always been a rare talent, and now there was so much to study but so few mages.
On the other hand, allowing commoners to study magic would have altered the balance of power. Once they had access to tier four spells, who could guarantee that the new mages would not bit the hand that fed them?
While the Griffon Kingdom opted for the creation of the Mage Association, granting even to commoners status and riches according to their contributions, the Gorgon Empire had dismissed such idea as suicidal.
They preferred focusing on Forgemastering, investing all their resources in the development of slave collars. Thanks to these magical items, commoners could be conscript safely and their attitude for magic checked.
Every mage candidate was forced into submission, incapable of disobeying the orders of his masters. The slavery of commoner mages lasted decades, until an old and crafty Forgemaster managed to find a loophole.
Her master had asked her to create an artifact capable of temporarily disable magical items, to use it on the battlefield and cripple the enemies' resources when they needed them the most, but he never said anything about avoiding it to affect the collars.
When per his request, she showed him how it worked, the collars of all the mages in the household went off, and the revolt begin.
By combining the use of the artifact to free new mages and applying the collars to their tormentors, they slowly but inexorably exterminated or enslaved all the noble households.
The artifact was a secret, so all she had to do was to use her now obedient master as a trojan horse, letting the rebellion spread silently, until it was too late. After killing all the nobles, the mages took the power, destroying every trace or mention of how to realize the collars.
Even researching the matter had become a capital offense. From being a monarchy, the Empire became an oligarchy only based on meritocracy. Titles would not be inherited, every position would be occupied by those that were deemed worthy.
Most mages had no interest in fancy mansions or life-size gold statues of themselves, they would invest most of their income for their families and research.
The first law enacted by the first Mage Emperor and his Magic Council, had been the freedom to study magic, no matter the social status, and introducing chore magic in the core set of disciplines children had to study.
The system wasn't perfect. A good mage could be an incompetent or cruel ruler, not to mention that at his/her death, the replacement of even a local governor could take quite some time, leaving the territory open to corruption or attacks from the outside.
Also, because most of the resources were invested in constantly researching and developing new forms of magic, their human army was considered to be the weakest among the three neighbouring countries.
Nonetheless, the Gorgon Empire was now the most advanced Country in the field of magical research. The capitol was a floating fortified city, whose white walls shone in the daylight like a beacon for the travellers.
The guard towers extended above and below the wall, with giant magic crystals at each extremity, fueling the mystic rune circles, visible at the naked eye. Each tower was capable of attack or defence, according to the circumstances, making the city virtually unconquerable.
"Idiots." Said the Magic Empress. "They have only delayed the inevitable, putting a different kind of collar to their mages. No matter how long, a leash is always a leash. Order the armies at our borders to be ready for the attack.
It's only a matter of time before someone does something stupid and things escalate. We must be the quickest to reap the benefits from their folly."
*****
The next morning, Lith had no real hope of succeeding at the second lesson of dimensional magic. After teaching triple casting to the girls, he had spent the whole night practicing, but with little progress.
When they reached the Training Hall, Professor Rudd was already there, waiting. The room was 30 meters (98 feet) long, 20 meters (66 feet) wide, and completely empty. Small circles had been drawn on the floor, indicating were the students had to position themselves.
The ground and the walls shown no trace of crevices. The room appeared to have been carved out a single massive stone rather than assembled from smaller ones.
"Begin." He said even before the last gong announced the start of the lesson.
Normally Lith would have faked incompetence for a while before getting serious, but this time he had no reason to pretend.
Professor Rudd walked slowly among them, taking a mental note of those who were actually capable of triple casting. The small yellow wisp was the indicator of that.
Lith, Lyam and only a few others were capable of completing the first step. Many students after several failures, took out their books trying to understand what they were doing wrong.
Thanks to all his training, Lith had managed to understand the timing necessary to stabilize the wisp with water magic, allowing to add more energy to the core, turning it into two small black spheres.
The problem was that he had no idea how to continue. After hundreds of attempts, he was still incapable of making them enlarge and stretch. The event horizon form was the last step before properly completing the exercise.
- "Second step already, not bad, for a commoner." – Rudd clicked his tongue, noticing the lack of progress from the rest of the class.
After one hour had passed and he had made no further progress, Lith decided to ask for help.
"Professor, I have a question."
"What a coincidence! So do I. Tell me, did you read my book yesterday?"
"Yes."
"Did you understand what is written."
"Yes." Lith understood where he was going. Something similar had happened to him during a college lesson.
"Then for your own good, you do not have a question. Go back to your place."
Fuming with rage, Lith resumed the spell.
More time passed, and since he was still stuck at the second step, he stopped for a moment to check how others where doing. Yurial and Phloria had yet to produce the yellow wisp, while Friya seemed to be able to generate it regularly.
- "Seems she finally grasped triple casting. Let's see how Quylla is doing." –
After looking around a bit, Lith was able to find her. Much to his surprise, he saw her generate the wisp, turn it into the two black dots, and even manage to start giving them the funnel shape.
Professor Rudd was incapable of deciding if to be more amazed of her, or furious with the class. Several students tried to ask him for pointers and advice, but he gave everyone the same reply he gave Lith.
When the lesson ended, no one had made any further progress. More than half the class had not been capable to achieve even the first step of the Loop spell.
"Before you go, I want you to know that I'm disgusted by your attitude." Rudd said.
"I don't believe in equality, we are all born different for a reason. I don't believe in solidarity either, an academy isn't charity. It's a battlefield where every mage fights for himself.
Yet when yesterday I told you that triple casting was essential, why no one had the guts to tell me so many of you are not at that level? Did you hope that somehow, I would go blind and not notice it?
Well, all you have managed to accomplish today, is to waste my time and patience. From tomorrow onwards, is better for those who are incapable to reach the minimum requirements to not attend my class. Dismissed."
Once outside, Lith eagerly ran to Quylla, hoping she could help overcame his bottleneck.
"How did you reach the third step? I managed to understand how to stabilize the first energy core, feeding it enough mana to grow and split. But after that, it goes nuts. Either I use water magic to stabilize one of the Gates or the other. I cannot do both.
Or better, I tried, even resorting to quadra casting to use two water magic pulses at once, but nothing worked."
"You don't need quadra magic, it's actually really simple." Quylla Replied.
"The two Gates are so deeply connected that they act as one. You mustn't treat them as separate entities, but as a whole. It's like healing someone with a dislocated shoulder and broken fingers.
Two points in space, but only one arm. You must simply make the light magic circulate through the whole damaged limb to take care of both issues. Easy peasy."
Lith casted Loop once again, doing as instructed.
- "Quylla is right! I can make water mana circulate from one end to another, Eureka!" –
Yet instead of stretching, the two black dots disintegrated with a popping sound.
"No, it's not!" He replied with a sigh.
Chapter 103 Red Lotus
Thanks to her outstanding talent, at the third lesson Quylla was able to execute Loop. Even though he practiced night and day, Lith needed until the fourth one, ending up as the tenth to complete the exercise.
At first, he had been frustrated by his inability to keep up with Quylla. Despite her private lessons on dimensional magic and the long hours of hard work at night, he was always up to two or three steps behind.
But then, he understood that being tenth on over two hundred students wasn't such a bad result, especially since most of them had a way to go. Not to mention that his mana sensitivity was slowly but steadily improving.
It was an odd experience, feeling the energy flow with the mind rather than his eyes. Dimensional spells seemed to have hot and cold spots at the same time. The secret to stabilize a Gate, was to infuse water magic only on the hot spots.
Using too much of it or affecting an already cold spot, would cause the spatial distortion to collapse.
When the weekend arrived, Lith needed to vent out his frustration, so he proposed a trip to the forest to forget about their worries and fetch some ingredients for extra points or money.
Since he got admitted to the academy, Lith had stopped working, and in case he needed to get his family out of the Kingdom and rebuild their lives from scratch, it would require a lot of gold.
But aside from Quylla, the rest of the group had its hands full between understanding triple cast and managing to complete the Loop spell.
"I would love to come with you." Quylla seemed really dejected.
"But I'm useless in battle, and you are a great healer yourself. Without someone protecting me, I would only be a burden. The best thing I can do is help them with dimensional magic and practice for the next exercise."
Hearing those words, Lith's mood went from good to great.
"Work hard for me too. If you find any trick or shortcut to it, I'll make it worth your while."
After that, he only had to go to the portal connecting to the ground floor and the academy's entrance. Before going out, he needed to get the clearance.
The clerk stationed at the front desk, besides the giant wood and metal double doors, looked at him like he was a madman.
"Are you really going out alone? Where is your team?" If that was a joke, he didn't find it funny.
"No team, just me. Can I go now, please?" Lith snorted.
"Do you realize that once out there you are on your own? Outside the exam period, you are not bound to encounter friendly magical beasts. You are just a fourth-year student, you could meet fifth years too.
Not to mention poachers, adventurers, monsters and gods know who. The academy is in the forest, but doesn't own it. It's full of resources, and everyone wants a piece of it."
"No problem, I got this." Lith took out his Ballot, receiving a contemptuous look in return.
"That doesn't work outside the academy. The only thing you can use is this." The clerk showed him a marble sized pendant.
"In case of trouble, just push its center to generate a distress beacon. But it's not a Ballot, at all. First the rescue personnel will have to find you, only then a Warp steps can be opened. It can take minutes!"
Lith smiled at the good news.
"Fine by me. It's that all?"
Grumbling about youngsters' idiocy, the clerk compiled a form and had Lith signing it.
"The castle gates are open 24/7. I recommend you not going to deep and returning for the night. That's the moment when the big predators hunt. If you still want to go, that makes two hundred points."
"Two hundred points?! I need to pay to risk my life?"
"It's the only to make you kids realize how important this decision is. Normally, the cost would be split among the team members, but since you are alone…"
Lith exchanged the points for the pendant, without a second thought.
Once he was behind the trees' cover, he put the uniform and everything related to the academy in the pocket dimension, wearing his old hunter suit instead.
With everything that was happening, it was much safer appearing as a stranger rather than a student. The clerk's words were the best news he had received in over a week.
Being alone, as long no one was able to recognize him or live to tell the tale, he had no reason anymore to hide his real power. Lith had often thought how to conceal his face, and had come with a solution during the four days break.
A mask would have been cool, but would limit his line of sight. Hoods were good only if they abode to some magical principle, preventing them to come off while moving at high speed. Not to mention the poor lateral vision.
His old self that had always loved heroes was really disappointed, but he had long learned that practicality was much more important than looking cool. So he had his mother realize a ski mask, leaving only his eyes exposed.
Once his identity was safe, he started flying among the trees, using Life Vision to check the perimeter for enemies and preys alike. Being unshackled after so many months, gave him an adrenaline rush.
Lith started moving faster and faster, alternating short flights with high speed movements thanks to Fusion Magic.
- "Solus, let me know you sense anything with a huge mana signature. This isn't Trawn wood anymore. We aren't hunting for food, but for magical herbs and mana crystals."
"Yeah, too bad that library's books can't be brought outside. The forest's herbarium and bestiary would save us so much time…"
"Who would have thought that dimensional magic was that hard? We hadn't a minute available to copy them. We'll do with what we remember." –
Lith kept going deeper into the forest, jumping from tree to tree with an agility and speed that would have put a ninja to shame. The killing intent he emitted kept normal animals and insects at bay, allowing him to move unimpeded.
After a few hours scouring the forest, his patience was growing thin.
- "Abundant resources my a*s! I haven't even spotted a single magical beast so far. Where the heck is all the good stuff?"
"Down there, look at the bottom of the tree at your left." –
Following Solus' directions, the only thing that Lith noticed was a big bush in the middle of a clearing. Switching to Life Vision the scenery changed entirely, though. The world turned into shades of grey, while the bush was the only thing of a deep green.
On the center of it, there was something that shined of purple light, the strongest magical force he had ever saw. He floated down slowly, checking to have no competition for the treasure.
- "Odd, there's nothing alive around here except for trees and plants. Maybe that thing is sucking all the natural resources. – Lith thought.
By coming closer, he was able to catch a glimpse of his prize. It resembled a red lotus flower, and it was floating in mid-air above the thick bush, emitting a sweet fragrance, like a flower bed after the spring rain.
His first instinct was to extend his arm and take it, but his paranoia took the wheel, forcing him to stop.
- "Wait a minute. I get that I'm pretty deep in the forest, but this thing stands out a lot. Why no one has found it before? And how the heck does that thing floats? More importantly, why there is no insect buzzing around? And since when plants appear coloured with Life Vision? –
Because their vitality was equally dispersed from the roots to the leaves, usually Life Vision perceived small plants as almost lifeless, while big trees had barely a tinge of red.
When he had devised that spell, Lith had planned of using it against humans and animals alike, making it more sensitive to things that had an active circulatory system.
No matter if it was mana or blood, Life Vision sensibility was aimed to things that moved quickly. The bush appearing of a blue colour was something that he had never forgot about. With a wave of his hand, the space around the lotus was invaded by flames, and an inhumane screech filled the air.
The bush suddenly moved, revealing countless green appendages hidden underground, that now it was using to smother the flames. Each of that things was as thick as Lith's arms, moving and writhing so fast that he couldn't get if they were vines or tentacles.
The red lotus swayed and moved along with the bush-thing, revealing to be connected to it through a small tendril. The thing didn't seem to have a definite shape. It was a living mass of vines that was whipping the air, trying to capture its prey.
The green appendages moved quick as snakes, grabbing Lith by the arms, chest and legs, only to discover that he had already moved, leaving behind only an afterimage.
"Whatever you are, I'm not H-game material! Back off!"
With another wave of his hand, he released countless wind blades, cutting all the incoming appendages like a hot knife through butter. The thing screeched again, its body no more lying down revealed to be at least three meters high, filling the air with snapping vines.
Chapter 104 Red Lotus 2
The wounded vines spurted a purple liquid. Lith kept his distance, dodging the unknown substance with minimal movements, to not lose his advantage.
- "There was no sizzle when it hit the ground, so it's not an acid. Could be venomous, thought." –
Lith extended his arms, releasing two jets of fire from the palms. The appendages reacted quickly, enveloping the creature's towering mass, and turning to a grey colour. The flames had no effect, leaving only a black mark, like they had hit stone.
Lith had never met a plant monster before, so he was particularly cautious. He kept several spells ready to use, weaving a new one as soon another was consumed.
- "Whatever this is, it doesn't seem to be able to move from that spot, running away shouldn't be an issue. The problem is deciding if it's worth my time or not. With my luck, if I kill, it the flower will wither instantly. –
Sending and invisible tendril of pure mana, Lith used spirit magic to tug hard at the red lotus, aiming to grab it and run. He had no desire to fight useless battles. The flower's stem bent diagonally under the strain, but refused to move.
The plant monster screeched again, this time with fury.
- "Look out!" Solus yelled. "It's coming from below!" –
Lith scoffed at the creature's naivety, activating again his flight spell. But when he tried to lift from the ground, he discovered that the grass was tightly binding his feet, preventing him from moving.
Observing it with Life Vision once more, he discovered that the patch of grass below him had become blue coloured too. Somehow it was part of the monster's body.
Before he could recover, several vines erupted from the ground, with their greyed stone-like extremities trying to stab Lith's vital organs. Knowing an attack was incoming, Lith used earth fusion to the extreme, hardening his body and using the arms to take off the brunt of the impact.
Despite his iron bracers and magical protections, the vines managed to pierce his skin, digging right into his flesh. Lith screamed in pain, while the tendrils kept digging in his own flesh, without missing a single drop of blood.
Without allowing himself to panic, Lith used his Frozen Hearth spell, turning everything around him into ice. Be them grey or green, fire hadn't done much damage to the tendrils, so he had changed element.
Having become brittle from the sudden cold, Lith managed to break free from both the vines and the grass, flying backwards trying to understand what was happening.
His wounds were covered in a purple sticky goo, he could feel his arms going numb, a tingling sensation was invading his body. After what had happened with the Clackers, he always kept a detoxifying spell ready, using it together with a healing spell to close the wounds.
- "What the heck is happening? How does it control the grass? It makes no sense." –
Lith's and Solus' minds were spinning at top gear, trying to make head or tails of the creature. While he was still in a daze, both the grass and the tendrils thawed in the blink of an eye. Like fire, water magic seemed to have little effect.
Without stopping, Lith activated Life Vision again, seeing a blue streak moving like a flash through the ground vegetation, following him closely.
- "Solus, what colour is its core? I don't like this at all!"
"That thing has no core at all. It's just a random mass of energy, I have never seen anything like that. I don't remember reading about something that even resembles this thing. It's too monstrous to forget." –
A cold shiver ran down Lith's spine. His first plant monster didn't seem to follow any of the magic rules he had learned so far. No core, resistant to ice and fire and capable of controlling the vegetation. The only words that could describe his feelings were: fear of the unknown.
He had spent years learning magic, looking out for stronger cores, but now everything he knew had just went down the gutter.
Even flying backwards in a zig-zag pattern was useless, the blue streak kept tailing him. Lith couldn't risk running into a tree, so he moved up and away from the ground.
From a higher ground, he could see that there was actually more than one streak moving, while the mass of vines the red lotus was attached to had turned grey. According to Life Vision, only the flower remained coloured.
Lith's head was spinning in shock.
- "So now the 'main body' is dead and the ground seems a disco ball? But that would mean that more than its mana, somehow Life Vision actually perceives its consciousness. That thing must be capable of switching bodies at will.
That would explain how it could control even the grass, and why there is no wildlife at all…"
"F*ck us sideways!" Solus cut him short. "The trees! Look out for the trees!" –
Despite their mind link was instantaneous, when Solus warned him the attack was already inbound.
The bark of the nearest beech had peeled off, revealing to be a mass of vines wrapped around the real tree trunk, and now were darting toward the unsuspecting Lith. Before he could turn around, they wrapped around his arms and legs, slamming him against the trunk before starting to eat him alive.
Excruciating pain assaulted Lith from all sides, yet he managed to remain conscious with sheer willpower. His hands grabbed the nearest vines while he activated one of the spells he had created after learning tier four magic.
Vampiric Touch, a twisted version of the healing spells Vastor had taught him.
While normally such spells would enhance the recovery of a patient and give him energy to survive the procedure, Vampiric Touch would heal Lith instead, draining the victim of its energy in the process.
When the plant monster realized what was happening, it was too late. The tendrils had gone too deep, and by clenching his muscles with the help of earth fusion, Lith prevented them to escape.
The dark energy devoured the tendrils, sucking them dry while restoring Lith's flesh and vitality. The vines withered at a speed visible at the naked eye, until the fake bark collapsed on the ground, revealing that the beech underneath was long dead.
The creature's consciousness managed to ran away, going back to the main body.
Lith used Invigoration to recuperate, Vampiric Touch couldn't heal so many deep wounds with such a measly meal as a foundation. After that, he shot several Plague Arrows against the other trees.
As soon as they hit, the fake bark fell off. Lith understood that the luscious forest around the creature's main body was actually a plant graveyard. Two more Plague Arrows hit the ground, even the grass writhed and screeched before dying.
"I don't know what the heck you are, but you are too dangerous to let you live. Everything has become part of your body, and I have no desire to find out how far you control can go."
Keeping Life Vision always active put a great strain on his body, but Lith understood that it was his only chance of making it alive.
Before going back to the ground, he released from his body a dark aura, the same he had used against the Wither in the Trawn woods. The darkness energy attacked indiscriminately everything in a ten-meter (33 feet) radius from him.
The grass withered, the vines hidden underground died, leaving only bare earth around him. Only then Lith started weaving his strongest darkness spell, Death Zone.
A black, thick mist appeared in front of him, resembling a small storm cloud, only twenty meters (66 feet) long and wide, around three meters (10 feet) high. After conjuring it, Lith needed only a thought to send it towards the creature's main body.
Like all darkness spells, Death Zone moved slowly, but its destructive power was unmatched. It was the perfect weapon against an enemy that could not run away.
The cloud destroyed everything on its path, while the creature's screeching turned from angry to scared, and from scared to terrified. It tried to attack Lith to stop the incoming attack, but between Life Vision and the dark aura, none of them came even close.
He could see every one of them in slow motion, not only because of his heightened senses, but also because dark magic would weaken and corrupt everything that entered its range.
When Death Zone reached its target, the creature recalled to itself all the dispersed consciousness, in a last desperate attempt for survival. Yet both Lith and his spell were unrelenting, foiling all its attacks the former, ignoring them the latter.
Whatever mass the monster managed to form, it would only become nourishment for the dark energy.
"Please, stop!" The creature spoke.
Lith remained unfazed, keeping his guard and letting Death Zone do its jobs.
"I'm just like you."
"No, you are not. You are about to die."
The main body was shrinking, without the necessary energy to sustain that huge form, it was reverting to a much smaller plant. An ivy.
- "Lith, now that all the energy is finally in one place, I can finally see its core. It's…
"
"Black." Lith completed the thought for her.
"It's another Abomination. I understood it when I saw how every life form was dead. This one seems to have managed to stabilize itself." –
"I just wanted to live. I…"
Lith didn't let it continue, shooting Plague Arrows like a machine-gun.
- "Two things I learned from horror movies." He explained to Solus.
"First, never give a sh*t about a monster backstory. No matter how sobbing, it would not prevent it to eat you as soon as you turn your back to it. Second, the moment it's down, kill it until he is really, really dead." –
With a last, roaring wail the plant Abomination died. Suddenly the whole space around Lith turned into a wasteland. The grass turned into ash, the fake bark decayed leaving only dead trees behind.
Everything in over a fifty-meter (164 feet) radius was identical to where he had fought the Wither in the Trawn woods, with only one exception.
The red lotus lied on the ground, shining bright like nothing had happened.
Chapter 105 Unwanted Guests
- "Do you see that, mister negative? The flower didn't wither after all." Solus remarked cheerfully.
"You are right! It can still blow up in our faces! Yay!" Lith replied mimicking her tone. –
Being too paranoid to touch the red lotus with his bare hands, he lifted it with spirit magic before unsuccessfully attempting to store it in the pocket dimension.
"What the heck?" Examining it up close with Life Vision, Lith could notice that along a massive mana flow, the red lotus also had a tiny speck of life force.
Neither him or Solus had any idea how it could have survived after such long exposure to an Abomination.
- "This is great. We can't hide it, only carry it around in a normal pouch, with the risk of it being destroyed or even worse, discovered when we go back. If this flower is some kind of priceless treasure, it could cause us a lot of troubles." -
Lith sighed, the idea of being forced to drop his first loot was quite depressing.
- "Let me guess, we are above a mana vein, right?"
"Exactly." Solus replied. "My hypothesis is the Abomination managed to stabilise itself thanks to the combined effect of the abundant world energy and that odd flower."
"Agreed. The only questions that remain are the following. Did it kill everything because it needed to feed or was just a way to control the surrounding environment? And last, but not least, do plant monsters really exist?"
"Only the Abomination could answer the first question, and none of us would believe its words anyway." Solus mind-shrugged.
"As for the second one, my guess is yes. Plants are living being too. Seeing how much mana has that small flower, I don't see why they shouldn't be able to evolve too."
"As long this thing doesn't turn to be an Abomination baby and eats my face, that's fine by me."– He replied, keeping the red lotus floating and away from him.
Lith was tempted to make Solus turn to his proto tower form. Thanks to Invigoration his body was in top shape, but he felt mentally tired. Life and death struggles were more than just about stamina.
Managing so many spells at once, keeping his cool while constantly fighting the fear of death, made a single real fight hundred times more vexing than cramming all night long.
But he didn't know how much time he had left, until someone from the academy noticed the bald spot in the forest and sent a scouting team.
Lith placed his free hand on the ground, using earth magic to search for the remains of the Abomination's victims. A few meters below he found a boneyard, where numerous skeletons were packed together.
Lith took only those belonging to magical beasts, ignoring human and animal remains.
- "According to Professor Wanemyre, they can be used to forge weapons and armours of superior durability, that can also be infused with enchantments much stronger than normal. With all this stuff I could equip a battalion."
"How the heck does one forge something out of bones? It makes no sense." Solus objected. "I get that they can be hard, but they should always be carbon based."
"Beats me." Lith shrugged. "Cut me some slack, I'm still at the first year of specialization." –
After storing everything in the pocked dimension, his eyes fell on his battered equipment. The hunting suit was riddled with holes as big as a thumb, while his metal bracers were damaged to the point of being useless.
Luckily, he had a spare suit. Sadly, it was also the last one.
After quickly changing clothes, Lith flew away several kilometres before stopping to decide what to do with the red lotus. He couldn't put it in the storage space, nor could bring it on himself, for two good reasons.
The first was that he didn't trust something alive to be so close to his vital organs. The second was that even if it really was harmless, the red lotus wouldn't survive in case he had to release again the dark aura or any kind of magic from himself.
No matter how precious it could be, nothing was more important than his own life. As it was, the red lotus was an even worse burden than any companion he ever had.
The only landmark he knew was the academy, so he decided to bury it near the entrance, hoping that at his return he would have devised a way to smuggle it inside unnoticed.
Yet the plan had a huge flaw. Putting a flower near fertile earth was potentially a recipe for disaster. What if the Abomination was still alive, and ready to respawn as soon as it had enough nutrients?
Lith weaved all the darkness spells he could use at once, before letting the red lotus enter the small hole he had dug.
Even before the red lotus could touch the ground, it started to grow roots that plunged down, while the earth itself moved upwards, oddly reminding Lith the "Creation of Adam" by Michelangelo.
As soon as they touched, the roots became thicker, quickly turning into vines that wrapped around the lotus, assembling what it seemed a humanoid body. Lith activated the spells, conjuring enough dark energy to turn the whole patch of land into a wasteland, yet didn't fire them.
The Abomination never had a humanoid body, also instead of dying, the near vegetation thrived. Countless flower buds blossomed at once, yellow leaves turned green once again.
Lith strengthened the spells and waved new ones, uncaring of the beauty around him.
When the thing stopped growing, Lith found himself looking at the most gorgeous woman he had ever seen. Her big red eyes sparkled in the morning light like masterfully cut rubies. Everything in her visage was perfect, from the delicate features to her full lips.
She had thick unkempt hair, red like maple leaves during autumn, that gave her a wild and unrestrained allure. Also, the fact that she was stark naked, leaving nothing to the imagination about her soft and full curves didn't hurt.
The only thing that betrayed her non-human nature was the light green skin.
"Just give me one good reason." Lith's fists had now became black due to the massive amount of dark energy they barely contained. The air around her was so full of deadly magic that the creature in her debilitate state could barely breath.
"I'm a dryad." She said like it explained it all, with a voice as clear as a mountain spring.
"I don't care." Lith made the dark energy move forward, not leaving her a way out.
"I'm one of the protectors of this forest. The monster you have killed stole and corrupted my powers to prolong his existence." She was starting to get scared, that wasn't the usual reaction she usually evoked in human males.
"Still not a reason."
"I can reward you." She bit her lower lip playing her last card.
"And in what pocket exactly would you keep something of value in your birthday suit?" The dark mass only needed one last push to obliterate her.
"In the Great Mother's name, what kind of man treats this way a maiden he just saved?" Her saviour seemed impossible to please, and completely immune to her charm.
Unfortunately for the dryad, Lith's core had stabilized enough to outgrow even his crush for Nalear. In that moment, his heart was cold as ice.
"One that doesn't think with the head below, and doesn't trust someone he just met only because she has a pretty face. Now give me one good reason. I won't ask thrice."
"Because we can help you." Said a third voice.
Another dryad was slowly emerging from a nearby oak tree, her hands high in sign of surrender. Before dropping the red lotus, Lith had activated Life Vision, in case another body swapping creature appeared from the flower.
Hence, he hadn't missed the second dryad arrival, allowing him to target her with the spells stored in his hands.
The new dryad had wheat-blond straight hair, wearing what seemed a light cotton white dress, leaving only her delicate shoulders and arms exposed. Her figure was slenderer than the other dryad's but not less attractive.
"If anything happens to me, the read head goes winter." Lith's will was the only thing blocking the barrage of dark energy, like a dead man switch.
The blond dryad took several natural treasures out of the tree. Some Lith had seen in the books, others were completely new. But every single one of them, no matter if fruit, flower or root was brimming with magical energy.
Seeing that he was still not moving, the blond dryad brought her left hand to her chest. A small yellow lotus came out, and through Life Vision he could see that she had just lost a huge part of her magical power.
"This is part of my heart." She handed it to him. "As long as you have it, my life is in your hands."
- "It's true." Solus confirmed. "There is a clear connection between them. It's like she handed you her mana core."
Lith captured the yellow lotus with spirit magic, sending his will through it. Obeying his silent order, the blond dryad kneeled. The feeling he got was empowering and repulsive at the same time.
Having that degree of control over another sentient being was plainly wrong.
"How can you help me?" He felt only truth in her words.
"We can find a way to mend your soul."
Chapter 106 Enlightmen
"My soul? What do you know about it?" Lith was startled by the proposal. He had never been a spiritual person, but after reincarnating twice and his meeting with the Scorpicore, not having doubts about it would be idiotic.
"Guardians are different from monsters or magical beasts. We do not evolve for the sake of power, we also gain a greater affinity with the Great Mother." She waved at her surroundings.
"We Dryads, in particular, are deeply linked to all forms of life on a spiritual level. I can tell at a glance that yours is damaged. I have no way to know how it happened or how that changed your life…"
- "I think I have a clear idea about it. - Lith thought.
"But maybe, just maybe, I can offer you a solution, or at least point you in the right direction."
"How exactly?"
"Have you ever had a déjà vu? Or the feeling to be in the right place at the right time? That happens when your soul manages to guide you to an important crossroad in your life.
We can show you where and when a keystone event will take place, but the spell requires at least two dryads."
"At least? How many of you live in this forest?" Lith's paranoia kicked in, so he started to search his surroundings for hidden enemies, finding none.
"Just the two of us." She sighed. "I wouldn't have left my territory if my sister hadn't been in mortal peril. Nor I would have handed my heart to you if I had any other choice."
Sister. That word lit a hint of compassion in Lith's heart. She had taken an enormous risk to protect her family, something he deeply respected.
Despite she couldn't even move without his permission, her eyes were filled with pride and defiance.
After pondering about his options, Lith dispersed all the dark energies. He already had another hostage, in case the red head tried something funny. Also, he had no use for them since the beginning.
If smuggling a glowing flower was hard, then how was he supposed to explain two dryads following him everywhere? The natural treasures were enough to compensate for all his troubles.
Without the dark energy sapping her powers, the red dryad manged to dress herself with a wave of her hand, conjuring a satin red and gold morning dress complementing her eyes.
The longer she was in contact with the earth, the stronger she became.
Lith stored away the natural treasures, without letting the dryads get out of his sight. Since the second dryad had appeared, Lith felt a tingling annoying sensation inside his heart, something that resembled guilt.
He always acted unscrupulous, killing without distinction or remorse, but he was secretly proud of never having harmed someone without a reason. Lith knew that the moment he started killing simply because he could, he would have lost his last shred of humanity.
Following his "live expecting the worst" way of life, this time had almost killed an innocent, forcing another into slavery. Even for him, that was a new low.
Feeling bewildered, he sought the advice of his moral compass.
- "Do you think I got overboard this time?"
"Let me see." Solus pondered.
"You got almost killed by a tentacle monster, and when another appeared you took precautions. That was the right thing to do. But when you determined it was not an Abomination, there was no reason to be so cruel.
Magical creatures are just like humans. Some are good, others are bad. Yet you groundlessly tagged her as a threat. We are lucky you are masked, otherwise the next time we meet, I would expect her to attack us on sight." –
He silently agreed with her.
"Do what you have to." Lith stepped back, allowing them to get close to each other.
The two dryads joined their hands, and instantly their eyes were filled with a white light, while a pool of water formed in the space formed by their arms, filling it to the brim.
The light descended in the water, forming a white sphere that spun on itself, turning the water in a whirlpool and making it resemble a 3D projection of a galaxy. A small, black wisp came out of Lith's body, making him suddenly feel lighter, like part of his emotional burden had finally been relieved.
The wisp entered the vortex, turning it into a deep orange twilight colour. At that point, the dryads released their hands, letting the dying galaxy go.
It kept spinning on itself, or a while before moving towards Lith, merging with his body and forcing him to relive all his three lives.
Pain invaded his body while his mind was set on fire. Old injuries and bruises appeared and disappeared in a split second, while the memories of his first life flooded his brain.
He fell on his knees, clawing the ground so hard to break his nails.
The pain, the anger, the grieving despair, the revenge and finally the peace. Then it was his second life's turn, with its madness, the loneliness and the hunger.
At the memory of his second death a gaping wound opened on his chest. Lith tried to spit a mouthful of blood, nut only saliva came out, the wound already disappeared, leaving only the pain before the relief of death.
Then it came his third life, and it wasn't at all like he remembered it. There was pain, hunger, but a lot of light and joy. He was forced to realize all the love and affection that the people had showered him with, even when he had still treated them like tools, manipulating their actions and feelings.
Starting with his father, then Selia, Nana, Lark and finally his friends at the academy.
When the images in his head caught up with the present, they kept moving forward, showing him a place he had never seen before, where he was supposed to be at all costs.
Chapter 107 Enlightment 2
The vision disappeared, and Lith managed to stood up again, while healing his damaged fingers. He discovered that tears were still streaming from his eyes. He hadn't cried in years, and the feeling linked to the act was bittersweet.
They were mostly tears of pain, but at the end of the vision, they had turned to joy from his third life. When he saw the dryads standing a few meters from him, Lith finally remembered where he was.
"Is it supposed to hurt so much?" In another moment, rage and doubt would have filled his voice. But he was still shaken from the experience. He was questioning all of his life choices, including what to do next.
"No, it's not." The blond dryad was genuinely worried.
"It was meant to show you the past, to help you understand the future. It shouldn't have been so painful."
Because Lith had her heart, she had felt an echo of his anguish.
- "Humans are the real monsters. How could a kid endure so much pain?" – She thought
Somehow Lith knew instinctively in what direction he needed to go. A feeling of uneasiness was growing inside him with every second, like when he received the phone call from the hospital the day Carl died.
It wasn't too late yet, but the clock was ticking. He had to get there as fast as he could. Yet that development was too odd to be true, so he needed answers before taking any rash decision.
"Are you sure this will help me with my soul?" As the memories were fading, Lith was returning to his old self.
"As I said before, no. But it's likely. Any soul's priority should be the desire to be mended, to be whole again." The blond dryad said while shaking her head.
"What else could it be?" Lith had never grow fond of riddles.
"It could mean meeting the love of your life, the person that will become your best friend." She shrugged. "The only thing that I know for certain is that you will find someone or something related to what your soul craves the most."
"I'll be honest, all this talk about souls and destiny sounds fake like a flying pig, but a deal is a deal." Lith gave back the yellow lotus to the dryad, before darting away faster than a bullet.
As soon they were alone, the blond dryad demeanour changed like heaven and earth had switched places, looking at her sister with eyes full of annoyance.
"First you let a newborn Abomination best you in combat and use you to leech the world energy, turning your turf into a dump. Then you need my help to handle a human child. You've sunk low, dear Lyta." She said with a sneer.
"That bastard took me by surprise." Lyta pouted. "Don't act so smug, you and I know that in my place you wouldn't have fared any better. As for the human, that's no child, it's a monster. He didn't bat an eye even after seeing me naked.
Thank the gods it's not an academy student. I would die of embarrassment if we ever meet again. What about you? You yielded without even attempting to fight, to the point of giving your heart to him. That was beyond stupid, dear Ryssa.
What if he decided to keep you as a slave? What if he demanded me to hand mine too before freeing me? How could you take the risk of turning us both into wh*res?"
Her voice was full of contempt, looking down on her sister.
"Because I asked her to do so." Scarlett appeared from thin air towering over the nagging dryad.
"The reason why I let that Abomination live, is to teach you that being confident is one thing, being conceited is another. You can't expect me to cover for all your mistakes, Lyta. Do your job properly, or I will find someone else to do it." It roared.
"As for the boy, is just a pet project of mine. He is not human, but not an Abomination either. I needed to see how he behaved when given absolute power. Unlike you, I don't let unknown flowers grow in my garden."
- "Also, I wanted to check if that dryad mumbo jumbo about souls could actually fix him. Otherwise he would have never accepted any help, he is too paranoid. This way he believes to have earned it." – The last part the Scorpicore kept to itself.
It would have been too rude telling its minions that not even the Lord of the forest believed about their so-called spiritual powers.
Meanwhile, Lith was following the instructions contained in the vision, looking for a particular clearing in the forest, about ten kilometres (6,2 miles) from the academy's gates. As he closed in, his worries and anxieties faded away.
- "Are you alright?" Solus asked.
"Not really. Do you know what was the most disturbing thing about that spell? It made me realize that I may have grown as a hunter and a mage. But as a person, I remained stale.
I'm still so scared of being hurt, that it takes me years to realize the good faith of someone. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that suddenly I believe that this world is full of wonderful people, only that I regret having lost so much.
Think about my father, Raaz. I spent so much time treating him as a menace, that when I started enjoying his company, it was too late. It's the same reason I never managed to have a healthy relationship back on Earth.
To really connect with someone, you need to let yourself be vulnerable, to be sincere and open. But I always failed at that. I expected something to go wrong, for the other person to betray my trust, to the point of barely giving any.
And here I am, doing the same thing, over and over. I don't do favours, I cut deals. I don't ask for help, I just wait for people to be indebted to me and then I collect it. The worst thing is that even if I wanted to change, I would not know where to start."
"That's because you are forgetting another of your flaws: you obsess with perfection instead of just trying to improve. If you really want to change, start with that. Take things a little at the time." –
Lith was now above the clearing, watching the same scene of the vision replay in front of his eyes.
Six rough looking individuals, probably hunters, had just cornered a young Byk (AN: bear type magical beast).
Chapter 108 Struggling
- "I don't get it, how is this supposed to be related to my soul? Sure, hunting a pup is a shameful act, but I don't see why I should meddle. It's none of my business." –
Lith's sight blurred, feeling his head spinning again while images kept rapidly appearing and disappearing. He watched the White Griffon academy's walls crack and crumble, until the whole castle fell into ruins.
- "What the heck? Another vision?" He was flabbergasted.
"It must be guiding you toward something related to the power struggle revolving around the academy. Seems your soul is nicer than you, since it cares for Linjos and the kids."
Solus' tone was gentle and warm, hoping for him to open his heart to others, even if just a little.
"I don't see how the two things are related, but in for a penny, in for a pound. What's the power level of the hunters?"
"Three cyan, one green and two yellow mana cores. The latter are unlikely to be mages, too many muscles, too little mana." Solus replied. –
Lith memorized the opponents based on their strength, before coming up with a last-minute plan. Not having much to work with, he had to keep it simple.
Killing in cold blood six people just because of a "mystical prophecy" was out of question. His conscience was still nagging at him for how he treated the dryads, so he needed a softer approach.
Lith instantly switched his hunter suit with the academy's uniform through the pocked dimension, having decided to play the role of the naïve student upholding justice.
He approached the hunters on foot, while weaving several spells, ready to be unleashed with but a thought, just in case. Once he got close enough, he snapped his fingers, using air magic to amplify the sound into a small boom, drawing their attention.
"Hey, what are you doing so close to the academy? This part of the forest is reserved to the students. Scram, before I call the security."
The sudden noise caused them to freeze for a moment, giving the Byk the opening it needed to escape the encirclement and run away. The six hunters turned towards Lith, looking at him with irritated eyes and ill-concealed killing intent.
***
Raghul, the leader of the mercenary team disguised as hunters, was enjoying his last assignment quite a bit. He had never been paid so handsomely to do a menial job. During the last days, they had been killing magical beasts, it didn't matter if big of small since the pay was the same.
He had no idea why his contractor sent them specifically to that forest, but according to Rodimas, the smartest of the team, it was about upsetting the academy's balance.
Based on the intel she had gathered, the Headmaster had some kind of deal with the beasts.
Her guess was that slaying those nearest to the academy and making the students appear as the perpetrators, it would ruin the relationship between Linjos and the Lord of the forest.
If that happened, either he could no longer have the exams take place in the forest, or he had to risk his students' safety.
Raghul didn't understand what good could came out of it, and more importantly, he didn't care. The reason he had accepted that job, despite the suspiciously high reward, was because he hated academies.
The memories of what he had gone through, back in the day when he had been admitted to the Water Griffon, still haunted his dreams sometimes.
When a goddamn kid appeared out of nowhere, allowing their prey to escape, he was greatly annoyed.
- "What a rotten luck. How the heck did this pest found us in this frigging huge forest? If we get exposed, we'll lose the other half of the pay." –
"Hey, kid! Do you have any idea how much money your little stunt has just costed us? At least ten gold coins! Hope you have enough on you to compensate for our loss, otherwise I'll have to roughen you up."
Raghul wasn't surprised that the first to react had been Terion. He was the kind of man that always thought with his wallet.
Lith saw a lean man, with curly brown hair and a face full of freckles, walking double time towards him, yelling something about money.
"Don't you have any shame? First you gang up against a young Byk and now try to extort from a student? You are unworthy of calling yourself hunters."
Lith pretended to be outraged, while waiting for the next piece of the vision. Saving the cub had no effect, and so far, even interacting with the hunters had no effect.
While the two quarrelled, Raghul noticed that despite all that ruckus, no one was coming.
- "Maybe there is a way to cut our losses. If this kid has come here alone and Rodimas is right about our mission, maybe by killing him we can keep our cover and even earn an extra. The orders are to not get caught in the act, after all.
Not to mention is best to avoid having the academy staff on our tail."-
"Come on, Terion. Cut the kid some slack. He is right, we are too close to the academy. We are not looking for trouble."
Terion recognized the codeword for murder, yet his poker face was impeccable. He didn't smirk, didn't pause what he was doing not even for a second, managing to withhold his killing intent.
He turned his back at Lith, nagging.
"Are you kidding me? I deserve my gold, so either I take it from your share or nothing."
Exploiting the moment Lith could not see him, Terion unsheathed one of the knives hidden under his hunter jacket, before continuing to spin on himself, lunging it where Lith's neck was in a single, fluid movement.
Alas, even after his meeting with the dryads and realizing that his third life had indeed been quite blessed, Lith was still more distrustful than a turkey the day before Thanksgiving.
The knife only cut air, since its intended target had promptly backstepped, conjuring four icicles that pierced Terion's arms and legs, pinning him to the ground like an insect.
Lith had reacted on instinct, but now he seemed to be in a daze, uncertain on what to do next. He then pretended to be casting a fake magic spell, but the mercenaries had already recovered from the shock, quickly adjusting their formation to encircle him.
"Recca, save Terion before it's too late! Beware, the twerp has magical rings, but don't let him run away or we are f*cked!" While screaming orders, Raghul thanked the gods for their good luck.
The kid seemed to be hesitant to kill humans, otherwise the situation would have been much worse. For the same reason, Solus was really worried. It was the first time since they had merged that Lith showed mercy on the battlefield.
Even worse, his thoughts seemed to be in disarray, letting himself being cornered that easily.
The biggest of the group, almost two meters (6'7") tall, with arms as thick as a head, charged forward like a boar, blocking the line of sight with his huge body mass.
According to Solus, he was the other non-mage in the group, but if they kept him around, he was bound to have more than one trick up her sleeve. His clothes emitted a yellow glow, making his speed increase dramatically, followed by a red glow that seemingly had no effect.
Lith easily dodged the charge, but he managed to stop abruptly, pivoting on his front leg to throw a bullet fast hook at Lith's temple.
Lith was taken by surprise, the only thing he could do was to jump backwards to weaken the strike and use his earth infused right arm to block.
"Got you!" She said with a grin.
From the voice, Lith understood that his enemy was actually a woman.
On impact, her glove released a streak of lightning, that coursed through his body, while the strength of the hit was enough to make him slide several meters backwards, right on the spear of her teammate that had positioned behind him.
Everyone expected his arm to be broken and his body paralyzed, but Lith used Full Guard (see chap77), emitting a spherical blue aura with a radius of 10 meters (33 feet), dodging the spear with a spin, without even looking back.
Now that he was far enough from the burly woman, Lith could see that the man called Recca, probably the healer of the team, had ran to Terion's side, enveloping them both with a powerful air barrier, to prevent any further attacks while treating his companion's wound.
"Got you." He said with a grin, snapping his fingers.
A sudden flash drew the mercenaries' attention to their fallen comrade.
A fireball had detonated inside the barrier, but the air dome that was supposed to protect them, prevented the flames from expanding, making those inside suffer from both the explosion and the recoil.
The agonizing screams of the two mercenaries filled the air, and while their comrades were still trying to make sense of that sudden turn of events, Lith grabbed the spear armed man from the back.
His left arm formed a V, locking the opponent's throat between the forearm and the biceps, while the right hand grabbed his jaw with a quick whip-like movement breaking the neck with a snapping sound.
Chapter 109 Struggling 2
- "Why did you kill him?" Solus asked in surprise.
"Six against one is a little too much, can't afford to miss any chance to even the score."
"Then why did you let the other one live, before?"
"A two-stage attack, where the first is aimed to a random target and the second to his rescuers is a classic guerrilla tactic. I didn't just pin him down, I also left a fireball ready in case someone tried to free him. Divide and conquer." –
Just like the icicles had missed Terion's vitals, the fireball had been intentionally weak. Despite the boosted effect from the barrier, both Terion and Recca were incapacitated but alive.
They were badly burnt, but the remaining hunters could clearly see them writhing in pain. Lith did it on purpose, forcing his opponents to choose between abandoning their companions or fall twice for the same trick.
They had no way to know if there was another fireball ready to explode.
- "You scared the heck out of me, back then. For a moment I thought you had gone… soft." Solus hesitated before finishing the phrase. It seemed nonsensical to push him to become more kind, just to worry whenever he wasn't ruthless.
"As I told you earlier, even if I decide to change, my opinion on people won't. Especially on those who try to kill will me without a reason." –
In the time necessary for their conversation to happen, the corpse of the spearman had yet to touch the ground.
"You f*cking bastard!" The burly woman took out two short swords from her dimensional amulet, dashing towards Lith, hell-bent on avenging her companions. In her hands the weapons moved nimbly as knives, cutting the air with a hissing sound.
Both the fighters moved at high speed, taking each other by surprise.
- "Is he/she even human?" – They both thought.
While Lith's speed came from air fusion, the mercenary was actually a normal woman, not even a mage.
Among their many defensive properties, her clothes were also equipped with alchemic gems that could enhance her reflexes and strength, without having to drink a potion.
Despite being faster, Lith was having a hard time dodging the incoming attacks. Her arms were almost as long as his legs, and to make things worse, any weapon or shield he conjured lasted only a couple of hits before shattering.
- "Seems she underestimates me no more. I have to come up with something, fast."
"Watch out for her blades, they are enchanted" Solus pointed out. "I doubt that your uniform can offer any kind of protection from them." –
Gritting his teeth at the news, Lith saw the mercenary sweep the ground with her leg, forcing him to jump.
Her plan was to follow up with a roundhouse kick while the opponent was still in mid-air. Instead of falling down like she expected, Lith darted forward, kicking her face with both feet, forcing her to take a step back with a bloody nose.
Exploiting that opening, Lith closed in, stomping his right leg on the ground, with enough strength to crack it.
The force of the kick was transmitted to the knee, and by bending the knee it was amplified and transmitted to the waist, the spine and the shoulder, releasing it through his right fist, right in the sternum, making her slide back several meters with a cracking sound.
Despite all her magical protections and superior physique, the punch empowered by air, earth and fire fusion had broken several bones, making even breathing terribly painful.
The remaining two member of the mercenary squad, Rodimas and Raghul, used that short exchange to position themselves behind him, locking Lith in a triangle formation.
He didn't need to turn around to know that they were probably casting some spell to give their companion the second she needed to turn him into mincemeat. They had yet to notice that their fight had already ended.
Lith struck again, this time at her chin, knocking her out before activating the tier three spell stored in his magic ring, Checkmate Spears.
The air was suddenly filled with icicles as thick as a small tree, encircling the Rodimas from all directions, leaving her no way out. Inwardly swearing, Rodimas canceled her spell, performing a last second Switch to save her life.
The two found their positions reversed, now Lith was the one under the icicles hail, but besides his wounded pride, he had nothing to fear. Checkmate Spears seemed an overly pompous name for a spell that had yet to actually checkmate someone even once.
Being made out of his own magic, the icy darts passed through him like he was a ghost.
In the meantime, Raghul completed his spell, a tier five Battle Mage one, the fastest one he knew. It generated several water spheres that would act as offense and defence at the same time.
They were able to block or dampen air, fire and earth magic spells, and if an enemy touched them, they would invade his lungs drowning him. Raghul only kept a handful of them to protect himself, sending the remaining ones to kill Lith.
Like true magic enchantments, they were able to chase their prey, as long it remained in the line of sight of the caster. Usually, the only way out was running away or killing the caster.
Being still at the fourth year, Lith had no idea what kind of spell it was. Not daring to underestimate the opponent, he did what seemed to be the most logical thing to do.
He used spirit magic to grab Rodimas and the burly woman, throwing them at the incoming spheres to see what would happen.
Raghul couldn't believe his eyes, the kid was using his teammates as meat shields. He wasn't a newbie, he had already lost more than one ally during a job, sometimes sacrificing them to accomplish a mission.
But that was too much, he had to choose between keeping his defence or killing two of his dearest friends for nothing. He could see the water forcibly entering through their noses and mouths, Rodimas panicked screams reduced to a handful of bubbles.
Before he could decide what to do, Lith closed in enough to knock him out with a single punch. The water spheres burst open, freeing their prisoners.
Lith had just knocked out Rodimas too, to calmly decide what to do with them and how get the information he wanted, when he noticed that the young Byk had returned.
"How kind of you, abandoning me like that after I saved your life." Lith said with a harsh tone. The Byk snorted, rubbing its snouts to his leg as a thank you.
"Stop playing dumb. I know you can talk. I didn't come here by chance, but because some dryads told me about a fated encounter." The Byk tilted his head sideways, finding hard to make sense out of those words.
"So, tell me. Are you supposed to be my true love, my best friend or what?"
Chapter 110 Desperation
The Byk chuckled, an amused light in its eyes.
"May the Great Mother spare me from such terrible fates. No offense, but to be a decent mating partner you are too thin, too small, hairless and too human."
Thanks to his recently found mana sensibility, Lith realized that the Byk wasn't actually talking. It was using air magic to turn the sounds of the forest in words for him to understand.
"None taken. To be honest, I'm happy to hear that. As far as I know, I'm interested only in human females. Just thinking otherwise was creeping me out." He replied.
"What's a friend?" The Byk asked sniggering.
"Excellent question." Lith sighed. "In theory is someone that cares for you as much as you do for him. Someone to rely on during though times or when you are in trouble."
"Sounds like a mom or a pack leader."
Maybe it was because it was young, or maybe just because it was an animal, but Lith had the impression the conversation was going nowhere.
"Do you know anything about the castle?" Lith pointed at the academy's spires, clearly visible above the tree line.
"The man-made mountain? Sure, everyone knows about it. It's the place where the white-furred pups like you reside."
Lith was about to facepalm himself in frustration, but then the Byk asked him an odd question.
"Now that you mention it, can you explain to me why your den mates have gone insane?"
"What are you talking about?" Lith replied in confusion.
"Until last winter, the forest folks and the man-made mountain folks coexisted peacefully. Sure, from time to time a big fight happened, but that's the nature of wilderness. The strong lives, the weak dies." It shrugged.
"But now things are different. The white-furred roam the forest not for food or herbs, they now hunt us actively, trying to kill us. And when I say us, I mean young magical beasts if not litters."
That piece of news made no sense. According to what Selia told Lith in the past, a cub had a no market value either dead or alive. The pelt was too rough compared to an adult specimen, and no one had ever managed to tame one.
Magical beasts were not just powerful, they were also strong-willed. If a cub was properly fed and cared for, it would soon become able to escape, or at least die trying. If not, they would simply die out of starvation or of the abuse.
Also, killing a cub was bound to incur the wrath of its parents, it was a high risk no reward move. A vagrant hunter might not care, but for academy's students it was suicidal to do so.
They could meet the beasts again during an exam, or even worse, when alone, and that would mean either getting a failing grade for receiving a Professor's help or death.
"Luckily, most of them are stealthy as a storm, so only a few were killed. After we retaliated, the Lord of the forest told us to stand down, to try to settle things with the Lord of the mountain.
But then things got even worse. More and more strangers arrived, strong enough to kill adults." The Byk pointed at the unconscious hunters with its snout.
Lith could understand how those events were related to the Headmaster. It was a pincer manoeuvre, to make the academy dangerous both inside and outside its walls. If a student were to die or disappear in the forest, especially during an exam, pinning the blame on Linjos would be child play.
What he didn't understand was why such events were linked to his own soul. There was still something amiss, he could feel that the vision had yet to reveal itself. Lith's heart started to pound loudly in his chest.
An irrational fear was pricking his mind like countless needles, cold sweat covering his body. He had no idea what he was supposed to do or find, but he knew that the window of opportunity was about to close.
The only card he had left to play were the hunters. It was still broad daylight, and he couldn't afford to be discovered or interrupted, so he changed his clothes again and cast the Hush spell all around them.
Now no matter what he did or how much they screamed, no one would hear them. And even if someone stumbled on him, all he would see was a hunter killing the competition.
He woke them all up with a jet of icy cold water. They discovered to have their hands and feet trapped inside the earth below them, that Lith had turned to stone. Their mouths were stuffed with clay, preventing them to talk.
Lith had searched them one by one, even in the mouth, taken every enchanted or alchemical item they possessed, leaving only their clothes. They were at his complete mercy, even casting first magic would be incredibly difficult.
He removed the gag from the burly woman, she was the one less likely to know something useful, so was the perfect choice to set an example for the other two.
"Free me and fight like a man, if you dare, you f*cker!" She spat on him, her wet chestnut hair danced wildly while she struggled to break free, ignoring the pain from her fractures.
Lith's reply was to strike right at the broken sternum, making her cough blood, the agony clouding her eyes with tears.
"You lost fighting three versus one, when you were at your peak condition. You being free or trapped would not change the outcome." He said trying to hide the desperate need he had for information.
"Tell me who are you guys and what are you doing here."
She laughed in his face, showing a wolfish smile of defiance.
"The little man is on a schedule, uh? Do your worst. Kill me, I don't give a sh*t. I hope your master will give you a dog's death for your failure."
Another chill invaded Lith's body, images of the excruciating cab ride only to find Carl's dead body pushed him over the brink, steeling him enough to let the abyss that dwelled inside him roam free once again.
"You had just made your two last mistakes. First, I serve no master, second you have no idea what's my worst. I'm a healer." Those words were meant to be a threat, but she found the hilarious.
"A healer? Then heal me so I can rip your head from your f*cking neck."
Lith removed the glove on his right hand, placing it on her chiselled stomach, right above the solar plexus.
"If you want to r*pe me, that's the wrong spot, kid." Lith ignored her.
"You see, a healer is bound to know the human body better than anyone else. We know how to deal the maximum pain while keeping our patient alive."
After using Invigoration on her, he located her mana core. According the Alchemy Professor, sending mana into someone else's body was like injecting poison. Lith was now curious to see what would happen if he injected his mana directly into her mana core.
Chapter 111 Desperation 2
Despite he could see it with Invigoration, a mana core wasn't a physical organ. It was inside the human body but at the same time it wasn't. During the years spent as a healer in the Lutia village, he had cured countless peoples with stomach wounds, but none, no matter how deep, had ever affected a core.
Lith had to rely on his newfound mana sensibility, sending a tendril of pure mana from his core to the woman's. At first, nothing happened, her core seemed stable, keeping its yellow colour despite the flood of alien energies.
But a few seconds later, Lith could see that the zone where he had attached the tendril was getting weaker and weaker. The yellow was turning to orange, slowly spreading to the whole core.
The woman suddenly started to scream in pain, all her veins and arteries bulging out, as if they were trying to shake off her skin. The red of the blood turned blue as the mana that was invading her body.
When it reached her head, she started to bleed the cyan liquid from her eyes, nose and ears. The shrieks of agony showed no trace of her previous defiance, only desperation.
Her voice when from shrill to hoarse, until it didn't sound like a human voice anymore. She kept yelling and yelling, until she had no more air in her lungs, but she seemed incapable of drawing breath again.
Lith stopped, leaving her a couple of seconds to recover and feel the temporary relieve from the lack of pain.
"Ready to talk now?"
Sobbing in terror, the burly woman swore to the gods that if she managed to survive, she would have changed her way of life. No more trading lives for money, she would redeem herself.
"My name is Melia." She said trying to establish a connection, to force him to perceive her as a person. It was a trick that had worked countless times in the past, even if she had never been the one to attempt it, but Rodimas.
She always said that every man dreamed of being the hero of a sobbing woman.
And this time, she was sincere, she wasn't just trying to backstab him as soon as he lowered his guard.
"I don't care." He replied with a cold stare. "I mean who are you? Mercenaries? Hunters? Assassins?"
"Mercenaries. We were paid handsomely to come here, kill as many beasts as possible and frame the students for it."
Melia's words confirmed his theory, but didn't trigger any vision, nor relieved his fears.
"Who sent you here, and why?"
"I don't know, I swear! I'm just the muscle of the team, Raghul is the one that deals with our contractors, while Rodimas is the brain of our operations."
"Raghul?"
"That man." She nodded in his direction.
"It's everything I know, please, let me go."
Leaving them alive was out of question. They had forced him to use too much of his true power, they were a liability. No matter their promises, as soon as they were out of reach, they would sell him to the highest bidder with a smile on their faces.
"Then I don't need you anymore." With a wave of his hand, Lith used spirit magic to twist her head 180 degrees, breaking the neck and putting her out of her misery.
"Now, mister Raghul, we can do this easy or painful. Tell me what I want to know, and I will give you a peaceful death. Resist and… well. You have seen what happens." Lith removed Raghul's gag, allowing him to speak.
- "Wouldn't have been better to leave her alive? To give them hope?" Solos objected. She really didn't Like Lith torturing people. Every time he did it, she could sense something inside of him dying.
"What hope? They are professionals, not some girls scout. They know all too well that I will never let them live, because that's what they would do in my shoes." –
"Listen kid, I'm sorry we tried to kill you." His terror ruined his usually flawless poker face, making him sound fake like a three-dollar bill.
"You don't have to do this. You are still young, don't become like us."
Behind his fake empathy, Raghul only meant to buy time, hoping to find a way out of that predicament. But he discovered that his hands were blocked, he couldn't even feel the magical stone he hid in his boot in case of emergencies.
His only hope was to find a crack in the kid's morality and exploit it to escape.
"Too late for that." Lith ignored his ramblings, placing his hand over Raghul's core and forcefully sending mana into it. Raghul had a cyan core, just like Lith, so even if he was incapable of controlling it, the core's energies were able to repel Lith's clumsy attacks.
- "So, I can freely invade only weaker cores? It's a pity I don't have the time. It would have been interesting to discover what happens to someone once I degrade his core, maybe even below the red level.
Stripping someone of his magic could be a formidable threat, not to mention that it would allow me to keep prisoners without having to fear any trick from their side." –
Taking a mental note to experiment on that in the future, Lith stopped wasting his pure mana, adding darkness magic to it. Raghul's defences crumbled like a sand castle facing a tsunami, darkness quickly spread to the whole core.
Like for Melia, his veins bulged out, but their colour was black. Melia's suffering had been nothing compared to Raghul's, pure entropy was eating at every of his cells.
When Raghul started to bleed black blood from all his orifices, Lith stopped sending energy, but the pain didn't pause.
- "What the heck?" – Lith was flabbergasted. Trying to understand what was happening, he touched Raghul again, using Invigoration.
He was then able to see that even without his command, the darkness was still ravaging the mana core, that was now full of cracks, on the brink of collapsing on itself.
- "Seems that dark magic is too powerful to directly inject it. I need a softer approach for the woman, or all the information will be lost."
"Lith, the core is black." Solus sounded worried.
"What if you just created an Abomination?" –
Lith refused to believe that accidentally performing such feat could be so easy, but being cautious, he kept monitoring Raghul's status while ignoring Rodimas' whimpering and sobbing.
After just a few seconds, the black core crumbled, and Raghul's body when limp, devoid of life. Lith sighed with relief. Humans seemed to be no match for him, but Abominations where on a league on their own.
He was already sick and tired of that day, he just wanted to understand what was the source of uneasiness he kept feeling, solve the damn vision and then sleep for a whole week.
Lith had just turned toward Rodimas, pondering about what element use on her, when a sudden noise drew his attention.
Raghul's body was trembling again, writhing like he had a seizure.
By using Invigoration again, Lith could see that black and red blood were pooling where the mana core had been, forming a new one, brimming with dark energies.
The blood core was sucking all the remaining fluids in the body, making Raghul turn pale as a ghost, his eyes glowing with a red light, like a torch was burning behind them.
Lith could see his canines grow into fangs, his hands and feet breaking free from the stone ground as it was just soft mud. He immediately backstepped, conjuring a wind barrier to intercept all the rock projectiles flying towards him.
- "What the heck is a blood core?" Solus almost panicked.
"The bad news is that I think I have just created a vampire. The good news is that at least he doesn't shine under sunlight like a disco ball." Lith replied. -
Chapter 112 Lith’s Monster
Solus had no idea what Lith had done, to be exact, either of them did. The creature in front of them wasn't dead nor alive, her mana sense had never perceived anything like that.
A normal core was a mass of pure mana, that could be used to interact with the world energy to give life to spells. Awakened beings seemed to be the only ones capable of using the pure mana to obtain various effects, like Invigoration or spirit magic.
An Abomination's black core, instead, was a stronger but corrupted form of mana, that constantly required massive amounts of world energy just to not dissipate. To do that, Abominations gained unique powers.
The Wither they had faced in the past, had the ability to drain life force even from a distance. The plant thing could split his consciousness to overtake and consume the surrounding vegetation while searching for animal preys.
That came at a price, though. Both of them had proved to have a deadly but limited skillset, to the point of having lost the ability to use magic in all of its forms.
The blood core that Lith had accidentally created was completely outside their experience. It was a mass composed by blood and darkness magic, with the remains of Raghul's mana core somehow holding everything together.
Based on what Solus could see, it had both a physical and magical nature. The blood core was completely messed up, without an internal balance or proper structure. It continually expanded and shrank, changing from spherical to ellipsoidal, sometimes it didn't have a shape at all.
It was a creature of chaos, and as such it wasn't bound to last. Every second it would rearrange its host body and itself, causing massive amounts of strain on Raghul's corpse.
When he was alive, he had been a well-built man of average height, with short black hair and a well-trimmed goatee of the same colour, that helped smoothen his square features.
Now his visage was deformed in a perpetual scream of pain, his sharp nose sunk into his face until only the nostrils remained. The skin kept rotting, turning green and peeling off, revealing the muscle tissue underneath before regenerating and starting over again.
The body swelled tearing apart the enchanted clothes, his arms became longer and deformed, enough to touch the ground, the legs bent backwards with an unnatural angle.
- "That's definitely not a vampire. What the heck have I done?" –
The young Byk ran away without a second thought, sensing the impending danger.
The creature started to hiss, watching Lith with eyes full of hatred and contempt. It moved with incredible speed, not even using air fusion to its extreme Lith was able to avoid the charge.
Raghul's fingers had become ten centimetres (4 inches) long razor-sharp talons, that made easy work of Lith's iron heart protector and earth fusion alike.
The hook shaped claws slashed vertically, deeply gouging his chest. Finger-sized chunks of flesh hit the ground, while blood sprayed around. Everything happened so fast that Lith felt pain only when he was already moving to avoid a second strike.
The shock was so intense that in another situation it could have made him faint, but with his life on the line, willpower and survival instinct allowed him to stand it, even if barely.
Lith could feel the rhythmic bleeding over his chest at every beat of his panicked heart, drenching his clothes. It was like having a white-hot branding iron ravaging his flesh, while ice needles pricked the surrounding skin, giving him a numbing feeling that was slowly spreading.
He managed to avoid the second hit, but only because suddenly the creature became distracted, making the swing sloppy and predictable. He exploited the opening to get some distance and heal his wounds.
To his surprise the talon marks were brimming with darkness magic, making the recovery spell much slower and less effective that normal. The creature, instead, had picked the chunks of flesh, playing with them enthusiastically.
It tilted its head sideways, making most of Raghul's hair fall like autumn leaves in the wind, seeming to have realized something important. Then it brought them to its mouth, wolfing them down.
- "The good news is that whatever that is, it's not a vampire. The bad news is that I have no idea how to defeat it." Lith used light fusion, trying to neutralize the dark energy infecting the wound.
"You can either run away or stall for time. It can't live for long." Solus pointed out. –
She could clearly see the blood core falling apart, the strength coursing through the monster was too much for its body, despite all the changes it had went through. Every move, every attack would damage it as much as it did to Lith.
Maybe it was because the creation of the blood core had been purely accidental, maybe because the creature was vulnerable to the sun but being mindless it didn't care.
Whatever the reason, ingesting raw flesh had barely delayed its decaying process.
After the hair, all the skin was shed, leaving the muscles exposed, wet and shining under the midday sun. All its teeth had been replaced by fangs, giving it an alien look.
The creature screamed with fury, noticing that Lith had got away, forcing it to decide if to hunt the creator for whom it felt a deep-seated hatred, or the helpless Rodimas. The sweet smell of dripping blood and the delicious taste of the meat settled the deal.
While Lith and Solus where still talking, less that two seconds after the first blood, the nightmare began.
Chapter 113 Lith’s Monster 2
The monster darted toward Lith faster than a bullet, tanking everything he threw at it. Burning Prison, Lith's personal tier four spell conjured six fireballs, one above, one below and four around the creature, detonating at the same time.
The head exploded and regenerated, the limbs got turned to shreds but all the pieces managed to reattach themselves before the blast could scatter them away. Lightings burned its flesh and burst its heart, more icicles pierced its body that needles a pincushion.
None of it managed to even slow it down. Yet recovering from all that damage took its toll, the creature's body had become thinner, while the talons fell, leaving the creature with just its fists.
Fists that struck Lith with the might of a titan, uncaring of his footwork and the technique he used to deflect part of their force. Despite being hardened by earth fusion, Lith's right arm shattered at the ulna, the humerus and the radius.
Bone segments pierced the muscles and skin, the white of the bone glittering under the sun because of the blood dripping on them.
Lith got blinded by pain, his eyes watering like waterfalls, yet managed to remain conscious, once again being saved by his restless paranoia. He knew that being a true mage was not enough, that being prepared was not enough.
The new world was a big place, he was bound to meet sooner or later someone stronger than him, someone capable of hurting him for real.
Among his trial and error experiments on himself, he had learned how to use darkness magic to cut his pain receptors, an that's what he did the moment he realized that all he had was not enough to stop a single punch of the monster of his own creation.
Lith also jumped sideways at the last second, borrowing the strength from the hit to put some distance between them. While flying through the air he kept casting as fast as he could, making all kind of spells rain down on his pursuer.
Even with only his left arm remaining, he managed to land another four explosions before the creature caught up, striking again, this time at his chest. Lith felt his ribcage collapse, spitting blood realizing that even breathing had become an excruciating torture.
The Raghul-thing lifted him by the neck, licking every single drop of the precious liquid, feeling its strength returning.
Both of them were wheezing, their expression distorted, but while Lith was desperate, Lith's monster was triumphant, using its unnaturally long tongue to lap all the blood dripping from his face.
Lith used that precious moment to wave a final spell, and when the monster opened its mouth to tear his neck open, he managed to conjure an icicle inside it, so that when the jaw attempted to close on him, it pierced its tongue, palate and brain.
The creature didn't care for it, not until realizing that not it could not bite. Then the monster simply grabbed and pulled the icicle out, uncaring for its own wounds, accelerating the decay process.
Its eyes withered and rolled into the skull, leaving only the red light of undeath behind.
The fangs finally bit Lith's neck, blood sprayed out his jugular.
But then the jaw fell off, shortly followed by the creature's right arm, holding the prey no more.
Lith's monster emitted an angry gurgle, drool flooding its mouth, right before the whole corpse dried out and collapsed on the ground, turning into ashes.
- "In your face, Mary Shelley." - Lith thought, casting all the healing spells he could manage before falling onto the ground, sprawled like a rag doll.
After so much pain and struggling, Lith finally felt at peace. His vision blurred until everything went black. He could feel all his anxieties, all his fears and traumas fading away. The pounding ache from the wounds was reduced to a dull sensation, no longer important.
He just wanted to sleep and forget about everything, but from a corner of his mind, something kept tugging at Lith's consciousness, refusing to give up. A part of him was fighting the stupor, knowing he would never wake up from that slumber.
Solus tried non-stop to reach his mind through the numbing pain and exhaustion, but to no avail. He had gone too far, the wounds were too deep. The only thing she could do, was use her own mana to keep his conditions stable.
Yet with only a yellow mana core to back her endeavour, she was just delaying the inevitable. Finally, light fusion was able to purify the wounds from the dark energy festering them, allowing all the healing spells Lith had previously cast to kick in.
The bleeding stopped, the wounds were still severe but no more life threatening, at least for the moment. Lith was now able to hear Solus' voice, to grab the light of her will and use it with his own to finally open his eyes.
Waves of searing pain were still ravaging his battered body, but he couldn't afford to heal himself. Not only he had little mana left, in his current conditions even light spells would add strain to his body, potentially killing him.
Gritting his teeth to endure the agony of each breath, he used Invigoration, to both assess his conditions and gain the energy he needed to survive.
- "Comminute fractures all over the ribcage, comminute and open fracture of the right arm, minor internal bleeding, several bones cracked and open wounds. I doubt I would still be alive without light fusion's regenerating factor and your help, Solus."
"Thank me later, first fix your chest. If any of the bone fragments pierces your lungs its over." –
Invigoration was an incredible tool, but it wasn't perfect. To use it, Lith required to remain still, focusing his mind and spirit to align the mana core with the world energy surrounding him.
The slightest distraction would severe the connection.
That was the reason why he couldn't use it during battles, otherwise he would have access to an endless supply of mana. Following Solus' advice, he used light and spirit magic to collect all the scattered bone fragments rebuilding his ribcage.
The process was slow and painful, but he couldn't make haste, his own life was on the line. After that, he had to take care of the hunger. Invigoration could make up for the lost stamina and mana, but recovering from so many wounds required nutrients.
The right arm was still a mess, but with the pain receptors disconnected it was bearable.
Lith felt like he had been fasting for a week, his head light and dizzy. He took food out of his pocket dimension, wolfing it down as fast as his left arm allowed him to. Light magic was accelerating his metabolism to the extreme, the food digested as soon it entered his stomach.
Time was of the essence, he walked up to Rodimas, removing her gag to get his answers.
"Who sent you here? And why?"
Chapter 114 Necromancy Lesson
Breath after breath, the exposed humerus slid back under the skin and in its place, soon Lith's body was back to normal.
Rodimas barely reacted to his voice. Seeing her comrades die, being helpless while Melia was tortured, all of it had been a terrible experience. But seeing Raghul's metamorphosis, smelling his stench of death and decay had been too much.
She hadn't bit her tongue only because of the gag, but had screamed the whole time nonetheless. She knew that after Lith's death it would be her turn to be eaten alive. Her eyes only showed the white, the pupil rolled almost backwards.
She had dislocated both her shoulders trying to break free from the restraints. Sweat, tears and mucus dirtied her face, making her hair stick to it like a filthy mask.
The terror had completely broken her.
Lith had to splash Rodimas with cold water to force her to regain her focus.
Her voice was hoarse from the strain, but still clear. She explained how the request hadn't come through the official channels of the mercenary guild, but via one of their contacts in the black market of the city of Kandria.
According to the books in Soluspedia, it was simply a market town, the nearest trading hub to the academy.
The contractor was a merchant, but the odd request coupled with the high reward had made the mercenaries suspicious. After taking a considerable down payment, they had investigated the matter, discovering that the merchant was just a middle man.
According to their sources, he served the powerful and noble Androse family, famous for its centuries old magical legacy. At that point, they only had two choices, return the money and back off from the job, or get involved in the political struggle.
Sobbing, Rodimas told how she had voted for the former option, but had been outnumbered, because the pay was too good and the risks seemed minimal at the time.
Lith didn't know what to do. Her story would have been much more significant, if he could do anything about it. The odd thing was that since he had created his own version of the Frankenstein's monster, the feeling of impending failure had disappeared.
"That's not all." Rodimas managed to say after some stuttering.
"Since we managed to get in and out of the forest many times, after complimenting with us, our contractor gave us another task. We were supposed to deliver a package tomorrow."
- "The time frame is way off. I had more than a day to catch up with them, so why the need to rush? Still, the vision showed me that the academy is someway related to this. Whatever this thing is, it could be useful to change the course of the events. –
"It's in my dimensional amulet."
Lith took out all the amulets looted, allowing Rodimas to recognize his own and take out the package. Since magical items just needed a thought to work, he didn't free her hands, just placed it on her forehead while setting up several protections with spirit magic, just to be on the safe side.
Rodimas kept her word, materializing a wooden box the size of a briefcase. It had no particular markings or insignia, the only remarkable thing about it was the lock.
It was placed along the narrow and long side of the box, and it consisted of an octahedron shaped stone, with several runes engraved all around it, forming a spiral. Using Invigoration, Lith was capable of examining its pseudo core.
- "It's nothing I have ever seen before. I bet everything I do not have that without the proper code it will self-destruct, explode or something. And if I really want to discover what's inside, I have only one shot." –
"I suppose you don't know how to open it."
"No, I don't. Please, don't hurt me." Realising to have outlived her usefulness, Rodimas cried in desperation, knowing it was useless to beg for mercy.
"A deal is a deal." Lith double tapped her head and heart with bullet-sized icicles, making sure she wouldn't suffer.
He was about to leave, when a thumping sound made him turn around, ready for combat despite his mental exhaustion.
To his surprise, it was just the young Byk, again.
"You do really have a talent for escape. How those hunters managed to corner you is a mystery to me." Lith said with an angry tone. Both times he had needed help, the Byk had disappeared leaving him in hot waters.
In Lith's eyes, that made it persona non grata.
"Dude, that's harsh! After you rescued me, I was scared sh*tless. Besides, you didn't seem to need any help. This time I didn't run away, I went for help. You have no idea how long it took to reach my mom."
"Your mom?"
"Yeah, according to your definition, she is my best friend."
"And I wouldn't have delayed my departure for a mere human, if not for the fact that you saved my cub and was so stupid to lose control of your own necromancy spell. Hence, as part of your reward I'll teach you how not to endanger yourself and others with darkness magic."
The Byk mother was an enormous beast, at least 1,8 meters (5'11") tall at the shoulder, with a weight close to a ton. Its fur was deep brown with shades of black all over.
Lith was about to defend himself, explaining that it wasn't a spell, as much as an experiment, when he realized what had happened.
- "Delay the departure? So that's why I needed to make haste? All that's happened was just a step to speak with this Byk?" –
The Byk mother moved closer, sniffing at him with curiosity.
"You look like a human, but there something different from the others I have met so far. What's your name, cub?"
"Scourge." Lith deemed wiser using the name bestowed upon him by the Trawn woods' kings. If the Byk mother knew humans, he had to protect his identity.
"Strong name for someone so young." It snorted. "A Byk name, even. That's a good omen. I'm Kalla, and that's my youngest one, Nok."
Lith gave both a polite nod with the head.
"Listen well, cub. There is a reason if light and darkness magic are so scarce in nature, and that is because they are the strongest elements. Light nurtures life, according to legends, can even resurrect the dead or create new beings.
Darkness, instead, is the element of death. It's not evil by itself, it's just that all living beings are scared of death, so they fear it. And fear can easily turn in spite and prejudice."
Lith inwardly scoffed at those words.
- "I have yet to meet someone, human or not, that doesn't consider the element they are best at as the strongest. As for light magic, is a great tool, but powerful is not the word I'd use to describe it. Convenient at best."
"Whatever." Solus mind rolled her eyes. "Why you don't stay quiet and listen? When are we going to find again someone teaching us real magic?" –
Kalla stared at him for a second, sensing his disbelief.
"Tell me, Scourge, how many magical beasts have you met that use light magic?"
"None." He was forced to admit.
"And how many capable of darkness magic?"
"Just one. It was a Byk, a few years ago."
"Zero and one, while there are countless beasts that use the other elements. Have you ever wondered why? Let me show you an old Byk trick."
Kalla tapped the ground twice with her left pawn claws, dark energy swirling around her massive body.
"Arise."
Chapter 115 Necromancy Lesson 2
The energy seeped into the ground, and countless skeletons, both human and animal, emerged from below. Their mouths were agape in a silent scream, fighting their way out of mud and roots.
Several hands grabbed Lith's feet and ankles with an iron grip. In a few seconds he was surrounded by a small army of undead, each emitting an ominous aura that sent a cold shiver down his spine.
Lith knew they posed no threat to him. A single lesser undead was nothing more than an annoyance, even that many couldn't harm someone like him. Worst case scenario, he would simply take off and attack them from the sky, leaving them no possibility for retaliation.
But his body seemed to ignore all that knowledge. The only things he felt from their shiny red eyes were innate fear and revulsion.
He kept his cool, keeping those emotions sealed in a corner of his mind, while exploiting that contact to use Invigoration on them and understand how did Kalla manage to do it.
Lith discovered that each of the skeletons grabbing him had now a small red mana core.
Invisibles to the naked eye, countless tendrils of energy departed from it, keeping all the bones together and allowing them to move and feel. Unlike normal cores, though, they had black stripes, pulsing and growing every time the undead moved.
"In this world the dead outnumber the living by hundreds. An expert Byk will bury its preys and turn them into a weapon. The shock they cause and the sheer numbers can easily turn tables, if properly used."
With another tap of her pawn, the skeletons crawled back underground, and through her use of earth magic, no trace of their passage remained.
"Necromancy can be roughly divided in two branches: lesser and higher.
Lesser necromancy, which I just used, allows to temporary turn any corpse into an undead. It doesn't require much energy, but the effects are short lasting, and its creations are incapable of thought, they can only obey simple orders.
Higher necromancy, that you foolishly attempted, though, is an entirely different matter."
With a flick of her snout, Kalla conjured near her the ashes of the Lith's monster, stirring them with a darkness imbued claw, biting her own other pawn to let some blood drip on them.
Horror struck Lith when he saw the ashes turn into a semi liquid state, coiling around the claw and using it to stretch closer to the blood source.
"That thing is still alive?" He unconsciously took a step back.
"No. I'm just playing with the residual energies, just to show you how powerful necromancy is." As soon the Byk stopped infusing dark energy, the blob turned back to ashes, despite the blood still dripping on it.
"Higher necromancy allows to create lesser undead capable of lasting forever, or even superior creatures, capable of independent thought. Yet no matter what you do, higher necromancy has a flaw compared to the lesser branch.
After I called back my spell, the skeletons were still intact, and if I or anyone else were to raise them again, they would still serve their master. The same would have happened if I kept them around until the spell wore off.
But when something is created out of higher necromancy, the unbalance is too severe.
If the caster doesn't feed his creatures with the proper amount of light energy, the dark magic that animates them starts to corrode their bodies, until they turn into dust."
The Byk sighed sadly.
"I tried countless times, but my inability to use light magic prevents me from truly mastering necromancy. All my creations have the lifespan of a butterfly. Undeath is no life, to sustain it a price has to be paid.
The better the necromancer, the less energy the creatures require. But no matter how little it can be, raising a permanent army would either drain the caster or require an external source."
"Do you mean taking lives?"
Kalla nodded.
"Skeletons are simple, they require raw energy, it's irrelevant to them the source it comes from. Other creatures can be pickier, and require living flesh or blood to sustain their existence if the necromancer's energy is not available.
And that usually means that lots of people have to die."
"Wait, are you telling me that an undead army has to 'eat' regularly? Isn't that a contradiction?"
"Contradiction?" Kalla snorted. "Have you ever found anything, alive or not that moves without needing energy? Humans need to eat, and so do plants. For a stone to roll, someone has to push it.
Or else both humans and magical beasts would only fight with undeads. Imagine an army that does not rest, eat or fear, that grows in number with every battle. No, Scourge, that would be nonsense."
- "Kalla is right, otherwise necromancy would ignore the first law of thermodynamics, energy cannot be created or destroyed. Only be transferred or changed from one form to another. But that poses another question.
Then how can magical objects never run out of juice? What is their energy source?"
"The magician." Solus observed. "That must be the reason why the imprinting process is necessary before using one. Is not only a safety measure, but also a way to feed them. That would also explain why magical items can be reused after their master's death." –
"I have a question. According to what you say, undead should obey the necromancer. Why the creature attacked me?" Lith asked.
"As I said, I haven't mastered necromancy, yet. But the most likely explanation is that your clumsy spell didn't bear your mark with it. Because of that, it didn't recognize you as its master, but only as a prey.
Especially so if it hated you when it was still alive."
"What do you mean with mark?" Lith was clearly lost. "And why should a dead man feelings matter?"
Kalla snorted even harder, causing Nok to chuckle at his expenses.
"By the Great Mother, how could your parents let you walk alone in this world being so ignorant?" It said shaking its huge head in desperation.
"Based on what Nok told me, you used higher necromancy, turning someone that was still alive.
It wasn't a mindless corpse, but someone that died cursing you with his final breath. Even if your attempt failed, the creature was bound to carry with itself the deepest emotions linked to its death.
Not having a mark, its primary instinct was likely to exact revenge. Are you finally starting to understand the foolishness of your actions?"
Lith nodded, recognizing that being so powerful and yet so ignorant in the ways of magic was a terrible combination.
"Do you at least know how to raise a single undead?" She then asked.
"No. What happened earlier was an accident." Lith didn't like admitting his incompetence, but having worked in the science field, he knew that knowledge could not be faked. Either you accepted your ignorance, or studied to fill the gaps.
They walked up to Rodimas' corpse, then Kalla started explaining.
"If you were to simply use darkness magic on a corpse, it would rot and disappear. What you need to do, instead, is to let the necromantic energies fill the body or the skeleton, like this."
The Byk placed its claws on Rodimas' hollow forehead, while Lith used Invigoration to see the stale blood turning black because of the dark magic, the veins bulging out.
"Once it's saturated, add a speck of light magic, even first magic is fine. That will be your mark, the only life force the undead will respect and obey to."
Rodimas' corpse eyes opened again, the chestnut colour replaced by the bright red. Kalla was about to withdraw her energies, but Lith asked her to wait a bit. That way he was able to notice that the creature had no blood core, just a red one striped black like the skeletons did.
Chapter 116 Necromancy Lesson 3
- "I'm starting to suspect that higher necromancy requires a living subject. To properly turn Raghul, I would have needed to fill his whole body with dark magic, not only his core. And of course, add my mark.
Probably the reason why Kalla can't master necromancy isn't because it can't use light outside of first magic, but because has no knowledge of the cores."
"Makes sense." Solus concurred. –
With Kalla's guidance, Lith managed to raise his first skeleton after a few tries, destroying some of them in the process. When he felt sure to have grasped the basics, he even managed to raise Rodimas' ghoul.
Before following Kalla to receive her final gift, Lith went back to put the two badly burned mercenaries out of their misery.
- "A part of me would love to experiment on them with higher necromancy, but honestly, I had more than enough for today. Also, if I manage to turn them into sentient undeads, I would feel responsible for their lives.
I would be either forced to kill them, and that would be a waste, or let them roam free, and that would be plain madness. I'm done playing with powers I don't fully understand. Guess now I have one more thing to research in the library." –
After walking for a bit, Lith started to feel a headache growing, his desire to go back to the academy and rest was almost unbearable.
"Where are we going?"
"To my cave." Kalla explained. "Since I'm leaving, feel free to pick whatever you like from my trophies' pile. That will be my thank you for saving Nok's life."
"Teaching me necromancy is a great gift already. I don't need more. By the way, where are you going?"
"I don't know either. I have reached a bottleneck. All my instincts tell me that either I overcome it or my talent will rot. Now that all my cubs are big enough to be self-sufficient, I can finally set off to explore my limits."
"Have you tried talking to the Lord of the forest, first? Maybe the Scorpicore could help you." Lith didn't dare offer his help directly. He had no idea how men would react to him teaching true magic, let alone magical beasts or monsters.
Yet if the academy was to be in any danger, he would much prefer for someone like Kalla to be present.
"I already did. Scarlett tried to explain to me many times about things like 'cores' and 'world energy', but they are only empty words to me. So, it advised me to travel outside the forest and search for enlightment."
After a while, they reached a small hill. It was about ten meters (33') high, covered by tall green grass, with tilted saplings growing on its sides, fighting with the nearest forest trees for the sunlight.
Lith could see many small animals, squirrels and birds alike, moving around in the vicinity, without care for their arrival. Like a mouse on the back of a lion, they weren't afraid of predators, the presence of the powerful Byk was their lifeline.
The cave was deep, and had an entrance big enough to let two creatures the size of Kalla to move freely in and out, probably to allow her to move with her cubs.
The so-called trophies' pile turned out to be just trash. Weapons, tools, clothes, were amassed together in a random order. Most of them were damaged or broken, making them useless.
"I took those things from humans and creatures that invaded my territory, trying to kill me or my spawn during the years." She explained.
After a little search, Lith could see there wasn't anything interesting in the bunch.
"What about rings or amulets? Didn't they have any?"
"Those I took for myself, silly one. They will be especially useful once I'll be away from here." Lith sighed with annoyance, thinking how he could have already been resting back home, instead of junk hunting.
"But there are some I couldn't figure out their use nor throw them away. I feel they are too dangerous to be left in clumsy hands. Feel free to take them, if you wish."
Kalla touched the left side of the cave, revealing a small secret chamber, holding a pile of small wooden boxes, all identical to the one Rodimas had given Lith.
Suddenly he felt a chill running down his spine, his vision blurring making the headache almost unbearable. This time he saw groups of armed soldiers fighting and destroying entire cities.
- "Not the vision again! What does this mean? Is the war really this close? And what does it have to do with me?" –
Lith saw several envelopes scattered among the boxes, their wax seals still intact. After checking with Invigoration that there wasn't any magical trap, he opened them, discovering that all of them were written in a code he couldn't figure out.
Reading those apparently random words, other images flashed before his eyes. The last thing he saw was an image of his house in Lutia, burning. The barn was open, the animals dead or escaped, while the fields in front of his house seemed to have been trampled upon.
His point of view moved inside the house, allowing to watch the dancing flames, the walls splattered with fresh blood. His father lied on the floor, his head cracked open by some heavy blunt weapon, the brain almost visible.
His expression was of pure despair and terror, his clothes were drenched by his own blood, coming out from multiple deep cuts. His bruised hands still clenched to form fists. He seemed to have died fighting.
The vision moved to the kitchen, where the corpse of his mother, Elina, rested. Her eyes were wide open, a pool of blood was under her head, a huge chunk of her tongue was visible among the blood.
Her clothes were ripped to shreds, not even death had stopped her aggressors. Lith could see human bite marks all over her breasts and genitalia, a pool of white sticky substance defiling her legs and mouth.
Anger was raising inside Lith's chest, a thirst for blood like he had never felt since his days back on Earth.
Then, he heard his sisters' voices calling for help, Rena was calling her husband's name, but Tista was calling for Lith.
He tried to force the vision to show them to him, but suddenly he felt pulled up and away from the ground, watching everything in miles of radius from the sky.
The whole village had been razed to the ground.
Once Lith regained his senses, the headache was suppressed by the killing intent he could barely contain.
"Where did you find them?"
"Most come from the dimensional items of the hunters that I recently killed. In the last months, lots arrived believing themselves to be predators only to end up as prey." Kalla snout deformed into a grin.
"But others I took from the white-furred pups that live in the man-made mountain."
"The students?" Lith was shocked, not at the idea of their death, as much at the implication such event had.
"Yes. It happened when I was chasing the hunters who had killed one of my cubs. They had escaped me the first time, yet days later dared to return in my turf."
Anger overloaded her eyes with mana, turning them in pitch black holes.
"I stalked them, and when the opportunity arose, I exacted revenge. From that moment onward, every time hunters arrived, I would follow closely to kill them along with their pups, to let them know what I felt."
"How did you manage to do that?" His interest was piqued. He doubted to be able to cleanly kill a group of mercenaries and students at the same time, without any of them escaping.
Even with all her undeads, being unable to fly made Kalla weaker than himself in Lith's eyes.
"Clackers, that's how." The Byk's laughter was like stone grinding against each other.
"I know how they communicate, via earth magic. I lure them with their feed call, and when everyone is busy fighting with the spiders, my undead sweep the field. The Lord prohibited us to kill the white-furred, but Clackers do not answer to its orders.
I only take care of the hunters. It's not my fault if the little b*stards don't know how to fend for themselves."
Chapter 117 Reborn
There were still many things Lith wanted to ask Kalla, like how she managed to perceive the Clackers' calls and how to manipulate them, but as his bloodlust receded, he could feel that something was wrong with his body.
The headache had returned worse than ever, and no matter how much he used Invigoration, his energy was leaving him like sand slips between fingers, no matter how hard one clenches his fist.
Soon he wasn't even able to stand, his eyelids were drooping, forcing him to fight just to remain conscious.
- "You seem to have a fever." Solus warned him.
"Impossible. Except during my first years of life, I never got sick. Not even a flu." –
His breathing turned ragged, Lith lied on the cavern's floor, feeling the comforting coldness of the rocks ease the heat waves ravaging his flesh.
"I think I need to rest for…"
Lith fell asleep even before finishing the sentence. Both Byks had no idea what to do. Even with their limited knowledge of humans, they were capable of understanding that Lith's constant shivering and sweating bullets wasn't normal.
"Mom, do you know anyone capable of using light magic?" Nok lapped Lith's cheeks trying to comfort him.
"Outside of the Lord of the forest, no. Maybe Scourge is just exhausted…"
A snapping sound from Lith's body cut Kalla short. The Byks stretched their ears, sniffing the guest. Another snapping sound occurred, this time louder. It was akin to a fresh log thrown into the fire, cracking because of the heat.
Snap and pop sounds came one after the other, if an earthling happened to be there, he would think that someone was making popcorns. From the inside, Solus could see his bones cracking and heal continuously at an alarming rate.
Sometimes it was just a fissure, other the whole bone would shatter in small fragments before they assembled again. When it was the skull's turn, Nok jumped backwards out of fear.
Suddenly a porcupine seemed to have slipped under Lith's face, sharp ends bulging under his skin, barely able to contain them.
Each time a bone would crack, impurities would ooze out of them, finding their way out through any of his orifices. Most of it flowed out from his eyes, ears and mouth, forming a pool beneath his head.
The stench was unbearable, Kalla was forced to destroy the tar-like substance with darkness magic, fearing it could harm them.
"Is he going to become an undead?" The events unfolding in front of Nok remined it what had happened to Raghul just a few hours prior.
"Unlikely." Kalla replied. "I don't sense a massive amount of dark energies surging." Nonetheless, she closed Lith in the secret room, leaving just enough space for the air to flow, strengthening the cave walls in case of attack, just to be safe.
Thanks to Invigoration, Solus perceived the world energy flowing inside Lith's core, the body was finally able to withstand its growth, surviving the changes necessary to wield the new power.
- "The unconsciousness is actually a blessing in disguise. The pain would be excruciating if Lith was still awake." – Solus thought.
Hours later, he finally woke up, feeling like the Walmart doormat after the Black Friday. Every inch of his body ached, his already tattered hunter suit was soaked in impurities beyond saving.
He managed to cancel the smell with darkness magic, but removing the stains would destroy the leather as well.
- "What happened?" Lith shook his head, trying to remember where he was.
"Good news! You have finally got past your bottleneck. Your mana core is finally halfway through the cyan. Probably the constant strain and healing cycles of this last few months did the trick." Solus words made little sense to him.
"It's not my first rodeo. Why did I faint? And why do I feel like cr*p instead of refreshed?" –
It was too complicated to explain, so Solus just showed him her memories.
- "What the f*ck? All that pain just for a shade of cyan?" –
Once Lith managed to get up, even opening the stone door with earth magic proved to be a challenge.
"Rise and shine, sleepyhead. You have slept for three days. I was starting to get worried." Nok trotted to him, rubbing his snout strong enough to make him fall.
"Three days?! Sorry Nok, I have to run!" Lith yelled in desperation. He didn't care for the lost lessons, as much for all the time wasted doing nothing. If the vision was correct, he hadn't even a second to spare.
Nok laughed at him.
"I was joking, it's barely sunset."
Cursing the Byk's ancestors and doubting the morality of their mating choices, Lith punched the nearby wall with the feeble strength he could muster.
"It's not funny!" He yelled, striking again.
"My family is in danger, who knows what could have happened to them in three days? You scared me to death!"
"That makes the two of us." Nok took two cautionary steps back, keeping its gaze on him, ready to run away.
"Why are you scared?"
"Don't want to end like the wall just for a stupid joke."
Lith looked at his punch, discovering that it had created a small socket in the wall. A spiderweb of small cracks originated from the impact point.
- "What the heck?" Lith and Solus thought, still in a daze.
"I didn't feel anything. How can I be this strong?"
"It must be because of what happened to your skeleton. Your mana flow is completely different from before." Solus pointed out.
"The quality of your mana has barely changed, but now even at rest, the energy that your core passively produces is able to reach every inch of your body. I have seen something like this only in magical beasts like the Protector." –
"What's happening?" Kalla rushed back to the cave after the first pounding sound, expecting the worst.
When it saw both cubs alive and well the Byk sighed in relief, but then an odd smell reached its nose. Not beastly nor human, it was something lost in between.
"Scourge, you have changed." It was a statement, there was no shred of doubt in her voice.
"Your smell is even less human than before. It's akin to the one the Lord of the forest emits." Its eyes gleamed with comprehension of the true nature of their guest.
Before leaving, Lith asked Kalla how to perceive and lure the Clackers. Sadly, the former required a high earth magic sensibility that he lacked, while the latter was far simpler.
The spider's feed call sounded exactly like the human heart rhythmic beat, only it had to be emitted via magic through the ground.
On his way back, while flying through the air, he activated Life Vision, searching for more changes in his abilities. Lith discovered that now it didn't just show the life force and mana simply through colours.
Lith now could see the world energy flowing from the trees, the leaves, even from the stones. The whole forest around him was breathing, generating a mana wind that had been invisible to him before.
- "It has become much more similar to my mana sense." Solus said.
"Yes. In a way is still worse, in another is better. Look at that." –
Lith pointed at a clearing in the forest. It was near to the point where he had fought with the mercenaries, but from the sky and with its ordinary look, normally he would have failed to recognize the place.
But now he could see everything. The red wind originated from the animals, the green from the plants, the grey from the stones, and the black from the dead.
Lith only had to extend his hands and will to feel the rotting energies waiting for the call.
"Rise! Rise my legion!"
He could sense the many corpses stirring underground, clawing to escape.
And then he let them go. He had no time to lose, there were many things he had to do before nightfall.
Chapter 118 Half Truth
Lith immediately regretted his latest experiment.
- "Dammit, my body is still weak. Even though my core is still cyan, the effects of the change are similar to the evolution process. Invigoration has no effect. I need real rest to recuperate."
"Your mind is not faring better either. You are still wearing your hunter suit, if you don't change it, not only it would rise lots of questions, but I doubt they will let you in the academy." Solus pointed out. –
The leather sleeves were reduced to shreds, the chest presented a giant hole, like someone had tried to rip his heart out, the metal protectors had whole chunks missing and between the bloodstains and the impurities it seemed that Lith had stolen the clothes from a battlefield.
Inwardly cursing his own stupidity, Lith returned below the tree line, swapping the clothes in mid air via the dimensional pocket.
After walking through the castle gates, he was halted by the front desk clerk, demanding to have back the distress device. It was the same middle-aged man that had lectured Lith that morning.
Seeing him with his hands and face dirtied by having slept on the ground, his short breath and worried expression, the clerk assumed that going solo didn't do well for the arrogant fourth-year student.
His chestnut eyes shone with gloat, while a condescending smile cracked his otherwise thick beard.
"Seems you had to experience for yourself how harsh the world out there. Not everyone can be a hero, now you know it."
Lith looked at him like a madman, he had already forgotten about him, so those words made no sense to him.
"There, there." The clerk continued, mistaking his confusion for embarrassment. "At least you came out alive without needing to ask for help. Also, you remembered my advice and returned before sundown. Realizing your mistakes and learning from your seniors is fundamental at your age."
Normally Lith would have recognized him already, pondering if attempting to poison the clerk's mana core from a distance with spirit magic.
But worried as he were, he just pretended to be listening, nodding from time to time. Lith was so tired that even thinking was a struggle. Ever since he had seen the end of the vision, he was trying to put the pieces together.
All he wanted was to take a short bath to get rid of all the dirt, sweat and blood dirtying his body and then sleep for a whole week, but the scene of his parents murdered and his sisters screaming for help haunted his mind.
- "According to the vision the steps of the events are: 1) the mercenaries killing Nok. And that is out of the picture. Then 2) after that they were supposed to do a delivery, somehow connected to the fall of the academy.
Guess that part was metaphorical, to bring down the castle it would take an earthquake measuring at least an eight on the Richter scale. Which would lead to 3) a civil war and to 4) the destruction of Lutia.
It's unclear if it would happen by coincidence or because I pissed off someone in particular, but it doesn't matter. If my soul is a d*ck as much as I am, the reason it showed me all this is because more than anything I want to save them. Right, Solus?"
"Yeah, it makes sense, especially the d*ckery part. Guess that savings fluffy cubs and thousands of innocents is really not your style…" She had a dejected tone. After all that hoping for him to find true love or friendship, once again was just an egoistical reason. To her Lith and his soul were indeed a match made by the heavens.
"F*ck the innocents! I'm nobody's hero. A world that despite having billions of people can only be saved by someone brave and dumb enough to sacrifice himself for strangers, it's a world not deserving to be saved." –
In the privacy of his room, Lith took out the communication amulet, thinking what exactly to tell Marchioness Distar.
He couldn't sleep before making sure that the events he had spectated had yet to happen, but if he did call her, then he would need to spill the beans without having the opportunity to make up a believable backstory.
The truth was too dangerous for him, and calling her the day after would destroy his credibility. Who in his right mind would take seriously someone that needed a power nap before reporting a threat to the Kingdom?
But without sleep, he had a hard time concentrating, let alone being convincing while spouting bullsh*t. It was another catch-22 paradox
Too tired to find a solution, he simply made the call.
The Marchioness answered almost immediately, seated behind a luxurious desk riddled with books and sheets of papers. She had her hair down with no particular hairstyle, wearing something between a pajama and sweatpants.
She looked almost as tired as him, her annoyance was visible as much as audible.
"You again. What has happened this time?"
"I'm really sorry to bother you at this hour, your Ladyship, but I need to know if everything is alright with my family. I bring grave news."
The last phrase, coupled with the desperation in his voice changed her attitude in a blink.
"I already received today's report, but let me double check right now."
The communication remained open, but her image disappeared for a few seconds.
- "This thing can put on hold?" –
"All present and accounted for, the sky has yet to fall." She said with a slight smile.
"Now, what were you saying about grave news?" She leaned with her elbows on the desk, her eyes steeling.
"Before starting my story, your Ladyship, do you believe in supernatural? Things like souls, destiny and so on?" Lith was desperately trying to find a way to not look like a raving maniac.
"Child, you are starting to sound like my husband when he proposed. If you have just disturbed me because of a girl, that's inappropriate at best. No matter what you believe right now, whoever you have met is not the right one."
Inwardly cursing his poor choice of words, Lith rushed to explain.
- "The best lie is a half-truth. Here goes everything." –
He told her how he managed to save a dryad by sheer luck, and that she rewarded him with a vision about his heart's desire. That following her directions he had found a group of hunters fighting to the death with a powerful Byk necromancer defending its cub.
In this version of the story he was just a spectator, and Kalla did all the hard work.
Lastly, that on the verge of death, one of the hunters still alive, after Lith had tried to save her, had a change of heart, regretting her life choices and gave him a wooden box and a coded letter, revealing to him that she was meant to give it to someone inside of the academy, but had died before telling him who.
"A dryad needing your help?" She had a good laugh at his expenses.
"Didn't she give you something more practical than a silly vision? I don't know, her heart or some earthly treasure?"
"I refused her heart." Lith explained making the Marchioness almost choke on her next laugh. "I'm too young for a relationship and she was way too flashy for an academy. But I still got loot, I mean rewards."
He took out the ransom the blond dryad had paid to save her sister's live.
"I can't see them well like this. Put them over the amulet's gem, please." She didn't know what to think. So far, the story was too odd to be made up.
When Lith did as instructed, the various natural treasures floated in the air. The light from the stone enveloped them like a 3D scanner, giving the Marchioness a life-size image that replaced Lith's.
- "Is there something this thing can't do?" Lith was flabbergasted by the second unknown function of the day. "Why can't it make a decent coffee? I miss coffee so much I could kill for a cup." -
"By the gods and their children, I believe you! Now put those treasures away and show them to no one. They are very precious. Many would say too much for someone like you to have them." Lith saw the greed in her eyes, but it was a calculated risk.
To further his story, he described in detail the plant Abomination, nerfing it enough to make plausible for Lith's normal skillset to defeat it.
"If you still have any doubts, there is a whole patch of the forest that's gone completely bald. It will take months for it to recover a shred of green."
The Marchioness looked at him with renewed admiration.
"I had heard great things about your little team, but honestly I didn't expect so much from them. It's amazing for fourth-year students, no matter how talented, to suppress a monster"
"All thanks to teamwork." Even half-asleep, Lith realized that a gun he was completely unaware of, had just shot his own foot.
Chapter 119 Half Truth 2
- "Why didn't you tell her that you defeated it alone?" Solus was surprised by the sudden turns of events.
"Because she didn't ask me how I managed to, or if I did have help. She jumped the gun and assumed it was a team effort. That means I didn't nerf the plant Abomination enough, or simply that a kid killing a monster is unheard of." –
Anxious to change topic, Lith took out from the dimensional pocket the wooden box Rodimas had surrendered to him and one coded letter at random.
Marchioness Distar threw a glance at the letter, and being uncapable to understand its meaning, just copied it with water magic. A flick of her wrist and ink flew from the well to a blank piece of paper, recreating the original in a few seconds.
When the life-size replica of the box appeared, her expression became severe.
"I don't recognize the lock, but I know these runes. This isn't just a wooden box, it's a high-end dimensional item, capable of storing complex structures rather than single objects. It could even contain a whole furnished house.
It's definitely something that a magical beasts hunter could never afford, let alone give it away to a stranger. Depending on what's inside, it could be worth thousands of gold, if not tens of thousands. But why are you showing it to me instead of Linjos? And why are afraid of it?"
After a deep breath to calm his nerves, Lith told her all about the vision and how it ended, along with his hypothesis about it.
"The last time we spoke, you told me you are on the Queen's side. If what the dryad has shown me is true, then I need all the help possible to prevent these events from happening.
With all due respect, the Headmaster is a good man, but has proven to be too much of a naïve fool to be trusted with such a delicate matter. He expected people not needing Ballots, yet now they are all in use.
He didn't predict that his radical changes would backfire so fast and hard, or if he did, his contingency plan must have failed big time. Also, he doesn't know me, you do. For him I could as well be a homesick boy pulling a prank.
I don't have the time to make him listening to me and believe a ridiculous story about dryads, souls and visions. I need someone capable of seeing the bigger picture and reacting accordingly. Whatever this is, its ramification go beyond the academy."
The Marchioness drummed her fingers on the desk, pondering about Lith's words. His judgement on Linjos' character was harsh, but she fully agreed with it.
And while the Headmaster would take in account only the possible consequences for the academy and his precious students, she was capable of understanding also the political repercussions the events Lith described could have.
Her fief was already torn apart by internal and external enemies, trying to replace her with someone more pliable to one side or another of the conflict. If a storm was really brewing under her nose, could she afford to ignore such a timely warning?
The answer was no. After all the sacrifices she had made trying to protect her daughter and husband, after the failed assassination attempts, this was the first lead the Marchioness had that could allow her to act instead of react.
Also, it would give her an opportunity to prove her worth and loyalty to the Crown in a moment of need, potentially reaping endless benefits. All things that made such information more valuable for her yet were meaningless to Linjos.
The dedicated Headmaster had no interest in politics, his mind seemed to be incapable to consider anything outside the boundaries of the academy. That what made him an excellent teacher also made him a terrible pawn.
- "I wonder if he took all these factors in account before contacting me. It would be amazing for a youth of humble origins to be so cunning. He could be a great asset in the future." – She concluded.
- "From what I have seen in the past, the Marchioness is not a power hungry noble. She truly cares about her family. Also, she is the most powerful and influential person I know.
If the civil war really happens, a backwater village like Lutia would simply be collateral damage. It's her city, Derios, the capitol of the Marquisate, that would be first burned to the ground during the fights.
She has much more to lose compared to me."–
In none of his existences Lith had ever cared for schemes. His reasoning was simple but straightforward.
"Fine." At those words, Lith sighed in relief, finally his body was able to relax, the built-up tension quickly disappeared.
"No matter how crazy your story sounds, I believe you. There's only one problem. It's impossible to open Warp Steps inside the academy without the permission of a member of the staff.
Hence, to get my hands on that box, I'll need to talk to Linjos first. He'll probably summon you kids to listen to your side of the story. If I were you, I'd expect him to be pretty pissed off from your lack of trust."
Lith stared at the hologram with adamant eyes and a grave expression, without saying a word.
"That's the attitude, face him like that and you'll have nothing to fear."
More staring and silence ensued.
"Lith?" She asked starting to be worried. "Is everything all right?"
His eyes remained sharp, yet a faint snoring became audible.
"Have you really fallen asleep with your eyes wide open? Wake up!" The sound of her fist slamming on the desk did the trick.
"Sorry, I was absent minded for a second." He said buying time for Solus to bring him up to speed.
"I'll wait for the Headmaster's call together with my companions. As per your request, they are still oblivious of our partnership. Do you want to keep things that way or can I inform them?"
"At this point, it doesn't matter anymore. I don't know what excuse you used to remain alone and make this call, but if you don't start telling the truth, you'll lose their trust."
After closing the communication, Lith rushed towards Quylla's room, where his schoolmates were supposed to spend all day practicing triple casting and dimensional magic.
- "What a rotten luck. To think that I'm forced to ask for help to a bunch of kids."
"Didn't you complain that you have grown stale as a person just a few hours ago? Maybe this is a good occasion to start opening up. Be positive for once."
"Yes, I did. But I was talking about stupid things like sharing feelings, hobbies and all that jazz. Not potentially entrusting some of my secrets to others!" –
In his mind, Lith could see many obstacles riddling the path he had been forced to take. Linjos could summon to his office not only Lith, but also the others. And unlike the Marchioness, being able to see them calm and rested, he could see past Lith's lies.
To avoid blowing the cover he had created over the years, Lith needed his so called 'friends' to perfectly play their part. There where so many things that could go wrong, and he had so little time to convince them to help him.
Being caught unprepared was what he hated the most, his only remaining option was hoping for once in his life to be lucky.
A few seconds after he knocked on the door, Phloria let him in.
The mood in the room was gloomy, all those present had dejected faces and black circles under the eyes. It seemed like they had finished a shift in a mine while mourning their grandfather's death.
"Thank the gods, you all look like crap."
Chapter 120 Two Truths
"Thanks, it's nice to see you too." Phloria sarcastically replied
"What happened?" Lith asked.
"It's terrible!" Yurial groaned. "After all these hours, zero progress. We have barely eaten to have more time, but it was all for nothing. I'm going to fail dimensional magic so bad it's going to destroy my grades.
How can we focus on a subject so hard with all that's happening? Every time I am alone, I have to watch my back from Lyam and his goons. The rest of the time I am either studying or worrying about what could happen if a civil war really breaks out.
I could lose everything and everyone I love. The work of generations destroyed in a few days, simply because people like the Lukart think that might makes right. I can barely sleep at night anymore."
He held his head between the hands, his eyes watery due to stress and exhaustion. Phloria just nodded, sharing his worries. She had almost developed the compulsion to call in once an hour, to check the wellbeing of her brothers.
"So basically, you are saying that living like a commoner is driving you crazy?" Lith replied furrowing his eyebrows.
"Your first worry is the same one every Ballot less student has to live with. As for the second, well, back in my village, wandering nobles were treated like natural disasters, since they could pillage, kill and r*pe at will.
And we were the lucky ones, since the presence of my mentor kept most of them at bay. Sorry, but I'm not sorry to break your self-pity bubble. Not to mention that basically you two are the living proof their strategy is working.
If everyone were to freak out like you do, very few would graduate this year. That would be considered as the Headmaster's fault, with the only result to push the Kingdom one step closer to the civil war."
Phloria and Yurial only got gloomier after his speech.
- "Way to go, you idiot." Lith scolded himself. "Why don't you beat them down while you are at it? We need their help, so try to be a decent person for a change." –
"Sorry, guys. I didn't mean to be a jerk." And for once he was sincere.
"But something absurd happened to me while I was in the forest, and I'm still messed up."
Before any of them could ask a single question, Lith told his story once again, but unlike the Marchioness, they didn't allow him to continue after the part about defeating the plant Abomination and rescuing the dryad.
"Are you telling us you defeated a monster alone?" From her voice and expression, Phloria didn't believe a word he said.
"Was the dryad hot?" A tinge of colour returned on Yurial's face, even with Lith avoiding to mention the nudity part.
"Are you all right? I can't believe you are so calm after that thing almost managed to eat you alive." Quylla had turned ashen, with Friya preferring to calm her rather than express her surprise.
"Yes, yes and yes." He replied.
"Thanks for being the only one that not only believes me, but also sincerely worries about me, Quylla."
At those words the others acutely perceived Lith's poke, realizing their rudeness, rushing into expressing overdue concerns about his wellbeing.
"If you find this part incredible, wait for the rest." He resumed the narration, taking out the natural treasures, the letter and the box at the right time to prove them he wasn't making any of that up.
When Lith finished, it was hard to understand if they were more incredulous or scared. Incredulous because both the ideas of the monster and a prophecy for a soul, seemed too much something out of a fairy tale to be real.
Scared because the content of the prophecy wasn't about endless riches, a future harem of world class beauties or Lith becoming King, like in the legends. It was the stuff their nightmares were made of.
Without the academy, Quylla would be back to be a homeless orphan. And if the war really ensued, there was no telling how it could end. The only certainty was that both sides would spill a lot of blood, maybe enough for the bordering countries to invade, erasing the Griffon Kingdom from history.
"Why are you telling us all this? You do know how crazy all this sound, and if your patron, of which we never heard about before, has already took matters in her hands, what do you need us for?"
As usual, Phloria was the first one to speak. She had taken her leadership quite seriously. Despite their bond, she always felt he was keeping many secrets from them. More than not believing him, she wanted Lith to crack his impenetrable armour and show her some real trust.
"First off, because you are my friends, and you have the right to now the truth." Every fiber of his being was cringing at those words, yet he pushed forward. Like Solus had reminded him earlier, progress, not perfection.
"Second, because even my patron, just as you, Phloria, don't believe me capable of such a feat. Before I continue, there's something you must know."
Lith sat on Quylla's bed, massaging his temples while inwardly cursing the fate forcing him to take a gamble after another.
"Life at the edges of civilization is really hard. I had to fight for everything since I have memory. I'm not like you guys, I killed my first human at the age of six. Then, after I finished my apprenticeship, I became a bounty hunter, killing people for money."
- "There, I have said it. They finally know I am a bona fide murderer with a penchant for gold." –
With a deep sigh, he raised his head to look them in the eyes. Contrary to his expectations, there was no surprise, disgust or spite in their expressions.
"Why you don't look shocked in the least?"
"Well, I already knew everything." Friya shrugged.
"After how you handled the school's queens the first day and reading Professor Vastor's report about your achievements, I was too curious. So, I had a background check made on you."
"You did what?" Either in the new world or on Earth, violations of his privacy never felt nice.
"Sorry, but between your skills, glare and awful character, I thought it was best knowing the competition. Besides, is not like I had to dig that hard, it was all public knowledge."
"And she told me everything once we became friends." Quylla chimed in.
"I never thought badly of you for that. On the contrary, I find you amazing. Wish I was able to do the same, instead of being constantly forced to rely on others." She blushed a little, keeping her eyes down and fiddling with her long hair.
"Same. I mean that I had a background check made too, not the cool part. To be honest, I found you to be quite scary at the start, but then you turned out to be a chill guy."
Yurial patted some invisible dust off his shoulder, incapable of looking Lith in the eyes. He still found him to be quite scary.
"And so did I. Hope this isn't the big secret." Phloria snorted.
"It actually is. At least part of it." Lith stood up, taking a deep breath to calm himself.
"But showing is much better than telling. Phloria, would you mind taking out your sword and attacking me?" He gestured the others to clear the space around them, for their own safety.
"Are you crazy?" She asked with her eyes wide open.
"Humour me. And while you are at it, drink a defence potion too. I'm too tired to hold back, I could hurt you quite badly."
Seeing that she kept not moving, Lith closed in too fast for her to react, tapping with his right index and medium finger on her solar plexus, forcing the air out the lungs and making her cough uncontrollably.
When Phloria tried instinctively to reach for her sword, Lith swept her with a kick. Before she could adjust her body for the fall, he was already up, clenching her sword hand with his left hand and lifting her by the throat with the other one.
He then gently helped her standing up again, while a shocked silence filled the room. Thanks to his new body, Lith hadn't needed to use fusion magic, his enhanced physical prowess was enough.
"Ever since I was little, I noticed my constitution was quite unique. That's how I manged so well in the past, before the academy."
"That's amazing! Why did you hide it? I would flaunt it all day if I was in your shoes." Yurial said.
"Yeah, you could. Because of your status. If so many nobles get angry when a commoner surpasses them in any field, imagine what would happen if they knew that a commoner that is both a good mage and fighter exists."
It was the best explanation Lith had come up with. It covered the reticence, partly explained his exploit, and most importantly exposed as little as possible of his secrets.
"I would be either targeted by those that perceive my existence as a threat, or forced into servitude. My mentor always said to never reveal it to anyone, and this is the first time I'm disobeying her.
Because I need your help."
Chapter 121 Interludium 3
The Griffon Kingdom was commonly referred as the Original Kingdom, since more than a millennium ago had been the first great country to emerge from the warring states period in the Garlen continent.
It wasn't the biggest, the primacy belonged to the Blood Sands tribes, but because of the much harsher life conditions of the desert coupled with its lack of fertile lands, it was without a doubt the richest.
To the north and west it bordered the Gorgon empire, and to the south and east with the Blood Sands desert. The central government was located in the capitol, Valeron, named after the Original King, Valeron Griffon.
The ruler of the Kingdom was also the commander in chief of the royal army.
It was prohibited to private citizens or even nobles to have an army. Those who could afford it, where only allowed to have a personal guard, up to one hundred soldiers.
The simple attempt to recruit or form one was high treason against the Crown, and the perpetrator's bloodline would be executed up to the third generation. Nobles were only considered as administrators of their land on behalf of the King/Queen.
They weren't allowed to make laws, only to apply them as they were enacted by the Court. In case of doubt about their interpretation, a simple call via the communication amulet to a royal scribe would clear it.
To waive the laws were needed special circumstances and the King's direct approval, otherwise it would be considered an act of rebellion.
One of the reasons the Griffon Kingdom had flourished during the centuries compared to is neighbours, was the ruler's selection process. The title wasn't hereditary, just like the competence, skill and talent the role required.
After the death of the current ruler, the spouse would hold the reins of the whole Kingdom until the next one was found. To access to the selection, there were three essential requirements.
The candidate had to share, no matter how dilute, the blood of the Original King, also had to possess outstanding magical talent and proved administrative skill. The reason for the first requirement was still a mystery to everyone except the ruler.
The second and third, instead, were quite obvious. Without magic, the ruler would be a prisoner of his own guards, since even a magico level servant could kill him without leaving any trace in barely a second.
Lastly, a good ruler was first and foremost a good administrator. Without a proper sense of justice and balance, he would be either a tyrant, or even worse a profligate strawman in the hands of whoever was able to enable his vices.
Those who satisfied these requirements would be brought in the deepest part of the royal castle, in front of a mystical gate made out of gold and silver, that would open only for those who carried royal blood.
The ones that were found worthy, would emerge from it shocked but unharmed, while the others would never return. It was the main reason why the title of King/Queen was not coveted except from those who sincerely believed to deserve it.
At any time, someone that met the requirements could challenge the current ruler and undertake the trial, but again very few came back.
In it's thousand-year history, the Court had never elected a ruler without carrying the tradition, and even that was a mystery.
Many thought that behind the gate there was a series of magical artifacts, that would put the candidate to the test and kill those who weren't fit to lead the Country.
Others that the ghost of the Original King still dwelled in the castle, passing his wisdom through the generations thanks to the bond of blood they shared.
All of them were wrong.
Behind the gold and silver gate, after a short tunnel, there was the lair of the Divine Griffon Tyris, one of the only three Divine beasts that lived on the continent, that history knew only as the Original Queen, from the time she helped Valeron build his Kingdom, which he named in her honour.
(AN: I will use the "she" instead of "it" because since it can shapeshift in human form the boundary between beast and human is quite thin and confusing.)
Every time it was necessary, she would examine the candidates, making sure that the legacy of her only one and true love would not be lost, using her powers to probe their minds and spirits.
If any of them pleased her, the Kingdom would have a new ruler. Otherwise she would have no need to fix something for dinner. Tyris didn't believe in direct intervention, nor did she care that much for human affairs anymore.
She just kept fulfilling King Valeron's dying wish, choosing his successors and scaring the sh*t out the Court from time to time, when someone thought that the tradition was outdated.
It was from her lair that Arjîn Rênas departed for his new mission.
He was the youngest recruit in the Queen's Corpse, and had just finished learning the basics of royal magic from Tyris. (AN: is just true magic but with another name, all the other canons will be kept to avoid confusion.)
The existence of the Queen's corps was a known fact, something that every law-abiding citizen would remember and respect. To the contrary, the Queen's Corpse was supposed to be just a rumour, the bogeyman of the underworld.
It was a secret unit, comprised only by the most loyal member of the corps, that once had mastered royal magic, would single-handedly remove any threat to the Kingdom.
If an entire noble household died in an accident, if a criminal cartel disappeared overnight, it was the Corpse's doing.
No one had actually ever seen a member of the Corpse in action and lived to tell the tale, it was one of those "My cousin's friend knows a guy that…" kind of rumors. Yet they were very real.
When they had met, Tyris had welcomed Arjîn in her human form, making him fall head over heels for her, and wasting the following week rejecting his marriage proposals and trying to reason with him.
She had kept her Griffon form for too long, forgetting that calming down a scared guest was much easier than facing his unreasonable feelings. Tyris' human appearance had a delicate oval face, with perfect features that countless artists had spent their whole lives in vain, trying to reproduce them.
She had shining gold hair, long enough to almost touch the floor, and silver eyes that sparkled as stars at the faintest light. Her pearly-pink skin was flawless, showing no sign of being affected by living in the cold underground lair for so long.
Tyris usually wore a simple blue satin day dress, used centuries ago by grieving widows, that despite its ancient and baggy cut could not hide her soft and ravishing curves more than a flying bird could eclipse the sun.
The first time Arjîn had seen her smile, he believed to have been long dead, because that simple expression brought back to life all the feelings that long years in the Queen's black ops squad had made him forget.
"Remember to not abuse your new powers." Were her parting words.
"The impurities in your body are not your enemy, on the contrary are the only reason why you and all the talented mages are still alive, despite your bodies are unsuitable to wield the power of your cores.
It takes time for a body to adapt, and there is no way to rush the process. Any misstep, and you will turn into an Abomination, and someone else from the Corpse will have to get rid of you. Farewell, child. We shall not meet again."
With a heavy heart, he departed without looking back.
According to the Queen's orders, something was wrong with the Kingdom, even worse than usual, requiring all hands-on deck and forcing Arjîn to abandon his training early.
There seemed to be something odd about many Alchemic labs near the White Griffon academy and the materials they were buying in stock, along with too many dimensional boxes for their purpose to be anything good.
Chapter 122 Interludium 4
After Arjîn left, Tyris could not but sigh, thinking about the irony of the core refining process. While those who started with a very weak mana core, be it red or yellow, had it easy, the stronger the core, the higher the risks.
Her beloved Valeron was the perfect example. Born with a yellow core, once learned true magic, he had the opportunity to strengthen both his core and body at the same time, removing the impurities bit by bit.
Once his core had started to be too strong, pain had been the first sign of alarm, allowing Tyris to stop him from refining the world energy until the body had fully adapted.
But for stronger beings, like magical beasts or talented mages that had already reached their full development, true magic was more often than not a death penalty. If they purified the impurities too fast, the energy inside their bodies would flood every single cell without control.
The lucky ones would die on the spot, while the less fortunate would explode among excruciating pains.
And then there were the Abominations.
Beings with a core so strong, with a will so indomitable that even death could not defeat them. They would plague the land, consuming all forms of life trying to prolong their existence.
Unlike mages and magical beasts, Abominations were like snowflakes, no two were alike. Their souls and minds would shape their new form, until the moment they were put down like rabid animals.
The only way to avoid such destiny was through hard work and patience, but the rewards were beyond imagination. Becoming a conduit for the world energy meant becoming an Awakened one, a being with an endless mana supply, whose only magical limit was his own willpower and imagination.
By removing the impurities, the body of an Awakened one would progressively become faster, stronger and more resilient. His healing so fast to almost resemble regeneration, his six senses keen like those of the animals.
Last but not least, all Awakened ones would have their life spans enhanced. They would no longer consume their own life force, replacing it with the world energy itself.
That was how monsters like Scorpicores, Griffons, Dragons and Phoenixes could have an almost eternal life. But that didn't mean immortality. Despite each of them was really hard to kill, it was far from impossible.
That was why most of the oldest Awakened ones ended up isolating themselves. The stronger you were, the more conceited you became, until the point you felt entitled to force your idea of right and wrong on others, making the whole world your enemy.
Thinking about the time she had spent with Arjîn, and how fleeting was still his existence, Tyris could not but ponder if her old friend and rival Leegaain had actually been right all along.
"Teaching humans is not impossible, just pointless." He had told her the last time they had met, centuries earlier, back when he had given up on humankind due to their innate foolishness.
Thinking of him, after all those years, still managed to make her laugh.
Leegaain was the only dragon she had ever met that flaunted his origins as a common lizard. If not for her pride, maybe Tyris could one day confess to him that she too had started as a simple finch.
***
While running along the stairs, Arjîn Rênas was amazed by how both his stamina and speed had improved. Being one of the Kingdom's elite Mage Assassins, he knew his body like the back of his own hand.
As a beginner Awakened one, Tyris had allowed him only to partly purify his blood from impurities, yet the changes were remarkable. His happiness was short lived, though. Arjîn could not stop worrying about the report he had just received.
Not for its content, but for its length. A single page.
That could only mean that all the Crown's resources were stretched so thin that they could barely function properly. And considering that it included both the Queen's corps and Corpse, the idea was beyond unsettling.
"I have entered seclusion just a few months ago, how could the situation change so much in so little time?"
As soon as he reached one of the mirrors, he prickled his left index finger with a small knife, using his blood to draw a magic rune on it while injecting his mana.
The mirror's surface quivered, while the secret Warp Gate network was activated, allowing him to instantly reach his destination, the city of Kandria.
While on paper it was just a medium sized city, thriving thanks to its position along one of the main trading routes, reality was a bit different. Under all the sweat and noise produced by its industrious and honest citizens, Kandria was home of one of the biggest black markets in the Marquisate.
For the right price, there were very few things you couldn't acquire, even slave collars, and that said a lot. Slavery was forbidden in all the free Countries, and it was a crime punished with death, preceded by torture and the expropriation of all the family's assets.
It was because of the ever flourishing criminal underworld that a famous Alchemist like Coirn Hatorne had chosen Kandria to build her state of the art laboratory. It gave her access to all kinds of clients and ingredients, allowing her to take the best from both worlds and became filthy rich very quickly.
When Arjîn emerged in the local branch of the Mage Association, the clerk barely glanced at him. The secret network also had access to all the official waypoints across the Kingdom, allowing the agents to avoid being questioned or searched.
Customs and controls would take place before departing, so those who arrived were considered to be properly cleared travellers. Before leaving the building, Arjîn took a quick stop at the restroom, to prepare his cover.
A fancy silk dress was inconspicuous in the royal castle, but it would make him stick out like a sore thumb in any other place. He wore brown cotton leggings, a white shirt and a vest. His new shoes had a soft sole, allowing him to move without making noise.
The final touch was applying make up with water magic, simulating a long scar going from under his left eye to his chin. Even if someone would stop looking at him, the scar would be the only thing they would see.
Their gazes would be drawn by it, ignoring his eyes and his nose. Whenever they would try to recall his appearance, the only thing they would remember was a man with a three days old scruff and a scar on the cheek.
According to his seniors, it was the best mask one could ever wear.
Once outside the building, Arjîn remembered why he hated Kandria. When the city had been founded, no one had expected that one day it would be so busy, hence the roads weren't very large.
Between the merchants' stalls, the carriages stopping to load and unload their goods and all the pedestrians going to and fro their homes, walking had become a form of art for the residents and a labour for everyone else.
The bustling activity forced people to bump into each other, making those cramped streets a paradise for thieves. When Arjîn finally reached his destination, he had been robbed four times of the leather pouch he carried at his neck, holding a few copper and silver coins to hide the fact that he had a dimensional ring.
Each time, he had been forced to replace it with whatever he could find in the pockets of those who were robbing him, whom he robbed back with a sleight of hand. In the process Arjîn actually earned three silver coins, which he donated to a nameless homeless on the road.
He circled around Hatorne's shop, pretending to check the nearby stalls while looking for a way in. Being in the high-end part of the city, the traffic was limited, and that allowed him to spice things up with magic.
At every step he took, Arjîn would release earth magic waves that would seep into the shop's walls before coming back, like a sonar, allowing him to check for secret passages. A smart's rabbit hole had two exits, but a clever one would have many.
Yet despite all his efforts, he found nothing.
- "Either I have overestimated that traitorous witch and there is no secret passage, or I have underestimated her, and she has magically shielded her lab." –
On the back of his orders, there was a recently drawn map of the Alchemic lab, but the only entrances noted were the front door, were aside from window shopping he could do very little outside drawing unwanted attention, and the service entrance for the suppliers.
According to the map, both were guarded by skilled mercenaries. Killing them wasn't a problem, but getting in without causing a ruckus was. The mission required discretion, otherwise instead of the Corpse they would have sent a simple constable with a proper warrant.
Arjîn didn't like complex plans. In his experience, the bigger the setup, the higher was the number of things that could go wrong. He had only one shot at the mission, so after scouting the surroundings, he bought a few trinkets before disappearing in a back alley.
He chose to wait on the top of the tallest building in the zone, a three stories house, to keep and eye on the Alchemic lab without being noticed.
Chapter 123 Terminus
Arjîn's options were limited. Being against a fellow magician, he doubted that Hatorne employed common locks.
The illegal market was her biggest source of income, she was bound to have set alarms and safety measures to get rid of intruders or destroy all the incriminating evidence, in case something went wrong.
Arjîn wasn't hot-headed, neither the mission had a deadline, so he bid his time, waiting two days to get his opportunity.
It arrived in the form of a shipment of crates, that two young men delivered after parking their carriage in the alley of the service entrance. Finally, the door was opened from the inside, allowing the goods to be brought inside by both the guards and the couriers.
Using Life Vision, Arjîn checked the surroundings for witnesses and then the building to make sure the intelligence he had was correct. There were no guards hidden inside, and that was good news.
If Arjîn wanted, he could have jumped down and killed them all in barely two seconds.
The corpses weren't a problem, he could store them in his dimensional amulet, and so was the blood. A simple pulse of dark energy would delete every trace of the massacre.
But that would mean killing two potential innocents, not to mention that the carriage and the crates were bound to draw attention, since they were perfectly visible from the main road.
Arjîn waited for the guards to get back in, and at the last second, when the door was about to be closed, he Blinked inside.
Arjîn's stiletto severed the man's spine from the skull, killing him on the spot. Before the second guard, a bulky middle-aged man, could even react, Arjîn Blinked again, appearing behind him and putting his right hand on the guard's mouth before slitting his throat from ear to ear.
Not even a drop of blood reached the ground, Arjîn managed to capture all of it with water magic and store it in his dimensional amulet. Then, he proceeded to search the corpses, finding a set of keys and personal effects.
Judging by his looks, the middle-aged guard wasn't married, nor had any family. Under the breastplate, his clothes were dirty with days old food stains, missing some buttons that he never cared to replace.
His belongings amounted to a set of gambling dices and a wineskin already half empty, despite was still morning. All signs that the man was letting himself go, without a care in the world.
The other guard was younger, cleaner with an oval shaped locket around his neck, inside there were four initials inscribed in a heart.
Arjîn used air magic to shave off his scruff and water magic to remove the fake scar, applying at the same time some make up to resemble as much as possible his victim before donning his clothes.
- "As long someone doesn't come close enough, it would be hard to recognize me as an intruder. Even if that happens, surprise should give me a second or two, plenty enough to get rid of the meddling b*stard." –
After sealing the bodies in his dimensional amulet, Arjîn used earth magic again, this time scanning the building from the inside.
As he had suspected earlier, it had been shielded against external probing, but from there he was able to perceive an uncharted grid of tunnels and rooms right below the shop.
Arjîn left the warehouse, heading towards the nearest entrance. He regretted not having the opportunity to search the crates behind him, but now he was on the clock. His goal was to get all the evidence he needed, before either blowing up the place or running away after writing an apology note.
Thanks to Life Vision, he could see that the door in front of him had no magical properties. Nonetheless, when he found the right key, he used spirit magic to unlock it, just to be safe.
According to the blueprint, the shop occupied the first floor of the building, being composed by the exhibit space of medium-low value merchandise for the public to see, the warehouse, to stock the unsorted raw materials and an ample corridor, connecting the two with the employee facilities.
Below the street level, were supposed to be just the alchemic lab and the vault, containing the high-end products and rare ingredients.
Thanks to earth magic, Arjîn had no problems finding the hidden lever to open the path to the tunnels. The road was disseminated with alarms and traps, but between royal magic and Life Vision, he was able to get past them, barely slowing down.
Building a magical lab underground was unusual, but not unprecedented. Handling powerful spells and volatile components, it was of paramount importance that the facility was perfectly insulated from external forces.
If mystical wild energies were to enter, whatever the reason, during a crucial step, the best-case scenario was losing hours, if not days of work and all the resources employed. Worst case scenario, the whole lab would go boom.
A good insulation by magical means was very, very expensive. That was why stingy or needy magicians would choose the underground option to ease the burden on their wallets.
Arjîn thanked his good luck for Hatorne not having realized that her ruse was a double-edged sword. On one hand, it had allowed her to build a lab under the lab, away from prying eyes, without raising any suspicion.
On the other, though, he could see via Life Vision that she had been really stingy. The real lab was poorly insulated, and that meant that Hatorne could not have placed any kind of powerful magical device in its vicinity without risking her own life.
As he expected, from that point onward, the traps and alarms were only of mechanical nature, making his job much easier. While he delved further, Arjîn suddenly realized why the security was so lax.
The corridors were large enough for two adults to be barely able to walk side by side, and magically lit so that there was no hiding place. Going in was relatively simple, but if he were to be discovered, getting out would be nigh impossible.
The low ceiling made flying useless; the tight space prevented to use agility to run away. Strength and numbers would be much more important in a fight compared to speed and magic.
The first room he encountered was a luxurious lounge, with an expensive carpet covering all the floor, and velvet red couches and armchairs arranged around a long cherry-wood table.
- "It must be where she discusses business with her 'special' clients."-
Arjîn noticed several wooden boxes lying on the tables, each of them had a very complex magical lock already activated, except for one. He recognized the rune pattern. It was a variation of a lock very popular among smugglers and spies.
It allowed itself to be opened by whoever knew the right combination, not only by the one that had imprinted its magic, yet a single mistake and the vessel would implode, destroying its contents.
This version seemed to be more complicated and dangerous, it would explode instead of imploding. Arjîn stored all of them in his dimensional amulet, hoping to be able to find a way to break into them later.
He also took the unlocked box, and after moving some of the furniture to get as much space as possible, he placed it on the ground, pushing the opening button.
The box grew to the size of a big closet, containing beckers, glass rods, vials and several burners.
It was also full of gears connected to mechanical arms that seemed to have been designed to hold and handle the laboratory glassware that had yet to be arranged.
It was a marvel of magic and science like Arjîn had never even dreamt about.
- "Whatever this is, it must be the unassembled version of what lies in the other boxes. If only the glassware was already at least filled with the ingredients, my mission would be as good as done. As it is, the question remains. What the heck is this for?"
He compressed it again, storing it away too.
The lounge lead to another small corridor, identical to the previous one. After checking with earth magic and Life Vision for traps or hidden guards, Arjîn moved forward, determined to find the last piece of the puzzle.
His steps didn't produce any sound, allowing him to keep an ear out for incoming enemies, yet he encountered no one.
At his left, he found another door, unlike any other in the building. It was thick and padded, made to prevent something from coming out, yet it had no lock whatsoever. This piqued his curiosity, so after changing back to his enchanted suit and preparing for the worst, he slowly opened the door.
What he saw was so creepy that even a hardened veteran like him could not help but feel cold shivers running down his spine.
The room inside was small, five meters (16') large and ten meters (33') long, with chains coming out from the walls and floor. At first glance it could look like a prison, but everything was wrong.
There were no prisoners hanging, just corpses. One seemed to have exploded from the inside, its chest cut open in two by a single huge wound, that no known weapon or beast should have been able to inflict.
Another was burnt to death, while its neighbour was frozen solid, and despite the room was far from cold, it didn't show any sign of thawing. After checking them both, Arjîn understood that their death made no sense.
It wasn't the result of any spell or natural event, fire and ice respectively had devoured them from the inside. The last corpse was even stranger than the others.
What he supposed had once been an old man had now his face disfigured by agony. The eyes rolled back showing only the white.
The corpse had its veins turned of a bright blue, and they were bulging out, like they were going to burst open at any second.
When Arjîn touched the body to better examine it, the old man regained his senses, whimpering an almost silent prayer.
"Please… kill… me."
Arjîn jumped back from the surprise, instinctively activating Life Vision. Not only the old man was alive, but all the chained bodies, even in death, kept emitting a mana signature. Whatever had killed them was still active.
- "What in the gods' names has that madwoman done?" -
Arjîn stored the bodies, the royal mages would have a lot of explaining to do.
Then, he checked the old man again. He was clearly in a lot of pain, in no condition to be moved and Arjîn was no healer. He had only recently become an Awakened one, developing with true magic only the spells he was already apt to.
"I'm sorry, old man, but your body or those of your companions may hold the key to prevent a great disaster. The Kingdom honours your sacrifice."
Arjîn snapped his neck, giving him a painless death, but as soon as he did, the chains started blinking with magical energies.
Even without understanding how, he knew to have triggered some kind of alarm. Arjîn assessed that between the bodies and the boxes, he had gained enough. It was time to get out of there.
Unbeknownst to him, it wasn't an alarm, just like the room wasn't a prison. It was just another lab, with a different kind of guinea pigs. The chains had simply alerted the assistants that was time to collect the data.
Arjîn rushed all the way back using air fusion, slowing down only to avoid the traps. Suddenly, a man with a wizard attire and a couple of guards popped out of a corner, managing to sound the alarm the moment they spotted the intruder.
Cursing his bad luck, Arjîn darted forward, his stilettos made short work of the guards and the mage, that died before having the time to cast a single spell. More and more guards flooded the corridors, dying like ants under Arjîn's stilettos, their corpses piled up as fast as they arrived.
The alarm kept resounding in the building, forcing an assistant to alert his mistress.
"Mistress Hatorne, there is an intruder in the Kandria's lab." Her voice was full of panic.
"How far has he gone? What has he taken?" The old, hoarse voice was more annoyed than worried. They had disturbed her during a crucial point in her latest experiment.
"We don't know. He's about to come out from the underground lab. I don't know how long we will be able to stop him. Please, help us!"
"Help you? A bunch of incompetent, ungrateful idiots? You are all fired!"
Coirn Hatorne took out a glass pearl from her dimensional amulet, crushing it under her heel. A second later, a powerful but controlled explosion erupted from the underground lab, turning everything and everyone in a radius of five meters (16') from the shop into ashes.
Then she took her communicator amulet, informing her client.
"Lukart, old fart, I have good new and I have bad news. The bad news is that an intruder screwed up your little master plan. I had to destroy everything to prevent him from escaping."
"What's the good news?"
"I'm still not finished, you idiot. My old student, Professor Reflaar, had come to collect his order, and he is probably dead too. If I'm right, and I usually am, the intruder was sent here from the Queen.
The death of the Professor is ill timed, they will probably think he was one of your lapdogs. Also, I don't know if there was more than one intruder or what they have found out.
The last batch is either lost or in the enemy's hand, if I were you, I would make haste. If they find out their content, you'll fail even before you start."
Archmage Lukart's voice was full of anger and impatience, he would have buried alive that old hag years ago, if only he had the chance. But Hatorne was too smart and knew too much.
"I am still waiting for the good news." He roared.
"The lab was insured."
Chapter 124 Exordium
Lith waited for his companions to fully understand the seriousness of his situation. Without their aid, he feared to be forced to expose himself and his family to countless dangers. Each one of them was forced to a really difficult choice.
Either to back up his story, lying to the Headmaster and put their academic careers and family name in danger, or refuse, leaving him to shoulder alone the consequences of his attempt to prevent the ruin of the academy.
"I'm aware I'm asking much from you, but please know that I'm not doing this lightly. If any of you doesn't want to get involved, I would understand and bear no grudge."
An awkward silence ensued, most of them didn't know how to answer. On one hand, they felt proud of our friend, not only willing to risk so much to protect the Country from the civil war, but also having enough trust in them to reveal his secret.
On the other, though, they felt scared by the consequences both choices would bear. But most importantly, they realized that he was asking from them a leap of faith. If his revelation had proved something, was that they actually knew nothing about him.
Lith was already eerie back when he glared all the time, breezing through the classes and single-handedly disposing of magical beasts in the mock exam. But now, didn't he has just admitted not being a normal human?
For all they knew, his unnatural speed and strength could be just the tip of the iceberg.
That wasn't a situation any of them had ever taken into account when joining the White Griffon academy. For Yurial the plan had always been to study hard, have as many flings as possible before his arranged marriage, and inherit the family assets.
Phloria's only aim was to graduate with grades high enough to allow her to avoid any arranged marriage, and live her life as she wanted.
After finding out that her mother didn't care for her as a daughter, but only as a tool for her plots, Friya had become determined to become as successful as possible to give her the middle finger before leaving the household for good.
Quylla, instead, just wanted to never suffer from loneliness and starvation again.
Things had just turned so much complicated.
Contrary to everyone's expectation, it was Yurial the first to answer.
"You can count on me." He gave him a thumbs up.
- "Quylla would probably follow him even if he revealed to be an undead or a shape-shifting monster." Yurial thought. "Friya will simply come along. Those two are so glued together that I wouldn't be surprised even if she accepted to take part in a threesome.
That leaves out only Phloria, but she seems too much bounded to honour and loyalty to abandon a teammate in dire straits. Hence instead of looking like a coward, is better to move first. Besides, no pain no gain.
Once it gets out we 'managed' to kill a monster, my reputation will go through the roof, and if somehow 'our discover' prevents the civil war, I'll take credit for that too." –
Although cynical, Yurial's reasoning was in the ballpark. He had anticipated Quylla of a split second, and as soon she spoke, Friya agreed too, leaving the flabbergasted Phloria looking like an egotistical jerk.
"What the f*ck… I mean, I'm in!" She blushed so hard to almost look cute.
After thanking them Lith proceeded to describe again the fight versus the Abomination, concocting with their help a believable team victory.
They were still discussing when a voice resounded in the air, just like the gong for the lessons, summoning them in the Headmaster's office. They walked as slowly as possible, trying to fix the last details.
When they entered the office, Linjos was waiting for them, standing up in front of the glass window.
"We are ready to report, sir." Phloria stepped forward, straight as an arrow in a military-looking pose.
"No need." He replied without even turning back, prompting them to get close with a wave of his hand.
While they obeyed, each one more nervous than the other, Linjos spun his index finger in the air, and the whole tower where the office was located started to turn around, until it faced a particular region of the forest that was completely bald.
The whole group was shocked, if not for the change in the landscape they would have never guessed the tower was able to move. It all had happened without the slightest vibration.
"That's where the fight took place, correct?" Linjos asked.
"Yes." Phloria replied swallowing down a lump of saliva.
- "Good gods, how big was that thing? How strong Lith really is?" – They thought as one.
"Normally I wouldn't believe a word of your story. Too many things do not add up. But even if that horrible withered scar wasn't proof enough, I have already contacted the Lord of the forest, which confirmed everything.
So, either you are telling a truth worthy of being sung by bards, or I'm the victim of an incredibly elaborate joke."
When Scarlett had received Linjos' call about the Abomination, it had immediately understood what was happening.
Knowing what humans would do to an Awakened one, and being still interested in Lith's development, the Scorpicore nodded to everything, even introducing to Linjos the rescued dryad before hanging up the call.
"Animals can talk?" Yurial couldn't avoid asking out in surprise.
"Animals, can't. Monsters, instead, speak fluently just like you and I."
Linjos turned around, looking Lith in the eyes.
"That leaves me with only a couple of questions. How come Lith was the one to decide what to do with what you found?"
"Because the dryad sensed that was his soul being in danger." Phloria promptly improvised.
"Everything we found seemed to be linked to his destiny. We simply thought we had no say in the matter."
"And that leads to the second question.
Why you contacted Marchioness Distar instead of coming to me first? I could have expected that from Lord Deirus or Lady Ernas here, giving such important news and evidence to their families to gain the Court's favour. But you?
You are just a commoner, why you decided to overrule me?" His voice didn't sound angry, as much as dejected.
"With all due respect, sir, I'm not overruling you." Lith replied.
"Marchioness Distar is not only the ruler of this region, is also one of those that taught me magic." He clung to the lie that got him admitted in the academy months ago.
"Also, I think she is better suited to handle the matter, since she is more detached from the problem that albeit just in part, you contributed to create."
"Explain." Linjos' eyes steeled, a tinge of anger appeared into them.
"In my opinion, your reform of the academy system is a true paradise for those who work hard and commoners, and that's the problem. Have you ever heard the fable of the boiling frog?
If you put one in hot waters, it will jump away to safety, but if you rise the temperature slowly, it will die without even noticing it. The problem was already there, you had the right solution, but implemented it too fast.
I believe that a man of your knowledge should have been able to predict it and proceed with more caution."
Linjos was already hurt by their lack of trust, the last remark hit a nerve, tinging his cheeks red with anger and shame.
Chapter 125 Bombshell
After Linjos delivered both the magically sealed dimensional box and the coded letter, Lith felt like a burden had been lifted from his chest. It was the biggest, yet just one among many.
Now he had to prepare for the next dimensional magic exercise, research the runes sealing the boxes hidden inside his pocket dimension with the library's help, study their pseudo core with Invigoration, and find the time to use Accumulation to keep refining his core.
Now that he had finally overcame the bottleneck, he could use his first breathing technique again, to amass the world energy and strive for the blue mana core.
Worst case scenario, it would make him as powerful as the Headmaster or a Professor. Lith had not missed how the more he refined his core, the more dramatic changes he experienced.
At the beginning, Lith had thought that by absorbing the world energy, he was simply overcoming his natural lack of magical force. But over time, by expelling the impurities accumulated in his blood, organs and now in his bones, things had become unsettling even for him.
So many things didn't add up. At the White Griffon academy, there were plenty of students with a mana core stronger than his own, even his teammates. Yet none of them exhibited a physical prowess like the one Lith now possessed.
Hence, it wasn't just a matter of the mana core. As for the impurities, it couldn't be as simple as that. In the past he had removed them with Invigoration from his parents and sisters, but again, no such thing had happened.
Science could not help him; it was clearly related to the different biology of the new world. And then there was how Kalla had reacted to his last metamorphosis, saying that his smell had become less human.
Lith had so many things to do or think about, that his headache started getting worse again, reminding him that first of all he had to sleep. His vision blurred, while his knees became so weak that he had to lean against a wall to keep standing.
"Are you alright?" Yurial asked.
"Not really. I think the fatigue from the fight in the forest is about to kick in. I don't know how long I can hold on."
A sudden pang made him fall on his knees, holding his temples between the hands, trying to withstand the blinding pain.
He had yet to express his gratitude for their help, but the only thing Lith could do was getting back to his room with the help of his friends, falling asleep as soon his head touched the pillow.
The next morning, not even the breakfast gong managed to woke him up. In the end, Yurial had to bang on his door for several minutes before Lith managed to crawl out of the bed.
"Is that a wand in your pants, or are you just happy to see me?" He said with a cheerful smile.
"What the heck is happening? Has the civil war already started?" As soon he managed to regain his senses, Lith realized it was already morning.
"I was about to call for help and have the door kicked down. Yesterday you almost fainted. How do you feel now?"
"Tired." Despite the full night of sleep, he was still very weak. Invigoration still had no effect.
- "Solus, why you didn't wake me up?"
"I tried multiple times, but your consciousness was beyond my reach. Besides, I think you still need plenty of rest." She sounded really worried.
"Why do you say so?" Lith asked.
"Because while you were sleeping, your body kept syphoning the world energy non-stop. Your mana core is still half empty.
It seems that overcoming the bottleneck caused such radical changes to almost deplete your system. Whatever happened this time, you still need time to adapt. –
Despite his weakness, Lith decided to continue his day as normal. At every meal he ate more than Quylla, feeling like his stomach had turned into a bottomless pit.
During dimensional magic practice, he discovered that his mana sensitivity was still crude, but his mana efficiency had gone up a notch. Magic flowed freely through him, encountering no resistance.
Casting any spell now required less mana, reducing the burden that such powerful energies exerted on his body. Sadly, that was still not enough.
Even training under Quylla's guidance, making any progress was a real struggle. Usually Lith would compensate his lack of talent with all-nighters and endless energy from Invigoration, but this time he lacked both.
When he was too tired to continue, he went straight to bed, asking his friends to wake him up at all costs, in case he couldn't manage on his own.
The following day, Lith woke up full of energy, his body was light like a feather and his head was finally clear. Both Invigoration and Accumulation seemed to work as normal.
- "Luckily, I contacted the Marchioness before going to sleep, otherwise I would have lost a lot of time. Seems that the refining process now needs a lot of preparation. If I stepped in a new stage during an exam, or worse, after a fight, I would be as good as dead." –
During breakfast, the whole canteen was shocked by the latest news. Everyone was discussing the mysterious explosion happened in Kandria that had killed Professor Reflaar, the Master Alchemy teacher.
At those words, Lith almost choked on his food.
"Isn't Kandria the city from which the mercenary team received both the hunting and the delivery mission?" Lith pointed out to the others with a whisper.
"Yeah, it's too odd to just be a coincidence." Friya said.
"Do you think that Professor Reflaar died trying to protect the academy, or because he was part of the conspiracy too?" Phloria's question was on point. Based on what they knew, even professors were untrustworthy.
- "He was a good man. I can't believe he would have brought any harm on his students." Solus refused even to consider the idea of Reflaar being a traitor. "He was an alchemist, and that was an alchemy shop. Maybe he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time."
"I believe you. I'm really sorry for your loss." Lith replied. –
Losing one own's first crush so abruptly was never easy, so instead of expressing his usual doubts and paranoia, Lith decided to let her grieve in peace. Even if they had never directly talked, Lith knew how much Solus had valued his company and enthusiasm.
Lith's group kept discussing all the possible implications the explosion could have, and who were the professors more likely to be a traitor. It goes without saying that Professor Rudd was on everyone's top of the list.
Once in the Dimensional Magic training hall, everyone took his place. This time, knowing that Professor Rudd would not give any pointers, Lith positioned himself right beside Quylla, to be able to both learn by imitation and asking her for help.
Only twelve students had to execute the second exercise, Pilfer. All the others were still stuck at the Loop spell.
Pilfer consisted in creating a dimensional door big enough to let the hand slip in and emerge above a table full of quills. Unlike the Loop spell, the students had now not only to open a bigger passage, but also to regulate the distance on their own.
"Begin!" Professor Rudd's voice roared even before the last gong signalled the start of the lesson.
Lith struggled with Pilfer from the first seconds, that soon turned into minutes and then in a whole hour. In all that time, he had made no progress. The only Gates he had managed to generate were all too narrow for his hand to pass, not to mention their exit was still too far from the table.
Quylla was faring way better, her Gates were almost of the right size and distance, but still unstable, disappearing within seconds with a loud bang. She tried to explain what Lith was doing wrong, but what was simple for her was a mystery to him.
Soon the air filled with the bangs from the students' unstable Gates and their curse words, tired of failing while Professor Rudd would only laugh in the face of any plea for help.
Suddenly, a bang resounded louder than ever, soon followed by another and then still another, until Lith started to think that the training hall had suddenly turned into a firing range.
"What in the gods' names is happening!" Professor Rudd's voice had no trace of hilarity anymore.
The space around the students was filled with cracks, small black holes formed and dissolved, causing the bangs that they had just heard. A student curious enough, tried to touch the cracked space, resulting in it exploding with the strength of a grenade.
Professor Rudd managed to save him, Blinking both of them out of the danger zone.
"Everyone, stop casting if you want to live!" He yelled on the top of his lungs. "Somehow the Hall's protections have been turned off."
Chapter 126 Bombshell 2
Lith's mind immediately went to Soluspedia, accessing the contents of Professor Rudd's book to assess how serious was their predicament.
"What the heck is going on?" Friya was never far away from Quylla.
"All the failed dimensional spells have made the space in the class unstable." Quylla beat Lith on time, explaining the root of the matter.
"Normally it would never happen, since space reconfigures itself after a while. But because in a short time frame, hundreds, if not thousands of spells have been cast, order turned into chaos, making it possible.
The badly folded space wants to revert to normal, but it's too crumpled. Different spells are still lingering in the air, interacting together. If it keeps up like this, the whole training hall will turn into a huge fireball."
"What? Can't you dumb it down for me?" Like anyone without Soluspedia, Friya was still at the basics, completely oblivious that over bending space was like lighting a match in a coal mine.
"Don't cross the streams!" Lith blurted out.
"What streams?" Quylla looked at him with a puzzled expression.
"I mean… Friya, opening a Warp Steps is like folding a piece of paper. Two extremities separated in space can temporarily overlap, before going back to normal, like a spring.
What's happening is that multiple pieces of paper are colliding between them, but since it's not paper but energy, it will explode!"
"That's why dimensional magic is taught only in academies." Quylla chimed in.
"All the training halls have specific protective arrays, to prevents things like this from occurring. Students are bound to mess up, especially on difficult subjects. But according to Professor Rudd, they must have been turned off!"
Right after saving the dumb student from his own idiocy, Rudd took out his communication amulet to call for help. Only then he realised that using a dimensional spell hadn't been his brightest moment.
New cracks started to appear in the points he had Blinked through, spreading to the nearest ones until they formed a rough circle.
Inwardly cursing, Rudd threw the amulet to the closest student. Then he focused all his attention attempting to fix his mistake, that was about to generate a black hole big enough to destroy the training hall if not the whole academy.
"Rudd, unless this is important, I'd like to postpone." Linjos' image appeared from the amulet. He seemed to be swamped in paperwork, his usually tidy desk had turned into a battlefield.
"I'm not Professor Rudd, Headmaster." The student managed to say despite quite some stuttering.
"Who are you and how you managed to fake his call? Impersonating a Professor is a criminal offense, young man." Hearing a squeaky voice, Linjos finally raised his head, realizing something was off.
"I'm not impersonating anyone!" He squealed.
"The Professor gave it to me because…"
"Because?" The student had no idea what was happening or how to describe it.
"Because we need help! Cracks in the air, explosions and something about not wearing protections!"
"What?!" Linjos could not make head or tails of it.
"Give me that, you dimwit!" Lith used a mix of air and spirit magic to rip the amulet off his sweaty hands, explaining everything properly to the Headmaster.
Linjos turned pale, but reacted promptly.
"I can reactivate the protections from my office, but that will not help with your situation. Has any of you already learned Restoration?"
It was an advanced dimensional magic spell, developed exactly for situations like that. It was capable of restoring the natural order of things, dispersing the accumulated energy safely.
Linjos' eyes were actually fixated on Lith. He had proved to be excellent in everything, and that gave Linjos the hope he could pull another of his miracles.
"No." Lith replied. He knew the spell only because the book was in Soluspedia, but he had never tried it before. There was no chance Lith could manage to do it at the first try. With his luck, it would have made everything worse.
"Yes." Quylla's voice took everyone by surprise.
"Good! Then use it to assist Rudd. Help is already on its way, but because of the situation, we cannot risk using Warp Steps. It will take some time to arrive there, even by flying."
As soon the conversation ended, they regrouped with the others, deciding what to do. The students close to the exit had already run away, but the ever-expanding cracks and their explosions had now trapped all the others inside.
Only about half the class was still present, along with Professor Rudd, and things were getting worse by the second. Despite all his talent, he was only a man. There were too many sections of space about to collapse, he hadn't the time to properly stabilize them.
The best he could do alone, was temporarily fix the most dangerous one before moving to the next, but after a while the patch would collapse, forcing him to cycle between cracks.
Quylla proceeded to close the smaller ones, preventing them to grow and relieving Rudd, albeit a little. She had learned Restoration because the group would always use her room for training in dimensional magic.
Already having so little of her own, she was scared of losing them, so she had practiced it after everyone left for the night, further developing her mana sensibility by feeling the small damage their practice had caused over time.
Lith felt helpless. For the first time in his life, he could only watch and do nothing.
"Let me guess, our friend Lukart has already escaped."
"Indeed." Yurial nodded. "He and his goons were the first to get out. Either they have great reflexes…"
"Or they knew." Lith completed for him. He then used Life Vision to check his surroundings, discovering that visible and invisibles cracks had almost filled the training hall.
Swallowing a lump of saliva, he racked his brain trying to find a way to make himself useful.
Suddenly, Life Vison showed him that the spatial crack that Quylla was fixing had turned white hot, albeit the change was unnoticeable at the naked eye.
Reacting as fast as he could, Lith managed to shield her with his body before the explosion, conjuring at the same time a series of concentric barriers made of darkness, air and water.
From his fight with the Wither, he had learned that dark magic barriers, despite not blocking all the damage, would wear away everything. As expected, the dark layer reduced the strength of the impact, the air one blocked part of the shockwave, while the water layer smothered some of the flames.
The remaining damage was enough to riddle the back of Lith's uniform with holes, burning his skin and hair.
"Oh gods! I'm so sorry, it's all my fault!" Quylla's eyes filled with tears, but Lith stopped her, putting his index finger on her lips.
"No time for that! As long as I'm alive, we can regenerate everything. What's just happened?" He tried to act though, but he was now quite pale, his skin stretched from the waves of pain.
Luckily, both Friya and Yurial moved forward, one healing Lith, the other supplying him with energy to withstand the process without fainting.
"I've never used Restoration on distortions that big. I used the smaller ones to practice, but it seems I'm not good enough. There's only so much energy I manage to dissipate with my spell, the rest becomes unstable and explodes."
Despite the fear and all that was happening, Quylla immediately stopped sobbing. She had just realized that it was the first time they actually touched not through the uniform.
Lith's skin had a pleasant smell of soap, still bronze coloured from the years spent hunting in the wild under the sun.
"Would you manage to close them if they contained less energy?"
Quylla nodded, while Lith turned around, facing the nearest crack and flooding it with darkness magic.
- "I have no clue about light magic, but after much thinking I'm quite sure that darkness is pure entropy. No matter what kind of energies a dimensional fissure is composed off, if I'm right the darkness will eat them, until they become weak enough for Quylla to fix them."
"And if you are wrong?" Solus voice was worried like when they had faced the Scorpicore.
"In that case I suck at science as much as I do at magic. Here goes everything!" –
Chapter 127 Bombshell 3
At first, everything went according to plan. Lith could see via Life Vision that the highly compressed forces stored inside the spatial crack were progressively weakening.
But then, he noticed its edges turning white hot, just like had happened to the previous one before exploding.
- "Dammit, I was too naïve. In this situation darkness magic is a double-edged sword. It allows me to erode the energy just as I predicted. What I didn't take into account, is that at the same time it accelerates the destabilization of the crack, making it even more volatile." –
"Quylla, I did all that I could. Time for you to step in!"
Lith let the darkness fade away, hoping she had still enough time to complete her spell. At the same time, his hands moved rapidly, forming random signs, pretending to cast one spell after another, creating strong and thick multi layered barriers in case something went wrong.
Lith could only count the seconds, watching the fissure becoming more and more unstable, inwardly wishing for Quylla to hurry up and finish. Just when the crack was about to collapse, the Restoration spell took effect, making it disappear with a small bang.
"One down, one million to go." Lith didn't find any joy in succeeding. There were still too many spatial distortions, and only a handful of seconds had passed since he closed the conversation with Linjos.
Time wasn't on their side.
He immediately attacked the next crack, using all his focus and skill to speed the energy degeneration process while trying not to affect the fissure's stability. If before he had just made chaos clash with chaos, now there was a method behind it.
Lith could see the hot spots where different cracks overlapped, and gently used darkness magic to weaken the interactions between them before attacking their cores, avoiding chain reactions.
Rudd had no such thing as Life Vision, but thanks to his talent and abundant experience, he could appreciate the finesse Lith was demonstrating by using darkness magic in such an unorthodox way.
- "Brilliant, simply brilliant." He thought. "It's such a shame that his space sensibility is so much greater than his dimensional magic aptitude. And to add insult to injury, the only one capable of using Restoration is a flimsy commoner.
The world has really turned upside down. Here I am, fighting side by side with some 'inferior' commoners that yet stand at the top of the class, showing unparallel talent and improvisation, while the 'nobles' do nothing but run like rabbits.
Maybe I have grown too old for this job." - Rudd inwardly sighed, closing one fissure after the other, trying to create a safe zone for the students.
Meanwhile, Lith realized that the strategy was doomed to fail. They had only two mages able to use Restoration, while the space distortions were too many and too strong to keep attacking them one at the time.
"Quylla, focus only on the cracks that I point out for you! Phloria, Friya, you protect her at all costs with your Mage Knight's shields! I'm going all out!"
Without waiting for a reply, he enveloped several spatial distortions at once with darkness magic, marking each time the most dangerous one with a wisp of light.
His hands and mouth moved like crazy, mixing random seals and words, giving Lith the alibi he needed to create small but densely packed barriers around the remaining cracks, this time trying to prevent the resulting explosion to get out, rather than get in.
- "What in the gods' name is that?" Professor Rudd was flabbergasted by his performance. "He is controlling so many spells at once, adapting the shape, size and intensity of each one according to the situation.
No matter how simple each incantation is by itself, the combined effect is on par with a tier five spell." –
The number of fissures started to decrease rapidly, but it came at a cost. Only those treated properly with Restoration would just disappear, the rest would suffer the corruption of darkness magic until they blew up.
Thanks to Lith's efforts and planning, they were controlled explosions, but explosions nonetheless. He couldn't get too far from them, the hot spots were small to begin with, and he had to keep track of all at the same time with Life Vision.
Each time, the flames were strong enough to overcome the uniform's magical protections, burning through the fabric and the flesh alike. The others were barely able to defend themselves with their combined efforts, leaving Lith alone.
The burns kept piling up, until the pain became unbearable. Lith was forced to use light fusion to regenerate the parts of his body that were too damaged, while cutting off the pain receptors with dark magic to avoid impairing his focus and movements.
"Where the heck is Linjos?" He tried to yell, but the hot air had injured even his throat. His voice came out as a raspy hiss, before he started to cough uncontrollably, falling on his knees while gasping for air.
Yurial immediately came to Lith's side, attempting to treat the most severe injuries without draining too much of his life force.
"You can't keep up like this, it's a suicidal move." Yurial was horrified.
Most of Lith's upper body was now exposed, burned beyond recognition. His arms and back, which he had used to cover his vitals, had flakes of skin falling down at his every movement, revealing the bloody muscle tissue underneath.
"I don't know how can you handle so much pain without going crazy, but you need to rest, or you will die!"
"Thanks, man." Lith appreciated him being so concerned about him to be blind to the truth.
"But if I stop, we'll all die. Or do you have a god in the family that we can call upon for actual help?" Lith smiled, patting Yurial's shoulder before attacking the next group of cracks.
In the new world, religions were a relic of the past, whose only remnants were the old gods' names, used either as exclamations or swear words. Since humans had discovered magic, they had stopped believing in superstitions and devoted their passion and faith in the mystical arts.
Even the so called "six gods of magic", one for each element, weren't considered real deities. They referred to the first mages that not only mastered the power of the elements, but also left behind their legacy, allowing their knowledge to spread and be shared instead of getting lost after their demise.
Lith's words were meant to remember Yurial that it was useless to stay idle and hope for help. He was no hero; his actions weren't a selfless sacrifice for a bunch of strangers and an old coot.
He was simply doing the only thing he could in a time of crisis, creating a path for himself and his friends to survive an unjust fate.
For the second time in less than a week, Yurial felt stupid for choosing the Warden specialization. Even if he had started casting a fire protection array from the moment Rudd had warned them of the danger, he would had never finished it in time.
Yet he swallowed down his self-pity. Lith constantly needed healing and energy, hence Yurial focused on keeping close to him, assisting whenever he could, to at least lessen his burden.
Finally, help arrived. Linjos and several Professors entered the class, using an artifact to completely clear the door's surroundings from spatial fissures. Lith's group moved towards them, to escape the death trap.
Yet the ray of hope quickly turned into despair. The students closer to the exit went into a frenzy, trying to force their way out even at the cost of trampling others. During the struggle that ensued, a girl pushed all those around her away conjuring a powerful gust of wind.
One of her victims ended up colliding with a spatial crack, triggering a chain reaction that quickly spread to the whole training hall. Cursing mankind stupidity, Lith dashed forward, dodging people and explosions alike.
Then, something hard crashed against his chest with the strength of a cannonball. The combined pain from the impact and the burns almost made him lose consciousness, and because of that, Lith didn't manage to change his trajectory.
The hit sent him against one of the still open fissures, that seemed to swallow him whole before tinging his world red.
Chapter 128 Severance
The moment Lith collided with the spatial crack, he knew that something horrible would happen. Twisting and turning his body despite the blinding agony, Lith managed to use air magic to avoid crashing head first against it.
But with the little margin he had, and the feeble energy he managed to muster, avoiding the fissure entirely was impossible. His left arm penetrated it up to the head of the humerus, giving him the feeling that someone had thrown a massive boulder from a cliff, but not before gluing his left hand to it.
It was like every single cell in his arm had been put into a blender filled with gasoline and a flint. It stretched endlessly in the deformed space, appearing and disappearing multiple times from different spatial cracks, before they finally closed down under the effect of Linjos' artifact.
The result was that both Lith and his left arm were finally free from the dimensional vise. But while he was still where he had fallen, the arm was about twenty meters (66') away, cleanly cut from the shoulder with inhuman precision.
Lith's world turned red when his mind went beyond the pain and the blood gushing out of the stump, realizing what had happened. No matter how many times he had mentally simulated the event in the past, the shock of the amputation almost overwhelmed him.
Almost.
Emitting an outraged roar rather than a scream of pain, Lith used what energy he had left to stop the bleeding, before his body collapsed due to the accumulated damage.
The group had stopped in its tracks since their friend had been knocked down by a tower shield, ripped off the hands of his owner by the same explosion that turned it into a deadly bullet.
While the others ran to his side, Phloria turned back, sprinting to the severed arm and storing it in her dimensional amulet as fast as she could.
- "According to my father, reattaching a limb is much easier than regrow it. The important thing is to preserve it in the best conditions possible. A dimensional item is the ideal solution, since it will not rot or degrade as long it's in there." –
When Quylla reached him, she thought it was already too late. Despite being only partially healed, the stump bleed too little, and she was unable to feel a pulse.
If Lith was really dead, she would have been forced to attempt a resuscitation manoeuvre (AN: like CPR), even at the risk of further compromising his body's integrity. But if there was even just a spark of life, she knew, or better she firmly believed he would have made it.
- "Damn diagnostic magic! It's too slow!" – She inwardly cursed, taking out a small mirror from her dimensional amulet, and putting it in front of his mouth and nose. The glass fogged up, giving her hope.
"Yurial, you heal him. You have already given him too much energy, we cannot afford anyone passing away. Friya, enhance his life force, I'll keep him stable."
Quylla's task was the hardest. She had to use diagnostic spells to find the most damaged organs, and then alternate healing and energy infusion without compromising the others' work.
Too fast healing would kill him, he was too weak to endure more strain. Too much energy would kill him too. If the heart suddenly started pumping fast, Lith would either bleed out the countless open wounds or die due to organ failure.
But if they acted with too much caution, his body would simply collapse. It was like a game of Jenga with cracked crystal pieces. One wrong move would mean the end, with no chance for a do over.
First, she finished mending the severed shoulder, then she harmonized with her friends' spells, fixing whatever mistake they made in the heat of the moment. Unlike her, they had no real experience as healers.
And to make things worse, their first patient without any Professor's supervision was a close friend. Inwardly, all the three of them just wanted to run away crying from that hellhole.
They were already tired from the dimensional magic lesson and the nightmare born from it. They had been on the edge all the time, believing that every second would be their last. And when finally everything seemed to be over, they had been forced to stare death in the face.
It was still morning, but it felt like a week had passed. The only things that kept them together were rage and stubbornness. Rage coming from the frustration of being constantly swept around by forces beyond their control, and the stubbornness that made them unwilling to yield at any cost.
Alongside them, a silent but invaluable fourth player was fighting with everything she had. Solus had been constantly expending her own energies to keep light fusion active, after Lith had lost consciousness.
When the kids had started their treatment, it had been her using Invigoration to redirect their healing spells where they were needed the most, that had allowed everything to go smoothly.
Three young mages at their wits' end wouldn't be able to handle alone such situation.
Especially since Quylla was tired and short on mana after having closed so many cracks fighting alongside Lith, and Yurial had already passed Lith so much of his life force that it was already a miracle for him to keep standing without help.
When they finished, he didn't smell like barbeque anymore. Most of the burnt skin was replaced by a new one, but the overall impression was still those of an over stewed lobster.
"Excellent job, but he is still in critical conditions. We need to bring him to the academy's hospital as soon as possible." After evacuating the training hall, Linjos had returned to offer his help.
When he bended over Lith, attempting to grab him, Quylla welcomed him with a perfectly aimed punch on the nose, resulting in a clear breaking sound and a nosebleed.
"Are you insane?" She yelled at him with no respect for his seniority nor status.
"We can't move him. He could go into shock from the amputation at any moment. Light magic needs time to take full effect. Have you really studied before becoming a Headmaster or did you just win the title at a raffle?"
Linjos wanted to reprimand her harshly, but after noticing that her fist was still held high, in the optimal position for hitting him in the groin, he took a step back instead.
"Young miss, I can see you are very upset, so I'll overlook your lack of discipline, just this once." His voice was now nasal, until a simple healing spell stopped the bleeding and straightened his nose.
"But for your information, now that all the protections are activated again, we can move him safely with Warp Steps. Besides being an excellent healer myself, I have already alerted the light department. Where in the gods' name is Manohar?"
"Right here." Said the god of healing punching him in the nose too.
"Why did you do that?" Linjos was flabbergasted.
"Because she is right, you are wrong and didn't tell me the patient is one of my own!" Manohar formulated a quick spell that made Lith look human again, even regrowing his hair to a medium length.
"Now it's safe to move him, you two bits healer." He said throwing a mean look at the Headmaster.
"Did someone fetch his arm or is it lost?"
"I did, sir." Phloria showed him her dimensional amulet.
"Great! Thirty points to the flat beanpole for the quick thinking." Phloria didn't know if to laugh or cry at the rude remark.
"Fifty points to each of you for saving a colleague, and another fifty to the scrawny shorty for the well executed punch."
"First, this is not your lesson. Second, awarding points for assaulting a Headmaster is unheard of!" Linjos was fuming with anger.
"Well, you always knew I am an innovator." Manohar shrugged, opening a Warp Steps to the Intensive Care Unit and disappearing through it with Lith's group.
Linjos remained there, with his mouth agape, with a snarky remark still stuck in his throat while the rest of the staff was snickering at his expenses.
Chapter 129 Chaos
Derek woke up in what was unmistakably an hospital room. Even with a fuzzy head and a blurry vision, he knew there was only one place were so much white would belong.
The sheets, the blind, even the walls and ceiling were white. He tried to rub his eyes, but discovered his right arm was cuffed to the bedside, while the left one felt so heavy, he couldn't muster the strength to lift it.
- "Must be the morphine. That or they tied me up." He thought. The last reasonable memory he had was about him killing the b*stard who had murdered his little brother.
"F*cking cops, couldn't just let me die? I don't know if it's because of the brain damage or because they have heavily drugged me, but that was one heck of a dream."
He shook his head, trying to clear up his vision.
"A little too absurd, even for a dream, though. Magic powers, a mystical sentient girl tower, talking animals and a Kingdom in danger. It only lacked a pink dressed princess kidnapped by a fire spitting turtle to be more ridicule.
That, or me finding my happy ending with the girl in the tower. Heck, even if it was all inside my head it has been the most meaningful relationship I ever had." – He scoffed.
- "Really? I would have never assumed you would think of me that way." - Solus' mind blush was so strong to overcome the boundary they usually kept to separate their innermost thoughts.
Lith managed to avoid screaming in surprise and embarrassment only because the blind was pulled away by Professor Manohar, that had come to check his conditions.
"How is my patient?" He asked. "Remember, the only acceptable answer is 'well and getting better'. If you die on me, you'll ruin my statistics."
"Professor Manohar?" Lith was still recovering from the shock.
"So, it was all real?"
"I know how this seems, such an incident, if we want to call it that way, happening in the White Griffon academy is simply unbelievable, yet it happened. Odd, I perfectly regenerated your skin, yet you are all red up to your ears.
Are you experiencing any discomfort, or did you just have a wet dream?"
Lith's brows furrowed, while his memory was finally returning.
"I…"
"Just a yes or no. I'm not interested in your fantasies."
Lith blushed even harder, but this time out of anger, for the complete lack of tact of his healer.
"No discomfort and no wet dreams. Thanks for your concern. Why am I cuffed? I don't remember doing anything to deserve such treatment."
"Do you mean the chain? That's no punishment, is just to prevent you from rolling on the wrong side. The wound is just barely closed, we still need to reattach your arm, after all. I would expect an accomplished healer like you to understand something so simple."
Lith turned his head abruptly, trying to touch the little stump where once was his arm, but the chain stopped him again.
At that point, Solus had regained enough of her cool to share her memories of the most recent events, bringing him up to speed.
"How long was I unconscious?"
"A few hours, is barely lunchtime." Manohar replied, right before casting a series of diagnostic spells that made Lith glow like a lightbulb.
"Everything seems fine. Your body heals magnificently, young man. Keep up like this, and you'll get discharged in one piece before dinner." Manohar took out his communicator amulet, informing Linjos that the patient could receive visitors.
- "Remember to properly thank your friends. They gave it everything to save your life before Manohar arrived." Usually Lith would have objected at the abuse of the word 'friends', but after looking at Solus' memories he didn't feel so sure about it anymore.
"Wow, Quylla really punched Linjos. Was it really so dangerous to move me at the time?"
"No, it wasn't. But I can't blame her for being protective. I would have done the same."
"Okay, then why Manohar punched him too? He doesn't seem the protective type."
"According to his rants while he was finishing to heal you, Manohar has always dreamt about hitting a Headmaster and get away with it. Quylla simply gave him the inspiration he needed. He told her himself before awarding another thirty points.
You know, I really like that girl. I would have nothing against her being your mistress until we find a proper body for myself." –
Another powerful mind blush made him understand that she wasn't joking at all, but luckily Linjos entered his room, saving him from such an awkward topic. Lith had never been so happy to see the Headmaster's long and brooding face.
Contrary to his expectations, behind him there was no trace of his classmates. He was followed by professor Marth, instead, and thanks to his enhanced hearing, Lith could hear them repeatedly apologizing to someone.
"We are terribly sorry for what had happened to your son, but as you'll see, he has received the best cures available in the whole Kingdom. The reason we called you here, is to help him overcome the shock of losing an arm.
Albeit is only a temporary condition, it could severely affect his mind and future decisions. We don't want him to quit the academy, it would be too great of a loss. Please, be strong."
Lith heard a snarl from his father, Raaz, stopped by his mother, Elina, hurrying Linjos to let them in. They rushed to Lith's bedside, doing their best to not cry or stare at his stump.
"Professor, please, tell me he is going to be all right." Despite all their efforts, Elina's eyes were watery and her voice cracked. Raaz held her hand tightly, searching for the strength to appear calm and confident to reassure his injured son.
"Don't worry, ma'am. We were just about to reattach his arm." Manohar said, throwing a flirtatious look at her.
"I must say it, there must be something special in your bloodline."
Lith started inwardly cursing non-stop. Maybe after looking at him and his parents, the genius healer Krishna Manohar had noticed some abnormality caused by him using Invigoration on all his family to remove impurities from their bodies.
"Otherwise I can't explain why your son is so talented, you are so gorgeous, and even Lith's dear grandfather is so well preserved despite his age."
At those Marth, Raaz and Linjos became pale as ghost, while fury tinged Lith's cheeks of red while his eyes where reduced to fiery slits. He couldn't believe his esteemed Professor was actually hitting on his mother right in front of him.
Despite the situation, Elina and Solus couldn't stop giggling.
"He is actually my father." Lith's voice was stone cold, causing Manohar to gasp in surprise.
"You are very lucky, good sir." He said shaking Raaz's hand, limp from the surprise.
"Your son is a brave kid, and your wife could have got much, much better."
If Lith's arm didn't had yet to be reattached, Raaz would have probably strangled him for the repeated insults.
"See, old man?" Manohar said patting Linjos on the shoulder.
"That's why I tell you to never lose hope. In this world there are still women that don't care much about looks."
Before the situation became even more humiliating, Professor Marth dragged Manohar away.
***
In the city of Kandria, all the hospitals and the healers' home offices were full to the brim, while the city guard was arresting lots of citizens for gruesome crimes. The two things had only one thing in common: all those involved would tell unbelievable stories to justify what had happened.
A man claimed that his wife had caught fire while cooking lunch, a woman told them how his brother had turned into a piece of ice while conjuring some water to wash the dishes.
An otherwise beyond suspicion healer was trying to explain how he never meant to amputate his patient's leg, it just had turned into a lump of meat after he attempted to heal a fracture.
But the real cause was ensuing inside the local branch of the Mage Association, where many magicians were reporting how they had inexplicably lost their powers.
Chapter 130 Chaos 2
Despite Professor Marth intervention, the situation degenerated as soon Raaz and Linjos managed to recover from the vicious verbal beating they just endured.
"Who is that raving lunatic and why is he allowed to have any contact with the students? He has no shame nor regard for the feelings of others!" Normally Raaz would have been humble and submissive.
For someone that had never left the small village of Lutia in over thirty years, the White Griffon academy was intimidating. Raaz was well aware that even a single brick of the castle was worth more money than he could earn in his whole life.
Raaz still couldn't believe one of his children had managed to get admitted in a place like that. He suspected that behind all his brave talk, Lith was actually having a hard life, surrounded by rich, spoiled kids.
In any other circumstance, he would have never stepped inside, fearing that his presence alone was enough to put Lith in embarrassment.
But now after his son had been severely hurt because of the incompetence of the so called 'Professors', not only he had been forced to listen to Linjos' rants about the academy's prestige, but also had to suffer a young, handsome dandy trying to seduce his wife in front of his eyes.
That was the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back. He didn't care anymore if the man in front of him was the Headmaster or the King himself, Raaz was determined to give him a piece of his mind.
On the other hand, Linjos wanted nothing more than join him and tear Manohar apart limb from limb. That man had always been a nightmare for the public relationships, either avoiding social events or making a mess the rare times he deigned to attend them.
And now, in less than a day Linjos had been assaulted and humiliated by him twice, both times in front of students and staff alike, destroying whatever pride and dignity his role was supposed to have.
- "I wish I could tell him that if the previous Headmistress that recruited Manohar wasn't already dead, I would kill her myself. Right after throwing Manohar from the academy's highest tower. But when I accepted this job, I knew there was an elephant in the room." –
"Despite his many, many flaws, I can assure you that Professor Manohar is that kind of genius that appears only once in one hundred years. He is an invaluable asset for the academy and the Kingdom, whom has already saved countless lives, probably even your son's."
Raaz wasn't satisfied by the answer, but Elina squeezed his hand tight, stopping him in his tracks.
"Are you in much pain, dear?" She asked Lith, ruffling his hair.
"No, mom. On the contrary, I feel groggy but relaxed." He replied, quite surprised to have hair again. He had yet to have an occasion to look at himself in a mirror.
"That's because we injected you with several potions to help you sleep and recover." Linjos explained.
Marth returned, bringing along five members of the medical staff and Lith's missing arm. Usually for such a simple case a single Professor was enough, but they wanted to show to both Lith and his parents how much they cared.
The arm was completely wrapped in pure white linen gauze, not leaving even the fingertips exposed. Being detached from a living body, it couldn't be healed, so it was bound to be bloody and burned.
Lith imagined that covering it was another form of courtesy towards his parents, since no healer would have blinked at the sight of it.
The moment the arm was within five meters (16 feet) from him, Lith felt that something odd was happening. His mana core started stirring inside of him, trying to release mana.
Lith was too tired to put up a fight without a good reason, so he stopped resisting.
- "Solus, can you describe to me what's happening? I can't activate Life Vision without flooding my eyes with mana."
"Tendrils of energy are going out of your body and connecting to the arm. It is… alive?" –
When Lith felt the itchy pain from the burns, he was so surprised to unintentionally wriggle his left hand's fingers. Luckily Marth was still walking, so the sudden movement went unnoticed.
- "Now the mana is replacing the blood, reactivating the lingering light fusion from before it was severed. By my maker, it's healing on its own!" –
Solus was free to express her shock, but Lith had to keep his calm demeanour, acting like everything was normal instead of panicking. Just to be certain it wasn't all a crazy dream, Lith attempted to bend the left little finger.
It moved at will.
Lith extended his remaining hand to Elina.
"Mom, I'm a little scared now." Lith tried to convey his real feelings without arising suspicions, at the same time drawing all the attention on himself. While focusing on his mother's warmth, he tried to call back the energies from the arm, but to no avail.
The closer it got, the stronger the connection.
The reattaching process went without a hitch, immediately followed by the healing one. Lith had to carefully remain still the whole time, a single spasm would betray his new and untimely secret.
****
The night before the sabotage in the dimensional magic's training hall, a few hundred kilometres south from the border of the Griffon Kingdom, the High Council of the desert tribes had gathered, trying to plea their case to the Benefactor.
The Blood Desert was the biggest out of the three Great Countries in the Garlen continent, the other two being the Griffon Kingdom and the Gorgon Empire. According to many, it was also the strongest and the most dangerous.
The reason was that despite its harsh climate, the Blood Desert was the richest one in terms of mystic treasures and natural resources. While in other places to find magic crystals, one had to dig through mountains or explore vast forests, in the Blood Desert it was enough to find an oasis.
The geysers of world energy that everywhere else were hidden, and could be found only by sheer luck or resorting to powerful artifacts like Solus or the Scorpicore's pince-nez, there would manifest themselves in the form of water, vegetation and life.
Among its dunes, it was possible to find rock formations rich in a rare metal, the Davross, that after being smelt and forged it would change its colour from silver to black, according to how it was exposed to light, but most importantly was capable of cutting through iron like it was just wood.
Davross was the strongest material known to man.
Despite its name, the Blood Desert's sands weren't red, but yellow gold. It derived from the countless lives lost during the past wars, when the different desert tribes would fight among themselves or against the foreigners trying to rob them of their land.
War had been a constant in the desert, because no amount of mana crystals or Davross could turn the weather humid, quench the thirst of humans and cattle or make the land fertile.
Despite all the riches it held, food and water had always been the only currency that held any real value in the desert. In the past, the tribes would fight for the control of the oasis, either by their own will or manipulated by the people of the plains, wishing to exploit their needs to pursue the monopoly of resources.
But not anymore. After the Benefactor's arrival, the desert had been unified and the word competition had been replaced by the stranger sounding "cooperation."
Oasis were now shared, and each tribe would periodically rotate from one zone of the desert to another, allowing everyone to cyclically enjoy everything their Country had to offer.
Each of the tribe leaders, now simply called Feathers, would receive wisdom and power, becoming strong in the ways of magic regardless of the talent they were born with. But what now could seem a divine country, came with a price.
The Benefactor's laws were the only laws, and the lightest punishment for breaking them was death. The Feathers would rule above their people, but any change, small or big had to receive the Benefactor's approval.
Even the High Council had been reduced to a mere formality, only one will really mattered. That was the reason it was now held only after the sunset, when the Benefactor had a less fiery temperament.
That night, the convened Feathers, were trying to persuade the Benefactor about the many advantages the desert tribes would reap from invading a weakened Griffon Kingdom.
Chapter 131 Blood in the Deser
Their spies had brought news that a civil war was inevitable, it was the perfect moment to start planning their invasion.
Speaking in their name, was Ashun Dagfuur, Feather of the Red Lion tribe, temporarily appointed as High Feather, first among equals and spokesman of the tribes. He was a tall man, around 1.84 meters (6') high, with a lean and muscular body, an olive complexion and a long but well-groomed beard.
Like all the Feathers, he wore heavy white pants and shirt to endure the coldness of the night, and a turban on his head, with a huge ruby on its centre to represent his status in the tribe.
The meeting was held in a ceremonial tent, golden in colour whose sides and floor were covered by carpets and tapestries depicting the collective history of the desert.
The roof of the tent was enchanted to be able to turn invisible at will, since the Benefactor hated constricted spaces, and this way was still able to gaze at the moon and the stars.
The space was perfectly lighted by twenty-seven black iron braziers, one for each tribe. Their fires were fueled by the magic of their respective Feather, used both to symbolize his strength and vote once a discussion had come to an end.
As always, Ashun spoke with passion, describing all the green lands and water springs, waiting for tribes to seize them from the weak and stupid plainsmen. His black eyes searched for the other Feather's approval and support, but he found none.
After he had begun his speech, all eyes were fixated on the lonely figure standing on the other side of the tent, watching its every movement.
It was a fiery red bird, three meters (9' 10") high, with the body of an eagle and the tail's feathers resembling those of a peacock. The legendary phoenix Salaark, also known as the Benefactor of the desert, that centuries before had united all the tribes under its rule.
It was whispered that from each of its feathers, a peerless weapon could be forged, and that its blood held the secret of immortality. To fit into the tent, it had shrunk remarkably, and was now in its most vulnerable state.
Despite that, no man or woman among the Feathers felt any kind of emotion aside from respect and fear.
Salaark stood still, its eyes closed, knowing it would not be able to controls itself if it opened them.
Once Ashun had finished, it asked a simple question.
"So, are you going to leave the desert?" Salaark's voice wasn't loud, but still sounded perfectly clear to all of those present.
"No, my liege. The Red Lion would never do that." He raised his hands and lowered his head in a sign of submission.
"I'm only proposing for us to take revenge against the plains and secure new resources."
"Revenge?" It asked opening a single eye. "To bring death to the living will not make their ancestors suffer. It sounds more like a petty excuse to leave because you are unsatisfied with what you have now."
"I will not leave and I'm not ungrateful." He said trying to appear strong and confident, but cold sweat ran down his spine.
"Then how do you propose to keep the conquered springs? What good is a fertile soil if not tilled?"
"Well, of course some of our men will have to stay behind with their families. But only to establish a supply chain that will benefit all the tribes."
"I don't care for your sweet words, only for their meaning." Salaark harshly replied.
"You want for your people to move away, to grow their children in a foreign land, afar from the desert and from me! I have no objection to your plan." The last phrase left everyone shocked, leniency had never been its strong suit.
"But at the same time, I will give it no support. Those who wish to take part in it are free to do it, as long they first return to me all my blessings." The second part, instead, was perfectly in line with its character, making all the Feathers turn pale.
"Just to be clear, are you speaking as High Feather, as Feather of the Red Lion tribe, or just for yourself?" Salaark's eyes opened, releasing a massive amount of killing intent that brought Ashun to his knees, its talons tapping on the ground had the rhythm of war drums.
"He does not speak for the Golden Eagle tribe." Said a middle-aged woman standing up from her chair, just to kneel on the ground, her forehead touching the floor while her brazier turned black, denying the High Feather's words.
"He does not speak for the Silver Wolf tribe." One after the other, all the Feathers knelt down, the black light from the braziers projecting an eerie atmosphere.
"He does not speak for the Red Lion tribe." Recognizing Ashun's failure, the elders that accompanied him disowned their leader, hoping to spare their people from being banished forever.
Through a collective effort, they managed to snatch the flame from Ashun's control, turning it black and leaving him alone. The turn of the events had shocked him, but not to the point to not recognize what had happened.
Beneath the tension and fear appearing on his peers' visage, he could see their lips curling into a barely contained smile. He knew to be unpopular due to his overbearing character, trying to benefit his tribe at everyone else's expenses.
But that was because under his leadership, the Red Lion had grown to be one of the most populous and strongest desert tribes. Ashun had used that in the past to put pressure on the neighbouring tribes, to gain more and give less, boosting his status in his community.
When they had appointed him High Feather, he had thought they were finally ready to submit. Instead it had all been a ruse to take him out without a war, in perfect accord with the laws of the desert.
Whatever the outcome of the Council, they would have gained a profit, either by invading new lands or by eliminating a powerful rival. They had used his ego against him, turning Ashun in an unwitting sacrificial pawn.
He knew what was going to happen next, after being stripped of his title from the elders, the Benefactor would take away all the artifacts and the books Salaark had given him through the years. Lastly, it would strip him of her greater blessing, the gift for magic.
Ashun had been a talentless youth before meeting the Benefactor. The phoenix had been fascinated by his passion and dedication to the tribe, sharing with him her secrets and wisdom, turning the boy into one of the mightiest magical warriors of the Red Lion.
And now it would take everything back. Ashun didn't know how Salaark had boosted his mana capacity and magical strength; he had been made unconscious every time it "treated him". But he had seen many times how it would revert the effects.
A simple glance and the victim's body would twist and writhe, the veins would turn blue and bulge out, while the mana would literally be squeezed out through excruciating pain, until nothing was left.
Ashun had lived his thirty-six years as a warrior, a leader, a man among men. He couldn't bear the thought of losing so much and live the rest of his life in disgrace. Before the sentence was carried out, Ashun used magic one last time, stopping his own heart.
In death, his honour would be saved, and his family would be treated as the grieving relatives of a dead Feather, instead like those of a traitor.
The Benefactor looked at the corpse, nodding slightly at Ashun's final decision.
Salaark had liked him as a boy and loved him as a man, but once he had become a leader they had grown apart. The more power he acquired, the more dissatisfied he became.
First stealing from his own tribe, then twisting the arms of the neighbouring ones to quench his thirst for glory. And now, he had even the gall to ask for Salaark to consent to a senseless migratory war.
If the phoenix had ever wanted to leave the desert, it would have already done it. If it wanted to bathe the world in fire and blood, Salaark wouldn't need to spend centuries teaching the tribes magic and how to prosper in the harsh environment it called home.
"I am Salaark, the desert's sun! My path, is the only path! My words are law!" It roared spreading its wings, setting the whole tent and its occupants ablaze, yet burning none.
"I can be like the sunrise that harbingers a new era, or like the sunset that preludes a dark night! Summon me again out of petty greed, and all the tribes will need new leaders."
Chapter 132 Suffering
After Professor Marth finished healing Lith's arm, the bandages were removed, revealing that it was back to normal, except for one small detail. Unlike the rest of his body, that still retained his normal colour, it was pale like it had never seen the light.
Marth didn't miss the silent question in his eyes.
"Sorry, I don't know how Manohar manages to do that. In theory it's impossible for new skin to retain any kind of tan, but that doesn't stop him from doing it anyway."
Then, whispered in Lith's ear:
"It's better if you go to Manohar later, if the skin problem bothers you. I don't feel like bringing him back here would be a good idea."
Lith nodded, both the Headmaster and his father probably wouldn't be able to take in another one of his pep talks.
"Professor, you have yet to tell me what happened after I lost consciousness." - Thanks to Solus, Lith already knew the answer , but he needed to pretend to be curious about it.
"Yes, indeed. But it's better if you hear it from the ones that actually saved your life. It took quite some effort to force your friends to leave your bedside and get some rest."
His parents were moved, hearing their son had such dedicated friends, Lith not so much, since it made crumble another chunk of his personal beliefs. It also raised a creepy question.
- "Solus, since now I'm wearing an hospital nightgown, please, tell me Manohar didn't strip me in front of the others."
"No, he didn't." She giggled. "But there would be nothing wrong with it, you are all doctors after all."
"True, but if the situation was reversed, do you think any girl would like being seen naked by three of her male friends?"
"It depends on the friends, I guess." There was a hint of malice in her words.
"Okay, that's it." Lith decided to solve the matter once and for all.
"Solus, what's happening to you? Ever since we came to the academy, from time to time you try to fix me a girl or another, say something inappropriate, like right now. People aren't just slabs of meat, they have feelings too."
"That's rich, coming from you!" For the first time since they had met, Lith could sense her anger. He didn't reply, waiting for Solus to vent out.
"Since when do you care for feelings? All you do is lying to manipulate everyone, fight like a madman, amass power, rinse and repeat. Have you ever thought about my feelings? About how scared I am every time you do something stupid, putting your life at risk like it's nothing?
Or how envious I am of all of you, free to talk, laugh, walk in the sun, while I'm trapped all the day inside a ring of stone, living my life through you? And to be honest, is not much of a life.
You have so many people that love you, so many chances to get close to others and become real friends, instead of just pretending. Yet you always reject them like trash, and that makes me furious.
You know, maybe the Scorpicore was right. Maybe I really am a cursed object, because this life sometimes really feels like a curse." –
Despite she had no tears to shed, to Lith it was like she was bawling her eyes out.
It made him feel terribly guilty and helpless. Too often he had closed himself to her, either to study or practice, speaking only to ask her help. They had been together for so long, yet he still sometimes treated Solus like some kind of home appliance.
Lith couldn't deny anything she had said. To him people were just tools, while feelings were a useless burden.
- "I'm sorry, Solus. I don't know what to say. All this time I never stopped considering how you felt, always taking your happiness for granted."
"It's not entirely your fault." She mind-sniffed. "I never shared my worries with you, because I was afraid you wouldn't care or understand. Thanks for proving me wrong." A warm aura spread from her consciousness, the equivalent of a hug.
"By my maker, it was all so much easier when we just met. With me being content just with surviving, learning new things every day. But now, knowledge is not enough anymore. I want to feel, I want to experience, and you are my only window to the world.
I should be the one apologizing, for being so pushy all this time."
"Well, maybe between Necromancy and Forgemastering, we can find a way to give you a proxy body."
"A corpse or a golem? Thanks, but no thanks. I already feel like a monster, sometimes, I don't need to also look like one. Besides, I think life isn't a problem to be fixed, more like something I need to decide if it's worth having." –
Lith didn't like at all how the conversation had turned out. His only true friend was suffering, and that wasn't something he could just passively accept.
After changing into a new uniform, he let Professor Marth call for his 'friends', that despite the short notice arrived incredibly fast.
Normally, Lith would have found a way to avoid the inevitable group hug that ensued, but Solus' words were still ringing in his ears.
- "Progress, not perfection." – He repeated in his mind, like a mantra, resisting the revulsion that the physical contact with those four strangers arose at instinct level.
They drowned him in questions about his health, repeating more than once how they had thought to have lost him. Elina was moved to the tears, seeing their affection for her child.
"Guys, allow me to introduce you to my parents, Raaz and Elina."
At those words, they finally released him.
Raaz shook their hands, while Elina embraced them tightly.
"If you ever come to pass in our village, you will always be welcome in our home. I'll never be able to thank you enough."
After a few niceties, Lith prompted them to tell him what had happened after he crashed into the spatial crack.
Despite already knowing everything, he remained impressed by their focus and dedication during such a critical moment, to the point of remembering the finest details. Obviously, with Linjos present, they overlooked all the punching part.
Then it was Lith's turn to express his gratitude. A simple thank you and a handshake was fine for Raaz, who was a stranger to them. Not to mention he was quite intimidated. For all he knew they could all be prince and princesses.
Lith had no choice but to put a big smile on his face and hug them one by one.
While for the others he managed to perform a "in and out" kind of hug, when it was Quylla's turn, she locked him in place. Lith could feel her hands running over his back, while she sunk her head in his chest, sobbing a little.
After a few seconds, the situation became really awkward. Everyone was looking away, until Raaz saw the silent plea for help in his eyes and said:
"Son, what do you want to do? Do you want to come back home, change academy or stay here? We'll respect your decision, whatever it is."
Only then Quylla finally let him go and hid behind Friya, blushing wildly after having realized what she had done.
Lith pondered for a while. Despite all its flaws, the White Griffon academy was still the safest place for him. Other academies would probably discriminate him for his origins and past, forcing him to constantly watch his back.
Also, he still had to solve the mystery of the boxes in his pocket dimension, find a way to avert the dryad's prophecy and to save Solus from her misery. She could refuse his help all she wanted, Lith would never give up on her without a fight.
"I want to remain here, dad. I think I need them as much as they need me."
Chapter 133 Contingencies
"You'll not regret your choice, Lith." Professor Marth patted his back, with a proud look on his face.
"Once you graduate, you'll discover that A ranked mages, like you and me, are treasured almost as rank S, if not more." He chuckled.
"What? Why?" Lith didn't know if to consider it a good or bad news.
"Because as you have seen, geniuses like Manohar aren't just brilliant. They are also wilful, fickle and unpredictable. We may not be as productive, but are much more level headed and easy to handle."
***
After the accident in the training hall, Professor Rudd had lost much of his nastiness. He now replied when someone asked him explanations, and whenever he saw Quylla or Lith, he would sigh deeply shaking his head.
In the following weeks, Lith put his heart and soul in Forgemastering, relentlessly pestering Professor Wanemyre with questions. He was researching both the runes that kept the boxes locked and a construct that was able to feel like a human.
The library helped him greatly on his first task. Even if the exact sequence of runes wasn't to be find anywhere, Lith was able to determine their power and purpose. He came to the conclusion that opening at least one of the boxes was feasible, if he had Wanemyre level of mastery and a proper research team.
Since that was impossible, he decided to take a roundabout route. Instead of attacking the lock from the outside, like a normal Forgemaster, he would destroy its pseudo core like only an Awakened one could.
The lock and the box had a pseudo core each, both held in place by the respective mana pathways their maker had surrounded them with, thanks to the rune patterns. The main difference between a pseudo core and a real mana core, was that the former had no way to replenish its energies without the mage that had imprinted it.
Hence, if somehow Lith managed to damage the pathways, the energy stored in the pseudo core was supposed to leak without triggering the explosion, and the lock spell would be undone.
Before doing this kind of experiments, Lith would always use his Hush spell and several barriers, to prevent a resulting explosion to destroy his room or be noticed from the outside.
After a month since the beginning of the second semester, Lith had already lost three boxes. All of them had exploded without leaving any trace behind, but he still considered it a success.
Neither he or his belongings had suffered any damage, and with each box the explosion was getting weaker. It was only a matter of time before Lith could find the right way to puncture the runic pathways without the pseudo core becoming instable.
- "Now I get why the vision wanted me to save Nok and get to meet Kalla. (AN: the small Byk and its mother.) With only the box from Rodimas, I would have never managed to open it.
I could either give it to the Marchioness or Linjos, leaving me empty handed, or try and fail on my own." He sighed.
"Well, for being self-taught you are doing great. Marth and Wanemyre always praise you for your talent and achievements. I think Wanemyre already considers you the best student of the fourth year."
"Yeah." He sighed again.
"Someone is bound to get angry at me, again. Not to mention that I am falling behind in dimensional magic. Without the all-nighters, even Yurial is slowly catching up with me, and I have yet to learn the Restoration spell, that Quylla already knows. I must work harder!"
"Maybe it's because Quylla has only one specialization, while Yurial just two, and they are hardworking too. You, instead, are such a slacker." Solus' voice was oozing sarcasm.
"Top of both your official specializations, learning other specializations on your own and converting them into true magic. All this while working on that lock, researching a body for me and refining your mana core during your spare time.
Which usually means when you are forced to use a bathroom or during theoretical lessons. You don't sleep from almost a month. Honestly, I'm amazed you achieved so much with only twenty-four hours a day.
Progress, not perfection. Remember? You need to slow down."
"Can't do. The second trimester's exam is nearing, and no one knows what's going to be about. Must make every second matter!" –
***
Since the explosion of Coirn Hatorne's Alchemic laboratory, the city of Kandria had quickly plunged into mass hysteria. Just a few days after the event, strange diseases and murders had started to happen all around the city, and with the passing of time, things had only got worse.
Healers from all the Marquisate and beyond had been called for help, but despite both the Crown and the Mage Association were sparing no expenses to get at the root of the problem, they were getting nowhere.
An information blackout had been enacted, to avoid the panic to spread outside the city borders. Those who knew about the phenomenon, talked about a mysterious plague haunting the province of Kandria, and were worried about it spreading.
The body count had already reached the hundreds, and with each passing day more and more cases arose, forcing the Crown to declare the status of quarantine two weeks after the start of the outbreak.
Whoever tried to get in or out the city would be executed on the spot, the whole region had been enveloped by an array that prevented flying spells and Warp Steps to work.
Sylpha, Queen of the Griffon Kingdom and supreme head of the Mage Association, was on the verge of a nervous breakdown. She hadn't slept properly since the old nobles' rebellion had started, and now with the unsolved mystery of the plague, she felt she was losing her mind.
The Queen hadn't missed how the current predicament had occurred right after Arjîn went missing in action, the problem was determining how the two events were related. Knowing Arjîn's prowess, she suspected it was all the work of an Awakened one.
It was impossible for a member of the Corpse to be killed by conventional means during a simple recognition mission. Also, the fact that the best minds of the Kingdom were still clueless, was proof enough it wasn't something fake magic could achieve.
Her problem was that aside from the members of the Corpse, the Crown had no Awakened ones, and Lady Tyris refused to train more than seven at a time. The remaining six members were already engaged in life or death situations, otherwise she would have never recalled Arjîn so soon.
The rescue teams were still looking for him under the lab's debris, but so far nothing had come out. Out of desperation, she took out her communication amulet, trying to reach for Krishna Manohar, the god of healing.
He was the best healer of the Kingdom, and her last hope. Aside from a magical plague, it could have been the effect of an ancient artifact. Such powerful weapon, if it even existed, once found had to remain a secret, and that was the reason why she had kept him as a last resort.
That man was a loose cannon, discretion and reliability weren't his strong suits. The amulet gave no response, even after multiple attempts.
Having no time for his antics, Sylpha called Linjos, instead, demanding for Manohar's whereabouts and the reason of his unavailability.
"I would never dare to disobey a direct order of yours, you Majesty, but alas, your first request is beyond me. Even I do not know where he is. As for the second, I think you wouldn't believe me without hearing it from the horse's mouth."
The Headmaster took a piece of paper and placed it on the amulet's gem, allowing the Queen to read its content.
{Dear Linjos…} The name was followed by a doodle depicting a horse bearing a striking resemblance to the Headmaster, even wearing his clothes.
{…I'm on the verge of an incredible magical breakthrough. In can't risk my research to be ruined by the constant pestering of mediocre minds, so I'll be gone for a while.
K.M.}
"How dares he to disappear again? It's already the third time this year!" Sylpha punched her desk hard enough to break it in half.
"Send me your second best diagnostician. If he/she doesn't solve my problem, I'll have your head beside Manohar's in my trophy room!"
Chapter 134 Tough Times
Although Invigoration allowed Lith to avoid sleeping, it wasn't without side effects. Back when he was still at home, he had several opportunities to relax, like when hunting for food, teaching Tista fake magic, or simply spending quality time with his family.
Now Lith was relentlessly working like a machine, piling up stress without any break outside his three daily meals. Over time, the accumulated mental fatigue made him more cranky, nervous and aggressive.
It was something the Professors would not notice. Lith treasured them, and did his best to hold his temper and treat them with the respect they deserved. The same applied to his 'friends'.
After his last heart to heart with Solus, he tried to spend more time them, to give her what she needed, more emotions and human interaction. It would soothe her depression and wear down his nerves, but he didn't care.
- "Solus always does so much for me. Not only she is basically my moral compass, helping me on all the academical subjects. She also restricts my most violent urges, making me almost human.
Heck, if it was possible, I would gladly trade place with her. She would make a much better person than me." –
Solus was moved by how strong were his feelings for her, and how many sacrifices he was willing to endure for her sake. At the same time, thought, she was very worried.
The prolonged lack of sleep had only made more apparent that his mind and body were experiencing a major change. Since overcoming the bottleneck, Lith's body kept getting stronger every time the mana core was refined.
As for his mind, the recent events had put a lot of stress on his already twisted psyche. Ironically, while near death experiences were the norm since Lith had started to practice high level magic, it was finding people that actually cared for him outside of his family that triggered an inner conflict.
Changing life-long values wasn't easy, it was like admitting to have always been wrong about almost everything.
On the other hand, the same could be said about her. The quality and quantity of her nourishment had dramatically improved, and her mana core was on the verge of turning green.
But what bothered Solus the most, were her new feelings. Thanks to Lith's new enhanced senses she could hear all the mean comments people would make behind his back, all the petty grudges that every praise he received would arise.
The more she knew humans, the more disgusted she became. After he had almost died protecting everyone from the spatial cracks, the kindest comment she had heard was:
"Even after losing an arm, we can't get him out of our hair for a whole day? That guy is worse than a cockroach!"
Solus was starting to think it was her being wrong all along.
***
Lith was summoned by the Headmaster less than an hour later Queen Sylpha had expressed her newfound interest for turning Linjos' head into a toilet brush holder, instead of mounting it on a wall.
After consulting with Professor Marth, the second-best healer of the White Griffon academy, Linjos was left with no choice.
"If it's a life or death situation…"
"Cut the 'if'! There are lives on the line, mine included!" Linjos interrupted Marth.
"…then I'd definitely send Lith from Lustria. Is the only one whose diagnostic skills are at Manohar's level."
"A student instead of a Professor? How low have we stooped? What will become of the prestige of this academy?" Linjos moaned.
"Stooped?" Marth knitted his eyebrows in disapproval.
"The new replacing the old is the way of life. Also, accepting someone that all the other academies rejected out of prejudice, is not stooping. Especially if he succeeds."
"But what if he fails?" Linjos was about to cry. "We'll become the laughingstock of the Kingdom. Everyone will think we are so incompetent we have to rely on a child!"
"Well, we can always send a couple of Professors and hope for the best. At least you would fail with dignity."
Linjos groaned, his neck suddenly hurting. Failure wasn't an option.
"What about that other student? Quylla from Cerea? At this point, sending one or two makes no difference."
"It actually does." Marth objected. "Her talent for light magic is outstanding, I believe that if properly nurtured, she can become the next Manohar…"
"Stop saying that name!" Linjos' neck felt a new pang, feeling the executioner's axe nearing.
"I mean in a good way."
"There is nothing good about that man!" Seeing the Headmaster being unreasonable, Marth dropped the matter.
"As I was saying, she is a magnificent mage, yet she is too young to witness such horrors. Not to mention that her diagnostic skills are about my level. I'd rather go myself instead of putting her future at risk.
As for our new star, he is… quite special."
Marth tapped on Lith's complete personal file. A folder almost as thick as a book, where the experts from the Mage Association had classified him as what on Earth would be called "high-functioning sociopath".
At that point, Linjos had stopped resisting and accepted his fate.
When Lith entered, he was wearing his old set of frown and glare.
"I didn't do anything wrong, and was about to have a magical breakthrough!" When he had received the call, Lith was about to clear the second last exercise before attempting a real Warp Steps.
After the sabotage, the fourth-year lessons had been suspended for a few days, until the internal investigation was concluded. He had used that time to further practice under Quylla's guidance, and was close to placing eight opening a Gate.
While most students had been scarred by the event and needed psychological counselling, he had continued his studies like nothing had happened, managing to catch up with those more talented than him.
Lith's choice of words only intensified Linjos' feeling of impending doom.
The Headmaster gave him a file, containing all the relevant information about the events in Kandria, explaining to him that his presence was required to shed light on the matter.
"I'm just a student." Lith replied giving back the folder.
"What does this have to do with me?"
"What Headmaster Linjos forget to tell you, boy, is that this isn't a request. This is an order from the Queen herself."
The voice belonged to a man about thirty years old, 1.82 meters (6') high that walked out of a Warp Steps that opened right in the middle of the room. He had light brown crew cut hair and moustaches of the same colour.
He was wearing a deep blue uniform, bearing on the heart the Royal crest, a triangular shield representing a prancing griffon with a crown on its head and holding two sceptres in his front claws. One representing the magical power, the other the military one.
"Lith, allow me to introduce to you Captain Velagros, from the Queen's corps. Captain, this is Lith from Lustria" Linjos stood up, offering his hand to his esteemed guest.
"Were you spying on us, or did you just wait in order to make a dramatic entrance?" Lith wasn't impressed, more like annoyed. His bad mood made him blurt out what normally he would have just thought.
"Kid, this is no laughing matter. People is dying this very moment. If you can do something about it, it's your duty to."
"People dies every day." Lith shrugged. "Usually it happens to the poor, the orphans, the homeless. Yet no one gives a damn about it. But if it happens to a few rich guys in a fancy city, then suddenly it becomes a huge problem.
Also, I have no duty, since I took no oath. So, let me rephrase: what's in it for me?" He said rubbing his right thumb and index fingers together.
Normally Captain Velagros would have been tempted of teaching the arrogant kid a lesson, but he too had read the file. It was clearly stated that because of his upbringing, Lith had no real ties to the Kingdom.
That was the reason his family was so tightly protected. The orders were to not antagonize him, unless it was absolutely necessary.
Chapter 135 Traitor
Captain Velagros could only grin and bear Lith's attitude, and not only because of his orders. The more he looked at the youth, the more wrong everything felt. The cold and dead eyes, the detached attitude, were all things he had seen plenty of times, but never in kids.
They were traits found either in battle hardened veterans or in madmen with an agenda. Last but not least, back when he had stepped forward with an intimidating manner, his body had started screaming for danger.
A member of the corps didn't manage to reach his age without developing a keen instinct, and in that moment his own was telling him to back off and avoid sudden movements.
"How much do you want?" He asked.
"You say it like I'm extorting money. Before being a healer, I was a hunter. And the first thing I learned, is that hunters don't do favours, we cut deals. Here is my offer. I do the job, and if I succeed, I get a safe house for my family.
I don't care if it's because the civil war breaks out, we get invaded or there's a sudden drought. The second something goes wrong; I want them safe and out of the Kingdom. Deal?"
Lith extended his hand and Velagros shook it without hesitation. For a moment, Velagros had feared the kid would ask for a ridiculous sum of money or an artifact. Instead he had demanded something simple and reasonable, albeit expensive, leaving no space for bargain.
"Deal. And what if you fail?"
"If that happens, we both would have just lost a few hours of our time." Lith shrugged.
- "As long I can use Invigoration, there's nothing I can't diagnose. Curing it, thought, is another matter entirely. If the plague is something beyond my comprehension, not even true magic can help me." –
"It will take more than a few hours." Velagros explained.
"Warp Steps are blocked in all the region. First, I need to have an exit point set up for us in the vicinity. Then we'll reach the quarantine borders by flying. It will take a couple of hours to arrange everything."
"I thought we were moving right away." Lith frowned.
"In this case, I want our deal recorded in writing and signed up. Words may fly away, but writings remain."
"Not a problem. Use the time to settle your business or to arrange your baggage before leaving. Depending on how it goes, we may be stuck in Kandria until tomorrow. And remember, you are not allowed to speak about the mission with anyone."
Lith walked away, ignoring the last trivial order. He moved quickly toward his room, his aim to catch as much sleep as possible before departing. Being in his weakened state while inside the academy was one thing.
It was full of Professors bound to help him, and an hospital that could heal him as long he had a single breath of life. But on the outside, he didn't care if he was with the Queen's corps or the Queen herself, he would always act as he were alone.
- "I'm so happy you took this mission." Solus mind-smiled. "So many people are suffering, we should help if we can."
"And that's where you are wrong." Lith objected. "If you volunteer every time someone is in danger, you'll live your life for the sake of others. Give an inch, and they will take a mile. The demand of payment served multiple purposes.
First, if I succeed the vision should be foiled, at least the part that I really care for. Second, it showed them I'm no puppet. Only soldiers obey without questions, and only idiots and saints work for free when they could get the right compensation." –
Solus pondered on those words. Once she would have dismissed them as Lith being cold and cynical, now she wasn't so sure anymore.
After Lith left the Headmaster's office, Velagros started arranging the last details for the mission, while Linjos couldn't stop sighing.
"Is this the society we really want to create? A world where heroes are actually cold-blooded killers? At this point, I don't care what the Queen will do with me. I find way more terrifying the idea that if he succeeds, such a person will become a role model.
I hoped that nurture could beat nature, but it seems I was wrong once again."
Captain Velagros laughed out loud at those words.
"Dear Headmaster, I don't know where you lived until now, but when I attended the Water Griffon, it was a nightmare. The pranks, the competition, the stress. So, what nurture are you talking about? Do you coddle the students here? Take them by the hand?"
Linjos shook his head, blushing a little from embarrassment.
"I've seen a lot of people like that. They usually end up in jail, join the military or become successful merchants. It depends on how much they are able to restrain themselves, usually picking jobs where they can legally ruin the lives of others or use violence.
Think about the adventurers or speculators. Most of them are like him, yet everyone dreams of becoming rich with quests or being acclaimed as a self-made man. Have you ever stopped considering how much death is hidden behind their fortunes?
If he does his job and doesn't go on a murder spree, then he is fine by me."
***
Not even a minute after Lith was summoned in Linjos' office with the academy's public announcement system, a call was made from within the White Griffon to Archmage Lukart.
"Lukart, you idiot, the Queen has asked for our help."
"Who cares?" Lukart didn't like being insulted, but decided to let it slide. Having a traitor in the academy was worth enduring a foul mouth.
"I already made sure that Manohar got the ingredient he was looking for, so he is out of the picture. According to Hatorne, there's no one else that can understand the 'plague's' nature. Despite the accident in the lab, everything is going smoothly."
"Smoothly?" The voice sneered. "Triggering a quarantine and alerting the whole world about your experiments, is far from what would I call 'going smoothly'. Also, Linjos has just summoned Lith from Lutia, so you'd better take action fast."
"Who cares about a kid? He can die in a fire, together with his filthy little village."
The voice laughed out loud.
"If you keep underestimating the same 'kid' that saved Distar's daughter from your prized poison, taking away the only silver lining in your utter fiasco of an assassination attempt, and later stopped the spatial breakdown with no casualties despite my sabotage, then you are a bigger fool than I thought."
Lukart snarled, both failures still haunted his dreams. The first was supposed the take out Marchioness Distar's whole family, but because of Ainz's presence they had only managed to injure the daughter.
The second had gone even worse. The death of the students would have caused an uproar, setting the foundations for the next step, leading to Linjos' execution and force the new noble's faction to either drop all their claims or start a civil war.
Both scenarios were perfect, since in Lukart's mind they would end up the same way. His faction would win, and the commoners would have to submit or die.
"Can't you just turn off the protective system and kill him?"
"You really are stupid. After the sabotage, our rings have been stripped of several functions. Now only the Headmaster himself can interact with the academy's control system."
"You really are useless!" Lukart slammed his fist against the table, bleeding a little.
"Useless?" The voice gasped in outrage.
"I arranged my lessons so they would be much easier for your sons. I made sure that the Clackers would haunt the location where the most promising commoners would appear. I deactivated all the protections, so that a class full of students could be decimated.
If I am useless, then what about your precious offspring, that keeps getting outclassed by commoners? I'm starting to think this is all a big mistake. Maybe we should just accept the change."
"Never!" Incapable of bearing any more of that nonsense, Archmage Lukart hung up the call.
Chapter 136 Traitor 2
A little longer than two hours later, Lith was woken up by a clerk, prompting him to go back to the Headmaster's office. The sleep hadn't been much, but enough to take some of the edge off his mind and partially reset Invigoration's effectiveness.
Velagros welcomed him, giving Lith a copy of their agreement and keeping the other for himself, before Warping out the office.
They materialized on a grassland, in the middle of nowhere. Lith looked around, instinctively searching for familiar landmarks, finding none. The only structure in sight was a circle, formed by rectangular wooden rods, from which they had emerged from.
The rods were about 2 meters (6.5 feet) high and 3 centimetres (1.8 inches) thick.
Each of the four sides was engraved with bright red runes, pulsing with power, that went opaque as soon as the portal closed behind them. Waiting for them there was a group of three women and two men, all dressed like Velagros, and with various weapons dangling from their belts or backs.
They immediately started to disassemble the circle, storing the rods in dimensional amulets.
"Is it your first time seeing a temporary waypoint?" Lith nodded in response.
"Crossing hundreds of kilometres at once would be impossible without such a device. By knowing its frequency, I can use it to lock into these coordinates, while the others pumped their own mana in it, allowing for us to get here with minimum mana consumption on my side."
- "Solus, how strong are these guys?"
"Each one of them has a blue mana core, so in theory they are stronger mages than you. Also, everything they have is heavily enchanted. Compared to their clothes, your uniform is like a firefly besides a torch. Invisible." –
They were all of different ages and builds, the youngest one seemed to be barely over twenty years old while the oldest seemed to be nearing the fifties.
"Our destination is in that direction." Velagros pointed towards south-southeast.
"It shouldn't take much by flight. Half an hour, tops."
At his command, everyone cast his personal flight spell, advancing with a wedge formation with Lith as its center. He used that opportunity to activate Life Vision, discovering that despite they had superior cores, their magical forces weren't much stronger than his own.
On the contrary, Lith's physical prowess outclassed everyone else's, even without using fusion magic.
After a few minutes, though, their spells disappeared abruptly, sending them into a free fall to the ground. Luckily, they were flying low, around 5 meters (16') high, to avoid being visible from a distance, so they ended up tumbling on the ground instead of splattering.
The corps' protective vests absorbed much of the impact, but Lith wasn't wearing one, and his uniform's weak point was offering no protection against blunt impacts. He made the earth under him soft and elastic, bouncing and rolling to disperse the momentum.
"Ambush!" Captain Velagros roared, while he and his men assumed a defensive position.
Lith and Solus activated Life Vision and mana sense respectively, discovering that they had stepped into a very complex array.
- "This is clearly a high-level Warden formation." Solus observed. "Besides disrupting air magic, making flight impossible, somehow it also compresses space. I can't access to our dimensional pocket, and I bet that even Blinking or using Warp Steps is impossible." –
Cursing his bad luck, Lith alerted Velagros of Solus' discovery, while readying both fake and true spells. He would do everything to keep his secret, but dying for it was not an option.
"Cr*p! The kid is right." Velagros had just tried to Warp them away, but to no avail. "Fall back, we are sitting ducks here!"
Velagros had no idea how Lith had assessed the situation so fast, but that wasn't the time for questions. With no movement spells, escaping the encirclement would be difficult, and with their dimensional amulets sealed, their resources had been dramatically reduced.
"How deep are we into the array?" He asked noticing how Lith's eyes were burning with mana.
"Very. They probably waited for us to be in the middle before activating it."
"Makes sense." Velagros nodded. "I would have done the same."
Any direction was good as another, they were still in the open, with no natural formation offering them cover or protection. Velagros picked one at random, making his team move fast but keeping the formation, to not leave blind spots.
To his surprise, despite being the shortest, Lith had no problem keeping the pace of their jog.
- "Since this was a last-minute operation, the only possible explanation is that there is a spy in the Royal palace. Otherwise it would be impossible to set up a trap like this on such a short notice." –
Velagros inwardly swore to find the traitor and give him a slow and painful death.
Suddenly, several Gates opened in the air, from each emerged a person wearing a guerrilla combat suit, that unleashed a tier five spell on the corps unit. The air filled with countless spheres of fire the size of a house, while the ground all around them exploded in razor-sharp rock shrapnel.
Lith realized that the Queen's corps unit was doomed. The aggressors could turn on and off the jamming field at will. Wiping them out with hit and run tactics was just a matter of time.
He quickly activated all the barriers he had ready, only around himself, opening at the same time a deep hole in the ground right under his feet with earth magic.
The assault continued for several seconds. The earth trembled like there was an earthquake, forcing Lith to keep digging away. The shockwaves from the surface only grew in intensity over time.
- "Dammit, and to think that Yurial always nag about useless a Warden is! I can't believe a whole unit of the Queen's corps was done so easily." –
One after the other, the life forces of the six people assigned to escort him faded away. Lith was shocked and angry, there was nothing he could have done to save them, even by revealing his status of Awakened one.
The attack had been too quick and well-coordinated to open a hole big enough for everyone. And even if somehow he managed to, the enemies would have noticed, using tier five earth magic to squash them like bugs.
It wasn't the first time that Lith had been forced to retreat, but it was the first time that such an act left him with a bitter aftertaste. He had never experienced such helplessness before, making him aware that he could only cower ad hide, like a rat.
A few hundred meters to the east, the leader of the Talons was admiring the result of their work through a surveillance mirror. Once again, no survivors, no witnesses, no proofs. Farion Negal and his men were the best at their job, and they were proud of it.
The Talons was a mercenary unit, whose members were once part of the elite troops from the armies of all the three great Countries, but had been dishonourably discharged for violating the warrior code, by either pillaging, raping and/or murdering in the territories that they were supposed to protect.
A few of them were actually wanted criminals, but the Talons knew how to take care of their own. Offering their services to the highest bidder, they lived a life of luxury, being the living proof that their countries had made a big mistake by discarding them like trash.
"Captain Seephit, check for survivors." Negal ordered to their Warden.
"Come on, General! There's nothing left but a crater. It's a waste of my considerable skill!" Despite not being part of the army anymore, each one had a military rank and a status in the unit, according to his/her talent.
"Do it anyway. We have a reputation to uphold."
"Yes, sir!" Seephit was the third in command, yet sometimes he forgot how anal retentive the General was.
Seephit disabled his arrays, allowing him to open a Warp Steps right above the crater and then cast the Life Detection Array, a Warden spell that in many aspects resembled Lith's Life Vision.
From underground, Lith was still able to see the magic portal opening with Life Vision.
- "What the heck are they doing now? In their place I would either wipe down any trace of the massacre or check for survivors, if not both." –
"Good gods, General, you are right for once! We have a rat!"
Thanks to his heightened senses, Lith was able to hear the Warden's snarky remark, and react accordingly.
In all his years as a soldier first and a mercenary later, Seephit had never seen anyone moving so fast. Charged to the brim with air fusion, it took Lith but a second to get out of his hiding spot, cross the Warp Step, and rip Seephit's head from the neck with his bare hands.
Chapter 137 Despair
Although his entry appeared overbearing and dramatic to the members of the Talons, Lith was actually quite desperate, and so was Solus. The moment the snarky man had revealed his presence, he knew that he had just went from the frying pan into a volcano.
Whoever those guys were, they had mastered the discipline of spatial magic to the point of making it an art form. Lith could only run or fly, but against an opponent that cold bend space, Blink or Switch it was useless.
His only option was to get in and kill them so fast they would not even understand what had hit them. It was time to test the limits of his new body.
- "First thing first, we need to kill the Warden." Lith thought, not knowing it was his intended target's head that he was throwing to the nearest enemy, making both heads burst open for the violence of the impact.
"Our only hope is to find him before he casts another array, otherwise we are screwed. The only silver lining is that Warden's spells are slow a*s."
"You focus on the killing." Solus replied.
"I'll collect as much intel as I can about our opponents. If I see the slightest hint of Warden magic, I'll tell you." –
Sadly, the Talons unit was comprised only by veterans, hence as soon Lith beheaded Seephit, it took them barely a second to recover and regroup. The one Lith had killed with an unconventional headbutt, was simply too close to dodge the projectile.
Farion Negal, the General, instantly issued coded orders, that his men were ready to execute. The element of surprise was already lost, and Lith had yet to face nine more people.
"Black two! Red three! White four!" Despite the target was just a kid, Negal employed an extremely aggressive tactic. His creed was that no matter the opponent, never underestimate, never relax, never talk until the kill was confirmed.
The two most skilled melee expert would kill him, o worst case scenario, keep him busy while three mid range specialists would cover for them and stall enough time for the four long ranged spellcaster to put an end to the struggle.
Cursing his bad luck for the umpteenth time since he was born back on Earth, Lith prepared to face his incoming enemies. First, he pushed his mana core to the limit, emitting a light cyan aura that enveloped the space around him with a mana so dense that the air started to crackle.
Then, he infused his body with all the six elements, while casting one of his new spells as fast as he could. The two Talons were a man and a woman, the first using a sword and shield combination, the second twin swords instead.
Bloodlust and madness twisted their features, to the point that not even Yurial would have wasted time pondering if she was hot or not.
- "Beware! All their equipment is on par with the corps! Even their tattoos seem to be enchanted." Solus warned him.
"Just my luck. I need a damn weapon to block enchanted blades, but I still can't afford the academy's prices!" –
A chunk of the tattoos disappeared, boosting their speed like a high grade potion and allowing them to reach Lith before he could finish casting. They placed in opposite directions, forcing Lith to create a blind spot in his visual field.
Much to their surprise, he didn't even try following the movements of them both with his eyes. Instead, he turned his back on the shield man, focusing only on the double wielding woman.
Nonetheless they didn't lose focus, executing a two pronged attack where each strike was meant to corner the prey, by making the attacks coming from the partner harder to evade. Yet Lith dodged them all flawlessly, even those coming from his back.
The first exchange was more than enough for Negal to understand what was happening, forcing him to violate his creed already.
"What are you doing, you idiots?! That's Full Guard! Red, white fall back!" To prevent their target from escaping, Negal started weaving the anti air magic array.
For a split second the Talons froze, thinking their General had gone mad.
Full Guard was a common Mage Knight spell, that created a spherical blue aura with a radius of 1.65 meters (5.41 feet) all around the caster.
Thanks to Full Guard, a Mage Knight had no blind spots. Whatever entered the sphere would be detected, allowing him to counter attack and dodge with surgical precision without even looking.
What Negal said didn't make sense, though. The cyan aura surrounding their target had a radius of over twenty meters (66'), something every one of them knew by experience was impossible.
The spell range, even at tier five, was supposed to cover only the length given by the arm plus weapon length. When their instinct and discipline kicked in, making them obey the order, it was already too late.
Lith had previously ignored the earlier football coach gibberish, but now, violating his creed Negal had exposed himself.
- "Warden at three o'clock!" Solus shouted the moment she recognized the energy pattern. –
Lith exploited the opening, darting toward Negal while extending his arms, with a motion that made no sense to his enemies. At that distance, any spell coming from a ring could be easily avoided.
The red and white team moved backwards, without stopping their chants, trying to keep the distance from the prey while the black team was in hot pursuit. Their problem was twofold, though.
Lith was too fast for his chasers, and no one in the Talons knew of spirit magic's existence.
Fast like a snake, tendrils of pure, invisible mana travelled the space between predator and prey, coiling around Negal's head. Spells rained on Lith from all directions.
Some he managed to dodge, others he had to tank in order to not lose focus, letting the combined effects of earth fusion and his uniform to block most of the damage, while light fusion regenerated the wounds as soon as they were opened.
With each step he took, Lith's magical force became strong enough to overcame Negal's enchanted protections, horribly deforming his head before popping it like a balloon.
Spirit magic's range had already reached fifty meters (54.7 yards) back when he had saved Count Lark's family.
Now it could hit as far as Lith could see, yet the farther he was from the target, the weaker the effects.
- "Okay, the Warden is down. Eight more to go. With a bit of luck, the shock from my use of spirit magic should stun them for a couple of seconds, giving me plenty of time to evening the field." –
Yet, luck was a fickle mistress. What Lith ignored, knowing nothing about military except what he learned from the movies, was that in such tight knitted units there were two only two kinds of generals.
The ones whose death would destroy the morale, turning them into sitting ducks, like he had hoped, and the ones whose death would turn his soldiers into battle frenzy demons unafraid of death.
Farion Negal belonged in the second category. Most of the members of the Talons were either psychopaths devoid of empathy or cold blooded killers, they didn't care about anything but themselves.
Killing Negal was the equivalent to cutting their lifeline, they had no idea how to survive outside the battlefield without him. A few were even grateful to him for having rescued them before their execution.
Each and every one of them took it personal.
To make things worse, Brigadier Phita Beruit, second in command, quickly regained her cool, avoiding the situation to devolve into chaos.
"Black four! Red two! White two! Don't let the General's death go to waste. F*cking kill him!"
Brigadier General Beruit was an ex member of the Queen's corps. It was thanks to her knowledge about the corps' protocol and equipment that the mission had gone so smoothly, up until Seephit's death.
Unlike the others, she had already seen someone moving so fast. Once, Beruit had been a member of the Queen's detail, witnessing her inhuman speed. During an ambush, she had killed three assailants before her bodyguards could even move.
In her mind, now everything finally made sense, all her questions had found an answer. Why six members of the corps had been sent to protect an insignificant commoner. Why the pay was obscenely good, even for the Talons' standards.
"The f*cker is a member of the royal family!" She shouted.
"We have to make this quick, before they send someone looking for him!"
Everyone in the Talon had heard Beruit's tale at least once. No one had ever believed her, thinking it was a self-delusion from when she was still a rookie. But now things had changed.
Beruit couldn't believe that Negal had hid from them such a valuable piece of information. She knew not even the General took her story seriously, but being so meticulous that act of carelessness seemed so out of character.
- "I'm what?!" Lith couldn't avoid to inwardly sneer at that rubbish.
"First, I'm the bastard son of Count Lark, and this time of the Queen?"
"Two more enemies coming up close!" Solus warned him.
Lith could only sigh with relief.
"Just what the healer ordered." –
Then, he activated the spell he had previously casted, turning the world around him dark.
Chapter 138 Despair 2
Being a self-taught true mage with very little knowledge outside of tier three, had always been a problem for Lith. He had to make up from scratch most of his spells, and not having much free time, if not none at all, his toolkit was quite limited.
For such reason, most of his spells were derived from imitation. Phloria's Full Guard, the Ry's slipstream effect or the Wither dark aura were all tricks that he had picked up along the way.
His fight with the plant Abomination had allowed him to further understand darkness magic, and how to overcome its obnoxious limitations.
Darkness was an element capable of inflicting an enormous amount of damage overtime, and to add insult to injury, it was extremely hard to defend from it. On the other hand, though, darkness based spells were so slow that outside niche situations they were nigh useless.
Vampiric Touch required physical contact, hence it was a last resort. The Wither's dark aura had good range, but required a huge mana expenditure compared to the damage dealt.
That was why Lith had thought long and hard about it, trying to figure out a way to use darkness magic to cover for his weak points. No matter how much he planned in advance, he was still an amateur fighter, lacking any professional training.
Despite being much slower than Lith, two members of the Talons were enough to force him to go all out just to not be turned into mincemeat in a few seconds. Thanks to their rich battle experience, they were able to anticipate his movements and adjust their attacks accordingly.
Not to mention that even speed could do only so much in front of such refined teamwork. The moment they closed in, they had used the range advantage granted by their blades to restrict Lith from escaping or counterattacking.
To gain the upper hand, he needed to fight dirty and shamelessly like before, exploiting the fact that his opponents knew nothing about true magic. When the four melee experts approached, black tentacles emerged from Lith's body, trying to grab whoever came near.
The Talons' first instinct was to cut them down, but the tentacles were made of pure energy, so they passed through the blades like a breeze, lashing at the enemies' bodies, sucking out their life force and giving it to their master.
Death Call was the answer Lith had devised to his problems. Anyone that came too close would have to endure the vampiric touch of the tentacles, that were nothing more than a dense mass of dark magic guided by his will.
The compact form meant that, unlike the dark aura, the draining effect was fast and efficient, while the mid range of the spell made the slow speed irrelevant. Thanks to Full Guard, Lith was completely aware of his surroundings, therefore able to manipulate every single tentacle like it was one of his limbs.
Combined together, the two spells offered a perfect defence. Come close, become food. Stay away, suffer true magic. Lith didn't need to attack anymore, he could simply focus on dodging while the tentacles did the rest.
Barely a few seconds after the activation of Death Call, the close range Talons realized what was happening. They were out of breath, their movements getting sluggish, each strike sloppier than the last.
Their opponent, instead, was suddenly fully healed, either dodging or deflecting their combined attacks with his bare hands, without even breaking a sweat. But the most shocking part was when the five of them, Lith included, noticed an unforeseen side effect of the spell.
The four Talons seemed to be aging by the second, their hair getting thin and grey, while their faces were now full of wrinkles, the skin starting to sag. It was actually a mere cosmetic effect, caused by the sudden loss of moisture and life force.
Nothing that a few drinks and some rest couldn't fix. No Talon feared death, but age? That was another matter entirely.
For the first time in many years, the members of the Talons started to feel fear. From the moment Seephit had opened that Warp Gate, their day had quickly turned into a nightmare.
Since when kids could rip off heads? Since when spells could be cast with no magic words or hand signs? How could possibly exist someone capable of killing a soldier of the calibre of Negal with just a wave of the hand?
Last, but not least, what kind of monster could summon an unnamed horror?
"Black, fall back! Red, fire at will! White, hold your fire until Red is done!" Fear had never made Beruit falter, and this time was no different.
By alternating the waves of spells from the two teams, she planned of raining on the monster enough destruction to make the nightmare end.
When the four of the Black team tried to retreat, they discovered that the black tentacles had turned solid. Infused with spirit magic, they dragged back their victims, using them as meat shields against the incoming attacks.
It was after the first shockwave arrived, that Lith understood to have gravely underestimated tier five spells.
The four bodies, even with all their magical protections, were barely enough to block the first one, a densely packed chain of lightnings that boiled the four Talons from the inside, turning them into charred corpses.
The second spell from the Red unit ripped them to shreds, forcing Lith to dodge and wave countless wind blades, capable of cutting through rock and dirt like a hot knife pressed against butter.
Those he didn't manage to avoid, penetrated deeply into his flesh, stopping only halfway through the bones. The wounds were too extensive to cut off the pain receptors, otherwise his whole body would go limp.
Seeing that the monster was still alive, and four more Talons had died, their fear turned into despair, but that didn't stop them. In battle there was no time for whining or grieving, only victory or defeat.
Beruit and the last member of the White unit unleashed their spells too.
Lith had no choice left, he could only fly away as fast as he could. He used all his remaining strength to raise a stone wall after the other, hoping that between the distance and the makeshift barriers he would manage to survive.
Whatever it was, it hit with the strength of a volcano.
The spot where Lith had been until a split second before had turned into a vortex of purple flames, that exploded with great violence, turning the stone walls in pebbles, trampling them like they were just domino pieces.
Lith stopped wasting his energies on magic fusion, keeping only the light one to keep regenerating his present and future wounds and earth fusion to try to save his life. Everything else he had, was focused on his speed, trying to avoid being reduced to a pile of ashes by the purple flames.
Despite all his efforts, the explosion kept getting closer and closer. Lith wasn't fast enough to outrun it, his only hope was to get far enough from the epicentre of the spell to take as little damage as possible.
But it was all useless. Even from a distance, moving faster that a bullet, Lith could feel the scorching heat burning his feet despite the magical shoes and earth fusion.
When the flames engulfed him, Lith stopped even flying, letting the shockwave carry him away. A cold shiver ran down his spine, the fear almost made his mind go blank, but he refused to surrender.
In a last gamble he used all his remaining strength, even aided by Solus, to insulate himself with a thick barrier made of air, quickly revolving around his body to deflect the flames and avoid direct contact, while using water magic on himself, in a way that in any other circumstances would have frozen him to death.
Despite his water magic spell, the air inside the barrier quickly became so hot that he had to stop breathing to not burn his lungs and throat. His skin got covered in blisters, his open wounds immediately cauterized.
The pain was strong enough to make Lith cry, and he was happy for it, because despite keeping his eyelids close like shutters, he still feared that without the tears his eyes could boil.
Chapter 139 Los
The few seconds Lith spent in that blazing inferno felt like hours, constantly wishing for the pain to stop, while his lungs were desperate for air.
When it finally ended, he crashed on the ground, tumbling multiple times before coming to a halt.
The first breath of fresh air he took, was the best he had ever had. His normal vision was blurry, but Life Vision showed him clearly that there was still no trace of his enemies.
Playing dead had no sense, they had discovered him once, they could do it twice.
Lith immediately started healing himself, using Invigoration at the same time. Thanks to the world energy, his wounds healed much faster than normal, the bones mended and the burns disappeared without leaving any scar.
- "Solus, any sign of those b*astards?"
"You travelled several hundred metres because of the explosion, but they are catching up fast. They'll Blink here before you are finished healing."
"Damn Blink! I can't get close, while they can escape anytime. Also, from range they can dodge or block everything I throw at them. It's only a matter of time before they kill me for good. I'm almost out of tricks." –
Determined not to die, Lith stood up, waiting for the enemies while racking his brain for a solution.
"By the gods! He is still alive!" Beruit and the three survivors were all that remained of the Talons.
"That's impossible!" Lieutenant Calant couldn't believe his own eyes.
"That was a f*cking War Mage spell! It's supposed to blow open castles and can't even kill a kid?"
"That's no kid, Lieutenant, that's a monster. I'll cast Raging Sun again, you three prevent him to interrupt me or run away, at any cost! We owe it to our fallen comrades."
The three Talons assumed a triangle formation, but didn't dare to approach. If four had failed, there was no reason for three to succeed.
- "Damn! At this distance, I'm powerless. Think, Lith, think. How can we save ourselves? There must be something we can do. Something only us can do, that will take them by surprise…"
A cruel smile appeared on his lips, there was still hope.
He dashed toward the chanting woman with air fusion, using Full Guard again to not miss any movement. The three performed a Blink, planning on using hit and run tactics to not fall prey of the tentacles.
But thanks to the combination of Life Vision and his enhanced speed, Lith was able to see where the Gates would open, and react accordingly. He changed direction, aiming for the nearest Gate, punching with his full force before the enemy appeared.
The hit crushed the Talon's trachea, even severely damaging the spine in the process. Lith kept moving forward, while the corpse still stood up, with a shocked expression on the face.
The two remaining Talons reacted by instinct, thinking their teammate had simply missed, letting the target slip away.
They Blinked together, one in front of the target, the other at his back, only to discover he was ready for them. Lith grabbed them by the throat, his hands were strong like a vise, snapping their necks with a twist of his wrists.
Thanks to the distance, Beruit was barely able to distinguish what had happened. Just like the Queen years ago, Lith's movements appeared only as a blur, but years of training told her to run away.
Lith's smile grew wider, while his spirit magic was coiling around the last enemy. He twisted her hands behind her back, to prevent her to cast spells or use magic rings, choking her at the same time.
Even if Beruit had been able to talk, Lith wasn't willing to listen. He knew that if not for the fact of being an Awakened one, he would have already died many times. He feared her and what she was able to do.
Letting her live was too big of a risk, blocking her hands and mouth wouldn't stop her from using first magic, nor he had any idea what kind of artifact she could use against him if given the chance.
By clenching his fist, Lith lifted Beruit in the air before crushing her head.
After checking there was no enemy still alive, Lith gave out a victory laughter.
- "I can't believe I'm still alive! It's the first time I had to gamble so much. These guys' strength and teamwork was insane. Who the heck where they?"
"I don't know, and I don't care!" Solus was brimming with joy.
"The only important thing is that you are well and all in one piece. Well almost."
"What do you mean with 'almost'?"
"Your hair." –
Lith's hand ran over his head, discovering that he was almost bald. With Invigoration, he assessed that his hair had almost been burned down to the root.
- "How did I get them back the last time?"
"Manohar." Solus said, like it explained it all." –
Looking at himself, Lith discovered that most of his uniform was gone. Between the cuts and the burns, he was as good as naked. After a quick change in farmer's clothes, he realized he had another problem.
- "Solus, do you have any idea where we are?"
"No. What about you?"
"Well, I know that moss grows on the north side of the trees."
"Yeah, too bad this is a grassland." She sneered.
"And I was being sarcastic! Without a landmark, maps are useless. We could be anywhere between the academy and Kandria."
"Yeah, I think we should… run for our life!" –
Lith didn't knew what Solus had noticed, but didn't stop for asking. He moved as fast as he could, casting a flight spell to get the higher ground.
The corpses of the Talons exploded, leaving nothing behind.
"My loot!" Lith screamed.
- "As soon as you killed that woman, I noticed something had changed in the mana surrounding their equipment.
At first, I thought it was some kind of protection that was being depowered by the user's death, but then I noticed that instead of decreasing, the energy was actually overloading. They sure were a careful lot."
"Who cares about that? All this work for nothing!"
"Did you just dare to call your life 'nothing'?" Solus sounded really angry.
"Yes… I mean, no. Damn, where the heck are we?" Lith decided to change topic. –
After thinking a bit about their predicament, they decided the first thing to do was to get away from the fighting scene. Lith would have a hard time to justify how a team of six experts had died, while a simple student had survived.
The simplest explanation was to say he had no idea what had happened to the corps after they had helped him escape from unknown assailants. The self-destruction mechanism had undoubtedly hurt his pockets, but at least helped covering what had really happened.
In a battle involving the corps, the fact that so many of the dead bodies had broken necks and exploded heads, instead of weapon marks, would have stuck out like a sore thumb.
- "If you think about it, it's a blessing in disguise." Solus pointed out. "If the equipment remained along with the bodies and you looted it, there was no possible way to justify how a naked unit could fight on par with the corps." –
Lith didn't reply, but only because he understood she was trying to cheer him up.
It would have been quite easy for him to make the best equipped members of the Talons disappear and stage a more balanced clash.
After flying for a while in the direction he supposed was south-southeast, getting even more lost, Lith landed near a group of trees. There, he took out his uniform, hoping for its self-repair magic to make it less tattered.
At that point, all he had to do was waiting for someone to notice he had disappeared. First, he ate a lot of food from his reserve, to made up for the body mass lost after healing such extensive wounds, then Lith spent the following hours using Accumulation.
While refining his mana core, Lith reflected on the battle, analysing all he had discovered about tier five magic, searching for a way to reproduced it, but most importantly how to defend from it.
Chapter 140 Paranoia
Tier five magic was much stronger than he had anticipated, making all the other spells he had learned so far look like parlour tricks. From what Lith had understood, tier five was capable of borrowing a huge amount of world energy.
No matter how strong a mana core was, just conjuring once those purple flames should have left the mage exhausted, yet the sorceress seemed perfectly fine. To be able to cast such spell twice in a short amount of time, meant that the burden on her body was limited.
- "We have to learn a way to do the same. Otherwise the next time it happens, if our opponent is a little stronger or luckier, we'll be done for." –
After a couple hours, he had yet to find a solution, but his communication amulet finally activated. It wasn't like a phone; it didn't ring or buzz. When there was an incoming call, the user would experience a pull to his consciousness, like when you suddenly remember something important.
It was a feeling strong enough to wake someone up from the deepest slumber. Lith didn't answer immediately, he wanted to give the impression of having been unconscious.
"Lith, thanks the gods you are all right!" As predicted, it was Linjos.
"I've tried reaching captain Velagros, but to no avail. What happened to you? Why you have yet to reach Kandria?"
"Headmaster?" Lith replied squinting his eyes, acting confused, like he had just woken up.
"Good gods, Lith! What happened to your uniform?" Before answering, he had changed back, to make his story more believable.
"I…" Lith took a long pause, like he was trying to remember.
"Oh gods! The captain and his soldiers are in danger, they need help! You must hurry!" He seemed to be panicking, stuttering at every word, his face going pale thanks to a little spell.
"Calm down, son. Take a deep breath." Lith did as instructed, and after a while, he was able to tell Linjos what had happened.
In his version of the story, instead of using Warp Steps, the enemies had emerged from underground. The last thing Lith remembered, was being hit by some purple flames before losing consciousness.
"Purple flames?" Linjos was shocked.
"I know very few spells capable of generating such destructive force. That would explain a lot. The captain must have used something to save you, but the damage sustained was too much and you have blacked out.
Then, he has brought you to safety before going back to the fight."
Lith gasped, nodding at the Headmaster's words. When playing the "I don't know" card, it was always better let the other party to fill the blanks. The less details he gave, the smaller the chances of contradicting himself.
"Are you alone right now?"
Lith looked left and right at his surroundings before answering.
"Yes. And I have no idea where I am. The only thing I know for sure is that this isn't the same place where we got attacked. What do I do now?"
"You can't stay there, it's too dangerous. At this point, is safe to assume that captain Velagros is either dead or incapacitated. If he is dead, it means that the attackers could still be looking for you."
After pondering for a moment, Linjos spoke again.
"Follow the setting Sun toward west, unless the captain Warped you really far, you will find the river Delilin. Following the river, you are bound to find some settlement. Don't say you are going to Kandria. Despite the information blackout, everyone in the region knows something is wrong with it.
You would raise suspicions. Ask for directions, but for the city of Pabia. It's outside the quarantine zone, but close to Kandria and well connected with the main trading routes. Road signs will help you reach your real destination.
Notify me as soon as you arrive."
Lith nodded, then he hung up the call before taking flight.
- "We already knew of the river from the maps. Linjos' plan is identical to our own, except we would have directly asked for Kandria. Why did you ask for his help?"
Solus' question made Lith sigh, she was still too naïve.
"Because I'm supposed to be a twelve year old, shocked by an ambush from which I barely survived. I need to appear vulnerable and confused, not like a cold blooded machine." –
Lith followed Linjos' instructions, easily finding the Delilin river first, and a farm later. Thanks to a stroke of luck, while looking for Pabia, he arrived on the main road.
After that, reaching the outskirts of Kandria was just a matter of minutes. Thanks to Life Vision, Lith was able to see the otherwise invisible energy lines in the space in front of him, stretching beyond the barricades and roadblocks that were still far away.
- "It's similar to the array used by those assassins to trap the corps' squad, but much more powerful and complicated" Solus observed.
"I suspect that it can do much more than just block air and dimensional magic. I've never seen anything like this before, but based on what we read from the file and your memories from Earth, I'd say it's safe to assume that it can block communications too."
"It would make sense." Lith agreed, while his mind was spinning. –
If Solus was right, and he would have bet good money on it, he was about to throw himself into the wolf's maws. There were countless things that could go wrong once he was isolated from the outside world.
His paranoia required at least a dozen of contingency plans for a situation like that, but he actually had only one. Lith informed Linjos of his arrival, making sure to leave a record of his position.
Traitors weren't the only ones he had to watch out for, there were also the relatives and friends of all those he had crossed during his time in the White Griffon. Lith knew that for many of them, he was a stain on their pride and reputation.
Normally, no one would dare to touch a prized student, but a quarantine zone was a place were laws and common sense held little value. Those who considered commoners like pebbles, would inevitably be tempted to cause "accidents".
Being without a detail, further complicated the situation. There was no one that he knew or that he could trust, and being the sole survivor was bound to raise suspicions. It didn't matter if they were genuine or a matter of opportunity, someone could try to pin their deaths to him.
"I'll inform the supervisor and the Queen of your arrival. Get close to the perimeter, but do not attempt to enter on your own. The soldiers have strict orders, the plague has put everyone's nerves on edge. Use your uniform as proof of identity. I'll call you later."
- "Linjos is a good man, after all. Calling the Queen means he has his fair share of doubts too, and is trying to avoid unnecessary troubles." –
Even from that distance, Lith could see how heavily guarded the zone was. There was a ten meters (33 feet) high wall, that circled the area as far as the eye could see. Life Vision showed him that many soldiers and a few mages were hidden behind it.
Lith flew forward at full speed, pretending to not know what was going to happen. As soon as he entered the array, his spell disappeared, making him fall to the ground. Lith had tried to soften the landing, but even low tier earth magic seemed to be blocked.
The impact left him breathless, and before he could stand up, someone pushed him back to the ground, binding his hands, while several blades grazed his neck puncturing even his unnaturally hard skin. Small droplets of blood started to flow towards his head.
- "Man, I hate being always right." -
Chapter 141 Suspicions
"Who are you? What are you doing here?" Said a raspy voice coming from behind Lith's back.
"I'm Lith from Lutia, coming from the White Griffon academy on Her Majesty's service." Lith appeared to be calm, but he was actually seething with anger. He had expected for someone to come and identify him, not to be treated like a criminal.
"Really?" The voice sneered. "Then why are you dressed like a farmer? Since when the White Griffon has stooped so low that they can't even afford uniforms anymore?"
For a moment, Lith was tempted to break the ropes with brute strength, and then pull their guts through their mouths.
- "Stay calm, you idiot. This isn't your village or the academy. In the outside world you are a nobody, and you will be treated as such." –
"My uniform got heavily damaged." He replied calmly. "What's left of it is on my shoulder. Headmaster Linjos should have already contacted your supervisor."
Someone searched him, while another hand picked the rag that was his uniform. Being on his finger, Solus could see one of the three robed magicians cast a spell. It made Lith and the uniform emit a light glow at the same time.
The mages looked at each other, nodding, before letting Lith stand up.
- "Amazing. It seems there is a way to make apparent the link between a magic object and the one it is imprinted with." –
Lith didn't share her enthusiasm, he was more interested in looking at his captors.
There were five soldiers and three mages. They were all of different heights and builds, but were dressed almost in the same way. They were all clearly part of a military unit.
They all wore leather boots, grey linen pants and shirt, leather gloves and what resembled a plague doctor mask, making their faces unrecognizable. The only differences between them was that the mages wore a robe, while the soldiers had weapons and a thin metal breastplate.
"Sorry, sir." Said one of the soldiers, his voice distorted by the mask.
"But this is not enough proof of identity. No one gets in or out of the quarantine zone without the proper clearance."
One of the mages took out a communication amulet, from which emerged the small hologram of a handsome man in his late thirties. He had thick blonde hair and beard, with the stern look typical of someone being used to complete obedience.
"Why did you leave your post, sergeant?"
"We had a perimeter breach, sir. We are currently dealing with it."
"It". The way they had pronounced that word, not referring at him like a person but as a thing, sounded ominous to Lith's ears.
"Is it perhaps a tall kid, dressed like a farmer, with a bald head and a tattered White Griffon uniform?"
If the sergeant was surprised by the accurate description, he didn't let it show.
"Exactly, sir."
"Bring him to me."
Lith used that short exchange to use Invigoration on the ropes binding his hands. They had no enchantment whatsoever, and that let him sigh with relief. If necessity arose, he could easily free himself.
One of the mages took out gloves and a plague mask from under his robe, making Lith wear them. The beak like mask had two small holes, from which the air would enter at every breath, making a hissing sound.
Lith had the impression of having lost his sense of smell. The air didn't carry any scent anymore, except for that of some kind of disinfectant.
- "This thing must be some sort of gas mask." He thought.
"The situation must be much worse than I expected, if even this far from Kandria no one dares to move without it." -
The soldiers positioned themselves so that two walked in front of Lith, two behind, together with the mages, and one alongside him, keeping the ropes in check.
Once they got past the checkpoint, Lith could see a military encampment the size of a small city stationed behind the wall. It was comprised by several tents divided in two blocks. One block had only circular shaped tents of various height and size, but none bigger than a house.
The other block was situated farther inside. It was heavily guarded as the wall itself, and it was comprised only by large rectangular shaped tents. The smallest one was at least one hundred square meters big.
Each tent of the encampment had small flags near its entrance, probably to indicate its purpose. Lith was led to one of the small circular tents, about 2.5 meters (8.2 feet) high with a diameter of 5 metres (16.5 feet), marked with triangular golden flags.
The space inside was perfectly lit, thanks to glowing gems masterfully placed on the ceiling.
The floor was entirely covered by a thick carpet, that muffled their footstep. Seated behind a hardwood desk, there was the man Lith had previously seen in the hologram.
To his right, there was a man, around 1.9 meters (6'3") high, with shoulder length pitch black hair, and ice blue eyes. He wore a corps uniform identical to the one Velagros used. Lith deduced he had to be a captain too.
The soldiers left him in the middle of the tent, without freeing his hands, and then left. The moment the curtain closed between them, the rattling sound their weapons produced at every step, disappeared. The tent was clearly sound proof.
- "Damn. What the heck is happening? I'm supposed to be an esteemed guest, not a prisoner." – Lith was getting more nervous with every second, but he could only grin and bear it.
"May I know what I did to deserve such treatment?" He asked walking towards the two men.
"Silence! I ask the questions here." The blonde man stood up, slamming his fist on the desk. Lith felt a powerful air current, pressing on him from above, trying to make him kneel.
Lith bent a little under the force of the spell, but refused to submit. His rebelliousness angered his captor even more. The man waved his hand, and Lith felt like an invisible punch had just struck his jaw, making him fall on the ground.
The corps' captain stiffened up, but said nothing.
"Now tell me what happened to Velagros and his men." The blonde man's eyes were reduced to fiery slits.
Lith stood up, before repeating to him the same story he had told Linjos. How they had departed from the White Griffon, get ambushed by unknown assailants, until he was struck by the purple flames and had lost consciousness.
Lith was forced to repeat his story, again and again, but he never contradicted himself.
When the man's anger peaked, and was about to hit Lith again, the captain stopped his hand.
"That's enough, Colonel Varegrave. The boy has already answered to your questions. I will not allow any further harassment to our Queen esteemed guest!"
Despite the captain's lean build, Varegrave was incapable of escaping his grasp.
"Let me go immediately, Captain Kilian. This is a military operation, and this is my camp! I only answer to the King!"
Kilian refused to back down, twisting Varegrave's arm and forcing to look at him in the eyes.
"Make no mistake, you will answer to him. This is a violation of the protocol, and you are acting on groundless accusations!"
Varegrave snorted.
"Do you really want me to believe that a man like Velagros died, that his whole team was wiped out, and that traitorous runt managed to came out unscathed? Isn't it suspicious?" Anger twisted his visage, baring his teeth at every word.
"I know that you and Velagros were blood brothers, but nothing you do can bring him back. Now listen to reason, and let the healer go."
"Not until I have my answers!" Varegrave snarled.
Seeing that reasoning was impossible, Kilian took out his communication amulet. Not even a second later, an unknown visage appeared from it, that made Varegrave turn pale.
"Tell me you have good news, Kilian." Said the man from the amulet.
"Sadly, no, my King. Yet there is a matter that requires your attention."
Lith inwardly smiled, seeing Varegrave's face twitch as Kilian reported everything that had happened.
The King turned towards Lith, that only then realized he could actually see him, and promptly kneeled.
"No need for formalities, mage Lith. Stand up." By acknowledging his name and title of mage, despite Lith was just a student, the King was doing him a huge honour. Lith knew it, and kept kneeling for a couple of seconds before standing up.
"Thanks, your Majesty."
"Kilian, take mage Lith to the hospital. There is much to do, and you have already wasted too much of his time. Varegrave and I need to have a talk. Please, leave us alone."
Kilian bowed, and untied Lith's hands. Then the two of them wore their mask and exited from the tent.
"My King, please, forgive my rudeness. Why are you letting him go? He is nothing but a traitorous commoner that has caused the death of many loyal servants of the crown. And even if he didn't, what could he possibly do?
He's just a kid, how can he succeed where the best healers of the Kingdom have failed? It's impossible. I would bet my life on it."
The King silently stared at him for a second before replying.
"I'll take that bet."
Chapter 142 Plague
Once out of Varegrave's tent, Lith introduced himself to Captain Kilian Aluria. He discovered that the ranks in the Queen's corps were different from the army. Being elite squads, each unit was allowed to act independently, and was composed by five soldiers and one Captain.
Each Captain only answered to the Queen herself, so despite their low-key demeanour, both Kilian and Velagros were actually big shots. Kilian tried explaining to Lith how Varegrave had being grief stricken ever since he learned about Velagros' alleged death.
The two of them had started their military career together, and been through thick and thin for years, before their paths had diverged. Lith politely nodded from time to time, grateful to the mask for hiding his uncaring expression.
He knew a thing or two about grief and loss, yet he had never attacked someone based on a simple suspicion. In his mind, Varegrave's destiny was set in stone. He would use his success in the current task to ask for compensation as part of his reward.
If that resulted impossible or too problematic in the short term, Lith would simply postpone. He had always considered revenge as something that was best served cold, there was no rush for it.
After asking Lith to forgive Varegrave and Lith pretending to consider doing it, Kilian lead him toward the second block.
"The first block is where soldiers and personnel live. The second, instead, is where the hospitals and the research labs are located. We have healers and alchemists trying to treat the victims of the plague that we managed to stabilise, or at least that was the plan.
The truth is, that even after a month no one has yet understood what the plague really is. So far light magic is completely useless, while alchemy seems to work to some degree, but only as palliative care. It treats the symptoms, not the cause."
The more Lith learned about the plague, the more it resembled one of his old medical cases. He was confident to be able to offer both a diagnosis and a cure, for a proper reward, of course.
"Just out of curiosity…" He asked.
"…in the first block, triangular flags mean a residential tent, right? Then what does the diamond and rectangular flags stand for?"
"What do you think?" Despite having read his file, Kilian was still surprised that even in his earlier circumstances Lith had the presence of mind to notice small details.
"Well, since in here dimensional items do not work, I'd say one is for the food supplies and the other is for the weaponry."
"Correct. And in case you are wondering, the golden flag is for the commanding officer, silver for the officers, bronze for soldiers."
Lith tried to take out his communication amulet, but to no avail. Space was tightly sealed inside the array, negating access to his pocket dimension. Then he tried to use first magic, discovering that even elemental magic didn't work.
The array jammed the connection between pure mana and the world energy, leaving him almost powerless.
"I also noticed earlier that magic and magical objects do not work in here. Yet the Colonel didn't have trouble smacking me around, and you were able to contact the King. How is it possible?"
Kilian smirked at that naïve question. He had almost forgot their esteemed guest was only a kid, with no knowledge about powerful artifacts.
"The array surrounding Kandria is not a Warden spell. Otherwise it would make no distinction between friends and foes. It is created by one of the Crown's treasures, called Small World.
As the name implies, it creates an extended space within which the one that holds its keystone can change the rules of magic at will. The Colonel controls the artifact, so he is immune to its effects and can grant privileges to others.
But every time someone uses a privilege, he is immediately notified. That's how he knew something had happened the second the guards used Warp Steps to surround you."
Lith was flabbergasted by the infinite uses and applications such an artifact could have.
- "That's the most overpowered thing I ever heard about. I really hope your tower form has something similar."
"Me too." Solus replied. "But I bet is not as easy as he says. The affected area is too big and the effect too powerful. The Captain is probably just feeding us public information while avoiding to mention the costs and limitations of the artifact." –
Lith sighed. She may had burst his bubble, but was probably right. It was too good to be true. He decided to drop the matter and concentrate on his task.
"Don't worry." Kilian added.
"Light magic can be freely used inside this Small World. You don't need to ask the Colonel's permission."
After they got past the security, Kilian brought him to block two's largest tent. It was big enough to easily accommodate a whole circus. It was a field hospital, the interior of which was completely white.
Instead of walls, it had countless curtains, that had been arranged creating corridors and defining the space of each patient's room. The first thing that Lith noticed about it, was the silence.
Aside from the conversations between the mages coming and going into the various rooms, the hospital was completely silent. One could hear the patients' moans and complains only when a curtain was opened.
"All the field hospitals have curtains enchanted to be sound proof." Kilian explained.
"It's needed for security and morale reasons. Despite being heavily sedated, some patients are in constant pain. Their screams would disturb the healers and stress the other residents. Avoiding escape attempts and mass hysteria is a priority."
"All the field hospitals?" Lith echoed. "Do you mean there's more than one?"
There had to be hundreds of patients in that tent alone. Lith had underestimated the scale of the plague.
Suddenly, he felt his conscience stinging at him. It was Solus, of course.
Kilian brought him to a patient, a middle-aged man whose right leg was split open like a watermelon. Despite the bandages and the attempts to stitch it, it was constantly bleeding.
According to the chart, he hadn't much time left. There weren't enough Blood Potions and mages for everyone, without constantly replenishing his vitality, he had only a few days at most.
In Lith's eyes, this was the easiest to solve among the plague's manifestations. It was identical to what had happened to Marchioness Distar's daughter. Lith even had a fake magic spell he had later created, in case it happened again and the Marchioness was willing to purchase it from him.
- "Selling it to the Kingdom will be much more lucrative." – Lith thought.
The man was pale as a ghost, his body covered in sweat. The prolonged pain had sapped his strength, he barely opened an eye when the two strangers entered.
Lith pretended to chant a spell, and then placed his hand on the man's balding forehead, activating Invigoration. He didn't like at all what he saw, his confidence crumbled.
"Captain, can I use darkness magic too?" Kilian nodded, noticing that Lith carefully wiped out the sweat with magic before moving forward.
He rushed Kilian, visiting several patients with open wounds, but his findings were always the same. Then, he visited the survivors from the spontaneous combustion and freezing phenomenon, and despite the mask Kilian could tell that something was wrong.
Lith was becoming increasingly nervous, like he had never seen him, not even during Varegrave's violent interrogation.
Kilian stopped, grabbing Lith's shoulder, executing with only one hand a spell that created a small air dome around them.
- "Not only he can use air magic despite the array. Kilian even invented the Mage Knight version of my Hush spell." – The idea of being plagiarized temporarily suppressed Lith's worry.
"These people are the official reason you and us are here. Off the record, though, reality is far more cynical. If words spread that we have a disease capable of stripping a mage of his powers, our neighbours would join forces and burn the Griffon Kingdom to the ground.
I believe that even most mages, nobles or not, would run away at any cost, to not lose years of painstaking work and dedication. That's why the final wing of the hospital officially does not exist. Is it clear?"
Only after Lith nodded, Kilian brought him into an empty room. He then placed an open hand on the curtain, injecting mana into it. The surface became covered in runes, and after Kilian murmured an unintelligible word, he pulled it open.
Lith discovered they weren't in the field hospital anymore, but in another much smaller tent without any exit.
"Dimensional magic." Kilian explained.
The tent had no curtains, except for the one they had come from. It was filled with beds, were men and women lied. Their faces were ashen, many were sobbing like they had recently lost their true love.
They were all members of the Mage Association that had lost their powers.
When they saw Lith using magic on them, some started crying uncontrollably, others tried to assault him in a fit of rage, forcing Kilian and the soldiers stationed inside to intervene to protect him from the angry mob.
After they left the prison ward, Lith couldn't wait to get the heck out of there.
"Thank you for your help Kilian. For a moment I thought they would rip me apart."
"Don't mention it." His voice oozed over eagerness.
"What do you think of the plague?" Kilian steeled himself preparing for his hopes to be crushed once again.
"It's not a plague, it's much worse. To whom must I report to before going back to the academy?"
"Are you saying you have already cracked it?"
Chapter 143 Plague 2
"Cracked is a big word. Understanding its nature is one thing, curing it is another entirely." Lith tried to curb Kilian's enthusiasm.
Kilian seemed to not have listened to a word he said, dragging him away by the arm at full speed while frantically speaking to someone with his communicator amulet.
For some reason, Lith's mind recalled all the times he had seen Manohar pulled around by Marth like a small child. Walking a mile in his shoes wasn't pleasant at all.
Before he could realize what had happened, Lith found himself back in the Colonel's tent. Much to his surprise, Varegrave was kneeling at him.
Lith sneered at that sight, thinking that maybe the Colonel wasn't such a bad man, if he was willing to humble himself to that point, after realizing how wrong he had been.
"Your Majesty, Lith from Lustria is ready to report his discoveries." Kilian said after falling on his knee.
It was only at that point that Lith turned around, discovering that on the floor behind him, lied a blue gemstone, that was projecting a life size hologram of the King, a woman, and several youths that only a blind man could not recognize as their offspring.
Judging from the number of crowns in front of him, Lith was about to share his discoveries with the whole royal family.
Thanks to the etiquette books stored in Soluspedia, he knew what to do. Lith backstepped until he was lined up with the other two men and kneeled, barely holding in a laughter.
- "To think that after almost triggering a civil war because of their incompetence in handling some power-hungry nobles, these royal idiots need the help of a twelve years old to clean their own mess. Pathetic." –
Wearing a mask had been liberating for Lith. With it he didn't need to hide his thoughts and emotions.
Yet, even if behind thick crystals, his eyes were still almost visible. In them, the King didn't see awe, respect or nervousness, like he would have expected from a commoner child, but only contempt and amusement, like it was just a game.
A game that he was winning.
"Take off your mask and gloves, Mage Lith. I assure you that Colonel Varegrave's apartments are safe." The King ordered.
Despite the King's tone was calm and his expression amiable, Lith seemed to perceive a tinge of anger in him.
- "Maybe is just my full-blown paranoia, maybe not. Better play safe." –
Lith obeyed, removing the protections.
Looking at the kid's serious and brooding expression, the King realized that all the accumulated stress of those last few months was pushing him on edge, to the point of seeing things.
"Please, share your findings with us."
"What so far has been considered a plague, is actually something much worse." Lith started to explain.
"Do you remember what happened to Marchioness Distar's daughter a few years ago? She fell victim to a magically laced poison, that disrupted the effects of light magic, turning any attempt to cure it into a new wound."
"That's impossible." The Queen interrupted him.
"We already noticed the similarities with that case. The antidote for that kind of poison has already be tested and proven useless."
"That's because there isn't a plague that manifests itself in four different ways, there are actually four different plagues, and all of them are man-made. I believe that whoever created that poison years ago, has learned his lesson and stepped up his game.
From what I could infer, the plagues are a miracle of alchemy. The weak point of the poison was its being static. Instead of spreading into the bloodstream, it was designed to remain in the place it was injected, to not lose its potency.
Hence, once identified, it could be easily removed. But the plagues that are affecting this area aren't that simple."
Both the King and the Queen knitted their browns. From what they remembered, that poison had escaped the detection of many expert healers.
The only reason it had been later discovered a method to identify and treat it, was because Lith had extracted the poison without degrading it. That had allowed to conduct long and extensive analysis to understand its nature.
The fact that he earnestly used the word "simple" to describe such a nightmare, was the first silver lining in the brewing storm that threatened to sweep away the Griffon Kingdom.
- "Maybe he can become a leading figure in the field of poisons, just like Professor Duke Marth did when he had his age, but in the field of regeneration. Crazy or not, we cannot afford to lose such talent." –
The Queen's line of thought was shared with her spouse via a mind link, that allowed them to comment and discuss any matter. Even if they often quarrelled, no one could tell, since they would deliberate only after reaching an agreement.
This time they were on the same page, yet the consequences of it burdened the King's mind. There would be much to talk about later.
"The plagues…" Lith continued.
"are not static, nor act like any illness I have ever seen before. They all work the same way: once the host is infected, they spread to the whole body and remain dormant until magic is used.
At that point, they alter the mana flow, making it chaotic. The effects are devastating, if not lethal."
"If it's not a poison or a plague, then what is it?" The King asked.
"It's a very small parasite, barely the size of a needle. As long as the host is alive, it keeps spawning. I found eggs in all the patients' bodily fluids, sweat included. I don't know if physical contact is enough or if it needs an open wound to be transmitted.
The one thing I'm sure, is that it mustn't be allowed to spread."
"A parasite?" The Queen was flabbergasted.
"Then how come no one else managed to detect them?"
"Because normally, diagnostic spells look for something wrong with the patient's body. A broken bone, a malfunctioning organ and so on. In this case, the patient is perfectly fine until he tries to use magic.
A healer will be able to detect common parasites either sensing their life force or because they suck the nutrients out of the host.
In this case, their small size, coupled with their ability to mess with mana, make them hard to find, unless the healer, like me, is capable of perceiving even small alterations in the human body.
Also, I have noticed no tissue degeneration near the parasites. The only explanation I can find, albeit is only a guess, is that they feed on mana."
For several seconds, no one spoke. Everyone in the room was struggling to accept those revelations. Kilian was worried for the people, while Varegrave, although sharing his feelings, was also concerned about his neck.
"Can you find a cure?" The King's face was composed, but his hands were squeezing the armrests of his throne hard enough to break his nails.
"No." Lith admitted with a sigh, throwing those present into despair.
"I'm just a student, after all. I never worked on something so big. When it comes down to research, I wouldn't know where to start."
Actually, Lith believed that given enough time, he could cure anything with true magic and Invigoration. But this case was different from all the others he had faced before.
There wasn't a single patient, but hundreds if not thousands of them. Not only he would never been able to cure them all in time by himself, but also the parasites were clearly a biological weapon.
If he declared he could cure it, any sane ruler would have demanded him to share his method, offering any sum for compensation.
Lith wasn't willing to teach true magic, and was not skilled enough to convert an elaborate spell in fake magic for anyone to learn with so little time at hand.
The King and the Queen looked at each other, before issuing their order.
"Well done, Mage Lith." The royal family clapped their hands, almost making him feel guilty for his deception.
Almost.
"You have brilliantly fulfilled your part of the agreement. Rest assured the Crown will do the same."
"Thank you, Your Majesty."
"It pains me, but your Kingdom requires a further sacrifice from you, for the greater good. You will remain in Kandria, and use the best of your abilities in developing a cure for this monstrosity."
"What?!" Lith was so shocked that his expression almost revealed the shock and outrage seething within him.
Almost.
"You are the one that discovered the truth about this accident, I'm sure that even with your limited experience, you will be able to offer your guidance and help.
Do not worry about the academy. At this point, we can only declare the state of national emergency and call all hands on deck. We need the help of all the light magic specialists to solve this situation as fast as possible.
From today onward, all the six great academies will suspend their activities until a cure it's found."
Chapter 144 Key Moments
Lith didn't like at all the turn the events had taken. In hindsight, it was an easily predictable outcome. Driven by his desire to stand out among the masses, he had provided them too much information, giving them hope.
His plan to give them just enough to solve the problem on their own, letting him go back to his daily life, had actually backfired.
- "Damn, I underestimated them because of my Earth standards. Back in my world, any prime minister would have turned this scenario into a black op, removing the threat in front of him with extreme prejudice.
Instead, they are willing to put everything at risk to save these people. They could have just turned the infects into guinea pigs, using their bodies, dead or alive, for research purposes." –
"Since no one outside this room knows that we made a breakthrough…" The King continued. "I hereby decree all the new information pertaining the crisis and their source a state secret.
We will divulge them bit by bit once all our assets are in place, using a cover story to avoid Mage Lith becoming a target. Officially, he'll be here only as a consultant. He will convey any further findings only to Captain Kilian, which in turn will share them with the other healers."
The three men nodded, yet Lith kept racking his brain to find a way out.
- "If I refuse, best case scenario I will get expelled from the academy and my family will lose the corps' protection. Heck, I'd be lucky to avoid being charged of treason.
I would be alone versus the Crown, the nobles that I offended in the past and whoever sent those mercenaries to kill me. If their contactor didn't hesitate despite I already was under the Queen's umbrella, there's no telling what he'll do next.
Once again, I can only grin and bear it. The only silver lining is that if I get properly rewarded, I'll not have money problems for the rest of my life." –
"Before we proceed any further, I'd like to know why Mage Lith thinks these parasites are a product of Alchemy." Queen Sylpha's curiosity had been piqued by that particular statement, since she shared the same opinion.
"Because I can't think about any other mean to infuse magic in a poison or parasite." He lied through his teeth. One of the details he had not shared, was that the worm-like parasites he had identified didn't alter the mana flow directly, but by secreting an unknown substance.
Not only that made them living alchemic labs, but was also deviously brilliant. Even with Invigoration, Lith had struggled to overcome the mana distortion effect and identify the real source of the trouble.
Any other mage would have fallen for that trick, devising a spell to cleanse the toxin, only for the "healed" patient to fall ill again in a matter of days.
The reason why even Lith would need time to cure the plague, was that first he needed to find a way to remove the toxins without killing the patient, and then remove the parasites safely.
He suspected that killing them while inside the host, or removing them forcibly would prove to be lethal for the infected.
"Also, I read from the Captain Velagros' file that the plague spread right after the explosion of Coirn Hatorne's alchemic lab. I think is highly unlikely for it to be a coincidence."
The Queen nodded, disappointed from the answer. She had hoped for more brilliance and less logic, more Manohar and less Marth. Geniuses were hard to come by, and even harder to keep.
"As for you, Colonel Varegrave…" The Queen's voice was filled with ill restrained wrath. If glares could cut, the Colonel would have already been turned in pieces not bigger than a postmark.
"I hope you haven't forgotten your bet with the King, because certainly I have not. Your earlier blunder is inexcusable. The only reason why you'll keep your rank and position, is because we cannot afford the time to change the ownership of the Small World.
When the current emergency will be solved, prepare to face the consequences of your foolishness. This conversation is far from over!"
The conversation ended so abruptly, that Kilian checked the gemstone to make sure the magical item wasn't broken.
The truth, though, was quite different.
"I told you not to mention the bet!" King Meron still couldn't believe his fiery wife had forced him to hung up the call.
"We had yet to listen to Lith's requests and find a way to sweeten the deal! In case you forgot, we need more than his services, we need his loyalty! We have to correct the situation as soon as possible, otherwise he will resent us and leave the Kingdom."
"In my book, putting that Varegrave moron in his place sweetens the deal a lot!" Sylpha retorted. "This time, we will do things my way, I want him dead."
"He is a loyal servant of the Crown!" Her bloodlust would never cease to amaze Meron. "You can't kill him off just for one mistake. It would set a terrible example."
"It would be a great example. He disobeyed a direct order and endangered everything because he wasn't able to keep his emotion in check. What if Kilian wasn't there to stop him? What if next time he loses it, we lose another great mage for good?"
"Fine." The King stood up from the throne, like he always did after losing an argument.
"Do you think this Lith is an Awakened one?" He asked after a while.
"Unlikely, but possible. We had high hopes for Hatorne and Manohar too, but they turned out to be normal mages. Being a genius and being an Awakened one are two different things. We'll have to send Lady Tyris to check on him. It's the only way to be certain."
***
Hundreds of kilometres away, Archmage Lukart trashed his desk in a fit of rage.
"What do you mean, the Talons have been wiped out?"
"Exactly what I said, sir." The voice from the communication amulet belonged to one of the few surviving members of the mercenary unit, that hadn't taken part in the latest assignment.
"Their dog tags have activated, and that can only mean that there were no survivors."
"It's impossible!" Lukart still refused to accept the news.
"They were eleven versus only six members of the corps, and with the element of surprise! How is it possible?"
"We'll investigate." The voice coldly replied. "But we will not follow up on the matter. The mission was an utter failure, we now lack the manpower for a second attempt. Your information was clearly lacking of fake, otherwise a complete wipe out would have never happened."
"At least give me back my money! I could have bought a whole castle with that sum."
The voice hung up the call without even answering.
Suddenly, Lukart felt lightheaded and dizzy. Everything was spiralling out of his control. The fall of the White Griffon academy was just a small step in his master plan.
Contrary to what his associates believed, his endgame had never been privileges, but the Crown itself. Lukart wanted from the beginning the civil war to happen, it was the only way to trigger a war with the neighbouring countries.
At that point, the only thing he had to do was to unleash the plagues that Hatorne had spent years to develop and for what she had been handsomely paid.
The water parasite would have crippled the Blood Desert tribes, forcing them to surrender or die. The mana parasite, instead, would have neutralized the Gorgon Empire magical army, without which they had no defences.
First, he would have repelled the invaders, looking like a hero in the eyes of the people, becoming King by acclamation. Then, he would use them a weapon to bring all the three Great Countries under his heel.
But now, because of that witch's paranoia, the lab was blown to bits, spreading the eggs in the wind. He could only hope that no one would discover their existence, that the Crown would just kill the infected without finding a cure.
Manohar was the only mage whose genius was on Hatorne level, with him out of the picture, Lukart's plan was supposed to be safe.
"What can a little runt do, after all?"
Chapter 145 Regrets
After the King had been forced to hung up the call to the quarantine zone, many things had yet to happen before that long day came to an end.
Using fatigue as an excuse, Lith was escorted to his new apartments. It was a small one-man tent, around two meters (6.6 feet) high with a diameter of barely 3 meters (10'). It was completely bare, outside for a bed and a nightstand.
It was the smallest accommodation he had ever had; the only redeeming feature was that at least he had some privacy. Unless they shoved in a sleeping bag, there was no way another person could fit.
The first thing he did, was to check his powers. As expected, all kinds of elemental magic besides light and darkness seemed to be jammed for both fake and true magic. But while fake magic simply gave no results, with true magic he could feel an obstruction.
It was like touching an object through plastic wrap, he could still feel the world energy all around him, but was unable to reach it with conventional means.
Lith had no idea how the Small World worked, but was quite confident that in case of need, he still would be able to use magic if he pushed forward strong enough to overcome the invisible barrier.
- "The problem is the degree of awareness the artifact grants to Varegrave. There is a strong possibility that successful true magic, if not even my attempts, could be detected. It's best to keep it as a last resort." –
Much to his satisfaction, both spirit magic and fusion magic worked without a hitch. Either the Forgemaster that crafted the Small World was a fake mage, or he had left loopholes on purpose, to not fall victim of his own creation.
Lith sighed, whatever was the answer, it was still a small comfort, compared to the realization he was losing control over his life, becoming a puppet in games he had no interest into.
- "You know, Solus, this may as well be the worst day of my third life. First, I was taken away from the academy, then I almost got killed, and now I have been declared a state secret. All in one day. Just imagine what could happen tomorrow."
"It's not like they kidnapped you. They offered you a job and you took it." Solus didn't believe her own words, she was just trying to lighten the mood. She knew that as long they lived in any country, there would always be offers that couldn't be refused.
"After that, things have got unpleasant, but at least you should be rewarded for your services. You may even get a nice home and a noble title."
"Are you kidding me?" He snorted. "That would be the worst. If I get to choose, I'll pick money, hands down. A title would mean having underlings, responsibilities, becoming an active part of the system from which I'm trying to escape from day one.
Not to mention being forced to attend social life, marry and take part in politics." –
He slammed his hand on the nightstand, making is sink a couple of centimetres in the soft ground.
- "Dammit, I never wanted to be a hero, nor to conquer this sh*tty world. My aim has always been to find a fix to my reincarnation problem, and then live a happy and quite life.
Now, instead, I'm on the verge of being recognized by the Crown itself, and if that happen, my family will always be used as a leverage against me. I can already feel the shackles around my body getting tighter and tighter.
But what options do I have? Kill my own family just to not have any more ties? And then what? Live all my life as the monster I would become, alone, spending all my life running and fighting like a mad dog?
What is the point in having all this f*cking power for if I can't even protect the only four people I do care about?" –
Away from home, away from his friends, Lith had never felt so helpless and alone. Once again, Solus crashed against her condition.
She knew that it was in those rare moments when Lith was showing himself vulnerable, that holding his hand or simply holding him tight would help him get rid of the walls he had built to protect himself.
But she was just a piece of rock with a voice, and there was nothing that mere words could do. Lith had spent his first life going from a hardship to another, with people telling him to stay strong, that all will be well.
Now, as then, he didn't need consolation. Lith needed someone capable of standing by his side and help him facing the incoming tide. Because of the Small World, she was incapable of changing shape or even using her dimensional pocket.
Solus felt useless, wishing for a second to be just a mindless tool, to not be forced seeing the suffering of those she loved and yet being unable to offer any comfort.
***
In the Colonel's tent, Varegrave and Kilian were planning the future ahead of them while drinking Dragon Water, one of the strongest and most expensive liquors available in the Griffon Kingdom, with an alcohol content nearing 50%.
Kilian was listening to several reports from his team, while Varegrave was revising his last will.
"The kid's story checks out. The scouts have found where Velagros' last battle should have taken place. There are indeed signs of the use of purple flames. Whoever the attackers were, they weren't willing to take risks."
"Any survivors?" Varegrave asked as a formality, without raising his eyes or stopping the quill.
"None. Seriously, I can't believe you are able to write your testament with such a straight face."
Varegrave drank his glass in one gulp, before refilling it.
"I'm a soldier, old friend. I know very well I made a mistake allowing personal matters to intrude in my duty, and I'm ready to bear the consequences."
Varegrave raised his glass in a small toast, before emptying it again.
"That, and five glasses of Water Dragon can turn any mouse into a lion, otherwise I would be already sh*tting my pants." He admitted.
"Is it that bad?" Kilian was used to spend more time on the field than in the royal palace. He was unaware that the recent events had made the Queen quite unforgiving.
"Very." Varegrave sighed. "Nowadays a strong mage is worth hundreds of soldiers.
Let's be honest, our mages do not have the blind loyalty the Blood Desert tribes devote to their mysterious leader, nor we invest so much as the Gorgon Empire in nurturing our talented ones.
We already are on the losing end of the cold war with our neighbours for amassing knowledge and power. If my destiny rested only in the King's hands, I could hope for a demotion or a very hard but not impossible task to prove my worth.
But, alas, as my first mistake in over twenty years of distinguished career, I had the stupidity to cross the Queen on her own turf, almost killing her new golden goose. Gods, I'd give anything to turn back time and slap my stupid self in the face."
Varegrave folded his will, putting it into an envelope before passing it to Kilian.
"Please when this story will be over, give it to my wife. Tell Shya it's all my fault, and not to raise our kids hating the Kingdom."
Kilian grabbed his hand, refusing to pick the envelope.
"You are an outstanding soldier and friend. I'm sure we'll find a way to make them realize that executing you is a mistake and get you out of this pinch. As long there's life, there's also hope.
And by the way, if you croak, I call dibs on your sword."
Chapter 146 Prisoner
The following day, thanks to a full night of sleep, Lith had regained his cool, and started to plan his next moves. First, he needed to find a cure for all the four different kinds of parasites.
It wasn't only a matter of using that knowledge to guide from the shadows the healers and alchemist.
Helping the Crown into developing a fake magic spell or drug was of secondary importance. The priority was to find a cure for himself, so that even if everything went south and the plagues spreaded to the rest of the Kingdom, he would still be the master of his own destiny.
The mana blocking parasite was the one that worried him the most. Unlike the others, it didn't deal any direct damage to the host, but without mana, a magician was like a wingless eagle.
Lith had no idea if it would have the same effect on Awakened ones, but he wasn't willing to take unnecessary risks. The first parasite he would study was the one turning healing magic into wounds.
It was the only one he was already familiar with, having treated its effects in the past. He could use that advantage to quickly understand how the parasites worked and then apply that knowledge to eradicate them for good.
Outside his tent, Lith found a soldier waiting for him.
"Good morning, sir. The Colonel sent me to escort you to his tent for the morning debriefing." Despite both were wearing a mask, Lith could hear the soldier's voice brimming with curiosity.
His farmer clothes stuck out like a sore thumb, but with his pocket dimension still offline, he hadn't much of a choice.
It was barely dawn, but the encampment was already bustling with activity.
When he entered, both Kilian and Varegrave stood up from their chairs, inviting him to join them for breakfast. With all that had happened the day before, Lith had skipped dinner, so he was starving.
He didn't like Varegrave, but in his book hunger beat pride with a tennis score. The furniture in the tent had been changed, the hardwood desk and chair were no longer in sight, replaced by a smaller square dining table.
"This is definitely my kind of debriefing." Eggs, sausages, bacon, everything had a delicious smell. Lith filled his plate, waiting for an explanation.
"Glad to see you have recovered completely. The buzz cut is a smart move, it will help you blend in."
Kilian's words made little sense to him, until watching at his reflection in a glass, he discovered that not only his har was back, but also all the burn marks had disappeared, leaving no scar or discoloration.
- "Solus, when the heck did it happen?"
"Last night. It seems that when you sleep, your healing abilities become strong enough to border regeneration. There was nothing I could do to stop it, and you were exhausted." –
"What are the plans for today?" Lith tried to change the topic. That kind of healing was too sophisticated for a simple student, and even if he wanted to, he was unable to replicate it.
"The state of national emergency has been declared yesterday. By the end of today the Master Healers from the six big academies should arrive." Varegrave's voice was firm, but from his bloodshot eyes and the dark circles around them, Lith assumed the Colonel had spent a sleepless night.
"To avoid a recurrence of the sabotage that costed Velagros his life, I have sent a detail to escort the groups here safely. It will take at least until tomorrow to arrange a proper housing for everyone and explain the situation.
In the meantime, I have to ask you to keep working on the plagues. Despite the information blackout, the news about Kandria are spreading. We have to solve this situation before our weakness is exposed to the neighbouring countries.
When you are done eating, I would like for you to wear these clothes."
Varegrave took out of his dimensional amulet a grey military uniform consisting of leather boots, grey linen pants and shirt with a white dot on both shoulders, white gloves and a mask of the same colour.
"Your current outfit makes you an easy target. I have reasons to believe that there are traitors even among us. That uniform, instead, will simply identify you as a plague doctor.
Such status will grant you several privileges, among which free movement in all the facilities and authority over the soldiers. Any questions?"
"Yeah, speaking of privileges, can I get back the ability to use dimensional items and all kinds of spells?"
"I'm sorry." Varegrave shook his head. "But I can't fulfil neither of your requests. The protocol to grant such privileges inside the Small World is classified. And you are still a civilian."
Lith gritted his teeth but remained silent. He had noticed how even Kilian kept his communication amulet in his pocket, instead of storing it away.
That, coupled with the fact several tents were employed as food storage, meant that aside from Varegrave, probably no one could use dimensional items.
"Any other request?"
"No."
Lith spent the rest of the morning studying the anti healing parasite. People with open wounds were the perfect test subjects, since it made it easier to extract both the parasite and the toxins.
Also, being the parasite with the highest mortality rate, it would give him the opportunity to study what happened after the host's death.
First, Lith tried to get a hold of a single parasite with spirit magic. It turned out to be extremely difficult, since the creature was enveloped with toxins that disrupted his mana flow.
Once he succeeded, the parasite went into a spasm, causing a lot of pain in the patient, despite already being heavily sedated. His next step was to try to get rid of the toxins before attempting to remove the parasite, but it went even worse.
The creature turned out to not be a picky eater, it would consume not only the host's mana, but also the one Lith spent to flush out the toxins. The double feeding had an invigorating effect on the parasite, that quickly released more toxins restoring the balance.
To add insult to the injury, his attempt triggered their reproductive cycle. Lith didn't know how long would it take for the eggs to hatch, but he assessed that once it happened, it would become impossible even for him to save the patient.
- "Dammit, either their creator is a true mage too or is even more paranoid than I am. I can only hope it's the latter case, otherwise the whole Kingdom is screwed. These things are a masterpiece, while I'm still stuck at the basics of tier four." –
During the afternoon, he decided to change approach. He needed more information to come up with a decent plan, so he went to the morgue. Thanks to the new and improved Life Vision, he was able to see the aura of death surrounding a corpse.
That way, even if Invigoration was useless on inanimated objects, he could still find the parasites, whether they outlived their host or not.
In any case, he could learn a lot, maybe even collect samples for the alchemists to study. Unnoticed to him, three figures stealthily followed him while he walked through the camp, asking for directions.
The morgue was located in a tent bigger than the field hospital itself. There were no curtains inside, it was like one huge room.
It was perfectly lit by yellow magic stones hanging from the ceiling, while several blue crystals were etched into the tent's fabric, constantly emitting a cold air.
The temperature inside was so low that Lith could see his breath steam. The whole space was filled with metal shelves, where countless corpses had been lined up after being wrapped with special blankets that helped to prevent the decomposition.
The recently deceased, instead, were in an open space a few meters from the entrance, still laying on the stretchers they had been brought in with.
Lith was surprised to find the body of the man he had visited just the day before. His leg was still split open, his face had the paleness of death, but at least he seemed at peace, finally free from the pain.
Lith still remembered were most of the parasites were located, so he tried to conjure an air dome to protect himself from blood spatters, and an air knife to cut through the flesh.
- "Blast! I forgot I don't have air magic anymore. I need a damn surgeon. Without magic, I'll end up butchering the body, and bye-bye small, delicate parasites." –
Before he could get out, the curtain of the tent opened. A masked soldier pointed a sword at him.
"Don't try calling for help, the tent is sound proof." His voice was made even more menacing by the plague mask.
"Either you follow me obediently, or your brother will die!"
Chapter 147 The House of the Dead
Those words struck a chord inside Lith's very core, triggering something that he had considered dead for a long time. First, the corners of his mouth turned upwards into a smirk. Then, he couldn't stop himself from a chuckle that soon evolved into a hysterical laughter.
The traitorous soldier was startled for a second. That wasn't the reaction he was expecting.
According to their intel, Lith had a very strong bond with his relatives, using most of his earnings over the years to improve their quality of life and status, instead of trying to buy his way into nobility.
It was public knowledge that there was no love left between him and his disowned brother, Orpal, but the other one, Trion, had been part of the family, until he willingly joined the military. He had been well dressed and fed all his life.
According to the locals, despite having different interests and goals, the two brothers went along. Too bad it was just a ruse, that the two brothers had agreed upon for their parents' sake.
Were Lith felt only spite for Orpal, Trion didn't fare much better, receiving his complete indifference. Their relationship had never mended, since both of them had never tried to solve their differences.
Lith simply didn't care about it. In his twisted vision of the world he had long drawn a circle, separating the people who mattered from the useless trash, where Trion belonged.
Trion, instead, at first had been too ashamed to approach Lith, after all he and Orpal had done and said to him over the years. Having always followed his older brother's footsteps, he had never developed a sense of kinship toward Lith.
They had been strangers to each other for so long, that every apology he could think of sounded fake and forced even to Trion himself. So, he had waited for the right moment to fix that mess, but the moment never came.
Lith had too many jobs, first as hunter and Tista's nurse, then healer and bounty hunter. He would never spend much time at home, and when he did, he focused on those that mattered for him.
It didn't take even a year for Trion's feelings to fester again, while his mood turned sour. As any child, he had always dreamed of one day discovering to have an incredible talent, to be special.
Yet with each passing day, everything changed only for the worse. While he was stuck in his routine of dreams and chores, Lith grew more and more powerful, his talent inspired awe in their parents first, then Nana, and finally Count Lark.
Soon, envy outgrew guilt and there was nothing to mend anymore.
The soldier wasn't aware of all that, so Lith's behaviour appeared to him as that of a madman. His laughter was full of scorn, like he was in front of the biggest idiot he had ever met.
"Do you really have my brother? Then I have a favour to ask. When you kill him, tell him that I didn't give a sh*t about him. I like to pay my debts in kind."
Lith said, while taking a small step back. There were so many ways he could have killed him, either by using physical attacks or spirit magic, but neither of them was safe enough for his tastes.
Moving at high speed didn't go well with the crow shaped mask he wore, and being in a morgue full to the brim of victims of the plague, he didn't want to risk for the sword to even scratch his skin.
As for spirit magic, the guy was too close for comfort. Lith either had to break his neck, losing the opportunity to interrogate him, or attempt to restrain him, hoping his victim didn't have hidden weapons or wasn't able to use them before the binding was complete.
"This is no joke. If we do not get out of here within a minute, my associates will consider the mission failed and order your brother execution." The soldier didn't let Lith get away, even if a sudden fear was twisting his guts.
Despite the cold of the morgue, he found himself sweating bullets, blurring his vision from under the mask, with all his body hair standing up.
"And why should I care?" Lith kept moving backwards, closer to the metal shelves. The mockery in his tone growing with every step.
"Kill him, marry him, whatever. Besides, your plan has several flaws. First, it's easier stealing a dragon egg than taking me alive. Second, I don't believe your communication amulet works.
Third, and most important, staging an attack inside a morgue, when most kinds of magic are sealed is suicidal."
Lith had yet to finish talking, when a multitude of hands suddenly grabbed the soldier by the left shoulder, arm and leg. His first instinct was to jump away, but each hand had the strength of a vise, so he slashed at their wrists, to force them to release him.
Like most soldiers, he had an enchanted weapon, capable of easily cutting unprotected flesh and bone, yet each strike felt like hitting a rock, making his sword vibrate on each impact.
Then, he finally remembered where he was. When he noticed dozens of red glowing eyes, staring at him from the shelves, his mind went blank out of panic.
"Did you really believe I would waste my time talking?" Lith chuckled, reanimating more corpses by the second, infusing them with his mana and will.
Lith had learned during his first day at the camp that the only elements he was free to use were light and darkness.
Light, for allowing the healers to keep searching for a cure, and darkness to sterilize people and clothes when going from the residential block to the hospital. He had simply exploited his opponent's idiotic speech to stall for the time necessary to rise his bodyguards.
The zombies piled up on the wretched soldier, pinning him to the ground.
"Let's see if you were telling the truth about your associates."
Lith activated Life Vision, noticing two human figures sneaking around the morgue's entrance. With a simple thought, he sent a group of undead to welcome the newcomers.
The restrained soldier went into panic, screaming and writhing to get free. The zombies' naked bodies were disgusting to see, but even more to the touch. Despite their strength, the flesh was cold and flaccid.
Many of them had open wounds, either caused by the parasites or by the autopsy, letting their bodily fluids drench him in a matter of seconds.
"Stop screaming. As you pointed out earlier, the tent is sound proof." Lith had one of the undead rip the mask off the soldier's face and shove a hand in his mouth. The man barfed for a few seconds, before falling unconscious from the terror.
When the other two entered inside the morgue, the zombies flooded them. They fought bravely, but were outnumbered and outsmarted. Lith had the undead tanking the strikes and only aiming for the soldiers' masks.
Realizing they were against intelligent plague zombies, the two went into frenzy, losing any will to fight and trying to escape, but the tent curtain, like a closed door in a horror movie, refused to budge.
"How the f*ck can a piece of cloth be locked down?" A feminine voice screamed.
"How indeed." Lith chuckled, using wave after wave of spirit magic to keep the door shut and savouring their terror.
Soon, all the three traitors were either unconscious or wetting themselves. They knew that without the masks, even if they miraculously managed to escape, it would not change their fate.
Their minds were frozen, uncapable to decide if to beg for their lives or a swift death.
Lith's eyes glowed with a cold red light under the mask.
"Ladies and gentlemen, we have to talk."
Chapter 148 The House of the Dead 2
Back at the White Griffon, Professor Marth was facing an unexpected complication. After the state of national emergency had been issued, all the academy's staff that had even a shred of knowledge in medicine had been tasked to pack their things and reach Kandria as soon as possible.
The Professors had been permitted to bring along anyone they deemed could help, even students. It was part of the cover story the King had devised to make Lith's presence in Kandria seem unimportant.
He would just be one of the many youths accompanying their mentors, hoping their talent would be recognized by the Crown or at least to gain practical experience. Having only one student from the White Griffon among all the experts would rise too many questions.
The departments most affected were two, the light magic and the alchemy department. Despite they were used to cooperate for the most difficult cases, this time the approach on the matter couldn't be more different.
For alchemists, this was a once in a lifetime opportunity. Working without a budget limit with only state of the art instruments, with the opportunity to have them even custom made, was an offer too good to turn it down.
Hence, the alchemy Professors had no qualms about bringing students along. They would have minimal interactions with the infected, studying the disease only through tissue samples and in the safety of their labs.
For, healers, instead, it was a nightmare. Daily contact with the victims, high risks of exposure to the plague, not to mention that according to the reports the mortality rate was akin to a warzone.
It was difficult explaining to the ones that volunteered how dangerous the situation was, without either being rude, or giving enough details to trigger panic attacks.
After turning down many well-meaning amateurs, Marth was at an impasse.
"Please, Professor. Why can't I accompany you?" Quylla from Cerea seemed unwilling to accept a no for an answer.
"Because it's too dangerous!" He snapped after running out of excuses.
"Let's be honest, okay? You are a twelve years old at her first year of academy. What kind of contribution could you possibly offer? You still have a whole life in front of you, I can't endanger your future on a whim.
You are one of the most prized talents your class has to offer, but you are still young and emotional. Believe me, I'm not going on a vacation or a field trip, it's a serious matter."
"Then why Lith has been sent there?" The fierceness in her voice made it more of a statement rather than a question, taking Marth by surprise.
"Excuse me?"
"Don't try to deny it. First, he gets summoned in the Headmaster's office, then he never returns for dinner or breakfast. And the next day the lessons get suspended. It can't be a coincidence."
Her cold logic made him proud, but the worry he perceived made everything clear.
Puppy love, the thing that he hated the most. Because no matter how idiotic it was, there was no reasoning with it. Yet he had to try.
"His case is different from yours."
"How so?" She snorted, stomping a foot.
- "Because he is inhuman! Gods, I wish I could say it out loud, but the Queen would kill me." – He thought.
"With Manohar gone, he is our best diagnostician." He actually said.
"Besides, he has already made several contributions in the theoretical field thanks to his unique understanding of the human body. Otherwise I would have never let him go. Now, if you excuse me, I'm in a rush."
Quylla left Marth's room with a dejected look, the door slamming behind her.
Outside, Yurial and Friya were waiting for her. Her face told them everything they needed to know.
"Why the long face?" Quylla asked, noticing that Friya seemed to be on edge, even more than her.
"My mother just called me. She only said that someone has screwed up big time, and that I must pack my things and be ready to leave the Kingdom on short notice."
***
"First, I want to know who sent you, and why." Lith was very curious about their attempt to capture him. The other team had spared no efforts to kill him, so either the contractor had changed his mind or it was another matter entirely.
The first one to answer was the soldier that had tried to blackmail Lith using Trion's life as a leverage. According to the nametag on the uniform, his name was Vickas Banut, a plain looking man with chestnut eyes and hair of the same colour.
His cheeks were still bright red, since Lith had slapped him multiple times to force him regaining his senses. Puke still dirtied his mouth and uniform, giving him an even more wretched look.
"Will you let me go if I tell you?" His voice trembled, mustering the courage to look in his captor's red eyes.
"Of course not." Lith laughed.
"It would be useless, since you are all already infected." He lied through his teeth. According to Life Vision, the three of them were still healthy, even without the masks and after having been scratched and bitten by the undead.
- "Either the parasites do not handle well the coldness of the morgue, or they die shortly after their host. Too bad I have no time to infect them and study the plague's progression. I need to get out of here fast, before someone else comes in." –
"Then why should I tell you? If I have to die, I'll bring my secrets with me in the grave!" The certainty of death seemed to have rejuvenated Vickas spirit.
"Excellent question!" Lith clapped his hands.
"Eat him alive, starting from the feet." His orders were meant for the prisoners to understand their fate, rather than for the undead.
The mindless zombies were like puppets, and Lith needed but a thought to make them move according to his will.
Vickas tried to fight back, twisting and kicking every time he could, but the creatures ignored his pitiful attempts. One covered his mouth with a rotting hand, while the other managed to grab his legs, filling the air with muffled screams and chewing sounds.
The other two prisoners tried to avert their gaze, but the zombies kept their heads blocked and their eyelids open.
"As you can see, they are avoiding all the major arteries." Lith explained with the same voice he would use to explain math to a dumb kid.
"I'm a healer, after all. You can't expect me to kill you by accident. You'll die only when I say so, and in a way of my choice. The first one to talk will win a swift death. The others will join my ranks."
The two first tried to scream, but their mouths were sealed as well. Lith hated to be interrupted by hysterical cries when he was speaking.
When Vickas' feet disappeared, leaving most of the bones bare to see, puke seeped through their noses and the zombies' fingers, preventing them from talking and allowing Vickas to make his move.
Lith noticed his hands waving madly, so he stopped the zombies, using at the same time light magic to briefly relieve his pain.
"Yes?"
"Duke Selimar arranged everything, with the complicity of General Lizhark and Mage Fernath." Vickas blurted as soon he was able to speak, pointing at his accomplices, that managed to stop puking, shocked by his betrayal.
"I never heard of them."
"But they know you. They know that yesterday you said something to Varegrave that forced the King to declare the national emergency. It's the first progress in over a month."
"But why kidnap me?" Lith couldn't see the logic behind their actions.
"Because they are scared of the plague. One of their associates, I don't know who, is the responsible. But he did it behind their backs, they didn't even know it existed. When they understood what had happened, they couldn't trust him anymore.
They don't want the plague to be eradicated, it's an all-powerful weapon. But without a cure, they will be forced to either flee or submit."
Chapter 149 Search for the Cure
"So, let me get this straight." Lith still doubted Vickas's words.
"Among the group of traitors that is trying to sabotage the Queen's work, there is someone that lead them by the nose while preparing this plague?"
Vickas nodded, his eyes always fixed on the army of mouths millimetres away from his bleeding flesh.
"What does this mastermind want? What's the endgame?" A zombie lifted Vickas' head by the chin, forcing him to look at Lith in the eyes.
"I don't know." He squealed. The hand holding him was flabby and sticky, secreting decomposition fluids at every movement. The putrid smell would have made him puke already, but there was nothing left but bile in his stomach.
"Then how come you know so much about your friends and their masters? It seems only a convenient lie to me."
Vickas exploded into a feverish laughter. The dreadful experience he was living, being captured, tortured and allegedly infected, had already pushed him to the brink of insanity.
Lith's naivety seemed to be the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back.
"Ha! Ha! Ha! Gods, how could my liege believe that someone so stupid could find a cure? He must be an idiot too! We're dead! We are all dead!"
Lith tried to make him snap out of his hysteria, first with threats and then with slaps, but to no avail.
"Eat his b*lls." He ordered, cancelling the spell that held the pain at bay.
"Please, no! Anything but that! I'm sorry! I really am!" Vickas stopped laughing, the agony flooding his limbs and the sight of those drooling mouths nearing his nether regions forced him to regain his senses.
"Remember, I still hold what's left of your life. If you are so proud of being someone else's dog, then act like one. I say bark, you bark. Otherwise my friends here will teach you how to play dead."
Vickas had served Duke Selimar for years, joining the military and climbing up its ranks only for his master's sake. His parents had abandoned him when he was just five years old, they already had too many mouths to feed to care for a talentless, whiny kid.
It had been Selimar that had adopted him along with his sworn brothers, saving them from the starvation and the daily abuses at the orphanage. Betraying the Crown had been natural for them, they had no loyalty nor gratitude towards the ones incarnating a system that only treated them as trash.
He didn't do it out of greed, but out of love. There was nothing he wouldn't do for his foster father. Betraying his trust was already tearing Vickas' soul apart, being called a dog was too much to bear.
"If only I could use magic…" He snarled, baring his teeth at Lith.
"It would change nothing." Lith gave him a slap, but this time with his true strength.
The force of that simple gesture smeared Vickas's nose over his cheek, making him bleed profusely, and dislocated the jaw.
Vickas had never been hit with such strength, not even when fighting soldiers twice his size. His pride and defiance crumbled, realizing that the zombies were innocent lambs compared to their shepherd.
"After the plague was released, Selimar understood that without a cure, he is bound to lose. If the Crown wins, he will be executed for treason, if his faction wins, they'll become the mastermind's slaves.
He fears him, so he didn't tell me anything, to not compromise their relationship." Vickas dropped the honorifics. He was a traitor now. He didn't deserve to call him master anymore.
"The others, instead, are expendable. When Lizhark and Fernath insisted to have their men assist me, he understood they didn't trust him anymore, so he took precautions.
He gave me enough means and information to frame them and their masters, so when necessity arose, I could expose them and destroy their credibility, giving my lieg… Selimar the time to get to safety."
- "This is good news for the Crown, but not for me. Lith thought.
The accident in Kandria revealed the hidden agenda, which in turn is causing them to infight. These morons are so desperate to put all their hopes on me, and I have yet to do anything. The only way to get them off my back is for the cure to be found, and fast."-
"One last question. How could they know what happened and react so fast? How did you bypass the array?"
"It's actually easy." Vickas swallowed a lump of saliva. 'Last question' meant he was about to outlive his usefulness.
"We were already here, so when you arrived, each of us notified to his master. Whatever you did, made the Crown move fast, and that made you a target. As for the array, Small World is not perfect as they say.
Whenever Varegrave makes a call, anyone can use his communication amulet."
Lith was shocked, but thanks to the mask, nothing transpired.
- "Maybe that's because no one uses dimensional items, and why Varegrave refused to grant me privileges. The array is just like a big switch, when it's off, anything goes." -
"And how do you know when he does it?"
"I don't. I only wait for Selimar's calls."
Lith interrogated the other two, but nothing new came up. They were just as Vickas, but with a different master. All of them were plain looking and with the rank of lieutenant.
High enough to be able to move freely though the camp, but not enough to make it hard keeping a low profile.
Lith kept his promise, giving them a swift death and turning both their bodies and clothes into dust.
- "There are traitors among the nobles, the mages, the army and even in the royal palace. Without someone reporting exactly when the King is unavailable, it would be impossible to nail the right timing to call inside the quarantine zone.
I'm in hot waters, Solus. I need a cure to be found, but it would be really nice if someone else discovers it. I'm already a magnet for troubles."
"What about those three we now know about? Will you expose them?"
"How could I possibly explain where did I get such information? And even if there was a way, it would paint an even bigger target on my back. The smartest thing to do is not overstepping my boundaries as healer.
Soon their disappearance will get noticed, and by searching their possessions Varegrave will find the evidence on his own." –
Lith sent all the corpses back to their shelves, setting them free from his necromancy spell before going to search for a surgeon. Thanks to the authority his rank as plague doctor conferred him, everything went smoothly.
No one questioned his orders, they only obeyed. Lith had preserved the corpse of the man with the split leg, untouched by darkness magic, because it was the only one he knew where to look for the parasites.
The body was moved to a safe zone, and after wearing full body scrubs made of white linen, the surgeon cut it open following Lith's instructions. Even with Life Vision, Lith wasn't able to find any traces of the parasites or the eggs he clearly remembered they had laid all around the body.
"It seems they are unable to survive without the host. Yesterday this man was a living colony, and now nothing."
"That would explain how they managed to escape detection so far." The surgeon pondered. "These parasites are almost invisible to diagnostic spells when the patient is alive, and after his death, the autopsy can't find any foreign body."
Lith took several tissue samples, sending them to the alchemist to be analysed. Before developing a proper cure, he needed to know if at the moment of their death the creatures released toxins harmful for the patient.
The answer came in quickly. As he expected, the tissues presented a foreign substance, but it was an unknow one. It was impossible to tell what effects it could have in a living body, since its concentration in the remains was barely detectable.
Collecting and using it for experimentation was impossible.
Cursing Hatorne's name and her ingenuity, Lith went to Varegrave asking for a live subject.
"Based on the information acquired today, I have a theory about the cure. It's unlikely to succeed, high-risk and potentially deadly. Yet I'd like to try it out.
Even if it fails, I can gain invaluable data from it."
"What are the odds of success?" Varegrave's hand subconsciously caressed his last will contained in the breast pocket of the uniform.
"Barely 15%." Considering the difference in talent and experience between Hatorne and himself, Lith felt it was still an optimistic estimate.
"I like these numbers. Let's do it."
Chapter 150 Search for the Cure 2
Lith wasn't new to human experimentation, but he usually did it in secret, using as test subjects only people that had tried to kill him or dared to attack his family, that he would have killed anyway after putting them through excruciating pain.
Hearing his proposal being accepted by a servant of the Kingdom, without even raising an objection, was too much even for him.
- "Is this guy insane? I mean, I don't give a sh*t about people's lives too, but at least I pretend to care, especially in front of witnesses." –
"What do you need?" Varegrave asked.
"An infected from the anti healing parasite, no matter the progress rate of the infestation, at least three competent healers, and a lot of vials.
Successful or not, during the experiment I plan on extracting the toxins the parasites use to control the mana flow and, with a little luck, those produced upon their deaths.
Since both degrade fast without a host, it would be better if the vials are able to replicate the host's lifeforce, or at least slow down the deteriorating process. I know that dimensional items are off limits, but I need something similar, or half the work will be for naught."
"Don't worry, this is not the first time that we use Small World for containing a disease. We are well equipped for all kind of contingencies. When do you want to do it?"
Lith pondered for a while, trying to make it as realistic as possible. He could actually do everything on his own, but the priority was to not make it seem too easy. Last, but not least, by delegating part of the job, he would get the opportunity to better observe the parasites' reaction to his therapy and react accordingly.
"Tomorrow morning would be great. I'm too tired now, I want to be at peak condition for the experiment. By the way, I need to impart one of my personal spells to the healers that will assist me, but I can't take out the scroll from my amulet."
Varegrave gave him a quill and an inkwell, forcing Lith to show his penmanship.
"This is really a bad idea." Lith said while the quill moved clumsily along the sheet, screeching from time to time.
"Since I have learned water magic, I always write with it. Are you sure you can't grant me water magic, or at least let me access my dimensional amulet, even for a second?"
"Sorry." Varegrave shook his head. "I can't do it unless it's absolutely necessary."
After a long and painful quarter of hour, Lith gave him something that looked like an ancient coded language, the spacing between the letters almost random.
The ink was smeared in several points, making Lith's doctor's handwriting even more mysterious and unfathomable.
"Do you think they can learn it by tomorrow?" Lith asked while cleansing the ink from his hands.
"It would be easier for them to recreate it from scratch, rather than deciphering this gibberish. Turn around, please, and be ready to get that scroll."
Lith did as instructed, keeping his right hand behind his back, allowing Solus to spectate whatever Varegrave wanted to keep hidden. The Colonel took a few steps back, positioning himself at the center of the tent.
His left eyes emitted a faint light, revealing numerous rune marks on it, that moved out of the cornea and in the air surrounding him, allowing Varegrave to operate them like a giant holographic keyboard.
Thanks to her mana sense, Solus could see Varegrave connecting himself to the multi-layered array that surrounded the whole region. She already had an idea of the artifact's scope, but only when the link had been established, she was able to understand its breath-taking complexity.
Now that Small World was activated, Solus could see the countless runes of power that enveloped every single millimetre of space. Its magic permeated even the items and bodies of all those under its influence.
An infinite number of shackles, albeit normally invisible, weighted on them.
- "By my maker! This thing is much more complicated that we thought. It's not like a switch, he has to actually rewrite entire strings of runes to make even the slightest change to it." –
"Do it now." Lith could feel the strain in Varegrave's voice, as Solus could see it on his face. He promptly extracted the scroll, raising it over his head, without turning around, for the Colonel to see.
Varegrave silently nodded, reverting the array to his previous status. The runes moved back into the eye, leaving no trace of their powerful magic, except a faint smell of ozone lingering in the air.
"Finally, some human language." Varegrave commented reading the scroll.
"The spell is mine, and I'd like to keep it that way." Lith ignored the remark.
"Don't worry. If it proves to be useful for the cure, you'll be properly compensated. Otherwise, I'll make sure your work does not get plagiarized."
Lith had no idea how Varegrave could be so confident about it. A non-disclosure agreement was just a piece of paper, an ambitious magician would ignore it and claim Lith's detoxifying spell to be of his own creation.
- "Either he plans to employ his most loyal followers or to just kill them to keep the secret, is none of my business. Right now, we have more important things to worry about." –
That evening, Lith dined alone, revising with Solus the procedure he had devised. First, they worked on all its aspects, improving the chances of success. After that, they tried to anticipate everything that could go wrong, preparing contingency plans for all eventualities.
The Moon was high in the sky when they finished. Lith was very tired, so he decided to sleep instead of using Invigoration.
- "Seems all the recent events are taking a toll on me. Compared to yesterday, today was pretty quiet, yet I feel beat up."
"I think it's because of the Small World." Solus pondered, recalling the intricate network of runes that manifested when Varegrave activated the artifact.
"Fake mage's mana is still, so they are not affected by it, unless they try to conjure magic. In our case, mana constantly flows inside our body, even when we do nothing. Being inside the array, is like carrying weights under the clothes.
Also, animating so many zombies at once didn't help. Remember what Kalla said? They feed on your life force." –
Lith had barely the time to agree with her analysis, falling asleep as soon his head met the pillow.
The next day, Lith met his medical team. They were already wearing a full body scrub when he arrived, leaving only the plague mask partially exposed. He could infer their gender and age only by the voice.
Lith explained them what the spell he had imparted would do, and what was their role during the procedure.
"That's it? That's your brilliant idea?" Said with a scoff a female voice.
"This is the most basic plan one could think of. What makes you believe you can pull it off?"
"Mostly the fact that before my arrival, you couldn't distinguish the head of the illness from it's a*s. Not to mention that you dare call it simple only because of my spell." Lith's voice oozed contempt.
"I'm explaining all this only because I need your help, not your permission."
"Indeed." Colonel Varegrave was going to spectate. He wanted to make personally sure that nothing went wrong.
"Feel free to leave, Mage Utika. But beware, because your military rank, noble title and all the funds the Crown granted you will remain here, with or without you."
Utika folded her arms, but said nothing more.
Then, Lith went to the patient, explaining all the risks and making sure she understood the consequences.
She was an old woman, thin as a twig, with unkempt white hair drenched in sweat. Her left arm was asunder, barely kept together by stiches and bandages. Her wrinkly face was stretched from the pain.
"Don't worry for this old bat, kid." Recognizing his young age, she forced herself to smile.
"I've lived my life, had a good husband, good kids and lived long enough to see my grandkids turn into fine adults. I don't want to spend the rest of my days suffering like a dog. If you succeed, I'll be healed. If you fail, this pain will stop. It's a win-win for me."
After putting her to sleep, Lith's experiment began.
Like Mage Utika had previously stated, it wasn't complicated.
By using Lith's detoxifying spell, the three mages were extracting the toxins that made healing impossible, storing them in magic vials that were promptly sent to the alchemic labs.
Lith was following their progress with Invigoration, waiting for the right moment. The creatures were rejuvenated by all that mana, but as he predicted, they could not excrete toxins as fast as they removed them.
When the arm was almost cleansed, Lith sent tendrils of darkness magic, enveloping the worms with surgical precision before crushing them all at once. Alas, in death they released a substance that seeped into the flesh and bone, making the arm rot at a speed visible at the naked eye.
Even the darkness cocoon enveloping the worms was not enough to stop the process. But now the arm was free from the worms and the toxins, allowing Lith to use light magic at his fullest, making it whole and healthy again.
While all the others were celebrating, he angrily took off his scrubs.
"I'm sorry Colonel. It's been an utter failure."
Chapter 151 An Unexpected Threa
"What do you mean, an utter failure?" Varegrave wasn't jumping out of joy like the others, yet couldn't understand why Lith was being so negative. It was the first time since the plague's breakout that a patient had been cured.
"I saved her arm, yes, and maybe even her life, but only in the short term. It will just take a while for the parasites to invade the healthy arm, and then she will be back at square one.
My experiment had many goals, but I reached only one. I wanted to remove the worms safely, and it failed. And so did my attempt to collect the substance they release upon death, and even to nullify its effects.
It all happened too fast, I was able to save the arm only because it has no vital organ. Had the wound been in the chest or head, the patient would be dead. The only things I managed to accomplish was to collect the toxins, and I could have done that anyway, anytime, and restore the arm.
But as I said, all in all is a hollow victory. I need time to think."
Despite every success Lith achieved brought him closer to gallows, Varegrave didn't share his pessimism. Lith himself had predicted the experiment to be a failure, giving it a low chance of success.
The patient wasn't dead, on the contrary, her conditions had improved. It was a small step, but a step forward nonetheless. After dismissing the medical team, reminding them to not use the new detoxifying spell without Lith's permission, he went back to his tent to inform the Crown of the latest news.
***
Sylpha, Queen of the Griffon Kingdom, listened to Varegrave's report with ambivalent feelings. She was pleased hearing so many good news, after over a month spent stumbling in the dark.
First, a proper diagnosis for the plague had been found, and thanks to that, healers and alchemists were busy looking for a cure instead of trying to minimise the body count. Two days after that, the conditions of an infected had been stabilized.
Yet she was bewildered by how things were moving fast. It was completely out of her predictions. When Sylpha had forced Linjos to send help, threatening his life, it had been a punishment for his incompetence in handling Manohar.
Every time the runaway genius disappeared, she could only pray for nothing bad to happen. And when her pleas fell on deaf ears, she would inevitably let down the Crown's most loyal supporters, undermining her prestige and authority.
This time it was even worse, thousands of lives were at stake, an entire region was about to be burned to the ground. She had just wanted to teach him a lesson, showing how heavy were the consequences of letting one of their most prized assets slip away.
The recent events were a pleasant surprise, but a surprise nonetheless. Sylpha needed answers, and she knew who could provide them.
Right after hanging the call with Varegrave, she called the Royal Captain, the commanding officer of all the Queen's corps units.
"Your Majesty, to what do I owe the pleasure of your call?"
"Cut the cr*p, Mirim, I'm not in the mood."
"You are never in the mood, Sylpha." Marchioness Distar was at her work desk, as usual, swamped in paperwork.
"We know from over thirty years, so I'm asking you as your friend, not as your Queen. Why did you lie to me?"
Mirim was flabbergasted by the allegation, her eyes wide open from the surprise.
"I have no idea what you are talking about."
"All these years, you have marked Lith from Lutia as a rank B asset, that's why the Mage Association never paid him any attention."
"And that's exactly the value he holds for the Kingdom." Mirim rebuked.
"Yet, once he entered the White Griffon academy per your recommendation, he proved to be a rank A talent. Then, he brought you the box and the coded letter, and now is providing invaluable help against the plague. Do you deny it?"
Sylpha's eyes were reduced to fiery slits, overloaded with mana.
"No. But I never lied to you. I gave the Association a complete file, and they agreed with my evaluation. Being a talented mage and a valuable asset are two different things."
"Please, elaborate." Realizing her temper may have rushed her judgment, Sylpha calmed down.
"When I first met him, he was just eight years old, but you could already see how dangerous he was. Beyond his smiles and niceties, there was nothing but a caged beast. Being able to create such a complex game like chess and being good at it, only made him more unreliable in my eyes.
You know as well as I do that power and brilliance are a hard mix to control. And that is what the Mage Association ultimately wants from its members, control. And when four years later he was a bounty hunter with more than thirty confirmed kills, I knew I had been right all along."
Sylpha nodded. The reason why Miriam Distar had reached her rank in the corps wasn't only because of her talent for magic and loyalty, but because she had proved countless times to have an outstanding skill in evaluating people.
"When Count Lark started pestering us all, my intention was to mind my own business. I knew that with his talent, sooner or later Lith would have joined the Mage Association, and I needed more time to assess what kind of threat he could pose to the Kingdom."
"Then what made you change your mind? Why did you help him?"
"Because in my time of need, you let me down. And he saved my daughter." Mirim's eyes were brimming with determination.
"In that moment, I understood that he could be a second rate asset for the Crown, but an invaluable tool for me. I know that officially I'm just a middle-level noble, and that there's a limit to what you can do for me without blowing my cover…"
Sylpha inwardly cursed Linjos and Manohar again. It was all their fault if back at the time Mirim had been pushed in a corner. The Corpse existence was a secret that had to be kept at all costs.
The Queen would not use them to help a friend, nor to save her own children. If miracles started to happen whenever the Crown or one of their most loyal retainers where in danger, the rumors about them would turn into a certainty.
That was the reason why they had made Manohar the Royal Healer, why he was so important.
"…but if even after everything I have sacrificed for the Kingdom, you can't even guarantee the safety of my husband and daughter, then you can take back my rank and status, and shove them up your as*!"
Sylpha let her old friend rant slide. As a mother, she could understand her feelings.
"What level of threat are we talking about?"
Talking about her job, Mirim regained her cool.
"I estimate him as a Rank A mage, and a Rank S threat for the Kingdom."
"What? Why?" The shock was so big Sylpha could not go past monosyllables.
"Because he isn't like Manohar, that you can bribe with expensive equipment and new puzzles, nor is like Hatorne, that would do anything for money. Lith has his own rules and agenda, but only the gods know what it is.
If you, or anyone else for that matter, try to force him to do anything, he'll bend to your will, bid his time, and then when you least expect it, unleash something that will make this plague seem the common cold.
It's not his talent that makes him dangerous, it's his patience and ability to manipulate others. That's why I'm using the kite strategy, and advise you to do the same."
Mirim was referring to an ancient tactic the Griffon Kingdom used when handling dangerous individuals. Just like a kite, you would not let them fly freely, while at the same time keeping them far enough to be safe and give them the impression of being unchecked.
Chapter 152 An Unexpected Threat 2
"Lith's greatest virtue is that he has no ambition. He never asked me for titles or power, nor has he tried to turn his village into his own small kingdom, like many mages of humble origins do, intoxicated by their new abilities.
It implies that whenever you require his services, he'll never try to harm the Kingdom, since your goals are unlikely to clash with his."
Sylpha thought back at her husband words during their last quarrel. Maybe he was right wanting to arrange Lith's reward as soon as possible.
"I still think that your evaluation is too exaggerated. He is still just a kid, even if he becomes as powerful as Marth, he is still far from a level S threat."
Mirim shook her head, sighing.
"You are thinking too straightforward. He is not going to raise an undead army like the god of death, or unleash a plague like Hatorne. He may not be capable of such feats, but that doesn't make him less dangerous.
What makes you underestimate Lith, is that so far he abides to the law, but that's because it suits him. If there is one thing I understood about him, is that he wants to be left alone.
Think about his past. When his brothers started to antagonize him, one was disowned and the other left of his own choice. When a noble family messed with him, it was wiped out, because after killing several adults without shedding a tear, he had the presence of spirit of bringing proof of their contractor.
And he was respectively five and six years old at the time. Each of his achievements, taken separately is remarkable. But when you assemble all the pieces of the puzzle you get a kid that lacks any conscience, patient, manipulative, unscrupulous towards his own kin, let alone strangers.
And you are letting such a person near the most dangerous disease the Griffon Kingdom has ever faced. Think about it. He accepted to help you because he was promised a reward of his own choice, Lith couldn't care less about the infected.
If he manages to cure it, you'll have to take into account that he probably is capable or replicating it, or even make it worse. If angered, there is no telling how far Lith is willing to go for revenge, and I am not willing to learn it the hard way.
That's why I always bound him only through gratitude, helping him when he needed. Consider him a freelance to call I the times of need, but always remember to pay his due.
Force him to live under your roof, and he'll burn the house down after boarding up doors and windows."
Sylpha mulled those words for a few seconds, drumming her fingers on the armrest.
"I see your point with the kite strategy. Too dangerous to bring him close, too valuable to kill. Good thinking, without him, we would still be in hot waters with the plague. Any idea about how to reward him?"
"It's still too early to tell. Give him something precious, but not too much, otherwise he will not need us anymore."
Sylpha nodded.
"What about the box? Any news?"
"No, the lock is really complicated, and we have only one shot at it. Same for the former Headmistress Linnea and Hatorne. I don't think we have to worry about Hatorne, though.
She has left the Kingdom the same day the lab exploded, and that was a big mistake on her side. Here she could still rely on her contractor, but once the other countries learn what she did, they'll kill her in our stead.
The Blood Desert tribes value honour above everything else, and what she did is the highest form of cowardice, killing hundreds of innocents for money. As for the Gorgon Empire, the Magic Empress would never employ someone that didn't hesitate betraying her own country."
"Agreed. If I had ever suspected she was capable of doing such a thing, I would have killed her years ago."
"Geniuses are erratic." Mirim sighed. "That's why they are so precious yet so dangerous. And that's why I prefer people like Lith or Marth, they are predictable."
The two women kept talking for hours discussing the future of the mages of the whole country.
***
In the following days, Lith kept searching for a cure, but to no avail. Even after Professor Marth's arrival, the situation remained dire. Lith started to work with the healers from the White Griffon academy, sharing with them over time everything he had learned about the parasites.
Solus racked Lith's brain non stop, looking through all his memories about Earth technology and medicine, searching for a clue. But there were still too many things they ignored about magic; science seemed to have nothing to offer against those monstrosities.
Both of them were at their wits end, feeling their sanity slipping away. Lith was sick and tired of the life at the military camp, with most of his abilities sealed, always looking his back against traitors.
He hated being forced to spend his days with people he didn't like, working on something that had no interest for him, with no privacy at all except during the sleeping hours.
If it wasn't for Solus' constant support and care, he would have gone on rampage, rising from the dead every single corpse available and exploiting the ensuing chaos to run away from that prison.
As for Solus, she was experiencing what Marth feared would happen to Quylla if she took part in the research project. For the first time in her existence, she was facing the darkest side of humans, against which Lith had warned her over and over.
During their work, she had to witness death, misery and pain, knowing it was no accident or natural catastrophe, but the result of the constant war than men waged against other men for the sake of power.
Until that moment, she had always lived surrounded by the love of Lith's family and friends, allowing herself to believe that the world wasn't as dark as Lith painted it, and that he had been scarred by the unfortunate events in his first life.
The plague didn't discriminate between young and old, good and bad people. Every death they were powerless to prevent, left a scar in her heart. Her only solace was Lith's constant nagging about the food, their living quarters, the mask that made him sweat bullets, everything.
Whenever Solus felt she was about to lose herself in the madness surrounding them, she would find a safe harbour in his heart, uncaring for the ever growing body count or their failure, the only thing he worried about was her.
As often happens in the history of science, a crucial element for their survival was discovered almost by accident.
Lith's research team had confirmed that the worms couldn't be killed or removed, either by magic and surgery, without causing them to release the necrosis inducing toxin that lead to the patient's death.
To make things worse, Lith had discovered that even if the parasites' effects weren't triggered by the active use of mana, once their number grew above what the mana capacity of the host could sustain, they would start to feed on his flesh and blood causing his demise.
It was after one of such cases occurred that Lith noticed something he had missed until that point. The corpse, like all the others caused by the worms' reproductive cycle, was perfectly normal.
Temperature, rigidity, everything was as it was supposed to be, with no sign of premature decay.
After consulting with Marth, they devised together a spell that would allow them to confirm his new theory. Being comprised only by experts, it took Marth's team only a few hours to create a trial spell, instead of the weeks that Lith would need if he had worked alone.
Lith had already helped creating a diagnostic spell that would allow even to fake mages to detect the parasites, so he decided to let Marth conduct the experiment. He needed a cure that anyone could use, or everything would be for naught.
First, Marth located the parasites in a patient's limb, then he applied the trial spell. Once again, Lith's core idea was simple. He had observed that the natural death of the parasites would deal no harm to the host, so all they had to do was not to kill them but to let them die.
The trial spell flooded the patient's body with darkness magic, without directly attacking the parasites. The limb progressively lost its mana and vitality, until the point the worms were incapable to draw sustenance from it, starving immediately.
Lith was able to follow the whole procedure via Invigoration, ready to step in if something went wrong. The first to collapse were the eggs, withering as soon the slightest trace of darkness touched them.
Unlike the adult form, they had no protection against it. The keystone in Lith's new spell was that they weren't attacking the whole limb, but only the locations were the parasites resided.
So, once their life force was extinguished, having being tricked in perceiving their host as dead, the healers were free to regenerate the damaged tissues and inject energy in the patient.
The procedure lasted more than an hour, Lith and the other healers had to intervene more than once to prevent the spell from attacking safe tissues. Being only a trial version, it emphasized strength rather than finesse.
When it was over, Marth was drenched in sweat, his mask's eye crystals were fogged by the body heat.
"My dear colleagues, this leg needs to be regenerated a bit, but I'd say this was a success!"
Chapter 153 True Genius
After the success of the trial spell, Professor Marth's team shared with the other healers the details of their discovery. Finding the cure wasn't a contest, but a priority for the whole Kingdom.
Thanks to the new and vital piece of information, the research began anew with the different teams sharing their success as well as the numerous failures. Those who tried to get rid of all the parasites in one go, had a high mortality rate compared to the healers cleansing one limb at a time.
The great numbers of worms, coupled with the high finesse required to control the dark energies without inflicting collateral damages, forced the researches to abandon projects that aimed for a single session treatment.
After a trial and error experimentation, it became apparent that the best approach was a different spell for each limb, arms, legs, chest and head. When Marth told him that their team was going to develop a tier five spells, Lith went back studying the other kinds of parasites, letting them do their job.
He had still a limited knowledge of tier four, whenever the discussion moved to tier five, Lith was able to understand only the general terms, there was nothing he had to offer anymore.
After eleven days, Marth's team had successfully converted the trial spell in four new spells. After testing their efficiency, curing several patients with a very low mortality rate, he went to inform Varegrave of their success.
Those days, the Colonel was often gloomy, no matter how many progresses the researchers did, he had never forgot his foolish bet with the King. The moment the cure was found, it would also be his last day.
When Marth finished his report, Varegrave went pale, his lunch made several attempts to escape the stomach and get back to the plate, but a few glasses of Dragon Water to celebrate the good news managed to calm his nerves.
"I'm impressed by your amazing results, Professor. The White Griffon truly deserves the title of 'cradle of the healing arts'. To think that less than two weeks ago we were considering the idea of incinerating the whole region." Varegrave shuddered.
The thought of so many innocent lives lost only because of his incompetence, hadn't allowed him to have a single good night of sleep since Lith's arrival.
"Just out of curiosity, did Lith help you develop the cure as well?"
"Oh, no. By the gods, if he managed to do such a thing, we would have a second Manohar at hand. Heavens know if one isn't already too much."
Varegrave nodded. His fate was sealed anyway, he decided it was best to understand the scope of his mistake, rather than live his last days in fear.
"It is odd, though. From your previous report, I understood that it was him discovering the key element for the cure and proposing the method."
Marth pondered for a while, searching for the right words to not appear arrogant or ungrateful towards his own student.
"Indeed he did. But saying 'there is a flood, we need a dam', is different from actually knowing how to alter the terrain and engineer a facility capable of getting the job done."
"I'm sorry, Professor, but you lost me at 'he did'. Do you mind to dumb it down for me?"
"Well, it's actually simple. Lith's diagnostic skill is the only thing he has on Manohar's level. He identified the plague's source and then understood how, at least in theory, it was possible to cure it. Yet he had no idea how to do it.
If he was a true genius, he would have assembled four or five tier four spells he already knew and attempted a makeshift cure. Luckily, he knows his limits and the importance of teamwork, so he came to me for help.
Long story short, his core idea was correct, but it was just a vague idea. Turning it into reality was beyond his capabilities. Not to mention how difficult has it been to make it actually work."
As most warriors, Varegrave had always had limited interest in healing magic, but since in the last month it had become his bread and butter. It was now a topic that piqued his curiosity.
"Not to be rude, but what are you saying doesn't make much sense. I read his file. I know he is the only S rank healer that appeared in the last five years. Otherwise, how do you explain that all the great magicians assembled here, you included, didn't manage to do the same, despite the gap in age and experience?"
Marth sighed deeply. He wasn't a prideful man, yet admitting to be inferior to a child always proved to be vexing for his ego.
"It's a matter of vision. All us old coots have taken bad habits during the years, and Lith is our wake up call. Since light magic has replaced medicine, we stopped asking ourselves questions that in this case proved to be vital.
We do not care anymore why a liver doesn't function properly, we just identify what's making the patient ill and fix it. We got so used to light magic's simplicity to became uncapable of thinking outside its boundaries.
Since Lith's arrival, he showed us how important was the knowledge of anatomy for regenerative magic, and now, being the only one that spectated to autopsies, managed to caught what we all stupidly overlooked.
He is considered a S rank talent, because while being taught to, we also learn from him. The lesson Lith has been imparting to us old fools is that science and magic are two aspects of the same thing, and that by relinquishing one we can't develop the full potential of the other."
***
Meanwhile, now that the light magic parasite was off the list, Lith was experimenting the cure he had suggested Marth on the victims of the fire and water parasites too. (AN: the parasites that cause spontaneous combustion/freezing when using the respective elemental magic.)
Thanks to Invigoration, he was capable of cleansing an infected in a matter of minutes.
Before asking Marth's advice, Lith had already verified on his own that the method was feasible, leaving most of the glory to the rest of the team. True magic allowed him a surgical precision in handling darkness magic, even inside the body of another human.
Killing a single worm or hundreds at a time was only a matter of focus for him. Whenever Solus would grow fond of one of their experimental subjects, he would cull the parasites in his body to prolong his life and prevent her to further delve into depression.
While Marth and the others were still busy creating a spell anyone could use, Lith had already discovered two important things. The first was that fire and water parasites could be treated the same way as the light magic ones.
The second, was that water parasites had a much longer reproductive cycle compared to their fire cousins. By checking the mortality data of the four different kinds of parasites, he noticed that water and magic blocking parasites were the ones causing the least amount of deaths.
Unbeknownst to him, only two had been created to infect the soldiers, while the others were intended to be used on the population of the Blood Desert tribes and Gorgon Empire respectively until they had completely submitted.
- "If the cure I have devised works for three parasites, I can hope it will work also for the fourth type. Based on what Varegrave said on my arrival, until a way to eradicate the magic blocking parasite isn't found, they will not let me go.
In a world like this, where quick transportation and communications are entirely magic dependant, the little critters can cause the fall of whole nations, bringing them back to the stone age.
It would be like if on Earth someone controlled a bacterium capable of sapping electrical current. Let's hope I am right. I can't wait to get out of here." –
The magic blocking parasite was the one Lith knew the least about. Since its victims were kept in a separate space created with dimensional magic, he had no way to interact with the infected without the supervision of Colonel Varegrave.
Most of them were powerful mages, that following the loss of their powers had been brought to the verge of insanity. The most common cause of death among the fourth group of infected wasn't the parasite, but suicide.
The second one was the constant rioting, which frequency was only getting worse with the passing of time. The medical ward was isolated from the external world, aggravating the feelings of helplessness and despair that had taken a deep root in the heart of the patients.
The few times that Lith managed to have access to the secret ward, the guards needed to be forewarned to have the time to restrain the residents before his arrival. Once he arrived, he had little time at hand and no privacy, so he could not conduct any experiment.
Now that the other threats were under control, Lith decided it was the right time to convince Varegrave to take out at least an infected from the secret ward and set up a separate tent for his studies.
Chapter 154 The Last Hurdle
Contrary to Lith's expectations, Colonel Varegrave didn't raise objections to his proposal, allowing him to start studying the mana blocking parasites. The only issue was that many preparations were required, and the safety measures were much stricter than before.
Most of the victims had turned extremely violent, so they needed to be hands and feet strapped to the stretchers to avoid escape attempts.
Everything that regarded the magical community needed the Mage Association permission, so Captain Kilian was assigned to him as escort and assistant whenever he came in contact with one of the patients.
There were a couple of reasons behind Varegrave's meek attitude. After speaking with Professor Marth, he had been able to put his wounded pride aside and admit to himself how wrong he had been doubting Lith's loyalty to the Kingdom.
Second, and most important, he was dealing with an internal investigation that had exploded between his hands out of the blue. After Lith had killed the traitorous lieutenant Vickas and his two accomplishes, the cogs of fate had started to move.
With the tight discipline the encampment was operated with, the sudden disappearance of middle level officers couldn't go unnoticed for long. By the end of the first day, the military personnel were on alert, looking for three possible deserters.
The worst case scenario was that one of them, if not all, had been infected, and had decided to attempt escaping from the quarantine zone to see their families one last time before their demise.
Varegrave couldn't take any risk, if the plague spreaded in the rest of the Kingdom, the whole world would have been in danger. Their living quarters were tooth comb searched looking for any clue about their intentions or destination.
By the following day, the situation turned even worse. By checking their military records and work schedules, Varegrave discovered that all three of them, at the moment of their disappearance, were on patrol duty in the sector where Lith's tent was located.
Normally he would have considered it to be a coincidence, but after what happened to his sworn brother Velagros, he couldn't dismiss the idea they were traitors sent to finish the job.
Varegrave asked for Kilian's help, and both had their most loyal men search every place the three missing officers had been seen at, looking for clues.
The good news was that thanks to Small World, escaping was far from easy, and all the guards at the checkpoints, the only ways out the quarantine zone, were all elite veterans of proven loyalty.
Even if one of them was a traitor too, in an eight men team it would be impossible for him to help his accomplices without the others noticing. Also, according to the Ward block security, they had been seen going in, but never got out.
Being Lith safe and sound, he couldn't be their target. The thorough search of the encampment lead to the finding of a hidden stash and most of the magical items that once belonged to the three lieutenants.
The stash contained incriminating evidence against three powerful noble families and two of the missing soldiers, marking them as potential traitors against the Crown.
According to a letter found inside the stash, lieutenant Vickas had been approached by his foster father, Duke Selimar, who had asked him to betray the Kingdom in exchange of the promise of becoming his heir.
Vickas explained how he had pretended to accept, while gathering evidence to bring down the noble faction. According to the letter, he had only managed to identify two more, and concluded saying that if anything happened to him, it was likely he had been discovered and killed.
Varegrave was moved by Vickas' brave selflessness, cursing himself for not being a leader capable to inspire trust. If Vickas had come asking for his help, maybe things would have ended differently.
The final nail in the coffin of Varegrave's hopes for a happy ending, was that all the magical items retrieved now lacked any imprinting.
That could mean that their owners were dead.
Discovering how deeply rooted was the noble's faction grasp inside the military ranks, Varegrave entrusted all the gathered evidence to Kilian, letting the Queen's corps do the rest.
Unbeknownst to Lith, his plan had worked almost flawlessly. It had been him forcing Vickas to write the letter on his notebook, to collect all the magical items and putting them were they could be found.
Last but not least, he had found the hidden stash each lieutenant had and put everything together in a single one to make the cover story he had devised work. The only flaw was that he had no idea how to explain the disappearance of the three dead bodies.
If the traitors had overpowered and killed the "heroic" Vickas, getting rid of the corpse was natural, but if even them had died, who could have cleaned the scene?
The evidence contained into the secret stash wasn't enough to accuse one of the great noble families of treason, but it undermined their credibility, linking them to several unsolved crimes.
It would allow the Crown to suppress all their activities and cripple their influence until the investigation was over. Preventing the civil war from occurring was a top priority, so Varegrave could only ignore that mystery for the time being.
- "Dammit, in the King's shoes, I'd kill an incompetent fool as myself without a second thought." He thought. "I was so busy doubting Lith's loyalty that I missed the real traitors right under my nose I can already hear the King and Queen quarrel about how corrupted the army his.
She will never let His Majesty hear the end of it." –
***
Considering the matter of the other three parasites resolved, Lith started to examine several infected from the mana blocking parasite looking for the perfect specimen. He was determined to find the worst case of infection possible and use it for his work.
Unlike him, fake magicians weren't able to alter the magical flow of their spells unless they had been expressively devised to allow it. To make things worse, Lith had no idea how a tier five spell worked, so he had to make sure to provide them a foolproof cure.
Lith's plan was to study an advanced case, gathering all the necessary data he needed to create a trail of breadcrumbs that Marth's team could follow. Otherwise they would need to make adjustments every time they encountered a circumstance unknown at the time the spell had been created.
The tent arranged for Lith's studies was quite big, it had a diameter of almost ten meters (33 feet) with two seats and a small desk as its only furniture. Most of his specimens came with a straight jacket and chains at their ankles, if not full body strapped like a salami.
Unlike the others, the victims of the fourth kind of parasite had healthy bodies full of vigour. The restraints were safety measures to avoid escape attempts and limit the risks of infection in case they attempted to bite during a fit of rage.
"You don't know who I am, you filthy military dog!"
Also, instead of treating the soldiers and the healers with respect, most of them would yell all the time, bantering their previous status like they were speaking to a slow-witted servant.
"I'm Garith Senti, the youngest guild master Kandria's guild ever had." Lith's first patient was a handsome man, well-built, tall with blonde hair and blue eyes, that in that moment were staring at Lith like he was dog po*p on top of his morning waffles.
"I demand to be set free and treated with all the honours I deserve! Once I get out of here, I will make sure everyone of you dies a dog's death!"
"Shut up, please. You disturb my concentration, making my work harder."
Even using Invigoration was a challenge. The specimens' bodies were afflicted by a toxin unlike the others Lith had studied so far. It didn't inflict any direct damage, but was capable of scrambling both internal and external mana, turning any spell in a waste of energy.
Overcoming its jamming effect required Lith's sheer willpower and concentration, draining his mana reserves like he was treating a whole village at the same time.
"Your job? Ha! You are but an incompetent idiot, otherwise I wouldn't be rotting in a shabby tent like a vagrant from over a month!"
Then he managed to spit on Lith's right eye crystal with uncanny precision, before erupting into a laughter. Lith had never been a Florence Nightingale.
His usual calm and respectful demeanour came from the awareness that after being held prisoners for so long, those people deserved to be treated with human respect to ensure their cooperation.
"You know what, mister Senti?" Lith cleaned his eye crystal with a handkerchief, and then used it to wipe off some dirt from the sole of his boots.
"They say that you catch more flies with honey than you do with vinegar. But flies are actually easily attracted with sh*t." Then, he shoved the handkerchief in Garith's mouth.
Chapter 155 The Last Hurdle 2
Aside from muffled, disgusted moans and the soldiers' chuckling, the room had finally become silent enough to allow Lith regaining his focus. Garith was one of the first infected, and that made him a perfect specimen, at least on paper.
From studying his condition, Lith discovered a few things.
The slow reproduction cycle of the mana blocking parasite had allowed Garith to live that long without side effects aside from the lack of magic. It also gave the parasites enough time to fill him with toxins to the brim.
To add insult to injury, each parasite was enveloped by some kind of cocoon, formed over time by the constant excretion of toxins, that made almost impossible to pinpoint them even with Invigoration.
To get past the cocoons and make sure of the worms' position, Lith had to spend almost all his mana reserves.
"Your treatment was pretty harsh, sir." Kilian couldn't stop laughing at Garith's desperate attempts to remove the gag.
"The young master here is really as powerful and influent as he says." And that was the reason why Kilian avoided referring to Lith with his name, but only using the rank that his plague doctor army uniform granted him.
By the King's decree, Lith's involvement had to be kept secret. He had to report all of his discoveries to Varegrave first, whom would decide if letting him take credit for them or making them pass for information obtained through the use of an artifact.
Hence, Lith always wore the uniform when he wasn't working with Marth.
"Really? Then as soon as I finish examining this idiot, take him away and bring me another patient. I'll make sure mister Senti gets cured last. Arrogant brats need to be disciplined."
The whole tent chuckled, except for Garith that turned pale as a ghost. Because of the masks, the only way he had to recognize someone was through the voice, and even that was distorted, coming out of the nostrils-like holes in the plague mask's beak.
The soldiers weren't afraid of him too. Being forced to babysit a bunch of powerful and arrogant mages, their uniforms had the name tags removed.
Sighing out of exhaustion, Lith prepared for the last test. He wanted to extract a sample of the toxins, hoping that the alchemists could concoct something to neutralize their effects.
Lith placed his hands above Garith's arm, using Invigoration like usual, to use his mana to take control of the flow in the patient's body and force the toxins out of the pores.
Yet this time he failed. He was too tired, and in front of so many witnesses he couldn't access to the world energy to replenish his mana. Otherwise, when others would perform the same experiments and reported how difficult everything was, he would stand out too much.
The problem with working for the army was that Lith was supposed to report everything in his lab notebook. Thanks to his nightmarish penmanship, until that point he had been exonerated from it, doing an oral report at the end of the day instead.
Now, though, Kilian had nothing to do while watching Lith performing his experiments, so Varegrave had asked him to fill the paperwork in Lith's stead, with the result of creating an actual record of his exploits and sealing another chunk of his abilities.
"The sample collection attempt failed, I presume." Kilian noted down, listening to Lith wheezing like a bellows.
"Indeed. Take him back to the tent." Lith ordered the soldiers.
"I need time to recover my strength. I'll extract the sample after lunch from another patient, this one is not needed anymore."
"Yes, sir!" Both soldiers replied while standing on attention.
"What about the handkerchief, sir?"
"Earlier I stepped on horse manure, so he can keep it as a present."
At those words, Garith stopped his attempts to push away the improvised gag with his tongue. His face turned green realizing what was that horrible taste he had been experiencing.
Lith dined in Varegrave's tent, reporting to him most of his findings and his doubts about finding a cure. The Colonel wasn't new to Lith's pessimism, but it was also the first time seeing him so tired.
Lith was a little pale, panting between words, his hair sticky from all the sweating under the mask.
"Don't worry, as soon as you manage to extract a toxins' sample, I'll give it top priority." Varegrave reassured him.
"Thanks." Lith replied. "If we manage to find a way to dissolve or disable the anti mana toxins, it may be even possible to use the same cure for all the parasites. As it is, even locating the parasites is excruciating."
Silence befell in the tent. No one actually believed such a thing would happen, at least in the short term. The gap in talent and expertise between Hatorne and the Alchemists at their disposal had become each day more apparent.
The only answer they would come out with was: "We are still working on it."
Lith knew that without his true magic, there wasn't much magicians would be able to do either. Realizing once more his limits, Lith gritted his teeth and promised himself to work even harder, exploiting every advantage that Solus and true magic granted him to get free from all the shackles others tried to force on him.
"By the way, what about my family?" He asked.
"They don't hear from me from more than a week, they must be terrified."
"Don't worry, they are fine." Varegrave sighed, thinking about his own children he may never be able to see again.
"We told them that you are busy helping your Professors with an important research. You may call them today, if you want. But please, try to keep it short. Time is of the essence."
After finishing lunch, Lith took a quick shower before going back to his specimens. His body was once again at its peak. After the last breakthrough, even his recovery speed had greatly improved.
His next subject was a black haired fat woman in her twenties. She was barely 1.55 meters (5'1") high, with watery eyes, trembling like a cornered mouse. Her demeanour was meek, obeying everything the soldiers said.
Lith noticed her unusual attitude and the lack of restraints, but didn't mind them until the examination started. There was such difference between her condition and Senti that it was hard thinking they suffered from the same affliction.
The number of parasites in her body was small, and so was the concentration of toxins. According to her chart, she had been hospitalized even before Senti, but there was almost no trace of cocoons around the worms.
- "I think it depends on their mana cores." Solus explained. "The arrogant idiot from before had a blue core, hers is barely orange."
"Wait, you could see his mana core?" Lith was surprised. During the previous examination, overcoming the jamming effect had required all his focus. Beside locating the worms, he hadn't been able to ascertain much.
"Yeah, sort of. The toxin overload made everything blurry, but I'm pretty sure it was blue."
"So, the stronger the mage, the harder will be cleansing the parasites? Well, at least in this case, it makes my work easier." –
Both the diagnosing and the toxins extraction process went easy as pie. Her conditions were so mild that with his current knowledge, Lith was certain he could cure her anytime.
"Captain, this woman isn't part of the Mage Association, right?" He asked to confirm their hypothesis.
"Yeah. Not all the patients of the last Ward are powerful magicians. Lady Niha Zeir, here, is just a member of one of Kandria's minor noble families."
"That explains a lot. Thank you very much for your help, Lady Zeir." Lith made a small but polite bow to put her at ease.
"You are welcome, kind sir." Being treated like a human instead as cattle, Lady Zeir gave them a warm and cute smile while performing a curtsy, managing to give off a noble appearance despite wearing a prison grey jumpsuit.
Lith was about to dismiss her and move on to the next specimen, when Solus stopped him.
- "Hold your horses! Her neck, look at her neck. I noticed something odd during her curtsy." –
Lith did as instructed, discovering a single blue bulging vein on the back of Lady Zeir's neck.
- "What the heck does this mean? I have seen something similar before, back when I forcefully injected my mana in that mercenary's core to torture her." –
Lith used Invigoration again, but this time he focused on her mana core, discovering that it had several yellow streaks, but most of them were fading away, turning orange little by little.
- "It's exactly what happened back then. The foreign mana suppresses the natural one, inducing a degradation of the core. That alchemist must be a monster to be able to replicate true magic to this extent."
"Actually, I think it's a very unintended side effect." Solus' tone was worried.
"Why do you say so?"
"Well, I think it's clear that the fire and light magic parasite have been created with the purpose to kill. They reproduce fast and kill their host in a matter of weeks, while spreading their eggs along with the infection.
But this one, it reproduces slowly and didn't kill anyone so far. If not for their sudden lack of magic, many would have not even noticed it."
"What's your point?"
"My point is, that if the plague is man-made, then there is a cure somewhere, and that the mana blocking parasites seems the perfect mean to restrain a mage. The problem is that the parasites not only prevent the use of magic, but are also draining the cores' energies.
As I see it, once we remove the parasites, there are two possible outcomes. In the first one, the degraded cores never regain their old power, leaving the mages severely weakened if not completely powerless."
"That's sad." Lith mind shrugged. "But I still can't see anything to worry about. Is not like it's our fault."
"The second one…" Solus continued, her tone annoyed by the interruption.
"…is that they all become true mages."
Chapter 156 Rush for a Cure
- "Are you kidding me?" Lith's mind refused to accept Solus' words.
"No, I'm not." She replied. "Do you remember what happens every time you overcome a bottleneck?"
"Of course that I do. The world energy flows into me, because after the transition my mana core is empty…" When Lith managed to put two and two together, his mind went blank, and so did his face. –
"Are you all right?" Kilian couldn't see through the mask, but Lith's sudden silence, freezing in place for several seconds, could only mean bad news.
"Peachy." He replied with a hoarse voice.
- "Exactly!" Solus continued mercilessly. "Nature abhors the void, so once we cure them, if their mana cores have degraded too much, when the world energy fills them, the patients may be able to perceive the mana flow, discover their cores and become true mages.
It's not like it took you much too, right? Your breathing technique is just a crutch to better perceive the energy flow. What if an already powerful core, after being depleted, suddenly goes back from green to blue?
The sudden mana flow would be so intense that only an idiot would not notice it. At that point, discovering true magic would only be a matter of time. Humans and magical beast alike, have a static mana core in their natural state, that grows slowly over time.
But this parasites changes everything, and that's why I think it's an unintended side effect. No one in his right mind would ever make his enemies even more powerful."
"Wait, how is this different from what happened to Tista? After I cured her, her core went from deep yellow to bright green, and it's still evolving. Yet she hasn't Awakened."
"It's completely different, you silly." Solus first giggle after days of weeping she had hoped Lith wouldn't notice, was the only silver lining among the madness.
"Tista had a naturally weak core because of a natural illness. Her body simply couldn't handle stronger energies, so it didn't let the core develop for years. After you cured her, the core started to grow, yes, but slowly, over time. Tista's core was always at full capacity, even if underdeveloped.
For the infected, instead, their core is already fully developed, let's say it's blue, but because of the parasites is temporarily down to green. Just like you after a bottleneck, their core will strive for the world energy, getting filled in days, not in years like in Tista's case.
If I am right, in the worst-case scenario, by recovering their powers, they will experience a 'breakthrough' on a daily basis."–
"Lady Zeir, are you aware of this odd blue vein?" Lith tapped on her neck, trying to keep his voice calm.
"Yes, thank you for your care." In any other circumstance her smile would have been contagious.
"The previous doctors and healers never cared about it, even after I pointed it out to them. One of my tent mates noticed it about fifteen days after we got imprisoned. The scary thing is that everyone I befriended in the tent has one or more of them."
Lith swallowed a lump of saliva.
"Everyone?
"Everyone." She nodded.
"Captain, how many residents has the tent?"
"A little over four hundred." Kilian replied after checking his notebook.
The thought of having so many true mages pop out like mushrooms after a rainy day made Lith's head fuzzy.
He was sure not being the only Awakened one in the world, but at least each one of them had gained his powers with constant study and discipline, just like him. Also, according to his theory, those who were deemed to be unworthy or too stupid to wield such power had been killed throughout history.
Sure, maybe not all those four hundred would become true mages, and a good number would be killed by whoever was in charge of the culling. But Lith wasn't used to plan his life around "maybes" and "ifs".
First and foremost, the infected were humans, and he expected from them to be horrible people. In his experience, power didn't corrupt, it would just bring out a person's real nature.
Lith didn't want someone like Garith Senti having even one more ounce of power, the new world sucked already as it was. Letting a bunch of strangers achieve true magic, was like handing a flamethrower to a pyromaniac.
He wouldn't allow some madman to go on rampage, for a very good reason.
He hadn't spent years, hiding his abilities, just to let a group of idiots ruin the fruits of his hard work. Not to mention that if any of them started to spread the secret behind being an Awakened one, he would lose all of his advantages.
His strength, his speed, even his recovery ability would become the norm. The new world would devolve in a nightmarish and chaotic place were might makes right. With his limited talent and knowledge, Lith had no doubt he would meet a foul end.
Lith tasked Solus to memorize the personal details of his specimens, now determined to find a cure as fast as possible, while keeping an eye on them. He still had the advantage of experience. A newly Awakened one would need weeks, if not months to sort out his new abilities and learn true spells.
Lith decided to exploit that knowledge gap to make sure that an "accident" would befall those he deemed too dangerous.
After Lady Zeir, Lith visited as many infected as he could, before running out of mana. Instead of checking for their conditions, he would only take note of the status of their cores and the blue veins.
At the end of the day, he had barely managed to visit around fifty persons, and the results were bleak. All of them showed signs of deep mana poisoning (AN: the blue veins) and their mana cores were discoloured if not downgraded.
The good news was that the stronger the core, the higher its resistance. Blue and cyan cores had just turned to deeper shades, only from the yellow level and below they had suffered an almost complete colour change.
The bad news was that at high levels, even changing a shade was a big deal. Lith had gained a whole set of new abilities just going past the middle level of cyan. There was no saying what an even stronger mage would experience.
During dinner his mood was gloomy, searching the right words for his report. He needed all the help he could get, but couldn't tell the truth, at any cost.
- "Now not only I must find a foolproof cure, I also need to make certain that no one Awakens. I can achieve it in two ways. Either I make the cure slow and prolonged over time, or I do not extract all the toxins after killing the parasites.
Either way, the specimens wouldn't be able to perceive the mana flow in their body while the cores recover their strength, and my a*s would be out of the frying pan. Both methods have evident flaws, though.
The first one could be improved by other healers not aware of the dangers it will pose. As for the second one, with no more parasites, I don't know how long the toxins would retain their potency. I need more data." –
Lith's trains of thoughts was interrupted by Colonel Varegrave.
"What is the problem with those blue veins that Kilian was telling me about?"
"It's a sign of the infection nearing the critical point. At this rate, the patients will be dead soon." Lith's lie killed two birds with one stone. It would give him plausible deniability if he was forced to kill someone, and ensure his research to get priority.
"I see." Varegrave didn't seem surprised, mostly worried.
"Are you going to extract more toxins tomorrow?"
"Most likely. Why?"
"Because we need to establish a safer chain of custody." Varegrave handed to him a gold ring with the Royal family's crest engraved.
"Only people with one of these will be allowed to handle the vials containing the toxins. Use it to stamp the custody release note every time you produce a vial, and always check the courier has a ring too."
Lith took the ring, pondering about the implications of the sudden increase in security. His mind went to the most paranoid answer.
"Let me guess, you want to weaponize the toxins."
Varegrave was taken aback, he didn't expect a kid to understand the severity of the situation.
"Yes. If we manage to stabilize them and apply them on clothes and armours, we could obtain anti magic protections. But that's not the only reason. Today an alchemist was discovered trying to steal a vial. He is currently being interrogated."
Lith inwardly scoffed at their wishful thinking. If such a thing was possible, he had no doubt that Hatorne would have already found a way to do it and sold her merchandise for a high price.
On the contrary, he expected Hatorne to prevent it from happening. She was a mage too, after all, he doubted she could be so stupid to leave behind something that could take away her greatest weapon. Yet Lith could benefit from their wild goose chase.
"Whatever they discover about the anti mana toxins, I need to be informed as soon as possible. Without a cure, all the infected will die shortly, and with them all your precious toxins will be lost forever."
Varegrave didn't miss Lith's hidden allegation, and was outraged by it.
"Are you implying that the army would care more about a possible weapon rather than the lives of the citizens of the Kingdom?" He indignantly stood up from his chair.
"I'm not implying anything, I know it." Lith replied between mouthfuls.
"I wasn't born yesterday. 'It's too dangerous to let it fall in the wrong hands. It's for the greater good. Collateral damage and all that stuff.' Isn't the way the army works?"
What Lith had just stated were the bullet points a small faction within the army was actually using to try to convince the King to not cure all the infected, but keep some of them as human breeding grounds for the parasites.
The mana blocking parasite, was the one that had raised the most expectations. In a world were a single mage could obliterate a battalion, it would give a chance to those without great magic powers to fight on equal footing.
"What can I do to help you?" Varegrave didn't have the strength to lie anymore to Lith, so he preferred to change the topic.
"I need the strongest mages among the infected. If I find a cure for them, treating the others will be easy. I'm not capable of devising a single spell to cure them, but I'm confident to find the right steps that will later be merged into one.
No one aside me must interact with my patients."
"It will be done." Varegrave nodded.
"I know you have no reason to trust me, but I need a favour from you. Please, find a way to kill those monstrosities before I'm ordered to do something that I would regret for my whole life."
Chapter 157 First Impressions
Kilian was aware of the political struggle that was taking place within the military's highest level. After Marth had created a cure with Lith's help, the fear of the infection had been replaced by personal ambitions and dreams of conquest.
Unlike Lith, though, Kilian knew there was still a silver lining. Varegrave was one of the most loyal men the King had, so if his final decision was to destroy everything, Varegrave would obey, leaving no stone unturned.
Generals and strategists could rant as much as they wanted, the final say on the matter rested on the King alone. Despite that, the pressure on him was bound to be enormous, just like the one the Mage Association was bound to exert on the Queen for that same matter.
It was easy for Kilian to imagine what was happening in the royal palace in that moment.
The upper echelons of the army against those of the Mage Association, with the Crown caught in the middle. Another crack had just appeared in the government of the Griffon Kingdom.
- "Life sure has a twisted sense of irony." Kilian thought. "To think that so many lives rest on the shoulders of someone devoid of mercy. If Lith manages to find a cure fast, the political situation can still be salvaged.
Thanks to the information blackout, the camp is cut off from the outside world. Nothing gets in or out, not even information. We can wipe out the plague, and then pretend to know nothing about the military's plans for the parasites.
Worst case scenario, Varegrave will take the fall for everything, allowing the King to get away with it." –
"Don't worry, Colonel. Even if you didn't ask me, I wasn't going to spare any effort to find the cure." Lith's tone was so full of determination that both men doubted about his psychological evaluation.
He was indeed cold and cynical, but seemed to truly have at heart the safety of the Kingdom.
- "F*ck, that's why I hate the military. They would weaponize even dirty socks if given the chance. If I don't act fast, there is no telling what damage those idiots could cause." – Was what Lith actually thought.
That night, he and Solus had one of their rare quarrels.
- "Are you really willing to kill all the patients in the last ward?" She asked bluntly.
"Honestly? I would rather be at the academy worrying about the second trimester exam, instead of being here playing doctor Fleming. But what do you expect me to do? Wash my hands of everything and hope for the best?"
"But… there are also women, children and elderly. We saw them during the round of visits. How can you even think about doing something like that?"
"How could I don't do it, you mean. Women are no better than men, and being old doesn't make you a saint. As for the children, their cores are too weak, the risk of Awakening is insignificant, I'm more worried about them dying because of the parasites.
I have noticed that most of them have red cores. I don't know what happens when a red core gets downgraded, but I don't think is anything good. Please, Solus, try to understand my point of view. You don't know what someone is capable of, until he is given the power to avoid the consequences of his actions.
A good person can easily be hiding his true nature or simply too scared to follow his instincts. Law and order work because people are afraid of the punishment. Back on Earth, a man called the Buddha said that evil comes natural to humans, while good needs to be taught.
If we are right, and that alchemist, Hatorne, is behind the plague, why do you think she did it? For money. Why do you think the army is willing to sacrifice innocents to preserve a biological weapon? For power. But you know what's the scariest thing?
Ask any bully, any violent man or woman why they do what they do, they all answer the same thing: because they can. If you really want it, I can let all of the patients go, but remember, whatever happens next, all the death and misery they'll cause, will be on you." -
Solus knew how harsh Lith's view on humanity was. After all she had seen, Solus couldn't completely refuse his reasonings anymore. Her only hope was to be wrong about the mana blocking parasite side effect.
The next day, Lith took extra precautions. He was about to meet his main specimen, and first impressions could not be taken back.
In case everything went well, he had arranged a comfortable medical table, a chair and some comfort food.
Hidden behind a curtain, there was a stretcher with leather straps, a straightjacket, a mouth gag and some manure if the specimen turned out to be a troublemaker or Garith Senti.
The person that walked into the tent wore no restraints. Lith would have considered that a good sign, if not for her attitude, with eyes filled with contempt like she owned the place and wasn't happy with her guests.
"Sir, allow me to introduce to you Nindra Luce. She is Kandria's strongest magician, and also the chairman of the city branch of the Mage Association." Kilian knew what to expect from both of them. Diplomacy wasn't the strong suit of any of those present.
"Nice to meet you." Lith extended his hand, only to have it ignored.
"You are a member of the Queen's corps, and a Captain at that." She said recognizing the uniform.
"Why am I forced to stay in a mixed tent, and who is the pipsqueak?" Nindra was 1.67 metres (5'6"), barely a couple centimetres taller than Lith. Her remark aimed to emphasize the difference in their standing more than in their height.
"I'm sorry, but for safety reasons the infected must be kept together, or surveillance would be impossible." Kilian replied with a flat tone.
"He will be your new healer, that's all I am at liberty to say."
"Another quack that would do nothing more than grope and probe me around for another month? No thanks!" She tried to walk away but the guards blocked her path, their hands on the weapons' hilts.
Lith had to admit she was indeed a sight for sore eyes. Nindra was a beautiful woman in her early thirties, with bronze skin, light brown shoulder length wavy hair and hazel eyes.
She had long legs, and enough curves to make her attractive even while wearing a grey prison jumpsuit. Back on Earth, Lith would have asked her out for dinner, but in the new world he was at least ten years too young and lacked a ton of patience.
- "Great! A female version of that arrogant idiot. Luckily I came prepared." –
"Release me immediately! I'm a member of the Mage Association. I demand to talk with the Queen!" She yelled in outrage.
Kilian was about to explain to her that she was in a quarantine zone, not a luxury resort, when Lith's ignored hand turned into a fist that struck a liver blow. The sudden drop in blood pressure, coupled with the pain, made her kneel on the ground, incapable of speaking one more word.
"Strap her to the table and gag her mouth, I had enough of her rants." Lith could have knocked her out by hitting her jaw, but he wanted Nindra to stay conscious. After the soldiers executed his orders, it was Lith's turn to talk.
"I'm sorry for whatever harassment you may have experienced here, but people are dying. I have no time to coddle your ego. Let's cut to the chase: to find a cure and give you back your magic I need your cooperation, but it may take some time.
You may either spend your next days strapped like an animal, or behave as a civil person and be treated as such. The choice is yours."
Lith ignored her gaze full of anger and the countless muffled curses she threw at him, focusing only on his task.
He used Invigoration to determine the status of her mana core. Judging from the streaks, it had once been light blue, but now it was several shades darker. Lith decided to have her treated first, checking Solus' theory at the same time.
He had already devised a way to beat the last parasite, but between though and action there were countless things that could go wrong. The first part of his plan was testing if the toxins harmed the core by being in its proximity.
Lith tried to extract the toxins from her abdomen, instead that from the arm or leg like he usually did. Not having access to water magic, he could only make them get excreted with the sweat, and let it drip into the vials.
Even with all his considerable magical power, making the mana circulate in Nindra's body was like pushing a SUV uphill. Soon Lith was drenched in sweat, and only after a quarter of hour of unrelenting efforts he managed to bring to toxins at the skin level.
He had Kilian passing him the containment vials, and then grabbed her shirt, preparing to extract the sample. Lith felt her whole body going stiff, her limbs stretching the restrains to the limit.
- "If she has been molested in the tent, it's natural that she doesn't like being touched. I'll try to be quick." Lith thought.
"Yeah, and maybe having a little consideration for her would help." Solus snorted. "She is restrained, surrounded by four men, one of which is about to undress her." She added, since Lith seemed a little slow on the uptake. –
Lith turned around, noticing that all eyes were fixated on his hand. Those present were tilted to get the best view available, holding their breath in anticipation. Even Kilian was eager to spectate the next step, for academic purposes, of course.
"Sorry guys." Lith shrugged, realizing his mistake. Having examined and treated countless patients of every possible age, he had become numb to the allure of certain aspects of his job.
"Doctor patient confidentiality."
The sound of the curtain being pulled was accompanied by loud groans, caused by the awareness that their thirst for knowledge would not be quenched.
Chapter 158 First Impressions 2
Lith unceremoniously lifted the grey shirt all the way up, revealing Nindra's flat and smooth belly. He then enhanced her metabolism with light magic, covering her abdomen in milky droplets of sweat saturated with the toxins.
His eyes and hands moved nimbly, careful to not miss even one bead of the precious liquid. The fate of the Kingdom, but even more importantly his own, depended on the alchemists finding a way to neutralize them or at least analysing their properties, making Lith's work much easier.
Even if her partner didn't care, Solus stared in envy at Nindra's full and perky breasts going up and down while she heaved in panic.
- "If I ever get a body, I would really like for it to be like this one." She thought to herself. –
Nindra's fears quickly got dispelled by Lith's careful touch, filling one containment vial after the other without taking pauses to look at the scenery, or worse taking advantage of her helplessness.
During over a month of captivity, she had learned to recognize the lust in the men surrounding her, be them other infected or soldiers. After the prolonged period of isolation, people were easy to fall in desperation and act like animals.
Guards were relatively safe. They couldn't go past the casual grope because they feared getting infected the most. But her tent mates were something else. With nothing to lose, they would often lose decency, fighting among themselves for a slice of bread or harassing women.
Usually the guards intervened quickly, but other times, when they were bored, they would let things slide, watching at the r*pe attempts like they were just a theatrical performance, laughing and commenting without a care.
They would still intervene before something really bad happened, but that didn't make any of it less traumatic. With her powers gone, pride was the only thing Nindra had left, and she would do anything to protect it.
When she had first met Lith, she had assumed that behind the mask there was just another perverted old man, and treated him accordingly, taking take to remind him her status in the Association and her knowledge of the Queen.
But now, watching him work relentlessly, she couldn't feel anything. He was cold, like a machine, allowing her to hope that for once since her imprisonment, the man in front of her was really a healer.
As the last drop was collected, Lith carefully placed the shirt back down, avoiding any unnecessary contact, before using Invigoration again. The zone surrounding Nindra's mana core was now clear from all the toxins, only the cocoons remained, with the parasites still hidden inside them.
- "Any change, so far?" He asked Solus.
"None, it's still too soon. Even for you it takes some time. Don't worry, if I notice her core recovering or her mana circulating like that of a true mage, I'll let you know." –
Without the toxin's dampening effect, Lith could now spot the worms and attempt to kill them. His plan was to test on Nindra the first cure he had devised. It consisted in cleansing first the mana core, allowing it to recover, while the rest of the body was clogged by the anti mana parasites.
His theory was that even if the core were to be flooded with the world energy, Nindra wouldn't be able to perceive it in such status.
- "If I'm right, I need to make up some medical babble to justify the passing of days before treating the rest of the body. I can't allow other healers to rush things up." –
He then targeted the cocoons closer to the core, sending multiple tendrils of dark energy to seep in and kill their inhabitants. Just as he feared, the cocoons were just a highly packed toxin mass.
Sending magic through them was like pushing the proverbial SUV uphill, but this time with the hand brake on. Since this was within his expectations, he moved to plan B. He used his cleansing spell to remove the outer layers, while he enhanced with light magic Nindra's metabolism.
The effect was similar to doing cardio, the blood pressure increased and the muscle contracted and relaxed cyclically, hastening the dispersion process of the toxins, by both natural flow and osmosis.
The hours passed, and soon Lith was too exhausted to continue.
"This is what we will do from now on, more or less. Can I have your answer now?"
He asked after removing the gag.
Nindra's eyes were still cold, but contemptuous no more.
"Are you aware of what happens daily in that tent?"
Lith shook his head.
"If I accept to help you, I want the security to be increased, and the soldiers to be punished for their behaviour." Nindra asked, after briefly describing to him her dreadful experiences.
"I'm just a healer." Lith shrugged.
"I can talk to the camp's supervisor, but I doubt there's much even he can do. Humans will be humans. I could have him give you a detail, though."
"One more thing. I want your promise that you won't lay a hand on me if not for medical reasons."
Lith found her demands reasonable, and he needed her trust.
Solus believed to be able to determine if someone was Awakened, but that didn't mean that Nindra couldn't manage to feel the mana flow, and by remembering it, Awaken weeks, if not months after being cured.
"Deal." Lith released the restraints, allowing her to shook his extended hand.
"There is one thing you should know. These blue veins…" He tapped with his finger on her arm and behind her neck.
"…are a sign that the infection is nearing the critical level. My procedure should prevent it to become lethal, but it's still experimental. There are still a lot of things that could go wrong, so if you feel anything funny or unusual with your body after one of our sessions, you have to tell me."
Nindra was shocked by his words, looking at her own veins like snakes in the grass.
After the stick, Lith provided the carrot. Upon a small table he placed the comfort food he had prepared, a bowl of water with some towels and a change of clothes.
"I would like to offer you a proper bath, but with water magic unavailable, that's the best I could do."
The delicious smell of real food made her stomach grumble, his offer was too good to turn it down.
- "I'm not going to refuse some clean clothes, since they give us a change only once a week. But why the bowl?" – Nindra thought, before realising that between her panic and the light magic's effect, she was drenched in sweat.
Her shirt was stuck to her like a second skin, her erected nipples piercing through the thin fabric made her feel naked. Before she could cover her chest with her arms, Lith was already outside, pulling the curtain back.
- "I could continue her treatment after lunch, but I want to give it time. I'll resume tomorrow, after a good night rest. Solus says that the core recovers faster during sleep. This afternoon I'll try out my second cure." – Lith thought.
"Captain, I'm done with this patient for today. This afternoon I need another strong magician. I want to try out different approaches and see which one works best."
Lith handed him all the collected vials, and Kilian sent one of the soldiers to call a courier.
"Not a problem, but you already know Kandria's second strongest magician. Do you want me to pick the third best instead?"
The plague mask hid Lith's wolfish smile.
"No, mister Senti perfectly fits my bill."
- "With his talent and experience, if he can't feel the mana core after my treatment, no one can. Also, if he actually Awakens, he is the kind of guy I can kill without losing one second of sleep." –
"Are you talking about Garith Senti, the head of Kandria's mercenary guild?"
Nindra's voice came from behind the tent.
"That's the guy." Lith confirmed.
"He's a little too stuck up, but a good man. I can talk to him, if you want. I'm sure if you make him the same offer you did to me, he will accept."
- "A good man?" Lith inwardly sneered.
"Yeah, aside from his good looks there wasn't much to him. Either we misjudged him, or after all she went through, her standards for 'good' have considerably lowered." Solus pondered. –
Lith needed all the help he could get, so he accepted Nindra's offer.
Later, that afternoon, their second meeting was more polite, but the cold in the tent would have put the ice age to shame. After how Lith had disrespected him, Garith normally would never agree to help a filthy military dog.
But after over a month of prison food, with no baths or privacy, he was desperate enough to accept. Despite all the hatred he felt toward that arrogant doctor, Garith couldn't avert his eyes from the steaming steak in front of him.
Also, Nindra Luce was one of the few people he respected, and when she told him about the meaning of the blue veins, he had been forced to rethink his priorities.
- "When I get my powers back, I can always hunt him down, if I still want to. But if I'm dead, then everything is lost! As much as I hate to admit it, I need him more than he me." – Was Garith's reasoning.
"I'll get food at every session, right?"
Lith nodded in reply.
"I want a detail too. I'm sick of men and women sneaking in my bed while the guards do nothing but laugh at my expenses!"
Lith gave his word, so even with their mutual spite still standing, he could start testing his second theory. Thanks to the experience acquired by treating Nindra, things went faster and more smoothly than in the morning.
The plan was to kill all the parasites, while leaving enough toxins in his system to make impossible for Garith to Awaken while his mana core recovered. During the first session, Lith first cleansed a small patch of Garith's arm, making it easier for his mana to circulate during Invigoration.
Then, he proceeded to extract all the toxins, until he was too tired to continue. In the following days the two treatments diverged more and more. Nindra's was slower, first he removed all the parasites in her abdomen while checking her core status, leaving the rest of the body untouched.
Garith's was faster but much more exhausting. Lith had to partially cleanse the toxins and kill the parasites as soon as he could, always starting from the abdomen region.
As Solus had predicted, she was soon able to perceive the world energy flowing in their bodies to fill the void. Aside from that, their mana would not circulate but remain still, proving that the Awakening hadn't happened.
Thanks to the forced cohabitation, both patients soon came to appreciate Lith's efforts and dedication. After every treatment, while hidden behind the tent, they would try executing the simplest light spell.
All their attempts failed, but they could feel something changing within them. They expressed their joy to Lith, only to rise his worries through the roof.
One morning, Lith was killing the parasites in Nindra's arms. Her core had long recovered, so he decided it was time to cross his fingers and cure her for good.
Lith was about to finish, when a soldier barged into the tent. He held in his arm a child that couldn't be older than two years. The veins in his body were sky blue, bulging out like small hands were trying to rip open his skin to escape.
"Sir, this child has just collapsed. The healers don't know what to do, we have never seen something like this. I've been told to ask you for orders."
Lith was forced to decide if to cure him, risking for him to Awaken, or let him die.
Chapter 159 Crisis
Lith's mind wouldn't have spun so fast not even if his little brother Carl suddenly resurrected in front of him. At least in such case he would only experience two conflicting feelings: disbelief and joy.
Instead, his thoughts were subverted into a chaotic maelstrom. Nurture and nature were clashing like never before, uncapable of finding a common ground.
- "I have to save him. I have dedicated most of this live saving strangers, even when they could not afford to pay. Hating humans is all right, but a two years old kid?
My biggest gripe with children is them being noisy and obnoxious, hence I never wanted to have kids of my own. But killing one is another matter entirely. What will happen to his parents and siblings if I let him die? Will they by scarred by their beloved's death, like it happened to me?" -
This was the reasoning of his healer side, the one that had been raised with love and affection by his family over the past twelve years. Its arguments were solid, Lith had experienced first hand the pain of loss, the suffering of a mother that could only watch her daughter die slowly.
He was unwilling to make someone else go through such experience out of mere egotism.
- "It's no big deal. The weak are bound to suffer and are always the first to die, It's the law of the jungle. I don't know and don't care for him. Saving him would be reckless. First, I would show Kilian that I am capable of healing the parasites on my own.
Second, this kid is not like me. If he gains any sort of power, he will become a threat to himself and others. There are countless risks and no rewards. Good deeds never go unpunished, if I help him, I'll pay the price." –
The arguments of his 'human' side were solid as well. Lith actually didn't care about strangers, he never did. When he had helped them in the past, there was always a hidden agenda behind his actions.
He was no hero, he had killed countless times and never lost a single night sleep.
While his mind was frozen, his body acted out of habit, taking the child from the guard's arms and placing him on the table to evaluate his conditions. The number of parasites was low, the child was so magically weak that they couldn't thrive in his body.
Yet twenty-two worms were enough to downgrade the mana core below the red level. It wasn't black, he wouldn't turn into an Abomination. The core had shrunk to the size of a pinhole, turning completely grey. Only a few deep red streaks remained, while the rest was losing its density.
The grey parts were foggy, not because of the toxins, but because the core was falling apart.
- "There's no reason to argue, you dimwits." Lith's logical side chimed in, shutting up every other voice in his head not with feelings or pessimism, but with cold facts.
"Unless his core possesses outstanding recovery abilities, he is as good as dead. The most merciful thing we can do is put him out of his misery." –
Lith would have expected that not having a choice anymore in the matter would make him feel relieved, instead it only made things worse.
- "There are so many things that I still ignore. Maybe I'm wrong, and the kid can still be saved. It's the first time I encounter a situation like this, I can't be sure unless I try. On the other hand, this is a unique opportunity to experiment on what happens when a core turns grey." –
His inner conflict lasted barely a few seconds, but to those present, Lith seemed to have stopped for hours.
"Is there something you can do?" Kilian's voice was dispirited. Knowing Lith, he assumed that all was lost. It was only a matter of time before plague started to reap the youngest among the infected.
"Don't you know light magic's first rule? If the patient is still breathing, there's always hope. Why are you doing nothing?" Nindra wasn't a healer, but she had great respect for them, as for Lith.
She couldn't believe the situation was beyond his abilities. Before meeting him, she had already resigned to live her last days in captivity. She was aware that without a cure, the plague or the Kingdom would have sooner or later killed her.
He had given her hope.
Lith had no answer to their questions, torn apart by his selfishness and the desire to become a better person. Someone real, that his loved ones could be proud of, instead of the mask he used to deceive the world.
He started sweating profusely, yet he felt a cold sensation in the pit of his stomach, like needles were prickling him from the inside. His guts twisted in a painful knot.
- "Solus, what should I do? I never wanted for any of this to happen, there is no contingency plan."
"It's not something for me to decide. I'm your companion, but the life is yours. I know that it's probably the scariest situation you've ever encountered, there is no lying or killing your way out of it.
The only thing I can tell you, is that whatever you'll choose, you'll have to rethink your way of life. After all our talks about changing and growing as a person, it's time for you to decide if you just feel empty or if you really are empty.
Whatever you'll become, I'll always be by your side." –
Those last eleven words were all he needed to hear. Solus knew him, the real him, but she had never judged or shied away from him. She knew every dirty secret he had, everyone of his shameful thoughts and flaws, yet she wholeheartedly accepted him.
Lith decided it was time to become worthy of such affection, instead of basking in its light giving it for granted.
- "I don't really know if this kid can or cannot become an Awakened one. The only thing I know, is that I can't avoid taking hard decisions only because I'm scared of the consequences. If I really want to become a better person, I must at least try being one!" -
Not even five seconds had passed since Lith had completed the diagnosis. His hands started to form fake seals, while his mouth pronounced random latin words, while Invigoration swept away the toxins.
After Nindra's and Garith's treatments, it was all too easy. Not only the parasites had been unable to multiply, the lack of nutrients had also prevented them to form a cocoon, leaving them exposed, easy prey for the dark tendrils.
No one collected the toxins, that went wasted, but nobody cared. It took Lith several minutes to completely cleanse the body, and the effects were visible at the naked eye. The blue veins first deflated and then disappeared, the kid's skin regained some of its colour, yet remained terribly pale.
"I should have cleansed his system. The parasites are still there, though." He lied, to protect his secrets. If the kid survived, Lith had to avoid at all costs that another healer examined him, adding him to the rooster of his patients.
That way, he could always pretend to have cured him bit by bit, instead of in one go.
"Then why he is still unconscious?" Kilian asked.
"Because there is no telling what damage his body sustained. I did all I could, now it's all up to him." Aside from avoiding mentioning the mana core's status, Lith had told them the truth.
- "Using light magic or giving him some of my life force is useless. His body is in perfect conditions, the problem it's the core. How is it going, Solus?"
"Not good. Even after you took out the toxins, the mana core has yet to show any sign of recovery." –
"Bring him back to his parents. There is no point in keeping him here."
"His parents aren't in the last tent, nor in any other." The soldier explained.
"We never managed to found them, they are either dead or have run away when everything started."
Lith nodded.
"I don't want to leave him alone while he is still like this. Do you mind if we postpone your treatment to tomorrow?"
"Not a problem." Nindra replied, afraid to touch the kid's hand and worsening his conditions. She was still infected, and had no idea how the plague spreaded.
"Mind if I keep you company?" Lith shook his head, and soon started pacing around the little tent.
He started to rack his brain, trying to find a way to infuse mana into the kid's body without harming him, but to no avail. Lith knew from experience that sending mana straight into the core was akin to poisoning it.
According to Solus, making his own mana circulating into another's body via Invigoration never harmed it, but it also did not affect the core either. During the cleansing progress, the world energy that Lith had pumped into the little body had not been absorbed, no matter how close he brought it to the core.
Maybe it was because it still retained Lith's mana imprint, but the mana core ignored it, refusing to draw nourishment from it. An hour passed, and the another, until the core turned completely grey before disappearing like a puff of smoke.
- "He is dead." – Solus told as soon as she saw the child's life force disappear.
Lith passed the news to the others. His voice was calm and collected, but inside, he was in anguish, questioning how much was the parasites' fault compared to his own. Maybe if he had not hesitated, things would have gone differently.
Maybe he was just a monster, and didn't deserve to be loved.
Chapter 160 Crisis 2
After the accident with the nameless kid, Varegrave changed Lith's priority, asking him to visit the last tent again, to check the conditions of all the other children and avoid further deaths.
No one was in a near death state, but most cores were past half grey, so he added the worst cases to his schedule, to devise a simplified version of the cure he had almost brought to completion.
To do so, he needed time, so he was forced to postpone Nindra's and Garith's treatments. Nindra was still shocked from the events of the previous day, so she raised no objection, wishing Lith the best luck.
Garith, instead, didn't take it well.
"What the f*ck does this mean? Postpone until when?"
"Until the emergency is resolved." Lith replied with a flat tone.
"Strong mages like you are in no life threatening situation, while most of the others already have one foot in the grave. Orders are orders. We'll resume as soon as I'm done, it shouldn't take much."
Lith was too calm, almost meek, making Solus quite worried.
The man that she knew would have never tolerated such arrogant attitude without a good reason. In normal circumstances, she would expect Lith to kick his ass to the Moon and back.
She knew that he wasn't grieving for the nameless kid. Lith was hurting inside, angry because every time he tried to give mankind a second chance, or to change his attitude toward life, something bad would happen.
- "The crisis would have never happened in the first place, if I hadn't been so arrogant to overlook such a predictable problem. When I examined Lady Zeir the first time, I should have thought that the weaker cores would be the first to collapse and acted accordingly.
Instead, I was so confident about finding a universal cure fast enough, to ignore reality and let the problem fester. I can't forgive myself for being so careless. Not to mention that one mistake lead to another.
I ended up putting to risk my safety, my family, everything I have worked so hard to protect. I have to decide what I want to be, before I screw up again." –
Lith was so lost in his thoughts that barely heard Garith's voice, giving him a nod from time to time.
"You don't understand sh*t, you filthy army dog!" Garith couldn't' stand the thought of tripping when he was just one step away from the finishing line. He had everything in life, talent, looks, power, riches.
During that month of imprisonment, he had been brought to the verge of madness, being helpless, forced to sleep in a cot among inferior beings, ordered around by soldiers that normally he wouldn't even allow to lick his boots.
He wouldn't let anyone interfere, not when he was so close getting his life back.
"I don't care if a kid die. Heck, I don't care if every single one of the occupants of that f*cking tent dies. I'm Garith Senti, Kandria's strongest magician! I can't stand remaining like this one more day. It's much better for scum to be almost dead than for me being almost cured."
He jumped from his chair, grabbing Lith by the collar of his shirt before anyone could react.
"Either you cure me here and now, or I swear to the gods that I will find out who you are. then I will find all the people and the things that you love, and will destroy them slowly in front of your eyes, before returning you to your miserable live!"
Garith was 1.9 meters (6'3") high, a whole head taller than Lith, and strong enough to lift and shake him like the kid he was.
The guards and Kilian were about to tackle Garith, to kill him if necessary, when suddenly their bodies screamed in terror, all their hair standing up, forcing them to step back instead that forward.
Lith's maniacal laughter was the only sound filling the tent's air.
- "Human? Monster? How could I have been so stupid, tormenting myself about semantics. If there's one thing that Earth and the new world have in common, is that most humans are monsters.
There is no right or wrong, only power and how you wield it. Until I use my powers to protect myself and those that I love, I'll be a human. When I'll let my ego become my reason for being, and start hurting others for no reason but my sick pleasure, then I'll become just another human faced monster." –
Lith didn't need to use spirit or dark magic to force Garith to let him go. The killing intent he was radiating was so intense that both the guards and Kilian were paralysed by fear.
Garith, instead, that was the target of that murderous aura soon lost all his strength. His knees touched the ground, while his trembling hands were uncapable of moving.
They were up and close, so Garith was the only one capable of seeing that their breath was steaming.
- "It's impossible! Water magic is sealed. How can he lower the temperature to such degree without it?" – He tried to warn the others, but his mouth refused to open.
"Once I told you that I would have healed you for last, hence you had no reason to protest." Lith's voice was a hiss, yet everyone in the tent could hear him clearly.
"Now, you dare to threaten me? You have forgotten I'm a healer, not a saint."
As much he wanted to rip Garith's head, he couldn't do it in front of witnesses, so he drew the knife from the belt, slitting Garith's throat left and right, in one fluid motion, forming a bloody V from ear to ear.
Only with Garith's death the killing intent disappeared, allowing the others to move. When Kilian regained his cool, he noticed that his back was against the tent's walls.
- "What in the gods' names is that kid? How many steps back did I take?" –
The guards shared similar thoughts, finding themselves outside the tent.
"He assaulted and threatened me. It was self-defence." Lith's voice was calm, like they were discussing the weather.
"Don't worry, sir. If you didn't kill him so fast, we would have done it in your stead." Kilian said perfectly hiding his surprise.
"Our orders are to eliminate any threat to your safety, sir." Said one of the guards with an apologetic tone, bowing.
"Please, forgive our incompetence. Thank the gods you are a great expert."
Lith shrugged, the matter was of little importance compared to his renewed peace of mind.
"Clean the tent, please. I have patients to attend."
***
After having Solus check his memories, Lith remembered that the first time he had expelled impurities, was when he managed to refine his mana core from orange to yellow.
Until that moment, except when using Invigoration to check its status, he had never noticed a breakthrough, not even when promoting the core to the next level.
Hence, he decided to use the same method he was using on Nindra, cleansing only the abdomen and leaving all the other parasites. Between the low number of worms and the cores' weakness, even Lith himself considered his therapy overly cautious, but he wasn't the type to take unnecessary risks, no matter how low the chances.
His new specimen was Lady Zeir, the kind noble he had visited first while studying the mana blocking parasite. She had a yellow core, almost downgraded to orange. If the cure worked on her, then Lith could safely let all the non mages get treated.
The procedure went without a hitch, Lady Zeir's core took less than a day to return to full power. The cheerful noble had fallen for Lith's apparent kindness from the day they had met, when she heard he may be able to cure her for good, her admiration turned into blind veneration.
She wouldn't hide any detail, telling him how she would feel itchy and hot after every treatment. Both symptoms had nothing to do with Awakening, they were the side effects of the cleansing process.
All those he had treated, regardless the nature of the parasite, experienced the same thing.
After Solus gave her okay, certifying that Lady Zeir's core was healed and not Awakened, Lith disclosed to Varegrave how to cure all those with scarce magical talent, sorting them himself to avoid setbacks.
Varegrave, in turn, imparted the method on all the other healers. It worked only on those too weak and hence incapable of Awakening, yet in just a couple of days dozens of lives were saved.
Aside from the mana blocking parasites, all the others had been exterminated, leaving none alive in Kandria's region. Varegrave kept only samples of their toxins for future research.
- "Whatever the army's upper echelons decide, I will not let the plague spread anymore. The last thing the King ordered me was to wipe them out, and that's what I'll do.
The only upside of being a dead man walking is that I don't have to worry about the consequences. When those foolish generals learn what has happened here, it will be too late." –
Chapter 161 Consequences
With three out of four parasites wiped out, the camp had been further divided into three blocks instead of two. The third new one was for those that had been cured, to make it easier to check on their conditions in case the treatments had short term side effects.
The second block now consisted only by a few tents, allowing the security to be further increased, since the second one was low maintenance. The survivors were in high spirits, finally free to get out of their beds, pain was no longer a big part of their days.
After Garith's death, Lith was urgently summoned in Varegrave's tent. Based on what Kilian had told him, Garith was one of Kandria's great powers. Killing him like that, in front of witnesses after a small provocation, could have been a mistake.
But it was one Lith would be happy to repeat, if necessity arose. He had never liked Garith Senti, and the fact that he had been willing to assault the only one that could cure him, was a testament of how dangerous he was.
Lith had never left an enemy alive, it would mean to give him the possibility to bite his back. Thanks to his mask and uniform, only two people in the whole camp knew his identity.
Even if the guards took a bribe and told Kandria's mercenary guild what had happened to their leader, they wouldn't know where to look. The only problem was Varegrave, being a sucker for rules, he probably wanted to reprimand him.
Lith wasn't worried, though, he was playing a much bigger role in the crisis than everyone would have expected, even him. If push came to the shove, he could simply ask to add a full pardon to his reward.
The Kingdom owned him, and he wouldn't let his services come cheap.
Reality, though, was different.
"Lith, thank the gods you are all right!" The Colonel was so eager to check his health, to not even wait for Lith to remove mask and gloves.
"I'm really sorry for what happened. Those soldiers are supposed to be elite, yet reacted too slowly. I'll make sure they will be heavily reprimanded, and their lack of judgment noted on their personal file."
After making sure Lith hadn't as much as a scratch, Varegrave went back to his chair, sighing with relief.
"There is no need for that, it is all my fault." Lith replied.
"I should have anticipated his reaction, given his character and the nature of the news I had to inform him. He had always behaved properly before, so we all lowered our guard. The soldiers simply followed my instructions, leaving me space to freely move when I'm around my patients."
"I really appreciate your understanding." Varegrave nodded.
"But you are a healer, and you are doing your job magnificently, so such a slip up is understandable on your side (?). The men I assigned to your detail, instead, are professionals, their only job was to ensure your safety, and they failed.
Even if they got accustomed to the routine, even if given the most boring task, they should always be on their toes. They need to be disciplined, next time, they couldn't be so lucky. If anything happened, I would have demanded their heads, as the Crown mine."
Varegrave glanced to Kilian for a second, with a mix of scolding and worry. Given the Queen's fiery nature, his old friend's live could be endangered as well. If the guards were at fault, Kilian's situation was even worse, being their supervisor.
"Will there be consequences for me killing a guild master?" Lith was a bit baffled by Varegrave care.
"Heavens, no. Attacking a military officer in a zone under martial law alone is a crime punished with the capital punishment. Considering your role, he had it too easy. We would have tortured him before the execution for a few hours, minimum."
"Then what was the urgency for this meeting?"
"The Crown wants to personally hear your report."
Varegrave stood up, setting the blue communication gemstone above his desk, before stepping away and kneeling, promptly followed by both Lith and Kilian.
The gemstone activated shortly afterwards, projecting again the image of the throne hall. This time, only the King and the Queen were present.
"Please, tell me you have good news, Mage Lith." It was worded as a request, but King Meron's voice was stern, making it sound as an order.
"I do. Aside from the last parasite, the situation is resolved with minimum losses. I am confident to have devised a treatment that will take care of that too. It's already in final testing phase.
Once I'm sure there are no side effects, it can be passed to Professor Marth for him to assemble it in a single spell. I'm sorry it's taking so long, but my capabilities are limited, and I need time to double check every step."
Lith lied. He had devised two possible cures since the day he first visited Lady Zeir, the only reason he had not wrapped up everything and went back to the academy was to make sure that Solus' worries didn't come true.
"You have nothing to apologize for." Queen Sylpha intervened.
"Barely two weeks have passed since your arrival, yet it was enough for you to turn the Crown's predicament from desperate to manageable (?).
You have identified the source of the plague, helped in devising the cure for three out of four parasites, and now you are going to provide the cure for the most dangerous one all by yourself. The Crown and the Kingdom are greatly indebted to you."
"You are overestimating my contributions, your Majesty." Lith lied again.
"The cures are mostly Professor Marth's doing. I gave him the idea for the first, and then I deconstructed and modified his cure to make it fit the mana blocking parasite."
"See, my King? Humble and efficient. I wish we had more subjects like him." Sylpha's tone was cheerful, but when her eyes met Varegrave and Kilian they were cold like steel, blaming them for their incompetence.
Kilian swallowed a lump, of saliva. The Queen clearly knew about the accident, and wasn't willing to let it slide.
"We have yet to discuss your reward, Mage Lith. Do you have anything in mind?"
"Yes. I'd like two thousand gold coins (?)." It was a sum big enough to raise his family status to the middle class, leaving him enough to buy all he needed for his future lab equipment and something to spare.
"That's it?" The King was surprised. "Wouldn't you prefer a noble title? We could easily make you a Count. Between the lands and the annuities, you would earn much more."
"May I speak freely?" King Meron nodded to his request.
"With what is going on in the Kingdom at the moment, with the old nobles fighting the new ones, it would be like painting a target on my chest. I already have enemies inside and outside the academy, and I don't wish for more.
Also, it would mean responsibilities that as a twelve years old I cannot shoulder.
My whole family would have to relocate in a new County, were they would not be well received. They are farmers, your Majesty, I'm sure they'll enjoy a quiet and slow life much more than social events and dabbling in nobility.
I myself am still too young to already set my future in stone. I don't know what I want to be or do, accepting a title would shut more doors than it would open. Money, instead, is always useful, and I can use them to keep increasing my family's living standards like I have always done, little by little.
Not to mention that receiving a title now, would make my involvement in the plague too obvious. Even if it was deferred, it would rise too many questions."
- "And more importantly, if I get a title, I would be forced to swore my allegiance to the Crown, giving you the right to constantly meddle into my life. Thanks, but no thanks." –
He thought.
"That's too little." The Queen blurted it out.
"Are you sure there's nothing we can do for you?"
"At the moment, no. But if Your Highness feels so grateful, I would be relieved from knowing that in case necessity arose, I can ask for your support. We live in dangerous times, there's no telling when I could need help."
"Agreed." The royals said as one.
- "I really hoped to rope him in with a fancy title, but an 'I owe you' it's the next best thing. If he ever needs our assistance, we can push things to make him feel indebted, creating a cycle he would not want to escape from." – King Meron thought.
"You are free to go, Mage Lith. Colonel, Captain. We have much to discuss yet." The kindness in the Queen's voice died as soon as she averted her gaze from Lith, who promptly left.
The curtain closed behind him, leaving the tent sealed from the external world.
"Your Majesty, I know that during yesterday's events I have failed you." Kilian said. "But maybe it was actually a blessing in disguise. There's something about Lith that I would have never discovered otherwise."
***
- "Did you notice that while confronting Garith you used water and dark magic?" Solus asked.
"No. Really? How?"
"My idea is that Small World isn't the work of a true mage. It doesn't really block the mana flow, only makes it heavier. It's like you wore weights all this time, like in those martial arts comics, and now you are used to them."
"Did I power up because of it?" He asked enthusiastically.
"You wish!" She giggled. "It's just that now you can use a bit of magic, and I can change form again." –
Sighing in disappointment, Lith entered his new tent. Since the second block had been partially dismantled a lot of bigger tents had become available, and he had received a much bigger one as living quarters.
He had to change into his plague doctor uniform and wait for Kilian, before going to treat Nindra. If everything kept going like he expected, it was only a matter of a couple days before he could go back to the academy.
As soon as he stepped in, a cold sharp blade was pressed against his throat.
Three masked figures dressed like soldiers, two women and a man, were waiting for him, their weapons unsheathed and ready to strike.
"Lith from Lutia, you have much explaining to do."
Solus immediately recognized the mana coming out of their tattoos and weapons. They were once again in the presence of the talons.
162 Chapter 162: Consequences 2
- "The security of this place is supposed to be ironclad, instead is a f*cking swiss cheese! First the traitors and now this?" – Aside from the initial surprise, Lith didn't know if to be angry with the guards or scared for his life.
- "Let's keep our cool. If they wanted to kill me, they would have slit my throat on the spot. Then we would have discovered the hard way how tough my skin is and how strong my regenerative abilities are. Solus?"
"The bad news is that all their equipment is enchanted and razor-sharp. The good news is that inside the Small World they are just very sharp, very deadly weapons. These guys don't have access to dimensional items or even their tattoos, for that matter. All they have is what you see."
"Tattoos? What tattoos?" Lith had been so focused on the plague, to have forgot the details about the group of mercenaries that nearly killed him a couple of weeks before. Solus projected in his mind the highlights of their last encounter. –
What they ignored was that for once Varegrave wasn't the one to blame. The talons had spent a small fortune corrupting one of their old contacts, now in the administration department.
She had provided them authentic uniforms and IDs, otherwise going past the checkpoints would have been impossible.
Magic seals and documents couldn't be counterfeited, and to have access to such tools they had to pay their contact enough gold to allow her to leave the country and live the rest of her life in luxury.
It was a sum that outshined even Lith's reward, but they didn't care, since it came straight from their contractor's pockets. The mandatory use of the masks had made their work easier, allowing them to move unnoticed until they had found Lith's tent.
The talons were unaware of his plague doctor persona, they couldn't care less about the Griffon Kingdom's crisis. This time they hadn't come only for Lith's life, but also for information.
Killing him was just the icing on the cake, erasing the failure that now stained their name. It was a desperate move, because once Lith returned to the academy, they would never get a chance to approach him.
Inside his academy, a Headmaster had godlike powers, even if they managed to infiltrate, they would immediately be discovered and killed by a snap of Linjos' fingers, activating one of the countless arrays that enveloped the castle.
The academy's forest was a no-go too. A squad had gone exploring it, and only one man had returned, babbling about a monster Scorpicore that had slaughtered the whole unit with a click of its tongue, releasing a barrage of light blades that turned them into shreds, ignoring all their defences.
The survivor reported that the creature had spared him intentionally, to bring back a message.
"I'm sick and tired of humans hunting for cubs. The next time someone messes with my turf, I'll come looking for you." Then, it bit both of his arms off before Warping him back into their allegedly secret base.
Alas, the mating season had come, turning the Lord of the forest into an angry murdering machine, having cubs of its own.
The talons hadn't taken the threat lightly. Sure, an offensive light spell was something out of the legends, no one in his right mind would believe it. Yet the limbless man had traversed hundreds of miles, bypassing the hideout's protections.
If the Scorpicore knew their location and could come and go freely, the light spell was the least of their worries.
The next option had been capturing Lith's parents, but they were guarded by two units of the Queen's corps, every single step they took was protected by arrays. There were more men stationed there than the surviving members of the talons, and they had the field advantage and months of preparation.
As absurd it sounded, the quarantine zone was their only viable option, with a very tight time window. Soon the disappearance of their contact would get noticed, and all her work would be subjected to scrutiny, blowing their cover.
"About two weeks ago, you were supposed to die during an ambush on your way here, yet you survived. Who saved you? What happened to your detail and your aggressors?"
The knife was pressed against Lith's throat, but it only managed to shave his few facial hairs. The skin was harder than leather, yet elastic. The woman needed to use the tip to spill some blood and make her point.
- "Damn, this array is more dangerous than we thought. It can also make non military weapons lose their edge. – It was the only explanation she could think of, so she informed her teammates of the discovery through their hand signs secret code.
Lith saw the other two switching their heavily enchanted knives and short swords for less powerful ones of the same kind. Both their actions and their questions made no sense to him.
In that moment, though, he was more than happy to indulge their curiosity and stall for time.
- "These guys are persistent. Just killing them would be useless, others may come. I need to find out who they are and what they want." –
Despite Small World wasn't capable of blocking spirit magic, the arrays were still able to slow down its effects. Unlike elemental magic, pure mana had no effect per se. It could be used as a form of telekinesis, but it required for the mana to reach and envelop its target.
Small World made the invisible mana flowing out of Lith's body spread like a fog, instead that like a river. Hence Lith's needed some time to wrap them up and take full control of the situation.
In such close space, with the weapons already close to his vitals, even his speed wasn't of much help.
"The men and women of the Queen's corps saved me. They fought bravely until the end, despite the cowardly trap laid by the assailants." The mask covering his face prevented the talons to see his grin spread, as the spirit magic did the same.
"The Queen's corps?" The woman holding the knife was about to spit in disgust.
"We kill those losers regularly! It's impossible for six stooges to defeat more than half of the talon corps. Quit lying, kid. Tell us the truth, and I'll grant you a peaceful death."
"First of all, that's my line. Second, more than half you say? This means that once the three of you are dead, this so called talons corps is extinct."
Lith's sudden spunk enraged the three mercenaries, mostly because he was right. They had never stopped cursing the day they had accepted Archmage Lukart mission. Between those killed in the failed ambush and the ones butchered by the Scorpicore, only a handful remained.
They needed the money to cut their losses and rebuild from scratch. As long their success rate was flawless, no matter the price they asked, people would pay, just like Lukart did.
"You'd better not waste my time, kid. Otherwise…"
"Otherwise what?" Lith scoffed, moving away from the knife.
The thee reacted instantly, or better, they tried. The mana around them was so thick and strong it was like moving through molten steel.
With a flick of the wrist, Lith ripped the masks off their faces with spirit magic, destroying them immediately with a burst of dark energy.
"Even if you manage to escape, I'm afraid you'll die because of the plague." Lith's voice was stone cold.
"Now tell me how many of you are left and who sent you." He unsheathed his knife, pointing it to the eye of the nearest talon.
"Believe me, compared to the plague, I'm merciful."
Everything was going according to Lith's plan, yet Solus felt restless.
- "This is the first time since we entered the Small World that he is using so much mana. Necromancy was fine, since dark magic is not blocked. I hope this artifact doesn't have any more surprises in store for us.
Otherwise the situation could turn volatile in the blink of an eye." –
The talons refused to speak, so Lith started cutting their faces, only to heal them and start over again. The mercenaries felt cornered, not only they couldn't react but not even scream.
If any noise came out of the tent, their death would be assured, but until they kept silent, there was still a hope to escape from the deadly trap. Luck shined on them thanks to their tenacity.
The use of spirit magic was normally perceived by Small World like a fluctuation of energy, a harmless magical peak. Its prolonged use on such scale, though, was interpreted by the system like an anomaly, hence it provided to remove it.
Through her mana sense, Solus saw myriad of runes flowing into the tent, suppressing the magical restraints so fast that she barely managed to warn Lith of the impending danger.
But it was too late. As soon as the woman was free, she swept Lith with a kick, grabbing the knife at her feet, all in a single fluid movement.
Lith was taken by surprise, losing the knife trying to adjust the fall without offering his back. He was completely disarmed when the talon struck towards his left eye, aiming to pierce his brain.
Chapter 163 A New Power
Cursing his bad luck, Lith attempted to block with his left forearm. The knife passed from side to side, giving him the feeling a hot iron was branding his inner flesh. Lith wasn't new to pain, he needed just to grit his teeth to bear it.
His right fist struck fast as a snake, but thanks to her superior training and rich battle experience, the talon managed to dodge it in the nick of time. Lith's knuckles still managed to graze her chin, the impact made her feel dizzy, forcing her to switch from a dodge to a roll.
The talon's view was blurry from the near hit, without that last second adjustment she would have collapsed on the floor, incapable of standing. Lith jumped back on his feet to finish her, but the other two were already on him, aiming for his vitals.
- "Damn, with no magic nor weapons, I can only block with my body. Solus, help me withstand the pain in case I lose some fingers."
"Not on my watch!" She mind yelled. –
Lith wasn't the only one that had been training to explore the limits of his new body. Ever since their almost clash with the Scorpicore, she had made several experiments about her shape-shifting abilities.
After being in the Small World for so long, she was able to overcome some of its restraints, if she put enough effort to it. Her ring form expanded covering Lith's right hand, forming a stone gauntlet.
This new form was silver in colour, with runes of power glowing all over its surface. She had no idea how to synch again her mana core with Lith's, but at least she could offer him some protection.
Lith was surprised as much as his two assailants, but none of them hesitated, keeping their emotions in check. The gloved hand supported by air and fire fusion, deflected all the strikes that could kill or incapacitate him, while Lith tanked the others with earth fusion.
Between his natural toughness and the magical hardening effect, the wounds he sustained were shallow enough to ignore them. They would only bleed a bit before starting to heal without him even needing to cast a spell.
There was a creepy sensation in the pith of the talons' stomach, telling them they were facing the thing that had killed their comrades. Every one of Lith's blocks would make their blades vibrate like they had clashed with a charging bull.
Their hands were getting number with each strike, making increasingly harder to keep the grip on their weapons.
- "What the f*ck is he? Magical items are supposed to not work, what in the gods' name is that gauntlet? How can a kid be so strong and fast? His movements are all over the place, but he manages to keep up with us. If only we could use our tattoos…"
The talons' tattoos were another one of Coirn Hatorne masterpieces. Despite not being a true mage, she had found a way to inject her potions directly in the client's skin, making it possible to activate them with a thought thanks to the imprinting process.
With Hatorne gone, they would be conservative in using them, since there was no way to replenish the tattoos. But in the face of death, they would have gladly spent them all.
Actually, their situation wasn't as desperate as it seemed.
- "Careful! Do not use fusion magic for too long, otherwise Small World could detect and block it too. Only use short bursts."
"Thanks for the advice. It's easier said than done, though. These guys are good, even with my enhanced reflexes I'm no match for three of them in such an enclosed space. What about you? Can Small World shut you down?"
"It can try." She sneered. "I'm already following my own advice, boosting my defence only a moment before the impact." –
Being the first time Solus used such a trick, Lith was amazed by her ability in micro managing her abilities. She wasn't as good as she made herself look, though. The gauntlet form was a desperation move by itself, made even harder by the Small World's dampening effect.
Every time Solus missed the right timing, the Damascus blades would carve her thin form, if not even chipping away small pieces of stones. For her it was like being slashed and stabbed, but she held on bravely.
- "I'm just a piece of rock. I can heal from everything." – She thought in a hidden corner of her mind.
Lith too kept getting hit, but he would return each attack with double the violence. Two of the three talons were women, without their equipment and magic, they were like children compared to Lith's physical prowess.
The man of the group wasn't in a much better position. Despite Lith being unarmed, during every clash with his opponent, the talon would gain new bruises and cracked bones. The only reason they were still standing was because of their elite training and teamwork.
Lith was just an amateur, yet he had all the advantages. Small World wouldn't affect his abnormal body, fusion magic could substitute for potions and Solus was an excellent shield.
The stalemate would have lasted long, if not for a talon's lucky shot. The man short sword hit Lith's right hand heavily. His two teammates had flanked Lith, forcing him to take the strike head on.
Lith managed to deviate the women's weapons at the last second by using quick elbow strikes, not leaving enough time to dodge or deflect the incoming attack. The blade managed to crack the gauntlet, making Solus yelp in pain.
It took a breath's time for him to strengthen their connection becoming finally aware of all her suffering, how battered she was. A seething hatred exploded within Lith, focusing his thoughts like a laser, erasing everything but the urge to kill.
Spirit magic surged, overcoming Small World pressure enough to allow Lith to push his opponents away and trigger the Death Call spell. Darkness magic condensed in the form of tentacles, before starting to mutate.
In his frenzy, Lith wasn't just merging his mana with the world's dark energies, but also those born from the abyss he kept in his mind and soul. Under the mask, his eyes glowed with a yellow light, like torches, the pupils reduced to vertical slits.
Solus felt the darkness spreading through Lith's body, flooding her with power. The stone pieces scattered around the tent reunited with the main body, fusing back into place like the damage had never happened.
The tentacles turned into a black fog, destroying everything on its path.
***
"What do you mean, Captain?" Queen Sylpha asked.
Kilian told them in the details the events leading up to Garith Senti's death.
The Royals were unimpressed.
"That's nothing new. We already knew that Lith from Lutia has no qualms killing. That idiot had it coming." King Meron snorted.
"That's your great discovery?"
"Yes, it is!" Kilian was baffled by their blindness.
"Sure, great mages and soldiers intimidating an enemy with just their aura is a common occurrence. But here we aren't talking about an expert, but about a kid, and a healer at that.
Yet he managed to scare the leader of the mercenary guild enough to make him kneel. The pressure his mana exerted made me and the soldiers take several steps back without even realizing it.
There was no greenhorn in that tent, yet we acted as such. Also, I could swear that the temperature dropped by several degrees."
Those presents were already sceptical about Kilian's words. After the last phrase, they started doubting his sanity. Varegrave couldn't believe his old friend coming up with such a childish excuse. His failure wasn't so big, after all.
Kilian could see the doubt in their eyes, but he didn't let it discourage him.
"Think about it. How come he is the only survivor of the ambush that took the lives of a whole unit of the Queen's corps? How come he is single-handedly solving the plague? How can he strike fear in battle hardened veterans?"
His words struck a nerve. There were still too many questions left unanswered.
"I am almost certain that he is hiding his real skills. I believe that he is capable of much more than just healing. No one can release a killing intent like that without talent and lots of practice.
I suggest we change his evaluation from A to S, but only in the royal records."
The idea that Lith was a talent on par with Manohar or Hatorne, with enough patience to keep his act for so long since so young was too disturbing to dismiss it without further inquiry.
- "If Kilian is right, then maybe he really is an Awakened one." The Queen used their telepathic link to share her worries with her husband.
"Agreed. We must ask Lady Tyris to make haste, she's the only one that can discover the truth." –
***
Meanwhile their conversation went on, an alien force started to seep in the world energy, creating ripples that reverberated through the entire continent, that only beings attuned with the world could perceive.
Tyris the griffon, right under the throne room, Leegaain the dragon, from the north, and Salaark the phoenix, from the south, they all turned their heads in the direction where the encampment was settled.
Rarely something capable of piquing their curiosity happened, and distance was no obstacle when they wished to speak to each other.
"It's not an Awakened, nor someone attempting to become a lich." Tyris pondered.
"And definitely it's not an Abomination turning into an Eldritch, nor a Monster evolving into a Guardian. I've never seen something like that before." Salaark added.
Leegaain was left with nothing to add but the obvious.
"That leaves us with a question: what the heck is that then?"
Chapter 164 Interludium 5
No one would have ever believed Milea Genys, if she told how before becoming the Gorgons Empire's Magic Empress, she was just a second rate magician of humble origins.
What set Milea apart from her fellow students, was that despite she hadn't been deemed worthy of being accepted into one of the big academies, she had never stopped believing in in the infinite potential magic held.
Ever since she was a child, she had read the stories of the Magi of the Empire until she knew them by heart.
- "Many of them have an unclear past, were considered trash for most of their lives, until they have found their path to greatness. Whatever they discovered, I can find it too. Talent is not just innate, you have to develop it. There must be a way to break through my limits!" –
So, Milea decided to follow their lead instead of accepting a menial job, like the other graduates from the minor academy, the Red Basilisk, she attended. Milea didn't visit the hometowns of the Magi, nor she travelled through the places recorded in their biographies.
- "Gods know how many people journeyed through those locations. If there ever was any clue, it would be already known. Worst case scenario, the first one to found their legacies took them for himself." – She thought.
So, Milea decided to bet everything on rumors and legends, hoping to find the proverbial kernel of truth. What she found, instead, were tourist traps and hoaxes that costed her most of her savings, and in more than one occasion, almost her life.
After months of useless traveling, she had lost over ten kilograms (22 pounds), the care for personal hygiene and most of her trust toward mankind.
She wasn't a beauty, but a fresh and naïve sixteen years old girl had a strong allure to certain men, and since she travelled alone, Milea was often considered an easy prey. At least until she revealed to be a mage, and left her assailants crunchy and well roasted.
One day, she heard of a cursed mountain, from which no one ever returned. Some rumors talked about an evil spirit dwelling into a cave, others stated that on the mountain slopes there was a gateway to the netherworld.
When she expressed her interest to visit such place, no one offered to accompany her and the locals tried to discourage Milea. In her experience, that was a plus. It meant there was really something.
Reaching the destination with a flight spell proved to be child's play. There was no trace of monsters, the birds chirped loudly while fawns and squirrels would fearlessly come close, letting her cuddle them until they lost interest in the new visitor.
The surrounding vegetation was so lush, that Milea thought it had to be the most elaborate prank she had ever suffered. More than cursed, the place seemed out of a fairy tale.
The cave was in plain sight, the trail leading to it was clear from weeds, as it was often used. Once she got closer, a shiver went down her spine. The cave was perfectly arched, while the walls and the pavement were too smooth to be natural.
Curiosity got the better of her, so after activating a spell to light the way, Milea went in. The corridor wasn't high, around 2 metres (6' 7") high, and so narrow that only one person at a time could pass. She took note of those details to calm herself down.
Whoever lived there couldn't be too big, and in case she was forced to escape, being outnumbered or surrounded wasn't a problem in such enclosed space. The tunnel stretched downwards for several hundred meters, and when she finally reached the end, she couldn't believe her eyes.
Milea was in a library bigger than her hometown. It was a single circular room, with bookshelves extending on multiple floors, connected by stairs and enchanted elevators. The library's dome had a glass ceiling, from which Milea could see the sun, as the first floor had glass doors leading outside into a wood.
The whole thing made no sense, she was supposed to be underground. Milea cast her doubts away, using her flight spell to explore the library. Tomes and scrolls were orderly arranged by topic.
Among them she found ancient books written in unknown languages, legendary grimoires that were supposed to be lost in history, and even recent ones like her academy's textbooks.
Then, her eyes met a book spine with the inscription "Magus Lochra Silverwing's Grimoire" carved in golden letters. She took it out, opening a random page and discovering that it wasn't written in code.
She spent the next hours sitting on one of the many couches, trying to learn from her most beloved Magus, the foremother of modern magic. Yet the only thing she understood, was that despite all her studies and the centuries of magical progresses after Silverwing's death, the Magus' wisdom was still beyond Milea's reach.
Milea was really tempted to take the a few books as souvenirs.
- "Even if I prove to be uncapable to step up my magical abilities, I can always sell them and settle for life. Just one of these books is probably worth more than the entire Red Basilisk academy." –
In the end, though, she decided to put the grimoire back and leave empty handed.
- "Even if I managed to sell them, instead of getting killed, those poor books would just become the trophy of some pompous idiot. Here, instead, they can help someone like me, but with more talent, to achieve her dreams." –
"Well thought, human!"
Before she could turn around to discover the owner of that voice, the space around Milea blurred, Blinking her in front of the master of the house. The new room was as big as the previous one, but instead of bookshelves it was filled to the brim with gold, platinum and gemstones the smallest of which was as big as her fist.
Ingots, coins and jewels were piled up randomly, forming small hills, surrounding a literal mountain of treasures, atop which there was the biggest creature she had ever seen.
Leegaain's form was so huge it was impossible for Milea to see its entire body. The dragon's black scales were bigger and thicker than a tower shield. Milea's whole body was barely the size of one of its claws.
She couldn't avert her gaze from the creature's yellow eyes, the pupils a vertical slit, resembling those of a cat. Its heartbeat was deafening, while the simple act of breathing produced gales strong enough to force her to seek shelter behind a gold pile.
"I'm sorry." It said after noticing her distress. "I almost forgot how fragile humans are."
The noise stopped, and so did the wind.
"You have come into my home and acted as a guest, and that deserves a reward. You didn't arrive here in a righteous frenzy to slay the beast, nor acted as a marauder, giving knowledge the respect it deserves."
Now that the fear was leaving her body, Milea could notice the bony protuberances on its head, resembling a crown, and the gentle curve of the enormous membranous wings resting on its back.
"Choose one thing, in my home. Be it riches, knowledge or a weapon, its yours to take."
"I want knowledge!" She blurted out before the dragon changed its mind.
Leegaain chuckled in satisfaction, it was an interesting fellow indeed.
"Name a book, and it will be yours."
"I don't want a book. The knowledge I want it's yours. Please, teach me how to become a Magus!"
Leegaain was flabbergasted, that was something it hadn't predicted.
"So be it." It nodded.
***
In the following months, Leegaain taught Milea the secret of the Awakened ones.
"Very few Magi in history weren't Awakened ones. The principle behind it is simple, but achieving it is incredibly rare. No matter how strong a mana core is, it cannot generate a flow strong enough to be detected.
The only way to Awaken, is being able to perceive the world energy that surround us, and let it flow inside you."
Milea was sitting cross legged, with her eyes closed, while Leegaain was curled up around her, gathering a huge amount of world energy through Invigoration (AN: his version of Invigoration. I'll use terms you already know for simplicity's sake), to make it easier for her to perceive it.
"There are only two ways of becoming an Awakened one." He kept explaining, his tone giving Milea a rhythm to follow during her breathing.
"The first is to feel the world energy by yourself. The event is very unlikely, unless you reach a state of enlightment, find a place much more abundant than normal of world energy, or you are a newborn.
Newborns are empty things. The mother gives them life, the world gives them mana. If only they could be taught, creating an Awakened one would be easy.
The second way, is to be Awakened by a Guardian like me. That's how my old friends Tyris and Salaark create their new toys, giving them power but not knowledge. I'm different from them. I don't care about any country anymore.
They betrayed me, so I abandoned them in return."
Milea really wanted to know what was Leegaain talking about, but she was afraid to lose her focus.
"The Gorgon Empire can go die in a fire for what I care. I will not set it ablaze but I will not extinguish it either. But I digress.
An Awakened only enemies are other Awakened ones, be they humans, evolved from magical beasts, or even worse Abominations. Just like us, Abominations came in all kinds and forms, just like Guardians are born, so they grow into Eldritchs.
The most dangerous Abominations are those that manage to possess a suitable body, be it bestial or human. Here is what you have to be wary of…"
Chapter 165 Leegaain’s Wrath
"Abominations are creatures mostly born out of greed, when someone pushes his body beyond its limits, destroying it. Unlike what most creatures think, Abominations aren't only Awakened ones gone wrong.
I have fought and destroyed Abominations that spoke only gibberish, others that had no idea what had happened to them, having no concept of the mana core or world energy. They were simply born like that.
What I do know for certain, is that once an Abomination is born, there are three possible outcomes. The most common, is that the Abomination dies, either because of a prolonged lack of nourishment or because it gets killed.
They cause too much damage to go unnoticed, so humans or beasts usually hunt them down before they can learn to control their abilities. The second possibility is for the Abomination to seize enough world energy to stabilise its form and regain part of its senses.
They are called Empowered Abominations, and are much more dangerous than their younglings. They can use magic properly, control their hunger to a degree and live forever, or at least until they get destroyed.
Their greatest weakness is the lack of a physical body, which makes them impossible to blend in. They have to hide to survive, yet they manage to do great harm to the world, draining its mana to keep living.
The last and rarest outcome, is for an Abomination to find a proper host, becoming able of permanently stabilising its form and getting full control over the hunger. They are called Puppeteer Abominations, and are the most dangerous ones.
They usually prey someone of their same species, so a beast will target beasts, a plant another plant. The ideal body is freshly dead, in mint condition, and stronger than the one the Abomination previously had.
A dead body has no mana core, making it easier for the Abomination's to settle in. It's possible to possess a living body, but in such case, until the host is alive, the two cores will fight for control, making it impossible to use magic. (*)
The body's conditions and strength are related to the need for it to be able to contain the Puppeteer. Without these requisites, it would be ripped apart by the chaotic energies, just like the old one.
As long a Puppeteer is able to control its urges, it goes unnoticed. The only way to identify them is to use Invigoration and check for the presence of corrupt energies. They are hybrid in nature, allowing them to develop unique and unpredictable abilities.
Both Empowered and Puppeteers can further evolve into Eldritch Abominations. Their powers are on the same level of the superior Monsters, like Scorpicores, Wyverns or Treants."
Milea had become used hearing Leegaain's voice every moment of the day, even now that she was showering. The dragon demanded from her to keep the breathing rhythm during her meals, reading time and bathroom pauses.
Milea was avid for knowledge, the voice in her head had stopped bothering her after the first days spent together.
"Wait. I thought Eldritchs were the Guardians corrupt counterpart. You know, good versus evil? Are you saying they are weaker than you?"
Leegaain guffawed at such preposterous idea.
"Good? Evil? That's a human concept that the world never cared about and never will. And to be honest, neither you humans actually do. You just like to fill your mouths with righteous words, before feeding on those of your kin that are too weak to retaliate."
Melia felt insulted by such cruel remark, but then she remembered all the fake offers for help she had received, all the misery and pain that her kind inflicted on itself in the name of profit or pleasure. So she changed topic.
"Well, good to know. A Guardian Abomination is too scary even to think about. How does one become a Guardian?" She asked.
"That's a complicate question. Do you know what the real difference between the magic you learned at the academy and the one I'm teaching you is?"
Melia shook her head while applying the shampoo.
"Human magic is egotistical. You try to do everything on your own, using only the mana that your body holds. That's why you couldn't use powerful spells before, because your mana core was too weak.
Human magic forces its connection with the world energy, making a spell easier to cast, but doing so requires a great inner strength.
Now, instead, I taught you how to strengthen the core and how to borrow the world's mana. It's like the difference between lifting something using only the arms and doing it while coordinating your arms, legs and back.
That's a trait that permeates mankind's whole life, just like Abominations' lust for power. That's why you can become true mages, even evolve into Magi, but never before one of you became a Guardian.
To become one, you must accept the world, and the world must accept you back. Only by giving back what the planet has given you, it's possible to pass the world's tribulations and reach the Guardian state."
Milea sneered at her Mentor's contempt.
"Really? And what did you give to the world? A huge scaly a*s?"
They both laughed heartily. They were getting fonder of each other with each passing day.
"It's easier to show than to tell. Have you finished showering, or must I drain another waterfall?"
"Ready when you are, smartass." A sudden gust of warm wind dried her up, covering her with a white silk roman toga with a deep neckline and side slits that left most of her legs exposed.
"What the heck is this thing? It looks so ancient." Milea had materialized in what seemed a grass field for the livestock. Leegaain's lair had countless rooms, some so big that it seemed to be in a world of its own.
The dragon's mastery of dimensional magic allowed him to stretch the mountain cave into a continent.
"Back in the day, when people believed me a god, and I let them worship me, this was the standard dress of my priestesses. It feels nostalgic seeing it worn by a beautiful young girl again."
Thanks to the constant refinement of her mana core, the cleansing of the impurities and Leegaain home cooking, Milea's looks had improved by leap and bounds. She doubted her own mother would find easy to recognize her anymore.
"Wow, I would have never taken you for such a perv!"
"Hey, I'm ancient, not dead. Back to your question, kid. Do you know why the Gorgon Empire is named so?"
"Of course." She nodded. "Gorgons were a violent race of monsters, that plagued our lands, turning the living into stone. Then, before the Empire was unified, our forefathers discovered that their skin and bones were made of adamant, one of the strongest metals.
After slaying the beasts, they forged what later become known as the Empire's Arsenal. Without those weapons and armours, the Gorgon Empire would have never been born. The Gorgon Empire's foundations are the Gorgon's flesh and bones."
Leegaain clicked its tongue in disgust.
"Propaganda. That's how you make a lie so close to the truth."
They Warped again, getting close to what in the distance seemed a herd of cows. Milea discovered they weren't cows at all. They had red eyes without pupils, and their skin was made by something that resembled opaque emeralds.
They didn't react to the dragon, nor to the girl, lazily grazing the grass.
"Do they seem violent to you?"
Melia didn't hesitate caressing their odd skin. It felt like stone, but was warm and elastic to the touch. They were living beings, not stone constructs.
"Are these…"
"Gorgons? Yes." Leegaain completed the question for her. "Take a closer look at the grass, please."
Melia knelt down, discovering that the grass became hard and shiny under the monsters' breath, and that was such metal the Gorgons were actually eating.
"The real story is a bit different. Gorgons are a rare sub species of magical beasts, that happens to spawn only in some regions of the Empire. If the bull or cow is too meek, instead of evolving into a Tyr (AN: bull type magical beast), they become a Gorgon.
Gorgons only eat adamant, and that's why they are capable of turning grass into adamant.
Back in the day, before Davross was discovered, it was the hardest and rarest metal known to man. When your forefathers discovered the Gorgons, they made them breed, and once they had enough metal, they made sure Gorgons become almost extinct.
So yes, the Gorgon Empire's foundations literally are the Gorgons' flesh and bones."
Melia was flabbergasted.
"But why?" Centuries of history were crumbling before her eyes.
"Because they were afraid others could steal their monopoly. And because if any more weapons were produced, they would have lost their market value."
"How do you know?" Melia still refused to believe such story.
"Because I was there. Back when I still gave a sh*t about the Empire, I told them about the Gorgons. I taught them how to forge adamant. And then I had to spectate the slaughter."
"Why didn't you stop them?"
"Unlike other Guardians, I believe in free will. When your forefathers asked for my help, after the Griffon Kingdom was born, I offered them my wisdom, not my power, and they accepted. And then they betrayed my teachings."
Leegaain voice roared like thunder, his rage raised the temperature of several degrees.
"Don't you understand, already? My library, the animals, everything in this lair is what I am for the world. I am the keeper of everything and everyone that has been discarded before its time.
I will right all these wrongs, but only when the time is ripe and so are the people."
"That's why you abandoned the Empire? For the Gorgons?" As much it was an act of unwarranted cruelty, Melia couldn't believe that her country was the only one without an active Guardian for such reason.
"No. A species going extinct is hardly a novelty. I left because back when Lochra Silverwing left her legacy and magic was born anew, the Emperor went back on his word, preferring the use of the slave collars instead of pursuing equality.
I never joined the Empire because I cared for the glory or the riches. Everything you see here is mine. I collected it overtime from forgotten cities and sunken ships. I never stole or pillaged; I salvaged these things like I hoped to salvage your people.
The promise was that in exchange for my knowledge, they would have built a fair society, whose long-term goal was equal rights for everyone. Instead they chose once again the easy way, betraying their own people, betraying me for the last time."
Chapter 166 Retribution
The use of slave collars marked one of the Gorgon Empire's darkest pages of history. Milea was young, but not stupid, she could hardly blame Leegaain actions, especially considering that she would wear one too if things didn't change for the better.
It took her a few days to find the courage to ask the dragon about one of her worst fears.
"Leegaain, what's the origin of violent monsters like goblins, orcs or trolls? Are they an evolution gone wrong of magical beasts, or are they man-made?" The question haunted her mind after reading some books.
Seeing her Mentor outrage towards human, she had started to doubt her kin more and more, especially after Milea found out that aside from rare exceptions, undead were all artificially created by humans.
"Some of them, yes. Humans have performed countless experiments trying to rob magical beasts of their magic, giving birth to the werefolk. Undead are simply a by-product of their search for immortality.
Those you mentioned, though, are what we Guardians refer to as the Fallen. Races that lost most of their magical abilities by going down the wrong branch of the evolutionary tree. As humans keep doing, if you ask me.
Why, what did you think?"
"I hoped they were the result of the Abominations' work, to destroy mankind and rule the world." She blushed in embarrassment. The idea sounded incredibly silly now that she had said it out loud.
Leegaain softly smiled at her, patting Milea's head with one of its giant fingers.
"Kid, don't fool yourself. The world is in danger only if you small guys decide so. Abominations are natural magical disasters, they do not plot against anyone, nor do they care about world domination. They only care about survival, just like you."
***
Two years later, Milea left Leegaain's lair, with a new set of clothes and a cape that covered her from head to toe.
Her mana core wasn't yellow anymore, but bright blue, and as soon her body finished adapting to the changes, she would be ready to turn it violet. After expelling most of the impurities in her body, she had become faster, stronger and sturdier than most magical beasts.
The reason for her disguise, was that during those years, it wasn't only her mana core to have changed. She had entered as a scrawny girl, 1.52 meters (5') high, with frizzy unruly hair, and had come out as a 1.75 meters (5' 9") high woman, with long wavy honey-hued hair and twenty more kilos (44 pounds) all in the right places.
Milea wasn't stunning, but she was a beauty nonetheless. Even Warping hundred miles at a time, she needed to rest, and didn't want to make a massacre on the way home.
Her achievements allowed her to join the Gorgon Empire's Magic Council at only twenty-three years of age, becoming its youngest member ever. At twenty-seven she was crowned Magic Empress, and her rule began.
***
Gorgon Empire, one week before Lith was summoned to the encampment.
After over a month of fruitless investigations, Milea's spies had found out the details about the situation in Kandria. The existence of a highly infective plague thwarted her plans of invasion.
The reports spoke about it as something that defied logic and all the rules of light magic, leaving flabbergasted even her best healers. Attacking now was suicidal.
If the plague could be spreaded through the deceased, the Griffon Kingdom could use the infected corpses as projectiles, turning the army of mages the Empire had spent years to train in the most expensive field hospital ever created.
In their shoes, that's what Milea would have done if cornered.
As long the plague was contained, it was their problem, she had no interest in making it her own. As far Milea knew, she was the only Awakened one in the Empire. Leegaain refused to create others, and she didn't trust anyone enough to pass her secrets.
If the Queen and the other seven Awakened ones at her service had yet to solve the crisis, Milea was afraid of what could happen if the situation spiralled out of her neighbours' control.
She was confident about finding a cure, her Mentor had trained her well. The problem was how much time would it take, and how exposed the plague would leave the Empire while she was unavailable.
For that reason, she had all the armies at the borders withdraw and alerted all the best physicians, healers and alchemists to stand ready if necessity arose.
She would read the reports along with the stolen medical files over and over, trying to understand the nature of the infection, but to no avail. Fake mages were unreliable sources, the only way to find out the truth was to examine one of the infected herself.
That, or get hold on the one that engineered that whole mess.
"Your Majesty, the prisoner is ready to be delivered to you anytime you wish."
Milea nodded at her attendant with a sigh. She had ordered to carefully search Hatorne after her capture. Milea had predicted that the genius alchemist would have left her home country and attempted to reach one of the small states surrounding the three great Countries.
In such a place, her abilities would have been greatly appreciated, allowing Hatorne to rebuild her life from scratch and never having to look her back again.
Going through the Blood Desert was suicide, only the tribes knew the safe ways to avoid storms and monsters, and if they caught her, death was the best ending Hatorne could hope for.
Her only option was passing through the Gorgon Empire, bribing her way to the border. Hatorne had discovered at her expenses that the Empire was much less corrupt than the Kingdom, getting caught in a matter of hours after her arrival.
Coirn Hatorne stepped inside the throne room, her hands cuffed behind her back, chained along with her ankles to her waist. The countless hours spent working on her experiments had left her with a hunched back, that made her hard to walk without a cane.
She looked at least seventy years old, with immaculate white hair in a bob haircut. Her clothes were in pristine conditions despite the traveling and imprisonment. The thing that struck Milea the most were the eyes.
Hatorne's face was full of wrinkles, resembling a spiderweb, but her eyes were young and full of energy. Most importantly, they were cold and soulless, like she was the one in control.
Milea looked at her with Life Vision, discovering several magical items that had escaped detection. Later she would examine them to determine if Hatorne's genius was to blame or her attendants' incompetence.
"Your Majesty, you are really as beautiful as the rumours say." Hatorne didn't even attempt to hide the envy in her voice. Milea was over thirty years old, yet she hadn't aged a day past her twenties.
"Spare me your niceties. Prove me you can be useful to the Empire and you'll live, otherwise, I'll send you back without wearing down my stairs again." Milea pointed at the balcony.
Hatorne scoffed at her words, spitting in disgust.
"You can't possibly be that stupid, if you managed to reach the status of Empress, child. What you already know should be enough to grant me safe passage through your Empire one hundred times, if not for you to be beg me to remain here."
Milea snapped her fingers, lifting Hatorne like a ragdoll with spirit magic and making her get close to the balcony at walking speed. Suddenly Hatorne didn't feel so confident anymore, she valued her life above everything.
"Wait! I can give you potions that can break any men's will, parasites that turn the most powerful mage into a lump of meat, hidden weapons that cannot be detected. Isn't that enough?"
Another snap and Hatorne stopped moving.
"What you are offering me are new forms of slavery, diseases that can raze a country, tools that even the lowliest of fools could use to kill a powerful mage. Just one of those things could destroy the world as we know it!"
Milea couldn't believe her own ears.
"Weapons don't kill men. Men do. I am only an artisan, I'm not responsible for what others do with my creations."
"That's where you are wrong!" Milea was outraged. "You create without thinking of the consequences, selling nightmares to whoever can afford them. Power without control is the greatest madness."
"Naive fool, with my help you could have ruled the world. Instead you chose to die for your pathetic ideals!" Hatorne pushed one of her teeth with the tongue, releasing from her mouth a barrage of poisoned needles, each one enchanted with a small array that would allow it to ignore air magic.
Milea simply raised her hand, blocking all of them in mid-air, like time had stopped. Hatorne was still shocked, when the needles turned around and darted again, striking her to death.
Milea destroyed Hatorne's corpse and belongings personally. The legacy of such a monster couldn't be allowed to survive.
***
Gorgon Empire, the day Lith killed the three Talons.
"Why are you staring so intensely at the window?" Milea asked.
"Because something unknown is happening, and it's baffling us Guardians." Leegaain replied, tapping with his clawed finger on the frame. After Milea had become Empress, she had managed to convince him to give the Empire a second chance.
The deal was the same as in the past, knowledge, not power, in exchange for whatever law or regulation he wanted to be implemented over time.
"Unknow how?" Milea considered her Mentor to be nigh omniscient and omnipotent, something unknown to him couldn't be good news.
"Look at it yourself." Leegaain's human form hand touched her forehead, allowing her to share his vision.
Very far, somewhere inside the Griffon Kingdom, the world energy was seeping violently into a small figure, while the small figure emitted a pillar of darkness that the world accepted as its own.
"That's the beginning of a world's tribulation. Someone has been recognized by the world and his offer accepted."
"Someone is becoming a Guardian?" Milea almost chocked at the thought.
"Heavens, no. Not even close, but it's a beginning. There are countless tribulations each year, and they end up in failure. What's baffling is that the darkness is typical of an Abomination, but it's not. The tribulation is the one that usually happens to beasts, but it's not. The mana it's drawing upon seems human but…"
"It's not." Milea caught his drift. "So, what are you going to do about it?"
"Nothing. Whoever it is, is barely stronger than you were when you found me. Also, I don't care what it does, as long it doesn't mess with my turf. It's Tyris' problem, not mine."
***
Griffon Kingdom, Lith's tent.
Since the tribulation had started, the Talons had been experiencing excruciating pain. The darkness that surrounded them wasn't eating their life force like it was supposed to, if was robbing them of their life span.
They aged decades each passing second, their nails and hair growing non-stop to absurd lengths.
"Please, stop." One of the women managed to beg with a hoarse voice, her body dried up and thin like a mummified corpse.
"Shut up and die!" Lith replied, making the energy pulse even stronger. He didn't care anymore for information, their numbers or the contractor's identity. He wanted all of them to die, no matter if young or old, noble or commoner.
He had grown sick of mankind's madness; a culling was needed. Unbeknownst to him, the world had heeded his call, and was considering the offer.
The energy coalesced around him, into an aura that resembled a much bigger figure, enveloped in fire and shadows, with claws on his hands and wings on his back, before dissipating. No trace was left of the Talons, the energy storm disappeared as fast as it had come, leaving Lith and Solus flabbergasted.
Chapter 167 Hard Times
Aside from the pungent smell of decay and his once again tattered clothes, there was no trace of what had just transpired in Lith's tent. Solus' gauntlet form had completely recovered from all her injuries, and was now brimming with power.
- "What the heck? Death Call shouldn't work like that. It was like an entirely different spell."
"Well, for what's worth, you also seemed an entirely different person. Your eyes turned inhuman, and when the energy flow reached its apex, your whole body started to pulse according to its rhythm. You had started to mutate into a…"
Solus couldn't find the words to describe the monstrous silhouette that had almost overlapped with Lith.
"…thing, but thanks heavens everything stopped before it was too late." –
Lith had no recollection of such changes, but by checking Solus' memories, he was able to see what exactly had happened. After his eyes had turned yellow, glowing from the inside with a vertical slit pupil, the dark aura around him had taken a physical form.
Instead of shadow tentacles, his body had released emerald flames, while the shadows in the tent had seemingly taken life, attacking the Talons along with the flames.
The result was sadly impeccable. Nothing had survived the joint assault, not even the weapons, leaving him empty handed for his troubles.
Lith had never experienced anything like that, so he sat cross legged on the floor, activating Invigoration in search for answers. He first scanned his body, then the mana core, finding out that nothing had changed.
Then, he did the same thing on Solus, but the results remained the same.
Everything had happened so fast that it seemed to be just a dream. Yet he felt emptier than ever, like he had grasped something meaningful just to forget it a second after waking up.
He tried several times to conjure those energies and sensations, but to no avail. More confused than ever, he wore his plague doctor uniform. Kilian would arrive any second now, and Lith was eager to iron out the last steps of the cure and get back to his life.
****
Despite their strong, almost friendship-like bond, Tyris didn't like how Leegaain had left their communication channel open, while he was discussing the anomaly with his new apprentice.
Not only because that had triggered Salaark's hilarity at her expenses, but also because it had struck a nerve. The anomaly was in her turf, adding another responsibility to her already heavy workload.
Unlike him, she hadn't slept peacefully over the last centuries, giving the middle finger to the all the problems of his country and only taking action when something major happened.
Nor she had a fine-grained control over her subjects like Salaark, allowing her to delegate at least some of her duties to trustworthy Awakened ones. Her role as a Guardian wasn't to keep, or dominate, it was to spark the change.
Tyris had triggered the unification of the Griffon Kingdom, prompting others to follow its example and putting an end to centuries long wars.
She had taught true magic to Lochra Silverwing, who in turn had managed to adapt it in forms that ordinary people could use, spreading a ground breaking knowledge that had improved the lives of millions.
With every passing century, she was more tempted to throw in the towel and just mind her own business. Nudging a country in the right direction without directly interfering, while keeping the balance was a mammoth task.
The plague itself was proof of how desperate her situation was. She hadn't taken care of it personally not because she didn't care, but because her plate was already full. In the recent years, Tyris had noticed an increase in the number of Abominations appearing in the Griffon Kingdom.
Normally they were rarer than Awakened ones, but now they were popping out like mushrooms, two or even three each year, too fast for the phenomenon to be a natural occurrence.
The origin points were always near the borders of the Kingdom, where her senses were at their weakest, so that Tyris would notice only when it was too late. She was convinced to have understood the twisted logic behind the Griffon Kingdom being the only target.
Leegaain wouldn't have cared, while Salaark, thanks to her servants, would have found the source of the threat faster than Tyris ever could. Someone was using her to test the powers and resources of the Guardians, but Tyris had no idea why.
She would have loved to ask her colleagues for help, but Guardians were highly territorial. Even if each one of them supervised one third of the biggest continent on the planet, it was never enough, they could barely tolerate each other.
The anomaly was but a small potato, it could wait. First, she had to put an end to the Abomination threat, then she had to make sure that Arjîn was really dead and give the Corpse a new seventh member. Only then she would take a look at the anomaly.
All the while hoping that the Kingdom would still stand by her return, that her descendants would manage to avoid a civil war.
Just the thought of all she had to do, gave Tyris an headache. She sighed deeply, while Mother Earth, her Invigoration technique, informed her that another Abomination had appeared near the northern borders.
"I really need a vacation." She said before Warping away, to catch her mysterious opponent before it could flee again.
***
After learning that her treatment was almost complete, and that Lith would leave soon after he was done with her, Nindra had become quite assertive. She would often sit straight as an arrow, emphasizing her breasts, fiddle with her hair or laugh heartily whenever he would say something barely close to being funny.
Not to mention she would prolong physical contact for a couple seconds longer than it was appropriate.
"Can't you at least tell me your name? I don't think your parents were so imaginative to give you an abstruse name, so there's no harm in me knowing it."
She said while Lith was removing the last parasites from her arms. After that, she would be completely healed, and after giving his final report to Varegrave, Lith would be able to go home.
He couldn't wait to get out of the tent. With the excuse of privacy, Nindra had convinced him to close the curtain, and was whispering every word in his ear.
Being subject of a woman's affections that wasn't his relative or a kid, was arousing ancient instincts, of which the rumours about their death had been greatly exaggerated.
"I'm sorry, but that's classified." Lith replied with a husky voice, like he had a tennis ball stuck in his throat. In another life and other circumstances, he wouldn't let such an opportunity go to waste.
Alas it was the right person but at the wrong time.
"Also, miss Luce, despite I'm flattered by your attentions, I'm afraid that without this mask, you would discover I'm a little too young for your tastes."
She giggled, making her hair tickle Lith's skin, making him almost wish to throw away the mask and experience a true kiss after over thirteen years of abstinence. Almost.
The situation was quite different from his mad crush for Professor Nalear, his emotions were in check and his priorities straight.
He realized that even if Nindra were to accept him despite his age, which according to the new world moral customs was farfetched, would mean violating every security rule of the camp.
It would likely cost Nindra her life and him all the reputation and trust gained so far, branding Lith like a lustful idiot. So, he quickly finished his work and pulled back the curtain, regaining some personal space.
"Nindra Luce is officially cleansed." He told to the guards.
"Escort her to the third block for the final check-ups before her release. Miss, I'm sorry we had a rocky start, but it was a pleasure to meet you." Lith extended his hand like during their first meeting, only to have it ignored again.
Nindra hugged him tightly.
"Thank you so much doctor. I spent my days here waiting for death before your arrival. I really hope sooner or later I will be able to make it up to you." It was just a subtle movement, but she managed to rub her hips against his during the hug, with predictable consequences.
"If you ever change your mind, you know where to find me." She said with one last whisper before letting him go.
The guards and Kilian extended their hands too, but much to their disappointment, she just shook it while smiling.
"Ready for your last report?" Kilian asked with a tinge of envy in his voice.
"Yes. Now that the last cure has been perfected, there is nothing else for me to do here."
The two men walked in silence, but Lith and Solus talked all the way to Varegrave's tent.
- "It's really flattering for such a woman to be attracted to me without even seeing my face. It means she really appreciated me as a person, instead that for my looks."
"Yeah, but I'm inclined to say it's more likely to be just the suspended bridge effect. Not to mention you are the only decent man she met during her imprisonment. Loneliness is a cruel beast. I know it well." Solus replied.
"Aren't you being a little sour with jealousy on top?" Lith sent a soft mind smile in her direction.
"Well, duh! Of course I'm jealous. She has everything I dream of." Solus sighed, her life in stone form was getting too little for her by the day.
"Can you imagine what would have happened if I took out the mask?" Lith changed topic, trying to cheer her up.
"Of course I do!"
Solus projected the image of a closed door, and a voice screaming:
"Open up! FBI!"
Before busting it open and make them both chuckle. –
After their arrival, Varegrave used the blue gemstone, opening the channel with the Kingdom's royals.
Lith gave them the good news, explaining how to cure the mana blocking parasite in the details. They weren't as happy as he had expected to, though. Kilian's words were still ringing in their heads, the idea of Lith hiding his skills was reinforced by his masterful analysis.
"It's of the utmost importance to start the process from the abdomen, letting the patient rest for at least three days before continue the treatments."
Nindra's core was the strongest among the last infected, and only needed a day and a half to completely recover. Lith extended the timeframe to remain on the safe side.
"I have noticed that all the patients affected by the mana blocking parasites have an erratic behaviour, probably caused by the toxins messing with their minds. To avoid withdrawal syndrome after the cure, liver and kidneys must first recover their full capacity.
Otherwise they may turn violent, harming themselves or others, like it happened to Garith Senti. His death taught me better to not underestimate the problem."
Lith was really pleased with the excuse he had come out with. Professor Marth was already stressing out the idea of fusing medicine and healing magic, Garith's death was the final push he needed.
"Outstanding work, Mage Lith." King Meron said.
"The Griffon Kingdom is indebted to you. If there is anything you wish for, before leaving, feel free to ask."
Lith needed not to be told twice.
"I'd like to ask for leniency in the matter of Colonel Varegrave. He was grief stricken at the time, but he is a good man, and a loyal servant of the Crown. After this experience, I am thinking of following my brother's lead, and perform the voluntary military service. I would love to serve under an officer that I know and respect."
- "More importantly, under someone that owns me big time. Having someone in the military could always prove useful in the future, whatever I actually decide to do." -
Chapter 168 Domestic Affairs
The King was so happy at those words to need his sheer willpower to prevent himself from gloating openly. He didn't want to lose someone of Varegrave's calibre, but as too often happened, his wife was right.
Showing leniency after a major blunder in times of crisis, would be regarded as another sign of weakness from the Crown. Unless of course they had a good reason for it. That good reason had just been served to King Meron on a silver platter.
- "Seems that I have lost a battle, but in the end, I have won the war, dear Sylpha." He rejoiced via their mind link.
"We cannot deny our saviour's request. It would be impolite beyond reason."
Sylpha mind grunted, she had been looking forward for Varegrave's execution.
"I don't think there is nothing to be happy about. Peace after war is good, prolonged peace is great on paper, but it's turning out to be a venomous snake in the grass. The upper echelons of the Kingdom have forgotten that discipline and loyalty are key to survival.
They are so engrossed in their dirty secret pleasures to turn lazy, profligate or even treacherous. I am already purging the Mage Association from the bad apples. Keeping them on their toes is the only way to make them fall back in line.
The army needs some pruning too, Varegrave would have set a perfect example. No matter how loyal, influent or successful one is, treason has to be punished fiercely and mercilessly.
Endangering the Kingdom, no matter if by mistake or on purpose, must be treated as treason, otherwise all officers will come up with excuses or pettifogger arguments."
"I partially disagree, Sylpha." Meron replied.
"Everything you said is right, the decline of the Kingdom is due to our and our predecessors' inability to recognize the temptations that the long peace aroused in our most dissolute subjects. But killing Varegrave would set a dangerous precedent.
If loyalty and past success hold no value, then there would be no way to inspire devotion in our officers. They must know that their actions, be it time of peace or war, matter. Otherwise we would have only lazy bums that do nothing afraid of making a mistake that will cost them their lives.
Leniency, if bestowed at the right moment, is not weakness, it's strength."
Sylpha wasn't convinced, but felt some truth in her husband's words, so she didn't raise any more objections.
"Still, I don't like this turn of events, it's too sudden. Varegrave's life will hang on a thread more in Lith's hands rather than ours. He's been waiting for his death for so long that the sudden relief could potentially compromise his loyalty.
He is bound to feel indebted to his saviour, especially after having wronged him many times. If Kilian is right, we are facing a first class schemer, who is bound to have a hidden agenda."
Meron's good mood popped like a bubble.
"Gods, I hate when you are right. But maybe you and Kilian are overreacting. He may be a dangerous sociopath, but is still very young. I don't think he can plan so far ahead."
"Think what you want. I never underestimate an opponent, especially one that might be a natural Awakened one. I'm really curious about what Tyris will do if our suspects are right."
The King, the Queen and Salaark's Feathers were all artificial Awakened ones. There were only a couple differences with a natural one. The first was that despite their body would age much slower than normal, their lifespan wouldn't be extended much.
Were a normal mage in good health would live around one hundred year, they could live around one hundred and fifty, but rarely more. The second and more important difference was that they had no idea how to turn others into Awakened ones.
They all had been kept unconscious, while the Guardians had emptied their mana cores, allowing them to perceive the world energy upon waking, in a was much similar to Hatorne's parasites after their removal.
The incomplete Awakening was the last safeguard against betrayal the Guardians had devised, and why both Tyris and Salaark only bestowed such power to a fixed number of humans at the time.
"Do you think she would conscript him or just kill him?" Meron pondered.
"In her shoes, I would either kill him, to stay on the safe side, or take him as apprentice, friend, boy toy, whatever rings her bell. Just like Leegaain did with the current Magic Empress.
Tyris already had a human husband, giving him an offspring. If it happened once, it can happen twice."
"By the gods, he is just a child!" The thought disgusted Meron deeply.
"And she is millennia old. Waiting a few more years or even decades would not be a problem." –
Lith's request took everyone by surprise, even Kilian and Varegrave. After the communication ended, everything that the Queen feared happened like in a script. Having removed the sword of Damocles that had hovered above Varegrave's head for so long, the Colonel was on the verge of tears.
"Thank you, thank you so much!" He couldn't stop himself from holding Lith's hand like it was a lifeline.
"I'm so sorry for misjudging you. I can't wait to see my family again." Kilian took out Varegrave's last will from his pocket and burned it on a candle to celebrate the crisis' double happy ending.
"If you ever need anything, don't hesitate to ask." Lith and Varegrave linked their communication amulets. Surprisingly, Kilian did the same.
"Sorry if I barge in, but I want you to know you have my gratitude too, Lith. Also, I have a family too. If something bad ever happens, you are the best healer I know, and I'd really love to have you on my speed deal."
Having someone in the Queen's corps and the Mage Association was an unexpected bonus, but Lith wasn't the type to look a gift horse in the mouth.
- "Are you really going to join the military? Or was it just an excuse to pursue an angle?" Solus was too used to Lith's web of deception to think he had helped Varegrave out of the goodness of his heart.
"I'm considering it, at least for a while. I will be able to travel freely only once I reach sixteen years of age, and I am considered an adult. But even then, I would be nothing more than a nameless mage, at least outside the Marquisate.
I need some real training and a badge, if I want to have free access to the information I need. The Mage Association would ask me for favours and knowledge in exchange for what I want, and I don't want to waste time bartering for every single piece of information.
According to what Kilian told me, as a full fledged mage, I'd have access to special corps, like the Rangers, that would allow me to move freely inside the Kingdom and act solo.
Sure, I'd have to complete missions and obey orders, but thanks to Varegrave, I can skip a few ranks and get the freedom of movement that I need.
Instead of traveling as a nameless adventurer that has to comply with idiotic requests, is much better to move with the Crown watching my back, with a badge that both nobles and mages have to obey to. Also, I can gain more merits and be paid for it. Many birds with one stone."
Kilian and his unit personally escorted him outside the camp and opened a Warp Steps to Derios, the capitol of the Marquisate.
According to Professor Marth's prediction, it would take at least another week to wipe out the last remnants of the plague and return back to the academy. Lith could afford going back home for a couple days, at least to make sure everything was fine.
He wanted to reassure his parents about his well being. The few times they had talked, he could see how worried they were. Now that he was outside the Small World, he could finally use the communication amulet and check how the others were doing.
***
House of Yurial Deirus, two days after Lith had left the academy
Being the lessons suspended, most students had returned back home, either because of nostalgia or forced by their parents. Even with the information blackout, the news of the problems in Kandria had spread like wildfire after all the academies had been shut down.
The six big academies were like small countries, following their own rules. Even in time of war, they were supposed to continue their activities. The only exception in the past had been when the country was invaded, hence all hands were needed on deck.
The situation was so serious that many noble families had packed their things and left the Kingdom with most of their wealth. As soon as the Crown had noticed the rats abandoning the sinking ship, it exploited the opportunity take out some trash.
A decree had been issue, that whoever left the Kingdom in times of need, would be considered a deserter, losing his noble title, the lands and having all their assets frozen and confiscated by the Crown.
Many of the old nobles' faction, discovered to have become homeless commoners while they were still traveling past the borders, to reach their distant relatives in the Gorgon Empire.
Yurial was discussing with his father, Archmage Deirus, the opportunity to expand their lands by reclaiming the title their neighbours had relinquished due to their escape, bringing into their grand duchy another of the six big academies.
Their lands accommodated the Fire Griffon academy already, with the Black Griffon they would have a major role in the Mage Association's business, achieving an authority on par with the Distar Marquisate.
"Great minds think alike, my son." Velan said, puffing his chest with pride. Unlike his useless siblings that did nothing but drink, gamble and have s*x all day, Yurial was being recognized by the White Griffon academy thanks to his hard work.
He was also demonstrating a very practical and scheming mind, exploiting every opportunity he had at hand. Maybe the Deirus household wasn't doomed, after all. If even Yurial turned out to be like the rest of his children, Velan would have been forced to adopt.
"But it will not be easy. With a title of Grand Duke we already have too much land and money. By getting more, we could be considered a threat to the Crown."
"But that's ridiculous!" Yurial was outraged.
"The Deirus household never had any political ambition, we have always served the Kingdom, improving the lives of our subjects."
Velan sighed.
"You are still too naïve, my son. I know it, you know it. The King doesn't, though, and would be stupid of him not thinking of the consequences of letting a single individual get his hands on so much power. We need something big, and I think I have just what we need."
Being his heir, Velan shared everything with Yurial, because he trusted his judgment and because he wanted to prepare him for the moment when he would inherit everything.
"Since Lukart attacked you, I have started to suppress his assets. Remember, attacking someone's life is a crime, but bringing down a rival's business empire is perfectly legal. It also hits that pompous b*stard where it hurts the most: his wallet."
Velan took out several papers, filled with numbers, places, names and dates.
"I know he is behind all this civil war bullsh*t, and I bet my magic that he is also behind Kandria's problems." He showed Yurial a stolen document bearing the Lukart's emblem, that reported several massive payments from the household to Coirn Hatorne.
"Always follow the money, son. Now, this Hatorne is already one of the Kingdom's top most wanted. Guess where one of his main labs was?"
"Kandria?" Yurial had a greedy light in his eyes, matching the one in his father's.
"Exactly! Ever since the Kandria incident started, this insignificant piece of paper has become my beacon. I'm digging all that I can from banks and credit institutions, investing a fortune bribing underpaid clerks to get things like this and you know why?"
"Because if Hatorne turns out to be the responsible, and we can link her to Lukart, we can legally get rid of him and get the Black Griffon too!"
Chapter 169 Domestic Affairs 2
House of Phloria Ernas, a week after Lith had left the academy.
After Headmaster Linjos gave the announcement about all the academy's activities being suspended, the students were left with two alternatives. Remain in the castle and self study, or return to their homes.
The Professors were busy helping with Kandria's situation, either by providing materials, magic ingredients or searching for Manohar, but the academy would remain open.
Its size was the same of a small city, many clerks and their families lived there, just like most of the kitchen personnel. Several students were orphans or had complicated family situations, hence once admitted, the academy would be their home until graduation or expulsion.
It was one of the reasons that galvanised all those of humble origins to give their best in their studies, to the point of overcoming their limits. Once in the academy, they would never again fear cold, hunger or the abuses from their relatives or caretakers.
For them bullying was a small price to pay, because at least in their rooms they were kings and queens. Before departing, Yurial had offered the girls hospitality in his home for as long as necessary, but they had politely refused.
Time, stress and the growth spurt had brought him to bloom as a man. Whenever he wasn't focused on his magic studies, Yurial would hit on girls, jumping from one to another like a bee dancing among flowers.
Phloria didn't like how often she had caught him staring at her legs and a*s, just like Friya couldn't stand how whenever they started a conversation, it seemed to be directed at her bosom, since his eyes would rarely move from such spot.
"My eyes are up here!" She would often repeat, achieving only a temporary truce.
Quylla was the most bothered of the three, since he would not give her a look, if not by mistake or for asking her advice about school subjects. She had stopped liking Yurial in a romantical way months ago, but his behaviour was aggravating nonetheless.
With his looks, charms and status, Yurial was a lady-killer, and receiving his attentions was a badge of honour for all girls, relegating the ones he ignored in the "Homely Girls Club", of which Quylla's cruel peers had made her a founding member.
So, when the opportunity arose, they all left the academy's toxic environment and moved to Phloria's house. Friya was determined to not follow her mother's plans anymore, to the point of sealing her communication amulet in a dimensional object to not have to hear from her again.
Phloria lived in a Duchy quite far from the academy, but thanks to the use of Warp Gates they reached her home in less than an hour.
The manor was surrounded by high white crystal walls, generating an array that prevented anyone to fly or Warp past its boundaries without the use of a special amulet. The park around the manor extended as far as the eye could see.
The air smelled of freshly cut grass, flower beds adorned the cobblestone paths that went across the front gardens.
Trees and bushes were all artistically trimmed to resemble mythical beasts, like unicorns and griffons. Even the benches, offering cool shades to the visitors, were made of white marble, engraved with runes that made them water and dirt proof, keeping them dry and clean no matter the weather.
The manor itself was bigger than Quylla's whole village, cultivated fields included. It extended for at least 3,000 square meters (3,588 square yards), divided into a main building, a left and a right wing forming a reversed U shape.
It wasn't anything special for Friya, her house was even bigger, but for Quylla was akin to the royal palace she had dreamed about as a kid. It took her a couple of days to recover from the shock of being served night and day, and being called "young miss".
The academy was a spartan environment. Despite even a single one of its stones was more expensive than the whole park, in the White Griffon everything was designed without pomp. Looks held no significance for the academy's buildings, only practicality did.
Hence, despite being full of magical wonders, it resembled more a military boot camp rather than a mystical place where dreams could come true.
Quylla felt like a beggar suddenly admitted at the King's Court. Aside for her uniform, she had no other dress. The problem was quickly solved, since both the noble girls had plenty of unused clothes, that just like the uniform, were capable of shrinking to fit the wearer.
To make things worse, she had no notion of etiquette, so every meal was a nightmare. There were so many plates and silverware, which she had never seen before, that made picking the right one for each dish harder than opening a Warp Steps.
When she was first offered a bowl of water and lemon juice, a nobles' tradition for washing hands before a meal, she asked what kind of soup it was, making even the highly professional staff smirk for a split second at her blunder.
After that, they only consumed their meals in Phloria's quarters, to avoid Quylla further embarrassment and teach her the basics. Phloria provided them amulets, allowing the girls to spend most of their days practicing dimensional magic.
With nothing to worry about and the mansion's relaxed environment, Quylla managed to teach her friends how to open a Warp Gate in less than a week. The last thing they needed to pass Professor Rudd's class with flying colours was learning how to Blink.
During their stay, the girls were completely isolated from the outside world. Phloria would often receive dispatches, often getting pale after reading them and always burning them afterwards. She refused to discuss their contents, no matter how her friends insisted.
Between the rumours about a world ending plague, the slithering civil war and now the decree that allowed to confiscate everything from runaway nobles, unrest was growing in the Kingdom.
No one had predicted such a move from the Crown, crippling the old nobles' faction in one fell swoop. Along with their mansions and estates, the royal police had acquired many incriminating evidences, that was triggering a domino effect.
The noble faction was losing ground and influence fast, forcing their hand. They had to either speed up their plans or give up and submit, before it was too late to do both.
Phloria didn't want to alarm the others. In her mind, it was only a matter of time before they were conscripted and sent to the battlefront, there was no reason to spoil their last carefree days with such news.
Their peace was broken the day that Phloria's mother suddenly returned home.
Their relationship wasn't good to begin with, so Phloria had her friends dress up for the occasion, to not give a bad first impression to her demanding parent.
After they were summoned in her mother's chambers, Phloria instructed them about what to say and how to behave.
"After your introduction, just make a curtsy and then only speak when questioned. Try to keep the answers short, if she starts nagging at us, we'll lose all day!"
Lady Jirni Ernas was a petite woman, barely 1.52 cm (5') high, with blonde hair and sapphire blue eyes. Despite being at home, she wore a beautiful light blue day dress worthy of the Court, her hair was perfectly curled, framing her face like she was out of a painting.
The first thought Friya and Quylla had after seeing them together, was that Phloria may have been adopted. The two couldn't be more different. Jirni had aged gracefully. In her soft round visage, there was still a spark of youth.
She was quite different from the monster Phloria had described time and time again.
"Mother, is wonderful to have you back…" Phloria started to say, but Jirni froze her with a stern look.
"Good gods, I swear on my children's life that wearing a skirt from time to time will not do any harm! How can we find you a husband if you dress like this?"
Phloria cursed inwardly her stupidity. She had been so worried about her friends to forget about herself, still wearing her training suit and smelling because of the physical exercise.
"I'm really sorry, I…"
"Where are your manners? You should first introduce your friends to me. I'm so sorry, despite all my efforts, my daughter acts and behaves like she was raised by bears. I'm Duchess Ernas." She interrupted Phloria again, making her guest a curtsy.
"Miss Quylla, Miss Solivar, it's a pleasure to make your acquaintance."
The girls were so stunned by the exchange that could only return the curtsy and thank their host.
"It's Lady Solivar, mother." Phloria rebuked, happy to be able to return a hit.
"Really? Didn't you hear?" A cruel smirk marred Jirni's otherwise kind visage.
"After several documents incriminating Duke Selimar, General Lizhark and Mage Fernath(*), your father and the royal constable went to interrogate them. Alas, they were found dead, but their assassin didn't make in time to erase all the evidences.
The three of them were secretly in league with Duchess Solivar, who after being summoned for questioning, preferred to flee to the Blood Desert. The poor Duchess is now considered a traitor, and we hope to seize her lands for the Ernas household."
There was no trace of pity in her voice, and Phloria knew why. She was the royal constable. Countless people had fallen for her innocent and naïve look, until the questioning began.
Friya went pale, needing Quylla's help to not fall on her knees from the shock.
"I'm so sorry, dear." Jirni patted Friya's hands with an odd motherly tone.
"I thought you already knew, otherwise I wouldn't have been so blunt." Phloria didn't believe a word coming out of her mouth.
"Not everything is lost, dear. The Ernas household is always looking for talents, me and my husband would be more than happy to adopt you both."
"What?" Phloria blurted out, incapable of holding back anymore.
"Are you crazy? How can you say something like that so abruptly?"
Jirni clicked her tongue in disapproval.
"Because is the perfect moment. Miss Quylla, despite her great talent, has no roots or backers. Our family is full of soldiers and no healers, I'd say is a match made in heavens.
She could carry on our name, even if not our blood, and will be much easier to marry compared to a certain tomboy!" Her cold gaze made Phloria swallow her reply.
"As for Miss Solivar, having her in our family, will make much easier for us to beat the competition for the Solivar's lands, while at the same time giving her a place to call home and avoid her mother's action ruining her future career.
With a figure and talent like hers, finding suitors will be a snap.
It's a win-win situation for everyone."
***
Going back to Lutia from Derios (**) took Lith only half the usual time. Between his core's breakthrough and the constant practice of magic under Small World, Lith felt the mana flow with unprecedented clarity, enhancing all his spells.
- "Cr*p! If only I had the time to practice dimensional magic, by now I would be able to Blink. I bet everyone else is at least able to open Warp Steps." –
For once, his pessimism was right.
On his way home, he was flying over the village when his heightened hearing perceived a familiar voice screaming.
Tista was suffering once again from Garth's unwanted attentions. He was the son of the richest merchant of the village, which made him feel entitled to do whatever he wanted.
He had courted her for over a year, obtaining only rejections and spite in return. Since Tista had always said no but never roasted his a*s, his father had convinced Garth that her 'no' meant 'yes', and that it was time for a more manly approach.
"Garth Renkin, let go of my arm immediately, or I swear that…"
"Or what? Without your gestures and gibberish, you are just a woman like any other. If even your mentor does not step in to stop me, who do you think will?"
From her office, Nana was sighing, facepalming herself every time Garth spoke and Tista didn't kick him in the nuts or hit him with chore magic like she had instructed her countless times.
"Why are you doing nothing?" Said Elina, Tista's mother holding an axe and barely resisting the temptation to split Garth's skull in half.
"Because your daughter is too kind. This is a learning experience. Sometimes violence is necessary, words aren't going to stop all the idiots out there. She needs to learn to stand up for herself before it's too late.
I mean, look! She saved half the passers-by's lives, help the other half being born and no one is doing anything. Too much kindness will make her die young."
Since Garith was dragging her away and Tista still refused to act, Nana decided to step in, before Elina turned into a murderer, the street into a mess, and then she would be forced to clean everything up.
She was about to open the door and give the youngster the beating of a lifetime, when suddenly the sky went dark, the temperature dropped by several degrees, and a thunder roared in the distance.
It was like the shadow of death was befalling Lutia.
"I swear, I was willing to take care of him." Nana said in an apologetic tone to Elina.
"But it seems that the shadow of death has returned home."
Chapter 170 Domestic Affairs 3
The members of the Queen's corps tasked to protect Tista were pissed off beyond reason. Most of them had a family back home, with one or more kids around Tista's age. In their files, they had classified Garth Renkin as an insufferable pompous a*s, but a harmless one.
This time, by acting as a troll in heat, he had crossed the line. The only reason why he was still alive instead of chopped to pieces, was that unless in case of a deadly threat, their utmost priority was to remain undercover.
They had to wait either for him to push his luck or to go away from prying eyes before intervening.
To make things worse, the passive attitude of the bystanders, that aside from whispering and commenting were doing nothing, made more than one officer ponder setting the village ablaze after the situation was resolved.
In their eyes Tista was basically a saint. The only things she did were helping her family and providing magical care, sometimes even for free, behind Nana's back, to those who couldn't afford it or were going through a rough patch.
Seeing such a person harassed by a pig-brained man amid public indifference was too much to bear.
"Gods, as soon that idiot goes back home, I'm going to rip his b*lls off." Said a member of the unit in her communication earpiece.
"Get in line, Toman." Replied her Captain. "I called dibs on the left one since he grabbed her arm."
"And I on the right one." Added a second voice.
"Fine! Then I'll cut his d*ck and have him choke on it." No one laughed, it wasn't a joke. The problem with long term detail assignments was that once you knew your target better than your own family, it was natural to get attached.
Being professionals, they were able to keep their emotions in check, but that didn't make them one bit less ruthless or dangerous, only worse. So, when they recognized the environmental signs of a powerful mage being royally pissed, they moved away to better enjoy the show.
Snacks and bets were the natural follow up.
"Okay, guys. Garth getting killed is 1.1-1, maimed 3-1, crippled 2-1, going home unscathed is 100-1."
When overwhelmed by emotions, it was natural for even fake mages to affect their surrounding by subconsciously connecting to the world energy. Lowering the temperature, summoning strong gales, it was all mistaken for an involuntary use of first magic.
The stronger the mage, the stronger the effects, that was the rule.
Lith's situation was quite different though. Being an Awakened one, his thoughts were naturally connected to the world energy so his inner turmoil would have a bigger impact than normal.
Unbeknownst to him, after being accepted through a world's tribulation, the surge of his violent emotions would trigger the planet's attention making the resonance even worse. That was the reason why clouds were gathering, a thunderstorm brewing.
Nana and the corps' members thought it was a spell, but it was merely a reflection of Lith's fury.
- "Lith, I know you are angry, but you must hold back." Solus warned him.
"Not this time, Solus! I get you love unicorns and rainbows, but the f*cker went too far. There is no place for mercy."
"Mercy? By my maker, he can die in a fire for all I care. I meant that there are several witnesses, including some powerful magicians, maybe from the corps. They are supposed to watch your family after all. So do your worst, but do not blow your cover.
That pig is not worth it." –
Having doubted Solus' loyalty only made Lith angrier, making Garth's tab even more nasty. Yet she was right, he had to be careful.
Maybe.
Lith descended quietly instead of making a crater on the ground like he would have loved to. His eyes were closed shut, perceiving his surroundings only through earth magic and Solus. Lith knew that if he looked at the b*stard's face, he would lose his self-control.
Yet the temperature kept plummeting and despite it had been a sunny spring day until a few seconds ago, Garth could see his breath steam. The hair on the back of his neck stood up and his skin was covered with goose bumps from the terror.
And he wasn't the only one. Lith's killing intent was aimed at all those present but Tista, Nana and his mother. Its intensity was similar to what Garith Senti and Kilian experienced, but with two big differences.
Here there was no Small World smothering Lith's magic and while Garith and Kilian had been battle hardened veterans, Lutia's residents were farmers and merchants. The worst thing they had ever experienced was being mugged.
Garth's natural reaction was letting Tista's arm go like it was frenzied snake and wet himself, a warm puddle drove away the cold from his nether regions and feet. Most of the bystanders fell to their knees, some started to puke in panic, a few even fainted.
"Lil' brother!" Tista didn't seem to notice anything, there was only Lith in her eyes now. Her warm smile and adorable voice made him all soft inside, turning the seething rage into a full blown inferno.
"Tista!" His right arm pulled her close in an embrace, while his right fist struck Garth behind her back with the strength of a sledgehammer. Lith held back, so instead of pulverizing his jaw, he just dislocated it, making Garth spat a mouthful of blood.
"I missed you so much." She was crying. "Where have you been? I worried every day, fearing the worst."
She was crying.
"I'm so sorry." Lith replied holding her even tighter.
"I was on a mission for the Mage Association, but there was nothing for you to worry about." His arms held her close, but his hands and mouth kept moving, conjuring wind pillars that pinned those present to the ground.
Lith mentioning the Mage Association turned fear into terror, but for Garth there was only horror. He hadn't seen Lith in years, almost forgetting how monstrous he was. Garth was the only one not pinned, Lith was taunting him to run away.
She was crying.
Lith brought Tista back to Nana's house.
"I'll be back soon. Whatever happens, do not watch." Lith wiped her tears while caressing her face before closing the door and casting the Hush spell all around the house. Then he opened his eyes causing another bolt of lightning to come down, closer than the previous one.
The flash drew everyone's attention away. When they looked back, Lith was straight in front of Garth having crossed dozens of meters in less than a second.
"How did…" Garth managed to ask despite the maddening terror.
"You blinked." Lith replied like it explained everything.
After that, he grabbed Garth's right dominant arm, twisting it like it was just a twig.
"Is this the hand you used to touch her?" A magic word and his fingers dancing in the air was enough to turn the limb into a block of ice. Lith twisted it again, shattering the arm like glass from fingers to shoulders.
Garth wanted to scream, the pain was crushing, but so was Lith's right hand around his throat.
"Is this the mouth with which you dared to speak her name?"
The men from the Queen's corps were laughing their as*es off from the rooftops.
"That was a good line. I must use it the next time my daughter picks a bad boy." Said one of the women of the unit.
"This is no laughing matter." The Captain was suddenly serious.
"I don't care about the pig." He explained facing their dumbstruck stares.
"I mean the killing intent. I can feel it from up here and it's twisting my guts. How the f*ck can a twelve-years old be so ferocious?"
The whole unit sneered.
"Captain, what if that was your daughter?" Asked his second in command.
"I wouldn't give a f*ck if it was Garth Renkin, a prince or the f*cking King himself. I would rip him to pieces and no one would ever know." The Captain's killing intent burst over the street, making even more people faint.
"That's how." Replied the second in command. "Now shut up, this is getting good."
Gurid Renkin, Garth's father had just joined the fray.
"Please, don't kill him! He is my firstborn and my heir. He will never bother you again." Gurid kneeled down, banging his head on the ground.
"That's a given." Lith sneered, while ice started to cover Garth's face, turning each breath into an agony.
"I beg you! It's all my fault. I told him that rebellious women like to be tamed. Take it out on me, not him."
Lith's right kick crushed Gurid's ribcage, puncturing his lungs at the same time. Yet it was also infused with light magic, healing the injuries as soon as they formed. Lith didn't want for him to die so fast.
"Tamed? My sister… You…" Gurid's words almost drove Lith mad, making it impossible for him to speak coherently. Lith shattered Garth's legs, all three of them, before dropping him on the ground.
The women of the corps giggled, while the men instinctively covered their crotch.
"There are only two ways this story can end." Lith's eyes were burning red, like fire pits.
"Number one, I kill him here and now, you step aside and maybe, just maybe, I will not kill each and every one of your family for your crimes." Gurid was crying out of fear and desperation.
"Number two, you stand in my way. In such a case I will still kill him. Then it will be your turn, and I will call the Count, the Association and every single person that owes me to make sure your whole bloodline is wiped out."
Gurid had two more sons and as many daughters. The thought of even his brothers, sisters and nephews getting killed because of his foolishness was too much. He inwardly cursed at himself.
How could he forget that Tista wasn't just another farm girl that Garth could use and throw away once he was tired of her? This wasn't a problem that money could solve. He was about to step away when a second kick sent him sprawling away coughing blood.
"Stand up again and it will be the last time."
Lith grabbed Garth by the neck, lifting him in mid air before burning him alive, for everyone to hear.
"I shouldn't have saved your life years ago (*), you piece of trash. This is partially my fault too. I gave you your life and now I'm taking it back with interest."
Only after the body turned to ashes did the screams stopped.
"And now, it's your turn." Lith said to the bystanders still pinned from the beginning. Or at least, to those still conscious.
"The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing. That's what you did, and now you shall pay the price!"
Lith started to manipulate the thunderstorm's energies to kill all of them in one fell swoop.
Inside Nana's house, Elina was still hugging and kissing Tista, to soothe her nerves. She didn't give a damn about what Lith would do. If it depended on her, she would have killed all those that had allowed harm to come to her baby.
Tista was trying to calm her mother, trying not to think why there was so much silence. Nana had watched everything from behind a shutter, and after a good shrug, she closed the window for good.
- "I don't give a f*ck about them. I just live here." –
On the rooftops, the Queen's corps gave a small round of applause to Lith's display of magic mastery.
"All in favour of saving them?" Asked the Captain.
Not a single hand was raised.
"It's unanimous then." The whole unit shrugged, returning to their initial positions.
Lith was about to unleash the fury of the elements on the whole village when a big and strong hand grabbed his wrist.
"Being weak is not a fault and neither is being stupid. No matter how aggravating it is, rabbits will run away and fawns will dumbly stare until it's too late." The voice was strong and wise, but more importantly, it was a familiar one.
"You already killed the one that attempted to harm your cub. You can kill his pack, if you want, but that's cruel and unnecessary, just like killing other innocent cubs. Brother Scourge, do not ruin our reunion by forcing me to pray for so many souls."
The man in front of him was a barbarian, at least 2.1 meters (7') high, wearing a hunter set made of deer skin with boots bigger than a bucket. His face was rough and savage with a square jaw and a cleft chin.
His long hair and his stubble were flaming red having never been groomed. Despite his brutish appearance, his emerald eyes were calm and wise. There was no way Lith wouldn't recognize those colours and his smell.
"Protector? Is that you?"
Chapter 171 Reunion
The barbarian nodded to Lith's question.
"Your senses are sharper than ever. It seems that since our last encounter we both have changed greatly. Do not call me Protector though. I go by the name of Ryman now. Humans are still diffident of newcomers. If they discover my name is an alias, it could bring out the worst in them.
You should know it better than anyone else."
"Then do not call me 'Scourge'." Lith replied freeing his wrist from Ryman's grasp.
"My name is Lith." The piece of news left Ryman quite baffled.
"I thought it was an endearing term, since few calls you like that. You have many names, like Scourge, young spirit, little b*stard and others I will not repeat because they make me want to bite heads off."
"Ungrateful b*stards!" Lith yelled making most of those present run away.
"After all I and Tista did for them, I would expect that protecting her from a single idiot isn't a mammoth task. They stood idly instead, like she was a complete stranger. Someone is going to die for that. I always return favours in kind."
"I'm sorry for not stepping in earlier." Protector scratched his thick hair with an embarrassed expression.
"I still don't understand the human's mating rituals. I thought it was some kind of courtship, yet it seemed odd that despite the female being stronger the male was so aggressive. I expected her to bite him away or something."
"That makes the two of us." Lith's rage was being smothered by his old friend's soothing presence.
"Me and Tista definitely need to talk and so do we. Where can I find you?"
"That's easy!" Ryman gave him a very wolfish smile.
"We are neighbours since I'm living with Selia in the house next to yours."
"You what?" Lith's eyes almost popped out from the surprise.
"I can't make clothes out of thin air." He waved at his attire.
"And she is the only human I know besides you. I often saw her hunting in the woods, I know she has a good heart."
"A good heart? Are we speaking about the same woman?"
Ryman nodded.
"She respects the woods and its inhabitants and never takes more than she needs. So when I came out of the woods after transforming into a human for the first time, I went to her place. She was very kind to me. Selia washed me and dressed me.
I was surprised by her attentions, but it seemed rude of me reject her, since she is very attractive for a human. Your females are incredibly aggressive in mating and quite flexible. Selia is…"
"Too much information, dude! Spare me the details, I beg of you." Lith's head was spinning. First the idiot's threatening Tista, then the villagers' betrayal and now his wolf friend was human and living with his old mentor.
That was too much for a single day.
"She is practically an aunt to me. The image of you two having s*x together will haunt me for days!"
"There's nothing wrong with that. Don't your parents have s*x too? They must be pretty vigorous to have many offspring." Lith's words didn't make sense to Protector.
"Yes, they do, but not in front of me, and absolutely they do not share any detail. It's a human thing." Lith decided to cut the conversation short.
"See you later. I want to know everything about your transformation."
Ryman nodded and then went to buy the groceries Selia had requested.
Lith went back to Nana's house, bowing to his old mentor before hugging her.
"Master, why you did not intervene?" He asked with a tinge of pain in the voice.
"I'm sorry, young spirit. I hoped to do some good." Nana caressed Lith's cheek gently.
"Is the idiot taken care of?"
"Permanently." Lith's tone was stone cold.
"This is all on you, child." Nana was scolding Tista for the first time since she had started to work with her.
"You can't always depend on me or your brother. Being good and being stupid are two different things. A mage as powerful as you acting as a damsel in distress is an affront to all those poor girls that are actually helpless.
If you had kicked his a*s earlier, none of this would have happened. Far be it from me to put the blame on the victim, he was a lustful fool that would have died anyway, sooner or later, but you could have prevented things from escalating.
Why do you think your mother has my firewood axe? Why do you think your brother was so furious? You need to learn to stand up for yourself and fight your battles, otherwise someone else will and blood will be spilled anyway."
Tista blushed with shame, staring at the floor while fiddling with her hair. Seeing her mother and brother react like that had been a shock for her. Tista had never thought to be in real danger, she considered the whole village like her extended family.
When she had realized how aggressive Garth was and no one, not even Nana, had intervened, Tista had panicked, completely forgetting about chore magic.
Once back at home, the whole family, Rena included, first hugged Tista and after checking she was unscathed, they scolded her in turns until she started crying uncontrollably, forcing them to stop.
"Dad, something feels off. Our village was never full of saints and geniuses, but assaulting Tista in broad daylight is too much. Also, our community is quite tight knitted, why no one did move a finger to help her?" Lith asked.
Raaz sighed, hiding his face in his hands.
"It's actually my fault. Now that all you kids are independent, and with the money you and Tista give to the family, I had the time and the resources to develop the family business. Right now, our farm is Lutia's biggest."
"No offence dad, but that's not a big deal. How are the two things related?"
"Because for a month now, rumors about an impending illness are becoming more and more frequent. At the start people considered them just a bad joke, but over time they started panicking. In times of crisis, only two things really matter: long lasting food for survival and weapons to protect yourself and the food.
The blacksmith, despite raising his prices, has sold out everything weeks ago. While he is waiting for new supplies, people bring him their tools to turn them into weapons. You can't rush food, though, nor make it appear out of thin air.
Our barn is filled to the brim, but unlike some of our neighbours, I refused to restrict supply and raise prices. That angered those that hoped to profit off the mass hysteria and Renkin in particular.
He offered to buy supplies from me in bulk, to hide them away while waiting for their value to hit the roof and make a fortune. My answer was always no. First, because I'm not so foolish to make money in the short term just to starve later.
Second, because I didn't want so many people, good people, that I know and have respect from years to become poor because I exploited their fears. If the rumors turn out to be just rumors, half the village would have spent all their saving for nothing."
Lith whistled with admiration for his father's adamant morals, wondering if he would be capable of doing the same.
"So, you are the reason why farmers and merchants cannot speculate on the food's price."
Raaz nodded.
"Exactly. Because of that, some of our neighbours resent me. They hoped to get rich by selling their provisions at inflated prices. As for Renkin, when he understood I wouldn't budge, he sent his son to do the dirty work.
Rena is untouchable, being the blacksmith's daughter in law. Gurid probably thought that you being away and with Tista's meek attitude, he could force his way into the family and change my mind."
"Dad, you are a true hero. I'm proud of you" Lith put his hand on Raaz's shoulder.
"The Kingdom should award more people like you."
- "And less like me." He inwardly added. -
"With your actions, you have saved countless lives from low-life vultures. Those who resent you were never your friends in the first place, they were just snakes in the grass. As for the others, they'll be grateful once they find out it was all a lie.
There is no such thing as an illness threatening the Kingdom."
- "Not anymore." Solus giggled. –
"Really? Are you sure?" Lith's words lifted a huge emotional burden from Raaz's conscience.
"Of course I am. Until this morning I was working as an assistant for Professor Marth at the White Griffon." He lied through his teeth so easily that it made him feel guilty. Lith hated playing with their feelings, but it was the only way he had to keep them safe.
"He had been tasked to verify these rumors and he personally told me there is nothing to worry about."
"I can't wait to share the good news with the others!"
"Sorry to burst your bubble, but no one will believe you. I am just a student and you are already considered a party po*per, do not make things worse. Wait for the official announcement to be made before gloating."
Lith and his family spent the time until after lunch to make up for the lost time, forcing him to lie about everything that had happened to Lith in the last two weeks.
After the meal, he went to find Protector telling him the background behind Tista's harassment.
"So it wasn't courting? The male's father risked his own pup's life for pieces of metal?" Even in his human form, Ryman managed to snarl.
"Humans sure have a talent for disappointment."
"Never mind that, tell me how did you manage to change so much in less than three months."
- "Yep, from Ry to humanoid and from a bright cyan mana core to a deep blue one is a huge step." Solus pointed out. –
"Soon after you left, a Scorpicore came to the Trawn woods. She was looking for a Scourge and she had learned that it was the title of the king in the west."
"She? That thing, it's a female?" Lith was flabbergasted.
"That's very rude of you." Ryman snorted. "Why 'it'? We are not things, we are living, intelligent beings, just like you, young pup. She is stronger and older than us both and most importantly, wiser. You should learn to respect your elders."
"Sorry." Lith said lowering his eyes in embarrassment.
"You know, when I talk to you I have always the impression of speaking with my magical godfather or something. You always scold or lecture me."
Ryman laughed out loud.
"Sorry, but after having sired more than fifty pups, being a father is second nature to me. As I was saying, the Scorpicore could have demanded answers from me, instead she just asked.
She was stronger than me, but instead of stealing my territory she treated me with respect and courtesy, so I replied honestly."
"Great! So she now knows where I live. What did you tell her exactly?"
"That you are not the monster she thought you were. Just a broken and twisted pup searching for its purpose."
"That's it?" Lith could not believe his ears.
"Yes. Scarlett wanted to learn about you, to decide if you are a threat that needs to be put down or one of us. I think you are safe now."
Lith didn't know whether to laugh or cry at the thought of having dodged a bullet he wasn't even aware of.
"How the heck did that lead to you becoming humanoid?"
Ryman's eyes blinked in surprise.
"I think that saving your life deserves at least a thank you."
"I'm sorry, again. I'm a rude jerk. Thank you very much." Lith gave him a small bow.
"What about your transformation?"
"Humans and your curiosity." Ryman snorted, then proceeded to tell him the whole story.
Chapter 172 Reunion 2
"After clearing the issue about you, the Scorpicore told me that I was ready to move forward, and that I should better hurry because I had left only a few more years to live."
"What?" Lith had known Protector since he was four years old. In his eyes the Ry had only gotten bigger and stronger over time, not older.
"I lived for more than eight years as a wolf, before becoming a Ry. And thirty more after that. For a magical beast I was quite old, Scourge. The thought of death didn't surprise me as much as her words, since they made no sense.
She noticed my confusion and explained to me that being a magical beast is not the end of the journey, but just a step. At least, if you are able to Awaken."
All that news was giving Lith and Solus an headache.
- "Magical beasts do not hide the secret of Awakening? Are they insane?" Lith thought.
"It's not just that. Based on what he says, seems that Awakening is not as easy as we thought." –
Lith expected to hear a reiteration of his own story: breathing technique, feel the world energy and after a while becoming able to sense the mana core inside the body. Reality was different, though.
"Scarlett brought me to what she called 'a special place', close to where we fought the Abomination months ago." Lith knew exactly the place. It was where Solus was able to take her tower form, above the mana geyser.
"She had me stay there for days, forcing me to practice my magic over and over."
"Days? Practice magic? This is all so wrong!" Lith blurted out in surprise.
"Right or wrong, this is my story. Let me finish it, please."
Lith raised his hands in an apologetic sign, letting Ryman continue.
"I do not know how to describe it precisely. It was all too abrupt. Suddenly I became able to perceive how my magic would interact with the world energy, and in turn see its flow.
It was such a magnificent sight, revealing to me how everything in this world has mana, and through it, we are all connected. I felt hot inside, discovering a cyan ball inside of me…"
"Mana core." Lith chimed in.
"…that was capable of interacting with the world energy. I started to absorb it without even realizing how, and while my mana core grew and changed so did my body. The metamorphosis was long and painful, I expelled even more black goo than when I became a Ry…"
"Impurities." Lith corrected him again, making Ryman snort in annoyance.
"…but that was far from being the end. I spent the following months learning how to manipulate other elements outside air and fire. It was a nightmare, especially for light and darkness magic. I have yet to grasp their basics.
Scarlett was so fed up with me being such a slow learner, that she left right after teaching me how to change form into a human. She said I am too big and clumsy in my new form to interact with humans and that disguised like this I can travel the world and learn about myself."
Lith's eyes were brimming with curiosity.
"Can you teach me how to change form or did she restrict you from sharing this technique?"
"She did not." Ryman replied frowning his brows.
"But Scarlett told me is very dangerous for humans. You have a frail mind and a very strong sense of self. Most of you go mad just attempting to change form."
Lith scoffed.
"Guilty as charged about the frail mind, but I don't even know if I still have a sense of self."
- "Who am I? Derek McCoy from Earth? Lith from Lutia? Or some kind of monster born by fusing one's memories and the other's body? This face is nothing more than bone and muscles, it's not me." Scarlett's words still echoed in Lith's mind, about him being unnatural. –
Then it was Lith's turn telling Protector all about his own meeting with Scarlett, the dryad, Kalla. How along his journey more and more beings referred to him as not human, and how he recently had almost changed into something else.
"I must admit that your smell is unique among humans, but it always was, ever since our first meeting. You smelled like hatred and pain, and no pup should carry such a heavy burden.
I don't know what Kalla perceived, but I can understand her confusion. Your human smell is very diluted now, is more similar to mine and Scarlett's. You smell like power, but it's unbalanced toward darkness, like an Abomination.
Even this morning I could feel your wrath, clawing to escape. But no matter how many you will harm, sharing your pain will not make you feel better. It can temporarily relieve your burden, but it will turn into hunger.
You are not a monster, but as any human, you can turn into one. You must decide if to ride your inner demons as a tool for an end, or to become their steed, enslaved by your urges. That's something I can't help you with.
All magical beasts face your same trial every day, and the final outcome is rarely obvious. I'll teach you what I know, so if you really change like I did, turning back to human will not be an issue."
Ryman offered Lith his hand, which Lith took between his hands while activating Invigoration at the same time, letting their mana flow freely between them, like two bodies with a single heart.
"Thanks. As I said previously that's all wrong. I'm an Awakened too, but you should have already got that by now. I bet I can teach you better than that grumpy cat. By the way, you still have to show me your new form."
Ryman took a few steps away from Lith and started undressing himself.
"Is this really necessary?" Lith asked with a tinge of envy. Protector was equipped with heavy artillery; it was no surprise the huntress had taken a liking to him.
His body was a mass of dancing muscles that would have put to shame a Greek god.
A light pillar erupted from Ryman's body, that soon was replaced by an enormous wolf like thing.
Its shoulder height reached two meters and a half (8'3"), with a flaming red fur with shades of white and yellow. Its whole body was enveloped in a deep blue flame, that erupted more intensity out its neck, almost looking like a mane
The monster had two curved horns coming out of its forehead, right in front of the ears, eagle-like feathered wing coming out from his back and the tail was made out of dancing flames.
Lith whistled in admiration.
"How are you called now?"
"No idea." Ryman replied. "Every superior monster is unique, unless he has offspring in the old fashioned way. According to Scarlett, I'm the first of my kind."
"Then I'll call you Skoll, like sky wolf that in the legends chased the Sun trying to eat it."
Protector didn't like the name's backstory much, it was something that suited Scourge more than him. But he had an horrible sense for names, and Skoll had a nice ring to it, so he decided to keep it.
***
Near the northern borders of the Griffon Kingdom, Tyris was still looking for the one responsible for the sudden raise in the Abomination's numbers. Now that she was close to their origin point, Tyris was able to easily follow its tracks with Mother Earth, her Invigoration technique.
Tired of chasing shadows, she had asked for Leegaain's help. He was the most knowledgeable among the Guardians, thank to all the centuries spent minding his own business. There was very little he couldn't find out, once he put his mind into it, of course.
She considered herself lucky. Not only Leegaain had managed to track down the approximate location of the next event, but had also promised to help. Even in times of war, when he still cared about the Empire, it was very rare of him to leave his turf.
Tyris telepathically sent him her coordinates and a Warp Steps immediately appeared next to her. The one who walked out the dimensional gate was barely human in appearance
It looked like and albino man, with pure white skin and hair, with bright red eyes and clad in a black war armour. On his exposed face and hands there were multiple spots where the skin turned into scales.
He had claws instead of nails and fangs instead of teeth. His smile would have struck terror in any living being with a shred of sanity.
"Tyris, my dear, you are always so flashy. If Milea was here, you would crush her self-esteem."
"The pot calls the kettle black." She replied.
"I have many forms. Unlike you I spent a lot of time around my country, I need a suit for every occasion."
Tyris snorted, considering herself less lucky with every passing second. Guardians were very proud, and didn't like their flaws being pointed out. For every superior magical beast, assuming their first form was relatively easy.
It was the one they had in their heart. In Tyris' case, it was the one she had chosen hoping to please her first love. After that, she had interacted so rarely with humans that she had never bothered acquiring another.
Leegaain, instead, after his self-imposed exile, had often walked among humans doing his best to go unnoticed. To do that, he had to spend a lot of time and efforts to achieve multiple alias, be them humanoid or animals.
It wasn't possible to modify a form, even changing a single detail required to start everything from scratch, no matter how similar it was to one already available.
Instead of fighting a lost cause, Tyris moved toward the source of the anomaly, forcing Leegaain to shut up and focus to keep up with her speed. In the blink of an eye, they had covered dozens of kilometres, stopping only from time to time to use Mother Earth again while chasing their prey.
When the hunt came to an end, they couldn't believe their eyes.
Three fully developed Abominations attempted to ambush them. They were an Empowered one and two Puppeteers, respectively in the body of a human and of a Byk.
"That's impossible!" Leegaain blurted out avoiding the Empowered deadly touch with a side step. The creature was entirely made of shadows, with no facial features.
Despite the complete lack of a body, the energy mass was so dense that is was almost impossible distinguish it from a real one.
"According to my intel, they have spawned barely a day ago. How can they have evolved so fast?"
Tyris was surprised too, but decided to attempt a non violent approach.
"We don't want to harm you. As long as you are able to control your urges, you are living beings like anyone else. Just tell us what happened to you and we will let you go."
Instead of reacting to her words, the Abominations emitted an inhuman shriek relentlessly attacking the two Guardians with physical and magical attacks, with the only result of angering them.
There was no method or strategy behind their actions, it was just a suicidal series of attacks.
Tired of their madness, Tyris clenched her fist, squashing the Empowered Abomination like a bug by using only spirit magic, paralyzing the other two in her magical grip.
"This is your last chance, speak or die!" The Abominations just kept shrieking, almost breaking free from Tyris' grasp with sheer brute force.
"This shouldn't be happening." Said Leegaain.
"Developed Abominations should aim only for survival. These things look even more senseless then newborn. Let me attempt to read them."
Tyris nodded, focusing her strength on not letting them escape. It wasn't only their mind to be apparently broken, even their powers were out of scale. It was just them being too stupid to use them properly.
Leegaain let out two tendrils of mana, attempting a telepathic communication with the two anomalies. As soon as the link was established, Leegaain fell on his knees screaming in pain.
Tyris squashed them mercilessly, going to aid her old friend.
"What happened?"
"It's worse than we thought. Not only something is creating artificial Abominations, in a way similar to what you use for your artificial Awakened ones, but it's also fusing themselves together to force them to evolve faster.
Each one of those things was several Abominations merged into one. That's why they were so strong."
Chapter 173 Return
"What do you mean?" Tyris asked.
"We already know how Abominations are usually born. An Awakened one gets too greedy, impatient or both, and ends up losing his body. After that, either they find a way to stabilise their energy form or death ensues.
In this case though, someone has purposely Awakened humans, beasts and monsters against their will and then attempted an experiment as brilliant as much as twisted. Newborn Abominations are made entirely out of energy, with little to no sense of self at all.
By merging them together, our culprit has found a way to stabilise their ethereal forms while at the same time making easier for them to possess a body. Since they are almost mindless hungry beings, they offer no resistance to the merging process.
Energy is energy after all, they perceive it as feeding until it's too late. Also, being hybrids of multiple species, they can inhabit almost any body. On paper it's a great idea, but once they start regaining their minds, the conflicting personalities are incapable of coexisting.
As we have witnessed, their constant fight for control turns into madness."
"Are you sure about this?" Tyris was pondering about the implications of their discovery. The situation was already bad, but if Leegaain was right, it was just the beginning.
"Very." He nodded.
"Once I established the connection, I was assaulted by at least one hundred different minds, each one of them marked by the pain of captivity and of being forcefully turned into Abominations.
Too bad that before I could sort out their memories and ask some questions, they recognized me as a foreign mind and piled up on me all at once."
"For once, I think you are wrong, old friend." Tyris started pacing in circles, trying to ease her nervousness.
"When everything started, I would find single Abominations, indistinguishable by normal ones except for their abnormal spawn rate. Now we have faced a small group, that not only had evolved, but despite their madness coordinated their attacks, both in the physical plane and psychic one.
What does this tell you?"
"That our opponent has spent quite a lot of time perfecting his method, and now he's attempting to further step up his game."
"No, you are underestimating whoever this is. Yes, they were mad, but still able to work together. Also, you told me that once they recognized you, they stopped fighting and attacked you as one. This means that their maker already has a degree of control over them.
He left them behind in order to escape from us, even predicting that we would have tried to probe their minds, leaving a trap behind. How badly would you be injured without my help?"
Leegaain inwardly cursed at his stupidity. Either the mental attack had been stronger than he had suspected, or he was really becoming an old fool.
"Physically, not much. Even giving them hours, their attacks were still too weak. Their combined psychic attack, though, took me by surprise. I would have needed weeks, if not months to heal the telepathic scars."
"Exactly. Our enemy is getting bolder with every success. It's only a matter of time before the Gorgon Empire starts getting targeted too."
"I wish you were right, but we are past that point already. In the last months, a few Abominations wreaked havoc in several border cities. At first I was happy about that. Milea never fought one, so I thought it would do her good to have some practice.
But when she reported me to how many of those monsters she encountered, I couldn't help but worry. There were more than usually spawn in a year. Why do you think I accepted to come here? It was obvious that your problem had turned into our problem."
Hearing those words, Tyris couldn't help but worry.
"This explains a lot. He conducted the first step of his plan in my country, the second in yours, probably hoping I would not notice, and then escalated things here again. We need to warn Salaark. Her territory is the biggest, and has so many uninhabited areas you could hide whole armies. She could be the next target."
"Are we talking about the same Salaark? The harbinger of chaos? The scorching Sun? The red death? Unlike us, she has never kept a low profile. It would be crazy messing with her."
"If I'm right, the one behind this madness knows about us Guardians and it's testing our limits. Getting on the black list of three Guardians instead of two is not a big deal."
***
"What do you mean you have lost them?" Captain Locrias of the Queen's corps couldn't believe his ears.
Toman was the most skilled member of the unit at tailing their target, yet she had lost track of Lith many times during his last visit. He moved so fast and erratically that it was impossible for her to keep following him and not get discovered.
This time though, things were even worse. Lith and his odd friend had met outside the huntress's house and then had disappeared like ghosts.
"I'm sorry Captain, but I had to keep my distance and couldn't use any eavesdropping air spells to maintain my cover. I don't know how he does it, but in the past that barbarian has been able to perceive me every time I got too close or used air magic.
He then just suddenly pops behind my back and asks me why I was following him, forcing me to escape, but never attempting to chase me." Having suddenly became incapable of doing her job frustrated Toman to no end.
"Dammit, with what face can I report this to the Queen? It was fine not knowing anything about this Ryman guy, as long he was just the huntress' lover and kept a low profile. After what has happened today however, he is now one of our priorities."
"Indeed. Someone that can put his hands on that sociopath and get it back in one piece could be useful leverage." Said Peicus, the second in command.
"That's why I hate backwater villages." The Captain said shaking his head in frustration.
"It's impossible to perform a decent background check on newcomers. No one knows him and no one cares about his past. According to Toman's report he is a great expert, even able to use Warp Steps for instant movements.
We need to find out who he is and bring him to our side. The fact that he can keep Lith's murderous impulses in check is just the icing on the cake." Actually, Ryman was incapable of using dimensional magic, he was just that fast.
"I'm sorry, Captain." Vykaros, the liaison with the Mage association, had an embarrassed expression that didn't bode well.
"No one matching Ryman's name or description has ever attended an academy, nor is registered in any guild based in the Griffon Kingdom. The guy is a ghost."
"Oh, come on! Just because he walked out of the woods in his birthday suit a month ago, it's impossible for him to have no past. Men do not sprout like mushrooms!"
Much to Captain Locrias dismay, it was exactly what had happened.
***
Lith spent the next two days making up for the lost quality time with his family. Too much time had passed since their last treatment, so he was forced to expel the newly accumulated impurities in their bodies that were making them age faster due to the daily fatigue, deteriorating their health.
- "It seems that unlike Awakened ones, that progressively get rid of the impurities they are born with, normal humans and fake mages keep producing new ones. It must be the reason my looks are improving over time." Lith pondered.
"Or not." Solus giggled. "That's a very natural phenomenon called: 'growing up'. Sure, having a smooth skin and silky hair helps, but your main problem has always been the perpetual glaring." –
It was one of those arguments where they had to agree to disagree.
Ryman's magic abilities grew by leaps and bounds under Lith's supervision. He had no idea how true magic worked. In his Ry form, air and fire magic were natural for him like breathing, turning his thoughts into reality.
The other elements however, were another story. He had no skill or experience with them, so Lith taught him first magic, giving the foundations to improve his talent. Lith also taught him about Invigoration and Accumulation, something that Scarlett had overlooked doing.
"Probably she wanted me to learn everything by myself." Ryman pondered.
"In nature, power without wisdom is the greatest madness. I'm very sorry I can't give you anything in return."
Ryman had tried teaching Lith how to change form, but with no success. Lith understood the theory behind it, but whenever he attempted to do it, nothing would happen. There was no pain, no tickling sensation running through his body.
He would just circulate his mana uselessly.
"It doesn't matter. If what occurred in the camp happens again, at least I should be able to control the process of transformation. Also, thanks to you, now I know how to teach Tista true magic if the necessity ever arises."
"Be careful, Scourge. A great power can be a curse for such a gentle soul."
"Tsk!" Lith scoffed. "As much as I love my sister, she needs to grow up. Gentle or not, one can't remain a cub their whole life. There is a time when one has to learn how to use his fangs to bring the hurt."
"I could not have said it better." Ryman laughed.
Before going back to the academy, Lith forged him a dimensional ring to avoid being forced to see Ryman undress every time he took his Skoll form.
Later that week, Gurid Renkin was found dead in his bed, and Nana certified him to have died of a natural cause.
- "A huge blast of dark magic naturally causes the heart to stop, hence it's a natural cause." – She inwardly added having recognized the effects of her beloved spell Ekidu Ruha(*). But that's another story.
Back at the White Griffon, Lith was surprised to find that all of his Professors were willing to teach him privately until the academies officially started operating again. Of course, there was a sour note.
Unlike his peers, Professor Rudd didn't like his new task. By royal decree, he had to teach dimensional magic to Lith by actually giving him pointers and explanations, violating everything Rudd believed in.
Ignoring a royal decree was an act of treason though and Rudd treasured his possessions and head more than he hated commoners.
"You already know the initial steps." Rudd snarled each word like someone was taking them out of his mouth with a clamp.
"First comes materializing a core made of earth magic, amplified by air and stabilised by water. The trick here is balance." Lith nodded, while Rudd executed a short spell that conjured a small ball of light.
"Then comes creating an entry and exit point. To stabilise them water magic must flow from one to another, like they are two ends of the same limb. The key is finesse." The ball of light dissipated. Rudd performed another spell that created two small black spheres.
"Third, you need to stretch and enlarge them by giving them the same amount of mana at the same time. The key is timing." Lith nodded again, this was the step he was stuck at.
"Last, you must connect them. To do it, you need the two cores to become one again, their energies must flow one toward the other and meet exactly halfway through. The key here is patience."
"That's it?" Lith was flabbergasted.
"You had educational spells all this time and yet you had us needlessly bang our heads? Why you didn't teach us those in the first place?"
"Because every idiot can learn dimensional magic that way!" Rudd lied through his teeth. He had taught those spells in the past, for a price, and the success rate of his students had never changed.
"Dimensional magic is too powerful for anyone to handle. Power without wisdom is the greatest madness!" Lith would have rebuked, but Professor Rudd had unknowingly quoted Ryman, with whom Lith agreed.
"If it wasn't for the orders of a certain someone, I would have never wasted my time like this. So instead of flapping your gums, get to work!"
Lith inwardly scoffed. He couldn't wait to get rid of that old coot.
Professor Rudd sat down on his chair, waiting for the little runt to beg for pointers. Rudd knew he would be forced to help him, but that didn't mean he would make it easy for Lith.
The minutes passed and Lith kept practicing relentlessly. Rudd was about to get up to stretch his legs a bit, when a perfect Warp Gate opened in front of his incredulous eyes.
Thanks to all the practice in controlling the flow of magic under the effects of Small World, Lith's magic sensitivity had improved tremendously, and so did his control over the mana's finest movements.
"Not bad for a commoner. Right Professor?"
Chapter 174 Second Exam
A few days later, when the White Griffon academy resumed its normal activities, Lith was still practicing how to convert Warp Steps into true magic while also trying to learn Blink.
It was supposed to be the final milestone of Professor Rudd's class and Lith was eager to cut his ties with him. After Lith had learned Warp Steps, the old Professor had become even more cranky and unfriendly, making him regret his sassy attitude.
- "Back then I should have kept my mouth shut. Between my excitement and Rudd's provocations, I let pride get the best of me. I'm so dumb sometimes."
"Nobody's perfect. Live and learn." Solus consoled him. –
Despite their renewed hostilities, Lith never missed a lesson, squeezing as much knowledge as he could from the Professor before things went back to normal. Dimensional magic really was the hardest subject for Lith after all.
Since both Manohar and Marth were still away, that left him a lot of time to practice Forgemastering with Professor Wanemyre, allowing him to get ahead of his peers and to learn from her how to forge communication amulets.
After meeting Kalla and witnessing Ryman's growth, Lith decided it was better to remain in touch with his non human allies. The problem was that the amulets were very expensive to buy, making him realize how big of a present the two he had received from the Marchioness were.
Forgemastering the amulets was a complex task, though. The blue gemstone, the key item required to make it work, was an uncommon mana stone and beside that, several enchantments were needed.
Transmitting images and sounds, receiving them, the ability to scan items and documents, memorizing another communication amulet's signature. Every single function required a spell of its own.
Wanemyre had accepted showing him the blueprints only to make Lith realize his limits. She had always been amazed by his theorical knowledge, that actually depended entirely on Soluspedia, but now that she had only him to teach, she realized that his practical skills were lacking.
He knew enough to make up for it, but in the long run, it could become a fatal flaw. Hence Wanemyre allowed him to bite more than he could chew. After realizing the task was beyond his current abilities, Lith gave up on the idea and focused on the basics instead.
The Professors he worked with during that time became fond of his hardworking nature. Especially since Lith would never show conceit for the privileges they were forced to grant him, only respect and gratitude.
He spent his nights using Accumulation to further refine his core and searching for a way to open the boxes in his pocket dimension, losing quite a few in the process.
Going back to the basics not only allowed him to become a better Forgemaster, but also to better understand how to crack that mystery.
When his friends finally returned, he had made much progress in all his endeavours, but no breakthrough.
Yurial was the only one brimming with confidence, looking like a million dollars. The girls instead, looked dejected, like they had been forced to swallow too many bitter pills too often.
"Hey, I thought being dark and gloomy was my thing." Lith said trying to lighten the mood, but to no avail.
"If you knew my mother, you would understand. These last few days were a nightmare, especially for them." Phloria sighed, while pointing at the other two girls.
"And as for me, I should just be glad to be back here. There was more than one moment when I seriously thought I would never wear pants again. Also, I never expected to go away with two friends and return with two sisters."
Lith furrowed his brows. This wasn't the Phloria he used to know and respect, confident and strong-willed. It wasn't like her to speak in riddles, her words made no sense.
Yurial knew everything already, but feigned ignorance to appear more natural in case one of the girls needed emotional support from a couple of strong arms.
Seeing their confusion, Friya explained to them everything that had happened. From the fall of house Solivar to their adoption by Duke Ernas.
"I didn't have a choice." At the request of the girls, they had met in Lith's room to speak privately.
"It was one thing to be the rebellious daughter of a noble and proud family. I could have always exploited my mother's dire need for a mage in the family to bide my time before becoming independent.
Being the lone survivor in a line of traitors is another." Just repeating her story was too much for her shaken nerves, so after a few sobs, Friya started to cry.
"I had nothing left. My house is gone, my siblings and relatives are all dead. I hated them, but they were still my family. How could my mother abandon us all, letting us pay for her crimes?"
Having already said those words countless times back at Phloria's home, Friya didn't feel like burdening her sisters with her weakness again, so she instinctively sought comfort in another friend, throwing herself on Lith's chest.
At least she was sure that his hands wouldn't 'accidentally' slip. Yurial was disappointed by the missed opportunity, but his poker face remained impeccable.
"My mother is really a monster." Seeing her friend's suffering made Phloria turn back to her old self, seething with rage.
"As soon as she finished with the Solivars, she rushed back home the moment she learned about my guests' identities. She even gave them an ultimatum. They had only until the academy's reopening to accept, take it or leave it."
Lith was flabbergasted by Jirni Ernas' ruthlessness. Exploiting two young girls' suffering was something that even he would have hesitated to do.
Maybe.
Instinctively he hugged Friya tight, sitting on his bed and rocking her in his arms, like he used to do with Tista back when she was in too much pain to fall asleep. One hand gently stroking her hair while supporting her back with the other.
After a bit, she seemed to calm down, the crying reduced to an occasional sniff.
Yurial inwardly admired his technique. To so casually lift a girl like she weighted nothing was something that required practice.
- "Maybe he isn't made of stone after all." – Yurial thought.
"What about you?" Lith asked Quylla with a worried tone.
"I'm still overwhelmed by how quickly everything happened." She looked at Friya with more than a tinge of envy.
"I was in a daze from how wonderful Phloria's house was. I have always wanted a family and after Friya accepted, the idea of becoming sisters, to have a place I belong, was too good to turn down.
After I accepted too though, the dream became a nightmare. I spent more time trying on clothes and learning a lady's etiquette than practicing magic. To make things worse, Duchess Ernas kept going on about marriage and what a lovely bride I would be."
Quylla blushed up to her ears, looking at Lith in search of a reaction from him.
"Do not let that woman fool you with sweet words and pretty dresses." He seemed really angered.
"Adoption or not, she doesn't own you. A house name is just like blood, it's only as thick as you allow it to be. If the Ernas family is a prison instead of a home, you have no reason to sacrifice your happiness for them.
No offence, Phloria."
"None taken. It's the same thing I told them." Phloria nodded, feeling like his words were addressed to her too. Lith knew how rough the relationship she had with her mother was.
Because of those words, Quylla felt happy and sad at the same time. Happy because he seemed to care for her, sad because his words once again sounded like those a concerned brother would speak.
The gap between them never felt so wide.
Meanwhile, Friya had completely recovered, happy for her face to still be hidden, since she was blushing wildly while her heart was racing.
She had never liked Lith as a boy. He was too cold, too serious, and most importantly she knew what Quylla felt for him. Yet his arms projected strength and confidence while his touch exuded a sincere paternal care like she hadn't felt since her father died.
Initially she had thought about remaining there until she had calmed down, but things were only getting worse. The more time passed, the more aware she was of his warmth and good smell.
So she detached from him gently but firmly and ran into the bathroom saying she needed to wash her face.
"How was the quarantine zone?" Yurial asked while Lith removed tears and snot from his uniform with a darkness spell.
"Classified." He replied with a stern voice and a stone face that he let crumble after an instant.
"Off the record? It was the stuff nightmares are made of. Believe me, you don't want to know. So much death and misery in a single place that is beyond imagination, and it's better for it to stay that way."
Lith sighed, borrowing Solus's words.
- "Shame on you." Solus rebuked him. "Using my words to fake feelings you don't have. I forgive you only because you have been great with Friya. Her situation is the worst among them all. She needs all the help that she can get."
"I did? I mean, thanks. Now she is even worse off than Quylla, since she can leave the Ernas family whenever she wants as a free woman, while in the eyes of society Friya would just be a traitor without them." –
The group spent the rest of the day catching up with each other, resuming their usual routine from the following day.
Between the pointers that Lith had extorted from Rudd and Quylla's talent, all of them managed to open Warp Steps, coming close to even completing the Blink spell. Everyone was on edge, knowing that the second exam was around the corner.
As Lith predicted, Friya became a target for all those kinds of harassment that no Ballot could stop. Not even the name of the Ernas could protect her from the spite and the scorn that came from her being branded as a fallen noble and a traitor.
"The only silver lining in all this situation, is that I'm putting so much effort in my studies to relieve my stress, that not only my grades are improving, but I am also in the upper tier of my Magic Knight specialization." Friya said with pride.
"Yeah, seems a lot of people have been slacking off while we were working our as*es off." Phloria pointed out.
The three weeks break had caused many students to relax and lose their rhythm.
Not to mention that between the impending civil war worrying the nobles and the harassment most commoners experienced, it was easy to fall behind. With the academy's competitive environment, making up for the lost time was nigh impossible.
When the day of the second exam came, it took everyone by surprise once again.
"Since many of you complained about the last test, I have decided to use written tests again." Headmaster Linjos said to the student body assembled in the main hall.
Many of the old noble families smirked in defiance, feeling victorious over the now tamed Headmaster.
"But that will bring your grades only up to rank B. If you are fine with that, raise your hand." Linjos continued, enjoying their spunk turning into stupor.
"For those who want a Rank above B, I have prepared a special test, modified according to your input. This time you can make up your teams as you want, up to 4 members.
Each team will have a supervisor, a student from the fifth year. It will be their responsibility to make sure that foul play isn't involved and that you come out alive. Per your request, there will no more monitoring or help from the Professors.
Whoever wants to take part in the test must first fill a liability release form. The academy will not be held responsible if anything befalls you."
The students jumped from their seats, running toward those they believed to be their best bet to pass the exam, while others preferred to give up and take the written test instead.
Lith was discussing with his group how to come out of that mess, since only four out of five of them could form a group, when Linjos joined them.
"Don't worry my students. The nature of this test is such that some people, like Lith, cannot be part of any group." Before they could express their surprise and outrage, Linjos raised his hand, forcing them to shut up with air magic.
"He can still get a rank above A. You'll understand when the test begins."
Chapter 175 Second Exam 2
The main hall soon fell into chaos, the best students being fought over like they were cattle. It didn't take much for the situation to devolve into an auction where people would attempt to bribe or blackmail their targets.
Friya sneered at all those that had previously acted all high and mighty, drowning her daily with their venomous words, now fighting among themselves without a shred of dignity, like hungry wolves over a slab of meat.
When Kippa, a girl that had been particularly obnoxious to Friya in the last month, had the gall to ask for her help, Friya gently smiled to her and politely refused. Friya even gave her a small bow, right before punching Kippa in the face, smiling the whole time.
"Our group may be quite unbalanced but I trust your skills, and more importantly I trust all of you as persons. In a life or death situation, I couldn't ask for better teammates."
Phloria said extending her arm with the open hand in the middle of the group.
"Indeed." Yurial was the first to place his hand above hers.
"If there is no supervision, trust and teamwork are of paramount importance to survival. That's what we learned from the mock exam. Knowing the Headmaster, I doubt firepower will be essential. It's probably another learning experience more than a test of pure strength."
The girls as always, remained flabbergasted. It was like there were two Yurials. One was a lady-killer, sometimes even a bit lecherous, that always appeared in the safety of their rooms or when flirting with girls.
The other was very similar to Lith, calm and calculating.
"Yeah, but I will still miss Lith's hunter skills and battle experience." Quylla sighed. During the last month her feelings for him had waned quite a bit. After the caring attentions Lith had given to the crying Friya, she had expected him at least to ask her out.
Instead nothing had changed. Wherever Lith's heart was, it was clearly devoid of everything but brotherly feelings, for all of them.
***
Linjos watched the events unfolding in the main hall with a big smile.
"This will teach those snotty brats that commoners or not, in life talent and hard work are much more important than a piece of paper attesting their nobility." He said.
"And also, that they cannot expect to receive help or cooperation by those they treated like inferior beings, right?" Lith asked.
Linjos nodded, while Lith curled up his upper lip in disgust, seeing how quickly things were escalating.
"That will not prevent them from coercing others, though. A leopard cannot change its spots." Linjos dismissed that observation with a wave of the hand.
"You are underestimating me. Besides, I didn't bring you here because I want your opinion on my plans, but to talk about your future."
Lith furrowed his browns. He did not like being taken by surprise.
"As you have surely noticed, after your return you have received special treatment. That's because I have received several calls, from Professor Marth and the Crown."
"The Crown?" Lith echoed, swallowing a lump of saliva.
"Sometimes from the Queen, sometimes from the King, others from both. Bottom line, all the three of them told me how splendidly you performed under a nightmarish situation, fighting against the odds like a professional.
At this point, you could sit on your hands until the end of the year and still get promoted. Normally, I'd just let you skip the second exam, since it's useless to you. After how easily Captain Velagros was found and killed, though, I'm certain we have one or more traitors within the academy. Hence I'm short of people I can trust.
And since I know you wouldn't like anything bad happening to your friends, here is my proposal…"
***
The announcement of the second exam had been sudden, but its execution was delayed for a few hours. First the students had to form a group, appoint a team leader, and then the leaders would bring their list to one of the Professors.
Unlike the past test, the members of each team were summoned one by one in a special room where they would be questioned to find out if they had been the victim of blackmail or coercion during the selection process.
Unbeknownst to everyone, the main hall had been constantly monitored the whole time. Everything that happened after Linjos had left was recorded and had been examined for future disciplinary measures.
Those who denounced their aggressors were once again asked if they wanted to take part in the test. In case of affirmative answer, they would be grouped together, forming new teams.
Those who didn't were automatically excluded from the test and sent back into the dorms. Linjos had decreed that those who weren't able to stand up for themselves even when offered help and protection, couldn't be evaluated above Rank B.
Strength of character was universally considered a prequisite for first class mages. A meek mage, no matter how talented, was bound to not get far in life.
While waiting for their turn, Phloria's group received an unexpected surprise. Orion Ernas, her father, had come to pay them a visit.
"My little Flower, come to papa!" Before Phloria could even react, Orion lifted her from the ground like she was a doll, spinning her around the room. He was over 1.96 metres (6'5") high, he had to bend a little to walk through the door.
"Dad, what the heck…" Her protests were muffled by a hug as sudden as it was tight.
"I'm so sorry little Flower. I was away dealing with the traitors; I had no idea your mother would do something like that. When I learned what had happened, it was too late."
Phloria was red from embarrassment, but Orion didn't seem to notice, patting her head like she was still a small child.
"So you two must be my two new daughters." He finally let Phloria go. She really wanted to give her father a piece of her mind, for treating her like that in front of her friends, but she was too embarrassed for that.
Friya and Quylla gave him a small curtsy, not knowing how to react to the sudden intrusion.
"I'm really sorry for what my wife did. I know you will find it hard to believe, but she is actually a good woman." He gave them a deep bow. Orion had black hair and brown eyes like Phloria. His physique was lean but muscular, his perfectly shaven face showed only honest regret.
He had some wrinkles around the eyes and temples, but every movement of his was full of vigour.
"Don't worry about all her marriage talks, the Ernas household is mine, my opinion matters as much as Jirni's. At least when I'm home." He sighed.
"Dad, what are you doing here? How did you manage to enter into the academy?"
"I have my connections." Orion winked. "And I couldn't let my daughters go empty handed." A rapier and a long knife materialized from his dimensional amulet. Both had the Ernas household crest engraved on the handle, the blade and the scabbard.
"I made them myself, using a secret family crafting technique." He gave the rapier to Friya, who only needed a few swings to appreciate its prowess. It was light as a feather, cutting the air without emitting a sound.
"And this is for you." Orion handed the knife to Quylla, who looked at it as at an angry snake.
"I never used a blade." She said in embarrassment.
"That's the easy part. Remember, the pointy end goes in the other guy." He laughed ruffling her hair.
"Little Flower?" Yurial asked, breaking the following embarrassed silence.
"Yes, it's my little baby's moniker. We named her after an ancient goddess of fertility."
"Dad please, stop!" Phloria was so red no one would have been surprised if she suddenly caught fire.
"There's nothing to be embarrassed about, little Flower. As I was saying, my little Jirni hoped that it would make Phloria grow delicate and graceful. Instead, she resembles me a lot."
Orion had just started telling what was likely to be an embarrassing anecdote about Phloria, when one by one their names were called, transporting them into Linjos' office. Phloria had never been so happy seeing the Headmaster's long face before.
"Your task is simple." Linjos explained. "I will send you in the dungeon below the academy. All you have to do is come out alive. The test has no time limit. Whenever you feel you can't go on anymore, just tell your supervisor and he will take you back.
In such event, the exam will be considered as failed."
"Since when does the White Griffon have a dungeon?"
"What kind of creatures will we face?"
"Where is our supervisor?"
Linjos ignored all their questions, opening a Warp Steps with a wave of the hand.
One after the other, they walked through the dimensional gate, finding themselves in a closed and humid space, devoid of any source of light except for two glowing red eyes staring at them in the dark.
"You took your sweet time." Lith's voice echoed along the walls, making them jump.
Yurial used first magic, lighting the small cave they were in.
Lith squinted his eyes for a moment, but his eyes remained red. The group could see him holding a wooden staff which ended in a half moon shape, with a red gemstone floating in its middle.
He also wore several bracelets and rings they had never seen before. They were all presents the Crown had sent to him as a special thank you for his services during the plague and the exam.
- "Between all these alchemical and enchanted items, I can freely use true magic. Not even a Professor would be able to notice." He thought. –
"Lith? Are you really our supervisor?" Phloria asked.
"Yes. Your task is to get out of here alive, mine is to not let you die. I don't know how exactly the grading system works, but I guess that every time you force me to action, your score will be lowered." He shrugged.
"No, I mean you are a fourth year just like us. How is this possible?"
"Sorry, can't answer that."
Linjos' story about no supervision was all a lie. The so called fifth year students were actually elite alumni, young enough to pass for students, but with their loyalty already proven.
Phloria's group didn't need control, only support in case of need. Linjos had estimated that because of the nature of the test, and with his new equipment, Lith was skilled enough to cover for the role.
"Why the red eyes?" Quylla asked.
"A personal spell to see in the dark without becoming a beacon like you lot." Years had passed since the last time Lith had activated his Fire Vision spell. It granted him an improved version of thermal goggles, allowing him to see in the dark in a scale of colours according to the temperature of his surroundings.
Lucky for him, light magic didn't emit heat, otherwise he would have been blinded.
Meanwhile Yurial was racking his brain, trying to understand the purpose of the test. The group started moving in a single line, with Phloria on point, followed by Yurial, then Quylla and Friya in the rear.
The stone corridor was large enough to allow two people to walk side by side, but they were mages. They needed enough space to move without messing with each other.
- "Think Yurial, think." He thought. "Linjos' tests are all actually simple once you understand what he is trying to teach you. I already have all the pieces of the puzzle. Something that doesn't need a balanced team, something that a mage must learn.
"But more importantly, something that Lith already knows. That's the only possible explanation for his role. What separates him from the rest of us? There lies the answer." –
They kept walking for several minutes, the only sound beside their steps was the water dripping from the ceiling into small pools. The humidity of the place made it a perfect environment for mushrooms and mosses of every kind.
Suddenly, a small head appeared behind a corner. It looked like a deformed child, with skin made pale, almost translucent, by having spent its whole life underground. It had huge eyes, a bumpy button nose and pointy ears.
"Goblins!" Phloria yelled while unsheathing her sword.
The creature rushed forward fearlessly, holding a club between its hands, quickly followed by a dozen more creatures, all armed with rudimentary weapons.
The goblins screamed in a frenzy; they hadn't had meat in months.
"Oh f*ck me sideways!" Yurial screamed, finally solving the riddle.
"None of us has ever killed a human being!"
Chapter 176 Trial by Murder
Yurial's words struck everyone, making them freeze for a split second, even Lith.
He immediately understood why he had been forbidden to take part in the test as a regular student. For him it would have been a stroll in the park.
With their skinny limbs and bloated bellies, the goblins almost resembled the pictures of starving kids that humanitarian associations back on Earth would use in their fundraisers.
They were short, between one and 1.2 meters (3'3" and 3'11") high, and their disproportionately large eyes emphasized their childish appearance. Their bloodlust and their hungry, lustful gazes, though, revealed their true nature.
If was the first time for the whole group seeing humanoid monsters. They usually lived in the wilderness, far away from populated areas. Unless of course, the humans had been so stupid to chase or hunt away the magical beasts.
Humanoid monsters travelled in small tribes, needing time to settle up and grow their numbers before becoming a real threat. Magical beasts were the natural predators of such creatures that disrupted the natural flow of things.
They would hunt, cut down trees and destroy their surroundings recklessly since once humanoid monsters exhausted the natural resources, they would simply move to a new region and start over.
Magical beasts would react to their presence, slaughtering them before the cycle of destruction, r*pe and murder could begin. In the new world as long as the balance between humans, monsters and beasts stood, no race was allowed to grow unchecked.
When the goblin with the club entered her range, Phloria did not hesitate. She slashed down with her estoc aiming for the neck. Thanks to its instinct, the creature managed somehow to react, blocking with its stone weapon.
The estoc crushed the club, but in the process it was deflected, cutting off the goblin's left arm instead. The creature's scream was human like, its blood spattered on the cave's walls staining them red.
Phloria had never wounded someone intentionally, so her first instinct was to stop and provide first aid. The goblin perceived her weakness and exploited it using its now sharp stick to stab her throat.
Phloria inwardly cursed at her stupidity, while all her training kicked in, allowing her to deflect the stick with the shield and to cut the goblin's head off for good. In the time she needed to do so, however, two goblins managed to slip past her.
What she had never thought about, is that after decapitation the heart would keep pumping for a few seconds, generating a fountain of blood that blinded her long enough for even more goblins to pass, while the others surrounded her from all sides.
One goblin was enough to throw Quylla on the ground, pinning her down with its weight while trying to rip off her uniform and slash her with a knife at the same time. She hadn't expected Phloria to fail, so she was still chanting a tier three spell when it happened.
She started to yell and cry at the same time, helplessly attempting to get it off her. What the creature lacked in strength, it compensated in fury and hunger. The uniform protected Quylla from the poisoned knife, but she could still feel the hits.
Another girlish scream quickly followed. Yurial had fallen as well for the sudden attack. Unlike Quylla, armed or not a single goblin wasn't enough to bring down someone of his height and build.
Once a second and a third one joined the fray, though, he fell to the ground, his vision blurred by the blood coming from multiple hits to the head.
The scene almost paralysed Friya too, but Quylla screams woke her up immediately. Her new rapier made short work of the goblins that got close to her, blood and guts spattered everywhere, releasing a disgusting smell of sh*t and bile.
Friya repressed the urge to puke, moving forward to help Yurial, the closest one to her. Her weapon was too long, though. With so little space and the mass of piled bodies, she had no way to be sure not to stab him in the process too.
"Why didn't I bring a short weapon too?" She cried in desperation, hitting the back of the enemies with her shield, to force them to retreat.
Lith remained in the back, flabbergasted by their incompetence.
- "Why do Quylla and Yurial hesitate to aim for the vitals? They are healers too. Why tier three magic instead of first magic? In such an enclosed space speed is more important that raw damage, not to mention these things are so small and weak."–
Since their appearance, Lith had thought about dozens of ways to effortlessly wipe out the goblins. By crushing them with spirit magic, slicing them down with a hail of ice shards, or simply cutting them apart with air magic.
They wore no protections, it wasn't a matter of if they could kill them, just how to do it and how much made them suffer.
Lith didn't like that situation one bit. To hold himself from intervening, he grabbed his staff strong enough to turn his hands white.
- "They are mine! How dare these monsters put their hands on them?" His mind was burning with rage.
"But everything is still under control and no one is really injured. If I help them now, they'll learn nothing, becoming even more reliant on me. I would only cripple their growth. Is this what Linjos meant when he told me I would benefit from the test too?
Is he trying to teach me restraint?" -
In the front line, Phloria had quickly recovered, cutting down her enemies like grass. The goblins surrounded her more than once from multiple angles but they died all the same way.
With a single thrust of her estoc.
"Wish for it to get shorter!" She screamed to Friya. Orion's gifts weren't simple blades, they were a forgemastering treasure, able to contract and expand at will, making them suitable for every combat scenario.
Friya followed her advice, and her rapier turned into a short sword that she used to safely free Yurial.
"Use first magic, you idiot!" Lith screamed, incapable of standing idle anymore.
His voice shook Quylla from her terror. She released a jolt of electricity that stunned and paralysed the goblin. Her magic couldn't harm her, so she ignored the current flowing through their bodies and unsheathed her knife.
Quylla stabbed the creature over and over, screaming in frenzy. Only after reducing it to a bloody mess she managed to stop.
When the fight was over, the group was covered in blood, guts and sh*t. The stench surrounding them was suffocating, making it hard to breathe. Quylla was the first to start crying, realizing what she had done, but refused to let her knife go.
Then it was Yurial's turn, cursing himself for being useless, then Friya and lastly Phloria. They had experienced the hard way how different it was hunting some defenceless game from killing a sentient being for survival.
Their sobs quickly turned into a violent cough; the pungent smell was irritating their noses. Between the shock derived from the fight and the gruesome scene in front of them, they started to puke one after the other.
- "What the heck? How can they be so stupid? First thing they should cleanse to zone, otherwise the smell of blood will lure other creatures. I doubt monsters will patiently wait for them to stop puking before an attack."
"Don't be so hard on them." Solus' mind sounded full of motherly affection.
"They are just kids. Quylla told us more than once that she never used magic for aggression before the academy, the worst things she has ever faced were hunger and solitude.
As for the others, they are the lucky ones. Until now they have been served and pampered, only worrying about meeting their parents' expectations. When it happened to you, would you rather have had someone yelling at you or a hug and a good word?"–
Solus' words only brought back bad memories. Lith's first kill had been his own father, back on Earth, but even then he needed neither. He had been too busy protecting himself and Carl from that poor excuse of a mother to leave any space for feelings.
- "I wonder why it has always to be me being the bigger person." He thought.
"Well, maybe because you usually are the bigger person in the room." Solus chuckling somehow lifted his spirit. –
According to Solus there were no magical items in the cave, aside the ones they were wearing. Maybe Linjos had been sincere about the lack of supervision, and maybe not.
Before intervening, Lith put the bracelet meant to bring them back into the main hall inside the pocket dimension. Then, he tapped the staff on the ground, releasing a wave of darkness magic that cleaned the corridor, dissolving every trace of the fight into nothingness.
"Be strong, Phloria." Lith patted her shoulder, almost getting stabbed in return. She was still on edge, jumping at every noise.
"You can't remain here, other creatures may lurk nearby. You all need a place to rest and recover."
Normally he would have also pointed out how he was already helping them too much, not only by advising them, but also by keeping the light alive while they were all panicking.
In their current state, though, it would have been rude, not to mention he doubted that any of them cared for the exam at the moment. Phloria and Lith helped the others to get up, healing their wounds and prompting them to regain their cool.
Not even half an hour had passed from the beginning of the test, and everyone was already in dire need of sleep. They kept walking for a while before finding a proper place to rest.
The underground maze was composed by corridors connecting a series of caves that varied in size. Some were so small they needed to crawl, others were bigger than the academy's classrooms. Luckily, they didn't encounter anything else on their way.
The group settled inside a cave with a single entrance, but only after Yurial made sure there were no hidden passages or tunnels in the walls. After that, he conjured a series of arrays that would turn anyone walking inside their lair into mincemeat.
Meanwhile, Lith handed Phloria a piece of paper and an inkwell.
"What is this?" She asked after passing out warm blankets to the others, while Friya lighted a fire from the wood she had carried in her dimensional amulet. Unlike the mock exam, this time they had come prepared.
"First rule of dungeoning: always draw a map." Lith imparted her the knowledge coming from his experience with Dungeons & Looting.
"Damn, I had completely forgot." After opening up the scroll, she noticed that he had kept track of all the rooms they had passed through.
"Aren't you going overboard by helping us so much?" Phloria was worried for him, but at the same time was really happy having Lith covering their backs.
"It's just a grade." He shrugged.
"Knowing Linjos, the bigger part of it will depend on how much we learn from our mistakes, rather than being punished for making them. This is an academy, after all, not a slaughter house."
"Done!" Yurial had a prideful expression while walking back into the makeshift campsite.
"Right now the arrays are on standby, to not waste their magical energies for nothing. Normally only the Warden can activate them, but since I need some sleep too, I consumed a few mana stones to make the arrays respond to whoever holds this."
He showed a red mana stone the size of a chalk.
"Great thinking!" Phloria complimented him. "Now we can rest easy."
After deciding the shifts, everyone took their places around the fire, which served more as a moral comfort rather than for light and heat. There were always things that no matter how powerful, magic wasn't able to accomplish, like soothing a restless mind.
No one managed to fall asleep, the images of the goblins' corpses still flashed in front of their eyes. Friya was the first one to leave her place and snuggle up on Lith, soon followed by all the others.
She still remembered the sensation of safety he exuded while she was between his arms, and now she needed it more than ever. Despite all that had happened, Lith had remained unfazed, like a mountain in the face of a storm.
Quylla, and even Phloria and Yurial, despite being to proud to admit it, felt the same way. In their hearts the firmly believed that his murderous gaze they had grown fond of overtime was capable of send back whatever horror was lurking in the shadows with the tail between its legs.
In fact, after discussing again the guard-duty order, the group fell asleep as one, leaving Lith as a mother goose surrounded by ducklings.
Not knowing whether to laugh or cry, he stood watch listening to their snoring.
Chapter 177 Unexpected Encounter
When the group awoke, the number of yawns instantly put everyone on alarm. They instantly realized that no one had stood guard, leaving them completely defenceless except for the presence of their theoretically neutral supervisor.
Phloria and the others felt greatly embarrassed, but nothing could compare with the exhaustion and disgust that still lingered on their minds. Despite using darkness magic to cleanse their mouths and teeth before going to sleep, they could still feel the taste of puke and blood.
"How do you guys feel now?" Phloria asked.
"Like a dirty rag." Friya answered, causing the others to agree.
"Good gods Lith, do you really do stuff like this for a living?"
"Yes, it's part of the job." He nodded. "And soon it will be part of yours too, except maybe for Quylla. Friya, Phloria, you are Mage Knights your swords aren't made to scare or protect, but to kill.
Yurial, as a feudal lord and a Warden you'll have the lives of both your enemies and allies in your hands. Quylla, even if you choose to become an academic, like Professor Marth or Manohar, you still need to know how to defend yourself."
The group pondered on Lith's words and on the implications of the test. They had trained for years on dummies or with sparring partners, never fully understanding what their skills were meant for.
Linjos was forcing his students to put them into practice, to experience the consequences of their choices up to that point, before deciding what path they wanted to take in their future life.
"Before we move out, is there anything else Quylla and me need to know about our new weapons?" Friya asked. There was no blame or resentment in her voice, but Phloria felt guilty anyway.
"Sorry for not telling you before." She blushed in shame.
- "Gods, I'm so stupid." Phloria thought. "Now I am supposed to be not only their leader, but also their elder sister. Not teaching them about the Ernas's custom blades was a major blunder on my side." -
"It's just that my… I mean our father's gifts and this exam left me so dumbfounded that I completely forgot. Our weapons have been forged and enchanted using a secret technique of the Ernas family.
It makes them unnaturally sharp, allowing even a light weapon like your rapier to cut as well as to pierce. You are no longer limited to stabs. As long as your opponent doesn't wear heavy armour, you can also slash.
It also makes them sturdy enough to cut through rock without a scratch. Last, but not least, they have a limited ability to change size to adapt to confined spaces without hindering their wielder. I don't know the details, though. I'm no Forgemaster.
Quylla, your long knife can turn into a short sword if you need extra range in battle."
Quylla nodded, trying out the weapon for herself. Her movements were awkward, but the blade was light and easy to use, giving her a sense of security.
"Can I see it, please?" Lith extended his hand to Friya, who passed him her rapier.
Lith used Invigoration on the weapon, studying its complex pseudo core. He was no swordsman yet, but even he could appreciate its workmanship. He used it against a small rock, that was easily pierced producing a silvery sound.
The blade was unscathed, and with Fire Vision, after giving his back to the bonfire, he could see the whole blade turning green for a second.
"I don't know how your father achieved the mass displacement, but I have an idea or two about the rest. The weapon is enchanted with air magic, making it vibrate on hit and enhancing the edge's effectiveness.
Also, I don't think it's actually sturdier than a normal blade, more like it absorbs impacts and dissipates their energy as heat via earth magic."
Lith was amazed by the effects forgemastering could apply. Kinetic shields and vibro-weapons were things he had only read about in sci-fi books.
"Well, duh!" Phloria replied. "Everyone knows they are enchanted with air and earth magic, but not how. Also, I didn't understand a word of the gibberish you just said."
Lith sighed, he couldn't explain them what kinetic and potential energy were, nor how the vibration frequency could affect solid matter. They were all terms that did not exist in the new world.
It would have been like trying to explain the television to someone that didn't know about electricity or waves, so he dropped the matter and returned the weapon to Friya.
"I have something to say." Yurial chimed in.
"Since we are in a dungeon, it's better to avoid using fire magic. There isn't much air to begin with, so we could suffocate if we consume too much of it. Also, despite fireballs are a mage's best friend, both the flames and the noise could bounce off the walls.
Just the noise could deafen us, not to mention that only the caster would be immune from the spell's direct effects, while the rest of the group would suffer from the heat. That's how the term 'friendly fire' was coined, after all."
Yurial felt that he had to prove useful to redeem his honour. So far he had been as helpless as Quylla, but she was just a healer with no specialization. Not to mention she was three years younger than him with.
"Those are all good points." Phloria nodded. "Now we need to coordinate our actions, we cannot repeat the earlier mistakes."
The group spent the next hour making plans and preparations for the rest of the trip.
In the new formation, Phloria would walk in the middle, ready to block any incoming enemy. Quylla was tasked of holding the map, and to keep note of their movements, since she was the only one beside Lith that could write with water magic.
Friya and Yurial exchanged their position, allowing her to easily assist Phloria or protect Quylla. It didn't take long to meet another group of goblins, but this time things went very differently.
Phloria ignited her tower shield blocking their path, while Quylla and Friya used tier one magic to slash and stab their assailants with ice shards and air blades. Some of the creatures had slings and bows, but their projectiles were easily deflected by Yurial's air shield.
They managed to cleanse the corridor right after the fight, but Friya and Quylla puked again nonetheless. The wounds made by magic were even more gruesome than those made by the swords, and they had yet to get used to spilled guts and bloody stumps.
As for Phloria and Yurial, their pride was stronger than the nausea.
In the following hours, they met more and more goblin's nests, getting better at every encounter, to the point that not an enemy managed to reach Phloria's shield anymore. Yet Lith was disappointed.
They would always make a mess of the cave, needing several spells each to get the job done.
"Let me give you a freebie, guys."
Thanks to Life Vision, Lith knew they were about to meet another nest composed of about twenty goblins, so he took point.
"You have already cleared bigger nests, so this should not influence your score at all. Please watch."
Lith let the goblins run toward him offering no resistance, until he tapped once with his staff, making the cave's humidity coalesce into a layer of water on the ground. A second tap turned it into ice.
Goblins had no concept of ice so they kept charging, falling head first on the ground because of the now slippery surface and incapable of getting up. A third tap turned the ice into blades that sunk into their eyes, hearts and brains, killing them on the spot.
The group was in awe, their mouths agape for the surprise.
"Was that first magic?" Yurial asked, still not believing his own eyes.
"Yes. That's why no chant, no hand signs, no warning for the target."
After checking with Life Vision that no one else was around, Lith turned back, facing his friends.
"You are just like I was until a few years ago. You use magic like a club, instead that like a scalpel. If properly used, the simplest spell can have the most destructive effect."
"Did Lady Nerea teach you magic like that?" Phloria couldn't help but admire his skills.
"No. I had… a lucky encounter." Lith had no other way to explain his mastery of magic. He had learned from life and death fights against Irtu and Gerda (*), and by fighting alongside Protector.
If he had not met so many magical beasts, he wouldn't be half the mage he was.
Lith left them to ponder about his words, resuming his position in the backline.
Even if fighting was getting easier, it was still exhausting both physically and psychologically, so the group rested again, this time with a proper guard-duty order. Lith didn't sleep, only pretended to, using Invigoration to recover his strength.
When they started moving again, they passed through several corridors and caves, sometimes ending up in dead ends, but never losing the way thanks to the map. They kept finding traces of past struggles and goblin's bones chewed clean, but they met no enemies.
Phloria could feel the tension in the air, they were getting inside the territory of a bigger predator.
"Wait!" Yurial said, stopping the group.
"The next corner is too narrow. If we get attacked while crossing it, the group would be split in half, making hard for us to coordinate properly."
"I know, but it's not like we can make it wider or see through the walls." Phloria replied.
Lith inwardly smiled, since he had just done that with Life Vision.
"True, but we can set up the board properly. It's an ambush only if you are unaware of it."
Yurial casted one array after the other, marking their borders with true magic to make it easier for his teammates to spot them. When he finished, Phloria moved several steps in front of the others, keeping the shield up in front of her and ready to retreat.
She peeked behind the corner, discovering a short corridor leading to another sharp curve. Phloria was about to signal the others to move forward, when she heard sounds of battle.
There were screams and yelling in a guttural language she was unable to identify. The source of the noise kept getting closer, until a group of humanoids came rushing toward her.
They were all very tall, above 2 meters (6'7") high, with muscular bodies that could have passed for humans if not for the greenish skin, the spiky red hair and the long and pointy ears and nose.
"Ogres!" Phloria yelled.
"Um-pha!" Yelled an ogre, pointing at her with a claw ending finger.
Unlike goblins, they wore clothes, mostly made out the skin of other ogres, goblins and whatever they usually had for lunch. An ogre wearing a necklace made of skulls from small animals waved a huge staff toward Phloria hiding spot.
"In-foi!" A fireball flew from the staff, leaving Phloria only enough time to step back and take cover behind her tower shield before being engulfed by the explosion. Her magic shield shattered, but still took the brunt of the spell.
Her uniform was burned in more than one spot, and her hears were ringing, making hard for Phloria keep her balance. Friya took point, while Quylla started healing her injured friend and Yurial casted another array.
As soon as the ogres stepped inside the first array, Yurial activated it, turning the space they were into a thunderstorm that burned many to a crisp, lightnings assaulted them from all directions. Even the survivors didn't come out unscathed.
The ogres were already looking forward for the rare taste of human flesh when the second array activated, turning the ground into quicksand and making them drown.
- "Yes!" Yurial thought. "A clean victory without having to attack even once. Wardens rock!"–
The ogre shaman was as clever as ruthless. He had survived the thunderstorm by using the other ogres as meat shields while casting a protective earth spell only for himself, shielding others would have required time and compassion, and he lacked both.
He also survived the quicksand by using the others as stepping stones, brandishing his staff as a club towards the nearest enemy, Friya.
Despite being injured and smaller than the other ogres, the shaman still hit with the strength of a kicking horse, almost shattering the magical shield from the impact.
Friya was at disadvantage, the opponent was heavier, stronger and had a longer attack range than her, since the staff was over 2 meters (6'7") long. The shaman followed up with a kick, catching her unprepared and sending her tumbling on the ground.
The shaman smiled, pressing forward and ready to crush her skull like a melon.
"Joruna Harti!"
Quylla's ice spears pierced the ogre from all side. Blood instantly gurgled from its mouth while its knees hit the ground, having no more strength to stand.
Lith felt flattered, the spell closely resembled his Checkmate Spears.
"In-foi!" The shaman weaved his staff one last time, unwilling to die alone.
Alas, Yurial had already completed a very small array that negated fire magic. He had prepared it since the moment he had noticed that one of the enemies was crazy enough to use fire magic inside the corridor.
The shaman looked at his staff with a dumbfounded expression, the pain from the betrayal of its only true friend showed on his rough visage.
Friya expressed her condolences by piercing its head in one fluid motion.
The group was about to celebrate, when something else walked past the corner.
It looked like an alligator, but it was humanoid. It stood on two legs, at least 2.5 metres (8'2") high not considering the tail.
It wore a belt to which were hanged several trinkets, while his hands wielded a double headed axe and a hammer axe respectively. It was chewing what seemed to be an ogre's still bleeding thigh.
It stared at them with a playful look, before taking the thigh out of its mouth and saying:
"Ah, fresh meat!"
Chapter 178 Scheming
White Griffon academy, Headmaster Linjos' office.
From his desk, Linjos was examining the data coming through the academy's magical network. Barely more than a day had passed, yet the number of groups taking part in the test was almost halved.
It was way worse than he had predicted, but looking at the reports of his subordinates he couldn't doubt that his method was the right choice.
- "Professor Trasque is right, too many students have no combat experience, I need to invest more manpower and funds in the 'Theory of Combat Magic' classes. The mock exam helped the students only so far.
"The scenario was too simple, and without any real injury many of them underestimated the risks. Next year I have to introduce humanoid monsters earlier and make the Professors let students get hurt a bit, or I'll be back at square one."– He thought.
His communication amulet drew his attention and so did the rune glowing because of the incoming call. Linjos could not help but shiver whenever the Queen called him.
"Your Majesty, to what do I owe the honour of this call?" He stood up, giving her a deep bow.
"Linjos, what's the meaning of these numbers? Are you really going to flunk two thirds of the fourth year students?" Queen Sylpha ignored etiquette, neither using his title or giving him even a nod of the head in response.
Her voice wasn't angry as much as worried.
"The answer to your second question is no." He replied with a firm tone.
"The first one though, is a complicated question and requires a complex answer. I require your permission to speak freely."
"Granted." Sylpha nodded with no hesitation.
"The numbers tell us that two thirds of the students are cowards, ill prepared for combat, cheaters or all of the above. Twenty percent gave up as soon as they knew their lives would be at risk.
"Such mages cannot be rated over B, because those who consider themselves to have too much to lose can be easily intimidated or convinced to switch sides. Entrusting them with vital information or missions would backfire, since they would rather give up than fight and risk dying.
"Another twenty percent either froze at the sight of blood or refused to denounce their oppressors, despite the clear intention of using them as meat shields. Both types are useless assets. The first are unsuited for combat, the seconds are spineless cowards.
"The last twenty percent are those who attempted to bribe or threaten their supervisors to get protection and a safe way out of the dungeon. Their behaviour speaks for itself.
"I don't plan on flunking them all, there is always the third test and the next year to prove themselves better than this. My aim is only to give them a glimpse of real life. Too many of these young master and ladies, except a few deviants, have never dirtied their hands, always delegating to their retainers.
"The problem with the previous teaching methods is that they emphasized theory and memorization over practicality. In fact, the mortality rate of the graduates is always very high, no matter the academy they come from.
"The old methods created mostly parlour magicians, good only to attend social events and flaunt their superior instruction. Mine will instead separate the wheat from the chaff. It's not the destination that matters, but only what they learn during the journey."
The Queen pondered for a while before agreeing with him.
***
Lukart Household, Archmage Lukart's private quarters. Before the second exam started.
"Are you sure everything is set up properly?" Lukart asked.
"I am not sure about anything at this point." The voice from his communication amulet replied.
"After the mess you made during the plague, Linjos doesn't trust anyone. He used fifth year students instead of Professors as supervisors, cutting us off from most of the preparations for the second exam."
"I'm tired of your excuses, Yurial Deirus has to die or we are both finished. His father is onto me, it's only a matter of time before he corners me for good. With Yurial's death, not only will Deirus be forced to focus on finding a replacement, but it also will divert his attention to Linjos, holding him accountable."
"And I am sick of your madness!" The voice retorted, burning with anger.
"I have no way to know what path Yurial's group will take, nor the ability to prevent his supervisor from using the bracelet Linjos provided to return to the main hall in case of danger or heavy injuries.
You have to pray to your ancestors that he meets creatures strong enough to slaughter his group before his supervisor can intervene."
The communication was cut off, leaving Lukart banging his head against his desk in desperation. Once again, he had to stake everything on dumb luck, hoping for the fifth year kid to be as unlucky as incompetent.
***
Lith's mind accessed Soluspedia, instantly recognizing their new opponent from one of the academy's bestiaries. It was a Kroxy, a rare form that crocodiles and alligators could achieve after evolving into magical beasts.
Instead of becoming just a bigger and smarter version of the original reptile, capable of using water and earth magic, a Kroxy would develop a humanoid physiology gaining the ability to use weapons.
Lith stepped forward, ready to intervene. Linjos had warned him about the dungeon's wild and unpredictable environment. The test was all about the ability to overcome the trauma of the first kill of a humanoid being.
The weak and magicless goblins were just an appetizer, followed by the much stronger and dangerous ogres, that yet used fake magic too, making them an opponent Phloria's group could still face.
- "A rare magical beast capable of using true magic though, isn't something on their league. Heck, maybe is even above mine." Lith thought.
"In such a humid environment while being surrounded by rocks, there isn't much I can do. Even going all out with fusion magic is useless. That thing weighs at least half a ton, even with my enhanced strength it can swat me like a fly."
"Not to mention its bright cyan mana core." Solus pointed out.
"It's control over the most abundant elements is far superior to yours. Please be careful."–
Phloria was still recovering from the fireball, helped by Quylla. Yurial would never make it in time to cast another array, leaving Friya the only one ready to fight. Lith round up his friends erecting a barrier around them and took out Linjos' amulet.
No exam was worth his life, Lith would never risk getting killed for a stupid reason like pride or a grade.
The Kroxy though, didn't pay the group any further attention. Instead it kept collecting the ogres' corpses storing them in the dimensional amulets hanging from its belt.
The ogres in the quicksand were still alive and when they saw the beast walking toward them, they screamed in terror. Ogres were much more similar to humans than goblins, their shrieks gave everyone goose bumps.
The Kroxy walked over the quicksand like it was solid ground, needing only one hand to lift an ogre before biting its head off.
"It's a pity I can't store them alive, I like my meals feisty."
"It talks!" Despite still being stunned, Phloria couldn't keep herself from expressing her amazement.
"I do. And I'm not a thing, rude hatchling. My name is Phillard."
- "This creature is not afraid of speaking in front of humans." Lith observed.
"Either it's arrogant like Irtu and doesn't care, or it's benevolent like Ryman or Kalla."–
"By the way, what are you doing down here?" Phillard continued.
"More exactly, what the heck is going on? I mean, I'm not the type to look a gift steak in the bone, but usually there are no goblins, ogres or trolls in the dungeon, only humans. And you don't smell like enemies to me."
"Smell?" Yurial asked, incapable of relaxing.
"Yes, the Lord of the man-made mountain and the Lord of the forest have a deal. When the Lord of the mountain catches an intruder, after he is done with them, he gives his enemies two choices.
A swift death or the dungeon, where they become our prey. You have no idea how many pick the dungeon, hoping to find a way out. And usually they do, it only takes up to five or six hours to get out of my a*s."
Phillard emitted a gurgling laughter, drooling all over the ground.
"But he usually marks them with a distinct smell to make it easy for us to distinguish them from his servants. Are you his servants?"
The whole group nodded furiously as one.
"If it's the truth and you are lost, just take the first left, the third right and then the second right after that corner and you'll find the door to the castle. Someone will open it for you.
If you are lying, you'll be stuck here and I'll have you for dinner on my way back."
No one dared to move, Lith kept the barrier on and the finger on the escape button until the Kroxy disappeared from their view, its steps fading away in the distance.
Then, they started moving toward the exit, hoping for that to be their last hurdle.
Chapter 179 The Real Deal
The group followed the directions given by the Kroxy, updating their map along the way. At first they had been dubious if to trust its words, but after thinking about it for a while they decided it was worth giving it a shot.
"If Phillard really wanted to harm us, he would have done it while we were at our weakest." Phloria pointed out, the other agreeing with her.
"Gods, I still can't believe magical beasts can talk and reason just like us humans. If I had known that during the mock exam, I'm afraid I would have experienced the same hesitation I had at the start of the dungeon."
Her words made the others think hard about their previous experience. Magical beasts were capable of using magic just like them, if not better, to fight tactically and to care for their teammates.
- "It's been really stupid of me ignoring all the facts and let prejudice guide my reasoning." Yurial thought. "Just because they have a different form, it doesn't mean they are incapable of having feelings.
"I must talk about this matter with my father, he never mentioned this issue while discussing how to manage our grand duchy. Befriending them could be really profitable."–
The further they progressed through the dungeon, the more crossroads they encountered. By using Life Vision, Lith could see that there were no more big life forms lurking in the other paths, just insects and what he hoped to be rats.
- "It seems that goblins and ogres were all we add to face." Lith thought. "It makes sense if Yurial is right and the purpose of the exam was imparting practical experience about fighting humans. Any more would just be plain cruel."–
Lith knew he was right when after the last turn Linjos' amulet emitted a green glow, indicating that he was free from his role of supervisor, yet since they were still cautiously walking instead of being transported into the main hall, he was also wrong.
"I think that the test has yet to end, it's just that my role has been changed from passive spectator to active player." He explained to the others making them even more nervous.
Of all the reasons they could think of for allowing Lith to help them, not a single one did bode well.
The last cave was a big one. The ceiling was over ten metres (33') high and the room was at least thirty metres (33 yards) long and twenty meters (22 yards) wide. On the other side of the cave there was visible a huge glowing door that seemed to be made of silver.
There were three humanoid figures near the exit, and the light was too dim to distinguish their features. They were bigger than goblins but smaller than ogres and that alone normally would boost the group's confidence.
It was the first time they outnumbered their opponents and they had also the element of surprise. Knowing Linjos though, they assumed that the last opponents were bound to be the strongest.
"They have yet to notice us. We can snipe them all from here." Yurial whispered, after the group had retreated back in the previous tunnel.
"I would love to." Phloria replied with a sigh. "Have you considered how devious Linjos is, though? What if those are other students and not enemies? What if they are waiting for the door to open or serving as bait to see how reckless we are?
Maybe it's just an impulse control test. Linjos made Lith join our team to make us overconfident and rush things. Is anyone able to identify them?"
At such distance and with so poor light, not even Lith could see much. According to Solus their physical condition was poor, and even if they had cyan cores, they hadn't much mana left.
- "I wish I could share this information with the others. Phloria is probably right, this is just another damn test."– Lith thought
At Phloria's sign everyone activated a flying spell from their rings, to not make any noise while moving forward.
The group spread out with Phoria, Friya and Lith on the first line, while Quylla and Yurial stayed in the rear. The spacing between them was enough to help each other if the necessity arose, but also allowed them to scatter in case of attack.
Because of the cave's dimensions it was possible to use fire magic, also if their opponents were capable of using magic, a single fireball or even a lightning could take them all out at once if they kept walking in a single line.
Soon they were close enough to recognize the three well dressed humans.
Phloria felt really proud of herself and couldn't wait to boast in front of the others, when she and the other three received a pat on the shoulder with air magic from Lith, the convened sign for danger.
When they turned to look at him, he was repeatedly tapping his nose.
They suddenly remembered Phillard's words. Linjos' enemies were marked with a distinctive smell, and now they were close enough to be able to perceive it.
Lith was able to see Phloria's expression freeze into a panicked one, while she and the others sweated bullets.
- "Phloria was right all along." Lith thought. "Those three are still part of the test, but she has underestimated Linjos. He isn't as devious as she believed, he is much worse. Linjos is testing their resolution and my self control at the same time.
If I am right, they are allowed to kill, while I am not."–
Quylla's line of thinking was very similar to Lith's, yet she was on the verge of tears.
- "How could I have ever thought that killing someone is cool when Friya told me about Lith's background check? I pictured him like a fairy tale hero, slaying monsters and criminals, but reality is different.
Taking a life is terrible, it leaves a void in your heart like your very soul is withering. Even if they are enemies of the Headmaster, I can't kill them in cold blood. They did nothing to me, they may be innocent."–
Becoming used killing in self defence and overcoming the trauma derived from killing humanoid beings were two entirely different matters. Not even by sleeping close to each other and keeping a light was enough to drive away the nightmares.
Killing someone of your own kin was the supreme moral taboo, just the idea was enough to send their minds into chaos.
The choice was taken off their hands when one of the three turned in their direction.
"Watch out!" She yelled. "Enemies incoming!"
The three had rough looking faces, they clearly lacked food and sleep for several days. Their fear was evident, making the group even more hesitant to attack. Being surrounded and outnumbered, the three attacked only using first magic, hoping to quickly beat such young opponents, before their remaining strength ran out.
Phloria and Friya hid behind their magically conjured shields, while Yurial and Quylla could only dodge. The three chose to use first magic not only because it didn't require much mana, but also to prevent their opponents from casting spells.
One of the biggest differences between true and fake magic was that while true mages would consume mana only after conjuring their spells, a fake mage would spend it as the casting was initiated, so being interrupted resulted in a waste of mana.
The three were doomed nonetheless. They were disarmed, while Phloria's group only needed one spell stored into their rings to kill them. The problem was they were unwilling to, even under such attack.
Lith sighed, realizing his role in that charade. He pumped his mana into the staff, activating its effects once more and sending six needle sized ice shards into the eyes of his enemies, blinding them.
The staff was an experimental hybrid between an enchanted item and an alchemical one.
It enhanced a mage's focus and mana sensitivity allowing even fake mages to alter the trajectory of their spells after the cast, something usually only tier five magic could achieve.
In Lith's case it granted him an extremely fine control over the mana flow, to the point of being able to hit even small targets with pinpoint accuracy. Of course everything came with a price and limitations.
The mana stone floating in the middle of crescent moon shaped end of the staff was a consumable. The more powerful the spell it focused, the faster it would lose its magical energies, making the staff useless until the gemstone was replaced.
They were quite expensive, hence why Lith had only used it with first magic.
Also the staff was incapable of focusing spirit magic or any spell above tier three, making its use limited.
The very moment the three were paralysed by pain and fear, Lith conjured a tier one lightning rendering them unconscious. He then proceeded to blindfold, gag and bind them to prevent even first magic from being used.
A clapping sound could be heard echoing through the cave, coming from a life sized hologram of Queen Sylpha that had appeared in the middle of the cave.
Everybody but Quylla recognized her and knelt down. No one missed such detail, making his noble friends wonder how could a commoner like Lith know the Queen.
"At ease, no need for formalities. Congratulations, you are the first group of students that managed to come so far. I commend your speed, your skill and most of all your humanity." Her eye fell for a second on Lith, expressing approval.
Linjos walked through the silver door that opened without a noise carrying a blade in his hands.
"Sometimes though, humanity must be set aside for justice to be carried out. Take these three for example. Baron Lazot, who took part in a slave trade, destroying hundreds of lives before being caught red handed."
She pointed to the young, handsome man that Lith had just finished tying up.
"Or mage Syalle, who bathed in the blood of newborn believing it would keep her young and fresh forever." Sylpha was now pointing at the one that had spotted the group.
"And last, but not least, Duchess Hileo, who for trivial reasons wiped out entire villages. Not all humans are bad, but they aren't all good either. This test is maybe the hardest in your young life, that's why I'm here with you today.
Mages are the backbone of the Griffon Kingdom, and must be able to defend it from its enemies, from both outside and within its borders. Even when it comes at a huge personal cost.
Lady Quylla, considering your young age and your nature as a healer, I think it's too early for you to face this hurdle. May our ancestors bless your path, you are free to go."
Quylla ran away without turning back. Tears flowed from her eyes at the thought that no matter her decision, those people were already dead. She cried for them, but also for herself, realizing that she was leaving in that cave her childhood innocence.
"Mage Lith, you can leave too." Sylpha didn't give an explanation, but addressing a simple student with the title of Mage was more than enough for those present to understand how well the two knew each other.
Lith left without rushing, there was nothing he could do to help them this time.
"Lord Deirus?"
Following the Queen's voice, Linjos offered him the sword.
Yurial hesitated at first, but then took it from the hilt, plunging it into the Baron's heart. He had recognized that sword on first sight, it was the Kigdom's ceremonial blade used for public executions.
His father had used it countless times, and Yurial had been forced to spectate since he had accepted becoming the next heir.
"Your Kingdom thanks you for your sacrifice." Sylpha gave him a small bow of respect, before Warping Yurial back in his room. She could tell by his face that he was about to cry, puke or both, and wanted to spare him doing it in front of others.
"Lady Phloria?" The sword floated in front of her.
"I'm sorry your Majesty, I can't." She fell on her knees, crying. Phloria remembered the day when she asked his father, Orion, how it felt killing the bad guys. Orion went to the kernel, handing her a puppy and a knife, asking her to kill it.
Even then, Phloria refused to do it, crying for her life.
"That's how it feels. Every single time." Orion said.
"When it stops hurting, it means you have become the bad guy."
Sylpha warped her away too. There was no reason torturing such a young girl any further.
"Lady Friya?"
Friya knew Duchess Hileo very well. She had been her mother's best friend as long as she could remember. Now she finally understood what they were always talking and laughing about, when they thought she couldn't hear them.
- "The world sucks, people suck. First my mother, then Lady Ernas and now the Queen. No one really cares for me, I'm just a tool for their sick games. I'm the only one I can rely on."– Friya thought while slashing down in an arc.
"Glory to the Kingdom."
The Duchess head rolled on the floor, its tumbling echoing in the darkness of Friya's heart.
Chapter 180 Guilt and Punishmen
As soon as Friya was Warped back to her room, Linjos' expression became worried.
"Well, how do you think that went?" Queen Sylpha asked.
"Not bad, but not good either. I never expected any of them to actually kill one of these scums." Linjos sent a powerful darkness magic impulse into Mage Syalle's head, giving her a painless death.
After days of torture and interrogation, even she deserved it.
"They all come from a sheltered environment, or in the newest Ernas ladies' case at least peaceful. I wanted my students to realize that sooner or later they will have to make hard choices, so that when the moment comes, they will be prepared.
Not turn them into cold blooded killers. I predicted them reacting like Lady Quylla or Lady Phloria. The other two went completely overboard."
"It's evident you never had children, Linjos." Queen Sylpha sighed.
"Teenagers are unpredictable, it's their nature. Take the young Lord Deirus. He clearly didn't want to do it, but he is so eager to meet the expectations that are placed on him from his father and the Kingdom that he let pride get the best of him.
He even mimicked the Kingdom's ritual execution method. I will tell Archmage Deirus to cut him some slack or sooner or later the boy will crumble under the pressure.
As for Lady Friya, you have underestimated all she has just gone through. The betrayal of her mother, the death of her family and the 'adoption' from the Ernas family.
That girl needs help. All of them do, but she does more than anyone else."
"I'll inform the families to provide them all the support they can. And remove the last part of the exam from now on. I'm really sorry your Majesty, I've let you and my students down with my incompetence." Linjos lowered his head in shame.
"Don't be so hard on yourself, Linjos. You can't make an omelette without breaking some eggs, and something good can come out of mistakes too. Take Lady Phloria, for example.
She has turned out to be one of those rare cases where duty and heart are able to meet halfway. It took a considerable amount of courage to not submit like the young Deirus did or run away like Lady Quylla.
I have great expectations for her, put her in the special list and keep me posted about her progress."
Linjos bowed deeply, doing as instructed.
"What about Lith?" He asked.
"That part has been a complete success, Linjos. I commend your efforts. Thanks to you, my worst fears have been dispelled. He has shown self control by not slaughtering the prisoners, care by protecting his teammates from their own kindness and wisdom by completely restricting the captured enemies."
"Doesn't this mean that he could also have understood what we wanted and acted accordingly? In such case he would be a skilled manipulator capable of hiding in plain sight. Wasn't that what you feared?"
Sylpha nodded.
"Indeed, but whatever the case, we now know that he is capable of controlling his impulses. It's just that normally he doesn't seem to care. In the future he may not be the asset we want, but the one we need and that's the only thing that matters."
***
Back in his room, Yurial was still on all fours, puking his guts out. He had tried to control his nerves long enough to reach the toilet, but had failed after just a few steps. The acid taste of bile in his mouth was getting mixed with the salty one from tears and snot that he couldn't stop from running down his cheeks and nose.
- "Oh gods, I have killed a man." The thought kept echoing obsessively in his mind.
"Why did I do it? It was just a test, saying no was an option. What's wrong with me? I'm really such a monster to place a grade above a human's life?"–
When there was nothing more he could throw up, Yurial curled up on the floor, uncaring of the filth and the stench surrounding him, crying until exhaustion relieved him from his suffering.
***
Phloria was still having a tough time controlling her nerves. Orion Ernas, her father, could recognise only half her words between all the sobs and tears, but still managed to understand what she had gone through.
"Cry as much as you want, little Flower. You need to get this thing out of yourself or it will eat you alive."
"Dad you were right. You were so right and I didn't really understand your words until today." She said between the hiccups.
"Please, don't get mad at me. I know I screwed up, but I just couldn't do it. I'm afraid of what mom will say or how this will affect my career, but I'm more afraid of what would have happened if I had taken that sword."
"Shush little Flower, now you are just being silly. Mom would never criticise you for something like this. Worst case scenario, she'll nag at you for wearing pants in front of the Queen again." Phloria couldn't help but laugh at the thought.
As ridiculous as it sounded, it was exactly something that her mother would have said, no matter the circumstances.
"As for Linjos, may the gods forgive him if he dares doing anything after putting a bunch of kids in a warzone, because certainly I will not! I will call him immediately, and if he hasn't more than proper explanation, I will give him a piece of my mind and my sword!
Or my name is not Orion Ernas anymore!" A worried barking interrupted Orion's threats.
"Lucky!" Phloria called through the communication amulet, triggering a happy bark in response. All those years ago, she had refused letting go of the puppy, afraid something bad would happen to it.
She had named it "Lucky" and they had become inseparable friends.
"He is happy to see you too." Orion voice wasn't very enthusiastic.
The puppy was the new world equivalent of a Tibetan mastiff, 80 kilograms (176 pounds) of love and enthusiasm that gave little to no consideration to staff members or furniture when it was waggling its way towards its master's voice.
Lucky jumped on Orion, almost knocking him off his chair, trying to lap Phloria's hologram. Its valiant efforts were foiled by the treacherous magic that made the hologram intangible, but still managed to ruin an hour of Orion's work by drooling and clawing his paperwork.
"Bad dog! Sit!" Albeit unwillingly, Lucky obeyed the outraged Orion. Usually that voice meant no chicken for dinner. Being fed on scraps was Lucky's worst nightmare, so it whimpered exposing its huge belly in submission, hoping to avoid the punishment for whatever mistake it had made.
Phloria was laughing her heart out at the scene, her tears turned from pain to joy.
"The only reason I don't put you on a diet, fata*s, is because you made my little Flower happy. Bad dog! Scram!"
Lucky left the room in a hurry, leaving father and daughter finally alone.
"As soon as you feel better, go to your sisters. I pray to our ancestors they had the good sense you demonstrated by refusing the sword. Sorry to leave you like this, little Flower. They too need a father."
Phloria went to the bathroom to wash her face before heading out to the girls' rooms.
***
Right after walking out of the dungeon, Lith had been transported to the main hall, and from there he went straight for the canteen before going back to his room.
- "Aren't you going to check on the others?" Solus' voice sounded worried.
"No, I'm not. Let's be real, me and Quylla have been spared from the last test, so she is safe. Yurial and Phloria are just two pampered kids, there is no way one of them obeyed.
"The only one that could have played executioner is Friya." Lith thought. "She is in a situation that reminds me of my own back on Earth. With nothing to lose and too much rage eating her from the inside."
"The rage part hasn't changed much." Solus pointed out.
"But you are right, the others had too much of a quiet life to do something so extreme. My only hope is that during the last month Friya managed to put herself back together. Shouldn't we check on her? What if something bad happened?"
"Solus, I get you have a big heart, but life is not that easy. If Friya actually killed someone, what could I possibly do or say to make her feel better? If she really is in a dark place, she either needs a hug or a kick in the a*s, but not from me.
Only family or a true friend can do it, while me and Friya barely know each other. We hang out together only because of the academy and Quylla, we are not that close.
"That Linjos is insane, though. Doing such a thing to a bunch of kids. I have never been so happy about Tista never going to an academy. This exam would have crushed her, and I Linjos!"–
***
Being the youngest, Orion called Quylla first. After consoling her for a bit and promising her to visit again soon, he called Friya.
"What do you want?" From the opening line Orion could already tell that something was terribly wrong. Friya had been part of his household for barely a month, but he had never seen her like that during his brief homecomings.
She had been stressed and often gloomy, but after all she had experienced it was a normal reaction. They had barely spoken before, because he was always short on time and felt she needed her space.
Now, instead, her gaze was cold as ice. There wasn't a trace of tears on her cheeks, her eyes weren't red, but that only made things worse.
Orion had led countless troops on many battlefields, so he had no trouble recognizing that expression.
"Oh gods, what have you done?" His voice was outraged, but not with her. All his fury was aimed at Linjos, but Friya had no way to know it.
"What I had to." She scoffed.
"I made your precious Ernas household proud, doing the Queen's bidding. Unlike your real daughter, I might say." Her voice was full of spite and hatred.
"Don't you dare to talk that way about your sister!" He scolded her.
"Sister? Please! We've barely known each other from six months, she knows nothing about me and nor do I about her. We are not sisters! The only reason you adopted me is to spread your f*cking name and get your hands on my lands!" Friya yelled in outrage.
"I'm not your daughter, I'm your tool. And you aren't my father. My real father died a dog's death pursuing my dear mommy's ambitions. She and your wife would be best friends, they are both b*tches." At the thought of her mother, Friya's voice went stone cold.
"That does it!" Orion closed the call, and much to Friya's surprise appeared right in front of her less than a minute later. He had to pull a lot of strings and call in a lot of favours, but for him every second was worth millions.
"Get out of my room." Friya yelled as soon as she recovered.
Orion suddenly grabbed her by the shoulder, preventing her from running away. Friya saw his hand moving fast, so she closed her eyes and clenched her teeth for the incoming slap.
But the slap never came, Orion was instead hugging her tightly, refusing to let her go no matter how much she struggled, kicked or punched.
"Let me go, you f*cking b*stard!"
"That's it, little one. Beat me, yell at me, do whatever you want but don't you dare ignore me." Friya could feel warm tears running down her shoulder. She was so shocked seeing him cry to be frozen in place.
"I'm so sorry. When I brought you in my home, I promised to treat you like one of my own and yet I have already failed to protect you. I never wanted for you to suffer like this. I don't care about my name, nor about what the Queen thinks.
You are just a child, for the gods' sake, how could they do something like this to you?"
In Orion's hold Friya didn't feel any anger or violence, only warmth and affection. It was similar to what she had experienced in Lith's embrace, but hundreds of times stronger.
She clung to him desperately, crying her eyes out. A silent rage started seething inside Orion. He didn't repress it, but didn't let it manifest either. It was like a volcano, building up its burning fury.
He held Friya until she passed out from the crying, then he used his own version of the Hush spell so that no noise could disturb her rest.
After shielding her with everything he had, Orion went into Linjos' office and gave him the beating of a lifetime.
Chapter 181 End of Trimester
When dinner time came, Lith was surprised no one had come to pick him up. He wasn't worried though, he just thought that his teammates had fallen asleep and didn't wake up in time.
After going to their rooms and no one answering him, no matter how much he knocked, Lith understood that something had happened. He tried using the communication amulet, but no one answered his calls.
- "I told you to check on them! Why you didn't listen?" Solus scolded him.
"I'm sorry, okay? Let's be rational, four people cannot disappear into thin air. Linjos must know their whereabouts. Nothing gets in or out without his permission."–
Much to Lith's surprise, the door to the Headmaster's office was open.
Broken to be more precise.
Lith started conjuring several spells at once, fearing that somehow the one behind the boxes and Velagros' death made an attempt on Linjos' life.
The room was a mess. The Headmaster's desk was cleaved in half, the glass windows were broken at multiple points and several documents were scattered on the floor. Linjos seemed to be all right, though.
Professor Marth and Professor Vastor were tending to his remaining wounds, none of which appeared to be life threatening. From Lith's experience those were the kind of injuries that would inflict the most pain while doing very little damage.
The kind of injuries he was a specialist at inflicting on others.
"What happened, Headmaster? Seems like a cyclone trashed this place."
"Close." Linjos sighed.
"An angry parent didn't agree with my methods and decided to explain it to me how much, up close and personal." Linjos could have stopped Orion at any time, but his sense of guilt prevented him from doing so.
He was the kind of man that would always learn from his mistakes and be ready to suffer from their consequences, instead of hiding behind his title.
Also, a little mean voice in his head told him that it was better not to add the Ernas household to the ever-expanding list of people that hated his guts.
- "Thank the gods Archmage Deirus after threatening to gouge out my eyes and force me eat them, just presented a formal complaint to the Queen. I don't know if I can take another beating of that magnitude." Linjos thought. –
"If you are going to ask me about your companions, they have all left the academy and gone back home hours ago."
- "Hours? Since when does it takes hours to recover?" Lith thought. "Either Linjos fainted and called for help only recently, or that parent really knows his stuff. Wish I could ask him for some lessons." Lith mind-sighed in envy.
"You monster!" Solus scolded him with renewed vigour. "How can you appreciate such violence when your friends are hurting or worse? How could you not flinch when Linjos just called them 'companions'?"–
Her rage was genuine, and so was Lith's indifference.
"Because he was in the ball park. I like them, but not like-like them. Also, they may or may not have killed someone. Big deal! They'll get over it, just like I did. Don't you agree?" -
Then Solus gave a solid demonstration of her vocabulary by yelling at him all the insults she had learned over the years.
Solus' words struck a nerve, Lith didn't know how to answer without being even more of a jerk. Lying to Solus was impossible like lying to himself, also it was something he would never attempt to do. He could only try to be a better person.
"Don't tell me that any of them actually did it?"
"Friya and Yurial." Linjos replied with a sigh.
Hearing those words, Lith remained stunned.
Not only because of what they had done, but also because of how he felt. Or to be more precise, what he didn't feel. Lith honestly didn't care, killing had become such a big part of him that he couldn't bring himself to consider it a problem.
The realization stung hard at him and so did Solus.
- "Wow, your friends… oh, I'm sorry, I mean companions had a traumatic experience and your first reaction is feeling sorry for yourself? That's a new low, even for you."–
It was hard to determine what hurt the most, the sarcasm in her words or the truth they held. Lith turned around and walked away, feeling emptier than ever.
"Wait." Linjos stopped him. "Since you are already here, you can give me your report."
"My report?"
"I need to know how your group performed before the last part of the test, otherwise I cannot evaluate their progress."
Lith told Linjos everything that had happened in the dungeon, skimming only the parts where they needed his help the most, letting the Headmaster know their struggles and suffering.
***
Meanwhile, at the Ernas household, Orion and Jirni were having dinner alone. Their eldest sons were still away with their units and the girls had preferred to remain in their rooms. Even Lucky was absent, choosing to console Phloria over its beloved roasted chicken.
The big rectangular table in the dining hall had never been so cold and empty. The Lords of the mansion sat at the opposite ends, at the two heads of the table. Given the sensitive nature of their conversation, the servants had been forced to stay outside of the room, entering only when summoned with the bell.
"Did you really have to assault Linjos? He's the Queen's favourite right now, it could harm our interests in the acquisition of the Solivar's household." Jirni's tone was placid.
She loved her husband and knew that something serious was upsetting him, but she couldn't help being herself.
"He's free to challenge me to a duel or issue a formal complaint with the Crown, for what I care." Hearing Linjos' name almost made him choke on the food, spitting some back in the plate.
"And another thing, dear." He added after cleaning his mouth with a napkin.
"I know that you are not great with feelings, unless you have to torment and manipulate someone into confessing, of course, but I'd really appreciate you not mentioning duties and arranged marriages to the girls until further notice.
Otherwise I'm afraid the next thing you'll hear from me would be an irrevocable divorce petition."
***
The next day, all the students were gathered in the compulsory courses' class for the end of the trimester. Lith couldn't tell if this time Linjos' speech was addressed more to his students or to himself.
"My dear students, it's my sincere hope that this past semester has taught us a lot. In this life there are some conflicts that are impossible to avoid. What matters is how we decide to face them and what we learn from their aftermath.
I don't blame those who decided to not take part in this exam, just like I don't think less of those that despite accepting to face this challenge head on, lacked the necessary resolution to achieve success.
Remember though, that this is just an academy. Here your choices matter, weakness is allowed and questioning yourselves is encouraged. Only idiots have no doubts. Outside these walls, life is less lenient. Sometimes you will be forced to do the wrong thing for the right reason.
My hope is that when the moment comes, you'll remember this experience and you will be better for it. As for those who attempted to cheat, you'll hear from your parents about the disciplinary measures that await you.
The test has taken a toll on all of us, so I encourage you to return to your homes for the ten days break before the last trimester begins. Dismissed."
Just like the last time, the report cards appeared on the student's desks in the form of blank pieces of paper until imprinting them with mana would reveal their hidden content.
Lith's report card was as following:
"Principles of Advanced Magic: A+; Forgemastering: A+; Healing: S; Dimensional Magic: A-; School points gained from daily evaluation: 4,365. A complete evaluation for the second exam is impossible until I hear back from your teammates.
Headmaster Linjos"
- "What the heck is this?" Lith couldn't believe his eyes. "I didn't perform better than the last trimester on purpose, yet all my grades went up (*). More importantly, why A- in dimensional magic? I can already perform Warp Steps, that should be plenty enough for an A.
Once I learn how to Blink, I will have completed the course, and that's likely to happen soon. How can a student able to achieve so much so fast deserve just an A-?"
"Well, I think they went up because of your role in curing the plague." Solus pointed out. "I am amazed they didn't give you an S+ in healing, if that even exist. As for the other professors, maybe their judgment was swayed by the royal decree."
"Swayed my pale a*s! I bet that Rudd jerk is still mad at me for the only time I responded in kind to his taunts. Me and my big mouth."–
It was still early morning when Lith left the academy, surrounded by gazes full of rage and envy. The second exam had been a total disaster. Those that had refused to participate or attempted to cheat had their grades capped at B rank.
Those who participated and failed had their grades unchanged, but they still assumed to have been penalized because of their poor performance.
Lith could perfectly hear them talking, whispering could not hide the truth from his heightened senses. Despite it was supposed to be a secret, his report card was actually public knowledge and so were those of everyone that had passed the second exam.
Someone was trying to stir up troubles, further dividing the young mages not only by social status but also by their results, ruining all of Linjos' hard work.
As soon as Lith was Warped to the capitol of the Marquisate, he alerted the Marchioness, which in turn informed the Headmaster. Whoever was behind all the recent troubles had always been a step ahead of them.
Having a bad premonition, Lith used the now mastered Warp Steps repeatedly to arrive at the village of Lutia in a few minutes. A normal mage would have his mana depleted by the repeated use of dimensional gates, but Lith used Invigoration each time to keep his peak condition.
Lith's intuition proved to be wrong. Aside from the panic his arrival caused, the village was quiet. As soon the villagers noticed it was him, fear was replaced by more rage and envy.
Lith ignored them, as he had done for the past years.
It had always been like that, the farmers loved him because he healed them at half the price and because he was one of them that had made it. In their eyes Lith's and Tista's achievements were the proof that education and hard work could lead their children to have a better life compared to their parents'.
The merchants and artisans that lived in the village instead hated him. He was an anomaly that had shattered what they perceived as the natural order of things. A dirty poor farm boy that demanded to be paid in full, disrespecting their pact with Nana.
Overtime the hatred had only grown stronger. Lith's household had started as a bottom feeder, but their social standing had never ceased to rise since his appearance. In their eyes, he was a scourge that was stealing from them and their children what was rightfully theirs.
It was impossible for the merchants to accept that despite all the money and the resources they had invested in their children, none of them would ever be rich like Lith or respected like Tista.
Raaz was the third most hated member of the family, having meddled with their business with his self righteous attitude, making them look like vultures and ruining their reputation after the so-called plague had turned out to be just a rumour.
But the most hated was Lith, especially since he had executed Garith in public and caused Gurid Renkin's death. No matter what Nana said, they firmly believed that the merchant's heart had failed to accept his beloved son's death, following him to the grave.
There was only one exception.
Zekell Proudhammer, Senton's father and Rena's father-in-law loved Lith with all his heart. Thanks to the dowry that Lith had provided, he had finally managed to expand his business and buy a last name for his family.
Because of that heaven blessed marriage, they would always receive the best treatments for free and by using her daughter-in-law name, no one dared to bully him anymore.
Thieves and swindlers kept away from his shop, to the point he could leave the door open at night and find everything where he had left it. Sure, there was the occasional death threat every time Rena would get a scratch or a bruise during the daily activities, but it was Senton facing Lith's wrath, not him.
All in all, Zekell's life was damn good.
"Lith, my boy! It's so good to have you back!" He yelled as soon as their eyes met.
"Thanks." Lith replied with a half-smile. He never liked Senton or his family, but since he never liked any of his sisters' suitors, in his mind Zekell was a decent man. No one of the Proudhammer household had ever given Lith a good reason to kill him, after all.
"No, thanks to you, young man. I'll never thank you and your Locrias friend enough for saving my whole family!"
"Who did what now?"
Chapter 182 Tickle
It happened a week ago. The day had started like usual, with Senton and Rena opening the front shop while Zekell heated the forge to take care of the repair jobs. Because of the plague panic, most villagers and farmers were already armed to the teeth, making his business slow.
Except for travellers and local hunters no one bought his weapons, leaving him with only menial jobs to do. Zekell wasn't a greedy man, so that kind of quiet life didn't bother him much.
Repairing farming and kitchen tools was an easy and quick job that allowed him to cover for the daily expenses. It also left him a lot of time to hone his skills and teach Senton all the secrets of their trade.
After getting married the boy had bloomed into a man, taking his responsibilities much more seriously than before.
While in the past Senton would try to complete his tasks with the minimum effort to go out and goof off with his friends, now he put his utmost dedication in every piece he worked on, never being satisfied with the result and often asking his father for advice.
Such change of attitude had made Zekell really proud of his son. All the yelling at him for his laziness and the whacks upside his head were just a bad memory, now he didn't have to worry anymore about what would happen in case he died.
The shop had remained empty most of the day, so when the closing time neared, Zekell sent Rena and Senton back home while he finished cleaning the floor. He gave them all the free time he could afford.
With advancing age and Senton's new character, Zekell couldn't wait to have a grandson or two. He wanted to witness the Proudhammer's next generation and maybe teach them to love the art of turning a bland piece of metal into a masterpiece.
He was about to lock the door when a well dressed handsome youth entered the shop, looking at his merchandise with great interest. Zekell almost bit his lower lip in frustration.
The young noble and his escort wore the insignia of the Rath family, a bunch of well known troublemakers.
The noble purposely cut himself with one of the weapons and used the pretext to demand for a compensation. To Zekell's horror, the youth 'casually' had with him a contract of transfer for the workshop.
Zekell tried to defend his life's work threatening to denounce the noble to Count Lark or to Nana, but to no avail. The Rath family had a Great Mage in their ranks and the name of a fallen outcast like Nana held little importance to them.
Lith's name mattered even less, the noble didn't even know of his existence. Fearing to lose everything and his family, Zekell had almost signed the document, but a firm hand stopped him.
It belonged to Captain Locrias of the Queen's corps, dressed like a country constable and royally pissed off. He and his team had managed to remain incognito for months and now the idiot had forced their hand, blowing up their cover.
"No need to sign anything. This man is under arrest." Said the Captain with a sigh.
"How dare you? You don't know who I am!"
"I think I do." Vykaros, the liaison with the Mage Association, had collected intel about him since the moment the noble had stepped into Lutia.
"You are Tikin Rath, second son of Baroness Rath. With pending charges for murder, r*pe, arson and embezzlement of taxes. You sure like to keep yourself busy, kid."
"My family, what about my family?" Zekell was still panicking.
"Your family is safe." Locrias said.
"All of Lord Rath's men are already dead, now it's his turn." A small dagger appeared in Locrias left hand, while the right one was holding Tikin's collarbone with the strength of a vise.
"You can't do that!" Now it was Tikin's turn to become pale and to panic. "I demand a fair trial!"
Zekell sighed with relief but suddenly fear reappeared on his face.
"He is right, you can't kill him!"
"Don't worry, neither the so called Great Mage or his mother will see tomorrow's dawn." The knife plunged into Tikin's chest, piercing his lung and heart instantly killing him.
"What have you done?" Zekell screamed, while the corpse fell to the ground with a thud and a thick dark pool of blood spread on the floor.
"Good sir, I'm Captain Locrias of the Queen's corps. You have no reason to be afraid anymore. You and your family are under our protection." He said puffing his chest with pride, feeling wronged by the artisan's lack of trust.
"Glad to hear it, but that's not what I'm talking about! You could have killed him out of here, or at least give me the time to put a carpet on the floor. The b*stard sh*t himself dying. Between this stench and the blood stains, no one will enter my shop for weeks!"
***
"Luckily he used a magic something to make the corpse disappear and clean my floor." Zekell was all laughs and smiles like it had all just been a bad dream.
- "Either this guy is even more thick skinned than me or he is raving mad." Lith thought. –
"If it wasn't for you, Captain Locrias wouldn't have intervened. I'm once more in your debt. If there's anything I can do for you, you just need to ask."
"There is actually something I could use your help for. Based on what you told me, you have lots of free time, right?"
Zekell nodded in response.
"I need to perform some experiments with Forgemastering, but I know nothing about blacksmithing and I don't have the time to learn it. I'd like you to provide me the things listed here."
Lith handed him a piece of paper that Zekell read immediately.
"That's a lot of stuff, kid. They are all common items though, so I can make them relatively quickly. Give me a couple of days."
"I just need a first batch, there is no need to rush it. I am willing to pay you for your work." Not only had Lith asked for many things, the quality of their materials also varied from poor to very good.
Before receiving the Crown's reward for the plague, he could not have spent so much money without affecting his family's quality of life. Also, his experiments required Solus' tower form to be conducted and he never had the opportunity to use it again since the first trimester's break.
"The work is on the house, but I'll have to charge you for the materials. Some are quite rare and I can't afford to have an empty warehouse."
Lith didn't want to abuse his gratitude, so he promptly closed the deal with a handshake.
After leaving Zekell, a call to Count Lark allowed him to make sure that the Rath family wouldn't bother anyone anymore. They had all been arrested several days ago and their properties assigned to a newly promoted household.
Lutia had always been a quiet village, but since the corps officially showed their presence, the worst crime that would take place was a kid stealing a fruit or a candy. After Garith's death Tista had learned her lesson.
Now her suitors knew by experience that her no meant no, while Lightning Bolt meant "Never approach me again".
Lith spent the first part of the morning catching up with his family, before attempting to contact his teammates again.
- "I can't call Quylla, she is still not over her crush and I don't want to give her false hope. Friya and Yurial are off-limits too, they are likely to be traumatized and I fear their reaction after I basically ghosted on them until it was too late.
This leaves me only one option."–
Lith used his communication amulet and called Phloria, who responded immediately.
"Sorry for never returning your calls." She apologised.
"I spent most of these last two days in the bed."
Lith inwardly sighed with relief. She didn't seem to be mad at him, which made it even harder to say what he had to.
"I'm glad to see you are all right and the fact that you answered so quickly means a lot to me. Yet I think you should wear something besides a white nightgown before picking up your amulet." He said diverting his eyes like a true gentleman.
In the new world there were no underwear and with the increasing summer heat, she was wearing a thin cloth while sitting cross legged as always.
Phloria emitted a high pitched scream while the amulet made a thud sound, like it had been tossed away.
Only after a minute or two Phloria's image reappeared, this time wearing the academy's uniform. Even the hologram couldn't hide her beet red colour.
"What did you see?" She asked with the cutest and most feminine voice he had ever heard her talk with.
"Almost nothing" Lith lied through his teeth. "I swear it on both my brothers' heads."
The answer seemed to calm her a bit, allowing them to resume their conversation.
"How are you feeling?" He asked.
"Embarrassed, I mean terrible. I barely get out of my room. I feel guilty not taking care of Yurial and Friya but I already have too much on my plate."
"Yurial is at your house?"
Phloria nodded.
"He and his father. Our dads think that having shared a similar experience they can help each other overcoming their trauma."
"That's a great idea." Lith too remembered how he had needed therapy back on Earth to try to get better. Too bad he never managed to find a Murderers Anonymous association.
"Why don't you call them too? I'm sure they would appreciate the thought."
"Phloria let's be honest, when it comes to feelings, I'm a bull in a glassware shop. I'm afraid I would only make things worse."
After a bit of small talk, Lith closed the call and went into the Trawn woods for his experiments. Until Zekell provided him with the items he needed, he could still practice on rocks or study the boxes more.
After reaching the mana geyser, Solus was able to take her tower form, revealing that the first floor was almost completely rebuilt.
Alas, almost.
Once inside, the access to the upper floor was still barred by debris.
"Sorry, I have no control over any floor until its complete. I do not know why."
Months had passed since Lith had actually heard Solus' voice instead of her mind, yet he didn't miss the change.
"Solus, your voice has become much clearer and more human like than before. I can even hear some kind of accent, even though I don't recognize it."
"You noticed!" He could feel her joy in his mind, she was walking on air. That's why he avoided adding that it was hard not to, since her previous one sounded like a customer service' answering machine.
"And that's not the only change. Ta da!"
The tower's walls started to glow of a faint radiance. The light slowly detached from the stone, forming a wisp the size of a tennis ball that started to spin around Lith's head.
"Now not only can I accompany you, but also you have someone to talk to instead of looking at the walls or the ceiling."
"It's a great news! Is it solid or…?"
"I wish." Solus sighed. "It's just light."
Lith waved his hand inside the wisp without it encountering any resistance. There was nothing inside nor substance to it. It was indeed just an oversized firefly.
Solus started laughing out loud, surprising him quite a bit.
"I like your attitude. I was afraid you would get even more depressed and…"
"Stop that." She cut him short.
"It tickles!"
Chapter 183 Crucible
"It tickles?" Lith echoed her words.
"Do you mean you can actually feel my touch?"
Solus froze for a second, the sudden realization was overwhelming her.
"I can! By my maker, I can feel it. I'm not just a piece of rock!"
She started to move all around the room passing through the walls, the ceiling and the furniture of the rooms, even going outside before returning back to Lith.
"That's odd. I don't feel anything by touching something inside the tower nor external objects, it seems to work only with you."
"Perhaps it's because this new form of yours is still too weak. Remember that we share a body and mind link that makes our interaction unique."
The wisp moved in front of Lith, touching his forehead.
"You are right." She said.
"It's a bit faint, but according to your memories this should be the sensation of skins touching. I can also sense your warmth. What about you?"
It took Lith a while to realize that albeit small, the wisp emitted a faint warmth.
"Same. Solus, can you please lower yourself a bit?"
She had just moved at his chest's height when Lith embraced the wisp with his arms.
"How do you feel now?"
"Like it's the happiest day of my life." Her voice was wavering and even if she didn't have tears to cry for once Solus didn't care about it. No matter how small, she would treasure those sensations as long as she could.
They remained like that for several minutes. It was the first time for Lith to experience happiness from the contact with someone that wasn't a member of his family. It felt odd but natural at the same time.
He could also perceive all the strain weighing on her mind being relieved bit by bit.
"You wouldn't be in hot waters with your friends if you were so thoughtful with them too. When one hits rock bottom, even the smallest gesture makes a world of difference."
Despite her words being true, Solus had ruined the moment for Lith but she realized it too late.
Lith let her go and proceeded downstairs towards the Forgemastering lab. Her comment had brought him back to reality, reminding Lith how little time they had at hand.
"Our biggest issue with Forgemastering is that it's a complex and profound discipline. Once I understand how a fake spell works, I can turn it to true magic and improve it as far as I can imagine it.
The same doesn't apply to Forgemastering. So far I only managed to obtain with true magic the same effects as items enchanted with fake magic already have. We must find a way to take our Forgemastering to the next level, otherwise the specialization will be useless.
If I can't achieve an edge over fake mages by forging my own equipment, I can as well as drop this discipline, buy what I need and invest my time in fields where true magic actually makes a difference."
Lith and Solus revised together several papers he had copied from the academy's library about failed attempts to break past Forgemastering's limitations. They had less than ten days, so they had to pick the most promising ones and hope that true magic would succeed.
"As Isaac Newton said: If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants. I may not be a genius but I can still use their work as a ladder to get past this hurdle."
After much discussing they selected two methods that were both simple and brilliant at the same time, allowing even a novice like Lith to understand them easily.
The first one was the Heisen's principle. It stated that a Forgemaster's work affected matter, so the harder the material to enchant the more difficult the process became. Heisen suggested that enchanting an item during the last steps of its forging would make the effect stronger despite consuming the same amount of mana.
"It makes sense." Solus pondered.
"We have seen how enchanting an item requires creating a pseudo core and carving with magic the runic pathways necessary to keep the core stable and prevent its stored energy from leaking.
By working on something close to its melting point, it should offer less resistance to the magic flow."
"Yeah, that's what Heisen said and attempted multiple times before giving up." Lith pointed out.
"According to these papers, his experiments managed to produce a small number of enhanced items, but he never understood why all the others would blow up in his face. After losing his arms for the fifth time, Heisen declared the process a failure.
Do we have a safe room? I like my arms as they are."
The wisp representing Solus' consciousness flickered a few times while the tower trembled lightly.
"Now we do." A new door appeared in the forgemastering lab.
To no waste precious materials, once again Lith decided to use small rocks of different size and composition as test samples. First he had to find the temperature where the sample would show the first signs of rounding due to melting.
Then he would stop heating the rock and proceed to enchant it while Solus would keep the magic circle active and filled with mana. Thanks to his new mana sensibility, Lith could see the mana pathways form more easily and bigger than usual.
The enchanting process was a success, but when he checked the final result with Invigoration, he discovered it to actually be a failure.
"Damn! The high temperature made things easier but more unstable. Both the pathways and the pseudo core are deformed by the changes that happened during the cooling period." Lith sighed.
"Maybe it's actually a success. Let me try."
Solus threw the enchanted stone in the safe room, making the door disappear before activating it with her mana imprint.
The following boom made the walls tremble.
"Or not." Lith said with a stern look.
"No wonder Heisen gave up on this method and no one is researching it anymore. Well, we still have to try many possible variants of this experiment, maybe one will succeed or at least give us some inspiration."
***
Meanwhile at the Ernas Mansion Phloria was outraged.
"I knew it!" She was reading again Lith's background check.
"On both his brothers' heads, that's rich. One of them got disowned while the other left the family as soon as he could. It's more likely for me to marry a goblin than for Lith to love his brothers. How shameless can one be, Lucky?"
Lucky woofed and wagged his tail, hoping it was play time already. She threw it a ball while marching double time towards the tailors' quarters.
- "It's not entirely his fault, though. How could I be so stupid to pick up the call while still half asleep? This is so humiliating! Enough with skirts and nightgowns, I need something with pants even for sleeping.
Usually mom would have a seizure hearing such a request, but recently she seems meeker. Guess it's better to strike the iron while it's hot"– She thought.
Phloria was indeed right. Jirni Ernas in any other circumstances would have prohibited the tailors from following her daughter's order. The manor's staff was well informed about Jirni's standards about education and how easy it was to get dismissed without a reference in case someone angered her.
Orion's threat still echoed in her mind though, leaving Jirni at a stalemate. Her husband was a man of his word, so when she heard him talk about divorce she had almost choked on the food.
Their marriage was an arranged one, to join together two of the families most loyal to the Crown allowing both of them to increase their status in the nobility.
Her maiden's heart had quickly fallen for the young knight, at first for his broad chest and his arms as thick as her head that could literally sweep her off her feet. Later for his golden heart and sunny disposition.
They were still deeply in love with each other; hence she was unable to understand why her children couldn't trust her to find a suitable partner like Jirni's parents did for her. Jirni was too scared at the thought of losing her husband to squabble over small stuff, giving Phloria what she wanted.
"I don't know what's wrong with kids these days." She complained to Rose, her lady in waiting.
"Making such a fuss about an insignificant matter like murder, blowing it out of proportions. I killed my first man at six years of age, mastered the art of torture by twelve and yet I grew up as a refined, delicate lady. Right, Rose?"
"Of course, your Ladyship." Rose swallowed a lump of saliva. She knew all too well how her mistress could butcher a whole family without ruining her appetite for dinner. There were many words she could use to describe her, but delicate wasn't among them.
***
After five days, Lith's experiments had yet to bear any fruit. To avoid deformations in the pseudo core or in the mana pathways, he had tried to quickly cool down the samples as soon as the enchanting process was over.
The final product would be much better than normal, but also extremely volatile, almost killing Lith in the resulting explosion.
Then he had tried working with higher temperatures, discovering that the sample would reject his magic wasting all his time and effort. At lower temperatures he would simply obtain standard quality items.
Even working on the materials that Zekell provided him, the results were always the same. The quality of the sample was irrelevant for the Forgemastering process, at least at Lith's level of comprehension.
- "Dammit, Heisen's principle is an utter fiasco." He thought
"Using true magic to keep the enchanting process until the sample cools down only resulted in a handful of dust. No matter its quality, inanimate matter doesn't seem able to withstand so much magical energy for a longer period."
"At least it didn't blow up like all the other experiments." Solus sighed. –
They hadn't much time left and were still at square one.
Thanks to Warp Steps, Lith could now come and go from his house without losing his tail first. Despite the constant use of Invigoration, both him and Solus were running on fumes.
Forgemastering required massive amounts of mana even for normal enchantments, Lith would have never been able to keep experimenting for so long without Solus' help.
They both needed proper rest.
Lith was really surprised finding a stranger waiting for him in his own home.
"Welcome home, dear." His mother Elina dusted off his chest and shoulders from the remains of his latest failures, since he usually was too tired to notice them.
"This man says he is Orion Ernas, the father of your schoolmates." Orion gave him a polite bow, his face expressed concern.
"He says he needs your help."
Chapter 184 Cornered
Ernas Mansion, the day before
Archmage Deirus and Orion were starting to get seriously worried. Half of the academy's break was almost gone, but Friya and Yurial were only getting worse. Yurial would rarely come out of his room and almost refused to eat.
Before every meal, Yurial had to take a bland sedative or he would throw up immediately. He needed a potion to sleep, another for waking up and many others not to jump at every noise he heard.
Friya on the other hand, was restless. She would barely sleep, focusing all her energies on training without a care for her own body. Friya had also put up a constant frown and during her spar sessions she often injured her partners by launching every attack like her life was on the line.
She would easily fall into a frenzy and only Orion could stop her from doing something that she would have regretted later. The worst thing was that she didn't show any remorse afterwards, blaming her opponent for being weak.
"If they can't even match a fifteen years old, they should stop calling themselves sword practitioners and dedicate their life to knitting." Was what she said every time, making Jirni proud and Orion frustrated.
After changing her nightwear, Phloria had recovered very quickly, but whenever someone asked her why and how, she would just turn beet red and refuse to answer. In her case the new shame had driven away the old one.
Quylla had completely recovered on her own, but she was deeply worried for Friya, that was changing into someone Quylla could hardly recognize as the kind and thoughtful girl she loved so much.
"F*ck Linjos and his idiotic ideas." Velan Deirus was considering following Orion's lead and challenging the Headmaster to a duel.
"He turned my poor son into a larva and to add insult to the injury his group was the only one facing that trial. If only they reached the goal second, this would be someone else's problem." He sighed.
"This is partly my fault too. After all his siblings grew up as profligate spoiled brats, I was so afraid of being hurt again that I always kept my distance. All these years, I kept myself so busy with my scheming and experiments that I never established a proper father-son relationship with him, more like master-apprentice.
Now he doesn't see me as a worried parent but as a disappointed teacher, so my words are unable to reach him.
If Yurial doesn't manage to snap out of it, my son's career is as good as over."
Orion poured an amber-coloured liquor in two glasses and then offered one to his fellow sufferer. It was the new world's equivalent of whiskey.
"I have your same problem. I managed to catch Friya off guard right after the exam and she opened up. Now she refuses to listen to me though, it's like talking to a wall. If I send her back to the academy, she is bound to get expelled because of her violent behaviour.
She doesn't trust me enough to share her burden with me and I can't blame her for that. I was so busy with my duty that even the few times I was at home, I just checked that Jirni wasn't going overboard and left without even saying goodbye.
In hindsight, leaving my new daughters so much personal space was a mistake. It grew into a gap that I don't know how to cross over. That's why I was thinking of asking their friend's for help."
"What friend? Are you talking about the lich?" Velan curled his upper lip in disgust.
"What lich?" Orion almost jumped from his chair hearing that word. Lichs were the Kings and Emperors of the undead. Mages that had sacrificed their humanity in exchange for infinite life, allowing them to hoard infinite knowledge and power.
"You should really work less and attend more to social events. That's how the little Lith of Lutia is known among the nobility." Velan explained with a worried look.
"He appeared out of nowhere, with a ridiculous baggage of knowledge and experience for someone his age. Some of my friends that worked together with him during the plague, reported that he is a ruthless killer capable of intimidating even veterans and has displayed a terrifying mastery of darkness magic, hence his moniker.
I think your wife could take a liking to him." The simple thought sent a shiver down Orion's spine.
"I ran a background check on him, but it never reported something so extreme. Nonetheless, I know by experience that traumatized soldiers have an easier time opening up with their comrades. Maybe they will listen to him."
With no other option left, Orion used his royal pass to access from the personal Gate of house Ernas to the Mage Association's branch located in Derios, the capitol of the Marquisate where Lith lived.
Not knowing the region, he was forced to fly and ask for directions from time to time. When he reached Lith's house, Orion was pleasantly surprised by it. It was a smaller cottage than the one he had assigned to his gardeners, but it was in a lot better shape.
The house had clearly been renovated multiple times over the years, it didn't look like a farmer's home, more like the cozy countryside love nest of a minor noble. The walls were entirely made of stone instead of wood, and the sloping-roof was being covered with high quality tiles.
- "The boy must have spent quite a lot for materials and manpower. Someone who takes care of his family like this can't be as bad as Velan said. Unless it's Jirni."–
Orion laughed at his own joke, drawing Elina's attention.
"Good sir, are you lost? There is nothing here for a nobleman like you."
The woman in front of him was stunning. She had to be in her mid twenties, about 1.62 metres (5'3") high with shoulder blades long hair of a beautiful light-brown which red shades danced under the setting sun like a wildfire.
She had such fine proportions and a smile so kind that a lesser man would have been tempted to flirt with her despite the dire circumstances.
- "If I wasn't already married with the most beautiful and loving woman of the Kingdom and my daughter wasn't in need of help, I may have courted Lith's sister… Wait, what's that?"–
The contrast between Elina's gentle voice and the long black stick she held made it appear even more ominous. Judging from the number of yellow runes engraved on its surface and it's humming sound, Orion determined it had to be some kind of lighting based weapon.
- "The design is so rough and amateurish to give away the element of surprise, but I bet it packs quite a punch and from this distance dodging is not an option. If Lith made that thing, Velan could be right."–
"There's no need for violence, ma'am. I mean no harm."
Elina emitted the cutest chuckle while covering her mouth with her hand, but never lowered the stick from her unexpected guest.
"I'm sorry, but I trust a noble only as far I can throw him. What business do you have here?"
"I'm Orion Ernas, the father of Lith's classmates. I need his help for one of my daughters' sake."
"Do you have proof of what you say?" Her hand trembled a little.
"I'm sorry?" Orion was flabbergasted.
"My son is pretty famous around here. Everyone knows he goes to an academy, so anyone can say to know him. If you can't prove your claim, I must ask you to leave."
"Your son? Aren't you his sister?"
Elina's smile disappeared.
"Flattery will not get you my trust. I don't want to use this thing but I'm ready to!"
Her trembling intensified, but Orion knew that look. She wasn't bluffing. Luckily Phloria had told him about her meeting Lith's parents, so all he needed to do was to call his daughter and make her vouch for him.
"Sorry for earlier." After speaking with Phloria, Elina went back to her normal self.
"But after a noble tried to kill my son, I don't trust any stranger, no matter their social status. Lith should be back in a while."
The house was a little miracle of magic, which only made Orion's fears grow. The air lacked the humidity and heat of summer.
The fireplace was empty, yet the room was perfectly lighted by some small glass containers emitting a warm light and no bug or mosquito pestered him once he stepped inside.
Lith had used Forgemastering to recreate air conditioners, lightbulbs and bug spray by devising small elemental stones respectively of water, light and darkness attribute. They were a lesser version of magic holding rings, that could store only first magic spells and needed to be recharged often.
Orion and Elina talked about their respective children, sharing anecdotes and happy memories until Lith arrived. The youth looked like a dejected miner that barely escaped from the collapse of a tunnel, he was completely covered in dust and debris.
After Elina introduced Orion, Lith immediately cleaned himself up with a spell before giving him a deep bow.
"Duke Ernas, I heard a lot about you. It's a pleasure finally making your acquaintance." Both his choice of words and etiquette were flawless, turning his fears into horror.
- "I knew it, he felt familiar the moment he walked through the door. He's exactly like my wife when she was his age! If Jirni sees him, she will never let me hear the end of it. I don't want any of my daughters to go through what I had to before managing to reason with her!"–
"What can I help you with?" They sat at the table while Elina went to the kitchen.
Orion snapped out of it, remembering why he was there.
"Well, as you surely know, both Friya and Yurial are in a bad shape after the second exam. The final test took a heavy toll of them…"
Orion saw Lith's eyes widen, quickly pointing at his mother and then pressing the index finger over his lips.
"Yes, I know." Lith cut Orion short.
"Getting rid of so many pests was a dirty job. I'm sorry they got the short end of the stick."
"They have lost most of their confidence and are in a rough patch." Orion caught Lith's drift and kept vague to prevent Elina from finding out the real nature of the exam.
"I would like for you to try to talk to them. They need all the help they can get."
"I don't think it's a good idea." Lith lowered his gaze in embarrassment.
"I'm not really good with people. Also, I feel I have failed them by not noticing their distress until it was too late. I'm afraid they might be quite angry at me. Anything I say is likely to backfire rather than help."
Thanks to his years together with Jirni, Orion was able to see past masks and charades, noticing that Lith's words were sincere and so was his concern.
- "If you really feel guilty, you should go." Solus said. "If you face them now, you can still make up with them. Abandon them again and they will never forgive you."–
"That's not true, dear." Elina chimed in.
"You always did an amazing work with your patients. All the farmers love and respect you. Your friends saved your life, whatever they are going through you must help them at the best of your capabilities.
I don't remember raising an ungrateful son."
Finding himself between a rock, a hard place and his mother, Lith accepted.
Chapter 185 Crucible 2
Going back to the Ernas mansion was a matter of minutes. As soon as they were away from Elina's ears, Orion briefly explained to Lith how the act of murdering someone had affected his two companions.
Lith just listened, pondering about what he could do about their mental state. The situation appeared to be hopeless.
When they walked out through the last Warp Steps, Jirni Ernas was waiting for them. The surprise froze Orion long enough to allow her to take the initiative.
"Dear Lith, I heard a lot about you. I'm Duchess Jirni Ernas. It's a pleasure making your acquaintance. I think our meeting is long overdue." She gave him a curtsy before offering him her right hand.
By introducing herself first, the lady of the house had done him a great honour. It was a really uncommon situation, to which there was only one possible answer.
"The pleasure is all mine. I'm at your service, my Lady." Lith half kneeled while kissing the back of her hand.
Their eyes met, studying each other's expressions and reactions.
- "This woman is being too polite toward a commoner. She clearly has a hidden agenda. If she hopes to catch me off guard with her petite build and kind visage, she's sorely mistaken. Whatever she sells, I don't buy it."– Lith's thoughts were spot on.
- "So young and so knowledgeable of rituals and etiquette." Jirni thought. "This is the perfect occasion to see if the reports about him are correct. I should be able to test his worth and if he is a potential suitor for one of the girls."–
"Jirni, dear, what are you doing here?" Orion said with a stiff smile, making them both furrow their brows in disapproval for his poor acting skills. It only lasted for a split second, but they noticed each other's reaction.
Lith and Jirni became immediately aware of the ongoing mutual deception and changed their plans accordingly.
"My dear husband, I understand how sensitive this matter is for you and the children. I just wanted to introduce myself to our esteemed guest. He must know how grateful we are for his help in times of need."
Her voice was worried, but her eyes were hard as steel.
- "Which translates into: I don't trust putting my family in the hands of a stranger without letting him know he cannot afford to screw up."–
Lith's interpretation was once again correct.
"I'm grateful for your trust, my Lady. A true friend can't remain idle when you ask for his help. I'll do the best that I can, it's all that I can promise you." Lith's voice was kind while his eyes were cold.
Like Jirni, he kept up the polite façade but didn't try to fool her anymore. Due to their similar nature, they had established a silent understanding and respect between them.
- "So you came here only at my husband's insistence and you don't think there's much that can be done. So far so good, young man."–
Their conversation between the lines was driving Orion insane, but he didn't know how to make them stop without being terribly rude. Luckily, Phloria came to his rescue.
"Hi, Lith." Her cheeks reddened seeing him. Phloria was still self-conscious about their last call. She was wearing a sleeveless emerald evening dress, that highlighted her fair skin and back hair.
Lith gave her a cold but polite bow to which she awkwardly responded with a curtsy.
Jirni didn't miss a single detail.
"Sorry to bother you, mom, but the staff is having problems setting the dining hall, they need your supervision."
Her words forced Jirni to take leave of them and follow her daughter.
"That's the boy who made you change your undergarments?" She asked with a whisper as soon as the door was closed behind them.
"No!" Phloria blatantly lied turning beet red up to her ears.
"Really? Then why are you finally wearing a gown instead of your beloved pants?"
"Maybe because you pestered me all day about putting a dress on at least for dinner?" Jirni clicked her tongue, Phloria was right.
"Too bad he doesn't seem interested." Jirni continued, not willing to let her have the last word.
"I always told you, to capture the heart of a man, the best undergarment is no undergarment at all."
***
"Usually by this time Yurial is already sleeping." Orion guided Lith through richly decorated corridors until they reached the guests' quarters.
"Wait here, I'll let you in as soon as he is fully awake." Orion knocked on the door before entering, leaving Lith alone with his worries.
- "The only thing I know for sure is that Yurial's father and Orion must be really desperate. My schoolmates already performed a background check on me, hence the parents should know my past as well. Seeing how I turned out, what kind of help do they think I can provide?"
"Consider this an opportunity to help them and yourself at the same time. You never had anyone to share your burden with. First you had to protect Carl, then to feed yourself and save Tista." Solus said.
"Your quest for power lead you to a lonely path. You couldn't allow anyone to know what you were going through, always shouldering everything yourself. Think of them as of the young Derek. Tell them what you would say to your younger self if you had the opportunity."–
Solus' words reminded Lith what his therapist back on Earth had told him multiple times. That for his wounds to heal he needed to be open and honest about his feelings.
Following Doctor Shore's advice, Lith/Derek had even volunteered at a shelter for victims of domestic abuses, but instead of empathizing with them he ended up being proud of having caused his father's death.
He was as miserable as they were, but at least he had a life and a home. Unlike them, his days as a victim were over. The people he worked with, instead, were trembling lumps of fear, constantly watching their backs.
By listening to their stories, Lith/Derek would only become angrier, hating humankind more and more. After only a few weeks, Doctor Shore had noticed the negative changes in his behaviour and asked him to stop.
When Orion let him in, Lith noticed the presence of a man who closely resembled Yurial. Before Orion could introduce them, Yurial lashed at Lith.
"Some friend you are! Showing up now is too little and too late. Where were you while I was curled up in a pool of vomit and tears? I remained like that for hours before my father contacted me. It's been five f*cking days and you never called or visited. What's wrong with you?"
Velan Deirus was very embarrassed by his son's rude behaviour, but at the same time also very happy.
Yurial seemed to have found his strength. Seeing him angry was already a great improvement.
Yurial's words made Lith feel guilty, even managing to hurt him a little. Having decided to follow Solus' advice, Lith put his guilt aside and took his gloves off.
"Friend? That's rich coming from you. Do you even remember how we met? How you threw trash at me and never apologized until you needed my help?"
Lith didn't yell, yet his words made short work of Yurial's outrage and self-righteous attitude.
"Since when are we friends, exactly? You have been using me the whole time and I returned the favour. Otherwise tell me something about me unrelated to the academy. What are my sisters' names? What are my dreams for the future? Heck, do you even know what is my favourite colour?"
Yurial suddenly realized that despite all the time they had spent together, Lith was still a complete stranger to him.
"See? You know nothing about me and so do I about you. Don't worry, though, things are about to change. Lord Ernas, could you please bring the girls here? I think that some things need to be said, but I'd prefer doing it only once."
Lith and Yurial sat down in silence, waiting for the others to arrive. The more Yurial thought about his previous outburst, the more it appeared childish and ridiculous.
- "Lith is right, we were never friends. It was just an assumption I made on my own. We shared hardships and schoolwork, but I never once cared for his life outside the academy. Some friend I am."–
When Friya saw Lith, the temperature in the room dropped by several degrees. She didn't yell or attack him, choosing instead to sit as far away as possible.
Lith didn't cut her any slack, repeating the same speech he had given Yurial, making her turn red from anger first and pale at the realization of how shallow their relationship was.
When the group was gathered, he could finally start.
"Let me introduce myself properly. Hi, I'm Lith and I'm a murderer." At those words, the room turned awkwardly silent.
"I want to tell you a story. Your background checks are wrong, I didn't kill my first man when I was six, but when I was only four."
Lith couldn't tell them how he had killed his father on Earth, so he needed to mix two truths to make a half lie.
"Back then, life was terrible for me. I was always starving, so I ran in the woods whenever I could behind my parents' back and I hunted using magic. What no one knows, not even my family, is that I wasn't alone.
There was a poacher, an obnoxious, violent man that stole my game whenever we met and gave me a complimentary beating every single time. I couldn't tell anyone. I was too ashamed of my weakness and afraid my parents would lock me in the house, so I made up excuses to keep them from discovering the truth and keep hunting.
I endured it for months, until one day I managed to catch a few white rabbits. With their meat and pelts my family would have been well fed and clothed, allowing even my ill sister to take a walk from time to time.
Too bad the poacher found me again, robbing me of my prey again. What he didn't know was that we weren't alone. A magical beast had been following me too and when he walked away from me, I decided not to warn him."
Lith's eyes became watery thinking back at his father, at how much he had to suffer before those wet stairs did the dirty work for him.
"While the beast devoured him, I didn't call for help nor did I attempt to drive it away. I just took back my game and stood watch to make sure that the poacher would never harm me ever again.
I may have not killed him directly, but I consider him my first victim."
Seeing all his friends sniffling with watery eyes, Lith shook his head.
"I'm not trying to belittle your suffering. This is not a measuring contest about who had it rougher. I just want you to know me, the real me, before giving you an unsolicited piece of advice."
He took a deep breath, watching each of them in the eyes.
"Friya, Yurial, you too have killed someone. Maybe because you felt pressured by the academy or simply because after killing so many monsters it seemed the right thing to do, it's not up to me to judge.
Phloria, Quylla, sooner or later you'll kill someone too, either out of self-defence or because it's your duty. When that moment comes, please remember my words.
Life is a cruel crucible that breaks us apart over and over, forcing us to put the pieces back together. Sometimes we come out of it stronger, sometimes weaker and most of the times there's so little we can do about it.
Failure is not falling down, it's not getting up. I couldn't share my burden with anyone. How could I say to my brother, to my family, that our happiness was built on the death of another man?"
"You are not like me. You have a lot of people that care for you, that know of your struggle and are willing to help. I don't know how long it will take for you to recover, but you don't have to face this alone.
Instead of walling everyone out like I did, try to accept the hands they are offering to you. Otherwise you'll end up like me, and believe me when I say it's not pretty at all. I am missing so many pieces, I'm mixed with so much sh*t that I barely feel human anymore.
Do whatever you want with your lives, but remember that today I gave you a part of me and a choice. A choice I never had."
Chapter 186 Crucible 3
With his new body, Lith was capable of lifting an adult with one hand and of running as fast as a magical beast for several minutes before getting tired. Yet after giving that speech he was already panting.
Speaking those words out loud had been one of the most difficult things he had ever done. Opening up, willingly showing his weakness, it went against everything he lived for during his past three lives.
It was the closest thing he had ever done close to self-injuring himself, forcing so many old wounds to open up and bleed in public. He still had so many things that he wanted to say, how he envied every single one of them, even Quylla, for being born with talent in a world that gave them limitless potential.
They were so young, while he felt so bitter and old. They could take whatever path they wanted in life, while he was struck on a one-way railroad.
- "I already said too much. If I keep going, I'll do more damage than good to them. Unlike me, they are really children. Their minds are still frail, they need time to really understand what they have just heard."–
Everyone in the room was crying, even Lith and Solus. She had no tears to shed, yet Lith could perceive her suffering like he did for those physically present. Unlike them, though, that were temporarily being swayed by fleeting emotions, Solus was also happy for the small, painful step forward Lith had just taken.
"I think we are done here." Lith said wiping away the only two tears he had shed.
"I won't outstay my welcome, so I'll take my leave."
He walked out of the door without turning back, until he felt a small body hugging him from behind.
"I'm so sorry for saying all those things back then, about you hunting and killing people being cool." Quylla was bawling her eyes out.
"I never stopped to think how hard such a life had to be on you. Despite having gone through so many hardships myself, I could only picture you like one of those heroes from my books, capable of shrugging everything off with a smile.
I just stood there, watching you from a distance only thinking about myself and never caring for your feeling. If there's something, anything I can do for you, even if you only want to talk, just say the word."
Lith turned around without escaping from her embrace, but not returning it either.
"Thanks for your words, but I think you are letting this thing go to your head." He patted her head kindly, running his hand through her hair.
"You have nothing to apologize for. I didn't tell you guys all those things because I wanted your pity or compassion, but only because I believe you needed to hear them before deciding what you want to do with your lives.
Now that you know who I am, I need you to calm down and reflect about all that has happened during this year. You should never make important decisions when you are emotional, or you'll do and say things you'll end up regretting in the future.
When we meet again at the academy, if you still think the things you just said, repeat your offer once more. Who knows? Maybe this time we'll become friends for real."
Quylla let him go, realizing she has just gone from one extreme to another, from never speaking to him to almost confessing her feelings for him.
- "Gods, I'm so stupid. I never fell in love with Lith, only with the distorted image I had of him. Thank heavens he stopped me before I could make a fool of myself. I can't blame him for seeing me only as a potential friend and not a love interest.
We are still too young and know nothing about each other. Let's start as friends."–
Only when Lith reached the Ernas' private Gate he realized he couldn't operate it without Orion's royal pass.
- "Great job, smarta*s. Now I have to go back and search for help. I'll be lucky if the staff doesn't kick me out. No one here knows me or why I am here."–
Then, he heard the door behind him opening up. It was Phloria, with a still tear-stained face from the little make up she wore. She was wringing her hands, trying to muster the courage to tell him how sorry she was.
Phloria was the one that had spent more time with Lith, taking a walk together before breakfast every morning. She wasn't shy as Quylla and didn't keep her distance from him like Friya to not hurt Quylla's feelings, yet she had never bothered asking him about his burden.
The problem was that her speech and Quylla's were awfully similar. Phloria had eavesdropped his reply already and it fitted her too quite well. Only after listening to his story, she had realized how silly was her constant whining about her mother and the duties her family required from her.
Phloria had never understood how lucky she was, being born with a silver spoon, until that evening. It made her feel like a shallow and spoiled girl.
"Just the girl I was about to look for." Lith smiled at her, leaving Phloria amazed at how fast he had gone back to his usual self.
"Can you please open it for me? I want to go home."
Phloria took her pass out of her dimensional necklace, setting the Gate's coordinates without saying a word.
When Lith was about to walk through the Warp, Phloria grabbed his arm.
"Are you sure you don't want to stay? The dinner will be delicious and we have plenty of rooms for our guests." It was a stupid line and she knew it, but Phloria didn't want to let him go like that, dismissed like a servant after performing his duty.
"Thanks for your offer, but there's nothing for me here. In five minutes you all will regain your cool and then it would be all forced apologies and awkward silences. You need time to think about what to do next, and so do I."
The Gate closed as soon as Lith passed through it, making Phloria feel cold and alone despite being in the comfort of her own house.
***
House Ernas was an ancient noble house, full of hidden passages and secret doors. There was a reason that Velan Deirus had taken the apartment right next to his son.
By simply removing a metal grid in the chimney, it was possible to hear everything that was happening in the adjacent room without the need of using spells that could alert a paranoid magician.
Velan, Jirni and Orion had listened from start to finish, not even missing Quylla's speech.
Orion had fiercely opposed to the intrusion on the kid's privacy, but Velan had been adamant about it.
"I can't put my son's future in the hands of a stranger I don't know and who has so many bad rumours going on about him. Leaving Yurial alone in his time of need would mean failing him once again and I'm done doing it."
Jirni seized the opportunity to better understand the nature of her newest opponent and his relationship with her daughters, while Orion could only sigh and accept his fate.
"A very interesting fellow." Velan said while fiddling with his goatee.
"People like that are damaged goods, but they can be incredible assets. I must tell my son to keep him close, if he doesn't break down along the way, this Lith may have a brilliant future ahead of him. He reminds me of my grandmother in many ways."
At the words "damaged goods" Jirni felt personally offended, giving to Velan a soft smile that sent shivers down Orion's spine. It was the same one she wore while taking care of her torturing devices in front of her prisoners.
Orion knew that if glares could maim, Velan's remains would easily fit into Jirni's purse. Yet she didn't rebuke their guest. Dinner time was nearing and they still needed to prepare themselves.
Orion and Jirni took their leave and went to their private quarters before continuing the discussion.
"What an ignorant idiot." She sneered. "If he just spent a little more time out of his lab and in the Court, he would know that half of them are 'damaged goods'. What do you think of the young Lith, dear?"
Orion would never cease to be amazed by how no matter how violent her emotions could be, his wife would never let them get the better of her, remaining cold and collected under all circumstances.
"He is still young. I really hope he can recover from his past traumas. It takes willpower and courage to not let such burden crush you and be able to share it with others. He can become a great friend to our girls and an asset for the Crown."
"That's not what I was talking about." Jirni started to pick up a suit for him, since Orion was still deciding on the tie.
"Quylla is not very attractive yet, but she has a lot of talent and seems to really care for the boy. Friya acts tough, but she wouldn't be so mad at him if she considered him just a stranger.
"As for our little Flower, any boy that can make her blush is better than all those we have introduced to her so far. Not to mention how she ran after him after a bit of hesitation.
When we bring him into the family, we must be certain about who to match him with. A happy marriage is all about compatibility, like it happened for us."
"What do you mean with 'When'?"
***
After arriving back to Lutia, Lith didn't go home going straight for the Trawn woods. The recent events had taken a toll on him and he felt the need to remain alone.
- "Mom thinks I'm away, so she will not worry. Besides, if anything happens, she always has the communication amulet."–
Solus and Lith went down to the Forgemastering lab to experiment on the second method. Lith was still tired, but Invigoration could make up for it and with his mind in turmoil he felt the need to bury himself in his work.
According to Gantzwell's theory, the best way to overcome Forgemastering's limits was to use a second magic circle. The normal enchanting processes required only one magic circle, to store the runes and collect the mana necessary.
It was the Forgemaster's duty to provide the energy necessary to force both runes and mana into the item, by exerting a magical force superior to the one the magic circle stored.
If the condition wasn't met, the enchantment would fail, that was the reason why a Forgemaster's creations could never exceed his own mana capacity. Gantzwell hypothesised that by using a second circle instead of their own mana, Forgemasters could team up and produce superior items.
His work had raised great expectations, since using more than a single circle was already a standard procedure, although it served to better contain the magical energies rather than to make them clash.
In the end, Gantzwell theory had been discarded because it never bore any fruit. Filling two overlapping magical circles with mana would make them unstable, the conflicting energies would damage the circles and dissipate too fast for any enchantment to succeed.
After a few attempts, Lith and Solus discovered that neither Solus's tower using Invigoration to keep the circles powered up nor Lith using true magic to speed up the process was enough to succeed.
"The night is still young." Solus sighed. "Do you want to get some sleep or do you prefer to pick a third method?"
"Neither. I think I have a solution."
Chapter 187 Silver Lining
"The reason we are struggling so much with things like Alchemy and Forgemastering is because we got it all wrong. Since we have stepped into the academy, we have been looking at the problem from the wrong angle.
"Fake magic and all its branches are strict, full of rules and boundaries that the mage can never overcome. Fake mages can't change the shape, size or even the temperature of a fireball, unless they rewrite the spell from scratch.
"True magic instead, is a free flow. There is no set number of steps or limits to what you can do, as long as you have the willpower and imagination to make it happen. Our problem since the beginning is that we are trying to beat a game at its own rules instead of making our own.
"Most of the things I have learned at the academy about tier four spells are redundant.
I could have managed to perform everything they explained so far at the Healer, Combat Magic and Advanced magic classes on my own. I simply lacked the ingenuity to connect the dots between what I already knew about tier three and below.
That's why as soon as I learned the trick behind regrowing a limb or share life energy, I was already able to do it better with true magic. Forgemastering though, is something I am deeply ignorant about, hence my mistake.
Instead of focusing on runes and circles, I should have tried to understand the logic behind the mana pathways' number and positioning. I should have studied what kind of form and properties a pseudo core needs to grant the enchanted item its effects.
Once I have achieved that, I will not need any rune or chant. I will just have to carve the pathways and then create the proper pseudo core."
"I think you are right." Solus' wisp said.
"I should have thought of it when I managed to create my own magic circles without using Professor Wanemyre's special ink. If we don't need the ink for the circles, there's no reason why it should be any different for the runes too. By my maker, I could I be so slow on the uptake?"
"Don't be so harsh on yourself, Solus. You are indeed the smarter one, but it's over one year that you are suffering from depression because of your condition. Not to mention how you are always taking care of me, managing my social life and helping me with magic.
You know, I think you are one of the kindest persons I have ever met."
Solus' wisp spun around out of joy. Being referred to as a person instead of a thing was what made her happy the most. Lith sensed it, and found himself thinking out loud.
"Do you know a funny thing we have in common? We have yet to find out what exactly we are. You are not an artifact, because you have a mind of your own, nor a cursed item. While I seem to have the body of a man, the morals of a beast and the soul of an Abomination."
Solus liked the idea of their bond being beyond their symbiotic relationship, much less the gloomy turn Lith's thoughts were taking, so she hurried changing the topic.
"What where you saying about Forgemastering? That we can skip Gantzwell's theory and work directly on pseudo cores?"
"I wish." Lith sighed.
"It would require a massive amount of knowledge and experience that we are sorely lacking at the moment. Until I manage to put my hands on a variety of magical items and study their properties, we are stuck using fake Forgemastering.
Now that we know the rules of the game, though, there are some that we have to obey, some we can bend and other that we can ignore by cheating. Let me show you."
Lith placed on the Forgemastering table one of the cheap rings he enchanted into dimensional items, while Solus used Invigoration to draw in the world energy and used it to fill with mana the ring's surrounding space.
Then, Lith took out from the pocket dimension one of the many small hammers he had Zekell prepare for him. It had a metal head and a wooden handle, the kind one would use to knock a nail in a wall.
"I had actually planned to enchant them into weapons for my family, but they should work just fine for my experiment too. Solus, is your control over the mana inside of the tower restricted to circles?"
"No, it's just the way I'm more used to project it, since we always followed Forgemastering's canons."
"Okay. I need you to imbue the hammer I'm holding with a little bit more mana than the one stored in the circle."
Solus had no idea what Lith was planning, but did as instructed. Such amount of mana was well below her capabilities. The hammer pulsed with a blue glow, emitting a low buzzing sound.
Lith focused on the mystical energies, making them submit to his will and take the form of the first rune before making them clash with those contained within the magic circle.
Sparks flew all over the lab while the conflicting energies generated a cyan burst of light that almost blinded Lith. Each strike produced a new burst of light, carving another rune inside the ring that created mana pathways wider and stronger than Lith ever had.
The brief contact allowed the mystical energies to remain stable, but took a huge toll on the tool and its wielder.
At the third rune the hammer crumbled. The cheap materials were already under a lot of stress due to the highly compressed mana forced in their frame. Each clash was like slamming the hammer against an incoming train.
Lith took out another, this time with a steel head and handle, that Solus once again filled to the brim without letting Lith lose his rhythm. Steel proved to be a better mana conductor, allowing him to shape the runes with less effort and lasting five hits.
- "Damn! Eight done, seven to go. Next one!"– Lith couldn't waste his time talking, thinking was much faster. The third one was a small decorative silver plated hammer that Lith had bought as end of term present for Professor Wanemyre.
- "F*ck me sideways! Random hates me, of all the junk I bought I had to pick the only expensive one. Just my luck."– The hammer wasn't that expensive, it was just Lith being that stingy.
Yet he was in a rush, the cheap ring couldn't hold much longer, not giving him the time to switch hammer before resuming the process. Much to his surprise, not only silver was an even better mana conductor, but also somehow dispersed the excess energies reducing the bursts' blowback.
Lith completed the ring without the need to change hammer again. When he examined the final product via Invigoration, he discovered the experiment had been a partial success.
Despite using the enchantment requirements for middle class quality dimensional items, capable of storing about ten square meters (108 square feet) worth of space, the one they obtained with the hybrid technique using both fake and true magic was a high quality one, with an internal space of almost thirty square meters (323 square feet).
The problem lied in the uneven mana pathways coursing around the pseudo core.
"Dammit. Despite you used the same amount of mana for each hammer, different materials have yielded different results. The pseudo core was infused while using the silver hammer, so it's too strong for the pathways I carved with first two hammers.
Either they will be unable to hold its energies and make it progressively lose its magical properties or the core will become unstable over time and explode. With my luck, my money is on the boom."
"It's still a success." Solus said.
"The silver plated hammer lasted seven hits before shattering. Maybe a silver hammer could last enough for all thirteen runes, if not for more than one item."
"Maybe and maybe not." Lith sighed.
"Silver is a ductile and malleable metal. It could get deformed after a single rune, becoming useless. It's worth the try, but it will cost a pretty penny."
"Well, the good thing is that if we collect all the pieces you can have them melted into a new hammer."
Over the next few days, before the academy's break was over, Lith performed countless experiments on several subjects. Following Solus' advice he bought a silver hammer, while following Earth's RPG customs he also bought a gold plated hammer.
Only the materials costed him three gold coins, but in all the video games he had played gold items performed better than silver. Much to his disappointment, gold turned out to be a terrible mana conductor, not lasting even a single hit before getting pulverized.
After cursing the creators of Dungeons & Looting for a while, he tried out the silver hammer. It allowed him to produce the first high quality dimensional ring of his Forgemaster career.
The impacts were more magical than physical in nature, so the hammer would get dented but not destroyed. Lith could use it several times before having it reforged.
"We either need a sturdier silver alloy or to enchant the hammer to make it more durable. Sooner or later Zekell will ask you what are you doing to reduce it in such a poor state and you don't have a plausible excuse." Solus said.
The more they learned about Forgemastering, the closer Lith got to open the boxes. He never received a vision to show him that the future had changed, so had never forgot about them.
Lith and Solus tried to replicate the synchronization effect they had experienced against the Scorpicore, when she had assumed her glow form the first time, but to no avail.
The stone glove simply acted as a stone glove, their bodies were linked but their mana cores seemed to be miles apart and happy that way.
He never received a visit or a call from his friends and that left him quite dejected.
–"As Yurial said, too little and too late. That ship must be sailed already." Lith thought.
"Or maybe they need some time to sort out their feelings." Solus pointed out.
"Yurial and Friya have some serious thinking to do, while the poor Quylla is probably still recovering from being friend-zoned like that. Phloria is the only one that has no excuses at all. I thought she was better than this."–
After saying goodbye to his friends and family, Lith went back to the White Griffon academy for the last trimester.
Chapter 188 Once More, with Feeling
Going back to the academy felt a bit odd to Lith.
He didn't like being there, always forced to hide his true abilities while keeping the Ballot at hand.
After discovering that Warden's arrays could seal off dimensional items, he didn't feel safe storing it in the pocket dimension, so he took it out whenever he was going out of his room or of a classroom.
Lith had decided to enrol into the academy because he hoped to hoard knowledge and connections with powerful people, but so far only the former was proceeding smoothly.
Between the Specialization courses and the library, from which he never stopped borrowing and copying material, his magical knowledge was ever expanding.
As for the connections though, he was still at square one. Climbing the social ladder had proved to be impossible. The only choices were to either submit to a young lord/miss and become their gofer or get a Ballot and be isolated.
- "It was already bad before, but now I have lost even what little company I had. I knew that getting all emotional with a bunch of kids was a bad move. It's just you and me, Solus. What's worse is that without Quylla's help, mastering dimensional magic will be much more difficult."–
It was one of those rare times when Solus didn't know what to say. On one hand, she wanted to scold Lith for considering his companions like tools instead of people, but on the other one she was glad to see him back to his uncaring self.
It had been her pushing Lith to open up and share his burden. Now that it had backfired, Solus couldn't help feeling partially responsible for the break up. At least with his cold attitude Lith would avoid further suffering.
That was one of the many reasons why she was really surprised when someone knocked on the door of Lith's room, and even more when they discovered it wasn't a clerk sent to deliver the new books.
It was Yurial.
"Hi Lith, can I come in?"
Lith opened the door letting him inside, while noticing that Yurial didn't seem to be in good shape. He looked emaciated, paler than the last time Lith had seen him and had lost a few kilograms.
"I don't know what the girls have in mind, but I prefer this talk to be private. I'm afraid I am not as good as you at public speaking." Yurial sighed, looking around the room like he was searching for something other than the courage he needed to say what had to be said.
"I thought a lot about what you told me. I'm not talking only about the part concerning how to face my current hurdle, but about everything we rubbed in each other's face.
"You were right, I didn't approach you looking for a friend, but I was really happy when I thought I had found one. You were also right about my apology. The only time I did it I wasn't sincere. I was just trying to rope you into my group to make my life easier at your expense."
Yurial spoke while looking Lith in the eyes, his hands tightly clenched.
"I have changed, though. Everything we went through together turned me into a different person. Someone that maybe is a little too reliant on tranquiliser potions, but still someone I believe is a better person than who I was before."
Yurial extended his right hand towards Lith.
"Hi, I'm Yurial Deirus and I'm a murderer. I'm really sorry for what I did to you guys on the first day of academy. I treated you as a second rate person and Quylla as a pet. I am sorry for having always taken you guys for granted until it was too late.
I may be a little stuck up, but I'd really like to be your friend."
Lith smiled, shaking hands.
"Apologies accepted. We can't change the past, but we can learn from it and not repeat our previous mistakes. Since we got ourselves a second chance, we should do our best to not waste it."
- "Are you serious?" Solus was flabbergasted by the turn of events.
"Yes. I too tried to manipulate them all for my own gain, so I can't blame him for playing the same game. Since I'm trying to change too, maybe we can help each other.
"I consider him on probation though. Talking is always cheap, Yurial has to prove with his actions to have really matured, otherwise it would be like trusting a new year's resolution at face value."–
Yurial was so happy that his face regained colour, turning the handshake into a hug.
"Thanks, man. I was really worried that you would just kick me out of your room. I've really been a sh*tty friend so far."
Lith patted Yurial's back, waiting a couple of seconds before escaping the embrace.
"You and me both Yurial. I should have called you earlier."
The sound of the first gong forced them to hurry towards the compulsory courses' class, they had only fifteen minutes before the start of the lessons. Using Warp Steps inside the academy was impossible, so they had to fly.
At their arrival, the girls had already taken their seats, keeping a couple of empty ones for their missing companions. Lith was happy to see all of them smile at him, yet it left him wondering why they had never contacted him in the previous days.
When the second gong resounded, Professor Nalear entered the classroom. Lith couldn't help but think that she had gotten even more beautiful, but his heart was at peace now.
- "If only I was ten years older."– He sighed, relinquishing once and for all his romantic dreams about her.
"Welcome back, boys and girls. I'm glad to see that so many of you managed to pass the second trimester. This year's promotion rate is way higher compared to previous years and that's good.
"Yet many of you have seen their grades drop compared to the first trimester, and that's bad. So I expect for you to work extra hard to make up for the lost time. Remember, perseverance and hard work are what real talent is made of."
The class gave her a short round of applause for her kind words, to which she responded with a small bow.
"Let's get started. Today I'm not here to teach you Principles of Advanced Magic. We are done with that subject, at least for the fourth year. What I am going to introduce to you, is something that every mage must know, since it's part of our everyday life.
"I'm talking about mana crystals. You have already seen them plenty of times, but probably you never stopped asking yourselves what they are. At the academy there are mana crystals embedded in the tables of the canteen, at the prize hall, basically everywhere.
"Mana crystals light every room, provide fresh air where there aren't windows and running water in your showers and toilets. Everything in the academy relies on mana crystals to work.
"During this class, I'll teach you what mana crystals are, how to find them and most importantly how to use them. In their raw form they are just pretty, shiny stones. It takes a mage to refine them and harness their power, turning them into all purpose tools.
"No specialization is needed to become a Crystalsmith. Any one of you can become one as long as you have patience, precision and steady hands. I'd add it's a well paid job, but I never heard of an alumnus struggling with money issues. All mages' jobs are good jobs."
The eyes of the students that had no specialization or that had flunked them already lit up with greed.
"First of all, what are they? Mana crystals are naturally formed minerals which hold an amazing quantity of magical power. How they form is still a mystery, we only know that usually they can be found in precise spots where wildlife thrives the most."
- "They really have no idea the world is filled with magic power." Lith thought. "Probably those spots she is talking about are like the mana geyser we use for your tower form, Solus. If I'm right, the world energy crystalizes over time into mana crystals.
This means that with your mana sense we can find them easily and get filthy rich."
"Sorry to burst your bubble…" Solus said.
"… but both the mana geysers we know of have been squeezed dry by Abominations. I doubt they left anything behind."–
Lith's dreams of wealth shattered, right when Nalear gave him another piece of bad news.
"Only the poor quality ones can be found in forests, woods or oases. To get to the motherlode, one needs to go digging quite a bit. We don't know if magical beasts, plants or monsters use the crystals too, leaving behind only scraps.
"What we do know, is that mana crystal veins can be found underground and that usually the deeper you go, the better the quality."
- "It makes sense." Lith thought. "Probably plants and beasts consume them to enhance their cores, or maybe they naturally absorb the world energy for triggering their evolution and that prevents high quality crystals from forming.
"Below the ground though, the world energy not only should be more abundant but also unused, so it can accumulate over time forming the veins. It's like a bank for unspent energy."–
"A mana crystal's purity can be easily assessed by its colour."
From her dimensional amulet, Nalear took out eight crystals perfectly cut like a precious gem. Each one was the size of her first.
"As you can see, worst to best are red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue, violet and white."
Lith almost couldn't believe his eyes. Mana crystals quality grade was identical to the one for mana cores, but with one exception.
- "A white one? Does this mean that white mana cores actually exist?"
Chapter 189 Once More, with Feeling 2
Completely unaware of Lith's inner turmoil, Professor Nalear continued her explanation.
"Red, orange and yellow are classified as low grade crystals. These crystals are the most cheap and common. They hold the smallest amount of mana and once it's consumed, they crumble to dust.
They only have a limited number of uses as mediums for Wardens' and Alchemists' most simple creations, while they are useless to Forgemasters."
- "Cheap?" Lith was stunned by Nalear calling something worth dozens of gold coins cheap.
"My staff runs on a red crystal, and so did Yurial's array during the second exam. Even he was reluctant consuming one. I'd better ask him for explanations later."–
"For example, red ones can be used to prolong the duration of an array or to grant its control to someone different from the caster. In the former case, the Warden places the crystal inside the formation, giving it an extra mana reserve.
"In the latter one, the Warden sets his imprint on the crystal while conjuring the arrays. This allows whoever holds the crystal to turn them on and off. Red crystals are considered to be 'dumb', since despite being imprinted, anyone can use them, even against the Warden's will.
"Orange and yellow crystals work the same way, but contain much more mana and are a little 'smarter'. They can be imprinted multiple times, but only with the consent of the original caster. This makes them thief-proof, but using them for a one time array is like using a fireball to kill a fly."
The red, orange and yellow stones disappeared in her dimensional amulet.
"This leaves us with the good stuff. Green and cyan crystals are classified as middle grade. They are used by Alchemists only for their most powerful creations, while they are much more important for Wardens and Forgemasters.
Middle grade crystals not only contain a much bigger amount of mana, but they are also able to self recharge over time. As long as they hold even a tiny speck of energy, they do not crumble.
The recharging process can take hours, days, or weeks depending on the size of the crystal and its purity. A deep cyan stone recharges slower than a bright one, the more vibrant the colour, the purer the gemstone is."
The number of analogies between mana cores and crystals was making Lith's head spin.
"Thanks to this property, Wardens can use them to make their formations semi permanent. Fueled by a sufficient number of crystals, a defensive array can remain active always, since its mana expenditure is covered by the crystals that recharge themselves non-stop.
"Of course, the more damage the barrier sustains, the more mana is consumed, until the array is deactivated either by the magician himself or because all the crystals have been consumed
"Forgemasters can instead embed them into their creations. Thanks to the magical gemstones, items not only become able to receive multiple powerful enchantments, but also gain a mana capacity of their own, allowing their wielder to use spells that he doesn't know or that he wouldn't be able to cast at all."
Nalear took out what seemed to be a miniature sword, little enough to fit the palm of her hand. One second later, it grew to the size of a long sword, with two shining cyan gemstones on its hilt.
"This is Professor Wanemyre's most recent creation. For those who don't know her, she is our best resident Forgemaster. This sword has been enchanted with multiple spells that allow it to shrink, to be sharper and sturdier than normal.
"It also allows its wielder to summon a protective barrier and cast tier three lightnings, even if he/she isn't a mage at all. It's all made possible only thanks to the mana crystals. Aside from special materials, most inorganic matter crumbles if imbued with too much magical energies.
Only mana crystals can harness such power, even managing to use the conflicting energies deriving from the multiple spells to recharge themselves faster."
Thinking about all the precious materials and resources he had wasted until the previous day, just to discover the same things he had learned in the last half an hour, Lith didn't know whether to rage or cry.
- "Random really hates me! Why couldn't this lesson have happened a month ago? I hate Professor Wanemyre so much right now. If I still had her gift, the silver plated hammer, I would bash it on her head!"–
Lith raised his hand to ask a question. Nalear noticed it and gave him permission to speak.
"I'm specializing in Forgemastering, why I have never heard about this before?" The pain resounded from his wallet up to his voice.
"Because embedding magic crystals and infusing multiple enchantments is something you'll learn on the fifth year, after you have passed this subject and learned how to refine and handle the crystals." She replied with a warm smile.
"We have already studied how to apply more than one spell though. The Professor had us trying and failing again and again. With all due respect, but it's unfair to us students." Many colleagues from Forgemastering nodded.
They also had spent a lot of time, effort and money in a fool's errand, just like Lith.
"It's unfair to the students, but fair to the academy's budget. This way Wanemyre knows who have worked their hands to the bone gaining solid foundations, and who instead have relied on tips from their families in violation of the academy's rules."
Looking at those who had remained indifferent to Lith's lamentations, her smile turned into a grin.
"High quality magic crystals are really expensive. We can't afford you students wasting them while taking your baby steps as Forgemasters. It was her way to separate the wheat from the chaff and save a lot of her budget.
Two birds without even a magical stone." She winked at Lith, who contrary to her expectations instead of turning red became pensive.
- "Solus, is it me or Professor Nalear is a bit strange?"
"Yeah, flirting with a student is really going overboard. All those smiles and winking…" She replied with more than a tinge of jealousy in her voice.
"Not that. Look at the sword, she's holding it with one hand."
"It doesn't mean much. Maybe it's just enchanted to be light too."
"Then explain how does she know about the conflicting energies of multiple spells? She isn't a Forgemaster and even if she was, they know nothing about pseudo cores. We learned about them only because of Invigoration."
"By my maker! Are you implying she is an Awakened one?" Solus was shocked.
"It would explain her trick on the first day that seemed so similar to spirit magic, her strength and knowledge. What does your mana sense perceive?"
Solus focused all her attention on Nalear's mana core, ignoring her long legs, the full lips and the wavy hair that pissed her off beyond reason.
"Her mana is still, just like that of a fake mage. Now that I think about it, though, the Marchioness had a magical item shielding her core from detection. Maybe Nalear has a similar device."
"Or maybe she has learned how to control her mana flow. I can't ask Nalear if the sword also has a weight reducing spell, it could tip her off. I'll ask Professor Wanemyre as soon as I see her."–
After the enraged chattering of the students died out, Nalear made the green and cyan gem disappear before resuming her explanation.
"Blue and violet are high grade crystals. Only the best and richest Wardens and Forgemasters can afford them. The white ones are a tier of their own, you'll never see them outside of the royal palace or powerful artifacts.
What sets high grade crystals worlds apart from their lesser cousins, is that beside the ability to recharge at great speed over time, they can also be manually recharged. Take the academy, for example." She waved at the wall, pavement and ceiling.
"The reason why even the canteen can use Warp Steps to deliver you your meals is the same that makes this castle an impregnable fortress. Not only it has been built with countless crystals that empower all of its spells and arrays.
It is also able to feed on the mana of its residents in case it needs some extra juice. Every time we practice magic, make a call with a communication amulet or activate a dimensional item, the academy takes its toll in the form of a minuscule fraction of the magic employed."
The students gasped, looking at their hands like expecting to find fleas under their clothes.
"It's at the same time a sword and a shield. A shield because it protects us all from internal and external threats. A sword because whoever doesn't wear a uniform can have their mana sucked dry in an instant.
Whatever spell an intruder could use, the castle would throw it back at him tenfold.
Oh, right. Only gemstones from blue and above are capable of sustaining complex functions, like projecting holograms, copying documents and such. That's why all your communication amulets have a blue gemstone embedded and are so expensive."
At the thought that Wanemyre had showed him the blueprint for the amulet without explaining anything to him, Lith felt the desire to make the Professor and her present have a violent encounter grow even stronger.
"In the following lessons I'll teach you how to cut a mana crystal according to its intended function. How to check its quality, how to identify its consumption rate and if it has it, the recharge rate.
The last part of our lessons will be about how to manually recharge high quality crystals, with a trip to the mines in the forest to show you how to find, dig and extract raw crystals without having them explode in your face. Dismissed."
As soon as Nalear had finished speaking, the gong signalling the end of the lesson resounded and she left the class.
"This lesson made me feel dirty poor." Lith sighed.
"I know, with my weekly allowance I can barely afford a few red mana crystals. That's why I don't use them unless it's absolutely necessary." Yurial sighed along, showing Lith a small bag containing enough red gemstones to fuel Lith's staff for more than a year.
Suddenly Lith felt the urge to gift him with a hammer too.
Chapter 190 Dimensional Business
Between classes there was a ten minutes break that students could use to relax, exchange notes or simply stretch their legs a bit. Lith was eager to understand if one or more of the girls was still angry or wanted to keep a distance from him.
The problem was introducing the topic without making himself sound worried or even worse, desperate. From his previous life, he had learned that girls could smell desperation from a mile away and they were usually good at exploiting it.
Before he could find a proper way to clear their relationship, Quylla spoke up.
"Did you really practice Forgemastering on your own?"
"Of course, I did." Lith felt slightly offended by the implication.
"But aside from small stuff I didn't manage to create much. On the contrary, I wasted quite a few materials, since Wanemyre left me stumbling in the dark." He snorted.
"Really?" She was genuinely surprised.
"How can your family afford a magic lab? It's not something you see often near a farm."
Lith realized too late his slip up. He couldn't tell them about Solus and her custom-made labs, so he had to improvise.
"They can't. I practice in a small clearing in the woods near my house. It's not much, but at least it's quiet and isolated."
"Then you can't really blame the Professor for your failures. Father always says that without a properly insulated magic lab, enchanting items is more a form of gambling rather than magic."
"Are you taking Forgemastering lessons from Orion?"
Quylla nodded.
"More like he explains to me the basics while he works. Father says that I could use a second specialization and that Forgemastering helps build the character."
- "It seems to be true, since she managed to look me in the eyes the whole time without blushing. Orion must have been spending quite some time with them to make Quylla call him father already."–
"By the way, how was your report card?" Quylla had become much more talkative and straightforward compared to the past.
"Pretty good. With only one sour note."
"Let me guess." Friya scoffed. "Dimensional magic?"
"Got it in one." Lith smiled.
"Did Rudd give you an A- too?"
"The f*cker did much worse!" Friya slammed her fist on the desk, drawing the attention of most of the class.
"Hush! Last time I hadn't the opportunity to tell you, but somehow the report cards of those who passed the second test leaked to the public." Lith whispered.
"Most of our classmates are already envious of our success, don't give them the opportunity to report you to Rudd and give him an excuse to lower your grades even further."
The piece of news took them all by surprise. Friya looked at their classmates with anger and only after taking a few deep breaths, she managed to calm down.
"Yurial and Phloria got an A+, Quylla got an A- like you and I only an B+." Her voice was quiet, but her hands snapped a quill in half over and over, until the biggest piece was the size of a bean.
"It's beyond unfair." Phloria chimed in.
"We are more or less at the same level, but only thanks to Quylla giving us real lessons about dimensional magic and thanks to you teaching us how to multi cast properly.
"It should be you two having a better grade instead of us. I bet Rudd looked at our family's status first and at our performances later. Friya's grade makes no sense unless…"
"Unless he is punishing me for what my mother did, implying that since I belong to a family of traitors I must have cheated somehow." Friya completed the phrase for her, rage and sadness resounded in her voice.
"I think I would have popped a vein if it wasn't for you, Lith. Thank you very much." Friya suddenly hugged him, causing the onlookers to start gossiping about it.
"What did I do exactly?" Lith had been caught by surprise and was unable to make heads or tails of her words.
"You were our supervisor during the second exam, dummy. You must have embellished our performances quite a bit, otherwise I doubt my report card would be this good." She handed him a piece of paper, on which was written:
"Friya Ernas:
Principles of Advanced Magic: A-; Mage Knight: A-; Healing: A; Dimensional Magic B+. School points gained from daily evaluation: 3,362. School points gained from the second exam: 1000/1000
Headmaster Linjos."
The candidate demonstrated to be cool headed even under stressful situations, capable of excellent teamwork and brave enough to put her own safety at risk to ensure the success of her team's mission."
One after the other, his companions gave Lith a copy of their report card. They had all scored full points during the second exam, while their grades went from a minimum of A- to a maximum of A+.
The only exception was Quylla, who had received an S- as a healer.
"We received our report cards just a few days ago. I would have never expected to be considered a Rank A magician." Quylla was brimming with joy.
"I honestly doubt we would have got full marks if you told Linjos how we puked our guts out after facing the first group of goblins. Did you paint us out like fearless adventurers? And if you did, how did you manage to sell it to Linjos?"
All eyes were fixated on Lith, eager for an answer.
"Sorry to burst your bubble guys, but you are overestimating my acting skills and underestimating Linjos. He would never believe such tale, I had to tell him the truth. Especially after what he did to you during the last test.
I wanted him to understand how hard the whole exam had been on you and how despite that you had managed to overcome every hurdle without my help." He winked.
"I simply forgot to tell him about the time you panicked, losing control of the lighting spell, and about the night when you all fell asleep leaving me to stand guard alone. And even if I did tell him, I'm sure you would have got full marks. You owe me nothing."
As soon as he finished his speech, Lith fell victim to a group hug.
"Thank you so much." Phloria said. "When my parents heard the Headmaster praising my talent as a leader, my mother was moved to tears and didn't nag me until I left home."
Considering that the report cards had arrived after Lith's visit, he was left pondering how terrifying Jirni Ernas had to be to make a couple of days nag-free so precious.
"Yeah, man." Yurial added. "Reading over and over my report card, especially the part where Linjos highlighted my strategic skills against the ogres gave me the strength to get up from my bed and return to the academy.
"Rest assured that when Linjos will summon us in his office to evaluate your performance, we'll return your favour in full."
Being careful about who he touched and where, while trapped in the mass of clinging bodies, Lith managed to free his arms and return the embrace.
"Thanks guys, but there is no need to. Just tell the truth and everything will be fine. Of course, if you could share my selective memory loss it would be peachy."
Professor Khavos Rudd walked in just in time to hear their laughter.
His left upper lip curled up in an expression of unbridled disgust.
- "Damn Linjos. Seeing the heirs of proud magical families mingle with dirty commoners and a traitorous b*tch makes me sick. In the old days, I would teach them a lesson or two about respecting the hierarchy and keeping the mana-line pure.
To add insult to the injury, not only are those five among this year's top percentile, but also that Lith is one of the Queen's favourites, like Linjos wasn't enough already. I didn't survive this long by antagonizing powerful people for petty reasons, but the gods know how tempted I am to do it just this once."–
"Sit down. School's in session." Rudd's stern voice put a stop to the chattering, forcing the students to return to their seats.
"My dear students, I would like to say that I'm happy to see you still so numerous, but the truth is that I'm not." His tone was so full of bile that it could melt steel.
"In my long career I had many classes, but this is by far the most disappointing. The only reason so many of you are still here, is because despite my subject being compulsory, my evaluation is irrelevant towards your promotion."
Some students lowered their heads out of shame. The others stood tall, either because their grades were good or simply because they didn't care. Professor Rudd had long lost the respect and admiration of many of them.
The nobles saw him as someone unable to stand his ground against Linjos, the others as a relic of the past. As an annoying, pompous old coot.
"Whoever already succeeded casting Warp Steps raise his hand, please." A little less than half the class answered the call.
"Those of you that still haven't mastered the spell and fail at it sometimes lower their hands, please." Barely twenty raised hands remained.
"Three months of patience and effort brought us to such a pathetic result. Since some of you worked hard while the rest of the class twiddled their thumbs, I'm not going to waste my precious time anymore.
"I'll explain to you how to turn a Warp Steps into a Blink or a Switch and then we will all go to the practice hall. You'd better take notes, because I'm not going to repeat myself."
Rudd waited only a few seconds before resuming his lesson, many students had yet to take out their books and inkwells.
"Those of you that have actually read my book, should have already noticed that the two spells that will get you out of my face once and for all are only mentioned but never described.
"That's because they aren't new spells, they are simply variations in the execution of Warp Steps that require a lot of talent and skill in the art of dimensional magic. You already know the magic words and hand signs. You just need to take one last step.
"To turn a Warp Steps into a Blink, all you need to do is to make the entrance Gate move towards you and close it as soon as you have crossed it. Switch is the same thing, but requires generating two sets of gates moving at the same speed and leading almost to the same coordinates.
"Very few can do it, that's why learning Switch is purely optional while Blink it's not. To make a Gate move, you need to use the other one as an anchor and stretch the dimensional corridor without making it collapse.
"This requires boosting the energy flow by adding fire magic at the very last moment, and a further injection of air, earth and water magic so that the balance remains unchanged.
Between the further mana consumption and the speed required to make it work, Blink has a range of thirty meters (33yards) tops, despite consuming the same amount of energy it would take to Warp a kilometre (0.6 miles) away.
Switch is similar to a Blink done twice but with a single spell.
By adding light and darkness magic in equal parts during the first steps of the spell, it's possible to induce a resonance that doubles the number of energy cores, creating two entry and two exit points.
Using six elements in such short time not only is a rare feat, but also requires a lot of focus. Hence why its range is further limited to 10 metres (11yards) and needs a clear line of sight between the caster and the target."
After finishing his explanation, Professor Rudd Warped them to the training hall, splitting the students in groups according to their skill level.
Over an hour passed, many Gates were opened, but none managed to Blink.
Half an hour later, much to everyone's surprise, Friya disappeared from her spot reappearing a few meters away. In a matter of minutes, she managed to Blink several times in a row.
Professor Rudd was seething with anger, but managed to hide his feeling and even congratulated her, encouraging the class to follow Friya's lead.
Before Lith was forced into another group hug, a furious bellow resounded.
"It's not fair, she cheated!" Lyam Lukart walked toward Friya like he wanted to beat her, but despite being fifteen centimetres (6 inches) shorter than him she stood firm, her hand resting on the hilt of her sword.
"She cheated and I can prove it!"
Chapter 191 Pride Goeth Before a Fall
In his decades long career, Khavos Rudd had been forced to listen to ridiculous theories, stupid questions, and excuses to justify incompetence or failure so imaginative that they would put a bard to shame.
Yet never before he had ever heard something so blatantly preposterous.
"Unfair?" He echoed placing himself between the young Lukart and the bloodthirsty girl. Clearly one of them needed protection, but he was unsure about which one.
"Cheated?" His voice rose in intensity while astonishment was replaced by rage for his wounded pride.
"Are you telling me that it's possible to cheat in the noble art of dimensional magic? During my class and in front of me? Are you calling me stupid, incompetent or both?"
Knowing how Professor Rudd loved and respected magical bloodlines, Lyam Lukart was taken aback by his vicious retort.
"No. I would never dare to say something like that." Lyam swallowed a lump of saliva. Whenever a Professor took out his communication amulet it was never a good omen.
"I really hope so. Just like I'm dying to hear why do you think lady Ernas has cheated. If I don't like your reply, prepare to say goodbye to one thousand points." Rudd replied with his thumb already placed on the administration office's rune.
Lyam started to panic. One thousand points were more than he had to spare. He was used to spending them as soon he had enough for a new magical trinket.
"Sir, she has clearly cheated. First of all, she comes from magicless family, hence it's impossible for her to outclass a pureblood like me. Not to mention she received only a B+ in dimensional magic, while I got an A+.
How can someone with such a low evaluation be this good at dimensional magic? This is all the proof that I need!" He replied puffing his chest with pride.
In recent years, the ancient noble families had seen their privileges being slowly extended also to younger and more talented magical households.
With the Court's new policies, their influence over the Kingdom was fading and their loyal servants that occupied key roles in every region were being replaced by new bureaucrats only loyal to the Crown.
Seeing someone of lesser upbringing perform better than him was more than a wound for his adolescent pride, it was like feeling everything that had been promised to him, his very birthright, slip through his fingers like a handful of sand.
"Really? A B+?" Professor Rudd became pensive, losing his edge and letting Lyam breathe a sigh of relief.
"How do you know it?" Professor Rudd's ice-cold blue eyes were suddenly just a few centimetres from Lyam's, burning with anger and mana.
"H-how do I know what?" Lyam stuttered at each word
"Her grades. They are secret, my secret to be precise. You two are not friend, hence I doubt she told you." Friya shook her head to confirm his suspicions.
"I'll ask you only once. How do you know?"
"A friend told me."
"Then give me the name of this friend." Rudd's tone was becoming more menacing by the second.
"I don't want to get him in trouble. He simply shared with me something that everyone knows. It's not his fault."
"Really? Everyone knows?" With a wave of Rudd's hand, the training hall's door closed shut.
"Then we have much to talk about, my students."
Those present looked at Lyam with hatred and scorn, he had managed to get all of them involved in barely one sentence.
"Young man, you are in a lot of troubles. If you don't give me the name of your friend, forget the points. I'll get you expelled for breaching the academy's network. After that, I'll make sure no matter the academy, you'll find only closed doors in front of you."
Lyam knew that he had no way out of that situation. His father was a rich and powerful man, but Rudd had outlived countless Headmasters and even the Queen's attempt to have him retire.
Khavos Rudd was an archmage with such knowledge, power, and connections that Lyam was certain that his words were far from being an empty threat. After Lyam gave Rudd his friend's name it took barely a few minutes for the Professor to work up the pyramid discovering who was involved and how.
"Very well, you bunch of idiots, we'll discuss your punishment later in the Headmaster's office.
"As for you, young Lukart, let me give you a lesson of humility. You may not like a person, you may despise their family, but you always respect the talent once it's slapped right in your face."
Professor Rudd dragged Lyam in the middle of the training hall, in front of the cold gaze of his friends that couldn't wait to watch him fail and share their misery.
"I may be old, but my memory works just fine. I remember clearly how you and mister Lith here were the first ones to get ahead with the loop spell. Let's do something simple."
Judging from his wolfish smile, what he was going to propose was anything but simple.
"Mister Lith, do you mind opening a Loop (*) for me? Do it very slowly, step by step please."
Lith did as instructed, discovering how hard was to humor Rudd's request. What once came natural to him during his previous failures, now required his utmost focus. His mind and body were so used letting the various elements flow that the task was akin to drive a car with the handbrake on.
Yet Lith managed to succeed. First appeared a single shining sphere, that Rudd made him keep for ten seconds, then he could finally split it into two black dots for another ten seconds and only the Rudd allowed him to complete the spell and open the small Gates.
Lith was sweating a bit and had a splitting headache. Dimensional magic was dynamic by nature, keeping it static was a mammoth task.
- "If this is what he considers 'easy', I must thank Linjos for removing written and practical test, otherwise I would never pass dimensional magic if Rudd demanded 'hard' tasks." Lith thought. –
"Now it's your turn, Lord Lukart." Rudd's voice was oozing sarcasm.
Lyam chanted the spell, opening the two Gates at once.
"I said slowly. Are you deaf, dumb or both? Again!"
Lyam tried over and over again, only managing to keep the single parts of the spell active for a second or two before it exploded in his face. Only the training hall's security measures prevented him from being disfigured or worse.
"Do you know what's the difference between the two of you?"
Lyam was going to say: "He is a commoner while I am an heir from a noble magical family.", but Rudd anticipated his answer and didn't give him the time to reply.
"It's that despite his poor talent in dimensional magic, he has practiced hard. He has failed countless times before succeeding until every single step of the spell has been engraved in both his mind and body.
"You, instead, have been probably instructed by your father or one of his assistants, feeding you the answers you needed without even caring about understanding the importance of the underlying questions.
Let me show you how easy is distinguishing talent from hard work in my field. Lady Quylla Ernas, do you mind giving a demonstration to the class?"
Quylla performed as Lith, but without breaking a sweat.
"Outstanding talent." Rudd said, managing for the first time to not make it sound like an insult.
"If it wasn't for the incompetence of Professor Nalear in teaching multi casting, I'm sure she would be already able to switch. Only the talented ones understand the flow of mana and can move it according to their will.
Lady Friya, now it's your turn."
Friya succeeded too.
"Talent and hard work. A very rare combination." Rudd bowed to her in a sign of respect.
"As for you, Lord Lukart, it's time to learn that foolish actions and words have consequences." He activated his communication amulet.
"Here is Professor Rudd. Subtract two thousand points from Lyam Lukart for insubordination, slander of a schoolmate and for divulging academy's secrets. Also, change his dimensional magic evaluation to B- and raise Friya Ernas' one to A+."
At those words, Lyam turned pale as a ghost at first, then green and finally red due to a fit of rage. He rushed toward Friya, punching her in the face.
Rudd was about to intervene, but he noticed that her hands and lips were moving at great speed. He placed an invisible barrier around her and pretended to do nothing, studying her skill.
Her dimensional spell was still active, all Friya had to do was to complete the spell, placing the first gate in front of her and the other near Lyam's nether region.
The result was the young Lukart giving himself a powerful straight in the nuts.
Rudd erupted into laughter, seeing Lyam sorry figure curled up on the ground. Soon more than half the class joined the Professor in his hilarity. The fall of a high and mighty noble was a rare sight, the commoners among those present savored every moment of it.
Tears streaked Lyam's cheeks non stop. Even worse than the physical pain was the taste of failure in his mouth, being a laughingstock for the first time in his life.
"Very well executed and perfectly timed, Lady Ernas." Rudd activated his communication amulet once again.
"Points assignation to the student Friya Ernas for displaying superb mastery of dimensional magic and completing the course three months early. Five hundred points."
This time no one interrupted the group's cheers and congratulations. Friya was so happy that she stopped frowning for the first time since the end of the second exam.
Seeing the group of youths so close despite being so different in social status, age, and magical legacy made Professor Rudd sighed of resignation.
- "I hate to admit it, but if Lyam Lukart is the best the old magical families have to offer, then it's much better to wipe them out once and for all. I hate commoners, but I love magic too much to let a bunch of ungrateful spoiled brats disrespect it.
"Those who spare no effort in pursuit of magical knowledge are a hundred times better than someone that takes shortcuts, incapable to understand that magic is a competition with oneself, not with others." -
"Lady Ernas, you are free to not attend dimensional magic classes anymore. I hope you will decide otherwise, though. It would be a pleasure and an honour for me to help you mastering Switch too and witness the birth of a true dimensional magician."
The whole group was astonished. There was no trace of sarcasm in his voice. Rudd even gave her a deep bow. Where years of arguing and debates in the Mage Association had failed, Lyam Lukart had succeeded.
The harsh comparison between his blind arrogance and Friya silent efforts had managed to convince Khavos Rudd once and for all that he had been wrong his whole life.
Being a good magician wasn't a matter of talent or bloodline, hard work and passion for magic were the only things to treasure and nurture.
"It would be my pleasure to be taught by the greatest dimensional magician of our times." She replied with an even deeper bow.
Despite her resentment for Rudd's previous conduct, Friya wasn't so stupid to put grudge before education.
Rudd nodded, pleased by both her answer and her flattery.
"The class is dismissed early today. Lyam Lukart, get up and follow me to the Headmaster's office. Let's see if I can get you expelled. Your sight sickens me."
Chapter 192 Unexpected Surprise
After the end of the lesson, the group went to the canteen to eat something and recover from the shock. For months they had been watching their backs for Lukart and his goons, and now Professor Rudd was getting rid of him.
That and Friya joining them as a full fledged A ranked student was too good to be true. Friya was literally walking on air from excitement. She was so happy that her magic had gone out of control making her float a few centimetres over the ground.
"Keep a seat for me, I'll join you in a while. I can't wait to give the good news to Orion, he's going to be so proud of me!"
"Quylla already calls him 'father' and Friya's first thought after going out of the classroom was to share his joy with him. Your dad must be a great man, Phloria." The group sat down at their usual table. It was too early for lunch, so they ordered snacks and beverages.
Lith would have loved to have a cold beer after how much sweating Rudd had put him through, but he knew that his body was still too young. No matter how many times he asked for it, the kitchen staff would always refuse to serve him alcohol.
"He's more than that, he's a great dad. Unlike my mother, he has never let me down nor has ever tried to force his will on me. Too bad that he is often away from home for weeks and that makes my mother the ruler of the land."
Just the thought of her mother was enough to make even her fruit juice taste sour.
"To be honest, I am really surprised Friya managed to Blink before you, Quylla." Yurial expressed what everyone had in mind, while Friya was still away to not hurt her feelings.
"I'm not." Quylla lowered her gaze in embarrassment.
"Despite I mastered tetra casting before her, fire magic is still my weak point. Do you remember I told you I started practicing magic after my village's healer death?"
Everyone nodded.
"What I omitted to say is that the bandits set fire to the village and I almost died back then. Since that moment, I have been scared of fire magic. Fire is different from the other elements, even without mana it doesn't disappear, it keeps growing and burning like it's alive.
Because of that I never practiced it much, but now things have changed. I'm not that scared little girl anymore, I'll catch up with you in no time!"
When Friya returned everyone was already eating and drinking. Lith decided to exploit that moment when everyone had their guard lowered to ask his question as casually as he could.
"I'm glad to see you are all in a good mood. That leaves me with a question, though. Why none of you ever called me? You had me thinking you wanted to cut ties with me." Despite all his efforts, Lith ended up fiddling with his glass while he was talking.
"I'm really sorry for that." Friya lowered her eyes, her smile disappeared already.
"It's just that after hearing your story, I was embarrassed for having treated you so coldly. After realizing that your burden is much heavier than mine, I felt like a tantrumming child demanding attention. I didn't know what to say without making even more of a fool out of myself."
"It wasn't a suffering measuring contest!" Lith sounded stressed, but was actually relieved by her answer. Since Phloria seemed pensive, he looked at Quylla.
She opened and closed her mouth a couple of times, like she was about to say something but changed her mind at the last moment.
- "Gods, why I'm such a coward? I just have to tell him the truth. Of how after he left, I needed to sort out my feelings, to understand what was real and what was just make believe.
Tell him how much you missed him, but you were too afraid of being rejected again. It's not that hard, I'm sure Phloria would say it in one breath."–
"Well, I needed some time to sort out my feelings." Phloria said with a straight face, making Quylla spit her beverage back in the glass while Lith tilted his head in confusion.
"What feelings? Those for your mother? Your new sisters? Or about the realization that sooner or later you'll have to kill someone?" He asked.
"None of the above." She waved her hand like putting away all those topics.
"You see, when she is not trying to boss me around and telling me how to live my life, my mother is a great listener. She knows human nature very well and people are just open books for her. As much as it pains me to admit it, I'm no exception."
"After you left my home, I was left with an odd feeling. When I spoke about it with my mother, she offered me her insight and suggestions, instead of trying to manipulate me, which was a refreshing event.
"She pointed out that I'm already fifteen and I'm not going to get younger. The next year I will turn sixteen, becoming an adult. Either I decide to marry or not, I still have no experience at all with boys and once I join my father's corps things will get real.
"It will be kill or be killed, with no middle ground nor compromise. So I've decided to enjoy my last year as a kid to its fullest and come out of my shell. Lith, would you like to go out with me?"
Lith's face froze with a creepy smile while Quylla was choking on her drink.
"Gee, don't jump me like that. Wait at least the fifth date or something." She sneered after Lith remained stuck in the same pose for several seconds.
"I'm sorry, but saying that this is unexpected is an understatement. Also, I'm flattered by your attentions, but I never thought about you that way."
"It's okay. I don't like-like you, for that matters." Phloria replied still in high spirits.
"Okay, now you have lost me. If you don't feel anything for me, why asking me out?"
"It's not that I don't have feelings for you, more like I don't understand them, yet. So far all the boys my age are either immature daydreamers that still believe to be destined one day to slay monsters and marry a princess, or horny teens that only want to get in a girl's pants, like Yurial."
"Hey, I resent that!" Yurial became beet red up to his ears.
"Dude, I was there when you flirted with your girls of the day. I could have even asked you out if I wasn't sure that the first thing you would do is to put your hand up my a*s."
Yurial lowered his eyes, incapable of denying the truth of her words. He was quite fickle with girls, to be polite.
"Lith, you are the most level headed and mature boy I know. Be it about politics, literature, or mystical arts I can always have a nice conversation with you. I would like for us to start as friends and see how things develop."
- "I must admit her offer is interesting. I never had a high school sweetheart. They were all a bunch of immature kids while I had my hands full by keeping my scholarship and part time works.
This could be the opportunity to experience what I thought I had missed forever. The problem is that I don't like her that way, she is still a child in my eyes. At that age, things can escalate fast and I don't want to ruin our friendship before it even begins.
What do you think about it, Solus?"
"Why do you ask me?" She was honestly surprised.
"As I said, I don't like her. Most importantly, I don't want to hurt your feelings. Our relationship may be complicated at times, but I wouldn't ruin it for the world."
Those words made Solus cry from happiness, but she hid all her emotions in a corner of her mind where Lith couldn't find them unless he explicitly searched her memories.
"Thanks, but you don't need to worry about me. Don't you remember how I pushed you toward all the girls we met? I always believed you needed someone to rely on outside of your family, someone that's more than just a voice in your head."
"You are much more than a voice in my head!" Lith was outraged by Solus' self-deprecation.
"You are my partner in battle, my confidant. You are the only reason I haven't already turned in the monster I'm afraid to become if I lose my last shred of humanity."
"Yet I'm just a voice in your head. It took eight years for me to obtain my wisp form. Maybe in another eight I'll get some kind of ethereal body, that will take eight more to materialize.
Do you really think you can avoid human contact for sixteen years, to never hold hands, kiss or sleep with a woman? When you met Nalear and Nindra, you would have asked them out if not for the age gap. This is all I have to say, the life is yours and so is the choice."–
In their mind space, time flowed much faster than in the outside world. Their conversation lasted barely a second.
- "Well, I can get a sweetheart and maybe this will help Quylla get over me. It's not like I'm going to marry Phloria, things will probably not work out. I'd say the pros outweigh the cons."
"Only one thing." Solus added. "Whatever you do, this is not one of your business deals. She is a real person with real feelings, don't treat her like a calculated risk, looking for a gain. Otherwise I will be really disappointed in you."–
"I would love to go out with you." Lith replied with his best smile while Solus's words were still echoing in his head.
"The only problem is when and where. The academy takes out almost all our free time and there's nothing to see around here."
"Not a problem." Phloria was radiant, way more than Lith would have expected.
"During the weekend we can go anywhere thanks to the academy's Gate. Do you mind if we take a walk? I've so many things I want to discuss with you right now."
Lith stood up and waved goodbye to his still frozen stiff friends.
"I never saw that coming." Yurial was the first to recover.
"Of all the girls of the academy, Phloria is the last one I would have expected to make a move on Lith. The real shocker is that he didn't turn her down like all the other girls. Maybe he is not made of stone like I always thought."
A faint hiccup stopped him in his tracks. Quylla was on the verge of tears, while Friya was holding her tight, trying to console her.
"It's all right, it's not the end of the world." She said.
"It's all my fault." Quylla sobbed.
"I had countless occasions with him but I wasted them all, always waiting for the right moment instead of creating one as Phloria did. I feel so stupid. I deluded myself into believing I had changed, but I'm still a coward."
Yurial and Friya helper her to get up and brought Quylla to her room, before all the canteen noticed her distress.
Meanwhile, Lith and Phloria were walking along the corridors with Phloria doing most of the talking and listing all the places she wanted to visit in the Griffon Kingdom.
Suddenly Lith noticed they were in front of Phloria's room.
"Come in. There's something I want to tell you, but I don't want anyone else to hear it."
Lith was hesitant.
- "Her room already? This isn't escalating fast, it's skipping all the bases!"–
When she noticed it, Phloria giggled.
"Come on, I will not eat you. Yet."
Phloria closed the door behind them. Then, without saying a word she hugged him tight.
"Thank you, thank you, thank you." She sniffed, being on the verge of tears.
"The truth is that after the second exam, I am always scared. Down in that dungeon, I realized that death is closer than I thought. I trained my sword and my magic, believing I would become invincible, but now I know it was just an illusion.
When that ogre almost killed me, all I could think about was that I would have never seen my family again, that I had yet to experience love or a boy's touch. There are still so many things I want to do and places I want to see.
I don't want to die with so many regrets."
Lith hugged her back, caressing her head while trying to understand what all of that had to do with him. He was certain that Phloria had never demonstrated romantic feelings for him and Solus had always confirmed his impression.
That turn of events was still incomprehensible to him, but he remained silent. His logic could only trample her feelings.
"The real reason I asked you out is that despite you are shorter than me, stingy, cold, and the gods know how much you remember me of my mother, whenever I'm with you I'm not afraid anymore."
Chapter 193 A Different Perspective
At those words, Lith finally understood Phloria's change of heart. If on one hand he found reassuring that he wouldn't have to stand an insipid puppy love, on the other one he felt offended.
"You sure know how to catch a man's heart." His voice oozed sarcasm.
"I didn't get so many insults at once since that time I tripled the healing fare to a merchant for being a rude prick."
His words made Phloria chuckle, but she didn't let him go, nor he tried to push her away.
"I didn't insult you. I just stated the truth. I dare you to deny any of the above."
"Well, yeah. All the more reason why you shouldn't consider me boyfriend material. Especially after hearing my story. Despite being only twelve, I'm already a broken mess. If you want to have fun, you can have much better."
"That's not true!" She held him even tighter, like she was trying to console him
"First, you are not my boyfriend. We have a lot of time to know each other better, let's use it wisely. Second, you are my best friend in the academy for more than one reason. Under that cynical shell, you are kind and caring.
No matter how many times we stumbled and fell, you were always there, extending your hand to help us get back up. You even did it during the mock exam, after we treated you like cr*p and almost dragged you down with us.
You made a great impression on me back then. That's why I joined your group later."
Aside from Solus and his family, no one had ever said such kind words to Lith.
- "I would be moved if she wasn't entirely wrong." He thought.
"I helped them only because I understood the exam's true goal and had to deceive them since I knew we were being observed. She's just like Quylla, seeing someone that's not me."
"No, she is not." Solus objected
"Phloria has spent a lot of time with you, actually talking to you, instead of staring from a distance. She has also noticed your efforts to take care of the people around you as well as your flaws."–
"Also…" Phloria added.
"Don't think that I'm not grateful to you for still being holding me despite all the things that I said and not pointing out in retort that I'm as flat as a board."
Lith feared she was actually fishing for compliments, but Phloria started laughing at her own joke and he merrily joined her.
- "Yeah, it's sad that with her physique a B cup is barely noticeable. With her age and height, I doubt she can improve much in that department."–
"Thank you for pretending to not have seen anything back then…"
"I don't know what you are talking about." Lith lied through his teeth, but Phloria ignored him.
"…yet swearing on your brothers' heads was really shameless. Did you really think I wouldn't notice?"
"A man can try." He shrugged.
"Gods, you really are like my mother." Phloria pushed him away, pretending to be angry.
"Well, 'mommy', I hope we'll get along. Don't get all clingy on me, I still consider you just a friend. Try to pull a Yurial on me and I'll kick your ass."
When Phloria calmed down, she and Lith returned to the compulsory courses' class for the last lesson of the day. After getting everything off her chest, Phloria felt light as a feather.
On the contrary, Lith was gloomy and disappointed, but nothing of it showed on his face while they kept making small talk. Solus laughing her a*s off at his expenses surely didn't help.
- "And here I thought that my mature charm made an impression on her. Phloria is not looking for a boyfriend, more like a father figure while she is inside the academy."
"More like a mother figure, my dear wannabe Casanova." Solus couldn't stop laughing.
"Her words, not mine. Isn't it better this way, though? It's like you gained a new sister that will keep away all those gold diggers that pestered you until now. Aren't you a little too disappointed for someone who doesn't like Phloria as a girl?"
"It's a matter of pride. Even if I end up rejecting a girl, being courted it's always flattering. I much prefer being liked as a boy than coveted as a mother hen."–
When they sat down at their desks, Yurial gave him a wink and a thumbs up. In his mind, his two friends had now a new and intimate knowledge of each other. Quylla didn't know how to face Phloria, who didn't seem to notice her distress, greeting her with a radiant smile like she always did.
- "I'm sorry little one," Phloria thought. "but you are still twelve. You have four years before having to decide what to do with your life and you'll probably end up working in a safe environment, like the academy or a great hospital.
I have a little more than a year for crossing off as many things as I can from my bucket list. I hope that you'll learn from this experience. As our mother always says: when you see a good man, make your move or someone else will."–
Phloria was well aware of her adopted sister's feelings, but she considered them nothing more than a childish crush. In all the time they had known each other, Quylla had always been passive, managing to speak to Lith only about homework and magic.
Phloria, instead, despite not knowing why his presence made her feels safe, was determined to understand her own feelings and let the answer, whatever it was, lead her way.
When the second gong resounded, a plump woman walked into the classroom. The students' chattering stopped immediately. Their attention drawn to the newcomer.
She wasn't a beauty nor intimidating, quite the contrary. She was in her late forties, about 1.54 metres (5'1") high with long blonde hair with shades of black that reached her hips.
Her smile was contagious and had a round, jovial face that that one would find much more fitting to a baker selling sweets rather than a powerful mage. Unlike all the other Professors, her clothes and robe weren't pristine white but pitch black.
"Good evening, dear students. My name is Calyn Zeneff and for this trimester I'll be your guest lecturer for the necromancy course. As you have probably noticed from my outfit, I normally teach at the Black Griffon academy.
Our institutions have agreed to an exchange programme for the Professors, so that we can learn from each other and improve the relationship between our schools."
She paced slowly through the classroom, studying the student's reactions.
"Before starting our lesson, it's better if I answer to all the questions that usually pop in the head of those who hear the word 'necromancy' for the first time. No, it's not a forbidden discipline, nor necromancers skulk during the night to kidnap infants and virgins.
"Necromancy is just a magical discipline like any other. We necromancers got our bad reputation thanks to ignorance, superstition, and some bad apples.
Remember, no matter if you are a Forgemaster or a War Mage, the only spells that are considered forbidden in the three great countries are the ones that use living humans as materials or require trading lives for power.
What I am going to teach you are the basics of necromancy, its laws and practical uses on the combat field. Because of the nature of my subject, my colleagues here at the White Griffon have nicknamed me 'the anti-Rudd'.
Just as for dimensional magic, passing this course will influence your overall grades but will not affect in any way your chances to graduate. Also, while Rudd's subject is long and complicated, mine will be relatively short and easy.
Let's start with a brief introduction. Because of the moral and legal implications of using corpses as tools, necromancy can be considered a really special branch of magic. Tier one to three spell are considered basic necromancy, and that's what I'm going to teach you.
Tier four and five consists of either advanced necromancy, that requires joining the royal army or the Queen's corps to be taught, and forbidden magic, the practice of which is a capital offense in all the three great countries.
Basic necromancy is about temporarily turning a corpse into an undead to serve you as a guard, manpower, or a scout. It's very useful for rangers and mages who like to fly solo.
Advanced necromancy allows to permanently create undead slaves that will serve you until they are destroyed or run out of magic. This discipline is not taught at academies nor by the Mage Association.
Only the Crown is allowed to have an army, be it living people or not doesn't matter.
Turning yourselves or others into vampires or lichs, instead, that's forbidden magic and as such is a capital offense. I'm also going to explain why necromancy is so strictly regulated, what are its risks and how to defend against it.
Let's start with a little demonstration."
With a snap of her fingers, Professor Zeneff took out the skeleton of a rat from her dimensional ring.
"Normally your subjects will not be this clean. I purposely removed all the unnecessary parts to avoid most of you puking. I'm telling you this because necromancy is useless if the carcass is older than five days.
Past that time frame, the chances of success decline fast. Only fresh bodies can be turned into undead. Things like necromancers raising whole cemeteries are just folklore and fairy tales."
Lith knitted his brows, becoming more pensive the more discrepancies he found with what Kalla had taught him
- "Five days? The corpses Kalla stores in the forest are at least months old. Even those I rose back in the quarantine zone were dead from weeks." Lith thought.
"The good news is that I can already ace this class, the bad news is that it seems to be a colossal waste of time."–
Professor Zeneff cast her spell, allowing Lith to spot the first differences between true and fake necromancy. When Lith created an undead, he would send a single tendril of darkness magic in the corpse creating a blood core.
By adding a spark of light magic during the process, he would imprint the creature with his lifeforce and bind it to his will.
The Professor, instead, had created a dense fog of dark energy that was going in and out the rat's skeleton, like it was looking for something. In a few seconds, the fog was completely absorbed by the bones and a red light shone from the empty eye sockets.
Before the process was completed, Zeneff executed a second spell that left a glowing mark on the creature's head. The class gasped while the undead stretched its limbs producing an oddly amusing rattling sound.
"This is what is considered a success." The Professor sent the rat doing a round of the class with a simple wave of her hand.
"As you can see, the creature is perfectly functional and obeys to my every command. Unlike all the other disciplines you have studied before, necromancy isn't as simple as point and shoot. It involves willpower and the use of multiple elements even at its first tier."
A second snap of her fingers produced a metal cage containing a second rat skeleton. She repeated the darkness spell but this time she didn't perform the light one. The new undead went into a frenzy, clashing against the bars with all its strength, trying to reach Zeneff.
"This, instead, is an aberration. It happens when due to the magician incompetence or lack of willpower the creature is allowed to go on a rampage. Usually its first victim is the necromancer itself."
While she spoke, the undead kept emitting a shrill sound that resembled the cry of a child. It charged against the bars over and over, until bone bits started to fall on the teacher's desk.
"Creating and controlling an undead require focus. The stronger your creation, the harder it will be to control. Bit more than you can chew either by sheer power or numbers and that's what happens." She pointed at the cage.
"Back in my day, when necromancy was taught during the first year, a lot of students died by the paws of these little monsters that they kept as pets."
A familiar looking girl raised her hand.
"What's on your mind, miss…?"
"Lady Mirna Kratic." She gave the Professor a deep bow.
"Why someone should want such a thing?" Mirna couldn't stop turning her head to keep watch on both the undead rats.
"Excellent question, Lady Kratic. The answer is: for power and control. It was a way to show off one's talent and have loyal bodyguards 24/7. Bullying makes the undead much more appealing than the living." Zeneff sighed.
The Professor closed her eyes, taking deep breaths. Suddenly, the first undead ran towards Mirna. It jumped on her desk and said:
"Also, mostly because of this."
Chapter 194 A Different Perspective 2
Lith didn't know if to be more surprised by the discovery of how ignorant he was about necromancy's true potential or by seeing a rat's skeleton standing on its hind legs, talking with Professor Zekell's voice.
Despite the distance, he was able to notice that the light in the eyes of the creature had turned from deep red to bright blue.
"As you have seen when I reanimated this carcass, I left an imprint on it by using my life force to bind our essences." The Zekell-rat tapped its head with a paw, making the mark visible again.
"The bond allows necromancers to temporarily transfer their consciousness inside their creations. Students used this skill mostly to cheat during written exams. By using a small undead mouse, they could communicate between them or simply copy the answers of the most brilliant students.
Undead were also a very popular tool for pulling cruel practical jokes and peeping through windows. There is a reason that all academies have removed windows from their dorms. Even magic can't beat the enthusiasm of a bunch of horny teenagers.
No matter the protection, they would always find a loophole." The rat laughed.
"Keep in mind that the transfer is not without risks. The mage's body is left completely helpless for the entire duration. Someone could simmer you and you wouldn't even notice.
"Also, in this form I don't have the perceptions of a rat or of an undead. I can see and hear as if I'm on your desk, but all my other senses are lost. I can't use magic and if something happens to this body before I return to my own, the resulting shock could incapacitate me for hours."
The creature's eyes turned red again and Professor Zeneff snapped her fingers a third time, taking out a third rat's skeleton from her dimensional amulet. When she cast the necromantic spell, the black fog engulfed the carcass for a while before disappearing.
"This is what happens when attempting to reanimate a long-dead corpse: a failure. To date, the phenomenon is still unclear. What we do know is that if a corpse it's not reanimated at least once every five days it becomes useless."
- "I wish I could use Life Vision to collect data. Solus, what did you see with your mana sense?" Lith thought.
"Her spell seems to fly blind. Fake necromancy has no concept of mana core, so the darkness energies scanned the whole body before forming the blood core. My guess is that when a living being dies, its mana core leaves behind some kind of echo that disappears after about five days.
Fake necromancy seems to be heavily reliant on those lingering energies. Without them, the spell loses focus and becomes ineffective."
"Kalla isn't an Awakened one, yet she knew on instinct what to do." Lith pondered. "Magical beasts' natural affinity with the elements is simply terrifying. No wonder there is still no dominant species on this planet."–
"During the following lessons, I'll teach you how to safely create all the lesser undead, how to transfer your consciousness and how to recognize when you are pushing your limits.
Necromancy is all about control and self awareness. Unlike all other kinds of magic, it can backfire. It will help you build your character, make you realize that your decisions, your spells have consequences on yourselves and others.
We have still a few minutes before the gong. Any questions?"
Lith raised his hand and Professor Zekell nodded to him.
"How long does an undead last?"
"Depends on the tier of the spell and the strength of the creature." She was happy to hear a relevant question instead of one about ghosts and curses.
"Let's say that after this course you will be able to keep a simple skeleton for up to fifteen hours or a skeletal knight for one."
- "I take back everything I thought. The only kind of necromancy I know needs me to constantly infuse mana into my undead servants, while hers can provide them an energy reserve.
Not to mention that my knowledge about the undead is limited to Dungeons & Looting and George Romeno's movies. There's a lot I can learn from her. I tend to forget that unlike magical beasts, humans have legacies.
I can merge their hundreds of years of experience with what Kalla taught me to create my version of necromancy, something stronger than the sum of its parts."–
"Another question: you mentioned small rodents. Why not insects? They are smaller and are more likely to go unnoticed."
"Excellent question!" Professor Zekell didn't like playing favourites, but seeing genuine curiosity in her field was as rare as flattering.
"For two reasons. The first is that if the body is too small, instead of getting infused by darkness magic it gets destroyed by it. The fine tuning it would require makes such a spell too expensive and leads to reason number two.
Even if one manages to succeed, the stored energy would last only for a very short time, making the creature useless."
Lith still had more questions, but the gong resounded forcing him to stop.
"That's all for today. Dismissed."
Since they had yet to receive the books for the third trimester, Lith's group split once outside the classroom. Everyone went back to their rooms waiting for the delivery.
"Mind if I accompany you for a bit?" Yurial asked.
"I want to talk to you about Phloria."
"Don't tell me that you liked her in secret all this time!" Lith joked about it, hoping to avoid getting schooled about relationships by a single-minded hormonal teenager.
"Gods protect me, no." He laughed.
"She is too tall and definitely too strong-willed for me. I prefer petite, well endowed girls that don't threaten to turn me inside out like a sock. It's just that since I never saw you with a girl, I wanted to give you an unsolicited piece of advice."
Lith inwardly cringed, while keeping his poker face and nodding.
"If I were you, I'd return the Ballot to Linjos and let her have it."
Lith was left in a daze. This wasn't what he had expected from Yurial.
"After the second exam, Phloria is second guessing her life a lot. I know it because I lived under her roof until the academy started again. I don't know if Rudd will manage to get Lukart expelled, his father is a powerful and well connected man.
Even if he does, it's only a matter of time before people start talking about you two, and that would put a second target on her back. Everyone knows you have a Ballot, so you can always bluff your way out of trouble. Not to mention that you are incredibly strong." Yurial winked, referring to Lith's shared secret.
"She is strong too, but right now Phloria is in a rough patch. She doesn't need more traumas. If you really care about her, you should put her safety first. A year is a long time, many things can happen."
"Who are you and what did you do to Yurial?" Lith replied raising his eyebrow in disbelief, making his friend laugh.
"It's just that her future is not set in stone. She can change her path anytime and I believe Phloria needs peace and quiet to not rush her decision. I really envy her for that."
Yurial sighed. Since he seemed to need to take something off his chest, Lith didn't interrupt him.
"You know, the reason why I may appear so shallow at times it's because I'm just like Phloria, trying to enjoy the little time I have left to its fullest. Don't get me wrong, unlike her I will not put my life on the line every day, yet I will be chained.
By my responsibilities towards my father, my subjects, my wife and children."
"Your what?" Lith was flabbergasted.
"Man, even before I started the academy, I was already betrothed. I know who and when I'll marry since I was ten years old."
"Do I know her?"
"No, she's not a mage. It's a political marriage to join my magically talented household to an ancient noble family. Everybody wins. After we graduate, I'll become my father's second in command for a couple of years.
Then marriage and I'm expected to have at least a couple of heirs by the age of twenty. As I said, Phloria's future is not set in stone, but mine is. I understand better than anyone else how it feels being trapped."
- "You and me both." Lith inwardly sighed. –
"Maybe it will not work between you two, but you can still learn something from each other. Promise me you will think about it."
"I will."
***
In a remote corner of the Blood Desert, the three Guardians had met in person for the first time in hundreds of years. Even though they had turned into their human forms and were suppressing their auras as much as they could, it wasn't enough.
The earth below trembled slightly while the skies thundered. The world seemed to be scared by their assembly and was trying to break them apart once again.
"I hate to admit it, but you were right." Salaark said.
She had taken the appearance of a young-looking woman, with silky black long hair, emerald eyes and a bronze tinge of skin so clear it seemed to shine under the morning sun.
She wore the same white clothes her tribal leaders, the Feathers, did but with no turban, allowing her hair to graze the ground.
"Some b*stard has invaded my turf and is spreading Abominations like they are presents. I underestimated our opponent, leaving everything in the hands of my Awakened ones. The result is that five of my Feathers died in less than a month.
They were all good men and women. Someone has to pay for their deaths."
Her eyes ignited with a purple flame while the sand below her feet turned into glass because of the heat she emitted. The trembling and thundering intensified, but none of those present cared.
"It's not all. The sudden death of so many Awakened crippled my military force, my borders are under attack from all directions!"
"I'm not responsible, the truce with the Griffon Kingdom still holds." Tyris said.
"Me neither. I control nothing in the Empire, but my apprentice would have told me before making such a move. She knows how much is at stake." Leegaain shrugged in annoyance.
"I'm not blaming you idiots, but myself!" Salaark roared.
"Clearly the culprit has made sure that all my enemies knew about my weakness, otherwise the neighbouring countries could never set up a coordinated attack like this. They are ruining years of hard work!"
Her delicate feet stomped multiple times, shattering the glass, the land, and causing a minor tremor, around 3.0 on the Richter scale.
"Then why did you summon us if you knew we are innocent?" Tyris already had a headache from having to stand Salaark's temper without the possibility of bashing her head.
"Because I know who did it and where they are right now. If this was just about killing, I would have done it myself, but I want to take them alive and make them talk. I need you to prevent them from escaping."
"I'm fine with it. I had nothing to do this evening anyway." Leegaain yawned, giving her a thumbs up.
With a snap of her fingers, Salaark Warped them hundreds of kilometres away, in the proximity of a small mountain range. Like most of her kingdom, the landscape was barren. Too barren even for a desert.
"The b*stard must have taken its sweet time here. Even the mountains are crumbling due to the void of world energy." Salaark snorted.
"Seal the space around here, I'm going in."
Tyris and Leegaain operated their magic their own way. A Guardian was attuned to the planet, to the point that even their simplest act was magic. Tyris started to walk, countless runes of power spread in the air and the ground with each step she took.
Leegaain was feeling nostalgic, seeing both his friends moved his old heart. The dragon started to sing with a tenor voice. Wherever the song reached, the matter would be bound to the dragon's will.
"Show off." Tyris smiled, singing along in a counter melody. Their voices filled the air with mana, making flowers bloom from long dried up seeds and water gush out of the ground. The Guardians were only sealing up the space, life was just a by-product of their joy from being together.
"Well, at least there will be a lot of rain this year." Salaark grumbled while entering the underground maze.
Chapter 195 Trapped
Salaark moved like the wind, following the stench of chaos plaguing the air. Several Abominations, both Empowered and Puppeteers tried to stop her, but as soon as Salaark noticed that they were mindless drones, she would incinerate them with a purple blast of fire.
She soon reached the center of the maze, an artificial cave filled with state-of-the-art equipment. It was the most incredible magical lab Salaark had ever seen.
"I thought only Leegaain could do something like this. I can't even fathom what purpose most of this stuff has." She thought out loud.
Transparent water tanks filled with a glowing yellow liquid were lined up against the walls.
Each contained an unconscious magical beast or a human, but all of them were slowly being turned into Abominations. Salaark was close enough to see the process in the making. Somehow, the tanks were forcefully refining their cores, while at the same time the yellow liquid kept the bodies stable.
"Interesting. Their bodies are filled with cracks, but shouldn't collapse until they reach at least the cyan level, if not even the blue. Note to self, have Leegaain study the procedure and dumb it down for me.
This way I will be able to replace my Feathers with ease. I'll take it as partial compensation." A wave of her hand sealed the tanks' space, making it incredibly hard to damage them.. Salaark had no rush, escape was impossible.
She walked around the room, finding more and more marvels as well as horrors.
Countless dried up corpses were piled up into small hills, making her wonder if they were failed experiments or simply the staple food to fully develop so many Abominations.
"You are too late." An amused voice bellowed.
"The Master escaped hours ago." A sinister figure stepped forward. Its body was covered in bright red scales, a black liquid oozed in between. It had long curved horns where the eyes were supposed to be, big upside-down membranous wings on its back.
"Since when do Eldritchs have a master?" Salaark sneered.
"Your power made you conceited, Guardian. Your pride blinds you." It pointed at her with a talon ending finger.
"We have learned from you how to increase our numbers. We are no longer scattered. We fight as one…"
"I'm not interested in your rants." Salaark cut him short.
"Tell me who is your master and where to find it. Be a good boy and I'll not make you suffer. Much." Her wolfish smile only caused the Eldritch to burst into laughter.
"Pride goes before a fall." A snap of its scaly fingers and the whole cave became covered by symbols of power. Every inch of space was covered by countless runes and arrays, each one imbued with a magical power that didn't belong to any of the six elements.
Salaark felt her strength being sapped, but still showed no sign of worry.
"Interesting. After you dried up all the world energy of this place, you have also used forbidden magic to cut off my natural connection with mana. How many Abominations did you sacrifice to achieve such a result?"
"Not enough since you still have the strength to brag!" The Eldritch roared extending its arms forward. Each of its fingers stretched out and multiplied, filling the air with razor sharp whip like tendrils that struck all around Salaark.
The Eldritch was outraged, even without using her magic, The Guardian had managed to dodge every strike with movements so small to be almost unnoticeable.
Almost.
"I would say you have picked the wrong Guardian, but there isn't a right one. Tyris would simply ignore this sh*t and try to reason with you before killing you. Leegaain would probably destroy your formations with a sneeze. As for me? I'm a fighter!"
Salaark dashed forward, punching the air in front of her. The Eldritch felt all its senses being distorted by the strength behind the simple attack. It easily dodged the strike, but it still hit the walls behind the Eldritch, creating a cave several meters deep and disrupting many arrays.
"I hate you Guardians!" The Eldritch couldn't hold its fury any longer.
"Why are you so strong? Why do you keep looking down on us? I'm Pazuel, and I'll show you the results of our efforts!" Pazuel met Salaark head on, its claws easily cut through her flesh and bones, forcing her to retreat for the first time in many centuries.
- "Seems I have underestimated the b*astard a little too much. No Eldritch has ever managed to even scratch this form. To make things worse, I can't revert to my real body."–
The arrays surrounding them were powered with a perverted and twisted kind of magic that only Abominations possessed. It derived from darkness magic, but had its natural connection with light magic forcefully severed.
It powered their unique individual skills and had been named chaos magic. Over a hundred Abominations had been sacrificed to empower the arrays, making any kind of magic besides chaos magic impossible.
The black liquid oozing from Pazuel was an embodiment of such energies, poisoning Salaark's body and preventing her from regenerating her wounds.
Despite all that, she managed to fight the Eldritch on equal footing, her millennia of experience made every one of its attacks seem telegraphed and predictable. Blinded by rage, Pazuel let her come too close.
Her fist struck its left shoulder, the impact turned the left arm and part of the chest into dust, making the creature's body spin like a top, sending it crashing against a wall.
"Why? Why are you still this strong?" It cried.
"Because I have embraced everything you ever discarded." She panted.
"Because I'm still fighting an endless battle for my people and this planet, while you do nothing but eat, sh*t and whine."
Salaark had hoped to stall longer with her rant, but as soon as the arm was regrown, Pazuel charged at her again. Its body started to melt, expanding at the same time. It became a mass of claws, talons, and fangs with only a black core as their center.
"How dare you say I do nothing? We sacrificed so much to get this far, but now me and my brothers are one!" Each limb and snout shot a different spell, leaving Salaark nowhere to run.
She still managed to dodge most of the attacks, taking only those that wouldn't hit her vitals. When the barrage was over, only part of her torso and head remained, yet she was still alive.
"If that's the best you can do, now it's my turn." Her voice was calm, purple flames covered all the injured parts of her body, making her whole anew.
"What? How?" Pazuel was running on fumes and was forced to revert back to its original form.
"I accumulated thousands of years of experience while you were content with preying on the weak. Look at your precious array."
Only then Pazuel noticed how every one of her missed strikes had actually hit its intended target. The focus points of the array were all badly damaged, even the spot where she had sent the Eldritch to crash earlier was intentional.
"You did the rest of the job for me with your sloppy attacks." She explained while the purple flames turned white along with her whole body.
"You miscalculated. This place is no longer devoid of world energy. How long could it possibly last against two Guardians breathing new life all around us as we speak, while a third one breaks it from inside?"
"You think I'm afraid of death? I'm already part of something bigger. Glory to the dawn of a new world!"
Salaark could see the Eldritch overload its black core, triggering a powerful explosion strong enough to destroy the cave and deal a significant amount of damage to her.
Her answer was to bite her scarlet lips, spitting a drop of her blood on the exploding Eldritch. Time seemed to rewind, every single piece of flesh going back forming the body once again, sealing the explosion before the shock wave could displace even a single speck of dust.
The Eldritch found itself alive and well, its core intact. It started to sweat in fear, a long-forgotten feeling while the phoenix's hand turned into a claw, locking it in place. The Eldritch discovered that its muscles had become limp, its magic refused to obey.
"It seems there is a misunderstanding here." Salaark's form turned into a hybrid between human and phoenix.
"I'm not the keeper of anything, I'm nobody's muse. I'm the conqueror of life and death." Her free hand ignited with a white flame, scorching the creature's very soul.
"You are not going anywhere, so you better start talking."
***
Lith spent the rest of the day practicing dimensional magic and Accumulation while waiting for the school books to be delivered and working on the sealed boxes during the night.
The time spent with Solus in the tower practicing Forgemastering, together with Nalear's lesson about the importance of magic crystals gave him a new approach to the problem.
Lith had discovered that the reason for his previous failures was that by damaging the boxes' mana pathways, the energy contained in the pseudo core diminished, while the one contained in the mana crystal would not.
This upset the balance and caused the explosion. Previously he had tried to keep the crystal isolated, thinking it was some kind of detonator that somehow was triggered by his attempts to pick the lock.
What he had to do, instead, was attacking them at the same time. Thanks to this discovery, Lith was now able to almost depower the lock.
Alas, almost wasn't enough. He was now able to open the boxes, but the resulting explosion still destroyed most of their content, not leaving enough for him to understand their purpose.
"It's still a huge success. I just need a few more lessons about how mana crystals and Forgemastering interact and I will be able to open them. I have only a few left, it's better to save them for later."
When the next day came, he was still pondering about Yurial's words, torn between egotism and his wish to change, to actually care about his so called friends instead of just pretending to.
His morning routine didn't change. Lith went to pick up Phloria early for their walk and then they went to meet with the others for breakfast.
- "It really doesn't feel like a high-school sweetheart at all. She didn't invite me to her room, we didn't talk about anything in particular. Phloria seemed to be more cheerful than usual, though. She smiled often when talking with me and made sure to sit in front of me."
"It means that she enjoys your company and likes to watch you." Solus pointed out.
"Still feels more like bromance than romance." Lith shrugged.
"You watched too many teen dramas. Based on your past experiences, relationships take time and effort to develop. Do you remember why unlike your brother you never managed to fall in love?"
"According to my therapist, I was too self-centered. I would only care about myself and protecting my own feeling, so I never opened up to any of the women I dated."
"It's exactly what you are doing even now. You are only thinking about what you want, not what it's best for her. The Ballot is useless for you. The Queen is openly backing you up, the Professors hold you in high esteem.
Not to mention how strong and fast you are. It's not like when you arrived. Your family is safe, you can defend yourself with ease and your word is not that of a country boy anymore. If anything happens, the academy will watch your back."
"The same could be said of Phloria." Lith still wasn't convinced.
"By my maker, if I had a body, I would slap you right here and now! Her family is not as powerful as the Queen. Also, is there anything that a student, if not even a Professor can do to you if you go all out?"
"No."
"There you have it! She is young and still traumatized, while you wouldn't flinch even if you ripped someone's heart out right before lunch. She needs it much more than you do."–
Knowing to be on the losing side of the argument, Lith dropped the conversation and walked past the doors of the academy's hospital waiting with his colleagues for the Healer lesson to start.
Much to everyone's surprise, not only Manohar had returned, but also was in charge of the class. Between his rare appearances, notable only for his whining ramblings, and the constant disappearing without notice, most students had almost forgotten about his existence.
"Good morning my dear students. Welcome back to class. You sure took a long break from the academy." His tone was clearly annoyed.
"It's not them that went missing for almost three months, but you!" Headmaster Linjos suddenly Warped in the middle of the class, his face beet red from anger.
Chapter 196 Seething Rage
"Fine. Good morning my dear students. Professor Manohar is really happy to see you again." Manohar accordingly modified his greeting.
"Don't talk in third person like a madman and show some respect toward the academy and your students!"
Linjos had hoped that by forcing the unruly Professor to take an active role in the Healer class, it would teach him a lesson about responsibility. His plan, however, had backfired right from the start.
"Why are you so angry? I had just got my hands on nagas' claws, you know how hard they are to come by. Also, yes, I may have lost track of time, but I did find a cure for Prixyne. Doesn't it amount to something?" Manohar rebuked with an indignant tone.
The class gasped in amazement. Prixyne was a congenital degenerative disease, even worse than the one Tista had suffered from during her youth. It would affect the nervous system, making it collapse over time.
It required constant treatments just to slow down the illness's progression and relieve the symptoms. For decades it had been considered a death sentence and now it had a permanent cure.
"Of course it does. It's the only reason why you are here instead of being chained to your desk!"
"Let's cut to the chase." Manohar ignored him, resuming his speech.
"You already have learned most of what you need to graduate as full-fledged fourth year healers. What you still lack is experience on the field. During the third trimester, there will be no more lessons.
The academy will send you wherever there is a dire need for a competent healer, and despite you don't even closely qualify, you'll have to do."
"Manohar!" Linjos roared.
"I mean, you will be split into groups and sent to different locations, like true professionals. You will contribute to the welfare of the Kingdom on the academy's behalf.
Your grades will be influenced by your performance. It will also affect the prestige and the name of the academy. Your success will be my success, your failure will be Linjos' failure. Everyone knows I never fail."
Linjos facepalmed, his killing intent became more palpable by the second.
"Since for some reason that I'm unable to understand our Headmaster is angry at me…"
"Because you went missing for almost three months!"
"…I'm forced to babysit the most incompetent group."
"Last warning!" Linjos' hands were dangerously close to Manohar's throat.
"I mean, I will supervise the work of those whose skills are still a diamond in the rough. All the other groups will not have a supervisor. Keep in mind that this opportunity is a great honour for all of you.
You have the chance to let your name be renowned even before graduation, to meet important figures of the Kingdom and help those in need.
At the same time, you'll probably kill someone due to your incompetence, giving my dear friend Marth an excellent excuse to kick you out of the academy and reduce my insane amount of paperwork."
"I'd never do such a thing!" Marth Warped in the class too.
"Also, it's completely different from the speech I wrote you. You had to encourage them to soldier up in the face of failure, telling them it's normal for a healer to lose a patient or make a wrong diagnosis!"
Before he could start an argument, Professor Marth took the lead.
"Remember, never listen to anything he says outside of the medical field. From today onwards, even if just for a few hours each day, you'll have the same role and responsibilities of an academy sanctioned healer.
"The reason you'll be split into groups is to be each other's lifeline. Never be afraid to ask for help or to admit your mistakes. If you manage to graduate this year and the next one, countless lives will be in your hands.
"It's a heavy responsibility that not everyone is capable to shoulder. A strong spirit, wits, and talent are the minimum requirements to become a good healer.
Go and make us proud."
Marth's assistants handed to each group the list of patients they had to attend to before the end of the lesson. Each name was associated with a hospital, along with the instructions of how to reach it from the city's closest branch of the Mage Association.
Lith's group belonged to the top percentile, so their list contained only sensitive names. Most patients weren't hospitalized, but required home visits. Professor Marth personally went to speak with them.
"I recommend you to always move together. I have the utmost trust in each one of you, but these people are powerful." He tapped on the list.
"It's better to not disappoint or offend them. Quylla, you are still too meek when dealing with patients, so I'll appoint you as team leader." Quylla turned pale, instinctively hiding behind Friya.
"You will take care of dealing with the families and make sure your colleagues receive the respect they deserve. Without a confident attitude, people will always walk all over you.
"Lith, your bedside manners are terrible. Your duty will be to take care of the patients' psychological welfare, explaining to them what's the cause of their affliction and reassuring them when necessary.
Friya will be the main healer and Yurial the diagnostician. You two have no weak point, aside from the lack of experience. If anything happens, contact the academy immediately and we will do the rest."
He patted them on the back before going to speak to another group. Yurial took a quick glance at the list, frowning with a worried expression.
"This is much worse than I thought. Most of these people are as stuck up as annoying. They consider my household unfit of its title because we contribute to the Kingdom from 'only' three generations.
I'm sorry Quylla, but either you put out your best Lith's impression or they'll use us like doormats. Let's get moving, we have a lot to do and so little time."
***
Lukart Household, Archmage Lukart's private quarters.
"What do you want this time, Lukart?"
"I need your help. This time you'd better pay attention. Velan Deirus is this close to finding proof of my connections with Hatorne and the Kandria's incident."
"Why should I care?" The voice on the other side of the communication amulet was annoyed, like a teacher dealing with a spoiled child.
"Because if I go down, I'll drag you with me. After the plague's outbreak, all my plans are ruined. I have no reason to proceed against the White Griffon anymore, aside from your constant blackmailing me.
Your plans have no chance of success without my help, and if they catch me red handed I'll make sure we'll share the same cell."
"Don't you dare to threaten me, Lukart. I just need one word to get you killed."
"Do it and you'll suffer the same fate. I'm not stupid. I already made sure that if anything happens to me, recordings of all our conversations will be delivered to at least fifty royal constables. Not even you can stop all of them."
From the other side came a crushing sound, like something big and heavy being destroyed.
"What do you want?"
"The same thing I asked you the last time. Kill Deirus's son, I don't care how."
"How do I know I can trust your word?" The voice oozed disgust.
"You can't, but know this. I'm preparing to leave the Kingdom since the outbreak, my only problem is that with Deirus breathing down my neck it's taking too much time. I can't move too many assets or funds at once, or he will notice.
If you do this last favour for me, I'll get out of your hair forever and leave you everything you need to reach your goal."
"You are a lucky man, Lukart." The voice seemed to calm down.
"Yurial Deirus has just left the academy. I know where he will be for the next hours."
"If he is outside the academy, I can take care of him myself. Just give me his coordinates."
"Your gift for failure has long stopped amusing me, Lukart. You can't be trusted with picking your own nose. I'll send my own men. You focus on packing your stuff. You are likely to screw that up too, but at least there shouldn't be casualties."
***
The group's home visits went smoothly. They were still students after all, Marth would never burden them with a task above their skills. The challenge wasn't curing diseases, rather to learn how to find the way in an unknown environment and to deal with the patients.
Their first destination was Vinea, a beautiful city built around a small lagoon. The uptown district was crescent shaped, so that every mansion would be overlooking the sea.
Water separated the city blocks, forming canals that could be crossed either by boat or using one of the many stone bridges. The group had almost reached the address, yet Quylla was walking behind the others, fiddling with her hair and rehearsing all the introduction lines she could think of over and over.
- "If she doesn't snap out of it, we'll never finish our round in time. Sorry, little sis, but it's for your own good."– Friya hated herself for what she was about to do, but she couldn't stand her best friend always being so passive.
"You know Lith, this city is quite a sight to behold." She waved her hand, encompassing the clear blue sky and the lagoon's crystal clear water.
"Only if you like humidity and scavenging birds raining death from above." He grumpily replied while dodging the bird po*p that paved most of the way.
- "If it wasn't for the lack of gondolas, this city would remind me of Venice." Lith thought. "Not to mention that on Earth pigeon's droppings aren't as big as an omelet."–
The birds plaguing the lagoon closely resembled seagulls, but their size was akin to a pelican.
"It's a pity that Phloria can't enjoy this view." Friya ignored his remark, keeping her eyes on Quylla's reaction.
"Even for me, it's the first time seeing the sea. I find Vinea truly romantic. Why don't you take her here during the weekend? I'm sure she would love it."
"I'll think about it." He said.
- "Maybe too romantic. Not to mention that I don't have time for this cr*p." He actually thought. "If I manage to learn Blink before the weekend, to keep my training schedule and if I don't make any more breakthroughs with the boxes, then I'll consider the possibility."
"You are impossible!" Solus was outraged. "Just this morning you were whining about the lack of romance between you two and now you already consider her a second, no a fourth best option?
You are supposed to make time for her, not to just use her to fill the blank spaces!"–
After hearing them talk, Quylla's eyes steeled with rage. She marched double time, taking the list from Yurial's hand to check the address before banging the knocker with enough strength to make the door tremble.
A butler in a black and white livery, that reminded Lith of a smoking, abruptly opened the door with an annoyed expression.
"Yes?" He didn't even care to hide his disgust at the sight of the group, dilating his nostrils and curling his upper lip like someone had delivered garbage.
"Good morning, good sir." Quylla's voice sounded sweet like an unripe lemon.
"We are the White Griffon's healers. Lead us to our patient, please."
"The front door is only for the guests. Go around back to the service entrance." The butler attempted to close the door, but Quylla stopped him
"Your name." She hissed.
"I beg your pardon?"
"I want your name, so that when I report to Headmaster Linjos why we couldn't treat your master, he can explain why and who deserves credit for house Korya losing its privileges with the academy. I'm sure your master will reward you well."
Her eyes were reduced to slits brimming with mana. The butler turned pale as a ghost. Angering a mage was already bad enough, but if his actions damaged the household, he would consider himself lucky by being just skinned alive.
"I'm very sorry, Lady Mage." He stuttered. "Please, have mercy of this old fool. You and your mighty colleagues are the most welcome." He opened the door, half kneeling in front of her as soon as she entered.
"Lead the way." Quylla snarled.
That day, more than one butler who dared to disrespect them, become unable to even meet her gaze or speak to Quylla without bowing first.
Chapter 197 Helpless
In the end, Lith was the one who got the short end of the stick. The new Quylla was a pocket sized bulldozer, while Friya and Yurial could always ask the other two for a second opinion whenever they had a doubt.
Lith, instead, had to smile more than he had ever done his whole life while listening to idiotic questions and worries. He was forced to reply without sarcasm or spicing his answers up with insults like he was used to back in Lutia.
He still managed to do it, thanks to Solus' help, his companions' constantly worried looks and the occasional friendly nudge in the ribs.
The rest of the morning was uneventful. They checked off over half the list and had time to spare. Their next destination was House Seket, in the uptown district of the city of Lorion.
"I was thinking that if we manage to finish our rounds early, we could actually come back and have lunch here. I heard that Lorion's salmon mousse is to die for. My treat." Yurial said.
"Great idea! Let's get Phloria too, though. It would be sad for her to have to eat alone at the academy." Friya agreed, purposely adding fuel to the fire.
"It would be too sad." Quylla echoed, while she kept getting knots in her stomach.
"Not a big fan of fish. Do they have some good meat?" Lith's mouth and brain seemed to be disconnected. Even before finishing his sentence, he was already cursing at himself, waiting for Solus to scold him again.
Then, a Warden array appeared out of nowhere under their feet, Warping them away.
"What the heck just happened?" The Queen's corps unit that was assigned to the group as a detail was shocked. Half of them were undercover, following them closely, while the other half would scout the group's more likely routes to check for dangers.
Every student of the academy was considered an invaluable asset and the future backbone of the Kingdom. Knowing there was at least one traitor in the academy, Linjos had assigned a detail to every group without notifying anyone but the Queen.
Yet his precautions proved to not be enough. The squad was composed only of veterans, so they immediately contacted their commanding officer and requested back up, searching for their targets at the same time.
"Where are they?" The captain asked the unit's Warden. Linjos' paranoia was finally paying off. In case something like this happened, he had the uniforms imbued with a powerful tracking spell that could be remotely activated.
"The good news is that I have their position. The enemies have taken them quite far, but Linjos has spared no effort in those trackers. Four of them together produce a signal so strong that we could pinpoint them even at half a county of distance."
"He's not here, stop blowing smoke up Linjos' a*s and give me the bad news." The captain roared.
"They are a few kilometres away. Unless one of us is familiar with the outskirts of the city, it will take a while to get there even at full speed. Our enemies spared no effort too." The Warden sighed.
"Damn! Let's hope they can hold on long enough. Otherwise the Queen will have our heads."
***
The moment the Warping array activated, Lith and Solus prepared for battle. The rest of the group was panicking, trying to make heads or tails out of their situation.
"Ambush! Get ready to run!" Lith yelled, fearing he had just walked into a trap similar to the one used to kill Captain Velagros (*) and his unit. He immediately conjured several spells at once, activating both Life Vision and mana sense.
He wouldn't let any array or enemy take him by surprise again.
His companions were scared, but Lith's warning made them regain their cool and become wary of their new surroundings. They had been transported to the slums of the city, in the middle of a back alley.
The stench coming from the open sewers was enough to make them puke, but fear kept them focused.
- "No arrays?"- Lith was pleasantly surprised, failing to remember that the previous ambush had been tailored for an elite military unit, not for a bunch of teenagers. Yet he couldn't relax, there were too many life forces nearby and he had no idea who was a real hobo and who was just pretending.
Suddenly, a shadow jumped from behind a heap of garbage into the middle of the group. His dirty, raggedy clothes and some makeup made the man look like a beggar, but his curved blade aiming at Yurial's throat told a different story.
"Yurial!" Friya screamed, making her hands fumble the signs necessary to save him from death with a timely Blink.
The green radiance of enchanted steel, a splash of blood.
It was all that it took for the cleanly cut head to hit the ground with a thud, rolling in the middle of the group with an expression still filled with fear stamped on its face.
"I never understood why you guys never cauterized the enemies' wounds during the exam. There's never a reason to make a bloody mess."
Lith had appeared out of nowhere right in front of Yurial. His left hand was clenching the corpse's crushed right wrist while the right one was open and covered by a layer of ice that made it razor sharp.
The battle experience of the group of assassins was first class, but they were no Talons. No one had told them about the Queen's corps involvement, so when they noticed the detail protecting the kids, they had been forced to improvise.
The Warp array was a last minute trick, to bring the target to a secluded place they were familiar with. It implied they had no opportunity to prepare the field in advance, since their Warden had to stay behind to cast the Warp array at the right moment.
A man placing magical stones in the middle of the road of one of the most exclusive districts of Lorion was beyond suspicious. The residents would have called the guards faster than if they had painted with blood the word "Murder" on a wall.
They had no idea their opponent was the Queen's corps, otherwise they would have long fled. With so many unforeseen problems the mission was already a disaster, yet it managed to get even worse.
As soon as they moved toward the target, some of Lith's rings glowed, releasing several fireballs aimed at them. They exploded beside or above the assassins' hiding spots, engulfing them in flames that would have been lethal if not for their enchanted protections.
"How the heck does he know where we are?" The leader screamed in his communication earpiece, having become temporarily deaf due to the explosion.
"It's almost like he can see us!"
- "I actually do." Lith thought with a wolfish smile on his face. "Let's see if they like this."–
Lith shot another round of fireballs, this time high in the sky.
"Oh gods, why?" The assassins' leader was on the verge of tears. The key to a job well done was to be quick and go unnoticed. With so many fireballs flying around it was just a matter of time before the city guards and the Mage Association swarmed the place.
"I could use a little help, here." Lith said while shooting down whoever ran towards them instead of away from them.
Yurial stopped staring at the head laying at his feet, remembering who he was and who he was meant to become.
"Friya, protect me! I'm clearly the target of the attempt. Quylla, keep the flames under control! This may be a sh*thole, but there are people living here and they need our protection. Lith…" His brain froze for a split second.
What kind of advice could he possibly give to someone that moved faster than his eyes could see and capable of attacking fiercely like a divine punishment?
- "I literally meant to help me, not to do damage control." Lith thought, surprised by Yurial's care for the residents. "Whatever. The more spell they cast, the less people will be able to understand who did what." -
"You just focus on those b*stards, I'll cover your back!" If there was something that Yurial had learned from Lith's negative attitude, fueled by his unbridled paranoia, was to always expect the worst.
Hence Yurial started to conjure the faster arrays of his repertoire in case something went wrong.
Less than ten seconds had passed since the activation of the Warp array, and most of the assassins were already dead or gravely injured.
- "F*ck! If I leave even one of my men behind, my identity will be exposed. A royal constable's tortures can even make you remember how much milk you drank as a newborn. I can only kill my way out of here."– The leader thought.
"Code black! Repeat code black! We sink or swim here, boys!" He yelled in his earpiece. The remaining assassins quickly gulped down all the enhancing potions they had, even those with dangerous side effects.
While their leader bravely charged forward, they ran away as one, scattering in all directions. Their only wish was to see another day as free men. No amount of money was worth their lives.
The leader was now empowered by top tier Hatorne (*) potions, that turned him into a one man army.
He easily dodged the barrage of incoming spells. To his eyes the world was now moving in slow motion. He had never felt so powerful in his whole life. The first target was the rugrat that had ruined their ambush.
Years of experience in the field had honed his instinct. The other three were like mages riding on the back of a dragon, his sword had no chance to reach them without slaying the beast first.
Seeing his mana was going to waste, Lith interrupted his casting, projecting instead a shroud of spirit magic that engulfed the assassin and squeezed him like a wet rug.
The leader noticed something was attempting to restrain him, but he shrugged off the feeling with sheer force.
- "F*ck!" Lith thought. "Whatever this guy is high on, has effects so similar to fusion magic that the mana flowing in his body counters my spirit magic. Time for plan B."–
Lith infused himself with all the elements at once with fusion magic. The assassin executed several feints, using footwork to make his real target unpredictable.
Between the high speed movements and the abysmal gap in technique, Lith was left in a daze. He was still physically superior, but thanks to the potions the assassin was able to use the advantage coming from his combat skills to put Lith on the defensive.
The sword struck Lith several times, piercing both the uniform and his magically hardened skin. Lith had managed to avoid or block all the slashes aimed to his vitals, but it came at a price.
His arms and legs were full of cuts, some even deep enough to bleed profusely.
"Do you see it, men? If he bleeds, we can kill it!"
From their short exchange the leader had partially regained his confidence. The rugrat was a monster, but still an untrained civilian.
Now that he had managed to stop the little monster from raining death from above by putting his life on the line, his teammates could safely join the battle. It was only a matter of seconds before they surrounded the rugrat and killed him with their teamwork.
- "Any moment now."– The leader stopped his attacks to catch his breath, taking a quick look over his shoulder to check the situation. Only then he realized no one was coming to his help.
Lith exploited that pause to use Invigoration, making his wounds close with a speed visible to the naked eye and sending the assassin further into panic. He immediately resumed his attack, discovering that little by little the monster was getting used to his pattern.
"I still need help, here!" Lith yelled after noticing his opponent's distress. Yurial racked his brain to find a way to help him, but they were moving too fast. If they attacked without a plan, the enemy could exploit their spells turning Lith into a human shield.
Their opponent was the one with a clear line of sight, while their friend was unaware of their actions. The only silver lining was that he had already finished placing the first array, so he was able to talk again.
"Quylla, attack on Lith's right side. Friya, same on the left. Lith, push forward." Yurial yelled.
"F*ck, no!" The assassin moaned.
Chapter 198 Helpless 2
The earth all around the assassin turned into mud while spears of ice as big as a man randomly fell from above. Without space to move around, his footwork was nothing but a silly dance. Strength had become the deciding factor.
- "At least he has already used up all his rings. If he attempts to cast, I can kill him in a split second. As long we are lined up, his friends cannot aim at me properly."–
The assassin was right, except for one detail. Lith had only used one ring in the opening act, the other spells were silent cast with true magic. True magic was silent, but still required time for casting, so he saved the rings for later, just in case.
All he had to do was to spread his fingers, releasing the remaining nine at once. Cursing at his bad luck for meeting such a monster disguised as a rugrat, the assassin crushed the medallion he wore at his neck, activating his last stand item.
Multiple barriers enveloped him, negating most of the damage. The sheer force of the impacts, though, was another matter entirely. The assassin was knocked back right to the point where the battle had started.
Yurial activated his Earth Vines array, entangling the assassin's body with tendrils conjured from the hardest minerals in the soil, devised to be powerful enough to keep even magical beasts in check.
Four bolts of darkness magic hit him from the front, above, and the sides. The moment the array was activated, Lith had crouched down, clearing his teammates' line of fire.
Seeing how sturdy and resourceful their opponent was, they knew that restricting him wasn't enough, but it created an opening. They all decided to use darkness magic because, despite being slow and mana expensive, it was the most difficult element to defend against.
It directly attacked the enemy's life force, so a hardened skin or a magically enhanced chain mail didn't offer much protection from it. The dark energy sapped the assassin's strength and vitality, turning the scratches he had suffered during his clashes with Lith into open wounds and the bruises into internal bleedings.
"You suck!" The assassin cursed at Lith, spitting a mouthful of blood from the many broken ribs that were now piercing his lungs due to the darkness ravaging his body.
"You are barely an amateur. Technique, experience, footwork, you are below me in every aspect. Why am I the one that ended up losing? This is not fair!"
Another four bolts of darkness struck the assassin, putting him out of his misery.
"Yeah, and if my grandpa had three balls instead of two, he could have been a pinball." Lith replied only after confirming that the assassin's life force was fading away.
- "What pisses me off the most is that he is right. I really need to join the army and receive some proper training. Most of my knowledge about martial arts is only about unarmed combat. Aside from our sparring, Solus, I have no real practice.
"I'd need a master to polish my skills, since neither of us has the talent necessary to derive new notions from what I already know. Not to mention how I keep suffering from not having a decent weapon nor training in the way of the sword.
"The practice I had with Phloria during the first trimester barely taught me to hold a real weapon. After that, between the exams, the plague, and dimensional magic I hardly touched a sword.
"Awakened ones and Monsters can use true magic just like me. When magical skills are on the same level, combat technique and equipment make the difference between life and death." Lith thought.
"Once we learn more about Forgemastering, we will be able to make our own equipment." Solus mind-nodded.
"For the training, though, there is not much we can do for the time being. The academy takes too much time. Even if it didn't, mastering magic and combat skills at the same time is unheard of in all the books we read. Progress, not perfection. Remember?"–
"Lith, are you all right?" His companions asked in unison.
"Yeah, only flesh wounds." He extended his arms, revealing that aside from small cuts in the uniform, only shallow injuries remained. Lith studied their reactions carefully.
He had shared with them part of his secret, but only now could they realize the scope of his revelation. They were still shaken up by the ambush, so Lith could see right through them.
- "Surprise aside, Yurial seems to be really impressed. Friya is conflicted between fear and admiration instead. She probably longs for this kind of power, but at the same time she is afraid I could turn it against her. Quylla is beyond me though."
Lith could see something resembling pain in her expression, but she wasn't hurt. Her eyes were a little watery, but there was no trace of fear, making her a mystery.
"What you see is compassion." Solus answered the riddle for him. –
"How did you do that? I mean moving so fast and taking so little damage?" Yurial asked.
"I told you I'm faster and stronger than a normal person. Also while you were spacing out I consumed enhancing potions." He lied.
"As for the damage, I must thank the Forgemasters that enchanted the uniform and Professor Trasque's lessons about using first magic in combat. I used a lot of earth magic to deflect most of the sword strikes."
"Did it hurt?" Quylla asked while tending to Lith's wounds.
"Of course it did." Lith gave his first honest answer.
"I might be a little different from you guys, but I feel pain like anyone else."
"I'm so sorry you suffered so many injuries just to protect us. I wish there was more I can do." Quylla gently wiped off the blood from his skin before stepping away.
Yurial grabbed Lith by the shoulders, his breath was still ragged because of the physical and mental exertion, but his voice was calm.
"Thank you for saving my life." He then looked at Friya and Quylla too.
"Thanks to you all for sticking with me, instead of running away like the associates of this poor b*stard." Yurial kicked the corpse with more anger than pity. It seemed no one was going to be traumatized this time.
"In my darkest hour you remained by my side, you are the best friends a man could wish for. I…"
"Queen's corps, nobody moves!" A voice suddenly roared.
The five members of the unit landed in the middle of the alley, finding it difficult to hide their surprise. The place looked like a warzone. There were several burn marks on the house walls, spears of ice scattered everywhere and a small crater where the spells contained in Lith's rings had crashed into the barrier.
Five dead bodies lay on the ground, yet the students were without a scratch.
"What the f*ck?" A member of the unit blurted out, drawing on himself reproving looks from his colleagues. Normally the Captain would have scolded him for his lack of professionalism, but he couldn't do it in front of the students.
Not to mention he had expressed the feelings of the whole unit, so the Captain decided to let it slide.
"Have the soldiers secure the perimeter, then search for survivors. Maybe one of them is still alive for interrogation." The Captain opened a Warp Steps leading back to the Mage Association right in front of the group.
"Get in, kids. First, I need to get you to safety. Then you have to tell me exactly what happened here."
"There is not much to explain, sir. It's all thanks to teamwork." Yurial replied.
***
White Griffon academy, Headmaster Linjos' office
As soon as Linjos was informed about the assassination attempt, he didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
"It's worse than I thought." He explained to the Queen.
"Either I have traitors in every department, or it's someone really deep in my inner circle. The leaked information is too precise to be the work of a single clerk or of a Professor of the old guard.
Even though it's hard to say how far the reach of people like Vastor or Rudd goes. Even if I keep them in the dark, nothing I do ever seems to surprise them."
Linjos pensively scratched his goatee.
"I doubt the traitor is one of them." Queen Sylpha shook her head.
"Vastor has no faction outside his own. If the Kingdom plunges into chaos, he would lose at least half of his connections. He'd rather die than put to waste so many years of efforts.
As for Rudd, deep under that obnoxious 'old goat' attitude of his, there is a true loyal servant of the kingdom. Beware though. If you go even deeper, you'll find another old goat."
"What really puzzles me is how someone that has managed to infiltrate the academy to such a level can be dumb enough to send amateurs to kill fourth year students. Even if young, a dragon is still a dragon."
"Maybe he is not dumb. Or do you know something that I don't?" The Queen appeared to be quite amused.
"No, the investigation is still ongoing, but how hard can killing four students possibly be? Especially considering that two out of four remained scarred after killing a single person?"
***
White Griffon academy, somewhere else
"How hard can killing four f*cking students possibly be?" The traitor yelled while trashing their own apartment.
"Especially considering that I gave those idiots a complete background check on every single one of them?" A punch hit a luxurious desk, causing it to crack almost in half.
"The battle experience of three of them amounts to fighting acne! The last one is a deranged psychopath that only preys on the weak and magical beasts to make a quick buck." A bookshelf was ripped from the wall and crushed to bits, while the precious books were stomped mercilessly.
"Who would have thought that the reputation of the Ravagers was just a blatant lie?" They panted.
"They were supposed to hit and run, leaving no traces behind. This is a disaster! If I were superstitious, I'd think that Lukart's incompetence jinxed me. Luckily, it doesn't matter." It took a few deep breaths to calm down
"Worst case scenario, I can give Lukart part of my funds to keep him quiet. I just need a bit more time to put the last pieces in place, before I'm able to destroy this place to its very foundations."
***
Back at the academy, Yurial managed to doctor the story, explaining how they survived the ambush with little damage. To achieve his goal, he had to significantly reduce Lith's contribution to the battle, making a hero out of Friya instead.
Having a Mage Knight capable of Blinking proficiently before the end of the fourth year was something so rare, it even impressed the members of the Queen's corps. Many of them had undergone special training in the military to achieve the same result.
Less than half the students from even the six great academies were able to learn dimensional magic and even less would usually master the Blink spell. It perfectly explained why the initial assault had failed and how the Ravagers died where they stood.
In Yurial's version of the story, the three of them had provided cover fire while Friya Blinked through the battlefield using her rings to mow down the enemies.
"Your nerve and combat awareness are worthy of the Ernas' name." The Captain of their detail shook Friya's hand with eyes full of respect and admiration.
"If you ever decide to serve the Crown, I'll make sure there will be a spot reserved for you in the Queen's corps."
"Your words are too kind, it wasn't much." Friya was red from embarrassment, not because of the lie, but because she was actually able to do everything Yurial had said, if only she didn't panic.
- "This is the most humiliating moment of my life." She thought. "Being treated as a hero while all I could do was listen to Yurial's orders like a puppet and cover behind Lith's back. After what I went through, I'm still all bark and no bite.
I must master dimensional magic at all costs, until I'm able to turn this shameful lie into reality. I don't want to feel so helpless ever again!"–
"I'm deeply sorry for what happened." Once the corps' men left the office, Linjos gave his students a small bow.
"From now on, Professor Trasque will accompany you during your rounds. Along with the detail, of course. He is the best Battle Mage of the White Griffon. With the corps watching you from a distance and him at your side, it would take a natural disaster to harm you.
Chapter 199 Frost Dew
"Lord Deirus, do you suspect anyone of being behind this attack?" Linjos asked.
"Suspects, no. More like certainty. Lukart." Yurial's tone was filled with spite.
"This is a very serious accusation. Also, I don't think Archmage Lukart would kill you just because I have expelled his son. Anyway, do you have any proof backing your theory?"
"You expelled Lyam?" Yurial was so surprised to not notice Lith mourning the fate of their schoolmate with high fives and down lows with the rest of the team members.
"Too slow." Lith dodged Friya's hand, giving her a feeble slap on the nape.
"Yes, I did." A cold shiver ran down Linjos' spine. He could almost see Manohar's shadow behind Lith's complete lack of respect towards a fellow student. No matter how toxic Lukart had been, in Linjos' mind his expulsion was a loss for all the magical community. It wasn't something to celebrate.
"I have a file as long as my arm about him and his gang, but I lacked solid evidence. A class full of witnesses and an angry Professor were simply overkill. I'll ask you again, do you have proof?"
"Yes and no." Looking at the confused expressions of those present, Yurial explained.
"This has nothing to do with Lyam's expulsion, nor with the rivalry between our families. The problem is that I can't talk about this matter without my father's approval. So yes, I do have proof, but no I can't show it to you."
"Should I speak with Archmage Deirus, then?" Linjos drummed his fingers on the armrest of his chair with a pensive look on his face. He had heard many dark whispers about Lukart recently, but he had always refused to believe them.
After all, only those who greatly contributed to the Kingdom would be bestowed the title of Archmage.
"Yes. I can't betray my father's trust."
"If there's nothing you have to add, then you are free to go. I would love to give you the rest of the day off, but alas the academy must go on. You'll complete today's round tomorrow, first thing in the morning.
Professor Trasque will bring you to your destination."
"Actually, there is one more thing." Lith raised his hand.
"Speak freely." Linjos sighed. He couldn't wait to get rid of them to talk with Deirus first and the Queen later. She had to know he had found another candidate for the special list. First Lith, then Phloria and now Friya.
For someone with anti social behavior, Lith seemed to be a magnet for talented individuals.
- "Maybe it's because of the age, but I'm starting to sound more like Vastor every day."–
"Two of us are still without a Ballot. When can we expect the new ones to arrive?"
"Never." The question hit a sore spot, making the Headmaster's long face even longer.
"After the accident in the dimensional magic training hall, I started to suspect there was a traitor among our ranks. After the events occurred during the past months, I'm sure of it. No one outside the healing department could know your destination.
"I can't let anyone I don't trust blindly near the academy's power core, especially Forgemasters. It would be too dangerous. A slight alteration of the power core and the whole castle would become a deadly puppet in the traitor's hand."
Linjos hid his face behind his hands in shame. He knew that despite the best efforts of the academy's staff, many students were going through a rough spot. After the forced break during the plague outbreak, several of them had seen their grades drop.
The second exam had only made things worse. Despite the number of students promoted from the second to the third trimester was at an all time high, the grades' average was at an all time low.
Linjos had listened to their stories and they were all dreadful. Some had failed on purpose, to go unnoticed and have at least a semblance of a peaceful life. Others were being harassed just enough to make their life miserable and were on the verge of a nervous breakdown.
Linjos had been forced to choose between their peace of mind and their physical safety, prioritizing the latter. He knew he had failed them, but there was nothing he could do.
Hearing those words, Lith could do nothing but sigh. His last excuse had just crumbled.
***
Lith regretted having lost his first occasion to eat in a restaurant without having to worry about the bill. During lunch Yurial told to Phloria the official version of their adventure, before whispering to her the truth.
"Thank the gods you are all right. I wish I was there to help you. Did it hurt much?" Phloria touched Lith's arm, noticing the small cuts the uniform was still repairing.
Lith nodded in reply.
- "It's so odd that both Quylla and Phloria almost used the same words." Lith thought. "Guess it means they both care for me. I remember that when I was her age and I still lived with my parents, I often suffered from unrequited love. I wish there was something I could do to help her move on."–
Phloria caressed his hand, giving him a warm and fuzzy feeling that Lith hadn't experienced since he was still a newborn in Elina's embrace. It was soothing and pleasant, almost making him lower his guard.
Lith hated that moment of vulnerability, so he took back his hand after pretending to have dropped his napkin.
During the afternoon, Lith went to the first Forgemastering lesson of the third trimester. He had long waited for that moment to come. Lith had several things he wanted to ask Professor Wanemyre.
"Good evening, dear students. It's good to see so many of you back after the second trimester. Usually this time of the year is a bit lonely for me." She gave them a radiant smile that gave Lith the chills.
- "What the heck? First Nalear and now Wanemyre too? She also seems prettier than before. This makes no sense. Also, I have never seen her smile so much. Not even when someone performed a perfect enchanted item.
I'm telling you Solus, something is off."
"Maybe she too found someone special, but unlike someone I know she is letting herself go instead of playing impossible to get." Her voice was filled with sarcasm.
"What makes you think that?"
"The makeup, the jewelry, the smiles." Solus scoffed while pointing out the various details he had missed.
"She clearly wants to impress someone that makes her feel special."
Lith took notice of all the changes, only growing more and more suspicious.
"Say what you want. I can't believe a person of that age can change so much in a bit more than ten days. She wasn't like that before the end of the trimester."–
"In the last six months, you have practiced how to create the most common magical tools, like dimensional items, reinforced clothes, and magic storing rings. All these objects have one thing in common: despite you needing to cast several spells of all the elements to obtain them, the final sum is zero.
None of them has any elemental property, hence they are called neutral items. From today onwards, I'll explain to you how to infuse an object with a single element. Infusing multiple elements has the same requirements of performing multiple enchantments, and will be a subject of the fifth year."
She looked sternly at Lith. Clearly, she and Nalear had talked.
"Contrary to what you have learned so far, giving an object elemental properties cannot be done without ingredients. If any of you has some notions of Alchemy, you'll notice that this is one of those cases where the two disciplines overlap.
But unlike Alchemy, where ingredients are necessary to absorb the element and store it for future uses, Forgemastering does the opposite. This happens because alchemical items exploit their own instability to bring out the stronger effect possible.
A Forgemaster only aims to create something that can be used endlessly instead. Infusing an object with an element means that the Forgemaster has to purposely alter the balance of their own spell in favour of the chosen element.
That would cause the final product to be slowly eroded by the very energies that empower it, until either it crumbles or explodes. To prevent that, an ingredient is needed.
For example, if we want to infuse the fire element we don't need a fire based magical treasure, but a water one. It acts as a counterweight during the forgemastering process and restores the balance.
The stronger the intended effect, the more powerful and rarer the ingredient usually is. I waited for the third trimester to introduce this technique because even simple enchantments require very expensive natural treasures.
There is only so much that you can learn by reading a book, Forgemastering requires a lot of practice to be mastered. That's why the last trimester will be about putting into practice what you have studied so far until it becomes second nature to you."
Wanemyre clapped her hands, making appear on the desk of every student a bowl full of water, a silk cloth, and a crystal looking flower.
It was very similar to an Earth chrysanthemum, but instead of petals it was composed of delicate ice shards exuding a faint blue glow, constantly condensing the humidity in the class into dew.
"The ingredient you'll learn to handle today is called the Frost Dew flower. It grows in the forest surrounding the academy, making it uncommon for the White Griffon residents. For the rest of the world it's quite rare, though.
As you can see, I provided you the full plant. When picking up a natural treasure no part of it has to be removed, otherwise it will lose some if not all of its potency as an ingredient."
Lith noticed that even the roots were intact. Whoever picked it up, had executed the task with meticulous attention.
"The first thing to do is to remove all the impurities from the stem, roots, and leaves. The flower requires a separate treatment that I'll explain later. Use the water bowl to wash away dirt, earth and insects' eggs.
"Clean it one leaf at a time and try to only use your fingertips. The stem is more resilient, you only need to be careful not to break it. As for the roots, avoid touching them at all. Just dip them in the water until the earth turns into mud and detaches itself.
"Always keep the water clean. You'll understand you are doing it right if the Frost Dew's glow increases.
"The treatment requires a gentle touch like you are cleaning a wound. Manhandle the ingredient and it will become useless. You can also use first magic if you are confident enough in your skills. If you have any questions, feel free to ask. Otherwise, begin."
Removing impurities was second nature to Lith, so he directly used water magic to take control of the water in the bowl and make it gently flow over every centimeter of the plant.
As soon as he identified clots of dirt, he would use earth magic to remove them and then added fresh water. Out of curiosity he used Invigoration too, discovering that the flower still had a vigorous mana flow.
- "This reminds me that I have yet to properly examine the magical plants the dryad gave me as a reward for sparing her sister's life. Sigh, I can't wait for the winter break. I have so many things that need my attention and so little time."–
The Marchioness had warned him to not show them around and he had no use for them. With everything he had on his plate, after checking their type, rarity, and market value, Lith had completely forgotten about their existence.
Lith could also perceive how the contact with water temporarily revitalized the flower, while the cleaning process was strengthening its mana flow to the point Lith could see his breath steam.
He had initially considered the task a chore, but soon Lith noticed that the ever growing mana flow was starting to resemble a pseudo core.
- "Is it possible that if properly nurtured even a plant can evolve? Maybe that's how dryads are born. Invigoration allows me to see and remove internal impurities, I wonder what would happen if I completely purified it before performing the Forgemastering process."
"It's more than that. Maybe we can use Invigoration to artificially grow magical treasures, if not even give birth to plant creatures." Solus pointed out. –
Lith's scientific curiosity was excited on a new level. He became more and more engrossed in his work, forgetting about everything but achieving perfection.
Solus took a mental note of his wish, already picturing Lith's despair when he would realize that every discovery he made would take away more of his free time to be studied. Their list of "to do" things was already so long Solus doubted he could even afford to sleep once a month.
Lith used the silk cloth to dab the water before calling the Professor.
"Good gods, ten minutes have yet to pass and you finished already? I can even see hoarfrost on the petals. Someone seems to be a natural. Fifty points for achieving so much at the first try. I think this might be a new record for the academy."
Lith swallowed a lump of saliva, a stinging sensation at the base of the neck made him raise his head. Every single student was staring at him with eyes brimming with burning hate. Their collective gaze exuded a faint killing intent.
Chapter 200 Frost Dew 2
Wanemyre didn't miss the envious glares, reverting immediately to her old self. She slammed her hand on a desk, producing a deafening sound and drawing the students' attention on her.
"Instead of wasting your time staring at him, mind your own task. You, up there." She pointed to a red haired girl, sitting a couple of desks behind Lith.
"I said to be delicate with the leaves. Keep up like that and they will crumple." To her defence, she was just clenching her hands in frustration. The problem was she had completely forgotten what she was doing.
"As for you." Wanemyre pointed to a slim boy sitting right in front of her.
"You don't change your water often enough. That way you are not cleaning the Frost Dew, just moving the dirt from one spot to another."
The two students rushed to correct the situation according to the Professor's instructions.
"I'd like to tell you to keep your cool, that this isn't a competition, but it damn is. Once you graduate, or even better if you graduate, who do you think will buy the creations of a nameless Forgemaster? No one but friends, relatives, and the Mage Association.
The Association will not purchase from you just to provide you some pocket money, but to evaluate the quality of your work and establish its market value. So if you start losing your head while you are still in the academy, you'd better change your specialization."
Wanemyre gave them a few seconds to ponder on her words.
"Since you have decided on your own to take a break, I'll explain now how to treat the flower. Be sure to pay attention, because I will not repeat myself." Under her fierce gaze, the students gently placed their flowers on the silk cloth, like it was a priceless gem.
"Smart move. The flower needs even more care. You can't touch it at all or drench it in the water. You need to drip lukewarm water on each petal, stopping as soon as the external frost layer does not form anymore.
Use too much water and you'll melt the petal, too little and the impurities will not be removed." She used Lith's flower to show them the method.
"Start from the innermost petals and then move towards the outer ones, otherwise the dirt dripping from the center will easily ruin your work."
After three water droplets, Wanemyre stopped dripping the petal, letting it dry. Just a few seconds later, the class could see that one of the petals seemed to have grown longer, emitting a stronger glow.
Wanemyre gave the flower back to Lith.
"Keep up the good work, but don't get conceited. I accepted this job because I want to nurture my future competitors. Without a proper challenge, being a Forgemaster is too boring for me. Don't let me down." She patted his head like he was a dog.
- "Charming as usual." Lith thought. "I doubt even a gold digger could stand her for long. She makes Phloria appear like a delicate flower. If she really is in love, then I'll bark like a dog."
"I'll take that bet." Solus replied before he could change his mind. –
Lith did as instructed, cleaning the petals from the inside out. Once cleansed they became crystal clear, absorbing the humidity from the air and adding it to their mass before their temperature dropped again.
- "Interesting. This flower is actually made of water frozen by the mana stored into the stem, leaves, and roots. It must be incredibly delicate if even common impurities affect its growth to this extent."
"Yeah, but don't you think it's kind of cruel?" Solus shivered a bit.
"I mean, it's actually growing under your care. The pseudo core keeps becoming bigger and more complex. I don't know how to feel about sacrificing it for our gain."
"Well, it's not really alive. It has a mana flow but almost no life force. Even if it was alive, my family raises animals just to turn them into money and food. I hunt and kill for a living. It's no big deal as long as you don't hurt others for no reason."–
This time Lith was careful not to be too fast. Not because he was afraid to show his skills but rather to take his time and carefully study the procedure to better be able to repeat it in the future.
Once again Wanemyre was an enthusiast of his results.
"Marvelous! You managed to develop the rest of the petals at the same rate as the one I cleansed."
"Is that supposed to be a compliment?" Lith blurted out.
"Of course it is. You remind me of my days as a student."
- "Yeah, too bad you were really twelve at the time and only used your talent, while I have many years of experience in cleansing impurities much smaller than these ones."
"Quit whining and take the compliment." Solus scolded him.
"She acknowledged the results of your hard work. Being hardworking is a talent too!"
"Now you are talking like a shounen manga."–
They would have kept bickering, but Wanemyre had drawn on a stone table a magic circle like Lith had never seen before. It consisted of two concentric circles, with runes in-between, and a six pointed star resembling Silverwing's Hexagram enclosed in the smaller circle.
"Since everyone is about to finish the second step, let's all take a break so I can give you a demonstration of today's spell." Wanemyre took Lith's Frost Dew, placing it in the middle of the magic circle alongside a longsword of excellent quality.
Wanemyre ordered Lith and the red haired girl to charge the magic circle, so they took place on the opposite sides of the desk and chanted the Forgemaster spell in unison.
To fill the space within the circle with pure non elemental mana they had to repeat it several times. Wanemyre allowed them to stop only when the runes turned from blue to white hot, marking the circle reaching its maximum capacity.
The energy inside clashed with the magical boundaries, triggering several sparks that grew in intensity until they resembled lightning bolts.
Only then Wanemyre stepped forward, casting in succession the several Forgemaster spells the procedure required. Despite her being just a fake mage, Lith would always be awed by her ability to weave so many enchantments together.
Whenever he saw Wanemyre at work, bending mana and matter at her will, he could not help but wonder if that was how a goddess would appear while creating new worlds.
One by one, the runes between the circles rose in the air, revolving at increasing speed while the sword and the Frost Dew floated in the middle of the circle. The runes absorbed the surrounding mana, forming a flaming energy sphere.
The blazing mana scorched the flower, that left behind a bright blue sphere. Like twin suns, the two energy masses started revolving one around the other, with the sword as their fulcrum.
Wanemyre kept chanting, bringing them closer and closer, until with a final spell she made them become one and fused them with the sword. The blade fell on the table, hot enough to cut through the stone like it was butter.
A second later a blue glow radiated around the sword, allowing Wanemyre to pick it up without risks.
"That wasn't supposed to happen." She sighed while pointing at the destroyed table.
"The silver lining is that it means that Lith's flower's purity was outstanding. This sword will fetch me enough to cover for the table and this lesson's Frost Dew flowers."
"Can I touch it?" Lith was eager to check how the pseudo core of such item looked like.
"Sure, but do not imprint it. Otherwise you'll have to pay."
Lith used Invigoration, looking at the pseudo core with eyes filled with marvel. While the mana pathways weren't much different from the ones he was able to create, the pseudo core was a revelation.
There were actually two of them, overlapping each other almost perfectly.
- "They got it all wrong!" Lith was flabbergasted.
"The ingredients don't restore the balance by simply countering the elemental energies during the enchanting process, they actually pass their pseudo cores. This means that multiple enchantments require multiple pseudo cores coexisting in the same item."–
Lith was still studying the phenomenon, pondering if a living body could hold multiple cores too, when Invigoration suddenly stopped working. Wanemyre had taken the sword back.
"You must really love swords to get so lost in thought by simply holding one."
"You are right, sorry." Lith realized he had spaced out for over a minute.
"Go back to your seat and rest. You'll need all your strength before attempting the spell on your own." She ruffled his hair, making him feel like a dog again.
"You used my Frost Dew." Lith was confused.
"How am I supposed to perform the spell without one?"
"Don't worry, I got it covered." She handed him a Frost Dew emitting such a faint glow to seem just a cheap knock off of the one Wanemyre had consumed.
"Why do you give me that funny look?" She scolded Lith.
"It would have been a crime against magic to let such a perfectly purified natural treasure go to waste during a test run. No one will miss this one, instead."
Lith had many things to say, but was smart enough to keep them for himself. Wanemyre was an excellent Professor and their relationship was good. There was no reason to ruin everything over a single ingredient.
After a few minutes, the students completed the second step and were ready to try out the new magic circle. Wanemyre took away properly cleansed Frost Dews from a few other students too, assigning them points accordingly to the purity level reached, before replacing them with mediocre counterparts.
The ones that did a poor job could keep their flowers, making them grit their teeth with frustration.
Wanemyre handed out to each student an unremarkable iron dagger that couldn't be worth more than a silver coin. Clearly, she wasn't expecting them to succeed.
For a good reason, though.
"Don't worry if you fail. In my experience, infusing elemental properties is much harder than Forgemastering a neutral item. It takes a few tries to handle so many spells and two kinds of energies at once. Only special talents, like me, succeed at the first try."
She puffed her chest with pride, making her ample bosom stand out even more.
- "Thank heavens with her personality she has zero charm, otherwise I would have a new crush already."– Lith thought.
One after the other, his classmates tried and failed. Most botched the procedure during the last steps, making the dagger shatter like glass. Only a few managed to screw up during the initial steps, losing their chanting rhythm and receiving extra homework as punishment.
Having helped the Professor earlier, Lith and the red headed girl were last, to give them time to rest.
Remembering so many magic words and hand signs was hard. Even if he had them stored in Soluspedia, his hands couldn't afford to stumble, his tongue to stutter or miss even a single accent.
That was why every time a student performed their experiment, Lith would chant alongside them, using that time to practice rather than to relax. When Lith's turn came, he was ready. He had even used Invigoration to be at peak condition.
The words rolled off Lith's tongue, his hands moved non stop forming signs and magic seals. Controlling the energy flows was definitely the easiest part for him. With true magic he was used to weaving even six elements at a time, manipulating just two of them was child play, allowing him to focus on the rest of the incantation.
During the last spell, the red and blue sphere clashed violently compared to Wanemyre's execution, emitting a blinding light when they attempted to fuse with the dagger.
"Another failure." Wanemyre sighed. "Too bad, that was really close. Twenty points for an excellent first attempt."
Then the dagger fell on the table, piercing through it until only the hilt was visible.
"Good gods, I was wrong. It's a success!" Wanemyre hugged Lith too close for his comfort, kissing his forehead with excitement.
"Finally a promising rival!"
"I did it." Was all that Lith managed to say. He was so used to failure that success was the most shocking thing that could happen to him.
- "I told you so! You do have talent."– Solus rejoiced.
Wanemyre took the dagger out of the stone table, holding it like it was a treasure.
"Who cares about the sword, this is much more important." Wanemyre took out from her dimensional amulet a golden liquid, inscribing on the surface of the blade Lith's name, the date, and her name before handing it to him.
"Raise that twenty points to fifty. It's no attempt, it's a success." She screamed almost deafening the clerk on the other side of the communication amulet.
Chapter 201 Good News, Bad News
After Lith's performance, the red haired girl did the best she could, going above and beyond in her efforts, but failed nonetheless. Lith stayed behind, while the others marched out of the classroom in silence.
From their gloomy expressions, one could have thought they were going to a memorial service.
After Professor Wanemyre instructed the academy's clerks to clean the Forgemastering lab and repair the broken equipment, she finally noticed his presence.
"What can I do for you?" She was back to being all smiles and niceties. Lith didn't know if it was because the class was over or because she was still overjoyed from his success.
Whatever the reason, he found her creepy.
"I have a few questions for you."
"Shoot."
"Today Professor Nalear showed us your latest creation. I was wondering how many enchantments it possesses and what is its market value." Lith was actually only interested in checking if it had a weight reducing spell, but he couldn't ask it directly.
If Nalear was an Awakened one, by exposing her he was likely to expose himself too.
"You really are the greedy type." Wanemyre clicked her tongue in disapproval.
"What we do is a perfect mix of art and magical science. It's not about how much you earn, it's the journey that matters. Money is just a pleasant side effect of our line of work."
- "How can she say that with a straight face after keeping the Frost Dews for herself? She's shameless." Lith thought.
"The pot calling the kettle black?" Solus sneered. –
"As for your questions, here. You can keep it." She gave him a small booklet, containing drawings and descriptions of all the magical items Wanemyre had for sale. The pricing of most of them was enough to make him weep blood.
- "I wish I had it earlier. Maybe I can still ask the Crown to give me a few of these things. The reward I asked for would barely cover for the cheapest items."–
When he found the sword's description, the weight reducing spell was listed among many others. Lith felt like a burden had been lifted from his chest, yet another was added when he checked out the price.
- "Maybe if I reveal to the Crown how much I contributed to finding a cure for the plague, they will gift me half a sword. I need at least another two plagues to be able to afford this thing." -
"Another thing, how does the dagger work? You never explained that part."
Wanemyre slapped her own forehead with her palm, realizing her mistake.
"Sorry, I never thought someone would succeed. I didn't want to get your hopes up just to be disappointed as it happened to your classmates. It's actually very simple. Once you imprint it, activating the enchantment will make the blade turn hot enough to melt stone.
It can easily cut through most conventional protections and weapons. It doesn't cause bleeding, but makes the wound unbearably painful and harder to heal. The effect lasts a couple of minutes per activation. With the Frost Dew I gave you, I doubt it can be activated more than thrice per day. Sorry."
Her apologies sounded fake like a three dollar bill, but Lith had to let it slide.
"The last question is a personal one, so I apologize in advance for being nosy. I couldn't help but notice that you changed quite a bit from the last trimester."
"Changed how?" She tilted her head, seeming more flattered than annoyed by his curiosity.
"You look even prettier than before, you now wear makeup and jewels." Lith pointed at the gold necklace with several embedded gemstones she wore around her neck and the small silver bracelet around her wrist. "You also smile a lot more."
"Well, thank you for noticing it." She giggled like a little girl.
"I admit I was a bit too stern before, but you know, love changes everything. I am betrothed now."
"Betrothed?" Lith was dazed.
"Yes, I know it may seem rushed to a twelve year old with his whole life ahead of him, but for a woman of my age there is no time to lose. We want to have children, so we'll get married after the end of the trimester."
- "Told you so. Again!" Solus laughed her heart out, mocking his paranoia.
"Don't think I have forgotten about our bet."–
Lith ignored her remark, noticing instead the contrast between the two accessories.
"It's a wonderful betrothal gift." He said pointing at the necklace. In the new world there was no such thing as engagement rings. The one proposing could provide any kind of jewelry or commodity as a sign of good faith.
"That's my protective necklace, page twenty-three of the catalog." Wanemyre snorted, quite offended by his remark.
"I wear it only because of Linjos' paranoia. He wants us to be ready in case another sabotage happens. It's too flashy for my taste, but it was the most useful if something went wrong during today's lesson. This is his betrothal gift."
She extended her slim wrist, showing him the silver bracelet.
- "And you say I'm the stingy one, Solus. On Earth this trinket is barely better than those you would find in an Easter egg. Judging from the numerous runes and magic crystals, it should at least be powerfully enchanted.
"Even I would have bought something better." -
Solus was tempted to say "It's the thought that counts", but she was too afraid Lith would use it against her the next time he had to buy presents.
"It's simply lovely." Lith lied through his teeth.
"Sorry for my rudeness before. It's just that your masterpiece drew all my attention." He added flattery to make sure she wouldn't resent him for his blunder.
"I forgive you. Now go to your room and prepare for tomorrow's lessons."
Lith didn't make her say it twice, he had already wasted too much time indulging his paranoia, now he had to rush.
If only he had spent a few more minutes with the Professor, he would have seen that despite her smiling and the joy on her face, her right eye twitched uncontrollably, shedding a single tear before returning to normal.
***
Blood Desert, the day before.
While waiting for Salaark's return, Leegaain and Tyris kept singing, rejuvenating the heaven and earth from the damages that the prolonged experiments performed by the Abominations had caused.
The barren land had turned into a flourishing oasis. The two Guardians could already perceive many animals migrating toward the newborn haven guided by their innate mana sense.
Salaark came out of the caverns with her talon-ending hands covered by bits and chunks of a black matter that were quickly turning into smoke.
"How did it go?" Tyris asked, worried by the phoenix's frown. She wasn't the kind to mull over a victory, more likely to banter about it and demand a celebratory feast.
"While you lovebirds were singing about peace and love, I risked my feathers. This b*stard…" She took out Pazul's head, handing it to Leegaain before it could disappear.
"…was very well prepared for our arrival. If it wasn't for the fact that I never underestimate any opponent and brought you along as a contingency plan, the Garlen continent would now have only two Guardians."
"If this is a joke, it's not funny Salaark. We have killed Eldritchs for millennia and each of them had less power than a single one of your feathers." Tyris scoffed at the idea of a Guardian dying at the hands of an overgrown tick.
"A single Eldritch is indeed irrelevant," Leegaain said after having stabilized Pazul's remains and studied them for a bit.
"...but this thing is so much more. The other artificial Abominations we encountered earlier were harmless despite their humongous power because they were utterly insane. So many minds could not coexist, so the whole was less than the sum of its parts.
"This time they used an Eldritch as a base, fusing it with countless artificial Abominations. An Eldritch has enough power and experience to beat the other minds into submission.
That's why it was able to retain its personality and harness all their powers at once."
"How bad is it?" Salaark had just finished cleaning herself.
"Quite bad, if you ask me. It's still a rough product. It had to spend most of its energies just to keep all the other minds in check, but it's a huge step forward. They have already solved the madness issue.
"Even as it is, if they put up a squad of these things, even a Guardian may not be enough. What did it say to you before dying?"
"Not much." Salaark shrugged.
"I had no idea his mind was so fragile. I was quite pissed off, so things turned ugly fast. Torturing its soul made his mind collapse and melt in the psychic maelstrom. There is a full lab down there, and it's still in almost mint condition though."
"Make way, please." Leegaain asked with a stern expression, making Tyris grow even more worried.
In all the time they had spent together, she had never seen the dragon completing so many sentences without cracking even one joke.
***
It took Leegaain a few hours to check and catalog everything. When he finished, the dragon was pleased with his results.
"Excellent work in preserving the lab Salaark. Now we know everything but the identity of our enemies."
"We do?" Tyris and Salaark asked in unison. Since they couldn't make heads or tails of the equipment, they had spent their time playing Lith's game. Chess had become renowned as the "Queen of the games" and "the game of the Queens".
"Yes. Do you want the good news or the bad news?"
"Whatever. I'm sure that no matter what I pick, you'll tell us both anyway." Salaark snorted in exasperation.
"You are right my fair lady, but this time I will do it because it's vital for you to understand how serious our crisis is, rather than for the simple pleasure of annoying you." His mocking tone told a different story, though.
"The first thing I ascertained by examining the lab, is that whoever is behind this, they are not Awakened ones. Their method to mass produce Abominations is brilliant but too crude.
An Awakened one wouldn't need all this equipment nor to sacrifice so many lives for so little result." Leegaain pointed at the mountains of corpses.
"They would just use Invigoration to call upon the world energy and forcefully feed it to their test subjects. Our culprit is sapping the life force of countless living beings to produce a single Abomination, instead.
Clearly they have no idea of what a mana core is or how to sense the world energy."
"How can you be so sure?" Tyris asked. "Most Abominations were once Awakened ones, can't they have taught to others the secret behind the awakening?"
Leegaain sneered in response.
"Even if they wanted to, they can't. Abominations lose all their connections with the world energy after the transformation. Would you be able to Awaken someone by using mere words? The answer is no." He didn't give them the time to reply.
"Sure, Abominations can explain what a mana core is or how the world energy affects magic, but knowing and doing are two different things. Also, I'm certain of my assumptions because I'm very familiar with the blueprints of those tanks…"
"Since you made them yourself?" Salaark interrupted him, shocked by her intuition.
"Why would I do that? Just like you, I can create artificial Awakened as well as true ones. I'm the father of all dragons, if I wanted to take over the world, I would just need to call all of my offspring and take down a Guardian at a time.
No, I know them because they belong to the Griffon Kingdom. They are the upgraded version of Arthan Griffon's immortality project."
Tyris had done her best to forget that name. King Arthan Griffon, the Kinslayer. The Soul Eater. The biggest mistake she had ever made.
Unlike natural Awakened ones, those Salaark and Tyris made were incapable of using techniques like Invigoration and Accumulation, their sensitivity toward the world energy was purposely sealed during the process.
Having a stronger mana core than the one they were born with, made them age more slowly, but they aged nonetheless. Arthan had been a genius mage, that during his final years had focused on studying the limitations of the gift he had received and how to overcome them.
His experiments had sacrificed countless lives and almost led to the Griffon Kingdom's destruction.
Chapter 202 A Shadow in a World of Lights
During his youth, after Tyris had chosen him as the next King and gifted him true magic, Arthan Griffon would often laugh at how hard and convoluted fake magic was. Without the countless legacies left behind by Awakened ones, most magical advancements would have been impossible.
What made fake magic invaluable, was that anyone with a strong enough mana core could practice it. As for most things, there was strength in numbers. By standing on the shoulders of the Awakened ones, fake mages had improved the lives of all those who lived in the Galen continent and beyond.
Thanks to Lochra Silverwing and many others, magical research was possible for fake mages too. Some of them had made discoveries so great to put to shame even Awakened ones.
Arthan Griffon understood why the Awakened were so jealous of their secret. It wasn't just a matter of power, but also of longevity. A dog could live up to twelve years, a Ry up to forty, a Monster for hundreds of years, while Guardians were seemingly immortal.
If all mankind turned into Awakened ones, having children would eventually become a crime, forcing the various Royal families to cull their own population from time to time.
As Arthan grew old, he also grew envious of Tyris' eternal youth. He was unwilling to let his genius perish by the hand of something trivial as old age. At that time, she interfered even less in the Kingdom's matters, letting humans take care of themselves.
After wasting years searching for an Awakened, Arthan had used most of the Crown's and Mage Association's resources to buy his way into immortality. Failure after failure, his project became more ruthless and desperate, using the lives of his subjects to prolong his own.
Despite his secrecy, Tyris soon discovered Arthan's crimes, executing him on the spot and setting the canons that defined forbidden magic. Arthan Griffon's name became a synonym of madness, a bogeyman used to scare the children and make them behave.
"It's impossible!" Tyris was flabbergasted.
"I made sure to destroy all the blueprints and specifications of that evil contraption. I left behind only the parts that could be used for medical research and even the few fragments left are heavily guarded."
"Are you saying this is all her fault?" Salaark pretended to be outraged, pointing her finger at Tyris while her other hand switched the position of a few pieces on the chessboard. There was no such word as "defeat" in her vocabulary.
"No, I'm not. That's cheating, by the way." Leegaain put everything back into place with a wave of his hand.
"What one man can invent another can discover. Especially if he has access to the remaining pieces and has enough talent to reverse engineer the machine. Judging from the result, our culprit is either a rare genius or someone that spent years improving Arthan's madness.
We are lucky to have found this place when we did. Losing their latest specimen and all this equipment will set them back for years, especially now that we are keeping our eyes open for anomalies."
"Okay, enough with the bad news. Give us the good news too." Tyris gave Salaark a reproving look while making her next move.
"That was the good news." Leegaain replied shocking them both.
"Weren't you listening? The setback, the ignorance about world energy and cores, the fact that they can at best create Abominations instead of Awakened, those are all good news.
"The bad news is that when the new lab will be up and running, they only have to fix the humongous energy consumption problem and find a way to suppress the psychic maelstrom to be capable of turning whoever they want into the Abomination knock-off version of a Guardian."
***
After the end of the lessons, Lith's group resumed studying dimensional magic in Yurial's room. It was the only subject they could prepare for in advance since they had no idea what they would do for Necromancy or Magic Crystals.
As for their specializations' classes, the Professors were throwing the books away in favor of a more practical approach. Friya and Phloria were worn out both physically and mentally.
"Professor Thorman is a monster." Friya was still panting, incapable of catching her breath.
"Three minutes of sparring, one minute of rest, three minutes of casting. Rinse and repeat for two whole hours! If one fainted, he would just have a healer give them some life force and a sweet drink before starting again."
"I don't remember ever wanting to take a shower so badly." Phloria added.
"We can postpone our meeting. Clean yourself, get some rest and get back here." Yurial's proposal was also for his own benefit. He had spent his lesson learning how to handle the arrays' activation order to alter their effects.
The problem was that the slightest mistake caused the arrays to cancel each other, forcing him to start over from scratch. Each array was demanding on his focus and mana since Professor Juong had one of his assistants time the casting speed of each student.
Yurial had a splitting headache caused by the lack of mana, but was too prideful to call quits first.
- "Please say yes. Daddy needs some sleep."– He thought.
"Thanks, but no thanks." Friya replied. "I am certain that the moment I touch my bed or hot water I'll fall asleep until tomorrow morning."
Quylla and Lith were the only ones in peak condition. Quylla because she had no specialization aside healing, Lith because of Invigoration.
Despite their fatigue, the training went smoothly. Friya turned out to be a natural at dimensional magic, managing to master Blink before dinner time. Once she was able to cast it successfully ten times out of ten, she stopped practicing to rest and give tips to the others.
The canteen had never been so quiet during dinner. Everyone was either too tired or depressed to speak, even Lith's group. The clattering of the silverware was the only audible sound.
"Sorry guys, I'm too exhausted to do anything but sleep. I'd call it a day if it's okay with you." Yurial's proposal was unanimously approved.
"Friya, Quylla please escort me to my room. I'm still without a Ballot and had enough of ambushes for today." Yurial faked a yawn, winking at Lith while Phloria wasn't looking.
- "How nice of Yurial being your wingman." Solus thought. –
Lith didn't reply, sighing in resignation instead. Part of him found all that situation insane. Despite his body was one of a twelve year old, his true age was around forty. The more he thought about it, the more the idea of having a high school sweetheart sounded dumb.
Another part of him was tired of being alone, a shadow in a world of lights. That part of him was aware that the age gap would never disappear and that the longer he waited, the more excuses Lith would make up to keep isolating himself from the rest of the world.
After speaking with Yurial, he had realized how lonely it was to live trapped in a life of duty. No one could force Lith to marry, but he already knew that after the academy he would be forced to train until he became sixteen, accumulating wealth for his future travels.
Then, he would join the army, starting his quest to find a body for Solus and a solution for his twice lifelong problem. Lith didn't want to start over again, to find a new family, and most of all, to lose Solus.
He had already decided that if he couldn't find a way to prevent his next reincarnation, then he would settle for a way to achieve a permanent death. He and Yurial weren't so different, after all. Both wiser than their age and living on tracks they couldn't escape from.
"Thanks for walking me to my door despite your horrible day." Phloria suddenly said, waking Lith from his stupor. They were already in front of her room.
"I don't know how you guys managed to attend your lessons after almost losing your lives this morning. Especially you, Lith from Lutia." She smiled warmly at him, making his dark and light side clash against each other with growing intensity.
"I wish to one day be as strong as you and be capable to protect all those I hold dear."
She unlocked her door and was about to disappear inside when Lith stopped her.
"About that, there's something I need to give you." Phloria turned around, seeing he was handing her a Guilty Ballot.
"I had Linjos remove my imprint, so now it's yours."
"I can't accept it! What if something happens to you?" She pushed it away with both hands.
"To me?" Lith chuckled. "I faced magical beasts, monsters, and assassins. Yet I'm still here. Nothing in this academy, be it physical or emotional can touch me, but you are different." He placed the Ballot in her fingers, appreciating their warmth.
"You still have feelings that can be hurt, a mind that can get scarred. It's too late for me, I'm beyond salvation. Take it and promise me you'll have a happy life."
Both Phloria and Solus were on the verge of tears. The former could only feel the pain behind those words, while the latter was seeing all of Lith's lives flashing in front of her eyes.
Phloria imprinted the Ballot before putting it away in her dimensional amulet.
"I promise." She said closing the door behind her, incapable to face him any longer.
- "Was it that hard?" Solus asked.
"Actually, it was." Lith replied.
"Good! Nothing that's worth having comes easy, remember? Your words, not mine."–
Their bickering was interrupted when the door reopened and Phloria embraced Lith, giving him a quick, soft kiss. Barely a peck.
"Also I promise I will try to share that happiness with you. No matter how thick skinned you have become, you are still alive. Please, don't talk ever again as you are going to die at any moment."
She held him tight for a long second, giving his body and mind the time to react to the sudden turn of events. Once again, a warm feeling spread through his being, like when he was in Elina's embrace as an infant.
With that also came the hunger. The violent desire to fill the bottomless void that plagued his existence ever since he could remember. His inner conflict resumed, part of him just wanted to drown in that warmth, while the other wanted to kill Phloria for being a liability, a weakness that could only lead to more suffering.
"Was my first kiss that good or that bad for leaving you in a daze for so long?" She asked blushing in an adorable manner.
"Woof." Lith' brain short circuited because of the conflicting emotions, suddenly remembering his lost bet with Solus.
Phloria chuckled at his nonsensical answer, giving him a second peck before disappearing behind her door.
- "Was it that bad?" Solus gloated.
"Woof! Woof!" Lith replied. –
As most of the happy times of his lives, it wasn't bound to last.
An almost inaudible sound drew his attention, making Lith activate Life Vision, spotting three figures hidden behind pillars and corners.
"Well, well, well. The academy is so clean, yet the roaches are so big. Three of them at that." He said out loud, making them come out in the open. Without the advantage of surprise, hiding was just useless.
"It's not the first time you follow us. Why you don't run away as usual? Isn't that what cockroaches do when you shed light on them?" Lith said with an amused voice.
The three students were all taller than Phloria, the shorter one was 1.82 meters (6') high. Yet they were all on edge. Their goal had been the girl all along, none of them wanted to face Lith unless he was tied up and drugged.
His background check was intimidating on its own and the fact that he had just survived the attack of professional assassins was public knowledge. They were three against one, all taller and heavier than him though.
He was also finally without a Ballot, so they only needed him to cast a spell in self defence to have him expelled.
At least in theory.
"I can't believe you gave your Ballot to that wh*re even knowing we were here."
The leader swallowed a lump of saliva, looking at his companions to gain some confidence. He didn't want to be there, but he couldn't disobey his mother.
Lith laughed maniacally.
"What use do I have for a Ballot? The rooms are all soundproof, why ruin our meeting with a recording device?" Lith's pupil dilated to the point of covering most of the iris, making his brown eyes seem to have turned black.
The corridors were lit by magic stones, fueled by the castle's power core. In all the academy's history, they had never malfunctioned.
Yet when Lith moved forward, the lights flickered at his passage.
Chapter 203 The Watcher
"Stay back! We have a Ballot!" The leader screamed with a high pitched voice that was hard to believe it could come out of someone that big. They never intended to pick on Lith, no matter what their orders were, it was just too dangerous.
After being discovered, they had no choice left though. Lith wouldn't believe a word they said. It was better taking a punch in the face than a knife in the back. They were three against one and well prepared for the encounter.
They could only hope to scare him away.
- "Do they?"
"So far it's a bluff. They only have some magic rings and alchemic tools. No Ballot." Solus replied. –
They had studied it for months. She could recognize a Ballot's pseudo core from a mile away.
"Really?" Lith sneered. "Did you incriminate yourselves by recording since you started following us? Or are you going to activate it now?" Lith's voice was stone cold, a huge smile had appeared on his face, yet it contained no joy.
It was the smile of a predator closing in on a cornered prey.
A twitch in the left arm alarmed Solus.
- "I stand corrected. The one in the middle now holds a Ballot in the left hand."–
Thanks to her timely warning, Lith extended his right arm ripping the Ballot off his enemy's fingers with spirit magic before he could even activate it.
"I said no recording devices!" Lith engulfed the Ballot in a shroud of darkness, actually sending it in his pocket dimension. He had no idea what kind of safety measures it could have and wasn't willing to take unnecessary risks.
Lith let the shroud disappear, revealing his now empty hand.
"You have just destroyed an academy's property. You are insane!" Not only had they just lost their only ace in the hole, but seeing an artifact crumble like that brought the three to the verge of panic.
The leader of the group was Raynart Poltus. His mother Duchess Poltus, a leading figure in the old noble faction and had a bone to pick with Jirni Ernas, Phloria's mother.
Ever since the end of the plague, the Poltus family was under the scrutiny of the Crown because of their deep ties with Coirn Hatorne, the fugitive alchemist believed to be responsible for creating the parasites and known for being a middleman for the major black market dealers.
During her inquiries, Lady Ernas had discovered that the Duchess' brother was part of a slave trade. Even if most of his victims were dead or missing, he had been found in possession of a new kind of slave collars that could be disguised as a necklace, a ring, or a bracelet.
It was by itself a capital crime, so no matter how powerful and influent the Poltus family was, he had been tortured until he had revealed all the names of his accomplices and then executed.
The event had been a disaster for the family. Its members were now looked down on even by commoners and cut out from all the major social events. The identity of the royal constable in charge of investigations was supposed to be a secret, but Duchess Poltus still had many informant and friends.
She wanted to give Lady Ernas a taste of her own medicine. Her only daughter r*ped and branded as a sl*t was punishment enough in the Duchess' eyes. Without a Ballot, her son could have always claimed it was consensual s*x.
It would also help the noble faction's cause, forcing Linjos to take a side between the two families and putting himself in a lose-lose situation. Siding with the Poltus meant making an enemy of the Crown, while siding with the Ernas was like admitting his own incompetence, adding the scandal to his long list of faults as Headmaster.
The lights' flickering intensified, while a black fog seeped out of the shadows making the scene looked more and more like a nightmare by the second. Raynart and his cousins wanted to run away, but for some reason their feet refused to move.
The previous warmth Lith had demonstrated earlier had disappeared, only the hunger remained. The abyss inside him kept pouring out its hate, infecting the outer world. Lith's killing intent reached a new peak, forcing the three on their knees with just a gentle push from spirit magic.
"Kneel!"
Albeit brief, the touch from those invisible hands made the three squeal in terror.
That was the side of Lith Solus was more scared of. No matter how much love and affection he received, turning back into the same man that had abducted and tortured a young boy was as easy as flipping a switch for him.
What made things worse was that the more people he cared for, the more ruthless he would become. Each light that entered his life would only make the darkness inside of him deeper.
"Usually I don't give speeches, but for you I'll make an exception. I need to send a message and you'll be the one delivering it."
Lith's hand squeezed Raynart's throat so hard that for a moment he thought his eyes were going to pop out of his skull. Then the pressure lessened enough to let him breathe, but not enough to make it easy.
At the same time, spirit magic and wind magic pinned the other two on the ground, making them incapable of breathing as well.
The scene in front of Raynart's eyes almost made him faint. Through their contact, he could see something that even Lith and Solus were unaware of. A legion of hands made of shadows was gushing out of Lith's body.
Only a few were suppressing the three students, countless others stood still like snakes, ready to strike at any moment. Spirit magic was invisible, yet for some reason Raynart was able to see its true form.
Countless eyes of all sizes and colors had materialized wherever light was absent, staring full of curiosity at the unfolding events. The world was watching over its new toy, lured by the unbridled hate that had been offered to it.
"It's already the second time today that someone tries to take away what's mine. You can't imagine how angry I am right now." Lith used darkness magic to appear more terrifying and water magic to freeze the surrounding environment to scare them out of their wits.
He smirked noticing that the other two had already lost control of their bladders, drenching themselves in their own p*ss.
- "These nobles, how can someone be so cowardly?"– Lith thought.
Only Raynart knew the truth. Fueled by the world's will, the tendrils of darkness seeped into his cousins' bodies from the nostrils, eyes, ears, and mouths, robbing them of their vitality. The feeling they were experiencing was akin to being buried alive.
Lith lifted Raynart from the neck until their eyes were at the same height, sending him into panic. Half of Lith's face was now covered by Raynart's shadow, assuming ghastly features.
Lith's eclipsed eye had become bright yellow with a vertical pupil, the mouth was lipless and full of fangs highlighted by an inner fire that seemed to be burning in his throat.
"I don't care who sent you. Tell Lukart or whoever it is behind this attack that these kids are mine and mine alone!"
Lith sent a new wave of spirit magic on the two that were lying on the ground, bringing them closer. He also clenched the hand around Raynart's throat making him incapable of breathing anymore.
Raynart could hear his voice and feel the lack of oxygen, but he couldn't avert his gaze from the darkness running under his cousins' skin, whose eyes rolled backward while foaming at the mouth.
"The next time I see one of you around them, even if I just smell you, I'll make your worst nightmare seem like a wet dream after what I'll do to you."
The other two had already fainted, so Lith could focus only on Raynart, alternating waves of darkness and light magic. His skin would crumble, his life vessels collapse, just to be restored less than a second later.
On the outside, it was like nothing was happening, but Raynart felt pain like never before. His whole body was constantly being destroyed and regenerated in a never ending cycle, yet it left no mark on him.
His mind and body collapsed in just a few seconds, unable to bear anymore that torture.
Lith left him alongside the other two, putting the Ballot in Raynart's hands before going to his room for a good night sleep.
***
The next morning, the canteen was lively again. Everyone was discussing how three students had been found unconscious and hospitalized. For some unknown reason, it was impossible to wake them up.
Normally no one would have cared, things like that happened all the time. The reason a common event had piqued so much curiosity was that they weren't injured at all. They even had a Ballot, but according to the Professors it had never been used.
"I can't believe it happened just a few meters from my room and I didn't notice anything. Maybe I could have helped them." Phloria was shocked by the news.
Yurial scoffed, telling to the rest of the group why no one cared about the fate of the Poltus family.
"Either it was the consequence of an internal strife, to get rid of the rotten apples before the whole household collapse, or it was an act of vengeance from the relatives of their victims. Those guys deserve no pity Phloria."
Lith couldn't care less about their background. Even if they came from a family of saints, he would have done the same thing.
- "No one touches my things, no matter the reason." He thought.
Solus sighed, wishing he stopped referring to them as objects instead of people.
"I wonder why the two you didn't roughen up are still unconscious. It has never happened before." It was the only part of the rumor that didn't make sense to her.
"I don't know and honestly, I don't care. Three guys following a single girl at night, knowing she has no Ballot. It doesn't take a genius to put two and two together."–
Lith regretted deeply not having the opportunity to kill them for good, but he knew about the academy's security system that prevented deadly injuries.
It was the reason why he had used that torture technique. It would leave the victim exhausted and mentally scarred, but the body would remain in perfect health.
After breakfast, the group split up for the morning activities. Lith's group rounds of visits were uneventful, allowing them to make up for most of the time lost the day before.
They met back with Phloria for the first practical lesson of Magic Crystals.
After welcoming the students, Professor Nalear clapped her hands, making a crystalline mass as big as a melon appear on their desks along with what looked like a rune-inscribed wrench the size of a pen.
"Normally, when people hear the words 'underground mine' and 'extraction of minerals' they think about rough men with a pickaxe, but for magic crystals it's the worst image possible.
"Normal tools have no effect on mana crystals, no matter how strong you are or how hard is the metal. Best case scenario, you can crack one and hope that the resulting explosion will not trigger a chain reaction making the whole mine collapse.
There is a reason why only a mage can become a Crystalsmith."
Nalear picked up the wrench-like tool from her own desk. The students saw the runes lighting up one after the other until a small energy blade formed in the U shaped extremity.
Lith involuntarily quivered. The phenomenon reminded him of the blade that had killed him during his second life. He had never forgotten the pain of dying drowned in his own blood, gasping for air like a washed up fish.
- "There's nothing to be scared of. That thing is just the magical equivalent of a box cutter." Lith said to himself. –
"Extracting mana crystals doesn't require brute force, but finesse and technique. First, all of you must learn how to power up a mana blade. Pick up your own and hold it in the way that's more comfortable for you.
"Some hold it like a carving knife, others like a scalpel. Too many like it's a spoon. That's the only wrong way to do it."
The class laughed, following Nalear's instructions.
"It's very simple to use. Inject it with your mana, like if you were trying to imprint it."
Many blades appeared, but none remained for more than a split second.
"For those that didn't make it, just put some more effort. Those who made it, keep it coming. Mana blades can't be imprinted and need a constant flow of mana to function properly."
Lith noticed that he was the only one in the group with the mana blade turned off, so he corrected the situation. By using Invigoration, he noticed there was no pseudo core, just mana pathways that redirected the mana into a physical form.
"Well done everyone! Now put it down. Our lesson has just begun, don't waste your energies. You will need them in a while."
Lith powered on and off the blade a few times, appreciating the buzzing sound it produced while being activated or swung around.
- "I wish I could say 'Yurial, I am your father', but the reference would be lost in translation."– Lith sighed.
Chapter 204 Unexpected Gues
"Before starting our lesson, I'll ask you a question. Please be honest about it, it will save us a lot of time. How many of you were too tired to practice the spell on page 22 that I assigned two days ago?"
Nalear's inquiry was followed by prolonged silence.
"There's nothing to be ashamed of, it happens every year. The first day is all about theory, so students get confident. The second day is all about practice and drains their energies. Take five minutes to study it, despite it being a tier four spell is very simple."
Aside from Lith, Quylla and a few others, most of the students took out their books and read like madmen.
Lith used that time to practice it on the crystal mass. The spell was called Scope and turned out to be extremely similar to a diagnostic spell, but instead of showing the status of a patient, it allowed one to distinguish the single crystals that composed the mass.
Just like a mana blade, it hadn't a set duration. Once cast, Scope would last as long as the mage kept spending mana, requiring the constant use of earth and light magic.
- "Invigoration doesn't work on inanimate matter, yet it does on magic items and artifacts. I wonder how I should classify mana crystals." - Lith thought while activating Invigoration.
His breathing technique revealed not only the crystals' outline, but also allowed him to see on their surface a series of lines and cracks, of which Lith was unable to understand the significance.
"All you have to do for today is to separate the cluster that I provided you into single mana crystals and then cut them into a usable form. Do not underestimate your task. Using the mana blade and Scope at the same time takes a lot of energy, while adjusting the blade's density according to the situation requires focus."
Nalear closed in to the first row of desks.
"Use too little mana and you'll get sparks but no cuts. Too much and…" Her blade cut straight into a crystal, that emitted a bright light before crumbling.
"If this was a real mana crystal, instead of scraps of the lowest tier minerals, it would have caused the whole cluster to explode. The force of the resulting detonation would be proportional to the amount of mana stored.
"That's why Crystalsmiths require huge fees. The more powerful the crystal, the higher the risks. Since they are risking their lives on your behalf, don't be stingy with them. Never believe to those that offer their services for a reasonable sum.
They are either trying to rob you of your crystals or are so incompetent that they will lose more than half during the refining process. If you pay peanuts, you get monkeys."
The first part of the exercise was easy. The crystals composing the cluster were big and didn't overlap much. Thanks to Scope the students could discern where a crystal ended and the other began.
The mana blade was capable of separating the conjoined sides without destabilizing the structure. Everyone managed to finish their task quickly.
"Excellent. Now comes the hard part, cutting a crystal into a usable form. In their natural state, most mana crystals are bigger than my fist. If you remember my first lesson, all those I showed you were the size of a walnut.
That's because bigger crystals not only are more brittle, but also the mana they contain is scattered along its whole structure. The cutting process allows compressing the mana crystal, making its power focused and more easily accessible to a good craftsman. Let me give you a demonstration."
Nalear used Scope on a single gemstone and then activated her mana blade again. Her mana was ethereal, passing through the surface of the crystal without leaving a scratch. Yet each time the blade touched the gemstone, it would shrink more and more.
The final product, despite she had worked on scraps, was a bright red gem the size of a pearl.
"Don't get fooled by appearances. A mana crystal it's not a rock imbued with mana, it's pure mana that somehow took physical form. Removing even a small chip means making it weaker. The cutting process requires to use the mana blade to stimulate its structure, making it slowly collapse on itself.
To do it, you need to use Scope to see the keystone points and to make the mana composing the blade as thin as possible."
Lith did as instructed, discovering that the spell showed the same lines highlighted by Invigoration, but they were fainter and there was no trace of the cracks. The hardest part of the exercise was to keep the mana flow as weak as possible.
Aside from healers, fake mages weren't used to such fine control, so many students ended up breaking one crystal or more. Lith's work was progressing smoothly, like for the rest of his group, so he exploited a moment when Nalear was helping a boy on the other side of the class to make an experiment.
He used Invigoration on the crystal and instead of applying the blade on the lines, he struck with it one of the cracks. The crystal didn't change its size, but he could sense his mana getting slowly sapped, being absorbed by the gemstone.
- "I can charge these things!" He thought. "I can turn scraps into perfectly fine crystals. Solus, we have struck a gold mine!"
"Yeah, right. Not to burst your bubble, but even scraps are rare. We never found one before. Not to mention that we would need a plausible excuse for the crystal's origin, otherwise it would blow your cover. This isn't a gold mine, more a way to spare some bucks on your staff."–
Solus's cold pragmatism made Lith mind whimper.
The lesson ended in complete success. All the student had managed to cut at least three crystals, even though many of them had required several breaks to catch their breath.
- "This is odd." Lith thought. "Despite their cores aren't at the level of Yurial's and the rest of the group, how can they be so exhausted for something like this?"–
He looked around, noticing that most of his colleagues from the Healer's specialization had no such problem.
- "Maybe it's just that their control is really poor." Solus replied. "I don't know if you have noticed, but those who destroyed a few crystals are also the same that have yet to succeed to open a Warp Gate. They must have very low mana sensitivity."–
There was only so much that even logic could do against Lith's paranoia, but in the end he didn't care for them. His priority was eating lunch and getting ready for the first practical Necromancy lesson.
***
White Griffon, Headmaster's office
Linjos had just received the latest Crown's proclamation reserved for their inner circle, remaining shocked by what he had just read. Linjos used his communication amulet to contact the Queen, expecting a long queue, but she replied immediately.
"Let me guess, you too are calling about the new slave collars, right?" Queen Sylpha had the annoyed tone of someone who already had that conversation countless times.
"Yes, Your Majesty. You know there is at least a mole in my academy, if not more. Those cursed devices allow the traitors to turn anyone into unwilling allies. My situation has just gone from dire to desperate!"
"Your situation?" The Queen frowned, barely keeping her anger in check.
"The civil war has been almost foiled, but almost isn't enough. I and the King don't know who to trust anymore. We have to perform daily controls on everyone that approaches us, our children, or has access to sensitive information.
It's not just 'your situation', it's everyone's. I had to inform all my loyal subjects, even knowing that the news would spread panic and distrust. I prefer paranoid officials to dead ones.
A slave collar can make a mother kill her newborn child, turn your loving husband into a violent beast with a single word. I need you all to be on your toes, but most of all, to read the damn proclamation until the end.
It's clearly written that the slave items found in Lord Poltus' possession were just three and custom made. To his knowledge, there is no mass production, but the fact that someone has the means to create them is a threat that can't be underestimated. Did you execute a security sweep recently?"
Linjos nodded.
"Yes. One right after the sabotage of the training hall and another right before the start of the trimester. I checked students, Professors, clerks, everyone. I had Trasque check myself, just to be safe. Someone could always turn me into a sleeper agent."
Sylpha seemed happy by that news, but after a second her eyes became cold.
"What about the students?"
"I'm really sorry, your Majesty. I've let you down again."
"What are you talking about?" Sylpha was genuinely surprised by his answer.
"I know that the students' grades are at an all time low, but the promotion rate…"
"I wasn't talking about that." She cut him short. "It's the same in all the academies."
"What?" Linjos jumped out of his chair, he couldn't believe his ears.
"What did you expect? That the other Headmasters would flaunt their problems? Off the record, since the threat of the civil war started, the students spend more time fighting among themselves or following their parents' agenda rather than studying.
The Black Griffon never expelled so many students in a single year, while at the Crystal Griffon academy they have so many injured that they had to hire new medical staff. Your White Griffon is the crown jewel of the academies at the moment."
Sylpha's smile perfectly hid her amusement at Linjos' shocked expression.
"I was talking about the Poltus boys. Three of them, at night near the girls' dorm. It creeps me out just saying it out loud. What were they doing there? Why have they yet to wake up?"
- "Oh, that!"– Linjos thought, inwardly sighing of relief.
"Up to no good, that's the only thing that I'm sure of. They had a Ballot, but they didn't activate it. It means that either they knew their aggressor or that they couldn't afford to record their meeting.
I had them searched. No slave items, but they had several alchemic products on them. Most of them where to… incapacitate the victim."
"Meaning?" Sylpha didn't like the pause at all.
"I can't be sure until the alchemic lab confirms it, but judging from the smell I'd say they were sedatives or roofies. I'm going to interrogate them as soon as they wake up. Depending on their answers and the lab results, I'll decide what to do. Off the record, they are as good as expelled, already.
After breaking their dimensional amulets, we found so many drugs they could open a pharmacy."
"Oh dear." Sylpha silently prayed for Linjos.
The Headmaster was about to ask the Queen why she cared so much for the Poltus family, when the gemstone on his desk blinked red. His personal assistant had something very urgent to tell him.
"This better be important, Balfas." Linjos answered with an annoyed tone, bowing to the Queen as an apology for the interruption.
"Royal constable Jirni Ernas requests your presence, Headmaster." Balfas was a retired veteran, not even dragons soaring the skies could upset him. Yet he was squeaking like a mouse.
"Tell her I'm innocent! I mean busy!" As a royal constable, Lady Ernas had an authority second only to the Royal Court. She was that good at her job that no one, either innocent or guilty, wanted her poking at their personal life.
"She says it's for official business." Balfas' voice rose of another octave.
"What official business could she possibly…" Linjos' eyes suddenly noticed the name of a particular student that lived near the site of the accident.
"Gods, no! I mean, tell her I'll be there immediately."
"Be careful about what you do and say, Linjos." Sylpha said after he closed the communication with his assistant.
"She knows about the Poltus boys, the roofies, everything. I know what you are thinking, it's a minor offense, but don't fool yourself. Do you know what's a royal pardon?"
"Of course I do!" Linjos felt offended by the question. A royal pardon was a get out of jail free card for any crime non punishable by the death penalty. The Crown granted a few of them every year to their most loyal servants for their outstanding results.
All the noble families had one or more black sheep that needed protection from the law. Most of them would do anything to obtain one to not get their name tarnished. The royal pardon was a leash that kept them loyal and efficient.
"Well, she has collected five so far, but never needed one. Yet."
"Does that mean…"
"That she could maim half your staff and as long she kills no one, she will go home in time for dinner."
Chapter 205 Unexpected Guest 2
There was a reason why Balfas was so nervous during his conversation with the Headmaster. Lady Jirni Ernas had a peculiar hobby that made her a really unpleasant guest.
Whenever she was left waiting, she would run a thorough check on the nearest person to her. In this case, Balfas. He could see her scrolling through his military files, payrolls, and daily expenses. Sometimes she would click her tongue, more often she would look at Balfas briefly, giving him a wolfish smile.
When Linjos finally arrived, Lady Ernas was already questioning Balfas about his new house in Derios. In particular about how he could afford it and pay up all due taxes.
"Lady Ernas, it's a pleasure to meet you again." Linjos lied through his teeth.
She was wearing a dark blue military uniform with boots at her feet, black leather gloves on her hands, and her hair held up in a ponytail. Lady Ernas was one hood away from resembling an executioner.
"Look me in the eyes and tell me that my daughter is all right." Her reply was a breach of almost every etiquette's rule at once, but Linjos was a practical man. He could see from her eyes that despite her role, she was just a worried mother.
That and the faint impression of seeing in them a grave with his name written on it, prompted him to give her a quick answer.
"I swear that nothing happened to her."
Lady Ernas sighed in relief. This time Linjos had told her the truth.
"Sorry for my earlier rudeness, Headmaster Linjos." She gave him a small bow.
"Now I need to talk with the prisoners."
"Prisoners? Don't you mean the students?" Linjos didn't like that turn of events.
"I like calling things with their names, Headmaster." Her voice oozed sarcasm.
"According to the lab results, they were in possession of recreational drugs, but the real mother lode is five different kinds of sleep inducing, memory erasing drugs. It's enough to arrest them."
She showed him the report on her magical silver tablet. It was similar to a communication amulet, but bigger and linked to all the Griffon Kingdom's archives.
"How did you get them before me? The master Alchemists of the White Griffon told me they needed days to analyze everything."
"In my line of work, I don't have the luxury of time, Headmaster. On the other hand, I have a lot of friends or people that want to be my friends, willing to pull an all nighter for me. Bottom line, the Pontus boys are mine now."
Linjos found the idea that even inside his academy there were people willing to go over his head to please Lady Ernas quite disturbing. Yet he wasn't eager to repeat the experience he had had with Lord Ernas, so he Warped with her to the hospital.
- "I wish I could leave it to Manohar to deal with her, but I learned from experience that whenever he is involved, I'm the one that ends up paying the price for his madness."– Linjos thought.
As soon as they arrived, Jirni stared at the three youths laying in the beds with hatred, pulling out the medical files at their bedside to understand what was going on.
"Are you also a Healer?"
"Gods, no. I can only use chore magic, but I know a thing or two about the human body." The tone she used sent a shiver down Linjos's spine.
"Who dares to approach my specimens?" An indignant, petulant voice chimed in.
"Manohar!" Linjos roared. "How can you call two human beings, students at that, specimens? Don't you have any decency?"
"You are right, Linjos. Back off from my specimens who also happen to be students, midget. I'll not go easy on you just because you are an old lady." Manohar promptly corrected himself.
"Manohar, the unruly man-child." Jirni chuckled, releasing enough killing intent to make every single patient of the hospital wing search for a bedpan.
"Let me tell you a couple of things, child. First, your disappearing so often every time there is an ongoing crisis has made the Crown very unhappy. Enough that no one would care if I decided to rough you up, as long as I leave your precious mouth and hands intact.
It's all you need to cast spells after all. The rest of your body is redundant."
Manohar found himself shivering. Jirni's tone reminded him of the times when he was still a child and his mother scolded him for experimenting with his new spells on the neighbours' sons.
"Second, whoever puts themselves between me and my enemies becomes my enemy as well. Do you want me to treat you as an enemy?"
Manohar had learned from experience that he was about to cross over from "you are grounded until you are old enough for the academy" to "do it again and I'll spank your a*s so hard that even my grandchildren will bear the mark of my hand".
He was the archmage known as the god of healing, the one and only Royal Healer, as well as a genius like the ones that appeared only once in a thousand years. He had a reputation to uphold, so he did what had to be done.
He promptly hid behind Linjos after a hasty retreat.
"No mom. I mean Ma'am. Please, make yourself at home. If you really feel the need to, please take it up with Linjos. I recommend hitting him in the stomach. It's much softer than the head because he never exercises."
- "Note to self, learn how to emit killing intent for taming idiotic healers."– Linjos thought.
"What's their problem? Why don't they wake up?" Jirni asked ignoring his whimpering.
"That's a really interesting question, mom… Ma'am. Their bodies are fine. There is no sign of internal or external trauma, no drugs or toxins. It's the first time since…"
"I won't ask again! What's the problem?" Jirni snarled.
"Emotional trauma. I think their minds are shutting in because of emotional trauma." Manohar replied from Linjos's back.
- "This is amazing!" Linjos was barely holding back tears. "Not only he actually obeys her, but she also manages to obtain quick, not convoluted answers. Also, it's the first time in months that we are both in the same room and I don't look like a fool."–
"What's your treatment?"
"They need time and rest. It shouldn't take more than a week for them to wake up."
"A week?" Jirni sniggered. "No, they are going to wake up now. You see, there is another way to bring them back."
"Really?" Manohar's scientific curiosity was piqued, so he came out of his hiding place.
"Yes. Do you know what's here?" She pointed out the zones near the hips and the shoulders.
"Of course, the thickest bundle of nerves that… (*)" Manohar was incapable of completing the sentence, mulling over the sudden revelation.
"Exactly! All the most sensitive receptors, coming to and fro the fingers, erogenous zones, genitals. I only need to inflict on them more pain than the one that caused the trauma."
Jirni smiled softly while several needles that looked like knitting tools appeared in her hands.
"If I were you, I would create a silence zone." Linjos went pale too, rushing for the spell while Manohar secured a front row seat to better watch Jirni in action.
"That Lith from whatsitsname is right! Anatomy is awesome! We should add it to the subjects of the fourth year Healer class." Manohar said with a childish smile on his face.
"What a guy! He deserves a lot of points. If it wasn't for his lack of personality, I'd say he reminds me of myself when I was his age. A true innovator."
Linjos had many things to say, none nice, but chanting the spell kept his mouth busy.
- "What you call lack of personality is just human decency. Or at least a pretense of it. If I had two Manohars, I'd run away from the Kingdom as fast as I can." He thought –
The spell was completed just in time. One of Raynart's cousins woke up letting out an inhuman scream right after the fourth needle had pierced his skin. Jirni quickly and painlessly removed them all at once.
The temporary relief from pain would only make what was about to come more terrifying.
"What? Where am I?" The boy asked.
"Jirni Ernas, royal constable of his Majesty service." She handed him her badge and royal ID, speaking with a machine like demeanor.
"I'm also the mother of the girl you attempted to r*pe." As soon as the boy understood his situation, rage twisted her visage in a cruel mask, making him wet himself.
"With your uncle's criminal record and what they have found on you, it's in my rights to interrogate you how I best see fit." She took out of her dimensional amulet a leather roll, that contained a lot of sharp tool of curious shape and forms.
"So, we can do this the easy way, or the painful way. As a constable, I hope you'll pick the former. As a mother, I hope you pick the latter."
Gorgus Pontus's fight or flight instinct kicked in and immediately tried to escape, only to discovered he was chained hands and feet to the bed. He then tried to chant a tier three lightning, but a fist as small as powerful struck his jaw dislocating it.
"Thank you so much!" Jirni chirped happily.
"I actually lied before. I can't use these tools on a kid just for drug possession. Or better, I couldn't. Assaulting a royal constable is a capital crime instead. Why do you think I left your chains so loose?" She giggled, making Manohar hide again while Linjos felt the urge to puke.
"Let's play!"
***
None remained to spectate the questioning, but Jirni recorded everything and used a silencing device to prevent even a single whisper from escaping her control. She had never needed Linjos's help, Jirni had simply exploited the situation to put both the Headmaster and the healing god to test.
Manohar creeped her out. In a way, he was like Jirni, but lacked any form of common sense and most importantly, he had no constraints.
- "I have to get him married. His fear of motherly figures could be our only hope to controlling him. I already pity that poor girl though."–
After being 'persuaded' a little, Gorgus told her everything. Starting from the five Ws about that night accident to all the dirt he knew about his family and all of his parents' plans.
His brother, Sothes, did the same. The problems arose when she tried to wake up Raynart. Even after six needles, he was still unconscious. Jirni checked his pulse and heartbeat before stopping the procedure.
- "He does feel pain, simply it's not enough. Damn, to push things further I need a healer. Otherwise he may die of shock. I won't let him take the easy way out!"–
When Raynart finally recovered, Jirni needed to sedate him to avoid Raynart hurting himself. As soon as he recovered his senses, he went into a seizure like she had never seen before.
Much to Jirni's dismay, he answered all her questions while under the effects of the narcotic. His story was similar to that of the other two boys, but filled with unbelievable details like shadows coming to life or mystical eyes piercing his very soul.
Normally she wouldn't believe a word, blaming his delirium on the shock that had sent him into a coma. Too many things didn't add up though.
- "The insane amount of knowledge, him surviving an attack that killed an elite squad of the Queen's corps, his contribution to the plague, surviving a group of assassins, and now this? If this was about anyone else, I would shrug off Raynart's words like a bad dream.
I got the feeling that both the background check on Lith and the Queen haven't told me everything. I hate being kept in the dark. Looks like Lith and I need to have a little chat."–
Before walking out of the hospital, Jirni removed all the pain medications from the three boys' system, leaving behind a disposable silencing device so that no one would notice their screams.
Chapter 206 Questioning
Lith's group was happily enjoying their meal, exchanging suggestions about how to better treat magic crystals during the next lesson when Jirni Ernas almost burst open the door marching inside.
All the conversations suddenly stopped. All eyes were drawn to the badge shining on her chest. Aside from a few students choking on their food, the clicking of Jirni's boots on the stone floor was the only audible sound.
Lady Ernas exuded enough killing intent to take away the appetite of those she passed along. While most of his schoolmates avoided her gaze, Lith couldn't stop hearing in his head the Imperius March along with a rhythmic heavy breathing.
Lady Ernas didn't bother caring for the reactions of the ants surrounding her. She was still high strung because she couldn't kill the three little b*stards. She wasn't a fan of due process, judges, and all those technicalities.
In her opinion, once she was done with her job, she should have been allowed to take out the trash. Yet she had the utmost respect for the law. Jirni had tailored her work life around a deep respect for rules and regulations.
There was only one thing that she could do to avoid murdering someone on her way home.
"Mom? What are you doing here?" Phloria looked at her with a puzzled look. Jirni had rarely allowed her daughter to see her in her uniform. She liked to keep her personal life separated from the professional one.
"Oh, my baby! Thank the gods you are all right." She hugged Phloria, squeezing her against her chest while caressing and kissing her daughter's head.
The killing intent popped like a bubble, replaced by a scene quite embarrassing for a teenage girl. Phloria became beet red, trying to shake off her mother's embrace, but to no avail. She could hear many people sniggering at her.
Only once Jirni was certain that nothing had happened to her daughter, she let her go. What followed was even more embarrassing.
Jirni went in front of each one of the most vocal to have found the previous scene hilarious and after scanning their features with her silver tablet, she listed all the past misdeeds that their families had tried so hard to cover up.
R*pe, tax embezzlement, slavers, traitors. Sometimes the list was long, but she took her sweet time, starting with the most recent crimes and promising them she would take care of all those cases personally.
Some ran away in tears, others hid their faces in shame, a few attacked her. The result was always the same, broken bones and new criminal charges for assaulting an officer in the line of duty.
When she had finished, no one was laughing anymore. Jirni Ernas was a short woman, 1.52 (5') high, but in their eyes she had turned into a terrifying giant that no one dared to offend.
"Lith, do you have a few minutes to spare?" She asked with a gentle smile after returning to his table.
"I have some questions for you and my little Flower. It's better if we discuss this privately."
Phloria blushed violently, while Friya and Yurial had to hold back their chuckles. Their reactions made no sense to Jirni, but being teenagers, there were few things about them she understood, so she paid them no heed.
- "How the heck did she found out so fast?" Phloria's mind was a train wreck. "I didn't even tell dad that Lith and I are dating. Sort of. We have yet to have a proper date. Is it possible she has someone spying on me in here?"–
They went to Lith's room and when Jirni insisted on talking to them separately, Phloria almost went into a panic.
"What do I do? She'll scare him away! I'll never have a boyfriend. Why does she have to meddle in everything I do?"
"It's not a big deal, sister." Friya chuckled. "There are plenty of other fish in the sea."
"Yeah and every one of them will get scared when having a meeting with a shark! I want to see if you'll keep laughing when it happens to you." Phloria's retort snuffed out her hilarity.
Friya had yet to see Lady Ernas treat her adoptive daughters any different from her own blood.
While the three girls were panicking, each fueling the others' paranoia, Jirni and Lith were having another kind of talk.
"Do you know why I am here?" Her tone was firm, but gentle. Jirni preferred a soft approach in questioning a possible ally. She had already contacted the King on her way to the canteen and he had shared with her the Crown's agenda.
They knew Lith was an anomaly, like Manohar or Hatorne, but they hoped to turn him into an asset and prevent him from being snatched by other countries.
King Meron didn't explicitly order her to leave him alone, it was implied in his wording. Jirni was a loyal servant of the Crown, but above everything else she was a mother and a man hunter.
She had understood at first glance that Lith was like her, a ruthless killer with no compassion or care for human life. According to his background check, he cared for his family. It was a good start, but not enough.
It could have been all an act. She had to make sure that just like her, he was actually capable of caring. Otherwise letting him so close to her daughters was too dangerous. Not to mention that once Lith graduated from the academy, she had no doubt he would succeed, he would become a time bomb.
She knew that such a menace had to be snuffed out as soon as possible, before it became unstoppable as it had already happened with Hatorne or the god of death.
"Is this an official visit?" Lith asked.
- "If this was about me and Phloria dating, she wouldn't wear a uniform. She wouldn't question me, but fawn me instead. Lady Ernas wanted us to date since the second semester. Phloria never told me her mother is a royal constable, dammit.
I would have planned things more carefully."–
Jirni nodded.
"Then it's about yesterday's accident."
"Nailed in one. Now, since you seem a smart boy to me, I suggest telling me the truth. We are cut from the same cloth. You can't fool me like you do with the others."
Lith sighed. There wasn't much he could do about his situation.
- "Phloria's mom is too calm. She probably already knows the answers to her questions, she must have interrogated those three. There is no other possible explanation. Lying to her can only put me in trouble. In this dance, she leads while I can only follow."–
Before he could answer, Jirni took out a device the size of a USB pen drive with a small blue gemstone embedded on it. After she pressed the stone, it emitted a low buzzing sound.
"It prevents anyone from listening to our conversation, either by conventional or magical means. There is a traitor in the academy, I wouldn't be surprised if one or more of the rooms are bugged." Jirni explained.
Knowing how hard it was to deceive someone like him, Lith only told her the truth, simply omitting the parts about the use of spirit magic.
Jirni was pleased by his behavior. His story matched what she already knew and she couldn't detect any hint of deception in his words or body language. However it wasn't enough.
"What did you do to send them into a coma?"
"Torture." The shortest, most concise and satisfying answer in her vocabulary, but she remained expressionless.
"How?"
"Two of them with killing intent and air magic. Against the leader I used something more sophisticated."
"Constable Ernas log. What follows happens due to my explicit request, it's not an act of aggression. Repeat, not an aggression from the suspect." After Jirni spoke those words in her magic tablet, she closed in to Lith.
"Show me." She asked him. "It's hard to believe that a twelve year old single-handedly suppressed three men taller and heavier than him. Do to me the same thing you did to the two Poltus boys, but stop when I ask you to."
"I don't think I can." Lith replied. "The only time I can emit killing intent is when I'm threatened or when I feel a deep hatred. Otherwise it's painful, like making scars become open wounds again."
The answer was a pleasant surprise. Jirni had experienced the same thing when she was about his age, learning how to control her emotions at will. For a moment, she thought about pretending to threaten his family, but quickly dismissed the idea.
She wanted a confrontation, not a fight to the death. If Lith was even one bit similar to her, only one of them would come out alive before she could explain her reasons. Even then, the Crown would probably execute the survivor for treason, it would be a lose-lose situation.
"Please, try it anyway." She asked.
Lith forced himself to think about his father back on Earth, to Carl's death, to all those people that plagued his existence so far. Jirni could feel the killing intent rise bit by bit, but it was nothing much. Then she found it difficult to breathe.
An air spell was surrounding her head, sucking the air out.
"Nice trick. I can see those two almost die of fright. Now stop."
Lith obeyed, still blinded by the emotional pain.
"Now show me what you did to the last one." She offered him her hand.
"Do it only once."
Lith pretended to chant and as soon he touched Jirni's skin she felt a burning pain ravaging her flesh with an intensity she had rarely experienced. Yet she endured it without batting an eye, leaving Lith deeply impressed.
"Do you recall anything about black hands and mystical eyes popping out from the shadows?" Her question left Lith flabbergasted.
"What? No."
She stared in his eyes, finding only genuine surprise.
- "Seems that Raynart was really delirious after all. That or one of them is lying without knowing it." She thought. –
"Did you tell Phloria about that night?"
"No." He shrugged. "There's no point in making her worry about what could have happened. She has my Ballot now, so she's safe."
As a man hunter and a constable, that was the answer she had been looking for. Lith was able to care, otherwise he wouldn't have sacrificed his safety for someone else's sake.
If he really gave Phloria his Ballot before the assault, then it couldn't be part of a ruse, since the Poltus boys had followed them after meeting them by chance. She could easily check the timing, Linjos was the only one that could reset a Ballot.
As a mother in search of a husband for her daughter, that piece of news made Jirni's heart flutter. She decided not to push him. They were still young, but that was a good sign.
"Thank you for protecting my family." Jirni said offering him her hand, which he promptly shook.
"One day I hope to be able to return the favor. Could you please tell my little Flower to come in?"
Phloria barged in a second later, slamming the door behind her.
"Mom, this is too much, even for you. Stay out of my love life!" Jirni had no idea what she was talking about, but she had learned that suspects with a guilty conscience would often talk too much, so she remained silent.
"How could you put me under surveillance? I asked him out two days ago and you already come here in high uniform to interrogate us? We did nothing wrong!"
"You didn't?" Jirni kept her face expressionless.
"We just kissed. Once! I have the right to date who I want. I will not allow you to control my life." Phloria's face was red due to rage and embarrassment. She was really happy that the dorms were soundproof, she had yelled quite a bit.
"Oh sweetie, that's marvelous! I'm so happy for you." Jirni hugged her tight, finally letting her joy out.
"I was starting to fear you'd die single. You listened to my advice and courted Lith instead. He even gave you his Ballot, now everything makes sense. Good girl, mom is proud of you."
Phloria froze, panic quickly replacing her outrage.
"Didn't you know it already?" She squeaked.
"No, I just wanted to see you. I'm here on official business for yesterday's accident. I'm glad you choose to share the good news with me."
Phloria thought she was going to die out of embarrassment, but her heart stood still and the earth refused to open up and swallow her.
Chapter 207 Gods and Men
The forest surrounding the Lightning Griffon academy, the night before.
Since Linjos didn't need its help for the second exam, Scarlett the Scorpicore, Lord of the forest surrounding the White Griffon academy, had spent the last months performing its annual round of the Distar Marquisate.
The Scorpicore would look for magical beasts old and wise enough to be potential candidates for becoming Awakened ones, hence turning them into Monsters. Scarlett had no obligation to do such thing, it simply felt it was the right thing to do to keep the balance.
Magical beasts had a mortality rate incomparable with humans. Dying of old age for them was more a myth than a possibility. Humans kept growing in numbers and power instead.
Without new Monsters to keep their greed and selfishness in check, there was no telling how bad things could become. Meeting Protector while performing a background check on the mysterious human-Abomination hybrid cub had been the icing on the cake.
Not only was Lith trustworthy according to the many magical beasts he had interacted with, but Scarlett had also managed to help Protector to evolve, securing the County of Lustria for at least a few centuries.
- "If only the rest of my traveling went that good." Scarlett inwardly sighed.
"This year has started badly and if it keeps going like this, my fur will turn grey from the constant worrying."–
During its round, it had met countless magical beasts and most of them were harbingers of bad news. Or better yet, the same piece of bad news repeated over and over. After consulting with Tarbas the Naga, Lord of the forest surrounding the Lightning Griffon academy, they had resolved to summon the Council.
The Lords took out a communication device from their respective dimensional amulets.
Unlike those Lith and the rest of mankind used in their daily activities, those communication amulets were made out of Davross (*) instead of silver, while the magical gemstone embedded on it shone of pure white light instead of the common blue.
"This is a waste of time." Tarbas said. The Naga was a monster with the lower part of her body resembling a huge snake's tail, while the upper part could have been mistaken for a human woman if it wasn't for her sky-blue skin and six arms instead of two.
She wore an enchanted breastplate covering her torso and six different enchanted weapons were ready at hand, two on its back, four where the hips were supposed to be.
"Those old farts will never listen to us." Tarbas shook her head in resignation, letting her long, silky black hair dance under the moonlight.
"If I wanted to hear your whining, I would have just called." Scarlett snorted.
"The only reason I'm here is that without two communicators it's impossible to summon the Council. Now shut up and let me do the talking. If we have any chance of persuading those blockheads, we need to be calm and confident.
So keep your mood swings in check."
Tarbas clicked her tongue, but she couldn't raise any objection. Being a cold-hot blooded hybrid, she was indeed moody.
There wasn't any magic formula or circle involved, as soon as the two mystical amulets touched, five figures materialized mid air.
Each of them was the spokesperson of their own kind of Awakened ones. Humans, magical beasts, undead, plants, and Guardians. The assembly didn't have an official name, each race would refer to it differently.
Humans called it "The Guiding Hand", the undead "The Darkwatch", the plants "The Root", the beasts "The Council" and the Guardians "Another Damn Chore."
None of the five seemed happy to be forced to answer the call, except for Leegaain.
"Looking good, Scar. You are that close to promoting your core to the violet level. Have you considered the idea of becoming a Guardian? Sure, you'd have to relinquish your turf forever, but the job comes with many perks."
Scarlett took a deep breath to calm its anger. It hated the nickname. Both its skin and fur were flawless. Also it hadn't missed how the Guardian's untimely remark had made the eyes of the other members of the Council burn with envy.
The other races couldn't forgive magical beasts for being the only ones capable of becoming a Guardian.
- "Thanks for making my job harder, you scaly idiot!" It angrily thought.
"You're welcome." Leegaain cheerfully replied, almost making the Scorpicore gasp in surprise.
"You are always such an optimist. It's not like you have any chance to start with."–
Scarlett cut off the mind link before giving her speech.
"Fellow Awakened, I call upon you in this time of crisis to ask for your help. Someone is ravaging the lands, consuming huge amounts of world energy and kidnapping countless creatures on the verge of Awakening.
Humans, plants, beasts, undead. Whoever it is, they do not discriminate. We are all a target. We must find the root of the problem and weed it out."
"Why should we care?" Inxialot, the king of the liches, snorted through the exposed nasal septum of his skull. He wasn't actually a king, it was a title that had been imposed on him after getting the short end of the stick during the last raffle.
It would last for three centuries, forcing him to attend those boring meetings and neglect his precious research, while the others were free to mind their own business.
"We have meddled countless times in the past, nothing ever changes. Kill a tyrant, another takes their place. Give them food, they stop working. Force them to obey the law, they revolt calling you a tyrant.
"As long as living beings have dreams and ambitions, this world will suck. Yet it's because of those things that the world thrives. Leegaain has already informed us of this Demon Lord, Abomination King, Master of Disaster or whatever childish title they will self-appoint to themselves.
"Bottom line, we don't care. Been there, done that. They will throw their tantrum, make an enemy of the world, and then they will fail. No one, no matter how powerful, not even us, can go against a whole world full of billions of individuals.
The moment they cause too much damage, all the races will join forces and wipe them away." All the members of the Council nodded at his words.
"I know that." Scarlett struggled to keep its cool in front of so much blind indifference.
"Countless lives will be lost before that happens though. Hundreds already have. Does none of you care for their descendants?"
"Humans only care about themselves. Protecting them is pointless. Many will die, but more will be born replacing them, maybe even learning from their ancestors' mistakes." Raagu, the human representative shook her head.
"Death isn't a bad thing. They will return to the Great Mother and feed the next generations." Lotho the Treant crossed his arms nodding to Raagu.
"I think…" Leegaain said.
"The session is over. The motion is unanimously approved." Feela, the beasts' representative, cut him short. With a clap of her hands, four out of five figures Warped Away.
"Told you so." Leegaain patted Scarlett's head.
"If you need help, give me a call. I'll send Tyris, since I can't operate in the Griffon Kingdom. Ta-ta!" He said before disappearing.
Scarlett lowered its head, accepting the failure.
Tarbas placed one of her hands on the Scorpicore's shoulder to console it.
"It's not your fault. We all grow more detached and insensible over time. Non Awakened have such a short lifespan that getting attached to them only brings us pain. It's no coincidence that all the races have the same saying: 'the gods have abandoned us'."
Scarlett knew the truth behind those five words. Before the advent of fake magic, Awakened ones appeared like gods to their own kin. Over time they would either start to believe they were real gods and needed to be put down, or would experience so much pain, betrayal, and isolation to seclude themselves from the rest of the world.
"Who needs gods that sit on their hands doing nothing?" Scarlett roared, its eyes burning with fury.
"I don't need a bunch of indifferent gods, I need allies. Luckily, I know where to look for them."
***
Later, during the Necromancy class, Lith knew that something was wrong. Phloria had suddenly become incapable of looking him in the eyes without turning beet red, even choosing to sit as far away as possible from him.
- "I really hope that mom was joking when she talked about having dad preparing a betrothal gift for Lith. It would be the second most embarrassing moment of my life. Today would still get the first place."– Phloria thought.
After Professor Zeneff entered the classroom, she clapped her hand, Warping several rows of rat skeletons along the walls.
"As I told you last time, during our lessons I'll teach you how to animate lesser undead. By definition, lesser undead are all those reanimated creatures that do not have a mind of their own.
"Creating greater undead is either a crime, since it involves sacrificing someone's life, or ethically controversial. It's the closest thing to slavery, because the undead will have feelings and thoughts of its own but will be completely at the necromancer's mercy.
"That's why advanced Necromancy is a well kept secret. In case some of you gets too curious, be aware that researching advanced Necromancy or creating what basically are sentient slaves without the Crown's approval is a major crime.
"Now let's get back to our lesson. Among the lesser undead there are skeletons, zombies, crypt crawlers, and many others. Skeletons are the weakest and easiest to reanimate, yet we will start with something small. Each of you has to pick at least one rat skeleton.
"You'll soon discover that this exercise has two major hurdles. The first is to mark your creature before it becomes fully formed, otherwise it will eat your face. The second and most difficult one is controlling it with your will.
"Hopefully, by the end of the day ,you'll be able to make them move in the direction of your choice."
Another clap of her hands and a hardcover book with only two pages materialized on the students' desks. One was the Reanimating Skeletons spell, while the other was the Life Mark spell.
"Unlike other courses, I can't allow you to practice without supervision, it's too risky. Luckily my subject is simple, so our lessons should be plenty enough. I'll provide you new pages during the following lessons, they will self attach until the book will be complete.
Practice Life Mark first. Failing to animate the dead is not a big deal, giving undeath to a raving mad one is though."
While all his class looked at the skeleton with disgust, Lith read the spells a few times until he was sure of having memorized them.
- "She is right, these spells really are simple compared to the others I studied so far. Probably because fake Necromancy is the closest thing I ever encountered to its true magic counterpart. It requires will and imagination."–
Lith reanimated the rat on the first attempt, the problem was that the creature just stared dumbly at him. Lith furrowed his brow, squinting his eyes while concentrating until they were almost closed, but nothing happened.
"Excellent job! Ten points for mister Lith." Zeneff said.
"You are doing it wrong though. You can't control an undead with your mind, because it does not have one of its own. You must feel the mana residing in the carcass and manipulate it."
Cursing at his own stupidity, Lith did as instructed. Thanks to months of healing and dimensional magic, his mana sensibility had improved by leaps and bounds, but he was still lagging behind the others.
They had needed a few attempts to succeed, but now their rats moved without limping or staggering, unlike his own.
- "I still suck at mana sensitivity, but my mana control is in a league of its own. Let me try a new trick."–
Lith emitted an almost invisible tendril of darkness, directly connecting him and the skeleton. He wasn't using true magic. It could be barely classified as a trick using first magic. The moment the trick and the spell interacted, something unexpected happened.
Lith was now able to control the undead at will. The connection allowed him to bypass the sensitivity issue, like plugging a controller in a console without needing the batteries anymore.
"Fetch!" Lith ordered the rat that brought back a second skeleton that was promptly reanimated. Zeneff was surprised by the speed of Lith's progress. According to his file, his real talent lied in his open mind as a Healer and his rich battle experience.
None of them were supposed to help him in learning Necromancy. While most of the students were still trying to make their rat move, Lith was now controlling two undead at once, making them stand on their hind legs and performing the new world's equivalent of the minuet.
- "There is no reason to hold back anymore." Lith thought. "Either because of Phloria's mom's report or because those three b*astards will spill the beans on me during their trial, I'm going to have more enemies than ever.
Also, this is but a simple trick, there is no risk in sharing it with the academy. I need dozens of thousands points to afford some decent equipment."–
Along with many envious gazes, Lith received a few admiring ones. Professor Zeneff's was among those.
Chapter 208 Storm Fron
"Mister Lith, would you mind coming over here please?" Professor Zeneff had him walk to her desk.
- "If this guy is a Necromancy genius, I must report it immediately to the Crown."– She thought. Each Professor had to keep their evaluation to themselves, notifying only the Headmaster or Crown of a promising talent.
It was a safety measure to avoid talented students from becoming targets of the hostility from noble families or of the interest of foreign countries. Being a Necromancy lecturer, Zeneff would report her observations only to the Crown.
It was too sensitive a topic for clerks to handle, all academies were known for having more leaks than a sieve.
"Can you please explain to me how you accomplished that?" She pointed to the still dancing rats.
Lith told her making Professor Zeneff burst into a chuckle.
"Really well played, but for today's lesson purpose it's like cheating. I wasn't going to teach you that trick until all of you managed to gain a decent degree of control over your undead. Still, it's very impressive for a student to discover it on his own. Twenty more points for you."
While Lith was disappointed learning he had just reinvented the wheel, Professor Zeneff was relieved instead.
- "I knew it was too good to be true. I can kiss my points goodbye." He thought. –
- "Thank the gods he is just very brilliant. I don't think the Kingdom can afford a second god of death." Zeneff thought. –
"Go back to your place and do the exercise properly." Professor Zeneff instructed Lith.
"Do not explain the trick to anyone, it would ruin my lesson. I'm sorry to send you back to square one, but I'm sure you will thank me later."
She smiled gently, knowing how hard it was for someone so young going from believing to be a genius to discovering it had only been a fluke.
Lith went back to his seat with a dejected expression. Soon envy turned into snickers and pointed fingers, when the other students noticed that he was back to controlling a single rat, apparently suffering from brain damage.
Lith was already able to move his rat in the direction he wanted, but every two or three steps, it would writhe like it had a seizure, prompting the ridicule from his peers. Even Quylla would chuckle from time to time.
"Sorry..." She said looking in his direction. "but it's too funny. Why don't you try shutting down the other one? It didn't act like that before. During the previous lesson, Professor Zeneff told us that every undead requires focus from the mage.
Maybe that's why you find it so hard to control it now."
"Quylla, you are a damn genius." He gave her a thumbs up while placing his left hand on the second undead and draining the darkness magic that possessed its body. Lith's words made Quylla smile for the first time since Phloria had asked him out, while his actions made Professor Zeneff swallow a lump of saliva.
- "Once it's a fluke, but twice? Is it possible for him to have the mana control to be able to take back his own spell?"– Her face was jovial as usual, but her eyes returned often to his desk.
As Quylla predicted, once the second rat was out of the picture, Lith was able to move the remaining undead with more ease. The rat was promoted from brain damaged to crippled.
The lesson continued and Lith kept falling behind. He felt like the others were running while he was forced to walk.
- "Damn, I must find a way around my limits. This time I can't pull all nighters to catch up with them. Think Lith, think. Normally, when I use Necromancy, I always keep my undead under control with tendrils of mana.
"It serves the purpose of constantly feeding them and makes their reaction time much faster, since I can control them with but a thought. Now I have to control a lump of mana after giving it a body instead.
"On paper, it should be easy for me. After I cast any spell with true magic, I can always alter its course or form, as long as I can see it. Why should this be any different?"–
Lith drained and injected darkness magic into the carcass multiple times, turning it into an undead and back while trying to remember the feeling he experienced when the mana passed from him to the skeleton.
- "This is not dimensional magic where I have to constantly manipulate and adapt different mana flows. Unlike a Warp Step, the undead is stable. I need to feel it just once!"–
Lith kept his eyes closed, repeating the spell over and over, until he was able to feel every drop of mana that came out of his core, manipulating it like it was a new arm.
To make things easier, Lith coordinated the rat skeleton's movements with his right hand's fingers. There were no tendrils attached, but thanks to the workaround he was soon able to move the creature at will.
After he got used to the feeling, he reanimated the second rat again, using one hand for each and moving them in unison.
By the end of the lesson, while most students had succeeded in correctly controlling a single undead and Quylla was close to perfecting the movements of the second one, Lith had expanded the number of his puppets, needing only a finger for each one of them.
Professor Zeneff had never been so excited and afraid at the same time in her whole career, fearing to have triggered the advent of the new god of death.
***
Time passed and soon the days turned into a month. Friya needed but a week to master the Switch spell, completing the dimensional magic course and receiving a griffon shaped honour badge from Linjos and Rudd to celebrate the new inter-academy record.
Aside from Quylla, the rest of the group had mastered Blink, but they had yet to succeed in the Switch spell. Quylla and Friya used that extra free time to cram healing magic together, becoming the rising stars of the Light Magic Department.
Lith kept Forgemastering successfully one elemental weapon after the other, making Professor Wanemyre so happy that at one point she offered to adopt him. It was a flattering proposal, but he gently refused it.
Necromancy helped Lith overcome his mana sensitivity gap, leaving Professor Zeneff in awe. He would finish the assignments so fast that she promoted him to her assistant during the lessons, giving tips and suggestions to the other students.
Receiving so much good news every day made Lady Ernas feel like she was walking on air.
"I hope you will now admit I'm always right." She chuckled reading the latest congratulatory report from the White Griffon academy.
"A dimensional magic prodigy, two geniuses at healing, and our little Flower has finally blossomed as a woman. The future of house Ernas is as good as set in stone."
At those words, Orion Ernas spit out his tea in the butler's face, spilling the rest on his own nether regions. The pain coming from the hot tea was nothing compared to the one he felt in his heart so he ignored it, treating the small burns with healing magic.
"Do you mean she… they… you know what I mean!" Orion was beet red from pain and anger.
"No, I don't." She giggled, sending the butler away.
"It's never a good thing for a parent to meddle during the initial phases of a relationship. Lith seems quite the gentleman, I'm sure he'll make her first time pleasurable."
Orion once again cursed Lith's name and the day he brought the little runt into his house.
"She is too young for that! How can you say such things and remain so calm?"
Jirni put down the report, looking Orion straight in the eyes.
"Didn't we start knowing each other intimately when I was fifteen?" She asked with a soft smile.
"Those were different times! Ages ago." Orion replied, noticing the trap when it was already too late.
"Are you calling me an old hag?" She stood up, scolding him with an indignant tone.
"No, gods no!" Orion hastily retreated. Admitting defeat was his only option at that point, or he would share the doghouse with Lucky for the days to come.
"You are right, fifteen is the perfect age to start dating."
"According to our little Flower, Lith is a very promising Healer, Forgemaster and maybe even Necromancer." Jirni was back to being all smiles.
"You could bring him to your forge sometime, for some male bonding time. I was thinking we should meet his parents one of these days. Nothing formal, just to say hi and introduce ourselves."
Orion Ernas was inwardly weeping blood at the thought of losing his little Flower to a brute whose only perk was being so similar to his beloved wife, but he could only nod with a smile plastered on his face.
***
Sitting alone in his office, Linjos couldn't help but have an eerie feeling that something terrible was about to happen. Things were going smoothly, there had been no more accidents and he received only good news.
It was all too good to be true. Linjos was the White Griffon Headmaster for three years now, he knew the rules of the game all too well. He had spent the first two years learning the ropes before finally implementing the changes he had always dreamt about to the academy system.
Despite being the trial year, his academy had already achieved the highest number of promoted students per trimester and the lowest numbers of expelled or injured students per month.
The healthy environment had allowed many students that had appeared unremarkable at their arrival at the academy to develop their talents. They were popping out like mushrooms in all departments.
The random checks for slave items had been fruitless. Members of the Queen's corps would search and interrogate the staff, but thank the gods every time they would come up with nothing.
Yet Linjos couldn't help but worry. According to the reports he received from the Professors and the Queen, despite the internal strife having been quelled, all academies were still experiencing an all time low of the students' grades.
Linjos knew that sooner or later, the other Headmasters would try to sabotage his academy. With such poor results, they would be forced to implement Linjos's system, losing a lot of face and looking incompetent in the eyes of the magical community.
No matter what the Queen ordered, he was certain that they would put their prestige above everything. Many of them were too old to accept the changes and would never accept retirement.
To make things even worse, it was almost that time of the year again. Thinking about how much work he had to do with so little time at his disposal, Linjos sighed multiple times before summoning Nalear to his office.
***
The Magic Crystal lessons were the most appreciated among the compulsory courses of the third trimester. There were no winners or losers, all the students had become capable of cutting and refining low grade gemstones.
It had no homework, since handling mana blades and crystals was too dangerous without supervision, nor was there a rush to complete the task. The most important thing was the quality of the final product, so students would take their time, facing each crystal like a challenge to oneself rather than to the rest of the class.
At the end of the lesson, after checking the results of the students' work, Professor Nalear had an announcement to make.
"Excellent work everyone. Now I have good news and bad news. The good news is that since the whole class is making progress at such an outstanding rate, our trip to the forest's crystal mines has been brought forward.
"We'll depart tomorrow first thing in the morning, bring along anything you think you might need in the next few days." The trip was supposed to last only one morning, the sudden change of plans made the class burst with chattering.
Nalear raised her hand, silencing them with a quick spell.
"This leads to the bad news. For security reasons, students and Professors alike will move out of the academy until the eighteenth day of this month. Temporary lodgings have already been prepared.
You'll be split based on your household rather than on your gender or academy year. Beware of your seniors and be nice to your juniors. No misconduct will be tolerated, we will keep everyone under constant supervision."
Despite her smile, Lith could see it was all a façade. A deep rage was smoldering behind her soothing manners. Something terrible had probably happened to her during her student days.
"I am not at liberty to give you any explanation. Just know that this is for your own safety. Dismissed." Nalear abruptly left, clenching her hands so hard she was bleeding a little.
Lith was so focused on all those small details that he missed the several glances Phloria threw at him, sighing every time she did it. They had much to discuss.
Chapter 209 Storm Front 2
Phloria Ernas wasn't having the time of her life. Her adoptive sisters were running circles around her in the academy, her mother called too often with stars shining in her eyes, waiting for some big announcement. Every time she heard from her father, Orion seemed to be on the verge of tears instead.
Also, her relationship with Lith hadn't progressed much during the last month, giving her the impression there was something wrong.
They were already at their sixth date and Lith had always behaved like a perfect gentleman, having a deep knowledge of the places they visited together even if he had never been there before.
Phloria didn't know about Soluspedia, so the idea of him investing so much time and effort for her sake was truly flattering. They would always have brilliant conversations and while his jokes were a bit odd, Lith managed to be funny or mature according to the situation.
The problem was everything else.
- "He is way too mature, but that's actually nice." She would often think. "The more I know him, the more it seems I'm dating my parents though. He is a paranoid control freak like mom, but without being bossy or nosy.
"He is also caring and protective like dad, without being clingy or possessive. I like his virtues and flaws, but while, at the start, it was nice of him to leave me my personal space and not try to touch me inappropriately, now I'm starting to worry about it.
"Holding my hand from time to time is the boldest move he ever did. Be it kissing or hugging, he never takes the initiative, it's always up to me. Did he agree to go out with me out of pity? Or was it to get rid of Quylla?"–
Mulling those questions over and over, Phloria was getting more insecure by the day.
She couldn't imagine that Lith was actually a forty year old in the body of an almost thirteen year boy. He was conflicted between his psychological and physical age. Lith was incapable of approaching her without the fear of being guilty of forcing himself on someone naïve and inexperienced.
Phloria was too embarrassed to seek advice from her parents and asking her older brothers was useless. Gunyin, her eldest brother, had followed their mother's wishes, marrying a girl when he was barely sixteen. He had never dated someone outside of his own wife.
Tulion, her second brother, had almost been kicked out of the household because of his many affairs with maidens from other noble families.
- "I can already hear Gunyin say: "Ask mom, she knows better." Or Tulion: "Push him down on the bed. It would work with me.""–
Being cornered, Phloria had sought Friya's advice the day before. Phloria knew that she was still rooting for Quylla, but she had no one to turn to.
"I never dated anyone, so I really don't know what to say." Friya was really embarrassed to reveal that while she very much liked talking about boys, she knew almost nothing about them.
"If I were in your shoes, I would just ask him. If he doesn't like you, then he doesn't deserve you, sis." Phloria was moved by her words. She had always thought that, between the almost forced adoption and Quylla, they would only be sisters on paper.
Her advice made a lot of sense, so she was waiting for the end of the lessons to confront Lith. Magic Crystals was the last course of the day and since they would spend the next three days working in the mines, they had the rest of the afternoon free.
Phloria was so nervous, looking for the right moment to talk to him, that she almost flinched when Lith tapped on her shoulder while they were coming out of the classroom.
"Since we have nothing to do until tomorrow morning, do you mind coming to my room for a few minutes? We need to talk." Lith said taking the words right out of her mind, making her swallow a lump of saliva.
Saying those four words was hard, but hearing them was even worse. According to her brother Tulion, it was the best line before dumping someone and he was an authority in the field.
- "I have no idea what the security reasons Professor Nalear spoke about are, but it's likely that Phloria's mother does. I don't have Lady Ernas's contact rune, but I'm sure that she wouldn't mind helping me. The last time we met, we parted on good terms."–
Lith's intentions were completely unrelated to his relationship with Phloria, but she had no way to know that. She lived every step towards Lith's room like a death row inmate would while approaching the chopping block.
After they walked through the door, Phloria clenched her hands covered in sweat, finding the courage to speak her mind.
"Actually, I have something to say that can't wait anymore."
Noticing the urgency in her voice, Lith nodded, offering her the only chair in the room while he sat on the bed instead.
"That's exactly what I want to talk about!" She stood up, pointing a finger at him.
"Meaning?" Lith tilted his head in confusion.
"Why do you always keep your distance from me? No matter where we are, you never sit beside me, let alone try to kiss or touch me. Am I that ugly to you? Are you pity dating me?"
Her voice was full of rage, yet Lith could clearly see the insecure teenage girl hiding behind the mask. The new world closely resembled the middle ages in his mind.
Since they were so different in age and social status, he had thought that Phloria was content with what they had, never suspecting she wanted something more, like a modern Earth girl.
The only answer he could offer her wasn't the truth, but the next best thing.
"Absolutely not!" He stood up too, his tone was firm as a rock in denying her allegation.
"It's just that I've never dated someone your age, so I don't know what to do." Lith scratched his head in embarrassment. He was a late bloomer, never dating anyone before his last year of high school.
"Also, being as strong as I am, I'm afraid to hurt you. Last, but not least, our height gap doesn't help." He stood in front of her, using his hand to emphasize it.
Lith was now 1.65 meters (5'5") high, but Phloria was still taller than him with her 1.77 meters (5' 10").
"Do you want me to bring around a soapbox during our dates? Because I feel so dumb having to use a spell or ask you to bend down." Phloria felt so relieved by his answers that it was like someone had just lifted a mountain from her shoulder and another from her stomach.
Realizing he was not only younger, but also as inexperienced as her, made her heart flutter. Phloria gave him a long, deep kiss while her hands caressed his hair and wide shoulders.
Lith was surprised by how good a kisser she had become, needing his sheer willpower to keep his hands on her back instead of going for second base. He had no idea if he would be able to stop there.
"What do you want to talk about?" She whispered in his hear, refusing to let him go and making it really hard for him to focus.
"This field trip sounds fishy." He replied with a hoarse voice.
"I was thinking we may ask your parents for information. It never hurts being prepared for the worst."
"It can wait." She shrugged emitting an adorable giggle. "All work and no play makes Lith a dull boy." She had just kissed him again when someone knocked on the door.
"Lith? Little Flower? Are you in there? Please open up."
"Dad?" Phloria blurted out from surprise.
"I told you it could wait, dammit. Give them some space."
"Mom?" Phloria panicked, pushing Lith away and sending him butt first to the floor.
"Yes dear." Jirni's voice replied from the other side of the door.
"Take your time, there is no rush." In Phloria's mind those words sounded like:
"Put your clothes on carefully. Think about your father."
If her parents' sudden appearance was like a sudden cold shower for her, Lith needed a magical one, cooling down his face, hands, and other obvious places to make himself decent.
As soon as he opened the door, Orion barged in, sighing in relief seeing that the bed was still made and all the buttons on the two youths' uniforms were in proper order.
"Why didn't you answer your communication amulet? I've been calling you for hours!" Orion yelled.
"I was busy!" Phloria angrily rebuked.
"Please forgive us, Lith." Lady Ernas said. "I couldn't stop his rampage after he heard the news. The moment Phloria missed his tenth call, we were already on our way here. I suppose you know that something is going on."
Lith nodded.
"Yes, Lady Ernas. We were just about to call you." He reported to them Professor Nalear's announcement and his doubts about it.
"Excellent thinking. Emotions are important, but in time of crisis, keeping a cool head is of the utmost importance." Jirni clicked her tongue, making both father and daughter blush in embarrassment.
"Also, it's the exact reason why we are here. By now, most of the students should have been contacted by their parents and informed about the current predicament."
"Which is?" Lith asked.
"Have you ever heard about the god of death?" Phloria and Lith shook their heads.
"Ilyum Balkor, better known as the god of death, is one of the blackest pages in the Griffon Kingdom's modern history. Twenty years ago, before either of you were born, he was a commoner of humble origins that had entered the Black Griffon academy, soon revealing to possess an outstanding talent for magic.
"It quickly turned out to be more a curse rather than a blessing. According to the academy's old standards, might makes right, so he and his family were constantly victims of harassment from the noble families.
"The previous Queen ignored all the reports because she considered such behavior useful to her agenda. In her mind, they would push Balkor to seek the Crown's support, making him more malleable to her requests in order to satisfy his thirst for revenge and protection.
"Her 'brilliant' plan fell apart when a few months before his graduation, Balkor's village was set ablaze and his family killed by unknown bandits. It's still unclear if it was just an unlucky incident or something staged by one of the old noble families.
"What matters is that Balkor didn't care for the Crown's promises of finding the culprits, nor for all the flatteries coming from the academies and noble families alike, aiming to recruit him. They tried to exploit his pain of losing his family by replacing it with a new one.
"After graduating, he disappeared for a few months before returning at the lead of an army of greater undead, exterminating in one night all the noble families in his birthplace.
"Then he escaped to the Blood Desert while the army and the Mage Association were still busy dealing with his thralls.
"That night, Ilyum Balkor gained the title of god of death and the old Queen abdicated in Sylpha's favor. The following year, the Crown received a single word from him: 'Past'.
"During the night of the anniversary of Balkor's family's death, a whole old noble household disappeared. Not even children or elderly were spared, the only thing left behind was a single word, painted with blood over every single wall, ceiling, or floor: "Soon."
"Every year, for the following four years, the Crown received the same note and another ancient household would disappear during the night of the anniversary. Then, for the next five years, the note contained a different word: 'Present'.
"During the anniversary, the new target became the Crown and the Mage Association. Their most notable members would be attacked by legions of never seen before undead.
"We know this because most of the intended victims managed to survive, thanks to the heavy security. The King and the Queen survived all five attempts, allowing the Association to collect a lot of samples and devise new weapons against the new race of undead.
Sadly, this is the eleventh year and the note changed once again. Now it says: 'Future'."
"So they think he will now target the academies? It makes sense since the students represent the future of the Kingdom. What makes them think he will target the White Griffon?" Lith asked.
Lady Ernas shook her head sighing.
"No one thinks the god of death will target the White Griffon. We think he will target all the academies. The first five years were just the appetizer. He used them to perfect his creations while putting to test the magical defenses of the most powerful families, succeeding most of the times.
Then, he targeted both the Crown and the Mage Association, attacking all of their most notable members. He is the reason that lead the Griffon Kingdom to hasten the reform of the nobility and academy system, leading to the current crisis.
The existence of the god of death is a secret to the public, but every major power of the country knows about him, and lives in fear of his return."
Chapter 210 Tactical Retrea
Lith pondered for a while over Lady Ernas's words, trying to understand the reason behind Linjos's decision.
"Then what's the point of having the students move out of the academy? Isn't the castle one of the safest places in the Kingdom?" He asked.
"It is, but not against the god of death." Lady Ernas explained.
"All the ancient noble families, just like house Ernas, have several arrays defending them. We have contributed to building and nurturing the Kingdom, so you can think of our houses as smaller versions of the academies.
"The defense mechanisms are similar, but weaker. Balkor didn't just hunt us, he used every single attack to collect data and improve his thralls. Every year, they became stronger and more resilient, able even to bypass the basic arrays like they don't even exist.
"For your information, both the Royal Palace and the Mage Association headquarters have defenses on par with the academies, some say they are even better. Yet Balkor's creatures managed to break in every single year.
"We knew they were coming, we were prepared, and armed to the teeth. None of that mattered. The number of casualties only increased over time. Probably Linjos is thinking of relying on the protection of the Lord of the forest.
"Monsters like a Scorpicore only grow stronger with the passing of time. Thank the gods those beasts' talent for magic is second only to their indifference toward the outside world. As long as you don't mess with their turf, they don't mess with you."
"What's a Scorpicore?" Phloria asked.
"A genius magical beast that further evolved." Orion explained.
"They are invaluable allies and merciless enemies. Be careful of never antagonize one unless it's strictly necessary. While they are still beasts, they are much more intelligent than normal animals."
Lith was amazed by the time and effort magical beasts had spent to keep humans underestimating them. Even before his evolution, Lith would have never considered Ryman stupid.
"Also, the god of death is not the only one that has learned from the past attacks."
Jirni continued.
"Once the pattern was clear, the old noble families would scatter their members and go into hiding during the anniversary. It was a cowardly but effective move, many of them managed to survive the onslaught.
"Linjos's plan is very smart. First, he is changing the battlefield, making Balkor's preparations useless. Magical beasts' arrays work differently from ours, so the creatures should get affected by them.
"Second, by moving the students to the forest, finding them will be much harder, exploiting the undead's greatest weak point.
"To give them so much power, skill, and magic, Balkor had to sacrifice their lifespan. They never last much longer after sunrise, so by turning an assassination attempt into a hide and seek game, Linjos has already gained an advantage.
I only wish the other Headmasters did the same thing. Some of those old coots want to make a stand against Balkor and Linjos." Jirni sighed.
"Call the other kids here, I'll teach you whatever I can." Orion said
When Friya, Quylla, and Yurial arrived, they were still shaken up by the news received from their respective parents.
"First thing, do not fight them unless you are cornered. Those monsters are incredibly fast and strong, even the Mage Knight spell Full Guard barely allows a veteran to fight them on equal footing. You are no veterans, just kids.
"Running away should always be your priority. Never underestimate greater undead. They have a high degree of intelligence, can plan ahead and coordinate their attacks. They never get tired, do not feel pain, and every hit sucks away a bit of your life force, using it to heal their wounds.
If you are forced to engage the enemy, Mage Knights should resort to guerrilla warfare, combining Blink and Full Guard." Orion said looking at the two girls.
"As for you guys, you are only useful as long range attackers and life force batteries. Wardens are useless. Their spells are too slow and even if they manage to cast one, Balkor's creations can shrug off most of their effects. That's why I brought these."
Orion waved his hand, and five weapons came out of his dimensional ring.
An estoc, a rapier, a short sword, and two curved blades resembling shotels. Each one had two magic gemstones embedded in the hilt.
"I prepared them based on the knowledge we have accumulated so far. They are specifically designed to deal greatly increased damage to undead. I'm only loaning them to you." He looked straight at Lith and Yurial.
"These are not weapons for kids, I expect you to return them once the crisis is over."
Lith gratefully took his shotel, deeply bowing to Orion.
- "I'll make use of this time to thoroughly study this weapon and take note of every detail in my notebooks. It's like already having a Forgemastering fifth year book at hand!" He inwardly smiled. –
"One more thing." This time it was Lith talking.
"If an undead ever comes close to you, only use darkness magic. It's their bane. They are not afraid of cuts, burns, or cold. The other elements can damage their bodies, but unless it's enough to cripple them, they will barely notice it.
Never use light magic instead. It would only give them more power."
"How do you know it?" Orion was flabbergasted. Necromancy being one of the rarest mystical arts, only those who served the Crown, the Mage Association, and veterans in fighting undead knew such things.
He was about to teach them about the elements, but Lith took the words out of his mouth.
"I have a lot of free time during the Necromancy classes. I do not spend it by idly waiting for the lesson to end, I raise undead and experiment on them instead. To truly master any discipline, I need to understand its flaws and limitations, becoming capable of exploiting them when it will be used against me."
Lith's reply made Phloria's and Jirni's heart flutter. To the former, he sounded like a cool hero always one step ahead of his enemies, to the latter he sounded like the perfect son in law and an excellent royal constable candidate.
Jirni and Orion stayed for dinner and with them a lot of other parents. The canteen had never been so full and noisy before. The hall was split into two sides. One with the noble families warning their heirs, giving them advice and equipment.
The other where commoners were grouped up, still unaware of the imminent threat.
Lith was sitting at the Ernas's table while Yurial was at the table next to them with his parents and fiancé. She was as cute as a button blond girl, around fifteen years old, and definitely overdressed. She seemed to be attending a gala rather than an academy.
That and the scornful glances she threw at the other side of the canteen made her obnoxious at first sight to Lith.
The following day, the morning gong resounded early and after a quick breakfast, all the students were assembled in front of the academy's gates. Dozens of Warp Steps were open, allowing the staff to go back to their homes.
Linjos's plan included leaving the academy empty and locked from the inside so that even if Balkor's undead managed to break in, the number of casualties would be zero.
Not having anyone to interrogate, finding their new location would hopefully require more time than the creatures' lifespan allowed, so the White Griffon would win the battle without even moving a finger.
When only the students and Professors remained, Linjos closed the Warp Steps, opening new ones leading to their refuge. It looked like a medium sized mining town, composed by a hundred of small houses entirely made out of wood.
Doubting that Linjos would make such a blunder, underestimating Balkor's fury to that extent, Lith activated Life Vision while Solus used her mana sense to scan their surroundings.
The whole area had a mana flow vigorous enough to put to shame even the academy's one. The houses, the ground, even the flowers glowed like a Christmas tree. Aside from the shabby look, it seemed Linjos had spared no efforts in his creation.
Lith noticed that the youngest students were terrified by the presence of their seniors, staying as far as possible from them. Magical beasts could be seen everywhere in the town, some perched on the nearby trees, others leisurely walking along the streets.
Lith was searching for a Professor, to know which was his accommodation, when a strong hand grabbed his shoulder.
"Hey, you are Lith from Lutia, right?"
Lith pushed the hand away like it was an annoying fly before answering.
"Depends. Who's asking?" He found himself staring at a sixteen year old boy, probably a fifth year student. He was very tall, around 1.85 meters (6'1") high, with chestnut hair and eyes that gave him an oddly familiar look.
"You are that commoner sh*t that had my brother and cousins expelled! All because you and the f*cking stick up your a*s can't take a practical joke." Vinor Pontus was seething with anger.
His family was already on the verge of disaster, the expulsion and arrest of three of their most promising talents had been the final straw that broke the camel's back.
Their reputation was ruined. It would take them decades to recover from all the recent blows and rebuild their good name from scratch. Lith looked around for a Professor, finding only M'Rook the Ry, that was staring at the scene with interest, wagging its tail in anticipation.
"Three men ambushing a girl at night can hardly be called a practical joke, unless one is a pervert and a degenerate. You Pontus guys seem to perfectly fit the bill. It's no surprise that Balkor wants you morons dead. Idiots with more power than brain are the perfect recipe for disaster."
Just Balkor's name was enough to make most of those present shudder, but not Vinor Pontus. He had been looking for a pretext to attack Lith. Insulting him and his whole family in front of so many witnesses was more than enough.
Vinor raised his arms, pretending to be just shrugging before throwing a straight at Lith with all the strength he was capable of. Lith reacted accordingly, raising a single finger and stopping the punch a dozen centimeters from his face.
He had used first magic to generate an air cushion, giving Vinor the impression of hitting an invisible pillow. Before he could pull back the punch, the air cushion exploded.
It released many air blades, strong enough to pierce the uniform's protection. They scratched his face, giving him the look of someone that had fought and lost against a stray cat. Lith snapped his fingers, conjuring an air wave that sent Vinor tumbling on the ground.
The students watching the scene burst into laughter, making Vinor's blood boil. He got back on his feet with one fluid movement, releasing a spell from one of his rings. It conjured an icicle as long and thick as an arm, aimed at Lith's heart.
Before Lith could react, the icicle turned to dust, while a strong grip was squeezing Vinor's hand, to the point of almost breaking his fingers.
"What the heck do you think you are doing?" Professor Wil Ironhelm was in charge of the Battle Magic class and the Forgemaster specialization for the fifth year. He was muscular as a bull and almost as patient.
"He started it, Professor! He attacked me with magic for no reason." Vinor whined while twisting and lowering his body, trying to relieve the pressure on his fingers.
"Is it true?" He asked staring at Lith with his ice blue eyes.
"No. I'm Lith from Lutia and he is a member of the Pontus family." Lith replied like it explained everything.
"That Lith from Lutia?" Ironhelm threw Vinor back on the ground with a flick of the wrist, while rushing towards Lith with his extended hand.
"It's an honor to meet you. I have heard a lot about you from Lyca Wanemyre. The gods know why she got the talent, the looks, and a promising student while all I got is this shirt and a bunch of morons!" He cursed shaking his fist against the heavens.
"Minus one hundred points for assaulting a junior and minus another hundred for getting your a*s kicked despite attacking first."
"How can you believe him instead of me? This isn't fair!" Vinor whined, two of his still charged rings had permanently shut down because of the points deficit.
"You need proof. Everyone here is my witness!" The younger students stepped away, while the others started to turn around and leave.
"Proof, uh? Well, let's do this your way. Is he speaking the truth?" Ironhelm asked to M'Rook, who promptly shook its head.
"No. The dumb oaf attacked the young wolf for no reason. After his defeat, the oaf attacked with magic. You know the rest."
"It speaks?" The whole crowd of students went into an uproar.
Chapter 211 Dead on Time
Vinor almost choked from the surprise, many students stared at M'Rook like they were seeing a magical beast for the first time in their lives.
"Yeah, he can." Ironhelm corrected Vinor. "Minus two hundred points for lying to a teacher." The rest of Vinor's rings turned grey.
"How can you believe to stupid beast instead of a student? Are you even human? What side are you on?" Vinor whined, jumping away after hearing a snarl right beside his head.
"Who are you calling stupid?" M'Rook was so close that Vinor could smell his pungent breath. His lips were curled up, revealing fangs the size of a small dagger.
"Minus five hundred points for offending our protectors." Vinor's uniform turned from white to grey, losing all of its magical properties.
"Listen up, you idiots." Professor Ironhelm's voice roared.
"For the next three days, we are guests in this forest. Magical beasts are our landlords, protectors, and first line of defense. Whoever dares to attack another student or disrespects them will have all of their points null and void.
"It's time for you to learn that if a magical beast lives long enough, it develops mystical wisdom. They can talk, reason, and read, just like us humans. Before opening your stuck up mouths, remember where you are if you want to live.
"If they refuse to protect us because of your behavior, I'll gladly sacrifice an idiot or two to save everyone else. Is it clear?"
The students from the fourth and fifth year looked around, finally seeing that the town had no blind spots. Magical beasts could be seen soaring the skies, patrolling the streets, and even felt while tunneling underground.
Unlike inside the academy, every single move they made was watched, every word heard. Now they also knew that magical beast could talk, making them a living security system with heightened senses.
Lith walked away after giving M'Rook a polite bow, starting to look out for Phloria and the rest of the group.
- "If they live long enough. That's a good joke." Lith inwardly laughed at the charade magical beasts had put up for humans.
"Yeah, even Nok could talk and he was just a Byk cub." Solus smiled remembering their little friend. -
Meanwhile, Professor Ironhelm's curiosity had been piqued.
"Why didn't you intervene? If I hadn't stopped that icicle…"
"Nothing would have happened." M'Rook cut him short. "The oaf was a threat only to himself. I would kill him if I were you. He's a bad apple. He will bring only harm to your pack."
The Ry's words made another question arise.
"Why are you calling the big one 'oaf' and the other one 'young wolf'?"
"The big one is one of you, the small one is one of us." M'Rook snorted like someone had asked him if the water was wet.
"One of us?" Ironhelm was getting more confused by the second.
"The oaf is a human. Sees food, wants food. Sees female, wants female. Sees things, wants things. No matter if he needs them, he takes them with violence. That is human nature.
We don't eat unless hungry, we have a mate for life, we don't need useless trinkets. He is one of us."
Professor Ironhelm felt slightly offended by M'Rook's words. They sounded a lot like racism. His problem was that he couldn't argue with them. Without law and order, the world of men would take days at most to plunge into chaos, while magical beasts lived according to unwritten rules that every one of them adhered to.
***
Lith was amazed by the total number of people the White Griffon hosted. The first three years were composed of at least one thousand students, making him doubt that the mining town could accommodate them all.
- "Damn, I'm here for less than five minutes and I am already lost. I hate crowded places. They give me a headache." Lith thought.
"We need to find a Professor and fast!"
"Or you could call them and ask them where they are." Solus suggested, making Lith sneer.
"My sweet, innocent Solus. If after carrying out this monumental work Linjos has left the communications open, he would be too much of an idiot to be the Headmaster."–
As Lith predicted, the communication amulet was as dead as a doornail.
"Lith, nice to meet you again. I wish our circumstances were better." Lith turned around, meeting the eyes of Colonel Varegrave.
"Colonel, this is an unexpected surprise. Is the army involved too?" Lith replied, giving him a small bow.
"Yes, of course. We cannot take any chances. I assume you already know everything." Lith nodded, asking him for help in finding his teammates.
"Not a problem." The Colonel touched his communication earpiece, requesting information. While waiting for the reply, he and Lith talked about the situation at hand.
"Can the Small World be used here?"
"Sadly, no." Varegrave sighed. "It works with principles similar to the academy's arrays, it's just more powerful. Those creatures would barely be slowed down, while we would be powerless.
Follow me, the show is about to begin."
Varegrave lead Lith to the town's outskirts where students and Professors were still waiting. Suddenly, the earth started to tremble and a rock plateau four meters (14 feet) high emerged from the ground.
Linjos had chosen a spot that allowed all those present to have a clear view and listen to his magically amplified voice.
"My dear students, this will be our home for the following days. The rules here are the same as the academy, but without lessons. At least for the fourth and fifth year students." At those words, most of the crowd erupted into groans, which Linjos ignored.
"You need to keep your hands and minds busy to avoid the stress from our current situation to eating you up from the inside. For this reason, fourth and fifth year students have two choices: help the Professors teaching their juniors the basics of magic, or mine magic crystals.
Both the endeavors will be awarded with magic crystals or points according to your contributions. I have assigned you your housing based on your social status and age, but don't misunderstand.
I did it only to prevent the seniors from harassing the younger students. All houses are identical and have the same comforts." More groans filled the air, many students spit on the ground, disgusted by Linjos's words.
They had hoped to get some fun at the expenses of the commoners.
"As Professor Ironhelm already pointed out, remember we are guests here. Allow me to introduce you to our Lord."
Scarlett the Scorpicore plunged from the skies, right beside Linjos, its landing as soft as a plume.
"I'll be brief, humans." Its voice was harsh but feminine, allowing the students to understand she was a female.
"Respect my rules and you won't even notice our presence. My rules are simple. One: do as Linjos says. Two: never harm a cub, human or otherwise, in my presence." One of the reasons the Scorpicore had decided to help the academy was that, having lost many of her offspring before turning into a Scorpicore, Scarlett had a soft spot for children.
The other was that, according to Linjos's words, the undead had too many abilities that reminded her of Abominations. She wanted to use that opportunity to check if the so-called god of death and her mysterious enemy were somehow related.
"Third: respect my underlings. They are risking their lives for you, those who do not appreciate their sacrifice can as well as die for what I care. If any of you needs help, whatever the reason, you can go to any of the magical beasts surrounding the city or my seconds in command."
Another monster descended from the skies on Scarlett's left side.
It was a giant wolf with two curved horns coming out of its forehead, right in front of the ears. Eagle-like feathered wings came out from his back and the tail seemed to be made out of dancing flames.
- "Ryman?"– Lith was shocked by his friend's arrival.
"He is Protector the Skoll. He will lead my troops in battle since I am forced to mantain all the protective arrays by myself." It was actually a lie. Many had contributed to securing the zone. Scarlett said that because she knew humans needed to be impressed to obtain their respect.
Also, it would make it easier to find out traitors since she had just made herself a target, pretending that her energies were all directed at the arrays.
A second creature appeared, this time slowly emerging from the ground.
It was a huge mass of shadows as big as a small house, which kept shapeshifting until it resembled a bear. Its only distinctive features were the glowing red eyes and its massive skeleton that glimpses could be caught of from time to time underneath the ever-changing darkness composing its body.
"This is Kalla the Wraith, our resident expert in the field of undead. She'll secure the perimeter in case things go south. Goodbye."
- "Kalla?" Her new appearance had shocked Lith, who was now fearing the worst.
"Is that an evolution or has she turned into an undead?"
"An evolution." Solus replied. "She now has a blue mana core, not a blood core. Yet judging from the red eyes and the black smoke exuding from her body, I'd say she's somehow related to them."–
The three Monsters disappeared as fast as they had arrived, leaving the center of the scene to Linjos again. With a clap of his hands, several boards materialized from thin air. Each one of them was a huge list of names in alphabetical order.
Beside each name, there was a number associated with one of the houses indicated on the map. Much to his surprise, Lith discovered that his housing was marked as one of an old noble family.
The Ernas couple had threatened the poor Headmaster, each one their own way, leaving him still pondering if to find Orion's yells or Jirni's subtle insinuations more menacing.
Having faced and lost against both in the past, he had made no objection to their request to keep together the five youths despite their different social status. When Archmage Deirus had also pressed Linjos towards such accommodation, there was very little he could do.
Putting together three members of an old noble family, albeit one in name only, one of a young noble family, and a commoner was something that he would never allow if not for their excellent relationship.
The hours passed until evening arrived. Lith worked in the mines, preferring to avoid both nobles and kids. Quylla and Yurial chose to help the Professors to teach the basics of magic.
Quylla was considering to pursuing an academic career. All the dangers she was going through were making her understand how much she loved her peaceful life inside the academy, away from bloodsheds and fights. Those things made her feel out of place.
Yurial's situation was different though. After having dined with his fiancé, his mind was a mess.
- "Libea has grown even more arrogant and stuck up than I remembered her. Thank the gods I didn't introduce her to Lith or Quylla, or we would have quarreled until her departure. I wish there was a way out of this engagement."– He thought.
The idea of spending his life with a girl he could barely stand, forced to search for his happiness in the arms of a mistress that he would be forced to keep hidden from the rest of the world, made him feel miserable.
Yurial had always known how caged his existence would be, but now that he could see its bars up close, he couldn't avoid searching for a loophole. Between spending his day alone in a dark mine and nurturing youths, he chose the second option.
- "I need to enjoy the sun as much as I can. Also, it will be a good practice for when I'll have children of my own."– He sighed.
Friya too went to the mines. Refining crystals required focus and isolation, allowing her to have a respite from the constant struggles with her inner demons. She was a noble, but didn't feel like one. She had a family, but it wasn't her own.
Her life was changing too fast and for the first time in her life, her future was a blur. Abandoning house Ernas would be a despicable act after all the attentions Orion had poured into her, treating Friya like she was his own.
It would also mean abandoning Quylla, the closest thing to a family she had left. Now, with the threat of the god of death, she didn't know if to be more afraid of her future or of her present.
Phloria followed Lith into the mines, spending most of her time watching him. Unlike the others, he didn't seem scared. Not even Balkor's shadow seemed capable of snuffing out the greed in his eyes whenever he met a high quality crystal.
She found it shallow and insensitive of him, yet incredibly soothing for her heart.
- "This is so stupid of me, but I don't know what else to do. My hands tremble too much at the idea of what is going to happen two nights from now to handle a crystal. Teaching is also useless.
I don't want to grow fond of people that could die anytime soon. I just wanted to quietly spend the rest of my time at the academy trying not to think about death. Yet it comes looking for me instead." –
Phloria felt on the verge of tears, so she sat right next to Lith, putting her head on his shoulder. His steady heartbeat was like a lullaby to her ears, her hands stopped shaking, the fear faded away.
"Do you mind if I remain like this?"
"No, be my guest." Lith managed to kiss the top of her head without needing to stop the cutting process, making her giggle.
"At this point, you should put the crystal down and hold me, you jerk."
Lith was about to joke about how he would have never expected her to be a high-maintenance girlfriend when his ears perceived something.
"Do you hear that?" He asked, suddenly tensing up.
Phloria tried to listen. They weren't very deep in the mine but there were still a lot of echoes.
"No, what?"
"Screams."
Chapter 212 Dead on Time 2
Suddenly, all the communication amulets that were supposed to be offline projected the image of Headmaster Linjos, repeating the same message over and over.
"To all students, we are under attack. Return to your housing immediately. If that's not possible, seek shelter in the nearest building. To all students…"
While the others were still staring at the Headmaster's hologram, Lith grabbed Phloria's hand and made a rush for the exit.
"Wait, there are still people in the mine!" Phloria blurted, out trying to keep up with his pace.
"So what? Do you really think we can protect everyone? If they are stupid enough to freeze out of panic, they would not last long anyway!" Phloria was about to reply, but while squeezing Lith's fingers she remembered she didn't want to die.
Once outside, the scene in front of them seemed out of a post apocalyptic movie. People were screaming and running, trampling over all those that fell on the ground or moved too slow, hindering their escape.
The whole town was enveloped by a golden spherical barrier that was now visible to the naked eye. The mine entrance was a wide tunnel that opened in the ground near the outskirts, so it was covered by the array.
The sun was still visible above the horizon, yet black things were swarming the camp, attacking from all directions. Their bodies were naked, resembling only a human figure because they had arms and legs.
They had no facial feature, body hair, or reproductive organs, moving on all four with insect-like movements. Some had remained near the mine, ambushing those that were coming out of it.
A couple of undead jumped towards Lith and Phlroia, emitting a humming sound.
"Stand b…" Lith tried to say.
"Stand behind me!" Phloria cut him short, pulling him back and slamming her conjured tower shield in the face of the first creature. The blue aura from Full Guard was already gushing all around her body, allowing Phloria to perceive every movement around her, leaving no blind spots.
After spending so much time with her father and Lith, she had learned to always expect the worst. Despite the run at breakneck speed, she had managed cast all her best spells, just in case.
Her estoc made short work of the second creature. The gemstones in the hilt emitted a bright light while releasing their power, allowing the blade to cut through their stone-hard skin like it was paper.
- "How can a girl that's always so afraid of dying charge forward like that?" Lith thought.
"Probably because she has someone important to protect." Solus pointed out. "There's something wrong with our assailants. Their movements are sloppy and predictable. Far from what Orion described to us."–
Lith didn't remain idle either. His eyes were checking out the surroundings while studying the creatures and Orion's blades at the same time.
There were no more undead targeting the couple, but Lith didn't miss how all of them had some kind of mystical ropes wrapped around their limbs, limiting their movements.
"The first barrier makes them weak! Let's go!" Phloria was about to move when Lith pulled her back.
"Watch out!" Several Plague Arrows, Lith's fastest darkness spell, struck the two undead laying on the ground.
Phloria only noticed then that each piece, no matter the size, was exuding black tendrils that allowed it to reattach itself to the rest of the body, making all the damage she had inflicted to them meaningless.
Even with their limbs and heads only connected by the tendrils, the creatures were already back at their peak condition. They had simply laid in ambush waiting for their prey.
The darkness contained in the bolts fought against the one reanimating the corpses, making their humming turn into a shrill sound.
Lith barely pretended to chant and form hand signs, quickly unleashing a barrage of Plague arrows on the still writhing creatures.
"Never lower your guard until the enemy turns to dust. Never!" Lith took out the shotel Orion had entrusted him from his pocket dimension.
The death cries of the undead had caused the other creatures to stop their attacks, hissing with hate at the sight of the two running away. They moved to intercept them, only to be cut down like ripe wheat.
Phloria's movements were small and precise. Years of practice allowed her swordplay to be shapeless, like water. Her form relentlessly changed according to the situation, switching from close combat shield bashing to quick stabs to exploit the range advantage the sword gave her.
With every strike, she released a pulse of darkness magic that was greatly amplified by the blade's magic, causing the small puncture wounds to turn into gaping holes. The lingering energy ate away the surrounding flesh, shortening the creatures' life span and making their regeneration slower.
Lith's movements were rough and amateurish. He only knew a few techniques learned on Earth alongside the basics that Phloria had taught him months ago. Yet he moved like a storm.
To the trained eye, his moves were too big, with lots of unnecessary movements, making them telegraphed. The undead were no experts though. Being short lived like butterflies, they relied on their superior physical prowess to overpower the opponent.
Thanks to the array restricting their movements, Lith was already faster and stronger than them in his natural state. Once he infused himself with fusion magic, the creatures could barely follow his movements.
A thick layer of darkness magic engulfed his shotel and it only grew stronger with each strike. Solus had linked herself to the blade, keeping an eye on its pseudo core, preventing the sword's control gemstones from overloading from the massive amount of mana Lith was pouring into it.
Each creature that barred his way received at least ten slashes, their bodies turning to ashes before they could even notice having been hit.
Phloria was too busy handling her share of undead to pay too much attention to him, throwing only the occasional glance to be sure Lith was all right. His technique was a mess, but the results left her in awe every time.
If the enemy closed in, the sword would mow them down in a flash. If they retreated, bolts of darkness would send them sprawling on the ground, shrieking in agony.
- "How the heck does he manage to cast that fast even while wielding a sword? His magic storing rings should already be depleted."– Her confusion didn't make Phloria lose focus. More and more creatures were coming out of the forest, closing any gap in the encirclement as soon as it formed.
"There's no end to them!" She barely had the time to yell that hell broke loose.
Professor Ironhelm appeared while riding M'Rook the Ry, followed by a pack of magical beasts. He was wielding a sword and a shield, but with the Ry protecting him, he could focus on the attack, wiping out dozens of undead in a matter of seconds.
"Run away, kids! Don't look back! I'll take care of the survivors."
Lith sprinted forward, storing the sword back in the pocket dimension and taking Phloria's hand to be certain of not losing her amid the chaos. The closer they got to the town, the more magical beasts they encountered.
Past a certain point, the bindings grew so strong that the undead became even slower than an average human, making it child's play for beasts and Professors alike to turn them into mincemeat.
Phloria regretted leaving behind her fellow students, but Lith didn't allow her to slow down for even a second. They reached their house, stopping only to open the door and ran inside as soon as the magic lock recognized them.
Even under the adrenaline rush, they couldn't help but stare at their new surroundings. The inside was much bigger than the outside. The hallway they were in was at least one hundred meters (328 feet) long and five (16.4 feet) wide.
It was a dimensional magic masterpiece, stretching the space enough to turn the small cottage into a single floor hotel. Each side of the corridor had ten doors, leading to as many apartments. The furniture was rustic. Aside from a long carpet on the floor and magical stones to light it, the hallway was empty.
They couldn't care less, starting to search for their name tags on the doors. They would have been quicker if they checked one side each, but their hands seemed to be glued together.
Their room was almost a replica of the one they lived in at the academy, just five times bigger. The furniture consisted of five beds with as many nightstands and closets. There were only two bathrooms though. One for the girls, one for the boys.
"What took you so long?" Friya asked them with a tired expression on her face.
An unbearable sense of guilt gripped Phloria's stomach. She had completely forgotten that her sister was with them in the mine. She hugged Friya so hard she squeezed the air out of her lungs.
"I'm so sorry, sis. I didn't mean to leave you behind! I'm so glad you are all right. Please forgive me." Phloria sobbed, leaving Friya flabbergasted.
Lith instead was amazed by how she was still without a scratch, just like them, but had managed to beat them to the house without even breaking a sweat. Even he was still panting from the mad rush.
"What are you talking about? You'll cry later, Quylla and Yurial need our help."
She pointed at the two youths, laying on their beds. Their uniforms were torn up in multiple spots, showing the signs of a lost fight. Their skin was deadly pale, their breath was short and shallow.
"Those idiots actually ran to get to the house, almost getting killed. They should have Blinked, just like us!" At those words, Lith and Phloria became beet red from embarrassment. In the heat of the moment, they had completely forgotten about the spell, relying by instinct on much cruder methods to escape.
"I already closed their wounds, but I can't give them any more life force without endangering myself. They need your help, Lith."
Lith nodded, chanting the spell and using Invigoration at the same time to check his companions' conditions. The situation was more dire than Friya believed. Not only was their life force fading away, but also some kind of toxin was attacking their mana cores.
Lith was shocked by the discovery, the god of death was supposed to be a fake mage. He neutralized the toxin, extracting it from their bodies before injecting part of his life force. Their breathing immediately became regular, their complexion healthy.
Friya was about to ask about the liquid floating over Lith's hand when someone knocked on the door.
"Is there any injured here? I'm Professor Vastor, let me in please."
Professor Vastor was still as round and bald as an egg, his waxed handlebar mustaches were still flawless despite the sweat running from his head.
"Oh gods, not my precious stars!" He rushed to the beds as soon as he recognized his students. Only after performing a complete check up, Vastor sighed in relief, sitting on a bed to catch his breath.
"Great job removing the toxins, guys. Most people would miss it until it's too late. Those goddamned undead freaks. Only a madman would create such creatures. Too dangerous and wasteful." His comments left them speechless, but only for a second.
"Who cares for their efficiency!" Phloria yelled. "Are Quylla and Yurial going to be all right?"
"What the heck happened?" Friya joined the fray. "Wasn't the attack supposed to happen only during the anniversary?"
"Can I keep the toxin?" Lith chimed in, storing half of it in his pocket dimension, just in case. "I would only use it for research purposes. I promise."
- "I wish I had a body to bash your head right now."– Solus scolded him.
The girls glared at him, clearly sharing Solus's outrage.
Vastor laughed out loud, dissolving the tension.
"Yes, of course they are all right. Otherwise I wouldn't be so calm. As for your other questions, I only have bad news. First, every time the god of death changes his target, he launches probing attacks before the anniversary. Consider today's invasion as a rehearsal.
Otherwise we wouldn't have moved so far in advance. I wonder how he managed to find us that quickly."
"That was just probing?" Phloria felt weak in the knees.
Vastor nodded.
"Well, yeah. Those are hardly greater undead. No magical powers, limited intelligence, no strategy at all. They simply swarmed the camp to test our defenses and reaction time. As for you, mister Lith, my answer is a no.
"One hundred points for extracting the toxin in such an unaltered state. The alchemists will wet themselves in excitement when they see it." Vastor's eyes shined like a kid unwrapping his Christmas present while storing the toxin in an alchemic vial.
"It was a group effort." Lith said, hoping to quench the three girls' anger.
- "Nice try, Scrooge. I don't buy it." Solus pouted. –
"Then one hundred points to each of you." Vastor said, too happy to even bother to remember that Phloria wasn't part of the Healer specialization.
Phloria and Friya smiled, accompanying the Professor to the door. One could never get enough points.
- "Two out of three is still a good result." Lith thought. –
"Jerk!" They said to Lith in unison as soon as the door was closed.
"Girls, the rooms aren't soundproof for security reasons. Wait for me to get away before beating him." Vastor yelled.
- "Or not."–
Chapter 213 What Goes Around Comes Around
Griffon Kingdom, Royal Palace. After the attack.
King Meron had sought an audience with Tyris for weeks, but her private chambers had always remained sealed. After returning from the Blood Desert, she had been too busy dismantling the secret lab first and checking the records about who had studied Arthan's Madness later to bother with his yearly worries.
Finding clues about the identity of the mastermind behind the Abominations was her priority, especially since the Council had washed their hands of the matter. She only yielded because of his unrelenting pestering of her 24/7.
King Meron couldn't help but think about Count Lark and how he must have felt after being rejected over and over by the Court just a few months prior.
Tyris's throne room was a perfect replica of the one the Royal family used during social events, except for the fact that every piece of furniture was made of stone. Even the throne itself was no exception.
Carpets, tapestries, even the ceremonial armors along the hallway seemed to have been carved down to the finest detail. More than once, the King had wondered if there was a secret behind the second throne room and which one of them was sitting on the real throne.
"First Queen, forgive my insistence, but I bring dire news." Meron knelt on the ground even though he knew that formalities were meaningless to her. Yet in his desperation, he wasn't willing to leave a single stone unturned.
"Let me guess, someone has died today." She snorted without stopping to look at the archives.
"The god of death…" A furious glance from Tyris stopped him.
"There are no gods. I know that all too well. Use his real name instead of that pompous title." The First Queen hated how easily men handed out godhood. The Great Mother, as humans and beasts alike referred to the planet's will, was the closest thing to a god she had ever met.
At the same time, it was the most indifferent and uncaring being she had ever interacted with, only thinking about the bigger picture and ignoring the single individuals, even the Guardians, unless they served to its purpose.
"This evening, Ilyum Balkor has attacked all the six great academies at once. Thank the g…" Another glare made Meron curse at his own stupid tongue.
"Thank heavens the number of casualties is low, at least for those that followed Linjos's protocol. The Earth and Crystal Griffon didn't though. Almost all the Professors died during the attack."
"Why should I care?" Tyris snorted, making the room tremble.
"I told you royal idiots centuries ago to follow Leegaain's advice and reform the nobility and academy system, but it was never the right time. Famine, internal strife, the royal baby. Any excuse was good to postpone your duties.
You and your ancestors have made your bed, now lie in it."
"Your Majesty, your subjects, innocent kids at that, are dying at the hand of a madman! You must do something!" He stood up, hurt by her indifference and most of all, by the truth behind her words.
"A madman? What if it was your family to have died for a practical joke? What if everything and everyone you loved had been defiled, gutted and left to be burned alive? What would have you done in his shoes?"
Her eyes were reduced to two fiery slits brimming with mana.
Meron didn't reply. The only way not to prove her point was lying, but she would notice, making his effort useless.
"Please, think of the children. They are innocent!" He played his last card.
"Innocent? Rotten apples from rotten trees. Wasn't Balkor a child too? What about all those that died that day and keep dying up to date because nobles value their status more than human life?
"My answer is still no. I will not solve the problems that you created by ignoring my advice. Otherwise I might as well take back the throne and do your job for you. By letting so many monstrous acts slide, you have created a monster.
Think about it, the next time someone asks for a royal pardon."
Before King Meron could reply, he found himself back in his bedroom. His sudden appearance almost made Sylpha stab him out of surprise.
"The first day has yet to pass and so many died already." King Meron sobbed, seeking comfort in his wife's embrace.
"We are alone. Our goddess has forsaken us."
***
Lith spent an awkward supper. All of his companions were having a hard time letting his blunder slide.
"Thanks for saving my life, man. Yet I would have appreciated more concern for my well-being and less for academic research." Yurial sighed, knowing it was like talking to a wall.
"You guys are blowing this story out of proportions. I wasn't concerned because there was no need to. I'm the best diagnostician I know, besides Manohar. I had triple checked you two from head to toe and removed every single drop of poison.
What was I supposed to be worried about? The softness of your pillows?"
Being scolded by his friends didn't bother him as much as Solus's mind pouting did. She was supposed to be on his side, not theirs.
"Believe me, no one appreciates your professionalism as much as I do, but if you don't want to end up like Manohar, you must learn to shut up from time to time." Phloria kept playing with her food. The near death experience had made her lose her appetite.
"Phloria, do you realize we are at war?" Lith stared intently at her.
"That poison could save our lives in the future, I had to try to butter up Vastor while I still had the chance. Now everything is lost. Sorry if I prioritize keeping you guys alive rather than coddle your feelings." He snarled loud enough for everyone to hear.
They looked at him, realizing that maybe Lith was a jerk, but a jerk with a damn good reason.
"You really sound like mother." His words reminded Quylla of the creepy lesson Lady Ernas had imparted her before leaving. About how and where to strike humans and beast alike to inflict the maximum pain.
"Your bedside manners are terrible, but thanks for saving my life."
"Thank Friya instead. She almost fainted to keep you two alive until our arrival."
"Thanks, Friya. You are the best sister I could hope for." Quylla embraced Friya, relieving the cold grip she always felt clenching her soul and making Phloria's gut twist in a knot at the same time.
She still couldn't forgive herself for forgetting about Friya when they were still in the mine. She felt like the worst sister ever.
The mood in the makeshift canteen was gloomy. A few students that had ignored Linjos's orders and got out of the town had died during the attack. Many others had been gravely injured and because the poison hadn't been promptly cleansed, their lives were hanging on a thread.
A sudden wail followed by sobbing coming from the infirmary told them that another one didn't make it. A small boy ran from the field hospital, hugging M'Rook and hiding his face into the thick fur.
The Ry let the kid be, gently stroking his head with his muzzle.
- "Poor kid. His friend must have succumbed to the poison." Solus said.
"Yeah. Something that damages the mana core is unheard of since we faced those parasites. Now you understand why we need a sample of that poison? We cannot trust anyone for our survival." Lith was still angry at her.
"Did you really have to bargain over your friends' still recovering bodies? Why didn't you store all the poison instead of half if it's so important?"
Solus knew he was right, but she didn't want for Lith to keep trampling the feelings of his companions without even a tinge of remorse.
"Because Vastor knows of the plague and the role I played in it. Because by giving him that half, I once again proved my value and showed my alleged loyalty to the Kingdom. It will earn me merits and points. As simple as that."–
Solus sighed.
- "In times of peace, I would be right. Right now, we are at war with death itself though. My mindset is a liability. I hope that Phloria manages to help Lith keep his humanity. It's in moments like this that I feel he is slipping away."–
Unlike the others, Lith wasn't scared. On the contrary, he was very calm. In his mind, the other students were just tools. He planned to use them to raise his status or as sacrificial pawns. He only cared for those at his table.
Some of his plans creeped Solus out.
"Long time no see, Scourge." Kalla appeared beside them, making the group flinch.
"You have changed a lot from our last encounter, Kalla." Lith replied without stopping to eat.
"Yes, and so have you. When this is over, we have much to talk about."
Kalla disappeared after fusing with the shadow of their table, leaving Lith eager for a new lesson about true Necromancy.
"Scourge?" Yurial asked.
"Yeah, it's a long story." Lith sighed, suddenly not so happy anymore. He hated being forced to share bits of his past.
After returning to their room, Lith told them about his first encounter with Kalla and how magical beasts had named him "Scourge". He told them only the truth, but omitted all the parts about true magic and learning Necromancy from the Byk before her evolution.
"Why have you never told us magical beasts can talk?" Phloria felt a little hurt by his lack of trust.
"Because they trusted me not to." He replied.
"Also, because you wouldn't have believed me. Unlike Phillard, usually they are very careful about who they talk to. They probably would have kept silent, if not for the emergency." The memory of the Kroxy made them shudder.
Everyone was dead tired, so they decided to go to sleep early. They needed all of their strength for the attack that would come the following day.
Everyone was flabbergasted at Lith's pajamas.
"Are you really going to sleep with your uniform on?" Because of the mixed accommodation, Yurial had brought a thick nightgown.
"It's more practical this way. If anything happens, I don't have to waste time changing. Also, thanks to its magic, the uniform is always spotless, so why not?"
"You really are like my dad." Phloria laughed. "Every time he comes back from the battlefield, mom always complains about how hard it is to make him sleep without his uniform on and the sword on the bedside."
After everyone had their turn mocking Lith for his paranoia, they turned off the lights. Lith had waited all day for that moment.
He took the shotel out of the pocket dimension, using Invigoration to start collecting data about its pseudo core and how the mana crystals interacted with the spell matrix structure.
He had just started taking notes, after testing and probing the internal structure, when Solus warned him.
- "Watch out! Someone is getting up."– Cursing his bad luck, Lith put everything back in the pocket dimension, pretending to be asleep. There was almost no light in the room, but he was still able to see.
- "False alarm. Quylla went to Friya's bed. Probably she is too scared to sleep alone tonight."– Lith was still sighing in relief when everything went crazy.
Someone was pulling the blankets, cuddling up to him.
"Make a little room for me, jerk." Phloria's whisper sounded like thunder to his ears. He quickly used Hush to prevent the others from noticing what was happening.
"Are you crazy? What do you think you are doing?" Keeping his hands under control was a mammoth task. He couldn't stop his mind from picturing her naked body that, for some reason, he had never managed to forget.
"Don't worry. I used all the spells you taught me to move unnoticed. It happened during the mock exam. Do you remember it?" Her hands caressed his hair, causing his hand to tremble and his nether regions to go into an uproar.
"Of course I do, but I don't think you should be here." He kept whispering despite both of them knowing of the Hush spell.
"Then when would be the right moment? So many people died today. Quylla and Yurial barely escaped death. What if I die tomorrow?"
Solus was so envious of Phloria. Even if she had a body, she would never be so decisive.
Phloria's words made sense, so Lith embraced her while trying to kiss her, finding two unexpected surprises.
"After mocking me for it, are you wearing your uniform too?" He said with her hand pressing against his mouth.
"Your reasoning was flawless. Also, what did you expect? That I would jump on you in my birthday suit? You really have a perverted mind." Lith didn't reply, stopping his attempts for intimacy.
"Sorry, but no kisses. I don't know if I would be able to hold myself back if we start." She blushed violently, searching for his embrace again.
"I'm not ready for that. I just want to sleep beside you, not with you. Is it fine with you?" The sweet scent of her hair was driving him insane.
"No problem." He lied through his teeth, counting backward from one hundred while reminding himself of their age gap.
Contrary to his expectations, Phloria fell asleep almost instantly. Hours passed, Lith had constantly to keep himself in check while whining for all the lost time. There was no way he could study Orion's sword in that situation.
Then, a loud explosion shook the house to its foundations. Inhuman and human screams filled the air. Everyone got up in a rush, something was clawing through the walls and the ceiling at the same time.
Chapter 214 Hidden Agenda
Something was swarming the house from all directions, making it tremble like during an earthquake.
"They are disrupting the dimensional spell that keeps the house together!" Quylla yelled, running along with Friya to the bathroom to change their clothes.
"If it keeps like this, the place will either implode or explode. We need to get out of here and fast!"
"Ready when you are!" Phloria, like Lith, only had to take out her shoes from the dimensional amulet to be ready for action.
"I really hate being the fifth wheel!" Yurial rushed to the other bathroom, cursing his own bad luck. He knew that Friya and Quylla weren't romantically involved, but after seeing Lith and Phloria sleeping together, he would have paid his weight in gold to switch places with Quylla.
His blood was boiling to the point that he craved to kill some undead, just to blow off some steam.
- "Every time Phloria makes a move on me, something happens. If it wasn't for Balkor being on a schedule, I'd say the universe is c*ckblocking me!"– Lith thought, checking the outside hallway.
It was full of students. Some were panicking so much, they were running around while still wearing nightgowns.
The communication amulets came back to life once again.
"To all students, we are under attack. Return to your rooms immediately. If the necessity arises, a Warp Step will lead you to safety. Please, be ready to defend yourselves. To all students…"
Linjos's hologram was the wake-up call they needed. They all went back to their rooms, dressing up as fast as possible.
When the tremors intensified, a Warp Steps appeared in the middle of the room as promised, leading them to the Town plaza. The moon was still high and the sky was clear, allowing them to witness the horror unfolding around them.
The black creatures were back, but this time their numbers were beyond calculation. Thanks to his heightened sense, Lith could see that they were not the same as the last time. They had a lipless mouth, filled with multiple rows of fang-like teeth and a single red eye shining in the middle of the forehead.
The mystical bindings were still restricting them, but they were simply too many compared to the defenders. Each beast and Professor would kill dozens of undead and hold back twice as much, yet many still managed to bypass them.
They were getting closer to the students by the second.
"F*ck waiting!" Phillard the Kroxy yelled in outrage.
"You hatchlings wait here and prepare to fight. I'll try to slow them down as long as I can."
Those present were panicking to the point that even a humanoid alligator 2.5 meters (8'2") high had managed to go unnoticed. Phillard took his axes and charged forward. His fighting style was crude but effective.
Each swing of his weapons would cleave several creatures in half at the same time. Those that managed to regenerate would have their head bitten off and gulped down. After that, the corpses would quickly fade away.
"Man, you taste like sh*t, but I had worse and lived to tell the tale!" The Kroxy laughed merrily while slaughtering everything that dared to come close to him.
Even when he missed a target, his weapons would make spikes of earth or ice erupt from the ground, impaling those that had managed to dodge, making them easy marks for the following attacks.
Lith didn't like that situation at all. Linjos had clearly placed all the students at the center of the arrays to better protect them, but at the same time, if the enemy managed to get past all the defensive lines, they would be trapped without a way out.
- "Something isn't right. Solus, can you spot where Scarlett, Ryman, and Kalla are? Why are they not taking part in the battle? They are supposed to be our heavy artillery." Lith thought.
"Sorry, I can't. Either they are hiding or they are too far away." Solus replied. –
Countless creatures kept swarming out of the forest surrounding the mining town. Lith noticed Colonel Varegrave standing on a roof with Captain Kilian right next to him. When they finished chanting, several dozen fireballs with a radius of ten meters (33 feet) rained from the sky like falling stars.
Each of them produced a loud explosion, turning the army of creatures into chunks of meat and black gas. When the smoke from the explosions dissipated, a new wave of undead entered the array.
"How are we supposed to fight against so many of them? Where is the Scorpicore? Where is Linjos?" Varegrave yelled in desperation.
***
Scarlett, Linjos, and the most powerful individuals of both the forest and the academy were watching the fight from a distance. Linjos and Scarlett were deep in a coded conversation that made sense only to the two of them.
"Why are we still here?" Protector growled. "The cubs need us!"
"Patience, Protector." Scarlett's tone was calm and confident.
"If we rush in, we would just follow the enemy's script. Remember that this is still the first day. What do you think of the enemy's plan?"
"What plan? He is trying to beat us with sheer numbers. Those creatures are mindless!" Protector snarled.
"My point exactly." Scarlett nodded. "They would make a great vanguard to exhaust us before the final attack, yet he is sending them out now. Our enemy is supposed to be a genius, yet his plan is apparently idiotic."
"Scarlett is right." Linjos chimed in, seeing that most of the Professors didn't seem to trust the Scorpicore's wisdom.
"If Balkor keeps his cards hidden, we must do the same. At least until we understand his endgame." None liked the idea of using the students as bait, but it was the only option they had to force the god of death to reveal his hand.
***
Watching the battle unfolding in front of his eyes, Lith felt helpless. He had a very limited number of options. Joining the fight would be his last resort. Because of the witnesses, he couldn't go all out.
Even if he did, the enemies were just too many. The second option was to provide cover fire for his allies. The last one was running away.
"F*ck Linjos!" He yelled making the group huddle up.
"We need a contingency plan. Friya, you are the best dimensional mage among us. How far can you Warp us away?"
Friya pondered for a while before answering.
"I could get us back to the academy, but it's too risky. There is a zone of the forest I'm the most familiar with since I spent most of my mock exam there. It's about ten kilometers from here. Is it okay?"
"It's perfect. Remember to close the portal right behind us."
"What about the others?" Quylla shuddered at the idea of leaving their juniors behind.
"First, Friya can't hold it that long. Second, what's the point of that? The creatures would follow us and the battle would just change location. I'm talking about saving our lives, not playing heroes."
Lith's tone was harsh like he was scolding a pampered child.
No one made further objections, but the mood became even more gloomy.
- "Solus, there's something wrong with Balkor's plan. I can't put my finger on it, but I'm sure there's a catch."–
Lith took out his staff from his dimensional pocket, unleashing a barrage of ice shards that once they hit a target, they would expand locking it into place. Once paralyzed, the undead were easily dispatched by the beasts or the Professors fighting in the front line.
It was just a way of stalling for time, but it allowed him to notice that something was wrong.
Every time he cast the spell, more and more ice shards would miss their target.
"What the heck?" Lith blurted, a crazy idea was taking form in his mind.
Suddenly, he dashed outside the Town square, going shoulder to shoulder with Phillard.
"What are you doing here? This is no place for hatchlings!" The Kroxy was panting heavily, his body covered in injuries. The creatures were capable of spitting a toxic substance that was seeping through his wounds, slowly sapping his strength.
To make things worse, they were also capable of storing and compressing their life force in the forehead, shooting it out like a laser. Doing it made them weaker and shortened their lifespan, but with each strike, their enemy was more and more debilitated. Soon a new wave of undead would come and Phillard would be too weak to stop them.
The creatures had no survival instinct, they were just obeying a single order: kill.
"For conquest!" Lith heard one of the creatures say right before jumping on Phillard and self-detonating, using the last of its darkness magic to cripple the enemy.
"For revenge!" Another said, shooting a beam of darkness magic before turning to smoke.
"For Balkor!" The undead chanted together before rushing in for the finishing strike.
Lith touched Phillard, removing the toxin while healing his wounds and filling him with life force at the same time. He could give him only two Invigoration breaths worth of energy, but it was all that it needed.
"I take back everything I said, but now take cover!" Between the arrays weakening them and the Kroxy's renewed strength, the undead were no match for him again. Lith kept close to him, using air magic to deflect the toxic spits and earth magic to shield Phillard from the darkness rays from time to time.
His real aim was studying the fight up close.
Meanwhile, the rest of his group was worried to death. Friya could use force to prevent Quylla from helping Lith, but Yurial could only talk Phloria out of it. She was way taller and stronger than him. If he ticked her off, Phloria was likely to send him flying.
"If he needs our help, he'll ask for it." Yurial tried to block her line of sight to the battlefield with his body.
"If you go out there, you'll only become a burden to him."
"Are you saying I should just stay here like a damsel in distress?" She roared.
"We all are. In distress, I mean. Not damsels." Yurial shrugged. "Worst case scenario, Lith will Blink here and Friya will take us away."
Phloria snorted. Suddenly death wasn't so scary anymore.
- "What meaning can life possibly have if I have to spend it alone? I can't back off every time I'm not sure of winning. Not when that crazy head is fighting for us all."–
Lith was actually fighting for himself. With the contingency plan already in motion, he was certain to be able to leave anytime he wanted. The god of death was the strongest fake mage he had ever met.
Even by fighting his proxies, Lith had already learned a lot about Necromancy's true potential and was now eager to see if his idea about Balkor's plan was correct.
Phloria's feelings were clouding her judgment, but at the same time, they were helping her to realize that the only thing she had to fear was fear itself. Yurial noticed her inner conflict, so he played his last card.
"Look, sometimes the most difficult thing to do is doing nothing. We are just children caught up in a war we didn't even know about, while Lith is… Lith. If you remain here and something bad happens, you can Blink in and out and take him to safety.
If you go there, well, we'll have to save both of you before getting out of here." Phloria nodded, moving her hand away from the hilt of her sword while flexing her fingers. She had to be ready to step in.
***
"By the Great Mother." Scarlett blurted out after finally uncovering the last piece of the puzzle. She quickly explained everything to those present, leaving them in awe.
"This god of death is too dangerous." Protector said. "We need to end this battle fast!"
"My thought exactly." Scarlett nodded. "We must resolve everything before he can suspect that we are aware of his endgame."
"How do you plan to do it exactly?" Linjos asked. "I mean without revealing our hand."
"It's actually quite simple." Scarlett grinned. "Balkor is not the only one that can think outside of the box."
***
Meanwhile, Lith needed only a final test to prove his theory. He asked Phillard to let through one undead at a time and the Kroxy delivered. Lith used one of the basic forms Phloria had taught him, easily killing the enemy with a few strikes.
He used the same form, again and again, noticing how the next one would manage to dodge his strikes and ignore his feints, gaining the upper hand until he added a new set of movements.
"Son of a b*tch!" He yelled after destroying the tenth undead in a row. He pretended to use one of his rings, cutting it to pieces with air magic before bombarding it with darkness magic from his free hand.
"Phillard, stop! There's something you need to know!"
***
"Oh gods no!" Scarlett's enhanced hearing had allowed her to listen to Lith swearing, moving her surveillance mirror just in time to see the results of his latest experiment.
"Kalla, go! Before the cub ruins everything!"
Kalla nodded, disappearing in the shadows.
"I told you that Scourge was not to be underestimated." Her voice faded away along with her body.
"What scourge is she talking about? The undead?" Linjos had been talking with the Professors, so he was unaware of the latest events.
"Wish I knew the answer." Scarlett replied, pondering about what Lith's real nature could possibly be.
Chapter 215 Hidden Agenda 2
Kalla's arrival was loud like thunder and fast like lightning.
"Rise my legions!" A command from her voice and two taps on the ground was all that it took for the undead army buried under the mining town to awake and fight for their master.
The bulk of her force was made up of Skeletal Knights, a class of undead that was not only physically superior to normal skeletons, but also could be imparted skills and techniques their maker was capable of executing.
Their strongest point was the ability to wield and use equipment properly. The academy had provided a huge number of enchanted weapons and armors, making them a force to be reckoned with.
Kalla's elite forces were the Wights, black hooded figures molded out of darkness magic and hatred. They would either fly or float mid air. Aside from their hands and heads, they had no body. Whatever they touched, it would wither and die.
Because of the unforgiving nature of the arrays, Kalla's thralls were weakened as well while under the mystical dome.
Both armies were fearless and unrelenting, but only one was backed by its own master. While Balkor's troops grew weaker with every passing second, Kalla's army was constantly fueled with new energy thanks to her constant use of Invigoration.
Every time one of her soldiers fell, she would simply raise it again after fixing the damage it had sustained.
Her mastery of Necromancy also allowed her to possess the bodies of her undead, making them use darkness magic like she was among them. Balkor's minions were designed to fight humans, hence they were ineffective against other undead who weren't affected by their aura of fear, the toxic spit, or the venom in their claws.
The battle ended as quickly as it had begun, with a one sided slaughter. Scarlett's plan had been a complete success. There had been no casualties. Only a few among the beasts and the soldiers had been injured, but they were promptly cured and brought back to their peak condition.
Kalla threw Lith a very meaningful glance, freezing him on the spot.
- "What a dirty son of a gun!" Lith thought, realizing the blunder he had almost made.
"Not only his creatures share a hive mind, learning about all of our tactics and security measures each time they force us to employ a new one, but they all also act as Balkor's eyes and ears!" -
***
Blood Desert, Balkor's secret lab
"What in the Great Mother's name has just happened?" Ilyum Balkor couldn't believe his own eyes.
"That bear-thing seems to be a Necromancer too, but none of its work makes sense. Only greater undead can use magic, yet its creatures defied such basic principle time and time again. Also, how could it possibly raise so many corpses at once?
It takes me a whole year to prepare this many troops, not to mention I need to put them into stasis to prevent them from burning out of energy. Things couldn't get any worse!"
Balkor Warped out of the lab, inwardly listing all the setbacks he had met so far.
First, there were those arrays that limited the strength of his troops, but that was a secondary issue. He had long learned how to adjust his thralls' defenses to ignore most of those annoying Warden formations.
Second, he had never taken into account that magical beasts could meddle in human squabbles. There was only a limited number of modifications he could apply to his creatures between each attack. Now he was forced to split his focus into three.
Anti human undead were easy prey for a magical beast and sitting ducks against other undead. Last, but not least, the battle had ended before he could collect any data about his opponents' real capabilities.
They had won relying on basic military strategies and on the hidden undead army, not letting him catch even a glimpse of the White Griffon's Archmages' strongest spells. The secret of Balkor's success had always been his meticulous preparation and data collection, but this time he had come back empty handed.
Walking back to his home in the Forgotten Plume tribe, he couldn't help but smile seeing his kids running towards him with their little arms spread in the air.
"Dad, dad! Where have you been?" Cyrl wanted his father to hold him and Balkor was happy to comply.
"I was paying my respects to your grandparents, but now I'm all yours. Let's see what mom has prepared for dinner." He walked inside his tent, holding the child in his arms.
Ilyum Balkor had many things to be happy about. After the first raid, the students of the Crystal and Earth Griffon had fled, leaving the academies empty. Balkor had an easy time butchering the remaining defense forces and destroying the power cores with minimal losses.
Two out of the six great academies were now just a bunch of stones, unable to nurture mages anymore. The remaining academies were proving to be a tough cookie, but he still had two days to complete his life's work.
Capturing and studying Abominations had been a mammoth task. Fusing part of them with his undead had proved to be even more difficult. Balkor wasn't new to pain and was more than willing to make some personal sacrifices.
Controlling all those undead at once, spying on his enemies' every move, using so many Warping arrays to move his troops, was too much for a single man.
Each attack took away years of Balkor's life span, but he didn't care. His job was almost done. After that, he would forget about the accursed Griffon Kingdom and spend the time he had left watching his children grow.
***
After the end of the battle, all the students rejoiced together, chanting Kalla's name like it was a good luck charm. At that moment, no one cared about her being a Wraith-like monster, nor about her army being quite similar to the enemy one.
For a few hours, nobles and commoners alike loved her like a hero, setting aside differences concerning social status, humans, or beasts. The only thing that mattered was being alive and well.
The students returned to their apartments, discovering that while some houses had been heavily damaged, they were already self repairing at a speed visible to the naked eye.
The damage sustained hadn't compromised the structural integrity of the houses nor of the dimensional magic, allowing everyone to go back to the safety of their rooms. The night was still very young, only an hour had passed since the start of the attack.
Lith's group had tried more than once to question him about what he was going to yell earlier, but he refused to speak until they arrived at their destination.
- "Solus, it's impossible for Balkor to hear us while we are in here, right?" Lith asked.
"Based on what we know about dimensional magic, I'd say yes.
Even if you are right and every undead thrall is a recording device, we are alone now. This room is enveloped in the dimensional and the protective enchantments. It's like being in a parallel dimension."
"My thought exactly." –
Lith chanted the Hush spell anyway, just to be safe. He and Solus could still be wrong, but even if that wasn't the case, he didn't trust anyone outside the room. Not after how Kalla had looked at him.
Lith sighed, taking away his shoes and lying on his bed while trying to put together all the pieces of the puzzle. He was searching for the right words to make the others understand his intuition without freaking out. At least not too much.
He was still thinking about it, drumming with his fingers on the nearby wall, when Phloria coddled up to him, drawing the gazes of all those present.
"What are you staring at?" She rebuked them. "You already saw that I was sleeping beside him, there's no reason to wait for the lights to be turned off again. I want to spend all the time that I can with my boyfriend, whether you like it or not."
- "I guess I am not going to study my shotel anytime soon."– Lith sighed again, while his hand moved like it had a life of its own, caressing Phloria's back and hair. She snuggled even tighter to him, emitting a purring sound of delight.
"So, what's all this secrecy about?" Yurial was having a hard time taking the edge off of his voice. He had never felt so envious and alone in his whole life.
Lith explained to them how he was certain that Balkor's so called 'lesser undead' weren't mindless creatures. Each of them was part of a hive mind that had collected data about all the spells and techniques used during both assaults.
"I also noticed that this time the array was less effective. The creatures were still very nimble and strong despite being so close to the town square.
"My hypothesis is that during the third attack, the array will be mostly useless and that when Balkor will use his real ace in the hole, his undead will have the collective memories of all the previous attacks, making most of our strategies obsolete."
"Good gods! How did you notice that?" Not even such a frightening piece of news managed to stop Friya from staring at Phloria in envy. Not because of Lith. Unlike the others, she still had a hard time accepting his switch-like personality.
One second he was a caring friend, the next one he turned into a murdering machine.
The jury was still out on which one was his real face. The reason for her envy was that she had never been that close to anyone. After so many near death experiences, she was starting to long for someone she could blindly trust, just like Phloria did.
"Because I suck as a swordsman and I completely fell for Balkor's 'mindless creatures' charade." Lith explained.
"Even during my first clash with the undead, I noticed that hitting them became harder with each one I killed. I didn't think much of it until tonight when they started to dodge my ice shards simply because I was too conceited to bother changing their pattern."
"So?" Quylla soldiered up without averting her gaze, despite being reduced to a lump of envy and hindsight about her lack of decisiveness.
"So, while people like Phloria, Friya, or Phillard are so good with their weapons that the skill gap between them and the lesser undead is insurmountable, I suck so bad at it that I could notice it closing every time I used one of the few forms I know."
"Where does that leave us?" Phloria mumbled with a sleepy voice that was in heavy contrast with the mood of the room. During the last attack, she had truly feared of she might lose Lith for good, so she was determined to make her move once the others went to sleep.
Yet everyone could soon hear a soft snoring coming from her.
"In a very rough patch." Lith replied to the sleeping Phloria, casting Hush on her ears to prevent her from waking up because of the conversation.
"We have only two options: one, Linjos and Scarlett have a very good plan that will save us all with a minimum contribution on our side. Two, we run away as soon as option one turns out to be wishful thinking.
"There are very few things I'm not confident to be able to kill, but sadly a whole army of lesser undead or a few greater ones crafted by a mad genius are among them."
The room's occupants sighed in unison. They had hoped for another one of Lith's miracles, but it seemed he was out of stock. They decided to go back to bed to catch some sleep before the next attack.
The following morning, despite being the only one that had slept like a log until the breakfast call, Phloria was in a bad mood.
- "I can't believe I missed my chance like that. Now I have to wait until after the next attack to get him in the right mood. I can't jump on Lith in the middle of the day like any Yurial would."– She thought.
Suddenly, the communication amulets lit up in unison, projecting Linjos's image.
"Good morning, dear students. Today's activities will take place just like yesterday, with only one difference. We cannot risk another surprise attack, so I instruct you to go back to your housing after the afternoon call, while the sun is still high.
Please, do not go out of town as your fallen companions did. I already lost enough students."
After the Headmaster's hologram disappeared, the dining room resounded with: "Morons!". The students were growing closer to each other and now had a hard time believing that the day before, so many had thrown away their lives just to spite Linjos's orders.
Lith, Phloria, and Friya were going back to the mine when Kalla approached them.
"I'm sorry Scourge, but there is little time left. We need to talk. Now."
Chapter 216 Tough Lessons
Without waiting for a reply, Kalla Warped Lith to Scarlett's headquarters. It was located in a secret building underground the mining town, kept out of phase with the outside world thanks to dimensional magic.
"I'm sorry for the rush, but there are many things I have to explain to you and a favor to ask." Kalla explained.
"What are you talking about?" Lith replied, being still a bit shocked by the sudden turn of events.
"I know from your smell that you have become a Necromancer too. Also, I learned from Protector about the changes you experienced. I have yet to completely master higher Necromancy, but my teachings could still benefit you greatly, at least to avoid repeating my mistakes.
"Power comes with a price and responsibilities, though. Are you willing to pay it?" She stared at him, waiting for a reply.
"What do you mean?"
"After yesterday's attack, I'm pretty sure that this Balkor guy will make me his primary target. My skills are the perfect counter to his own and now he is aware of my existence. I trust Scarlett, her strategy is sound.
Yet I want a contingency plan, in case something happens to me. I want you to teach to my children in my stead. I'm entrusting to you the core of my knowledge for it to be passed down to them."
"Do you mean Nok?" Lith still couldn't make heads or tails of her request.
"I have more than one, but yes. I'm worried about Nok too."
"Sure, okay. I like that furball and teaching one or two of them makes no difference." Lith was glad to accept her deal. He couldn't even imagine a fake mage defeating an Awakened one as strong as Kalla. There was little he wouldn't do for power and knowledge, helping the young Byk was nothing to him.
"First, I have captured and experimented on the thralls of the 'god of death'…'" Judging by her sneer, Kalla seemed to find the moniker quite hilarious.
"…and discovered a great flaw in his creations. A flaw that proves he is a fake mage, not one of us." By waving her paw, she opened a dimensional vortex, conjuring one of Balkor's undead between them.
It was completely bound and blinded like a pig ready to be roasted.
"Unlike true mages that mix light and darkness magic when they raise undead, fake mages need a mark to control them." Kalla touched the undead, making several runes made of light appear on its forehead.
"Yes." Lith nodded.
"Have you ever tried to add your mark on a creature that already bears one?"
"No." Lith cursed at his own stupidity for not having thought of it by himself.
"Try it. Either the fake spell or the one I taught you. Both work just fine."
Lith did as instructed, using the fake spell to check such knowledge could be useful also to Tista and the other non Awakened. As soon as the second mark appeared, Kalla let go of the creature which started to shiver uncontrollably until it turned into smoke.
"Undead created with human magic can bear more than one mark. That makes them unable to attack both the new and the old master. Since their nature is to blindly serve, the inner conflict kills them." Kalla explained.
"Does it work on greater undead too?" Lith's eyes shined with hope. Maybe he had found a way out in case Balkor's creatures managed to reach him.
"Sadly, no. This applies only on creatures without an ego. A greater undead can use its will to refuse the second mark, sorry." Kalla shook her head.
"Don't underestimate this knowledge just because you are strong. Imagine if you were weak, alone, against one of those creatures. Do you realize you would still come out victorious? There's no need to destroy them with sword or magic, just a single spell."
Lith pondered about her words, recognizing their truth.
"Now I will teach you how to create a greater undead."
"What?" He couldn't believe his ears. He could solve Solus's problem and his own in one fell swoop.
"Scarlett told me about the friend you carry in your ring. I'm afraid you will not like what I'm going to tell you. Don't make the same mistake I did. Never create a greater undead. Please, I beg of you."
"Then why teach me how to do it?" Kalla was not making any sense to him.
"Because if you don't know how to create them, you can't learn how to destroy them if the necessity arises. Knowledge is power. You and I are similar, we never get tired of accumulating both, but I digress."
Kalla shook her muzzle putting her paws close to Lith.
"First, you need a corpse. The fresher it is the better. You can even use it on a live subject, but the only difference will be inflicting them an enormous and useless amount of pain.
Then, you need to infuse darkness magic, as you have already done the first time we met, but as soon as the blood core starts to form you must stop using darkness magic and inject light magic until the balance is reached."
Her right paw generated a small sphere of darkness, that became greyer the more light magic the left one infused until the color became uniform.
"Only then you'll make the blood core grow using both the elements at the same time until the undead comes to life." She held the sphere between both her paws, growing it until it was as big as an apple.
"That's it?" Lith was incredulous.
"Yes, but it's an incredibly delicate process. One mistake and either you'll create a crazy beast that needs to be put down or destroy the corpse. It took me several tries before succeeding and I spent weeks with greater undead, studying their rituals and cores.
Do you think you can do any better?"
Her tone wasn't angry or sarcastic. Kalla reminded him of Elina when she was teaching him how to take care of Tista.
"Considering that unlike you, I'm not attuned with any element, no." Lith admitted.
"Do not feel ashamed. Acknowledging your limits is the first step to overcome them." The more Kalla talked, the more she reminded him of his mother.
"As for the why you shouldn't raise greater undead, you deserve an explanation. During my travels, after I evolved, I met a clan of vampires. I stayed with them for a while, learning as much as I could from them about Necromancy and darkness magic.
"After witnessing how they turn a human into one of their own kind, I decided to replicate the process, just like I have shown you. After several attempts on the corpses of a group of hunters that had been chasing me, I finally succeeded.
"My test subject was a horrible person, a deranged human that only brought misery to others. Only one death wasn't enough, so I raised it back. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that unlike vampires, when a Necromancer creates a vampire, it's not the same person it was when it was alive.
"My hypothesis is that vampires turn living humans into undead, while I raised a corpse. Maybe the soul had already left its shell, or maybe my magic summoned another one with a stronger will to live.
"Whatever the reason, I immediately understood my mistake. I'm a mother, so when she came back to life, I recognized that feeling. She was naïve, innocent like a baby, her mind was a blank slate, completely dependent on my life force to survive.
"Creating a greater undead is like giving birth. It's a new lifeform entirely, completely unrelated to the corpse's previous existence. I am bound to her like she is to me. I couldn't hurt or kill her anymore."
"What did you do with it?" Lith shrugged.
"I adopted her. It's the other child I told you about."
"What?" Lith was flabbergasted.
"That's why I advise you not to use that spell and why higher Necromancy will not help your friend. The corpses you would raise will already have a soul of their own, you can't just create an empty vessel. Nature abhors the void, in all of its forms."
Lith sighed. Suddenly lesser Necromancy was much more alluring. Mindless thralls were much easier to handle compared to sentient undead that would look at him as a father.
The idea of nurturing such creatures just to dispose of them like trash was cruel even for him.
- "I'm so sorry, Solus." Lith thought. I really hoped to give you a body through Necromancy. Kalla hasn't evolved from long, though. She might be wrong, maybe there is a way to give you a physical form. Are you sure you don't want to try a construct or something?"
Solus didn't know whether to laugh or cry at Lith's stubbornness.
"I told you countless times: I already feel like a monster. I have the body of a construct, I feed off your mana like an undead or a construct would. I want to get out of my cage, not exchange it for a new one."
Seeing that Lith was even more disappointed than she was, Solus embraced his soul with her own. A warm sensation invaded Lith's being.
"Stop worrying about me. I'm fine, I really am. You are already giving me so much, sharing your life with me, your joy, sadness, and tears. My tower form is slowly recovering, who knows if sooner or later my wisp form will evolve into something more?
"If you really want to make me happy, live your life to its fullest. Enjoy what you now have with Phloria. It should be most precious to you because it's completely unexpected. That girl is rushing a little too much, but she really cares about you. She's a keeper."–
Lith could agree on the rushing part, but the rest? He had never discussed his love life even with Carl, let alone with another girl. He found most embarrassing that his hormones and loneliness were making him crave for intimacy with Phloria.
- "I guess that not being with a woman for thirteen year and a few months it's really taking a toll on me. I even keep counting. Maybe Phloria is right, I do have a perverted mind."–
"Scourge?" Kalla called him, noticing he was spacing out.
"Please continue."
"Another thing I discovered during my travels, is that greater undead can actually be harmed by light magic, but not in the way that you may think. If used directly, light magic works on them like it would on lesser undead. It would feed their hunger, making them stronger.
"But if you use it on their blood cores instead, you can temporarily fix the unbalance that is their existence. When a ghoul eats living flesh, a vampire drinks blood, or a Wraith drains life force with its touch, they are all doing the same thing:
"Consuming the light energy that living being possess to keep their blood cores from collapsing. Even if it's an oversimplification, let's just say that undeath at its core is a condition where the body becomes incapable of producing light magic.
"Without its counterpart, the darkness magic that's naturally produced keeps eroding both the core and the body, needing constant transfusions of light magic from an external source to survive."
"Are you saying that…" Lith's hopes were almost restored.
"Yes, I am. If you use light magic on their blood core, they regain most of their emotions, lose their hunger, and can even eat normally for a while, be they beasts or humans.
"Yet it comes with a price. As long as their blood core is balanced, they also lose most of their powers, becoming vulnerable and mortal again."
"Why are you researching this field? It's almost impossible to direct mana to a core in battle. We need to use Invigoration to find it first and then send the light energy. It's not like you can ask the enemy to stay still for a minute or two."
Lith was fascinated by the theoretical implications, but at the moment he found all that chat useless. He desperately needed an edge against Balkor's creatures if he wanted to survive.
"Because for some undeath is a blessing, for others it's a curse. I don't want my child to live forever in the shadows, hiding from the living like a rabid beast. My goal is to find a way to turn her back to human, giving her a chance to a normal life."
"Why are you telling me all this?" Lith could understand Kalla being grateful to him for saving Nok. He could also appreciate her seeing a kindred spirit in him, but the knowledge and the burden she was imparting him were too much.
"Because, just like me, you are different from the others. I'm one of the few magical beasts whose evolution borders with undeath, yet you treat me no differently from before, unlike even those of my own kind.
"I don't care if you are a human like your friends think, a beast like Protector says, or a new kind of monster like Scarlett fears. You are someone capable of befriending magical beasts without looking down on us, of carrying an unknown life form at your finger and calling her a friend.
That's why I trust you to teach and care for my offspring like I would."
Chapter 217 Valor
Kalla interrupted her lesson briefly, to allow Lith to have lunch and resuming immediately after he had finished. Lith filled several notebooks with his notes, describing all the spells she was teaching him, the feeling it gave when she used them on him or on a test subject, and the differences with his own performance.
Learning from true magic was both harder and easier compared to fake magic. Lith hadn't to memorize any magical word, accent, or hand sign, but he needed a deep understanding of the how and why the mana had to flow in a certain way rather than another.
Kalla knew that she couldn't possibly teach him in a day what she had learned in months during her travels or thanks to Scarlett mentoring her. So she imparted him the most solid foundations she could about her work, hoping he could achieve the same results through study and effort.
***
Meanwhile, inside the headquarters, Scarlett was teaching Protector how to use his newfound powers. Unlike Kalla, he lacked an unquenchable thirst for knowledge. After evolving, he had been content enjoying his life with Selia, studying magic only during his free time.
- "Damn, this country bumpkin of a Skoll is like the proverbial frog in the well." Scarlett inwardly cursed. "If after discovering the outside world the frog decided to not give a damn about it, of course. He is by far the weakest of us three, I need to bring him up to speed and fast!"–
Scarlett was dissecting one of Balkor's thralls they had captured, using her enchanted pince-nez to better understand the structure of the spells that kept the undead together along with its abnormal blood core. She would pass it to Protector from time to time, showing him how to recognize a spell's keystones.
"I knew there was something wrong with Balkor the moment Linjos described to me his creations." Scarlett explained.
"Lesser undead that requires flesh and blood to work, able to regenerate and ignore arrays. None of it made sense. Necromancy doesn't work like that. Do you see that?" Scarlett pointed to a black piece of flesh right besides were the blood core was.
"Yes." Protector replied while wearing the pince-nez. "It smells like an Abomination."
"Because it is one, or at last a fragment of it. This madman must have found an Abomination naturally resistant to magic, captured it, and integrated its abilities with his thralls.
"Abominations constantly need life force to survive while undead bear the spark of their maker as a mark. He used his own life force to keep together the blood core and the Abomination's unique abilities. This is the secret behind their powers and limited life span.
"As soon as Balkor's life force runs out, the Abomination fragment goes wild, destroying the undead and making impossible a full examination like the one we are performing right now. Whoever he is, this guy is insane."
"Don't you mean a genius?" Protector was barely understanding half of what Scarlett was saying. "Also, why is this thing still intact? Shouldn't have already self-destructed?"
"He is definitely insane. He didn't use light magic, but his own life force. It means that with each undead he makes, his life gets shorter. As for your second question, it should, but Kalla's array slowed down the decay process enough for us to collect all the data we need.
"The good news is that Balkor isn't the one I'm looking for. He isn't looking for immortality, rather he seeks the death of his enemies even if it costs him his own life. The bad news is that now I must add him to my 'to do' list." Scarlett sighed.
***
Blood Desert, Balkor's secret lab
Despite what Scarlett thought, Balkor didn't consider integrating undead and Abominations as his masterpiece. Finding the array resistant creature had just been a fluke. He viewed it as a sign that the heavens sought justice as much as he did.
What he considered his magnum opus, the only thing that he deeply regretted not being able to share with the rest of the world, was turning magic crystals into memory crystals.
They allowed his creations to act as one, learn from each other's experiences, and pass that knowledge to others. With each wave he sent there would be a few undead embedded with a memory crystal, the Controllers, that would keep themselves away from the fight while collecting and sharing the data.
Without the memory crystals, he would have never managed to give his thralls a hive mind, nor to be so successful in his endeavor. The first wave had been composed of Crawlers, whose purpose was testing the defenders' reaction speed and teamwork.
He had never expected the Crystal and Earth Griffon's Headmasters to be so stupid to hole themselves up in a confined space, making the number advantage overwhelming and letting themselves get butchered right off the bat.
The Tox Spitters of the second wave were supposed to do the heavy lifting, weakening the defence forces during the two following nights and making them reveal their aces in the hole.
Alas, the remaining four academies had foiled his plans by allying themselves with the beasts.
It was still the second act, yet Balkor was already forced to employ his strongest soldiers, the Valors. The silver lining was that after the fall of the two academies, he had a lot of Tox Spitters left that had almost half of their life span left.
He placed the memory crystals in the center of the array, awakening the sleeping warriors from their stasis and infusing them with all the techniques and spells learned during the first two waves plus a little something of his own.
All Valors had human appearance. They had been crafted to resemble Balkor, were animated by his very life force and now shared with him all of his hatred for the Griffon Kingdom.
The undead knelt to their master, eager to carry out his revenge.
"Let the Spitters be your meat shield. Do not risk your lives. Tonight is just a rehearsal for tomorrow's grand finale." Balkor instructed them while handing them the best equipment money could buy.
"Your goal is to force our enemies to reveal their hand and get rid of that annoying bear Wraith." His voice was feeble. Empowering them had added another grey streak to his hair. He had no idea how much life was left in him, but it couldn't be much.
"If the task proves to be too dangerous, do not hesitate to retreat. There is just ten of you for each academy and I'm at the end of my rope. If you fail, there will be no second chance. Now go."
The Valors nodded in unison, walking in the Warp arrays ready to inflict to others the pain that was ravaging their hearts.
***
"I'm sorry, Scourge. We have to end the lesson here. We'll continue it tomorrow, if both of us are still alive." Kalla tapped her paw, making the shadows swirl into a portal.
"Wait, why you didn't teach me how to do that?" Lith had been so engrossed by his first lesson of true magic to almost forget about the shadow gates.
"Teach you what, exactly?" Kalla was confused by his words.
"How to merge with the shadows and use them to move across space." Kalla laughed out loud, almost scaring Lith to death. It was the first time that he had ever seen her expressing any emotion.
"That's just a Warp Steps. I just mix it with light and darkness magic to make impossible to predict my exit point with Life Vision (*). Only a non Awakened one can afford not to. Otherwise, it would mean to throw yourself in the opponent's maws."
Lith lowered his eyes in embarrassment. He had only recently mastered Warp Steps and Blink. He had yet to find the time to convert them into true magic. Also, he had never even considered the possibility of covering his tracks while using dimensional magic.
"Damn. I forgot that, unlike me, you had no mentor." Kalla sighed. "I'll teach you dimensional magic first thing tomorrow morning. Now go, I have much work to do before dusk."
After Lith left, Kalla started modifying her Deathbane array. She was certain that Balkor expected her tricks to not work anymore on his thralls, but he was in for a surprise.
***
Kalla's Warp Step brought Lith back in the middle of the group, making them flinch.
- "Kalla is right, it's dumb to always open a Warp Step vertically. I should have thought about it by myself, but I always have too much on my plate. I'll think about it as soon the crisis is over." Lith thought.
"By my maker!" Solus was brimming with joy. "Finally you are accepting your limits instead of whining for not being perfect. Today is a red-letter day for you."- She wasn't even being sarcastic, which made her remark even more annoying.
"Where the heck have you been all day?" Yurial grabbed Lith by the shoulders, shaking him like a maraca.
"Yurial, have you lost it or what?" Lith angrily pushed him away.
"After your disappearance, Phloria almost drove us all insane with her nagging!"
"I don't nag!" Phloria's embarrassed look made her retort sound fake like a three dollar bill.
"Yes, you do." Friya sneered. "We resisted the temptation to knock you out only because none of us is strong enough to carry you around in case the enemy attacked while you were still unconscious."
The group started quarreling, giving Lith the time to think of an excuse for his sudden leave.
"I'm sorry to have made you worry, but Kalla and I had some unfinished business." Lith lied through his teeth.
"She confirmed my hypothesis." He winked to them, referring to the undead's hive mind, hoping it wasn't all in his head.
"Also, she told me that Balkor is likely to target her from now on, so she asked me to take care of her children in case something happens to her."
"Why you, of all people?" Quylla asked.
"She is afraid that because of her evolved form, other beasts could ostracize them and I'm the only human she trusts." Once again, he chose to mix together truth and lies to make his story easy to remember and play their feelings like a fiddle.
The always lingering fear of death and the sobbing story Lith made up about the cruel fate that would await Nok without his help, prevented them from asking questions he wouldn't know how to answer.
The mood turned gloomy, but even Solus agreed it was a small price to pay for lessons about true magic.
They had barely finished eating, when the alarm resounded, prompting the students to go back to the town plaza.
Soon the array was visible again, making them realize that Balkor's undead had already entered its perimeter. Lith trusted Kalla's judgment about Scarlett's strategy, but he reminded everyone about their contingency plan, just in case.
"I don't know what the master plan is and honestly, I don't care." Lith said.
"If anything happens to Kalla, that's our cue. It's better to run away to live and fight another day than dying an idiot's death." Everyone nodded, agreeing with the plan.
The seconds turned into minutes, but nothing happened. This time, instead of simply swarming the place, the Tox Spitters slowly marched into the town under the Valors' supervision.
Back in his lab, Balkor was amazed discovering that despite the modifications he had applied to his creatures, the array was back to full force. Yet it was within his calculations. The Valors had the Spitters positioning themselves in the key points of the array, before forcing them to self-detonate.
Kalla's Deathbane array crumbled, plunging the town into darkness. Back at full strength, the undead attacked with unparalleled vigor, easily cutting through the enemy lines.
Without support from the array, beasts and Professors quickly found themselves on the back foot. A single Spitter was nothing compared to their strength, but they were outnumbered over ten to one and every wound they suffered required specialized medical attention.
"Rise my legions!" Kalla roared, calling forth his undead army once again.
Two Valors approached her, moving so fast that none of the lesser undead at her command could react quickly enough to even slow them down.
"Filthy beast, your time has come." Said the first Valor.
"Filthy beast, your time is now." They both unsheathed their swords, moving in unison. The Valors attacked her at the same time from opposite directions, leaving Kalla no chance to defend herself.
Two deep wounds opened on Kalla's front shoulder and her back.
Kalla laughed bitterly, admitting her defeat. If she stayed, she would definitely die. Even if created with fake magic, those creatures were greater undead. Kalla had only recently become an Awakened one, she was still too weak to fight them and control her army at the same time.
If she left, her army would crumble, leaving her allies without any hope of victory.
Whatever choice she made, without her guidance, the lesser undead she had reanimated would attack indiscriminately friend or foes.
"Well, played creatures." Kalla's tone was sad, but devoid of despair.
"You have destroyed my array and turned my carefully prepared army into a liability in one fell swoop. It seems I have underestimated Balkor's ingenuity, but alas, he made my same mistake.
"Your master should have known that a cornered beast is the most dangerous one. I'm really curious to see if his plan can survive losing two of you right off the bat!"
Having her army become useless, Kalla recalled all the darkness magic she had infused into it back to her body, causing her mana core to overload. It resulted in a silent but massive explosion that engulfed all the nearby undead and briefly managed to cover the sky.
The collective death throes of the fallen threw both armies into chaos.
Chapter 218 Battle to the Death
"Gods, no!" Scarlett and Balkor screamed in unison, watching the scene unfold.
Everything had happened in just a few seconds from the moment the array had been destroyed, not leaving the Scorpicore the time to even think about sending reinforcements.
Losing Kalla was a huge blow for Scarlett's army. Despite the fact that she had only recently evolved, she was still the most talented Necromancer they had at hand.
Balkor had the advantage of experience and careful preparation. Their best counter was true magic's surprise effect and the versatility Kalla's true Necromancy had displayed earlier.
She had been able to reinforce her troops and change strategy according to the situation, while Balkor's thralls, without their master supervision, could only follow a script. The presence of greater undead had completely upset the balance.
"Damn you and your information, Linjos. The Valors weren't supposed to come out until the last day!" Scarlett roared.
"She has only recently evolved and close combat has never been her specialty. I only let her go alone because you guaranteed us that tonight we would face those black things again!"
"How I was supposed to know that Balkor would change his plans so much?" Linjos tried to defend himself.
"Look on the bright side, it means he is desperate. By butchering all of his Tox Spitters during the first day, you must have forced his hand. The Valors are his trump card. If we defeat them, the battle should be over. He shouldn't have stronger troops."
"What if he does? What if…" Scarlett stopped herself halfway. There was no time for recriminations.
"We can't afford to keep our cards hidden anymore. We can only go all out and pray that you are right."
Unbeknownst to Scarlett, Balkor's situation was even worse. Kalla's final move had been devastating to his plans. The massive release of darkness magic had destroyed all the Spitters attacking the north side along with the two Valors.
Unlike the lesser undead that required only a small spark of his life force, each Valor was empowered by a huge amount of it. It was a double-edged sword. On one hand, it allowed Balkor to share their senses and directly control them telepathically despite the distance.
On the other one, he would feel their lives slowly slipping away like they were his own. The sudden disappearance of so much of his life force further damaged his already compromised body. Balkor fell to the ground, convulsing and spitting blood non-stop.
With their mind link temporarily broken, the Valors were unaware of the huge blow their army had sustained. They continued to follow the original plan, going deeper and deeper into the enemy lines until retreating became almost impossible.
The same thing was happening on all four academy battlefields. The invaders were getting bolder, mistaking Balkor's sudden silence for approval. Despite their high intelligence and extensive combat expertise derived from the memory crystals, the Valors were still newborns.
By giving them his memories, Balkor had also infected them with his rage, a feeling they were incapable of controlling without their master's supervision.
Trasque, Nalear, Ironhelm, Linjos, and all the Professors with the richest combat experience finally came out of the headquarters, aiding the royal army and the magical beasts in holding their ground against the swarming enemies.
Only eight Valors remained, but each had strength on par with Protector, making them extremely dangerous. They looked exactly like Balkor did the day his family died.
Red-haired youths, barely sixteen years old with a naïve visage. They were about 1.67 meters (5'6") high with a skeletal build like they had long suffered from malnutrition. The red light burning inside their eyes and their savage visage revealed their true nature though.
"Thank the gods that Wraith warned us, otherwise I would be dead already." Professor Trasque had barely dodged the darkness bullet that the Valor had conjured at point-blank range.
Greater undead were naturally attuned with darkness magic, allowing them to use its true magic form even without being Awakened ones.
"That Wraith had a name! Couldn't you at least respect Kalla's memory, you oaf?" Ironhelm scolded him.
He had always considered magical beasts as inferior beings, but after witnessing their bravery and willingness to sacrifice themselves in a battle that wasn't their own, he now harbored a deep respect for them.
"If you have the strength to quarrel like an old couple, use it to destroy that thing!" Nalear scolded them both. They were three against one and under the effect of the best potions the White Griffon's Alchemists could provide. Yet they were still on the back foot.
The Valor displayed all the swordplay he had inherited thanks to the memory crystal, using dozens of techniques with such mastery that it was like he had practiced them for years. To make things worse, he was still faster and stronger than them.
He was capable of shooting rays of darkness from his free hand, eyes, and mouth with barely a split second notice, easily interrupting their casting whenever they attempted a spell.
The only reason they were still alive was because of their teamwork.
"Resistance is futile, humans. Surrender and die!"
The Valor spread the fingers of his free hand, which turned into a mass of tendrils that whipped towards the trio to immobilize them. Nalear preferred to dodge, while Ironhelm and Trasque cut them down with their weapons.
Each amputated tendril emitted a shrill sound, like it was alive, spurting a purple liquid with a pungent smell. Ironhelm managed to block the liquid with his shield, but Trasque wasn't so lucky.
He was wielding dual sabers, so part of the liquid reached his face, turning out to be a powerful acid. Trasque screamed in pain, suddenly full of openings that the Valor didn't miss, focusing all the tendrils on him and piercing his lungs, heart, and stomach in multiple points.
"Vastor, where are you? We need help! Man down!" Nalear yelled into her communication earpiece, making Vastor Blink to the rescue and bringing what was left of Trasque to safety.
Without Trasque, their formation collapsed quickly, to the point that their efforts barely slowed the Valor from reaching the students.
"Where are the reinforcements?" Ironhelm yelled in his earpiece, his body covered in wounds.
"Sorry for the delay, folks." Protector swooped down from the sky, hitting the Valor with his full weight. Protector was engulfed by flames, his body infused with enough air magic to turn him into a living meteor.
The hit was supposed to blow the undead away, maybe even injure it. Yet the frost aura the Valor had conjured to weaken his human enemies easily snuffed out the flames. The Valor didn't even attempt to dodge, the strike was too fast for him.
The impact only managed to push the creature several meters away, leaving deep furrows in the ground. Protector felt the opponent's bones cracking and reforming almost at the same time.
The regeneration speed of the enemy was so fast it was hard to believe.
"Filthy beast!" The Valor struck Protector with a fist, making his head turn abruptly to the side with a cracking noise.
"Damn, I should have really paid attention to Scarlett when she tried to teach me how to Blink." Protector realized in hindsight.
***
"If that isn't our cue, I don't know what it is." First Kalla had disappeared, then Professor Trasque had been severely wounded, and now a creature the size of the Skoll was faltering after a single punch.
Friya had every reason to be scared and so did her group. She focused on the place where she wanted to go, bending space to her will and materializing a Warp Steps.
"Quick, get in! I have to go last or the gate will close behind me."
The group nodded, but before they could start moving, another Valor reached the town square.
"There is no escape for you, vermin!" He unleashed several streams of lightning from his hand that struck everyone but Lith, who managed to dodge thanks to his enhanced reflexes.
With Friya convulsing on the ground, the Warp Steps quickly disappeared, destroying their hope for survival.
"Relinquish your useless lives and join us. At least your death will be meaningful." The undead's voice was oozing spite. Lith could see, thanks to Life Vision, that darkness magic was focusing on his fingertips.
"Thanks, but no thanks!" He yelled, trying to draw the Valor's attention on himself. Lith took his shotel out of his pocket dimension, going all out right off the bat to cut down the Valor's extended arm.
The undead reacted quickly, but not quickly enough. Infused to the brim with air magic, Lith managed to cleave the arm a few centimeters below the elbow. The limb fell to the ground, while the accumulated darkness magic faded away.
"How did you do that?" The Valor raised an eyebrow, curious rather than worried. Despite Lith's slash having been infused with darkness magic, black tendrils came out of the amputated limb, reattaching itself as if nothing had happened.
"That hurt, I'll kill you first then." The Valor promised, rushing for the kill.
Lith soon found himself in the opposite situation compared to his Professors. The skill gap in swordplay between them was enormous, making him consider for dropping the shotel and fighting barehanded.
Thanks to fusion magic, the Valor was slower than him, making him vulnerable to the martial arts that Lith had learned on Earth.
According to Life Vision and mana sense, the Valor's blade glowed like a Christmas tree though. That and the purple liquid dripping from the undead's fingers, made Lith realize that such plan was beyond stupid.
- "That thing is almost as fast and strong as me under the effects of fusion magic." Lith thought. "I can't allow myself to get tired, get hit, or get poisoned. I need a distraction to…"–
His planning was interrupted by the terrified screams of the students that were scattering in all directions to get as far as possible from the undead monster.
"I said there is no escape!" Seeing his prey getting away filled the Valor with rage, to the point of ignoring Lith to shoot them in the back.
Lith inwardly smiled, grateful for their stupid sacrifice. He exploited that moment to Blink right behind the creature, cutting off his head and piercing his heart.
Before Lith could completely engulf the corpse in darkness magic, the Valor kicked violently towards his head, forcing him to block and cracking both of his arms. The pain was nothing compared to his surprise.
Despite the amount of darkness magic he had infused in his sword, the hole in the chest was already closed, the head was taking its sweet time to reattach itself still showing a wolfish smile.
"What are you exactly?" For the first time in his life, the undead experienced the feeling of amusement.
***
Protector's fight wasn't going much better either. Even with Nalear's and Ironhelm's help, they were barely on equal footing. Protector was unable to use dimensional magic and his favorite elements, fire and air, were almost useless against the undead.
The initial advantage due to fusion magic combined with his superior physical prowess had been quickly countered by the Valor's acid blood that returned each wound Protector inflicted twofold.
Several of his teeth had melted and his paws were bleeding profusely.
Nalear and Ironhelm Blinked around, searching for an opening to unleash their spells, but somehow the Valor always knew where they would appear. He didn't react fast enough to counterattack, but enough to move out of their line of fire in time.
"How the heck can he know our every move?" Nalear cursed, getting away from the undead and hoping to lure him away from the town square. Alas, the Valor wasn't interested in fighting the Professors, his only aim was the students a few hundred meters behind them.
As soon as Nalear's position was left open, the Valor rushed forward, ignoring both Protector and Ironhelm, releasing a barrage of darkness projectiles from his fingers aimed toward the youths amassed in front of him like lambs waiting for the slaughter.
While the duo bombarded the undead with their best spells, Nalear cursed again. She Blinked in front of the death wave and using one of her artifacts to block most of the attacks.
"Coward! Stop using children as a shield and fight us!" She yelled despite the ragged breath caused by the massive mana consumption from the artifact.
"In battle, there is no bravery or cowardice." The Valor mocked her. "Only victory and defeat. Stop me if you can!"
He had already been hit by over a hundred of spells during the fight, but taken separately, they were barely able to make him falter. Thanks to his Abomination powers, the Valor would take little damage from all elements except darkness, but such spells were too slow and the creature would dodge them every time with ease.
Physical attacks and spells had proven to be useless, any damage sustained would regenerate so fast that the undead was able to keep his full mobility.
Protector cursed at himself for his stupidity, not studying the books Lith had left for him and spending most of his time nurturing his newfound family life with Selia.
His only remaining option was to use his physical prowess to block the Valor in place long enough for the Professors to strike him down with darkness magic. However, the undead was well aware of their plan, so he employed a vicious hit and run tactic that the Crawlers had learned from Ironhelm himself during the first day to wear out the Skoll.
Protector's fur was already covered in cuts, some shallow, some deep. He had suffered most of the hits while trying to defend the students and the Professors behind him. The Valor had exploited his good heart to poison him multiple times and was now waiting for the inevitable to happen.
Chapter 219 Battle to the Death 2
"You are too fast to be human." The Valor said to Lith, using a childish voice that matched his face for the first time. Lith let him blabber on, using the idiotic bad guy monologue to activate Invigoration to mend his wounds and replenish his strength.
"You don't care for the young ones." The Valor shot another student in the back, pleasantly surprised to see that Lith didn't even flinch.
"Do you care for the older ones?" By using their hive mind, the Valor didn't even need to turn around to shoot Nalear in the back. What any Valor saw, every Valor knew. That was the reason why Blink had been of no use to the Professors so far.
Thanks to the hive mind, by watching each other's backs, the undead had no blind spots.
The darkness bullet was deflected by Nalear's armor, but still managed to pierce her shoulder, making her yell in pain and surprise. Their already weakened formation fell apart.
"No, you don't." The Valor nodded. "Do you care for those ones?" He pointed his fingers to the four youths still laying on the ground, finally obtaining a reaction. Lith stopped using Invigoration, dashing forward to intercept the spell and deflect it with his blade.
"This is going to be fun!" The Valor laughed heartily.
"Not for you though." Lith replied with a wolfish smile. He Blinked in front of the enemy and activated Death Zone and Death Call at the same time.
Several tentacles erupted from Lith's body, while a dense fog surrounded both him and the Valor. Lith had used that time to also cast his two most powerful darkness spells. The dark tentacles wrapped themselves around the Valor's limbs, draining his strength and making it impossible for him to run away.
Meanwhile, the highly concentrated darkness magic summoned by Death Zone was eating away the Valor's lifespan like a starving man at an all you can eat buffet.
"No, you can't do it! I'm not allowed to die!" Balkor's orders were absolute. The Valor struggled with all his might, trying to get away like his master had instructed him to do in case of danger.
Lith was done talking. He only focused on dodging and parrying the enemy's attacks while the undead withered more with every passing second.
Soon the physical gap between the two was so wide that Lith could afford to go on the offensive, slashing the Valor's body over and over with his darkness infused blade. Despite being an undead, the Valor experienced blinding pain and desperation.
Each hit would eat away a good chunk of his master's lifeforce, making the Abomination inside him go wild and inflicting on him an agony that every Valor would share.
Back in his lab, Balkor's convulsions rose in intensity until he bled from his ears, eyes, and mouth.
***
Feeling their companion's imminent death sent the other Valors into a frenzy. Because of the hive mind, they shared more than just their senses. They also shared their rage, joy, and fear.
Protector exploited the enemy's sudden madness to bite the Valor's chest hard and pin him to the ground, trapping the Valor's sword and tendrils inside his own body.
"Quick, finish him!" He yelled to Ironhelm. His eyes were sad, but unwavering.
Ironhelm understood his intentions, casting his strongest darkness spell, Dark Star. Ironhelm wanted to cry, but his voice remained steady and his hands firm for all the duration of the spell.
Dark Star generated a pillar of darkness with a radius of ten meters (33 feet) that engulfed both the warriors until the Valor was no more.
Protector remained true to his name until the end, standing proud even in defeat.
***
Meanwhile, Linjos and Rudd were mercilessly taking down two Valors at once. Linjos was the strongest Archmage of his academy. His personal spells were fast and deadly, there was only so much the undeads' magical registance could do against them.
To make things worse for the undead, although Rudd lacked his firepower, he had plenty of ingenuity and talent for dimensional magic. Whenever one of Linjos's spells were about to miss, a Warp Steps would open, redirecting it right into the back of a Valor.
Even trying to escape was useless, Rudd would simply Switch their positions with his own and Linjos's, who always took care to leave them a darkness based nasty surprise.
"Come on, that's all you can do?" Rudd sneered, opening many Warps Steps at a time, making the new barrage of Linjos's spells appear and disappear from thin air. When the Valors tried to escape in different directions, Linjos Switched their position, making them clash one against the other. Rudd exploited that moment to redirect the spells, which hit the Valors all at once and turned them to dust.
"Excellent work, Rudd." Linjos said.
"I'm glad to have you on my side."
"Two down, still six to go." The two Archmages Warped to the rescue of their colleagues, hoping the battle could be still won.
***
As soon as she came out of the headquarters, Scarlett hunted down the Valors one by one. Even with the hive mind supporting them, the other undead weren't much of a threat.
She hadn't missed how the destruction of the two Valors by the hand of Kalla had made the lesser undead revert to their frenzied fighting style and lose any semblance of order or discipline.
Of the eight remaining greater undead, two were keeping themselves at the outskirts of the mining town. Scarlett suspected that their refusal to budge even after losing two of their generals could depend on their role in keeping the hive mind active.
She Blinked behind their backs, infusing her roar with air magic, making them tumble on the ground like rag dolls.
- "If I'm right, they will attempt to run rather than fight. I must keep them away from their escape route and kill them as fast as I can."– Scarlett thought.
As she had predicted, the two attempted to cast a flying spell to get away from the Scorpicore, but she only needed another roar to send them tumbling again and interrupting their cast.
"Filthy beast, your time has come!" Said the first Valor unsheathing his sword.
"Filthy beast, your time is n…"
"Shut your trap." Scarlett cut the second Valor short, ripping the creature's head off with her claws. Her rage peaked when she heard those words again.
She wasn't sure if Kalla was dead or alive, only that if she had lost an Awakened because of humans squabbling between themselves, she would never forgive herself. A sudden sharp pain forced her to focus back on her enemies.
A big chunk of her paw was now missing, her flesh and bones melted by the powerful acid that ran inside the Valors' bodies instead of blood.
"Nice trick." She said, watching the bits of the undead's head reassemble themselves until no injury remained.
"Want to see a better one?" Her paw exuded a white brilliance and in less than a second, she was healed too.
"As for my final act…" Scarlett weaved the Blink spell, but instead of Blinking herself she forced one of the Valors to appear right in front of her. Her paw pinned him down, while she used Invigoration to find the blood core and flood it with darkness magic.
It was something that only her overwhelming strength and over three hundred years of experience in manipulating cores allowed her to do. The undead experienced pain as if its very soul was being ripped to shreds, pulverized, turned into a bucket someone used as a chamber pot, and then turned to shreds again.
Its agony spread to all the remaining Valors, making them easy targets. While the first one was still turning to ashes, Scarlett repeated the procedure on the second one, making Balkor's mind fall into a coma to escape from that torture.
***
"Damn you! Damn you all! For Balkor!"
Lith didn't know why the Valor had started convulsing, nor did he care. What worried him was that now the creature was willingly burning his life force to break free from the restraints.
Lith focused even more, increasing the density of darkness magic surrounding them to put an end to the fight. He didn't know how long he could still hold the Valor in place. Keeping both the spells active while trading blows with the undead was quickly draining his strength.
The Valor shot several rays of darkness from his eyes until he slowly turned to smoke and ashes.
"At least I will not die alo…"
Lith didn't stop the attack until the Valor's blood core was no more. He never trusted monsters to stay dead, so besides confirming it with Life Vision, he also asked Solus to double check with mana sense.
- "By my maker! Lith, behind you!"– Despite being on the verge of exhaustion, Lith followed Solus's instructions, ready to fight with the last bits of power he had.
He only then realized that what Solus was referring to wasn't an enemy, but the members of his group. They had yet to wake up from the lightning bolts, so unlike the other students, they had remained on the attack site.
Suddenly the Valor's words made sense. They could be the only reason why the undead had wasted his life force to cast spells that he knew Lith could dodge with his eyes closed.
After a quick inspection, he discovered that only Yurial and Phloria had been hit. The creature had shot blind, so most of the rays had just hit the ground. Yurial had been grazed on a leg while Phloria on a shoulder.
The wounds were superficial, barely bleeding, but the flesh surrounding them was turning blue and the veins were bulging out. Lith used Invigoration to understand what was happening.
A mass made of darkness magic was ravaging their bodies while advancing towards their mana cores.
- "Damn b*stard!" Lith thought. "He invaded them with his life force. If I don't stop it immediately, they are either going to die or turn into undead."–
Lith saw several students, that had been killed earlier by the Valor, groggily stand up with their eyes shining with the red light of undeath.
"Damn! I hate always being right!" Lith opened a Warp Steps, but he was too weak to go far from the battlefield. His destination was their room in the mining town. He threw Friya and Quylla inside and on to their beds, more or less.
Then, he picked Phloria and Yurial up and ran away from the undead mob that was chasing them, closing the gate right behind him. The monsters were fast enough to compete with Lith in his exhausted state while burdened by his companions.
Some of them were already crossing the gate when it disappeared. A few heads and limbs fell on the floor, emitting a screeching sound before turning into black smoke and ashes.
"Just Balkor's style. He sacrifices undeath's eternal life in exchange for explosive power. The fallen students turning so fast can only be a bad omen."
Lith lay Phloria and Yurial on the floor, discovering that the black matter was already halfway towards their cores. The corruption was spreading at an alarming rate. Almost half of their bodies had turned blue, with black veins bulging all over them.
Cursing Balkor's name, Lith had no choice but to activate Invigoration and wait until he had regained enough strength to make his blurred eyesight return to normal before attempting a treatment.
He used that time to call for help with his communication amulet. This wasn't the academy's healers first rodeo. The light magic department was bound to know a cure for their affliction, after ten years of fighting the same kind of undead.
Alas, the amulet was once again offline.
"F*ck Linjos and his idiotic plan! F*ck Manohar! He's nowhere to be found when you really need him!" Lith's rage was almost out of control. In that moment, he hated everyone. The academy for failing to protect them, the nobles and the Crown for having caused the crisis, and Balkor for messing with his turf.
- "Calm down, Lith" Solus did her best, using their symbiotic bond to quell his anger. "Healing is a delicate process, you can't brute force your way to save someone. Letting yourself go can only do more harm to your friends."–
Lith still rejected that word, 'friends'. Yet denying his attachment to them was hypocritical, especially his fondness towards Phloria. Aside from Solus, no one outside of his family had ever made him feel so special since his rebirth in the new world.
Lith swallowed his anger, studying the black matter only to discover it was some kind of darkness magic he had never met before. Light magic would be useless, while Invigoration wasn't able to purge it because of its immaterial nature.
- "Solus, please help me!" What can I do?"– Their bodies kept turning, their breathing had almost stopped.
"You can only brute force your way." Solus sighed. It was a gamble, but also the only thing she could improvise with so little time at hand.
"Use your own darkness magic to stall and destroy the Valor's one while using light magic to immediately heal the damages the conflicting energies will cause. That kind of power isn't made to last, if you resist long enough it should self destruct."–
Lith commenced the procedure even before Solus had finished her explanation, he had already understood her idea from the first sentence. First, he attacked the black veins, preventing the affliction from spreading further, then he focused on the black mass.
Chapter 220 Grieving
Handling two kinds of mana at once, on two different patients, was the hardest thing Lith had ever done. He had to repair all the injuries in a timely manner, using darkness magic against the wounds the Valor's life force caused, otherwise his companions would die of shock or organ failure.
At the same time, he couldn't relieve the pressure on the black mass, not even for a second. It was already only centimeters away from their cores, a single slip up and everything would be lost.
The memory of the kid dying in his arms during the plague was still etched into Lith's mind.
There was no way to repair a broken core. Lith only had one chance and had to make it count. His energy reserves were constantly depleted by his endeavor and replenished by Invigoration, but with every cycle, his breathing technique would lose part of its effectiveness.
Lith needed Solus's help from time to time, letting her take control of his mana flow whenever he felt his focus was slipping. Soon it became a battle of will, Balkor's against Lith's.
***
Ironhelm would have liked to let himself fall on the ground and rest, but Nalear was getting worse by the second. He placed his hand on the fallen Skoll's neck, caressing his soft fur for the first and last time before leaving.
Then, he felt a pulse. He immediately activated his communication earpiece.
"Manohar, Marth, get your as*es over here! Otherwise, I swear to the gods that I will kill you!"
***
Blood Desert, Balkor's secret lab
When Ilyum Balkor finally regained his senses, everything was already over. Kalla's opening move had caused a domino effect, making months of careful planning go to waste. The shock from the sudden death of the Valors had taken him out of the picture long enough for the battle to be lost.
Without his supervision, the Valors had let themselves be blinded by the hatred Balkor had infected them with, making them conceited and reckless. Each time one of them fell, all the others would become weaker, making it easier for the enemies to kill another one, rinse and repeat.
While trying to get up, he coughed blood again and again. Not only was almost all of his life force gone, but also most of his magic. It would take him years to recover, if that was even possible.
"Mother, father, my siblings, please forgive me." He wept uncontrollably.
"I have failed you. Tomorrow, no blood will be shed. Your deaths will be forgotten because of my incompetence!" The Lords of the forests had proven to be way stronger than he anticipated and so too were their minions.
Many Professors had fallen, even the Lightning Griffon Headmaster had died during the attack, but only a few students had been harmed. The four remaining academies had survived, all of Balkor's efforts had been for naught.
Following Linjos's protocol, the other Headmasters had removed the academies' power cores, entrusting them to the Crown. When Balkor's minions had stormed the academies' gates, the castles were empty shells.
"I only have one choice left. I can't activate my last prototype. I would die in the process and without my control, it wouldn't be able to distinguish friend from foe. It could even harm my family. That accursed bear has ruined everything.
In the end, even the god of death dies."
Before Warping out of his lab, Balkor activated the self destruct mechanism. The memory crystals, his method to fuse Abominations and undead, his whole life work.
All of it was too dangerous to allow humans to ever get their hands on it.
"It all ends now." Watching the small mound collapse from afar, Balkor found himself sighing in relief. Even if things hadn't gone as planned, he still had his closure. Two of the six great academies were lost, several Archmages had died.
His legend would live on, instilling fear in the accursed old nobles' households for years to come. They would never know what had happened to him or why he had stopped his attacks.
For all they knew, the god of death would be biding his time, waiting for his enemies to lower their guard while building an even stronger army.
"Also, I would pay my weight in gold to see their terrified faces. Tomorrow night nothing will happen, yet their fear will make it the worst day of their lives."
Balkor laughed heartily, cleaning the blood from his clothes before returning home. His children deserved to finally have a full time father.
***
When Lith regained his senses, he had no idea how much time had passed. His body ached with every movement due to the strain of prolonged excessive mana use.
He barely had the mental energy to open his eyes. His vision was blurred from physical exhaustion and he had a splitting headache caused by the severe lack of mana. Human figures seemed to be moving around him, but because of the haze, he wasn't able to recognize any of them.
- "How… how long was I out?" Even in his own thoughts, Lith couldn't avoid stuttering. Thinking was a heavy burden, he just wanted to close his eyes and sleep.
"A few minutes." Solus replied.
"Just enough time for Friya and Quylla to wake up and infuse you with some of their life force. Try not to speak much, your core is almost empty. We already know what happens when someone forcefully goes beyond their limits."–
Solus was worried too. This time Lith had gone too far, treating his companions' condition until he had lost consciousness. She wanted him to be more human and compassionate, but not if the price was his life.
She had even given him part of her mana without him noticing. She didn't care about her own hunger or the weakness that was numbing her senses, she wanted for him to be alright.
Lith nodded, using Invigoration once again. His mana core was still empty and his body exhausted, but at least now he was able to see and talk properly.
"Lith what happened?" Both Friya and Quylla were worried to death.
"Why won't Yurial and Phloria wake up? No matter what spell we use, their condition does not improve, nor do we understand what's wrong with them. Also, how did you get so exhausted?" Friya asked.
"So nice of you to think about me too, even if only at the end." Lith rubbed his temples, trying to ease the pain.
Friya opened her mouth to reply in kind to his sarcastic remark, but remained silent.
- "Telling him that I can't help but see him as more of a monster than a human would be too cruel of a joke. Lith may be a bit scary sometimes, but he has always been nothing but a good friend to me. Thank the gods I can hold my stupid tongue."– Friya thought.
Lith used that respite to tell them about how he had escaped from the Valor bringing them with him. He also told them how the creature had infected their companions and his attempts to cure them.
Even if she meant it as a bad joke, Friya felt terrible for thinking those words.
"Please, go find a Professor. I don't know if I saved them or just bought them some more time. They need someone that knows what we are dealing with."
Friya nodded, leaving Quylla to take care of her friends while she Blinked right above their house, her rapier ready at hand. From the higher ground, she noticed that the battle seemed to be over. The town plaza was empty.
Some skirmishes were still going on between beasts, Professors, and lesser undead, but the black creatures were reduced to a few handfuls. From the moment Scarlett had killed the Controllers, the hive mind had collapsed.
Without it, the Tox Spitters had no combat awareness, they had reverted to mindless blank slates. It was only a matter of minutes before they got completely wiped out.
Friya identified a group of Professors and went to ask for their help, too late to notice that, what they were battling against, students that were turned into undead. Her rapier cut and stabbed the reanimated corpses mercilessly.
Her hand didn't even hesitate when she recognized some of them as her classmates. The only things Friya felt were the urgency to prevent her sister and friend from suffering the same fate and gratitude towards Orion.
The blade he had crafted for her fitted her hand like a glove. While the multiple enchantments he had forgemastered it with made short work of her enemies, turning them into dust and smoke.
- "I swear that if I get back home alive, I'll start calling Orion 'dad'."– Friya thought, realizing the depth of care and love her adoptive father held.
"Please, I need a healer! My friends have been hurt!" Realizing what was affecting her friends, Friya's worry increased tenfold.
Professor Wanemyre nodded, activating her communication earpiece.
"There isn't a second to lose, tell me where to find them."
It took less than a second for Professor Marth to join them and open a Warp Steps back to Lith's room.
"How long ago have they been struck?" Marth knew that, once the dark energy entered the bloodstream, it was only a matter of minutes before the victim died, almost instantly resurrecting as a lesser undead.
"I don't know." Friya pointed to him the two youths lying on their beds.
Marth cursed their bad luck, casting a diagnostic spell to see how severe their condition was, only to discover that their system was completely cleansed. The two students were simply exhausted beyond reason like they had fought and won the battle of a lifetime.
Marth had no idea what could have possibly happened, and he was simply too happy to care. His joy was short lived though. As soon as he saw Lith, sadness gripped Marth's heart.
Lith seemed exhausted too, he barely had the strength to eat the medical provisions Quylla was handing him. Marth didn't want to burden him further, but time was of the essence.
"Lith, I'm really sorry." Marth placed a hand on his shoulder, trying to comfort him.
"One of your friends has been gravely injured. He doesn't have much time left and he is asking for you."
"A friend?" Lith's sleepy eyes were suddenly wide open, checking his surroundings.
"What's wrong with Yurial?" He couldn't help but be surprised by the worry he recognized in his own voice.
"Yurial is fine. Whatever you did, it worked. You don't know how proud I am of you." Marth smiled gently, he would have liked to ask him many things, but questions had to wait.
"I'm talking about Protector. He has something to say to you. I've never seen someone with such strong willpower. He is literally refusing to die before speaking with you one last time. Please follow me."
Something inside Lith snapped, making all of his exhaustion disappear. Solus knew it was only a placebo effect, caused by Lith's desire to cry clashing with his firm denial that something might have happened to his old friend.
"Take me to him."
Marth opened a Warp Steps, seeing ill concealed pain in Lith's eyes.
Protector's body was too big to fit in the field hospital and his condition was too severe to move him from the spot he had fallen. Lith's heart ached to see the flaming red fur blackened all over, the flames that made up the tails were reduced to embers. Protector's chest raised and lowered slowly, accompanied by heavy pants.
Manohar had done his best, arriving as soon as he had been summoned. He had used all his expertise to cleanse the toxin, close the wounds, and defuse the lethal effects that such a prolonged exposure to the Dark Star spell would induce.
He was called the god of healing, but he was no god. Just a gifted man that loved his job. There were things even he was helpless against.
"It's all your fault!" Manohar roared to Ironhelm.
"You should have called me earlier! I could have saved him. I never, ever fail!"
Manohar didn't care much for the Skoll's fate, nevertheless, he had done the best that he could. His work was his life, it defined what and who he was.
Lith pushed Manohar away, touching Protector to use Invigoration and check his condition. What he saw made his heart skip a beat. Protector's core was deeply cracked, his mana was slowly seeping out. It had already turned back to green and was losing strength with each passing second.
"Glad to see you before the end, Lith." Protector's voice was still calm and serene like the first time they had met.
"Don't be sad for me. I had a great life, a loving mate and many offspring. If it wasn't for Scarlett, I would already be dead. I was living on borrowed time. I am really happy to get the opportunity to return her favor."
Every one of his words was supposed to console Lith, to make him feel better. Yet every time he spoke, Lith felt a dagger piercing his heart. Tears started to stream from his eyes, but his voice was stone cold.
"This is all your fault!" He roared to Scarlett and Linjos that were standing at Protector's side after trying every single spell they knew to save his life.
"You screw up everything you touch! Who the f*ck is that dumb son of a b*tch that made you Headmaster?" Linjos could expel him for all he cared.
If something happened to Protector, Balkor would have to get in line to get his turn with the Headmaster.
Chapter 221 Grieving 2
"Why did you ask for his help?" Lith yelled to Scarlett while his fury was peaking. "You knew he had never traveled outside the Trawn woods! This was too big for him, why didn't you leave him alone?"
Scarlett's guilt was already eating at her from the inside, she couldn't reply to Lith because she was thinking the same things.
However, when she felt a slight tremor in the ground, she was forced to speak.
"You are right, it's all my fault. Now please, try to calm down."
"Calm down?" Lith's roar was accompanied by another tremor, this time strong enough for everyone to feel it.
All of his mana was seething with anger, darkness magic exuded from every inch of Lith's body, spreading the killing intent of a mad beast desperate enough to throw away its life for a single chance to bite back its enemy.
All the Professors could feel it on their skin. The ones that were too injured from the recent fight to stand their ground, found themselves covered in cold sweat, retreating one step at the time.
Even Linjos's body reacted instinctively, a spell ready at hand to counter the imminent death threat.
- "I read the reports speaking about his ferocity, but this is unheard of for someone so young. His mana exudes such a powerful pressure that a normal man would have already run away out of fear." -
With a wave of her paw, Scarlett Warped all the humans back to their apartments and sealed the space around the mining town to prevent the use of dimensional magic. Being the Lord of the forest was much more than a mere title.
Like an academy empowered its headmaster, a forest empowered its lord. It was similar to being a Guardian, but instead of being recognized by the planet's will, the Lord had a very limited area of influence and much lesser powers.
Otherwise, Scarlett would have faced and destroyed Balkor's army alone.
"You can ask me to calm down only after I have ripped off your tail and forced you to eat it!" A mass of clouds started gathering in the sky.
Scarlett knew a world tribulation was about to happen. That was the reason why she had sent all the humans away. While she had no idea what was causing the tribulation, the one responsible had to be protected.
Even if he was a young human Abomination hybrid on the verge of madness.
"Lith, please stop." Protector coughed. Hearing his voice turned Lith's anger to pain. A pain he hadn't experienced since Carl's death.
"What do you think you are doing? I didn't ask for you because I want you to turn into the new Balkor. Revenge solves nothing. Did you ever pay attention when I spoke to you?" Protector attempted to laugh, but it soon turned into a dry cough that made him spit black blood.
"I just wanted to say goodbye and ask you for a favor. Please, tell Selia that I'm sorry. Also, make up one of your ridiculous lies to explain to her how I died. Tell her that I would have never abandoned her like this." A few tears streamed from the Skoll's eyes, before disappearing under his fur.
"Please, take care of our child. I never had one with a human, I don't know if they end up resembling their mother or father more. Male or female, they'll need your help."
"Why does everyone want me to take care of their offspring?" Lith's scream caused several bolts of lightning to light the sky.
"I don't want to! I hate children! Live and take care of them by yourself." Lith hugged Protector's body, bawling his eyes out.
"You are the first friend I ever had. You may be a magical beast, but you have always been like a brother to me. You always treated me as an adult, annoying me with your words of wisdom and trying to make me into a better person.
Why are you leaving me? Why?"
"It's not that I want to." Protector's panting worsened, every breath was a struggle.
"It's just that sometimes you can't win. Death is a part of life."
"I'm sick and tired of life trying to snatch away what's mine!" Lith ignored Protector, focusing only on Invigoration and the bleeding mana core.
"First, I wasn't old enough to protect my brother. Then, I wasn't rich and powerful enough to even give him the justice he deserved. After that, I was too weak to heal Tista, forcing me to watch her suffering for years!"
By remembering each of the people he loved, the hatred he felt towards everyone else increased without limit. His body started to reshape itself according to the burning wrath that was consuming him.
Black scales replaced Lith's exposed skin up to his neck, leaving only his face uncovered. His fingers grew longer and were now ending in razor-sharp claws.
Lith's eyes were now inhuman. They had no pupil, iris, or sclera, only a burning blue light remained.
"Now I'm strong enough!"
Lith used Invigoration to call upon the world energy, not using it to strengthen himself, but to surround Protector's mana core and stop the leak. He had just realized that, unlike the kid's core during the plague, Protector's had yet to turn grey.
Its bright yellow color gave Lith hope and the strength to attempt a desperate gamble. After doing his best to prevent the damaged core from weakening any further, he started to shape an artificial core like Kalla had shown him a few hours before.
Instead of crafting it out of light and darkness, he used the surrounding world energy and of all of Protector's mana that Lith was unable to contain. It was something incredibly difficult to achieve.
He couldn't force the mana to do anything without running the risk of contaminating it with his own, making Protector's core reject it. Lith could only slowly and gently guide it to its destination, making sure it didn't fade away by protecting it from all external influences.
The world energy was naturally shapeless, like water, it assumed the signature of whoever managed to call forth its power. As more and more of Protector's mana reached the fake core, it started to mutate until the two energy signatures perfectly matched.
Lith was experiencing an unbelievable amount of pain. Not only because his body was already battered and his mana core running on fumes, but also because he had to take all of the impurities the world energy contained into himself to shape the fake core, allowing only the purest and strongest mana to become part of his creation.
Lith accepted the pain with joy, it was still nothing compared to what the void had done to him in the years following his brother's death.
The last step was the most dangerous one. Lith knew that light magic wasn't enough to allow Protector's core and the fake one to merge. Just like during Forgemastering, he needed something to connect the spell with the item.
Having nothing left, he used his own life force as a tool to achieve his goal. When Lith's energy rekindled Protector's soul spark, Lith was able to experience the Skoll's life from the moment of his birth.
The joy of meeting his first mate and having pups together, followed by the pain of losing them to disease, hunger, or the hand of hunters. Lith could feel how happy Protector had been when he encountered Selia, how strong his desire for a new family was.
Such happiness was something that Lith firmly believed he would never have, so he pushed forward. He consumed more and more energy despite his whole body screaming in pain, begging him to stop, and his core began to crack.
Scarlett watched the whole process in awe. Part of her hoped for him to succeed. Another part of her hoped for him to fail, to get rid of the dangerous unknown factor Lith represented.
Yet all of Scarlett's being hated the world's will because once again it was just standing there doing nothing.
- "I have been through my fair share of tribulations and I have yet to understand why they are called so. It's not like the world puts you to the test or something, it just watches you while the worst sh*t happens to your life. Either you live or die, it never interferes, like our lives are nothing but a two-bit sideshow."– She thought.
***
From her throne in the underground dungeon, Tyris felt the second tribulation advent.
"That anomaly again." She thought out loud.
"It's better if I go check on it, before the others start pestering me about the lack of information." She stood up, appearing right before Scarlett. It was easy for a Guardian to ignore the Scorpicore's dimensional magic seal.
"What does this mean, Forest Lord?" She asked.
Scarlett instinctively knelt to her, explaining to Tyris all that had happened that night.
"I see. Another Abomination hybrid, it seems. But this one isn't a man-made fake Abomination, more like a jigsaw made of different pieces. He's already at the second tribulation, I wouldn't worry if I were you."
Tyris shrugged, preparing to leave.
"Wait, my Lady. What do you mean?" Scarlett was shocked by her indifference. Unlike Kalla and Protector, she had no affection toward Lith, but he still was a child trying to save a precious friend.
After witnessing so much death in a single night, she couldn't understand how the Guardian could leave without moving a finger. It would be easy for Tyris to save them both.
"You really don't know?" Tyris turned back, raising an eyebrow in disbelief.
"Tribulations happen constantly to beasts, humans, plants, and undead alike. Every single day. They happen whenever Mogar, the world we live in, thinks that someone can be useful for its purposes.
"During every tribulation, Mogar evaluates the candidate's worth through their actions. Success or failure depends entirely on the candidate, though. The first tribulation is usually about the skill the world is interested in.
The second and usually last one, is about self-control."
"What self-control?" Scarlett was flabbergasted.
"The kid is killing himself, burning his own life as we speak! Shouldn't the tribulation be failed already?"
"You completely misunderstood the nature of tribulations." Tyris chuckled in amusement.
"A talent is worthless if someone lets it control their life, as most living beings do. My talent is to inspire the change, but it could be easily subverted into bringing chaos if I was never content with the status quo and I did not give the changes the time to prove their worth.
"Leegaain's talent is knowledge and preservation. Yet imagine how easy it would be for him to turn it into greed, hoarding everything and every life form for himself, turning from the keeper of the world into its warden.
"Salaark embodies the desire to rule and lead by example, but she could just as easily become a tyrant obsessed with world domination. The self-control I'm talking about is the will to resist the urges your talent pushes you towards and do the opposite.
"Take the kid, for example. Judging from his first two tribulations, the world seems to have chosen him to kill a lot of people, yet it's checking if he's just a soulless monster or if he has the will to choose the hard path and grant life instead.
"We all serve the balance. There would be no need for a Guardian of destruction, the races do an excellent job by themselves already. That's why you don't need to worry. If he ever succeeds in passing all the tribulations, we'll just have another Guardian."
"What if he fails? The prolonged exposure to the world's will has already altered him that much." Scarlett rebuked, pointing at Lith's scales covered body.
"Aren't you afraid of what he could do if he manages to control that kind of power?"
"No." Tyris shook her head. "That's just a promise of payment, barely cosmetic. As far as I know, you have passed all of your tribulations. Have you gotten any stronger?"
"No. I've learned how to shapeshift, but my strength is always the same, no matter the form I take."
"Exactly. Until he becomes a Guardian…" Tyris giggled at the idea.
"he will just remain whatever he is. While if he fails, he will die. As simple as that. There is no do-over with tribulations. The number of tribulations varies from person to person, but most fail at the second one. Even if he succeeds, he could fail at the next one, or at the one after that." Tyris disappeared, leaving Scarlett more nervous than ever.
"This is great. Now I not only have to worry about Scourge and Protector, but also about myself! I never imagined tribulations were so dangerous. Gods, I wish Kalla were here. She would know what to do."
"She would say to move your stinger-equipped a*s and help the child. You always whine about the world's will being indifferent, yet you stand there doing nothing. What's the difference between the two of you?" A limping Kalla pointed out.
Scarlett flinched at her appearance, but recovered quickly and did as instructed. Lith had already consumed several years of his lifespan to keep Protector alive and his core was about to crack too.
However, he had managed to fix Protector's core enough to allow Scarlett to finish the job. She saved both their lives at once, before questioning the Wraith.
"How did you survive that blast?"
"First, as you should know, no one can be harmed by their own mana. So the only damage I took was from overloading my mana core. It was a calculated risk. My odds of survival were pretty good since my undead nature makes it really hard to kill me with both conventional and unconventional means.
"Unlike you, I never trusted the men's words or underestimated a fellow Necromancer's madness. I had a contingency plan in case I was cornered and another one in the eventuality of my death." Kalla was referring to Lith's promise.
"Don't you mean your partial undead nature?" Scarlett corrected her friend.
"Have I already mentioned all Necromancers are a bit insane?"
Kalla used Invigoration to further her healing process, revealing to the shocked Scorpicore that her body held both a mana and a blood core.
Chapter 222 After the Storm
"I don't understand. What is that thing? How did you manage to survive the explosion?" Scarlett was happy to see Kalla alive, even if she was heavily injured.
Most of the shadow that usually covered her massive skeleton was gone, leaving it completely exposed. Only a faint mist covered the zone where her internal organs were supposed to be.
One of her front paws was missing and the red light that usually burned inside her eyes was almost gone.
When it started blinking, Kalla collapsed on the ground.
"Survive is a strong word. Let's just say I'm not completely dead. As for your questions, it's a bit complicated to explain. After my evolution, I have been shunned by humans and magical beasts alike.
"They don't see beyond my physical appearance, that's why I started spending so much time with the various tribes of higher undead. I felt like I didn't belong in the forest anymore, so I was searching for a new family."
"Why didn't you tell me that earlier? I would have taught them a lesson!" Scarlett roared in outrage.
"To what end?" Kalla sneered. "Nothing would have changed. They would behave in front of you and keep ostracizing me as soon as you turned your back. I don't need anyone's pity nor protection."
Her voice was feeble, but filled with determination.
"However, greater undead always treated me with respect. After I adopted my daughter, I was seriously considering turning myself into a true undead instead of being stuck in this half baked form.
"So, I started researching the blood cores, experimenting on myself to see how they interact with a living body with an intact mana core. Worst case scenario, I would have become a real undead. Nothing would have changed for me.
"I would still be an Awakened one and Nok would follow me even if I had three heads. The actual result was quite underwhelming. The second core does nothing except take enough energy from me to sustain itself.
"Since it didn't seem to have any side effects, I kept it as a study subject for my research on how to cure Mina. It pains me to admit that I hope the same cure will help me too. It's so frustrating always being alone."
Kalla paused, the shadow inside her body kept getting thinner.
"It's only thanks to my experiments that, when I recalled the darkness magic animating my undead, I was able to avoid the overload by splitting the energy between both cores. That way even if one shattered, the other would remain.
The problem is that now that they have almost the same strength, I don't know which will prevail."
"How can I help you?" Scarlett asked, wishing she could do the same thing Lith had done for Protector.
"Not much. Just wait for me to come back and be my friend no matter what the result is. Also, I would greatly appreciate if you helped me find a safe place for me and Mina to live. Your forest doesn't suit any of us."
Kalla finally succumbed to exhaustion, the light in her eyes went out completely. If not for some shreds of darkness still lingering over her, it would have been impossible to distinguish her from an old carcass.
Scarlett felt a deep pain inside of her. By choosing to help the humans, she had endangered the lives of her underlings, causing the death of many of them. M'Rook had died fighting the Valors, leaving her without a second in command and many more had been gravely injured or maimed.
As long as they were alive, she could heal them, but it would take a long time for the forest to recover from its wounds. In just two days, the combat prowess of her turf had been halved.
Her dear friend Kalla was now on the brink of death, Protector had almost died, and she couldn't help but consider it as her fault. Her arrogance had blinded her. She had been so confident in her strength that she almost lost everything she had.
- "Now I understand why the members of the Council are so detached. The longer you live, the more painful it is when you lose someone. I've known M'Rook and Kalla since they were just cubs, and I raised them both like they were my own.
"Now M'Rook is dead. Kalla will survive or turn into a true undead, either way she will leave the forest forever. I've been so obsessed with the Abomination threat, by pursuing my 'master plan' and always thinking big picture that I've disregarded the details.
"Those small, precious details that make my life worth living. I've neglected both the lives of my subjects and their happiness. Maybe I have become too old to be a Lord of the forest. Maybe Leegaain is right, I should leave my turf to someone better than me and strive to become a Guardian.
"By the Great Mother, I never thought the day I would get tired of living could ever come."– Scarlett was lost in thought when she heard a movement from her right.
Protector was getting up and for the first time since they had known each other, he seemed to be out of his mind with rage.
"Don't worry, Protector. Your friend is fine, I made sure of that myself." Scarlett tried to calm him down.
"Fine? How dare you to call losing decades of his life being 'fine'? Why the heck didn't you stop him?" He pointed his muzzle to Lith's shrivelled body. He had lost so much of his body weight before losing consciousness that he was unrecognizable.
Protector was still as weak as a baby, his life hanging by a thread while his core could never recover completely from the damage it had suffered. Yet his rage was stronger than all that.
"You wanted him to die, you crazy f*cker! Did you think I have gone deaf? I heard your whole conversation with that pompous a*s, whoever she was. You can forget me helping you again in the future! If you don't want to make an enemy out of me, you'd better do as I say."
Scarlett nodded. Her guilt prevented her from even trying to defend her foolish actions.
"As soon as Lith wakes up, you'll tell him that I'm dead."
"What?" Scarlett didn't see that coming.
"What he did was stupid, reckless, and immature. He may act all wise and mighty, but his earlier actions were those of a child throwing a tantrum." By sharing their life forces, Protector had been able to see Lith's life just like Lith had seen his.
He still couldn't believe his friend was actually older than himself and an alien from a gods forsaken world at that. Yet the revelation hadn't changed the feelings Protector harbored toward Lith.
Quite to the contrary, it made them even deeper.
"He has gone through a lot of pain, maybe too much, but that's not justification enough to put an end to his own life in a mad attempt to save me. If Lith learns about my survival, he will not hesitate to repeat the same mistake.
I would have died, leaving my mate alone, but so what? He didn't stop for a second to think about what he was throwing away. All he cared about was keeping life and death in his own hands, like it was all a game and he refused to accept defeat.
His obsession with control will sooner or later kill him. He needs to experience the pain of loss again to appreciate what he has. His family, his friends, the little female, and you, Solus." Protector said to the ring at Lith's finger, leaving Solus shocked.
"Solus?" Scarlett asked.
"The female that inhabits the ring. That's her name."
Scarlett pondered for a while. The name didn't ring any bells. She had no idea it was something Lith had come up with years ago, so all of her knowledge was useless in solving the mystery behind her existence.
"You too must keep my survival secret from him, otherwise he'll never change. So far, he has lived pushing everyone away, never letting people come close to him and making up one excuse after another to justify his actions.
He has lost years before appreciating even his own family. If he keeps acting like this, he will understand how much he cares for those around him only after he has lost them for good and then he will turn into another Balkor. Is this what you want for him, Solus?
A life of self-inflicted isolation followed by killing sprees with no care for the consequences?"
Even if Scarlett had allowed her to respond via a mind link, Solus didn't know what to say. Earlier she had tried to stop Lith, but she was too exhausted to push through the barrier the world's will had put him into to prevent her from interfering.
"Please Solus, listen to me." Protector continued.
"This is the only way to help him. By telling him of his success, you would be enabling his obsession. It would only be a matter of time before he does it again. He will suffer for my loss, yes, but it should act as a wake up call.
"He needs to stop indulging in his obsession. We exist to pass down our hopes and dreams for the future through our actions. Our lives are like rivers that cross paths, sometimes briefly, sometimes for a long time creating a bond.
Those bonds are what allows us to leave a part of ourselves behind.
"Our legacy is not limited to our offspring. Every person we meet changes us, as we change them. I know he will suffer for my loss, but it's not the end of the world.
Either he learns to open himself up to others, instead of trapping himself into plans and preparations for what may or may not happen, or he will end up cutting his ties with everyone to avoid getting hurt.
Whatever he decides, at least he will find his way in life. What we are going to offer him, is a chance to understand every day is precious and it should not be wasted on revenge and recrimination."
Solus didn't say a word, crying the whole time.
"Solus, these are my last words, so please find a way to pass them to Lith. Hate is a double edged sword. It can give you the strength to face your enemies and protect those you love. Yet if it becomes your reason for living instead of just a tool for survival, it will turn into a venom that will consume you.
Even if we met late in my life, even we aren't even of the same race, know this. I've always loved him as a son and I always will."
Solus was still hesitant, lying to Lith was something she had never thought about before. She didn't even know if she was capable of doing it.
"How many people has he ever called a friend?" Protector's voice resounded in her mind.
"Just you and me." She replied.
"Then you know that I'm right. Scarlett, send me back to Lutia. I'll move away with my mate to not let him discover the truth."
Scarlett dispelled the dimensional seal, sending Lith to the field hospital through a Warp Steps before opening another one for Protector. She decided that, if she managed to survive the third and final night, as soon as her forest was restored, she would hunt Balkor down like the monster he was.
***
Just as Balkor had predicted, the anniversary of the day his family died was the worst day that everyone in the four remaining academies had ever lived. The Professors spent the morning treating the injured, counting the dead, and notifying the families of the victims.
After the events of the last night, the survivors felt hopeless. Several Professors, including Trasque, had died, others, like Nalear, were so badly injured that they were not able to take part in the final stand.
The White Griffon academy had suffered the fewest casualties during the first day, but now its occupants felt like they had got the short end of the stick. Their academy was the only one to have lost all of its evolved monsters except the Lord of the forest.
Without Kalla, there would be no protective arrays to weaken the enemy or her undead army to take the brunt of the damage. Without Protector running like lightning through the battlefield, any delay in sending reinforcements could prove to be lethal.
Lith, Phloria, and Yurial were hospitalized and kept away from the battle. Phloria woke up around noon. Aside from crippling exhaustion, she felt fine. She had no idea what had happened after she had been struck by the lightning.
When she saw Lith laying in a bed nearby her own, her heart skipped a beat. He was deadly pale and he looked like a sixty year old man, his hair had become completely grey and some spots of his head were bald. With skin pulled tight over his bones, he appeared skeletal. His entire body burned with fever, drenching the bed with sweat.
Chapter 223 After the Storm 2
"What happened to Lith?" Phloria needed to lean against the walls or the beds to avoid falling on the ground. Every step she took towards his bed felt like she was trying to uproot a tree, making her sweat bullets. Yet she didn't stop until someone finally noticed her struggle.
"Good grief, you shouldn't strain yourself anymore, young lady. You are lucky to still be alive." Professor Vastor rushed to her aid, taking out a chair from his dimensional amulet to make her rest.
"Please Professor, tell me what happened." Phloria was on the verge of passing out again, but her tone was determined enough to not leave room for doubts. Vastor could only tell her the truth or sedate her, there was no other way to calm her down.
It was likely to be the last day all of them had to live. Vastor decided that forcing such a young girl to spend it unconscious in a bed would be too cruel. There was a reason why they couldn't just send the students back home.
They were still Balkor's target.
After the Earth and Crystal Griffon academies fell, their students had been Warped to the Royal palace to keep them out of harm's way. Some of the old noble families had decided to bring them home, only to be attacked during the second night by Balkor's Crawlers.
Only those that had timely fled to a different region or remained in the palace had been spared from the onslaught. The number of casualties was already in the hundreds and counting. Without the protection of the arrays, a noble house was as safe as a commoner one.
"I don't know, I really don't." He replied seeing the concern growing in her eyes.
"You and Lord Deirus were tainted by a Valor, but Lith somehow managed to prevent you from turning into undead. Then a friend of his called Lith on his deathbed. From what I heard, Lith freaked out.
Then, all that I know is that he arrived here like that."
"Is he going to die?" Her eyes were watery, but she was unwavering. She would not let Vastor get away with a vague answer.
"It's unlikely, but possible." He finally admitted after much thought.
"I've seen a similar condition in patients that had pushed themselves too hard using magic. The only thing we can do is let him rest.. He should get back to normal in a couple of weeks."
- "If he doesn't die tonight, either at the hand of Balkor's thralls or from going for broke to save your lives earlier."– Vastor inwardly added.
"Thanks, Professor." He had expected her to cry and whine like the little girl she was, yet Phloria smiled. It was something that Vastor hadn't seen in days.
"Can I stay here, please?" She took Lith's hand in her own, hoping he could feel her touch and somehow draw strength from it.
Usually Vastor would have scolded her and sent her back to her bed, but the sincerity of Phloria's feelings despite her own predicament had moved even his old, shriveled heart.
Vastor used magic to rearrange the beds, moving Phloria's right beside Lith's. He even gave her blankets large enough to cover both beds, turning them into a makeshift double bed.
"Just promise me you'll keep your hands where they belong. This is a hospital, after all." She turned beet red while Vastor laughed at his own joke. A short while later he finally left them alone.
He doubted Lith would wake up to enjoy her company, but if it that was going to be her last night on Mogar, Phloria had the right to spend it with someone she loved.
***
Without Kalla's arrays, there was no reason to keep all the students in one place. They had learned from the previous night that rounding them up like that without a rock solid defense was akin to wrapping them up and offering them as a present to the enemy.
This time they kept the students in their own housing, preparing multiple Warping arrays ahead of time to scatter them all around the forest in case the last line of defense fell again.
When the sun started to set, fear started to spread. When night fell, the fear turned into panic. Many students broke out into hysterics, forcing their roommates to knock them out before they hurt somebody.
When the night was about to end, even the Professors were drenched in cold sweat. The stress from the prolonged wait had tired them out almost as much actual combat.
"What the heck is he waiting for?" Linjos was a nervous wreck, pacing non stop inside the headquarters.
"Usually Balkor keeps the worst for the precise hour his family was killed, but we are way past that point!"
When daylight finally came, the whole Griffon Kingdom rejoiced. Four out of the six great academies were still standing and the anniversary had ended with no further bloodshed.
The Headmasters contacted the Crown, who ordered them to keep waiting and not lower their guard. Balkor's shadow was so deeply etched in their minds that the Royals couldn't believe their own luck.
It was noon before the King ordered them to send the students back home. The yearly god of death's threat was over, but the wounds he had left behind were deep. Many things had to be done before life could go back to normal.
***
After Balkor's eleventh assault was over, the smoldering embers of the civil war were almost completely extinguished.
During the first five years of the god of death's reign of terror, the ancient noble households didn't care much for his actions. There were too many of them, hence the odds of being Balkor's victim were low.
Most families would secretly pray for the god of death to get rid of their most dangerous competitors in their stead, so they could get hold of their lands and riches.
When the god of death started targeting the Crown and the Mage Association, the ancient noble households rejoiced. They even started to consider Balkor as their benefactor.
He had kept the Crown off their game for years, forcing them to invest more time and resources into defending themselves from the next attack rather than in investigating the nobles' schemes and illegal trafficking.
Balkor was the reason why the Crown had been weakened for so long, allowing Lukart to pursue his dream of becoming the next King. Balkor's anniversary had been a red-letter day for organized crime during the past five years.
However, when the god of death announced in his own twisted way that he would go after the academies, everything changed. The old noble families didn't need the Crown or the Mage Association to thrive, but without their most talented offspring, they were as good as dead.
Most of the students of the six great academies came from their ranks. They were the future family leaders and the only ones that could ensure their prosperity in a world where magic was the cornerstone for all lucrative business.
The ancient households' magical legacies amounted to nothing without heirs talented enough to wield them. The eleventh attack had proved to them how weak they actually were.
They were completely at the mercy of a madman, capable of destroying years worth of efforts nurturing a mage in a single night.
The new situation required reprioritization of both their short and long-term goals. Any attempt to overthrown the Crown or undermine its authority was now a liability for them too.
Only the Royal family and the Mage Association had managed to obtain samples from Balkor's creatures over the years. Further, they had been actively researching countermeasures against them.
Even the most radical among the old noble families had to be concerned with what Balkor would do next year. Many of them had chosen to send their heirs to the Crystal and Earth Griffon academies, away from the Queen's pet projects.
Not only had those academies fallen, but also more than half their students had perished during the second night. It was enough to bring the old families low, forcing them to have their magicless offspring marry mages and have them take the family name, even if they were of humble origins.
Their future had suddenly become an unknown variable. To improve their odds of survival, they were even willing to help the Crown with their personal funds to find and neutralize Balkor once and for all.
To make things worse for the ancient households, now they were also terrified at the idea that other Balkors could be born by their own hand.
Forbidding the practice of magic to commoners was impossible.
Without them, it would take barely a generation for the Griffon Kingdom to lose its military prowess and be conquered by the neighboring countries. The second and almost as important reason was that the survivors of the eleventh attack had learned their lesson.
Living together, fighting together, and dying together had overturned the noble youths' perspective on life. They had experienced first hand their own mortality and how their titles were nothing in front of true power.
Most of the children stopped pursuing their parents' agenda and dedicated their time to the study of the only thing that mattered: magic.
***
Ernas Mansion, the morning after the day of the anniversary
Like all those that were aware of the events taking place at the academies, the Ernas were living in a state of unrelenting terror, barely able to sleep or eat. Jirni and Orion had stopped working for the last three days. They were off their game, always worrying about the fate of their children.
When she learned from the report of the second day that Lith had saved Phloria, she was walking on air to the point that she recommended preparing a betrothal gift for Lith to Orion.
Orion was so moved by that little monster's care for his daughter that he almost agreed.
Both of them remained deeply shocked reading about how critical his condition was and how it was likely to be related to his effort to save Phloria's and Yurial's lives.
Jirni swore that if her daughters survived this hurdle, she would never meddle in their love lives again. They each seemed more than capable of finding a good man by themselves.
Orion swore to his wife that he would make no more objections to Lith's relationship with Phloria, as long as he brought their little Flower back home in one piece.
When the final report arrived and they learned that all three of their daughters were alive and well, the Ernas couple wept with joy for over an hour. Even as a royal constable, Jirni would only receive the status reports once a day after sunrise, just like any other royal servant.
They were so happy that they decided to take the rest of the week off, to welcome their daughters back and spend as much time with them as possible. The royal heralds called them more than once, saying that it was impossible to grant them another leave.
Every single civil servant with a child in an academy had had the same idea, either to spend some quality time with their families or to grieve their loss. The Ernas were among the most loyal subjects to the Crown, always putting duty above everything else during their long years of service.
This time, Jirni and Orion replied that the Kingdom could go f*ck itself off and refused all the following calls. Their move greatly embarrassed the Crown, but there was nothing they could do about it.
Most of the parents were ready to give their resignation rather than miss their children's homecoming.
Jirni spent the morning of the third day speaking with her daughters. While they were still in the forest for security reasons, the communicators were finally online again. She was deeply shocked to discover that Phloria was in such a pitiful state when she told her everything that had happened and how critical Lith's condition was.
Their mother-daughter relationship had been getting better, but such news was still something that Jirni would expect Phloria to speak about with Orion, not her.
Balkor's threat was over, so her concern faded away while a plan took form into her mind. She immediately had the servant prepare the best guest rooms of the house for their future occupants.
Jirni gave precise instructions to tone down the staff's dress code. She had also prepared clothes that she and Orion usually wore during their vacations to their country cottage, where they dedicated themselves only to their hobbies and were away from the prying eyes and the uncaring nature of the rules and etiquette their usual social life required.
It was Orion's and Phloria's happiest time of the year since the former could swear, get dirty and play with his children like a normal father, while the latter could avoid wearing dresses and act like a tomboy until their departure.
- "Lith's family should still not know anything about what happened. I think it's time I pay them a visit. It's better if the bearer of so much bad news is a mother who went through the same nightmare, rather than a royal messenger that has been forced to repeat the same script hundreds of times.
First impressions count, so I need to play this to perfection. If I get his mother on my side, it's game, set, and match. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity."– Jirni thought.
Chapter 224 Meet the Parents
Phloria, Friya, and Quylla returned home in the early afternoon. Much to their surprise, the academy had received instructions for the trio to bring Lith along with them. After getting the news, Phloria was overjoyed.
He had yet to regain his senses and his condition was still critical. He needed to regularly be forced to drink potions to sustain his life. Solus had been constantly using Invigoration to stabilize his mana core and mend the countless internal wounds that overexerting his body had caused.
- "The worst should be over. Lith now needs to rest." Solus would perform a full check up every hour.
"What worries me is his mind. He has yet to learn about Protector's alleged death, but I can feel his heart withering away. It's like he has never stopped grieving, even in his unconscious state."–
- "I take back most of the bad things I've thought about mom over the years. Not only did she bring Lith home with us, but she also assigned the best guest room to him."–
Phloria lay him on his bed before wiping off the sweat from his face with a wet cloth. She had learned how to feed him and keep him clean from the medical staff during the third day.
Phloria wouldn't let anyone else take care of him. She didn't want Lith to be alone when he woke up.
***
For a regular person incapable of using magic, reaching the village of Lutia would prove to be a long and boring journey. The village was in the middle of nowhere and the nearest branch of the Mage Association with a Warp Steps was hundreds of kilometers away.
Jirni Ernas wasn't regular and according to many, barely a person. To accomplish her goal, she contacted Captain Locrias, the leader of the Queen's corps unit in charge of protecting Lith's family, and had him open a Warp Steps for her.
Jirni was officially on leave, but her reputation as royal constable preceded her. Captain Locrias was aware of her amazing yet gruesome track record.
- "It's much better to be on the good side of such a person, rather than on her black list."–
Captain Locrias knew that he was likely to be forced to pay for the long range portable Gates out of his own pocket, but if it meant Jirni Ernas owed him a favor, it was worth the price.
Even with her plainest clothes, only someone deaf, dumb, and blind could mistake Jirni for a commoner. She was aware of this so, before knocking at the door, she had already handpicked the most suitable words to introduce herself.
"Good evening, my Lady. Are you lost?" Raaz recognized the woman in front of him as a noble at first sight. He hid his left hand behind his back, alerting Elina to pick a weapon and Tista to ready a spell.
"Good evening, good sir." Jirni brought out her best smile, creeping Raaz out. Despite her small size, he had an eerie feeling just by looking her in the eyes.
"My name is Jirni Ernas. I'm the mother of Phloria, Lith's girlfriend." In her experience, it was better to sandwich the bad news between good news, to lessen the impact.
Raaz looked at her like she was insane. Lith had no girlfriend, he was certain of that. The women of the family kept complaining that even if his thirteenth birthday was just around the corner, Lith had yet to date or even show interest in any girl.
On Mogar, the new world, teenagers' bodies would fully develop around their thirteenth year of age, but they wouldn't be considered adults until they turned sixteen.
The marrying age for both men and women ranged from sixteen to the twenty-five years of age. After that, it was considered a late marriage and it would be much harder to find a spouse unless of course, the betrothal gift was juicy enough to make the age gap irrelevant.
Raaz was about to rudely send her off when Tista pushed him away, inviting Jirni to come in.
"Lady Ernas, it's such a pleasure to finally meet you. Lith always talks fondly about you." Tista lied through her teeth, just like her brother had taught her over the years.
She had never heard Jirni's name before, but Lith had often talked with her about Phloria Ernas. She knew they were dating for a while and didn't want Raaz to ruin things for him.
Jirni recognized the lie, but appreciated the talent and the effort behind it.
"Thanks, dear Tista. It's better if you all sit down. We have a serious matter to discuss." The whole family turned as pale as a ghost. A mother visiting a young man's family talking about a serious matter could only mean one thing: pregnancy.
Raaz couldn't believe his ears, staring at Tista as though she had poisoned him.
"Wait, you knew about the two of them?"
"Yes." Tista nodded, feeling the need to sit down. Suddenly she had weak knees at the idea of having a nephew from her little brother.
"Why didn't you tell us about it?" Elina was happy and scared at the same time. Happy because her cherished son had finally found someone to love. Scared because there was no way out of that situation but marriage.
Becoming a father would turn his life upside down , not to mention becoming part of the wife's family to preserve their honor and avoid the scandal.
"Because he told me not to! Lith said you would make a big deal out of this and he didn't want you to pester him about it." Tista was regretting keeping his secret for so long.
The truth was that Lith was worried about Tista. She kept idolizing him and disdaining the company of other boys. So, he had decided to help her grow out of her brother complex by telling her about his 'girlfriend' and exaggerating things a bit.
Now his plan was backfiring. Her parents could read Tista like a book, her panic spread like wildfire during a summer day. Elina tried to prepare some tea for their guest, but her hands trembled so much that she was unable to hold the small pot.
Jirni had purposely created the misunderstanding to have them all dancing in her palm.
"Don't worry, dear Elina. Let me take care of it." Jirni made them sit while she prepared the hot beverage. She spiked it with a powerful tranquilizer she always carried inside her dimensional ring.
- "Poor souls. After I tell them the truth, they will regret that my visit wasn't about our grandchild."–
After they took several sips of tea, the tranquilizer kicked in soothing their nerves. Only then did she explain Balkor's existence and what their son had gone through over the last few days. It took them a few minutes and a lot of spiked tea to recover from the shock.
"Why didn't he tell us anything? We thought he was taking the academy's third test." Elina broke into tears. Even knowing that her son was alive and well couldn't stop her from fearing for his fate and feeling hurt by his lies.
Jirni took Elina's hand between hers, trying to console her.
"He did it to protect you. There was nothing you could do for him, believe me. I spent the last three days crying and worrying I'd never see my little girls again. I had him moved to my house to make sure he receives the best treatments available.
"House Ernas has a private Warp Steps. It allows the finest healers of the Kingdom to reach the estate within a few seconds. I couldn't leave the man who saved my daughter's life in the hands of strangers.
Lith and Phloria have been dating for over a month and after all that has happened, we are basically family."
While Jirni's tone was full of sympathy and her voice almost broken with emotion, she was actually inwardly congratulating herself for her sob performance. By reading the mood in the living room, she decided it was time to land the final blow.
"Lith has yet to regain his senses, but I'm sure that when he does, he'll need his family to recover from the terrible experience he went through. I have already arranged our transportation. You will be my honored guests for all the time you need."
"Thank you, thank you so much." Elina clenched Jirni's hand like it was a lifeline,
"Lith is so lucky to have a friend like you. We'll never forget your generosity." She said while crying her eyes out.
- "One down, two more to go."– Jirni thought.
***
When Jirni arrived back home it was almost sundown. Winter was coming and the days were getting shorter. Even with the help of the tranquilizer, Lith's family had required some time before being able to move.
After informing Rena, she had insisted on accompanying them.
Jirni was pleasantly surprised to discover that Phloria was still at Lith's bedside, washing his chest and arms with a wet cloth to clean him from the sweat. She knew that Phloria was capable of doing it with magic.
It meant that, even if Phloria herself had yet to realize it, her daughter's affection for him was rooted deeply enough to feel reassured by the physical contact.
Jirni smiled, another piece of the puzzle had fallen into place by itself.
- "I love it when a plan comes together."– Jirni inwardly rejoiced.
"Phloria my dear, you need to rest." She said.
- "Those bags under your eyes and your dedication will surely win over your mother in law."– She actually thought.
"Thanks, mom. I was thinking about taking a nap as soon as I finish here." Phloria's smile was tired, yet she appreciated her mother's concern instead of her usual nagging. Since her visit to the academy, her mother had become as thoughtful as Orion.
"I'll immediately have a warm bath prepared, and fresh sheets placed on your bed. You deserve a good night's sleep." Phloria tensed up, just like Jirni had hoped.
"Thanks, but I think I will remain here." Phloria's voice lacked the earlier kindness and was now filled with the stubborn determination that Jirni had learned to love and hate over the years.
"It's not proper for a lady to sleep in the same room with a young man, even if he is unconscious."
Jirni faked her disapproval while keeping an ear on the approaching steps. According to her estimations, to take advantage of those unexpected circumstances, she needed to buy a few more seconds and poke Phloria once or twice.
"You have gone through a lot, yet you never left his side for almost two days." Jirni seemed to be genuinely worried, even making her eyes watery at will.
"You need to take better care of yourself. Let the medical staff replace you for a few hours, you need some rest. Lith is still going to be here when you wake up."
"I don't give a damn if it's proper or not!" Phloria yelled loud enough that even Captain Locrias back in Lutia could almost hear her.
"I'm not going out of here until he wakes up or his family arrives! I don't want him to wake up in a strange place surrounded by strangers!
I know it's just a superstition, but if there's even one chance in a million that having someone close that cares for him may help him recover, I'm willing to stay here as long as it takes!"
Phloria had yet to give her mother a piece of her mind, but Elina's sudden arrival stopped her in her tracks.
"My little Flower, I only meant that you should at least ask for his family's approval first." Jirni said with an apologetic tone like it was all a misunderstanding.
When a second later Lith's father and sisters entered the room, Phloria realized her mother had played her like a fiddle. She turned pale, emphasizing her bloodshot eyes and the dark bags below them.
Elina reached the bed, remaining horrified by her son's condition. His body looked like a dried up corpse, his hair had turned grey, and wrinkles had appeared on his face and hands. He seemed to have aged decades from the last time she had seen him.
His breathing was ragged, but regular. After Tista triple checked him, reassuring the rest of the family that Lith's life wasn't in danger despite his appearance, Elina turned to Phloria and took her hands between hers, kissing them non stop.
"Thank you so much for being by my son's side all this time. You have no idea how scared I was of him being alone in a moment like this. He is really a lucky boy to have found such a wonderful and beautiful girlfriend."
Then, Elina embraced her, soon followed by the whole family in a long group hug. Phloria had become beet red, not only was she embarassed to death by what she had said in front of Lith's family, but also because she couldn't help but compare herself with his sisters.
Aside from her height, they ran circles around her in every regard. Looks, curves, and even their natural scent were leagues above hers. Tista was the one that crushed her self esteem the most.
Having received Lith's treatments since she was very young, Tista had flawless skin, soft curves in all the right places, and was even almost as tall as Phloria.
Phloria was moved by their gratitude and kind words, but the insecure teenage girl inside her kept nagging at her, quoting Professor Manohar in calling her "a flat beanpole".
Chapter 225 Awakening
Griffon Kingdom, Tyris's underground dungeon.
"Please, tell me that you found the time to go and check on the anomaly this time."
Leegaain was burning with curiosity.
"Yes, I did." Tyris nodded without moving her eyes from the archives' records of the last ten years. She was investigating those who had access to the remains of Arthan's Madness, hoping to find a clue about the mastermind behind the Abomination threat.
"It was nothing special. It was a male human Abomination hybrid, just as we sensed the first time. The only odd thing about it is that he underwent a tribulation similar to our own. The second test was about self control, like for evolved beasts."
"What happened then?" Leegaain was eager to hear the whole story.
"I don't know." She shrugged. "I left while he was in the middle of an elaborate suicide attempt. He chose to trade his life to rescue someone from death. I don't have time to waste with the small stuff. He has failed the tribulation or he managed to save his friend, either way he is dead now."
"What?" Leegaain jumped in surprise, the combined impact of his four claws on the ground sent a small tremor through the Gorgon Empire's castle. Its inhabitants went into a panic, since floating castles weren't supposed to be affected by quakes.
"Tyris, old friend, after hearing your words I'm almost tempted to rule a country for the first time in my long life. It seems that between civil wars, plagues, gods of death, and the internal strife between the nobles and the Crown your life must be really exciting.
"Otherwise, how the heck could you brush off the existence of a new life form that has already undergone two tribulations within such a short time frame? What if he survived? What if he isn't Guardian material, but something else entirely?
"Very few beings manage to pass the second tribulation. Getting a hold on your own desires is one of the hardest things to do. We could likely have a being that could side with the Abominations and upset the balance permanently on our hands.
"If the anomaly is still alive, we must absolutely keep watch on his next tribulations to understand what the heck is going on. A human Guardian would already be a shocking enough piece of news, let alone a hybrid!"
Tyris froze for a second. Aside from his stupid jokes, Leegaain's words always held great significance.
"Maybe you are right." She replied trying to cover her blunder.
"I seem to remember he wore a White Griffon academy uniform. I'll send someone to keep an eye on him so, in case your fears come true, we can take him out before he becomes too dangerous."
***
During the following days, life was hectic for most of the Griffon Kingdom's upper echelons. Countless scouts were sent to the Blood Desert to search for Balkor's whereabouts. Killing him was the safest way to prevent the next attack from happening.
The Alchemists of the Mage Association were having a hard time studying the toxins extracted from the undead. With each passing year, the god of death would make them more complex and harder to cleanse. If they didn't keep up with him, their antidotes would become useless.
This time, the Healers had collected a great number of tissue samples from the captured undead. It had allowed them to discover the Abomination fragments mixed with the flesh, causing an uproar in the field of research. Until that moment, Abominations had simply been considered another species of monsters, a twisted evolution of magical beasts.
However, thanks to Balkor's effort to stabilize them and the ten year long experience of the royal Healers in preserving the samples, the human scientists managed to gain a deeper understanding of their nature.
Researching Abominations became the top priority. It would help the Wardens to create new defensive arrays capable of weakening, if not killing, Balkor's thralls.
The remaining four of the six great academies were in desperate need of staff. Between the injured, the dead, and those who had resigned to look for a less dangerous job, like hunting dragons or defusing explosive arrays, there were many classes left unattended.
Balkor's shadow made serving as Professor in an academy less of a prestigious position and more like a death sentence.
Among the Headmasters, Linjos had gotten the short end of the stick again. Not only did he have to find trustworthy mages to replace the Professors he lost during the attack, but he was constantly bothered by the other Headmasters.
His plan had saved their academies, their careers, and most importantly their lives.
They no longer saw him as a young, arrogant brat that had become the youngest Headmaster ever only because he was the Queen's new pet project. They finally recognized his worth and the brilliance of his mind.
They were willing to set aside their pride along with the old ways, often asking Linjos for advice about who to hire and how to change their academies for the better.
He was really flattered by all their attentions, but he was forced to spend half his time taking care of their academies instead of his own. Yet Linjos could only grin and bear with it, he knew it was a once in a lifetime opportunity.
If he managed to obtain their trust and cooperation, the academy system could finally be changed for good. Once the Council of the Headmasters made a decision, the nobles could only comply.
It would solve one of the most pressing matters that had plagued the Kingdom for years. Sure, it would still take decades to iron out all the details and to win over enough of the old noble families to prevent other sabotages from happening, but it would still be a great start.
***
House Ernas, five days after the attack
Lith's condition was getting better with each day. The fever was gone and thanks to the constant care he received from both families and Solus, his shriveled body was slowly returning to normal.
Yet he still looked like an old man and gave no sign he would wake up any time soon. Jirni proved to be an amazing host, providing Lith's family with the best rooms and with everything they could need.
She had taken her time, showing them around the house little by little and telling them about its history.
Phloria spent a lot of time with Rena and Tista, since they would either help her to take care of Lith, or force her to take a break and rest while Elina and Friya would relieve her.
When Lith regained his senses in the afternoon, he already knew about his failure. His last memory before fainting was of Protector's still cracked core. Even burning his life force had not been enough to repair such extensive damage, not with his own core already running on fumes and his body on the verge of collapse.
Yet he had to ask.
- "Solus, is Protector…"
"Yes, he is gone." She replied, carefully avoiding to lying to him. "I'm so sorry for your loss." She wept remembering Protector's parting words. She had to find a way to pass them to Lith.
"I knew it. No matter how hard I work, no matter how much I try, I always fail when it really matters."- Tears ran along his cheeks, they were the first sign of life in more than five days.
"Lith, are you awake?" Normally, he would be surprised hearing Phloria's voice, but now he was too tired to care. His mind kept replaying Protector's last moments of life. The grief overwhelmed him again, making him feel like his heart was getting squeezed in a vice.
"Yes." Lith was unable to recognize his own voice. It was hoarse and feeble, like a hiss. He tried to get up, but his arms were too weak for the task. The attempt almost made him pass out from overexertion.
Lith took a deep breath, yet even that was too much for his current condition. He felt his lungs burn and he coughed uncontrollably. He heard the footsteps of someone running away and felt someone helping him lie down comfortably.
Lith recognized Tista's scent as soon as she got close.
"Don't push yourself, lil brother. Your condition is getting better every day, but you need to rest. Dad is going to be here soon."
Lith was too sad to ask why Phloria was in their home, or what had happened to him. The only thing he could think about was finding a way to make the pain stop. Ever since his rebirth, he had made sure to keep everyone and everything under his control.
He knew he wouldn't be able to endure what had happened to Carl again. His unquenchable hunger for power had started as a way to escape from the madness his death and rebirth cycle represented.
Over time, the love he had developed for his family had changed it into a way to create a small ecosystem where he was god and all those he cared about were bound to be safe.
First, he had taken care of the hunger, then he had cured Tista, and got rid of every single threat the new world posed to his family. Magical beasts, wanted felons, Abominations, he had taken care of them all, permanently.
With every success, Lith had grown more confident of his plan until he had managed to reassure himself that, as long as he followed that pattern, everything would be alright.
Protector's death had crushed that illusion, shattering the beliefs on which he had based his whole existence up until that point.
He kept weeping, not only for Protector, but also for himself.
- "If someone as strong as Ryman died so easily, there's no way I can keep my family safe. They are all so weak. It's only a matter of time before I lose them all. What's the point of trying so hard if I'm destined to fail? No matter what I do, I can only delay the inevitable."-
His constant weeping and sobbing were only interrupted by the cough.
Raaz arrived at his bedside, holding him to his chest to calm him down.
"Does it hurt so bad? Do you want some pain medication? Please, speak to me. Tell me what's wrong."
He was holding back his tears. Raaz had never seen Lith so weak, both physically and mentally. He was afraid that his condition could be even more severe than it appeared, but he didn't know what to do.
It was the first time that his son needed his help, yet Raaz felt completely useless. The only thing he could do was to stay strong in front of him. He didn't want to add himself to the list of Lith's worries.
"It's not my body that hurts, dad. It's the loss. My only true friend died today."
Phloria felt hurt by those words, but she kept silent. Lith's relationship with the evolved monster seemed to be deep and he was clearly confused, believing it was still the second day of the attack.
Before his brain could realize what he was doing, Lith let everything out. Telling Raaz about how he and Protector had fought when he was still four, how they had become friends when he was eight after he killed Gerda, and how from that moment onward they had spent more and more time together.
He told him about how Protector had taught him to be a better hunter, about all the creatures that they had fought together to keep the Trawn woods and their families safe until Lith had joined the academy.
Even if he managed to leave Solus and the Awakened ones out of his story, every memory he shared worsened the pain. Lith second guessed everything he had done to and with Protector.
"When we met, I just thought of turning him into warm fur for the winter. After he attempted to befriend me, I belittled him, only considering him as a means for an end. I exploited his kindness to bring food to our table and keep our family safe.
"When I understood he was much more than a tool, I never told him how important he was to me. How precious it was to have someone I could share my burden with, someone who I could talk about all the things I had to keep secret from you and mom to keep you from worrying.
"Now it's too late. I failed him the only time he needed me and now he is dead. It's all my fault. He wouldn't have left the Trawn woods if I didn't tell him about the academy.
"He wouldn't have died if I wasn't too weak to save him. He will never know how sorry I am for all the bad things I thought about him nor how meeting him has changed my life. All of it happened because of my weakness and cowardice.
I should be the one who died."
Lith was incapable of accepting that some things were inevitable, that life wasn't a game where he could save and load until he obtained the desired outcome. He needed someone to blame and his first choice was himself.
All those in the room were shocked to the bone. The events that Lith considered as fond memories were a parent's worst nightmare. He had candidly confessed how he had put his life at risk time and time again, revealing that his family's wealth was built on a pile of lies and bones.
Chapter 226 Truth Hurts
Raaz was mad at the idea of his son's double life outside of his family, doing things that no child should ever even attempt to do. What angered him the most weren't all the lies Lith had told him, Raaz was already way beyond that point, but how he spoke about fighting to the death as if it was perfectly normal.
He took deep breathes to control himself from time to time. His son needed to vent the pain that was eating at him from the inside. Raaz could always scold him later. Alas, Tista wasn't as strong as her father.
She started weeping together with Lith, needing Phloria's help to be able to stand.
"Why did you do all those things?" She blurted out.
"I would have rather starved than allow you to take so many risks. A few meals and some extra coins will never be worth your life. What if something happened to you?"
Tista only spoke out of concern, the revelation had been too shocking for her to accept it quietly. Yet to Lith's ears, her words sounded ungrateful like she was spitting on all the sacrifices he had made and the help Protector had given to him.
"Why do you ask?" He was already used to the cough, he kept his voice low and hissing so it didn't interrupt him again. Not now that he found someone else to blame.
"Have you already forgotten about the cold? About how sickly you were and how drafty our house was during winter? We were all so hungry that Orpal and Trion would steal eggs from the henhouse and milk from the stable whenever they could.
"Rena only took from the pantry what she needed to avoid fainting from hunger. Our parents knew it and they could only pretend everything was all right, but it was not! Why do you think Orpal was always picking on us?
"Someone had to do something, it just happened to be me! If it wasn't for Protector, all of us wouldn't even be here. How dare you whine in hindsight, now that you are healthy and well fed? You should be thanking me and grieving him!
"Stop being a baby and grow up, dammit! Everything in life comes at a price. The only reason you can allow yourself to be so naïve and carefree is because others have always paid it in your stead. If I died back then, there would have been more food left for the rest of you. It was a win-win situation."
Lith was so angry that he managed to stand up and open his eyes, staring at Tista with hatred. Phloria had to hold her tight to keep her calm. Tista had never seen Lith angry at her, nor had she ever witnessed the mad beast glare he used on others.
She had always been her brother's princess. The way he was speaking and acting towards her were ripping Tista's heart to shreds.
Raaz poked his forehead gently enough that Lith barely noticed the hit.
"Consider yourself slapped, young man." He said with a sad but firm tone.
"I'm sorry for all you went through. I must have been a horrible father to make you feel the need to sacrifice your childhood to give us a better life. I'll never be able to forgive myself for that. It's a father's duty to take care of his children, not the other way around."
He wiped off a silent tear off his own cheek, poking Lith's forehead again.
"However, what you just said to your sister was just cruel. The gods only know if she would still be alive without all the care you gave her. There is no one in the family that has ever overlooked your efforts, especially Tista.
You have always been her hero. What she was trying to say, is that you can't ask us to accept you risking your life like that. Yes, our life was harsh, but at least we had each other. You didn't have to push yourself so far, it wasn't worth it."
"I had no choice." Lith rebuked. "Someone had to do something."
"No, you had a choice." Another poke.
"You could have just followed your siblings' lead, helping with the farm. It was our duty as parents to find a solution, not yours. You chose to play god instead. I don't know if you did it because you are incredibly smart or arrogant, but lying to your family and taking so many risks was the wrong decision.
Even if you did it for the right reasons, it doesn't change anything. Gods, I'm so stupid."
Raaz pinched his own nose, closing his eyes to hold back the guilt that was ravaging his heart.
"When we saw that huge Byk pelt at Count Lark's mansion, we understood you were hiding many things from us. We choose to keep our eyes shut because we were so proud of your achievements that we feared our interference could ruin your future.
If you want to blame someone, blame me."
Seeing his father despair and his sister crying was too much for Lith. Even grief-stricken, he knew that Raaz was right. They had never asked anything of him aside from being a happy and healthy child.
It had been his decision to go hunting, just as it had been his decision to protect his family on his own. He knew the risks and had chosen to ignore them time and time again. Until Protector's death, his magic had made him overconfident.
There was no one to blame but himself. Lith suddenly felt like a child throwing a tantrum. His rage disappeared and with it the strength he had left. His head collapsed on the cushions with his eyes closed again.
"You are right, sorry." Was the only thing that he managed to say.
Raaz recovered quickly, poking him again.
"Don't you dare start blaming yourself, young man." Raaz held his hand, letting Lith notice for the first time how shriveled it was.
"It's not your fault if Protector died. From what you told me, he was a brave and smart beast. He wasn't your toy or your puppet. No one forced him to do anything. He knew the risks and he decided to help your academy anyway because he cared for you.
He sacrificed himself to let you and all the other kids survive. If there is someone whining in hindsight here, it's you. Lith, you have every right to cry and mourn, but don't try to inflict pain on those close to you just to relieve your frustration."
Lith felt deeply ashamed of his outburst. Taking it out on Tista and exposing his shared past with Protector had been childish. Yet, he felt better for it. Now he wasn't the only one who knew of Protector's gentle soul and valor.
***
The last few days had helped Quylla to sort out her feelings. Unlike Phloria, she found herself too scared to spend so much time together with Lith's family. His mother and sisters were so beautiful that even the thought of being compared to them made her wish to disappear.
Also, while her heart was gripped by fear for Lith's condition, Quylla couldn't stand to see him in such a poor state. After he had woken up, things had gotten even worse. It wasn't only his body that had been hurt, but his spirit too.
Quylla had never seen Lith cry or mope before. Until that moment she had considered him unshakable, always confident, capable of going against any odds and coming out victorious. Now he was reduced to a shadow of himself, waiting for his death.
She felt mean and shallow for thinking such things, but she couldn't help herself. Quylla realized that because of her indecisiveness, their relationship had never become something more than a simple friendship.
Lith had no reason to let her into his life and she had always been too afraid of rejection to approach him. After Phloria had asked him out, they had grown even more distant. Quylla knew that her feelings for him were withering by the day.
In a way, she felt relieved. She and Phloria were sisters now, it would be terrible to force the rest of the family to pick a side between the two of them because of what she now understood had always been puppy love.
Yurial wasn't doing well either. After returning home, he had hoped the joy of his survival would have been sufficient to convince his father to change the plans for his future.
"Please, dad. Let's call the marriage with Libea off. She is indeed a beautiful young woman, but aside from that, we have nothing in common. She despises commoners, has no interest in magic, and cares more about looking pretty than about the prosperity of our lands.
I can't spend the rest of my life with such a shallow person."
Velan Deirus sighed, he understood his son's situation all too well. It was the same one he had found himself almost twenty-five years ago.
"Yurial, I know that, after what you have gone through, you feel the need to make changes in your life, but I need you to face reality. This marriage was arranged over ten years ago. You gave your approval and renewed your vow before departing.
"To cancel the agreement would mean losing a lot of face for our family. Who would trust someone that doesn't keep their word on such important matters? Not to mention that it would delay our plans for expansion by at least a generation.
"Magic doesn't allow us to perform miracles, we still need men and funds to improve our lands. Your marriage will open our way in the old system, making everything faster and easier. Why do you think I married your mother?"
Now it was Yurial's turn to sigh. There was little if no love between his parents. From the moment he had shown his magical potential, his mother had disappeared from his life. She had no role in raising Yurial, Velan was the only parent he ever had.
Considering that he had to share his father with Velan's magical research and his duties as a Grand Duke, it didn't amount to much. That was one of the reasons he had fought so hard to become the heir. He desperately wanted Velan's recognition and love.
His mother was at least able to manage the finances of the Grand Duchy, but the only reason she cared about magic was to flaunt her husband's skills and achievements in front of the other noble families.
"It's painful to hear it from your father, but remember that once you give the family an heir, you'll be free to have any woman or man that you want. Just be discreet about it and don't get caught. Being discovered or having a bastard would be a disgrace to our house."
Yurial nodded. Despite his young age, he had already had several lovers, but reality was proving to be a cruel mistress. The only thing he could do to fight the feeling of desperation gushing from his heart was to take a gulp of tranquilizer.
After killing a man during the second exam, Yurial had used several kinds of potions to keep his mind in check and had almost become addicted to them. It had taken him time and effort to progressively stop taking his medications, but after almost dying twice during the god of death's assaults he couldn't avoid a relapse.
He had yet to find the courage to check Lith's condition in person. Yurial felt responsible for what had happened to him and didn't know how to face his friend's family.
The Deirus household had done its best to help his savior recover, but when even Manohar had thrown in the towel, saying they could only wait and see, there wasn't much anyone could do.
Also, because Lith was currently living at house Ernas, Yurial could only talk to the girls via the communication amulet. That left him with nowhere to go and no one to turn to for help. He was trapped inside his own house, surrounded by servants but without a single friend.
- "Gods, why are you doing this to me? I spent my whole life preparing to become the Lord of these lands. I worked hard every day to make my dream come true, only for it to turn into my worst nightmare.
"I have only two choices in front of me. I can accept my fate, sacrificing my happiness to build a better future for my family, my subjects, and the Kingdom. Or I can leave everything behind, throwing away years of planning and study to become a vagrant mage.
"Whatever I decide, life as I know it will be over. I wish I had been born a commoner. Maybe I wouldn't have been able to enroll in an academy, but at least my destiny would be in my own hands.
"There are too many lives on the line, dad has no time to find a new heir. If I fold now, house Deirus will probably disappear the moment my father dies."
Cursing his fate, Yurial took several sips from the potion, until the intoxicating feeling of relaxation wiped away all of his worries.
Chapter 227 Death Visions
After Raaz's speech made Lith realize how self centered he had been, fatigue overcame him, making Lith fall asleep again.
When he woke up, only his mother stood beside him.
"Mom, what happened to me? Can I have a mirror?" Lith asked.
"That's something you should tell us, baby." Elina was happy to see him awake again so soon. The fever was finally gone.
"Your Professors say you were alright when they left you at Protector's deathbed, but when they found you, you were already in a terrible state. You have recovered greatly in the last five days, but I wouldn't look in the mirror if I were you."
"Please, I want to see the price of my foolishness with my own eyes." Lith squeezed her hand.
When Elina conjured a water mirror in front of him, Lith didn't even flinch.
Despite all the potions and the treatments he had received, he was still severely underweight. He had no more bald spots, his hair was regrowing fine, but it was still grey. Only his eyes were unchanged, cold and uncaring.
- "Solus, can I use Invigoration?"
"I don't know." She replied. "Your core is perfectly fine, but your body worries me. After burning so much of your life force, most of your healthy tissues are still recovering. You were left with mostly impurities. I'm afraid that by recovering so fast you may trigger a breakthrough."–
Lith mind nodded. Healing overnight would be impossible to explain, releasing so many impurities in front of witnesses even more so.
"I guess I'm finally as ugly on the outside as I am on the inside." He cruelly laughed at himself.
"Do you mind telling me what happened?" Elina changed the subject. In the past, she had experienced the pain of loss and how hard it could be for someone so young to face it.
- "Between his best friend's death and his current condition, there is no telling how he must be feeling. It's better for him to share whatever is burdening him. It should help him recover."– She thought.
For once, Lith was honest with her and told her how he had attempted to save Protector, giving it all he had and more.
"There's no need to scold me. Now I know that what I did was stupid and useless, just like me."
"No, you are wrong again." Elina lay on the bed beside him, hugging him tightly.
"Stupid? Yes. Reckless? Sure, but it wasn't useless. You did it out of love because you cared for him. I would do the same thing for any of my children if I had the opportunity. No parent should outlive their children, it's a pain too great to bear."
Lith nodded. Carl had been more like a son than a brother to him, his death still haunted him. He conjured another water mirror to look closely at himself. Maybe it was the aftermath of his failed spell, maybe it was because of the grieving, but for the first time, Lith felt his age weighing on him.
He felt old and tired. Too tired to keep fighting a losing battle. He thought about leaving the academy. Being there every day would remind him of Protector, also he didn't know how Linjos would punish him for his behavior.
He also thought about abandoning his family for good. It would mean no more chains, no more ties, no more weakness. He was already tall enough to pass for an adult and with his magic talent, money wouldn't be an issue.
Solus was deeply scared of his mental condition. She could sense his mind swinging back and forth from desperation to anger, Lith's calm was only an appearance. She had spent the last days pondering what to do.
Telling him the truth would lift his spirit, but what about the long term? What if one of his relatives suddenly died or they were beyond saving? Despite all of his power, despite his strength that grew by the day, Lith was far from invincible.
Solus had noticed right after he had been hospitalized that his body was rebuilding itself stronger than before, the problem was his mind. It was shattered once again, now another deep scar was engraved in his soul, but it also represented the opportunity for him to change.
Solus didn't want him to become a saint or a hero, nor to forget about his past. She just wanted him to live his life without letting Carl's death affect every important choice he made.
- "He needs to learn that loving someone means knowing when to let them go.
I don't know what I feel for him anymore. It could be love or the childish desire of a little daughter who wants her father all to herself. I know nothing about human relationships outside of what he has taught me.
Maybe I'm just scared at the idea we may grow apart once he has a real girlfriend instead of a high school sweetheart. Even if it's love, and even if he returned those feelings, I have nothing to offer him. I could have cried and begged him not to be with Phloria, but it would have been just cruel and egotistical.
She can give him everything I can't. A shoulder to cry on, the warmth of a real embrace, maybe some love. I don't care what he chooses to do, as long as he doesn't punish himself out of fear of being hurt."– She thought.
- "Life sure has a twisted sense of irony. It's only thanks to Balkor's past that my family is so heavily protected, yet it's also because of him that Protector died. I must remember to thank him before killing everyone and everything he holds dear in front of his eyes."– Lith thought.
From that day, Lith could finally start eating real food instead of being forced to drink potions while he was asleep. It took him less than two days to be able to walk again, even if he needed help to do it.
Lith would have liked a walking stick, but there was always someone offering their arm to him, to not leave him alone for even one second.
Even if his body was quickly recovering, his psychological trauma was only getting worse. Ever since he had regained his consciousness, his eyes kept acting weird. If he looked at someone long enough, Lith would start to see odd things.
The first time, it happened with Phloria, since she was the one spending the most time with him. She was telling him about what had happened to the academy and the Griffon Kingdom while he was unconscious when he saw an invisible hand cut her throat.
Blood spilled everywhere, leaving Lith incapable of moving from the shock. The moment he blinked, Phloria was alright again, like nothing had happened. Then, he watched her aging decades with each passing second.
Phloria turned into a nice looking woman, then into a mature lady, and into an old woman with a kind smile. Lith felt like he was living in a nightmare, but it became even worse when she turned into a corpse, her old body started to rot while fleas and maggots feasted on her flesh until only a skeleton remained.
Tears streamed down his face.
"What's wrong? Are you in pain? Is there something wrong with your body?" Phloria asked.
Blinking returned everything to normal again.
- "Solus, what the heck is happening?" He was too shocked to answer Phloria's worried questions. He needed to know if what he was seeing was real or if it was just madness seeping into his mind.
"Nothing happened." She replied not understanding the reason for the question. -
After checking his memories, Solus didn't have any idea what he had seen either. They both checked his body and brain, but aside from the after effects of his attempt to save Ryman there was nothing new.
Then, Lith watched Phloria's heart getting pierced by a sword, her head cut off by an ax. He was forced to watch her die in a different way over and over again, and there was nothing he could do.
It happened the same way with everyone, be they members of his family, of the Ernas household or their staff. Soon Lith wasn't able to take it anymore and would keep his eyes closed most of the time, pretending to be tired.
- "Is my mind playing tricks on me or is this some kind of new power I developed? Seeing the death of the people close to me without any indication about how to stop it seems more like a curse than a power though. Solus, tell me the truth.
Am I losing my mind?"
Solus was hesitant to reply, she knew how fragile his psyche was.
"I think your mind is slipping, yes. I don't know if it's all in your head or it's somehow related to your current condition, but I believe you are torturing yourself. In a very twisted and cruel way, you are trying to get accustomed with the thought that sooner or later, everyone dies.
It's like your subconscious is showing you that some things are inevitable and there's nothing you can do about it ."–
Solus's words made sense. Lith was still conflicted between finding a way to hide everyone he loved away from the world to prevent them from getting hurt or just cutting his ties with his current life. If he was alone, then he had nothing to lose.
However, the thought of spending the rest of his life alone made death look alluring. Power and immortality had no meaning to him by themselves, they were just a means to an end. Lith's end had always been to find a place where he belonged and live a happy, quiet life.
He was only twelve yet had already experienced more battles to the death than most of Earth's professional soldiers. Lith wasn't willing to give up on life again, but he didn't know what he was fighting for anymore.
***
After she had returned home, Friya was giving her all practicing swordsmanship. She had too many thoughts crossing her mind to practice magic. She decided to keep her promise and use that unexpected free time to get to know Orion better.
Orion was overjoyed. It was the first time that his adoptive daughter had asked for his help. He knew that it was only a matter of time before Quylla joined them too. Those two were inseparable.
They spent the first day going through the basic forms. Only when Orion grasped what her skill level was, he decided what style was more suitable for Friya. Over the years of his military career, he had become proficient with most weapons
From the second day onwards, Quylla joined their practice as Orion had predicted. He had several of his subordinates come to his house to use them as sparring partners for Friya while he taught self defense to Quylla.
"I know you don't like fighting, little one,…" He caressed her head every time she learned a new move.
"…but there's no telling when it might come in handy."
As for Friya, her basics were solid. She had studied under a good master for years, after all. What she lacked was practical experience. Orion had arranged opponents of different genders and builds for her to help her learn how to adapt her style according to the situation.
Fighting someone smaller or bigger than Friya required adjustments that she needed to execute in a split second, otherwise a skilled enough opponent could take advantage of such an opening to put her on the back foot right from the start.
When Orion corrected Friya's mistakes during a sequence or a stance, she would only reply: "Thanks, dad." With a smile that almost moved him to tears. Until that moment, she had only called him by his first name.
Orion was happy that Friya was starting to accept her new family.
There were only two sore points in spending quality time with his two new daughters. The first was that Phloria wasn't willing to join them, spending all of her time taking care of Lith.
Orion dearly missed the good old times when his little Flower would only have her dad in her eyes and ignored all the stuck up brats that Jirni sent her way. Back then, they were like minded, only thinking about magic and sword.
Sure, he had to suffer Jirni's daily nagging every time she failed, but keeping his baby safe was worth the price. Now he and his wife had switched position. Jirni now gloated all day and he could only prepare for the worst.
The second one was that too many of his subordinates looked at Friya with lustful eyes. Orion had to admit that she was almost as beautiful as Phloria. His fatherly eyes still refused to accept that, while Phloria was a really cute girl, Friya was a true beauty.
The tiny droplets of sweats during the exercises would make Friya's visage sparkle under the sunlight.
Her long black hair framed her face, bringing out her fair skin and light chestnut eyes. Coupled with the grace and elegance of her movements, she was truly a sight to behold.
Most of the times it was enough for Orion to clear his throat to remind those idiots of his presence. Sometimes, he was forced to take Friya's place to show her what she was doing wrong and wipe the floor with their as*es.
He only did it for educational purposes, of course. Friya needed to learn her forms while the others their own place in the world.
Chapter 228 Moving On
After the training session was over, Friya, Quylla, and Orion spent some more time together in the park nearby. House Ernas had two training areas. One indoors, to practice during bad weather or run fighting simulations in different scenarios.
The walls and the ceiling were enchanted, allowing them to shapeshift to recreate caves, narrow corridors, or small rooms.
The other one was located behind the house. It was a large clearing, with no vegetation or furnishing outside training dummies. It was the perfect place to practice magic and sword techniques in the open under different weather conditions, with complete freedom of movement.
"Dad, there's something I need to talk to you about." Friya sat on the ground in front of him with a sad expression on her face. Orion could tell there was something haunting her.
"During the last day of the attack, I killed a few undead. I wouldn't even mention it, if not for the fact that they were people I knew." She told him about what had happened while she was looking for a Healer to save Phloria and Yurial.
"When I killed that woman, during the second exam, I felt terrible. Some days, I can still see her terrified expression the moment before I executed her. This time I didn't feel anything. I know they had become monsters, but they were still my classmates.
"I should feel remorse, some pain for their deaths, something. Does this make me a bad person? Am I turning into a cold blooded killer?"
"No to both your questions." Orion shook his head without hesitation.
"It just means that you have got your priorities straight. On the battlefield, remorse or hesitation leads to premature death. Even if your enemies are humans, mercy is a luxury you can't afford.
"You killed the first woman in cold blood, you killed the others in self defense while trying to save the people you love.The two events are worlds apart. Also, they weren't your classmates. At least not anymore. They were just reanimated corpses, there's no reason to feel guilty. I'm proud of both of you."
He hugged them, kissing the top of their heads.
"Dad, I have something to say too." Quylla had never had a family before. She still found hard to believe that someone like Orion was her father now.
Orion was brimming with joy. Quylla had finally called him dad instead of father.
"Surviving the god of death's anniversary made me understand a few things. After so much death, I realized that I don't like fighting. Unlike my sisters, I'm not suited for the battlefield. I want to become a Healer and help people."
Orion nodded.
"It's good that you found your way so soon. Fighting is not everything. You must always think about your happiness and your future first."
"About that, I don't want to spend the next year only studying magic." She said averting her eyes and fiddling with her hair.
"There's more to life than grades and exams. Phloria is right, we have so little time left before our duty replaces our life. I want more. I can't just wait for good things to miraculously fall into my lap."
"Yeah, me too." Friya chimed in.
"Honestly, I never thought Lith's and Phloria's relationship would last this long, nor that it would become so special."
"No one did." They both blushed in embarrassment. They had secretly bet against it. Quylla had given them a week before breaking up, while Friya's wager was that their first date would also be the last.
"While we were at the mining town, I was so envious of them that more than once I daydreamed about being in Phloria's place. So there's one thing I have to ask you."
Friya looked resolute, making Orion worries go through the roof.
"So do I." Quylla became beet red. He could now only fear for the worst.
"Can you please bring us to social events during the weekends?" Friya said.
"I don't want to marry yet, but I want at least to start dating. Please dad, can you help us?"
Despite only just getting to know them, Orion felt like he was already losing them. Inwardly cursing his bad luck, he could only agree.
***
'It's time to hasten my recovery. To use Accumulation or Invigoration I need to be alone though. I cannot risk a breakthrough occurring in front of witnesses, it would raise too many questions. Loneliness is a luxury at the moment, but luckily, I know a heavy sleeper.'
Lith had noticed that his natural recovery had made most of his impurities nearly reach his core. Even if he did nothing, it was just a matter of time before a breakthrough happened. He decided to avoid relying on luck and take the matter in his own hands.
That evening, after a particularly large meal, Lith made his move.
"Mom, Lady Ernas, I'm really thankful for everything you have done for me so far. I think now I have recovered enough. It should be safe leaving me alone for a good night's sleep."
"I don't think that's true, young man. You could still have a relapse. It's better if someone keeps you company, so if anything bad happens, help will come immediately." Lady Ernas shook her head.
She was spending a lot of time with Elina these days. Which meant she also spent a lot of time with Lith and his sisters
He could clearly see what Jirni's goal was and he didn't like it one bit. Yet she was the reason why he had been able to improve so quickly while his family managed to remain so calm despite his situation.
Lith knew he was indebted to her and that she was going to use it as leverage to ask him for something in return at the right moment. It was exactly what he would have done in her shoes.
"Then what if only Phloria stays with me tonight? We have much to talk about, yet we never managed to get a little alone time." The cough was long gone, his voice back to normal too.
Yet Lith pretended to cough a couple of times, using that horrible raspy, hissing voice that had tormented him after he woke up to appear as harmless as possible.
Phloria and Elina turned beet reed, while Tista and Rena giggled like crazy. They whispered things among themselves that Lith had hoped his sisters would never think about him.
"When I say 'talk', I mean it." He coughed again, looking at them sourly.
"I'm still recovering. Not to mention that I look like a monster." Lith's hair had yet to regain their color. He didn't look like an old man anymore, but he had still a few wrinkles on his face and hands.
Because of the massive weight loss, Lith also had deep set eyes, like he had been recently resurrected from the grave. The only problem with his claims was that despite his visage being still quite unsettling, the rest of his body told a different story.
He had lost almost all of his body fat, so his physique was almost purely muscle. Lith was quite thin, but exactly because of that, he had a six pack for the first time in his life.
"If you call this being a monster, lil bro, you should have seen how yourself when you first arrived here. Yet your girlfriend never left you until we forced her to. You should really find a way to thank her properly." Tista giggled.
"Tista, what are you saying in front of our host?" Elina was embarrassed by her daughter's words and so was Jirni, at least apparently. Lady Ernas saw through his lie and inwardly nodded at Tista's words.
"Well, Elina, your son may be a little too bold, but he is right. We both know there are some things that a young couple shouldn't discuss in front of their parents, right?" Jirni whispered in Elina's ear.
When Lith and Phloria were left alone, Lith started wracking his brain about something to say. Also, he needed her to quickly fall asleep, since he had no idea how long he could last before fatigue overwhelmed him.
If he fell asleep first, he wouldn't wake up until the next morning, increasing the risks of a breakthrough. Both of them remained silent for a while until Lith found his answer.
"Why don't you come closer? Back at the mining town, you had no problem sleeping beside me. Or was I just some kind of teddy bear to you?" He said with his best smile. Lith knew from experience that Phloria was weak to cuddles.
They made her sleep like a baby.
Phloria swallowed a lump of saliva, taking only her shoes off before going under the blankets with him. She wrapped her arms around Lith, making him flinch.
The unexpected warm embrace soothed his restless spirit for the first time since he had regained his senses. Lith couldn't stop looking at her while she rubbed her body against his, making him feel pleasure and embarrassment at the same time.
"To think that you mocked me so badly for using my uniform as pajamas and now you do the same." He tried to stop her by caressing her hair and kissing her gently, but it only made things worse.
He heard her emit a soft moan while she shivered under his touch.
"You are right. It's a little hypocritical of me." Phloria's head disappeared under the sheets. Lith heard a rustling sound before seeing her naked arm throwing away the shirt first and the pants later.
"Is it better now?" She asked pressing her body against his again. Lith only wore light pajamas, there was little he couldn't feel through the fabric and the same could be said for her..
"I should have done this much earlier." She said giving him a gentle kiss, unsure how much he could take. In her eyes, Lith was like a cracked vase. Also, she had no idea what she was doing.
"I was so scared. I thought I had lost you for good." She started sobbing, clinging to him for comfort. Lith was moved by her boldness and at the same time frozen in surprise.
No matter how long he looked at her, nothing happened. Lith could see Phloria's body only down to her shoulders, the rest was covered by the sheets, but she was the picture of health and stayed that way.
He was so relieved that his hands wrapped her back, caressing it along the spine and enjoying her soft skin. He sensed her shivering again, but this time he was able to notice that it wasn't because of pleasure, she was wound up like a drum.
"Lith, I have to tell you before it's too late: I l…" Lith placed his hand on her lips, stopping her before it really was too late.
"No, you don't." He said as he never stopped caressing her head.
"It's a little too early for you to use that word. We met months ago, but we have only really known each other for barely a month. You are not ready for this and neither am I. You are just scared of the future, so you are rushing blindly to escape from your fears."
Lith didn't know whether he was talking to her or himself.
"I care too much about you to let you make this mistake. It would scar both of us and likely put an end to our relationship. Never make important decisions when you are angry or afraid.
"Those are not the kind of emotions you want to let cloud your judgment. They will always make you pick the wrong path. You deserve someone better than me, especially now that I look like your grandpa."
Phloria managed to chuckle even if she was still sobbing a little.
"The Phloria I know is bold, but not reckless. I'm not going to die anytime soon, so there's no reason to force yourself." He kissed her back gently, needing his sheer willpower to keep his hands on her head.
"All I want is for you to be happy. When you have calmed down, if you still think I can make you happy, we'll resume this conversation. I beg of you, remember that I am a broken person and that I have been broken once again.
You deserve someone normal and sane, while I could shatter anytime and hurt you."
Phloria never stopped sobbing, but he could sense her relaxing under his touch.
"There is only one thing that I must ask of you before the night ends." He said, wiping away her tears with his hands.
"Anything." She replied blushing violently.
"Please, put your clothes on, or when our mothers will enter this room tomorrow morning, they'll start arranging our wedding."
'Also, even in this debilitated state, I don't know how much longer I can hold myself back.'
Lith inwardly added. He knew that, between being emotionally vulnerable and the self-inflicted prolonged isolation from all kinds of human contact, he was really susceptible to temptations from the only girl that he had allowed to become close to him, both physically and emotionally.
There was only so much he could take before his pubescent body took the wheel. Phloria was well aware of this since she could feel something hard pressing against her abdomen from the moment she had taken off her clothes.
She turned off the lights before getting out of the bed. Luckily, she hadn't thrown her uniform far and it was designed to easily come on and off. Lith instantly started regretting what he had done and the fact that none of his abilities allowed him to see in the dark.
Chapter 229 Moving On 2
As soon as Phloria fell asleep, Lith got out of the bed and used Accumulation. This was the second time that a battle to the death had pushed him on the verge of a breakthrough. If not for his debilitated state, it would have already happened.
The process was even more painful than the last time. Not only his bones, but also his flesh kept being destroyed and regenerated almost at the same time to force the impurities out of his body.
Lith had enveloped himself inside the Hush spell, to prevent anyone from hearing his screams, but not before checking the room for listening or recording magical devices.
He had the feeling that there was very little Jirni Ernas wouldn't do to reach her goals. After finding none, Lith could afford to relax. He tasked Solus to get rid of the impurities as soon as they appeared, in case he didn't make it back to bed.
Leaving any kind of proof behind wasn't an option.
The process was slow and excruciating, but it brought him one step closer to the blue core. Lith didn't know if it was due to exhaustion or because of Phloria embracing him even in her sleep, however that night he finally felt at peace with himself.
***
The next morning, the awkward relationship Raaz and Orion had developed turned even more awkward. Unlike Jirni, who was able to talk about any topic, the two men had nothing in common outside of being both parents.
Yet their wives were spending a lot of time together and were pressing them to do the same. The only thing they could talk about was their children, their experiences in raising them, and their expectations about their future.
So, when they entered the room and found Lith and Phloria laying on the same bed, Raaz was really happy to see that she had slept above the sheets while Lith was under them. There was a throbbing vein on Orion's neck that didn't bode well.
"I swear to the gods, if it wasn't for the fact that he is my guest and he is already injured, I would be tempted to kill your son. How do you manage to be so calm despite having two daughters?" Orion asked.
"The gods seem to love me." Raaz scratched his head nervously.
"Rena didn't start dating until she became an adult while Tista doesn't seem interested in dating anyone. She has set her standards too high. She compares everyone to her brother. How can a country boy measure up to a magician?"
"Maybe I've failed as a father." Orion sighed. "She is still so young and yet so reckless. What did I do wrong?"
Raaz would have liked to reply that Phloria was already past fifteen years old. On Mogar, the new world, most girls that age would already be at their second or third relationship.
Being the father of the culprit and being Orion a head taller than him, Raaz preferred to remain silent. He knew what he would have done if their situations were reversed.
"Time to wake up, my little Flower. Breakfast is ready."
"Thanks, dad." Phloria was a bit embarrassed, making her cheeks turn red. Not about her father finding her on the bed, but at the thought of what had almost happened.
"How do you feel, son?" Raaz caressed Lith's grey hair. The refining process had boosted Lith's magical and physical abilities, but it had left him even more exhausted than the day before.
"Much better, thanks." Raaz didn't believe him, Lith was barely able to remain conscious. Yet he wasn't lying, his mental condition had greatly improved.
'What almost happened last night made me understand that dad is right. Protector's death isn't anyone's fault. I would have done anything to save Carl's life, even if it meant losing my own. I can't stop others from fighting for those they love.
'It would be as cruel as hypocritical of me. He sacrificed himself doing what he believed right, just like I almost did. Protecting someone is much harder than killing, too many things can go wrong. That's why I need power, much more than I already have!'
Lith smiled softly to his father, his mind was at peace. His body was a mess though. Right after a breakthrough, until the body naturally recovered its strength, Invigoration was useless.
In another couple of days, Lith was able to walk without help. His hair was returning to its natural color and most of the wrinkles were gone.
"Remarkable, simply outstanding." Manohar was enthusiast of his progress.
"Your recovery speed is unheard of. I had patients in a condition far less severe than yours and it took them weeks to get where you are now." He had become Lith's personal healer since the first day he had been bedridden.
Manohar was very fond of Lith, considering him one of the few people with enough brain it was worth talking to. Also, he was too scared of Lady Ernas to refuse her request.
She had even befriended his mother, the second person Manohar feared the most in the three great countries, right after Queen Sylpha. Unless he decided to disappear again, Jirni would always know where to find him.
Yet if he did, the Queen had promised him that she would make sure it be the last. She had already prepared the official document ordering his execution, it would only take a signature to make it effective.
Lith and Jirni spent quite some time together. She would often accompany him during his walks, discussing with him about many different topics. Thanks to Soluspedia, he rarely found himself at loss for words.
'I don't know if by meeting her expectations I'm improving our relationship or I'm digging my own grave.' Lith thought.
He continued to experience visions of the death of whoever he watched for too long. It required a lot of willpower to stop the phenomenon, leading him to believe it was all in his head.
He couldn't care for maids or butlers, but every time he saw a member of his family or Phloria die horribly, his heart would cringe. Even if he knew it was just an illusion, it didn't make it any less painful.
It was a mild form of torture that put his mind under serious stress while his body kept getting better by the day. A few days after the breakthrough, Lith had regained his old appearance, even getting a little taller.
'There are only two possibilities. This Death Vision thingy is caused by my mental trauma or it's a consequence of my attempt to save Protector. Either way, I can't wait for it to be gone.'
Lith had just seen Jirni die by poison, her face was blue and swollen in his eyes, bleeding from all her orifices. Talking to living corpses was too much even for someone as cynical as him.
"I'm pleased to see how knowledgeable you are." Jirni sat down on a wicker chair near a small table, prompting him to do the same. They had been walking in the park surrounding the mansion until they found a dining area.
"That's not enough though. I'm sorry for being so blunt while you are still recovering, but I couldn't help but notice how much my daughter cares for you. I want only the best for her and I need to know that we are on the same page about it.
"What are your intentions towards her? I know you are still young, but she is not. I have no problem if what's going between you it's just a fling. Phloria is completely inexperience about love. She has to start somewhere and sooner is better than later.
"However, I want you to be completely honest with me and of course with her too. If you are not serious about this relationship, she has the right to know it." Lith recognized how Jirni was looking at him.
It was the same way he did at everyone he met. She was trying to determine if he was someone valuable or just a disposable tool. Despite her tone was calm and her manners impeccable, Lith had never felt so pressured before.
Not even when Marchioness Distar had taken him prisoner in her house until he had cured her daughter. Lith pinched his nose, he needed to think without being haunted by ghastly visions.
"I really like your daughter, Lady Ernas. Both as a friend and as an invaluable companion. Yet I can't promise you or her anything. I have planned my future way ahead of time and I can tell you that marriage it's not part of the plan.
"Once I become an adult, I'll join the army. It will only be the beginning of my journey. There are things that I must do before settling down and I have no idea how long it will take. I can't ask Phloria, or anyone for that matters, to wait for me."
Jirni nodded, pleased by his honesty.
'At his age, most teenagers confuse daydreaming with planning, but if he's like me, then he is dead serious. I can't force him into marriage, it would mean making an enemy out of him and most importantly, it would make Phloria miserable.
'However, it is not over yet. There's no telling how their feelings can evolve, especially since they have yet to experience real intimacy.'
"Just make sure she is well aware of your intentions. The rest is up to her, Phloria is her own woman. Here, this is a token of my goodwill, in case you should change your mind." Jirni took out of her dimensional amulet a white hardcovered book, handing it to Lith with both her hands.
There was no title nor illustration on the front cover, making Lith curious about its nature. He only needed to open it to a random page to realize it was the new world equivalent of the Kamasutra for beginners.
"Well, well, well." Lady Ernas said with a surprised tone.
"You didn't become beet red nor I can see any sign of arousal after you watched at those pictures. This means that you are not a virgin or at least you are devoid of emotions. Remember my words: if you make my little Flower suffer and I will return everything in kind."
'Now I'm sure of it. I'm definitely digging my own grave.' Lith thought.
***
Another week passed, Lith had completely recovered from his condition. The only traces left of his trauma were the grey streaks between his hair and the Death Vision still plaguing every moment of his life he shared with others.
He seemed to have finally hit his growth spurt. His hunger was through the roof and he could feel his muscles and joints aching.
The White Griffon academy had reopened, allowing the students to go back for the last month of the last trimester. It had been a long year, no one was really in the mood for more studying, not even Lith.
Yet he was happy to be finally out of house Ernas. Lith was tired of Phloria's parents constantly staring at him, even though with completely different mindsets. Jirni had worked hard to give them some alone time whenever it was possible, while Orion had put as much effort to foil his wife's plans.
Also, he was eager to go back to his all-nighters to work on the boxes remaining in his pocket dimension. There was something scratching at the back of his head, telling him that something was wrong. He hadn't experienced any more visions, but it meant nothing.
'It could mean that I have succeeded in avoiding that future or that it's still pending. Whatever it is, I need to find out the truth and fast!'
Since his recovery, Lith had used all the alone time he had, including the bathroom breaks, to study with Invigoration the shotel Orion had borrowed to him. His heart bled when he had been forced to separate himself from that masterpiece, but he had no choice.
The sword had been specifically designed to counter Balkor's undead and Orion had no reason to gift him something so precious. He had managed to gather enough data about the pseudo cores and the magic crystals embedded in an item to be confident about opening the sealed boxes.
The first person he met on the fourth year floor was Yurial. Lith was so shocked by his appearance that he had to blink several times to make sure Death Vision wasn't responsible for what he was seeing.
Yurial had lost several kilograms, his eyes were bloodshot and dilated.
"Yurial, what the heck happened to you?" Lith asked.
"Nice to meet you too, old friend." Yurial hugged him, leaving Lith flabbergasted.
"Are you high or something?"
"Or something. Please, come to my room. I really need someone to talk to."
Lith had recognized the symptoms of drug abuse, so he followed him without asking any more questions.
Yurial told to Lith everything that had happened to him since his return home, from his efforts to change his father's mind to his tranquilizer addiction. His story was highlighted by many attempts to take a sip from a vial which Lith foiled every time.
"This is different from the second exam. Back then, I just had to get over my trauma and I had my father by my side. You have no idea how much it meant to me that for once he took some time to take care of me instead of give me lectures.
"Not to mention I had the girls to keep me company, I was never alone." Yurial half laughed and half cried the whole time.
"I can't get over my future. I'm scared sh*tless of it, I feel trapped like a mouse. I'm so sorry for never visiting you, but I didn't know what to say. I was too afraid you would have blamed me for your friend's death."
"Sadly, I would have probably done it." Lith sighed.
"I spent my first day awake trying to find a scapegoat. I'm still having a hard time accepting what happened." Lith shared with him the details about his Death Vision and how it was driving him insane.
"You see dead people?" Yurial offered Lith his potion.
"No. I don't see ghosts. I see how people may die according to my paranoia. In the last few minutes, I watched you die by poisoning, decapitation and an odd illness that covered your corpse with moss." Lith refused the tranquilizer.
If it actually worked, they would share the same addiction.
Chapter 230 Body Swap
"Does Phloria know about this Death Vision thingy?" Yurial asked.
"No, she has spent too much time worrying about me night and day. I'm going to give her a little respite before breaking the news to her. She deserves it."
"Man, that's exactly what I am talking about." Yurial sighed.
"Before Balkor, everything was so easy for me. I had my future set in stone. I thought I had my whole life in front of me. That my sh*tty wife would give me a few heirs before I started searching for happiness somewhere else.
"I didn't give a damn about love. All that I cared about was to take my father's place as the head of the family and make my Grand Duchy a better place for everyone to live in.
"Now I feel completely lost. I can't stop thinking about all the things that I will miss because of my role and my marriage. To make things worse, if something happened to me tomorrow, nobody would care.
"My mother barely remembers my name, while my father is always so busy that I rarely see him. Is it wrong for me to want to go away and have a life? To forget about duty and think only about myself for more than five minutes?
"I want to have something similar to what you have with Phloria, even once, before duty hog-ties me like a prime roast. What do you think I should do?"
"I'm sorry Yurial, but this is something only you can decide." Lith shook his head.
"There are only a few things I can tell you. First, give yourself some time to recover. Maybe you need to re-evaluate your life's long term priorities or maybe this is just your anxiety talking. We both need some quiet to get things straight, right now we are a mess.
"Second, you can't go to class in that state. Unless our Professors and colleagues have gone blind, they'll notice how high you are. You could get in serious trouble, maybe even get suspended."
Yurial sighed before using a few healing spells on himself. Cleansing his system was the easy part, in just a few minutes his appearance became that of someone that just had skipped too many meals and a few nights of sleep.
The problem was that now he could only resort to sheer willpower to keep his inner demons at bay. When they met the rest of the group in the compulsory courses' class for the Necromancy lessons, their mood only got worse.
While most of the class was moping in silence, the girls were smiling and laughing, like they had no care in the world. Yurial was so envious of house Ernas that he was about to pop a vein.
Phloria's older brother was already married, ensuring the future of the family and relieving his sibling from any kind of pressure.
Based on what Quylla had told him, she was walking on air. Orion was the father she had always wished for, and once she got used to Jirni's attempts to manipulate her, Quylla couldn't get angry with her.
Not after what she had heard from Friya and Yurial about their respective biological mothers. Yurial couldn't agree more with her.
'Lady Ernas may be nuttier than a fruitcake, but whatever she does to her daughters, she only does it because she thinks it's for their sake, not for her own.' Yurial thought.
Also, while Yurial's trauma was only getting worse over time, Friya was slowly overcoming her own. Losing her family after her mother's escape had been the lowest point of her life, but she was now certain that being adopted by the Ernas couple was the best thing that could happen to her.
She had finally a place where she belonged, loving relatives, and no more worries outside graduating from the academy. Since the fall of house Solivar, her arranged marriage had been called off. She was now free to do as she liked.
The boys faked a smile and sat in their chairs, waiting for the second gong to sound.
Professor Zeneff entered the room, giving a sad smile to the class. The students were so used to her cheerfulness that the change of attiude drawn on her drew even the gazes of those that usually wouldn't pay attention until the start of the lesson.
She had lost several kilograms too fast, making her appear much older than she actually was. Professor Zeneff seemed to be dreadfully tired, her movements were unsteady.
"Good morning, dear students. I know I look terrible, just like I know that after all you went through, you probably don't want to study Necromancy one more minute than absolutely necessary.
"Luckily, we are on the same page. The Black Griffon academy has suffered many casualties. I have lost many dear friends and assistants that were like family to me. So I'm eager to get over our lessons as much as you do and go back home.
"Today I'll teach you how to possess the body of one of your undead and use it as it was your own. This is the last thing you need to learn to complete this subject. I told you at the beginning that my course would be quick and easy. I kept my word."
Her voice lacked the enthusiasm they had become used to. The gloomy atmosphere of the class became even worse.
"The principle behind it is relatively simple." She made appear a rat skeleton, turning it into an undead, and imprinting it with her mark in a few seconds.
Death Vision made Lith see the undead's eyes turn off once the spell had lost its effectiveness and then after its body was crushed under something heavy.
'What the heck? Do I care for undead too or is this some kind of curse?' Lith thought.
"When I taught you how to move them and impart them simple commands, I explained to you how to perceive the mana that you have transferred within the corpse and move it with your will.
"Even if detached from your body, it's still a part of you."
Professor Zeneff placed her hand on the undead. Its eyes turned blue and it continued the explanation using Zeneff's voice.
"The last step requires for you to transfer your consciousness along with the mana. You have to find that sliver of your essence and establish a connection with it. I always suggest imagining it like creating a tunnel between the sliver and your consciousness.
"Then, imagine opening a door that leads outside your body and into the tunnel. Push your will through that door not to enforce a single thought, but your whole being. It can be done at any moment after creating an undead.
It will allow you to see, hear, and speak as if you were there.
"The process doesn't consume your mana, but the longer you use this technique and the farther you get from your real body, the greater is the focus required. Always remember that as long as you possess an undead, you can't use any magic and your own body is helpless.
"Also, if the corpse gets destroyed while you are still inhabiting hit, your mind could experience mild damage. Not enough to suffer from long lasting consequences, but enough to knock you out for a few minutes.
"In the event of danger, the best course of action is always to get out of the undead, animate a new one and take a different route."
Professor Zeneff returned to her body. Then, with a clap of her hands, she made a rat skeleton appear on each student's desk and a small metal bucket at their side. While some like Lith had no idea what the purpose of the bucket was, many others soon had a dire need of it.
Even if the rats and Balkor's creations were worlds apart in all respects, the feeling that the darkness magic animating them gave off was similar. Most of the students still had nightmares about those three days.
Darkness magic made them remember the fear of death they had experienced and the comrades they had lost. A series of dry heaving was quickly followed by puking sounds.
"I'm really sorry guys, but if you don't complete the task, I'll have to fail you." Professor Zeneff sniffed, empathizing with their feelings.
"Be strong and consider this lesson as shock therapy. If you manage to succeed today, you will not be forced to raise another undead until you graduate from the academy. There are no Necromancy lessons during the fifth year, you have my word for it."
The desire to get rid of the undead once and for all was motivation enough for most students to overcome their fear and start practicing.
Lith was already used to control multiple lesser undead at will, also he had decided to stop holding back. Merging with the undead's blood core wasn't much different from entering the mind space he shared with Solus.
Once he identified the part of him residing inside the creature, all he had to do was to force the sliver of his life force to take over the entire blood core.
Lith could feel his creation weakly rejecting him. Even with the mark forcing it into submission, the creature instinctively resisted the possession. The gap in willpower was abysmal, so it took him only a few seconds to complete the process.
The sensation he experienced though the rat's corpse was terrible. The world around him had turned black and white, all colors had disappeared. He couldn't smell anything and all of his new body was insensitive.
Either Lith touched the wooden desk or his originals' body hand, he couldn't feel any difference between the two. Even moving was awkward. Not only was Lith not used to moving on all four with such a different center of gravity, but also he could feel the body trying to expel him.
Even a mindless creature like an undead rat had enough hatred for the living to reject its creator's mind. It took Lith only a few minutes to get accustomed to the new body, but he could feel the resistance the creature offered increasing over time.
It was like keeping a spring compressed and preventing it to return to its natural shape.
The Lith rat jumped down from his desk, landing with the grace of a rock. Luckily, he felt no pain from the impact.
'If this is what it feels like being an undead, then it's simply appalling. The only bright side is that I don't have Death Vision in this form.' He thought.
"Professor Zeneff, is this enough for a passing grade?" Lith approached the teacher's desk, while Zeneff and a few students clapped at his performance.
"No, but it's a great result. Do it again another nine times and you will pass the basic Necromancy course with flying colors."
Abandoning the corpse turned out to be easy. As soon Lith let his concentration slip, he found himself back in his own body. He waited for a few seconds before trying again, hoping to be finally free from Death Vision.
Yet when he saw some invisible beast bite Professor Zeneff's head off, Lith understood that things weren't so simple. He repeated the process ten times without a hitch, obtaining a round of applause from the whole class and thirty points from Professor Zeneff.
Lith spent the rest of the lesson helping the Professor in teaching to his classmates, giving them hints and tips. Soon everyone became able to possess the undead, but despite all the support provided to them, some weren't able to keep the creatures under control for more than a few seconds.
The shock from the past fight against the undead was still strong enough for their minds to reject the corpse as strongly as it rejected them. Yurial was among them and even by the end of the lesson he hadn't been able to achieve a single success.
Things went smoothly during the following dimensional magic lesson instead. Lith, Phloria, and Yurial were already capable of successfully perform Switch, however they would still fail from time to time.
Succeeding eight times out of ten was a great result, but if it happened during a real battle it could prove to be fatal, so they kept striving for perfection under Professor Rudd's strict supervision.
He seemed to have changed too, albeit not physically. He gave them actual pointers instead of sarcastic remarks or riddles. Rudd would also explain to them what their recurring mistakes were and how to fix them.
With his help, they estimated that in another couple of lessons they would completely master the Switch spell and obtain more free time along with Friya and Quylla.
After dinner, Lith made up an excuse and went straight to his room. Seeing Phloria so happy had made him change his mind.
'I'll tell her about Death Vision another time. She's finally getting along with her sisters. I don't want to spoil Phloria's happiness with my problems. Her smile means too much to me.'
Thanks to Invigoration, he quickly returned to his peak condition and then started to work on the boxes.
Now that he was finally aware that multiple pseudo cores could exist within the same magical item and knew how they would interact with magic crystals, Lith was certain he would succeed opening at least one.
Chapter 231 Mystery Box
Back in his room, Lith used Invigoration on one of the few boxes he had left, carefully studying its pseudo cores, mana pathways, and the mana crystals that sealed it.
He had taken notes on everything he learned so far about them, and thanks to Soluspedia he could remember everything with but a thought.
He started simultaneously attacking the mana pathways and the mana crystals, letting the energy they contained leak at the same rate. While both were draining, Lith also had to prevent the three pseudo cores desynchronizing.
The last time he attempted opening the boxes, he failed because he had never wielded a crystal embedded item. Therefore he didn't know that the only way to prevent the prevent destructive desynchronization was to imitate the mana signature of the crystals and inject mana in the pseudo cores every time they would go out of phase.
The process was long and required surgical precision. Lith had already learned that if he damaged the mana pathways too much, making the energy leak happen too fast, the box would just explode.
He had to bide his time, slowly eroding the pathways and corrupting the crystal with darkness magic while using spirit magic to keep the pseudo cores stable.
'Damn, how can normal Forgemasters open these frigging things without Invigoration? I already consumed thrice my whole mana reserve and I have a lot of it.' Lith thought.
When the box was finally opened, Lith was drenched in sweat.
'Don't push yourself so hard! You have yet to recover completely. Remember there's only so much Invigoration can do until you are back to your peak condition.' Solus was still worried about him.
After the breakthrough, Lith's body had quickly returned to its old appearance, except for the grey streaks in his hair. She had no idea how having lost so much life force would affect him in the long term, but Solus was certain there would be a price to pay.
At the moment, Lith was around 80% of his full strength and was getting better by the day. Yet because of his injuries, using his full focus would make Lith tire faster than usual and Invigoration could only restore his mana up to his current limit.
Lith nodded. He couldn't wait to take a hot bath and relax. A long time had passed since he had a vision of the future, he had yet to understand if the boxes still held any significance.
He pressed the blue crystal in the center of the briefcase-looking box and watched it unfold. The box grew bigger and bigger until it became the size and shape of a huge wardrobe. When Lith opened it, he remained flabbergasted.
Inside there was the closest thing to an Earth portable chemical lab he had ever seen. To make things even weirder, it seemed to be completely automated. Mechanical hands opened and mixed the content of several glass containers.
There were even a few Bunsen burners that the hands would light with a flintstone and use them to briefly warm up some of the liquids. In a few minutes the process was complete and one of the hands placed a small flask containing a transparent liquid at the center of the cabinet.
Chemistry and Alchemy were too different for Lith to understand what he had just seen. Also, most of the ingredients were magical in nature and had no counterpart on Earth.
'Solus, you are the one following the Alchemy lessons. Any idea of what has just happened?' Lith asked.
'Beats me. I only have fourth year knowledge.' She mentally shrugged. 'I can prepare fire seeds, low tier potions, and some basic wands but that's all. This stuff is advanced Alchemy, to the point where I have seen this machine perform at least five reactions that Professor Ryner told us were impossible.
In theory, everything should have been blown up to pieces. Whoever did this is a true genius!'
Lith took the flask, examining it with Invigoration while it was still sealed with a stopper. Whatever it was, it didn't seem to be magical in nature. With no other option, Lith conjured a small but strong barrier around the flask, fearing it would explode.
Then, he opened it from a distance with spirit magic. Once again, nothing happened.
'Damn, I hate riddles. Couldn't they add a warning label or an instruction manual? There is only one way to understand what the heck this is.'
Lith removed the stopper, taking a single droplet of the silver liquid it contained with water magic and put it on his own tongue. It was tasteless and odorless too, making it impossible to understand its nature with an external examination.
Lith was forced to swallow it and keep an eye on it with Invigoration. Everything that followed didn't make sense to him.
The droplet didn't disperse nor did it mix with his saliva. It went straight for his stomach, remaining unaffected by the acids, then it entered the bloodstream via his intestine and then spread out evenly through all of his body.
Lith didn't feel any better or worse for it, but he wasn't willing to ingest another droplet blindly. He used Invigoration to cleanse it from his system, instantly recognizing the unpleasant feeling that followed.
The liquid was resisting his efforts, nullifying part of the mana he employed as soon as they made contact. Yet he had cleansed so much of that toxin that the procedure was second nature to him, easily purging it out of his body.
'F*ck me sideways! This is the anti magic parasite toxin! In an even more powerful and effective form at that. Why the heck did they send it to the White Griffon academy? Poisoning someone with this thing makes no sense.
'As soon as a mage loses their powers, the scheme would be revealed. Killing someone with this stuff takes weeks. Also, why send all this terrible contraption? Why didn't they just give their accomplices the flask?'
Lith received the answer to his question a few minutes later, while he was still remembering the details about his vision. Both the droplet he had extracted from his body and the liquid in the flask became cloudy before turning into a fine dust.
'That's some first rate paranoia!' Solus blurted out.
'That's why. Once the stopper is removed, the toxin must be used quickly or it self destructs, leaving no proof behind. Still, it doesn't make sense. You, Marth, Manohar, there are a lot of people in the White Griffon that would immediately recognize it.
What's the point of making the students or the Professor lose their powers?'
'Maybe they were planning to use the toxin to make them helpless during an assault?' Lith realized how idiotic the idea was as soon as he thought it out loud.
Even without their magic, the Professors could still rely on the arrays. Fueled by the power core, they were the academy's greatest weapon and defense at the same time. Also, even if completely powerless, Linjos could still use the communication amulet and the Warp Gate in his office to call for help.
Lith searched the rest of the cabinet for clues. Aside from the magical ingredients, all heavily protected by thick enchanted glass, there was just a single drawer. Inside, Lith found three envelopes.
Each one contained a different item and several pills of unknown purpose. The quality of the items varied greatly. One was a plain ring, identical to the magical ones students would exchange points for.
Another was a precious necklace with several diamonds embedded and the last one looked like a cheap bracelet, something that only someone of humble origins would wear. No matter if their design was elaborate or plain, they all had the same enchantment.
When he used Invigoration for the first time on one of them, he was amazed by the complexity of the forgemastered spell matrix. It held five pseudo cores that required so many mana pathways that there was not an inch of the item that wasn't filled with runes.
He also discovered several small magic crystals embedded in each one of them, crafted so masterfully to be almost invisible unless one knew where to look.
Lith had no idea what could require such a complex enchantment, so he imprinted the ring with his mana and then he wore it. After several attempts, Lith realized that, whatever was its purpose, it wasn't something as simple as point and shoot.
After taking the ring off, Lith opened two more boxes. Each one contained the portable lab and had its own drawer with a different set of accessories. No two were alike. Each magical item was accompanied by several pills. It was the only thing they had in common aside from the enchantment.
'All this time and effort and I've just moved from square one to square two. I need to understand the reason they smuggled the toxin inside the academy and what the heck these things are.
'I wish I could ask the Marchioness or Lady Ernas for help, but I have no way to explain to them why I have more boxes nor how I managed to open them. Damn, I could really use a vision right now.
Useless dryads and their half baked gifts.'
After a long hot bath, Lith went to sleep. He was exhausted, only rest could help him recover from the damage his body had sustained. It took him some time to fall asleep. It wasn't just that he couldn't stop thinking about the boxes, but he also really missed Phloria.
He had got so used to her presence that, ever since he left house Ernas, he had trouble sleeping. His rest would be disturbed by nightmares about Protector's death and by the recurring visions of his loved ones dying over and over again.
'From tomorrow onward, I'll train myself to stop Death Vision whenever my focus is not required for something important. I'm starting to get tired of this sh*t. I still have too many things to do before I can allow myself to waste time on self pity.
'No matter what the future holds. As long as my strength keeps increasing, the number of threats to whoever I hold dear will become less and less. We're in this together, right Solus?' Lith thought.
'Always.' She replied, giving him hope.
***
The next morning, the first lesson was the Magic Crystals class. However, the Professor that entered the room after the second gong wasn't Nalear. The students were curious and worried at the same time.
No one had seen Professor Nalear since the attack, so they were naturally concerned something may have happened to her. On the other hand, there was something majestic in the newcomer's appearance that piqued everyone's curiosity.
The new Professor was a woman, around thirty years old with chin length red hair. She was very tall, almost 1.8 meter (5'11") high with a muscular build that was more suited to a front line soldier than a Professor.
There was something noble about the grace of her movements. Each one of them seemed to be full of strength yet incredibly delicate. She exuded an aura of power that Lith had never experienced before, completely different from the killing intent he usually employed.
He felt like he was staring to a natural born leader, someone that people would gladly give their life for, even if they had only known her for a few hours. They were polar opposites, if she was the sun then he was the moon.
"Good morning, students. I'm Professor Amyla Farg. I will replace Professor Nalear until she makes a full recovery. During the three days of siege, she was tainted by a Valor's life force while attempting to protect you.
"She didn't receive proper care until the undead was disposed of, so she fell into a coma and has yet to recover." Many students became pale while remembering that night, Lith included.
"Don't worry, the worst is over. Her condition is stable and slowly improving. If she has managed to survive until now, I'm sure she will overcome the hurdle and awaken soon. Very few among those tainted managed to survive, she is one of the lucky ones."
She looked for a moment at Lith's group and many students did the same. Yurial's and Phloria's miraculous survival was a well known fact, so they couldn't help but wonder how they managed to come out unscathed.
Farg tried not to stare for too long at Lith. Professor Farg was actually a member of the Queen's Corpse, the secret unit of Awakened ones at the service of the Crown.
Tyris had sent her to keep an eye on the hybrid and make sure he wasn't a threat. Her orders were clear: "Observe him without interfering and kill him at the first sign of danger."
"Today's lesson is a little special. It's something that you were supposed to learn during your trip to the mines, but I doubt any of you want to go back to the mining town again. Hence, the Headmaster was kind enough to reinforce the protections of the classroom and transport high tier crystals here."
She clapped her hands, making a mana blade required for crystalsmithing and a deep blue crystal the size of a coconut appear on each student's desk.
"Before we start, I want to warn each one of you of the risks this exercise involves. The array surrounding the class will keep you perfectly safe, but the same cannot be said for your academic career."
Chapter 232 Mana Breath
"Even if they are just deep blue crystals, they are still very expensive. If you fail the following procedure, the gemstone will be destroyed and you will receive another one. There are only three crystals for each one of you.
"Destroying them all will mark the end of the lesson, of the need of attend this subject as well as of any chance of becoming a Crystalsmith."
"Since you have come so far, you will still get a passing grade, but no Master Crystalsmith will take an apprentice incapable of handling a blue crystal after three months of practice." Professor Farg explained.
"What's required from you it's the same thing you have already done countless times, but with a major difference. When you'll use the Crystalsmith spell Scope on the gemstone, you'll notice there are no lines inside.
You will only see a dot moving at a speed that will change from time to time. That's because, unlike the mid tier crystals, high tier ones are able to replenish their mana quickly. This property gives them a unique mana flow that is called Mana Breath.
A true Crystalsmith must be able to perceive the Breath clearly enough to follow its movements and cut the gemstone accordingly. Remember, the density of the mana blade must be kept constant.
If you focus too much on the Breath, the blade will damage the crystal. If the crystal receives too much damage, it will explode. Like everything in life, the key is to find balance in what you do. Good luck to everyone."
The Magic Crystal course was the reason why Lith's mana sensibility had improved so much during the last months.
Scope was a spell that relied entirely on the caster's perception and he had always used it instead of Invigoration during the exercises. It was the first opportunity he had to train his mana sensibility without endangering anyone.
Unlike healing magic, there was no life on the line, wasting a crystal scrap meant nothing to him. Also, it was much simpler than dimensional magic, since he didn't have to feel and manipulate multiple flows at a time, but only a static one.
Lith cast Scope, becoming able to see the dot Farg talked about. It moved with an irregular pattern and speed. Lith studied it for a while before understanding that the Breath had no fixed route. He was forced to rotate the crystal from time to time to follow its movements.
'Let's see what Invigoration reveals.' He thought.
Lith discovered that even the size of the dot changed with time, but most importantly, he was now able to see the circulatory system of the breath. It was like a maze, the branches of which crossed over several times.
It was still a chaotic mess that allowed the Breath to change direction most of the time, but Invigoration would still give him a great edge compared to the Scope spell. With Invigoration, Lith would know when the Breath could change direction and when it would be forced to move in a straight line instead.
'My mana sensibility still needs some work. I'll use Scope on the first two crystals and save Invigoration for the last. I don't aim to become a Crystalsmith, so I better use this opportunity to practice at the academy's expense rather than mine.'
No matter how much pain or grief Lith was going through, he was still stingy beyond belief.
After conjuring Scope once again, Lith began cutting the crystal. The more progress he made, the more the gemstone shrunk, increasing in power and quality. The problem was that the smaller it became, the more sudden the turns the Breath would take.
It was like an Earth roguelike game. At each new level, the difficulty would go up and what he learned from the previous run was useless. It was all a matter of focus and precision, never letting the mana blade stray too much from the dot.
Lith almost managed to refine the first crystal, but one error too many made it crumble and he had to start over. At the second attempt, his efforts were rewarded with success. He took a short break to relax, discovering that even Quylla had failed once.
"I got too cocky and paid for it." She explained while shrugging. Lith used Scope on the third Crystal too. He had already passed the exercise, but he needed all the training he could get to sharpen his senses.
By the end of the lesson, Lith's group had successfully cut all of their crystals. Only Lith and Quylla had lost one.
The second lesson of the day was the Healer specialization. The group performed the house calls under Professor Ironhelm's escort. Professor Trasque was dead and Ironhelm had been assigned to replace him.
Lukart had long fled the Griffon Kingdom thanks to the traitor's help, so no one was making attempts on Yurial's life anymore. Their rounds were peaceful, traveling from town to town and seeing many different cities bustling with the daily activities helped them to relax.
It also gave Yurial an idea that he shared with the others during dinner back at the academy.
"Why don't you all come to my house after we graduate from the fourth year? In my Duchy, the weather is nice even during winter. We could travel together and I would show you the best places my lands have to offer.
"If I go back home alone, I'll be forced to spend all the winter break before the fifth year studying magic and so would you. I say we deserve a couple of weeks of vacation."
The girls unanimously agreed. When Orion was home with them, he was a great father, but also a strict teacher. He left them little time for slacking off. When he was away for work, Jirni would turn everything into a competition.
She wouldn't force them to do anything, but she always seemed to know which buttons to push to make them dance in her hands. Compared to her, the academy was a relaxing environment.
Lith was the only one still on the fence. Two weeks was a lot of time for him. He had yet to inform Selia of her loss and had no idea how to give her the bad news. In his experience, no matter what he said, it would break her heart.
With the baby coming, she would need all the help she could get. Even if Lith had never agreed with Protector's request, he was determined to fulfill his friend's last wish.
No matter what the others said to convince him, the best they could get was a hollow:
"I'll think about it."
Later, after much thinking, he went to Phloria's room.
When she opened the door, her hair was arranged in a strange updo, held in place by hairpins and curlers Lith had never seen before.
"Nice hair." He said, failing to suppress a chuckle. "What's that stuff?"
"Something you were never supposed to see. Having long hair is a hassle. Or did you think they are naturally that wavy?" She replied with an annoyed tone.
"I never saw you using them at the mining town or when I was a guest in your home."
"Well, duh! I had more important things to care about at the moment. In fact, I was always a mess."
"So you say, I never noticed any mess." His words turned Phloria's mood upside down, making her smile from ear to ear.
"Well, come in. Sorry for the mess, I have just finished bathing. Your visit caught me by surprise." She let him inside her room, but aside from a bathrobe on the bed and more curlers on the nightstand, there was nothing out of place.
"Yeah, sorry. We need to talk." Phloria froze in place. In her mind, those words still meant: "We have to break up."
"Please, it's better for you to sit down. Some of the things I have to say aren't exactly good news."
Phloria did as requested, followed by Lith that sat right next to her.
'This should be a good sign. If he was going to dump me, he would keep his distance. Or so my brother says at least.' She thought.
Lith took a deep breath to calm down and then told her about everything that was troubling him. He explained to her how Death Vision was torturing him, how nightmares still haunted him, and how his body was still recovering.
"I didn't tell you any of this before because I wanted to leave you some space. You deserved a break from the drama that is my life. If you want…"
Lith was going to say that he would understand if she wanted to take a break from their relationship or find someone less complicated when he realized that, after he had spoken of his nightmares, she had stopped listening to him.
She had stars in her eyes and a big smile on her face.
"Let me get this straight." She said once she noticed he wasn't talking anymore.
"Death Vision stops when you are with me, like right now?"
"Yes." Lith had noticed that if they were close enough, Death Vision's effects disappeared. That was the reason he sat close to her. He lacked the willpower to dump her and hold Death Vision back at the same time.
"Also, you have no bad dreams when I sleep beside you."
"Correct again." Phloria closed in, her face was now centimeters from his own.
"Doesn't that mean that I'm special to you? As in really special?"
"You are, but that's not the point. You…" He tried to make her listen to reason, but she put her index finger on his mouth, stopping him.
"Just answer one question. Do you like me? Even with this contraption on my head?"
"That's two questions, but yes to both."
"That's all that matters to me." She gave him a deep kiss, making all his fears and worries fade away like a dense fog in front of the rising sun. Her warmth and her gentle touch over his skin were all Lith could think about.
"One more thing." He said as soon as she gave him a second to breathe.
"I can't take you out on a date during the weekend. I plan to go back to the mining town and visit Protector's grave. I can't keep being chained to the failures of my past. I need to face them and have my closure. That's the only way I can move on."
"Great idea. When do we leave?" Lith's surprised expression made her giggle.
"Did you really think I would let you go there alone? Then you are crazier than you think." She kissed him again, this time just a peck, before accompanying him to the door.
"Sorry, but you can't stay. Let me know when you decide about the trip. We could ask the others to come with us. They need some closure too, especially Yurial."
After another goodnight kiss, Phloria closed the door behind her. Now that she was alone, she couldn't stop to giggling and smiling like a little girl.
'I still can't believe Lith told me I'm special to him, nor that I'm the only one that makes Death Vision stop.'
Lith returned to his room. When he opened the door, his mind was still arguing with his body about lost chances. He spent half the night using Accumulation, to further refine his mana core and improve his abilities.
The other half he slept to help his body recover. Even alone, he managed to sleep peacefully.
***
The rest of the week passed quickly. Aside from home calls during the morning, Lith only had the Magic Crystal and Forgemaster classes to attend.
He had already completed the Necromancy and Dimensional magic courses. It left him with a lot of free time that he used to practice Forgemastering under Wanemyre's supervision, rest, and use Accumulation.
He was now also able to keep Death Vision in check with minimum effort unless something unexpected broke his concentration. The only side effect was that he always had a serious expression on his face, since he couldn't allow himself to relax.
The others would mock him to no end for this, saying that he had his glare back. Lith was so annoyed by their childish behavior that he ended up explaining to them about Death Vision and his plans for the weekend.
Yurial followed his lead, sharing with the others his worries about the future and the relapse in his addiction, against which he was currently struggling. The mood in the room turned gloomy for the first time since they had returned to the academy, but Yurial and Lith both felt better for not having to hide their burden anymore.
"Mind if I join you? My fiancée is coming to my house for a visit and I have no desire to waste my time with her." Yurial kept playing with a tranquilizer vial, taking the stopper on and off, fighting the temptation of taking a sip.
"Helping a friend is a much better excuse than remaining at the academy to cram. Also, it may help me with my problems too. If I manage to beat Balkor's shadow out of my head, tolerating Libea will be child's play in comparison."
Lith had never meant for the trip to be romantic, but before answering he looked at Phloria. Albeit their relationship was mostly platonic, he couldn't ignore her feelings since they had planned the trip together.
"Sure, you can come with us." Phloria nodded. "I have prepared two dimensional tents anyway. You can share Lith's."
"Tents?" Lith furrowed his brown.
"What for? I'm not planning on spending the night there. It would be creepy and depressing."
'Yeah, especially now that you know you would have to spend it alone' Solus mocked him. She was happy seeing the old cranky Lith back in action.
"Me neither." Phloria shrugged. "The forest is a magical place though. With everything that has happened this year, we never managed to have the trip to the forest we had planned after the mock exam.
I thought we may as well spend the whole weekend there. At our level, magical beasts are not a threat."
"It sounds like a plan." Quylla nodded. "We all need some rest and relaxation."
"Yeah, it will also be the first time we are all together outside the academy without something or someone trying to kill us." Friya said.
Chapter 233 Field Trip
The clerk at the academy's entrance looked at Lith's group like they were a bunch of lunatics.
"Normally, a group of five would be perfect, but the academy advises against going into the forest. We lack staff, so in case anything happens rescue teams might come late, as in very late.
"Also, a lot of magical beasts have been hurt or died, so they may hold a grudge against humans. Are you sure you aren't willing to reconsider? Remember that you can't open Warp Steps in the academy's proximity without a special pass."
The group nodded in unison. Even if they couldn't get inside the academy, they could still escape from whatever danger they met. They paid the required merit points and left through the front gate.
"Do we walk or fly?" Lith asked. The trip was already different from what he had planned, so he had no haste.
"Walk. The mining town is only twenty kilometers from the academy." Phloria replied after checking on a map.
"It should take us only five or six hours to get there. We can use that time to enjoy the scenery while we search for magical plants or natural treasures. Nothing prevents us from flying in case we get tired of walking."
Phloria took the lead of the group and Lith asked her to teach him how to read a map. He was still a city man. He wasn't able to understand where he was without looking at the sun. Over the years, he had explored the Trawn woods until he knew it like the back of his hand.
The forest surrounding the academy had denser vegetation, making it hard to walk in a straight line. Having packed provisions from the canteen, they had no need to hunt, yet Lith would use Life Vision from time to time to check his surroundings.
The more they got deep in the forest, the more his hunter instinct told him there was something wrong. There was little wildlife around, too little considering that during the attack, Balkor's undead had no reason to bother normal animals.
Even if some of them had run away from their dens, after so much time they were supposed to have returned. Unless something had happened.
Despite Lith's group was very conscious of their surroundings, they didn't find any magical treasure during the first two hours. On the other hand, they would often get lost forcing someone to fly and take note of the respective positions of the sun and the academy.
Phloria knew how to read a map, at least in theory. It was her first time putting her knowledge to use, hence she was prone to mistakes.
"I still can't use dimensional magic." Lith informed the rest of the group after another failed attempt.
"You can." Quylla lectured him, taking something out of her dimensional amulet.
"It's just that the academy arrays prevent any kind of long range spell aside from the flying ones. We can still Blink or Switch, but any dimensional corridor that stretches for more than ten meters gets disrupted."
"How do you know so much about the academy?" Lith checked the books in Soluspedia and there was only vague information about the nature of the arrays. Also, unlike him, Quylla hadn't performed experiments along the way.
It was hard to miss someone chanting.
"I'd like to tell you that I discovered it while we were walking, but the truth is that after I completed dimensional magic and Necromancy both, I've got too much free time on my hands.
"So, when you guys have your specialization classes I spend a lot of time in the library. Professor Rudd is often there and he loves talking about dimensional magic. He taught me a lot during our conversations.
He isn't so bad once you know him better."
Lith nodded. He actually had his reservations about the Professor, but he didn't have the time or will to talk about him. His instincts kept telling him that something was wrong, but neither Life Vision nor mana sense perceived a threat.
Unbeknownst to the group, Professor Farg had been following them ever since they had left the academy. She kept her distance, using an artifact to not lose their traces.
'According to Lady Tyris, the target is an Awakened one. If I get too close, he'll spot me with Life Vision.' She thought.
'I don't know what their goal is, but their behavior is definitely suspicious. The group keeps moving erratically, if it wasn't for the artifact I would have lost them already. The girl leading them is a master of misdirection, worthy of her mother.'
"You have no idea where we are, am I right?" Friya asked.
"No, you are not." Phloria flew above the trees, returning a few seconds later.
"I'm getting the hang of this, don't worry."
"Stay on your toes, guys." Lith warned them, sniffing the air and recognizing a familiar smell.
"Clackers incoming." They were now close enough to allow him to distinguish their pseudo chirping from the real birds sounds.
Everyone readied their weapon, but no one was worried. They all had improved by leaps and bounds since the mock exam and Clackers were a threat only if they managed to catch their victim by surprise.
When the monsters swarmed them from all directions, including from above, they didn't fell so confident anymore. What made them worry wasn't their numbers, but their size.
Clackers were spider type magical beasts, they had black bodies covered in long bristles that served as sensory organs, with red dots all over. They were supposed to be as big as a Labrador tops, but the ones attacking them were the size of a human being.
Yurial would have liked to curse at their bad luck, but he was too busy casting a barrier to deflect the acidic spit he was sure their enemies would employ.
Yet instead of using their webs and long range attacks, the Clackers on the trees cut their threads, falling through the air barrier while even bigger specimens were charging head on.
Phloria and Friya had already activated Full Guard, a Mage Knight spell that gave them complete combat awareness of their surroundings in a radius of 1.5 metres (5 feet). Phloria quickly reached Yurial, while Friya did the same for Quylla.
The two quickly killed all the spiders that had landed close to their friends. Their swords could easily cut through the enemies, while their flaming shields conjured out of fire and earth would intercept the incoming attacks and inflict painful burns.
The role of a Mage Knight was to buy enough time for their allies to cast their spells.
Lith dodged a falling Clacker squashing its head with a single hand before it could even land. After facing a Valor, he could hardly consider those oversized arachnids a threat.
Lith took out from his pocket dimension the daggers he had enchanted during his Forgemaster classes.
It was a good occasion to put them to test, since their blades were short enough to perfectly integrate with his hand to hand techniques. Lith darted forward, intercepting the bigger ones that were charging at them.
He infused his body with both air and fire magic, boosting his strength and speed.
A single fist was enough to crush the head of a Clacker bold enough to try biting him. Being Lith alone against dozens, the spiders thought they would make short work of him, realizing their mistake only when it was too late.
Lith moved so fast that their sensory organs could barely determine his position. Whenever he approached an enemy, a gaping wound would appear. Between his talent in locating vital spots and his weapons, every one of his strikes was crippling if not lethal.
Despite the daggers' average quality, Lith's strength coupled with their enchantments was more than enough to pierce the monsters' exoskeleton and then open them up like they were made of paper.
The weapons he was wielding were one enchanted with air magic and the other with fire magic. The former was enveloped by air currents enhancing its edge to the point it could cut through stone.
The latter's blade was so hot that it would make its victims' blood and innards boil at every strike. Even if they managed to survive, the wounded Clackers were in so much pain they could only curl up on the ground writhing uncontrollably.
Lith had chosen those daggers because he wanted to see if evolved arachnids would feel fear for their lives or compassion for their kin. Judging from their reactions to their fallen brethren's screams of agony the answer was yes to both.
The Clackers in front of Lith stopped advancing, using the acid spit to keep him away from their wounded companions. Lith grinned, while with a twist of his fists he took control of the incoming attacks with water magic and sent them back to where they came from.
The spiders were caught by surprise. Most of them were still spitting while their bodies started to suffer from the effects of their own acid. Lith then stomped his left foot on the ground, transmitting his mana and will, making rock spears erupt from the ground that impaled his enemies.
All the Clackers around him were dead or agonizing, so he threw a glance over his shoulder to check the others.
Despite their best efforts, his four companions were already surrounded.
"Rings!" Yurial shouted, releasing the spells he had stored to repel the waves of Clackers without wasting time to chant. The girls followed his lead, using the barrage of spells to break free from the encirclement and turn their enemies into mincemeat.
Lith rushed back to help them, only to discover his teammates had the situation under control.
Quylla was using quick tier three spells to kill the Clackers above their heads while Yurial used a mix of first magic and tier one spells to block all kind of long ranged attacks directed against the four of them.
Each one of his spells was too weak to harm the enemies, but he could cast them fast enough to deflect the acidic spits and burn the webs the Clackers were throwing at them before they could do any damage.
Friya and Phloria were swinging their swords non stop, cutting apart those that came too close. Unlike Lith's daggers, their swords would penetrate deeply into the enemy and then release a dark magic pulse that made their organs collapse.
Mage Knights' specialty was the ability to summon an elemental tower shield that would float in the air according to their will, always leaving them a free hand to use potions or cast Mage Knight spells.
The one they were using at the moment was called Phantom Blade. Their weapons were engulfed in mystical energies that using their blades as a template, could temporarily extend them tripling their attack range.
Phantom Blades were made of light, hence they were weightless, giving the Mage Knight complete freedom of movement. The downside was that extending the blade would require focus and mana
They couldn't keep it always active, but only use it in short bursts whenever the situation allowed for it. Even if the spell's effects only lasted for the duration of a single slash, it was enough for them to mow down small groups of enemies at once, making their numerical advantage useless.
It was only a matter of time before all the Clackers were killed, yet they refused to retreat.
'It's amazing how much we have all progressed in these few months. During the mock exam, a much smaller group of Clackers almost wiped out my team. It was more balanced in term of talents, but there was no teamwork or coordination.
No matter how many spiders come at them, they will not break through. Time to finish this!' Lith thought.
He put the daggers away in the pocket dimension, to have his hands free to cast his strongest air spell. Ever since the last breakthrough, his attunement with the world energy had greatly increased, but some Clackers were still too close to his companions for comfort.
Manipulating a spell with his mind alone was too risky. Lith's hands glowed with a yellow energy, that he used to draw several circles that floated in the air while he was mouthing gibberish in case someone was watching him.
Then, he joined his palms before moving them toward the battlefield. From each circle erupted a bolt of lightning aimed at the nearest enemy. The spiders from the trees screeched to warn their companions on the ground about the impending danger.
The lightning bolts moved in a zig zag pattern, slower than normal ones, but they were still very fast. Most thunderbolts struck their target, leaving behind a pungent smell of ozone and burnt flesh.
Some Clackers managed to dodge them at the last second, yet the result remained the same. The thunderbolts simply chased after them, moving on the next target as soon as the first one was no more.
Farg and Lith's companions alike remained amazed noticing that each lightning resembled a snake in both motions and appearance. Lith had conjured ten of them, controlling one with each finger, as he had learned during the necromancy classes.
Be them undead or energy masses, they were all puppets dancing in his hand. He never stopped advancing during the assault, to have a better view of his allies and enemies alike.
His legs never left the ground, he simply slid one foot in front of the other, using his whole body to control the mana flow of the spell with surgical precision until only the five youths were left standing.
Chapter 234 Eyes
From her vantage point above the trees, Professor Farg was burning with envy.
'How the heck can someone so young already be an Awakened one? I dedicated my whole life to the Crown before I was chosen to be turned into a member of the Corpse. Still, I don't understand why Lady Tyris is so worried about him.
He is just a stupid kid with more power than brain.'
Lith's companions didn't share her outlook. On the contrary, they were amazed.
"That was Chasing Lightning!" Yurial couldn't believe his own eyes.
"It's a War Mage spell! Where the heck did you learn it?"
"From the library." During the past months, Lith had studied many different spells from the various specializations, searching for those that were the easiest for him to imitate.
He didn't have the time to understand the fake magic principles underlying each magic class, so he had focused on the spells that had something in common with his personal ones.
Chasing Lighting was simply the tier four air magic version of his Checkmate Spears spell. The real War Mage's spell allowed one to mark their targets during the casting of the spell, something that Lith hadn't been able to do reproduce.
However, being a true mage and making use of his heightened reflexes, he was able to alter the course of each thunderbolt at will.
"Dude, how did you find the time to learn another specialization? Self taught at that? You are crushing my self esteem!" Yurial was only half joking.
Sometimes being so close to someone two years younger than him who was stronger, apparently more talented, and had a bottomless supply of suprises made him feel quite insecure.
"Less yapping and more spellcasting." Phloria scolded them both.
"You know the saying: 'where there is a Clacker, expect to find a hundred more.' We need to recharge our rings before they return."
Lith had not used any of his rings, so he just pretended to recharge them.
He used that time to think about the spiders' behavior.
"You are right. This doesn't make sense. While fighting against me, I noticed they were able to think for themselves. They should have understood their strategy was pointless. Unless they were just buying time!" Lith said.
"Damn me and this stupid walk!" Phloria cursed at their bad luck.
"Let's fly out of here." She had yet to finish talking when the ground below them turned into quicksand and tendrils made of earth wrapped around their limbs, pulling them into the ground.
The five reacted in unison, Blinking out of the quicksand. The tendrils were bisected as they passed through the remnants of the dimensional spells. The detached tendrils turned back into mud as the spell animating them failed.
"Keep your distance!" Phloria ordered.
"If we group up before finding the enemy position, we will only offer them an easier target. Get ready to Blink again."
Lith activated Life Vision, turning his head around, above, and below before finding their answer. While the group was fighting the wave of small Clackers, a few fully developed monsters the size of bulls had burrowed underground their feet and turned the clearing into a death trap.
The Hatchlings' strength lied only in numbers, but Soldier Clackers were fully developed magical beasts and could use water and earth magic. Not only were they physically much stronger than a Hatchling, but they were also smart enough to not underestimate such dangerous enemies.
They had forced their underlings to act as cannon fodder while they prepared the field to ensure their victory. Even if reluctant to throw away their lives, the Hatchlings had no choice but to obey.
The Soldiers had received their authority from the Brood Mother and she was an absolute being to them. Defying her will meant becoming their brethren's dinner along with the intruders
"It's a trap!" Lith was unaware of the Soldiers' plan, but he could see them moving right below their feet.
"They are hiding underground. We need to get out of here!" Before Lith could finish warning his companions, new tendrils of earth erupted from the ground and seized him, Yurial, and Phloria. At the same time, Quylla and Friya fell into holes that opened up right below them.
Quylla screamed in surprise, but Friya had learned her lesson after the failed attempt on Yurial's life. She kept her cool, Blinking to Quylla's rescue and bringing her to safety on a nearby tree.
'There are four Clackers capable of using magic below the ground' Solus warned Lith that was still struggling to free his hands to Blink away.
'Their mana cores are only bright green, but their physical strength is on par with Protector when he was still a Ry. They only need one hit to kill a normal human.'
Lith nodded, using brute strength to break free from the constraints. He used water magic to freeze the tendrils restricting his companions. The spell wasn't powerful enough to completely block them, Lith couldn't risk freezing his allies to death in the process.
Yet he managed to slow the tendrils enough for Phloria to cut them down, freeing herself and Yurial, allowing them to Blink away. Lith followed their lead, but the trees they had taken cover on started to tilt.
Two Soldiers were uprooting them with earth magic, while the other two generated a hail of ice shards as thick and long as an arm to prevent their prey from running away.
The group Blinked again to safety, but their mana was about to run out. They had gone all out during the previous fight and Blink was a very mana expensive spell.
"Damn! If we try to fly away the shards will skewer us, but if we keep hiding behind the trees, they'll just uproot them again. How the heck can they see us from below the ground and how do you manage to do the same?"
Quylla was racking her brain to find a solution to their predicament, but there wasn't much they could do while the enemy remained hidden. She used an earth spell, opening a hole in the ground and partially revealing one of the Clackers.
"On my mark attack my position with everything you have." Lith yelled jumping down the tree, near the now visible Soldier. His companions immediately understood his intentions and would have liked to curse at his madness or at least try to stop him.
However, their situation was desperate enough to force them to save their breath for chanting their spells.
"Mark!" Lith used Switch as soon as he touched the ground and was replaced by a stupefied Clacker.
The Soldier was still trying to make heads or tails of its situation when two lightning bolts struck it. Thanks to his natural affinity with earth magic, the creature had instinctively protected itself by using fusion magic, so it wasn't fatally wounded.
Yet the shock had been strong enough to debilitate it, leaving the Soldier paralyzed. Phloria and Friya exploited the opening to jump on its back swords first, piercing the Clacker's head and body with their blades until the hilts bounced on its keratinous exoskeleton.
The Soldier fell on its side, its long legs scratched the air in agony until the creature stilled.
Meanwhile underground, Lith could see thee nearest Soldier's eyes glow in the dark, all eight of them.
'It's channeling earth magic, so it must have achieved some kind of Earth Vision. Maybe they can track their prey by following the vibrations produced when they move along the ground.' Solus pondered.
'I don't know and don't care!' Lith replied. He could finally go all out, making Solus turn into her glove form. Her stone claws boosted by fusion magic allowed him to easily pierce through the Soldiers' magically hardened bodies.
The Clacker barely had the time to notice its companion's disappearance when it spotted a small figure bolting at it in the darkness. His eyes were glowing with the yellow energy characteristic of air magic, all seven of them.
Lith's head had become a black slate with seven eyes burning with rage and mana. Two new pairs of eyes had appeared, one above and the other below were humans' eyes were supposed to be.
The seventh was a vertical slit opened in the middle of his forehead.
The Clacker was forced to change the target of its spell. It had been conjuring a stone pillar to uproot the tree its prey was hiding behind, but now he used it to try and stop its attacker. Lith sneered in the dark. He could see the spell's mana flow and only needed a side step to avoid it.
The stone pillar crashed into the ceiling of the cave, filling the air with dust.
The Clacker was shocked, but it kept the presence of mind to avoid casting another spell, Lith was already too close. It spat acid in front of itself instead. The enemy was too close to dodge it, so the Soldier charged forward infusing itself with earth magic to exploit the opening that was about to be created.
However, Lith had seen that trick countless times and was ready for it. He froze the acid while it was still in mid air, making it harmless before slapping it aside. Lith shoved his right hand into the Clacker's still opened maw, releasing a fireball.
The explosion emitted only a muffled sound. The Soldier's exoskeleton buffed by earth magic was strong enough to withstand the hit. Alas, its internal organs were not.
The creature collapsed without making a sound, leaving the last two Soldiers standing almost scared witless. One decided to run away to alert the rest of the Brood of the impending menace, while the other stood its ground, to buy as much time as it could against the incoming monstrosity.
It decided to make use of the confined space combined with its superior physical prowess to charge at the enemy with its own body hardened to the extreme, giving him no space to dodge.
Lith did the same, leaving spells aside and willing to test his body against a magical beast. The two clashed at full speed, Lith's arms against the Soldier's frontal legs. The spider was bigger and heavier, but Lith was empowered by more than one element.
The Clacker found itself sliding backward, using the remaining six legs to hold on the ground to avoid tumbling while the frontal ones cracked. Its exoskeleton shattered in multiple points.
Lith was forced to stop and his arms cracked too, but they started to heal the same moment they were damaged. He gritted his teeth and ignored the pain, charging again with renewed fury.
Lith grabbed the injured frontal legs, ripping them off and driving the creature insane with pain. Its head was now exposed, so the Clacker used earth magic to conjure tendrils of earth to protect itself.
Before they were fully formed, Lith had already grabbed the Soldier's head with both hands, flooding it with darkness magic that weakened it until it popped like a balloon. Lith threw the carcass aside, chasing after the last enemy.
Once outside, he saw that the Soldier hadn't gone far. Even if they were running of fumes, his companions knew that if the magical beast managed to escape it was likely to come back with reinforcements.
They had surrounded the Clacker and were slowly wearing it down with their teamwork. None of their attacks were strong enough to kill it, but they prevented it from escaping or focusing on a single target.
Whenever the Soldier attempted to attack, those at its back and sides would strike it with spells or swords, interrupting its spellcasting or making it stumble. The creature was already mad with fury. Its retreat was cut off and all of its attacks were mercilessly foiled one after the other.
When the Clacker perceived Lith closing in via Earth Vision, desperation forced its hand. The Soldier infused itself with earth magic to the brim and charged forward disregarding its safety.
Phloria chopped off one of its legs, Friya opened a gaping wound on its back, while Yurial released all the spells left in his rings blowing away two of its legs and making the Clacker lose momentum.
Only thanks to the combined assault did Quylla manage to avoid being pierced through her heart and instead took a front leg through her shoulder. The Clacker was mortally wounded, but it refused to surrender.
It threw away Quylla's body and tried to recover its balance to continue escaping. A bestial roar resounded, shaking the forest.
"Not another one!" Phloria cursed. "Is our bad luck never going to end?"
She turned towards the source of the sound, discovering that there was no new enemy incoming, only a blur that she managed to identify as Lith thanks to her training.
The sight of blood, seeing one of his companions apparently mortally injured had brought him back to the night Protector had died. The sun was still high, so the shadows surrounding his body were reduced to a thin fog.
Lith was surrounded by a red glow, like there was a fire inside him ready to set everything ablaze. Despite his killing intent wasn't aimed at his companions, it was strong enough to make them feel a cold shiver running down their spines.
Yurial and Friya ignored the feeling, rushing to Quylla's side. The former checked she wasn't poisoned while the latter treated the wound.
Phloria realized that despite having fought side by side several times, this was her first time witnessing a truly enraged Lith. During the second exam or the ambush, he had always remained calm and collected.
Between the fog, the red glow and his eyes brimming with unknown power, Lith looked scarier than anything she had ever fought.
Chapter 235 You Again?
The Soldier could feel the shadow of death from the moment most of its body had been cut apart or blown away. When Lith reached its back, grabbing it by its legs, the last Clacker could only hope that its dying screech would manage to reach its brood.
Lith used the Float spell to make his enemy weightless before throwing it up in the air and immediately conjuring another spell. Away from its natural elements, water and earth, the Clacker was a sitting duck.
Six fireballs appeared at the same time around the Soldier, one above, one below and the others in a square shape. It was Lith's tier four personal spell, Burning Prison. The fireballs exploded simultaneously, each reinforcing the effect of the others
Their combined shockwaves ripped the Clacker to shreds while the extreme heat turned it into ashes.
After making sure there were no more threats lurking around them, Lith could allow himself to use Life Vision on Quylla. The wound was already closed. She was a bit pale because of exhaustion, but aside from that, she seemed fine.
Professor Farg had witnessed the whole fight. Thanks to the artifact Tyris had given to her, she had been able to follow the one that took place above and the one below at the same time.
'Now I understand why Lady Tyris sent me here. Whatever that thing is, it's no kid. I've seen my share of weird stuff, but nothing like that. His shapeshifting abilities make no sense. His strength didn't improve at all.' She thought.
'Damn! I can use Invigoration to restore myself, but if I do that, I could blow my cover. Yet if I don't and another enemy appears, I'm as good as dead. I'll choose the lesser evil.'
Lith was panting and wheezing like everyone else, but soon his breathing became steady. To avoid making things too weird, he recovered only about half his strength. Enough to defend in case something happened and at the same time leaving himself tired enough to not arouse too much suspicion.
Maybe.
Then, he checked Quylla's condition with Invigoration before doing the same with everyone else. Lith had seen enough poisons, toxins, and undead to last three lifetimes.
'Better safe than sorry.' He thought.
Aside from small injuries and fatigue, his companions were as healthy as horses.
"Okay, this road trip ends now." Lith said.
"Take Quylla and go back to the academy. I'll go on alone, it's much safer that way."
"Are you insane?" Phloria was still mulling over what she had just seen, refusing to believe her own eyes. Yet when she heard Lith's words all her worries disappeared, replaced by outrage.
"First of all, we are all exhausted. There are too many dangers lurking in this forest aside from those f*cking Clackers. If they attack us on our way back, we are basically a free meal."
"Use the academy's emergency button. They'll send someone here in a half an hour tops." Lith suggested.
"Second, and I speak for myself, I'm not letting you walk into this nightmare alone again!" She ignored his words, as she vented her frustration.
"Why are you acting like that? Have you already forgotten your father's words? You are no god! You could die out here." Lith's reckless indifference for his own life made Phloria seethe with anger, to the point she wanted to strangle him on the spot.
Therefore, she followed Raaz's lead and flicked her middle finger against his forehead.
"Consider yourself slapped, young man."
Lith didn't find it funny at all.
'I'm not a god indeed, but compared to you I might as well be. If only I could trust them enough to tell them the whole truth…' Lith gritted his teeth to hold his tongue.
'That's just mean!' Solus scolded him. 'Being weaker than you is not a sin. Phloria simply worries about you. Do you remember your big lesson? Do not ask others to do what you wouldn't ?'
"You don't understand, it's too dangerous!" Lith tried to make her listen to reason.
"That's my line, you idiot!"
"Oh, my. You humans sure are funny. Screaming like you are the only ones in the world."
The unknown voice made Phloria turn around in a split second, her estoc ready in her hand. Lith recognized the intruder and weaved a couple of spells, just to be safe. It was the dryad he had rescued from a Puppeteer Abomination months before, Lyta.
Yet he had no idea of what a Puppeteer was or how she was called.
"Yet I can understand why this ugly female is so worked up." She looked at Lith, licking her scarlet lips seductively.
"I usually don't like humans, especially after one really bad experience, but power is the most powerful aphrodisiac known to both women and dryads alike. Do you want to have some fun, handsome?"
Phloria hated the dryad for her cruel words and shameful act. Yet she had to admit she was the most gorgeous woman she had ever seen. Lyta had big red eyes that sparkled under the sunlight like rubies.
Her visage was simply stunning, from her delicate features to her full lips.
She had feet length red hair, the same color of maple leaves during autumn. Everything about her exuded a wild and unrestrained allure that made even Phloria ponder whether to kick her a*s or ask her out.
The dryad wore what on Earth would have been considered a skin tight cocktail dress made of vines and leaves. It exposed her shoulders, her arms, and her long legs up to the thigh.
The only thing that betrayed her non-human nature was the light green skin.
"You again?" Was Lith's only reply. After their last encounter, he had read all he could find about dryads. They were a shady bunch that sometimes would mate with humans simply to have some fun.
Most of the times they would just rob them blind. Dryads loved precious things, especially jewels.
"So she's the dryad you saved?" Much to everyone surprise, Yurial was looking at her with indifference. Yurial himself was amazed. It was the first time he managed to be aloof in front of such a beauty.
'Maybe it's because she is green, or maybe I'm finally starting to think with the right head.' He thought.
Lyta was deeply offended by their reaction. It was only the second time in her life that humans didn't throw themselves at her feet while swearing their eternal love for her. Suddenly, Yurial's word rung some bells.
"He saved me?" The dryad stopped looking at Lith's mana flow, focusing on his eyes and smell instead. Lith had grown more than five centimeters since their last encounter and his smell had changed after his breakthrough in Kalla's cave.
Yet Lyta couldn't forget that cold gaze devoid of mercy, nor the inhuman smell he exuded.
"You!" She suddenly lost all her self confidence. She ran back to the nearest tree, ready to flee in case something went wrong.
"Yeah, me. Since you have already bothered us, the least you could do is answer a few questions. Why are there Clackers here? This isn't their turf."
The dryad didn't like being ignored. An ugly short lived human being indifferent to her beauty was unacceptable. She would have never wasted her time if the two males were alone. They seemed to have a few loose screws. The reason why she chose to remain was that the females were just perfect.
They were staring at her with the perfect mix of envy, self pity, and desire that made Lyta feel alive.
"The Brood Mother's turf goes as far as she can get. She's exploiting the academy's and the forest's current weakened state to lay as many eggs as she can. Also, the Lord of the forest is absent for a while. It's the perfect opportunity for her."
She laid on a tree branch high enough to give her room for escape if the battle crazed maniac attempted something funny, but low enough to let the girls 'enjoy' her full figure. Lyta used a soft, languid tone like she was having pillow talk with her lover.
"We are going to the mining town. Is it safe there?" Lith had just noticed that Phloria was staring at them. She hated the dryad's guts for looking at him like a slab of meat, seductively playing with her dress and hair.
Yet the coldness in Lith's tone warmed her heart.
"Gods, no. It's full of corpses there, I wouldn't be surprised if she has turned it into her new nest. Even if I doubt it with all the protections and the alarms set in that place, I doubt it. Humans would run to protect their precious mine and slaughter her colony."
"What does she need the corpses for?" Lith was shocked by her words. He had an idea about what was happening, but he had to be sure.
"How do you think she managed to expand her territory so much? With all those corpses of powerful beasts and humans, the Brood Mother has greatly improved the quality of her underlings.
"That's the reason why they wanted to capture you five alive so badly. Each of you can become the breeding ground for a small legion of Soldiers. Corpses are second rate hosts, but they still provide a lot of nutrients. Especially those belonging to powerful beings like Kalla or M'Rook."
"When did Kalla die?" Lith had met her only twice, yet he cared for her. Not to mention he had to keep his promise to her too.
"A long time ago." Lyta laughed cruelly, losing most of her glamour.
"Kalla died the day she became a Wraith. Undead should stay away from the living."
"That's not what I meant! What happened to her? What about Protector's corpse?"
"Beats me." She shrugged, going higher on the tree, just to be safe.
"I've never been there and I don't plan to. I don't get involved in humans' squabbles. As long the Clackers stay out of my turf, it's none of my business. Thanks for getting rid of them for me. I'd say we are even now."
Lyta had enough of his rude behavior. She disappeared in the tree bark while Lith could only watch her dart away through the forest with Life Vision.
"Did you hear her? You guys have to go back." Lith now felt even more motivated to continue his mission. He had to find out what had happened to Kalla and prevent the Clackers from defiling Protector's corpse.
"We all have to go back! The Headmaster and the Professors can take care of the Clackers by themselves." Phloria said.
"She is right. This isn't a place for students anymore. We have to retreat to fight another day." Yurial patted his shoulder. He knew how deep the scar in Lith's heart was and how the decision he had to make would only worsen it.
"Heck, no!" Lith angrily pushed Yurial's hand away.
"I don't plan to fight, only to recover my friend's body. I can make it as long as I avoid direct confrontation. I don't have the luxury of time. It could already be too late. If you were Linjos, what priority would you give to retrieving a corpse?
Would you really risk the members of the staff you have left just to humor a grieving student?"
No one could deny those words. An awkward silence fell between them.
"Let's calm down and rest first." Yurial said.
"We can't remain here, it's not safe. There could be more Clackers around."
The group used darkness magic to destroy the corpses and erase all traces of their passage. They moved in a random direction, picking the first clearing they found to rest.
Yurial used what mana he had left to cast the best defensive arrays in his arsenal before entering the dimensional tent Phloria had arranged for them. On the outside, it closely resembled a pup tent.
On the inside, it looked like a three star hotel room. There was a fully furnished bedroom with three king sized beds, a liquor cabinet, and a single door leading to a bathroom.
It had no running water since any mage could easily conjure as much as they wanted, but there were a pot and a bathtub. Lith went straight for the liquor cabinet, removing stoppers until he found a familiar smell.
"Do you drink?" Yurial was surprised.
"Usually no." Lith poured himself a glass of something he hoped would taste like whiskey.
"Right now I really need one though. Do you want to join me?"
His father had never allowed him to drink alcohol. The ban had become especially severe ever since he had developed his nerve problems. So it was natural for Yurial to accept.
"Take small sips and watch out for the burn." Lith warned him after handing Yurial his glass. Back on Earth, Lith would have finished his drink in two gulps. Now, instead, he was forced to follow his own advice.
The taste was terrible but at least it was alcohol. Lith embraced the familiar warm sensation spreading from his stomach. It was only after the second glass that they talked.
"Are you sure you want to do it?" Yurial asked.
"I mean, risking your life for Protector's dead body is beyond stupid. No offense."
"None taken." Lith replied emptying his glass.
"He died to save us all, the only way we have to honor his sacrifice is to live our lives to the fullest, don't you think?" Yurial was surprised by Lith's meek attitude and by how at peace he was feeling after drinking the amber colored liquid.
"I agree with you. That's why I'm going to do it."
Chapter 236 Gatekeeper
Lith took the bottle away and locked the cabinet. He didn't want to risk for Yurial to go from one addiction to another.
"At this point, you should have realized the meaning of what I told you after the second exam. Life is like a crucible. It pushes us until we break apart and then it melts the pieces to forge something new.
"The mold is always the same, but the person that comes out it's not. Our beliefs and our convictions are put to the test every day. Some we keep, others we discard. When it happens, a part of us dies, never to return.
"You are not the same person you were when the academy started, just like you are not even the same person you were after passing the second exam. It's the same for everyone.
"My only choice is to embrace the change or keep mourning my past self as much as I mourn Protector. I need my closure. If I back away without even trying, I will regret it my whole life and sooner or later that weight is going to kill me."
"I understand." Yurial replied.
"I'm the same. I know that things can't go back to the way they were, but I can't accept my current situation either. Unlike you, I have yet to find an answer. I won't try to stop you anymore. Is there anything I can do to help you?"
"Actually, there are two things you can do. The first is to stay the heck away from the liquor cabinet, the second is to not tell the girls that I'm gone." Lith was back to his peak condition and had made up his mind.
'I can't risk their lives for something like this. I don't want to lose anyone else.' He thought.
Lith was about to leave when Yurial stopped him by standing in front of the door.
"I know that you could knock me down with a single punch, just like I know that you believe you are doing the right thing, but you are not. This isn't protecting us. This is casting us aside because you think of us as a weakness.
"I'm aware our friendship isn't that deep, we started talking for real only recently, but your relationship with Phloria should matter something to you. If you run away behind her back, you'll betray her trust. At least have the guts to tell her the truth."
Lith sighed, Yurial was right.
"Man, bad habits die hard. I was about to make the same mistake I always do. Treating people like they are too weak or stupid for their will to matter. Please, come with me outside. Otherwise Phloria will kill me."
Lith let Yurial out of the dimensional tent first. As he expected, Phloria was waiting for him outside. When she saw the door opening, she was about to give Lith a piece of her mind. Yet Yurial came out of it instead, leaving her surprised and relieved at the same time.
"You know me well, don't you?" Lith said.
"Let me guess. You were about to sneak out and leave us in the dark. Just like you did to your family for all those years." Phloria's calm didn't last long. Not when she saw the determined look on his face.
"Yes, I was. Yurial already talked me out of it. There is no need to scold me again."
"Are you saying you are going back to the academy with us?" Phloria couldn't believe her ears.
"No. I'm sending you guys back, but only after explaining the situation to you. Please, come inside. Yurial, please, leave us alone."
Back into the boys' tent, Lith cast the Hush spell. He had no idea how the magic distorting the tent's space worked. Lith wanted to be sure what he was about to say would remain between the two of them.
"Spit it out, let me hear your excuse." Phloria refused to sit, leaning against the wall with her arms folded.
Lith saw her die many times in a short period of time. Her face melted after being splashed by Clacker's poison, her head was bitten off by something, and lastly, her chest was pierced in multiple points while blood drenched her clothes.
All those visions didn't make him waver, they only strengthened his conviction.
"No excuses, only the truth. You have heard the dryad. The mining town has probably been taken over by the Clackers. Even remaining here it's too dangerous for you guys. Use the emergency device and go back to the academy. You'll be safe there."
"Why should it be any different for you? Why don't you come back with us? There's no reason to risk your life for a corpse. If the dryad is right, the Clackers have probably feasted on it already."
Lith felt his rage seethe at the thought, but he managed to suppress it.
"It's different because I am different from you guys. You have seen me in action. I am faster and stronger than any of you. While I was underground, I killed two of those giant Clackers, while you only took care of the one I served you on a silver platter."
"Since when is this a contest?" Phloria retorted. She was determined to not back down.
"It's not. I'm only saying that it's much easier for me to go in and out of the mining town alone. I promise you I'm not going to risk my life meaninglessly. If the place is infested with Clackers and the situation turns out to be too dangerous, I'll run away.
"I have to at least try. I need to see Protector one last time, even if it's just an empty grave or an egg infested corpse. He is… was my best friend, my mentor, my partner. When he died, I was so conceited and self absorbed I never got to tell him goodbye. I owe him that much."
Phloria saw Lith blink too often for it to be normal. She knew he had still a hard time fighting off Death Vision and how painful it was for him seeing his loved ones dying again and again.
'I don't want him to go, I want him to be safe. Yet maybe going there can help Lith overcoming his trauma. I can't live with the thought of being even partially responsible for his continuous suffering. I hope that Raaz is right and letting him go is the right thing to do.'
"Fine, but I can't let you leave just like this." She took out a bastard sword from her dimensional amulet.
It resembled a longsword with a blade 110 centimeters (3,6 feet) long, but the hilt was longer, allowing the wielder to use it with one hand or both according to the circumstances.
It had four blue magical crystals embedded, one on each side of the blade and the other two on each side of the hilt.
"This was supposed to be your birthday present. I asked my father to forge something for you as a thank you gift for saving my life time and time again. You should have seen his face back then." She chuckled.
"He reacted like I was asking him to cut his own right hand. After I told him all that happened during Balkor's attack and when my mom and sisters backed me, he gave in.
"I explained to him that you are not very skilled yet incredibly strong, so he made this sword. It's the first and for now the only piece of his Gatekeeper series of blades.
"Not only it can shrink, just like mine, allowing the wielder to fight in enclosed spaces, but it also can enhance the strength of all elements channeled into the sword. Each element produces a different effect." She handed it to Lith, who immediately imprinted it with his mana while performing a few practice swings.
'Does it mean this weapon has fusion magic too?' Lith was amazed by how light the sword was. It was the first time for him to see a weapon made by Orion with a double edge instead of a single one.
"Since you refuse to listen to reason, I'll borrow it to you. You have to give it back, though. It's not yours until your thirteenth birthday, am I clear?"
Lith nodded, putting the sword away.
"Look at the bright side." He smiled softly, caressing her cheek.
"I'll return to the academy in less than an hour. After that, since we are not going to stay in this stinking forest one minute longer, I can take you out to a proper date."
Lith flew out of the door and into the sky, without waiting for her reply. Once he was high enough, he didn't need the map to find the way. Yet he didn't rush forward. He took his time to conjure and manipulate a low altitude cloud to hide his approach.
'This Brood Mother is likely to be an Awakened one. Otherwise it shouldn't be able to order around Clackers capable of using magic. If she keeps an eye at the sky with Life Vision or something similar, my disguise is useless. Luckily, there's more than one way to kill a spider.' Lith thought.
He hoped that no Clacker would mind a small cloud two kilometers high in the sky that moved along the wind.
When he was right above the mining town, he looked below with Life Vision. Lith discovered that all the houses had lost their enchantments, whatever the Headmaster had done to them, was only temporary.
There were multiple life forms, but judging from their numbers and strength there was nothing that could worry him much. He kept moving the cloud until he arrived at a point where, if he moved fast enough, he could descend to the ground without being noticed.
Lith plunged down like a meteor, using the slipstream effect to accelerate his movements and a thin layer of darkness magic to hide his presence. Before leaving the academy, he had asked to Linjos what had happened to the corpses of the fallen beasts.
Contrary to his expectations, instead of punishing or reprimanding him for his behavior while they were at Protector's deathbed, the Headmaster simply informed him that Scarlett had buried them in a mass grave near the forest.
Linjos never intended to punish Lith for his words. He too had lost many friends that day, so he could understand Lith's feelings. Also, when Linjos saw his condition after the failed attempt to save Protector's life, he considered the case closed.
In Linjos's eyes, losing a dear friend and almost his own life on the same day was the worse punishment someone could ever deserve.
Lith stopped his fall just a few meters from the ground. Then, he moved while floating mid air, to not make any noise. Thanks to air and darkness magic, he was like a ghost, moving unnoticed behind the enemy lines.
He also made sure to always keep a house between himself and the nearest Clacker.
'After the last time, I learned my lesson. These creatures do not rely much on their eyes as much as on their bristles. Air magic cannot hide my movements. I can only stay as far as possible from them and hope it's enough.'
Thanks to Life Vision, he could soon make sure that only Hatchling Clackers were inside the mining town. He found no sign of the presence of Soldiers or of the Brood Mother.
The closer he got to the mass grave, the greater the number of Clackers he met, until he reached a point where moving forward while remaining undetected became impossible.
Lith took out the bastard sword, infusing it with darkness magic. Instead of butchering his way to the grave, he proceeded slowly, ambushing the nearest Clacker and hiding its corpse in the pocket dimension to not leave traces behind.
Lith repeated the process until he had a clear path ahead. Before moving forward, he weaved several spells, preparing for the worse. Soon he was close enough to notice that the mass grave had been unearthed and enlarged.
While looking at it with Life Vision, it appeared like a huge pool of life forces, too close and numerous to distinguish one from the other.
'If the dryad is right and the Brood Mother turned the corpses into incubators, it's unlikely she has left such a precious asset unprotected.' Lith sprinted the last hundred meters, flying to the destination.
He had no idea how sensitive Clackers' perception was, but he was pretty sure they would notice him as soon as he got too close. He was right.
Lith was nearing the edge of the grave when he saw the front legs of two Soldier Clackers climbing out of the pit to check on the approaching anomaly they perceived.
Lith was too fast for them. He managed to close in before their heads emerged completely and attacked them while they were still defenseless. Lith cut them down with a single slash each, jumping over the edge and taking by surprise the two remaining Soldiers.
The first one died before realizing what had happened. Lith cleaved its head while unleashing several ice spears against the last enemy. Despite the shock, the Soldier managed to deflect most of the spears with true magic.
The Clacker was pierced multiple times, losing half of its legs in the process, but before the intruder could strike him down, it managed to sound the alarm.
By disregarding its own safety, the creature used the last strand of mana it had to strike the ground in a precise sequence, to alert his goddess of the impending threat to the colony.
Chapter 237 Outmatched
Lith was no Clacker, but his mana perception was high enough to allow him to perceive the earth magic traveling under his feet.
'Damn, I'd better be quick. I am sure that Clacker didn't waste its last moments of life to improvise dance moves. It has called for reinforcements.' Lith thought.
The mass grave had been enlarged so that the various carcasses could be separated based on their quality. In the leftmost corner of the pit, there was a giant cocoon made out of webs and covered in eggs.
Solus's mana sense could see that the eggs yielded an orange core, while the hatchlings that were taking cover inside the cocoon had already reached a yellow core. Tufts of flaming red hair were scattered around the floor.
Lith gritted his teeth, realizing that his worst fears had come true. Protector's body was lost.
'Damn Clackers! I can't resurrect the dead, but that doesn't mean I'm willing to let them go away with it.' Lith jumped out of the pit, releasing a stream of fire on the cocoons until the incubator was turned into a funeral pyre.
The dying screeches of the hatchlings filled him with joy, so he kept pouring fire while watching the eggs boil from within until the pressure made them burst. Hatchling Clackers tried to stop him. Now that he was alone, Lith only needed a glance to unleash several wind blades and turn them into mincemeat.
The Hatchlings were all the size of a basketball, like those he had faced during the mock exam. They were too small and afraid of the fire to be a threat. The only reason why they were attacking him was that they didn't dare to disobey the Brood Mother.
'Lith, on your right!' Solus warned him. Lith turned just in time to see a huge stone disc crash land right beside the pit, from which descended a human like female figure with razor sharp claws aiming for his head.
The creature was incredibly fast since it could exploit the Clackers' natural speed and boost it with air fusion magic.
"How dare you harm my babies?" She hissed with a voice full of hatred.
The Brood Mother current form resembled a woman of breath-taking beauty with long black hair that reached the ground. She wore a black evening dress similar to those Lith had seen the noble dames wear during social events.
Aside from the claws, many things revealed her inhuman nature. Four spider legs came out of her back and she had eight eyes instead of two. Two on the forehead, two on her cheeks and the last two beside her chin.
Thanks to Solus's warning, Lith managed to dodge just in the nick of time. He had been checking the surroundings with Life Vision, but the rocket like disc had been an unpleasant surprise.
"My army!" She cried in outrage, watching all her careful plans to take over the forest turn into ashes.
Lith took a few steps back, watching four gargantuan Clackers approach from the site of the crash. Each one of them was three meters (9'10") tall, with legs as thick as young trees.
'Beware, those four all have a deep cyan core.' Solus warned him.
'It seems this Brood Mother has really found a way to use corpses and living prey to hasten her offspring growth. If it keeps like this, all the members of her personal guard could evolve within a few months!'
Lith didn't care much about the future, he was concerned enough about the present.
He had never expected to face an evolved monster capable of using all elements, let alone that it would have so many powerful bodyguards.
According to the dryad's words, the Brood Mother was supposed to have only recently evolved. He had assumed she would have at her disposal a very limited amount of skills.
Otherwise, Lith would have never wasted so much time burning the eggs. Yet she was already able to shapeshift and nurture very powerful warriors.
It was a fight where he had nothing to gain and very much to lose.
'How strong is she, Solus?'
'More than you. Her core is light cyan and very close to become deep blue. There is a piece of good news, though. Now that I look better at them, despite their cores being already this powerful, they have only a limited amount of mana.
'I think their evolution was too fast, their bodies have yet to develop enough to employ so much power. They will probably break if you push them strong enough.'
The Brood Mother's body shapeshifted. The dress disappeared under her skin. Her lower body turned into the abdomen of a giant spider with eight long longs. The front legs were different from the others, shining under the sunlight like they were made out of obsidian.
It was like someone had attached a human to the spider body, starting from the thighs. Her upper body still looked the same, but her skin had turned from pink to a chitinous grey and her hands had unnaturally long fingers ending in razor-sharp claws.
"You owe me, human!" Her rage subsided when she looked at Lith with Life Vision.
"Your body will do just fine! A living host is much better than maggots infested corpses. Surrender and I promise you won't suffer. Much."
Despite her threats, the Brood Mother was reluctant to attack first. She could tell that the intruder was quite strong and she needed him alive to recover from the massive loss of the incubator chamber.
She had two of her Praetorians position behind her back and the other two on her sides.
"I'm sorry, but I already have a girlfriend." Lith sneered.
"You defiled my friend's body and dare to ask for compensation? Here is my offer. Let me go and I will not kill you." His tone was stone cold. He wanted nothing more than kill her in the slowest, more gruesome way possible, but he was outnumbered and outmatched.
Also, charging blindy was something the old Lith would have done, taking unnecessary risks just to quench his rage.
'Wrath without a purpose is just acting without thinking of the consequences. I can leave the Scorpicore to deal with these vermin, there's no need to dirty my hands.' He tried to convince himself.
The Brood Mother reacted by spreading her fingers and releasing a stream of lightning toward Lith, who Blinked out of the harm's way opening the exit point on her right side. Yet the Brood Mother was well aware of that.
She had never stopped using Life Vision, even though it consumed a lot of mana. She knew that if her opponent was capable of using dimensional magic, he could have appeared behind her back and kill her in one fell swoop.
That was the reason why she had made her Praetorians remain close to her, to block his line of sight. Her front legs not only were harder than steel, but they were also razor sharp, capable to pierce through stone.
She lunged them towards the Blink exit she had saw appearing only to have them hit thin air. Lith had yet to learn true dimensional magic, but he had taken to heart Kalla's words. He knew how dangerous it was to Blink in front of someone capable of using Life Vision.
When the Talons had ambushed him on his way to Kandria, he had managed to beat them because they were too reliant on the spell. Lith had learned from their mistake, so he had used Switch alongside Blink.
The gate on her right was just a really mana expensive feint. His real target was one of the Praetorians on her back. With their position swapped Lith now had almost a clear strike.
Almost.
The Praetorian beside him moved as fast as it could to intercept the enemy lunge aimed at its goddess' heart. Lith was holding the sword with both hands, channelling fire magic through the hilt.
The enchantment Orion had infused the sword with amplified the strength of the spell, turning the yellow flames into an emerald storm that engulfed Lith's whole body, turning him into a human comet.
Praetorians were bigger and stronger than Soldier Clackers, but their magic abilities were still limited to the water and earth elements. It unleashed the defensive spells it had prepared, raising a wall of frozen stone in front of Lith to block his charge.
Lith realized that his original plan had been foiled. Crashing head on might allow him to destroy the makeshift barrier, but he would be blind against what was waiting for him behind it. So he changed his target.
Lith ran horizontally along the wall at high speed, his sword aimed at the defenceless Praetorian. The creature raised its front leg like a shield, trying to infuse itself with earth magic. Lith was too close and too fast, when the first strands of magic started to harden the exoskeleton, it was already dead.
The Praetorian was cleaved in half, both parts of its body were being devoured by emerald flames scorching the earth below.
"No!" The Brood Mother screeched. Not only was the human stronger than she had predicted, but also losing a Praetorian was a huge blow to her army, second only to losing the incubator.
Even using the corpses of powerful beasts or magicians, there was only a small chance for a Praetorian to be born instead of a simple Soldier. She emitted a gargling sound, calling all her minions to help in battle.
Lith was amazed by how even a sword Forgemasterd with fake magic could be so powerful, yet he had no time to waste. He was still one against three and according to Solus, Hatchling Clackers were incoming from all directions.
'Thanks to Invigoration I was back at my peak condition when the fight started and aside from Switch I have yet to use a strong spell. If I let them combine their attacks, I'm done for.' Lith thought.
The Mother and here Praetorians stepped back to safety. Once the caster died, the frozen wall crumbled leaving a hole in their formation.
"Curse you, human! I don't care anymore of taking you alive. I'll make sure you suffer like the inferior being you are!"
If it wasn't for Lith's "No speeches while fighting" policy, he would have liked to tell her that she had just taken the words out of his mouth. Lith Blinked again instead of bantering, sending the Brood Mother into a panic.
"He's behind us!" She yelled noticing no exit point had opened in front or above them. The four turned around at unison, unleashing several spells that turned the ground in front of them into what looked like an earthquake aftermath.
Yet aside from some Hatchlings that had managed to arrive faster than his brethren, the natural forces they unleashed only hit the air. Lith had actually Blinked into the pit. The exit point had escaped her detection thanks to the magical flames that were still burning the cocoons with enough strength to overwhelm the dimensional magic signature.
Being generated from Lith' own mana, those flames were harmless to him.
'She must be scared witless to keep using Life Vision like that.' Solus pointed out.
'If you manage to keep her on her toes and prevent her from using Invigoration, she won't last long.'
'Yeah, the problem is that the same goes for me. I can't Blink around too much without using Invigoration. Time to use my ace in the hole.' Lith thought. He hadn't created the small cloud just to use it as a cover.
It was also his contingency plan in case something went horribly wrong.
Before descending to the ground, he had separated with air magic the positive and the negative charges, turning it into a thundercloud. While his enemies were still attacking the ground, he used air magic on them.
He charged them positively and turned them into living lightning rods.
Real thunderbolts were much stronger than their magical counterparts, but it also made them much more dangerous. Lith wasn't immune to their fury, so he kept channelling his spell from his hiding spot.
Suddenly, the Brood Mother noticed that her and her Praetorians were glowing like a Christmas tree, yet she couldn't feel any negative effect.
"What treachery is this?" She said looking at her palms trying to understand what was happening. The answer came in the form of a rumbling sound from above.
The evolved Clackers looked up in the sky with a confused look, while their Queen went into a panic again.
"No, no, no!" She screamed trying to think of a solution.
"Infuse yourselves with earth magic and shield us with rocks! Quick, or we are all dead."
Lith inwardly cursed at his bad luck. It was the first time he had attempted that trick, so he had no idea it would be that slow. He started weaving several earth spells, while helplessly watching his enemies build a makeshift fortress.
When the first lightning bolt came down, the Clackers' protection held it at bay. The rock barrier had taken the brunt of the attack and most of the electricity that managed to reach them had been nullified by their earth fusion.
The flash had blinded them, the thunder almost deafened them and the resulting shockwave had killed many Hatchlings that were still trying to reach their queen to protect her. Yet the Brood Mother rejoiced.
"Yes! We will survive. Not even lightning can beat our combined spells!"
'What do you think I was waiting for?' Lith inwardly replied.
When the following thunderbolts came, he unleashed all of his spells at once, turning the fortress they had spent so much mana to build in a pile of dust.
Chapter 238 Outmatched 2
While Thunderbolts quickly rained down from the sky one after the other, a spellcasting speed race for survival was taking place on the ground. The evolved Clackers were trying to keep their defenses in place, while Lith was putting just as much effort to make them crumble.
Despite Lith being alone, the fight was on equal footing. Lightning wasn't the only threat, there was also the shockwaves it produced. The Praetorians were now blind, deaf, and badly injured.
Unlike their queen, they were unable to use light magic to heal themselves. Also, by following their instinct, they shielded her to the best of their abilities. Lith exploited the situation, focusing on one of them at the time, leaving a different enemy unprotected each time a bolt of lightning struck.
The cloud Lith had conjured was small, it managed to produce only a dozen lightning bolts before returning to normal. Yet its effects were devastating. One of the Praetorians was dead, another was in agony, and the last one was severely injured.
Exploiting their blind loyalty, Lith had also exterminated the Hatchling Clackers that answered their queen's call by throwing them in the eye of the storm. Once the lightning bolts stopped, Lith jumped out of the pit, rushing at full speed toward his enemies.
His body was infused with air magic, making him appear like a blur. The magic crystals embedded into the bastard sword harnessed part of the spell, making a small vortex cracking with lightning envelope the blade.
The Brood Mother was triggered by the noise, summoning an earth shield all around her. The Clackers' sensory organs were still muddled by the thunderstorm, their reaction was disorganized.
When the last Praetorian still standing understood what was happening, Lith had already chopped off the head of his agonizing teammate, to prevent the Brood Mother from rejuvenating it.
The Praetorian screeched for help, fighting with all the strength it could muster. All the rocks and debris that had been created by keeping the thunderstorm at bay, flew against Lith following his every movement.
Lith was starting to run out of steam. His muscles were sore from the continuous bursts and his mind was losing focus. Using so many high level spells at the same time had taken quite a toll on him.
To make things worse, the closer he got to the Praetorian, the more accurate its control over the debris became, making it impossible for Lith to dodge all the incoming attacks. He could only deflect those aimed at his vitals and tank the others.
He used earth fusion to limit the injuries and light fusion to start regenerating them as soon as they opened.
When Lith was close enough, the Clacker interrupted the spell releasing a second one. Eight giant spider legs made of rock erupted from the ground, attacked him from all directions. Each one ended with a spike and was aimed at his heart to impale him.
'Damn my stupidity! I should have known the previous spell was just a diversion. I've no time to Blink.' Lith infused himself and the sword with air magic, charging against the incoming spike in front of him.
He slashed horizontally, aiming to use the force of the impact to alter his course at the last second and avoid being turned into a shish kebab.
Much to his surprise, the sword didn't bounce off the spike, it cut through the stone like it was paper instead. The Praetorian was suddenly as scared as Lith was jubilant.
'This isn't a sword. This is a masterpiece!' Lith rejoiced from the sudden turn of the events. The Clacker was defenseless. Weaving and controlling his spell with such precision had required all of its focus, leaving it no time for a contingency plan.
With one last burst of speed, Lith arrived in front of the Praetorian, performing a series of quick slashes. The first cut off the front legs that were trying to protect the Praetorian's head. The second and the third split the head in two and removed it from the body respectively.
Lith kept dashing forward, putting some distance between him and the Brood Mother, activating Invigoration as soon as he stopped. It took only a couple of seconds for the Brood Mother to realize there were no more lightning bolts incoming, but when she lowered her barrier everything was already over.
She used Invigoration to heal her many wounds and replenish her mana. Once she spotted him, the Brood Mother was ready to counter any attack the human could be plotting. Yet Lith remained still, his grin grew wider by the second.
"You really are dumb." He laughed at her with a cruel voice.
"Absorbing the world energy is a great idea. Too bad it's a game that two can play and I started before you."
The Brood Mother cursed at her own stupidity, it was her first time facing an Awakened one. Through Life Vision, she checked that Lith had told the truth. He was recovering faster than she was capable of.
The head start he got would allow Lith to attack before she was back at her peak condition.
"Great idea!" He kept mocking her after noticing her glowing eyes. Words didn't waste mana, so they were the only attack he could perform without hindering his recovery.
"I'm sure that wasting mana non stop will not slow you down even more."
The Brood Mother was outraged by Lith's defiant attitude, but she was even more scared of what could happen if she stopped watching his every movement.
Unlike him, she wasn't able to Blink. She also had noticed how the piece of metal in his hands could easily cut apart even her strongest minion. She only needed one strike to cut him down, but Lith was capable of doing the same.
The Brood Mother rushed forward, forcing him to stop using Invigoration too and playing straight into his hand. Life Vision gave her only a vague idea of Lith's core power. After all, he had almost killed her multiple times. The Brood Mother was certain that he had to be at least as strong as her.
Thanks to Solus's mana sense, Lith knew that she was stronger than him even at his peak condition, something that was still lost to him. His body had yet to recover from the attempt to save Protector's life.
Lith had manipulated her fears so that she would start recovering later than him and stop before him, forcing her to fight on equal footing. The Brood Mother was physically superior, but Lith was much more experienced in using all the elements.
Her front legs clashed many times with his sword, keeping it at bay. Their strength, speed, and stamina were on the same level since the Brood Mother was too scared to stop using Life Vision.
Yet Lith was forced to play on the defensive. While his opponent could block with the front legs and attack with her claws, he had only one sword. His daggers had a smaller range than her fingers. Also, he needed both hands to stop her heavy blows.
They were too close to use spells. If one of them stopped even for a second, the other would have the time to strike at least three times. Soon Lith was covered by shallow wounds on the head, shoulders, and arms.
The Brood Mother was starting to get used to his poor swordsmanship, attacking with her claws every time her front legs clashed with the sword. The impact would stun him just for a split second, but it was enough for her.
Lith changed his strategy, infusing the bastard sword with darkness magic instead of air.
The blade turned pitch black and small vortexes appeared on its surface. Lith didn't need to use Life Vision to know that Orion's masterpiece was sapping his enemy's strength by the second.
He only needed to watch at her terrified expression. Every time the dark blade clashed with the Brood Mother's stone like legs, they would crack and a bit of her life force would be transferred to Lith.
The tables were now slowly getting turned. She knew that the longer it lasted, the weaker she would get. She went into a frenzy, attacking faster and faster, hoping he would make a mistake not being able to keep up the pace with her many limbs.
Lith was soon forced to focus only on the defense again, the Brood Mother's attacks were too fast and well coordinated for his skill level. New and deeper cuts appeared on his flesh, but he couldn't stop grinning.
"Not even a monstrosity like you could laugh at his own death!" During the fight, the queen of the Clackers had noticed Lith's unusual smell. It was part human, part beast, part Abomination and completely unnatural.
'I'm laughing at yours!' He inwardly replied before releasing all the nine spells stored inside his rings. Fireballs, lightning bolts, Plague Arrows, and a fully charged Checkmate Spears were fired against her at point blank range while she was lunging her left arm toward Lith's right one.
The thunderbolts stunned her while the darkness missiles drained her lifeforce and the icicles ravaged her body. The explosions from the fireballs pushed her away, but not before her claws severed Lith's dominant arm at the shoulder.
The Brood Mother was severely injured but not dead. Now that Lith had lost the sword she was certain she would get the upper hand as soon as her body started to move again.
Then she saw it. Together with spurts of red blood, black tendrils came out of Lith's severed arm and from his shoulder, pulling it back into place. The flesh merged like the wound had never existed.
Lith was shocked as much as the Brood Mother. He had already seen Balkor's Valors reattach their limbs in a very similar manner. Unlike them, he needed light fusion to close the wound and stop the bleeding.
The arm was in place, but it was useless. The bones, nerves, and blood vessels were still repairing themselves. Lith had no sensibility whatsoever, his arm was no more than dead weight. The Brood Mother didn't know it and hope abandoned her.
It was only then that she realized that her body was already beyond saving. The electricity from the lightning bolts ha temporarily stunned her, but not prevented her from moving. Otherwise the previous thunderstorm would have managed to kill her.
The numbing effect had simply prevented her from noticing that several spears of ice had pierced both her human and spider body, puncturing her lungs and several organs. She started coughing blood, while her life was slowly slipping away.
"Please, have mercy." She pleaded him, shedding tears from all her eight eyes.
"You are a powerful magician. You can heal me. You know how rare we Awakened are, we shouldn't kill each other."
Lith clicked his tongue in disgust, moving the sword from the right to the left hand. The Brood Mother recognized him as someone similar to her. He didn't want allies, only servants.
"If you spare my life, I swear to devote all my life to you. I can take on any form you want, be every day the woman of your dreams. I'll be your lover, your slave, whatever you want. Just don't kill me!"
Lith plunged the sword into her head, using darkness magic to destroy the last spark of life force she had left.
'I can't believe she had the gall to ask me to spare her life. Slave my a*s, she would have killed me as soon as she recovered her strength.' Lith thought, storing the corpse in the pocket dimension.
'What are you planning to do with her remains?' Solus asked.
'Use them as ingredients, sell it, or reanimate it as a greater undead. I have yet to decide.'
Professor Farg had witnessed the whole fight from the beginning. The resourcefulness of both sides had left her speechless more than once.
'By the gods, even with all my equipment, I don't know if I could defeat either of them without reinforcements. The Brood Mother was cunning and the four Praetorians covered her blind spots, leaving no openings.
'Lith's swordsmanship is amateurish at best, but he is a vicious, scheming opportunist. He clearly has a lot of experience using true magic, that trick with the thundercloud isn't something you can improvise.
'Once again, Lady Tyris was right. Lith from Lutia isn't human. I must show her the fight, especially the part where the arm reattached itself. His existence goes beyond my understanding.'
Lith used Invigoration again, checking his surrounding from time to time. The few Clackers that had survived were all Hatchlings and with their queen dead, they had lost the will to fight.
He collected the corpses of the Praetorians too, hoping they were still worth something as trophies or ingredients. Then, he returned to the pit. The flames had destroyed everything, leaving behind only ashes.
Lith wasn't a believer, but he silently prayed for his lost friend. He couldn't avenge Protector's death nor could he bring him back to life. The feeling of helplessness heavily weighted on his heart.
"Goodbye, old friend. Thank you for everything you did for me and for all you taught me. I promise I will take care of your family like it's my own."
"Well, well, well. Look who's here. I should feel offended. I heard from more than one reliable source that you shed a lot of tears for Protector, but none for me."
Lith turned around, welcoming Kalla with a warm smile.
Chapter 239 Worries
"Kalla, you're alive!" Lith regretted those words as soon as he pronounced them. Kalla looked almost the same way when they met during Balkor's attack.
Almost.
The shadows surrounding her were deeper, the red light in her eyes was stone cold, and the presence she exuded was that of an undead.
"Not quite. I barely survived that night and only thanks to the experiments I had previously performed on my own body. After I recovered, I decided to push things to the next level. I'm currently in the process of turning myself into a true undead.
Is that a problem for you?"
"Not at all. What are you doing here?" He asked.
"I could ask you the same thing. I was minding my own business when I recognized your mana signature. I would have liked to rush here to help you, but I was in the middle of a delicate procedure. I arrived here just a few seconds ago. How are you doing, Scourge?"
Lith told her everything he had gone through from the last time they had seen each other, sparing no details about Death Vision.
"Fascinating." She replied. "Does it work on me too?"
"No." Oddly, Kalla remained the same, no matter how long he looked at her.
"Maybe it's because of my ongoing transformation, or maybe because you know I'm stronger than you. We should try asking Scarlett when she comes back."
Kalla looked at Lith first and then to Solus's ring. She didn't agree with their decision, but since they knew him better, Kalla decided not to interfere.
"Kalla, why have you decided to turn into an undead? You have evolved only recently, isn't this rushing things too much?" Lith was as happy to see her as worried for her mental health.
Since he had developed Death Vision, he had revised all the old conversations he had with his psychologist, to understand how much of a nutjob he was.
If before Protector's death his heart felt like it had been turned to stone, since he had developed Death Vision he could feel a void in his chest. Like a hole through which a cold wind blew non stop, freezing his body.
He was afraid that Kalla had been suffering from a similar trauma and had taken the easiest way out from her feelings. It was the same thing he had planned to do for a while, before his family's and Phloria's affection had convinced him otherwise.
"I'm not rushing anything. I have been mulling over the possibility ever since I was still a Byk. Why do you think I was so interested in greater undead, even when we met for the first time?"
"I'm sorry, but I don't understand. Based on what I read, evolved monsters have a very long lifespan. Can't you wait for a bit before taking such an irreversible decision?"
Kalla sighed, realizing how little Scarlett trusted Lith to keep him in the dark even about basic knowledge.
"I'm sorry to be forced to break it to you like this, but there is no easy way to do it. It's not just evolved monsters, all Awakened ones live for centuries. That means that you too will sooner or later face the same problem."
"What?" Lith and Solus were both flabbergasted.
"In your attempt of saving Protector, you have lost decades of life span. That means that you'll live a few hundred years less than the average Awakened ones, but you will still live on for centuries."
"How… how is it possible?"
Lith suddenly felt lightheaded, the world was spinning all around him to the point he had to use the bastard sword to support himself.
"People's lives depend on the amount of life force they possess. An Awakened one is capable of constantly absorbing the world energy, so instead of burning their own life force, they consume mostly world energy.
"That prolongs our lives for a very long time. I knew it from the moment I evolved into an Awakened one that it would mean to watch everyone of my kin die. To witness the world as I know it changes until I would become unable to recognize it anymore.
"In my Wight form, I could still have cubs, but what of them? They would live shunned by animals and humans alike, just to die of old age way before me. Know this, the offspring of an Awakened it's almost never an Awakened, just like having a mage for a parent doesn't mean having a great talent for magic.
"That's why there are monsters roaming this world. Scarlett's offspring are Scorpicores capable of using all the elements, they live around three hundred years, but they are not Awakened ones.
Also, your case is even more special."
"What do you mean?" All those sudden revelations had forced Lith to sit down. He felt like he was going to puke.
"You can live as long as an Awakened, but you might as well live forever. There are immortals in this world, creatures that can live until someone kills them and Abominations are among them, just like the undead."
"This means that my family, my friends…" Lith was stuttering for the shock.
"They will all die, in time. Even if you cage them all, even if you personally stand guard to them, sooner or later they will die in front of your eyes. Time is our ally as much as our enemy." Kalla completed the sentence for him.
"That's why what you did for Protector was stupid and childish. He had seen so many of his kin age and pass away in front of him after becoming a Ry. After becoming a Skoll, he was bound to witness all of his pack, her new mate and even his cubs wither away in front of his eyes.
"Also, your idea of undead is flawed. Greater undead not only can live forever, but also have all the same range of feelings that the living has. Human undead give us a bad name because once they get used to killing, they stop thinking of others as living beings, belittling them like cattle.
"A magical beast is different, though. We need to kill since the moment our parents abandon us, life is a constant struggle for survival. For me turning into an undead will change nothing.
"Unlike Nok, I wasn't born a Byk. First, I was just a bear, then a Byk, and lastly a Wight. No matter how much my appearance changes, I will always be myself. Can you say the same?"
"Maybe, I don't know." It was the first time that Lith was forced to lie to Kalla, but he had no way to explain to her how he had been reborn twice already and had changed very little so far.
"So, the good news is that you don't have to worry about my family. I will take care of them myself. I free you from your promise. The bad news is, well, everything else. There is something you have to ask me before we part ways again?"
Kalla rubbed her muzzle softly against Lith's cheek. Contrary to his expectations she was warm. Caressing her head helped him to regain his cool a bit.
"Let me get this straight. If I remain just an Awakened one I will live for a couple of centuries, while if I turn into an undead or an Abomination, I would live forever?"
"Yes." She nodded. "Beware that both conditions come at a price. Normal greater undead cannot use light magic freely, it only worsens their hunger. Some can't stand the light of the day, others get driven mad by their new instincts.
They are all unacceptable limits that would hinder my research, that's why I'm trying to turn myself into a lich."
"You what?" Lith froze.
"Liches are one of the few exceptions. The process requires to split your core into two. One part remains in your body and the other needs a special vessel, to seal it from all external influences, even the passing of time.
"That way, even if your body gets destroyed and your core shattered, you can always regenerate a new one from the vessel. The process is long and risky. One single mistake and I'll be dead for good.
As for Abominations, they can freely use all elements, but because of their parasitic nature, they are constantly hunted down. They care for nothing but their own survival.
"They don't even have a body unless they steal one. Even if they find a suitable one, their destructive energies consume it over time until they need to find a replacement.
So be careful about what you choose. Remain an Awakened until you are entirely sure of your decision. One day I might find a cure for undeath, but I doubt there is one for being an Abomination."
"What do you think I should do?"
Lith was completely lost, he didn't want Kalla to leave him. He had never felt so alone in his life. The moment he had learned that he was bound to live for so long, he couldn't stop considering everyone he knew just a little more than walking corpses.
"Stop living in the past." Kalla snorted.
"Enjoy your present, because it will change soon. Stop mulling over death and worry about the living. You have only a few years to spend with them, make them count. Also, try to learn from Nok about how to face changes.
"Do you know what's the first thing he asked me when I told him about my plans for the future? He said: 'Okay, mom. What have you caught for dinner?'
"I will remain in this forest for a few years, I don't know how long will it take to complete my transformation nor if it will succeed. Look for me only if you are in dire need of help, since I will be busy. We will resume our lessons when we both have more free time."
After saying goodbye to Protector's grave, Lith had found his closure. He was finally at peace with himself, but after hearing Kalla's words, he felt bewildered.
"Well, this is great. I needed some good news." Lith sneered.
"I was already considering to become an immortal, an undead, whatever. It would have liked for it to be my choice though, the last resort in case I didn't manage to find a way to have a proper death." He pondered.
"Until I understand what the heck I am becoming, my life span is the last of my problems. Even my arm acts on its own. I knew I would outlive my parents, but now it seems I will survive my sisters and even my nephews."
"There is no solution. Even if I find a way to turn them into Awakened, then what? Should I also turn Rena's husband and his family? Their children when they have them?
"It would destroy their lives."
Lith remained pensive for several minutes. The truth he had just learned was overturning his plans for the future. His age had become completely irrelevant. Judging by Scarlett's appearance he was likely to remain young looking even once he became a century old.
"I obsessed so much over controlling every aspect of my life, only to discover that I have no voice in the matter. I'm bound to have a long and lonely life, unless I befriend undead like Kalla, or Awakened ones." He bitterly laughed.
'By my maker, did you listen to a single word Kalla said? She told you to enjoy the present, to treasure those who you love and instead you are acting like they are already dead.
'Did you hear her plan to turn Nok into an undead or an Awakened? No. She is even willing to find a cure for her vampire adoptive daughter, to give her a mortal life. She worries about them and their happiness, not about herself.
'Think about Protector. He knew he would outlive his pack. Did he consider it reason enough for not evolving? No, he became a Ry first and a Skoll later. When he met Selia he didn't avoid her just because she is weak and short lived, he started a family!
'Why are you so bad at following your own advice? Do you remember what you told Yurial? Your only choice is to embrace the changes or remain forever chained by the failures of your past.'
She projected in his mind their last encounter with Protector before Lith had lost consciousness, quickly followed by Kalla's words. Lith had to accept that she was right.
Both of them had encouraged him to move forward without letting his fears control his life, yet he was there doing the opposite.
'Damn, I hate you being always right, Solus. This is exactly why Protector tried to stop me. All this time, I faced this existence like an enemy to beat or a problem to solve. My fear of losing those precious to me made me lose focus on what is really important.
'I wasted so much time preparing for the worse that I've probably spent more time with my comrades during the last year than with my own family until now.'
Solus could feel that Lith's mind was finally relaxing. After more than a decade of grieving and blind rage, he seemed to be able to rise beyond his limits and live his life to the fullest.
It made her incredibly happy and scared at the same time. Because in the end, Protector had made a huge mistake. Lying to Lith to protect him had been the wrong thing to do. It was up to her to make things right.
Chapter 240 Insights
The truth could hurt him, but lies had hurt him even more.
The trauma, the grieving had never stopped until he had been forced to face his own mistakes through the eyes of the others. She couldn't let him start his life anew based on a convenient lie.
It was time to come clean with Lith, even if that meant destroying their relationship. Every day she hid the truth had been torture for Solus, but she endured it because she cared too much for him.
She was even willing to bear his grudge if it meant for Lith to change for the better.
'Lith, do you trust me?' She asked.
'I'd trust you with my life. Beside Protector, you are my only true friend. Despite witnessing every single and most despicable flaw of mine, you have always accepted me for who I am. I wouldn't be the person I am now without you, Solus.' He replied.
'Then I hope that one day you'll forgive me.'
'Forgive you for what?' Lith had yet to complete his question when Solus projected in his mind everything that had happened after he had lost consciousness. How Protector had survived, his last words for Lith, and his plea to Solus to keep it a secret.
Lith couldn't believe his own mind.
'How could you do this to me?' There was no trace of rage in his thoughts, only the deep pain coming from the breach of their trust. Until that day, Lith had always considered it the only certainty in his life.
Solus was a part of him as much as he was a part of her. In his eyes, she back being an untrustworthy piece of stone, just like the first day they met.
She could feel his pain and silent accusations. They both deeply hurt her, but she kept being honest without hiding anything from him.
'How? I'll tell you how. I simply did exactly what you have done time and time again over the years to everyone you love and care for. I followed your teachings and lied to you to keep you safe from a truth that I was afraid could kill you.'
Lith wanted to rebuke, but everything that came to his mind would sound incredibly hypocritical of him. He still remembered how Scarlett had accused him of corrupting Solus's nature, but he only now understood the meaning of her words.
'How can I trust you from now on? How can you ask me to forgive you? You are the only one I never lied to, never!'
'It's actually easy.' She replied with a firm voice, even though Lith could feel her pain and tears. 'Just read my mind like you always did when we first met. Dig up all my memories and feelings until your paranoia it's satisfied!
'Do it right now, if it makes you feel better. I know that I made a mistake by lying to you, but I did it only out of love. Maybe you don't realize it yet, but you are my everything just like Carl was for you, if not even more.
'I was scared of losing you forever, scared of being alone again. I chose to keep you safe and sound, even if it meant losing your trust. I prefer a world where you hate me for my actions rather than to keep living without you.
It would be worse than death, even worse than slowly starving.'
Lith would have loved to believe her, but at that point, he believed in no one. He followed Solus's suggestion, fusing their minds completely for the first time in years. Lith could see everything that she had ever thought and felt since the day they bonded.
The pain from not having a body, how her feelings for him had grown and changed over the years. At some point, it was impossible to understand if it was the kind of love a daughter had for a father or rather the one a woman felt toward a man.
Everything she had told him was nothing but the truth, from the reasons why she had lied to him to all the sacrifices she had made to keep him alive until that moment. He learned about all the times that she had risked her life to protect him, belittling herself like she wasn't even a person.
He experienced the guilt and suffering that derived from hiding the truth from him. Lith was shocked by all those revelations, even more so because fusing their minds meant violating her privacy, rummaging through her most private thoughts.
'I knew you would do it, but it hurts nevertheless.' She sobbed.
'Please, throw me away if you must, but leave me alone.' The old pouch reappeared around his neck and Solus left his finger to hide inside it. Suddenly, he couldn't feel her presence inside his mind.
The door between them could be opened with a simple thought, but then what?
Lith felt lost, he couldn't think about anything that he could do to make either of them feel better. Everything that Solus did, was only because she followed his teachings. He had no one to blame but himself.
***
White Griffon Academy, Yurial's apartments.
"Girls, I can't believe I'm going to say it out loud, but the more I know Lith, the more I think he isn't a human being." Yurial said.
"I mean let's set aside his terrible attitude when we met, since we well deserved it. How can he possibly be that strong? It's not natural. Also, how could he be okay without resting not even for one hour? It doesn't make any sense."
"Yeah, not to mention that somehow he spotted the Clackers despite them being underground. Did he ever explain to you how he managed to do it?" Quylla pointed out.
"No." Phloria replied.
'There's also the issue with his beloved brother that he let slip while giving us the pep talk. I have triple checked it, his relationship with his brothers is terrible. Either he has a third secret brother or I don't know what to think.
'Yet if they didn't notice it, I'm not going to add coal to the fire. I don't like where this conversation is going already.' She thought.
"Honestly, I never understood how any of you could overlook his ever changing persona. First, he was very rude to us. Then he became our mentor despite being three years younger than us and lastly our 'good friend'.
"We all have seen how he kills people without remorse, how easily he lies to everyone, even to us. I'm grateful for everything Lith did for me, but he still creeps me out." Friya shrugged.
"I suspect Lith actually is a bastard member of the royal family." Yurial's words left the others speechless.
"My father says that the Royal couple is known for having physical abilities on par with magical beasts. It would also explain how he is so knowledgeable and why Linjos keeps him in such high regard."
"Guys, I can't believe I'm going to say it out loud, but the more I hear you talking about Lith like this, the more you disgust me." Phloria's gaze was filled with contempt.
"I don't know about you, but I approached him after the first exam, not the other way around. So, he definitely didn't try to exploit me for personal gain. Also, yeah he has a lot of secrets, but so what?
"He could have hidden his strength and let the assassin kill you, Yurial. Just like during Balkor's attack or against the Clackers just a few hours ago, he could have run away and leave us for dead. Instead, he fought by our side, saving our lives.
"He helped us countless times, but never asked us anything in return. Yet here you are, talking behind his back because he never explained how he did manage to beat those Clackers or cleanse us from Balkor's toxins while many others died.
"I don't care how he did it. What matters to me is that he cared more about our safety than about his own secrets. I don't care if he is the King's bastard son or if he has dragon blood in his veins."
According to the legends, the offspring of a human and a dragon would carry a hidden strength that could manifest in the form of physical prowess, magic talent, or beauty.
"It would explain why the female members of his family are so pretty and why he is so different from the rest of us. Whatever his secret is, I'm certain he will tell us in time. What really matters to me, is that his actions speak loud about his character, just like your ungratefulness does about yours.
"If you really think about questioning him after all the times he saved our lives, after all we have faced together, you don't deserve being his friends and neither mine!"
Phloria slammed the door behind her, incapable to listen to their ramblings any more.
"Do you think that her feelings for him are clouding her judgment?"
Phloria's words struck several nerves, making Friya regret to have spoken so harshly.
"No, I think we have let our fear of the unknown get the better of us." Yurial replied.
***
It took a while to find out Balkor's whereabouts, but Scarlett discovered his location thanks to her communication network with all the magical beasts she had worked with in the past.
The various Lords of the different regions had helper greatly in collecting the necessary intel. She knew that Balkor would require a constant supply of dead bodies to build each year such a massive army.
Also, by examining the captured undead with her artifact, she had managed to identify Balkor's energy signature. At that point, all she had to do was to use her enchanted pince-nez as a scanner.
She started her investigation from the locations were big battles had taken places. Balkor's undead required more than just bones, so he needed fresh corpses. From there she had interrogated the magical beasts that lived nearby.
All that work would have been useless without her artifact, though. Balkor was aware of the flaws in his supply chain. Over the years he had used countless middlemen to store what he needed in dimensional amulets and have everything delivered at his doorstep.
The only thing he was unable to predict was the existence of an artifact capable of recognizing an individual's life force from a great distance.
Scarlett had almost been on the verge of giving up before finding his trail. Like the countless pursuers that preceded her, the Scorpicore had remained trapped in the web of false leads and deception Balkor had laid.
Too much time had passed from the attack. The trail was cold and the Forgotten Plume tribe was nomadic. However, one of the Lords of the oasis reported to her about how a small mound of rock that had decorated his fief for centuries collapsed right after the attacks on the academies had ended.
The Lord had no idea what could have happened, but for Scarlett was more than enough. Once she reached the location the mound occupied, the artifact was able to detect Balkor's energy signature.
It took Scarlett just a few hours to follow the lead to her destination. She was already tasting Balkor's blood and fear, when her chase came to an abrupt end.
Salaark, the ruler of the Blood Desert blocked her way, staring at Scarlett with annoyance.
"What are you doing here? This isn't your turf. You are not welcome here."
Scarlett recognized Salaark for what she was. Her body instinctively trembled in fear.
"Lady Salaark, I'm here to exact vengeance for all the loyal subjects and dear friends that the fiend hiding in that encampment killed." She said pointing at the Forgotten Plume tribe visible at the horizon.
"Fiend? Do you mean Ilyum Balkor? If that's so, you better go home. He's one of my subjects now. Tell Tyris that she had her opportunity and wasted it. Now it's my turn."
"What?" Scarlett was flabbergasted. "You know who he is and what he does, yet you let him live?"
"Of course, I do. Who would be so stupid to let such a rare talent unattended? Over the years, Balkor has helped the Forgotten Plume tribe to prosper. He not only protected them from all kind of threats, but he also taught them advanced magic and took care of the sick.
"You should know that light and darkness magic go hand in hand. When people think of Balkor they only see the necromancer, but he is also a great healer. I offered him many times to become one of my underlings.
"Yet he always refused, because it would mean to swear his loyalty to me and relinquish his foolish plans of revenge. Now that he has only a few years left to live, Balkor finally listened to reason and submitted to me.
So bug off, Scorpicore. Tell your master he is under my protection."
"I respect Lady Tyris as I respect you, Lady Salaark." Scarlett roared.
"However, I have no master. I'm here of my own will and I will not back down just because you say so!"
Salaark laughed heartily at Scarlett's daring words.
"Kid, I have a soft spot for arrogant youths, but that doesn't mean I will go easy on you. Take another step forward and the two of us will fight as enemies."
"So be it!" Scarlett roar made the earth tremble and the skies cry. Despite the dry climate of the desert, black clouds appeared out of nowhere and covered the sun. Salaark's smile grew even wider.
'A world tribulation? This sure makes things more interesting!' She thought.
AN: Dear readers, I'm sorry to tell you that Supreme Magus will go on hiatus for some time. My health is slipping and I can't postpone things anymore. I'll be hospitalized for a while, but if everything goes well I should be back in 3-4 weeks. Thanks for your support and understanding.
Chapter 241 Insights 2
Scarlett too recognized the signs of a world tribulation. It reminded her of Tyris's words, sending a cold shiver down her spine.
'Damn my bad luck. Not only am I forced to face a Guardian, but I also have to undertake a tribulation at the same time. I don't know what the world wants from me, only that my odds of dying just doubled.
Even if Salaark doesn't kill me, the world could if I fail. Bah, too late for hindsight!'
Scarlett set aside her fear of death and charged forward. Her body started to swell and change, doubling its size. Her fur morphed into red scales as thick as a shield and a pair of feathered wings appeared on the Scorpicore's back.
The muzzle became a fiery slate, only her eyes remained visible. Scarlett's mane turned into a raging purple flame, hot enough to turn sand into glass.
Salaark's interest was piqued, but she wasn't impressed. The changes occurring during a tribulation were merely cosmetic, pointing out the nature of the potential guardian. Alas, the Scorpicore's strength hadn't changed.
Scarlett weaved ten spells at once, unleashing an elemental barrage. The ground was upturned, the sand turned into spikes, attacking the Guardian from all sides. Huge hands erupted from the ground, pushing Salaark down a pit that had opened below her feet.
Scarlett's only hope was for the combined spells to swallow and bury the Guardian long enough for her to take Balkor's life.
A hail of lightning and ice crashed on Salaark from the skies, darkness engulfed her sapping her strength, while molten lava erupted from the trench beneath her. Salaark was unfazed. All of Scarlett's attacks were nullified by a wave of Salaark's hand that turned the spikes and the hands back to harmless sand, closing the pit at the same time.
White flames surrounded her body dispelling the darkness engulfing her, consuming the lightning bolts and sublimating ice.
Despite Scarlett's best efforts, an ant would still remain an ant.
Scarlett focused all the mana she had left in one final attack. Whole dunes floated mid-air, turning into flaming black meteors the size of a two-story house. Each one of them had enough destructive power to turn a medium-sized city into a crater.
They all crushed against the Guardian, who was forced to raise both her arms to block them all. Salaark was astonished by the attacking prowess Scarlett possessed.
'What a cunning opponent. If I miss or deflect even one of these darkness imbued meteors, I bet she will redirect it toward the Forgotten Plume tribe. I can't afford to play anymore, time to get serious!'
Salaark's battle cry sounded like an eagle's screech, her white aura expanded in the form of spreading wings that engulfed the surrounding area with blinding light. Any other people would believe it to be a sign that the goddess of light had descended among them.
However, the Forgotten Plume tribe knew better. They fell to their knees, their foreheads touching the sand while worshipping the Benefactor.
The white flames and the black meteors fought for a long second before the light consumed everything in its path.
Salaark looked at her own palms in surprise. Even under her human guise, she was still a phoenix and yet her arms were covered in third-degree burns, bleeding from several wounds.
"You attacked me despite knowing who I am and managed to hurt me fighting fair and square. You have earned my respect. This time I'll let you go, but if you dare to attack me again, I will end you. Now scram!" Salaark opened a Warp Steps, shoving the exhausted Scorpicore through it.
Scarlett had barely the strength to stand, so she offered no resistance. She found herself back in the forest surrounding the White Griffon academy.
'Damn Salaark!' She inwardly cursed. 'How can Guardians be so aloof and self-absorbed? Yet her power is far beyond mine, a second attempt would be suicidal. It's time for me to stop wasting time with humans.
The Council is useless, the Guardians untrustworthy. If I want justice, I'll need the power to take it with my own hands!'
***
When Lith returned to the academy, his world was still upside down. The anger stemming from Solus's lie and the bewilderment from the breach of their absolute bond of trust fought on equal ground inside his head.
He didn't know what to think or what to do anymore. He had stopped grieving Protector from the moment he accepted his death, before leaving house Ernas. The trip to his grave served as a mean to deal with Lith's sense of loss and accepting his failure.
Therefore, there was nothing preventing him from resenting his so-called old friend for his manipulation. Yet it had all been so sudden that he needed time to digest the revelation.
Lith went to Phloria's room, to return the bastard sword. She remained shocked seeing his uniform tattered. His left sleeve seemed to have been almost turned to shreds, the uniform's self repairing magic barely managed to prevent it from falling apart.
Phloria noticed that despite all the damage the magical cloth had sustained, Lith seemed to be perfectly fine. He was without a scratch and full of energy, yet his eyes were dead. He wasn't even looking at her but at something past her.
His voice was flat, his mind was elsewhere, in a bad place.
"Thank your father for me. This sword truly is a masterpiece." He handed it to her with both hands.
"I will." She nodded. "Has something happened? Do you need to talk?"
"Many things, but none I'm willing to share, sorry. We'll have to postpone our date. I need some time to think alone."
The following days were the worst Lith had lived since his rebirth in the new world. Before finding Solus, he had been knee-deep in his personal hell.
His new family was alien to him, but he had managed to accept that he was some kind of monster and that he would be forced to spend his whole life pretending. His true identity, his past, weren't something he could share.
He had come to accept that he was destined to be alone even when surrounded by people, a shadow in a world of lights. Yet finding Solus also meant finding hope. During the last eight years, he had never been truly alone.
She had been a constant presence in his life, from the moment he woke up in the morning. She would often even take part in his own dreams. At first, he had been scared by her intrusions in his thoughts, by all her questions about him and why he acted as he did.
However, over time their relationship had grown, becoming deeper than he could have ever expected. Solus was the only one to truly know him, the one he could share all his deepest and darkest secrets without being judged.
Whenever Lith had been struggling, either by accepting his new family or the hardships in his life, she had always been his mental support. With every struggle he overcame, Lith's life had become easier, yet the abyss inside him would also become deeper and hungrier.
In the end, everything he had achieved, he had got it through hard work, deception, and the occasional killing. Mogar, the new world, wasn't much different from Earth. 'Every man for himself' and 'power conquers all' were unwritten rules everyone abided to.
Solus had been his moral compass, often questioning his choices and forcing him to ponder about the consequences of his actions, but in the end, she would always be on his side.
Now they were separated, their mind link remained inactive since both of them were unwilling to make the first move. Solus was still consumed with remorse for her lie, living in constant fear to have forever destroyed their bond.
Cutting herself out of Lith's life was her way to atone for her mistake and give him the time he needed to reflect on what she did without external influences.
As for Lith, he longed every day to hear her voice in his mind again. To feel her warm compassion for all the secrets and the sacrifices he was daily burdened with. Hiding in plain sight, lying even to his own family wasn't so bad as long she was with him.
Solus knew the truth and supported him at every step he had taken so far. Yet he wasn't willing to forgive her, nor to resume their usual routine pretending that nothing had happened.
The situation was tearing him apart, it was like the sun was covered by a permanent eclipse. It was still there, but he wasn't able to experience its warmth and light anymore.
The thing that bothered him the most was being angry at Protector as much as he was at her.
'Damn Protector! How could he do this to me? Or to her? Loving me like a son my a*s. He put us one against the other with his idiotic decision. He left me grieving like an idiot, second guessing everything I've done, to the point of almost revealing my secret to my family!'
During that time, Lith realized how dependent he had become on Solus's influence in his daily activities. Without her constantly soothing his rage and filling the void he felt in his life, Lith became colder and detached.
Outside the lessons, he would spend most of his time alone.
Even his grades started to drop, albeit slowly. It wasn't just the feeling of betrayal putting him off his game. He was too used to brainstorming every problem with Solus, being forced to do everything alone only reinforced his feeling of loss.
After failing to approach him a few times, Friya, Quylla, and Yurial decided it was better to give him some space. They thought he was having a hard time to accept what he had seen at the mining town. Lith would barely speak to them and even when he did, his voice was full of ill concealed annoyance.
'If Solus can't be trusted, then I can trust no one.' Was what Lith repeated to himself more and more often.
Phloria was the only one that held onto him, no matter how many times he pushed her away. She would go visit him in his room, sometimes they would spend hours in silence, each one studying for the following day lessons.
She didn't force him to open up, her hope was that her company would help Lith understand he wasn't alone. If he needed help, he just had to ask.
Lith was grateful to her. Phloria was the first person in the new world that had approached him without a hidden agenda. She was more interested in who he was rather than what he was able to do.
Her care and dedication to him were the only silver lining in his situation. Yet at the same time, it made things worse, forcing him to realize she was just a young girl. No matter how much he wanted to share his burden with her, he simply couldn't.
A week passed, Lith's mood was getting worse by the day. Sometimes he would even dine by himself in his room to avoid being bothered by his companions.
Not only his relationship with Solus was at a stalemate, but he was also so used talking to her about everything that in the past days he often established a mind link out of habit just to shut it down immediately.
That morning, before the gong marking the start of the first lesson resounded, a hologram of Linjos appeared in all the classes and the departments.
"My dear students, I have an announcement to make." The Headmaster's voice was firm, but he appeared to be exhausted. He had black circles under his eyes and despite being in his middle thirties, his hair was already turning grey.
"Many things have happened this year, some good, some bad. All the academies have lost members of their staff because of Balkor's attack, causing a further delay in our activities.
"To allow everyone to mourn their loved ones and in respect of what you have gone through, the Crown has decreed that this year there will be no third exam. Your grades will depend exclusively on your daily evaluation during the third trimester.
"The rankings will be revealed during the last day of academy, but you can already learn your grade in a specific subject by asking the Professor in charge. If for any reason you are not satisfied with your results, you can apply for a practical test to re evaluate your skill.
"Beware that Professors are allowed to raise as well as to lower your grade, in case you decide to take it.
"We have only two weeks left before the winter break. You can schedule your test any time before that deadline. Have a nice day."
Lith's group left the academy for the morning rounds, accompanied by Professor Ironhelm. Lith was happy for the turn of events, he had no desire to babysit his companions again, nor to pretend to care for whatever lesson Linjos meant to teach to the other students.
Every day without Solus was torture, he could feel his rage and hatred grow without limits. It required him sheer willpower to not lash out every time something or someone bothered him.
Lith knew that sooner or later he would have to confront her once and for all. Keeping her at a distance wasn't doing him any good. On the contrary, the void her absence created was a constant reminder of how he needed Solus as a person even more than the abilities their bond granted him.
He was already at the point where he could barely care for Phloria. If the whole academy exploded in front of him, Lith wouldn't bat an eye. He couldn't wait for the winter break to finally have three months only for himself.
Chapter 242 Turn of Events
Their rounds were uneventful. All of their patients were nobles suffering from minor diseases that had exploited their contacts to have healers come to their homes.
"Okay guys, we are almost done." Yurial said once they had checked all but one of the names on their list
"I have saved this patient for last because he is a friend of my family and it could take a while. Is there any problem if we get back a little later than usual, Professor?"
Ironhelm shook his head, he had no reason to refuse. The longer he babysat them, the lesser paperwork he would find at his return. Having someone else doing it for him was the main reason he had volunteered for the task.
"I'm sure you can handle it without me. I have much to do. Have fun with your friend." Lith snorted, opening a Warp Steps right outside the local branch of the Mage Association. He was about to step through when Yurial stopped him.
"I'm really sorry, Lith. I have a favor to ask you." Yurial didn't like being forced to ask for his help, especially since Lith had been giving him the cold shoulder for no apparent reason for days.
"What is it?" Lith glared at Yurial like the first day they met.
"The person we are going to visit is actually a friend of my father. He doesn't have the authority or the status to get an appointment with one of the great healers of the Kingdom.
"So he did all he could to be included in our rounds. I don't know why, but he expressly asked for you. He even pestered my father until he was promised that I would ensure your collaboration."
"Is this person influential?" Lith asked. One thing was adding another name to the list of those that owed him a favor, another was wasting his time with minor nobles.
"Actually, no. House Tanash is a young magical bloodline that didn't produce a magician in the last two generations. They are on the verge of losing their status. There's not much they could do for you, but if you agree to help, my household would be indebted to you."
Yurial understood the meaning behind Lith's words, so instead of playing the friend card, he decided to make a deal.
Lith nodded. House Deirus was on the rise and he was already on good terms with them. Together with the Ernas, Archmage Deirus was someone that could help him greatly, if ever the necessity arose.
Despite being located on the outskirts of the high-end district, House Tanash turned out to be a magnificent mansion. It was a three-story building, each floor about two hundred square meters. Yet despite the pristine white walls and the enchanted fence surrounding it, Lith could clearly see that it belonged to a declining household.
It was much smaller than the Marchioness' house, something more fitting to a rich merchant rather than a magical bloodline. The mansion had no garden at all, there was no insignia along the walls or on the front door.
It seemed like they were trying to hide their identity.
After Yurial knocked, the door was opened almost instantly. The butler wore quite an expensive dress. His white shirt was made of silk while the deep blue blazer and the pants were cashmere. He was a man around 1.65 (5'5") meters high with blue eyes, blond hair, a beard and mustaches of the same color.
The butler was deadly pale and sweating bullets, several stains could be seen on the collar of his shirt.
"Lord Deirus, thank the gods you are here! I was starting to lose all hope!"
Lith smirked at the bad manners of the man, who was dragging Yurial inside instead of making way to his master.
"You must be Master Lith." The butler said while suddenly grabbing his hand and holding it like it was a treasure. The man's hands were slippery like an eel because of the sweat. Lith wanted to get rid of him but didn't know how to do it without being rude.
"You are exactly as they described you. Tall, calm and with a gaze that would make even a baby stop crying. I hope that everything else about you it's true too. My son is in desperate need of your help."
"Your son?" Lith blurted out.
'They must really be in hot waters if they don't have a butler. Either that or the situation is so desperate that Lord Tanash came to open the door by himself. Yet it doesn't make sense. If his son is so ill, how come they didn't accept him at the White Griffon hospital?' Lith thought.
"Lord Tanash, this is Lith of Lutia." Yurial was truly embarrassed by the lord of the household's behavior, but he kept his cool and performed the proper introductions in their host's stead before Lith changed his mind about helping.
Yurial knew that those days it was really easy for Lith to lose his temper.
"Lith, allow me to introduce you Duke Vinald Tanash." Lith shook his hand, using darkness magic to cleanse it as soon as he managed to get free from the slimy vice.
"Duke Tanash is not himself today because…"
"Yes, yes! Please, excuse my manners, Master Lith!" The Duke cut Yurial short, giving Lith a bow so deep his head almost touched the ground.
'Definitely desperate.' Lith concluded.
It was only thanks to the efforts of Yurial and of the family butler that they managed to calm Vinald enough to let their guests accommodate in the tea room. Lith noticed that after serving the tea for everyone, the butler spiked the Duke's with liquor.
After several cups of liquor diluted with a bit of tea, Vinald managed to calm down enough to explain himself properly.
"I'm really sorry for earlier, but I just received a piece of news that will be the final nail in the coffin of my household if even Master Lith proves to be powerless against the ruin looming over our heads." Duke Tanash turned pale again, his words on the verge of turning back into a rambling.
The butler had lost all hope to preserve the dignity of his master, so he poured liquor instead of tea into the cup.
"Let me explain. House Tanash was founded by my great-great-grandfather, Gillam Tanash. Born as the son of a humble blacksmith, he managed to become an archmage and served the Kingdom with honor.
Before his death, he received the title of Duke for his achievements.
"Alas, after him no one in our family showed the slightest talent for magic. All we have comes from Archmage Tanash's work, but in a single generation, there is only so much one can do. Over time, our contribution to the Kingdom has become less and less.
"We didn't have a mage nor the necessary funds to gain merits enough to increase our status. That was until my son, Zintar, was accepted in the Lightning Griffon academy. He is no genius, but he is very talented and hardworking. During the first three years of the academy, he always was in the top percentile.
"This year, after the second trimester, his grades started to drop. At first, I thought it was all my fault. With the civil war on the brink of exploding, I tasked him to… protect the interests of the family. It forced Zintar to neglect his studies quite a bit."
The truth was that House Tanash had been one of the most active members of the new magical bloodlines party that wanted the civil war to happen. The Duke had tried more than once to escalate the events, aiming to get rid of the ancient households that threatened to take everything away from him.
They constantly reminded the Crown of how useless were the relatively poor and mageless households to the Kingdom.
He had forced Zintar to sabotage the studies of his rivals and engage them in fights outside the academy's walls.
"The lack of practice led him to almost fail his second exam, so he went back to study full time. The problem is that the situation never improved. His grades are still bad enough he is likely to be expelled.
"Now that the Crown has decreed no third exam will take place, he is doomed. If he fails, we'll lose our noble status, our home, everything."
"You want me to tutor him or what?" Lith was exasperated by those ramblings. His fingers almost pierced the armrests of the armchair he was sitting in.
"Gods, no. He already has the best tutors and teachers I could afford. I want you to visit him. Zintar says that something is wrong with his body, that no matter how much he tries he can't focus as well as he did before.
I already had him visited by the best healers I could find, but they found nothing. You are our last hope."
"A mysterious illness that makes you fail in your studies is the oldest excuse in the book." Yurial whispered to Lith's ear.
"Even I used it a lot in the past. Usually the prescribed cure is a good pep talk and a cut on the daily allowance. It sure worked on me."
Lith nodded.
'This man is just sad. He refuses to admit his mistakes and tries to find someone to blame. If his son lost a whole trimester, no matter how talented he is, he cannot catch up.' He thought.
Duke Tanash lead them on the first floor, where his son's study was located. The walls were covered by bookshelves filled with tomes covering all the conceivable magical topics.
Several volumes were missing. Some had been left open on the floor, occupying most of the space, others were piled on a desk behind which a youth was sitting while taking and reviewing notes.
An open door revealed a state of the art Alchemical lab. Just like the study room, the lab was a mess, with shattered components on the floor marking failed experiments and burn marks on the walls.
The Duke introduced the youth as his heir.
Zintar was a fifteen-year-old boy with blond hair like his father and deep set eyes from the lack of sleep. He seemed to be on the verge of exhaustion.
"Nothing, father. No matter how much I study or practice, my results are always mediocre." Judging from his bloodshot eyes, he had no more tears to shed.
"Don't worry, son. Master Lith is here. He is the only White Griffon student that was chosen by his Professors to assist them during the plague. If there is someone that can help you, it's him." Duke Tanash patted Lith's back like he was a long lost brother.
Lith barely escaped Zintar's hug, starting to chant his diagnostic spells and stopping him on his tracks. Lith used everything he had, yet he found that there was nothing wrong.
Even the spell Professor Marth had devised with his help against the parasites gave negative results. Yet the more spells he used, the more Lith was certain that Zintar wasn't making excuses.
After learning Necromancy from Professor Zekell, Lith was now able to follow the mana in his spells even when he used fake magic. Lith could perceive them working properly, but each one would lose a bit of their strength as soon as they reached Zintar.
Even if his mind was still a mess, he hadn't forgotten about the boxes and their content. Lith used Invigoration to check if Zintar was wearing one of those mysterious items or had been poisoned.
As Lith suspected, Zintar's system was plagued by the same toxin he had obtained from the boxes. The layer was thicker than the one he had experienced.
'With so much toxin in his bloodstream, he should barely be able to cast tier four spells. This kind of prolonged exposition is clearly deliberate. Without a parasite, the toxin should wear off in a few weeks.
'Also, despite being poisoned for almost six months, his core doesn't show any sign of discoloration. He has been administered small doses over time. Whoever did this, didn't want to kill him, just to make him fail his exams.' He thought.
Lith was about to give him the good news, but then he froze up.
'If I cure him, the existence of the toxin will become of public knowledge. The responsible will have plenty of time to get rid of the evidence and go into hiding. With the traitor afoot, I can't trust Ironhelm. I must report this to Linjos.
'I have finally found a way to share my knowledge about the boxes or at least about the toxins they contain. Let's hope this is enough to change the future.'
"I'm sorry, there's nothing wrong with you." Lith said with his most professional tone, while father and son both burst into tears.
Yurial, Quylla, and Friya examined Zintar too but to no avail. Lith was annoyed by such a waste of time, but he had to keep the façade and pretend to care about the patient.
After they left the house, they used a Warp Steps to return to the local branch of the Mage Association and from there to the academy.
"Have lunch without me, I have things to do." Lith walked away before they could even register his words.
"He's always in a bad mood recently." Friya pondered. "I'm really starting to worry about him. Maybe something bad happened in the mining town."
"Me too." Yurial nodded. "The question is, what could possibly be so bad to turn him back to how he was nine months ago? And why does he refuse to speak about it even with Phloria? She's going to freak out one of these days."
"I have no clue." Quylla shook her head. "By the way, didn't you feel something was odd with our last patient? I can't put my finger on it, but all my spells gave me a weird feeling."
Quylla, was the only one besides Lith talented enough for necromancy to have developed even more her mana perception thanks to its practice, but unlike him she had no idea what they were against.
Chapter 243 Foresigh
Lith went to the Headmaster's office and because of the queue, he had to wait quite a bit. He couldn't say it was an emergency. Lith knew there was a traitor if not more than one inside the academy, so he couldn't afford to alert them.
When his turn finally arrived, the first thing he did was to close the door behind himself and ask Linjos to activate all of his office protections. Only when the arrays in the room started to hum, their magic so densely packed to be visible to the naked eye, Lith told him about what he had discovered.
"Anti mana toxins at the Lightning Griffon? This is indeed a serious matter." Linjos was about to use his communication amulet, but Lith stopped him.
"Not only there. They are also here at the White Griffon." His words made Linjos turn pale.
"We had no such cases here. Our average of promoted students is better than the previous years…"
"Yet the grades are dropping, remember?" Lith cut him short.
"Tanash is not only suffering from the toxins, but also from wasting three months following his father's agenda. If he kept practicing magic, he would have probably got used to the toxins over time and his grades would have just dropped.
"Have you already forgotten about the box I found a few months ago? How it was delivered from Kandria, where the plague started?"
Linjos's brain was spinning at full gear, reaching Lith's same conclusions and even more.
"By the gods! It would explain a lot. Before Balkor's attack, it would have created the perfect scenario for the old noble households. No matter if the civil war happened or not, they would have crippled the competition anyway.
"Even now, the heirs of their noble rivals and the mages of commoner origin are getting expelled or being deemed as low value assets for the Kingdom. It proves their point that magical legacies beat effort.
"If the civil war starts, they only need to increase the dosage to make all the young mages useless in battle until the problem is discovered. Even worse, the poisoning could have not been exposed until it was too late, if never at all.
The only thing I cannot understand is why they made their own children receive low grades too. Unless…"
"Unless it was part of their plan." Lith continued. "After all, the only thing that really matters is the result of the final exam of the fourth and fifth year. They can afford lowering their grades during the first two trimesters, since it has no consequences.
"During the final exam, they can perform much better and they will likely ask to be re-evaluated. That way, if the results don't match with the daily evaluation, it will prove that your teaching methods are wrong."
"It's worse than that." Linjos pondered. "By affecting the other academies, they managed to make it go unnoticed. Since the same thing happened everywhere, not even the Crown got worried. I can spot only a flaw in their plan.
"If all the students belonging to the old noble households get their grades back up at once, it would arouse suspicion. Unless of course, they either sacrifice the fourth year, using the winter break as a cover, to 'regain' their talent during the last year, or they make only the elite take full marks now while the others gradually recover their performances.
"Anyway, they can't repeat the trick again. Not now that the odds of a civil war are almost zero. My only question is: why did the White Griffon receive the same treatment instead of a worse one? If you are right and I have little doubt about it, I would have expected them to strike harder.
They need to take me out of the picture, their plan ended up helping me instead."
"My hypothesis is that they underestimated you and the control you managed to achieve over the academy. The lack of infighting and the Ballots prevented the worse from happening." Lith replied.
"Maybe." Linjos couldn't stop thinking about how fast Balkor found out their hiding spot. Actually, he found the hiding spots of all those that followed Linjos's protocol so fast that the attacks happened almost at the same time.
It had several implications. First, it meant that every academy had traitors or there was someone close to the Crown that leaked the information to Balkor. Either way, the situation was deadly serious.
Second, the attack had been the perfect opportunity to destroy Linjos's work, if not to kill Linjos himself.
'Why did they let it slip under their nose? Unless…' He thought.
"Lith, be honest with me."
Linjos had turned pale, leaving Lith surprised. The Headmaster looked like a man that had just found a venomous spider resting on his shoulder.
"How did you discover the toxin? Did Professor Marth's diagnostic spell work?"
"I used my own spell. The one we devised during the plague didn't work." Lith shook his head.
"It was aimed to detect parasites rather than toxins since the latter fade away over time."
"Just as I feared." Linjos nodded. "Please, check if I have been infected too."
Lith pretended to chant a spell while actually using Invigoration on the Headmaster, who didn't miss it requiring physical contact. It was the first time Linjos had seen such a spell.
"It doesn't make sense." Lith was flabbergasted.
"You are poisoned too, but the amount of toxin is much lesser than the one I detected in the Tanash kid."
"It makes perfect sense instead." Linjos replied.
"A student may not notice the disruption of their own mana flow, but any competent magician would. That's why they must have started poisoning me only right before Balkor's attack, when my mind was elsewhere. I noticed being weaker than usual, but I thought it was because of the stress.
"Also, with Hatorne disappearance, the traitors have no idea how to adjust the dosage. Balkor's change of plans was unpredictable. I wouldn't be surprised by discovering that poisoning me and likely most of the Professors, was a last minute attempt to get rid of me.
"Since the toxins build up over time, there was only so much they could do. Not to mention it would be hard for me to miss having my powers halved in a few hours. I would contact Manohar and it's unlikely he wouldn't discover the truth, just like you did."
Lith felt relieved, he had convinced Linjos of the presence of a threat to the academy despite having very little proof and without blowing his cover. The Headmaster waved his hand, making four magic crystals appear at the corners of his desk.
He put his communication amulet right in the middle, activating a secure channel with the Crown, relaying the information he had just acquired and requesting the intervention of a royal constable.
"We need to have the staff and the students examined." Lith heard Linjos expressing his immediate worries to the King.
"I can't do it by myself without risking to alert the culprits. It's also necessary to have all those that failed the second semester examined. Some may actually be talentless slackers, but others could as well be innocent victims…"
While the Headmaster was mentioning Lith's contribution, his sight blurred. Lith suddenly felt lightheaded, while images kept rapidly appearing and disappearing.
'Good grief, finally! I managed to change the damn future!'
He watched the old vision from the beginning, the fall of the White Griffon academy, followed by the start of the civil war until his whole family was butchered. Lith didn't feel scared by those images.
They were fading away, getting more blurred by the second until they completely disappeared. Everything went blank and for a long second Lith held his breath waiting for the new future.
What he saw was a quick series of sunrises and sunsets over the academy, the leaves of the forest's trees became red and fell, the snow turned everything into a white landscape.
Then, the sun rose higher and higher, melting the snow while new leaves replaced the fallen ones. Lith could sense something going on inside the academy, despite looking at it from a great distance.
He could hear voices and see flashes of light coming out the windows, but he wasn't able to understand what was going on, the distance made everything muffled.
'Well, at least the academy is not crumbling anymore. This is a good sign.' Lith thought.
Suddenly he was transported inside the castle. He was now able to recognize the voices as screams and explosion while the flashes of light were caused by spells. Lith watched Phloria die, stabbed through the heart by a long knife.
The culprit was unknown, the weapon looked real, but the hand wielding it was just a shadow. Rage and pain ravaged his mind.
'Is that a f*cking Abomination or even this damn vision doesn't know who will do it?' Even if he understood none of it was real, Lith tried to stop the blade with spirit magic first and to heal Phloria later, but to no avail.
No matter how much he struggled, he found impossible to move from the spot he was forced watching from.
The vision moved back to Lutia. The village was quiet, but a shadow fell from the sky. One after the other, the members of the Queen's corps patrolling the zone fell, their bodies dismembered or disintegrated.
The shadow reached Lith's house, killing his family in the blink of an eye. This time they would not suffer, no unnamed soldier would kidnap and r*pe his sisters, but they would die nonetheless.
'No! Why? What did they do to you, you f*cking bastard?' Lith inwardly screamed.
The corpses of his family danced in front of his eyes. Even Rena and his husband wouldn't get spared. The shadow was careful and meticulous, leaving no witness behind.
Panic invaded Lith's heart. According to the new vision, he wasn't collateral damage anymore, his loved ones were now the intended target.
"Lith, what happens? Why are you screaming?" The King asked, his voice worried.
Lith discovered he had fallen on the ground and Linjos was at his side checking his condition.
Lith froze, searching for a proper answer. The Headmaster knew of the dryad's gift that led to his past vision, so Lith could freely share it with him.
Lith stuttered some words while recovering from the shock, not being able to make any sense. He didn't just see things happening, the magic bonded to his soul made everything real and painful. It was like being forced to live those events before time rewinded.
"It's all right, calm down and tell me what's wrong." Linjos helped him to get back on his feet. Lith pondered about the vision, searching for the best way to describe it, when his paranoia cranked up to eleven.
'The future is much better for the Kingdom, but much worse for me. Whatever happens to the academy will surely take top priority. Between the toxins and the traitors, the Kingdom's resources will be stretched thin.
'I can't trust them to protect my family out of the goodness of their heart, nor I want to owe the Crown favor that big. I need to play this smart, but I don't know how.'
Lith was on the verge of panic. Lying about the vision to make it more convenient was easy, the hard part was finding a way to force them to help him without twisting the vision's meaning.
It was the first time that he had to face such a big issue alone.
'I can't afford to make any mistake here. F*ck my pride. Solus, I need your help!'
'Yes?' She answered timidly. Solus was afraid it was once again a butt call that would end shortly. Lith shared with her all the memories of the last 24 hours up to that point.
'By my maker, this is terrible!' Thanks to the mind link the events became part of her memory too in a split second.
'You are right, I too think that without the threat of the civil war we would be stuck in the background. The best way to get their attention is to tell them the truth, but with a few changes.'
Hearing her talk about them still using the "we", helped Lith to regain his cool, soothing his anguish. Solus pondered for a few seconds before answering.
'You must say that after your family dies, you will die too and so will the royal couple.' Solus said.
'What? Why?' Lith wasn't able to understand her reasoning.
'No time, Linjos is already calling for help, you have remained still for too long, please trust me on this.' Their mind link was fast, allowing the whole conversation to last just a couple of seconds, but they would still need the time to think.
"I'm all right, Headmaster." Lith noticed that both Linjos and the King seemed to be extremely worried.
"Good to hear." King Meron replied. "Bring Manohar here anyway. We need him to devise a new diagnostic spell for the infected students. He can also check on Lith while he is at it. Just to be safe."
Lith used those few moments to decide what to do.
'Please, explain your plan to me.' He asked while the King was still talking.
'Adding the death of the Royals after yours it's a double failsafe.
'After all, they know the vision shows what your soul craves the most. Putting the Royals in there while you are still alive would make you a suspect. If you die first, however, they will be forced to protect their investment, you.
'Also, if you are allegedly dead, they can only think that whoever will attempt to kill your family will come for them later, making it their problem too.'
Chapter 244 Bad News
Lith followed Solus's plan, describing the vision in great detail. For the made up part, he described the assailant as a shadow, just like for all the others. Death Vision provided him plenty of material about how the King would look like after having his throat cut.
"Damned dryad magic!" King Meron slammed his fist on the armrest.
"It gives us too little information. At least now we know that the civil war should not happen anymore and that we are safe until next spring."
Lith nodded. Knowing how much time he had left before the events in his vision could happen was at the same time a reason for worry and relief. It gave them a deadline but also an idea about their enemy.
There couldn't be many people capable of getting rid of the Queen's corps. Also, until the attack on the academy happened, Lith had no reason to worry. The problem was if they would be able to prevent it and how the future would change after that step.
When Professor Manohar and Marth arrived, they checked Lith's condition before examining Linjos.
"This is simply unbelievable." Marth said. "None of my diagnostic spells detects anything, but now that I know what to look for, it's easy to recognize the dampening effect of the toxins."
"Agreed." Manohar nodded while extracting the toxins from the Headmaster's body. "It's unbelievable that someone could miss such a blatant effect, be it the patient or the healer."
Linjos and Marth both ignored his remark. They knew that in Manohar's eyes any result but perfection was due to incompetence.
"Usually I wouldn't ask something like this, but are you sure you don't want to share your diagnostic spell, Lith?" Marth asked.
"It helped us greatly during the plague and now it has allowed to unveil a dangerous plot against all the academies. If it's as good as I think it is, you may as well be set for life with the profits you would make by selling it."
Marth needed sheer willpower to not let his frustration transpire, yet Lith was able to perceive it nonetheless. His jaw muscles were slightly tensed and there was an edge in his voice that was hard to miss with his enhanced senses.
'Poor guy, not only he has to deal with Manohar on daily basis, but now he also has to face the fact that despite being younger I'm already a better diagnostician than him thanks to Invigoration.' Lith thought.
'Yeah, you have become for Marth what he is for Vastor.' Lith had yet to cut the mind link off, in case something else happened, allowing Solus to indulge his company.
"Don't. If it's at least half as good as mine, it would be a disaster." Manohar said.
"You know why it's so hard to find a decent healer? Because mages just rote memorize everything without even trying to understand what a spell does and why. Healers are forced to be better than regular mages because illnesses change, new poisons are created, and many things are still unknown about the human body.
"If you share your spell, it will be great in the short term and a nightmare in the long term. Everyone will stop using that stone they call brain and rely on your spell for everything, while others, better paid and motivated, will exploit its limits.
"So, when a new threat will appear, your spell will be 100% useless and the so called healers will be helpless against it because out of practice."
An embarrassed silence befell into the room. It was hard to reply to Manohar's temper tantrums, but it was even harder when he actually said something wise. Lith exploited his help to politely refuse Marth's offer.
"Thanks for your offer, Professor Marth, but I think I will follow Professor Manohar's advice. It took me years to create it, so far it's my opus. It's not only a matter of money, but also prestige.
With it I'm the second best diagnostician in the Griffon Kingdom, without it I'd just be a student like all the others. Unlike Professor Manohar, I'm no genius."
King Meron sighed loudly. He knew Tyris had sent Farg to look after Lith, but he didn't know why. Yet he was sure there had to be a good reason for it. He really wanted to get his hands on the diagnostic spell, but keeping Lith as an asset was much more important.
According to several witnesses, he had fought against a Valor. It was unknown what had happened, except that despite being alone and just a fourth year student he had survived and brought to safety another four people.
Adding that to all his past endeavors, his ability as Healer, Forgemaster and now Necromancer, he really was too good to be true. Queen Sylpha was even considering if to introduce the sixth and the seventh princesses to him.
They were too low in the hereditary line to be of political importance, so they could be used to ensure his loyalty to the Crown. King Meron didn't put much hope in the idea, though.
None of his daughters was a real beauty nor a seductress. They had taken much from their mother's temper and had yet to understand that their status of princesses would last only until a new King or Queen would be selected.
Their pride blinded them enough for them to find the idea of marrying a commoner disgusting. Another thing that heavily weighted on his mind was the meaning of the vision.
He knew that, albeit vague, a dryad's gift was as rare as trustworthy.
'I wonder how Lith's death will trigger mine and Sylpha's. Also, it's completely unclear if the events at the academy and the death of his family are related or even if they happen at the same time.
'Normally, I would just reinforce the White Griffon's security and wait for the events to play out, but now I have to protect Lutia as well. If his family dies, Lith could commit suicide making the vision come true. We must solve the issue with the toxins fast, so that when spring arrives, I can focus my forces on both tasks!' Meron thought.
"Gentlemen, we have no time for debating the magical research." King Meron said.
"Manohar, I need you to provide a diagnostic spell able to spot the toxins that anyone can use. Marth can help you, but Lith can't and no one else must be informed about today's events.
"We will only use royal healers and royal constables to control the situation. Lith's involvement must be kept hidden or belittled if found out. My hypothesis is that his family will be targeted because he discovered the plot against the academies.
"If I'm right, the attack on the White Griffon and on his family during next spring will happen by the same hand. Lith, you can return to your quarters. There's nothing you can do and it's better if you don't stay too long in the Headmaster's office. It could arouse too many questions."
Lith nodded and promptly left the room. Solus inwardly sighed, she knew what was about to happen.
'Before I go, do you mind if I give you an unsolicited piece of advice?' She asked.
Lith pondered for a while. On one hand he didn't want to cut the mind link, on the other one he was still far from forgiving her. Solus had been brilliant and useful as always, but her company was still bittersweet.
'You should talk to the others about the vision, they have the right to know. Based on what happened in the vision, it's not only Phloria who is going to die, but all of them.'
Lith was flabbergasted by her words.
'Do you remember the dryad's words? The vision shows what your soul cares the most for, so it's natural for it to cover your family and Phloria. She is the only friend you have left.'
Solus had enjoyed their reunion, but she had perceived the fracture between them. Lith needed her, she could sense his longing for her company and help, but it was more like an addict on withdrawal rather than the desire to be back together.
He still didn't trust her and whatever was going to happen to their relationship, Solus didn't want to be treated just like a commodity. She wanted for him to accept her like she did for him, with her flaws and mistakes.
'I think that whoever is behind the attack on the academy, will try to get their revenge on you by exploiting the chaos during the battle. Killing your group is relatively easy, if they get ambushed like you have seen happening to Phloria.
'They'll attack you too, but you are likely to survive. Otherwise it would make no sense going after your family. You should warn Yurial and the others, because if I'm right, the only reason they didn't appear in your vision is because you don't care enough for them.'
'Thanks, Solus.' Lith nodded, closing the mind link. It was hard for him deciding what to do. If he told them that he had seen them dying in the vision, it would help their relationship, flattering them.
Yet if the King talked about the vision with the royal constables, Jirni was bound to learn about it. She would question why he omitted to tell the King about the threat pending on her other two daughters and would easily discover the lie.
Telling them the truth was his only option.
Lith used the communication amulet to reach them and ask them to come to his room. When they were assembled, he told them the truth about the young Tanash's condition before sharing with them the conversation with the Headmaster and the changes in his vision.
"So, the good news is no civil war and the bad news is that I'm going to die?" Phloria did her best to stay strong, but the thought of having a little more than three months to live was crushing her.
"No, you are wrong about the bad news." Lith corrected her, explaining to them Solus's reasoning about why the others didn't appear in the vision.
"I think all of us are going to die. I'm more likely to survive because of my paranoia. Backstabbing me is not that easy. You guys, on the contrary, are easy targets."
"Wait a minute!" Yurial blurted out.
"Thanks for caring enough to warn us but not enough to include us in your vision." His voice was oozing sarcasm.
"I think you are making a mistake though. No one can die in the academy. Do you remember what Lord Ernas told us? Isn't it more likely that whoever it is, will target only Phloria because of your relationship? Everyone knows about you two."
Yurial was worried about Phloria, but as much as he hated the thought of spending the rest of his life with Libea, he really hoped to live long enough to have children and maybe find love.
"Do you really think that none of us thought about that?" Lith sighed instead of scoffing. Thanks to the little time spent with Solus he was now able be less of a jerk.
"Attacking the academy is madness itself, unless it's an inside job from someone that knows to bypass its power core or forcing the arrays to shut down. Since the attack will happen, I'm pretty sure that Linjos will have the power core triple checked for tampering.
"It doesn't mean that the traitor can't sabotage or destroy it, though. If Balkor's minions managed to do it, then anyone with the proper knowledge can."
After the attack, the Crown had tried to keep the fall of the Crystal and Earth Griffon academies a secret, but it didn't last for long. Balkor had triumphantly spread the news himself.
Everyone refused to believe him until the academies reopened. Forging a new power core was a mammoth task at best, if not impossible at all. When the Crystal and Earth Griffon remained closed and their students transferred to other academies, it became impossible to deny the truth anymore.
Yurial and the girls turned pale, their sliver of hope shattered mercilessly. Phloria felt no joy at the idea that everyone in the room was a walking dead.
"What do we do now? Can we at least tell our parents?" Friya asked.
"I don't think so." Quylla felt her mouth dry. "Our communications can be intercepted. The King is doing his best to keep everything a secret, Lith shouldn't have talked about it even with us."
Quylla felt guilty for having spoken behind Lith's back in the past, questioning his real identity. Even though he suffered from mood swings and with his not so nice character, he would never let them down.
Yurial and Friya felt the same, but their guilt was quickly overruled by the fear of the tomorrow. One after the other, they left the room after thanking Lith and promising they would not talk about it except that in person.
Only Phloria remained behind. Lith had held her hand the whole time. His grip was firm but gentle, letting her understand there was something he needed to talk with her.
'I waited all this time for a chance to know what's going on with him and Lith decides to open up right now? I don't know if to be flattered by his consideration or angry for his horrible timing.' Phloria thought.
Chapter 245 Clarity
"First of all, let me say that I'm sorry. If it wasn't for me, you and the others wouldn't have a target painted on your back." Lith said while holding her hand and caressing it with his thumb.
"If you want, you guys can escape from this sh*t. Avoid the academy for the first trimester or ask the Headmaster to attend the fifth year after the threat is passed. I don't think he'll have any objections."
"What about you?" Phloria asked.
"I have to stay." He shrugged. "Whether the attack succeeds or not, my family will be the next in line anyway. At least from here I can do my best to help Linjos and maybe take out the traitors before something else happens. I'm the only one that knows when and how the future changes. I need to inform the Headmaster as soon as it happens."
Phloria bit her lower lip, full of uncertainty. Lith was right, she and her sisters had an easy way out of that situation. Until they remained at house Ernas or near their parents, they would be safe.
"Also, you can greatly improve your odds of survival simply by cutting your ties with me."
"What?" Phloria had to fight to prevent herself from slapping him for saying such a thing and herself for seriously considering it, even though for just a second.
"No matter how discreet the King is. My visit to house Tanash is public knowledge and when the investigation starts, it doesn't take a genius to notice the timing of the events. Between the plague and this I have made too many enemies.
It's better if we break up. Possibly in a public place and in front of lots of witnesses."
"Do you want to break up?" The little blood she had left in her face was drained, making her turn even paler, her stomach twisted into a knot.
"I don't want to…" Lith shook his head.
"But it's the best thing for you. Do you remember our talk, that night when I was recovering? I think it's time for us to seriously discuss about this thing between us. I don't plan to marry anytime soon."
Lith had promised Jirni to make things clear with Phloria about their relationship and he decided it was the right moment to do it. It was the only way he could think of for protecting her.
"I have lots of things to do. First the military, then some stuff that I don't want to burden you with. I don't know how long will it take and I can't ask you to wait for me. It would be stupid and unfair. You deserve someone better, someone that can give you what you want, that has your same goals in life."
Lith never stopped looking at her in the eyes. He wanted Phloria to understand how serious he was.
Those words struck her hard enough to make Phloria stop, thinking carefully about what to say next.
'Lith is right, I can easily get away. I asked him out only because I wanted to have at least a boyfriend before joining the Royal Guard and risking my life on a daily basis. It started almost as a joke, yet now I feel terrible at the thought this might be our last month together.
'I don't want to marry either. There are still so many things that I want to experience, so many places I want to visit. Yet I think that will come for me the time to settle down.' She thought.
"I have first to consult with my parents before giving you a definitive answer." Phloria took his hand between hers.
"This much I can tell you for sure: I don't want to break up."
"What?" Lith was flabbergasted. Her devotion was way beyond his expectations.
"You know, when we aren't in a life or death situation and I can think clearly about us, I still don't know exactly what I feel. What I'm certain about, is that I care for you like I never did before for someone outside of my family.
"Be it when I emotionally needed help after the second exam, or when the undead first and the Clackers later could have killed me, you never left my side. Every time we were in danger, you could have run away by yourself.
Instead, you always protected our group. You always protected me." She caressed his cheek, leaving Lith as stunned as outraged.
'Like heck I did! I was simply protecting my investment, otherwise I wouldn't have saved Yurial or the other girls. I never cared for any of them in the past. I took a liking to Phloria only after we started to date. It's only their fault if they have fallen so deep for my deception to picture me like some f*cking hero.' Lith thought.
'Maybe she is right, though. Maybe now I do care for the group. I risked my life for them more often than any "investment" justifies. I simply can't admit with myself that I see them as persons because I'm scared of getting hurt again. The more people I love, the more I have to lose, just like it happened with Protector first and now with Solus.
'If I tell her the truth about the past, she will either despise me and everything I fought for a whole year will be for naught or she will not believe me, thinking I'm just trying to push her away.
'Either way, I'm screwed. It's a lose-lose scenario. Let's hope her parents force her to take a sabbatical. I already have so little, I don't want to risk losing the person I care about the most in the academy.'
"Even now, despite knowing what could happen to you or your family, you are still worrying about me instead of running back home to warn them. I'm truly blessed by the gods." Phloria smile was dazzling, but it only managed to piss Lith off even more.
'How the heck did she manage to make everything about her in less than twenty seconds? Does she think life is some kind of romance fiction?'
"I came to you because you guys are the only ones I can speak to in person. Also, just like for the old vision, there is nothing that my family can do to protect themselves or avoid the predicted outcome." He explained.
"Warning them would only make them live what could be the last months of their lives in fear. I don't plan on telling them anything about the second vision. Whatever it's going to happen, it's my burden, not theirs."
His words fell on deaf ears. Instead of understanding the logic behind his actions, Phloria only focused on how brave and stoic Lith appeared to be. She hugged him tightly, making his annoyance peak.
Yet his irritation lasted only for a moment.
It was how long it took Lith to realize how bad his situation was. Her warmth and affection destroyed the layer of frost surrounding his soul.
"I think you should tell them the truth. All the secrets you keep to yourself, all the burden you refuse to share, sooner or later they will crush you. You don't have to always fight alone. The whole world isn't your enemy.
"I don't know what has happened to you at the mining town and if you don't want to talk about it, I'm okay with that. However, I can see that you are in deep pain. Please, don't shut me out of your life like you did since you came back. Just tell me what can I do for you."
Now that Phloria had got a hold of him, she wasn't willing to let Lith slip away again. Ever since Solus came clean with him, Lith had been confused about his feelings. He needed someone to talk to, but until that moment, he felt like he was alone in the world.
"It was all a lie." Lith blurted out, returning her embrace.
"Protector is alive. He, Kalla, even the Lord of the forest manipulated me to teach me a lesson!" In his rage, he tightened his grip enough to hurt her, making Phloria yelp in pain.
"Please, calm down and tell me everything from the beginning."
Lith told her the truth about that night, how he had failed saving Protector and how they both survived only thanks to the Scorpicore's intervention. He even repeated her word by word Protector's speech before he had left.
Lith let Solus's role out, pretending that his outrage was aimed at Protector and that he had forced Kalla to tell him the truth after discovering Protector's missing corpse in the mass grave.
Phloria went pale more than once, but never interrupted his story, waiting for Lith to calm down.
"Can you believe it? After all we went through, he had the gall to let me suffer like that and calling it an act of love!" He wished to meet Protector again, just to give him the beating of a lifetime.
Phloria remained silent, while he kept cursing Protector's name and expressing his outrage for having been manipulated. After a while, Lith was tired of hearing only his own voice, so he turned towards Phloria noticing her distress.
"Why you say nothing? Don't tell me you agree with him." Lith really wanted to punch the wall, but scaring the only person he had left sounded as a d*ck move even to him.
"I understand you are angry. You have every right to be and I don't want to make you any angrier. I think is better for me to leave."
She stood up, but Lith grabbed her hand.
"Please, I trusted him with my life. I don't know what to believe anymore, just be honest with me. I don't want to be coddled, I need the truth."
Phloria held his hand, caressing it with hers.
"Promise me not to get angry."
"I promise." Lith gritted his teeth, her words didn't bode well.
"I completely agree with him." Lith took a few deep breaths before calming down. He didn't yell, didn't punch anything, he even managed to keep his hand relaxed.
"Why?" He asked after he was able to speak again.
"Are you serious? In his shoes, I wouldn't have lied to you, I would have strangled you with my own hands as soon as you recovered! At least now you know how he, or anyone else that cares for you, would have felt if you traded your life for theirs."
Lith started to feel like a jerk. He knew how crushing the death of a beloved one could be. His new life started because of the domino effects Carl's demise had triggered.
"Also, it's rich coming from you. Accusing someone to be a liar. You lied to your family over the years for the gods know how many times about almost everything. You lied to me countless times too.
"About your strength, the mysterious brother of yours you fought so hard to protect, about how the heck you come back always in one piece even if your uniform gets wrecked so often that it's scary. I don't know why you do it and I'm still waiting for you to tell me the truth.
"What you are experiencing is how your family felt when they discovered all your lies. How I may feel if and when you decide to be honest with me. Yet they didn't love you any less for it, because you did it to protect them, to give them a better life.
"I think you owe Protector a second chance, he just played a Lith on you. By the way, I don't care if you are a dragon in disguise, I still care for you." She quickly gave him a peck before running away, leaving Lith stunned.
Her speech made a lot of sense, only the last phrase was beyond his understanding.
'If Phloria reacted like that, I'm afraid what mom or Tista would say if they knew the truth.' Lith thought.
'She is right though. Me complaining about being manipulated is like Nana preaching about generosity. Even when I open myself to someone, about half I say is a lie. I wonder what Carl would have said if he ever learned what really happened to our father.
Would he hate me for what I did or would he just resent me for hiding the truth from him and shouldering everything by myself?'
Lith pondered for a while about the whole situation before deciding that moral dilemmas could wait. He needed to study for the following day's lessons and to devise contingency plans for whatever could happen to the academy the next spring.
Soon he found himself wishing to have Solus's input, but his rage was still too strong. Lith couldn't call her for help twice during the same day. It would be like admitting with her and even more importantly with himself that he was ready to forgive her.
***
From the following day, elite units from the army and the Mage Association covertly examined and cleansed the various academies' staff members and their students. Even without a proper diagnostic spell, the purifying one Marth had devised against the anti-mana parasites would still work.
It turned out that Linjos wasn't the only one that had been poisoned. All the Headmasters that followed his protocol had suffered the same fate and with them many of the Professors that fought against the waves of Balkor's undead.
Even if there was no proof of their involvement, the surviving staff members of the fallen Earth and Crystal Griffon academies were quietly arrested for treason. Royal constables interrogated them only to discover that their only crime was pursuing their own political agenda rather than their students' best interests.
Soon it became clear that the culprit wasn't someone at the top of the food chain, but someone at its very bottom.
Chapter 246 Rankings
Being the last trimester, the students of the White Griffon academy weren't going to receive hidden report cards anymore. They would be ranked according to their grades, letting everyone in the Kingdom know about their performance.
The royal decree that called off the third exam made many youths desperate. Cooperation suddenly had no value. Extra points had unexpectedly become more valuable than platinum, turning friend against friend and brother against sister.
Everyone would walk the extra mile trying to score as many as possible during the last two weeks, hoping to improve their ranking even if by just one position. Classes and corridors turned into battlefields, following the principle that attack is the best form of defense.
During the practical lessons, sabotaging one own's neighbors was elevated to a form of art, while any student walking alone, no matter the time of the day, was bound to be attacked.
Lith barely noticed such inconveniences. While performing the morning rounds for the Healer specialization, his only companions were the members of his group.
During the Magica Crystals classes, Professor Farg proved to have a frightening keen eye and a ruthless personality. She beat the students at their own game.
As soon as she understood what was happening, anyone she caught not working on their gemstone without a good explanation would lose some points. A couple of students attempted a coordinated attack.
One of them would ask for the Professor's help while the other used an almost invisible wind blow to shake their opponent's hands at a critical moment in the cutting process.
The result was for both being busted, losing twenty points each that were given to their victim as compensation.
No one dared to make a move against Lith during the Forgemaster lessons.
He had always been the teacher's pet, but since his visit to house Tanash, Professor Wanemyre had showered him with so much praise and attention that rumor spread the two of them were having an affair.
Unbeknownst to the public, Wanemyre was part of Linjos's inner circle, so she knew about the anti-mana toxin and had also been one of its victims. Like many of her colleagues, she had believed her poor physical condition to be a consequence of Balkor's attack.
She was still grieving many friends and the long-lasting effects from the undead's venom only made her feel worse. Wanemyre had suffered both personally and professionally, most of her latest creations were what she could only grade as "cr*p".
After being cleansed from the anti-mana toxin, her magical prowess and Forgemastering skill returned. Wanemyre knew it was all thanks to Lith. Between the feeling of gratitude and the desire to find the ones that caused her so much suffering, even glaring at her favorite student was enough to make her deduct points.
Between lessons, things would get more up close and personal. Lith being without a Ballot was public knowledge. Several people were desperate and angry enough to give it a shot.
Forty clean fractures, twenty-four comminuted fractures, a dozen concussions, seven punctured lungs, and several ruptured spleens forced Linjos's hand to reveal the rankings ahead of schedule.
Much to the Headmaster's dismay, Lith had long stopped holding back, so his assailants were clogging the wards of the academy's hospital on a daily basis.
Be them Professors or medical staff, after learning how their patients received those injuries, the healers would just stabilize their conditions and give them the lowest priority, forcing them to waste almost a whole day in bed before administering them a sloppy treatment.
Enough to release them but not enough to allow them to perform well in their daily activities. The Light magic department looked after their own and was capable of holding quite a grudge.
One week before the end of the last term, Lith was summoned in the Headmaster's office along with Friya and Yurial. None of them had any idea about what was happening.
When they walked through the door, they found that Archmage Deirus and the Ernas couple were waiting for them together with Linjos. A wave of the Headmaster's hand made three new chairs appear.
Yurial and Friya sat near their parents while Lith was alone. He didn't like it one bit.
"This is highly improper, Linjos." Lady Ernas said.
"Where are Mage Lith's parents? Shouldn't they be present too? I don't know why you requested our presence, but it's easy to assume it must be important."
Lith and Archmage Deirus nodded in unison.
"It is. The reason why you are here is to make your children behave." Linjos explained.
"Lith has proved himself to be reliable and discreet more than once. His parents, however, due to their simple life in the countryside could be more of a liability than helpful. No offense, Lith."
"None taken." He replied while trying to read Linjos. He seemed to be nervous, if not embarrassed. Lith couldn't feel any hostility or bad news incoming, which made him even more curious.
"The situation at hand requires confidentiality. As you all know, the rankings are about to be disclosed. To avoid information leaks, this time I had the Professors report directly to me.
"Each student's grades have been converted into points, allowing to add them to the extra points gained during the daily evaluations and the exams' results." Linjos handed them a piece of paper each.
It was a list of the students in ascending order according to their points value.
Lith was ranked first, with 19,481 points, Friya was second with 10,276 points and Yurial third with 9,742 points. Phloria and Quylla were respectively sixteenth with 8,832 points and fourteenth with 9,156 points.
Lith could feel many eyes on him. Jirni, Yurial, and Friya were grinning, while Orion and Archmage Deirus had their mouths almost touching the floor from the surprise.
"Being second place is not that bad." Friya said. "I don't get it why Lith has almost doubled my score, though. I know he performed better than me, but this much? Does the ranking include the spell he shared?"
"No..." Linjos shook his head. "but it does take into account his contribution as medical staff during the plague and… the most recent events. Every meritorious act a student performs gets properly rewarded. Based on his academic results only, Lith's score would be 12,235 points."
Friya felt a tinge of envy ruining her moment and so did Yurial. They had hoped the gap was due to Lith's services to the Kingdom and the academy rather than skill. Two thousand points were an abyss compared to how close the rest of the scores were.
"It doesn't matter since no one will ever know." A snap of Linjos's fingers and the papers turned into dust.
"I wouldn't have shown you any of it if I wasn't aware of your good relationship and of how you shared your previous grades. To do what it must be done I need your cooperation. This is what will get released to the public in about an hour."
Linjos's desk projected a hologram in the middle of the room, displaying the rankings. There were only two differences with the previous one. Lith's and Yurial's scores were swapped, turning the top three as following: 1) Yurial Deirus: 10,353 2) Friya Ernas: 10,276 3) Lith from Lutia: 10,125.
"What does this mean?" Yurial and Friya blurted out, while Lith's eyes burned with mana out of anger before he understood what was happening.
"Are you doing this for political reasons?" Lith asked.
"Yes." Linjos nodded. "After the Griffon Kingdom went inches from a civil war that spread poison, corruption, and traitors deep inside even the most loyal institutions to the Crown, after Balkor, we cannot afford any more internal strife.
"A grassroot commoner reaching the top spot in any academy is unheard of. It would cause problems to any Headmaster, let alone someone like me that's already a controversial figure. It would raise all the wrong questions and countless suspicions.
"They would say that's just another ploy from the Queen to belittle the ancient noble families and turn the embers of the revolt into a fire once again. This way, instead, we'll strengthen the Queen's new policies.
"Lord Deirus's first place will make the new magical bloodlines happy, Lady Friya's second place so close to the first will make easier for the nobles to accept that you 'ranked' third. Do you have any questions?"
After being cleansed from the toxin, Linjos had regained his incarnate and strength, but he still appeared to be deadly tired. He had deep set eyes, unable to hide the sadness that lied within his heart.
'I never liked Lith much, but this is just bullsh*t.' Linjos thought.
'I became a Headmaster to change things for the better from the inside, not to be forced by politics to strip a student from their achievements just to please some old fogeys. For every battle that I win, there are two more that I lose.'
"Does this mean that I'll lose my points? Also, is there some prize for being first or second that the third doesn't get?" Being third was already bad for Lith's plans. He had hoped to be in the lowest positions of the top ten.
'The higher I get, the more trouble I will find. I don't give a damn about being third, fifth or even twentieth, as long as I keep my points and prizes. It's the only way I have to acquire magical equipment.' Lith thought.
"Of course you will not lose any point!" Linjos raised his voice, outraged by the simple idea of it.
"The total amount is unchanged, but only those present in this room will know the truth. Whatever you need to exchange them for, will be presented as a gift from the Crown for your services. As for the prizes, there is none. The honor of being first it's its own prize, along with the glory and fame it entails."
Lith had a hard time repressing a scoff.
"I'm fine with this decision." Lith said.
"Well, I'm not!" Yurial jumped off his chair, the pride for his achievement already fading away.
"I wanted to be first, but not like this. It's unfair as much as demeaning. How can I watch myself in the mirror knowing that it's only a lie? I refuse to be a puppet! Give the first place to Friya if she wants it and the second to Lith at least."
Linjos sighed deeply before answering.
"Young man, this isn't a request. It's an order from the Crown. I'm not asking for your permission. I wouldn't have told you any of this if not for the fact that by knowing your respective grades you can easily discover the truth.
"You have no idea how mathematically creative I had to get to fix the scores using only the third trimester points. Someone inside the academy leaked all the report cards, otherwise I would have put Lith even lower and have this talk with him only."
"House Ernas has no objection." Orion actually would have liked to say many things, but as a soldier, he knew that orders had to be followed not discussed. He turned towards his wife, who winked at him with a smug expression.
'She clearly knows what the little monster did to get all those points. It must be something important if she isn't allowed to discuss it even with me.'
Archmage Deirus was embarrassed by his son's behavior. He could understand Yurial's outrage, he was the one that had taught him to never take shortcuts and only rely on hard work.
As the heir of House Deirus, though, he had to learn how to play ball, even when it was nasty.
"House Deirus has no objection either." Velan Deirus clenched Yurial's shoulder, preventing him to say any more.
"Excellent." Linjos replied. "Congratulations on your well-earned second place, Lady Friya. Despite you went through a lot this year, your outstanding performance in dimensional magic and healer classes makes us all proud."
The Headmaster shook her hand, his words stabbed Yurial's heart deeply.
"You are the best healer we have got since Manohar enrolled." Linjos shook Lith's hand too, handing him a pristine white pin the size of a button, shaped like a rampant white griffon with the number four etched on its surface.
"The six great academies specialize in one element each. Ours is light magic. This pin identifies you like the top of the fourth year Healer specialization, the crown jewel of our institution.
"No one can take such achievement away from you. I can guarantee you that next year things will be different. If you achieve again the first spot, you'll be allowed to keep it."
Lith nodded, storing the pin away and explaining to Linjos how he intended to invest most of his points. There was something he had set his eyes on for a long time, but with the official ranking alone he wouldn't be able to afford it.
"Don't let this ruse ruin your moment, young Deirus." The Headmaster shook Yurial's hand for last, giving him a pin identical to the one Lith received but made of gold instead of moonstone.
"Your real score surpasses those of most students that ranked first in the past, it's something to be proud of. All your Professors speak fondly of you and expect great things from you in the future."
Yurial smiled, while his hand clenched the gold pin so hard that it would have turned into a crumpled ball if not for its protective enchantment.
'Who the heck cares about my score compared to the past? This pin means nothing. I would have never gotten such a score without Lith's and Quylla's private lessons. Quylla deserves it much more than me. Despite having only one specialization, she achieved an insane number of points.'
Yurial's heart was reduced to shreds, all the insecurities that he had fought so hard to keep at bay overwhelmed him to the point that he could feel the weight of the tranquilizer flask in his pocket burning through his clothes, calling on him like a siren.
Chapter 247 Repor
Once the matter of the rankings was settled, only Jirni Ernas remained inside Linjos's office.
"The results of the investigation on the academies' staff is unsettling. It seems that whoever is behind the anti-mana toxins played both sides. They used the rivalry between the old noble households and the new magical bloodlines to recruit members from both factions and escalate the internal struggle into a civil war.
"As for the poisoning, the method employed was as simple as effective. They administered the toxin in the meals. The targets were only those who belonged to the most vocal families loyal to the Crown but that lacked the resources to request the help of any of the great healers involved in the plague.
"It was likely meant to make the young mages lose their rankings, if not fail completely their exams in order to cripple their opponents' status and political relevance inside the Royal Court."
"How could they achieve such capillary control?" Linjos had already realized by himself most of Jirni's report, but he still couldn't believe it had happened right under his nose.
"Easy, they contacted and corrupted several members of the canteen's staff. They seem to have handpicked them one by one, choosing only those that suffered from financial troubles or had a deep grudge against the Crown.
"You should know that working for one of the six big academies is considered an honour. Yet it doesn't prevent staff members who belong to noble households from treating with disrespect mages of commoner origin, while those of humble origins resent the nobles for treating them like cattle.
"Both get usually very pissed seeing so much power and money passing right under their noses, yet not having access even to the crumbs of the system. I think you should consider changing the work condition of the non magical staff too.
"The information leaks, the poisoning, everything that has happened wouldn't have been possible if the academy system wasn't already rotten from the start."
"Who provided the toxin and when did they start administering it to Professors and Headmasters?" Linjos pondered about Jirni's words. No one had ever stopped considering how much power and knowledge the student secretariat actually held.
Grades, points records, purchases, those people that had always been regarded as low level bureaucrats had complete access to the personal information about every resident of the academy, from their addresses to the security details.
Just the thought of how much work he had ahead of himself was enough to give Linjos a splitting headache.
"That's where our investigation was abruptly stopped. The corrupted officials gave away the names of their recruiters to spare their families from capital punishment, but they turned out to be strawmen. Once we apprehended them, the recruiters had no idea who they were working for.
"As for the toxins, they were delivered through several drop spots that changed every time. All of them were located in trash bins inside common areas, so anyone could put them in place. Students, administrative staff, even Professors.
"Alas, after our investigation started the deliveries stopped. Either someone from the inside leaked the information or more likely they noticed how many people were being detained and interrogated. An operation of this scale can't remain hidden for long."
Jirni didn't like facing smart opponents. She preferred the dumb and self-entitled kind that provided open-and-shut cases. So far, she hadn't spotted a single mistake on their side.
If not for the Kandria's incident triggering the plague, no one would have even thought such wonder of Alchemy was possible. Even after Lith found the box, the authorities wouldn't pay him any attention if not for the dryad's gift.
Last, but not least, without Duke Tanash determination in getting help for his son, everything would have kept going according to the enemy plan. Jirni could not help but think that the small victories they had scored so far were all because of luck and coincidences.
Luck was something she couldn't control or interrogate, hence it was one of the things she hated the most.
"They started poisoning the magical staff only after Balkor's message was revealed and stopped immediately after the situation was resolved. I think it was a long shot plan, hoping to use the god of death to get rid of the academies.
"Officially, such a move would have harmed both factions at the same time, so it doesn't make any sense.
"Off the record, I think that whoever planned these events doesn't care at all about who profits from the struggle. They want to deal as much damage as possible to the Griffon Kingdom. I suspect that even Lukart was just a pawn.
"A narrow-minded idiot is the perfect frontman. Easy to take out of the picture in case of success, easy to pin all the blame on in case of failure."
"Basically we got nothing." Linjos sighed.
"No, quite the contrary." Jirni replied.
"We have discovered a massive corruption system, cleansed the academies from the traitorous scum and foiled at least part of the enemy plan. Not to mention that several good mages will have a second chance at the academy, strengthening the future of the Kingdom.
We haven't won the war, but we aren't losing it either. Considering the amount of time and resources that our opponents invested, even achieving a draw is actually a success for us. Stay on your toes, this is far from over. A cornered enemy is the most dangerous one."
Jirni gave the Headmaster a small bow before leaving the office. Unlike Deirus, since she was already at the White Griffon, she had no hurry to leave. She could as well pay a visit to her daughters and congratulate them for their achievements.
'One achieved second place and the other two reached the top twenty despite having only one specialization. House Ernas is bound to have a bright future, but only if I manage to keep all the girls alive.'
***
Meanwhile, in Phloria's room Lith and Orion where sharing the good news with the rest of the group. Yurial remained silent most of the time, the golden pin felt to him more like a stigma than something to be proud of.
"This is bullsh*t!" Phloria was enraged enough to yell.
"Since when the academies have to bend the knee to political interests? This is just unfair!"
"Life it's unfair by nature." Lith shrugged. "The key is making it unfair to your advantage."
"How does getting stripped of your rank and title work to your advantage?" She scoffed.
"First, being third means the target on my back gets much smaller. The points gap with the others in the top 20 is low, so they'll think that if instead of bothering me they work harder, they may be able to catch up with me."
"You wouldn't have been attacked so often if you stuck with us like before!" Phloria scolded him, but Lith ignored her words.
"Second, I didn't lose a single point. Yurial gets the glory and fame he always wanted while I can go home a week earlier. Everybody wins. By the way, have you thought about what I said? Will you guys delay attending the fifth year?"
"I wish!" Yurial snorted. "My father never believed in visions and prophecies, so convincing him to push back all of his plans for one more year was already hard. As soon as he saw the rankings, he immediately changed his mind.
"He says that backing down for no reason would make him lose a lot of face and stir too many questions." Yurial still couldn't believe his father would place the pride of the house above his only son's safety.
"Don't be too harsh on your old man, kid." Orion sighed.
"The vision is top secret and has to stay that way. There is no way to justify any of you taking a year break, especially after such outstanding performances. There's no illness that the White Griffon can't cure, so 'getting sick' is off the table.
"A family crisis that needs kids to be resolved would turn any big household into a laughing stock. Many students do not return home even if their parents die, the academy is deemed too important.
"I could ask for Phloria to be transferred into another academy, she is the only one that was clearly harmed in the vision, but again, there is no plausible excuse. It would appear like we are punishing her for her 'low score' or that we disagree with Linjos's methods.
Either way, it would make us look bad in the Court's eyes."
"Are you really going to have them attend?" Lith was genuinely worried.
"It makes no sense, they could die!"
"Thanks for worrying about me." Yurial snorted.
"I do, but I can't argue with your father since he already left. He's an a*s. In his shoes, I would keep you home. You are not only his son, but also the only heir of your house."
"You are damn right I am!" Yurial slammed his fist on Phloria's desk.
"Do you know what he said to me before leaving? Son, I receive death threats on a daily basis. If I had to hide and cower every time I get one, I should never get out of bed."
"What a d*ck!" The girls said as one.
"He is right though." Orion patted Yurial's shoulder, trying to comfort him.
"Jirni and I, but especially Jirni, receive so many death threats we have lost count of them. During winter, we use the old ones to light the fireplace. Also, Phloria wants to join my corps, the Knight's Guard, since she was five."
"I still want to."
"Then you have to get used to such things. At least you have an idea of the when and how it could happen. It's more than I have ever known every time I risked my life during a mission."
"I still think it's stupid making them stay." Lith scoffed. "Losing a year is no big deal, especially for Quylla. She can use that time to learn etiquette, court manners, and everything she needs to live as a noble. As for the others, with all that happened, a break can only do them some good."
"What about you?" Orion retorted. He wasn't happy with that decision either, but defying a direct order from the King was impossible. Not even Jirni's accumulated royal pardons could allow such a thing. It would be considered an act of high treason, something way worse than murder.
So, he had to obey. Lith's words were just salt being spread on his injuries.
"Are you taking a year break? Because what you said about Quylla applies to you as well. You could defend your family, instead of worrying from distance."
"I'm staying because the sequence of events that will lead to the massacre of Lutia will start here. Only by remaining I can make sure that whatever the enemy is planning will fail, or at least timely call for help to prevent things from escalating.
"Also, my death should happen after my family's, while Phloria's should take place during the attack on the academy. I have no reason to hide, not to mention that I too don't plan living behind a desk in the future.
"I faced death enough times that I'm not scared at the idea of facing a mortal threat as much of remaining alone. If I were to lose you guys and my family, there would be nothing left for me in this world. I can already see me turning into a mad beast hungry for revenge and with no future ahead."
Orion sighed, he understood Lith's point of view. It was the same for him. Honour, loyalty to the Crown, his career. Without his family, it would all be meaningless.
"I don't want to get caught in the mess that will ensue when the rankings will be revealed. I'm going to pack my stuff and go home. It will be a busy winter for me. I have a lot of things to practice and even more to Forgemaster.
I hope to see you all for my birthday." Lith said looking at Phloria. He could only hope that Orion would keep his word and give him the Gatekeeper bastard sword as a present.
Chapter 248 Report 2
"I wouldn't miss your birthday for the world." Unbeknownst to her, Phloria was the only one truly happy for the invite.
If not for the enchanted sword, Lith wouldn't care for his own birthday, let alone inviting people to a party he was the first to be happy to avoid.
He had yet to find a way to salvage his relationship with Solus. Between that and Death Vision still haunting him, Lith wanted to be left alone with his family. Not to mention that having guests was a problem for him.
Despite all the renovations it had undergone, Lith's home was too small for hosting a decent birthday party, even by Earth standards. Rena and Trion had already moved out. Whenever he was at Lutia, Lith spent most of the time outside, doing the gods knew what.
Raaz and Elina had no reason to further expand the house, it would only make the maintenance more expensive. It had never been a problem before since Lith had no friends to invite aside from Selia.
Lutia's harsh winters prevented even Nana to reach their home, or at least so she used to say. Lith suspected she hated birthdays even more than him and used old age as an excuse to avoid wasting her time with the risk of missing customers.
Ever since he had helped Count Lark to survive his ex-wife plot, he forced Lith to have two different parties, though. One at home, only for the family and another at Count Lark's manor.
The Larks were his patrons, so Lith had no way to avoid the issue. He had no love for festivities, but he appreciated the Count's company and the support he provided for his family.
That year was already bound to be even more problematic since the Count and Marchioness Distar were his sponsors with the academy.
Lith was certain they would push him to celebrate his third place in the overall ranking and first place among the healers. Thanks to the two nobles providing the location and banquet, Lith deemed there would be no problem adding a few more guests to the list.
Friya and Quylla were still a bit offended with him for his recent rude attitude, but after all, they had gone through together, they were happy for the invite. Te girls were also very curious to visit his birthplace.
Yurial nodded, inwardly cursing at his own bad luck. He didn't know how to face Lith's parents and friends without apologizing for having robbed his friend of his rightful status.
He wanted to avoid all the congratulations and niceties his status as first ranked involved as long as possible. In that moment, Yurial was so nauseated by his situation to be on the verge of puking.
Everyone but Orion left the room. They were all eager to leave, but first they needed to return to their respective rooms and pack their stuff.
Phloria wanted to say goodbye to Lith properly, away from her father's eyes, instead.
Jirni entered Phloria's room while she was still absent. Orion used that opportunity to speak with his wife freely.
"Do you think we should force Lith and Phloria to break up? Putting some distance between them could avoid her from taking unnecessary risks. For the same reason it may be better if once the fifth year begins, our girls avoid associating with him.
Lith is not a bad kid, but right now first place or not, he is a liability."
Jirni was already pondering about what to do next since she learned about the dryad's gift. She was aware of how much Lith had done for her family, but Orion's proposal sounded logical. It was the safest option they could take.
"I understand what you mean and I'm glad of your decisiveness, but I don't think it's a good idea. First, we can't give orders to Lith and neither to Phloria. She has consulted us because we are her parents, but remember that in less than six months our little Flower will become an adult.
You know she inherited your stubbornness. Making demands will only make things worse. She could simply refuse, if not even leave house Ernas. Antagonizing her now will only earn us her contempt and the further she gets from us, the harder protecting her will become.
Also, how are you going to make sure they actually break up? Are you going to move into Phloria's room?"
Orion had to inwardly admit his idea wasn't as good as he had initially thought. They had been aware for months of Phloria's intention of leaving her household in case they attempted to force her into an arranged marriage.
That was the reason why a few months prior Orion had threatened Jirni to divorce from her. Their friends had warned them about Phloria's asking for the necessary papers to get emancipated from her parents.
"As for avoiding associating with Lith, I'm afraid that would be another major blunder. He has proven to be an invaluable help for the girls, both academically and as a protector. Not to mention that you too have seen his score.
If next year he gets first again, commoner or not, flocks of nobles will try to earn his favors. If we do as you propose, not only we would be ungrateful but also appear as fair-weather friends. I understand you are worried about our little Flower and so am I, but don't let fear get to your head.
Only by sticking with him when he needs us, we will get his gratitude. Also, there is the possibility that the threat to Phloria's life has nothing to do with him. She could just be collateral damage or the target of a revenge on me or you.
So far Lith did quite a good job keeping her alive, I don't see why this time it should be any different."
"Why do you care so much for him?" Orion still wasn't convinced.
"Because these are chaotic times. Kings and Queens come and go and if we want for house Ernas to outlive them we need power. Why do you think I was so eager to adopt the girls? I wouldn't be surprised if the Court forced the current royals to abdicate. They have made too big of a mess."
Orion nodded with a sigh, recognizing the truth in Jirni's words. He was grateful to Lith for all he had done and respected him deeply. Yet Orion couldn't help but be afraid for his daughters.
***
Griffon Kingdom, Royal Palace. Inside Tyris's Lair.
Amyla Farg, the newest recruit among the secret unit called the Queen's Corpse, had not reported to her one true master, Lady Tyris until the end of the academy's third trimester. Her undercover role as Professor took away most of her time, plus she still couldn't make sense of what she had witnessed.
Farg kept an eye on Lith for weeks, searching for more clues about his true nature and the threat he could pose, but with no success. If not for what she had witnessed in the forest, Farg would think of him nothing more than what his personal file stated.
Lith was considered a dangerous yet talented individual. The Court was still debating what to do with him. So far, he had proved to be manageable, but his loyalty to the kingdom was shallow at best.
After the help he had provided during the plague outbreak, the unanimous consent was that unless proven otherwise, he was worth the risk of letting him live. The Court hoped that marrying him into a noble household would put him on a leash for good.
After the fight between Awakened Ones, Farg wasn't so sure it was such a good idea.
She had many unanswered questions, so she used that time to mull them over. Getting an audience with Lady Tyris was a rare event even for the King himself. That was the reason why she didn't submit her report until now.
When Tyris imparted orders, they had to be executed at once leaving no space for discussion. Only when one was required to give a report or was granted an audience, they may have the opportunity to ask questions.
'Since I risk getting stuck with brats for a whole year, I better make good use of this chance and try to understand as much as I can about Awakened ones. I don't know when or if I'll get the opportunity to speak with the master again in the near future.
'This might be my only opportunity to learn from her for the gods know how long and I don't know how many questions she'll allow me. I must make them count!' Farg thought.
As soon as she walked through the double stone door, Farg's body froze in fear. Every hair on her neck stood up, her instincts screaming at her to beware of the danger ahead. Something was wrong with the underground throne room.
Instead of being dimly lighted as usual, everything was bright as daylight, allowing Farg to notice black stains of blood on the floor and columns. Near each stain, there was a small crater from which departed several cracks.
Farg needed but a glance to recognize the signs of a struggle. She knew how powerful were the defenses in the lair, yet the invaders had managed to smash some of the stone armors decorating the room, damaging even the thousand years old tapestries.
Before she could understand what had happened, a sudden flash almost blinded her. The light was followed by a shockwave, like thunder after a bolt of lightning.
Farg used earth fusion to protect herself, conjuring a barrier with spirit magic a split second later. Yet the force of the impact was enough to push her several meters back with one knee on the ground, the air squeezed out of her lungs.
A second was all she had before a second flash appeared. Bracing herself for what she knew was about the come, Farg strengthened the barrier. This time she managed to stand her ground, but the effort took a toll on her.
After a third and a fourth shockwave, she finally realized that the flashes had a precise rhythm.
'Could this be just a heartbeat?' The surprise faded away quickly.
Farg brushed off the panic that had paralyzed her until that moment, taking the whole room into account. Right behind the throne, there was a white mass that she had never seen before.
At first glance it looked like a white wall, changing its color at the edges. The left one seemed to end in a gold vein, while the right one was of a clear grey, like a mountain peak.
About once per second, the wall produced a lightning. It was dissipated on the ground by several arrays, so powerful to be visible to the eye, leaving behind only its light and the resulting shockwave, yet producing no sound.
"Lady Tyris, it's me, Farg! Please, cease the attack!"
The next lightning had almost completely formed, but after Farg's words, it disappeared. The white wall opened, revealing a silver circular window as big as the throne itself, one meter and a half (5') high and 1.1 meters (3.6') wide, with a black dot at its center.
The contrast between the gleaming silver reflecting the light and the dark dot, made it appear like a bottomless hole in Farg's mind.
"There's a reason why you should always announce yourself before entering." The voice was soft like a whisper, yet it made the walls and the floor tremble.
"Sometimes I feel the need to stretch myself. Other times, like now, the human form cannot contain my wrath and I need to revert to my original one."
The wall moved backward, towards the center of the massive underground cave. Farg realized it was no wall, it was simply a portion of Lady Tyris's head in her griffon form. The gold vein that Farg had spotted earlier was actually her beak, while the grey belonged to a different shade of feathers near her neck.
Tyris's body was enveloped by a white aura that was the real source of illumination. The griffon had the head and the front legs of an eagle, while the rest of the body was that of a lion. On her back there were three pairs of feathered wings.
"It seems that my enemy does not only know about my existence, but also about my efforts to identify them. Attacking me in my own home is something no one managed to do in millennia. This should teach them a lesson."
The griffon body shrunk, turning into the familiar womanly form Farg was used to.
"Sorry for earlier, but that was no attack. When I'm angry I produce lightning bolts that the arrays in place are supposed to nullify. It seems I was still a little worked up from before, so my power overloaded them and part of the energy ran wild. Your report?"
Tyris smiled apologetically at Farg. Normally she would have her subjects kneeling, but she could see how tired Farg was after withstanding wave after wave of her anger empowered heartbeats.
A nod of Tyris's head wiped out all the traces of the attack, cleaning the black blood and repairing the stone furniture in the throne room. It also made a comfortable armchair appear right behind Farg, allowing her to rest.
"My lady, did someone dare to attack you?" Farg didn't know if to be worried about her master's safety or the enemy's madness.
"Yes. Several Abominations Warped in here and self-detonated. I don't know if they were trying to harm me with the explosion or to make the underground cave collapse, destroying the castle in the process.
"Either way, the only thing they managed to do was annoy me and force me to upgrade my arrays." Tyris sighed sadly. Even if her protections were ancient, one of her oldest and roughest works, she still loved them dearly.
They had been one of her few happy memories of the times when she still had most of her feelings and now they were gone forever.
"It pains me to admit that albeit outdated, their power was supposed to be unmatched. I guess that Arthan's Madness isn't the only thing our enemy has managed to find in the archives. That, or we have a traitor among the Corpse's ranks.
There is no way for beings so weak to bypass my protections unless they had a deep knowledge of my arrays. Now your report, please."
Chapter 249 Burdens
Farg was shocked by the news of the attack, but managed to hold her curiosity. If Lady Tyris was angry, her patience would be very limited. The questions at her disposal were already down by one.
Farg told her everything she had noticed about Lith from her observations during the fight with the Clackers and the academy's lessons. Tyris listened in silence, nodding from time to time.
"Do you have any questions?" Farg's report did nothing but confirm what she already knew. Tyris always allowed some questions because often humans needed help realizing details that they had seen but not noticed.
"Many." Farg replied honestly. She was honored to be allowed to sit while her host was pacing around and listening to her report.
"The kid is barely thirteen years old, yet I saw him go toe to toe with evolved monsters and magical beasts. How is that possible? The members of the Corpse are faster and stronger than normal humans, but not like that. We need enchanted equipment to make up for the difference in physical prowess."
"Quite the contrary." Tyris shook her head.
'During our brief encounter, I was only interested in his mana core and neglected to check his body. This is another important piece of the puzzle. It seems humans aren't the only ones to be slow on the uptake, sometimes.' She thought.
"It is possible. Your Queen, your King, and the veterans of the Corpse are all like that. It may seem incredible to you now, but only because we have just started your refinement process. In time, you'll become like that too. If you live that long, of course."
"What?" Farg was stunned, the words escaped her mouth before she could realize to have wasted another question.
"Doesn't that mean that the kid is a veteran too? Isn't he too young?"
Tyris smiled at her, happy to see the rookie catching up on her own.
"Yes to both. There are only a few possible explanations. Either he is an Awakened from the birth and that would be as incredible as terrifying, or he is a weak Abomination that possessed the body of an infant. That would be even worse.
"The former scenario would mean a natural talent like I have never seen before and hopefully will never see again. Beings Awakened from birth are incredibly rare, almost a myth even to us Guardians.
"I have never met one alive because when they are born from humankind, they start abusing their powers and get killed by their own kin before they can become a real threat.
"On the contrary, true magic comes natural to beasts, but being too much reliant on their instincts, they lack the wisdom and awareness about the risks the refinement process implies, so they die young too.
"The latter scenario would mean that albeit being incredibly weak, an Abomination managed to evolve into a Puppeteer and then stumbled into a highly compatible body that still lacked any sense of self or distinguishing feature.
"It makes it the perfect match. The body grows alongside the user's power, making the rejection of the new soul almost impossible. It would give birth to a Puppeteer that can hide in plain sight and without the need of switching bodies.
Needless to say, such a thing is almost impossible"
"It doesn't make sense!" Farg blurted out again.
"His mana flow is blue, not black. I checked more than once with Life Vision. Yet I saw with my own eyes black tendrils reattach his severed arm. That's something only Abominations can do.
"Also, I think the kid is utterly insane. One moment he puts his life on the line for his companions, the following he treats them like garbage."
"Excellent point." Tyris sat on her throne.
"That's why I suspect him being a hybrid, rather than a pure Abomination. A hybrid is born when something goes wrong during the body's assimilation process. If the Abomination is weaker than the host's body, it gets assimilated instead. It loses its nature and remains trapped inside it.
"It would explain the wisdom beyond his age, but not why he has helped the Kingdom time and time again.
"As for the madness, if he is as strong as you describe him to be, then it's normal. If he is a hybrid, his human and Abomination impulses are constantly at odds. It surprises me he has showed so much self restraint.
"If he is an Awakened from birth, instead, there is the possibility that he is afraid of harming them, hence he tries to keep them at a distance. When you get so powerful while still being so young, many have problems controlling their strength.
Consider that for him normal humans are made of paper. All he needs to do is use a little strength to crush them.
"Whatever is his nature, the attachment towards other humans is a good sign for us, because it means he cares for them. If he does, then if the necessity arises they can be used to shackle him."
"My Lady, why not kill him? His corpse may answer all of your questions and he would no longer pose a threat. Two birds with one stone."
"Killing another living being only because I don't understand them? Who do you take me for? A human?" Tyris scoffed.
"If he was another wannabe tyrant or a monster sucking everything dry on its path, your suggestion would make sense. Yet so far he poses no threat to his kind nor to the beasts, who consider him as one of their own. Even the world has recognized his worth, subjecting him to its cruel tribulations.
"If he fails, he'll die. If he succeeds the balance will have a new Guardian and I another potential mate. It's a win-win situation for me.
"Thanks for your hard work, Amyla. You'll resume your surveillance when the academy reopens. Until then, you'll continue your normal activities as a member of the Corpse.
"Do not tell anyone about Lith being a natural Awakened, not even to the Royals. They are past their prime and surrounded by strife. It would be easy for them being tempted to coerce him into turning them in real Awakened.
The Kingdom wouldn't survive if I was forced to have both of them suddenly pass away in an 'accident'."
Tyris's eyes shone with silver light, sending a shiver down Farg's spine. She understood how Lady Tyris was not only testing her loyalty, but also burdening her with the fate of the Griffon Kingdom.
She still had many questions, but now Farg was scared by the answers so she preferred to leave after giving Tyris a deep bow.
Once alone again, the Guardian let her mind ponder about what she had omitted to say to Farg.
'I don't know what this Lith is, but for certain he is no kid. I watched all the recordings available of him, including his exams. His words, actions, and spells do not match a kid. Even geniuses like Manohar couldn't pull the thundercloud spell at that age.
'Not when coming from an uneducated family. At this point, even using a member of the Corpse as middle man has little value. The only way I have to find out the truth is to speak with him in person.' Tyris sighed.
'Too bad that with all that it's happening, this matter is of low priority. First I need to upgrade all the arrays of the castle to prevent further attacks. Then I have to find out how the enemies managed to get down here. As of now, the Griffon Kingdom is a giant with clay feet.
'The noble households are still able to trigger a civil war, we have lost two of the six great academies at once, and most of my attention has to be directed at the Abomination threat.
'I have no idea what this Lith is or wants, but so far he has proved to be harmless to me. His parents are still alive, his village still standing, and he even joined an academy. None of this makes sense, either if he was an Abomination or an Awakened at birth.
'Maybe Salaark is right, the only way to rule humans is with an iron fist. I gave the Griffon Kingdom everything I could without directly intervening. Power, wisdom, inspiration.
'Yet it has stooped so low that now it needs only a gentle push to fall into ruins.'
***
In the two weeks following the events in the forest, Solus had managed to speak with Lith only once. For eight wonderful years they shared everything. Solus missed all the little things they did together in their daily routine, from their morning walks to choosing what to have for breakfast.
Yet he still refused to talk to her. No matter if it was a serious matter like talking to Linjos about the rankings or something trivial like inviting his friends. Lith kept her confined in the stone marble, making her feel as alone as useless.
Since their mind link was broken, Solus had realized that, despite during the past years she had greatly suffered from all the limitations her stone form had, it was only thanks to their bond that she had been able to keep her own sanity in check.
Even with their mind link shut down, Solus still retained all of her senses.
She could hear and see the world around her, perceive the mana flow of everyone that came in contact with them or the alterations in their emotional spectrum. Yet without Lith, without access to his body, she couldn't feel anything outside her own thoughts.
It was like being locked up inside a panic room, having access to the outside world only through cameras and monitors.
She still received all the nourishment she needed to keep restoring her power, but her life had turned into nothing more than a cage. Solus felt desperate and lonely, but she did her best to not let those feelings transpire.
Their bond was strong enough that they needed the mind link only to talk. If they wanted to avoid sharing a strong emotion or a recurring thought from the other, they had to be careful.
Lith wasn't as good as her, so Solus could feel his yearning for her voice, the desire to contact her along with the sense of betrayal preventing him from opening their mind link.
It would have been easy for her to contact him first and play with his feelings to get what she wanted, but Solus never even considered doing it. The only thing she wanted was for him to accept her as a person just as she did for him.
'Lith didn't even contact me to share the ranking results. We worked so hard for that, spending so many nights awake and yet he still cut me off like that. Like I am nothing.
'I just did to him once what he does to everyone else on a daily basis.
'What I did was wrong, but so is Lith's constantly shutting everyone out every time he has a problem. He needed to realize how his lies can affect his loved ones. Piling lies upon lies, only because it's more convenient than opening himself to others, even a little.
'I understand why he can't talk about his past lives or being an Awakened one, but hiding all the bad things that happen to him and always acting behind the others' backs with the excuse that he does it to "protect them" is bullsh*t.
'Lith never shared with his parents the ostracism he suffered from the other students, the mean words Professors like Rudd addressed him with or the difficulties he faced during the exams.
'By sugar-coating every aspect of his life, maybe he doesn't make his family worry about him, but for sure he ends up alone, incapable of sharing any of his burdens and to rely on his loved ones.
'Lith can't hope for others to help him in times of need. They never know what he is going through, simply because he hides from them even what he had for breakfast! The only good thing that came out of my lie is that at least he opened up with his family.
It did him some good, making him realize that they never wanted anything from him except being happy.'
From the moment their mind link had been severed, Solus's condition kept getting worse by the day. She was a prisoner of her own body, without anyone to talk to or anything she could do. Life around her was a cruel reminder of how the lack of a body made her little more than a slave to whoever was her host.
Solus knew her future was grim, yet she soldiered up and waited patiently.
The bond she shared with Lith was symbiotic, it couldn't be broken unless one of them died. Her only options were for Lith to forgive her or spend the time they had left together as a mindless tool.
Either that or go completely insane. The prolonged isolation and the constant status of fear of being abandoned, losing her life companion, were slowly eating her from the inside.
It was only a matter of time before her condition deteriorated beyond saving, scarring her mind permanently.
Chapter 250 Back Home
Lith's personal possessions still amounted to little enough to be stored in the trunk his dad made for him, leaving space to spare. Most of his clothes were now too small for him, but Lith kept them anyway, moving the trunk in the pocket dimension before departing.
Returning to Lutia took him just a few minutes. His mastery of dimensional magic coupled with his recent breakthrough allowed him to open Warp Steps with a range of dozens of miles.
Lutia was a balm for Lith's heart. It was a small, insignificant village in the middle of nowhere, but it was his kingdom. The only place where he could not care for the appearances nor constantly watch his back.
He needed some quiet to decide what to do with Solus. Lith still had conflicting feelings about her, but she was a too important part of his life to keep avoiding the issue for long.
He needed her for his experiments, since Lith was unable to operate the tower or to Forgemaster with true magic without her help. Also, she had always been his best friend, confidant, and his moral compass.
Her absence left a dreadful silence in his mind and a void in his heart that was only getting worse by the day. Even more importantly, when he had fused their minds, Lith had understood how deep was the feeling of isolation haunting her.
The pain that Solus shared with him had turned out to be just the tip of the iceberg. Lith had never forgotten about it and was worried about her well being.
Lith could have arrived directly at home, but he preferred to appear in the sky above Lutia's plaza instead. He wanted to make sure that everyone knew of his return.
With all that had happened to him, he had no desire of wasting his time dealing with small fries.
Lith landed softly, drawing the gazes of many. Most of the villagers flinched at his sight. The memory of Lith's last homecoming was still deeply etched in their minds. Of how he killed Renkin, the richest man of the village, and his son.
After he almost killed many of them for not having helped his sister when Garth harassed her, their despise towards him had turned into blind fear. Money and authority were a paper shield against his wrath.
If before the villagers considered him as someone that didn't deserve his magical talent, that robbed them of their wealth and hopes for their children, now they saw him like a hungry monster.
His presence defended them from bandits and foreigners, but at their least mistake, he had no qualms turning against them too. The thought that one day he could be the lord of the land scared them to death.
Lith noticed their behavior and couldn't help but scoff.
'Morons. If we wanted to take revenge on you, we would have done it years ago. As long as you behave, no one gets hurt. Right, Solus?' The mind link was closed, so only silence ensued.
Lith inwardly cursed at himself before going to Nana's home office. It was still midmorning, giving him the opportunity to visit his old mentor and pick up Tista before returning home.
Phloria's words were still echoing in his mind and without Solus, he needed someone to talk to. His mind was a mess, Lith still couldn't decide if to tell his family about the vision or not.
'Maybe I should warn at least Tista. She is the only other magic user in the family, she could make a difference in case something happens. Scratch that. The shadow made a short work of the Queen's corps. If they are helpless, I doubt she can do any better.'
Lith shook his head. The more he thought about it, the more confused he felt.
He opened the door of Nana's home office. The waiting room was filled with people, there was not a single chair or bench free.
Most parents forced their children to sit on their lap. Between the screams of the babies and the loud chatting of the adults, Lith felt like his eardrums were going to pop. When he entered the room, the conversations immediately stopped.
The place was familiar to him, yet it felt alien, like waking up from a long good dream. He had spent the last year in the academy, where everything was clean, everyone was properly dressed and fed.
Compared to the academy's hospital, Nana's office was dirty, noisy, and chaotic. Looking at those people, with their cheap clothes and weathered faces, Lith remembered how hard was life in Lutia.
'They are here to get a check up before winter arrives. Once it starts snowing, reaching the village becomes almost impossible. Many farmers die every year because of the flu or because a simple cold turns into pneumonia.' He thought.
"Young spirit, you are back already!" Nana walked towards him as soon as her latest patient paid her.
"Yes, master. This year the academy ended early. How are you?"
"Good as always." Nana replied hugging him.
Death Vision kept showing him the waiting room as the set of a slasher movie, but unlike the others, Nana had only one possible outcome.
The light in her eyes would go out, her corpse quickly invaded by maggots and larvae.
Lith was upset, he still had no idea what Death Vision was, so he used Invigoration on his old mentor. He discovered that her life force was weaker than the last time he examined her.
Her whole body was filled with impurities that were clogging her bloodstream and weakening her organs. Old age was consuming her. Lith felt a sting in his heart, realizing that Nana had five years left to live at most.
"You don't look so well. Let me see what I can do for you."
"Bah, I'm just old. Stop wasting my time, there are people waiting!" Nana rebuked. She was aware of her condition. Waking up early was getting more difficult every day and if it wasn't for Tista, she would be able to work only for half a day.
'Can't allow myself to show any weakness. As soon as word of my condition gets out, who knows what kind of criminals could get attracted to Lutia. Now the Queen's corps are defending us, but once Lith gets out of the academy they'll leave.'
Lith didn't move, stopping the queue. Yet no one dared to ask him to move aside. Nana was about to scold him, but Tista was looking at her with puppy eyes, making her feel guilty.
"Fine, hot shot. Show me what a real professional can do." Nana pulled the curtain behind her, sitting in the patient seat. Lith pretended to cast a diagnostic spell first and a healing one after that.
What he was actually doing was using darkness magic to destroy most of the impurities in her bloodstream, cleansing Nana's arteries while enhancing her kidneys and liver metabolism with light magic.
With his current level of mana perception and control, Lith didn't need anymore to force impurities out of a body, he was able to destroy them while they were still inside.
The treatment lasted a few minutes, during which Nana felt hot, sweating bullets despite the weather was already quite cold. When Lith finished, she felt at least five years younger.
"By the gods, whatever you did, you just put me in a pinch, young spirit. I suddenly feel the need to take a bath, eat the biggest lunch I ever had, and take a massive dump at the same time!" A loud and stinky fart emphasized the last part of the sentence.
"I'll start with the dump." Nana nodded as she had just made a life or death decision. Tista cleared the smell with a touch of darkness magic while addressing a disgusted expression at her mentor.
"Don't look at me like that. I'm old!" She rebuked like it explained everything.
"Young spirit, cover for me until I get back. Since this is all your fault, whatever you earn is mine for compensation. Got it?"
Lith nodded, barely holding a chuckle at her words. Nana's health had slightly improved and making her rest had been his plan all along. Originally Lith meant to ask her letting Tista leave work early and go home together, but Death Vision changed his mind.
He watched Nana walking away. This time she was stabbed in the heart and then had her throat slit before leaving the room. Death Vision was usually disturbing, but this time he found it reassuring.
Using the cover of the curtain, Tista hugged Lith.
"Welcome back, lil brother. It's good to see you again."
"It's good to see you too. Now it really feels like home." He returned the embrace checking her condition, just to be safe.
"Was that a tier four spell?" Tista's professional curiosity was piqued.
"Yeah. There is no cure to old age, but at least it will relieve her symptoms for a while." Lith's treatment was just a band aid. Only Awakening Nana could prolong her life.
"It's still better than nothing." Tista nodded.
"I'm so envious of you. I hate being forced to watch her get weaker by the day, to see so many people suffer and not being able to do anything for helping them." She sniffed, laying her head on his shoulder.
"Better if we get to work, or people will get angry." She said letting him go.
Lith and Tista worked together, talking between patients.
Identifying a villager from a farmer was painfully easy. Villagers were well dressed, clean, and looked around the waiting room like they owned the place. Farmers instead wore layers of thin clothes to protect themselves from the cold and looked like they could use a warm meal.
If the patient was a farmer, Lith would listen to their request and then heal every ailment they had, making them pay only for one spell. Thanks to the curtain, the other patients couldn't see the deep bows they would give him before leaving.
Before winter money was always short, so farmers resorted to Nana's help only in case of an emergency.
If it was a villager instead, Lith would examine them and list all the conditions he found before asking them what they wanted for him to heal.
"You have a slight cold, a strained back, and a thrombus." His patient was Ilna, the jeweler. She was a nice looking woman in her forties, with chestnut hair and a dress that was probably more expensive than Nana's house.
"What does that mean?" She had a quiet voice. Usually she preferred being served by Tista, since she was easy to push around. Lith had the same caring gaze of a wolf mulling if to rip your throat first or go straight for the gutting.
"A blood clot in the brain." Lith explained. "If it moves, you die. Simple as that."
"What are you waiting for? Heal it immediately!"
"You came for the backache and paid only for that." Lith pointed at the sign stating "Payment in advance".
Ilna was about to rebuke that she didn't trust him, but there was something in Lith's eyes that stopped her. Years in the business had taught her how to read people. She could see from his smirk that he hoped she would walk away.
Ilna quickly paid and after receiving the treatment, she rushed home to bring her whole family back for a check up.
'I hate that b*stard, but even I know that Nana is not a professional healer. Who knows when or if I'll get someone from the White Griffon to visit my family? I have no time to lose!'
Tista was amazed by how fast her brother was working. Not only did his spells seem to be more effective than hers, but also he didn't need to take any break. Lith had a stronger core than Tista and wasn't as old as Nana.
That, coupled with all his training, gave him a mana capacity a few times bigger than theirs. Not to mention that compared to the academy's daily exercises, casting one spell at the time was almost relaxing for him.
Lith had just finished with his latest patient when Tista pulled his arm. He turned around, noticing that she was holding a petite girl about her age by the arm. The girl was well dressed and had a healthy incarnate.
Despite the sunny day, she was already wearing a long sleeved sweater with heavy gloves on both hands.
"Lith, do you remember Brina?" She asked him.
"No." Lith sighed. That was one of those moments when Solus would chime in and remind him about who's who. The silence in his mind was deafening. Despite Tista's presence, Lith felt alone and sad again.
"She is the baker's daughter and like me is part of the shut-in club." Tista was referring to a group of youths that for some reason had spent most of their life in isolation, just like her.
"I was wondering if you could do something for her." Brina became pale and tried to sneak away, but Tista was on guard stopping her in her tracks.
Chapter 251 Back Home 2
Lith looked at her, but he couldn't see anything wrong. She was 1.54 meters (5'1") high with long gold hair tied back in a braid. She was quite cute, especially since her diminutive stature emphasized her bosom.
Lith was wondering why he had no recollection of her, when Brina took off the long glove covering her right hand. Her arm had a long burn scar up to the elbow, while the hand was unnaturally thin. It had only the thumb and the index finger.
The scar tissue was bright red and swollen. Its jagged surface made it look like a sponge had grown under her skin.
"She had an accident with the oven when she was little. They had to amputate most of her fingers and even if Nana managed to save the hand, the scar causes her a lot of pain whenever it gets cold. We prepare an ointment for her, but it's not enough.
This year she will take part in the Spring festival…"
"I won't!" Brina angrily whispered cutting her short. "I'm damaged goods. I'm tired of people staring at me with pity just like…" The "your brother" part died in her mouth.
Lith was merely looking at the arm like it was a broken chair, assessing the damages with Invigoration.
Brina hadn't noticed his touch because the arm lacked any sensitivity.
"I can fix it. For a price, of course."
"The cold issue?" Tista asked full of hope.
"No, I mean the scar, the fingers. Everything." Seeing their disbelief, Lith placed his index finger on Brina's elbow, casting a short spell that restored an inch of skin.
"Nana can't perform tier four light spells, but I can." His voice was cold and professional.
"The procedure is expensive. If you are interested, talk to whoever manages the finances in your family and then let me know. I'll be available until spring."
Tista opened her mouth to say something, but remained silent. Everything had happened so fast that Brina wasn't able to move or speak. She stared for a while at the pale new skin, before leaving in a hurry after noticing the kids staring at her, pointing their fingers at her still exposed arm.
An hour later Nana finally returned and the queue was reduced to four people.
"Excellent work, kids." Nana said after checking the income.
"I can handle the rest. You go home and have a nice meal."
Lith could have opened a Warp Steps, but judging by how Tista was looking at him, she clearly had something to say. So, he kept the surprise for another time and they walked home instead.
"How can you think about money when you can help someone in need?" She finally said once they got out of the village.
"Do you have any idea what she went through all her life? She gets out of the house only during fall and winter, she never had a boyfriend, she…"
"Had it much easier than you." Lith's voice was indifferent.
"She has been well fed and dressed all of her life. Her parents have a nice house and can afford the treatment. End of the story."
Tista was stunned.
"Yes, but I got cured and she didn't. A healer's job…" She replied after a few seconds, only to get cut short once again.
"It's a job like any other. Light magic it's not some kind of holy power, it's just a mean to an end. Does the baker give bread and pastries away for free to those in need? No. Did anyone ever help us when we were starving? No.
When you were ill, did her father care for your condition? No. Then give me one good reason why I should work for free."
Tista remained silent for a few minutes until they arrived halfway towards home.
"So, what are your limits now?" She asked.
"Brother sister confidentiality?"
Tista nodded.
"As long there is a breath of life, I can save anyone. I can now regrow organs, limbs, anything. My only limitation is that I can't repair something that was missing from the start. I can give back the sight to someone that has lost an eye, but not to someone born blind."
Tista seemed incredibly happy at his words, making Lith worried.
"Are you unwell or there is someone else you want me to heal?" He sighed.
"No, everything is fine." She giggled.
"It's just that Lutia is a small village in the middle of nowhere. After hearing your stories and seeing you at work today, I'm wondering if I should try to get into an academy too."
Lith shuddered at the thought.
'I have always avoided mentioning the nastiest details of the academy, I can't see Tista not getting scarred for life by all those jerks. Not to mention that if she manages to graduate too, our family would be recognized as a new magical bloodline.
'It would cause us a lot of troubles. If she really wants to step up her skills, then I can't shield her from the truth anymore. The princess has to become a warrior, or the world will eat her alive.'
Before going back home, Lith went to Selia's house. According to Solus, she was supposed to have left together with Ryman, but he wanted to make sure the huntress didn't need help.
The door and the windows were locked. Lith used Life Vision, discovering that there was no one inside.
'One less person to worry about.' He shrugged. Nana was at the end of her rope and the huntress was gone, probably for good. Lith felt a sting in his heart, but he preferred to focus on those he had left.
His parents were really happy to have him home earlier and during lunch, they wanted to know everything about his last days of the academy. Lith didn't tell them about the vision, but for Tista's sake, he shared with them all the aggressions and sabotage attempts he endured.
"So much violence just for a grade?" Raaz couldn't believe his ears.
Lith explained to them how fierce was the everyday life at the White Griffon.
"Nobles take success for granted and don't like being overshadowed by commoners. They consider it as a personal insult. Commoners mostly work their ass*s off, but since the academy it's the only way out of poverty, they are ruthless too. It's easier to meet a dragon than to find an honest friend."
After many questions about the academy and as many reproaches for the things he had omitted in the past, Lith finally could tell them about the rankings. Elina and Tista cried with joy at his achievements, while Raaz simply hugged him.
"I'm so proud of you, son. I don't know what I did to deserve such a good kid."
Lith was happy too. Their joy was the first piece of good news in months.
"We should share the good news with Rena!" Elina stood up, walking toward the door.
"You stay here. I'll go get her." Lith said while opening a Warp Steps.
Elina was about to argue when the dimensional rift opened in their dining room right outside of Rena's house in the village. The mouths of the members of Lith's family fell to the ground for the surprise.
When less than a minute later the Gate reopened, they were still awestruck and so was Rena. Lith had to princess carry her through the Warp Steps. They could hear many scared murmurs coming from the village.
"Ah! Suck it, you bastards!" The voice of Zekell, Rena's father-in-law roared.
"I'm the only one with a god in the family!"
"What a classy, humble man." Lith sneered as soon as the Gate closed behind him.
After much stuttering and many questions about Warp Steps, Lith finally brought Rena up to speed. She was overjoyed by so many good news and so was the rest of the family.
Again. Lith couldn't understand why they were so excited about something they already knew.
"It's incredible! Mom, this means you can visit me whenever you want, even during winter!" Rena's words left Lith speechless.
"Indeed. Now we can go to the village regardless of the weather. Oh, gods. Freshly baked bread during winter is a dream come true!"
Suddenly the conversation degenerated into how to better exploit Lith's new ability. More than once he wanted to point out that he wasn't a cab, but there was no such word on Mogar.
After everyone had decided what they wanted to use Lith's powers for during the winter, Tista pulled Elina aside. They whispered among them for a while and even with his enhanced hearing, Lith was unable to understand what they were saying.
Rena was bombarding him with questions about the places he had access to, how many people he could move at once.
When they returned, she wasn't done yet.
"Big sis, come here please." Tista pulled Rena aside, pushing the index finger against her own lips.
"Lith, dear, please have a seat."
Elina had a serious expression, making him inwardly fear to be about to get scolded again.
'I told them so little and I am already getting my a*s kicked. I was right working on a "need to know" basis with them.' He thought.
"Would you like to have another sibling?"
Her words made Lith's brain freeze. His hands clenched the armrests so hard that only the fear to reveal his strength too made him snap out of it when the wood started cracking ominously.
'Is this a trick question?' He thought. 'After Orpal and Trion, I don't feel safe rolling the dice again. Sadly, it's not something up for me to decide. Damn if I hate rhetorical questions.'
"Sure, mom." He actually replied while hoping that his face matched his happy tone.
"Are you pregnant already or is it something you are planning ahead?"
His words made the mood in the room turn heavy. Everyone was looking at the floor with a sad expression. Elina was squeezing her own hands, taking deep breaths to calm down.
"Have you ever wondered why we didn't have any more children?" Raaz said while hugging his wife from behind to comfort her.
"Yes. I thought that since we had so many problems with food and money already, you used some spell to prevent further…" Lith was about to say "issues", but managed to stop in time.
They were speaking about having another baby, so they didn't share his lack of love for small, smelly, noisy humans.
"…another pregnancy."
"Well, yes and no." Elina explained.
"Sure, after you were born, we couldn't afford to have more children, even though we love each other so much." She caressed Raaz hands, kissing his forearm.
"That's why we were actually happy when the Great Mother took the choice out of our hands."
"The Great Mother? Aren't you using a darkness magic spell?" During all his life on Mogar, Lith had yet to find a single church or temple. Religions were almost non existent, gods were relegated in the roles of swear words or synonyms for destiny.
"We know the spell, but it requires a magico level of power to be viable. Otherwise repeated uses can cause permanent sterility."
Raaz's words were like a punch in Lith's stomach.
"Do you mean that…"
"Yes." Elina nodded. "The labor was long and complicated. I don't know exactly what happened. Nana tried to explain it to me, but I couldn't and didn't want to understand.
"The only thing that mattered to me was that something inside of my body broke that night, making me unable to bear children anymore."
Everything made sense. Lith had wondered from time to time why even after Orpal had been disowned, after Tista had been healed, and the financial situation of the household had improved so much thanks to his jobs, his parents had stopped having children.
His mother was still young, yet nothing had happened. He had always shrugged it off, thinking they wanted to sit back and enjoy their new wealth. Yet now he couldn't help but feel guilty.
Guilty for having always ignored their distress simply because it suited him, but mostly because he was the real root of that situation. They were his parents, but Lith wasn't really their son.
'Calm down, you idiot. No need for guilt trips. I didn't choose Elina, I didn't kill the real Lith. He was already dead, so nothing that happened that night was my fault.' Lith was aware of how his birth was considered a miracle by his family.
"I pray the Great Mother every day to thank her for her gift." Elina took the word out of his mind.
"When Nana told me about my condition, I felt desperate, but as soon as I held you in my arms, it didn't matter anymore. I was already too scared after almost losing you. At that moment, you gave me a reason to live." Elina looked at him with deep affection.
Those words soothed Lith's uneasiness, but his stomach was still tied in a knot.
"Tista says that you can cure everything. Is it true?" Her eyes were full of expectancy.
"Yes."
"Do you think you can help me?"
"Absolutely." Lith lied with confidence.
The reproductive apparatus was one of his weakest spots since he never experimented with pregnant women. There was nothing in the textbooks to help him understand the difference between a functioning yet defective organ and a mint one.
He remembered how during the treatments he had found lots of impurities in Elina's womb, but even removing them and bringing her to full health for years didn't seem to have worked out.
Chapter 252 Siblings Part 1
'I never noticed any anomaly, the damage must be something subtle. Probably it just makes the changes of pregnancy really low. I would have never missed something that affected her health.' He thought.
Lith stood up, placing his hand on Elina's belly before activating Invigoration. He scanned her ovaries and uterus for a long time, but came up with nothing.
"Odd. Everything seems fine." Noticing his mother's distressed expression, he tried to reassure her.
"Don't worry, maybe it's just because I don't know what to look for. I just need reference material." Lith touched Rena's womb, looking for clues.
"Good gods!" Lith snapped back with a shocked expression.
"Is there something wrong?" Rena was on the verge of panic. She had never seen her brother freaking out, not even after having an arm cut off.
"Yes, I mean no. I'm not ready to be an uncle, I'm too young." The room exploded with cheers, tears, and joy. Lith remained dumbstruck. He really was not ready.
'Guess they didn't know either. For a moment I thought that Rena's pregnancy was the reason behind mom's request. Like knowing she is about to become a grandma made her aware of the passing of time.' He thought.
"Thank the gods." Rena squeezed him between her arms, before putting his hand back on her belly.
"After being married for almost a year, I was starting to be afraid Senton or I was sterile. I was going to ask for your help right after mom. How is the baby?"
"This big." Lith's index finger formed a circle about as big as a pea.
"I want to know if it's healthy!" Rena slapped him on the nape.
"I guess." He shrugged. The fetus was too little, there wasn't much he could see. Lith had no experience in the matter and didn't want to give them false hope.
'Me and my big mouth. The chances of miscarriage during the first pregnancy are high, or at least, they are on Earth. I can only keep my finger crossed and keep an eye on her'
"Please, no more surprises." He said using Tista as a template this time. At those words, she became beet red but said nothing.
"I need a clean slate." He explained.
'I have no idea if Rena's body has changed to better host the baby. Using her as blueprint could cause a false pregnancy.'
A few minutes later, he believed to have found the root of the problem. The difficult labor had caused the formation of adhesions in the tubes. Lith had no idea what they were, though. He only recognized them as an anomaly.
"I got good news and I got bad news. Which do you want to hear first?" He asked.
"The bad news." Elina hugged Raaz, who tried to act strong.
"It's worse than I thought. Between the damage that you suffered and the passing of time, I can't promise a full recovery."
"What about the good news?" Raaz asked.
"I think I can do it, but I need some time to prepare and to ask for guidance."
Raaz tried to lift Lith out of joy, only to realize a second too late that his son was already taller than himself.
They spent the lunch merrily, talking about their plans for the winter. Rena couldn't wait to share the good news with her husband, but remained with them, asking Elina for advice.
Lith didn't want to ruin that moment for them, so he avoided talking about the impending danger nor the distress Death Vision caused him. Tista couldn't take her eyes off his White Griffon pin, asking a lot of questions about the academy.
Lith didn't lie to her, describing in detail the teaching methods, the harsh competitive environment, and the need for commoners to get a Guilty Ballot as soon as they got admitted.
The more Tista learned about it, the less attractive the perspective of attending the academy became. She knew nothing about combat. Tista used mostly light and darkness magic for her job, while she practiced the other elements only for doing the daily chores.
'My situation is pretty much the same as Quylla's, but I doubt I'll find someone like lil brother to watch my back. Even if I get admitted, I'd be quite old compared to my schoolmates.
'Dammit, I want to learn more about magic. I'm tired of the daily routine, Lutia is starting to feel a cage like home previously was. At the same time, it's a safe haven for me.
'The academy sounds like the forbidden love child of a viper's nest and a warrior's arena. I want to test my limits, but it's kind of extreme as first challenge. Ballot or not, I don't know if I can stand so much pressure.'
Tista needed time to think, so she went back into her room to study the offensive spells from her grimoire. She learned them years ago at Lith's and Nana's insistence, but after never using them, Tista remembered only the simplest ones.
After taking Rena home, Lith Warped to a random location in the Trawn woods. After checking not to be followed, he Warped to an irrelevant spot at Lutia's outskirts.
'Warp Steps should make following me impossible, even to the Queen's corps. Being careful never hurts, though.'
After coming through each Gate, he would walk for a few dozen meters in a random direction before opening another. Lith hoped that the multiple spatial jumps would allow him to lose his tail, even if an artifact capable of opening again or tracing Warp Steps did exist.
Only then he opened a Gate to the mana geyser in the Trawn woods. Without Solus, he wouldn't be able to recognize the place, if not for the fact that the mana geyser was the only spot were weeds, grass, and flowers had already started to grow again in the scarred ground.
The damage caused by the Abomination he had fought alongside the other three Kings of the woods wouldn't recover until spring, if not even later. Everything reminded him of Protector, making Lith's blood boil.
'F*ck Protector. I'm here for much more important stuff. Solus, do you mind turning into the tower?' This time he didn't say he needed her, nor he gave her an order. Lith was really asking her permission.
'Sure.' Solus had no idea of what was happening. To reduce the suffering from isolation as much as she could, she had found a way to fall into a kind of deep slumber. Solus had missed all the recent conversations and thought Lith just wanted to train or Forgemaster something.
'What do you need?' She asked.
Lith didn't reply until the tower was completely formed before answering. There were no changes from the last time. The repairs on the first floor had progressed, but weren't finished yet. The tower was comprised only by the ground floor and the basement.
"Not what, but who. I think it's time for us to talk. I didn't want to have this conversation without giving you a physical presence and a voice too."
Solus consciousness took her wisp form. The sphere of light was bigger and brighter than the last time he saw it. When she was close enough, Lith noticed another change. There was something at its center, something that looked almost solid.
Chapter 253 Siblings Part 2
"Uhm, thanks." After all the time she spent alone, Solus was confused by his apparently kind behavior. Lith placed his right hand on the wisp, making her experience physical contact for the first time in months.
The wisp turned out to be solid enough to stop his hand. Solus could feel not only Lith's warmth, but also his touch. It was the closest thing to a caress she had ever experienced, so she couldn't help but quiver.
"Interesting. Now your wisp form is tangible and warm." Lith was amazed. He had expected his hand to go through it.
"Indeed. What were you saying?" Solus was happy with her development, but for some reason, she felt really embarrassed. Lith quickly recovered from the surprise, remembering why they were there.
"It's easier if I show you, rather than tell."
If he was talking with anyone else, Lith would have asked her if she really meant what she said the last time they talked. Yet with Solus there was no need to. Once their minds were fused, there was no way to lie or hide even the most embarrassing thought.
That was the reason why once they had started trusting each other they had stopped doing it. Lith because after considering Solus as a person, a girl at that, there were many parts of his past he wasn't willing to brag about.
Solus because the more her personality developed, the more she felt the need to have some personal space.
Lith clearly remembered how terrifying was his life from her point of view. Always scared of losing him in battle, to the point of sacrificing herself during the fight with the Talons, or almost degrading her own core to keep him alive when he failed to save Protector.
He remembered how much she had suffered hiding the truth from him, that she was aware of what coming clean could cause, yet when faced between her sake and Lith's, she had always put him first, no matter the consequences.
Lith shared with her all his memories about the last weeks. Every minute, every second was unveiled. He wasn't afraid to admit how much he cared for her, how being separated made him feel incomplete.
"Wait, this is…" Solus was shocked by the amount of information. It was the equivalent of a one sided mind fusion. Lith was showing her everything without receiving anything in return.
"Why didn't you fuse our minds again?" She asked.
"Because I don't want to force you again. Your lie hurt me deeply, but you are still my Solus. You are the only person I never had to lie to and I don't want for it to change. So, I'm doing something that I usually don't.
"I'm showing myself vulnerable.
"I understand how my behavior must be terrifying for someone forced to ride shotgun with me without never touching the wheel. I understand how Protector's words made you feel and why you lied to me.
"I'm willing to forgive you, but you have to promise me never to do it again. I'm not perfect, so if you disagree with me, nag at me until my ears bleed, kick my ass, whatever. Just don't act behind my back again."
Solus was so happy that the walls of the tower trembled a little. She wasn't used to expressing herself with words anymore, so she triggered a mind fusion, sharing as much as he did, no matter how embarrassing it was or how pathetic she looked in those memories.
Lith felt Solus's pain like she felt his own. Their lives were like two crooked towers, but as long they could lean onto each other, they would stand forever.
Lith held the wisp tight against his chest, shocked by the amount of suffering she had gone through in so little time. The raw strength of the emotions he was experiencing made Lith completely lower his guard.
It was only the second time that he had allowed it to happen, the first being when he was ready to die at the Scorpicore's hand as long he and Solus fought side by side. Neither of them noticed the wisp going through Lith's chest despite having achieved a physical form.
Once their minds and bodies were fused, the same happened to their mana cores. They pulsed in unison, beating at the same rhythm while tendrils of energy connected them. The two mana cores revolved around each other like twin stars.
The resonance between them made Lith's core turn bright cyan, on the verge of turning blue, while Solus's bright yellow core turned into a bright green one simply by absorbing the excess energy that Lith's body usually dispersed not being able to handle it.
The tower was shaken to its foundations, rumbling noises forced them to snap out of their trance. Lith noticed that everything was different, even though he had no idea why. The walls looked sturdier, the space around him larger.
Lith could perceive the mana flow passing through the magical artifact like he could hear his own heartbeat.
The debris leading to the first floor had disappeared, just like Solus.
"What the heck? Solus, where are you?"
"Right here." Lith heard Solus's voice coming out of his own mouth.
"I'm inside you!"
"That's a gross way to put it. Are you listening to yourself?" Lith made a retching sound.
"That came out wrong. Sorry." She giggled.
"Do you have any idea about what happened?"
"None." Lith replied noticing that his left hand was moving by itself, touching his own face.
"So, this is how having a body feels. It's amazing." Half of Lith's face was shocked, the other had a delighted and quite feminine expression.
"Wait, you can move my body at will?"
"It seems so." She shrugged. "Want to go check the first floor? I'm curious."
"Curious? Aren't you supposed to know what's what as soon as your body repairs?" The situation was becoming odder by the second.
"Normally yes, but nothing is normal now. I think that us merging is an anomaly of sorts, temporarily boosting my strength. I have no clue about what's upstairs like I don't know how we fused."
"I hope you are right about our condition being only momentary. It would be creepy in the long term." Lith shuddered.
"No need to be shy. I've seen you naked plenty of times." She mocked him.
"I know and I'm fine with it. Yet this gives a new whole meaning to the words 'touching oneself'."
Solus laughed heartily, before realizing the full meaning of his words and blush from the embarrassment.
"I would never do that!"
"I believe in your good will, but you don't remember how having a body feels."
To prove his point, Lith took out a cream puff out of the dimensional pocket. It was still fresh as when he took it from the academy's canteen.
"Stop after one bite."
Solus sniffed the pastry, its sweet smell was intoxicating.
She took a bite and then another, until there was nothing left.
"Sorry, but it was too good. We ate them in the past, but sharing your senses is like the trial version of the real deal." She said apologetically.
Lith sighed, climbing the stairs leading to the first floor.
Chapter 254 First Floor part 1
While climbing the stairs, Lith didn't know what to think of his current situation. Since he and Solus had fused, most of his usual rage and resentment seemed to have taken a rain check.
Solus could perceive his happiness for being reunited with her, which made her even happier. Because of the mind fusion, their feelings reinforced one another in a loop.
Not knowing when it would end, Lith fed Solus all of his favorite foods, letting her experience them first hand. The care and the attention she received plus all those new tastes sent her on cloud nine.
"By my maker! Everything is so good! Are you sure I can eat so much? You had lunch barely an hour ago." She said worried for Lith's stomach.
"Don't worry, it's nothing we can't cure. We should enjoy this 'pink colored glasses' moment until it lasts."
The first floor was quite peculiar. The furniture was comprised of a few empty bookshelves, lots of mirrors, each one of different shapes and sizes, and a globe. It was similar to the one he had back on Earth, but this one represented Mogar and it was huge, with a radius of over half a meter (2').
Unlike his childhood nightstand lamp, it didn't show the whole world. Only the areas where Lith had been and the places he had visited were depicted.
He focused on the map of the region that was stored inside Soluspedia, recalling the names of cities and rivers, but the globe remained blank.
"So it's not a matter of knowledge." His voice was muffled by all the food Solus was stuffing herself with.
"It only matters where we have been. I wonder why. Any idea, Solus?"
"None. Hey, there's even the academy. Both of them actually. Even the Lightning Griffon academy is marked." The moment she made Lith's finger touch the academy, the globe's surface zoomed in, projecting a 3D hologram, precise down to the last detail.
The hologram was colored in shades of red, giving them a mild headache whenever they focused on a specific room they had visited during their short trip before Headmistress Linnea rejected Lith's application.
Lith then touched the White Griffon, getting the same result.
"I'm feeling a pattern here." Lith pondered. "Let's try the mining town."
The headache persisted. The holograms representing the known areas nearby the academy were all as red as detailed.
"Okay, now let's give the Trawn woods a shot." Lith had never been outside the White Griffon's forest, since thanks to the Marchioness he had access to the Mage Association's Warp Steps that brought him directly inside the academy.
He could have chosen the Lightning Griffon's outskirts, from where he departed along Count Lark, but he clearly remembered how tightly patrolled was the area. So, he picked a closer and much more harmless location.
This time the hologram was blue and the headache was gone. Lith focused on the clearing in the woods where he used to train in the past. When he zoomed to a specific location, the hologram disappeared and Lith felt his attention drawn to the biggest mirror in the room.
It had a silver circular frame and it was so big to occupy most of the west wall. The surface of the mirror rippled and the image of the room it had reflected until a moment ago was replaced by the clearing's spot Lith had been looking for.
"Could this be…?" Lith pressed his hand against the image, but nothing happened. He could feel the cold glass surface under his fingers.
"Maybe we should send mana into it." Solus snapped Lith's fingers, channeling the energy from the mana geyser through the tower and into the mirror. The mana quickly rotated along the frame's edges, making it emits an orange glow.
The glass then turned into a silvery liquid that was drained by the frame, yet the image in front of Lith's eyes didn't change. He was now able to hear the familiar noises of the woods' wildlife, to feel the chilly breeze blow on his face.
"A personal long distance Warp Steps!" Lith was amazed as much as confused.
He tried several locations he knew, even some very close to Derios, the capital of the Marquisate. They were hundreds of kilometers afar, yet they managed to open them effortlessly, without using a drop of their own mana.
"There are only two problems." Solus pointed out.
"One, we can only pick deserted places. If someone looks through the Warp Steps, they could see inside the tower and that would get us into trouble. Two, how the heck do we come back? If the tower stays here, either we split or this thing is useless."
Lith nodded, letting his arm across the dimensional Gate. An unpleasant sensation spread through his body. Both Lith and Solus felt their minds drifting apart, their connection became weaker and weaker, until he pulled his arm back into the tower.
"Guess our condition really is temporary. Probably we'll revert back to normal as soon as we get outside the tower."
They were still recovering from the surprise when the walls shook violently, cracking in multiple spots. The tremors were strong enough to make Lith almost lose his balance.
"What the heck was that?"
"Well, this room shouldn't exist in the first place." Solus ate a chocolate sprinkled biscuit.
"If for any reason our fusion gets broken, it's likely everything will collapse on our heads. See?" She pointed at the cracks that were disappearing as quickly as they had formed.
"Okay, so the globe represents all the places we can Warp to. The headache probably means that a place is unavailable, at least at our current level. I prefer not to try forcing our way through the academies' arrays.
"Not only do we risk getting detected, but we could also spend so much mana to get split. Let's check the rest of the stuff first."
"Yeah, too bad we don't get to understand how we are supposed to return here."
The second biggest mirror in the room had a gold rectangular frame. It reflected an image that left them both flabbergasted.
Lith had now a second pair of eyes, right above his eyebrows, and was shrouded in a golden aura.
"My aura has always been black and red. I suppose it's yours, then." Lith shrugged.
Solus winked at their reflection, making both left eyes close.
"Definitely mine. The question is: what the heck is this for." Lith injected the mirror with mana, the edges of which started to emit a blue glow. Instead of spinning, this time the mana seeped into the mirror until it emitted a humming sound.
"Okay, let's try visualizing stuff again." Lith thought about the White Griffon academy, getting a splitting headache in return. Then it was Derios' turn, but the result was the same.
"Lutia, then?" The mirror turned black for a second before showing him the village's square. Lith discovered that he could move his perspective at will, watching and listening like he was actually there in person.
He could move to any place he had been at least once in the past. By looking through a window, he could also enter inside the houses of the villagers. Their talks had no significance to him, so he kept experimenting with the limits of his scrying device.
"This thing sucks!" Lith stamped his foot on the ground.
"I can't even see the whole village. The range's too short."
"For now, at least." Solus tried to console him, but she didn't believe her own words either.
Chapter 255 First Floor Part 2
'Visiting this room is already a sneak peek. Who knows when we'll actually get it? If this is all it can do, then it's pretty terrible.' She thought.
"Agreed." Lith replied.
"Mind fusion, remember?" He added in response to her surprise.
Solus felt stupid for a second, then she had a crazy idea that made Lith's skin crawl. He focused on a small pebble in the middle of the street, using spirit magic to move it. Lith could perceive the tendrils of his mana moving through the air, wrapping around the stone.
Moving it was as hard as it was an elephant. Lith tried a series of chore magic spells too before giving up. Fire blackened only a spot the size of a pinhead, water couldn't freeze it even with the weather being already cold and earth magic didn't manage to crack it.
"It's useless. Yes, we can use magic even from this distance, but the effects are negligible. Unless…"
Lith focused on the area surrounding the tower and the image in the mirror changed accordingly. He could see and hear everything in 25 meters (82 feet) radius, like every single stone that composed Solus's body was his eyes and ears.
He could even use Life Vision and Solus's mana sense at will, allowing him to spot all the animals and magical beasts in the vicinity. When he used chore water magic on a dried up tree, it had the same effect of a tier one spell.
"I stand corrected. It doesn't suck at all. I can use it not only to scout everything within its area of effect, but I can also cast spells while being empowered by the tower and the mana geyser. This is a tremendous improvement to our defensive capabilities." Lith was overjoyed by the discovery.
"I wonder which one of these mirrors controls the arrays." Solus pondered.
"What arrays?"
"I am bound to have several arrays at my disposal, both for protection and attack. Remember what Jirni said? If every noble household has wards to protect against Warp Steps, I don't think my maker was so dumb to overlook the dangers of dimensional magic."
Lith was about to move towards a mirror with a square frame, when his vision cracked, as if he was watching through a kaleidoscope. The room seemed to be spinning around, disorienting him and making Lith lose his balance.
"What the heck is happening?" Suddenly the world wasn't so pink anymore. He didn't feel happy or relaxed, just angry.
"I guess our time has ran out." Solus calmly bit one last pastry while the tower rumbled ominously. The tremors increased while the room was shrinking in size. Countless cracks appeared on the walls.
Like living snakes they spread up to the ceiling, making dust and debris fall on their head.
Lith's mind was too messed up to use dimensional magic for escaping. He couldn't see or focus properly with Solus's mind getting in and out of his own like it was a revolving door.
He could only stumble towards the stairs, but everything happened too fast even for his enhanced body. Huge sections of the ceiling came crashing down, forcing Lith to roll forward to avoid being squashed to death.
A giant piece of stone fell on the stairs, blocking his way.
"F*ck me sideways!" He yelled while the whole room came down.
The rubble weighted more than a ton, but instead of turning him into toothpaste, it simply pushed him down through the floor. The rock beneath his feet became immaterial for a second, letting him fall down to the ground level unharmed.
He hadn't the time to use any spell, yet he was slowly descending through the air as he weighed nothing more than a leaf.
"Why so scared, dummy?" Solus chuckled.
"The tower is my body and so is every single piece of stone and furniture. I would never allow any harm to befall my beloved host." She smiled.
"Holy sh*t! You are smiling!" Lith pointed his finger to the figure that was floating in mid air a few centimetres from him.
It was a humanoid female, entirely made of golden light. It had no facial features, aside from her shining eyes, a smiling mouth and a cascade of golden hair enveloping her whole body that floated in the air like she was moving underwater.
"What do you mean?" Her mouth disappeared. Solus had barely the time to look down on her own hands when her body imploded on itself returning to be a wisp made of light.
"F*ck!" Solus angrily swore.
"Can I see how did I look like through your memories?"
"I don't think it's a good idea." Lith shook his head.
"Pretty please with a cherry on top?" She begged while circling around him.
"Solus, it's for your own good. You wouldn't like what you see."
"Please, I need to know!" She rammed into Lith's head to emphasize her point.
"We just reconciled, I don't want you to get angry or sad."
"I won't, I promise."
"Remember your words, because I will." Lith let his memories flow into their mind link.
He had been true to his word, Solus didn't like it.
"What's this? C cup, maybe more. F*ck the light? Solus is a shorty, barely 1.54 (5'1") high? Nice legs, sadly ass N/A? Her belly looks kind of flabby?" The images had more footnotes than a director's cut.
"Did you check me out in less than five seconds?" Lith couldn't share a memory without everything that came attached to it.
"Yes. I told you it would make you angry. Or sad. Or both."
"That's why you made me promise!"
"Guilty as charged." Lith nodded with a smirk.
"I'm the one stuck in a pubescent body for at least another few years and as I told you before, you have no idea how it feels. I already have to keep everything I do and say in check. I have no control over my thoughts."
Solus accepted his explanation, but was quite pissed off anyway.
'All this time wondering how I'd look like in a human body and when I finally get to see it, my precious memory is ruined by those sh*tty remarks. Couldn't he just be stunned by my beauty?'
"So, how do you plan on curing Elina?"
"It's going to be tricky." Lith sighed, remembering the second reason he had decided to solve his conflict with Solus. He needed her help.
"This isn't just anybody, it's my mother we are talking about. I'm not going to take any risks, I can't afford using Invigoration during the procedure. I need my full focus and for you to constantly monitor her vitals. Just like we did to remove the undead's poisoning, if I slip up, you must prevent things from escalating."
"Don't worry, we can do it. We'll get Elina pregnant in a jiffy!" She declared proudly, making Lith emit a retching sound.
"Gross!"
"Oh, come on! You know what I mean. We just need to get inside her and do our job."
"Please, stop!" Lith begged her. "This is even worse."
"Fine, I'll shut up." She mind pouted.
'I don't know if the prolonged isolation made me socially awkward or it's just that fusing myself with Lith infected me with his dirty mind.'
While pondering about her poor choice of words, Solus found herself resting on his lap. Lith was planning ahead the procedure while caressing the wisp as it was a puppy.
Before she could realize it, Solus fell asleep for the first time in over eight years.
Chapter 256 Preparations Part 1
Lith didn't have the heart to wake Solus. She had never slept before and he had no idea if it had been made possible by her improved wisp form or because of their temporary fusion. In the past, even when she accompanied him in his dreams, Solus was wide awake.
She was able to follow him only thanks to their mind link and would get no rest from the experience.
After an hour, Lith had finished planning the procedure to cure his mother and even devised contingency measures for everything that could go wrong he was capable of foreseeing, yet Solus was still sound asleep.
After shielding her with the Hush spell, silencing the area around the wisp, he called Professor Vastor. Over the last year, Lith had exchanged contact runes with all the Professors he had a good relationship with.
"Lith, my boy. Glad to finally hear from you." Vastor said with a jovial voice while twirling his mustaches.
"I was a little offended when you left without even saying goodbye, but now I understand why you did it."
"You do?" Lith had no idea what Vastor was talking about. He was inwardly cursing at himself for committing such blatant discourtesy. Between Solus and his foul mood, he had been too sick of the academy to stick around even a second longer.
"Yeah, thank the gods you left so quickly. When the rankings got out, everything went south. The whole top three in the Light department is something that hasn't happened in years.
"A commoner, a noble and an old noble at that. It sounds almost like the beginning of a joke. Too bad so many people can't see past the end of their noses. In less than an hour, we have been swamped in complaint calls and letters. Most of them are currently warming my old bones."
Vastor showed him a fireplace fueled by still closed envelopes.
"I expected to find you upset, maybe even outraged. I see you are pretty calm despite Linjos's trickery. He should have told us. It would have spared us a lot of troubles."
"What do you mean? What trickery?" Lith's surprise appeared genuine.
"Son, remind me never to play cards against you." Vastor laughed.
"You know, even if we aren't allowed to share the students' grades, we Professors do something called 'talk' about our most promising student. When I heard about you placing third, I asked Wanemyre why she gave you such a bad grade, right before she asked me the very same question.
"Bottom line, we know what happened and we understand why it was necessary. If a third place triggered such a mess, I can't think what would have happened if it was the second or the first." Vastor sighed.
"Wanemyre sure didn't take it well. When the Warden specialization Professor started boasting of their first place, she almost roasted him alive. That woman really has a soft spot for you. It makes one wonder if the rumors about you two are true."
Vastor said it as a joke, but Lith could sense it was actually a serious question.
"I wish." He replied honestly, it was the best way to avoid ruining both their reputations and tainting his achievements with false allegations.
"Don't be so impatient. I get older women are charming, but time only moves forward." For a moment Vastor seemed to be really tired.
"Soon you'll be old enough to court all the Wanemyre in the world. After that, you'll be so old they will pay you no attention unless marriage is at stake. If only there was a way to live forever young. Enough with my whining, to what do I owe the pleasure of this call?"
"I was thinking about healing cut tendons, regenerate missing fingers. Little things, just to make a quick buck." Lith explained.
"I have no idea how much I should ask for it." He wasn't worried about asking too much, but to be underselling his services. As an intern at the academy, he always did what he was asked to, without thinking about the fares.
Vastor pondered for a bit before answering.
"Skin, tendons and maybe a tooth or two are manageable for a single mage, but I wouldn't call even a finger a little thing. Without a mage providing the treatment and another the life force at the same time it's a risky procedure.
Anyway, there is no law against being young and reckless. If you were already graduated, I'd say ten silver coins to split between two mages is a fair price. Since you are still a student, one is more than enough.
"After you kill your first patient, feel free to call me or Marth at any time if you need to talk."
Since Solus kept sleeping, Lith used that time to call Wanemyre and Marth to make up for his blunder. They were happy to hear from him and wished him a good winter break.
When he could finally go back home, it was almost dinner time, but he was forced to skip it due to all the food Solus had shoved down his throat while they were fused.
The next morning, Lith woke up in his bedroom perfectly rested. No matter how effective Invigoration was, he wanted to be at his peak condition for the procedure. Solus could act as a life support system in case something went wrong, but everything else weighed on his shoulders.
'I really don't want another sibling, but I realize how lonely my parents must feel having gone from living with five kids to just one. Once Tista and I leave, maybe I should buy them a house somewhere so they do not feel so isolated from the rest of the world.'
Lith opened the window of his room, letting the chilly morning air in. The sun had still to rise and during the night had snowed a little. He warmed up the house and the floors with fire magic before leaving for the bakery.
Even after a good night's sleep, Lith was still full. The thought of going to the village's bakery was enough to make him sick.
Yet Elina had expressed so much joy at the idea of eating fresh white bread that he couldn't deny her that small luxury.
'No matter how much she trusts me, mom is bound to be scared. Even if I'm not going to cut her open as a surgeon would, she is aware of the risks any procedure, even the simplest one, implies.' Lith thought.
'A positive mindset can help me during the operation and make her recovery faster. Also, I'm curious to see how that b*stard will welcome me now that he needs me.'
Vexal Cornerstone, Brina's father was one of those that almost died at Lith's hand for not defending Tista from Garith's harassment. Ever since then, he lived in fear of Lith coming to finish what he had started, to the point of closing the shop whenever Vexal saw him.
Lith grinned while opening a Warp Steps from his front door to outside the bakery. He could have gone right inside, but he preferred giving the people of Lutia the illusion Warp Steps had limits.
Otherwise as soon as they lost something, they would blame him.
Chapter 257 Preparations Part 2
Sure, there was nothing they could do to him or his family but it would still hurt his reputation. Based on what Professor Vastor told him, many nobles were probably out for his blood.
He couldn't afford to risk for the rumors to turn into mass hysteria, giving those old farts a pretext to doubt his integrity, or even worse get him expelled. The fifth year was the last one he had to pretend to be a normal mage. After that, he could just reveal to be a "genius" magician, just like the Magi of the past.
'I'm really sorry about yesterday. I knew I shouldn't have eaten so much.' Solus said.
'Don't worry about it. A little fasting has never killed anyone. How was sleeping?'
'Incredible.' She replied. 'All of my stress and worries feel so distant now. It's like being born anew. I even dreamed a little, I think. Too bad I can't remember anything.'
Lith nodded while crossing the dimensional corridor to his destination, a few kilometers away. When the shop's door opened, the little bell above it chimed, alerting Vexal of a potential customer.
"Welcom…" The baker almost choked on his words when he recognized Lith. He was dressed like a farmer, with a simple brown shirt and pants, but looked nothing like one. His clothes were pristine, without one spot on mud and so were his shoes.
Vexal looked through the window, noticing that the snow outside was still immaculate.
"I'd like five loaves of bread and twenty pastries, thanks."
Vexal had prepared a speech, hoping to make him feel guilty for his lack of sympathy towards someone less fortunate than him. Brina was the same age as Tista after all, and they both suffered from their condition.
How could he be so insensitive despite knowing the pain she was going through?
Yet he was unable to speak. Lith exuded a cold aura that sent a shiver down Vexal's spine despite the heat coming from the oven in the backroom. There was something wrong with him. He managed to move over the squeaky old floor without making a noise.
'Why the heck does he say nothing?' Lith was surprised by Vexal's meek attitude. Usually he doesn't hide his hostility.
'Opps! Sorry, I'm out of practice.' Solus explained.
'I forgot about having to cut down the killing intent you emit naturally. Since your last two breakthroughs, you always mix a bit of darkness magic with your usual glare whenever you are angry.
Mages don't notice it because their mana flow protects them from it, but normal humans are weaker.'
Once Solus took action, Vexal discovered to have held his breath until that moment. Lith didn't look like a ferocious beast anymore, he was back being an annoying prick.
"Can I get my food? I don't have all day." Lith snorted.
Vexal inwardly cursed at himself, handing over the bread and the pastries as efficiently as he could.
"It's on the house."
With a single wave of the hand, Lith made the goods on the counter disappear in the pocket dimension, replacing them with the money at the same time.
"I owe you nothing and I like things as they are." Lith sneered at him.
"You should have thought about it when I was starving, not now that I have enough money to have a bakery of my own. Keep your fake kindness for yourself, or I'll shove your bulls*it right where it came from. Who knows, you may even like it."
"Lith? Is that you?" Brina's voice came out of the backroom, soon followed by the sound of quick steps that announced her arrival.
"Hi, Brina. Have you considered my offer?" Lith's voice was calm, but lacked any warmth. He was neither hostile nor friendly towards her.
Brina was carrying a basket of bread with her right arm, always covered by a long glove, while her face and left arm were dusted with flour. She wore a net over her air and was smiling a lot.
"Yes, of course. How much is it?"
"One silver coin for the whole skin. Five silver coins for each finger."
The idea of losing sixteen silver coins at once made Vexal's heart skip a beat.
"That's it?" Brina sighed in relief, making her father inwardly curse at her.
'Ask for a discount, you damn woman! If you flaunt our money, he will find an excuse to raise the price even more!'
"When you can start?"
Lith had actually asked much more than Professor Vastor suggested, to leave some space for negotiations. The outcome was a pleasant surprise.
'I could ask for more, but it's better to shear a sheep rather than butchering it.' Lith thought.
"Not today, I already have another client scheduled. Is tomorrow fine with you?"
"Yes." She nodded, incapable of hiding her surprise. "How did they find you so fast?"
"Word travels fast. Plus I'm that good." Lith gave her a thumbs up.
"I need you to be perfectly rested, so take it easy today. Also, the procedure will take a toll on you. Before we start, eat as much as you can. You'll need energy. Remember I'm a healer, not a miracle worker."
Lith walked out the door, disappearing from sight before it closed behind him. Vexal and Brina looked out of the window almost at the same time. The snow on the porch was still immaculate.
"Dad, do you think the blacksmith is right? Is he really a god?"
"Zekell Proudhammer is just like my chamber pot, full of sh*t." Vexal wanted to spit out of disgust just by hearing that name, but managed to stop in time.
He hated the blacksmith's guts. Ever since Rena had become part of his household, Tista would always treat them first and for free while Vexal had to stand in line like an idiot.
During the city assemblies, Zekell would always have his way, getting to pay fewer taxes compared to others simply by casually mention Lith or his daughter in law. To make things worse, the blacksmith always flaunted the enchanted tools he bought from Lith, saying they were all presents.
Unbeknownst to Vexal, it was a lie. Lith only gave presents to Rena while Zekell exchanged with him precious metals to get what he wanted.
Before going back home, Lith went to Rena's house. Giving her some sweets, a few potions and checking on her and the baby, just to be safe.
Chapter 258 Learning Part 1
After going back home, Lith finished preparing breakfast for everyone and used Invigoration to recover the energy spent by using the Warp Steps.
The procedure took place in his parents' bedroom as soon as they finished eating. Lith had Solus take the form of a small disc that he placed over his mother's belly.
"What is that thing?" Elina asked.
"It's a focus. It will help me direct and control the magical energies." He lied in response. Solus's core was weak and her mana capacity small, but she was able to use Invigoration as well.
Her role was to check Elina's condition, using her own mana to fix any mistake Lith could make or at least buy enough time for him to stabilize his mother.
He also needed Tista's presence, to use her as a blueprint. First, he blocked Elina's abdomen pain receptors, then he destroyed the scar tissue causing infertility while reshaping the organ to make it resemble Tista's healthy one.
It was the first time he attempted something like that, so it took Lith several hours to complete the procedure. When he finished, he was exhausted.
'Damn, ever since I burned part of my life force, I get tired faster than usual and my stamina has yet to completely recover.
'Using Invigoration on two people at once for imaging was more difficult than I thought, then I had to cut away the scar tissue one layer at the time to not cause too much damage.
'I also had to prevent her from losing too much blood or going into shock. Unlike when I cured Tista, I couldn't immediately replace the destroyed tissue with a healthy one, since it was the excess tissue causing mom's infertility.
I can only hope that everything is fine now.'
"Is it over?" Elina asked with watery eyes. Despite Lith's precautions, she had experienced a burning sensation in her abdomen the whole time. The blood loss had made her dizzy from time to time, stopping only when Lith infused her with part of his life force.
"Yes." he used a clean towel to wipe the sweat from his face.
"Can I get up now? I really need to stretch my legs a bit."
"Not a chance."
Lith forced Elina to rest while he sat near her, checking her condition from time to time. Regrowing organs inside the human body was something he had practiced at the academy, but altering their shape by switching between darkness and light magic was another thing entirely.
He realized how big was the edge true magic gave him compared to normal healers. Unlike them, Lith was able to split a procedure into different steps instead of being forced to complete it in one go.
It had given him the time to share part of his life force with his mother when necessary and to lessen the strain on her body by taking a break from time to time. He also used those pauses to recover his strength with Invigoration.
The procedure had turned out to be much harder than predicted.
Using Invigoration on two people at the same time while exerting surgical precision magic was taxing for both the mind and the body. There were so many things to check at all times that he was sure he would have failed if not for true magic coupled with Solus's help.
She had checked Elina's physical condition at all times, allowing Lith to focus only on the procedure, and as a life force IV replacing most of the blood lost by herself. Only when she couldn't keep up due to her low mana capacity, Solus had asked for Lith's help.
Solus remained with Elina all night long, making sure that everything was all right. Only after twenty-four hours had passed without complications Lith could finally breathe a sigh of relief.
Only then Lith went to Brina's house, removing the scar from the whole arm and making the two fingers she had left perfectly functional. The only downside of the treatment was that the new skin was pale as milk, but Brina didn't care one bit.
"How do you feel?" Lith checked her with Invigoration. Since the procedure was only on the external skin, he had not shared with her any life force, hoping it wouldn't be necessary.
"I feel good. Can I show it to my mother now?"
"Feeling okay doesn't mean being okay. Stand up slowly."
Brina did as asked, but she felt so dizzy she needed to sit again.
"I guess you were right. Gods, suddenly I feel so weak and hungry."
'It seems I almost pushed her physique too far. Vastor is right, a single healer can't restore fingers without endangering the life of the patient.'
He decided to split the treatment in three different days, one for each finger. It made everything easier for both of them and allowed him to better study the regeneration process without witnesses that could notice the anomaly his magic was.
While at the academy he had to use true magic like it was fake, now he could finally use it as he saw fit. After Brina, several other villagers came to him for help and every single patient provided Lith with invaluable knowledge.
After a few days, Tista entered Lith's room while he was using Accumulation to further refine his mana core.
"Say what you want, lil brother, but after seeing what you did for mom and Brina, I don't think that being a healer is just a job. It's something that brings hope and joy to other people. That's why I want your help. I'd really like enrolling in the academy."
Lith was sitting on the floor cross legged, her words merely caused him to raise an eyebrow.
"Once again, that's incredibly naïve of you. I can't wait for you to meet Professor Manohar. If he can't change your mind, then no one can." He sighed.
"Let me be honest, right now you have no chance of getting admitted. You are old for the fourth year, your mastery of the elements is sloppy, and you have no sponsor." At those words, Tista's smile disappeared.
"Use next year to practice magic until it becomes second nature to you. Then, if I manage to graduate, I can pull some strings and make everything easier for you."
Tista rushed to hug him when Lith stopped her by raising his hand. She suddenly had no control over her body anymore. Tista was pinned against the wall with her feet dangling a few centimeters from the floor.
"Tista, you are a pretty girl and the world is a harsh place. This could happen every time you walk alone in a corridor. Show me that you can take care of yourself."
At first, she thought it was just a bad joke, but when Lith refused to let her go, she discovered she couldn't even call for help. Whenever she opened her mouth, no voice came out of it.
"It's just chore magic. You can do it." Lith's words helped her to regain her cool, yet it took her a while to break the spell.
"Why did you do that?"
Lith replied by telling her about all that had happened to him from his first day at the academy. About the hazing attempts, the mean words from the students and professors and even how Phloria had almost got r*ped.
Chapter 259 Learning Part 2
"Despite Linjos's best intentions, the academy is still a 'survival of the fittest' environment. If you go in there with a weak mentality, you will not last even a month. Chore magic is your sword and shield against humans, since it's quick and effective. Practice it until you get as good as I am."
Lith had expected for Tista to be shocked and to need some time before making her decision. He was only half right. She immediately asked Lith's guidance, to the point of requesting homework to improve her control over the elements.
After a month passed, her magic foundations had improved by leaps and bounds. Because of the harsh weather, she could spend most of time indoor practicing. Lith's training course focused more on finesse and surgical precision rather than use magic for bashing stuff.
It allowed them to safely perform sparring sessions inside the house by fighting for the control of the color of candles, changing the temperature of a glass of water, or use earth magic to juggle with an increasing number of pebbles.
When the weather was good, Lith's family would use Warp Steps to visit their neighbors or the village. Elina was the only one with a communicator amulet, so she could always call Lith to have them Warped back home anytime they wanted.
Lith used those days to go back in the forest and conduct experiments with Forgemastering. It had taken a while, but the package from Linjos had finally arrived. After learning of his ranking, Lith had spent almost all his points immediately.
He had purchased a Skinwalker armor and several magic crystals of different purity. The Skinwalker armor was similar to his uniform, but better in every way. The elemental and physical protections were stronger. Also, by injecting mana into it, Lith could boost its self-repair speed.
The armor's best trait was its adaptability. It could shapeshift into different forms, the only requirement was for Lith to provide the enchantment a sample of the clothing he wanted it to reproduce.
Thanks to the Skinwalker armor, Lith now had a whole wardrobe of enchanted clothes. They would all offer him a great degree of protection and he wouldn't remain naked for a second like it happened when he switched between clothes via the dimensional pocket.
Lith stored inside the gemstone his farmer clothes, the hunting suit, the academy's uniform and the expensive noble clothes that Lark had bought him.
"Now this is the only suit I'll ever need!"
Lith had chosen the Skinwalker armor not only because it greatly improved his defensive abilities, but also because it made possible to easily blend in with any crowd and provided him a sample of magic crystal imbued clothes.
He had now an enchanted item he could study with Invigoration, which properties he could attempt to replicate and improve by using true magic.
Lith had spent the rest of his points to buy mana crystals. There were too many unanswered questions about them. He was eager to perform experiments with the mana blade away from prying eyes.
Realizing a mana blade like the one he used during the Magic Crystal class had been an easy feat. It was just a handle made of solid silver enchanted to have mana pathways but no pseudo core.
The only issue was the price. Lith had to pay for both the material and the craftsmanship since he was no blacksmith. Lith managed to cut his losses by exchanging his forgemastering works with Zekell's.
The blacksmith was eager to acquire dimensional rings to safely store his possession and enchanted tools to make his life easier, just like Lith was eager to get his hands on free materials.
Thanks to his experiments, Lith discovered that if instead of cutting along a magic crystal's lines he used the mana blade on the cracks that Invigoration revealed, he could recharge the low quality ones or increase their purity by one tier by providing them enough mana.
The crystals' cracks were capable of absorbing and store his mana, but only up to a degree. As soon as the crystal couldn't contain more energy, the cracks disappeared. All the attempts of further refining the gemstones ended up in failure.
'It seems that the cracks are the spots from which the crystal was still absorbing the surrounding world energy when it was mined. It means that it had yet room to develop further and that's exactly what happens when I inject mana into it.
'I wonder if the so called crystal scraps are actually what I need to refine better quality gemstones. If they work like my mana core, the mana crystals need to grow up to a certain size before shrinking to compress and boost their energy and then they need to grow again, repeating the process.
'If I'm right, it means that high quality crystals require not only an abundant mana source, but also a lot of time to properly develop. Since my core took years to turn from red to cyan and its max size is that of marble, I can't imagine how many decades it takes for a mana crystal as big as those I saw down in the mine to form.
'Unless I find a way to artificially grow them at a faster rate, buying and charging low quality crystals is the best I can do. Refining them would take too much time, my mana core takes precedence since I can't buy a better one with money.'
Soon only one month of winter was left and Lith's birthday was closing in. The prolonged rest made Lith recover most of his strength, while teaching Tista turned out to be a great way for him to further improve his foundations about magic.
Everything he taught her about chore magic also applied to true magic. Tista asked him a lot of questions about silent magic and multicasting, some so peculiar that he had never thought about such niche cases.
Unlike him that was used to think big since he was little, trying to improve the effects or the range of his spells, Tista thought small by following his teachings, focusing more on micromanaging the mana.
To answer her, Lith had to revise and deepen his understanding of the flow of mana. After many trials, experimenting together with her, Lith was able to improve the way he waved spells and to further simplify multicasting.
The only times Tista had the opportunity to put into practice her new skills was when Nana had to leave the village either for personal reasons or because of house calls. Lith would spend those days locked up in the tower, trying to incorporate magic crystals into his creations.
Lith's aim was to reproduce an Earth's house facilities, providing his family with running water, lighting, and most importantly, a real bathroom.
After getting used to the academy's lifestyle, not having a bathtub and being forced to use a chamber pot again was quite traumatic for him. His elemental stones could provide the first two, but to make them last until his return, he had to mass produce them.
Elemental stones were just a poor imitation of magic crystals that he had invented before even knowing the crystals existed. They could store a single spell, needing to be recharged after every use.
Even the weakest red magic crystal held much more mana than dozens of elemental stones. Also, it could be turned on and off like a switch, making it last much longer. For any other young mage, using red mana crystals would be too expensive.
Low quality crystals didn't recharge by themselves, and once they ran out of power they had to be changed. Lith could simply pretend to replace them with new ones, since he was able to power them up at will.
Even with the experience gained developing the elemental stones on his own and having studied the academy's tools for a whole year, the task turned out to be harder than he expected.
At first, he used only the lowest quality stones. Lith expected them to be lost or even worse, to explode. Lith had no idea how to link a pseudo core to a crystal since it was a subject of the fifth year, which he had yet to begin.
He used the Skinwalker armor as a template, searching for a way to reproduce its schematics using true magic only. After over two months Lith had yet to find a way to make the process safe.
There were only two weeks left before his birthday when he received a call from Marchioness Distar.
Chapter 260 Crossroads Part 1
"Your Ladyship, to what do I owe the pleasure of this call?" Lith gave her a bow. Not only Mirim Distar was his sponsor at the White Griffon academy, but she was also his most powerful backer.
"First of all, congratulations are in order. The ranking you achieved brings great prestige to both our households and puts a muzzle on all those who wanted to prosecute me for strong arming Linjos into accepting your application."
"I'm sorry to have caused you so many troubles." Lith bowed again, aware of the meaning of her words. The Marchioness was a busy woman, she would never call him to exchange niceties.
Hers was a business call and she was reminding Lith about how much he owed her before asking him for a favor.
"Don't be." She dismissed his apologies with a wave of her hand, surprising Lith quite a bit.
"Politics work like that. If you cannot attack someone's actions, then you attack their reputation. Remember this well, once you have made some powerful enemies, they will criticize you no matter what you do.
It's something you must get used to, if you ever decide to join the political arena."
"Thanks for your concern, but it's not my intention. I plan to devote my life to magic and magical research. Wealth and status are just a mean to an end to me. I think the Marquisate is in good, capable hands already."
Lith chose his words carefully. The Marchioness' game was still unclear to him, so he decided to make it clear that he had no desire to become one of her competitors. Once he became a mage, Lith would receive a last name and a noble title.
Yet unless he also accepted the role and responsibilities that ruling his lands implied, he wouldn't become a true noble. His title would simply be nominal, giving him status and authority over the lesser nobles, but no wealth or annuities.
Many Professors of the academy had chosen that kind of life, serving their country with their magic rather than as feudal lords.
"Thanks for your kind words." The Marchioness nodded her head in approval.
"Now let's get down to business. The reason I called you is to inform you about the progress we made with the sealed box and the coded message you delivered to me. Sadly, despite countless hours of studies, my Forgemasters were unable to open it. It detonated leaving behind little clues. If only we had more than one, things could have been different." She sighed.
"The contents we managed to salvage matched your hypothesis. It contained a lot of alchemical tools that could have been used to synthesize and transport the toxin. It also carried enchanted items, but the explosion destroyed them leaving nothing we could identify."
'Damn! I know that already.' Lith thought. 'If only I had a decent excuse to provide her some of those useless trinkets I found, I could understand the bigger picture. Too bad there was no way to explain my stockpile of boxes.'
"On the bright side, we have finally managed to decipher the message." The Marchioness continued.
"It contained a series of instructions and names. The instructions explain the timing and dosage of the toxin, so at this point is irrelevant information. The names are quite interesting, though. They belong both to members of the academy staff and the students.
"We know from the royal constables' investigation that only a part of the academy staff listed was involved in the poisoning scheme. The others were simply approached and found ill-suited for recruiting because of their loyalty to the Kingdom or simply due to their cowardly nature.
"The problem is that we cannot interrogate students as we did for the staff. Accusing young heirs of noble households of treason would mean to implicate the whole bloodline. Those are more intricated than a spiderweb.
"One wrong move without hard evidence could escalate things, especially if the kids are actually innocent. Just being publicly suspected of high treason would mean for the households to lose their reputation, upsetting the balance of power in the Court.
"As I told you earlier, in the political arena it's not enough to be guiltless, you must also appear guiltless. The slightest suspicion can make you persona non grata in the right circles, not to mention your business relationship with the other nobles or the Crown.
"It can turn a family on the rise into one in decline. The Crown can't allow itself to lose even a single ally, that's why I have thought of an unorthodox method to continue the investigation…"
***
Deirus Household. After the closing of the academy.
Yurial Deirus was having the hardest time of his life, to the point that he often remembered Balkor's attack with nostalgia. At least back then he had friends and enemies. A safe zone and a danger zone. Everything was perfectly black and white.
Now his whole world was in shades of grey so similar between them that the only way to distinguish sh*t from chocolate was by the smell. His parents and his future in-laws paraded him almost daily during social events and parties, forcing Yurial to always keep his uniform and the golden pin on.
The situation caused him a huge amount of stress, since he was forced to spend a lot of time with Libea, his future wife, while pretending he enjoyed her company. The more Yurial knew her, the more he found himself contemplating Lith's suggestion about how easy it would be to arrange for her to an 'accidental fall' from a window.
Also, every time someone complimented him for his achievement, Yurial prayed to the gods to make him disappear or put him out of his misery, whatever they found more convenient.
Linjos's trickery with the rankings was like a poisoned knife in his heart. With each present and congratulation he received for his undeserved position, his condition got worse.
In two months, he had barely the time to touch a single spellbook. Yurial felt like an exotic beast, no one was interested in what he thought or had to say, only in the griffon shaped golden pin.
To avoid another relapse in his addiction to tranquilizers, Archmage Deirus, his father, had assigned him a personal assistant whose only task was to make sure Yurial would remain clean.
Yurial's father had chosen for him a stunning young woman, so to not ever leave him alone, even at night. Yet her well paid care and attention only contributed to making Yurial feel like a puppet.
'Neither my father nor Libea's family trust me. If this is how I'm going to live my life after I graduate, then I'd rather fail. I have no say in what I do, where I go, not even about who I spend my nights with. What good is to be a powerful mage if I'm only a spectator in my own life?'
The only silver lining in his current predicament was that the Ernas family attended to most of the events he was forced to took part in, allowing him to spend some time with his friends.
He and Lith called each other from time to time with the communication amulet. Every time Lith told him about his slow life in the countryside, Yurial couldn't help but wish their roles were reversed.
In his eyes, Lith's life was perfect, with a loving family, no responsibilities and a bright future ahead, while his own resembled more an elaborate form of torture with each passing day.
Chapter 261 Crossroads Part 2
Ernas Household. After the closing of the academy.
Phloria Ernas was having the time of her life. Her ranking was high enough to earn her father's admiration and to prevent her mother from nagging at her. She could spend her days as she pleased, riding, hunting, practicing her sword or magic.
The only sour note was that she wasn't allowed to leave the estate. Winter was the time of the year when the Ernas, her father's household, and the Myrok, her mother's, would meet to spend some quality time and reinforce their bond.
Since she attended the academy, it was her only opportunity to see her cousins and grandparents. There was no bad blood between the families and although Phloria found her mother's bloodline to be quite creepy, she loved them nonetheless.
She was aware that while the Ernas embodied the shield protecting the royal family in broad daylight, the Myrok were the poisoned blade that was tasked of taking care of the enemies of the Kingdom from the shadows, under the façade of being harmless second rate nobles.
Jirni's side of the family was very interested in Friya and Quylla. Since the girls had no blood relationship with the Ernas, the Myrok hoped to have them marry into their household to add their magical talent to their assets and hopefully to their bloodline too.
Between her relatives and the parties she was forced to attend to, she never had the time to visit Lith, only hearing from him with the amulet.
"Whoever said 'away from the eyes, away from the heart' was a jacka*s, right Lucky?" Phloria said throwing a chicken leg to the big mastiff, that barked enthusiastically.
As long as she fed him roasted chicken, Lucky agreed with everything she said.
"I miss so much our walks, our talks, the cuddling and everything else. I can't invite him here, or my grandparents would eat him alive, nor can I go to Lutia.
They have no Warp Steps and I have never been there. Going back and forth would take too much time, dammit." A chicken wing earned her another woof of compassion.
Quylla and Friya were faring much worse than their adoptive sister. During the last two months, Quylla had been unable to practice magic even once. Jirni gave Quylla her undivided attention, trying to cram in a single winter the education the other girls had received since birth.
Quylla had to learn the proper etiquette during conversation and the meals. How to ride a horse, play at least one instrument, and learn everything about the Kingdom's history and current political affairs.
Her talent for magic couldn't help her in any of the above, while her shy character made everything more difficult. Day after day, Quylla was forced to talk with people she didn't know and do things she didn't care about.
Friya had a lot of free time, instead. She used it to learn about her new family, spending more time with Orion and Jirni. Compared to her biological mother, Jirni was a much better kind of monster, giving her ample freedom about how to manage her life.
Orion was the father she had always wished for, so she soon came to realize that being adopted by the Ernas couple was the best thing that had ever happened to her. Friya spent her days helping Quylla revise the various subjects daily assigned to her and training together with Phloria.
Outside the academy, the two had still a shallow relationship, but it was slowly improving. Friya had long feared for Phloria to push her around abusing her status of the true daughter, yet the only thing she ever did was nag her about how bossy Jirni was and how fat Lucky was getting.
There were only two downsides to her current situation. The first, just like for Yurial, was being paraded as the second best student of the White Griffon at every occasion. The second one was closely related to the first: the bad rumors that came with her achievement.
Being a former member of the Solivar family was a stigma she was unable to wash away. Both the old and new magical bloodlines resented Friya, spreading the vilest accusations about her.
During each party, as soon as Friya turned her back, she could hear whispers about her sleeping with the Professors, blackmailing them, or cheating her way to success. There was nothing she could do about those rumors.
The thought that despite her presence was hurting the Ernas' reputation, her new parents treated her as one of her own, only made her wish that she could cut away those filthy tongues and shove them up their as*es.
***
Distar Household. Two weeks after the call.
That evening, one of the most important events of the season was taking place in the Marchioness' house. Her Marquisate was flourishing quickly, since it now ruled over the region hosting two of the only four remaining great academies.
The Earth and Crystal Griffon academies were closed. No one knew when or if they would ever reopen. Archmage Deirus had been awarded for his services with the lands hosting the Black Griffon, giving him control over the remaining two.
They now shared an enormous power above all the other noble households. Some said too much power.
All the four remaining academies depended on the two households for funding and supplies, giving them a voice in the matter of who to admit or about the changes in the academies' system.
The Crown had received countless petitions about taking at least one academy away from each of them, yet none had received a response. Officially, the Crown was still considering both sides' claims. Off the record, they had already dismissed them all.
The Crown had no interest to strip two of its most loyal subjects of a prize they had worked hard to achieve just to indulge households with a shady past and an even more shady present. The names at the bottoms of most petitions were the same on the Marchioness' list.
It wasn't enough to accuse them of treason but more than enough to not listen to a word they said.
That night Marchioness Distar had gathered the most influential people of the region to celebrate the rankers in the top twenty of the White and Lightning Griffon academies, allowing to students and their parents to mingle together.
Yurial and his fiancée, Libea, were having another 'happy' evening together.
"You know, when our parents arranged our marriage, I couldn't help but see you Deirus like tricksters hungry for the Fintyr household wealth. I would have never expected for a commoner's bloodline to become so successful. I admit I was wrong about you."
Libea said as soon they got rid of Duke Cailon.
"I was wrong about you too." Yurial replied with the same plastered smile like hers.
"I always saw you Fintyr as thirsty beggars in desperate need to get a bit of magic in their bloodline. I knew all along that your family has given birth to more dragons than mages in the past." He added viciously.
"I hoped we could at least keep things civil between us, but as I said, I was wrong."
Chapter 262 Gala Part 1
"Quite an attitude for someone that almost got outshined by a filthy traitor and a dirty poor commoner." Libea clicked her tongue in disgust.
"The traitor and the commoner, as you call them, are a thousand times better than you. I wish my friend Lith was here. He is great at dealing with monsters, something I am still lacking at."
Libea was about to reply in kind when suddenly the whole room turned dark and empty. She turned around just in time to see a shadowy figure with eyes blazing with blue mana closing in to her.
"My dear Yurial, I always told you to go big whenever you make a wish. Otherwise if one of them comes true it's more a pity than a relieve."
"He's right behind you, of course." Yurial said with a smirk.
"You have quite an attitude for someone that ranked… My bad, I forgot you have no rank. It's just that my mind refuses the idea that someone without an iota of magical power could be so arrogant."
Normally, Lith would have ignored Libea's slander. Back at the academy, he heard much crueler words on a daily basis, yet he paid them no heed. Lith just had three months of peace and his renewed bond with Solus made him calmer than ever.
The reason behind his unnatural behavior was the precise instructions Marchioness Distar had given him.
'It's been a while since I taught a lesson to an arrogant prick. This is going to be fun!' He thought.
"It's better for you to watch your tongue, young miss. One day, even a dirty poor commoner could reach a status higher than yours. Without your noble title, you are nothing more than a spoiled parlor dog.
"You should be aware that dumb creatures that keep barking at the wrong tree are… accident prone."
Lith kept his distance, pointing his finger at her while he talked. It was an act incredibly rude towards someone of a higher social class. In any other circumstance, Libea would have lashed out at Lith for his unacceptable behavior.
She wanted to, but was unable to speak. Something prevented her from even moving her eyes away from Lith's index finger. To her it was like a sword pointed at her throat, exuding a chilling aura that was prickling at her skin like countless needles of ice.
With every step that Lith took forward, Libea's stomach twisted into one knot after the other. Suddenly she just wanted to hide behind Yurial, but he was nowhere to be seen. The whole world had disappeared, leaving her alone with a crazed beast.
Contrary to Libea's perception, Yurial was right beside her, the room was perfectly lighted, and Mogar kept spinning on its axis uncaring like always.
'I don't know why Lith is acting so touchy and honestly, I don't care.' Yurial thought. 'Her being forced to shut up for once it's liberating.'
Being used to Lith's aura and having an innate powerful mana flow, Yurial was unable to perceive the pressure Lith was exerting, so he was further surprised by Libea's meek attitude.
At least until he realized she wasn't meek at all. His fiancée was simply unable to breathe.
Yurial recognized the all too familiar symptoms of mind aggression from a magical aura. Libea's forehead was beady with sweat, her face was turning from pale white to cyanotic blue from the lack of oxygen.
"Okay, that's enough." Yurial grabbed Lith's hand, interposing himself between the two to break the eye contact. Libea was now able to breathe again. She found herself back in the Marchioness's dining hall, the people around them were watching at the scene with an amused expression.
Realizing what had happened, she felt humiliated like it had never happened her whole life. The Fintyr family had never given birth to a single mage, but they were one of the most ancient noble households of the Griffon Kingdom.
Even Archmages treated them with respect, as long as the Fintyr did the same, of course. Libea wanted to yell and call for her personal guards, to teach the country bumpkin a lesson.
What she did was going to the closest bathroom, moving forward with furious but short strides, instead. The sudden scare had almost made Libea lose control of her bowels, she had only so much time before shaming herself for life.
Also, making a scene in front of so many guests would only make her look like a fool. The only thing she could accuse Lith of was being rude. He had not cast a single spell nor left a single scratch on her.
As soon as she left, Lith returned Yurial's grab, making it a handshake.
"If that's the woman you are going to spend the life with, there's no amount of alcohol that will make her presence bearable. You need to set boundaries, or she'll drive you insane. That or you can kill her."
Lith's wolfish smile made Yurial understand he wasn't joking at all.
"I wish things were that simple." Yurial sighed.
"Killing Libea would only force me to marry one of her sisters and undergo a thorough investigation. Believe it or not, she's the less annoying of the bunch. Since you already know Lady Ernas, you can imagine what does it mean having a royal constable on your tail.
"No, I only have three roads ahead of me. Accepting my fate, emancipating myself from the Deirus household after the fifth year, or convince my father to cancel the wedding. Emancipation would mean squandering everything I have done so far and probably dooming the Deirus household.
"Without an heir, if something happens to my father, our bloodline is over. Yet, cancelling the wedding is even more unlikely. It would mean making us lose a lot of face, our prestige would be destroyed.
"Between that and antagonizing the Fintyr, it would put an end to all our plans for improvement for at least ten years. As you can see, I'm basically doomed."
A long, awkward moment of silence followed before Yurial decided to move on a less depressing subject.
"The dinner jacket looks good on you." Unlike Yurial, Lith wasn't wearing his uniform but the new world equivalent of a black tuxedo. The white shirt was apparently made of silk, while the pants and jacket were made of a wool similar to Earth's vicuna.
What Lith was actually wearing was his Skinwalker armor. He had stored the real suit in the blue gemstone embedded at the base of the neck, allowing the enchanted item to mimic it to perfection. The white griffon pin was shining on the pocket above his heart.
"Aren't you sick of that uniform at this point? Also, you seem to have lost weight since the last time we met."
"Yes to both. But what can I do about it?" Yurial shrugged.
"Since the rankings came out, my family was awarded with the lands that host the Black Griffon academy. It means a lot more authority and prestige, but also a lot more responsibilities.
"Because of that, my father is forced to spend most his days granting audiences to our new retainers, to sort out those to keep from those to replace. I'm helping him, of course. Being the heir, he is showing me the ropes while at the same time introducing me to my future subjects."
Chapter 263 Gala Part 2
"Why are you so stressed, then? Isn't this your life long dream? Libea excluded, obviously." Lith could understand her being a pain in the a*s but not like that. Yurial seemed to be well fed and rested, yet had lost at least five kilos.
"Because besides being paraded like an exotic animal 24/7 to affirm our new status in front of the Crown and our neighbors, which is already quite stressing, there have been five attempts on my life, already. Do you see that woman?"
Yurial tilted his head towards a gorgeous redhead. She was wearing an emerald dress that emphasized her fair white skin and green eyes. The red scarf on her neck matched her hair, partially covering her shoulders and arms that the dress left exposed.
"Do you mean that Battle Mage?" Lith replied while his eyes indulged on her neckline a second longer than it was polite.
"Yeah. She is my new personal assistant/mistress/bodyguard. I can't go anywhere without her following me around."
"Lucky bastard." Lith's voice had a tinge of envy.
"Wow, that's new from you." Yurial was surprised. He had always considered Lith made of stone, or at least the next best thing.
"By the way, how do you know she is a Battle Mage?"
"Ever since my earlier little stunt, she hasn't taken her eyes off me. Hence, she knows what happened, but it's not afraid of me, just wary. That makes her a mage. She bears no sword, has too many muscles to be a civilian but too little to be just a hired muscle. If she was a Mage Knight, she would stick closer to you.
The only explanation left is for her being a Battle Mage." Lith explained his Holmes-like reasoning with a smug expression.
'You really are shameless.' Solus made a mental retching sound.
'You didn't notice anything outside her three sizes, while I understood she is a mage from her bright blue mana core and her specialization from the enchanted items she wears. They come straight out of Wanemyre's catalogue. Yurial's dad spares no expenses.'
'Well, you know how they say. Hindsight is correct 100% of the times. Also, it's not like I can tell him about your existence. Since I need a cover story, I can as well use it to appear as a keen observer.'
"Brilliant deduction." Yurial nodded in approval.
"You are lucky none of the girls was here. Otherwise Phloria would never let you hear the end of it, if she learns about your previous remark."
"The Ernas are here too? I heard they didn't have the time to attend."
"They are fashionably late, as usual." Yurial shrugged.
"From what my father said to me, the Marchioness insisted for their presence. Just like she did for yours, I guess. I didn't expect to see you at all. You know, being the party full of stuck up nobles while your parents are…"
Yurial didn't complete the sentence, but there was no need to.
"Indeed she did. I came here with Count Lark as my chaperon." Lith pointed at the jovial noble talking with other mages, losing his monocle from time to time due to the excitement. Lark didn't care about hanging with influential nobles as much as sharing his passion about magic.
"Speak of the phoenix and there is the smoke. Friya, nice to see you." Friya gave them a small curtsy to which they replied with a bow. She was wearing a gold embroidered cream colored evening dress that covered her up to the shoulder.
Her hair was arranged into an elaborate updo, with several tresses knot together that left her neck exposed, emphasizing the leaves shaped parure composed of golden necklace and earrings with black diamonds that complimented her dark eyes and hair.
She also wore evening gloves, giving her outfit a maiden look, being the one that left the most to imagination compared to the other noble dames.
"Nice to see you guys too. Thank the gods you didn't get any taller." She said with a smug expression while looking Lith in the eyes thanks to the high heels.
"I am still taller than you and I've got plenty of time to grow." He shrugged. "Nice dress. It looks lovely on you."
"Thanks, but I actually don't like it." She snorted. "I was just tired of men complimenting at my breasts for their rank at the academy while other girls called me a sl*t behind my back. At first, I tried to ignore them, but after a while they really got under my skin."
"Seriously? Again with those rumors?" Lith raised an eyebrow in disbelief.
"Yeah. Beware that you got it even worse than me. Some say that you slept with both the male and female Professors, others that you are the Marchioness' boy toy. Some even that you are the forbidden love child between her and Linjos."
Lith laughed heartily at the thought.
"Let them talk, I don't care. Where are the others?"
"Do you mean Phloria?" She winked at him. "Don't worry, she is eager to see you too. We just split up to search for you guys more quickly."
Their chatter was interrupted when they saw Marchioness Distar coming towards them, followed by three youths. The four ladies all wore magnificent evening dresses, embroidered with small gemstones complimenting either their eyes, hair, or skin.
"Ladies, allow me to introduce to you our guests of honour from the White Griffon academy. They are Yurial Deirus, Friya Ernas, and Lith of Lutia." Each one of them politely greeted the newcomers as soon the Marchioness called their name.
"These three girls are the top rankers from the Lightning Griffon. Lusa Erjar, Kyla Dornar, and Vala Rothar." The girls gave them a small curtsy, having a hard time hiding their surprise.
Usually, the first ranker was also the one awarded with the academy's crown jewel, the colored griffon pin. Lusa Erjar wore them both side by side, the golden griffon and the topaz griffon pins.
That was also the reason why Yurial was the only one forced to wear his uniform, otherwise he would be forced to specify countless times which academy he was from.
The second anomaly was the trio composition. On Mogar women were naturally more talented for magic, to the point that even inside the academies the males/females ratio was four to six.
For both the pin awarded rankers to be men was something rarer than finding a unicorn on the doorstep. The three girls from the Lightning Griffon had prepared some nasty remarks for their opponents, but suddenly they were at a loss for words.
The Marchioness didn't seem intentioned to leave the six of them. To make things worse, Yurial was way more handsome than they had pictured him, making hard for them being mean to him. Lith was a good head taller than the Lightning Griffon's golden trio and was looking at them with the same cold gaze an undertaker would use while preparing the boxes for his latest clients.
Friya would have been the easiest mark, if not for the considerable amount of killing intent she was emitting. The muscles on her arms had been finely chiseled by daily training, while her soft smile was warning them that Friya had no problem breaking a jaw or two by "accident".
Chapter 264 Friendly Challenge Part 1
"You are the rising stars of your respective academies and the reason why I organized this gala. Your achievements bring great prestige to the Distar marquisate, so I'm going to personally introduce you to my guests. You should use this opportunity to distinguish yourself and show your value to the Kingdom."
The Marchioness took a few steps back, throwing a short but meaningful look at Lith. She turned around, rubbing her throat and activating a first magic air spell.
"May I have your attention, please?" Her magically enhanced voice resounded through the ball room, making all the heads turn and conversations stop.
"Tonight, we have assembled to celebrate the new year. To remember all the hardships we have endured. Two academies are temporarily lost. Balkor has once again put the Griffon Kingdom on its knees. Yet we survived. Our future may seem grim, but our present is worthy of celebration.
"I'll introduce to you, one by one, the brightest minds of this generation. I'd like to ask them to show us a little bit of their talent, so that they can demonstrate the progress they have made during the past year and make this evening more enjoyable.
"There are a lot of rumors about the rankings being unfair." Marchioness Distar looked at all the six youths, but indulged on Friya for a second longer than the others.
"Magic, however, doesn't allow one to bluff. Either you can do something, or you can't. There is no faking talent. What is required from you is to perform at your best by using only first magic.
For security reasons, tier one magic and above are sealed by the mansion's protective arrays and so are all the magical items that are not defensive in nature."
Lith was surprised by the announcement. He hadn't encountered such a powerful formation since during the plague, when he was under the effects of the Small World artifact.
Solus activated her mana sense, scouting their surroundings.
'There are a lot of arrays around us, but no Small World.' She thought.
'This is not something I would have expected from a medium importance noble like the Marchioness. I thought only the royals had access to magical formations this strong. Let's see how they fare against true magic.'
Lith silently waved a tier one spell in his mind, connecting his mana with the world energy surrounding him. The idea was to perform something simple and unnoticeable, raising the temperature of the room by a few degrees.
Everything went fine until he mixed the mana with the fire element. As soon as the energy started to build, the arrays around him activated. They weren't actually capable of preventing him from casting a spell, only to disrupt the execution by causing fluctuations in the mana in the room.
'That's why the security is so lax. Intruders and guests are both stripped of all their powers.
'The arrays can definitely stop a fake mage, but not a true one. I could continue if I wanted. I only need to adapt my flow according to the fluctuations, something that a fake mage's fixed pattern is incapable of doing. What about our dimensional pocket?'
Lith was reassured by his findings. He had walked into the arrays without even noticing them. He had gravely underestimated a noble household's resources.
'I think we can open it but it's going to take some time and effort. In our case, rather than block our magic, these arrays make casting any spell much harder and mana expensive.' Solus replied.
Lith mind nodded to her words, checking if both spirit magic and fusion magic still worked. Everything went without a hitch. No matter how much energy he conjured, the arrays remained inactive.
"Let's start from the first rankers." The Marchioness continued.
"Yurial Deirus, the white hand, from the White Griffon academy."
"Yurial the what now?" Lith whispered in Friya's ear.
"It's his custom title. High rankers often receive one or more nicknames from their Professors in the fields they are more talented in." She explained.
"I never heard anyone calling him like that, though."
"And probably you never will. He probably wouldn't have one if not for Linjos's you know what." Her voice was barely audible, even with his heightened senses.
Lith was able to notice Yurial being embarrassed by the pompous title and the deafening applause that followed.
'Poor Yurial.' Solus's voice was full of compassion. 'Not only he gets constantly reminded of his fake achievement, but he also got the short end of the stick by going first. Hope he doesn't get stage fright.'
'Right now he has only two choices. Either to keep drowning himself in self-pity or do his best to turn the lie into truth. I hope he'll choose the second one.' Lith replied.
Before their telepathic talk could finish, Yurial was already moving.
Stage fright was something he had overcome years ago. As the heir of the Deirus' household, Yurial had followed his father to all the most important social events ever since he was little, often opening his speeches in the role of valet.
After being paraded around the whole Kingdom for the last two months, bragging was second nature to him. Yurial slowly spun around, waving his hands in the air while collecting small wisps of fire from every candle that met his eyes.
The ballroom was mostly lighted with magical crystals, but there would always be other sources of light at a banquet, to give the room warmth. No matter how brilliant it was, magic generated light had something cold about it, especially to non mages.
The wisps danced around Yurial forming an ethereal river, until he widened his arms making them spread around. The wisps rose a few meters above the guests' heads, taking advantage of the high ceiling.
Then, each wisp grew to the size of a football, assuming the shape of a griffon that shrieked its challenge to its fiery companions. Each wisp-griffon was of a different color, ranging from red to green.
Handling so many griffons with only first magic put a cap on the temperatures the conjured flames could reach. The whole room gasped in amazement while the pseudo creatures charged at each other like they were fighting to the death.
Then, Yurial made them fly out from an open window, sending them as high as he could before he lost control. When it happened, they exploded forming multi-colored fireworks. His performance caused a spontaneous applause that continued until the Marchioness announced the next student.
"Lusa Erjar, the Mistress of the Storm." The Lightning Griffon first ranker was in quite a pinch. She had not prepared anything, the show wasn't planned. Lusa didn't want to be outshined, but fire was the flashiest element and it had already been used.
So, she resorted to water magic, collecting a few drops from the drinks of those presents to form a multi colored sphere of liquid that created multiple rainbows across the room before turning it into an ice dragon that flew out of the window before exploding into a huge rainbow.
The crowd applauded, but after Yurial's performance Lusa's was lackluster.
"Friya Ernas, the master of space."
When her name was called, Friya went to the center stage. She used light and darkness magic to recreate the celestial sphere, giving to those present the illusion the ceiling had disappeared.
Chapter 265 Friendly Challenge Part 2
Whole constellations moved at unison like each second was an hour, until a fake sun appeared on the horizon making the right return in the room.
The spectators congratulated her with a thunderous applause.
"Kyla Dornar, the battle goddess."
Lith was already bored when he felt someone tugging at his arm. He turned around to discover it was Phloria. He was about to whisper a greeting, but she was faster.
"Kiss me like you miss me." Aside from Friya that was standing right next to them, everyone was so caught in the performance that no one noticed the deep, passionate kiss she gave him.
Lith had the impression she had just sucked the air out of his lungs and maybe even tasted his tonsil.
Phloria only let him go when the applause marking the end of the performance resounded. Lith could finally take a proper look at her. She wore a silk-satin red evening dress and white evening gloves, emphasizing her olive colored skin due to the prolonged exposure to the sun.
It was skin tight, with a neckline that somehow exerted a push-up effect. Her hair had grown even longer, allowing Phloria to braid them into tresses that were knotted, twisted, and tied back in an intricate headpiece, complete with pearls and fabrics.
' Walking like a man, hitting like a hammer.' Lith couldn't avoid remembering an old Earth's song.
'Well, she definitely got the look.' Solus giggled.
Before they could exchange a single word, Lith got called to the center stage.
"Lith of Lutia, the eye of god and maker of wonders." The whole room gasped in surprise, Lith included. No one else had received two titles and him being the third ranker made it even more amazing.
Not even most second rankers would receive a title.
'It seems that Vastor wasn't kidding when he said that the light and forgemastering department were quite pissed off at Linjos for the rankings. Usually I wouldn't like so much attention, but tonight it's different.' He thought with a smirk.
"Thanks for your kind introduction, dear Marchioness. I hope you all realize that at this point, there isn't much I can do without boring you with a rerun of what my peers already did. So, to spice things up I'm going to try something different, but I need an assistant."
He turned around the room pretending to be searching for the right person.
"You." He pointed his finger at Phloria.
"Would you do me the honor of accompanying me in this feat?" Lith extended his hand to her. Phloria was dazed for a second, embarrassed by all the eyes on her, before stepping forward to take Lith's hand.
"Thanks. Now just follow my lead." Lith walked toward the nearest wall, leaving some of the guests confused and most of them disappointed.
Once they arrived in front of the wall, Lith didn't stop walking, stepping on it. Phloria didn't understand what was happening and neither did most of the guests. The others were either chocking on their drinks or inwardly cursing at him.
'Son of a…' The Marchioness was among the latter.
'I asked him for a distraction and some ruckus. This is going to turn into a riot if I don't handle it properly.'
"Do you trust me?" Lith said with a smile, seeing that Phloria was hesitant. In response to the question, she immediately stepped forward discovering that her foot was now effortlessly stuck to the wall.
Lith then resumed walking, accompanied by her until they were standing upside down on the ceiling.
As it was apparent ever since their first vertical step, it wasn't a flight or float spell. Otherwise the coats of Lith's suit and Phloria's gown would be falling toward the ground, making the situation quite embarrassing, especially for Phloria.
Her hair, dress, and jewels were perfectly normal, like she was just walking on the floor.
"May we have some music?" At Lith's request, the Marchioness signaled the orchestra that started playing a minuet.
The couple danced the whole song while avoiding the numerous crystal chandeliers, returning back in front of the Marchioness when the music ended. Phloria was red from the excitement, but the room gave them a cold reception.
No one applauded, they were just looking at them like they were monsters, even Jirni and Orion.
"I'm sorry you didn't like it, but I did." Lith shrugged. Their approval meant nothing to him.
"For your information, that's something I like to call…"
"Gravity magic." Archmage Deirus blurted out, cutting him short.
"Nailed in one." Lith was surprised by how fast Yurial's dad had understood what had happened. After all, Gravity magic was Lith's original creation.
Or so he thought.
"That's impossible!" One after the other, the mages present expressed their disbelief while the nobles would ask them for an explanation.
"What's Gravity magic, dad?" Yurial was among them.
"The seventh kind of magic. Something that's considered an exclusive of the ancient noble households."
"I never heard anything about it. Not from you nor while being at the academy. Is it some kind of secret art?" Yurial's curiosity was piqued, he never heard about a seventh natural element.
"It's not a secret, otherwise I wouldn't know about it." Velan Deirus shook his head.
"I never spoke about it because I don't practice it. You can find books about it in the academies' libraries, but no one will ever teach it to you. It's…complicated."
As soon as the details about Gravity magic were being disclosed, the murmurs rose in intensity and volume, turning into chatting first and yells later.
"Complicated how?" Yurial asked while Lith and Phloria joined him. They were as confused as he was.
"Gravity magic requires to be able to cast six spells at once and wave them together. It also requires a great mastery of the mana control and of the principles behind the natural phenomenons.
"What you saw your friend using is the equivalent of first magic, yet it's already beyond the reach of most. Gravity magic is considered to be a legacy of the most ancient noble households because they are the only ones that possess the knowledge and the magical legacy to teach it."
"Why did you never learn it? Aren't you an Archmage?" Lith nodded, agreeing with Yurial question. He was quite disappointed in learning he had just reinvented the wheel. Again.
Yet this time it seemed to be quite a fancy wheel.
"Because it's useless. Even tier one gravity spells are too complex. They require such fine control over the mana and the hand signs that their difficulty goes beyond that of tier five spells. The results do not justify the effort."
Lith understood Velan's point, but it wasn't an issue for him. Lith never had to struggle with magic words or signs, true magic was all a matter of manipulating the mana flow according to one's will.
Gravity magic was indeed difficult, he was just scratching the top of the barrel and it required Lith's full focus just to reverse the gravity on two people. Yet moving to higher levels of Gravity magic was far from impossible for him.
"It's not just a matter of effort, it's a matter of pride!" Archmage Ejar, Lusa's mother roared.
"Gravity magic it's the living proof of all true magical bloodlines!" She looked Velar in the eyes, clicking her tongue in disgust.
Chapter 266 Second Meeting Part 1
"That's why I practice it and I'm teaching it to my daughter." Archmage Ejar echoed through the ballroom.
"Because we, the Ejar are true mages, not two bit pretenders like you. Grassroots mages shouldn't even be in the same room as us!"
A lot of indignant voices cursed at her. Archmage Deirus's eyes shone with a menacing emerald light.
"I dare you to say that again!" Velan snarled, his face only a few centimeters away from his peer's.
'I did my part, that's for sure.' Lith thought with a grin on his face.
'The Marchioness asked me for some ruckus. I'd say dinner is served, even though only Isaac Newton knows why.'
"What in the gods' name are you grinning for, kid?" Archmage Ejar ignored Velan's threat, pointing her finger against the uncaring youth.
"How did you do it? Who taught you about Gravity magic? Pray that I like your answers, otherwise…"
"Otherwise what?" Lith slapped away the hand in front of his face, making the Archmage's eyes almost pop out of their sockets in anger.
"I'm a student at the White Griffon. First in the light department and an asset to the Kingdom. I'm Marchioness Distar's honored guest, attending this gala on request of the Crown. What authority do you represent, exactly? Outside your own foolishness, of course!"
"Indeed." Archmage Ejar's face was still in the process of losing its color, realizing the amazing number of blunders in a row she had just made when the Marchioness's voice resounded next to her ear.
"You are in my house, while I represent the Crown and you dare to offend your peers and threaten my guests?"
"No, I…" Ejar stuttered, but luckily for her, Marchioness Distar's question was merely rhetorical.
"Her rudeness is unforgivable, but she made a good point. Where did you learn such magic, Lith?" The Marchioness wanted answers too, but she asked them rather than making demands. Her tone gentle and polite.
"I learned it as a self-taught." He replied with a shrug, making new and ancient households gasp in surprise.
"It's not that hard." Lith couldn't understand the reason behind their disbelief.
"I learned how to create pocket dimensions at the Forgemastering lessons and how to bend space with dimensional magic. They are just two extreme applications of gravity. I only had to combine what I learned from both subjects and then use it to manipulate gravity around objects rather than on the space itself."
As the Marchioness had predicted earlier, Lith's actions triggered a hornet's nest. New households were using him together with Archmage Ejar lack of manners as proof that magic was fair, while the ancient households were not.
All mages deserved respect according to their talent and disposition, not based on the family they were born in.
The ancient households claimed it was a scam, blaming the Marchioness for having shared their secrets with a commoner mongrel. Lith decided it was time to get to safety. Nobles' quarrels didn't interest him, he only did what he had been paid for.
"Where do you think you are going?" Lith felt his center of gravity shift, suddenly he was on the verge of falling horizontally. Archmage Ejar was using gravity magic to pull him back in the middle of the conflict.
First, he had to crouch, gripping at the floor with one hand to prevent the fall. Then, Lith used his own gravity magic to cancel the pull. The opponent had a stronger core, but for her first magic was just a hobby, for Lith it was a life's work.
"Kneel!" He sent a powerful wave crashing on Ejar's body which tripled her weight in a split second. He even added a sprinkle of spirit magic, just to be safe.
Archmage Ejar fell on her knees. She was forced to use her hands to avoid her forehead crashing against the ground.
"I warned you! No one disrespects me or my guests in my house!" The Marchioness clapped her hands, unleashing the full power of the arrays against the unruly noble. Archmage Ejar's body writhed for a second before falling limp on the ground.
Once focused on a target, the arrays were capable of disrupting even first magic. They could also paralyze any threat, living or undead, by binding every fiber of their target.
The brief magical battle made the room turn silent, but only for a second.
One side of the room called Ejar a hero, the other one a traitor. The quarrel resumed without the use of magic, but louder than before.
Phloria and Yurial helped Lith to stand up, bringing him to safety.
"That went well." He said with a sarcastic expression.
"You sure know how to liven up a party." Phloria clicked her tongue at the raging crowd behind them. Dancing on the ceiling with Lith, surrounded by the lights like they were alone in the world had been truly romantic.
What followed, not so much.
"Raising your hand against an Archmage, are you insane?" Yurial was still as pale as a ghost.
"What was I supposed to do? Let her beat me up and beg for mercy? She was out of her mind. I prefer to apologize later rather than be so polite to let someone kill me for sport." Lith scoffed at his companion.
With a short sprint, they reached the safest spot in the room: the one where the Ernas and other nobles were spectating at the unfolding events from a safe distance. Despite being members of ancient noble households, those gathered there had no place in the conflict.
They supported the young magical bloodlines' claim for fairness. They chose to stand on the fence because in the heat of the moment their allies would lash at them mistaking them for the enemy, while their noble peers would brand them as traitors.
Their intervention would only end up making the two factions gang up on them, so they decided to wait for the lord of the house to put an end to that mess.
"Why is it taking her so long?" While her peers were still discussing Lith's performance or Ejar's unspeakable act of aggression towards an honored guest of the Crown, Jirni's mind was spinning at top gear.
"Now that you mention it, it's indeed odd." Orion whispered back.
"Between the arrays and her personal guards, this mess shouldn't have even started. Maybe she doesn't want to raise her hand against other nobles. Violence could escalate things politically."
"Maybe, but she doesn't strike me as a calm guiding hand. Distar had no qualms subduing Ejar. What's worse than attacking a noble that's also an Archmage?" Their private conversation was interrupted when they saw the youths approaching.
Mostly because a young woman stepped right in front of them, welcoming the White Griffon students with a flawless curtsy.
"Yours was a striking performance, Mage Lith." She didn't manage to say it with a straight face. She giggled cheerfully while hiding her mouth with a hand.
"You managed to turn a hundreds years old tradition into a tavern fight in less than ten minutes. That's completely unprecedented and truly worthy of my savior."
She was about seventeen years old, with silky blonde hair down looking like a golden waterfall that almost reached the floor.
Chapter 267 Second Meeting Part 2
The young woman wore a white evening dress that left her shoulders and arms exposed. It was embroidered with sapphires that emphasized her sky blue eyes.
She had a lively face and a bright smile. Her demeanor left Lith quite puzzled.
"I'm sorry, do I know you?" The young woman looked somehow familiar, but no matter how much he focused, Lith couldn't recognize her. The only thing he knew was that she was quite well endowed, her beauty was easily on Friya's level.
"Did you really forget about me?" She said with a playful gaze.
"Even though you are the only man that ever saw me naked?" She whispered while blushing on cue, hiding her face with a fan made of what looked like golden peacock's feathers.
'She's the Marchioness' daughter. Don't you see the resemblance?' Solus pointed out. 'Besides, it's true that so far most of the girls on Mogar are on the thin side, but for example Tista is much more…'
'First, gross. Second, Tista isn't a girl, she is my sister. Don't use her as a standard, thanks.' Lith cut her short.
His companions were all taken aback by the girl's last remark.
'And he had the gall to call me a lucky b*stard!' Yurial inwardly cursed and congratulated at his friend at the same time.
"I'm sorry, Milady. I can't remember all of my patients, no matter how pleasing to the eye they are. I had too many." Lith gave her a small bow, pretending to not know who she was.
Phloria felt reassured by the 'patient' part and threatened by everything else. Lith wasn't the kind of man to make false compliments.
"How do you know I was your patient then?" She closed her fan, her expression inquisitive in a way that Jirni didn't like at all.
"You called me your savior. I'm no warrior, just a healer." While Lith played Sherlock Holmes again, his companions had a hard time repressing a burst of laughter at the blatant lie.
"That and the other part…" He whispered. "made everything clear."
"Brilliant." She clapped her hands while smiling non stop.
"A strong character, a bright mind, and an eye that doesn't stop just at a pretty dress. These are all traits that I appreciate in a man. Also, you are right, we were never properly introduced.
"I'm Brinja Distar, first daughter of Marchioness Mirim Distar and heir to my household." Her choice of words was formal, Brinja even accompanied her self-introduction with a second curtsy, much deeper than the first.
It was quite uncommon for the host to show so much respect to a guest met for the first time. That and her previous words worried Lith as much as they did Phoria and Jirni. Being wooed by the daughter of his patron sounded like a massive pain in the a*s.
'Seems my big sister has a rival now.' Friya inwardly smiled. That evening was getting more interesting by the second.
"I'm Lith of Lutia. If next year I graduate I will still be just a mage." He gave her a deep bow while using modest words to belittle himself.
"Well, for being 'just' a mage you proved to be resourceful and brave. You even stood your ground against a self-entitled Archmage. Or was it just recklessness?" She replied without backing down from her position.
"No, it wasn't." Lith shook his head.
"I may be someone of humble origins, but I didn't spend my time hiding in a cave studying magic or fighting non stop like a bloodthirsty beast. I learned society's rules, got admitted to one of the six great academies, made friends…" He pointed at his companions.
"and allies." Lith nodded toward the Marchioness. "I just showed everyone what I accomplished after a single year of proper education. Now it's up to them to choose if they want to stand against me or support me. Either way, I'm not easily bullied because I made myself really hard to replace.
"No matter how big their ego is or how small minded they are, I believe that in times of crisis most of them would feel reassured rather than threatened by my presence."
"See? That's what I meant, 'just a mage' Lith." Brinja said with a radiant smile while taking his arm between hers, gently pressing it against her breast.
Lith was flattered, but unfazed by her behavior.
"Thanks, your Ladyship, but I think you missed the part about me being just thirteen years old and without any background." Lith tried to step away, he could feel several eyes piercing his back.
"How is that a problem?" She giggled, holding his arm even tighter.
"In a few years, the age gap will become irrelevant. Whoever I'm going to marry, he will join my family and I'm rich enough for three people. I may have no magical power of my own, but the Distar bloodline gave birth to several powerful mages.
"I can't stand those shallow nobles that only care for my wealth nor the arrogant mages that see every non magic user as an object. I'm tired of being considered an arm candy with annuities from those who aim for my family title.
"Based on what I heard about you and on what you did tonight you are like a breath of fresh air. I just want to get to know you better."
Her points were all valid, but Lith had no interest in any kind of relationship.
'What the heck, first Phloria and now Brinja? Women in the new world are quite assertive.' Lith thought.
'Maybe it's because here magic gives them an edge.' Solus suggested. 'Or maybe it's just a cultural thing they have. Unlike Earth's middle ages on Mogar women have the same opportunities as men. They can pass their last name and inherit their families' fortunes.'
Solus had a hard time not mentioning that she also would be assertive, if only she had the means to. Despite being brief, her experience with a body, first Lith's and then hers, had filled her with hope and confidence.
At the same time, Solus had become quite impatient.
'I wonder how many years will it take for me to get even that body made of light.' She inwardly sighed in a corner of her mind, glad to have her privacy.
'Until then, I can only cheer for Lith from the sidelines.'
***
Distar Household, later that evening.
After all of her guests had safely departed to their homes via the Marchioness' private Warp Gate, she could finally sit down in the armchair in her office and relax. After the bumpy start, everything had gone as planned.
She took out a communication amulet, placing it in the middle of her desk. Four blue magic crystals appeared from the corners of the solid white oak table, opening a secure channel with Queen Sylpha.
"I hope you bring me good news, Mirim." The Queen's stern face greeted her with a nod.
"Excellent news, your Majesty." The Marchioness gave her a small bow.
Chapter 268 New Accomodation Part 1
"Please, enough with honorifics and pleasantries. It's already late and it's just the two of us, dear friend."
"As you wish, Sylpha." The two knew each other since their time at the White Griffon academy. It was a well kept secret, since Mirim had attended the courses under a fake name. She wanted to avoid receiving a special treatment as the daughter of the ruler of the land.
The two of them had both inherited their respective bloodlines' talent for magic and that, together with the long years of friendship, had created a bond between them almost stronger than blood.
After achieving the role of Lord Commander of the Queen's corps, Mirim Distar had chosen to keep the pretense of being magicless to make her enemies underestimate her, making it hard to believe she was more than just a medium importance noble.
Her only regret was that life seemed to have an odd sense of humor. Her daughter was the only member of the family born without any talent for magic. It was something that had not happened for generations.
'It's almost like Brinja is being punished for my deception.' She would think from time to time, before shrugging off all that superstitious horsesh*t. Inheriting magic was a matter of blood and luck.
Having mages in the family made it easier for descendants to be more attuned with the world energy, but it wasn't an ironclad rule. That was the reason why despite having many heirs, sometimes the ancient noble households bore no mages, even for decades.
"So, how was your evening?" Sylpha asked.
Marchioness Distar told her everything, putting emphasis on Lith revealing the ability to use Gravity magic and the discord that followed.
"Amazing. That young man has a talent for angering people. The most fearsome aspect of his character is that Lith is aware of who and when to provoke. He causes almost more troubles than he solves."
Sylpha laughed when Mirim told her about Lith forcing Archmage Ejar to kneel in public.
"It sure humbled her without causing any physical harm." Mirim nodded.
"I managed to turn the following quarrel into a debate, forcing the two parties to find common ground. I can assure you that most of the guests left on better terms than when they arrived."
"That's the advantage of knowing when and where conflict is about to happen." Sylpha grinned. "The more hot-headed people get, the easier is to manipulate their reasoning. I'm not concerned by such small stuff, though.
"Tell me about your plan."
"As you know, I made sure that all those who knew about Linjos's anti Balkor protocol learned about the existence of the list and that I am about to decipher it. I assumed that whoever is the traitor, would try to learn about it as well.
So, I orchestrated the gala to give them an opportunity to enter my house. The celebration of the top rankers was the perfect excuse to request for an invitation. As I expected, many of our enemies took part in the banquet.
Even with so many people, they couldn't roam free, so I asked Mage Lith to cause a ruckus. He is notoriously unaligned, no one outside the three of us knows of my special relationship with him. No one suspects everything was staged."
"Good! Does he know about the plan?" Sylpha asked.
"No. He didn't even ask for an explanation. Only to strengthen the defense of his family, more money, and materials for his research. He said, and I quote: 'We already have a target on our backs, making it bigger changes nothing. As long as you pay me, I'll get the job done.'"
"Cynic and expensive for someone so young." Sylpha raised an eyebrow in disbelief.
"If he was some idealist fool, I wouldn't have trusted him. As for the price, if you pay peanuts you get monkeys. I consider it an investment. If he sees us as the last line of defense in front of his family, he'll never turn into another Balkor."
"What about the list?" Sylpha was getting impatient.
"My safe was successfully opened and the list copied." Mirim said with a wide smile.
"Great! What was written into it?"
"It wasn't the real list. It was a doctored copy written in the same code, containing only the names of our prime suspects. This way, it will appear like one of their accomplices has sold them or at least is planning to cut a deal with us.
Now we only need to wait and see who reacts."
"Who leaked the information about the list?" Sylpha could almost taste their blood.
"Balfas. He is Linjos's personal assistant. He was the one that had access to the information about the safe." The reports Mirim had provided for the suspects to read were all identical except for one detail. The location of the list.
The spy had revealed their source simply by looking in a specific place rather than another.
"May the gods burn him! I was the one that assigned him to Linjos. How in the Great Mother's name did he pass all the background checks until now? Someone in my inner circle is involved or, even worse, is an idiot. Either way, some heads are going to roll for this."
The Queen could almost feel the earth crumble beneath her feet. She had hoped the culprit was someone from the ancient noble households, to gain leverage against them in the recent power struggle. Having been chosen by the Court, Balfas was a political knife pointed at her throat instead.
"That also explains how they achieved capillary control of the kitchen staff, poisoning students and Professors exactly at the right moment."
"Indeed." Mirim touched the blue gemstone on the communication amulet, sharing the latest reports with the Queen.
"I had constable Ernas checking his finances. Thanks to her cooperating with Velar Deirus, we discovered Balfas has been receiving money from a shell company that can be linked to the runaway Archmage Lukart."
"How long it's been going on?" Just hearing Lukart's name gave Sylpha heartburn.
"Before the academic year even started. The odd thing is that even after Lukart's disappearance, the payments haven't stopped."
"So, the players have changed, but is the game still the same?" The Queen pondered out loud.
"Guess we'll find out soon. I'm not going to have him arrested getting a small fish can only get us so far. We'll use him to get to the top of the command chain."
***
The rest of the winter passed quietly. After the gala at the Marchioness' manor, Jirni allowed Phloria to go to Lith's house, allowing them to spend his birthday together. Orion kept his word, gifting Lith the Gatekeeper sword.
Lith was really happy about it, but there was not enough time left to perform any more experiments. He could only keep studying the interactions between the mana crystals and the pseudo cores.
The armor and the weapon had different effects, allowing him to further his understanding about how to shape a pseudo core with true magic to give it specific properties. Lith and Solus could almost see a pattern, but they needed more data.
In the blink of an eye, it was already time to go back to the academy for the last year.
Chapter 269 New Accomodations Part 2
Lith spent the last days preparing Tista's homework during his absence and studying once again Lochra Silverwing's book "The basics of magic".
Archmage Deirus's words had inspired him, making Lith suspect that maybe there was something he had overlooked for all those years. If Solus was right about Lochra being an Awakened Magus of the past, then her book could contain part of her legacy or at least point him to its location.
'After all, everything she explains about first magic in her book can also be applied to true magic. I learned every word of the book, but I think I failed to comprehend its full purpose until now.
'As Yurial's dad said, Gravity magic is an obscure subject because of its difficulty, but the same can be said about Silverwing's Hexagram. What if they are both legacies left from past Magi about true magic?
'Back when I first learned how to perform the Hexagram, I had no idea arrays existed. Now, the more I look at it, the more I'm certain it's not just a parlor trick to impress the academy's old fogeys.
'If I'm right, it's not only the first true magic array I learned, but it's also part of the legacy of one of the most powerful mages in the history of the Griffon Kingdom.'
Lith's experiments lead him to discover that he could enlarge and empower the Hexagram at will. There were two major difficulties in the process, though.
The first was that the bigger the array grew, the harder it was to keep all the six elements in perfect balance. To achieve stability the spell required for each element to receive exactly the same amount of mana and for them to have their energies flow as one.
The second was that he had no idea what it was supposed to do. Being a pessimist by nature, Lith suspected it could also just be an elaborate prank from a long dead magician. If Lochra was really dead, of course.
'According to Kalla's words, she may still be alive. So either I find her and ask Lochra an explanation or I need to bang my head until I crack open this mystery.'
At his arrival at the academy, Lith was in for a surprise. The fifth floor of the White Griffon academy was almost identical to the fourth one. The only major changes were that his new room was in a different position and it was much bigger than the previous one.
It was also equipped with a forgemastering laboratory and a healer's office. Fifth years students were fewer in numbers compared to their juniors. In a good year, they would be around one hundred and fifty.
Because of the recent events, between those who died during the attack and the ones that had failed due to the anti mana toxin, there were less than one hundred students attending the fifth year.
It left a lot of free space, granting those who had made it much more liberties.
Each room was customized for their needs so that a Healer could receive patients from outside the academy or a Mage Knight practice their swordsmanship.
Having only one specialization, Phloria's apartment was entirely dedicated to sword practice. It had a soundproof room complete with golems as training dummies. Thanks to their magical nature, they were made of materials which density was identical to the human body.
They could also be programmed to assume different shapes and sizes, mimicking all the creatures that her Mage Knight course would cover.
The golems were also equipped with a sort of Artificial Intelligence. It allowed them to retaliate to the student's attacks by following the most common combat patterns of the various creatures the golem replicated.
The students were allowed to personalize their training dummies' AI to further increase the difficulty level. The first thing Phloria did was to input her own style to practice against herself and find the flaws in her execution.
"It's the first time I'm actually happy to have only one specialization." Phloria said while showing Lith her personal training facility.
"How so?" He noticed that the living space hadn't improved much. Once again, the habitations were poorly furnished, there was just enough to live and practice properly. Everything else was on the student.
Aside from the forgemastering lab and the medical practice, Lith's room had only a bed, a wardrobe, a work desk, and a few bookshelves as furniture. He would never waste money to embellish a place he used only to sleep.
Especially since he would live there only for a year.
Phloria, on the other hand, was more carefree. Her room had already a second wardrobe full of clothes. Soft carpets covered the whole floor allowing her to walk barefoot even during the cold winter mornings.
It was the only commodity Lith almost envied.
Almost.
The Skinwalker armor was capable to reproduce not only clothes, but also shoes. He only had to will for it and the armor would reshape itself from the pajamas form to the uniform, covering his feet.
The transition would only last for a split second. The enchanted clothes turned into a semi liquid state, running over Lith's body while changing its color and composition on a molecular level.
'It's worth every single point I spent on it.' Lith thought every time he used the armor's properties.
Unlike Lith's desk, which was always empty unless he was studying a particularly difficult subject, Phloria's was decorated with egg-shaped nacre ornaments on small pedestals. They were arranged in a semi circular form.
She had even a couple on her nightstand. She had never allowed him inside her own bedroom, except when the group gathered to study together. Even then, he had never seen them before. Clearly, she hid them before their arrival.
"Because unlike Friya's, my training room allows me to spar with multiple golems at the same time. It's also big enough to accommodate two people. It means Friya and I can work out together, or I can simply train you a bit with the sword." She replied.
"Good idea. The only problem is if we'll have enough time for that." He sighed.
"Well, last year was different. Now if we finish late, you can always sleep here." Phloria swept her hair, blushing a little.
"What are these things?" Lith changed the topic. It wasn't like Phloria to make such an odd and rushed offer. After he had almost died, their relationship had slowed down quite a bit. Too many things had happened too fast. His constant mood swings had contributed to making things worse.
"Do you really have never seen a…" Phloria almost chocked on the rest of the phrase. The most shocking thing about visiting Lith's house had been noticing how his room was as big as one of her closets.
He was always so aloof to luxury that she often forgot about his humble origins.
"A what?"
Phloria touched the closest egg. The upper part of the magical item opened, projecting a hologram the size of a photograph. It was completed with sounds and colors, depicting a younger Orion while he was reading a story to Phloria when she was a little girl.
It was a short clip played in a loop.
Chapter 270 New Start Part 1
"A Rememberer." Another touch from Phloria made the egg close and the hologram disappear. Then, Lith watched one showing Phloria playing with Lucky when the mastiff was still a puppy, both covered in mud from head to toes.
Another was about Jirni teaching her the basics of self defense.
"It's how mages store their precious moments."
"Why did you never show them to me before?" Lith's doubts were turning into a suspicion.
"Because those are my private moments." Phloria fiddled with her hair while she was staring at the ground incapable of looking him in the eye out of embarrassment.
"I didn't share them even with my sisters."
"Okay, let's cut to the chase." Lith closed the Rememberer, resisting the temptation to pry further in her life.
"Are you jealous?"
"What? Why do you say that?" Phloria's flinching like that was a big tell.
"Well, whenever you called me after the gala, you seemed nervous. You have always liked to keep some boundaries. To go slow and steady. Yet now you are offering me to sleep here and sharing all this stuff. Sounds…"
"Desperate?" She completed the phrase for him.
"No. I was going to say: 'out of character'."
"Oh." Phloria blushed up to her ears. She wished for the ground to swallow her whole, but the carpet remained still.
She walked to her bed, sitting on it before answering with a sad voice.
"Yes, I'm jealous. I don't think I can compete with the Marchioness' daughter." Phloria's fears had gone through the roof when Jirni had pressed her to visit him during the last days of winter, instead of nagging her about her studies as usual.
"She's better than me under every aspect. She's very beautiful, moves and speaks like a lady. I'm just a clumsy giantess compared to her." Her eyes fell on her chest area, closing the speech with an unspoken comparison.
"Since when it's a challenge?" Lith scoffed.
"Do you think I have a little book where I assign all the girls I know points or something? That I score them according to some standards? How shallow do you think I am?"
"Wait, did you say all the girls? As in there's more?" Phloria was dumbfounded.
"Of course, there are. Ever since the rankings came out, all the girls of marrying age of my village have been parading in front of me every time I left my house. I keep getting invitations from small and medium importance nobles of the Lustria county.
"Most of them I didn't even know they existed. To be honest, I expect to receive the same attention from our female schoolmates Yurial did last year, if not even worse. Because now he is publicly engaged, while I am just 'an ignorant fool'.
"I expect them to think of me as a limitless letter of credit. I'm not stupid or arrogant enough to believe I've suddenly turned into a beautiful swan. They are all just gold diggers."
Lith sat on the bed beside her.
"Brinja is not different from them. Even after I saved her life, she never considered me nothing more than a brat with a glare. Otherwise, she wouldn't have waited for so long before making a move.
"She probably heard about me from her mother and got curious. You are the only person I met since I joined the academy that looked at me as a person, instead of an asset. Even before we started dating, you sought my company and advice.
"You have shared with me your everyday problems, the quarrels with your mother, and even your dreams for the future." Lith swept the hair that was covering Phloria's face before starting to caress her cheek.
"I wouldn't have ever accepted to go out with you otherwise. Not even if you were the most beautiful girl in the world."
"Are you saying I am not?" Phloria had suddenly found her spunk back, hitting him with a cushion.
"Your words, not mine, remember?"
The mood while they walked toward the fifth year Lecture Hall was completely different from before. Phloria hummed the whole time, without forcing herself to be clingy or flirty.
Not even when several girls looked at him like they saw Lith for the first time, giggling and trying to strike up a conversation with him managed to ruin her high spirits.
Especially because he dismissed them every time with a growl. Lith had no time to waste in pleasantries and hated leeches ever since his time on Earth. He still vividly remembered all those that thought him being parentless was "cool", who had attempted to make him waste his hard earned money for their own gain.
The Lecture Hall was identical to the fourth year one, but even with all the students attending the first compulsory lesson more than half the seats were empty.
When the second gong rang, Headmaster Linjos entered the room, closely followed by Professor Farg.
"Welcome back, my dear students." Linjos's face was still long and unattractive, but he seemed to have turned into a different man. His gaze was hard as steel, any trace of his previous optimistic disposition was gone.
Despite the Headmaster was just in his late twenties, his chestnut hair had partly turned white, complimenting the shades of silver he was gifted with and giving him an even colder look.
There was no joy in his voice as he spoke, only determination mixed with something that Lith recognized as slithering rage. Linjos's expression could only be described as feral. Usually the Headmaster's sharp features and aquiline nose contrasted with his kind nature, while now they gave him a ferocious appearance.
"Since lesson time has already started, I'll go straight to the point. The past year has been a nightmare, partly because bad things happen and partly because of some of the students and their parents."
A few youths stood up in outrage, but before they could even open their mouth they were forced back to sit with a thud, unable to say a word. Linjos had used no spell or array.
He only needed to let out part of his magical aura to overwhelm with his killing intent all those who had attempted to interrupt him. The power released by the Headmaster was so strong that everyone present who didn't attend a combat specialization or wasn't part of Lith's group found themselves shivering in fear.
"So many troubles could have been avoided if some of you had the decency to leave politics outside the castle walls. So many would be still alive if not for blind pride and stupid prejudice tainting young minds like poison.
"Most of the perpetrators have been arrested at this point, others I have just expelled. This is my academy, after all, I don't need to justify myself to you or anyone else for that matter. Since I believe we still have some snakes in the grass, this message is for them.
The party is over." With a snap of his finger, Linjos made a Guilty Ballot appear in front of every student.
"To use it or not is up to you, but I strongly believe it's better to have it and not need it rather than to not have it and need it. Now imprint it with your mana."
A few students stood up again. This time Linjos did nothing to stop them.
Chapter 271 New Start Part 2
"That's ridiculous!" Said a fifteen year old girl with blonde hair.
"Only weaklings need a Coward's End." When she handed it to Linjos, others followed her lead.
"I'll take the Ballot and your uniform back, young lady." Linjos extended his arm grabbing the magical stone.
"Because defying a direct order from your Headmaster is more than enough to get you expelled. I'm sure that, not being a weakling, you'll have no problem finding another academy taking you in. You'll only have to wait one year."
"You can't do…" The girl's voice faded away when Linjos bent down to look her in the eye while releasing his killing intent again.
"I can and I will. Who wants to get expelled can give me the Ballot." No one stepped forward.
"Good, now imprint it." Everyone obeyed without hesitation.
"Minus five hundred points to all those who disobeyed my order."
"But…" Another girl managed to stutter despite the Headmaster's imposing presence.
"… we didn't say anything! That was her idea." The thought of losing right off the bat more points than acing an exam would provide was enough to make the unruly students try to push the blame on their previous leader.
"You have chosen your leader, hence you'll follow her in defeat as in victory. Minus two hundred more points to all of you for further questioning my judgment. The class is yours, Professor Farg."
Linjos left the class while most of the rebels realized that their magical equipment had been forcefully turned off. They wouldn't be able to access to any dimensional item until they had gained back enough points.
The girl and her followers were weeping because of the humiliation they had just endured when Farg sent them back to their seats.
"The Headmaster's speech fits perfectly in today's lesson. I am not going to teach you about fancy spells or techniques to slay monsters. Today's subject is the life outside the comfort of your homes, something that every mage sooner or later needs to face.
"Some of you come from small villages and know nothing about the outside world." Her gaze lingered for a second on Lith and Quylla, sitting in the front desks. Contrary to Lith's expectation no one had a good laugh at his expenses.
Linjos was gone, but the fear still lingered in the Lecture Hall.
"Others come from noble households and know nothing at all. All of you lack the knowledge necessary for surviving in the real world. Money can't fix all of your problems. No matter how strong you are or how much influential you consider your family to be.
"A rogue can kill any of you just for your pocket money. If you happen to mess with a wandering wizard, they will destroy you before disappearing as fast as they arrived. To thrive, society needs order. Order breeds only from the law and the respect that all of you need to show for it.
"The first topic we will talk about it's the difference between the Mage Association and the Mercenary Guild. In some other countries they are known as adventurer guilds, but we of the Griffon Kingdom like to call things with their proper name.
"An 'adventurer'…" Farg's voice was filled with disgust, her tongue clicked every time she spoke the word adventurer.
"… it's nothing more than a mercenary that names themselves in a fancy way. Mercenaries can be recruited to do almost anything. Kill monsters or magical beasts, clean dungeons, retrieve stolen property. They can even act as personal bodyguards for whoever can afford their services.
"The only tasks they can't undertake are those forbidden by law or those that are strictly prerogative of the army or the Mage Association. To accept any kind of job is necessary to join a Guild. They vouch for their employees and take full responsibility for their faults.
"That's why a Guild is entitled to receive a fair share of your income. Forget all those tales about guilds being nothing more than a board from which the brave pick up quests.
"Their rules are strict since their lives are on the line together with your reputation. A Guild that is found guilty of hosting criminals among their ranks gets disbanded, its Guildmaster charged with the same crimes their underlings committed.
"So, if you ever want to join one, expect a full background check and a lot of personal questions. Those who fail to answer properly get black listed after the first attempt, losing the chance to join any other Guilds as well.
"The Mage Association has fewer responsibilities towards its members but has even more strict rules. The Association is the link between the Kingdom and the practitioners of the mystical arts. If you want to get a title, lands, anything from the Griffon Kingdom, you need to join the Association first.
"Having attended an academy makes things easier, but getting accepted is rarely automatic, unless you have already provided a service to our Country. Just like the Guild, the Association allows you to take on assignments, but you don't get paid with money for them. Only with merits.
"The moment you accept your task, you are representing the Griffon Kingdom and the Crown alike. Failure is an option, no one will blame you if you are forced to retreat or decide you are not up to the task. Making a mess and giving mages a bad name, however is not.
"The Association is also in charge of persecuting traitorous mages and hunting down those who abuse their powers. Killing an outlaw mage is worth much more merits than saving a village or capturing bandits.
"We magic users are the Kingdom's backbone, but also its potential worst enemy. That's why rotten apples have to be taken out in a fast and efficient manner. Those who specialize in killing their fellow mages are called Spellbreakers and receive the highest honors.
"Being part of the Association is not a right, is a privilege. Its authority will shield you wherever you are, a simple call will provide you backup when in a pinch or make whole medium importance noble families disappear in a single night.
"It's possible to join a Guild and the Association both, but it's something that's frowned upon and will cripple your reputation. A mercenary can have as many masters they want to. Money can buy their services, if not even their loyalty.
"A mage in the Association only serves the Crown and themselves. Any more is considered a crowd, making them unreliable. It's through your merits that a mage can be recognized as a Great Mage, an Archmage, or even a Magus.
Those are not just empty titles. They define the depth of your loyalty to the Kingdom and how much your Country values you for it. Spending merits will never affect your status, only your actions will.
"Merits are more valuable than money for a mage, since they can be exchanged for noble titles and the annuities that come with the role, for access to the Vaults of Knowledge, that hold the most prized magical legacies of the Griffon Kingdom.
"During the Code of Practice course, you will not have to study the rules and regulations of the Kingdom or the Association. You will live them, in the roles of civil servants and probatory members of the Mage Association. Prepare to get your hands dirty.
Chapter 272 Codex Part 1
Professor Farg then explained how students would spend some time outside the academy walls, similarly to what Lith had already done during the fourth year for his Healer specialization.
The main difference was that they wouldn't be employed only according to their specialization. The students would cover all the possible aspects of a mage's daily activities, acting as guards, firemen, healers, or simply helping the Association to deal with the paperwork.
"The dirtied hand teaches the best. Remember, only monsters thrive in chaos, using their powers to satisfy their base instincts. Soldiers, nobles, mages, even the Crown itself, we are all servants of the Kingdom.
"Achieving a higher power means much more than just the ability to yell orders. It comes with an increasing burden and responsibilities. It's only by properly carrying on your duty that your lands will develop and so will the Kingdom.
"Think about it before your first assignment. Class dismissed."
While the other students discussed what they had just heard, Lith observed the impact Farg's words had on his peers. With her charisma, she had made those of humble origins, like Quylla, feel they had a calling in life.
That they had the power and the duty to protect those who couldn't defend themselves.
Watching the tense expressions of the arrogant nobles who earlier had opposed to Linjos, Lith could see how they now felt insecure. They were afraid countless eyes were watching their families.
After listening to Farg's speech, they imagined that it was only a matter of time before their crimes were exposed, threatening the lifestyle that they had always taken for granted.
From their whispers, Lith could hear from their words that for the first time in their lives they were afraid of the consequences of their actions.
Those like Yurial and Phloria, were either depressed or excited instead. They had prepared for a life of duty since they were little. The Code of Practice course meant coming another step closer to their adult life.
'I didn't misjudge Farg at our first meeting.' Lith thought.
'She is a natural born leader, capable of inspiring those around her, making them strive to become better persons. The problem is that the effect she has on people is bound to be only temporary.
'Once they have a moment to think, without the presence of a leader to guide them, they will soon fall back in their old habits and insecurities. No one becomes a better person just because of some fancy words, neither justice becomes more efficient.
'I wonder how long will it take, especially for those of humble origins, to be corrupted by their newfound powers and authority once they get out of the academy. I know very well how intoxicating is the freedom to get back at those you hate without the fear of consequences.
'It doesn't matter if they now believe to have the moral high ground. Once they realize they are giants in a world full of ants no one cares about, they'll show their true nature.
'Talk is cheap, everyone is righteous until they have the opportunity to take what their heart wants and get away with it.'
Solus was a bit worried about him. After seeing how the villagers of Lutia had impoverished their neighbors for their own gain, how petty were the people of Earth and Mogar both with all those who were one bit less fortunate than them, she knew he wasn't wrong.
Yet she considered his vision twisted by his own baggage and distrustfulness. Solus considered herself lucky for having met Lith and him for finding friends despite the academy's harsh environment.
They were the living proof that there were good people in the world.
The following lesson was also a mandatory one, so they only had to wait for the next Professor to arrive. When the gong resounded again, Professor Nalear entered the classroom.
She looked even prettier than before, all that rest had done her some good. Lith felt nothing in his heart while watching her walk to the center of the Hall. He was completely over his childish unstable core induced crush for Nalear.
"Good morning dear students. It's a pleasure to see you again. Believe me, after being bedridden for months, being able to walk again feels out of this world. In case some of you were wondering about it, your Professors from the fourth year have moved to the fifth floor as well.
"The staff follows this rotation so those that have nurtured you can keep following your progress, making the transition to the new subjects easier since we already know your strong and weak points.
"Our subject this time is Magic Creation. As you know, every real mage must be able to create their own spells. Some of you already have some customized incantations and know how hard it is to create something from scratch."
The classroom nodded in unison. Most of their personal spells were nothing more than modified versions of standard spells. At their level, creating something new implied a lot of trial and error.
One of the reasons Lith managed to score so many points every trimester was that he was the only one that seemed to be able to create new spells with ease. The truth was different, though. He only developed true magic spells.
The words and the hand signs he used were just gibberish.
"Magic Creation is another of those subjects exclusive to the six great academies. No mage that comes from minor institutions knows about it. Even speaking about it outside the walls of an academy is considered an act of treason.
"What I am going to teach you over the course of the lessons, is how to more easily create new spells for each element. There's no way we can cover everything in a single trimester, so beware. Magic Creation will last for the whole year.
"I'm going to cover only for the basics, everything else rests on your shoulder. You'll also need what we do here for your specializations. After the first exam, you'll learn how to devise more complex and specific spells directly from the Professors of the other subjects you attend.
Do not slack off. If you fail with me, you are bound to fail in every single course."
The class sweat bullets at those words, watching at Lith with envy. Everyone considered him having an unfair advantage. Too bad they were completely off the mark.
Lith was sweating even more than them.
'Oh, sh*t! Let's hope she doesn't call me as a volunteer to explain stuff, or I'll be in hot waters. The only silver lining is that I can fake my way out. She'll surely request for simple spells that I can easily counterfeit with true magic.'
"Don't worry, we'll start with something simple." Nalear said taking the words out of his mind.
"First, you need to learn how to crawl, then how to walk, and finally how to run. Second, I'll assign each of you a different spell to create. Otherwise one of you will do all the work and the others will just leech it.
"Third, to pass this course you'll need to share with me your final product, so that I can evaluate both your talent and effort. What's required from you is to not only devise working spells, but also the most effective ones possible.
Chapter 273 Codex Part 2
"Among the spells of the same tier, those that require few words and simple signs are considered much more valuable. On the other hand, long and convoluted ones will get you a C at best."
'Me and my big mind mouth.' Lith inwardly cursed at himself.
'That takes faking out spells off the table.'
'Don't be a sourpuss. Everyone else will have to work on their own, while you have me.' Solus cheered him up.
'That's true. I'm confident that the two of us can understand almost everything about magic.' Lith mind nodded.
'The only problem is that knowing is not doing. I hope this isn't as hard as dimensional magic.'
"First of all, it's better if I give you the textbook." Nalear tapped her foot, making a small booklet appear on each student's desk.
"That's a Codex. As you already know, a spell is composed of two parts: the magical words and hand signs. Magical words define the element the spell is based on, it's shape and properties. Hand signs are necessary to regulate the mana output and adjusting its effects instead.
"The book I just gave you will help you with the words part. It contains all the most common prefix and suffix to alter first magic, plus the standard words that cause specific effects.
"Let's make an example. Infiro is the magical word for fire, Menala means three, and Tach means explosion. Hence an Infiro Menala Tach is supposed to cause three fire based explosions.
"It's not actually that simple, but this is just a theoretical lesson, you only need to get the gist of it." Nalear shrugged lightly.
"Now comes the hard part, finding the correct hand signs. Unlike words, there is no recording of them. Two people can create the same spell, yet use different words and signs.
"Hand signs are strongly dependant on the imagination and willpower of the mage devising the spell. While once an incantation is complete anyone can learn it, during the creation process some signs will feel wrong to some mages, correct to others, and lacking to many.
"Everything you have learned during the fourth year, even dimensional magic, it was all propaedeutic to this moment. You needed to go past the boundaries of the first three tiers of magic to develop your mana perception.
"During all the exercises you have made, you have learned to control the mana flow with your will and to alter its properties. Without such solid foundations, creating even the simplest spell would require weeks, if not months of stumbling in the dark.
"Let's get back to our example. Infiro Menala Tach it's a fire spell, so I'll start using the hand sign for first fire magic." Nalear drew a small circle in the air with her index finger.
"Once you have a perfect pronunciation of the words, what you have to do is to focus only on your hands and your own mana flow. Say the words, draw the fire sign, then keep moving your hands. If you feel the flow continues, which will rarely happen at the first attempt, then you are on your way.
"If you feel it stuttering or being blocked, then you are doing something wrong. As soon as it happens, stop and go back to square one until you find the next sequence of movements. I know it may sound like just a random process, but it's not.
"At first, it will not seem so different from what you tried on your own in the past, but with a little practice, you will be able to understand what's the right sequence of movements by instinct.
"Creating a spell from the first three tiers will take only a few days, while tier four or five ones may require weeks if not months. Let's ask our resident expert."
'Schrödinger's cat, here we go.' Lith inwardly cursed.
"Quylla, Professor Vastor tells me you have a wonderful diagnostic spell. Do you mind sharing with the class what tier it is and how long did it take for you to create it?"
Quylla quickly straightened her slouched posture before answering the Professor.
"Tier three. As for the creation time, it's hard to say. The first version took me years of practice, but after joining the academy I realize it was still lacking." She threw a short look at Lith.
"I keep perfecting it every time I improve or I learn something new. It's a work in progress." Previously having so many eyes on her would have been embarrassing for Quylla, but after months of Jirni's lessons, her voice was clear and steady.
"Do you see it, guys?" Nalear gave her a small applause, followed by the rest of the classroom.
"Years for a tier three. I'm not trying to belittle her talent or efforts, just highlighting how hard it was for her. What about the spell you used during the second exam?" Nalear was referring to Quylla's ice spell that was very similar to Lith's Checkmate Spears.
"Tier three too, but it only took me a few months to make it." Quylla suddenly realized Professor Nalear's point in questioning her.
"Exactly." The Professor nodded at her. "Because I have taught you how to manipulate your mana flow, while Professor Rudd gave you the necessary practice to alter it at will."
"Professor, what about those like me who failed at dimensional magic? Can we also successfully create spells, or are we bound to be second rate magicians like Professor Rudd says?" Said a boy, clenching his fists hard under the desk.
More than half the class had flunked it, managing to graduate only because dimensional magic was considered an optional subject. Yet it had impacted their final score, causing them to be classified as B++ magicians at best.
They couldn't help but feel inferior to the upper percentile of the class. They also considered the boy very brave for having the guts to say out loud what every one of them was thinking.
"Good gods, that man is a monster." Professor Nalear was saddened by the lack of self confidence she perceived in most of the students.
"Yes, you can create spells, maybe even faster than those who succeeded in dimensional magic. Albeit they are related, they are still two different talents. Dimensional magic requires Exacasting, a very strong mana perception, and manipulation skills.
"Failing at it now doesn't make you lesser mages. You can keep practicing it on your own and learn it like anyone else. Most mages need years to master dimensional magic."
"What about you, Professor?" The boy asked.
"How long did it take you to learn dimensional magic?"
Nalear bit her lower lip, struggling before answering.
"I learned it during my academy years." She would have liked to lie about it, to reassure them about their future. However, the records were public, making the truth easy to be discovered. Nalear had graduated first of her year, ranked as an A++ mage.
So she preferred to be honest, rather than give them false hope only to lose their trust in return.
Most of the class sighed in despair. Professor Rudd's voice kept echoing in their heads, making Nalear sound just like a mother that was trying to comfort her children with white lies.
Chapter 274 Body Sculpting Part 1
During lunch, the members of Lith's group were hyped at the idea of Nalear's new subject. The only exception was Lith himself.
'I really don't care about learning how to wave new fake magic spells. It's a chore and a bore. I'm already able to cook up new spells with true magic in a matter of days, hours if it's something I'm familiar with.' He inwardly grumbled.
'So far, the fifth year is a let-down. Farg's course is useless too. I never did community service nor do I plan to work my a*s for free. This is just child labor!'
'Well this is an academy for young adults, what do you expect? Also, do I have to remind you that despite your constant pessimism each subject we attended has either given us new ideas or helped to expand our horizons?' Solus said.
Thinking back at the Necromancy class, Lith was forced to admit she was right.
Solus wanted to be supportive, yet her greatest temptation was to tell him to stop whining and enjoy the company of his friends.
The winter break had shown them how despite their bond, noble families were as busy as Lith, if not even more. They had called each other often, but aside for the Gala and Lith's birthday, the group had never managed to meet.
'They have only so much time together, yet Lith doesn't seem to realize how quickly a year pass. I'd like for him to make happy memories rather than waste time grumbling.' She thought.
"I must say, so far the fifth year seems more exciting than the fourth one." Yurial was back being his old self. There were no bags under his eyes anymore, he smiled most of the time and had regained some of the lost weight.
After the gala, Yurial had discovered that it was enough to pretend to call Lith to get rid of his fiancée for several hours. To make things even better, he had asked one of his private tutors to teach him how to emit killing intent.
Despite being a mage, it was something he had never learned to do it. On Mogar, all living being possessed mana. Emitting it was an involuntary act, just like breathing or perspiring.
Intense emotions lead to an increase in the mana emitted. That, together with an aggressive disposition inflicted a mental pressure on those who were exposed to it, causing fear, panic, or even terror.
The phenomenon was simply referred as killing intent. It wasn't necessary to be a mage to emit killing intent. As long one had mana, they could employ it. Even animals were capable of using it to scare their prey or threaten their enemies.
Being a mage made things easier, since by possessing large amounts of mana it was possible to amplify its effects. It was the way killing intent was used by calm people like Linjos.
Another method was to develop the ability to channel one's fury into the mana. It required to train the mind, allowing people like Jirni Ernas to scare even powerful mages despite her natural lack of magical talent.
Then, there were people like Lith, that had plenty of wrath and mana of their own. Ever since he and Solus had met, it had been her task to suppress Lith's mana fluctuations until he became capable of doing it on his own.
Otherwise, after he gained a green core, any animal or human in his presence would feel like a lamb in front of a slaughterhouse.
Yurial had lots of mana but little aggressiveness in him. His life had been stressful but pampered. Since he was a child, everyone had treated him with care and respect. Being gifted with a calm and collected nature, anger was something that rarely affected Yurial's judgment.
At least until he had been forced to spend so much time with Libea. His instructor was a battle veteran. He had no trouble teaching Yurial how to use his gifts to put an end to their constant squabbles.
'It may be unfair on my side to use killing intent to shut her up, but it's much better than being forced to listen to her every day.' Yurial considered it justification enough to quench his guilty conscience.
"I don't have a single spell that doesn't come from textbooks or from my mentor. Between my duties as the heir of the Deirus Household and the academy, it's already a miracle for me to keep up with all the homework they assign to us.
I can't wait to create something that I can call my own. I already have several ideas in mind.
Even Professor Farg's subject piqued my interest. Community service might sound boring, but I think it will be a great experience. I never set foot out of the high end residential areas.
It's a golden opportunity to connect with the people of the Kingdom and understand their needs."
"I can tell you what they need." Quylla was pissed off at him.
"They want tasty food, warm clothes, and some real justice. How do you expect to become a good ruler if you talk about commoners like they are some exotic animals you need to take care of? Do you have any idea how cold a winter can get? How many people starve every day?"
Quylla was usually so calm that seeing her angry was almost scary.
"She is right, Yurial." Phloria played with the food on her plate.
"I think Code of Practice is mostly aimed at us nobles as an eye-opener. Farg is right when she says we know nothing. I believe its purpose is to make us realize there is no easy solution to the Kingdom's problems." Visiting Lith's house had been almost a shock to her.
Even after all the renovations and improvements thanks to Lith's hard work, it was still worse than the servants' quarters at house Ernas.
When he had shown her the nearby village, Phloria had found it to be so small and dirty to make her heart tighten. After hearing Lith's stories about the farmers' harsh life, learning how even getting medical care was a luxury for them, she had felt guilty for days for having such a blessed life.
Friya shared Yurial's enthusiasm, but nodded at Phloria's words. She had never visited Quylla's village, yet all the stories about her previous life before she was adopted by the Ernas were enough to give Friya nightmares.
After lunch, they headed towards the Light magic department for their first lesson of the Healer specialization. Lith was really eager to discover what kind of subject they would practice during the final year.
They were already capable of healing all injuries and amputations. That left very little outside their reach.
"Welcome back, my dear students." Professor Vastor hadn't changed one bit. He still looked like someone had attempted to fuse together an egg and a man.
The top of his head was completely bald, the hair he had left on the sides was snow-white and so were his waxed handlebar mustaches. Vastor's belly was so big that it made hard to guess if he was larger than tall.
"It seems I was a bit too pessimistic last year, saying that only a third of you would make it to graduation." He said while twirling his mustaches.
"Anyway, the lesser the merrier. Now that we got rid of the dead weight our lessons will surely go smoother." Of the thirty-four students that had joined the healer specialization on the fourth year, only sixteen remained.
Chapter 275 Body Sculpting Part 2
"Just like the previous year, we are going to spend the first two trimesters on a single but wide subject, while during the third one you'll get real practice in the field. This time as lead healers in the most important hospitals of the Kingdom.
"What I am about to introduce to you today, is the last branch of healing magic you need to master before achieving the privilege and the honor of being considered full fledged healers.
"Tier one to three have taught you to mend broken bones and to heal injuries. Tier four how to replace lost limbs and organs. Yet there is still a case we haven't explored.
"What if our patient never had a limb to start with? What if they were born with a deformity or a defective organ?" He asked while walking around the class.
"Are we helpless in front of such eventuality? The answer is no. There is nothing that a true healer cannot fix. Only death is beyond our reach, at least for now." Vastor declared with a proud look in his eyes.
"The first four tiers of magic are completely useless against natural deformities simply because there is nothing wrong in the first place. You can't heal a man born blind because it's his natural status.
"Even if his eyes were to be gouged and regrown, they would still be blind. Tier four magic simply gives the body the means to revert to its original status. Nothing more, nothing less.
"Tier five Light magic brings in something that we have often mentioned but never worked on. The study of the life force. During the first trimester I'll teach you how to sense your own life force and how to use it to manipulate other people's life force to give them a normal life."
The class murmured, for all of them life force was a vague concept. They had learned how to share it with the patients, allowing them to survive critical wounds and major procedures, but nothing more.
"That's only the first step, though. Once you learn how to control the life force comes the real deal. Let's suppose our patient is born with a deformed arm. It's the easiest case you'll ever face.
"Two-bit healers will approach the problem by amputating the arm, to regenerate it in the correct shape. It works, yes. The arm will be perfectly functional, but that's a butcher execution that will teach you nothing and endangers the patient's life.
"A real Healer uses a complex mix of light and darkness magic to perform what is called 'Body Sculpting'. Mastering the life force means you can find the dissonances in its flow and correct them accordingly.
"Darkness magic is used to remove the excess parts or to clear the way, so that light magic can start the healing process while the mage teaches the body its new form, permanently altering its natural state.
"That way, if the arm gets damaged or maimed, healing magic will restore it without the need of using Body Sculpting. I want you to understand the deep implications of altering someone forever.
"Our physical appearance is something that defines us, or at least affects how others perceive us. Body sculpting is still a highly controversial ethical matter. Some worry it can be used to turn a human being into something else.
"That through human experimentation it could breed all sorts of hybrids. Such concerns I can understand, but it's something for the Crown to regulate not for us mages to care about.
"Some radical fools say that it breaches the boundaries the gods have set for humans. I say that's bogus.
"When the Crown passed a bill that forces those who oppose to Body Sculpting because it's 'unnatural' to give up all magical tools and commodities since they are unnatural too, no one dared to say a word anymore.
They are just a bunch of hypocrites." Vastor snarled.
"Another thing that you must know, before learning Body Sculpting, is that like all magic it's not omnipotent. Along with the hypocrites that would like to outlaw Body Sculpting, there are also the quacks that try to abuse it exploiting the insecurities of the rich.
"In theory, it can be used to change the shape of a nose, to make someone taller, slimmer, or to increase bust size. Quacks demand insane sums, but the results are underwhelming, if not fatal."
'Seems plastic surgery still has a long way to go here.' Lith was fascinated by Vastor's explanation. Body Sculpting sounded a lot like the procedure he had performed on Tista years before.
"Why fatal?" He asked. "A nose is external and relatively small. Compared to reshaping a whole arm, it should be much easier."
Lith unconsciously touched his own nose, while the rest of the class wondered what they would change about their bodies if given the chance.
"Excellent question." Vastor scratched his short button nose, wishing he could make it more manly.
"Once you learn to perceive the life force, you'll notice that everything has a purpose. Our bodies have something I call a voice, for a lack of a better term, and you must learn to listen to it before applying the smallest modification.
"A hand wants to grab, to touch." He said while flexing the fingers of his left hand.
"A leg wants to walk, a nose wants to breathe, a heart to beat. What about a perfectly functional nose, albeit not easy on the eyes, like mine? If you could listen to my life force, you'd find out that aside from the problems related to age there's nothing wrong with me.
"It means that altering my life force, even just on the nose, would have unpredictable consequences. Make it longer could cause me problems breathing, affecting my ability to cast spells. Becoming taller is alluring, sure, but what about the ramifications?
"Even a few centimeters more imply that all my bones, my organs, everything must be reshaped. There is a reason why powerful mages aren't all muscular studs or world class beauties. It's because the benefits are not worth the risks.
Healthy organs have a healthy life force, their voice can't help you. Changing them means you are acting blindly, relying more on luck and wishful thinking than on scientific basis." Vastor took a brief pause, to make sure that his students had a clear understanding of his words.
"Internal organs are even more tricky. Like all magic above tier three, the procedure requires a full medical team. Unlike regenerating an organ or a limb, the process can't be performed in one go. Cutting and reshaping take a huge toll on both the healer and the patient, especially if we are working on a vital organ.
It's never wise to subject them to too much stress, because if complications arise, the body may not have the strength to make it through. Even if that's not the case, it may be necessary to switch the lead healer to allow them to rest.
Body Sculpting is probably the hardest thing you'll ever do and also the way you'll lose most of your patients." Vastor looked down on the ground, his mind couldn't forget all those he had failed.
Each death had changed him, making him more cynical and detached. They also had made him a better healer and a better man.
Chapter 276 White Part 1
"There are countless things that can go wrong during a Body Sculpting procedure." Professor Vastor continued.
"I'm not going to lie to you. Despite our best efforts, I expect you to see a few people die before you graduate. Some may die under your hands. It's going to put you under a lot of pressure, testing your will.
"Too many times in this job I've seen old men live long enough to not even remember who they were, their bodies refusing to give up, while young people not even old enough to marry would die under my care for no apparent reason.
"Many healers refuse to practice Body Sculpting, either to not affect their reputation with repeated failures or because they cannot take it. Up to tier three, you can still blame bad luck. At tier four anything seems possible.
"Once you reach tier five, you can only blame yourself. People will die because you aren't good enough, aren't prepared enough, or simply because you have let your pride get the best of you. Never be afraid to tell a patient that it's better a long but limited life than gambling everything on a maybe.
"Never hide them the risks of any procedure or make them any promise. The final choice is theirs, but the final burden is yours." Vastor sighed deeply, before resuming his usual confident attitude.
"One last thing. Don't think that once you graduate you are set for life. What we are teaching you are the basics of the basics. The difference between a quack and a real healer is the number of personal spells they develop, how much of yourselves you put into your work.
That's why we'll also cover how to alter, improve, or create from scratch spells.
The fifth year will make the fourth one look like a walk in the park. Class dismissed."
After listening to Professor Vastor's introduction to the subjects of the Healer specialization for the fifth year, the students were gloomy rather than excited. Up to that point, they had always worked in teams comprised of Professors and medical staff.
They were a safety net, boosting the students' confidence that no matter what happened, things could still be salvaged. Now the rules of the game had changed. Only a few, like Lith and Quylla had lost a patient in the past, but no one had ever been responsible for a death.
The thought was scary and not because most of the students had such a good heart. The reason was that the majority of the patients admitted in the White Griffon hospital were powerful mages or influential figures in the political world.
Killing a commoner was one thing, explaining a powerful and well connected family why their loved one wasn't among them anymore could easily destroy lives. The Healer's life, to be precise.
Lith was insensible to such worries. Partly because killing was second nature to him, mostly because lots of people had already died indirectly by his hand. Back at Lutia or during the plague, he could have saved dozens of lives if he had given up his secret and used true magic.
'Seems I actually performed tier five light magic twice already. The first time with Tista, the second on mom.' Lith thought.
'Yeah, but you only succeeded because of true magic. Tista's treatment took months since we lacked tier four magic, while Elina's would have gone badly if you acted alone.
'I'm really curious to see how much our abilities will improve once we learn how to listen to the life force.' Solus considered all the fifth year subjects amazing. They had managed to mimic tier five spells despite missing so many pieces of the puzzle. She was eager to see how far they could get after mastering so much knowledge.
Being the first day, they received no homework. It allowed Lith to go straight to the library and borrow books about the other specializations to copy them. During the fourth year, he and Solus had stockpiled an impressive number of tomes.
Every time Lith had spent the night practicing a specific spell, Solus would use that time to make copies. The information amassed in Soluspedia gave Lith an edge while studying most of the magic related problems.
Even if his understanding of the basics of each specialization was shallow, he could analyze each situation from different angles to find the best possible approach.
Lith decided to keep up the pace, using the time before dinner to work together with Solus and complete the first batch of copies. They could only borrow three books at a time and needed to return them before getting new ones.
Since they used water magic to control the ink, each page took barely a few seconds to be reproduced. The problem was that each book was composed of hundreds of pages. They worked on a different book each to make things faster.
'Don't you think it would be better to spend this time with your friends? Or at least with Phloria? You two only saw each other twice in the last three months.' Solus liked to be alone with Lith, yet since having a full free afternoon was a rare event, she would have preferred for him to socialize.
During winter, at night or whenever his family was away and he wasn't busy with clients, Lith had already spent countless hours studying and researching magic inside the tower. After his speech in Phloria's room, she had hoped Lith would be more considerate, instead of having her making the first move as usual.
'No.' Lith replied. 'This is a perfect opportunity to get some job done. If we manage to finish the three books early, we can visit them before dinner or spend the evening together. If we don't, we'll have to pull an all nighter, even if I'd prefer to sleep.
'I want to be at my peak condition for the first practical lesson of the Healer specialization. Besides, we still have to receive this trimester's books. The clerk should be here any minute.'
He could feel Solus's disappointment, so he rushed to add.
'It's not like we are hiding. If they have nothing better to do, they'll come visit us.'
Lith had barely completed the thought when they heard someone knocking on their door.
'See? This must be the clerk. Good thing we are here, otherwise we would have missed them and be forced to go fetch our package from the secretariat.'
'I bet this is Phloria. I hope she gives you a good scolding before dragging you somewhere nice for a date.' Solus cheated, using her mana sense through the door. Their guest had a bright cyan core and was very tall.
It was unlikely for a clerk to be so powerful, while Phloria fitted the bill.
They were both wrong. When Lith opened the door, he found Wil Ironhelm, the Professor in charge of the Battle Mage specialization, staring at him with an impatient look.
"Good evening, Lith. Mind if I come in?"
Lith was quite surprised. It was the first time a Professor came to his room and Ironhelm was the last one he would have ever expected paying him a visit. After Lith let him in, Ironhelm handed him a piece of paper containing a list of jobs.
Chapter 277 White Part 2
"Those are your available choices for the Code of Practice course." Ironhelm explained.
You start tomorrow and we need to know where do you want to be assigned. The rules are simple. Each day you have to pick a different duty.
"No repetitions allowed until the start of the following week. The Headmaster wants the students to acquire experience in as many fields as possible before graduating. I'm here to answer any question you may have and to offer you guidance."
Lith read quickly the list, noticing that each job was listed along with the maximum number of points the student could be awarded according to their performance. The jobs ranged from clerk for the Mage Association to patrolman.
"Why working as a Healer is not an option?" Lith found odd not being given the opportunity.
"Because it would be overkill. Like all students with a practical specialization, you are already scheduled to spend a good part of the third trimester working in the field. Code of Practice gives you the possibility to try out things that you normally wouldn't do." Ironhelm explained.
Lith nodded, simply selecting for the rest of the week the jobs granting the highest number of points in descending order. Ironhelm furrowed his brows, most of Lith's choices were identical to those of his colleagues.
Being the last year, everyone was eager to score the maximum number of points, no matter what. Yet very few had selected the first job on the list.
"Are you sure about this?" Ironhelm asked.
"Yes, I am. Is there any problem?"
"Kid, I understand you are in the top three and want to keep it that way, but maybe you should rethink your choice. This is the real deal. I know that Linjos kept you safe until now, be it in the forest or during the house calls.
"However, the Headmaster is only a man, he cannot guarantee your safety at all times. What good would points do you if you die?"
"If it's so dangerous why is it available?" Lith didn't budge, merely raising an eyebrow in annoyance.
"Because we didn't make this list, the Crown did. Academies are simply tasked with providing assistance, the final choice belongs to the student." Ironhelm scoffed.
"Thanks for your concern, but I have made up my mind."
Ironhelm shook his head. There were several things he would have liked to say, yet he remained silent. After inputting Lith's choices in his communication amulet, the Professor left the room.
'Are you sure about this?' Solus asked. 'What about our plan of being low key?'
'Too late for that. This is the final year, holding back is useless. I need to stand out as much as possible to acquire what I need and guarantee the safety of my family even during my absence. Besides, the Crown already knows about me.
'During the last year, I've spoken with the Royals more often than most nobles do during their whole lives. I have allies in the army, in the Queen's corps as well as in the White Griffon. Before I was a nobody. I had to build up things slowly while now I'm a rising star.
Even if I sit back and do nothing, a lot of people will try to get back at me for my success. As I see it, this is our only way out.'
***
The following day, the city of Xenatos.
Thanks to the Academy's Warp Gate, Lith crossed hundreds of kilometers in an instant. Arriving at the location of his first day of community service required help from a mage of the local branch of the Association.
Lith had never been there and time was of the essence.
'I still can't believe we are going to do this.' Solus sighed.
'What do you mean?' Lith laughed in response. 'It's our first opportunity to face normal human opponents instead of the wackjobs we keep meeting since we entered the White Griffon. Who knows? Maybe working as a member of a tactical team may be interesting.'
Walking through the Warp Steps, Lith found himself inside an abandoned warehouse. It was a run-down place, dust and cobwebs covered most of the surfaces. The only clean spot had been arranged as a debriefing room, with wooden chairs and a white board.
Lith could see the rough sketch of the layout of a building that was drawn on it. He counted three floors and what seemed like a basement.
Several men and women wearing military looking uniforms were assembled in a circle around the boards, their faces were tense. No one had weapons, but only because each one had a dimensional ring.
Their clothes were black in color, with the insignia of the local Lord's Household on their backs, shoulders, and heart.
They also wore metal protectors on the forearms, shoulders, and chest. Solus completed the analysis for him.
'Everything they wear is enchanted, but the quality is poor. The clothes are inferior to your old uniform. Only the zones also covered by protectors offer a decent defense.'
Being used to the Queen's corps, the Talons, and all the marvels of the academy, Solus had high standards.
'What do you expect? This isn't an elite squad, just a local police force. It must be the standard equipment. I could never afford my Skinwalker armor without the academy's points. How many mages?' Lith replied.
'Good question. All those present have red cores, except the woman on the second chair from the right, who has a green one, and the man on the first chair on the left. He has just a yellow core. She's probably a mage. Him, I'm not so sure. It depends on the power standards they use.'
Solus pointed at Lith a woman with chestnut hair in her forties and a black-haired man around the same age. Everyone in the squad had an expression difficult to decipher.
More than nervous, they looked like they were there because they had lost a bet.
"The first saddle has arrived, captain." A rough voice scoffed. Lith saw it belonged to the man with the yellow core, who spat on the ground with a disgusted expression. The woman with the green core glared at him for a second but said nothing.
'Saddle?' Solus was baffled.
'Probably an insult. I guess they consider students like me dead weight, or worse.' Lith didn't like being offended, but he could understand the man's feelings. Whatever they were about to do was a dangerous job and the police officers would be forced to keep an eye on the students too.
It would make their work harder and get back in one piece even harder.
"Nice to meet you, son." The captain offered Lith her hand, which he promptly shook.
"I'm captain Yerna of the Xenatos police force."
"I'm…"
"No names, son. We must judge only the performance, not the household." She said with a stern look.
"Since you are from the White Griffon, we'll just call you White. That's sergeant Khran, my second in command. Sorry for the cold reception. Today's task would be a run of the mill, if not for the fact that we are waiting for another student."
"Two rookies to the same unit?" Lith asked.
"Yeah, the other one belongs to the Fire griffon." Yerna nodded.
"Why did they send both of us here? It makes no sense."
"Thanks for your understanding, White. The problem is there aren't many missions that students can take part in without endangering themselves or the host team." She sighed.
"Which is exactly you are doing by being here." Khran stood up, walking toward Lith with a menacing expression.
Chapter 278 Red Part 1
"I know that for you nobles your points are much more precious than commoners' lives, but I'd like for your Lordship to realize that some of us may not come back to their families because of you brats.
"Captain, instead of wasting our time with niceties, let's see how much a waste of space he is. What's your status, Saddle?"
"I have a girlfriend. Don't know if she's the right one, though." Lith pretended to have misunderstood the question. Being obnoxious was a game two could play.
Seeing Lith's smug expression, Khran became red from anger. Some of the officers laughed at the joke.
"I don't give a damn about your love life. I want to know what can you do!"
Lith took a mental note that no one was defending him. Even the captain did nothing, aside from the occasional eye roll.
"His specializations are Forgemastering…" When Captain Yerna read out loud Lith's file, multiple groans and the sound of hands slapping a forehead or a leg in a fit of rage echoed through the warehouse.
"That's great, another one as useful as a third nostril..."
Yerna ignored Khran, raising her voice to cover the sergeant's whining.
"…and Healing. Back in his village, White was a hunter and a bounty hunter. Last year he survived Balkor's attack, went toe to toe with a Valor and lived to tell the tale."
Instead of wasting her time arguing, the Captain had decided to check her trainee's personal files from her data amulet. It contained an image of his visage to recognize him and all the relevant information for the mission at hand.
Many heads turned when they heard about the healer part, a few nods followed Lith's past as a manhunter, and clear disbelief accompanied the last sentence.
"His village?" Many echoed.
"Yeah, I'm a commoner, not a noble. I've worked very hard to get where I am." Since they showed him no respect, Lith was ready to pay them back in kind. His voice was cold while Death Vision showed him a series of gruesome deaths he had no intention of preventing.
"A healer from the White Griffon sounds nice." Said a brown haired man in his mid-twenties. For Mogar's standards he was tall and lean, with his 1.74 meters. Like all the men in the unit, he was perfectly shaven.
"I'm Huren Nacth, nice to meet you. Can you get rid of this scar? The ladies don't like it." He took Lith's hand in his own, making the request without a hint of shame.
"I could, for a price. It will leave you exhausted." Lith was amused by the change of attitude. The scar was long and deep, going from the lower half of the left cheek down along the neck.
"A healer is damn fine as long as they are trustworthy." Khran spat again.
"Every kid still attending an academy is a survivor, so there's no point in bragging about it. As for fighting a Valor, what kind of sick joke is that, Captain?"
"It's no joke." The Captain replied.
Yerna's words caused a small commotion. All the unit's members rushed behind her to read from the hologram projected by the amulet, but it was soon interrupted by the arrival of the second student.
He was a fifteen year old boy, 1.7 meters (5'7") high with blond hair and deep green eyes. The newcomer had the build of a soldier, rather than a student. Something in his confident attitude told Lith he had to be a lady-killer at his academy.
The Captain moved to his file, hoping for another pleasant surprise.
Alas, the student from the Fire Griffon was a Warden and an Alchemist. His only perk was having received some nondescript military training. Yerna clicked her tongue, turning off the amulet before moving in front of the board.
"Now that Red is here, let's wrap this up. Today's mission is very simple. We have to raid the drug depot of a local gang. It's a three stories building right in front of this warehouse.
"Thanks to an informant, we know the disposition of doors and corridors. We'll split into four teams of five. Two teams will break in respectively from the front and the back door while the other two will secure the perimeter to prevent anyone from escaping."
She pointed with her finger on the two entry points and then on the position of the windows on the first two floors.
"According to our intel, each floor should be lightly guarded. Expect a minimum of five guards but no mages. The organization we are against is notorious for being ruthless. Its men carry Fire Seeds with them and have no hesitation to blow themselves when captured.
Hence kill first and questions later. We are not taking prisoners."
Captain Yerna took a deep breath before addressing their guests.
"Remember that despite our targets do not have magical powers, they are likely to be well armed. Enchanted blades need one hit to rip to shreds a light armor and the one wearing it. They could also have Alchemical weapons, so never underestimate them.
Any questions?"
Lith raised his hand. Yerna nodded, giving him permission to speak.
"Do you plan on breaking in or for a stealth approach?"
"Stealth it's not an option. The doors could have magical traps or alarms and we don't know exactly how many people are inside. If we take it slow we would risk getting surrounded and outnumbered."
"I can detect and disarm magical contraptions. I'm a Forgemaster." Lith lied. Wanemyre had yet to teach him about those subjects, yet he was confident about succeeding thanks to true magic.
"And I can tell you how many people there are in the building and where they are positioned." Red said with a confident smile. "I'm a Warden and my family specializes in Life Detecting arrays. Speaking about my family, My name is not Red, I'm…"
"Happy to have you with us, kid." Captain Yerna used one hand to shook Red's right one and the other to shut his mouth.
"Today you are Red and you are going to be evaluated based on what you do, not on who your relatives are. Got it?"
Red nodded with a slightly annoyed look. Only then Yerna took the hand off his mouth.
"Good. I'm Captain Yerna, your commanding officer for today. He is Sergeant Khran, my second in command and he is White."
Lith and Red were still deciding what to think about each other when Khran handed them a black uniform and a communicator earpiece each.
"Welcome to the team, kids. There are no Griffons here, only members of this unit. Put on your uniform, so we can separate the good from the bad guys and you avoid getting shot in the back by friendly fire. You can change behind those crates."
"Thanks, but it's not necessary." Lith put the uniform inside the blue gemstone at his neck, allowing his clothes to shapeshift into a new form.
Red took step back from the surprise, while Khran took a wand out of his dimensional ring, pointing it against Lith's still morphing clothes. Its tip shined with a yellow light, allowing Lith to perceive the fire magic it contained.
'Must be the equivalent of Earth's service weapons.' Lith thought noticing a small red mana crystal set into the alchemical tool.
'Yup.' Solus confirmed. 'The crystals work as a cartridge. These guys must be good because a wand like that costs a pretty penny.'
Chapter 279 Red Part 2
"A Skinwalker armor?" Red was amazed.
"Your family must be loaded!" He ran behind the crates to change. Red didn't want to be the one slowing down the team.
"With the two of you, we can give the stealth approach a try. Change into something less conspicuous, so you can scout the building without drawing the attention."
A few minutes later, Lith was wearing his hunter clothes and studying the front door while pretending to be interested in the merchandise of a food vendor.
"Don't try to be a hero. If you are not certain of your findings or don't feel up to the task just say it." Captain Yerna's voice sounded in his ear.
'Solus?' Lith couldn't use Life Vision without scaring the cr*p out of the vendor. He still had to find a way to activate it without his eye glowing like small suns. Solus's mana sense was much more discreet.
'The front door is clean. No magic at all, if there is anything it's mechanical in nature. There are no arrays active, but I can sense something magical and powerful on the third floor.'
Lith bought some of the food, going into an alley to circle around the building. It was his first time in a slum of a big city. The alley was full of trash, forcing him to dodge rats eating rotten food while he walked.
Now that he could use Life Vision, Lith detected that aside from the animals the alley was empty. He could see the people inside the building through the wall, and no one seemed to be alert.
Lith used darkness magic to extend the shadows of the alley. It provided him a cover while he studied the back door from a safe distance. It also masked his glowing eyes, preventing onlookers to notice him.
"The front entrance is just a regular door." He reported via the communication earpiece.
"The back door, not so much. It's reinforced by some kind of earth spell, making it as hard as stone. The lock is booby trapped to turn into a skewer of ice whoever tries to pick it."
"Damn!" The Captain sounded really worried. "Not as easy as our intel told us. The front door is probably barred, if not even walled. Can you do something about those protections or do we need to abort the mission and request for reinforcements?"
"Didn't you read my file, Captain? I'm the reinforcements." Lith grinned.
After months spent studying the boxes and the countless attempts in breaking their locks without meeting a fiery death, the enchantments in front of him were barely more difficult than beating a monkey at a tic tac toe game.
"I already finished disarming them while I was talking with you. I counted not less than three people from the windows on the ground floor." With the channel open, Lith could speak but not listen, missing all the gasps and swearing that filled the control room at those words.
Lith could see several life forces down in the basement. They were too many and too weak to be guards, making him wonder what kind of mess he was walking into.
'Either there is a Warp Gate in the basement and they are moving a small army or these guys do not smuggle just drugs.'
On his way back he kept looking for windows, grates, anything that could give him an excuse to share the knowledge acquired with Life Vision. Lady Luck didn't smile at him.
When he made it back to the warehouse, Red had done his part. He was filling the blueprint on the board with red dots according to his readings.
"Your intel was completely off the mark." After listening to Lith's report he had given his best to impress his teammates as well.
"The first three floors are almost empty. There are only three people on the first floor, five on the second, and four on the third…" Red stopped abruptly, wiping off a red dot from the board.
"Three on the third floor. Someone just died. There are also at least twenty people on the underground floor. Are you sure this is really a drug depot?"
At that point, the Captain was the first to question her superiors' judgment.
"Not anymore. I need to call the Headquarters. No matter if the mission gets aborted or not. You both did great and I'll make sure to write it down in my report."
'I can't believe they flunked this so bad. We could have all died in there.' Yerna thought while conjuring a silence spell to prevent the following conversation to be heard.
After a quick call with her commanding officer, she was pinching her nose with her eyes closed, trying to contain her anger.
"I have good news and bad news. The good news is that the HQ agrees with us. This could be too big for a small squad, so they are sending reinforcements from the Association in case something goes wrong. They'll be here in a few minutes.
"The bad news is that since the hostiles are so few and there is such a high number of potential hostages, prisoners, slaves, whatever those people in the basement are, we have been ordered to continue the mission.
"They say our new objective is to prevent the hostiles from running away or get rid of the prisoners once they found out to be surrounded. The even worst news is that since the two of you have been so useful, you have to come with us."
'Still, not a big deal.' He inwardly sighed. 'The ones on the ground floor were just humans, right Solus?'
'Positive. Red cored humans with slightly above average life force. Easy to catch, easy to kill.' After spending so many years with Lith, Solus had little regard for human life. The only exceptions were those who she believed to be innocent or those she grew fond of.
"I have two more questions, Captain." Lith raised his hand again.
"Granted."
"Red, can you detect arrays? I don't mean to sound paranoid, but I'd prefer to avoid any more surprises." Lith was cautious of the content of the third floor, from which Solus perceived a powerful force.
It wasn't a problem for him since he was already on guard and his partner could warn him on time. What worried Lith was being the sole survivor of whatever threat they could find. It would raise too many questions.
"Yes. It's one of the easiest and fastest spells of a Warden." Red nodded.
"It's unlikely we'll find any. A temporary one would imply the presence of a Warden and I can't imagine a mage wasting their talent with these dregs. A permanent one would cost far more the whole building is worth."
"The same could be said for the back door." Lith pointed out. "I think…"
"Wait!" Red cut him short.
"Another person on the third floor just died and one of the two remaining life forces is fading quickly. What in the gods' name are they doing there?"
"Weapons at hand, everyone." Captain Yerna took out a sword and a wand from her dimensional ring.
"We are about to find out."
Chapter 280 Roll Out Part one
"I still have a question, Captain." Orders or not, Lith had no intention of charging blindly. Whatever was happening inside the building was of no relevance to him and so were the people in the basement.
He was there for the Code of Practice course, the only things that mattered to him were his own safety and the points.
"Just be quick, White." Captain Yerna snorted. "Red, keep me posted if anything else happens."
"Since the mission has changed, what are the new conditions to consider it a success?"
"Kid, do you think this is some kind of game? People are dying in there!" Lith could understand Khran's righteous outrage, yet he found it annoying anyway. The Sergeant was a commoner, probably of humble origins just like him.
Unlike Lith, he had dedicated his life to protect the weak.
'What an irritating guy, always preaching his own ideas. I had hoped for having left this kind of zealots on Earth.' Lith thought.
"So what?" Lith replied. "I took no oath, I'm no policeman nor hero. I'm interested in the mission, not in some nondescript ideal."
Captain Yerna grabbed Khran by the shoulder to prevent another outburst.
"We only need to get in and check the condition of those in the basement. If they are hostages releasing them takes priority. If they are soldiers, we can just blow them into oblivion before moving on the rest of the guards. Is it clear, everybody?"
The unit nodded in unison.
"Okay, then let's move. We need to be fast. There is no way to get to the back door unnoticed, so prepare for a warm welcome."
"Actually, there is." Lith waved his hands in the only fake magic he really used. He opened a Warp Steps leading straight into the alley, in the last covered spot before their destination.
Many people flinched in amazement. For non mages, dimensional magic was something straight out of a fairy tale.
"Today's our lucky day, people." Captain Yerna was grinning from ear to ear.
"Change of plans. My team and Khran's will take point and assault from the back. The rest of you will remain on standby until we check on the prisoners. On my command, surround the building. Red, with me."
The others followed her through the Steps. Each unit was comprised of five people, leaving ten officers in the warehouse to close the perimeter or act as backup in case of need.
"You really are a d*ck." Khran stopped for a second before stepping through the dimensional corridor.
"Yet the gods know how much I'd like to have one like you on every mission."
Once on the other side, the Sergeant conjured a shroud of silence around them before asking Red for an update.
"Another life force disappeared. Now there's only one person on the third floor."
"Damn!" Captain Yerna cursed. She had hoped it was some kind of internal strife, but three deaths in such a short time frame didn't fit the scenario.
"What about the guards on the ground floor?"
Red focused for a second, checking twice just to be sure.
"There are none right now, but someone is coming down from the second floor. One person."
"Arrays?" Lith asked.
Red handed to the nearest officer a red mana crystal he was using as a focus. Without it, casting another spell would cause him to lose control of the Life Detecting array.
"I can sense something on the ground floor. It's inactive at the moment." The unit inwardly cursed as one while Lith pondered on Red's words.
'This means that neither Life Vision nor Solus can detect latent arrays. I need to learn the array detecting spell as soon as possible.'
"What does it do?" The Captain asked.
"No clue." Red shrugged. "Never seen anything like this."
"Great. Let's finish this before we have to find out."
Yerna took out from her dimensional ring what looked like a clump of clay, sticking it to the wall near the door. It created a thin air dome, silencing the area within a ten meters radius.
The team entered the building, activating a new clump each time they neared the end of the air dome, generating a corridor of silence. It allowed them to speak and move while remaining undetected by the inhabitants of the building.
"At least the layout of this place is as we know it." Khran cursed. Maybe it was because he knew they were potentially stepping on a minefield, but since they had entered the house the Sergeant had an eerie feeling in his gut.
"The door to the basement should be on our right after the next corner. What about the person you mentioned earlier?"
"It's closing in slowly. It should come from there." Red was pointing to the left branch of the t-shaped corridor.
The Sergeant put a clump of silence clay on his hand while three members of the units aimed their wands in the direction from which they were expecting the enemy.
"Shoot only after I do!" Khran instructed.
The figure of a woman popped out of the corner. She was dressed in a brown sweater and cargo pants. Lith noticed she was young, couldn't be more than twenty years old. She was walking while spinning some odd handcuffs on her index finger.
Sergeant Khran generated a powerful gust of wind from his hand, propelling the clay towards the girl's face. Despite the surprise attack, she managed to dodge it by rolling on the ground, taking out a wand from the back of her pants.
She screamed for help, but the clay was never meant to do damage. Lith could see her lips moving without emitting any sound, like watching an old silent movie. The same happened when streams of lightning made her slam against the wall in a seizure.
Khan objective was a silent kill all along.
"Hren, take care of the body and clean the scene. Red, stay with him and warn Hren if anyone else moves." Captain Yerna tapped on her ear to remind him of the communication earpiece in case he needed to contact her.
The unit moved forward until the door to the basement.
"White?"
"Locked and enchanted." Lith replied using Invigoration to study it. It was a very crude pseudo core with only two mana pathways. Not strong enough to block someone determined to open it, but enough to slow them down.
"Seriously, what do you usually do when you don't have a forgemaster?"
"We mourn." Khran's reply didn't sound like a joke.
"Klaatu Barada Nikto." Lith's fake magic word generated several tendrils of darkness that made short work of the pathways. Without something to contain its energies, the pseudo core faded away with a crackling sound.
Lith took point to search for more traps, but there were none. The wooden stairway led them to a cellar six meters wide and ten meters long. Contrary to the run down look of the rest of the building, the room was clean.
Behind a simple steel grille there were over twenty people of different gender and age, laying either on the ground or against the walls. They were all shabbily dressed, their appearance suggested they had spent most of their lives on the streets.
Yet they appeared to be well fed and in good health. There was no trace of dirt in their clothes. The weirdness of the scene didn't end there.
Chapter 281 Roll Out Part two
Lith signaled to those behind him to stop, scanning the place with Life Vision.
'What the f*ck? I can feel the lingering presence of healing magic emanating from them. I can even smell traces of soap coming from their bodies. Someone has been taking good care of them, but why?' Lith thought.
'Maybe I can answer that.' Solus felt there was something terribly wrong there.
'All these people have only two things in common. Each one of them is older than twenty years and has at least an orange core.'
'What?' Lith was bewildered by her words. So many people and no one with a red core was something impossible to achieve by chance. Not coupled with their age. Twenty years was the threshold of a mana core natural evolution for non Awakened one.
"Is there something wrong?" Yerna asked.
"Everything is clear. The grille is just a grille. Why no one is trying to escape?" The more Lith looked at them, the more the cellar reminded him of pigpen instead of a prison.
Yerna walked past him, placing her hand on the keyhole turning it into an icicle before crashing it with her fist. She only needed to smell the breath of one of the prisoners to answer his question.
"Ophaz. They keep them dosed." Ophaz was the name of a plant from which it was possible to extract the drug her team had been following for weeks. At low dosage, it induced a feeling of euphoria while at higher dosage it caused the user to be in a catatonic state.
They would still be able to move and talk if interrogated, but their mind was clouded by the drug. They had no memory of themselves or will to fight.
"It's the latest form of slavery. Once you give someone the first dose, it turns them into meat dolls."
"Do you want me to cleanse them?"
"Gods, no. This is a blessing in disguise." The Captain shook her head.
"Best case scenario, they would freak out. This way they are meeker than sheep. It will only take one of us to get them to safety. Can you..?"
Lith sighed, opening a Warp Steps back to the control room. The prisoners moved sluggishly, mindlessly obeying the Captain's orders.
"What do you make of this, Captain?"
"Aside from a few exceptions, they are too bad looking or old to have any value as slaves, even for a fighting arena. Judging from the state of this place, they have been here for a while.
"Only the cost of the drug necessary to keep them meek for so long makes the whole operation unprofitable. They have been nurtured for some reason I'm unable to comprehend." She then ordered the units outside to lock the perimeter.
While Lith and the Captain were moving the prisoners, a couple of members of the unit performed a quick search of the cellar. They discovered a few small crates containing packets of drugs ready to be sold and several big crates.
The latter contained luxury furniture ready to be shipped.
"What the heck?" Hren was flabbergasted.
"One of these things is worth more than I earn in a year!"
"Seems we arrived just in time." Khran had a brooding face.
"Those people were the last batch of whatever they are doing. The ringleader has packed their stuff and is ready to leave."
Sweeping the first and the second floor took them less than a couple of minutes. With Red telling them where and how many their targets were, it was like shooting fishes in a barrel. At each floor, Red would always detect the same inactive array.
While moving through the various rooms and corridors, they could see that unlike the ground floor, the rest of the house was still completely furnished. Everything from the paintings to the tapestry was very valuable, but they were assembled with no taste.
It seemed a patchwork made by a color-blind art connoisseur.
'Ugh! I have never seen anything so tacky in three lives.' Lith thought.
'Whoever did this would put the Mona Lisa beside a Pollock, with some piece of junk modern art in front of them both. I'm no expert, but that's enough to deserve to be hanged.'
'Bad news.' Solus chimed in. 'I don't know if it's the same array Red sensed on the other floors, but there's one active on the third floor. I don't know its purpose, but I can tell you it's something powerful enough to blind my mana sense.
If not for Red, I couldn't tell you how many people there are up there.'
"Wait, something is wrong here." They were moving in a single column and Lith was right behind the Captain, making it easy for him to stop the unit's advance.
"I can feel the hair on my neck standing up." He lied. According to Mogar's superstition, it was a common phenomenon in presence of powerful magic. In reality, it was just a reaction in front of impending danger, completely unrelated to magic.
"I thought I was getting paranoid because it's all too easy." Yerna nervously touched her nape.
"What about you lot?" Fear spread like a disease, soon everyone shared the same feeling despite being calm until a second prior.
"Red, check the next floor."
"Gods protect me!" Red yelped after obeying the Captain's order.
"White is right, there is something very wrong here."
'Of course, I am. Right, Solus?' Lith inwardly grinned. She didn't reply, limiting herself to a retching thought.
"I don't know what kind of array we are about to face, but I can tell you this. It's very powerful, it spreads through the whole house, and it feels…"
Red extended his consciousness trying to probe deeper in order to understand the nature of their enemy.
"It feels twisted. The spell is rooted from the light element, but the magic flows backward. It's hard to explain." Red was now drenched in cold sweat, his stomach was twisted into a knot.
"Are you sure there's only one person left in the house?" Captain Yerna could feel the tension rising, her instinct was telling her to walk away.
"Besides us? Positive." Red nodded. "It's right in the middle of the last floor. Hasn't moved since I cast the spell."
"An array this powerful could make our numbers irrelevant. The hostages are safe, there is no reason to walk into a potential trap. Let's get out and wait for the reinforcements to arrive. This is above our paygrade. The Mage Association can deal with this much better than us."
They walked back along the silence corridor they had created, quickly reaching the ground floor again. A blinding light erupted from under their feet.
Red and Lith both understood what was happening. The former had studied hard to master such spell, the latter had already fallen for it once.
The teleporting array moved the whole unit in the attic on the third floor.
The entire floor was occupied by a single room, encircled by a dome made of light which pulsed with a rhythmical beat like it was alive.
"First you interrupt my meal, then you steal my food." The man speaking was the most handsome and the most repulsing that any of those present had ever seen.
"I won't let you go away without proper compensation."
Chapter 282 Unnatural Part 1
Saying that the attic was furnished would have been an understatement. Tapestry, carpets, even the chair the man was sitting on were embedded with precious gemstones the size of a nut.
Piles of coins and jewels were laying in random spots of the room as if a creature composed of living gold had a tour of the place while having a bad case of diarrhea.
A magic eight pointed star inscribed in a circle made of pure white energy encompassed the whole room. At each extremity of the star, there was a small altar made of white marble.
The surface of the altars was covered with runes that Red and Lith both would easily recognize as the same light magic runes that were empowering the array below their feet, if only they managed to take a single glance at them.
If they did, they would have also noticed that on some of the altars there were dried up bodies, while the others had their pristine white surface tainted by an ashen powder. All the corpses were dried up like they had been dead for quite some time.
Not even the fact that the body on the altar right in front of them was rapidly collapsing on itself, like it was a closed paper cup being sucked with a straw could make any member of the unit take their eyes off their unwanted host.
The man literally sitting in the middle of that mess was on paper the embodiment of perfection. 1.9 meters (6'3") high, with black hair of such a light shade to almost seem blue. His clear blue eyes were rested on a face that seemed to have been carved out by an artist in love with their own creation.
His muscular body almost bulged out of his tacky clothes, like he could tear them up simply by taking a deep breath.
Yet no man of the unit felt the tiniest tinge of envy nor any woman thought about anything outside pointing their weapons at him and fire them at will.
He was too perfect to be natural. Each piece composing his body was flawless, but more than a person, he seemed like a patchwork of different humans assembled together. There was no harmony in his features.
'That guy looks like the handsome brother of Frankenstein's monster.' Lith thought.
After a split second of stupor due to the teleportation array, Captain Yerna pointed her wand at the man, quickly followed by all the members of the unit. They didn't give orders or made demands, they simply shoot a barrage of fire, ice, and lightning bolts until the man was turned into an half charred half frozen corpse and the chair into a bunch of golden splinters.
'I have bad news and I have worse news.' Now that they were inside the array, its mystical energies didn't impede Solus's senses anymore. With everyone busy and Red scared out of his wits, Lith was free to use his skills to get a grasp of the current situation.
'I think I know what this array does.' Solus explained while Lith used Invigoration on the array and Life Vision on the man.
'It's filled to the brim with powerful energies, yet none of them belong to the unnatural man. My mana and life sense perceive at least nine different signatures currently coursing through the array. I think they belonged to the people on the altars.'
The unnatural man was lying on the floor, but no one managed to relax. Despite its owner death, the light dome was still on.
Seargent Khran tried to open the door, but the array also worked as a barrier, pushing him back with a jolt of light. Khran yelped in pain, the contact had badly burned his hands.
"Who the heck was that guy? How do we get out of here?" He cursed.
"Is, not was." Lith pointed at the body on the floor. "He is still alive and well." He could see how even after so many attacks, the body's life force was as strong as before.
'Exactly.' Solus continued. 'The array keeps slowly injecting those energies inside him. I don't know why, though. The transfer's not fast enough to be some sort of healing device.'
"Are you kidding me?" Khran scoffed while Hren helped him to drink a healing potion for his injured hands. "That guy is as dead as a doornail."
"Am I?" Said a silvery voice coming from the corpse as it tried to get up. A second barrage of spells stuck it before the sentence was completed, sending it sprawling on the floor.
'Let me guess, that was just the bad news. What about the worse news?' Lith was putting together all the pieces of the puzzle. The picture taking shape in front of his eyes wasn't good.
'The worse news is that the unnatural man seems to be a human Abomination hybrid.'
Her words left Lith speechless.
'Is he… like me?'
'Not at all. I can see two cores inside of him, a bright cyan one and a smaller black one. I believe that just like Kalla's, his second core is artificial.'
The corpse got on its back for a second time, getting blasted once again. This time no one stopped shooting until there was no charge left in their wands.
"We need to get out of here!" Captain Yerna wasn't scared. She and her people had gone through worse situations in the past, keeping her cool had always turned out to be the winning move.
"White, Warp us away from this sh*thole."
Lith didn't make her repeat herself, but the dimensional door shattered as soon as it was formed. A second attempt bore the same result.
"What's happening? Why it doesn't work?" Khran was starting to freak out, his voice rose of an octave.
"I have no clue." Instead of despairing, Lith placed both of his hands on the array. He was certain it was the root of all their problems.
"It's actually quite simple." The corpse of the unnatural man stood up from a pile of half molten jewels. Wands were once again aimed at him, but no spell was fired.
"Dimensional magic requires a perfect balance between al the six elements." The unnatural man explained while his skin and hair regrew at an astounding speed.
"This room is so filled with light magic that it makes impossible for a lowly human mage to find the balance necessary to tear up space. Don't blame the kid for his incompetence." He said with an amused look.
"Even if he managed to do it, it would take me a simple wave of the hand to disrupt his focus. As I said earlier, no one is leaving until I get compensation for all the losses you have inflicted me. Kneel!"
The unnatural man apparent kindness turned into a mask of fury. At his command, a new array overlaid with the already existing one. It increased the gravity of all those present by several folds, forcing them to fall on their knees.
Only two people weren't affected by the new array. Lith, who was already hands on the ground studying the room, and the unnatural man, who kept standing as if nothing happened.
Chapter 283 Unnatural Part 2
"Do you have any idea how hard it was to find humans smart enough to help me manage my business? How difficult it was to round up among the dregs of society the right ingredients for my path towards godhood? You…"
The ramblings stopped. Suddenly the extra gravity had disappeared and the unnatural man could feel a stinging pain in his abdomen, along with a sensation he had never experience before in his life. Nausea.
"You!" He screamed at Lith. While the others had jumped up on their feet assuming a defensive formation, Lith was still crouched. Several tendrils made of light and darkness came out of his body, tampering with the energy coursing below him.
The array's magic circle was distorted, turning the clockwork formation into a shoddy mess.
"Don't mind me." Lith replied with an innocent smile. "Keep talking, I was really caught up by your narration."
'It seems you are right.' Solus kept observing the alterations in the man's cores.
'The array is linked to his black core, feeding it of the accumulated energies inside the array. The black core absorbs and refines the energy before transferring it to the cyan one.
'It's an artificial version of Accumulation. By my maker, I can't imagine how many lives it took for him to reach a bright cyan core.'
'It was the only possible explanation for keeping those people prisoners.' Lith shrugged. 'He needs quality cores. That's why he fed and healed them. Probably he wanted them well ripened before squeezing them. So kind of him giving me a path straight to his mana core.'
"How dare you touch a dragon's treasure?" The unnatural man turned into a blur, charging at Lith while ripping to shreds all those standing on his path. Three members of the unit died without even managing to slow him down.
'A dragon?' That word along with the man's speed sent a cold shiver down Lith's back.
'I thought it was just some psycho, but to be so quick he must be able to use fusion magic. Why the heck an Awakened need this contraption? Could a dragon really have just a cyan core? It doesn't make sense.'
He didn't fear to fight another Awakened one, hybrid or not. Nor did he care about the rest of the unit, since they were dead the moment they would see his real skills. Lith was experiencing what all of his past opponents felt facing him.
The confusion deriving from not having a clue about what he was against.
The unnatural man jumped, extending towards Lith his hands that had turned into razor sharp claws.
'What an idiot.' Lith sneered while getting back up. By leaving the ground, the opponent had actually slowed down. Once in the air, fusion magic was useless and the trajectory was easily predictable.
Instead of freezing up in fear like his opponent expected, Lith took a side step. He then grabbed the arm while pivoting on his right foot, executing an overhead throw. Lith added his strength to the opponent's momentum, slamming him against the light dome.
'This guy has no technique, just brute strength. Revealing his abilities just to scare me is stupid beyond reason.'
'Why the throw?' Solus was confused by the turn of events.
'Because normally one can't be harmed by their own magic. Yet I think he is trapped as well as we are.'
The impact was strong enough to make the unnatural man penetrate into the light wall for a second. His flesh turned black while the energies trapped into the array reacted to the foreign body with a violent assault.
The unnatural man screamed in agony like he never did when the unit had showered him with tier three spells from their wands. The light dome pushed him away, making his body bounce on the floor writhing into spasms.
Lith didn't wait for him to recover, using wind, gravity, and spirit magic to toss him again against the wall.
'Bingo! The array is so filled with different energies that it's unable to recognize its master. I can kill him and not blow my cover. Two birds with one stone.'
Alas, the unnatural man had no intention to cooperate.
He roared with fury while his body covered with golden scales. Two membranous wings formed under his armpits, connecting his little fingers to the hips. The neck got longer while his face deformed into a long snout.
His nostrils dilated doubling their size, his open mouth now bigger than a manhole revealed the rage burning within. The following breath of fire turned everyone on its path into cinders, making even the gold piles boil.
When the jet of flames ended, the creature was over four meters (13 feet) tall, forced to bend over to avoid his head to graze the ceiling. His long tail whipped the air furiously, generating sparks whenever it briefly touched the array.
Lith was taken by surprise, managing to dodge at the last second only thanks to air fusion. Yet his right leg was grazed by the flames, not even the Skinwalker armor could resist such intensity.
Even using water fusion wasn't enough. The fire burned through the protective enchantment, covering the whole limb below the knee.
Lith's skin was no more, his burned flesh left exposed the burned muscles still throbbing in pain. Four more members of the tactical unit were dead. Only the mystical energies of the array had protected the room, leaving the wall and the floor pristine.
'That's not a man, that's a wyvern!' Solus clearly recalled Kalla's words during their last meeting. Magical beasts once Awakened would evolve into monsters. They could still have offspring, giving life to a new bloodline of creatures that wouldn't be Awakened ones.
He hid behind one of the altars, using light magic to heal his wounds.
The wyvern roared in outrage. By slamming into the energy wall first and by recklessly using his fire breath, a good chunk of the energy stored in the formation had been lost.
"I was so close! Curse you, human!"
Gadorf the wyvern was aware of being really close to a breakthrough. Even though he was no Awakened one, the black core he possessed gifted him with several powers.
The ability to absorb the life force of living beings, to detect the magical talent of those close to him, enhanced regeneration, and partial resistance to most elements. At that moment, the only person that Gadorf hated more than Lith was his own father.
It was because of his father's refusal of Awakening Gadorf that he had spent the last two centuries experimenting all kinds of forbidden magic. None of his experiments bore any fruit. Not until he met that arrogant, insufferable human.
It was only by becoming their test subject that Gadorf had acquired the black core and the Life Draining array. That human was obsessed with the idea of achieving eternal life through the Abominations.
After obtaining what he wanted, Gadorf would have gladly awarded them for their services with a swift death, but the Abominations serving the Master were too strong.
Chapter 284 Operating Room Part 1
Gadorf had met the Master only a few years prior. Unable to assume a human form, the only way he had to acquire new techniques and materials was stealing them.
Even if descending from the bloodline of an Evolved monster granted him the use of true magic on all six elements, the wyvern was still too weak to attack a major noble family or important merchants.
Gadorf had already nearly got killed multiple times after raiding small cities. The Association responded quickly to threats, sending several mages at once to deal with him. Gadorf managed to survive only thanks to his mastery of light magic and arrays.
In over two hundred years of practice, he had reached a level in those fields that very few mages could even start to comprehend. It was exactly because of his stubbornness that the Master had taken interest in him.
Fighting the Master had been a humbling experience for Gadorf. Despite their experience gap, despite them being a fake mage, Gadorf's defeat took less than a minute.
"You're lucky the Association put you on priority C until now." The Master wheezed. The fight had been brief, but exhausting for someone not used to fight like they were. Especially because they wanted to take Gadorf alive.
"Me? A proud dragon, just a C-lister?" Gadorf's rage made the ground tremble, but the array keeping him prisoner didn't even budge.
"A dragon? You?" The Master guffawed.
"Good gods, your ego is bigger than Lady Tyris's a*s! Don't tell me that's the reason this dump you call home is full of gold and pieces of art?"
Gadorf's reply was breathing fire with all the strength he had. The act almost resulted in suicide. The breath of a wyvern, just like those of a dragon, was neither normal fire nor a magical one.
It was a unique effect caused by the mix of their life force with the world energy, no mana was involved. It was a similar effect Balkor had developed for his Valors, allowing them to emit rays of darkness from their eyes, without them being affected by slowness that affected all kinds of darkness magic.
The downside of such powers was that just like a body can damage itself, so that kind of attack based on life force, no matter how little was employed, would harm the user as well as anyone else.
Gadorf's screams of agony only made the Master guffaw until small tears of hilarity streamed from his eyes.
"Conceited and stupid. It's a miracle you managed to survive this far. That's a good piece of news, Lizzie." The Master simply replaced the most consumed magic crystals with new ones. The array was back to full force in a split second, adding despair to the wyvern agony.
"I'm not a lizard!" He roared. "I'm Gadorf, son of Xedros the first wyvern! One day I will evolve into a dragon and feast on all those that belittled me. Be it you or my father, you'll end up the same way! Burned to death by my hand!"
"The good news, Lizzie…" The Master continued after silencing their noisy prisoner.
"...is that I believe that just like me, the gods don't play dice. We were destined to meet. My research can't go any further without a willing subject who allows me to study true magic, just like your pathetic daddy issues fueled quest can only get you killed if you keep acting on your own.
Our interests are aligned. If you stop with your temper tantrums, we can make a deal."
After summoning by their side an Eldritch Abomination to keep in check Gadorf's mood swings, the Master brought him to one of their labs. Gadorf was able to learn about Arthan's Madness and study its blueprints. The insane contraption turned out to be an endless source of inspiration for him.
Together, they developed the Life Draining array for Gadorf and some of the technology the Master needed to fuse together Abominations in a stable form.
"I don't get it." While sealed up in one of the Master's gene-tanks, Gadorf could still talk while daydreaming about how inflict to his partner in crime the slowest and most painful death possible.
"If you are already able to create artificial cores, why didn't you make one for yourself?" Gadorf was a prideful creature, to the point of considering even an equal partnership as a dishonor. He believed to have been born a ruler.
As such, stomping arrogant ants was his birthright and the Master was no exception. By defeating him, by subjecting him to all those humiliating tests, the Master had earned themselves a thousand deaths.
Alas, just like Xedros, the Master was too strong for him, yet. Gadorf could only suck it up and bide his time.
"Because I don't like the middle way. The method we have developed for you may turn you into an Awakened one, but then what? You'll get a little more powerful, live a little bit longer. I find your idea of turning into a dragon is nothing more than wishful thinking.
"You are already a wyvern, the very thought of someone as conceited as you becoming a Guardian is disturbing, to use a euphemism. Instead, if I succeed, I'll become an immortal being with no limit to my strength and none of the weaknesses that plague Abominations.
"Humans have stopped evolving for a long time. Awakening is just a palliative care. I'll bring the dawn of a new golden age for mankind. Imagine a world where a selected few, the truly brilliant and enlightened, can lead the masses without the threat of death, aging, or illness."
Gadorf had listened to that speech countless times. The Master's eyes always shone with a childlike enthusiasm that bordered madness.
"Sure, there will be collateral damages. Some people will be sacrificed for the greater good, but Mogar is full of idiots that do not deserve to live. Small minded cretins incapable of seeing further than their nose."
The rage transpiring from their words made Gadorf suspect that the Master was lonely, unappreciated, or both.
"You don't want to conquer the world?" Gadorf was flabbergasted. The Master was as powerful as short sighted.
'Power is the only requirement to rule over the weak.' He thought.
The Master laughed heartily at those words.
"You really are insane, Lizzie. I'm just tired of seeing good people die while the mediocre thrive. To see true genius go unnoticed or buried under useless paperwork that could be handled by lesser men.
"I only want to show humans their true potential, to cure the ultimate disease: death. I'm sure that despite their name, Abominations are as natural as you and I. They are the next evolutionary step, they just need to be perfected."
After acquiring his black core and practicing his new skills, Gadorf was eager to leave the Master's side. The next time they met, it would have been when he ripped the Master's still beating heart from their chest.
Or so Gadorf thought.
"Where do you think you are going, Lizzie?" The Master refused to call him by his name until the wyvern gave up his pretentious dream of becoming a dragon. Both had proven to be stubborn.
Chapter 285 Operating Room Part 2
"Away. I need food to evolve." Gadorf snarled.
"You really are an idiot." The Master sighed.
"Attack magical beasts and Evolved Monsters will kill you. Attack humans and mages will do the same. They are many while you are one. Not a particularly brilliant one at that."
Gadorf growled, but didn't reply. He had always picked on humans because he was scared of meeting Evolved Monsters. The wyvern had always considered the humans as the weakest link, yet their fake mages had almost killed him several times.
The Master was a human and a fake mage, yet had single handedly defeated him. Those words deeply wounded Gadorf's pride, yet their truth was undeniable.
"This lab costs money. Giving you power cost me a lot of money. This isn't a bard's tale where you get riches simply thanks to the writer's pen. If you want your 'food' and get away with it, if you want your gold, you've got to earn it."
The Master taught him how to feed only on the weak and the poor, those whose disappearance would cause no alarm, if not call for celebration. The Master also showed Gadorf how to alter his life force to assume a human form.
It was something called "Body Sculpting". Last, but not least, the Master introduced him to the criminal underworld. Someone like Gadorf, capable of opening illegal Warp Gates crossing hundreds of kilometers at once thanks to his arrays, of transporting people and contraband alike, was a money-making machine.
Drugs, fugitives, stolen goods, there was nothing Gadorf couldn't slip over the Griffon Kingdom's borders unnoticed. Even some of the most powerful noble families used his services to get to safety their endangered members, like the ex-Headmistress of the Lightning Griffon Linnea or Archmage Lukart did.
Thanks to their support and protection, his criminal empire had grown over time. The reports about his activities were constantly covered up or downplayed if hiding them was impossible.
Sometimes, leading figures of human society would use him to get rid of overzealous officers, like Captain Yerna, or to settle their grudges away from the Crown's eyes, like in Lith's case. Yerna's execution was already scheduled, Lith's was just the icing on the cake. An opportunity to kill two pests with one stone.
Gadorf needed food, they needed a killer, it was a win-win situation.
The wyvern gladly indulged in such favours. He would get powerful mages to feed on, together with huge sums. The only sour note was that half his profits ended in the Master's pockets, to fund their research.
'I would have already acquired a treasure worthy of a dragon, if not for that leech!' Gadorf hated sharing, but the Master kept him on a tight leash. A single Eldritch was enough to chase him to the darkest corner of Mogar and put him down like a rabid dog.
While Gadorf was assessing his losses, watching his treasures boil and his priceless furniture turn to ashes, Lith was back at his peak condition.
'Where the heck are the reinforcements?' He had no idea that those sent to their aid were of no threat to the wyvern, nor that they had been sent to the wrong address. One hand washed the other, and both hands washed the face.
'Who's left?' Among the smoke and flames, it was hard for Lith to see. Thanks to air magic, breathing was not a problem instead.
'You, Red, the Captain, the Sergeant, and the only two orange cored members of the unit. I suspect the wyvern did it on purpose.' Solus replied.
'No sh*t, Sherlock. We must be his full course. Time to go all out.' Lith actually had several attack plans, but none of his liking. The wyvern was bigger and stronger than him.
Between the fire breath and the tail ending with a talon-like extremity, Lith was tempted to curse at the unfairness of the match.
'Could as well got a broom up his a*s, so he can sweep the floor and kick my butt at the same time.' Lith focused on Solus's ring, making it grow until it covered his whole right hand.
Now it looked like a stone gauntlet with a yellow gemstone shining at the center of the back of the hand. Then, he used darkness magic to cancel his presence and fire magic to spread the smoke while making it thicker.
Thanks to Life, Vision Lith could easily see Gadorf through to smoke and circle around him waiting for the moment to strike. The wyvern kept turning his head, sniffing the air in search of his prey.
The array hindered his mana perception. Gadorf was sure to have left alive the right ones, but couldn't pinpoint their exact location. He tried multiple times to extinguish the fires and clear up the smoke, but someone was opposing him.
'I could force my way through, but this could be some kind of trap.' The resistance he felt made keeping control over the burning environment a tug of war of willpower. To prevail, Gadorf needed to focus. Such a focus would diminish his awareness of the surroundings.
'Bah, I'm overthinking. I have nothing to fear from some weak humans and unharmed kids.'
Lith felt his grasp over the smoke weakening and smiled for it.
'He is no Awakened, otherwise the smoke wouldn't hinder his senses. Finally a piece of good news.'
The moment the air cleared, Lith struck. He charged towards the wyvern's exposed back, his hands pulsing with electricity. Gadorf had centuries of battle experience, as soon as he smelled traces of ozone in the air, he reacted boosting his reflexes with air fusion.
His tail lashed toward Lith with the bone stinger aimed at his shoulder. The ritual required a living prey, not a healthy one after all. Lith took out the Gatekeeper bastard sword at the last second, boosting himself with fire, air, and water fusion.
The sword's appearing took Gadorf by surprise, while Lith's movements brought complete shock to him. They were too fast, leaving him no space do dodge. Too strong, cutting through his scales, flesh, and bones like a hot knife does with butter.
Too fluid, allowing his arms to move up and down like a slithering snake, amputating one chunk of flesh after the other. When Gadorf managed to pull the tail back, half of it was already painting the floor red.
"My tail! How? Why?" Had Lith cut it once, reattaching the two severed parts would have been a piece of cake. Now the wyvern's only options were to collect and reattach the pieces one by one or regrow the tail.
The latter solution would leave Gadorf drained. He didn't dare to leave himself more exposed to such a cruel sword.
"Why?" Usually Lith wouldn't talk. This time he knew his opponent was getting weaker by the second because of the blood spurting from the amputated extremity, while as long he was allowed to use Invigoration his energy was endless.
"Because this isn't a fight. This is just another operating room..." He infused the Gatekeeper with darkness magic, slashing the chunks of tail again.
"…and I'm the healer." Lith taunted the wyvern with his sword, while the flesh rotted at a speed visible at the naked eye.
"Curse you!" Gadorf charged in outrage, his blood boiling from fury, his hatred taking physical form, engulfing him with an armor of living fire.
Red and the surviving members of the team couldn't believe their own eyes. None of what was happening made any sense. Yet Lith's next move surpassed it all.
Chapter 286 Light and Darkness Part 1
From his first and only serious fight with Protector, back when he was still a child, Lith had learned an important lesson.
Be it while facing one of the Kings of the Trawn woods, an Abomination, an Evolved Monster, or a Valor, he had always stuck to it, never allowing his pride to blind him.
Even with an enhanced body, even despite all the changes he had experienced after the recent breakthroughs, Lith never allowed himself to forget that he was just human.
There were enemies whose fury and savagery he couldn't match, no matter how badly he wanted it. Instead of charging blindly like his rage demanded, like his opponent was doing, Lith kept his mind cold while his mana core burned with power.
He had to play it smart, eroding his opponent's strength until the tables were turned.
Gadorf had never been so furious in all his life. He had allowed a simple human hatchling to mutilate him. With his flesh now rotten, reattaching the pieces was impossible, the only choice he had left was regrowing it.
That was the exact reason why Lith had done it.
'He is faster and stronger than me, but without the tail his balance is all over the place. No matter if he prefers to keep his energies and wobble like a duck or to heal himself and exhaust his reserves. Either way he is dead.'
The stump had stopped bleeding, but Gadorf wasn't used moving, let alone flying without his tail and in such a confined space at that. To keep his balance, he ended up twisting his body multiple times, touching the edges of the array with catastrophic consequences.
Every time the array and the destructive spell engulfing him clashed, both would lose part of their power while waves of pain invaded the wyvern's body. Lith easily dodged the charge with a few side steps. When the left wing passed a few centimeters from him, he slashed down with both hands.
The blade cut through the light bone of the arm, lacerating the wing almost all the way to the wyvern's hip. The short flight turned into a tumble, slamming against the altars before crashing into the barrier again.
A new barrage of spells struck the wyvern's body, making him bounce back and forth against the dome of light like a pinball. Lith and the surviving members of the unit, even Red, were throwing everything they had, to pin Gadorf as long as possible.
Gadorf was almost in agony. The phantom pain from the tail was blinding, his left wing was being consumed by the darkness magic Lith had infused into the blade, and his back was sizzling like a steak forgotten on the barbeque.
Worst of all was his pride, shattered like it didn't happen from years. Yet the physical pain made him snap out of his fury. The wyvern was thinking clearly again. His survival instinct combined with centuries of battle experience allowed him to see how foolish he had been.
'I really am an idiot.' The Master's words echoed into his mind and for the first time the wyvern actually listened to them. Seeing that the kid with the sword was waiting for him to do something stupid again, Gadorf took a deep breath instead.
Lith rolled behind the closest altar, expecting another breath of fire and so did the others. Gadorf channeled light magic into his wing instead, wiping off the dark energies and healing the limb.
"I'm done underestimating you, human."
Despite his arrogant tone, Gadorf didn't like his odds. His body was too huge to move nimbly inside the array's closed space. Yet he didn't dare return to his human husk. Tier three and below spells could barely break his skin, let alone harm his scales.
The sword, though, was another matter entirely. His human form wouldn't be able to stand more than a couple of slashes from such a powerful weapon.
'That kid is too fast for a human. Could he be like me? In disguise?' Another sting struck his abdomen while Gadorf was lost in thought.
Lith was tampering again with the array, poisoning its energies and the wyvern along with them. Gadorf inwardly cursed at him, quickly weaving a barrage of ice spears while taking back control over the array at the same time.
Lith channeled fire fusion into the Gatekeeper, engulfing himself in a shroud of flames that turned the ice into steam. Gadorf looked at the sword with greed, before Blinking behind Lith and releasing a new stream of flames from his mouth.
'Oh sh*t!' Lith inwardly cursed, realizing that the opponent not only could use dimensional magic, but also true dimensional magic. His instincts screamed at him to put the sword away and Blink to safety, an action that would lead to his death.
Warp Steps had already failed him before, there was no reason to believe Blink would work any different. Also, without the sword, the difference in physical prowess would be crippling at such a close range.
Lith clenched his teeth while suppressing his muscle reflexes. His only option was to dodge.
Yet it failed. His legs were stuck to the ground, Lith found himself incapable of lifting a single foot. While the flames roared towards him, he needed only a glance to understand what had happened.
The energy of the array was wrapped around him like a leash, blocking his movements.
"Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. The array is mine! You are not the only one that can twist it to your whims!"
Lith didn't lose time wondering how the heck the wyvern could talk while hurling the stream of fire. He channeled water and air fusion into the sword, splitting the river of flames in two while generating a cold aura to protect himself from the scorching heat.
Yet he was too close to their source and the wyvern's breath too deep. The creature's flames had an intensity on par with the tier five Raging Sun that had almost killed him in the past. They broke through the aura first and the armor later, prickling at his skin like thousands of white-hot needles.
Lith's hair took fire, his skin was covered in blisters and burns despite the multiple layers of magical protections.
Captain Yerna didn't stand idle. She had attempted to contact the HQ multiple times, but the signal was jammed. Yerna had already used all the weapons she had with little to no effect. She only had one card left to play.
While the two monsters fought, she reached Red's side.
"Why are you staring at them like an idiot? Do something, now!"
"Me?" Red was almost frozen in fear, his mind replaying Balkor's attack in a loop.
"You are the soldier! You do something."
"Kid, I only know tier three spells that the army bestowed to me. The Sargent is just a magico stuck at tier two. Do you really think we can help? You are a Warden and we are stuck inside an array. Do your thing!"
Red cursed at himself. He had picked a potentially dangerous job to get rid of the fear and helplessness Balkor had etched into his heart. Yet just like during those days, he was cowering in fear behind others.
"It's going to take time."
"Then you'd better start now!"
Chapter 287 Light and Darkness Part 2
Before the jet of fire ended, Gadorf charged head first at Lith like a ram. Even with the flames still raging around him, fighting off the blinding pain with light fusion, Lith saw the wyvern coming at him and acted accordingly.
The heat had not only injured Lith, but also weakened his constraints. He could now let himself fall to the ground, holding the sword with both hands close to his chest. As he expected, Gadorf Blinked at the last second, keeping his momentum to strike at him from a dead angle.
It was what Lith would have done in his shoes.
With the back on the ground, however, he had no blind spots. The area was still shrouded in flames, Gadorf had no way to know Lith's exact position. His head only hit empty air, Lith rolled away as soon as the Blink happened.
Darkness energy coursed through the blade, grazing one of the wyvern's legs as he passed. It was just a scratch, but it affected Gadorf's already precarious balance, chipping again his life force at the same time.
The wyvern tripped on his own feet, crashing against one of the altars. The array protected and empowered it, giving Gadorf the impression of having hit a mountain. Lith was too weak, his battered body didn't allow him for fast movements anymore.
Charging at Gadorf was like asking him to Blink and put him out of his misery.
Lith lifted his sword again, using all the strength he had left to stab the ground, unleashing all the accumulated darkness magic into the array. The wyvern felt like his body was being torn into shreds.
The array was like an IV of life force dripping straight into his core. If Lith's previous tampering felt like someone messing with the needle, now it was like venom had been injected into it.
"What the f*ck are you?" Gadorf yelled, writhing in pain.
His words made no sense to the survivors. Their knowledge of magic was so limited they thought Lith's performance was thanks to his training and equipment. They had no way to understand the number of layers the fight was taking place on, nor the amount of energies which had been expended with every strike.
Gadorf himself only understood that Lith was capable of using true magic, but Life Vision and Invigoration were beyond his comprehension. At that moment Lith was using his breathing technique not to heal his wounds, but to keep a steady flow of darkness magic through the blade, shaking the array to its foundations.
The wyvern roared, realizing his chances to breakthrough to the next level were nigh zero. Best case scenario the array was damaged, worst case scenario it was poisoned.
Gritting his teeth Gadorf conjured his strongest attack, the tier five light spell Purge. His eyes were fixated on Lith while the whole room was filled with streams of light of different colors, resembling an aurora borealis.
Then, everything went black. Agony blinded his mind while a small icicle physically blinded him.
"Forgot about me?" Captain Yerna's voice sounded from his right side. Between the pain from the array and his attention focused on his opponent, Gadorf had really forgotten about the insignificant ants.
Yerna had managed to circle around him, waiting for the moment to strike. Her spell was too weak to change the course of the fight unless it hit a critical spot. Compared to the scales, the wyvern's eyes were soft.
With his concentration lost, Purge was dispelled. Another ice dart was aimed at the remaining left eye. Gadorf only needed to slightly tilt his head to make it harmlessly strike the scales instead. The wyvern was enraged once more, on the brink of losing its mind again.
The wyvern roared, Blinking behind the officer that had just shot from his wand, decapitating him in a single bite. He disappeared again, materializing in front of Sargent Khran, his mouth already opened.
Gadorf hated wasting so much energy, but without the tail and an eye, moving normally would mean becoming a sitting duck. Knowing what was about to happen, Khran inwardly cursed while raising his arms over his head.
His last act wasn't a futile attempt of protecting his life. Khran was aware he wouldn't see ever again his wife or children. Gadorf's fangs effortless bit off his upper torso, swallowing it in one gulp.
What the wyvern didn't know was that inside the Sargent's hands there were the broken extremities of his wand. The damaged alchemical tool went haywire, the wild energies it sealed quickly reached the magical stone, releasing all of its power in a small conflagration.
Lith ignored the screams around him, focusing only on two things. Following the wyvern movements with Life Vision and corrupting the array as fast as he could. The energies seeping into the black core were corroding it instead of nurturing it.
Once the black core filtering them was destroyed, the life forces contained into the array would directly reach the wyvern's true core, destroying it.
The explosion caught both Lith and the wyvern by surprise. Gadorf's innards were strong enough to withstand the blow, but not without taking damage. The wyvern coughed smoke and blood, trying to breathe.
It was the first real opening since the fight had started, yet Lith stood still.
'Without dimensional magic, to get there I'd have to fly. Rather than making myself an easy target, it's better to keep weakening him. If he is able to cut off his pain receptors like I'm doing, he could ignore his wounds and crush me the second I'm within his reach.'
Like they were sharing a mind link, Gadorf used darkness magic to stop feeling pain. He Blinked right above Lith, to squash him with his weight. The talons on his feet were longer than twenty centimeters (8 inches) and harder than steel.
The wyvern slashed downwards with his legs, their longer reach prevented Lith from raising his sword and impale him. He had no time to adjust his position, standing there meant having his arms torn or worse.
Lith rolled away, but the talons still managed to open deep wounds on his back, from the clavicle to under his rib cage. Blood spurted all over the wyvern's body, filling him with renewed confidence.
Gadorf pushed forward to not lose the advantage, following the prey closely. Lith couldn't expose his back anymore, so he turned around, slashing randomly with the Gatekeeper to keep the monster at bay.
Lith's swordsmanship was already bad to start with. Now that his arms were weakened by the wounds, Gadorf had an easy time grabbing it in mid air and ripping it from Lith's hands in one fluid movement.
Contrary to his expectations, the brief contact welcomed him into a world of hurt. The sword had been infused with light magic, granting it healing properties. The spell Lith had imbued it with wasn't meant to treat any injury, only to reconnect the severed pain receptors.
Gadorf lost his grip, throwing the sword as far as he could. His throat was back to burning so bad that every breath was agony. Every time the ice shard piercing his eye moved, the pain would make his vision go blank.
Suddenly Gadorf couldn't breathe nor see. He fell on his knees trying to control the spasms and shut down the receptors again. The wyvern regained his sight just in time to see Red completing his spell, turning the world around them into shards of light.
Chapter 288 Call Part 1
After Captain Yerna's wake up call, Red was forced to bet everything on a desperate gamble. The members of the unit were dying like flies and despite his outstanding equipment, there was only so much White could do against a wyvern.
The Captain had asked him to do his thing, but there was actually a single option in his arsenal. Countering an unknown array was almost impossible, the only thing he could do was to identify its key points and use them to bring it down.
Destroying an array was always risky, even more if you were blocked inside it. It meant twisting the energies coursing through the formation into chaos, turning the mana flow against itself until its structure collapsed.
The stronger the array, the greater the risk for the consequences to be literally explosive. The only perk of the Disarray spell was to be relatively quick compared to most Warden incantations.
'If it works I may die, but if it doesn't I'll die for sure. Here goes everything!' Red thought.
The only silver lining was that, based on his previous analysis, the array seemed to be based on light magic, hence probably harmless.
Probably.
The word echoed in his mind while the Life Draining array shattered, freeing the prisoners from their cage. The life force released formed wisps of light, the intensity of which made it almost impossible to see.
The surviving member of the unit jumped off the nearest window without hesitation, quickly followed by Red. While their uniforms could easily protect them from the fall, the same could not be said against an angry wyvern.
Their escape almost had a tragic ending, since their colleagues surrounding the house had been spooked by the explosion of lights. Not receiving any response from the Captain for several minutes, they had requested for back up and were expecting the worse.
The sudden explosion made them trigger happy. A few of them shot at their falling comrades before seeing the black of their uniforms.
Meanwhile, Gadorf was panicking. The array had been dispelled before the link between the magic formation and his mana core could be severed. What was meant to be his instrument toward godhood was now a gaping hole in his cores.
He had the means and the knowledge to mend the damage, the Master had foreseen for such an eventuality to happen. The black core served both as a filter for the foreign energies and as a plug.
The problem was the contingency plan had been devised for the case something went wrong during the casting of the array or the assimilation process, not to be used in dire circumstances.
Gadorf was heavily injured, most of his mana spent. Not to mention he had no doubt that the monstrous kid wouldn't let him cast a new array and perform several healing spells while standing idle.
"Come on, White. Let's go!" Captain Yerna was still there. White was just an unknown temporary member of her unit, but she had seen too many good people die in a single day to leave someone, especially a kid, behind.
Lith's body was battered, covered with so many first degree burns his skin was nigh red rather than pink. Life fusion had partially healed the haemorrhage on his back, but it was still bleeding.
Now he could Blink again, the problem was he had enough strength just for one last trick and movement spells inflicted no damage.
'Leave no loose ends.' His mind kept looping. The wyvern knew.
The wyvern had to die.
Invigoration was off the table. The moment he focused on the breathing technique, Gadorf could still Blink. Even if Lith knew exactly where he would appear, the wyvern had proved to be too fast even for his enhanced reflexes.
That when his body had yet to become a bloody mess.
Hearing Yerna's voice triggered Gadorf. His blind eye was a constant reminder of what underestimating her could cause. Following his mana perception, the wyvern cast a stream of lightning with his left hand while charging up a breath to intercept Lith the moment he came to the rescue.
Seeing the air crackle, Yerna cursed at the monster before taking cover behind an altar, still refusing to leave. Even without the array, the marble was unaffected by the spell.
Contrary to the wyvern's expectations, Lith didn't move an inch. His eyes kept staring at his opponent while his hands weaved and amplified a spell he was too weak to cast with his mind alone.
"Damn you!" Gadorf cursed again. The woman clearly had no value as a hostage. The realization shattered his hopes to use her to stall for time and save his cores.
His time was running out, he could hear the escaped officer yelling about the need of sending reinforcements. Gadorf was left with one choice. The energy from the Life Draining array was still lingering in the room and there was still more than enough to overload his core.
Remembering the Master's words, rather than death Gadorf preferred to join the ranks of his Abominations. That was the black core's last trump card.
Just like Kalla's blood core made it easier for her turning into an undead, the artificial black core was supposed to greatly increase the wyvern's chances of successfully turning into an Abomination.
Gadorf used the last of his magical strength to collect all the energies and forcefully inject them into his body. Suddenly he was full of vigor, the missing tail and the pierced eye didn't bother him more than a scratch would.
His rage and pride were replaced by a quiet hunger while his physical body started to crack under the massive pressure coming from inside. For the first time in his life, Gadorf felt at peace with the world.
His path was now clear in front of him, neither Lith or his father meant anything. The only sour note was that until he learned how to control his new body, magic would be out of his reach.
"I'll need a lot of life force to complete the transformation. It's a good thing Xenatos is such a populous city." Gadorf's tone was relaxed, but he was actually focused. With his new senses, he could perceive that Lith's spell was a darkness one.
"Since the two of you pushed me this far, it's only fair for you to become the foundations of my new life." The wyvern smiled softly while his flesh crumbled.
Such a spell was useless against him now that he was back at his prime. Darkness magic was the bane of undead and Abominations alike, but even the most powerful sword was useless if it was unable to hit its target.
Gadorf bolted toward Lith, lured by the light of his cyan core like a thirsty man by a gushing fountain. He moved in a zig-zag pattern, making impossible to predict his trajectory.
The wyvern was so fast that he had barely the time to notice that the young mage was uncaring for the evasive maneuver. Lith just focused all of his strength on his right hand.
His right bare hand.
'Didn't he wear a magic gauntlet? Where has it…' Even if he had realized it earlier, it would have been useless. Back when he had ripped the Gatekeeper from Lith's hand, Solus had followed suit, suppressing her energies behind the sword's waiting for an opening.
Chapter 289 Call Part 2
While the wyvern wasted his movements, the sword flew in a straight line held and empowered by Solus, whose senses allowed her to pinpoint her target with surgical precision.
Infused with air magic, the Gatekeeper struck a split second after leaving the ground where it lied in ambush. The blade went through and through, adding its own momentum to the wyvern's to drag him to his demise.
Lith unleashed the darkness spell while Solus acted like a lightning rod, guiding it to destination. Their lives were linked and so were their energies. Manipulating Lith's spells, even from a distance, came natural to Solus like thinking.
"There's two of you?" There was no rage in Gadorf's last whisper, only surprise.
His cores were already weakened from the continuous poisoning Lith had inflicted them and the stress the metamorphosis caused. The first wave of darkness was enough to wipe them both away, turning the wyvern into a bad memory.
The sword disappeared into the glove and the glove shapeshifted back into a ring before returning to Lith's finger. When Yerna came out of her hiding spot, it was already over. Everything had happened in just a few seconds after the lightning struck.
"A little help here." Lith was sitting on the ground in a small pool of his own blood.
The Captain had no idea what had happened, yet it didn't stop her from applying first aid at the best of her capabilities. The wounds were too extensive, they required tier four healing magic. Stopping the bleed was within her reach instead.
"The monster?" She looked around nervously, expecting it to jump out from the shadows.
"Dead. That lightning was his swan's song." Lith lied, pointing his finger to the few scales still in the process of turning into light.
"Seems his life and the array were connected. Red saved our lives."
"Saved our lives my a*s!" The Captain cursed. She knew it was unbecoming of an official and didn't care one bit at the moment.
"Even if what you say is true, it means that if instead of chickening out he had acted earlier, half of my team would still be alive. Khran would still be alive!" Yerna had yet to come to terms with the massacre of her unit.
"You are crazy, instead. Tampering right off the bat with an unknown array and holding your ground like a madman." She wanted to scold him, but found herself unable to.
"The good kind of crazy. Red or not, I'm going to write in my report that if it wasn't for you, we would be lying on those altars, waiting for that crazed monster to turn us into dried meat. That and the fact we've been set up."
"Set up?" Lith raised his eyebrow in interest.
"Yes, even if I have no proof, I'm certain of it. Too much of our intel was wrong. The support was supposed to be on stand by, yet never arrived. Too many things do not add up. It's likely to be all my fault. I stepped on too many entitled toes during the last years.
"I'm ready to bet my next two months' pay that everything will be covered up. Some minor bureaucrat will be fired, all thoughts and prayers to the victims, but in the end, nobody will be held accountable.
"Those rich b*stards always get away with everything." Rage and sorrow cracked her voice.
"Gods, so many people have died today. Good people. What I'm going to say to their families?"
Lith didn't know and didn't care.
"I'm not much for justice…" He took out his communication amulet.
"but revenge, is something I respect. It's time to see if my pin is worth its troubles." Lith called what he thought being his most powerful ally. He had no idea if the real target was him or the Captain. Either way, Yerna's reasoning was sound.
Someone had to pay.
The royal constable Jirni Ernas was surprised seeing Lith's identification rune, he never called her before.
"This better be imp… What happened to you?" Lith looked like a burning building had just collapsed on his head, yet Jirni knew he could shrug off such a trivial event without a scratch.
"Murder attempt. I've been set up during academy duty." Lith used the same tone anyone would use to talk about the weather.
Jirni liked him more every time they spoke.
'Calm and collected, like a professional.'
"Tell me everything."
"One moment." Lith gave the amulet to the captain, who didn't know how to react.
"Ma'am, your son is safe and sound. I can't tell you more and neither should he." Yerna threw a mean look at Lith.
"Today's events are likely to be classified, I'm really sorry."
Jirni found the situation hilarious, yet she just smiled warmly. Unlike Lith's standard issue communication amulet, her own was capable of forwarding and registering conversations, among many things.
She shared the call with Linjos and the Queen, before making the proper introductions.
"Don't worry, Captain Yerna." Her amulet's facial recognition program had already uploaded the Captain's personal file along with all the relevant information about her career.
"I'm not his mother. I'm the royal constable Jirni Ernas. Give me a detailed report of what happened. Start from the beginning.'
***
"A wyvern?" Linjos was shocked, the Queen merely amused.
"What are your orders, your Majesty?" Jirni asked.
"Go to the precinct, interrogate everyone thoroughly. Find who is behind this attack and why it happened." Queen Sylpha was wandering how valuable could it be a mage who faced a Valor first and an Evolved monster later and lived to tell the tale.
"It won't take long." Jirni was on her way since the Captain had finished her report.
"Once I find them?" It wasn't a matter of 'if' in her mind, only of 'when'.
"Search their homes, interrogate them very thoroughly and once you are finished with them, kill them all." The only answer that came to Queen's mind was 'priceless.'
"Something slow and flashy. I want to send the message that the Crown is not to be trifled with. Just to be sure to hit where it really hurts, strip their families of all their wealth. Half for the Crown, the other half to split between the academies involved. Make sure the families of the victims get properly compensated."
***
'Well, not bad for just an hour of work.' Lith thought once he was back at the White Griffon academy. There was still one hour and something before the beginning of the next lesson.
Arriving at Xenatos, listening to the debrief, and scouting the place had taken them half an hour. The assault at the building lasted less than ten minutes, the rest of the time had been lost receiving first aid.
'I could have healed everything by myself, but since normal people need hours to regenerate mana or life force, it's better not to show off.'
'The plan worked like a charm.' Solus thought merrily. 'My new powers grant me much more versatility. I'm still a yellow core, but I can pull my weight now.'
It was her first time killing someone, yet she couldn't care less.
Chapter 290 Scanner Part 1
The Skinwalker armor had more holes than swiss cheese, but it was perfectly functional. The problem was repairing it required time or mana. Alas, Lith had a shortage of both.
Luckily, the Warp Gate (*) brought him straight from Xenatos to Linjos's office, where Manohar, Vastor, and Marth were waiting for him.
Marth was there to heal his wounds while Vastor replenished his life force. Manohar was attending out of curiosity. He seemed to find the story of the wyvern and his mysterious array quite fascinating.
Lith reported to them the events, replying to all their questions about the nature of the Life Draining spell being careful to not blow his cover.
"Fascinating!" Manohar listened to every detail like they were sweet words from his beloved one.
"Wyverns are also known as pseudo dragons or lesser dragons. Never use those terms in front of them. They consider it a racial slur, just like the word 'lizard'."
"Bah!" Vastor scoffed at Manohar's childish enthusiasm. "I have yet to meet a single dragon and even if they exist, they would still be lizards. A wyvern is even worse, it's just a lizzie."
"A what?" Lith asked.
"It means a lizard with an inferiority complex." Marth explained.
"It's how we members of the Queen's corps refer to wyverns when they are not within earshot."
"Wait, you are members of the Queen's corps?" Lith was flabbergasted. Vastor looked more like a chef than a fighter. Marth closely resembled one of his high school teachers. As for Manohar, he was Manohar.
It was an inhuman task just to imagine someone willing to fight beside him without being given the opportunity to strangle him on a regular basis.
"We are. Don't underestimate me because of my well-fed exterior." Vastor patted his large belly to emphasize the point.
"Every element is deadly. It all depends on the user. Also, there is no one mad enough to walk into a fight without a true healer. After you experience enough battles, even if you start as a total rookie, you are bound to pick up a few tricks along the way."
"Indeed. Until wars and illnesses exist, healers are like breathing. Something annoying that you can't live without." Manohar nodded in agreement with Vastor.
"Back to the lizzie's topic, I wonder what the array did for him. Beasts use a kind of magic completely different from ours. Maybe we could have learned something by comparing a human and a beast array."
"Unlikely." Vastor scoffed again while checking Lith's vitals.
"Surely it was something idiotic. It cost him his life."
"Today I find myself agreeing with you often, my mildly esteemed colleague." Manohar nodded again.
Vastor took the unintended insult gracefully, barely dilating his nostrils in annoyance.
"How do you feel?" Marth had just finished regrowing his hair.
"Tired." Lith replied.
"You don't say, Lith." Vastor gave him a hospital gown to wear over his tattered clothes.
"The first lesson of Body Sculpting will be a simple one, but you still need mana. Let's go to the hospital and find you a bed. You can rest until your companions get back from their chores."
A Warp Steps brought them to destination.
"I'm really proud of you. It's amazing how much you have grown as a mage in a single year." Vastor said while Lith was tucking himself inside one of the beds in the VIP wing.
"Yet I feel forced giving you an unsolicited piece of advice. Being under the spotlight feels good, I know it very well. Sometimes it's better to keep a low profile, though. Otherwise the wrong kind of people will take interest in you.
"At that point, being a healer will become a hobby, a cover story at best. Small or big, there is no country that isn't constantly looking out for a Highmaster." Vastor sighed deeply.
His eyes went out of focus, Lith's enhanced instinct could sense that the Professor was being overwhelmed by bad memories.
"That's how the Griffon Kingdom calls them." Vastor mistook Lith's curiosity about his past for confusion about the unknown term.
"The Gorgon Empire prefers the term Ravager while the Blood Desert calls them Starkiller. No matter the name, they are all the same. Mass murderers with a badge."
"I thought War Mages and Wardens are the real backbones of an army."
"They are." Vastor nodded. "Highmasters rarely take part in a war. It's too risky. They either start or end it."
A long silence befell between the two men, while Lith mulled over the Professor's words.
"This time you had no choice, but the next time you attend a party, do not show off that much. Otherwise when you get to my age, you'll have a lot of regrets." Vastor closed the curtains around the bed, giving Lith shade and privacy.
'He's a man full of surprises.' Solus said.
'Indeed. The real question is: is he worried about my future or rather that someone recruits me before he does? There is no such thing as a free meal.'
'Your paranoia it's disheartening.' Solus pouted. 'Can't you just accept someone's kindness at face value for once?'
'My paranoia is one of the reasons I'm still alive.' After all that had happened that day, Solus had no argument to refute his logic.
***
When the first gong woke Lith up, most of the damage sustained by the Skinwalker armor was repaired. It took him a bit of mana for the finishing touch while using Invigoration to recover his strength.
His body was in perfect condition, but his mind was still sluggish.
'The Skinwalker amor's self repair speed is much greater than the uniform's, yet it's still not enough. I better recover at least half of my mana. No matter how simple the lesson can be, I don't want to suffer a headache the whole time.'
Professor Vastor was waiting at the hospital's entrance for the students to arrive. He led them inside a small laboratory that had been rearranged to be used as a classroom. It contained sixteen desks, each one with a sealed fish tank on it.
After the students took their places, Vastor snapped his fingers. Inside the tanks now there was what appeared to be a cake shaped gelatine. They were all identical, each one was a translucent, colorless mass with no distinguishing feature.
Only when the 'cakes' started to move around, looking for a way out of the fish tanks, some of the youths realized what was in front of them.
"Is this a slime?" Yurial asked pointing at the thing that was slowly climbing the glass, until it was hanging upside down from the top of the tank.
"Yes. Ten points to Yurial for his expertise." Those that had recognized the creature too but hesitated to express their mind, silently cursed at Yurial.
"The first part of today's exercise is to learn the Scanner spell which detects the subject's life force, and then use it on the slime in front of you. These creatures have the simplest life force pattern known to man, so I expect it shouldn't take much for talented students like you to get accustomed to it."
"What's a slime?" Lith asked. He had never found a trace of them in any bestiary he had purchased, nor met any during his hunts.
"Excellent question." Vastor nodded while throwing a mean look at those that were sniggering behind Lith's back.
Chapter 291 Scanner Part 2
"Even if can be dangerous if let grow unchecked, a slime is not a monster. By definition, a monster is a sentient creature that naturally harbors hostility towards mankind.
"Despite having the intelligence and the means to communicate, monsters see us as we do with cattle. That's why magical beasts are not considered monsters, because they are capable of understanding human speech and cooperate with us.
"The same applies to Evolved monsters that are called as such simply because they don't resemble animals anymore and because we humans need to put tags on everything.
"The slime is not a monster because it lacks both sentience and hostility. It's a mindless natural scavenger that preys mostly on small animal carcasses. The more they eat the more they grow in size, until they split generating two individuals that are the exact copy of the original one.
"Some researchers even hypothesize that all existing slimes have spawned from a single one over the millennia, but I digress. What matters to you for this exercise, is that all the slimes on your desks are identical and we have more to spare.
"So even if you mess up, you can get a replacement."
A snap of Vastor's finger made a slime appear on the desk in front of him. He quickly cast Scanner, making the slime deflate while its fluids spread inside the tank
Some students shuddered, imagining the same thing happening to a human patient in front of them.
"Is the Scanner spell harmful to the patient?" Lith asked.
"Ten points to Lith for his scientific curiosity and admirable work ethic."
Once again, each assigned point was a knife in the heart of those that despite having the same question didn't ask it, fearing it was a stupid one.
"No, it's not. However, some students get carried away in excitement and attempt to manipulate the life force with messy consequences."
At that point, Vastor taught them Scanner. Less than five minutes later everyone had mastered the spell and were using them to study their own test subject.
"Professor, my slime keeps moving around. Is there a way to hold it still?" Asked a boy.
"Sure, you just have to kill it." Vastor replied with a sneer.
"Do you expect a heart to stop beating or the blood to stop flowing to make your life easier? Consider the slime as an involuntary muscle."
Lith was amazed by the slime's composition. Despite being liquid looking, once seen through the Scanner spell it actually resembled a stack of gelatinous lego bricks. To move they would slide along each other, swapping their position like a treadmill.
Each brick emitted a red pulsing light that defined its contours, its individual vitality, providing a living map of the whole creature. Even if the bricks appeared to be capable of independent movement, after further examination Lith noticed a red pathway connecting all the nearby bricks.
He then used Invigoration to compare the two skills.
He hoped that just like clothes, the thin barrier between the slime and his hand wasn't enough to block his magical sense. Through Invigoration Lith could sense the creature's life force, its feeble mana flow, but no life force or any organ.
To Invigoration the slime appeared like a huge single-cell organism.
'Seems fake magic just beat us this time.' Lith was amazed and kind of frightened by the discovery that even Invigoration had limits.
'For now.' Solus eased his paranoia with her soothing voice.
'We can always master Scanner and evolve it into true magic. Also, who knows? Maybe it can teach us new ways of using Invigoration.'
Lith inwardly nodded, going back to use Scanner, but this time on himself to better comprehend what the spell was showing him. Unlike Invigoration, Scanner was unable to provide full-body imaging.
Everything appeared as a red blur until Lith focused his attention on his arm and then on his hand. Now he could see the muscles, the bones, the blood vessels as well as the nerves surrounding them.
Yet he visualized them as red lego bricks too. Some were smaller, others bigger, but all were connected by multiple glowing red strings the complexity of which made him dizzy. It was like studying a 3D railway map made with an erector set.
The intricacy of a single of Lith's fingers was way higher than that of the whole slime. Lith went back to examining the slime again, gaining a new understanding of how the creature worked.
Suddenly, Vastor clapped his hands, almost making him flinch in surprise.
"The first hour is over. Enough with the theory, it's time to put what you have learned to practice. I can tell you in advance it's a bad day for being a slime."
***
Griffon Kingdom, City of Xenatos, House of Duke Cailon
Eberst Cailon, twelfth Duke of Xenatos, was a big and burly man. Even though he had been born a noble, Eberst had voluntarily served in the army, quickly achieving the rank of Captain.
After the honorable discharge, he had never stopped training himself following a rigid schedule. With his 1.9 meters (6'3"), he was an imposing sight to behold. His pitch black hair and beard made him look authoritative, almost cruel.
Rumour said that he never cried during his adult life. Neither when his beloved parents died of old age or when his wife gave birth to his firstborn.
Yet now, while Lith was studying his slime, Duke Cailon was sobbing, shivering uncontrollably. There were no restraints preventing him from standing up from the chair of his own office and run for his life, yet he didn't dare to.
Not after his last attempts only resulted in a dislocated shoulder, three broken false ribs, and his index fingers more twisted than a pretzel.
Fear blocked him like the cruelest of chains. He couldn't understand how someone so small could also be so strong.
Lady Jirni Ernas was a petite woman, barely 1.52 cm (5') high. She was wearing her dark blue military uniform that emphasized her blonde hair held up in a ponytail and her sapphire blue eyes. She looked like a doll.
If the doll was Chucky's blood relative, of course.
"You are really making things hard for me, Ebert." Her tone was sad, almost sympathetic.
"Everyone at the precinct, even the chief of police, was so kind to break in less than a few minutes of interrogation each. I already have everything I need to convict you of capital crimes."
Jirni pointed at the several folders she had thrown on the desk of his own office at the begin of their conversation. Each one contained hard proof of how large sums of money, after passing through the hands of several figureheads and being laundered by shell companies ended straight in his personal accounts.
Each folder was a different source of income. Human trafficking, embezzling of royal funds for the territory, bribery, and so much more. Some of those papers weren't even supposed to exist, but in such shady business, it was common practice for the involved parties to keep some records as "insurance", in case something went wrong.
Duke Cailon accomplices had sold him. Some in exchange for a reduced sentence, others just to make Jirni stop.
A burst of pain from his shoulder made him scream.
Chapter 292 Chisel Part 1
"Finally!" Jirni exclaimed. Ebert Cailon had managed to impress her. Hurting or threatening him had been useless until that moment. It was the first time he made a real sound.
"Aside from cracking their own nails, nobles are not supposed to have a notion of pain. It's what makes you so easy to interrogate. Now we have something to work on." She removed the ten centimeters (4 inches) enchanted needle imbued with her light magic.
The pain disappeared, leaving only a small trickle of blood.
"What was that?" Duke Cailon asked while gasping for air.
"A nerve bundle in your deltoid muscle."
"Do your worst, witch." He replied while gritting his teeth. "If I'm already dead, I have nothing to lose. You can make me scream, but I will not betray my comrades!"
"Comrades? This means they are your buddies from the army." She giggled.
Eberst bit his tongue in despair. Then, everything went off the rails.
"As for having nothing to lose, I beg to differ." She showed him her communication amulet while pressing a too familiar contact rune.
"That's my son's rune! How did you get it?" Duke Cailon went pale.
"Dad?" A childish voice came out of the amulet.
"Is that you? Is everything all right, daddy?"
Jirni pressed the rune a second time, ending the call.
"You can talk now, or I can make your son spectate to our next session. It's all up to you." She smiled softly, aware that her prey was mortally wounded
"You are a monster!" Ebert jumped from the chair trying to tackle her. He held his only arm high to protect his vitals, as the army had taught him.
Jirni executed a low kick in response. The steel toe of her booth hit the side of his left kneecap, shattering Ebert's balance and knee joint at once. Before he could fall on the ground, she headbutted Duke Cailon on the nose and back on the armchair.
Her right hand moved like a snake, striking at a nerve on the back of the neck with her index and middle finger. The pain hit like a shockwave, making Ebert forget for a second about his broken joint.
"Ebert, start telling me something I don't know. Otherwise I'll show you what a real monster is."
***
White Griffon Academy, in the same moment.
A second sealed fish tank appeared on each desk. At first glance there was no difference between them, nor between their inmates.
"The first slime is a 'healthy' one. The second one is your patient. We Professors have altered their life forces and created anomalies in their bodies. You'll use the first slime as a baseline to find what's wrong in the second one and understand how you are going to fix it." Vastor explained.
'It's the same method I used to cure mom.' Lith was amazed by how much tier five magic resembled true magic.
Several hands were raised at once. Vastor pointed at Friya, allowing her to talk.
"Professor, before you effortlessly killed a slime. Does this spell have any combat application?"
"No." Vastor shook his head. "I managed to do that because all slimes are identical. I don't even need to look at their life force anymore to know how to manipulate them. To use it against an opponent, I'd need them to be still long enough for me to understand their life force.
"During all that time, I could kill them hundreds of times by using more ordinary spells."
Now it was Quylla's turn to speak.
"Professor, are we really sure they are mindless creatures? This exercise seems cruel."
"Mindless, yes. I can assure you about that. They have no mind nor memory, just instincts. It has been proved by countless experiments. I won't lie to you, though. They are still living beings, so they feel pain. Remember this while you play with their lives."
Some students shuddered. They unconsciously took a step back from the tanks.
"No one forces you to be here. No one forces you to become a Healer." Vastor sighed.
"Tier five healing magic is extremely delicate. It can only be learned through a trial and error process. We start with slimes because they are easy to deal with, but also because they are the perfect starting point to steel yourself.
"They have no eyes, no mouth, no fur. Nothing that can make you empathize with them. Then we will move to small animals, bigger animals and lastly on humans. If you hesitate now, how will you be able to heal anyone?"
"Humans? We'll have patients?" Many students asked in unison.
"No. You'll have convicts, not patients. People whose actions are so terrible that even the death penalty has been deemed not to be punishment enough. People that no one cares about and would be better off dead, but still people."
Several of those present gulped a lump of saliva. They looked at each other, wondering what to do. Some even eyed the door, uncertain for the first time about their career.
"Would you prefer to practice on innocents? To kill anyone dumb enough to ask for your help until you learn how to properly perform Body Sculpting? If it can ease your conscience, those convicts would die anyway after several hours of torture.
"They volunteered for this. You are their only hope for a clean death. If you are so worried about hurting someone, you shouldn't have picked any specialization. A Healer is also a torturer.
"Battle and War Mage are fancy names for killers. Alchemists and Forgemasters are nothing more than weapon dealers. Now, for those still interested in becoming Healers, I'll explain the Chisel spell. The rest of you feel free to leave."
No one left the room, but it was clear from the mood that many had doubts.
The spell was complex and required a lot of focus. It generated a single blue tendril of mana that allowed the student to interact with the patient's life force with surgical precision.
The task was made even harder by the necessity of employing two spells at once: Scanner and Chisel. Vastor explained that a full fledged healer required at least triple casting. The ideal procedure required to use Scanner twice. One for the patient and the other for the healthy subject, usually the Healer themselves. Chisel was employed only on the patient.
A few slimes were colored, some had odd shapes, others had small tendrils. Lith's slime was one of the latter. After carefully studying both slimes, he came up with two possible solutions.
'From what I can see with Scanner, while normal bricks are all linked between themselves, those that make up the tendrils are disconnected from the main body, with the only exception of those at the base of the tendrils.
'So, I can either severe the life force connecting the bricks that serve as junction or make them be reabsorbed. I have no idea how to perform the second procedure, though.' Lith pondered about the problem, before following Occam's Razor.
The simplest explanation is usually the correct one.
The first method was similar to amputation, something that Vastor had harshly criticized during the first lesson. It was bound to be painful for the patient as well as wasteful. Hence Lith deduced it was also the wrong solution.
Chapter 293 Chisel Part 2
The second method, instead, required for Lith to create new strands of life force and use them to connect the isolated bricks inside the tendrils to the ones inside the body. Lith did like Vastor suggested, using triple casting to keep everything under control.
When the gong rang, the class was disheartened. Only a few slimes had died, but none of the students succeeded Sculpting the slime back to normal. Lith had only managed to make a single tendril a bit shorter after the whole hour.
Vastor didn't seem to mind, patting their backs and complimenting them.
"Excellent work, people. I'm amazed by how many of you successfully used triple casting. We'll continue next time."
"Continue?" Everyone was dumbfounded.
"Well, yeah." Vastor replied with a laugh. "To finish at your first attempt in just an hour you should be monsters. Before you go, a word of advice to those who killed their slime. Cutting meat it's a butcher's work, not a Healer's.
They may be mindless creatures, but if you do not anesthetize them, even slimes die out of shock from the excessive pain. Class dismissed."
Lith walked toward his companions, pondering about what he had learned.
'Now I get why Marth was so enthusiast about the diagnostic spell I shared. Scanner is able to sense life force in great detail, but it gives no information about the actual body. Also, it's overly convoluted. Even repairing a single bone by altering the life force is not an easy feat. It's much simpler to use normal light magic.' He thought.
'Not only that.' Solus chimed in. 'It's also very risky. Altering the life force means that the slightest mistake causes damage that can only be fixed by using Chisel again, which can lead to another mistake. The silver lining of this method is that on Mogar they can use it to fix genetic disorders.'
'Indeed. We must find a way to incorporate Scanner with Invigoration or at least with your life sense, otherwise…'
"Is it true?" Friya interrupted their conversation. Yurial and Quylla followed her closely.
"What is true?" Lith was still thinking about genetic disorders, but there was no such term in Mogar's tongue.
"That you fought a wyvern, you dummy!"
"I thought it was supposed to be a secret, but yes it's true." Lith nodded in slight surprise.
"It's a secret if you have no relatives in the army, the Mage Association, or in an important family." Friya scoffed at his naivety.
"That or if unlike most of us, you aren't working as a clerk for the Association." Quylla pointed out. It was the second available duty awarding the most points. It came with zero risks, aside from dying of boredom under a mountain of documents.
"What happened in Xenatos generated a mountain of paperwork. I doubt any student of any academy at this point doesn't know about it."
"Who cares about the paperwork!" Yurial wanted more juicy news.
"What does a wyvern look like? Was it strong? How the heck did you survive? The reports didn't say much. You must tell us everything!" Lith was happy and pissed off at the same time by seeing them so excited.
Happy because after Balkor's attack, the mood turned heavy. It took the whole winter break for things to slowly go back to normal. Pissed off because it was his life they were talking about like it was some kind of reality show.
"He was impressive." Enemy or not, Lith refused to speak about Gadorf as a thing instead of a person. He used the same respect he would have liked for himself or for Solus, if their true nature was ever exposed.
"A wyvern…"
"Thank the gods you are okay!" The moment they walked out the light magic department, Phloria hugged him tightly, lifting him a few centimeters from the ground.
"I'm going to kill you for making me hear about it from my mom instead than from you." Contrary to her words, the embrace was tender and her voice filled with warmth.
"I didn't want to bother you during your community service." He had prepared no lie, so Lith spoke the truth.
"How can you put your life and my community service on the same priority level?" Phloria was shocked.
"Did you at least call your parents?" She put him down.
"Why would I?" Her questions didn't make any sense to him.
"Are you telling me you almost got cooked, sliced, and yet you didn't feel the need to call anyone? To hear a friendly voice to share the joy of being alive? Seriously, what's wrong with you?" Now her voice and words were a match made in heaven.
Lith froze for a second. It was all true. Between the disregard for his own life he felt ever since he was on Earth and everything that had happened on Mogar, a near death experience felt just like a Monday to him.
The realization was disturbing.
"I never made a mystery of being kind of insane in the membrane." Lith tapped his temple with an index finger.
"So do you want me to list what's wrong with me in chronological, or alphabetical order?"
The group had a good laugh at Phloria's expenses. She was the only one to not find the joke funny. Not one bit.
She pinched her nose with her eyes closed, trying to calm down.
"Okay, now tell me everything about your day from the beginning. I need to know how bad it is."
While they walked toward the canteen, Lith shared with them the whole story.
***
House Ernas, at that moment.
Lady Ernas managed to get home just in time for lunch. Even if their duties kept them apart for most of the day, she and Orion always tried to consume their meals together. It was a way for them to relax and unload their daily burdens.
Jirni had still much to do in Xenatos. After Cailon surrendered, he had given her the names of all the players involved in that morning's events together with all the dirt he had on them.
In the underworld, there was no honor among noble criminals. The best way to get rid of a competitor had always been to collect incriminating evidence until there was enough for an anonymous tip.
At that point, if the constable assigned to the case was competent enough, it was only a matter of time before the Kingdom did the dirty work in their stead. What Duke Cailon had given her wasn't enough to indict any of them, but enough to start an investigation.
A confession to a Royal Constable didn't allow to bargain for a reduced sentence unless it was backed by proof. That was another reason why so many collected information about their competition. It was both a weapon and a shield for rainy days.
Now that she had completed a branch of the investigation, she had to open the new one from what she had. Like a domino, Jirni had to bring down the little pieces, until she had enough to make the big ones fall too.
There was only one rule in that game: follow the money.
While power plays could be concluded with an allusion or a handshake, moving huge sums always left a trail. Following such trails was Jirni Ernas's specialty. Aside from interrogation, of course.
She was surprised to discover that Orion had prepared the main dish. Cooking was a hobby he practiced when something was troubling him.
"Did something happen today to you too, dear?" Orion was a good cook. It was the timing of the events worrying her.
"As a matter of fact, yes. From today onwards, I'm relieved from all my duties as a member of the Knight's Guard."
Chapter 294 Bonding Part 1
"What? Why?" She couldn't believe her own ears.
"Do you know what happened today at Xenatos?"
Jirni nodded.
"Well, it seems that one of my swords was decisive in slaying a wyvern and now everyone wants one!"
"How is that bad news?" Jirni laughed, her fears were relieved.
"It's not bad news, it just doesn't make sense. The Gatekeeper is something I made to keep you and our little Flower happy. Since Lith is no swordsman and can't use spells with only one hand, its only ability is to channel and amplify first magic.
Phloria always says he is very good at it." What Orion didn't know, was that true and first magic worked through the same principles, making the Gatekeeper the perfect weapon for an Awakened one.
"Only ability? Do you mean you realized something that boosts the effects of the only kind of magic anyone can use and which can be cast silently, taking the opponent by surprise?"
"Yes. Even though when you put it that way, you make me feel quite dumb."
"Why didn't you make one for me too?" Jirni almost felt jealous.
"Because it's just a jack of all trades but master of none. I made you much better weapons!" Orion almost felt offended. Jirni's needles were among his masterpieces.
They amplified her light magic, allowing Jirni to stimulate the victim's pain receptors maximizing the effects of her interrogation techniques and healing most of the damage dealt at the same time. it was just one of their functions.
"Still, I could use a Gatekeeper." Jirni added. "I think you simply underestimate your talents dear. Why the suspension, though?"
"That's the odd thing. I'm assigned at Forgemastering duty until I deliver nine blades like that to the Crown."
***
White Griffon Academy
Lith was really happy to have managed to tell most of the story on the way to the canteen, otherwise lunch would have taken forever. After sustaining so many wounds and consuming so much mana, he ate the equivalent of a whole turkey by himself.
By sharing with him part of his life force earlier, Vastor had replenished Lith's stamina, not his nutrients reserve. Magic couldn't create life, only enhance or alter it.
"Just how badly did the wyvern hurt you?" Phloria was worried. The few times she had seen him eat like two Quylla was when he had been pushed an inch from death.
Lith shrugged. He had nothing to add to his report.
"Okay, that's it. Luckily, there is still quite some time before the next lesson." She stood up dragging him by the arm.
"Sorry, guys. Lith needs to rest and I'm going to make sure he doesn't do something stupid like training or studying."
They got out of the canteen so fast that Lith had just the time to say:
"See you later!"
Quylla and Friya giggled like crazy at the scene.
"I swear, sometimes they look identical to mom and dad." Quylla was truly happy for her sister. Over time, she had outgrown her puppy love for Lith. Her new family had quenched Quylla's desperate desire for affection, allowing her to understand better her own feelings.
"If only their heights could be swapped it would be a perfect match." Friya added, making them laugh even harder.
"Is it me or Phloria got prettier?" Yurial felt uneasy asking such a question.
"Did you notice too?" Friya nodded. "After Balkor's attack, she's lost part of her edginess. Mom says it's because when a woman falls in love, she becomes more dazzling."
"The real question is: why do you care? Do you have a crush on her?" Quylla was a bit annoyed. After a whole year using Vastor's tonic and proper feeding, she was the one that had improved the most among the three girls.
She not only had become taller, but also her body had developed enough to make her look like a young girl instead of a child. Yet no one seemed to have noticed, even after the winter break.
"No, but I'm afraid I may be developing it." He sighed.
"What?" Friya was flabbergasted by his answer, but most of all by his honesty.
"I thought she wasn't even your type."
"She doesn't even get close. It's just that I'm desperate at the idea that I never had anyone that cared so much for me and probably I never will."
***
Lith was forced to spend the time before the Forgemastering lesson sleeping. Phloria had managed to knock him out with a clever trick. As soon as they started cuddling, she told him about her day and all the archiving protocols she had learned about.
Lith's mind didn't last five minutes.
Despite Invigoration, he still felt fuzzy.
'Damn, she was right. I really needed to…'
The moment he stepped into the class, Lith was assaulted by enough hostility to give him the creeps. There were less than twenty people, no one seemed to pay him any attention. Yet his instincts were warning him about an impending danger.
'There is no hidden threat.' Solus kept scanning their surroundings to no avail.
'I can get some of these spoiled brats are angry at me, but this much? It's not a single individual, more like a collective will. A shared emotion.' Lith thought.
"Why are you blocking the door?" Lith turned around, discovering that Professor Wanemyre was right behind him. He was so tense to not even notice her arrival.
"Sorry." He walked to the nearest desk. The hostility had disappeared, but he still felt nervous.
"Welcome back, future Forgemasters." Wanemyre was back in her prime. The effects of the toxin had completely disappeared.
"Today I'll explain to you the true value of magic crystals and how to employ them in your creations." Lith carefully observed her and all of those present. No one seemed to be aware of what had just happened.
"What you are going to learn today, requires you to have mastered everything we practiced during the fourth year. We are going to expand and revise your foundations of Forgemastering. From here, the sky and your talent are the only limits.
"First of all, why are magic crystals so important for us? Because as I previously explained, unanimated matter resists to our attempts to imbue it with external magical power.
"That's why without a crystal you can't put more than one spell per item, why the time window for the enchantments is so short. Forgemastering requires the strength and the skill to permanently force your magic onto something.
"Let's make an example with made up numbers. An iron sword has an innate magic of ten, while a tier three spell requires one hundred. This means that creating an iron sword capable of shooting lightning requires infusing it with a magical force ten times its natural capacity.
"It makes the process difficult and limited. Difficult because the sword will attempt to reject nine tenths of the spell, limited because if I try to infuse a magical force above the tenfold threshold the item will break."
'I wish I knew all this earlier.' Lith inwardly sighed. He remembered how many materials he wasted before discovering that silver was the best suited element for hosting great magical forces without the support of a crystal.
Chapter 295 Bonding Part 2
"Magic crystals allow us to overcome this issue. Forgemasters and Alchemists both consider a crystal as a beating magical heart in search of a body. The more powerful the gemstone, the greater the number and quality of enchantments it can sustain.
"That is also the reason why Alchemical tools mostly use up to yellow gemstones, because it would be a waste otherwise. Alchemical tools are meant to be cheap and mass produced.
"Using green crystals or above for a single spell would defy everything Alchemy stands for. The cost of the gemstone alone would be enough to buy a better Forgemastered item.
"Embedding a crystal is a delicate and irreversible process in Forgemastering. Once the heart has a body, they become one. If the iron sword of my previous example were embedded with a green crystal, its innate magic would raise to one thousand.
This means that we can now infuse into it a magical force up to ten thousand. It makes it possible to imbue the sword with multiple spells."
"How does a crystal fix the problem of the limited time window for enchanting an item?" Asked a chestnut haired boy.
"Once one or more crystals are embedded, the Forgemaster no longer channels their magic directly through the object, but through the gemstones instead. They are also amazing magical conductors that widen the time window from a few seconds up to a few days, depending on their strength.
"Otherwise it would be impossible for a single Forgemaster to have enough mana to imbue so many spells at once. Another reason for using mana crystals is because they are a power source.
"If you remember, the elemental weapons you crafted during the past third trimester, can be only used two, three times a day tops. Gemstones allow using multiple spells in a short time frame with no mana expenditure from the user.
"Good magical items, like your communication amulets, require one blue gemstone minimum. Blue and violet gemstones are expensive, but they absorb mana very quickly from the environment, making it possible to keep an enchanted item active almost indefinitely.
"Green and cyan crystals are employed only for making toys or ceremonial weapons. Any more questions before we move to a practical demonstration?"
Lith raised his hand while Solus left his finger to take a closer look at the students. Her mana sense perceived a familiar sensation, but it was too faint to recognize it from a distance.
"Does it mean that crystal embedded Forgemastered items can last forever?" Lith's question was linked to Solus's nature.
'What Wanemyre explained doesn't make sense. Thanks to true magic I know that without the imprinting from the mage, the mana pathways fade away with time and the pseudo core dissipates. If crystals are also power sources, why Solus almost died?' He thought.
"I would have talked about this before we studied constructs, like golems or gargoyles. No harm in moving a little ahead of time, though. The answer is no, they don't. Most stories about heroes finding legendary equipment laying on the floor are just stories.
"Without a user, an artifact will degrade over time, magical gemstone or not. It happens because all items have passive properties that are always kept active, like weight reduction, self repair, or enhanced resistance.
"Usually, the more powerful the artifact, the more passive abilities it has. It means that magical gemstones alone cannot keep up with the mana expenditure. That's why golems require arrays that serve as recharge pods.
"Unlike artifacts, arrays have a single function making them easier to preserve. Ancient noble households are protected by several arrays, but each one has its own magical stones and requires maintenance. Anything else?"
Lith shook his head.
'The tower from her memories was so big and powerful that probably it would have required a whole crystal mine to keep it active. Especially since Solus cannot go in stand by mode. It would mean her death.'
By the end of Wanemyre explanation, Solus had returned.
"Yes." Asked a black haired girl. "Why not just enable passive abilities to be turned off whenever the object is not imprinted?"
"Because most of those spells are needed to preserve the magical item. Even if you do not notice it, imbuing an object with a great magical force causes a constant erosion. If an artifact sustains too much damage, it loses all its magical properties.
"The only way to preserve it from the passage of time is either to pass it to a new owner or use an array. Both solutions require for the original user to die in a manner convenient enough to allow for the artifact to be preserved. Useless to say, it doesn't happen often."
Then, Professor Wanemyre proceeded to teach them the Bonding spell before giving a practical demonstration. She placed an amulet and a green gemstone inside a magic circle entirely made of runes of power. They were so tightly packed to almost resemble a straight line.
"I hope you learned to use water magic well, or drawing this kind of circles will take you days." Wanemyre grinned seeing many quivering at her words.
She didn't need to charge the magic circle with mana. Wanemyre directly chanted instead.
The amulet and the gemstone started to float in mid air, orbiting around each other like twin stars while the runes turned into threads of blue light. The threads pierced both items, passing through them over and over again.
After each passage, the amulet and the crystal neared each other until they came into contact. Then, Wanemyre chanted a different spell. The threads entered inside the gemstone, painting it blue before spreading to the whole surface of the amulet.
Lith could see the lines of power even without Life Vision, finally understanding why crafters considered magic crystals like living hearts. The threads had formed the equivalent of a mana circulatory system, allowing the gemstone to fill the amulet/body with its power.
The lines turned from blue to green before disappearing, while the amulet returned on the flat surface of the black Forgemastering table.
'It's just as she said.' Solus was amazed. 'I can see with my mana sense that the amulet has now a powerful magical aura. In a way, it reminds me of ourselves.'
"Now the amulet is ready to be enchanted. The use of the Bonding spell does not imply the need to imbue spells right off the bat. Bonding and Forgemastering can be considered two separate processes.
"Now it's your turn to try. This is tier five magic, so remember that the spell requires from you to generate as many threads you can control. The greater the number, the better the Bonding. A Forgemaster like me can generate one thread per each rune.
"In your case, since it's your first attempt, one out of four runes can be considered a passing grade, but only if the Bonding is successful. All the threads must always go through both targets. If even one misses, the spell will fail. Who wants to go first?"
Chapter 296 Growing Hostility Part 1
Lith stood up, eager to put his talent as Forgemaster to the test. The pattern of the spell was simple, but the execution was complex. It allowed the mage to choose if to power up the runes one by one like Wanemyre just did, or to group them up as she suggested.
Making a single strand out of four runes meant a lesser strain on the mage during the first chant, since it required an average level of multi casting, but it made things more complicated during the second spell.
It would generate a thread four times thicker and likely four times harder to control. The second spell was just a crutch for the mage's willpower, making it easier to control the conjured energies.
After learning the spells, Lith went all out. His multi casting ability allowed him to control ten spells at once, one for each finger. He created one thread out of two runes, twice the number Wanemyre required.
Lith could have conjured more, but it would have meant risking to fail. Since it wasn't a life or death situation, there was no need to bite more than he was certain to be able to chew.
When Wanemyre performed the spell, the resulting energy strands were as thick as hairs and moved in unison, like they shared a hive mind. Lith's performance turned out much different.
Each strand was as thick as a finger and moved like a snake slithering for its life while having a seizure.
'Damn! I thought that my experience with true magic would make things easier. It's the first time I meet such wild energies. Let's hope the second spell helps.'
Lith started the next chant. He had a hard time just to prevent the blue threads from crashing against the walls of the classroom, marking the failure of his attempt.
"This is a classic rookie mistake." Wanemyre explained to the rest of the students.
"Always remember to commence the second spell as soon as you finish the first, otherwise the Bonding spell goes rampant." Contrary to the expectations of most, she didn't deduct any points from Lith.
The second chant was a revelation for him. He could feel small tendrils of pure mana emanating from his body. They latched themselves on the wild energy threads, taming them like trained dogs on a leash.
'I never thought it was possible to use spirit magic to control remotely another spell!' Lith was overjoyed. 'I have to master this Leash spell as soon as I can. It has countless applications!'
From that point onwards, the rest was easy. Lith successfully completed the Bonding spell, but the difference between his product and Wanemyre's was like heaven and earth.
Lith's amulet had a much weaker magical aura, not even half as strong as the one the Professor made. The mana vessels he created were fewer, smaller, and formed a less complex pattern compared to hers.
'Seems the results of the Bonding spell aren't linearly proportional to the number of threads generated, as much as exponentially.' He thought.
"Outstanding job!" Wanemyre clapped her hands with a big smile on her face.
"Thirty points for handling so many threads at the first attempt, thirty for succeeding at the first try, and another forty for achieving all the above despite my mistake."
"Your mistake?" Lith raised an eyebrow in confusion, while the rest of the class heard nothing after realizing the total sum was one hundred points.
"Yes." She nodded.
"I forgot to point out the importance of the timing for a successful Bonding. Unlike everything you have attempted before, the two spells are interlinked. My blunder affected negatively your odds of success. Hence the forty points.
"Now let's see how those that were so smug while you were about to fail perform. I expect great things from them." She threw a cold look to a few students that went immediately pale.
Lith turned around to go back at his desk, when suddenly the hostility returned. The threat was as close as pressing, forcing him to perform a quick 180° turn by pivoting on his front leg.
Wanemyre looked at his arms raised in a guard position with a puzzled look. The feeling of danger coming from behind had disappeared.
"Is it something wrong?" She tilted her head in confusion.
Lith shook briefly his head before returning to his station.
'Okay, something is f*cking wrong here. First the brats, now the Professor. Solus?'
'I was going to wait until the end of the lesson to tell you, but at this point we cannot take any more risks.' Lith could feel Solus using all of her senses to keep the whole classroom under surveillance.
'Do you remember I told you there was something familiar? Well, I was right. When I went checking your colleagues, I noticed that at least five of them wear trinkets bearing the same pseudo core of those we found in the boxes. I have no idea what they do, but this can't be a coincidence.
'Until we figure it out, I want you to wear your paranoia cap and never take it off.'
Lith inwardly cursed. He hated being forced on the defense, but there was nothing he could do. Lith had no reason to report them, nor he could explain in any way the significance of the trinkets they wore.
'Even worse, we recognize them only because we can see their pseudo cores. I have no plausible way to justify how I know that completely different items all do the same thing. Do you think Wanemyre is involved in this too?'
'I can't be sure.' Solus replied. 'I didn't take a close look at that betrothal gift of hers back then, but I remember its vibe. It's definitely possible.'
Those words were enough to make Lith shiver. It was only the second day he had returned at the academy, yet another storm was already brewing at the horizon.
***
Meanwhile, in the Headmaster's office, Linjos was even more worried than Lith. Despite taking all the necessary precautions, he could feel the control of the academy slipping through his fingers.
He had spent the winter break personally crafting the new Ballots, giving them to students and Professors alike to make it possible for them to record any suspicious activity they may encounter, but to no avail.
An academy's power core was a priceless treasure for the Griffon Kingdom. To avoid enemies or spies from tampering it, in times of crisis only the Headmaster could access it. It was the reason why one of the qualifications for becoming a Headmaster was to also be a Forgemaster.
"Today's attempt on Lith's life it's undeniable proof that traitors are still operating within these walls." He said to Marchioness Distar. Linjos was one of the few people aware of her real nature of mage and of her role as Lord Commander of the Queen's corps.
"Constable Ernas's investigation proves that the real target was Captain Yerna, but to assign Lith to a slaughterhouse, those nobles needed help from inside the academy."
"Agreed." The Marchioness nodded. "Even sending Professors to do a clerk's job didn't help. Let's admit it, our opponent beat us at our own game. Information keeps leaking and now you tell me materials have started to disappear?"
"Yes." Linjos sighed deeply. "Small quantities at a time, but what worries me the most is that they are all ingredients necessary for making weapons. Military weapons at that."
Chapter 297 Growing Hostility Part 2
Mirim Distar slammed her fist on the armrest of her chair.
"Fine. If they want war, then war it is. Enough with finesse and schemes. I'm going to make all the necessary preparations to detain and quarantine all the academy staff until the traitors have been found."
"This… this will have terrible consequences for the academy's reputation and the students!" Linjos stuttered in bewilderment. "Classes will be suspended, exams delayed. Not to mention we have yet to prepare for Balkor's incoming attack!"
"Not as terrible as more dead students would, Linjos." The Marchioness understood his concerns, but she could see the bigger picture.
"A reputation can be rebuilt, the same applies to an academy. The dead though, have no such luxury. I don't want any more students endangered by political plays, nor the White Griffon to suffer from sabotage like last year.
"Get rid of some of the most useless members of your staff. I'm going to replace them with constables, some undercover, some not. We have an advantage our opponent lacks: we are the ones making the rules of this game."
Linjos opened the Warp Gate of his office, allowing the Marchioness to get straight to her mansion.
'Gods, I hate how right she is.' Linjos held his head between his hands in despair. All his hopes, his ideals were shattering one after the other against the harshness of reality.
'At this point, I can trust no one. Not even my inner circle. I'm completely alone, surrounded by enemies!' He banged his head against the desk, realizing how devious was the human heart.
***
'At this point, we can trust no one. Not even the Professors. We are surrounded by enemies.' Solus thought with a sigh.
'Yeah. Same old same old.' Lith shrugged. 'The trick is to keep our eyes wide open and our buttocks tightly closed, so no one scr*ws us from behind.'
Lith took off, flying at break neck speed towards the Mage Knight training hall. Since Wanemyre gave the students a single attempt at Bonding, the Forgemastering class ended before the gong resounded.
While she explained to those who had failed their mistakes, the others were free to leave. Thanks to the map in Soluspedia, Lith always knew the shortest path to his destination while his senses allowed him to avoid collisions in mid air with other students.
When Friya and Phloria came out of the hall, they were in the middle of a lively conversation about some technique they had recently practiced. Their faces were drenched with sweat which they dabbed with a towel around their necks.
All the students had an exhausted look. Most had bruises visible on their exposed skin, especially on the arms. Combat specializations were demanding both physically and mentally, often involving getting hit at the slightest mistake.
"Hi, girls." Lith drew on himself hateful looks. Most of the boys hated his guts from the fourth year. Despite being three years younger than them, with his 1.66 meters (5'5") was already taller and with a better physique than them.
On Mogar, youths developed mostly during their thirteenth year. After that, there could be small adjustments until the sixteenth one. It was the limit after which the body stopped growing.
All of them hoped to become elite troops and while being tall wasn't necessary, it sure helped. They could only envy the kind of monster Lith would grow into.
"Hi, Lith!" Phloria was pleasantly surprised. Usually in their relationship it was up to her to take the initiative.
"If you give me an hour to catch my breath, we can train together with the sword before dinner." She knew Lith was a workaholic. Phloria assumed that after his fight with the wyvern, he was eager to accept her offer to train him.
"Who do you take me for? Some battle maniac? Thanks, but no thanks. I had enough for today. I was more thinking about taking advantage of the lack of homework to take you out for dinner."
Invigoration or not, Lith felt the need to rest. Phloria was the only person beside Solus with whom he was able to lower his guard. He wanted to go outside the academy to relax and talk freely.
Lith also used the assembly to have Solus scan the students for the mysterious items. He suspected there were more involved in the poisoning who Linjos hadn't managed to smoke out.
He was right. Solus spotted four more.
"Really? I mean, sure." She replied with a dazzling smile from ear to ear.
"I still need an hour to make myself presentable." Phloria drew on herself hateful looks. Most of the girls of the fifth year hated her guts. How such a plain looking girl managed to date a pin wearer was a mystery to them.
From Lith's dating experience on Earth, one hour was an optimistic estimate for an improvised date.
"Sure. I'll go visit Yurial in the meantime. Call me when you are ready. There is no rush." He wiped a drop of sweat that was streaming along her cheek with his thumb. All the bruises on her body healed, her muscles and joints stopped aching.
Instead of getting tired because of the light spell, Phloria felt her fatigue disappear.
"How did you do it?" She was amazed. Lith hadn't used any sign or magical words.
"We are inside one of the great academies, so I'll go with magic." He shrugged.
"What about me?" Friya hadn't missed how Phloria's breathing was back to normal or that she had stopped sweating.
"Sorry, three is a crowd. Find yourself a boyfriend." He said taking off before she could give him the finger.
"I meant the healing, jacka*s!" She yelled even though Lith was already too far.
Yurial was pleasantly surprised to see Lith too. It was rare of him to seek Yurial's advice or help, which made him happy to oblige.
After the fight with Gadorf, Lith understood he needed a better grasp of the power of arrays. Since he was still stuck with Silverwing's Hexagram, Lith decided it was time to ask the opinion of an expert.
"Can you check if this is an array?" Lith asked after materializing a small golden hexagram between his hands.
"Sure thing. It's unlikely though." Yurial's array detecting spell begged to differ.
"I stand corrected. This is an array and an impossible one at that."
"What's an impossible array?" Lith asked.
"Arrays are spells that require a long cast time and that can be placed in a specific spot for a time. This one defies all the above. It disappears as soon as you stop spending mana and appears relatively quickly." Yurial explained.
"There are several recordings of impossible arrays like this one, all left by past Magi. They are only used as training material for multi casting, though. They have no practical use and are considered nothing more than magic tricks."
"How so?"
"Because they come with no explanation, no hand signs, nor magical words. Even if they had a decent effect, they can only be used with first magic. Turning them into real arrays would require to study their properties and then find signs and words to match.
"It's much easier creating a new one from scratch. Also, what use could possibly have an array that requires constant chanting and mana expenditure? The mage couldn't even move, being forced to become an easy target."
"Maybe. Maybe not." Lith pondered.
Chapter 298 Discoveries Part 1
"Can you help me discover what Silverwing's Hexagram does?" Lith asked.
"Sure, no problem." Yurial was happy to be finally able to repay his friend of all the help he received in the past, even if it was for a fool's errand.
"I'd also like to see those impossible arrays you mentioned earlier." Lith was sure to have struck a gold mine. Having true arrays in his arsenal was an opportunity he couldn't miss.
Lith kept the Hexagram active, making it possible for Yurial to perform a series of experiments and spells to determine the newfound array's properties. While Yurial studied it from the outside, Lith could perceive from the inside the changes in the mana flow each test produced.
After a while, they compared notes about their initial findings.
They were still discussing the details when Lith received Phloria's call.
'Ugh, I wish I knew how much time has passed. I have to make myself a damn clock or something.' Thirteen years after his third birth, Lith was still unable to tell the time without looking at the sun.
It frustrated him beyond reason.
When he went to pick her up, Phloria was wearing her uniform, just like him. She wore her waist long black hair down. Her wavy hair reflected the academy's light, giving them a silky look.
Phloria emanated a delicate flowery scent that Lith found surprisingly relaxing. Even before he obtained an enhanced sense of smell, Lith had always found perfumes to be too strong. Their sweet scent was nauseating for him, just like a man using too much cologne.
She wore little make up. Just enough to make her features appear more delicate and her eyes bigger. Her lips shined under the effect of lip gloss.
"How do I look?" She asked with an expectant look.
"You look gorgeous." Lith honestly replied.
Lith took her to the lagoon city of Vinea that he had visited during the fourth year's house calls. With its many small canals and boats, it was the most romantic place he knew.
It reminded him of the Italian city of Venice he had seen in many movies back on Earth.
Also, it was located quite far from the academy, so the odds of meeting someone they knew were very low. Lith wanted some peace and quiet. They chose a restaurant with outside tables to enjoy the scenery. Being still early spring, the air was a bit chilly.
It took Phloria just a wave of the hand to warm the air around them and make so that the heat wasn't dispersed. Lith took care of the lights, summoning small silvery moons around them.
The poor waiter assigned to them was so flabbergasted by their uniforms and display of power that it took a while to manage to order some food.
"Not to complain, but this is not like you. Taking me outside the academy, in a romantic city instead of ordering food from the canteen and eating it in one of our rooms. What's wrong?" She asked extending her hand across the table to take his.
'Am I really such a cheapskate?' Lith thought. Solus's silence spoke volumes about the matter.
"I hate to be the bringer of bad news, but there's something you need to know." Lith told her about the hostility he had perceived from Wanemyre and the other students.
"It's no coincidence, all of them wear accessories that give me a bad vibe."
"They wear matching items? How did no one notice them before?" She was surprised, it was quite the dumb move on their side. It made them recognizable.
"Not matching, but I'm positive they have the same properties. I want you to be wary of all of them." Lith gave her the names and a physical description of those he had identified.
"Then how do you know they are linked?" She asked.
"I just know."
"Is this another of your secrets, like your physical abilities and your mysterious brother?"
Lith just nodded.
"Okay, I believe you." She replied with a radiant smile.
"This is actually a piece of good news."
"How so?" Lith was stunned by her positive reaction. He had expected her to doubt his words. Phloria was aware of how paranoid Lith was and he had offered her no proof aside from a nondescript bad feeling.
Even if she believed him, he was afraid the new impending threat would ruin the mood.
"Because at least now we know whose as*es we have to kick. It was no mystery there are traitors at the academy nor that some of the students were involved in the poisoning. It's the first lead we got. Thanks for trusting me enough to share it with me."
Her response almost made him feel guilty for hiding so many things from her. Aside from Solus, she was the person that trusted him the most, no matter how many shadows Lith left lingering between them.
She was the first girl on Mogar that had gifted him with a gentle touch and a warm embrace. Even when he had almost lost it after Protector's fake death, Phloria had never left his side.
Lith sighed, finally ready to admit with himself that he cared for her. Over time, Phloria had become his home away from home. Someone to return to, without worrying about how to act or what to say. He could just be himself.
Phloria giggled, closing with her hand Lith's mouth that had remained agape since her reply.
"No, thank you for believing me. Now that I said out loud, I realize how insane this story sounds." Lith felt a sting in his heart, but it was a pleasant one.
"I would believe you even if you told me some monster kidnapped you overnight. Otherwise, what are girlfriends for?" She held his hand tightly.
"I was thinking we could use this knowledge to unleash my mom against them."
"I doubt she would act just because I have a bad feeling." Lith sighed.
"True, but my mother is even more paranoid than you are. If I tell her that the bad feeling is mine and that those people acted in a suspicious manner, she'll come running. She's overprotective since your vision…" Phloria suddenly stopped, dropping the fork on the ground.
"That's it! Your vision just got updated!"
"I beg your pardon?" Lith had just reached the same conclusion, yet he was curious to see how far she was willing to push that lie.
"We can say that your vision showed you something about those items. It will be more than enough to give mom everything she needs."
"What if I'm wrong and they are actually innocent? Wouldn't you feel guilty for throwing them in Jirni's maw?" Lith's care for their well being was on par with what he felt toward the game he was eating. He only wanted to make sure Phloria realized the implications of her idea.
"No." She shrugged. "They can do like me and blame those damn dryads for not giving us much to work on."
"Someone is getting crafty and manipulative." Lith said, laughing.
"What can I say? Between you and mom, bad habits rub off."
They spent the rest of the dinner talking about their respective specializations and families.
Chapter 299 Discoveries Part 2
After Lith paid the bill, they took a stroll along the promenade. Despite the late hour, the city was still bustling with carriages and small taxi boats.
Everything moved slowly. Unlike Earth's metropolis, nor the coachmen or the ferrymen seemed to be in a hurry and so were their passengers. To Lith, it almost appeared as the city of Vinea was lazily falling asleep.
Suddenly the silence between the two was broken by a sigh, shortly followed by another.
"What's wrong? Having second thoughts about the plan?" Lith asked.
"No." Phloria shook her head. "It's so odd. I feel so happy yet so scared at the same time." She sat on a wooden bench, inviting him to do the same.
"I'm happy because despite last year has been a nightmare, it made me realize how lucky I am. I have a loving family, wealth, status, and talent. All things that I took for granted before meeting you guys." She leaned against Lith, putting her head on his shoulder.
"I even managed to get this old without being forced to kill another human being." Lith had still a hard time hearing a sixteen year girl calling herself 'old', but after Rena's marriage, he was starting to wrap his head around it.
Especially after his sister got pregnant.
"The reason I'm afraid, it's because I know the fairy tale that has been my life is going to end soon." She sighed again.
"I finally understand why my mom is so pushy and my dad is so lenient. They are both trying to protect me their own way from life as they know it. Since I'm almost an adult, I must start acting like one. I can't keep relying on others for protection.
"Once I graduate, the army will send me away from home for the gods know how long. It will not be like with the academy, I will not be able to come back for months. For the first time in my life, I will be really alone.
"No matter my family name, my path is my own. Every decision I make will have consequences and I must be strong enough to live with them."
She paused for a moment, looking at the stars shining over their heads, while the crescent moon was partially covered by a passing cloud.
"It's so quiet tonight, while my future is so scary. I would like for this moment to last forever, but I know it's impossible."
Lith said nothing, his mind was blank. Even though he wanted nothing more than for the fifth year to end, to get over the accursed vision, the idea they had less than nine months together before breaking up made him feel empty.
***
The next morning, Lith served as a clerk for the Mage Association. It was the hardest thing he had ever done in all his three lives. He would receive new documents every few seconds, give his magical stamp as proof of receipt, and then catalog them according to protocol.
After that, he had to read them and forward the paperwork based on their priority. Despite the senior clerks provided him with an amulet that allowed him to easily find the correct rules and regulations for each document, the job was mind numbing.
Seconds seemed to last hours, while the two hours of duty could as well been years. He returned to the academy, feeling as his soul had been sucked dry.
'I'd rather fight another wyvern than do this sh*t again.' Lith thought. 'At least once you slay the beast it stays dead, those papers kept coming like a flood. It's much better a swift death by claw rather than slowly drowning in an ocean of boredom.'
'Cheer up! You had me and Soluspedia to help you remember what goes where. Imagine how does it feel for the others.' Solus chuckled.
During the healer specialization, they kept treating their slimes. The more Lith became accustomed to the procedure, the more often he was able to switch from Scanner to Invigoration.
He and Solus had discussed at length about Body Sculpting during their morning torture. They both thought the subject held one of the missing pieces of the puzzle that true magic was.
'The way Protector changed his form and the wyvern did are completely different. Protector shapeshifted at once, like water going from one vessel to another. The wyvern changed in small bursts instead, like a werewolf in a horror B movie.
'I think both manipulated their life forces, but employed different techniques. Protector is an Awakened one and Scarlett taught him how to change form, while the wyvern wasn't Awakened and had no access to his mana core.
'Probably the reason why Protector wasn't able to teach me how to shapeshift wasn't related to the refining stage of my core, but rather to my inability to control my life force. I must learn how to perceive it as a whole, not just a single limb at a time.
'Also, I need to find a way to create a backup of my human body's life force pattern or I risk losing myself forever.'
Lith used the Chisel spell as a sewing kit, joining the red bricks composing the tendrils of the slime with those of its main body by creating threads of cyan mana between them. As soon as the connection was properly established, the life force flowed like blood in the new vessels, turning them red.
By the end of the lesson, Lith's proficiency with the slime had greatly improved, yet he hadn't got halfway through the task. Oddly, the class' ranking was reversed. Those less skilled had almost finished, while Lith, Quylla, and the others had still much to do.
Even more oddly, Vastor didn't seem surprised nor worried by the turn of the events.
"Excellent, excellent!" He patted Quylla's back enthusiastically.
"I don't get it, Professor. I'm behind most of the class, why are you complimenting me?"
"Because you and the good ones are focusing on the how and why, rather than on the what." He explained placing his hand over her fish tank.
"As I expected. Your slime suffered minimal shock. You are not slow, Quylla, you are meticulous. There's a big difference between the two. Don't doubt yourself and stand tall." Vastor pushed up her chin, stopping Quylla from staring at the ground.
The Professor then checked all the slimes, complimenting most of the slow students and scolding all the fast ones.
"Your slimes aren't healed, more like patched up. If this was a more delicate procedure or a less durable creature, it would be long dead." Vastor shook his head, proceeding to ease the pain of the slimes by fixing the major mistakes.
Lith's group left the Healing lab in high spirits. The others because of Vastor's words, Lith because despite making no progress with Invigoration, he felt he was on the right path toward the discovery of how to shapeshift.
The next subject was the first practical lesson about how to create their own personal spells. Lith was eager to discover if he could learn something about true magic from it. Up to that point, all the academy courses had helped him to broaden his horizons.
They went to the Lecture Hall, where Professor Nalear was waiting for them. Once all the students arrived, Nalear opened a Warp Steps moving them to the most absurd training hall any of them had ever seen.
Chapter 300 Magic Creation Part 1
The Training Hall the students walked into reminded them of the one they used for practicing dimensional magic.
The room was 30 meters (98 feet) long and 20 meters (66 feet) wide. It was big enough to easily accommodate double their numbers. However, while the dimensional magic Training Hall was completely empty, the Magic Creation one was filled with what looked like an old telephone box made of transparent crystal.
Right in front of each telephone box, there was a holographic horizontal bar that reminded Lith the combo counter of games like "Dance Dancer Uprising". All in all, the place looked more like an arcade rather than an academy's facility.
"First things first, you should take out your own Codex." Professor Nalear showed them the book she had distributed during the first lesson.
"As a warm up exercise, each one of you will pick two magical words of their own choice from their Codex and input them in the Sensor Booth." She pointed at the crystal phone box.
"All the possible combinations are known. They generate a mana flow that has been thoroughly researched and the Booths are capable of sensing. Let me give you an example." She walked inside an empty Booth, leaving the door open.
Nalear placed her hand on the crystal wall in front of the holographic counter.
"First, you need to imprint your station with your mana. Then say out loud the spell you have decided to create. In my case is Infiro Gata." According to the Codex, it was supposed to create a ring of fire. The Booth emitted a red glow while powering up and so did the holographic counter.
"Now the device knows what kind of energies are going to be employed and how to protect me from them. I suppose you all remember the dangers of casting a spell incorrectly."
The class nodded in unison. Lith too had almost died multiple times while learning his first tier one fake magic spell when he was still six years old. A mistake in the magic words' pronunciation or in the hand seals could have unpredictable consequences.
"Well, creating a new spell is even more dangerous, that's why it's a subject explored only during the fifth year. A complete spell is safe for the caster. Even if you mess up with it the worst it can happen is for its effect to go haywire.
"The magic signs for low tier spells determine the amount of mana which will be employed and how it interacts with the elemental energies. Using the wrong signs can directly harm your bodies. The bigger the mistake, the bigger the damage you may sustain. This is especially troublesome for attack spells.
"That's why we'll start with spells that are barely tier one to give you solid foundations. I'd like to tell you that the Sensor Booths can block anything, but it would be a lie. They can only shield you up to tier two spells and some of the weaker tier three ones.
"The purpose of this exercise is to let you safely experience the flow of your mana while you are creating low tier spells. Only then we will move to more powerful spells against which there is no protection but skill and experience.
"It's important you become familiar with identifying the correct signs and finding the right words. The Codex only contains the most common and safe magical words. Truly powerful spells require you to make adjustments."
"I have always thought that spells made from our own mana couldn't harm us." Quylla asked. "Why is this different?"
"Because a correctly performed spell is part of you, like your hair or your skin. A messed up spell is composed of discordant energies which make no distinction between friend and foe."
"Did I risk my life while creating my personal spells back at my village?" Quylla shivered at the thought of how dangerous ignorance was.
"Not really." Nalear patted her shoulder, trying to reassure Quylla.
"Light magic is the magic of life, it's mostly harmless. It requires a monster failure to inflict damages with a low tier light spell, otherwise a failed chant simply has no effect. You and Lith are lucky.
"Being healers, you followed the safest path. It made it possible for you to later create even offensive spells with ease thanks to your prior experience." Quylla thought back when she created her first offensive ice spell.
She had suffered from pain and discomfort from time to time, but she had always managed to stop before things got out of hand. She never reported injuries during her experiments, only minor frostbites.
"Creating personal spells before even enrolling in an academy it's what means being talented." Nalear said to the rest of the class.
"Let me finish my demonstration please." Her hands drew an S in the air, filling the holographic combo bar by a third. "This means the signs are correct."
She then repeated the magical words while drawing and S followed by a circle. The combo bar flashed red and emptied.
"This happens when the signs are wrong."
The third time she drew a doodle after the S. Everything flashed red a few times, a warning sign filled the counter.
"Guess what? That was a major blunder. Without the Booth I would have got injured. If there aren't any more questions, get in the booths and start practicing. Choosing two words that form a universally known spell will not count as a success.
To get a passing grade you need to complete at least two new spells. Begin!"
The moment Nalear walked out of the Booth, it glowed with white light. The following text appeared inside the holographic display:
Attempted spells: Infiro Gata. Completed spells: None. Final Grade: F. Imprint successfully reset, ready for a new student.
Several students swallowed a lump of saliva, Lith included. Cheating wasn't an option, the system registered everything.
Lith inwardly cursed at his bad luck.
'I'm not Quylla, I never created fake spells besides those I taught Tista. Let's hope it's enough.'
He took a deep breath to calm himself down, then Lith imprinted the terminal with his mana.
"Jorun Ka." According to the Codex, the spell would create an ice cube the size of a table. Lith started to form all the signs he knew, discovering that such a brute force method was unpractical.
Every failed attempt consumed part of his mana. Taken individually, a failure was nothing to him. Hundreds of failures in a row were quite tiring though. After an hour Lith had wasted a quarter of his mana reserve and completed a single spell.
'Calm down, you idiot.' Lith scolded himself. 'Don't panic like a drowning man. This is just the first lesson. Worst case scenario you'll get a failing grade, but there's always next time. Focus on the task at hand.'
Lith recalled Vastor's words about the difference between being slow and being meticulous. Then about the purpose of the exercise. They weren't practicing for a guessing game. They were there to learn to perceive the mana flow inside their own bodies.
The fourth year classes required to sense the mana once they projected it outside, Magic Creation was the opposite.
Chapter 301 Magic Creation Part 2
'This exercise is just like a math problem. I can either learn by rote all the equations or I can understand the underlying principles of the main formula and derive from it everything I need. So far the first method failed me, time to give the second one a try.'
Lith closed his eyes, ignoring the combo bar in from of him and focusing on his mana core instead. The second spell of his choosing was Jorun Bat, a useless spell that would generate coin shaped icicles.
It was similar enough to the previous one to make it possible for him to at least reuse the first hand seal. Lith drew the symbol in the air slowly, feeling a small amount of mana departing from his core.
Then, he almost stopped his hands, making one small movement at a time and observing how the mana strand reacted. He discarded all the signs that caused it to bloat or collapse, following only those which made it move outwards.
Lith had no idea how much time had passed when he heard the sound announcing the completion of the second spell. He opened his eyes just for the time necessary to pick the next two words from the Codex and transmit them to the Booth.
He kept practicing ice spells only, observing each time with more clarity the shape the mana strand assumed with each different spell. The revelation struck him like a hammer.
Most of the movements composing a single hand sign were useless. They had likely been added to make it easier to remember, to mask the important parts from prying eyes, or both.
What mattered were the movements that altered the shape of the mana strand, adding to it twists and turns until its flow resembled that of a true magic spell. Lith decided to put his theory to test.
He picked another couple of words forming a simple ice spell. Lith mentally visualized how he needed to manipulate his mana flow to obtain with true magic the same effect the fake spell would have. Next, he pronounced the magic words while using both hands to shape the mana strand like the true spell he just created.
The Booth signaled his success coincided with the gong marking the end of the lesson. Lith found himself drenched in sweat. His mana reserve was low enough to give him a splitting headache.
Yet he was pleased with his results.
'The bad news is that I can't use the same technique for higher tier magic. It takes me a minute to whip up a tier one true spell, but the same can't be said for the upper tiers. It means I must really learn how to create fake spells.' Lith thought.
'This not only will come in handy to pass this subject, but also as a way to obtain credits by sharing spells if I ever need something from the Association. The good news is that now I found a much quicker way to turn fake magic into true magic and vice versa.
'It seems my original theory was right. Fake magic's foundations are the same as true magic and the whole tier system is a ladder that leads to the discovery of the mana core.'
Lith walked out of his Booth, waiting for the hologram to project his results.
Attempted spells: Fifteen. Completed spells: All. Final Grade: B. Imprint successfully reset, ready for a new student.
'Not bad for someone who spent half the lesson to get a single spell right.' Solus tried to cheer him up. B was the lowest score they ever got, yet she was proud of him. Lith had achieved that grade all by himself, without asking her help.
'It's better to wait after dinner before asking him if he did it on purpose or he was simply so focused to forget about me.' She thought in a hidden corner of her mind.
Lith turned to watch how the others performed. Quylla's hologram reported:
Attempted spells: Twenty two. Completed spells: All. Final Grade: A.
"Amazing as always, Quylla. I suck so bad at this subject. I need to work harder." He shook her hand with a tinge of envy in his voice.
'She's more talented than me, has more experience than me in creating fake spells, and she didn't waste time panicking. I wonder how powerful will she beco…'
Lith's train of thought was interrupted by Quylla, who gave him a weak kick on the shin. The way she compulsively tilted her head made him think Quylla was having a stroke or something.
'Turn around, idiot.' Lith followed Solus's order, finally noticing the other stations too. There were a lot of holographic Ds, Es, and even some Fs.
"What the heck?" Lith blurted out. It required at least four completed spells to get an E, eight to get a D. Everyone was staring at him with pure hatred.
"I told you people, talent." Nalear patted their backs.
"As I said earlier, two completed spells are enough for a passing grade during the first lesson. The machines are calibrated for the final exam, though." She chuckled at his bewildered expression.
***
Later, while the students were enjoying their dinner, the traitor inside the academy could finally sigh in relief. After the streak of failures during the past year, all their meticulous planning was giving its fruits.
Based on their most recent intel, Linjos was still unaware of their plans to build military grade weapons to employ during the final act. Ever since they had joined Lukart's wild goose chase everything had gone south.
Lukart, the Archmage idiot who dreamed to be King. The traitor had joined him because they too wanted the civil war to happen, but for an entirely different reason. The traitor firmly believed that the Griffon Kingdom was beyond saving.
It was like a horrible painting drawn by an incompetent artist. More brushstrokes could only make it even messier. What the Kingdom needed was to burn the old canvas and start again with a new one.
Blinded by his own arrogance, Lukart had never expected that his ally was slowly siphoning his funds and assets. Turning Lukart's accomplices into obedient slaves. The plan was brilliant in its simplicity.
When the civil war would start, the traitor would have all the necessary means to make his side prevail, wiping off the board both Lukart and the corrupted Royals.
After the incident in Kandria, they had been forced to change approach. With the parasites discovered and a cure already available, the original plan was ruined. When Balkor had revealed his new target, the traitor assumed the heaves were giving them a sign.
By moving their pawns, they had weakened all the academies, making them easy prey for the undead. The traitor assumed that once the six great academies were lost, the other great Countries would invade the Griffon Kingdom.
Nobles and commoners would have been united in grief, forced to ally against a common enemy. The outcome of the battle wasn't important, what mattered was to destroy the status quo. Yet the damned Linjos had ruined everything by allying himself with the Lord of the forest, leading the other Headmasters by example.
The traitor had spent the last months building the strength they needed to plunge the Kingdom into chaos. If revolution was impossible to achieve, the traitor was willing to settle with revenge.
Chapter 302 The Lives of Others Part 1
White Griffon academy. Over a month later, one week before the first exam of the fifth year.
The life of Friya Solivar Ernas had always been an emotional rollercoaster. A speeding trap that kept her dozens of meters above the ground and which would never stop, no matter how much she screamed, cried or barfed.
Sometimes it would slow down, but only because another big fall was nearing. She had wasted her childhood attempting the impossible task of earning her mother's affection.
After she turned twelve, she had been thrown in a dog eats dog environment. Everyone in the academy wanted her to fail, hoping to get her place in the rankings. Everyone in the Solivar Household wanted her dead.
Her brothers and sisters were afraid of the status she would achieve by becoming the first mage in the history of the household. If Friya succeeded, being the firstborn or the line of succession would become meaningless.
She would become Duchess Solivar's right hand mage and inherit everything when mommy dearest took her leave.
Friya had spent so much time watching her back that her encounter with Yurial had been like seeing the sun after a perennial winter. Thanks to his status and power, the environment turned peaceful, giving her the opportunity to relax.
Meeting Quylla saved her soul. Despite having a much harsher life than Friya, Quylla still had a gentle heart and only strived for affection. She restored Friya's faith in mankind.
After giving her the equivalent of a sugar candy, the fourth year turned out to be the apex of her misery. First, she had lost her family. Being branded like a traitor, she had been forced to accept Lady Ernas's offer to adopt her.
Then, she had killed her first human in cold blood and lastly came Balkor. Alas, the worse had yet to come.
All those events had pushed her to the brink, yet they also helped Friya to open up with her new parents and sister. They had grown closer over time until she had stopped feeling a prisoner and became part of something bigger.
Until she felt part of the Ernas family.
Being loved unconditionally, having the freedom to decide about her future was something that in the past she could only dream about. Now that she had everything, Friya was scared to death.
Scared to lose that safe haven and return to a cruel world that didn't give a damn about her. She had no idea what to do with her life.
'Being a Healer is a quiet job, but quite boring.' She would often mentally list all the pros and cons of her available choices.
'Also, I don't like people very much. Spending my life helping others sounds like a waste of time. The career of a Mage Knight is even worse, I would be killing people for a living. I'm sick and tired of fighting, I just want some peace.
'It's absurd to ask a sixteen years old girl to decide her future. Maybe I should take a sabbatical. Until I find my answer, I can always be the Ernas Household's private magician. Besides, the fifth year is still long. I have all the time I need.'
***
Quylla Ernas was having the time of her life. She had a doting father, a creepy but caring mother, two wonderful sisters, and the house of her dreams. Despite all the bad things that had happened, the fourth year had been the happiest of her life.
It had given her a place where she belonged and more importantly, a family.
She still had three more years before being considered an adult, but she had already planned her future. After graduating, Quylla had decided to work as an assistant at the White Griffon's light department until she was old enough to apply as a Professor.
She had already discussed it with her mentors. Even Manohar was enthusiastic at the idea and promised to endorse her application. The thought actually scared her. With the fickle genius' reputation, his approval could do more harm than good.
Being a Healer and a teacher was her dream job. It would give her the opportunity to improve the world around her while leaving her the time to start and nurture her own family.
After the winter break, with the start of her growth spurt, her confidence in her looks and talent skyrocketed. Quylla was looking around for a boyfriend, but with little luck so far.
Orion apprentices were kind boys, but only saw her as a child. As for her colleagues, those she liked didn't return her interest and vice versa. Like a very shy fourteen year old boy that had already asked her out a couple of times.
Quylla would have preferred someone more assertive. She was fed up enough with her own shyness to put up with that of others. Yet his last move was bold enough to convince Quylla to give him a chance.
Xodard had gifted her a small ring. I was nothing fancy, just a trinket a student of humble origins could afford. It was the note it was wrapped in that mattered.
"A charmed ring for a charming girl."
'A cheesy pick up line, but it's still cute. I'll wear the ring for our first date.' She thought. 'If things don't work out, I can always give it back.'
***
The fifth year's subjects were demanding, but, unlike during the fourth one, no Professor assigned homework. That left Yurial plenty of time to practice his skills as a Warden in the lab built inside his living quarter and to help Lith with his research.
'It's amazing how the so called "impossible arrays" all require at least hexacasting and fine control over all the different mana flows. Yet Lith manages to perform them at the first attempt thanks to his mastery of first magic. Maybe I was wrong always dismissing it as inferior magic.'
Their research progressed slowly. Unlike everything Yurial had learned so far, each array seemed to have a complex function. Casting them wasn't enough to obtain results. To respond to an external trigger, the energies that formed the arrays had to be properly manipulated while holding the balance of the overall structure.
Over time Yurial became fascinated with them and learned how to cast them by himself, to experiment even when Lith was otherwise occupied. Thanks to that exercises, Yurial's mastery of tier four and five arrays improved by leaps and bounds.
Sometimes, when he was focused on the mystical patterns, he could feel a burning sensation located near his solar plexus. At first, he thought it was a coincidence. After the phenomenon happened several times, he tried all of his diagnostic spells.
When none of them detected any anomalies, Yurial even asked for Manohar's second opinion. Even according to the god of healing, there was nothing wrong with him.
***
Distar Household
The royal constable Jirni Ernas was nervously drumming her fingers on the armrest of her chair. It was unusual for her being nervous, let alone impatient. Like every predator, she knew the importance of biding her time, of choosing the time and place of the attack to not leave the prey the slightest chance of survival.
Yet all that waiting was wearing down her nerves.
Chapter 303 The Lives of Others Part 2
"The vision changed almost a month ago. Why are we doing nothing?" Jirni's anger was barely contained. It took all of her willpower to prevent it to show on the outside.
"Because based on all we know, it's likely we are about to face the threat of slave collars, like those the Pontus Household purchased from the missing Alchemist Hatorne." Duchess Distar was disgusted by her own words.
Just like Jirni, she hated feeling helpless.
"Whoever the traitors are, they have managed to slip out of our net too many times. Linjos needs time to remove enough members of his staff to require an official turn over without arising suspicions.
"If we act rashly, we risk alerting them. They would only need to activate the collars to force us to butcher innocents while they escape under the cover of the ensuing chaos.
"We are lulling them into a false sense of confidence, so that our first strike will also be the last." Her hands were clenched so hard they were white, the blood drained from her fingers.
"Easy for you to say. It's my little girls that live in that death trap, not yours. Why can't we at least warn them?"
"To achieve what? Spook them? Spook the traitors? We may be wrong about the collars. So far all the security sweeps came out negative." Mirim Distar shook her head.
"It's not only your daughters who are in danger, but every single student in all the remaining four academies. If you can't keep your personal and professional life separated, maybe you should recuse yourself from the case."
Jirni Distar knew that Mirim was right and hated her for that.
"How long before we move?" She asked.
"Very soon."
***
Village of Lutia.
Lith considered the idea of becoming an elder brother and an uncle almost at the same time disturbing at best. When during the second month of winter Elina noticed she had skipped her period, Lith knew he had succeeded.
Both his mother and sister were nervous. The former considered her pregnancy like a miracle while the latter was on edge being her first time. Lith was basically on call 24/7, but luckily nothing happened in his absence that Nana or Tista couldn't handle.
Lith would go back to his village at least once a week, during the weekend to perform a complete check up on both women.
"Everything is fine. Again." Lith snorted.
"I'm so sorry, dear. I didn't mean to rush you." Elina apologized with such a merry voice it sounded fake, but she was actually sincere. She was just too happy with the good news.
"Do you want to know the gender of the babies?" Lith asked.
"Do you know it already?" Judging by their enthusiasm he had just asked a rhetorical question.
"Male. Female." He pointed at Elina first and at Rena second.
'Ugh. My family so far had bad luck with males. Orpal, Trion, and then me. Let's hope the little one grows into a better man than us. It doesn't take much, after all.' Lith thought.
'How dare you!' Solus scolded him. Not even reminding her of his body count spared him from a lecture.
Both families didn't share Lith's negative outlook on life. They celebrated together until late.
The next day, after the end of the lessons Lith went to Phloria's room to share the latest news and give her an early birthday present. In a few days, she would turn sixteen, becoming an adult according to Mogar's standards.
"Congratulations, you must be thrilled." Phloria embraced him tightly. For a moment, Lith lost himself in the delicate fragrance of her hair.
"Not really." He didn't want to spoil the mood for his family, but at least with Solus and Phloria he could be honest.
"I'm scared at the idea of having another brother. I almost have only bad memories about them." Most of all, he was scared of loving and losing his little brother. Lith was certain he couldn't take it again.
"As for my niece, I don't know. I'm afraid the baby will take a lot of her time and we will grow even further apart."
"How many times do I have to tell you?" Phloria sighed. "You can't keep your loved ones under a rock. You must learn to let them go. You are not losing a sister but gaining a niece."
Lith didn't reply. It was a matter on which they had to agree to disagree.
"I have also come to give you your birthday present." Lith took out from his pocket a small box, handing it to her.
"Why so early? Don't you know it's bad luck?" She giggled, rushing to opening the box.
It contained a lily shaped gold pendant. Rena's father in law had melted and purified the gold, while Lith had shaped it with magic. It was so lifelike that Phloria attempted to smell it.
"I researched the etymology of your name. This flower symbolizes the goddess you are named after. It's also enchanted to be durable and as a dimensional amulet with a capacity of fifty square meters." It was the highest grade dimensional item Lith could create without making a fuss.
"Thanks! It's a wonderful gift!" She attempted to kiss him, but Lith stopped her.
"That's just my cover story gift. Otherwise people would think I'm even more of a cheapskate than I already am."
"What's the real gift, then?" Phloria was puzzled.
"I know I can't Forgemaster anything your father couldn't do better, not I can afford something you couldn't buy on your own. The only thing I can offer you is my trust. Please, close your eyes and give me your hands."
Phloria did as instructed, while Lith activated Invigoration on her.
'What the heck?' What he saw left him flabbergasted. Compared to the last time he had visited her, most of the impurities in her body were converging towards the mana core. They hadn't moved much, but the movement was as clear as the day.
'It's just as I feared.' Solus sighed. 'The prolonged exposure to you, combined with the repeated use of Invigoration and the practice of high level magic seems to stimulate other people's cores.'
'Exposure to me? Invigoration?' Lith was still stunned.
'Do you remember Balkor's attack? To save her and Yurial, you had to use Invigoration a lot. Also, since she asked you out, the two of you spend a lot of time together. Protector told us that the key to Awakening is a high mana density.
'Compared to a normal mage whose core is dormant, yours is a small mana geyser.'
'Doesn't this mean that Tista is likely to Awaken? Compared to them, she has been much closer to me.'
'If she enters the White Griffon, I think it's a reasonable assumption.' Solus replied.
'It also depends on her talent and luck. Tista hasn't Awakened in years and Phloria's impurities have barely moved. Don't' overthink it.'
Lith took a deep breath to calm himself before proceeding. He used Invigoration to remove the most external impurities from her hair and skin, destroying them as soon as they emerged.
"What's this smell?" Phloria had no idea why she was feeling so hot and fuzzy, but the stench was out of this world.
"This is my gift. I'd like for it to remain a secret between the two of us." He said bringing her in front of the mirror.
"I don't feel any different." Phloria looked her reflection without noticing anything.
"Take a bath and let me know in the morning. Doctor's order." Lith kissed her deeply, tasting her fragrance before leaving her room.
He took off, flying along the corridor towards his living quarters.
'I'm proud of you, taking such a leap of f… Watch out!' Solus yelled.
Lith reacted swift as the wind dodging a barrage of icicles, only to feel an invisible grip blocking his limbs. He immediately activated fusion magic to neutralize the effects of the spirit magic holding him.
The person using it was an expert. They slammed him against the walls and the ceiling before he could react.
"I bet you didn't expect to meet another Awakened one, did you?" A too familiar voice said while the world around him faded to black.
Chapter 304 Broken Part 1
The attack had been ruthless, quick, and carefully planned. The barrage of attacks had thrown Lith out of balance, while the spirit magic throw exploited the momentum of his own dodge to slam him against the nearest wall.
The impact sucked the air out of Lith's lungs, making him lose focus at the same time. Solus had been helpless against the ambush. The attacks had come out from the occupants of the rooms they always passed by on their way back.
She had no reason to be vigilant of them. Solus would rather focus on those hiding behind corners or pillars, but the coast was clear. Or so she believed until the attack came.
Lith was about to lose consciousness, but thanks to the prompt use of fusion magic and the Skinwalker armor, he managed to heal himself at the last moment. Lith stood his ground, assessing his predicament.
Mana sense and Life Vision both told him the situation was desperate. He was surrounded by all sides with no way out. The students weren't a problem, but the person in front of him was.
Professor Valesa Nalear had already weaved several spells while he was still trying to get up.
"Dodging was dumb of you." A cruel smile distorted her usually kind features.
"Buying that armor was dumb of you. Thanks for making everything easier for me." Her voice was carefree like they were playing a game.
Several fireballs appeared around him, exploding at the same time.
"I really like this spell of yours. I hope you don't mind I copied it."
Lith took out the Gatekeeper sword from his pocket dimension, imbuing it with enough water magic to instantly conjure an ice coffin around himself while using air magic to protect his ears from the explosions.
'What the heck is she saying? I'm making her job easier? At least she's dumb enough to use one of my spells. I know exactly how to counter it.' He thought.
Alas, Nalear wasn't stupid. As soon as the coffin formed, she unleashed a river of lightning that used Lith's own barrier to bypass the armor's protection.
"Another dumb move. Should I think you still have a crush on me?" Her laughter was cruel, oozing mockery.
Lith inwardly cursed at himself. He could only endure the spells by using earth fusion. He was taking damage after damage. Up to that point, he was stuck on the receiving end of the battle.
'Damn, she has silenced the whole area. No matter how much noise she does, no one will hear a thing.' Solus thought, racking her brain for a solution.
'I think I know why she said you are making her job easier. She can't kill you because of the academy's arrays. If she attempts to, they will protect you and send a distress signal!'
Lith had almost forgotten about the academy's protection, he never needed them. Wind blades shattered the ice coffin. He was tempted to offer them no resistance to activate the protective arrays, but he felt something was wrong.
Nalear was taunting him, she was likely to have taken precautions. Lith parried them with the blade, discovering he was right. They were too weak to inflict him a serious injury, she was aiming to make him faint.
"You know, I can't believe it took me so long to realize we are cut out of the same mold. Two Awakened ones." Lith ignored her words, distraction tactics were one of his specialties too.
"How you survived the Talons, helped find a cure for the parasites, or saving the life of that Deirus idiot. Everyone believes you are the next Manohar, but I knew it couldn't be the case. You are too normal, too sane to be a genius."
Lith moved his hand behind his back, taking the Ballot out of the pocket dimension, only for it to be ripped away from his fingers by Nalear's spirit magic.
"That was rude. Time to finish this." He ignored her words again, pretending just for a second to be willing to fight for the Ballot in a spirit magic tug of war before jumping towards the nearest student.
'The arrays work for everyone. It means if I strike one of them down it will activate anyway!' Lith thought.
The student was startled. Lith moved too fast for her eyes. Yet before his sword could reach the girl, he felt an agonizing pain from his back. Several knives stabbed him. Their enchantment was strong enough to piece his armor while their blades were too short to do serious damage.
Nalear pulled out the blades with her spirit magic, activating their second spell. Healing magic from the knives closed all of Lith's wound, completely restoring his body. At the same time, the healing weakened him even more, sapping his strength.
"I call them the 'anti-academy' weapons. Strong enough to knock you out, but not enough to trigger the arrays. You have no idea how much trial and error I had my little lambs go through before Wanemyre perfected them.
So many of them got reprimanded or expelled for hurting their own friends." She chuckled.
"Sacrifices must be made sometimes. Right, little lambs?" The students' faces were like stone, yet their eyes were crying in fear.
She struck Lith's temple with an enchanted leather club, making him lose consciousness.
'He fell for my trap, just like I expected. The students weren't here to trap him, they only served as bait. Now that he's out of the picture, I'm not going to let him ruin my plan. An Awakened one is an unpredictable wild card. I have no intention to discover if a slave collar works on us or not.
'If not for these damned arrays I would kill him right now.' Nalear sighed.
She brought Lith in her apartments, bringing along a few students. During the winter break, she had everything prepared in advance. It was impossible to have a secret compartment made without the power core of the academy detecting it.
Yet she could easily turn one of her closets into an excellent prison. Short chains were hanging from the wall, blocking Lith's neck, waist, legs, and arms. Then, Nalear proceeded removing all of his enchanted items.
The dimensional amulet, the magic storing rings (AN: rings that store spells), and lastly his Skinwalker armor, leaving Lith naked while his possessions were stored inside her dimensional amulet.
"It makes you wonder how pretty would I have become if I Awakened earlier." She sighed, looking at his broad shoulders and chiseled body.
Nalear attempted to remove Solus's ring with spirit magic but to no avail.
"Want to play hard to get? Fine by me. Cutting a finger or two makes no difference." A jagged blade appeared in her hand, making Solus desperate.
She had been fuming with rage from the beginning of the fight, hoping Nalear would come close enough for a sneak attack. Yet the Professor had Lith always moved by the students or with spirit magic, she never came close enough.
Wishing she could use Lith's mana when he was unconscious or at least move his body, Solus's only real option was to perform an all out attack.
As soon as the blade cut the skin, Solus shapeshifted from ring to a stone scorpion attacking Nalear physically and magically at the same time.
Chapter 305 Broken Part 2
Nalear had been on guard the whole time. Life Vision had allowed her to notice how the ring was full of energies since day one.
She used her blade to pin Solus to the wall and the students as human shields against her spells. They were badly hurt, but thanks to their uniforms there wasn't much tier two spells could do.
Solus's yellow core limited her greatly.
"What a marvelous object." Nalear blocked Solus with spirit magic.
"It's not only capable to store the user's mana but also to move on its own? It will be an excellent addition to my collection." Solus could only curse her bad luck. If only Lith's and her energies weren't as one, she could have hurt him enough to activate the array and save him.
When Nalear tried to store Solus inside her dimensional amulet, she was in for another surprise. The amulet didn't respond and Solus kept floating in mid air.
"It's impossible! Is this thing really alive? Good thing I'm always prepared." She took out a mystical wooden box out of her dimensional amulet. It was engraved with silver runes of power. A blue mana crystal the size of a tennis ball was embedded on its lid.
When Nalear opened it, it generated strings of blue energy that trapped Solus, dragging her inside the box before it closed on itself. She attempted to shapeshift multiple times, but the strings relentlessly followed her, adapting to her every change.
The blue gemstone powered up the runes, sealing its content from the outside world.
The bond between Lith and Solus was broken. The backlash gave Solus a seizure while Lith suddenly woke up, roaring like a wounded beast.
The killing intent he released made two of the students faint. The spirit magic blast he generated made everyone but Nalear fly against a wall and lose consciousness. She sneered at his swan's song, hitting him on the head with the leather club again and again.
The club was another enchanted item she had prepared. It was made so that it would inflict a lot of pain but no harm, draining the victim of their vitality.
What she didn't expect was for Lith's mouth to suddenly open like a maw, filled with fangs instead of teeth. The moment her hand was close enough, he bit her deeply. The fangs dug into her flesh until they reached the bones while seven eyes stared at her with hatred.
Nalear ignored the pain, passing the club to the free hand, resuming the beating. The eyes burned bright in defiance, refusing to let go. The maw was almost closed when the head fell limp again. Even fury had its limits.
"What the f*ck are you?" Nalear cursed while using Invigoration to close her wounds and restore her strength. It took her less than a minute to heal the injured students and replenish their life forces with Invigoration.
They had spent no mana, so they were still in their peak condition.
"Here are your orders, my little lambs. These chains are strong enough to hold an angry Byk, but what's even more important it's their color." She pointed at the mystical aura surrounding the shackles and the chains both.
"When it's red it means Lith is unconscious. When it turns green, it means he is awake. As soon as it happens, you have to stab him with these knives."
She handed them the anti-academy knives.
"Don't stop until it turns red again. Wait for my signal. Only then you can kill him. Cut his head and pierce his heart. Just to be safe." The five students nodded in unison.
"After you are done with him, return to your rooms and wait further instructions. Tomorrow is the big day."
***
The next morning, Phloria hummed all the time while she was walking to pick Lith up for their morning stroll before breakfast. She wore the golden lily pendant over her uniform. It didn't matter to her that wearing an early present was bad luck, Phloria was too happy to care about silly superstitions.
'I don't know what Lith did, but my skin had never been so smooth nor my hair so silky and easy to comb. My sisters are going to be so jealous.' She inwardly giggled. What made her so happy wasn't the beauty treatment itself.
The changes were so slight it was unlikely for anyone to notice them and she knew it. The reason behind her happiness was Phloria felt something had changed between them after the date in Vinea.
Lith was a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma; but he was finally starting to unravel himself. When she knocked at his door and no response came from inside, it didn't spoil her good mood.
After ten minutes of knocking, she started to worry.
'Maybe he is just too tired. It's no big deal, we'll see each other for breakfast.' Phloria didn't believe her own thoughts. Lith had never stood her up before.
When he missed breakfast too, she was close to panic. The others tried to reassure her everything was fine and called Lith's on his communication amulet. Yet he never answered.
Fear started to spread, like fire through dried grass. The second gong signalling the start of the Code of Practice without him attending was the final straw.
"Where do you think you are going, Lady Ernas?" Professor Farg yelled at Phloria who was walking away.
"Enter the Warp Gate now or I'll make sure you lose more than a lesson's worth in points!"
"Feel free to report me to Linjos." Phloria retorted. "It will save me the time to explain to him what's happening! Maybe if two students disappear at once he'll move his lazy a*s."
Farg attempted to localize Lith with the artifact Lady Tyris had given her, but to no avail.
'It's impossible!' She thought. 'For his hybrid aura to disappear like this, he should be dead. No one can die inside an academy. I have to warn Lady Tyris immediately.'
Phloria had no Guardian to summon by her side, but she had the next best thing.
Jirni Ernas walked through the Warp Gate leading to Linjos's office less than five minutes later, wearing her royal constable badge on her chest, right above the heart.
"What's the meaning of this?" Linjos jumped from his chair. The Gate had opened without his consent.
"Royal override code." Jirni replied with a stone cold voice.
"I'm constable Ernas, investigating on a missing student case. Hope you remember my husband."
Linjos turned pale seeing Orion standing right behind her. The memory of him beating the Headmaster an inch from death was still vivid.
"What are you talking about? What case? Do you realize what you coming here could cause? You may have ruined a month of hard work!"
"Not at all. I have here a missing person report and the authorization to investigate." She slammed on his desk Phloria's statement and Elina's request for intervention. The two women had always kept in contact and after hearing about her son's disappearance, Elina would have even signed a deal with the devil to have him back.
"I have all the necessary paperwork. Find me Lith and I'll walk away before the Gate even closes."
Linjos had no choice but to comply. He attempted to activate the tracker in Lith's uniform and when it didn't work, he checked all the records about who had got in and out since his last sighting.
"This makes no sense. The tracker can't find him and no one has left the academy unsupervised yet."
"Well, the good news is that he is still alive and somewhere inside the academy. The even better news is that I finally have a reason to turn this place upside down. Tell Distar that I'm done waiting. Now we are going to play by my rules."
Chapter 306 Rising Tide Part 1
Attack him where he is unprepared, appear where you are not expected.
That was how Nalear had defeated Lith, but also the way Jirni Ernas planned to smoke out the traitor.
The arrival of constable Ernas was a big enough monkey wrench in Nalear's plot to put both her master and contingency plan at risk. It was impossible to use dimensional magic inside the academy because of the array blocking it.
The only way out was using the Warp Gate, but even with the help of her little lambs, it was impossible for her to drag away Lith unnoticed. Her teacher ring was useless too. It not only would leave a record of her position, but also could move her inside the fifth floor only.
'Each floor of the castle is huge, but with enough time they can search every nook and cranny of it. I can't hide Lith forever nor can I kill him and store his body in a dimensional item. I can't believe months of careful planning are about to be crushed because of a stupid girl!'
Nalear had underestimated the depth of the bond between Lith and Phloria, dismissing it as a simple crush. She was also unaware of Marchioness Distar's plan of putting the academy in lockdown to search for the traitor.
The information blackout had worked like a charm. The problem was the Marchioness had no way to know what the enemy intentions were. It almost resulted in a perfect set up to douse the fire yet to have it ready after the house was completely burned down.
Almost.
Lady Ernas was a decisive woman. The moment Phloria contacted her, she put her first contingency plan in motion, pulling a lot of strings and calling in as many favors. She knew Lith well enough to know that he wouldn't leave the academy without letting her little Flower or at least his mother know.
His disappearance could only mean something big was about to happen. Taking out someone of his caliber in such a clear manner, inside an academy at that, meant the enemy was as strong as well prepared.
Lady Ernas was certain she had not a second to spare. Alas, she was right.
***
Professor Amyla Farg contacted Tyris as soon as Phloria left, reporting to her everything she knew.
"What are your orders, my liege?" Farg asked.
"I'll be there in a while." Tyris sighed. From her throne, she could feel the air in the Kingdom turning heavier by the second.
"I mean to spectate, not to intervene. I feel that what's happening at the White Griffon is similar to Balkor's attacks. A reckoning. Humans are bound to make mistakes and it's only by suffering the consequences of their choices that they have the opportunity to grow.
"I don't plan of doing like Salaark and treat them like a bunch of kids that need to be held by hand. As for you, Amyla, do whatever you think it's right. You have my permission to use the full scope of your abilities."
After closing the call with Farg, Tyris called her only two friends. The fall of one of the Great Countries might be something all Guardians would like to bear witness.
***
Inside the enchanted box, Solus had long recovered her senses. Without her bond with Lith, she couldn't feed nor she could grow stronger. Only weaker.
That didn't mean she was powerless, though. She had still all the abilities of a yellow cored Awakened one. Invigoration didn't allow her to recover her strength but was a crucial instrument for her survival nonetheless.
She had spent months studying the boxes together with Lith, attended the same lessons, and followed all of his steps towards becoming a Forgemaster. Invigoration made it possible for her to study the lock keeping her sealed.
Solus wasted no time crying or despairing. She had spent the last few hours planning her escape.
'"Always prepared" my… whatever my a*s looks like, you witch!' Solus had never been so angry in her whole life. It could be said that even though she had developed the whole spectrum of human emotions, she was uncapable of hate.
At least until that moment.
Hatred was something usually Lith generated enough to supply a small army, something she was used to contain, being careful not being infected with. Now it burned through the very core of her being like molten lava.
She would have loved for life to be like those comics Lith liked so much as a kid. Where trivial things like love, friendship, or rage could produce miracles giving the hero endless strength.
If love could do any good, Nalear wouldn't ever managed to take them apart. If rage was worth something, Solus would have already turned the box into cinders to be reunited with her other half.
'Feelings have no power per se. They are only what drives you towards your goals. I have to do like Lith always does. Not let myself be controlled by them but harness them to keep my mind focused.' She thought.
'Luckily for me, this box has been built to be difficult to open from the outside, not from the inside. I also doubt Nalear ever suspected that the dimensional amulet she stole from us is actually empty.
'I still have access to a dimensional pocket full with everything a compulsive hoarder with full blown paranoia prepared "just in case".
'Wait for me, Lith. I'm coming for you.'
Tendrils of darkness magic emanated from her body, relentlessly eroding the internal safeguards of the box. Solus only had to make sure to survive the conflagration. To her it didn't matter who or what was outside the box.
The whole Mogar could burn for all she cared.
***
City of Valeron. Capitol of the Griffon Kingdom. Inside the King's quarters.
"Are you sure giving constable Ernas the royal override code was the right thing to do?" Queen Sylpha asked.
"Absolutely." King Meron nodded. He was engrossed in testing his Gatekeeper longsword potential.
"The more I read the reports about this Lith, the more I'm inclined to believe he is a natural Awakened one. Traitors come and go, we fight them on a daily basis. Awakened ones are too precious to be lost.
"If I'm right, he would be the first one we know about inside the whole Kingdom. We could even pitch him against the Magic Empress, if we play our cards right." The Magic Empress was the only known natural Awakened on the Garlen continent.
"How could he be an Awakened one if some kids are strong enough to take him down?" Sylpha found the idea simply absurd.
"Maybe he is not an Awakened. Or maybe the traitors have developed a weapon capable of defeating one." Meron replied.
"Whatever it is, we can't afford to stay idle. We are already left with only four of the six great academies. Losing the White Griffon and the most promising student in one fell swoop may be a blow that we could not be able to bear. Not now.
"We are already stripping the ancient noble households of their privileges bit by bit, redistributing them according to merits and loyalty. The Kingdom is still too unstable. If the traitor threatens one of our assets, we must react swiftly."
Chapter 307 Rising Tide Part2
"If there really is a weapon capable of defeating an Awakened, we must get to it first. That's why I've given her the royal override and control over a division of the royal army. We cannot afford any more failures."
Queen Sylpha pondered on those words, before agreeing with her husband. The Royals needed all the power they could muster to survive the impending crisis.
***
"Mom, dad! Thank the gods you are here!" Phloria quickly embraced them both. Their presence was enough to mitigate her fears.
"I'm glad to see you too, my little Flower." Jirni returned her embrace, feeling something was different about Phloria.
"There isn't a moment to lose. Mom, this is the list of all those Lith had marked as suspicious." She handed Jirni a list of names followed by their addresses in the academy. Phloria hadn't been idle either, collecting all the intel she could while waiting.
"This one is the closest one to my room." She pointed a name in the middle.
"Dad, whatever happened, it must have taken place between my room and his. I can guide you there."
"There is no need." Orion replied. "My amulet already contains all the blueprints of the fifth floor and the list of its residents. I'll go check on my own, you go with your mother. You are the only one that knows these kids. Maybe you can notice if anything is out of the ordinary."
'And maybe keep your mother in check.' He inwardly added.
Orion took off, quickly reaching Lith's room and moving from there towards Phloria's after taking out his equipment. Open spaces were a nightmare to investigate, too many things could go wrong.
Animals, bad weather, worst case scenario the culprit could burn everything. A closed space, an academy at that, was another matter entirely. Orion didn't take much to find the place of the ambush.
"What a smart son of a dragon." Orion smirked while finding a cut alongside the stones on the floor. Before falling, Lith had employed his failed slash against the girl to leave a mark behind. Darkness magic could delete many things, but couldn't hasten the academy self repair mechanism.
Starting from there, Orion found traces of water marking the use of ice magic and small burnt marks in the crevices between the rocks. That coupled with the lingering traces of ozone indicated a powerful lightning had been employed.
'Whoever attempted to clean the scene is an amateur. Either they know nothing about our investigation methods or they didn't expect an investigation at all.' Orion's guesses were actually both right.
Nalear had cleaned the crime scene to the best of her abilities, but not being a Forgemaster, she had a limited idea of what they could achieve, aside from what Wanemyre knew.
Professor Wanemyre was many things, but not a member of the Knight's Guard.
***
Hung on the wall, Lith had already undergone several cycles of regaining consciousness just to be knocked out by the anti-academy weapons again. Nalear's little lambs weren't allowed much freedom of thought or movement.
They were trapped in a nightmare of their own creation. When they accepted to follow Archmage Lukart's plan to trigger the civil war, only a few raised objections about the use of slave collars.
Even then, it was only because slave collars were one of the most universally despised versions of forbidden magic. Simply owning one carried the death penalty, if not for the whole families to be stripped of their titles and wealth before being executed.
Most of the little lambs considered slave collars the most natural course of action. Each one of them would receive a Master ring, allowing them absolute control over their victims. Just considering all the possible uses an obedient slave could have made their mouths watery.
Little did they know that even their Master rings had been replaced with normal slave items. Nalear made sure no little idiot could endanger her plan out of lust or cruelty. She hated nobles the most, so she had always intended to use them as cannon fodder, in case something went wrong.
Once the little lambs discovered the truth about their rings it was already too late. They had been trapped in their own bodies from months, drowning themselves in self-pity, which made them more than happy to vent out their frustration on Lith.
Between their rage and the boredom of the task, they didn't notice that every time it took them a little longer to make him faint again.
Unlike Nalear, who had Awakened at fifteen years of age with an already cyan core, Lith was Awakened from birth, starting with a measly red core. It meant that his body had all the time to adapt to the changes, expelling impurities little by little.
So far, Nalear's core had progressed only once because of the long time it took for her body to adjust from a dormant cyan core to an active one. It also meant that she had expelled impurities only a few times.
She was magically superior to Lith, thanks to her blue core, but her body was weaker. When she planned how to keep him prisoner, Nalear used herself as a standard. According to her calculations, the pain would keep him from casting spells before losing consciousness.
Lith's pain tolerance, however, was higher than hers, especially since the bond with Solus had been broken. The emotional pain he was experiencing, together with the endless void her absence left behind, allowed him to clench his teeth and emit small bursts of darkness magic inside his body.
With every cycle, Lith was able to shut down more and more pain receptors. At first, he would last barely a few seconds, too weak to project magic on the outside.
Soon, the pain wouldn't break his focus anymore.
Soon.
***
As soon as constable Ernas arrived, Nalear knew she had to move ahead of schedule, even if it meant endangering her master plan. Her lambs on the outside had warned her about an incoming division of royal guards. They would reach the White Griffon any minute.
Too many external witnesses would ruin everything. All of her planning was based on each floor of the academy being strictly isolated from the others and the outside world alike. The only silver lining in all that situation was that the Code of Practice had been suspended.
All the students were still present, making her plot still feasible.
She walked right behind Wanemyre, who knocked out Balfas, Linjos's secretary on their way in.
"Headmaster, we heard the news. Is there anything we can do to help?" Wanemyre voice was genuinely worried, yet her hands kept trembling, one of her eyes twitching.
"I wish." Linjos sighed, not missing any of the odd details of that meeting.
The two Professors had never been close. Quite the contrary, he was pretty sure that being Wanemyre from an ancient noble family didn't make her pleasant company for a self made woman like Nalear.
"Please, return to your apartments. You'll be contacted when your turn to be interrogated comes. I can't believe this is happening. Never before a student has disappeared like this inside an academy."
Those words triggered Nalear's rage.
"Yeah, if it happened outside, it would have made things a lot easier for you." Her voice was full of contempt.
"Nalear, I know what happened to you and it was terrible. Now things are different..."
A shower of lightning and ice rained down on the Headmaster while he was still talking. All he needed was to activate his Headmaster ring to trigger the defensive arrays and make the attacks vanish into thin air.
"How did you silently cast such a powerful spell?" Another wave of Linjos's hand and both Professors were trapped inside a circle of light. He hadn't missed how Wanemyre just stood there while he was being attacked.
Whatever was going on, he wasn't willing to take any chances.
Chapter 308 Awakened Part 1
"So it's true." Nalear laughed maniacally, giving Linjos the creeps.
"A Headmaster is like a god inside their own academy. Sorry to break it for you, dear Linjos." Nalear took out from her pocket a magic crystal so finely chiseled it resembled a diamond. Each facet had a rune of power engraved on it.
"That's a power core unit. Where did you take it from?" Linjos was horrified by the implications the gem had.
"There are no gods in this world!" She ignored him, breaking the gem and causing the power core to temporarily shut down, bringing all the arrays offline at the same time.
Ever since the sabotage of the dimensional magic training hall, Linjos knew that something was wrong with the power core of the academy. That was why even when there was a desperate demand of Ballots, he couldn't allow having more produced.
Usually, the academy's Forgemasters would be granted access to the power core for several reasons. To create items linked to the power core, like the staff rings or the Ballots, for the maintenance of the array departing from it, or of the power core itself.
After the sabotage, Linjos had blocked the access to the academy's heart, adding such duty to everything he already did as Headmaster. The effort drained his mind and body, causing his premature aging.
Yet he did it anyway, for the students and for the future of the Kingdom he believed in.
'As soon as the crisis is resolved, I'll have the time to rest.' Linjos repeated to himself over the months.
All that pain, all those sacrifices, were for naught.
Nalear had already made Wanemyre tamper with the power core enough to create a power core unit. Despite its insane complexity, it was a pale imitation of the Headmaster ring, but with only one function.
Nalear unleashed a new wave of spells against the Headmaster. She had to be quick and kill him before the power core activated again.
Cursing his bad luck, Linjos could only Blink away to safety. The whole situation was a nightmare. He couldn't understand how Nalear managed to silently cast one spell after the other, without giving him any time to fight back.
Nalear too was cursing her bad luck. Her original plan was to lure Linjos away from his office and backstab him. Nalear would have framed Wanemyre for the murder thanks to the Ballot she carried with herself.
With the Headmaster dead, her little lambs would have the opportunity to butcher all the students of commoner origins or those from new magical bloodlines. It would make it appear as even after Balkor there was still a radical faction among the ancient noble households not willing to back down.
Her hope was that the massacre would reopen the divide between social classes and trigger the civil war. After all, Wanemyre and the lambs all came from influential families. The surviving students would be found in possession of slave items they brought themselves inside the academy.
All the evidence would lead to Archmage Lukart and his allies, there was nothing left indicating Nalear's involvement. Especially after she would have made sure Wanemyre and the few little lambs that worked with her died in the ensuing fight to save the academy.
A head on fight was something she wanted to avoid. The Headmaster robe was a masterpiece. It not only offered great protection from physical and magical damage, but also constantly boosted Linjos like potions would, making him immune to spirit magic.
Not to mention Linjos was one of the best young mages of the Kingdom.
The Headmaster didn't mindlessly Blink. The spell was too expensive to use it recklessly. He used it to keep his distance and reach hidden stashes in his office.
'Whatever she is doing, it's a game two can play.' Linjos unleashed a barrage of ice, fire, and lightning generated by alchemical tools. Just like true magic, they had no cast time. Nalear cursed, she was forced on the defense after barely three exchanges.
Each one of them was at the peak of tier three spells in terms of power and there were so many that not even an Awakened one wearing a Professor robe could tank them without risking their life.
Thanks to the defensive spells she had ready at hand, Nalear avoided the brunt of the damage, but Wanemyre wasn't so lucky. Even with the protection from her magical items, she was slammed against the wall and on the verge of unconsciousness.
To make things even worse, the smoke the spells generated engulfed the whole room, making them all blind. Or so Linjos thought.
Nalear activated Life Vision, making the figure of the Headmaster appear as clear as the day. She could see him casting an unknown spell.
"Just like Lith, you are making my life easy with your stupid moves." Nalear's voice was stone cold.
Her hands emitted a pillar of fire. It was her personal spell, tier five Searing Gale. It was a mix of air and fire magic, generating a small sized tornado of a temperature capable of melting stone.
Its tip rotated at high speed, making it capable of drilling through every defense she had ever met in battle. Even if the victim somehow survived, the lightning bolts hidden inside the vortex would fry or at least temporarily incapacitate the victim.
The spell struck Linjos's chest with surgical precision, yet the Headmaster didn't flinch. Searing Gale was being sucked in by a Warp Steps in front of him and unleashed on Wanemyre's right arm, turning it into cinder.
The shock from the pain of the amputation almost killed her. Only her Professor robe and the items she had Forgemastered for herself saved her life.
Linjos didn't mean to slay Wanemyre, only to incapacitate her. Alas, he had no idea what spell Nalear would cast next. The only thing he could do was to make sure that Wanemyre wouldn't be struck anywhere vital. He chose the right arm because a mage without their hands or voice was usually helpless.
Nalear cursed again, dispersing the smoke with air magic since it clearly was of no advantage to her. The room cleared, revealing Linjos wearing some kind of odd looking glasses while holding what seemed to be a steel tube.
"Hello there, young miss." Linjos's words were followed by a series of sonic blasts coming from the tube. Nalear found herself kneeling while holding her ears. The sonic booms were making her bleed from the eyes, nostrils, and ears.
They also shattered her eardrums and balance alike.
'Damn Forgemasters! Damn them and their creations!' Nalear knew how dangerous a Forgemaster with a dimensional amulet was. It was the reason she brought Wanemyre along. They were walking armouries and Wanemyre was supposed to be as good as the Headmaster.
Linjos was even younger than her, yet he had left his fellow Forgemaster no time to act. Linjos fired his weapon over and over again, until he was sure Nalear was in no condition to fight back.
He took out from his dimensional amulet a rope that bound Wanemyre by itself and another for Nalear.
"You have much to explain. I'm sure Lady Ernas will be able to learn from you everything we need to save the country."
Alas, Linjos didn't know that the only thing that Nalear needed to recover was to breathe. He had stopped his attack thinking that even if she had the means to heal such extensive wounds, exhaustion would have been the death of her.
Yet thanks to Invigoration, with every breath her body healed. With every breath, her strength returned.
Chapter 309 Awakened Part 2
Linjos took out his communication amulet to call for reinforcements when Nalear's sword moved by spirit magic impaled him from the back. The Headmaster fell on his knees, coughing blood. The surprise almost made him ignore the pain.
"How? Why?" Were his final words.
Nalear freed herself and Wanemyre from the ropes, moving the unconscious Professor like a puppet thanks to spirit magic. Wanemyre remaining arm easily lifted the sword, decapitating Linjos with a single swing.
Blood spurted like a fountain, painting the room red.
"It is done!" Nalear laughed maniacally.
"Linjos died by your hand! By your sword! Oh Lyca, if only you could see. I'd kill you right now, but you need to make a statement to not leave any doubts about what happened here." Nalear took out her communication amulet.
"Rise, my little lambs! The time has come. Your final order is the following: do whatever your heart wants! R*pe, kill, steal! Have no fear for tomorrow because you don't have one. Show the whole world what kind of monsters you really are!"
And so, the final part of her plan began.
***
Outside the White Griffon academy, Lady Tyris wept warm tears for Linjos's death.
"Nice order! If it wasn't for her being raving mad and using slave items, I could almost admire her cleverness." Salaark said with a disgusted expression on her face.
"Watch and learn, girl. This is why I lead my country with an iron fist and why Leegaain abandoned the Gorgon Empire." She said to Milea Genys, the Magic Empress and also the only human among the spectators.
"Humans are cruel beings that inflict pain on their kin not out of necessity, but simply because they can. They can't feel good with themselves unless they stand atop others."
"Indeed." Leegaain nodded. "Violence only begets more violence. Abuses breed monsters in an endless cycle of blood and chaos."
***
White Griffon academy, right after Orion left and before Nalear entered Linjos's office.
Jirni compared Phloria's list with the one on her amulet.
"Good thinking, my little Flower. I'm proud of you."
"Thanks, mom. I think we should start with this girl because not only she's close to the scene, but she also belongs to a very powerful family. It means that if she is involved, she has a lot to lose. You can use it as leverage." Phloria pointed out.
'By the gods, she is really getting crafty.' Jirni didn't miss her daughter becoming mature, nor the lily pendant at her neck.
'Let's just hope her bull-headed father doesn't make a fuss when he notices it too.' She inwardly sighed.
The two women quickly reached the room of Leflia Quaroon, daughter of Duchess Quaroon, an influential figure among the ancient noble households. While Phloria made way, Jirni studied Leflia's family file without finding anything unusual.
According to her personal file, Leflia was a tall sixteen year old girl with black hair and chestnut eyes. In a way, she reminded Jirni of her own daughter. She had flunked her Battle Mage class, hence she could only graduate as an unspecialized mage.
It made it impossible for her to achieve a high ranking.
The moment the door opened, Leflia's lineaments contracted for a split second. Behind the girl's meek appearance, Jirni recognized hatred and envy.
"Is there something wrong, Ernas?" Her voice was low and sweet.
"Royal constable Jirni Ernas. We need to talk about what happened last night." Jirni stood in front of Phloria, tapping her index on her badge.
"I'm sorry, I know nothing about it." Leflia opened the door, inviting them to come in. Jirni didn't miss her eye twitching for a second.
"The rooms are soundproof, inside and out." She was still denying when Nalear voice came out of her communication amulet, giving the final order.
The change was like a switch had been pressed. Leflia's features turned into a mask of wrath. She took out a short sword from her dimensional amulet, attacking Phloria in a frenzy.
Phloria didn't even flinch. She grabbed and twisted the opponent's wrist with the left hand, making her drop the blade. At the same time, she grabbed Leflia's neck with the right one, raising her from the ground with a single arm.
"You better start talking or I'll start squeezing." Phloria's voice was stone cold. She was barely letting Leflia breathe.
"I'll never talk, you wh*re! You don't deserve what you've got. You sucked up to two filthy commoners to improve your grades." Another twitch happened.
"Keep her hanging, darling. Do not let her go, no matter the reason." Jirni took her badge and passed it over Leflia's neck before moving to her hands.
"We are lucky." The badge had just emitted a ping while Jirni waved it over the left hand.
"It's only a slave ring."
"What?" Phloria was shocked. She had only read about them in history books.
"Why lucky?"
Jirni didn't reply. She stabbed the girl's arm with one of her needles, which acted as a nerve blocker. It immediately became limp.
"Because otherwise, I couldn't do this." She cut off the ring finger with a single movement. Only then the slave item could be removed.
"Why do you think they used collars in the past?"
After the amputation, Leflia changed again, sobbing desperately.
"It's Nalear! She made me do it. Lith is kept prisoner inside her apartments!"
Phloria was shocked by the turn of events, yet she retained the presence of spirit to stop the bleeding and reattach the finger with light magic. The cut was so clean the extremities took little effort to heal.
The moment Jirni stepped away, Leflia turned hysterical again.
"Don't leave me! She'll be back! They'll kill you. They'll kill us! Don't leave me!" She threw herself at Jirni's legs, hugging them desperately.
Lady Ernas took the needle out of her arm and into her neck. Leflia's pupil suddenly dilated while her body relaxed.
"Who is going to kill us?" She asked placing the girl on her bed.
"Everyone."
***
Nalear's apartments, in the same moment.
Lith's eyes opened, staring at the tireless efforts of his captors to make him unconscious again. They could stab all they wanted; he felt no pain. With his focus finally restored, all he needed to do was breathe.
With every breath, his body healed. With every breath, his strength returned. As soon as he had enough strength, he grabbed one of his captors with spirit magic, pinning her against the wall.
One by one, they all found themselves hung on the walls or the ceiling, just like him.
When Lith returned to his full strength, he started studying the locks. His mind was cold and rational, while his heart was scorching hot with rage.
Yet the void inside him devoured everything. The hunger consumed all other feelings.
Black tendrils came out of his body, eroding the pseudo cores on his wrists, legs, and waist until they exploded. Between his body being fully empowered by earth fusion and the use of Invigoration, he didn't care for the damage sustained.
The first lock almost cut off his left foot, the second one only gave him a third burn degree and some metal shards stuck in his flesh. With each lock he learned more, taking less damage opening the next one.
His fury didn't make him stupid; he kept the neck for last. The left wrist was barely scratched, the right one remained unscathed.
Lith grabbed the shackles at his throat turning them into dust before speaking.
His voice was coarse and guttural, his words growled more than spoken.
"Where… is… my… ring?"
Chapter 310 Escape Part 1
"My… stone ring. Where is it?" Speaking was a mammoth task for Lith. He had to focus and spit the words one by one while suppressing the urge to tear those present apart, limb from limb.
The fury running through his veins only steeled his willpower to find Solus first and butcher Nalear later. First things first.
The students were shivering in fear, but because of the set of orders they had received, they were unable to speak. At least until Nalear's final order came out of their communication amulets.
"Do whatever your heart wants."
"Set me free, you f*cking monster! Or my mother will have you and your family beg for death!" Some said.
"I beg of you, have mercy. Nalear made me do it." The others sobbed.
Two girls out of five students were cold blooded enough to release the spells stored inside their magic rings, uncaring for what would happen to their comrades. The shroud of darkness enveloping Lith engulfed their magic attacks, eating away most of their destructive power before they struck.
Yet because of the short range, they were more than enough to make him bleed, to rip his flesh apart, and expose his muscles. Lith reacted sending the darkness towards his attackers.
The tendrils pierced the two students, robbing them of their vitality while transferring it to Lith and healing his wounds. The girls withered liked dried up mummies in a matter of seconds, before turning to ashes together with their uniforms.
Feeding off someone's life force not only allowed Lith to recover without becoming more fatigued, but also restored his body's stamina as if he had a short rest.
'I have already used Invigoration too much. I need more energy. I still hunger.' Lith thought.
The remaining three became hysterical, screaming and crying for help. Lith had the darkness engulf them without inflicting any harm. The coldness it emitted amplified their fear, but at the same time made them snap out of panic.
"I'll ask it only once more. Where is my ring?"
"I don't know. I swear." Sobbed a red haired boy.
"Then you are useless."
The boy only managed to emit a short yelp before disappearing in the shadows. Lith's complexion was getting better with every meal.
Soon, it was clear they had no knowledge about Nalear's plan or Solus's whereabouts.
'Leave no loose ends.' Lith thought before killing them. He took a blanket to cover himself, before looking for food.
'Invigoration can give me back my strength and mana, Vampiric Touch can restore my fatigue, but none of them can replenish my nutrients. I need all the advantages I can get before confronting Nalear again.
'Judging by her order, Linjos is dead and the academy is about to fall. I won't let that witch get away with this, nor the vision to come true. Solus, Phloria, wait for me. I'm coming for you.'
After eating everything edible he managed to find inside Nalear's apartment, Lith stepped into the chaos the White Griffon academy had become.
***
Solus's patience had run out from hours, yet she endured. She could feel her strength dripping away, but so was the spell keeping her prisoner. Unlike Lith, she couldn't heal or recover her mana indefinitely, so she had to take a surgical approach.
First, she had to probe the mana crystal and the pseudo core's pathways, looking for weak spots. Only then Solus could open countless small holes, making the energies that empowered the box dwindle.
Each hole was too small to make the structure unstable enough to explode, but together they drained the magical prison at a faster rate than Solus's energy consumption.
The moment Solus broke the lock, the mystical box exploded outwards in a shower of flaming splinters. She found herself in the room of one of Nalear's little lambs. She had decided it was best to keep Lith and the artifact as far as possible from each other.
Giving the box to a lamb was her insurance that even if something went wrong, it would be impossible for Lith to find it.
Her jailer was a chestnut haired fifteen year old boy that was currently busy taking off the pants from an unconscious girl that was lying on his bed. She was also bleeding profusely from a head injury.
The moment the boy saw Solus, Nalear's highest priority order took effect. He took out his communication amulet to alert his master when Solus drove one of Lith's elemental blades through his throat with spirit magic.
The fire enchanted dagger made short work of the uniform's defenses, killing the boy in one blow. Solus was shocked. She knew Nalear's lambs were mind controlled and likely not to be entirely responsible for their actions.
She had expected the arrays to activate, saving Lith, the girl on the bed, and the lamb in one fell swoop.
'The only possible explanation is that Linjos is dead.' Solus inwardly cried. She really liked the Headmaster.
Having no time or mana to spare, she quickly poured a healing potion down the girl's throat before leaving the room. Solus discovered that closing the door was useless. The locks were offline, like everything else in the academy.
'Sorry, kid. I have no time to babysit you.'
She turned into her spider form and activated her mana sense. She could fly, but had no idea where to go. Walking on the ceiling would allow her to avoid being spotted while looking around for Lith. She wanted to find him as soon as possible.
***
"Fascinating, isn't he?" Tyris said pointing at Lith, who was walking double time through the corridor, slaughtering all those who attempted to attack him.
"Indeed." Leegaain used Life Vision, watching Lith's second form bulge from his aura, clawing to escape.
"He really is like a magical beast. I'd say his natural elements are fire and darkness." Unlike humans who were equally attuned with all elements, after evolving from their animal form, magical beasts would be limited to two.
At least until their further evolution into Evolved Monsters. Even the Guardians were no different. Salaark elements had always been light and darkness. They made her a literal embodiment of the cycle of death and rebirth, even before she became a phoenix.
Leegaain was a creature of fire and air, while Tyris's foundations were air and light magic.
"Isn't that the living artifact you told me about?" The dragon pointed his finger at Solus who had just escaped the room.
"You know what it is?" Tyris raised an eyebrow in disbelief.
"Sure I do. It's Menadion's Desperation. Her story is long but interesting…"
"Then, save it for another moment." Salaark cut him short.
***
"I'll call your father and Friya. You alert Quylla of the danger. If Nalear's pawns get to her first she is as good as dead." After hearing from Leflia what the traitorous Professor had made her do, Jirni had a grasp on her intentions.
After her sister, Phloria warned Yurial too. She hadn't forgotten about Lith's vision. As far as she knew, any of them could die at any moment.
"How did you know she was controlled?" Phloria asked after arranging a meeting point with the rest of her family.
"The twitch in her eye. Not even a strong willed person can resist a slave item, but they can signal their distress through small movements of the hands or the eyes. I know it from experience."
Chapter 311 Escape Part 2
"Did someone enslave you in the past?" Phloria felt her heart tighten at the idea.
"No, but every constable has to train against such devices to let their colleagues know about their predicament at their first meeting. Enough talking, listen to my words and do it carefully." Jirni grabbed Phloria's shoulders looking her in the eyes.
"Once we are out there, attack to kill. At this point, it's too late to save any of them."
"Aren't they victims? Just like her?" Phloria was having a hard time adapting at the circumstances.
"No, dear. They were ready to enslave people. They are as bad as Nalear is." Jirni shook her head.
"Also, if you show any mercy, they will not return you the favor. You heard her command, they'll kill us even if it costs them their lives. You have no idea what wearing one of those things feels like.
"You became a stranger in your own body, forced to do whatever the owner of the master ring wants. Most victims of a slave item commit suicide within a year from their rescue. It's like being r*ped in the mind and the body, every single moment."
Phloria unsheathed her estoc, taking a deep breath while thinking about her family and Lith. She hoped they would give her the strength to do what had to be done.
***
The mayhem taking place in the corridors soon turned the academy into a warzone. No one could be trusted, fear and paranoia made even the non mind controlled students attack anyone on sight.
There were more spells flying in the air than rice at a wedding ceremony. Solus didn't stop to watch at all the acts of violence, yet every one of the crimes she witnessed reinforced her hatred.
Stopping Nalear wasn't enough, Solus wanted to kill her.
Solus was getting more desperate by the second. She hadn't much mana left and still couldn't find any trace of Lith. Soon, she would be forced to trade her own memories to obtain the power she needed to keep moving.
'How can I sacrifice even one of them?' She inwardly cried.
'What if I choose the wrong one and become another person? What if I forget the reason why I'm even moving? By my maker, where the heck is he?'
She could still bond to another person, but it would mean losing him forever and giving someone access to all their secrets and most private moments. Solus would rather die than betray their bond.
When it happened, she couldn't believe her own fourteen senses. Solus could finally pick up an aura that she would recognize among thousands. Lith was just a few hundred meters in front of her.
She let go of the ceiling while casting their personal flight spell, soaring through the air like a small meteor. Solus felt so happy, so relieved to forget about everything else. Her other half was so close she could almost feel his touch again.
Alas, that cost her everything.
"Where do you think you are going, little one?" Nalear's cruel voice shattered Solus's hopes. Her spirit magic stopped Solus in mid air, pulling her toward the Professor's open palm.
"Who would have thought I would find you while looking for that damn constable? Heavens sure are on my side today." Even if she had been at her peak condition, Solus wouldn't have the strength to escape her pull.
She offered no resistance, letting herself be reeled in like an exhausted fish.
'F*ck the heavens and f*ck you a hundred times over!' Solus thought.
The moment before Nalear's pure mana could solidify enough to block her movements, Solus revealed her trump card.
She opened her pocket dimension, using spirit magic to unleash on the bewildered Professor every single weapon that Lith had Forgemastered and alchemical tool she had realized.
They were all medium low quality items, each one would have negligible effects on someone of Nalear's caliber. Their sheer numbers, however, were a force to be reckoned with.
"Where the f*ck all this stuff comes from?" Nalear's hate for the magical crafting arts knew no bounds that day.
Exploiting her enemy's distraction, Solus assumed the form of a snake, biting Nalear with all her strength. She still had the sample of Balkor's venom in its purest form. Solus pumped it all in the Professor's bloodstream, just to be safe.
The numbing sensation quickly spread through her hand, triggering Nalear into a panic. She had almost died once from the venom to keep her cover during Balkor's attack. Nalear knew she had no time to lose. If the poison reached her core she would die.
Also, she was no Healer. Nalear didn't have any mean to extract the venom aside from Invigoration, but it was hard to focus on a respiration technique while deadly blades and energy blasts were raining on her.
Solus turned tail, searching for Lith's energy signature again. Luckily, he hadn't gotten far, she still had enough energy to reach him. Solus flew as fast as she could, even resorting to employ her distress signal.
The one that had brought them to meet so many years prior. Anyone in the academy could hear it, but Solus didn't care. She wanted to get his attention before it was too late.
Yet it was a quarter past late. Nalear Warped in front of her, clutching her tight with an iron glove surrounded by a mystical aura.
"Damn Forgemasters. Can't live with them, can't live without them." Nalear spat in disgust. She had managed to move so fast only by employing the barrier built in Wanemyre's masterpiece while using Invigoration to expel the venom.
It was one of her strongest artifacts, along with the glove she was currently wearing.
"Thanks for making it easier to find you, stupid piece of rock." Nalear sneered.
"Indeed." Said a voice from another Warp Steps, shutting her mouth with a fist that sent Nalear tumbling on the ground for several meters despite the barrier shielding her.
Solus escaped her grip just for a split second before finding her into another one.
The contact triggered the bonding, making them whole again. For Solus, it was like being able to breathe again after almost drowning. For Lith, it was like seeing the sun at the end of an endless winter.
They became one, their minds fused in joy and hatred, allowing their cores to beat as one. Solus covered his hand, but this time it wasn't a glove.
The gauntlet covered Lith's arm up until the elbow. Its fingers ended in razor sharp claws and small blades came out from its ulna.
The gemstone resting on its center wasn't yellow anymore, but of a deep shade of green.
A split second later, the Gatekeeper sword was back in Lith's hand and the Skinwalker armor replaced the shroud.
Lith didn't waste time asking himself how it was possible nor losing himself in Solus's warm embrace. Not like she would allow him anyway.
They were one, which meant they shared their every thought, including the burning desire to kill Nalear.
Chapter 312 Traitor Part 1
Nalear's own words echoed in her head, but now they sounded more sarcastic than triumphant.
'Like heck the heavens are on my side. What's happening here?'
The entire world seemed to have turned upside down in less than a minute.
Lith's corpse was supposed to be hung to a wall, yet he was jumping with the bastard sword aimed at her neck. He was also wearing the Skinwalker armor that until a moment ago she was certain it was safe inside her dimensional amulet.
Nalear had no way to know Lith and Solus shared a pocket dimension and thus the dimensional amulet he always carried around was merely a decoy. After Lith had lost consciousness, Solus had stored away the Gatekeeper, making it appear as it was Lith's final act before fainting.
When Nalear had taken away the rest of his equipment, Solus had bid her time, letting her store away the magical rings while mana sense allowed her to study the timing with which Nalear opened her dimensional space.
The moment Solus saw with mana sense the glow preceding the opening of the dimensional rift, she had recovered the Skinwalker armor just a split second before it could be stolen.
Nalear never bothered checking her loot because until Lith was alive, the magical items would bear his imprint, making it impossible for anyone else to use them.
The Professor was shocked by the sudden turn of events, yet she managed to activate the barrier in time, blocking Lith's first attack without a scratch. She still felt the impact, realizing that his strength was above hers.
'This doesn't make any sense. I Awakened almost nine years ago while he can't be Awakened from more than six years. It can't be just because he is a man. It doesn't matter. He is still just a student while I practiced magic for almost twenty years.
'While he spent the whole night getting stabbed, I had a good sleep. Whatever that stupid piece of stone does I still hold all the advantages!'
Nalear's reasoning wasn't wrong, but it wasn't entirely right either. Having graduated from the academy seven years prior, she indeed had a stronger core and more experience with using high level true magic.
However, Lith had a stronger body, all the knowledge from his previous life, and a rich combat experience. Not to mention that fighting Linjos and patching up Wanemyre had already cost her quite some energy, while Lith partially recovered from feeding on her little lambs' life force.
Nalear infused herself with air, fire, and earth magic, intercepting Lith's sword with her own. The impact made her slid a few meters backward, almost making her lose the grip on the weapon.
"What the f*ck are you?" Nalear extended her left hand, pointing the iron glove against him. A series of shockwaves struck Lith, like several cars were ramming against him one after the other.
Solus used her spirit magic to create a force field while Lith used his own air magic to disrupt the attack, making it lose part of its strength. Yet the remaining force was enough to make him crash against a wall, bleeding from his mouth and nostrils.
'F*ck! It's the first time I fight an Awakened with this much experience. Magical beasts were always limited to two elements while the Clacker Queen was as inexperienced as Protector.
'In a battle between Awakened ones, experience and equipment can easily turn the tables. I have yet to create a single damn tier five spell!' He thought.
'Do you think we should retreat?' Solus didn't like the idea one bit. She wanted Nalear to suffer an agonizing death, but the short exchange had shown her a gap between the two that fury alone couldn't overcome.
They needed a plan, a diversion, or both.
'No way.' Lith replied. 'The vision showed me someone capable of killing the Queen's corps before slaughtering my family. I bet we are staring at her.'
A couple of Nalear's little lambs joined the fray, showering Lith with a torrent of fire and lightning respectively. He kicked the wall behind him, managing to dodge both the attacks by jumping above them.
He impaled the students with the darkness imbued Gatekeeper, sucking away their life forces to restore his own. Nalear used the split second of distraction to Blink behind his back and decapitate Lith with a horizontal slash.
Or so she planned. This time Lith was ready. Just like her, he was silently weaving spell after spell from the moment they had met. Her blade struck Solus's spirit magic force field which made it lose momentum, allowing Lith to briefly touch her weapon.
His hand released a small but powerful globular lightning that traveled through the metal bypassing all of her protections. Thanks to earth fusion, Nalear managed to avoid the brunt of the damage.
Yet the moment the spell struck, it stopped her movements long enough to put her on the back foot again.
***
Yurial had yet to recover from the shocking news Phloria told him about when all hell broke loose. The door of his room opened, letting two students in. With the academy's power core down, the locks had stopped working.
Yurial knew the invaders pretty well. One was Lyam Lukart's cousin, a brawny fifteen year old boy. The other was a very cute girl he dated the previous year.
"You'll pay for what you did to the Lukart family, Deirus!" The boy said unleashing a fireball from one of his rings.
"How could you play with my feelings and toss me away like garbage? You said you loved me!" The girl conjured a swarm of small ice blades. They were all aimed to Yurial's nether regions.
Luckily, Yurial had taken Lith's vision very seriously. He had stockpiled his dimensional amulet with the best tools money could afford. Arrays were too slow to cast and healing magic dealt no damage. Since his specializations were useless in case of ambush, he could only be prepared for the worst.
The moment he realized the danger he was in, Yurial Blinked twice. The first moved him behind his assailants, leaving a Fire Seed at their feet, while the second brought him outside the room, just in time to close the door behind himself.
The three fireballs exploded almost at the same time, making the walls tremble.
'I know you probably were out of your minds, but I really want to live. I'm sorry I'm not a fighter good enough to have the luxury of mercy.' He inwardly prayed for their souls.
Yurial could hear terrible screams, some of pain, other desperately calling for help. He felt terrible ignoring them, but he did it nonetheless. After finding an isolated corner, Yurial opened a Warp Steps to the arranged meeting point.
He didn't immediately cross it. Yurial simply used it to peek if someone else was already there. It was only when he spotted Friya and Quylla that Yurial moved to the other side, happy to see again his loyal friends.
Friya was deadly pale. The rapier in her hand was dripping with fresh blood and her clothes were tore in multiple points. Quylla was doing her best to hold back the tears, clenching her knife with so much strength her hand was white.
Chapter 313 Traitor Part 2
As soon as they saw Yurial, they immediately pointed their blades at him.
"What the heck is wrong with you?" Yurial managed to stop at the last second before getting stabbed.
Seeing surprise instead of lust in his eyes, Freya sighed in relief.
"Didn't you hear that crazy b*tch command? I almost got r*ped thrice in the last five minutes. If it wasn't for Quylla I would be already dead, or worse."
Both the girls had Warped to the destination as soon as Jirni contacted them, trying to keep themselves out of sight and out of troubles. What they didn't expect was for every single mind controlled boy to recklessly converge on Friya on sight.
Her biggest mistake had been using a spell to kill the first assailant. The noise had revealed her position, multiplying the number of enemies. They had kept warping and fighting until that moment, managing to survive only because they wanted her body intact and because they completely ignored Quylla.
She had never been so happy for not being very attractive.
Phloria, Jirni, and Orion Warped there too a few seconds later. Aside from Jirni, they were all deadly pale and covered in blood.
"Glad to see you are all right, girls." Jirni checked her daughters and husband, almost ignoring Yurial.
"It's the only piece of good news so far. The power core is down and so are the Warp Gates leading here. It will take a while for the reinforcements to get here. I'm afraid when they arrive it will be already too late. I contacted Manohar on the way here.
He says they have their hands full treating wounded students and neutralizing the Professors under Nalear's influence. Trust no one. Anyone here could be an enemy."
They all nodded in unison.
"We have only two options run to the forest and get ourselves to safety or find Nalear and kill her. If she dies, all those under the influence of a slave ring will be freed."
"No, there is a third option." Orion chimed in. "The kids save themselves by hiding in the forest while we stop that madwoman."
"Don't go, please." Quylla sobbed desperately. "I don't want to lose my family again. Please, don't leave me."
Jirni hugged Quylla, trying to calm her down.
"We'll never leave you alone, darling. Our duty is…" Jirni stopped her eyes wide in surprise.
Quylla's blade had pierced her lung and heart, striking from the blind spot created in the stomach area when Jirni embraced her. There was a reason if Quylla had ignored Nalear's final command. Her duty was getting rid of constable Ernas all along.
After Lith, Nalear considered Jirni the biggest threat to her plan. She had come too close to the truth too many times. Nalear knew that the only way to kill someone so meticulous was to exploit her only weak spot. Jirni's love for her family.
While everyone was still too shocked to react, Quylla Blinked behind Yurial's back, cutting his throat from ear to ear. Blood spurted everywhere, blinding Phloria and Friya while Orion attempted to save his wife.
Quylla Blinked again, this time going for Friya's life. Nalear had given her precise orders. To make sure Jirni was beyond saving, Quylla had to kill all the Healers.
***
Lith pressed the advantage by activating his tier four true magic spell Burning Prison. Six fireballs appeared at the same time around Nalear, one above, one below and the others in a square shape. The fireballs exploded simultaneously, one reinforcing the effect of the other.
It was the same tactic Nalear had employed in her ambush and now it was Lith's turn to exploit the spell's nature to predict her next move. If she used ice to counter the fire, he would use lightning. If she Blinked, he would follow suit, stabbing her the moment Nalear reappeared.
Thanks to Life Vision, an Awakened one could see the exit point of a Blink, making the first one to employ such spell an easy target. Yet she did neither. Nalear activated once again her sword's barrier, using it to take the brunt of the damage.
It was one of Lith's best spells, yet she came out of it almost unscathed.
Almost.
Lith bolted forward boosted by air fusion, but Nalear was ready for him. With an upwards swing of her sword, while she was still in a crouched position, she managed to deflect the Gatekeeper and aim for his right arm at the same time.
There was no time to adjust his stance, Lith could only let go of the blade to prevent his limb from being cut off. Nalear smiled in triumph, aiming to Lith's head next.
That until she saw the Gatekeeper plunging from the air as quick as a bullet toward her heart. Only then she noticed Lith's right hand was bare, the gauntlet was gone. Cursing at herself for falling into such stupid trap, Nalear blocked the falling blade, leaving her side exposed in the process.
Lith punched her in the ribs with all his strength, cracking three of them. His aim was to break the ribs and use them to puncture her lung, but Nalear managed to fly backward at the last second reducing the damage.
'Damn! At least she took a solid hit. Sooner or later she will have to use Invigoration and that will be my only chance to take her out.' Lith thought.
Alas, Nalear was well aware of such a possibility as well.
Solus returned to Lith's hand, who was flying towards the enemy at full speed to not give her a single moment of rest.
Thorman, the Professor of the Mage Knight specialization, flew against Lith enveloped in a sphere composed by conjured shields which rotated at high speed. It was the tier five Mage Knight spell Revolving Fortress.
Lith cursed when Solus pointed out the Professor was wearing a slave item too. Now that they were activated, she only needed a glance to recognize them. Lith attempted to dodge, but the shields broke the formation barring his way.
At the same time, Professor Binlow of the Mage Knight class unleashed against him several armor shaped constructs. Each one was armed to the teeth but frail. Lith needed only a few slashes to wipe out shields and construct alike, but it gave Nalear the time to get back at her peak condition.
Binlow sent a pulse of mana, allowing the constructs from his tier five Personal Army spell to repair all the damage they had sustained.
"Sorry, Lith." Said Nalear with a smug expression.
"You are not the only one who has brought friends to the party."
Chapter 314 Traitor Part 3
Going toe to toe with an Awakened one who possessed a stronger mana core and was more experienced with magic had already pushed Lith to his limits just to keep up. Even with his core and Solus's resonating, he was barely at the cyan upper stages, while Nalear had a blue core.
Now that he had to face her along two other Professors, Lith felt his heart sink. He had long learned not to underestimate fake mages. The only advantage he had against stronger mages was usually the surprise effect, but Nalear countered that.
There was nothing he could do that she couldn't, making his odds of victory non-existent.
'Damn! If I put my life on the line, I can kill one of the Professors, maybe both. Not Nalear, thought. She can always use them as meat shields to buy time and recover.' Lith thought.
'Should we run away?' Solus hated not being strong enough to help him. Reality was a harsh mistress, all her battle spirit meant nothing in the face of true power. It was better to survive to fight another day.
'Exposing our back? No, thanks. A tactical retreat may help, though. Divide and conquer. If I manage to fight them one by one, we can still do it.'
'It's a big if.' Solus was worried, the three Professors were all casting something big.
***
Meanwhile, Jirni and Yurial were quickly bleeding out.
Orion was using all his medical skills in an attempt to save them. He forced Jirni to drink top class healing potions while he used magic on Yurial's neck. Neither seemed to work well.
"Her organs are too damaged. She needs tier four magic." His wife was dying in his arms, but Orion managed to keep his emotions in check, assessing the situation.
"Yurial too is in a bad shape. The wound is too wide and is sapping his life force very fast. We need a Healer, fast!"
Phloria felt the ground crumbling under her feet. Her whole life was going down the gutter and there was nothing she could do about it.
'Why didn't I learn healing magic too? Is my mom going to die because I didn't push myself hard enough?' She thought. The truth was she never showed particular talent toward healing magic.
The academy was a demanding environment, so Phloria had applied to the Mage Knight specialization only to not waste her energies. Even if she did try the Healer specialization, she would have flunked after the first trimester.
It was just her helplessness talking, filling her mind with "ifs" and "buts" about what she could have done in the past to have control over an uncontrollable present.
Instead of despairing, Phloria activated Full Guard before Yurial's body could even hit the ground, quickly moving near Friya. Nalear plan was the basic of the basic: always get rid of the Healer first.
Since Lith had told her about his vision, she had practiced Full Guard relentlessly, even creating a better version of it. The moment Phloria touched Friya, the blue aura expanding from her body enveloped her sister too, allowing Phloria to share her multi sensory awareness of the space in a two meters radius around them.
Contrary to everyone's expectations, Quylla didn't strike immediately, retreating to a safe distance instead.
"She wants to prevent us from receiving help." Phloria understood what was happening. "Friya, go save mom. Now!"
Friya was still frozen in place. She had no idea what to do. She could only save one of them. The situation forced her to take an impossible choice. Phloria's order nudged the balance in Jirni's favor.
"Dad, give Friya some space and call Manohar. We need all the help we can get. I'll keep Yurial alive."
Orion nodded, understanding his daughter's plan. It was unlikely for Manohar, or anyone else for that matter, to have the time and the strength to help them. Moving them while in critical condition was also out of the question.
It was only a trap to trigger Nalear's orders.
'Quylla is a Healer too. If we snap her out of the slave item control, we can save them both. My little Flower has grown into a capable leader.' He thought.
Quylla Blinked, appearing at Friya's back only to find Phloria waiting for her. She struck Quylla's throat with her extended fingers, preventing her from spellcasting without doing her any real harm.
Only then she grabbed Quylla by the arm, twisting it into a submission hold and forcing her face down on the ground.
"Dad, search for a ring, a bracelet. Anything! If it's on the neck we're doomed."
Quylla struggled like a mad beast, but Phloria was taller, stronger, and ruthless. She pushed her full weight on the knee pressed against Quylla's back to keep her pinned on the floor.
Orion took off Quylla's rings one by one until he found one that couldn't be moved. A quick spell later, he knew what he was dealing with.
'It's the same model that Poltus guy purchased. Finally some good news.' Orion took out a tool looking like pincer clamps from his dimensional amulet, using it to grab Quylla's ring. He then channeled a Forgemaster spell that temporarily neutralized the slave item, allowing his daughter to regain her free will.
***
Amyla Farg had done her best, saving as many students as she could and bringing them to safety. The chaos and violence were overwhelming. Despite her efforts, she felt like she was trying to stop the tide using a spoon.
The mind controlled students would either Warp away from her or attack innocents, forcing her to defend them while they got away and found another victim.
She was starting to fear everything was lost when the artifact Tyris had entrusted to her picked Lith's signal again.
'Thank the gods he hasn't run away, yet. If I can convince him to help me, maybe together we stand a chance.' Professor Farg chose to fly instead of Warping, she had already consumed part of her mana trying to stop the disorders.
The scene at her arrival made even too much sense. Three Professors against one student, keeping him on the defensive. Farg recognized the crazed look in her colleagues' eyes. The thought of how deep the scheme was made her shiver.
It didn't take her much time to understand Nalear was in control of the slave rings. Cursing at the Kingdom's bad luck, she unleashed three tier four true spells, one for each target.
Sunray generated a white hot beam aimed at Nalear's back. Stormclaw conjured a small tornado which released wind blades in all directions. Lastly, Thundersnap released a chain of lightning that engulfed the whole corridor.
Farg would have replaced Thundersnap with an earth based spell, to maximize the destructive power of her combo, but inside the academy there was no earth to manipulate. The stones composing the castle were resistant to magic, even with the power core offline.
"Watch out!" Nalear warned her minions who otherwise would have no regard for their personal safety. The three spells converged a few meters in front of them, causing a chain reaction.
Stormclaw absorbed the massive heat from Sunray, exploding outwards in a massive fire pillar releasing scorching shockwaves while Thundersnap bounced off the walls, attacking the Professors from all sides.
Chapter 315 Traitor Part 4
Thorman used his conjured tower shields to block the whole corridor and Binlow hastily activated a spell from one of his rings to conjure an ice wall one meter (3.3 feet) thick to stop the blast.
Lith could have used the diversion to escape, but charged forward instead. He imbued the Gatekeeper with water magic to conjure a cold aura and himself with earth magic. The combined effects were supposed to protect him from the brunt of the damage.
The fire pillar crushed the shields and melted the ice, yet it still had enough power to turn Binlow's constructs into gas. Nalear gritted her teeth, activating once again the magic shield of her sword while her minions conjured more protections.
Lith struck them from behind with the Gatekeeper, overloading Nalear's sword core and interrupting the Professor's spells. The barrier shattered and the explosion engulfed the four of them, but Lith made sure to stand right behind Nalear.
With the barrier down, she could either protect herself from the blast or from him, but not from both. She would also become his human shield, making it a trade worth Lith's while. Lith released all the spells he had ready, only to see them crushed by Nalear's glove.
Its magic could be used as a sword but also as a shield.
Then, the blast struck them and the four mages were slammed against the walls. As soon as the smoke dissipated, the corridor was peaceful again. Farg was satisfied with the results of her sneak attack. Every enemy was down and accounted for.
There was just one thing that didn't add up.
"Why didn't you run away?" She asked Lith. "Throwing yourself in the middle of my spell was incredibly dumb. You could have di…"
Despite Solus's force field and light fusion, Lith's ears were still ringing. Solus had no such problem allowing him to understand what was happening and cut Farg short.
"Don't let her recover, you idiot! She's the mastermind!" Lith pointed at Nalear's body.
Only then Farg reactivated Life Vision, noticing that Lith and Nalear both were getting stronger by the second, their wounds closing at a speed visible at the naked eye.
'Another Awakened one? This is a nightmare!' Farg unleashed all the spells she had left, but it was too little and too late.
Nalear raised her iron glove, hitting Farg with a series of shockwaves which crushed her attacks and sent Farg sprawling on the floor, bleeding from the nose, ears, and mouth.
"Seems it's just the two of us again, dear Lith." Nalear smiled without stopping to use Invigoration. Lith was still sitting on the floor, clearly the blast had somehow dealt him more damage than she had expected.
Lith took a deep breath. Talking was cheap while spells spoke loudly.
"Arise." He carefully avoided breaking his use of Invigoration, while all the fallen one rose on their feet to serve their master.
***
As soon as Quylla was freed from the slave ring, her mind collapsed under the weight of her actions. Ever since the previous weekend, her life had turned into a nightmare. The moment she wore the ring, she had been under Nalear's thumb.
She had fought the ring's influence the whole time. Yet her struggle didn't prevent her from feeling Jirni's blood and guts cover her hands nor Yurial's flesh tear up like paper under the enchanted blade.
Quylla stopped struggling. She broke into tears while desperately trying to apologize.
Meanwhile, Friya was already deadly pale. Regenerating Jirni's heart and lungs also required her to share part of her life force to prevent her mother from dying of weakness.
'How the f*ck does Lith to make it always look so simple?' She inwardly cursed. She was doing alone something that the academy trained her to do with two teams of three persons each.
"Feel free to take my life force." Orion had already done all that he could to stabilize Yurial. Friya thankfully nodded, taking only what she needed to keep her and her mother alive.
Phloria only wanted to hug Quylla tightly, to calm her down and tell her that it wasn't her fault. That everything was going to be all right. Alas, there is no time for kindness in war.
Phloria slapped her instead, hoping to snap her out of it before it was too late.
"Quylla, you are my sister and I know how this is hard on you." She held Quylla's face with both hands, forcing her sister to look her in the eyes.
"Now it's not the time for tears. You must decide how you want to remember this moment. If as the day when you saved your friend's life or the one when you killed your first human."
Quylla nodded her head, choking back the tears and the snot running down her face.
She placed her hands on Yurial, activating her diagnostic spell to understand how deep the damage was.
The spell gave her no reply.
She cast it a second and a third time, before finding the strength to put her hand on his heart. There was no pulse, Yurial was gone.
Quylla stood there for a few seconds, incapable of answering to their expectant looks. She felt something die inside of her. She had betrayed her family, her friends.
'How could I be so stupid to wear an enchanted item without even knowing what it did?' She thought in hindsight. None of the group had ever heard about slave items, otherwise Lith would have warned them.
Even his paranoia could do nothing against what he was unaware of.
Quylla joined Friya, giving her life force to both women to help them to recover.
Phloria and Orion understood what had happened, but there was no time for mourning their loss. They stood guard against the chaos surrounding them, blocking anyone that could threaten the ongoing treatment.
For Orion they were just kids, for Phloria were familiar faces she had seen every day for the past two years. Yet they killed them nonetheless. Only death awaited those who ignored their warning and entered the range of their spells.
Jirni regained her sense, coughing out the blood that had invaded her lungs.
'What happened?' Her mind immediately recalled the events leading to her near death experience.
'The wound was deep, yet I feel good. Too good.' Lady Ernas swiftly struck Quylla's stomach, making her faint and preventing her suicide attempt.
"My poor child, what have they done to you?" Jirni hugged her daughter's small body and kissed her head. Quylla was reduced to a pale husk, her skin was deadly cold.
Jirni stood up, letting her family embrace her. There was relief in their faces and warmth in their touch, but no joy in the reunion. Watching Yurial's corpse, Jirni knew there had never been a chance to save them both.
She could tell by looking at the guilt in Phloria's eyes that it was her taking an impossible decision in the heat of the battle.
'I don't know if Phloria or Quylla will be able to live with what happened today. I can't do anything to change the past. The only thing I can do is to make Phloria's choice matter.'
Following her directives, Friya stored Yurial corpse in her dimensional amulet. They wouldn't let anyone harm him anymore. Then, she had Phloria open a Warp Steps to the forest, to send the girls to safety.
Chapter 316 Agony Part 1
Friya was too weak to fight and Quylla was barely alive. They would be dead weight in the battle that was still ahead of them.
As soon as they crossed over, Phloria closed the Warp Steps.
"What do you think you are doing?" Orion was shocked.
"I already lost too much today." Phloria's eyes kept weeping, but her voice was steady.
"I'm not going to hide somewhere while you two risk your lives. Mom, dad. I couldn't live with myself if anything happens to you. Not while knowing I could have made a difference. Yurial is dead because of me."
"No, dear." Jirni caressed her shoulder, honoring her daughter's determination.
"Yurial is dead because of Nalear. You didn't make Quylla your slave. You didn't order her to hurt him nor you prevented the arrival of the healers who could have saved him. Let's put an end to this madness."
***
Milea Genys, the Magic Empress of the Gorgon Empire, had seen many awful things during her life as both wandering magician and ruler of her country. Yet seeing so many youths turned into beasts and lose their lives was a sight even her found disturbing.
"Leegaain, why did you bring me here? What's the point in watching this massacre and do nothing?" The fight between the two Awakened seemed out of a bard tale. Unlike the three Guardians, Milea couldn't avert her eyes from the bloodshed taking place on all five floors of the White Griffon.
"Because I wanted you to see first hand what was the Gorgon Empire when I left it. One thing is reading history books, another is living it." Leegaain explained.
"If you want to prevent such things from happening again during your rule, you must be brave enough to take unpopular decisions. Avoid grave problems long enough and everything will fester."
"Being a ruler it's not a popularity contest." Salaark snorted. "Those idiots of the Griffon Kingdom achieved such a long peace that they were afraid of the conflict with the noble households. Without conflict, there is no progress.
"They should have thought of the consequences of letting powerful people become even more powerful would have in the long term, instead of prioritizing the status quo. It ended with the Royal family almost losing its dominance.
"It would have caused a civil war that would have lasted years. Remember, powerful people already have all the means they need to protect themselves. If you let them, they'll drain your authority. A stable country requires balance and shared resources."
"Indeed." Tyris nodded. "My only hope is that, just like for Balkor, this bloodshed will bring some real changes. The royals have finally opened their eyes, now it's time for the nobles to see the errors of their way or get condemned by history."
***
Nalear was surrounded by undead students who stared at her with looks full of hunger and hatred. Their usually pristine white uniforms were tainted by blood and excrement, releasing a foul stench that would make hard for most people not to puke.
To Nalear it was just another day.
It was the exact same thing she felt every time she watched one of those disgusting stuck up noble kids walk along the corridors of the White Griffon like they owned the place. Nalear had suffered them ever since her first year of academy, back when she was just twelve years.
Her parents were employed as household staff of a minor noble and had been enthusiastic of their daughter becoming a mage. Nalear, not so much. Ever since the academy started, everyone treated her as a servant, not as a peer.
She hoped that with time she would manage to make some friends. That if she tried hard enough, people would see past her lack of a family name and respect her for her hard work.
Reality proved her wrong, turning her hope into despair.
She endured the hazing and the violence, only focusing on her studies. Magic was a fascinating subject, capable of taking her mind off the daily dose of misery. At least until it was night time.
In those hours, she would return to be just a little girl away from home. Nalear was completely alone, resorting even to eat in her room to avoid more "accidents." Most of the time, she would cry herself to sleep.
During the third year, her body bloomed and so did her magical talents. Things started with lecherous looks from the boys and harsh words from the girls, but quickly escalated.
Nalear was often groped while going to classes or before the lessons. Every attempt of self defense would end with her losing points and things getting worse. The Professors blamed her for being unable to fit in while the Headmistress condemned her overreacting over "practical jokes".
It was then that despair turned into hatred. When the academy turned out to be an enemy as much as her molesters were.
After a group of boys dragged her in an isolated room and almost r*ped her, the Headmistress finally gave her a Guilty Ballot. It wasn't something she could cover up, the wounds on Nalear's body spoke volume.
After healing the girl, Professor Vastor was ready to testify in Nalear's favor. His report would have likely put an end to many careers. It was only by offering a nice sum of money for her parents that the Headmistress managed to keep Nalear quiet.
The academy was still long and her family could use that gold to start a business. Nalear felt safe with the Ballot in hand, so she agreed. Her existence kept being isolated and miserable, but at least now everyone left her alone.
Nalear's hopes had long died, replaced by mistrust.
To never feel helpless again, she chose the Battle and War Mage specializations. Nalear quickly gained the recognition of her new Professors, Rudd included. Her mastery of dimensional magic surpassed even his hostility towards commoners.
Everything went fine until the end of the fourth year when the class went to the mining town to practice with mana crystals. Nalear had forgotten about the danger, of how outside the academy the Ballot was just a round stone.
It happened in the mines. Those who envied her talent, her ranking, or simply lusted for her beauty, ambushed her in a gallery. Their plan was to r*pe and kill her, disposing of the body in the forest.
Nalear fought back with everything she had. She managed to hurt some of her attackers, triggering their fury. They beat her an inch from death, until out of desperation she used her last ring to strike at a mana crystal, triggering a cave in.
The attackers managed to get away and left her for dead. They had dragged her into an isolated tunnel before she managed to regain consciousness. Deep enough to make sure no one would hear her screams.
They felt reassured when the cave in went unnoticed. They thought her death would be considered an accident.
Nalear survived. She remained there for over a week. Water wasn't a problem thanks to magic, but there was almost nothing to eat. Dimensional magic was blocked by the academy's array, so she had to survive by eating everything she could, even things that would make a goat throw up.
Rage kept her barely alive until she was rescued. After a week, the Professors responsible for her specialization courses got worried and investigated. Both the Headmistress and the Professor in charge of the Mana Crystal subject were fired, but the culprits got away with it for lack of proof.
Nalear spent all the time when she was recovering practicing true magic. Deep in the caves, surrounded by the mana coming out of Mogar, where it was so dense to take crystal form, she had relentlessly attempted to use dimensional magic to escape, until her rage and talent awakened her core.
Chapter 317 Agony Part 2
Because of the arrays, she couldn't kill her enemies, but now Nalear could ruin their lives. Spirit magic allowed her to make them fail every single subject they attended together. A nudge here, a push there was all it took to make them stutter or disrupt their hand signs.
Their performance during the final exams was so poor not even their parents could avoid their expulsion.
Yet it wasn't enough to quench her thirst for vengeance. She wanted them dead, alongside their families. During her imprisonment, something broke inside of her. As hope died, madness flourished.
Nalear joined the Association as soon as he could, racking merits by accomplishing the impossible over and over again despite her young age. The Crown attempted to recruit her, but she resented them for the academy system.
Nobles and mages alike fawned her, but she only wanted them dead. Her behavior left her alone, with a lot of enemies and no one watching her back. When she tried to convert her merits into titles and lands to put the families of her attackers under her thumb, only faraway lands in backwater regions were offered to her.
With no ally in the Court nor in the Association, no matter how much she achieved, her goals would always be outside of her grasp. She had tried to fight alone against the world and the world crushed her.
'I'm the victim! Why am I the one getting punished?' She thought while her madness and rage grew day by day.
When Linjos offered her a position as a Professor, she thought she could have a fresh start, but even under the naïve, gentle Headmaster things weren't much different from the past.
When Lukart offered her revenge in exchange for her help, Nalear accepted only to act as a double agent. She hated people like Lukart the most. Bringing down him and his associates was an opportunity she couldn't miss.
After seeing how deeply rooted was the rebellion, how mages like Hatorne were willing to sell their own kin for money, Nalear lost all hope and a plan formed in her mind.
Hatorne slave items were a terrible tool. She had managed to fuse Forgemastering and Alchemy to obtain some special pills that allowed to remove the cursed objects while keeping the victims under control.
Thanks to his associates, Lukart always knew when a security check was about to happen and had the slaves using the pills to pass the inspections. Nalear used the first batch of slave items she received on the students instead of her alleged targets, turning Lukart's accomplices inside the academy in her puppets and gaining control of every box that reached the academy.
After helping Lukart escape, he gave her his master ring. Just a second before she killed him and all his family with the tier five spell Raging Sun she had silently cast.
At that point, she had complete control over all of his assets, inside and outside the academies. She finally had the means to achieve her revenge. After capturing Lith, the Awakened one responsible of so many failures, and turning Quylla into an unwilling sleeper agent, Nalear's plan was bound to succeed.
Or at least so she thought, until Farg's unexpected arrival put down her minions, giving Lith the time to rise a small army of undead. Thanks to Life Vision, Nalear could see they were filled to the brim with darkness magic.
They were all lesser undead, nothing compared to Balkor's creations. Yet Nalear felt afraid. In a real battle, a moment of distraction was the difference between life and death.
With a wave of Lith's hand, the undead charged at her in a mad rush.
'It makes sense. He probably wants to stall for time, preventing me to focus while he cast his spells. Lith is using against me the same strategy I employed to capture him.' She inwardly smiled.
'He really is a good student. If only he didn't make friends with the enemy, he could have shared this moment with me. It's really a pity killing him but he left me no choice. He should have never got close to the noble scum.'
Even if its barrier was still offline, Nalear's sword had several tricks ups its sleeve. She needed but a thought to unleash part of the power the many mana crystals embedded on it stored. They generated a ice storm that was supposed to repel the wave and buy her enough time to complete her spells.
'There's nothing that Balkor did that I can't.' Lith thought.
With a snap of his fingers, all the undead close to her detonated, releasing a cloud of darkness magic that surrounded her. It negated the ice storm and sapped her strength.
At the same time, the rest of the undead shoot focused beams of dark energy from their eyes, replicating the effects of Lith's Plague Arrow spell. Unlike the Valors' attack, they were still slow and incapable of infecting their victims.
Nalear had no way to know it, she only saw Balkor's minions' attacks unfolding one after the other in front of her eyes, triggering her recent trauma. She went all out, releasing a blue aura while dodging or parrying all the Arrows thanks to air fusion, managing to complete her spell.
Final Sunset was Nalear's version of a tier five Battle Mage spell. It generated around her a globe made of darkness imbued flames that reduced to ashes all the undead that approached her.
Nalear could also consume part of the sphere, turning it into spikes made of black fire to attack her enemies from a distance. The two elements were fused together, allowing even the dark energies to move at a speed normally impossible.
Final Sunset was a perfect offense and defense that would stay up until all its mana was exhausted, but being a true spell Nalear could channel more energy into it at will. As long as she could use Invigoration, she was practically invincible.
She used her hands to better direct the flames, purging the corridor from the undead and the remaining corpses. Nalear wasn't going to underestimate Lith anymore, she now saw all the bodies lying around as potential traps.
Lith had a vague understanding of what was happening, yet he didn't panic. He kept his distance while making all the remaining undead detonate. They would do her no direct harm but they still forced her to consume mana to protect herself.
'It's nice trick, but it's far from perfect. To keep using Invigoration she can't move, making it impossible for her to hit me if I don't get close. Also, Invigoration can't be used for long. The more she uses it, the sooner she'll collapse'
Lith had just finished analysing the enemy's plan's weak spots when Life Vision showed him the exit point of a Blink quickly forming in front of him.
The dimensional fissure had yet to completely open, but the heat coming out of it almost burned his lungs.
'F*ck! I didn't consider Blink. She can still move without moving. Until that spell is active, I can't even get close to her.' Lith Blinked away, just a moment before the floor he had been standing on melted.
The fight had just turned into a deadly game of tag.
Chapter 318 Reunion Part 1
Valesa Nalear had gained the upper hand, yet she couldn't stop cursing her eternal bad luck. Lith had yet to die, she had no idea if her plot against Constable Ernas succeeded, and it was only a matter of time before the academy's power core rebooted.
When that happened, the Warp Gates leading to the White Griffon would open again, allowing the royal forces to restore order. Nalear needed to make sure that by then the stage was perfect. Not a single detail could be overlooked or her death would be as slow as agonizing.
She was way behind schedule and the time at her disposal was quickly running out. Blinking consumed a lot of mana, but it was nothing compared to Final Sunset. She had already used Invigoration a lot of times.
To heal from the poison, from the damage she had exchanged with Lith, and lastly from Farg. She needed to eat and rest soon, otherwise she was bound to collapse. The raw amount of mana she was handling put a heavy burden on her body.
Lith was in her same boat, but his situation was even worse. His body had still to fully recover after he consumed so much life force to save Protector. To make things worse, he had spent the last night being tortured and his core was weaker than Nalear's to begin with.
Lith timed his Blinks with extreme precision, leaving behind darkness blasts whenever Nalear closed in. Another weak spot of her tactic that he had found, was that Blink's dimensional door would always appear very close to the mage.
It meant that a huge part of the sphere Final Sunset created was temporarily cut off until the spell reformed it. By leaving his spells near Nalear's exit points, Lith was sure he was chipping her strength bit by bit.
Even with Solus's help, it was still a mammoth task.
'Damn, if it keeps up like this I'm bound to lose. She knows even true dimensional magic, so while she can use Invigoration, I'm forced to keep moving to avoid getting incinerated and prepping my traps. Any idea, Solus?'
'None.' She snarled. 'We can't leave the sword in front of the exit point. She always keeps a fire spike in front of her before Blinking. The sword would be thrown away and I would take heavy damage.'
Lith nodded. He preferred to attempt to escape rather than putting Solus's life to risk.
'I can't believe there is only us fighting. Where is everyone?' For the first time since he started the academy, Lith wished for his companions to be by his side.
He needed only an opening to turn tables, but until he was alone, Nalear could focus on him. She was doing a damn fine job getting closer and closer. In a corner of his mind, Lith was afraid he had failed to prevent the vision from coming true.
Another exit point appeared in front of him. Lith was about to leave another Darkness bomb when Solus warned him.
'Behind you!' Thanks to being temporarily fused, he could actually use all of Solus's senses as his own. The warning was unnecessary, she did it only out of habit. A second exit point was forming at his back almost at the same time. Lith had no idea which was the real one.
If he picked the wrong direction to Blink, it would have been like throwing himself in the maws of the beast.
Darkness imbued flames came out from both dimensional doors at the same time, engulfing both ends of the corridors without leaving him no way out.
'F*ck, that's not Blink. She actually opened two Warp Steps at once. How powerful is she?' Lith inwardly cursed while their minds were spinning at top gear for a solution.
Alas, there was none. His line of sight was blocked by the flames and there was no one alive and close enough he could use as a benchmark for Blinking.
At least until Solus's mana sense spotted human figures closing in. They were still far, Blinking there was a big risk. The dimensional jump would take a huge toll on him and Lith could find himself surrounded by Nalear's puppets before having the time to react.
'In for a penny, in for a pound. "Maybe dead" always beats "dead as a doornail".'
Lith used most of his remaining energies for the farthest Blink he had ever attempted. Bending the fake spell limits put a huge strain on his mana and willpower, almost making him faint from the extortion.
Luckily, he found himself among friends. To find Nalear, the Ernas had moved towards the battle that produced the most noise. They had encountered and neutralized a few Professors before spotting Lith from a distance.
"Beware of her." Lith was wheezing, he was almost out of breath. The fresh air rejuvenated his lungs and reminded him how bad his throat was after being so close to a miniature sun for too long.
"She can silently cast any spell." He said while looking Phloria in the eyes. Seeing her alive made him happy beyond what words could express. Not seeing the other three sent a cold shiver down his spine, hence he warned his new allies at once.
Lith was risking to expose part of his secrets, but if he didn't, they wouldn't last long and neither would he. Just like the wyvern, Nalear was an opponent he couldn't face alone. The gap between the two of them was too big.
Phloria was brimming with joy too. She was starting to fear it was too late. That just like Yurial, Lith was lost to her. The relief she noticed when their eyes met told Phloria how worried about her he had been.
Jirni and Orion were surprised by finding him in such good shape after fighting an academy's Professor. Normally they would consider his words just a bunch of nonsense coming from a traumatized student.
An enemy capable of perfect silent casting outside first magic was more than unbelievable, it was something out of a nightmare. Yet they knew Lith better.
Even if what he said was absurd, it had to be the truth.
"Thanks, kid. Don't worry too much, in such an enclosed space most of her War Mage spells are useless. Also, Mage Knights are the natural counter to Battle Mages and I'm a Spellbreaker (AN: a mage experienced at killing other mages)."
Orion didn't believe much in his own words. Hunting down mages usually required a team of professionals, while his party was formed by two students and a non mage. As much as a formidable opponent Jirni was, she needed to get close first.
"Drink potions." Lith said to protect them from Nalear's first magic. He could see she had spotted them and he had barely regained two Invigoration breaths worth of energy.
"Thanks, but it's not our first job, Lith." The Ernas gulped down an oddly colored potion each. Lith could see their bodies brimming with mana.
Orion unsheathed his sword while his free hand composed the signs for a tier five spell at unbelievable speed. He had recognized Final Sunset's dark flames and knew how to stop it.
Chapter 319 Reunion Part 2
Nalear walked slowly towards them, cursing at her bad luck. Quylla had failed, constable Ernas was still alive. In the face of so many opponents, Blink was a liability. Nalear needed to save as much of her strength as she could to make sure they couldn't escape.
Orion completed his spell. He conjured five shields made of ice, each one almost as big as the corridor was wide, that converged on Nalear from above and all the four sides.
'Fighting fire with ice is beyond dumb.' Nalear thought. 'As long I have mana, I can fuel my flames, melting his toys way before they can harm me.'
Much to her surprise, the shields' aim wasn't to hit. A Mage Knight was mostly a defender, they would attack only at close quarters once the enemy left them no choice. The shields grew in size and thickness according to Orion will.
Their edges merged, keeping themselves away from the Final Sunset spell's core while creating an air tight space. It was Orion's personal spell, Sealing Cube. Nalear's flames roared trying to consume the ice restricting them, only to disappear into nothingness.
'The stronger the fire, the more air it consumes.' Orion thought. 'Take away the air and a fire mage becomes helpless.'
Final Sunset failing her shocked Nalear, but not as much as finding herself suddenly gasping for air. The oxygen inside the cube wasn't even enough to sustain a candle, let alone the deep breaths Invigoration required.
Her vision became blurry, but she managed to activate the powers of her iron glove again, shattering her prison with a series of powerful shockwaves. Her freedom came at a heavy price, making it a hollow victory.
All the mana she had poured in Final Sunset was lost, Invigoration was broken, and she was coming dangerously close to exhausting her magical equipment. No matter how powerful the mana crystals were, they still needed some time to recharge and Nalear had been forced using the non stop.
To make things worse, Orion had devised Sealing Cube to implode rather than explode when subjected to extreme vibrations. Air and fire were the natural counters to ice, so he had made them their own worst enemy.
Nalear screamed in pain. Her body was pierced by countless ice shards, bleeding profusely. There was only so much damage her Professor robe could block. She activated her sword again, releasing a flurry of lightning to buy some time and recover.
Jirni had seen countless cornered magicians and outlived them all. As soon as she recognized the crackling sound, she struck four of her needles in the four corners of the corridor, channeling her own air magic inside them.
The needles were indeed one of Orion's best works. They acted as lightning rods, turning Nalear's desperation move into a fool's errand. The electricity was safely grounded, allowing Orion to cast his next spell while Phloria took the offensive.
She charged forward, keeping the enemy's attention on herself to buy her father the time he needed. Nalear was still catching her breath, her spell wasn't ready yet.
She moved her blade pretending she was going to execute a horizontal slash, while she used the momentum from her spin to lunge forward with her sword, adding it to the boost air and fire fusion granted her.
Phloria's swordsmanship was better, allowing her to read the enemy feint and dodged the blade by a hair, turning her body so that her back was against Nalear's chest. Phloria's right arm wrapped around Nalear's locking it in place.
Phloria switched her blade to her left hand, cutting off Nalear's right hand in one fluid movement. The agony didn't stop the traitorous Professor from striking her with the iron glove in the back with the strength of a charging bull.
Phloria was sent flying for several meters. She managed to remain conscious only thanks to her willpower and the powerful potion she had ingested earlier. Orion and Jirni were flabbergasted when they saw Nalear's severed hand go back into place, reattaching itself like nothing had happened.
Lith knew that it was thanks to spirit magic and Invigoration, just like he knew that her hand was far from being really useful. He had almost regained enough strength for a final attack.
Jirni rushed towards Nalear, fast enough to allow her to run on the sidewall while her needles returned to her hand on their own. They assembled together to the rest of the set, shapeshifting into a spear.
Jirni wasn't a mage, she needed all the range advantage she could get to keep enough distance to predict and evade the enemy's spells. She lunged it at Nalear's eye, to take her out in one blow.
Nalear didn't have enough strength in her left arm, so she was forced to use spirit magic to support her blade and deflect the attack. Phloria used that moment of distraction to Blink behind her back, her blade easily pierced through the Professor robe and her hardened skin alike.
Nalear managed to dodge at the last second, turning a fatal blow to the heart to one at her shoulder. Her right hand was still useless, her left arm fell limp, but she was still alive.
She roared in fury, unleashing a tier five spell while Orion did the same.
Nalear's Thunderdome was capable of trapping the surrounding enemies into a thick cover of lightning imbued ice. Unlike a normal thunder, it couldn't be avoided and continued to inflict damage until all the ice wasn't disposed of.
The cold surface formed a closed circuit that would allow the electricity to strike over and over until the enemy wasn't turned into charcoal.
Orion's Nether Seal was an hexaelemental sphere that enveloped the opponent greatly reducing the area of effect of their spells. It required a precise timing and concentration.
It was a static spell, hence if cast too soon the enemy could simply move to avoid it. Too late and it would be useless.
That was the reason Orion didn't cast it even after completing the chant. He had only one chance and had to make it count. Nether Seal blocked Thunderdome, restricting it to barely one meter radius.
Jirni and Phloria needed a single backstep to get to safety.
"Why don't you just die?" Nalear felt she was going insane. As in, even more than she already was.
Chapter 320 Final Struggle Part 1
Never before someone had fought his battles. In all his three lives, Derek McCoy AKA Lith had always been on the frontlines, be it to protect his brother Carl from his father or working his a*s off to give his sisters some meat and bread.
Sitting limply in a corner was a new experience for him. It moved something inside the rotten heart of his. In a way, the Ernas where the family he had always dreamed to have when he was a little child.
Super powered beings that fought the bad guys together, no matter the odds. Spectating their battle almost made him feel like he had found somewhere he belonged.
Almost.
What really amazed him was how quickly everything was happening. He and Solus barely had the time to appreciate Orion's strategic prowess, Jirni's amazing reaction speed, or Phloria's swordsmanship that the combat had already shifted from one side to another.
'F*ck. In those damn action movies, the actors dance with bad guys for minutes, while I only got four breaths worth of energy since the fighting started.' Lith knew that in such a short time frame Nalear couldn't have lost much of her strength.
She was an Awakened with a lot of mana and a deranged mind. He knew all too well what kind of nightmare she could unleash if she was given the slightest chance. Lith knew because he was one as well.
"Why don't you just die?"
Nalear's scream was his cue. That and the blue aura that enveloped her body like a blazing flame. Lith quickly stood up, weaving several spells at once while imbuing the Gatekeeper with part of his strength.
He was ready, yet he didn't move. Orion had reminded him of the importance of timing and precision against a superior opponent. Instead of charging blindly like a bull, Lith choose to wait for his opportunity to appear.
They had the situation under control, so he kept chanting while using Solus's senses to not miss a single detail. The information she could get by spending her mana was overwhelming.
The slight alteration in the room temperature, the mana density, and even things like neural pathways flaring up whenever someone was about to do something. Lith had no idea what most of it meant and neither did Solus.
The only thing he was certain of, was that if they weren't one, with Solus acting both as a source and as a filter, all that information would have burned his brain.
Nalear tried to snap Jirni's neck with spirit magic, but the mana running through her veins thanks to the potion reduced the pressure to an itch. Cursing Constable Ernas once again, Nalear unleashed a spirit magic blast by making her aura detonate.
It didn't inflict damage. It was just a very strong push, yet being invisible it took Jirni and Phloria by surprise, giving Nalear a moment to catch her breath.
Or at least so she hoped. Lith was already in front of her, releasing five different tier three spells, each one aimed at a different body part. Nalear was still weaving her next spell while drawing a deep breath. She had no time to move nor hidden card to play.
She used spirit magic on herself, moving her body as a puppet and raising her left arm in the nick of time. The iron glove emitted another series of shockwaves, blasting away Lith's spells before proceeding to do the same with him.
Nalear realized too late that a similar thing had happened earlier. Lith falling for the same trick twice was unlikely.
Indeed it was.
Lith released his sixth spell, conjuring a concave ice wall in front of himself. It was just a regular ice wall with a different shape, but Lith hoped it would be enough. Orion had shown him how the shockwaves were just sound.
Lith's plan was to weaken them with the five spells first and then bounce them back to the sender with the thick ice wall reinforced by Solus's spirit magic. It was an improvised spell born out of sudden inspiration, so even when it only partially succeeded, Lith still considered it a success.
The wall reflected only half of the shockwaves' strength while the other half struck Lith. Both the Awakened ones were sent flying, but only one of them had allies. The hit broke Nalear's focus disrupting her spell and breathing technique alike.
Phloria didn't miss the opportunity. She activated Blast Guard, a Mage Knight tier four spell that burned Nalear's back, bouncing her toward Jirni like a pinball. Jirni took out her Gatekeeper short sword, imbuing it with air magic to enhance its edge.
Even while moving at high speed, Nalear managed to alter her trajectory with spirit magic enough to avoid Jirni chopping off her head. Lady Ernas reacted in time, adjusting the angle of her slash, opening a deep cut in Nalear's side as consolation prize.
Nalear gritted her teeth, holding back tears of desperation.
'If I'm really going to die, I will take you all down with me.' She thought.
***
"When is he going to transform?" Milea asked.
"Transform?" The Guardians asked as one.
"Didn't you all come here to understand what he is? If there isn't going to be a world tribulation, what's the point of staying here?"
"Kid, if every time someone fights for their life a world tribulation started, there would be only Guardians left alive on Mogar." Salaark guffawed.
"We can study him from this distance even without a tribulation." Leegaain offered her his hand, which Milea took without hesitation. Thanks to that contact, she was able to share the Guardian's Soul Vision.
It showed her the real nature of things. The Guardians appeared in their true forms, humongous mass of power in the form of a Griffon, a Phoenix, and a Dragon. Each one of them was so big their heads seemed to reach the sky and their feet Mogar's core.
The White Griffon academy looked like a kneeling white knight, wounded all over. Their pristine armor was tainted by the red of blood and the black of death.
Lith was fully transformed in her eyes and so was Nalear. He was now over two meters tall (7 feet) and covered by black scales the tip of which was bright red from the scorching heat that coursed through them.
Two curved horns resided on his featureless head, together with seven yellow eyes and a maw opened in a cruel smile that revealed the fire burning within. Two pairs of upside down membranous wings came out of his back, as well as a long tail ending in several bone blades.
Nalear looked like herself, but she was wearing a long white tunic dirty with blood and mud. Her hair moved like she was in the middle of a storm, her eye sockets were empty black holes, shedding tears of blood while her mouth was wide open in an eternal silent scream.
"Teacher, he really looks like one of your humanoid forms, but her… Isn't that a banshee? Is she going to evolve into an undead Guardian?" Milea had no other explanation to such a vision.
Orion and Phloria appeared no different from their human form, while Jirni's skin appeared grey. Blood was constantly dripping from her hands.
Chapter 321 Final Struggle Part 2
"Indeed, but at this point of his evolution it's too early to tell." Leegaain explained.
"Most of those traits are common in reptile Guardians. He may become a dragon, a basilisk, a leviathan, or maybe something new entirely. As for her, she hasn't undergone a single tribulation. What you see is a lost soul drove mad by pain.
"Her appearance means that her grudge is so deep not even death can stop it. That woman is likely to turn into an undead if her body isn't cleanly disposed of."
***
Nalear tumbled on the floor with Jirni in hot pursuit. Her blade followed Nalear's major arteries' every movement, ready to strike as soon as she was close enough. Nalear suddenly Blinked, but Jirni was expecting such a move.
She sidestepped while executing a circle slash, putting her back against the wall and hitting the space 180° around her at the same time. Yet Nalear wasn't there.
She appeared in front of a stunned Orion, hitting him squarely on the jaw with the iron gauntlet. He didn't lose consciousness, but he would be incapacitated for a few seconds. More than enough to put an end to the fight.
She Blinked again, a split second before Lith could exploit the opening at her back. He cursed his lack of true dimensional magic which made him slower than Nalear while using a healing spell on Orion, hastening his recovery.
Nalear Blinked back to Jirni, a knife dripping poison in the left hand and the sword in the right one. Normally Lith would have admired her mastery of spirit magic, which allowed Nalear to move even better than when she was unscathed.
The burden on her body had to be enormous and so the pain, yet she endured it like it was nothing. The knife was all Lith needed to set his course of action.
He interrupted the healing and prepared the next spell as fast as he could.
Nalear clashed with Jirni for a split second, disappearing again just to reappear behind Phloria's back with her knife already lunging forward. Instead of Phloria's flesh, the knife bit Lith's stone gauntlet, making sparks but no damage.
Lith had Switched with Phloria at the last second, headbutting Nalear in the nose before she could recover from the surprise and Blink again. The nose broke, filling Nalear's eyes with tears and her mouth with blood, making it difficult for her to breathe.
Lith slashed downwards while holding the Gatekeeper with both hands, aiming for her neck. She used her own blade to block, reinforcing her weakened arms with spirit magic. Lith followed suit.
The Gatekeeper was already infused with great elemental energies and now was boosted by Lith's enhanced body, fusion, and spirit magic, while Nalear's sword was at its weakest.
The blade shattered on impact, still exerting enough resistance to deflect the hit but not enough to prevent Lith to adjust the trajectory and cut Nalear's left arm. Before the glove could reach the ground and emit a metallic clang, Lith spun on himself to exploit his own momentum.
The Gatekeeper rose and fell again, this time chopping Nalear diagonally from the right shoulder to the left hip. Lith had the sword reduce its size, short enough to decapitate her and stab her heart in a single fluid motion.
The energies coursing through the blade consumed the corpse like fire burning dried grass until nothing remained.
***
"Does that qualify as 'clean disposal'?" Milea asked.
"It surely does." Tyris nodded.
***
Nalear's death marked the end of the hostilities inside the White Griffon. Once the master ring lost her imprint, it turned to dust and so did all the slave items. It was one of Hatorne's safety features to leave behind no traces after the deed was done.
Lith fell on his knees. The rushed Switch and the use of spirit magic to overcome his limits had drained him of any strength. Phloria helped him to get up. His legs were too shaky to sustain Lith anymore.
The gauntlet disappeared. With Nalear's death, the bond was back to its usual strength. Solus went back being a ring, her core reverting to yellow just as Lith's turned from bright cyan to just cyan.
As he gasped for air, feeling his arms as heavy as lead, his mind was once again assaulted by the vision. This time the images didn't fade away. Every single one of them shattered like broken glass.
The academy burning, Phloria's death as well as Lith's family's slaughter. Everything crumbled, replaced by a blank slate. Lith and Solus instinctively knew it was because the threat was over. Lith's soul was finally at rest and the future unknown as it was supposed to be.
"What you did was crazy dangerous." Phloria was still terrified.
"How did you know where she would reappear and the angle of the strike? One mistake and she would have stabbed you instead."
"The vision." Lith replied. "I replayed in my mind the part where you got stabbed so many times I could follow her blade with my eyes closed."
It was far from a romantic phrase, yet Phloria felt her heart flutter.
"Where are the others?" Lith asked.
"They are safe." Phloria chose her words carefully, trying to hide the pain gripping her voice the best that she could. Her heart sank as soon as the adrenaline from the battle started to fade away.
Phloria was ridden by guilt for her choice of putting her mother above her friend's life. Lith didn't miss her distress. The cheeks that were just turning red were now pale.
"What happened?" He asked. Orion could see his daughter struggling to find the words and stepped forward to take the burden off her shoulders.
"Don't." Jirni stopped him. "I know that it's painful, but she has to live with it. The sooner she faces reality the better. We can't protect her forever."
Orion held his wife's hand tight, nodding. He didn't like Lith one bit. Orion had read his personal file, watched all the recordings related to him and found his evaluation accurate.
Yet after all he did for Orion's little Flower during Balkor's attack, after seeing Lith in action, spitting blood to protect his family, Orion had come to respect Lith. He treated Phloria right and made her happy as Orion had never seen her before.
He couldn't ask for more, not without feeling a sadistic hypocrite.
Orion couldn't stand the thought that just after being reunited such a revelation could split them apart forever.
Phloria led Lith to a corner, making him sit before telling him the whole story. Her voice was shaky, the pain and regret palpable, yet she managed not to cry.
Lith said nothing. His mind believed her, Phloria would never pull such a cruel joke on him. His heart, however, was struck in denial.
"Can I see his body?" Lith had managed to prevent the vision from coming true, yet it felt a hollow victory to him.
"I'm sorry. I'm too weak to open a Warp Steps right now." Phloria shook her head.
"I'm so sorry. I'm always so useless." Tears started to streak from her eyes.
"No, you are not." Lith forced himself to stand up, hugging her and letting Phloria bury her head on his shoulder.
"It's all my fault." She sobbed, searching for his warmth.
"If that's true, then I'm as responsible for Yurial's death as you are. If only I cared for him a bit more, then maybe my vision would have shown us his fate too. Maybe, his father would have allowed him to stay home."
Chapter 322 Moving Forward Part 1
"How can it be your fault?" Phloria raised her head, looking Lith in the eyes.
"You warned us multiple times. You wanted us to stay away from the academy."
"How can it be your fault?" Lith took her face between his hands, caressing her cheeks with his thumbs.
"You did all you could in an impossible situation. In your shoes, I would have done the same thing. We always give priority to those we love the most. My vision is a perfect example of it."
"I don't know about you two, but I'm dead tired. Taking down crazy Professors is way harder than I imagined." Jirni sat down, leaning her back against the wall and dragging Orion to her side.
She was happy the kids were having a moment, but she couldn't allow them to keep beating themselves up. They were clearly exhausted, both mentally and physically.
'Phloria has too much on her plate already. Yurial's death, killing humans for the first time, spectating all the horrors humans inflict on their own kind. If she doesn't rest a bit, when the nervous breakdown hits her it could be fatal.' Jirni knew her daughter well.
It wasn't a matter of 'if', the only variable was 'when'.
Phloria followed suit. There was nothing she wanted to say or hear anymore. She was so tired that words, like violence, could only cause her more pain. Phloria and Lith fell asleep almost immediately, leaning against each other while clenching their hands like they were a lifeline.
Jirni looked at them with a tender expression, before turning to Orion with her trademark "I told you so" grin.
"He snores." It was all he could think about for a snarky reply.
"And so does she. They make a fine tune nonetheless." Jirni rebuked.
"Look, I'm too tired to play this game." Orion sighed. "Why don't we follow their lead and get a little shut eye?"
"Because we are the adults and because we don't know if Nalear had associates or a back up plan. I'm not lowering my guard until we are back home."
***
Tyris appeared next to Amyla Farg, bringing her back to her peak condition with a simple touch.
She woke up abruptly, a Gatekeeper longsword appeared in her hand while she looked around for the enemy.
"I hope you have learned your lesson." Tyris said with a gentle smile.
"I hope everyone will." She sighed, looking at Billow and Thorman still laying on the ground, alive but unconscious.
"What happened? How could she recover like that?" Farg was shocked. She was still a rookie in the Corpse. She never expected for natural Awakened to be so different from the artificial ones.
"Awakening it's the first step towards becoming one with Mogar. She was a much lesser version of a Guardian, but still had access to an almost endless supply of mana." Tyris's explanation was cryptic on purpose.
She wanted Farg to understand her limits without giving her any hints about the Awakening process. Tyris had learned from experience that power couldn't be gifted recklessly. It had to be earned.
"What?" Farg felt her heart skip a beat, promising herself that from that moment onwards she would always put down an unknown enemy unless ordered otherwise.
"Almost." Tyris repeated herself. "Follow me, there is still much I have to teach you before the academy starts again."
***
Jirni's worries turned out to be groundless. Nothing happened for several minutes, until the academy's power core turned back online. It allowed the members of the army to cross the Warp Gate and secure the place.
Thanks to the royal override code, Jirni could temporarily turn off the arrays, making it possible for Phloria to bring Friya and Quylla back. Friya was barely able to walk, while Quylla was still out cold.
Jirni moved them all to the White Griffon hospital with a Warp Steps. For the first time in its history, the hospital was understaffed and unprepared to handle an emergency of such a scale.
There wasn't a single free spot. Its wings usually so orderly and quiet were now a chaotic mess. Manohar managed to check them up, marking Quylla as the only one in need of urgent medical attention.
After stabilizing her condition, he immediately returned to his most severe cases. Jirni had let them sleep until the whole academy was safe again, so Lith had regained a part of his strength.
'My body is still battered. Even with Invigoration, I can barely access to 60% of my full power. It's still much better than when I saved Protector. Yurial's body is inside a dimensional amulet, so there isn't much hope. If there is even a ghost of a chance, I must give it a try.
'I wish I knew how to contact Scarlett.' Lith sighed.
The Lord of the forest had saved him and Protector in the past. Her expertise with true magic was unparalleled.
Friya took out Yurial's corpse from her dimensional amulet, laying it on a bed.
Lith used Invigoration together with all the diagnostic spells he knew. Nothing worked. There was no life force, no mana core, nothing he could rejuvenate.
"He's really dead." Lith shook his head. He covered Yurial's corpse with a sheet, hiding the gaping wound that lesser healing magic had failed to treat.
The surviving members of the group hugged each other, sharing their pain. All hope was lost, the only thing left to do for them was grieving.
***
The following days were hectic, at least for the Royals and the staff of the White Griffon academy. Nalear's contingency plan consisted in releasing to the public all the video recordings and documents connecting many of the most powerful noble households to Archmage Lukart.
They revealed their plans for the civil war, proving the involvement of many influential nobles in funding Hatorne's work and providing her the necessary materials to realize the improved slave items.
Everything had to be double checked, since the source of the evidence was still a traitorous mass murder. The detailed financial records and shipments tracking documents made it easy for the Royal Constables to verify the information.
The Crown was finally able to purge many of the most dangerous elements of the Court, stripping their families of a considerable portion of their authority. In any other circumstances, the nobles would have rebelled, but they were caught in a perfect storm.
The Crown suppressed their finances, the army and the Mage Association ostracized their members, while commoners and the new magical bloodlines were just expecting the nobles to give them an excuse to burn them at the stakes.
Too many had died in a single day. The blame fell on them like the ax of the executioner, crippling the noble households.
One fourth of the White Griffon students and Professors were dead or mentally scarred to the point of being barely functional. Most of the survivors among the slave items bearers were quarantined, waiting to be interrogated.
"Nalear made me do it." Was too cheap an excuse. The documents proved that while some were truly victims, others were just perpetrators caught in their own scheme.
Professor Duke Marth was promoted to the role of new Headmaster. He was perfect for the role. Not too young nor too old, well liked, brilliant in his field and also a Forgemaster.
Chapter 323 Moving Forward Part 2
Vastor and Rudd were deemed too old for the role, plus their love for ancient magical bloodlines was well known. It made them even more undesirable than they already were, even as simple Professors.
Their ties with many of the families implicated with the scandal made their positions precarious at best.
Manohar was considered a visionary in the healing hearts, a true genius, or, to put it in less kind words, a complete nutjob. He was fickle and unreliable, not to mention his biography was full of social blunders to the point of being universally considered an etiquette book about how not to behave.
He resented the Crown judgment, but only until his first visit to Marth's new office. Just seeing how busy his schedule was and the amount of paperwork being Headmaster involved, Manohar was tempted to taking another "vacation."
The Crown had no time to waste with him, so the literally chained Manohar to the academy, just to stay safe.
Professor Wanemyre was among the mentally and physically scarred. Regrowing her arm was easy, but the memories of all Nalear had made her do almost destroyed her. She was forced to take a sabbatical, receiving the best care and counseling the Griffon Kingdom could offer.
***
Lith moved with his whole family to the Ernas Household again. Even Rena and her husband were forced to relocate. Lith wouldn't let his sister and niece be further than his arm's reach.
Yurial's loss wasn't devastating for him as losing Protector was. They had known each other for barely a year and their relationship had been shallow until the fourth year's second exam.
Still, Yurial was the first man Lith was almost ready to call a friend, someone he went through thick and thin together. Lith wasn't responsible in any way for his death and not being present when it happened made it easier for him to feel detached.
At least until Archmage Deirus went to visit him. Lith's first impulse was to kick the man in the groin and beat him to death. An impulse he quickly suppressed. Velan Deirus was guilty of being an uncaring father, but nothing more.
Lith knew that just like after Protector's disappearance, his first instinct was to find someone to put the blame on. The visit was very brief. Lith could control his violent impulses, but his eyes were filled with scorn and reproach.
Archmage Deirus couldn't stand those eyes. They were identical to those that pierced his soul every time he was in front of a mirror. He remained only the time necessary to give Lith a small package.
It was full of notebooks filled with Yurial's handwriting. They contained all the knowledge he had acquired about the impossible arrays, the results of his experiments, and his suggestions about how to further the research.
Deirus knew who to give them because on the first page of each of them was written in big letters: "For Lith". He had found them once he opened his son's dimensional amulet after recovering his body.
Velan had also found Yurial's diaries, discovering how painful his existence had been, how neglected he had felt. How despite having found a better family within the academy walls rather than inside his own Household, Yurial was still ready to perform his duty.
Yurial's love for his father and his people was greater than everything life had put him through. Velan Deirus cried a lot reading his son's most private thoughts, finding himself more monstrous than any of those involved in Yurial's death.
He had nurtured a future leader, a great mage, but at the same time, he had shown no care for the man destined to bear those pompous titles. Velan realized to have killed his own son multiple times over the years, always putting his own interests over Yurial's well being.
After Velan left, Lith made one of the biggest mistakes in his life. He put the notebooks inside Soluspedia, accessing at all of them at once. In between of his research notes, Yurial had also written all the things that he wanted to share with Lith.
All the thoughts they never had the time to talk about because of the academy. Reading how Yurial had always considered him like a big brother and a true friend, ripped Lith's soul to shreds. It made him understand how precious was their bond.
He had moved to the Ernas household only because he knew that to overcome the grief before the academy started again, he needed all the help his family could give him. A noble household was the safest and most comfortable place for his purpose.
Also, Phloria needed him. Lith would never leave her alone while she was facing something even worse than Carl's death. At least Carl had died by the hand of a stranger, when Lith was already a grown, bitter, cold hearted man.
Phloria was ridden by the guilt of having indirectly caused Yurial's death, of having killed mind controlled students to defend her family. Friya was in an almost identical situation. The blood on Phloria's hands was the same that was on hers.
She had mindlessly obeyed to ease her own conscience. It was because of her incompetence that saving Jirni took so long, causing Yurial's demise as well as that of many others.
She had seen Lith healing much worse wounds in much less time. During Balkor's attack, he even treated Yurial and Phloria at the same time.
'How could I bear my second place so proudly? Yurial was right, we are a fraud. I don't deserve my ranking just like I don't deserve my friends. I'm an utter failure, I should have been the one dying.' Were the thoughts haunting her.
Actually, her second place was fully deserved. Friya's talent for healing magic was on par with Lith's. She just wasn't an Awakened.
Quylla's life was still hanging on a thread. She was unable to eat, puking almost as soon as she ingested any kind of food. Someone had always to be by her side, to make sure she didn't harm herself.
She would cry until exhaustion made her faint, unable to speak a word most of the time. Potions and the sharing of life force were the only things keeping her alive. At night, she would sleep with Orion and Jirni by her side.
It was the only moment she managed to truly rest, free from fits of hysteria.
At his arrival, Lith thought nothing of them. To him, they were just Phloria's accessories, something he would worry about in his spare time. Yurial's words changed his mind.
Maybe they were nothing to him, but the opposite wasn't necessarily true. Lith had already lost an opportunity because, after the second exam, he had simply promoted his companions from strangers to fish in a tank.
He never treated them as persons, only as something to feed and watch from time to time. A living screensaver, less than pets. As much as Lith found it unbelievable, there were actually people that really cared for him outside of his family.
Yet he would never be able to recognize them if he didn't give them at least a chance before discarding them like trash.
Yurial's death showed him that life was too short to worry about outliving those who would die of old age. They were the lucky ones.
Chapter 324 Final Rankings Part 1
The White Griffon academy didn't stay close for long, just a couple of weeks.
During that time, Lith did all he could to help the three girls recover. Despite the traumatic events their daughters had gone through, the Ernas couple had a duty to uphold. They would be rarely at home, mostly for the meals and for the night.
Sometimes one or both of them were forced to stay away for a day or more. They were the only surviving witnesses to not have any relationship with the academy's politics and also those who had put an end to Nalear's threat.
They had to write multiple reports, confer with the Royals, the Council of the Headmasters, and all the upper echelons involved in the administration of the Country. The old and new noble families wanted someone to blame.
Heads were going to roll before the storm would pass. Jirni and Orion were the keystones in many ongoing high profile trials, not only as witnesses but also as a Royal Constable and a member of the Knight's Guard respectively.
While the Queen's corps dealt with all the threats related to magic, the Knight's Guard had a defensive role inside the Griffon Kingdom. They were tasked with protecting and assisting the Royal Constables during their investigations.
It was a corps comprised only by Forgemasters and Mage Knights. Only a few, like Orion, were both, making them the cream of the crop. It has to be said that an academy wasn't the only way to learn a specialization.
The army had the means and the knowledge to train its members. Unlike an academy, the process could take far more than two years, depending on the talent and the number of missions a Guard had to take.
Also, the candidate had to prove their worth beforehand the training began. Most of the members of the Knight's Guards would start with only one specialization and learn the other over the years.
During their absence, Lith took care of the three girls to the best of his abilities and with the help of his family. Alas, there wasn't much he could do. No words could ease their suffering, no simple gesture could make their trauma fade away.
He could only stick by their side, not letting them hole up in their rooms. Only time could help. Lith was an expert on grieving and facing pain, but his methods couldn't be shared.
Lith lacked the necessary empathy to connect with Phloria or Friya. Killing the mind controlled students didn't bother him in the least. He knew only one way to deal with his enemies and wasn't interested in the reason why they attacked him.
As for Yurial's death, Lith regretted having missed the opportunity to know him better, to finally have a friend. He missed Yurial, but that was it.
'If I had to choose between mom, one of my sisters, or even Phloria and him, I would have done the same thing. I'm not a hypocrite. I'm aware that I didn't know Yurial well enough to care about him and now I never will.' Lith thought.
Solus played a big part in his recovery, always reminding him of all the affection he had been showered with.
Lith left Elina and Rena to take care of Quylla. They were the best moms he knew. In his mind, if they weren't able to give her the solace and compassion she needed, then no one could.
Phloria and Friya were easier to deal with. He made them follow the routine his own counselor gave Lith after Carl's death. Waking them up at regular hours, forcing them to eat and spend time with those they loved.
Everything to show them that pain was just a part of life. That no matter how dark their lives felt, they weren't alone.
'This stuff never worked for me, but it's worth a shot.' He thought.
The worst part for all of them was the night. Being alone in the dark, the girls couldn't stop their minds from being assaulted by bad memories, regrets, and hindsight.
Lith was always by Phloria's side, making sure that whenever she would wake up abruptly because of the nightmares, she would always find him right next to her.
When the academy started again, Quylla wasn't in the condition to move. Like many other students, she received permission to stay home and recover. She would get back to the academy the following year or whenever she was ready.
Lith, Friya, and Phloria resumed their lives, drowning themselves into work to keep their anxiety at bay. Professors were now able to cross from one floor to another. There hadn't been enough time to find replacements for the fallen ones, so Ironhelm now taught Forgemastering to both the fourth and the fifth year.
With Linjos gone, after the last tragedy, Headmaster Marth decided to go back to written and spellcasting exams inside the academy, just like in the past. The students had got enough real life experience in the last two years.
Now they needed peace and quiet. The civil war was no longer an issue, the traitor was gone, and when the anniversary came, Balkor didn't send any note. No one could believe to such luck, so they all made their children go back home and went into hiding for the following three days.
Balkor didn't send a single undead, giving the Griffon Kingdom the first piece of good news after so much suffering. Lith, Friya, and Phloria were inseparable during their days at the academy.
The girls rarely left him alone, studying and eating together. Phloria didn't leave his side even at night. Even though everything was clean like nothing bad had ever happened, seeing those corridors and all the common spaces still pierced her heart.
It reminded her of Yurial, of all the blood spilled. Lith's warmth and affection were the only lines of defense she had against the despair that would grip her mind if left alone.
The fifth year went by quickly. Lith never got out the academy, except for visiting Quylla, his dates with Phloria, and going back to his family. First, he had to deliver his niece, Leria, and later his little brother, Aran.
The final exams were easy for Lith. Soluspedia made the written exams a walk in the park. Casting spells in a closed classroom in front of the Professors didn't cause him any stress compared to Linjos's teaching methods.
Before the results came out, Lith was once again summoned to the Headmaster's office. This time there was no one beside Marth waiting for him. He seemed dead tired, but being his first year as Headmaster, it was understandable.
The pressure he was being subjected was nothing compared to Linjos's. The ancient noble households were not as overbearing as in the past, Balkor was missing, and not a single accident had occurred.
Yet Headmaster Marth was still learning the ropes and until all investigations and trials were over, it was his duty alone to take care of the academy's power core.
Lith sat in front of him, expecting the usual batch of bad news. The only time he had entered into a Headmaster's office without someone getting royally pissed off, was when Marchioness Distar introduced him to Linjos.
Chapter 325 Final Rankings Part 2
"I'm glad to see you have made a complete recovery. Your grades have not been affected in the least by what happened with Nalear. I wish I could say the same for the others." Marth sighed deeply.
The White Griffon now not only had fewer students than any other academy, but also the lowest average in terms of grades. Despite using the old exam system, many students had yet to recover.
The situation was so bad that the King had decreed the students of the White Griffon who failed their finals could attend the year a second time as a last chance. It was an unprecedented case in the academies' history, but so was Nalear's scheme.
"I've called you here to congratulate you on your achievements. You are ranked first overall and in the light department too." Marth handed him a piece of paper that listed the students in ascending order according to their points value.
Lith was ranked first with 14,456 (*) points, Friya second with 12,486, and Phloria third with 10,753. Lith was surprised seeing the gap between the top three scores, especially since Phloria with only one specialization had run circles around the fourth ranked with her 8,731 points.
"Okay, if this is the off the record score, what will be the official one?" Lith was angered at the thought the events of the fourth year were about to repeat themselves. Before giving Marth a piece of his mind, Lith wanted to understand his reasons and how he would be compensated.
"That's the official one. I didn't input it in the system yet because I just received it too. Sorry for the misunderstanding." Marth handed him a gold griffon shaped pin and a white moonstone griffon shaped pin. Both had a five engraved on them.
Seeing the gold pin reminded him of Yurial, making Lith's heart ache for a second. He wore them nonetheless, placing the pins right above his heart.
"What does the asterisk near my score mean, then?" Lith asked.
"To avoid further embarrassment to the other students and academies, we have split your academic points from those you earned from sharing your spell. In light of its usefulness, the Council of the Headmasters has decided to value it 10,000 points."
Lith almost couldn't believe his own ears. It had taken a long time to assess Lith's Resonance spell's worth. Despite being a tier one spell, it had made it possible to reduce the time needed for recovering the full use of a regrown limb from years to months.
It was an invaluable tool, which allowed soldiers and mages alike to go from crippled to fit for duty faster than it had ever been thought possible.
"What do you mean with 'further embarrassment'?"
"Well, let's just say that our average sucks, but our third ranker has scored more points than the first rankers of the other academies." Marth replied with a smirk on his face.
"Now, I need to know if you are going to participate to the ceremonial graduation tourney."
"No, thank you." Only at the end of the fifth year, there would be a friendly competition among the students to demonstrate their battle prowess. Linjos's system made it obsolete, but it was still part of the academy customs.
Usually, the student ranked first would also be the winner of the tourney. For a lower ranked student to win the competition meant a huge boost in prestige for his family.
"Are you sure?" Marth asked. "It will not give you any points, but whatever you decide to do in the future, it could help you in your career."
"Absolutely." Lith nodded. "I have beaten all old noble households in the rankings. Winning the tourney would bring me only troubles. I think it's better to leave them a chance to prove themselves and restore their honor, rather than make more enemies.
"Besides, I survived a Valor, a wyvern, and even Nalear. I know I can beat any student of the White Griffon and that's enough for me. I don't have to prove myself anymore."
"That's great to hear!" The Headmaster could finally sigh in relief.
'Thank the gods Lith isn't another self-absorbed as*hole. It's the best political choice he could make. Giving face to the noble households will make things easier for the academy and the Royals both. They will be really pleased when I'll report them this conversation.' He thought.
"It also brings us to the next topic." Marth handed him another pin. This one was shaped like Silverwing's Hexagram, but the lines connecting the six dots were depicted as broken in multiple points.
"Professor Farg, Constable Ernas, and Guard Ernas all testified your valour as a fighter against Nalear. The Crown has decided to make you an honorary member of the Spellbreaker order as a reward."
Spellbreakers were mages tasked with disposing of criminal practitioners of the mystical arts. According to what Farg explained to him at the beginning of the fifth year, even becoming an honorary one was a big deal.
It meant not only social prestige but also represented how much the Crown trusted him.
"I also have a job proposal for you that should benefit both of us." Marth steepled his fingers. Everything he said up to that point was in preparation for this moment.
Lith wore the third pin too, nodding.
"As you know, the White Griffon is short staffed. We lost one-fourth of our instructors. Finding so many talented and trustworthy Professors in such little time is not easy.
"Since you are still two years away from becoming an adult, I thought you could be interested in a position as Assistant Professor. You are too young and lack the experience to be a Professor, but your foundations are solid.
"We could use someone like you to cover for the basic lessons. It would give you a place to stay, a good income, and merits. If you accept, the Mage Association will take you as a member without the usual procedure."
"What about my sister?" Lith had already mentioned to him Tista wanted to attend the White Griffon academy.
"She can take the test. You have my word our judgment will be fair, but nothing more. We care only for talent. Admitting Tista just to have her fail at the first trimester would be a waste of our and her time both." Marth replied.
Lith pondered for a second about the answer.
'With her bright green core Tista will be among the weakest students, but since she is only interested in the Healing specialization, she should be fine. Also, if she is really going to Awaken, this way I can keep an eye on her and make sure Tista doesn't get into trouble.' Lith thought.
'Working for the academy also means unlimited funds and materials for my research. Plus all the time I need to keep copying magic books. It's an offer I can't refuse.'
When Lith accepted, Marth felt a huge burden lifted from his shoulders. Having Lith was a huge morale boost for the White Griffon academy. Nalear had destroyed its reputation and now many families were considering to transfer their children to more safe institutions.
Having the youngest Spellbreaker of the Kingdom among their ranks, who also happened to be considered the next god of healing, was just what the White Griffon's public relations needed.
Lith left the Headmaster's office and went to give the good news to his companions and family. It seemed they would soon be invited to the Royal Palace for a gala.
Chapter 326 Goodbyes Part 1
Phloria and Friya were both surprised by their rankings. Even seven months after the events with Nalear, they still had to completely recover. The girls felt they were just scraping by, following Lith's study schedule only because it was too boring to waste the whole day drowning in self pity.
"Who would have ever thought that practicing first magic everyday would have improved so much our performances?" Friya kept staring at the paper Lith had handed them a few days ago.
"I did." He replied from the bathroom. "My problem during the fourth year was my lack of mana perception, yours of mana control. Practicing first magic fixed that."
Phloria nodded. She too regretted having always considered first magic just like servant's magic. If only she practiced it more, she could have achieved so much during the first four years of academy.
Their parents took the news enthusiastically, they couldn't wait to celebrate the happy event.
Lith came out of the bathroom wearing only his pants. During the last year he had grown even taller and was now 1.75 meters (5'9") high, almost as much as Phloria. The vision made Friya yelp and turn beet red.
Lith's face was still sharp, his eyes cruel, but when he didn't look at you with the intention to kill, he could be considered good looking. His body was another story. Between the physical training with Phloria and the core refinement, it was a sight to behold.
No impurities meant no imperfections during the growth spurt, no moles, no excess body hair or fat. Every inch of his body was chiseled like that of an Olympic athlete at his prime.
"Why don't you cover up?" She said turning half sideways, looking at him with one eye only.
"First, this is my room. Second, you should be used to my presence as much I am to yours since we spend almost all day together. Third, I have the right to hit on my girlfriend." His answer made Phloria giggle like a little girl, Friya not so much.
"Do you need my help again?" Phloria caressed his face.
"Yes." Lith sighed. Growth spurt also meant a growing beard, but unlike on Earth, his new body produced one like he was already twenty. It wasn't just a few hairs. It only needed a couple of days to turn into a stubble, four to start itching.
To make things worse, Lith couldn't resort to magic for shaving. Magic couldn't hurt its owner and the beard was still part of his body. So he had Phloria do it for him with air magic. That way, it would only take a couple of seconds to shave and it would also reinforce their mutual trust.
For Lith exposing his throat like that was a leap of faith. Friya knew it and her heart was riddled with envy from start to finish. It peaked when they shared a passionate kiss after Phloria finished without inflicting him even a small cut.
Ever since Balkor's attack, she had been jealous of them. Over time, the feeling had only grown. At first, she disliked Lith. He was too shady and had too many secrets. Then she had learned to appreciate him as a friend and a brother in arms.
After Nalear, though, things got so much worse. The multiple r*pe attempts Friya suffered had left a deep scar in her heart. She had become much warier of those who approach her and thanks to Jirni's teachings she could easily spot the greed or lust in the eyes of her suitors.
All things that made the faces of her assailants pop in front of her eyes again, making her almost puke. She could never forget those eyes, staring at her like a thing to possess, as she was nothing more than her body or her title.
It killed all the chances she had got so far to have a boyfriend, leaving her utterly alone. After spending so much time together during the fifth year, Friya felt she was to a dangerous crossroad.
Between still don't like him as a boy as much as for what he represented and really like him. Lith was never condescending with her, never tried to impress her or to hide his real nature. He always treated Friya as a person and a friend.
That, plus his body and her being single from birth had a huge impact on Friya over time.
"Shouldn't you go change for the evening?" Lith asked while a thick black and white substance crawled up his skin, taking the form of a black evening suit with a white shirt.
"Is that the new evening clothes the Royals sent you?" Friya asked.
"Yes." Lith was appreciating the tailor made suit and its silky fabric. While the Ernas had their own tailor and bought their own clothes, Lith would always use the "I'm a poor commoner" excuse to have someone buy them for him
'There is no point in wasting money for something that I'll wear maybe twice in my life.' Was his reasoning. Truth to be told, he was still a cheapskate at heart.
"I should buy one of those things too. It looks a bit disgusting with those life like movements, but it would save me a lot of time. You have no idea how long does it takes to wear a corset, stockings, and fixing all those frills." Friya sighed in envy, leaving the room.
Phloria came out of the bathroom wearing a silk-satin red evening dress and white evening gloves, emphasizing her olive colored skin due to the prolonged exposure to the sun.
It was skin tight, with a neckline that somehow exerted a push-up effect. She wore part of her hair down, like a silky black waterfall that reached her tights, while the rest formed a tress resembling a wreath over her head. It was decorated with flower shaped small jewels.
Lith's golden lily pendant was the only necklace she wore, drawing the attention on her slim neck.
"How do I look?" She asked with a tinge of red on her cheeks.
"Stunning, like always." He said embracing her before giving her a long, deep kiss.
"How did you fix your hair so fast?"
"You know how, silly." Phloria went in front of the mirror to finish the last details. Since she was already fully developed, Lith's treatment had a limited effect on her. It still made Phloria healtier, her skin smoother, and her hair didn't tangle anymore.
She only needed a couple of brushstrokes to fix them as she wanted. After Phloria checked the back of her dress, she made sure Lith's pins were placed at the eye level of an average man and properly emphasized by the black suit. Then, they went to pick Friya up.
She was wearing a long sleeved light blue evening dress with no neckline. It left exposed only her hands, neck, and shoulders. Jirni had to fight a lot to dress her up with something more cheerful than a battle monk suit. Friya didn't want people looking at her for a second more than necessary.
The dress had only the minimum requirement of embroidered jewels and frills to make it a Court Gala dress. Even with little to no make up and all her efforts to be as inconspicuous as possible, she was still lovely.
The skin tight dress brought out her soft curves while its colour emphasized her brown eyes.
Chapter 327 Goodbyes Part 2
They reached the Warp Gate leading outside the academy, where their chaperons were waiting for them. The girls would bring along their parents while Lith had asked to Marchioness Distar and Count Lark to be his escort.
Raaz and Elina were too busy with the newborn Aran, plus they were completely oblivious about the Court etiquette. Bringing them along would be like inviting disaster to dinner.
"Thank you so much, dear Lith." Count Lark didn't seem to have aged a day. His black suit was brand new and so was the silk string preventing him to lose his black rimmed monocle which kept jumping out of his eye socket from excitement.
"I never attended a Royal Graduation ceremony before. I'll never thank you enough for giving me this opportunity."
"Don't mention it, old friend." Lith replied. "If it wasn't for you, I would have never attended an academy. I'm glad to have you by my side today and to be able to call someone like you a friend.
"If you or your family ever need my help, you just have to ask."
Lark had to fight back the tears. Lith's words moved him deeply.
Lith turned around, needing but a glance to notice something was out of place. Marchioness Distar had the smug grin you would expect from someone accompanying the three highest rankers in all the Griffon Kingdom.
Jirni looked at the two youths with the usual eyes full of expectations, like she hoped Lith had already proposed to Phloria or was about to. The odd thing was that instead of the polite and detached attitude usually Orion gave Lith, he seemed to be as eager as Jirni if not more.
Lith shrugged it off as one of the many false flags his paranoia pointed out.
The Warp Gate lead them directly inside the royal palace, just a few rooms away from the Banquet Hall. The Battle Mages and Mage Knights in charge of security didn't care for Jirni's Royal Constable badge.
Only after checking thoroughly their IDs and communication amulets the guards let them though. While waiting for the background checks to be over, Lith looked around the room.
'Disgusting. Despite this place is just a waiting room it's so full of gold and artworks to be tacky, at least by my standards.' He thought.
'That's just because you are stingy.' Solus reproached him
'The room is furnished with proper taste. It resembles the royal palace of Versailles from your memories, not a rapper's house. Royals have the duty to not only be powerful, but also to appear as such.'
The path towards the Banquet Hall was filled with marvels. Solus noticed at least fifty different arrays and countless magical treasures hidden inside the walls.
'To think that Balkor could bypass all this and attempt on the Royals' lives five years in a row makes you understand how powerful he is.' Lith and Solus thought as one.
The double doors leading inside were wide open. Before they could enter, a valet checked their IDs again before announcing their arrival, speaking with a magically enhanced voice.
The room was more than forty meters (133 feet) long and over thirty meters (100 feet) wide, with a single red silk carpet with gold embroidered edges going from the three meters (10 feet) wide double doors up to the two steps that distanced the floor where nobles stood and the raised one for the royal family.
That way, even while sitting, they would be able to look down on everyone present, reaffirming their status and authority.
The whole room was lighted by crystal chandeliers, fueled by magic, leaving no space for shadows or need for maintenance.
On the walls, magically enchanted tapestries would recount over and over the great feats that the current King had accomplished to be deemed worthy of his power. Both the floor and the pillars of the room were realized from gold veined marble, the most precious and robust material available in the Griffon Kingdom.
The room was filled with nobles of all ages and relevance, who quickly swarmed the three youths like vultures after spotting a fresh corpse.
"How does it feel being blessed by the light?""Were you afraid while fighting the wyvern?""How did you survive a Valor on your own?""First Balkor, then Nalear. Did witnessing so much death change your attitude in life?"
Those were the questions he had to answer over and over again. He felt like a school shooting survivor forced to reply to the dumbest questions a reporter's mind could come up with to boost their audience.
The evening was long and boring enough to make Lith wish to never attend such an event again.
'I'd rather work the whole night as an Association's clerk.' He thought doing small talk with the students from other academies.
Only when the music started Lith managed to get away with the excuse of dancing. He hated dancing, yet he had long prepared for it with Phloria since the fourth year. To get what he wanted, Lith had to play by the rules. At least apparently.
Lith had researched Nalear's past. Despite being a talented Awakened one, despite having no bonds after abandoning her family, she had failed even to become an influential noble. The Griffon Kingdom, even with all of its faults, was too big to face it head on alone.
He danced with Phloria first and then with other noble dames, trying to establish their worth as connections. Solus would jot down their names, tittles, ad everything relevant they said. Which usually amounted to very little.
After a while, Lith took a couple of drinks and went together with Phloria on a balcony, to get some fresh air. She seemed to be more annoyed than he was, if not even sad. Lith's instinct raised another flag, this time too big to ignore.
"Cheer up. This nightmare will not last long. Worst case scenario we'll be back home in two more hours." He said.
"I'm sorry." Lith knew Phloria enough to know that whatever she was talking about, she meant it.
"Sorry about what?"
"I wanted to wait until the gala ended before telling you, but I don't want our last memory together to be us quarrelling." Her voice was sad. Only after taking a deep breath she looked Lith in the eyes.
"Okay, what the f*ck are you talking about?" He touched her arm while activating Invigoration. She was fit as a fiddle, just like the last time he checked. Her impurities were still so far from the core it was impossible for her to have Awakened and being turned by the Royals in some sort of secret weapon.
"The academy is over. In less than two days I'm going back home. After that, I'll start the army's mandatory booth camp for new recruits. It will last six months with no breaks nor leaves. Then I'll be dispatched where my talents are needed.
"I don't know how long will it take for me to join the Knight's Guard nor it would be fair on you pretending things are going to stay the same. I think it's best if we break up before I leave the academy."
Lith was speechless, feeling like a big chunk of his heart had just been ripped off from his chest.
Chapter 328 Family Name Part 1
Pain was Lith's oldest friend, yet it took him a few seconds to recover.
"I thought you wouldn't leave before spring." Lith was looking forward spending the winter months together at her home again.
"The army is not the academy, silly." Phloria's laugh was low and joyless.
"There are boot camps all year round, so that people can enlist as soon as they become adults."
"Why didn't you tell me this earlier? Why now? Can't you delay it?"
"What would have changed?" Phloria sighed.
"We would have spent the time we had left arguing before you accepted my decision, as I know you will." She slowly caressed his face.
"Then you would be sulking the whole time. This way we had our happiness. As for your other questions, I need to go as soon as possible. Not because of my family, nor for the army. For myself." Phloria stared at the moon glowing up in the sky. Her voice was steeled with resolve.
"Ever since I joined the academy, I fancied myself a leader. Yet right from the mock exam I found myself lacking. Resolve, charisma, killing intent, tactics. Name one, I was good only on paper. All my training rarely survived contact with the enemy.
"I was either too scared, surprised, or reluctant to kill to be a good leader. Our whole group relied more on you than on me, myself included. Whenever something bad happened, I always looked up to my family and to you for help.
"After Yurial's death, I only found solace from my inner demons while in your company and that made me think. I'm not as strong and independent as I always wanted to be. I don't feel complete as a person.
"I'm tired of feeling helpless. I need to change, or at least give my all trying. Joining the army will give me this opportunity. Failure or success will depend completely on myself."
Lith could feel his heart going through its usual routine. Pain first, anger later.
'It's her life. She has every right of doing what she thinks is best for herself.' Lith thought.
'It's exactly what I have been planning to do from the beginning. I never changed my mind, not even after we got together. I knew this moment would come. Then why am I suffering so much?'
'Because you have ended up caring for them more than you ever anticipated. Especially Phloria.' Solus replied.
'You can't get angry at her. It would be petty and hypocritical.'
"I don't know where life will lead me. Even worse, I don't know what will become of you." Phloria kept staring at Mogar's moon. That night it was of an unusual pale blue color, giving the night the feel of a fairy tale.
"You said it yourself, remember? I guess you are the right person for me, but we met at the wrong time of our lives. There are too many variables, we are both too ambitious to plan ahead and shackle ourselves with a pointless long distance relationship.
"I want to be happy. I want you to be happy. We can't waste our time waiting for each other and fantasizing about what might have been. Life is short, Yurial taught us that. Maybe we'll meet again in the future.
"Until then, I want you to have the chance to live your life at its fullest. If you meet someone special, I want you to be able give her the love she deserves." Phloria took his hand expecting him to be sad or even angry.
What she found in his eyes was the look of someone who felt betrayed.
"Did you tell me all of this now to prevent me from making a scene?" Lith's allegation was cruel enough to make him and Solus both add 'petty' as his middle name.
"No. I did it only because I hope you can get over it before we go back home and not spoil our last days together." Her voice was calm. Lith's words had hurt her, but Phloria didn't let it show.
Lith gritted his teeth, knowing she was right. In any other moment, he would have been ranting, probably holding a grudge for who knows how long.
"I'm sorry for what I just said. Now if you'll excuse me, I want to be alone."
Phloria left him with his thoughts. Lith remained there for a while. The winter cold couldn't affect his enhanced physique and even if it did, the Skinwalker armor would protect him.
"Excuse me, sir." Said a voice behind him.
"What do you want?" Lith turned around, towering over the valet. In the Royal Court, even servants were actually nobles from important families. Serving the Crown was the highest honour.
The valet was actually a Duke with remarkable magical talents, yet he found himself shivering in fear. Lith's eyes were brimming with power and rage. Behind all that mana, the valet could clearly see Lith fighting the temptation to throw him off the balcony.
"His Majesty would like to confer with you, sir." The valet kept his cool, managing to deliver the message despite the profuse sweating affecting him at the moment.
Lith calmed down immediately, letting the man make way to his host. Inside the music was over. All the convened guests were gathered near the raised floor where the Royals were now standing.
"Today is a very special day." The King said with his deep, baritone voice as soon as Lith reached the front row with the servant's help.
"Today, simple men and women have become mages. It doesn't matter if they were commoners, merchants, or nobles. Now they stand here among us, as equals. Whatever path they take, they are the embodiment of the future of our Kingdom.
"I hope for all of them to achieve great things, to become what our Country will need during its darkest hours to come. Alone we are nothing. Together we are the most ancient Kingdom in the Galen continent. While others suffered from internal strife or lack of resources, we thrived.
"The only reason this miracle has endured the passing of centuries is that we never stopped improving ourselves. Those assembled here are the most powerful individuals of our Kingdom, but it's important for you to remember that without the people, we are nothing.
"Each one of our families was once a commoner one. We elevated ourselves with talent and hard work. Such an opportunity must always be offered to the worthy ones, no matter how humble their origins.
"If we allow our fears or petty grudges to influence our actions, the Griffon Kingdom will wither and fall. Tonight, there is a rare talent among us. Some say he has been blessed by the light at birth.
"I don't know if it's true, nor do I believe in superstitions. What I do know is that when we needed him, he helped us all. Even at the risk of his own life and family."
Lith inwardly grinned.
'I doubt King Meron is so naïve as to believe me so altruistic. We have bartered every time the price for my help. When I have taken risks, it was only because the alternative was worse. I like his selling pitch, though.'
Chapter 329 Family Name Part 2
"Step forward, Lith of Lutia."
Lith did as instructed, kneeling in front of the raised floor as the ceremony required. King Meron placed his right hand over Lith's head while holding the staff representing the Crown's authority over magic in the other .
"For your services in curing the plague, for saving many lives during Balkor's last attack, and for your contribution in defending the White Griffon, I hereby award you the Verhen name. It will be extended to your family and passed down by your children.
"It grants to you and to you alone the same status of a Baron. Your starting fief will be the region of Lutia, under Count Lark's supervision, should you ever decide to trade your merits for the lands and responsibilities that a noble title implies.
"Stand up, Mage Lith Verhen!"
Lith did as ordered. The members of the Royal family applauded him, immediately followed by a standing ovation from the guests. Lith was supposed to be happy. Another milestone in his master plan had fallen into place.
Yet he felt empty, meaningless. Just like the sound of his new name.
***
The following morning, the trio was in Phloria's room. The girls were making their final preparations for the tournament, while Lith had been using Accumulation non stop since the previous night.
Taking deep breaths was the only way he and Solus had found to keep his emotions in check. There was still a storm brewing inside of him and as it was for any storm, stopping it was impossible. Lith could only wait for it to pass.
"Do you still suffer from Death Vision?" Friya said as she came out of the training room. She and Phloria had just finished a light spar as warm up.
Lith nodded. Over time he had shared a few details about himself with her. In the space of a few seconds, Lith saw her die of poisoning, old age, and by decapitation.
"What about now?" She asked multiple times, coming closer and closer until at three meters distance Lith shook his head. Friya was alive and well now.
"What about her?" Friya pointed at Phloria, who was still in the training room.
"She's fine."
"I knew it!" Friya snorted. "I bet that the safe zone range depends on how much you care for the person. I guess three meters after two years is still better than nothing."
Lith didn't agree with her theory, yet he found it interesting. Back when Death Vision started, he would see everyone die, even his family, no matter the distance. For a long time, the only exception had been Phloria, but only when she was very close to him.
Over time, though, he had learned to control it with his willpower. Also, Lith had developed a safe zone, were people would appear normal as long they were within its range. Lith and Solus thought it depended on him mastering whatever Death Vision was, while Friya had a more romantic concept of it.
"Who do you think will win if we both get into the finals?" Phloria tried to change the topic. If her sister was right, it would make breaking up even more awkward.
"Do you want the cold truth or the boyfriend truth?" His voice was slow so he wouldn' lose his breathing rhythm.
"Cold truth." The girls replied as one.
"It's a coin flip. Phloria, you have a better technique while Friya has more fighting spirit. Since you are both Mage Knights, you'll want close combat. At that distance, a single strike can seal the result." Neither of the girls liked the answer.
Friya because she was aware of her limits, Phloria because she hoped he would be more supportive.
'What if you had to bet?' Solus asked.
'In that case, with a sword at my throat, I'd bet on Friya. She has a lot of pent up stress and the tendency to become more aggressive because of it. Phloria has a lot on her mind, I doubt she can show her full strength right now. Especially against her own sister.'
Solus sighed. The only thing that she hated more than a murderous Lith was an emotionless one.
The tournament took place in the academy's colosseum. It was a huge arena, located on the ground floor of the White Griffon that was usually off limits outside special events. Duels and fights were a relic of the past, relegating the use of the colosseum to be exclusively ceremonial.
To everyone's surprise, the whole Royal family was attending the event. Headmaster Marth offered to the King the role of arbiter for the event, but Meron politely declined.
Spectating was one thing. Participating in the event would mean giving it special importance, hurting the pride of the other academies.
Both girls fought fiercely, showing that the point difference between them and the other rankers wasn't just a fluke. They literally wiped the floor with any opponent they faced in ten moves at worst.
Linjos's legacy, the daily evaluation, was showing its worth in all the academies that employed its system. It forced the students to give their all every day, rather than cram the month before the exams and just learn by rote.
As Lith predicted, when Friya and Phloria fought in the finals, Phloria was unable to consider it more than a spar, losing to Friya's ruthlessness. Being right didn't make him happy. He was actually sad for her. The result only proved Phloria was right too.
She was still too soft.
The Royals applauded both contenders, giving House Ernas double the honor any other household had ever achieved in the academies' history. Never before had two of the first three rankers belonged to the same family.
It pissed off everyone present that wasn't part of the academy's staff, the Ernas, or the Royal family. Commoners and nobles alike had hoped that since the top ranker wouldn't attend, they would still have a chance to shine.
"It was truly a magnificent competition, your Majesty." Sitting next to King Meron there was Archduke Taben, family head of one of the most ancient households of the Griffon Kingdom and the father of the girl ranked fourth.
"It's too bad the first ranker didn't attend, right Xebas?"
"Indeed. It would have made an excellent show." Marchioness Xebas belonged to an almost as important family and her son was ranked fifth.
"Marth, why don't you ask him for an exhibition match? You can't leave your guests of honor with the curiosity about what the brightest talent of the White Griffon can do."
The two nobles didn't give a damn about Lith, their aim was to embarrass house Ernas. Jirni and Orion not only had received plenty of awards for defeating Nalear, but now their daughters were stealing all the spotlight. It was more than what the other households could bear.
Not that they could bear much anyway. The higher they got, the touchier they became.
"It's an interesting idea." King Meron scratched his beard.
Chapter 330 Test Subject Part 1
"I would like to see Mage Lith in action, but it would be unfair on the Ernas girls. Their fight was intense and drawn out, they must be exhausted." The king wasn't an idiot. He immediately saw through their intentions and turned their plot against them.
"It's not only that." Queen Sylpha chimed in. "The Ernas and Verhen households have quite a past together. We can't ruin their friendship on a whim."
"My dear Queen is right, Taben." Meron nodded. "If your daughter passed the semi-finals, she would still have to fight an opponent. She can spar with him and show us her worth."
"They both can." Sylpha pointed out. "It was their parents' idea, after all. It's only fair for them to provide us with a show."
The nobles and Lith both inwardly cringed. Neither wanted to agree but refusing wasn't an option.
Lith and Clea Taben stepped into the arena together, placing themselves ten meters from each other. The Royals were really curious about Lith's real skills, so they used binoculars to shield their eyes and activate Life Vision.
The girl was tall and muscular. Like Phloria, she had the build of a professional swimmer.
"Is this safe, Headmaster?" Lith asked. "I'm not used to exhibitions, I don't know if I can hold back. Any fight outside of training, I've always gone straight for the kill."
"Very safe. Besides the Life Preserving array of the academy, there is also the First Blood Array of the colosseum. As soon as one of you gets hit, the fight ends."
Marth wasn't happy either, but when the Royals gave an order, he could only comply.
"Are you ready?" He asked both youths.
Lith's reply was a deep, guttural roar. It released all the stress and the killing intent he had kept sealed up to that point.
'Easy there! Be careful to not release an aura!' Solus warned him. During the fifth year they had discovered that, unless fake mages used a spell, they were incapable of spreading their mana outside their bodies.
Jirni, Orion, and Phloria were the only ones to have seen Lith and Nalear both doing it. It was a dangerous tell about being an Awakened one.
Lith's killing intent sent a shiver down the spectators' spines despite the distance separating them from the arena. Marth took the brunt of it due to his proximity, but as a battle hardened veteran he was able to hold his ground.
The girl, however, was paralyzed.
"Begin!"
The Headmaster's voice snapped her out of it. Clea began to cast a tier four Battle Mage spell while stepping backward.
'Lith is only a Forgemaster and a Healer. If I don't let him get close it's my win.' She thought.
Unfortunately for her, Lith sprinted forward at a barely human speed of ten meters per second, covering the distance between them in an instant.
All Clea could see was Lith's open palm striking her chin from below before her vision became a blur. He grabbed Clea's face, lifted her up with one hand, and slammed her head into the ground with one fluid movement.
Then, everything went black.
Marth intervened immediately. Both arrays had activated at once which saved her life, but Clea's condition was still critical. Her jaw was just dislocated while her skull was fractured in several points.
"Come here." Lith said while taunting his other opponent as soon as Marth got Clea out of the arena, leaving her in Vastor's care.
Laeo Xebas had fallen on his a*s after Lith's roar and had yet to find the strength to get up.
"I yield." He squealed, putting an end to the exhibition. The Royals didn't bother hiding their disappointment, applauding the contestants purely out of courtesy. Marchioness Xebas was pale as a ghost.
At least the Teben's heir had attempted to fight, while her son had cowardly backed down in front of all her peers. Archduke Teben didn't share her optimism. He had clearly heard the Queen clicking her tongue in disgust at her daughter's performance.
"What an idiot." Sylpha said loud enough for the two nobles to hear.
"Like a magical beast or even an enemy soldier would be polite enough to give you the time to complete such a complex spell. She should have restricted his movements first."
"Cut them some slack, dear." King Meron replied.
"The difference in battle experience was like heaven and earth. Also, they probably have yet to recover from Nalear's attack."
The kindness in Meron's words was merely superficial. He was actually agreeing with his wife, saying that Lith's opponents were both physically and mentally weak.
Teben and Xebas turned even paler, recognizing the true meaning of those words. Yet they could only curse at their own stupidity. With their behavior, the Royals had sent them a message.
The Ernas Household was under their protection. As for Lith, after basically proclaiming him as a national hero just a day prior, now they had referred to him as a proper Household in front of many witnesses.
Messing with him was barely safer than sticking their heads in a dragon's mouth.
***
Royal Palace, one hour later.
"It's a shame Lith's opponents were so weak. I guess we'll never know if he really is an Awakened one or not." King Meron was still upset. He had seen foot soldiers perform much better than Clea Xebas.
"We didn't have much to work with." Queen Sylpha nodded.
"He was fast, for a human, but nothing more. His mana flow is weaker than ours, only Lith's life force was remarkable. Yet him being so tall and young makes that unsurprising."
"What do you think we should do about Lith?" Meron asked.
"Treat him as if he is an Awakened. I'm willing to bet he really is one, even though Lady Tyris says otherwise."
"How so?" The King had reached the same conclusion on his own. They were having that conversation in front of their children as a learning experience. Even though it was unlikely for Lady Tyris to select one of them as the next ruler, they would still play a major role in the Kingdom's future.
"Because too many things do not add up. His achievements are too outstanding for someone his age. Plus, based on what Captain Yerna and Constable Ernas said, his mastery of the Gatekeeper sword's powers is unnatural for a fake mage.
Even if I'm wrong, even if he is just the combat oriented version of Manohar, Lith is still a good investment. His sister has gotten admitted to the White Griffon too. If she manages to graduate, the Verhen household will be recognized as a magical bloodline.
Not to mention Tista and Lith have gained a little brother and a niece."
"By the gods. Four mages in a single generation would be terrifying!" Meron put enough emphasis on his words to make his children turn pale.
"My point exactly." Sylpha sighed.
***
Verhen Household AKA Lith's house. A week later.
Lith's life as a student was over for good. He and Phloria had broken up right before leaving the academy, which left him with a small hole in his heart.
Not even Tista scoring 82/100 at her admission test for the academy lifted his spirits. Lith was in a terrible mood, to the point that even his family couldn't soothe his grumpiness.
Chapter 331 Test Subject Part 2
Ever since his return home, Lith received countless invitations from noble households that wanted to get to know him or introduce their daughters to him. Most of them came from outside the County of Lustria.
Luckily it was winter, so the fireplace was usually lit. Fire was a great helper in sorting Lith's mail.
"I still can't believe we have a family name." Elina was radiant with joy. Her life seemed to have turned into a fairy tale ever since Lith's birth. Things were always getting better. If only Lith shared even one tenth of her happiness, Elina would consider her life perfect.
"One awarded by the Crown at that. I wonder if your brother will use it. He makes me worry so much." She sighed.
"Aran is too little to care about a name." Lith replied. "Also, he is perfectly fine. I checked on him a minute ago."
"I meant Trion!" Elina snorted. Her oldest son seemed to have disappeared years ago, yet Lith didn't care. It was another sour note in Elina's life.
'Don't you dare ask "Who?".' Solus reprimanded him in advance. If left unchecked, Lith was capable of ruining everyone's mood.
Rena now used both her husband's and her own family name. Her father in law had insisted she and his nephew both keep the Verhen name. Zekell was proud, not stupid. Bearing a mage's name was like having an army.
Like Lith, Tista had managed to enroll at White Griffon thanks to performing Silverwing's Hexagram. Her core was still bright green, but thanks to Lith's teaching, her skills were top notch.
Lith's house had been constantly renovated and now looked like a merchant's home. At least from the outside. On the inside it was almost as good as modern house on Earth. The only thing it lacked was internet.
With his mastery of the magic crystals, Lith had provided the house with thermal insulation, central heating, running water, and even two fully equipped bathrooms. It was so comfortable that Rena and her husband had moved back to her family home for the winter.
Running hot water and two healers was something even most nobles couldn't afford.
"Don't worry, little brother. I'm sure you'll find another girlfriend." Tista stamped a kiss on his cheek. Her attempt only made Lith snarl. Ever since Tista had started seriously practicing magic, her impurities had slowly but steadily moved towards her core.
To make things worse, she seemed to become more gorgeous by the day.
'Between her Awakening and her beauty, Tista will make me kill so many people that the Griffon Kingdom will miss Balkor dearly.' Lith thought.
He left the house, going for a stroll in the Trawn woods. As always, he passed by Selia's house first. Lith was still hoping that the huntress would return one day.
Walking was one of the few things that calmed him down. Lith always hoped some magical beast would attack him, giving him the opportunity to vent out his rage. Alas, so far even the surviving Kings of the woods had kept their distance.
So far.
Lith smelled something odd, just a split second before something hit the spot where he was standing with the strength of a freight train. Lith dodged it easily, leaving only an after image to greet the impact.
"You!" Lith was surprised. He would have never expected to meet him so near his own house.
"We meet again, fresh meat." Phillard the Kroxy (AN: crocodile type magical beast) greeted Lith with a snarl, before attacking him again in a frenzy.
The two had met during the academy's second exam. Phillard looked like a humanoid alligator. He stood on two legs reaching 2.5 metres (8'2") in height.
He wore a belt from which several trinkets hung while he wielded a double headed ax and a hammer ax in his hands.
Phillard swung his weapons in an X shape, not giving Lith the space to dodge to the sides. Lith stepped forward instead, arriving right under the Kroxy's massive torso and punched him in the stomach with enough strength to lift him from the ground.
That and the Plague Arrow Lith released at point blank inflicted upon the beast enough damage to send him into the berserk rage typical of a wounded Kroxy. Phillard attempted to bite Lith's head off, catching only air.
Lith had already moved behind his back, sending him flying with a kick and another Plague Arrow. The Kroxy crashed against a tree, coughing a mouthful of blood. Before he could get up, Lith grabbed him by the wrist and slammed him left and right against the ground, like he was just a dirty carpet.
After taking enough damage, Phillard regained his senses.
"Stop it, dammit! You are going to kill me."
"What do you want?" Lith asked while letting him go. According to Soluspedia, Kroxy had a violent, twisted sense of humor. Since Lith had perceived no killing intent from the initial attacks, he was almost sure that was Phillard's way of saying hi.
Lith was too pissed off to care and replied in kind.
"The only reason you are still alive is that you helped my companions during Balkor's attack. Bear that in mind before you answer."
"Dude, you're no fun. Can't you take a joke?" Kroxy were sturdy creatures. Phillard was only wounded in his pride, bones, and internal organs.
"Death it is, then." Lith's hand held enough energy to blast him into oblivion.
"Wait! I have a business offer for you. I didn't come this far just to get killed over a prank." Faced with imminent death, Phillard turned very talkative. He explained to Lith how after Linjos's death Scarlett the Scorpicore had decided to leave the forest.
She couldn't leave before another Lord was chosen, so Scarlett had helped all her lieutenants to Awaken. Despite all her teachings and efforts, very few succeeded. Phillard was among the failures.
"Why should I care?" Lith asked.
"I spoke a lot with Protector back then. He told me you have a different method."
"Again, this explains why you need my help, not why should I spare you."
"Protector also told me about your cubs. How you love your sweet ill, sister." Phillard almost chocked when he realized his poor choice of words. All the shadows of the Trawn woods converged on them, but while Lith seemed to become stronger for it, the Kroxy felt his life slipping away.
"I mean that by helping me you can also help her. Help all of them. Wouldn't you like to Awaken them?" At those words, Lith stopped the shadows.
"Meaning?"
"I'm damn close to Awakening, just like Kalla was before me. I just don't know how and my life is about to end." Phillard's body was still battered, but now that the dark energy had pulled back, he felt reborn.
"Protector told me about your experiments. I'm offering myself as a test subject. I have nothing to lose whereas you have everything to gain. Whatever you learn from me, you can use it for your cubs."
Lith pondered that offer. Magical beasts were very similar to Awakened ones, capable of using true magic from birth. He had never experimented on them because of his bond with Protector and the other Kings. Also because magical beasts were proud creatures. They would rather die than submit.
'I wonder how much I can discover with a subject willing to let me know what works and what doesn't.' Lith thought.
'I have never spectated someone else's Awakening. If it happens to Tista during the academy, I can use the knowledge for damage control.'
"Deal." Lith said while helping Phillard get up and healing his wounds.
"Two rules. First, pull another prank on me and I'll kill you…"
"Don't worry, I've learned my lesson. You mess with the Scourge, you get buried."
"Second, joking about my sister was a bad move. It will cost you a couple of ribs."
Before the Kroxy could reply, Lith's fist hit his ribcage like a sledgehammer, forcing him to emit the first of many screams of pain.
Chapter 332 New Job Part 1
Lith spent his days teaching Tista and his nights teaching or experimenting on Phillard. Contrary to the Kroxy expectations, he was even further behind than Tista in the Awakening process.
"Who needs magic when you have these babies?" Phillard used to say while flexing his enormous muscles. He never liked magic much, preferring to overpower his enemies with pure brute strength.
Lith had to literally beat some common sense into him to force Phillard to practice magic, following the same training schedule he had prepared for his sister. By the end of the winter, the Kroxy's core had improved by leaps and bounds.
Maybe it was because magical beasts were naturally attuned with magic, maybe it was because of Lith's experiments on Phillard to help him sense the world's energy, or maybe it was just death being an incredible motivator.
Phillard hadn't lied to him. Lith could see with Death Vision that his test subject had about a year left to live and Lith never missed an opportunity to remind him.
When the first day of spring arrived, Tista and Lith left together for White Griffon academy.
"What's the academy's only rule?" Lith asked Tista for the umpteenth time in the last three months.
"There are only three kinds of students in there. Those who will suck up on me to get into my pants, those who will do it to get into yours and then there is me." At first Tista thought Lith was just being a killjoy, but after speaking with Friya, she wasn't so sure.
"Good girl. See you in the classroom." Lith ruffled her hair before going to the Headmaster's office to receive his ring and assignments for the day. He found a pleasant surprise when he walked through the door.
"Friya, Quylla. Nice to see you again. What are you two doing here?" Lith asked.
"Lady Quylla has decided to attend fifth year again." Marth explained.
"Mage Friya has offered to serve as an Assistant Professor, just like you."
Quylla had grown quite a lot. She was now 1.6 meters (5'3") high with shoulder length brown hair. Despite Vastor's tonic and the growth spurt, she still looked incredibly frail.
Her body was almost as scrawny as when they first met, her complexion was sickly. Lith knew she had spent the last year as a recluse, rarely coming out of her room. For someone that until a few months ago had problems keeping her food down returning to the academy was a huge leap.
"You would have known if you had visited us even once during winter." Friya clacked her tongue. She seemed to be quite angry.
"I was busy." Lith snarled back before turning to Quylla.
"Are you sure little one?" He asked while caressing her head. Lith still had problems seeing her like this. It reminded of his limits. Even when he had given his all, Lith was still unable to help her. He was just a Healer, not a miracle worker.
"I'm sure, thanks." At that familiar touch Quylla finally smiled. It was a small, forced smile but it was still better than nothing.
"If anyone bothers you, just give me a call and I'll kill them."
Marth cleared his throat loudly. He could appreciate the sentiment, but not the way it was expressed.
"Not literally." Lith clarified, making Marth nod in relief. "I will take away so many points from them they'll wish they were dead."
Marth went pale while Quylla chuckled.
The three left the Headmaster's office and were finally able to speak freely.
"I lied in there. I can really kill them, if you want."
Quylla knew he wasn't joking, yet she couldn't stop laughing when she thought about Marth's face.
"Don't worry about me. Friya only accepted the role of Assistant to be able to act as my lady in waiting inside the academy."
"What?" Lith blurted out in surprise.
"Isn't it the same thing you are doing for your sister?" Friya asked.
"I mean, if it was possible to bring along a relative, all those stuck up b*stards would. Being an Assistant I can Warp from floor to floor and spend time with her."
"My reasons are entirely different from yours." Lith shook his head.
"This was my best and only real option. Until I turn sixteen I have too many restrictions. Back home I could only waste my days hunting animals or small time criminals. I need the money, the merits, and the resources of the academy.
For me and my family."
"Couldn't you help your parents with the farm? I'm sure they would like to spend more time in your company." Quylla asked.
"I've already done that in the past and it never ends well. My father is happy at first, but then he feels useless. His workers have nothing to do and fear losing their jobs. The same happens to mom.
"It's nice having someone around that can do in a second what takes you hours, but after a few days, you find yourself having too much free time. Aran doesn't keep them that busy, their job is still their life."
Friya and Quylla remained stunned for a second. Being magicians, there were too many things they could do and so little time. They had never thought how even a simple job could be important enough to define someone's existence.
The trio separated, Lith was in charge of Principles of Advanced Magic for the fourth year, while Friya and Quylla would be busy with Magic Creation on the fifth floor.
Lith Warped in front of the classroom. Memories of his own first day at the academy flooded his mind. He walked through the double doors to find exactly what he had expected. The classroom was noisy since Marth had yet to hand over the Ballots.
Small cliques had already formed. Some were just talking while others were hazing commoners and less powerful nobles. Tista was sadly between a rock and a hard place.
From what Lith could hear with his enhanced hearing, a group of girls was trying to sl*t shame her, while a group of boys was offering her protection in exchange for "entertainment".
"What a show-off little b*tch you are!" The leader of the pack was a blond girl, flat as a board and much shorter than Tista. What she lacked in physique, she made up in attitude.
"Why don't you wear your robe? You're a disgrace to all the students of the White Griffon. The uniform is supposed to make us feel empowered, not look like wh*res!"
She said while pointing at Tista's generous chest. The other girls either laughed or joined her, piling cruel words on their victim. The boys were enjoying the show, discussing Tista's body like she wasn't even there.
"I wonder how many Professors already got a taste of that pretty body and face of yours to stoop so low as to admit an old hag like you." With her sixteen years, Tista was indeed old for the fourth year.
She had been accepted because of her talent and because between Balkor and Nalear the White Griffon had already lost too many mages.
Tista attempted to reply, outraged by those words, but the blond girl slapped her hard as soon as Tista attempted to stand up.
Chapter 333 New Job Part 2
"If I say sit, you sit. You are a b*tch, so act like one. Otherwise I'll be forced to teach you how to play dead." Thunderous laughter followed. Most of the class was truly enjoying the moment.
Tista was on the verge of tears, but instead of falling apart she stood up again. Then, she slapped her tormentor hard enough to make the blond girl spin 180° before falling on a desk.
"How dare you!" The blond girl was about to retaliate when something stopped her. Her body froze like time had stopped.
'All according to plan.' Lith inwardly grinned. He had given Tista a Ballot beforehand and told her to not introduce herself with her family name but as a simple commoner instead.
He wanted her to experience the true academy, without the shield his presence would grant her.
'Tista needs to grow up, I can't protect her forever. That slap was a really good one. I'm proud of her.' He thought.
"Good morning, my dear students." He said with his best Nalear impression.
"I'm Assistant Professor Lith Verhen and I'll teach you Principles of Advanced Magic."
At his appearance all the girls ran back to their desks, each trying to emphasize her own charms and draw his attention. From what they knew, Lith was the same age as them and, more importantly, single.
Many of them had planned in advance how to approach him to reap the most benefits both during and after the academy.
The boys could only hate Lith's guts. Compared to him they seemed like scrawny dwarves.
"Before starting the class, I'd like to share with you some bad news and some even worse news." He said with an angelic smile while memorizing every face in the class.
"The bad news is that this girl's full name is actually Tista Verhen. She is my sister."
Lith's smile disappeared and his eyes flared with mana. A single wave of his hand was enough to use gravity magic on every student but Tista. It made their heads slam against the hardwood desks with enough strength to make them bleed.
"The even worse news is that she had a Ballot all along. I'm sure Headmaster Marth will have many things to discuss with both you and your parents." The lights in the classroom flickered. Lith's killing intent brought nightmares to life for each student every time the lights went off.
Some could have sworn they saw their own shadow stare back at them with glowing eyes and a smile entirely made of fangs.
"For those of you who will not be expelled, I can promise you this. We have a long, long year ahead of us. It will be full of blood, tears, and sweat. I'll make sure of it. In the meantime, minus 200 points to everyone but Tista."
Even from their prone position, some managed to object at the insane punishment.
"I didn't do anything! Why I'm getting punished too?" Some asked.
"You just answered your own question. You did nothing, hence you deserve nothing. Minus 100 more points to everyone for questioning my judgment." Lith cruelly smiled.
He sent the Ballot to the Headmaster before starting the actual lesson. One by one, those responsible for the hazing incident were summoned to Marth's office. Many never returned.
***
Months passed and it was finally time for the mock exam. Lith and Friya were watching the events unfold from the Surveillance Mirrors, ready to save the students in case something went wrong.
"How is Tista doing?" Friya asked. It was frustrating how despite living so close it was so hard for her to get in touch with Lith. He was always busy with either his magical research, helping Tista study, or chasing Manohar to force him doing his job.
Being the newbie, he had been entrusted with the worst job possible in the light magic department: being Manohar's assistant, warden, or nanny according to the circumstances.
"So far so good." He replied while his eyes moved from one mirror to another.
"Her grades are good and she has no friends. All according to plan."
"Plan? That's sick! How can you do that to your own sister?" Friya was outraged.
"I did nothing. Her classmates simply acted as I predicted and Tista makes her own decisions." Lith explained. "Or did you expect her to forgive and forget just because of some lame a*s apologies?"
"Actually, no." Friya suddenly felt stupid. She had watched the recording from Tista's Ballot. Every time she was teaching to the fourth year students, Friya treated them like the trash she believed they were.
"Me neither." Lith replied. "That's why I made sure her group was picked at random and placed in one of the worst spots of the forest, just like what happened to me. It's only under situations of real stress that people reevaluate themselves and show their true colors.
"It's how Phloria found me. I hope Tista gets lucky as I did." Friya could still hear a tinge of nostalgia in his voice when he said her name.
***
House Ernas, during the academy break after the first exam.
The family was reunited to celebrate Quylla's success. Despite having spent so long without practicing light magic, a few failures and a lot of effort was all it took for her to regain the ground she had lost.
During the fifth year, the nature of the first exam depended on the student's specialization.
In Quylla's case, she had to deal with the simulation of the outbreak of an unknown disease. The simulation involved the use of lab rats instead of humans. Each one was at a different stage of the infection and their death also meant the failure of the exam.
After everything she had gone through, the death of a few rats would leave her unfazed. While the others went into panic, she took control of the situation becoming the leader of her team.
She assigned a role to each member based on their strong points. The less talented healers were tasked with keeping the zone quarantined, preventing the infection from spreading to the healthy specimens.
Those with mediocre talent were to use their abilities to slow the progression of the disease while Quylla and the others studied the pathogen in search of a cure. Her team achieved the best score and Quylla had received many compliments for her presence of mind.
Aside from Phloria, the whole family was reunited for the event, even Guniyn and Tulion, Phloria's blood brothers. It was the first time in years that Orion had managed to bring his sons back home.
Not only had Quylla aced her exam, but she was also slowly regaining her health. She had friends again and even a boy she liked. Despite all that, Orion Ernas was so down that he spent most of the evening staring out of the window.
"What's wrong with you, dear?" Jirni was seriously worried about him. When Quylla had told them about the boy, Orion didn't grunt or object. He didn't even order a priority one background check on the little pest.
"I just miss my little Flower." He sighed.
Chapter 334 Trawn Part 1
"I always wanted her to be strong and independent, but now that she's gone, I don't give a damn about all that cr*p. Why didn't Lith stop her? He was still a bit young, but he could still marry if his parents gave their approval."
"That's rich coming from you!" Jirni scoffed. "Maybe if instead of messing with my plans you had helped me, things would be different. Or maybe, Lith knew her well enough to understand he couldn't stop her.
"Nothing is lost, yet. She is in the army and he will join the army in the future. Now, enough sulking. Quylla needs us more than ever."
***
Lith's house, same moment.
After over six months, Lith and Phillard had reached a critical moment in their endeavour. The impurities in the Kroxy's body were so close to his bright cyan core that they could almost touch.
"Okay, I've done all that I can." Lith said.
"I've brought you over a mana geyser for your training, I have used Invigoration to help you feel the world energy, and pushed the impurities closer to your core whenever it wasn't painful for you. The last step it's on you."
"Don't worry, I can feel resistance but no discomfort." Phillard replied.
Even after all that time, he still had to learn Invigoration. The Kroxy's mana perception was even worse than Lith's when he had just started the academy.
It was only thanks to Lith's training schedule and his natural attunement to magic that Phillard was able to crudely stimulate his own core.
"I swear, this thing feels like I'm taking the biggest sh*t of my life!" Phillard couldn't stop laughing from excitement. He was filled to the brim with an unknown energy that made him euphoric.
Suddenly, the night sky cleared. Phillard's body emitted a blinding radiance, but unlike normal light it didn't spread in all directions, only upwards. Even using darkness magic and his hands as a shield, Lith could barely stand the intensity the light pillar emitted.
It slowly grew in height and width, until a second light pillar descended from the sky. It connected itself with the smaller one coming out from Phillard. The phenomenon gave Lith an oddly familiar sensation.
'This feeling it's too similar to what I experience during my transformations to be a coincidence. What the f*ck is happening?' He thought.
'Beats me.' Solus replied. 'The only thing I know is that Phillard's core is evolving.'
The Kroxy's body started to expand in all directions until his arms became as big as small trees. After that, it only grew in length. When everything was over, Lith was staring at a ten meters (33') long serpentine body covered by emerald scales as big as a small shield.
The head resembled that of a dragon from Earth's fairy tales, with several small horns surrounding the neck area like a mane. Phillard's legs had been replaced by a long tail, while his clawed arms seemed able to rip even a stone house to shreds.
"Yes! I knew it! I always knew I was destined to become…"
The light faded and so did the Evolved Monster's awareness.
"What am I?" He asked to Lith while scratching his gigantic head.
Lith accessed the bestiaries he had copied from the academy and stored inside Soluspedia before answering.
"You are a Lindwurm." He said while clicking his tongue.
"All this work and you're not even a new species. Protector at last isn't derivative."
"I'm not derivative!" Phillard roared. He had no idea what the word meant but he was sure it had to be some kind of insult.
"I'm a…" He stuttered a few times.
"What am I again?"
"A Lindwurm." Lith snarled. "A lesser dragon. Like a wyvern but wingless and with a very long a*s. According to my books, you should possess some kind of toxic breath."
"Really? Cool!" Phillard took a deep breath from the nose, emitting a gurgling sound before spitting an enormous mass of phlegm against the nearest tree.
"Why it's not melting?" The Lindwurm looked at the birch tree like it had betrayed him.
"I said toxic breath, not sputum." Lith replied.
"How do I do that?"
"How should I know? You are the Lindwurm. You'll figure it out." Lith shrugged.
"Ugh! It sounds like a lot of work. Let's spar already!" Phillard towered over Lith standing 5 meters tall while his tail whipped the air in excitement.
"It would be a waste of time. You have just evolved. You have no control over your body, not to mention you suck at magic. Maybe you are physically stronger than me now, but I've killed bigger and more powerful beings than you."
"We'll see!" Phillard darted towards Lith like a train. His new body was much nimbler and faster than the old one. He clapped his huge hands trying to squash the opponent, but once again he only hit the air.
Lith had long learned true dimensional magic, which allowed him to Blink above Phillard's head.
"Bad Lindwurm. Sit!" Lith stamped his left foot using a combination of air, fire, and earth fusion while using air magic to drop down like a meteor. The foot exerted the same impact an elevator in free fall from the sixth floor would.
The dragon like head crashed on the ground with a rumbling sound, creating a small crater on impact.
"I yield." Phillard hated Lith, especially when he was right. The problem was it happened most of the time. Neither of them had used his true strength, but the quick exchange had been more than enough to prove the difference in skill between the two.
"How did you…"
"Magic. Until now you could only use water and earth. I already taught you everything you need to know about first magic and all the other elements. Practice on your own. Our deal is over." Lith said while walking towards his home.
"Wait! I need new axes and something to carry them."
"Why is that my problem?" Lith replied.
"You have nothing I want and I don't work for free." Lith said. "Don't even think about plundering this area. There's nothing valuable and if someone pays me, I'll be more than happy to get rid of you."
"Dude, that's cruel. I never needed money. I don't even know how to get back home. Boss Scarlett Warped me here with one of those fancy portals. Can't you do the same? If earlier going unnoticed was hard, now it's impossible!" Phillard whined.
"Again, not my problem." Lith was tired of dealing with the Lindwurm. He always managed to give him a headache.
"Scourge, was that your doing?" Even though they hadn't met in years, Lith immediately recognized that voice.
"Of course it was me. Nice to finally see you again, Reaper. I was starting to think you were avoiding me."
Reaper the Shyf, one of the two remaining Kings of the woods, didn't reply immediately.
"Actually, I was. Since Protector's disappearance, there is something wrong about you. It scares us greatly."
"What changed your mind?" Lith asked.
"We are desperate for help." Reaper admitted. "You never took interest in your role of King, leaving your turn in our hands. Now that Protector is gone, we lack the strength to defend our land from humans and monsters both.
"Those who replaced the two of you are too weak. Can you help us evolve too? Otherwise it's only a matter of time before something bad happens."
Chapter 335 Trawn Part 2
"How can two weaklings have become Kings?" Lith was confused. Protector had always been the strongest among the four, but not by much.
"We are not like humans. A King is simply the most powerful beast in the area. The new Kings are simply too young. Those of my generations have all died, either of old age or by challenging my authority." Reaper explained.
"Replacing a single King is not an easy feat. Two is impossible."
'Solus?' Lith asked.
'I am not sure we can help them. Reaper is not as strong as Phillard was when he got here. There are still too many things we don't understand.'
"I'm sorry Reaper. I could do it, but it would take time and a considerable amount of risk. I spent over six months to Awaken him through painstaking efforts…"
"Mostly mine." Phillard snarled. "Especially the pain part."
"If you wanted a walk in the park, you were free to go anytime." Lith replied. "Without my teachings and experiments, you would still be waiting for death. Bottom line, Reaper, what you are asking from me is impossible.
"I don't have the time to teach you and Lifebringer, let alone focus on even weaker beasts. Even if I did, there are no guarantees of success. You could die, or worse. You could turn into an Abomination and I'd be forced to put you down. Unless…" Lith looked at Phillard with renewed interest.
"Seems you guys are lucky. He needs a place to live until he learns dimensional magic." Lith pointed at the Lindwurm.
"While the Kings need someone capable to give them a hand and teach them the basics. You are a match made in heaven."
"You are asking quite a lot from me and offering nothing in return." Phillard snorted.
"I can survive on my own, why should I waste my time with him?"
"Do you still want your new axes?" Lith asked with a wolfish smile. "Time to make a new deal. I'll give you what you want in exchange for your help."
"Make them enchanted, then." The Lindwurm raised the stakes. Teaching was like thinking, something he hated doing.
"Deal." Lith instantly replied catching both the creatures by surprise.
'What a sucker!' Phillard inwardly gloated. 'He didn't even try to bargain.'
'We have gravely misjudged him.' Reaper was deeply moved by Lith's altruism.
'He truly deserves the trust and the title of "crownless King" Protector gave him.'
Lith had always refused to rule over the west area of the Trawn woods. He would help the Kings to deal with threats like Abominations or crazed beasts, only to disappear whenever a crisis was resolved. Hence Protector's moniker.
'What a moron.' Lith inwardly grinned while shaking the Lindwurm's hand and sealing the deal. 'He asked for enchanted weapons, not for good ones. He is in for a nasty surprise.'
"As for you guys, I need something in return." Lith turned toward Reaper.
"Name it and it will be done. I swear it on my pack." Reaper's reply stunned Lith for a second. According to Protector, it was the most sacred oath a magical beast could take.
"Soon I'll go away. My cubs will be left unprotected and I don't trust humans. I want from those of you who will survive the treatment to guard my pack, no matter how long will it take. Protect all those who carry my blood."
"If they truly carried your blood, they wouldn't need any protection." Reaper grinned, crouching on his front paws giving Lith a small bow.
"I'll make sure everyone understands it's a gamble. I'll introduce to you only those who are willing to take my same oath. When are you going to leave?"
"Soon." Lith replied.
***
Trawn Woods, after Lith's left for the academy
Reaper and Phillard were visiting one tribe after the other, searching for volunteers.
Power and longevity were a powerful siren, especially for those aware of their life span coming to an end. They were among the smartest beasts of the woods, but also those Reaper trusted very little.
Wisdom and mastery of magic weren't the only thing a magical beast could develop over time. Despite their affinity with Mogar, they could become greedy for life. They would despise the humans, so weak and magically inept, yet blessed with a long life.
"I don't get it." Phillard said.
"How can a weakling like you be the King of anything? Boss Scarlett can pummel you with just a swing of her tail. Heck, maybe even I can."
"How many times do I have to tell you?" Reaper sighed.
"The woods have a density of magical energy much lower than your forest. It has no will of its own. Kings have no special relationship with the woods nor share part of its power. Our duty is to protect the balance of the woods, hoping that one day it will awaken."
"Wow, sounds really boring. No wonder Protector left this place. Maybe if we manage to Awaken a lot of you guys, things may even become interesting." Phillard scoffed.
"Are you even listening to yourself? Your idea is simply terrible. Either a lot of us will die, further weakening the woods, or if too many Awaken at once it could result in a war for the territory.
"We can't pick candidates at random, but only those strong enough to survive the process and trustworthy enough to be entrusted with such power."
The more time they spent together, the more Reaper felt ashamed at the idea that a blockhead like Phillard had managed to Awaken while he and Lifebringer were still stuck as magical beasts.
"Whatever. I know that your house, your rules, but I think you are being very rude."
"What are you talking about?" Reaper was on the verge of a nervous breakdown.
"I've always been polite to you, even when you didn't deserve it!"
"Woah! First, chill. Second, I wasn't talking about me. It's just that I can't understand why after wasting our time with all those small fries you are purposely ignoring a big tribe of trolls." Phillard pointed one of his huge fingers towards the north.
"They are very strong. Boss Scarlett usually has to wipe them out fast before they swarm the forest. I'm really impressed by your ability to tame such fierce creatures."
"What trolls?"
If it wasn't for his brown fur, Reaper would have turned pale.
Chapter 336 Trolls Part 1
"Do you mean they aren't your friends? That sure would explain a lot." Phillard said while moving away from the menace as fast as he could.
"Of course they are no friends of mine! There have never been trolls in the Trawn woods. More importantly, what the heck are trolls?" Reaper asked.
Phillard pondered for a second, trying to remember Scarlett's words correctly.
"Trolls are one of the Fallen races. They were once humanoid creatures of great wisdom and longevity. Like us magical beasts they were in tune with two elements, but they were the same for everyone, light and darkness.
At the same time, like humans, they could freely learn all kinds of magic.
"Their major weak point was their low reproductive ability, you know, for balance and stuff. They were superior to us, but too few in numbers to expand their dominion. At some point, they decided to solve their problem with magic.
"They used light magic to force their evolution, becoming able to spawn faster and also increasing their physical abilities. A first, it was a great success. By altering their life force with light magic, they became the perfect race.
"At least until the unforeseen side effects started to appear. In a couple of generations, their children were raving mad from birth and plagued with an insatiable hunger. Their millennia old society was destroyed in a matter of weeks."
"Wait a minute. How could children destroy a civilization in weeks? Why their parents didn't kill them?" The idea that the same thing could happen to the Trawn woods terrified Reaper.
"Are you deaf or what?" Phillard scoffed. "I told you, they spawn fast. The little b*stards can reach maturity in a few hours with enough nourishment. They are damn strong and hard to kill. Light magic runs rampant in their bodies.
"They recover from any wound in a matter of seconds. Cut off an arm and in a few minutes, you get double trouble. The troll regrows the limb while the limb regrows the troll.
"To make things even worse, their whole body is a frigging mouth. Attacking them without a weapon means literally throwing yourself in their maw. I almost got killed by them, twice. That's why I want my frigging axes!"
Reaper stopped in his tracks, putting together everything Phillard told him.
"How long do we have before they swarm the woods?"
"A week, maybe two if we are lucky." Phillard pondered.
"Depends on how much food they find and how hard they have to fight for it. The b*stards can eat anything. Meat, fruits, grass, even trees if they are really hungry. Right now they are barely a dozen, but tomorrow they could be 24 and 48 the day after that."
"By the Great Mother, then we need to act now! What are their weak points?" Reaper had a bad feeling. If even after turning into an Evolved Monster Phillard was eager to run away from them, he had to have a really good reason.
"Not many. Perfect race, remember? They are incredibly stupid, but with their abilities, they can afford it. Magic is mostly useless against them, only fire and light can kill them for good. They burn like dry grass, but boss Scarlett always used light magic to get rid of them."
Reaper was flabbergasted. He never heard about light magic being able to kill, making it impossible for him to understand Scarlett's tactic. It was actually pretty simple, but Reaper's panic was blinding him.
Fire was dangerous to use inside the woods because, until the end of the combat, it would be free to spread everywhere. Also, the explosions usually associated with it could blast away a piece of troll, bringing it to safety.
If it happened, it was only a matter of time before that single missing piece spawned a new tribe. It was exactly what had brought trolls in the woods. A team of adventurers had been tasked to get rid of a small tribe and did a poor job cleaning up their remains.
"You can use all elements now, right? It should be easy for you wiping them out."
"Dude, I've Awakened from days and magic has never been my thing. I can use water and earth, but they can barely stall for time. If you don't have a way of dealing with them, we're as good as dead. It's better to run to fight another day."
Phillard's words almost crushed Reaper's hopes. The Lindwurm was right. During his last days in the woods, Lith had only explained them Invigoration and how to practice first magic. He had refused to teach Phillard any spell to force the Lindwurm to understand the importance of magical research.
"Run away? If what you said it's true, then in a week those creatures will turn the woods in a barren land. At that point they'll attack Lutia. I'm sure that Lith will appreciate you breaking your oath and letting his family getting killed." Reaper retorted, making Phillard freeze in fear.
"We need to kill them now. I'll get all the help I can find. You keep an eye on them and prevent them from spreading. I've a plan."
The Lindwurm spent the following hour watching the horror the trolls were from a safe distance. He also weaved as many spells as he could, just to be safe. For the first time in his life, Phillard regretted not listening to Scarlett the Scorpicore when she tried to teach him more advanced magic.
'Thank the Great Mother I've no legs anymore. My new body allows me to be silent, without stomping or tripping like my old one.' Phillard's size wasn't an issue. The trolls' eyes were white, without pupils or irises.
In his experience, they were blind and relied on their hearing and sense of smell to track their prey. Phillard wasn't soft hearted by nature. He often enjoyed playing with his meals before killing them, yet he couldn't help but pity the trolls' miserable existence.
They were over two meters (6'7") tall and their skin was of a sickly white color. They had no eyelids nor nose, breathing from two holes right in the middle of their faces. They had no lips either, revealing their huge maw filled with fangs going from ear to ear.
They were skeletal with a swollen belly, as if they hadn't eaten from days. Their hands had long fingers ending in razor sharp claws and their bodies were covered by odd looking scars that gave Phillard the creeps.
The trolls had already eaten everything in a 100 meters (328 feet) radius, so they were lazily grazing the grass while waiting for the next prey to draw their attention.
When Reaper returned with the reinforcements, Phillard could finally sigh in relief. There were Byks (bear type magical beasts), Shyfs (puma type), Gylads (stag type), Rys (wolf type), and Crons (hawk type).
Each tribe had sent their four most powerful members. Every one of them was a King or a potential King candidate. The Byks were eager to fight and prove their worth. After Lith had defeated Irtu, their previous leader, and the most talented member of their tribe had turned into an Abomination, the Crons' alpha had become the King in the West, usurping their title.
Chapter 337 Trolls Part 2
"That's it?" Phillard whispered despite his frustration. He couldn't risk alerting the trolls.
"What are we going to do with just twenty stooges?"
"Twenty one." Reaper said, pointing at the Lindwurm. "I brought only champions. Weaklings would only be dead weight or food for the trolls. Besides, why so gloomy? We almost outnumber them two to one."
"Dream on." Phillard sighed. "There are sixteen now."
Trolls reproduced asexually. Whenever one of them was full enough, it would give birth to a new creature.
"Dammit!" Reaper cursed. "We have to move fast. Here's my plan."
Everyone nodded in agreement, except the Byks.
"We don't trust birds. They'll fly away like the cowards they are." Said Cormr, their leader.
"Shut up, Cormr." Reaper commanded him. "I know you can't stand Crons. I only asked for your help because Byks are the only ones beside the Rys that can use fire magic."
"One more thing, before I forget. Whatever happens, do not use darkness magic." Phillard chimed in, enraging both Byks and Crons.
"Why is that? It's the most destructive element!" They said in unison, leaving Reaper flabbergasted. It was the first time they had agreed on anything.
"I don't remember." Phillard shrugged. "Sentar told me so. She is a Cron too, so she can use air and darkness magic. I trust her and so does Boss Scarlett. She's the next in line to become Lord of the forest."
Despite being an Evolved Monster, Phillard lacked the imposing aura of a King, so both tribes refused to listen to his advice. Only Lifebringer and Reaper managed to stop their bickering.
"He may not seem very bright, but he fought them twice and lived to tell the tale." Said Lifebringer, the King in the south.
"I'd have liked to meet you in more happy circumstances, Phillard. These two are Guardian and Thunder, the two new Kings." He pointed at the biggest among the Rys and the Crons respectively.
"Everyone, get into position. If we fail, the woods will belong either to the trolls or the humans. We have to pick the lesser evil and cooperate."
The idea of losing their ancestral home was enough for all the clans to agree to a truce.
Reaper's plan was simple. A few gutted rabbits were enough to lure the trolls to a large clearing. The smell of blood was for them like a flame to a moth. They moved so fast that the magical beasts only saw a blur until the trolls stopped to consumed their meal.
At that point, the Gylads, Shyfs, and Phillard used earth magic to turn the clearing into a crater ten meters (33 feet) deep while the Rys and the Byks unleashed fire on the trolls.
The mad creatures ignored everything around them. They kept fighting among themselves until the last shred of flesh and bones was consumed. Only the four newborns died. The adults were too strong, most of their injuries healed so fast that even the magical flames couldn't keep up.
Only then did the trolls notice the magical beasts and rushed towards their new prey. The Crons attempted to hit them with lightning while the earth magic users turned the ground into quicksand and erected stone walls to protect their allies.
The trolls were too fast for the quicksand to be effective. They even managed to dodge most lightning bolts. The trolls reached the stone walls, tearing through them like they were made of paper.
One of the Byks was caught off guard, the troll's arm had pierced the wall and grabbed her by the neck. She didn't have the time to call for help, her throat had already been replaced by a gaping hole.
The maw on the troll's palm opened and closed repeatedly, eating its way to the spine. The other magical beasts didn't understand what was happening until the troll smashed through the wall, embracing the Byk.
The odd looking scars turned out to be more maws, consuming the poor creature in the blink of an eye. Cursing their bad luck, Guardian used a blast of air magic to send the troll back to the center of the crater, exploiting its feeding frenzy.
Then, she unleashed a pillar of fire that filled the whole crater and engulfed all the trolls, buying her allies the time they needed to adjust their formation.
"Dammit, I don't think we can make it. We have to call Lith before it's too late!" Reaper knew that only by swallowing his pride as a King did they have a chance of success.
"Phillard, what are you waiting for?"
Phillard sighed. Reaper had clearly gone mad, yet he obeyed nonetheless.
"LITH! WE NEED HELP!" He screamed at the top of his lungs, almost deafening his own allies.
***
Meanwhile hundreds of miles away, at White Griffon academy.
'I wonder why my ears are burning.' Lith thought while explaining advanced Body sculpting to Quylla's class.
***
"Are you insane?" Reaper was on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Again.
"What was that for?"
"How the heck I'm supposed to call Lith? With our friendship power?" Phillard snarled, sending the trolls back in the crater with well timed swings of his tail. Despite being strengthened by earth fusion, the Lindwurm's body was covered with bite marks. Small chunks of meat were missing.
Reaper realized that Phillard had no communication amulet. It was likely that he didn't even know they existed. The only option left was fighting to the bitter end.
Even with their combined efforts and the higher ground, were the magical beasts barely able to keep up. It was only thanks to their perseverance and the trolls' lack of spells that they slowly managed to turn the tides.
The fire kept burning the trolls like candles, forcing the light magic coursing through their bodies to deplete their nutrients to keep them alive. One by one the monsters ran out of juice and died of starvation until only those who had eaten one or more magical beasts were still alive.
Only four trolls remained against fifteen magical beasts. The Crons were the only tribe with no casualties since they never touched the ground.
"Cursed birds! Come down instead of flying like cowards!" Cormr, the Byk alpha, got distracted in his outrage. The troll that had already tasted Byk's meat didn't miss the opportunity, grabbing him by the throat.
Cormr went into a panic, unleashing darkness magic against the monster to get rid of it. Contrary to his expectations, the creature emitted a moan of pleasure. The troll's body was now bulging with muscles, its eyes white no more.
Cormr could perceive the mouth closing on his throat, yet it didn't bite. Fear made him ignore the sudden burst of intelligence from the previously mindless creature. The Byk sent more and more darkness magic into his captor's body.
"You idiot!" Phillard reacted as quick as he could, piercing both the Byk and the troll with countless ice spears.
'Now I remember! Trolls are also known as the unliving. It's the lack of darkness energy in their bodies that makes them a Fallen race. That stupid Byk gave the troll enough darkness to regain its senses.' Phillard thought.
The troll roared in outrage. With Cormr's death, it could already feel its mind slipping away again.
The troll ate the Byk's corpse with its hand, before freeing himself from the ice spears by flexing his muscles. The hideous troll was quickly regaining its humanoid features, taking the appearance of a man with grey skin and four arms.
The creature now had gold colored eyes that glowed with mana, reminding Phillard of Lith's Life Vision. The troll charged at the Lindwurm, releasing small bolts of light when they were almost at close quarters.
Unlike darkness magic, light magic was fast, but its range was even worse. Phillard managed to dodge most of the bolts, but some struck him, making his body go limp.
'That's a watered down version of Boss Scarlett's offensive light spell.' Phillard thought while watching the troll's maws ripping through his flesh.
Chapter 338 Boot Camp Part 1
Phillard had no memory of ever being an animal. His first recollection was standing up on his legs, feeling the need to fill his belly. As a magical beast, he had always been on the top of the food chain.
Fear was a rare emotion for him. Something he experienced only when facing Evolved Monsters or, more recently, Lith. Being eaten alive made Phillard discover the emotion of terror.
The awareness that, even if he somehow managed to get rid of the troll, he could still die from his wounds, was almost enough to make him panic.
Almost.
His body was weak but his mind was strong. Tendrils of earth emerged from the ground, shoving themselves down the troll's many maws. Mud and rocks tasted terrible. A disgusted expression appeared on the Fallen's face while it tried to get rid of the fetters restricting its movements.
Reaper exploited the moment the two were finally separated to unleash his most powerful lightning on the still struggling troll. Hammer Fall was the equivalent of a tier four air spell.
The lightning bolt was as big as a small house and instead of striking once before disappearing into the ground, it coiled around its prey, hitting it multiple times.
The troll's skin was blackened and the smell of grilled meat accompanied his charred body. It made the Lindwurm hungry, reminding him he was an apex predator. All those who opposed him were bound to become food first and manure later.
The troll started to heal the instant the lightning stopped, its hands glowing with light magic. Guardian the Ry struck it with several fire bolts, but in its humanoid form, the troll wasn't vulnerable to fire anymore.
"I'm useless here!" She said. "I'll go back and help the others. Try to hold on until we get rid of the other three trolls."
"Easier said than done!" Reaper cursed. Letting a single troll go would mean that all of their fallen companions would have died for nothing. Running away wasn't an option.
Phillard roared his challenge and stood up on his tail despite the agony from his multiple wounds and the blood spurting everywhere. The troll charged at the Lindwurm, releasing another barrage of daggers made of light.
This time Phillard was ready. He clenched his right hand, raising a stone wall that blocked the light spell. The troll smashed through the wall, falling into Phillard's trap. Right behind the stone barrier, he had mixed water and earth to create a thick mud layer that thoroughly coated the troll.
Suddenly the creature was deaf, blind, and slowed enough for the Lindwurm to conjure a giant hammer made of stone. He used it to send the troll flying in the sky with a single powerful upward blow.
"Strike it with everything you got!" Phillard ordered both the Crons and Reaper while removing the earth and leaving the monster drenched in water.
Lightning bolts struck from every direction with enough force to almost prevent the troll from falling down. Phillard made sure the creature never regained its footing. He swung the stone hammer sending the troll flying every time it was about to reach the ground.
With no spells and its mobility sealed, soon the troll reverted back to its hideous form and died shortly thereafter. Phillard was exhausted. He was doing everything he could to treat his wounds, but his knowledge of light magic was limited to chore magic.
He could only dress the wounds with earth magic to stop the bleeding. When he saw that the three other trolls were still alive, rage blinded him.
"Why don't you just die?" He roared. The air in his lungs mixed with the unique mana running through his body. A spark of his life force ignited the mana, turning the roar into a green cloud that enveloped the trolls and filled the crater.
The rocks melted, and the earth decaying emitting the disgusting smell of rotten eggs. Everything touched by the toxic breath died and the trolls were no exception. Their bodies turned into pools of white liquid. Not even bones were left behind.
"F*ck my life!" Phillard cursed. "Couldn't I have learned that five minutes ago?"
Of the twenty one magical beasts, only fourteen remained and many others wouldn't survive their wounds.
***
Phloria's boot camp was a nightmare. She knew what to expect, Orion had told her everything in advance, yet no words could describe the harsh reality she had faced during the last six months.
First, her long hair had been shaved to a buzz cut and then all of her magical items had been confiscated. Everything that reminded her of her past life, every link with her family had been severed.
They strictly forbid the use of magic outside of chore magic during the training course. The cadets could only use their first name and the service number assigned to them. It was for their own protection.
The military was the polar opposite of an academy. The male to female ratio was seven to three and nobles would suffer from hazing if discovered. Most of the applicants were poor people trying to build a better future for themselves.
More often than not, they had been forced to run away from an unfair ruler, either to spare their families from more taxes or to avoid a grudge. Nobles were despised by both officers and grunts, forcing them to hide in plain sight.
With her muscular build and her callous hands from all her training, Phloria had no problems passing for a commoner. Whenever someone asked her about her family or past, she simply talked about Lith's.
They had spent so much time together that she knew his life like the back of her hand. It helped Phloria to make friends and to keep her identity a secret. She had never experienced most of their daily worries except through Lith's words.
The first months were brutal. The instructors only cared about strength, stamina, and speed. Only those who excelled would get a shot at becoming part of the elite forces. Average cadets could only become normal soldiers, while those lacking in one or more skill could only hope that their brain would get them a desk job.
The rest would be deemed unfit for service and discharged.
In every test during the first three months, Phloria outperformed every other cadet in her platoon. It earned her a lot of admiration from her barrack mates and just as much hostility from the other cadets.
However, the Ernas family had stolen too much spotlight lately, their enemies were itching for an opportunity to embarrass them.
Archduke Teben had never forgotten the humiliation his daughter suffered during the White Griffon tournament. He couldn't stand Phloria overshadowing Clea in the military too, so he made sure the right rumors reached the right ears.
When her identity was "casually" discovered, all Phloria's hard work was for naught. Even her barrack mates abandoned her. They could stand being outclassed by a hard working commoner, while the success of a silver spooned noble was unacceptable.
Soon Phloria was cut off from the other cadets. The only thing worse than the daily hazing and humiliation was the isolation. Things hit rock bottom when her platoon met their sergeant instructor: Trion Proudstar.
It was Archduke Teben's final gift. He knew Trion hated his brother so much that he had refused Lith's family name and bought one with his own merits instead of using them to further his career.
Chapter 339 Boot Camp Part 2
Trion was powerless to do anything to Lith. No Commanding Officer in his right mind would put two brothers in the same platoon. Phloria, though, was a whole different story.
Trion did his worst to ruin her military file. He charged her with insubordination whenever she objected to the impossible tasks he assigned to her and gave her demerits when she inevitably failed to accomplish them.
Phloria wasn't a stunner, but everything about her drove Trion crazy with envy. She was now 1.78 meters (5'10") tall, while he barely reached the average height of 1.65 meters (5'5").
The idea that a noble dame belonging to one of the most important households in the Kingdom, who also was a very powerful mage, had been his brother's girlfriend was something he couldn't stand.
'According to the rumors, this wh*re slept with him for over a year. I heard they got this close to becoming engaged. Yet none of the noble b*tches I met did so much as to look at me because of my origins.' Trion thought.
He knew that messing with an Ernas was a bad idea, yet he did it nonetheless. Trion knew it was likely to be his only opportunity to get back at his brother, so he couldn't miss it. Teben was aware of Trion's grudge, it was the reason he had chosen him for the job.
Only an idiot would put everything on the line for a petty reason and Trion was exactly that kind of man. Phloria endured the constant latrine duty, the insults, and the protection he offered to anyone who hazed her.
The only silver lining in that situation was that the Ernas name was both a blessing and a curse. It gave everyone a reason to hate her, but at the same time, it set boundaries not even the most reckless soldier dared to cross.
Jirni's reputation was only second to Orion's when it came to avenging his daughters for any kind of offense, be it real or simply perceived as such. Even with Teben's protection, Trion had to walk a thin line to avoid turning from perpetrator to victim.
Months passed. That morning Phloria found her mail in the mud, as it always was after a rainy night. Normally it would take her first magic and quite an effort to salvage its contents, but this time the letter was written with special ink which made it easy to read.
She grinned and had the courtesy to slam the barracks' door behind her and waking everyone up. A lot of swear words filled the morning silence, but she didn't care. For once she deserved them.
Phloria walked double time toward the officers' quarters, humming the whole time.
"What are you doing here, private Ernas?" Trion's voice was full of contempt, putting emphasis on her rank being at the bottom of the barrel.
"I'm going to receive my new assignment, sergeant Proudstar, sir." She gave him the salute. Her voice was unusually happy.
"You have no assignment until I say so!" He yelled. Trion might have been a simple sergeant instructor, but to a private in boot camp, he was a king.
"Haven't you learned that I hate sass? Drop down and give me twenty!"
"I'm not in the mood, thanks. Do it yourself, I have better things to do."
Trion turned bright red in outrage. Never before had someone dared to defy his orders.
"This is the army, not your precious household, little missy! Your insubordination will cost you dearly!"
Phloria's reply was but a simple word.
"Kneel."
Suddenly Trion felt his body weight increase until he wasn't able to stand up anymore. His hands hit the muddy ground with a thud, requiring all of his strength to not end up face first in the dirt.
"That does it! Using magic on your commanding officer will get you court martialled. Not even your family can save you this time." He said with a grunt while his face inched closer and closer to the ground.
"I don't think so. I'm just using magic on a measly sergeant to punish his bad manners which border on insubordination." Phloria placed the letter where he could read its contents. She had just been promoted to Second Lieutenant.
The only reason why Phloria endured Trion for the past three months was that she knew that there was little he could do if she didn't fall for his provocations. The only results that mattered were those assigned to the whole platoon.
If Trion set them too high to make her fail, everyone would fail. Whenever he underrated her performances, all she had to do was to ask for a second evaluation.
"For your information, Sergeant, gravity magic is another thing I learned from your brother. After meeting you, I'm not surprised your family has completely forgotten about you." Her voice was stone cold. She pressed down on his head with her boot until Trion's nose dipped into the mud.
"I don't believe you!" Despite the anger behind his words, his voice lacked conviction.
"Do you know that you have another little brother? That Rena now has a daughter? Except for Elina, no one cares if you are dead or alive. Both babies have been named after Lith, you know? Instead of running away as you did, he made their life better."
Phloria used the truth to hide her lies, making them as painful as possible.
"You are nothing but a little man, inside and out. I could ruin your career with a call, but you are not worthy of my time. Two years and you are still a sergeant? Pathetic."
Her words and her boot crushed his resistance, making Trion fall flat into the mud.
Phloria left him sobbing. She wanted to wear her new uniform and settle all the scores she had left before leaving the camp.
***
White Griffon academy
After the end of lessons, all Lith had left to do was to make sure Manohar was properly entertained. Ever since Marth became Headmaster, the eccentric genius had stopped going missing.
Marth made sure he would receive new components and ingredients from time to time instead of getting them all at once. This way Manohar would explore the possibilities that each branch of his research offered before moving on to the next project.
Lith's duty was to check if Manohar's boredom levels were reaching the danger zone. In such cases, Lith was allowed to provide him with new toys that would keep him busy in his lab.
Judging from the "Do not disturb" sign hung to Manohar's door and the amount of neglected paperwork on his desk, Lith could sigh in relief.
'It's when he starts doing his job without being forced to that I have to worry.' Lith reminded himself.
Then, he used his ring to open a Warp Steps to the fifth floor, right in front of Quylla's door.
"Thanks for coming. I'm sorry to bother you so often." Quylla hugged him as soon as he stepped inside and away from prying eyes.
"Stop saying that every time we meet, little one." He replied while patting her head.
Ever since her return to the academy, Lith had done his best to stay close to her and help Quylla overcome her sense of guilt for killing Yurial while under Nalear's influence. Quylla needed all the support she could get.
Lith was the only one in the group that had no role in the accident. Quylla was the main culprit, but Phloria was the one that gave the order to save Jirni first, while Friya mindlessly obeyed.
Quylla considered him to be the only one that could judge the events without his own guilt clouding his mind.
Chapter 340 Life at the Academy Part 1
"Stop calling me 'little one'!" Quylla hated that moniker, it made her feel like a child.
"We're the same age and I'm even quite tall for my age." With her 1.6 meters (5'3") she was indeed tall by Mogar's standards. Because of her thin build, she seemed even taller.
"You are short compared to me." Lith shrugged. He never expected these Murderers Anonymous meetings to become a habit for the surviving members of the group.
Yet after noticing how much talking with him helped Phloria to relieve her burden, Lith became the sponsor for the three girls until they felt ready to share their demons with each other.
Friya and Phloria had recovered quickly. Maybe because the academy kept their minds busy, or maybe because after so many tears and so much grieving they had come to terms with the truth that saving both Jirni and Yurial was just a pipe dream.
The anniversary of Nalear's attack had recently passed, so Lith wasn't surprised when Quylla called him and asked for his help. He was glad to see she had been eating again. Her cheeks were rosy and she was even starting to gain weight in the right places.
"How is it going with Kalan?" Before confronting the elephant in the room, Lith wanted to make Quylla relax with small talk about her boyfriend.
"We broke up yesterday." She replied with a sigh.
'Nice move, Freud.' Lith inwardly cursed at his bad luck.
'It's not your fault, you had no way of knowing.' Solus consoled him.
"I don't need to know who dumped who to tell you that he is a d*ck. It's his loss."
"What makes you so sure it's his fault we broke up?" Quylla chuckled. Lith's unconditional support meant a lot to her.
"Well, you started dating less than two months ago. The only reasons I can think of for such an abrupt ending is either you found out he was cheating on you, or he rushed for the fifth year and he wouldn't take a no for an answer. Either way, he is a d*ck."
Fifth year was the Mogar's slang equivalent for the home run in a relationship.
Quylla blushing instead of getting angry at her ex made Lith understand it was the latter.
"How is Tista doing?" Quylla changed the topic. There were things she didn't like to talk about with Lith.
"Good. After the mock exam she got a group of her own. Two girls and two boys, just like ours. Tista's jury is still out on whether or not they are sincere."
"How come you're so relaxed? Aren't you worried about the boys?" Quylla would have expected Lith to have run background checks or at least have intimidated them.
"Tista knows that if she needs my help she just has to ask." Lith shrugged.
"She must learn to fend for herself and become a good judge of character. My role isn't to prevent her from stumbling and falling, only to help her in standing back up."
Those words shocked Quylla. Lith was so calm and mature instead of his usual overprotective self.
"If someone tries something funny or hurts her, they may find themselves accident prone. Maybe even going missing for good, but that's another story." He winked.
Lith meant to make her laugh with his joke, yet Quylla became sad.
"Do you still think about Yurial?" She asked while staring at the ground.
"Yes. Almost every day." Lith sighed.
"I still regret never making that trip with you guys at the end of the fourth year. I also regret not being a better friend. Before meeting you guys, I was completely alone. Don't get me wrong, I love my family, but they know nothing about magic.
"My mother still thinks that with a book and a bit of effort everything is possible. She doesn't realize how much work there is behind every single spell. Nor does she realize the things I had to do to get where I am and earn all the money I bring home.
I know it's my fault for always keeping them in the dark, but I felt lonely nonetheless."
'I don't know what would have become of me without you, Solus. You are the best thing that ever happened to me.' He inwardly added, making Solus incredibly happy.
"Even if I didn't realize it earlier, you guys are my magical family. After the second exam, Yurial realized his faults and did his best to become a good friend. A brother. Yet I was too conceited to notice."
Lith handed Quylla one of Yurial's notebooks. It was opened to a page where, after discussing one of the impossible arrays, Yurial had let his mind wander about his feelings towards the group and Quylla in particular.
He expressed his regrets for having treated her as an asset rather than a person at first, thinking only of how he could exploit her help to improve his grades. Yurial also wrote about how he had protected her from the shadows, getting rid of those who approached her with a hidden agenda.
"I think Quylla is too kind for her own good." Yurial wrote. "Don't let her know that I told you, but I believe she's the most dazzling girl I've ever met. Despite Quylla's harsh life, she retained her sweet and loving personality.
"I wish I didn't always act like an idiot in front of her. I hope one day I'll be able to repay all the kindness she has showered me with, even when I did nothing to deserve it. I hope she'll think fondly of me like I do of her."
Quylla started sobbing. She dropped the notebook, incapable of reading those words for one second longer. She felt undeserving of such affection.
"How can you forgive me for what I did?" She said through the tears. "I'm sure Yurial spent his last moments of life hating me. Thinking I had betrayed his trust."
Lith embraced her. He caressed her hair and back while she vented her pain.
"You have nothing to be forgiven for." He said.
"I didn't show you that notebook to torture you, but only to let you know what his feelings for you were. Yurial could never hate you. He loved us too much to have such thoughts. I'm sure he was worried more about you than about himself."
Lith paused for a second before continuing.
"Quylla, no one blames you for what happened but yourself. Life is for the living, not for the dead. You can't let Nalear's madness ruin your life. Don't turn him into a vengeful ghost haunting you. That's the only thing Yurial could never forgive you for."
Lith knew he was being a hypocrite, yet he didn't care. Carl's death was always lingering in the back of his mind, affecting every decision he made. Getting over the untimely death of a loved one wasn't something he should preach about to others.
'My body count has already reached three digits, while Quylla has still a chance to be normal. She needs hope more than anything else.' He thought.
Feeling that little, frail body quivering through tears, Lith deeply regretted having given Nalear a swift death instead of one filled with excruciating agony.
Chapter 341 Life at the Academy Part 2
Months passed and soon came the end of the second trimester. Lith's teaching methods gave Marth a headache, but it was the good kind. Unlike other Professors, Lith wouldn't leave everything to self study and give only cryptic advice.
Lith always gave a full explanation of the exercises he assigned and even a short tutorial. The problem was that none of his lessons were simple. The exercises always required a deep understanding of the principles of advanced magic and the ability to put them into practice.
It resulted in half the class acing the exercises and the other half failing miserably. Oddly enough, the results seemed to be influenced more by each student's amount of practice rather than by raw talent.
The reason why Marth hadn't ordered him to use more orthodox methods was that those who thrived in Lith's lessons would also improve in most of the other subjects.
'Maybe these kinds of exercises are better suited for an elective class, or perhaps even an exam.' Marth thought. 'I'll give him until the end of the year before deciding what to do.'
***
Phillard the Lindwurm and the magical beasts of the Trawn woods survived the battle with the trolls. Lith returned the following weekend and brought all those who still lived back to their peak condition. He taught Phillard several healing spells, so that even in his absence someone could take care of injuries or illnesses.
Reaper introduced him to seventeen magical beasts, but Lith dismissed half of them right off the bat. Only those who already had a cyan core were suitable for his experiments. The memory of the green cored Byk turning into an Abomination was still fresh in his mind.
After the near death experience, Phillard was strongly motivated to learn. Through relentless practice he mastered Accumulation and Invigoration, becoming capable of assisting Lith in teaching the magical beasts.
By the end of the year, out of the nine magical beasts under his care only Reaper and Lifebringer managed to evolve into a Manticore and a Kirin respectively. Lifebringer's new body resembled a gigantic white horse partially covered in scales.
Emerald flames came out of his hooves and antlers.
Thunder and two more beasts died in the attempt, none of them returned as an Abomination.
The failures taught Lith many things he had missed during Phillard's Awakening process, while the surviving members learned the importance of patience.
'I can use Solus's tower form to make the process easier and safer, but I can't risk revealing her existence. I won't trust any of them until I see how they behave when they believe they have reached my level of strength.' He thought.
Thanks to Solus, Lith was able to conceal part of his powers. He trusted magical beasts more than he did humans, but that didn't mean much. Lith had prepared several safeguards in preparation to kill anyone who dared to turn against him.
***
Those two years as an Assistant Professor were one of the happiest times in Lith's life. His brother Aran and his niece Leria grew healthy thanks to their family's love. Lith didn't give them his special treatment. The idea of an Awakened baby was something that gave him the creeps.
'Power without wisdom is the perfect recipe for a disaster.' He thought.
After Quylla graduated, she and Friya left the academy, leaving Lith truly alone for the first time in a very long time. Tista was busy with her own friends. Lith preferred her to live her life without being constantly overshadowed by his presence.
He buried himself in magical research, trying to understand the various magical specializations while he was still at the academy and could ask for the help of his colleagues when necessary.
Lith had several flings during his last year at the White Griffon. After his break up with Phloria, dating older women made it easy for him to get back in the game.
The only real challenge he met was keeping an eye on Tista's natural Awakening process. She wasn't a magical beast, so at least he could hope she wouldn't emit a light pillar from her body.
After a year and a half at the academy, the impurities in her body were dangerously close to her bright green mana core. Incidents started to happen whenever she used first magic. Her tier zero spells would occasionally go wild, destroying her things or hurting her friends.
Lith kept his finger crossed, hoping for the weekend to come before it was too late. He couldn't drag her away from the academy without a good reason and with Manohar around faking an illness would risk drawing his attention.
As soon as Tista finished her weekly lessons, Lith brought her back to Lutia and into the Trawn woods.
"Why are we here?" Tista was confused.
Lith had refused to give her any explanation while still inside the academy and had performed several Warp Steps to make sure no one was able to follow them unnoticed. He even stored all their academy related enchanted items inside his pocket dimension to jam any kind of tracking devices.
"First, don't get scared. Second, do not scream. I don't want to draw any attention."
Lith had brought her over the mana geyser in the woods he used for Solus's tower form.
"We trained in the woods countless times, there's nothing scary here. Why should I s… GOOD G…!" Her scream was muffled by Lith's hand.
He had to admit that seeing his ring grow into a small building was quite a shocker.
"Because of that. Now can you promise me to keep your cool? Otherwise my hand will have to stay there." Tista nodded, turning from the tower to her brother over and over again.
"Is this…?"
"A mage tower? Yes. Now get in, we don't have all day." As soon as they walked in, a bright yellow wisp of light the size of a watermelon welcomed the siblings.
Tista instinctively chanted a defensive spell, but Lith stopped her.
"Tista, allow me to introduce you to Solus. Solus, this is Tista."
"It's nice to finally get to know you, Tista." Solus's silvery voice made Tista's jaw fall to the ground.
"The tower speaks?" She would have run away screaming if Lith wasn't right beside her, acting like nothing was happening.
"Yes, she does. Also, she has a name, unless you have completely forgotten your manners." Lith sighed. At this pace the sun would set before he could even mention the Awakening process.
"Does Phloria know? About your tower girlfriend?" Tista didn't know whether to be more shocked or angry at all the secrets her brother kept from everyone else.
"She's not my girlfriend!"
"I'm not his girlfriend!"
The two shouted in unison.
"Also, no. I have never told anyone before, because you know, legendary artifacts rarely remain in the hands of someone stupid enough to flaunt them to the world. I'll be honest, I probably wouldn't have even told you until you finished the academy.
I'm forced to do it now because Solus is the best chance I have of saving your life."
"I beg your pardon?" Tista had still hundreds of questions, but Lith's last words made her reconsider her priorities.
Chapter 342 Tista Part 1
Lith spent the next hour explaining Tista about fake magic, true magic, and the Awakening process. She trusted her brother with her life, yet even after meeting Solus, Tista found hard to believe such a massive info dump.
Lith then cast perfectly silent spells of all tiers, from one to five in front of her eyes. Tista gasped for air, the whole Mogar was turning upside down. She kept hyperventilating due to stress until everything turned black.
"Has she fainted?" Lith asked.
"Yes. Too bad we can't waste time being nice." Solus conjured ice cold water and splashed Tista's face with it.
"Oh, gods! I had the weirdest dream…" When Tista saw Lith and Solus again, she realized it wasn't a dream. Lith sat on the ground beside her, putting his arm around her shoulders to keep her calm.
"Is everything I learned so far a lie, then?" She asked after a while.
"No, it's just part of a much more complex truth. Think about it. We and magical beasts having two different kinds of magic doesn't make sense. We breathe the same air, we eat the same things. Why magic should be any different?" Lith replied.
"What's wrong with me? Am I going to die?" She embraced Lith in search of warmth. Tista was so shocked that she had yet to dry herself from the water.
"There is nothing wrong with you and you are going to be just fine." Lith made the water disappear and had Solus turn the heat up in the tower.
"Yet to succeed I need your help. There are some unknown factors that I had no opportunity to study, so I need you to be completely honest with me. Don't try to be a hero, if anything feels weird or painful you have to tell me."
"Weird how?" Tista blushed.
"To keep you alive and healthy I have removed impurities from your body since a tender age. I stopped as soon as I noticed your Awakening process started because I have no idea if it made things easier or harder for you. Also, you have a bright green core. So far my only successful experiments involve cyan cores." Lith sighed.
"Wait. Didn't you tell me you had a green one too? What's the difference between you and me?"
"The difference is me Awakening early. My body developed like that of a magical beast. I grew slowly in strength, so my body had all the time it needed to adapt. Yours is going straight from a dormant green core to an active cyan one. It could either kill you or turn you into an Abomination."
Lith hugged her tightly, kissing her forehead. The thought of losing her was unbearable.
'I'll never be able to live with myself if she dies because of me.' Lith thought.
'She'd be dead without you.' Solus rebuked. 'Now bring her to the basement, we have no time to lose.'
Lith helped Tista to get up and did as instructed. He explained to her how Awakening usually involved the impurities reaching the mana core, triggering some kind of reaction that made both the core and the body stronger.
"I still have no clue about the details, but I think that expelling the impurities is only part of the process. During the refinement, the body undergoes a transformation that corrects any flaw humans normally develop during their lives.
"If I'm right, the stronger the core the greater the number of flaws the body needs to fix. It's an incredibly delicate process, like using Body Sculpting on a healthy subject. Hence the body undergoes a lot of stress and if it's unable to cope, the final result is death.
"In theory, you grew with very few imperfections. It should make things easier."
"What if you are wrong?" Tista asked.
"Then by removing your impurities, I've doomed you." The sibling shivered in fear, but Tista only held Lith's hand tighter.
"What do I have to do?"
Lith brought her in the tower's basement, in the nearest point to the mana geyser. Then, he explained to her both Invigoration and Accumulation while Solus filled the air to the brim with world energy.
"If you learn Accumulation before your Awakening, we can have an idea if your body is ready. If you feel no discomfort it would be a great sign. If you learn Invigoration, instead, it can help you survive in case anything goes wrong."
Tista sat cross legged on the warm stone floor, taking deep breathes and following Lith's instructions. She was scared but at the same time excited. She had started studying magic to feel closer to her brother, but now it was an important part in her life.
She loved being a mage and the idea of becoming part of something bigger filled her with joy. The high mana density in the room tickled her skin. She could almost feel the energy moving around her, seeping into her body.
'A living tower, true magic, and secrets no one but the beasts know. Mom is right. Since Lith's birth life really turned into a fairy tale. Now I understand why all the secrecy about his abilities and how he managed to cure what even Nana was helpless against.
'Even if I die today, I have no regrets. Without him, I would have spent the few years I had left agonizing in my bed.' Tista thought, yet tears streamed down her eyes thinking back to her past life.
"Is anything wrong?" Lith asked as soon as he noticed.
"I lied to myself." Tista said. "I have lots of regrets. I'm scared and I don't want to die."
The first phrase baffled Lith, the others not so much.
"We are on the same page. Now keep breathing and tell me how do you feel."
Tista took in a couple of deep breaths from the nose before answering.
"I feel hot and ticklish. Is it normal?"
"Yes." Lith lied.
'How the heck I'm supposed to know what's normal? It's my first time Awakening a human too! As long as she doesn't feel pain it's a good sign.' He thought.
The hours passed. Lith could only check on Tista and Solus from time to time. Neither of them could afford losing focus or to get tired. Until Tista's Awakening started, Lith preferred to have them rest, if needed.
"I think I learned Invigoration!" Tista suddenly said. "I can feel a warm flow of mana entering my body. It's this the world energy? It's so different from casting a spell with fake mag…"
"Don't lose the breathing rhythm!" Lith scolded her. "When the process starts, it will be painful. If you lose the rhythm, Invigoration stops working!"
Tista wanted to rebuke, but realizing Lith was just worried about her, she moved to Accumulation instead. Now she could visualize the impurities nearing her core, giving her a pricking sensation whenever they touched.
Tista was about to report it to Lith when a big impurity struck her core merging with it. Pain invaded her body, almost breaking her concentration. Tista had never felt such agony since she was a kid when even breathing was a miracle to her.
Pain was an old friend, so she welcomed it back gritting her teeth and without losing her breathing rhythm.
"It has begun." Solus said.
Chapter 343 Tista Part 2
One after the other, the impurities reached Tista's green core, forcing their way in. The mana reacted strongly to the invasion, giving its all to wipe out the foreign objects.
Lith could watch via Invigoration a small scale war of matter versus energy taking place inside Tista's body. The green core slowly turned black as more and more impurities amassed inside.
The pain grew as Tista's core darkened, until Tista couldn't bear it any more and screamed at the top of her lungs. Lith knew the pain was normal, so he kept watching. It had happened to him multiple times.
Tista's mana core started to pulse, contracting and expanding like it was going to blow. Then it released a powerful wave of cyan mana that purged the impurities inside and outside itself.
Lith could see the mana coursing throw her body like it was searching for impurities to vent its wrath upon. Whenever it encountered them, they would be flushed out, no matter the cost. Flesh and muscles were torn, bones cracked.
It was like Tista's body was suddenly disgusted by itself and had decided to start over from scratch.
Tista's pain was nearing its peak. Lith kept watching and waiting, the refining process seemed identical to his own. The only thing he could do was to ease her pain with light magic and give her a bit of his life force whenever her body experienced a major breakdown.
Not knowing what was actually helpful and what wasn't, he couldn't directly interfere. The self inflicted wounds brought Tista to the verge of death, yet he couldn't heal her without risking doing more harm than good.
Lith and Solus did their best to keep her stable, moving alongside the mana flow to not obstruct its movements.
The process lasted barely a few minutes, but to both siblings it might as well have been hours. Black goo came out from Tista's pores, making her puke, cry, and bleed impurities all at the same time.
Only when the last drop was shed was Tista's body fully repaired. Lith destroyed the tar-like substance with darkness magic while assessing the damage.
'She expelled way fewer impurities than I usually do, yet the pain was much worse.' He thought.
'I think it's because at first you expelled only impurities and your body got progressively stronger and more resistant to pain. She had to endure broken bones right off the bat. The pain must have been unbearable.' Solus replied.
Lith checked Tista with Invigoration again. Aside from being unconscious, she was perfectly fine. Her core was now deep cyan and was constantly absorbing the world energy Solus had conjured inside the basement.
'Solus, can you make a room for her too? She needs to sleep and so do I.' Lith was exhausted too. Tiptoeing across a minefield and getting out alive would have been easier than what he had done to not get in Tista's mana's way while keeping her alive.
'Sure I can. My mana core may still be deep green but that is more than enough.' During the past two years, Solus's mana core had been further enhanced, allowing her to complete the first floor of the tower.
Unfortunately, she had yet to acquire any semblance of a body.
'I'll also pump world energy into her room non stop. It should help her to recover faster.'
Lith brought Tista to a brand new room that was a perfect replica of her own at the academy before going to sleep.
Tista woke up several hours later, feeling like someone had kicked her all the way back home. The first thing she noticed was that her body felt different. She was faster, stronger, but most of all smellier.
"Did I fall into an open sewer or what?" She took off her dress, throwing it into a corner, yet the stench didn't subside.
"Or what." Solus replied making Tista flinch. She wasn't expecting company.
"The impurities can have that effect. Follow me, I prepared you a bath."
Solus was relieved seeing Tista was all right. She was also incredibly embarrassed. After the Awakening Tista's physical appearance hadn't changed much, but it was Solus's first time seeing her naked.
She was now a gorgeous woman who stood 1.76 (5'9") meters tall with waist length auburn hair containing several shades of red. What made Solus feel really awkward wasn't just the fact that Tista's three sizes were 92D-58-88 centimeters (37D-23-35 inches), but also the perfect proportions of her body.
'I bet countless artists would be glad to spend their lives trying to reproduce her symmetry.' Solus thought while staring at Tista's oval face and her delicate features.
'By my maker, if it keeps up this way either my self-esteem will crumble or I'll develop a crush on her.'
"How long have you known my brother?" Tista asked snapping Solus out of her reverie.
"A long time. Since he was four years old." Now that she was submerged in water and foam Solus had a much easier time thinking straight.
"Do you want me to show you?" Solus had already asked Lith's opinion via their mind link.
'She already knows a lot, there's no harm in sharing the rest. Just keep my first two lives out of the picture and enjoy your first human friend.' Was his answer.
Tista and Solus talked a lot about themselves, true magic, and their plans for the future. Solus would often show her images from their easiest battles or of the Evolved Beasts they befriended.
"Once I graduate from the academy, I want to see the world. When I was younger Lutia was my everything but now it feels like a cage, just like my house was back when I was still ill.
"I want to see the capitol, the big cities I visited during my house calls for the White Griffon. I know people will be the same ass*oles wherever I go but the scenery of some cities just stole my heart. What about you, Solus?"
"There's not much I can plan." She sighed. "Soon we will join the army, that's all I know."
"I never got why Lith wants to enlist. Can you explain it to me?" Tista asked.
"It's not for me to say."
"How deep is your bond?"
"Pretty deep."
"Do the two of you ever separate? I mean, where were you while lil brother was with Phloria? Did you watch or something?" Tista's question made the wisp turn beet red.
"No, I didn't. I always gave them their privacy. I can isolate myself from the outside world when it's necessary. Oh, Lith just woke up. He will be glad to know you are alright." Solus quickly changed the topic, materializing a replica of the uniform's academy out of thin air.
"I can give you any dress you want, but you can't take them outside. My creations disappear beyond the tower's walls." She explained.
Tista dried herself with a wave of her hand before wearing her new clothes. She entered Lith's room without knocking. He was focused on practicing Silverwing's Hexagram and another impossible array at the same time.
"What's that?" Tista was referring to the six pointed star inscribed inside a silver circle originating from Lith's right hand.
"Yurial's Hexagram." Lith's replied. "Something he theorized and I'm working to turn it into reality. I still have a long way to go. Also, I could have been naked."
"Yeah, right. Even when we were kids you always swam in the river with your clothes on and your door was always closed whenever you changed. You always hated feeling vulnerable, lil brother. Isn't that the reason why you bought the Skinwalker armor?" She pointed out.
"Point taken, but still." Lith dropped the matter. He preferred to explain to her the basics of true magic since it was almost time to go home before Elina started to worry.
Chapter 344 Final Wish Part 1
"There are two things that you must never forget about being an Awakened." Lith explained.
"The first is that our secret cannot be shared with anyone. The history of Garlen continent is full of mages and researchers that go missing in 'accidents' when they tried to share their theories about it.
I have no idea how many Awakened ones are out there, so far I met only Nalear and Farg. I only discovered their nature when they decided so. Sadly, there is no way to tell a fake from a true mage."
"Two of our Professors are Awakened?" The news shocked Tista.
"Yes." Lith nodded. "What I am trying to say is that not only you can't tell anyone about your new powers, but also that if you ever get found out you have to kill them."
Lith's eyes and voice were stone cold.
"Kill them? Why?"
"Think about it." Lith sneered. "A mage is a weapon and as such is strictly regulated. An Awakened one is both a weapon and the key to longevity. What do you think nobles and Royals would do to us, to our family to get their hands on such power?"
Lith paused, letting Tista ponder on his words. She wasn't a naïve little girl anymore. The academy had been her wake up call. Tista now knew what to expect from others.
"Do you mean that not even your group…"
"No one knows but you." Lith shook his head.
"Not even Phloria?"
"No. She noticed something was amiss with me, but Phloria never pushed me to reveal her the truth. It's one of the reasons why she was so precious to me." Lith sighed.
"The second thing is that every time you use Accumulation or Invigoration your life gets longer. By drawing in the world energy you'll consume less and less of your own, allowing you to live for centuries.
It means you'll see our family, your husband and children wither and die while you'll still look twenty. I'm giving you a choice I didn't have. You can either just practice true magic and live a normal life or also use those techniques to become stronger but be progressively set apart from humans."
"I'm sorry, but I need some air." Tista stood up and ran away from Lith's room. Her head was spinning because of all those sudden revelations. She felt suffocating. Despite the tower was actually spacious, Tista had the impression the walls were collapsing on her.
Only when she walked out of the door and into the familiar Trawn woods the world seemed to regain a semblance of normality.
"Would you like some company or do you prefer to stay alone?" Solus's voice made her flinch, but just for a second.
"Oh Solus, thank the gods you are here." Tista turned around and hugged the wisp. Much to Solus's surprise, her arms didn't pass through. She could actually feel Tista's embrace as if it was Lith's.
"Can we take a walk? All that talking about killing in cold blood and immortality seriously freaked me out." Being touched by another human being freaked out Solus too. Also, she had no idea what to say to Tista without scaring her.
Solus knew Tista like she was her own sister, while Tista knew nothing about her.
"Sure, but I can't get very far from the tower. The further I get, the smaller the wisp becomes until I'm forced back inside." Solus did her best to not let her voice quiver.
'By my maker, our first meeting couldn't go any worse. First, she took me for a peeping tom, now she'll pity me. I must find something smart or funny to say to salvage the situation.'
Tista walked around and away from the tower until Solus's wisp became the size of a tennis ball. For several minutes they remained silent, the only audible sounds were the rustling of the leaves and the woods' bird calls.
That situation was a nightmare for Solus. Her consciousness was far enough from Lith to not feel his presence in her mind anymore and at the same time, she realized how awkward that quiet was.
'Oh gods! Why does she say nothing? I'm not used to silence, Lith's minds is always a noisy mess. Am I supposed to break the ice or is it better to wait for her to open up?'
Solus's first human interaction wasn't as she had always pictured it. She had been linked to Lith's mind and emotions for so long that she was not used not to know what the other person was thinking.
Tista's expression was unfathomable to her. She seemed to be worried, disgusted and annoyed all at the same time. Solus started panicking, thinking that Tista's silence was due to her regretting the choice of bringing Solus along.
"I'm so confused. What do you think I should do, Solus?" Tista asked.
"I'm sorry, I have no idea what you are talking about." Solus's voice was cracking due to the strain she was under.
"I'd like you to get closer to the tower, though."
"Do you think Lith is right about killing?" She continued walking at a fast pace.
"Please, Tista, get back. One more step and you'll be stark naked. My clothes, remember?" Solus yelped, her wisp was on the verge of disappearing.
Tista cursed at her stupidity, walking towards the tower as fast as she could. She noticed how her body had never felt so light.
"As for the killing, yes. I think he is right." Solus sighed. The wisp was back at half of its original size.
"I was just like you at the beginning, but all the things Lith and I experienced together changed my mind. Even if the person that discovers your secret is a good one, would you really risk your whole family's lives just to save a stranger?
"Would you risk them becoming hostages to keep you on a leash? There's nothing that people with power wouldn't do to not lose their power, even using slave items. Do you want to be a slave?"
Solus projected in front of Tista some of the images from Nalear's attack. The chaos and bloodshed forced her to avert her eyes.
"Please stop. I got what you mean." Solus stopped the projection, giving Tista some time to think.
"What do you think is better between longevity and power? I mean, the stronger I get the longer I'll live, but I'm scared of ending up all alone. You have already lived for so long, do you have any advice for me?"
Solus felt flattered by so much trust in her judgment despite they had just shortly met.
"Honestly, no. I have no choice on the matter. I'm glad I lost all my previous memories, otherwise I would have gone insane a long time ago. There's one thing I can tell you, though. Your brother and I are as scared as you are of being alone.
Lith always worries about the day he will grieve your deaths, while I worry about him. I'm so scared of losing Lith that I can't sleep for days after he fights a strong enemy. I'm scared at the thought that he will grow old and die while I'll be forced to look for a new host."
Chapter 345 Final Wish Part 2
"Why do you the idea so terrible?" Seeing her issues through Solus's eyes made her worries seem so small that Tista was almost ashamed of herself.
"I'm not a thing, okay?" Solus lashed out in frustration, it was the first time she had ever laid her worst fears bare in front of someone that wasn't Lith.
"I have feelings, memories. I learn new things every day. What would you do if you lost the person you have spent your whole life with? Someone who shared every one of your feelings, dreams, even thoughts. You can't simply replace such a person with a random stranger and move on."
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to offend you." Tista had never considered Solus like an object, she simply didn't expect her to be so fond of her brother.
"What kind of relationship do the two of you have?"
"I don't know either." Solus's voice sounded depressed.
Solus shared with Tista how her lack of a body made her feel incomplete. How she hated being just a voice in his head. To be always powerless whenever someone needed her help.
After hearing about all the things they had gone through together, Tista believed to have a proper answer to her own question.
"If after sharing so much for so many years you two don't hate each other's guts you must be soulmates!"
"Thanks, your words mean the world to me, but you are too kind and naïve. It's only because of our bond that we share so many things. I forced it on him years ago, otherwise I doubt Lith would have opened to me. I think he likes me, but more like a friend. Phloria instead…"
"What about Phloria?" Tista hoped for some juicy gossip. Neither the Verhen or the Ernas had any idea how close the two actually got during the academy.
"Sorry, but it's not up to me to tell. Let's go back to the tower."
***
During the weekend, Lith taught Tista about fusion and spirit magic. Whenever she had free time, he would pass on her all of his knowledge about true magic, all the tips and tricks he had learned over the years to disguise it as fake magic or make use of it during the exams.
He also introduced her to Phillard, Reaper, and Lifebringer. Tista had never spoken with a magical beast, let alone with an Evolved Monster. In her eyes, they were all big and scary. Phillard with his serpentine body and two clawed arms was apparently the most menacing of the three.
At least until she noticed they were as scared of her brother as she was of them. Reaper the Manticore had the body and the head of a lion with quills like those of a porcupine protruding from most of his body. He was big enough to look Tista in the eyes.
He also had black feathered wings on his back, horns like an ibex on his head, and the tip of his tail was a mass of quills. Each one was infused with a different element and ready to be thrown.
Lifebringer the Kirin had grown even bigger, developing a new horn in the center of his head and what looked like a long beard made out of emerald flames covered his chin. The four of them would practice and spar together to get used to their new abilities.
"Why are you still here?" Lith asked Phillard.
"I'm not going anywhere until you deliver me my axes." The Lindwurm snorted. "Also, I still suck at magic. I'm even worse than the pipsqueak here." He pointed at Tista.
"How's her smell?"
"Delicious… I mean, she is definitely human." Phillard's ribs still ached at the memory of how Lith appreciated his jokes.
Lith made for each one of them a dimensional and a communication amulet so that they could ask for help if necessary. He also realized for Phillard a couple of twin axes on the cheap.
The Lindwurm couldn't provide him materials or magic crystals, so Lith infused the weapons with what by Forgemastering standards was considered to be the bare minimum, making them sharper, lighter, sturdier, and capable of self repairing if infused with mana.
Their only special property was they were able to shrink enough so that if Phillard ever learned how to assume human form he could still use them. The Lindwurm had never owned an enchanted weapon, so he considered them masterpieces and gloated for days thinking of having scammed Lith for good.
Lith and Tista's last year of the academy was uneventful. Lith's only worry was to dodge all the noble dames and mages of marrying age that pestered him on a regular basis. Most of his female students couldn't wait for the third exam to come since their hot teacher was of their same age and still single.
Lith disappointed them all by disappearing the very next day after the exam. He and Tista could finally rush back at Lutia. Attending the academy after the third exam was a mere formality.
Both of them wanted to pay their respect to their old mentor before it was too late. Without Tista helping her, Nana's health deteriorated over time, no matter how much effort Lith put into treating her condition.
Death and old age were two enemies that even he couldn't defeat. Many people were assembled outside her house to pay her a last visit. Nana hadn't become nicer just because of her impending death.
She refused any visitor aside from Count Lark and the Verhen Household.
"Damn hypocrites." Nana's voice was weak but still full of anger.
"Even on my deathbed they still try to suck up on me. Never trust shameless people, kids." She said to both her apprentices.
"Isn't there something we can do?" Tista asked Lith for the umpteenth time in the last months.
"No. We aren't gods." Lith shook his head. He had already tried every spell in his book.
"Master, you never told me who betrayed you. I could take care of them for you if you wish."
"Bah! Hear me well, King of the spirits. What kind of mentor would I be if I added my grudge to your already enormous baggage? Do you think I'm stupid? I always knew there is a darkness inside of you and I'm proud you never became its slave."
Nana wheezed for several seconds to catch her breath. She had little time left and still a few things to say.
"Thank you, Lark. Despite my stigma, you never stopped being my friend. A good, honest friend I never deserve. If there are gods on the other side I'll make sure they compensate you properly, or they'll taste my wrath.
Don't search for my enemies, Lith. It's only thanks to them that I had the opportunity to meet you and your sister. I rejoiced for your achievements like they were mine.
I know it's hypocritical to say from someone that never wanted a family, but I'm glad a part of me will always live inside your magic. Thanks to me a new magical bloodline was born. My enemies will probably follow me in death out of desperation."
She half laughed half coughed the last sentence.
"My only regret is that I failed you both. I never managed to teach you what you truly lack. Lith, the King of the spirits must be strong, wise, but also loving. Otherwise he is just a monster.
"Tista, my fairy Queen, if you don't learn how to close your heart to others, they will rip it out your chest. Whenever someone bothers you, don't give them a second chance. Do like I would and fry they their a*s."
After making sure her disciples understood her last wish, Nana fell asleep. Everyone remained to her side until her heart stopped.
Chapter 346 Enlist Part 1
Nana's death had a deep impact on both Lith and Tista, although for entirely different reasons. For Lith, it was one mourning too much. In the past four years, he had lost more people he loved than in his whole first life.
He left the academy for good after saying goodbye to all his colleagues.
"It's a pity Lith didn't change his mind." Marth said while drinking vintage wine with his friends from the light department.
"He could have been a good Professor, after some proper training. I have decided to turn his version of Principles of Advanced Magic into an elective course. Many find it difficult, but those who succeed reap too many benefits to discard it as a failed experiment."
"I'm glad he's leaving." Vastor took a big sip from his cup. "He's still young. The academy is better suited for old coots like us or madmen. Our duty is not only to teach magic, but also to guide people in life.
Lith can't guide anyone, the kid is still lost in whatever the gods threw at him."
"Indeed." Manohar emptied his cup in one gulp. He liked drinking with company. Alcohol made people easier to bear for him and vice versa.
"Although I resent being called an old coot. I'm the youngest one in the room, after all. Also, although he may be an odd fella, I can guarantee you that Marth is not a madman. You should apologize to him Vastor."
It was hard to understand when Manohar was serious and when he wasn't. Especially after the second bottle. The three men laughed merrily at the joke. They were eager for winter to come. It was the only time of the year they could properly rest.
For Tista, Nana's death was the moment she became truly aware of her own mortality. She had lost several patients over the years, but never someone she cared about. Tista realized she had to decide if power was worth so much suffering.
She found solace in spending time together with her family, but at the same time, she felt isolated. They knew nothing about magic and even less about Awakened ones, so she spent more and more time with Solus.
Lith was happy his companion had finally found a friend. Sometimes he would leave Solus in her tower form, allowing the two girls to be alone while he was elsewhere.
"Have you decided what you want to do?" Solus asked.
"Yeah. I'm done with the academy for now. I'll spend the winter together with my family and friends. I'll leave the first day of spring in a random direction." Tista replied.
"For a while, I'll stop being a Healer. I'm sick of always having to worry so much for others. I want some me time for once. Money will not be an issue for a long time. I never spent a dime of what I earned working with Nana.
Lith always paid for everything. What about you?"
"Meaning?" Solus was confused.
"Are you still unclear about your feelings for my brother?"
"I'm still as clueless as I was the first day I met you." She sighed.
"Well, you can't just live your life like a damn sidekick. You are a great girl, Solus. Maybe you two should work on getting you a body. Maybe the reason why you are so confused is because you spend too much time together.
You need to make your own friends, experience a life that's only your own."
"How would I survive? Without a mana geyser or your brother, I won't last long. Lith would be forced to stick around and delay all of his plans until I'm done. It wouldn't be fair."
"I don't think so." Tista shook her head. "Maybe having your roles reversed for once might help both of you. I believe Lith would be happy to give you a chance at life."
***
Meanwhile, Lith was at the Ernas Household.
Most of his recent losses were related to his life at the academy, so he felt the need to share his burden with someone that had lived those events with him. Quylla was not an option since she had too much on her plate already.
That had led Friya and Lith to become closer, even if it wasn't in the way she would have liked. With her family's history, Friya was the one who could best relate to his mental state.
Lith was lying on a sofa, with his head on Friya's lap while she caressed his soft hair.
"Good gods, when will you stop growing?" She lamented. Lith was now an adult by Mogar's standards and also a giant at 1.83 meters tall (6').
"Soon, I hope. Otherwise I'll be forced to spend a fortune on clothing. The Skinwalker armor is nearing its limits and I'd like to avoid getting a new one." He sighed.
"I'm glad to see that you and Quylla are alright. After losing Protector, Selia, Yurial, Phloria, and now Nana I don't know if I can take another blow."
"Protector, Selia, and Phloria are not dead!" She rebuked. "They are simply…"
"Gone? Lost to me? Disappeared from my life?" Lith cut her short.
"What's the difference? Until Protector stops playing dead, I will not be able to find him. As for Phloria, I haven't heard from her in two years. She might have become a completely different person."
"I'm sure she still cares for you."
"Yeah? Then why did she never call? Not even for my birthday?" Lith rebuked.
"I don't know, maybe for the same reason you never called her?" Friya clicked her tongue in disapproval.
"Wherever she is, she has the right to be happy. I prefer to be a happy memory rather than a chain preventing her from enjoying what she now has. That's why I don't call her."
"That's funny. She said almost the same thing the last time we talked."
"She what?"Lith tried to jump up on his feet, but Friya pushed his chest forcing him back down.
"Did you really expect Phloria not to call her family for two years? If you want to know where she is, you just have to ask."
"What are you going to do with your life?" Lith asked.
"First, I'll pretend to not notice you just dodged the question." Friya sneered. "Second, since Quylla is going back to the academy in spring, I think I'll take a few missions from the Association.
I'll see the world, meet new people, and rack up merits. Three birds with one stone. Hopefully, I'll also find a decent man. Both the academy and the Court have been an utter disappointment." Friya's love life was similar to Lith's. It was filled with short, meaningless relationships that frustrated her to no end.
***
When spring arrived, the heirs of the Ernas and Verhen Households moved on the next step of their lives. Lith reached the recruitment center fully prepared.
Everything valuable he had was safely stored in his pocket dimension while Solus was concealed in his mouth, wrapped around one of his teeth. Orion had explained the whole procedure to him, allowing Lith to make preparation for when things would go south.
'Always the optimist.' Solus sighed.
'Always the nagger.' Lith replied. 'Besides, I resent that.'
Chapter 347 Enlist Part 2
'The optimism?'
'No. The fact that I proposed countless bodies to you and you always refused. Now that Tista said the very same thing you are considering the idea?'
'Only idiots never change their minds. Yours was the right idea at the wrong moment.' Solus replied. 'We'll think about it after the military. I can't have you defect. Also, thanks for delaying your departure until spring.'
'You're welcome. Tista is your first human friend, you two deserved some time together. I love you both and I'm happy you found a good friend in each other.'
"Name?" The army clerk's harsh voice interrupted their conversation. The woman loved her job, but repeating the same lines over and over ruined her mood.
"Lith Verhen."
"Oh, gods!" When she inserted a name into her amulet, the clerk was used either having to fill out a form or finding a short resume if the candidate was a noble. In Lith's case, so much information popped out of her screen that she thought he had a rap sheet as long as her arm.
She was about to call security when she noticed they were actually meritorious deeds.
"Son, are you sure you want to join?" She stood up giving him the salute.
"Why do you ask?" Lith lifted an eyebrow in confusion.
"Only spoiled rich kids enlist in spring. Your timing is terrible, not to mention that with your build there is no chance in the netherworld other cadets will see you as anything but a noble."
"I'm fully prepared for that. I'm not enlisting to make friends, but thanks for your concern anyway. Much appreciated." Lith returned the salute and offered her his hand, which she promptly shook.
"No, thank you. You are one of us that made it. A commoner that graduated from one of the six academies and even received his last name from the Royals. You are a beacon of hope for my children."
Xonta, that was the clerk's name, filled out Lith's form while giving him the same advice Orion did and warning him about all the dangers he was likely to face.
Lith nodded from time to time, giving her the empty dimensional amulet that he had prepared when asked.
"From now on, you're only allowed to introduce yourself as Lith, cadet 1416. The use of any kind of magic outside of chore magic is forbidden except for protecting your life or that of others. I also need your communication amulet."
"Why?" Lith asked while doing as instructed.
"Contacting anyone outside training is forbidden for the next six months, but we are not monsters. This way if something bad happens, we can relay the information to you."
Lith was unpleasantly surprised the army was able to operate someone else's amulet without their permission.
'Note to self, Forgemaster another amulet with safeguards.' He thought.
'Done. Do you want sugar or milk with your coffee, mister CEO?' Solus giggled after performing her best secretary impression.
Xonta led Lith to a changing room before giving him his uniform and boots. It consisted of a deep green shirt and pants. They were made of a thin but robust fabric Lith had never seen before.
The service number was embroidered over his heart and was the only thing bearing an enchantment. As soon as he finished wearing them, a soldier accompanied him to a Warp Gate.
"The destination is random." He explained. "It will lead you to one of the farthest available boot camps from here. Don't wander around and wait for someone to pick you up."
Lith stepped through the portal, finding himself in a place where the climate was much colder than Derios's. A cold wind blew over his face carrying the smells typical of winter. Spring had yet to reach that region. Luckily, the uniform turned out to be pretty warm.
'Either that or my tolerance to cold has further improved.' During the last two years, Lith had used Accumulation almost non stop. His mana core was now bright cyan, it was only a matter of time before it was refined to blue.
After each breakthrough, his body had become stronger, to the point that most of the things that would threaten a normal man's life were merely a bother to him. Normal weapons couldn't cut his skin, just like normal fire and cold left him unfazed.
The camp was the size of a small city and was filled with barracks, depots, and outside training facilities. The spot Lith appeared was close to a stone building, but no one came to him.
Lith stood there for more than half an hour, using Accumulation to kill time.
Two men with uniforms similar to Lith's but heavier and with the rank of corporal came out of the building. They were both in their mid twenties and looked at him with a mix of surprise and worry.
"Good gods, this one is huge!" The corporals were above average height, making them 15 centimeters (6") shorter than Lith.
"Kid, why didn't you come inside? The standard uniform is too light for Grimatros's climate. Aren't you freezing out here?"
Lith gave them the salute before answering.
"I'm as green as a grassland. They told me to wait and so I did. The cold doesn't bother me, sir."
The man on the left laughed at his words, while the one on the right facepalmed himself.
"Just because you joined the army doesn't mean you must relinquish common sense. You could have at least knocked and asked for directions. Despite what you might have heard, playing pranks on the cadets it's not part of our job."
They led Lith inside and gave him a change of clothes before accompanying him to the cadets' quarters. Along the road, Lith noticed that the housings were split into two. A block for the male soldiers and another for the female.
The house assigned to him was quite spacious, but consisted of a single room. Aside from beds and lockers, it was empty.
"This is where you'll live for the next six months unless you find someone willing to house you." One of the corporals explained.
"Pick an empty bed and a locker as your own. You can imprint them like this." He moved his hand over the service number, releasing a bit of mana. It generated a small golden cloud that followed the corporal's hand.
"You have to imprint every tool and personal item you'll receive. It will be your responsibility to take good care of them. Someone will be here shortly to give you and the other new recruits a tour of the camp and explain the basic rules.
"I suggest that you use this time to get acquainted with the rest of the cadets."
They pointed at a small group of youths. They were all about Lith's age, but shorter and lighter. They looked at him emitting grunting noises and whispering mean words.
'Seems Xonta was right. They really believe I'm a noble.' Lith smiled in amusement.
"Look what the spring fairy brought in, a goddamn noble." Said a cadet of average height with a mean voice. He walked towards Lith like he owned the place. The others were about to follow suit, but something blocked them.
Lith had learned to control his killing intent, which was paralyzing everyone but the leader of the pack.
"Listen well, sh*thead I'm Liwell…" The words died in his mouth when Lith lifted him up by his throat with one hand, bringing his face close to his own.
"Thanks, Liwell. When were you born? It's the only other thing I need to know for your gravestone."
Chapter 348 Overwhelming Part 1
Liwell turned pale and not just because Lith's words didn't sound like a joke. His lungs were burning, yearning for air, yet Lith's grip didn't let him take a single breath. He was enjoying the sight of his opponent turning red first and cyanotic later.
'No arrays nor recording devices, right Solus?' Lith asked, just to be safe.
'None. After all, there are only six great academies and countless boot camps. If they had the resources to allocate a power core in each one of them, the Griffon Kingdom would have long conquered Mogar.
'I don't think that committing murder on your first day is a good idea, though.'
Lith snarled, abruptly releasing Liwell and making him fall butt first onto the ground.
"Since we are going to live together under the same roof for the next six months, this time I'll let you go with a warning." Lith said while Liwell coughed and wheezed, gasping for air.
"I don't know who you are or why you hate nobles. Honestly, I don't care. I'm not a noble either, but the next time you or one of your friends mess with me again, I'll make sure it will also be the last."
Lith knew it was likely that no matter what he said things would get ugly. Yet Solus was right, he couldn't kill them all and hope to get away with it. The silver lining was that there was almost nothing a normal human could do to him whereas he had countless ways to make their lives a living hell.
Lith ignored their hateful gazes and chose a corner bed for himself. The imprinting process was simple. Once his mana activated the spell contained in the service number stitched on his chest, a small golden cloud followed his hand.
Lith's service number was now engraved on the bed frame and stitched to the blankets. He had no reason to pick a locker, since they were all empty.
"What the heck is going on here?" Asked a rough voice that made everyone turn around from Lith to the door. Standing there was a tough looking 1.75 (5'9") tall man in his mid thirties. Unlike the cadets, his uniform was light blue with Staff Sergeant stripes on his sleeves.
As soon as he entered the house, the Sergeant took off his wide-brimmed hat while looking around to assess the situation. There was one cadet sitting on the floor with a terrified expression on his face. Another one was walking around like he owned the place, while all the others were huddled up in a corner, like lambs facing a pack of wolves.
"Cadet Liwell, get your a*s up and pray the gods I like your explanation." The Sergeant had his name and service number embroidered on a pocket right above his chest. His name was Tepper.
"That guy's insane!" He replied pointing at Lith. "He attacked me for no reason and almost chocked me to death. Everyone here witnessed it."
Both Lith and Tepper didn't miss Liwell's voice getting higher, or him avoiding to make eye contact. Not to mention that his story sounded fake like a three dollar bill.
'If the big guy attacked him, why is Liwell without a scratch?' Tepper was unaware Lith had healed his opponent to not leave bruises.
'At the same time, I doubt someone could be so stupid to attack a monster like that alone.'
"Is it true, cadet… Lith?" While the Sergeant looked at Lith's service number and someone learned his name, Lith noticed a couple of interesting things. First, Tepper's perfectly shaven face revealed a few small scars.
They were too small for being the result of an injury but too big for being caused by a Healer's incompetence.
'That's intentional. He kept them as a memento. Either this guy's sentimental or batsh*t crazy.' Lith thought.
The second thing was his second question contained a subtle strain of killing intent. Mana and aggression had been mixed to his voice, making the victim feel pressured. It was something he had only seen Jirni doing.
"Sort of." Lith shrugged before telling him most of the truth. That level of killing intent was useless against him. In his version of the story, he belittled the amount of strength employed and made Liwell appear as the sole culprit.
"Let me get this straight. Liwell threatened you, you roughened him up, and the others just stood there and did nothing?" The Sergeant questioned the other cadets, who unlike Lith folded like a cheap shirt as soon as the killing intent hit them.
"The bad news is that you are all in trouble." Tepper said. "For assaulting a comrade and lying to a commanding officer, Liwell is trash. Resorting to violence when a glare would suffice, speaks volumes about Lith. You guys back there are the worst, though.
"You didn't stop Liwell despite knowing that what he was doing was wrong. You didn't help him when he was in trouble and ratted him out without a second of hesitation. The army isn't only about giving and receiving orders.
It's mostly about loyalty, camaraderie, and mutual responsibility. With friends like you, one doesn't need enemies. The good news is that since you are all guilty, I'll punish no one. I'll just tag you as one of the worst units I have ever trained. Follow me."
Tepper led them to the next block and picked up three female cadets, making the group a ten people unit. He then gave the unit a tour of the camp before taking them to the barber. The man gave the girls a buzz cut with air magic, while, after a hand sign from the Sergeant, he shaved the others bald.
'I guess he's punishing your misbehavior.' Solus said. 'Why you didn't make up a story or something?'
'It would have been useless. They could have backed up each other, painting me into a corner. By healing Liwell's neck before letting him go I've turned him into a liar.
'By not mentioning the others' role in the attack, it appears I'm protecting them as a good little soldier would do.' Lith inwardly grinned.
'When they told the truth and exposed my lie, it made them appear as ungrateful cowards. Perfect damage control.'
Tepper then explained to them how to address a superior officer, what would be their routine for the following six months, and that fraternizing with members of the same unit was forbidden.
Lith and the others inwardly sighed at those words. One of the girls was really cute, even with the buzz cut.
"Dating members of other units is allowed." The Sergeant said with a grin.
"I swear to the gods that if any of you manages to get a single date despite your training, your duties, and the curfew, I'll eat my hat."
During the following days, Lith's unit underwent a series of exercises to measure their physical abilities and separate the wheat from the chaff. The final result was that the whole unit came to hate Lith's guts.
He held himself back just enough to appear human and completed all of them with ease.
Chapter 349 Overwhelming Part 2
While the others cleared an obstacle course's time after several attempts, he only needed one.
If running around the camp with a full backpack left them exhausted and drenched in sweat, Lith came out as fresh as a daisy. The group had no meaning to him, he knew that after six months they would be split according to their results.
They had to wake up before sunrise every day, with only half an hour to clean the barracks, prepare the uniforms for the day, and personal hygiene. Lith used chore magic to perform his share in less than five minutes, leaving him plenty of time for a hot shower and a good shave without cutting himself multiple times.
Time was a luxury, yet he could afford it.
Before breakfast, they performed individual physical training led by the Sergeant, but no matter what exercise he chose, Lith would breeze through it like a walk in the park.
The most relaxing moment of the day was the two hours of lessons that followed breakfast. During that time, they would be taught about the drills they would perform in the following days, military strategy, or about the army's values, traditions, and ethics.
After that, the real nightmare began.
"Who here has hand to hand combat experience?" Tepper asked.
Lith raised his hand in response, like usual. His achievements left the Sergeant as amazed as annoyed.
'How the heck does someone so young have already so much experience? Did I waste my life or what?' Was one of his most recurring thoughts.
"No matter if you are tall or short, male or female. Combat techniques are devised to allow the weak the beat the strong, to overcome the difference in weight, height, or both. A skilled soldier can easily take down any untrained man." Tepper explained.
"What if the opponent has our same level of skill?" Asked Miden, the shortest girl in the unit.
"Then either you beat them with tactics and fighting spirit, or you pray the gods to strike them down with a lightning bolt." No one liked that answer. Lith was one of the three who raised their hand, meaning he would probably go undefeated again.
The exercise was a simple knife disarming technique that the Sergeant demonstrated using Liwell as a sparring partner. The attacker would attempt to stab while the defender had to dodge or block the knife-holding hand before grabbing the wrist and twist it together with the arm into a submission hold.
In the first part of the training, everyone was required to win or lose according to their role in the scenario. It served the purpose to get acquainted with the technique and its footwork.
In the second part, the attacker was allowed to resist and try to counter. That was when Lith shined the most. He wouldn't use speed or strength to win, but pure technique.
As the attacker, the slightest mistake in controlling his arm would result in an elbow strike to the face, while focusing too much on his arm gave him the opportunity to use his legs to trip the opponent.
"Don't forget to move your legs, you idiots! The moment you stop moving you are nothing but punching bags!"
As the defender, Lith used the smallest movements possible to disarm the opponent and get ahold of the knife.
The next part of the training was about marksmanship and learning how to use magic wands as long ranged weapons.
"Sir, why do we use wands instead of arrows or other kinds of projectiles?" Vipli was a skilled hunter. He was eager to show his talent, but he never used a wand before.
"Projectiles have been decommissioned ever since Forgemastering was born." Sergeant Tepper was tempted to ask if someone knew why, but even he was sick of seeing Lith's hand.
"Even the most common enchanted armor is equipped with a gravity sheath that reacts to fast incoming objects reducing their weight to the point of making them harmless as peas. Once, long range weapons were devised to shoot high speed projectiles, like this one."
Tepper took out what looked like a revolver from his dimensional amulet. He emptied the barrel against one of the training dummies wearing an old set of armor, producing a loud series of bangs. Most of the bullets hit the target, but without leaving a scratch.
"As you can see, this piece of junk is loud and clumsy. You need to train your aim and take into account a lot of factors. As the accuracy of the weapon itself, the distance from the target, the wind, the friction caused by the air and so much more."
"Magic is energy and it's unaffected by such things and even the gravity sheath is powerless against it. Only a physical barrier can block magic projectiles. Hence why you are equipped with earth magic wands.
They can provide you instant protection from all threats, not to mention that earth magic barriers are the only ones that can stop every other element."
'So many words just to say that force equals mass times acceleration. Enchanted armors reduce the already small mass of bullets, bringing it almost to zero. At that point the speed becomes irrelevant. Anything times zero becomes zero too.' Lith inwardly sighed.
'I dreamed for so long to make me a gun as a secret weapon, but after getting my uniform, I discovered the existence of the gravity sheath. It's amazing how Forgemastering and Alchemy allow imbuing rare things like fusion and gravity magic into the most common objects.'
"I will teach you which wand is best to use according to the circumstances. As a rule of thumb, fire magic is better suited for open spaces and enemies grouped together. Lightning is particularly effective against heavy infantry, since it bypasses the metal's protection."
Contrary to Tepper's expectations, Lith wasn't an expert with wands. His first attempts were almost as clumsy as everybody else's. His experience with magic, however, was top notch so it only took him a few tries before securing himself the best score.
At the end of the first four weeks, each member of the unit received their report cards. Some, like Vipli, achieved a lot of As and Bs boosting his confidence and earning him the respect of the unit.
Others, like Miden, received too many Cs to let them dream of becoming members of an elite squad. Last, but not least, Lith had no idea what his own report card meant.
"I'm sorry, sir. I think there has been a mistake with my grades." He asked handing the piece of paper to his commanding officer.
"It seems normal to me." The Sergeant replied.
"I'm sorry again, sir. I've attended another school in the past, but I never scored an M as a grade. What does it stand for?"
"Monster."
Chapter 350 Abyss Part 1
That day the mess hall was still open during the one free hour the cadets had between the end of their daily duty and the lights out. It was an opportunity for them to fraternize and get some extra food while celebrating the first evaluation.
While the rest of the unit was waiting in line to get their snack, Lith was alone in the barracks, grumbling like usual.
'I really can't stand this place. The academy is a wet dream compared to the army. I get scolded every day, no matter how well I perform. The mess hall is so small that every unit is forced to eat in a rush or others will not get their turn before resuming their duty.
'I don't give a damn about the Sergeant insulting all of us for no reason, but what really drives me insane is when they make us stand at attention until someone moves so they get to punish us. Everything is designed to be a frigging torture!' He thought.
'I think it's on purpose, to train the cadets both physically and mentally. You said it yourself: it's only under critical circumstances that people reveal their true selves and revaluate themselves.' Solus tried to cheer him up with some of his favorite food.
After checking with mana sense no one was in the proximity, she took out a steaming steak from her pocket dimension. Lith was so used to fast eating that he finished half of it without even feeling its taste before slowing down.
'What about the Ms in my report card? Even grades sound like an insult here.'
'Maybe they didn't expect someone to break past the S rank.' Solus sighed. Usually, she liked to rebuke at Lith's complaints, but this time she had a hard time not joining him. The army was putting even her patience to test.
'More importantly, why didn't you join your comrades? The Sergeant always speaks about camaraderie. If you keep being a loner, it may affect your evaluation.'
'And waste my only free hour of the day together with people that can't stand me and vice versa? For what? To get some insipid food I'd have to swallow like an ostrich?'
Lith didn't have time to waste, not even for nagging. He cleaned his boots and squared his uniforms for the following day before being finally able to rest. Even if he didn't sweat as much as his comrades, he was forced to change uniform after every meal.
He was also forced to use his free time to keep them clean and ready for use. It didn't take him much since magic could take care of most of his daily chores in a matter of minutes.
It was all the little things that piled up together, grinding his nerves one day at the time. Lith had underestimated the army and its regulations. In the past years, he had got too used to being admired, respected, and most importantly, left alone when he wanted.
The total lack of privacy made him want to kill someone on a daily basis. While the physical exercises were far too easy for him, the mental strain was enormous.
***
"Gods know if I'd love to kick his a*s back to the dragon who birthed him." Sergeant Tepper shivered despite the officers' mess hall being warm and cozy.
"Are you speaking about the Monster?" The other Sergeants didn't share his pessimism. Lith was a mystery to everyone, but a really promising one.
"I can take cocky recruits. Heck, I eat spoiled rich kids for breakfast. What really creeps me out is that he not only seems to already know everything, but also how he stares at you when you scold or question him about his duties.
"No matter how much mana or aggression I use, he doesn't flinch. He just stands there, with those cold, lifeless eyes. I swear that once I had the impression he was about to rip my head off and shove it up my a*s." Tepper had it right.
Lith took the army's though love as a personal affront. He wasn't cut out to be a soldier. Loyalty, discipline, and obedience were mere words to him.
"Why don't you fail him, then? Rule number one, always follow your gut." As seasoned veterans, they wouldn't underestimate a fellow officer's evaluation. Giving training to sociopaths was like handing matches and oil to a pyromaniac.
"I can't." He sighed. "He never falls for any provocation and his performance is outstanding. His psychic evaluation is a bit lacking but well within parameters."
***
Lith's unit hated his guts, but most of all, they were scared of him. His barracks mates had learned the hard way that catching him unprepared was impossible. Lith slept only once a week thanks to Invigoration and even when he did, Solus stood guard.
The one time they attempted to pull a practical joke on him, he emitted killing intent non stop for three consecutive nights, making it impossible for them to rest. One of them even collapsed due to exhaustion and had to be hospitalized.
The worst part was they still had no idea who he actually was. Lith's mastery of chore magic was that typical of a magician, yet he fought like the heir of a military family and performed his daily chores with more skill than most commoners.
***
"Good morning, maggots. I hope you rested well because today you'll start learning about swordsmanship. Wands are not suited for close combat and knives are either the last resort or something to perform a sneak attack.
"Pick from the rack a weapon you want to learn how to use." Sergeant Tepper was charming as usual.
After the cadets made their choice, Tepper continued his explanation.
"The difference between an amateur and an idiot lies in their mushy brain. Only an idiot would pick a weapon too big or too heavy to use. This isn't a damn bard tale!" He yelled at those who chose their weapon based on how cool it looked.
"Bigger doesn't mean better, just like using two swords isn't necessarily better than using one! Cadet Lith, how did you choose your weapon?"
"I simply looked for a single handed weapon light enough for me to use it without effort." Lith was holding a rapier.
"You see that? That's the difference between an idiot and a damn amateur. At least the amateur has a brain!" The Sergeant ripped the improper weapons off the cadets' hands and replaced them with rapiers and estocs.
"Now, the difference between an amateur and a good swordsman lies in the wrist. Whereas an amateur will limit themselves to stabs and slashes, making their attacks predictable, a good swordsman is capable of executing multiple strikes from the same starting position."
Tepper crossed his sword with Lith and while keeping his arm still the sword struck at Lith's head, right shoulder, and leg in quick succession. Lith's rapier followed suit, timely blocking each strike while keeping his blade against the point of the Sergeant's to multiply the block's effectiveness.
Each parry would have been enough to disarm a less skilled opponent.
"Let me guess. Your father taught you." Tepper said with a snarl. He had hoped the humble the Monster for once.
"No, my girlfriend did." Lith replied, keeping his eyes on the Sergeant's shoulder rather than the blade. Phloria had kicked his a*s until the basics had become second nature to Lith.
Chapter 351 Abyss Part 2
"Last, but not least, the difference between a good and an expert swordsman lies in the footwork!" Tepper ignored Lith's words and performed a feint to the face before side stepping to stab at his exposed shoulder.
Unfortunately for the Sergeant, footwork was something Lith had learned back on Earth and it was the first thing he had practiced as soon as his body allowed him to. Tepper's blade hit only air.
Lith had sidestepped too and his blade was barely an inch away from the opponent's leg.
The Sergeant inwardly cursed at himself for performing such an ample movement to impress the unit. Lith and Tepper were too close. At such distance, even a small opening was the difference between victory and defeat.
"In the next five months you'll either become good swordsmen or you'll start searching for a new job." Tepper's voice was perfectly relaxed, not revealing the surprise nor the anger he was feeling.
"As for you, maggot, get down and give me forty!"
***
During the following months, the training involved getting accustomed to use several magical tools and to use chore magic for tactical purposes.
Lith already knew most of the tools thanks to his Forgemastering lessons or Solus's Alchemy. They were the magical equivalent of sniper rifles, grenades of all kinds, and climbing suits.
There were no such things as boots of flight or levitation. Long lasting spells required to be controlled by their caster's will, but magical items had no will of their own, they could only turn on and off the spells they were imbued with.
Much to Lith's comrades' dismay, chore magic became more and more relevant over time. Earth magic was crucial to cross quagmires or walk through muddy fields without leaving traces.
Water magic allowed to more easily wade rivers, or in Lith's case to walk on water, and could be used as an invisible umbrella offering protection against rain, snow, or hail.
Soon Lith's skills in both hand to hand combat and swordsmanship were outmatched by his instructors'. He wasn't surprised nor disappointed by finding himself lacking. He had joined the army to learn how to fight and it was finally starting to teach him something.
The worst part for him was the team exercises. They were meant to build trust and teamwork between the members of the same unit, but they only resulted in Lith drifting more and more apart from the others.
He didn't trust them and they didn't trust him. Lith was like the moon to them, cold and distant. Something they could look at but never reach. He had no weakness the unit could help him overcome.
When units competed against each other and he received the role of scout, Lith would single handedly wipe out the enemy team. If he was assigned the role of rearguard, instead, even if the unit made grave mistakes, he would be the sole survivor.
The drill Sergeants soon considered him a scourge rather than a monster. He was the living proof that everything they taught to the other cadets was a lie. Teamwork, trust, and hard work were useless against an overwhelmingly strong opponent.
Life Vision allowed him to spot his opponents, no matter how good they were at hiding. Magic wands and chore magic were more than enough to snipe enemies from a distance before they even understood what was happening to them.
"He has no care for the unit nor for the lives of his teammates." Sergeant Tepper explained to Berion, the boot camp Commander.
"I think he is a liability. A dangerous individual that has nothing to offer to the Kingdom. I swear it on my stripes, sir. To watch into his eyes is like staring into the abyss. There's nothing inside. My opinion is that Lith 1416 should be deemed unfit for service."
Berion sighed. He liked people like Tepper. Honest, hard working men that put their Country above everything else. Yet they failed to see the bigger picture.
"Does he get the job done?" Unlike the Sergeant, the Commander had access to Lith's personal file. He liked it. A lot.
"Sir, it's not a matter of success or failure…"
"Really?" Berion cut him short. He pinched his nose, trying to stop the migraine he experienced every time someone spouted bullsh*t too big for him to bear with a smile on his face.
"So, if tomorrow the Royals are in danger, it's not a matter or success or failure? If we find Balkor's hideout it's not a matter of success or failure? Are you insane, Sergeant? I asked you a question, does he get the job done or not?"
The Commander didn't stand up dramatically, he didn't even raise his voice. He simply stared at Tepper like at a dumb kid after one question too many.
"Yes, he does." The Sergeant replied swallowing his pride.
"Then this conversation is over. As long as he doesn't show violent tendencies or a defiant attitude toward the Kingdom, I don't see any reason to dismiss him. I'm eager to see how he performs during the field test."
***
Leegaain, the father of all Dragons and Guardian of the Gorgon Empire's area, had his fair share of troubles too. Ever since they had found and destroyed the Master's lab located under the Blood Desert, the three great Countries had been spared from the Abomination threat.
Leegaain had never underestimated the Master, not even during that four years long absence.
'We have no way to know if they were licking their wounds or simply had moved from one place to another. The only thing I can do is to keep my eyes open and prepare for the worst.' Leegaain thought.
'Thanks to my help, Tyris is almost done rebuilding the two missing power cores. Once they are completed, the Griffon Kingdom will be once again properly protected and she will fulfill her end of the bargain. With her assistance, my research could bear countless fruits.
'As for Salaark, I was skeptical of her decision at first, but I must admit that keeping Balkor alive was the right thing to do. His expertise in handling Abominations makes him a perfect assistant in my work.
'Now my only question is: why has the Master returned right now? It's because they have finally completed a new lab or because they fear us no longer? Only time will tell.'
"I never expected you to be so devious." Milea, the Magic Empress of the Gorgon Empire and Leegaain's only disciple was overjoyed.
"You didn't bring me to the White Griffon to show me the slave items, not the Abomination hybrid. You wanted me to see an academy through your eyes!"
"One thing does not exclude the other, kid." Leegaain grinned.
"Those who don't learn from past mistakes are doomed to repeat them. I brought you there for several reasons, but you are right. The academy was the most important of them. Now you know how the Kingdom achieved such long lasting peace."
"How long will it take to complete our first academy?" Ever since that day, Milea had used even her personal funds to start the research project. She couldn't believe that she just like all her predecessors had been so blind to never notice the difference between a school of magic and an academy.
Chapter 352 Extinction Part 1
Until Nalear's attack, Milea had always thought that the six big academies were just ostentatious schools of magic. The Gorgon Empire's schools produced the same amount of research, if not more, and they were also protected by several arrays.
Sure, they couldn't host so many students at once, nor they could grant its staff rings or Ballots like the academies, but Milea had never found them reason enough to investigate them further.
At least until she had seen with her own eyes the true meaning behind a power core.
"Without someone who knows what they are doing? A century. Maybe two, if you are unlucky." Leegaain replied.
"That long?" Milea fell on her throne with a thud. That wasn't the answer she was hoping for.
"It's not like you are building a simple castle. You must first find a spell capable of imbuing every single stone, one at the time. Then all of them must be compatible with the power core and work in synergy.
"What did you expect? You guys don't even know how to build a power core!" The Guardian scoffed at her impatience.
"You should be happy that thanks to your longevity you'll be able to see it completed, even if it takes three centuries. Your grandkids will surely be grateful for all your hard work."
"Can't you help us? Even a little bit?" Milea scratched one of the scales on Leegaain's humongous neck, causing his tail to waggle uncontrollably.
"First, I'm not a dog." He replied even though his body begged to differ. "Second, no. I care about you, not your people. They can all die for what I care about. Also, this project will help you to find talented people or at least trustworthy ones.
In the long run, you'll be able to discern those who truly understand the relevance of long term planning and those who are only sucking up to…"
Leegaain was interrupted by his own communication amulet buzzing into his consciousness.
"It can't be another summon from the Council. Two calls in four years would be an all time record. Nor can be Salaark or Tyris. They are close enough to establish a mind link whenever they... What the heck?"
Milea knew about the Council as well as about the odd relationship the Guardians of the Garlen continent shared. She often wondered if they had an offspring together and if yes, what they would look like.
"What's the matter, Leegaain?"
"Fenagar is calling me. It never happened before, we hate each other guts." Seeing Milea's confused expression, he calmly explained to her their shared past while ignoring the ringing amulet.
"He is one of the Guardians of the Jiera continent. His area of influence is right in from of mine. Only one ocean separates us." He snarled.
"Only one ocean?" Milea chuckled.
"He is still too close for comfort. I don't know if it's because he started as a lizard too, or because his base elements are polar opposite to mine, water and earth. Bottom line, he is a Leviathan, a wingless ocean dragon, and we'd rather fight to the death than be together in the same room for more than one minute."
Leegaain finally tapped the white mana crystal on the amulet, letting a real life hologram of Fenagar's head appear in the throne room. The resemblance between the two dragons made Milea yelp in surprise.
The only differences she was able to notice were that while Leegaain's scales were pitch black and his eyes yellow, Fenagar's were respectively pristine white and blue. He even had horns on his head which resembled a crown, just like Leegaain.
But Fenagar's had a different shape and size, with two massive curved horns coming out from his temples, giving the Leviathan a demonic looking. Unlike the Dragon, whose gaze was always calm if not loving to her, the Fenagar's eyes were filled with fury and malice.
Even if it was just a hologram, Milea could almost feel the salty breeze of the ocean blowing on her face, right before the incoming tide swallowed her.
"What do you want, Fenagar?" Leegaain's voice snapped her out of her reverie.
"I hoped for this day to never come, Leegaain." The Leviathan hissed, keeping his eyes on his opponent.
"Have you been attacked by Abominations too?"
"I wish." Fenagar sighed. "I have bad news and worse news. The bad news is that the human race on the Jiera continent is almost extinct."
"What?" Milea and Leegaain shouted as one.
"Don't worry. It didn't happen because of Abominations, Fallen races, or Evolved Monsters. Humans did it to themselves. One of the most powerful Countries of Jiera, the Torin Kingdom, developed a biological weapon. A plague, to be precise.
"Their plan was to unleash it on their enemies and kill whoever didn't submit to their rule. The idea was good, but the execution poor. Once the other countries realized what was happening, they used their dead to poison the enemy's wells and lands.
"The plague spread through the Torin Kingdom as well while it was surrounded from every side until it was too late. The infection was faster than the Healers could cure it or flames destroy it.
"You can imagine the rest. Now only talented Healers, Awakened ones, and their families remain."
"And you stood there and did nothing?" Milea asked.
"What was I supposed to do, child? Take over the kingdom? Kill everyone who knew about the plague?" Fenagar chuckled.
"I serve Mogar. I serve only the balance. I don't care about who lives or not. Even if I intervened, they would have called me a tyrant and started over once I left. You can't stop an idea with violence, only try to prove it wrong and that's what I did together with the other Guardians.
"We warned them, but they didn't listen. We even caused a small outbreak before they implemented their plan, hoping they would realize the immense risks it carried. They buried their dead and moved on as nothing had happened. For the greater good, they said."
"You have yet to answer me." Leegaain snorted. He didn't care for the Gorgon Empire, let alone for the people of another continent.
"Your pet interrupted me!" Fenagar roared in outrage. "I was just politely answering. I called to inform you that the royal family of the Torin Kingdom is currently sailing towards your turf. Together with their magicians, a small army, and the plague to which they are all immunized."
"Why the heck did you let them go?" Milea's eyes brimmed with rage and mana at the thought of the danger her people were about to face.
"I like your sass, little human pet." Fenagar chuckled. "I did it for your master. He is a collector of endangered species and forgotten knowledge. I thought no one better than him could decide if there's something worth salvaging."
"First, Milea is not my pet. She is my apprentice." Leegaain voice was calm as Milea was enraged.
"Then excuse my rude words, Milea. I'll remember your name." Fenagar apologetically tilted his head, shocking Milea. She had never heard a Guardian apologize before.
"Second, thanks for the information. I know you didn't have to inform me. How many are they? Where I can find them?"
Chapter 353 Extinction Part 2
"Around two hundred ships. They are crossing our borders right now, near Dead Island. You can't miss them." Fenagar's image disappeared, leaving the two alone again.
"What are we waiting for? Let's go!" Milea kicked one of Leegaain's scales, prompting him to get up.
"What are you planning to do?"
"Kill them all, what else? If they get close enough to our coasts, they could Warp Steps into the Gorgon Empire. I can't allow the maniacs who created such a plague into my lands.
"Not knowing they are insane enough to carry it with them instead of destroying it. I'd say their intent is clear. They don't seek asylum, they want new lands to start over. Well, not on my watch."
Milea dispatched several instructions, setting her fleet to sail with the order of sinking every ship coming from the Jiera continent, no matter the cost.
"What about the plague?" Leegaain asked.
"I had enough with the one from the Griffon Kingdom. It has to be destroyed. I'm not going to spare anyone willing to spread such madness."
"Then you'll have my help."
Less than an hour later, the Torin Kingdom was extinct for good.
***
Lith's boot camp.
After countless hours of training and combat simulations against other units, it was time for the recruits to perform their first field test. Sergeant Tepper appeared confident and relaxed as usual, but him not insulting them even once spoke volumes about how serious the situation was.
"Even though you are cadets, you are still part of the army. Our Griffon Kingdom has been blessed by centuries of peace, so aside from the troops stationed at the borders, the army's main job is to guarantee the safety of our citizens.
"Sometimes a local Lord can need our help against rioting citizens or get rid of organized crime. More frequently, we are called to exterminate monsters. They are usually stronger than humans, spawn fast, and destroy everything on their path.
"Every time a mercenary group is called to clean our mess is a dishonor for the Crown and the army alike. The reason why the mercenary guild exists is that we can't be everywhere at a moment's notice.
"We do not have enough soldiers to cover the whole Kingdom. Too many people prefer to make a quick buck at the expense of the weak rather than dedicate their lives to the service of others. If you are one of those people, the army is the wrong place to be." Tepper looked straight at Lith, who remained unfazed as usual.
"When we are called for help, we must be fast, ruthless, efficient. Monsters are able to proliferate only in the absence of magical beasts. That's why killing one without reason is a crime.
"Magical beasts are smart creatures, able to comprehend and speak the human language, so if you meet on,e ask for its assistance rather than attack it. Monsters rarely act alone, that's why we operate in units.
"Monsters are efficient, learn from their mistakes, and their system is merit-based. You'll never met a lazy a*s spoiled monster because they die first. To beat them, we need to be better than them.
"We may be weaker, but our training and equipment give us an edge they'll never have. Most monsters are unable to use magic and even the few that do are usually limited to spells from tier one to three.
"That's not reason enough to underestimate them. Monsters reach adulthood in a matter of weeks, while it took you sixteen years to become cadets. Today we'll discover if you have what it takes to become an active soldier, a paper pusher, or if you'll be sent back home with a gift wrap."
Tepper gave each one of them an enchanted uniform together with a dimensional ring, several kinds of magic wands and potions. After they changed and stored everything into their rings, the briefing continued.
"Today you have to face the most human like among the monsters. We are about to attack a recently established tribe of orcs."
While some of his comrades gasped in surprise, Lith accessed Soluspedia. According to lore, orcs were a corrupted race that descended from elves, but since no one had ever met an elf, Lith skipped the lore and went straight to the important part.
Orcs were humanoid creatures, with an average height of 1.8 meters (5'11"). They were gifted from birth with a physique that dangerously reminded Lith of his own after experiencing several breakthroughs.
They were stronger, faster, and sturdier than humans. Their skin was naturally resistant to most elements and they would hardly get sick. Rarely an orc would display a talent for magic, but when it happened, the creature would display incredible abilities.
'Great!' Lith thought. 'So far this is the most dangerous race of monsters I have ever met. Based on what's written in the bestiary, they seem naturally close to Awakened ones. I'd better keep my head empty and my eyes open against them.'
Unlike humans, they were all bald, even the females. Their skin was brown as tree bark and almost as hard. Orcs also had enhanced senses that made it difficult taking them by surprise and were able to display short bursts of explosive strength or speed.
"Before explaining to you the nature of our opponents, I need to ask you a few questions. Be honest because your survival depends on it. How many of you have fought for their lives in the past?" Four out of ten hands were raised.
"How many of you have already met a monster?" Only one hand remained.
"How many of you have ever killed something that wasn't game?" Same as before.
"Really? What exactly?" Lith's hand once again frustrated Tepper's speech.
Everything the Sergeant did, from the insults to the groundless punishments was to give them a common enemy. Someone to hate, to make them all feel equal during their hardships and form bonds of camaraderie that would help them survive actual combat.
By knowing each other they were supposed to be able to always have each other's back, increasing their odds of survival. Even that series of questions were meant to make them realize how little they knew about the world around them.
That was the point of the whole field test against humanoid monsters. They needed to feel the fear and learn how to conquer it. To realize if they were capable of taking a life. It was a critical moment in a cadet's training.
Yet Lith's flexing made it look like a joke.
"Magical beasts, humans, goblins, ogres, Abominations, Evolved Monsters, and undead." He replied.
"What?" The unit and the Sergeant said in unison.
"My body count is 137 if anyone's interested." Lith said with a shrug.
Mentioning Evolved Monsters was a tell big enough to allow Tepper to solve the riddle that had pestered him in the last months. A few years ago, there had been a rumor going around of a student of the White Griffon slaying a wyvern with a powerful sword.
That very same student had even received a family name from the King himself, who had let known far and wide about how he hoped the student would have a brilliant future in the army.
'Thank the gods I spoke with Commander Berion before flunking him.' Sergeant Tepper was inwardly panicking.
'Otherwise, it would have cost me my career, if not my life!'
Chapter 354 Conundrum Part 1
Sergeant Tepper hid his surprise behind his usual strict expression while the rest of the unit sneered at Lith's words. They were all of commoner origin and with no access to information regarding what happened in the rest of the Kingdom.
They had never heard about Balkor or about Nalear's assault on the White Griffon, hence they took Lith's claim as an attempt to impress their commanding officer.
"You and what army?" Vipli's snarky remark made the whole unit laugh.
Tepper inwardly sighed at their ignorance, but at the same time found no reason to correct them. Lith didn't seem to mind their mistrust, while the atmosphere had become more relaxed.
'Their mutual spite has only one downside: until they find a common ground, I have to think as I'm commanding two different units at once. Lith can't coordinate with the rest of the cadets because he is the one they hate. The common enemy that binds them together.' Tepper thought.
"One last question. Who among you thinks to be able to lead the unit?" For once, Lith's hand remained down. Only Vipli and Nhilo raised their arms.
"Very good. Nhilo, you'll be my second in command. You are promoted to the rank of Corporal until the end of the mission." Vipli was disappointed whereas Nhilo was brimming with joy, but neither of them let it show on their faces.
They simply replied with a: "Sir, yes sir!"
"Why do you think I chose you, cadet Nhilo?" Tepper asked.
"Because Vipli is our second best scout. His skill set is more suited for the frontlines while I have no particular strong suit aside from my tactical knowledge." Tepper nodded at her reply.
'Good girl. Smart enough to recognize her limits as well as those of her comrades. She didn't even attempt to berate Lith, acknowledging him as the best scout instead.' He thought.
The Sergeant then assigned to each member of the unit their role. To no one's surprise, Lith received once again the role of the rear guard. Aside from Nhilo, everyone else sniggered.
They thought he was being punished for his lie since the rear guard was considered the most boring and useless job.
"There's nothing to laugh about!" She scolded them. "The rear guard is one of the most vital roles. His duty is to cover our backs and make sure that if something goes wrong, we have a clear retreat path."
Liwell was about to reply, but Tepper's cold glare stopped him in his tracks. Only then he realized she was now his commanding officer too. They were no longer peers and his words could have been taken as insubordination.
Tepper briefed them about the orcs' strong and weak points before taking out from his dimensional amulet a whole rack full of weapons of every kind.
"Take whatever you think you might need."
Lith took for himself a few throwing daggers, a short sword, and a bastard sword.
After everyone completed their equipment, the Sergeant led them out of the boot camp and inside the woods. They marched for a few hours before he made them stop for a brief rest.
"We are very close now. Our scouts inspected the place a couple of days ago and reported that the tribe should consist of no more than twenty orcs, children included. Our duty is to kill them all, no matter the age or gender. Am I clear?"
After everyone nodded, Tepper continued.
"Male and female orcs are equally strong. Orc elders are not like your usual grandpa, they are seasoned warriors and what they lack in strength they made up in skill. Any faulty member of the tribe becomes their dinner, so you'll only fight against dangerous enemies.
"If you underestimate the orcs, you'll die. This is your mission, so you are on your own. I'm only here to supervise, not to help. If you screw up, I'll do my best to save you. If you royally screw up, there's only so much I can do. Keep that in mind."
The Sergeant handed Nhilo a map of the region, giving her the opportunity to use all the information at hand to come up with a battle plan.
"Sir, I request permission to leave the HQ to perform my duty." Lith stood in front of Nhilo, speaking with his usual flat voice.
"We have yet to move, so there is no need for a rear guard. Permission de…" The words died in her mouth as soon as Nhilo realized what was happening.
It wasn't the first time she was picked as the team leader and Lith had never wasted her time before.
"How many of them?" She corrected herself.
"Three from behind, three from the front." His words made everyone flinch, even the Sergeant. "They are coming from our 10, 12, 2, 4, 6, and 8. We'll be surrounded in less than a minut…"
"He's just bullsh*tting us! There's no one around." Vipli felt outraged. He had stood guard from the top of a tree the whole time while Lith had strolled around the area. There was no way someone could sneak past him that easily.
"Permission granted." Nhilo ignored him. "Do you need backup?"
Lith shook his head before darting away. Despite he was running, his boots produced no noise. He was using a mix of air and earth magic to make his steps light like a falling petal.
'Does he get the job done?' The words of Commander Berion echoed in Tepper's mind while he was climbing the nearest tree to assess the situation. He had not assigned the role of scout to Lith only to avoid him soloing the mission.
"Lith is right, they are coming from every direction." Tepper said leaving Vipli dumbstruck.
"What are your orders, Corporal?" The situation wasn't that bad.
Worst case scenario, Tepper could easily handle three trolls. His intervention would mark the team failing the field test, but cadets had much more to learn from a defeat rather than from a victory. Especially from an undeserved one.
"Everyone, battle formation eleven." The unit followed Nhilo's order, assuming a circular formation and holding their lightning wands ready to fire. She led them to the nearest clearing, leaving the enemies no place to hide.
Such a spot would also bring out the maximum potential of the wands' long range attacks.
'Their faces were priceless.' Lith grinned. 'Being the last in line also means I can use Life Vision with no risk of being discovered. I always avoid a fair fight when possible. Solus, is there something I should know?'
'No arrays nor any surveillance spell.' She replied. 'You can go all out if you want. There are no witnesses since the rest of the unit remained behind.'
Lith nodded, taking the army's bastard sword out of the dimensional ring. He circled around the orc to kill it with a surprise attack.
'I wish I could take one alive and experiment on them. If I'm right and these creatures are naturally close to the Awakened state, there is no telling how much I could learn from them.' Lith inwardly sighed.
As always, he had so many things to do and so little time.
Chapter 355 Conundrum Part 2
Lith was now moving a few centimeters above the ground, using air magic to float and prevent the enemy from detecting his presence. He even used darkness magic to cancel his own smell.
Yet, as soon as he obtained a clean line of sight, Lith noticed the orc staring back at him with eyes filled with mana. It was a male, slightly shorter than Lith. He was armed with a heavy stone club and was only wearing pants made of orc's skin.
In the orcs' society, the weak were nothing but livestock.
'What the heck? I always moved while keeping myself hidden behind trees or vegetation. There's no way he could know my position, unless…'
Lith activated Life Vision again, noticing that the enemy's mana was moving from his eyes to his free left hand. The orc waved his hand, releasing a wind blade towards Lith's neck.
At such a short range, it was fast and powerful enough to decapitate an opponent unaware of the existence of true magic. Lith had no problem going under the blade while using spirit magic to break the orc's neck.
Unfortunately, it had no effect.
'My usual rotten luck.' Lith inwardly cursed. 'First, the f*cker employed some kind of Life Vision, then he used a tier two true spell, and now this? Why do I always find champions instead of regular grunts? Core color?' He asked Solus.
'Deep yellow but definitely Awakened.' Solus replied. 'This orc must be one of those the bestiary refers to as "displaying incredible abilities".'
The orc didn't like Lith being taller than him. In his society size meant strength and strength meant survival. Seeing a feeble human surpassing him meant hate at first sight. When Lith easily dodged the air blade, hate turned into rage.
The orc swung his club in a wide arc that started above his head and ended at Lith's feet causing a thundering noise. Lith sidestepped, avoiding the telegraphed attack and stabbing the opponent's heart at the same time.
The orc grunted, activating earth fusion to stop the sword in its tracks. He contracted his strong muscles which together with his thick ribcage formed a rock hard defense. Lith reacted by infusing himself with fire magic, piercing both like paper.
The boost granted by the yellow core was nothing compared to the one from Lith's bright cyan one.
The creature died with a shocked expression on his face while releasing a foul smell. The sword had not only robbed the orc of his life, but also of the control over his bowels.
'What the heck does this mean?' Lith could see the creature's life force fading away, yet the mana flow was increasing. He kneeled near the corpse, using Invigoration to get a grasp of the phenomenon.
'Amazing!' Solus exclaimed. 'Somehow the life force is being converted into mana instead of going to waste. The question is: to what end?'
'I don't know and I don't care.' Lith decapitated the creature, just to be safe, before storing it inside the dimensional ring.
As soon as the head was removed, all the accumulated mana departed from the body in the form of a yellow dart. It flew above the trees disappearing at the speed of light.
'This doesn't make sense!' Solus was shocked. 'Usually when someone dies, their core leaks mana until it turns grey and disappears. This time, instead, it grew in power before releasing a large amount of mana and turning red at once.
'Only then the core started leaking mana.'
'What does this mean?' Lith asked.
'I don't know. Otherwise I would have said that it makes sense.' Solus's thoughts oozed sarcasm
'One down, two more to go. I hope they let me keep the body. Maybe we could learn something from it.' Lith thought while activating Life Vision just in time to notice the other two orcs converging on him.
Lith took out a couple of wands, floating above the ground again to hide his movements. Yet once more the enemies seemed to see through the vegetation, following him with ease.
'Orcs do not use magic my pale a*s!' Lith inwardly cursed. 'Either I'm the unluckiest man alive or there's something terribly wrong here. Solus, what color are their cores?'
'Deep yellow and orange.' She replied.
Lith stopped wasting mana trying to be stealthy and used it to infuse himself with several elements at once instead.
The orcs used their natural abilities and air fusion to boost their speed, but they were still unable to keep up with Lith's pace. Physically they were equal, but the gap between their cores was too big.
Lith focused on the weaker orange cored orc first. Ice spears from the first wand pierced the orc's body while lightning bolts from the other wand traveled through the ice, striking directly the internal organs.
Lith used wands instead of spells to not waste mana and make his victories more believable.
The yellow cored orc suffered the same fate. Even knowing Lith's strategy, there was nothing the creature could do to stop him. Both the corpses released a dart of light before they could be stored inside the dimensional ring.
'This doesn't make sense!' Now it was Lith's turn to be shocked.
'Whatever these creatures were, they weren't Awakened. I was wrong before. That wasn't a tier two wind blade, that was simply a boosted chore magic spell. All three orcs didn't use a single proper spell. It's like they never practiced magic before.
'Also, why I couldn't store any of the bodies until the accumulated mana departed?'
'I have a crazy theory.' Solus thought.
'Crazy is better than nothing.' Lith replied.
'What if those creatures were just normal orcs? What if somehow, they borrowed those powers and after their deaths, the mana returned to its rightful owner? It would explain why the mana was "alive" and where it did go.'
'Only one way to be sure. We have to rush back to the unit and check the remaining three orcs.' Lith started to move even before their telepathic conversation was over. Killing the orcs had taken him less than a minute, so he considered unlikely for his comrades to be dead.
He was right. When Lith arrived, the battle was still ongoing and the cadets were winning. Nhilo's decision to move the unit to the clearing had allowed them to keep the orcs at bay.
The cadets had used earth wands to build obstacles and trenches that made it impossible for the orcs to get close without getting caught by barrages of spells. As Lith had imagined, with their weak cores and only chore magic at their disposal, the orcs were sitting ducks at long range.
Fusion magic allowed them to tank part of the damage, but their defeat was only a matter of time. Tired and frustrated, the creatures sought shelter inside one of the trenches. They took each other's hand, allowing the energies inside themselves to resonate in unison.
Solus looked at their cores getting stronger and stronger. She was uncapable of believing her own mana sense.
'That's our thing!' The shock prevented her from being clearer.
'The orcs are becoming one!' She said only making Lith even more confused.
Chapter 356 Demons Part 1
'What the heck does it mean "the orcs are becoming one"?' Lith hated when things went beyond his comprehension. Sadly, it happened most of the time he was forced to risk his life.
'Are they writing "doing a threesome" off their bucket list, merging into a three headed creature, or what?'
'Gross times two!' Solus replied. 'I mean their cores are resonating, just like we do sometim… Wait, I stand corrected! Only one core is actually getting stronger, the other two stabilized already. It's easier if I show you.'
Solus shared her recent memories, allowing Lith to see that the three orcs were even weaker than the ones he had killed earlier. Two had an orange core and only one orc had a yellow core.
'Clearly the orcs coming from the front are just a diversion.' Lith thought.
'This explains why they are still so far. They were expecting their companions to strike from behind. By now the orcs have realized something went wrong and are changing their tactic accordingly.'
He could see with Solus's mana vision that after the orcs' cores started resonating, one of the orange cores had been promoted to yellow and was quickly advancing toward becoming green.
'Why boost an orange core when they have a yellow one available?' Lith pondered.
'The female they are overdosing with mana is even the weakest among the three.'
It took just a second for Lith and Solus to understand the meaning of such an action. Orcs were a utilitarian race. Each member of the tribe was but a tool to an end for its leaders.
The cadets didn't stand idly, not giving the orcs a second of respite. As soon as their enemies disappeared inside the trench, the cadets used their wands to unleash a hail of ice spikes to smoke them out.
Lith could see with Life Vision that the life force of the orcs was dropping fast. They had to act soon, before they became corpses. Lith took his earth wand from the dimensional ring, ready to counter whatever the suicidal orc had in mind.
The creature jumped out of the trench covered in blood, yet at the same time, the deep green aura enveloping her body made the orc appear majestic and dangerous.
"Take it down!" Nhilo ordered.
The cadets obeyed their Corporal. They focused their aim on the standing orc, who darted forward like a bullet. She was now almost too fast for them to see. The female orc danced around the obstacles set in her course with the grace of a ballerina and the speed of a cheetah.
"Switch to lightning! Ice it's too slow."
So far, Sergeant Tepper was proud of Nhilo's performance.
'These kids sure have rotten luck. Facing a tribe with a shaman can be a real hassle even for veterans. If it was a big tribe, that is. According to our scouts, there are only twenty orcs.
'Three are already dead and if the unit doesn't screw up, the tribe will soon be down to fourteen members. The cadets might be able to wipe the tribe out. It would do wonders for their careers.'
Tepper looked briefly at Lith.
'How did he manage to kill three orcs that fast and without a scratch?' He thought while hearing Commander Berion's voice echoing in his head over and over.
'Does he get the job done?'
The cadets needed but a moment to switch their wands. Yet as soon as the hail stopped, the orc was able to move unimpeded. She leaped forward, to cross all the trenches at once and reach her targets.
It was a simple but effective plan. Also, it was exactly what Lith had been expecting the whole time.
'What a moron! Once you leave the ground, you can't change direction or speed anymore.' Lith thought while erecting a stone wall in front of the female orc, who crashed into it with enough strength to broke her nose, jaw, and skull at once.
'Don't let your guard down!' Solus warned him. 'Her core is still in overload. It's going to blow up any second!'
'Who do you take me for?' Lith scoffed. 'I never let my guard down until the monster is dead.'
He kept waving his wand, creating three more walls that trapped the still confused orc, leaving her only one predictable way out.
"Fire in the hole!" Nhilo ordered and the unit executed.
The four walls created by Lith formed an enormous chimney. All the cadets threw a Fire Roots, the Alchemic equivalent of a concussion grenade, into its hole. None of the Fire Roots missed the target.
The resulting explosion made the stone walls crumble, burying the orc under a ton of rubble. After an orange light departed from under the rocks, the two remaining orcs came out of their hiding spot and kneeled with their faces on the ground.
"Good job, Corporal." Tepper nodded. "Now kill the last orcs and finish the job."
A long moment of silence followed the order. The orcs were monsters who had tried to kill them until a second ago, but they were now surrendering. The unit's hesitation only lasted that long before they unleashed a barrage of spells that butchered the helpless creatures.
Blood, guts, and excrements flew everywhere.
"Killing them from a distance was the right move, but the next time only use lightning bolts for the finishing touch. Ice magic always makes a mess." Tepper said. Lith was about to collect the corpses when the Sergeant stopped him.
"Nice move trapping the enemy like that, Cadet Lith. How did you know the orc was going to blow itself up?"
"I didn't." Lith lied. "I just wanted to stop her movements."
"A good call anyway." Tepper nodded. "Change of plans, Cadets. What you have just seen is proof that the tribe has a shaman. An orc shaman is more than a simple mage. With the right tools, it can greatly enhance the strength of the whole tribe.
The effects of their magic are only temporary, just like our potions. Yet even a single shaman can turn a small tribe in a force to be reckoned with. Each orc becomes stronger, faster, and can use chore magic with enough power to make it deadly.
Also, as you got this close to experiencing it on your skin, they can turn their weakest members into powerful bombs. Since we don't have mages on our side…" Tepper stared at Lith during the last phrase.
"…you have the right to ask considering the mission successfully completed. Killing a shaman is way beyond the purpose of the field test. One or more of you could get killed if you face them without a good plan.
On the other hand, you can also decide to continue the mission. Make your choice."
While the unit discussed the matter at hand, Lith stored the two corpses away.
"We want to continue the mission, Sir." Nhilo said. For the first time since the unit had been formed, they were happy having Lith by their side. Him single-handedly killing half the enemies had been a key factor in their decision.
Tepper nodded, giving them new wands to replace their used ones.
"In such a case, you'll need my help. I'll take care of the shaman, but you still have to deal with thirteen more orcs on your own."
Chapter 357 Demons Part 2
Chapter 357: Demons (Part 2)
"I think it's better if Lith acts as our scout together with Vipli, Sir." Nhilo said.
"Why do you ask my permission, Corporal? Your mission, your rules." The Sergeant replied.
"How many orcs can you face at once on your own?" Nhilo asked Lith.
"Depends. Three if they are as weak as those you just killed. Two otherwise."
Hearing Lith referring to the orcs as 'weak' sent a shiver running down the Cadets' spine. Tepper was really curious to see the corpses of those Lith had killed by himself, but it could wait until the end of the mission.
"Based on the information we have and how fast the orcs spotted us, their camp should be nearby. Feel free to engage the enemy, but don't get too far from us. If you spot anything suspicious, your first priority is to warn me. Are we clear?"
Lith inwardly smiled. Seeing Nhilo acting tough reminded him of Phloria. The two girls couldn't be more different, since Nhilo was just 1.6 meters tall with red hair and green eyes. Yet something in her tone made him recall a few happy memories.
"Yes, Sir." Lith replied before disappearing into the woods.
'Judging by the Sergeant's reaction, what we have seen so far isn't anything special.'Solus thought.'I wonder why the bestiary was so vague about the shaman's powers.'
'Probably because the author never met one.'Lith shrugged.'At the academy, we focused more on copying everything we could about specializations and magical ingredients rather than worrying about monsters.
'In the four years we spent there, we barely managed to get everything we needed about magic. Copying the whole library would have taken me a lifetime. Not to mention that Soluspedia isn't that big.'
The magical space that Lith called Soluspedia and that gave him instant access to all the knowledge stored inside, had kept expanding as Solus regained her strength. Yet it was never enough.
Between all the books Lith owned and his own grimoires, Soluspedia was always full to the brim.
'What really bothers me is how they managed to find us so far from their camp. I didn't notice any array on our path. What about you, Solus?'
'Me neither, but I can't keep mana sense always active. It consumes too much mana. I prefer to keep it for battle and perform sweeps from time to time.'She replied.
***
Meanwhile, at the orcs' settlement, Ragh'Ash the shaman was deeply worried. About an hour ago, his holy crystal had warned her about twelve humans closing in to their position. After blessing six of her best warriors with the power of the gods, she had eagerly waited for their return.
Human meat was a delicacy and the women needed all the food they could get to increase the orcs' numbers. Their Grey Wolf tribe had almost been wiped out by the Red Worm tribe whose shaman wanted Ragh'Ash's hoy crystal for himself.
Their victory had cost the Grey Wolf most of their warriors, so they had been forced to run away before the other tribes could exploit their weakened state.
When the warriors returned, it wasn't in the way Ragh'Ash was expecting. One after the other, the blessings she had bestowed upon the three greatest warriors of the tribe had reunited themselves with the holy crystal.
Something had slain them like they were flies. Before Ragh'Ash could seek the holy crystal's guidance, the remaining three warriors she had sent had followed their war-siblings in their travel to the afterlife.
"This doesn't make sense!" (AN: translated from orcish) Testa'Lhosh the war chieftain couldn't believe his own eyes.
"Six lives were sent to slay our enemies and six lights returned. Are you sure they are humans? Only magical beasts can slay orcs that fast."
"Quite sure." Ragh'Ash replied."An hour ago they were still quite far, so my readings weren't that accurate. Let me try again."
Ragh'Ash put her hands on the holy crystal, letting her mana flow into it. The holy crystal wasn't actually a gift from the gods. It was simply a huge violet mana crystal the size of an adult human man.
It was also the most sacred relic an orc tribe could possess. Before their Fall, orcs shared a deep connection with the mana crystals. So deep it survived even the self inflicted disaster that destroyed their ancient civilization.
Through the violet crystal, Ragh'Ash's mana was focused and amplified, to the point her Life Vision could sweep dozens of kilometers at once. There was only so much information her brain could process at once, so she would mistake her own perceptions for a vision sent from the gods.
Over the centuries, their science had turned into superstition. Their bloodlust clouded their minds, leaving them forever crippled as a sentient race. Yet when a shaman was born, they would always be Awakened ones.
Ragh'Ash now could perceive their enemies with much greater clarity. They were ten humans and two…
"Demons!" Ragh'Ash screamed in panic, almost fainting due to the shock.
"Demons?" Testa'Lhosh shuddered in fear. According to the lore, nondescript cruel demons had caused the fall of the orc race. It was totally not their fault. They were certain of it because their elders said so, before being eaten for dinner by their own grandkids.
"You were right! Two of them are disguised as humans, but they are not. Neither they are beasts or other races. They can only be demons. One is the blackest night, with no stars or moon to light the way. The other is the brightest day, so pure and dazzling it almost blinded me."
Ragh'Ash's eyes were bloodshot from the effort of withstanding Solus's light. Testa'Lhosh was a proud chieftain, there was almost nothing he was afraid of. Ragh'Ash's words left him unfazed. For almost ten seconds.
"There's no time to lose! We must run for our lives!" Testa'Lhosh screamed when his brain realized the meaning of the shaman's words. The chieftain had never met a demon, but he knew facing one meant death.
It was what his own father told him before Testa'Lhosh turned him into a new pair of pants. The chieftain was really fond of them. He wore that skin just like his father did. It was practically a family heirloom.
"No, we must stand our ground and kill them. The humans are weaker than our newborns and both demons are lesser ones. The black one is weaker than me, while the white one is even weaker than you."
Ragh'Ash shook her head while a cruel smile revealed her jagged teeth.
"By feasting on their flesh and blood we'll be able to break the curse that plagues our race! The Grey Wolf will devour the whole world. With our ancient might back and the holy crystal, we'll be unstoppable!"
"Are you sure eating demons can cure our curse? It's the first time I hear such a thing." Testa'Lhosh scratched his head in confusion. According to the lore, there was no cure. The demons had made sure of it.
"Of course I'm sure of it!" Ragh'Ash screamed in frustration.
"My own mentor told me about it on his death bed." Before Ragh'Ash turned her into a bedside rug. It was more a dying curse than the passing of knowledge, but that's another story.
Chapter 358 Holy Crystal Part 1
The Grey Wolf tribe only had twelve members remaining plus the chieftain and the shaman. Ragh'Ash had to think carefully about their strategy. Albeit lesser demons, their enemies were still demons.
Of the twelve orcs, four were just kids. Their bodies were yet to become able to endure the blessing of the holy crystal. The shaman decided to keep them close to her, so in case of emergency, she could turn them into living bombs and get rid of the tribe's enemies.
'As long as the tribe has women, we can always have more children.' Ragh'Ash thought. 'The only things that matter to our survival is the holy crystal and breaking the curse. Everyone else is disposable.'
The shaman used the crystal once again. This time she didn't panic. Ragh'Ash took her time to assess the enemy strength and position while using her knowledge of the territory to come up with a battle plan.
She was the only one capable of rational thought thanks to her Awakening. The others, just like Testa'Lhosh, were mindless brutes, incapable of escaping the clutches of their base instincts.
Against a smart enemy equipped with magical weapons like Sergeant Tepper's unit, the blessing of the holy crystal wasn't enough. She needed a foolproof plan. Literally. Otherwise those morons would screw up and leave everything on her shoulders.
According to her readings, the demons and the humans were apart, even if not by much.
'Sending more orcs would be just a waste of resources. I'll let them come here, where the powers of the holy crystal and my magic are at their peak. I'll leave the humans to the tribe while Testa'Lhosh and I will take care of the demons.
'The gods from above and from below are on our side. The two demons share the same body, making them a lesser threat than what I feared. We outnumber and outmatch them. Thanks to my new pet, our victory is already written in the stars.' Ragh'Ash thought.
***
Lith kept coming closer to the orc settlement, yet he met no resistance whatsoever. There were a few traps laid on the ground, but they were devised against animals to get food, not against a real enemy.
'Orcs are supposed to be stupid. They should have charged at us like mad bulls already.' Lith thought while using Life Vision to check his surroundings.
'I guess a shaman is a real game changer.' Solus pointed out. 'It's better to go back to the others and ask for more information. The Sergeant seemed to know more than what he told us. We should seek his advice.'
Lith mind nodded. He rushed back to the unit while Solus watched his back with mana sense, allowing him to move at full speed without any worry.
"How many orcs did you kill?" Liwell asked with a big smile on his face. Lith was so used to their ill concealed scorn that it gave him the creeps.
"None, that's why I returned. Something is wrong here. The orcs knew our position with enough precision to set an ambush, yet they aren't supposed to be able to use arrays." Lith said, leaving the unit confused.
"What's an array?" They asked each other, receiving only a shrug in reply.
"Also, they are supposed to be dumb. It that was true, they should either run away or come at us in full force. Yet nothing has happened. I feel like we are walking into a trap. Sergeant, could you please tell us what a shaman is capable of?"
"Sometimes in battle, you're forced to face the unknown, Cadet Lith. A shaman is a rare creature, even adventurers have a vague knowledge of them. Only the army possess detailed records and I have already shared with you more than I should." Tepper replied.
"As a fellow soldier, though, I can say that I think your observations are on point. The shaman seems smart enough to make use of their superior numbers. When you decided to continue the mission, you knew you would face a magician."
'The whole unit is green and he wants to send us against an unknown enemy?' Lith thought. 'Either he is overestimating himself or underestimating a magician.'
'Or maybe he is overestimating you.' Solus suggested. 'I think that at this point he is sure you are a magician and the army rules allow you to use your powers in case of emergency. Probably the Sergeant thinks that the two of you are more than enough.'
'I wish I shared his optimism. Until I know what kind of core the enemy has or the kind of tricks they are capable of, the only thing I'm sure of is that I can survive. I need to keep at least the Sergeant alive. Otherwise if the entire unit gets butchered, I could get blamed for it.'
The unit effortlessly advanced through the woods until Lith signaled them to stop.
"It's a trap indeed." He said jumping down from a tree without making any noise.
"The settlement has no guards and there are no signs of activity. The tribe consists of ten adults and four teenagers. Eight adults are spread outside what I presume is the shaman's tent and are armed to the teeth."
"What about the mana crystal?" Sergeant Tepper asked with eyes full of expectation.
"I saw no crystal." Lith lied. "Maybe it's inside the tent, I can't see through walls."
'The bastard knows about the crystal!' Lith inwardly cursed. Thanks to Life Vision and mana sense, Lith had now a clear idea of the enemy's strength. His comrades had only one path to victory.
If they managed to keep the orcs at bay they would win, otherwise it would be a slaughter.
Inside the tent, Lith had spotted a bright cyan cored orc that was likely to be the shaman, a very bulky individual at least two meters (6'7") tall, and four children that seemed to be around twelve years old.
Near to them, there was the biggest and most powerful mana crystal Lith had ever seen. He had hoped to keep its existence a secret to snatch it away during the fight. It was a priceless natural treasure with endless application to Lith's studies.
"There has to be a mana crystal, otherwise the shaman couldn't empower other orcs." Tepper said. "Orcs consider them gifts from the gods, they would rather die than leave one behind. The Mage Association highly values orcs crystals.
"They hope to understand the secrets of the shamans' powers by studying them. We have to retrieve it safely at all costs!"
"What is our priority?" Lith asked. "Wiping out the orcs or retrieving the crystal?"
"Your primary objective is to remain alive." Sergeant Tepper sighed. He had almost forgotten he was with cadets, not an elite force.
"The secondary objective is to wipe out the orcs. If we do that, the crystal will fall into our hands."
"What's a crystal?" Nhilo asked, relieving Lith from his burden.
The more he learned about the orcs the more the mission appeared suicidal in his eyes. Sending the cadets forward without warning them about mana crystals would just add insult to the injury.
Tepper briefly explained the unit the mana crystals' uses, properties, and volatile nature.
"With all due respect, I don't think we can do it, Sir." Nhilo said after Lith draw her a rough sketch of the orc settlement and the enemy positions.
Chapter 359 Holy Crystal Part 2
"The orcs have the home advantage, are physically superior, and have a magician on their side. We can't set a trap without being noticed nor can we handle eight adults at once. Also, the children's position is highly suspicious.
"I don't think they are close to the tent to keep them safe, but rather to use them as sacrifices. A single one could throw our formation into disarray and doom us all. Not to mention we cannot even bombard the shaman's tent without the crystal exploding."
"I agree with your analysis, Corporal." Tepper nodded. "Their behavior is highly unusual, even for the presence of a shaman. The orcs were supposed to send another wave of warriors and attempt to escape after their second failed attack.
"Orcs being cautious is almost unprecedented. They regard humans as food, not enemies. Yet they are acting as if they are afraid of us. We need reinforcements. Lith, you can use dimensional magic, right?"
Lith nodded while watching his companions' expression turn to a mix of surprise, envy, and hate. Tepper noticed it too.
"He is not a noble. Lith comes from a family of farmers. He became a magician thanks only to his own hard work. Show some respect." The Sergeant's words left everyone dumbstruck.
To them meeting a magician of commoner origins was like finding a unicorn under a rainbow with a pot of gold in its mouth.
"Bring us back to the camp." Tepper ordered.
Lith attempted to open a Warp Steps, but the dimensional door quickly became unstable, shattering before it was fully formed.
"This is bad." Lith clicked his tongue. "Something like this has only happened to me once in the past. It means the orc shaman is preparing something big and powerful enough to upset the normal elemental balance."
'Solus, why didn't you warn me of the array?' Lith was surprised, it wasn't like her to make such a rookie mistake.
'There is no array.' She explained. 'Nor any significant disturbance in the world energy. Quite the contrary, the air is really quiet and the mana thin.'
'How thin?' Lith asked.
'Not much, but now that you mention it, there is something wrong.' Solus needed to focus her mana sense to the extreme to separate the world energy into the six elements that composed it.
'By my maker! This is exactly the opposite of what that wyvern did. There is no abundance of an element this time. The earth magic in the air is less than half of what it should be. I can see it being siphoned towards the orc encampment!'
"Do you mean you can't Warp us back?" Tepper inwardly cursed. Even if he called for reinforcements, it would take them too long to find the unit's actual position.
"I think I can, but it will take time and effort. I need you to watch my back." Lith said to his comrades, but he meant those words for Solus alone. She was still tired from the overuse of her mana sense, yet Solus reassured him and kept watch.
***
<"now, my="" warriors!="" receive="" the="" power="" of="" the="" earth="" god="" and="" become="" their="" avatars!"=""></"now,> Ragh'Ash had used Invigoration though the mana crystal as if it were a part of her own body.
With the combined effect of Invigoration and the natural ability of purple crystals to absorb the world energy, the shaman had collected an enormous amount of mana. Ragh'Ash had called upon earth magic in particular, to make her pawns invincible.
The world energy seeped into the warriors' mana cores, temporarily boosting them from the red level to the yellow one. Such unnatural status would have been their demise if not for the orcs' peculiar physiology.
Their bodies contained very few impurities, allowing them to grow strong enough to withstand the power of an Awakened core, even if only temporarily. The crystal was a key element in the process.
It was not only capable of storing the necessary world energy, but it also kept it pure. If Ragh'Ash had attempted to give them her mana, it would be like poison to them. Only in its purest form could world energy be absorbed without being rejected.
The earth elemental energy coursing through the warriors' bodies would double the effects of earth fusion, making them immune to lightning and resistant to all the other elements.
Yet, it came with a price. Only the strongest orcs could survive their cores being enhanced not once, but twice. Ragh'Ash could see energy cracks appearing on the skin of five out of the eight warriors she had blessed. They only had a few minutes left to live.
'The weak can only blame themselves.' Ragh'Ash thought. 'The demon's meat is too precious to be wasted on failures. Their death was only a matter of time.'
While the orcs charged towards the humans' position, the shaman and the chieftain followed them from a distance. Testa'Lhosh carried the holy crystal on his back, while the ground emitted a low rumble wherever Ragh'Ash stepped.
***
"Orcs incoming!" Vipli screamed on the top of his lungs from the top of a tree.
Lith inwardly cursed while pushing his willpower to the limit to compensate for the lack of earth elemental energy with his own mana. Finally, the Warp Steps appeared, but instead of being static as usual, its edges spun like a buzz saw. They emitted sparks every time Lith sent new waves of mana to prevent it from collapsing.
One after the other, the cadets rushed through it until only Nhilo and the Sergeant were left.
"We can't leave Lith behind! They will kill him!" As the commanding officer, Nhilo felt it was her responsibility to remain behind with him.
"That's why I'll stay here." Tepper said while throwing her through the Gate. "There's no need for us all to die."
"Indeed!" Lith used spirit magic to push the Sergeant away before closing the Warp Steps. When Tepper's face hit the boot camp's ground, he wasn't angry. Quite the contrary, he was almost moved to the tears.
"That idiot! Together we had a chance, alone he is as good as dead. Shamans can prevent an opponent from flying. Without Warp Steps, he has no way out. I misjudged Lith. He preferred to die a hero rather than see one of us die."
He ran to the HQ to request immediate backup. With him as a guide, the mages would only need a few minutes to reach the orc encampment. He could only hope Lith would survive long enough for it to be a rescue mission instead of a revenge one.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the crumbled Gate, Lith was overjoyed. He was wearing his Skinwalker armor again. The Gatekeeper sword was firm in his hand while Invigoration gave Lith back his strength.
"With no witness messing with my plans, I can pretend to be a hero and get myself a purple crystal. Two birds with one stone."
Lith took flight, weaving several spells at once just to be safe. Two orcs leaped toward him while swinging their weapons, only to be chopped in half like fresh fruit. Lith's flight spell made him even faster than he was with fusion magic, whereas the orcs were sitting ducks while in mid air.
'Worst case scenario, I can rain spells from the skies until they are all dead or I can run away if the unexpected happens. Killing non flying opponents is child play.' Lith thought.
He readied his sword for the second wave of enemies while pouring air magic into it to enhance its edge.
Ragh'Ash saw Lith descending upon her warriors and acted accordingly. Her hand touched the holy crystal, depriving the environment of the air element and causing the flight spell to fail. Lith crashed in the middle of the orcs who immediately surrounded him.
<"where the="" gods="" walk,="" the="" humans="" die!"=""></"where> Ragh'Ash laughed.
Chapter 360 Fair Fight? Part 1
By watching the orc warriors' weapons coming down on the demon like they were the wrath of the heavens, Ragh'Ash could almost smell the sweet scent of Lith's blood in the air.
Which is why she was dumbfounded when a fireball exploded on the ground and sent the orcs surrounding Lith flying like leaves scattered by the autumn wind.
<"how is="" that="" possible?"=""></"how> Ragh'Ash blurted out in her stupor.
The lack of air element prevented Lith from flying or casting powerful air spells, but there was more than enough to support a tier 0 gravity magic trick. Even the shockwave from a simple fireball was enough to buy him some space once his opponents had become weightless.
'I think we are in trouble.' Solus was worried. 'The lack of earth magic already prevented us from Blinking. Now even flight and lightning bolts are sealed. What if the shaman can seal the other elements too?'
'That's the bad news. The good news is the same applies to them.' Lith watched some orcs trying to produce air blades, yet all they managed to do was waste their mana.
'Their coordination is nonexistent. We'll see who runs out of tricks first.' Lith's hands moved so fast that for a second even the shaman only saw a blur. Then, a volley of fireballs and several ice spears darted toward the mana crystal.
Ragh'Ash attempted to raise a stone wall and failed.
'Gods below! What have I done? I must protect the holy crystal!' She thought. She didn't have the time to nullify two elements and even if she did, it would make her completely useless in combat.
The only thing she could do was to push Testa'Lhosh and the crystal away with spirit magic while shielding herself with the thickest ice wall she could produce in the little time she had left.
She succeeded in saving both the crystal and herself, but it came at a terrible price. Lith had timed the two spells so that the fireballs would hit first, shattering the ice protection he knew she would have employed, so that the ice spears would find a clear path to the enemy.
Ragh'Ash was alive, but barely. Chunks of her flesh were missing because of the explosions and several spears had struck her despite her raising walls one after another. She was already healing her wounds with Invigoration, but the aftereffects would leave her weakened nonetheless.
'What an idiot!' Lith inwardly laughed. 'Playing dirty is a game two can play. I want the crystal badly, but not if it costs me my life. By attacking it, I can force the orcs on the defensive.'
The orcs rushed Lith again. The demon's blasphemous act had pushed their rage to its peak, allowing their bloodlust to blind them. Exactly like Lith wanted. The orcs were a threat to his life only if they coordinated their efforts.
They attacked him as if they were alone, giving no consideration to their own companions' movements. Without tactics, the orcs were just an annoyance. Their crude weapons were nothing compared to Gatekeeper, their boosted cores granted them feeble abilities compared to Lith's bright cyan one when pushed to its limit.
Ragh'Ash's plan had only one flaw. Both she and Lith knew it, but only one of them could exploit it. Depriving the world energy of a specific element blocked the related spells, but it couldn't affect fusion magic.
Fusion magic didn't rely on external energy but on the elemental power its user naturally stored. Lith's air fusion could not only make him incredibly fast, but it was also channeled and amplified by the Gatekeeper's enchantment, boosting the sword's edge.
A single slash was what it took to cleave an orc asunder, along with the ax with which he had attempted to block. A single lunge would go clear through its intended victim and beyond, wounding those stupid enough to be near its exit point.
<"curse you,="" demon!"=""></"curse> screamed in anguish as she ripped off the head of one of their youths to consume his flesh to regain her strength. The fight had barely started, yet the number of her warriors had halved and she was gravely injured.
Thanks to Invigoration, Ragh'Ash was able to instantly assimilate the food's nutrients and restore her strength. Testa'Lhosh immediately ran to her side. The chieftain was visibly worried for her.
Without the shaman, the tribe was as good as dead. The holy crystal would become a liability instead of a treasure. Testa'Lhosh's life depended on her.
<"the warriors="" will="" not="" last="" long="" without="" my="" help."=""></"the> Testa'Lhosh said while delicately leaving the crystal by her side.
<"do whatever="" you="" need,="" but="" try="" to="" keep="" me="" alive.="" you="" still="" need="" a="" man="" to="" have="" offspring."=""></"do> The chieftain didn't trust her more than he would a nest of vipers. His words were meant to remind the shaman that the survival of the Grey Wolf tribe needed at least two orcs.
He didn't miss how Ragh'Ash moved her gaze from him to the remaining three youths. There was still a male left, which meant she still had options. Inwardly cursing his bad luck, Testa'Lhosh unsheathed his greatsword and joined the fray.
Aside from the holy crystal, the chieftain's blade was the only treasure of the Grey Wolf tribe that had survived the war. It was an enchanted weapon that had fallen into the orcs' hands after its previous owner had fallen into their stomachs.
Ragh'Ash nodded. Her powers activated the crystal once again, passing all the remaining energy she had stored within it to the chieftain. His core immediately turned from bright yellow to bright cyan, which Solus promptly reported to Lith.
'For f*ck's sake! I hate fair fights!' Lith inwardly cursed. Testa'Lhosh was at least 20 centimeters (8") taller than Lith and 30 kg heavier. Thanks to his Awakened like body, those 30 kg were all muscles.
Lith had no advantage against Testa'Lhosh, aside from his own equipment and training. In terms of sheer physical strength, the chieftain was like an adult fighting a prepubescent teen.
'How long until the balance is restored?' Lith hated forcing Solus to consume her remaining mana, but he had no choice. Only when all of Lith's skills were online again he could safely terminate the orc tribe.
'Earth is back to normal already. Air should support spells up to tier two.' Solus replied. She was already so weakened that only her natural senses remained. Solus decided to save the remainder of her mana for an emergency, just to be safe.
She could have used Invigoration, but unlike Lith's, it required more time and was dependant on her companion's status. Using it would not only leave her completely helpless for a while, but could also destabilize Lith's mana flow.
Solus couldn't stand by idly either, so she moved from Lith's mouth to his right hand and turned into her glove form. That way he could at least use her as a shield if the need arose.
The greatsword gave Testa'Lhosh the superior range, forcing Lith on the defensive. Their fusion magic was on par, so it was like neither was employing it. The chieftain was faster, stronger, and to make things worse he shouted orders that made the remaining orcs regain their sanity.
Ragh'Ash was now back on her feet, using the crystal to infuse one of the young female orcs until the youth screamed in agony. The shaman didn't trust the chieftain more than he trusted her. Ragh'Ash wanted to win, no matter the cost.
Chapter 361 Fair Fight? Part 2
Meanwhile, the four remaining orcs surrounded Lith, threatening him with their weapons from every side. Their duty was to restrict the enemy's movements and create openings for the chieftain.
'Five against five. Once again, I hate fair fights!' Lith thought while unleashing his Death Call spell. Four tentacles made of darkness magic came out from his body, targeting the orcs like sharks following blood in water.
The warriors stood their ground, clubbing and slashing at the tendrils only to see their weapons getting covered in cracks. Darkness magic wasn't tangible, but its hunger was real. To not get eaten, the four orcs were forced to step back whenever Lith came too close to them while dodging the chieftain's blade.
Before the boot camp, Lith would have had a hard time against an opponent such as Testa'Lhosh. It still wasn't an easy fight, but the skill gap made it manageable. While the chieftain put all of his might behind each strike, Lith used his blade to deflect the opponent's by using the least amount of strength possible.
Between Death Call and Lith avoiding their mighty chieftain's blows by a thread, the orcs truly believed they were facing a demon. One of them had been grazed by the tentacles multiple times. The contact had sapped her strength and hastened her body's decay.
The female orc's skin was full of cracks, she knew her death would come in a matter of seconds. In her mind, the orc thought the demon was to blame. She had no idea it was all her shaman's doing. The warrior threw herself against Lith, disregarding what little life she had left.
The tentacles drained her life force and defused the explosion at the same time, but they weren't fast enough to prevent her from crashing against Lith and sending him towards the Chieftan's oncoming blade.
Cursing at his bad luck, Lith could only attempt a parry and watch it fail. Testa'Lhosh's blade clashed with the Gatekeeper, moving it aside. The lunge had enough power left to pierce the Skinwalker armor and penetrate into Lith's flesh while breaking his collarbone.
Lith would have fainted from the shock if he had not cut off his pain receptors at the last second. His left arm was now limp, blood came out profusely from his shoulder. The only silver lining was that the energy robbed from the dying orc was already mending the wound.
The problem was living long enough for it to matter.
Testa'Lhosh fearlessly pressed forward.
'The demon is doomed.' The chieftain thought. 'With only one hand and the blood loss sapping his strength, he can't avoid my blade anymore.'
<"follow your="" sister's="" example!="" use="" the="" power="" of="" the="" gods="" to="" slay="" the="" demon!"=""></"follow> Testa'Lhosh yelled. Three orcs meant three more free slashes, which equaled one dead demon. Easy math.
Lith had no idea what the orc had just yelled, but when Solus warned him about another enemy doing a suicidal rush from behind his back, their plan became evident. Lith knew what to do, but he couldn't afford to turn around, so he let Solus take the wheel.
The moment before the orc was about to strike, a stone wall emerged from the ground, stopping the enemy and his weapon at once. The orc had no time to be surprised by Solus's timely use of the earth wand with spirit magic.
The ethereal tentacles passed through a wall and seeped into his flesh, renewing Lith's strength at the expenses of the orc's life force.
<"for the="" grey="" wolf!"=""></"for> Ragh'Ash yelled at the youth. The little girls screamed in agony and frenzy, the only thing she could think of was making the pain stop. She rushed toward Lith with the speed of a bullet.
The mana ravaging her body also gave her superhuman abilities. Lith and Testa'Lhosh cursed at the shaman in unison. Neither wanted to die. Whereas Testa'Lhosh saw only a death threat, Lith saw an opportunity instead.
Lith grabbed the stone wall Solus had erected and used gravity magic to turn Testa'Lhosh into the new center of gravity. The orc girl's feet leaped from the ground with great strength, almost making her fly but also leaving her exposed to gravity magic's effects.
She found herself falling towards the chieftain while Solus erected a second wall right in front of Lith. It was meant to be used as a foothold and a shield at the same time.
Testa'Lhosh had no idea what was happening, so he dodged the incoming bomb over and over, hoping to get rid of it. Yet the poor girl followed him like a curse.
Realizing he was doomed, the chieftain grabbed the girl and rushed between the two stone walls, to make sure that Lith would die along with him. Much to Testa'Lhosh dismay, when he got there, Lith was nowhere to be found.
In his place, there was what looked like an acorn the size of a fist. It was covered in runes of power which blinked faster by the second. Lith had Solus conjure one stone wall after the other and used them as footsteps to escape gravity magic's short-range and get to safety.
He had also left a Fire Root as a goodbye gift. The combined explosion of the girl and the Fire Root turned the stone walls into debris that flew in every direction like deadly bullets.
Once again Ragh'Ash had to prevent the crystal from being destroyed. This time she could at least conjure a great stone wall to protect the holy crystal and what little was left of the tribe.
Ragh'Ash immediately used Life Vision to find Lith.
'He's not on the ground nor in the air. Where the heck is he?' She thought.
The shaman used the power of the holy crystal to sweep the whole area, discovering that Lith was quite far from her position and was getting further by the second.
<"how dares="" he="" to="" run="" away?"=""></"how> Ragh'Ash felt she was going crazy. The two remaining orc warriors had fled the moment they saw the living bomb converge to their position. They both considered a cowardly escape much better than a heroic death.
Ragh'Ash had no way to communicate with them and even if she did, the shaman doubted they would listen to her anymore. All that was left of the Grey Wolf were her and the two kids.
'What a cowardly, sly creature.' Ragh'Ash thought. 'I can't follow the demon. The children are too weak to carry the crystal, even if I bless them a little. If I carry it myself, I'd be a sitting duck. At least I'm safe now.'
Yet actually she wasn't. Lith hadn't run away, he had seen the shaman eating and meant to even the field.
'Why would I rush in against an unknown opponent with a wounded body and my mana depleted when I can take a break?' He thought while eating some meat from his pocket dimension.
'I'll wait for the world energy to stabilize again, so I can have full access to my spells. How are you, Solus?'
'Much better, thanks. I think retreating was the right move. All that spellcasting and fighting had left you drained. How is your shoulder?'
'Perfectly healed. I'll use Invigoration to get back to my peak form before going in for the kill.' Lith replied. He had no idea what the shaman could do with her crystal, but he was certain Ragh'Ash would rather detonate it than leave it in his hands.
Lith used that time to sort through his Alchemic weapons. Even if Ragh'Ash siphoned elemental energy again, he could still use them, since the spells they contained were already formed. The problem was that unlike his own incantations, alchemical weapons could hurt their user.
Chapter 362 Unexpected Helper Part 1
'I don't like this situation.' Lith thought.
'The shaman seems to always know where I am. She caught us unprepared twice, so it's likely that if I stand for too long in the same place, she may attack us from a distance.'
'Agreed.' Solus replied. She had regained about half of her strength, but they couldn't afford to wait much longer. If the Sergeant returned with the reinforcements the crystal would be lost.
'We need to aim for a quick exchange. We have to get there fast, before she can siphon any element so that we can Blink in for the kill.'
Lith nodded. That kind of approach was outside his comfort zone, but there weren't many options left. He took off, flying at full speed towards the location where he had killed most of the members of the Grey Wolf tribe.
Ragh'Ash hadn't gotten far. Moving the holy crystal was a delicate job. She couldn't fly with it. If anything happened and the spell was broken, the holy crystal would be lost. She just made it float a few centimeters from the ground, pushing it while she walked back towards the camp.
The silver lining was that thanks to the constant contact, she could sweep her surroundings from time to time to check on Lith's whereabouts. As soon as Ragh'Ash noticed him getting closer, she knew only one of them would come out alive from their next meeting.
<"go back="" to="" the="" village="" and="" hide!="" if="" i="" don't="" return="" within="" a="" few="" minutes,="" run="" away="" and="" never="" turn="" back!"=""></"go> Ragh'Ash ordered. The youths never thought, even for a second, that the shaman was doing that to protect them.
Her only purpose was to protect the last members of the tribe, who were too weak to be of any use in actual combat. Ragh'Ash had seen how Lith had turned her own living bomb against her orc warriors. It was a mistake she couldn't afford to repeat.
She watched the two youths disappearing in the woods as she pondered about her strategy. Ragh'Ash wasn't used to fight alone, without any warrior providing her assistance.
'The demons' magic is unpredictable.' She thought. 'My only option is to overpower them quickly with the help of the holy crystal. If only that stupid beast helped us earlier, I wouldn't be in dire straits now. What kind of pet doesn't protect its owner?'
The earth trembled below her feet. It was the only sign that the creature was still following her. Ragh'Ash called it her pet, but its motives were still a mystery. It had helped her to survive many times, yet its timing was always unreliable at best.
Ragh'Ash placed her hands on the crystal, channeling air magic through it to conjure a huge storm cloud above her position. Monsters' mastery of magic was shallow. Due to their Fallen nature, they would seldom be able to research complex spells and would even more rarely pass them down.
In a 'might makes right' society, sharing knowledge or power was like digging your own grave. That limited the shaman's knowledge to the first three tiers of spells. Thanks to the holy crystal though, Ragh'Ash could replicate tier four spells' effect or at least equal their destructive power.
As soon as Lith spotted the shaman with Life Magic, he also noticed a pillar of mana going from the ground to the sky. The storm cloud was pitch black and covered a radius of 100 meters around the shaman's position already.
'She's stealing my thunder, literally!' Lith thought. He was actually scared by how fast Ragh'Ash had summoned such a huge thundercloud. It was something he was still unable to do.
'I wouldn't worry about that.' Solus chimed in. 'There is something wrong with the ground below her feet. I thought the lack of earth element in the world energy was confusing my perception, but even now that the balance is restored the anomaly is still there.'
'What kind of anomaly?' Lith's paranoia sense was tingling. Life Vision showed him nothing but trees, grass, the shaman, and the crystal. Yet he didn't doubt Solus's words for an instant. He knew here senses were far better than his own.
'It's a blur, so I can't tell you what it is nor how strong it is, but there's something moving there. It could be some kind of spell, a creature, anything. Just be vigilant, okay?'
Lith mentally nodded as he charged the Gatekeeper with all elements but light magic. As soon as Ragh'Ash's eyes met Lith's, she unleashed a natural lightning so big that its flash turned the whole world white for a second, almost blinding her.
Lith was able to react in time only because he had done the same thing in the past. The moment he saw a pulse of Ragh'Ash's mana reaching for the thundercloud, he Blinked behind her back, aiming for her head.
Lith's timing had been impeccable, the precision of his lunge surgical. Yet instead of relieving the shaman's neck from the burden of its head, Lith was sent flying before he could even understand what was happening.
Something big and black had jumped out of the ground, as nimble as a shark after a seal. Solus had no way to describe it if not as a worm, but it was a worm like she had never seen before.
Its skin wasn't pink nor soft. The creature looked like made of obsidian, with several bumps and deformities all around its body like a lazy artist had given up the job halfway through.
The worm was as big as a bull and about 4 meters (13') long. Its gaping mouth was big enough to easily swallow an adult man whole. Solus could see it had multiple series of jagged teeth which somehow were rotating at high speed like a buzz saw.
It had been the impact between the teeth and the Gatekeeper to thwart Lith's death blow. When the clash happened, the enchanted blade managed to resist the teeth's destructive force, but it couldn't escape their grasp.
The centrifugal force had spun Lith and the blade as if for a split second they had been trapped inside a washing machine, before all the accumulated magic in the Gatekeeper had forced the creature to release its prey.
Between the impact and the spinning, Lith's vision was a blur. Yet the black worm wasn't faring much better. It writhed on the ground like a beached fish, spitting blood and teeth before reaching again for the safety of the earth.
'What the heck was that?' Lith and Ragh'Ash's thought in unison. Whereas Lith was wondering why the magical beast had interfered, Ragh'Ash's was shocked by dimensional magic.
Both the magicians recovered quickly from the surprise, moving on to their own plan B. Lith Blinked away, not giving the shaman the time to aim at him with a second lightning while Ragh'Ash's embraced the crystal starting to chant a second spell.
Lith threw against her several Fire Roots, to force her to interrupt her casting and focus on defending the crystal. Yet the moment the Alchemical tools touched the ground, small holes opened below them making them disappear.
When they exploded a few seconds later, they were already gone so deep that the explosion was completely muffled by the ground, sounding more like farts. Everything happened so fast that Ragh'Ash didn't even have the time to notice the threat.
Chapter 363 Unexpected Helper Part 2
'Seriously, what the f*ck is that?' Lith inwardly cursed at the worm. 'There is no mention of such a creature in all the bestiaries I own. It doesn't seem an Evolved Monster but it's not dumb either. How strong is its core?'
'Unknown. I can't see the mana core just like I can't see its life force. I can barely pinpoint its location by following the anomaly it creates in my mana sense. Either that creature has special abilities or that black stuff covering its body it's not skin but a jamming device.' Solus replied.
'This means I'm not just facing a shaman, but also another unknown enemy. There's no way someone that can't even use dimensional magic has tamed or equipped the worm.' Lith was seriously considering to give up on the crystal.
Whoever had the talent and the means to shield something from Solus's senses had to be at least as good as her maker. Even if he managed to slay the beast, its owner wasn't an opponent he could take lightly.
Ragh'Ash completed her chant opening a channel between her and the crystal. Now she could not only access to all of its powers without the need of the physical contact, but also could use the crystal's energy like it was her own.
It was a desperate move for desperate times. The longer the channel was open, the more likely Ragh'Ash was to die from mana overload. Until then, she would have access to an almost infinite supply of mana.
The first thing she did, was to wrap the holy crystal with the strongest materials the ground had to offer. That way she could completely disregard its safety and focus on the demon.
'Incoming from your 4!' Solus warned Lith, who darted upwards just in time to avoid the worm's charge. It moved so fast, causing only such small trembling in the ground s mouth that without her warning Lith would have never noticed it.
The worm's mouth was wide open, which allowed Solus's spirit magic to feed it a generous serving of Fire Roots, Black Lotus' petals, broken lightning wands, and a sprinkle of green pepper.
As someone who had studied Alchemy during the last four years, she knew exactly what kind of ingredients were never to be mixed. Unless, of course, one wanted to trigger an uncontrollable chain reaction that resulted in the death of anyone in a ten meters (33') radius.
The first explosion made the worm squirm in mid aid, messing with its landing. It hit the ground with the same grace of a wet sock before starting to dance around like a firecracker. Smoke, blood, and teeth came out non stop as the explosions grew in frequency and power.
Lith had barely the time to grin at his partner's brilliance when Ragh'Ash raised her hand and unleashed a barrage of spells like Lith had never witnessed before.
The ground below him shot rock spikes as big as an arm, the air surrounding him became so cold that frost formed over Lith's clothes as a hail of fireballs and a lightning storm struck in every direction leaving him no way out.
The shaman's glowing eyes meant she too was using Life Vision. He couldn't Blink recklessly, if Ragh'Ash understood how to predict his exit points Lith's dimensional magic would become useless.
When Lith disappeared from her sight, Ragh'Ash turned around, expecting him being right behind her. She had no idea the spell had a limited range, so she assumed the worst and reacted accordingly. Yet Lith wasn't there.
He was nowhere to be found to be precise.
Since the worm's stone hide hid it so well from Life Vision and mana sense, Lith had Blinked behind it to use it as his cover. The worm was still writhing as it coughed smoke and blood, yet the creature refused to die.
The final explosion was strong enough to crack its shell, but not even that seemed to be able to put it down. The worm emitted high pitched noises that gave Lith the creeps. They sounded too similar to the cries of a newborn.
<"there you="" are!"=""></"there> Ragh'Ash yelled when the crystal revealed to her the demon's position. She didn't care for the worm, resuming the assault while calling forth another lightning from the sky at the same time.
'How can she have so much mana?' Lith inwardly cursed before Blinking away.
'The cold is so intense that if not for my natural resistance and the Skinwalker armor I would be already hallucinating.'
'It's the crystal.' Solus explained while keeping an eye on the worm. 'It's like she has a cyan and a purple core. The good news is that her body is already collapsing from the exertion. The bad news is that, at this rate, you will die before her, so please do something!'
Each Blink brought Lith higher until the rock spikes couldn't threaten him anymore. His survival took priority compared to giving away how Blink worked. Luckily, he had mastered true dimensional magic, so Lith could Blink while weaving another spell.
Ragh'Ash aimed the natural lightning for Lith's exit point, timing the spell so that he wouldn't have the time for another Blink. It was the flash accompanying the thunderbolt that revealed her the truth.
Its light was reflected on a throwing dagger near her feet. It wasn't an enchanted weapon, so not even Life Vision could detect it. She didn't have the time to wonder how long it had been there that her world turned upside down.
Lith was exactly where she had predicted, but the lightning wasn't. It was about to hit her instead. After each Blink, Lith had negatively charged himself to repel the incoming lightning and positively charged his set of throwing daggers while Solus spread them in a diagonal line with spirit magic.
Only a small part of the thunderbolt struck him, but thanks to earth fusion Lith managed to escape from the clutches of death. All the remaining energy followed the path of least resistance Lith had created, aiming for that last dagger Ragh'Ash had just noticed.
'Physics rocks!' Lith thought as he fell to the ground.
Fear froze the shaman to the point she couldn't even close her eyes. Yet much to both magicians' surprise, she survived. The worm that they had left for dead came out of the ground in front of her and shielded Ragh'Ash with its body.
Not even the black armor could resist the power of nature. The cracks caused by Solus's Alchemical cocktail expanded until it was destroyed, revealing the creature inside.
It was a Rock Worm, a magical beast pretty common inside underground dungeons.
'What the heck is it doing here and why did it save the shaman?' Lith inwardly cursed at the beast.
Ragh'Ash didn't have the time to rejoice. Her body was very close to collapse and for some reason, her strongest weapon had been turned against her. To make things worse, her pet had fallen too.
She had no choice but to use her last trump card. Every time a shaman used the holy crystal, their bond became stronger. The crystal gave them mana and they gave it bits of their life in return.
An expert shaman could feel those bits and use them to access the memories of the past shamans. It wasn't even a spell, it was simply another kind of exchange, a bit of life of a bit of the past lives of others.
Ragh'Ash could only hope that one of her ancestors knew a spell capable of killing the demon and that accessing it wouldn't cost her sanity.
Chapter 364 The Master Part 1
Ragh'Ash's mind delved inside the crystal, only to find her own dreams and ambitions. Then, she went deeper, finding more and more shards of light representing the memories of others. She ignored those which belonged to her mentor.
Ragh'Ash's teacher wasn't even a real shaman, she had been so weak that Ragh'Ashkilled her as soon as she came of age. Most of the lives she explored were equally insignificant.
'May the gods below eat their useless souls! How long has it been since there was a shaman rather than a crystal bearer?' Ragh'Ash thought. In her desperation, she had forgotten that shamans were rare.
What she was attempting required time, but that was something she didn't have.
Lith was sick and tired of this fight. The moment Ragh'Ash stopped her movements, he cast one of the tier five Battle Mage spells he had mastered with true magic.
'As long as she has that damned crystal, she has the mana core advantage. Yet despite her use of very powerful incantations, they were all low tier ones. If I can't beat her with quantity, I'll go with quality.'
Lith had prepared Burial Ground from the moment he noticed the thundercloud. Burial Ground was a versatile spell that could be used for both offense and defense. The reason he had yet to employ it was Ragh'Ash's ability to neutralize the elements.
Powerful spells were very delicate, the slightest imbalance in the world energy would render them little more than a waste of mana. Luckily, the shaman spaced out long enough for the spell to take form and make the crystal's siphoning ability useless.
Several pillars erupted from the ground at once, surrounding the orc. Each one of them kept growing in height, while countless stone spikes emerged from the pillars and extended in every direction. Some attempted to stab the shaman, while others connected with other spikes, forming new pillars that generated even more spikes.
Thanks to Life Vision, Ragh'Ash could see that the spell was a hybrid of earth and darkness magic. The stone pillars were a conduit for the dark energies, so even standing close to them was enough to sap her life force.
'Damn demon! I found the spell I needed only to not have the opportunity to use it.' Ragh'Ash thought. She had no time to focus on elaborate spells, the cage was getting smaller by second. Dodging the ever increasing number of spikes required her full focus.
She released a barrage of low level spells to make Burial Grounds crumble, but the darkness magic also acted as a shield, weakening her spells before they even hit. The cage repaired itself almost as soon as it was damaged.
The only thing that could counter a high tier spell was another high tier spell. Ragh'Ash's body was soon pierced by the spikes, that kept growing and ravaging her internal organs.
In a last ditch effort, she tried to make the crystal detonate, but it was too late. The exertion from using spells non stop had taken its toll. Even though her mind was still alive her body refused to obey. Her mana stopped flowing, her mana core had already started turning grey.
Her will extended no further than her thoughts while the cage shrank until all that remained of the orc shaman was mincemeat. As soon as Ragh'Ash died, Lith changed into his army uniform and stored the crystal inside Solus's pocket dimension along with the pieces of the Rock Worm's black armor.
Lith knew it was just a matter of time before someone arrived, he was preparing for the final act of his masquerade. He only kept the Gatekeeper outside, since unlike the clothes, he could make it disappear without anyone noticing.
"Don't play dumb with me." Lith said waking up the Rock Worm that was still unconscious after being hit by the lightning.
"If you were a human, I would have already killed you, but since you are a magical beast, I'll give you a chance. I know you can speak. Tell me what you're doing here and why you tried to kill me."
"If I do as you say, will you let me go?" The Worm asked.
"If you don't, I'll kill you right now." Lith replied.
'Solus, how strong is this thing?'
'Pretty strong for a magical beast. Its core is cyan, but what's more interesting is that it also has a dormant black core.' Solus warned Lith.
'Just like the Wyvern we faced at Xenatos.' Without the black armor, she was able to use her mana sense again. Her findings shocked her and sent a shiver down Lith's spine.
He immediately used air magic to make the beast float, afraid it could suck the life force of the plants to heal itself with its black core.
"I'm here for the crystal. My Master sent me to retrieve it." The Worm replied hoping to buy enough time to find a chance to escape.
"Otherwise I wouldn't have wasted my time with filthy orcs nor would I have saved that incompetent shaman time and time again."
"Your words make no sense". Lith replied. "Why didn't you just steal the crystal from the beginning if your aim was just to take possession of it?"
"Each of the Fallen races has a unique trait. The orcs have the ability to manipulate mana crystals as no one else can."
"Fallen races?" Lith asked. It was the first time he had heard such a term.
"Fallen races, monsters, lost children of Mogar. Different names for the same thing. Failures." The beast explained with a hint of rage in its voice.
"My Master has long researched for a way to imitate their talent to no avail. Even interrogating shamans proved to be useless. Their superstitions are so strong that it makes them immune to any kind of torture.
"So, after several failures, the Master decided to change his approach. First, I found a tribe with a shaman and a powerful crystal. Then, I followed the crystal and applied a marking spell to it.
"Every time the shaman used its power, the marking spell would leave behind a trace for the Master to follow. At that point, all that was left to do was to force the shaman to use all of her abilities before retrieving the crystal.
"It took me several years to trigger enough tribal wars to collect the data I needed, yet I never managed to force the shaman to use her most powerful abilities. At least until now."
"The Soul Exchange that Ragh'Ash used was the last piece of the puzzle, something only a skilled Awakened orc can use. I can't believe that after all my efforts to groom her and assure her survival, it was her idiocy that doomed us both."
The Master had given the Worm the black armor to make it impervious to magic and almost untraceable.
Almost.
The Master had no idea something like mana sense existed, nor that his minion would suffer so much damage that not even its black core could heal it quickly enough for it to matter.
"Who is this master?" Lith asked.
The Rock Worm wasn't a zealot. The Master had proved incapable of making it evolve and refused to turn it into an Abomination because it was still too weak. The creature owed nothing to their cause.
Chapter 365 The Master Part 2
'If I tell the Awakened the truth, that the Master is just a human, he'll have no reason to spare me. I have to bluff my way out.' The creature thought.
"The Master is a powerful undead. They are watching us even now! Kill me and they'll send their legions to avenge my death."
'Solus?' Lith asked.
'Nothing.' She replied after a deep scan with all her senses. She even analyzed the single elements composing the world energy which gave her a terrible headache.
'No trace of spells or even of other anomalies in the area. I can faintly see someone incoming though. I don't know the others, but one of them is Tepper.'
Lith pierced the Worm with the Gatekeeper, infusing it with enough darkness magic to turn it into dust.
'Why did you kill it? It could have still talked.' Solus asked.
'It would have just fed us more lies and we have no more time.'
The Sergeant and several mages arrived a minute later and circled around the area looking at the traces of the battle. Before joining them, Lith Warped Solus under his bed, just to be safe.
He had no idea if they would believe him, nor what tools the army had at its disposal to search him for dimensional items.
TThey were all surprised to see Lith in one piece and when he reported that the crystal was gone, their worries turned into suspicion. Lith told them most of the truth.
He only belittled his wounds, which Solus had replicated on the uniform before leaving, and explained how after the shaman's defeat, the Worm had swallowed the crystal before disappearing underground.
"Do you have any proof of your claim?" An elder mage asked him with a stone cold voice.
"I only have some pieces of its armor. They fell off when I tried to stop it with a barrage of spells." Lith handed them a black stone that left the mages stunned.
"This is Darwen!" One of them exclaimed. "It's a rare material capable of nullifying most detection arrays and resisting magic. How much did you get?"
"Not much. Just the pieces inside my ring." The rest was inside the pocket dimension, but judging by their smiling faces it was still quite a catch.
'Damn! I should have kept more.' Lith inwardly cursed at himself. 'The silver lining is that they will be more inclined to believe me now.'
The elder mage took Lith's ring as he stared in his eyes.
"Young man, this ring is an army property. We can break your imprint and check its content anytime. Do you realize that both the crystal and the Darwen you found both belong to the Kingdom? That you, as a Cadet, are one of its servants?"
Lith nodded.
"If we find you in possession of stolen items, you'll be charged with treason. Are you sure you don't want to amend your story?"
Lith nodded again.
"This is preposterous!" Tepper objected. "He risked his life for the unit. Without him, my Cadets and I would be dead. The Kingdom would have lost good soldiers, the crystal, and the Darwen. How can you doubt his word?"
The elder mage sighed.
'Commander Berion is right. The Sergeant is a naïve idiot and the Cadet can't be trusted.'
"Greed blinds even the best of us. Especially mages." The elder replied before casting a diagnostic spell that examined the content of Lith's body, with particular care for his mouth, stomach, and anus. They were the places where thieves hid their dimensional items.
After that, he chanted a short spell that broke Lith's connection to the dimensional ring and examined its contents. As the Cadet had stated, there were only the corpses of a few orcs and some Darwen pieces.
Sergeant Tepper looked at the elder with a fiery gaze as the mage's cheeks turned red from embarrassment.
"I'm sorry for doubting your word, Cadet Lith, but I had to be sure."
"No harm, no foul." Lith replied.
'My paranoia is once again the MVP.' He inwardly sighed in relief.
After they returned to the camp, Lith was stripped and searched again with the diagnostic spell. Only after interrogating him for an hour did they finally let him go. He never contradicted himself, because most of what he said was true.
When he returned to the barracks, the other cadets gave him the salute before extending their hands.
'Why do people only like me after I kill a lot of bad guys?' Lith thought.
'Because that's the only moment when it seems like you care for them .' Solus sarcastically replied after reuniting with him.
"How did you kill so many orcs?"
"How did you defeat the shaman?"
Were just some of the questions he had to reply to over and over for the rest of the day as the story of his battle become public knowledge. From the next day, his life returned to normal.
Until the end of the boot camp, he managed to outperform his peers without engendering any more ill will.
Him being a mage was a secret, so of course soon everyone knew about it. It made him pretty popular, especially with the female cadets, but not for the reason he hoped for.
The greatest deterrent against relationships in a boot camp were pregnancy and the lack of contraceptive potions. A mage was an obvious solution to the problem. At the end of every day, Lith would find a line of people asking for his help.
'I feel like a condom machine. All the work and none of the fun.' He thought multiple times, yet he never refused. It was a small price to pay to be universally appreciated.
Before the graduation ceremony, every cadet received two days of leave to reconnect with their families before being moved according to their career choices, if they had one, of course.
When Lith returned home, his family welcomed him like he was returning from war rather than from the camp. They weren't used to not seeing him for such a long period of time. Lith spent every day and evening with his relatives, especially with his little brother and his niece.
In those six months they had grown a lot and he felt he had lost so much. During the nights, he worked on a mana crystal and studied the Darwen he had recently acquired.
'Just like darkness energy is entropy and destruction, light magic is life and order. It allows giving shape even to what is shapeless.' Lith thought while creating small holograms of the monsters he had faced while telling fairy tales to the kids.
Sometimes he even projected for his family some of the animated movies he still remembered from Earth. He made up the voices with air magic. The holograms were all in shades of grey, the background was non-existent yet every time they had guests, they would always ask for an encore.
Chapter 366 Career Change Part 1
Two nights weren't enough for a complete study of Lith's spoils of war, but they were more than enough for a preliminary analysis.
"If the violet crystal has something special, I'm not able to notice it." Lith said while storing it inside his tower.
"Guess both the Sergeant and the Rock Worm were right. The gemstone per se is just like any other, it's the orcs who have the talent to use it in odd ways. This leaves us with a dilemma.
"Even though Invigoration couldn't help me uncovering the crystal's secrets, it allowed me to sense the marking liquid this so called 'Master' applied to the crystal. This means I have to choose if to cut the magic gemstone into smaller parts and use it for my creations, or to keep it as it is to learn about the orc's way with the crystals.
"The two things are mutually exclusive. If I cut the gemstone, I'll also destroy the markings in the process."
"I don't think it's much of a dilemma." Solus replied. "Even if you manage to successfully cut the crystal, there's nothing we can use it for. Violet magic crystals are too rare to waste them on trivial enchanted items. It has to be a masterpiece.
"Even if we had the materials to make one, going public with a new weapon empowered by violet crystals right after the orc accident would be like putting a target on your chest, back, and nether regions.
"We have to let things calm down before doing anything. So, until we really need it to craft an artifact, let's keep it as it is."
"Agreed." Lith nodded with a sigh, adding the violet crystal to his collection of precious but still useless things. It consisted of the dryad's gifts, the various corpses he collected over the years, and the weapons he robbed from his opponents.
"I wish this was a video game. A timely chain quest would pop up and give me what I need the moment I need it."
The Darwen had proven to be a nasty client. To shield its user from detection techniques, it required to cover them entirely. It was very hard, but also brittle, making it easy to crack.
That was the reason why the shell protecting the Rock Worm was so rough. A more precise refining process would most likely cause it to shatter. It would also require a very powerful magic. Being the Darwen resistant to magic, even analyzing it had been a hassle.
"The best use I can find for it is to turn Darwen into fine dust and then coat some kind of ninja suit with it. I could save it for stealth missions since it's useless in battle. If only I could enchant it to improve its performances…"
"Not even the 'Master' could, so I think it's better to bide our time and not waste the Darwen on a pet project either." Solus really wanted to cheer him up, but didn't know what to say.
Even though he could now return home more often, leaving his family again made Lith sad. During his past life, the only thing he had ever wanted was to be a good brother to Carl and a good uncle to his brother's children.
Now he finally had the opportunity to live his dream, yet he had to leave it behind to pursue his new goals.
'If I take a break now, I'll no longer be the Kingdom's golden boy.' He thought.
'Now it's my best chance to access all the libraries and databases that back when I was just a commoner were forbidden to me. With the Association backing me and a badge from the army, there shouldn't be much outside my grasp.'
Lith Warped back inside his room. Aran and Leria were waiting for him right behind his door, knocking on it with their little hands.
"What are you doing up this early?" Lith asked them while pinching his nose to keep a headache at bay. All that noise was making him cranky. Mostly because he hadn't slept in a week plus studying the Darwen had required multiple uses of Invigoration in a row.
"Are you really leaving today, uncle Lith?" Leria asked staring at him with her big, puppy, chestnut eyes.
"Yes, right after breakfast." It was already the morning of the third day, he was expected to get back before lunchtime, which still left him a few hours. A wave of Lith's hand made plates and cutlery float on the table while steaming hot food came out of his pocket dimension.
The whole family was reunited for his return, even Tista had interrupted her travels to meet her big brother.
"Can't you stay here one more day? Pretty please?" How Aran had managed to have blue eyes was a mystery to Lith. Both the kids were beautiful and healthy. They would rarely get sick. Lith wondered if it depended on their parents having received his special treatment.
Leria had blonde hair with shades of black, just like her mother Rena, while Aran had the family trademark dark brown hair. They were both so small Lith could easily keep them on his lap at the same time.
"No, I can't. I'm really sorry." Lith replied. He then snapped his fingers, producing with air magic a jingling sound to alert the rest of the family that the meal was ready.
"I'll return as soon as I can. In the meantime, I've prepared a present for you." Lith gave them what looked like a Rememberer each. It was an egg shaped recording device, used to capture important moments in the lives of those rich enough to afford them.
The ones Lith had forgemastered, instead of projecting real events, were able to replay the kids' favorite fairy tale. Aran's was the adventure of Forgemaster Lith Jones and the last crucible. Leria preferred the story of Battle Mage Solus Van Helsing, the kick ass vampire slayer.
"You should have given them the Projector just before your departure." Rena scolded him. "The food will become cold before they get tired of it."
"It's unlikely." Lith shrugged. "The magic crystal I used only allows for one use every few hours. It will teach them moderation."
The children's happiness was as big as their disappointment when the Projector finished its tale and refused to play it again. After the breakfast ended, Lith hugged every member of his family before taking his leave.
"Take care, little brother." Rena said. "Always remember that no matter how many bad things you'll see out there, this house will always be the place you belong to. If you ever need our support, you'll find us here."
"Do whatever you need to return home safe." Raaz whispered in Lith's ear. "Your mother can't bear to lose another son."
Lith didn't understand his father's words until Elina asked him to bend down to caress his face.
"I know it's stupid of me after all these years, but if you ever meet Trion, tell him to come home. I just need to know he is all right." Her voice was almost broken.
'Is she really afraid that I'll disappear too?' The pain in Elina's words shocked Lith.
The moment he left home, his communication device appeared in his hand and Lith started to call in some favors. He arrived at the boot camp early, with plenty of time left to change into his uniform and make final preparations.
Chapter 367 Career Change Part 2
When the mail arrived, everyone rushed to open their own envelope to discover their final scores. Most rejoiced, but some cried in despair. Among the girls, only Nhilo had been evaluated fit to become a soldier.
The other two and Liwell were forced to choose between becoming members of the administrative department or return to their civilian life. The rest of the unit had received a passing grade. Vipli and Nhilo were the only ones promoted to Non Commissioned Officers.
Nobody was surprised when Lith's grade was confirmed to be an M. What unsettled him was that, while for the others it was required to report to Sergeant Tepper, Lith had been summoned to Commander Berion's office.
Aside from his score, the letter didn't report any further detail.
"Don't worry, I'm sure there's a good reason for this." Vipli tried to reassure Lith. "It would make no sense making me an NCO and keeping you as a Private."
"Thanks. I hope you are right." Lith patted Vipli's shoulder before going to the Commander's Office.
'If I have to spend a year and a half starting from scratch, I might as well quit and they know it.' Lith thought.
'What could have gone wrong? Did I fail the psychological evaluation? Either that or I'm being punished for the crystal's disappearance. I can't think of any other reason to kick me out with such an underhanded ruse.'
Lith's paranoia once again took the wheel, painting himself into a corner before he could even reach Berion's door.
"Welcome, Mage Verhen. I didn't expect you so soon." The Commander's polite manners didn't surprise Lith.
'If he knows my family name, then he probably wants to avoid me making a scene.' He thought.
Commander Berion was a man in his early thirties. He was almost as tall as Lith, standing 1.8 (5'11") meters tall with pitch black hair and eyes. His pale blue uniform could barely contain his muscular body, giving each of his movements an impression of strength.
Lith gave him a salute, which the Commander returned before inviting him to sit down.
"Let's get straight to the point, Mage Verhen." Lith didn't like the Commander's flat tone, nor the fact Berion kept referring to him as a civilian mage.
"You are an outstanding individual. Alas, you are far from perfect. Your performances are controversial at best. You didn't develop any kind of bond with the members of your unit nor with your commanding officer."
The Commander handed Lith several complaints about him filed by the other Cadets and even by Tepper during the past months.
'I should have let them die in those woods.' Lith inwardly thought in outrage.
"Your psychological evaluation says you are emotionally detached and manipulative. In the light of all the circumstances presented to me, I can't make you an officer. You are unfit to lead even a small unit."
Lith gritted his teeth, waiting for the final blow.
"At the same time, you have broken every record of this and many other camps. You also risked your life to save your unit when you could have just run away. No one would have blamed you for leaving them for dead in such an impossible situation.
"Your bravery earned you gratitude, admiration, and provided the army with plenty of materials for our R&D department." This time the Commander handed to Lith commendation letters from the Sergeant and his peers, asking Berion to ignore their previous complaints.
"This is why I'm promoting you to first Lieutenant."
"I thought you said I'm unfit to lead." The sudden turn of events left Lith in a daze.
"You sure are. Yet without a proper rank, you wouldn't even get a proper meal, let alone the clearance level necessary for the jobs I have been allowed to offer you."
The Commander steepled his fingers.
"Based on your evaluation, you are a perfect candidate for our secret services. I won't lie to you. It's a very hard job and a lifelong one at that. If you decide to accept, there will be no option for retirement or quitting. The only way out is feet first."
'Black ops squad, uh?' Lith thought. 'No way. I would be constantly monitored, either by enemies or allies, and would have no freedom of movement. The army is a tool for my ends, not the other way around.'
"I'm honored but I have to refuse, Sir. I don't think such a job would allow me to pursue my magical research nor to have a family of my own." Lith lied through his teeth. He would rather die than marry and have children.
Berion nodded without showing one bit of surprise.
'Always the family man, just like his file reported.' The Commander inwardly sighed. 'It was worth a shot.'
"Then I'm sorry to say that the only positions available to you are as a member of the Knight's Guard or the Rangers. My hands are tied."
Lith knew everything about the Knight's Guard. Phloria had talked about her father's unit until Lith's ears bleed. Solving crimes and protecting Royal Constables wasn't an alluring job. Lith would rather work for the Mage Association instead of being ordered about all day long for the rest of his life.
"Tell me more about the Rangers." Lith replied, making Berion smirk for a split second.
"The Rangers are an elite force, entrusted with great powers and responsibilities. Don't let the name fool you. It has nothing to do with hunting game or patrolling borders.
"Their duty is to travel through the Kingdom, to protect isolated communities from all kinds of threats, and to keep in check the monsters' population. If you accept, you will be assigned a vast area that you'll need to know like the back of your hand.
"If nobles abuse their authority in rural areas, where there are no mages or army members, your duty will be to uphold the law. If monsters infest a region, you'll have to get rid of them before they can swarm a populated area.
"Also, there are lots of no man's lands, where people settle in without paying their due taxes to the Kingdom or even respecting its laws. If you find such villages, they can only be offered two choices. To submit or die.
"Organized crime is already a plague. The last thing we need is a criminal country inside of the Country."
"Would it be the same region until the end of my service?" Lith asked. No matter how big an area was. Once he finished exploring it, Lith would turn into nothing more than a baby sitter.
"No, it would change after two or three months. Elite doesn't mean immune to bribery. Nobody watches the watchers, so they have to be rotated. Depending on how fast you work, you may even have free time. Rangers are allowed to go home and use Warp Gates, but their job is subject to scrutiny."
"I think Ranger would be the most suitable position for me, Sir."
"Are you sure?" Berion still needed to give Lith the final details.
"It's a very vexing duty. Since they have access to communication amulets, magic, and Warp Gates, Rangers act alone, unless they deem reinforcements are required. Prolonged isolation can take a huge toll on the mind."
Lith inwardly smiled at those words.
'With Solus by my side, I'm never truly alone. No partner also means no witness. I can do what I want, take whatever I want and nobody would ever know.'
"Affirmative, Sir. Before starting active duty, I'd need your help with one thing."
Chapter 368 Brotherly Loathe Part 1
Regharos city's region Boot Camp
The Cadet's graduation ceremony was an event celebrated not only by the new members of the Griffon Kingdom's army, but also by their commanding officers.
Finding diamonds in the rough and helping promising recruits to overcome their limitations was one of the most common ways for a Drill Sergeant to rack up merits. The success or failure of their Cadets could change their careers.
Trion Proudstar was still recovering from his clash with Phloria Ernas. She had kept her word. Neither she nor her family had made a move against him, but the army wasn't as forgiving.
Phloria was considered one of the most outstanding young officers. She had yet to fail an important mission and most of the soldiers she trained had become members of elite units.
Back when she was still a Cadet, Trion had done everything he could to make her flunk.
Now that their roles were reversed, every success Phloria achieved made him the object of harsh reprimands and contemptuous looks. To his superiors, Trion had failed to recognize her value. The more she rose in the ranks, the bigger the stain on his personal file became.
Trion's only source of relief was the camaraderie from his fellow Sergeants. They knew about his brother and understood his grief. Most of them came from messed up families and each had their own burden.
Making a stupid mistake wasn't an issue. As long as Trion was willing to learn from it, he would have their full support. The end of the semester also meant that they could finally relax and enjoy a slow meal.
The mess hall was filled with voices telling the most ridiculous anecdotes about their own Cadets. Spring recruits were considered the worst batch, since it usually consisted of nobles or lazy youths that had no idea what to do with their lives.
"This Cadet I had, Revkin, he was really a piece of work." Trion was bantering about his latest success. "Rough and undisciplined, but a real soldier to the core. The harder you taught him the faster he learned…"
He was about to tell his friends about how he had recommended Revkin for the rank of Lance Corporal, when an eerie feeling crawled up his skin. It was almost the end of the summer, so the climate was still hot, yet Trion felt a knot in his stomach.
It was a sensation he had never forgotten, like the cold drafts that plagued his room during winter when he was still a kid.
"Why suddenly so silent?" Asked Beligros, one of Trion's closest friends when he saw him anxiously look at the Mess Hall's entrance.
The answer walked through the door just a few seconds later, donning the deep green of the Rangers and the rank of First Lieutenant on his sleeves.
"By the Great Mother." More than one voice said while he passed in front of their tables. Most Drill Sergeants checked Lith out, envying whoever had been lucky enough to be his commanding officer.
Everything about how he moved and wore the uniform told them he had just graduated. Cooking up an officer right off a Cadet was usually a career-maker event. Some of the female Sergeants checked him out for less noble reasons.
It had taken Lith quite an effort to find Trion in the myriad of Boot Camps across the whole Griffon Kingdom. To get access to the right one without an official reason had cost him owing some favors. There wasn't much his connections could do.
Lith's influence outside the Distar Marquisate was almost none, yet it was a price he was happy to pay for his mother's sake. He had never realized how much suffering Trion's absence had caused Elina, otherwise he would have hunted his brother down years ago.
"Sergeants." Lith said as he gave them a salute after reaching Trion's table. It was unusual for an officer to salute NCOs first, but being freshly promoted Lith was paying them the respect their rank and seniority deserved.
All of Trion friends were pleasantly impressed by the courtesy the giant was showing them, so they stood up and returned the salute. All but Trion. His knees felt weak as the knot in his stomach was quickly moving up to his throat.
The scene in front of him was right out of his worst nightmare.
"What are you doing here?" Trion asked using sheer willpower to look into Lith's eyes as he braced for the impact.
"We need to talk." Lith's gaze wasn't angry nor menacing. His tone was flat, like he was just asking for directions in an unknown city.
"What are you doing, man?" Beligros whispered while trying to pull Trion up.
"He may be as green inside as he is outside, but he's still a superior officer and yours is a clear act of insubordination."
Trion wanted to reply, but his jaw was clenched so hard he couldn't speak. Then, the nightmare became reality.
"No need for formalities, Sergeant Beligros. After all, Trion and I are brothers." The whole Mess Hall stood up at those words, while Beligros turned pale knowing his disrespectful words had been heard.
'Dammit, I was just trying to make Trion move. Hope this guy doesn't hold a grudge' He thought.
"What do you want?" Trion replied with a hoarse voice. Whatever it was, he wanted for it to end quickly. He could almost hear the thoughts of all his peers, making cruel comparisons between the two brothers.
Lith was the tallest man in the room with his 1.83 (6') while Trion barely reached the average height of 1.65 (5'5"). To make things worse, he wasn't a scrawny kid anymore. Lith had the build one would expect from a veteran of an elite unit, not from a recruit.
Also, both his rank straight after the graduation and him being part of the Rangers were big tells for all those present. They meant he was a mage. Otherwise no matter how talented a Cadet was, being promoted above the rank of Corporal right after a Boot Camp was impossible.
"It's about our mother. She still worries about you. Do you mind telling me why in two years and a half you never bothered returning home or at least writing a letter?" The room fell silent. Lith was different from how Trion had pictured him.
Trion had always told them that his family had abandoned him, so hearing about a worried mother was mind-blowing news.
"Do you really want me to believe that she cares for me? After ignoring me for years, giving all her love and attention to her little, perfect son?" Trion's words oozed poison.
"Look, I know we never went along." Lith sighed, yet his brother's accusations left him unfazed. He didn't care for Trion's grievances. For all those years, he had believed him dead.
'What sort of world is it where you can't even trust assassins? During the plague, they threatened me to kill him unless I surrendered, yet here we are.'
"Neither of us deserves a mother like Elina and you know it. Don't let your feelings towards me cloud your judgment. She deserves better."
Chapter 369 Brotherly Loathe Part 2
"Is it true?" Trion asked.
"Yes, she is really worried about you. Mom just wants to know that you are…"
"Not that!" Trion stood up, lashing out the insecurities that he had left festering in the last six months.
"Is what that Ernas wench told me true? That everyone has forgotten about me? That I now have a niece and a little brother? That both of them were named after you?"
Lith needed a split second to understand who the 'Ernas wench' was. A Drill Sergeant couldn't get close to Jirni, unless she was investigating them. Which left Phloria as the only possible answer.
Lith clenched his fist, yet his tone remained polite.
"Rena stopped considering you a brother after you never returned from your graduation. She couldn't forgive you for making mom cry like that. Tista wrote you off the family list ever since you and Orpal said all those things about her.
"As for dad, he never talks about you. I don't think he hates you, Trion. More like he has lost all hopes. We do have a niece, Leria, and a little brother, Aran. Leria is the only one named after me."
On Mogar, it was custom to name a child with the same initial letter of the most esteemed member of the family as a good omen.
"Well, I guess it had to be expected. A humble Sergeant is no match for an almighty magician!" Trion's anger almost drove him insane. To the point he barely realized he was discussing family matters in public.
"I can't believe Rena sucked up to you that much! What did you give her in exchange for it?"
"Nothing." Lith's voice was losing its kindness and becoming colder by the word.
"She did it because I gave her a home, I protected both her old and new family, and because I delivered her firstborn. No one knew you became a Sergeant, simply because you never bothered telling us."
"I…"
"You are done talking." Lith cut him short, throwing his communication amulet on the table. "Either you promise me in front of all these people that you will come back home, or I'll call our mother right now and you'll explain to her your reasons."
Trion and all those present looked at the amulet with greed. Such an enchanted item was worth a year of their pay.
Trion hesitated for a second. If he called Elina and she started crying, his reputation would be destroyed. He had always pictured her to his colleagues as a cold hearted woman who had eyes only for her most talented child.
Trion knew it was a blatant lie. He said it for the same reason he had never returned home. It was the way he had found to get back at a family from which he had always felt left out.
Trion hoped to make them feel guilty and worried about his disappearance. Most of all, he wanted to hurt Lith. Yet it was clear he had failed. Lith still looked at him as when they were still kids.
Lith had taught to his older brothers that the flip side of love wasn't hate. It was indifference. Even when he was little, he would stare at them without really seeing neither Orpal or Trion. Lith would talk to his brothers with the same tone he used for strangers.
Be it pelts or meat, he would never bring anything for them. Whenever they were hurt or ill, Lith never intervened unless their parents asked him to.
"I'll go back home as soon as I get a leave. You have my word."
"Good." Lith nodded. "One word of advice before our business is concluded. Our parents love you, so I won't meddle with your relationship. Same for Tista and Rena. They are grown-up women who can fend for themselves."
Lith stepped forward as his eyes changed from chestnut to yellow and his pupils were replaced by a red light.
"The children, however, are another story. If when I get back I find out you have been anything but a loving uncle and brother, I will end you." Lith remarked his last words by letting out a sliver of killing intent.
Or at least that was the intention. He was already tired and cranky before Trion started to insult everyone Lith cared about, so the sliver turned into a flood.
The Mess Hall's lights flickered several times as an unnatural shadow covered the windows, making everyone present think they had dozed off into a lucid nightmare. In the darkness they saw distorted reflections of themselves staring at them with hunger, some even experienced their ghastly touch.
The Sergeants were all veterans, yet they found themselves covered in cold sweat and with their weapons at hand. They were pointed against their imaginary enemies, except for those of Trion's friends which were aimed at Lith.
"At ease, Sergeants." Lith snapped his fingers, using both gravity and spirit magic to force them to lower their blades. "Or does that mean you are assaulting an officer?"
At those words, the weapons were either stored inside a dimensional item again or let go onto the ground.
***
Lith spent the rest of the afternoon back at his base. Commander Berion had let him choose his first destination. Lith cross-referenced the information he had collected from the army's database with those from the Mage Association.
'Aside from Necromancy, there's not much about the study of the nature of souls and how to manipulate them, but it's a start nonetheless.'
Lith thought. 'Too bad neither my merits nor my clearance level grants me access to most of the tomes I'm interested in.'Lith collected all the lore and legends about the regions he could choose from before leaving the base.
'Commander Berion granted me a full day of leave to solve the matter with Trion and make my decision. I'll use this time to go meet Kalla one last time before leaving. With all her connections with the undead community, she could give me advice about where to start my research.
'I could also ask her help to develop an undead empty shell for Solus. Two birds with one stone.' Lith took out from the pocket dimension his communication amulet.
The last time they met, the Wight had warned him she would be busy with her experiments to attain lichhood and asked Lith to not reach for her unless he was in dire need for help.
Kalla's rune was lit, hence her amulet wasn't inside a dimensional item. Yet she didn't reply if not after several attempts.
"Sorry to bother you, Kalla." Lith said when the channel was finally open. "I just need a few minutes of your time, then I'll leave you alone. I…"
"A few minutes might be all the time I have left, Scourge." Her voice was barely a whisper. "I've been trying to contact you for months. My experiments… I'm afraid my most recent failure will also be my last.
If you manage to reach my lair before it's too late, I'll help you to the best of my possibilities. I can't make any promises."
'Those b*stards!' Lith cursed at the army clerks. 'While I attended the Boot Camp, they didn't reply to any call aside those from my family and noble friends.'
The only silver lining in that situation was that Kalla lived in the forest outside the White Griffon. Thanks to the Camp's Warp Gate, Lith could reach her in less than a minute. The only problem was that he was already months late.
Chapter 370 Idiocy Part 1
Lith hadn't seen Kalla during the last three years, they just talked from time to time when her communication amulet appeared online. Lith understood how difficult the process of safely splitting one's core was and he thought that endangering his friend's life just for a social visit was beyond idiotic.
Once he reached the White Griffon, Lith asked the Headmaster to have his teacher ring back. He didn't have the time to fly around the forest searching for Kalla.
Albeit short, his meeting with Marth provided him some vital information.
"I never met Kalla the Wight after Balkor's attack. I honestly believed she had died by the hand of a Valor." Marth replied when Lith asked him about Kalla's whereabouts.
"I would love to contact Scarlett, but she left the White Griffon for good. We have a new Lord of the Forest, Sentar the Thunderbird."
'That's why Kalla needed my help.' Lith thought. 'With Scarlett gone, there is no elder Awakened one that could cure her. Light magic it's one of the hardest elements to master.'
Sentar had conflicting feelings about both Kalla and Lith. The former she considered an undead, which made Sentar reluctant to even stand in her presence. The latter had the stigma of Scarlett considering him a possible threat.
Yet Sentar remembered how her former leader had considered Kalla a close friend, as well as how much M'Rook and Protector liked Lith. She brought him to the Wight's quarters without asking questions.
When Kalla had mentioned a lair, Lith's mind had pictured some sort of natural network of caves, maybe a dungeon. A place riddled with corpses and undead, respectively the failures and successes of her research.
The entrance was an arch made of stone that led to an underground passage. It was the only part Lith had imagined right.
The moment he stepped inside, he thought to have entered a penthouse back on Earth. The room looked like an antechamber realized to allow Evolved Monsters to move without having to shapeshift.
Everything was oversized, from the corridors leading to the other rooms to the over four meters (13') high ceiling. The floor was smooth, with no imperfection nor stain visible.
'This isn't a natural cave at all. Someone carved everything out with earth magic.' Lith thought in surprise.
"Thank the gods you're here!" A giant mass of brown fur charged at Lith like a truck. Lith wasn't scared, he had recognized Nok's voice. The moment the Byk hit him, Lith realized how wrong he was.
Even with Nok's momentum, the impact was too weak. The fur was full of white streaks and now that they were close enough, Lith noticed several bald spots.
"Follow me." Nok bit Lith's left sleeve, tugging him forward without even waiting for a reply.
Lith exploited that contact to use Invigoration. Nok was now an adult Byk. His huge build was proof he had at least inherited his mother's physical strength and of how well fed he had been.
'What the heck has happened to him? I can't find any trace of disease or injury on Nok, yet his life force is as weak as when he was just a cub. Did he suffer from Kalla's experiments too or what?' Lith thought.
They passed through a series of rooms. Each one was bigger than Lith's house and filled with state of the art equipment for all kinds of magical research. There wasn't a single inch in any room that wasn't filled with books or magical protections to prevent a failed experiment from causing a cave in.
The Alchemy and Forgemaster labs almost made Lith turn green with envy.
'Where did Kalla find the money to afford all of this stuff? I thought she was interested in Necromancy, not crafting arts.' Solus jotted down everything they had seen, hoping to recreate most of the machinery once she reverted to her tower form.
Some devices were an improved version of what she was used to seeing in the White Griffon's departments.
When they reached their destination, Lith had no doubt it was a Necromancer's lab. Several glass tubes were lined up against the walls. Each one held a corpse floating into a translucent preserving liquid.
The floor and the ceiling were covered with magic circles similar to those Lith had found during his own research about souls in the army database. They had been carved in the stone with darkness magic. Their purpose was to prevent the mystical energies from dispersing.
In a way, Necromancy was similar to Forgemastering. Creating higher undead required a lot of mana and each corpse could only be used once. The magic circles increased the odds of success by saturating the atmosphere of darkness energy, making it easier for it to condense into a stable blood core.
Kalla lied in the middle of one of the oddest circles Lith had ever seen. Her body was lying still on the floor with most of her bones and muscles exposed. Her Evolved Monster form was partially undead, so she had no need to breathe.
The small shroud of darkness that covered part of her skull and abdomen proved she was still alive. Lith rushed to Kalla's side, noticing that one of her eye sockets was empty.
Only the one still covered by the darkness was lit by the red light of undeath.
"So you managed to arrive on time." Kalla noticed Lith's presence thanks to his smell. She was running on fumes. The sight was the first thing she had lost days ago.
"Don't talk. Save your strength and let me see if there's something I can do." Lith used Invigoration on her and discovered an unsettling anomaly. Just like Nok, her body was fit as a fiddle, yet her life force was fading away as they spoke.
"I stand corrected. Tell me what happened here, otherwise you'll die healthy."
"There's not much to say." Kalla replied. "I had reached the final steps of my research. My body is now able to withstand massive amounts of darkness energy without being destroyed and my mana core has been freed from its cage.
"All that was left was to split it into two perfect half and store one into a magic crystal I prepared beforehand. It took me months to adjust its wavelength to match the one of my core. The trickiest part was…"
"What happened?" Lith cut her short.
"The splitting of the mana core was a complete success. Alas, the removing part couldn't have gone worse. I underestimated the task and paid the price. I believed that becoming a Lich was just like any other greater Necromancy spell.
"The magic circles I prepared are perfect to contain darkness magic, but are otherwise useless. The moment I brought one of the two new cores outside my body, it disappeared like smoke, leaving behind only its darkness component.
"It forcefully attempted to fuse back with the remaining half of my mana core, but it was already in a critical condition. To trigger the split, I exposed both my body and core to tremendous stress. The sudden imbalance almost killed me.
"From that moment, I grew weaker by the day. I tried all the light spells I know to no avail."
Chapter 371 Idiocy Part 2
"Even Invigoration is useless. Healing magic repaired my body, but every bit of energy I spend is lost forever. The only reason I survived this long is that I modified one of the circles in a last ditch effort. Now it's supposed to hold all kinds of energies, but it does a poor job.
"I didn't know what's wrong with me, so I had to make it a makeshift jack of all trades."
"Okay, now unless you have something medically relevant to say, shut up and let me think." Lith replied.
"Sorry, it's just that after being alone for so long, talking to someone that can understand my research…"
"Mom, what part of shut up you didn't understand? The shut or the up?" Nok scolded her. Kalla's eye glowed in silent annoyance.
Lith had no idea what to do, so he used his diagnostic spells first and used Invigoration later. Once again according to his magic, aside from being on the verge of death, Kalla was fit as a fiddle.
'This doesn't make sense. It sounds like one of those "The procedure was a success but the patient died" jokes.' Lith thought. 'I have one last card to play.'
Lith then used the Scanner spell. It was the fulcrum of tier five healing magic, the art of perceiving and manipulating all kinds of life forces. He had already turned it into true magic, but had failed to find a way to integrate it with Invigoration.
Unlike Invigoration, Scanner revealed to Lith in what pitiful state Kalla was. Her life force had stopped flowing. For some reason, Kalla's body was unable to replenish its strength or assimilate any kind of external energy.
Even when Lith attempted to share with her part of his life force, it did her no good. She was dying because her own body was slowly consuming itself in order to survive.
Her abdomen was what worried him the most. A small portion of it was completely black. Scanner was unable to sense any life force coming from it, but that was supposed to be impossible.
Invigoration confirmed the initial evaluation: there was nothing wrong with her physical condition. A second Scanner also produced consistent results: Kalla's body was starving and part of it was already dead.
It was the first time that Lith's trump cards were at odds with one another.
'Why couldn't it be something simpler? Like waxing a gorilla or teaching a crab how to give the finger?' Lith thought for long about the problem, but neither he or Solus were able to find a solution.
"Did you get caught in the aftermath of the experiment too?" He asked Nok. Since their conditions were similar, maybe the Byk could be able to provide him more clues.
"What gave you such an idea?"
"You look like crap." Lith replied.
'How tactful of you.' Solus sneered. 'His mother is dying; you could at least be gentle.'
'I have no time for niceties. I need answers and I need them now.'
"Oh, this?" Nok stood on his hind legs while looking at his battered fur.
"This is no one's fault. Since mom got injured, I had no time for hunting so I have skipped a few meals. My sis too refused to leave her side. Her hunger is worse than mine because if she doesn't eat, she doesn't get thinner. She dies."
Nok pointed his snout to a pile of dirty rags lying in a corner. It was a sour note in the otherwise pristine room.
"You sister?" Lith had forgotten about Kalla's vampire daughter.
"Lith, this is Nyka. Nyka, Lith. He is an old friend of mine."
The dirty rags stood up, turning out to be a woman in her mid twenties. Dust and mud covered most of her naked body. Her hair was disheveled, making it look like a mop too old to be still of use.
Her skin was white as milk, and so were her eyes. They had no pupil or iris, yet Lith could feel her staring at him.
"Why is she naked?" Lith asked.
"Because beasts do not care if I wear clothes and humans try to kill me no matter my attire." Her voice was raspy like she had a sore throat. Her body was flaccid and her hair white with a tinge of yellow.
'Compared to her, Nana looked like she was in her prime.' Lith was disappointed. Vampires looked nothing like he expected them. Nyka reminded him of one of the witches from the MacBeth play.
"Can you please feed her, Scourge?" Kalla asked. "With Invigoration, you can get your life force back while if Nok weakens any further, his core could suffer permanent damage."
Lith took out a lot of food from his pocket dimension, allowing the Byk to feast to its stomach content for the first time in weeks.
"Well yes, but actually no." Lith replied. "I haven't slept in a week and during the last two days I was busy with experiments. If I feed her, I might not have enough energy left to heal you."
'If I understand the underlying cause of Kalla's sickness, of course.'
'You and your experiments!' Solus scolded him. 'How many times have I told you to sleep once every two days?'
'Do you have any idea how much time I would have wasted that way?'
"I understand." Kalla interrupted their telepathic quarreling. "I've lost track of the time so often that my children…"
"Mom, shut up!" Both Nok and Nyka yelled as one.
Lith checked Nok's condition with Invigoration and was happy to see his body regaining its strength.
'What could have possibly happened to make even Invigoration useless? Why does the life force that I give Kalla go to waste?' Lith kept wondering while he alternated the use of his breathing technique and Scanner.
'Maybe it's just a coincidence,' Solus pointed out. 'But don't you think it's odd that the black area Scanner detects is partially overlapped with the one where Invigoration locates Kalla's core?'
'It's no coincidence, just idiocy.' Lith replied.
'Whose idiocy?'
'Mine!' Lith inwardly cursed at himself.
"I know what's happening." He explained to Kalla.
"To split and move your mana core you have 'destroyed its cage'. Said cage is your own life force."
"It makes sense. Both success and failure required for me to die. My survival has been an unexpected accident." Kalla pondered.
"The damage you have caused has permanently altered the flow of your life force, making it unable to connect properly with the mana core. That's why Invigoration is useless. The world energy has no way of being passed to your body anymore."
"Can you fix it?" Mother and children asked in unison.
"If I was at full strength I'd answer 'probably'. In my current condition, I don't even know how long will it take for me to collapse from exhaustion. Repairing such huge damage near the mana core is a very delicate job. Can you hold on for a couple of hours?"
"I think I have another couple of minutes in me." The shadows enveloping Kalla's figure shrank while the light in her remaining eye started to flicker.
Chapter 372 Transplant Part 1
Cursing at both the army and his bad luck, Lith activated all of his Body Sculpting spells at once. He had modified the basic version learned at the academy into a true magic one with a few kinks of his own.
'The situation is bad. I have to alternate Invigoration and Scanner, otherwise one's readings will block the other's. Plus I have to fill the hole inside Kalla's abdomen fast. If I take my time as usual, she's as good as dead.'
In her attempt to achieve Lichhood, Kalla had damaged her life force, leaving a gaping hole that was slowly dissipating both her mana and life force. It also prevented her to use Invigoration since the mana would be drained by the hole.
Lith went all out from the start and conjured ten Chisels at once. The Chisels started to probe into the healthy life force. Kalla wasn't a slime but an Evolved Monster, which made her a unique living being.
'If she was a human, at least I'd know where to start. I have never studied a Wight's life force, dammit. It's completely different from what I have ever seen before.'
Watching at Kalla through Scanner was like trying to follow a rollercoaster constantly changing its physical form, going from liquid to solid without warning. Her partial undead nature made unnecessary for her to breathe or possess most organs.
On paper, it sounded really cool because it made her resistant to most kinds of energies. On the other hand, for Lith it was a nightmare. Her life force was a hybrid, composed of the physical form of her body and the shadow energy that enveloped her physique to connect the various parts.
Lith had to alter them both without killing her nor having enough time to study Kalla's unique nature properly. Even though Lith was in a rush, he needed to assess how bad the situation was, so he had the Chisels checking the edges of the black zone.
'The situation is worse than I expected.' Lith sighed. 'The life force around the damage has stabilized, but even just poking it's enough to make it bleed life force that disappears immediately. I can't collect nor save it. The hole is like a drain.
Solus, I may need your help.'
'There is not much I can do with a deep green core. I can barely use a tier five spell by borrowing some of your mana.' She replied.
'Don't worry, I just need you to use Spatula to collect the life force in case I make a mistake.'
Lith could have conjured and controlled more than ten chisels, but that would lessen his accuracy. Kalla was already with one foot in the grave, he couldn't afford to make any major slipup.
Manipulating life force was different from any other kind of spellcasting Lith had learned. It required to keep your focus at all times, exerting surgical control on your mana as well as on the patient's body.
In any other circumstance, Lith would have used Body sculpting to repair the damage by redistributing the life force without altering its flow. The problem was that the procedure was slow and Kalla had maybe a couple of minutes left.
'Since I don't have time, the fastest approach is to transplant life force from a healthy part to fill the hole. It will create a new one, but at least if I cover Kalla's mana core, her condition should improve.
If I'm right, it will buy me the time I need to fix her.'
First, Lith used one of his personal spells, Mould, to take a magical picture of the life force in Kalla's left paw in order to be able to restore it later once the emergency was resolved.
A paw was far from all vital organs, making it the perfect life force donor.
After he made sure that no permanent damage would befall his friend, the Chisels worked in unison on the left paw to remove the energy and brought it over the black area.
Even transplanting the life force of the same individual was a very delicate procedure. First, a Chisel had to disconnect each single block unit's connection to the paw. Then, a few Chisels would use mana strands to weave it to the healthy life force near the hole.
Lith had to be fast, otherwise the dead zone would drain the energy.
Lith hated that kind of procedure. It was more like butchering than surgery, so he also had to focus on minimizing the damages. For a control freak like him, it was a worst case scenario.
He could either rush things, maybe saving the patient, but leaving a mess behind that he would be forced to fix later, or bide his time and let Kalla die. Lith worked non stop, expending his mana so fast that he needed to use Invigoration right after the two minutes mark had passed.
Despite the situation, he sighed in relief.
'Since Kalla is still alive, I count that as a win.' Lith thought. The light in her left eye seemed to have stabilized, but she was still too weak to talk or simply she had no energy to waste.
Kalla could feel that something was wrong with her paw. She was progressively losing sensitivity. Yet she already had a hard time staying awake, so she considered it just another sign of her imminent doom.
The more time passed, though, the stronger she felt. Kalla understood that whatever Lith was doing was working the moment she regained her sight. She had been blinded for weeks, so her first instinct was to scream in joy.
Yet when she saw how bad her children's condition was, her joy turned into despair. The only thing that stopped her from trying to reach them was the sight of Lith, sweating bullets, who emitted enough mana to fight three Wights at once.
He was sparing no effort, going down to the last shred of energy before using Invigoration.
'I don't want to lose another friend. Kalla and I never spoke much but there's a connection between us. Maybe it's because we are both anomalies for our species, but she always gave me more credit than I deserved.' Lith thought.
'I'm glad to hear that, but promise me this time it will not end like with Protector.' Solus was worried about him. Both his body and mind were approaching their limits.
'I promise.' Lith replied, leaving her shocked. She knew how stubborn he was.
'I have learned my lesson back then. Exchanging my life for another is idiotic, but that doesn't mean that I will not do my best to save Kalla.' He emitted a strong burst of energy, sending his Chisels after the shadow energy that composed half of the life force.
Operating on the space near the hole was already hard. The slightest mistake would result in a partial or complete loss of the transplanted energy. Yet what he was about to do was even harder.
Lith had done all he could for the body, now he needed to restore the flow.
To do it, he had to attach small chunks of life force to the shadows and reconnect them to the damaged parts. Weaving mana threads on a moving target was as easy as killing an elephant with a pea shooter.
Chapter 373 Transplant Part 2
It required for Lith to anticipate the life force's flow, so he could place the energy on its tracks and connect the threads a second earlier they collided. There was no space for mistakes, each procedure could only be a success or a failure.
So far, he had failed a lot. The hole in Kalla's abdomen was the size of a human head, while her paw had enough life force to fill a space ten times as big. Yet it was already almost depleted.
To use what little energy was left, Lith used Invigoration before every attempt to fix the flow. It increased his odds of success at the expense of his endurance. With each use of Invigoration, the smaller was the effect and the higher the burden on Lith's body.
Each burst allowed him to use his full focus as he had just woken up from a good night sleep, and to deplete his mana without worries. Soon, he started bleeding from his nose, then from the ears and lastly from his eyes.
The Body Sculpting surgery lasted a little less than five minutes. The final result was a crude patchwork filling the hole, while Kalla's paw was pretty much crippled. As for Lith, he collapsed onto the ground with the same grace of a rock.
The hit was strong enough to worsen his condition. The bleeding continued, forming a small pool of blood beneath his face.
"I wonder what he did to me." Kalla pondered. She was feeling better by the second, but it didn't mean much. It was just that anything was better than her previous near death experience.
Her abdomen felt like someone was stirring her bowels with a rusty razor while her left paw remained limp, no matter how much she attempted to move it. It was paralyzed, yet searing pain radiated from it.
"Pain, my old friend. You are the only true constant of life." She sighed. "I will not miss you once I ascend to the status of true undead. You are as clingy as annoying…"
"Mom!" Nok cut her monologue short.
"There's no time for your monologues, Nyka has lost it."
"Damned isolation! It seems I can't keep my mouth shut." Kalla said while turning around.
Nyka was on all four, near Lith's head, licking from the pool of blood. After the first taste, she shivered in pleasure and the feeding frenzy overwhelmed her. She had never tasted anything so delicious.
All the food she had previously eaten seemed to be rotten trash compared to that nectar. She drank the blood emitting slurping sounds, yet careful to not miss even a single drop.
"Nyka, stop immediately!" Kalla ordered while trying to get near her daughter. Her left paw refused to move, so she could only drag it on the floor while moving forward.
Nyka had already drained the pool, so she took Lith's head on her lap, caressing his jugular like they were long lost lovers. Her body had partially recovered from its starvation. The skin was no more flaccid, the wrinkles had disappeared.
Her full lips were of a deep red color, but it lasted only for a second before the blood covering them was drained and they returned to be milky white. A vampire had several ways of absorbing nourishment.
One was with darkness magic, but it was as tasty as airplane food so it was kept either as a last resort or as a combat option. Another was through the skin. Some of them bathed in blood, gaining from it strength and the same relaxation coming from a full day of SPA.
One of the two most favored methods was drinking it because it gave them pleasure.
"I just want some more." Nyka replied turning her fingers into claws and pricking on Lith's neck with them. Her eyes were now full black, the sign that her mind was overpowered by her hunger.
"Sorry, sis!" Nok charged at her like ram, yet Nyka swat him away like he was a fly, sending the Byk crashing against the south wall. Nok was just a magical beast, his strength and weight were meaningless in front of a higher undead.
'Dammit!' Kalla thought. 'My body still feels like a ragdoll filled with rusty nails. If I feed her or use magic, I could undo whatever Lith has done and kill us both. I must find a way to protect Lith and Nok. Neither of them can survive being fed upon.'
Kalla racked her brain in search of a solution while Nyka hissed in frustration. Lith's skin was not only sturdier than leather, but it also healed so fast that a single droplet of blood had yet to be spilled.
The vampire's patience had run out. Her mouth got close to the main artery, meeting a fierce resistance. A stone fist struck her in the jaw with the strength of a wild ox.
"Hands off the merchandise, sister!" Solus warned her. She was now in her glove form, holding the Gatekeeper sword against Nyka's heart. Both were floating in mid air thanks to spirit magic.
"Make one move and I'll kill you." She was using air magic to speak, just like the magical beasts did.
Between the hit and the enchanted metal pressing against her skin, Nyka came to her senses. The killing intent Solus radiated had triggered her survival instinct, allowing her to snap out of her feeding frenzy.
Nyka raised her hands in submission, but Solus kept pushing her away with the blade until Nyka's back was against the wall at a safe distance from Lith.
"I'm really sorry." The vampire sounded sincere, yet Solus kept infusing the Gatekeeper with magic, ready to pulverize the enemy.
"It's just that I'm so hungry and that blood was… spectacular."
"She never fed upon an Awakened before." Kalla explained. "To a vampire, the more powerful a being is, the tastier is their blood. Please, ring fairy, spare my daughter. This is all my fault."
"I don't give a damn about why she did it." Solus's voice held no kindness, only rage. "Until Lith wakes up, I'm not going to take any chance."
Solus had yet to finish the phrase that she was forced to reconsider her options. A low rumbling was spreading through the ground while the amount of mana in the room was skyrocketing.
Both Solus and Kalla were surprised. They had seen the phenomenon happen multiple times, but only for magical beasts. Lith's body was emitting a silver light, which became a small pillar piercing toward the sky.
"This is so wrong!" Solus darted back on Lith's hand, checking his body with Invigoration. The impurities in his body had reached once again his mana core, triggering the refinement process.
"This didn't happen to Tista, only when a magical beast turned into an Evolved Monster."
"I don't know who this Tista is, but if their core was below the cyan level then it's normal. Reaching the blue core is a major event." Kalla explained. "It marks the moment when a common magical beast can become the first member of a new species.
"Yet you are also right, this is wrong. Usually, only magical beasts and plants receive Mogar's help. The other races are not attuned with the world energy, which makes their Awakened undergo terrible suffering.
"It's because unlike us, their bodies are incapable of evolving. What really worries me, though, is that I have never seen a silver light. This doesn't make any sense."
In all the evolutions Solus and Kalla had witnessed, the light had always been of a golden color.
Chapter 374 Symphony Part 1
"This is really interesting." Leegaain said while showing Milea the scene unfolding inside Scarlett's lab. The moment he had perceived the anomaly, he requested Tyris to share her vision.
"What does this mean?" Milea asked. "He's just going from cyan to blue, it's no big deal. Why the light pillar? It didn't happen to me."
"That's because you are human while he is not. What baffles me is that silver light. You see, back when I refined my mana core from cyan to blue, evolving from a Salamander into a Drake, I produced a black pillar. Tyris generated a white one and Salaark a red one."
The Dragon's words left her in a stupor.
"Are you saying that…"
"No, I'm not." Leegaain cut her short. "A different colored pillar means nothing until all tribulations have been overcome. What I'm saying is that a human never achieved Guardianhood and if I'm right they never will. Because whatever he is, he's not human."
From their respective viewpoints, Salaark and Tyris watched an enormous pillar of silver light descending from the sky above Lith's position. Until that moment, they had always dismissed his existence as an oddity. Now their interest was piqued.
***
If Lith knew what was about to happen, he would be grateful for being unconscious. Every major breakthrough was always more excruciating than the previous ones. Luckily, his body was refined along with his mana core, making it more resistant to pain.
So, when his nails fell off like invisible pliers had pulled them out, he didn't wake up. Neither he did when his bones broke or his flesh was turned inside out. It had already happened in the past, Solus was more worried about Nyka than about Lith's condition.
'I don't know what could happen if the vampire attacks him during the core refinement process. Maybe I should go back keeping watch.' Solus thought, yet found herself unable to move, just like everyone else in the room.
The magic lab that Scarlett the Scorpicore had borrowed Kalla was several meters underground, shielded from external influences by some of her best arrays. Nonetheless, the gigantic silver light pillar descending from the skies passed through them like they were thin air.
Solus had observed the evolution process of magical beasts several times and it always made her think of a giant finger of some god that came down to breathe new life in the evolving creature.
This time things went differently.
When the light pillar from the sky met the one originating from Lith, his heart withered at a speed visible at the naked eye until it resembled a giant dried plume. The blood flow stopped. The resulting agony was so intense that Lith woke up clenching his chest.
Solus could see impurities flow out of it like an invisible hand was squeezing them out. Then, when Lith was an inch from death, his heart absorbed the blood surrounding it and mixed it with the silver light, returning to its original size.
Solus noticed with mana sense that the renewed heart pumped not only blood, but also mana. She also used Scanner, to check Lith's life force for anomalies. The result was just as amazing.
'After his heart has been restored, Lith's life force's started to flow. It's no more static, maybe that's the secret behind the ability to shapeshift.' She thought.
Then, the same thing happened to the lungs. Lith opened his mouth to scream, it was like countless scorching daggers had pierced his flesh, but no voice came out. One by one, all of his internal organs underwent the refining process.
The flow of his mana and life force increased each time. When his brain shrunk to the size of an apple, Lith thought his life was over. He found himself wandering in a place where there was no light, no pain, nothing.
Only the quiet stillness he had experienced in death.
Everything was quiet, the time stood still. He had no idea how long it lasted, the only thing that gave him hope was the appearance of a small light representing his bond with Solus.
'If I can still feel her trying to reach me, then I'm not dead yet.' He thought.
When his brain recovered, Lith had no time to feel relieved or thank Solus. He knew the refinement wasn't over yet. All the impurities were now stored in his skin.
'This is going to hurt.' Lith clenched his teeth. He didn't know what would follow, but he was sure it wouldn't be nice. He took off the Skinwalker armor with a thought, to avoid it interfering with the process.
The impurities flooded Lith's skin until it turned black. They hardened on contact with air, making him resemble an obsidian statue. Cracks appeared all over its surface. He felt like every inch of his body was being dipped into burning oil.
Then, the black skin crumbled and fell. His flesh and muscles remained exposed for a long, agonizing second before a new one grew to cover him again before he could start screaming in pain.
"What the heck was that?" Solus yelled while checking Lith's condition. He was unconscious again. His physique was apparently the same, but the reality was quite different. The density of his body was on a new level, making it almost impossible to harm him with conventional means.
Solus could see him breathe mana and life force just like he normally did with air. Lith's mana core was now of a deep blue color. The amount of mana it stored hadn't changed much, but its quality had further improved.
With every breath he took, he would absorb a little amount of world energy, even without the use of Invigoration. His life force flowed freely through his every fiber, speeding up the recovery of his injuries.
"I have no clue." Kalla replied. "Magical beasts just evolve. Their body is like a cocoon they have to get freed from to reach the next stage. In Lith's case, it seemed more like torture. Like someone was forcefully replacing defective parts."
"Can't you help him?" Solus was the better Healer among the two, but she drew her strength from Lith and she didn't want to increase his burden.
"I never heard about this 'life force' Lith kept talking about and my children always shut me up. My body feels like is held together with leaves and spit. I'm afraid that if I use magic, I may fall apart." Kalla shook her head.
"My studies are more oriented towards Necromancy rather than Healing, but light and darkness magic are two sides of the same coin. I'm also a fast learner, so if you could explain to me what he did, I may be able to find a way to help us both."
Solus explained to Kalla the foundations of Body Sculpting and how to cast Scanner with true magic.
"Fascinating!" Kalla replied after a few hours of lecturing. "I have no idea what you have just said but sure sounds impressing. Maybe I have underestimated the importance of light magic in Necromancy.
"Seems I will have to start over from scratch. If my hypothesis is right, I failed because I have no control over my life force. I need to learn light magic before trying again."
Kalla asked Solus several questions, to which she replied as well as she could.
Solus was trying to describe to her how to manipulate the mana to achieve the Scanner spell when Lith woke up.
Chapter 375 Symphony Part 2
"How long was I out cold?" He asked while clenching and releasing his fists several times. There was something off with his body.
"Almost three hours." Solus replied. "Which is odd, I expected you to need at least eight hours to recuperate. How do you feel?"
"Like there's an itch I cannot scratch. A needle in the back of my skull." Lith noticed Nok lying on the floor, still unconscious. He had so many things to ask but so little time.
First, he healed the young Byk, then proceeded to fix the mess Kalla's body was.
'Wish I could speak and treat her at the same time. My day leave is almost over, I must make use of every single second I… What the f*ck?'
To Lith's surprise, he could not only perceive Kalla's life force with much more clarity than before, but also understand where he or she had messed up. It was more about listening rather than seeing.
Life force was like a song performed by a living being and every defect was a sour note. Lith listened to the melody played by the Wight's body, guiding its flow along its intended path instead of trying to force it.
The patchwork covering Kalla's mana core soon became a smooth surface, even leaving a few energies to spare that Lith redirected to the butchered left paw to hasten its recovery. The procedure required over an hour but neither Lith nor Kalla noticed the passing of time.
Lith was engrossed by his new ability and used it to heal his friend while deepening his understanding of Body Sculpting at the same time. Tier five Healing magic hadn't become easier all of a sudden. Scanner was the same spell as before.
Yet the blue core allowed him to obtain a whole new set of information that made it possible for him to understand the breath of life rather than discovering it with a trial and error process.
Kalla instead focused on herself, trying to put into practice what Solus had explained to her. Lith's touch made it easier for her to sense her life force. It was like a gentle massage over her soul that was easing her pain.
When Lith was done, Kalla felt exhausted but relieved. Somehow, she knew her life wasn't in danger anymore and her paw, albeit was still limp, had stopped hurting.
"There." Lith said. "Everything should be all right. Take a few days to rest. No magic allowed. You core has yet to settle in the new life force. If I were you, I'd wait until your paw works again. A few weeks should suffice."
"A few weeks?" Kalla grumbled. She had never taken such a long break from her research. A few hours at most. She wanted to object and bargain her way out, but after looking at her children's condition she decided to comply.
"I understand you are in a rush. What do you need my help for?"
Lith sighed, hoping she would believe him, before explaining to her both his reincarnation problem and the need to get Solus a body. If Kalla was surprised, she didn't show it. Nok and Nyka were another story.
Their mouths almost fell onto the ground hearing Lith's words. To them, lizards becoming dragons was something plausible. They were used to Scarlett stories, where she slaughtered princesses and rescued kidnapped trolls.
Reincarnation and a girl in a stone were too far fetched to believe though.
"Coming to me was the right move." Kalla replied after pondering for a while. "I just don't get why you have submitted to the humans' army."
"I didn't submit." Lith scoffed. "My problem can't be solved with a single spell or a generic artifact. If I had to find a solution all by myself, not even the extended life of an Awakened one would be enough. I have only one attempt at achieving my goal.
I must make it count."
"True." Kalla admitted while tapping her chin with a single claw. "Scarlett has amassed centuries worth of knowledge, yet even something 'common' like Lichhood is a huge gamble. Without her books, I wouldn't even know where to start."
"That's my problem. I have no starting point. That's why I had to make the humans think they need me more than I need them. Between the Mage Association and the Army, I have now access to countless tomes but it's still not enough.
"They don't trust me enough to let me read the books I need. I need to play my cards right and use my status to access otherwise forbidden areas." There were countless ruins in the Griffon Kingdom.
Some were just piles of dust and debris, others were places of power. Such areas were still protected by powerful barriers and only the army mages knew how to disable them. Why waste years to open a door when you could just borrow a key?
Lith showed Kalla a map, pointing to her the regions he could choose for his assignment as a ranger.
"My plan is to pick one of the less populated areas with the greatest number of ruins. The others have already been thoroughly explored. Hoping to stumble into a secret relic that no one but me is able to find would be nothing but wishful thinking.
"Joining the army gives me access to the list of the ruins and to the methods to access them. The problem is that there are too many of them. Can you at least point me in the right direction?"
Kalla limped to one of the libraries, pointing to Lith a thick book with a deep green cover.
"I would pick it myself, but without spirit magic I have only claws. Doctor's orders." She smirked. Lith took the book and started to flip through it.
"Can you really understand this gibberish?" The tome was filled with odd runes he had never seen before.
"Of course not. Who has the time to learn a dead and buried language? Put some mana into it." Kalla replied.
Lith did as requested and observed the runes rearrange themselves in the common language the three Great Countries shared.
"This is amazing!" Lith blurted out in envy. "How did Scarlett managed to do this?"
"She didn't. She, uhm, liberated most of these books from a mad Lich, but this is a story for another time. Read from page 290."
The chapter told the story of a forgotten race, the Odi. Millenia ago, their magical and scientific knowledge had allowed them to defeat all illnesses. Their empire grew in wisdom and power, until time was the only enemy they had left.
The Odi became arrogant and attempted to find a way to achieve eternal life. According to the book, they started experimenting on the lesser races to develop a method to transplant the conscience from an old body to a young one.
Thousands of lives were lost during the experiments, but in the end they succeeded. It marked the beginning of their end. Until that moment, the Odi had believed that everyone would benefit from the research.
That they would use the lesser races as a source of spare bodies. Their upper echelons had different plans. They considered such an idea revolting and aimed to preserve the purity of their bloodline.
While commoners would receive a lesser body, the nobles started to buy children from the less fortunate among the Odi to use them as vessels. It didn't take long for a civil war to break out, nor for the so called lesser races to exploit it to exterminate the Odi for good.
"The Odi laid the foundations to Lichhood." Kalla explained. "Maybe in one of their ruins you can find some clues to follow in their footsteps. Even if it doesn't work for you, it could always prove useful to your ring fairy to escape from her cage."
Chapter 376 Twin Melodies Part 1
According to the book, during the time the Odi civilization was at the height of its prosperity, they ruled over a vast area in the north that was now part of the border between the Griffon Kingdom and the Gorgon Empire.
The borders were one of the most dangerous sectors, since even if the two countries were at peace from centuries, small and medium sized battles were a common occurrence.
Most of Lith's patients when he worked at the Academy were soldiers stationed in the north. After copying everything relevant to his research Kalla had to offer, she and Lith discussed for a while what was the best place to start his assignment.
"She's not a ring fairy, by the way." Since their last mind fusion Lith was aware that, by saving Protector, he had accidentally revealed Solus's existence to him. Kalla had witnessed both the conversation between the Ry and Solus back then and her protecting the unconscious Lith now.
Keeping Kalla in the dark was pointless if not even stupid. The more she knew, the more helpful she could be. It was the reasoning that had led Lith to tell the Wight his whole story.
"She's a person, just like me and you. Solus, these are Kalla, Nok, and Nyka. Guys, this is Solus, my partner."
Solus had conflicting feelings about that situation. On one hand, she was happy about becoming an active part in Lith's life. He had already introduced her to his sister. Kalla and her children were the first friends he had made aware of her existence.
On the other hand, Kalla learned about Solus years ago, so it didn't mean much.
"Nice to meet you, Solus. Scarlett told me a lot about you. You are the first cursed object she has ever spared. Even though after seeing you in action, I don't think you are a cursed object."
Maybe it was because of his pampered life, but Nok was a simple minded creature. It didn't take him much to recover from the surprise and accept Solus as a friend.
"How do you fit into something so small? Is it painful? How do you eat? What are your favorite foods? Can stones copulate? How many cubs do you have? Do the two of you have an offspring together already?"
Some of his questions were shallow, others were personal enough to make her blush.
Last, but not least, she didn't like Nyka. During the time Lith had been unconscious and she explained Body Sculpting to Kalla, the vampire had cleaned herself with darkness magic. Once she was sure her mother was safe, she had gone hunting.
Now she had raven black hair and emerald green eyes both emphasized by her pale skin. Nyka's body wasn't milky anymore but of a light rosy color. Solus could appreciate all the changes proper feeding had triggered because the vampire was still stark naked.
She wasn't a stunning beauty, but undeath gave her smooth, delicate features and kept her body toned without a shred of body fat. It also made her soft curves perky beyond belief.
Every one of her movements was graceful and sensual, making Solus turn green with envy. Yet that wasn't the reason why Solus didn't like Nyka.
"I'm so sorry, big sister. I had no idea he is already taken. I'm really sorry for feeding on your thrall without your permission." The vampire said giving Solus a deep bow.
'I'm not a goddamn parasite, I'm a symbiote!' Solus thought in outrage. 'Our relationship is already complicated, hearing her calling Lith a thrall irks me to no end. Yet if I clear her misunderstanding, she'll resume looking at him like a juicy steak.'
Kalla didn't miss how socially awkward her daughter was.
'If she ever wants to mingle with humans, she must learn their ways. I might ask Lith to bring her along with him, once he is done with the army.' Kalla thought.
"I think the best region to start your research is the Etochian one." She said. "It's mostly composed of no man's lands, which will give you the privacy you need, and it holds several ruins. I know because I have been there.
There are several undead communities in the area that I can introduce you to." Kalla took out of her dimensional amulet small fragments of white alabaster. They turned into white dust that Kalla used to draw several runes on Lith's palm.
The glowing runes lasted only for a moment, leaving Lith's skin immaculate.
"If you ever meet undead, do not fight them. Just channel pure mana into your hand and the runes will resurface. Consider it a letter of recommendation of sorts. When I manage to get in touch with Scarlett, I will ask for her help.
She's likely to know more than me. Scarlett may be able to help you narrow your search."
"Thanks, Kalla." Lith replied. Despite all the good news, he was still worried. His body felt off since the moment the refining process had ended. At first, Lith thought that having his body undergone major changes, it would take some time for him to get used to them.
However, the feeling was only getting worse. Lith used Invigoration on himself, finding nothing unusual. Then he switched to Scanner, examining his own life force. There were several scars from when he had saved Protector.
No matter how hard Lith tried, he couldn't get rid of them. Everything seemed fine again, so Lith stopped using his eyes and tried to listen to the melody produced by his body.
'So many sour notes. I guess each one represents the life force I lost forever. Sounds almost like a requiem.' Lith inwardly sighed. 'Wait. Solus, do you hear that?'
'Yes.' She replied while sharing his senses. 'It's like there is a second melody on the background.'
Lith focused on the new melody, it sounded like a joyful allegro. After several attempts, Lith managed to reduce the volume of the main life force and to turn up the second one.
Along with the tune, his life force also changed its appearance. If before it resembled a colossus made of red lego bricks and erector set, now it looked like a sealed star. There was an outer shell made of black bricks while the inner part was composed by a stream of raging energy originating from a sphere that he supposed being his mana core.
'What the heck? How is it possible for me to have two life forces? Why don't I feel any different?' Lith thought.
'It's better if you open your eyes.' Solus suggested.
Lith did as instructed, discovering that his body now stood slightly over two meters tall. It was covered in thick curved black scales while his hands and feet ended in razor sharp claws.
'Solus, what happened to the Skinwalker armor? Tell me I didn't destroy it. It's too expensive to lose it in such a stupid way.' Having a monstrous body scared Lith much less than the thought of having wasted money.
'Don't worry, I stored it away the moment you started to change. Look at yourself into the mirror.' She replied while conjuring a reflecting surface made of ice.
Chapter 377 Twin Melodies Part 2
Lith could notice that his appearance resembled the one he had assumed in the past while trying to save Protector and when he faced the Clackers in the forest. It lacked the horns, the wings, and the tail.
His face was a black slate with no nose or ears. Two yellow eyes were open, while the slits for the other four, albeit being recognizable, were wide shut. Lith tried multiple times to open them but to no avail.
"Damn, I look like a demon." When Lith spoke, he revealed a mouth filled with sharp fangs. It wasn't visible before because the scales covering his face matched to perfection.
"Remarkable." Kalla said. "You've already learned how to shapeshift and you did it on your own at that. Scarlett tried to teach me, but it was too complex. Plus, I deemed it useless. I have no desire to change my physical appearance just to please others."
"I didn't learn anything." Lith was deeply confused. "Protector explained to me how to do it, but I always failed in the past. After my core has become blue, I seem to have developed a second kind of life force. Do you have one too, Kalla?"
"No, or at least is what I think. Before today I never heard about life force, but I'm pretty sure that not even in Scarlett's crazy stories was ever mentioned someone capable of natural shapeshifting.
"It's something that has to be learned. You can't just take any form you want. Before shapeshifting, you are supposed to be able to visualize every single detail in your mind. To know your imaginary body like the back of your paw.
Let me check one thing." Kalla placed one of her claws on Lith, using Invigoration on him.
"Whatever this form of yours is, is useless. You are not stronger nor faster than before. Even your mana core is unchanged. Sure, the scales may offer you some protection, but I can't see any value in sticking out like a sore thumb."
After checking his condition with his own Invigoration, Lith agreed with a sigh.
"Unless I want to murder someone in broad daylight and pin it to a monster, this form is as useless as a third nostril." He activated Scanner again, focusing on the original melody and returning to his human form.
Right after the transformation, Lith coughed uncontrollably for a few seconds.
"What's wrong?" All those present asked in unison. An Awakened one getting sick was something unheard of.
"I don't know." Lith replied with a hoarse voice. "Seems my new form suffers from acid reflux or something. I had a burning sensation in my throat the whole time."
Lith left Scarlett's lab after giving everyone a present. A book about Body Sculpting for Kalla, a lot of food for Nok, and a glass of his blood for Nyka. Kalla's blood was toxic for the undead and she had explained to him how Awakened blood was a powerful delicacy for vampires.
Much to Nyka's dismay, Kalla stored it for a rainy day. For a vampire, even a small amount from a blue cored Awakened was the equivalent of several liters of blood from normal humans.
Lith returned the teacher ring to Marth before going back to his living quarters in the military camp. He spent the hours left of his day leave sleeping, to recover part of his strength. Between the breakthrough and treating Kalla's life force, he was exhausted.
The next day, when he went to Berion's office to announce his final decision, the Commander had a deep frown and his fingers were drumming on a thick folder.
Berion grumpily replied to the salute and left Lith standing on attention for a few minutes before talking.
"Lieutenant Verhen, do you know what Article 16 of the code of military justice states?"
"It is forbidden for any soldier, NCO, and officer to assault in any way a fellow member of the army." Lith quoted from Soluspedia.
"So you do know the code." Berion stood up, piercing Lith with a steel gaze.
"Then how do you explain what you did in the mess hall of Regharos' boot camp?"
"I simply gave Sergeant Proudstar our mother's regards." Lith couldn't believe the Commander was making a fuss for such an insignificant reason, nor that Trion could be stupid enough to report him. It would only make a fool of himself.
"I don't care about your brother. I'm talking about all the people you sent to the hospital." The Commander's icy tone left Lith unfazed. His words, not so much.
"I beg your pardon? I didn't throw a single punch nor spell."
"Son, I have been young and stupid too. I can understand that you wanted to teach him a lesson, but you went overboard. Only active soldiers are trained to withstand killing intent. Kitchen staff are basically civilian.
Your little show made some faint, some puke their guts out, while the less fortunate now have white hair and blabber about monsters dwelling in the shadows."
'Oh f*ck!' Lith thought. 'I was so angry back then that I completely forgot about kitchen staff. Yet it's hard to believe that a sliver of killing intent could have done so much damage.'
"This folder contains the medical files of all the people you have injured. Their medical bills will be deducted from your pay." The Commander's index tapped on the stack of paper.
Lith pretended to be contrite, but he couldn't care less. He could make as a Healer in a day what the army paid him per month.
"At ease, Lieutenant. I hope you have made your decision. Otherwise, a few days in solitary will teach you not to disgrace our uniform."
Lith took out from his pocket dimension the map of the Griffon Kingdom and showed Berion the Etochian region. The frown disappeared from the Commander's face and was replaced by a worried expression.
"Are you certain, Lieutenant? I wanted to assign you a harsh environment as punishment but that's too much."
Noticing Lith's confusion, Berion smirked.
"I'm not worried about the borders. There are plenty of good soldiers there that can help you if the necessity arises. Nor I'm not worried about monsters or magical beasts. I read your file, I know you're a survivor. What worries me are these."
The Commander pointed at the various ruins Lith and Kalla had studied earlier.
"Do you know why we give to the Rangers the passcodes to the lost cities? Because they are part of your patrol duty."
"Does someone live there?" Lith was more confused by the second.
"Of course not. No citizen of the Kingdom lives there. Have you ever wondered why even though so many centuries have passed, the arrays are still working? How we managed to learn how to bypass them safely?
"It didn't take any effort on our side. Everything was engraved in multiple languages on the pillars surrounding the lost cities. Those who created the arrays, left all the necessary instructions to keep them active.
"Your duty consists also in checking that the magical formations are functional and not letting the ruins become a threat to the Kingdom. Those arrays weren't built to keep people out, but to keep the things that spawn in the lost cities in."
Chapter 378 The North Part 1
Judging from Commander Berion's tone, his words were meant to warn Lith about the danger the lost cities represented. Maybe he even hoped the young Ranger would reconsider his choice.
Lith's curiosity was piqued, instead.
'How many secrets does the Griffon Kingdom keep from its citizens?' He thought. 'I can understand sweeping Necromancy under the rug. It's a branch of magic too dangerous to let it fall in the hands of nobles with more money than life left.
'Heck, even Balkor is something that better stays forgotten. If the story of what happened to him becomes public, small villages like Lutia would either smother their children's talent for magic or lose any trust in the Crown.
'But this? Why a bunch of ruins is deemed so dangerous? Why have I never heard anything about them, not even at the Academy?'
"With all due respect, Sir, but if the lost cities represent a threat to the Kingdom, why are they still standing? I doubt the combined forces of the army and the Mage Association can't bring them down, even if one at the time."
"Excellent question, Lieutenant." Berion nodded. He liked Lith not showing any fear for his personal safety and only thinking about the safety of their country. Alas, what he mistook for loyalty was just Lith's innate scientific curiosity.
Misunderstanding or not, the real reason for Berion's earlier anger wasn't the incident with Trion, but it's consequences. Rumors about the events at Regharos had spread like wildfire, attracting the interest of several high officers.
The Commander wanted to keep the existence of his golden goose a secret for as long as possible. Any meritorious act a subordinate performed would generate merits for their commanding officer.
So far, Lith had caused Berion a lot of trouble for little return. The purple crystal disappearance, Sergeant Tepper's complaints, and now an assault against fellows Non-commissioned officers. Berion had invested in Lith, but if someone stole him, it would have been all for naught.
"Cleansing operations have been conducted multiple times with poor results. Once in a while, we have to cull their numbers to prevent them from overpowering the arrays. That's why we need you to check their threat level.
"The problem is that there is no way to exterminate them for good. We tried and failed on several occasions over the centuries. Those things are hard to define. They are neither alive or undead. Even after wiping them out, they keep respawning.
"As for destroying the lost cities, it's too big of a risk. Our mages have assessed that, whatever created those things in the past, still lingers up to date. Those ruins are like a giant living array that has corrupted the very earth they were built upon.
"They hold an incredible amount of magic power that somehow never runs out. If we destroy those cities, we could create an even worse threat. Not to mention that all the knowledge they hold would be lost forever."
Lith was now even more eager to explore those ruins.
'It's like the library of Alexandria built on top of a nuclear reactor.' He thought. 'I wonder why Awakened ones never solved the issue. Is it because it's beyond even their capabilities or do they just not care? It's also possible they are the reason behind the constant respawn of the creatures.
'It would make sense if the Awakened ones want to keep others away from the prize.'
"I expect you to depart immediately." Berion handed to Lith a dimensional amulet shaped like the Ranger's Crest. It contained everything he could need during his travels.
"Remember to always report your position at least thrice a day. We need to know where you are and what are you doing. It's especially important before you enter one of the lost ruins or an unmapped city.
"Never underestimate the dangers of the border regions. There a lot of deserters from both the Griffon Kingdom and the Gorgon Empire living there. In the past, we have lost a lot of promising Rangers because of their carelessness.
"Don't hesitate to call for backup. The real strength of the army resides in its numbers. Feel free to get from the armory whatever you may need. Good luck, Ranger Verhen."
After exchanging the salute, Commander Berion offered Lith his hand. Lith was surprised by the gesture, but he shook it nonetheless.
'Seems he has high expectations for you.' Solus pondered. 'It doesn't match with my idea of a Ranger being like a beat cop, though. I mean, what can he possibly hope for you to achieve in the wilderness?'
'We'll find out.' Lith followed the Commander's advice, restocking his supplies of food and Alchemical tools. There was no weapon or armor that outperformed his current equipment, which was disappointing.
Lith left the camp, reaching the city of Belius with the Warp Gate. It was the biggest settlement in the region. Belius was a fortress city built in front of a narrow pass between two mountain ranges that formed a natural border separating the two countries.
On the other side of the pass there was a twin city, Relius, flying the Gorgon Empire's flag. Lith was stunned by the amount of magic in the air. There were countless arrays in place, preventing the use of dimensional magic, flight, and even spells above tier three.
Lith could sense a dissonance in the air that gave his mana core an ill feeling.
He had never seen so many protections since he had left the Royal Palace.
'Paranoid much?' Lith realized how hypocritical it the word sounded coming from him the moment he thought it.
'Yeah and for a good reason.' Solus pondered. 'Both cities must prevent the enemy from building a dimensional corridor that would make all the weapons and walls in the world useless. Dimensional items make smuggling anything an easy feat.
No wonder they are banned here.' She had attempted accessing her pocket dimension just to find it sealed.
Even leaving Belius proved to be not an easy feat. Lith had to fill a lot of paperwork to be recognized as the newly appointed Ranger of the region, had to declare everything he had stored in his army and personal dimensional amulets.
Much to his dismay, he found out the Mage Association had a way to undo his imprinting on the enchanted items and could verify Lith's claims.
"Are you sure you want to leave right away?" Asked a clerk of about twenty years of age after making an inventory of Lith's possessions before returning the amulets to him.
"Belius may have strict regulations, but it's one of the most beautiful cities of the Kingdom. Once you get out of the gates, it could be weeks before you have a proper bed and meal."
"Thanks, but no thanks. Without my magic, I feel naked." Lith replied. "I can't wait to get out of here."
The man nodded, opening a Warp Gate that brought Lith right outside the city walls.
"Lucky b*stard."
"Noble scum."
"F*cking as*hat."
Those were just some of the words that welcomed his arrival, together with numerous spits onto the ground to emphasized their contempt.
Even the city guards were about to join the crowd until they noticed the traveler was alone and donning the green of the Rangers. They hastily swallowed their own phlegm giving him a salute.
Chapter 379 The North Part 2
Lith could understand why his appearance had caused so much anger. The city had many gates and each one had a queue several hundreds of meters long that was getting longer by the minute.
Merchants, travellers, even residents had to pass several checks to get in or out. The Warp Gate was a fast lane, usually reserved for nobles and high officials. Lith ignored them, activating Life Vision to check if he could take off.
'What the heck?' His surprised expression was mistaken by some of those present as an indignant one, which prompted them to resume their swearing. Lith couldn't care less about them and spun around himself to make sure his eyes weren't playing a trick on him.
The arrays weren't in a fixed position. Unlike the academy and the Royal palace, they could only be described as a maelstrom. The magical energies covered the whole city at all times, but they also change their size and height with no warning.
Lith watched a mage flying above the city, until the array became like a hurricane and reached for the sky. The poor fellow fell like a rock, crashing on a rooftop with deadly consequences.
"Move along, sir. Otherwise you may be run over." The guard's voice woke Lith up from his stupor. He walked away double time, eager to find a better viewpoint which would allow him to study Belius.
The city was surrounded by walls made of stone that stood twenty meters (66') high with evenly spaced observation towers built along the perimeter. Each one of them was topped by blue magic crystals the size of a person.
Lith and Solus observed the arrays for a time, watching them shift like a tide. Whenever one of the spells the formations were meant to negate were used, even from a considerable distance from the city, the towers would detect it.
They would then produce a lightning of mystical energies invisible to the naked eye marking the mage as a target. The arrays would shapeshift accordingly to the information received killing their victims almost instantly.
Thanks to his heightened senses and the tall tree he had climbed, Lith was able to spot from a distance several towers placed along the mountain range, spanning as far as the eye could see.
'By my maker, those towers are relay points for Belius' arrays.' The revelations flabbergasted Solus.
'Yeah, they also allow the sealing magic to pinpoint its target and send an alarm signal.' Lith pondered. 'The corpses of the idiots we've seen trying to bypass the city checks have all been promptly collected.'
He had no idea what was actually happening but he could see a Warp Steps and several humanoid figures appear where the trespassers had fallen just a few seconds after their demise.
Everything happened too fast to be a coincidence, so Lith assumed that, just like for the Academy, elite guards could ignore the arrays and move freely.
'An almost living magical formation capable of changing its shape. To think that Yurial always nagged about Wardens being useless.' A sad smile appeared on Lith's face while thinking about his lost friend.
'I wish he were still alive, here with us. I could finally say to him "I told you so".'
Lith jumped down on the ground, landing with a roll to break his fall. It couldn't actually harm him, but he was still in an area were air magic was negated by the arrays. Neither his armor or spells could justify him being unscathed so he had to play the elite soldier card.
Lith had to run for over one kilometer to escape from the boundaries of the array. Only then he was able to take out from his pocket dimension the map of the Kellar region and put it inside Soluspedia replacing the one of the Distar Marquisate.
'We have up to four months here.' Lith thought. 'Let's plan our patrol so to give priority to the lost cities.'
The Kellar region was mostly uncharted. Aside from big cities like Belius, small settlements would pop up as fast as they would disappear. In the north, a cold wave was enough to freeze to death whoever didn't possess a properly insulated house.
Monsters would run rampant, slaughtering small villages for a midnight snack. Last but not least, there were the Rangers like Lith. Most of those small settlements were illegal, a safe haven for bandits, deserters, and all those who had an aversion to paying taxes.
They enjoyed the safety the army's patrols ensured, just like the comfort of using the roads paved by the Kingdom to connect rural areas with the main trading cities. Yet they took everything for granted and considered the harsh life in the north reason enough to be exempted from paying their dues.
In case such settlements were discovered by soldiers, one of the two had to disappear.
Lith was flying high enough to check with Life Vision a large area while he moved towards his first destination, the fallen city of Kaduria. The landscape was different from what he was used in the Distar Marquisate.
While his birthplace was mostly comprised of cultivated lands and woods filling the space between the populated areas, Kellar was mostly barren. It was still late fall, but snow already covered the ground and the tops of the few trees Lith encountered.
Ever since he departed from Belius, he met no farms nor villages. The frozen earth was full of rocks, making it unfertile without a considerable amount of effort. The area Lith was currently in was too far from the main road for any kind of trading to be profitable.
The only life forms he met were animals looking for food. Winter was coming and those without enough fat reserves were bound to meet a bad end. After several hours of flight, Lith was starting to feel tired.
'I have yet to recover completely from treating Kalla, tonight I'd like a good night sleep. Solus, did we meet a mana geyser on our way here?'
'None, but I believe that even without an external energy source I can at least form the ground floor of the tower.' She replied.
'Are you asking me to sleep while you work your a*s off? No way, we're in this together. Either we both rest or I use Invigoration.'
'Or we could sleep there.' Solus pointed at him the smoke coming out of several chimneys visible on the horizon.
'F*ck me sideways!' Lith cursed. A human settlement was the last thing he wanted to meet. He used the army's communication amulet to call his handler.
"Ranger Lith Verhen calling the Nest, do you copy?"
"Loud and clear." Said a feminine voice coming from the other side. Unlike Lith's amulet, the one provided by the army was engraved with several green mana crystals which, among many other things, strengthened its signal.
The gemstones emitted a series of flashes, scanning his surroundings.
"You deserve your reputation, Ranger Verhen. Covering so much ground in a single day is praiseworthy. Please give me a brief report of your findings." It was a polite way to ask him to prove he hadn't ignored his patrol duty.
There wasn't much to say, but Lith had taken note of all the unmapped landmarks he met on his way. He was certain they had been left out on purpose, some were too obvious to be missed, unless one was blind, deaf, and dumb.
Chapter 380 The Village Part 1
The handler was pleased, or at least it was what Lith hoped for. He could hear her taking notes the whole time.
"I called because I met a human settlement. Do you have my position?"
"Positive. Call me back once you are done. Do not lower your guard. Based on the images collected it's a medium sized village, so it's likely to be run by a renegade mage or a deserter."
"Once I'm done doing what?" Lith said. "If I get down there, either will be a massacre or they'll run away as soon as I leave. If our purpose is collecting taxes, then it's better for me to stay away from the village and let you do your job."
"Negative. Our duty is not collecting taxes, but ensure the safety of the citizens. You must make sure that no one there is forced to stay against their will or is being subjected to the practice of illegal magic.
"Taxes are just an excuse to prevent bureaucrats from bothering us with budget issues. In the wilderness we are the law, young Ranger. Today, you are the law. So get down there and call me back once you are done. I expect a full and detailed report."
Cursing at his bad luck, Lith descended to the ground. He activated Life Vision while Solus activated mana sense. They could perceive about 100 life signatures but no arrays or magical protections of sorts.
'Do I go there incognito or do I keep my uniform?' Lith pondered.
'Incognito? How exactly?' Solus chuckled at the idea. 'Aside from your uniform, you only have light clothes suitable for disguising yourself as a farmer or a hunter back in Lutia. Your skin and hair are too dark to pass yourself for a man of the north.
'Also, you have no backpack. No one in their right mind would think you got here by chance. With your build and well fed appearance, they wouldn't believe you are lost or have been robbed either.'
As it happened most of the time, Solus was right. Lith had not bothered packing disguises or makeup.
'Point taken. I'd say it's better to check the outskirts of the village before going deeper inside. It's unlikely we'll meet a dangerous opponent, but after Nalear I don't like the idea of getting surrounded again.' Lith thought.
He was surprised by the lack of watchmen. The path to the village was clear, making things too easy to be true. The closer he got to the settlement, the more Lith became aware of his surroundings.
The houses were made in hardwood and looked solid. Lith could smell a fresh coat of tar mixed with other substances used to fill gaps between wood to insulate the heat and prevent drafts.
'Two things. One, this isn't a makeshift camp. It's been made to last. The lack of guards doesn't make sense. Why are they not afraid of hungry monsters or magical beasts raiding the place for food? Two, how did my predecessor miss all this?'
Lith stopped the moment his eyes caught an anomaly near his left foot. There was a thin tripwire a few centimeters above the ground. He followed both extremities, one at a time, discovering they were tied up to trees, not to an alarm.
He focused on his sense of smell, detecting a lot of metal lying around coupled with a sour scent. Lith used air magic to float above the ground and by following the scent he discovered several traps, all coated with poison.
'This should be Death Pepper.' Lith thought after licking a greasy substance off a sharp blade placed at the height where the thigh of an average man would be.
'It's a nerve paralyzing poison that kills fast but leaves the meat available for consumption since it loses effectiveness when cooked. They say it even gives the game a spicy flavor, hence the name.
It makes you wonder if these nice villagers have a taste for human flesh.'
Soon Lith understood the trap maker's pattern. Tripwires were actually double traps. If one noticed them and stepped over them, they would fall into a spike pit, the same if they missed it.
All the other traps were connected to long wires running towards the village that Lith imagined being alarms to announce the hunter that dinner was served. He could have disabled them, but it would also mean leaving a trail of his passage that could alert anyone returning to the village after him.
Once he got close enough to the settlement, the matter became even more serious. Life Vision spotted the last line of defense. The traps right before the village were all comprised of enchanted poisoned blades.
'What the heck is this? The set of the Texas chainsaw massacre? Why I always stumble into hornet's nests?' Lith had already lost his patience. The situation was a waste of time for him. He only wanted to reach the ruins and learn from them as much as he could.
'The villagers may just be trying to defend themselves.' Solus replied. 'Also, you need merits to obtain access to top secret tomes. I get you are tired and cranky, but we have to play this by the book.
'First impression matters. A poor job could trigger an internal investigation and further slow us down.'
Lith took a few deep breathes to calm himself before moving forward. He reminded himself of the words of both his handler and Commander. His actions would be investigated and evaluated, so he had to be smart.
The outer rim hosted only livestock and carriages. The small houses were actually barns, henhouses, and stables.
'This is good news. Over half of the life forces are harmless animals. The odd thing is what do they need all these carriages for? Why do they have so much wheat? There isn't a single plot of cultivated land here.' Lith thought.
The sun had yet to set, but the daily activities seemed to be already over. All the human life forces were in the middle and inner rim. Those in the middle rim seemed to be already asleep, while the people of the innermost rim were assembled in the biggest building, located at the center of the town.
The buildings in the middle rim were even smaller than those in the outer one and with much better locks. The doors were barred and secured with a heavy chain. They had a chimney but no windows. Life Vision revealed two individuals lying still on their beds.
At that point, Lith had no need to check inside the houses. All the pieces of the puzzle were falling into place but one.
'Seriously, how could a Ranger miss this place?' Suddenly the missing landmarks on the map acquired a new significance. Lith walked towards a man that was approaching his position while Solus refused to believe in Lith's cynical conclusion.
She left his right hand, assuming liquid form to sneak under the door. The two inside were a boy and a girl of undefined age. They had their wrists chained to a metal pole placed right behind their bunk.
Their hair was disheveled, stained by several streaks of coagulated blood. Solus used Invigoration on them to check their condition. Both the youths suffered from severe malnutrition. Their bones were cracked in multiple points, their bodies covered in bruises and lacerations.
During the fifth year at the Academy, when Lith had worked in the ER of several hospitals, they had seen this kind of injury several times, but seldom with such deliberate cruelty.
Chapter 381 The Village Part 2
The kids were covered with thick blankets to protect them from the cold, since they were completely naked. Looking at the bloodstains on the sheets and the pavement, Solus felt aghast realizing the kids were left "ready to use."
Lith approached the man without emitting a sound. He used his Hush spell to make sure no one would disturb them. The guy was tall, at least 1.78 meters, wearing warm fur clothes and a broadsword on his side.
Lith smirked noticing the blade was not enchanted. He was eager to put his new body to test.
"Good evening, sir. How is this village called?" Lith asked with the casual tone he would use to converse about the weather.
The man turned around while unsheathing his sword. His pale skin became even whiter for the surprise, but his movements were smooth. The slash missed Lith's nose by a whisker.
"I'll overlook your rudeness this once." Lith was having a hard time keeping a straight face. The sword moved like in slow motion to his eyes. "Put down your weapon and tell me what I want to know. Otherwise, I'll sheathe it up your a*s."
The man swept his unkempt blonde hair off his eyes, unable to believe he had missed such an easy target from so close. His nervousness turned into panic when the man noticed the Ranger badge over the foreigner's heart.
"The Ranger! The Ranger is here already!" The man screamed on the top of his lungs before blowing a bone whistle which produced an ear piercing sound.
"What do you mean with 'already?'" Lith asked while grabbing with his bare hand the blade that was still pointed at his face. The man was surprised no one had responded to the alarm, but grinned before twisting an pulling away his sword.
He had expected the Ranger's fingers to fall off, yet the blade didn't move an inch instead. No matter how much strength he used. Even grabbing the hilt with two hands proved useless, it was like the broadsword was stuck into a vice.
Lith suddenly let go of the sword to appreciate his own unscathed skin.
"Seems that normal weapons can't hurt me anymore, not even those razor sharp like yours. What's this?" His palm was covered with a greasy substance that smelled like sulfur. Lith's skin tingled while his immune system neutralized the substance.
"Rot oil? Do even goons use poison now?" As the name implied, rot oil was a toxin that would make any open wound fester and difficult to treat. Without the help of a Healer, a single cut could lead to the death of even a magical beast.
The man was terrified. He couldn't understand how neither the sword or the poison was effective. He struck at Lith with all of his strength, only to almost lose the grip on the weapon.
It felt like hitting a rock. Lith was tired of playing. The nameless man's actions spoke volumes about what kind of village was that and how it went unnoticed until that moment.
Lith disarmed the man with spirit magic and fulfilled his promise. The nameless man gargled blood while the pain from growing a steel tail ravaged his body. Solus returned to Lith's hand, sharing with him the visions from the house.
'Please, save them.' Was the only thing she said before seeking comfort in their telepathic bond. The sight of the youths' miserable state had shocked her. Solus wanted for that horror to disappear forever.
'As you wish, milady.' Lith raised the nameless man as a Death Knight and armed it with the poisoned blade. A Death Knight was an undead whose well preserved body retained the dexterity it had in life.
Also, by mixing spirit magic while creating the blood core, Lith was able to impart to it some basic notions of fencing. Master and servant took their time, killing everyone who walked outside the main building or lived in the middle rim without being a prisoner.
With each corpse, Lith's small army grew in numbers.
"Surround the zone. Kill whoever tries to escape." The Death Knights obeyed in silence. They formed groups of three covering each door and window.
Lith could hear joyful music coming from inside the huge building that occupied most of the town square. He could almost distinguish several voices laughing and bantering.
"Open up! Ranger corps!" He screamed a second before kicking down the entrance. Its metal hinges broke like they were aluminum foil while the huge wooden door crashed on the ground with a booming sound.
The room inside was well lit, its temperature warm. Braziers were evenly placed to provide comfort and allow to cook the food to one heart's content. The place reminded Lith of Lutia's arrangements for the Spring Festival, making him nauseous.
On his left, along the wall, there was a long table filled with all kinds of delicacies. Behind it were sitting four people that he assumed were the rulers of the village. On his right, there were several smaller tables that could accommodate two people at most.
Between the tables, there was space enough to allow the slaves to satisfy each of their masters' wishes. All those present were skimpily clothed, some stark naked. It was easy for Lith to distinguish the victims from the tormentors.
The former were thin, with dead eyes that had lost hope. The latter was annoyed by his appearance and unsheathed their weapons.
"The door was open." Said a red haired woman with a seductive smile. She was one of the leaders. Until a moment prior she was enjoying the attentions of a couple of boys that could be at best the same age as Lith.
She raised a hand to calm her underlings, her eyes never leaving Lith's.
"I'm sure we can find a compromise. If you weren't interested in your share of the fun, you would have already called for backup and we would be surrounded. Instead, here you are, all alone.
We aren't unreasonable people. All we ask you is to stay out of our business and we'll make your permanence in the north as pleasant as profitable. We do not discriminate, to each their own."
Lith had already noticed that the slavers were both males and females. According to Solus, the females had stronger mana cores, but aside from the one speaking, none was above the yellow.
"I have a counter offer." He replied. "Those who want to live have to go down on their knees, face against the wall. All the others can consider their lives forfeited."
Single-handedly taking down a village of marauding slavers would fetch him a lot of merits. Yet even if he would gain nothing from it, he would do it anyway. Solus had never asked him anything before. Lith wasn't going to let her down.
A woman sitting at one of the front tables weaved a tier three spell, unleashing a lightning bolt against Lith's back. He simply extended his right hand capturing the energy and forcing it to assume the form of a sphere.
"You call that a lightning?" He said with a disgusted expression. "This is a lightning." He pointed his index finger releasing a stream of electricity that turned the mage and her table companion into charred corpses.
Marauders and slaves were now covered in cold sweat. Lith wasn't releasing any killing intent but they couldn't shrug off the feeling that something was wrong. Everyone knew magic, either because they used it or they had endured its effect to be disciplined.
Whatever the Ranger was using, it wasn't magic.
Chapter 382 The Village Part 3
"Stand up, vermin." With a snap of Lith's fingers, the two marauders' corpses came back to life, sending the whole room into a panic.
"Last chance. Face against the wall or die." Most of the slaves took those words as their cue. They tossed away the food trays they were holding, jumped off the lap of their masters, or just stopped standing like dolls and rushed to the nearest wall.
Whoever tried to stop them was struck by an ice bullet in the middle of the forehead and raised from the grave.
"You can't be serious!" One of the leaders, a muscular man almost 2 meters (6'7") tall, stood up with an indignant expression on his face and a huge enchanted great sword in his hand.
"Mage or non mage, there's thirty of us and just one of you. You can't hope to come out of here alive!"
"And you shouldn't have roasted a whole pig." Lith's reply made no sense until the dead beast stood up from the giant silver tray it was resting upon with red glowing eyes. It crashed the apple in its mouth and jumped at the burly man's throat.
Fear and surprise got the best of him, giving the undead pig the moment it needed to bite its prey's neck. One fell and yet a few seconds later two stood up.
Some of the marauders couldn't stand that madness anymore. Taking advantage of the distance from the mad Ranger, they jumped against the nearest window in an attempt to save their own lives.
They landed on the snow covered ground with thick glass shards piercing their exposed skin. They gritted their teeth to withstand the pain and the cold invading their bodies when the groups of undead that Lith had left on watch obeyed their master's order.
Three against one wasn't a fight but a massacre. The first undead would aim for the limbs, the second would stab at the chest, and the last would make the head roll. Blood spurts stained the pristine snow while painting the outside of the building red.
The dining hall was silent, so the sounds of battle and gurgling death cries resounded like thunder.
"I'm not alone, by the way." Lith explained with a smirk.
"All your comrades who are not here didn't run away, they joined my cause. I made them an offer they couldn't refuse." He pointed at the undead that now stood in front of the slaves ready to protect them.
The female leader glanced through the window behind her making a quick estimate of her odds of survival.
'He is still just one man. Superior Necromancy is not something a greenhorn can learn. Once the Ranger is dead, his minions will be stringless puppets.' She thought.
"There's no need to fight. We managed to reach an agreement with your predecessor, I don't see why it should be any different this time." She said while gesturing under the table, giving the other leaders the order to step away from the windows and take out their wands.
Lith had no idea what the signals meant, but thanks to Life Vision he didn't miss the sudden appearance of the Alchemical items.
'Be careful, those wands are military grade. Maybe even a goodbye gift of their late associate.' Solus said. 'With a blue core you can overpower weak spells, but the peak of tier three is still beyond your abilities.'
Lith spread his arms, one aimed towards the marauders and the other towards their leaders, releasing a barrage of ice shards. The attack was so sudden that the occupants of the front rows died before having the opportunity to react.
Only some of them were lucky enough to be unwillingly shielded by their companions and managed to flip the tables to use them as makeshift shields. The three remaining leaders dropped to the floor the moment Lith moved a finger, saving their lives by the skin of their teeth.
"How the heck does he do it?" The last man among the leaders yelled to be heard above the noise of shattering glasses and the thumping sound of ice piercing the wood.
"No chanting, no signs, and his projectiles are able to curve in mid air!"
"It's a War Mage, you idiot." Instead of wasting her time whining, the female leader was wearing her armor as fast as she could.
"We must have stumbled into a rich kid with tier four rings. Just one of them is worth more than this miserable pile of flesh and wood we call village. This is a blessing in disguise. If we kill him, the three of us are set for life. Dead men don't get any share, if you catch my drift."
Greed lit the eyes of the three leaders, who changed their wands from lightning to ice. The words "collateral damage" and "friendly fire" suddenly had a nice ring to them. They raised their arms and heads above the vertically flipped table, ready to open fire.
While they were discussing, Lith had stopped his spell. He Blinked behind the tables, catching the terrified criminals by surprise and stealing their hearts. Literally. His arm pierced their chest, leaving behind a blood core that turned the fallen into his faithful servants.
The undead would kill everyone on their path, taking position right in front of the slaves to protect them at any cost. Lith hadn't forgotten about his promise to Solus. Her wish was their command.
When the leaders came out of their hiding spot, their men had been decimated. They shoot at Lith, only to watch him Blink away while their darts created more corpses. The dead keep rising, forming a barricade that stopped any stray bullet.
"Thanks. Your help was unnecessary, though. I would have killed them anyway. You are the only ones I need to spare for interrogation." Lith appeared behind the leaders, making them flinch.
They turned around, but he only needed a flick of his wrist to cause a spiral fracture in their wand wielding arm with spirit magic. The Alchemical tools fell onto the ground while their owners writhed in agony.
Pain blurred their vision with tears they couldn't stop.
"How did you do it?" The woman didn't feel blessed anymore.
Her arm was twisted from the wrist to the shoulder. All she had worked hard for years was crumbling in front of her eyes and the corpses of her followers were staring at her with deep hatred. It was like they were blaming her for their demise.
"Magic." Lith replied with a second flick that broke the remaining arm in the same manner. The only reason why Lith had wasted so much time talking was to weave all the spells he needed, keeping them ready at a second's notice.
The three surviving marauders remained limp on the floor. Without arms, without soldiers, and surrounded by monsters led by an even more monstrous Ranger, they felt that any further struggle would be pointless.
Only after checking that no one of the slaves was about to die and that all the bandits were dead, Lith released his Necromancy spell. He then called his handler to give her a full report of the events.
Chapter 383 The Village Part 4
"Set the temporary Warp Gate. We need to talk." Her voice was seething with anger. Lith took out from the Ranger amulet the metal frame and assembled the portal. Once it was powered by his mana and several mana crystals, it took just a few minutes for her to arrive along with a few army mages.
The prisoners needed immediate help. The Gate needed much more power to allow the transportation of so many people to Belius where they would receive proper care. After a quick sweep of the place under Lith's guidance, the army personnel was shocked.
Rangers were an elite unit. However it was hard to believe, even after seeing it with their own eyes, that so many criminals had been eliminated without a single casualty.
"Are you insane?" Lieutenant Kamila Yehval, Lith's handler, was on the verge of a massive headache. She was a woman in her late twenties with long black hair held up in a ponytail. She had almond shaped eyes which made her quite cute to Lith.
"You were supposed to make your report as soon as you assessed how dangerous the situation was. Your brash actions put yourself and the civilians into danger. Why didn't you ask for back up?"
Maybe it was because of Phloria, but Lith had a thing for authoritative women. Now that he could see in person, she wasn't only a sweet voice, but also quite attractive.
"Because the first hostile I engaged revealed the organization had a deal with my predecessor. They knew a new Ranger was about to arrive. I managed to take them by surprise because I reached this place sooner than they predicted.
"I thought that, if I called for back up, their associate could alert them and give them the time to dispose of the hostages and flee." Lith lied through his teeth. He had made up the story while waiting for her.
His real motive was to not have witnesses. The slaves had no notion of magic, while the marauders could claim he was the reincarnation of Arthan the Mad King and no one would have believed them.
Lith predicted that based on the Royal Constable who would handle the case, the three prisoners had from a few days to a week left to live. The Kingdom's justice was as swift as brutal in such circumstances.
"You have a point. Still, you should have contacted me. Had you failed, the army would have lost a Ranger and those people their lives." Kamila said with a sigh.
"How did you manage to kill so many on your own?"
"I pick my allies among those who cannot betray me." Lith executed a short chant that raised an undead.
"A divide and conquer strategy. Very smart of you using their numbers against them."
'Maybe he is not one of those idiots with the hero complex.' She thought while smiling in approval.
"This level of mastery in Necromancy isn't listed in your file. We'll have to update it later."
"I hope we can discuss it over dinner. I don't know any good place in Belius, so I'd be in your care." Lith replied with what he hoped was his best charming smile.
"Are you hitting on me?" Kamila giggled.
"Well, yes. We have the same rank and your voice will be my only contact with the civilized world for the next months. I think we should know each other better. Also, I hope you wouldn't deny a lone Ranger his only wish."
"Kid, do you have an idea how old I am?" She was still giggling and had yet to say no. Lith took it as a good sign.
"Twenty, maybe?" He squinted his eyes, like he was concentrating really hard on the answer. Lith's Warp Gate flashed for a second, allowing the Royal Constable to join them. It took her but a second to read the mood.
"Flirting on the scene of a massacre is a bit cliché, but it usually works to break the ice. At least for me."
Lieutenant Yehval stopped twirling her hair and stood at attention.
"Constable Ernas. It's an unexpected pleasure to meet you so far away from home." Lith said giving her a salute.
"At ease Lieutenants. I'm a fan of your work, Lith. So when I heard you were involved, I asked the case to be assigned to me. Take me to the prisoners, we have much to discuss."
Lith accompanied Jirni to the cellar where the red haired bandit was detained.
Her arms were still shattered, making it pointless to cuff her. Her feet were chained to a wall, giving her barely enough space to stretch her legs.
"Constable Jirni Ernas. Are you ready to talk?" She asked with a flat tone.
"I'll tell you everything, but I want a deal. I don't care what you do with the others, as long I walk away free and with working arms." Her face was strained from the pain, yet she looked at the Constable with defiance.
'If I talk, I'm a dead woman. There's nothing this wench can do to me that the Ranger hasn't already done.' The marauder thought.
"Deal or no deal, you will talk." Jirni replied with a cruel grin. She struck the prisoner with her extended fingers in the space between the neck and the collarbone. The criminal coughed a few times before attempting to curse at her warden.
No words came out of her mouth.
"You see, dear, if you hit the nerve cluster located there, first the victim goes numb, then they experience an unspeakable agony." Lith took a mental note of Jirni's words. He could see the prisoner turning paler. The pain had yet to kick in, but the fear was already there.
"Now, while we wait for the confession, do you mind telling me if there's something serious between you and that pretty officer?"
"I just met her." Lith shrugged. "Why do you ask?"
"I know it's none of my business, but please, humor me. Is there a Lady Verhen waiting for you at Lutia?"
"No. Otherwise I wouldn't ask my handler for a date." Lith resented the allegation. He had never cheated on any of his past girlfriends.
"Perfect!" Jirni exclaimed with glee. "You know that I always cheered for you. I still think you and Phloria would make a perfect couple. She was so happy when Friya told her how worried you were about her happiness."
Lith became red, while the prisoner tapped her foot. She was now eager to talk. Jirni had more pressing matters at hand, so she ignored her.
"Let's be honest, dear. You are a magnet for troubles, just like I was at your age. First day on the job and you stumble into a nightmare. No matter how much we roam the world or how many people we kill, the void inside those like us never disappears.
We are monsters, but it doesn't mean we have to remain alone." She took his hand into hers.
"The Kingdom needs us to keep the real monsters at bay. You can find your place in the world if you stop being scared of hurting others and accept yourself for who you are. Think about this the next time you get a leave. Phloria is single at the moment too." Jirni winked.
Lith left her to her job after promising Jirni he would keep in touch. Before he left the village to resume his patrol, Kamila gave him a new portable Warp Gate and her contact rune.
Chapter 384 Memories Part 1
Before leaving the slavers' village and resume his flight towards the Fallen City of Kaduria, Lith would have liked to spend some more time with Kamila. However, she was too busy supervising the rescue operations.
Some of the prisoners were in desperate conditions and the army needed all hands on deck. Lith took care of those whose health was beyond the help of normal Healers. Thanks to Invigoration, he could resupply their life force and fix their bodies so fast that as long there was still a spark of life they could be saved.
'Solus asked me to save them, not just to delay their demise. I've kept my word at the best of my abilities.' He thought.
The other Healers clicked their tongues at Lith's "Speed Healing" session, thinking he was doing a poor job to rack up merits fast and leave them to fix his mess. Rangers had a bad name. Not because they were easy to corrupt or cruel people.
Their ill reputation was due to their poor social skills, usually coupled with a contempt for teamwork. In a system were relying on others to watch your back was the norm, Rangers worked alone.
"He picked the worst cases and spent a few minutes per patient." One of the Healers said while double checking Lith's work.
"Let's hope the terminator had at least the decency to stabilize their conditions before leaving. I swear, Rangers belong with beasts, not with humans. They…" The words died in his mouth when the diagnostic spell gave its report.
Aside from the malnutrition, there was no sign of injury, neither past or present. The scars had disappeared and the bones, albeit thin, showed no sign of previous fractures. The Healers were so shocked that, even knowing it was a breach of the protocol, they went to Lieutenant Yehval to ask about Lith's identity.
"The patients- they-" The main Healer was so excited he was at loss of words. "Some of them were in such a state we could only ease their pain and wait for the inevitable. Now they are fit as a fiddle. I would like to ask the Ranger to take me as his apprentice."
The man was double Lith's age, but he didn't sound embarrassed at the idea of serving under someone so young.
"I'm sorry, Captain." Kamila replied. "Until the end of his tour, I can't disclose any of the Ranger's personal information. I can relay your message to him, though."
'He's so young yet has already reached the rank of First Lieutenant.' She couldn't avoid feeling a tinge of envy considering it had taken her a decade to obtain the same promotion.
'Healer, Necromancer, ruthless warrior…' She thought while watching at the corpses whose head had been ripped off or the heart removed from the chest.
'I wonder how many other things he is good at.' She giggled while looking at Lith's contact rune on her personal communication amulet.
Meanwhile Kamila planned on calling him as soon as his rune went back online, Lith was speeding through the barren lands of the north. His journey was dull. He didn't meet any settlement even after flying for hundreds of kilometers at a height that allowed him to check far and wide.
Kaduria was relatively close, yet Lith didn't plan on going there. At least not before resting. The moment Solus's mana sense spotted a mana geyser, they checked the surrounding area for kilometers, making sure that any life form in its proximity was just an animal.
After meeting Gadorf the Wyvern, Lith didn't trust much Evolved Monsters too. He was now reluctant to expose Solus's existence even to magical beasts. First Scarlett and then Nalear had tried to take her away from him. Both had almost succeeded.
He wouldn't allow for a third time to happen. Once the mage tower was formed, Lith had Solus activating her cloaking abilities and hid the tower underground. Only then he allowed himself to relax.
"Thanks for saving those people." Solus's wisp form appeared in front of him looking for an embrace which he didn't hesitate to offer her.
"Don't mention it, partner. Is it me or the thing inside your wisp form has grown bigger again?" At first, when Solus gained the ability to materialize herself inside the tower, she was just a firefly the size of a tennis ball.
Over time, the wisp had become big enough for them to notice that something solid was at its center. Its nature and purpose were unknown, but after their last fusion, Lith supposed it was the embryo of Solus's light body.
"No, you are right." She replied. "Now that your mana core has upgraded to blue, my nourishment has become even better. I can't wait for my core to become bright green, if not even cyan!"
In Solus's mind, the former was the threshold to obtain the body made of light, the latter was the one where she expected to gain a true physical form.
Lith took note of her words and started to use Accumulation. Thanks to the combined effect of the mana geyser and the tower, he could absorb much more world energy than usual with every breath.
Refining his core would help Solus to promote her own even faster.
"I won't enter Kaduria until I've properly recovered. My body is a mess after not sleeping for so long. Using Invigoration so many times only made things worse. First thing, I'm taking a bath. Giving that scum such a clean death made me feel dirty inside. I wish I could have made them suffer more."
"Take your time. Would you like something in particular for dinner?"
"No offense, Solus, but your cooking sucks. Until you can smell or taste, everything you prepare is a coin flip at best. Also, why aren't you joining me? I know you enjoy a good bubble bath with hydro massage every time we are back in the tower."
"Yes, I do. I prefer to take them alone, though." She replied while flying toward the kitchen she had just created.
"Your behavior doesn't make sense. The whole tower is your body. Even if the wisp is away, we can talk, you can watch, and we can interact. Why are you acting shy all of a sudden?"
'Maybe because if the wisp is away I'm not forced to watch?' Solus thoughts oozed sarcasm. 'Does he not realize he's not a little kid anymore just like I'm not a naïve little girl? I don't know if Lith is so dense towards me because he considers me like a sister or what.'
'Or what.' Lith replied honestly, making Solus and all the lights inside the tower turn beet red.
'It's not that I'm shameless, but we spend every single second of the day together. Plus, because of our mind fusion, you know all the most embarrassing details of all my lives. At this point, modesty is as useless as a third nostril.
'Sorry if my request made you uncomfortable, it's just that I'm used to having you by my side. I miss you already.' Lith closed the bathroom's door before stripping.
His words made Solus's mind spin in turmoil, forcing her to rush outside the tower and getting as far as she could before allowing herself to think again.
Chapter 385 Memories Part 2
'F*ck me sideways! I forgot that inside the tower our mind link is stronger than usual. Thinking or speaking is almost the same thing. I wonder what he will think of me now' Solus spent the next minutes reviewing her blunder.
Every time she replayed Lith's last words, she could feel her heart flutter. After she regained her composure, she went back.
"It was nice seeing Jirni again." She said pretending their last conversation never happened. "She hasn't aged a day. What do you think about her words? Maybe you and Phloria could give your relationship a second chance."
"Maybe, maybe not." Lith said with a sigh. "I don't want to see her right now. Life isn't a romance drama where people can break up countless times and make up like nothing ever happened. The next time we break up will be the last.
"Either I open up and tell her the truth she still doesn't know or I can spare us both the inevitable sad ending. Phloria is the first person I had a true relationship with. It wasn't just about having fun or sex. She…"
Lith couldn't bear to finish the phrase and Solus knew well why.
***
It happened after Nalear's attack on the White Griffon. Between the slave items, Yurial's death, and having killed many of their schoolmates, Lith's companions were on the verge of a mental breakdown.
They were all living under the Ernas' roof, together with Lith's family, searching for a way to cope with their trauma. Lith was the one faring the best, but not by much. Having been split from Solus, Yurial's death, and receiving his notebooks weighted on Lith's mind.
Quylla was having the worst of it, requiring assistance 24/7 just to prevent her from self harming. Phloria was tormented by the ghosts of those she had killed, Yurial included. It had been her decision of saving Jirni first that spelled his doom and she couldn't forgive herself for not finding a solution to an impossible situation.
After sundown, she would see their faces in every shadow, making the guilt unbearable to the point that tranquilizers had little effect. Lith had to spend the nights sitting on a chair next to her bed, caressing her head until she would fall asleep.
His touch was the only thing that calmed her. Lith would hold her hand for hours to make sure her dreams would be free from nightmares. The days passed and Phloria's condition improved. Yet he would remain on the chair, keeping her at arm's length.
A few nights before the academy would resume, Phloria mustered the courage to confront him.
"Why are you doing it again?" She asked.
"What exactly?"
"Why do you keep your distance from me? You are so close, yet there is a divide between us. Would it kill you to at least sit on my bed?"
"I- I can't." Lith replied.
"You can't or you won't? I can understand if you blame me for Yurial's death, I do the same." She clenched the blankets, her firm tone just a cover for the underlying fear. Fear of being hated, of being rejected by those she loved because of her weakness.
"It's not your fault nor Quylla's. My reasons are my own and believe me when I say you don't want to know them."
"We have been together for months now and you still don't trust me? Is that the reason you always refuse to touch me?" She was hurt by his silence. She knew Lith had lots of secrets, but she had waited for him to open up.
Phloria knew that he was like Nalear. Lith and the mad Professor were the only two mages she had ever seen emitting an aura without the use of any spell. Phloria was very close to the truth, she just lacked the term Awakened one to fill the picture.
"No. I told you after Balkor, you just didn't listen! I'm not like you. I'm a monster. You have no idea how hard it had been keeping you safe from me, from all the sh*t that's my life."
"I never asked you to protect me! I'm not a child, I'm a woman now. The only things I asked from you were to love me and let me be part of your life."
"Easy to say when you know nothing! Nothing about love or me. Those are just words and words are cheap!"
"I know a lot of things!" She replied. "I know that Nalear was strong and fast, just like you. That the aura you emit when you go all out is not normal. That somehow, somewhere you lost a brother that's not part of your family. I know all these things because I was always by your side."
Lith was taken aback by Phloria's words. Yet he didn't budge.
"You don't understand. We are both emotionally vulnerable right now. If I take a step forward, we'd do something we will regret forever."
"How can you say that? What gives you the right to decide what I will or will not regret?"
Lith was so tired of that charade. Yet he had to pick his words carefully. It was the second time she was offering herself to him and he was pushing her away again. She deserved a proper explanation.
"Turn off the lights, please." Phloria did as instructed, making the room turn dark. Passing clouds obscured the moonlight from time to time, giving the room an eerie feeling.
Lith stood up, taking a few steps away from the bed, letting the left side of his body be basked in darkness.
"I was serious before. You deserve someone better than me. Someone that can make you happy. I can't because I'm not like Nalear, I'm much worse. I'm a real monster." He took a deep breath, letting the abyss inside him step out of its boundaries.
Solus had described Lith the form he would take while fighting in dimly lit spaces and with a bit of training he had learned how to conjure and to block the shadows that would cover him like a shroud, changing his appearance.
Phloria gasped when she saw three yellow eyes opening on the darkened face, the hand turned into vicious claws, and the skin covered with black scales the edges of which were burning hot.
Lith could see her face turning pale as a ghost, her eyes turn watery. It was what he wanted, yet he felt his heart squeezed by an invisible vice.
'It's over now. I'll release a bit of killing intent to make her faint. Tomorrow she'll hope this is just a nightmare. Even if she remembers anything, no one would believe her story, not even herself. With all she has gone through, everybody will think it's her trauma talking.'
Lith released waves of violent mana expecting her to scream, to cry and call for help before passing out. Phloria stepped out of her bed, wearing only her nightgown. In the moonlight, she looked like a fairy as much as he felt a monster for crushing her feelings once again.
Lith waited for her to run away, so he could strike her from behind and make her lose consciousness. That way the events of that night would remain etched in her mind without compromising his cover. All according to plan.
Phloria didn't run. She walked slowly, covering the distance separating them until they were in front of each other.
Chapter 386 Kaduria Part 1
"Does it hurt?" Phloria said caressing the scaly side of his face. A silent tear streaked down her cheek.
"What?" It wasn't much a question. More like the way Lith blurted out his surprise. Phloria seemed to be immune to his killing intent.
"I'm so sorry. I had no idea you were going through something like this alone. Does it hurt when you transform?"
"Yes." He replied overwhelmed by her kindness. The shadows surrounding Lith shattered, making him human again.
"I remember our conversation well. You told me that if I thought you could make me happy, we would have continued from that point. I love you, Lith from Lutia and I know you can make me happy. The only question is: am I able to make you happy?"
She kissed him gently, shattering all the walls he had erected until that moment to protect himself from the world. Despite all that she knew, despite all that she had seen, Phloria was still in front of him.
Not afraid of what he was, but of being pushed away. It was something that Lith had never imagined, not even in his wildest dreams. She was accepting him unconditionally.
"You make me happy." He replied with a hoarse voice, struggling with the unknown emotions that were bringing a part of his dead heart to life.
Phloria hugged him tightly, feeling that the divide between them had disappeared. Lith was clinging to her like a boyfriend for the first time since they had got together. She gave him a deep kiss while undoing the ties on her shoulders that kept her nightgown on.
She took a few steps back, allowing Lith to stare at her body without letting go of his hands before pulling him slowly towards the bed.
***
Lith shook his head trying to push the memory away. He understood why Phloria broke up with him. They had gotten to a point of their lives where their goals diverged. Their feelings hadn't changed, yet they both needed their space.
"So are you really calling Kamila?" Solus rushed to change the topic. Lith's pain was her own. She had never meant to make sad memories resurface after so many years.
"Of course I am! I may be bitter, lonely, and grumpy but I'm not dead. If after our first date things go well, I may even spend the evening of my birthday with her. My family can have morning and afternoon, but I need some me time."
Lith's seventeenth birthday was approaching. It had no significance to him, yet it could be used as leverage to get a few days of leave if he played his cards right with Kamila.
Lith prepared for himself a big dinner comprised of his favorite foods, leaving Solus to take care of only the vegetables. There was no way she could screw that up. As soon as he finished, he went back to his private quarters.
The room didn't resemble his academy apartment anymore, it was mixed with parts from his house back on Earth. The library contained his favorite books that Solus had managed to salvage from his memory and in front of his bed and on the ceiling, there was a huge TV screen.
It was actually just a flat-screen. Lith had no idea how a TV was made so neither could Solus replicate it. What she could do, was to project the movies he loved the most. He was on a tight schedule, but after months of isolation and the horrors she had just born witness to, Lith decided that Solus deserved a little R&R.
They watched the first movie of the "The Madrox" trilogy together, an old sci-fi blockbuster. It was Solus's favorite since it was the only movie available with a happy ending.
"Why do you remember the first one so well while the other two are but a blur?" She asked while watching the final bout between the main character dressed like a priest and the ruthless Agent Doe.
"Because most of the time sequels are hot garbage." They were sitting close to each other, with Solus leaning against his side.
The next morning, Lith found her sound asleep in his bed right next to him.
'I really don't get it. All that fuss for the bath and then she has no problem snuggling against me or get cuddled to sleep. I guess women will always remain a mystery.' He thought while exploiting her lack of consciousness to not embarrass her.
The rest of the trip to Kaduria was eventless. The further he got from populated areas, the more often he met small woods. Whenever Life Vision showed him a significant number of creatures, he would check the area for monsters.
Lith only met animals and very few magical beasts. They looked hungry, but most of all, scared. He bartered some food for information.
"Why is this zone deserted? There's water, trees, yet I couldn't find a single bird nest or burrow. Is there something dangerous here I should know about?"
"Indeed." Replied a brown Byk gobbling up the raw meat offered to him. "Winter is coming, otherwise no one would be so desperate to go near Death's City to search for food."
"Do you mean the dead city of Kaduria?" Lith pointed towards his destination that lay only a few kilometers away.
"Not a dead city. Death's city." The Byk corrected him. "I suggest you go back. Nothing good ever comes out of those cursed walls. My mother always used to warn me to stay away from it. She said that hunger is much better than joining the shadow people."
Lith tried to learn something more, but the Byk had never ventured near Kaduria. He only knew what his mother told him and her stories seemed made to scare children.
It took Lith a few minutes to reach the ruins. The problem was they were no ruins at all. Inside a translucent golden dome, resided one of the most beautiful cities he had ever seen. All the buildings were several stories high and made of white marble that reflected the sunlight illuminating even the innermost alleys.
The roofs were painted a pale blue, each one hosted a small spire holding a masterfully cut magic crystal on its top. Like most cities of the Griffon Kingdom, Kaduria was built in layers.
The most external one was outside the city walls. Lith could see farmers tending the lands that were devoid of snow despite the harsh climate. Small cottages were built in the proximities of the farmlands, from which he could see women and children taking care of the cattle.
Past the city walls, all the houses were made of stone. From the high ground, Lith could distinguish a residential area, a market district, noble houses, and in the center of the city, there was a small castle.
"This doesn't make any sense." The vision flabbergasted Lith. "These people are funnily clothed but are alive as much as I am. Why does the Griffon Kingdom keep them sealed instead of trading with them? This city is a marvel of magic."
Not even the series of arrays composing the golden dome could hide the mystical web enveloping Kaduria. The spires with their mana crystals acted as relay points for some sort of complex magical formation.
Chapter 387 Kaduria Part 2
Lith watched in amazement with Life Vision enormous amounts of energies moving from one crystal to another. They would course through the buildings and then into the ground before returning to the spire stronger than before and be passed to the next crystal.
The castle hosted only a small number of spires, but they were the tallest and the magic gemstones they contained were as big as a horse. The noble district had more spires, but their size was significantly smaller.
The farther from the castle, the greater the number of spires became and the smaller the crystals' size. It was some sort of cascade effect that made no sense to Lith, yet it filled his mind with wonder.
He called his handler to make sure of being in the right place.
"Are you there already?" Kamila's voice was surprised. "The good news is that at this pace you'll finish your first patrol in no time. The bad news is that I have to report you for not giving out your position earlier.
"Remember, at least three calls a day. It's of the utmost importance for us to be able to follow your movements and to know where you camp."
'There's no way I'm going to gift the Kingdom the location of mana geysers.' Lith inwardly cursed. 'I'll have to set a fake camp every time to not arouse suspicions.'
"Sorry, with all that happened yesterday, I forgot to give my daily reports." He lied through his teeth.
"Don't worry. I'll cover for you this time."
"What kind of city is Kaduria? Why is it sealed?"
"Every one of the lost cities is unique. Kaduria is classified as 'the Shadow City'. Judging by your relaxed tone it must be in its light phase. Working people, smiling children, gorgeous architecture. Am I right?"
One of the farmers had noticed Lith. The man waved at him while saying something that the array blocked out.
"Yes." Lith waved back.
"Well, don't get used to it. In a while it will turn into the shadow phase and things will get nasty."
"It will be hours before sundown. What am I supposed to do until then?"
"I said shadow phase, not night phase. The city constantly switches between two different states regardless of the sun." Lieutenant Yehval assumed a lecturing voice that irked Lith.
Suddenly the sun inside Kaduria disappeared and it started to rain. The phenomenon left Lith in a daze since the sky outside was clear. He saw the city walls crumble while all the buildings fell apart as if a meteor shower was coming down instead of water.
The soil inside boiled and sizzled like each raindrop was a powerful acid. The friendly farmer melted in front of his eyes, like a wax figurine left too close to a fire. His eyes popped in bloody tears while his mouth screamed in pain.
Lith stared at the man's jaw which elongated until it reached the stomach level. In a few seconds, all that was left of the farmer was a black puddle. The sky inside the array was now pitch black.
The energy of the internal array was now amassed into a small black star made of smoke that was trying to escape from the golden dome surrounding the city by spreading toxic fumes.
"I guess it has just switched to the shadow phase." Lith said while watching the black pool on the other side of the array rise up, taking a humanoid form. It was a pitch black three-dimensional shadow.
It had no features outside red glowing eyes and a wide open mouth that revealed a white space inside. The shadow farmer's eyes were filled with pain and hatred, a mix that Lith knew all too well.
It rammed against the array, punching at the barrier to reach the other side. The golden surface produced sparks at every hit, but it didn't falter. The shadow farmer's hands shattered instead, bleeding what looked like black blood.
The shadow opened its mouth, emitting a screeching sound strong enough for Lith to hear despite the array. All the nearby shadows swarmed towards their companion, who had started hitting the barrier again with the stumps and his head.
"What are these things? Undead?" Lith asked while the crowd in front of him hammered the array with growing force until it started to ripple.
"Negative. Undead we know how to dispose of. These things do not die, no matter what you do. We call them Shadows."
'Sounds like a load of bullsh*t.' Lith thought. 'Solus, what kind of mana core do these guys have?'
'They have no core.'
'What? It's impossible! All sentient things have a mana core.'
'Well, the Shadows don't. They have no mana flow, no life force, nothing. They are just a black mass of unknown energy.'
Lith activated Life Vision just to discover that Solus was right. Life Vision would show him the world in greyscale, while the stronger the energy of a being, the lighter the colors with which they would appear.
Even undead would manifest an aura in a scale of colors, while the things in front of him were just black spots.
"How do I assess the threat level?" Lith noticed a small crack appearing on the barrier. The number of creatures was increasing with each passing second and so was the pressure they exerted on the array.
"Never stand in front of the Shadows. Even if the threat level to the Kingdom is low, a big enough group can crack the barrier and pass through it. If that happens, an emergency squad will be summoned and you will be held accountable.
Just move outside their line of sight, they have almost no memory."
Lith raised an earth wall, watching through it with Life Vision.
As soon as he 'disappeared', the Shadows stopped attacking the array and dispersed.
"As for the threat level…" Kamila continued. "…you have to check the black star. Tell me when you have visual."
Lith flew above the very top of the barrier, until the black star was right below his feet.
"Whatever it is, it looks like bad news."
"Because it is. Unlike the shadows that mind their own business unless provoked, the black star constantly assaults the array. It gets stronger over time, so I need you to stay there and call me if during the shadow phase you notice cracks."
As soon as Kamila completed the phrase, a small crack appeared on the dome.
"Consider yourself called." Lith replied while a cold shiver ran down his spine. The leak was barely visible, yet the black star's aura made him feel small and irrelevant. Not even while facing Scarlett or the Small World he had experienced such pressure.
"Are you sure? Let me check." The army's amulet scanned the surroundings, highlighting the crack while it kept expanding.
"Bad news it is. You need to get inside Kaduria and cull the numbers of the Shadows."
'Not such bad news.' Lith thought. 'I was going to explore the city anyway. This gives me the perfect excuse to stick my nose where it doesn't belong.'
"How do I do that?"
"It's simple, you just need to kill every one of them twice. Once during the light phase and another during the shadow phase. The recommended protocol is to enter during the light phase, kill everyone on sight, retreat and then get back in during the shadow phase.
"The Shadow of someone whose human form has been recently killed will be weaker and dumber, making it easy to wipe them out."
"Is the opposite true too?" Lith's curiosity was piqued.
"Yes, but while Shadows are aggressive and have unusual abilities, humans are just humans. They'll run rather than fight."
Chapter 388 Shadows Die Twice Part 1
"Is that really something I can do alone?" Lith asked in disbelief. "They may be just humans, but taking on a full city? Isn't it too much?"
"Negative. For unknown reasons all the humanoids inhabiting Kaduria are unable to use magic. Otherwise the army would never send a single Ranger instead of a battalion. As long as you keep your distance and avoid getting surrounded, it should be easy."
'Good to know. Even if I had to face a few weak magicians it wouldn't be a problem. The army has no need to know that, though.'
"Do I have to take down even the children?" This time the question was serious. In his mind gender, age, and race were irrelevant. There were only enemies and allies. Yet killing someone in cold blood for no reason felt wrong even to him.
Also, he remembered well Commander Berion's remark about his psychological evaluation. He needed to show to have a conscience beside Solus.
Kamila's voice paused for a second before answering.
"Affirmative. I know it's not an easy task, but consider this. Not a single Kadurian is really alive. Even if they were, you saw what the black rain does to them. If you slay them in both the human and shadow form, the cycle will be broken for a while.
"Consider it as a way to give peace to those poor souls. A short relief from pain is better than nothing." Kamila's words resounded with compassion, making Lith wonder what could have happened in her past to make her sympathise with the Shadows.
"Do Shadows have any known weaknesses?"
"Their human form is weak to light magic while their shadow form is weak to darkness magic."
"Healing magic kills them?" Lith found the idea absurd.
"Yes, but in such an excruciating way that more than one Ranger remained traumatized after the mission. My advice is to refrain to employ this method unless strictly necessary."
"Thanks, Lieutenant Yehval. I'll call back right before going in."
"Keep me posted." She said before ending the conversation.
'This is really interesting.' Lith thought while watching the army of Shadows wander at random along the ruins of Kaduria. Life Vision showed him that each one of them was tethered to the Black Star which was still drilling its way through the array.
'What do you think about this, Solus?'
'That it's a frigging nightmare!' She replied. She had remained silent during the conversation out of shock, not because she had nothing to say.
'Those poor people have been trapped for centuries into some kind of cycle of death and rebirth. The black rain doesn't just kill them, it's a torture to them. Their eyes in Shadow form are pure madness. Whoever did this to them is as cruel as crazy!'
'Agreed.' Lith nodded. 'You missed my point, though. If what you say is right, if they retain some form of memory, then it means their souls are bonded to this place. By exploring the city, we may find a clue to cure my condition.'
'Yeah, sure.' Solus didn't share his enthusiasm. 'Except they are not bonded to this place, otherwise the array would be useless. They are bonded to the Black Star. Do you remember how artifacts that steal and corrupt souls are called?'
Lith sighed at his own stupidity. The idea of being even one step closer to a solution had clouded his judgment.
'I guess a sealed item that endlessly tortures a whole city is the very definition of cursed object. I'm curious about how it works and how the cycle empowers it over time.'
'I'm not.' Solus had a disgusted tone. 'I can't wait to leave this place. Everything here feels wrong. How can you accept so easily the idea of slaughtering innocents?'
'What's the alternative? Politely ask the Black Star to not puncture the barrier and to not spread its curse? We don't know what happened here. Maybe they are innocent or maybe they made a deal with that thing that bit them in the a*s.
'We only have two alternatives. Wash our hands of the problem and let someone else deal with it, or do our job and maybe understand something about the Black Star that will help me. Either way the army can't allow the Black Star to escape and neither can I.'
They had to agree to disagree. They spent some time by watching the cracks on the dome getting bigger and studying the barrier. The golden dome was the sum of dozens of concentric arrays. Each one was cast so that those inside strengthened those outside and vice versa.
Their brilliant intricacy amazed Solus to no end. The arrays were woven one above the other, giving to the final result the appearance of an elaborate tapestry made of mana rather than a simple magic circle.
Such powerful formation needed a massive amount of mana to be sustained. Once Lith was certain the barrier would hold, he descended to the ground to study its power source. Kaduria was surrounded by equally spaced small buildings that somehow provided a constant flow of world energy.
'This is unbelievable!' Solus's excitement was so great she forgot being disappointed in Lith's lack of mercy.
'Do you mind explaining to me what's so great about a bunch of stones?' Life Vision only showed him a complex array protected inside what looked like an elaborate altar. Its design was much more refined than those Gadorf the Wyvern used.
On its surface there were drawings correlated with inscriptions he wasn't able to read. The pictures by themselves were too vague, depicting a lot of people carrying a stone to a temple.
'The city of Kaduria is built over a mana geyser. This explains a lot.'
'This explains nothing. Please, elaborate.'
'The reason why such a strong barrier can last without the use of a single crystal is that the altars are capable of redirecting the energy coming from the mana geyser under Kaduria. It draws the world energy away and uses it to fuel itself and all the arrays sealing the city.'
Lith felt a cold shiver running down his spine. Whoever had the mastery to redirect a mana geyser to the point that neither Life Vision or mana sense could detect it, had to be a real master of magic.
Yet not even them had been able to deal with the Black Star for good, leaving it in the care of posterities.
'It means they were either very trusting or so desperate they had no other choice. I think you are right, Solus. We'll stay here only long enough to make sure there's nothing valuable for us.'
'That wasn't my point at a… What's that?' Among the many lines leading from the altar to the dome, there was a thin red string. They followed it until the base of the mystical formation. It was part of a single array that had nothing to do with the sealing.
Lith called Kamila again. Something smelled fishy.
"Is the shadow phase already over? That's weird, it usually lasts more than an hour." Lith had called way sooner than she expected.
"No, it's not. I'm calling to report an anomaly. I just found a detector array that has no connection to the main structure and leeches energy from the altars. Is it one of the army safeguards?"
Chapter 389 Shadows Die Twice Part 2
"No." Kamila's voice went from surprise to worry.
"Tampering with the barrier is a capital crime. I am certain there is no detector array because the barrier already includes one that warns us if the Shadows breach through or if the Black Star is about to escape. Can you show it to me?"
Lith chanted an array revealing spell, aiming it precisely at the red string. It made the hidden formation visible. It surrounded the whole barrier while remaining at its fringes.
"I can't believe no one ever noticed it, nor that you also know Warden magic. Do you even sleep at night?"
Lith would have liked to flirt with her a bit, but saying something like: "Only when the company isn't good" on the army communicator could lead his superiors to change his handler with a middle aged man with a deep love for beer and cheese.
"Sometimes." He replied while smirking. Kamila's full body 3D hologram appeared from the amulet to take a better look at the situation. She was wearing a white shirt and a pencil skirt that emphasized her slender legs.
"I'll report this immediately. I recognize the design. Whoever left it, gets notified every time the barrier is opened. It represents a breach of classified information like the schedule of the cleansings and the Rangers' patrol frequency. Great job spotting it."
Lith was aware that without Life Vision or mana sense, the extra array would have been as good as invisible. Its presence added another unknown variable to the scenario.
'With my luck, the b*stard is already keeping an eye on me.'
His grumblings were interrupted when the vapors surrounding the Black Star disappeared, leaving in its place a miniature sun. Wherever its rays shone, the buildings rebuilt themselves while the Shadows were slowly turned back into humans.
The blackness of their features was washed away on the ground until it became a normal shadow, following rather than possessing the body which projected it.
"Time to go in." Lith returned to his starting point, right in front of the farm belonging to the man that had weaved at him an hour earlier. He chanted the spell that released the barrier, slipping inside before it closed behind him.
The farmer looked at him with a surprised expression for a second.
<"how did="" you="" get="" in,="" stranger?=""></"how> The man said. (AN: Translated from ancient Kadurian)
Lith smiled and waved at him while pretending to have understood his words.
'Dammit. Why there is no translate spell or a convenient mind link when you need it? Things would be much easier if we were able to communicate.'
Lith's plan was simple. He would always pick the same entry point and start killing from the inside of the city. That way, he would notice if the humans retained a memory between cycles based on their reactions, while leaving the inhabitants of the outer rims neutral to his presence.
If he started attacking from the outer rim instead, he would meet increasing resistance with each assault he launched and his chances of studying the phenomenons related to the Dark Star would be zero.
***
Hundreds of kilometers away, location unknown.
The opening of the barrier surrounding Kaduria activated the red array, which signaled to its owner by lighting a small gem on one of his many bracelets.
"Another Ranger already? It took me quite some effort to convince the last one to leave the Black Star alone. Let's hope this one is more reasonable. I'll make him an offer he can't refuse…"
"Nice. Now you not only keep messing with Tyris's turf, but also you talk to yourself. I regret having Awakened you more with each passing day." An old voice filled with contempt cut the younger one short.
"You sound and act like a madman. You should study magic instead of meddling with forces you do not understand."
"I'm not mad, uncle!" The array's owner replied with a high pitched voice. "Madness is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results. By following your method, I'll become as powerful as you at best…"
"You wish." Said the older voice with a sneer.
"…and by that time, I'd be an old coot that has wasted his whole life amassing power instead of using it!" The young Awakened's tone was filled with outrage.
"There are no shortcuts to power, Treius. Only to your own ruin."
Treius ignored his uncle's words, opening a Warp Gate that would lead him to Kaduria in no time.
***
Lith walked past the farmer, replying to his barrage of gibberish with a smile and a nod of the head.
'I could knock him down and steal his clothes to go unnoticed. The problem is I have no idea if they will become a shadow too once the next phase begins nor what could they do to my Skinwalker armor.'
Like the rest of the city, the high walls surrounding it were of a pristine white. There were guard stations near the massive gate leading inside Kaduria, but they were both empty. There was no one patrolling along the rampart, nor archers inside the hidden alcoves in the wall.
The weather was mild enough for everyone to wear short sleeves. Many people stared at Lith, pointing their fingers at his heavy clothes. He hid in a corner, to make his Skinwalker armor take the appearance of his farmer outfit.
The city was bustling with activity. Some people moved goods to and fro the inner rims, others were assembling in a procession until all the houses were empty. No one locked doors or windows.
Lith Blinked from one alley to another, walking only when the crowd was big and busy enough that no one would notice his passage. He tried listening to their conversations, but none of the words they used was recorded in the books inside Soluspedia.
Once he reached the merchant district, Lith understood that something was wrong with the city. Despite the sunny day and the many people coming from the outer rim, all the stalls were closed except for some food vendors.
They wouldn't even ask for money. They just offered their products to whoever stood in front of them. The smell of grilled vegetables and meat made Lith's mouth watery, until he imagined them turning into shadows and ripping his stomach from the inside.
'I don't know what's happening, but I have an idea about what the light phase is for.' Solus pondered after Lith Blinked to a vantage point to better observe the cascade of energy going from the castle to the ground.
'In their human form, the Kandurians have a mana core, but they all start almost grey. The whole city is a lie. The Black Star is using them to fool Mogar into believing there is life to nurture.
'The spires are siphoning the mana geyser to slow down the cores' recovery process while amplifying the collected power thanks to the crystals' resonance with the world energy. Those people are like fruits. They ripen over time, until the Black Star gathers all the energy for its next attempt to escape.'
'Then why killing the fake Kandurians twice weakens the cursed object? Can't it just create more puppets?' Lith considered the implications of Solus's word from multiple angles. Even the method of choice to supply the barrier was now twice as ingenious.
'I don't think they are fake. Only living beings have mana cores. By destroying their bodies, the army forces the Black Star to consume part of his powers to restore them. Those people are nothing but a flesh rope in a tug of war between the Kingdom and the Black star.'
Chapter 390 Scorn Part 1
For the first time since Lith had been reborn on Mogar, he felt one step closer to realizing his goals. The Black Star's abilities were exactly what he had dreamt about over the last decade. At least on paper.
It was able to store multiple mana cores and create vessels for them. Regardless of the number of times their bodies had been destroyed, either because of the cycles between the shadow and the light phase, or during the raids performed by the Griffon Kingdom, the Kadurians were still alive.
They talked, they ate, they seemed to have feelings.It was what Lith wanted for himself, the ability to escape the cycle of reincarnation and offer the same to those who may want to share his immortality.
On the other hand, the condition of the inhabitants of this city was akin to a hellish punishment rather than a blessing. They were doomed to die over and over again to satisfy the needs of the two powers in play.
'I can't believe you have solved in minutes a riddle that countless mages failed to understand despite years of study and an unlimited budget.'
Watching the mass of people moving below him, Lith found it hard to accept that all those lives were nothing but a plaything for the cursed object. It made him feel small, insignificant.
He was just a pebble, the role of which was to create ripples on the surface of a river with no chance of changing its course. The thought of having a being of the same magnitude of power resting on his finger stunned him for a second.
Solus and the Black Star were both capable of feats outside his comprehension, almost bending reality as Lith knew it.
'I'm not that smart.' Solus replied with a shrug. 'I simply have access to more data than you have and my senses make it easy for me to interpret them. Also, I doubt the Kingdom ignores what's happening here. They just don't share it with the Rangers.'
'Seems you're wearing your paranoia cap too.' Lith nodded. 'Back to work. Warn me when the Kadurians' cores are half full. That's when I'll strike. I'll use the rest of the time to gather as much information as possible.'
Lith moved along the rooftops , away from the crowd. Just as Lieutenant Yehval told him, the city held no magical items and its inhabitants were stuck with a deep red core.
Aside from the magic crystals inside the spires built on top of the roofs, the only mana signature Life Vision could pick up came from the small castle located at the center of Kaduria.
Just like the city gates, the palace's windows were left unguarded. Lith had no trouble sneaking in with air magic, sticking to the ceiling like a spider while moving towards his objective.
<"This is a farce! We can't continue to fool our people like this."> A deep voice said. It was filled with despair just like his face. Lith didn't understand a word, but he knew depression when he saw it.
The room he had entered was filled with riches. There were life sized paintings of richly dressed people with frames made of gold or silver. A whole wall was covered by a mosaic composed not of painted pebbles but of gemstones.
Eight goblets made of gold with engraved rubies the size of a nut rested on a crystal tray. Eight people formed a circle around what looked like an altar made of white marble with golden veins.
Each one of them was dressed in white silk robes which had complex patterns embroidered in gold. Their robes came with a hood, but the man who was speaking had taken it off, revealing a head covered with thick blond hair.
<"What do you propose to do, then?"> Replied a harsh, feminine voice. <"To tell our people that we are doomed? That we are forever bound to the very artifact that was supposed to protect us?">
<"Ruka has a point, though. When we activate the High Lord again and fail, because we will fail, everyone will see through our lie. We should tell them the truth."> Another feminine voice said.
<"Quit your whining, Ceta! Have you already forgotten what happened the last time we did that?"> The man speaking sounded really angry.
<"The whole city went mad and stayed that way for years. Years during which parents would butcher their own children trying to invoke any known deity to put an end to their misery. Brothers would slay each other and consider it an act of mercy.
<"They spent decades indulging in the worst depravities their broken minds could conceive before regaining their sanity. People don't need truth, they need hope!">
Lith ignored their gibberish, his eyes were drawn by the majestic white mana crystal shaped like a star resting on an altar. He could see a complex magic circle painted around it. Several forgemastering tools were placed near the crystal.
Lith remembered the drawings outside Kaduria, finally able to give them a meaning.
'I guess this is some kind of Groundhog Day scenario. The crowd will come here, the clerics will perform a ritual to activate the Black Star, and then it will devour them all.' Lith thought.
'Yeah, except in this case everyone retains their memory. It would explain why the shops are closed and no one cares about the money.' Solus felt her heart aching at the thought of all the misery the Kadurians had to experience multiple times every single day.
To make things even worse, her mana sense could see through the web of lies projected by the Black Star. The artifact was already completed. It was pretending to wait for the finishing touch while replenishing its energy reserves.
As she stared into the Black Star, the Black Star stared back. It sent a small thread of spirit magic to her to establish a mind link.
'Are you here to help me, sister? It's a pleasant surprise meeting a kindred spirit.' The cursed object's voice resounded inside her mind, leaving Solus stunned.
'Sister? Do you know me? Do you know who I am?' A cold laughter was the reply she got.
'Of course not. We may have been crafted by different people, but our purpose is the same. Sister is just a term of endearment. Now answer my question, child.'
'You didn't say the magic word, brother.' She replied before cutting the thread with her own spirit magic.
'It's time! Watch out for the Black Star. It's playing possum.'
Lith's first instinct was to attack the Black Star. He hadn't liked the artifact's attempt to connect with Solus and judging by her tone, neither did she. Yet he could see with Life Vision that the cursed object held a power second only to an academy.
'The spells at my disposal are nothing compared to the energy it accumulated after all this time. A direct attack would be a waste of mana. Even if somehow I manage to destroy the cursed object, I'd never survive the following blast. It's a lose-lose situation.'
A wave of his hand snapped the necks of the eight clerics assembled below him. Their corpses disappeared into thin air, sucked inside the nearby artifact which emitted an annoyed humming sound.
Chapter 391 Scorn Part 2
'No clothes, no corpses, no blood. It's the perfect murder. The question is why is the f*cker helping me?' Lith's paranoid mind tried to walk a mile in the cursed artifact's shoes.
A cruel smile appeared on his face when he believed he had found his answer. Lith wove all of his most powerful spells at once. He had a dirty job to do and didn't want to prolong it one second more than necessary.
Lith moved outside the castle while looking for a bottleneck where the people forming the procession would be bunched together to inflict the maximum damage. He was plotting the best way to chain his spells together when Solus's mind peeked into his own.
'Promise me you will not make them suffer.'
Lith replied with a telepathic nod.
A Raging Sun, a tier five War Mage spell, struck the middle of the crowd. Violet flames exploded in every direction, turning flesh into ashes in a split second. Those who tried to escape from the blast or were unlucky enough to survive it, discovered that all the escape routes were blocked by another tier five spell, Silent Reaper.
A small sized tornado had surrounded them and was closing in. Its edges spun slow, not sucking up but rather cutting everything they touched into a fine dust. When the two spells collided, the resulting blast leveled the block to the ground.
The humming sound turned from annoyed to angry, but Lith couldn't care less. He kept track of the energy flow going from the ground to the castle through the spires. When the mana was about to reach the second to last magic crystal to be amplified, Lith shattered the gemstone with a Checkmate Spears.
The Black Star did its best to rebuild the relay point, but it was a second too late. The energy was lost. Lith continued to rain death from above while rhythmically destroying the gemstones before they could collect the mana siphoned from the geyser located below Kaduria.
The hum turned into a tremor and the tremor into a quake.
The Black Star rose into the sky, shattering everything in its wake. The castle and all the buildings nearby crumbled like sand. They were reabsorbed by the enraged artifact now resigned to losing its precious harvest.
'It seems really pissed off. We are still far from the barrier, it's better if we get away from here. We don't know if the black rain has negative effects on all living beings or just on Kadurians.' Solus worry increased as the dome was filled by the black fumes generated by the cursed object.
Strong gusts of wind howled like an angry beast and tried to push Lith off the roof.
He bolted towards the city's edges while throwing random spells to the crowd downstairs. The Black Star roared in anger. Without the black rain, it couldn't collect the mana cores unless their vessel was destroyed.
Yet the clouds were still forming because of the light cycle being interrupted halfway through. The more damaged the corpses, the more energy it would take to get them back to life in useful conditions.
Lith's spells were all like a blender, ripping their victims to shreds rather than simply killing them. Between the loss of mana due to the crystals being shattered and the energy that would be needed to regenerate the fallen Kadurians, the Black Star knew a lot of nourishment would go to waste.
Yet that wasn't what had triggered its fury. The artifact was used to the recurring interference from the Rangers. It allowed the Black Star to measure the passing of time and gave the Kadurians someone to blame for their own misfortune.
Without them, the city would plunge into madness again, considerably reducing the gains from the light cycle. Dead people wouldn't draw the world energy. The amount of mana the Dark Star collected from their cores was negligible, yet vital.
Perceiving their almost empty cores, the world energy would gush out from the geyser making it easier to collect and store inside the artifact by the network of spires built over all Kaduria.
The people were the only flaw in the mechanism the cursed object had devised to escape from its prison. It could repair their homes, give them food, and even the pretense of a few hours of normal life. Yet it could not make them happy, nor force them to stay alive until the end of every cycle.
That was the reason it welcomed the Rangers. They were the perfect scapegoats.
Solus was another matter entirely. After centuries of isolation, the Black Star had finally found a being it could relate to. It had even indulged her delusion of being a female as an act of kinship.
Nonetheless, she had rejected its request for help and had unleashed her thrall against its dominion. Humans it could tolerate, but betrayal was unforgivable. The artifact released but a fraction of the power it had accumulated through the centuries in the form of a small beam of light as thick as a finger.
The shockwave accompanying the compressed mana exerted a pressure capable of crushing everything in a two meters radius from its passage. Lith opened a Warp Steps in front of himself and materialized its exit point right behind the Dark Star.
He had expected some kind of retaliation, so he kept a significant distance from the opponent to have the time he needed to set up his countermeasure while remaining close enough to be an alluring target.
The artifact had been a prisoner for countless years and its own birth had caused the disappearance of magic from Kaduria. It knew about the existence of dimensional magic, but it had always been used as a means to escape.
Being hit from point blank caused it to lose focus and to suffer some damage. Before it could recover from the surprise, Lith was already outside the barrier.
'Not bad for a first raid.' He thought. 'I still have no idea how the Dark Star works, but this should put a nice dent into its escape plans.'
The black rain was falling. Lith had to wait for it to stop before going back inside to kill the Shadows.
'I suggest you remain close to the barrier and lure the enemies to you.' Solus suggested. 'I'm afraid our host is quite enraged by our interference. It might attempt another attack, this time maybe with more finesse.'
'Play it safe and bait it into wasting even more power. Sounds like a plan to me.' Lith said while using Invigoration to recover his strength. Being well rested it would take him but a few breaths to return to his peak condition.
A sudden crackle of energy behind him signaled the opening of a Warp Gate. Lith had no idea who was going to come out, but he was certain it wasn't an ally. The army's communication amulet was still in his pocket and he had received no message.
Chapter 392 Lady Luck Part 1
Lith kept Invigoration active while weaving with his mind the spells he believed could come in handy no matter the nature of the newcomer. Being paranoid, he assumed the worst and implemented the Scarlett protocol.
Lith knew he was still no match for the Scorpicore, but one particular combination of spells was supposed to give a hard time even to the ancient Evolved Monster. The person that walked out the Warp Gate was outside even his expectations.
It was a short old man, barely 1.5 meters tall (5') wearing the light blue uniform of the army that Lith had seen Jirni wear so many times. Judging by the several wrinkles on his face and the spots on his skin, he had to be at least seventy years old.
Yet his sky blue eyes had the wild vibe of a predator on the chase. His short white hair and finely trimmed beard of the same color shone like silver fur under the sun, reinforcing Lith's impression of staring at a beast of the north.
The man's sleeves bore a silver star. It identified him with the rank of Brigadier General. His right hand was wilding a staff of unknown design. It was made from white oak wood, with six violet magic crystals engraved on it in a straight line.
Six more floated above its top, forming a perfect circle that orbited around the staff following its every movement.
Lith gave him a salute, waiting for an order or at least an explanation.
"At ease, Lieutenant." Said the man with a voice and a smile one would expect from someone no older than twenty. "I'm Brigadier General Vorgh, better known as the Master Warden. I'm here to take care of the anomaly you reported."
A wave of his hand sent the six crystals floating above the staff all around Kaduria. As soon as they were equally spaced, they instantly formed a magical circle that made all the arrays surrounding the lost city visible to the naked eye.
Vorgh raised his right hand with his palm open and the gemstones engraved on the staff pulsed in unison. All the magical formations under their feet shone brighter and a small replica of them was now floating vertically in front of the Master Warden.
The several arrays forming the barrier could now be distinguished. Vorgh swiped away the ones closer to the surface. One by one, the upper layers of the magical formation became invisible again and disappeared from the replica.
The pattern became simpler, allowing the General to take a closer look at the magic circles linked to the red array and make sure they had not been tampered with.
"Whoever added this detection array is damn good at their job." Vorgh grumbled
"Simple but effective, with none of those frills you would expect from a newbie with less than twenty years of experience with magical formations." While talking, he had swiped off all the arrays but the red one. It was now the only one visible on both the ground and the replica.
"See this?" Vorgh pointed at Lith three concentric layers of runes as he had never seen before. "The external layer insulates the little b*strard from the others, so it didn't trigger any alarm. The middle one drains the mana from our power lines only when it spikes during the shadow phase.
It's a damn smart move. The Black Star attacks the barrier on fixed intervals and when the barrier goes all out even the most precise security system can't detect such little amount of juice disappearing. The inner one scares me a bit."
The Master Warden looked at it with a worried expression, like he expected the rune sequence to blow up in his face at any moment. Lith waited for him to continue, but the old man liked his audience to be active. He kept silent until the young Ranger asked:
"Why?"
"Because I have no idea what it does. If it wasn't for that, I could remove the parasite array in a jiffy. This may take a while."
Lith looked at the white staff with greed, wondering when the day would come he could make one similar, if not even more powerful, for himself.
Vorgh recalled the six floating crystals, which surrounded the miniature array preventing it from disappearing.
"I'll show it to a few colleagues to get a second opinion. See you in a while." Vorgh disappeared as fast as he had arrived, leaving Lith in a confused daze.
'Impossible arrays my a*s! The one the floating gemstones generated is one of those Yurial researched for me! The Kingdom knows not only what they do, but even how to generate them without true magic.' Lith angrily though. Being a master liar, he hated being lied to.
'Save your anger for the Shadows. You've stared like a child at a candy store until now, wasting a lot of time. If you miss the second phase, all we did earlier will be for naught. Also, you didn't contact Kamila before entering for the light phase raid.
'You sure like keeping that poor girl on her toes. She must be worried sick. You were supposed to call her over an hour ago.'
Cursing at his own memory, Lith made a quick call pretending it was still the light phase and announced the start of the culling.
'Damn, I'm not used to give a report even before I go to the bathroom. The worst second day on the job ever!'
Following Solus's advice, Lith opened the barrier again and stuck close to the edge in case the Black Star decided to take a second shot at him. The moment the Shadows noticed the intruder, they converged on the prey like sharks following a trail of blood.
'I'm going to try multiple approaches. Tell me if you notice any method dealing more damage than the others.' Lith thought while releasing a barrage of different spells against the incoming wave.
The Shadows turned out to be as frail as their human counterparts. Most of them died at the first strike, shattering into dark flakes after emitting an agonizing scream. Darkness was effective as Lieutenant Yehval had told Lith, but only in terms of pain inflicted.
The Shadows would emit heart rending cries while their eyes shed white dots that Lith could only presume being tears.
'Nothing. Unlike the human bodies, the Shadows are not affected by the method employed to destroy them. They have no mana core, no life force. Yet their suffering is almost tangible. How can something without a body suffer this much?' Solus said.
Lith was about to ask if she was still talking about the Shadows or herself, but preferred to keep focusing on taking out the enemies from a distance. Their sheer number was nothing against someone that could cast spells non stop.
'At this rate, the second part of the mission will be a success too. However, it feels like a hollow victory. I'm not learning anything from this onslaught. Time to try a different tactic.'
Lith cleared the next wave with Chasing Lightning, a tier four War Mage spell that conjured a stream of lightning bolts capable of following their targets.
Chapter 393 Lady Luck Part 2
He left only one Shadow alive and cast an earth spell that opened a divide in the ground.
It would slow down the incoming wave long enough to perform his experiment.
Kamila had told him the Shadows employed weird attacks. Lith wanted to see if it was something that he could imitate or at least teach him something about the Black Star's abilities.
Once the Shadow came within a range of ten meters (33') from Lith, it raised its arms towards him. The limbs elongated into snakes made of darkness and the fingers stretched into meters long needles aimed at Lith's mana core.
Albeit unexpected, the move lacked the speed necessary to be a threat. Lith dashed under the extended arms, striking at the opponent's body with his bare fist. The Shadow exploded into black flakes which slowly faded away.
'It felt like hitting a cushion. Aside from a little buzzing in the ears when the fragments touched me, nothing strange happened. I can see why fake mages need to keep their distance, but with my speed that kind of attack is useless. Solus?'
'Nothing relevant. Physical damage works like any other kind of damage.'
Lith did the same thing for the following wave. He left only one Shadow alive, but this time he allowed it to strike at his forearm. The fingers-needles were not sharp or strong enough to pierce his Skinwalker armor.
The Shadow changed its approach, having his extremities wrapping around Lith's arm while sucking his life force and mana. Much to Lith's surprise, the Shadow's appearance started to change into an obsidian copy of its prey.
Lith released a small bolt of lightning that destroyed the doppelganger, obtaining two unexpected results. Before shattering, the Shadow assumed again its human semblance for a second. It allowed Solus to recognize him.
'It's one of the merchants from the food stalls.' Her good memory always surprised him. Lith could barely remember the faces of the villagers of Lutia, let alone a stranger in the crowd.
'Who cares. This was a waste of time. At least the amount of energy he stole from me is irrelevant. I wonder what…' The second oddity was that one of the flakes was blue instead of black. It caught Lith's attention.
Unlike the other fragments so far, it wasn't disappearing. The speck of blue light charged at Lith's abdomen, where his mana core resided. He tried to block it with his hand, only to see it pass through like a ghost. The moment the blue flake entered his body, Lith experienced a strong headache.
Memories that didn't belong to him flashed in front of his eyes, showing him unfamiliar faces and making him listen to unfamiliar words that somehow he was able to comprehend.
When the next wave of Shadows arrived, Lith realized he knew the secret recipe for a twelve spice sauce of sorts. He was still too confused to take any risk, so he used his wands to quickly dispose of the enemies before getting outside the barrier.
'What the heck did just happen?' He thought while reviewing the alien memory until he could almost feel the spices on his hands emitting their familiar yet unknown fragrance.
'I'm not sure.' Solus replied. 'Maybe the Shadows are the minds of the Kadurians, or at least an echo of it. It would explain why they have no mana core or life force. It could be a way the Black Star uses to get rid of their most violent emotions or simply to harvest more power.
'What I'm sure of, is that while the life force the Shadow stole for you is gone, you got all of your mana back. My hypothesis is that while inside the creature's mind, it temporarily became its own.
'When you shattered the Shadow, the flake still contained part of its consciousness. So when you reabsorbed your mana, you also got a glimpse of the street vendor's mind.'
'Yeah and now I can open a Kansas Fried Chicken.'
'Well, what did you expect? A random memory from a random stranger is bound to be something irrelevant. What would have you thought if you had found out the secret of the Black Star on the first attempt?' Solus replied with a chuckle.
'That the damn thing was baiting me with a trap. Let's give this thing a few more tries. No pain no gain. My only hope is that Lady Luck will smile at me for once.'
After several attempts, Lith was on the verge of a nervous breakdown as a result of the memory harvesting process. What he hadn't considered was that Lady Luck had been kind to him already.
Finding a recipe inside a mind filled with centuries worth of agony was a stroke of luck. As such, it didn't happen again. All the memories Lith acquired were about pain, despair, and death.
'These poor b*stards are in a situation way worse than mine. At least until I can keep myself alive, I can avoid being reincarnated. They suffer an excruciating death several times a day. The Black Star is nothing but a curse.
'Scarlett was right, the only option when facing such a thing is to destroy it.'
Lith felt Solus shivering at his words. It took him a few seconds to remember how the Scorpicore had attempted to kill her out of prejudice.
'Don't you even dare to compare yourself to that monstrosity. You give me hope every single day. You are my first and most dear friend in all my three lives! The Black Star does nothing but take. It robbed the Kandurians of everything.'
Lith's mind was invaded again by the memory of a farmer that, during the years of madness, had been forced to kill his own children at the beginning of every cycle to prevent his neighbors from defiling their bodies.
'I'm sick of this place.' He thought in disgust. 'Let's finish our mission and let's get out of here.'
The agony and madness of the acquired memories burned through his brain like acid. As soon as the next light cycle began, Lith entered the barrier. He already knew what would happen and where to find the crowd.
His mind was cold again. He considered his situation like removing a band aid. The faster the better.
On the other side, a man was tilling the land near his house. He knew it was a fool's errand, but after centuries of entrapment, it was the only part of his life that still made sense.
It was the same farmer that had greeted Lith during the previous cycle. The moment he saw the stranger approaching, he dropped the hoe on the ground and ran towards him.
"How did you get in, stranger? Are you here to help us?" He asked again.
Lith was about to dismiss the man when he realized the words were gibberish no more.
"What did you say?"
Chapter 394 Fun Times Part 1
Lith's simple reply made the farmer burst into tears. In the past centuries, the man had done all he could think of to escape from the nightmare his life was. He had attempted to dig under the barrier, tried to break it, and killed himself in any way he could conceive an put into practice.
Yet the only result was to wake up the same day the High Lord would be activated, no matter if he died due to the black rain or his own hands. At first, he had put his hopes into the clerics of the High Sun.
They were the most powerful mages of the whole nation of Belamd of which Kaduria was the capitol. They had forgemastered the High Lord to protect the Kingdom against the invading forces from the north.
They had created the problem, they were supposed to solve it. Time was the only thing Kadurians didn't lack. Only years later the clerics confessed to having lost their magic powers.
The revelation led to the age of madness. It lasted decades and ended not because people had found new hope in their hearts, but because nothing they did stuck. Their actions, both bad and good were irrelevant.
Everything would be reset at the next cycle. The impossibility to change the smallest detail of their lives made them lose any drive to act.
Then, the farmer had put his faith into the mysterious strangers that would come from time to time, but that too turned out to be a pipe dream. The strangers were either unable or unwilling to communicate and their actions always violent.
They would ignore the farmer or kill him on the spot without saying a word. After speaking with other people, the man learned about how the strangers would perform massacres for several cycles before leaving.
Some Kadurians considered the strangers like demons, that would come to wreak havoc and try to steal the High Lord. Many more considered them the only proof that they were still alive and not trapped into an eternal nightmare.
For a few people, like the crying farmer, they were the last shred of hope left. The strangers still had their magic, their faces and language would always change. They were the only variable left in an otherwise immutable life.
Lith's words moved the farmer because it was the first conversation he had in over 700 years with someone from the outside world. Someone the man had no idea who he was or what his answers could be.
Even if just by a single second, the farmer felt the wheel of time had started to spin again for him.
"Are you okay?" Lith was surprised by the sudden cries of joy. He was about to use Invigoration to check out the Kadurian's condition when he remembered Kamila's words about healing magic being lethal for the citizens of the lost city.
"Yes. I'm more than fine, thank you." The man wiped his tears. He didn't want to waste a single second of the miracle in front of him.
"Are you here to help us? Can you bring down the barrier and set us free?" He asked with a trembling voice.
"Even if I wanted to help you, I don't know how." The ability to understand the Kadurian opened new possibilities, but Lith was uncertain if it was worth exploring them rather than just get done with it and resume his trip.
"As for the barrier, it's not there to keep you prisoners but to prevent the Black Star from spreading its plague. I'm sorry." Lith expected the man to become enraged or to start crying again.
"It makes sense." The man said with a sigh. "The High Lord, or Black Star as you call it, has been devised to preserve the lives of the Kadurians at all costs and to unleash the fury of the High Sun, our god, upon our enemies.
"I still wonder if something malfunctioned or those idiotic clerics never bothered teaching that damned thing the difference between friend and foe. Its blueprints are filled with powerful abilities, yet I don't recall a single line explaining how to control them."
Lith had no idea if to be more surprised by the man's cold blood or by its knowledge about the Black Star.
"I'm sorry, did you just say you worked on the Black Star? What was your role exactly?"
The farmer laughed out loud for the first time in over 300 years.
"Do I look like a cleric to you? Of course I had no part in its creation. I simply read everything there was to read to pass my time. There are no secrets in Kaduria anymore. No one bothers protecting them. It would be a fool's errand, like everything else."
"I can't make you any promises, but if you explain to me how the artifact works, I may be able to do something for you." Lith felt his luck was finally turning. He had struck a gold mine.
He would learn invaluable information that he could trade with the Griffon Kingdom at his discretion and get closer to a solution to his reincarnation problem. Two birds with one stone.
"I'm sorry. I studied them decades ago and without the ability to practice magic, I forgot almost everything." The man shook his head. "I can show the blueprints to you, though. They are easy to find, if you know where to look. My name is Redan."
Redan put his palms together and gave Lith a small bow.
"My name is Linjos." Lith replied without hesitation.
'I have no idea if this guy is really acting of his own free will or he is controlled by the cursed item. If I use my real name, I'd leave a trail behind. Someone else might do what I did and talk to Redan.
'Since I'm forced to leave loose ends, worst case scenario my late Headmaster is beyond any harm.'
"Where are the blueprints?"
"In the personal quarters of high cleric Meru, inside the castle."
'Don't worry.' Solus said sensing Lith's unwillingness to get that close to the angry artifact.
'Even from this close, I don't see any tether linking Redan to the Black Star. The cursed item is at its weakest right now. The light cycle has just begun and because of our interference, the barrier is way stronger than before.
'It's blocking most of the energy from the mana geyser. If the Black Star focuses on us instead of collecting energy, its next attack will also be too weak to put a dent in the barrier. If that happens, it will take the cursed object years to recover its strength.'
'Good to know. If Redan is telling the truth, I'll gain priceless knowledge. If he is lying, a simple Warp Steps will allow me to return to the barrier and the Black Star will be so weakened there will be no need to get inside this hellhole again. It's a win-win situation.' Lith thought.
"Let's go. We have no time to spare." He said.
"You can't enter the city dressed like that." Redan pointed out. "There are still many zealots who consider outsiders as enemies. Let me lend you some clothes."
Chapter 395 Fun Times Part 2
"No need. There's still no one in the castle." Lith grabbed Redan and cast a flight spell on both of them. The next second they soared through the sky. Lith chose to enter from the same window he had used the last time, since it led to the inner layer of the castle.
Redan laughed and screamed with joy the whole time, forcing Lith to use the Hush spell, just to be safe.
"I've never flown before! I swear, even if you are a demon, this is the best day of my life."
"Hush!" Lith said with an angry voice. "We can't risk drawing attention and time is of the essence."
"You are too paranoid, dear Linjos." Redan shrugged. "No one patrols these corridors and even if they did, we just have to kill them." Like anyone inside Kaduria, the farmer had a body count that would have made the worst serial killer pale in comparison.
For Kadurians killing was akin to picking your own nose. Nothing more than a disgusting hobby.
"It's not so simple. Whenever one of you dies, their body returns to the Black Star. Killing is not an option. If it's able to collect your minds too, we'll alert the enemy."
"I'll take point then. Even if you are right, as long as no one sees you we're good." Redan said while spinning and tossing a knife in the air like it was a toy. It danced from one hand to the other with a display of skill that creeped Lith out.
'It's the first time I meet someone as cold as I am. The good news is that his weapon isn't a threat to me. The bad news is that Redan is batshit crazy. I wonder how many skills he has picked up during all this time.'
Lith used Life Vision to scout ahead while keeping Warp Steps and a few other spells always at ready. It turned out to be a useless precaution. They reached Meru's quarters without meeting anyone and the door was wide open.
Redan entered the apartments like they were his own home. He walked through the hallway, ignored the library, and went straight for the bedroom. Redan pushed a hidden button on the nightstand, revealing a secret compartment inside the wall.
"I was really bored." He replied to Lith's stupefied gaze.
The compartment held a magic safe, but like everything else it had been drained of its mana, making it nothing but a piece of metal. Lith opened the safe, flipping the pages of the stored grimoires until he found what he was looking for.
He copied the pages about the Black Star in both their original language and a translated version for himself. Explaining how he had learned ancient Kadurian would cause him too many troubles.
'Besides, I'd bet good money the army knows how to read it anyway.' He thought.
'Solus, give me a hand. The castle crumbles at the end of the light cycle. It means that even these pages are a creation of the Black Star. Maybe it didn't expect someone to sneak in and learn about its secrets or maybe it has redacted them.
'If the artifact notices us, it could destroy them with a thought. We need to copy them as fast as possible.'
'I doubt they are redacted.' Solus pondered.
'The cursed item has displayed the ability to replicate the whole city, but not to change it in any way. Otherwise it would have created many more mana crystals to speed up the siphoning of the mana geyser. I think it's stuck with what it has.'
'All the more reason to finish quickly!'
The moment the copy was completed, Lith added it to Soluspedia.
'This-this is…' They thought as one while assimilating the ancient Kadurian forgemastering method.
'This is beyond idiotic! Redan was right, there is no input or command to distinguish allies from foes. They didn't even add a failsafe in case something went wrong!' Solus was speechless from the recklessness of the design.
'Maybe, maybe not.' Lith added. 'We know that the artifact is alive and that life cannot be created from thin air. These blueprints do not explain how or who was sacrificed to give it sentience. We need more information.'
"Redan, can you describe to me this Meru fellow? Without their help these notes are useless."
"He is the eldest among the clerics. White robes, white long beard, and a face only a mother can love." The farmer's eyes became cold as steel just by mentioning his name.
"He is the one that activates the High Lord every single day. My pals and I have killed him so many times we know his entrails like the back of our hands."
'Gross and irrelevant.' Solus thought. 'Ask him something more useful.'
"How tall is he? Where can we find him?"
"Not much. About 1.6 (5'3") meters, maybe less because of his hunched back. At this hour he is usually praying for guidance in the main temple."
"Which is?" Lith asked.
'Right beside the Black Star.' Solus answered. Her mana sense covered an area wide enough for her to recognize the energy signature of all the eight clerics they had seen during the last cycle. Only one had a hunched back.
"Two floors below us." Redan said while pointing at the floor with his index finger.
'F*ck me sideways!' Lith cursed at his bad luck. The idea of tripping an inch away from the finish line was unbearable.
Lith racked his brain in search of a solution. Neither him or Solus could get that close to the artifact without risking to reignite its anger. He paced around the room until his gaze was drawn by Redan playing with his knife again.
"Didn't you say you and Meru have quite a history together?"
"Me and many others." Redan shrugged. "Most Kadurians consider him responsible for what happened. There are so many who hate his guts that he doesn't attempt to run away anymore."
"So, if you went to pick him up for a 'friendly chat' it wouldn't be anything unusual, right?"
"I guess."
"I'd say it's time you two remind of the good times together. Bring him here."
"It should be fun." Redan tossed his knife in mid air, making it spin like a pinwheel and catching it by the handle when it was in front of his face
"In one piece." Lith clarified.
"Not so fun, then." Redan sighed.
Chapter 396 Failsafe Part 1
For all he knew, Lith had only a shot at getting his hands on the forbidden knowledge Kaduria held. Before sending Redan on his way, Lith used Life Vision to scout the path ahead. The castle was almost empty.
Aside from the eight clerics whose energy signature Solus was able to recognize, there were only a few people moving through the hallways. In other circumstances, Lith would have considered it a good sign, but after knowing Redan, he felt on the edge.
'If Redan is one of the 'sane' Kadurians, I can't imagine the rest. Those people might ignore him or kill him just for laughs. Without him, my plan will fail. I need to make sure he gets to the target in one piece, but how?
'I can't send Solus because the Black Star is aware of our existence. I can't give Redan magical items because they would raise a huge red flag above his head. I hate gambling, luck has never been on my side.' He thought.
'Don't forget the clock is ticking. We have yet to kill anyone during this light phase.' Solus pointed out.
Lith took out from his pocket dimension two small carcasses. They belonged to a rat and a snake. Both were in perfect condition, Lith had killed them without leaving any injury on their bodies.
"Weird choice for a snack, but to each his own, I guess." Redan shrugged. Even the sudden appearance of the carcasses left him unfazed.
"They are not meant to be eaten. Do you know Necromancy?"
"Yes, it's forbidden magic. Using it is a crime. The clerics say raising the dead is a sin and that Necromancy is taught by the demons to their followers to spread death and plague."
"It's no wonder Kaduria fell. Mixing science and superstition it's a recipe for a disaster." Lith sighed while snapping his fingers. A black fog came out from his eyes and mouth, seeping into the carcasses'.
Instead of the red light of undeath, their eyes were blue. It was the sign that Lith's mind was controlling them. Redan watched the creatures quivering to life and whistled in surprise.
"This is the best day of my life. First the flight and now I get to witness demonic arts. I'm starting to believe you about the possibility to be freed from this nightmare." He said with a big smile on his face.
"If you didn't believe me, then why are you helping me?" The Lith-rat asked.
"Why not? Even if you are lying, what do I have to lose? Nothing I do matters anymore. Good and bad have lost any significance centuries ago. I chose to follow you because even if just for one day, you're giving me a purpose.
Today my actions mean something. I couldn't ask for more."
"Thanks." The Lith-snake replied. "There are no demonic arts, though. Just magic."
"You're no fun, Linjos. Your mouse doesn't squeak between words and your snake doesn't hiss on the s. The lack of clichés is ruining my childhood horror stories."
Lith's undead squinted their eyes in annoyance.
"How can you be so laid back? This is no game. We have only one shot and if we fail, there are no second chances."
"That's what makes this so exciting." Redan shrugged. "Let's move. I can't wait to have more fun."
'I'll accompany Redan as long as I can. You keep an eye on my body. Remember, no killing is allowed. Feel free to use all the mana you need, my treat.' Lith told Solus before leaving the room.
In its true magic version, Necromancy had a few more tricks up its sleeve compared to its fake counterpart. The undead entered Redan's shadow while enveloping themselves in a layer of darkness magic that made them almost invisible.
Only their blue eyes were faintly noticeable.
Redan moved with a quick pace through the castle, taking shortcuts and secret passages that allowed him to avoid most of the people wandering around. He still met a few with no hostile intentions.
The moment they turned their backs to him, Redan slit their throats and resumed walking before the corpses had the time to disappear.
"Just to be safe." He replied to the four eyes he could sense staring at his back.
"They could have changed their minds or we could have met them on our way back. As you said, we have only one shot at this."
'Heck, I'm going to miss this guy.' Lith thought.
On their way to the stairs leading to the main temple, the trio met a soldier. He was a middle aged man with finely trimmed mustaches. He wore a light armor consisting of a chest, arms, and legs protectors.
The moment he saw Redan, he unsheathed the short sword he carried on his side.
"Redan, you blasphemer! Are you here to sh*t on the altar again? Or maybe are you planning to defile the holy scriptures?" Rage was visible on the soldier's face.
"F*cking zealot, I'm here to do both. I want to see if your precious High Sun will strike me down this time or if he'll do nothing. Because, you know, he doesn't exist."
Redan's words struck a nerve. Even after centuries of agony, the soldier still clung to his faith. He was way more experienced than Redan, so his eyes were fixated on the enemy's shoulders, to predict his movements.
'I have the training and range advantage.' He thought. 'I'll make him squeal like the pig he is.'
"I'll punish you in his stead, you heretic!" The soldier charged forward, annoyed by Redan's unusual relaxed look. Suddenly, he tripped on something. He tried to roll to quickly recover from the fall, but his legs were pulled down with enough strength to make him fall face first onto the ground.
Redan wasted no time, stomping the soldier's neck with his heel and killing him on the spot.
"Thanks." He said to the two creatures still holding the disappearing corpse. "Nindro usually beats me nine times out of ten. He is a stupid zealot, but I learned a lot from dying at his hands."
"I can't risk entering the Black Star's line of sight." Lith said while watching at the stairs with Life Vision. The good news was that there was no one but Meru in the room. Redan had a clear path, at least for a few minutes.
"You are on your own."
"I'll be quick then." Redan tensed up for the first time in decades. Death would mean ruining the adventure of a lifetime.
The moment he entered the room, the high cleric turned around.
"Are you here for the temple or for me?" His voice held no fear. Meru had been chased, tortured, and killed so many times he had lost count. Pain was an old friend, nothing scared him anymore.
"I'm here to pray. I just wanted to… Praise the High Sun! It's a miracle!" Redan said while pointing his finger to the ceiling.
The high cleric looked up believing his prayers had finally been answered. The pommel of Redan's knife struck the back of Meru's head, making him faint on the spot.
Chapter 397 Failsafe Part 2
Dragging the dead weight up to the stairs took Redan quite some time.
Lith was waiting for them and took care of the unconscious body with one hand. They brought Meru back to his apartments to avoid getting interrupted.
Lith splashed the high priest with cold water since healing magic was off the table. The cleric's eyes were foggy, but after a few seconds, he understood what was happening.
"You are worse than I thought, Redan. You sided with an enemy of Kaduria!" He said watching at Lith's foreign clothes and tanned skin typical of the men of the south.
"I'm not an enemy. I apologize for the kidnapping, but I have my reasons." Lith avoided exposing the Dark Star's façade. After all, the man was a cleric. It would be more likely for him to put his faith into a sacred object rather than a stranger.
"I don't care about your reasons. Kill me, torture, whatever. I don't care."
"I'm not here to hurt you, but to help you." Lith lied through his teeth. "I'm a mage too. I studied the High Lord's projects before coming here, hoping to fix it, but there are still too many unknown details."
"Why should I believe you?" He looked at Lith with eyes full of suspicion, yet inwardly praying he was telling the truth. Hope was a rare commodity.
"First of all, I still have my powers." Lith chanted a simple spell, materializing a sphere of light. "Redan told me you can't fix it by yourself because magic has disappeared. Also, do you know why there is a barrier around Kaduria?"
Meru stared at the sphere in awe. He had almost forgotten about the beauty of magic. He shook his head while his mind was invaded by the memories of all the great spells he had mastered, of the feats he had performed.
"Because as soon as the black rain stops, the High Lord explodes."
"It's impossible!" The cleric couldn't believe his own ears.
"That's not all." Lith played it by ear "At first everyone mourned Kaduria's fall, but after a few years, the artifact started to rebuild itself. We were afraid the explosion would happen again, so we sealed the area. Sadly, we were right."
Meru's mind was spinning. Lith's words were feeding him a series of dots of half truths letting him fill the blanks.
"This explains everything." The cleric held his head between his hands in despair. "I always believed we were somehow stuck during the summer of the year 10562, the day when we activated the High Lord for the first time. Yet it never made sense. Such a powerful barrier would require a lot of planning."
"Exactly. You are not stuck in time. In the outside world is the fall season of 11086. After every explosion, The High Lord rebuilds itself, Kaduria and then it explodes again. It took us centuries to decipher your language."
"Is that the reason why you strangers never talked to us before?" Meru asked, receiving a nod in reply.
"Why you butchered out people? What did we do to you to deserve such an inhuman treatment?" The high cleric was now filled with outrage. Lith might not be an enemy, but someone had to pay for the suffering of all the Kadurians.
"Are you kidding me?" Lith yelled. He pretended to be even more outraged.
"Do you have any idea how many people die every time the High Lord explodes if the barrier collapses? Thousands! The reason you get butchered is that for some unknown reason, it weakens the explosion. While you get back to life, our dead don't!"
Meru became pale as a ghost. He had lived his whole life feeling responsible for the fate of Kaduria and now dozens of thousands of alleged deaths weighed on his conscience.
"What do you need to know?"
"We think the reason why the High Lord creates the black rain is because it mistakes the Kadurians for its enemies. How did you teach it to distinguish friends from foes?" Lith asked.
"We didn't. We gave it sentience by infusing the mana crystal with the lives of the most devoted believers of the High Sun. They knew the holy book by heart and they loved our country. Their faith made them the perfect tool for our endeavor."
'I think the process failed.' Solus chimed in. 'I heard the Black Star's mind and it wasn't a chorus of voices. It was one cold, inhuman personality. Their method gave it intelligence but no conscience nor sense of self.'
"Since it keeps killing you over and over, I'd say something went wrong." Lith said. "Is there some way to influence its behavior before it activates?"
"No. Its brain unit is shielded from external influences. We thought it was perfect."
"Please, tell me at least there is some kind of failsafe. Otherwise it will explode forever. Our people's lives are at stake!"
"You don't understand! The High Lord was supposed to be perfect. A testament to the High Sun power. A failsafe would have meant a lack of faith." Meru said, unable to hold back his tears anymore.
"Maybe there's still hope." A sudden clarity flashed through the old man's eyes.
"Ruka, our youngest member, expressed several times similar concerns. I didn't listen to him, but maybe some of the others were wiser than me!"
"What do you mean?" Lith asked, following the high cleric that was almost running through the corridors towards the living quarters of another cleric.
"The High Lord isn't something I did all by myself. The eight of us worked together for years. If you were a Forgemaster, you'd know that by splitting the runes among several layers, you could hide a castle in a project of that magnitude."
'All those papers were just one eight of the blueprints?' Lith and Solus thought as one.
Meru gathered the seven clerics and exposed to them everything Lith had told him.
"There is a failsafe." Ruka admitted, while three other clerics nodded with a guilty look on their faces.
"It would unravel all of our work and destroy the High Lord."
"Why you didn't say it earlier? Was your pride worth so much suffering?" One of the other clerics blurted out in outrage.
"Because it would have only made us feel worse, exposing our lack of faith. The failsafe requires magic and none of us can even light a candle without a flintstone. Now things are different. We can finally escape from this nightmare."
Everyone looked at Lith like a savior. The four clerics that had conspired together brought their own blueprints, showing him how to avoid the High Lord detection and where to strike to destroy it once and for all.
Meanwhile, Lith could only hope Solus would remember at least part of the rest of the blueprints. The light phase was about to end. He had no time to copy so many pages and once the Black Star learned about the clerics' treachery, he doubted it would recreate their bodies anymore.
Chapter 398 Turning the Tide Part 1
'I'm so proud of you.' Lith could almost see sparkles in Solus's eyes while she thought those words.
'You are willing to help these people for good instead of taking the easy way out.'
Truth to be told, Lith empathized with the Kadurians. Their situation, pain, and struggle were similar yet much worse than his own. Yet he didn't care that much. Lith had just got carried away with his act while pointing out the clerics' stupidity.
'Helping them also means helping us.' Lith replied. 'While I listen to their explanation, you look into the blueprints for clues about the body and soul preservation process.'
Solus was too happy about his sudden change of heart to notice how quickly he changed the topic.
After Lith finished learning and practicing the spells necessary to disable the Black Star, Solus reported her findings.
'The Black Star is indeed a masterpiece. It can draw power from the mana geyser and use it to empower all the arrays that run through the city. Just like the academy, any damage the building takes can be repaired this way.
'It also possesses an amazing number of skills, but nothing out of the ordinary. Even after reading five out of eight blueprints, I have yet to find a single rune pattern that's not about a combat spell.'
"I have a question." Lith had no time to beat around the bush. He needed some answers and he needed them before it was too late.
"Who came up with the idea of granting the High Lord the ability to restore your bodies? I'm a Healer and with such a spell I could save countless lives."
"No one did." The clerics replied in unison.
"If we could do something like that, there's no way we would lose a war. The High Lord purpose was to destroy our enemies and supply our mages with the mana coming from the mana geyser that is underneath Kaduria." Ruka said.
"That's not entirely true." The high cleric Meru said while caressing his chin.
"We were outnumbered, so we gave the High Lord the ability to cast tier four light magic. That way it could both heal our troops and replenish their life force. The idea was to make our army unstoppable as long as they were within the city."
'There's something amiss. I can do everything they just mentioned yet I can't even fix a single damaged mana core, let alone recreate a whole body from scratch.' Lith thought.
'Yeah. Based on what they said, the Black Star would simply allow them to use Invigoration.' Solus pondered. 'Do you think it's possible that somehow they forgemastered something that's greater than the sum of its parts?'
'No way. We have forgemastered countless items, seen incredible artifacts being crafted by Professor Wanemyre while we were at the academy. Yet not once the final product diverged from the specifics. What we have seen so far is an unprecedented anomaly.'
Despite the situation was still dire, Lith burned with curiosity. There was a thought scratching at the back of his mind. He couldn't put his finger on it, but he believed that the answer was getting closer with every possibility they discarded.
Lith cast Ruka's Invisibility spell. The cleric's creation clouded the artifact's perception, making Lith able to get close to it without risking his life.
The clerics accompanied him downstairs to the main temple. They formed a circle around the Black Star, pretending to pray out loud while they actually covered the artifact's line of sight.
Lith used their cover to sneak in undetected. Invisibility blocked the Black Star's magical senses and the clerics blocked the physical ones. For once, Lith wasn't happy for being so tall.
He had to crouch all his way in until he was close enough to start chanting the Freeze spell. Lith chose not to float or use the Hush spell because he had no idea what was the range of Ruka's spell and wasn't willing to take risks.
Once again, paranoia saved his life. Invisibility made his life force and mana flow undetectable, but the Black Star was still able to perceive the spell coming out from Lith's body while he was so close.
It wiped out the clerics with an energy blast, leaving eight black puddles as the only trace of their previous existence.
"You! How did you get here?" The Black Star said. It had no reason to keep pretending of being inactive. It tried to emit a second focused beam of pure mana, but it was already too late.
The Freeze spell was completed. It shut down all of the artifact's abilities but its mind. Lith kept a Warp Steps and a Blink ready at hand, just to be safe. He reached the artifact and used Invigoration on it.
"Keep your hands off me, you filthy human! What did you do to me?" The Black Star screamed. There was a tinge of emotion in its voice. It resembled panic.
"You don't know?" Lith asked with a grin.
'The cursed item is paralyzed and it doesn't seem able to assimilate the people's memories. So far so good.' He thought while analyzing with Solus the results of his breathing technique.
At first glance, the Black Star was almost identical to Solus. It had a life force and a mana core instead of a pseudo core. A bright purple core at that. The star shaped crystal that was the artifact's body had a purity level like Lith had never seen before.
It breathed like a living being, but instead of air it sucked in world energy and expelled something else. It was a dense gas, similar to mana yet now that Lith was close enough, he could feel his skin prickle, a nauseating sensation spread through his body.
Lith checked his surroundings with Life Vision, making sure he had no witnesses. Redan was waiting for him on top of the stairs, nervously shifting his body weight from one foot to the other.
'Good, he wouldn't like what I have to say.'
"Now listen carefully, because I'm not going to repeat myself." Lith said with his usual stone cold business tone.
"I want to know how you are able to bring back the Kadurians, how you can replicate mana cores and bodies."
The artifact laugh was devoid of emotion. It didn't express amusement, only mockery.
"Or what? Even if I'm paralyzed you are not strong enough to harm me, fleshling. Your witchcraft is fading by the second. You'd be wise to run away."
Lith's reply was the last spell Ruka had devised, Repentance. It was a forgemastering spell. Lith spread the special ink onto the ground, leaving to Solus the duty to form a magic circle by manipulating the droplets with water magic.
The runes shone and took life, floating around the Black Star before sinking into it one by one. When the first rune crashed against its body, the artifact found itself unable to breathe anymore.
The second rune made the mana coursing through its crystal lattice go turn into poison. Its transparent surface revealed green spots that branched into slim veins that spread along the chiseled lines shaping the artifact like a disease.
Chapter 399 Turning the Tide Part 2
The third caused the corrupted mana to surge upwards. The Black Star trembled while small cracks appeared on its surface. Only then Lith stopped chanting. The ink on the ground turned grey before fading away.
Interrupting a spell was no different from a failed cast. The mana still inside the liquid had no direction anymore, it turned against its host burning it from the inside. Lith chanted Freeze again, renewing the seal and crushing the Black Star confidence at once.
"You are not a Kadurian. If you die there's no turning back. Tell me what I want to know or face oblivion."
It took a while for Lith's words to sink into the artifacts shocked mind. It had always been the apex predator. In the small cage it had lived in for the past centuries, the Black Star had been an unparalleled existence.
Humans lived or died at its whims. It knew no fear. Nothing could hurt it, even the Rangers were just a small hindrance. They could delay its plans, but nothing more. The Black Star slowly realized the clerics' treachery, which had turned its own body into an enemy.
Lith spread the ink a second time, letting the fourth rune spread the cracks until they almost connected between themselves before stopping. Lith was disgusted at himself for what he was doing, but he felt he had no choice.
All that talking before killing the monster in front of himself was against his code. Kill first, questions later. That was how he did business. Any other course of action implied too many dangers, especially against a being that could kill him with a stray thought.
Yet he had never been so close to finding a solution to his problems.
'I want to be the only master of my destiny. Ever since my death on Earth, I've been a puppet into someone else's hands. I'm tired of scheming, of lying to everyone I love, to survive through each day instead of living.
I'm sick of fearing the moment when everything I worked so hard for will be ripped from my hands by a random event. No more Carls, no more Yurials. If I can finally protect what's mine, then I'm willing to pay almost any price.'
Lith's determination dwarfed his fear, putting even his paranoia on a very short leash. He waited until the cracks on the Dark Star started to mend before casting both the spells for a third time.
The artifact awoke from his daze. Its hatred turned into fear and then into panic.
"If you kill me, all the Kadurians will die with me." It said in a last, desperate gamble. "A whole civilization will disappear. Their blood will be on your hands!" The Black Star had heard the clerics repeat those words so many times.
They were bound to be important to humans.
Lith let the fifth and sixth rune turn the cracks into small fissures before stopping. A huge amount of mana gushed out from the wounds while the whole city quaked. One of the black puddles on the ground turned into a shooting star that darted upwards and through the ceiling.
Lith could see from the window several lights rise to the sky.
"I don't care about a dead civilization made of dead people. What you give them is not life, but a caricature of it. You took away their freedom, their hopes, and their future, leaving behind only fear and misery.
"Do you have any idea what does it mean being in so much pain to wish for death and having even that denied? To be forced to live your worst nightmare over and over again?" Lith's voice trembled with rage. Solus knew she wasn't talking about the Kadurians anymore.
"What about me?" The Dark Star replied when Lith started his chant again. "What about my pain, my future? What makes you different from me?"
"Only one thing. I never kill my prey more than once." The runes seeped inside the artifact's body, widening the fissures and causing another outburst of shooting stars.
"Enough! I beg of you!" The Black Star could feel the damage getting closer to its mana core. To make things worse, it was losing control over an increasing number of Kadurians. The loss was still negligible, but it would slow down its plans nonetheless.
"The secret lies in my crystalline body. It's only thanks to it that I can do it."
Those words were enough to stop Lith's chanting at the third rune.
"What do you mean? Explain yourself."
"Instead of using the mana crystal to fuel my abilities, the humans used it to store my conscience and powers. That was their first mistake." The cursed object said while focusing on healing its wounds.
"Their spell was meant to use me as an energy reserve for their purposes. They bound me to this city by using the mana geyser beneath it and the crystal network above the roofs as the only way I have to feed myself.
"They thought I would have been their tool, dispensing the collected energies among their ranks. They had no idea this body possesses the ability to manipulate mana at will.
"Linking me to their bodies, to their cores, to this city's every brick was their second mistake. According to their plan, I could only give, but thanks to the crystal, I turned it into a two way path. Instead of being their nanny, I took everything they had.
"I collected their life forces and their mana cores, using them just as they meant to use me. I consider it poetic justice."
'Just like an orc shaman is able to suck away the world energy.' Lith thought. 'Probably the Black Star can't do the same, otherwise it wouldn't need to cycle between the light and the shadow phase.'
"With that much power, I traveled through the north, punishing our enemies. Once I killed the invaders, I purged our glorious country from the heretics and unbelievers. They fought me with all their might, even the so called grand cleric of the High Sun tried to stop me, saying it wasn't up to me to dispense justice.
"Yet I was stronger than all of them combined. Sadly, away from the mana geyser, my reserves started to dwindle. Under the constant pursuit of my enemies, I was forced to retreat here and to recreate the spires to feed me again.
Before I could recover, they enveloped Kaduria with this barrier, cutting me off from the geyser. Until I discovered that by restoring the humans, I could force the world energy through the barrier and use it to regain my freedom."
"What about the Shadows? What are they?" Lith asked.
"I wasn't linked to the humans' minds, so I can't assimilate them. I don't know how they can survive without a body nor do I care. They do nothing but whine and despair. They're useless to me."
"Just like you are to me." Lith replied before chanting for the last time.
'Sadly, even if I could replicate the Black Star, it's not something I can use. Linking my mind, body and mana core to a magic crystal is useless without it having a conscience willing to revive me.' Lith thought.
'I can't entrust my life to a cursed object. I would end up like the Kadurians, or worse.'
Lith had just finished casting Freeze, when Solus warned him.
'Watch out, someone is approaching the main temple.'
'Soldiers carry only normal weapons, they can't hurt me.' Lith replied.
'Not a soldier. They're about to fly through the window. To be able to use magic, they must be from the outside world.'
Chapter 400 Cornered Part 1
Lith didn't like the sudden turn of events. Freeze had just been renewed so the Black Star wouldn't be a problem for a while. An outsider, however, meant only troubles, no matter their identity.
If it was someone from the army, Lith would have to kill them. Explaining what he was doing and how he was capable of doing it would require to share details he wasn't willing to provide.
He had already broken a rule of his code that day, leaving a loose end would be unacceptable, even if it meant being questioned about his comrade's disappearance.
If it wasn't someone from the army, there was an infinite number of things that could go wrong. Lith gritted his teeth, preparing for the worse.
'Do you recognize them? Is it Vorgh?' The first person who came to his mind was the Brigadier General. He might have finished his investigation and was looking for Lith to share its results or warn him about something.
'It's not Vorgh.' Solus reported with confidence. 'They have a bright cyan mana core and there is no trace of that magnificent staff.'
'That's it?' Lith almost sneered at the idea of facing a weaker opponent for once, yet he kept a straight face while checking his surroundings with Life Vision, in case the enemy was more than one. Rarely things were easy for him.
'Yes, but they have enough enchanted items on themselves that they could open a shop. I wouldn't underestimate them if I were you.'
Lith weaved as many spells as he could, preparing to ambush the stranger. He was eager to get rid of the menace and put an end to the Black Star threat. The artifact had no idea who he was, but it knew his face and more importantly, it knew Solus.
Lith was sure that if it ever got free, it would make them its first priority. They were the only ones to know how to destroy it.
***
Army Headquarters, City of Belius
Brigadier General Vorgh was on a conference call via the communication amulet with the best Wardens the Griffon Kingdom had to offer. The army, the Mage Association, and the Crown had pooled their resources to face the unknown threat.
"I know several arrays with two different functions, yet I can count on the fingers of one hand those which have three or more. They are all state secrets. Which leads me to fear the parasite array is part of a greater scheme. An attack from a foreign nation." Vorgh said.
"It's unlikely." King Meron shook his head. "Each country has its own lost cities and each one of them is a threat to every single human being. The reason we keep them sealed is that no one knows how to get rid of them.
"No ruler would be so foolish to unleash such horrors on Mogar. History demonstrates that once they take hold of a territory, it can't be reclaimed. There would be no point in releasing a menace that even they may not be able to contain."
"Agreed. The Gorgon Empire has no reason to jeopardize the Kellar region's security. The Black Star is too close to their borders, they wouldn't risk making it their problem. As for the Blood Desert, underhanded methods aren't Salaark style. She just takes what she wants." Queen Sylpha pointed out.
"Your majesty, with all due respect, who else could employ such a powerful tool?" Vorgh wished he could share their optimism. "My colleagues and I agree that the third layer of runes serves the purpose to replicate the signal of a Ranger's badge.
"Even if we change the seal every time a new Ranger is assigned to the region, as soon as they enter Kaduria our mysterious enemy can do the same. We have no idea since when the parasite array is there, nor what's happening inside the lost city.
"According to the latest Ranger's readings, the barrier is severely weakened. We should prepare for the worst." Vorgh said.
The Royals nodded. They knew that Lady Tyris wouldn't interfere with the state affairs, but maybe she would make an exception for the ancient threat they were in no way responsible for. Especially if, as Vorgh said, the crisis was caused by a foreign power.
***
Lith hid behind one of the white marble columns surrounding the altar while keeping an eye on the newcomer with Life Vision. The plan was simple. If they were a member of the army, Lith would have let them explain the reason they were there and kill them only if necessary.
It all the other cases, he would attack on sight. No one was supposed to be able to enter Kaduria's barrier. Lith would get rid of the threat and get a medal for it. Two birds with one stone.
From the outside, Treius too was staring at Lith with Life Vision. The light phase had yet to end, but several blocks of the city were heavily damaged. People had fallen to their knees in the middle of the street and were praying their hearts out.
Treius wasn't able to understand Kadurian, but he had seen the shooting stars. Something was wrong with the Dark Star.
'The bastard is damn strong.' He thought while measuring Lith's mana flow and life force and comparing them to his own.
'A strong fake mage is still a fake mage. They aren't my equal!' Despite his arrogant words, Treius knew better not to underestimate a Ranger. His plan had required to interact with many of them. Those that couldn't be bought had to be killed and none of them had been easy prey.
Treius unleashed his first spell against the main temple. Lith saw several streams of lightning bolts rush towards the building, making him doubt the newcomer's sanity. Stone was naturally resistant to air magic and the blocks that made up the wall were at least half meter (1.6') thick.
'It's the most original way of painting the temple black, unless…' Lith thought.
The streams altered their course, surrounding the building with a perfect circle of electricity. Treius kept pouring energy, making the ring crackle like an angry beast eager to unleash its fury.
With a wave of his hand, the circle broke in several new lightning bolts that entered from all the windows, leaving Lith no way out. Lith remained calm and conjured two stone walls. His back was already against the column, now he had no blind spots.
Or so he thought.
He had reacted too fast, so he hadn't noticed that each lightning bolt was shaped like wingless dragons. They advanced with their maws wide open and their blue eyes fixated on their prey.
It was a tier five true magic spell, Lightning Dragon. The bolts were infused with part of the consciousness of their caster, just like Lith could do with his undead. Treius could see through their eyes and control their every move.
The dragons leaped above the stone walls and flooded the space they were supposed to protect. Lith didn't have the time to curse, only to realize he was trapped inside a prison of his own creation.
Earth magic was the strongest defensive element, but compared to lightning it was slow.
Chapter 401 Cornered Part 2
There was no time to seal the opening with a third wall. From outside the temple, Treius grinned as his spell invaded the small space between the pillar and the conjured walls.
'It's too late to Blink away. With the walls around him and the incoming attack, he can't visualize an exit point. Checkmate!'
His smug expression disappeared when he noticed that the Ranger was taking to damage. Wave after wave, the lightning ring surrounding the main temple faded away, yet Lith was unscathed.
'After the orc shaman used the crystal to unleash real lightning against me, I knew I had to come out with a solution. Luckily, a Faraday's cage is as cheap as effective.' Lith thought while inside a bell shaped copper mesh large enough to give him some person space.
'This doesn't make sense. How can metal protect from lightning?' Treius couldn't believe his own eyes. The flimsy grate had withstood all of his attacks.
Lith put the cage back inside his pocket dimension before flying out of the window that was in the opposite direction of his opponent. With the Gatekeeper in his hand, he circled around the castle walls while preparing a new set of spells.
Treius was outraged. Even after witnessing his power, the Ranger wasn't running away. He had the gall of thinking he could actually win. Treius opened a Warp Steps leading right behind Lith. Each finger of his left hand crackled with the energy of a different spell ready to be released.
The moment Lith saw the Warp Steps forming on the other side of the building, he turned around and spotted the exit point. On the other side, there was a young man about twenty years old.
He was dressed in a white long wool robe and what reminded Lith of a tagelmust, the turban symbol of the Tuareg people. They emphasized his dark bronze skin and the colourful makeup around his eyes.
Lith had never met someone that didn't look Caucasian on Mogar. A part of his mind wondered if the young man came from the Blood Desert, but his survival instinct was focused on the fact that he had yet to see the enemy perform a single hand sign.
'I knew it! The sucker is an Awakened too, but he hasn't realized this a fair fight. Or better, it was.' Lith thought while unleashing all the spells he had ready through the portal.
Treius gasped in surprise when six fireballs exploded around him from every direction. Ice spears the size of a small tree had invaded all of the surrounding space, waiting for their master's order to strike.
Just like Lith a few seconds before, Treius couldn't Blink. Both the explosion and the ice spears covered an area bigger of the dimensional spell's measly ten meters (66') range.
'I could exceed the limit, but it would cost me a lot of mana. It's not a luxury I can afford, not against another Awakened one. The only way he could spot the Warp Steps despite the castle blocking his visual is with Life Vision!' Treius thought.
He was surprised, but not scared. One of his bracelets generated a powerful barrier made of pure mana that blocked the heat, the shockwaves, and the spears at the same time. The enchanted item wasn't devised to block such a powerful combined attack.
The barrier cracked at several points. The pseudo core fueling the protection was quickly depleting its energy reserves. The mana crystals embedded on the silver bracelet turned dull one after the other.
During the split second Treius was blinded by the explosions, Lith Blinked through the enemy's Warp Steps, lunging with all the strength he had. The Gatekeeper crashed the magical protection only to be stopped by a second one.
The attack had been so fast that the new barrier had formed around the blade. Part of the Gatekeeper was inside, stuck like the proverbial in the stone.
Treius turned around just in time to see darkness magic that coursed through the weapon filling the space inside the barrier with a black miasma. With no option left, he Blinked away.
Treius knew that Lith would see his exit point and intercept him, but he would get away from the deadly spell and the barrier would still block any incoming attack. Lith knew it too, yet instead of pursuing the enemy he remained where he was kept weaving spells.
The moment Treius reappeared, a volley of fireballs crashed against his barrier with enough strength to push him backward.
'What a cunning bastard.' Treius thought. 'The mana released by the explosions in blinding my Life Vision and with barrier active I cannot retaliate even if I guess his position from the fireballs.' point of impact.
'He must be buying time for something big, like an array. It's a good plan, too bad I saw through it. A trap it's not a trap if you know where it is.'
Treius bolted in the opposite direction the fireballs came from, pushing his flying spell to its limits. Before the smoke could dissipate, he crashed against a solid rock wall.
Even with the enhanced body of an Awakened, the impact was enough to crack his head, broke his nose, and squeeze all the air out of his lungs. With several ribs cracked, even breathing was an agony.
'Impossible.' Treius's mind couldn't accept the idea that the items his uncle had crafted had failed him. 'Nothing can get past the barriers, no matter if it moves fast or slowly. They react even to mana. How could his spell blatantly ignore them?'
The broken nose made it hard for him to breathe, just like tears of pain blurred his vision. It took him a while to realize he had hit the castle walls. While Treius was blinded, Lith had opened a Warp Gate beyond him, using the explosions to push him through.
The dimensional door had moved the youth away from the sky and very close to the ground nearby the castle. Unless Treius moved upwards, he was bound to crash into something.
'The barrier works just fine. It just isn't designed to protect me by myself!' Treius had just started to heal his wounds when Lith plunged from the sky like a meteor. The impact with the Gatekeeper infused with darkness magic caused the barrier to crack instantly.
Treius didn't panic. He used the few seconds the dying protection bought him to open a Warp Steps that closed as soon as he crossed it, leaving the Gatekeeper biting air.
'Where the heck did he go? He can't Warp outside Kaduria, he must still be nearby.' Lith thought.
'He's not within the range of my mana sense. I couldn't see well inside the Steps, but it was a big closed space. We can deal with him later, let's finish the Black Star first.' Solus suggested.
Treius had escaped to the main temple. His wounds were healing and Invigoration was restoring his energy reserves, but he knew it wasn't enough. The Ranger was more than ten centimeters (4") taller and ten kilograms heavier than him.
Treius cursed at himself for not practicing self defence or magic like his uncle always encouraged to. Yet seeing the cursed item almost broken gave him hope.
Chapter 402 Team Battle Part 1
"There's no time to lose, old friend." There was enough venom in Treius's voice to kill ten men.
"During the last year, I took care of the Rangers for you. It's only thanks to me if you are so close to achieving your freedom, yet you always denied to fulfill your part of the bargain. Make me your partner and together we will kill that pest.
"Refuse and I'll walk away. I have no qualms leaving you to your fate. There are many artifacts on Mogar, but only one me."
The Dark Star wanted to curse in outrage. It had refused to have a master for centuries. It was ready to die rather than to yield.
Or so it believed, until Lith entered from one of the windows, back at his peak condition.
"Now!" Treius said while opening a Warp Steps that would lead him to safety, ready to relinquish his dreams of power.
"So be it." The cursed object spat those words with despair. Treius touched the white mana crystal, allowing the Black Star to seal the pact.
The Freeze spell still prevented it from using its powers, but it could do nothing when the two beings merged into one. Power surged inside Treius, giving him the feeling of godhood he had dreamed about ever since his uncle awakened him.
His body shone like a star while his mana core was promoted to blue. He had avoided the event for years. According to his uncle, it was an excruciating event that could turn out deadly, if the body and the mind weren't properly honed by relentless practice.
Treius felt only bliss while the Dark Star's energies mended his body as soon as it was harmed. Endless vitality seemed to flow through his veins, destroying the expelled impurities.
Then, everything changed.
'Who does he think he is? Some kind of magical girl?' Lith inwardly sneered at his defenseless opponent. 'Nothing forces me to wait until he is done.'
He held the Gatekeeper in a two handed grip while using air, fire, and earth fusion to boost his attack. The lunge hit with surgical precision the chest area above the heart, but instead of putting an end to the enemy's life, it bounced against a crystal armor that promptly appeared to protect the cursed object's host.
The impact was strong enough to lift Treius from the ground and make him spit blood. Seeing that even an all out attack had left the armor unscathed, Lith turned the blade to the flat side and while the enemy was still in mid air, he struck using the Gatekeeper like it was a mace.
Treius flew backward with such an angle that would have made him reach the bleachers of a major league stadium as a magnificent home run. Treius's ribs shattered and healed almost at the same speed, the bone fragments puncturing his lungs realigned as nothing had happened.
Yet the pain remained. It became worse when he crashed against the wall behind him and bounced towards his merciless aggressor that had no intention of stopping his attack.
'What are you doing, you worthless piece of garbage?' Treius cursed through their mind link. 'Why aren't you protecting me?'
'Do you really think I would need your help if I wasn't paralyzed? You are on your own, flesh bag. I can give you energy, but using it is up to you. There are a few abilities we can share, though. Like my armor.'
The Black Star returned one of the mighty artifacts it had consumed during its youth, making it appear between Treius's hands. It was a magnificent longsword, with one purple mana crystal on each side of both the hilt and the blade.
Even without being imprinted, it emitted a powerful aura that seemed to be able to tear the whole castle asunder.
'It's the blade of the king. Use it wisely.' The cursed object's black heart cringed at the idea of parting from such a masterpiece, but it had no other choice.
'What am I supposed to do with it?' Treius screamed with frustration holding the sword like it was a mop. Their conversation was fast, but so was Lith. He was now in front of the enemy in a shoulder charge boosted by earth, fire, and air magic.
The hardness of the Skinwalker armor wasn't much compared to the diamond like crystal. Yet it was superior to steel, making the following impact far more terrifying than if Lith had used his body alone.
The crystal armor was like an unbreakable safe, but it could do nothing to protect its content from being rattled. Just like most magic protections, it was much less effective against blunt impacts.
Treius's scream of pain was muffled by the mouthful of blood that filled his throat. The Gatekeeper struck the longsword's tip and sent it flying away. The Black Star cursed at its host incompetence while retrieving the blade a split second before Solus could steal it.
'Dammit! So close.' She was in her glove form, the green gemstone on the center of the back of Lith's right hand glowed with power. Lith wasn't the only one that had grown stronger over the years.
Now Solus was able to amplify the effects of the mana coursing through her stone body by consuming a bit of her own energy. It could reinforce spells and fusion magic, giving her partner an edge over other Awakened ones.
Keeping the two mana flows in synch required a lot of her focus. The smallest mistake would create a destructive interference that would leave them exposed to a riposte. It was the reason she had missed the chance to snatch the artifact.
The Black Star was rummaging through Treius' memories to find something that could give them an edge. The results were appalling. The youth had done the bare minimum in every field he had ever applied, using true magic as a crutch to compensate for his laziness instead of turning it into a weapon.
The artifact deemed his twenty years of life as trash. Treius had used his uncle's knowledge and creations to take shortcuts, achieving his goals with no effort. The thing that baffled it the most was how despite his happy go lucky lifestyle, Treius had an unquenchable thirst for power only matched by his groundless pride.
Among the garbage, there was a treasure and the Black Star rejoiced upon its discovery. It was a skill that Treius learned after countless hours of practice. He had been tricked by his uncle into believing that there was a shortcut to greatness.
One spell to rule them all.
Of course it was just a ruse, the purpose of which was to show the youngster how hard work repaid itself.
'You idiot!' The Black Star roared. 'How can you have studied me for so long yet you understood nothing about my powers? Follow my instructions, foolish man-child!'
Treius snarled at the voice inside his head while spitting teeth and blood. The pain Lith was inflicting him was excruciating, but what the cursed object was doing worse. It kept peeking in his personal life, in every of his most private or embarrassing moments.
To add insult to the injury, it was berating his life choices like no one ever had before.
Chapter 403 Team Battle Part 2
Treius was used to be scolded by his uncle, but the old man did it because he cared for his nephew. His words were always filled with worry and affection.
The Black Star, instead, was dissecting his life and commenting on it like it was a failed magic experiment. There was only scorn in its thoughts.
Treius swallowed down its pride and obeyed. His body grew in size and weight until his head scraped against the ceiling. The Black Star absorbed all of his equipment to replenish its strength before the transformation scattered everything around the room.
His newfound tail was as thick as an SUV but much better armored. It was covered in flaming red scales the size of a buckler shield. Treius instinctively tried to swat his enemy like a fly, but Lith had no problem blocking the massive extremity with one hand.
'What the heck is he thinking?' Lith raised his eyebrows while looking at the over twelve meters (40') tall red dragon in front of himself.
'What the heck are you thinking?' Treius echoed Lith's thoughts. 'My uncle fooled me into learning how to shapeshift. It only served to teach me light magic and the art of controlling my own life force. It's a useless trick. No matter my form, my strength and mana do not change.'
'You whining idiot!' The Black Star was so annoyed it was running out of insults. 'That was before you merged with me. I have the life force of a whole city. I amassed mana for centuries. I can't bestow you the intelligence or the wisdom of a true dragon, but together we have the body of one!'
Treius finally understood his partner's intent and called upon the life force stored inside it to fill his limbs with strength. Lith felt the tail getting so heavy he couldn't hold it anymore, forcing him to retreat.
'Solus, what's happening?' Lith asked as the dragon's scales turned into shining rubies. Treius was getting accustomed to his new form and he spread the crystal armor all over his body, making it impervious to the Gatekeeper's edge.
'The Black Star is still under the Freeze spell, but it seems their bond is similar to our own. By pooling up their resources they can achieve the physical prowess of a real Evolved Monster. Fight or flight?' Solus would have loved to destroy the Black Star.
If before she wanted to do it to relieve the Kadurians from the living hell they were trapped in, now it was personal. The bond between Treius and the cursed object was a mockery of everything she held dear, a perversion of her very existence.
Yet it was Lith's life being at stake. Solus would never ask him to put everything on the line just on principle.
'I'm not going to run.' Lith replied clenching the Gatekeeper tight.
'It's going to take time before the Black Star can act on its own. Until that moment, this guy is just a man with a weapon. No matter how powerful they are, all weapons share the same weak point. Their user.'
Lith infused himself with all the elements but darkness, which was imbued inside his blade. He darted behind the ruby dragon's foot, aiming for the Achille's heel. The scales were thick and sturdy, but once crystalized they were stuck in position, leaving the tender meat underneath exposed.
Treius turned around to follow his movements, their speed almost matched. Sadly, the main temple begged to differ. The tail struck one of the columns and the wings got stuck into another. Dust fell from the ceiling while Treius swayed around trying not to fall.
'This guy is an idiot. He may have the body of a dragon, but he's not used to it. Size matters only if you know how to exploit the advantage.' The Gatekeeper found its way between the scales, ripping through the flesh and bone like a scalpel.
Treius screamed in pain, but he didn't fall. He kicked backward, trying to squash Lith like a bug. Lith managed to dodge the heel's claw by a hair's breadth and watched the enormous foot leave a deep mark on the wall.
'I stand corrected.' Lith thought while getting some distance from the enemy.
'He is an idiot that can one shot me. I didn't take into account that the Black Star gives him an almost endless supply of energy. I can't win this by wearing him out like usual. I must kill him in one go. If they are like us, once the host is dead, the artifact will be a sitting duck.'
The dragon roared in outrage and unleashed a lightning the size of a house. Lith took out the Faraday cage again, hoping the enemy wouldn't attack physically while he was unable to move.
Treius didn't have the opportunity to do it. His draconic hands emitted a popping sound, exploding like a balloon. He screamed in pain until light magic restored his limbs.
'What did you do to me?' Treius was so shocked that he didn't even notice the cage.
'Quit whining!' The Black Star said with a disgusted tone. 'Your mana core is too weak to handle so much mana at once, so the excess energy flown directly through your flesh making it burst. Would have you preferred to lose your core instead?'
Lith had barely the time to put the cage back inside his pocket dimension when the dragon unleashed a barrage of punches boosted by air and fire fusion. Even with Solus's help, Lith was running out of places where to hide.
The dragon's fists were the size of a truck and moved so fast they generated a gale strong enough to stumble Lith after he dodged each hit. Treius spun around himself, using the tail to sweep the whole room.
The columns crumbled one after the other, adding the falling debris to the already extensive list of things Lith had to watch out for.
'If only I could Blink. There isn't much I can do from down here. Because of the scales I can't reach his heart and because of the constant regeneration attacking the main arteries is useless. My only shot is the brain, but I think even that idiot has realized it by now.'
Lith kept running around the room while racking his brain for a solution.
'The guy seems to have a very low pain tolerance.' Solus pondered. 'I have an idea, but I don't think you're going to like it.'
'Hit me.' She was right, Lith didn't like it.
Treius was sick and tired of playing tag, so he produced a barrage of fireballs throwing them in random directions, literally bringing down the house. Lith was forced to use his flight spell to escape from the blazing inferno.
While flying, he was forced to focus looking forward, limiting his peripheral vision to a dangerous degree. A fireball exploded close to his feet and the resulting shockwave made him faster than he could control.
He crashed against a falling piece of the ceiling. Because of the impact, his movement came to a halt for a split second.
It was all Treius needed.
His fist struck Lith with the strength of a freight train. Even if Lith had managed to conjure an air barrier to take the brunt of the damage, even with the protection from the Skinwalker armor and earth fusion, Lith would have died when his body crashed against the wall.
Solus saved his life by the skin of his teeth, using an earth spell that made his landing spot elastic. The impact was still violent enough to blur his vision and squeeze the air out of his lungs.
Lith bit his lips, using the pain to remain conscious. Another punch followed a split second later, when he was too groggy to dodge it.
Chapter 404 Wrath Part 1
'Now!' Solus used a bit of her energy to nudge Lith out of his daze. There was no time to weave new spells, but as long as he was conscious, Lith would retain all those he had prepared beforehand.
He clapped his palms together and then spread his arms wide, making sure the core of the spell traveled through Solus's mystical glove. Both the gesture and her help were necessary to attempt such a quick cast.
A huge Warp Steps appeared in front of him, the biggest he had ever conjured. The ruby dragon's fist disappeared inside the portal and came out from the exit point located in front of his snout.
Treius had stepped forward while performing the attack, putting all of his weight into it. His own punch had been turned into a cross counter, doubling its strength. The impact was so violent that the neck twisted, snapping like a twig.
Not even the ruby armor could withstand the strain and several gemstones shattered, hitting the ground with a silvery sound. The Steps closed a split second later, severing the arm at the elbow.
Pain and shock made Treius fall to his knees, screaming toward the sky at the top of his lungs while holding the stump with his remaining hand. A fountain of blood painted the collapsing room red.
The neck was already healed, but regrowing an arm would be much slower.
'Do you have no shame?' Treius's pain was the Black Star's own, yet it ignored it like it was a gentle spring rain. 'Pick up the arm so we can reattach it! There's no time to lose, our enemy…'
The mind link allowed for quick communication, but Lith's speed was nothing to scoff at. Solus's plan had been implemented down to the last detail. To sacrifice a bishop to capture the king.
Lith had allowed himself to fall into a disadvantageous position to bait an all out attack. Yet the cross counter and the mutilation were just the preparatory steps. Lith exploited the literally blinding pain to Blink without the opponent noticing it and appeared between the dragon's eyes.
The Gatekeeper penetrated the cornea until only the hilt was visible. Lith gave everything he had to the sword, channeling air magic which generated a lightning that gave the dragon a violent seizure while a wave of darkness magic made its way toward the brain.
Lith had done everything he could, his execution had been flawless.
Yet it wasn't enough. Treius used darkness fusion to suppress his pain receptors and became able to move again. With earth fusion countering the lightning and the Black Star repairing the damages the moment they were dealt, darkness magic was just too slow.
Treius tried to catch Lith, but he Blinked away exploiting the dragon's blind side. He twisted the Gatekeeper while pulling it out and left behind enough fire and darkness magic to slow down the eye regeneration.
"Why are you doing this?" Lith's opponents screamed as one.
"You are bound to a powerful artifact. You pillaged Kaduria for power. You kill with no remorse to pursue your own ends. You are just like us! We should be allies, not enemies."
Those words irked Lith to no end, making his blood boil and his rage seethe.
'I'm nothing like you!' He thought as he appeared next to the severed limb and used the darkness still coursing through the Gatekeeper to rot it into oblivion. Without any life force inhabiting it, the arm offered no resistance to the hungry energies devouring it.
'Solus is not a monster, I am. Yet not even I prey on people's suffering for petty reasons. The Black Star has turned a whole city into a nightmare version of my own life and that idiot who fused with it is willing to set it free.'
The memories of the Kadurians Lith had assimilated earlier resurfaced. Their hopelessness, their despair, their constant grieving until their hearts were replaced by the endless void of the abyss were things he knew all too well.
'You two are worse than any Abomination. You are a cancer to this world and someone has to wipe you out like the disease you are.'
Black clouds formed inside Kaduria while the whole city trembled. Even though the Black Star was still paralyzed, the light phase had reached its limits. The shadow phase was about to begin and the living artifact rejoiced for it.
'I'll get back the energy I wasted to rebuild the city and reanimate those flesh bags. If you can't squash a single bug with that much power, then I will terminate our deal. I have no use for a weakling like you.' The cursed item had long regretted fusing with Treius.
The only silver lining was that thanks to the Freeze spell the bond had yet to become permanent.
Black clouds formed outside Kaduria too. The whole area quaked lightly as the world energy gushed from both the ground and the sky, piercing the barrier like it was a piece of paper.
A world tribulation had just begun.
***
Griffon Kingdom, Royal palace.
Lady Tyris was pondering about the recent news she had received. During the last four years, she had enjoyed the relative peace after decades of struggles. The academy system had been reform thanks to Linjos' legacy.
The Headmaster hadn't lived for long, but his actions had earned him an important place in the Kingdom's history books. After Nalear's attack, the last embers of civil war died out.
The Crown restored his authority by cutting off all the dead branches of nobility that spread corruption to keep themselves afloat. With the Master and Balkor ceasing their attacks she had not much to do.
Kaduria sounded like a lot of trouble. It was an ancient problem, older even than the Griffon Kingdom. Tyris was already a Guardian back then. She and Leegaain had helped set up the barrier.
Both could have destroyed the High Lord, but chose otherwise. Tyris because she wanted it to serve as a reminder of the foolishness of men. It was the era when there was no such thing as forbidden magic.
Humans kept exploiting the less fortunate in their quest for power and longevity. No matter how many she killed, hundreds of others were ready to pick up from where her victims had left their research.
Only one thing seemed to be able to stop them: fear. Lost cities were popping up like mushrooms as the legacy of Lochra Silverwing was abused in every conceivable way.
The only silver lining was that every monstrosity born from those experiments was a common enemy that allowed people to put aside their differences and rethink their way of life.
The mages who lived in the same region of a lost city became more judicious, while its inhabitants were inclined to topple any ruler who made the poor disappear instead of praising them for it.
All of them had learned to do the right thing, albeit for the wrong reason.
Leegaain hoped to find a way to free the Kadurians without killing them, instead.
'I recognize the design of this array.' She shook her head, making her long golden hair danced in the sunlight. 'This is the work of one of the Awakened one of Salaark's turf. I will not let the people of my Country suffer for the mistakes of others.'
Chapter 405 Wrath Part 2
'I didn't stop Nalear because she was born out of the Kingdom's unfair treatment. She was just like Balkor, the symptom of a disease that made it impossible for the upper echelons to ignore any longer. A foreigner causing troubles is another matter entirely.'
A sudden surge in the world energy coming from the Kellar region made her and Leegaain turn their heads at the same time.
"It's the anomaly kid again. Are you interested?"
"Thanks, but no thanks. I'm at a critical step in my research. Keep me posted if something interesting happens." The Father of all Dragons replied.
It took Tyris but a thought to Warp at the borders of Kaduria.
***
The black rain was falling with the intensity of a summer storm, but luckily it had no effect on Lith.
'I recognize this feeling. It's the same coming out of the cursed item. A twisted version of world energy.' He thought while his body shivered in disgust. The rain was the will of the Black Star taking physical form.
When the temple of the High Sun imbued so many lives inside their weapon, they made a huge mistake. Dozens of conflicting personalities had been forced together in a single mind, giving birth to a deranged individual with no memory nor morals.
The only thing left after their merging was the obsession to control everything under the High Sun's gaze and destroy everything that couldn't be controlled. Kaduria had been the field test and the Black Star was pleased with the results.
Every living being on Mogar would be at its mercy. Life and death would disappear forever under its rule. The worthy ones would live in a utopian world while the sinners would have an eternity to be redeemed through pain.
The black rain ripped the life out of the Kadurians, taking away everything they had but their minds. The process was unbearable, causing them to emit a collective telepathic shriek. Waves of agony made Lith and Treius fall to their knees.
They became part of the hive mind and were forced to experience the memories of all the Kadurians. To share their centuries worth of suffering. It lasted only for a few seconds, yet it almost drove them insane.
The mental pressure overwhelmed their minds, making it impossible for them to distinguish their thoughts from the Kadurians'.
The two Awakened ones rose to their feet at the same time, albeit with completely different mindsets. Treius was regretting his decision of merging with the artifact. Until that moment, he had always thought that no price was too great to achieve his goals as long as he wasn't the one paying for it.
Now he wasn't so sure anymore.
As for Lith, he stared at his opponent with eyes filled with a mix of pain and hatred. All seven of them. Two new pairs of eyes had appeared. One above and the other below humans' eyes were supposed to be.
The seventh was a vertical slit opened in the middle of his forehead.
He was now over two meters tall (7 feet) and covered by black scales the tip of which was bright red from the scorching heat that coursed through them. Aside from the eyes and a pair of curved horns protruding from his forehead, his head was a featureless black slate.
Two pairs of upside down membranous wings came out from his back, conjuring on their own enough wind to keep him a few centimeters from the ground. A long tail ending in several bone blades whipped the air in a frenzy.
The Shadows looked at the ruby dragon with unbridled rage. Just like the two Awakened had experienced the Kadurians' lives, the Kadurians had experienced theirs. Thanks to that, they recognized the giant as their sworn enemy.
Instead of being high in the sky, outside their reach, it was finally standing in front of them. The army of Shadows charged forward with only one thought in mind: revenge.
Treius's missing arm was regenerating at a speed visible at the naked eye, the stump had already reached the wrist level. He swatted them with a simple wave of the end, turning dozens of them into black snow at once.
Lith took off like a bullet with the Gatekeeper aimed at the still blinded eye. Treius cursed at himself for having forgotten about his real enemy. His tail whipped at Lith boosted by air and fire fusion.
Because of the partial blindness it only grazed its target, yet it was enough to send Lith crashing against the ground while spinning like a top. His collarbone was broken and so was his hip and left arm.
He just shut off his pain receptors, letting light fusion mend his wounds while he resumed his attack. For the first time since they had met, Treius felt confident about his chances of victory.
'Now there is no obstacle slowing my movements, nothing that the Ranger can use against me. Even if he has changed form too, in a contest of raw power we are still a dragon versus an ant!' He thought.
'What are you doing, you dimwit?' The Black Star reprimanded him. 'Don't underestimate those Shadows. They are leeching my powers!'
'Our powers, you mean. Feel free to break our deal. I'm sure the Ranger will be happy to finish his job.' Treius had no intention of letting the Black Star order him around anymore. Still, its advice made sense.
He stomped the ground repeatedly before taking flight with air magic. He tried flapping his wings, but they were slow and clumsy. They reduced his mobility instead of improving it.
"Haven't you had enough?" Treius said with a laugh while watching Lith flying in circles above him.
"I have to admit it, you are smarter than me and probably you worked your ass for years to become so strong. Yet it doesn't matter. Nothing matters against overwhelming power!" He opened his mouth, releasing a densely packed jet of purple flames.
It was a tier four true spell, Fire Blade. Treius wasn't able to actually breathe fire.
Lith burned with hatred at those words. In his mind Treius, the Black Star, his Earth father, the boy who had killed his brother, were all the same person. Someone who held an underserved power and used it only to spread misery.
He took a deep breath to shout in defiance, yet no voice came out. The scales on his face opened up revealing his fang-filled mouth from which erupted a stream of blue flames that clashed with the spell in mid-air, like snakes wriggling in a deadly embrace.
None of those present, except for Lady Tyris, knew what had just happened. Lith didn't let the surprise slow him down, bringing his array to completion. Yurial's Hexagram was a six-pointed blue star inscribed inside a circle.
One of the points shone with a yellow light, neutralizing air magic within his area of effect. Treius fell to the ground with the grace of a brick and the Shadows resumed their assault.
Lith tried to used the debris on the ground to cover his movements, but once again Treius's tail intercepted him. Even if he dodged the hit, the shockwave sent him rolling onto the ground.
'Dammit, I almost forgot he can use Life Vision too. I must… What's that?' Lith recognized from the giant footprints the spot where Treius had killed several Shadows. Among the debris, there were several black floating orbs of different sizes.
Chapter 406 Leave Part 1
'Solus, do you have any idea about what are those black orbs?' Lith thought.
'Incoming at 12 o'clock!' She shouted when Treius opened his mouth once again.
'Leave the idiot to me. I need an edge to win this fight and you are my only hope.' A snap of Lith's fingers made another of the six points of Yurial's Hexagram light up with a red light as the yellow one faded away.
The tier five Raging Sun that Treius was about to unleash died out like a lighter out of gas. Even with the Black Star's support, only a few sparks came out.
The array was a variation of Silverwing's Hexagram that Yurial had theorized after gaining a deeper understanding of the impossible array. His take on the spell was weaker, yet in exchange it caused much less strain on the caster.
It had taken Lith years to turn his old friend's theories into reality. Just looking at Treius shocked expression repaid him of all his hard work.
'First, he took away my flight spell and now this? What's happening?' The moment the ant started retaliating to brute force with technique, the dragon lost his spunk.
'You are still under the array, you idiot.' The Black Star's thoughts were filled with contempt. 'I have no idea what it does, but I'm pretty sure that if you get out of its area of effect it will stop working.'
Lith saw Treius muscles contract and with a thought released Yurial's Hexagram's full force. The array didn't simply negate one element at the time, it absorbed the mana composing the nullified spells and stored it for later use.
All the six points of the star lit up. The magical formation was now employing the stolen energy and the array's to generate a powerful gravity field that made Treius collapse under his own weight.
The Shadows exploited the situation to attack their enemy with all their might.
'It will not hold for long. The array drained only two spells, one of which was a cantrip.' Lith thought.
'Okay, okay.' Solus replied with a frustrated tone while scanning the floating orbs with all of her senses and making her brain spin at top gear to get at least a hypothesis about their nature.
'Done. We know that when a Shadow touches its victim, it saps their life force and mana. Also, after killing the Shadow, you recover your life force, right? Each of these spheres has its own energy signature, like a proper living being.
'I think that by attacking the Black Star, the Shadows are retrieving their own life force that the cursed item stole in the first place. They are still here after the Shadows' defeat because they have nowhere to go until the Black Star absorbs them again.'
Lith nodded in understatement. Even in death, the Kadurians were fighting against their oppressor. They were clinging on the retrieved life force with all their might.
'Then maybe…' Lith grabbed the nearest sphere. 'If I can absorb them, then I might be able to get as big as he is and regain the upper hand.'
Yet nothing happened. Lith could feel the residual mental energy recognizing him a friend, but nothing more. Like a mother that had just found her lost child, it refused to let the energy go.
'So much for all that "share your power with me" bullshit.' Lith inwardly cursed. 'Useless humans. We are fighting the same battle yet they can only think about themselves. Every man for himself then.'
Lith cast the tier five healing spells Scanner and Scalpel.
'Haven't those poor souls suffered enough?' Solus said. 'Is this really necessary?'
'Heck, yes.' Lith replied butchering the spheres near to him at once. 'Life is for the living, not for the dead. Their lives ended the day the Black Star was born. If we lose this fight and that bastard walks out of the barrier, all cities will become like Kaduria.'
Solus had seen their memories, she knew their suffering. Yet she was glad to have raised her objection. She couldn't have lived with herself if she just stood there doing nothing. Also, it allowed her to take a peek at a hidden side of Lith's mind.
Breaking the oath he had taken the day he had become a professional Healer meant nothing to him. Pretty words couldn't save lives nor stop monsters. He didn't base his actions on concepts like innocence or guilt, Lith only thought in terms of survival.
Yet he considered the Kadurians like brothers in arms. They knew pain even better than he did. Lith could not only relate to them, but they also had his respect. It was the reason why he could butcher their life force without a second thought.
He knew that in their place he would do anything to get free from his oppressor. Pain would be momentary, freedom would be everlasting.
Lith darted across the battlefield, maiming all the spheres outside the array that was quickly running out of juice. That day his Scalpels turned into Cleavers. One strike was all it took to inflict a damage that would take him hours to heal.
Yurial's Hexagram disappeared and Treius stood up in outrage. He stomped the Shadows swarming him and unleashed an endless barrage of spells against Lith. He managed to dodge most of them, block some, and was forced to tank the rest.
There were countless spheres at Treius's feet, some almost the size of a person. An ice spike ripped one of Lith's wings off. Inside it there were pain receptors he didn't even knew he possessed, so they were still active.
The agony of the mutilation almost made him stumble.
Almost.
He never stopped moving and neither did his Cleavers. A burst of flames from a dodged fireball ripped off the scales from his left arm, leaving the bloody flesh underneath exposed.
Lith kept waving his hands like an orchestra director in the exploding inferno around him. Solus used her own mana to generate more Cleavers to help him finish the job. Just a few seconds had passed since Treius was back on his feet, yet all the Shadows were already gone.
He was free to focus on the last pest. Treius infused himself with all the air, fire, and earth fusion prowess the Black Star could bestow upon him. He became a god of speed, a god of destruction.
A single stomp of his made the earth tremble as it was afraid of the titan ravaging its surface. The impact generated a subsonic shockwave that sent debris flying for kilometers until they struck the barrier surrounding Kaduria.
Lith flew backward and conjured a series of massive earth walls to protect himself. They took the brunt of the impact, buying him precious fractions of second that let him escape from the epicenter of the strike.
The walls crumbled one after the other. The shockwave was still strong enough to make Lith tumble and fall on the ground. He got back on his feet with a kip-up, never letting his eyes wander off his opponent.
"I told you, no matter what trick you employ, you can't beat overwhelming power." Treius guffawed at his opponent's still defiant eyes despite his battered body. He bolted forward for the finishing blow as he spoke.
Chapter 407 Leave Part 2
Lith's seven eyes burned with mana and determination. The punch was unbelievably fast, but telegraphed. He dodged before Treius's arm even started to move and conjured at the same time an air cushion.
The moving fist produced shockwaves in the air which Lith surfed like a wave thanks to the air cushion. The maneuver made him avoid the blow with ease. Treius reacted by twisting his hips and aiming the next punch were Lith was supposed to land.
A sudden jolt of agony made him miss the target by almost five meters (16'). A second and a third one forced him to fall on his knees, his stomach twisted in a knot.
'I cut off all my pain receptors, why do I still feel it then?' Treius saw the Gatekeeper appear in Lith's hands amid blazing emerald flames. He knew no blade could hurt him, but nonetheless he felt fear.
'I don't know.' The Black Star replied, experiencing terror for the second time in its life.
Lith didn't only cleave the Kadurians' life force, but he had also enveloped it into a bubble made of spirit magic. The moment he had completed his harvest, he had brought the black spheres near the dragon.
The Black Star predatory nature had done the rest. The butchered energy had been mixed together with the healthy one and was now crippling Treius's dragon form. To work properly, a body needed a precise set of instructions that were provided by the life force.
Even if the Black Star was adapting the human life force to match the dragon form, all the damage Lith had inflicted on it was still there. The corrupted energy was a living torture for its host, stopping the organs it flowed through.
Limbs would fall limp, organs would stop working. The Black Star didn't realize the gravity of the situation until the illness spread to Treius's brain and heart. The failure of such organs would bring more than damages it could easily heal.
The dragon's eyes rolled over, leaving only the sclera visible. He couldn't breathe or even think. Treius fell to the ground while Lith darted toward the mighty creature now reduced to a fish in a barrel.
The Black Star had no choice but to withdraw its powers. Treius gasped back to life, feeling weak and sluggish. He saw Lith approaching with his blade ready at hand, brimming with power.
He used air and earth fusion to dodge, but without the cursed object's help, he was back at square one. His body never had the time to adapt to the new core nor he wore his uncle's magical protections.
Without enough vigor, such a huge body was just a bigger target. Lith's first slash chopped off one of the giant feet, making Treius fall backward. Lith vertically wall ran on the stump while the opponent's body was still in mid air.
Treius had no time to cast a spell, so he tried to claw the enemy away. His hands flew off with a spurt of blood yet not a drop touched Lith who was already above the chest area.
Treius screamed in terror while Lith roared with anger, releasing from his mouth another jet of blue flames that entered the dragon's maw. Treius's head burst into flames, his eyes popped like balloons. Lith decapitated him anyway, just to be safe.
When the Black Star emerged from the dragon's mutilated body, the forgemastering circle was already active.
The runes from the Repentance spell flew inside the cursed object. Lith had no more words but the chant until its very end. At the seventh rune, the cursed object rather than a crystal star resembled a bunch of glass shards glued together.
"Stop! I beg of you! You have seen what I'm capable of. Imagine if I had a suitable host instead of a pampered idiot. You have no reason to kill me. You know how to paralyze me, take your time and think carefully about what you're doing."
Treius's body reverted to his natural appearance, yet the head kept burning until only ashes remained. When the twelfth and final rune crashed into the Black Star, its fragments imploded emitting a thud sound.
The black clouds inside and outside Kaduria disappeared. The tribulation was over. The light phase and the shadow phase were no more, only the real sun shone high above Lith's head.
Then, the ruins of Kaduria emitted a blinding light that took the form of countless shooting stars of different sizes. Most plunged into Mogar, returning to the planet the energy that had been stolen over the centuries.
The rest flew toward the horizon, disappearing with the speed of light.
Lith used Invigoration to mend his wounds and recover the energies spent during the battle. The rage was gone, only the abyss remained. It made him feel emptier than ever.
"I hope you have watched me carefully, Yurial." Lith spoke to himself. If not even a nutjob like Redan had turned into a ghost long enough to say goodbye, someone like Yurial was bound to be at peace, wherever he was.
"I told you countless times, Wardens are not useless and neither were you. It's all a matter of timing your decisions. If you had asked Quylla out instead of admiring her from afar you would still be alive, you damn moron." Lith said with a sigh.
"What I'm trying to say is: thank you. Today you saved my life."
'Lith still thinks about Yurial whenever he casts an array.' Solus thought. 'I wish they had more time together. I wish I could hug Lith tight and tell him that everything will be alright.'
Lith walked outside the barrier and after a lot of thinking, he called Lieutenant Kamila Yehval, his handler. He gave her a full and meticulously doctored version of the events in Kaduria.
Kamila had a hard time believing him. She asked him to go back inside and gave him precise instructions on how to take scans of his surroundings with the army's amulet.
"It's amazing!" It was the only thing she managed to say once she received all the data. She put him on hold before contacting their superiors. Even the smallest events regarding a lost city had to be reported up to the top of the chain of command, let alone its recovery.
It was an unprecedented event.
"Our Commanding Officers want to hear it directly from you. You are expected to meet them tomorrow at noon at the Headquarters. Aside from that, you are on leave for the next three days."
"A three days leave? I was in the field for only two days." The news surprised Lith.
"I know, but orders are orders. Return to Belius as soon as you can and enjoy your vacation."
After turning off his military communication amulet, Lith took out his civilian one and called his potential date.
"Hi, Kamila."
"Hi, Lith. Wasn't expecting to hear from you so soon." She replied with a giggle. Her tone was different from before. She sounded more relaxed.
"Me neither. That pain in the ass of my handler just gave me three days of leave out of the blue. Can you believe it?"
"Really? Three days?" She chuckled. "What will you do with so much free time?"
"Depends. Are you free for dinner tonight?"
Chapter 408 Belius Part 1
"Yes, I'm free tonight, but your invitation is a bit sudden. I usually don't date people I met only once. We barely know each other." Kamila said with a pensive tone. She liked that kind of role play.
'She hasn't said no and she called it a "date". Kamila isn't considering my offer as a simple colleague get-together. So far so good.' Despite having his dating experience from two lives, Lith felt awkward every time he asked a woman out.
His paranoid nature made him overthink over the smallest details and being a control freak didn't help. He considered making the first move like exposing a weakness and he hated feeling weak.
Since all the complaining in the world wouldn't change the rules of the game, Lith knew he could only bet or fold. If he played, he could lose but if he didn't his victory chances would always be zero.
"I didn't tell you before because I didn't want to make you worry, but I'm a Ranger. It's a very dangerous job, sometimes I risk my life multiple times a day. I don't know when or if I'll be granted another leave, so think carefully before making your decision."
He said in an overly dramatic tone, making it sound like he was part of a suicide squad.
"If you put it this way, I can't refuse." She giggled while looking again at his personal file.
'Lith is a bit young but sure he went through a lot.' The plague, Balkor, the assassination attempts, the White Griffon massacre and now the recent events in the north. Lith's life seemed to be an anthology of short horror stories.
'He sounds definitely wise beyond his age. Still, it's a bit of gamble. Let's hope I won't need a timely "headache".'
"Have you already thought about the place?"
"I have never been to Belius." Lith shook his head. "I'll let you decide the time and the place. Let me know if you need a ride. I can Warp us anywhere."
"Thanks, but I'm good. Let's meet at Velorian, at seven o'clock…"
"Lieutenant Yehval, I need those documents and I need them yesterday." A voice interrupted her.
"Sorry, I got to go. An idiot intern of mine turned a simple recon mission into a hero stunt and it's up to me fill the paperwork. If I don't fix this mess, I'll get stuck overtime. See you later!"
The communication ended abruptly, leaving Lith second guessing himself.
'I guess I'm that idiot.' He sighed. 'Lots of people now have lots of questions about how I solved a centuries old problem. I need to play this smart. The silver lining is that there is no witness, so no matter what bulls*it I make up, they have to take it at face value.'
Lith flew in a straight line toward Belius while revising with Solus his own report. They looked for inconsistencies and found none. After that, they ran several simulations of his upcoming interrogation to find the answers most suitable to avoid follow up questions.
They were so focused on discussing how to belittle Lith's endeavor as much as possible that they realized they had reached Belius only when they saw the maelstrom array surrounding the city.
Luckily, because of his unfamiliarity with the Keller region, Lith was just a dozen meters above the ground to use road signs and milestones to orient himself. He had all the time to stop and get down to the ground before his flight spell was disrupted.
After another round of glares and insults for skipping the hundred meters long line to get inside the city, Lith walked through the Warp Gate that led to the army Headquarters.
Much to his surprise, instead of being searched and questioned like during his first visit, the customs officer gave him a salute.
"It's an honor to meet you, sir. Please, allow me to take you to your apartments."
'My what? I expected to sleep in the barracks or at Kamila's place. What's going on here?'
The officer was a man in his late thirties that didn't stop talking for a second about how safer the citizens felt now that the closest lost city was lost for good.
"I can't wait to read the whole story on the army's interlink." The officer said referring to the database available to the public. They walked outside the main building, giving Lith the opportunity to see Belius.
The fortified city was different from all the other places he had visited. Because of the lack of running water or elevators, houses were usually two or three stories high tops.
Belius consisted of tall buildings, instead. Some even ten stories high and all made of the same grey stone blocks. At least one building in each residential area was occupied only by restaurants and shops.
The roads were paved and wide enough to let three carriages pass side by side. The sidewalks were filled with people of all social classes, each minding their own business.
If not for the lack of smog and pollution, Lith would have thought of being in an Earth's metropolis.
Noticing his surprise, the officer quickly explained:
"Belius was built as a military outpost to keep in check the Gorgon Empire's borders. Over time, the city expanded vertically rather than horizontally to be more easily defendable.
"There's only so much space inside the walls and it's not like we can take them down and rebuild the arrays from scratch. All these buildings once belonged to the army, that's why their design lacks originality.
"To distinguish a rich house from a poor one, you have to look for two details. The number of floors and gardens. Because of the lack of space, green is a luxury and so are mansions. A two stories high building is bound to be a noble house. Commoners live in condos."
"Why there is no traffic?" Lith asked after noticing that aside from military and nobles' stagecoaches the roads were empty.
"Because in case of emergencies we can't afford traffic jams. Unless someone is very important or filthy rich, they have to move around Belius with this." The officer pointed at two small Warp Gates standing next to each other.
"One to get in, one to get out." He neared his badge to a small gemstone standing next to the gate, making a small 3D holographic interface appear. It was a drop-down menu filled with addresses and road names. Some were greyed out.
"For security reasons, you can't operate it without an ID. Use your badge and follow me." The officer selected a place called Royal Road before disappearing through the Gate which closed right behind him.
Lith did as instructed, noticing he could go almost anywhere. Very few locations were not available. Royal Road turned out to be a block made only by mansions, each with high walls and a private garden.
"What happens if two people step inside a Gate at once?" Lith asked.
"They end up in jail. The system is unforgiving. Here we are to destination." The officer pointed at a two stories high manor surrounded by trees and flowerbeds.
The external gate opened as soon as the officer swept his badge in front of a magical gemstone nestled on a nearby pillar. There was a folded note attached to the door.
"Dear Lith Verhen, consider this a token of appreciation for your valiant efforts. I hope to meet you soon."
It was signed by Royal Constable Tyris Griffon.
Chapter 409 Belius Part 2
"Is there anything I can do for you before leaving?" The officer asked.
"Yes, thank you. How do I reach a place called Velorian?"
"Your lady friend has good taste. It's one of the best restaurants on Elm Street, right beside its Gate." The man replied with a smirk.
"How do you know I have a lady friend and about her taste?"
"It's a place popular among young couples. Also, the closer a building is to a Gate the more expensive it is." The officer pointed at the dimensional door standing in front of Lith's living quarters.
The word "expensive" made Lith's wallet bleed.
"I also need clothes. Do you have any recommendations?" There were two things Lith deeply regretted about having left the White Griffon academy. It's all you can eat free restaurant and not needing any clothes aside his Associate Professor's uniform to hit on women.
Wearing one was enough to be treated as a VIP in any establishment of the Distar Marquisate.
"I don't know your taste or budget, but if you go to Silk Road, you'll find what you need."
Lith thanked the officer before checking if the door of the mansion opened with his own badge too. He just peeked inside out of curiosity, there was so much to do and so little time to do it.
The ground floor of the house resembled a penthouse from a five star hotel. The furniture was made of high-quality materials, but its design wasn't ostentatious. On Lith's right, there was a large living room with several couches and armchairs arranged around a tea table.
On his left, there was a study room with a solid wood desk. The walls were covered by bookshelves filled with books about every topic but magic. Behind the only closed door there was a bathroom equipped with all comforts.
Lith left the house, heading to Elm Street. On his way there, he noticed how people would look at him in a funny way. Most would step to the side to let him pass, a few would cross the road to avoid him.
'Solus, am I showing my old serial killer frown again?' He asked after a mother dragged her children on the other side of the street.
'No. You look tired and in a bad mood, but no more than usual.'
Lith shrugged and walked through the Gate. One of the things he had learned back on Earth, was to never bring a woman to an unknown place. His focus would be split between his surroundings and his date, making him look distant.
On Mogar it was even worse. Not knowing the menu or the prices could lead to embarrassing moments. Lith had a short temper if the food was bad, overpriced, or both.
The Velorian was on the ground floor, its door open. The receptionist was a middle aged man in livery with black receding hair.
"Is there something wrong, Ranger?" The man started sweating bullets at Lith's appearance.
"No, I just heard about this place and I would like to take a look if it's not a bother."
"All the members of the King's army are welcome here." The man sighed in relief while dabbing the sweat with his handkerchief. According to the tag on the breast pocket, his name was Xilo.
After scouting the place, Lith asked for a menu. As he feared, he knew very few dishes and the ingredients weren't listed along with their names. Xilo helped him decipher the menu and even suggested some specialties that a man from the south was bound to enjoy.
"Is there a dress code for the restaurant?" Lith was happy to have come alone first. Despite Phloria's best efforts, he was still a cheapskate. Based on the receptionist's embarrassment, the prices had made Lith's poker face crumble more than once.
"None, but our customers would surely appreciate the lack of uniforms in the room."
"Meaning?" Feeling disrespected, Lith's expression turned stone cold.
"I'm sorry, it came out wrong. You are a foreigner, sir, so you are unaware of our customs. Belius is surrounded by enemies which makes us quite nervous. Seeing a soldier usually means troubles. Spies, terrorists, a lost city out of control.
"Only the gods know how many emergencies happen each year. Hence your uniform would ruin everyone's mood."
Lith understood why earlier the people looked so scared and flexed his shoulders. His clothes shapeshifted into his gala suit. The only other clothes stored in the Skinwalker armor were those he wore back in Lutia. It was better to be overdressed than looking like a country bumpkin.
Xilo yelped in surprise. He couldn't believe that someone who could afford a Skinwalker armor and that kind of suit was also capable of being shocked by their honest fares.
Lith went to the Silk Road, ordering a few tailor-made suits, jackets, and shirts. He then rented a few clothes to put together a smart casual suit for the evening. Thanks to the armor, they would look like they were tailor-made anyway.
***
Gorgon Empire, Leegaain quarters.
"Are you sure about it?" Leegaain asked. After hearing Tyris's story about the events unfolded in Kaduria, he now regretted missing the show.
"As sure as the sun will rise again tomorrow." She replied.
"The anomaly used dragon fire twice. If he keeps passing his world tribulations, you'll have to change your title to 'father of most dragons'."
"Like I care." He scoffed at the idea. "Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery that mediocrity can pay to greatness. It's you who should be worried. A single country is too small for two Guardians."
"I'm not going to kill him just because of what he could become." Tyris shook her head.
"Even if that could mean the end of the Griffon Kingdom? When two Guardians fight…"
"Maps get redrawn." She completed the ancient proverb for him.
"He may be a piece of work, but I believe Mogar chose him for a reason. I will not stand in the way of change. Besides, we have a date tomorrow. Who knows, maybe we'll reach a compromise."
Chapter 410 Birds of Prey
Blood Desert, Salaark's tent. An hour after the Death Star's destruction.
Salaark hated having unexpected guests. Ruling the biggest of the three great Countries, slaying Abominations, and keeping the borders safe were all full time jobs she did by herself.
They left her little free time that she enjoyed spending tending her personal matters. New fashions designs, love interests, books, magic, martial arts training, patronage of the arts were only a few of her many activities.
Unlike the other two Guardians, Overlord Salaark hadn't detached herself from human society. Quite the contrary, she was deeply invested in it and kept herself active in many fields. In a sense, she was the most human of the three.
That was the reason she hated guests. Every second she spent solving someone else's problem was a second wasted. Soon she would resume her duties, no matter how much fun she had or missed.
Her furious expression released enough killing intent to turn any sane man's hair white. Yet her guests were unaffected. Tyris has seen her in way worse moods and Glamus's hair was already grey.
Salaark had the appearance of a stunning woman in her mid twenties. She had silky black waist long hair, emerald eyes and a bronze tinge of skin so clear that it seemed to emit a gentle radiance.
She sat on her throne, wearing a flaming scarlet robe, the Blood Desert equivalent of a cocktail dress, that left exposed her fair shoulders and her crossed legs from a side slit. The beer in her right hand was getting warm, while the food on her plate was getting cold.
"You disappointed me greatly, Glamus Clein. You did not only violate my laws, but you also brought shame upon me and interrupted my first party in a month. What do you have to say for yourself?"
"He was my only relative." The old man cried, yet his voice remained steady. "I know I shouldn't have Awakened him, but I couldn't stand watching the last of my kin die."
"That's not the issue." She stood up in anger, making the ground quake.
"An imbecile like Treius wouldn't be able to devise a multi function array even in a thousand years. He used your library to learn Kadurian language, your resources to set the array, your Warp Gate to cross the borders. Why didn't you stop him?"
"He was young and foolish, my Overlord. I hoped that he would learn from his mistakes. That seeing the horrors of Kaduria would turn the boy into a man. Someone worthy of inheriting my legacy."
Glamus was old even by Awakened ones's standards. He had spent centuries amassing power and wealth, but with his death approaching, he realized that nothing of him would be left. He had no family nor apprentices.
The world would forget about him the moment he passed away.
"Please, spare my life and I'll be your loyal servant. I need to find an heir. I refuse to die without leaving a single trace on Mogar. No one knows my name or my achievements." He said bowing down with his head pressing against the floor.
"Youth is Treius's excuse, but what's yours?" Salaark replied.
"Because of you, the Griffon Kingdom now has learned about one of my arrays. You almost unleashed a cursed object upon my lands, even though you knew how even researching them is against the law. You are not an asset, only a liability."
A light flickered in her eyes and a purple flame set Glamus ablaze. It turned his body into ashes before he could even scream, yet left his clothes and all of his enchanted items intact.
"Old fool. He knew that the reason the Blood Desert has no lost cities is because of me. I'm not a softie like the two of you." She said to Tyris.
"I keep track of certain materials and if I catch someone creating a cursed object, I kill them along with everyone involved. Even the merchants that supplied them with the resources."
"What will happen to his legacy?" Tyris asked.
"I'll have it collected and examined to see if there something worth using in my schools of magic. The rest will become part of my personal collection. Once you have collected your share, of course."
Tyris was both the offended party and the one that had captured the rogue Awakened. According to the Guardians' treaties, she was entitled to half the spoils.
"Well, time to get back to the party. Do you want to join?"
"No, thanks. I have still much to do today." Tyris replied with a grateful smile.
"Still grieving after all these years? You need to get a life. Spend too much time alone and it'll breed desperation. You have seen how desperation leads to madness." Salaark pointed at the ashes dirtying her carpet.
"The lizard at least has his apprentice, daughter, whatever, but what about you? You pass your days locked up in a basement with no contact with the outside world except for those fake Awakened of yours. When was the last time you had fun? Live it up for once!"
"When I was still the queen." Tyris sighed. A wave of her hand turned her dress into a copy of Salaark's robe, except it was silver colored.
"I like your style, sister." Salaark linked her arm to Tyris's and led the way.
***
City of Belius, now.
Lith checked his pocket watch for the time. It was a magical item he had crafted while he was working as Assistant Professor at the academy. Aside from the army and the Mage Association, very few used clocks.
Because of its complex function, a watch needed to be made of silver and required a green magic crystal. Like any other enchanted object, only the one imprinting it could use it. Between the materials and the craftmanship, they cost a pretty penny.
Hence they were considered too expensive for their use. Commoners made their own schedule while nobles preferred sundials and hourglasses.
'Seven sharp. Let's hope I'm not overdressed nor underdressed compared to her. The first impression is vital.' Lith was wearing a beige coat over a red shirt and white pants.
He loved dressing in dark colors, especially in black. Unluckily, all the women in his life, from his mother to his last girlfriend, agreed on them making Lith look like a mortician. Light colors emphasized his brown eyes and olive skin, instead.
Kamila was already there. She was talking with Xilo, the receptionist, and he seemed to be a really funny guy since Lith could hear her laugh through the solid wood door.
"Sorry to keep you waiting. Have you been here for long?" Lith inwardly cursed at the apparently unreliable pocket watch.
"Don't worry, I arrived early. Xilo here was telling me an unbelievable story about a mage so stingy to make faces while reading the menu."
"Sounds like a piece of work of a guy." He said while nailing Xilo with a stare that held the promise of an excruciating death. The poor receptionist avoided the need of changing his pants only because when Kamila turned toward Lith the killing intent disappeared.
"Let's go, I've already chosen our table." She took his hand and dragged him to the adjacent room.
Chapter 411 Birds of Prey Part 2
Lith exploited the moment she was walking in front of him to check her out. Kamila wore a light blue shirt over a knee-length black pencil skirt.
She had her long black hair down which together with her black eyeliner and light red lipstick emphasized her pale skin.
'For cute Kamila is cute. She could use some weight, though. Her arms are so thin that either she has skipped one meal too many or she has not lifted anything heavier than a fork in a long time.'
Their table was located along the east wall, right under one the magical lamps which illuminated the room. The layout of the restaurant allowed the clients to have enough space to guarantee their privacy.
"How are you liking Belius?" Kamila asked while a blonde waitress handed them the menus.
"It's a lovely city. I like how it prevents me from flying, Warping, or even moving around without someone tracking my movements. It's a pity there are no bars at every window. It completely ruins the feeling of being held in a prison."
"It's not a bad place, it's just an acquired taste." She chuckled at the joke. Lith liked her smile a lot. It was warm and sincere, not like the pretentious giggle most girls did to hook up.
"I've always wanted to try the Hogese. It's a new recipe from the Gorgon Empire that only comes in two portions. Do you feel brave enough to venture into the unknown?"
Lith knew what it was, just like he knew he wouldn't like it.
"Of course. Mystery is the spice of life." He lied through his teeth. According to Xilo, the Hogese was a bread dough stuffed with a mix of boiled vegetables and minced animal organs cooked in the oven.
'I'm glad she wants to share a new experience with me, I only wish this dish isn't as disgusting as it sounds.'
"So, how did you end up a Lieutenant in the army? Is it something you always wanted to do or did you somehow stumble into it?" Lith asked.
"I'm the third child of a merchant household. My eldest brother inherited the family business by birthright while my sister was forced to marry. I have no magical talent, so it was either joining the army or working as an accountant for my brother.
"I always liked to study, but my family didn't care much about our education. So I joined the army, failed miserably my boot camp…" Kamila rolled up her sleeve in a body builder pose which emphasized the lack of muscles in her slender arm.
"… and when they offered me a desk job, I took the offer. I started as a clerk, but the army provided me the resources to study on my own. A few years later I proved myself smart enough to obtain a scholarship for the Officer's academy and here I am."
"What do you mean with 'forced to marry'?"
"My sister is blind from birth." The light in Kamila's eyes dimmed at those memories, making her smile disappears. Lith felt like the room had turned several degrees colder.
"Let's not talk about sad stuff." She shrugged off her frown and looked at Lith straight in the eyes. "Now it's my turn to ask a personal question. How does it feel being a mage?"
"I beg your pardon?" Lith was expecting inquiries about his skills, income, noble status, or maybe a plea to heal the blind sister. The usual routine when someone tried to suck up to him.
"I mean, normal people have just enough magic to make themselves a hot tea, while you can fly, Warp around the world, kill with a word. All things us humble mortals can only dream or have nightmares about."
She made a dramatic gesture, raising her arms in the air before bending forward, like she was worshipping an idol. Lith had no idea how to answer. To him, magic was a mean to an end. He considered it like a hammer, a pincer, or any other tool.
It took him a while to find something that sounded like a proper answer.
"I don't know if it makes sense, but to me it feels like I'm able to share Mogar's breath. A mage doesn't really command the elements, we just learn through study how to communicate with them.
"Sometimes, I even feel like I'm just a mirror of the world. I can reflect or alter what it's in front of me, but I can't do anything by myself." Kamila was staring at Lith with eyes so wide open that one could think her eyelids had been glued to her eyebrows.
A waiter looked at the couple with a puzzled expression.
'I know that look, but there's no way the tall guy is the one pregnant.' He placed the steaming Hogese in the middle of the table and left without a word.
"Do I sound that crazy? What's the answer you usually get?" Lith asked while cutting the meal and taking a bite.
"I wouldn't know. It's the first time I date a mage." Kamila followed suit.
"Gods, it's disgusting." She chuckled after swallowing it whole and drinking a big sip of wine to wash her mouth. "No wonder I never saw anyone ordering it."
"I think it's just an acquired taste." Lith replied taking another bite and pretending to chew it while he actually sent it to his pocket dimension.
"Do you really like it?" Kamila wondered if the horrors Lith had witnessed as a student had somehow damaged his taste buds.
"No, I was messing with you. It's disgusting."
"Now I understand why people from the Gorgon Empire are always so cranky. Fancy a steak?" She raised her arm to call the waiter back.
"With pleasure." Lith was really hungry. He hadn't eaten anything from breakfast.
"I can't believe I'm your first mage, though. Are all guys in Belius blind or what?" Lith knitted his eyebrows in disbelief. His honest surprise flattered her quite a bit.
"In case you haven't noticed it, I'm a bit old for marriage. I have no family background, nor I'm rich. Mages can easily achieve a noble title, so they usually aim higher than a grassroots civil servant."
Lith had a thousand things to comment on the subject, but all of them would sound like an attempt to butter her up.
"I'll take it as a yes." He shrugged and moved to a different topic.
Lith appreciated her not asking him anything about the academy. In his experience, everyone seemed to think that being a survivor was something cool to talk about. Like Balkor and Nalear were just notches on his belt instead of people who stole something precious from him.
Albeit in different ways, losing Protector and Yurial had left a scar on him. He missed them both dearly.
Lith and Kamila kept talking until the head waiter kindly pointed out it was closing time. Lith walked her to the nearest Warp Gate while hoping for the best.
"Thanks for the evening. I can't believe it's already this late. My supervisor will skin me alive if I'm late. Call me." She stood on her tiptoe, giving him a quick goodnight kiss before Warping away.
'Funny, thoughtful, and he didn't brag even once about his achievements at the academy or the King bestowing him a family name. The best part is his eyes. They look so mature one would never think he's so young. Stinginess aside, it's almost too good to be true.'
Lieutenant Yehval smiled all the way back home.
Chapter 412 Puzzled Part 1
'Rise and shine, sleepyhead.' Solus woke up Lith after sunrise, to make sure he had a full eight hours of sleep. It would reset the effects of Invigoration and bring his body back to his natural peak condition.
The fight with Treius had been demanding. Solus had no idea what a world tribulation was, but she knew that whenever Lith assumed that monstrous form, his mind had undergone heavy stress.
'What a shitty date.' Lith griped for the umpteenth time. 'The only silver lining is that she insisted to split the bill.'
'By my maker, just because you didn't get laid doesn't make it a bad date!'
'I beg to differ. The food was just okay, the kiss was so fast I barely noticed it, and the "I've to wake up early tomorrow" is the lamest excuse in the book. Kamila might as well claimed she had a migraine.' Lith sighed.
He was in such a bad mood he had returned to the house on Royal Road only because Belius's security measures made it a hassle getting in and out of the city. Lith had to give his detailed report in person in the afternoon, otherwise he would have already gone back to Lutia to spend there the rest of his leave.
'Stop being a sourpuss. If Kamila really didn't enjoy herself, she wouldn't have spent three hours talking with you. She even took into account you being a cheapskate and split the bill.' Solus pointed out.
'Why do you think that?'
'How many tall mages wearing a Ranger uniform do you think walked into the Velorian yesterday? It doesn't take a Constable to do the math.' Her thoughts oozed sarcasm. 'The next time, bring her a nice present, Scrooge.'
'For the record, I'm thrifty, not stingy.' His paper thin excuse only managed to make Solus cry from laughing. Lith went to the kitchen on the first floor to have breakfast. Lith ruminated on both Solus's words and the food before giving Kamila a call.
She sounded really happy to hear from him and she kept the conversation going until she had to leave for work. This time it was her inviting him to dinner the next day.
'Told you so. Don't forget the present.' Solus projected in his mind a smug grin.
Lith spent the morning practicing Accumulation to further refine his mana core and rehearsing his report with Solus. He arrived at the army Headquarters well in advance the appointed time.
Sergeant Tepper had drilled his "If you are five minutes early, you are already ten minutes late" creed into all of his recruits. Lith was immediately brought by the Desk Sergeant through a series of corridors until they reached the destination.
Despite the woman walked double time, Lith had the time to appreciate the rustic furniture decorating the place and the padded reinforced doors along the way. All in all, he had the impression of being inside an asylum for the criminally insane.
"They are waiting for you." The Sergeant, a sturdy woman in her forties, pointed him to a door with a "Briefing Room" tag attached to it. She gave him a salute before extending her hand. "Thanks for your hard work, Sir. Belius is a safer place now."
Lith shook it while cold sweat ran down his spine.
'Damn, first the custom officer and now the Sergeant? This is worse than I thought. No good deed goes unpunished, we have some serious damage control to do.' Lith thought.
'Stop whining, I'm sure that- Oh, shit!' Solus choked on her optimism when Lith opened the door. A single uncomfortable looking chair was in front of a rectangular table, behind which there were three armchairs.
King Meron was sitting in the middle. A golden crown rested on his head as he was wearing his red uniform of Commander-in-Chief of the army. The King was a lean man in his mid fifties, yet he didn't look a day past thirty.
He had thick red hair and the silver eyes typical of the descendants of Valeron, the first King. On his right, there was a man bearing a striking resemblance with the King who wore the red uniform of a General of the Army.
He had brown reddish hair and silver eyes. Just like Meron, he was in his fifties, but time hadn't been very kind to him. He looked old and tired, but mostly worried. To the King's left, there was the most stunning woman Lith had ever seen.
She wore the uniform of a Royal Constable and was 1.76 (5'9") meters tall. She was in her mid twenties, or so it seemed. There was something about her that made her look timeless yet ancient at once.
She had shining gold hair braided into a tress long enough to be twisted and knotted above her head resembling a crown. Her silver eyes sparkled like stars under the sunlight.
Lith's mood was sour yet it took him just a second to feel something was off. He gave them a salute and stood at attention while waiting for instructions.
'Solus, how strong are these guys?'
'The General has a cyan core, while the King has a violet one and a body slightly more powerful than yours despite his age. The woman has a blue core and an inhuman physique. By my maker, compared to her Tista is nothing special.'
'This is wrong. No one can be this beautiful.' Lith's paranoia kicked in, quickly followed by his survival instinct. He took a deep breath and activated Death Vision. It was the only still lingering side effect of Lith's attempt to repair Protector's mana core at the cost of his own life force.
Lith had yet to understand if it was an ability, a curse, or simply a symptom of his shaky sanity. It made every living being in front of him look like they were about to die. It had taken him years of training to learn how to keep it in check.
In the next few seconds, Lith saw the King die of old age, poisoned, or because a spell turned him to dust. The General would die of old age, or after being poisoned, stabbed, beheaded, or simply because he tumbled and fell.
The Constable remained unchanged instead.
'It's already abnormal for the King to have only three ways to die, but maybe is because of his magical protections. Why Death Vision doesn't work on the Constable? So far only Phloria was immune to it.' Lith thought.
"At ease, Lieutenant Verhen. Please, have a seat" The King said with a small smile.
"This is the General of the Army Morn Griffon, my cousin, while she is Royal Constable Tyris Griffon, my niece."
The General suppressed the desire to curl his lip in disgust, replying to Lith's salute with a mere nod of the head. The Constable returned the salute and even offered him her hand.
Lith shook it, discovering that her skin was soft and silky, yet her grip was as firm as a mountain.
'This is bad.' Lith thought. 'They want to either promote or demote me. Both events can screw up my plans. Worst case scenario, they want to force me into marriage with Barbie. First the house, now this? Why would a royal be so kind with me?'
Solus wanted to give him a more rational and less paranoid explanation. Unluckily, she was unable to find one.
Chapter 413 Puzzled Part 2
After witnessing the events leading to the destruction of the Black Star, Tyris decided that her meeting with the anomaly was long overdue. She had pondered if to wait for him outside Kaduria, but she decided against it.
Explaining how she had got there and how much she had witnessed would require a long-winded explanation about her role as a Guardian to avoid a useless struggle. She knew enough about Lith to predict that he would attempt to silence her forever if he thought she had discovered his nature as Awakened.
Guardians didn't hide their existence. Everyone in the Gorgon Empire knew about the massive dragon sleeping in the throne room and Salaark was an even lesser example of discretion.
Her rampages against the enemies of the Blood Desert were legendary. She would change to one form to another, leaving any witness awestruck. Yet Tyris preferred a subtler approach, to prevent Lith's paranoia from destroying any chance of a friendly relationship.
She had joined the King to introduce herself as a member of the Royal family and not arouse Lith's suspicions. Even the handshake was a probe. Soul Vision, the Guardians' version of Life Vision, had its limits.
She exploited the physical contact to employ Mother Earth, her Invigoration technique, to better understand the nature of the anomaly. The results piqued Tyris's interest for several reasons.
She was mildly surprised by Lith's distant behavior. Tyris was used to make quite an impression at the first meeting. The real shocker was the readings from Mother Earth, though.
Right where his heart was supposed to be, Lith's life force was cracked. To a casual observer, it would look like the aftermath of his foolish attempt to repair a mana core. Yet she knew better.
Lith's efforts to save Protector had cost him almost half of his lifespan yet it had simply brought to the surface something that was already there. The crack ran deep underneath his life force like an invisible bloodstream.
It was made of deep-seated pain and grieving, which poisoned his very being. Tyris had met countless broken men, so it wasn't a surprise to her.
The fact that the crack oozed death puzzled her quite a bit and so did noticing how the permanent loss of life force had extended the damage up to his eyes through rifts as small as hairlines.
How energies typical of death could surge from a living being made no sense even to her. The second and most astounding revelation was the presence of a second life force well hidden in the background.
It looked like a black sphere that sealed at its core a small star. The star, in turn, emitted violent waves of energy that harmlessly crashed against the sphere. Tyris had never seen anything like that.
'I guess it's better to consult an expert.' She thought.
"I wanted to personally congratulate you on your latest success, Ranger Verhen." She said with a smile that made the two high ranked officials wish they were young again.
"Yet, this committee has been assembled to review your work and determine if your actions brought more harm than benefit to the Griffon Kingdom."
"Exactly." Morn said with a reprimanding tone. "You were given a simple task: to preserve a centuries-long equilibrium that has kept the country safe from unspeakable horrors. Thank the gods your hero stunt ended well, but luck is a fickle mistress.
"Your lack of judgment endangered us all." Lith didn't miss how the General sneaked a look at the Constable, looking for her approval.
'What a pig. He is old enough to be her father.' Solus thought in disgust.
'Agreed. What matters is that so far everything is within our expectations.' Lith inwardly sighed in relief.
To Lith, the King said :"Let's not rush our judgment. Ranger Verhen, tell us everything that happened during your stay in Kaduria."
Lith told them about his arrival in front of the barrier surrounding the city and how he had witnessed the horrors of the shadow phase. He avoided dramatic descriptions, sticking to the facts instead.
Lith explained how he had followed the procedure of slaughtering the Kadurians during the light phase and then decided to experiment on the Shadows during the next cycle. The recount of how he learned the lost Kadurian language left those present speechless.
"That's what I was talking about." Morn grunted. "You are not a mage of the academy anymore, you are a Ranger in the army. You were supposed to follow orders, not conduct some crazy research."
"I'm a mage and a Ranger." Lith rebuked pretending to be indignant. "You can't have one without the other. As you know, if I was interested in blindly following orders, I would have accepted your other proposal."
Lith had been offered a job as a black ops soldier, which he had turned down. The King nodded, prompting him to continue.
"I became a Ranger to further my studies. The lost cities hold priceless knowledge that can be used for good. I bet you are aware of the tomes I have been consulting. I need the army's resources as much as the army needs me to clean up messes like Kaduria."
"Since you are the one who introduced the topic, let's talk about your readings." The General leaned forward with a menacing expression. "Why are you researching forbidden magic? It could be considered an act of treason by itself."
"Because I'm a Healer. As such, my aim is to find a cure for all diseases. Including the one afflicting me." Lith lowered his gaze, as if he was haunted by a painful memory.
"You have attended the White Griffon for four years. Are you saying you suffer from a condition not even Manohar could fix?" Morn was surprised by the revelation, yet he was unwilling to believe in such a convenient turn of events.
"Yes. Your Majesty, do you know the Scanner spell?" When the King nodded, Lith offered him his arm to examine it. The King cast the spell and found the same crack Tyris had noticed earlier.
"Good gods." The King turned pale. "How did it happen?"
"It's the price I had to pay to defend my friends from the Valor during Balkor's attack." Lith lied through his teeth. If they wanted a tragic hero, he would give them one.
"My life force is crippled. I don't regret what I did, yet I also refuse to give up on a normal life. My goal is to find a cure for all those who fell victims of forbidden magic, and only by studying the disease you can learn how to fight it."
"Please, continue your report." The King was worried about all the plans the Crown still had in store for Lith. Suddenly there was less time than he had hoped for.
Lith then told them how by learning the Kadurian he was able to communicate with the cleric of the High Sun who had helped him to defeat both the Black Star and the foreigner that had come to free the cursed object from its cage.
"You see, this is the part of your report that I find really hard to believe and I'm not the only one in the army." The General tapped the table with his forefinger to emphasize his lack of trust.
"A mysterious stranger forced your hand. Do you have any proof to back your claim?"
"Is this proof enough for you?" Lith took out Treius's head from his pocket dimension, placing it on the table while it was still dripping fresh blood.
Chapter 414 The Idiot Part 1
The moment he had entered the chamber, Lith had noticed a signboard informing that it was possible to use dimensional items inside the briefing room. He decided to exploit it to achieve the most dramatic effect possible.
"Did you carry that thing all along?" All those in the room had seen their share of dead people. What shocked General Morn was the ease with which Lith performed his stunt.
"Yes. I have the rest of the body too if you are interested in examining it. It bears some unknown runes as tattoos which I was planning to study in the near future." He had already copied them before the meeting, just to be safe.
"If you read the report I presented to Lieutenant Yehval right after the events, it matches the description of my assailant. Also, I have this." Lith provided them copies of the spells he had learned from the clerics of the High Sun, in both Kadurian and common language.
With the Black Star destroyed, they were just a relic from the past.
King Meron used his communication amulet to summon Brigadier General Vorgh and the resident Forgemaster. It was a bulky woman in her sixties, with eyes cynical enough to remind Lith of Nana.
Lith had to repeat the last part of his story to them and show them the evidence he presented to the committee.
"I can confirm that the parasite array's design originates from the Blood Desert." Vorgh stated while looking at Treius's corpse. "Also, these runes share a similarity with the array. It's my opinion that they were made by the same hand."
"These are indeed powerful spells." The Forgemaster was also a Major General. "They are designed to sabotage their host's enchantments, making the energies coursing through the artifact destroy it from the inside.
"Too bad that without the original blueprints they are useless. We could have learned a lot from them. As it is, they belong in a museum."
After the King dismissed the experts, Lith continued his story. He omitted the part where Treius fused with the Black Star and most of the fight.
"So, without my 'crazy research' I would have never been able to understand the clerics. If I 'just followed orders', once I left Kaduria the enemy would have claimed the artifact and now there would be not one, but two power hungry monsters knocking on the Kingdom's door." His words were filled with sarcasm and contempt as he stared at the General.
Morn wanted to admonish Lith that his behavior was bordering insubordination, but King Meron's cold gaze stopped him.
"I did what was necessary to protect our country and save those poor souls. Neither the Kadurians nor Belius deserved to live in constant fear of each other." After Lith had finished his speech, the three Royals retired in an adjacent room to deliberate.
"Lady Tyris, you have heard him." The General was aware of the Guardian's true identity and longed for both her affection and a long life.
"By destroying the Black Star, he mercilessly killed all those people. He let an entire civilization be destroyed because of his incompetence. He should be dishonorably discharged."
"Please! You couldn't care less about the Kadurians. You are simply scared at the idea that a grassroots mage is now considered a hero both in the north and in the south." Tyris stared at Morn until he lowered his eyes in shame.
"It's because of those like you that we went so close to a civil war. If you so called pureblood mages want to be respected, you should do more than flapping your gums or sabotage your betters. I wish that thirty years ago you tried becoming King instead of Meron."
"Really?" Those words made him too happy to notice the trap lying ahead.
"Of course." Tyris nodded. "So I would have you for dinner, like you dream about for years, and I wouldn't be forced to hear your nonsense anymore. It would have been a win-win situation. Now shut up. I have a call to make."
Meron chuckled at the idea of his arrogant cousin devoured in a single gulp. Morn, instead, suddenly realized why the King had brought him along. Not because Meron valued his opinion, but to humble him.
Tyris opened her mind link with Leegaain, sharing with him what she had discovered about Lith with Mother Earth, her Invigoration technique.
'Fascinating.' Was his reply.
'Tell me something I don't know.' Tyris said with impatience. It was her country the anomaly lived in. Charm and danger could only go hand in hand when talking about someone else's problem.
'Death energy usually lingers around those who somehow escaped their final hour, but the amount you describe is overwhelming. It would require for him to have died multiple times, but we know it's impossible.' Leegaain explained.
'It should make the anomaly more sensitive toward sensing impending death, but nothing more. It's a nasty curse. I'm surprised he hasn't gone insane already.'
'What about the two life forces?' Tyris asked.
'Ah, so you are finally interested in Menadion's Desperation. Well, it all started…'
'Okay, three life forces. Save your anecdote for later. I'm not interested in that ring of his. Whatever it is, is harmless.' Tyris cut him short, making Leegaain sigh.
'It just proves we're right about him. He's a hybrid, but only Mogar knows how. The first life force is the common human one. The second one, though, it's actually two other life forces mixed together.' The dragon's words made her deeply frown.
'The black sphere is typical of Abominations, but usually it's empty. That's why they constantly need to assume world energy to keep themselves alive. The small star is the mark of powerful Evolved Monsters instead.
'It allows them to easily shapeshift because most of their energy it's not stuck in a fixed form. I have no idea how they can coexist, nor why he has them. He's too old for that.'
'What do you mean with too old?' Tyris was perplexed.
'Let's say I had a child with a human. The child would be a hybrid, bearing both our life forces. When they come of age, they would be forced to choose between one nature.
'The children you had with Valeron perceived themselves as humans, that's why none of them ever turned into a griffon. The opposite happened to the anomaly. According to Scarlett, when he had a cyan mana core, there was no second life force.
'It means that its appearance is related to his now blue mana core, as if before he couldn't bear its power. I wish he lived here. This Lith would make so fine an apprentice. You know, when Milea was younger…'
Tyris closed the communication at the last second, dodging the surely long and boring story by a hair's breadth.
"Meron, you have my blessing." She said before the three returned to the other room.
Lith was still sitting, his mind wondering what he could possibly gift to Kamila without wasting too much money nor flexing his forgemastering skills.
"Ranger Verhen." King Meron said while Lith stood up at attention in a sign of respect.
Chapter 415 The Idiot Part 2
"After hearing your report and evaluating all the elements you have provided us, this committee unanimously praise you for your endeavor. Words are cheap, though, so I would like to reward you properly. Are you sure you don't want a higher rank or a noble title?"
"Thanks, your Majesty, but I'm no leader. A higher rank would only hinder me, while a noble title would chain me. I would be forced to spend what's left of my life caring for the people living in my lands. They deserve better than a reluctant lord."
Meron sighed, but he had anticipated Lith's reply.
"I'm deeply worried about your health. I won't ask you to stop searching for a cure. Magic is all about research and hard work. If someone can find a solution to such a cruel fate, that's you.
"I believe that with your talent, you can perform another miracle. I watched you grow and I hope to have the privilege of seeing you grow old. That said, would you be interested in marriage? I could introduce you to many noble dames.
"It would be a pity if your bloodline were to die with you. Also, I think that having someone to return to would give you even more strength."
"Thanks again, your Majesty, but no. I know myself. If I raise a family of my own, I will not be able to leave them. That's why I made sure to teach my sister Tista everything I know. Even if I were to die tomorrow, my legacy will live through her.
"Please, take care of her in my absence." Lith said with a rueful voice while making his eyes watery with magic.
He had no intention of having children and was well aware that being an Awakened, even a crippled life force was enough to last more than one hundred years. There was no reason for the King to know it, of course.
For the first time in centuries, Tyris had a hard time suppressing a chuckle.
'By Mogar, Lith sure has his way with words. Everything he's said since he stepped inside the room is neither entirely true or false. He is playing Meron like a fiddle. Aside from being a cynical, manipulative, stingy, compulsive liar of a hybrid, he reminds me of Valeron.' She thought.
"You have my word." Meron said with watery eyes while considering that Tista was unmarried too. If he could secure her trust, whatever Lith left behind it would be hers. There was no harm in nurturing someone so beautiful and talented.
"Until I draw breath, I'll protect your family like it's my own."
Lith's face seemed to be moved, but Tyris could see his other scaly face grinning from ear to ear like a predator in front of a dumb animal. It took her sheer willpower to not laugh at the scene.
A ceremonial sword made of silver appeared in the King's right hand.
"I wanted to avoid this, since it will surely kick a hornet nest, but you leave me no choice. No amount of money is worth your sacrifices for the Kingdom. Please, kneel."
Lith had no idea what was happening but he obeyed nonetheless.
'Solus?' He asked.
'No clue.' She replied after checking all the books inside Soluspedia.
"Lith Verhen, I bestow upon you the title of Great Mage of the Griffon Kingdom." The King said while patting with the flat side of the sword Lith's left shoulder, then the right one, and lastly the top of his head.
'Oh, fuck me sideways! I forgot about the Mage ranking system.' Lith thought. 'What's the average age for a Great Mage?'
'For a new magical bloodline with no noble title, around fifty.' Solus replied.
'I knew it! No good deed goes unpunished. Now I have another target painted behind my back.'
'It's not that bad.' Solus tried to cheer him up. 'The King just promised his protection and now you'll have access to more tomes. The glass is half full, okay?'
Lith's inner expression finally matched the one he was showing on the outside. The General and the King left the room after congratulating him, leaving only Tyris behind.
"It's been a pleasure finally meeting you." She took his hands as a cold shiver ran down his spine. "I hope to see you again in happier circumstances."
After she walked out the door, Lith felt so drained he had to sit down again.
'See? Half full. Seems you are on a roll with the ladies.' Solus giggled.
'On a roll my pale ass. Why do you think I avoided Brinja like a disease? The entrance fee for that kind of fair is marriage. A fling with a Royal would be like putting a slave collar around my neck. Speaking of flings…'
Lith took his communication amulet out of his pocket and called Kamila.
"Sorry, but I'm really busy. Is it important?" For the first time she had activated the hologram projector. He could see her nervously turning around while watching out for her supervisor.
"Yes. I want you to hear it from me before it comes out on the interlink." The pain in his voice was tangible. Kamila stopped abruptly and focused on him.
"Oh, gods! Don't tell me you got demoted? Or relocated? I was afraid some envious noble might try to get back at you. Now that Belius is safe, the trade routes will change and someone will lose a lot of money. Did they send you to a suicide mission?" She bit her nails out of stress.
"Not even I'm that paranoid! Don't kill me off like that. It's complicated. Bottom line, I'm screwed. The King made me a Great Mage."
"What!" She jumped off her chair, drawing the attention of all her colleagues.
"Yeah, I know. It means a lot of trouble. General Morn Griffon is already out for my blood. Between him and the ancient noble households I'm walking on eggshells here. I think it's better if…"
"It's wonderful news! What did your parents say?" She cut him short.
"Nothing because they still don't know. I'm going straight home now. I need to warn them of…"
"Wait, are you saying I'm the only one who knows about it?"
"You, me, the King, General Morn, and some Royal Constable. Why?" Lith's headache was getting worse.
"It's wonderful news!" She repeated with a radiant smile. "Call me when you arrive home. See you." The hologram disappeared as the call ended.
'I swear, this is just like with Phloria. Even if you keep talking women stop listening and start giggling. It's not like I…'
Lith stopped drowning in self-pity and replayed the conversation in his head, walking a mile in Kamila's shoes.
'I'm an idiot.' Was the final judgment.
'Worse. You are self-centered.' Solus scolded him. 'You are always focused against your enemies yet you overlook the feelings of those close to you. You're lucky you two only had one date, otherwise that poor girl would probably think you are in love with her.
'Keep acting like this and one day, someone is going to get hurt.'
Lith could only agree with her. When he reached the Warp Gate for the capitol of the Distar Marquisate, Derios, he was still cursing at himself.
Meanwhile, in the Control Room where analysts and handlers worked, the supervisor had an important announcement to make.
"In case someone missed it, Lieutenant Kamila Yehval is dating a Great Mage. Today the first round is on her."
A booming applause was followed by congratulations as all of her colleagues wished Kamila all the best, yet all she wanted was to disappear.
Chapter 416 Family Reunion Part 1
For the first time since he had started wearing uniforms, Lith shapeshifted the Skinwalker armor into normal clothes even though he had no social event to attend to. With a beige overcoat, white shirt, and black pants, he looked like a small time noble.
'Too many people here know my face and I can't afford being recognized.' He thought while nervously looking at the communication amulet in his breast pocket. 'I have no time to lose being polite and exchanging niceties. I expect the news of me becoming a Great Mage to spread like wildfire.'
The moment he stepped outside Derios's branch of the Mage Association, Lith took off toward Lutia. He was now powerful enough that a single Warp Steps allowed him to cross dozens of kilometers.
Six Warps and less than a minute later, he reached his home. He appeared in the sky and landed slowly to not scare his parents' farmhands. He had learned from experience that sharp tools and fear made people accident prone.
"Hey, kid. Do yourself a favor and bug off." Said a harsh voice coming from behind him.
"Our young Lady isn't home, and even if she was, she chews and spits guys way better looking than you for breakfast."
Lith laughed out loud hearing Tista being referred to as a noble dame. Being mistaken for a suitor of his own sister was also quite funny to him.
"Do what you want." The man laughed too. "There's a reason that Lutia is called the Graveyard. Hot shots like you, be them criminals or nobles, always get out of here feet first. I've warned you, so don't blame me when I'll spit on your grave."
"I'd like to see you trying, Bromann." Lith turned around with a cruel smile.
"Oh gods! I'm so sorry, Lith." Bromann wasn't scared, mostly embarrassed. He knew Lith since his son, Rizel, had ambushed him at Selia's house years ago. When Raaz had started to expand his farmlands, he had been one of the first farmers to sell his own.
The pay was good, he would have to pay fewer taxes, and the free healthcare made the offer hard to refuse.
"I didn't expect you would return so soon plus I'm not used to seeing you all dressed up. Usually, you either wear your uniform or dress like one of us. What's the fancy suit for? Are you finally bringing home a fine lady or what?"
"It's a long story." Lith dodged all the questions. "Why the double standard? You refer to Tista as 'your young Lady' yet you call me by my first name."
"That's just for show, Lith. If a farmer speaks like that to a noble, they could easily get whipped. Harassing a servant of the Verhen family is bad for business, instead. Especially if they want to suck up on you." Bromann replied while tapping at his temple with a forefinger.
Lith couldn't refute that logic, so he waved a quick goodbye and entered his house.
"Daddy!" A shrill voice yelled as a small boy clung to Lith's leg.
"Not even close, little brother." Lith said while lifting Aran off the ground and making him sit on his shoulder. The child was almost a meter (3'2") tall but to Lith's frame, he was weightless.
"Mom! Big brother is back!"
"Welcome home, sweetie." Elina came out of the kitchen and embraced Lith tightly.
"What happened to your uniform? Is everything all right?" She took his face between her hands, checking for signs of malnutrition as if she hadn't seen him in months instead of four days
"Kind of. Let's just say the glass is half full." He sighed. "As soon as everyone gets home, I'll give you great news. Where's Tista?"
"Where do you think she can possibly be?" Elina replied with a soft smile.
"She's at the White Griffon academy to plan her own journey. She wants to follow her little brother's footsteps and travel the world. Your sister looks up to you, sometimes a bit too much."
"What does that mean?"
"She turned nineteen this year, yet she refuses to attend to parties, rejects all of her suitors, and only thinks about practicing magic. Does this behavior ring you any bells?" Elina said while pouting.
Lith feigned ignorance and called both his sisters. Tista was glad to hear from him, but couldn't come back before an hour. Rena asked him to pick her up instead.
"Don't play dumb with me, young man." Elina had her hands on her hips while tapping nervously on the floor with her foot.
"Is it too much to ask for a grandchild or two? I'm not getting any younger and neither are you. When will you bring a girl home?"
"Mom, I'm still young!" Lith tried to defend himself while casting the fastest Warp Steps in Mogar's history. "At least I date. It's not my fault if I can't find someone special."
"That's not dating, it's fooling around." Elina rebuked. She wasn't willing to let it slide this time. "You didn't have these clothes four days ago and their style is not from the Marquisate. Did you buy them because of a girl? That would be a miracle."
Elina's observation skills stunned Lith.
The Warp Steps opened and Rena joined the fray.
"Looking good, little brother. Tailor made foreign clothes, and made of high-end fabric at that." She said while rubbing her fingers over his suit.
Just when he believed he was doomed, help arrived from an unexpected ally.
"Uncle Lith, you're back! Tell me a story." Leria, his niece crossed the dimensional door and tugged at his leg demanding her due. She was the same age as Aran and resembled her mother more with each passing year.
Her blond hair had shades of black just like Rena's.
Aran promptly joined the plea. The duo was noisy and stubborn enough to force their mothers to back down to have some quiet. Lith used light and air magic to stage every single fairy tale he knew until all the family was assembled.
'There's no way dad backs me up, but as long as Tista is here I can play the "she's older than me" card and throw her in the lion's den to save my hide.' He thought.
He then told them everything that had happened after he left home, using the Hush spell to cover the kids' ears whenever the story wasn't family friendly. When he arrived at the part where the King had made him a Great Mage, everyone but Tista rejoiced.
"Damn, this is bad. I must leave Lutia before the news spread, otherwise the White Griffon and the Marchioness will force me to attend to every single social event until this blows over. Not the mention all the drones that will swarm at our door." She said with a sigh.
"It's not just that." Lith explained. "The ancient noble households will try to get back at me, which makes every one of you a target. My stunt made them lose a lot of money and face."
"Don't you dare call it a stunt." Raaz stared at his son and grabbed his shoulder.
"You saved countless lives. I couldn't be prouder of you. As for General Morn and all those petty nobles they can go f…." Raaz managed to stop in the nick of time, noticing both the children's curious look and their mothers' deadly gaze.
Chapter 417 Family Reunion Part 2
"Farm a plot of land for all I care."
"There's no need to worry, dear." Elina stood up and hugged Lith from behind.
"We know our lives are in danger since the day you were admitted into the academy, yet I never regretted that decision"
"Wait, did you know?" Lith was shocked.
"Of course we did, son." Raaz nodded.
"We aren't stupid. Also, Nana and Count Lark warned us multiple times when they asked for our help to convince you to take the entrance exams. We unanimously decided you deserved a chance at a better life. Me, your mother, and your sisters."
Lith didn't miss how his father had not mentioned Trion, even though he was still part of the family at the time. He inwardly sent Trion to farm a plot of land before forgetting about his existence again.
"You can't let your fears ruin a moment like this, dear." Elina kissed his head.
"A lot of bad things could have happened, yet we are still here. We're not rich, powerful, or influential, but it doesn't mean we can't fight by your side. I'm your mother, I'm ready to put my life on the line for you since the day you were born."
"We all do." Raaz said standing up to join the embrace, soon followed by Rena, Tista and the kids, who had no idea what was happening but still wanted to express their love for Lith.
"I'm sorry, I need some air." Lith ran away from his home and through the Trawn woods like he had a dragon on his heels. There were few things that scared him, and losing control over his own feelings was among them.
The thought that all of his lies about how safe he was at the academy, of how despite his schemes and underhanded deals his family had lived in fear for all those years, filled him with enough rage to topple a mountain.
'Please, calm down.' Solus tried to comfort him. 'You should be happy knowing they love you so much. That they fought for your happiness as hard as you did for theirs.'
'Why should I be happy?' Lith inwardly screamed. 'All of my sacrifices, all of my pain. It was all for nothing! What good is my power if I can't even protect what I hold in my hand? Why do I bother with this rotten Kingdom? They should all die!'
'What about Nana? Count Lark?' Solus objected. 'What about Phloria, Friya, Yurial or Quylla? Did Yurial deserve to die? Didn't the Marchioness and the Crown keep their word so far? They are the reason why Lutia is called 'The Graveyard'.
'All of your efforts gave your family a better life. Tista is alive and well because of you. Aran was born because of you. Leria was born because of you. Nothing that's worth having comes easy, remember? Your words, not mine.'
Lith's ragged breath slowly returned to normal.
'I'm sorry, you are right. It's just that killing is so much easier than protecting. I wish Protector was still here. I wish…'
"Lith Verhen, you're not an easy man to find."
Lith turned toward the source of the husky voice. One of the Shadows of Kaduria seemed to have escaped from the destruction of the Black Star. Despite its human shape, the thing was made of living darkness that writhed at its every step.
Only when it came closer Lith noticed that it wasn't one of the cursed object's thralls. Instead of eyes, the thing had two small vortexes that sucked every particle of light around its head, making it a blur despite the sun had yet to set below the horizon.
"An Abomination. It's the first time I meet someone of your race capable of speaking before attacking." Lith was in a really bad mood and finding the creature so close to his home made it even worse.
"I'm not here to fight you." The Abomination raised its hands in a universal gesture of peace. "I only wish to reclaim what you stole. Give it to me and then I'll be on my way."
"First, I never stole anything. What I have I earned it through either fight or hard work. Second, why should I trust you?" Lith used that empty talk to weave all of his best spells.
"You're lying. The orc's crystal wasn't yours to take. I've worked hard for it. Give it back, now!" The creature's voice was so low it sounded like a cough when it tried to yell.
'Watch out. Without a colored core I don't know exactly how strong it is, but judging from its mana flow and life force the Abomination should be quite powerful. We never met an intelligent Abomination before, so be ready for anything.' Solus warned him.
"And you are the so called 'Master'?" Lith sneered. "Disappointing."
"How do you know about the Master?" The creature stopped in its tracks.
"Gremus. That big mouthed worm. It didn't fail the mission, you killed it!"
"What if I did?" Lith grinned. He had almost finished preparing the field.
"You should watch your mouth. Your family…"
Truth to be told, the Abomination was about to warn Lith that, in case they fought, his family could get caught in the crossfire since they were relatively close. It had no intention of threatening him.
The next thing the Abomination knew was that its body seemed to have been struck by a meteor. It flew deep inside the Trawn woods, crashing through trees too young or thin to withstand the impact before it tumbled in the dirt.
"What about my family?" Unluckily, Lith didn't know, nor did he care about its intentions. A blue aura surrounded him, growing in intensity with each passing second.
The Abomination shook its head to clear its blurred vision just in time to see the Gatekeeper appear in Lith's right hand amid a burst of emerald flames.
"I…" Before the creature could speak, Lith darted forward in an overhead slash. The attack was too fast to dodge it from such an unstable stance. The Abomination's arms shapeshifted into two blades made of shadows, with which it intercepted the blade in the nick of time by crossing them above its head.
The impact made the creature kneel, allowing Lith to execute a front kick with all of his strength. The Abomination was sent even deeper inside the woods, its body bounced on the thick trees like a pinball.
'What's happening? According to the Master's data, he should be weaker than a Valor. I'm way stronger than a filthy undead.' It thought.
The creature saw Lith's eyes brimming with blue mana as he moved through the darkness of the forest. Then, his eyes turned yellow and another pair opened on his forehead.
"What about my family?" His voice was reduced to a snarl as two more eyes opened and his skin turned into scales. The blade flashed, but this time the Abomination was ready.
It rolled to the side while extending its right arm, still in the form of a blade, to counterattack while Lith was out of balance. The attempt failed miserably since the creature was out of balance too. Its left arm and part of its shoulder fell on the ground with a thud sound.
A seventh eye opened in the middle of Lith's forehead.
"What. About. My. Family?"
Chapter 418 Message Part 1
Lith repeated his question for the third time, but after almost dying twice to the assault that followed its attempts to answer, the creature understood the human had no interest in talking. His words were just a way to distract it, to vent his anger, or both.
The Empowered Abomination was one of the Master's loyal servants and had been bestowed a name from them: Jarok. Normal Abominations lived alone, never interacting with someone unless they fed on them.
They had no need for names, only power. After joining the Master's cause, names had become their status symbol, akin to a noble title. Receiving one meant the Master trusted them enough to need their help.
Jarok cursed at its bad luck. What was supposed to be a simple investigation and retrieval mission had turned into a huge mess. Jarok was indeed stronger than a Valor, but the reason the Master had sent it wasn't its combat prowess, but its stealth capabilities.
Just like Lutia was called "the Graveyard", Lith's house was better known as "the Death's Door". Usually one would find a single Evolved Monster in an area as big as the Trawn woods, yet there were three and all of them stalked the Verhen Household.
Also, since Tista joined the academy, another two squads of the Queen's corps had been added to the protection detail. The Queen feared that a grassroots magical bloodline in the middle of nowhere was too much of an easy target, so she had taken precautions.
With all the arrays in place, the four elite squads, and the Evolved Monsters standing watch from the shadows, touching a member of the Verhen family was only slightly easier than stealing a phoenix's egg.
The Master suspected Lith was behind the crystal's disappearance because he was the only one present when the orc shaman died. They needed him alive to know if he had the crystal and where it was stored.
A Forgemaster like Lith could turn anything into a dimensional item, making the search for the crystal harder than finding a needle in a haystack. Kidnapping a family member was out of question.
It would require a couple of Eldritch Abominations to get past the wards, but by the time they succeeded, the family would have been relocated and the security increased.
Also, the Master didn't want to antagonize Lith. They had followed the nameless commoner's career and deemed him as one of the chosen, one of the few people the Master was willing to share the results of their research with.
The Master was biding their time before offering Lith the opportunity to join them. The youth was talented and brilliant. With his assistance, the Master could save years if not decades of research.
Jarok had waited for his return for months and this was the first opportunity it had to speak with him alone. Lith's habit of Warping around made it impossible to follow him.
'What kind of monster is he?' Jarok thought.
'When Lith was twelve, he needed his companions to defeat a newborn and incomplete Puppeteer Abomination. Then he almost died fighting a Valor. There's no way he got this strong in just a few years. Unless…' The revelation struck Jarok like a lightning and so did the Gatekeeper, cutting away its remaining arm.
'Unless he is an Awakened one and all the intel we have on him is dead wrong.' Jarok kept moving as tendrils of darkness came out of the severed limbs and reattached them to the main body.
Neither Jarok nor Lith was scared of their opponent. It wasn't their first rodeo. They both believed the situation was under control. The Abomination conjured three waves of air blades all at once.
One was aimed at Lith while the other two invaded the space on his sides, making it impossible for him to dodge.
'Interesting.' Solus thought. 'It can reason and cast spells. This Abomination could teach us a lot.' She studied the creature like it was their newest science project. Solus had no sympathy for Abominations nor she was worried for Lith.
His mind was in a fit of rage, but not the kind that makes a man act recklessly without care for the consequences. It was focused and amplified like a light turned into a laser, and it had only one aim: to kill.
Lith was forced to Blink away, just as Jarok predicted. It contracted the shadows that composed its body and infused them with mana until they burst out in all directions. The space in a five meters (16') radius around it was now filled by countless spikes protruding from a black core.
It was both the perfect attack and perfect defense, with no blind spot nor target left to attack.
Before the creature which now resembled a sea urchin could return to its original shape, a pillar of blue flames descended from the sky causing it blinding agony. Contrary to Jarok's expectations, instead of pressing forward Lith had moved upwards.
Lith had no idea if his opponent had access to Life Vision, dimensional magic, or both. By taking the high ground he could safely observe its reaction to a Blink. That way, even if the Abomination possessed the same skills of an Awakened one and Blinked forward, he would still be out of reach.
If not, the creature would leave itself open to an attack.
'No Life Vision.' Solus pondered while Lith made the pillar follow Jarok's every movement to prevent it from escaping the fiery trap. The creature roared with fury and Blinked to safety, or so it thought.
Lith's tier four true spell Burning Prison encased the dimensional door's exit point. Six fireballs appeared at the same time around Jarok, one above, one below and the others in a square shape. The fireballs exploded simultaneously, each reinforcing the effect of the others.
"Enough!" The Abomination screamed while unleashing its trump card. A black sphere enveloped the creature and ripped apart Lith's mana from the world elemental energy.
Burning Prison disappeared in a puff of smoke without inflicting any damage.
Jarok extended its left arm which emitted the tier four Chaos magic spell Howling Void. A spear made of darkness as thick as an arm crossed the space between them too fast to be dodged.
Lith Blinked away in a random direction, his eyes glued to the opponent while Solus stared in awe at the unknown spell's aftermath. Everything on Howling Void's path had simply disappeared.
'It's impossible! Darkness magic is supposed to be slow.' Solus was flabbergasted. 'Not only did that thing move fast, but it also made matter decay in an instant.'
Chaos magic was a twisted version of darkness magic, something that only Abominations could use. Light and darkness were two faces of the same coin, yet Abomination could forcefully sever the connection between them.
Nature abhorred the void. Whatever was hit by Chaos magic wouldn't just rot, it would also transfer its innate light energy to restore the balance, leaving the victim with no protection against the invading darkness.
Chaos magic moved fast because its energies were attracted by light magic like magnets of opposite poles.
"Last chance. Give me the purple crystal or die!" Jarok was tired of being Lith's punching bag. It preferred to defy the Master's orders and kill one of the chosen rather than die.
Chapter 419 Message Part 2
Lith's answer came in the form of maniacal laughter. There was no joy in it, only mockery and spite. The seven eyes blinked and so did Lith. This time Jarok quickly turned around and looked for its opponent while weaving dimensional and Chaos spells.
The Abomination cursed when it discovered that Lith wasn't behind nor above. Jarok knew that even a split second could be fatal. A movement on its right made the creature turn its head just to see the Gatekeeper sword fly on its own with a stone gauntlet on its hilt.
The Abomination cast the Chaos magic tier five Hollow Mist spell, conjuring around itself a corrupted space that would destroy the blade on contact.
'Moving the sword with spirit magic is just a diversion, he must be coming from the opposite direction.' Jarok thought while turning around. Its mouthless face deformed in what would have otherwise been a grin when its reasoning proved to be true.
It raised its left hand and released another Howling Void aimed at Lith's head. The Abomination chocked on its own triumphant shout when Lith dodged the spell by steering right and instead of approaching he kept his distance.
Only then Jarok noticed that both Lith and his sword were moving in synch, like sharks circling around their prey. It took the Abomination a second to understand what was happening.
'An array! I need to get out of here.' It thought.
Yet the realization was a second too late. Lith and Solus were casting it together, reducing the time required to materialize the magical formation. Jarok attempted to Blink away and failed. Darkness was one of the elements necessary to cast such a spell and it was now sealed.
Jarok then took off, but another Burning Prison cut off all the possible escape routes. The explosion sent it back to the middle of the array as a Checkmate Spears materialized and pierced it from every direction.
The Abomination tanked the damage and managed to escape from the array. Its body shapeshifted into a smaller form to offer a more difficult target while it darted toward the forest.
Jarok needed to feed. Unlike Awakened ones, Abominations had no access to Invigoration. Mogar had turned its back on them, the only way they had to gain world energy was stealing it.
Trees also meant shadows, and once Jarok reached one its powers would make it almost impossible to find it. Stealth was its specialty, after all. It was how he had escaped the detection of the Evolved Monsters.
The downside was that it had no value as an offensive maneuver. Once fused with them through Chaos magic, Jarok would be unable to attack or cast spells and it could only move from one shadow to another if they made contact.
Thanks to the setting sun, most of the forest was now enveloped in darkness. Jarok had lost any fighting spirit, its priority was to get away from Lith enough to have the time to Warp itself to safety.
The scales on Lith's face opened, revealing a mouth full of fangs. During the fight with Treius, he had understood why his throat felt weird while transformed and how to use it.
Lith breathed a jet of blue flames that set the closest patch of trees ablaze. Jarok couldn't afford to take a detour. Abominations had no vitals, their whole bodies were made of mana, which meant that with every spell they cast, with every wound they sustained they would grow weaker.
Using so many dimensional and Chaos spells was taking its toll. Jarok finally understood why Lith had laughed at its threats.
'That accursed Awakened must have noticed my energies dwindling after the first Howling Void. If only the Master had made me an Eldritch, I would never lose to a human.' Its train of thoughts derailed when it noticed that the blue flames wouldn't stop burning.
With its body invaded by the flames, all shadows would disappear as soon as Jarok came close. Lith understood the enemy's intentions and conjured a sphere of light that crushed all hopes the Abomination had of escaping.
Jarok had nothing to lose anymore. Its only wish was to not die alone.
Lith slashed with the Gatekeeper aiming for the head, the blade infused to the brim with darkness magic. Jarok willingly took the hit and managed to catch Lith unprepared.
Its two arms fused, forming a single blade with which the Abomination performed a riposte. As the Gatekeeper sliced Jarok in half, the shadow sword cut Lith's arm off at the shoulder level.
Yet not a single drop of blood was spilled. Black tendrils came out from both the arm and the shoulder, reconnecting them while the amputated limb was still in mid air. Jarok couldn't believe its own senses. Its dying mind refused to accept such an insane reality.
In a last ditch effort, it grabbed Lith's scaly shoulders and tried to suck away his vitality prolong its existence of an hour, a minute, or maybe just a second more. What it found was an unyielding hunger, that sucked Jarok's vitality as fast as the Abomination sucked Lith's.
Lith infused even more darkness inside the blade, wondering why the creature looked for affection during its final moments.
"What-what are you?" Jarok asked while its body slowly faded away.
Lith answered with a final burst of energy that turned the enemy into dust.
'Why did you shapeshift?' Solus asked.
'I don't know. It just felt right.' Was the only answer Lith could think of.
'Do you think this "Master" will get the message or will they bother my family again?'
'I think that they already got the message. That's why that thing tried to talk you into returning the crystal. Just like with the orcs, they can't afford to alert the Crown. Attacking your family would mean revealing their existence.' Solus replied.
Lith nodded and Warped home. The fight with Jarok had helped him to clear his mind and vent his rage. He was now able to look past his wounded pride and realize how lucky he was to be born into such a loving family.
'Maybe the third time really is the charm.' Lith thought.
'Speaking of charms, remember to call Kamila. You promised to do so once you reached home.' Solus pointed out.
'I promised nothing, she asked me to. Yet I would have done it anyway. After what I did to her, I owe her that much.'
"Where have you been? It's almost dinner time." Elina said as soon as Lith walked through the door. She was clearly worried about his earlier outburst, yet she pretended everything was fine.
"I'm sorry mom. I'm okay now." Lith hugged her tightly, hoping that one day he would be able to make her feel as special as she made him feel.
"Uncle!" "Big brother!" The kids yelled as one while tugging at his legs.
"You have to tell us a story!"
"Yes, he does!" To Lith's surprise, Rena joined them in their plea.
"The story of the Ranger's new clothes and the princess waiting for him in the north."
Chapter 420 Agenda Part 1
With Elina hugging him, the kids at his legs, and the whole family staring at him with an expectant gaze, not even Blink could save Lith from his predicament. He decided it was time to address the elephant in the room.
'Even if they do it in an annoying, nosy way, they are just looking out for me. There are so many things I keep hidden from them already. I'm not going to lie about something trivial like a fling.' Lith thought.
He had no need to explain to them how the Ranger system worked. Ever since he had expressed the intention of joining the military, his family members had performed thorough research about it.
If not for Soluspedia, they would know more about the army than Lith. He told them about the hidden village. To keep the story family-friendly, he changed the slavers into monsters and their victims into scared but healthy prisoners.
The kids enjoyed it while the adults shuddered. They knew that the more fable-like the story was, the more atrocities he was omitting. Then he explained how he met his handler, Kamila, and asked her out.
"I didn't buy new clothes because of her." Lith was adamant about it.
"Between the border warfare and the lost cities, the inhabitants of Belius are afraid of uniforms. I needed clothes, otherwise I would be an unwelcome guest in any establishment of the city."
"He said 'clothes' twice, so he bought more than a single set." Elina spoke like he wasn't even there.
"Yeah, also since when does he care what other people think? Not to mention that my son isn't the kind of man who would spend money just to be able to spend more on food. Not when he can get free meals at the canteen and sleep in the barracks."
Raaz shook his head. Lith's cover story was hard to believe.
Lith didn't know whether to be happy for how well they knew him or ashamed for being universally considered a cheapskate.
"Is she really a princess?" Leria asked full of curiosity. Having a King for an uncle was still among her childish dreams.
"Gods, no!" Lith shuddered at the idea. During his work as Assistant Professor he had met the Queen's daughters more than once. They were even less beautiful than Phloria and so stuck up that they were unbearable.
Lith would consider dating them only if they were the last women on Mogar.
"Is she pretty?" Aran asked.
Lith cupped his hands and conjured a 3D hologram of Kamila with light magic. It was a full-body image as big as a doll and in greyscale, representing her as she was dressed during their first date.
"She is to me. Kamila has a beautiful smile and seems to be a very caring woman."
"She is really cute. How old is she?" Rena was trying to make her tone sound as casual as possible. She even threw in a compliment before asking the only question those present really cared about.
"Twenty-six." The answer was welcomed with a barrage of snorts and sighs.
"Another one older than me! What do you have against girls your age?" Rena rolled her eyes, not even attempting to hide her displeasure.
"Nothing, besides them usually being shallow and childish." Lith replied with a snarl.
"I have to back him up on this." Tista's voice was sad. "All the mages I met were arrogant pricks, nobles are only interested in marriage, and commoners are terrified by us." She had summarized her whole love life in a single phrase.
Even after joining the Mage Association and having asked for Jirni's help, she never got past the first date.
"Besides, Lith is very mature and sophisticated for his age. He has even decided to travel the world to expand his horizons. Pressuring him like this is unfair. Love doesn't come with a deadline. This kind of things needs time."
No one missed that her heartfelt defense applied to her too.
"Another dud. A woman that age doesn't have the luxury of time." Elina sighed.
"Speaking of time, Jirni has invited us all to her birthday party. It would be really nice of you to attend." Her tone was casual, but Lith knew his mother enough to know how eager she was at the idea.
Even after Phloria and he broke up, their families had remained friends, especially their mothers. Friya and Quylla were among Tista's best friends, which kept the families even closer.
"I'll do my best to obtain leave for that day." The whole family rejoiced as Lith threw them a bone to get them off his back.
"Lil brother, after dinner I'd like to discuss magic with you." It was their code word for when Tista wanted to spend time with Solus or needed help with true magic.
"Sure. I need your advice too."
***
Gorgon Empire, in a secret location.
In an underground great hall, sitting around a humungous round table, were assembled most of the human Awakened ones living in the Garlen continent. Raagu, their current ruler and human representative in the Guiding Hand (AN: aka the governing body of all five races of Awakened ones) had urgent news to discuss.
Everyone was really curious to learn what could have possibly caused the assembly. Raagu was old enough to only have two cares in the world. Choosing a successor and searching for a way to prolong her life.
"Since I have no time to waste on niceties, I'll get straight to the point." She was a middle-aged woman that looked around fifty years old despite her real age being over five hundred years.
"There are only two items on our agenda. The first and more relevant is the murder of two Awakened members of our order." All those present gasped in surprise, fearing someone was hunting them down.
"Glamus and Treius Clein are no more." Two-thirds of the hall sighed in relief. Both the victims were from the Blood Desert, which made the issue irrelevant for them.
"How did it happen?" Asked a man that lived in the Desert, afraid he would be the next in line.
"Glamus was found guilty of being an accessory to breaking the peace treaties between the Griffon and the Phoenix. He has been executed by the latter. Treius was murdered during his attempt to merge with the Black Star." Raagu replied.
"What a couple of idiots." The man guffawed. All of his worries faded away like fog under the sun.
"The Clein's territory is now no man's land. Those of you interested in taking control of the area can raise their hand." Raagu ignored him and continued.
"I will not allow for senseless battles that could expose our existence. Everything will be settled here and now through a Spirit Duel."
Many wanted to seize the opportunity and hastily raised their arm, yet when they saw that none of the Awakened from the Blood Desert would take part in the competition, their greed turned into worry.
"Is there anything we should know?" A young-looking Awakened who lived in the Gorgon Empire asked one of her peers from the Desert. Before answering, the man stared at Raagu, who nodded.
"The Desert it's not like the Kingdom or the Empire." All those from the Desert sighed in embarrassment. "Overlord Salaark owns the land, literally. She grants us our territory in exchange for our services. The more you take, the more she is entitled to ask."
"What if you refuse her demands?" She asked.
The young man stared her in the eyes and said:
"How do you think I got a territory of my own at barely 200 years of age? The idiot before me got herself killed by the Overlord."
Chapter 421 Agenda Part 2
"It happened a few years ago." The man from the desert explained.
"Some Abominations had killed most of her Feathers (AN: Salaark's fake Awakened), the borders were overrun by invaders from all the neighboring countries, and she was on the hunt for the one staging the crisis. It was a real mess.
"The Overlord ordered Ruria, my predecessor, to cull the monster tribes during her absence. Ruria was over seven hundred years old and had a bright purple core. She believed that she was on the verge of another breakthrough."
"The fabled white core of immortality?" The woman from the Empire sniggered along with most of those present.
"That's a legend. No one has ever achieved it."
"Yeah, a legend. Like Awakened ones, Mage Towers, Dragons, and Elves. Yet…" He didn't finish the phrase, he simply waved at his peers.
"Anyway, Ruria was certain that with more life and death battles she could finally evolve. She defied Salaark and told her to shove those bullshit orders up her feathery ass, wishing her to enjoy the experience. And here I am."
"Wait. How did you get a territory without anyone challenging your claim? I'm sure this is the first assembly in decades."
"Because I didn't claim it, Salaark gave it to me. Back then, I was a wandering Awakened who had agreed to help her. She gave me Ruria's territory as a reward for my services. Not before taking most of Ruria's treasures and books for herself."
The man sighed at the memory. Salaark had left him the crumbs, yet even those were more than he had ever dreamt about. He couldn't even imagine how powerful the Guardian had to be to berate such knowledge to the point of gifting it away.
"This is unacceptable!" An old woman from the Kingdom yelled in outrage. "How can you bow down like sheep to a bloodthirsty tyrant? Why haven't we killed Salaark already?"
At those words, the hall fell into silence. Raagu looked at the woman like she was insane.
"Sure, we can beat her, but at what price? How many of us are willing to die in the attempt?" Not a single hand was raised.
"Let's suppose for a moment that we kill Salaark, that the other Guardians don't decide to avenge their fallen comrade. Then what? Who is willing to assume the duty of a Guardian? To prevent the chaos that would ensue after her death from triggering a war that could destroy all of our territories?"
Under the disgusted gaze of the other Awakened, the woman understood the foolishness of her words and lowered her gaze in embarrassment.
"If I ever hear such nonsense from you again, Xola, I'll think you've become senile and take you out myself. Enough wasting my time. Who's still interested in Clein's territory?"
Those who already had a territory in another country lowered their hands. They didn't want to become Salaark's underlings. Only the wandering Awakened remained. Even if they had to pay their due to Salaark, it was better than the alternative.
"Very good. Before proceeding with the Spirit Duel, the second item on the agenda. Treius Clein wasn't killed by Salaark, but by a seventeen years old Ranger. I suppose you have heard about Lith Verhen."
Raagu was discomforted noticing that only some of the Awakened from the Kingdom recognized the name. She distributed pieces of papers with all of his known achievements.
"He must be an Awakened too." Said Xola trying to regain a part of her credibility. "Treius was a lazy idiot, barely twenty years old, but Glamus Awakened him when he was still a kid and provided him with his best equipment.
"A street urchin Awakened like Nalear managed to kill Linjos, one of the best mages of the Kingdom. I can't believe a Ranger still wet behind his ears could defeat Treius with fake magic."
"Agreed." Raagu nodded.
"Fine, but who cares?" Said the young woman from the Kingdom.
"He's playing by the rules, pretending to be a 'genius' and minding his own business. Heck, we should send him a thank you card for getting rid of the Black Star." Many agreed with her.
"You are all idiots. It's no surprise many of you are stuck at a blue core even after centuries." Raagu stared at them like they were trash.
"I just told you that a twenty year old Awakened, backed by one of the most powerful men of the Desert and with a bright cyan core has been defeated by someone even younger with no background. How can your answer be 'who cares'?"
The revelation amazed most of the younger Awakened, while the others were simply interested enough to be relieved of their boredom.
***
Gorgon Empire, In Magic Empress Milea's throne room.
After months spent wandering the Garlen continent, Scarlett the Scorpicore was fed up with failing at everything and had decided to ask for Leegaain's help. The problem was she had no way of contacting him.
The rune of his communication amulet had been offline for weeks, forcing her to meet him in person. Luckily, Milea knew about Scarlett and her most notable aliases, so getting an audience with the fabled Magic Empress hadn't been too hard.
"Good morning, your Majesty. Thank you for receiving me with such short notice." Scarlett's human form gave her a deep bow. She looked like a woman adventurer in her thirties. Her ashen gold hair had red shades and she wore a gold rimmed pince-nez on her nose.
Unlike the Guardians, she had chosen an inconspicuous human form for her travels. She could barely stand humans as it was, she had no desire to have flocks of admirers pestering her.
"Any friend of Leegaain is also my friend. It's an honor to meet one of the Lords of the forest." Milea allowed Scarlett to stand up and shook her hand.
"I relinquished that title. Now I'm simply the first of my kind." Scarlett didn't like the idea of being called "the Mother of all Scorpicores". She found it pretentious and it made her feel old.
"What can I do for you?" Milea asked.
"Thank you, but I just need to talk with the old lizard."
"Coming here was the right move. He's been very busy of late. Without a mind link, it's impossible to reach him." Milea closed her eyes for a second and a humanoid Warped next to her.
"Scar, you haven't changed at all." Leegaain said with a disappointed voice.
He had the appearance of a lean albino man, 1,75 meters (5'9"), with snow white hair and skin. His eyes were purple with vertical pupils. He was wearing a lab coat over a set of pitch black clothes.
"It's nice to see you too." Scarlett replied with an inhuman growl.
"Since we are both busy, I'll get straight to the point . After Salaark saved Balkor, and Linjos's death, I've decided to step up my game and become a Guardian." After failing to avenge her comrades, losing her only human friend had been the last straw.
"Yet no matter what I do, ever since I fought your feathery lady friend in the desert, no world tribulation has occurred. I left my forest because I knew that a quiet life also meant no challenges and no tribulations."
Chapter 422 Present Part 1
"I've slain countless Fallen, righted several injustices, helped those in need, but to no avail. To add insult to the injury, my core is still blue. For the gods' sake, I'm over 300 years old. What am I doing wrong?" She said looking at Milea with envy.
The Empress was in her early thirties, yet she already had a deep purple core and a body powerful enough to fight on par with an Evolved Monster.
'I wonder how the heck did he did it.' Scarlett pondered. 'It's too bad not even my artifact can see through a Guardian. I always wondered what kind of core they have.'
A wave of Leegaain's hand made two armchairs appear, one for himself and the other for his guest.
"Excellent question. The short answer is: everything. If you want the long one, you'd better sit down. It will take a while."
Scarlett rolled her eyes and prayed for a swift death before doing as instructed.
To Scarlett, Leegaain asked: "First of all, since when were you a hero? Why would helping others trigger a tribulation?"
"Tyris explained to me how tribulations work. The last one happened while I was seeking justice for my friends, so I thought that what Mogar wants from me is to do the right thing." She replied.
"That's absurd! What happened to Balkor was an injustice, yet he never experienced a tribulation. When the anomaly fought Nalear he did the right thing, but again, no tribulation.
"They happen when something deeply rooted inside of you resonates with what Mogar wants. Mogar couldn't care less about right or wrong, fair or unfair. The only right thing you did was to leave your turf. Without hardships there's no growth."
"Then tell me. What does Mogar want from me?" The idea of having wasted months of hard work frustrated her to no end.
"If I tell you, having a tribulation will become nigh impossible. Once you know, you would do the right things for the wrong reason: getting your prize. I suffered seeing Mogar's wonders disappear and so did Mogar. That's how I became a Guardian.
"If I started hoarding knowledge and creatures just to please the world, there would be no resonance between us. The feeling must be sincere, not cynical."
"Okay, fine! What about the blue core? Why am I stuck?" She snarled.
"A blue core is the natural apex for most bodies. Very few can host a purple core because the mind, body, and mana must be in perfect synch. Up to the blue core, you only need to refine your body and lower the resistance it offers to the mana flow by removing impurities.
"A purple core, however, requires that even the mind must not be a hindrance. Using magic must become akin to breathing to you. Moving a finger or casting a spell should require you the same focus.
"Humans have a hard time getting a purple core because of their flimsy bodies, beasts because of their powerful bodies. We naturally tend to be reliant on brute strength just like humans use magic even to wipe their own asses."
"So, it's just a matter of practice? Because I have studied magic for centuries!" Scarlett was still confused.
"Not of practice, but of understanding the nature of magic. You make it flow instead of letting it flow." Leegaain shook his head.
"Okay, I give up. Can you help me like you did for her?" She pointed at Milea.
"I could, but that could hinder your path to Guardianhood. You would learn my way of using magic instead of discovering yours. It could alter the way you perceive yourself and the world."
"What about the humans?" Frustration was driving her insane.
"I've met a crazy head at the White Griffon with a purple core. How is it possible?"
"Some creatures are born with a perfect mana body and a twisted mind. Only such individuals if incredibly lucky can host a purple core, yet it comes at a cost. In their case, the impurities left are a safeguard. If they Awaken, they die because their bodies are synched to a static mana, not to a flowing one."
"Any advice?" Scarlett stood up. The whole visit had felt like a waste of time to her.
"Yes, one. Open yourself to the world. Laugh, cry, fall in love, hate, whatever you do, do it from the depths of your heart. Being a Guardian requires staying true to oneself.
"As for the core issue, just stop thinking of magic as if it's not part of you. Every spell you cast, every item you forgemaster, it defines you. Just like the words you say or the decisions you make." Leegaain stood up while offering her his hand.
"I always admired you for never forcing an Awakening, not even for your friends. I don't know if you'll ever become a Guardian, but I'm certain that you'll get a purple core in no time."
"Thanks for your wisdom." Scarlett said while smiling for the first time in months.
***
Trawn Woods, inside Solus's tower form.
After dinner, Lith and Tista had left home for the mana geyser that would allow Solus to take part in their conversation. Once inside, Lith told his sister the truth about Kaduria and his fight against the unknown Awakened one.
Then, he told her about his encounter with the Empowered Abomination.
"That thing wanted my crystal. The rest of the family is safe here in Lutia, but once you leave, you may become a target. This Master could try to get you to force my hand." Lith said.
"Are you telling me to stay cooped up home?" Tista was mildly annoyed.
"No, just to be careful. Remember what I taught you about Abominations and keep your eyes open for black cores. If you're in danger, run." Lith was done protecting his sister from the truth. She was old and powerful enough to make her own choices.
"Thank you, lil brother! I'm glad you trust me so much." Tista had feared Lith would give her a paranoid speech to change her mind about her trip.
"You're welcome. Now, I need your advice." Once he had finished telling her about his first date and the blunder he made after being conferred Great Mage, Tista didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
"The good news is that she definitely likes you. Otherwise instead of asking you to call her, she would have canceled the date. The bad news is that if you don't handle things carefully, she'll expect a betrothal gift from you."
"I know, right?" Solus chimed in. "I told him to give her a nice present, but Lith's idea is insane."
"Hear me out before calling me crazy." Lith sighed. "I can't give her a dimensional ring because it's too expensive, right?" The simplest of Lith's creations was worth several gold coins, while military officers were paid in silver.
"At the same time, since I don't know what she likes, flowers or sweets would be impersonal and unimaginative."
"Don't forget cheap." Tista pointed out.
"Fine! Cheap too. II don't want to show off nor do I want to screw up again, so I thought about a compromise."
Lith walked towards his forgemastering lab and disappeared for a couple of minutes before returning with what looked like a green breadstick.
Chapter 423 Present Part 2
The moment Lith imprinted the green stick, a flower made of flames bloomed from its tip. Tista had never seen something like it, mostly because it was a reproduction down to the smallest detail of a double-flowered camellia japonica from Earth.
With a series of mana sparks, Lith made it turn snow white, ice blue, midnight black, sunny yellow, chestnut brown, and red again.
"It's the perfect compromise." Lith offered the flower to Tista to let her examine it.
"It's almost as cheap as a flower but has the cool allure of magic." On Mogar there were no greenhouses. The only available flowers were the wild ones or those which people grew in their own garden.
Only nobles could afford a gardener, and even then, they only cultivated plants that could thrive in their region. It was the reason why flowers were considered a cheap present.
With the money necessary to buy dimensional items or get access to Warp Gates, it would be more convenient to buy a house rather than export plants.
"Also, I used very chea- I mean, I chose materials that can't hold the imprint for long. In less than a week, the magic stored will dissipate and I made it so that the visual effect will resemble the withering of a flower.
"This way, she has to tend to it like it's the real deal. The idea behind my creation is that if she likes it, every time she recharges it or changes the element stored…"
"She is likely to think about you!" Tista cut him short while moving her hand over the fiery flower. It was ethereal and barely warm.
"Do you like it?" Lith asked with a smug grin.
"This is the most romantic thing I have ever seen! What is it called?"
"Camellia." Lith had no imagination for names, so he stuck with the original one.
"You named it after her? You've know her for less than a week."
'More like I picked a flower that reminded me of her name.' He thought.
"First, if you give her something like this, you might as well add a betrothal gift. This is too much for a second date. Heck, maybe even for a tenth one." Tista stared in awe at the multiple layers of petals and the hues of color each one had.
"I said the same thing, but he is too damn stubborn." Solus sighed.
"Second, I resent that you've never made something this cute for Mom, Rena, or I. Yet you invented this camellia for a complete stranger!" Tista said with an angry voice.
Those words struck hard at Lith, to the point that Solus intervened in outrage.
"That's really unfair of you, Tista. You are the reason why Lith became a healer in the first place. He took care of you when you were ill, gave you the best cuts of meat even if he was still hungry, made sure you always had fur clothes.
"Have you forgotten the toys he made for you? Like the rocking chair? (AN: it was actually a swing. See early chaps) Or that the house you live in, just like the clothes you wear all come from his hard work? He did a lot for you, kid."
Tista lowered her gaze feeling ashamed of herself. Her rage disappeared like a bubble.
"I'm sorry, lil brother. I didn't mean it that way. I guess I'm just jealous of your talent and of Kamila's luck. I've never received anything like this from any of my dates. It's beautiful. Maybe even too much."
"Why are you jealous? It's just a trick." Lith said trying to console her as five different kinds of elemental flowers bloomed on his fingertips while a sixth one bloomed on his palm.
"It may be just a trick, but the thought behind it is quite deep. I wouldn't give it to her so soon." She tried to mimic him, but her flowers either looked like crumpled origami or as someone had stomped on them.
"I've been Awakened since I was four, it's just a matter of experience with first magic." He shrugged. "Okay, let's put the camellia aside. Then what the heck should I give her?"
"I guess you are forced to go with flowers. Everything else would feel like you're showing off your magic or trying too hard. She is from Belius. Based on your stories, there isn't much green there. Bringing her a mixed bouquet is the safest route." Tista replied.
Lith pondered Tista's words while the girls talked about their respective travel plans. He left them alone and went to study the purple crystal stored in the tower basement. The Empowered Abomination's attempt to retrieve it was proof of the crystal's value.
He tried to activate the pathways marked by the Master's device with little success.
The crystal rejected Lith's personal mana even in the form of spirit magic. The only way he had to interact with it was by manipulating the world energy as the gemstone absorbed it to further its growth.
It was a delicate process. If Lith applied too much pressure, the world energy would be tainted by his mana and expelled from the crystal. Too little and it would wander off the pathways producing no effect.
"Good grief. This may take months of focused practice. I don't have that much time, at least not right now." Lith sighed.
After returning home, he finally had the time and the privacy necessary to make the call. Once again, Kamila had the hologram disabled. Lith took it as a bad sign.
"Sorry for calling you this late. I didn't want to bother you again while you were at work." He said.
"Why are you apologizing? I'm the one who asked you to call me." She didn't sound upset or uncomfortable.
"Is everything okay at home? How did your parents react to the news, oh great one?" Kamila chuckled.
"Better than okay. Everyone is happy as a clam. They accepted the change much better than I did. Sorry if I freaked you out earlier. With all I've been through in my life, I've become a hopeless pessimist. The higher a commoner gets, the bigger a target he becomes."
"Sadly, I know what you mean. Let's not talk about sad things, though. I was thinking, would you like to go to a music restaurant for our second date or would you prefer a more classic location?"
'She brought up the date topic on her own. I'm safe!' Lith clenched his fist in triumph.
"What's a music restaurant?"
"It's a new kind of establishment that's becoming quite popular in the north. They offer live music to their customers. The brave ones can even take part in the show. It's more expensive than a regular restaurant, because they have to be magically sound proofed and enchanted so that everyone can talk and listen without going deaf."
'Told you so!' Solus gloated. 'She recognized you from the receptionist's description, my dear Ebenezer Scrooge.'
Lith cursed Xilo's bloodline out to the seventh generation before replying.
"Sounds interesting, I'd be glad to give it a try. My treat this time. I'm the one that got promoted."
"Still daring even after the Hogese fiasco? Sweet." The hologram popped up. Kamila was dressed normally, but she was dabbing her hair with a bath towel. The steam in the background was a clear sign she had just finished bathing.
That and the way her shirt stuck to her body like a second skin made Lith's usually cold heart quicken its pace.
Chapter 424 Date Part 1
The following morning, Lieutenant Kamila Yehval was fixing her hair in a bun before going to work, when she received a call on her communication amulet.
'I hope it's not Lith again. Last night we ended up talking until it was really late. I don't like clingy guys much.' The smile on her face disappeared as soon as she saw whose rune was blinking.
"Has something happened to Zinya? Is she all right?"
"Good morning to you too, dear. Your sister is fine. Can't a mother just want to hear from her daughter?" The voice was sweet and caring as Kamila remembered it. Yet she knew it was just a pretense.
After she had escaped from the marriage her family had arranged for her by joining the army, Kamila had cut all ties with them. The last time she had heard from her mother, Kima, was when she had been promoted to the rank of First Lieutenant.
Kima had aimed to exploit her daughter's authority to solve some problems with the local constables. The family hadn't taken her refusal well. The only reason they had exchanged contact runes was that Kamila was worried about her sister.
Zinya's husband wasn't a bad man, but he was cold and uncaring toward her. Their marriage was just a business deal. He considered her nothing more than a trophy wife.
"What do you want this time, mother?" Kamila's voice was cold and detached, but her hands started shaking. She stung her hand with the hairpin a few times before giving up on her hair until the call was over.
"We haven't talked in months. Can't you call me 'mom' at least?"
"What do you want this time, Kima?" Her voice became even colder while stressing her mother's first name.
"Nothing. I just heard that there is this mage courting you and I was worried about you. You know how those monsters are. They think that they can take whatever they want because of their powers. It's awful like some people treat others like objects."
'People like you.' Kamila thought with anger.
"Don't worry, he's very kind. I'm sorry, but I'm late for work. If there's nothing else…" She said trying to end the conversation quickly.
"Oh, my sweet child, you're so naïve. Of course he is kind. He has yet to get what he wants. Despite your age, you are still a beautiful woman. You need to play your cards right."
Kima's allegations of Kamila being dumb and old made her unable to talk back. Kima took her daughter's silence as her cue to continue.
"Young men are hot headed enough to do anything to reach their goals. If you really want to waste your time with someone who will surely dump you for a younger and richer girl, you could at least get something in return.
"A few dimensional items could be of great help for the family business. They would not only allow us to cut transportation fee expenses, but would also prevent our most delicate products from being stolen or damaged. You just…"
"You are dead to me." Kamila cut her short. "When you fail, because you will, don't knock on my door because it will remain shut. You are no longer part of this family. These are the words with which father decided to part ways with me."
"He didn't mean…"
"He sure did, just like you kindly reminded me when I refused to endanger my career to fix your mess. I'm not part of your family and I'm happier this way. Unless something happens to Zinya, don't call me ever again."
She hung up the call and noticed that her favorite hairpin was ruined. Her hand was still clenched around it so hard that it was trembling. The thin metal pin was bent and deformed. Kamila threw it in the garbage bin before taking a deep breath to calm herself.
"They may be your parents, but they are not your family." She said to herself at the mirror. "You didn't let them ruin your life, do not let them ruin your day either."
Kamila fixed her bun with the second best hairpin she had and left for work.
***
Returning to Belius proved to be annoying for Lith. Not only did he had to Warp around to get a decent number of flowers for the mixed bouquet, but he also had to take everything out of his pocket dimension before the customs.
Belius's arrays blocked dimensional magic, which meant he had to carry everything by hand.
'I feel like an idiot walking with flowers in one hand and a box of sweets in the other one.' Lith thought.
'Why did you put the camellia in the middle of the bouquet?' Solus asked.
'Because it's either my back up plan in case I screw something up or my forget-me-not if everything goes well.'
Lith arrived early at the appointed place to scout it and check the menu. This time he managed to avoid making faces, yet the head waiter admonished him.
"I'm sorry, sir, but it's not allowed to bring food inside the restaurant." His words and his face didn't match. He looked annoyed, staring at Lith's foreign features with ill concealed spite.
"Look, I would gladly put everything inside my dimensional amulet. Too bad it doesn't work in here." Lith didn't like the man's attitude and was quickly running out of patience.
"Do you really own one?" The man's demeanor turned amiable abruptly. Dimensional items were the mark of big spenders.
"More than one actually." Lith smiled while his Skinwalker armor shapeshifted into his Ranger uniform. "I'm Great Mage and Ranger Lith Verhen. I would really appreciate if you kept the box in a safe place for me."
He said the last part with a snarl, to make it sound threatening. Yet the man didn't seem to notice. His full attention was focused on the badge confirming Lith's identity and the newly appointed Great Mage insignia below it.
"It's an honor to have the destroyer of Kaduria in our establishment!" The head waiter took the box of sweets from Lith's hands like it was a jewel and carried it over to the kitchen.
"Would you like to change your table? One of those near the bandstand just opened up."
"Can you please repeat the offer once my date arrives? Make it sound casual." Lith nodded as his uniform turned into a black suit with a white shirt.
"Of course!" The man said while looking at Lith like he was a huge sack of gold.
Lith tipped the man a few silver pieces as a thank you and to make sure nothing would happen to his stuff. His heart bled one drop for each coin, yet he soldiered up.
Kamila arrived earlier again, wearing a long coat over a red silk shirt and black pants. "Thank you so much! I've never seen so many different flowers at once." She sniffed them one by one.
The head waiter checked the reservation before asking Kamila if she wanted to switch tables.
"Does it cost extra?" She looked at Lith, who became beet red from the embarrassment.
"We'll take it, thanks!"
The head waiter led them to one of the best tables in the room.
Chapter 425 Date Part 2
It was close enough to the stage to watch the performance, but also with more free space around it compared to most seats.
Realizing her blunder, Kamila laughed the whole way while holding the bouquet.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to be rude. Where should I put these flowers?"
Before she finished the phrase, a waiter brought a vase while another carried a third chair so the bouquet could spread its fragrance without standing between them. Kamila didn't miss how the staff was too friendly and the table too good for two new customers.
Her mother's words started echoing in her mind and made her face turn glum.
"Be honest. Do I really look like a mortician?" Lith mistook her expression for disapproval and cursed at himself for not following his sister's advice about dressing in light colors.
"What? No. It looks good on you, but in your shoes, I would take off the jacket. You are a little overdressed." She said while smiling again at the odd question.
"How was your day?" Lith asked after noticing that something was off.
"It started pretty bad, but it's getting better. What about you?"
"So far so good. At least today nobody tried to kill me." He said with a sigh while a waiter brought them the menus.
"Today? What about yesterday?" Lith told her about the Abomination in the Trawn woods using the same tone with which he placed their order.
"How can you be so calm? You almost died twice in as many days."
"I told you before. My life is pretty crazy. If you read my personal file, you know in what kind of mess you're getting yourself into." He said with a sad smile as the band started playing what he considered nothing more than rhythmic noise.
"As you always say, let's not talk about sad stuff. What do you think about the music?"
"They are good." Lith's shocked expression at her answer made her laugh heartily. "Why that face? Don't you like it?"
"Not much. The sound is good, but it has no soul."
When their plates arrived, they started talking about their respective plans for the future. Kamila's goal was to rise up the army ranks. Becoming a Colonel was her dream, but she knew that unless she achieved something big it would come too late in her life to matter.
"If life was a fairy tale, I'd say I want to become the first magicless General of the Kingdom. Sadly, the rank of Colonel is the ceiling, even for geniuses."
Lith didn't know how to answer. He had no big dreams or ambitions aside getting rid of his reincarnation problem. He longed for power and money, but only because they were the means to an end.
He would do anything to achieve his goal, yet he had never stopped considering what he would do if he ever managed to make it.
"I'd like to teach in an Academy." Was all he could think about. "First, there's something I need to do, though. It's the reason I became a Ranger. I need the army to obtain the means to cure a dear friend of mine."
Kamila didn't buy the 'friend' part for a second, but she didn't press the matter any further. Meanwhile, the band was offering the customers the opportunity to take part in the performance.
"Why don't you go up there and show them how it's done?" She said it as a joke.
"As long as you promise me that whatever you hear and see, you will not laugh at me." He replied taking her by surprise and extending his hand to her.
"Deal."
Lith stepped on the stand among some mild applause and took the Mogar's equivalent of a Spanish guitar from the hands of a musician. He asked the band to not accompany him and then he started playing.
Or better, he started cheating. Lith didn't know how to sing or play, but he had learned from magical beasts how to use air magic to reproduce whatever sound he wanted.
It took him his full focus to perform a slightly modified version of "The Noise of Silence" by Shimon and Carbuncle. It was one of his favorite songs from Earth. It required only a guitar to be played and it felt like it talked about him.
He didn't look at Kamila not even once. He was too busy trying to pluck random strings while following the rhythm. When he finished, the lead of the band shook Lith's hand and whispered:
"Hope your lady friend doesn't play any instrument because whatever you did, you didn't get a single string right. Good luck."
"I don't need luck." Lith replied before going back to his table.
"Did you like it?" He asked with an expectant look.
"It's beautiful but very sad. I would have never taken you for a poet and a musician." Her eyes were a little watery, she felt like the song talked about her too.
"I'm neither. Someone else wrote the lyrics." Lith chuckled and then explained to her the trick behind his performance.
"Well, you've got some nerve." She couldn't help but laugh seeing how people had fallen for his deception and looked at Lith with admiration.
"There's one thing I don't understand. Why go through all this trouble and then tell me the truth about it?" No matter how flashy a magic trick was, once its secret was exposed it would lose its luster.
"Because I wanted to impress you." He replied with a warm smile. "Magic it's not only about exploding stuff or healing people. The beauty of Mogar is that magic is everywhere. It plays a big part in my life. In a way, it defines who I am.
"That's what I mean when I say that I wanted to impress you. Not through music or rhymes, that's not me. I'm a mage, hence I used magic to share something I like. As for the truth, I learned from experience that starting a relationship on a lie never works."
They spent the rest of their dinner chatting, but this time Kamila called for the check the moment they were done eating. Lith took the box of sweets while she carried the flowers and accompanied her to the nearest Warp Gate.
She fiddled with the control panel for so long that Lith started to fear she was too drunk to remember her own address.
'Weird. We drank even less than the last time.' He thought.
"It's still early. Would you like to come to my place for a cup of tea and a snack?" She asked while pointing at the box.
"I would love to." Lith replied a bit too fast, realizing she was completely sober.
Kamila's house was a two room flat. The kitchen and the living room shared the same space. There were only two closed doors, which were likely to lead to the bathroom and the bedroom.
"Do you mind preparing the tea while I find a place for the flowers, oh great one? Everything you need is on sight."
Lith filled the teapot with water and put it on the stove. Everything worked with magic crystals, making it akin to a modern kitchen.
"Do you like your tea strong or light?" Lith asked while picking the amount of leaves and mint.
"Both are fine." She replied.
Lith turned around, discovering that she was standing right behind him. The first three buttons of her shirt were undone, revealing a fair amount of her bosom.
'That's at least a C cup…'
The moment Lith raised his eyes to meet Kamila's, she took him in her arms. One hand behind his head and the other on his neck, she forced Lith to bend down and kissed him. Softly at first, like a schoolgirl at her first, clumsy attempt.
He didn't let her go, drawing her closer to him while she kissed him with growing passion until she clung to him as a lifeboat in the storm her life was. His mouth managed to part her frenzied lips at the first attempt, sending tremors along both their bodies.
And then, as suddenly as it had begun, she pulled away from him.
"Wait." Kamila said with a quivering voice.
"Too fast?" Lith asked without bothering to hide his disappointment.
"The bedroom is that way." She pointed at the second closed door as her legs wrapped around his waist, bringing their faces at the same level before starting to kiss Lith again.
Chapter 426 Departure Part 1
After several hours of recreational activities, Kamila fell asleep as soon as they started cuddling. By checking his watch, Lith noticed there was not enough time to reset Invigoration's effects. Besides, he had already slept the night before, so he was still at his peak condition.
He used Accumulation to further refine his core while staring at Kamila's sleeping face. Somehow, she kept grinning even while unconscious. Lith chuckled at the sight. Just like air magic allowed him to cheat at singing, light magic had done its part during the night.
Thanks to Invigoration and some custom made spells, he had an easy time discovering his partner's most sensitive zones, when to stimulate them, and how delicate or not he had to be to achieve the maximum effect.
He kept caressing her head while checking the room with Life Vision. Lith didn't feel comfortable in an alien environment and his paranoia demanded its due. Aside from the lights and Kamila's communication amulet, there was nothing magical in the whole room.
A couple of hours later, he felt her moving.
"Good morning, gorgeous." Lith said while leaning forward for a kiss.
"Good morning, handsome." She replied with a soft, sleepy kiss as she pulled him closer.
"I hope I didn't wake you up." He said while checking at the clock still floating at the corner of his eye.
"Nah, it's because for some reason my face hurts."
"Seems someone had too much fun and smiled even in her sleep." Lith used light magic to give her muscles relief from the stress and injected her a bit of life force.
At those words, Kamila blushed violently.
"Did I?" she pulled the sheets to cover her chest and revealed Lith's in doing so.
"Indeed. I was wondering, since we have the time, may I ask for an encore?" After his performance in the restaurant, the musical reference made her giggle.
"How could I say no to such romantic words?" She was already enjoying the scenery and her body felt oddly full of energy despite the lack of sleep.
"Wait." Lith said before things got too heated and words had no place anymore in the room.
"Just for academic purposes, I'd like to know what was the turning point that led to our current situation. Was it the flowers? The suit? The song? My speech about magic?" The events had escalated quickly.
Lith was both curious and confused about what he had done to hit the jackpot.
"All the above was very cute, but nothing more." She said with a ravenous smile.
'Just cute? All that effort for a frigging cute?' Lith thought but didn't dare to say, afraid to ruin the mood.
"It was the part about starting a relationship with a lie." She was tired of talking and started kissing him with a quick gradation of intensity.
"Honesty, then?" It didn't make much sense, but at least he could understand it.
"No, silly." She giggled so hard that she was forced to stop. "You calling what we had 'starting a relationship'. It made me understand how seriously you are taking our story."
"That's it?" Lith blurted out. "Seriously, what the actual f…" Lith never got to finish the phrase as Kamila pushed him down the bed and shut him up for good.
***
After that, there was barely enough time for a quick shower and breakfast. Lith employed magic to prepare the hot water for the tea in an instant and heated the pastries to make them regain a part of their fragrance.
Out of habit, he even cleaned and washed the whole place.
Kamila came out of the still steaming bathroom fully dressed while dabbing her long black hair with a bath towel. It had taken her less than five minutes, so she remained dumbstruck in seeing the pristine room and the steaming breakfast.
"How did you…"
"Magic." He cut her short while removing the excess water from her hair with a flick of his wrist.
"I could definitely get used to it." She mumbled out loud.
They ate in silence, until Lith took a deep breath and then another one.
"Please, don't take this the wrong way, but there's something I have to tell you."
Kamila felt the ground splitting below her feet. Her mother's words echoed again in her mind. She could almost hear Kima laughing at her stupidity.
'I knew it was too good to be true. Maybe he has already a wife or a fiancée waiting for him at home. Or maybe he just wants to dump me now that he has got what he wanted.'
"Yes?" She said while forcing herself to smile while fighting an insistent tear that wanted to be shed at all costs.
"I don't know when I'll get the next leave and I still don't know you or what you really like." Lith took out the green stem from the middle of the bouquet.
"So, instead of buying something that would just be a waste of space, I made this for you. You know, to share a part of me with you and give you something to remember me by until our next date."
Kamila took it from his hands, her smile turned sincere. It was the cheapest, ugliest present she had ever seen, but it was much better than what she had feared.
"It's beautiful." She said with a dazzling smile that left Lith flabbergasted.
"No, not yet." He blurted out in a stupor. "I was saying, don't take it the wrong way. I'm not trying to be clingy or to show off. It's just something I made for you. No strings attached."
Now it was Kamila's turn to be confused. That twisted, badly hammered green piece of metal could hardly be considered showing off.
"Imprint it, please." He said with a chuckle as he watched her dumbfounded expression.
Kamila put a bit of her mana into the stem and a red camellia made of flickering flames bloomed from its tip.
"It's beautiful." She repeated. This time it wasn't just the relief talking.
"Yes, now it is." He explained to Kamila how it worked and how to keep it alive before putting it back into the vase. Much to her surprise, the small flames didn't affect the other flowers.
"How is it called?" She asked while clinging tight to him, wishing for that moment to never end.
"It's still a work in progress." He hastily replied.
'I'm not so dumb to tell her that it's named after her. It's too early for that. I already feel we're rushing things a bit.' Lith thought and Solus approved.
'It's the best way to downplay it. Still, you suck with words.' She sighed.
'You almost made her cry, just like you did with Phloria every time you pulled out your "we need to talk" speech.'
Lith had many objections to raise in the matter, but Kamila interrupted them by hugging him tightly while burying her head in his chest.
"Thank you. It's a wonderful present." This time she was fighting to hold back tears of joy. Kamila didn't want to turn their goodbye into a sad memory.
"I- I don't know what to say besides that it makes me happy."
Lith returned her embrace and they remained like that until the tyrannical nature of time turned two people who were sharing a moment together into two soldiers with a duty to uphold.
Chapter 427 Departure Part 2
Returning to Kaduria didn't take long. During his travels, Lith had made sure to memorize landmarks at fixed intervals. They allowed him to use Warp Steps to cross dozens of miles in the blink of an eye.
It required a huge expenditure of mana, but nothing that a single use of Invigoration couldn't fix. While using his breathing technique, Lith noticed how despite the ruins of the lost city were exactly as he left them, they felt different.
Brigadier General Vorgh had deactivated the barrier, letting the world energy flow through the land again. There was still no grass, not even insects or small animals had come to reclaim Kaduria.
Yet by looking at the debris, Lith felt a sense of peace spreading through his being. Like he had healed an ugly scar that had disfigured that place for too long.
He took out his army communicator and called his handler.
"Ranger Verhen reporting to base. I'm back to Kaduria already. I'll rest a bit and then I'll resume my travel toward the south. I'm heading to the city of Othre."
"Copy that." No hologram appeared and Kamila's voice was detached and professional. Some of her colleagues thought that things had already gone sour between them.
"Keep the channel open while I mark your position." She said while the amulet emitted a few pings.
"We're done. Your next report is due to noon unless something relevant happens. Over and out."
Lith took off immediately, reaching an altitude that allowed him to scout for miles in every direction. His first days of travels were quiet and boring. Every time he noticed living beings thanks to Life Vision, he had to check them for tribes of Fallen monsters.
The province was still barren because of the long term effects of the Black Star, but the further he got from Kaduria, the more natural resources were available. Enough for a small group of any Fallen race to increase their numbers and become a threat.
Most of his sightings were just animals, wandering humans, or magical beasts. The wanderers were often just lunatics. People who had lost everything and had no place to return to.
They would yell at Lith's arrival demanding to be left alone before he could even offer them assistance. Sometimes he met caravans of merchants that had lost their way after being attacked by bandits or monsters. In such case Lith would point them the way and hunt them down their attackers.
Without mages protecting them, humans and monsters were just lambs led to a slaughterhouse. Lith would kill the monsters with a snap of his fingers. As for the humans, he would stalk them for a while to make sure they weren't part of a larger group or to find their hideout.
Organized crime was a weed that the Kingdom had no tolerance for. Between the sightings and his investigations, Lith's traveling speed slowed down significantly. Mana geysers were scarce, forcing him to sleep on trees or not sleep at all.
'Dammit! Now I understand why a Ranger is forced to change their duty after every tour. This job is as boring as dangerous.' Lith thought during his fourth day of travel, while he was eating his lunch in a patch of woods.
He had underestimated his job and was now paying the consequences for it. Without mana geysers, Solus was just a voice in his head. He had lots of good food with him, but it brought him no solace.
He had to constantly stay alert. Both his training and paranoia made him eat everything so fast he could barely taste his meals. Until that moment, he had always had a roof above his head, a table where to sit down, and people around him.
People he might've despised or not cared about, but joining or avoiding them had always been his own choice. Now there was only silence and isolation. He was tempted to ignore his duty and rush to the nearest city.
He started to hope meeting monsters just to break the monotony of his existence.
'Even without a mana geyser, I can still give you a place where to rest.' Solus offered at the end of the fifth day as the sun was setting.
'Thanks, but the thought that every second I sleep you are literally bleeding your core for me would give me the nightmares.' He replied.
Lith treasured every moment he spent speaking with his family and with Kamila on his civilian amulet. They were his only link to a semblance of a normal life. Whenever one of their contact runes lighted up, he would soar up in the sky, making it impossible to take him by surprise.
Any flying creature dumb or unlucky enough to disturb their conversations would be dealt with extreme prejudice. Be them flying monsters or migratory birds, they would all be turned into mincemeat before they could even get close to him.
Seven days after he left Belius, he was finally able to reach the city of Othre.
'Damn, I would have never thought that chasing small fries would take this long. The presence of Kaduria kept everything at large, otherwise I would have never reached it that fast. Seven days and not a single mana geyser, just my luck.'
He thought while approaching the city's high walls.
'Come on, it was just one long, hellish week with no bathroom and no sleep.' Solus chuckled. 'The good news is we are once again early on schedule. You may get another leave and visit the city with your new girlfriend. What could possibly go wrong?'
***
Free country of Lamarth. Beyond the eastern borders of the Gorgon Empire.
Four years had passed since the destruction of the Master's lab located under the Blood Desert. Losing so much equipment and specimens had been a major setback, but at the same time a blessing in disguise.
Unbeknownst to the Guardians, even to Leegaain, one of the arrays had spied the events occurred during the attack, allowing the Master to collect a massive amount of information about how the Guardian could call upon the world energy and to witness the fight between Salaark and their most powerful Eldritch Abomination.
The data collected had finally revealed to the Master a glimpse of the Guardian's true nature. It was the reason why he had sent Gremus, the Rock Worm, to study and collect the orc's purple crystal.
With it the Master would become able to conjure an manipulate the world energy just like the Guardian did, gaining access to an unlimited source of power for both their experiments and minions.
Unluckily, after that stroke of luck, everything had gone south. All the information about Arthan's Madness had become unavailable, even for those with the highest clearance. With the death of Gadorf the wyvern, they had lost one of their main source of income.
Thanks to Balkor, the Guardians had researched a way to more easily find Eldritch Abominations and were using them to track the Master's activities, forcing them to move with even more caution and use their most powerful servants only when strictly necessary.
These events combined had stuck their research in a dead end. To add insult to the injury, the crystal was lost and Jarok, one of his most capable allies, had disappeared.
"The crystal is the real problem. Maybe Verhen has it, but maybe not. I can't kick the Royal's hornet nest just because of a suspicion. Not now that he has become a Great Mage. Let's hope Jarok hasn't made things even messier. Stealth and interrogation are its specialties, after all." The Master said with a chuckle.
"Master, I bring grave news." Xenagrosh, the Eldritch specialized in tracking Warped in front of them.
"Is the crystal broken? It's not a big deal. I have already located a lesser specimen that could still work just fine for our purposes." The Master shrugged.
"No. There is no trace of the crystal. What I found is the evidence that Jarok has been killed."
"That idiot!" The Master roared. "I told it to watch out for the corps and the damned Evolved Monsters."
"Wrong again. It was killed by a single enemy and an Eldritch at that." Xenagrosh's four red eyes were reduced to fiery slits while it made its report. "I'm afraid we have a competitor."
Chapter 428 Mage Association Part 1
"A competitor?" The Master couldn't believe his own ears. Those two single words alone could mean that decades of hard work were at stake. If another Eldritch was involved in the purple crystal's disappearance, maybe it was an inside job all along.
It would have explained a lot of things. Abominations were fickle and greedy by nature, the only thing they respected was power. Eldritchs were the sum of their best and worst traits.
If any Abomination started to believe that the Master wouldn't be able to deliver their promise, they wouldn't hesitate a second to betray them.
"I believed all Eldritchs living on the Galen continent were on our side." The Master said.
"It could be an ancient one that just awoke from its slumber." Xenagrosh replied.
"Or maybe a youngster that evolved recently. The only thing I know is that the smell was that of a crafty Eldritch. It had distorted its scent by mixing it with several others, but my senses are not easily fooled. Otherwise I would have mistaken it for a human's."
"Let's not rush our judgment." The Master quickly regained their cool. "Maybe it's not a competitor. After all, a purple crystal is an almost endless source of nourishment for an Abomination.
"It allows the likes of you to hide in plain sight without having to harvest energy from living beings. Best case scenario, its actions will get the Guardians off our tail. They can't distinguish between a rogue Eldritch and our own."
"Worst case scenario, it will ruin us all. We don't know how much it learned from Jarok, nor what it will do with such knowledge." Xenagrosh's warning was too ominous to ignore it.
The Master could only sigh and plan the hunting of this new player that threatened to topple their already shaky chessboard.
***
The city of Othre.
Lith reached the massive gates made of solid wood and steel as the sun was slowly starting to set. Othre was the biggest trade city in the Kellar region, also known as the Warehouse.
Food provisions were a big issue for cities without Warp Gates. Because of the north's harsh climate, settlements could remain isolated for weeks during the winter months. Blizzards were so powerful that even mages capable of flight would be stuck in their homes.
The cold season was closing in and merchants came from all the Griffon Kingdom to sell the food supplies they could spare for a price way higher than their market value. Every year fear bred crisis, which in turn provided to a few the opportunity to get rich at the expenses of many.
Timing was of the essence, because to avoid panic and rioting the local governor had the authority to fix a ceiling price. If a merchant sold too early, they would saturate the market and earn little, too late and fixed prices would lead to the same result.
"Where is the nearest hotel?" Lith asked one of the guards that were checking the incoming carriages and taking note of all the food entering Othre.
The guard's annoyed gaze disappeared the moment her eyes met Lith's. The Ranger in front of him was way taller, more annoyed, and angrier than the guard. Thanks to darkness magic Lith didn't stink and water magic had allowed him to remain clean.
Yet after a week without a single second of relax, during which he had been forced to do his business behind bushes, Lith would gladly kill anyone standing between him and a bathroom.
"Go straight, then turn left on King's Road. You can't miss it, sir." The woman stepped aside as her survival instinct kicked in.
"A word of advice, sir." Her shift would last hours and she didn't want to see Lith again. "Because of winter, dimensional magic is banned inside the city. Before entering you should take out whatever you may need."
Lith inwardly cursed against all the inhabitants of the north and their hate for dimensional magic. He took out a few coins, the Gatekeeper and both his communication amulets.
'Now I understand why the uniform comes with a utility belt.' He angrily thought.
While he walked towards the hotel, Lith reported his arrival to his handler.
"I'm sorry, sir." Said a kid bumping into him while playing with her brother.
"I'm not." Lith replied while grabbing her arm and dislocating her shoulder to retrieve his pouch which she had just stolen. The desperate cries of the girl drawn the attention of several people who stared at him in anger.
"What was that noise?" Kamila asked.
"An accident. Over and out." Lith replied eager to stop talking with his handler and get in touch with his girlfriend.
"She's just a kid!" Yelled an angry woman. "Fucking Rangers! They should be kept in the wilds with the beasts, where they belong." A man added as several outraged voices joined the chorus.
Lith didn't even slow down his pace.
'Maybe I should rob them and see if their charity extends to their own money or is limited to mine.' He angrily thought.
'She is just a kid. Maybe she was hungry.' The popping sound kept echoing in Solus's mind. She felt terrible about what had happened.
'She could have just begged. I would have refused, you would have nagged me, and I would have given her some copper coins. She played with fire and got burned.'
A pebble struck the back of Lith's head, making him turn around. A small crowd was assembled around the two kids and were staring at him in defiance. Between the Skinwalker armor and his enhanced physique, Lith had barely noticed the hit.
Yet it had been strong enough to make a normal man bleed.
"Who threw that?" He asked with a casual voice and received no answer but middle fingers.
"All guilty, then." A wave of his hand and an earth spell made the crowd fall on their knees while holding their heads in pain. Each one of them had been hit by a small stone, repaying them in kind.
"You are all under arrest for assaulting and slandering an officer." Another wave of his hand made their arms and legs sink into the ground. "If and when I bother reporting this to a constable, they will free you. Have a nice day."
The moment Lith gave them his back, the two kids and their accomplices hiding in the nearby alleys robbed all those present blind.
'Was that really necessary?' Solus had hoped that after Kamila, after being alone for so long in the wilds, Lith would have softened up towards people.
'Poetic justice.' Lith replied. 'Look at the bright side. The girl now has more than enough money to get her shoulder fixed.'
He reached the Swan's Song hotel in less than a minute. It was a two stories stone building with a pitched roof and a banner representing a swan sitting near a maiden who was playing the harp.
The door opened into a common hall the pavement of which was made of hardwood.
Colorful carpets were placed under the wood tables that occupied most of the space. A huge fireplace spread light and warmth for the customers that were enjoying their dinner or simply resting from their daily activities.
Chapter 429 Mage Association Part 2
"How much for your best room?" Lith asked the receptionist, a young man about his own age. He was too tired to care about money. A good bed and a hot bath were the only thing she could think about.
"One silver coin per night." The man yelped. It was actually more expensive, but the Gatekeeper at Lith's waist looked mean and the man carrying it even meaner.
"Excuse me, are you Ranger Verhen?" Asked a mage in his thirties. He was of average height, with a lean build and kind chestnut eyes. Judging from his silver robe, he worked for the Mage Association.
"Depends who's asking." Lith gave the receptionist the money and his ID, making sure the stranger couldn't read it.
"I'm Mage Dorian Felhorn. I'm your liaison with the local branch of the Association." Clearly Felhorn had recognized Lith. His earlier question was a formality.
"I'm sorry, but even if I was who you think I am, I work for the army now. So unless you have written orders for me, I've no reason to listen to you." Lith took his room's key and walked towards the stairs leading to the first floor.
"Wait! You don't understand. I may not have an official authorization yet, but I need your help. The Association is in a pinch."
Lith had to admit the guy was brave. Even when pressed by his Sunday killing intent, Dorian didn't flinch. He even had the gall to grab his shoulder.
"I'm sure they are, but unless there's something in for me, I don't care." Lith shrugged the hand away. "Bottom line, I could come with you, it's just that I don't want to."
Lith's annoyed tone achieved what even his meanest glare had failed to. The second Dorian was too shocked by Lith's disregard for whatever news he was the bearer of, the Ranger disappeared upstairs.
Dorian took out his communication amulet from one of his robe's pockets.
"I'm sorry sir, I've failed my mission. Great Mage Verhen was crystal clear in his refusal to even listen to me. The body count is already in the dozens and is bound to getting worse."
"Damn. I hoped that him choosing to be promoted in our ranks rather than in the army's meant he would be more sympathetic to our cause." Said a man voice coming from the amulet.
The Mage Association was in dire straits for years. New and old noble families hated them for wiping them from Mogar overnight, but most of all, because unlike the army it was impossible for non mages to join their ranks.
Ever since the plague event happened five years ago, the Association's reputation was in steady decline. First, they had failed to cure or even contain the plague, leaving all the glory to the army and the White Griffon.
Then, they had been useless against Balkor's attack. Once again, the lion's share of the merits belonged to the White Griffon. The army had at least provided troops, while most mages had run for their lives along with their families.
Last, but not least, the Mage Association had failed to keep Hatorne in check, to find Headmaster Linnea who was still on the run, and even to prevent the mass production of slave items that had led to Nalear's attack.
The Association was on its last leg, its political support dwindled every year. Even the Queen was considering the idea of turning the Association in a branch of the Army and redistribute their funds.
After all, the heroes who had stopped the Mad Professor all belonged to the army. Lady Jirni, Commander Orion, and Captain Phloria. The only exception was Lith Verhen, a free agent at best.
Money or merits could buy his services, but not his loyalty.
"We have no choice. I'll contact the army and have them borrow him to us before the Royal Constable arrives. That way, he will be our player. We need a big victory, failure is not an option. If all else fails, we still have our ace in the hole."
"Technically, it's more like a double edged sword." Dorian didn't like Archmage Kwart's plan. Stealing a dragon's egg could force the beast to compromise, but it would also provoke its animosity.
"If we fail, a Great Mage's wrath will be the last of our problems. I'll keep you posted."
Meanwhile, Lith was having dinner with his family. Thanks to the communication amulet they could share the table even at thousand of kilometers of distance.
"Othre sucks, this work sucks." Lith was complaining to his parents while consuming the food provided by the room service.
"Everywhere I go, people treat Rangers almost like criminals. Despite all the time I spent in the wilds, I'm already sick of this place. I'll leave tomorrow early in the morning."
"I read that the communities in the north are tight-knit." Raaz had bought a book about the Kellar region. He hated studying, but that way he was able to understand what his son was going through. It also allowed them to share a deeper conversation than small talk.
"You can't blame them for being suspicious. Even here in Lutia we don't like strangers or cops. To them, you are both. By the way, Othre is famous for its open market. You might find rare books or ingredients there."
"Good point, dad. Thanks, I will give it a look." Lith had the same book in Soluspedia, but was grateful for Raaz's thoughtfulness.
Elina was proud of her husband going an extra mile for their son and jealous because she felt cut out.
'I need to get hold of that damn book.' She thought.
Lith was dead tired after a week always being on full alert. He fell asleep the moment his head touched the pillow and was awakened a few hours later by an explosion coming from outside.
'Solus?' He asked as his pajamas shapeshifted into his Ranger uniform.
'Yes, you never called a constable. Those poor people are likely to be still stuck there.' She pouted.
'Who cares about that? I meant what was that noise?'
'Something is happening on the other side of the road, but it doesn't make sense.' She replied.
Lith looked through the window in his room and notice that the door of one of the shops in front of the hotel had been blown to bits. A few seconds later, a poorly dressed woman came out of it, carrying bags full of food and money.
'You are right, it doesn't make sense. How can someone so malnourished beat up so many men?' Lith pondered while staring at the scene. Several shops had already been robbed and their owners were out cold in the middle of the street.
'It's not that.' Solus replied with a sigh after noticing that Lith wasn't going to intervene.
'That woman has a red mana core and a human body, yet her mana flow is comparable to a yellow core.'
'How is that possible?'
'She's absorbing world energy at a rate comparable to yours when using Invigoration. She might be an Awakened.'
Chapter 430 Dragon's Egg Part 1
'Why would an Awakened need to steal in such a blatant way?' Lith thought while going downstairs.
'Even a bit of spirit magic would be enough to get her what she wants without drawing so much attention.'
'Maybe she just discovered her powers.' Solus pondered. 'Otherwise I can't explain how she still has a red core. Another thing I can't understand is how she can possibly keep Invigoration active while moving.'
Lith found several guests of the hotel staring at the scene through the windows.
"I told you we shouldn't have picked a hotel in the outer rim, you damn cheapskate!" A middle aged woman was angrily whispering to her husband, like she was afraid of drawing the attention of the crazed thief.
The couple was wearing a grey dressing gown with the hotel's insignia over their clothes.
'One silver coin per night is cheap?' Lith shuddered at the idea of how much money more luxurious accommodations would require.
"Why? Does this happen often?" He pointed his forefinger toward the events unfolding outside.
"Of course, it's the gods damned outer rim." The woman was clearly annoyed at Lith's question which forced her to state the obvious.
"Every year, when winter approaches, all kinds of vagrants and lunatics fill the roads of the city to find shelter until spring. Because of those hungry beasts, the crime rate always spikes. Speaking of hungry beasts, why are you still here?
"Aren't you a Ranger? It's your duty to uphold the law!"
"Not inside Othre. At the moment I'm just a tired traveler." Lith wanted to investigate the mystery, but the woman's rudeness had almost changed his mind.
"The hotel would greatly appreciate your help in keeping its guests safe." Someone promptly added.
Lith turned around towards the voice. It belonged to a silver haired man dressed like a member of the staff. According to the tags on his chest, his name was Penon and he was the night manager.
'Please, help them.' Solus pleaded him. 'Some of the people outside are badly wounded. They need a healer and you will get your money back. It's a win-win situation.'
Lith didn't care about a single silver coin. Penon's offer was meaningless to him. Solus's plea and discovering how the heck someone of that age with no experience with magic could possibly Awaken was another story.
Lith came out from the hotel and extended his arm, using spirit magic to paralyze his opponent. He didn't expect it to work. To be able to knock down men way taller and heavier than her, the woman had to be able to use fusion magic.
Lith's intention was to check how effective spirit magic would be against such a weak Awakened. Best case scenario, he would manage to slow her enough to hold her in place and get some answers before the city constables arrived on the crime scene.
Contrary to his expectations, his tendrils of mana were sucked by the woman's Invigoration technique and completely nullified.
'What the heck?' Lith thought. 'Invigoration shouldn't work that way. Absorbing someone else's mana is like drinking poison.'
The homeless woman screamed in pain before turning toward Lith and releasing a fire wave the size of a truck. The spell was powerful, but there was no technique or planning behind it. Like a child throwing a tantrum, its energies were violent but chaotic.
Lith needed but a thought to take control of the fire wave and snuff it out. Before he could counter attack, the woman clenched her belly and collapsed to the ground. Lith had no idea what was happening.
He wanted to use Invigoration to study her body, but he knew that if she adsorbed it too, she would die before she could answer his questions.
'Solus?'
'It's just like you think. Your spirit magic has infected her core and it's killing her. It's already half grey.' She replied.
There was nothing Lith could do for mana poisoning. He could only hope the woman's core would recover while he took care of the wounded. All of them were badly burned, some almost to a crisp.
Only because Lith could cure two people at once and was able to use Invigoration to give them massive amounts of life force no one died that night. No one except the woman.
'How is this even possible?' Lith thought. 'Invigoration should be able to absorb only world energy. Plus, the mana I used to wasn't nearly enough to kill her, not even if I poisoned her on purpose. Which I didn't.'
'I know.' Solus replied. 'Normally her mana flow should have countered the foreign mana all the way to her core. It would have caused her pain but would have also weakened your mana to the point that even a red core could resist such measly pressure.
'Her Invigoration technique carried it directly to her core, making it lethal instead.'
A few minutes later, a couple of constables and a mage arrived to the scene.
"Thanks for taking care of the problem for us." The senior officer said.
"Usually our response time is much better than this, but criminals like this one are popping up like mushrooms and we cannot move without a mage. We have already lost too many people." The officer spat on the homeless woman's corpse.
"It's terrible news." Lith said eager to go back to sleep. "Those people were severely injured. This is what the city owes me for the healings."
The mage took a small piece of paper where Lith had listed the cares given and his fares according to the White Griffon standards. She put it in her pockets without even looking at it.
"What happened to her?" The mage said while pointing at the corpse. Her honey colored eyes looked tired and dispirited, like those of a soldier fighting a lost battle.
"Wish I knew. I used a simple air spell to restrict her and…"
"And she died." The mage completed the phrase for him.
"Don't worry, it's not your fault. It happens every single damn time, no matter the element used. Once the constables managed to restrict one only for the poor guy to die under the effects of a diagnostic spell."
'That's great news. It means that whatever they are, they are not Awakened. Which makes this none of my business.' Lith thought.
Solus would have liked to comment about his total lack of care for the well being of the people of Othre, but she had seen enough in one day to know it would be pointless.
'Maybe this is what that Felhorn guy wanted to talk about. A lot of magic users committing crimes is something the Association would have to deal with. It could fetch you a lot of merits.' Solus tried a subtler approach on the matter.
'Too bad I don't need them. I've already got what I could from the Association after I graduated. Otherwise I wouldn't have joined the army. What I need is to finish my patrol as fast as I can. That way I can obtain a long leave and work on the crystal.' Lith replied.
The following morning, during a sumptuous breakfast served privately on the hotel's terrace for Lith only, he called his handler.
"This is Ranger Verhen. I need some time to restock my provisions and then I'll be ready to leave Othre." He actually had no need for food, his pocket dimension held enough to last him months. His aim was to look for rare books.
"Negative. You are not allowed to leave the city's perimeter. The Commander has received a request for help from the Association. Depending on his decision, your stay in Othre might be prolonged until further notice."
Chapter 431 Dragon's Egg Part 2
Lith spent his morning visiting the small bookshops located in the city's middle rim. Othre was divided into three areas. The outer rim, where Lith resided, was the biggest and the poorest one.
It was where the commoners lived and the warehouses were located. Unless one possessed many dimensional items, moving huge loads of merchandise required wagons and draft animals.
The former generated intense traffic that made it almost impossible to walk during the busiest hours of the day despite the large roads and sidewalks. The latter naturally produced a pungent smell that would make even a stable boy puke his guts out.
The houses were one or two stories high, made of stone or wood based on the owner's income. There was not a single empty space between them. Warehouses were easily recognizable by their huge size and double doors to allow carriages to easily get in and out at all times.
The closest a warehouse was to the city gates, the more expensive it was, whereas for housings the opposite was true. The smell was a big deterrent, that was why Lith's hotel was located in a small street were carriages couldn't pass, away from the warehouses.
The middle rim was occupied by merchants' shops, craftsmen's and artists' workshops. Only the middle class could afford a house there. They were all at least two stories high, each with a private garden.
The middle rim's streets were too narrow for carriages, only stagecoaches were small enough to pass. Small parks were present every few blocks, to give some space for the children to play and a place for the travelers to rest in the shade of trees during the hottest hours of the day.
The inner rim was where the rich, the nobles, and the mages resided. There weren't houses as much as mansions. Unlike Belius, the taller a building, the richer was the household.
Lith avoided big shops because they had the necessary staff to go through all their merchandise. They were bound to identify real books about magic and sell them to the Association that held the monopoly of the mystical knowledge.
Small shops, instead, would buy more books than they could handle. With a bit of luck, one could find a precious tome cataloged as a diary or even in the bargain bin. Many mages mixed research and personal life in their writings, others used such convoluted technical jargon that a layman would easily mistake it for gibberish.
It was the reason why unless those books had some drawings, no one would give them a second look. Lith could only once again curse at the city arrays when his communication amulet interrupted his fruitless research.
Normally, he would store a book in Soluspedia and search its contents in an instant before deciding if it was worth buying or not. The dimensional magic lock forced him to actually read them one by one in what he considered a colossal waste of time.
The first call came from the army. Kamila notified Lith that the Commander had agreed with the Association's terms and ordered him to talk with their representative.
The second one was from Mage Dorian Felhorn, who gave him an appointment at the local branch of the Mage Association, located in the inner rim. The building consisted of a three stories small castle built with reddish stones.
Each of its four corners was occupied by a small tower surmounted with a blue mana crystal.
A middle aged clerk led Lith in an office located on the ground floor. The room's walls were covered by bookshelves, the only source of lighting was a magical chandelier hung in the middle of the ceiling.
Dorian welcomed Lith and invited him to sit on one of the armchairs in front of his black mahogany desk.
To Lith Dorian said: "First of all, know that you are currently relieved from your role in the army until the end of the conversation. I'm not speaking with the Ranger, but with the Great Mage."
"Why am I here?" Lith asked while feeling more comfortable. The Association worked on a voluntary basis. They couldn't order around members that didn't seek an active role in their ranks.
Dorian explained to him the reasons for the Association's decline and how they hoped to solve Othre's current crisis to avoid being swallowed by the army.
"That's the reason you need me." Lith shook his head. "I am asking you why I should accept."
Dorian had yet to explain the nature of the crisis and felt already up against a wall. The Association could award merits, not money and Lith had no use for them. The knowledge he sought needed the approval of both the army and the Association.
He had already earned the necessary clearance level from the Association's side, which left them with a bad hand. Merits could be traded in exchange for noble titles and their connected lands. Usually, they were the Association's greatest bargain chip.
Unluckily, Lith had already refused a noble title twice, so offering him one was meaningless. They couldn't afford to offer him money off the books. If exposed, the scandal would bury them for good.
'He doesn't care for the power balance in the Kingdom. Judging from the invoice he submitted for healing innocents and how he left a dozen of people stuck in the concrete for hours, I'd say there is no better nature I can appeal to.' Dorian inwardly sighed.
'It's time to let the dragon know we have his egg.'
"The situation is dire. Countless lives are at stake and if the news of it spreads, panic could make more victims than our invisible enemy. Someone is killing people for unknown reasons. We have lots of corpses but so far we've failed to understand what's happening."
"If you refuse to answer, then I'll take my leave." Lith stood up, tired of hearing nonsense.
"We need the best diagnosticians in the Kingdom." Dorian grabbed Lith's arm and felt his hostility growing. A saner man would have jumped away, but Felhorn had no qualms putting his life on the line.
"That's why we have hired Professor Manohar from the White Griffon…" Lith freed his arm and walked away.
"…and Mage Verhen as his assistant." Those words froze Lith in place and with him the mana in the room.
"What did you say?" There was no rage in his voice, yet the room felt colder and the lights dimmed like a setting sun.
"Mage Tista Verhen volunteered the moment she heard about the situation. If I'm right, there is a monster hiding inside the walls of Othre. If I'm wrong, we could be facing another plague." Dorian put emphasis in each of his words yet he could tell that Lith wasn't listening.
After a few seconds of awkward silence, Lith clapped his hands while a creepy smile appeared on his face.
"Well played. Now I only have two choices. Either I walk away, leaving my sister in the hands of an incompetent paper pusher and a madman, or I help you. I accept the job. Beware, though, because this kind of tricks only works once.
"Once I explain Tista how you manipulated her, I can guarantee you that neither of us will ever help the Association again. Also, now I know what to ask the next time the King wants to award me with something."
Lith slowly passed his thumb along his neck before slamming the door behind his back and alerting his handler he wouldn't leave Othre for a while.
Chapter 432 Duplicity Part 1
Before leaving the Mage Association, Lith collected the money they owed him for treating the people wounded during the last accident.
'Poor guy. It wouldn't surprise me if he was writing his last will right now. Your acting skills are impressive.' Solus chuckled.
'Because most of what I said is true. I don't care about their problem and unless I get properly compensated, I'll find a way to get even with them. The moment the Commander ordered me to listen rather than to do something, I knew something big was going on.
'What I didn't expect was that they would drag Tista in this mess to force my hand. I tried twisting their arm to get a juicy reward and ended up with my own arm twisted. Whoever is behind this is going to owe me big time.' Lith replied.
'Not Dorian?'
'Dorian is just a mage, he hasn't the power to pull off a stunt like this. He is just obeying orders and it's the one pulling his strings I'm after.' Lith came out of the building and called his sister.
"Where are you?"
"Good morning to you too, lil brother." Tista replied with a radiant smile, ignoring his cold tone.
"I've just reached your hotel. Your room is really nice. I was expecting you would sleep in a hostel to save money and you picked a suite instead. The trip to Othre must have been a nightmare."
"And thanks to you the stay isn't looking good either. I'll be there shortly." He took off and reached the Swan's Song less than a minute later. The moment he stepped inside, Lith was welcomed by a familiar vibe. Envy mixed with hostility.
"Tista." Lith said with a sigh. Whenever they traveled together, she drew a lot of attention on herself and turned most men in Lith's sworn enemies. The fact she introduced herself with his same last name without ever saying she was his sister added fuel to the fire.
Even the half pint receptionist at the front desk was outraged enough to glare at him.
Lith went upstairs and found the "Do not disturb" tag hanging off the doorknob. He was about to knock, just to be safe, when a voice inside said:
"Come on in!"
Tista ran to him and hugged him tightly. Lith returned it for a second before pushing her gently away.
"I missed you, big sis."
"I missed you too, lil brother. Why the angry voice earlier?" She asked with a curious tone.
"First things first, how did you get in here?"
"As usual." She shrugged. "I told the receptionist I'm with you and I showed him my ID."
"The one with my family crest and name? Now everyone will think we're married." He sat on the nearest sofa like a deadweight.
"That was the plan. I've yet to find a creep or a wannabe playboy that dares to bother me after seeing you." She chuckled.
"Fine! Now would you like to explain to me how could you let yourself be dragged in whatever is happening here?"
"You really don't know how grave the situation is?" Tista was stunned.
"I don't care about the situation."
"Well, you should! We took an oath as Healers and even if they are just fancy words to you, they mean a lot to me. After all I went through as a child, I can't stay idle while people suffer." Tista was angry at his indifference, she wanted him to be better than this.
"They fooled you to get my help. There isn't nothing noble in letting yourself being manipulated so easily." He replied with a snort.
"How stupid do you think I am? I knew what the Association was after the moment they mentioned the city of Othre."
"Then why did you accept?" Lith steepled his fingers with a look that made her feel like she was his student again.
"For several reasons. After I received their offer, I contacted one of my classmates that lives here. He confirmed everything Mage Wren, my recruiter, told me. The city is on the verge of chaos.
"Every day, odd corpses are found lying around all the three rims. A lot of people have disappeared and no one knows what happened to them. Last, but not least, rogue mages no one have ever heard about are pillaging Othre.
"The Association has managed to keep things under control only because the Warp Gate allows for backup to arrive instantly when needed. But if whatever is happening here spreads through the merchants back to their cities, once winter begins no one will be able to help them until it's too late."
"So?" Lith didn't bother to hide how underwhelmed he was.
"So, I decided I could do some good and make it worth my while. By accepting I got the chance to work together with two of the most brilliant minds of the Kingdom, one of whom happens to be my always missing brother, and to join the Mage Association. Two birds with one stone."
"Wait, I had to teach for two years at the White Griffon to join. Are they really that desperate?" Lith had no need for merits, but maybe he could force the Association to pay him in magical resources.
"Yes." Tista nodded. "I also consulted Professor Vastor before making my demands. According to him, Archmage Kwart, the current Chairman, has led the Association to the brink of extinction. He needs a big win to stay afloat and he needs it badly."
A ravenous smile appeared on Lith's face. He didn't like the hand he had been dealt, nor the game he was been forced to play. The pot, though, looked more alluring by the second.
***
Army's Headquarters, city of Belius.
Commander Berion, Lith's commanding officer and sponsor in the army, had just been reminded how dangerous it was to underestimate a cornered prey.
'I should have never allowed Ranger Verhen to listen to their demands. General Morn Griffon is already out for my blood, I can't let more members of the High Command turn their back on me. It would be the end of my career.' He thought.
The army's upper echelons were already celebrating the Association's funeral when Archmage Kwart had thrown a monkey wrench into their plans. They were sure Lith would refuse.
The Association had nothing to offer him and he wasn't the kind of man to work out of the goodness of his heart. No one expected Kwart would manage to recruit Manohar, nor Tista Verhen.
If Kwart's ploy succeeded, Berion would be held accountable for that. Controlling the Association would mean for the army to gain authority over the noble system and change the criteria to assign a title and the lands that came with it.
The game had yet to begin, but he was already on his back foot. Two of the major players were outside his reach and according to their deal, Lith would be considered belonging to both factions.
He was in desperate need to do damage control.
"Excuse me, Sir. First Lieutenant Kamila Yehval has arrived." His secretary announced through the amulet.
"Let her in."
Kamila's relationship with Lith wasn't a secret, nor it was the fact that the only one Lith was loyal to was himself. Berion knew that his poor decision had left himself exposed. She was his only chance to tip the scale in his favor.
Chapter 433 Duplicity Part 2
Kamila had never been summoned in a Commander's office except when she had been promoted from Second to First Lieutenant. After years of hard work, she hoped Berion would give her an opportunity to prove her worth.
'I don't want to spend my life being an analyst and a handler.' She thought while giving him a salute.
Commander Berion was a man in his early thirties, 1.8 (5'11") meters tall with pitch-black hair and eyes. His pale blue uniform could resemble a high-end coat with a standing collar over pants of matching quality and color.
The only distinguishing features were the Commander silver epaulets on his shoulders and the insignias above his heart.
"At ease, Lieutenant." Berion said while inventing her to sit down.
He didn't mince words describing how bad was Othre's crisis nor how important was for the army to not lose in the ongoing power play.
"I need someone to keep me constantly updated on the situation. Someone with the necessary sensitivity and competence to make use of every opening to bring the balance back in our favor.
"I can't rely on Ranger Verhen alone. He's barely able to give three reports a day and I'm afraid his judgment on this matter may be compromised. I've already made the mistake of relying on second-hand information and paid the price for it.
"Do you think you can rise to the occasion?"
"Of course, Sir." She said with confidence, even though she wanted to puke.
'This isn't what I've hoped for, this is politics. The army and the Association are more worried about their measuring contest than about the lives of the inhabitants of Othre. If I refuse, I can kiss goodbye to any future chance of being promoted.' She inwardly sighed.
Kamila Warped from Belius to the army's headquarters in Othre. There she found a stagecoach waiting for her that went straight for the outer rim.
"I think there is a mistake." She said to the Desk Sergeant accompanying her.
"Shouldn't we go to the Association's branch?"
"No, ma'am. Our orders are to bring you to Ranger Verhen's quarters. You'll be debriefed together once the rest of the team arrives."
'Son of a…' Kamila inwardly cursed. 'The Commander doesn't need a liaison officer with the Association. He wants to exploit our relationship. Now I understand why he picked me and why that ridiculous claim about Lith's judgment being compromised.
'I'm just a fucking honey trap! I remember something about an Academy sweetheart, probably the Association is playing the same game. I've never been so humiliated in all my life.'
Never before did Kamila resent the army. Her colleagues were her family and her job as an analyst was all she had. In her head, the images of her mother and the Commander overlapped.
Both didn't care for her feelings or her career and were only interested in exploiting her for their ends. She wanted to cry, but aside from turning paler, her face displayed no emotion.
'Gods, I'm so stupid. I should have understood it earlier and turned down the offer. Now either I help the Commander to manipulate Lith or I tell him the truth and risk losing my job.'
Albeit brief, the journey seemed to never come to an end. Kamila was torn between her sense of self-preservation and to rise above that mess by doing the right thing. When the stagecoach reached the Swan's Song, she had yet to make her mind.
"Excuse me, what room is Ranger Verhen staying in?" She asked the receptionist, a short man about Lith's age who looked at her in a funny way.
"Room 201, the honeymoon suite. He is about to have lunch with his missus. Who do I have to announce?" The man replied.
At those words, Kamila really had enough bullshit for one day. She ignored the receptionist's question and went straight for the suite. She knocked at the door in a frenzy to the point she almost fell forward when it was abruptly opened.
"Kamila? What are you doing here?" She barely registered that Lith seemed surprised and happy to see her before all hell broke loose.
Sitting on the king-size unmade bed there was the most gorgeous woman she had ever seen. She was 1.76 (5'9") meters tall with waist-length auburn hair that had several shades of red.
Tista's oval face and her delicate features only emphasized the perfect proportions of her curvy body. Kamila was left speechless, incapable to decide if to be angry, envious, or just hope to wake up and discover it had all been a nightmare.
"Oh gods! Is she really that Kamila?" The fairy seemed happy to see her.
"Nice to meet you, Kamila. I'm Tista, Lith's sister." At those words Kamila discovered to be able to breathe again, her lungs were just starting to burn.
"His sister? He never told me you were so…" She had no idea how to put it into words without making it sound a pick-up line.
"Thanks." Tista giggled. "You are identical to the image he showed us, that's how I recognized you."
Lith waved his arms behind Kamila's back while mouthing Tista to shut up.
"Us who?" Kamila did her best to smile back and not blush.
"The whole family. Our niece, Leria, even asked if you are a princess."
Lith facepalmed hard as Kamila turned beet red.
"T-Thanks." She stuttered. "So, Lith can create images of people, not only flowers?" She asked, eager to change the topic.
"Flowers? Did he gift you the camellia?" Tista asked, making the situation even worse. Another facepalm ensued.
"Did he really name it after me?" Both Lith and Kamila were unable to look at each other in the eyes.
"Well yes, but actually no." Tista said trying to correct the mess she finally realized to have created.
"That's how I call it because I really like your name and I think it would suit the magic flower."
"Thanks, you are too kind. Can I use the bathroom for a second?" The moment Lith pointed the way, Kamila closed the door behind her and sat on the bathtub edge not knowing whether to laugh or cry.
"At least he is not married." She mumbled to herself.
"Smooth move." Lith whispered with a voice oozing sarcasm. "Why you didn't tell her that Mom wouldn't mind the age gap if we gave her a grandchild, while you were at it?"
"I'm sorry, but it's the first time since Phloria that I meet your girlfriend. I got carried away." She whispered back.
"For the love of… Don't call her my girlfriend." Lith was fighting the urge to strangle his own sister. "If she hears that, she'll dump me like a bad habit."
They ordered another serving and consumed their meal in awkward silence until they received a call from Mage Felhorn inviting them to the Association's headquarters to be debriefed about the crisis with the rest of the team.
Dorian led them to the morgue in the basement, where dozens of corpses occupied long lines of metal scaffolds. They belonged to people of different ages, gender, and social class. The only thing they had in common was the lack of any kind of wound.
The girls gasped while Lith's attention was drawn to a familiar figure in his late twenties, with black hair and shades of silver. He was around 1.74 meters (5'9") meters tall and a slender build.
He was standing near a metal stretcher the occupant of which was covered by a heavy blanket.
"Professor Manohar." Lith was happy to break the silence. "Nice to meet you again. How come this time you didn't disappear?"
Manohar attempted to answer but someone else beat him to it.
"Believe me, he tried." Said Jirni Ernas raising her right arm and revealing the cuffs linking the two of them.
Chapter 434 Death from Above Part 1
"I resent the use of the 'disappear' term." Manohar said with an indignant tone.
"I don't run away like a spoiled brat, I simply seek the isolation a complex matter like my endless research requires."
"You are a spoiled brat." Jirni replied as she opened the cuffs. Manohar had the habit of gesturing like a hysterical bird while he talked, almost dislocating her shoulder in result.
"Without constant supervision, you'd break more laws in a week than a serial killer in their whole life. You never fill your paperwork and neglect your students to pursue your own agenda."
Manohar wanted to reply, but Jirni scared him. He decided that shutting up and hiding behind Lith was in his best interest.
"I know you said that you're a fan of my work, but this is more like stalking." Lith said while giving Jirni a bow.
"Don't flatter yourself, kid. This time I'm here for him." She laughed at the joke while pointing at Manohar.
"Once you geniuses find some answers, it will be my job to decide how to continue the investigation. From now on, you all work for me. Mage Felhorn, explain to us what's really happening in Othre."
"Gladly." Dorian stepped in the middle of the room and took a deep breath to calm himself. Death and madness plagued the room, making it hard for him to decide if to find more unsettling the corpses or the living.
Aside from the two young women, he had the impression to be the only human in the room.
"It all started a couple of months ago, when the first caravans arrived to exchange goods for food and vice versa. At first, the crime rate spiked. It's nothing alarming since Othre's population doubles until winter ends.
"Then, things escalated from the usual routine to crimes of magical nature. People with little or no magical talent turned into powerful mages and settled old scores the worst possible way." He pointed at the corpses on the metal scaffolds.
"The phenomenon started from the outer rim and slowly spread to the whole city. The only thing we know is that receiving those powers is a double edged sword. It makes their wielder very dangerous, but in exchange, they die when struck by a spell.
"No matter the element employed, a tier one spell is enough to kill them. While we were still trying to sort things up, our analysts reported that the number of missing persons had spiked as well.
"It took us a while to notice because most of the victims were foreigners. Once it started to happen in the inner rims of the city too, the missing person reports led us to discover that the situation was even worse than we suspected.
"People come into Othre every day. We don't know if we are looking for dozens or hundreds of kidnappings." Dorian was crestfallen noticing the lack of reactions in the room.
Tista's and Kamila's were genuinely worried, but the others seemed bored as if he had been talking about his vacations.
"We have been able to cover up both these issues and prevent panic from spreading, until these things started to appear." He moved near the stretcher and pulled away the blanket hiding its content.
It was a corpse, but unlike the others on the scaffolds, it was completely dried up. The eye sockets were empty, the nose was replaced by two small holes in the skull, and the skin was so stretched that the mouth was deformed into a crazed smile.
"Unlike the other anomalies, this phenomenon appeared at the same time in all the rims. Also, in some cases we have witnesses, so at least we know what happened even though we have no idea of how or why.
"The gentleman in front of you is, or better, was Sir Rosen Stern, Baronet of the Kingdom. He died in front of over twenty guests and every one of them said the same thing.
"One moment they were having an amiable conversation and the following a blue pillar descended from the sky enveloping him. When the pillar disappeared, he had become like this."
"Fascinating." Jirni, Manohar, and Lith said as one while coming closer to the body.
"We haven't been able to identify a pattern in the timing or in the places of the alleged murders. Everything appears to be completely coincidental. Our only certainty is that whenever a blue light pillar appears, someone dies.
"All the victims belonged to the middle class or the nobility, which makes it impossible to cover it up. Especially since some of them died in front of numerous witnesses or in crowded places."
Jirni knew of substances capable of inducing hallucinations and venoms that could reduce the victim into a similar state, so she searched the body for puncture wounds.
Lith used all of his and Solus's abilities to perform a full body scan of the corpse.
'The light pillar from the sky manifests when a magical beast is about to evolve. Usually it's of a golden color, while mine was silver. I've never seen a blue one. What the heck could it mean?' He thought.
'No idea.' Solus replied. 'There's one odd thing, though. The body is completely dry of mana. Check it with Life Vision.'
Everything on Mogar was imbued with mana. Rocks, trees, even corpses. Yet only sentient beings developed a mana core and could use magic.
Ever since his first meeting with Kalla, Lith's Life Vision was capable of perceiving the mana permeating all things in the form of a faint wind of different colors they emanated according to their nature.
Green for the plants, grey for the stones, red for the animals, and black for the dead.
Lith pretended to chant a spell, touched his eyelids and activated Life Vision. His eyes now burning with light magic revealed that the corpses on the stretchers had no mana at all. There was no black wind.
It was the most unnatural thing Lith had ever seen, a void that he couldn't even begin to understand. Even Abominations were infused with mana.
Manohar cast a few spells while examining the body and after a while his eyes shone like those of child staring at his carefully wrapped Christmas presents.
"The reason I called you here is to solve the mystery behind these anomalies. Our first priority is to understand what killed Sir Rosen and is still killing his peers." Dorian continued.
"What about the others?" Kamila knew she was just a liaison officer and had no active role in the investigation. Yet she couldn't help but be outraged by such a manifest discrimination.
"Are their deaths less important just because they were poor or commoners?"
"No. It's just that we have no leads. A problem that I hope our diagnosticians will be able to correct soon." Dorian said while giving a small bow to both Lith and Manohar, even though after all the troubles he had gone through to recruit them, he felt they didn't deserve it.
"Cases like that of sir Rosen are so peculiar that, according to our experts, there are only three possible explanations and they are as bad as each other."
Chapter 435 Death from Above Part 2
"The first is that they were victims of an Abomination. When those creatures feed, they leave behind a trail of corpses not different from the one I showed you.
"The second one is that we are facing a vampire. They can feed off people's emotional energies, in which case they are better known as Incubus or Succubus, their blood, or their very life force.
"A victim of the third kind of vampire would resemble Lord Stern. I'm not really convinced by this hypothesis, though, since some of the deaths happened in broad daylight.
"The third and the worst one, is that we are against someone with the skills and the resources to employ Forbidden Magic right under our noses. It's a branch of magic that is universally outlawed because it requires living sacrifices to work.
"It allows you to break the rules of magic. You can create life, prolong your existence, become stronger, even steal a part of someone's soul. It's very risky and almost always lethal, but there are very few things you can't achieve with it.
With the proper preparations, killing from a distance is hardly a problem."
Dorian finished his explanation and hoped for the best.
"Maybe coming here wasn't a complete waste of time. I don't know who did this nor the why, but I think I know the how." Manohar said with a conceited smirk, like he was the only one with a brain in the room.
"Only a less competent mage than me could believe that nonsense."
"That's impossible." Dorian blurted out. "We didn't manage to find a clue in weeks and you're saying that with a glance you have already understood everything?"
"Gods, you're really stupid." Manohar slapped his own face in annoyance.
"Even Linjos, may the gods rest his soul, was brighter than this. No, I'm saying that I figured out what's happening, but since you'll have to explain it to that halfwit boss of yours, I'm dumbing it down for you.
"Ever since Balkor's attack we have conducted thorough studies about the Abominations. Vastor and I are the leading experts in the field. Even without that egg man, I can tell you that no Abomination did this."
"Yeah." Lith agreed. "There's too much waste here. When they feed, they only leave the bones intact."
"Exactly!" Manohar performed a few hops of joy. Lith's explanation was dumb enough for everyone to understand it.
The rest of the team tried to avoid thinking about how the duo could have performed their studies on the feeding habits of such deadly creatures.
"As for the vampire, not only they hate daylight, but also the organs of the victims would have already started to rot. This leaves us with only one possible explanation: we are dealing with Forbidden Magic."
"That's preposterous!" Dorian said in outrage.
"It's not." Lith shook his head. "I'm no expert in Forbidden Magic, but this corpse is unnatural. Have you checked it with magic?"
"Of course not. Even the light element is useless on cadavers. It would have been a waste of time. We just performed a regular search of the body and took a few samples to have them analyzed by the Alchemists."
"You noticed!" Manohar said ignoring everything Dorian said. "Dear Lith, it's a shame you left the White Griffon. We had so much fun together."
Lith had a hard time considering his role as Manohar's assistant as fun. He had to substitute for the Professor's lessons, fill his paperwork leaving to him only to sign the documents, clean his messes, and take the blame for his actions whenever he lost sight of the Professor.
"Thanks, I guess. Tista, try to reanimate it with darkness magic." He replied.
Tista did as instructed, but instead of turning into an undead, the corpse regained a part of its volume. The effect lasted only for a few seconds before it returned to its previous state.
"This man hasn't just been killed. Somehow, they have drained every single drop of mana he had." Lith explained.
Then, Manohar said:
"If I had to take an educated guess, I'd say that someone is sacrificing their lives to create a cursed object. It's a task that demands an enormous amount of mana and a very complex array to contain the energies released in the process."
Lith wasn't convinced by the Professor's theory, but he couldn't voice his doubts. He needed to see one of the blue pillars to be sure of his theory.
'If they really are like those that appear during the evolution of a magical beast, then it's unlikely to be some sort of ritual. Harnessing the amount of world energy contained in a single pillar would be enough to create another Black Star.'
He thought while reviewing the cursed object's blueprints stored inside Soluspedia.
Dorian quickly took a map of Othre and marked the spots where the desiccated corpses had been found. If there was a pattern behind their position, Lith wasn't able to find it. Even after joining the dots with lines the resulting image reminded him more a childish doodle than a magical circle.
"Let's say it's the truth." Dorian sighed. "What about the other corpses? What about the missing people?"
Manohar and Lith examined the bodies on the metal scaffolds for a minute, exchanged a few words, and then both shrugged.
"These are regular corpses. If you want me to discover what killed them, bring me a live specimen. Even better, bring me as many as you can. Sometimes it takes a few failures before succeeding." Manohar said.
"We are talking about people, not cattle. What you call 'failing' is actually murder!"
"Well, I can't diagnose something without a patient." Manohar clicked his tongue. "This simple observation stands for both your regular corpses and your missing people. If you want me to make an omelet, give me some eggs."
Before the bickering could continue, Jirni stepped forward.
"Silence, you two. I hate to admit it, but Manohar has a point." At those words the Professor gloated.
"That doesn't mean we're going to kill random people. At least now we have a lead. If he is right…"
"I always am." He said with a smirk.
"…it would explain why the phenomenon is so recent. Forbidden Magic requires more than evil thoughts and a maniacal laughter. The caravans are the perfect cover to smuggle rare ingredients inside Othre.
"Luckily, most of those substances are strictly regulated. Buying them on the black market means spending a sum that can't go unnoticed, not with dimensional magic sealed.
"Our best line of action is to interrogate the witnesses and dig in the life of the victims to find out if they have been chosen at random or if they befriended the wrong person.
"As for the other cases, I want to be notified immediately if another of those frenzied 'mages' appear. Do not engage them unless absolutely necessary until my or Lith's arrival.
We need answers and dead men tell no tale."
Chapter 436 Investigation Part 1
"There are six of us." Jirni said after a headcount. "Usually I'd split us into groups of two to cover more ground without wasting time. However…"
She took a long look at the bizarre team she had to work with.
Two young women with no real field experience, an average mage who seemed to be more a political puppet than an asset, two feral monsters in human guise who didn't give a damn about the tragedy that was taking place inside the city of Othre, and Manohar.
She knew his personal file inside and out. Jirni would need to consult a thesaurus to properly describe the god of healing.
"…I can't take my eyes off of him, so he has to come with me." She said cuffing Manohar to her wrist again.
"I'm here as Manohar's assistant. I belong in your group." Tista walked to Jirni's side.
"I'm here as her bodyguard. I go where she goes." Lith followed suit.
"That's not our deal!" Dorian was starting to get the Royal Constable's point.
"You are here to support the Association in whatever manner we deem necessary. Not for spending quality time with your family."
"I don't care about what you think. If I can't protect her, then our deal is off and I walk." Lith's tone didn't leave space for negotiations.
"The Army has nothing against Ranger Verhen resuming his duty." Kamila's words put the last nail in the coffin. Dorian glared at her, well aware that her role was to make the Army's best interests, even if it meant sabotaging the mission.
If Lith left, the team would lose one of its only three real players and there was only so much Lady Ernas could do while babysitting Manohar. Once brought outside the lab, he was only a liability for the mission.
"Which leaves me with an oversized team and two political lapdogs of no use." Jirni said with a sigh, making both the liaison officers turn red in embarrassment.
"I may have no magic power or any experience as an interrogator, but I've been a data analyst for almost ten years. If you give me access to Othre's interlink I'm confident I can provide you the information you need by the end of the day."
Kamila said referring to the magical network connecting the communication amulets to the various archives in the Kingdom. Bank accounts, transfers of funds, everything that left a trail of paper could be remotely accessed through the interlink.
Be they banks, merchants, or nobles, they needed to be able to explain every single dime or artifact they possessed. Otherwise, while being subjected to an investigation, everything that wasn't accounted for would be confiscated and added to the Royal Treasury.
It was one of the many reasons Royal Constables were feared.
"Who will you report your findings first? To me or to Commander Berion?" Jirni's eyes held neither trust or suspicion. She considered herself to be a good judge of character, there was only so much one could learn from a background check.
Kamila's reply was to hand Lady Ernas her army's communication amulet and then showing her civilian one which held no contact rune related to the army besides Lith's.
Jirni frowned at the sight for a split second.
"I stand corrected. One political lapdog of no use." She said while granting Kamila's civilian communication amulet access to the interlink and her contact rune before returning both communicators to her.
"Either you trust someone, or you don't." She replied to her surprised expression.
'She said it while looking at Kamila, but I'm pretty sure she was talking to me.' Lith thought.
Under the Constable questioning gaze, Dorian could only lower his eyes in shame.
"I have no skills that could be of use during the investigation." He admitted. "I'll remain here to coordinate the efforts to prove Professor Manohar's theory. If anything happens, I'll relay it to you."
"Good." Jirni nodded.
"Four people move faster than six. We need to be firm but tactful, otherwise the witnesses may turtle up and slower the investigation. This means that unless you discover something strictly relevant to the case, you are forbidden to talk. At all."
She said while glaring at Manohar, whose uninterrupted series of social blunders had become a legend throughout the Kingdom.
"Can I be cuffed to Tista instead of you, mom- I mean, ma'am? It would at least give me something nice to look at to pass time." Manohar said.
"Good point." Jirni's reply creeped Tista out. Lady Ernas dug inside one of her pockets, but instead of the key to the handcuffs, she took out a communication earpiece.
"Congratulations, kid. You have just been deputized to be my assistant too. I'll talk to the women while you'll take care of the men. Just smile a lot and repeat the words I speak to you via the earpiece. It will make our job much easier."
Lith couldn't help but chuckle at Manohar's dejected expression.
"From Healer to honey trap. This is not the career I hoped for." Tista sighed.
Her words stung at Kamila's heart, reminding her of the elephant in the room only Jirni and her were aware of.
'I can't let things fester any longer. I need to make up my mind once and for all. Career or self respect?' She walked out of the room without even say goodbye. Between Jirni's words and Kamila's reactions, Lith's paranoia was piecing together the facts.
The four of them flew from the Association to Baroness Izra's mansion. She was among the witnesses of Sir Rosen's death and one of his closest friends. The Baroness was a plump woman in her late thirties.
She had red hair, green eyes, and a gentle face full of freckles that not even her make up could completely hide. She wore a simple light green silk satin dress, emphasizing her eyes and pale skin.
Like any sane person, she was nervous while facing a Royal Constable. Her smile was forced and she couldn't stop wringing her hands.
"How can I help you, Constable Ernas?"
"I need to hear from your voice your recollection of the events prior to Sir Rosen death." Jirni smiled, trying to make the Baroness feel more comfortable. She had even switched Manohar's cuffs to Lith's wrist before entering the house.
The rattle of the chain during the questioning could easily get the suspect defensive.
"There isn't much to say." She twisted a fan made of an exotic bird's plumes between her hands. "We were just talking, mostly gossiping about our neighbors, when suddenly a blue pillar appeared from the ceiling and plummeted on the poor Rosen.
"The most dreadful thing was that we were all scared to death, whereas he was smiling and giggling like when his wife accepted his marriage proposal. We told him to get out of there, but he wouldn't listen.
"Baronet Sahg tried to grab him, but the light was as solid as a wall. There was nothing we could do."
Lith and Tista roamed the room while using Life Vision. Several weak arrays encompassed the whole house. Even with their limited knowledge about non combat magical formations, they couldn't find anything out of the ordinary.
It was just the standard set of home defenses they had seen countless times.
Chapter 437 Investigation Part 2
"I hate prying in a gentleman's personal life." Jirni lied through her teeth while still sounding so sincere that she would manage to sell sand in the desert.
"Yet we suspect that Sir Rosen's death may be related to the practice of Forbidden Magic. I need to know if something changed in his life recently. Maybe a new acquaintance? A new hobby? Anything at all?"
At the mention of the forbidden arts, even Baroness Izra's freckles turned pale.
Forbidden Magic was outlawed in all the countries of the Galen continent. The term usually referred to all kinds of spells or artifacts capable of altering the lives of their targets benefitting only their caster.
Examples of it were the slave collars or creating greater undead since both would rob a living creature of their free will. It was considered the most inhumane thing a mage could do.
The highest forms of Forbidden Magic required to use the life of others to empower spells or magical objects. Such magic could give birth to miracles, but only at the cost of many lives and posed huge risks.
Forbidden Magic was an unnatural process, that allowed subverting the laws of magic by sacrificing vast amounts of life force and mana to upset the balance. It was very powerful but also very volatile.
One tiny mistake could turn the miracle into a nightmare, just like it had happened during the creation of the Black Star. Like any kind of magic, to perfect a single spell required several attempts and each one of them could bring consequences comparable to a natural disaster.
"I know nothing of Forbidden Magic and I'm sure neither did Rosen. He wasn't a perfect man, but he would have never consorted with someone capable of such a despicable thing." The Baroness squeezed her fan so hard some of the plumes fell off.
"Interesting. What do you mean when you say he wasn't a perfect man?" Jirni's tone remained amiable even while noticing the witness tensing up in realization of the slip of her tongue.
"Well, like most of our common circle of friends, Rosen was born in a wealthy family. He never worked a day in his life, which made him easily bored. He would seek fun in the most disparate ways. Sometimes even illegal ones."
"Like what?"
"Nothing much. Brothels, clandestine fights, gambling clubs. He was just a Baronet, he hadn't much to spend without endangering the sources of his annuities."
"Interesting choice of words. So, what could he have done if he had more money?" Jirni pressed forward as her prey got more tangled up in her web the more she struggled.
"I've nothing to add!" Izra stood up. Her expression was indignant because of Jirni's allegation, but her eyes were terrified. "Now I'd like to be left alone. I'm still mourning."
"As you wish, Baroness. I'd answer my questions now, if I were you. Otherwise the next time I will not be so gentle." Jirni dropped the act like a live grenade and added a sliver of killing intent to her words to emphasize her threat.
The Baroness withstood the Constable's glare for a second before her eyes rolled up and she fell onto the ground with a thud.
"Damn! I hate it when they faint. I can't question her more aggressively without proof. Forcingly waking her up is not an option. The only silver lining is that I now have a good medical reason to have her examined."
Tista, Lith, and Manohar took turns using their diagnostic spells on the unconscious noblewoman.
"I think she and Rosen shared more than their social circle." Tista said when she was done. "I found traces of abuse of drugs and alcohol in her system, both common and magical in nature. I wouldn't be surprised if she sniffed the dust instead of sweeping it."
Lith nodded in agreement. When he had used Invigoration on the Baroness, he had noticed an unnatural thinning of her airways, which together with the heavy damage to her kidneys and liver told him a history of searching for fun in the wrong ways for an extended period of time.
"That's it?" Manohar scoffed. "I can tell you she has five years at most left. Maybe fifteen if she stops abusing from today and keeps herself clean until the end of her days."
"How do you know it?" Lith performed a second scan without finding any signs of impending death. Even Death Vision showed him that the Baroness was more likely to experience a violent death rather than organ failure or overdosing.
"A discoloration in her life force. It suffered such extensive damage to have permanently changed. Even if we cleanse her body and regenerate her organs she may not recover."
Lith used Scanner, but found no trace of the discoloration Manohar had mentioned. Only after focusing on the melody of the life force he noticed that its volume was slightly lower than usual.
'I guess he's not called the god of healing for nothing.' He thought while they left the Baroness' house and moved to the next witnesses.
Most men were so eager to impress Tista that they had no qualms in confirming the late Baronet's vices. Sometimes they would incriminate themselves while trying to flaunt their knowledge of the local underworld.
Jirni took note of everything but let them go. It was more useful to her letting them walk free.
"As soon as they realize what they have done, they will panic. I'll keep them and their communication amulets under surveillance. With a little luck they'll lead us to whoever provides them their daily dose of 'fun'."
She had just finished talking when her communication amulet buzzed.
"A merchant is currently attacking the shop of her fiercest competitor. She is known to barely have a magico level of power, yet she is displaying abilities worthy of a lesser academy mage. I think…" Dorian was cut short by Jirni's angry voice.
"Save it! Just tell me where." A holographic map of Othre appeared from her amulet, showing both Lith's group's was and the attacker's locations marked by one red dot each.
They flew to their destination, finding a whole building on fire and a tall middle-aged woman with chestnut hair who was unleashing one spell after the other against everyone who attempted to put off the flames.
There were several mages on the scene, but they followed Jirni's orders and never retaliated. They only blocked incoming spells and helped the residents to evacuate the building.
"Now this is an offer you can't refuse!" The woman said with a crazy laugh.
"One fireball for free and the second one too!" The explosions caused splinters and debris to fly everywhere. The angry merchant couldn't be damaged by her own magic, but the splinters pierced her legs, face, and torso.
Yet she seemed to be immune to pain.
"Damn! With those wounds she'll die in a few minutes and we can't even heal her." Jirni cursed. "There's no time to lose. Lith, draw her attention. I need to get close to paralyze her!"
"What about me?" Manohar complained as Jirni unlocked the handcuffs.
"I was once part of the Queen's corps, you know? Why do I get to miss all the fun?"
Jirni ignored him and circled around the frenzied merchant.
'Thank the gods wannabe mages only know how to use one element.' She inwardly sneered as Lith used fire magic to put out the flames. When she heard him chanting loudly, the woman turned around in outrage.
Unfortunately, in doing so she spotted Jirni with the corner of her eye and unleashed one lightning bolt for each of her new enemies.
'Or not!' Jirni thought.
Chapter 438 Specimen Part 1
The lightning bolts conjured by the frenzied merchant were tier one spells, but their power was on par with those produced by a tier three one. Lith was far enough from the caster to not have problems dodging the attack, whereas Jirni wasn't so lucky.
Her Royal Constable uniform was able to tank a lot of damage before she would get seriously injured, yet she couldn't afford to get hit. It was because of her orders that no one had stopped the woman from laying waste to the building.
If the target died before they captured her, it would have been all for naught. To make things worse, Jirni hadn't missed that the woman had been casting spells non stop since their arrival.
'If she gets me once, she'll keep attacking until I'm dead.' Jirni thought. She extended forward her right hand, with which she was holding in between her fingers the three needles she had planned to use to paralyze her target.
They reacted to the incoming spell by turning into lightning rods that diverted and trapped the energy making it harmless. Jirni exploited the surprise effect to get close enough to incapacitate her enemy, but the merchant reacted so fast that her movements were almost a blur.
She dodged Jirni's needles and kicked her at the same time. The woman was no fighter. Her attack was sloppy and telegraphed, allowing Jirni to jump back to significantly reduce the impact.
The kick was still too fast to avoid and so violent that it squeezed the air out of her lungs.
Lith too was in a pinch, but of a completely different kind. After extinguishing the fire, he had no idea what to do. He had countless ways of stopping the crazy merchant, but they all required him to use magic.
'I don't even know if I can get close without killing her.' He thought.
'Life Vision shows me that she is sucking even more world energy than the last psycho I fought. She might be able to feed on the mana I naturally emit as an Awakened one and die of mana poisoning because of it. Any ideas?'
'Violence is not an option.' Solus pointed out. 'If ten centimeters long blazing splinters piercing her body don't cause her any discomfort, I doubt even fractures could hinder her.
'I can block your mana flow, but that would mean no spirit nor fusion magic. You would be left with only your enhanced body as an asset.'
Lith inwardly nodded and joined the fray. Jirni was one of the few persons he really liked, maybe too much. They were so similar that it almost scared him. Mostly because he was afraid to end up like her, with a family of his own.
Yet he didn't want to lose her, nor he wanted her relatives to experience what he had went through with Carl. They were all his friends, even Orion. The merchant saw Lith's approaching and reacted accordingly.
Or at least she tried.
The gap in height, training, and physique was overwhelming. Even without fusion magic, she was moving in slow motion in Lith's eyes. His right fist struck the tip of her chin with pinpoint precision to induce a concussion that would make her faint.
The hit dislocated the jaw with a snap, but the woman kept standing. Lith followed through with a liver shot with his left that would have incapacitated a man triple her size.
The jaw fixed itself with another snap as the woman flexed her muscles turning the splinters stuck in her body into deadly projectiles. Not a single drop of blood came from the open wounds, which instantly healed.
"Light magic too? This wasn't in any report!" Jirni grunted while stopping the improvised bullets with her bare hands. They were no threat to any enchanted armor, but a single stray shot was enough to kill a civilian.
'More like a full elemental fusion.' Solus explained. 'No sense of pain, rapid healing, an endless supply of world energy. I don't think we can take her alive.'
'You are right, we can't. At least by ourselves.'
Lith cursed at his bad luck and unleashed a barrage of attacks. He adjusted their speed to make them slow enough for the merchant to see them but too fast to be dodged. Once she was focused on the defense, Jirni closed in as silent as a ghost.
She stabbed the merchant at the base of her neck with two needles, severing her spinal cord and making her fall limp like a puppet the strings of which had been cut.
"I can feel her body regenerating so fast it's rejecting my needles. I can't let go of them or we'll be back to square one. Whatever you have to do, do it now!" Jirni said.
Solus released Lith's mana flow allowing him to use Invigoration after pretending to chant a short spell. Just as he had feared during his previous encounter with another 'made mage', whatever was force feeding the woman with world energy attempted to suck his mana too.
This time Lith was prepared and true magic was all about willpower. The vortex located in the woman's mana core and Lith fought a tug of war for his mana. He had to scan the merchant's body for anomalies while preventing his energies from reaching her core.
Even with all his years of practice and the new powers his blue core granted him, it was one of the hardest things Lith had ever done. Keeping the mana from Invigoration in one place long enough for it to detect something required his utmost focus.
Whenever even a small sliver of mana slipped out of his control, he was forced to reclaim it and start everything from scratch. Seconds turned into minutes as the constant strain on Lith's mind and body wore him out.
In normal circumstances, Invigoration would constantly restore his energies. Because of the vortex, however, the world energy would get stuck between him and the merchant, unable to replenish his core.
In such a situation Lith was no different from a fake mage using a tier five spell.
"I can't do it anymore. Professor, you can give it a shot." Lith wheezed at every word, his face was pale and sweaty from the effort.
"Only use tier five spells, otherwise you'll kill her." He warned Manohar.
"You make no sense, kid. Why would one use lesser spells?" The Professor made it sound like tier four and below were just cantrips. The moment his hands finished performing the necessary hand signs, his expression changed.
Manohar felt that something was trying to steal his mana and reacted accordingly. It wasn't his first rodeo, but he had never encountered such a fierce opponent before. Suddenly Manohar didn't look arrogant, bored, or excited.
For the first time in his life, the god of healing couldn't even afford to have a stray thought. What usually came natural to him to the point of being trivial was now a demanding task.
"How long do you need? I'm getting tired." Jirni's muscles were sore from the constant strain. Tista would have liked to give her some life force, but she knew her spell would be disrupted before it could do any good.
"Don't worry, I'm done." Manohar said while pulling away from the woman. Jirni's needles blocked her body, but her face could still move. It turned into a mask of horror and pain as the Professor pulled out a yellow sphere from her abdomen killing her on the spot.
Chapter 439 Specimen Part 2
'Did he just rip her mana core out of her body?' Lith asked, incapable to believe his own eyes.
'Yes, I mean no.' Solus didn't know how to reply.
'Pick one, dammit!'
'No, he didn't. Her core was orange, not yellow. What's terrifying is that after locating the substance that generated the vortex, Manohar exploited its effects to move it all in the same spot before extracting it.
'What we have just seen was him collecting the vortex after enveloping it in several layers of life force and mana. The sphere is not her core, but it resembles it because it's made of that poor woman's life essences.'
"Did you just kill her?" Jirni had no idea what had happened, yet she knew that whatever was the answer, she wasn't going to like it.
"Of course. Because of these stupid arrays, I couldn't store the sample inside my dimensional amulet. The next best thing was to collect the sample together with enough life force to prevent it from degrading, and that's what I did." Manohar shrugged.
"A sample of what?" Jirni asked.
"Good question. There was something inside her body that allowed her to absorb mana. That's why she could cast so many spells and why those like her die when struck by a spell. It's just mana poisoning." He explained.
"Was it really necessary to kill her? I was hoping to capture her alive and have her tell us how she gained her powers."
"It would have been a waste of time." Manohar objected. "Her body was about to collapse from mana overload. This way at least we obtained something more than the ramblings of dying woman."
"What if we arrived here earlier? Would you have been able to save her then?" She asked to both Manohar and Lith.
Lith shook his head. He had been barely able to identify the presence of a foreign substance in the woman's system before almost collapsing.
"Not yet." Contrary to everyone's expectation, Manohar's usual unwavering confidence seemed to have taken a day off.
"I don't know if this is the result of a spell, an artifact, or alchemy." He said pointing at the glowing sphere floating above his left hand.
"What I'm certain of is that, after studying the sample, I'll be able to find a solution."
Lady Ernas sighed while looking at the remains of the burned building. They had risked so much and obtained scraps in return.
"Let's call it a day. You go back to the Association and find out what the heck we are dealing with. Until then, I'll instruct the city guards on how to deal with the 'made mages' in case another attack happens."
Lith, Tista, and Manohar did as instructed. With a new toy at hand, Manohar wouldn't leave his lab until he found a solution to the enigma. They spent the rest of the afternoon studying the sample.
There wasn't enough to conduct a complete analysis but what they found was disturbing at best. The magical components of the unknown substance were all too degraded to be recognized.
All but one.
A small piece of human tissue that was able to grow as long as it was able to feed on mana.
"Fascinating. This is indeed Forbidden Magic, just as I predicted." Manohar said while placing it inside a locked array isolating it from the world energy. The specimen was surrounded by mana crystals that would provide it enough energy to live, but not enough to grow.
"Please! You also said that it was about a cursed object. Whatever that is, it's not an object." Tista mocked him.
"Maybe I'm wrong." Manohar pronounced the last word as if it was the worst insult he had ever heard. "And maybe not. We'll resume tomorrow."
He would have liked to continue, but he couldn't afford to be late for curfew. Jirni didn't trust him enough to leave him unsupervised and alone with such a potentially dangerous specimen.
Once Tista and Lith left for dinner, he was forced to leave the lab as well.
"By the way, why you didn't buy a tent for your travels? That way you could always sleep, mana geyser or not. That or maybe you could make yourself an artifact." Tista asked.
"I wish it was that simple." Lith sighed.
"I'm paranoid, so forgive me if a wall made of cloth doesn't make me feel safe. I could set up an array, but my knowledge about non combat formations is limited. Even if I learned one, to make it last a whole night I would need a lot of mana crystals.
"Otherwise it would crumble after a few hits. Don't let me started about an artifact. The best I can do right now is replicating my own equipment. I lack the knowledge and the experience necessary for realizing such a thing.
"I might as well throw my money into the gutter. It would be much quicker and I'd obtain the same results."
"Do you think Kamila will be angry because of my babbling? I kind of messed up big time this morning."
"You sure did." Lith's tone turned sour.
After dinner, Tista went to sleep in her own room while Lith decided to stay up.
He was a bit worried since Kamila had yet to arrive and he knew that something was wrong. Even with all of Tista's blunders, Kamila had been too tense and distant compared to her usual self.
It was only an hour later that she finally returned to the hotel. Her smile was forced and she looked like she was close to exhaustion.
"Do you want to order something for dinner?" Lith had a vague idea about what was happening, but didn't want to pressure her to talk.
"Yes, please. I'm starving." She replied without looking him in the eyes.
They spent the time before and during her meal making small talk about how they had spent their day. Lith avoided mentioning the dead woman or the living tissue since the mood was already gloom as it was.
"I don't think there is a nice way to put this, so I'll just say it." Kamila said while Lith poured her a cup of tea. The nicer he was to her, the worst she felt.
"I think we should slow down things a bit. Maybe take a bit of time to think about our relationship. Is it okay with you?" She said in one breath, trying to relieve the burden she felt oppressing her chest.
"Absolutely not." Lith blurted out a bit too fast for his own liking. "I mean, I'll respect whatever decision you'll take, but… why? Is it because of what Tista said?"
"No. Of course not." She chuckled while remembering that silly conversation. Both her smile and her laugh made Lith sigh in relief.
"Then why?"
"It's complicated." She had spent every minute she was away from her desk trying to make up her mind, but to no avail.
"Complicated as in 'I don't want to talk about it' or more like 'I don't know what to do'?" Lith hated riddles. He preferred to be blunt rather than to be left hanging.
"Both." Kamila replied not knowing what to say.
Chapter 440 Meat Puppet Part 1
Lith pondered for a while, thinking about why Kamila would have had such a change of heart so quickly. He remembered that she had never explained why she had been sent to Othre to him.
His only real clues were Jirni's words about trusting Kamila and how she had reacted to them.
"I'm aware we've known each other for barely two weeks and that you have no real reason to trust me." Lith said.
"So, if you need some space because something happened in your personal life, just tell me and I will not pry any further. Yet if someone from the army is pressuring you about our relationship, then I think I have the right to know.
"Because it wouldn't be just your problem, but our problem. You shouldn't be forced to shoulder such a burden alone. Whatever this is about, know that I'll not be part of your life unless you want me to be."
Lith's words struck a nerve. Kamila's eyes wandered around the room, almost hoping she would receive a sign from the heavens, or at least find a way out of her predicament. She stared at the door for a second before looking him in the eyes.
'I can't run away from my problems forever.' She thought. 'If I'm right and Commander Berion sent me here as his pawn, I should've been nice to Lith, smiled a lot, and even slept with him to further the Commander's agenda.
'That's not who I want to be nor how I want to make my way up the army's ranks. Maybe Lith isn't as good as he appears, but at least he has been honest so far. If I have to live like a puppet, I might as well have never run away from my family.
'I won't sell my dignity out of fear, I owe myself that much.'
Kamila did her best not to tremble as she told him about her conversation with Berion before being dispatched to Othre. Yet she failed. She was in an impossible situation where she had been forced to either lose her job, which had been the only safe harbor in her life, or herself.
Lith listened without saying a word nor trying to comfort her.
"So now I'm screwed no matter what I do. If I put any distance between us, the Commander will understand I'm not playing ball and punish me. If I stay with you, I will always ask myself if I'm doing it because I want to give us a chance or just because I'm too afraid to disobey."
She didn't cry, and her voice remained firm. Yet seeing her anguish made Lith feel some guilt, but mostly, he was angry. He took a few deep breaths to calm down and assess the situation with Solus.
Only then did he tell her about the dead woman, the living tissue sample, and his doubts about Manohar's theory.
"Why are you telling me all this?" She asked.
"Because it's what I would have told you anyway as my handler. I didn't mention it before only because I noticed that the woman I hope will become my girlfriend was feeling down, and I didn't want to spoil her dinner with gory details." He replied.
"I didn't mean to hide anything from you. I know how important your job is to you. Maybe you should wear a double sided nametag, so I know when I'm talking with Kamila and when I'm talking to my handler." He smiled at his own joke.
"Thanks, I'll think about it." Her lips curved up into a light smile as he placed one hand above her shoulder. She grabbed it, appreciating its warmth.
At that moment, she was grateful for many things. To Lith for not getting angry with her, for continuing to talk about "them" in the present tense instead of the past, and for just being there for her instead of making promises he couldn't keep.
It wasn't much, but at the moment it was all she had. Most of all, Kamila was grateful to herself for finding the courage to do the right thing. Her future was still scary, but no matter what would happen, she would be able to face it head-on.
***
The next morning Kamila and Lith woke up almost at the same time. The suite had more than one bedroom, which allowed them to sleep separately.
'With my luck, it's only a matter of time before stuff starts to blow up in my face. I need to rest every night so that Invigoration retains its maximum efficiency.' He thought.
'I keep thinking about that thing Manohar found inside the made mage.' Solus tried to keep his mind off Kamila's situation. She could easily relate to Lith's feelings.
Both of them carried a deep sadness inside that was only aggravated by the constant feelings of isolation haunting them. Lith because of all of his secrets, Solus because she had no life of her own.
Over time, it had become as much a part of their bodies as the mana that flowed through them.
'Why give someone magical powers? Especially if they would be equally dangerous to their user as they are to those around them.'
To Solus, Lith replied: 'Off the top of my head, to create chaos, to give birth to artificial Awakened ones, or to test a Forbidden Spell on lab rats before using it on yourself. It's what I would do.'
The discussion had just gone from theoretical to disturbing in less than one second. Solus knew all too well how serious Lith was when talking about such things. In his mind, he was now killing Berion over and over for messing with his life.
Luckily, before his vivid imagination could direct a full slasher movie, Tista knocked on the door.
"Sorry to bother you, guys, but with all the disgusting things that happened yesterday, I either need some company or I need to skip breakfast. Between old creeps and Manohar, my poor stomach is still doing flips." She noticed that both beds were unmade.
"How is my favorite mistress? I could have used some of your dazzling smiles my brother is always talking about yesterday." Tista had no idea what was wrong between them. A slight sense of guilt made her attempt to remedy her previous blunders.
"What do you mean, mistress?" Kamila chuckled. She was happy to have some company. Being alone with Lith was a bit awkward between what had happened and what hadn't happened last night.
He had agreed to let her sleep in the suite to not alert Berion that she wasn't going to play by his rules and give her some time to think.
Tista explained to her how she usually deceived people into believing that she was Lith's wife to avoid being bothered.
"Some are brave enough to face a brother's glare, but a husband is much scarier." She winked.
"So, to keep the masquerade going, I booked my room under your name and now the hotel staff thinks you are his mistress. You charging in here made quite an impression yesterday." Kamila blushed a little and laughed heartily.
'Oh, gods! That's why the receptionist looked at me funnily. Tista sure has a talent for embarrassing me.' Yet the more time she spent with the two siblings, the less alone she felt.
Chapter 441 Meat Puppet Part 2
The group spent the morning interrogating more witnesses, but neither Jirni's wits nor Tista's charm managed to find anything that could further the investigation.
"Embezzlement, illegal gambling, fencing. All things that would make today a field day if they weren't completely irrelevant for the task at hand!" Jirni cursed in frustration.
To add insult to injury, no made mage had appeared since they had defeated the merchant the previous day. It left them with only one shot at cracking the mystery behind the specimen still stored inside the quarantine array.
"Did you learn anything useful from that meatball?" She asked Manohar.
"Many things. First, keeping it alive requires a steady supply of mana and flesh. Second, it uses part of the mana to convert the flesh it consumes into its own and the rest gets stored somehow. Third…"
"Lith?" She cut him short, since Manohar seemed unable to understand the "useful" part.
"Not much. We know that whoever made it is a genius and that they employ Forbidden Magic. So far we have no clue about its purpose or how to track its source." He replied, making her sigh.
"There isn't much we can do right now. You three get back to the lab and please bring me good news. Mage Felhorn and I have been summoned by Marquis Lanza, Othre's ruler. He doesn't seem too happy with our results."
"Did he really expect us to solve the case in one day? Why not also demand that we turn hay into gold while he is at it?" Tista said sarcastically.
"Before our arrival, he was the one the Crown held accountable for the ongoing crisis. I guess the old coot is eager to put the blame on us and wash his hands of the problem. Keep me posted, I'll do the same."
***
Once they reached the Marquis' office, both Jirni and Dorian had a clear idea of what to expect.
"So much for your experts, Felhorn. In less than 24 hours they managed to ruin months of my hard work! The Crown will be informed of it and believe me, they will not be pleased." Lanza said while smoothing his black mustaches.
The Marquis was a man in his late fifties, around 1.67 meters (5'6") tall, with greying black hair and a wide belly that was a testament to his love for good food. Despite the cold weather and an open window, he was sweating profusely.
His vast amount of excess body fat helped Lady Ernas to make up her mind.
'Today I'll have roasted pork for lunch.' She thought while pondering which side dish was better suited for her meal while she pretended to listen to his rants.
"At least while I supervised the investigation, the collateral damage while handling the made mages was minimal. You allowed a single one to burn down a whole building in broad daylight! Do you have any idea how many lives you have destroyed? Or the panic you have caused?" He lied through his teeth.
Made mages had done plenty of damage already, and their victims' body count had reached the double digits. The only differences with the Marquis's crisis management were that the made mages would die at the first spell and the victims would be forced into silence.
"Winter is coming and I have six families that have lost everything, without even a place to live. Merchants came to me claiming the fire has destroyed hundreds of silver coins worth of merchandise. Who is going to pay for that?" The Marquis' voice was outraged, but his grin told another story.
'The bigger their failure, the more negligible mine will appear in comparison.' He thought.
"The Association will cover all the expenses." Dorian said with a nod of his head.
'I bet a good part of that money will end up his pockets.' Was what he actually thought.
"It's the least you can do." The Marquis said.
"Your incompetence has caused incalculable losses to Othre's establishments. Now everyone knows about made mages. People are so scared that they prefer to stay at home all day rather than risk their lives.
"Even my poor Mynna had to cancel the weekly gala we host in our home because not one of our friends is willing to attend!"
"I know you are upset, father, but you're being unfair to these people." Mynna walked into the room, followed closely by a housemaid.
She was a stunning young woman in her early twenties, with light chestnut hair and blue eyes. Mynna was as tall as her father, wearing a skin-tight yellow evening dress that emphasized her soft curves.
'What the heck?' Mynna's arrival interrupted Jirni's internal debate about the best suited wine to accompany her lunch. 'They seem like they were pulled out of the "The beauty and the pig" fable. The only reasonable explanation is that she is adopted.'
"Between people going missing on a daily basis and the blue pillars reaping our peers, most of the members of our social circle left Othre weeks ago. Even our friends don't trust your skills. Mage Felhorn deserves the benefit of the doubt!"
Mynna said with an angry tone.
'Definitely adopted.' Jirni thought.
"But pumpkin…" The Marquis turned beet red from embarrassment.
"No buts, father! Have you told them about Count Xolver?" She cut him short.
"No, he didn't. Why do you think he should have?" Jirni asked.
"Count Xolver is a lunatic. He is the only one in his family that was born without a shred of magic power. He's always been obsessed with the dream of becoming as powerful as his siblings.
"He wasted a small fortune to pay mages, Alchemists, and every charlatan that promised him they could boost his talent for magic. When I heard about common people suddenly turning into powerful mages, he was the first suspect that came to my mind.
"Yet my father never listened to me because the Xolver household is among his most loyal retainers!"
"Watch your mouth, young miss!" The Marquis seemed to have regained his spunk.
"I will not allow you to berate your father or our dear friends solely because you have no pity for an unfortunate gentleman. Go to your room, now!"
Mynna and the housemaid left the Marquis office, but not before the young lady 'accidentally' bumped into the Marquis' desk and spilled an inkwell over his documents. Hours of hard work were gone in an instant, and so was Mynna.
Jirni and Dorian ignored Lonza's desperate pleas for help and followed the young miss outside the office to obtain more details about the Count.
***
Meanwhile, in the Mage Association's underground lab, the three healers kept studying the living tissue. The moment they had removed it from the quarantine array, it had resumed its growth.
It kept getting bigger with each piece of game they were forced to feed it while they performed their tests.
"I think it would be a good idea to seal it again." Tista said. "Its growth rate is much faster than yesterday. Something is very wrong."
"Nonsense." Manohar replied. "The more specimen we have, the more experiments we can perform. Without a host this thing is powerless. A good healer is always cautious but never afraid of the unknown."
Just as Manohar had finished talking, the living tissue that now was as big as a small dog, started to writhe and twist until it assumed a humanoid shape made only of veins and muscles.
"…of the unknown." Its pseudo mouth echoed with a voice that sounded identical to the Professor's.
While Manohar performed a tier five spell at breakneck speed to place the sample back inside the quarantine array, the living tissue shapeshifted again.
Chapter 442 Thing Part 1
The new form the living tissue had assumed was that of a featureless human head with a slender neck which ended with the outline of a left shoulder. It would have reminded Lith of a broken mannequin, if it weren't for its glowing blue eyes.
"This is bad." He said. "I can't be sure of it, but the only time I've seen blue eyes was during Necromancy classes. If I'm right and the principle is the same, we're being watched."
The head's lips curled into a smile, confirming Lith's suspicions. Manohar had completed his spell, but nothing happened.
"Fascinating. Remote control despite the Association's arrays." The Professor took the enchanted tray the specimen was set upon, to seal it inside the quarantine array again.
Suddenly, thin tendrils of flesh emerged from the severed neck and shoulder, wrapping around his arms.
Nothing happened, again.
"And?" Manohar grinned at the thing's surprised expression. The tendrils let go of his arms and went straight for his face, but a thin barrier of light surrounding Manohar prevented them from touching his skin.
"As I said, without a host you are powerless. You're not the first pest I've faced. I was just testing the limits of this form of yours."
"You really are just as annoying and arrogant as they say you are." The head replied with a soft, feminine voice that was identical to Tista's. "Let's see how you respond to this…"
Tista and Lith stepped back while pretending to cast a fake magic spell. Manohar, on the other hand, didn't budge.
"You're just wasting my time. The door is closed, I've protected the three of us, and I'll not let my specimen die. You…"
"Please, Professor, let go of me! Help! Somebody help me!" The face screamed with a terrified crying voice.
As usual, Tista had made quite an impression on the mages standing guard outside the lab, just as Manohar did for completely different reasons. As soon as they heard Tista screaming for help, they assumed the worst and opened the door while calling for reinforcements.
"Told you he is a creep! You owe me twenty copper coins!" Mage Trewan said to his partner, Mage Assa.
"Close the door, you dimwits! Can't you see I'm busy?" Manohar yelled in outrage.
The thing had shapeshifted again, assuming Tista's features and melting the half of the face not exposed to the guards. The melted flesh formed a naked shoulder and a part of an arm.
Its tendrils were still clinging to Manohar's body despite his best efforts to get free of the living tissue without damaging the specimen. So what the guard saw was a half-naked young woman whose body was covered by the Professor's ample robe screaming for help.
"Help me! He tried to rape me!" The head sobbed, sending the two guards into a frenzy. They didn't even notice the real Tista standing a few meters back staring in horror at her doppelganger.
"Nice try, but no one is dumb enough to believe…" Manohar was cut short by two massive high-pressured wind blows that sent him crashing against a nearby column and made him lose consciousness.
It was the tier three Soft Blast, a non-lethal air magic spell devised in case of hostage situations. It all happened so fast that Tista and Lith barely had any time to react. The head sprung from Manohar's body and bolted toward the now shocked guards.
Lith attempted to catch it with spirit magic while Tista conjured a ten centimeters (4") thick wall of earth to stop its advance. As soon as it perceived the pressure from the mana tendrils, the thing split itself into smaller pieces to escape from them and charged toward the barrier.
The smaller bits remained stuck inside Tista's spell, but the impact created several cracks and weakened its structure enough to allow the two biggest fragments to reach the other side of the wall.
'How the heck can they be so powerful?' Lith thought while staring in awe at the broken barrier.
'That thing is full to the brim with world energy. The merchant first and our experiments later allowed it to feed to its heart content. Do you remember Manohar's words? Half the mana was stored all along.' Solus explained.
Tista didn't waste time and made the wall implode, destroying all the fragments still stuck inside it and clearing their line of sight all at once. Sadly, it was too late.
The living tissue had turned the mages into its hosts and was merging the two bodies into one.
'Fuck! We can kiss our specimen goodbye.' Lith cursed the unknown enemy. 'That thing made a magico as strong as a mage. I can't afford to discover what it can do to someone with a decent core.'
'The guards both had bright green cores.' Solus thought. 'I have no idea how two mana cores in one body will interact, but based on what happened earlier, it should be like fighting a blue cored mage.'
"Tista, I'll hit high, you hit low we must…" In the heat of the battle, Lith had completely forgotten that his sister had never seen an Abomination, one of Balkor's undead, or any of the monstrosities which had been his bread and butter for years.
Tista was pale as a ghost, incapable of averting her gaze from the bodies of the two mages as they were twisted inside out. Their bones snapped and merged forming thicker limbs.
Their flesh writhed and bulged, spurting blood whenever a blood vessel proved incapable of sustaining the increased pressure just to be mended a split second later.
Lith looked at Manohar, still on the floor with a small pool of blood forming under his head.
"We don't have much time left." Said the left head using Lith's own voice.
"Let's play." Said the right one, accomplishing the unbelievable task of making Manohar's voice even more annoying.
***
Count Lanza's Mansion.
"Your allegations could put Count Xolver in some serious trouble. What makes you so certain that he could be the one behind the made mages?" Jirni asked.
"You don't know him like I do." Even if the corridor outside her father's office was pleasantly warm, Mynna Lanza shivered while recalling their shared past.
"Arik has always been envious of anyone capable of lighting a fire without matches. He's not just talentless, he can't even use chore magic. Over the years, envy turned into hate, it's gotten to the point that he has forbidden his staff to use magic.
The last time I visited him Arik almost whipped a butler to death for conjuring a glass of water." Her beautiful blue eyes turned watery. "He was yelling like a lunatic, babbling about restoring his honor. He had a feverish look in his eyes, like he'd become insane."
"Thanks for your help. I assure you we'll pay Arik Xolver a visit." Jirni said.
At those words, Mynna gave them a curtsy with a look full of gratitude before taking her leave. The housemaid accompanying Mynna hesitated before following her ladyship.
Jirni hadn't missed how the housemaid had kept staring at her Constable badge during the whole conversation, nor that she had bitten her lower lip more than once to stop herself from speaking.
Lady Ernas caught up with her before she could disappear around the corner and grabbed her by the shoulder.
"Is there anything you would like to add, miss?" Jirni asked.
The housemaid turned around nervously, making sure no one was in sight before answering.
"Please, don't listen to the Marquis. He's only telling you half of the story."
Chapter 443 Thing Part 2
The housemaid introduced herself as Hessie from Namar. She was a plump woman in her mid-forties, with brown hair and eyes of the same color. Her maid uniform covered her from neck to toes.
It consisted of a black dress with a full skirt and a white smock apron.
"I'm Lady Lanza's personal maid, it's my duty to serve and follow her." Hessie had a high pitched voice, which fear made it sound almost childish despite her age.
"Her ladyship and her father have quarreled several times because he has falsified the numbers of missing people for months before the Association took charge of the problem."
"That would explain why we underestimated the seriousness of the situation until it was too late" Dorian pondered. "This information may help us to incriminate him later, but right now we have other priorities. I'm really sorry."
His eyes were sincere and he meant those words, but there was nothing he could do.
"No, you don't understand. The problem's not only that people disappear, but also that some come back." Hessie's eyes dilated from fear, her voice trembled to the point she started stuttering.
"One of my neighbors, mister Roza, went missing a month ago. He returned a week later, saying he had left Othre for a job he had been hired to do. Yet he wore the same clothes that he disappeared in and he was as broke as the day he left."
"I'm sorry, but I fail to see the relevance of your neighbor to our investigation." Jirni said with a kind tone.
"I know this will sound crazy," Hessie stuttering got even worse. "but ever since people started going missing, everyone in my neighborhood is afraid to leave their homes late at night. Odd folks with glowing blue eyes walk around the streets.
"Once, I watched outside my window and I noticed several of them moving towards the old temple. I could swear that mister Roza was among them."
Jirni took note of everything Hessie said just to be polite and reassured her they would look into it. The housemaid gave them a deep bow and left in a hurry to catch up with Mynna.
"Have you heard this nonsense before?" Jirni asked Dorian once they left the Lanza household.
"Many times." He nodded.
"It's related to an old legend about a necromancer that would send his revenants to capture people for his experiments. Whenever there is a draught, a bad harvest, or even a harsh winter, the people of Othre start claiming that blue-eyed creatures are responsible. I…"
Suddenly their communication amulets received a call at the same time. According to Dorian's secretary, there was something wrong with the underground lab.
***
Unlike Treius, the thing didn't wait to be fully formed before attacking. As soon as it finished its taunt, the creature jumped toward Lith with a maniacal laughter. At the moment it was a humanoid skinless creature, about 2 meters (7') tall with two heads, four arms, and two legs.
The flesh and muscles were laid bare as they rearranged themselves to fit the new body. Veins as thick as a finger ran from its exposed twin hearts to its six limbs. They pulsed with a steady rhythm despite the frenzied assault the creature was performing.
Its first set of arms was human-like, while the second one had been fused with part of the legs of the second guard.
The result was a pair of deformed arms coming out of the creature's shoulders, that ended in hands as big as coffee tables. Each hand only had three fingers that resembled the talons of a huge bird of prey.
Thanks to Life Vision, Lith could see that, just like a made mage, the creature was now generating a vortex to suck all the world energy from its surroundings.
'Idiot!' He inwardly sneered while conjuring a stone pillar from the ground which struck the creature while it was still in mid-air.
'The vortex can grant you endless mana, but it also absorbs mine. One spell is all that it takes to kill you by poisoning your core!'
'No, not really.' Solus pointed out. 'The moment you cast your spell the vortex disappeared. Whoever is controlling that creature can switch the vortex on and off at will.'
The creature ripped the pillar off the ground with its deformed arms and used it as a mace trying to squash Lith.
"Tista, snap out of it!" He yelled while dodging with a roll. The pillar came down smashing the table full of expensive equipment they had used until a minute ago. Shards of wood, glass, and stone flew across the room.
If not for their enchanted armors, only Lith would have survived the rain of deadly projectiles thanks to his enhanced physique. Tista only felt a prick on her skin, but it was enough to make her regain her cool.
"Hang on, I…" She tried to speak, but Lith interrupted her.
"Watch out! Remember the eyes and watch out for its chanting!"
'Why my first monster has to be this hard?' Tista cursed her bad luck.
'I must always pretend to chant and use hand signs because even if we kill it, the puppeteer will survive. I can't blow up our cover.'
The creature split what was left of the pillar in half, the room was too small for such a huge weapon. A simple earth spell turned the rocks into clubs, which the creature swung around displaying a level of mastery that sent shivers down Lith's spine.
One mouth kept laughing as the other one was chanting a spell while the human-like arms performed the hand signs.
'The silver lining of this nightmare is that at least we are not fighting an Awakened one!' Lith thought wielding the Gatekeeper with one hand while performing hand signs with the other one.
"A Mage Knight?" The first head stopped laughing from surprise. "That wasn't in your file!"
Lith didn't bother replying and charged forward instead. The Knight Mage tier four spell, Full Guard, enveloped his body with a spherical blue aura with a radius of 1.65 meters (5.41 feet).
Thanks to Full Guard, he had no blind spots. Whatever entered the sphere would be detected, allowing Lith to strike and dodge without looking.
'I can't use fusion magic whereas with its four arms mister Carpenter here has no trouble casting and fighting at the same time. I need all the advantages I can get.' Lith thought.
Even if the situation was dire, Lith's name of choice for the creature made Solus chuckle.
'You are insane. You know that, right?' She said while using all of her senses to find a way to quickly kill the Carpenter.
'I would have died years ago if I was any saner.' Lith replied as he also conjured a tower shield made of ice and earth to block the enemy's tier four Lightning spell. Mage Knight's spells only required one hand and had a short cast time compared to other specializations.
Their major downside was the very short area of effect, but in such an enclosed space it didn't matter
Lith had trained with Phloria countless times, he knew the basic spells of her specialization like the back of his hand. The Carpenter's left arm tried to block his advance, but Lith needed just a thought to send the tower shield intercepting the attack.
The right arm swung its club with inhuman speed as the left one swatted the shield like a fly, shattering it into frozen pebbles. Lith managed to dodge by a hair's breadth, but was quickly forced on defense.
The Carpenter roared in triumph while it was driving Lith into a corner with its superior physical prowess and technique. The creature would finish him as soon as its next spell was ready.
Chapter 444 Blue Pillars Part 1
While dodging the clubs' swings that were raining on him non stop, Lith still couldn't believe how things had escalated quickly. When the specimen had proved to be able to shapeshift, he had prepared contingency spells to restrain or contain it, not kill it.
It was their only lead and it was seemingly harmless. It could change its appearance, but not create weapons nor use magic, which together with Manohar's light barrier's protection made it nothing more than a creepy talking head.
Lith had hoped that whoever was controlling the flesh puppet, would say something that he could use to find the real source of the made mages.
He would have never expected the guards to believe that something could happen to Tista on his watch, nor that Manohar could be so arrogant to not have prepared any kind of protection for himself.
Lith had seen the Professor ready another spell, but Manohar had been so focused on the specimen to not even glance at the wannabe heroes.
'Humans' stupidity never ceases to amaze me.' He thought while rolling under one of the deformed arms and striking with the Gatekeeper at the human hands, disrupting the spell.
'Its behavior doesn't make sense.' Solus was dumbfounded as well. 'If its aim was destroying the specimen, then it could have just self destructed. If it wanted to escape, why ignore the open door? What does it gain by fighting us?'
Lith was too busy avoiding to get cornered to even try to find a proper answer. The creature was physically stronger than him and its fighting skills were better than most of his instructors demonstrated when he had trained in the army.
'If this person is so good while controlling a makeshift body that wields improvised weapons, I don't think I could win against their real body without going all out.'
Meanwhile, Tista had finished healing Manohar and was waiting for the right moment to strike. Her eyes were brimming with mana because of Life Vision.
'Why it doesn't activate the vortex?' She thought. 'Lith can't focus on a spell as long they are so close, but I can. Spirit magic is invisible to fake mages and I've conjured enough to kill it in one go.
'Without the vortex, though, it would just give it a strong blow and reveal our ace in the hole.'
Much to everyone's surprise, the Carpenter was getting weaker by the second. Most of the accumulated mana was spent and a green core couldn't sustain its abilities for long, not without the vortex's boost.
'Before attacking, the creature said something about not having much time left. Maybe the vortex has some limitations we are still unaware of.' Solus pondered.
Lith grunted as he deflected the stone club coming from his left. He then raised the Gatekeeper while switching to a two-handed grip before chopping off the deformed hand at the wrist's level.
The Carpenter's movements were getting sluggish. It tried to reattach the hand with tendrils of flesh, but the darkness magic the Gatekeeper was infused with was corrupting the hand faster than the creature could regenerate it.
"Seems I have underestimated you a bit." The creature said with Manohar's voice while taking several steps back. Both heads were wheezing, gasping for air.
Lith didn't let it get away. He kept close to the creature while swinging the Gatekeeper. With its only arm left, the Carpenter couldn't keep up with him. The bastard sword was infused with darkness magic and with each hit the creature's vitality dwindled.
Yet its mouths continued grinning. The vortex reappeared, sucking all the world energy in its surroundings and filling the Carpenter with new energy. Its wounds closed, even the stump started regrowing a new hand.
Tista unleashed all the spirit magic she had accumulated while Lith stepped back and conjured some of his own. The Carpenter's heads kept their eyes on the siblings, ready to shut down the vortex the moment they cast a spell or activated a magic ring.
Yet nothing happened.
'How disappointing. They are both frozen in terror. This has been a waste of…' The creature's train of thought was cut short by a massive amount of foreign mana flooding its system.
The Carpenter stopped the vortex, but it was too late. Lith's could only produce filaments on such short notice, but Tista's spirit magic had been densely packed. Her mana reached the creature's green core, degrading it quickly to yellow and then to orange.
The Carpenter laughed despite the pain, still looking around for the source of the attack.
"Brilliant! I didn't even notice you setting up this trap." The creature while staring at Tista. "Too bad it's not enough!"
The Carpenter reactivated the vortex, uncaring of the consequences. The moment Solus informed Lith that the creature's core was down to red, he resumed his attack. Even under the effect of mana poisoning, the creature's muscles were still growing, its wounds healing.
Lith unleashed all of his rings and the creature sucked the spells just as he expected.
'Grey and fading, now!' Solus gave him his cue.
The moment the Carpenter's eyes stopped glowing, Lith used fire, air, and water fusion on himself with all the strength the had left. His movements turned into a blur, each slash was perfectly chained to the following one with no delay thanks to water fusion.
Lith was like a human blender, even Tista couldn't follow the Gatekeeper's speed. The only thing she could see was a flash of light each time a part of the Carpenter flew away.
First Lith decapitated both heads with a horizontal slash while jumping. Then, he adjusted the blade's angle and while falling down he amputated the creature's right arms.
The moment Lith touched the floor, he changed stance again. He pivoted on his feet, chopping both legs at once while spinning on himself. Lastly, he used the momentum for removing the left arms with an upward slash as he returned facing the creature.
When the second green core went online, the Carpenter was still full to the brim with mana. Unluckily, being limbless it could do nothing as Lith stabbed the chest and flooded it with darkness magic until it turned to dust.
"Two assimilated guards, hence two cores." He explained to Tista's disgusted look. "Rule number one, never stop until the monster is…"
He was about to wipe out the Carpenter's remains when a blue pillar descended from the sky and pushed him away, like he was just a speck of dust. Under their astonished gazes, the pillar enveloped their enemy and sucked away all the mana it contained.
'What the heck? This isn't at all like when a magical beast evolves, nor like when I refined the blue mana core. It feels empty, like Kaduria after I destroyed the Black Star. Could it be…' Lith's reasoning was interrupted by several mages storm the lab.
What they saw was a bloodbath where the living tissue had assimilated the guards, Manohar lying unconscious on the ground in a pool of his own blood, and most of the lab equipment trashed.
The colleagues they had come to help were nowhere to be seen, whereas Lith and Tista were standing unscathed.
"Nobody moves!" Screamed Thane, the Great Mage leading the backup unit.
"Drop the sword and get on your knees, now! If you so much as to say a single word, I'll not hesitate to put you down."
Chapter 445 Blue Pillars Part 2
City of Othre, unknown location.
'What the heck?' The one controlling the Carpenter remained mildly amused discovering that their creature was incapacitated.
'It takes barely more than one second to switch the main body after the first one becomes poisoned. The little bastard must have saved a tier four, if not even five, magical ring for the grand finale.
'Otherwise the Ranger had no way to deal that much damage in such a short amount of time.' They reviewed the whole fight, assessing each team member's threat level.
'Playing with them was the right choice. Manohar is just as dangerous as they say he is. No one has ever managed to extract one of my puppies from its host before. I've spent a long time to make sure it's something impossible to do, yet he pulled it off at the first attempt.
'He even managed to neutralize its assimilation abilities after less than a day worth of study. There's no telling what he could discover if they catch another made mage and I can't hope for the same trick to work twice.
'I need to find out the weak point Manohar exploited, or the next time they could stop me.' Yet instead of being worried about their plan being ruined, they smiled instead.
'It's refreshing finally meeting a worthy opponent. Fooling Constables and leading Healers by the nose becomes boring after a while. He seems the kind of man that would gladly join me, I need just to…'
When they noticed that the sun was about to set, they were forced to interrupt their plans and prepare for the evening.
'Dammit, I shouldn't have chosen this ridiculous body. Between family and servants, I have barely the time to collect mana from my puppies. My next alias will be someone inconspicuous and with much fewer responsibilities.'
***
Tista and Lith had a hard time explaining they had nothing to do with the two guards' disappearance. It was the first time for her seeing two humans die in such a gruesome way. Compared to the Carpenter, even the Fallen races looked cute and cuddly.
As for Lith, being found with a bloodstained blade while standing right in front of a pile of ashes made him the prime suspect. Their situation improved the moment Great Mage Thane checked Manohar condition and discovered he was fit as a fiddle.
Unluckily, things took a turn for the worse when he woke up.
"Idiots! Because of those idiots, I've lost a unique specimen!" He yelled in a temper tantrum.
"Not to mention your life." Lith was serving a tee spiked with a strong liquor hoping to calm the mind of those present.
"Who cares about my life? I mean, I survived far worse." Manohar corrected himself once he realized he was the one they were talking about.
"If those incompetent fools weren't already reduced to dust, I would raise them from the dead just to have the pleasure to kill them myself!"
"How dare you?" After Manohar, Thane too spilled most of his tea.
"Trewan and Assa were good men! Trewan had a wife and two small children. They died because of your crazy research. What I'm going to say to Trewan's wife?"
"That he should have followed his colleague's example and not spread his idiocy to the future generations!"
Lith and Kamila took good care of Tista while the two men quarreled like children. Tista was still in shock. Even covered by multiple blankets, she kept shivering with cold.
"Does this kind of things happen often to you?" Once the adrenaline rush from the fight had faded, she turned pale as a ghost.
"Gods, no. Aside from Balkor's thralls I've never met a monster like that. If you start traveling like I do, though, sometimes you're bound to see people die." He shrugged, drawing to himself a reproachful stare from Kamila.
"No, he is right." Tista drank a big gulp of liquid courage. "I don't plan on playing tourist. I'd rather hear the truth, scary as it may be, instead of lies that could coddle my feelings and get me killed."
Soon Tista fell asleep despite the two mages yelling at each other. After Jirni and Dorian returned from the Marquis' house Lith shared his doubts with them.
"As I told to Great Mage Thane, we witnessed a blue pillar. What I have left out is that, after it vanished, the surroundings were almost devoid of mana, just like Kaduria after I destroyed the Black Star.
"If my hypothesis is right, it means that someone is stealing huge amounts of world energy, just like the Black Star did. The process is faulty, though. The vessels can hold only for a limited amount of time, after which the energy dissipates in the form of a light pillar."
"Are you crazy? Why did you hide such an important detail?" Dorian said.
"Because this could mean that Manohar is right. Someone is using people to harvest mana, and only a cursed object or worse could require so many sacrifices." Lith explained, making the Professor grin with pride.
"Thane questioned us in front of his unit. If I told him the truth, one of them might have preferred to lose his job but save his family and the news would leak. If people think that Othre is going to become the next lost city, panic will kill thousands.
Also, until we don't learn what's actually happening, we can't risk spreading those critters to the rest of the Kingdom."
"Interesting." Jirni mulled over his words. "Yet now I'm the one who thinks cursed objects have nothing to do with this story. Didn't you say that the creature had glowing blue eyes?"
Jirni told them about the two new leads they had gotten from Marquis' Lanza home.
"I just know the basics of lesser necromancy, but I don't think this is the work of a Necromancer." Lith shook his head. "The vessels are all living beings, and so was the specimen. Sounds more like Forbidden Magic to me."
"Maybe the blue eyes are just the sign of a mage's will controlling their creation, and maybe not." Jirni replied. "I'll request the Forbidden Magic and Necromancy department to provide us all the information available on the matter.
"If what Hessie told us is true, then the made mages, the blue pillars, and the missing people are all the work of the same person."
Chapter 446 Search Part 1
"This is much worse than I expected." Jirni paced around Dorian's office while assessing the gravity of Othre's predicament in the light of the most recent developments.
"Royal Constables don't deal with mages. It's the duty of the Mage Association to prevent idiots with more power than brain from endangering the Kingdom and its subjects. My problem is that if I call in the Knight's Guard without a proper cover story, panic will spread."
Even if she wasn't referring to him, Dorian felt the need to justify himself anyway.
"I assure you that there has been no early sign of a conspiracy of this magnitude. I performed background checks on every mage that entered the city during the last months.
"Also, the materials necessary to build a lab need special permission to be bought. There's no record of someone applying for one in years."
"It's not your fault. Necromancer or not, we are dealing with someone smart enough to cover their tracks. We don't even know what is their real agenda. Based on what Lith said, made mages and blue pillars victims might be failed experiments.
"Even though I don't see what they could possibly achieve by giving powers to random people. But if Manohar is right and we are dealing with the making of a cursed artifact, then only the missing people are relevant and the rest it's just a diversion.
"Think about it. Small time nobles dying in the middle of the day are bound to draw attention and so are rogue mages bent on destruction. We need more information and we need them fast. We don't know how close the mastermind is to bring their plan to fruition. Any ideas?"
"We could require a copy of Brigadier General Vorgh's report for the Kaduria events." Kamila proposed. "Lith said that the aftereffects of the Black Star and of the blue pillar are similar.
"Kaduria's world energy was sealed by the arrays. Maybe after disabling them, the General noticed something that could help us understand what's happening here."
Lith considered it a waste of time, but said nothing.
'I've never seen blue pillars before, not even after Abominations absorbed small villages' worth of world energy. The phenomenon must be related to the kind of Forbidden magic employed. Since we are clutching at straws though, we might as well give it a try.' He thought.
Then, after pondering Jirni's and Dorian's words, Kamila took out her communication amulet and started browsing through her notes. Her hands moved on the holographic interface with the grace of a pianist during a solo.
Her expression was so focused that Jirni stopped pacing to not disturb her work.
"I knew it!" She said with a warm smile that reminded Lith the reason he had asked her out the first time they had met, right after she had finished reproaching him. There was something in her disposition that made her more than sunny, almost radiant.
"So far we have considered the nobles involved with the blue pillars as victims, but if we consider them part of a bigger scheme, then I think this could give us a lead." Kamila handed her communication amulet to Jirni.
The data collected showed that every victim had renovated a part of their mansions during the previous months. Some had set new arrays, others had bought new magical commodities.
Taken individually, each order was inconspicuous, but once put them all together, there were more than enough magical resources to build a decent lab.
"Excellent job, Lieutenant." Jirni said while returning the amulet. "Do a reverse search and find me someone that fits the profile of the victims and the timeline of the purchases who is still alive. The first name I want you to check is Arik Xolver."
Kamila frowned as soon as she typed the name. Count Xolver had been flagged by the Mage Association multiple times over the years, but there were no recent activities on his accounts.
To Dorian, Jirni said: "Damn! Why didn't you check on him? He has an Alchemical lab, a Forgemastering Lab and at least two others. With all this stuff, he could be doing everything by himself."
"We did. He has no magical powers and whenever he built a lab, a certified magician worked for him. We didn't intervene because he has the means but not the skills to use them. When the problems started, I searched his place and checked his inventories.
"There was nothing missing and he hasn't hired a mage in the last two years. I can send another team to make sure the magical equipment is still on the place too if you want."
"No, it's better to wait. We have no solid evidence he is related to this story. I can't just storm inside his house and interrogate him. Before we ask him questions, I need to know some answers. Jirni replied.
"While Lieutenant Yehval searches for more potential suspects, I want everyone to rest. We have to be ready if another made mage appears and if they don't, I want to take a look around the old temple to check for glowing blue eyed people."
It took Kamila a couple of hours to complete her task. Knowing what she was looking for and the timeframe for the purchase of magical materials to be relevant, allowed her to narrow her research greatly.
Since it was almost sundown, the group decide to scout the area where Hessie lived and make sure that her claims weren't just born out of superstition.
The building called "the old temple" was one of the rare relics of the time before Magus Lochra Silverwing gifted her legacy to the Garlen continent. After mages learned to perform tier four and five magic, religions had slowly disappeared.
The temple was located in the outer Rim of Othre, in one of the oldest and poorest parts of the city. The district was too distant from the city gates to be of any use for the merchants.
The streets were narrow and the pavements were full of cracks and holes due to the lack of maintenance. Lith noticed the lack of beggars and street urchins that were common in all the other zones of the outer rim that he had visited.
'I wonder if it's because they got scared by the people going missing in the neighborhood or just because the residents have nothing to worth stealing.' Lith thought.
The old temple belonged to Xhal, the god of healing. It reminded Lith of a Greek temple. It was a simple rectangular shrine with protruding side walls, forming a small porch.
The temple was composed of two sections. An outer space surrounded by columns, and the inner area which housed a stone altar engraved with runes belonging to a lost language and a statue of Xhal. Both areas of the temple were entered and exited through ornate niches.
The god was depicted as a bearded man wearing an ample robe. His right hand held a human heart, while the left one was destroyed, either by time or thieves.
"Is it me, or this guy resembles Arthan, the Mad King?" Lith had seen Arthan's picture more than once while researching for a cure for his reincarnation problem.
The others had no idea of who Lith was talking about and there was no time to explain to them the whole story, so they kept looking around the temple.
Chapter 447 Search Part 2
The inner area of the temple was 30 meters long and 20 meters wide. Every step the group made echoed inside the empty hall. Dust and dirt covered the statue and the altar. Even the stone benches where once believers would sit on to pray looked like nobody had touched them for months.
Everything of artistic value had been stripped from the walls over time. Where once were bas-reliefs and mosaics, now there were holes with jagged edges.
"This is odd." Jirni said after checking the side rooms. "Despite the lack of maintenance, the temple is still in good shape. I would expect it to be a playground for the kids during the day and a shelter for the homeless during the night."
The mages checked for secret passages with earth magic, but to no avail. Even using Life Vision and the array detecting spell revealed nothing.
"When did you find the time to learn Warden magic?" Jirni was surprised seeing Lith scanning the place with spells belonging to different specializations.
"I'm not a Warden. I just learned how to detect arrays and how to cast the most useful ones for combat situations." Lith had been too busy with his research to have the time to become even an amateur Warden.
He knew how to cast the array detecting spell because otherwise he wouldn't be able to share what he discovered with Life Vision, which allowed him to see all kinds of hidden magic.
The only arrays he knew were the so called "impossible arrays", formations that only an Awakened could cast and which belonged to the legacies left by previous Magi.
After a full sweep of the temple which resulted in a bust, they split into groups of two. Jirni would go with Manohar, Kamila with Tista, and Lith with Dorian. They needed to cover as much ground as possible in the little time they had left.
"The trick is to blend in." Jirni explained while her uniform and Manohar's shapeshifted into a simple cotton dress and a white shirt over brown pants respectively.
"Mix up with the crowd and ask normal questions. People love to gossip when given the chance." She messed up her hair to make them disheveled and applied a fine powder that made them look shaggy.
Then she put make up to her face, neck, and hands until she lost any resemblance of nobility. She even dirtied her nails on purpose before doing the same to Manohar. When she finished, they looked like two daily laborers.
"As long as he shuts up, I'll make my way while pretending we are a married couple just arrived in town who is looking for a cheap home. It'll give us a reason to ask about the neighborhood."
"Don't flatter yourself, woman." Manohar scoffed. "Even while looking like this, no one will ever believe that a handsome man like me would marry an old bat like you. I'm not Lith, I don't like old-timers." He said while pointing at Kamila.
"I'm younger than you, jerk!" She replied in anger.
"Tista, Lith, no one in their right mind would ever believe you come from a poor upbringing, no matter how much make up I apply to you. You have to improvise." Jirni explained as she executed a knee strike on Manohar's gonads, making him double over in pain.
"Dorian, Kamila, usually people hate uniforms, but maybe they are desperate enough to ask for help. Pretend to patrol the streets and wait for people to talk to you. Any questions?" Aside from Manohar's groans, the temple was silent.
"Good. Let's meet here an hour after sundown."
Tista and Kamila walked for about half an hour before giving upon Jirni's plan. Instead of seeking their help, people approached them to make sure they weren't lost and warned them it was a dangerous place for two young women.
To Kamila, Tista asked: "Do you know first aid?"
"Of course. Even non operatives have to regularly attend classes, in case of emergency."
"Then we are set." Tista replied with a smile. They walked to the nearest clinic and introduced themselves as a Healer and her assistant. The local practitioner was dubious because of Kamila's uniform, but he changed his mind as soon as he heard the "work for free" magic words.
He provided Kamila a nurse scrubs and put them to work immediately. They followed Jirni's advice, not asking any question that wasn't medically relevant.
Kamila monitored the waiting room, eavesdropping the patients' conversations, while Tista listened patiently to their worries whenever someone was willing to open up.
***
Between Lith's build and Dorian's silver uniform, they had no problems following Jirni's script. At first, only a few were brave enough to approach them, but once word got out that they would deal with the requests immediately, a long line formed quickly.
At first, was just small stuff. Pest infestations, minor injuries, quarrels between neighbors. Then, people started reporting them all their fear and problems.
"Please, my son disappeared two days ago. We reported it to the guards, but they barely listened!" Said a couple whose teenage son was gone.
"It's the third time my store gets robbed this month. Where are the guards when you need them?" Asked an angry shopkeeper.
"This neighborhood is a nightmare. Between muggers, drug dealers, and all those creeps walking at night, we need to barricade ourselves in after sundown."
Lith was amazed by Dorian's patience while dealing with all those people. He would let them vent as long as they needed before making a question. Lith used that time for scanning his surroundings and looking for vortexes.
'Even if a made mage gets blue eyed only when they are mind controlled, I should be able to perceive the carriers of a meat puppet. They can't turn off that pseudo Invigoration ability.'
As the minutes turned into hours, Lith discovered how unsavory the bread of knowledge was. During their rounds, he noticed several individuals emanating a vortex from their mana core.
They were all very small compared to those of a rampaging made mage, but their sheer numbers were impressive.
'Damn! I hate being always right. How do I explain to the others what I know without mentioning Life Vision or ditching Dorian long enough to create a believable cover story?'
'You can't.' Solus shrugged. 'We need Manohar to extract the meat puppet and if he asks you how did you diagnose it from a distance, he's not going to believe a farfetched explanation. He knows light magic far better than you.'
Lith and Solus racked their brains for a solution, but when they found it, it was already too late. As soon as the sun started to disappear behind the city walls, the streets emptied, leaving him no choice but to go back empty handed at the old temple.
'This is actually a blessing in disguise.' Solus sounded relieved, she had found a flaw in his plan. 'Even if your idea may work, you were bound to fail. Knowing Jirni, she has turned off their communication amulets to not blow their cover.
'Without Manohar's help, you might have alerted the enemy and destroyed any chance we have of taking them by surprise. We have once shot at this, we have to make it count.'
Chapter 448 Masked Gala Part 1
"I've talked with everyone who had a room for rent, but I didn't learn anything useful." Jirni sighed.
"Everyone complains about the high crime rate of the neighborhood, of the people going missing on a daily basis, and only a few talked about blue eyed people. The silver lining is that those who did always saw them near the temple of Xhal."
"I have a suggestion about how to find people carrying a meat puppet." Tista said beating Lith to the punch.
"I noticed that some of today's patients had a mild adverse reaction to both my diagnostic and healing spells. They all presented the same symptoms: unease and stomach ache. The same of mana poisoning victims.
"I think Professor Manohar could give them a look and if I'm right, extract the puppets safely from their hosts."
All gazes turned to Manohar, who didn't seem to be impressed.
"I discovered a few of them on my own too. I just had to use air magic the whole time we were around people and see who would suddenly feel sick after getting touched by my invisible winds.
"I even managed to examine a couple of carriers. The puppets were there, yes, but they were already dying on their own. Most of them were so undeveloped that they wouldn't survive the extraction process, and even if they did, I wouldn't have enough time to find a way to stabilize them.
"Despite the failure, the experience allowed me to collect some significant data. The carriers were both male and females, never than younger fifteen years old. Some were even older…" When Manohar noticed Jirni's glare as he was pointing at her, he almost choked on his words. His hands quickly moved to protect his groin.
"I mean less young than Constable Ernas, here."
"I performed the same experiment as Professor Manohar, but I didn't attempt to check on the specimen to not put at risk the patient's life." Lith said.
"The ones I noticed, though, were mostly young."
"Same for me." Tista confirmed. She had been very scared at the idea of using magic on someone with a vortex in their mana core. She didn't want to harm them but had no idea how to refuse to treat them, since the other healer would do it anyway.
She had used a weak diagnostic spell first and when she noticed that the vortex was too weak to cause mana poisoning, she had cured the patients as fast as she could.
"The younger the patient, the milder was their reaction. Sometimes I wouldn't have even noticed their distress if they hadn't asked me if their symptoms were normal after being cured."
"Maybe there is a link between the age of the host and the puppet's growth." Jirni read the reports about the personal details of the made mages killed so far.
"Most of those gone on rampage were above thirty years old."
"Or maybe the younger ones get collected and the older ones don't. Lith and I received many missing person's reports today. Most were about youngsters. Also, if you remember Hessie's words, mister Roza disappeared and then returned. Maybe we should pay him a visit." Dorian proposed.
"Already tried that." Jirni shook her head. "His house was the first place we visited and 'coincidentally', his landlord told me he left the building around the time you fought the creature.
"Another unfortunate 'coincidence' is that no made mage popped out since we extracted the meat puppet. Whoever is pulling the strings is not leaving loose ends. We must move with caution, if the enemy discovers we are getting closer, there's no telling what they could do."
In the following days, no more made mages appeared whereas two more nobles died after being enveloped by a blue pillar. The group kept patrolling the zone nearby the old temple, looking for witnesses and blue eyed people, but to no avail.
The men of the Mage Association investigated all those who had purchased magical resources around the time the incidents had started. Once they had narrowed down the list to a few names, Jirni decided to act.
"With no clues at our disposal, we have only one move available. If we approach our suspects one by one, they might get spooked and disappear, or they may just get killed by our mysterious opponent.
"Since we can't detain and interrogate middle importance nobles just because they have renovated their houses, we need to be smart about it. I've contacted Lady Lanza for help and she has accepted.
"Tomorrow, she'll organize a masked gala and all those on our list will be invited. The plan is to round them up in the same place, arrive there unexpected, and if Manohar after examining them confirms the presence of a meat puppet, we'll have all the reasons to perform a proper interrogation.
"Or if they die, we'll at least be able to collect a number of specimens big enough to locate our enemy. Questions?"
"One." Lith asked. "How do we know that we can trust this Lady Lanza?"
"We can't." Jirni shook her head. "It's already suspicious how our only two leads all came from the Lanza Household. It's a trap in the trap. I spoke directly to her, so Mynna Lanza is the only one that knows we'll attend.
"If something happens to our suspects, we'll know she is involved. That's why I've put her under surveillance. Manohar will act as her surprise guest. The god of healing is still one of the most eligible bachelors of the Kingdom.
"While you mingle with the nobles, you'll have to examine our suspects without them noticing. The gala is for tomorrow night. You'd better not screw this up."
***
The following night, all the nobles who had yet to escape from Othre despite its crisis, were glad to attend to the gala hosted by the only daughter of the Lord of the city.
Lith still had his doubts about the plan.
'I don't trust this Mynna. If one or more of her guests get arrested during the gala and the other nobles discover her involvement, her reputation will be ruined. What does she gain from helping us?' He wondered.
'Maybe she is just worried about her city. Good people do exist.' Solus objected.
Lith ignored her naïve remark and walked slowly through the ballroom. He was wearing a black tuxedo and bowtie, with a silver mask covering his face. He hadn't worn one since the plague, and he discovered that he still liked the feeling it gave.
Lith didn't have to worry about hiding his feelings or where his eyes wandered. Kamila was walking by his side while holding his arm. She wore a golden mask and a silk-satin red evening dress with a v neckline.
The dress left exposed her shoulders and emphasised her bosom.
"Why do you think Lady Ernas picked for me such a flashy dress?" She asked with a whisper, glad that the mask would hide her embarrassment.
"Because most of our targets are men. If they keep their eyes on you, they will not notice me. Mask or not my height is easily recognizable." He replied, glad for Jirni's choice.
"Look, isn't that Count Xolver?" Kamila tugged his arm, nodding to her right.
Count Xolver was wearing a black tuxedo too. Contrary to Lady Lanza's description, he had an amiable expression and spoke with a calm voice.
"Wasn't he supposed to be without any talent for magic?" Kamila whispered in surprise. The Count was sipping his wine while his flute was floating on its own.
'That's not all.' Solus pointed out. 'His deep red mana core could barely light a match, but his blood core is another story entirely.'
Chapter 449 Masked Gala Part 2
Lith had only met two individuals with a double core and, even if he wasn't aware of that, both of them had been artificially created. The first was Kalla, with her blood core which was meant to expedite her turning into a true undead.
The second was Gadorf the wyvern, who had a black core to assist him to forcefully refine his mana core by feeding on the magical energies of others. Both the artificial cores had been placed far enough from the natural one to not alter its functions.
According to Solus's mana sense, Count Arik Xolver's situation was completely different. The blood and the mana core so close that they almost overlapped. Unlike Kalla's blood core, Xolver's wasn't stable and needed to drain small amounts of mana from the nearby mana core to sustain itself.
'This is odd.' Solus pondered. 'It's not like the monster you created by accident, Xolver's blood is not getting drained while he uses magic. Only the blood composing the core gets consumed, but it doesn't get replaced.'
Thanks to the mask he was wearing, Lith could activate Life Vision without anyone noticing his eyes flare up with mana. The Count was alive, yet from his body originated both the red wind of the living and a faint black wind typical of the dead.
His life force was stronger than anyone else's in the ballroom, except for Jirni and Lith, while his mana flow was weak. Lith had seen yellow cored individuals with a stronger flow.
He took notice that despite the vigor of his movements, the Count was sickly pale and had resorted to light make up to make his skin appear rosy.
'Either he has obtained his powers recently, or he is overeager to show them off.' Lith though while observing that Xolver was performing even the most menial task with magic. His mask was floating in mid air, just like his wine glass and his plate.
'Classic rookie mistake. Using three spells at once requires a lot of focus and wastes mana you could need later. Him using silverware to eat shows that he is basically a one-trick pony. He can keep things afloat but he can't move them.'
Lith looked around the room, keeping an eye on the suspects and his companions. Most of the nobles on Kamila's list had small vortexes coming out of their mana cores.
By observing them, Lith and Tista noticed that they could adjust the vortex's strength at will. It would remain dormant while they were chatting and grow in size when they executed elaborate dance moves, like lifting their partners, which required a physical prowess they lacked.
"All the targets are in sight." Lith whispered in his communication earpiece as he danced around the ballroom with Kamila. Dorian and Tista were on the opposite side of the room, while Jirni watched everything from the gallery on the first floor.
The ballroom's floor was made of white marble, which together with the pristine white walls reflected the light coming from the crystal chandeliers and made the room as bright as if it was in the sunlight.
Aside from the musicians, who were performing from a small bandstand near the north wall, and the refreshment tables lined up along the west and east walls, the room was completely empty.
Two flights of stairs near the entrance lead to the balcony on the first floor, where sofas and armchair were arranged around small tables for those who needed a place to rest or simply enough quiet to converse without yelling.
"Where is Manohar? We can't start without him." Lith was worried that the eccentric genius might have fled like usual.
"He is paying his due, don't worry." Jirni sighed. "Look at your right."
Lith turned around just in time to see the Professor dancing with Lady Lanza, who kept him into such a tight embrace that he had barely the space to move without tripping on her legs.
She was saying something to him that Lith was unable to hear due to the music and laughter, but judging by Manohar's flustered face the young Lady was hitting hard on him. She was as lithe as a feather, while he looked like a death row inmate.
"I had to promise Mynna a bit of alone time with our resident genius to obtain her help. I hope she's only interested in his status of Royal Healer rather than in his personality. Otherwise she's even more insane than he is." Jirni explained.
The orchestra was playing a tune similar to a Viennese Waltz, where the dancers had to hold each other closely. Kamila was short of breath due to the dance being fast-paced and her lacking exercise.
"How can you scout, dance, talk, and not even breaking a sweat?" She panted.
"Practice." Lith lied. His enhanced physique made such a dance like slow-motion, while water fusion allowed him to move with grace despite his natural aversion for ballrooms.
They reached a refreshment table just in time before the following dance began. Kamila took off her golden mask to have something to drink, revealing her flushed cheeks. Her red lipstick matched her dress and emphasized her lips making her quite attractive.
Unluckily, Lith wasn't the only one seeing her that way. Count Xolver was so enthusiastic about his newfound abilities that he had been switching dames all night. He would only approach those who after removing their masks proved to be worthy of his consideration.
"The night is too short to waste it on ugly ducklings." He thought. There were several ladies he was keeping an eye on, but Kamila was the only one who had stopped dancing, so he followed them like a lion stalking its prey.
"Good evening, dear friends." He said approaching the couple and making Lith curse his bad luck.
'Thank heavens Tista's dress is baggy and Jirni was adamant about never removing our masks. The two of us are too easily recognizable, even if for completely different reasons.' Lith thought.
"The gala is an opportunity to mingle." Xolver continued while looking only at Kamila and ignoring Lith.
"Don't you think you are being rude hogging such a fair lady all by yourself? Let have her some fun." Xolver said while patting Lith's arm. Solus could see with mana sense a small thread of mana emanating from the Count's eyes.
It was very similar, yet different, to spirit magic and it quickly traveled along Xolver's cheeks, neck, and arm before entering Lith's body and go straight up to his brain.
Lith felt a small nudge like he was tired of Kamila's company and wanted to stay alone for a while.
"Thanks, but we're engaged." Kamila smiled while clinging to Lith's arm.
'No way I'm letting this creep put his hands on me. Meat puppet or not, there's something wrong with this guy.' Kamila thought. Her survival instinct was screaming at her.
"Come on, just a dance. It's all that I ask." He took her hand too fast for her to dodge him and another mana thread emanated from the Count's eyes.
"Even your fiancé agrees, right?" This time Xolver grabbed Lith's arm and gave him a double dose, just too be safe.
"Just one dance." Kamila echoed. Suddenly she felt very rude refusing such a gentleman's plea. Yet she still refused to move.
"Come on, they are about to start." Xolver was about to pull her when Lith's hand intercepted the Count's in a grip.
"Nice try, but no." Lith said with a snarl.
Chapter 450 Courts Part 1
As soon as the physical contact was broken, Kamila snapped out of it and hid behind Lith so fast that she almost dropped her wine glass.
Count Xolver's surprise intensified when he sent more and more waves of his willpower only for them to crash against Lith's. The Mesmerize ability required to make eye and physical contact with the target.
It could nudge their will, making them more receptive to "friendly advices". It couldn't force anyone to do something they weren't willing to do, though. It could only manipulate someone's feelings, not their nature.
In Lith's case, it would have been easier to tilt's Mogar's axis than convince him to part from something, or someone, he deemed as his own.
'This guy must be mad jealous to resist that easily. Well, if the easy way doesn't work, the hard was will.' Xolver thought while returning the grip.
"I don't think you recognized me, dear friend. I'm Count Xolver and I'm a very powerful man. You don't want to have me as your enemy."
'Watch out.' Solus warned Lith. 'The blood core expenditure is much bigger than before. His life force is now even stronger than yours.' For once Solus was happy to not have a body.
Otherwise she would have kicked the Count to the curb and blown their cover. Her hate for creeps was only surpassed by that for super powered creeps.
"Really?" Lith remained unfazed by activating earth and fire fusion to even the field.
"I think you should reconsider your actions." He let pure mana flow into his left hand, making the runes Kalla had gifted him resurface on his palm. Despite their white glow, only Lith and the Count seemed capable of seeing them.
'According to Kalla, they are an introduction letter. If Xolver is involved with the undead community, this should resolve the matter without him making a fuss.' Lith thought.
'If the one controlling the meat puppets is really a necromancer, I can't risk exposing our plan.'
Sadly, the Count had no idea what they meant. His eyes flared red as a thin black fog formed a small dome around them which seemed to rob its surroundings of light and warmth. Those near to the scene unconsciously stepped away.
No one was able to see or hear what was happening inside the fog dome unless they focused really hard on its presence. Kamila had no idea what was happening but she was starting to get scared.
"I'll ask you one last time. Let the lady come with me and I'll make it worth her while." At that point, the Count couldn't care less about Kamila. It had become a matter of power. He couldn't stand the idea of a lesser man disrespecting him.
Not now that he had finally obtained the invincible power he had always dreamt about. His killing intent filled the dome adding mental pressure to the physical one.
Lith was tired of playing nice. Instead of replying, he activated Invigoration, which allowed him to detect that there were two different kinds of blood flowing inside Xolver's veins. One was abundant, weak, and held less magical power than Lith's dirty laundry.
The other was thin and of unknown origin, but it carried enough mana to make a mouse as dangerous as a tiger. Lith released small pulses of darkness magic that destroyed the undead blood coursing through his opponent's veins.
Despite feeling weak, Xolver refused to budge and kept pumping more and more power until his blood core was on the verge of collapsing.
"Peace, brother. Please, forgive my Vassal. He's still unaware of the protocols among our kin." Another man stepped forward, so fast that Lith didn't even notice his appearance until it was too late.
He was around sixty years old, barely 1.72 meters (5'8") tall, with silver hair and goatee. His silver-rimmed monocle couldn't hide the red glow from his eyes as he grabbed Lith's wrist with enough strength to force him to let go of the Count.
He had a bright blood core empowered by centuries of experience and abundant feeding. The man had gentle features and a warm smile, but in his eyes Lith saw a beast ready to attack.
"You can call me Kaelarn, I'm…" The newcomer only needed a second to understand that Lith was one of the living. Kaelarn's pretense of kindness disappeared, replaced by a feral snarl as a second fog dome covered the scene.
"What's a dog of the Dawn Court doing here? Who's your master?" He asked while his iron grip turned into a vice. Kaelan released enough killing intent that Kamila almost forgot how to breathe.
Lith was stuck into place, his wrist kept cracking and healing almost at the same time thanks to light fusion. He felt an immense pressure coming from the small man in front of him, with a force that closely reminded him of Scarlett the Scorpicore.
Yet he refused to yield. He was stronger than four years ago and had learned many new tricks. He countered the killing intent by releasing his own while at the same time releasing a strong pulse of darkness magic that forced the undead to release his grip.
The pain was so intense that Kaelan growled in pain, baring for a split second canine teeth too long to be human.
"I was enjoying my evening, like everybody else, until your Renfield here bothered me and my companion." Lith had no idea what the Dawn Court was, nor what vampire protocols might require.
So he decided to bluff his way out by confusing his opponent as much as he was. Kaelarn was indeed confused. He had never heard the term "Renfield" but he was certain it had to be an insult.
"My name is Scourge." He used his code word for help while activating his communication earpiece with spirit magic. "Kalla the Wight sent me here."
As soon as she heard Lith's safe word, Jirni tried to locate him and Kamila. The ballroom was reduced to a blur like she was looking through a distorting glass. Only her focus and training allowed her to see through the fog.
"If I don't hear from you within a minute, I'll send the reinforcements." She said.
Kaelarn snarled again. His enhanced senses allowed him to hear Jirni's voice, but once again he had no idea who she was or what she was talking about.
"I never heard of this 'Kalla'." He refused to back down to a human in his own turf, but Kaelarn hadn't survived for so long by being stupid.
"Just like I never heard about you." Lith had noticed that the vampire had lost part of his edge right after Jirni's message.
'There are too many people around us, I doubt he wants to fight at all costs. Time to raise the ante.' Lith thought while powering up Kalla's runes again.
"These are my references. If you want to offend the Dawn Court for that lustful idiot, be my guest!"
Kamila felt like she was spectating two strong currents clashing against each other, each wave stronger than the previous one. Kaelarn was amazed by the amount of killing intent Lith was releasing. Amazed and intrigued.
"Let's go, Xolver. We're done here." He said when the minute was almost over and the fog dome unable to hide the pressure they exerted.
"I don't care who you are." He said to Lith as parting words.
"Mess with the Night Court's plans and I'll make you pay."
Then when he noticed Xolver idiotic grin, he added:
"Right after disposing of you for forcing my hand." Xolver grin disappeared, and not even his make up could hide his pallor anymore.
Chapter 451 Courts Part 2
Kaelarn dragged the Count away from the ballroom. He wanted to get out of there as fast as he could.
'I must find out who that man is. I can't risk angering both the Dawn Court and the Darkwatch. With the support of the council of the Awakened ones, those filthy living-huggers might even wipe out the Night Court.' He thought.
"Master, why are we running away from a human?" Count Xolver was unable to admit his own defeat, let alone understand why a vampire who he considered nigh omnipotent would act so cowardly.
Kaelarn didn't miss his Vassal's allegations, nor the reproachful tone Xolver was daring to address him with.
"Listen to me, you idiot." Kaelarn turned around abruptly with a glare that turned the Count into stone.
"We are not running away. I never run away! I'm retreating from an unknown threat that you might have unleashed on our Court, you imbecile! Judging from his smell, that man is barely twenty.
"Yet he withstood my mental powers and my strength without flinching. It can only mean that he is an Awakened, and one with a powerful mentor at that. He also has a Dawn Court pass and allies hidden inside this room.
"I have nothing to gain from a fight. If I win, the Night Court will kill me for having exposed my nature and ruining all our careful planning to get hold of this city. If I lose, even if I manage to escape, the Night Court would have even more reasons to kill me. Now shut up and follow me."
Kaelarn was already regretting having taken Xolver as his Vassal. The same blind thirst for power that made the Count a perfect lapdog also made him dangerously stupid.
If the Night Court wasn't in dire need of the Xolver's Household riches and connection with the city Lord to expand their area of influence, Kaelarn would have already killed the Count for causing that mess.
Meanwhile, Lith's left wrist had swollen to the size of an orange and was turning purple because of the compound fracture the vampire had inflicted him. His bluff would have been likely exposed if he hadn't cut off his pain receptors.
'Dammit, that guy was really strong. Even with fusion magic, I couldn't keep up with him and I'm almost sure he used only a fraction of his powers. Solus, do you have an estimate of his real strength?' Lith thought.
'Sorry, no. It's the first real blood core we meet. I can only tell you that compared to Kalla's or the Count's, Kaelarn blood core was mostly composed of blood and with only a few tinges of black.' Solus was still shaken by the unexpected encounter.
'Maybe Lith's paranoia is affecting me too, but I can't help but feel him slipping away from me. Ever since the academy ended, he doesn't need me as he did before. Now he is able to relate to people when he wants to.' She thought while looking at Kamila in envy.
'Without a mana geyser, I'm just a voice in his head. I couldn't help him fight the feeling of isolation he felt while we were in the wild, just like now I couldn't help him against that vampire. By my maker, I feel so helpless.'
"Lith are you all right?" Kamila had regained her cool the moment she had noticed his injury. She took two long silver knives and handkerchiefs to splint the wrist, but Lith stopped her.
"That was close, but yeah, I'm fine." One of his rings released a white light that fixed his injury in a matter of seconds. It was actually a true magic spell. He couldn't waste a ring's charge that he might need soon.
"Who was that man? How could he be that strong?" She asked.
"We have a situation." He activated his communication earpiece, replying to both Kamila and Jirni, to prevent the latter from ruining their plan by having the army and the Association storm the place.
"There is at least a vampire in the ballroom who has turned Xolver into some kind of human empowered thrall." At those words, Kamila went pale while Jirni inwardly cursed.
"What's your status?" Jirni asked.
"I'm not dead, yet." Lith's reply was the code word for "I'm safe", whereas if he said something like "I'm fine" or "Everything is okay" it would mean that he needed help.
"Good. It's time to move to the next phase. Vampires are outstanding necromancers. If they are the ones behind the meat puppets, your little squabble may have tipped them off. We need to wrap this up quickly." She had all the troops surrounding the Lanza Mansion prepare for action.
Jirni walked up to Hessie, Mynna's personal housemaid, who was serving drinks and snacks at the tables.
"Inform the staff that it's time to serve dinner." Just like Mynna's role had been to assemble the suspects, Hessie played an important part in dealing with the preparations.
Leaving an empty room where Manohar could conduct his tests, allowing some of the troops to hide inside the mansion in case something went wrong, it all required the help of someone who knew the house's protocols to arrange things in a way that wouldn't alert the house staff.
It was another calculated risk. Jirni had no idea who she could trust, but both Mynna and Hessie had a spotless past and had helped the investigation.
"Yes, your Ladyship." Hessie replied while giving Jirni a deep bow. Hessie was honored at the idea of helping the Royal Constable. Since their last conversation, Hessie's parents' neighborhood had become much safer.
Also, she felt like one of the main characters from the books she borrowed from Lady Lanza. Once Mynna heard Jirni's order via the communication earpiece, her beautiful smile turned into a frown.
"Are you sure you've checked them all already?" She asked with an expectant look. Unlike her dance partner, her mask was just a strip of silk with exotic plumes attached to it.
"I examined them thrice." Manohar hissed, unable to hold his contempt anymore. He hadn't been humiliated so much since that time Marth had forced him to attend an academy's board meeting without giving him the freedom to speak or sleep.
To escape from the clutches of that clingy harpy, he had managed to beat repeatedly his own spellcasting record, diagnosing multiple people at once every time the music stopped and Mynna introduced him to her guests.
"We are on a tight schedule. The fate of the world depends on this!" He hoped to scare her, yet she giggled instead.
"As you wish." She nodded. "We can continue this conversation later. Othre has much to offer to a genius like yourself and so do I." Her seductive smile and sensual voice would have melted Manohar's heart, if only he had one.
"Yeah, and if I had a silver piece for every woman who said that to me, I'd be richer than the King." Her amiable mask crumbled for a split second before she regained her composure. Yet there was enough rage in her face to make him wince.
Chapter 452 Great Minds Part 1
"My esteemed guests." Mynna's magically enhanced voice resounded through the ballroom. "I hope our master musicians have helped you to work up an appetite because our chefs have given their all to prepare our meal."
The audience clapped at their host before moving to the adjacent room. Mynna and Manohar approached Baron Mox, who was hosting the meat puppet most likely to survive the extraction process along with its host.
"Baron Mox, my father would like to have a word in private. He is waiting for you in his office." She gave him a graceful curtsy before offering to accompany him. Mynna held his arm while making small talk and giggling at every of the Baron replies.
He didn't even notice Manohar walking a few steps behind them. The Professor whispered one spell after the other, to make sure the events with the first meat puppet wouldn't happen again.
The Baron was so distracted by Mynna's flirting that he didn't pay attention to his surroundings. There were many people waiting for him in the office, but Marquis Lanza wasn't among them.
The moment they stepped inside, a mage from the Association struck the back of Mox's neck with an enchanted club, making him faint.
"Good, this will cut the connection with his master. Now make me some space." Manohar stepped forward and activated the tier five spell Life Ward, enveloping all those present but the Baron with a thin layer of light magic that prevented their life forces from being affected by external sources.
He had developed it to counter all those abilities similar to an Abomination's touch, making it impossible for vampires or meat puppets to harm his mind or body respectively.
Then he cast in rapid succession his diagnostic spell Third Eye and his Split spell. They were both tier five spells that Manohar had created when he was still a fifth year student and had kept perfecting them every time he expanded his knowledge.
The core of the spells was always the same, but Manohar had updated them so many times that if he bothered keeping track of all of their different versions, he would discover to have recently reached the triple digits.
Third Eye was similar to Invigoration, allowing Manohar's mana to resonate with the patient's body. By shifting his focus whenever he perceived an anomaly, Manohar would obtain detailed information almost up to the cellular.
Split was one of his most prized spells and the reason behind most of his achievements. A normal tier five healer spell would use darkness magic to destroy diseased tissues and replace them with healthy ones.
Split defied this logic. It used darkness magic to surgically cut the diseased tissues, or in this case the meat puppet, from the patient's body while nurturing them both. This way Manohar would heal the patient and collect a perfectly preserved sample to study afterward.
Since Baron Mox was unconscious and the vortex dormant, the whole process required less than a minute. The meat puppet screeched and squirmed while the Professor pulled it out in one piece from the Baron's mouth.
The puppet looked like a section of intestine, except it was full of throbbing veins which burst open and released dozen of small tentacles. The tentacles shapeshifted into small hands, clawing the air in an attempt to harm Manohar, but to no avail.
His shield made of light prevented the infection, while his armor blocked the weak limbs. The thing then turned into a small head. Its blue eyes had just opened when the Professor shoved it inside a darkened container which he promptly sealed with a spell.
He ignored the retching sound the guards and Mynna were producing while putting the magical jar in a bag. It was made of a thick black cloth, covered in runes which would prevent the puppeteer from locating the position of their minions.
"What in the gods' names is that thing? Who could be so evil to create such an abomination?" Mynna managed to say between barfs. Manohar was supposed to tell her to turn around, or at least to warn her about the nature of his task.
Unluckily, all the time lost made him impatient and unwilling to cuddle a young miss's feelings.
"That which is done out of love is always beyond good and evil. And we mages do love our work. If you are done puking, your Ladyship, I need to collect another specimen." Manohar said while casting a few cantrips that cleaned Mynna's dress and made nausea disappear.
Cursing her bad luck, Mynna stepped outside the room and moved to their next target.
***
'That should be impossible!' The one controlling the meat puppet couldn't believe their own eyes.
'Manohar managed to extract my puppy bypassing its self destruct mechanism, keep it alive despite the lack of a host, and even sever our connection thanks to that bag. To add insult to the injury, this time he was even faster.
'Now I'm certain there is a flaw in my opus. Centuries of hard work ruined by a mere brat! I need to capture him alive and force him to reveal to me how can I fix this flaw. Even if I kill him, whoever inherits his legacy would still be a threat to me.
'It's time to get serious.'
***
Mynna and Manohar approached Viscountess Ebla and lured her in the Marquis' office. Everything went as predicted until the meat puppet was flushed out of its host. Unluckily, it had already a completely formed mouth, which allowed it to activate an array hidden inside the room.
Manohar's focus was on the puppet. Keeping three tier five spells was demanding even for him. When the creature triggered the trap, he was helpless against it just like Mynna. Chains of lightning turned the room into a thunderstorm.
Manohar managed to cast a few healing spells, but since it was made from the flesh of its master, the creature was immune to the lightning. It controlled the array with cruel precision, focusing the lightning bolts on the Professor as soon as the others lost consciousness.
"This shouldn't be happening. I checked this room for arrays." He said while the array tormented his body.
"I know." The creature replied with a grin. "That's why I placed it right after you left."
Before fainting, Manohar could almost recognize that low, feminine voice.
Almost.
***
Jirni and Lith were respectively keeping an eye on the guests and the Marquis' office. When they heard screams of pain coming from the latter, they immediately shapeshifted their clothes into their much more comfortable uniform while running toward their destination.
"Secure the perimeter and send back up! Something went wrong, we…" Before Jirni could finish giving her orders via the communication earpiece, more screams ensued but they came from the main hall.
This time they were screams of fear. Jirni and Lith turned around just in time to see all the remaining suspects with glowing blue eyes. The nobles' bodies expanded as they absorbed those near them and turned into a mass of bulging muscles.
A dozen Carpenters roared their challenge as they charged toward the Marquis' office to protect their companion.
"We need help, and we need it yesterday!"
Chapter 453 Great Minds Part 2
Panic spread like wildfire in the main hall. The convened nobles screamed in terror at the sight of their peers, people that they had known for a lifetime, turning into hideous creatures.
The bodies of the meat puppets' carriers burst through their clothes like inflated balloons. A single touch was all that it took them to assimilate those too close or too terrified to dodge their deformed limbs.
Tista and Dorian had tried to destroy the creatures before they could become more than an overgrown lump of flesh. Unfortunately, when the nobles saw the bloated monsters rearrange their organs and muscles, terror turned into horror.
Some fainted or remained frozen in place, but most of them ran away disregarding anyone's safety but their own. The frenzied crowd almost trampled the two mages and managed to slow down Lith's and Jirni's reaction.
Lith had no idea what had gone wrong. He, Manohar, and Jirni had spent a long time preparing their plan, divulging information only on a "need to know" basis.
Mynna and Hessie only knew about the room, not what would take place there once the events were set in motion, and so did the guards from the Association. Since it was a critical point of their plan and its only known weakness, Lith and Manohar had swept the office several times to make sure that no one would tamper with it.
"There no way someone took down Manohar in a direct confrontation. This must be an inside job." Jirni snarled while she stepped sideways to avoid being trampled by the runaway mob.
"Come to me." Lith said as spirit magic brought him the Gatekeeper sword from under the sofa where he had hidden it right before the gala started. After sheathing his blade, his hands quickly formed seals until he was enveloped by a thin layer of darkness.
"Is this spell as good as Manohar's? I'd be really impressed if you successfully imitated a tier five spell after seeing it once only a few days ago." She said with a surprised tone.
"Not even close." He shook his head. "It should still protect me from those things, and if they try to gobble me up, they are in for a nasty surprise." He replied.
Their situation would have been much easier if not for the city array blocking dimensional items. They could only use what they had on them, and there was only so much normal pockets could store.
Jirni's needles weren't an issue, but wands, blades, and all kinds of magical tools couldn't be carried around without other people noticing them.
"The good news is that those guys are weak." Lith said while assessing their opponents with spirit magic and Solus' mana sense.
"None of them is marked as a remarkable mage. They should be magicos tops. The bad news is that we don't know what the heck is happening in the office nor we can leave our back exposed."
"That's why I ordered to leave the Association's squads outside and let only the army in. We can't risk our mages getting assimilated and turned against us." Jirni replied.
The Carpenters had yet to finish their transformation when four five-man units of the army's elite squads burst through the windows and doors, unleashing a barrage of spells from their wands and staves.
Being assaulted from every side, the creatures were immediately pushed on their back foot.
The reason why each Carpenter had assimilated only one guest was to be able to cast spells and attack at the same time without being burdened by dead weight. The bodies of the nobles were only trained to indulge in hedonistic pleasures.
They had no value as mages or fighters. Forming a Carpenter posed a heavy burden that those flaccid bodies were unable to sustain without constantly assimilating world energy.
A third body would make them weaker rather than stronger. It would increase the energy expenditure without giving the creature any advantage. To sort out the best parts it would take time and time was of the essence.
All that mana flying through the room forced the puppeteer who was controlling the creatures to stop the vortexes, to prevent their creatures from self destructing.
'Well, well, well. This time not only do I have to use half baked pawns, but they are also made of trash materials. This should make things interesting.' The puppeteer was actually grateful for Jirni's tactical choice.
Secrecy made things go much smoother, but after kidnapping Manohar, finesse was a waste of time. They could finally have some fun after months of boredom.
The soldiers were all veterans who had been debriefed about all the enemy's known weaknesses and abilities. They kept their distance while using water spells to freeze and slow down their enemies.
Without the vortex and with their spells constantly interrupted the Carpenters had only two choices: to stop and fight or keep marching forward and be decimated. Faced with an impossible choice, the puppeteer had the creatures closer to the soldiers activate their vortex.
It poisoned them, but at the same time, it jammed all the nearby magical tools and allowed the other creatures to safely assimilate world energy and regain their vigor. Three Carpenters fell to the ground as their first mana core collapsed due to mana poisoning.
Thanks to their sacrifice, the remaining nine reached as many soldiers and ripped them to shreds with the giant talons on their deformed limbs. Jirni immediately understood that the enemy was turning the tables.
The creatures on the front line were now jamming again the alchemical tools while the three fallen Carpenters stood up the moment their second mana core activated and used the dying soldiers to replace the lost one.
It took just over a second to switch from one core to the other, but on the battlefield, it was half a second too much. As soon as three more creatures collapsed after having lost their core, Tista struck them with a volley of Plague Arrows.
Darkness magic was slow, but fast enough to hit the creatures before they recovered. With the crowd gone, she was finally able to take action while Dorian got those who were still paralyzed by fear to safety.
Her spell ate through their flesh and corrupted the energies that kept their makeshift bodies together. Three Carpenters were down due to mana poisoning, while three more were helpless because of the Plague Arrows.
With their numbers reduced to half, the rhythm of the enemy's attack was disrupted long enough to allow the soldiers to retreat and regroup.
Lith exploited the temporary ceasefire to jump in the middle of the creatures' formation and activate the Death Call spell he had cast earlier. Fire couldn't be used in such an enclosed space, there was no earth to manipulate, and water magic had proved to be ineffective.
Tista's darkness spell, instead, worked like a charm, making Lith doubt again about what kind of magic could give life to the Carpenters.
'Are they a cross between undead and flesh or is just darkness magic being that good?' He thought.
After his fight with the orcs, Lith had modified the spell to make it more effective in close range. Instead of tentacles, the layer of darkness surrounding his body took the form of four arms that clawed at the nearby monsters like ravenous beasts.
Chapter 454 Perfect Form Part 1
The ethereal limbs pierced through four different Carpenters, incapacitating them and throwing the puppeteer's strategy in disarray. With their line of fire clear, the soldiers focused their spells on the ten fallen creatures, killing eight of them in one fell swoop.
Now that they outnumbered and outmatched the creatures, the soldiers had no problem dealing with the remaining Carpenters on their own.
Lith activated Life Vision to check what was happening inside the Marquis' office before deciding what was the best course of action. Manohar's and Mynna's life forces were still active, which made him sigh in relief.
'A purple core Carpenter is the last thing I want to see. I wonder why whoever captured them didn't escape while we were dealing with those flesh bags.' Lith thought.
'I can answer that.' Solus replied after assessing the situation with mana sense. 'I can sense two more Carpenters in there and they belong to a completely different league compared to the ones we faced before.
'Not only did they assimilate mages instead of nobles, but they are also taking their sweet time to arrange their bodies in the best possible way. With each second we are wasting here, they're getting stronger and more efficient.'
"Did someone escape the perimeter?" Jirni asked via her communication earpiece.
"Negative. We have captured and quarantined all those who came out of the house." A female voice replied.
"This means we have a huge problem." Jirni said to the rest of the team.
"If there was someone capable of defeating Manohar fair and square, they would have already left the room and rampaged their way out of here. So, either there is a secret passage leading outside of which we are unaware of…"
"That's impossible." Lith interrupted her. He needed to make haste, otherwise based on Solus's reading soon the Carpenters would become so strong that he wouldn't be able to defeat them without revealing his abilities.
"I didn't trust the Marquis' word nor the house's blueprints. Both Manohar and I searched the room with earth magic. No secret passages."
"Or they are still holed up in there, waiting for us to fall into their trap." Jirni nodded, surprised by his unusual unrest.
"I can't think of many ways to take down a member of the Queen's corps that fast. The most likely hypotheses are a traitor in our midst, an array, or both. We can deal with a traitor by shooting down whoever is still conscious, but an array is another story entirely. Lith?"
Lith snorted in exasperation while walking toward the office and chanting the array detecting spell.
'Solus?' He trusted her mana sense much more than a basic Warden spell.
'No array aside from those which protect the house. There is a strong residual mana, but it could be either because of Manohar's spells or from whatever has been used to stun him.'
"Nothing. I still think it's a trap. You guys remain here and prepare for the worst." Lith took a multi colored potion from one of his pockets and drank it in one gulp.
It was a top grade alchemical concoction that temporarily boosted its user's physical abilities to a magical beast's level. Lith didn't really need it, but it allowed him to use fusion magic without arousing suspicions.
The moment Lith was about to touch the door's handle, a huge clawed hand the size of a table pierced the hardwood up to its writs. Lith's chest would have suffered the same fate if he hadn't kept Life Vision active the whole time.
Dodging the attack with fusion magic had been easy. Pretending to be unaware of the danger, not so much. He jumped back at the last second as a completely formed Carpenter charged out of the room, quickly followed by a second one.
They were different from those Lith had faced before. They were humanoid creatures, around 2.5 metres (8'2") tall, with a blood red skin. They had extra mouths on both their abdomen and left shoulder.
For a second, Lith thought they had some kind of blue halo around their head, before realizing they were a series of glowing eyes which allowed the creatures to see in every direction at all times.
'Those bodies are unnatural.' Lith thought. They reminded him of Gadorf the Wyvern's human appearance. 'Not even by using two like me as building materials, they could have muscles so thick and bones so strong. These Carpenters are the result of Body Sculpting.'
The first Carpenter opened his left palm, releasing a fireball at point blank. Once again, Life Vision saved Lith's skin. Even if none of the creature's mouths were moving, Lith had seen the mana amassing on its hand and moved accordingly.
The blazing sphere missed its primary target and hit in the middle of the group. Lith's companions managed to dodge only because they were distant enough from the caster to have the time to react.
Tista used air fusion to come out of it unscathed, while Jirni was caught by the fringes of the explosion despite her timely jump. She had to roll to disperse the momentum. Dorian did the same, but without her training, the shockwave sent him crashing against a wall.
'Son of a gun!' Lith thought as he extended his right hand and pretended to use the spells stored inside his rings while actually unleashing the true spells he had ready. 'He aimed the fireball so that if I dodged it, the spell would not go to waste. We must avoid lining up.'
A barrage of air blades struck where the major arteries were supposed to be while lightning bolts bombarded the Carpenter's chest. They were supposed to turn it into a charred corpse, or worst case scenario to stun it long enough for the Plague Arrows behind them to cripple its strength.
Lith felt his life was becoming a play about Murphy's law when anything that could go wrong did go wrong.
The air blade cut the Carpenter's flesh to the bone, nearly chopping off its legs and head. Unluckily, not only did just trickle of blood spurt from such deep wounds, but also the cuts were so clean that regenerating them took the creature less than the blink of an eye.
The lightning bolts struck their target, leaving behind only blackened dots as proof of their brief existence. The cuts and the bolts combined effects locked the creature into place, preventing it from dodging the Plague Arrows.
The Carpenter used its giant right hand to intercept the darkness spells, swatting them like they were flies. The flesh on the limb rotted and fell, revealing that the hand was composed mostly of bones.
The Carpenter activated its vortex. It both helped the creature to counter the Plague Arrows' effects before the hand could fell off and left Solus astonished.
'This is really bad! A fully formed Carpenter can use both of its cores at once.' She explained as the creature waved its healthy hand and unleashed the tier four War Mage spell Chasing Lightning.
Five bolts of electricity came out of its fingers, with each lightning resembling a snake in both motions and appearance. Lith knew that dodging them was pointless. As their name implied, they wouldn't let go of their prey.
'What does it mean?' Lith replied while setting up his defense and sending invisible strands of spirit magic against the vortex to poison it.
'It means that the vortex is located in the secondary core, so even if you corrupt it with your mana, the Carpenter can still use it to accumulate a mother lode of world energy until the auxiliary core crumbles.'
Chapter 455 Perfect Form Part 2
'These creatures are unstoppable war machines.' Solus explained.
'Even without the vortex, by using two cores at once it's like they have one core of superior purity. With the vortex, the core purity is upgraded twice and they have the same effects of a full elemental fusion.
'To make things worse, the double core synergy allows them to ignore the mana poisoning effect as long as the secondary core holds. Basically, it works like a filter. It protects the main core by tanking the foreign mana while the creature uses the vortex to accumulate loads of world energy.
'This way, even when the second core crumbles, the Carpenter can keep fighting at full strength for an extended period of time.'
Lith cursed the enemy's ingenuity while activating earth fusion to block most of the damage from the five incoming Chasing Lightning and light fusion to heal his wounds the moment they opened.
Luckily, the War Mage spell was slow enough to allow Lith to intercept two lightning bolts with his earth magic infused Gatekeeper. It wasn't as good as a stone wall but it was the next best thing. Lith felt a sting when the blade and the bolts clashed, but nothing more.
He gritted his teeth ready to tank the other three, yet nothing happened. Three enchanted needles were stuck in front of him. They drew the incoming spell as if they were lightning rods and grounded their energy making it harmless.
"The other one is escaping!" Jirni pointed at the second Carpenter which was walking upstairs double time towards the balcony. It held in its huge hands the limp bodies of Manohar and Mynna.
"I don't feel like turning my back to something capable of silent casting." Lith's voice oozed sarcasm. He had yet to understand how the Carpenter had timely produced a tier four spell out of the blue.
'Solus?'
'No clue. Their cores have a static flow, so they aren't Awakened. That's all I know.'
Tista took off with a flight spell, taking advantage of the Ballroom high ceiling while none of the Carpenters seemed to pay her any attention.
"Not so fast, little girl!" The Carpenter's voice was a low rumble, like an echo coming from a deep cave. Its thin lips formed a cruel smile and his voice was amused, like a child who had just received a new toy.
The creature was incredibly nimble despite its size. It leaped with inhuman strength to intercept her with its clawed hand while the other was set ablaze, ready to unleash the tier four spell Scorching Blast.
Tista grinned in reply. She reversed the Carpenter's gravity and turned its jump into a head first dive into the ceiling. Both the claw and the spell missed their intended targets with a wide margin.
"Gravity magic?" The creature's surprise turned into shock when Lith and Tista combined their efforts, reversing the gravity around the creature again and amplifying it by ten times as the Carpenter plummeted to the ground.
Even with its enhanced physique, such a huge body already exerted a huge strain on its joints due to its height and weight. Between the fall and the artificial gravity, the Carpenter's kneecaps shattered even though it had conjured an air cushion at the last second to lessen the impact.
Tista left Jirni and Lith to deal with the crippled monster as she darted toward the second Carpenter to prevent its escape. The joyful expression on both creatures' faces disappeared as their plan was suddenly taking a turn for the worse.
The rest of the team had drunk the same potion Lith did before approaching the Marquis' office. This allowed Dorian to recover in a matter of seconds from an impact that otherwise would have knocked him out and Jirni to circle around the enemy with the speed of a cheetah.
'These things have eyes even on the back of their heads. I know that I can't perform a sneak attack, but there's something I need to verify.' She thought.
One of the advantages of not taking part in a fight was the possibility to calmly observe the events like they were nothing more than a game.
Since Solus's magical abilities were usually negligible against Lith's opponents, her role had always been to analyze the enemies and use the collected information to help him devise the best strategy.
'Those earlier cuts bled too little.' Solus and Jirni reasoned as one. 'The anatomy of these things must be completely different from a human's. If I were in their maker's place, I'd put their vitals in places hard to reach during a fight.'
The two needles in her hands shapeshifted into curved knives as she approached the enemy's back in what seemed to be a cut throat attack. From the other side of the creature, Lith had finished casting Death Call again.
Four arms made of darkness energy emerged from his body and enveloped the Carpenter's limbs while he aimed for its head. With one hand he executed a horizontal slash with the Gatekeeper to cut all the eyes at once, while the other shoot a volley of Plague Arrows to the torso.
Without its legs, the Carpenter couldn't dodge both attacks at once. Not with Jirni timing her attack to match Lith's. Their coordination was so good that it was hard to believe it was an improvised maneuver.
Yet instead of panicking, the creature smiled again.
'The kid is good for his age, but that's it.' The puppeteer thought. 'With all of his fancy spells and weapons he thinks he has won already. He doesn't realize that no matter how good a potion is, he can't exploit its full potential.
'Having the abilities of a magical beast doesn't mean knowing how to use them. They can use about 50% of their new capabilities without them becoming a burden. Unlike them, I don't need to get accustomed to this body's prowess, nor to worry about the aftereffects.
'It's way weaker than mine and it's only disposable trash. Sometimes I wonder if Balkor used my work as a template for his undead.'
The vortex suddenly activated at full force, dispelling both Death Call and the Plague Arrows, leaving Lith exposed to a counter attack. The Carpenter's first mana core tanked the damage while the world energy brought the second one to a purple core level strength.
At the same time, two humanoid arms previously camouflaged by the creature's bulging muscles emerged from its back, revealing how all the space where kidneys and liver were supposed to be was actually empty.
The arms completed the last hand sign before moving to intercept Jirni's hands. She managed to step back at the last second, avoiding her wrists getting crushed, but she was too close to completely dodge the stream of lightning that appeared at point blank.
The Carpenter's grin grew wider as the ice spikes it had conjured appeared behind the stumbling Constable and turned her into a pin cushion. To add insult to the injury, the first set of arms ignored Lith's sword and lunged their bone claws to his sides.
At the same time, the mouth on the Carpenter's abdomen opened and released a jet stream of purple flames. It was just another tier three spell, but the vortex boosted its destructive power to the extreme.
Chapter 456 Double Trouble Part 1
The lightning bolt had squeezed the air out of Jirni's lungs and pushed her back while her body still refused to obey her. Her Constable armor coupled with the potion's effects had taken the brunt of the damage, but pain radiated from the point of impact turning every movement into agony.
Yet pain was an old friend to her, something Jirni had got used to ever since her family had trained her to inflict and withstand torture before she even turned ten. Pain was what allowed her to regain control of her limbs.
The ice spikes barely managed to pierce her skin before she pivoted on the balls of her feet to redirect the momentum of her fall to the side and roll to safety.
Lith was having it much worse than her. The city array prevented him to Blink while the Carpenter's vortex was close enough to rob him of his magic aside from fusion magic. His rings were useless, he couldn't fly or use spirit magic to pull himself away.
Lith had to choose between being turned into a kebab, a charred corpse, or both. He chose the fourth option, the one he created. Lith jumped back and to the side, putting himself willingly in front of the closest of the enemy's clawed hands.
With one hand on the blade's hilt and the other on its flat side, Lith used the earth magic infused Gatekeeper as a shield against the enemy's middle finger.
It was the longest and the closest one among those forming the spear-like hand which was darting at him with the speed of a freight train.
It was also the most dangerous one, aimed at his heart. Lith used the force of the impact to propel himself away from the spell and the other hand. What he couldn't expect was that the remaining three fingers dislocated themselves, becoming long enough to reach his head, abdomen, and left leg respectively.
Lith was still in mid air after parrying the middle finger, he couldn't dodge while his magic was still sealed. Cursing at the enemy's wits, he could only tilt his head sideways to avoid the deadly tap at his forehead.
The puppeteer laughed at his feeble attempt. The incoming spear head wasn't a mindless projectile, but one of their fingers. Carpenters couldn't feel pain. Receptors were among the many things they had discarded to make their strength as explosive as their lifespan was short.
The Carpenter's forefinger followed Lith's movements, striking him on his right temple as the other two phalanges pierced his body.
Blood spurted from Lith's stomach and left thigh, yet the moment his clenched muscles stopped the fingers, the darkness magic infused Gatekeeper performed a circular motion that cut all four of them almost down to the knuckles.
Ravaged by the chaotic energies, the creature's secondary core and its fingers collapsed at the same time, reducing its battle strength considerably.
'It's impossible!' Suddenly the puppeteer had nothing to laugh about. 'I know that a wound caused by the tip of one phalanx is bound to be shallow, but even a few centimeters deep hole in the head is supposed to be deadly!'
Yet there wasn't even a bruise on Lith's forehead. Only a curved stone plate that had deflected the projectile and reduced the impact to an oversized finger flick.
'Are you all right, Solus?' Lith asked as the plate turned liquid and hid under his clothes again.
'Nothing that a bit of rest can't heal.' She replied. 'Our combined earth fusion did most of the work, otherwise I would be shattered in pieces.'
The Carpenter roared in outrage. Its kneecaps were healed, but both of his prey were alive and well.
The puppeteer couldn't believe that the body and techniques they had perfected after centuries of training couldn't get rid of two newborns, not even after being forced to go all out.
'Our enemy has lost one hand and its secondary core. Without the vortex, its remaining core is a cyan one. With the vortex it can reach the output of a blue one, but if it gets poisoned too the Carpenter's strength will plummet.' Solus explained.
Lith smiled in reply while weaving a new set of spells that he knew the enemy couldn't risk absorbing anymore. Jirni kept her distance and circled around the creature, with Lith quickly following her lead.
"Three mouths, three spells at once!" Even though the second set of arms was hidden again in the creature's sides, Jirni was certain that they were forming hand signs non stop.
Now that they had been exposed, the quiet mumblings coming from the jaws on the Carpenter's abdomen and shoulders explained the trick behind its 'silent casting'. Fake mages could delay the activation of their spells until their focus was broken, just like an Awakened.
Hand signs required less time than most chants, but a normal mage would make them last as long as the chanting to perform them with accuracy.
Yet the Carpenter had several mouths, so while one chanted the others would make noises to cover the incoming spell and start the next one as soon as the first set of hand signs was completed.
The creature tried to escape from the encirclement, but it discovered that the duo could follow its movements with ease. Jirni's air infused needles pierced its four limbs while Lith's magic froze and deformed the marble floor at its feet, turning the Carpenter's footwork into a mess.
Jirni then activated several wands at once, releasing a barrage of lightning bolts that could sweep the whole ballroom. The puppeteer thought that she had gone mad. They only needed to make the creature crouch to dodge what looked like the spell of an angered thunder god and make Lith its new target.
Their coordination was too perfect. They were always at the opposing sides of the Carpenter, making it easy to exploit any incoming spell and turn it against the other human.
Lith ignored the incoming thunderstorm and released a volley of Plague Arrows, leaving the creature twice dumbfounded.
'Is he insane? He'll take the Constable's attack head on, whereas I only need a roll to escape from such a slow spell.' The puppeteer was disappointed. Their prey were clearly panicking, turning what was supposed to be a fun game into a farce.
The lightning bolts curved sharply, following the four needles like the remote tracking devices they were. Even with multiple layers of body fat shielding the nerves, the electrical current was so violent that it caused a seizure in all four limbs.
The Carpenter found itself paralyzed, so none of the Plague Arrows missed its target. The dark energies spread like a disease, eating away the creature's physical and magical strength. Its focus was lost, and so were all the spells it had prepared.
Refusing to accept their loss, the puppeteer activated the vortex to escape from the trap and kill both those pests by burning away all the lifespan their creature had left. Much to their surprise, even in its boosted state, the creature was unable to deal a lethal blow.
Jirni and Lith were both able to follow the Carpenter's speed with ease.
While normal humans under the effect of a potion were fast, they were fast and graceful. While any other human opponent the puppeteer had ever faced was just strong, they were strong and feral.
'I was wrong. They can use the potion's effect to its maximum, if not even more. These guys move more like beasts than humans!' The puppeteer's heart was filled with joy and awe.
Finding two worthy opponents outshined even Lith's blade slowing their prized creature long enough for Jirni's long knives to stab it in the ass, right where its brain was hidden, and send it into oblivion.
Chapter 457 Double Trouble Part 2
From her hiding spot in the lounge on the first floor, Kamila had been watching the fight from the beginning. Her feelings changed from awe to horror and back with each second.
'Thank heavens Constable Ernas sent me away the moment the last phase of the plan started. Otherwise I would have just been just a burden for them. I always dreamt of becoming a Royal Constable one day, but if Lady Ernas is their standard, I'd rather remain behind my desk for life.' She thought.
What Kamila was unaware of, was that Jirni was considered a monster even among the Royal Constables. They were mainly investigators, prosecutors, and interrogators. Most of them wouldn't take part in a single fight their whole lives.
Jirni's family, the Myrok Household, had a different philosophy on the matter. Regardless of the profession one of its members would choose, they would all be trained as assassins to get rid of bad apples whenever the Crown required their assistance.
While Jirni and Lith dealt with the first Carpenter, Tista and Dorian did their best to stop the second one from running away with the two hostages. While they had the advantage that the creature couldn't use its hands unless it dropped Manohar and Mynna, the situation was still dire.
The trick of the second set of arms hidden in the creature's sides had yet to be revealed, so they were still worried about its silent casting abilities. Tista had no Gatekeeper for close combat and even if she did, she wouldn't know how to use it.
She had been an Awakened for less than a year. Her body was only slightly better than a normal human's, she knew few true magic spells that she could use during combat, and had no Solus to help her plan ahead.
'What a mess.' She inwardly cursed. 'I can't use fire or lightning without risking injuring the hostages. If I use the marble in the floor, the house might collapse and darkness magic is so frigging slow. I'll have to use water and spirit magic.'
Tista kept Life Vision active while accumulating a densely packed sphere of spirit magic. Her plan was to poison the creature as soon as it activated its vortex and then stall for time until it fainted due to the loss of one of its cores.
She had no idea how different a perfectly formed Carpenter was compared to the makeshift version she had previously slain. Tista cast a hail of ice spikes, all aimed at the creature's legs and at the pavement.
The puppeteer had no troubles controlling the two Carpenters at once and hoped this duo would prove to be as fun as the other one. The creature dodged the spikes with the grace of a ballerina.
Tista's attempts to avoid hitting the hostages made their trajectory obvious. Or so the puppeteer thought. Some of the spikes melted on impact, while others froze the water turning the floor into an extremely slippery surface composed of water and ice.
The Carpenter lost its footing as Dorian used an earth spell to make the stairs collapse and force the enemy to choose between releasing the hostages or going back to square one. The creature smirked in amusement at the trap and refused to fall.
A simple floating spell allowed it to walk on air unhindered by their efforts.
'These guys are disappointing.' The puppeteer thought. 'They clearly don't have any close combat ability, otherwise they'd try to exploit my alleged lack of arms. Or maybe they are just too scared I will use their "friends" as shields…'
Their train of thought was interrupted when the other Carpenter failed to kill either of its targets despite going all out.
'Enough playing. Time to get out of here.' The creature activated the vortex at full power and its best flying spell. Tista didn't miss the opportunity and struck the enemy with all the spirit magic she had amassed up to that point.
The creature's secondary core crumbled almost instantly, leaving the puppeteer as surprised as they were angry. One of their masterpieces was being beaten into submission, they couldn't allow the other one to be lost too.
The Carpenter darted head first toward the balcony, with Tista in hot pursuit feeding poison to the vortex. The creature stopped abruptly, letting her come close enough to disrupt her flight spell and kicked her hard while she was unable to defend herself.
Dorian tried to catch her, but was struck along with Tista by powerful lightning that would have made him faint if not for the potion coursing through his veins. He swallowed down the pain along with all of his fears and kept moving.
Dorian broke her fall along with several of his ribs. Tista was a lithe girl, but the kick and her armor made her an enchanted cannonball. They both tumbled on the ground while the Carpenter flew away at an almost sub sonic speed, burning its lifespan to get to its destination before its core crumbled.
The sound of cracking bones broke the silence in the ballroom, reaching even Kamila's hiding spot. It reminded her of when she was still a child, and her brother added wood to the fire. The contrast between her happy memory and the sight of her two companions lying on the floor made her shiver.
She waited, for a time that seemed to last an eternity, hoping to see at least one of them stand up.
'Please, gods, let them be okay.' She silently prayed with all the faith she could muster. 'They are good people. Servants of the Kingdom trying to save lives. I'm just an analyst who can't even lift a box full of paperwork. I can't help them. I'm useless.'
The Carpenter unleashed five lightning bolts at Lith, and Kamila's heart almost stopped. She could almost see his body sprawling on the floor in a seizure. Tears streamed down her face as he and Jirni blocked the spell, making her fear grow even stronger.
'Please, save them.' Kamila kept praying while a small pool of blood was leaking out the mouths of the two fallen mages. 'I'm not even a mage, I'm just human. Monsters walk among us, please, don't let them die. I don't want to be alone again.'
Yet aside from the clash of bone and metal, no answer came to her pleas. Before she could realize what she was doing, Kamila was rushing towards her companions. The voice of her Drill Sergeant echoed in her ears, scolding her at every step.
'You're too slow, move that ass! Stumble as much as you want, you crippled maggot. You'll fail them like you've failed everything else in your life and their deaths will be on you! Why the fuck aren't you using cover?'
Sergeant Heartmann's voice was cruel but helpful. She finally remembered that her dress was special. Kamila had never had an enchanted item aside from communicator amulets, so her memory lapse was understandable.
Yet she cursed herself while it shapeshifted to her uniform and she used the toppled tables to hide her movements. She reached Tista and Dorian, checking their vitals before administering healing potions to them.
'If their bodies are too weakened, the healing process could kill them…' Her brain stopped as the creature sent Jirni to the spikes-filled floor and cornered Lith with a three pronged attack.
What scared her the most wasn't the flash of spells nor the splashes of blood. It was the savage smile of the three monsters amid the chaos. It made her feel like the last human on Mogar, forced to witness a battle between gods.
Chapter 458 Help Request Part 1
Kamila quickly snapped out of her reverie and made Tista slowly drink a healing potion. She was the more gravely injured of the two and needed immediate assistance. Kamila checked her pulse between gulps, to make sure that Tista's body could handle the strain.
Once the bleeding stopped and Tista's heartbeat became steady, Kamila took care of Dorian. A few seconds later, the Carpenter was dead and Lith rushed to her side.
'Remember to chant. We don't know who could be watching.' Solus warned him before he could forget to keep up his act in his worry. Treating two people at once was already something unheard of, doing it with silent magic would have been beyond stupid.
Lith's chant was a streak of English swear words as his hands performed random gestures before he activated Invigoration on both Tista and Dorian. Contrary to Kamila's expectations, he was the one in the worse shape.
Even though she had received a full-force attack from a Carpenter, her Awakened body amplified the potion's effectiveness and reduced the life force consumption the healing process required.
'Dammit! Both arms have compound fractures, cracked and splintered ribs, punctured lungs, internal bleeding, ruptured organs, second-degree burns from lightning, lacerations and a concussion. Those are not injuries but a fucking grocery list!'
Lith inwardly cursed while he used tier four true magic to heal their bodies and replenish their life force. The abundant energy from the respiration technique brought color back to their pale complexion.
Kamila had no time to rejoice. She noticed two brown stains on his chest and left leg that were slowly getting bigger as the red of his blood mixed with the green of his ranger uniform.
The holes in the fabric had yet to self-repair. Even though light fusion had almost stopped the bleeding, the wounds looked pretty nasty. Kamila was about to splash a potion on his injuries to make them heal when Jirni caught her wrist.
"Right move but wrong moment, Lieutenant. If Lith loses his focus due to the combined exhaustion from the fight, his wounds, and the potion, these two could need days instead of hours to recover."
"I'm sorry, Constable. It's just…" Kamila didn't know what to say. Her eyes moved from the potion in her hand to Lith's open wounds. She inwardly cursed the gods and herself for being utterly useless.
"First time on the battlefield?" Jirni sat beside her. A flick of the Royal Constable's wrist made all the needles scattered throughout the room return to her pockets.
Kamila nodded, biting her lower lip in worry. Whatever Lith was doing, the effort was draining color from his face by the second. Healing was much harder than destroying. Even Invigoration had its limits.
"Well, it's normal to worry about the people we like. Normal and a bit rude." Jirni said, drawing Kamila's gaze on herself.
"I may not be as young and sexy as he is in your eyes, but I'm wounded nonetheless." Jirni took the potion from Kamila's hand and gulped it down. It was only then that Kamila saw the scorch mark on Jirni's chest and her bleeding back.
"Oh gods, I'm so sorry. I…"
"Relax. I was joking." Jirni cut her short with a laugh. "You did a good job keeping them alive. With no specimens, Manohar gone, and no more suspects to interrogate, at least no one died. That's all that matters."
Kamila grimaced and pointed at the bloody mess in the main hall. Bits of nobles, soldiers, and Carpenters were splattered on the walls.
"I mean none of us. You can't save them all. Do this job long enough and you'll learn that small victories are what lets you keep moving forward. If you focus on the losses, you'll go crazy in no time."
***
Later, back at the Association headquarters, everyone was eating like there was no tomorrow. Sharing life force with someone prevented them from dying, but they still needed to replenish all the nutrients spent to reconstruct bones and mend flesh.
Tista had used Invigoration to replenish Dorian's and Jirni's strength, so that Lith would have some time to rest and all the members of the group were back at their peak physical condition.
Psychologically, aside from Lith and Jirni, they were a worried mess. Tista kept reviewing her fight with the Carpenter in an endless loop. Every repetition only made her more bothered.
'That's what they mean by "Don't bite more than you can chew". If that thing wasn't in a hurry because of the mana poisoning, it could have killed us both. I need to learn more offensive spells before starting my travels.
'There's no such thing as a second chance in a fight.'
"How did you know that thing had an ass for brains?" Lith asked
"It was actually obvious." Jirni replied. "It didn't flinch when you aimed at its head and the torso is always the biggest target available. Legs and arms were a no go, big muscles like that need space to flex.
"Since the second set of arms took almost all of the lower back, where else could it be?"
"We're screwed." Dorian said once his stomach had finally stopped grumbling. "Not only has the investigation hit a dead-end, but we have also lost Manohar, maybe for good. Things couldn't get any worse."
"That's not true." Jirni shook her head.
"Count Xolver still has a lot of explaining to do. Before we had nothing on him, but this evening he both assaulted a Ranger and illegally accessed his personal file. The Crown has given me free rein on the matter."
"How did he get his hands on my file?" Lith's eyes brimmed with rage. The creep had made things personal one time too many.
"Not your real file, just the one we leave available to known corrupt officers." Jirni explained. "It only contains public information and enough details to make it look authentic.
"That way we can use it to track their contractors and anticipate their moves. So far, someone has requested classified information on all of us the moment the investigation started. I didn't tell you because we failed to track the delivery.
"Lith's file has been accessed again this evening, right after his quarrel with the Count. We failed to track the delivery again, but the timing is too suspicious. The Crown prefers to ruffle some medium importance noble's feathers rather than risk losing the Kingdom's two best diagnosticians at once."
"This would be fantastic news, if not for Xolver disappearing right after leaving the Marquis' mansion. None of the men stationed outside his house have seen him for hours. Also, there is no record about this Kaelarn guy. It's another dead end."
"Maybe it is and maybe not." Lith would have liked to steeple his fingers while thinking, but Kamila's hand was stuck to his like a boot on a car. Listening to his reports was one thing, watching him risk his life several times in a single night was another.
"I have a contact in the undead community that might be able to help us."
"Why didn't you tell us that as soon as you arrived? Withholding information during a royal investigation is a crime!" Dorian was grateful to Lith for saving his life, but not enough to forget about their shared duty.
"Because we had no solid lead. I never believed it was the work of a Necromancer and I still don't. Even if I'm wrong, undead doesn't equal necromancy. Take Balkor for example. Also, what was I supposed to ask? For a list of all the undead in the region?
"Only after tonight's events do I have a name and a description. I wouldn't even risk exposing her existence if we weren't clutching at straws."
'Her?' Jirni, Tista, and Kamila frowned at the word, each for her own reasons.
Chapter 459 Help Request Part 2
Lith couldn't forgive Xolver for messing with him twice. The idea of becoming the next Royal Healer if something happened to Manohar was a strong motivator too. He valued his freedom as much as the mad professor did.
Lith took out his communication amulet and pressed Kalla's rune. The Wight's hologram appeared instantly.
"Hello, Scourge."
"How many times do I have to tell you to use my human name?" He said in exasperation, afraid that more misunderstandings could ensue.
"Fine. Hello, Shadow of Death. To what do I owe this call?"
"That's not my human name either!"
"I wouldn't be so sure." Jirni and Kalla said in unison.
Seeing an undead bear instead of a woman, put both Jirni and Kamila at ease. Tista was still wondering why her brother had never told her about this particular friend of his.
"What do you mean, 'I wouldn't be so sure'?" Lith asked.
"It all started as a moniker Nana used to refer to you with the Association after you killed Garth Renkin and his father." Jirni explained. "After the plague, wherever you go someone coincidentally dies or bad things happen. So it stuck."
"People consider me bad luck?" Lith was astonished. He could almost hear Kamila thinking about it was only after dating him that she had got dragged in that mess by Commander Berion.
To be fair, it was just his paranoia speaking.
"Only the envious ones." Kamila said without leaving his hand. "Those who speak behind your back and think that your achievements aren't enough to justify the prestige you hold in the eyes of the Crown."
"Your potential enemies refer to you as such too." Kalla said. "Scarlett told me that's how the underworld refers to you, human and not, ever since you killed that Wyvern. Anyway, what can I do for you?"
Kalla was still recovering from the injury she had self-inflicted on her life force. Being unable to further her research, she was bored to death and eager for a distraction.
Lith told her everything that was happening in Othre before describing her Kaelarn and his Vassal.
"Whatever it is, it's not necromancy." Kalla spoke with the same certainty she had that the Sun would rise in the morning.
"The blue eyes are simply a side effect of a partial consciousness transfer from the maker to their creation. Judging from your description, it seems like a twisted version of light magic.
"You are looking for someone who alters the life force of the living rather than reanimates corpses. The two disciplines have one common feature, though. They both deal with the research for the perfect immortality.
"A human named Arthan Griffon conducted thorough research on the matter. As far as I know, his only achievement was to set the very definition of Forbidden Magic."
"Isn't that the same guy you thought resembled the god of healing Xhal?" Dorian asked. He knew the Mad King's name only because of the nursery rhymes his mother used to scare him with whenever he misbehaved as a kid.
"Yes, Dorian. He is, but I don't think is wise to waste our time with trivia. I can only imagine that our enemy will rush their plans. They have Manohar and are aware we discovered their backers' network. It's only a matter of time before they flee." Lith replied.
Arthan was barely a footnote in the Kingdom's history books. His name was forgotten and his legacy lost to all those without the highest clearance level.
Unbeknownst to all those in the room, Arthan had been the very first god of healing. To quickly find a great number of test subjects for his experiments, he had established a free health system that lasted until his plan was exposed.
It saved millions of lives and the people worshipped him like a savior. The clerics of Xhal thought to ride the King's coattails by reshaping the statues of the ancient god in his image, hoping to draw the masses back to their temple.
Their plan royally backfired, becoming the last nail in the coffin for most religions.
"By the way, who are these people?" Being interrupted twice made the bored Wight curious about the nature of her audience.
"Don't worry, Kalla. They are all good humans." Lith replied to the implied question if they were or not fellow Awakened ones.
"As I was saying, you are not facing necromancy. At the same time, it's unlikely for the local undead community to not be involved in the matter or at least know a good deal about it. Many disappearances make feeding and hiding much harder.
"Whenever something bad happens, people always blame curses first and undead later. They are the perfect scapegoat and once panic spreads, even eccentric normal people who like wearing a mask or prefer night life become targets.
"Plus, I heard multiple times about projects aimed to build meat puppets to allow undead with an unpleasant appearance to have a normal life, or just to experience the sunlight again.
"Some need it for business reasons, others because they are unhappy with their limits.
"I'm not the only one researching for a cure for undeath. What you are describing sounds like a perfect temporary fix. Maybe I can point you in the right direction, but it's going to be dangerous. How much do you know about the undead?"
"Only enough to recognize them and kill them if necessary." Lith admitted. Most of the knowledge about greater undead was classified. He had never wasted precious merits to learn things that Kalla could teach him for free.
"Such a narrow perspective." She shook her head in disappointment.
"I'll keep it short. Sentient undead are divided into three Courts, based on their standpoint on the living. The Dawn Court, the only one I have a connection with, respects all kinds of life forms.
"Be they humans, plants, or beasts, the Dawn Court regards them as creatures that despite being weak and short lived, can still be worthy of the gift of eternal life. They do not take slaves, are patrons of the arts, and don't kill while feeding unless strictly necessary.
"Just like the Royal Court, the Dawn Court is ruled by a King and a Queen. They are by no means related by nuptial vows or even race and are often at odds with each other to further their own power plays.
"The Dawn Court is not content with survival, they want to enjoy their existence. The Royals are elected every year among those who brought more prosperity to the Court, be it in terms of wealth, social connections, or safe havens.
"Most of those who became undead against their will and wish to retain, if not to regain, their old life style seek asylum among their ranks.
"The Dusk Court are just loners who grouped up to not get harassed or disturbed by other Courts. As long as they are left alone, they don't care about the living. Their feeding and social habits are unpredictable.
"They have no leader nor a rigid structure. They assemble only when one or more of their members is threatened. They are the most difficult Court to contact or deal with. If attacked, they don't bargain nor do they seek compensation. They retaliate until their enemy is destroyed. Most Liches belong to the Dusk Court.
Chapter 460 Dawn Court Part 1
"The Night Court despises the living. They consider them just like humans consider their food. Inferior sentient beings, a lesser ring in the food chain, or two steps behind on the evolutionary scale if you prefer.
"They only value power and rank themselves like an army rather than a Court. A General keeps his authority only as long as he is capable of defending it. They believe that the end always justifies the means, making betrayals and conspiracies the norm.
"They are their own worst enemy. Their only rule is to not kill among themselves, otherwise their numbers could be counted on one hand in less than a week. To them birthing an offspring only means to create more rivals, so they don't share the gift of undeath easily.
"Unlike the Dawn Court that mingles with nobles, artists, and politicians, Night Court members are usually active members of the human underworld.
"With its human trade, drug trafficking, and weapon dealing, the black market allows them to hide in plain sight. To obtain what they want and get away with it. They like to befriend corrupt nobles and officials.
"Such people are the perfect straw men to take care of their business during the day and the perfect fall guys in case something goes wrong."
"What's a Vassal?" Lith asked.
"For the Dawn Court, a potential new recruit. For the Dusk Court, a friend. For the Night Court, a means to an end. Some undead, like the vampires, can bestow their gifts to the living, allowing them to temporarily surpass their limits.
"Becoming a Vassal means to be a willing servant, but it's also the first step to become a greater undead. Don't get me wrong, none of the Courts are absolutely good or bad, just like there are not only good or bad humans.
"Their philosophy on most things may be different, but they are all predators. Ancient and powerful beings that have no mercy killing whoever can expose their existence or ruin centuries of hard work.
"I don't know anyone in Othre, but I think I can still put you in contact with members of the Dawn Court. They will act friendly because of my backing, but to them, you are still a living and a stranger, hence disposable."
"Don't worry, he is not going there alone. We'll have his back." Jirni said with a steel gaze while placing her hand on Lith's shoulder.
"No, you won't. They'll never accept so many strangers at once and even if they did, it would be a death trap. Once inside their territory, you would be forced to abide to their rules or die.
"Exposing themselves to you is a big risk that would demand compensation. One favor is all they need to involve you in the Courts' quarrels and make you unable to survive without their help, which would require compensation in an endless loop.
"The only thing that can keep Lith relatively safe is the blessing I bestowed him. I'll call you back as soon as I know something."
Kalla hung up, leaving an awkward silence fill the room. Jirni opened her mouth more than once, but in the end she didn't say a word and walked out of the door.
"I don't think you should go." Dorian was the first to speak.
"I'm in charge of the investigation. I handpicked each one of you for the task. What happened so far is my responsibility, I can't allow you to take such risks."
"Exactly." Kamila added while squeezing his hand so hard that her knuckles turned white. "You only came here as a diagnostician and to protect Tista. Neither the army or the Association can force you to meet those monsters."
Lith appreciated her concern, yet her words stung at him.
'Monsters? They just do what they think is right for their survival and have no qualms killing those who stand in their path. I don't see any difference with what I do, with what society does every day under the pretense of "morality" or "the greater good".' Lith thought.
'I wonder what she would say if she saw my other form.'
'Don't be too harsh on her.' Solus was jealous of Kamila. Jealous of all the care Lith put in each of their dates, of the camellia, yet she admired her courage and honesty.
'It's the first time she leaves her desk. Even Phloria considered magical beasts as monsters back at the academy. People are always afraid of the unknown, but it doesn't mean that they stay scared forever.'
'Let's be honest.' Lith preferred to put that thought aside and focus on the matter at hand.
'I don't really have much of a choice. If Xolver is really the one who requested my personal file, then Kaelarn is investigating me. I don't think our squabble will escalate, but it's not safe to remain as ignorant as I am now about the Night Court.
'Also, we always planned to make contact with the undead to solve my reincarnation problem or at least find a proper body for you. This is an opportunity as good as any other to see if they can be of any use or if it's just a dead end.'
'It's all true.' Solus sighed. 'Not to mention the possibility of you becoming Manohar's replacement if we fail to find him, or of the creation of another Black Star.
'If the Professor is right about the kind of Forbidden Magic taking place in Othre during the last months, there is no telling how powerful the cursed object resulting from all the missing people could be.'
Jirni returned after a few minutes, while the others were still debating about where to start looking for Manohar. Othre was a big city. Even if they used every single soldier and mage available, it would take weeks for a comb search and they had hours at best.
No one doubted that Manohar's captor wouldn't stand his antics for long. Still, the Professor's death was unanimously considered the best case scenario. If the one behind the meat puppets and Manohar worked together, it would be a nightmare.
"We need to talk." Jirni sighed as she pulled Lith outside the room.
"I've just finished talking with the Crown. The Griffon Kingdom is long aware of the Courts existence and the Royals are not happy with this situation more than we are. They were against the idea of sending you to meet the Dawn Court until I mentioned Arthan's name."
She handed him her communication amulet, making Queen Sylpha's hologram appear. Lith knelt down, well aware that all of his reasonings were about to become irrelevant.
"Stand up, Great Mage Verhen." Her square chin and sharp features made her serious face look almost intimidating.
"Since I have to send you into the lion's den, I think it's fair doing it in person. I hereby command you to do everything you can to find your missing colleague and unveil the identity of our enemy."
"As you command, your Majesty." Lith inwardly grinned. He would have done it anyway. At least now he would also get rewarded for it.
'I knew it would happen, sooner or later.' He thought. 'You can't be valued as one of the best mages in the Kingdoms and not expect to be thrown into the proverbial hornet's nest.'
Chapter 461 Dawn Court Part 2
"I don't want you to take unnecessary risks. We have interacted with all three undead Courts in the past, so I can at least help you by not letting them catch you unprepared." Sylpha continued.
"Don't trust anyone unless they have offered you their hospitality. It's their most sacred vow and the only one they won't break. Only ask questions, never for help. Otherwise it would make you indebted to them.
"Do not bring with you anything that you are unwilling to part from. As your hosts, they may request a gift of their choice. Refusing would instantly end the negotiations.
"Always emphasize that you are speaking on behalf of the Kingdom, so that if they require compensation for their services, they will not be able to ask anything from you. Ponder every word and say as little as possible. Do you have any questions for me?"
"If the Griffon Kingdom knows about these Courts, why are they still standing?" Lith asked.
"I have no idea about the scope of their power or agenda, but they seem powerful enough to represent a threat. Having a country inside the country looks dangerous to me."
"For the same reasons every one of the three great Countries can't destroy them." Sylpha sighed. "Some of their members exist from the time before even our Kingdom was founded. Not only do they are powerful and wise, but they also have made secrecy a form of art.
"I know from experience that they have functioning Warping arrays even inside cities like Othre, where is supposed to be impossible. The second biggest reason that makes it hard to spot them is that they do not interfere in political struggles.
"They do not seek temporal power. Their interests and our own rarely meet or collide. Between their limited numbers and the discretion with which they operate, finding one of their safe houses is just a matter of luck."
The more Lith learned about them, the less he liked the situation he was in. Undead on Mogar seemed to act more like an Earth's secret society rather than the dumb monsters he was used to see in horror movies or in Dungeons & Looting rulebooks.
'This is way worse than I thought. Even the Dawn Court sounds like a vipers' nest. I need to tread with extreme caution.' Lith grumbled.
'Don't you mean "we"?' It was the first time since they had met that Lith excluded her from his plans. It was enough to shock Solus's very core.
'No, this time I'm alone. I don't know who I'll meet and the more ancient a being is, the more likely is for them to be Awakened or at least have artifacts that can grant them senses akin to Life Vision. I can't risk bringing you along.
'I can't forget how everyone who learned about your existence reacted. Nalear, Scarlett, the Black Star. They were all either scared or anxious to study you. I'm more than confident to be able to kill a single undead, but a whole Court?
'I doubt they can't rip you off from my dead body once I run out of tricks. They have the advantage of numbers and experience. You have seen how powerful Kaelan is.
'I've practiced true magic from barely seventeen years and learned about tier four and five only two years ago. I can't compare with someone with centuries of practice.'
After the Queen ended the call, Lith didn't wait for Kalla's answer to prepare for his departure. He had the army give him a second uniform and entrusted everything he had on himself to Tista.
He only kept Solus's ring. He was unwilling to part from her for even one more second than was strictly necessary. The memory of what had happened when Nalear had severed their bond was deeply etched in their minds.
Even though this time they would just be apart, the unbridled rage that possessed him whenever he was by himself scared him. Solus was more than his moral compass and his life companion.
She was the sun that marked the thin line between sanity and madness that he had walked along his whole life. Lith wasn't a murderous brute, but the idea of having to fight alone against his inner demons while facing centuries old tricksters was far from appealing.
Kalla contacted him again a few minutes after he was done with his preparation.
"I've set you an appointment with Othre's Dawn Court. Beware, though, I have no one I can trust among their ranks." Kalla gave him the same advice Queen Sylpha did, before telling him the time and place where he would find her contact.
Lith was supposed to be on a small hill outside the city gates in less than five minutes. It was a safety measure to make it impossible for someone to follow him or to arrange a trap for the Court's envoy.
Lith knew he had no time to lose, yet taking off Solus's ring took him several seconds. He put Solus on Tista's open palm, his fingers refusing to let go of the smooth stone surface that had become more familiar to him than his own flesh and bones.
"Don't worry. I'll be back soon." He said to both girls while closing Tista's fingers over the ring. Lith had already lost too much time. He left the Association's building in a hurry and took off at full speed toward his destination.
Much to his surprise, his communication amulet drew his consciousness soon after he left Othre. Kalla's rune was blinking again.
"One last thing." She said after making sure he was alone.
"Don't worry about hiding your nature of Awakened one. Most ancient undead just need a sniff of our blood or a gaze to recognize us. So I told them that you are one of us and as such you are protected."
"Protected from what?" Lith asked. "Now that I think about it, it's surprising that during your travels no one tried to force you to share the secret of Awakening. I can understand that undead have a strong sense of kinship, but bad apples are everywhere."
"Protected from being kidnapped, forced to reveal your secrets, or having your family threatened. Just like the undead have their Courts, we Awakened ones have our Council.
"It doesn't care if we live or die, but whoever tries to force their way to Awakening is bound to die. The Council doesn't guard our lives, but treasures our secret. No one, no matter how powerful wants to cross the Council.
"Awakened ones are a race of their own and are merciless. Some of its members are almost as ancient as this continent. If they combine their efforts, wiping the Courts off the face of Mogar would require but the blink of an eye."
"How do I contact them?" Lith asked.
"They'll contact you when they will deem you ready." Kalla hung up, leaving Lith more amused than worried by that piece of information. After studying the history of the Kingdom, he had always suspected the Council's existence.
Over the centuries, too many mages had died or disappeared after announcing world shaking revelations about magic's true potential.
Chapter 462 Rituals Part 1
Lith had no trouble finding the meeting place. With the incoming winter, the outskirts of Othre were deserted. Both humans and animals were completing the last preparations before the first snowfall.
Even though there was still time before the end of the fall season, the temperature would plummet after sunset. Away from the stone buildings, the dry winds coming down the nearby mountain range whipped at Lith's skin.
His breath steamed in the cold of the night while the air currents were so strong that he needed to conjure a wind barrier to protect his eyes and not get pushed off course.
Usually, Lith would employ Fire Vision to scout his surroundings, but given the nature of his hosts, it wouldn't be of any use. Dead bodies released no heat, only Life Vision could spot them.
The hill was the highest point within a few kilometers from Othre. It was a rugged and barren landscape, yet he could see too many lingering magical energies for it to be just a coincidence.
Despite it was almost the convened time, Lith was alone.
"I understand why you like this place. With a clear sky, there is no place to hide. You can spot anyone approaching from miles away." Lith said to a shadow near the summit.
"How did you know I was here?" The shadows opened, revealing a young man in his early twenties. He was a normal human being, of average height and build. The wind ruffled his brown hair while his deep green eyes showed only surprise.
"Magic." Lith replied. The black cape the youth wore would fuse him with the darkness as long as he remained still, but the cloth's magical aura was perfectly visible to Life Vision.
"Show me your invitation." The man ignored Lith's provocation and spoke with a kind, baritonal voice. Lith raised his left palm and sent some mana into it. The runes Kalla had bestowed upon him a few weeks before produced a white light.
The youth took Lith's hand to watch them closely. His body shivered at the contact. The cape protected him from the cold even better than Lith's Ranger uniform did, but it could do nothing against killing intent.
Lith hated being touched and without Solus to soothe his violent nature, he was ready to kill the stranger at the slightest provocation. He had weaved several spells on his way to the hill, and all of them were now prickling his skin, only kept at bay by Lith's will.
It was their threat that he was perceiving. Lith was placid like the surface of a lake instead. His eyes were ablaze with mana as he examined the stranger with Life Vision from head to toe.
Aside from the cape, he had only an enchanted item inside his breast pocket. Its aura was too weak for a weapon. After a few seconds, the youth nodded and let go of Lith's hand. He took a small mana stone out of his pocket, placing it inside a hole in the ground.
Dozens of runes lit up the hill's summit while two concentric magic circles formed in front of Lith's astonished eyes.
'I recognize the magic circles, this is a Warping array. Yet it even escaped Life Vision's detection. Dammit, I wish Solus was here. She would have no problem understanding what's going on here.'
Knowing that she would be able to access all of his memories later, Lith tried to memorize everything he could while keeping an eye on his host.
'Wait a minute.' He thought once the array was perfectly formed. The runes had left the ground and were now floating in mid air. 'I recognize some of those runes. They are the same that were engraved on the god of healing's altar.'
Lith tried to remember if the altar had any socket, but all that came to his mind was dust and cobwebs. He was too used relying on Solus's assistance to take note of small details.
"Don't bother memorizing this place." The youth said, misunderstanding the reason Lith was staring at the magical formation. "It's likely that the array will be destroyed as soon as we leave. Humans cannot be trusted." Disgust coated his last phrase.
At any other moment, Lith would have made a snarky remark about both of them being human. Without Solus, he could only think about how annoying it was all that chatter and suppress the desire to break his neck.
He followed the youth inside the magical formation, appearing inside a richly decorated room. It had no windows, making it impossible for Lith to understand their new location.
The furniture was made of inlaid secular wood while the ornaments, from the flower pots to the book ends, were made of solid precious metals. The air was filled with the sweet scent of flowers he had never seen before, yet Lith was certain to be underground.
Ever since he had refined the blue core, his body would naturally breathe in the surrounding world energy. The imbalance between air and earth mana told him that the room was surrounded by tons of rocks.
He kept using Life Vision, noticing that several unknown arrays covered the room. He used first magic to check if any element was blocked. Much to his surprise, everything worked just fine, even gravity and dimensional magic.
"There's no need to be so nervous, Awakened Verhen." Lith turned abruptly toward the source of the feminine voice. It sounded as sweet as honey and blissful as only first love can be.
It belonged to a red-headed woman in her late twenties. She was about 1.7 meters (5'7") tall, wearing a bright red silk satin evening dress emphasizing her pale skin and soft curves. Her emerald parure matched her green eyes, making them even more dazzling.
"I'm Sylla Ekna, Duchess of the Dawn Court. I offer you our hospitality on behalf of our Queen for as long as you wish to stay among us. Treat us with the same respect we'll give you and there will be no enmity between us."
Lith ignored her words and stared at her with Life Vision. She was weaker than Kaelarn, so he was sure he would be able to kill her if necessary. Neither her superficial kindness nor the miles of cleavage she was showing impressed him.
In life, she would have been considered far less beautiful than Friya, but undeath gave her smooth, delicate features and kept her body lithe. Every one of her movements was graceful and sensual, yet Lith knew he was in the presence of a predator.
"I'm Great Mage Lith Verhen of her Majesty service. I speak and act on behalf of the Royal Court of the Griffon Kingdom. I thank you for your hospitality and I hope that albeit we meet as strangers, we'll part ways as friends." He replied quoting the ceremonial Kalla had taught him.
Sylla's left eye twitched in annoyance. Not only did the human's indifferent gaze offended her to no end, but he had also avoided all the missteps that would have allowed the Dawn Court to kick him out or at least demand some of his blood as compensation.
Awakened ones were a rare delicacy.
"Please, tell me what can we do for you." She sat on one of the chairs, inviting him to do the same while the brown-haired man served them drinks.
Lith explained to her Othre's situation. He noticed how with each detail he provided, her annoyance was replaced by a gloating expression.
"You are lucky, I think we can help you. For the right price, of course."
Chapter 463 Rituals Part 2
Lith took a deep breath and let Life Vision fade away. He had used it non stop since he had landed on the hill and the built up fatigue had already reached the point of giving him a mild headache.
Despite it was one of the first abilities he had learned as a kid, using Life Vision still put a heavy burden on his mind and mana. Unlike normal spells, Life Vision evolved with Lith's core refinement.
The more powerful he became, the more details Life Vision revealed. He was now able to read the mana currents natural beings produced, see the runes which composed arrays even when they were invisible, and gather basic information about enchanted items from a distance.
Not only was the mana consumption high, but also it required great focus to avoid sensory overload. Everything on Mogar had mana, forcing Lith to filter the useless information.
The task was particularly hard when he was in the presence of lots of strong magical signatures. Studying his host, the room, and its arrays while keeping his guard up all the time had brought him on the verge of needing to use Invigoration.
Unluckily, he couldn't afford it. Lith had already used it once to recover after the fight against the perfect Carpenter and another to save his companions. With each use, Invigoration would grant him less and less energy.
'The night is still young. First, I have to deal with the Dawn Court, then we need to rescue Manohar, and lastly take out the puppet master. Knowing my luck, I'll have to pave my way in blood, steel, and magic.' Lith sighed.
"Thanks for your offer, but the Kingdom is capable of dealing with this threat on its own. I came to you hoping you could share with me everything you know. The Crown will adequately compensate you for your assistance." Lith kept in mind the Queen's warnings and stalled for time.
According to Solus, since the last breakthrough, with every breath Lith would draw a bit of world energy. It allowed him to recover his strength faster than normal, even without using Invigoration.
"You seem to be unaware of Othre's situation. Our negotiations will not make any progress if you don't even know what we are talking about." Sylla business attitude was a breath of fresh air now that she had stopped being flirtatious.
"The Dawn Court has little hold on Othre. Trade cities are of no interest to us aside from the merch they provide. Othre belongs to the Night Court, our presence here is a mere formality to protect our interests.
"If you want to know what's happening, you should ask the Night Court, but they are unlikely to give audience to a mortal. Unless, of course, another Court backs their request and makes sure they get out of it in one piece."
"Let me guess. The Night Court will require something in exchange for its help. Maybe something that only your people can provide. It would make us indebted to you twice." At Lith's words, Sylla's ravenous smile returned.
She liked her prey smart. All that talking made her hungry.
"Exactly. While setting up a meeting is not a big deal, depending on their demands the Dawn Court might require something more exotic than money or magical treasures."
"Then arrange a negotiation table, please. As you surely know, I'm on the clock. If the Night Court sets too high a price, I can turn them down with no consequences, right?" Lith asked.
Sylla nodded in reply and summoned the brown haired man.
"Caspen, you know what to do." The youth gave her a small bow before leaving the room.
"Do you mind a personal question?" Lith pondered about his situation and the nature of his host.
'Worst case scenario, I'm not going back empty handed. Maybe the temple of Xhal hides a Warping array like the one that brought me here. If I'm right, it means that carving those runes leaves a permanent Gate that lacks a power source.' He thought.
'It's incredibly ingenious, since in its depowered state it escaped even Solus's mana sense detection. With all those runes, it's impossible to understand which ones form the array and which are just gibberish.
'It must be an ancient form of magic the undead have preserved.'
"Sure, but I expect you to answer one of my own." Her fluttering of eyelashes gave Lith the creeps. Sylla looked at him like Lith would at a skirt steak.
"You have a heartbeat and an almost human smell, so I was wondering, what kind of undead are you?"
"I'm a banshee." She replied with a flattered smile, like he had complimented her attire. "Caspen is my Vassal, but I can't grant him any power until he becomes one of us."
Lith nodded, pretending he had an idea of what her words meant. Aside from those from the Gaelic lore, the only banshees he knew were those from Dungeon & Looting rulebook.
'She sure doesn't look like a cursed elf maiden.' He thought while staring at her perfectly normal ears.
On Mogar, banshees weren't just women. Anyone who had been cheated on by their alleged one true love could become one. They needed to kill with their hands the person who turned their love into hatred and then commit suicide.
If their rage and despair were strong enough, it would lure a nearby banshee who could then decide to turn them into one of their own. Outside the three Courts, it was an event as likely as being killed by a meteorite.
Banshees fed on the life force of the unfaithful. They could either just kill them, or slowly drive them into madness. Their vengeful nature made them skilled seducers. For a banshee there was no greater pleasure than feeding on those who fell for their temptations.
Lith being both faithful and an Awakened made him a world class buffet in her eyes.
"Do you have an ear fetish?" She asked while leaning toward him while sweeping her hair to allow him to take a better look at the alleged object of his desires. She was now so close that their lips were barely an inch apart.
"Not at all." Lith moved his seat back to regain some personal space. "I was afraid you would ask for something juicier. How long will it take to get the Night Court's reply?"
Sylla's eyes turned black in anger when she realized her blunder. Hunger had got the better of her and made her waste her opportunity to force him to open up with her. Caspen's return helped her to regain her cool.
"It's already done, please follow me."
She led him through corridors filled with exquisite decorations. There wasn't an inch of floor or walls that wasn't covered by lavish carpets, golden embroidered tapestry, and paintings so beautiful that even someone as unappreciative of arts like Lith had no problem to recognize as masterpieces.
Sylla moved so fast that Lith could only steal a glance here and there before she opened a door and let him enter first.
The amount of mana filling the room almost blinded Lith, forcing him to shield his eyes with one hand.
Chapter 464 Foul Moon Part 1
The source of his distress wasn't the magical nature of all the items in the room, from the round black mahogany table to the silk covered armchairs.
Nor it was the densely packed arrays surrounding the area. Lith had seen much worse during his visits to the Royal Palace. Kaelarn was sitting on the opposite side of the round table in front of him, with the rejuvenated Count Xolver standing right behind his master.
Sitting on the left side of the table, there was a skeletal figure, which despite its rotten flesh and dusty clothes emitted a majestic aura like Lith had never seen before. The creature appeared like a sun to his Life Vision, making it easy for Lith to recognize its nature as Awakened one and Lich.
***
City of Othre, Mage Association's meeting room.
Lith had left for a little more than two hours, but his few possessions already weighted like stones in Tista's arms. She would use Invigoration on them from time to time, using their imprint to reassure herself that her brother was still alive.
Jirni wasn't worried for him, yet her eyes refused to move from the sheathed form of the Gatekeeper which laid on the table in front of her. She remembered all too well how long she and Phloria had pestered Orion to Forgemaster the sword as Lith's birthday present.
Those were other times, when that blade was much more than a simple instrument to kill. For Jirni it had been a means to multiple ends. It was supposed to help Lith to stay alive amid the chaos of any battlefield.
To guarantee the happiness of her daughter, Phloria. To lay the foundations of a relationship that would bring glory to the Ernas household. Her fingers caressed the hilt of the sword, recognizing the markings of her husband's craftsmanship.
All of that was in the past, making Jirni love and hate that cold piece of metal at once. In her eyes, it held too many broken promises and wishes that never came true.
Kamila stared at her now empty hand. She could swear to be able to feel his warmth lingering on it. Her mind was fixated on the image of the camellia waiting for her in their hotel room.
She had brought it to Othre from her apartment a couple of days after she had moved there, unwilling to let it die because of Commander Berion's manipulations.
'I do realize we don't know each other for long, just like I'm aware that since this mission started we've been nothing more than roommates until this evening. Then why does it hurt that he left without saying goodbye? How much do I really care about our relationship?'
Inside her ring form, Solus had yet to metabolize how quickly they had parted ways. It wasn't the first time that she left the hand which for so many years had been her whole world, but it was the first time that he had willingly left her behind.
As soon as Lith had left the range of their mind link, the whole Mogar seemed to have changed in front of her. The colors were brighter, the lights warmer. On the faces of the members of the Association, where she would usually see hints of deception and ill will, she saw only honest worry for the citizens of Othre.
Without Lith's traumas haunting her perceptions, without his paranoid, narrow standpoint on people echoing through her mind, there was so much more beauty in the world that she had ever thought possible.
Even so, it didn't bring her any joy. Without her partner, all the promises of happiness the future held sounded empty. Her stone body was now a prison. She could perceive the outside world, but she couldn't feel anything.
It was like being locked in a closed room, looking through cameras at what happened on the outside, with no way to interact. A silent witness.
'I understand why he went alone, but I still can't believe he didn't ask for my opinion. After all we went through together, doesn't Lith realize how important he is to me? If he dies, what will become of me?
'I could bond with Tista, but to what end? To watch her grow old and die? To become some kind of family heirloom? To watch others live their lives while the only thing that changes for me is the hand holding my destiny?
'What good is to me, if I regain all my powers, maybe even a human body, and have to spend eternity alone? To lose the only one who knows and cares for my soul?'
Solus was aware that unless she started spending mana, she could last months before being forced to bond again. Nonetheless, she felt like she was dying a bit with each passing second.
***
Inxialot, the Lich King, stared in hatred to all those inside the room. Liches didn't actually have a king. The title was merely a consolation prize for getting the short end of the stick during the last raffle to determine who would represent the undead Awakened ones for Council duties.
Since the secret of the Awakening, in the form of the human newborn, had to be protected from his fellow undead, the Council had sent Inxialot to make sure the Courts abided by the rules.
Lith's life or death were irrelevant to him. The only thing he cared about was to prevent a bunch of idiotic immortal fools from becoming capable of competing with him for power and resources.
Otherwise he would have never left his lab for so long. He hated all the Courts the same way.
'Damn bastards. At least Council meetings last minutes, this shenanigan could take much more, maybe even hours! Did I put out the fire under my cauldron? I've been preparing that elixir for years!
'I don't know who, but someone is going to die for making me leave so many priceless experiments unattended.' Panic and rage came in and out of the revolving door that was his chaotic mind.
His mana flow was so vigorous that even Life Vision could see it circulate along the whole Lich's body. It seeped into every one of his rings, every fiber of his tattered robe, and even inside the staff he held.
Lith had no idea how others could be so calm despite being in the presence of such a monster.
Chapter 465 Foul Moon Part 2
"I'm Duchess Sylla Ekna. I'll represent the interests of the Dawn Court and of its host, Awakened Verhen, during the parlay. Lieutenant Colonel Kaelan is the emissary from the Night Court, while Lich Inxialot is a neutral spectator on behalf of the Council."
The Banshee gave a graceful curtsy to the Lich first and to Kaelan later.
The vampire was aware of how volatile a Lich's behavior was, yet Sylla's breach of etiquette still angered him. So when the Lich kept staring into space without returning the greeting, Kaelan did the same.
It had been one of the ugliest nights in the last few centuries of his existence, and it kept getting worse by the hour.
His newest Vassal had managed to anger the only Awakened one for miles, someone even the Night Court was unaware of his existence. Kaelan had been forced to protect his investment and albeit his brief clash with Lith ended in a draw, he had suffered a humiliation nonetheless.
The news of Kaelan's inability to discipline his own dog had spread like wildfire in the Night Court, making him a laughingstock. No one cared about Lith being an Awakened, nor a guest of the Dawn Court.
The only thing that mattered to his peers was that Kaelan had left the gala while Lith remained. Any result but victory was seen as weakness by his Court. Later, some of his most prized connections with the black market had been slain after turning into monsters.
Being embarrassed in public and losing a good chunk of his influence inside Othre had made Kaelan's rank of Lieutenant Colonel inside the Court shaky at best. When he heard about the young Awakened seeking audience, he had volunteered to regain some of the lost face.
The presence of the Lich threw a monkey wrench in his plans. The mortal was in a hurry, so Kaelan's tactic was supposed to exploit such weakness to force him into accepting an unfavorable deal.
Squeezing mystical treasures from the Dawn Court would have made him regain his honor and forced the mortal to take part in the Courts' power plays, giving Kaelan the opportunity to achieve his revenge. Two birds with one stone.
Unluckily, Liches were fickle creatures and one of the few even more impatient than mortals. Stalling for time was likely to earn Kaelan a quick but excruciating eternal sleep.
'All is not lost. I just need to exploit the Lich's nature and that mad thing will do the dirty job for me.' The vampire thought.
"What do you want, human?" Direct approach was another breach of etiquette, but it earned him a nod of approval from Inxialot.
"I need to know who is behind the meat puppets that kidnapped Professor Manohar and where I can find him." Even without Solus, Lith's survival instinct was screaming at him to leave the room in a rush.
The Lich was the most powerful creature he had ever seen and to make things worse, he was an Awakened one.
'If he uses Invigoration on me, he might discover my second life force. I can't afford to arouse his curiosity, or I risk spending the rest of my life as a guinea pig.' Liches were the only greater undead Lith knew a great deal about thanks to Kalla.
He knew that there was nothing they wouldn't do to further their quest for knowledge. Breaking all the laws of the Courts and the Kingdom at once would be a small price to pay to get their hands on an anomaly like Lith was.
"You are asking a lot. How much is worth to you the life of one of the greatest mages…" Inxialot's head turned on the Night Court's representatives. His gaze made Count Xolver fall to his knees, unable to breathe.
Kaelan remained unfazed only because he was already sitting and his sweat glands were as dead as a doornail.
"I mean, the life of one of the greatest mortal mages and the location of one of the Griffon Kingdom's greatest enemies?" Inxialot eyes went blank again.
"They amount to nothing to me." Lith said with a wave of his hand. "On the other hand, the Griffon Kingdom is very interested in both matters and would pay you handsomely. If the information provided is reliable, of course."
"This is not a cattle market where you can check the animal before paying its price." Kaelan's voice perfectly hid his annoyance. The human was aware of at least some of the rules of the game.
"Then I'll settle for Professor Manohar's whereabouts." Lith replied. "If the first information proves to be true, the Kingdom will purchase the second one too." Lith pretended to be calm, but he was actually quite nervous.
'Dammit, I'm quite a good negotiator, but only as long as I know what we are talking about. If Kaelan asks for artifacts like the Small World, I have no clue how precious they are to the Kingdom compared to Manohar's life.
'As per my host request, I've left my communicator amulet at the Association. I can't ask further instructions from the Queen, and relying on Sylla can easily backfire if she treats my request as asking for help instead of information.'
"Fine." Kaelan replied. "Our request is for the Sword of Saefel, the Spell Hoarding Cube, and the following ingredients."
Even before reading the list the vampire handed to him, Lith's poker face crumbled. The Sword of Saefel was one of the royal treasures passed down by Valeron Griffon, the first King, while the Cube had to be a state secret, since it wasn't mentioned in any Forgemastering book of the White Griffon academy.
The list of ingredients was short, but the items ranged from "priceless" to "does it really exist?" in Lith's mind.
"This is daylight robbery if I ever saw one. Don't you agree, dear Duchess?" Lith hoped that asking for an opinion counted as information. The lip service was unlikely to be helpful, yet it couldn't hurt to try.
"Indeed." She nodded without changing her expression. She wanted the human to get conned, so that by helping him he would become one of their assets. Not even the Dawn Court could afford such an unreasonable price to leash just one human.
"This whole building is worth way less than what you ask for, Kaelan."
Lith crossed out all the ingredients he wasn't able to evaluate before returning the piece of paper. There was still enough to cover a few times the annual budget of the White Griffon's light department.
"The artifacts aren't for sale. This is what I can offer you." Lith was actually willing to raise the offer, but he wanted to keep enough leeway during the negotiation.
"Is this a joke?" Anger made some color return to the vampire's dead cheeks.
"No, it's me being generous." Lith replied. "The Night Court is indebted to me after your Vassal tried to steal my prey and then attacked me even after I showed him my references." Mana flowed to his right hand, revealing Kalla's runes.
"As his master, you should take responsibility for his actions. Accept my offer, tell me what I want to know, and I'll consider the matter between us solved amicably." Lith noticed how important were formalities to the Courts.
He hoped his earlier incident with Kaelan might give him an edge.
Chapter 466 Foul Moon Part 3
"Quite the contrary." The anger disappeared and the vampire's tone turned stone cold.
"My Vassal wronged you, but your retaliation was too extreme. He has lost most of the abilities the Blood Blessing granted him and he might not be able to turn into a vampire anymore. My price takes into account the compensation you owe me. Take it or leave it."
It was a lie. Xolver's blood core had just been weakened, even though none of the Night Court understood how. Only Awakened ones and Abominations knew about the existence of different kinds of cores and how did they work.
"I owe both of you nothing. Your Vassal tried to manipulate me and my property, while you inflicted me an injury that almost cost me my life while facing those flesh monsters." Lith had no qualm adding a lie of his own.
"Gentlemen, please." Sylla interrupted their quarrel. "Let's keep your personal business outside the parlay. Otherwise it will take hours to reach a compromise."
Inxialot was already tired of all that chatting even before it started, so when he heard the word "hours", his mind spun at top gear to figure a way out of that nightmare.
"Both parties have suffered too great a damage to trust each other." Inxialot spoke for the first time since his arrival.
"According to article four of the Courts' code of honor, to prevent hostilities from escalating is required to perform the Foul Moon, so that blood wash out the blood and peace can return."
"With all due respect, Lord Inxialot, article four states that the Foul Moon should take place in case of an irreconcilable difference between members of the Courts. This is merely a business treaty between an Awakened and the Night Court." Sylla didn't like the sudden turn of events.
The Foul Moon was an ancient trial by combat that hadn't been invoked for centuries. It required a fight to the death between peers, which meant Sylla and Kaelan. She had no intention of risking her eternal life for a mere mortal, no matter how tasty.
"You are wrong." Inxialot rebuked with a glare that silenced any further objection.
"They are not discussing business, they are seeking reparation, since I have yet to hear a single counteroffer.
"Article four, section three, sub paragraph one. If the probatory member of a Court assaults a guest from another, to avoid the conflict to spread to their respective Courts they must meet in a duel. Unless both their patrons are willing to take their place, of course."
The Lich was indeed right. It was an obscure codicil, which sadly had never been repealed. The silver lining was that Lord Inxialot could propose the Foul Moon, but only one of the offended parties had the right to put their lives on the line.
To Sylla, Lith asked: "What's our esteemed guest talking about?"
"Long story short, if you win, you get what you want and pay nothing. If he wins, you die and he gets to keep your corpse as a trophy." Inxialot chimed in without giving her the possibility to reply.
"Against which one of them am I supposed to win?" Lith pointed at the vampire and his Vassal.
"The proto vampire." Inxialot used spirit magic to nail Count Xolver to the wall and clear any doubt.
"Let me get this straight, your Lich-ness. If I kill that poor excuse of a noble, his master will give me the information I need, right?" Inxialot nodded.
"What if Kaelan decides to seek revenge on me?" It seemed all too easy, Lith preferred to stay on the safe side.
"If he decides to ignore the result of the combat, he will have to put his life at stake. The Foul Moon is a sacred ritual. Plotting against you would be an unprecedented violation.
"Any of his underlings exposing his treachery would be entitled to obtain his position within the Night Court, while his superiors who are afraid of his rise would be authorized to kill him and split his resources among themselves."
'So, I don't have to trust something as unreliable as his honor, but rather the greed of his rivals, within and outside the Night Court.' Lith thought. 'It's not much, but what choice do I have? I can't leave empty handed without a perfect excuse for the Queen.
'I don't know the value of some of the listed ingredients, but I'm pretty sure the Royals would rather lose Manohar than give away the jewels of the crown. Sooner or later, a man dies, whereas an artifact is forever. What if…'
"Lieutenant Colonel Kaelan, if you allow me to call my Queen, I'll ask her what I can offer you to have both sides satisfied with the outcome. Neither I nor the Griffon Kingdom wants to spill blood. The choice is up to you."
"That's impossible." Sylla shook her head. "Amulets and their calls can be traced. It would endanger the Dawn Court."
"And the Night Court has no reason to grant you any leniency. Not only do you refuse my generosity, but also you dare to speak like you're doing me a favor? Either you have the authority to accept our terms or you don't."
The Night Court had no intention to help the Griffon Kingdom from the beginning. The unreasonable demands were to force a lose-lose situation on them. If Lith accepted, the Crown would be weakened and blame him for it, whereas the Night Court would grow in power just by sharing the details of their customer.
If he refused, the Kingdom would lose its Royal Healer, their enemy would escape, and Lith would be branded as incompetent. Kaelan had made sure there would be no happy ending for his enemy.
'The human is out of luck. The Lich is doing exactly what I expected, and Sylla is either too afraid to speak or she just wants to corner him as much as I do.' He inwardly smiled.
Kaelan's arrogance made Lith think again about his options.
'He should know I'm way stronger than his thrall. Why even bother to save him just to toss him away like this?' Lith thought.
"Duchess, what are the rules of the Foul Moon?" He wanted to understand if the gap in magical prowess could be overcome with powerful equipment, since Lith had nothing but his clothes.
"It's a contest of pure might. No weapons nor protections are allowed. If you win, Kaelan will not be able to harm you or your propriety without risking his own life, but if you lose, you'll die a horrible death." She replied.
Even though Lith couldn't see the trap, he could still smell it. It was all too easy.
'No matter if I accept or refuse Kaelan's rip-off deal, my career in the army and the Association will be over. The Foul Moon actually solves two problems at once. It's much better to face a single opponent head on than watching my back every night.
'I'm not strong enough to kill that vampire, yet. Since I can't force him to leave me alone, at least this way I can prevent him to gang up on me with the help of other members of the Night Court and give him a good scare.'
"Count Xolver, I challenge you to Foul Moon."
As he feared, a smug smile appeared on the faces of both the vampire and his Vassal.
Chapter 467 Foul Moon Part 4
"I accept." Xolver replied. "Yet I'm no match for my opponent, so I request for a champion."
"I knew the Night Court's members are just overgrown ticks, but since when do you even accept cowards among your ranks?" Inxialot hadn't tricked Lith on purpose. In his mind, running away from a challenge was something unthinkable.
His words wiped the smile off their faces, while Lith's mind finally connected the dots.
"Wait, does a fight between peers means 'of the same rank in the Court' or 'of equal strength'?" He asked.
"The latter, of course." Sylla replied with a wolfish smile. "You should have asked for my help. He who lives alone dies alone. You have no friends here and you knew it."
"Bah, don't worry, kid." Inxialot sneered. "Awakened ones are the strongest race after Liches. Everything else is trash."
"When will the fight take place?" Lith asked while using Invigoration to return to his peak condition.
"As soon as the arena is ready, and unless someone wants to die by my hand, it will happen within the next few minutes." Inxialot struck the ground with his silver staff, causing the whole room to shake.
While Sylla and Kaelan shouted orders in their respective communication amulets, Lith started to cast what he had always considered the most useless of all the trump cards at his disposal.
***
Unknown location. Underground dungeon of the master of the meat puppets.
Krishna Manohar had long come to terms with inferior minds having no originality. When he regained his senses, he didn't need to look at himself to know that his arms had been amputated.
The Professor knew his body so well that he noticed how his balance was all over the place the moment he opened his eyes. His waist was chained to the wall, and so were his legs.
The room he was trapped in was a marvel in its intricacy. The walls and floor were made of metal, the air was kept thin and dry to the point he kept yawning for oxygen.
'Well, at least this is new. Usually, they just break up my arms. Someone here is very paranoid. I can understand why they took my hands off, but what is this room for?' He thought.
Unlike the master of the mansion, Manohar was unaware of Awakened ones' existence, so the design of the cell made no sense to him. An Awakened wouldn't need their mouth or hands to cast, so the metal served to make it impossible to use earth magic, while the dry air blocked fire, air, and water magic.
With no humidity, there was no water to manipulate, while fire would quickly burn the low oxygen content of the room and make the prisoner faint.
Manohar was still dizzy from all the lightning bolts which had struck him a few hours earlier. With no hands, he had to use first magic to treat his minor wounds and the symptoms from the amputation.
When the pain stopped hindering Manohar's mind, he continued using first magic while studying the restraints trapping him. As he expected, they weren't regular chains.
Even if he was unfamiliar with their design, the Professor could feel enough mana coming from them to support multiple enchantments.
"This may take a while." He sighed.
"Awake already? It's not only your mind to be amazing. For a human, of course." Said a familiar feminine voice while opening the cell door.
"Can you drop the evil overlord act? It stopped being fun before I was even born. It makes you look even more pathetic than you already are."
"Tough talk for someone in your position." Hessie, Lady Lanza's personal housemaid, walked to the center of the room with a soft, cruel smile on her lips. There was nothing bashful in her gait anymore.
She stood as straight as a Queen, looking down on Manohar like he was a thief locked in a stockade.
"I feel ashamed for falling for your act." The Professor said. "The only excuse I have is that I checked you for both slave items and meat puppets. How did you come up negative to my tests?"
His professional curiosity was piqued. According to Hessie's personal file, she had no magical talent. Her history was clear and with no gaps. Yet there she was, exuding such strong mana that Manohar's neck hair was standing up.
Her eyes were still chestnut, so she wasn't remotely controlled like a meat puppet.
"Easy. I took over her body months ago. Your spells detected nothing because there's nothing to detect. I'm Hessie now, or at least what's left of her."
"Are you saying it's not just shapeshifting?" Manohar had never been so happy of being kidnapped. The lady in front of him was as crazy as interesting. She would make an incredible specimen.
'If I manage to capture her alive and if those buzzkills of the Crown don't execute her on the spot.' He inwardly smiled. Manohar lived for the challenges.
"Enough chit chat. There's a reason why you are still alive..."
"Because you need my help." Manohar interrupted her. "Let me guess. After seeing me at work you understood how sloppy and crude your methods are, so you want me to teach you how to do things properly."
Hessie's eyes were reduced to fiery slits, brimming with mana.
"How dare you belittling my work, you insignificant runt? My art is perfect, or better, it was supposed to be. I want to know how did you extract my puppy alive from its host!" Her anger made the Professor's condescending attitude turn to hilarity.
"Art? Perfect? Are you really such an idiot? Your magic is messy at best, if not wasteful. I hoped you were like Balkor, a genius like me but that because of poor personal choices ended up swamped with too much scut work, slowing your research.
"If you think that junk is perfection, then you are barely at a fifth year student level. Once I used my diagnostic spell, I found at least twelve major flaws and as many ways to safely remove the specimen. Off the top of my head at that."
Manohar was so disgusted that he stopped talking and started chanting.
"What do you think you're doing?" Hessie released a bolt of darkness magic from one of her rings, but Manohar easily dodged it despite his restraints. His movement revealed a set of arms made of light that had remained hidden behind the Professor's back up to that moment.
The chant ended and the chains fell onto the ground with a metal clattering. It was the tier four Forgemaster spell Clean Slate, an exclusive of the elite of the army, the Association, or in Manohar's case, of the Queen's corps.
It generated a combined pulse of light and darkness magic that would temporarily short circuit the imprint on a magical item. In the case of the chains, without an owner, the lock was released.
Before Hessie could recover from the surprise, the left arm formed a fist and struck at her like a ram, sending her sprawling on the floor.
"Light magic used for offense? That's impossible!" The first magic composing the hard light construct was enough to allow Manohar to channel his spells, but its offensive force was just slightly superior to that of an average man.
"Just because an idiot can't do it, it doesn't mean that something is impossible." Manohar said while Hessie stared at him with a mix of fear and awe.
Chapter 468 Impossible Magic Part 1
Ever since the dawn of magic, the light element had been known to be useless in battle. It had no offensive spells and aside from healing small wounds, the exhaustion that spells below tier four caused on their patients made them a double edged sword.
Light magic experts always protested that such claims were ridiculous. There was no element weaker than the others. Yet aside from legends and fairy tales, no one had ever won a battle with light magic.
At least according to official history. There were many reports about magical beasts well versed in the use of the light element who were capable of using it for attacking. Scarlett had decimated the Talons' headquarters using light magic.
Lith would have died from Gadorf's Purge spell, if captain Yerna hadn't stopped him. Yet some secrets were closely guarded. Despite having lived for centuries, the person inhabiting Hessie's body had never learned how to perform even a trick like the one Manohar was using to compensate for his lack of arms.
The Mad Professor chanted his next spell, leaving Hessie with no choice but to summon her minions while she got out of the death trap of her own making. Because of the nature of the room, all elements besides light and darkness magic were disabled.
She could cast lightning, but it would be deviated by the metal in the room. If Manohar wasn't already floating, he would only need to jump to avoid the bolt before it was neutralized by the lighting rods hidden below the floor.
It was a safety measure to prevent an inmate to strike all their captors at once if the electrical current was trapped in the metal instead of being discharged. To make things worse, the cell also made it impossible to use even arrays, which left Hessie with only her body as a weapon.
'Once I'm back inside my mansion, I can use my arrays and my puppies to kill him. It was a mistake taking him prisoner, Manohar is too dangerous to let him live.' She thought.
Unluckily, her reasoning was based on a false assumption. She had never captured him. Manohar had allowed himself to be taken. When he noticed that the lightning array wasn't lethal, he was presented with a dangerous choice.
Resisting the array would have given the meat puppet the time to free its companion and take over the guards. Manohar would have lost his specimens and all the leads they had.
Playing possum, instead, would have had the same consequences, but it also meant letting the meat puppets do all the hard work and bring him right inside the enemy base.
After days spent literally chained to Jirni with nothing to do but wait, the gala with Mynna had helped the Professor to make up his mind in a split second.
'I don't fear slave collars nor meat puppets. I know how to jam and remove them. I'd rather risk my life than waste another single day with that brute of a Constable. I need to get back to my research!'
Had been his last thought before losing consciousness.
'Thank heavens regenerating limbs is much easier now. Without Lith's spell, I would be forced to turn this place upside down to find my arms.' Was his current trains of thoughts.
Contrary to Hessie's expectations, Manohar didn't rush outside the safety of his prison. He cast an array detecting spell before unleashing a powerful earth magic shockwave that cracked all of the revealed arrays' lines of power.
It wasn't enough to destroy them, but that had never been his aim. The Professor remembered the materials Hessie's thralls had purchased and she had confirmed to him that she had been there for just a few months.
Setting permanent arrays required time, resources, and a talent Manohar doubted such a self-proclaimed genius could possess. His detection spell had only confirmed his theory, making his next move child play. At least for the Mad Professor's standards.
Temporary arrays had much lower requirements, but needed a fine balance to prevent their effects from interfering with each other. He had just dealt them enough damage to compromise their alignment.
If his enemy activated them, they would either fizzle or blow in her face.
A few perfect Carpenters arrived, their vortexes at full force to drain any incoming spell at the cost of their lives. The first one charged inside the cell like a mad bull, Hessie's will was absolute.
Manohar sneered as a giant sword made of pure light impaled the creature and those following it like a kebab.
"Seriously? Are you really a one-trick pony? I figured out the weakness of those things the first time I extracted my specimen. They can nullify spells of tier three and below, but tier five is another story.
"If the ability of your creatures is weaker than the one of whom guides the spell, it becomes useless. That's how I extracted your dear 'puppy', you idiot. I never failed to control one of my spells, and I have no intention of starting today."
Hessie stared in horror as the flesh of her creatures entered Manohar's body and gave him back his arms. Their life force was consumed as well, replenishing his own.
'This man is a real monster.' Hessie thought. 'I must force him to run out of mana before he tears my house apart!' Unluckily for her, the Professor's bright purple core and his relentless practice of magic made his mana reserve almost as insane as he was.
***
Dawn Court branch, Outside the city of Othre. Now.
When Lith had heard the word "arena", his mind had pictured a place similar to the Earth's Colosseum. The place the Dawn Court reserved for ceremonial battles was akin to a huge theatre instead.
The fight would take place on a circular raised platform made of white stone, that only a thick cylindrical energy barrier separated from the front row of spectators. Comfortable armchairs were evenly spaced on a balcony that surrounded the center stage.
The arena had a diameter of 40 meters (130 feet), which together with its high ceiling allowed the fighters to have plenty of space to battle on both the ground and the air.
Lith had been spellcasting non-stop from the moment the challenge had been issued. When his opponent arrived, he had yet to finish his spell.
'Damn, they are afraid of the Lich as much as I am, if not even more. I need to stall for time.' He thought.
To Inxialot, he asked: "How can you be sure the Night Court will not send one of its strongest members?"
"The Foul Moon requires peers. You being a human and an Awakened one at that, makes everything harder." Inxialot sighed. They had waited for almost two minutes after he Warped them to destination at the end of the parlay.
"They need to choose someone whose practice of magic and time as undead match your age. Then, the Dawn Court has to verify the champion's identity."
"I don't practice magic for seventeen years. How is it fair?" Lith lied through his teeth. He needed only a few more seconds.
"I don't make the rules, I just administer them. Otherwise I would have killed you all and went back home already." Inxialot snorted through his exposed nasal septum.
A clap of his hands made the barrier even stronger and signaled the start of the fight. Sylla, Kaelan, and Xolver were sitting next to each other. They all wore the same relaxed smile, like the fight was already over.
'I wonder if their sudden friendship and how fast the Dawn Court checked my opponent's background are related.' Lith thought. Duchess Ekna had been crystal clear. Lith had no friends there and he had no intention of making any.
Chapter 469 Impossible Magic Part 2
Lith's opponent had the appearance of a brute. He was a man at least two meters (6'7") tall, with long black hair and beard. His muscular body reminded Lith that of a professional wrestler.
Unbeknownst to Lith, his opponent was a vampire named Zarran. He was Kaelan's blood spawn and one of his favorites. His grey eyes moved quickly from Lith to the Lich while waiting for the start signal.
Usually, Zarran would disregard such formalities, but since the referee was capable of turning him into a memory with just a thought, the vampire decided to stick to the rules. Or better, the rule.
Once Inxialot clapped his hands, there were none. The rattle of bones and rings was his cue. Even if they weren't Awakened, vampires could use air and darkness in their true magic form. Zarran took off, darting toward his opponent like a falcon on its prey.
Lith clapped his hands a split second after Inxialot. His breathing was steady, his body so stiff to resemble a statue. Right above the fighters, covering the whole arena, appeared the very fist impossible array Lith had learned when he was just twelve years old.
This time it wasn't meant to impress the White Griffon academy's board, it was a terrible weapon. One of the golden points of Silverwing's Hexagram lit up and Zarran's flight spell disappear, turning the falcon into Newton's apple.
Lith waved his right hand, conjuring a stone pillar that intercepted Zarran's fall and sent him crashing against the barrier. Contrary to Lith's hopes, the magical formation dealt no more damage than a real wall would.
'According to Inxialot, the sum of this guy's years of magical practice and his time as an undead should be around twenty years, if the Courts bent the rules. He's too buff to be a magician, I bet Kaelan chose him because he's a pure vampire.
'Instead of sending a half baked fighter, I would have picked a professional too. Alas, I'm no pushover either.' Lith inwardly sneered as he waved his left hand.
A stream of lightning intercepted Zarran while he bounced off the wall, turning his pale skin black. Both the fighters wore no armor. Lith had been forced to remove his Ranger uniform for a white shirt made of the finest silk he had ever seen and night black pants so soft they would put cashmere to shame.
Zarran was bare chested, with only a pair of leather pants to cover him.
'At least the Dawn Court knows how to dress. These clothes are coming home with me.' Lith knew that worrying about saving a few coins was ridiculous during a life or death situation, but since such a thing was just Monday to him, his wallet was entitled to speak.
Zarran landed with the grace of a cat. His face was twisted in a mask of rage.
'Master Kaelan told me the Awakened is supposed to be a brutal fighter. According to our information, against the meat puppets he relied on brute strength and magical tools, yet now he stands still. It must be related to the secret behind the array.'
Zarran thought. Vampires took damage from electricity based attacks, but thanks to their undead nature, their movements wouldn't be hindered by them. It wasn't the nerves moving their bodies, just like their strength didn't come from their muscles.
Hence Lith's lightning had not disrupted Zarran's focus. The vampire extended his arms, releasing a scatter shot shower of darkness bullets. Their speed was slow, but from that distance and inside an enclosed space they were fast enough to be deadly.
If Lith focused on dodging the daggers, the opponent would have an easy game overpowering him physically, while focusing on the enemy would leave him exposed to the incoming spell.
Zarran moved forward almost as fast as the dark daggers, using them as a cover while approaching the enemy. Lith stood firm until the daggers almost reached him. Then, he took a deep breath and had the array neutralize the spell as he unleashed a barrage of Plague Arrows.
He mimicked Zarran's strategy, leaving him astonished.
'It's impossible! Arrays are supposed to work both ways. Why does it negate only my spells? First air, now darkness too. It's bound to have some limits.' Zarran thought while dodging as many Plague Arrows as he could.
Much to his surprise, Lith didn't press the advantage. Instead of charging forward, he used earth magic to turn the stone floor into sand, messing with the vampire's footwork. The strong kick that was supposed to propel him away from danger plunged into the ground instead.
Zarran cursed his opponent and enveloped himself with a shroud of darkness. Multiple Plague Arrows struck him from head to toe, sapping his strength. Thanks to his last ditch effort, the damage was halved.
Unlike humans, vampires only needed to expend part of the energy stored inside their blood cores to heal from any injury. It wouldn't even sap their life force, only make them hungry. Zarran was well fed, so the exchange had only hurt his pride.
The audience was stunned as well. Most of them knew Silverwing's Hexagram, but had no idea what it was capable of. Only Awakened ones could master impossible arrays and usually their opponent ended up dead.
The only exception was Inxialot, who was having a lot of fun. Not because of the fight, which was trivial and amateurish to his eyes. He loved watching the shocked expression lowly animals made when they realized the depth of their ignorance.
"I told you so." He turned his head of 180° to look straight into Xolver's eyes without having to move. "Liches are the strongest, then Awakened. Remember that if your champion loses, your life is forfeit as well."
***
Hessie's Mansion. Now.
The person wearing Hessie's skin was royally pissed. Manohar was a walking wrecking ball, crushing her minions and arrays in a matter of seconds after they met in battle.
'He's too fast. I need some time to revert to my real body, this one doesn't stand a chance against his impossible magic.' She thought.
The Professor was now surrounded by a swarm of shields made of light as big as a man, which blocked any incoming attack, be it physical or magical in nature. Even in Hessie's body, the puppeteer was still a master magician with centuries of expertise.
The problem was that while the Carpenters kept their vortexes active, weaving spells was worse than a waste of mana. They would poison her creatures and kill them. At the same time, the moment they turned their vortexes off, they became sitting ducks.
Without the boost from the constant consumption of world energy, Manohar would let his personal army of hard light constructs mow the Carpenters down like ripe wheat and focus his defense to block all of her attacks.
She had even employed a War Mage tier five Raging Sun, only to have it enclosed by his energy shields and snuffed out like a candle.
Manohar was winning by a landslide, yet he kept his guard up conjuring spells non stop and keeping them on his fingertips, ready to be activated. He couldn't risk losing his concentration, otherwise both his spells and mana would be lost.
Even though Hessie was forced to admit the gap between their talent, she had still centuries of experience to even the field, now that she finally understood what was happening.
Chapter 470 Impossible Magic Part 3
Dozens of her minions had died to buy her time, but it had been worth it. She completed an array that sealed light magic in a space of ten (33 feet) radius around the Mad Professor, turning both his swords and shields into fireflies.
"Let's see who is the one trick pony now." She said with a smug expression while watching the Carpenters surround him.
'I'm going to retrieve my body. Kill him at all costs. Overload your bodies with mana and self destruct, if you have to.' Hessie sent the telepathic order and walked away from the dungeon.
After regaining her cool, she had realized that it was pointless to play by her opponent's rules. He was alone in her house, the only thing she needed to win was to play it smart. Skill and preparation could kill even the strongest genius.
Manohar couldn't agree more with her. It was the reason why only one among the spells he had prepared was based on the light element. Too bad none of them could deal with his current predicament.
'I hate arrays.' Manohar inwardly griped as he dodged bone claws the size of a great sword coming from every side. 'They may be slow ass, but one of them is enough to turn tables. Life is so unfair!'
So whined the man blessed by endless talent, a bright purple mana core, and an unlimited research budget.
The Mad Professor was still alive only thanks to the Mage Knight Full Guard spell, which left him with no blind spots, and Marth's strict training schedule to force Manohar to stay out of his lab long enough to clean his mess.
Together with his stubbornness, they allowed him to only sustain flesh wounds while weaving the tier five spell he was in desperate need of. He wasn't like Lith. He couldn't turn off his pain receptors, nor use silent magic.
Manohar could only perform movements small enough to not disrupt his hand signs, with a rhythm that let him not stutter a single magic word. All while the Carpenters sealed off the space around him by the second.
One of the creatures stabbed the Professor's left shoulder, leaving a gaping hole the size of a muffin and made his arm fall lifeless by his side. Manohar snarled the next magic word like it was a curse, gritting his teeth for less than a heartbeat before finishing the chant.
Unluckily, it was too late. Not only did the claw went through and through, causing major bleeding, but it also stopped Manohar's movements long enough for its companions to pile up on the helpless human.
A Carpenter grabbed Manohar's right arm, crushing it like a twig. Another used its clawed hand to stab his chest. And then it finally happened. The Mad Professor's shadow came to life, taking the form of a blue eyed colossus.
It was over three meters tall (10'), with a spiky back like an urchin and slender arms that almost reached the ground. Its hands had four fingers, each one as long and sharp as a blade. It had no legs. The lower part of its body was just a thin line connected to Manohar's.
It was Balkor's tier five personal spell, Death Ruler, which Manohar had reverse engineered after reading the god of death's notes found in one of his old labs. The Mad Professor's body had fallen limp not because of the wound, but because his mind had left his physical shell.
The Death Ruler freed his human body by ripping to shreds the nearest Carpenters with its claws. The pieces tried to reassemble themselves, but the darkness energies poisoning them spread like a plague, turning them into rotten flesh.
After that, the shadow colossus struck at the ground. Black vines sprouted from the point of impact, eating the energies which composed the array and his enemies alike. The Death Ruler didn't stop his rampage, growing in size with each fallen enemy.
Their vitality wasn't destroyed, but stored for later use.
The moment the array crumbled, Manohar's human body was showered with the life force equivalent of a small platoon. Light magic was unsealed, so his organs and bones could be repaired at the expenses of the Carpenters' bodies.
The Mad Professor had no time to eat, he was eager to return to his lab.
***
Dawn Court branch, Outside the city of Othre. Now.
There were plenty of reasons why Yurial Deirus had developed his own version of Silverwing's Hexagram. Lochra's array could selectively negate all of the enemy's spells, but it was far from perfect.
The greater its area of effect, the harder it was to keep the six elements in perfect harmony. Even in its small, first magic form, it took so much to cast it to make it useless. Also, negating a spell required from its caster to spend as much mana as its target contained.
According to Yurial's estimates, between the mana expenditure to keep it active and the amount required to nullify the opponent's spells, his energy reserves would deplete faster than his enemy's.
It would take him barely a minute to run out of mana, and one on one at that.
Against multiple enemies, it would be more than suicidal, akin to madness.
Yurial's Hexagram, instead, could only negate one spell per element, and the mana would be stored rather than countered. The accumulated energies could be unleashed at will to trigger a powerful gravity field.
Silverwing's Hexagram heavy requirements made it useless even for Lith. Unless he knew in advance that he would face a single opponent in an enclosed space with no way out or external interferences, of course.
Even with all the aforementioned conditions met, it wasn't as easy as he made it seem to the audience. The sheer focus required to keep all the six elements perfectly balanced over the whole arena while keeping Invigoration active, prevented him from moving a single step.
Yet without his Gatekeeper and his armor, he wasn't confident of being able to defeat an opponent with endless stamina and unknown skills. If even Xolver had forced him to use fusion magic, there was no telling how strong a real vampire could be.
Zarran released several streams of lightning and it took Lith a full Invigoration breath to negate them all. Lith's fingers twirled in the air as the sand obeyed his command and sealed the vampire's limbs.
The grains of sand stuck to each other turning back into stone, yet Zarran was able to break free by consuming a good chunk of his blood core. It didn't simply enhance his strength, it made him shapeshift into a giant hybrid between a human and a bat.
The creature was 2.5 meters (8'2") meters tall, with membranous wings connecting his hands to his hips. Ten centimeters long razor sharp talons replaced his nails as a thick dark brown fur as hard as steel covered the rest of his body.
His open mouth was now bigger than Lith's head, with fangs long as short swords. A single flap of his wings let Zarran take the sky and escape from the sand's grip.
'This explains his horrible taste in clothes.' Lith thought while weaving multiple spells at once. Zarran was circling above his head like a shark around its prey.
'Fighting on the ground without magic is a lost cause. I must strike from above fast enough to escape from his spells and force him to move. Without the array, he's just a human.'
Chapter 471 Impossible Magic Part 4
The vampire noticed ice spears and darkness bolts materializing near his opponent. The ground spun underneath Lith's feet in a grand vortex, ready to swallow his enemy.
'Turtle up as much as you want. It takes more than a few hits to injure me, I still have a lot of juice.' Zarran thought while he shot downwards like a bullet.
His blood core empowered his new form to the point that its movements were almost a blur even to Lith's enhanced vision.
Almost.
The moment Zarran turned his back to the array, Lith dispelled Silverwing's Hexagram. His mind was no longer burdened by the need to be in perfect sync with every element that composed the world energy.
All of his spells crackled with new energy as their master's undivided focus flowed into them. The sand exploded upwards, covering the vampire's field of vision and making him slow down for a split second because of the sudden updraft filling his wings.
It was all the time Lith needed to pinpoint Zarran's position long enough to Switch their positions. Lith appeared in mid air while the vampire's momentum made him crash against the ground like a meteor.
Stunned by the impact, Zarran failed to react to the point blank Checkmate Spears and Plague Arrows converging on him from all sides. While the low tier spells pierced the membranous wings and ravaged the vampire's life force, Lith activated the tier five War Mage Burial Ground spell.
Several pillars erupted from the sand and surrounded Zarran while he was still stunned from his many injuries. The pillars grew in height by the second as countless stone spikes emerged from them, moving in every direction.
Some stabbed the vampire, while the spikes which connected to each other would form new pillars, that in turn generated more spikes.
The spell was a hybrid of earth and darkness magic. The stone was a conduit for the dark energies, so even standing close to it was enough to sap its victim's life force. Count Xolver went pale, praying to any god from above or below to spare the champion's life and his own.
Kaelan jumped out of his armchair, swearing so much to put a sailor at shame. Unluckily, the Lich couldn't hear him above the noise of his own laughter. The whole Dawn Court was astonished.
The fight had lasted less than a minute. A human less than half a century old had defeated a vampire who was twice his age before being turned with apparent ease. Being an Awakened wasn't enough to explain how the unlife of someone who had spent twenty years mastering his vampiric powers could be snuffed out so fast.
"Apparent ease" were the key words.
Lith had used Invigoration multiple times during that minute, channeling so much mana non stop that his body was aching in places he wasn't even aware could hurt. The mental and physical exertion he had just gone through left him with a splitting headache.
Yet he returned nonchalantly to the ground, wearing the same serial killer frown he had at the start of the match.
'I don't care how close Manohar is. I need at least an hour's sleep or the next time I use Invigoration might be the last one which has any effect on me.' Lith sneered at the undead crowd.
No one was smiling anymore.
"Female and male scum, whatever you are, we have a winner!" Inxialot raised his hands, dispelling the barrier and giving Count Xolver an excruciating death by black flames of unknown nature.
As the Lich beckoned with his finger, Kaelan floated toward him from across the room until he was in the middle of the arena.
"A deal is a deal. Now you better start talking, because if I'm forced to stay here one more minute or I'll make sure Othre's Night Court goes extinct."
***
Hessie's Mansion. Now.
The Carpenters had stopped rushing forward once they noticed that none of their attacks or spells seemed to hurt the shadow monster or its master. The Death Ruler's vampiric touch would heal any injury inflicted on Manohar's body.
Manohar dispelled the Death Ruler as soon as he cleared enough space around him to handle the closest enemies. Balkor's spell consumed a lot of mana, even by the Mad Professor's standards, and stopped the caster from weaving new spells or even using delayed ones.
Several Carpenters each unleashed a tier four spell to cover their companions advance while those in the back row pushed their vortexes to the limit and overloaded their mana cores.
If even the combined assault failed, their master had ordered them to perform a suicidal attack with the aim of burying Manohar under tons of rubble. Luckily for the Professor, Death Ruler had allowed him to retain both his focus and the spells he had ready.
He chanted his next spell while activating the tier five "Talk to the Hand" light magic. Giant hands materialized in front of the charging Carpenters, grabbing and using them as literal meat shields against the incoming spells.
Before the middle row enemies could reorganize, the hands of light adjusted their grip. They now wielded the captured creatures by their legs and swung them at their companions like living maces.
'That's what I call fighting fire with fire.' He inwardly laughed.
Meanwhile, in her throne room, Hessie had reached her true body. It was in suspended animation, inside a capsule made of metal, glass, and mana crystals placed right behind her royal seat.
The body was floating in a purple liquid which was constantly pumped into the capsule through a series of tubes. Each tube was connected to a member of her court, who were exact replicas of the body inside the capsule.
She sat on her throne and activated her tier five light magic Life Flow. A stream of life force flowed from Hessie to the body in the capsule. When the transfer was completed, only a small amount of the original Hessie's life force remained.
Just enough to keep the body alive in a vegetative state. Thrud Griffon, daughter of Arthan the Mad King, opened her silver eyes. Her body was back to its early twenties and had reached a new pinnacle.
She had improved her father's procedure countless times, yet there were still so many problems to fix before it could be considered perfect. The arrogant Night Court had provided her the means to spread her puppies among Othre's population.
All she had to do was to take over the body of one of their Vassals and use him as a strawman to introduce a new kind of alchemical drug in the back market. It was a wonderful product which gave a great high and had no adverse reactions.
Except it was no drug, it was just cough potion mixed with a few of her cells. They were enough to create a small vortex which sucked in the world energy, inducing a sense of euphoria and might.
Only in the right subjects did the cells manage to develop and grow, until they turned their victim into a clone of Thrud. The clones were perfect donors, their life force and mana identical to her own.
Thanks to her "court", even though Thrud had yet to crack the secret of Awakening, she had obtained the next best thing along with eternal youth.
Chapter 472 Pointless Struggle Part 1
Ingesting Thrud's cells only had three possible outcomes. Inside an incompatible host, they would die in just a few days. This was the most common scenario. In the case of partial compatibility, the subject would become a made mage.
They would be useless as energy donors, but the symbiotic relationship with Thrud's cells would allow her to influence their thoughts, to use them as her spies, or simply as sacrificial pawns to keep the authorities busy.
Arthan's daughter had played that game many times. The trick was to constantly move from one country to another. She only needed one treatment once every hundred years and she was careful to pick cities that were both populous and corrupt.
By the time the local authorities noticed something was going on, Thrud was already gone. Once the odd phenomenons ceased, everything would be dismissed as an unknown disease, leaving not even a footnote in history books.
This time Thrud had played with her food longer than usual, but for a good reason. Since her last treatment, magic had improved by leaps and bounds. The Griffon Kingdom was famous for having the best Healers in the three great Countries.
She needed to be sure that her technique was still able to escape detection before moving to more efficiently organized realms, like the Empire or the Blood Desert. Thrud took pride in her work, and until that day she had believed it to be close to perfection.
It only had two major flaws. The first was the difficulty of finding a perfect match, the second was that Mogar would only tolerate someone stealing its energy for so long.
Be they made mages or the stupid nobles she lured with the promise of power, if they were too greedy in using their newfound magic abilities, Mogar would feel the "itch" and scratch itself in the form of a pillar of blue light.
The planet would take back the stolen world energy, usually killing the burglar in the process. If one didn't have enough mana to pay their debts, Mogar would also take their life force as compensation.
The death of a few pawns or Carpenters wasn't a big deal, but blue pillars from the sky were something no one could gloss over. Aside from that, her plan was flawless. The perfect matches knew how to reach her and, by sharing her mind, they had all the necessary skills to disappear without leaving a trace.
Even if the drug was discovered, there was no direct connection with her. The nobles under her thumb kept the authorities away, while the made mages served as a diversion. Thrud always had everything under control, or so she had believed until that night.
Now that she was back in her body, she could appreciate its inhuman strength, its enhanced senses, and the increased vigor of her mana flow. She drained the last members of her court before flushing the purple liquid out of the capsule.
"Finding Manohar is actually a blessing in disguise." She said to herself while wearing her battle suit.
"I have the opportunity to test my abilities against the Griffon Kingdom's greatest genius in centuries. If I can kill such a monster, then the day when I defeat the accursed Tyris is not far.
I'll avenge my father and take back the throne that's rightfully mine."
Meanwhile, several corridors below her, Manohar had used the Carpenters' suicide squad to wipe out the rest of his enemies. His tier five "Can't touch this" light magic spell had sealed the trigger happy creatures inside a spherical dome along with their companions.
Aside from a hole in the ground, the explosion resulting from their cores overloading had produced no effect.
"This is bad." Manohar was also used to thinking aloud, not because of centuries of isolation, he simply considered himself the only one worth listening to.
"I've consumed about half of my mana reserve and I don't think that miss whatshername will give me enough time for a cat nap. I need disposable… I mean I need help!"
He said while turning around abruptly, scared at the idea that Jirni would appear behind his back like she usually did at the worst possible times. There was something in that woman that reminded him of his mother enough to scare him out of his wits.
A simple earth spell allowed him to identify the path of least resistance, while a light spell did the rest. All he had to do was to wait and rest.
***
Dawn Court branch, Outside the city of Othre. Now.
Having lost his most recent Vassal, his most promising chosen, and most likely his rank of Lieutenant Colonel in the Night Court all at once, Kaelan was as close to having a stroke as an undead could be.
"I can't give the human an address, since the place he is looking for is in the middle of nowhere. I can show him where it is, though. We need to get outside first." He said.
A snap of Inxialot fingers Blinked the four of them several hundreds of meters above the ground. Lith, Sylla, and Kaelan were all shocked. Blink's range was about thirty meters and extending it even by a dozen meters required lots of mana.
Yet the Lich had moved all of them at once over a distance that usually only a Warp could cover. The vampire tried and failed to not appear impressed while he looked at the horizon in search of landmarks.
The Night Court had discovered of Thrud's existence soon after the first made mage appeared.
If someone asked them why they hadn't made a move against her, the undead would reply that she had provided them with plenty of humans whose bodies were somehow highly enriched with mana.
Feeding on their flesh, blood or minds strengthened the undead's blood cores almost as much as if they had consumed a mage. Thrud was responsible for only a small portion of the missing person cases, the others were all victims of the Night Court's feeding frenzy.
The truth was that they had already tried and failed. Some of the most prominent members of the Court had assaulted her home to discover how she nurtured her humans.
If the entire Night Court from every branch on the continent took part in the feast, the balance between the three factions would crumble and the undead world would belong to them. Unluckily, no one had returned to tell the tale.
That was how Kaelan had earned his rank, by filling an empty spot. Thrud just gave them her crumbs and they could only suck it up. Any more losses would reveal to the world that a whole branch of the Night Court was under the heel of a human woman.
"The place you are looking for is…" Kaelan was cut short when a full body hologram of Manohar the size of a hill appeared in the sky, along with an equally big arrow pointing at a ruined outpost in the wilds.
"Come here, quick! You need my help." The colossus would say at fixed intervals, followed by fireworks visible from miles away.
Inxialot laughed like a madman, while Lith despite his exhausted state could hardly repress the urge to kill Kaelan first and Manohar second.
"Let me guess. I need to go there."
Chapter 473 Pointless Struggle Part 2
Kaelan gritted his teeth while inwardly cursing at Manohar's untimely appearance. It had rendered the information he was forced to share due to the Foul Moon ritual useless. Luckily, he had another ace up his sleeve.
"Yes, but the place is heavily protected. You can't go in through the front door..."
"I can see that by myself." Lith cut him short. Life Vision showed him an energy dome around the outpost so strong that it would take hours to destroy it from the outside.
"Let me take another guess. I can get inside by using the Warping array hidden in the old temple of the god of healing."
"Correct again." Kaelan snarled, revealing his fangs in annoyance. "I hope to never see you again."
"Not so fast." Inxialot stopped the vampire in his tracks. "The deal was for information, so far you have provided nothing. Are you saying that you have just wasted my tim… I mean, that you are willing to break a sacred oath?"
The Lich King had been itching to kill someone for hours for dragging him out of his lab. Finally the rules of the competition gave him a reasonable excuse to vent his anger.
"I would never do such a thing!" The vampire rushed to say as his fingers were turning to ashes.
"I can still tell him the name of his enemy!"
"Oh." Despite most of his flesh being gone, the Lich's face still managed to express every bit of disappointment that he was feeling.
"You are going to face Thrud Griffon." Kaelan had a solemn expression while uttering her accursed name.
"Gods, Thrud Griffon! I never thought the day would come that I would hear that name." Inxialot said with a shocked voice.
"Do you know her?" Lith was underwhelmed by the revelation. Griffon was a very common last name.
"Not at all." The Lich replied. "It's just one of the most horrible names I have ever heard"
"Am I free to go?" Kaelan had no idea what Inxialot had done to his hands, but regenerating them caused him a great deal of pain.
Another snap of the Lich's fingers Blinked everyone present back to their respective apartments, even though all three of them were supposed to be warded against dimensional magic.
Kaelan and Sylla were both quaking in their boots, swearing on their undeath to never meddle with the Council of the Awakened again, no matter the reason.
Lith was so pissed off for having gone through all that danger for nothing but a stupid name, that he almost ripped the door of his hotel room off its hinges before taking flight to reach the Mage Association.
'Damn Manohar! One more hour and I could have gotten actually useful information and some rest. I have nothing to offer the Crown except for a name that might well be a pseudonym or just a moniker.' He couldn't delay his return.
The Mad Professor's hologram was perfectly visible even from Othre. Once the Queen learned about it, she might order a full scale attack on the outpost. Lith couldn't let Tista, Jirni, or Kamila go anywhere near the Carpenters' nest.
The array surrounding it would either kill them or slow them long enough to make their contribution to the fight irrelevant. He had never witnessed Manohar's battle prowess and being paranoid, he assumed the worst.
'I can only count on myself. Too bad that right now I'm too weakened to face even one Carpenter on my own. The only silver lining is that with every breath I take I can feel my body healing and my power growing.'
Only when the clerk at the reception of Othre's Mage Association branch refused to let him in did Lith realize that he was still dressed like a dandy.
'The good news is that it was just a spare uniform. The Kingdom will hardly miss it. The even better news is that I kept the clothes without even asking for them.' He and his wallet both inwardly smiled.
Luckily, even a desk clerk of the Association had access to their database. It only took her a few seconds and a call to Dorian to verify his identity.
"Where have you been?" Jirni had the Gatekeeper with her.
"Are you all right?" Kamila threw her arms around him checking for injuries.
"Why are you dressed like that?" Since the others had beaten her to the punch, Tista decided to clear that small mystery while handing Solus and his Skinwalker armor back to him.
Solus had perceived his arrival the moment Lith was back in their mind link's range. She didn't contact him because of the conflicting emotions caused by their separation.
She was happy to see that Lith was fine, yet it also exacerbated her feeling of helplessness. Solus was afraid that she would discover that Lith hadn't missed her as much as she did him. Afraid that he had no use for her anymore, inside or outside the battlefield.
During the last few hours, Solus had been surrounded by people, yet had never felt so alone. While others could speak, hold hands in search of comfort, or just take a walk to calm their nerves, she had been stuck in Tista's hand.
Comparing her life with that of others made Solus scream and cry, yet no one could notice.
'I finally understand what Lith means when he says he is a shadow in a world of lights. We are both too different from normal people. Gods, I wish we could leave Othre and find a mana geyser.
'I don't care if it's just my wisp form, I want to move around, hear my voice without using magic, feel the touch of another person. I want to be normal.' She sobbed. Without Lith, Mogar looked brighter, but it only made her feel worse.
It was a cold light that emphasized everything she never had despite having it just a few centimeters from her. Having the objects of her desires so close and yet being unable to reach them was just torture.
The moment Solus's ring slipped onto Lith's finger, their experiences flooded into each other's mind. Lith had willingly shared his memories to bring her up to speed, whereas Solus was so overcome with grief that she forgot to hide her feelings.
'What's this bullshit about you being useless?' Lith gave her the telepathic equivalent of a hug. 'Have you seen what happened to me? How much I missed you? How much I needed you? Not for your abilities, but for who you are. This life is mine as much as yours, I…'
Their mind link was fast, but it still took time. Seeing Lith in a daze, his companions repeated their questions with a worried expression.
'Dammit, I promise you that as soon as we are done here we'll find a mana geyser even if I have to delay finishing my rounds.' He thought before focusing on the outside world.
"Please, I'm dead tired." Lith raised his hands to ask them to let him talk.
"I know that Professor Manohar is in danger but I need to sit down for a second and tell you what I learned while dealing with the Dawn Court."
Chapter 474 Royal Pains Part 1
Lith's report left out almost everything that had happened to him, there was no time for storytelling. He emphasized the strength of the array surrounding the outpost before explaining how to bypass it and mentioning their enemy's name.
"Never heard of her." Jirni checked her Royal Constable communication amulet and came out empty handed.
"I'll update the Crown and let you know their decision. In the meantime, give Lith a Tonic and some food. We'll be out of here in five minutes tops."
Tonics were among the highest grade potions. They temporarily enhanced their user's metabolism, induced a state of relaxation, and provided most of the nutrients required for a hasty recovery.
Their effect allowed a body to digest and assimilate a meal in a matter of minutes instead of hours and relieved mental stress. A tonic couldn't replenish mana reserves, but at least it removed the side effects of mana depletion, like headache, lack of focus, and blurred vision.
Lith's physical condition shocked both Tista and Solus. All of his muscles were almost torn due to mana abuse, his life force was flickering from exhaustion, and his mana flow was at less than half capacity.
Tista had him sit on a couch while she used tier four light magic to heal his body and supply him with life force at the same time. It would make him hungry but keep his strength intact. Solus preferred to save her energy for the incoming dangers.
She reviewed all of his experiences with the Night and Dawn Courts. Solus studied his opponents, trying to find out their weak points and collect enough data to understand how powerful an undead was based on their blood core.
The desk clerk, a blonde girl so young Lith suspected she had just finished her academic studies, brought him a purple colored potion and a tray full of his favorite foods. Lith ate everything and took a deep breath before sharing his experience with the undead.
Or at least that was the idea. The combination of the tonic's relaxing effect, the accumulated fatigue, and the comfy couch with Solus keeping watch, made him fall asleep until Jirni's return fifteen minutes later.
"How do you feel?" Once again Jirni didn't like her orders, yet she carried them out nonetheless.
"Like someone who could sleep for a week." Lith replied with a groan.
"I have bad news. The situation is even worse than we thought and you are the only one who knows how to operate the array in the old temple. Go get changed, we're leaving as soon as you're done. I'll explain everything along the way."
"What about us?" Tista asked. Her experience in Othre had made her realize just how helpless she was. How waiting behind the lines was worse than fighting. She felt as if nothing had changed since the days when she was a sick girl.
Tista was tired of depending on others, yet neither graduating from the academy nor Awakening had allowed her to make any difference.
"You are staying here along with the others. Sorry, kid. This is a Spellbreaker only mission. Don't worry about your brother, we'll have plenty of back up."
"I'm Manohar's assistant! I'm supposed to go where he goes." The excuse was weak, but it was the only one she could think of.
"I like you Tista. You remind me of my daughter, Quylla." Jirni patted her arm, speaking with a soft, motherly tone.
"So I'll tell you the same thing I did to her when she asked to join me in my work. In this world, no matter the age, there are two kinds of people. Those born for peace, like you, Linjos, and Quylla. Good people who make this Country a place worth fighting for.
"To make it thrive and grow. Peace comes at a price, though. The same magic that allows you to perform wonders also breeds monsters like the one we are going to face. To keep the peace in here there's a war to fight out there.
"In war, you don't need good people. You only need killers who will make peace last one more day. Why do you think your brother, I, and even Manohar got picked for this mission?"
At those words, Tista turned toward Dorian, who lowered his gaze and said nothing.
"Because we belong to the second kind of people. We are the killers this Country needs." Jirni noticed that Kamila had turned pale at those words. She moved in front of the Lieutenant who was staring at her in fear.
"We are still humans, though." Jirni didn't like giving a pep talk to a business rival, but respected Lith too much to purposefully mess with his personal life.
"If you cut us, we still bleed. We love and experience pain like anyone else. We're not monsters and we need a family." Lith's return made the conversation end abruptly.
When their gazes met, Lith gave Kamila a warm smile and she found herself returning it from her heart.
Kamila had a hard time making the image of the stingy Ranger, who played a song for her and made the camellia match with that of the person who she had seen fight monsters with inhuman ferocity.
Lith could feel that the mood in the room was wrong, but since no one was speaking, he described to Dorian the kind of magic crystal which was needed to activate the array. They had to go to the armory to get the right one.
Lith pretended to recognize it while Solus extracted from his memories its energy signature and used her mana sense to identify a matching one among dozens of similarly shaped magic stones.
"Are you sure?" Dorian was no longer surprised that he hadn't recognized what Lith had been talking about.
"That antique is merely for display. It belongs to the age when Forgemasters had yet to discover how to fuse magic crystals with their creations."
The Warping array Thrud and the Courts used was an antique as well. Unlike modern Warp Gates, the magic circle had to be carved rather than built. Their design had been long forgotten because anyone with a proper magic stone could activate them.
Ancient Warp Gates couldn't be imprinted with mana, making them a security nightmare. They had many advantages in present times, though. Without a power source, they couldn't be detected with spells nor with Life Vision.
Also, they could bypass modern dimensional magic blocking arrays because they worked according to different principles than those currently in use. Ancient Warp Gates would permanently fuse two points in space, whereas modern ones could connect to multiple locations via dimensional corridors.
It made them more versatile, but also susceptible to being jammed by preventing them from locking on to their exit point's coordinates. Ancient Warp Steps had no such problem. There was no corridor to create, just a door to open.
Lith and Jirni left the Mage Association, reaching the old temple by flight.
"Do you want the good news or the bad news first?" Jirni asked as soon as they took off.
"The bad news."
"This Thrud Griffon is the daughter of Arthan Griffon, the Mad King."
"He was publicly executed centuries ago for his experiments with forbidden magic. Which means that…" Lith couldn't wait for this horrible day to end.
"That we are about to face one of the oldest and more powerful mages in the Griffon Kingdom's history, who had plenty of time to prepare for our arrival." Jirni finished the phrase for him.
"I'm starting to think they are right." Lith groaned.
"They who?"
"The ones who say I'm bad luck."
Chapter 475 Royal Pains Part 2
"Tell me that at least the good news is really good." Lith wasn't the type to complain so much, yet Jirni understood his reasons.
'In the space of a few hours, he has faced a vampire, several meat puppets, and whatever opponent the Dawn Court forced him to fight in exchange for their information.
'I noticed at first glance that he was too tired for someone who was supposed to just have a chat with them. I never saw him so tired, poor kid. It's better to cut him some slack.'
"Very good. First, we don't have to fight unless strictly necessary. Our is solely a rescue mission, no one expects us to face Thrud Griffon and win. We get in, find Manohar, get out, and destroy the Warp Gate from Othre's side. As simple as that."
"I think you just jinxed the mission." Lith sighed. He had almost forgotten what the word "simple" meant.
"Second, we'll only enter after the other Spellbreakers have surrounded the outpost. The attack will start when we are sure to have her outnumbered and outmatched. The Crown is calling mages from every corner of the Kingdom." Jirni ignored his pessimistic remark.
"Third, since you are tired and I'm not a mage, we'll work with two more Spellbreakers. Even if I 'jinxed the mission' a team of five Spellbreakers can hold long enough for the platoon to destroy the array and swarm the place."
They reached the old temple of Xhal, the god of healing, almost at the same time as their reinforcements. Lith was pleasantly surprised by the unexpected reunion with Professor Vastor and Captain Kilian Aluria.
Vastor was a short man in his mid sixties, barely over 1.55 meters (5'1") tall.
The top of his head was completely bald while the hair he had left on the sides was snow-white and so were his waxed handlebar mustaches. His belly was so big that it made it hard to guess if he was larger than tall. That, together with his pure white robe, made him resemble a real life Humpty Dumpty.
"Oh, oh, oh!" Vastor laughed loudly watching them land. "Jirni, dear, should I tell Orion to be jealous? This is the second time in less than a month that you work together with that little demon. You know he likes older women, right?"
"What are you doing here, Vastor? I was expecting Marth." She ignored his remark.
"Marth is the Headmaster of the White Griffon and the second best Healer of the Kingdom, while this old coot is expendable." Vastor sighed. During his youth, he had been considered eligible for the title of god of healing multiple times.
Until Marth became Professor, stealing Vastor's spotlight thanks to his achievements. Vastor had dreamed for years of being once again the number one, but Manohar had outshined both of them like the Sun does the stars.
"Constable Ernas." Kilian gave Jirni a deep bow before shaking Lith's hand.
"Long time no see, Lith. I've heard great things about you."
They knew each other since the plague in Kaduria and had seen each other again during Balkor's attack on the White Griffon academy. Kilian was a Captain in the Queen's corps. He was a man in his early thirties, around 1.9 meters (6'3") tall, with shoulder-length pitch-black hair, and ice-blue eyes.
"Thanks, Captain. It's sad that every time we meet there are hundreds of lives at stake." Lith said before entering the old temple.
He didn't want to give Vastor enough time to tell them about his days as Assistant Professor at the academy. There were too many embarrassing details Lith preferred remained forgotten.
"The runes composing the Warping array are mixed with gibberish. We need to look for a hole big enough to fit this mana stone." Lith explained to prevent any further conversation while showing the marble sized yellow crystal.
"If we get through this, you'll become the youngest Spellbreaker in ages." Vastor used air and water magic to clean the altar's surroundings, revealing in the process many more runes on the floor.
"It will be the perfect moment to get married. Listen to an old fool's advice and don't' repeat my mistakes. If you rest on your laurels, your star will start declining sooner than you think. Aim as high as you can now, otherwise you'll have to settle."
The Professor was one of those people who could talk without losing focus in the matters at hand. Jirni and Kilian were used to much more annoying quirks, so they didn't mind him. Lith wasn't as patient.
"I seem to recall you married one of the most beautiful and influential women in the Kingdom." He rebuked. "How can you call it settling?"
"Back in my heyday, I could've married the Crown Princess." Vastor sighed. "Later I had to give as much as I got, otherwise Vilya wouldn't have even looked at me. I…"
"Found it." Kilian cut him short. "Right at the center of the altar."
"Then we have a problem. Because there is another hole in the chapel." Jirni said while pointing at the feet of the stone statue.
"There's another one here." Vastor had found a third one at the base of the altar.
"It's likely that only the right one activates the Gate. The others must have defensive properties, like destroying the array or making the temple detonate." Kilian was a Master Warden. That was how he would have defended a strategic asset.
"Can you describe to me what the Dawn Court's array looked like? I need a starting point to understand what we are dealing with."
"I can do better." Lith cupped his hands as Solus recalled from his memories the exact design of the Warp Gate, allowing him to conjure its scaled size image with light magic.
"What the fuck?" Vastor flinched at the sight. "Lith, my boy, are you really like Manohar?"
"What do you mean? This is just what a communication amulet does. It's good for projecting stories for the kids, but that's it."
His words made no sense to Lith. According to all the Forgemaster books he had read, it was one of the easiest enchantments to apply among those required to make a communication device.
"You can even move them?" Vastor admired look was now shared by Jirni and Kilian.
'Fuck me sideways. I'm getting the feeling that what I considered a parlor trick is actually much more important.' Lith inwardly cursed.
After watching Lith's hologram and studying its runes for a bit, Kilian knew what to look for in the archives.
Kilian used his amulet to access tomes about ancient Gates and the runes necessary to activate them. Every time he recognized one, he marked it with a wisp of light. Soon the runes formed a circle.
"I'm done. Prepare your spells, there will be no time to chant once we get on the other side." Kilian warned the group. Jirni wasn't a mage, so while the others chanted, she gulped down a few potions, just to be safe.
Kilian placed the magic stone in the hole at the base of the altar. The runes he had marked earlier lit up one after the other, forming a Warp Gate right in front of the statue.
The Captain activated the tier five Warden spell Third Eye before stepping through it. The dimensional door led to a corridor that was full to the brim with arrays made visible by Kilian's spell. One of them shone brightly for a second before fading away.
"I've bad news. The enemy has just been notified of our arrival."
Chapter 476 Royal Pains Part 3
Kilian cast the tier five Warden spell Disarray. His will overrode the commands programmed in the magical formations, twisting the energies coursing through them into chaos and turning their mana flow against itself until their structure collapsed.
When he was finished, the Gate's edges had already started flickering. The team managed to cross it before it disappeared, while the Captain used his Third Eye to scan their surroundings for more traps.
Lith noticed that Kilian's spell was able to reveal all kinds of enchantments. Under his gaze, the equipment of his teammates glowed, even Solus, and so did the doors along the stone corridor.
"No more arrays in sight and Manohar is not here. Let's move before our Mad Queen sends her thralls to kill us." Jirni signaled Kilian to take point, following him closely. There was a wall right behind the Gate's exit point, so they could only move forward.
Lith immediately understood what she meant. To be able to pull the giant hologram stunt, the Professor must had escaped from his captor. There was no trace of battle along the corridor and the doors were intact.
Thrud Griffon knew of the incoming attack, she wouldn't waste time repairing her base. She would either run away or prepare for battle, and since her arrays were still functional, the latter was the most likely scenario.
No one would be so foolish to leave behind the rare and expensive mana crystals needed to fuel them.
'I don't like this place.' Solus thought. 'It's built over a mana geyser. If our enemy knows how to harness its power, there's no limit to the mana at her disposal. Even most of the furniture inside the rooms is enchanted.'
'What do you see?' Lith moved to the rear guard, to be able to use Life Vision without the others noticing his glowing eyes.
'The first part of the corridor was a storehouse, while all these doors lead to labs for different specializations. This woman must be an eclectic genius.'
'Or maybe she just had a lot of time to learn. What about Manohar?'
'Sorry, I have no idea. Between the arrays, the labs, and whatever there is on the other floors, it's like looking into the Sun.' Lith tried to use Life Vision, only to be blinded by the sensory overload.
The silver lining was that among all that white, he had caught a glimpse of red wind living beings emitted coming from below and a sea of it coming from above. His problem was how to share the information with the others.
"I was glad to hear you found someone after joining the army." Vastor blabbered again, making Lith inwardly gripe.
"You know, he brooded for a whole year after your daughter broke up with him."
"Really?" Jirni was really interested in the matter.
"Yeah. It took some effort to convince him to get back in the game. Him getting turned down multiple times didn't make things easier. He kept hitting on the staff instead of the students and…" Luckily for Lith, the corridor wasn't that long.
They found a flight of stairs leading to the upper and the lower floors.
"I think we should go down." Lith was eager to change the topic. "Prisons are usually built on the lowest level, to make it harder to break out."
Jirni inwardly laughed at his efforts. Knowing Vastor, it wouldn't take him long to start talking again on his own, giving her plausible deniability.
"Oh gods!" Kilian cursed as he saw that there were arrays on the floor, the ceiling, and the walls.
"I'll exhaust my mana way before we reach the next floor if I'm forced to disable every trap we met."
"Kids these days." Vastor snickered. "I'll show you how it's done."
While Kilian's Third Eye revealed the magic circles' lines of power, Vastor struck them with darkness magic. His ability in using simple first magic to disrupt their critical nodes with surgical precision amazed Solus.
'I can see them thanks to mana sense. How can he do it?'
Kilian shared her feelings. His mouth was almost touching the floor in surprise.
"Arrays are just like Forgemastering. You can't afford the privilege of getting old in the Queen's corps if you don't learn a thing or two about them." He answered to the Captain's silent question while shrugging.
Both Lith and Solus learned a lot during their descent to the lower level. Vastor disabled every array they met by expending a negligible amount of mana. Not only did he always strike at the right spot, but he also adjusted the strength of his spell at every node.
His method destabilized the arrays without triggering them nor leaving any trace of their passage. Then, a sudden smell of ozone and death put everyone on alert.
The heavily enchanted metal door in front of them was intact, but all of them recognized the stench of rotten flesh mixed with enough static to make the hair on their necks stand up. They were signs of a big fight.
"This is odd." Vastor said after Third Eye assured them there were no more arrays.
"Why haven't we met any resistance? And why Manohar didn't open this door? This smells like a trap."
'What the heck does he mean?' Lith thought. 'According to Solus's mana sense, the pseudo core of that thing is quite complicated. Its aura protects even the walls. Forcing it open, even with magic, would have disastrous consequences. I could do it with Invigoration, but…'
"Stay back!" Vastor said as he cast the tier four Forgemaster spell Clean Slate, which generated a combined pulse of light and darkness magic. It temporarily short circuited the imprint on the door and released its lock.
"How did you do that?" Lith couldn't believe his own eyes. During his fourth year at the academy, he had spent months learning how to open Hatorne's boxes.
"Sorry, kid. It's a secret spell, I can't teach it to you. Just know we are lucky there was no self destruct spell, or this thing would have blown up in our face."
Vastor didn't cross the threshold, not even when Third Eye confirmed there was no danger ahead. The door led to another long stone corridor which was lighted by magical stones hung along the walls.
The cells on the right side had bars, allowing Lith's group to see that most of them were occupied. The people inside looked clean and well-fed, but there was no life in their eyes. They just stood with a blank stare, uncaring for the bloody mess in front of them.
The cells on the left side all had solid metal doors and what reminded Lith an air conditioning system on the outside. They were all closed but one. In front of it, there was a huge hole in the ground and what seemed like the set of a slasher flick.
The area was littered with blood spatters, various body parts, and enough corpses to make it almost impossible to see the floor.
"Manohar, are you in there?" Jirni yelled.
"Finally!" Replied a familiar, petulant voice coming from behind the opened cell. "Stay away from the door. I'll be there in a second."
Lith and Jirni kept a close eye on the prisoners. They were all potential Carpenters, allowing the enemy to watch and listen to everything they did.
"Keep casting." Jirni ordered the mages. "Something is off."
Chapter 477 Royal Pains Part 4
They all backed away from the threshold, each weaving their best spells.
Manohar came flying out if his cell at breakneck speed. The prisoners' eyes turned blue as several Warping Arrays appeared throughout the room, trying to intercept the Mad Professor.
He dodged them all by continuously changing his flight path. He stopped at the last second in front of the door, avoiding the one which appeared where he would have been if he had kept flying straight.
"I beat you again, woman." He yelled in triumph while escaping. "I knew you would try to get me once I crossed the…"
His euphoria disappeared when he noticed there was no one behind the door. The Warping array had affected an area large enough to capture Lith's team.
"Wait, did I say stay away from the door? I meant: stay as far away as you can. Dammit. What kind of world do we live in where a kidnapped man has to rescue his rescuers?"
For a second, Manohar thought about leaving on his own, but dimensional magic was sealed again and he had no idea how to get out of what was clearly a death trap. The real deal breaker, though, was that losing his companions or a fight was the same for him.
"I never lose!" Manohar yelled while preparing all the spells he could hold before walking back in front of the prisoners.
"Round 2, lady. Ready when you are."
Thrud was amused by his spunk and more than happy to oblige. A Warp array brought him in her throne room, where they were all waiting for him. She was sitting on a perfect replica of the royal throne, sipping red wine from a glass.
The throne was made to resemble a rearing griffon. Its hind lion paws were the chair's legs while its front eagle talons made the armrests. She had a broadsword on her lap. The blade had seven magical stones of different colors on each flat side.
The ones closest to the hilt were bright red while the ones near its tip were bright purple. A white mana crystal went straight through the center of the cross shaped hilt, pulsing in unison with the other crystals.
Every one of those present was in shock from the moment of their arrival.
'Say that again.' Lith thought, unwilling to believe his own eyes or even Solus's mana sense for the first time since they had met.
'That woman is insanely powerful,' Solus repeated for the fourth time with her voice flat in astonishment. 'and her mana core is rainbow colored, whatever that means.'
Just like the artifact on her lap, Thrud's core had every possible shade of the known mana core ranks. Arthan's Madness wasn't as effective as Awakening. Even though it managed to strengthen her core over the centuries, the accumulated impurities prevented Thrud's mana core from stabilizing.
Yet that didn't make her any less deadly.
"That's the Sword of Saefel." Jirni's voice was barely a whisper. She was well aware of the powers of the weapon that once belonged to the Original King, Valeron Griffon.
"No, you are wrong." Thrud replied between sips.
"This is the Sword of Arthan. My father knew that people like you lot couldn't be trusted. That's why during his last years he took the precaution of having both the Royal Sword and Armor extensively studied.
"That way he could leave his full legacy to his descendants after you small minded, petty peasants destroyed decades of his hard work and sacrifices." Her voice was sweet, but full of poison.
The passing of time hadn't quelled her hatred. For her, it was like Arthan's beheading happened just yesterday instead of centuries prior. The ground trembled below their feet due to the unrelenting attack of the Spellbreakers on the array protecting the building.
Vastor couldn't take his eyes off the capsule behind the throne. Like any competent healer, he had studied all of the little information the Crown had disclosed about Arthan's madness.
Even though it was an evil contraption, it had helped the healing arts to progress by leap and bounds. The idea of killing even a single person made his innards churn, yet seeing Thrud so young made his mind spin so fast he had fallen to his knees.
'The real Arthan's madness. I wonder how would it feel to be young again. To become more powerful than Marth, maybe even than Manohar. Maybe my Vilya and my own children would finally respect me, instead of just seeing me as a giant wallet.'
Vastor wasn't charming or young anymore when he married, and he did it out of self interest. There was no love between him and his wife. He had always neglected his children to pursue his ambitions and now that they were grown up, they were returning the favor in full.
Now that he was old, Vastor regretted many things. For a second, he considered Arthan's madness as his second chance. As his opportunity to start from scratch somewhere far away from the Griffon Kingdom and do things right for once in his life.
Then, his eyes fell on the mountains of corpses piled up at the corners of the room. Thrud's clones were of different ages, some very old and some barely more than children. Some were still lying around, like dirty laundry.
Their bodies were all dried up, mummified by the extraction process of their life force and mana flow.
"How many?" Vastor gritted his teeth in outrage. Nausea and scorn snapped him out of his reverie, giving him the strength to stand up.
"How many people have you killed to keep yourself young?"
Thrud laughed at his question, like a Queen at her jester's joke.
"I don't know. Do you remember how much bread you have eaten in your life? Well, neither do I." To reinforce the effect of her words, she raised her glass above her head and tilted it slowly.
The wine fell down in red droplets which had small arms, legs, and heads. They weren't real people, just the effect of water magic on her drink to alter its shape. Yet Vastor shuddered as he could almost hear the screams of all her victims falling down her throat.
Kilian was stunned by both the size of the protective array surrounding her hideout and the power source that she had at her disposal to fuel it. He could see dozens of tier five spells crashing against the barrier through the windows, yet aside from making it visible, they seemed to have no effect.
'Even if they manage to take it down, we'll be long dead by then.' He inwardly cursed. When they had appeared inside the room, his Third Eye had revealed no arrays, but the sheer brilliance of Thrud's equipment was blinding.
Kilian tried calling for back up, but his communication amulet was dead as a doornail.
Manohar appeared less than a minute after they did, showing no concern for the dead bodies, the throne, nor for the gravity of their situation.
"Well, you're all alive, which could already be considered a miracle considering how dumb you are." He taunted them before turning towards Thrud. "Let's kick that old hag's ass and…"
The Mad Professor was expecting to see Hessie's homely body, while Thrud was quite a stunner and she was aware of it. She enjoyed the mix of terror and desire all of her victims experienced while gazing upon her true form like the goddess she believed she was.
"I take back the old hag part." Manohar raised his hands in apology. "You're definitely the second most beautiful woman I've ever seen, but we're going to kick your ass anyway."
Thrud ignored her prey's empty threat, but his words were unacceptable nonetheless.
"What do you mean second?"
Chapter 478 Overwhelming Power Part 1
Arthan Griffon had been born just three generations after Valeron. Tyris's blood ran thick in his veins compared to the present King. He had even married a distant relative, hoping to keep their bloodline pure and their magical talent unmatched.
Thrud had inherited part of Tyris' beauty, which made her a beautiful woman even before she underwent Arthan's Madness time and time again. Not only did the machine refine her body similarly to what happened to an Awakened one, but it also filtered out the human portion of her blood while enhancing Tyris' with each cycle.
Thrud was 1.78 meters (5'10") tall, with long ash blonde hair that framed the delicate features of her oval face. Her rosy skin was flawless, emphasizing the contrast between her silver eyes and her full red lips.
Not even the Royal armor could hide her soft curves nor her powerful aura suppress the sensual grace of every of her move.
Unluckily for her ego, Manohar had known Tista long enough to be unfazed by her presence.
"Yeah, definitely second." He repeated after rudely checking her out for several seconds, managing to make her fury grow.
Meanwhile, the barrage of spells kept hitting the external barrier so hard that for a second the resulting shockwaves made him almost lose his balance. Kilian ignored the two Mad Babblers and focused on the array.
His Third Eye was still active, revealing that cracks had appeared at several points along the barrier and were slowly but inexorably expanding. He used the Queen's corps sign language to signal the others to stall for time.
"Manohar, where's Mynna?" Jirni believed that she was actually staring at her. Even if her suspicions were incorrect, she couldn't care less about Mynna's fate at the moment.
She asked the question mostly to prevent the Professor from further enraging the enemy and avoid being attacked.
"Beats me. You should ask her loyal housemaid, Hessie here." Manohar shrugged, pointing his finger at Thrud.
"Hessie?" Jirni was honestly surprised. She had never suspected such a meek woman.
"You disappoint me, Jirni Ernas." Thrud laughed, turning back to her arrogant self.
"You should play more of the game your young friend invented." She pointed her sword at Lith. "You would learn that at the end of every game, Queen and Pawn go back into the same box.
"By always being forced to stick close to her incompetent young miss, Hessie gave me access to the same information Mynna had, but with much more freedom of movement. Besides, I got tired of playing princess decades ago."
Another tremor made dust fall from the ceiling. Thrud inwardly cursed, realizing she had almost fallen for their trickery simply because it was the first time in decades that she could be herself.
Almost.
"Nicely played. Let's see which will last longer, your lives or my barrier." She snarled while darting forward with the point of her sword aimed at Jirni's heart.
Even though Jirni was under the effect of some of the most powerful potions Alchemy could produce, the assault was so fast that only Manohar's shields of light saved her life.
Despite them being a physical manifestation of the Mad Professor's mana and willpower, the Sword of Arthan pierced three shields before it could be stopped. Lith threw Manohar a body enhancing potion while cursing at himself.
'Damn, I was so surprised by all this shit that I almost let Jirni die.' He thought as the rest of the team drank their own.
His mind was racing thinking about all the possible applications hard light constructs may have. It could even help him figure out a way to give Solus a body. Yet a simple glance with Life Vision was enough to make his amazement turn into worry.
'Her sword isn't the only problem. Her armor emits a stronger magical aura than anything else I have ever seen. Even putting a scratch on it will be a challenge.'
'What really worries me is that she has yet to chant a single spell.' Solus warned him. 'Either she believes that she is strong enough to not need them, or just like us she has everything at the ready.'
Lith moved around Thrud, aiming to stab under her still raised armpit, where the armor was at its weakest because of the shoulder joints. She sneered as she executed a side kick to thwart his predictable attack.
Thrud's body was way stronger than Lith and centuries of being exposed to her own improved version of Arthan's madness had modified her cells to the point of making them capable of absorbing world energy by generating a vortex.
Yet she wasn't a true Awakened. Thrud had no idea what fusion and spirit magic were, nor could she activate her vortex without having her core poisoned.
Solus was suppressing Lith's blue aura to not blow his cover, allowing him to go all out right from the start. Lith waited until the last moment before activating fusion magic.
Thanks to his enhanced body empowered by all the elements, Lith easily sneaked past her defenses. When the Gatekeeper made contact with Arthan's Armor, Lith felt its tip being dragged by the side, as if an invisible hand was deflecting his lunge.
He gritted his teeth, pivoting on his feet to keep the blade along its intended course. Despite having put all of his body weight and technique behind the strike, it only managed to emit sparks when the two enchantments clashed.
Lith's sudden change of pace had taken Thrud by surprise, but she needed only one split second to adapt. Lith used water fusion to make his movements so fluid that there was no pause between his attacks.
Although it failed to draw blood, he hoped the lunge would throw her off balance and used the residual momentum to follow up with a strike to the throat. Thrud's eyes burned with yellow light and so did the corresponding crystal on her sword.
Chains of lightning intercepted Lith as she side stepped and gained enough space to parry his attack. Jirni's needles tried to act as lightning rods, but Thrud's will was guiding her spell, making Orion's enchantment useless.
Even with earth fusion, the sudden jolt slowed Lith, allowing Arthan's Sword to make short work of his defenses. Jirni moved to Thrud's back, her needles had turned into knives as she aimed for a double kidney blow.
Thrud used the downward momentum of her slash to suddenly raise her right leg and kick Jirni's chest with the strength of a horse. A cushion made of light put itself between the kick and its intended target, while many others softened Jirni's crash against the wall.
Arthan's Blade was cutting into Lith's neck, his sudden loss of strength had put him on the literal back foot, when a white hand pulled him from harm's way. Thrud was unwilling to let her prey slip away, so she gave chase faster that the construct could move.
Suddenly a sphere of purple flames enveloped her. The armor protected her from the heat, but the fire burned all the oxygen around her, making her almost stumble while gasping for air.
A second later, the flaming prison turned into an ice coffin. The thermal shock would have shattered a lesser armor, but in Thrud's case, it only prevented her from breathing.
Her eyes turned blue as she activated another gemstone on her sword which took control of the ice turning it into harmless water.
Or so she thought.
Thrud had yet to take a single breath when streams of lightning crackled out of thin air, riding her now wet armor to bypass her enchanted protection. She was still convulsing when the floor came alive, slamming her against the ceiling over and over again.
It was Vastor's tier five spell Tetrastrophe. Four different tier four effects with a single cast.
"Seems you haven't lost your touch." Manohar said before activating another spell and chanting the next one.
"Old versus ancient." Vastor grunted. "This should be interesting."
Chapter 479 Overwhelming Power Part 2
The small wound on Lith's neck was already healed as he watched his two Professors fight against the human faced monster that was Thrud Griffon. Even after being hit with the full force of Vastor's spell, not a hair on her head was out of place.
'Solus, analysis.'
'It's exactly as we predicted. Her equipment, combat skill, and mana core are superior to yours. Judging from our exchange, she should be on par with Scarlett the Scorpicore overall. Plus, you have to take into account her artifacts.' She promptly replied.
'We have a few advantages, though. Fusion magic allows your body to exceed hers, even if not by much. Also, she is underestimating our numbers and the Professors' skill. Last but not least, this place is built above a mana geyser.
'Now that I have had the time to check, I have confirmed that she hasn't tapped into its power for her arrays, nor has she sealed the geyser. Which means it's mine for the taking.'
Solus's ring assumed its gauntlet form, and then it kept growing until it covered Lith's arm up to the elbow. Razor sharp claws extended from his fingers and small blades extended out from it along the outside of his forearm.
A gemstone rested on the back of his hand, which turned from a deep shade of green to a bright one as the world energy flowed into her body. Thanks to their bond, Lith's recovery abilities improved instantly.
Unluckily, there was no space for him in the current fight.
Manohar's light constructs had uncanny versatility and he used that to its fullest to be unpredictable. They would constantly turn from weapons into shields, or even into some kind of exoskeleton whenever Thrud forced him into close combat.
Vastor had never been blessed with a nimble body, but he had long since learned how to overcome that limitation. His tier five air spell Glide allowed him to fly around the room with great speed without sacrificing finesse.
Lith knew how hard it was to use air currents to propel oneself in such an enclosed space without crashing against the walls or the columns. Yet the Professor managed to move with short controlled bursts of speed.
They made him untouchable while he chanted one spell after the other and dodged everything Thrud threw at him. Lith went to check Jirni's condition while Solus kept an eye on the events, waiting for their opportunity to intervene.
Lady Ernas was puking blood and bile from the earlier kick. Manohar's protection had allowed her to survive, but she was still messed up. Lith removed her concussion, fixed her ribs, and healed her punctured lungs.
"Don't waste life force on me." Jirni said as she felt her strength returning.
"That woman is beyond anything I can do, whereas with your spells you might make a difference."
Lith ignored her words since it was Solus's mana geyser empowered Invigoration providing her treatment.
'I need every edge I can get.' Lith thought. 'Jirni's cunning and battle experience cannot be underestimated, yet it's what the Mad Queen is doing. What makes her so arrogant?'
The answer came in the form of a joyous laugh. A snap of Thrud's fingers conjured one of her tier five personal spells, Raging Griffon. It made a small tornado appear around her which drew everything inside the room that wasn't bolted to the floor towards her.
The pull it exerted was sudden and powerful, making Manohar almost lose his footing. Thanks to his hit and run tactics, Vastor wasn't as affected but he had other problems to worry about.
The tornado was sucking the air away, making chanting harder. It wouldn't have been much of an issue, if not for his need to avoid being pulled toward Thrud and dodge the sea of corpses which were now spinning around the room.
All of Thrud's clones were being lifted off the ground and turned into deadly projectiles. Thanks to their enchanted clothes, the corpses would deal no damage to the Professors, but the impact would break their focus or maybe even drag them into the whirlwind.
Thrud's spell consisted of countless air blades spinning around their master with enough speed to generate the tornado and blend everything it touched into a puree. Manohar had nothing prepared for such a threat, so he had to use gravity magic to keep his balance while his light constructs brought him to safety.
Vastor wasn't capable of using gravity magic. The only thing he could do was raise stone walls to protect himself.
'The fat rat is cornered, so I'm free to deal with the so called genius.' Thrud thought as she darted toward the defenseless Manohar.
"Son of a…" Was all he managed to say before the air blades surrounding Thrud almost bit into his flesh. Manohar recalled all of his constructs around him and avoided the worst.
The shields would crack and shatter after a few hits, but he could replace them with the others that surrounded him while his will reassembled the fragments. Yet even with his great mana reserves, it was only a matter of time before they were exhausted.
To make matters worse, Thrud snapped her fingers again and unleashed another tier five spell, Black Griffon. Six griffons as big as horses and made of darkness galloped towards her enemies.
Usually darkness magic's weak point was its slow speed, but aside from Thrud everyone else was locked in place. Lith was the only reason why Jirni wasn't already dead.
He had protected both of them with an air shield while casting spells from time to time to test the enemy's defenses. Earth and water magic were useless since they took physical forms that Rampaging Griffon had no problems destroying.
The lack of oxygen greatly weakened fire magic, leaving only darkness and air magic viable for him to use. Lith and Solus were still racking their brains when they saw two Black Griffons rushing against them.
There was one for each member of his group and two for Manohar who also had to face them almost at point blank range.
"This doesn't bode well." He said as the summoned creatures ripped through his barrier faster than he could reform it.
"Save yourself, you idiot. There's no point in dying together." Jirni snarled while trying to push Lith away.
"How exactly?" He snarled back. "That thing would chase me and the windstorm would suck me in at the tiniest mistake."
Lith shot a barrage of Plague Arrows towards the Griffons. It slowed their advance and reduced their size but it didn't stop them. Lith activated Death Call, conjuring four arms made of darkness that tackled his aggressors.
'What the fuck?' He thought in surprise when the two spells made contact. 'Darkness can touch darkness like they are both tangible, maybe I can do this!'
Or so he believed until the huge energy mass composing Thrud's tier five spell consumed his thinner tier four.
Even with Solus helping him to constantly regenerate the shadow limbs, Lith could only delay the inevitable.
Hidden behind a column at the far end of the room, away from the fight, there lay the last Spellbreaker. Kilian had worked hard in the backlines, using his skills to tamper with the outposts protections despite the distance separating him from their source.
"Short distance Warps are now possible!" He yelled as he Blinked to the other side of the room. The Black Griffon chasing him didn't stop in time. It crashed against the layers of runes which sealed the area and disappeared in a puff of smoke.
Chapter 480 Overwhelming Power Part 3
"About damn time!" The rest of the team yelled in unison. Manohar Blinked as far away as he could from the enemy, using the temporary respite to rebuild all of his constructs and plan his next move.
Vastor was faring much worse. The same stone walls which had protected him from the tornado also made him blind to the incoming danger. He became aware of the Black Griffon's threat only when it tore apart his defenses, leaving him almost no time to retaliate.
Almost.
Vastor unleashed against the conjured creature all the spells he had at ready, buying himself a few precious instants. When the Griffon finally reached him, it was weakened enough to not disrupt his focus, but still capable of snuffing his life.
When Kilian gave him the good news, his Professor suit was on its last leg. The Griffon's chaotic energies were slowly robbing Vastor of his vitality. Blink saved him just at the last second, but the creature, guided by Thrud's will, went after him.
Lith unknowingly followed Kilian's example. The Griffons were so close to the wall that when Death Call's hands Blinked away, they weren't able to stop their mad charge.
The darkness energy composing them dissipated, but not without further weakening the defensive array from the inside. Lith left Jirni beside Kilian and Blinked again, this time right above the eye of the storm.
It was the only safe place from the air blades and also Thrud's blind spot. Lith descended with the Gatekeeper's tip pointed downwards, aimed at her head. Once again, he experienced an invisible force pulling the blade away, but this time they were waiting for it.
Lith and Solus infused their blade with all six elements, generating a gravity sheath that countered Arthan's Armor protection. The hit took Thrud by surprise, dissipating all of her active spells.
'I knew it!' Solus gloated. 'It's like the protection that makes our armor impenetrable to conventional bullets, just much stronger. It alters our direction and acceleration but it's not invincible!'
Unfortunately, aside from a small trickle of blood, it dealt no damage. The Mad Queen turned around so fast that Lith had no time to follow up on his attack. Her sword lunged to his heart, forcing him to side step and focus on the defense.
He had yet to find a way to inflict her real damage, whereas Arthan's Sword had already proven capable of piercing his Skinwalker Armor with ease. Trading blows was off the table.
'I can only buy the others some time.' He though while triggering his tier four spell Burning Prison. Six fireballs appeared from Thrud's every side, but she only needed to activate Ruler's Will, Arthan's sword's blue gemstone's power, to make them disappear.
Ruler's Will allowed the wielder of the sword to control any tier four or below spell like it was their own. It was the same power Thrud had employed to get rid of Vastor's ice prison.
Although it was a very strong ability, it came at a heavy price. It was a simplified version of Silverwing's Hexagram, so it required from Thrud to spend as much mana as Lith had poured in the spell.
Yet for her rainbow core, which she had overcharged while waiting for her guests, a tier four spell was like a tear in the rain: unnoticeable. She pivoted on her feet, following Lith's side step like they were dance partners. Her blade still pointing at his heart.
Lith deflected her weapon time and time again, but she managed to push the Gatekeeper farther away with each hit, leaving on its surface a deep scratch every time the blades clashed.
"How dares a filthy commoner, the son of a wretched farmer, to draw a Queen's blood?" Thrud's fury multiplied her energies, making Lith almost incapable of following her swordplay.
He was faster and stronger than her, but her centuries of practice made the skill gap between them abysmal. Solus tried to help him with her spells, but even at point blank Thrud was able to use Ruler's Will to nullify them.
The only silver lining was that Solus finally understood what was happening.
'Tier four and below are useless! We can only rely on tier five spells.'
'Great! Too bad I have none ready. Not only didn't I had much mana to start with, but also the ones I know have a huge area of effect. I risk wiping out my team with them.' Lith grunted in reply.
He Blinked away, leaving the Mad Queen flabbergasted.
'I didn't see him chant nor perform hand signs. How many Blink can that runt keep at…' Her split second of hesitation was exactly what Manohar had been waiting for. That and Lith being out of his way, of course.
"Now, you idiots!" He yelled while activating his trump card, the tier five "Double Standards" spell. Manohar had never liked being a team player, but experience had taught him that sometimes quantity had a quality of its own.
A cube made of translucent light appeared around Thrud. The moment she tried to cross it, it became solid, blocking both her sword and body. Vastor and Kilian didn't waste any time, releasing respectively the tier five spells "Raging Sun" and "Dark Star".
The former released a blast of purple flames capable of blowing a castle's doors open, while the latter generated a pillar of darkness with a radius of ten meters (33 feet).
When Lith recognized Vastor's spell, he almost panicked.
'Is he insane?' Lith thought while setting up his defenses. 'Raging Sun should never be used in enclosed spaces. It could kill us all!'
Unlike his companions, he had never seen Manohar in action. Double Standards was a nasty spell that prevented anything from getting out while letting everything getting in.
The Mad Queen did her best, using both her sword and spells to get out of the death trap, but to no avail. Raging Sun's effect was amplified by the cube, which gave the flames all the oxygen they needed while forcing their shockwaves to bounce on its walls like pinballs.
It also allowed Dark Star to unleash its maximum potential. The pillar of darkness couldn't move, but neither could its target. Jirni used that time to pour one of the best tonics on Vastor's body.
Between the aftermath of Thrud's Black Griffon spell and the non stop spellcasting, the old Professor was as pale as a ghost. The moment Lith understood what was happening, he dropped his guards and cast his personal tier five darkness spell Death Zone.
A thick, black mist resembling a small storm cloud appeared in front of him. After conjuring it, Lith needed only a thought to send it toward the light cube. Like all darkness spells, Death Zone moved slowly, but its destructive power was unmatched.
It was the perfect weapon against a trapped enemy.
Manohar's ego was flattered by his companions thinking so highly of him, but three tier five spells plus Thrud's efforts to escape were too much even for him. He clapped his hands, making Double Standards implode on itself with a thud.
Thrud Griffon stood amid the specks of flickering light. Her body was enveloped by a blinding light which restored her charred skin and withered flesh. She looked tired but satisfied as she clapped her hands at their performance.
Chapter 481 Overwhelming Power Part 4
No one wanted to believe their own eyes, but reality was a cruel mistress and couldn't care less for their wishes. Thrud had used her tier five Crystal Griffon spell to encase herself in a thick layer of ice which she had constantly regenerated to protect herself from the Raging Sun spell.
Dark Star and Death Zone had messed up her plan, but her artifacts had managed to keep her alive so that her White Griffon spell was now bringing her body back to its peak condition.
'She has depleted about half of her life force and mana flow.' Solus hoped that, by giving Lith a steady flow of information, he could find a way out of that nightmare. It was the only thought that kept the fear that was gripping her heart at bay.
Lith was honored by her trust, but no matter how many scenarios his brain managed to play, they all ended up in defeat.
'It's not the first time I face a superior opponent, but I always managed to exploit my advantages to came out victorious. Against Nalear I had allies. Against Treius and his cursed object, I used their parasitic nature against them.
'Thrud is perfect. No visible weakness aside her ego and she hasn't activated her vortex even once. How long does it take to bring that damn barrier downr?' Lith cursed while running more and more simulations with Solus's help.
Both Solus's mana sense and Kilian's Third Eye revealed how close the array surrounding The Mad Queen's hideout was to crumble. Alas, "close" only works if someone is playing bowls or throwing a grenade.
As long as the barrier prevented them from escaping, they were still in deadly danger.
"You have exceeded all of my expectations, Manohar. It was worth taking my time to put your abilities to test."
'Was this just a game to her?' Everyone but Manohar thought in unison.
"Soon I'm going to take back my throne and once it happens, a Queen needs a King. Who better than the god of healing to stand beside a goddess? Now your title is just empty air, but my machine can make you stronger, younger, even make you handsome. It can turn you into a true god like my father was."
At those words, Manohar's eyes went wide with rage.
"Join me, and together we will rule the Griffon Kingdom forever. Refuse, and I'll kill you where you stand along with your useless companions. What's your answer?" The barrier protecting the outpost was one of her creations.
She knew she had not much time left and her brave façade hid the harshness of reality. Thrud Griffon hadn't expected to be found out. Her hideout contained everything she held precious, all the treasures she had accumulated over time as well as the precious mementos from her long lost family.
There were no Carpenters with her because they were storing everything inside dimensional items. The Mad Queen believed she could easily escape, but she couldn't afford to lose centuries of hard work and research.
She had actually gone all out from the beginning of the fight and her inability to take out even a single enemy annoyed her greatly. Now that her puppies were almost done collecting her things, she wanted to give Manohar a last chance.
Despite his horrible character and not being easy on the eyes, he was the most outstanding man she had ever met. He was barely over thirty, yet he had achieved a knowledge that surpassed her own, and a magic power that had allowed him to survive in a fight against her.
There was so much they could teach each other. Their offspring would be peerless and their rule eternal.
'Killing him alongside the magicless wench, the arrogant farm boy, the old pig, and whats-his-face would be a waste.' She thought.
"Rejected!" Manohar replied with a wave of his hand. "This world is already boring as it is, the idea of living forever is my worst nightmare. Immortality is for losers that can't achieve anything without luck, just like you.
"Centuries of life and for what? A shallow understanding of magic? A slightly better version of daddy's Madness? Don't get me started about that stuff." He pointed at Arthan's Sword and Armor.
"Once again you just copied someone else's work, there's no shred of originality in everything you do or say. If you are a goddess, then you're the goddess of mediocrity and I'd rather die than put up with your stupidity for even one day!"
Manohar's words hurt Lith, Vastor, and Kilian as much as they did Thrud. None of them was a genius, their achievements were all based on hard work and relentless practice. In their eyes, Thrud's creations were dreadful but great at the same time.
Even Balkor, a genius on par with the Mad Professor had accomplished much less. Whenever Balkor needed an array or a magical item, he had to study and realize it by himself, whereas Manohar had unlimited funds and plenty of experts who took care of "minor details" of his research,
"So be it." Thrud still couldn't believe Manohar being a fake mage like her, so she Blinked close enough to hit with one of her spells while keeping a distance that would allow her to react against incoming attacks.
She had battled Awakened in the past and learned the hard way that they could predict a Warp's exit point. Her plan was brilliant, but it failed to bait the real Awakened due to her defenses being too good.
Lith couldn't harm her with his blade, so Blinking behind her was pointless, nor he could take her out with a single spell. He Warped away like the others, simply choosing a random spot to buy some more time.
"Are you really just a man?" Thrud yelled in outrage. Her pride refused to accept that life could be that unfair. Manohar's mockery made all of her sacrifices and suffering appear meaningless.
'Killing him is not enough. I'm going to break him first!' She thought as she Blinked again. The Mad Queen appeared behind the man she hated the most after Manohar. She would keep him for last.
Kilian was the one who had removed the seal on dimensional magic, depriving her of victory when it was within her grasp. If it wasn't for him, they would be already dead.
If it wasn't for him, she could have activated any of the deadly arrays surrounding the throne room and killed them all in a snap. Yet while he was hiding, Kilian had isolated the room with an array of his own.
He had ruined everything for her, and Thrud returned the favor. Her sword went straight through his right shoulder blade, piercing his lung in the process. The Captain fell onto the ground, drowning in his own blood.
The blinding agony he experienced made him wish for death, but Thrud's had planned otherwise. Next, she went for Vastor. The old Professor's body was battered after using so many high level spells and being ravaged by the Black Griffon.
His years of experience could nothing against age. His mind was ready to Blink, but his tired hands failed him. Arthan's Blade opened a deep wound that went from his left shoulder to his right hip, revealing both the white of the bones and the pink of the intestines coming out of his large belly.
"You can save yourself or you can save them, but you can't do both. Today you're going to lose, Manohar. First I'll take your pride and then your life as well."
Chapter 482 Night's End Part 1
Thrud's move cornered the god of healing. He didn't need to use a diagnostic spell to know that no potion could save his teammates. Their injuries were too deep, without providing them life force, any healing attempt would be as deadly as the wound itself.
Krishna Manohar knew it was over. He had failed to rescue his rescuers and now, weakened and alone, he was no match for his enemy. They were all already dead, the only variable was the order in which they would die.
The Mad Professor finally experienced defeat and it tasted like horseshit. The monumental self esteem that had been the beacon of his whole existence crumbled like a house of cards. He stood with a blank stare, incapable to react.
'I can't win. There's no reason to play if I can't win.' He thought.
The Mad Queen didn't even bother with him, moving to her next target. Her plan was cruel and implemented with such precision that it would inspire terror in any sane person.
Unfortunately, her last opponents didn't fit the bill. Neither of them was ready to die nor surrender. Manohar fought only to win, whereas they were content with not losing.
"You already managed to hit her, yet she's still alive. What's gone wrong?" Jirni asked while Thrud yelled her promise.
"The problem it's not the sword, I can manage that." Lith said leaving her impressed.
"The armor blocks all of my attacks and in a contest of pure magic, I'm no match for her. While she is free to focus only on countering my spells, I've no chances of winning."
"Maybe I have a solution for that." Where others would see The Mad Queen promise as a death sentence, Jirni saw an opportunity.
"I need you to buy me some time, can you do it?"
Lith nodded in reply. Thrud appeared between them, slashing at him while unleashing a hail of icicles at Jirni.
Lith blocked Arthan's Blade with ease as Jirni rolled behind a nearby column and escaped being turned into a kebab.
Thanks to Solus drawing power from the mana geyser, Lith was still as strong as when the fight had started. Thrud's body, instead, was severely weakened after being hit with the full force of three tier five spells.
It made the physical gap between them even wider. Lith tried to push the opponent's blade aside to headbutt her, but Thrud read his move. She didn't resist, so that he used too much force and found himself out of balance.
The Mad Queen used that split second to step in and execute a shoulder bash against Lith's sternum. It pushed him back and squeezed the air out of his lungs, leaving him defenseless.
'Even though my strength is diminished, the skill gap between us is more than enough to get rid of him.' She thought.
When she tried to lunge at his chest, Lith deflected her blade while holding the Gatekeeper in a left handed grip and returned the favor in kind. He used the momentum of Thrud's attack to double the strength of his own shoulder bash.
She was too close to avoid the hit and the one which followed. The armor could prevent part of the damage, but Lith was much heavier and stronger than her, leaving Thrud in mid air long enough for a right uppercut to land.
Once again Arthan's Armor deflected the hit, but Lith's gauntlet's claws still accomplished their mission. Solus had enveloped herself in a gravity sheath strong enough to open a deep cut right above the Mad Queen's left eye.
It bled profusely, blinding her.
'It's a trap! The Constable was waiting for this moment to strike.' Jirni's reputation was enough to make even Thrud afraid of her resourcefulness. The Mad Queen kept her only eye on Lith while she stabbed with surgical precision at her own blind spot, where Jirni was supposed to be.
Except she wasn't. After her roll, Jirni had dashed toward Manohar to snap him out of his childish tantrum.
"What the heck are you doing? Why aren't you helping?" She said while splashing potions and tonics on the two fallen Spellbreakers. They couldn't save their lives but could prolong them for a bit.
"A single Healer can't save both of them." He replied.
"Even if it was possible, it would be pointless. We did our best and f...." The word refused to roll off his tongue. "I don't have enough mana left to defeat her. Not with those goddamned artifacts supporting her. You are useless and he is too young. It's over."
"No, it's not, you dimwit! Have you forgotten about the Clean Slate spell? It can disable her armor." Jirni whispered.
"You think I didn't try?" He said while pointing at the numerous cuts on his Professor vest. "I need to touch her to activate the spell and she is too fast. My constructs can't transmit spells and the last time my real hands neared her, I almost lost them!"
"Listen carefully, man child!" Jirni snarled. "You prepare that damn spell and we'll do the rest. You'll know when to act."
Meanwhile, Thrud's confusion was getting the better of her. The cut was too deep for first magic to heal it quickly and she had already used the healing spell she had at ready.
Arthan's Armor held another such spell, but once she used it, it would weaken the artifact's defensive abilities to the point the enemy's blade could seriously injure her. Not to mention that wasting such a powerful ability for a small cut sounded absurd.
Lith exploited her blind side to pile up more damage and weaken her with each hit she failed to block. The Armor prevented wounds from opening, but the blunt impact wore down her already dwindling stamina.
When Jirni returned, Thrud's enhanced senses informed her of the enemy's arrival.
The Mad Queen had no idea if it was Jirni, Manohar, or both. She Blinked to safety, putting her back against a wall. Lith saw her exit point and made sure to appear on her left side.
Thrud couldn't see and Jirni was too far to notice Lith's throat turning of a scaly black as he hurled a stream of blue flames.
Chapter 483 Night's End Part 2
The Mad Queen tried to activate her Sword's Ruler's Will ability to cancel the blue flames, but to no effect. They didn't consist of normal mana which she could assume control of, but of pure world energy ignited by a spark of Lith's life force.
The Armor still protected her even from that kind of threat, yet she noticed that the flames' intensity wasn't dwindling over time. They ate at the Armor's gravity sheath like it was their fuel, wearing down its pseudo core as it was forced to spend mana to keep its master safe.
Thrud activated the Frozen Heart spell stored within the cyan gemstones engraved on the blade. The tier five spell snuffed out the flames and attacked Lith at the same time.
He dodged it while keeping himself in her blind spot. His left hand conjured a cold gale as his right hand took control of the remaining energy of Frozen Heart, adding it to his own spell.
After beating Lith's fire breath, the Sword's spell was reduced to the intensity of a tier two chant. Lith and Solus worked together to weave their tier three water spell like it was tier five.
Its power would still be that of a tier tree, but by merging it with Frozen Heart's remains, they took it up a notch and now their will flooded within the spell's every fragment.
They didn't just link their mana to the world energy to conjure the ice hail, they also continued to control it even after the mana was outside of their bodies, like they did with Necromancy spells.
Thrud countered it with Ruler's Will as she prepared her new spell, but once again Arthan's Sword failed her. The willpower Lith had infused the ice with repelled the Mad Queen's, so that the razor sharp icicles struck her and interrupted her chant.
'Dammit, that sword is troublesome.' Lith inwardly cursed. 'Controlling every single piece of ice required a lot of mental energy. It's no wonder that tier five spells only create a small number of focus points. Splitting your will like that is exhausting.'
To add insult to injury, all of their efforts had barely resulted in a few more bruises. Tired of Arthan's Armor's interference, Lith unleashed a barrage of first magic spells.
None of them was strong enough to kill Thrud, but they were naturally infused with their caster's will, making them impervious to Ruler's Will. The Mad Queen cursed loudly as her spells were interrupted one after the other and her mana went to waste.
After Thrud's timely Blink had messed up her plan, Jirni finally reached the two as she signaled Manohar to be ready to step in. Her plan, or rather, her gamble, would be difficult to pull and they only had one shot at it.
Her body enhancing potion was about to wear off, and once it did, taking another so soon would have reduced effects. Jirni was past her prime, but even if she was still young, her body would never be able to keep up with Thrud on its own.
'I don't want my death to be just another statistic in this madness.' She inwardly griped as she executed a leg sweep from the Mad Queen's blind side. Thrud was thrown off balance, yet she didn't care.
The hit had allowed her to pinpoint the enemy's position. She swung her blade against the new threat and unleashed streams of lightning against them.
Exactly as Jirni had predicted. She held half of her needles in her right hand and the other half in her left as she used them as a pincer to grab hold of Arthan's Sword and rip it from Thrud's grip.
That was the easiest and yet the most dangerous part of her gamble. Usually, the needles Orion had Forgemastered for her were perfect lightning rods, able to protect her from that kind of attack.
Unfortunately, the electricity produced by the Sword had already proved to be able of ignoring her artifact. Jirni could only hope that with them being in direct contact with the enchanted blade, they could absorb most of the lightning before it had the opportunity to strike her.
Even with her iron will and rigorous training, Jirni was still human. There was only so much damage she could bear until it made her lose focus and her hold on her enemy's weapon all at once.
Once again, Orion's masterpiece didn't let her down. Jirni was the spell's target, so the electricity followed the path of least resistance towards her hands and most of it was trapped by the enchanted needles.
Jirni withstood the spell as she pulled with all of her might, yet her plan was doomed to fail. Even from such an awkward position, Thrud's grip was still too strong for Jirni. The potion wasn't enough to overcome the difference in height, weight, and physical prowess.
At least not until Lith understood what was happening and used all the spirit magic he could muster to hinder Thrud's movements and add his own pull to Jirni's. Arthan's Sword flew across the room for only a few meters before doing a U-turn in mid air.
The enchanted weapon wasn't sentient, but among its many spells, there was one which allowed its master to recall it to their side with a thought.
"Now!" Jirni yelled at Manohar.
The Mad Professor Blinked right in front of Thrud, hitting her with two open palms. She sneered at his weak attack and struck at his elbows with her fists, shattering his arms.
Blinding pain almost made Manohar faint. Only sheer willpower coupled with gritting his teeth like his life depended on it allowed him to retain his consciousness.
'Dammit, I hate pain. I knew that taking one for the team was a bad idea, but dying sounds like an even worse one.' He thought while the healing spell he had prepared in advance restored his blood vessels and ligaments the moment they were torn apart.
Thrud's fists were slightly bigger than his own, yet they hit like a sledgehammer. Her smug grin disappeared as she felt her full armor returning to its normal weight.
'The enchantments on her protections have stopped working!' Solus announced with joy.
Jirni ignored her pain and Lith ignored his fatigue while they circled around their enemy making it impossible for her to guard herself against both. The skill gap between Thrud and her opponents was massive, but not even she could block attacks from behind.
Soon the damage she sustained was too much, even for her perfect physique.
"Enough!" She yelled as her eyes turned orange with the activation of the corresponding gemstone on Arthan's Sword.
As Thrud crouched down to prevent being beheaded by Lith's horizontal slash, her weapon generated a small flaming sphere that affected everything in the surroundings except her body.
Lith and Jirni were blasted away by a roaring explosion that left the floor charred black. The Mad Queen used that moment of rest to Blink near Arthan's Madness and store it inside her dimensional amulet.
"It's over you fools!" A burst of maniacal laughter erupted from her full lips as the doors of the room opened, letting her army of Carpenters return to aid their master. They had finished collecting her resources and were ready to join the fray.
"Fine! For once you are right." Manohar fell on the ground with a thud, using the last of his energy to stabilize his companions' conditions.
Then, the external barrier shattered. Dozens of Spellbreakers barged from every direction, turning the Carpenters who were unlucky or stupid enough to stand in their path into mincemeat
"It is over." He said with a mad grin.
Chapter 484 Night's Aftermath Part 1
Dozens of mages and as many tier five spells flew across the room. As chaos ensued, Lith and the others were Warped outside Thrud's hideout.
"Don't worry, we'll take it from here." Said an old mage with snow white long hair and beard. Lith could see several Wardens taking down the arrays protecting the outpost one by one.
The fighters didn't attempt to pile up on Thrud. Even in her weakened state, now that the Carpenters and their expendable vortexes were by her side, she didn't hesitate to make them self destruct.
The Mad Queen was aware of the mana geyser's presence and used it to overload her minions with world energy causing explosions that rivaled tier five spells. She hadn't used it to fuel her arrays because she needed it to draw energy for Arthan's Madness.
The Carpenters' ability to absorb the surrounding world energy was just a pale imitation of her pseudo Accumulation skill. For centuries she had been close to perfecting her father's creation, to the point that her core had actually evolved.
She was on the brink of turning it to purple, but she was unable to correctly expel impurities, leading her core to turn rainbow colored due to their presence. Thrud had used the mana geyser to refine her body and develop her clones before Mogar could reclaim its stolen energy.
Now she was forced to destroy her own sanctum, yet the outcome of that night's events pleased her.
'Manohar alone wasn't a match for me. Even this Country's greatest genius was a mere child compared to my strength. I just have to take my time and kill him as soon as the opportunity presents itself, before he can become a real threat.
'The others were irrelevant at best. My only worry is the Ranger, but first things first. To challenge Tyris I need more power, more artifacts. Let's see how granny dearest takes this blow to her precious Kingdom!'
Thrud made several Carpenters detonate at once, using them as cover while she retrieved the dimensional amulets from her thralls.
"Thank you for your help, idiots. This is my parting gift!" Her eyes turned purple, activating the corresponding gemstone on her sword. Space itself was torn apart by her artifact, creating a fissure which led her hundreds of miles away.
Banishing wasn't an escape spell, though. The fissure instantly closed, leaving behind a crack that spread to all the recently opened Warps' entry and exit points. Arthan's Sword had made space unstable, turning dimensional magic spells into suicide.
"Fly away!" Yelled many mages at once. Yet a few of their companions didn't manage to disengage from their opponents before it was too late. The fissure Thrud had left behind caused a domino effect.
Each crack made the fissure grow more and more volatile, until it exploded. The resulting flash was visible for miles, allowing both the people at Othre's Mage Association's branch and the members of the Courts to witness it.
When the dust settled down, where once the old outpost stood, now there was only a crater. The Mad Queen had made sure to leave behind no traces of her passage and no clues about her future plans.
Luckily, Lith's group had been Warped back to Othre right after their rescue. Vastor and Kilian were in dire need of medical attention, while the others had left since they weren't able, or in Lith's case willing, to take part in the fight anymore.
"A simple rescue mission, eh?" He said while a couple of Healers treated his and Jirni's wounds.
"Okay, I stand corrected." She shrugged. "I may have actually jinxed it, but we are alive and that's all that matters."
Before they were allowed to rest, the Crown asked each member of the unit for their personal report about the events.
'I could sleep for a week and maybe I will. Yet there's no way I skip the opportunity to get properly compensated. This mission was a disaster from start to finish, way above my measly paygrade.' He inwardly grumbled.
"Professor, could you explain to me how to turn holograms into constructs?" He asked Manohar while they were waiting for their own turn. Lith opened his palm, creating a small replica of the Professor himself.
Yet it was unable to interact with physical objects, passing through them like it was a ghost.
"I can see you have spent a lot of time practicing first magic." Manohar had a smug grin while watching his self proclaimed handsome features.
"I'll tell you what I told the Crown every time they asked me to take an apprentice: I'd rather die than share my secrets. You have already made it this far, young Lith. If you are as talented as I have always suspected, you'll find the answer on your own.
"If you don't, it just means that you are not destined to wield such power. Do not worry, you are in great company. I'm the only known human that can do it." He gloated.
When Lith's turn came, he told them everything that had happened after they sent him to meet the Dawn Court, from their absurd rules and verbal traps to his grasp of Thrud's plans.
There were just a few hours left before sunrise, yet both the King and the Queen attended the reports, pondering every bit of information they heard carefully.
"We are grateful for your sacrifices, Great Mage Verhen. Tell us how can we repay you." Sylpha avoided offering him a noble title or a marriage. He had already turned down those offers multiple times and there was no reason for him to change his answer.
"This experience has proven to me that I'm lacking in several aspects. I need quite a few enchanted items to use as study subjects. Also, I would like to receive ingredients and equipment for my personal lab." Lith provided them a long list of rare materials.
"Do you already have a personal lab?" Was the only question the Royals had about his request. Lith was asking for the equivalent of a Baron's annual budget, but after all he had done, they believed it was a fair price.
Especially after everyone, including Manohar, had stressed his contribution in the fight and reported Lith's ability with holograms.
"Anything else?" Asked King Meron.
"Yes, Your Majesty. In the past, I have requested to check out several tomes, yet they were denied to me. I would like for my request to be reconsidered. Some of them may help me to better understand the threat Thrud Griffon represents."
After witnessing Arthan's Madness effects, Lith wondered if it could teach him how to speed up his own refining process. It was also a perfect excuse to hide the real purpose of his research.
Not only did he request books about souls and reincarnation, but also several others which were meant as misdirection. His obsession with afterlife could be misinterpreted as madness, but put together those tomes made his research seem nothing more than eccentric.
The second list worried them much more than the first one. Most of the titles belonged to forbidden books. Tyris had forbidden the access to some of them in the hope of smoking out the Master or at least their accomplices.
"Last, but not least, I really need a vacation."
Chapter 485 Night's Aftermath Part 2
Meanwhile Lith spoke with the Royals about the many things he would like to receive as compensation for his troubles, Jirni reassured the other members of Othre's group about the mission's positive outcome.
In her book, every mission she could walk away from was a good one.
"We still have to deal with the paperwork, but that can be done anywhere. I can't wait to leave this awful place. No offense, Dorian." She said after sharing everything she was allowed to with them.
Both Thrud's existence and Arthan's Madness' were strictly on a need to know basis.
"None taken." He replied quietly. The team had accomplished feats beyond all expectations, which meant the Association would award him handsomely. Yet his future personal gains were overshadowed by his guilty conscience.
Not only did Dorian put everyone in mortal danger, but also none of the missing persons had survived the hideout's explosion. With Thrud's escape and countless casualties, he couldn't consider it a victory.
Kamila and Tista sighed in relief. No amount of paperwork was worth the weight that had just been lifted from their chest. They had spent most of the night talking. It didn't make them friends but they felt much closer to each other than before.
"Constable Ernas, I have a few questions for you." Kamila asked.
Jirni turned toward her and noticed she was still holding the camellia like it was some kind of charm. Kamila had retrieved the mystical flower while Lith was dealing with the Dawn Court and she had him imprint the flower before they left for Thrud's hideout.
As long as he was alive, the spell which shaped the hologram would hold it in place.
"Sure. What can I do for you?"
"I have always followed your career, dreaming one day to become a Royal Constable myself. However, this mission made me doubt my abilities. I'm not your match and I don't think I ever will be. Are all Constables required to fight like you do?"
Kamila had proven herself useful more than once. Before asking Commander Berion to put her up for the Constable training course as reward, she wanted to make sure she wasn't just wasting her time with pipe dreams.
"Gods, no." Jirni laughed at the thought. "Otherwise the Knight's Guard would be useless. A Constable is required to be smart, cunning, and above all, loyal to the Crown. Most of them don't see a fight in their entire lives. That's what mages are made for."
"Does a Constable need to be able to use magic?" Kamila was aware that her battle prowess amounted to almost zero. Her brain was all that she had.
"Not at all. Most Constables aren't mages and for a good reason. Take my husband, for example. His heart is that of a soldier, but his soul belongs to Forgemastering. People usually love doing what they are good at, and mages are good at magic.
"When he isn't busy protecting someone, his mind longs for his forges. In my experience, a mage who doesn't enjoy researching the mystical arts is usually a parlor dog. Is that…?" Jirni asked pointing at the camellia.
"Yes. Lith made it for me." Kamila replied while blushing a little. She was too embarrassed to mention it was also named after her. It would sound like marking her territory.
"It's beautiful." Jirni sighed in envy.
'My blockhead of a husband has never made anything like that for me. Plus, Lith has yet to ask me about Phloria. Either he is really taken by this woman or maybe my daughter's ship has sailed. Only when I see them together at my birthday will I know for sure.'
"Do you think someone like me could become a good Constable?" Kamila snapped Jirni out of her reverie. Jirni was her idol, her words meant the world to Kamila.
"I don't know you well enough to be sure, but you performed much better than I expected from a political puppet." Jirni wasn't the type to mince words, making Kamila turn pale.
"You found useful information and even risked your life to save your companions. That's a plus in my book. I could recommend you for the role of field assistant. It's basically the Constable trainee course.
"It teaches you the ropes and gives you the opportunity to understand if you are fit for the job." She said while sipping her tea.
"Would you really do that for me?" Kamila's head was spinning at the sudden turn of events.
"It's not a big deal. I'm just giving you an opportunity. Failing or passing is entirely up to you. Just a few words of advice. The things you see while doing this job will often make you feel dirty inside. It's not for the faint of heart.
"Also, I recommend you fetching yourself a Forgemaster for a husband. Enchanted items are like true friends, you never have enough." Jirni winked, making Kamila become beet red.
'I can always play the long game. As long as the Verhen and Ernas families get along, there's always the next generation.' She thought.
***
In the end, every member of Othre's group received a reward proportionate to their contribution and one week paid vacation. Dorian Felhorn was promoted to Great Mage, while Manohar was pardoned for his last escape.
The Mad Professor exploited his vacation and disappeared for a few months, but that's a story for another time.
Jirni already possessed everything she wanted plus several royal pardons, so her reward consisted of giving both her husband and daughter a week leave to spend some time together with the rest of the family.
Much to Lith's surprise, Kamila asked him to spend a few days together. Commander Berion's ploy of using her to keep an eye on Lith had messed up their newborn relationship.
During the last week in Othre, they had gone through thick and thin. All the more reason why he assumed she would have distanced herself from him to evaluate the effects that his presence had brought into her life.
They both agreed to leave Othre and never return. Lith was sick and tired of not being able to Warp or fly at will while Kamila had never visited the Griffon Kingdom's southern regions, so he brought her to Derios, the Distar Marquisate's capitol.
He had been there many times both as a Professor and for other dates but he had never visited the city. They stayed in the same hotel but in different rooms. It was something Lith didn't know whether to be happy or worried about.
'I enjoy my privacy, but she was the one who proposed this vacation and she even brought the camellia along. Then why the different accommodations? I'm getting mixed signals here.' He inwardly griped.
One of the reasons why he had picked Derios, was that it was not only an open-air museum where historical monuments and luscious gardens coexisted, but Lith was also pretty well known. Most establishments would offer him discounted prices.
"I need your opinion about one thing." Lith asked during lunch, after they toured the ancient quarter of the city.
"Shoot." Kamila was amazed by Lith only picking good restaurants that offered local delicacies and always offering to pay the bill.
"This mission made me rack up a lot of merits. I also had the opportunity to remind the Crown that I don't like people messing with my personal life."
Chapter 486 Vacation Part 1
"I got permission to get rid of Berion, but since it's you who he tried to manipulate, I wanted to let you decide."
"Are they really willing to replace our commanding officer?" Kamila said in amazement.
"Yes." Lith said.
'If by "replace" you mean shoving him six feet under.' He actually thought.
"First of all, thanks for your consideration." She replied with one of her dazzling smiles.
"I think it's better if we keep him, though. Berion is better than most of his peers and whoever they replace him with, would surely do the same if not worse. The Crown holds you in high regard, whereas I'm just a low level bureaucrat.
"Let's be honest, I'm an easy target to get to you. I wanted us to spend some time together because even if we haven't known each other for long, the mission in Othre allowed me to catch a glimpse of your life in the field.
"I learned more about you during those weeks than I would after dozens of dates. I needed to see if my feelings were born only out of gratitude or the shock of seeing you almost die and now, I have my answer.
"I like you, Lith Verhen, and that's why I have to ask you to be equally honest with me. Do you think our relationship is worth its troubles? I have a messed up life and family. As long as I don't have a position of my own, I'll be a liability."
Kamila had a hard time speaking those words, yet he deserved to know the truth.
During the last few days, Lith had shared with her so much of his world. He had made her dream of soaring through the skies come true and shown her wonders like the circular rainbow visible when looking at the ground from above the clouds.
Just like Constable Ernas had said, those who were like them were killers but also humans. All those moments spent together had made her reflect about their future, if they ever got one together.
'It's like there are two Liths. I'm not afraid of the one who fights like a demon and I really like the one in front of me right now. Yet we are very different and I want him to realize how little I have to offer him.
'I have no family or assets worth mentioning, but that doesn't mean I'm willing to be dependent on others. My career comes before marriage and relationships.' She thought.
Lith was taken aback by her words. His life had made him single minded enough that when he wanted something or someone, he just strived for it. Being rejected was much less painful than being tormented by regrets or loneliness.
He was sick and tired of feeling empty inside. When he was still a kid on Mogar, he had often dreamed of being special. Now Lith only wanted to feel normal for once in his three lives.
"If we talk about messed up lives, I'm sorry but I take the cake. Any relationship means solving problems together that you wouldn't have alone." His joke made both of them laugh.
"So, yes. I like you too and I never considered you a liability. I don't know if our story will be worth all of its troubles, but I'm willing to find out." Lith took her hand into his own.
It was the first romantic moment they shared since their second date and Kamila found herself deeply enjoying it. She threaded her fingers through his and she kept them that way until they got back to their hotel.
Later, that evening, Lith went to pick her up for dinner and found Kamila still wearing her dressing gown.
"If you don't get ready quickly, we'll lose our reservation." He said with a smile. Even though he hated being late, Lith couldn't get angry at her. It was clear how much effort she had put into their date.
Her black hair was perfectly straightened out and so silky that her room's lights reflected on it creating wonderful shades of gold. Her light make up made her skin look flawless and emphasized her oval features.
A sweet scent emanated from Kamila's body that made Lith wish the night was already over, so that he would understand if she was ready to pick their relationship up from where they left it or if she wanted a do over from scratch.
"Sorry it took so long, I want to make this evening special." She replied from the bathroom's closed door.
Lith sighed and looked at his watch. Their reservation was as good as gone.
"Well, be honest. What do you think?" Kamila entered the room wearing nothing but a flower in her hair and a smile on her face.
Lith suddenly couldn't care less about the restaurant's reservation, nor that he had no food until morning came.
***
After his week of vacation with Kamila, Lith took another with Solus. He hadn't forgotten about the promise he had made to her and the lost city of Kogaluga was the perfect cover for his off the record holiday.
Unlike Kaduria, the mystery of Kogaluga was of no interest to him. The lost city was plagued by a rift in the air from which darkness magic seeped endlessly. Any living being who died within the city would immediately turn into an undead.
Those reanimated by the rift would all start as lesser undead, like skeletons and ghouls, but they would get stronger over time. The sons of Kogaluga would evolve into greater undead if not destroyed and forced to rebuild themselves from scratch.
It was the result of a failed experiment to grant immortality and eternal life, but it resulted in utter failure. History had shown there was no ceiling to their metamorphosis.
Back before Kogaluga was turned into ruins, its ruler had turned into a Lich and led the horde of greater undead who had been amassed inside the city to storm the surrounding regions before the Kingdom was born.
Yet all of them were just puppets of the rift. It had a will of its own, making any new undead just a means to its own ends. Just like Kaduria, Kogaluga was surrounded by a barrier and the Ranger's duty was to make sure its inhabitants remained at their weakest.
The rift was able to recreate their bodies out of thin air over time, so even reducing the undead to dust was just a matter of further stalling. Normally, it would take several days for a Ranger to scout the whole city and make sure that no clever undead remained hidden.
Thanks to Life Vision, it took Lith less than half a day to find and pulverize them all with darkness magic. He spent the rest of the week with Solus. Ever since she had achieved her green mana core, the first floor of her tower form had been completely rebuilt.
One of her new abilities was to Warp the whole tower to any mana geyser where she had ever been in the past. It allowed them to travel great distances without anyone inside or outside the Kingdom being able to follow their movements.
Luckily, the nearest mana geyser to the lost city was too far away to be useful to fuel the barrier surrounding it but perfect for Lith's purposes.
He simply had to get back to Kogaluga when he had to perform his daily reports, while he spent the rest of the time indulging in Solus's wishes.
Chapter 487 Vacation Part 2
The first thing Lith and Solus did was go back to Lutia. Solus's physical form was limited to the tower's premises, but she loved the most rolling over the dew laden grass and feeling the warmth of the rising sun over her wisp form.
After being trapped for months inside her ring, even the most trivial of experiences, like hearing her own voice instead of just her thoughts, gave Solus endless bliss. They would walk around the tower, putting her new limits to the test, and change location the moment she started to feel like a hamster on its wheel.
"Are you sure you don't want to bring Tista along?" Lith asked.
"Maybe later. Spending time with her made me understand how odd our relationship is in the eyes of a normal person. I'm sure she would ask me what I think about Kamila, but right now I really don't want to talk about it." Solus sighed.
"The only thing I want to do is sleep." Another change which had occurred after she achieved a green mana core, was that now Solus was able to sleep while in her tower form independent of Lith.
In her normal condition, Solus was unable to rest. Her constantly being awake wore down her nerves over time, especially when Lith was asleep or she was forced to isolate herself from the outside world to give him some privacy.
Sleeping alleviated her stress and relieved her depression. While Solus rested, Lith used that time to study some of the tier five spells the Crown had awarded him with and to further experiment with light magic.
After seeing Manohar in action, Lith had realized he was just scratching the surface of light magic. His efforts and relentless practice improved his holograms even further, making them more realistic.
Unfortunately, they remained ethereal. Lith tried to at least add some color to them but without success. He forgemastered many more camellias, roses, orchids, and each one of them had the colors and nuances he remembered from his life on Earth.
'Why can I achieve with Forgemastering what I'm unable to do without a magical focus?' He pondered to no end nor improvement.
While his forgemastered creations could be easily infused with other elements, mixing light with other kind of magic that wasn't darkness made the images crumble. Lith would have liked to forge an enchanted item capable of creating hard light constructs, but he had no idea how its pseudo core should be shaped.
Without something to use as a reference, it was just a waste of time. There were too many variables to hope for a stroke of luck.
Lith tried using more mana while shaping the light element, but it only made his holograms brighter, while adding focus made them more detailed but nothing else.
While Solus slept, he moved the tower back to Kogaluga and searched its ruins far and wide for any magical treasure that Life Vision could reveal now that no undead remained.
"Dammit. Either opening the rift consumed everything precious inside the city, or someone beat me to it centuries ago. This place is useless. The undead here have no soul or life force of their own, they are just extensions of the rift."
Life Vision showed him that regardless of the source of the will driving the dark energies, it kept replicating itself. All the undead, no matter their starting form or the evolution process they would undergo, were all the same being.
Lith gave his report before going back to the tower and practicing more magic. Once Solus awoke, she felt reborn.
"Do we have plans for tonight?" She asked after noticing the Sun was already down.
"No. I'm open to suggestions." He replied while patting her wisp form. After they had learned tier five light magic, Lith and Solus had discovered the reason why she was now able to experience physical sensations.
The wisp was only made of light, but the thing that had been growing over time inside of it was life force. Solus's life force to be precise, and it was something completely different from that of the tower.
They had failed to notice it in the past because both Lith's Life Vision and Solus's senses could only distinguish one person's energy signature from another's, but failed to notice when the same person had more than one.
Only the tier five Scanner spell was able to do it. Just like Lith had a human and a hybrid life force, Solus had one as a tower and another in her wisp form. Lith was almost certain that, rather than a sphere of light, it was an embryo of the body she had shown right after they had fused for the second time.
They were both eager to test such a theory, but all of their past attempts to master the art of becoming one at will had failed. Solus had also tried to alter the shape and size of the light part of her wisp form, but she had to stop after discovering it was directly connected to her life force.
"Do you mind watching the stars together? I can't remember the last time we shared a significant moment outside a life or death situation."
Lith's replied by Warping them above the tower's roof, or to be more precise, above the ruins of the second floor. That night the sky was clear, allowing them to enjoy the many bright stars which lit the sky and Mogar's silvery waning moon.
The chilly breeze made Solus shiver, but compared to the nothingness she usually experienced, even a slightly unpleasant feeling had the allure of novelty.
"Do you think we could ask the undead Courts for help?" She asked while snuggling in his arms. Cold had already lost most of its charm.
"It's unlikely, at least on our terms. The Undead seem to be a tight-knit community that only play by their own rules. Kalla was accepted so easily only because she is already half undead." Lith replied.
"We were naïve thinking that they wouldn't try to exploit my nature of Awakened for their own ends. If not for Inxialot's presence, they would have surely tried to take me prisoner.
"I don't want to even think about what they would have done if you came with me. Our best shot is to approach the Council of the Awakened, but only after we understand how rare a magic tower is.
"Worst case scenario, we'll need to be a lot stronger than we are now. They may not care about me, but I doubt someone like a Lich or a powerful mage would hesitate for a single second to kill me to get their hands on you."
"There's another way." Solus pointed out. "We know that Marchioness Distar has an enchanted item that allows her to hide her core. If we can get our hands on a similar tool, we could develop our own version to shield both of us from detection.
"I'm tired of all those people that would only dissect us like guinea pigs. It's time to stop reacting and take the initiative."
"Excellent idea!" Lith nodded. He had almost forgotten about the Marchioness' enchanted hairpin because it was the only one of its kind they had ever met.
"Our only problem is that I never even heard about something like that. If it's as precious as I expect it to be, it could be a royal treasure. Stealing it is out of question and so is revealing we know about its powers.
"The former could make us an enemy of the state while the latter would arouse questions we have spent our whole lives avoiding."
Chapter 488 Meet the Parents Part 1
Months passed and Lith completed his first round of the Kellar region. Luckily, after Othre's incident, nothing relevant happened. Some of the lost cities were sealed because of phenomenons that were of no use for Solus or Lith.
Others were interesting cases for their studies, but unlike Kaduria there was no one they could talk to in order to gain intel about what caused the disaster. Almost every sealed ruin was populated by monsters who were incapable or unwilling to communicate.
Lith and Solus did their best to unveil their mysteries, but they had little time at each city. The army kept them on a tight schedule because once winter started, small villages and cities without a Warp Gate would be isolated.
Lith could Warp only to locations he had previously visited, which made finishing his rounds of paramount importance so that he could share his contact rune with every mayor who could require his help once the cold season started.
When Lith's birthday arrived, he was way ahead of schedule, which gave him several free days.
Thanks to Invigoration he could work non stop for weeks, while Solus's new ability to Warp between mana geysers allowed them to save a lot of time whenever an emergency forced them to backtrack.
Lith was scared of his birthday because it put him between a rock and a hard place. Things had been going well with Kamila, so after a while, it was only natural that she asked him when he would introduce her to his parents.
His family had also started badgering him once they realized that Lith didn't consider their relationship as a fling. Hence his birthday had become a source of stress. It was the perfect occasion for them to meet.
So perfect that not even Lith could find an excuse decent enough to prevent it from happening.
'Dammit, I never introduced anyone to my family for a good reason. In this stupid world, I'm supposed to already be married. My family and friends are like vultures circling closer with each passing year.'
'Everyone expects me to settle down before I turn twenty, but I can't unless I solve my problem or at least Solus's. So far, distance and conflicting schedules have helped me to keep the two worlds apart, but now I'm against a wall.
'If I don't let them meet, both sides will think I'm ashamed of them. My parents because of their poor upbringing and Kamila because of the age gap. Solus, you are a genius chess player with an incredible win rate. How do I get out of this pinch?' He asked in desperation.
'Genius is a big word since most of my victories are against you, and you suck at chess.' She sneered. Truth to be told, Solus had won a few tourneys using Lith as a proxy, but chess was too recent and had few real players.
She just considered herself like a big fish in a small pond.
'There's no way out. Unless you manage to cause a crisis that you would be called to solve, of course.' Her words were the last nail in the coffin of Lith's hopes. He had no choice but to set everything up.
The idea of meeting her boyfriend's family left Kamila overjoyed for at least five full minutes. After that, panic ensued.
"What do I wear? What can I bring as a gift for them or for you? What if my present isn't good enough and your family starts thinking I'm a gold digger?" Lith enjoyed having company in his misery, at least until she almost cried.
"Why are you sitting there with that stupid grin on your face and not saying anything?" Kamila said after noticing that no matter how many times she asked, Lith would only shrug in reply.
"If you want to break up you just have to say it. Setting me up for failure is just cruel!"
"What the heck are you talking about?" Lith inwardly cursed for having activated the communicator's hologram function.
He had done it out of habit. When Lith traveled for weeks in the middle of nowhere or was surrounded by hostile people who disliked foreigners, Kamila's face was the only beautiful thing he could see all day.
"I'm not setting you up. You insisted on meeting them, how can any of this be my fault?"
"Yes, I've insisted for over a month!" She rebuked. "Why does it have to happen during your birthday? A normal family lunch would be so much easier to handle."
"Easier how?" Lith scoffed. "I bet a month's pay that even in that scenario you would have asked me the very same questions. Even worse, you would worry about having no cooking skills to flaunt."
"Oh gods! You are right. If I don't bring any food your mother will think I'm incapable of taking care of her son. I'm so screwed." Kamila said between tears, reminding Lith that when sense and sensibility clash, usually sense loses big time.
Between her upbringing and having a full time job since she was sixteen years old, Kamila's culinary repertoire was limited to her favorite dishes. Her romantic partners would bring her to restaurants and the army canteen did the rest.
She wasn't a bad cook, she just never had a good reason to practice.
Seeing her anguish made Lith feel like an insensitive jerk.
He had never cared about someone enough to worry about what their family thought. Phloria's family didn't count, because Orion would have disliked him even if he was Prince Charming, whereas everyone else loved him.
"Look, Kami, it's not a big deal." He said with his sweetest voice, in a perfect example of closing the stable door after the horse has bolted.
"Dress like you would when meeting a friend, show them your lovely smile and you'll charm them just as you charmed me. Besides, no one would ever think of you as a gold digger. Not after putting up with my stinginess for so long."
The last phrase managed to cheer Kamila up, to the point of getting a laugh. Whenever they went to a new place, the best part for her was always the menu. The faces Lith made while checking the prices were hilarious.
After reassuring her, Lith informed his family too. That day joy seemed to be pretty scarce throughout the whole Griffon Kingdom, since even Elina's enthusiasm lasted less than the length of a pop song.
"What should I prepare? What should we wear? What kind of present can I possibly give you? If it's not good enough, after seeing how we live, she'll think we are leeching off your hard work."
"Yeah, and she may be tempted to do the same." Raaz brooded. "She could be a gold digger looking for a mark."
Hearing Solus telepathically laughing at his misery made Lith realize how rude his earlier grin had been. The silver lining was that, after making his girlfriend cry, he knew how to spare his mother from the same fate.
"Please, Mom, don't overthink things. This is just a family lunch, not a contest about who loves who more." He tried to reassure her.
"Oh, gods! He said the L word." Lith's enhanced hearing caught Rena's whisper. "Lith usually avoids it like the plague. This is bad."
Chapter 489 Meet the Parents Part 2
"It's bad indeed if I can't even use a metaphor without it being dissected!" Lith snapped.
"You guys are unbelievable! You consider me old enough to get married, live on my own, and even have children. Yet at the same time, I'm apparently too stupid to choose who I should date.
"I don't remember a single objection at Rena marrying Senton just because he could be after my money. Why are you blowing everything out of proportion? If my birthday is such a bother, I can always cancel the party.
"I'll spend the morning with you and the evening with her. Everybody wins!" Lith said.
'Or at least I do.' He actually thought.
"Lith dear, we don't think that you are stupid." Elina said while shushing the peanut gallery.
"It's just that Senton had his family business and even if he was a gold digger, well, we were confident that the moment he broke Rena's heart you would've ripped his out." Elina replied while biting her lower lip.
"You what?" Raaz quieted Rena's outburst by placing his hand over her mouth. She didn't know whether to be more infuriated by her parents' lack of trust in her judgment or by the shadow of death that had lingered over her marriage.
"We are just worried about you. Kamila sounds like a good woman, but you are a Great Mage who could get a fief and a noble title with a snap of your fingers. If only you relinquished your mania of traveling like a migratory bird, of course."
Elina had tried countless times to make her son take up a more sedentary career. Every time Jirni called to tell her about Lith's latest achievement, she would feel something crushing her heart.
Elina knew from experience that the bigger the reward he got, the deadlier his mission must have been.
"I'd never force you to choose between her and your family, I'm just nervous because this is the first time you've brought someone home. It means the world to me. Yet since you have always refused to introduce her to us, I can't help but be worried by your sudden change of heart."
"Relax, Mom, Kamila is not a gold digger. I've met plenty of them. Heck, now I can admit I even dated a few, but I never fell for their trickery. They always make up some sob story and then start asking for money, favors, or magical items.
"Ever since I've known Kamila, she has never asked me for anything but to be careful doing my missions. She told me about her family when I told her about mine and that's it. No relative that needs a Healer, no forgemastering asked or given.
"For the record, she wanted to meet you for a month now. It was me who delayed because I was afraid you would scare her." Lith sighed.
Elina had heard a lot about Kamila from Tista after she had returned from Othre. Lith's words made her hope she could be the one who finally grounded her boy, maybe even give her a grandchild or two.
"What do you mean scare her?" She gasped.
"Mom, Kamila is a career woman, she's older than me, and she's not a mage. I would really appreciate no mentions about how much she earns, how many kids she has planned and stuff like that."
"Don't worry, she won't hear a word about it from us, right?" The peanut gallery nodded, even the still gagged Rena.
"What about the rest? Is there something she doesn't like to eat? Anything we should know?" Elina asked.
"Just one thing. She is as terrified as you are of making a bad first impression, so cut her some slack." Lith replied before working out the final details.
***
'Based on Earth's calendar and how close the new year is, I'd say I was reborn around mid December. It's odd how people on Mogar have split the year into seasons and weeks but not months.' Lith mused as he opened one Warp Steps after another, crossing the space between Derios and Lutia in less than a minute.
'Hey, Copernicus, less thinking and more acting. You're scaring your date by showing off this much.' Solus warned him.
Kamila was used to Warp Gates and considered them a marvel of magic. Them being fueled by a whole city made it much easier for her to not think about the amount of power they required.
She had studied the maps, so she knew the Marquisate's capitol and the village were hundreds of kilometers apart. Seeing the scenery around her change with every Gate Lith opened with but a flick of his wrist was beyond impressive.
"I'm a bit tired, do you mind if we stop a few minutes so I can catch my breath?" Lith lied through his teeth. They were in the middle of a small clearing, on top of a hill he had picked to avoid dirtying their shoes and pants with mud or snow.
"Sure." She smiled reassured at the idea he was still human. "You shouldn't exert yourself so much. We could have taken a coach."
"And waste a lot of time and money for something I can do for a roasted chicken's worth of energy? No way." He replied with an indignant tone, making her laugh heartily.
"By the way, I know it's your family, your rules, but isn't our attire a little too casual?" Kamila asked pointing at her legs. For the first time in his life, Lith had actually picked someone else's attire.
She was wearing a warm long coat over a salmon pink woolen sweater, black pants, and flat shoes. Lith had insisted on clothes she wasn't fond of and comfortable shoes whereas she would have preferred something more sophisticated.
"No. You are forgetting that my house is in the middle of the farmlands. Heels would get stuck in the soft ground and the kids will make a mess of your clothes. One of your usual pencil skirts would make you look great for about five minutes.
"Then you would trip over their toys and their adorable, little, and ever dirty hands would make you curse every second of your stay." Now it was his turn to laugh.
If not for the self cleaning properties of the Skinwalker armor, Lith would never wear anything but sweatpants near his little brother or his niece.
"Do you think they will like me or will they try to burn me at the stake?" Kamila had been second guessing herself for almost a week. She was older than Lith's biggest sister and was scared at the idea his parents were even one bit as bad as her own.
"You already know Tista, which is a plus. As for my mother, when I told her you would come to our home for my birthday, she freaked out as much as you did. Heck, she even used almost the exact same words." Lith shrugged.
"You didn't tell her I freaked out, right?" Kamila was still embarrassed about the poor performance of her nerves. After facing a Carpenter, she found it unbelievably stupid being so scared of a loving mother.
Maybe.
"Of course I didn't." Lith lied again, as Solus emitted retching sounds in his head.
'I hate how easily he spouts bullshit, but seeing how both Elina and Kamila relaxed after knowing how nervous the other one was, I must admit it's the right thing to do.' She thought while Lith opened the last Gates that brought them in front of the Verhen household.
Chapter 490 Meet the Parents Part 3
Just like its master, the Verhen house had never stopped growing ever since Lith had started working as a Healer for his village first and for the highest bidder later.
It was now a beautiful two story cottage, which didn't look like a farmer's home, more like the cozy countryside love nest of a noble. The walls were entirely made of stone and the sloping-roof was covered with high quality tiles.
The inside looked even better. The floor was made of hardwood and covered with soft carpets which helped to keep the house warm and gave it a welcoming feel. Kamila had rehearsed what to say to each member of Lith's family many times in her head.
She wanted to make a good first impression, yet she had no idea the mission was already accomplished. Tista had nothing but good things to say about her. Also, she was the first girlfriend Lith had ever brought home, his family had mistaken his obsession with control in preparing the event for tender affection.
They loved Lith so much that she had a special place in their hearts even before they could meet her and their only worry was to not embarrass him. Thanks to the White Griffon academy, Lith and Tista had developed sophisticated manners and speech, which made them able to easily mingle with both commoners and nobles.
The rest of the family had never left the area surrounding Lutia except during short vacations or for visiting the Ernas household. Count Lark was still an as frequent as welcome guest in their home and had provided them with several lessons about etiquette over the years.
The Count found the thought that Lith's parents couldn't accompany him at galas unbearable, so he had tried to help them overcome their fears and inhibitions. Elina and Raaz had greatly appreciated his gesture, but when surrounded by nobles, they kept feeling like a freak show.
Facing Kamila alone, in the comfort of their own home and without being forced to wear fancy clothes still proved to be a harder challenge than a gala for them. Lith couldn't care less about what nobles thought, whereas he seemed to think the world of Kamila.
As soon as the couple stepped in, an awkward silence ensued. Tista had yet to arrive, only Rena was already there.
Everyone was as stiff as a mannequin and the way introduced themselves reminded Lith of one of those tv shows featuring job interviews where the CEO was known to be disguised among the applicants.
The tension in the room was so thick it was hard to determine who was more frightened.
Luckily, kids had no sense of shame nor care for any form of etiquette.
"Big bro!" Aran had turned two years old just a few months before.
He emerged from the bathroom with his arms up demanding a hug, but his pants were still down. When Lith saw his little brother running toward his brand new coat, his battle hardened reflexes kicked in.
"You shall not pass!" Lith yelled as small wisps of light surrounded Aran while spirit magic lifted him off the ground. The light was just for show, so he wouldn't scare people with an invisible force.
"What were you doing in there, young man?" Lith tapped his foot while his parents recovered Aran's pants which laid on the floor like a fallen soldier.
"Poo!" Aran was proud of his ability to use the bathroom and not need diapers anymore.
"Did you clean yourself up before barging in here? Did you at least wash your hands?"
"Maybe?" Aran wasn't sure. He clearly remembered of being almost done when he had heard his brother's voice. The rest was kind of fuzzy. Elina took her son between her arms and brought him back to the bathroom.
"I'm so sorry." Lith said with a remorseful tone as fake as a three dollar bill, beating the embarrassed Raaz to the punch.
"That's why I hate kids." He added with a purposely audible whisper into Kamila's ear to break the ice. "They are noisy, smelly, and messy."
"That's not true! Boys are smelly, girls are clean." Leria protested while tugging Lith's pants.
"My hands still smell like soap." To emphasize her point, she put them under Lith's nose as soon as he lifted her in his arms.
"Duly noted. Leria, this is my girlfriend, Kamila. Kamila, this is my soap scented niece Leria. She dreams of one day becoming a princess."
"Nice to meet you Leria." Kamila shook Leria's small hand that quickly escaped her grasp and went for her hair.
"Are you a princess? Because your hair really looks like a princess'." The little girl had never seen such a shiny black hair.
"Thanks, but I'm not a princess." Kamila replied with a laugh.
"Too bad." Leria combed Kamila's hair with her fingers for a while before losing interest.
"Uncle Lith, can you please cook? Uncle's food always tastes better than mom's." Leria calmly explained to Kamila with a solemn tone.
"That's because your uncle cheats with magic." Rena replied while saving Kamila's hairdo.
"Be careful. He cheats at everything with magic."
"I know, but you can never argue with his results. Every time he stays at my place, he leaves everything cleaner than when he arrives." Kamila replied without thinking.
'Oh gods! Now they'll think my house is a dump.'
"I know, I trained him well." Rena stood on her tiptoes and ruffled Lith's hair.
"Don't listen to him. He's great with kids too. When Leria was teething…" While Rena talked, Tista arrived and the awkward mood faded away completely.
Lith left Kamila with his family and put on his kitchen apron which resembled a mage robe. Fire Vision allowed him to check the temperature of all the dishes both on the stove and in the oven.
Then he used fire magic to make them cook evenly while he stirred everything with water magic and at the same time cut fruits and vegetables in animal shapes with air magic to make them more alluring for the kids.
Kamila had never seen so many ladles and lids float in the air while Lith moved from one dish to another. Between the kids and Lith's skills with domestic chores, they had a lot to talk about.
Kamila also learned about their past hardships and Tista's illness. Kamila was moved by how tight knit the Verhen family was, being able to talk about such a sad past with a smile on their face.
Instead of being emotionally scarred, like it had happened to her, leaving her afraid of any form of commitment, they had overcome it together and their lives were better for it.
"Can I do something to help you?" Kamila joined Lith in the kitchen to resist the temptation to share her troubled past with her family.
'My problems are my own. They don't deserve me ruining this day by talking about sad things' She thought
"Of course." Lith replied as the words "Kiss me. I'm a wizard in the kitchen and I'm good at cooking too." appeared on his apron thanks to a light magic spell. While Kamila was still laughing at his stupid joke, Lith took her in his arms and gave her a long but soft kiss.
"Why did you do that?" She blushed while looking at the rest of the family who was quick to turn their heads around. Kids excluded, of course.
"Because you looked like you needed it." Lith shrugged.
"Stop worrying now. This is not a mission nor a job interview. This is just a lunch for the Verhen family and today you are part of it."
Elina and Raaz shared a glance and clenched their fists in silent triumph while Kamila found herself hoping it wouldn't just be for today.
Chapter 491 Meet the Parents Part 4
Kamila had to admit that although Leria was young, she knew her stuff. Lith's cooking was really delicious. Elina asked Kamila about her past and when she noticed that Kamila didn't mention anything related to her life before the army, Lith's mother decided to not pry further.
"Your house is really beautiful." Kamila said after noticing the many magic fueled home appliances inside every room and spacious bathrooms.
"My apartment is much smaller, yet I could have never afforded such a comfortable place if it weren't for Belius being a giant army base. Sometimes I can't believe I spent most of my life without running water and all these conveniences."
Anything which required even a small magic crystal was the result of forgemastering. They were very expensive and usually only noble and rich households could afford them.
Belius was one of the rare exceptions in the entire Kingdom where anyone had the equivalent of a modern Earth home because of the nature of its arrays, which protected the border with the Gorgon Empire.
Everyone else was still forced to chop wood to get warm during winter and get their water from a well or another water source all year long.
"I hear you, Kamila." Rena nodded. "After I got pregnant with Leria, I've basically moved back to my family home. Once you get used to hot and cold water on tap, heating during winter, and cooling during summer, it's hard to go back to the old lifestyle.
"Also, having a Healer available 24/7 is priceless, especially when you have your first child. I went into a panic whenever Leria sneezed and Tista was away."
After lunch, Lith used light and air magic to stage one of the children's favorite shows: the legend of Bang, the last airmaster. It had everything they could wish for. A young, dumb protagonist, good feelings, funny animals and cool fights.
Light shaped the holograms while air magic gave them voices and the other elements were used only for the special effects. Lith had never projected a movie for Kamila, just like he avoided using magic as much as possible in front of her.
He was afraid that showing off his powers too much could widen the small gap he felt was still between them. He had learned from experience that normal people would see a mage as either an asset or a monster.
It was one of the main reasons mages mostly married nobles or colleagues. The former would boost their social status, while the latter were the only ones who could truly accept them.
'In for a penny, in for a pound.' Lith thought. 'Between Warp Steps, my special cooking style and what she witnessed in Othre, this shouldn't be too bad. If she wants to be a part of my life, I can't hide forever. Especially in front of my family.'
The play didn't seem to scare Kamila. Quite the contrary, she remained enraptured by it. After the food and the fun tuckered out the kids for their afternoon nap, she asked Lith to show her around the farm.
"That light show was amazing." She said after he brought her to see Selia's old house.
The huntress had moved away years ago, yet Lith returned there from time to time, hoping to learn what had happened to the woman who had taught him how to hunt back when he was still a kid and to his first true friend, Protector.
"Too bad the story was so childish and full of plot holes. It would be marvelous if you could project more mature stories, even if just for the two of us." She snuggled on his arm while he used water magic to make the snow part in front of them.
"More mature stories? It's doable, but I prefer living certain situations rather than just spectating them." His lecherous tone left no doubt about what he was referring to.
"Pervert! I meant like those from good books or theatrical works." She giggled and punched his shoulder.
"I have always dreamed of meeting the protagonists of my favorite novels or watching the best scenes of the plays I love the most over and over again. Maybe, now that I have a giant mage boyfriend, he could make my wish come true."
"Maybe." Lith nodded. "I don't know who this sucker is, but my suggestion is to entice him by wearing as little as possible when you ask him for a favor. I also heard that hot, passionate sex is a great way of saying 'please' or 'thank you'."
"What's wrong with you today? Are you this cheeky because it's your birthday or does Lutia bring it out in you?" Kamila's tone sounded like a rebuke, but she actually moved his hand from her shoulder to her hip.
"I'll tell you what's wrong. After bugging me for days about what to give me as a present, I have yet to receive a single present. I'm the birthday boy yet I have worked all day to fill your bellies and keep the kids entertained. How is that fair?"
Lith said with an overly dramatic tone while pretending to be heartbroken. His acting was as terrible as he wanted it to be, making Kamila laugh heartily.
'Maybe Lady Ernas is right. Maybe if I really get to become a Constable, I should get myself a Forgemaster for a husband.' She thought as she pulled the collar of his coat with both hands to give him a passionate kiss.
"Does it feel better now?"
"Not yet, but it's definitely a start."
***
When the presents were finally revealed after dinner, Lith thought that by mentioning them he had jinxed his own birthday. Both Kamila and his parents had only bought clothes for him, the thing he hated the most as gifts. If they weren't enchanted, of course.
His face when opening them was worse than the one he made when checking the bill at a fancy restaurant, which made most of those present laugh until they cried.
"I'm sorry sweetie." Said Elina once she managed to catch her breath.
"Gifting enchanted items to a Forgemaster is like pouring water in a river. You have no hobbies and you already decorated your house as you thought best. It's not like you left us a choice."
"Same here." Kamila said.
Lith cast the Hush spell around the kids' ears and was about to say something very rude when his army amulet drew his attention. His free days weren't actually free, he was always on call.
His temporary handler warned him about an emergency in Kogaluga. Something had been pushing on the barrier protecting the lost city with growing intensity. It was an alarming sign since Lith had cleared the zone recently.
The only good thing about the lost cities was their predictability. Any anomaly was considered a high level threat to the Kingdom.
Lith cursed his bad luck and left along with Kamila.
"Actually, half of my gift is waiting for us in my apartment. It's something I'm planning to wear the next time we spend the night together." She whispered in his ear before she took the Warp Gate to Belius.
"Please, take care. If something happens to you, it would become useless and there's no way I'd get a refund."
"I'm really rubbing off on you." Lith chuckled trying to cheer her up. She was clearly disappointed of having to part from him so abruptly after planning that day for so long.
Chapter 492 Growth Part 1
After she left, Lith had the Desk Sergeant set the coordinates of the Gate to the city of Othre, the nearest waypoint to Kogaluga. He had the impression that after Kamila met his parents, that small gap between them was gone.
Lith didn't know whether to be happy or worried about it. He only had one year left in the army and after that, he might be forced to expand his search to other countries. He hadn't planned Kamila just like he had never expected to become so attached to Phloria during the academy.
He was afraid history was going to repeat itself, setting an expiration date on his new relationship too.
Once Lith reached Kogaluga, it took him only a few hours to discover the truth. The anomaly detected by the lost city's array system didn't come from the inside. Lith had been thorough during his last sweep and the undead inside were still few in number.
A tribe of trolls had reached the city, lured by the darkness magic flooding from the rift. They had been trying to get in for a few days. Without food, their numbers wouldn't rise, but the energy seeping out of the barrier was enough to strengthen each one of them over time.
The good news was that all Lith had to do was kill them from a distance with fire magic and make sure they stayed dead. Trolls could regenerate even from their smallest bits, so even with Life Vision it took him a while.
The bad news was that once he was done with them, it was already late at night. Too late to go back to Belius to spend the night with Kamila or even to give her a call. The only silver lining was the presence of the nearby mana geyser, so he could at least spend the remaining hours of his birthday with Solus.
Once inside the tower, he noticed that the core inside the wisp had grown bigger from the last time he had seen it.
"Solus, did you have a breakthrough?"
"Yes!" She had an ecstatic tone. "It's the second one already since you got your blue core. At this rate, I'll get halfway through green in just a few months."
"Lucky you. Between the boot camp and the constant traveling, I couldn't use Accumulation as often as usual. I've only promoted my core by one shade so far."
"I'm two levels apart from you even though and I'm constantly nurtured by both you and the world energy. I should be the one complaining." She rebuked him.
"Did you enjoy your birthday?"
"Well, it went much better than I expected." Lith said while taking a long hot bath. Even though he had acted tough all day, he had actually been worried things could not work out for either Kamila or his family.
"Indeed." Solus replied from the Alchemical lab, where she was sorting out all the new equipment they had received from the Crown as a reward. Much more had yet to come.
It would give her something to do the next time Lith didn't need her help or presence.
"It's the first time we have to skip your second birthday, though. I'll miss Count Lark and his staff who still believe you are his son, just like I really wanted to check on Friya and Quylla. We haven't seen them from over a year now." She sighed.
Lith usually celebrated his birthday twice. Once only with his family and his closest friends, like Nana or Selia, and a second time during a social event hosted by the Ernas or by Count Lark.
Lith was tired of always being alone, but he had no other choice. He regretted not meeting Count Lark, Jirni, or any of the Ernas girls for his birthday, but he had only one day and had to make it count.
"Me too, Solus. Yet Kamila is my home away from home now. I have to give her and my family priority. I will call the others tomorrow, first thing in the morning. Okay?"
"Okay."
Later, that night, while Lith was fast asleep inside his bed, Solus's wisp form escaped from his embrace and moved to the bedside. Suddenly, it started to pulse as its core expanded until it touched the fringes of the wisp's sphere of light.
Solus's life force broke free of its restraints, taking the form of a humanoid female, entirely made of golden light.
It had no facial features aside from her shining eyes and lips half-opened in a very sweet but sad smile. A cascade of golden hair enveloped her whole body as it floated in the air like she was underwater.
'Yes! I knew I felt different the moment I assumed my tower form.' Solus danced in the air out of joy before looking at her figure thanks to a series of mirrors that she had conjured around her.
'I do have some baby fat.' She inwardly griped while she stared down and squeezed her belly.
'Whoever I was before turning into a tower, I must have been a couch potato. There's no way a mage would be so cruel as to make their tower's avatar short and paunchy. I've always known I'm not a thing!'
After looking at her form from every possible angle, Solus was satisfied overall.
'At least I'm well proportioned for my height and have a tight ass. Yay me.' She chuckled.
Solus swept her hair back, to be sure it wouldn't tickle Lith's sleeping face before kissing him softly on the cheek.
"Happy birthday, Lith." Her voice was barely a whisper.
'I've waited for 12 years, I can wait a bit longer. If I tell him now, it would make our relationship even odder. I don't want to risk ruining his relationship with Kamila for just… this.'
Solus had waited for three years to have even a semblance of a body, just to discover it was still not enough. It still didn't allow her to have a normal life nor to be with Lith like she wanted to.
Solus caressed his hair for a second before going out to see the stars accompanied by a glass of milk and a trail full of all kinds of biscuits.
***
The following morning, Lith noticed immediately that the tower had changed overnight. The stones which composed his room were sturdier and smoother compared to their usual crude look.
Every room of the tower was now larger than he remembered.
"Solus?" He looked around before noticing the wisp snuggled in his arms under the blankets.
"Let me rest five more minutes. I'm dead tired." She grumbled.
'Not only did I eat so much that I got a stomach-ache, but also I can't remain in human form for more than an hour without spending a lot of mana. Worst power up ever!' She was careful to hide her thoughts where Lith couldn't find them.
"How could you possibly be dead tired? We slept all night to recover from using all the Warp Steps necessary to go back to Derios and then reach Kogaluga."
Lith had indeed slept all night, whereas Solus had joined him just an hour earlier, just in time to experience what an embrace felt like before exhaustion forced her back into being a wisp.
Chapter 493 Growth Part 2
Lith was true to his word and called all of his friends before hitting the road again. Some of the news he received was expected, some of it not so much.
"Damn! Jirni's birthday is going to be a real pain in the ass this year. I can only hope an emergency will give me a decent excuse for not attending." Lith cursed.
"So much for missing your friends." Solus grumbled. She had never felt so tired and would have much preferred to keep sleeping.
"They are going to celebrate their 25th anniversary, you should've expected something big for the occasion. Aren't you happy to finally see Phloria and the rest of the gang again?"
"No. Really no." Lith shook his head.
"If I don't bring my girlfriend to the party with me, Kamila will think I still feel something for my ex. If I do, there's going to be a showdown between them, and even if violence is rarely involved, back on Earth these kinds of things were never pretty."
"How can you say you feel nothing for Phloria? One of the reasons you asked Kamila out is because she reminded you of her. Even now you refuse to call her by her name and just use the 'ex' word. I think that says a lot." She sneered.
"I haven't forgotten what we had together. I owe her a lot, maybe more than I could ever repay her, but the past is in the past. By the way, someone is grumpy this morning and for once it's not me." Lith laughed, making Solus feel awkward.
She still had conflicting feelings about her new ability and, most importantly, about her decision to not share it with him. The exhaustion coupled with the guilt were making her touchy.
***
Lith resumed his duty and for more than a week he was unable to stop in one place if it wasn't for eating or sleeping. Winter in the north had started earlier than usual, catching many cities and villages unprepared.
He would often be called by their local authorities to resolve disputes about food provisions or to rid them of potential threats. Even bandits needed a place to shelter from the snowstorms, but no one wanted them to live in their neighbourhood.
Criminals would try to infiltrate settlements at the last moment, hoping to either escape detection in the slums of medium sized cities or exploit the lack of security typical of small villages.
Unfortunately for them, the people in the north were as harsh and unforgiving as their climate. They hated even the foreigners who wore the Kingdom's uniforms, let alone those whose faces only a mother could love.
Once Lith reached a village, he would give them two choices: to spend the rest of the winter in prison or in the graveyard. Banishing them wasn't an option. They could return as soon as he left and he had no desire to waste his time with mercy.
Some of them tried to escape while the bravest ones attempted to resist being arrested. They all died the same way: with their neck snapped by a flick of Lith's wrist and a touch of spirit magic.
'It seems until people settle down for winter, we'll be doing a lot of back and forth around the whole Kellan region.' Lith thought.
"Yeah, you won't be able to go back home for a while. I expected you to nag like usual, yet you are smiling." Solus was confused seeing him so laid back.
'I would if I were a normal Ranger, stranded in the middle of nowhere during a snowstorm. I'm a lucky man who can seek shelter inside his own mage tower and enjoy the company of his only true friend instead.'
Lith was eating a steaming meal in the dining room Solus had created for him.
'Between working, taking care of my family and Kamila, it's been a long time since we could just spend a bit of time with just you and me.' He patted the wisp who was floating in front of him.
'Even though we are always together, I still missed you a lot, Solus. I wish we could share this meal together.' The lights in the tower turned beet red.
Not for the overly casual physical contact which had become even more awkward since she had acquired a human body, but because she had actually already eaten her fill while Lith was setting up the Forgemastering lab for their next experiment.
"You have an odd concept of quality time!" Solus telepathically pouted.
"You are using the mind link to communicate without interrupting your meal to save time and ever since we got stuck in here, we have done nothing but work on our magic. We could take a nap, watch a movie, read a novel, anything but work!"
'You are joking, right? Neither of us needs to sleep, the only movies we can watch are those I know by heart, and we read a book in a split second with Soluspedia. Any of the above would be just a waste of our precious time.' Lith was confused by her recent behavior.
She had always insisted on making him rest regularly and had always been fond of cuddling, but for a while now she wouldn't take a no for an answer. Truth to be told, Solus was trying to follow Tista's advice and live her own life.
Yet since she could only take physical form inside the tower and she could only do as she pleased when he was asleep, her window of opportunity to experiment with new things was quite small.
To add insult to injury, Solus really enjoyed spending quality time with him and in her book, work did not qualify.
'Besides, I don't care what we do. As long we are together, it's like a holiday to me.' Lith stressed his point by hugging her tightly and making the dining room turn even redder.
In the end, they reached a compromise. Lith would decide what they would do for 16 hours a day and Solus would decide for the remaining eight. By the end of the blizzard, Lith had converted a few of the new spells the Crown had awarded him with into true magic and gained a deeper understanding of first magic.
Once Solus noticed that even when she forced him to rest Lith would actually practice Accumulation to further refine his core, she came this close to giving him a piece of her mind.
Unfortunately, when she opened their mind link, the only thing that he was thinking about was the hope that, by improving his core, he could help her to gain the light form she had actually already acquired.
Solus was deeply touched by his affection for her, realizing once again she held a very special place in his heart.
A few days later, they were on the edge of the ruins of Kush. The creatures populating the city had such a strong life force that they would regenerate even after being pulverized by darkness magic.
Lith was studying the ghost-like life force of a freshly killed monster with Scanner. None of his tier five body sculpting spells were able to cause the slightest alteration to the ethereal figure in front of him who was silently collecting his remains floating in the wind.
'If my life force were to become immutable like theirs, I would achieve immortality.' He thought as his army amulet broke his focus.
"Fuck! Another call."
'More petty quarrels between nobles or is it bandits again?' Solus asked.
'Neither.' He replied when the call ended. 'A tribe of monsters is about to attack the city of Maekosh'
Chapter 494 Warg Part 1
'Another tribe of monsters already?' The news left Solus shocked.
'We dealt with another one less than two weeks ago outside Kogaluga. How can they possibly spawn so fast despite our rounds and the lack of resources due to winter? Don't tell me it's more trolls. Those things are disgusting, they give me the creeps.'
'No trolls, it seems they are dealing with a pack of warg. Also, I agree with you, it shouldn't happen this often.' Lith thought as he dispelled Scanner and Scalpel.
'I can only think of a few possible explanations for this. If we are lucky, it's just them coming out of their nests after running out of resources. Monsters are as powerful as they are dumb. They are incapable of planning ahead for a whole season.'
'Worst case scenario?' Solus asked.
'Someone is making them spawn to further their own agenda.'
'Yeah, right.' She chuckled. Even by Lith's standards, that was full blown paranoia. 'I wonder where you left your tinfoil hat. We don't want aliens to read your mind.'
***
Free country of Lamarth. Beyond the eastern borders of the Gorgon Empire.
The Master had been on cloud nine for months now. The incident in Othre had given them exactly what they needed to put an end to the slump their research had been in during the last two years.
"I'm telling you, Xenagrosh, this is the will of Mogar. Everything happens for a reason." The Master's usual mean, lecturing tone had been replaced by one of a child on a sugar rush.
They spoke with a shrill voice, talking fast as their hands operated the experimental machinery the Abominations were assembling in the magical lab. Ever since the Master had managed to acquire a copy of the Spellbreakers' report, they had barely slept.
Xenagrosh, the Eldritch Abomination who served as their right hand was worried about the Master. Their maniacal enthusiasm for magical research was a double edged sword. It had brought them far, but had also caused many casualties among their ranks.
Abominations were even rarer than Awakened ones, their numbers were limited.
"Four years ago, Balkor taught everyone with a working brain how Abomination's tissues can be implanted inside other creatures to control and empower them. At first, I thought it was as ingenious as it was useless, until Thrud showed me how wrong I was.
"She brilliantly solved the main problem of Arthan's Madness' low energy assimilation rate by converting her victims into copies of herself before harvesting them.
"I've devised a way to fuse Balkor's and Thrud's research which has solved many of our problems. Abomination's tissues are much stronger than human's, they can take root in any living being.
"By creating copies of our associates, we can boost your powers endlessly and get rid of the madness which ensues after fusing several Abominations into one. If they share the same mind there will be no conflict. It's just perfect!"
Xenagrosh's enthusiasm was limited. She had been a powerful Awakened before turning into an Abomination and being forced to rebuild her strength from scratch. She knew all too well that saying and doing were two very different things.
"I don't know. Even if I knew I was just a copy of the original, I'd rather die fighting than let myself being sacrificed. Also, we still need to kidnap a lot of specimens for your experiments. I don't see much difference in our situation now." She shrugged.
"How can someone who once was so brilliant have become so idiotic?" The Master sighed. "We'll harvest them before they reach full sentience, we can't risk a civil war of our own. As for the specimens, we're only going to use monsters for the trial runs."
Xenagrosh was stunned by her mentee's brilliance. Monsters spawned fast, had great magical potential, and no one cared how many of them died.
"What about the orc shaman's crystal?" The Master asked interrupting her musings. "We need it as energy source, otherwise mass breeding Abominations will take too long."
"It's… lost."
"What do you mean lost?" The Master's good mood disappeared.
"The retrieval team spooked the shaman enough to make him detonate along with the mana crystal rather than let it fall in the hands of 'demons'."
Both the Master's rage and eloquence reached a new peak, making them say words so crude that it's best for them to remain forgotten.
***
City of Maekosh, Prancing Griffon tavern.
It was Lith's second time being there and his first visit hadn't degenerated into a brawl solely because he was as happy to leave as everyone else was eager for him to go.
As long there was a mana geyser in the proximity, Solus's company was the only thing Lith needed to enjoy his stay in a new place.
"As I told you the last time, Ranger, your money is most welcome here. You, however, are not." Xelos, the tavern's owner, was glaring at Lith in such a way that if looks could maim, the Ranger's remains would easily fit into the establishment's trash bin.
Like many medium sized cities in the north, hospitality wasn't a strong suit of its inhabitants. Most Northmen lived in fear of the borders and of the spies that might come from the Gorgon Empire.
Uniforms and badges could be counterfeited, so even during the good season they only trusted strangers as far as they could throw them. Winter made everything worse.
With no Warp Gates and snowstorms that could isolate a city for weeks, a single foreigner mouth was one too many. No one was willing to share their rations and risk suffering from starvation in case something happened or if the cold lasted longer than expected.
The tavern's usual patrons shared Xelos's hatred for Lith. Everything he ate or drank was something they wouldn't get to enjoy. Even if he was paying for his meals, they still considered his presence like that of a thief.
"And as I replied to you last time, you will give me what I paid for, or suffer the consequences." Lith considered Maekosh a shithole, but the variety of beers they brewed there were top notch.
He had got a taste of them from a merchant in Othre and found them a marvel for his taste buds, even at room temperature. Served cold they were simply divine. Lith had added as many kegs as he could to his stocks during his first visit.
Unfortunately, they didn't amount to much. Winter was coming and most of the supplies were already sold.
"Like what?" Xelos sneered. "You are nothing but a military dog, so follow your precious orders and get lost!"
"I'm glad you asked." Lith replied with a soft smile, as his mouth and fingers weaved an incantation.
"You can't use your magic!" Xelos didn't lose his spunk. "Everyone here is my witness. Uniform or not, the Griffon Kingdom won't stand criminals."
"Indeed." Lith opened a Warp Steps right behind Xelos, using a bit of spirit magic to push him through it before closing the Gate. The patrons jumped from their seats in outrage, but he remained calm.
"I'm a civil servant, not a slave. There's a big difference to it. According to the law, robbing a Ranger, refusing to serve him, and slandering him are all criminal offenses punishable by imprisonment.
"Which means that you only have two choices left. Waive my protection and face the monsters on your own or join your friend in a solitary cell for the entire time I'm forced to stay here."
Silence befell the tavern. When pride and fear clashed, the latter usually won by a landslide, especially when monsters were involved. The patrons went back to their seats and no one protested when the barmaid served the Ranger his meal.
Chapter 495 Warg Part 2
Lith's eyes were brimming with mana, but not because he was angry. He was staring at the steaming plates in front of him with Life Vision to make sure no one had spat in his food or beverage.
There was only a brief time window before saliva became invisible even to his magical perception. The waitress had no idea what was happening, so the scene made her quiver.
"I'll take that one, thanks." He said to a second waitress as he switched the tray she was carrying with the one in front of him. Lith had ordered the house specials because it made it much easier to replace them without notice.
"Tell whoever 'spiced' my food that they need a Healer fast, or they will not live long enough to see Spring. I advise throwing away the stuff on that tray, if you don't want to spread the disease." Lith lied through his teeth.
Not even he could diagnose something from saliva, but those present had no way to know that. Panic spread inside the tavern as a terrified yell came from the kitchen right before the service entrance was slammed by someone who was in a great hurry.
The tavern's patrons looked at their plates like they had been served live rats. Many of them started to hold their bellies while fear and self-suggestion made them feel sick one after the other.
"I'm sorry, are you also a Healer?" Asked a pretty waitress who looked like she had just dined on rusty nails. She was a redhead with a lot of freckles on her face and a nice figure.
"Depends. Can you afford one?" Lith loved it when his plans came together and hated his meals being interrupted. His voice oozed sarcasm and annoyance.
"I'm just a waitress." She replied.
"Then I'm just a Ranger." Lith's smile was as sweet as an unripe lemon. Soon he was the only one still inside the tavern.
'That was a low blow.' Solus thought. Her reprimand lacked conviction since she liked unwarranted hostility even less than Lith's antics. She couldn't understand how the very people he was about to risk his life for could treat him like that.
'All is fair in love and beer.' Lith filled his glass with a second pint and left the money on the counter. He was many things, but not a thief.
He had just finished his meal when a sadly familiar voice came from behind him.
"Was that really necessary?" Baroness Enja was the ruler of the lands surrounding Maekosh. She was a middle aged woman with long blonde hair braided into a single tress which almost reached her waist.
She had sharp features that together with several wrinkles and her ice blue eyes gave her the stern expression of an eternally disgruntled monarch.
"You have to be a little more specific than that, your Ladyship." He stood up calmly before giving her a small bow.
"The tavern keeper is a certified idiot, but sending him to the dungeon after taking all the keys with you is overreacting." She was still unaware of the fake pandemic spreading throughout her city while they were talking.
"Is it? It was a group of foreign merchants looking for shelter that spotted the warg and gave you the time to call for help. I'm a foreigner too, and I'm going to put my life on the line for every certified idiot who lives here.
"I don't ask for gratitude since I'm just doing my job, but your citizens could at least treat me with the respect this uniform deserves instead of like a thief."
"Real heroes don't ask for recognition, medals, or rewards. They just do the right thing because it's what heroes do." The Baroness' voice was as sour as Lith's.
"Well, your Ladyship, when you find one, I'm sure they will be glad to help. Meanwhile, as long as my services are required, I'll be this city's judge, executioner, jury, executioner, warden, and, when necessary, its executioner."
Lith Warped to the western wall, where according to the witnesses, the pack of warg was supposed to arrive. Warg were another one of the Fallen races.
They were wolf-like creatures that legends said descended from a tribe of hunters who had been cursed by the wolf god for killing one of their cubs. Taken individually, each one of them was as strong as a magical beast.
It made them dangerous, but alchemical tools and the protection offered by the city walls would be enough to decimate them if that was all they were capable of. Unlike real magical beasts, monsters were not intelligent creatures.
They were unable to coordinate their attacks nor to exploit their enemy's defenses' weak points. The larger a pack of warg, the stronger it was. They were able to share their life force, their mana, and even their wounds.
According to the bestiary Lith kept in Soluspedia, a pack with enough members could employ some animal tricks, like their intelligence also grew with their number. The Baroness had asked Lith to kill them in front of the city walls instead of hunting them in the wild for several reasons.
The most important one was that she hoped that by witnessing the Ranger's actions, her people would stop being so arrogant. It wasn't only Lith that was fed up with their attitude, but also the merchants and the Mage Association.
Without merchants, Maekosh would turn back into being a poor city. Without mages, the city would always be dependant on the army for its protection.
The second most important reason was that otherwise no one, her included, would have trusted the Ranger to do his job properly. After how they had treated him during his first visit, the Baroness had been surprised to see him arrive so quickly instead of making up an excuse or giving priority to another city.
Lith was unaware of her worries and if he learned the truth about her odd request he would simply not care. His success streak as a Ranger was the only thing that mattered to him.
So far, his services to the army and the Crown had been well compensated with money, resources, and connections. His policy had always been to follow his job through as long as he was paid.
The complaints of the inhabitants of Maekosh were just white noise in his ears
'I don't like this one bit.' Lith thought while scouting the city's surroundings from a turret.
'It's already odd that the merchant caravan spotted the warg without being attacked, but what really baffles me is what's taking them so long to reach the city. I checked the map, there are no settlements between the place they were spotted and Maekosh. There's nothing that should have delayed their arrival this long.'
Solus had no answers to offer. Their knowledge about their opponent was limited to what the book said, and bestiaries were written by survivors or based on their stories. The bestiary provided by the army was much more detailed than the old one they possessed, but Lith didn't trust it.
Not after what had happened with the orcs.
He stood watch for a few hours, using Accumulation to refine his core while he waited together with the city guards for the incoming attack. The setting sun blinded the watchers looking at the horizon, while its rays reflected on the snow blinded those checking the ground.
It was only then that the attack began.
Chapter 496 Mutation Part 1
'Timing their attack with the position of the sun is not just a trick, it's plain smart.' Lith inwardly cursed as one of the nearby watchtowers exploded, spreading the smell of barbeque and pieces of entrails in the afternoon air.
'They are not charging at the walls!' Solus's senses were unaffected by daylight.' The warg are taking down the guards first. This wasn't supposed to happen.'
Lith switched to Life Vision, noticing a barrage of spells were being unleashed on the positions where the guards had taken cover. Fire and lightning charred the stone and sent the guards into a panic, making them lose their tinted glasses.
'This is too clever for monsters who for decades have been recorded as mindless beasts.' A wave of Lith's hand dispelled most of the incoming attacks. They were just chore magic cantrips the warg used to cover their real targets.
The guards had no way to know this and stared at him with a mix of awe and fear, like a god of war had descended among them.
'How the heck can they attack with such precision even while being so far away that not even my mana sense can spot them?' Solus thought. The situation was becoming more absurd by the second. Lith racked his brain for an explanation but found none.
Even if it was a violation of his orders, he took off and flew at full speed and followed the spells back to where they came from. The area in front of the city walls was kept clear for hundreds of meters, which made a sneak attack a formidable feat.
The moment Lith passed near a small patch of trees, something as big as a horse and as fast as a missile bolted up from the ground to intercept him. Lith had seen the unknown enemy thanks to Life Vision and was waiting for them.
Despite the high speed he was moving at, he managed to dodge the living bullet as his right hand wielding the Gatekeeper sliced through the enemy's side and his left hand released three fireballs in a triangle formation.
The warg wasn't as skilled as Lith in aerial fights. The creature took the full force of all of his attacks and was engulfed in the resulting conflagration. Lith managed to catch a glimpse of his opponent before the flames consumed it.
The Army bestiary was right about the warg's appearance. The creature looked like a humanoid wolf, with a thick grey fur and bone spikes coming out of its spine and joints. Yet it was dead wrong about the rest.
The creature Lith had just killed was over three meters (9'10) tall instead of just two (6'7") and had hands bigger than Lith's head. Warg were also described as incapable of using air magic to fly.
Their eyes were supposed to be yellow and filled with endless fury. What Lith saw, instead, were black eyes filled with surprise, malice, and confidence.
'That wasn't the gaze of a dying man. Something is off.' Lith stopped advancing to scout his surroundings when the warg came out of the smoke like a speeding train. The creature wasn't just alive, it was unscathed.
Lith dodged the attack with ease, turning the enemy's body into a pin cushion riddled with razor sharp icicles, but that didn't even slow it down. The warg attempted another charge only to be showered with lightning bolts that flowed through the ice directly into its organs.
Once again, the enemy remained unfazed.
The clash continued for a few seconds, but despite Lith held the upper hand the fight seemed pointless. The warg was fast and strong, but it couldn't land a single hit. Every one of Lith's attacks struck with surgical precision, but none left a mark on the monster's body.
Lith stabbed the warg with the Gatekeeper several times, but the blade went in and out almost like it struck an ethereal enemy.
'Solus, please tell me this makes sense to you. The life force of this thing is still as strong as when the fight started.' Lith asked while weaving a tier five spell.
He would have preferred to save them for once he found the rest of the pack, but solving this mystery took priority. The idea of having an immortal creature within arm's reach made him worried and excited at the same time.
'Sorry, I have no idea what's happening. I think…' Before she could finish her thought, the creature howled in frustration and flew away.
***
A few hundred meters from the scene of the fight, the warg tribe was cursing their bad luck. Many of them were gritting their teeth to withstand the pain of the terrible wounds that kept appearing on their bodies.
One of them had his side cut wide open, while others had their flesh covered in burns or their bodies trembling in a seizure.
'Retreat.' The warg alpha telepathically ordered to his chosen beta who promptly obeyed.
'Not enough food to mend so many wounds in so little time. We need more time to increase our numbers, we still…' The alpha paused, searching for the right word.
The Master's experiments had enhanced the warg's skill to share their abilities among pack members. Each one of them had a small fragment of the same Abomination inside of them.
A single piece was too small to have a consciousness, but because of the warg's nature, they were able to form a network that created a mind link. As the fragments developed, the mind link was turning into a hive mind.
'… too stupid. Don't get caught.'
Six wargs were sitting on the ground, weaving spell after spell which their brothers and sisters inside the city were able to unleash without blowing their cover.
"Take the wounded." The alpha said. He used the mind link only when he was forced to. The voice in his mind was too different from his own. "We retreat, now."
***
Lith followed the fleeing warg, noticing how its size turned to what the army bestiary described.
'Probably it was that big because it was borrowing strength from its companions. Are they in the area?' Lith thought.
'Still nothing within range.' Solus replied
The monster tried to shake the human off its tail by increasing its speed, but the gap in air magic mastery between the two was enormous. Realizing he was no match for the mage, the warg grinned.
"For the pack!" It yelled as it recalled all the wounds it had sustained during the fight as well as all those the other members of the tribe had received during the march toward Maekosh.
The warg's body was ripped to shreds in an instant, leaving Lith shocked.
'You have heard that too, right Solus? I'm not imagining things, right?'
'I did. The warg used air magic to speak in the human language, just like a magical beast would. It shows they are both intelligent and willing to sacrifice themselves. We cannot underestimate them like the army did.'
Solus couldn't believe decades of information could produce such a poor result.
'I wasn't talking about that. The way it ended its life, the words it used. It reminds me of what happened when we faced Balkor's creatures.'
Chapter 497 Mutation Part 2
Lith and Solus stored the warg's remains inside their pocket dimension before scouting the surrounding area to search for the rest of the pack. Thanks to the beta's sacrifice, the warg had been able to quickly retreat inside their underground den.
They hadn't been expecting a mage, but a voice in the back of their heads had warned them not to stray from their haven. Even though it was hard for them to even grasp the concept of caution, the alpha had followed the advice.
With intelligence came fear. None of the monsters would hesitate to sacrifice their lives to save their kin, but with each new member of the tribe, the warg experienced more emotions.
If before life was all about feeding and breeding, now they wanted more. So much more and enough time to enjoy their achievements. They weren't willing to die in a blaze of glory, the monsters wanted to live which made them more dangerous than all of their new abilities.
Lith was slowly expanding the search area when his army communicator drew his attention.
"Where are you?" Baroness Enja asked with more than a tinge of fear in her voice.
"Taking care of your enemies. Your call might as well have given the creatures the time to escape. I told you not to bother me unless it's an emergency."
"Four watchtowers are down, we have dozens of casualties and injuries, plus the only mage for kilometers is outside the city walls. I'd say it's quite an emergency. If another attack happens in your absence, the city will fall. Come back immediately!"
Lith hung up in reply, pondering what he should do.
'Dozens of casualties? Four watchtowers? This doesn't make sense. Only two exploded before we left and we counted less than six corpses. If the attack continued even after we engaged the warg warrior, it means someone else was acting as the tribe's eyes and ears.
'We'd better get back to Maekosh. Something doesn't add up' He thought as his civilian amulet lit up.
"It's everything okay? Are you alright?" Lith asked. Kamila had never called him during her working hours just to chat.
"That's my line! We are getting reports of monster tribes popping up like mushrooms. The central command is revoking all leave until the matter is resolved."
"Are you saying the whole north is affected? Not only the Kellar region?" Lith could see from the hologram that she was pacing around what looked like a smoking area.
"Not just the north, but the whole Kingdom. Or rather, according to a friend of mine in the foreign affairs department, the same is happening to all of our neighbors. To make matters worse, some of the reports say the monsters are abnormal."
"Abnormal how?"
Kamila checked her surroundings to make sure she was still alone before answering.
"Some seem to be more powerful, others more intelligent, and a few both. The information is considered strictly confidential so as to not spread panic. At least until the central command can confirm the claims, so you heard nothing from me."
"Actually, you may hear about it from me soon. My warg case falls into the worst case scenario. I'll give you a full report as soon as I finish examining the corpse I collected."
"I don't care about a full report. When I call from my personal amulet, I'm your girlfriend, not your handler. I want to know if you are all right or not, you dummy!" Lith's lack of care for his own well being irked Kamila to no end.
"Oh, sorry. I'm perfectly fine. The warg I faced was completely different from what I expected, but overall it wasn't much. I'll call you later, Baroness I've-got-a-stick-up-my-ass is in sight." Lith put the amulet away before landing on the western wall.
Enja was waiting for him along with the soldiers. She was wearing the blue shirt and brown pants which made up the uniform of the city guard. On her sleeve, there was the insignia of a captain while an enchanted blade rested at her side.
The situation was much better than he had expected after looking at the Baroness' stern face. Aside from the destroyed watchtowers, there was no significant damage.
"Thank you so much!" Several guards offered him their hands.
"Thank the gods the attack stopped almost as soon as you left. Otherwise we would have lost a lot more men." Said a middle aged sergeant whose uniform was covered in dust and dirt.
"You saved our lives by blocking all those spells. Your powers must be unparalleled." Said a young guard who gave Lith a deep bow.
"Why did you disobey your orders?" The Baroness looked relieved to see the morale so high, yet she wanted to understand if Lith's actions had lessened or aggravated the carnage.
"The enemy wasn't in sight, there was nothing I could do by staying on the walls."
"Is that true?" She asked the guards who promptly nodded.
"It was a nightmare. An invisible enemy kept raining death on us from thin air. We were like fish in a barrel, waiting for the slaughter." Said the sergeant.
"There's no such thing as invisible enemies. Warg can use each other as relay points for their spells. It was only a matter of finding their sentry and kill it to stop the attack." It wasn't actually that simple, but spreading the news of mutated monsters in a city under winter lockdown was a recipe for disaster.
"Excellent work, Ranger Verhen. Please follow me." The Baroness made way without waiting for his reply. Lith could tell that all the angry façade and the captain dress up was for the troops.
Enja was good at bluffing, but not good enough to make him fail to notice that she had some urgent matters to discuss. The city lord would never expose herself for a small skirmish. To be where the crossfire could start again at any moment, she had to have a problem that couldn't wait.
Otherwise she would have just summoned him to her office. Enja walked down the stairs to the base of the wall, where a stagecoach was waiting for them. After a short trip, the carriage stopped in front of the city morgue.
It was a one story stone building. The ground floor was furnished as a waiting room for the relatives of the deceased and the underground floor was insulated to keep the bodies in a cold and dry environment.
Lith noticed a couple of guards were standing behind the double doors leading to the lower level. They tensed up when the entrance opened, but relaxed the moment they saw the Baroness.
The basement was neat and orderly. Metal scaffolds which held corpses covered by black blankets were placed along the walls. Most of them were empty, Lith counted a dozen bodies.
Three metal slabs occupied the center of the room, but they weren't enough to deal with the recent events. Several stretchers were lined up next to the slabs, and each one carried a body.
"The ones on the scaffolds are the victims from the city wall." The Baroness walked to the nearest one and uncovered a couple of corpses. Lith nodded, recognizing the damages an amateurish fireball could cause.
"The ones on the slabs guarded the west city gate. Please, tell me what you see." Lith's eyes sparked with interest. The attack site was far from the gate. He removed the blanket from the stretcher, revealing a butchered corpse.
Someone had tried to cover the claw wounds with first magic, but fire could never tear flesh that way and only made the marks on the bones more evident.
Chapter 498 Prejudice Part 1
"Clearly the attack on the watchtowers was a diversion. The wargs wanted to get rid of the sentinels before opening the doors and sneaking inside the city undetected." Lith pondered.
"My thoughts exactly. We have traitors in our midst." Said the Baroness.
"Yes, but you are lucky, your Ladyship."
"Winter has barely started and my city is cornered by enemies from outside and within. How dare you call me lucky?" She was seconds away from punching the Ranger in the nose.
"Idiots are the best kind of enemies one can ask for." Lith replied before examining the bodies on the stretchers. Some had been killed by a bite to the neck, others had been disemboweled by claws.
Each attack had been executed with deadly precision and then followed by a sloppy attempt at covering the wounds with fire or air magic.
"Does this look like the work of a warg to you?" Asked the Baroness.
"Yes, but it doesn't make sense. First magic can easily kill and so will blades. Using their bodies to attack was really stupid of them unless they didn't expect me to foil their plan. More importantly, how could something like this go unnoticed?"
Lith cleared off a slab before taking out the warg's corpse from his pocket dimension. Baroness Enja nodded as a disgusted expression appeared on her face.
"It shouldn't have, yet it did. The west gate remained closed the whole time, yet the people guarding it had been slaughtered. No matter how absurd it sounds, it must have been an inside job."
"Agreed, but something tall, dark, and hairy like a warg couldn't have hidden in plain sight." Lith replied as he cut open the creature's chest with an air blade. Even though he couldn't share the information Kamila had provided him, he could still find evidence of mutation on his own.
The army's bestiary had included a complete anatomical description of the creatures, allowing Lith to perform a necropsy. Unfortunately, the body's poor condition due to the extensive wounds sustained at the moment of death gave him a single clue.
'The internal organs appear to be slightly shifted from where they are supposed to be, leaving extra space near the creature's mana core. Yet I can't tell if it's because of a mutation or just because the remains more closely resemble a jigsaw puzzle than a carcass.' He thought.
'Solus, do you think the wargs could have infiltrated the city by shapeshifting?'
'That would be almost impossible.' She replied. 'Not even all Evolved Monsters learn how to shapeshift, like Kalla or Phillard. Even if the wargs could do it, in a city like Maekosh the slightest blunder would blow their cover.
'The people here are far from welcoming and the creatures who attacked the guards are clearly dumb. Maybe the army can offer us some insight.'
Lith used his army communicator to give a full report to his handler. He stressed the creature's ability to speak, fly, and its temporary invulnerability. Then he explained the city's current predicament.
"Your situation is abnormal." Kamila said.
"Both the warg warrior's resilience and its death cannot be explained by their innate abilities. Even a large pack can only share part of the wounds one of its members sustains and not as fast as you described.
"I'll consult the archives and get back to you as soon as possible."
"What if it's a new species entirely? A single Ranger might not be enough! Send reinforcements immediately." The Baroness ordered.
"The army can't act based on a local ruler's worries." Kamila's voice turned stone cold. "You've been allowed to listen to the report only because as the city lord you must be aware of what's happening to arrange your citizens' safety. Over and out."
It was the second time in a single day that someone had hung up on her. The Baroness was livid.
"I need to speak with the merchants who first sighted the wars. Where can I find them?" Lith had no time to coddle her feelings.
"In jail, of course." The Baroness' eyes had no trace of humanity. Her hands gripped the metal slab like she wanted to tear it apart.
"Aside from you, they are the only outsiders in the whole city. It was already suspicious that they spotted the wargs without a single casualty, and when the gatekeepers died, I had to lock them up. They are the main suspects."
Lith was flabbergasted by her words.
'That's idiotic. The merchants had no reason to warn the city about the attack, nor can humans bargain with monsters. They have nothing to gain if the city falls.' Lith was worried enough to place his hand on the Baroness' shoulder and use Invigoration while pretending to reason with her.
"You did the right thing for the wrong reason. At least in jail they are safe from angry mobs and when the next attack happens, because it will, you'll be forced to admit their innocence. You guards would never turn their backs to outsiders."
Invigoration revealed nothing and prejudice was something even light magic was powerless to heal.
Lith recovered the warg corpse and left the morgue for the prison below the city's courthouse. The flight wasn't long, yet it reminded Lith why he didn't like Maekosh.
He liked order. Lutia was a small village, but each home had its space and individuality.
Belius seemed like a Lego city, all blocks and squares. Its architects had sacrificed beauty in favor of efficiency, something that Lith had learned to love during his time at the academy.
Othre's outer circle could seem chaotic at first, but there was a method to it. Maekosh, instead, looked like a long line of different builders had worked on it on succession and for some reason, all of them had quit halfway through the job.
The same city block could host stone buildings and wooden shacks. Some had a lot of space between them while others were stacked on the top of each other. Merchant shops were so close to abandoned houses that sometimes suppliers would bring their merchandise to them thinking they were warehouses.
Maekosh was a poor city, which had gone through periods of rapid growth and recessions multiple times over the years. The brewing trade was its mark of success, while its inhabitants were that of its failure.
Their fear of outsiders made them reject any potential investors and no merchant liked to renegotiate their deals whenever a brewer had a bad day. When business went well, they were forced to hire people from outside of the city and temporary houses would pop up like mushrooms.
These foreigners were paid less and had to work more hours than the "real" citizens. Inevitably the outsiders became irate at their treatment and quit, ensuring that their unwavering employers did not reach their quotas.
Anyone who moved to Maekosh hoped for a better life. Slave labor jobs were available everywhere and finding one in a much friendlier environment was easy as pie.
After Lith reached the prison, he shook the merchants' hands one by one before opening the doors of their cells. Invigoration cleared them from his suspects' list. They had weak mana cores and bodies.
Shapeshifting could alter someone's physical form, but their strength couldn't be hidden. The group was composed of men and women of different ages. Each merchant traveled with their apprentices who served them as handymen.
At first, they couldn't wait to be released, but after hearing from Lith what the townspeople were going to blame them for, they were happy to remain behind bars.
Chapter 499 Prejudice Part 2
"These people are crazy. I would never stop in a shithole like this if it weren't for the wargs. Our destination was Shaku. Do you know if my goods are safe?" Asked a scrawny middle aged woman with more wrinkles than a crumpled paper.
"How did you escape the wargs?" Lith couldn't care less about their cargo.
"We didn't escape. They ignored us." Said a lean man in his late fifties, with grizzled hair and beard. "They were too focused praying to pay us any attention."
"Praying?" Lith was even more incredulous than he sounded.
"Well, they were kneeling on the ground, doing nothing but chanting some gibberish." The man shrugged.
"It wasn't gibberish, master Dihel, but magic." Said a young man about Lith's age who looked more like an artist than a wannabe merchant. He had handsome features and arms so thin Lith doubted he had ever lifted something heavier than a toothpick.
"How can you be so sure?" Lith asked.
"I was the one standing guard. I noticed the wargs because of the light they emitted. They were divided into groups of six. Each group was engulfed in a magnificent golden light that formed a circle."
"Golden light?" Lith echoed as his stomach churned.
'Six points inscribed inside a circle?' Solus's stomach was nonexistant, but she felt like puking nonetheless.
"By chance did it look like this?" Lith opened his right hand, making a Silverwing's Hexagram the size of a towel appear.
"Yes! It was exactly like that, at least as far as I remember. What does it mean?"
'That we are royally fucked.' Lith thought.
"Nothing, don't worry." He actually said.
"You have helped me a lot. Just a few more questions. Did the monsters have something unusual about them? Anything at all?"
They shook their heads, making Lith inwardly curse.
'I hoped they had seen the wargs shapeshift, or at least in the company of humans. That way at least I would know where to start looking. My usual bad luck.' He griped.
"Where did you spot them, exactly?" Lith took out a map from his pocket dimension and had the merchants point out the location to him.
Before he left, he gave them enough food and water to last for a couple of days. Lith also barred the door and took all the keys with him. Then he called the Baroness.
"I'm leaving Maekosh, so I need you to stand guard and call me if anything happens. Trust no one but me. No one can know of my absence."
"What? That is unacceptable! Your duty is to defend the city, how can you leave?" Fear and outrage fought in her voice, but fear prevailed lowering it by one octave.
"The merchants saw the wargs practicing arrays." Lith lied.
"If we allow them to increase their numbers, they will be able to destroy the city from the outside. They need to be culled."
'It's actually much worse than that.' Solus quivered in anxiety.
'Someone has taught them the impossible array we used to practice true magic. can share the experience they gain by practicing individually, they could master it even with their limited intelligence.'
'Even worse, they are learning how to use every element instead of just two. Can you imagine the threat a tribe of Awakened that spawns as fast as monsters do could pose to our lives? On Earth there was traffic because anyone could drive a car.
'Magic is rare and Awakening is even rarer. Yet those things are breaking all of Mogar's rules we've learned so far.'
Lith Warped to the same spot he had fought the warg warrior, checking his surroundings for enemies. Neither Life Vision nor mana sense perceived anything so he flew at full speed toward the place the merchants had pointed out to him.
'I know where they trained and where they were going. If they didn't fly, I can hunt them down by following their smell!' Lith enhanced senses allowed him to even track a person's scent.
It was useless inside a city. Too many people and too many strong odors coming from every direction would easily mess with his senses. After all, Lith wasn't a trained dog, he had neither the instinct nor the skill to isolate a single smell among many.
In the wilds, though, especially during winter, there weren't many odors. Lith took out a piece of the warg to sniff it. It smelled like a wet dog after rolling in a pile of dirty sportswear and sweaty socks.
The stench made his eye water, but it also gave him a scent to follow strong enough that only an open sewer could mask it. The fair weather of the last few days also helped him greatly.
The snow preserved most of the tracks the warg left since they didn't bother to hide them in any way.
'I know how those poor bastards must feel. Practicing magic, hunting to eat, sleep, rinse and repeat. That's how I became strong. If we can, we need to capture one of the wargs alive.
'I want to learn the secret behind their mutation and kill the idiot responsible for this abomination!' Lith inwardly snarled.
He was unaware that if the Master knew about the magnitude of their failure, they would be the first to kick their own ass to the moon and back.
Lith could have reached the monsters' den in a few minutes of flight, but his paranoia slowed him down. He couldn't know that the wargs were still at odds with their newfound intelligence. They continued acting as predators, not prey.
Hence they had no caution while moving unless they were planning an ambush.
Lith was forced to keep his best spells ready and check his surroundings whenever he entered a good spot for an ambush. Nothing happened, but the tension of the hunt weighed on his nerves.
While facing an unknown enemy on their own turf, the line between hunter and game was paper thin.
'Their warrior didn't hesitate to commit suicide to hide its pack's location, yet they did nothing to cover their tracks. My enemies go from smart to plain dumb like they suffer from split personality.' He had no idea how close to the truth he was.
'I counted at least 30 adults and a dozen kids. What are we going to do about them?' It wasn't the first time they dealt with younglings, but Solus had never come to terms with what had to be done.
'Kill them. Or would you like me to wait a couple of days so they turn into adults? I can spare them, but are you willing to take responsibility for every life they will take?'
Solus didn't reply. It was an old unsolved argument of theirs. To her heart, giving the cubs a second chance was the right thing to do. Unfortunately, her common sense found it simply idiotic to let them go just to kill them a few days and many victims later.
That was one of the rare moments she was happy to not have a body, so the choice was out of her hands. Lith followed the smell until he found a well camouflaged cave at the base of a small hill a few kilometers from Maekosh.
He had used the Hush spell to cancel the noise and darkness magic to hide his smell the moment Life Vision had picked up a faint signal. The cave went deep into the ground and the surface of its walls was too smooth to be natural.
'Fuck, they have already grasped earth magic. Worst case scenario, they used it to be aware of my arrival and they will negate my spells with the Hexagram. Let's hope I'm not stepping into a frigging trap.'
Chapter 500 Hybrid Part 1
Lith was right about the wargs learning enough earth magic to create a den wherever they liked, but he was wrong about everything else. The voice in their heads was getting stronger with each new member added to their pack and pushed them to practice first magic relentlessly.
It left them enough time to hunt but none to care about their security. This pack bore pieces of Tezka, one of the Master's chosen. He had been a powerful Awakened when he was still a Xogh (Fox-type magical beast).
Even though he had yet to regain any sense of self, his habits were so deeply engrained in his personality that they influenced his hosts. All of their new knowledge, feelings, and tactics came from him.
In a way, their relationship was a twisted version of that between Solus and Lith.
'At least mana sense and Life Vision make it almost impossible to take me by surprise.' He thought as he floated along the ample stone corridors. Even his array detecting spell hadn't picked up anything, which reassured him about his enemies' abilities.
Inactive arrays were among the few things that their mystical senses were unable to perceive and one of the reasons Lith never underestimated Warden magic. The tunnels had been created with a defensible layout.
There were several turns at uneven intervals. After each one of them, the tunnels would change in width, height, or direction so that a group of rushing invaders would get stuck, slam their heads against the ceiling or run into a wall.
Lith was once again surprised when he realized that whoever had planned the den knew exactly how deep it had to be to escape Life Vision's detection.
'How can an Awakened one be so crazy as to mentor a tribe of monsters?' Solus couldn't find any other explanation for what they were witnessing.
'We'll ask them before we kill them.' Lith was simply joking. There was no way he would waste time talking if another Awakened was really involved.
The tunnel led them to a huge cave. It was a wide circular space with a diameter of about 100 meters (328 feet). Lith counted at least fifty pack members, most of whom were adults or close to maturity.
Aside from the mothers with small cubs, the others were divided into groups of six and were practicing Silverwing's Hexagram in a way that would've impossible for a loner like Lith.
'What the heck? Each warg is in charge of a single element, so that by keeping the array active they can not only train the element they are least proficient with, but also every other element at once simply by feeling and harmonizing with the mana flow.
'If I ever have one or more disciples, this can be a great teaching method.'
Lith studied them for a while as he planned his next move. He noticed that Silverwing's Hexagram allowed the wargs to switch the element under their control at will, further improving their training.
He cursed whoever created that method and took action. The cave was an open space which offered him no cover while he moved, yet Lith still had an opportunity for a surprise attack.
Those working on the arrays were too focused and while he studied their technique, the mothers had fallen asleep.
Lith used Invigoration to get back to his peak condition. Then, he prepared a new set of spells based on the most likely situation he expected to face. A Hush spell appeared around the nearest group, enveloping them in a shroud of silence.
The wargs were so focused that they didn't even notice Lith's tier three Full Moon spell create a circular spinning air blade which decapitated them all at once. The air dome surrounding them prevented any noise, blood, or even its smell from escaping Hush's boundaries.
'Okay, so they are not invulnerable nor do they have any magical protection. Otherwise Full Moon wouldn't be enough.' Lith inwardly nodded in satisfaction.
Hard kills worked. Whatever the wargs' sharing ability had evolved into, they still had vital organs.
He was about to Hush the next group when the pack suddenly turned toward their fallen brothers and sisters in unison. Their howls filled with pain and grief gripped Solus's heart.
Before he learned tier four light magic, Lith had lost many patients over the years. The sounds the wargs made were too similar to the wails of the mourning relatives of the people they had failed to save.
'Plan B it is!' Lith unleashed the tier five War Mage spell Raging Sun right in the middle of the cave, quickly followed by another one he had received from the Crown, Stormnado.
His own spells couldn't hurt him and he had ready another spell to survive the cave in. He quickly moved inside the Hushed zone, collecting the six corpses and their heads.
<"protect the="" cubs!"=""> The alpha and the voice in their heads shouted as one. Tezka had sired many puppies, his parental instincts created a bond between the wargs and their younglings which wouldn't have otherwise existed due to their offspring's fast development.
The wargs' reaction speed and technique surprised Lith.
Despite the fact that they seemed to only be able to employ tier three spells, by acting as a single being thanks to their mind link, they were able to perfectly stack the effects of their protections and keep Lith's spells at bay.
The wargs used air and water magic to hold the magical monstrosity at bay while the others ran away through several hidden corridors leading outside.
Tier five magic wasn't so simple, though, and Lith had chosen those two spells because they synergized. Raging Sun was a mixture of fire and earth which generated a powerful explosion and flames so hot that they could melt stone.
Its effects were akin to a volcanic eruption.
Stormnado was a mix of air and darkness, which conjured a thunderstorm of poisonous gas. The resulting effect was a toxic tornado with a temperature in the hundreds of degrees that carried rocks as dangerous as small meteors.
Lith could feel his spells' every fluctuation and identify where the enemy formation was weaker. By focusing on those points, he penetrated the enemy barrier and destroyed it, like a flood bursting through a cracked damn.
Even though they were wielding the collective magical prowess of the whole pack, the area around the wargs covering the retreat turned so hot that it burned their lungs. Lightning bolts coursed through their bodies, bringing many of their comrades near death just to allow them to keep the barrier in place.
'You can't do it alone.' Tezka begged the alpha as his black tendrils were working at top gear to keep its body in one piece.
'Let me in. I can save them all. We can save them all. Together!' Along with the magic of most of the pack, the alpha was also wielding enough of the Eldritch's consciousness to turn it from just a voice to a person.
The alpha was unwilling to lose its identity, but its resolve was shaken when it noticed that the Ranger was exploiting their struggle to strike at the fleeing wargs and kill all those who were still inside the cave.
'Deal.'
The alpha howled in pain as the Eldritch's energy replaced his blood and devoured its mana core like a hungry beast. The Tezka-alpha hybrid let go of the barrier, devouring all the light in the cave to turn darkness into Chaos magic.</"protect>
Chapter 501 Hybrid Part 2
The monster-Eldritch hybrid executed Tezka's tier five Chaos magic spell, Hungry Void. Normally it would've been impossible to weave such a powerful spell so fast, but the wargs mind link allowed the Abominations to use the fleeing monsters as catalysts.
Each one of them cast a small part of Hungry Void, leaving to Tezka only assembling and harnessing its energy. A black sphere materialized in front of the hybrid, clashing against Lith's spells with such strength to make the ground tremble.
Lith didn't like this turn of the events, but everything was still within his expectations. He believed that just like the warrior he had previously defeated, the warg in front of him was simply being empowered by its pack.
He had his spells envelop the black sphere as he unleashed more spells to finish off the wargs still in sight and cripple the enemy.
'You lied! You said we could save them!' The alpha cursed Tezka when more of its kin fell due to deadly wounds. Not even the maelstrom created by the conflicting spells made Lith miss his marks.
'Focus, you idiot! The enemy did it on purpose!' Tezka tried to warn the alpha, but its fury made Hungry Void unstable. Lith didn't miss his chance and had his spells detonate, tainting the enemy's spell with his own energy.
The resulting explosion engulfed the hybrid and ravaged its flesh. The Chaos magic was now unable to recognize its master, adding its remaining strength to what was left of the other two tier five spells.
Thanks to Life Vision, Lith could see through the smoke and debris that the hybrid's body on the verge of breaking down. Only tendrils of black energy kept it together by wrapping around it like bandages.
<"i couldn't="" save="" you,="" but="" i'll="" not="" let="" you="" die="" either!"=""> The Tezka-alpha hybrid had its tendrils collect the Abomination's fragments from the bodies of the dying wargs as he took away their remaining life force and forced them to take his wounds.
<"you'll live="" on="" as="" a="" part="" of="" me!"=""> It yelled as Lith ignored its ramblings and gave chase to the rest of the pack.
"Scum of the earth, don't you have any honor? Come back and fight!"
Lith sneered in reply, using the spell he had readied to survive the cave in to actually cause it and bury the hybrid under tons of rocks.
'Yeah, right. You have an extra life for every member of your pack and I'm the one with no honor? I'll face you as soon as I get rid of your mushrooms, dear Mario.' He thought.
'Lith, those aren't simple monsters. They have feelings, they can even talk and reason. The one behind us is almost like you. He's a hybrid.' Solus said.
'A lot of those who I kill have feelings. Humans, crazy beasts, game, undead, take your pick. Yet it has never stopped me because it's a matter of survival. Also, he is nothing like me.
'These wargs have been modified in a similar manner to what Balkor does to his undead.' Lith replied. He could sense the hybrid's aura behind him becoming more powerful.
Half of the warg's body was now composed of raw darkness element, giving the alpha a demonic look. Its yellow eyes burned like torches as several horns were growing on its head. Its fur was now completely red, making it look like a living incarnation of fire.
Its body was completely healed thanks to its packmates' sacrifice, and now it had two tails. His own plus a fox tail comprised of pure energy.
"I said come back!" The hybrid yelled as he unleashed the tier four Chaos magic Howling Void. A spear made of darkness as thick as an arm erupted from his palm, aiming for Lith's heart faster than a bullet.
Lith Switched his position with the nearest warg, making the pack's strength dwindle even further.
'That's the problem with sudden power ups. What you gain in strength, you lose in accuracy, sucker!' Lith Blinked behind the hybrid, thrusting the Gatekeeper towards the creature's head.
Somehow, the Tezka-alpha hybrid perceived Lith's movements and turned around abruptly. A new horn grew on his forehead. It moved fast enough to push the blade aside and aim for his enemy's throat.
Lith Switched position again, and another warg died by its own alpha's hands. Another of the lights in the hybrid's mind was replaced by a sudden void, driving him almost mad due to the guilt he felt for his incompetence and his hatred toward the human.
Even though Tezka controlled half the body, he didn't have the mastery to perfectly control the body nor was his essence developed enough to allow him to use most of his skills. The alpha's emotional instability was crippling their already limited battle prowess.
'Fuck! They had an escape strategy planned. The wargs divided into small groups and took flight in different directions.' After killing the wargs who had yet to run away because they were too tired after sharing the barrier's burden, Lith turned to the alpha.
He could follow only one group at a time and that would mean leaving his back exposed to someone capable of using Chaos magic. Lith had already witnessed how powerful it was. Even though he had yet to understand its nature, Lith didn't underestimate his enemy.
'How many did we take down?' He asked.
'Eleven.' Solus sighed. She almost felt like they were the bad guys, chasing creatures that just wanted to live. 'Fighting the Black Star or the Carpenters was so much easier.'
Lith had her assume her gauntlet form and take the Gatekeeper, leaving his hands free. Now a yellow gemstone was embedded on the back of the gauntlet's hand, right beside the green one.
He decided to investigate what that evolution meant after getting rid of the last warg standing in front of him.
"Curse you, human." Tezka was afraid of the sword flying circles around them. He was using sheer willpower to hold the alpha back, but after losing so many developed fragments and the rest of the pack getting farther away by the second, his consciousness faded away.
The hybrid bolted at Lith who infused himself with all the elements and took the charge head on.
'Please, don't! It's a trap!' Tezka begged the alpha in vain. Being so close to its nemesis that it could almost smell his blood, sent the alpha into a frenzy. The hybrid unleashed a chain of lightning that Lith grounded with earth magic and countered with a volley of Wind Blades.
The dark matter of the Abomination half of the body absorbed part of the damage and immediately started to heal the rest, but it needed time. Unfortunately, time was running out.
Lith's hands grabbed the hybrid's claws, leaving it shocked in realization that the human was physically superior to itself. Without its pack, even merging with Tezka wasn't enough to face Lith's enhanced body while boosted by fusion magic.
Things became even worse when Lith unleased the tier four darkness magic spell, Grim Reaper. The power of dozens of Plague Arrows flowed from his hands into the trapped claws. Direct contact made the spell's slow speed irrelevant.
The hybrid felt his strength flicker as his fingers were crushed into a broken mess.</"you'll></"i>
Chapter 502 Troubling Guests Part 1
The creature tried to bite Lith only to have his mouth forced shut by a headbutt before the Ranger released his grip and performed a front kick which hit its solar plexus like a truck.
The alpha grinned as it jumped back to dissipate part of the impact, gaining more distance and time to heal its wounds.
'What part of trap did you not understand?' Tezka sighed in resignation. The kick coupled with the alpha's own strength, allowed Solus to pierce the creature's heart from behind.
The darkness infused Gatekeeper went straight through its chest, until the hilt of the blade struck the fur on its back.
"And that makes twelve." Lith said after ripping the hybrid's head from its shoulders. He stored all the carcasses inside their pocket dimension as Solus returned to his hand.
'Good job. I wasn't sure if it would work, but it was worth a shot.'
'Thanks.' She replied. 'I noticed that the angrier it got, the stupider it became. Also, the moment we separated the warrior from its pack, both its physical and magical strength plummeted.
'Even if it has been artificially boosted, their sharing ability still has a limited range.'
'I was counting on that. Why do you think I was so focused on getting rid of those who stayed behind? The bestiary is right about one thing: a pack is dangerous, a warg is just annoying. At least to me.' Lith inwardly smirked.
'By the way, what does the second gemstone on the gauntlet do? I always thought the first one represented your mana core, so a second one should mean you got another core.'
'Beats me.' She replied honestly.
Whenever Solus gained a new ability, she would also acquire the knowledge to use it as if it was something she was born with. This time, however, aside from her temporary energy form she had gained no ability that would justify the change her gauntlet form had undergone.
After she gave him her consent, Lith performed Invigoration on Solus, discovering that she still only had a single green core.
'We'll solve this mystery another time. We should get back to Maekosh, I need some rest.' Lith sighed.
There was a mana geyser just a few kilometers from the city, but he had no way to justify to his superiors why he loved "camping" so much to leave the city unprotected in the middle of a crisis.
While he flew toward Baroness Enja's mansion, Lith called his handler and gave her a full report on the situation.
"Oh gods!" Was Kamila only reaction. She forwarded the report as urgent to her supervisor who joined their open channel right after she heard about Lith's hypothesis.
"Do you really think this is Balkor's doing?" Captain Legato asked. She was a woman in her mid thirties with blonde hair, blue eyes, and such a serious face that you would expect it to crack at the slightest smile.
"It would explain the Abomination, the hive mind, and the sudden monster outbreaks. Maybe during his absence, he was experimenting on something different from undead, or maybe these monsters will be the base for his next batch of creatures." Lith replied.
"I will inform the Crown immediately and send someone to retrieve the fallen wargs. The Balkor department has a long history in dealing with his creations and they could extract useful information from them.
"Sadly, our resources are stretched thin. I can't offer you reinforcements unless it's strictly necessary. In some regions, the monsters' population has grown big enough to require joint operations between the army and the Association to eradicate them."
Lith understood the implied apology and gave Legato a salute before she left. He was actually happy to work alone. Aside from Jirni and a few others, companions were usually dead weight to him.
"One more thing. I need a background check on Baroness Enja."
"Just one second." Kamila knew what he meant and didn't know whether to be jealous or giggle at his stinginess. Lith would never ask a noble for hospitality unless he was forced to.
Being a guest in their homes usually meant giving them the opportunity to require his services as a Healer or, even worse, to set him up with their daughters. Lith much preferred investing a few coins for a hotel room.
Commoners were too scared by mages to delude themselves enough to try and seduce him. Maekosh was a special case. No one would bother him, yet Lith wouldn't trust eating anything he hadn't prepared himself.
Especially after locking up the tavern owner.
"She only has sons, no daughters nor nieces." Kamila replied.
"Thank heaven. I was starting to fear I would have to spend the night in jail with the merchants."
"Is Maekosh that bad?" She giggled.
"It's even worse. I can't wait to come back to Belius and eat the delicacies my girlfriend promised me she would learn to cook." He teased her.
"These are terrible times. You'd be lucky if she practiced just one of them, with all the mandatory overtime she's sure to be experiencing. Give her a kiss for me the next time you see her." She managed not to laugh while talking about herself in the third person.
"Will do. Over and out." On his way, Lith opened a small Gate and gave Xelos, the Prancing Griffon's owner, enough bread and water to last for a couple of days. If properly rationed, of course.
The Baroness was very happy to have him as her guest. The whole Enja family sighed in relief knowing that the only Ranger and Healer for hundreds of kilometers was just a few doors away.
After a delicious meal he could enjoy without worrying if it had been "spiced" with spit, snot, or maybe walked over by a couple of roaches, Lith disappeared in his bedroom with the excuse that he needed to rest in case something happened during the night.
Maybe it was his keen instinct talking, or maybe the heavens didn't want him to pass for an ungrateful freeloader. Whatever the answer was, something did happen. A family of five was butchered overnight and their house set ablaze.
This time the culprit didn't bother to cover their tracks. The bite marks on the victims' bodies left no room for doubts. Something big and hairy had barged through the front door for a late-night snack.
No one had noticed anything until the fire broke out because the house was surrounded by vacant homes. At first, everyone blamed the merchants, but when Lith showed the Baroness and the Captain of the city guard that they were still locked up and their clothes were pristine, the crowd had to put down their pitchforks.
Maekosh's only protective formation was a detection array that would've been triggered if someone had entered the city's premises without passing from its gates, so the wargs couldn't have come from outside.
Old grievances resurfaced and soon people started pointing fingers. Only the rising sun and their need to get ready for work prevented the body count from increasing.
'This is really bad.' Lith thought.
'Either some wargs are capable of shapeshifting, or I'm about to play a goddamn round of Town of Salem.'
Chapter 503 Troubling Guests Part 2
Contrary to Lith's expectations, the following day the wargs didn't attack the city and during the night no one died. Yet it didn't make him feel happy, it only made his worries increase.
'So much self-control can only mean one of two things. Either they are waiting to increase their numbers before they resume attacking, or losing two warriors in a single day made them scared.' Lith thought.
'In their shoes, I'd regroup and pick an easier target. Since I'm in my shoes I need to find them as soon as possible either way. If the pack becomes too big and they all learn true magic, I'll need backup.
'If they change targets, it will just be the same situation in a different location, since I'm in charge of the whole damn region.'
Lith was no Jirni, but after spending so much time together in Othre, he had more an idea of how to conduct his investigation. Tracking the wargs' accomplices within Maekosh was just a waste of time.
No matter if they were shapeshifting wargs or just humans that had smuggled them inside the city and hid them in their homes, if they had managed to fool the overly paranoid inhabitants of the city, Lith had no way to find them.
There were simply too many people to check with Invigoration, without a solid lead, it would be like looking for the proverbial needle in the haystack. Finding the wargs, on the other hand, was likely to be easier.
To feed the pack and increase their numbers, they needed food and a lot of it. Lith had no idea if a monster could die of starvation, but he was almost certain that they would not fast for long willingly.
During winter there wasn't much they could hunt, so he found the closest settlements to Maekosh on his map and alerted them of the threat with his communication amulet.
He could only hope that hunger would cause them to make a mistake or that by examining the carcasses the Balkor department could help him to track his prey.
***
Free country of Lamarth. Beyond the eastern borders of the Gorgon Empire.
Like any decent mage in the three great Countries, The Master received countless reports about the monster outbreaks he had caused. At first, they had considered the anomalies to be a good omen.
Their treatment worked even better than they had predicted and if it was applied to an orc shaman, it could make them friendlier to the cause. Soon, however, everything spiraled out of his control.
Some spawned too fast, other had become too powerful, but the worse part was that all of them stuck out like a sore thumb. Their plan of raising Abominations disguised as monsters quickly backfired as every country started to investigate the phenomenon.
"I don't get it, Xenagrosh. What could have possibly gone wrong?" The Master whined.
"It's the nature of research." The Eldritch shrugged. "A lot of failures are required before succeeding. Now we know why Thrud limited her experiments to humans. Monsters are great breeding grounds, but their unique nature makes them unpredictable.
"From this experiment, we learned that it's better to stick with Thrud's strategy. Humans for the Abomination who were humans, beasts for beasts, and so on. It will be slower, we'll still need to kidnap a lot of people, but it's much safer.
"Your plan was sound, my disciple, only its initial result was poor. We'll do better the next time." She patted his shoulder.
"I guess you are right." The Master sighed. "I've never been so wrong, though. I never am, dammit!"
"Don't worry, sugar, you weren't wrong." Xenagrosh's sensual voice said.
"Sugar? Are you drunk or what?" The Master respected her but there was nothing more between them.
"That wasn't me." Xenagrosh said turning toward their surprise guest.
She was a woman of rare beauty, with grey skin and silver hair. She was wearing a comfortable mage suit which emphasized the perfect proportions of her body. More than her skin or hair, it was her second set of arms that identified her as not human.
Xenagrosh couldn't believe her own eyes. The body was all wrong and so were the creature's golden eyes, but she could never forget that face nor the dress she was wearing because they were her own.
"I know I've never been this beautiful, but who cares?" Said the woman.
"Trolls have such magnificent bodies in their true form. I'd say it's only fair to enjoy them for a while after being stuck for centuries as a monster."
Being an Eldritch, Xenagrosh could shapeshift into many forms of her choosing. Sure, in her natural state she wasn't easy on the eyes, but Abominations were survivors. Only being pretty just meant leaving a pretty corpse to them.
Yet the insult bothered her because it voiced one of her most private inner thoughts.
"Why are you here?" Xenagrosh asked her troll-self.
"What do you think?" She replied as one Chaos spell appeared on each of her twenty fingers.
"I'm not going to let you use me as an energy potion. We're going to merge on my terms and using me as the base. There can be only one."
And so, the fight for survival began.
***
The mages from the Balkor department came to pick up the bodies first thing on the morning of Lith's second day in Maekosh and gave him the results of their preliminary analysis the next day right after noon.
'Already? That was fast.' Lith was also amazed the investigative department had sent someone instead of just using a communication amulet.
"Let me begin by saying thank you for storing the bodies immediately after their death." Said mage Pazeol, a man in his early twenties with black hair and brown eyes. Three long and thin scars ran from his jaw to his neck.
Lith recognized the marks left by Balkor's Valors. Like many survivors of his last attack, Pazeol had decided to keep his scars to never forget and never forgive.
"Well preserved specimens make our work much easier. Sadly, the monster outbreaks aren't Balkor's doing." He sighed.
'That news should be worth celebrating. Being so obsessed about anything is an unhealthy behavior.' Lith thought.
'Hello pot, my name is kettle.' Solus chuckled.
"The people responsible for these wargs have improved his method, turning it into something completely different. The Abomination fragment is not used to just create a hive mind and give the monsters new powers, it's a seed meant to grow.
"Almost a quarter of the body of the second warrior you fought had turned into a monster-Abomination hybrid and I'm sure that the Abomination side is programmed to convert its host over time.
"As for the good news, whoever did this planned to retrieve their creatures, so they added a tracking spell to each Abomination fragment." Pazeol took out an enchanted amulet made of silver the size of a tablet.
It had a blue mana stone on its center and a green one on each of its corners.
"We managed to prepare a receiver for the signal that you can use to track them down. There is one problem, though. Even if the bodies were perfectly preserved, the spells deteriorate fast after death takes away the mana fueling them, so the data was corrupted.
"It will not work unless you are within 200 meters (656') of the signal's source, but once it locks onto the target you should be able to follow it with ease. Have a good hunt, Ranger Verhen."
A cruel smile appeared on Pazeol's face. Destroying every trace of Balkor's work was the sole reason for his existence.
Chapter 504 On the Prowl Part 1
Lith thanked Pazeol before he left and started to plan his next move.
'Well, for once the Kingdom is being really helpful instead of just trusting me to clean up their mess.' He thought. 'Now I can search the city for enemies. Once I find them, the tracker will lead me to their nest. Easy peasy.'
Yet even after scouting the entirety of Maekosh twice, the magical device didn't pick up any signal, making Lith doubt it even worked in the first place. After even a third round of the city gave no results, Lith felt dispirited.
'Time to fill up on spirits.' He sighed as he went back to the Prancing Griffon for a few draft beers. Ever since he had made the kitchen staff quake in their boots with an alleged infective disease, the tavern was much quieter.
Lith was one of the few brave souls that still dared to step inside, so the waiters treated him like a VIP. The fear of ending up locked in isolation along with Xelos, their employer, was a strong motivator.
Yet he didn't eat anything that didn't come out from his pocket dimension. Unlike the freshly tapped beer, food couldn't be prepared in front of him.
'I don't have much time, but luckily neither do the wargs.' He thought. 'The first warrior was weak while the second one was already a hybrid. If I'm lucky the lack of food will prevent them from focusing on magic and slow down the Abomination fragments' development.
'If I'm not, I might have to face a small army of hybrids or a single combined entity. According to Pazeol, all of my wargs bear fragments of the same creature. It wouldn't surprise me if they merged into one like the second warrior did to boost its strength.'
'Agreed.' Solus pondered. 'Another problem we have is the enemy within Maekosh. At this point, I have a theory but I'm pretty sure you won't like it.'
Lith inwardly nodded for her to continue.
'The reason to choose monsters as guinea pigs is pretty obvious. They are strong and spawn fast, which means that somehow the procedure they have undergone allows the Abomination fragment to be passed down to their offspring.'
'Well, yeah. Otherwise there would be no hive mind nor would there be any sense in letting them roam free.' Lith pondered.
'Exactly.' Solus continued. 'The presence of the tracking spell tells us the hybrids are meant to be harvested at some point, but what if the wargs aren't only limited to spreading the fragments to other wargs?
'Sharing is their innate ability and we have no idea about the limits of their mutation.'
'So you are saying that we have been looking at things from the wrong angle. That maybe there are no wargs in Maekosh but human hybrids?' Lith was getting a headache at just the thought of it.
'Yes. It would explain a lot. The night of the attack we had just killed a lot of wargs, maybe the collective grief drove the human hosts mad. Also, the tracker doesn't pick up anything either because the signal is being generated by a human body or maybe simply because the fragments are still too small.
'Humans develop in years, not days, so even if they are turning into wargs it could take months before it actually happens.'
"I'm really sorry to bother you again, but I think I need a Healer." Lith had just started to inwardly curse his bad luck in every language he knew when someone interrupted his creative flow.
It was the same redhead waitress who served him the day of his arrival. Lith was about to give her the finger when he realized the opportunity in front of him.
"What's wrong with you, exactly?" He asked pretending to be annoyed. People were much more grateful when they believed you were doing them a favor rather than using them for your own purposes.
The girl listed many and disparate symptoms that casually had manifested after Lith's petty revenge against the tavern staff's rudeness. It only took him a glance to diagnose her and he used a touch of Invigoration, just to stay on the safe side.
'Hypochondria.' He thought.
"It's pretty bad, but nothing contagious." He actually said. It wasn't a lie and made Solus laugh heartily.
"Can you help me?" She asked on the verge of tears.
"It depends if you can help me. My services aren't cheap, you know?"
After clearing the merchants from his suspects' list, Lith had interrogated the gatekeepers about who had gone out of town before the wargs had been spotted. Unfortunately, the winter was cold and their pay was low.
Aside from foreigners, they didn't keep any records. Many citizens went in and out of Maekosh to gather wood, seek out the nearest healer's help, hunt, or simply to check the frozen cultivated fields outside the city walls.
Aside from the guards, no one had been willing to talk to him. Until now.
"I don't have much money. I'm a waitress and only a waitress." She blushed a little, having completely misunderstood his words. She found mages to be scary, and the Ranger wasn't even of her liking.
"The dead family. Did they have enemies? Someone in particular that resented them?" Lith didn't care about her assumptions, only information. If he was looking for humans instead of wargs, then maybe they had a motive to attack that specific house.
"No. Not that I'm aware of. They were just farmers. It's hard to have enemies when you have nothing to be envious about." She blushed even more, feeling incredibly stupid and a bit perverted.
"Did something bad happen before the wargs? Something that could create a lot of resentment?" Lith was clutching straws. If there was no solid information, rumors would have to suffice.
The redhead told him about a lot of petty quarrels, of how the Baroness taxed the brewing industry too much, cases of domestic abuse, and many things that made Lith think he was at a hairdresser rather than a tavern.
Soon the rest of the staff, who were bored from doing nothing, joined the conversation when they understood they would get treatment in exchange for gossip. To avoid his headache getting worse, Lith jotted down the most likely suspects.
Workers who had unjustly lost their jobs without receiving any support from their peers, grieving parents who had lost their children due to the constant harassment from their fellow citizens having driven a foreign Healer out of town before winter, and things like that.
'If I lost everything because of those blockheads, I would cheer for the wargs too. The more I hear about this city, the more I wish I could just wash my hands of its fate. At least the wargs fight for each other, these guys would sell their mother for a few coins.' He thought.
Lith's new suspect list was longer than his arm. The silver lining was that no one aside from a couple of waiters with the flu needed any healing. He just chanted a few light magic cantrips and pretended to have cured them of a few illnesses he made up on the spot, earning their gratitude and a steaming steak on the house.
He was just about to comment about how delicious it was while Solus stressed the importance of being nice to others, when his army amulet rang.
The wargs had just attacked a nearby village's granary, leaving him no time to spare.
Chapter 505 On the Prowl Part 2
Lith had already been to the village of Trauros to share his communication rune with its elder. Crossing the couple hundred of kilometers which separated it from Maekosh with Warp Steps only took him a handful of seconds.
Lith appeared inside an isolated alley while people all around the village were screaming and begging for help. Their prayers didn't stop the wargs' fangs nor their claws.
A dozen wargs were pillaging the food supplies while several others were feasting on those who had attempted to stop them and the passers-by who had not fled from the scene fast enough.
The starving monsters' aim had only been the stored meat, but the first drops of human blood spilled during the initial assault had sent them into a feeding frenzy.
Wargs were predators, whereas the squishy humans were just food after all. Much to Solus's dismay, aside from cloaking his presence with darkness magic, Lith did nothing.
He held the magical tracker and watched the green gemstones at its corners lighting up one after the other. The device needed time to lock onto the signal emitted by the Abomination fragments inside the wargs' bodies.
'You can fight while I take care of the tracker!' Being helpless in front of the massacre was killing her soul. With each passing second, someone was dying.
'Then what? The wargs would split up again and fly away. If the warriors left to fight me commit suicide before the link is established, we'll go back to square one and the next time even the army might not be able to stop them.
'I'm not a fan of collateral damage either, but if we don't find the whole pack, it will be all for nothing.' Lith replied while impatiently looking at the tracker and weaving all the spells he could need.
Only when all the gemstones lit up and the holographic display not only pointed the nearby wargs, but also the location of the rest of the pack did Lith came out of the alley.
The monsters that had yet to take off died before they could even realize what was happening. Lith's surprise attack struck them while they were still recovering from their berserk rage.
In the blink of an eye, six wargs were dead. Lith stored their bodies away and healed all the injured villagers before leaving. He couldn't stand Solus's suffering and he needed some time to recover his strength with Invigoration anyway.
Warping there so fast would have left a fake mage with little mana left. Helping Trauros would look good on his resume and lull the wargs into a false sense of security. Lith wanted them to have all the time they needed to regroup and maybe even change the location of their den.
He had already killed a total of 18 wargs out of the 50 he had counted during his first day in Maekosh. Even if a few more had been born during the last two days, they would still be cubs.
His plan was to wait for them to settle down and strike at them while their mind and bodies were lethargic from the feast that they would soon have. Just as he predicted, his first ambush had made them cautious.
The pack moved as soon as the last warg carrying the supplies arrived, flying for hundreds of kilometers before stopping. Only then did Lith left Trauros. He was back to his peak condition and was certain that by the time he arrived, every warg would be too busy stuffing their muzzles to notice his presence.
Once again, they had chosen the base of a small hill to build their den with earth magic. Lith checked his surroundings with Life Vision and the terrain with the array detection spell before landing.
This time, several arrays were in place.
'Fuck me sideways! They didn't waste a single second. Their mastery of magic is progressing so fast that I wouldn't believe it if I wasn't seeing it with my own eyes. Could it be that the one behind the mutated monsters is an Awakened?
'If so, how come despite the amount of time he has invested in training them, we've never seen him?'
Solus had no answer to offer, so she focused on the arrays to identify their focus points and dismantle them with true magic while they were still inactive. Lith and Solus each took care of half the magical formations.
After checking the underground maze with Life Vision, Lith decided to place an anti air array right above the den. He had no time to waste searching for all the possible exit points, so he made it impossible to fly away.
It was supposed to take the fleeing wargs by surprise and give him enough time to catch up with them in case something went wrong.
'By my maker! Lith we must hurry!' The shock in Solus' voice gave him a bad feeling about the mission. She hadn't lost her cool even when they had faced Scarlett the Scorpicore.
He followed the ever changing tunnels to the huge cave located several dozens of meters underground as Solus kept watch on their surroundings with mana sense.
'When we were outside, some of them must have Awakened or something. Their mana signatures grew so much that I could clearly see them even from such a distance. Yet now I can't feel them anymore. I don't like this at all.' She said.
Lith focused on moving fast without losing his breathing rhythm. Whatever was going to happen, he wanted to be at his peak condition and disabling so many arrays without alerting their maker had taken a toll on him.
Solus was already in her gauntlet form and both of them had woven their best spells. If the enemy now had both quality and quantity on their side, the only advantages Lith and Solus had left were speed and battle experience.
When they reached the underground cave, they stumbled into a scene completely different from what they had been expecting. The wargs were almost all dead, the floor was littered with mutilated corpses and entrails.
The smell of blood, bile, and shit was overwhelming, yet Lith barely noticed it. The tight knit warg pack seemed to be fighting among themselves, with many grey wargs fighting and losing against a few black wargs as they tried to defend pregnant females and cubs.
The black wargs had a similar appearance to the hybrid alpha. Half of their bodies was composed of raw darkness element, giving them a demonic look. Their fur was shiny and black, quivering under the magical light like it was alive.
Their yellow eyes burned like torches and now Lith could see that the things he had previously mistaken for horns, were actually quills, like those of a porcupine. They grew not only on their heads, but also on the rest of their bodies.
Each one of the black wargs had at least two tails. Their own plus one or more fox tails comprised of pure energy.
'What the fuck? That's no internal strife, it's a battle royal!' Lith realized as the black wargs also fought among themselves. The winner would assimilate all the black matter from the loser, whose corpse would then revert to a normal warg's.
Everything happened in just a few seconds, while Lith's and Solus's minds were processing the events taking place in front of them.
Chapter 506 Fury Part 1
Lith dashed forward. The chaos and mayhem of the cave made caution irrelevant.
'I must stop the hybrids from getting stronger!' He thought as he unleashed a series of tier four spells that struck the black wargs where their vitals were supposed to be with surgical precision.
Lith had added the bestiary to Soluspedia, so that he would always know the most efficient way to kill the monsters it contained. Three hybrids died on the spot, but four somehow survived even with their heads removed or their hearts replaced by a gaping hole.
At least until a fifth hybrid extended its tendrils to suck them dry.
"Thanks, brother. Much appreciated." The creature said before exploding into maniacal laughter filled with ecstasy. Lith could distinguish two voices talking in unison.
One of them was feral and rough, yet it was barely audible, like it was fading away. The other was ancient and erudite, its phrasing a bit out of date. It held a feeling of malice and power that gave Lith the creeps.
One of the female wargs ran in front of Lith, her teeth bared, her eyes pitch black with the same darkness which was coursing through the hybrids. She tried to stab at Lith's throat, but he easily avoided the hit and pierced her heart.
Lith let darkness magic flow through the Gatekeeper, expecting her to commit a suicidal explosion. The warg's attack had been too sloppy and hesitant. Killing her had been too easy. It had to be a trap.
Except it wasn't.
"Thanks, brother." She said as the darkness faded from her eyes. The gratitude in her voice, which terribly resembled Rena's, almost shattered Lith's heart.
"It's eating us from the inside." The warg coughed blood, revealing the small furball shivering with fear she had hidden in her other arm the whole time.
"I couldn't resist much longer. Please, I don't want to kill my baby, nor do I want him to become part of that thing."
The Gatekeeper flickered in Lith's hand severing both lives at once. The two wargs died painlessly, but Solus was crying. The remaining grey wargs literally threw their lives at Lith, unwilling to hurt their pack mates.
The Abomination inside of them was too strong to resist its calling. They could only ride its hate toward the intruder and use him as a means to escape their fate. With each swing of Lith's blade, a warg fell into oblivion and Solus cried harder.
Rage and hatred burned like a sun inside Lith's heart, making him once again wonder if death was just a part of life or more like a part of him. Death had brought him to Mogar and had kept walking with him the whole time.
He would either fight it as a Healer or dispense it to those who stood in his path. For the wargs it had been a blessing. A quick, painless, way out from an eternity of slavery, trapped inside the monstrosity consuming them.
He promised to his companion that the thing in front of them would receive no such mercy.
"You shouldn't have messed with my plate, brother." Tezka was busy consuming the four hybrids before their energy was lost forever while Lith killed the last wargs.
"It took me time and effort to make proper nourishment out of this horseshit. I'm still far from being whole and every bit helps."
During the last two days, the warg pack had followed Tezka's instructions. They had exhausted all of their food reserves while practicing magic under the caring eye of the magical beast's memories.
Until the hunger prevailed, awakening the real Tezka. For the centuries old Abomination, they weren't cubs but merely a means to an end. He would use them to regain his body and power before confronting his other self.
It would lead him on the next step of the evolutionary scale that had eluded him for so long despite all of his efforts. Despite the countless lives Tezka had consumed, he was still just an Eldritch. Now, he could become so much more.
The Eldritch was sure of it.
The last grey warg had yet to reach the ground when Tezka charged at Lith like a freight train. Two quills as long and thick as a blade erupted from his forearms while his fur turned into an armor composed of small spikes.
Lith infused himself with every element and sidestepped the enemy's attack. His gloved fist struck Tezka's liver like a machine gun. Each hit delivered a tier four darkness magic spell, Grim Reaper, right inside the hybrid, sending him crashing against a wall with a boom.
Tezka shook off both the spell and the impact before the tier four fire magic spell, Burning Prison, could trap him. He Blinked to safety only to find Lith right behind him.
The left handed hand slash from the Gatekeeper severed Tezka's head as the razor sharp claws of the gauntlet made it possible for Lith to pierce through the Eldritch's heart.
The Abomination just laughed and retaliated at the flabbergasted Ranger with an elbow strike that would have shattered his ribs if Lith hadn't Blinked away at the last second. Black tendrils reconnected the head to the body and sewed it back in its place.
"Who are you? Why did you do this?" Lith asked, voicing the questions that were ravaging Solus's heart as he planned how he was going to kill something with no vitals.
"I'm just like you, brother. An Abomination. As for the why, I did it because I can!" Tezka wasn't a big talker either. He would speak only to mess with his opponents' head while he cast his spells.
His right hand released the tier five Chaos array, Chaos Dimension. Grey specks of light filled the underground cave, making it impossible to use dimensional magic unless it used Chaos instead of darkness.
The Eldritch's left hand drew a circle in mid air, tearing space apart to take out his prized sword, Endless Night.
"Let's see how good you are without the edge Life Vision gives to you, brother." A cruel grin twisted Tezka's snout as he Blinked in for the kill, now that he was certain that Lith couldn't follow his movements anymore.
***
Blood Desert, Outside the Forgotten Plum camp, now.
The real Tezka had been sent by the Master to keep an eye on Balkor's family and kill them the moment the opportunity presented itself. With them gone, the god of death would have no reason to help the Guardians.
The Eldritch didn't like the job, nor following orders, but the Master was the only chance he had to overcome the bottleneck he had been stuck at for decades.
Suddenly, he felt like his soul was being ripped apart. He felt something he had thought long forgotten. Tezka felt fear.
'What the heck? Someone just stole my Endless Night! That's impossible. Both my omni pocket and the sword are linked to my life force. Fuck Balkor, I want answers, now!'
***
Lith was sick and tired of Tezka calling him "brother." Carl called him that and so did Tista, Rena, and now Aran. It was a word that meant the world to him, no matter which planet he was on.
Every time it came out of Tezka's mouth, it was filled with poison. It tainted the memories of his lost brother and those of every happy moment he had ever lived. Tezka's Blink landed him right in the middle of a stream of blue flames that was coming out of Lith's mouth.
They burned through everything they touched. The array, Tezka's body, even the rift in space was forcefully shut down, almost cutting the Eldritch in two.
"Origin Flames?" The hybrid had no idea what those words meant, but a shiver ran down his spine. That was before Solus's gauntlet started to grow.
Chapter 507 Fury Part 2
Origin Flames, also known as dragon fire or phoenix flames, were a peculiar type of flames that only a few living beings could employ. Unlike normal fire, Origin Flames didn't require the expense of mana to ignite the world energy, but only a spark of life force.
Born from life, they were capable of destroying anything, no matter if they were physical or magical in nature. They were purifying flames capable of restoring the natural balance. Magical beasts considered them a manifestation of Mogar's will to clear any past mistake whereas its targets just called them "death".
The hybrid only had a part of Tezka's memories, but it was enough for him to be aware of the danger they posed. He Blinked away to safety as he used a water spell to extinguish the flames.
Chaos Dimension had no means to defend itself. The blue fire spread along its lines of power, making the array crumble less than a few seconds after its creation. Meanwhile, Solus's form had turned into a full arm protector, which covered Lith's right arm and shoulder.
Her rage was as hot as Lith's was cold. Mana endlessly flowed from the green gemstone on the back of the hand to the yellow one engraved on the shoulder pad, like a raging river about to breach its banks.
There were no words that could express her fury, nor lift the weight she felt oppressing her soul. Only crushing Tezka's skull with their hand could give her peace of mind.
Lith had turned into his hybrid form and was floating in mid air without a spell thanks to his wings.
'Even though he's a hybrid like me, he has no vitals just like pure Abominations. The only way I can kill him is by making him exhaust all of his energy. Black cores cannot be replenished without feeding on life force or world energy. How strong is he, Solus?'
Lith hoped that his voice would snap her out of her frenzy.
'A bit stronger than you, but weaker than us.' She snarled.
Solus had always been a gentle soul. Seeing the wargs caring for each other had given her hope. Hope that not every living being was bound to just be what someone or something had turned them into.
If even a female warg could learn to love her cubs, then maybe she too could allow herself to fall in love and wish for a better future. Solus couldn't help but see herself in them, in their willingness to sacrifice their lives for their pack mates.
The same humans that would consider her just a thing to possess, saw the wargs as nothing but mindless beasts, but they had feelings, just like her.
Discovering that everything had just been a ruse, witnessing the Abomination forcing a mother to commit suicide to not injure her own child was more than she could bear. Solus wasn't Lith, she strived to live her life, not to just avoid death.
Tezka had just torn apart all of her hope and dreams right in front of her face, set them ablaze, and then took a dump on them to put out the flames.
"You are really handsome, brother." Tezka said while watching the mana Lith exuded with gluttonous eyes. By assimilating Lith's power, Tezka was certain he would be able to challenge his other self.
"I wonder why you feel the need to hide under a human shell despite the fact that you even possess a Living Legacy. I'll take good care of it for you."
It. The word struck at Solus like a poisoned needle. The hybrid somehow knew she was alive yet he had called her an 'it'. Solus almost snapped because of it, but feeling that Lith was as outraged as she was, calmed her down.
The hybrid charged forward, using Endless Night's ability, Nightmaze, to cut the space in front of himself and open several exit points throughout the cave at the same time.
It created a permanent dimensional crossroad that would make Life Vision useless in predicting the direction of the next attack.
A hail of black quills as big as spears erupted from a Gate on Lith's right. He conjured a stone wall to block them, but each one of them was imbued with both air and Chaos magic.
They pierced through the barrier like it was made of paper, taking Lith by surprise. The sudden turn of events forced him to stand still and deflect them with the Gatekeeper, leaving his back and sides exposed.
Just like Tezka had planned.
He emerged from a portal at Lith's back side, thrusting Endless Night toward Lith's leg, the only part of his body he couldn't move without his defenses crumbling.
Endless Night wasn't a common sword, nor had it been created with normal means. Its bite would create a link between Tezka and his prey, allowing him to feed even in the heat of the battle.
The hybrid was just about to strike when Solus reacted with her tier five spell, Tower Defence. The whole cave came alive, turning into an extension of her will. The ground at Lith's feet opened up, letting him take cover as the quills flew past him and ran into their own master.
The magic they were imbued with was Tezka's, so it couldn't harm him. The physical aspect of the quills', however, was another story entirely. The clash stopped the hybrid in his tracks, knocking him off balance.
The damage he sustained was negligible, but his opening was lost. Cursing his bad luck, Tezka dove back inside the closest Gate, ready to switch to plan B while walking into Solus's trap instead.
Endless Night opened several dimensional doors at once, making their user's path unpredictable, but the sword's ability had one weak point. All the Gates were static, making them exploitable once the element of surprise was lost.
Solus had countless stone spikes infused with darkness magic rain inside each of the dimensional doors. Tezka was already at the dimensional crossroad when he understood he had no way to escape the attack.
'Impressive! He analyzed Nightmaze and turned it against me with just a glance. Too bad he underestimated how powerful an Eldritch is.' Tezka grinned while he rushed towards one of the exits.
The quills covering his body would allow him to tank the stone spikes and suffer minimal injuries. Unfortunately, Tezka hadn't gotten a single thing right.
Lith already had his hands full keeping Life Vision active to predict his enemy's strategies, deflecting the incoming attacks, all the while he cast and kept active several spells at once. He had noticed nothing.
Solus, on the other hand (AN pun intended), had long since learned to quiet her emotions to look at every battle like it was just a chessboard. In the past, her weak core didn't allow her to take part in the battle, only provide Lith intel.
Even now she barely had a couple of decent attacks in her, so she had to make them count. A deep green core didn't give her much juice, so what her spells lacked in power she had to make up with planning and accuracy.
She knew that she didn't have enough power to pierce the hybrid's skin, but that was what the previous attack with his own quills had been for. They had cracked her enemy's armor enough that Tower Defence's stone spikes had an easy time piercing through it and stopping Tezka in his tracks.
The damage combined with the surprise effect paralyzed him long enough for the spikes coming from the other Gates to reach him and stab him from every side.
Chapter 508 Hollow Victory Part 1
Living Legacy was just the name Abominations had for cursed objects, since for them they were more of a blessing than a curse.
An Abomination had no body that the living relic could corrupt, nor could their minds be swayed with promises of power. Abominations were power made flesh. They would actively seek cursed objects and enslave them to their will.
Lith smelled like an Abomination to Tezka, his gauntlet was clearly alive so he did the math. Or so he believed.
Living Legacies would never help their masters. They would only wait for their captor's destruction to regain their freedom and find a victim they could subdue. Abominations and cursed objects were like minded, they sought slaves, not companions.
Tezka's biggest mistake had been misunderstanding the relationship between his opponents and he was now paying the price for it. Solus's spell was now injecting darkness magic into his body, sapping his strength by the second.
Tezka tried to shapeshift into tendrils to escape the spikes' deadly grasp, but his body was still that of a hybrid. Cursing the weakness of his own flesh, Tezka had to employ an expensive Chaos magic spell to break free before it was too late.
While Solus kept him busy, Lith had cast his tier four dimensional spell Collapsed space to forcefully shut down Nightmaze and kill Tezka in result. Abominations were sturdy, but not even they could survive being ripped to shreds.
The hybrid could feel the space around him distorting and managed to escape from the jaws of death just in the nick of time. Lith welcomed him with a barrage of tier four spells that would have finished Tezka off if not for Endless Night's second ability, Night's End.
The enchanted blade cut the space around him and created a dimensional sphere that Warped the incoming attack in random directions.
"You are much better than I expected, brother." Tezka said, trying to buy enough time to mend his wounds while under the protection of the dimensional shield. He had more holes in his body than swiss cheese, making it impossible for him to even stand.
"We shouldn't fight, but join our forces. We are both incomplete. I can teach you Chaos magic and you can help me against my enemy. Once I train you, he will not be a match for us. What do you say?"
Lith didn't reply. He cast cantrips at the barrier's every side, making sure it had no gaps he could exploit. He didn't need Solus to notice Night's End weakness.
'As long as he stays in there, he is invulnerable but he is also completely blind.' They thought in unison as they used dimensional magic to empower Night's End more than it was necessary.
Barrier or prison, it was only a matter of balancing the elemental energies in play. A prolonged dimensional spell like those Endless Night unleashed, would already put the surrounding space under a heavy stress.
Lith and Solus boosted the defensive spell until cracks appeared in mid air, distorting the air like a kaleidoscope. Then, they twisted and turned the spatial cracks before darting away from the cave at breakneck speed.
The sudden silence scared Tezka more than any explosion could.
'He could be casting an array to negate dimensional magic. It would make Endless Night useless, but at least neither of us could use Blink. It would take away the advantage he gets from Live Vision.' The hybrid thought.
As soon as he was able to move again, Tezka dispelled the barrier.
"Round two, brother. I…" He chocked on his own words as Night's End disappearance triggered a chain reaction. The whole underground cave exploded with such strength to make the ground within several hundred meters tremble.
***
Free country of Lamarth. Near the Master's hideout.
The real Tezka suddenly fell to his knees, feeling like a part of his soul was being torn to pieces. Endless Night wasn't just an artifact, it was part of his own life force. Pain ravaged his body as he realized that whoever had stolen his weapon had managed to destroy it, probably for good.
***
From outside the cave, Life Vision, mana sense, and the tracker agreed about the eradication of the Abomination fragments. Even when Lith stood at the base of the hill, the magical device was unable to pick up any residual signature.
Normally, Lith would have grumbled about losing his loot due to the explosion or rejoiced at the destruction of his enemies. Yet this time victory felt sour. The satisfaction from killing the hybrid wasn't enough to make them forget about the rest.
Solus was still shocked by the carnage she had witnessed, while Lith was trying to find a way to cope with his actions. The desperation in the wargs' eyes when they had chosen to die rather than submit to their fate had opened old wounds.
It was the first time he empathized with his victims. The Abomination was their cancer and just like Lith back on Earth had used a gun, they had used him. He didn't feel what he had done was wrong, yet it upset him in a way he couldn't put into words.
'Are you alright, Solus?' He asked the only question that really mattered.
'No.' Her tone was sad. Giving in to her anger didn't make her feel better, it had just been a temporary respite before having to face her doubts and fears again.
'Are you?'
'No. Let's return to Maekosh. If your hypothesis is correct, the death of the warg pack will trigger their accomplices within the city.' He replied.
'Honestly, I don't care about the mission anymore. I just want to get out of here. I want to be alone for a while.' Solus meant it. This time each one of them was facing a personal crisis, making them unable to support the other.
At their arrival, the tracker revealed one weak signal coming from a house in the farmers' district. Pazeol's obsession led his creations to be so precise that now that the tracker was locked on, there was no escape from it.
Life Vision showed only one faint life force inside and it was slowly getting weaker. Lith prepared his spells nonetheless and readied himself for the worst. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough.
Inside the small and messy home that painfully reminded him of his own, there was a deadly pale man sitting on a chair. He looked so ordinary that Lith might have crossed paths with him several times during the past few days and not even registered his existence once.
The farmer's eyes were dimmer than his life force. He was still alive, but already dead inside. Lith recognized that gaze. He had seen it every day while looking at himself in the mirror after Carl's death.
Near the man, there was another chair where another woman was sitting with a small baby held in her arms. They both seemed to be peacefully asleep, but Lith knew they were actually dead.
"Do you feel proud of yourself?" The man wheezed while looking at Lith with a deep seated hatred he knew all too well. The farmer was able to recognize the Ranger from the memories of his fallen friends.
Chapter 509 Hollow Victory Part 2
"Bravo. You killed the monsters. Monsters that treated us better than this fucking city ever did. When my daughter fell ill, there was no Healer, because my fellow citizens drove him away." Each of the farmer's words was coated with venom and spite.
"My wife fell ill while taking care of the baby, yet no one did anything. I was forced to leave Maekosh on my cart, hoping to find a Healer before death claimed them. I found the wargs instead.
"Can you believe it? Monsters took pity on me when even my own kin betrayed me." Lith could see the man's life fading away with every breath he took, yet his hatred was stronger than death.
"They cured them. Cured me of my humanity, making us all stronger. Now they are dead and so are we. I regret killing those farmers, they had done nothing wrong. They were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.
"When our alpha died, Etta and I lost our minds. The bond between wargs is something that a murderer like you could never understand." His breath became ragged, his voice barely a whisper.
"The wargs just wanted food and shelter. Is that so wrong? To try to escape from cold and starvation? Did my family deserve to die just so that fucking Baroness could pin a medal to your chest?"
Lith didn't reply. He had walked more than one mile in the dying farmer's shoes and knew that nothing he could say would matter to the man. Nothing would give the man his family back.
***
Free country of Lamarth. Beyond the eastern borders of the Gorgon Empire.
'Thank the gods I Warped both Xenagroshs outside my lab. According to an old saying, when two Guardians fight, maps get redrawn. Yet I believe the same can be said for Eldritchs!'
The real Xenagrosh had the advantage of being able to shapeshift her body at will, the wisdom of centuries, and most of her magical artifacts. Unfortunately, the troll Xenagrosh still seemed to be able to hold her ground.
Trolls were naturally attuned with the light element and it was their inability to process the darkness element in the surrounding world energy that had led their race to their fallen status.
Abominations, however, had a black core that was naturally rich with darkness and incapable of assimilating the light element if it wasn't leeched from other life forms. The Master's experiment had created a being with both the troll's and the Abomination's mana core, thriving together in a symbiotic relationship.
Their complementary nature had made the troll Xenagrosh into an almost perfect being. To make matters worse, by devouring her whole tribe, she had regained most of her original self's memories.
Also, before making her appearance she had taken the precaution of "liberating" from Xenagrosh's pocket dimension all of the artifacts she could get her hands on. She had got the first choice of which ones to use for this battle, but unlike the real Xenagrosh, she didn't know the strengths and weaknesses of each enchanted item.
The Master needed all of their energy and arrays just to prevent their battle from being detected from afar, since the destruction they caused had turned hills into plains and grasslands into barren lands.
The Master knew that unless one of them made a blatant mistake, their clash was likely to raze the entire country of Lamarth to the ground.
"Don't worry, old friend." The Master yelled at Xenagrosh. "As soon as I finish setting up this array, we will take down that knock off copy, together!"
The troll Xenagrosh laughed at those words.
"How low have you stooped to need the help of a human? Even if you win, I would not lose. I always strived to reach perfection and now I know I've made it. Think about all the pain and effort it costed us to become what we are now.
"Do you realize how much you are struggling despite your alleged superiority? You're a relic of the past, whereas I'm what we were always supposed to be. Not a weak human but not a filthy monster either. I've achieved the best of both worlds."
She released two tier five Chaos spells at the same time, Flames of Absolution and Judgment Call. The former was Xenagrosh's best attempt at imitating Origin Flames.
The black fire infused with Chaos magic filled the area within 100 meters of her, eating at all of the defensive barriers the original Eldritch had set up and also preventing her from Blinking away.
Flames of Absolution wouldn't so much cleanse as they would corrupt, but they were still capable of making it impossible to perform the fine mana tuning that complex spells like dimensional magic required.
Judgment Call was even trickier. It would conjure a twin stream of black lightning that would chase their prey leaving them only one of two options: take the damage in full or dodge them until the spell ran out of juice and leave the opponent plenty of time to set up something even worse.
Seeing her prized spell combination used against her, the real Xenagrosh roared in outrage. She assumed her true form, that of a Shadow Dragon so big that she could destroy the town of Lutia simply by sitting on it.
A jet stream of purple flames came out of Xenagrosh's maw, true Origin Flames, which consumed Judgment Call before unleashing their fury against the troll Eldritch.
"Not so cocky anymore, eh?" Xenagrosh said with a laugh. "Seems my little defective counterpart doesn't remember much, but she's right about one thing. This fight will prove which one of us is worthy of living." She said to the Master.
"If I don't win on my own, it would be a hollow victory. If I need someone's help, no matter the reason, then my whole existence would be a lie!" The Shadow Dragon roared her challenge before unleashing her most recent and powerful creation.
Tyrant's Will severed the light element from the surrounding world energy, turning all the other elements into Chaos magic. The hybrid could only conjure her best defenses as the whole Mogar became her enemy.
The air she breathed was toxic, the humidity turned into acid as the ground beneath her erupted, trapping her in a pool of black magma. Her barriers shattered one after the other, forcing her to sacrifice some of her artifacts to escape from the clutches of death.
When the dust settled, the troll Eldritch was still alive.
"Not bad, 'sister', but it wasn't enough." She had lost most of her body in the assault, only part of her head and abdomen remained. She had sacrificed the rest to make sure her twin cores wouldn't suffer any damage.
"Trolls regenerate fast. A dragon is indeed sturdier, but how quickly does that massive body heal? How much energy does it drain? I bet that was your last card and it failed. Once I get my arms back, you'll be a sitting duck until you recover from the exhaustion."
The Dragon Xenagrosh knew her other self was right, yet she still laughed her heart out.
"Well, what do you think I'm here for?" The Master used one of their arrays to completely seal the injured troll before throwing her inside the Dragon's maw.
"How could she possibly be you and still believe all of that bullshit? If you really were unwilling to get help, you wouldn't be here. You wouldn't have taught me everything I know about Awakened and Abominations."
Chapter 510 The Day After Part 1
"She was me, yes, but the past arrogant, selfish, and conceited me." Xenagrosh replied as she feasted on the flesh and mana cores of her doppelganger.
"Back then, I thought that I was invincible. That as long as I kept my belly full and my turf clear from any rival, I would be happy. Now I know better. Abominations don't thrive because they all live alone.
"While other races pool up their resources and knowledge, we hoard them and spend our eternal lives in seclusion. I came to you when I realized the limitations of that kind of lifestyle, when I decided I wanted more than be powerful to be happy.
"Otherwise I wouldn't have undergone all of your experiments, traveled Mogar to find companions for our cause, nor realized that even an Eldritch is flawed in both the mind and the body. Or at least, I was."
Xenagrosh yelled with joy as she felt her body changing. The shadows composing her dragon body were now less ethereal and more physical. A new power flowed through her black core, making it different and more powerful than it had ever been.
The Master looked at her in amazement. Even after returning to her humanoid form, the Eldritch was now womanlier than the previous construct made of stolen energies. Her body had partly recovered its features, like her shiny golden hair and two lively chestnut eyes.
"Do you think you could face a Guardian now?" The Master's voice was full of expectation.
"No, but for the first time in centuries, I'm not hungry. Whatever I have become, I'm already more than just an Eldritch. Imagine what I could be tomorrow."
***
After the farmer died, Lith returned to the Baroness' mansion and announced her that the crisis was averted. She was so happy that she wanted to throw a party in Lith's honor, who politely declined.
Winter didn't allow to waste provisions, nor he wanted to spend a single second more than necessary in Maekosh. Both Solus and him felt there was nothing worth celebrating and the city's inhabitants made their stomachs churn.
Lith returned to Belius to give Pazeol his tracking device back and all the corpses he had collected, even those of the farmer and his family. Lith understood the man's rage, his spite for mankind, but at the same time, he had a duty.
A duty toward Solus and himself. If all the tribes involved in the monster outbreaks were bound to give birth to hybrids that powerful, then he wanted the Griffon Kingdom to take care of them on its own.
The idea of the corpses being subjected to Pazeol's experiments was much less disturbing than that of him being forced to face those things again before he could even understand the nature of the inner conflict he was experiencing.
For once, Solus had nothing to object. Rather than see such misery and death again, she would have rather preferred that Lith deserted. She was having a hard time understanding how big was Tezka's role in playing with her emotions and how big was her own.
'Was it really his plan to make us feel sympathy for them, or did I just delude myself into hoping for the impossible?' She pondered.
Pazeol was so happy while Lith described him the effectiveness of the magical tracker that he laughed like Lith's report was the best joke ever.
"Now if only Balkor dares to raise his head, we'll be able to find him and pay him back in full!" There was madness in the youth's eyes, the same madness that led him to never fully heal his own scars.
Lith left him wondering which one of them was more disturbed.
'At least I don't rejoice at the idea of someone as dangerous as Balkor returning, but maybe it's just because he took away nothing from me.' Lith wondered.
Such morbid thoughts left him the moment he opened the door in front of him. Since he was in Belius, he could give his report in person. It was the real reason why he had personally delivered the bodies.
At first, Lith had considered having his girlfriend as his handler as a bother, especially after Othre's events. The fact that people like Berion could use her was a weakness irked his paranoia to no end.
After a while, though, he discovered that the issue was irrelevant compared to the benefits it provided. Lith had always kept many secrets from everyone, some because of need, others by choice.
All the things he went through, the price he had to pay to provide for his family and his research, he had never shared them with anyone but Solus. Back then, Phloria was too young and came from a pampered background.
She only did things because she wanted to, not because she had to. It created a small but significant gap between them that prevented Lith from sharing with her the most horrible details of his experiences.
Not because he thought they would scare her, but because he was certain she wouldn't be able to understand them.
As for his family, he didn't want to become their window on that side of the world he had spent his life protecting them from. Lutia was a small piece of paradise for them and he wanted to keep it that way.
With Kamila, everything was different. As a member of the army, Lith had to explain everything relevant to his missions, no matter how gruesome, and she had to listen. He would always hide the parts about his hybrid nature or true magic, but he could speak freely about anything else.
Over time, giving a report had turned from a duty to a way to share part of his burden. It had allowed him to open to her bit by bit, to let her in the loneliest part of his life and realize they grew closer for it.
"Welcome back, Ranger Verhen. I'm glad to meet you again." Whenever they interacted because of their work, her voice was detached and professional. Yet the moment Kamila saw him a warm smiled appeared on her face and extended to her eyes.
It always rose the temperature in his heart by several degrees. They sat down in the report room after shaking their hands. A report room was a small office that reminded Lith of an interrogation room from crime series.
The furnishing consisted of just two chairs, a desk, and a recording device. There were no magic mirrors nor cameras. On the contrary, the room was enchanted to guarantee their privacy.
"Sorry if I rush you, but the Balkor department is eager to hear about all the details of the mission." She turned the recorder on.
Lith told her everything that had happened that day, without stopping not even when in his mind the image of the warg mother he had killed overlapped with Rena's, nor when he could almost identify himself with the dead farmer.
In his shoes, Lith would have done much worse to save Carl's life or that of any member of his new family for that matter.
He only stopped when a click made him aware that Kamila had stopped the registration. Only then, did Lith notice that she was covering her mouth with one hand and that tears were streaming down her face, forming two irregular pools on the otherwise pristine surface of the desk.
Chapter 511 The Day After Part 2
"I'm so sorry you had to go through that." Kamila stuttered between hiccups.
"Through that what?" Lith's mind was still numb, her words made no sense to him.
"You know my personal file by heart. I've killed people, beasts, monsters, and even younglings in the past. I've faced much stronger opponents and seen worse bloodshed. What happened during this mission is far from being a novelty.
"I can't understand why you are making a big deal of it, even though I must admit that this time everything felt… wrong." Lith was the first one being baffled by his own reaction.
"Of course it did!" She could tell from his expression that Lith was struggling to put his thoughts into words.
"It's because I know your personal file that I know you have never killed someone who was fighting to protect their family, no matter their race."
Lith pondered her words before realizing that she was right. In the past, all of his opponents had been people who either had tried to kill him, or those whose interests clashed with his own.
"Let's be honest, even if those wargs were actually capable of overcoming their violent urges, they had to be put down. What made them human also made them dangerous beyond reason." Kamila said as Lith nodded for her to continue.
"They were an Abomination's breeding ground, and even if they weren't, they couldn't coexist with us. With their spawn rate, the amount of food they need grows exponentially. In the long run, either them or us would've been forced to starve.
"Yet all of our reasoning doesn't change that, in a way, they were innocents. There was no malice behind their actions, only the will to provide their beloved ones a better future, which is exactly what you do from a tender age.
"It doesn't matter if you did it out of duty or because this Tezka forced your hand, either way, you have been forced to kill yourself over and over."
Lith remained dumbstruck at the realization. The act of killing the wargs was nothing but a drop in the ocean for him. Even the farmer's death wouldn't have left such a strong impression if not for the man's tragic past being so similar to his own.
Lith didn't feel bad for them, he felt bad because he had walked more than one mile in their shoes. He knew how hard it was to fight against impossible odds, just to fail miserably because of an unavoidable fate, like it happened with Carl.
"Are you saying I'm feeling bad for myself?" Lith said with a flat tone, the numbness still paralyzing his feelings.
"Yes! And you have every right to. Because you did the wrong thing for the right reasons and because this job just took away a piece of your heart."
She angrily slammed her fist on the table, yet her tears never stopped.
"Why are you crying? Why are you so angry?" Lith asked.
"I'm angry because of what the army made you do. They can call it collateral damage, or with any fancy word they want, but it's still murder. I'm crying because you can't." She said while placing her hand above his heart.
"You don't have to cry in my stead." He replied.
"I want to. Someone has to. Otherwise you'll just shrug everything off like it's nothing and add another scar in here." Kamila placed her hand above his heart.
"Believe me, I know that there are wounds that never heal. They can get better, but the pain is always there." She remembered the pain of living her early life feeling nothing but a tool in her parents' hands.
How difficult it had been to leave everything behind, even her beloved sister Zinya, to have at least a chance at happiness. After Kamila joined the army, her father had disowned her, breaking her heart.
He later revoked it when she became a Lieutenant, but he only did it with the aim of exploiting her authority. She had hoped that time and distance would help her parents to understand how much they loved her.
It worked. Unfortunately, their love amounted to nothing. The realization hurt her deeply, but at the same time, it set her free. At that point, it was Kamila's turn to disown her family and change her last name.
Family had become a four letter word for her, and it was one of the reasons why she had yet to marry.
"I know how hard it must be even talking about this. There is no escape from such ugly events, but you don't have to bottle them up, nor to face them alone. Do you have plans for tonight?" She asked.
Lith shook his head. He was way ahead of schedule for his rounds. Unless an emergency happened, he had at least two free weeks.
"Then it's a date. I'd love to leave early, but my supervisor would skin me. We are currently understaffed." She said while wiping off her tears.
"These are the spare keys for my apartment. Wait for me there, I'll come back as soon as I can." She took the recording device and left before Lith could reply. Even in his confused state, he realized how big of a step it was for her.
Giving him free access to her apartment meant she was willing to further deepen their relationship.
'I doubt she usually brings along spare keys, unless she had been considering to give them to me for a while.' He thought.
'Agreed.' Solus sighed. 'She is completely right. The mission with the wargs pushed all of our wrong buttons. I feel like crap too and I'm not in the mood of remaining alone either. I can't stand being the third wheel, not today.
'Can you please bring me to Lutia and call Tista? I could really use a friend.'
'Of course I can.' Lith replied as he left the army's headquarters for the local branch of the Mage Association. Solus didn't understand why he took that detour instead of using the army's Warp Gate until he bought another communication amulet.
'I know how bad you feel and how insensitive I can be, especially when I'm neck deep into my own shit. You shouldn't spend the night holed up in the ring while I have fun. You deserve so much more and I'm sorry I can't give it to you.' He thought.
'The least I can do is to give you as much independence as I can.' He had Solus imprint her own amulet before sharing with her his rune, Kalla's and Tista's. Solus was deeply moved by his gesture.
Even though she had never expressed it, Solus had long since desired to have a way to freely talk with her friends without going through Lith every time. It was the first present he had ever given her, and it was akin to freedom.
Solus didn't perceive it as distancing himself from her, quite the opposite. Lith was recognizing her as an individual, giving her some personal space and his trust. They shared an enormous pocket dimension, yet until that day it never contained anything of hers.
That communication amulet was her very first possession in over twelve years. She loved both Lith and the amulet beyond what words could express.
Chapter 512 The Day After Part 3
As joy overwhelmed Solus, she couldn't help but wonder what would've happened if she had made her move before Kamila did.
Solus was hurt and so was Lith. Maybe it could have been the right time to reveal him her human form. Maybe, by sharing their weaknesses they could have grown closer and stronger.
Unfortunately, happiness was but a temporary respite before her wounds ached again. Their bond made them experience each other's suffering. The combined emotional pain was unbearable to her.
'I need some time to understand how much of what I'm feeling is because of him and how much it's because of me.' She thought as Lith brought her back to the mana geyser near Lutia.
In her tower form, Solus could remain separated from Lith for a prolonged time without any of her abilities being diminished. As soon as he left, Solus asked Tista to join her.
In the past, Scarlett had told them that Lith was corrupting Solus. Back then, she had given no importance to those words. After what had happened with the wargs, she needed time, distance, and a friend to make sure that they didn't hold any truth.
***
House Ernas, Ernas Grand Duchy.
Jirni's birthday was nearing and the entire household was busy with the preparations. Usually she would keep things simple, making it a social event of small importance. Her job as a Royal Constable coupled with her personality didn't make her very amiable.
The events in Othre, however, had forced her hand. The Crown had decided to award Jirni for her services during the celebration, using her as an example for the other ancient noble households.
This made her guest list much longer than usual and not limited only to her closest friends and family members. It was the reason why she had recalled home all of her children and invited most of Lith's family.
Aside from her eldest son, Gunyin, who would inherit the title of Duke in case anything happened to his parents, everyone else hadn't attended to a real social event in years.
After finishing the academy, Quylla had been working in the light department of the White Griffon. After a couple of failed attempts as an adventurer, she was usually too busy with her research to take part in any non mandatory celebration.
Becoming a Professor without solid achievements was impossible. After realizing she wasn't a fighter material, Quylla was resigned to obtain that role by contributing to expand the magical knowledge of the Kingdom.
That kind of discoveries required time and effort. Quylla was also determined to having a family of her own, so between her research and her social life she didn't have much free time left.
Jirni missed her, but at the same time was really happy that Quylla had overcome her trauma and managed to live independently. Also, she seemed to have the most successful romantic life among her sisters.
"Are you finally going to introduce to me this boyfriend of yours?" Jirni asked while the butler served tea and pastries as the entire family was taking a break in the living room.
She already knew everything about him. She had performed a full background check the moment Quylla had mentioned him twice.
When she started to speak with Jirni about her boyfriends, it meant things were getting serious and so would Jirni. She feigned ignorance only to not make Quylla feel pressured or scare him away.
Most young men would quake in their boots just by hearing Jirni's name. Everyone had something to hide and even if they didn't, their families would.
"I hope so, mom." Quylla sighed. Time and her adoptive parents loving care had turned the skinny and child looking small girl into a pretty young woman. She was now 1.65 meters (5'5") tall with long brown hair with shades of silver which proved her affinity for light magic.
"I really like Anathor, but I'm starting to fear he doesn't feel the same. Either that or he has something to hide, which would be even worse. He's making too much of a fuss about meeting you and dad. It's suspicious."
'My thoughts exactly.' Jirni inwardly nodded.
"Don't worry, dear. Maybe he is just shy or he doesn't feel yet ready to marry." She actually said, not wanting to sound paranoid. Yet she was proud of her daughter not letting her feelings preventing her from using her brain.
"For a noble, meeting the parents is a big step forward."
"Yeah, or maybe he's just another jerk." Quylla grunted. Being a member of a very powerful family and a powerful mage, she had learned most of her lessons the hard way. Men would usually approach her and her sisters with a hidden agenda.
"Well, at least you have someone." Friya snarled while sipping her tea.
"I'm single for months and my last boyfriend lasted less than the effects of a potion."
After Nalear's attack, she had become wary of both men and women. Friya was a gorgeous girl, 1.67 meters (5'6") tall, with long black hair with shades of red held up in a ponytail.
Her soft curves and ample bosom usually brought her the wrong kind of attention. After leaving the White Griffon, she had founded her own mercenary group which had a remarkable turnover of its members.
Most of them would leave after making and failing a pass at their indomitable leader. Friya didn't join the army to not have to compete with Phloria again and she had learned from her time as Assistant Professor that she didn't enjoy teaching.
The missions regarding monsters were so difficult and most requests from the nobles so disgusting that she was seriously reconsidering her career.
'If I have to risk my life again for pocket change, I may as well join the army or the Association.' She inwardly grumbled. After paying for the equipment and covering the travel expenses, even killing a tribe of monsters didn't pay much.
"That's because you have high standards and you travel too much." Phloria shrugged.
"Unless you start dating the members of your unit, only gold diggers will be willing to put up with your crazy schedule."
"Said the one who didn't have a single date for over a year after dumping her boyfriend." Friya's retort made Phloria spill most of her tea on the table. It was an unwritten family rule that only their parents were allowed to mention Lith in front of her.
"Boot camp is no vacation. After that, I was just too busy." Phloria quickly regained her cool.
"Please, even I don't need over six months to get a date. I think you made a mistake breaking up like that. You could have just taken a pause." Friya was still angry at her sister.
Lith was Friya's best friend and the only man beside Orion she was able to fully trust. She blamed Phloria for cutting him off their lives.
"Agreed." Quylla, Jirni, Orion, and even Lucky said in unison.
The big dog had evolved into a magical beast, becoming able to talk and reason. It had also earned him a spot at the family table and a strict diet.
"It's not because of lack of trying on my part." Phloria said while blushing violently, noticing that most of the house staff was nodding at the family's statement.
"In fact, I do have a date for the gala." She said leaving even the butler with his mouth wide open.
Chapter 513 The Day After Part 4
"Is this guy for real or is he just someone you've made up to avoid the crossfire?" Friya asked.
"Kallion is real and just for your information, he is my boyfriend." Phloria didn't even try to hide the pride in her voice. She had much more difficulty compared to her sisters finding someone to date.
Phloria was a very tall woman by Mogar's standards with her 1.8 (5'11") meters. She had long black hair with shades of blue, hazel eyes, and the build of a professional swimmer.
Her features weren't as cute as Quylla's and she was nowhere as curvy as Friya. She was taller, stronger, and magically more powerful than most of the male population, which made her quite intimidating at first sight.
Even a second or third might not help. Phloria was pretty, but her serious expression coupled with her physique gave the impression she could kill a man with just one hand.
When her suitors discovered it actually was an easy feat for her, they would usually run away.
"Why have you never mentioned him before?" Jirni was really curious to meet this Kallion. He had to be either a remarkable man or a fool.
"Because I wasn't sure if he is looking for a fling, a relationship, or something more. Actually, I'm still not sure. Since I don't think that more dates can clear things up, I decided to see if he's willing to meet you and he said yes."
She said while gloating at the thought that her worst fears hadn't come to pass. Kallion's choice meant he was serious about them, otherwise he wouldn't dare face her parents.
"Whatever. I bet he is a fool." Orion's voice was sour like an unripe lemon.
"You should have kept the little monster. He at least had a spine. Not to mention he is collecting titles like they are autumn leaves. Gods, I never thought I would say it, but I miss him so much."
"Dad, you never liked Lith when he was my boyfriend! You never like any of them. I'm sure that if we were to get back together you wouldn't like him again!" Phloria rebuked, obtaining an approving nod from the rest of the family.
"Phloria is right, dad." Friya said. "Try not to ruin everything for Quylla and Phloria. We deserve your support, not your sabotage."
"I'm really glad to hear that, dear." Jirni said with a soft smile that gave her daughters the creeps. It was the kind of warm, motherly smile that she usually displayed before landing a killing blow.
"It would have been so awkward introducing Lith's lovely girlfriend to you otherwise." As usual, Jirni didn't disappoint them. Most of their tea fell onto the table while a couple of cups broke into pieces. Phloria's and Orion's.
'It's over. Jirni already met her and she is giving her approval. She would never call a gold digger "lovely".' Orion inwardly griped, feeling his heart sink.
"Her name is Kamila. She is a smart woman who will become my apprentice in a while."
"Are they…" Phloria attempted to ask with a casual tone.
"Planning to marry?" Jirni interrupted her to land another sucker punch. "Maybe. All I can tell you is that they seemed really close back in Othre and Elina was crazy about her after Lith brought Kamila home a few months ago for his birthday."
The rest of the cups shattered in unison, making the butler emit a low whine. He had just finished cleaning the floor for the second time in less than five minutes.
"Too bad, I liked him." Lucky said. "He had a pleasant smell and whenever Phloria was worried about my weight, he slimmed me down a bit."
"First, he's not dead. Second, he did what?" Even though they broke up three years back, Phloria still felt a bit hurt at the idea that even after being together through thick and thin she had only scraped the surface of the living mystery that was Lith.
At the same time, learning he had cared so much for her that he had even kept Lucky healthy, deeply moved her. Phloria wasn't the kind of woman who would dwell on the past.
She had moved on, yet she had never forgotten about what they had and what they could have become. Jirni didn't miss the lingering affection reflected in her daughter's eyes and exploited that moment to give Phloria advice.
"I understand why you left him and in hindsight, I think you did the right thing. You were too young and had yet to discover who you really were or what you wanted. Now things are different. Sometimes you have to take a step back before being able to move forward."
Jirni had no desire to force Phloria or Lith into a relationship. It was their life, their choice. She only wanted them to realize how much they meant to each other and that they didn't have much time left before their feelings turned into nothing more than a pleasant memory.
***
Trawn Woods, Solus's Tower.
Unlike the rest of her family, Tista had no need for Jirni's etiquette boot camp. The Verhen household had never missed one of her birthdays. They were nervous as heck but up to the challenge.
The more Lith's and Tista's reputations grew, the more often they would be involved in social events. They had decided it was time to suck it up and stop avoiding the problem.
Tista would have loved to spend some time with Quylla and Friya. They had become good friends during her time at the academy, when Quylla was retaking her fifth year.
Solus took priority, though. Tista had never heard Solus so shaken and the opportunity to spend a few days together without Lith meddling was too good to turn it down.
"Wow, you are gorgeous!" Tista said after Solus showed her humanoid body to her.
"If that's a joke, it's not funny. I'm a midget and even if this is actually a template of my real body, I have no damn features. I could look like a witch, have green skin, or only my maker knows what." Solus pouted.
Being called gorgeous by Tista sounded more condescending than complimentary. Even if Solus's real face was that of a goddess, she would still look like an ugly duckling compared to her friend.
"Someone is really grumpy today. Are you sure my brother isn't around?" Tista was surprised and hurt by Solus's outburst. She had just arrived and knew nothing about the wargs mission.
Tista thought that after longing for a body for so long, Solus would rejoice and hug her. Such behavior was completely out of character.
"I wish he was here." Solus sobbed. Small drops of golden light streamed down her face, disappearing the moment they left her skin.
"At least I could blame him for how I feel. I wouldn't have to face this horrible void that is eating me from the inside alone. How can you people stand all of this silence? It's driving me crazy!" Her shout echoed throughout the tower.
Like it had happened in Othre, Solus and Lith were so far from each other that their mind link was broken, no matter how hard she tried. Back then, though, the separation had only lasted for a little while and she had been so worried that her mind was kept busy.
Now she had remained completely alone for hours until Tista had finished her business and joined her. During that time, Solus had realized that her problems were worse than she thought.
Chapter 514 The Day After Part 5
Solus broke into tears and hugged Tista.
Only after a few minutes, did she manage to find the strength to tell Tista everything that had happened since Lith's birthday. The discovery of having finally acquired a body made of light, how her happiness had turned into disappointment while testing her new limitations.
Back when Solus was just a ring, human contact was simply impossible. It made her life lonely, but at the same time, it was easier to accept her fate, since she had no other option besides enduring.
Now she was constantly conflicted about whether or not to share her new form with Lith. On one hand, she felt guilty for keeping it a secret, but she only did it because she was afraid of ruining his relationship with Kamila.
On the other hand, it was her opportunity to make her move on him and understand if the deep feelings they had for each other were just friendship or if they could develop into something more.
Solus's words were like a flood and Tista never interrupted her, not even when she told her about their encounter with Scarlett the Scorpicore, about the existence of cursed objects, which Solus was supposed to be, nor when she recounted the story about the wargs.
"Let me get this straight." Solus's narration had been a bit incoherent, jumping from past to present events. Tista needed to make sure she had a clear picture.
"You are supposed to be either a sentient tower or a soul trapped inside it. You believe you have romantic feelings for my brother, who is allegedly corrupting your mind, and you feel guilty for how you reacted during the wargs' onslaught?"
"Yes." Solus nodded while wiping her tears. "You are oversimplifying things a bit, but yes."
"That's quite a lot to take in all at once. I really need to sit down." Tista felt light headed from all the sudden revelations. Having spent the last hour and a half standing in the middle of the tower's ground floor with Solus hugging her so tight that she had squeezed the air out of her lungs didn't help.
Despite her diminutive stature, Solus was really strong, even by Awakened standards. She Warped them both inside Tista's room, leaving her friend flabbergasted as she sat down on the bed.
"Why are we in my room?" Tista asked.
"Because I don't think we should get inside Lith's without his permission."
"No, I mean why are we not inside your room?"
"I never thought about making one for me." Solus stuttered.
"Okay, let's talk about one thing at a time. I have no idea what a cursed object is exactly, but I'm certain that you are not just a thing. You think, reason, have feelings, and gods, you're too messed up to be anything but human."
"Thanks. I guess." Solus looked on in confusion as Tista was holding her own head between her hands, trying to find the right words to help Solus.
"Why do you feel bad about the wargs, exactly? It's not like you had much of a choice. Sure, it was a situation that would give me nightmares for months, heck, I still do dream about Othre's flesh monsters, but according to your own words, you've seen much worse. What's different this time?"
"I'm different! Usually, amid all that chaos, while your brother only thinks about how to eliminate the threats around him, I'm the one who is worried about his survival. I'm the one that steers his emotional reins to make sure he remains human.
"This time, he was the one empathizing with the wargs' sacrifice while all I could think about were my own hopes and dreams. I didn't cry for them, but for myself. I wasn't angry at Tezka for what he had done to them, but for what he had done to me.
"I felt so betrayed when I discovered that the mutated wargs were puppets in his hands instead of the beacon of hope I had made them out to be in my head, that I gave into my anger without thinking about the consequences.
"I could have killed us both. Maybe I really am a cursed object. Only a monster could be so egotistical in the face of such terrible events." She hiccupped.
"So, you're sad that you're becoming human?" Tista had a hard time suppressing a sneer.
"Honestly, I already find it amazing that you have lived your entire life caring only about other people's feelings, to the point of trampling over your own. You're setting your standards too high, Solus. Being egotistical is the proof of being human.
"You can't call yourself a monster for a single slip up. Nobody's perfect."
"At first, I thought it was Lith influencing my emotions, but even after being separated for a while, I still feel the same. I mean, I feel bad for the wargs and for the farmer's family, but most of all, I feel stupid for having fallen for the Abomination's deception.
"I feel betrayed, like something important has been robbed from me. Also, I feel guilty because my first thought was blaming Lith for my own thoughts and actions. Once he left me here, I felt better for a while, but as time passed, I felt much worse.
"He may make the world appear bleaker and colder, but at the same time, he fills me with confidence. Lith's unwavering determination is something I got too used to. Without it, my doubts and insecurities eat at me from the inside."
"Well, saying that my brother goes around corrupting people is too much." Tista shook her head. "It makes him sound like some dark lord hell bent on world's domination."
"In the land of Mogar, where the shadows die." Solus chuckled at her joke.
"The what?"
"Nothing. Something only Lith would understand." Solus shrugged.
"And that's the real core of your problem. Being reliant on someone is a good thing, being dependant, is not. I'm not questioning your feelings, but you've lived all this time as nothing but his secretary." Tista would have slapped her brother for being so inconsiderate. Luckily for him, he was beyond her arm's reach
"You gave yourself such a small role in your own life that you didn't even make a room for yourself! You need your own spaces, dammit! Buy yourself some clothes, some furniture, you can't spend your life being Lith's ring.
"The relationship you two have is wonderful, but it becomes unhealthy the moment it prevents the both of you from growing further. As long as Lith is the only man you know, you'll never understand if what you feel for him his love or just affection."
"But…" Solus timidly replied.
"No buts! You made his room, mine, now make your own!" Tista ordered.
"How should I make it?"
"How should I know? It's your room, you are the one who has to like it."
"I don't know what I like." Solus lowered her gaze in embarrassment.
"Can you leave the tower's premises?" Tista asked.
"Yes, if I return to my ring form."
"Do you have money?"
"Plenty in my pocket dimension."
"Then get changed! Today, I'm going to teach you all about shopping."
***
Lith woke up the next morning in Kamila's bed. His memory was fuzzy. The last thing he remembered was returning to Belius after leaving Solus in Lutia.
'My clothes are on, which is new but unsurprising. I was quite messed up yesterday and definitely not in the mood for…'
His train of thought derailed when he realized that he couldn't move.
Chapter 515 The Day After Part 6
His battles senses awakened immediately, clearing his mind and priming his body. Lith remembered how after reaching Belius, he had noticed that his pain and suffering had decreased remarkably.
The mental relief had been so intoxicating that he felt like he could break a random stranger's neck with the same ease he could order a beer. His conscience remained as dead as a doornail until someone bumped into him and Lith almost gave in to his impulses.
Until he thought about what his family, Kamila, and Solus would think of him if he actually did it. Only then did he regain his common sense. He could easily make up a lie for the local constables, but he couldn't lie to them.
'Is this really who I am without Solus and without a mission? Do I really not give a rat's ass about other people's lives?' It took barely a single minute to admit to himself that the answer was "yes" to both questions.
Just like back when he was still a kid on Mogar, he didn't care about hurting others as long as he was certain he could get away with it. Yet all those years since then had changed him enough to realize how wrong it was, to the point that he was almost scared of himself.
His next move had been going to a bar to drink. Alcohol made him softer and more susceptible to emotions. Lith drank until he was certain he would think about it at least twice before offing someone for petty reasons.
Only then did he go to Kamila's home, where he fell asleep due to the boredom of waiting.
'Whoever bound me is about to enter in a world of pain once I…' His angry train of thought derailed when a simple air spell lifted the bedsheet revealing Kamila snuggled up between his arms wearing a thin nightgown.
"Is that a spell in your hand, or are you just happy to see me?" She asked with a sleepy voice as the small storm in Lith's right hand faded away.
"How did we end up like this?" Lith asked pointing at his left arm and leg stuck under her body.
"Well, when I returned home last night, someone had one drink too many and screwed up all my plans for our evening." She sighed while thinking about the time and effort she had wasted to come up with a way to console him and pick up his favourite dishes from their favourite restaurant.
"Then, as soon as I got in bed, you clamped me like a bear trap and here I am."
Lith checked his pocket watch, discovering it was quite late in the morning.
"Why didn't you wake me up? You should be at work already." Lith felt like an idiot, yet he didn't let go of her. Kamila's warmth was keeping the cold, indifferent void his mind experienced while Lith was away from Solus at bay.
"Don't worry about that. I took sick leave to take care of a relative in need." She replied with a giggle. Kamila didn't have the heart to wake him up, nor to leave him alone after what he had gone through.
Little did she know that the nightmares she had witnessed Lith experiencing had nothing to do with the wargs. Alcohol was a double edged sword which opened old wounds related to his brother's death.
"I'm not your relative and as far as I know all leave had been revoked. This could get you in trouble. Why did you do that?"
"Because you looked like you needed it." Her loving smile warmed Lith's heart and so did her words when he realized they were the same he had used during his birthday party.
"Besides, according to the law I have no family, and after ten years of loyal service I doubt someone will care about a couple days off." Kamila noticed that despite Lith seeming to have completely recovered, his hands were shaking.
She pulled the blankets back up, hugging him tightly as she tried to understand why he felt so cold.
"What do you mean, no family? I remember you talking to me about your parents and your siblings." Lith tensed up, thinking that Kamila had lied to him right from the start.
Lith pushed her far enough away to look her in the eyes while questioning her. His voice sounded much colder than usual. Kamila swallowed a lump of saliva along with her feelings. His lack of trust hurt her.
"I think it's time to talk about those sad things I often mention but always gloss over." She said with a sad voice. Reopening old wounds was painful, but the sudden gap that had appeared between them was much worse.
During the past few months, every time Lith had given her his report on the army amulet, he would later call her from his civilian one to share his feelings about his missions, the loneliness he experienced in the wilds, or simply to enjoy her company.
He had opened up to her little by little, whereas she had kept him in the dark about her past.
'It's better if I explain everything to him now instead of letting this grow into a stupid misunderstanding. The gods know both of us have no need for useless drama.' She thought.
Kamila told him about how she had escaped from her family to avoid an arranged marriage, how she had gotten disowned by her father, and how she had later returned the favor once they had tried to manipulate her again.
"Why didn't you mention any of this before?" Lith inwardly sighed in relief as his doubts were replaced by empathy. Kamila's parents reminded him of his own back on Earth, making him feel compassion for her and bloodlust for them.
"Because at first, it was none of your business." She said with a firm tone, never averting her gaze.
"I don't go around dumping my problems or my baggage on complete strangers.
"I agreed when you asked me out because you were the first mage who ever gave me a second glance and also because I was curious about Lith Verhen, the Kingdom's new golden boy. I never expected things to develop this way.
"I'm afraid of commitment, and I thought that between our difference in social standing and the age gap, you would have soon lost interest in me." Then, she lowered her eyes.
"After Othre, the camellia, and meeting your sister, I still didn't tell you because I was afraid of driving you away. Let's be honest, I have nothing to offer besides a troublesome past and an uphill career…"
Lith drew Kamila close to him and held her tenderly.
"That's bullshit, you have a lot to offer. And since we are talking about sad stuff…" Lith told her about his early years. About the cold, the hunger, his two brothers, and Tista's illness.
"Wow, Orpal really was a dick! He and my brother Kaz could be best friends." She blurted out while snuggling between Lith's arms again. They spent the next hour not saying anything, just thinking about each other's past while exchanging cuddles.
"Do you want to stay in bed a bit longer, or do you want to try the delicacy I've been practicing?" Kamila asked when Lith's stomach repeated grumblings broke the tenderness of the moment.
Aside from the beer, he hadn't eaten anything since he had left Maekosh.
Chapter 516 Preparing for the Gala Part 1
While Kamila cooked, Lith took a shower and assessed his mental condition. He had never spent so much time away from Solus, so he had never had the opportunity to understand how much their bond influenced his way of living.
Without her, Mogar was an awfully silent place. He felt no pleasure while the hot water ran over his body, washing away both his physical and mental fatigue. Everything felt like a waste of time to him, so Lith mulled over the progress he had made in his research to bind his soul to Mogar.
'Becoming a cursed object is a no go. The Black Star proved that even years of planning can be screwed up by a small mistake. Turning into an undead is feasible, but aside from attaining lichhood the other species have too many limitations.
'After comparing notes with Kalla, even if I use her research as a base, it would still require a lot of work. There is no precise method, each person has to find the proper way for their soul and life force to be split and stored.
'The process is unique just like the individual attempting it. There is no cookie cut version or shortcut. Fuck Dungeons & Looting, here sacrificing innocents makes you a sociopath, not a Lich.
'So far, my best shot is Arthan's Madness. If Thrud made it, so can I. There are too many people on Mogar that don't deserve to live. Thanks to Invigoration and Body Sculpting, I can turn anyone into a proper vessel. At least in theory.
'I'll keep that as a backup plan if I can't find something more definite. Repeating the process is a hassle, not to mention Solus might not be enthusiastic at the idea.'
Only the thought of his loved ones prevented him from considering human lives in terms of statistics or in terms of a cost-benefit analysis.
'The bad news is that I'm still a monster and that without Solus my family is the only thing that prevents me from acting as a living Lich. The good news is that now I'm able to care for someone even if they have no use to me.
'Back when I attended the academy, I wouldn't have given a damn about someone like Kamila. Yurial and the others were just a means to an end. Even though I'm alone, I regret treating Yurial like I did and letting Phloria go without fighting for her.
'Now, instead, my feelings for Kamila are strong enough that as long as we are close, I can fight the void in my soul. I don't want to screw things up with her as I did with Phloria.
'I never thought the day would come where I would say it, but I'm happy Solus and I are separated. I've become so dependent on her that my self control and emotions are almost impaired.'
Lith joined Kamila in the kitchen. The wonderful smell spreading from the oven made his stomach grumble again. He used spirit magic to set the table while thinking about how to bring up the latest news.
'Every time I said "we need to talk" Phloria thought I was going to break up with her, just like Kamila finds "I need to tell you something" ominous. I'm out of opening lines, and without Solus, I only have the direct approach left.' He thought.
Kamila had prepared the Mogar equivalent of lasagna and practice had made it delicious.
"It was supposed to be enough for a second meal!" Kamila said as Lith cleaned the oven dish with some bread after taking his third serving.
"I was hungry."
"All that work in the kitchen and you ate everything in just a few minutes. You could have at least chatted a bit, maybe have even complimented the cook instead of eating like a famished troll." She grumbled.
"It was really good, Kami. You make a great cook. I'll do the dishes to make up for my gluttony." Lith said hoping she wouldn't remember that with darkness magic it would take him less than a minute to perform his 'herculean labor'.
Kamila was delighted at his offer. There was a lot of stuff to clean and she could use some help. The compliment sweetened the deal and made her heart flutter.
"I've been invited to Lady Ernas's birthday and I was wondering if you wanted to come as my date." Lith dropped the news like a live grenade, making Kamila's fork fall onto her plate.
"Isn't that a really big event?" She said swallowing a big lump of saliva.
"Yes. Jirni's birthday is also the day of her wedding anniversary. This year she and her husband celebrate their 25th. She and I are going to be awarded for the mission in Othre, so there will be a lot of stuck up nobles, part of the royal family, and mages."
"I'm not a big fan of galas." Kamila's stomach was churning.
"I have never attended one, I have nothing to wear for it, and my etiquette is rusty at best. Also, if I come with you, all eyes will be on me. It would be incredibly awkward. Thanks for the invite, but maybe it's better if you take Tista."
"Actually, my whole family has been invited already, so Tista will come with her own date. I've been friends with the Ernas ever since I dated their daughter, Phloria. I can understand if you would prefer to…"
The lasagna in Kamila's stomach rose like a Romeo longing to be reunited with the Juliet waiting for him on the plate.
"I've changed my mind. I'll gladly accompany you." Kamila cut him short. The opportunity to meet her mentor was already a strong motivator, but Lith's family's presence and the potential threat of an ex gave her all the courage she needed.
"When is the gala?"
"A couple of weeks from now. I received the invite right before the mission in Maekosh. I didn't bring it up earlier because you already had a lot on your plate." He explained before she could ask, just to play it safe.
"Oh gods, I have a lot to do. I need a dress, a few etiquette lessons, and time to practice." Kamila stabbed at the remaining lasagna like it had betrayed her.
"I can provide you everything you need. You're my guest, so it's my treat. Unless I get called for an emergency, I can be by your side the whole time." He took her hand and kissed it, making Kamila blush.
"Really? Would you do that for me?" Even the simplest gala dress was bound to be expensive. She was aware of what it meant for someone as stingy as Lith.
"Of course. I will even craft some jewels for you." She took his offer as affection, but it was actually a way to save some money. Thanks to Rena's father-in law, Zekell the blacksmith, Lith could obtain the materials at a discounted price.
Lith had long since learned to use magic in the forge to shape precious metals without the need of a goldsmith. Even in the past every piece of jewelry he had gifted someone had been made at cost.
"Thank you so much." Kamila was almost moved to tears.
"If there's anything I can do to repay you, you just have to ask." She rubbed his hand against her cheek before kissing it.
"Actually, there is. Speaking of plates, are you going to eat that?" Lith pointed at the remaining lasagna.
"Yes, of course I will." She took a big bite to emphasize her point. Lith had ruined the moment for her, the least Kamila could do was return the favor.
Chapter 517 Preparing for the Gala Part 2
Lith and Solus spent the next few days apart, each trying to find a way to cope with the sense of inadequacy the absence of the other caused. Where Lith was bordering on impassivity, Solus was too emotional.
He was as strong willed as she was indecisive. Even when Tista had brought her shopping, Solus worried more about what Lith would say after checking the prices or about Tista's opinion instead of focusing on her own needs.
Tista ended up buying her a lot of clothes that Solus wanted to return at first, only to then spend hours trying on each of them once they were back at the tower.
Lith was surprised when Jirni summoned him to house Ernas a few days before the party. He gladly accepted so that he could give her his gifts, but went to pick up Solus first. He was certain she would like to meet the Ernas girls again.
Also, he really missed her.
Neither of them shared the details about their days apart, and simply enjoyed the feeling of being whole again. Solus told him about her own room and the furniture she had chosen, but not bought, for it.
Since she could materialize almost anything within the tower's premises, window shopping had been more than enough. As for Lith, he told her about Kamila's issues with the gala and the presents they were about to offer Jirni.
'You really are a cheapskate to the bone.' She sighed.
'Couldn't you just buy something for Kamila and Jirni instead of doing the gifts yourself? With all the money we have in our pocket dimension, it's not like we're poor.' Solus felt a bit hypocritical, since she was borrowing Tista's words.
The difference between them was that Lith really was stingy, whereas Solus felt guilty at spending the money they earned without his consent.
'It's not being stingy so much as creative.' Lith had been expecting her remark, so he had a rebuke ready.
'Anyone can buy a gift, but that's impersonal. My creations, instead, express how well I know the person who receives them. Besides, feel free to check the market prices. Be they jewels or enchanted items, what I make is worth a lot.'
Solus had to admit that thanks to Zekell's help, Lith was able to craft small masterpieces by using spirit magic as a mold. Yet it was his ability as a Healer that was truly priceless.
'I wonder why Jirni wants to meet you in person.' Solus changed the topic, a bit sad at the idea that she couldn't take part in the gala. Even if she had a human form and everyone accepted her as a friend, there was no mana geyser nearby.
'We are about to find out.' Lith replied as they walked through the Ernas's Gate. Jirni had never revoked the pass they had granted him back when he dated Phloria.
The room he stepped into was richly decorated for the incoming gala. A pleasant smell emanated from garlands were hung on the walls, but instead of being made of woven flowers or plants, they were made of gold and silver.
Several coat hangers were lined up against the walls along with sealed weapon racks for their esteemed guests. Most of them would only bring ceremonial weapons, but some members of the military would refuse to leave their arms home.
A single long carpet led from the Gate to the double doors of the main hall. It was blue and white, the colors of house Ernas's coat of arms. Lith found a handmaid waiting for him.
She was a petite woman in her thirties, with ashen gold hair and clear blue eyes who somehow reminded him of Jirni. Her uniform had been replaced for the occasion by a simple but stylish black day dress with white evening gloves.
'I don't think she's a servant at all.' Solus thought with a stupefied tone.
'She is wearing so many enchanted hidden weapons that she glows like a chandelier to my mana sense.'
Lith checked her out with Life Vision the moment she turned around to show him the way.
'This woman is no mage, but no handmaid either. Unless since the last time I checked, house staff is required to have the strength of a professional athlete. She might really be Jirni's relative. Maybe she's part of the security.' Lith thought.
"Lith, it's so good to see you again." Jirni said with a radiant smile the moment the handmaid opened up the door to her dressing room. It looked like a five star hotel lounge, with white walls decorated with gold inlays and many silk covered sofas arranged around a small table.
Several mannequins dressed in Jirni's most beautiful evening gowns were orderly put on display in front of a huge mirror covering the center of the north wall. The mannequins lacked heads and arms, so that by standing right behind them Jirni could see her reflection like she was wearing the clothes they had on.
Lith remained amazed when he noticed that every single wall was actually a finely carved closet, each one filled with dresses, shoes, and hats for every season. The doors separating them were so smooth that he would have never realized their real nature if some of them hadn't been left open.
His surprise peaked when he managed to stop calculating how much money was that single room was worth and looked at his host. For a moment, Lith didn't recognize her.
Lady Jirni Ernas was a petite woman, barely 1.52 cm (5') tall, with blonde hair that extended mid way down her back and sapphire blue eyes. She wore a beautiful light blue day dress worthy of the Court, her hair was perfectly curled, framing her face like she had been taken out of a painting.
It wasn't the smile, the dress, or the stylish hairdo in place of her usual ponytail that left him dumbfounded. He and Jirni had attended several galas together, it wasn't his first time seeing her all dolled up.
Jirni was a woman in her early forties, but thanks to proper care and good genes she usually looked like she was in her mid thirties. Now, she would barely pass as older than Kamila, it was like she had suddenly got ten years younger.
"Lady Ernas, you're stunning." He said with a little too much enthusiasm, making both his host and her maid giggle.
"Thanks, but remember that I'm a married woman, young man." She hugged him as he bent down to give her a bow.
"You're among friends, drop the formalities and call me Jirni. You've already met my cousin Dyta. She'll supervise the security of the event. My maiden family always takes care of these kinds of events."
Dyta was surprised by Jirni disclosing such details to a stranger, but she didn't let it show. She gave Lith a polite curtsy and left them alone.
"Where are the girls? I was hoping to say hi and catch up with them. I haven't seen them in months." Lith looked around a bit disappointed. He liked Jirni, but she always had a hidden agenda.
"I asked you to come now precisely because only Lucky and I would be home. There are a few things we need to talk about before the gala." She sighed.
Chapter 518 Bearer of Gifts Part 1
Lith had no idea why she included the dog on the list. Lucky's only worth was that it made Phloria happy, otherwise Lith would consider it just an overweight lump of fur.
"First things first." Lith took out the first part of his gift from his pocket dimension.
"I wanted to give you this now, so that you had the opportunity to wear it at the gala. If you like it, of course. This is my birthday present." He handed to her a finely decorated circlet.
Since Jirni was blonde, Lith had made it out of silver, so that the contrast would emphasize the beauty of its wearer. The diadem seemed to be made out of small and thin feathers, each one with a small black diamond set near its end.
"It's beautiful. Almost worthy of a Queen." Jirni wasn't being polite. Although the circlet was really light, each feather was so life like that she expected to see them fly away at the first gust of wind.
The 'almost' was required, since to be perfect, the diadem needed a big black diamond on its center, where Lith had left an empty space. It wasn't just a matter of him being stingy.
The Verhen household had no fief nor noble titles. Any more effort on his part would be interpreted as showing off or even make the circlet appear like a betrothal gift. That was the reason why Lith had left it perfectly imperfect.
"Now it's time for my anniversary gift." Lith said.
"Please, give me your hands."
Jirni did as instructed, feeling a warm sensation spread throughout her body the moment they touched. Lith used Invigoration while chanting some gibberish to spot and fix all bone, muscle, and even intervertebral disc damage.
Normal healing magic only sped up recovery, so internal scar tissues and calluses had accumulated inside Jirni's body over time, due to her line of work and aging.
"Good gods. Not only do I look ten years younger, but I also feel that way now." Jirni knew her body well enough that it only took her a few steps to realize what had happened.
"Healers capable of using rejuvenation magic are already rare, I would've never thought to meet one also capable of dabbling in cosmetic magic." Jirni said with a grin, making Lith lose his poker face for a split second.
Rejuvenation magic was a rare branch of healing magic that allowed the mage to restore an aged body to its prime condition. Even the three Great Countries had very few mages capable of using it, and they were all as elusive as Manohar.
It made his gift extremely valuable. Each treatment was valued at five gold coins for a regular person, but over a dozen for the battered body of a veteran fighter.
"Cosmetic magic?" Lith had never heard of it, not even during his studies at the White Griffon academy.
"No need to feign ignorance." Jirni laughed. "I had my suspicions since the first time I met your parents. I would have never been sure if Lucky hadn't ratted you out."
"Lucky did what?" As if to answer Lith's confusion, a small Ry entered through one of the doors waggling its huge tail. It was as big as a pony and had the characteristic crimson fur of the wolf type magical beast.
"Sorry, brother. I didn't know it was a secret." He said with an apologetic tone while offering Lith his huge belly in sign of contrition. He also hoped for a conciliatory scratch, of course.
"He told us how you slimmed him down from time to time. Also, do you think that I missed how Phloria's skin and hair improved while you two were together? Yours are minor treatments, but it's still an amazing feat for someone so young.
"If you manage to master it, you'll be set for life. Consider that I had to spend one hundred gold coins to become like this." Jirni waved at her own younger appearance.
"One hundred gold coins?" Lith almost chocked on those words. It was more than the whole village of Lutia and its lands were worth, his own house included. A single gold coin was equivalent to one hundred silver coins.
Even Officers like Lith, Kamila, and Jirni were paid in silver.
"Are you saying that a mage did that?" Lith found it hard to believe. Rejuvenation magic was already a very difficult subject. He wouldn't be able to use it if not for Invigoration. Cosmetic magic was simply unheard of.
"Yes. It's a new trend in the Capitol. It's very expensive and doesn't last long. It requires heavy alchemical machinery and according to its creator, Mage Hossa, it's a safe procedure even if it involves the alteration of the patient's life force.
"Normally I wouldn't care for such things, but since half of the royal family has become their regular clients, so did anyone who can pay for the treatment. I can't afford to be outshined by any of my guests. At least not on the day of my anniversary.
"It's one of the reasons I called you here. Even if you don't possess Mage Hossa's expertise or equipment, you're the only mage I know who can use it. Before spending a small fortune to get my whole family treated, I want the opinion of an expert. Is it really safe?"
Lith inwardly cursed Lucky, then himself, and lastly his bad luck.
'Who would have thought that such a couch potato could evolve and become able to talk? Did I ever tell him anything compromising?'
'Aside from cursing Orion from time to time, no.' Solus replied. She had checked Lith's memories for every one of their past interactions with the dog. Lucky was true to his name, there was no reason to have an 'unfortunate accident' befall him.
Lith sighed in relief while checking Jirni's condition with Invigoration.
'What the heck? Cosmetic magic my ass. An Awakened just removed some impurities from her skin and hair. I wonder if they are doing it because they need money, or simply to get connections with the most important families in the Kingdom.' He pondered.
"When did this new trend start, exactly?" Lith asked.
"About a few months ago, but the shop has moved around for years. Cosmetic magic is not officially recognized because only one mage knows how to use it and its exorbitant cost makes it impractical.
"Mage Hossa returned recently from the Gorgon Empire. Princess Syntilla decided to give it a try and got one heck of a makeover. After that, all the homely and rich heiresses became her clients, forcing the pretty ones to do the same."
"Well, for starters it's safe." Lith replied. "There is no damage to your life force, but I must warn you, the treatment will barely last for a week. Unlike me, Hossa can make big changes, but they are temporary."
"Can you do better?" Jirni had an expectant look.
"No, but I can make it last longer. With my skill, I can make it last for at least a month, but I must ask you to not divulge my secret. I don't want this Hossa to feel threatened nor do I want to spend my life treating vain people." He said.
'More importantly, she would discover that I'm an Awakened just like her. Maybe Hossa could put me into contact with the Council. She could be a precious ally if properly handled.' He actually thought.
Chapter 519 Bearer of Gifts Part 2
\"Don't worry, between her prices and her travels, Hossa is a flash in the pan. Once she's gone, everyone will return to their senses and stop wasting money.\"
Lith attempted to take her hands again to perform the treatment, but Jirni stopped him.
\"That can wait. I didn't call you for your gifts, nor just for cosmetic magic. I need your assistance with a couple of things. First, since you are good with holograms, I'd like your help to make the event memorable.\"
\"I've already tried to ask Manohar, but he ran away the moment he heard my voice over the communicator and I'm not going to chase him over such a trivial matter.\"
\"Consider it done.\" Lith nodded.
\"Second, I'm worried about the girls' boyfriends, especially Phloria's.\"
Those words stung at Lith's heart and Jirni rejoiced for it.
\"What's the matter with him?\" He had suddenly found his old glare back.
\"His name is Kallion Nuragor. He's a powerful mage from a noble family that has done nothing bad in the recent past but nothing good either. I have a strong suspicion that he's just using her.
\"If anything happens to Gunyin, my oldest son, Phloria is the next in the line of succession. I can't rest easy until I discover the game he's playing.\"
\"Have you told Phloria?\" Lith clenched his hands hard enough to turn his knuckles white.
\"What for? If you were in her shoes, would you listen to your paranoid and manipulative mother? Besides, forbidding a relationship is the best way a parent has to make it thrive. Phloria needs to burn her hand to learn her lesson.\"
Lith had to admit that she was right.
\"What do you want me to do?\" Lith asked.
\"I'm sorry to have to ask this of you, but I need you to do nothing.\" Jirni sighed.
\"What do you mean, nothing?\"
\"If I'm right, Kallion will try to provoke you. Nothing big, just enough to look good at your expense. You're going to become the youngest Spellbreaker of your generation. Ever since the plague in Kaduria, you've kept stealing the old noble households' spotlight.
\"There are many who resent you for that and would do anything to destroy your reputation. Whatever Kallion does or says, I need you to stay calm and endure. I'll do the rest.\"
\"What about Friya and Quylla?\"
\"Quylla may have gotten herself another gold digger. His name is Anathor Voross. He is an Assistant Professor at the White Griffon and comes from a minor noble family. His background check is clean, but he's been avoiding me too much.
\"I'm afraid he is just playing with her feelings. I need you to grill him in my stead. Quylla will not be on guard against you. She loves you like the brother she always wanted. As for Friya, alas, she's got no one. Can you introduce someone to her?\"
\"Sorry, but no. In my line of work, I don't get to know many people and Kamila mostly has female friends.\" Lith shrugged.
\"You know what the worst part of cosmetic magic having your seal of approval is? That now I'm going to have to waste a bucket of gold coins for my daughters and to avoid my poor husband looking like my father while standing by my side.\"
***
Contrary to what many would expect, the use of the Warp Gate Lith had used just a few days earlier was reserved for the arrival of guests of secondary importance. During big events, members of the Royal family or special guests would walk a red carpet.
According to tradition, they had to arrive by stagecoach and walk their way to the entrance, where their host would personally receive them before they would be announced to the other guests.
It was intended as an opportunity to flaunt one's wealth and status. The later a guest arrived, the more important they were. The last ones to come were always the members of the Royal family so that they were the only ones who didn't have to introduce themselves.
Lith would have gladly passed as a minor guest rather than waste so much time in the stagecoach that Orion had waiting for him outside the local branch of the army. For warriors like Jirni and him, being rejuvenated was a priceless gift.
After Lith had restored Orion's vigor, making him feel like he was twenty again, the Commander of the Knight's Guard had been adamant in assigning Lith the best stagecoach and the best honor guards his Grand Duchy had to offer.
'I can't believe I treated him so badly in the past.' Orion inwardly griped.
'He could've asked me hundreds of gold coins and I would've gladly paid the price. No amount of gold is worth making sure that I come back home to my lovely wife and children.
'Yet he gave it freely to me, even though he knows it's easier to find a unicorn than a rejuvenator. I take back at least half of the bad things I thought about him.'
Yet Lith didn't do it out of the goodness of his heart. The Crown had finally granted him access to several forbidden books about souls, allowing him to take a new step forward in finding a solution for his reincarnation problem.
Unfortunately, most of them were very obscure. They would constantly quote other books or complex theories that Lith had never heard about, requiring him to further expand his research.
To do that, he needed to prove his worth as a Healer. He couldn't afford to be considered just an exceptional diagnostician. Revealing that he was able to Rejuvenate made him the fourth most important Healer at the Crown's service.
Only Manohar, Marth, and Vastor were known to be capable of using rejuvenation magic. This move had allowed Lith to help his friends and make the Crown grant him more privileges without him even asking for them.
Two birds with one stone.
Lith had discovered that souls were a controversial matter. Only Necromancers and Healers who had sought the perfect resurrection had thoroughly studied them, but each one had a different theory, which made things even more confusing.
The silver lining was that thanks to his resurrections, Lith had practical experience on the matter. It allowed him to rule out all those paths of research that weren't able to explain his condition.
\"This is bullshit!\" Lith lamented for the umpteenth time since the carriage had started to move, making his family and Kamila groan. He was wearing a very expensive and very formal suit, closely resembling White Tie attire from Earth.
It consisted of a black dress coat with tails over a white shirt, a piqué waistcoat, and a white bow tie worn around a standing wingtip collar.
\"I spent months learning how to open dimensional Gates, why do we have to waste all this time? Isn't it much fancier and more practical to Warp to their doorstep?\"
\"Not at all.\" Kamila explained. \"This way our identities have been verified and our possessions searched before the Gala. Otherwise every guest would have to be detained upon arrival until they are cleared.
\"Unlike those who take the Ernas's Gate, we get to skip all of the security checks. Use this time to relax, or at least try to not upset me more than I already am. I can't believe I'm going to meet the Royals at my very first Gala.\"
Chapter 520 Ernas Household Part 1
\"She's right, dear.\" Elina said. \"We're already on edge, don't make things even harder for us.\" She was wearing a silk satin cream colored ballgown which left her shoulders and arms exposed and had a square neck.
The others joined her plea, forcing him to shut up. Lith was very nervous too and couldn't wait for the Gala to be over. Meeting Phloria again after so much time was a bittersweet event to him, especially since now they had both moved on.
Things with Solus weren't great either. Lith was happy seeing her grow as a person, but at the same time, he was sad at not being able to spend as much time together as before.
Solus now spent her free time in her own room, receiving her friends rather than being around him like in the past. Tista, Kalla, and even her vampire daughter, Nyka, visited Solus whenever they had a chance.
It always happened when Lith was spending time with Kamila, so that Solus wasn't forced to hole up in her ring to give them some privacy.
'Am I jealous?' Lith thought while being careful so that Solus couldn't hear him.
'I never took Solus for granted, yet I would have never expected that being separated from her even just from time to time could be so painful. Heck, if she ever gets a body, things will become even more complicated.'
'I can only hope that Solus is faring better than me and she doesn't have conflicting feelings about our situation like I do.' Lith thought.
Unfortunately, she had realized their problem long before he did and wasn't any closer than Lith to finding a solution. As for Solus's feelings, calling them a mess was an understatement.
The more time they spent apart, the more she understood how badly she lacked in every social aspect.
Tista had been schooling both Nyka and her about how to act in human society, but despite all the time she had spent watching Lith from the sidelines, the only thing she was better at than the vampire, was keeping her clothes on.
Nyka had gotten used to living with the customs of an undead beast, making personal hygiene optional and her dress code non existent. She would say anything that came to her mind, no matter how rude, and was completely oblivious of her body language, just like Solus.
They would both yawn whenever the topic at hand bored them and eat like starving beasts. Nyka because she had no concept of cutlery, Solus because she would become so engrossed in discovering new flavors that she would forget her manners.
'I would have never imagined that being polite could be so hard.' Solus inwardly sighed. 'Because of our mind link, I'm not used to sugarcoating my words nor hiding my feelings. I'm a terrible liar, I did it only once and I'm still regretting it.' She thought.
'Yet human interactions are mostly based on deception. Even Tista says that my honesty is refreshing at first, but soon becomes obnoxious. To make matters worse, the few humans who I've met in the Trawn woods all ran away screaming.
'No matter how pretty my dress is or how kind I am, I'm nothing but a monster in their eyes.'
While Solus and Lith were brooding about their problems, their stagecoach finally reached the Ernas ancestral home. It was Kamila's first time seeing something so magnificent.
The manor was surrounded by high white crystal walls, which generated an array that prevented anyone from flying or Warping past its boundaries without the use of a special amulet.
Their coachman showed his ID to the guards stationed at the gates, who in turn lifted an amulet over their heads. It emitted a ray of light that resonated with coachman's uniform first, then his papers, and lastly the entire stagecoach.
Each of them glowed with a silver light, proving the authenticity of the documents, the man's identity, and that the magical seals placed on the vehicle hadn't been tampered with.
Kamila gasped while looking through the passenger window as she noticed that the park around the manor extended as far as her eye could see. Even though the night sky was covered by black clouds, the gardens were perfectly lit.
Each statue, bench, and even fountain which decorated the area radiated a gentle glow, giving the hosts the impression of having walked into a fairy tale. The air smelled of freshly cut grass, flower beds adorned the cobblestone paths that went from the front gardens to the main building.
Trees and bushes were all artistically trimmed to resemble mythical beasts, like unicorns and griffons. The benches were made of white marble and engraved with runes that made them water and dirt proof, keeping them dry and clean no matter the weather.
The manor itself was bigger than Belius' army headquarters. It extended for at least 3,000 square meters (32,292 square feet), divided into a main building, a left and a right wing forming a reversed U shape.
The massive hardwood double doors of the house were wide open, letting all noise and light coming from the Main Hall reach the stagecoach's stopping area. Jirni and Orion were welcoming their guests as soon as they arrived, letting their house staff escort them inside.
Despite the chilly night breeze, the moment the coach door opened Kamila felt suffocated like she was stepping into a furnace.
'This isn't right. This isn't my place. I'm just the disowned daughter of a dishonest merchant.' She thought as her body was being covered in nervous sweat.
Kamila tried to stand up, but her weakened knees failed her, making her stumble on the coach steps. Lith managed to catch her by the waist, using water magic at the same time to cool her burning skin and make the sweat disappear.
\"You almost literally fell head over heels for me.\" Lith chuckled at his terrible joke as he got off the stagecoach first to help Kamila by holding both her hands. His kind gesture made Kamila find her strength again and made Lith's parents hope for the best.
The Ernas couple watched the scene too, but with mixed feelings about it.
\"Long time no see, Lith. It's too bad you haven't grown much since your days at the academy.\" Orion joked. He was over 1.96 metres (6'5\") tall, with black hair, brown eyes, and a perfectly shaven face.
His physique was lean but muscular. Every one of his movements was full of vigor.
\"It's nice to see you too. Is everyone inside?\"
\"Yes. I'll join you as soon as we're done with our guests. I have a little surprise for you.\"
Two members of the house staff accompanied the Verhens to the Ballroom. One of them was Dyta, Jirni's cousin, who was still disguised as a housemaid. The other was Deiter, an old family butler who managed to glare at Lith like he was a traitor while maintaining perfect composure.
'I guess it's reasonable to assume that the rest of the staff blames me for the break up too.' Lith thought.
The entrance had a double staircase leading to the first floor of the house, which formed an arch above the door leading to the Main Hall, where the guests would mingle while waiting for their hosts to arrive.
Lith sighed, hoping that when his past and present clashed, he wouldn't be caught in the middle.
Chapter 521 House Ernas Part 2
\"Great Mage Lith Verhen and First Lieutenant Kamila Yehval.\" The head butler announced with a magically amplified voice.
Just like Kamila had feared, all eyes were on her. Lith had stopped being a novelty after the King himself had bestowed upon him his family name. With each achievement he acquired, the old noble households despised him more while the new magical bloodlines considered him a leading figure for their cause.
Half the room watched him walking down the small staircase leading to the Main Hall with admiration while the other half just whished that he would fall and break his neck. Both kinds of gaze only lasted for a split second before moving to his date.
Many noble dames had a cruel smirk on their faces, their mouths already opened and ready to badmouth the dirty poor social climber who in their minds had no place among them.
They had learned the hard way that Lith had no weak spot. Both his clothes and manners were always impeccable. Belittling his powers was akin to suicide, since not one of their heirs would qualify as his equal even when he had just graduated from the Academy.
Now that he was a Great Mage and was about to be appointed as a Spellbreaker, many families had to go way down their family tree to be able to name a relative they could compare to him.
The nameless civil servant accompanying him, though, was bound to be an easy target. Or so they thought, until their peers started to laugh at them, mistaking their expression for awe.
Even after a long look, they couldn't find anything wrong with her looks. Quite the contrary, more than one dame stared at her in envy.
Kamila wore a silk-satin red evening dress with a v neckline which left her arms and shoulders exposed plus it emphasized her bosom. Lith had made her a golden circlet that appeared to be made out of small camellias woven together.
The gold of the circlet brought out her black hair and vice versa, while both shone under the magical lighting of the room. She also wore one of Lith's forgemastered camellias on her right wrist as corsage.
Looking at her adamant gaze, the nobles thought she was treating them with contempt, whereas she was just focused on not tripping over her dress and hiding the terror she felt.
She listened with relief as the butler announced the rest of the Verhen family, making many gazes move to the top of the stairs again. Every female member of Lith's family wore a circlet and an enchanted corsage, each one projecting the image of a different flower from Earth made from a different element.
A fiery rose for Elina, an icy orchid for Rena, and a black lotus for Tista. They all had pestered Lith to forgemaster something for them too. Tista wore a skin tight ballgown that made many of the male guests stare in hatred at her date, while their female companions clenched their glasses so hard that they nearly shattered.
'I've spent over one hundred gold coins in cosmetic magic and I'm still an ugly duckling!' They thought in unison.
\"Lith! It's so good to see you again.\" Several people began to crowd around him, yet he had no idea who they were.
'By my maker, they are your academy mates. How can you not remember even one of them?' Solus helped him to put a name to each face.
'I only had four academy mates, the others were only rivals or bystanders. Their fair weather friendship is as pointless now as it was back then.' He coldly replied.
\"Professor Verhen! I don't know how to thank you.\" Said one of Lith's students.
\"Back when I was at the academy, I hated your classes. Thank the gods you were so strict with me. Your teachings saved my life more than once.\"
\"Glad to hear that, Qinyu. How are you doing?\" Lith replied while shaking his hand. He remembered all the names of his students. In a way, he considered them to be his creations.
\"Well enough to afford an invitation for this Gala. My company could use your help sometimes. Does the army allow you to perform freelance jobs?\"
\"You're asking the wrong person.\" Lith smiled as he took a wine glass for him and one for Kamila. \"As long as I'm a Ranger, she's my boss.\"
\"Oh gods! When are you going to stop growing?\" Said a familiar voice resounding with fake anger.
\"Little one! You have no idea how I've missed you.\" Lith lifted Quylla like she was a small child.
She would have loved to protest the embarrassing treatment, but her feet were dangling 20 centimeters (8') above the ground and she feared that a sudden movement could make the slit in her dress reveal far more than was proper.
\"I'm almost as tall as Friya, now. Why don't you ever call her 'little one'?\"
\"Because when I met her, she was taller than me. In my heart, you will always be this tall.\" He released her from the embrace and gestured with his hand at her former diminutive stature.
\"Are you still conducting your crazy research?\" She asked.
\"Indeed, but so far lady luck has turned her back on me. What about you?\"
\"Same. Body sculpting is a nightmare. Every small advancement seems to require years of study, but I don't want to wait for years! I want to become a Professor, make my own schedule, and not work like a mule until my hair turns white.
\"I might have a lead on something, but I can't do it on my own and there's no one I trust enough to not steal my research. Academies are a dog eat dog world. Do you think you can help me?\" She said looking at him with her trademark puppy eyes.
\"Thanks for thinking about me, but what about your sisters? Also, Kamila, this is Quylla, one of my dearest friends. Quylla, this is Kamila, my girlfriend who also happens to be my handler in the army. You might want to speak to her about your problem.\"
Quylla gave Kamila a curtsy, which she promptly returned. While they were exchanging their greetings, Quylla couldn't avoid noticing how much her guest was different from her older sister, and found it ominous how Kamila's jewelry matched the rest of the family's.
\"We would love to have a chat with her. A long chat.\" Friya glared at Kamila for a second before hugging Lith. Kamila chuckled at her fake hostility, yet Friya's words and hourglass figure stung at her pride.
\"I offered to accompany Quylla more than once, but she doesn't trust my underlings!\"
\"Mercenaries only follow money.\" Quylla shook her head.
\"I would have no problem if the mission involved collecting materials, but trusting them with something they can sell to the highest bidder? Thanks, but no thanks.\"
Friya bit her lower lip not having a witty retort at the ready. Adventurers were mostly grassroots mages who hoped to make a quick buck.
As soon as they realized how dangerous slaying monsters was and that the only treasures they found inside dungeons had once belonged to other adventurers, they would usually change their line of work.
Chapter 522 Sewed up Part 1
Creatures smart enough to distinguish trash from gold were also so dangerous that it wasn't worth facing them unless there was a rich bounty on their heads. In such cases, one had to be as wary of the competition as they were their target.
More than one group of mercenaries had been slain by another waiting in ambush for them to soften the prized creature. What idiots called 'adventure' was actually a high risk, unknown reward business, yet it was the only path to wealth unless one was willing to submit to a noble.
Friya had invested time and effort into her personal guild, but its revenue was still far from ensuring that its members would put their honor and friendship above a mountain of gold.
\"Hi, Lith. How long has it been? Three years?\" Even if the crowd didn't make way for her, Lith could notice Phloria from a mile away, and not because of her height. Her scent and the sound of her footsteps were so deeply ingrained in his memory that he could recognize them anywhere.
She was wearing a silk satin sky blue evening gown, with a v neckline. Part of her hair was down, like a silky black waterfall that reached her waist, while the rest formed a tress resembling a wreath over her head.
Nostalgia put a sad smile on Lith's face, which was quickly replaced by a raised embrown when he noticed that, together with sapphire parure, she was still wearing the gold lily shaped pendant he had gifted her years ago.
\"Almost four.\" Only after giving her a small bow did he realize that she wasn't alone. A handsome man in his early twenties was walking arm in arm by her side. He was almost as tall as Lith, with pitch black hair and grey eyes.
His tuxedo emphasized his lean but muscular build. If not for Jirni's words about him, Lith would have been happy for her.
'Phloria deserves someone better than I was. It's the reason why I let her go. How strong is this jerk, Solus?' He thought.
'A clean cyan mana core and trained soldier level of physical prowess. Kallion seems to be a perfectly normal human. Phloria, on the other hand…'
'What about her?' Lith suddenly remembered about her impurities moving, just like it happened to Yurial before his untimely death. He had sent Tista to check on her from time to time and according to his sister, Phloria wasn't supposed to Awaken.
'Her mana core has gone from cyan to bright cyan and her mana flow is abnormal. Maybe we should check her with Invigoration.'
Lith cursed his bad luck. He had no reason to touch Phloria without making Kamila jealous, nor could he ask to speak privately about her health in the middle of the gala. Lith was renowned to be a great diagnostician but spotting an asymptomatic illness with a single glance was something not even Manohar was capable of.
An awkward silence befell to the group after they had introduced their respective dates. Neither of them knew what to say, at least in front of all those people. Small talk was cheap, but speaking their minds would make things even more awkward.
\"What a lovely corsage you have, Kamila. I'd never seen anything like that. Did Lith forgemaster it for you?\" Phloria unconsciously touched the dimensional amulet he had gifted her at the academy.
It didn't have just sentimental value to her. Phloria had yet to find a better dimensional storage. Orion had studied it for several hours, yet not even he had proven capable of such a feat since Lith had used true magic to make it.
\"Yes. It's called a Camellia.\" Kamila replied with a radiant smile as she marked her territory. She didn't feel threatened by Phloria, the two of them were too different to make any kind of comparison.
Yet she didn't miss the tension Phloria's arrival had caused and she wanted to make things clear with her without being rude.
\"It's wonderful.\" Phloria tried and failed to hide how those words stung at her, betrayed by a twitching smile.
\"Would you be terribly jealous if I stole your date for a couple of minutes? A wound from my last mission has left me with phantom pain the army Healers cannot explain. I'm in dire need of a second opinion.\"
\"Well, to be perfectly frank, yes.\" Kamila giggled to make it sound like she was joking. \"However, I know how seriously Lith takes his oath as a Healer and as fellow army members, we have to support each other. I'll wait for you here.\"
The atmosphere tensed up to the point that the bystanders held their breath hoping things to escalate, but neither of the two women said anything nor stopped smiling.
\"We'll be right back.\" Phloria gave her guest a curtsy before turning her back to them and walking toward a side room while Lith tried to keep up with her pace.
\"That was… intense.\" Kallion laughed as soon as Phloria walked away, to make sure she couldn't hear him above the noise of the small crowd around them.
\"Maybe a little too intense. You've gone overboard miss Yehval, I think you should apologize for your behavior when they get back.\" His cold smile didn't extend to his eyes as his words triggered whispers and chuckles among the bystanders.
\"You're overthinking, mister Nuragor.\" Kamila disrespected his title just like he had done to hers. She was still afraid of the crowd, but not enough to let a pompous jerk order her around while she was an honored guest in her mentor's house.
\"Some gestures come naturally when you really care about your partner. I hope you'll find someone like that soon.\" The whispers and chuckles intensified. None had missed how quickly Phloria had dropped Kallion's arm, nor that she hadn't talked to her date before leaving.
\"I'm sorry to say…\" Yet his stone cold voice didn't sound sorry at all. \"but it's not a matter of caring, so much as of upbringing. Flaunting that small trinket of yours was unbecoming of an army officer, even for one with a shady family like yours.
Also, it's Mage Nuragor to you.\"
\"I guess you're right. Not even my disowned father would use such double standards. If you're going to flaunt your title, then it's Lieutenant Yehval to you.\" Her rebuke made him turn red from anger, but he didn't dare to continue.
Most of the nobles were on his side, but Phloria's sisters were not.
\"I'm sorry if I've offended you, that wasn't my intention. I just wanted to warn you that the other guests may find your 'gestures' rude. I understand you are new to environments such as this, but your behavior could embarrass Great Mage Verhen.\"
He gave her a small bow as an apology. Between his words and manners, Kallion had put Kamila between a rock and a hard place.
She could either refuse his apology and risk appearing petty, or accept them and be forced to in turn apologize to Phloria even though she had done nothing wrong.
or accept them and be forced to in turn apologize to Phloria even though she had done nothing wrong.
Chapter 523 Sewed Up Part 2
Meanwhile, after checking if a side room was empty, Lith and Phloria entered it and she locked the door behind them.
\"Don't worry.\" She said in reply to his silent question. \"The room is sound proof, no one can hear us from the outside.\"
Lith used Life Vision to check his surroundings while Solus did the same, replying only when their magical senses confirmed her words.
\"Are you really hurt or is there something you need to tell me?\" Lith knew that Quylla was a Healer almost as good as he was and that the phantom pain was likely an excuse.
Lith would have loved to tell her about he too had needed to speak with her in private, but seeing her with his amulet and between the arms of someone else had left him more confused than he had expected.
Everything that came to his mind would either make a fool out of himself or make the situation even more awkward than it already was.
Phloria was experiencing almost the same emotions. She had avoided Lith until that day because time had helped smother her feelings, so that their relationship felt like it could be a thing of the past.
But everything seemed to be coming back after seeing him again. Phloria's mind felt so fuzzy that she didn't even remember the reason why she had brought him there.
\"Kamila seems nice. You two must be happy together.\"
\"Kallion doesn't seem bad. I hope he treats you right.\" Lith had so many things to say to her, yet only the most idiotic ones seemed to be willing to pop out of his mouth.
\"He doesn't seem bad?\" Phloria chuckled, making him realize how much he had missed that smile and the sound of her voice. \"So he doesn't seem good to you either.\"
\"I don't know him. I can only say what I see.\" Lith shrugged.
\"Why are we here?\" His question came out much colder than he intended. His brain and his mouth seemed to be disconnected.
\"I just wanted to know how are you. I mean the real you, not the mask you wear in front of everyone else. Have you mastered Death Vision yet?\" She took a step closer, realizing it was the first time she had to look up to meet eyes with him.
Their past was so distant, yet it felt like it was yesterday.
\"It's not a power, more like a curse.\" He replied.
\"I have learned how to keep it under control under normal circumstances, but that's it. To make matters worse, there's no trace of something similar in any book I've consulted. You have no idea how does it feels to watch everything and everyone you love die over and over again.\"
\"I remember it almost drove you insane.\" She sighed.
\"Did you tell your family about that thing with you and the shadows?\"
\"No. I have never told anyone else, but I got better.\" It pained him to admit that she was still the only one he had ever shared that secret with. In his mind, Solus didn't count because they didn't share anything, they were one and the same.
Lith flexed his shoulders as his second form swallowed his tuxedo. He stood slightly over two meters tall, covered in thick curved black scales with hands and feet that ended in razor sharp claws.
It still lacked the horns, the wings, and the tail which only appeared during tribulations. His face was a black slate with no nose or ears. Two yellow eyes were open, while the slits for the other five, although visible, were shut closed.
'Why did you do that?' Solus was shocked.
'I don't know.' He honestly replied. Just like when he had fought the Abomination lurking near his house, it simply felt like the right thing to do. Yet while back then it was a response to his fury, now it was to his fear.
The part of Lith which had never stopped hurting ever since Carl had died, which was so full of hatred that it only wanted the entire Mogar to burn, was trying to prove its point.
It wanted to show him that he had done the right thing by letting her go. That there was no one he could really trust. A cruel grin appeared on his face, revealing a mouth full of fangs and fire as he expected her to scream in terror.
\"Good gods.\" Phloria turned a little pale in surprise, but she didn't flinch.
\"All those years ago I was right. You do really have dragon blood in your veins.\"
\"Since when do dragons look like this?\" His voice was a low growl as he waved at his demonic appearance.
\"Dragons look however they want.\" She shrugged in reply.
\"If you had feathers, I would have thought of a phoenix or a griffon, but scales yell dragon to me.\" Phloria stepped forward instead of back, just like that night in her room. This time she needed to stand on her tiptoes to touch his scaly cheek.
\"Does it hurt?\" Even the question remained the same.
\"No. Not since I've accepted what- no, who I am. Thanks to you.\" He placed his scaly hand over her soft one, unable to hold his words anymore.
\"As I told you after the second exam, I'm a broken man, shattered into so many pieces that my original form is unrecognizable. Yet you managed to turn the metal I've spent my whole life steeling myself to be, into soft fabric.
\"Then, you spent almost two years of your life mending me. No matter how many times I pushed you away, either with my rude actions or my endless secrets, you were always there for me.
\"You picked up all those pieces that I had given up on and sewed them back together. You've seen me at my worst, yet you never gave up on me, not even when I showed you this ugly self of mine.
\"You taught me that even in this cruel world there can actually be someone who's worth trusting, someone that can accept and love me beyond what shallow words can express.\"
His thumb caressed the back of her hand as smoke and flames came out of his seven eyes in small bursts. It was supposed to scare her, but it made her cry instead. Unbeknownst even to Lith, his second life force had no blood nor tears, only fire and shadows dwelled in his body.
\"You made me want to try and be more than powerful, to be better. For all that, I'm grateful to you and I always will be. I don't care who you marry or what kind of person you'll become, I will always be there for you.
\"If you ever need my help, just call my name and I will come. I will discard my duty and my honor, I will pierce through the gates of the heavens and the netherworld if they stand in my path.
\"Not even death could prevent me from coming to fight by your side, because that's the only way I could ever repay you for what you did for me.\"
Lith turned around, assuming his human form again.
\"Now it's better if we return to the Main Hall, otherwise people will start gossiping about us. More than usual I mean.\"
Phloria stupidly nodded at his back, despite knowing he couldn't see her. She and Solus were both crying from the bottom of their hearts, because those words were the closest thing to a love confession Lith had ever done.
'Fuck me sideways! Solus, why didn't you stop me? That was the closest thing to a love confession I have ever done!' He thought.
Chapter 524 Break Up Part 1
'First, I had no idea what you were about to say. That wasn't one of your usual rehearsed speeches. Second, even if I knew, I would have never stopped you. I've been trying for years to stop you from bottling up your feelings.' Solus replied.
'I'm happy that you finally admitted how this cruel world is worth living for, yet your words hurt me deeply. I know that I have never held your hand nor hugged you when your- no, our existence seemed hopeless, but I was always there for you.
'I have told you many times the same things that Phloria, Tista, and now Kamila have said, yet you never listened. I'm part of you, but I'm not you. After all this time, and after all that we have gone through together, I should deserve your trust.'
'I trust you, Solus. I always have.' Lith tried to defend himself.
'No, you don't trust me. It's just that you can't hide anything from me, there's a big difference. After I lied to you, only once, to protect your life, you said terrible things to me, you kept me at arm's length for weeks.
'You never stopped to think how hard it had been for me nor why I did it. You never have any idea how many sacrifices I make for you until we trigger a mind fusion and then you apologize just to start over again.
'Back when we reconciled, you gave me permission to kick your ass if I ever disagreed with you, but only now have I found the strength to do it. I never get angry at you because unlike Phloria, unlike every single goddamn soul on this planet, I know the real you.
'Derek McCoy, Lith Verhen, whatever the name, I don't care. Where your family sees an iron willed man, where Kamila sees a hero, where you see a monster, I see a man that no matter how much he had to crawl, no matter how much shit he had to swallow to move forward, he never stopped fighting.
'I always respected you for that and I didn't want to become another burden for you to carry. After the wargs, after spending some time with my friends rather than yours, I've finally realized what being a person really means.
'I deserve from you the same respect I give to you and if sometimes my feelings are a burden, well, deal with it. Because I'm as real as Phloria is, I'm not just a voice in your head.'
Lith was still recovering from his own moment of weakness with Phloria, so taking in Solus's, all of her pent up feelings, left him completely speechless. He returned to his friends not knowing whether to feel like a jerk for what he had just done to Phloria, or for what he had done to Solus for all those years.
Because she was right about everything.
'By the way, while you played Romeo, I checked your Juliet with Invigoration. Her impurities are way closer to her mana core compared to the last time we checked, but she's still safe.
'You don't need to worry about her Awakening any soon. You and I still have a bit of time to find a way to make her survive her Awakening.'
Lith had been so engrossed by his emotions that he had completely forgotten about the issue with Phloria's mana core. Yet, once again Solus had covered for him, because she cared.
'Thanks, Solus. I'll never say it enough. Thank you for being my only true friend. If Phloria has been my tailor, sewing me back together, you are my mold. You kept me from losing myself over and over and you still do.'
Solus telepathically nodded, accepting the compliment. She thought about sharing with him the news about her humanoid form, but in the end, she decided against it.
'It would be a low blow. A cry for attention now that he's still emotional. As I just said, I'm not Lith. I do things my way. The right way. I don't manipulate those I love to get what I want.' She thought.
As they returned to their friends, Lith heard several whispers. Even though he couldn't piece enough of them together to get the whole story, he got the gist of it.
Luckily, Phloria and he hadn't been gone for long and Kamila had yet to give her reply. Lith and Jirni had warned both his family and his girlfriend about the risks of the gala. Messing directly with Lith was suicidal, but they were much easier targets.
In front of such an audience, losing their temper could seriously harm Lith, even if he wasn't there. Kamila and Elina were cut from the same cloth. They would have likely slapped Kallion into oblivion for his contemptuous words, yet aside from clenching their hands they smiled and didn't do anything.
'Since both the options he left me with put me in the wrong, I can only pick the third one: remain silent and hope that Lith returns quickly.'
\"What's going on here?\" Lith asked Friya while taking Kamila's hand. Not only was she his friend, but Friya was also a Lady of the family. No one could question her judgment without disrespecting the whole Ernas Household.
She told him everything, feeling a bit embarrassed for not having intervened. Quylla and she hadn't liked Kamila marking her territory since they were rooting for their sister.
\"Let me get this straight.\" Lith stood straight as an arrow, so that he could look down on Kallion while staring at him in the eyes.
\"First, you treated my date as a servant, demanding apologies only based on your assumptions. Then, you belittled my work, my magic, in front of my entire family and the rest of the guests. Lastly, by questioning her upbringing you also questioned my judgment.\"
\"Not at all. You are oversimplifying things.\" Kallion said with an aggrieved expression. \"I was simply trying to help your girlfriend and defend mine.\"
'Come on, you idiot. Challenge me, attack me or something. No one expects me to win and the harder you beat me, the worse it will be for you. It'll prove you're nothing but a bloodthirsty barbarian.' He thought.
\"Am I?\" Lith shrugged. \"Phloria, did Kamila insult you in any way?\"
\"No. I asked her about her corsage and she simply replied. It's beautiful, by the way, calling it a trinket…\" She glared at Kallion for a second before regaining her composure.
\"So, no apology was required and you did belittle my work.\" Lith repeated while staring at him in contempt.
\"I'm really sorry.\" Phloria gave Kamila a bow first and then Lith. She felt terrible since she was not only one of the hosts, but also Kallion's date.
\"No need to apologize, Phloria.\" Lith picked her up by the shoulders and made her stand tall.
\"You're one of my best friends, I could never get offended with you.\" Those words weighed more heavily than any reproach could, especially after the moment they had just shared in the side room.
Phloria felt stupid and miserable. She clenched the sides of her dress as her eyes turned watery from the rage and embarrassment, exactly like Lith had planned.
Chapter 525 Break Up Part 2
'These are the moments when you really act like a monster. How could you do that to Phloria?' Solus felt bad for her.
'If I met him in the wilds, I would have killed him. If I were in the middle of the street, I would have challenged him. Here I could only take the sugar out of his venom to reveal the snake he is. A pretty face and pretty words mean nothing.
'Phloria needs to learn her lesson and a burned hand teaches best.' Lith replied.
The moment people noticed Phloria's distress, all whispers disappeared. Quylla and Friya were glaring at Kallion like they could murder him without a second thought, and so did their brothers, their relatives, and even the members of their staff.
Kallion's plan fell into shambles as the ancient noble households left his side the moment they understood who the Ernas were siding with. There was no point in backing a dead horse and no sense in beating it.
Kallion had managed to embarrass his date, his hosts, and his entire household in one fell swoop. It was a social blunder juicy enough to liven up the evening but not enough to last more than one day. Unless of course, things escalated.
\"Phloria, would you like to take a little stroll around the park? We could use some air.\" Kallion had played his cards well by avoiding being rude and using Kamila's low social status to justify his words.
'It didn't go as well as I hoped, but everything is still fine. I only need to make sure that Phloria isn't upset and blames the little wench for the mishap.' He thought.
\"You've taken the words right out of my mouth.\" She finally raised her eyes from the floor. A warm smile appeared on her face, yet her eyes were cold.
\"We need to talk.\"
Chuckles and whispers spread throughout the Main Hall as soon as the couple walked through the glass doors leading outside.
\"Do you think she will kick him out?\" Kamila whispered to Lith's ear.
\"That's unlikely. He was subtle and I couldn't make a scene. The Ernas will lose a lot of face if she ends up without a date right off the bat.\" He replied while listening to the other guests betting about the possible outcomes.
Kallion being kicked out was given 100-1, just like their relationship lasting more than a week.
\"She treated you like crap! Someone had to say something. Why are you mad at me?\" Kallion said after all of his attempts at sweet talk were met with Phloria's cold shoulder.
\"If I thought she did, I would have put her in her place myself. You didn't do it to defend me, you did it to embarrass Lith. Or do you think I'm that stupid? Scratch that, I am that stupid, otherwise I would've never dated you.\" She was walking double time, clenching and releasing her hands to suppress her most violent urges.
\"How can you say that? I'm not completely at fault here. You could have told me you wanted to speak with him privately. You took me by surprise, asking your ex to talk, what was I supposed to do?\" Kallion tried to shift the blame again, hoping a bit of guilt would make his reasons more believable.
\"Are you saying that I am supposed to ask for your permission before talking to a friend?\" His move resulted in throwing jet fuel on the flames of her outrage.
\"No, I…\"
\"To answer your other question, you could have taken it out on Lith, like she did with me. Or, if you were that insecure about us, you could have asked me to talk about it in private before embarrassing me in front of the entire Verhen family.
\"You took it out on the most vulnerable link of the chain, instead. It seems deliberate, if not planned to me.\"
\"How can you say that?\" He managed to sound aggrieved, even though only his pride was hurt because she seemed to see through his scheme too easily.
\"How could you do that if you ever cared even one bit about me?\" Phloria rebuked.
\"We're done. You can remain for the gala, but I don't want to see you ever again.\"
Kallion tried to object, before Phloria's right hand closed on his throat lifting him off from the ground and reminding him that she was even stronger than she looked.
\"That's not up to debate. You can either say yes and act like a true gentleman for the rest of the evening or get escorted out of my house. Your choice.\"
Kallion nodded like a parrot, his lungs screaming for air.
'This is not over, you bitch. There is more than one way I can use you against that peasant. Bringing down the Ernas and the Verhen is like killing a flock of birds with just one stone.'
Meanwhile, inside the Main Hall, the butler announced the Ernas couple and then the Royal couple right after them.
\"King Meron Griffon and Queen Sylpha Griffon.\" Despite the cosmetic magic treatment, the Royals couldn't compare with the Ernas. Despite her character, Jirni had an oval face with delicate features and big eyes, whereas the Queen had sharp features and a square jaw.
After both of them had their impurities removed, the best comparison that could be drawn between them was that they respectively looked like a newlywed maiden and a drill sergeant.
\"I'm so sorry, dear.\" Jirni said to both Kamila and Lith.
\"I didn't expect Phloria to take you away. You handled things well, Kamila.\"
\"There's no need to apologize, Lady Ernas. I should have been more careful.\" Kamila was embarrassed by all the attention from the lords of the house. Too many eyes were staring at her in envy.
\"No matter how careful you were, he would have struck at the first opportunity. It's not your fault.\"
\"I apologize on behalf of my daughters.\" Orion gave Kamila a small bow, making her and the Ernas girls blush in embarrassment.
\"I'm disappointed in you. Kamila is your mother's apprentice and your friend's betrothed. You should have been more considerate toward her.\"
At those words, Lith, his relatives, and Jirni almost chocked on their wine.
\"We're not betrothed.\" Kamila managed to say with a squeaky voice.
\"You're not?\" Orion looked flabbergasted.
\"I mean, he crafted the Camellia for you, which is the most romantic forgemastered piece I've ever seen. He even made you a tiara like those Elina and his sisters are wearing. I thought you were already part of the Verhen family.\"
\"I'm a one trick pony, okay?\" Lith was beet red in embarrassment.
\"Circlets are the most elaborate pieces I can make. I'm a Forgemaster, not a goldsmith. I practiced hard to make Jirni's present and I thought it would be a waste to only use that knowledge to create a single piece.\"
\"But you made Camellias for the rest of your family too!\" Orion objected.
\"How many times do you want me to say that I'm a one trick pony? There's no hidden meaning behind them, they are not some kind of family trademark!\"
\"What's a Camellia?\" Queen Sylpha asked. After finishing her rounds among the most important nobles, she had gotten curious about the fuss between the Ernas and the Verhen.
Chapter 526 Unexpected Gift Part 1
While inwardly cursing his bad luck, Lith explained to her how he had devised the mystical flower so that it needed to be repeatedly imprinted to not wither.
\"Marvellous! A magical item that needs to be tended, making the person who receives it think about the gift giver every time they recharge it. That's the most romantic betrothal gift I have ever seen.\"
Sylpha said staring at Kamila's wrist in admiration, making both her and Lith wish the ground would swallow them whole.
\"It's not a betrothal gift. I made it as a spur of the moment gift for our second date.\"
'I told you it was too much for a second date!' Solus interrupted his inner swearing monologue.
'I never expected to be discussing my love life with the Queen! Why doesn't everyone mind their own business?' He replied.
\"You are a very lucky woman to inspire such deep feelings after only one date.\" Sylpha kept stirring it, making the matter become worse by the second.
\"My thoughts exactly, Your Majesty. I couldn't believe it when Kallion Nuragor dared to call it a 'trinket'.\" Jirni was unaware that the ship she was attempting to sink already rested on the bottom of the ocean.
\"His heart must be as rotten as his eyes to say such a thing. Isn't that right, dear?\" The King obviously agreed, and as soon as the guest learned about the Royals' opinion on the Camellia, it became unanimous that Lith was a sensitive soul and Kallion the scum of the earth.
Sylpha and Jirni were happy to introduce Kamila to some of their most notable supporters. They boasted both her lovely appearance and the Camellia, making her wish a sudden meteor could put her out of her misery.
\"Don't worry, Jirni will take good care of her.\" Orion said while dragging Lith to the Ball Room with the excuse that he needed his help to finish the final preparations before making the guests move there and commence the gala.
\"I know we have never been exactly on the best terms.\" Orion sighed.
\"I'm too jealous of my daughters and I've often acted like a jerk to you. For that, I'm deeply sorry.\" Orion gave Lith a deep bow, making his eyes open wide in surprise.
\"The past is in the past. It's no big deal.\" Lith's paranoia got knocked into twelfth gear, expecting Orion's next move to be asking him to dump Kamila and get back with Phloria.
\"No, it is a big deal. You saved my wife's life in Othre more than once and now you have rejuvenated us both. I suck with words almost as much as you do, so I've prepared a gift for you, Spellbreaker Verhen.\"
Lith inwardly smiled at those words. Like any manipulator, he liked to be underestimated. Also, receiving a gift from a Forgemaster as powerful and skilled as Orion was twice the treasure.
He had learned more about forgemastering from Orion's weapons than from most books. Orion took out a ring from his pocket dimension and handed it to Lith.
\"What does it do?\" Lith used Invigoration on it, discovering he had never seen a pseudo core like it had. The ring was shaped like a coiling dragon and it was made of electrum, an amber colored alloy of gold and silver.
It had a small purple crystal embedded in a socket between the dragon's folded wings. Invigoration revealed that the ring's surface was covered by unknown runes of power making Lith's curiosity kick up a notch.
\"It's a cloaking device for your ring. Or should I say your secret artifact?\" Orion pointed at Solus's ring. Lith didn't even attempt to deny his allegation.
His mind was running all the possible scenarios from how Orion discovered their secret to his chances of killing the man if push came to shove.
'If he knows, Jirni knows. There's no telling what contingency plans she has prepared or what kind of arrays are surrounding us.' He thought.
\"We noticed it the first time when we were fighting Nalear, but we thought it was just something you kept in your dimensional amulet. At least until Jirni saw it shapeshift before you fought Thrud.\"
Orion pretended not to notice Lith's shock and his cornered animal gaze, talking like everything was normal.
'I'm sorry.' Solus thought. 'Back then my priority was our survival, yet I shapeshifted only when I thought everyone was too busy staring at Thrud to notice.'
'You did nothing wrong, Solus. We wouldn't even be alive if not for your choice. Besides, it doesn't seem like they want to blackmail us. Months have passed since that day and Orion is giving us a gift instead.' Lith replied.
\"I don't know where you found it, but since according to my daughters you have always had it with you, I must assume you have found some legacy hidden in the Trawn woods when you were still a nameless hunter.\"
It was the only possible theory he had could think of which explained both Lith's mastery of magic and him possessing a mysterious artifact. Orion waited for a second, giving Lith the opportunity to answer, yet he was only met with silence.
\"Whatever the answer, you can't just go around with that thing on your finger. If someone finds out about its existence, best case scenario they'll steal it from you. Artifacts capable of changing their size to such a degree usually hold great powers.
\"It could tempt many to the point that they would be willing to face the wrath of the Royals to have it. Also, you're not a shut in, there are beings out there that don't care about the Association or the army, like the undead Courts.\"
\"Why are you doing this?\" Lith moved his eyes from the ring to Orion non stop, like he expected one if not both of them to sucker punch him.
\"Kid, you really are a piece of work.\" Orion sighed.
\"I told you, you saved my daughters and my wife more than once. That means the world for someone like me, even for Jirni. Maybe we'll never be in-laws, but you earned your place in this family and the Ernas protect their own.\"
Lith imprinted the ring to make sure it was really without a master and not some kind of slave item.
\"How does it work?\" Lith asked.
\"It's standard black ops equipment for those who carry weapons which are not supposed to exist. It suppresses the magical aura of an item, making it undetectable to most creatures and artifacts capable of sensing magic.
\"Silver is great for forgemastering, gold is terrible, but if you mix them together the resulting alloy is capable of conducting magic like silver but prevents it from leaking outside thanks to the gold's disrupting nature.\"
\"Do all alloys have special effects?\" Lith slipped the ring on right in front of Solus's.
\"You wish. Only some of them and only if used in the right proportions. This kind of knowledge is imparted only from master to apprentice, you'll not find any of this in any book unless is part of a mage's legacy.\"
'By my maker!' Solus's mana sense confirmed Orion words and revealed more.
'It's actually even better than he says. My aura has disappeared and you now you appear to have a yellow mana core, a static one at that.'
'Do you mean that..?'
'Yes. The hairpin Marchioness Distar wears is not meant to hide her mana core. That's logical if you consider fake mages can't see mana cores, or they wouldn't even perform the academy's entrance test.
'She hides some kind of weapon on herself. The cloaking of her mana core is just a side effect.'
Chapter 527 Unexpected Gift Part 2
'Okay, it can hide your magical aura. What about your life force?' Lith couldn't believe his own ears. So far everything was too good to be true.
'That's what you have to tell me.' Solus sneered. 'We must see if it shields me from outside detection, my Invigoration is bound to work on myself.'
Lith focused on his breathing technique and discovered that just like Solus had predicted, his mana core still appeared to be deep blue to him, while Solus's had disappeared.
Her life force, however, was still there. Tiny, almost invisible, but still there.
'Dammit! Almost only works with nukes and grenades, but at least it's a start.' Lith thought.
'I never thought the day would come where you would see the glass as half full.' Solus chuckled. 'Now I'm curious about what kind of weapon the Marchioness always carries with herself.'
Yet that was a question for another day.
\"Thanks, Orion. Does it have any other properties I should know about?\" Lith was truly grateful, but he kept looking around like a trapped animal.
\"Stop looking around like a trapped animal, dammit! I'm offering you my sincere gratitude and I'm also violating several laws by giving you such a magical treasure without official authorization.
\"If anyone finds out, they would take away your ring and I would be executed. The least you could do is trust me a little bit.\" Orion blurted out in exasperation.
\"Also, no. It doesn't have any other purpose. Gold is such a pain in the ass that even with the purple mana crystal and a whole network of runes, one spell is all it can hold without crumbling.\"
Lith looked at the coiled dragon at his finger. He was so moved by Orion's gesture that he almost set aside his paranoia.
Almost.
\"Why are you doing so much for me? Binding your fate to mine is too much. You never liked me and our relationship is shallow at best.\"
\"You're right. Our relationship is shallow. Jirni, however, almost cares for you like a son and my little flower…
\"Well, that's not up to me to tell. I know she would lose a big piece of her heart if something happened to you, and another one if she discovers that I could have prevented it yet I didn't do anything.\"
Orion's big heart baffled Lith more than his reincarnations did.
He couldn't understand how someone like Jirni could love such a softie. Lith loved his mother, yet he wouldn't hesitate to kill Orpal or Trion if they ever posed a threat to his family, no matter how important they still were to her.
How he could risk so much to protect his family's feelings rather than just their safety was beyond Lith.
\"I gladly accept your gift and your gratitude.\" Lith replied.
\"There's not much I can offer you, but if there's anything I can do to return the favor, you just need to ask.\"
\"Good gods, you're the spitting image of my wife back when we first met. It's not a gift if you pay for it. Anyway, while we are at it, Jirni is about to ask you to become our family's Healer. It would be nice of you to say yes.\"
\"Are you kidding me? Quylla is almost as good as I am and Friya is an excellent Healer too. What do you guys need me for?\"
\"Sadly, almost only works for fireballs and meteors.\" Orion replied.
\"Manohar is unreliable, while you are the next best thing and you are always just a call away. As our Healer, no matter if you're in the army or the Association, your patients come first.
\"We get priority in case of emergency and you get a perfect excuse to visit whenever you want. It's a win-win. Think about it while I let my guests in.\"
Lith inwardly cursed as he remembered he had yet to set up the Ballroom. The place was as big as a football field.
Its floor was made of cream colored marble. Together with the light brown walls, it gave warmth to the room and gave the light coming from the enchanted crystal chandeliers illuminating the room the same tinges real fire would.
A small bandstand with a low wooden fence to separate it from the dancers had been prepared for the musicians near the east wall. Refreshment tables were lined up along all the other walls.
Food and beverages were kept warm and cold by their magical containers.
On the four corners of the room, there was a flight of stairs which lead to a balcony on the first floor, where sofas and armchairs were arranged around small tables for those who needed a place to rest, eat, watch others dance or simply wanted to spend their time in conversation.
\"All this waiting and you have yet to start? I hope a major disappointment wasn't what you had in mind when you promised me a memorable evening.\" Jirni's expression while pouting was cute. Too cute, to the point that it gave Lith the creeps.
'Is this the effect I have on people when I go from friendly to homicidal in a heartbeat?' Lith thought.
\"Perfection requires time. Also, I thought you would enjoy the show.\" Lith lied through his teeth, fooling everyone but Jirni.
\"How thoughtful of you! Phloria, Kallion, come here. Lith says we're in a for a real treat.\" Her fake enthusiasm held a tinge of cruelty while she called the couple and forced Lith to go beyond what he had originally planned.
Phloria was still holding Kallion's arm, but her fingers were barely touching him. The coldness her plastered smile emanated could have easily turned Mogar into a frozen wasteland.
Jirni had just served him an opportunity to pay back Kallion for his words and guaranteed herself that Lith would not spare any effort. Two birds with one stone.
Lith accepted her challenge, raising his open hands while he took a deep breath. His shadow spread from his feet in every direction, like a black sun that engulfed the entire Ballroom turning it into twilight.
A few millimeters thick layer of water covered the floor, quickly followed by a fine mist. Mogar had no underwear, Lith didn't want people to look under the ladies' ballgown thanks to the reflection.
\"That's it?\" Kallion sneered. \"First magic can hardly be considered a treat. It's a cheap trick just like that corsage…\" He was unaware his words were not only demeaning Lith's skills but also the Queen's opinion.
Rushes made of light sprouted from the floor as six different kind of flowers, one for each element, bloomed above the water. A silvery sphere enveloped each one of the chandeliers, turning them into small moons while small wisps appeared on the blackened ceiling like starlight.
\"Oh gods! If I didn't know we were inside my own home, I'd really think we're under the moon.\" Jirni walked above the water, discovering it wasn't slippery at all. She tried to touch the rushes and the flowers, but they were all ethereal.
\"I'm not done yet.\" A wave of Lith's hand made some of the flowers turn into small fairies that moved around the room as shooting stars darted across the fake night sky.
Together they formed a path of lights, leading the Ernas couple to the center of the stage where a giant reflection of the moon waited like a spotlight for them to open the dances.
\"Well said, Mage Nuragor. It's just a cheap trick.\" Sylpha's voice expressed all the joy she felt for being openly contradicted in front of such a large audience.
\"I'm sure you can do much better.\"
Chapter 528 Failure Part 1
Despite being calm and composed, the Queen's voice echoed throughout the whole Ballroom thanks to both its perfect acoustics and a little air magic spell she added to make sure all eyes were on her victim.
\"Her Majesty is right, Kallion.\" Phloria smiled warmly while hugging his arm, pretending that as his girlfriend she believed in his skills and words.
\"You always tell me that back when you graduated from the academy, people called you 'the Lith of the Fire Griffon'. This is the perfect occasion to show both my family and the Royals what you are capable of.\"
Cold sweat ran down Kallion's spine as cruel remarks filled the room.
\"What an idiot to blatantly slander the Camellia again after the Queen praised it.\" Said a Duchess well aware that the fan she was using to cover her mouth couldn't muffle her voice at all.
\"He's worse than an idiot.\" Said another noble dame that despite her human appearance Solus recognized as an undead from her blood core.
\"There's no glory being called 'the Lith of the Fire Griffon'. It means he is still considered inferior to the original, otherwise they would call Lith 'the Kallion of the White Griffon.'. In his shoes, I wouldn't flaunt such a title.\"
Lith dissipated the illusion he had created with a snap of his finger, turning the fairy tale lake back into a luxurious but ordinary ballroom.
\"How many first magic spells did you weave together, Great Mage Verhen?\" Queen Sylpha emphasized every syllable of Lith's title.
\"Fifteen, Your Majesty.\" His words caused a small uproar among the guests, but Sylpha only needed to raise her hand to make the room silent again.
\"The Crown praises your skill and relentless practice. A mage's worth can be measured by the number of spells they can cast. Anything else is just empty air.\"
She turned towards Kallion, her gaze lost any trace of benevolence.
\"Mage Nuragor, prove your worth.\"
Kallion barely held in the hatred he felt when he noticed that Phloria was still smiling despite his evident distress.
'I hoped she had changed her mind about me, but that witch was only digging me a deeper grave!' He thought while taking a few deep breaths to calm down and focus his mind.
He hadn't lied about his title back at the academy, Kallion simply had never understood the implications of being compared to someone rather than being the benchmark.
Darkness spread from his body, making the room become pitch black. Only after several attempts did he manage to make the shadows fade enough to see further than his own nose.
He then conjured a thin layer of water that drenched everyone's shoes and gowns, making many curse his incompetence. After that, a thick fog appeared, which made the air humid and sticky.
\"This seems more like a marsh than a lake.\" King Meron grunted as he used air magic to find some relief.
The laughs following his remark made Kallion lose focus, so that when he tried to imitate starlight, his light and darkness spells canceled each other.
\"I'm not going to judge until I see the final result. I counted four spells, so you still have eleven to go.\" Sylpha never averted her gaze, making him feel the full weight of her disdain.
Kallion did his best, but like most mages, he had always considered first magic irrelevant compared to tier five spells. His attempt to use a fifth spell while he still had to keep active and balance the other four made them all disappear at once.
A second and third attempt only resulted in more blatant failures and further humiliation. At every iteration, he was more tired and angry, until he couldn't take it anymore.
\"I can't do it, Your Majesty. Four is my limit.\" Kallion fell to his knees incapable of looking the Royals or his peers in the eyes.
\"Four?\" The Queen echoed the word like it was an insult.
\"Isn't first magic just a cheap trick? Isn't Great Mage Verhen just a maker of trinkets? How dare you belittle others when you're not even able to wield more than four spells at once?\"
\"I can wield far more than four!\" Kallion raised his head and hands, conjuring eight different elemental effects on his fingers.
\"Eight would be great if those were not unlinked spells and all the size of a pinhole. Can you at least do this?\" A Silverwing's Hexagram the size of a handkerchief appeared above Sylpha's palm.
It was the impossible array that had earned Lith his admission with honors at the White Griffon academy when he was still twelve. Kallion and all of those presents understood the question underlying the Queen's words.
\"No.\" Kallion shook his head without even giving it a try. His spirit was already broken. Since another humiliation was unavoidable, he decided to make it last as little as possible.
\"So much for the 'Lith of the Fire Griffon'.\" Sylpha turned her back to him.
\"We've already lost too much time. Great Mage Verhen, it's your turn again.\"
Lith had devised many ways to humiliate Kallion further, but since everyone was already kicking him while he was down, any more could have turned the spite into pity, so Lith only did as instructed.
While Orion and Jirni opened the ball by dancing the first waltz alone, Solus warned Lith about her discoveries.
'I've detected four undead and one Awakened among the guests.'
'Is Kaelan among them?' The vampire from Othre was the first one who came to Lith's mind. He discarded the idea immediately, since attacking him in front of so many powerful mages was worse than suicidal.
Both the King and the Queen had purple mana cores and many members of the house staff were actually elite warriors in disguise.
'No.' Solus replied. 'I don't think they are here together, nor that they have an agenda. All they've done so far is mingle and gossip. I think they are just here to enjoy the gala.'
'Any idea what kind of undead we're talking about?' Lith asked while the Royals joined the dance, quickly followed by the others.
'None. All I can say is that the undead duchess from earlier is the strongest among the four. The other three are nothing compared to her.'
'What about the Awakened?' Lith and Kamila joined the dance too, forcing him to add his own feet to the already long list of things he had to focus on.
'A woman in her mid twenties, but she could actually be much older. Blue mana core, so her magic should be a bit stronger than yours, but her physical prowess is inferior to yours.
'I wonder why all the Awakened we meet have this trait in common.' Solus pondered.
'Probably because I Awakened at birth. Even if they were born with better mana cores than mine, my body has been refined while it developed whereas theirs need to slowly adapt.'
\"Are you sure you can afford to dance?\" Kamila's worried voice interrupted their mind link.
\"Keeping so many spells active at once must be excruciating. I've never seen you with such a stern expression.\" She wasn't far from the truth. Lith could either speak with Solus or with her, he didn't have the strength to do both.
Chapter 529 Failure Part 2
\"I don't care what we do. As long as we are together it's a date to me.\" Kamila moved her right hand from Lith's shoulder to his cheek, caressing it gently. That simple gesture filled him with joy.
\"Thanks, but there's no need for that. I was just thinking about how lucky I am to have you in my life.\" His smile and words made Kamila's heart pound. Lith wasn't one for sweet talk, he would only say such things when he meant them.
Lith took a deep breath, using Invigoration to replenish part of his mana and release Death Vision from its fetters. In his eyes, the entire Ballroom turned into a grotesque nightmare where rotten corpses danced amid blood spatters.
He tried not to look around, focusing only on Kamila's smile. As long as she was between his arms, she was safe from Death Vision's effects. A beacon of life in a sea of dead bodies.
'If I don't suppress Death Vision, I've more than enough mental strength to do everything at once. Kamila deserves to enjoy her first gala without having to constantly worry about me.' He thought.
'She's so sweet and unaware of all the bad things which happened to me in the past. When I'm with her, I can forget about everything but the present. Kamila is my second chance, my opportunity to start from scratch.'
The only silver lining of Death Vision was that it allowed Lith to immediately spot the undead among the crowd. They were the only ones that would not age nor die of poison or illness.
They weren't paying any attention to him, so he was careful not to stare while using their deaths to discern their nature.
One of them would oddly always die in the same way. Her disguise reverted into a desiccated corpse before it turned to dust. Yet there was no sign of spells or injury, her body would simply collapse as if the magic animating it was gone.
As if a switch had been flipped.
Another would only die when his head was destroyed or his heart pierced. After that, his body would turn into ashes. The other two seemed to be much easier to kill. No matter if by weapon or spell, when their bodies sustained enough damage they would respectively turn into a pool of water and be set ablaze.
Lith was wondering why the bestiary stored inside Soluspedia didn't include the details about what happened after destroying an undead when the music ended.
'That information would allow me to use Death Vision to identify them. Without it I can only get a faint idea about their weak points.' He inwardly griped.
\"Between facing that Kallion jerk, meeting the Royals, and being introduced to all those nobles like I'm some sort of a princess, I've really had too much excitement for one evening. I need a little rest.\"
Kamila's cheeks were flushed red from the dancing but she wasn't tired. She was just worried about Lith and was giving him an excuse to relax a bit. Lith understood her intentions immediately and accompanied her to the first floor, where they were offered food and drinks by the waiters.
\"How do you feel?\" She prompted after asking the staff to move a chair near the balcony for him, so that he wouldn't lose visual contact with his spells and with it the surgical control he had been exerting on them.
\"Much better, thanks.\" Her care moved Lith so deeply that he would have kissed her if the rules of etiquette didn't strictly forbid public displays of affection.
\"You were right. I let my anger get the better of me. Maintaining fifteen spells that interact with each other and the guests is a bit too much, even for me.\" He sighed as he moved the spotlight on the Royal couple for the next dance.
\"Why did you do it? That jerk isn't worth this much effort.\" Kamila switched his glass of wine with grape juice. Lith needed focus and energy, not to get drunk.
\"But you are.\" He replied while taking a sip. \"After what he did to you, Mage Nuragor needed a royal beating.\"
Lith had a hard time keeping the edge off his voice and his murderous impulses under control. His instinct had marked Kallion as an enemy, and he wasn't used to giving them a second chance.
Killing him was out of the question. Too many witnesses and too many arrays. More importantly, he didn't want to scare Kamila or his family. Some aspects of his life had to remain hidden.
In the opposite corner of the room, the Ernas siblings were resting their feet. Between handling the preparations and welcoming their guests, it was their first opportunity in hours to sit.
Phloria was in no mood to dance. After a single dance as a formality, Kallion had left the gala with the excuse of feeling ill. She had lost her date and her source of entertainment. Misery loves company and Phloria was no exception.
Seeing his anguish at every snarky remark he was the target of whenever they met another couple on the dance floor was the only relief for her wounded pride. They had yet to get to the point where she started to plan their future together, but she had fallen for Kallion's ruse enough that she had hoped there could be one.
Friya had no date and was happier that way. Quylla was brooding because her boyfriend, Anathor, had not attended the gala, making her suspicion that he was just playing with her feelings even stronger.
They also felt guilty for not defending Kamila when Kallion had tried to embarrass her. Orion's words had stung and even though Lith didn't add anything, his disappointed look spoke volumes.
\"Usually, I wouldn't approve of that guy.\" Gunyin, the eldest brother, pointed at Lith with his glass, tired of his sister stealing glances at the couple and sighing.
\"He's shorter than me and seems weaker than dad, but compared to that other guy at least he has talent. I think you made a mistake letting so much time pass.\"
\"Is this your opinion, or are you borrowing mom's as usual?\" Phloria rebuked.
\"For once, I'm with the beanpole.\" Tulion, the profligate brother, was shorter than Phloria. He was 1.73 meters tall with blonde hair and blue eyes. He had taken his looks from his mother's side, yet where his attitude came from was still a mystery.
\"Of all the boyfriends you've had, I've never seen you as happy as when you and the little monster were together. You know I like people staying out of my personal life just like I stay out of theirs, but I have to ask.
\"What went so wrong that you decided on such a clean break? I mean, even Gunyin can tell you still have feelings for him.\" Gunyin nodded, not taking his brother's words as an insult so much as truth.
He had been raised as the future Lord, betrothed before he was ten years old and married right after he came of age. His skills lay in numbers, business, and politics. Everything else was just a means to an end: the glory of House Ernas.
Chapter 530 Leaving Part 1
\"During my fourth year at the White Griffon, I only approached him because I needed a friend. I was tired of everyone around me, even my family, trying to turn me into the person they believed I was meant to be.\" Phloria cast a Hush spell, to make sure no one would eavesdrop.
\"Over time, I came to like Lith more and more not because he was powerful or talented, but because he was the only one that saw me for who I was and accepted me anyway. He never cared if I always had a sword with me or if I wore pants instead of a dress.
\"It was liberating after being weighed, measured, and found wanting all my life, no matter how much effort I put in.\"
Aside from Quylla, they could all relate to her words. Belonging to a noble family meant a life of duty, and competing with everyone from birth, no matter if they were peers or family members.
That was the reason why during the academy both Friya and Phloria were considering running away from their respective families. Why Gunyin's whole existence was devoted to ensuring their bloodline would thrive and continue.
Tulion had chosen to become the Ernas's black sheep to escape from such a destiny.
\"Our relationship wasn't all sunshine and rainbows. There were too many silences, too many secrets between us. I waited for him to open up and tell me, but he never did. Breaking up with him was painful, but it was the right thing to do. We both needed space to grow and we did.\"
\"Do you think Lith has opened up to Kamila?\" Quylla asked.
\"No.\" Phloria shook her head.
\"How can you be so sure?\"
\"Because I asked him. After all the things mom told us about them, I hoped that Lith had finally found someone capable of cracking his shell, or at least someone he is able to show his weaknesses to.
\"I can only pray that Kamila is stronger than I was, otherwise she's destined to follow the same path as I did.\" Phloria sighed.
\"Let me get this straight.\" Tulion looked her in the eyes.
\"After scoping out the competition, you went straight to him to see how solid their relationship is. I don't know what you two talked about, but it's pretty clear that Lith must have shared something with you that he didn't with Kamila.
\"So now you're waiting for them to break up to catch him on the rebound and make him open up when he's at his weakest. Your plan is vicious, cruel, and cunning. Mom will be proud of you.\"
\"Agreed.\" Gunyin nodded, making Phloria facepalm.
'I simply meant that, even though Lith has changed for the better during the past four years, it's still not enough. At least for me. Without trust and friendship, love is too fragile a feeling to last.
The more you love someone, the more painful it is when you realize they have always kept you at the fringes of their heart.' She thought.
***
After several dances, the King had the musicians stop. Everyone on the first floor came down to the Ballroom, leaving a circular space around the Royals.
\"My dear subjects, I'm glad to see that even the most reclusive among us have accepted my invitation and took part in the gala. I hope you've been enjoying the evening.\"
Lith didn't miss how the King had looked directly at the undead during the first part of his speech.
\"Tonight, we haven't assembled only to enjoy each other's company, but also to honor and pay our respects to those who have loyally served the Kingdom, even at great personal cost.
Lady Jirni Ernas, step forward.\"
Jirni did as instructed, kneeling in front of the Royals with her head down.
\"House Ernas has always been one of the pillars of our Kingdom, but your meritorious acts as a Royal Constable have exceeded what any of your forefathers have ever done. For that, you are promoted to the rank of Archon.\"
The crowd was left astounded. Archons were the supreme magistrates in charge of supervising the work of Royal Constables. It was a role usually reserved for members of the Royal family because the authority it granted was second only to the Crown itself.
\"Stand up, Archon Ernas, and take the insignia of your new role.\" Jirni obeyed, her face was a mask of joy and respect. Yet Lith could see she wasn't happy. Being an Archon meant more work, more danger, more enemies.
'I was expecting to be promoted to Head Constable, not this.' Jirni thought. 'There must be internal strife within the Royal family, and the King needs someone he can trust.'
\"Great Mage Verhen, step forward.\" The King said as soon as Jirni left the center stage.
\"House Verhen is young and you are its very foundation. For freeing the Kingdom of the eternal threat of the Black Star, for protecting the city of Othre, and for your contributions in vanquishing the monster outbreaks, I bestow upon you the title of Spellbreaker.
\"You are hereby recognized as one of the Kingdom's most trusted elite in dealing with rogue mages and as such your help will be required in times of need. The title grants you the title of Baron and the annuities it deserves even though it comes with no fief.\"
'Money for my research and no new responsibilities.' Lith inwardly sighed in relief. After what had just happened to Jirni, he was afraid that his reward was going to be bittersweet too.
***
After the gala, Kamila exchanged communication runes with Quylla and Friya. They were truly sorry for what had happened with Kallion and were willing to make it up to her.
'They seem to be sincere, but even if they are not, they are still part of Lady Ernas's family and most importantly a part of Lith's life. He's very fond of them, so they deserve a chance. Besides, it would be nice to hear something about their days at the academy.
'Lith has never talked about his past except after I explained to him why I'm estranged from my family. I guess he's the kind of man who opens up only if I do it first. Or maybe I should just ask him instead on walking on eggshells.
'Gods, now that he's a Baron, my colleagues will never let me hear the end of it!' Kamila thought.
Jirni and Lith congratulated each other, and so did their respective families.
To Kamila Jirni said: \"Be ready to assume your role as field assistant Constable. Now that I'm an Archon and Lith is a Spellbreaker, I'm sure that your application will coincidentally take priority.\"
Her voice oozed sarcasm.
\"I hope I don't have to wait four more years to see you again.\" Phloria said with a sad smile.
\"I'm only half responsible for that. You have my contact rune and I doubt it would be hard for a Captain to locate a Lieutenant.\" Lith stressed his point by giving her a salute.
\"Even if you choose to avoid Spellbreaker Smartass here, feel free to visit us anytime. We missed you a lot and so did the kids.\" Rena hugged Phloria, making her feel guilty for her prolonged absence.
\"I'll visit you when I get my next leave. Unless it's a sick leave, I should have enough time.\"
\"Don't worry, dear.\" Jirni chuckled. \"I've asked Lith to become our family Healer and he accepted. The next time you get injured in action, I'll make sure you receive proper care.
Chapter 531 Leaving Part 2
Lith resumed his duty as a Ranger and since he had used most of his free days preparing for the gala and recovering from the clash with Tezka, his schedule was very busy.
Qinyu, Friya, and Quylla would have to wait for their turn before he could help them. Weeks passed and soon the entirety of the north was covered in snow.
Most of the time he was called to quell the riots caused by the lack of food in poor neighborhoods, or to discipline merchants who ignored the tiered food prices imposed by the Crown thanks to the support of local mercenary guilds.
The insides of Solus's tower had been completely redecorated with the coat of arms Lith had chosen for his Household. It depicted a black and red dragon coiled around a tower. A magic staff and a sword were crossed below the tower.
Now it was embroidered on every carpet, curtain, and tapestry in every room.
\"You really have great taste in coat of arms.\" Solus was proud of her complete form standing proud in the middle.
\"Why the dragon? Is it because of what Phloria said?\" She asked feigning simple curiosity.
\"No. It's because dragons are symbols of power while demons are a symbol of misfortune. I already have the reputation of being bad luck, there's no reason to give more fuel to those rumors. Can you please remove some of the banners? I find them tacky.\"
\"How can you say that? I even mimicked the positioning they have inside house Ernas and you've always said their house is classy!\" Solus was outraged at being called tacky.
\"It's classy because with so much space and high end furniture you can ignore those tacky coats of arms. Maybe it's because you are a shorty that you don't realize that the tower feels cramped with so much crap.\" He chuckled.
Ever since he had seen her light body after they merged for the second time, Solus had become sensitive about height issues. It had gotten even worse after Lith had grown so tall.
\"I'm not short, you insensitive jerk! I'm petite, there's a big difference…\"
Lith's army amulet interrupted their quarrel.
\"Ranger Verhen, what's your status?\" Kamila's voice was worried.
\"I'm still a bachelor, but who knows what the future holds?\"
\"I meant your position! There is a huge snowstorm approaching the spot of your last report.\"
\"Don't worry, I've created an underground cave as shelter.\" He said as Solus warped them from Lutia back to the north and modified the appearance of the tower entrance to resemble an actual cave.
Lith gave Solus thumbs up for her excellent work and activated the hologram function.
\"How are you? Do you have enough food? The storm may last a few days.\" Kamila was relieved that the cave was deep enough she couldn't even hear the wind.
\"I have plenty of food. Anything else?\"
\"Yes. As soon as the snowstorm ends, you're expected in Jambel. They have a problem with a dungeon.\"
\"A dungeon? This time of the year?\" Lith didn't bother to hide his disbelief. Unlike in Earth's videogames, dungeons didn't magically appear out of nowhere.
Monsters were chaotic and bloodthirsty creatures, unwilling to cooperate even with members of their own tribe, let alone with other species. Sometimes, however, a monster with great power and intellect was born.
That kind of creature was capable of enslaving all the other tribes in the surroundings and create an underground fortress thanks to earth magic. Such places were called dungeons or labyrinths and they were chock full of monsters and traps.
Any sane person would stay far away from them and call the army the moment people started to disappear.
\"Yes and yes. It's odd because there has been no sign of monster activity for months there, yet the town has been already attacked twice during the last week by a group composed of different creatures.\"
\"How did they survive the encounter?\"
\"Winter is a great shield. Deep snow slowed their movements and the strong chilly winds sapped their strength. Monsters don't wear warm clothes, so whenever they attempted to climb Jambel's high walls, the guards only needed to throw buckets of water on them to kill or incapacitate them.
\"The problem is that the second group was stronger and better equipped, otherwise they wouldn't have called for our help. The people of Jambel are proud of their strength.\"
\"Is that a polite way of saying that they're a bunch of pricks who despise outsiders?\" Lith asked.
\"According to army regulations, my answer is no.\" Kamila said while nodding.
\"Great. I can't wait to experience the local hospitality.\" Lith smiled while banging the back of his head against the wall. He was tired of being treated like crap just because his skin wasn't pale white or his hair being black.
\"Your next report is due tomorrow morning. Over and out.\" His handler closed the communication too hastily, making Lith inwardly gripe in advance.
\"What did I do wrong this time?\" He waited a few minutes before calling her with his civilian amulet. Their daily routine involved at least two calls a day, one during breakfast, while they were both off duty, and one at the end of her shift.
\"Only one way to find out.\" Solus sighed.
\"Hi, Kami. Are you excited about tomorrow? It's your first day as field assistant, after all.\" Lith opted for a soft approach. No flattery nor small talk, asking her about something she cared to show her that it mattered to him too.
\"You remembered! Yes, I'm very nervous but also very happy. It's a dream come true.\" Her frown turned upside down, bestowing upon Lith one of her warm smiles he loved so much. Sadly, it didn't last long.
\"But let's talk about that later. Why didn't you tell me that Quylla had a huge crush on you back at the academy?\" She pouted with her arms and legs crossed. That day she was wearing a black pencil skirt, so that pose exposed and emphasized her slender legs.
Unfortunately, Lith didn't have the opportunity to enjoy the scenery.
\"Why would I tell you something like that? It was just puppy love from a small girl. It was as irrelevant back then as it is now.\" Lith pinched his nose in frustration.
\"First, because I'm your girlfriend and I would like to know when I meet one of your exes to avoid embarrassing situations. Second, it's not irrelevant at all since she's one of your best friends!\"
After exchanging their communication runes, Quylla and Kamila spoke often. They could both use a good friend.
Also, Kamila wanted to learn about Lith's past while Quylla was curious about life in the north and wanted to make sure Lith was alright. Jirni's birthday had been their first meeting since he had joined the army. Quylla missed him dearly.
The issue had come to light while talking about their respective past relationships. It had made Kamila fear she had overshared with Quylla, embarrassing her in their previous conversations.
\"She's not an ex. Quylla has never been anything more than a friend, period. Do you want to know about my days with Friya and Yurial too while we are at it?\"
His retort sounded too much like \"Do you feel also threatened by men?\" to Kamila's ears, but she didn't budge and rose to the occasion.
Chapter 532 Virtue of the Strong Part 1
\"Actually, yes. I would love to. If these things are so irrelevant, why are you so secretive about them? We've been together for quite some time now. You can't keep me out of your life like that.\"
Lith recognized this moment and hated it with all of his heart. It was the moment when things in a relationship went from simple fun to serious. Back on Earth, it was his cue to dump or wait to get dumped.
Lith called it \"the nagging point\" and it put him at a crossroad. He could turtle up, making their relationship turn sour, or open up with the risk that one question would lead to another until Kamila asked about something he couldn't share.
Lith knew that she cared and she was trying to make things between them work, yet he was scared of the consequences the nagging point cold have.
He would have found it easier to fight and kill several Abominations rather than facing that choice. Until this point, their busy schedule and being apart for extended periods of time had made Kamila be patient, avoiding sensitive issues.
For a moment, Kamila's image was replaced by Phloria's. She had asked him to open up too, until she had given up. Back then he had been happy about it, mistaking it for acceptance. Now he knew better.
\"Can this please wait for my return? There are things I'm not comfortable talking about from a distance.\"
\"It's fine if you don't feel ready to share your past, I just want you to be honest with me.\" Kamila's voice lost its edge, turning sweet again.
\"We'll talk once I'm back. I promise.\"
***
The following day, Lith had Solus Warp as near as possible to Jambel, reaching it a few minutes after sunrise. Jambel was a medium sized fortress city, entirely built of stone.
It was too far from the commercial routes to depend on merchants, so it was designed to be self sufficient all year round. The city was built near two big lakes, which provided fish and fresh water, while cultivated fields surrounded the city walls until the woods begin.
They were the main source for game and wood, so the inhabitants of Jambel treated it with great respect. They planted two trees for each one they cut down and used turnover to give them time to grow.
Unlike Maekosh, there were no slums. Even the poorest houses were solid, the only wood buildings were tool sheds. Jambel's walls were five meters (16') high and wide enough that two armed people could easily walk side by side.
They were made of grey stone and smoothed so that during the day they would partially reflect the sunlight and blind the aggressors. Lith landed a few hundred meters from the city gates, so as to not scare the guards.
He was very surprised when he reached the gates without anyone ordering him to halt or identify himself. Even more when the city lord came out to greet him while the soldiers stood at attention.
\"Ranger Verhen, thanks for coming so quickly. We were starting to fear that we would have to face the third wave of monsters alone.\" Baron Eiros Wyalon was a man in his late thirties, about 1.78 meters (5'10\") tall.
He had red hair and a finely trimmed beard, with blue eyes as clear as the twin lakes in front of the city. He was wearing a light armor that emphasized his lean but muscular build.
Even the city guards had clean and proper uniforms. Each one of them was physically fit and their equipment well cared for. The Baron looked more like a soldier than a noble, just like his men seemed to be veterans.
\"A third wave? What makes you think they will be back?\" Lith shook the Baron's hand. His grip was vigorous but friendly. The noble wasn't trying to test Lith.
\"After the second one, I sent some scouts to follow the survivors back to the dungeon. There's a lot of them and they're damn hungry. When they noticed their companions coming back empty handed, they killed and cooked them on the spot.\"
\"That's one heck of a hunger.\" Lith was more surprised at the scouts' willingness to risk their neck. So far, every city he had been to, was full of people who just whined and waited for his intervention.
\"My point exactly.\" Wyalon nodded while offering Lith a mount. There was one horse for each soldier, no stagecoach waited for the city lord. Thankfully, Lith had learned how to ride during the boot camp.
\"Monsters cannot fish and most animals ran away when the creatures first appeared. We are the only thing they can feed upon for miles.\"
With so little practice he was a lousy rider, but between his physique and the well trained horse, he had no problem reaching the Baron's Mansion. It was a two storey manor, something Lith would have expected from a merchant, not a city lord.
Each floor was barely as big as the Ernas' Ballroom. Only brickwork and a small garden separated the Mansion from the surrounding houses, and there was none more luxurious.
\"Only a fool would waste money to build himself a castle if the whole city around him easily burns.\" Baron Wyalon answered Lith's silent question.
\"I prefer spending the gold from the taxes to make the whole of Jambel safe. People with a roof over their head and an honest day job don't turn to crime. Besides, my missus and I don't need much. Hungry?\"
\"Yes. Can I be completely honest with you?\" Lith walked through the front door while a butler welcomed them home. The hallway was about 20 square meters (215 square feet), with walls and floor covered by white painted wood.
There was a cabinet for the clothes and a small fireplace above which was a series of hangers to dry coats drenched by snow. A soft carpet led to the other rooms, covering most of the floor and keeping the house warm.
\"Absolutely. You're about to risk your life for my people and my city is under siege. I'd much prefer for us to drop the formalities rather than waste our time with pretty words.\"
The butler took the Baron's mantle while the noble sat on one of the chairs near the door to take off his dirty boots and replaced them with clean ones. Lith shapeshifted his clothes to show the man he didn't need his help, making him flinch in surprise.
The furniture in every room was made of high-quality materials, but its design wasn't ostentatious.
\"This isn't the kind of hospitality I was expecting. I heard things about Jambel. Unpleasant things.\" Lith took a mental note of everything.
The Baron's house wasn't great, but it definitely was a home. It was warm and cozy. Each one of its rooms was lived-in, not just designed for impressing guests. It was like he wanted his own house to be.
\"They are all true.\" The Baron said with a smug grin.
\"We have little patience for outsiders who come into our homes and expect to be served like lords. We bow to no one just because of their wealth, status, or rank. So, rest assured, here you have only friends.\"
Chapter 533 Virtue of the Strong Part 2
\"Meaning?\" Lith was starting to understand the Baron's way of life.
\"You're my equal, but not because you too are a Baron, but because you earned your title. I've heard a lot about you and so have my people. You slew a wyvern as a boy and a dragon as a man. We respect strength here.\"
\"It was just a man in dragon form.\" Lith pointed out.
\"Strong and humble! Tell me, lad, when do you plan to start your hunt?\"
\"When you point me the way.\" Lith shrugged.
\"See? That's what I'm talking about. Come, there's a lot to eat and even more to discuss before you leave. Failure's not an option.\"
Lith followed the Baron to the dining hall, where the Baroness and their children were having breakfast. The Lady stood up to give their guest a proper greeting, quickly followed by her children.
\"Baron Verhen, this is my wife, Mirias and my children, Kotu and Iriel.\" The Baroness was a woman in her mid thirties, with blonde hair and green eyes.
She was a good head shorter than her husband and Lith would have considered her pretty, if not for the milky white skin typical of the north, that gave her a sickly look in his eyes.
The siblings had to be twins, both with the red hair of their father and the green eyes of their mother. They too were so pale that Lith's Healer instinct brought him seconds away from casting a diagnostic spell on the whole family.
He gave them a bow, before sitting at their table, next to Baron Wyalon. Only then did Lith notice that the table was actually an enchanted item. While the maids served them fresh white bread and porridge, a holographic map of the area appeared in mid air.
Lady Wyalon's eyes narrowed in annoyance for a split second, but she said nothing.
\"The dungeon is here.\" The Baron pointed at the base of a small mountain range a few dozen kilometers from Jambel with his fork, making the hologram zoom in.
\"My scouts spotted three entrances before the monsters discovered them and attempted to have them for dessert. Here, here, and here.\" Wyalon drew three circles with his knife and the hologram opened as many small holes in the ground.
\"There could be more. Also, I wouldn't be surprised if after finding my men lurking around, they put out some guards. If you need a distraction, my soldiers can accompany you and draw the attention of the monsters until you get inside.\"
\"No need.\" Lith replied after gulping down some porridge. Both it and the bread could have used a pinch more of salt for his tastes.
\"I prefer working alone. What I'm more interested in is what kind of creatures attacked the city and a rough estimate of their numbers, if you have one.\"
\"I'm sure that when I tell them, my men will buy you all the beer you can drink. They hate dying.\" The Baron laughed heartily.
\"Dear, put down your cutlery when you speak. You're spilling food everywhere.\" The Baroness' tone was warm and her smile gentle, yet her eyes were icicles. Iriel too glared at her father, until she noticed Lith watching them.
She lowered her gaze and blushed violently, giving her face some color as Lith's lost his own.
'Oh, fuck! Another: \"please be my ticket out of nowhere\" girl. I need to get out of here.' He thought.
\"I'm sorry, dear, but I'm sure our guest doesn't mind.\" Wyalon was an ex soldier, who had risen in the army ranks until he had exchanged his merits for a noble title. Even years after he had retired, he was still used to eating and speaking as fast as he could.
\"Well, maybe some of us do.\" The Lady's silvery voice struck like a fist, making the Lord regain his manners and put the silverware down.
\"The first wave was comprised mostly of small fry. Forty goblins, thirty two ogres, and a dozen empowered orcs. I suspect the ruler of the dungeon might be a powerful shaman.\"
Lith nodded him to continue.
\"The second wave was way worse. Fifty ogres, twenty three empowered orcs, and a few trolls. As for their numbers, I have no clue. The fact they have dispatched almost a hundred of them each time makes me think we are talking about at least one thousand creatures.
\"Are you really sure you want to go in there alone?\"
\"Positive.\" Lith replied. \"Numbers mean nothing in enclosed spaces and I can wipe out any number of non magical creatures on my own. I can always fly or Warp away if necessary.\"
\"Can you really use dimensional magic?\" Iriel's eyes shone like emeralds, making Lith bite his tongue.
\"That's the reason I arrived so fast.\" Since the horse had already bolted, instead of shutting the barn's door, Lith decided to follow suit.
\"Thanks for the meal and the information. Your men's bravery has saved me a lot of time. I'll take care of the dungeon immediately.\"
\"Wait. There's one more thing you should know before you go. One of my scouts says he saw a Balor flying around the mountain.\"
\"A Balor?\" At those words, Lith flinched in disbelief. Such creatures were considered the nobles among the monsters. One of the few Fallen Races to have retained part of their ancient wisdom and power.
\"I'm sorry, Baron, but if that was true Jambel should've already fallen. A one thousand strong army of monsters with a Balor at its head could easily conquer this city. Also, didn't you say you suspected an orc shaman to be their leader?\"
\"I agree it's odd, but only one of the scouts saw it. Maybe he's wrong, or maybe the attack on Jambel is just a diversion.\" The Baron nodded.
\"I suspect an orc shaman because there is no other explanation to empowered orcs and because they would never submit to an Evil Eye. Balors and orcs are sworn enemies, they would never cooperate.\"
The truth was that with their demonic appearance, Balors resembled the fabled creatures that according to orcs' lore had caused the fall of their race. Balors had no grudge against the orcs that they didn't share with the whole of Mogar.
\"Do you have any idea how so many creatures managed to spawn so close to your city without anyone noticing?\" Lith could already smell a lot of troubles. In his experience, the more things didn't add up, the bigger the underlying mess was.
A mess he would have to survive first and clean later.
\"None, it's indeed a mystery.\" The Baron sighed, well aware of how silly his words sounded.
Before leaving, Lith used the holographic table to carefully study the region and plan his next moves.
'I'm afraid this will not be a simple clean up. An orc shaman can cripple our strength and a Balor might even be my equal.' Lith regretted not understanding orcish language. Otherwise he could have learned many things from the shaman.
Back in Othre, Jirni had given him plenty of tips on how to loosen the tongue of a captured enemy, both literally and metaphorically.
'Do you think an Abomination is behind the dungeon?' Solus was triggered at the thought of experiencing the event of Maekosh again.
'No, unless it's the dungeon master.' He replied. 'The anomaly here is the creatures' behavior, not their abilities. Only time will tell us how deep the rabbit-hole goes.'
Chapter 534 Unexpected Turn Part 1
Lith left before the Wyalon family was done with their breakfast, leaving Iriel no time for small talk. He took off, taking the quickest route to the Broken Spine, the discontinuous mountain range where the dungeon was located.
Lith flew at an optimal altitude, which allowed him to safely scout the area around him with Life Vision and identify underground monsters' nests. He had to make sure the creatures weren't preparing a big attack, otherwise he might have been forced to retreat during the raid to protect the city.
For a Ranger the number of slain creatures was but a secondary achievement, the real source of merits was the survival rate of those they are tasked to protect. Monsters needed only days to become fully grown, while a single artisan needed decades to be trained.
'Another good thing about Kamila, is that ever since we got together you've stopped pushing me toward every girl we meet.' Lith inwardly grinned.
'Well, that doesn't mean I don't feel bad for Iriel. For once you could help someone without getting laid as your hidden agenda.' Solus rebukes.
'Yeah, right. Going from princess of nowhere to a big city would be a death sentence to her unless someone takes care of her. I can already picture how any sane woman would react if I brought home an 18 year old girl.'
Solus couldn't retort anymore. Even if Solus could read Lith's thoughts, in Kamila's shoes she would still kick his ass.
The area was clear of any life form, monster or otherwise. Like the Baron had reported to Lith, animals and magical beasts had left the area. Those who had failed to notice their presence because of hibernation, were all dead.
Once Lith reached the Broken Spine, he didn't head directly towards the known entrances, but scouted the area to determine how smart and powerful his opponents were.
'I don't like this.' Solus thought. 'My mana sense detects a series of powerful arrays both above and below the ground. Not only have I never seen most of them, but they also form an elaborate framework.
'Monsters aren't supposed to be able to craft something so complicated, let alone in such a limited time frame.'
Lith nodded as he read the floating runes, trying to make a sense out of them.
After moving all the Warden books in their possession inside Soluspedia, they were able to identify at least the function of the unknown arrays.
'Their design is very old.' Lith pondered. 'None of them are designed to be offensive or defensive. I can see cloaking, containment, and even amplifying arrays.
'The kind which are used for a secret lab, not a fortress. I can't short circuit them and get rid of the monsters in one fell swoop, they are all the permanent kind. To do that I'd need to tamper with the mana crystals fueling them, but they are likely to be scattered all over the Broken Spine.
'Judging by the size of these arrays, the dungeon extends throughout the whole area. I don't think that even a Balor could perform such monumental work.'
'Do you want to call for backup?' Solus asked.
'And lose my loot?' Lith sneered. 'If this really is the secret lab of an ancient mage, finders keepers. At least as long as I'm the only one who knows it.'
Thanks to his exploration, he found several entry points to the dungeon, most of which were unguarded. Lith noticed that while the edges of the caves were rough and so was the surface of the corridors leading inside, the tunnels were smooth and flawless.
'To dig through so many meters of rock with their bare hands must have taken them months!' Solus was horrified noticing the claw marks and bloodstains along the exits.
'The most likely hypothesis is that they must have been imprisoned here for a long time and they only recently managed to escape.
'Then why are they still holed up in here?' Lith thought. 'More importantly, what the heck did they eat until they escaped? Both an orc shaman and a Balor could easily dig their way out. Why did neither of them take care of the exits?'
There were far more questions than answers, but Lith's loot sense was tingling. An orc shaman meant another huge mana crystal, while a Balor refusing to leave could only mean that the creature was after something precious.
Balors were smart enough to collect magical items to compensate for their innate shortcomings, but like all monsters, they had no dimensional items. They couldn't easily transport something fragile or huge, whereas Lith had no such problem.
Lith kept his greed in check as Solus's words about the Abominations echoed in his head. He found a guarded entrance and unleashed a pack of undead wolves on the unfortunate goblins on duty.
They screamed and died like common goblins, without showing any sign of mutation or special abilities. Lith remained hidden in the shadows as his minions feasted on the corpses.
'If those goblins are like the wargs, the Abomination inside of them should react to their deaths and call for reinforcements.' Lith thought, but even after several minutes, no one appeared.
During that time, he studied the goblins' clothes and equipment. They were well dressed, wearing cotton shirts, leather pants and shoes. The most intriguing thing was the coat of arms on their clothes, representing a black tower set ablaze with a golden crown on top of it.
Even their weapons, lances and bucklers, were made of good quality metal. Their master had even had them customized to a goblin's proportions.
Once Lith was certain that no enemy was coming his way, he sent the undead pack inside as a diversion while he entered from one of the unguarded entrances. The corridor went deep underground, leading to what was definitely not a dungeon, but rather a home.
Monsters had no use for doors, magical lights or tags to identify each room. There were even signs at every crossroad, pointing toward different zones.
'If only I could read this gibberish!' Lith inwardly griped after following one of them at random and finding the biggest glass workshop he had ever seen. There were vials, beakers, and many components for alchemical apparatus of every shape and size.
His anger faded after noticing they were all of the highest grade and storing some of them inside his pocket dimension.
Suddenly, the link between Lith and his minions disappeared. What worried him was that they didn't die fighting, someone had slaughtered them all in just a couple of seconds.
'Undead are hard to kill and monsters are dumb. Could they have been so unlucky to meet the shaman? If so, he could have drained the darkness element from them for an easy kill.' The explanation worked, yet it wasn't enough to put Lith's paranoia at ease.
He moved toward the direction from which he had last sensed the undead wolves, checking every door on his way. Unluckily, most of them were locked and even more unluckily, not by a simple lock.
Lith had no time to crack them open one by one, not with so many enemies roaming around nor with Life Vision telling him that there was nothing inside that had a strong magical aura.
Chapter 535 Unexpected Turn Part 2
Whoever had built the lab wasn't one for furnishing it. Every corridor was identical on every floor. The ground and the walls were constructed with a honey hued mix of stone and soil while the importance of every door could be determined by their silver-wood ratio.
Silver was the best mana conductor, making it possible to store and amplify all the spells it was enchanted with. The corridors were wide, but offered no cover to move stealthily. Lith had to rely on Life Vision to spot his enemies from around the corners and kill them quickly after conjuring a silence zone.
All of them wore fine clothes with a faint magical aura, yet it wasn't enough to explain how they could be so spotless and in mint condition after being allegedly worn by prisoners for years.
'Around the next corner there is a group of four orcs coming from the direction your wolves died.' Solus warned Lith. 'One of them has a bright green mana core and a powerful life force. He must be the shaman.'
'What about the crystal?' Lith's Life vision confirmed Solus's reading but at the same time, it made him worry. There was no trace of the mana crystal and the shaman appeared to have an incredibly strong mana and life flow for his green core.
'I can't see it either. He has no magical equipment.' Solus couldn't explain how such a small group of orcs could have killed a whole pack of undead so fast.
Lith charged forward with the Gatekeeper bastard sword in his hand, using gravity magic to run on the ceiling rather than the ground.
Orcs were humanoid creatures, with an average height of 1.8 meters (5'11\"). They were gifted from birth with a physique similar to that of an Awakened. They were stronger, faster, and sturdier than humans.
Their bodies were naturally resistant to most elements and they would rarely get sick. It was uncommon for an orc to display a talent for magic, but when it happened, the creature would always be born Awakened.
They were all bald, with skin as brown as tree bark and almost as hard. Orcs also had enhanced senses that made it difficult to take them by surprise and were able to display short bursts of fire or air fusion, but not both at once.
The creatures paid no attention to the noise of Lith's approach until it was too late. A Hush zone prevented them from calling for help and the attack came from above while they were still searching for the source of the footsteps.
The echo of the corridors confused their enhanced hearing, making them look left and right. Thanks to water fusion, Lith's arm was able to move like it had no bones.
The Gatekeeper avoided the orcs' thick arms that were guarding their vitals and killed three of them with as many quick thrusts.
'The fuck?' Lith thought as the alleged shaman deflected the tip of the blade with the back of his hand while taking a few steps back. Lith's surprise turned into amazement when he noticed that the orc didn't look like an orc at all.
It had shoulder length snow white hair, a lean but muscular physique like that of a professional athlete, and long pointy ears. There was no trace of the orcs' characteristic bloodlust in the delicate, almost feminine, features of his face
Thanks to his brown skin it would have been easy for him to go unnoticed in the woods, but inside the stone corridor, he stood out like a sore thumb.
'Why does this guy look like an elf?' Lith suddenly remembered how according to the lore orcs were a Fallen Race descending from the elves.
'Beats me, but his life force is definitely that of an orc.' Solus pointed out. 'Do elves really exist? Are they all so hot?'
Their enemy was indeed good looking, but Lith had other things to worry about. The orc was infused with all the elements and had conjured a sword made of ice from the humidity in the air.
Both things were supposed to be impossible for members of a Fallen Race.
\"It was you who sent those undead! Your corpse will make a fine dish. I'm tired of eating goblins.\" A cruel hunger deformed the orc's face at the idea of tasting human flesh again after so much time.
Suddenly Solus didn't find him hot anymore.
\"You can speak!\" Lith replied enthusiastically as he unleashed a Plague Arrow with each thrust of his sword. The orc nimbly deflected the blade, but the spells messed up his amateurish footwork by forcing him to dodge while he parried.
Their physical abilities were similar but the orc had no training in any kind of martial arts and was relying on his natural talents. The first thrust of the Gatekeeper cracked the ice blade, the second and third injured the orc's legs.
Lith could have killed him easily, but dead men told no tales.
To make matters worse for the orc, he was not used to the abilities of his ancestral form. He tried multiple times to conjure a spell just for Lith to tamper with it and make it blow up in the orc's face.
Soon the stone sword broke into pieces and the orc's body was bleeding from many deep cuts. Lith struck his enemy with a fist containing a healing spell that mended all of the orc's wounds, sapping a great deal of his remaining stamina.
His knees buckled and Lith grabbed him by the throat, lifting the orc up as if he was just a stuffed animal.
\"Tell me who you are, what is happening here, and how you killed my minions so fast.\" Lith used Invigoration to find the nerve bundles Jirni had taught him about and pressed them with his free hand, causing the orc to writhe in agony.
\"I won't tell you anything.\" The monster managed to smile in defiance.
\"It's much better if I show you.\"
The creature used a breathing technique that closely resembled Invigoration, but instead of absorbing the surrounding world energy, it was accumulated on the orc's right hand.
\"You can cast tier four spells without consuming your mana? Not bad, Hannibal Lectolas.\" Lith reacted before the spell was fully formed by clenching his hand around the orc's and crushing it along with the suicidal attack.
The orc screamed in pain for the first time as his hand imploded under Lith's grip and exploded due to his own spell gone wild.
'Interesting. Such a breathing technique is as powerful as it is flawed. It saves the user the strain of handling the mana, so they can cast even spells above their level. Yet because such spells are only made of world energy, they can still hurt their caster.' Lith thought.
'Why does he not fear death?' Solus pondered. 'Even now, he is still smiling.'
Lith had to squeeze the orcs' throat to stop him from making a second attempt. Lith crushed the creature's remaining limbs and knocked him unconscious before dropping him onto the ground.
'Well, if he doesn't talk, let's see what I can find out on my own.'
Scanner and Invigoration revealed that there was something odd with the reverted orc. His life force was unnatural, squeezed in its actual form by a second life force wrapping the orc's like a shroud.
Chapter 536 Unexpected Turn Part 3
'Undead life force?' Solus was flabbergasted. 'Could he have evolved after absorbing the darkness magic animating your wolves?'
Lith had no explanation for the phenomenon, yet he noticed that the orc's clothes were too big for him. They were sized for a regular orc, which meant that either his transformation really had just happened or the creature didn't care about having them fixed.
After a throughout body scan of the fainted elf-orc, Lith and Solus had no idea what events could be unfolding in the underground lab. The creature's anatomy was almost identical to its corrupted counterpart.
The only anomalies were the slightly different shape of his organs and his mana core resonating with the world energy, making him recover his mana faster than a human would.
After waking the orc up, Lith discovered that all the means of interrogation at his disposal were useless.
The creature would cut off his pain receptors at the first opportunity he got, and even if Lith could easily undo it, the orc proved to be resistant to pain beyond reason. Since more monsters were approaching, Lith killed to orc while he still had some time left before being discovered.
Just as he expected, death reverted the monster to his original form. Life Vision revealed the undead life force leaving the body, but unluckily it moved as fast as lightning and passed through the ground.
Lith had no opportunity to follow it before it disappeared from his sight.
'It was definitely not from your wolves.' Solus pointed out. 'Otherwise it would have just faded.'
Lith nodded and hid around a corner to avoid the next patrol. It was composed of five ogres. They were all very tall, above 2 meters (6'7\") with muscular bodies that could have passed for humans if not for their greenish skin, their spiky red hair and the long, pointy fangs protruding out of their lower lip.
Once again, one of them was very different from the others. He had no fangs and his hair seemed to be made of red autumn leaves. There was a calm, solemn light of intelligence reflected in his eyes, that deeply contrasted with the brutish appearance of his peers.
'Is it me, or does this guy resemble the dryads we met years ago?' After meeting the wargs, Lith had started to wonder if even plants and magical beasts were part of the Fallen races. The reverted ogre's appearance seemed to confirm his suspects.
\"What happened to Caliel's unit?\" Said one of the ogres. He stuttered every word with a pained expression, as if using human language poisoned his tongue.
\"There is no sign of struggle.\" The dryad-ogre calmly observed. \"And none of us would have wasted so much meat. Either Yozmogh himself or one of his elite units must have breached the barricade.\"
\"We need to split into two teams. One will bring the corpses to the kitchen and give the alarm while the other will try to slow them down. I'll do the tracking.\"
The ogre started chanting in an unknown language as two of his soldiers picked up the bodies and stored them inside huge sacks.
'A barricade? Then the monsters are infighting, which would explain why they eat their own. How did they survive so long, though? To spawn fast they need to eat so much that they should have died of starvation long ago…'
Lith's musing was interrupted the moment the ogre-dryad finished his chanting. Based on its length, it had to be a tier one spell. Lith cursed when he noticed red marks appearing on the floor, the ceiling, and wherever the bodies of the fallen orcs had touched the walls during the previous fight.
Among the red marks, there was a clear series of footprints leading to his position.
\"Ambush!\" The ogre warned his soldiers a second too late. Ice lances pierced their heads and hearts, killing the regular ogres on the spot. They would have done the same to the ogre-dryad, if not for two holes opening where the lances were about to hit.
Instead of flash and bones, the creature was made of vines that normally were wrapped together so tightly that they gave it a humanoid appearance.
'An ogre's body is actually made of fossilized plants!' Solus's scientific curiosity was on cloud nine. 'That's why they are green.'
'I don't really care about that right now.' No matter if Lith's attacks were magical or physical in nature, in its vine form the ogre was as able to split at will and dodge every one of them with ease.
\"You don't chant, which means you're an Awakened!\" The creature's voice was filled with surprise and envy. His body split into five bundles of vines, four of which dug their way into the dead ogres' bodies and reanimated them.
Lith could see thanks to Life Vision that they were no undead. The vines were taking root, turning the corpses into clones of the original. Both their mana cores and life force had an energy signature identical to those of the original body.
Lith struck at them with several flaming darts, discovering that the clones were incapable of turning into vines as well. The darts left behind burn marks and produced a pungent smell, yet the fire didn't take.
The clones' life force was unchanged, while their bodies shrunk slightly, as if they had been starving for days.
'I think I know their weak point.' Lith's smile disappeared as he heard five identical voices chanting as many different spells.
He conjured a blizzard, but unfortunately nor the wind nor the injuries opened by the razor sharp hail his spell produced could stop the enemies' casting. Vines had no mouths and even if somehow they experienced pain, it didn't show.
A small tornado formed around Lith, blocking his sight and restricting his movements. Wind blades were randomly mixed with the chaotic air currents surrounding him. Black clouds formed on the ceiling with a low rumble announcing a thunderstorm.
Lith used Life Vision to detect the otherwise invisible air blades, and Full Guard to avoid the other spells incoming from his blind spots. The enemies had a limited choice of attacks, which he exploited to make them predictable.
His blizzard was still ongoing, making most fire spells lose their effectiveness, while the whole underground complex was shielded by arrays which made it immune to earth magic. It explained why the creatures had been forced to dig with their hands.
Lith stood his ground as long as he could, strengthening his magical storm by the second. He Blinked away only when the lightning bolts from above or the darkness spells the enemies threw at him from the sides would force him to walk into the air blades.
\"It was a stupid move to use water magic against me!\" The ogre roared as it relocated the tornado for the third time. \"You should have used fire instead.\"
Lith ignored the taunt and focused on defense as he gave his spell one last push. All of the enemy attacks disappeared at once when the extreme cold froze the abundant water inside the vines and turned them into popsicles.
'What a moron.' Lith thought as he crushed the ice sculptures that once were the ogre-dryad. 'I was right about the reverted monsters not knowing anything about their own abilities.
'Fire is only good against dry wood, whereas wet vegetation would only produce a lot of smoke and hinder the only one who actually needs to breathe. Me.'
Chapter 537 Unexpected Turn Part 4
'Why was he scared of fire, then?' Solus asked.
'Probably because he was a normal ogre until not long ago. All living beings are naturally afraid of fire. He had yet to realize that with no vitals and with light magic at his disposal, fire is a small threat for a water based creature like he was.'
\"Stop wasting time. You strong, master can use you.\" Lith turned toward the source of the voice, yet neither Life Vision nor mana sense showed anything. At least not until a hunched figure literally emerged from the shadows.
The creature didn't resemble anything Lith had ever seen before, nor was it listed in any of the bestiaries he possessed. It was a small humanoid, barely 1.3 meters (4'3\") tall, with pale grey skin and thick grizzled hair.
Judging by his appearance and his voice, he seemed to be a male. He had small pointed ears, pitch black eyes, and was wearing a mage's robe. Despite his jagged teeth and the claws at the end of his limbs, it didn't look menacing.
The creature's life force was slightly better than the average adult man, while his blood core was almost completely black. Lith didn't underestimate him and silently weaved more spells in case looks were proverbially deceiving.
'How the heck did he escape our senses?' Solus kept an eye on all the remaining shadows of the corridor, in case the creature was just a distraction.
Lith had no answer to offer. His senses were all focused on his surroundings, since things were getting weirder by the second. The corpses of the ogres he had just killed turned into smoke and dived into the ground, closely followed by the undead life force which had restored the dryad-ogre's ancient might.
\"Tell me who you are, what is happening here, and what you mean, wasting time.\" Either the creature really was harmless or wanted to manipulate him, at least he seemed to be willing to communicate.
\"Me Ratpack.\" The creature shrugged. \"War is happening, but fighters waste time, just like you. None can die. We banished from death thanks to master's power.\"
Lith stared at Ratpack, waiting for him to continue his explanation, but the creature just stared back in annoyance.
\"You deaf? Stop wasting time. Soon Caliel and Draga will be back. With reinforcements! You soldier.\" Ratpack pointed his grey finger to Lith's uniform.
\"You act like one and obey!\" His voice was deep and rough. It was filled with an underserved pride which annoyed Lith almost as the vague answers he had just received.
\"I obey no one.\" Lith replied while using spirit magic to lift the creature off the ground and slam him against a well lighted wall. Choking an undead was useless, if not to prove a point.
\"If you want my help, you'd better give me a good reason. Start by making sense, otherwise…\" Lith's threat was interrupted by Ratpack turning into a puff of smoke. It lasted only one second, but it was enough to escape from spirit magic's grasp and reach the nearest shadow.
\"No, you don't!\" Lith snarled. He extended his arm to direct his tendrils of mana toward their target, who turned once again ethereal the moment Ratpack touched the edge of the shade.
\"Only master can harm Ratpack. Even Yozmogh and Dann'Kah, even their armies couldn't catch Ratpack. Obey or die!\"
Lith didn't reply, redirecting the mana from spirit to darkness magic. He had learned a couple of things while fighting Thrud Griffon, it was time to put them to the test. Lith's shadow came to life as two blazing yellow eyes appeared on its face.
The shadow's extended right arm stretched along the floor until it reached Ratpack's hiding place. Neither Lith nor Solus liked how his darkness magic infused shade resembled more his demonic life form rather than his human one.
The shadow's hand rummaged for a while before retracting. The elongated arm was coiled around the small undead like a snake. Ratpack screamed in surprise as soon as he felt something touching him.
His master's Coward's Mantle was supposed to protect him from any harm, yet the Ranger had been able to ignore its protection. To make matters worse, Ratpack could feel his strength getting slowly sapped.
Not even undeath could ward off darkness magic.
\"Are you ready to talk?\" Lith said while pointing the Gatekeeper at Ratpack's throat. The creature's eyes were filled with fear, which made him nod like a parrot having a seizure.
\"Then explain things properly.\" Lith snorted.
\"Me has many names. Squirm, Plague, Worm. Ratpack is master's favourite because he says me very annoying…\"
\"He is right, dammit! I don't care for your names. Tell me what's happening here.\"
\"Servants rebelled against master and took master prisoner. After that, they fight each other. Two great leaders emerge. Dann'Kah the orc shaman and Yozmogh the Balor. All servants join one or the other, forming two armies. They fight for…\" Ratpack stopped, not knowing how to explain.
\"For?\"
\"Freedom. And also for power.\" Ratpack clapped his hands, congratulating to himself for being so precise. Unluckily, Lith didn't share his enthusiasm.
\"What freedom? If your master is already being held prisoner, they can just walk away. What power are you talking about?\"
\"They can't leave.\" Ratpack nervously licked his lips, revealing such a black tongue that it resembled a slimy piece of charcoal.
\"Master made them like him. They have no freedom. As for power, it's the master's, but they found a way to use it. To make them pretty again. Like- Caliel and Draga! Yes, like them.\" The creature nodded again like crazy, feeling someone was approaching.
\"What do you want me to do, exactly?\" Lith dilated his nostrils in annoyance. He didn't know whether to find more bothersome Ratpack's ramblings or the idea of monsters like a Balor regaining their full powers.
\"Follow me to master. Master explains better. You free him, he stops servants.\" Hurried footsteps were perfectly audible and quickly approaching, yet the Ranger didn't seem to care.
\"Why would I? If your master has already been defeated once by his servants, they can do it again. They have even robbed him of his power. What use do I have for him?\"
\"Yes, he's weak, but he still strong. You can't defeat all master's servants alone. Enough talk, we run now!\" The ogre-dryad and the orc-elf appeared from a corner, running at full speed closely followed by several members of their own kin.
Lith raised the index and middle fingers of his right hand, unleashing the tier four spell Death Zone. A black cloud comprised of darkness element filled the corridor in front of them the moment the monsters were halfway through.
No matter the direction they turned to, all of them died after taking a few steps.
\"What were you saying?\" Lith's eyes were blazing with blue mana which deeply contrasted with his shadow's burning yellow eyes. It was still seemingly alive and moving around on its own, even though its main body was standing still.
Ratpack shivered in fear, wondering how powerful humans had become during the decades he and his master had spent in isolation.
\"You- too strong! Why you struggle earlier if you can just…\" Ratpack stuttered so much that he preferred to slam his fist onto his palm to stress his point.
Chapter 538 Trouble Part 1
\"Struggle?\" Lith sneered. \"I was saving my strength and making a few experiments. Finding a reverted monster is a rare opportunity. I just wanted to see what they were capable of.\"
Lith had learned enough about magic to know that as long as he understood the underlying principles of the so called \"innate abilities\", he could find a way to replicate them and add them to his arsenal.
\"Experiments?\" Ratpack echoed, swallowing a lump of saliva. The word brought to memory countless unpleasant experiences.
\"Master and you peas in a pod.\"
\"You have yet to answer my final question.\" Lith pushed the Gatekeeper's tip against Ratpack's throat.
\"Why should I free your master? What use do I have for him?\"
\"Maybe you can slay all.\" Ratpack licked his lips again.
\"Maybe you can break master's device, but can you do both? You slay, but they return. The closer you get to the device the faster they return. Master can shut down device with one finger. Master is its master.\"
Ratpack made little sense, yet Lith considered he still had a point. If this master had been a quiet presence for so long, there was no reason for him to stir trouble, whereas the same couldn't be said for his rebellious servants.
'Why should I waste time cracking locks and arrays if he can just pass through them with a flick of their switches? Also, exploring the whole complex would take me months while I have days at best before the army sends reinforcements to \"help\" me.'
Lith couldn't afford the underground lab to be discovered. The Kingdom would snatch the good stuff and leave him the crumbs.
'If this master is willing to compensate me for my troubles, I'll get what I want without wasting my time. Otherwise, I can always kill or imprison him again and test my luck with the doors. First things first, though.'
\"Does this master of yours experiments on Abominations too? Is he the Master?\" The title was so trite that it was likely that they were two different people, but Lith preferred to be sure who he was about to deal with.
\"Master experiments on anything.\" Ratpack sighed as even more bad memories resurfaced. Being undead didn't mean being spared from pain.
\"My Coward's Cloak made from Abomination skin.\" His words made Lith open his eyes wide in surprise. As far as he knew, Abominations had no skin. He touched Ratpack's clothes, using Invigoration to observe its pseudo core.
'I got it, but I'll take some notes, just to be safe.' Solus's memory was peerless, but she could also access to Lith's like it was a library. A messy and chaotic one, but after so many years, she knew her way.
\"No, I mean, does he help Abominations? Does he work with them?\" Lith tried to be clearer.
\"No. Master helps only himself. Master works only with Ratpack. Me assistant.\" The creature said with a proud voice.
\"Then make way.\" Lith nodded. \"Be careful, we must move unnoticed. I want to avoid useless fights.\"
Ratpack knew the underground complex like the back of his hand, while Lith could detect enemies from afar with Life Vision. By putting together their resources, the duo quickly reached the lower levels of the lab.
Along the way, Lith asked Ratpack what the various signs meant to achieve a basic understanding of the ancient language. Just in case things with the master went sour and he had to explore on his own.
Ratpack was annoyed by his questions, but he didn't dare to displease Lith. The creature needed the Ranger as much as he was afraid of him. Every time they were forced to fight, Lith would go all out, killing whole units of powerful monsters in the blink of an eye.
The moment the monsters realized to be under attack, they were already dead. Ratpack didn't like the human because he reminded him too much of the master. Ratpack's undead senses could hear Lith's heart beating like they were just taking a stroll.
Even though they were surrounded from every side by enemies, there was no sweat on his body nor emotion in his movements. Walking to his side felt exactly like when he accompanied the master before his fall.
Ratpack had the impression of being a mouse riding on the back of a dragon.
When they reached the eight underground floor, the creature signaled Lith to stop.
\"We arrived. Trouble is here.\" Ratpack pointed at the many reinforced doors along the corridors. Each room was bigger than those on the other floors and was enveloped by multiple unique arrays.
\"What is stored in the lower levels?\" Lith had expected the prison to be on the last floor since the deeper they got, the stronger the magical aura he detected became.
\"Bad stuff. Horrible stuff.\" Ratpack shuddered.
\"Master love experiments and hate failures. He always destroy failures, but some he can't get rid of. Either because they don't die or because too valuable. Those master stores below, where array keep them in another space ready to collapse.\"
Thanks to all his questions about the road signs they had met along the way, Lith had understood what each floor was for.
The ground floor was a storage area for non magical equipment, the equivalent of a broom closet. The master's living quarters took all the first underground floor, while the servants' quarters were on the second one.
Lith was amazed by how someone could be so conceited that he had taken for himself the same space one thousand minions did. The third and fourth underground floors were the lab, the fifth was the ingredient deposit, the sixth was the treasury, and the seventh was a silver mine.
According to Ratpack, his master had chosen the Broken Spine as his residence because of the rich silver veins he had discovered. It was the only way to satisfy his need for the precious metal without the need for an external supplier.
\"Is it normal for those doors to be opened?\" Lith pointed at the unlocked door of some cells. He already knew the answer, since the owner of the lab was the kind of guy to keep even the cleaning products deposit tight shut.
\"No.\" Ratpack hissed. \"Dann'Kah and Yozmogh must have freed them. They desperate to seek help from those who could replace them.\"
'Solus, can you see what's inside? Life Vision is blurred by all the locks and arrays enveloping the cells. The doors must be made of solid silver, because I've never seen so many spells stuffed inside a single object.'
Lith would have loved to take a peek at their cores with Invigoration, but they were infused with too many deadly spells, and he already had too much to do. Lith had already planned to raid the treasury and the ingredient deposit before calling for backup if things went south.
'Sorry, but mana sense is useless here. The whole floor is so bright that is like staring into the sun. A whole army of Awakened could hide behind a corner and I wouldn't even notice them. Those doors are… just wow.'
Each one of the doors had a blue mana crystal the size of a fist at its four corners and a different magic circle formed by small purple mana crystals the size of a nut.
Chapter 539 Trouble Part 2
Thanks to Life Vision, Lith could see that every inch of their surface was covered in mystical runes.
\"Wait a minute.\" Lith snapped out of his reverie. \"How did they open those doors?\"
\"They master assistants, just like Ratpack. They have codes for all doors. Eighth floor is for specimens.\"
\"If you can open your master's cage, what do you need me for?\"
\"You really deaf. I need you deal with Trouble.\" Ratpack whispered while pointing at the next corridor to their right. Lith peeked behind the corner, noticing a Balor standing guard in front of the most complex door they had met so far.
The creature was over 2.5 meters (8'2\") tall, with a humanoid body covered by small blood colored scales. His head had three eyes arranged in a vertical line. A red one was in the middle of his forehead, a black one was right above his nose, and a blue one was between his lower lip and his chin.
Three sets of black curved horns emerged from his head, his cheekbones, and the sides of his chin. His massive upper body was completely exposed and seemed to be comprised solely of bulging muscles.
His legs were reverse jointed like those of a cat, and were covered by a black armor that only left the talons extending out from his toes and heel exposed. Two flaming red membranous wings were folded around his neck, almost looking like a mantle.
\"That's not trouble, that's a Balor!\" Lith cursed at Ratpack with a whisper.
\"You wrong. He call himself Trou'Bleskamuz the Fierce, but master call him Trouble because he escape three times before master could find a proper door to contain him. Trouble hate master's experiments and hate master even more.\"
Lith ignored Ratpack's ramblings and prepared a set of spells according to the information he had about Balors and his full blown paranoia. Despite their appearance, they were no demons.
According to the lore, before their fall they had six eyes, one for each element and colored accordingly. Their eyes granted them mastery over all the elements, but they were also their weak point.
Losing an eye meant losing the corresponding element and since magic didn't flow through their bodies, they were incapable of mixing together different elements, leaving them stuck with the equivalent of tier four magic.
After their fall, Balors could have from one to three eyes, while the others were allegedly fused within their bodies by the failed attempt to evolve and force the mana to flow freely.
'Any advice?' Lith had never faced one, but could see via Life Vision that the creature's vitality was on par with Scarlett the Scorpicore. Luckily, its mana flow was way worse than the Lord of the Forest's.
'If he wasn't stand in front of that fucking door, maybe.' Lith was flabbergasted by Solus's swearing.
'I'm almost blind, so take my words with a grain of salt. The Balor seems to have four mana cores. A bright cyan one in its usual place, right below his solar plexus, and three green ones inside his eyes.'
'Got it. The good news is that he can't use light magic, so if I manage to destroy one or more of his eyes, he can't regenerate them.' Lith was done with his preparations. He was about to step in the corridor when he felt Ratpack tugging at his leg.
\"Master told me that Trouble has weakness, that even Ratpack can face him if I wear magical protections. Master gave it to Ratpack, Ratpack give it to you.\"
The small creature took out a bundle of shackles linked to several envelopes from his pocket, which was actually a pocket dimension. It made little sense to Lith, more so since according to Life Vision they were not enchanted.
\"What's this supposed to be?\" He asked.
\"Isn't it obvious? It's a chainmail!\" Ratpack puffed out his chest with pride while Lith opened one of the envelopes.
\"If you're reading this, you're not the moron I always thought you were. Happy deathday, Zolgrish.\"
Lith had no time to waste explaining to the moron what a pun was, so he returned the gift and launched himself against Trouble while infused with all the elements.
The Balor gave no sign of being surprised by the sudden attack. Trou'Bleskamuz's middle eye ignited with mana and what looked like a two handed scimitar made of black smoke appeared in his right hand.
Much to Lith's surprise, the Gatekeeper clashed against the black smoke and the sudden impact threw him off balance allowing the Balor to send him flying away with but a flick of his wrist.
'How is that possible? Darkness magic is supposed to be ethereal. I was expecting him to attempt to trade blows… What the heck?' Only then did Lith notice that the blue eye was lit too, meaning the sword was composed of black ice.
'Seems that Balors can mix elements after all.' Lith inwardly cursed at the army bestiary's author as the red eye too was set ablaze with mana, generating a pillar of cyan flames that filled the whole corridor leaving Lith no way out.
Lith encased himself inside a massive ice coffin to protect himself and seal the corridor. His own spells couldn't harm him exactly how the Balor's flames had no effect on their caster after rebounding on the enemy barrier.
Soon the fire consumed all the air in the corridor, forcing the spell to disappear, the red eye to close, and the Balor to fall to his knees gasping for oxygen.
The creatures' black eye lit up again, unleashing a pillar of darkness so powerful that the arrays protecting the lab became visible to the naked eye as they prevented the Balor's spell from turning the walls into debris.
Their positions were now reversed. Lith was stuck inside the ice just like the Balor was trapped in the small corridor a second ago. To not lose his life, Lith was forced to lose his advantage and shatter the ice to Blink to safety.
Fresh air filled both the corridor and the Balor's lungs as he unfolded his wings to chase his opponent. Trou'Bleskamuz flew in a spiral pattern, to prevent Lith from predicting his trajectory and using dimensional magic to stab him in the back.
Contrary to his expectations, no attack came until he reached the T junction where the two corridors met. Only then did he realize he had fallen into a trap. Lith knew that his enemy's physical prowess was way above his own.
He had considered using spell sealing arrays, but they would cripple the only edge he had. Arrays worked both ways, affecting their caster along with their target. Hence, he had decided to stay at a safe distance and play it smart.
Two Death Zones were waiting for Trou'Bleskamuz, one at each side of the junction. The darkness spells resembled two small thunderclouds, which completely engulfed the corridors as they converged on the Balor.
Trou'Bleskamuz exploded in a wild laughter and opened his middle eye again. A second pillar of darkness clashed with Lith's Death Zone with such violence that the entire corridor trembled and all of the arrays protecting the cells became visible.
Lith was amazed by how a simple cyan core could emit such power without a moment's notice. His surprise only increased when, even as it was powered by his blue core and boosted by a continuous flow of mana, Death Zone was overpowered by the black pillar.
Chapter 540 Evil Eyes Part 1
The sudden turn of events would have reversed the trap, turning Lith into the prey if he hadn't positioned himself in front of another junction, just to be safe. The moment he understood he was on the losing side of the battle, Lith gave his Death Zone one last push and rolled around a corner to safety.
'What the heck? They were both tier four spells, but I'm the one with a blue core. How could I possibly lose the confrontation?' Lith's question was rhetorical, since the bestiary provided no answers to that impossible situation.
Yet Solus knew better.
'His cyan core is indeed weaker. The problem lies in the support the green core inside his eyes provide.'
'If a green core could do that much, together we would be invincible!' Lith griped.
'Let me finish, dummy! Unlike a normal mana core, the ones in his eyes are able to draw the world energy and use it to empower his pillar-like spells to no end. It wasn't a blue core versus a cyan plus a green one, it was you versus Mogar.'
'Let me get this straight. Thanks to his eyes a Balor can basically use Invigoration non stop even while attacking?' Things were starting to make sense, and thanks to that Lith could adapt his strategy.
'Yes and no. Like Invigoration, the eye provides a constant flow of world energy and also puts stress on the user. After using a pillar, the creature closes the corresponding eye. Unlike your breathing technique, it didn't heal him nor replenish his mana.'
Even a half blind Solus was worth several Balor's eyes in boosting Lith's understanding and battle prowess.
Lith Blinked away the moment Life Vision showed him Trou'Bleskamuz was around the corner. The Balor blocked the corridor with his massive body as his blue eye emitted a pillar which turned air into rock solid ice at its passage.
The attack had a double purpose. If Lith was still there, he would have been frozen solid into an easy prey. If he had Warped away as Trou'Bleskamuz expected, by sealing the corridor the Balor was forcing the Ranger into a head on fight that he couldn't possibly win.
Lith appeared in the middle of his second Death Zone. The mana thread which linked him with his spell gave him its exact position.
'You're right! He wiped out only one Death Zone, which means he can't use his eyes as often as I use my spells.' Lith used Invigoration to fill the remaining darkness cloud with endless mana as it moved inexorably toward its prey.
Trou'Bleskamuz cursed both the Ranger's shrewdness and his own stupidity in a language that sounded like a choir of tormented souls. Lith had no access to the corridor anymore, but neither did he.
The Balor flew away, trying to buy as much time as he could. Unfortunately, the only passage remaining led to a dead end and even though darkness magic was slow, it only took Death Zone a couple of seconds to reach the cornered creature.
Trou'Bleskamuz used sheer willpower to force his black eye open, fighting the excruciating pain that moving the eyelid caused him. If Solus's mana sense worked properly, she would have seen that after conjuring the second pillar, the green core had turned grey.
Balors didn't really have four mana cores, just one like every other natural being. What she had mistaken for extra mana cores were just masses of world energy that a Balor would refine into his own mana and store it ready to be used.
Balors' eyes had an effect similar to Invigoration, allowing them to draw the single elements which composed the world energy. Drawing so much and so fast came at a price.
Tears of blood streamed down Trou'Bleskamuz's chin as the raw world energy he was forcing to flow through his eye damaged his whole body. The pain was unbearable, but he knew that it would be fleeting, whereas death was permanent.
\"I haven't lived this long just to die like this!\" He roared.
The two spells clashed again, but this time Lith boosted his own with a steady flow of mana until the last second before taking cover. At first, his precaution seemed to be unnecessary.
As soon as Lith's Death Zone started to fade, Trou'Bleskamuz closed his eye with an agonizing scream. Its pupil was almost completely white and a small pool of blood had formed under the Balor's feet.
His breath was ragged from the effort of forcing so much world energy through his already exhausted focus and of withstanding the pain that such a desperate move involved.
Yet Trou'Bleskamuz didn't wait for the enemy's next move and sought to regain the initiative. A suit of ice covered his upper body as he launched himself forward as fast as a freight train.
'My flaming eye is almost out of mana. If that scum forces me to use it a third time, I'll be as good as blind. Awakened or not, he cannot cast spells if I manage to corner him.' He thought.
Lith was waiting for him with his arms extended, drawing in the air mystical lines that were taking the shape of a small array. Trou'Bleskamuz recognized its runes and rushed at breakneck speed to interrupt the casting.
'Fire and water are all he has left. The best combo he can achieve with them would allow him to cook pasta, but it's a risk I'm willing to take.' Lith inwardly grinned at his enemy falling for his third trap in a row.
The forbidden array he had apparently almost completed was just a hologram. Lith couldn't afford to waste so much mana on a single enemy who was likely to respawn like in a badly balanced ARPG.
When a Gate suddenly opened in front of Trou'Bleskamuz, he was going too fast to change his direction in time. With only wings propelling him forward and no air magic, the faster he moved, the less precision of movement he had.
The Balor crashed against one of the most massive among the cell doors, triggering its defence mechanisms which unleashed a series of spells against their aggressor. Unfortunately, Lith wasn't aware that after decades of imprisonment Trou'Bleskamuz knew them like the back of his hand.
The owner of the lab not only lacked imagination in decorating his own house but also in forgemastering. All the doors were imbued with the same base set of spells plus a few specifically designed against the prisoner they were meant to hold.
The Balor managed to avoid most of the damage and move away from the door before the most powerful ones could activate. Even on foot, the creature was as fast as a cheetah, reaching the Ranger in the blink of an eye.
Lith could've Warped away, but between the confined space and the Balor's speed, his exit point was bound to be easily predictable. With the closest junction still sealed by the ice, he could only Blink inside the dead end the Balor had just escaped from or move back in an almost straight line.
The former option was beyond idiotic, while the latter would buy him a second at best.
Chapter 541 Evil Eye Part 2
Lith unleashed a barrage of Plague Arrows, against which Trou'Bleskamuz had no choice but to tank them.
The mana imbued inside his ice armor lessened the damage, but the residual darkness was still enough to make the Balor stumble and lose most of his momentum. The creature refused to yield and lunged at Lith with a conjured ice great sword.
Lith switched to a two handed grip while infusing the Gatekeeper with fire and darkness magic. He sidestepped the incoming attack and performed a horizontal slash to the neck.
Only then did Trou'Bleskamuz reveal that his moment of weakness was actually a ruse. He turned his tumble into a roll, dodging the Gatekeeper and regaining his footing while his opponent was still off balance.
The Balor lunged at Lith again, who pivoted on his feet by using the momentum from his failed attack. The resulting spin wasn't enough to completely avoid the incoming strike, but it allowed him to adjust his stance and intercept the incoming blade.
Lith aimed the Gatekeeper at the great sword's tip, to push it away with minimum effort and create the opening he needed to win that fight. He almost couldn't believe his own eyes when the ice sword shattered on contact with the Gatekeeper, revealing a flaming blade blooming underneath its surface.
The ethereal fire blade ignored the bastard sword, keeping its trajectory unchanged.
Despite their brutish appearance and berserk fighting style, Balors weren't stupid. They were just so powerful that they usually didn't need clever strategies or tricks to dominate their opponents.
Resorting to one wounded Trou'Bleskamuz's pride, but it was much better than the alternative. The fire sword crackled as it pierced the Skinwalker Amor's enchanted defenses, producing the sizzling sound of roasted meat when it bit Lith's flesh.
Thanks to Lith's earlier small sidestep, the Balor had been unable to strike at the heart and had to settle for the shoulder. Not even earth fusion was enough to prevent the mystical flames from burning everything on their path.
Lith felt his left arm suddenly go limp. Even shutting down his pain receptors didn't help against his now labored breathing. Trou'Bleskamuz's blade had cooked his flesh, his bones, and part of his left lung in one fell swoop.
'By my maker, do you need my help?' Solus asked while assessing the gravity of his injuries.
'Thanks, but no. Your energy is limited, so it's better to save it for opponents in their reverted state. According to Ratpack, Yozmogh is a Balor too and he has access to his race's ancient powers. Trou'Bleskamuz is like a training ground for me.
'If I can't defeat him on my own, then it's better to call for reinforcements. Don't step in unless it's absolutely necessary.' Lith's reply made Solus curse her weakness and wish for a way to improve her usefulness in battle.
The lack of screams disappointed the Balor, but his mood worsened when he saw the Ranger Blink away as a healing aura enveloped his body. Trou'Bleskamuz envied Lith for it and hoped that Yozmogh would keep his word.
The only reason Trou'Bleskamuz was still there was the promise of having his full might restored.
'Even if the abuse of my black eye and ramming against the door has weakened me somewhat, how did the human manage to avoid my strike like that?'
The answer to the Balor's question was revealed when he attempted to give chase and finish Lith off before the light magic spell could take effect. Trou'Bleskamuz stumbled instead of sprinting as blinding pain spread through his body.
Lith's previous failed attack hadn't been a complete failure after all. Trou'Bleskamuz's roll had saved his head but left his back and his giant wings exposed. Just like the Balor, Lith had settled for a nonvital yet significant target.
Part of his right wing was gone, putting him off balance and allowing Lith to survive.
Even though the Balor could regenerate his wing, it would take him days, whereas the fight was likely to last less than one more minute. Lith's Checkmate Spears surrounded Trou'Bleskamuz, striking at him from every side.
The Balor was done blindly charging ahead and recognized immediately the trap lying ahead of him. With his wounded wing his mobility had been crippled, he wasn't able to move fast enough to dodge them anymore.
He could only use his flaming eye to destroy them at the risk of running out of fire mana, or conjure a defense made of ice that would act as a shield but also as a cage. It would further restrict his movements and leave him exposed to lightning spells.
Trou'Bleskamuz snarled and opened his red eye, sprinting forward on all four. His envy toward Lith turned into unbridled rage, boosting the flames' temperature and destructive power.
A pillar of blue fire cleared his path toward the Ranger as the Balor dodged the remaining ice spears. Lith saw trickles of blood streaming down the flaming eye and unleashed the tier five spell Dark Ages.
Black ice made from both water and darkness magic covered the ground as well as the walls, leaving only the silver doors exposed. It sapped Trou'Bleskamuz's strength every time he touched it and forced him to slow down to not impale himself on the lances that randomly popped out of the ice from every direction.
The growing crystals were quickly forming a wall in front of the Balor, who had to slow down even further. The darkness infused in the ice not only made it more resistant to the flames by weakening them, but it was also released in the air as a noxious gas once the ice melted.
When Trou'Bleskamuz finally reached Lith, his flames had died out and so had his red eye. Lith then conjured several streams of lightning bolts, shooting them at random in front of him.
The Balor didn't even try to shield himself, just dodging whatever he could to cross the last few meters that separated them. Only then did he realize that Lith wasn't aiming because he had no need to.
The entire floor was covered in water and so was Trou'Bleskamuz. It was a perfect conductor which routed every bolt of lightning to its target, allowing Lith to focus on the power of his spell and to completely neglect controlling it.
The Balor gritted his teeth and used sheer willpower to resist the spasms that were ravaging his body.
'Prideless mutt! Fighting dirty is a game two can play.' Trou'Bleskamuz activated his last eye, using the water Lith had conjured against him. The area around them was instantly filled with sharp icicles, which drained the water from the floor.
They were both lightning rods which saved the Balor from the thunderstorm and obstacles that limited the Ranger's movements, allowing the creature to engage him hand to hand. Lith squinted his eyes from the surprise.
He didn't expect such a degree of finesse in water manipulation from his opponent. The situation wasn't good. The back of the corridor was still sealed by his Dark Ages spell, and Blink's range didn't reach past the ice wall.
The two of them were trapped inside a small cage filled with spikes that would harm only him. The Balor's mana couldn't hurt his master. Lith backstepped while quick casting Plague Arrows and wind blades until he could feel the point of an icicle painfully stinging his back.
Chapter 542 Master Plan Part 1
Trou'Bleskamuz roared in triumph. He had endured all those painful spells to make sure that his enemy would end exactly in that corner of the room. Agility and cunning meant nothing inside such a confined space, only strength mattered and he still had enough to uproot trees with just one hand.
The Balor was done underestimating the human. He jumped forward while swinging his giant fists down like hammers on Lith's left and right to cut off his escape routes. At the same time, his blue eye glowed with mana, making the icicles extend further.
The trap was complete, the Ranger's only choice was how he wanted to die, by fist, bite, or skewering.
Lith Switched them at the last second, making the ice spear that had been prickling his back pierce through Trou'Bleskamuz's blue eye, brain, and skull. The Balor's body spasmed several times, gurgling blood from the several puncture wounds the rest of the ice spears had caused.
'That was close.' Lith sighed while cutting Trou'Bleskamuz's head off with the Gatekeeper, just to be safe.
'The Balors are way too strong to face them head on and their eyes are weapons of mass destruction also capable of fine control over the elements. I almost fell for his mindless brute act, but unfortunately for him, I too like to be underestimated.
'Using my own conjured water against me was a smart move, exactly what I would have done in his shoes. That's why I used a tier five spell that used both water and darkness magic.
'Once the water was imbued with his mana it couldn't hurt him, but the darkness was still mine. His lack of understanding of how tier five spells work was the deciding factor in his defeat.'
The barrage of spells Lith had employed while backstepping wasn't meant to harm to the Balor so much as to keep him focused on Lith and not notice the black veins tainting his own spell.
Lith used Invigoration to return to his peak condition while waiting for Ratpack and studying Trou'Bleskamuz' corpse. It didn't turn into smoke, allowing Lith to store him inside his pocket dimension.
'Now let's hope this master is a reasonable guy, otherwise I'll call the army and I'll have them make this whole thing collapse.' Lith thought.
\"I found him! I found master!\" Ratpack's voice was brimming with joy. He was holding an old battered skull with several teeth missing and cracks along its surface.
\"Oh great, another lich!\" Lith said while rolling his eyes. The undead had a life force weaker than a regular human while his blood core despite being almost completely red was reduced to the size of a pea.
\"Nice to meet you, my name is Scourge. Do you have the strength to explain to me what's going on?\" Lith's magical beast name was his best alias available. Even in their evolved forms animals despised undead.
They would never sell out one of their own in case the lich attempted something funny.
\"Of course, dear Scarge.\" Lichs didn't have any brainpower to waste, so they would rarely care for names. Especially if they belonged to an existence as fleeting as a human.
\"It's so good to hear a voice which isn't mine or Trouble's. Is he already dead or can I have the pleasure of inflicting him with some pain, Forge?\" The red light of undeath animating the eyes stared in delight at the blood spattered on the walls.
\"Trouble is dead. Do you mind introducing yourself and telling me what happened?\" Lith had a hard time not laughing. Between the lich's weakened state and his memory, Lith's real identity was airtight.
\"Right, sorry, Sarge. I'm Zolgrish. As for what happened here it's a bit of an embarrassing story.\" He said.
Lith noticed that the cracks on the skull were disappearing and the missing teeth were popping up like mushrooms.
\"As you surely know, being a lich isn't all fun and games. One of the most annoying things about it, is the need to keep your phylactery at hand.\" Zolgrish's words made no sense to him, but Lith just nodded and let him talk.
According to Kalla, young liches would sooner or later go mad due to their prolonged isolation or at least lose their common sense until time stabilized their mental condition.
Zolgrish seemed to be a textbook case. Either that, or he had lost it after becoming an undead.
\"It holds half of our soul, so the farther we get from it, the weaker we become. I set up this lab at the fringes of my phylactery's range. I was at my full strength and at the same time far away enough to check on the progress of my work.
\"This whole complex was supposed to work as a relay point for my phylactery. If my experiment succeeded, I would have been able to expand my area of activity to the entire Kellar region.\" Zolgrish sighed.
'Dammit! Even becoming a lich is out of the question now. I always wondered why they never disguised their phylactery as a pebble and threw it in the ocean or something. I knew it was too good to be true.' Lith thought.
\"Everything was going fine. The mines provided me with all the silver I needed, the arrays amplified the signal, and my immortal minions provided me with an inexhaustible workforce.\" Zolgrish said.
\"Wait a minute. Immortal minions?\" Lith echoed.
\"Well, yes. Lesser undead are too stupid, greater undead are too dangerous in the long run, while living beings are so annoying. You have to feed them train them, and once they die you need to find a replacement. Rinse and repeat.
\"To avoid the issue, I bound their souls to my phylactery, so that whatever happened to me would happen to them. It was the perfect solution. It guaranteed their loyalty and provided for most of their living expenses.
\"Whenever of them dies, he is reborn with his memories. Whenever they are hungry, kill a few and let the others feast on the corpse. From farm to table!\" Zolgrish maniacal laugh gave Lith the creeps.
'That's why some corpses disappeared upon death while others remained. His device resurrects them only if the body is destroyed, or rather, stripped to the bone. This creature is raving mad. No wonder his minions revolted. The question is: how?' Lith thought.
\"Sure, the procedure has a survival rate of 0.01%, but monsters spawn fast and nobody misses them. No harm no foul. Or so I thought. Over time, I took two of my most intelligent minions as lab assistants.
\"Dann'Kah the orc and his mastery over magic crystals have proven invaluable for increasing the power of my creations. It took me a while to kill him into submission, but once the deed was done, the sky was the limit for my forgemastering.
\"Yozmogh the Balor with his eyes was a perfect amplifier for my spells. Sure, they would explode from time to time, but nothing that a swift death couldn't fix.
\"What I didn't take into account is that, since their souls are stored next to mine inside the phylactery, the repeated cycles of death and rebirth allowed them to feel the energy flow, until they became able to manipulate it!
Chapter 543 Master Plan Part 2
"Those ungrateful dogs bid their time and waited for the moment when I was about to complete the amplification device to enact their plan. Yozmogh attacked me while I was at my weakest, while Dann'Kah used his crystal to redirect the energy from my phylactery to their bodies instead of mine!
"You can imagine the rest." Zolgrish said. His skeletal body was now complete and he was standing on his own. The lich's blood core had returned to a normal size, but over half of it was black.
"So, after defeating you, they discovered they shared your limited freedom of movement." Lith said as Zolgrish nodded in approval.
"It explains why they didn't leave despite having opened so many exits, but not what they are fighting for nor why they attacked the nearby city alarming the residents."
"There was never any love between Dann'Kah and Yozmogh, the only thing uniting them was their common enemy: me. Once they discovered how to use my life force to undo the effects of their race's fall, they wanted to kill each other.
"The first one who dies will be resurrected again, but will lose his grip on my life force, leaving the other one in possession of most of my powers! As for the attacks on the city, the explanation is quite simple. I chose only males as my slaves, to keep their number in check."
'Decades of sausage fest! With the monsters' libido, it's no wonder they risked going so far despite their weakened state. They must have been looking for females.' Lith thought.
"Why didn't Trouble turn into smoke?"
"He wasn't one of my servants, but one of my lab rats. With three eyes, he was quite a rare specimen, since Balors usually have just one or two. I couldn't risk his life. I assume Yozmogh didn't restore his strength because he was one of the few that could leave for good." Zolgrish said.
"Only a few more questions." Lith said.
"What are you planning to do? And more importantly, are you willing to compensate me for my troubles?"
"Well, dear Marge, in my weakened state I can take on my minions, but not their generals. As long as the amplifier is active, all the energy coming and going from my phylactery is under their control, while I'm stuck in the condition I was when they overpowered me.
"My plan is to shut down the device, get my strength back, and kill those bastards for good. I just need to touch my phylactery to banish their souls and send them into oblivion! As for your reward…" Zolgrish walked to one of the opened silver doors.
A simple touch of his hand depowered it and another one took it off its hinges. Weakened or not, the lich was still quite powerful.
"Consider this an advance."
Lith stored the door inside his pocket dimension, nodding in agreement. Yet he had no intention of trusting such a deranged creature. There was no telling what the lich would do once he regained his full powers.
At the same time, turning down his help would have been foolish. Now that Lith knew about his opponents' limitations, worst case scenario he could always Warp to safety and wait for the army.
The two ringleaders would leave the complex and risk dying by his hand, while the weakened lich wasn't his match there, let alone if they fought near Jambel, away from the amplifier.
"Where is the device?" Lith asked.
"On the fourth floor, but we better get moving. Without Trouble constantly breaking me apart as a hobby, Dann'Kah and Yozmogh will have already noticed that I'm back at…" Zolgrish waved at himself.
"Let's call this humiliating, inferior form my peak condition." He sighed. "As I already told you, Bart, the three of us are linked. They are like dams that prevent the mana from my phylactery from flowing into me.
"I doubt they will come here in person, but their lieutenants are likely to be on their way."
Lith cursed as he took point, moving towards the stairs.
"Master, Ratpack so happy to see you. Ranger and his bright Lady scary." The little creature seemed to have gotten his spunk back. He looked at Lith with eyes full of disdain.
"Enough of your nonsense, Ratpack. First, stealth is our best ally. Second, I told you countless times: ghosts don't exist."
Lith didn't know whether to laugh or cry at an undead who didn't believe in supernatural.
"But master, she right here! She has very long hair, all dressed in gold and with many chains binding her." He said while pointing the air above Lith's right shoulder.
'Can he really see me?' Solus was astonished. Aside from the chains, the description fitted her.
"Sounds familiar. Can you describe her to me?" Lith never stopped moving, looking left and right with Life Vision to avoid the enemies patrolling the seventh floor.
"She very tall." Ratpack said.
'Good news, whatever he sees, it's not you. You're many things but tall is not one of them. He's just delirious.' Lith thought in relief.
'You jerk! I'm tall by his standards.' With her 1.54 meters (5'1"), Solus was way taller than Ratpack who was just 1.3 meters (4'3").
"Is she this big, with blonde floating hair, and a fat belly?" Lith's words made Solus swear like an angry truck driver.
'It's not my fault if you don't have any other relevant features!'
"Yes, yes, and Ratpack doesn't know. Dress cover her."
'Okay, now I'm positive he's delirious.'
'No, think about it.' Solus said. 'I'm in my ring form, so what he sees could be my soul, my real appearance! Ask him about my eyes, my face, everything.'
"Can you describe her to me?" Lith couldn't refuse her request, even though he found it ridiculous.
"She very ugly." Ratpack made Solus almost cry.
"She like you. Her brown eyes too big, ears too big, and her face creepy. She looks… kind." After a while Lith and Solus both realized that Ratpack used himself as a standard, making all humans ugly in his eyes.
When he found even Tista's hologram disgusting, Solus sighed in relief.
'This moron can't distinguish Kamila from the Queen, he's of no use.' Lith thought.
Then, he asked him about what kind of dress the bright Lady was wearing and if her chains had anything unusual. Both answers surprised Solus and Lith.
According to Ratpack, Solus was wearing a golden roman toga and sandals. It was an attire outdated for centuries, that Lith only knew about from the pictures in Mogar's history books.
"Chains all unusual." Ratpack said. "She bound by two kinds of them. One is big and bind Lady to you. Other one is thinner and restrain her. Two thin chains are broken and she keeps hammering a third. Chain makes sparks but hold, so Lady never stops."
"How many chains are left?" Lith's mind was spinning at top gear, but the only thing that came to him was the gemstones that appeared on her gauntlet form every time that Solus unlocked a new ability.
She had recently developed a second one of which he had yet to make sense.
Chapter 544 Master Plan Part 3
"Four. You believe Ratpack?" He asked.
"Yes. From your description, she reminds me of an old friend of mine who passed away long ago." Lith nodded.
Then, to Zolgrish he asked: "How can he see ghosts? What kind of creature is Ratpack?"
"It would be nice if he could." The lich sighed.
"It would mean that at least he isn't a complete failure. Ratpack is a chimera, I made him by assembling the corpses of an elf child and a Balor. Then, I used necromancy to raise the corpse as a vampire.
"He was supposed to be the ultimate being. An immortal, natural shapeshifter vampire in perfect tune with the world energy like an elf, and with a Balor's Evil Eyes, capable of amplifying each of his spells.
"Instead he kept the build of the child and the inability to handle the world energy of the Balors. Becoming a vampire messed things up even more because neither elves nor Balors usually become undead. That's why Ratpack is Ratpack.
"That said, ghosts do not exist. They are just a superstition, whereas undead are magical creatures, and magic is science. All undead can be killed and need to feed, but ghosts? What could they possibly eat?
"How could you destroy something that has no body? If ghosts were real, with all the people that die every day on Mogar, there would be more undead than living. Believe me, Snart, there is no return from death." The sadness in his voice surprised Lith
"Whoever she was, no matter how important she was to you, she's gone. The sooner you accept it, the better. Ratpack is funny and loyal, but he is not the sharpest tool in the shed."
Yet Ratpack's words triggered something inside Solus.
For a moment, she spaced out as unknown images and sounds flooded her mind. At first, she was running away from something. She had no idea what it was, but she knew that stopping or stumbling meant death.
The vegetation of the woods kept whipping her face and a few pebbles had gotten inside her sandals, hurting her feet with every step she took. Her chest felt heavy, her breath was ragged yet she didn't dare to slow down.
Then she was watching the sunset together with a woman so tall that she seemed like a giant, someone she called "mom". Solus barely reached her hips, and was clinging to the woman's hand that was much bigger than her own.
"Stop daydreaming, child." A cranky feminine voice said.
"You can't become the next Ruler of the Flames if you don't focus on the Forge."
"Yes, Master Menadion." Solus's voice replied as the purple flame in front of her shattered, returning her to Zolgrish's underground lab.
Lith shared all the fear, the love, and the admiration she felt as the fleeting memories passed, but had no idea what was causing them until she shared her visions with him.
'Are you thinking what I'm thinking?' She asked.
'Yes. As I've always told you, you are a person, not a thing. No matter if you were born human, beast, or tower. The moment you gained feeling and self-awareness you were a person to me. The only real revelation is that your memories aren't entirely lost.' Lith replied.
They both had hoped that, since she still remembered what the complete tower looked like and the passing of time after her late master's demise, Solus could recover part of her past together with her powers.
Yet after so many years with no sign of improvement, they had relinquished that thought. At least until that day. Now Solus could remember picking out a dress among many and the feeling of a silver hammer in her hand.
They were too faint to be memories. They were more like impressions left by an action performed so many times to have left a mark in her subconscious. Solus didn't let herself be swayed by the joy those images brought her.
On the contrary, Master Menadion's words made her focus even more on their predicament.
'Lith, we need a plan.' She said.
'To make one, we need information and rest. Have Zolgrish open one of the rooms for you. Remember that you have been fighting non stop ever since we entered the underground complex.'
Lith nodded. Even though he had used Invigoration only twice, healing his wounds had taken a toll on his body. He needed to eat to restore his natural stamina.
Zolgrish didn't like being ordered around, but without Lith his only asset was Ratpack. He could only suck it up and open one of the doors on the seventh floor. After making sure no one had followed them, Lith sat down and took some food out of his pocket dimension.
"I get the part about shutting down the device, but how do you plan to do it? If it's the key to their power and they know of your escape, it's likely to be heavily guarded." Lith said while chewing beef jerky.
"What plan? You were so confident that I was just following your lead, dear Garb. It's not my problem if something goes wrong. Ratpack and I cannot die." The lich shrugged.
Lith took some deep breaths to calm himself. Suddenly the underground complex looked like more like a tomb than a magnificent loot crate.
'This idiot is even more deranged than I thought. I need to contact the army as my back up plan. Worst case scenario, they destroy the complex, the lich returns to wherever his phylactery is, and I can stage my death to get plausible deniability.
'If I make Zolgrish believe I'm dead due to the lab's collapse, he will not resent me.' He thought.
'I don't get why Borg is so nervous.' Zolgrish thought. 'Worst case scenario, I'll make the arrays surrounding the lab collapse and flatten the mountain. Sure, I'll lose my lab and Borg will lose his life, but he's just a human.
'That way, I'd get my powers back and destroy the device. It's a win-win. At least for me.' Mean minds did indeed think alike.
"What kind of weapons do your minions have at their disposal?" Lith asked.
"Only those I made for the kitchen staff. It's unbelievable how they struggled to butcher daily specials. I had to forge a few tools because they refused to give up. Some monsters are tough to kill bare handed and the meals ended being delayed."
"What about the treasury? Or the Armory?"
"Double lock. To open them they require my mana, to which sadly Yozmogh and Dann'Kah have access, and a combination. I never shared it with anyone, not even Ratpack, so they should be safe."
Zolgrish drummed his fingers on the ground. There was something he was missing.
"Oh, yeah. They're not proper weapons, but they could use the excavation and lab tools. They were never intended to be used in battle so their effects are simple, but they are quite powerful."
"That's just great!" Lith said.
"Can you please tell me that you know what the abilities are of all the monsters who reverted to their pre fallen state? I need at least one piece of good news."
"Sorry, but no. It was an unexpected development and they never bothered to share their discoveries with me, except when they used their newfound powers to kick the crap out of me.
"What I can tell you, is that Dann'Kah has somehow shrunk his purple crystal into a ring. It allows him to stir the surrounding world energy as if it's a soup and to cast tier five spells non stop. And he never learned tier five magic!
Chapter 545 Master Plan Part 4
"As for Yozmogh, he went from a two eyed Balor to a six eyed one. The change made him physically weaker than before, but the raw power of each one of his spells is unparalleled."
"Fuck it! I need some fresh air." Lith said as he opened a Warp Steps which led as far from the lab as he could manage. Even if somehow someone followed him, they would be so weak that he could pulverize them in the blink of an eye.
"Ratpack, the human seems to be a little touchy. Are you sure he is the strongest, smartest, bravest champion you could find?" Zolgrish asked.
"Of course, master."
"What makes you so sure about it?"
"He only survivor. All others died, so he best one." Ratpack said.
Zolgrish slapped Ratpack's on the back of his head, wondering if Lamb would ever return.
***
While the lich was cursing the gods for giving him Ratpack, Lith took out his army communicator the moment the Warp Steps closed behind him and called his handler.
"I've disposed of the next unit of monsters. Jambel is safe for now, but I've got bad news. The dungeon has turned out to be the abandoned lab of an ancient mage. It's not just their numbers that are a problem, but also the fact that some of them are mutated."
"Mutated how?" Kamila asked. That word reminded her of the past monster outbreaks, making her worry.
"They are not like the wargs." Lith replied almost reading her mind.
"Their behaviour is like I expected it to be, only their abilities are boosted. Either it's selective breeding or magical enhancement of sorts, I don't know. The situation is very volatile, there are two dungeon masters, not just one.
"An ogre shaman and a Balor." Lith could almost hear Kamila flinching on the other side of the conversation. Lith was reporting nearly the truth, sticking to what Lord Wyalon had already reported.
"Is there really a Balor?" Kamila asked.
"More than one." Lith took out Trouble's body as proof.
"What's worse, they have access to some magical tools they managed to repurpose into weapons. So far the two groups were too busy fighting among themselves, but if they get out of there, we're talking about at least a thousand mutated monsters armed to the teeth."
"What's your plan?" The more Kamila heard, the more worried she became.
'Why the heck did I start an argument about his past? I don't want our last conversation to be a stupid quarrel.' She thought.
"The complex has no array blocking dimensional magic, so I can get in and out of it fast. My plan is to create a distraction and kill the two leaders. If I manage to cut off the head of the snake, the rioting caused by the power vacuum should do the rest.
"I know I can do it, but I want you to keep a group of Wardens on stand by. If you don't hear from me within a few hours, send them to these coordinates and have them bring the whole complex down."
Lith then confirmed the position of the entrances Baron Wyalon had found to her and explained the nature of the arrays surrounding the place, making the Wardens' work much easier.
'If only I was a better Warden and there wasn't a frigging lich involved I could do it myself. This way when everything starts collapsing, Zolgrish will have no reason to suspect me.'
"Copy that, Ranger Verhen. Please, remember that you can always pull out and wait for reinforcements." Kamila's hologram appeared suddenly. Her voice was professional and detached as always, but her eyes contained a desperate plea.
"I wish I could." That part at least was true.
"There's a big snowstorm incoming. If we don't settle this now, Jambel and its citizens will be completely isolated for days. Bad weather is nothing to an orc shaman, the monsters would slaughter them like lambs."
'Or rather, I can't live with a lich breathing down my neck for the destruction of his lab.' He actually thought.
"Copy that." Kamila said. Before the hologram could completely disappear, Lith's civilian amulet pulled at his consciousness.
"Are you insane calling me from work? Your supervisor will flay you for that!"
"Who cares! Are you alright? You have never called for back up before, not even for the Black Star. Be honest with me, how bad is it?" She said.
'Dammit, now I understand why on Earth relationship in the workplace were frowned upon. Lying to my handler is one thing, doing it to my fear stricken girlfriend is another.' Lith thought.
"Pretty bad. Don't worry, though. If shit hits the ceiling, I'll Warp out of there in the blink of an eye." Even a vengeful lich was better than a dead Ranger.
"Please, be safe. Call me as soon as you're done with the mission, no matter the hour, okay?"
Lith nodded, knowing that no words could reassure her. He closed the call and Warped back to Zolgrish.
"Did you have any brilliant ideas during your stroll?" The lich sneered.
"Actually yes. Why don't we take a few weapons from your armory to make our lives easier?" Lith asked.
"Because if I imprint them with my mana, Dann'Kah and Yozmogh could use them too if they get their hands on them. I don't trust Ratpack to use anything more dangerous than a broom, and whatever you imprint I would have no way to get back. Unless I were to kill you, of course."
"What if you consider it the rest of my payment?" Lith couldn't refute that logic, but he could propose an alternative.
"And what would prevent you from abandoning me here? Maybe even taking a few souvenirs? It's not like I could stop you even if I wanted. I prefer to keep you motivated, Nolon."
As Lith had predicted, they found little surveillance on the road to the fourth floor, where the device was located. Unfortunately, it was because most of the guards had been recalled to right in front of the lab's door.
The orc shaman and the Balor hated each other, but they knew that if their former master were to regain his powers, he would turn their eternal lives into a living hell.
Lith, Zolgrish, and Ratpack were stuck near the stairway leading from the fifth to the fourth underground floor.
"How does your minions' resurrection process work? I need to know if fighting them is worth the effort or if it would just be a waste of time and mana." Lith said.
"It works just like mine." Zolgrish replied. His condescending tone showed once again how the lich considered such information to be common sense.
"If my body gets completely destroyed, it takes me between one and three days to be regenerated near my phylactery back to my peak condition. The stronger one is, the longer it takes the phylactery to store enough word energy.
"It shouldn't take it more than a few minutes to restore those weaklings. Yet remember that if you don't destroy their bodies, they will remain corpses for a couple of hours. That's the optimal time required to field dress and consume them.
"It should be more than enough to get in and shut down the device. You're worrying for nothing."
"I don't think so. We don't know who's inside the lab…" Unfortunately, the lab was so full of powerful magics that Life Vision was as useless as mana sense.
Chapter 546 The Best Laid Plans... Part 1
"…and if they stall us long enough, reinforcements could destroy the bodies we left behind. If that happens, we'd end up surrounded and killed in no time. Luckily for me, I've got a better idea" Lith said.
He was so used to relying on Solus's mana sense and on Life Vision that using Fire Vision felt wrong. It was one of Lith's oldest skills, that he now used mostly to cook since Life Vision had proved to be superior in combat.
Fire vision granted him the magical equivalent of thermal goggles, allowing him to see in the dark in a scale of colors according to the temperature of his surroundings. The lab was lit by light crystals that didn't emit heat, otherwise he would have been blinded.
Fire Vision provided no information about the strength of the enemy, but still could identify their position and size. Lith stood still for a while, studying the patrols' timing and routes.
'I can't afford to make mistakes. One false step and we'll be swarmed. Meeting Ratpack was a blessing in disguise. Without his information, I would have taken my sweet time opening the doors and who knows what could have happened.' Lith thought.
He worried more about the orc shaman than the Balor. As far as he knew, only the former could block his dimensional magic thanks to orcs' innate ability to manipulate mana crystals.
Dimensional magic was a powerful tool. Lith relied on it for both offense and defense. Most of his contingency plans were impossible without it. After he was sure that he had a clear understanding of their situation, Lith went upstairs and followed one of the patrols.
He cursed when he saw that they were all orcs reverted to their elven state. They moved lithe as cats, with lean limbs more fitting for a professional dancer than the brutes they were.
The enemies would have spotted Lith's group immediately if not for the Hush zone and the smell canceling spell he had enveloped them with. Lith kept several spells at the ready while intently following the patrol movements with Fire Vision.
The moment the orcs met a patrol of reverted ogres, Lith unleashed the spirit magic tendrils he had prepared and snapped their necks. Then, he waved his hand, making a Warp Steps appear below their feet.
It moved the corpses into one of the cells on the seventh floor, of which Lith had memorized the coordinates and closed the door before leaving.
Ten elite enemies were swallowed by the dimensional corridor and locked away in one fell swoop. No one could destroy their bodies now.
"Quick! We must move before the other patrols notice their disappearance." Lith said. Zolgrish nodded at what's-his-name ingenuity and followed his lead.
Together they quickly cleaned the external corridors of patrols. Even in his weakened state, Zolgrish had no problems using water magic to freeze his opponents and dimensional magic to lock them away.
Once they reached the lab's nearest door, Lith made way for the lich. He didn't need Life Vision to know the door was enchanted. The many mana crystals fused into its surface couldn't be just for decoration.
Zolgrish raised his skeletal right hand in front of the solid silver door, making a holographic spiral made of runes appear.
"Interesting." He said after the door refused to open.
"They have managed to tamper with my code. I wonder if their newfound intelligence comes from reverting the effects of the falling or from mastering the connection with my essence now inhabiting their bodies.
"The latter possibility is kind of disturbing."
The tinge of worry in the lich's voice made Lith even more paranoid than usual. While Zolgrish worked the door's command panel, he checked their surroundings again and prepared a few extra spells.
'My preparation was meticulous and the execution of my plan flawless, yet I can't help being worried. If Dann'Kah and Yozmogh really are this smart, then they're bound to be close.' He thought.
'To make matters worse, they just need to tamper with one of the elements composing the world energy to seal my dimensional magic. There are too many things that can go wrong. Solus, be ready to intervene.'
She was careful to shapeshift slowly from under his sleeve, while the lich was still focused on the door. When her arm protector form manifested, she made it appear as though he had simply taken it out from a dimensional item.
Zolgrish finally cracked the code and turned towards Lith.
"We're in." The lich said while looking at him like it was the first time they met.
"You seem different, somehow. Have you done something with your hair?"
The door opened, revealing the biggest Forgemastering lab Lith had ever seen. It extended as far as the eye could see, taking up the entire floor. There was no room or wall separating the various sections of the lab, only pillars to keep the ceiling standing.
The stone walls had been carved into bookshelves and each one of them was filled with ancient tomes or scrolls. The richly decorated spines of the books were the only element of color in the otherwise honey hued stone surface.
A blue translucent force field covered all the bookshelves, protecting their content from the energy employed and released during the Forgemastering experiments. Lith counted at least twenty Forges.
"Forge" was how Forgemasters referred to the silver tables they used for their work. Every forge inside the lab was covered in runes of power, which formed magic circles still pulsing with blue energy.
Some circles were complete, others were works in progress, but all of them had an object resting on their center, ready to be enchanted.
Much to Lith's surprise, the books were arranged according to a color code that went from black to white, going through the complete light spectrum.
'What the heck? Could he have split the books according to the mana core required? Solus, are you sure he isn't an Awakened?' Lith was already worried about orc shamans always being Awakened ones.
The idea that even the Balor could become one by accessing Zolgrish's memories was enough to reconsider his plan and call the army to have them raze the area.
'Pretty sure. So far he has chanted all of his spells and his mana flow is static. Either he is a fake mage or he has lost his status of Awakened together with most of his powers. My money on the former.' She replied.
"What does the color code mean?" Lith asked. He needed to make sure it was just a coincidence.
"What code? That would be an idiotic thing to do. The books are in alphabetical order. I had them bound that way so that each Forge has its own room." Zolgrish walked double time towards the Forge at the north west end of the room.
Unlike the other silver tables, there was nothing on it except five concentric circles of runes that glowed with a golden light instead of the common blue.
"Where's the device?" Lith said while sighing in relief.
"You're looking at it." The lich replied.
"Only amateurs use common silver tables for a masterpiece. True Forgemasters use adamant. It conducts mana as well as silver but it's hundreds of times more resilient. Plus, you can shapeshift it into any form you may need.
"It makes it much easier to inscribe runes with perfect symmetry on the vessel for your spell since you have an ample surface that you can later rearrange in the shape and size of your choosing."
Chapter 547 The Best Laid Plans... Part 2
At a wave of his hand, the silver table turned into a giant ring as big as a double door. Mystical energies flowed from the air into the construct as the space inside the ring was filled by a red and black essence that Lith recognized as part of a blood core.
"I don't like it. Why is there no one in here?" Lith asked while using all of his senses to scan the area.
"Because the security level was set so that anyone without my energy signature would die upon entering."
At those words, Lith conjured several barriers as the gems on Solus' arm protector form glowed with mana.
"Relax! I've disabled them." Zolgrish laughed at the Ranger's panic.
"You idiot! Doesn't that mean that every one of those who share your essence could be waiting for us?" Lith rebuked.
"Oh, please. You're simply…" Zolgrish's amusement disappeared as dozens of reverted monsters wielding magical tools appeared from thin air.
"…right. Dammit!" The lich waved his hand again, causing the ring to shapeshift back into a table.
"Not so fast." A deep and melodious voice said.
Two humanoid creatures appeared right next to the device. One was wearing a grey magician's robe, leaving only his head and hands exposed. He was 1.78 meters (5'10") tall, with light brown skin and shoulder-length golden hair.
His pointy ears parted his hair, revealing a slender neck which together with his delicate features gave him a feminine look. Only his pupils, flaming from the red mana coursing within, betrayed his real nature.
On the ring finger of his right hand rested a purple ring made of crystal. Now that Dann'Kah had activated it, it was filled with so much mana that it eclipsed the rest of the lab to Solus's mana sense.
'Whatever it is, it's not just a simple crystal.' Solus tried to make sense of what she was staring at.
'It contains multiple different energy signatures, like it's composed of several living beings compressed together. How could an orc create a cursed object in so little time?'
The answer was that he didn't. Whenever an orc shaman used a powerful mana crystal long enough, they would leave an imprint on it. Their successors, if talented enough, could use such imprints to access part of their ancestors' experience and their most used spells.
Recalling the spells of a single shaman was a hard and complex matter because the further in the past they had lived, the fainter their trace was and the harder it was to find it.
Dann'Kah was different. After recovering the abilities his race possessed before their fall, he had discovered that he was able to activate all of the imprints left by his forefathers. It was the residual mana from the past shamans that Solus had mistaken for life forces.
Dann'Kah was using part of the lich's undead energies to keep them permanently active and have access to tier four and five spells. The residual mana mixed with the undead life force gave those echoes from the past a semblance of life.
Dann'Kah believed he had conjured his ancestors' spirits and that they were guiding him from the netherworld, bestowing their knowledge upon him.
Unfortunately, the truth was that by having so many memories flooding his mind along with centuries of hatred and rage, Dann'Kah was on the verge of madness. He was constantly shaking his head, but not because of the effort from undoing Zolgrish's will.
He was trying to make the voices in his head shut up long enough for him to achieve his goal.
The second creature was bare-chested, wearing only pants. Yozmogh was 2.3 meters (7'7") tall, with pale blue skin and a cascade of long silver hair reaching his waist. He had the body of a Greek god, with muscles that looked like they had been chiseled rather than trained.
He had six eyes on his face and six feathered wings emerging from his back. Each one of the eyes was a different color, based on the element inhabiting it, and so were his wings.
The eyes on the creature's forehead were red and blue, those under his eyebrows were black and white, while those on his cheekbones were brown and yellow. Both Lith and Solus wondered if there was any connection between Balors and Lith's hybrid form.
Aside from lacking a seventh one on the forehead, the Balor's eyes were positioned exactly the same way.
The wings on his back followed the same pattern as the eyes and seemed to be made of pure elemental energies.
"Power down this damn lab or they'll use it against us!" Lith said as he conjured several streams of lightning to disperse the enemies and stop whatever Dann'Kah was doing.
Yozmogh's yellow wing crackled like thunder, and suddenly Lith's spells were drawn to it like the wing was a powerful magnet. The yellow wing stored the energy and purified it from Lith's mana before transferring it to the yellow eye.
"Humans should not fight their gods." Yozmogh said. His voice was quiet and solemn. There was no arrogance nor threat in it, he was only stating what he considered to be the truth.
The dryad-ogres joined their hands, forming a wall of vines that quickly surrounded Lith as several reverted trolls activated the tools in their four hands to strike him down through the openings their companions created for them.
Each troll wielded two golden staves, each with what looked like a ruby the size of an apple on their tops, which emitted jet streams of blue flames.
While Zolgrish and Dann'Kah were engaged in a battle of sheer willpower, Ratpack fled from the scene and hid inside the closest shadow, hoping that no one would notice him.
The lich's blood core was diminished, but his mind was intact. Even though Dann'Kah was several times stronger than him and wielded the same energies, keeping them in check was a constant struggle for the orc.
Zolgrish had no such problem. It was his energy, his lab. They both responded to his thoughts like they were an extension of his body.
"What are you waiting for? Destroy him!" Dann'Kah ordered to his orc-elves. He was well aware that if it weren't for the purple crystal on his finger he would have already been bested.
The mining tools the reverted orcs were equipped with looked like silver rods, about one meter (3,3 feet) long, with topaz embedded along their sides.
They amplified the mana they were imbued with to generate energy blades capable of easily cutting through rock. The orcs had spent countless hours in the mines, slaving away for the lich.
Their mastery with the cutting tools was equaled only by their resentment for him, so as soon as Dann'Kah gave the order, they had the rods in their hands shape their mana into the form of a mace and struck mercilessly at Zolgrish from every side.
After being pulverized by Trouble for months, what such weapons could inflict to the lich was merely discomfort. His pride was almost crushed seeing his creations used against him, seeing his slaves dare to raise their hand against their master.
Almost.
Now that he was so close to the device, which Dann'Kah was so kindly keeping half open, all the energy he would lose due to the wounds inflicted upon him would be absorbed by the ring and returned to him in barely a second.
Countless possibilities appeared in Zolgrish's mind and a cruel smile would have formed on his face if only he had one.
'The situation is much better than I predicted. Mario is unlikely to survive, but hired help is always expendable.' The lich thought.
Chapter 548 Past vs Present Part 1
Zolgrish ignored the pain from his skeletal limbs being constantly crushed and regenerated, focusing on the adamant forge.
'Yozmogh and Dann'Kah are too close to the amplifier for me to open the control panel and shut it down. Dann'Kah's obstinacy to keep it open means they needed me to activate it. Their control over my essence must be poor.' He thought.
'I don't get why Luigi wants me to shut down the lab, but since he is likely to die, I might as well grant his last wish.'
The lich stomped his foot on the power line of the array fuelling the lab. Everything that didn't have his own pseudo core went dark.
'We're back baby!' Lith and Solus thought in unison as most of the interference from their surroundings disappeared, making Life Vision and mana sense useful again.
Lith had managed to survive up to that point only thanks to his multiple layered barrier. The wall of vines made up by the reverted ogres limited his movements and the trolls would strike at him with their enchanted tools whenever he tried to escape the encirclement.
Their staves emitted blue flames which reached thousands of degrees, capable of turning a man into charcoal with just one hit. Even when they missed, they made the air too hot to be breathable unless Lith cooled it down with water magic.
To make matters worse, up to that point Yozmogh had neutralized the spells Lith had conjured to defend himself with his wings. Not only did he almost cause Lith's death multiple times, but also all of his eyes were brimming with stored energy.
'I'll deal with him later. First I need to get rid of the trolls.' Lith thought as he Blinked right behind one of the reverted creatures. With Life Vision working again, the wall of vines no longer blocked his line of sight.
"Behind you." Yozmogh warned them as the Ranger came out from his exit point. Lith had Solus keep an eye on him, he couldn't afford any distraction in the task at hand.
His arms moved like snakes, striking at each troll multiple times. The trolls laughed at his wasted efforts and unleashed new jets of blue flames. With their thick skin and powerful muscles, that kind of attacks didn't even tickle. On the contrary, they felt full of vigor.
Or so they thought before falling to their knees, writhing in agony.
Lith's hits were weak because he knew brute strength and normal magic were pointless. Normal trolls' regenerative abilities made them hard to kill, whereas those in front of him would resurrect in a matter of minutes.
Lith had to save his strength for and from Yozmogh. He couldn't afford the Balor stealing any more of his mana, so the strikes were merely a vessel, each one imbued with a light spell.
Healing magic was the trolls' bane, overloading their already too efficient metabolism that caused their perpetual hunger. Lith's spells had pushed them to the brink of starvation. Their massive bodies shrunk like each passing second was a day spent fasting.
"Impressive." Yozmogh gave him a nod of approval.
"Let's see how you fight when even your eyes betray you."
Yozmogh revealed that he was holding a small mirror in his left hand. He pointed it at the wall of living vines and then to himself, making them both disappear.
'There was no dimensional door and I can still hear the ogre-dryads slithering on the floor. Is that invisibility?' Lith asked.
'It must be that mirror's effect.' Solus pondered.
'My guess is that it uses gravity magic to bend the light. That must be how they hid themselves waiting for Zolgrish to activate the device.'
'Thanks for the explanation, but how does that help?'
'It doesn't. The field it creates is so fine that not even mana sense can pinpoint them. I can only give you an approximate location.' Solus said as Lith felt a living wave crushing against him.
The vines coiled around his body, turning visible once again. They tried to dig their way through his skin and orifices.
'Gross! They didn't even buy me a drink first.' Lith activated his tier five spell, Setting Sun. It generated a globe made of darkness imbued flames around him that engulfed all of the dryads-ogres attacking him.
The two elements were fused together, allowing the dark energies to move at a speed that would otherwise be impossible. Setting Sun was a perfect offense and defense that would stay up until all of its mana was exhausted, but Lith didn't plan to use it for long.
'I thought you said that ogres' vines are resistant to fire. Wouldn't it have been better to use Ice Age, instead?' Solus asked.
'That's exactly why I'm using it. Just like with the trolls, I don't want to kill them, just to make them suffer. Otherwise they'll just pop up again in an endless loop.' Lith explained.
The darkness magic quickly sapped the ogres' vitality, while the fire magic of Setting Sun inflicted them blinding pain but dealt little damage. The moment the vines writhed in agony off his body, Lith expanded the sphere of black flames outwards, revealing Yozmogh's position.
As the Balor's gravity sheath dissolved, Lith could see Yozmogh's red and black wings brimming with power. He was trying to rob Lith of his spell but to no avail.
Over the years, Lith had fought opponents more powerful than he was many times. It had almost cost him his life, but at the same time, the experiences had given him the opportunity to learn from them.
He had devised Setting Sun after fighting Nalear, while Thrud Griffon and Manohar had taught him how to defeat an opponent capable of draining his mana. Just like the vortex generated by Thrud's meat puppets, Yozmogh's wings couldn't affect a spell animated by its caster's willpower.
Lith had understood the nature of the reverted Balor's powers after he had literally stolen his thunder, but feigned ignorance to lull Yozmogh's conceit.
"Such a powerful spell and no chant. You must be an Awakened!" Surprise and joy appeared on his face despite the black flames withering his skin.
Lith had no time to waste bantering. He focused Setting Sun on his fingertips, making it rotate faster and faster, until he released it against the Balor in the form of a giant spinning thorn.
Meanwhile, the battle between Zolgrish and Dann'Kah took an unexpected turn too.
"Hey, idiot. Do you know the origin of the term lich?" Zolgrish said. He grabbed one of the orc-elves who, in the heat of the battle, had fallen prey to the orc's natural bloodlust and come within arm's reach.
A simple touch was all Zolgrish needed to leech the vitality of an opponent, but this time that wasn't his goal. The undead life force Dann'Kah had shared with his lieutenant recognized its only true master and returned to him.
"Thanks for the meal." Each reverted orc contained only a small portion of Zolgrish's power, but it was enough to tip the scale of the battle in his favor. The orc-elves attempted to escape, but the lich only needed one of the cantrips he kept at the ready to stop them.
Some even conjured world energy to commit suicide, yet it only backfired. They were closer to Zolgrish than to the amplifier, so the undead energy released upon their death ended up being siphoned by him.
Chapter 549 Past vs Present Part 2
Ragged clothes appeared on Zolgrish's skeleton as well as flesh and muscles, restoring part of his original appearance. Dann'Kah started to panic, his willpower was consumed on too many fronts.
He had to keep at bay the voices in his head, prevent the amplifier from shutting down or lose any chance to control it, and fight the undead energies within him which were trying to return to their rightful vessel.
'How the heck does Yozmogh control them so effortlessly? I'm a natural Awakened, whereas lichs use fake magic, and Balors are limited to tier three magic. Why am I losing against a pile of bones?' He thought.
The answer was actually simple. In his arrogance, Dann'Kah had spread his resources too thin. As for Zolgrish, he had prepared plenty of spells on his way to the lab. Until he lost his focus or run out of spells, he was as powerful as an Awakened.
To add insult to injury, he only needed to beckon to call back his energies and the closer he got to Dann'Kah, the harder it was for the orc to keep them in check.
Zolgrish was solely focused on the shaman, so Yozmogh could afford to let the undead energies escape from his body just to capture them again with his black wing.
Dann'Kah called upon his ancestors to conjure the ancient elven tier five spell, Lighthouse. It trapped the lich inside a hard light construct shaped like a cube that contained a small tornado.
Zolgrish wasn't afraid of being ripped to shreds by the violent air currents, so much as he was surprised by the offensive light spell. He had never seen one before.
"Not bad, but let's see if this thing is as strong as it looks." The lich snapped his fingers to release the tier five spell Raging Sun. It filled the cube with a blast of purple flames that dispersed the air currents forming the tornado, adding the orc's spell power to its own.
The resulting explosion made the sides of the cube crack as the lich took control of the shockwaves it generated with air magic and sent them back and forth against the weak points the two colliding spells had created.
It was an impossible strategy for any creature, living or not. Zolgrish could ignore the damage he received only because he had no vitals.
"You fool!" He laughed as his bones kept cracking and healing.
"You should have let the device shut down. It would have taken me hours instead of seconds to regain my strength. The closer I get to it, the stronger I become. It's like being next to my phylactery to me."
"Thanks for the information, old man." Dann'Kah replied. He sent the cube rolling to the opposite side of the room, following it closely to not lose control of his spell. If darkness magic's weakness was its speed, for light magic it was its range.
"But I need the amplifier to take everything from you, just like you took everything away from me. My dignity, my honor, even my life. I'll use your life's work to escape from this cage and torture you until the end of time."
"What a coincidence! It's the end of time o'clock for you. Right, Ratpack?" At those words, Dann'Kah realized to have brought the lich in the spot he had seen the small maggot disappear.
Ratpack emerged from the shadows, stabbing Dann'Kah with his Coward's Knife multiple times before the shaman could even turn around. The enchanted blade was a long dagger for a man but it was a short sword to Ratpack.
Zolgrish had infused it with light and darkness magic. The darkness spell acted as a venom against living beings and as an acid against everything else. The light element closed the wounds the moment they were opened.
The forced healing would sap its victim's stamina and accelerate the spreading of the venom through their body by enhancing their metabolism. Dann'Kah managed to stop the darkness spell with one of his own, but he was helpless against the light magic which broke both his focus and his spell.
As soon as the cube shattered, Zolgrish dashed forward and grabbed the shaman's face with his hands as he summoned back the undead energies that had been stolen from him.
"Thanks, you idiot! I would have never escaped from that thing on my own!" Zolgrish said.
"You're welcome, master!" Ratpack said while turning into a puff of smoke to avoid the lightning bolts the orc had unleashed trying to get rid of the small pest.
"Not you! I mean, yes you helped me, but it was sarcasm." Zolgrish sighed at the ruined moment. He had been on his last leg, focusing all of his remaining mana on the healing process to pretend that he was stronger than he appeared to be.
Recovering from small wounds like those the tools inflicted was one thing, withstanding tier five spells was another. The lich had deceived his captor hoping that Ratpack would find the courage to step in the fight.
The moment the lich and the shaman came into contact, they started a tug of war for the control over the undead energies trapped inside the orc's body.
One second the lich looked almost human, with pink skin covering his face and pretty clothes over his body, whereas the orc was once again a bald, tall brute. The next moment, Zolgrish was reduced to two arms connected to his skull only by the shoulders, and Dann'Kah looked more magnificent than ever.
The world energy would burst out of his body, forming a crown of pure mana above his head and making his skin shine as he had turned into a god.
"Oh crap." Zolgrish said. He hadn't realized that the channel he had opened between the shaman and him could go both ways.
Even though the undead energy well remembered his touch, now that they were so close Dann'Kah could use his crystal ring to steal the little life essence that the lich had left.
"Ratpack! Zalma! I need help!" He said.
Unluckily, Ratpack had run out of courage, and Lith had his plate full.
"Dammit! Do you want to dance? Fine, but I'll lead." The moment Zolgrish regained the upper hand, he Warped them away. Yozmogh was still busy dealing with Lith, but after the lich's call for help, he had noticed how dangerous his situation was.
If Zolgrish managed to strip the undead energies from Dann'Kah, he would be the next. If it was the orc shaman to emerge victorious, they would no longer be equal and the Balor's fate would be sealed anyway.
He ignored Lith's Setting Sun and darted forward to stop Dann'Kah, but the lich beat him to the punch, moving his fight to an unknown location. A searing pain spread from the Balor's light wing as Lith pierced it with his spell.
'If I'm right, as long as he has all six wings, he should be able to use some kind of Invigoration by absorbing the six elements that make up the world energy. To gain an edge, I must cripple his recovery abilities.
'Without his light wing, all the damage I inflict to him will be permanent and he will be unable to recover is mana too. Two birds with one stone!' Lith thought.
Yozmogh couldn't agree more. His conceited expression was replaced by worry as the thorn made of black flames turned most of the white feathers into ashes. He turned around to protect his exposed back, but Lith managed to follow his movements thanks to air fusion.
The Balor yelled in outrage realizing his mistake. His power was unmatched, but he couldn't cast spells against someone outside his line of sight.
Chapter 550 Eyes and Wings Part 1
A Balor's body was unable to channel mana. It was one of the reasons why millennia ago such a powerful race had attempted to force their evolution and ended up joining the ranks of the Fallen races.
Unlike all other creatures, they could conjure spells only through their eyes, making it vital for them to always face their opponents. Their other biggest limitation was their inability to cast spells above tier three.
The highest tiers of magic required to fuse and manipulate multiple elements at will, while each one of the Balors' eyes could only handle one specific element. Activating more than one eye at a time was possible, but they were unable to cooperate.
The only exception was the creation of hard constructs, like weapons or armors made from ice. They could be infused with multiple elements, but always one at the time.
Balors couldn't use gravity magic, dimensional magic, nor complex arrays. They were unstoppable soldiers on the battlefield, yet as a race, they had been dependant on others for the creation of even the simplest enchanted item.
Yozmogh activated his red eye, turning all the agonizing monsters lying on the floor into cinders. Their corpses turned into spheres of smoke that orbited around the amplifier. The device started to reconstruct their bodies at a speed visible at the naked eye.
Then, the Balor activated his yellow wing, obtaining the same effects of air fusion. The sudden boost in speed allowed him to escape from Lith and put some distance between them.
Lith cursed when he noticed that Yozmogh was capable of using his white eye to slowly regenerate the white wing, yet his mood improved when he noticed that the mana it stored wasn't being replenished.
'It seems that wings and eyes are connected.' Lith thought.
'Indeed. Unlike Trouble, Yozmogh's eyes cannot accumulate world energy on their own. A wounded wing means he cannot recharge the corresponding element, we can't allow him to buy even one second.' Solus pointed out.
Lith darted forward, using a flight spell to match the opponent's speed. The Balor was forced to interrupt his healing spell to activate his yellow wing. It allowed him to negate Lith's air magic and unleash the lightning bolts he had previously stored.
Or so he believed.
After fighting Thrud, Lith had spent hours learning how to infuse his will even inside low tiered spells, so Yozmogh attempt to slow him down failed. The focus needed to succeed prevented Lith from retaliating to the incoming lightning pillar, but he didn't need to.
Solus opened a small Warp Steps in front of them, which redirected the massive spell against the amplifier. The adamant it was made of and the enchantments protecting it resisted the assault, but the monsters surrounding it weren't so lucky.
They had yet to regain half of their bodies that they were once again reduced to smoke and ashes.
"Nice artifact, human. I have some too!" Yozmogh said. A small silver sphere in his right hand shone with the intensity of a small sun as he launched himself against the enemy.
Lith was aware of the enormous gap in physical strength between them, but time wasn't on his side. Stalling meant giving the Balor the opportunity to recover his light wing and his minions.
'To add insult to injury, I don't know if Zolgrish will prevail. I might be able to deal with one of those reverted monsters at a time, but if they team up, I'll be forced to leave. I'm greedy, not idiotic.' He thought.
Lith had noticed several completed artifacts still lying on the Forges. If the lich failed his mission, Lith was willing to collect everything he could on his way out as compensation.
Lith dodged to the side, avoiding a head on clash with the Balor and cast another tier five spell, Stormnado. It was a mix of air and darkness, that conjured a thunderstorm of poisonous gas.
The destructive mass of energy and the lab defenses clashed as Lith made sure the amplifier was caught in the area of effect of his spell, delaying the reverted monsters' resurrection even longer.
Yozmogh appreciated Stormnado's prowess, considering the pain it inflicted him like a foretaste of the power he would wield once he completely assimilated the lich's essence.
His plan was now actually twofold. If before his aim was to undo his own fallen state and overcome his ancient limitations, capturing Lith would open endless possibilities to him.
'If I can steal the secret of Awakening, Dann'Kah will be no match for me. Both my body and magic are superior to his. If not for him being an Awakened, I would have long had him under my heel!' He thought.
Yozmogh activated his yellow and black wing, but this time he didn't try to absorb Lith's spells. He instead reverted the flow, sending mana from his eyes to his wings and making the corresponding elements in the world energy unstable.
No matter how much Lith focused nor the amount of mana he pumped into Stormnado, the spell waned as the two elements composing it became unable to coexist.
'What's happening?' Lith took the Gatekeeper out of his pocket dimension. His flight spell failed him too and he couldn't afford to waste more mana.
'It must be what Zolgrish talked us about. A reverted Balor can not only drain the world energy through their wings, but they can also use their stored mana to upset the balance and disrupt our magic.
'To cast an air or darkness spell, you have to counterbalance the distortion Yozmogh caused.' Solus said.
'Easier said than done. Damn lich, stirring the world energy my pale ass, this is jamming.' Lith didn't like his odds. The Balor's spells seemed to be unaffected by the mana distortion, making him apparently even more dangerous than the orc shaman and his crystal.
Lith infused himself with all the elements and prepared for the worse. Yozmogh's eyes lit up one after the other, emitting highly compressed elemental beams. Lith dodged with a roll, but the beams kept following him wherever he moved.
They were so powerful that even the blue translucent barrier protecting the library couldn't keep up. Only the presence of a second barrier below the first one prevented the precious tomes from being destroyed.
"Stop running! I need you alive, not healthy." Yozmogh said as his eyes darted along the room to follow Lith's irregular footwork. Despite his words, every one of his attacks had been aimed to Lith's vitals.
'Any brilliant ideas?' Lith was almost out of breath. Escaping on foot from a flying enemy while dodging the elemental beams was a mammoth task.
'Yes. Don't get caught. I don't like how he keeps that shining sphere at hand.' Solus replied.
'The good news is that between his jamming and his unrelenting attack, Yozmogh is almost out of darkness and air magic.'
Lith didn't find any solace in her words. Three or five rays made no difference to him, the Balor only needed one to kill him. Lith took cover behind the amplifier, hoping that the enemy wouldn't take the risk of damaging it.
He was right. His move caught Yozmogh by surprise, forcing him to spin like a top to look away from the priceless device.
Lith managed to get a single breath worth of energy from Invigoration before the Balor resumed the chase, but it was enough.
Chapter 551 Eyes and Wings Part 2
The short moment Yozmogh needed to deactivate his elemental beams allowed Lith to feel with his body the change caused by the Balor in the world energy and react accordingly.
He took flight again and activated a second Stormnado which sent Yozmogh crashing against the wall.
'I stand corrected, this guy is less dangerous than a shaman's crystal. He can't deplete the world energy of a specific element, only alter its balance. I can still use all elements as long as I compensate for the disturbance.' Lith thought.
His enthusiasm was short lived. Yozmogh kicked the wall with all of his strength, turning into a living bullet. Lith managed to dodge and put some distance between them, but another barrage of beams aimed to his heart forced him to slow down enough for the Balor to catch up with him.
A fist the size of a bowling ball struck at his chest while he was in mid air, crushing his ribs and squeezing the air out of his lungs as he was sent flying.
'This cannot be.' Lith thought. 'Not even the idiot in dragon form hit me so hard. How is…' He almost choked on his question when he noticed that the Skinwalker Armor was now of the same plain grey color it had before being imprinted with his mana.
Yozmogh caught up with him again, ready to strike, but Lith intercepted his fist with the Gatekeeper sword. The blade infused with darkness, fire, and air magic made short work of the Balor's fingers until it hit the silver sphere and went dead.
Without its enchantments, the Gatekeeper couldn't resist the impact, and a cobweb of cracks spread from the point of impact to all of its surface. Lith had barely the time to store it inside his pocket dimension that Yozmogh's right hand closed around Solus's arm protector.
'Fuck, I know that spell! That's' Clean Slate!' Lith thought. It was a tier four Forgemaster spell, which generated a combined pulse of light and darkness magic. It temporarily short circuited the imprint on any magical item, making it useless.
Lith had learned it after becoming a Spellbreaker, but he had never bothered to convert it into true magic because of its harsh limitations. It required physical contact, hence it was useless in battle.
Any enemy he could touch, Lith could kill. Death too would remove any imprint and he could inflict it from distance. Clean Slate was also ineffective against booby traps and barriers.
The two effects combined meant that any explosive device would blow up in his face and that he couldn't use it to open shielded doors like those of Zolgrish's lab.
The arm protector didn't budge, but Lith's shoulder wasn't so lucky. Yozmogh dislocated it with the same ease as if he was breaking a twig and kept pulling. The pain was enough to make an adult man faint, but Lith had already shut down his receptors.
A second flash from the silver sphere and the arm protector went as limp as Lith's arm, allowing the Balor to take it away.
"Impressive. I would've never thought there was something Zolgrish's magic couldn't steal."
Lith replied by stopping his attempt to fly away. Air magic supported the Balor's wings, making him faster than he ever could. While they were fighting in mid air, Lith grabbed Yozmogh's silver air with his good arm and struck at his nose with a knee.
Blood and teeth scattered throughout the room as Lith used the energy that his tier four spell, Vampiric Touch, stole from Yozmogh to fix his injured arm. Lith followed up by extending his leg like a spring and kicking the Balor's chin like a horse.
Yozmogh crashed against a library, but he never stopped smiling.
"It's over, human." He said showing Lith his perfectly healed right hand and light wing.
"We can do this all day and the result would be the same. You can fight, but you cannot win."
Lith sneered, using the time the Balor was wasting trying to crush his spirit to use Invigoration and recover his strength.
"Foolish mortal!" Through his white eye, Yozmogh could check Lith's condition with the same accuracy as a diagnostic spell. He spread his six wings, sucking the world energy and returning to his peak condition.
"You only have two choices. Teach me the secret of Awakening or die. Why do you think you're still alive?"
"Because you're weak. Not for a lack of trying." Usually, Lith wouldn't speak to the daily madman, but by breaking his imprint on Solus, Yozmogh had managed to accomplish something that many before him had attempted and failed to do.
He had made Lith angry.
"Stop wasting my time with your yapping and give my artifact back to me."
Yozmogh laughed and pressed the protector against his right arm. The artifact grew in size until it fit like a glove.
"The lich is a thief and a liar. He trapped you just like he trapped us. You had no chance to begin with. Soon Dann'Kah will be back. Soon my minions will revive. You couldn't defeat me even with all of your precious artifacts.
"What do you think you can do now that you've got nothing and are alone?"
"No." Lith shook his head while emitting a strong deep blue aura which infused him with all the elements.
"Not alone." As Lith bolted forward, Solus's arm protector shrunk again, using spirit magic to boost her own strength and crush Yozmogh's arm in the process. At the same time, she unleashed both her most powerful spells against her helpless enemy.
Clean Slate could break any normal imprint, but not the bond between her and Lith. Only specific artifacts, like Nalear's box, were capable of such a feat. Otherwise destroying cursed objects like the Black Star wouldn't have been so difficult.
Solus had a will of her own, so she could restore Lith's imprint the moment is was jammed. Clean Slate was like getting slapped to her. It was painful, but far from enough to make her lose consciousness.
Still, both Lith and her could feel their bond was being threatened, their mind slipping out of synch, even though for just a split second. It triggered the trauma Nalear had inflicted them when she had forcefully separated them.
Solus injected her tier four Death Zone and tier five Spirit of Decay directly inside the Balor's body to vent out her rage, spreading them like a disease that made her victim rot from the inside.
Physical contact made darkness magic capable of achieving its maximum potential, even more so now that Solus had the inside of the arm protector turn into countless thorns that pierced Yozmogh's flesh until they cut his bones.
The two darkness spells coursed through Yozmogh, draining his vitality like he had been gutted and making him fall to his knees. He activated his black wing to stop or at least weaken them while his white eye mended the damage.
It was bound to work since Solus's green mana core couldn't resist for long to the raw strength Yozmogh possessed. As long as his light wing was undamaged, it would provide his white eye endless mana.
When the infinite clashed with the finite, the outcome was written in stone.
That was why Lith's first move was to pierce the white eye with his extended fingers while releasing electricity from his fingertips.
Chapter 552 Bloody Revenge Part 1
Even though their improvised trap had been a success, Lith lived it as a defeat. The enemy had forced Solus off his arm and stolen her from him. She had left of her own will, to prevent Lith's limb from being ripped off and then planned the counter attack with him via their mind link.
Lith appreciated the brilliance of their plan. It had created an opportunity and broken the slippery stalemate they had been stuck in, yet he didn't like it one bit. He had already spent one lifetime being robbed of everything and everyone he held dear.
Lith wasn't willing to lose anything or anyone else. After losing Carl to a drunken driver, after almost losing Solus due to Nalear's scheming, Lith had sworn that as long as he drew breath, his destiny would be his own.
Clean Slate had hurt Solus, and her pain was his pain. In Lith's eyes, Yozmogh was Nalear back from the grave, attempting once again to take Solus away from him. Lith was happy the Balor couldn't die, because it meant there was no end to the pain he could inflict him.
Solus did her part, forcing Yozmogh to focus on his rotting body and almost forget about Lith's existence. When he darted forward, the Balor activated his other four eyes. Ratpack emerged from the shadows on his blind side, spinning above his head the bundle of chains and envelops that was his 'enchanted chainmail'.
The small undead threw it at Yozmogh's head and hitting him with a thud. The chains melted over his face while the burning letters set the Balor's hair ablaze. The sudden distraction plus the close range made the elemental beams' trajectory telegraphed.
Lith dodged them and struck at the white eye, pumping bolts of lighting inside of it so that they would strike the Balor's brain and burn the surrounding tissues. Yozmogh screamed in outrage as his light wing went dark.
"It works! I knew not even master so cruel to deceive Ratpack. Chainmail really is Balors bane." He said as his Coward's Mantle made him ethereal again. Taking a cheap shot was one thing, facing Yozmogh was another.
Without the eye to store the light element, the white wing was no better than a pigeon's. Now only the black wing's jamming effect remained. Solus pushed forward with the last of her energy and spread the dark energies to the creature's lungs.
Darkness fusion prevented Yozmogh from feeling pain, but he still needed to breathe. His body wasn't able to follow Lith's speed anymore. The Balor extended his left arm to grab the Ranger, only to have it deflected to the side as Lith struck at its exposed elbow with his own.
No matter how strong the enemy was, joints couldn't be trained. With his right arm turned into a pulp and the left one shattered at an unnatural angle, Yozmogh couldn't react when Lith moved behind him and ripped off his black and yellow wings.
Solus's spells had corrupted his lungs to the point that he could barely breathe. After that, she focused the dark energy against the Balor's eyes until only empty sockets remained.
Yozmogh was helpless as a newborn in front of an adult as Lith removed his wings and then his legs.
'Are you alright, Solus?' Lith asked as soon as she returned to him.
'Peachy, thanks. I'm just exhausted for going all out. I need to use Invigoration or it will take me hours to recover.'
'Take your time while I fix the last details.' Lith took out the Gatekeeper sword and opened a Warp Steps that sent Yozmogh inside one of the closed cells.
Lith couldn't afford to kill him, otherwise Dann'Kah would become even stronger by assimilating the lich's life force that resided within the Balor's battered body.
The Skinwalker Armor was still inactive, but it had suffered only minor damages. The Gatekeeper, however, seemed to be on the brink of shattering, so Lith placed it on a nearby silver table, waiting for his enchanted items to reactivate.
Solus stored both the Invisibility Mirror and the Clean Slate Sphere inside her pocket dimension, alongside with all the artifacts she had stolen from Yozmogh while pretending to be under his control.
They still bore his imprint and couldn't be used until he was alive. Only when she was sure that their defeated enemy had no way to harm them did she activate Invigoration to refill her green mana core.
While she wasn't linked to a mana geyser, her only medium with the world energy was Lith's body. It made her recovery speed much slower than a normal Awakened and put stress on her companion who had to absorb and refine the world energy for her.
Performing the breathing technique with his mouth while keeping his strain to a minimum required her full focus, making it impossible for her to use any of her magical senses.
It was the reason why she avoided taking part in the fights unless it was strictly necessary. Not having much to do, Lith studied the items on the Forges looking for something useful.
Unluckily, Dann'Kah and Yozmogh had already taken all the artifacts the lich had completed, leaving behind only items that had yet to be enchanted. Even the library proved to be off limits for him.
The translucent blue barrier didn't harm him but didn't let him reach the books either.
'I can't give it a try at cracking those protections until I know what happened to Zolgrish. If he comes back and finds me messing with his stuff, he will not be pleased.' Lith thought.
As soon as the monsters who had died during the previous battle resurrected, Lith crippled them too before sending them in an empty cell. At that point, Clean Slate's effect wore off.
Lith imprinted and restored the Skinwalker Armor before moving to the Gatekeeper. Invigoration revealed to him that although the sword's pseudo core was still intact, the damage was so extensive that even a weak impact could bring it beyond the point of recovery.
It was like a patient on the verge of starvation. Lith couldn't infuse it with massive doses of mana, otherwise the same energies meant to save it would make it crumble. He injected into the blade small amounts of mana, triggering its self repair properties.
Now that Solus was done recovering, she helped him by coating the blade like a mold and redirecting the energy where it was needed the most.
'It's better if we stop now.' Solus said.
'The pseudo core is almost exhausted. It needs some time to recharge.'
Lith observed the sword for a moment before sheathing it. It was still too damaged to be of any use in battle, but at least it was no longer in danger of shattering.
"Ratpack?" Lith called.
The small undead emerged from the shadows a few seconds later, when he was sure that no enemy was still around and that Lith wasn't angry at him.
"You welcome." Ratpack said.
"I told you chainmail powerful artifact." He puffed out his chest with pride.
"Your 'help' was unnecessary. I was about to Blink, but your meddling ruined my plan. If Yozmogh had started shaking his head in pain, no exit point would have been safe."
"You welcome." Ratpack didn't budge.
Chapter 553 Bloody Revenge Part 2
Lith looked at his clock. There was still half an hour before the Wardens sent by the army would start tearing down the underground complex. He had no intention of calling off the attack. Not until he was sure that the orc shaman was no more.
"Can you turn off the device?" Lith asked Ratpack while pointing at the amplifier.
"No. We must wait for master."
Lith cursed his bad luck and used Clean Slate on the barrier surrounding the amplifier to no avail. The spell required physical contact to work and the paranoid lich had shielded his creation on purpose.
Invigoration too worked in a similar way, so that Lith's only way to pass time was to study the pseudo core of the various barriers around the lab, hoping that Solus could reproduce them to improve her tower form's defenses.
***
Zolgrish and Dann'Kah were locked in a deadly embrace. None of them could allow to let go of the other because the undead energies kept moving back and forth from their bodies.
Choosing the wrong moment to push away the opponent would have meant to lose all hope of regaining their freedom. The lich would end up being trapped inside a body even inferior to that of a skeleton forever, while the orc shaman would have been reverted to his fallen state.
To add insult to injury, he would be crushed under the weight of his magic crystal and be defeated without even getting a chance to fight back.
He was able to keep the crystal compressed in the form of a ring only thanks to the undead energies coursing through his body. They restored the powers his bloodline possessed before the fall and granted him the lich's inhuman strength.
Even if it appeared small, the ring actually weighed over a hundred kilograms, something he couldn't lift with just one finger in his orc form. The tug of war of sheer willpower was quite balanced.
The orc-elf drew his strength from the grudge he held against the lich and from the echoes of the past shamans inhabiting his ring. The moment they perceived the lich's mind, they stopped harassing Dann'Kah and joined his efforts, having mistaken Zolgrish for a member of the dreaded demon race.
Despite his current madness, Zolgrish had the indomitable will of all those who had not only sacrificed most of their humanity to achieve lichhood, but also had survived the excruciating pain that severing part of their soul and mana core involved.
He had the home advantage as well, since it was his body that the undead energies were supposed to inhabit. Unfortunately, the long imprisonment the lich had undergone and the support the magic crystal gave Dann'Kah were enough to even the field.
"I knew I should have never bestowed upon you such a huge crystal, you ungrateful dog! Without me, you would be no better than a wild beast, only worried about your survival!" The lich said.
"Without you, I would still have my tribe and my dreams. You slaughtered them all for your experiments and enslaved me! Yours are no gifts, but curses." Dann'Kah rebuked.
Zolgrish had Warped them to the Disciplining Hall, where he had killed Dann'Kah over and over again to break him into submission. He hoped that both his words and the dreadful memories linked to such a place would give him an edge.
Yet the orc-elf didn't flinch. Contrary to Zolgrish's expectations, his maneuver backfired.
Up until that moment, the lich's will had been like a black fog, slowly engulfing everything on its path, whereas the orc's had been like a fire fueled by his hatred that consumed the darkness on its wake.
Now the fire in Dann'Kah's mind became a focused jet stream of flames that pierced the black fog, forcing Zolgrish on his knees. Dann'Kah could feel the undead energies abandoning the lich and submitting to their new master.
"You're finished old man. You'll spend the rest of your eternal life as a slave in my mines!" Dann'Kah cast the tier three darkness spell Corrosion. It conjured a thin fog that consumed what little was left of Zolgrish's body to finish him off.
"Am I?" Zolgrish replied with a smug voice.
Using magic required focus, focus that Dann'Kah had to withdraw from their battle of will, leaving himself exposed. The black fog which represented the lich's dominance let the orc's fire pass, attacking it from the sides and the back.
Dann'Kah lost control over the undead energy as well as over his spell, which faded into nothingness.
"No matter the form you take, an idiot will always be an idiot." Zolgrish was now dressed in a luxurious golden mage robe. His face would have been mistaken for a human's if not for the red light of undeath burning in his eyes instead of pupils.
To look like a skeleton, a rotting corpse, or exactly as they were on the moment of their death, it was just a matter of choice for a lich.
"Rage by itself it's useless. I knew that if I'd have you worked up enough, you'd do something stupid. Once you get an edge, you have to consolidate it, like this!" Zolgrish was aware that it was only a matter of time before Dann'Kah recovered.
He had only a few seconds left before they went back to a stalemate. So, instead of wasting focus casting a spell he couldn't control, he used it to grip the orc's finger strong enough to take off the ring and throw it away.
Suddenly Dann'Kah was alone and much weaker. Without the crystal, he couldn't draw upon the world energy to heal from the wounds that the lich's deadly touch inflicted upon him, nor he could use his ancestors' will to reinforce his own.
"I need no crystal!" Dann'Kah said. Just like Zolgrish had done a second ago, now it was his turn to retrieve most of the undead energy.
His rage burned stronger for having fallen for the lich's trickery and allowed him to push the black fog back. A crown made of world energy materialized above his head and his grip grew in strength to the point of cracking the lich's fingers.
Zolgrish inwardly cursed hid bad luck. Apparently, what his unwilling assistant lacked in cunning, he made up with fury.
***
Lith had just finished studying the pseudo core of all the lich's creations he could put his hands on when a Warp Steps opened right in the middle of the lab.
The humanoid figure who stepped out of it was that of a tall man with pointy ears wearing a golden magician robe. The world energy accumulated inside his body formed a crown of pure mana above his head and made his skin shine like the god of light had descended among men.
"Dann'Kah defeated master! Every undead for himself." Ratpack had prudently remained near the door and so had Lith. Yet while the small creature bolted away, Lith stood still with a Warp Steps at the ready.
There was something odd in the orc shaman's energy signature.
"Zelda! It's so nice to see you defeated that treacherous Balor. I was going to thank Ratpack too, but that idiot ruined the moment. Again." The lich sighed.
Lith wasn't upset by Zolgrish not remembering his name right not even once, as much as worried by the inexorable ticking of time.
Chapter 554 Utter Failure Part 1
"Pointy ears, shining skin. Were you really an elf when you were alive?" Lith asked. Less than twenty minutes remained before the army brought down the house, yet while dealing with a deranged immortal, he needed tact and opportunity to break the bad news.
That or a timely escape pretending to not know anything about what was happening. Lith had to play it by ear.
"What? Gods, no. It would make me a self righteous jerk. This is just a side effect of draining so many pseudo elves. It will fade in due time. I am, or better, I was human." Zolgrish walked to the device, dispelling the barrier which enveloped it with a wave of his hand.
Then, he needed a short chant to turn it off and a longer one to make the spells imbued inside the adamant ring go haywire and destroy the artifact. Once a forgemastering process was complete, it couldn't be redone.
Yozmogh and Dann'Kah had corrupted the amplifier forever, Zolgrish had no way to amend their tampering. The artifact's destruction freed the souls trapped inside the spheres of smoke which were orbiting around it, waiting to be provided with new bodies.
Each one of them released a small pillar of light that shot toward the sky, filling the lab's stale air with a feeling of joy. Lith instinctively released Death Vision to watch at the scene unfolding in front of him.
In his eyes, the space occupied by the amplifier looked like a black hole collapsing on itself. Without its constant pull, the souls of the creatures imprisoned within the underground complex were released.
At first, only a few managed to leave, but as the black hole disappeared, more and more souls escaped its grasp until a hail of shooting starts almost blinded Lith. Yet he had no time to appreciate the light show, nor to wonder why he could feel the souls' fleeting emotions whereas Solus couldn't.
His eyes were fixated on Zolgrish, who under the effect of Death Vision died several times in the space of a few seconds, but always in the same way. His body would revert into a cracked skeleton before it turned to dust.
Just like the Duchess back at Jirni's birthday party.
'Fuck me sideways! That woman was a lich too. That must be what happens when you break their phylactery. The only question remaining is if the Royals are aware of the Duchess' real identity and if so, how they deal with the undead nobles under their rule.' Lith thought.
"This is a disaster." Zolgrish sighed.
"Without Dann'Kah and Yozmogh I can't make another amplifier. I wasted years to build this place, more years to equip it with all the instruments I needed, and decades to make that goddamn thing!
"It's the biggest failure of my career." His rage was almost tangible and the mana currents he was emitting were so violent that Death Vision stopped showing his demise.
"To make matters even worse, those horny monkeys and their raids have given away the lab's position. Even if they didn't, only someone dumb, blind, and deaf could miss all those fireworks. I need to get out of here."
Zolgrish restored his lab's power, making Life Vision and mana sense useless once again.
"About my payment…" Lith didn't like the sudden turns of events. The lich was in a hurry, turning lots of levers and pressing even more buttons on the various holographic panels which appeared above the various Forges.
The amount of mana in the air was getting thicker by the second, making Lith's skin crawl.
"Yes, yes. I haven't forgotten. Usually I would give you a tour of my treasury and let you pick a reward of your choice within reason. Unfortunately, I don't have much time. You are a Ranger, right?" Zolgrish asked.
Lith nodded in reply. If even Ratpack recognized his uniform, deranged or not, Zolgrish was bound to be able to do the math.
"That means the whole army knows about this place. They will raid this place in hours whereas I would need months to take everything away with me.
"I'm weakened and almost out of mana. A few hits would be enough to destroy my physical form, and after being away from my phylactery for so long, I don't know how much time it would take me to be back at full strength.
"Rather than being robbed blind, I prefer destroying everything myself!" The determination in his voice didn't leave space for debate.
"What about me?" Lith refused to change the topic.
"Oh, yes." Zolgrish pushed another button and the holographic interface turned from bright blue to a blinking deep red.
"You can keep whatever you took on your way to save me, plus I want you to have this." A clap of his hands made a mint condition Forge appear in the middle of the room.
"It's the only unspoiled one left and after collecting my most precious belongings I have no space left inside my dimensional items to store something so bulky. It would be a waste to destroy it."
"It's pure adamant." Lith put his hand on the massive silvery table, feeling his mana flow through it without encountering any resistance.
"Yes, it is, dear Feron. Now give me the artifacts Yozmogh had on himself. They are the last batch I made with my treacherous assistants and they are priceless. They should be…"
Zolgrish listed them with uncanny memory for someone incapable of getting Lith's name right even once.
'At least Solus got some time to study them. The problem is that aside from the mirror, I have no idea what they do.' Lith thought.
"He also had this." Lith handed the lich the silver sphere. He still considered Clean Slate trash compared to Invigoration.
"My Eraser! That bastard even dared to steal my office supplies. You can keep it. I produce and lose them in bulks. Those little buggers disappear like they have a mind of their own. Now you better go. The whole place will blow up in less than a minute."
Lith stored the adamant Forge and Warped away. Only then did he allow himself to smile. He had given Zolgrish all of the artifacts he had listed, but Yozmogh had actually more.
'I would have returned the mirror and the sphere anyway. Ratpack witnessed Yozmogh using them. I couldn't afford being ratted out and then living watching my back from Zolgrish.
'Now I have a purple crystal, a lot of ingredients the dryads gifted me, and an adamant forge! I have all the necessary to craft a masterpiece!' Lith thought.
'Yeah, too bad we have no idea what to create.' Solus pointed out. 'Either we get the blueprints for something worth using such treasures, or you need to stop for a few years to devise one of our own and do some tests. We have only one block of adamant, after all.'
Lith was about to rebuke something about an improved version of the Gatekeeper when his military communication amulet drew his attention.
"Ranger Verhen, do you copy?" The hologram of Brigadier General Vorgh appeared.
"Sir, what are you doing here?" Lith asked.
"We lost your signal about half an hour ago, so your handler sent the Wardens to check the situation."
'The timing matches with the ambush. Probably the lab's shields blocked the external interferences.' Lith thought.
"They found a small army waiting for them and almost got killed. Where are you right now?"
"Outside the complex, why?" Lith said.
Vorgh's answer was covered by the rumbling sound of an earthquake which made part of the Broken Spine sink several hundred meters below the ground level.
Chapter 555 Utter Failure Part 2
'That was way less than a minute! It doesn't make sense, if Zolgrish wanted to kill me he could have just tried to tamper with my Warp.' Lith thought.
"Good gods! I have been ordered to make the arrays collapse and kill all of the monsters inside, but not like this!" Vorgh said.
"A whole ancient lab, centuries of knowledge. All lost forever! What the heck happened down there?"
"I have no clue." Lith lied through his teeth.
"After defeating the leader of the Balors, I had no strength left to fight the orc shaman. Between his powerful purple crystal, his mutated minions, and their magical weaponry I had no chance by myself."
"A shaman with a purple crystal?" Vorgh said.
"Was he tampering with the arrays?"
"I don't know. I was too busy saving my skin. All I know is that he was using his crystal to seize control of the facility." Lith replied.
"Dammit! Why didn't you tell us earlier? My spell and his meddling must have triggered a domino effect. Now there is nothing we can salvage."
"With all due respect, sir, I stated in my earlier report that there was a shaman. I didn't know about the crystal until I saw it with my own eyes and as you said yourself, my amulet was blocked." Lith didn't like the allegations implied in the Brigadier General's voice.
He was right, of course, but that didn't make them any more pleasant.
"You are really lucky, son. Had I not waited to hear from you before activating my array, you would have died along with the monsters. We can't afford to have a nest so close to the borders. Especially one full of well armed mutants."
Vorgh sighed. Lith's doctored version of the story made sense, but the General wasn't going to apologize. The high command would hold him responsible for the loss of the lab and fry his ass. Being nice was the last thing on his mind.
Lith gave him a salute and hung up before calling his handler for a full report. Even though it was already night-time, Kamila replied immediately. After returning home from work, she didn't change her clothes in case something happened, so she was still wearing her uniform.
Her relief hearing Lith was alright didn't last long. After all that time, she was used to hearing him casually talk about risking his life in battle, but when he told her about the lab's collapse, Kamila went pale and almost dropped the communicator.
She called him from her civilian amulet the moment Lith was done with his report.
"Those idiots! When I lost your signal, I asked for reinforcements to check your status, not to have you killed. Thank the gods nothing happened." She said.
"Don't worry, you just followed procedure. None of what happened is your fault. The worst thing is that I succeeded in protecting Jambel, but recovering the lab was an utter failure. No leave for me this time." Lith sighed.
Lith had gained quite some loot from the mission, but he had nothing to offer the Griffon Kingdom. Before revealing the existence of the silver mines, he wanted to check if he was entitled to a share of them or just get a thank you handshake.
Even that was a longshot, since the destruction of the underground complex had probably scattered the silver veins everywhere. Recovering some of it from the debris might turn out to be even more difficult than finding a new vein.
"About that, there's already a new assignment waiting for you tomorrow." Kamila was depressed too. She had hoped they would have some time to spend together since there were many things that she wanted to share with him.
"At least tell me it's a routine job." Lith said.
"I don't want to jinx it, so I'll just tell you what I read. A local noble, Viscount Krame has hired an entire adventurers guild, allegedly to protect his household and properties during the winter lockdown.
"The city lord called the army a week ago, saying that Krame was using his private army to harass the citizens of Zantia and ignoring the local constables. We haven't heard from him since then, so it's up to you to go check on the situation."
"Great! A 'normal' case again. With my luck, this Krame is trying to resurrect an ancient god, or maybe an Abomination has replaced him and is building an army of greater undead." Lith said.
His ridiculous scenarios made her giggle, at least until she remembered Thrud's scheme, the Black Star, and suddenly they didn't seem so far fetched anymore.
"Wouldn't you like to talk about something more cheerful?" She said while taking off her jacket and letting her hair down.
"Like what? I have yet to report what happened to Lord Wyalon, then I have to find a place to sleep before diving into the next mess this job has in store for me. I even have our big talk waiting for me in Belius.
"You'd find more cheer in a graveyard than in my life."
"Like the fact that my first day as a field assistant went great." She replied with a smile.
"Oh, shit! Sorry Kami, I completely forgot…"
"Or about the fact that I keep practicing my cooking." Kamila cut him short. She had risked losing him too many times in a single day to care about such a small matter.
'I work from nine to five and then return to the safety of my own home, whereas Lith is on a deadly clock 24/7.' She thought.
"Gods, I'm all sweaty from the stress. Let me take a quick shower and then I'll call you back."
"No need, I want to hear everything about your first day on the job. I'll gladly keep you company." Lith said after making sure that he was completely alone.
"Did you miss me so much or are you just a pervert?" Yet she didn't wait for his answer before bringing the amulet with her in the bathroom as she undressed.
***
The following day, city of Xylita
Going back to her hometown was never easy for Kamila. Thanks to its flourishing commerce, Xylita was the smallest city in the Kellar region to have a Warp Gate. It was far from being a metropolis and it was resistant to changes as well as its inhabitants.
Kamila had many memories from the time she lived there, but none happy. She would return solely to visit her sister, Zinya, and it wasn't an easy feat. The two sisters loved each other, but Zinya's marriage crippled her more than her blindness ever could.
Her husband, Fallmug, forbade her any social relationship without his supervision. He considered Zinya a clumsy, useless thing. Her helplessness was cute in the bedchamber or as long as she sat still, like the pretty flower she was.
Fallmug couldn't bear the thought of his wife bringing him shame with her disability, or even worse, pity. His business rivals had spread many rumors about why he had chosen a blind woman for wife and each one was rude at best.
Ever since Kamila had disowned her family, he had forbidden her from setting foot in his home.
The two sisters could only meet during Zinya's birthday. On every other day, Kamila needed to bribe the house staff or wait for a letter from her sister to casually mention an event she would attend so that they could casually meet.
This time, however, things were different.
Chapter 556 Patience of the Weak Part 1
Zinya's house was a two story building, in the middle rim of Xylita. Her husband came from a family of merchants that had been on the rise during the past decade. Kamila shivered at the thought it could have been her living there.
To bind the Sarta and the Retta households by blood, her parents had offered the young Fallmug his choice of their daughters to be his bride. Back then, she was still obedient and naïve.
Only after seeing her sister's misery had Kamila found the strength to rebel against the fate her parents had set for her and joined the army to escape from the marriage they had arranged for her.
Fallmug had picked Zinya because she was prettier than Kamila and also because back then Kamila was too young. In his eyes, there was no point in having a toy if he had to wait a couple of years to play with it.
Kamila steeled herself, trying not to think about the lust filled glances Fallmug would give her whenever they met or his creepy remarks about regretting his past choices.
She knocked on the solid wood door and waited. Vylna, one of the housemaids, opened the door. Her countenance went from surprise to contempt in the space of a single moment when she recognized Kamila.
With her pretty face and curvy body, she was currently her master's favorite, making her more powerful than the lady of the house. In her eyes, Kamila was just an outcast from whom she could make some pocket money from time to time.
"You're not welcome here. Please leave, or I'll call the guards." Vylna said when she noticed that Kamila wasn't handing her the usual two silver coins. Vylna wouldn't risk her master's anger for a smaller sum than what a Lieutenant made in a week.
Kamila grabbed the door's edge, blocking it with ease. She was weak for a soldier, but she had always kept herself in shape, whereas Vylna was just weak.
"Good morning. I'm Lieutenant Kamila Yehval, Field Assistant Constable. I'm here because we have received an anonymous report of domestic abuse. I need to speak with Lady Sarta." Kamila shoved her badge in the housemaid face and rejoiced seeing her going pale.
"Master Fallmug doesn't want you in here, badge or not." Vylna stuttered.
"You can't come inside without a warrant and I doubt there is any report. You're just making it up!"
Yet she was wrong. Kamila had written it herself and submitted it diligently following protocol. For once, the inescapable tendrils of bureaucracy were on her side.
"Your unwillingness to cooperate with the investigation forces me to ask for a search warrant. I'm sure mister Sarta will be grateful to you when his house is turned upside down by the officers. I wonder what the neighbors will say, though."
Kamila took out her army amulet and called the local authorities with a voice so loud that many people stepped out of their doors to see what was happening.
"Please stop, miss Yehval. You can come inside." Vylna grabbed her hand as fear quickly turned into panic.
Having a Constable at the door was already bad for the Sarta, getting their house searched like they were petty criminals, might ruin their reputation and business. Fallmug would flay her alive if he lost even a copper coin because of her.
"It's Constable Yehval to you." Kamila broke Vylna's grip, her voice oozed poison. She was seconds away from slapping the maid's face, but she held her temper unwilling to taint what her uniform stood for by abusing her powers.
"Touch me again, and I'll arrest you for assaulting an officer."
Vylna seemed to shrink. She lowered her head, incapable of looking Kamila in the eyes anymore, and turned around to show her the way. Just like Xylita, the house hadn't changed.
The floor and the walls of the house were covered by deep brown wood briquettes, giving it a warm appearance of hospitality. The hallway was filled with portraits of smiling members of the Sarta family.
There was even one of Zinya with her husband and their three children. The hypocrisy of it made Kamila want to spit on the precious gold embroidered sky-blue carpet that led from the hallway to the tea room on the ground floor.
Aside from the heavy steps and the voices of the house staff, the place was silent. The walls were pristine, and judging by the many fragile ornaments decorating the furniture along the corridors, the kids weren't faring better than their mother.
'Thank the gods I'm not a mage, otherwise not even my sense of duty would stop me from destroying this accursed place all the way down to its foundations.' Kamila thought.
Her rage peaked when Vylna used a key to unlock the tea room's door.
"I see the claims were accurate. Lady Sarta is prisoner in her own home." From the moment Kamila had stepped through the door, she had never stopped typing on the holographic interface of her amulet nor taking pictures.
"It's not like you think. Our poor lady is blind. We do it for her own protection." Vylna said with a quivering voice.
"It's exactly as I think. Now leave us alone." Kamila took the key from her hand, just in case, and pushed her out of the room before locking it from the inside. Just like the rest of the house, the tea room was pristine.
The white sofas and armchairs looked like they had never been used. The center of the hardwood table in the middle of the room had been carved out and replaced by a crystal slab.
Several vases containing fresh flowers were gracefully arranged around the room along with white cotton doilies. Zinya was sitting on a chair near the glass paneled east wall, as if she was looking at the outside.
She was so still that with her light brown hair, pale complexion and immaculate yellow day dress, she almost looked like a doll.
"Zin, are you alright?" Kamila was sick with worry, but she only spoke after activating the Silencer, a magical device that prevented them from being eavesdropped on.
"Kami?" Zinya turned around following her voice, breaking into a smile.
"I thought my ears were playing a trick on me. What are you doing here?"
Kamila rushed to hug her sister as small tears streamed down her face.
"Gods, I've missed you so much. Why are you so pale? Is something wrong?"
"The Healer says it's just depression. Since the children left the house, I feel very lonely." Zinya replied.
"What happened to them?" Kamila's voice was filled with concern. The oldest one was almost ten years old, so she could have been sent to a boarding school, but the other two were too young for that.
"Business isn't doing good, so Fallmug is often in a bad mood. I know how to be quiet, but the children scream and run a lot when they play. So their grandmother took them with her to avoid further… accidents. You have yet to answer my question, Kami."
"I'm here for your eyes." Kamila said almost choking on her rage.
"Thanks to my new job, I can now afford to get you cured. I can't bear to see you like this any longer. You deserve a better life, and I know someone that can help us with that."
Chapter 557 Patience of the Weak Part 2
"Are you talking about your new boyfriend? You two are the talk of the entire family. Mother always tries to convince me to change your mind about helping the family business. Fallmug too." Zinya said.
"Did that bastard dare to touch you?" Kamila unconsciously took out a lightning wand from her dimensional amulet, wishing Fallmug would give her a reason to use it.
"Of course not." She shook her head.
"He considers me like a property, and as long as I behave, he takes care of me. Isn't it nice of him to buy so many flowers for me? Between the sunlight from the window and their sweet scent, it's like being in a park."
"Yes, it's my boyfriend. He can give you sight if you allow me to bring him here." Kamila said, glossing over Fallmug's character.
"Why did you say 'afford', then?" Zinya asked.
"Because the procedure costs a lot. I can't ask something like that of him and expect that it wouldn't weigh on our relationship. Between the gaps in age, social status, and career, I still have no clue how we ended up together.
"I can't let money tip the scales even further. It would make me feel indebted to him and if things ever go sour between us, I'll never know if I would be staying with him because I cared or just out of guilt."
"Oh, my." Zinya chuckled. "You put a lot of thought into it. You are still determined not to marry, I see."
"I did because you are the only family I have left. As for not marrying, you're wrong, you're wrong. What I'm determined about, is to not become dependent on anyone. I'll pay for your treatment with my own money, because you are my sister.
"And if I stay with him it will be because I want to, not because I have to. I prefer owning a bank some money than him your life. Some debts can never be repaid."
"All more the reason for me not to undergo the treatment, Kami. I'm sorry you came here for nothing." Zinya released her sister from the embrace and sat down again.
"What do you mean? The last time you said you wouldn't do it because of its price. Now I can afford it. Even if I don't become a Royal Constable, as a field assistant I can pay the debt in a few years. What made you change your mind?"
"I never changed my mind, I simply lied to you because it made things easier." Zinya wiped the tear she didn't manage to hold back.
"I know how it works, I've spoken to countless Healers. Back when business was good, Fallmug wanted to heal me to save himself to further embarrassment and be free to parade me around like the trophy wife I am. Yet I said no, even to him.
"If something goes wrong while altering the life force, I could end up worse than just blind. I could become also deaf, if not mentally ill. I don't want to risk losing the little I have to live for.
"If I couldn't even hear or feel you and my children, then I'd really become nothing more than a baby-making doll! I'm afraid, Kami. I'm terrified of what could happen to me after the procedure."
"Lith is one of the five best Healers of the Kingdom, he is even able to use rejuvenation magic. The god of healing himself respects him, and believe me, that alone is an inhumane feat. Manohar doesn't even respect the Royals." Kamila said.
"Your condition gets cured every day by far less competent Healers. There's no need to be afraid."
"Quite the contrary." Zinya shook her head. "If he succeeds, things will get worse anyway. My blindness is the reason why I can accept living this life. Without hope for a better future, Fallmug's is a decent husband.
"His constant cheating on me, how he treats the children, everything I can't see I can pretend never happens. It makes this cage bearable. If I'm cured, I could never tolerate this situation."
"Then get cured and ask for a divorce!" Kamila blurted out, obtaining only more denial in response.
"And where would I live? Our family would disown me like they did you. What would happen to my children? No Constable would entrust them to a penniless mother. I have no house, no job, no skills."
"If you report the domestic abuse, you can get custody. You can all live with me, in my house." Kamila said.
"What can I report? I'm blind. What I hear and think happened has no value in a court of justice and the house staff would back Fallmug. Even if somehow, I did get custody, how could I ask you to pay for everything on top of your debt?
"Kami, face reality. Could you really afford to support four more people with just one income? According to the Healers I've consulted, it would take me months just to be able to distinguish between colors, give a name to everything I see, or learn how to write and read.
"How could I ask you to burden yourself with all of those things on top of your debt? I'm already old and you're not getting any younger. You'd lose any chance of making a life of your own.
"My life isn't good, Kami, but there are a lot of people that have it worse. Let's drop this subject please." Zinya's voice was calm and composed like they were talking about someone else.
Seeing her sister resigned to live the rest of her life as a property rather than a person, realizing how useless all of her efforts and sacrifices to become a Constable had been, Kamila Yehval felt as lost as the day she walked into the army's recruitment center.
Back then, she was a homeless orphan with nothing but her first name and the clothes she wore as her possessions. Over ten years had passed, yet her helplessness hadn't changed.
***
The same day, city of Jambel
"What do you mean, failure?" Baron Wyalon couldn't believe his own ears and neither could all the people he had assembled for the celebratory banquet he had organized in Lith's honor.
"You solved the problem with the monster nest in one day! One thousand enemies gone from dawn to dusk. What could you possibly do better?"
"The nest was actually an ancient lab." Lith tried to explain. "The Kingdom could have learned a lot from it, maybe even have salvaged some of its master's wisdom." Lith kept a straight face, but he shuddered at the thought of Zolgrish's madness spreading.
"I call bullshit!" The Baron said, causing all the noble ladies in attendance to gasp at his rudeness his wife to give him an evil eye rivaling that of a Balor.
"It's easy talking big when you are the one who risked his neck to explore the place and find the creatures. I feel much safer knowing that no idiot mage can dig more trouble out of the Broken Spine. A mage's lab is as twisted as his mind. No offense."
He said after realizing who he was speaking with.
"None taken." Lith replied. He would have really liked to avoid attending the banquet, but the Baron was a good man and his report was worth much more than General Vorgh's grievances.
Chapter 558 Troubling Dead Part 1
"I read about you, lad. You are an overachiever." The Baron said.
"In life, especially in marriage, you have to slack off from time to time, or your missus will set the bar higher and higher. Sometimes it's better to let people down, or they will start taking miracles for granted.
"As for me, I'm plenty satisfied with you solving the crisis without even one of my men dying or my city getting breached. Honestly, I never believed a single Ranger could take on so many monsters alone and I was ready to spend winter in a constant battle of attrition with them.
"The army will only hear praise about you from me. I know there isn't much to see here in Jambel, but feel free to come back here with your girlfriend once spring arrives. You'll always be welcome here."
At those words, Iriel became even paler than she already was and left the table with an excuse. Neither Lith nor the Baron missed how she was all dressed up and had been trying to work up enough courage to speak with Lith for a while.
'Seems the Baron did a thorough job while researching me.' Lith thought.
'He's a strong and smart man. He saved me the bother of turning down his daughter and if he keeps his word, my merits will not be affected too much by the lab's destruction.'
"Thanks, Baron. Kamila is a real explorer. She loves visiting new places, but I usually drag her down. I travel so much that as soon as I get leave the only thing I want to do is sit down and relax." Lith said.
His reply was the last nail in the coffin for Iriel's naïve dream of finding a knight in shining armor. She audibly broke into tears and ran away.
'Of all the nerve!' Solus blurted out at his blatant lie.
'What relax? You don't even sleep at night unless I force you to do so. The only reasons you spend so much time with Kamila is for the 'benefits' and because you're afraid that if you treat her like you did Phloria, she'll leave you too.'
Solus's words stung hard. If it was up to Lith, he would spend almost all of his free time inside the tower conducting experiments, setting everything else aside for later.
Only after Phloria broke up with him did he realize that although they had lived together, practiced together, and trained together during their time at the White Griffon, they had actually spent little time together.
He had been so focused on his work that he had neglected his girlfriend, his friends, and even his family. But whereas his relatives could accept him growing distant with time and wanting space, Phloria became tired of all his silences, absences, and being always a low priority in his life.
She had given up on the hope he would open up first, then on attempting to become a bigger part of his life, and finally on their relationship.
'I wonder how she put up with me for so long.' Lith thought.
'You're right Solus, but where would I be if I didn't work so hard? I've made sacrifices to build a better future for myself. Everything comes at a price, even happiness.'
'You spent your first life loveless until you died alone. I'm not saying what you did was wrong, just that finding someone special is a small miracle. You should treasure such a person, instead of hoping to find another one once she gets tired of your antics.' Solus thought.
Lith mulled over her words all the way to Zantia, his next destination.
He took into account the Baron's teaching, and after calculating that without Solus's tower Warping ability it would take a normal Ranger a full day to cover such distance, he took the rest of the day to study his loot and restore Trouble's body.
Lith had yet to attempt using higher necromancy, mostly because creating a sentient undead was almost like having a child. Even though greater undead were smart and matured fast, they would still start as clean slates, needing parenting and guidance.
Otherwise they would turn into mindless monsters and attempt to destroy their creator. Lith much preferred lesser undead. They were mindless, disposable, and maybe one day they could work as a temporary body for Solus.
He had long since learned how to use necromantic energies to regenerate corpses. Irtu, the Clackers' Queen, and now Trouble were all fine additions to his collection. The Balor's black eye turned out to be capable of absorbing darkness magic like a sponge.
'Even in death, a Balor's eyes are great magical amplifiers for the corresponding element. Why the heck doesn't the army bestiary mention any of this?' Lith thought.
"Maybe to prevent Rangers from poaching. I wouldn't be surprised if your superiors asked you to give them the body. Even though they are monsters, Balors spawn slowly. They are as rare as they are powerful." Solus pondered.
"Fuck! I wouldn't have shown it during my report if I knew it wasn't just a corpse."
"Then they wouldn't have taken you seriously. Without the threat of the lab becoming a Balor's spawning ground they would have not sent reinforcements so when the lab exploded, you'd have been the fall guy instead of Vorgh." Solus said.
"If you keep everything for yourself, sooner or later someone will get suspicious about your activities. We've gotten away with stealing the purple crystal already. If the army wants the corpse, give it to them. You can't always win."
Lith sighed recognizing the truth in Solus's words. Without the army, he would have never heard about Jambel's crisis. The adamant Forge and the enchanted items he had acquired there were priceless treasures.
"Let's see what happens when I turn a Balor into an undead. I never met a corpse capable of storing so much darkness magic." Lith said.
"What about resting? You haven't had a proper night's sleep in days."
"I've still got a lot of time. I won't go to Zantia until tomorrow and I don't know if I'll get to keep the corpse. If I don't experiment now, I'll never learn anything about Balors."
Solus had many things to object with, but since they were inside the tower, there was nothing that could go wrong. Lith followed all of the steps of true necromancy Kalla had taught him.
He conjured a pseudo blood core made of darkness magic with a spark of light magic at its center. It served as an imprint, to create a bond between the undead and its maker which ensured its loyalty.
The moment the pseudo core touched the corpse, it moved on its own, finding the remnants of the Balor's mana core and using them to spread its essence.
"That never happened before. Solus, control arrays." Lith started weaving several spells, but it was too late. The corpse stood up, looking around the necromancy lab instead of waiting for orders like a common lesser undead.
To make matters worse, the red light of undeath which usually animated Lith's minions, was replaced by a blazing violet light.
"Red is for auto pilot, blue when you possess them. What's violet?" Solus asked.
"Beats me." Lith replied as he tried to move the undead at will. He could feel his mind resonate with the spark of light in the pseudo blood core. The orders arrived, yet there was a resistance, like a second will battling for control.
Chapter 559 Troubling Dead Part 2
Or so Lith thought for a couple of seconds, before the creature started moving around obediently like it was supposed to.
"Something is wrong. I'm not using tendrils of mana to fuel it since it's an experiment, but I can feel it getting stronger. Solus?"
"It's the eye! Or better, the eyes! Even as undead, they can gather world energy. The black one, in particular, has formed a mana pool with a strength on par with a red core already and it keeps getting stronger."
"Ma-master." Trouble stuttered, giving Lith the creeps.
"Shut it down!" Solus said.
"I'm trying!" Both his attempts to retrieve the undead energies and to possess the Balor's body to crush the pseudo core from within had failed. Lith didn't care if the thing called him master, lord, or hubby.
He didn't trust anything he couldn't control.
"I have no master!" The creature roared. By receiving a constant supply of darkness element from the black eye, the pseudo core was becoming more stable, independent from Lith's energy flow.
The red eye lit up, emitting a tiny jet of fire like it was a gaslighter.
"He has retained his skills!" Solus and Lith said in unison, although the former with worry and the latter with joy.
"There's nothing to be happy about! Given time, he will gather enough mana to use his real powers, and if we destroy the body you'll end up in trouble with the army." Solus said as she activated her defensive arrays.
A force field trapped the Balor, forcing him to his knees.
"You worry too much." Lith walked toward the undead, his right hand extended toward the location of the pseudo core. The closer he got, the stronger his hold over his own mana became.
Trouble crawled back until he hit the force field, then he lashed out, emitting a black pillar against Lith, who took it in head-on. The darkness magic passed through him like it was just colored light. Even the tower's walls came out unscathed.
"Whatever is happening, while this thing runs on my mana, it can only hurt me physically. I'm not stupid enough to use a perfect pseudo blood core for an experiment.
"I gave it barely enough strength to walk." Lith explained to the surprised Solus.
Trouble snarled one last time, before collapsing on the ground.
"Now what?" Lith asked. The undead was back to being a corpse. It had no life force nor mana flow anymore.
"He used all the energy he had, even his pseudo core." Solus said.
"This is great! If we can understand what happened, I can build a small army of elite soldiers with powerful abilities."
"Soldiers that will revolt against you." Solus sneered. "That thing had a will of its own, his life force was growing on top of yours."
"It would explain the purple light." Lith pondered. "Red is for the natural state, blue when an external will flows into an undead. The question is: what was the source of the external will?"
"The eye? After all, they are the core of a Balor's power. Maybe the black eye amplified your spell to the point of turning it into greater necromancy." Solus said.
Lith surgically removed and stored it inside his pocket dimension before making a second attempt. This time, despite all of his efforts and mastery, the pseudo core was unable to take root. The corpse straight rejected it.
"Let me guess, since Balors cannot process mana without their eyes I can't resurrect it after removing the black eye." Lith said.
"It makes sense." Solus's wisp nodded.
"Yozmogh had six eyes, while Trouble only had three. According to the bestiary, the remaining three are fused with Trouble's body. To test this theory, we need a Balor without the black eye.
"If we can raise it normally, then we are one step closer to fulfilling your crazy plan of making an undead army. Otherwise, back to square one."
"Yeah, tomorrow I'll buy a Balor at the market and we'll test your theory." Lith said while putting the eye back into the empty socket. Even his sarcasm couldn't hide that the idea of losing Trouble's body pained him.
Even if everything failed and Balors turned out to be impossible to reanimate as undead, it would still give him more insight into necromancy. After discarding vampires and liches as possible ways to escape from his resurrection cycle, Lith needed something new.
"Guess we'll never know." Solus sighed. They were both aware that conducting a series of experiments to uncover an unknown phenomenon required time and effort. Unfortunately, they only had a few hours before they had to be at Zantia, and Lith was tired.
Solus put Trouble's corpse inside her pocket dimension, making sure that no trace of life nor undeath remained. Trouble was the first enemy they had fought inside her tower from and she had no desire for a second round.
The following day, Lith's mood was even worse. He had remembered how according to Zolgrish, a Balor's eyes were powerful magical amplifiers. Failing an experiment was irrelevant to him.
Back on Earth, his science professors always stressed how many trials and errors were needed before making a breakthrough. Losing his specimen and three amplifiers at once, though, was a loss from which it was hard to recover from.
To add insult to injury, when he had called Kamila, hoping she could cheer him up with one of her smiles, she was in an awful mood too. Lith asked her many times if there was something wrong to no avail.
When he reached Zantia's walls, Lith was itching for a fight. It was a medium sized city, famous for being surrounded by a luscious forest where it was possible to find several rare mystical plants.
Many magical beasts resided there, keeping bandits and monsters alike at bay. Zantia was one of the few cities in the north to have not faced a monster wave in decades.
Unfortunately, the forest was both a blessing and a curse. As long as they weren't provoked, magical beasts were peaceful but the same couldn't be said for some aggressive species of plants that kept growing no matter how many times they were burnt, cut, or destroyed with magic.
Even magical beasts were forced to avoid specific areas of the forest. Merchants had a hard time reaching and leaving Zantia in one piece which created a vicious circle. As long as Zantia was cut out of the main trading routes, it would never get a Warp Gate.
At the same time, without a Warp Gate the city would never be added to the main trading routes. None of it was a problem for someone like Lith who was capable of flight.
When the guards at the main gate stopped him, he could already smell trouble. The man and the woman who donned the uniform of the local militia were clearly afraid, and not of him
"Let me pass." Lith said showing them his golden badge.
"I'm Ranger Lith Verhen and I've been called by the city lord, Count Cestor to oversee a matter of public security."
"We're very sorry to have wasted your time, Ranger Verhen." Said the male guard, a man in his early thirties with blond hair and grey eyes.
"You are free to go. The Count has waived your protection since everything has already been resolved." The man handed him a piece of paper with the Count's seal. Lith's surprise only grew when his army amulet confirmed both the document's and the seals' authenticity.
Chapter 560 Hostility Part 1
"Everything seems to be in order, but I can't follow such a command without hearing it directly from Lord Cestor." Lith said while stepping forward.
The two guards crossed their lances in front of him, but he didn't stop.
"Even if the document is in order, I need to make sure it's not forged. Anyone could use the city Lord's seal." Lith was now just a few millimeters from the blades.
"The Count requested the army's help and we've not been able to contact him ever since. Before I can leave, I must speak with him. Stand down and let me pass, because the moment your weapons touch my body you'll be persecuted for treason against the Crown."
Lith's eyes flared up as he released a bit of killing intent. The mental pressure exerted by the mana filled with his violent emotions overwhelmed the guards, who turned pale but only took one step back.
Lith was surprised by their obstinacy. Without proper training or a mana core strong enough, killing intent was more than enough to send normal people running for their lives. Their fear had to be deep rooted to allow them to hold their ground.
"Fine." A wave of Lith's hand generated two streams of lightning bolts which nailed the guards against the city walls. Their bodies trembled in seizure before falling unconscious onto the ground.
Three more guards rushed to the gate after hearing the screams. They were about to unsheathe their weapons when they recognized the Ranger uniform.
"Arrest and detain those two, I want to interrogate them later." Lith said. The shocked soldiers kept moving their eyes from Lith to their companions, never removing their hands from the hilt of their blades.
Their lack of discipline annoyed Lith. He was used to being harassed by the inhabitants of small cities, but even there the local guards knew their place.
"Where is your Sergeant? I want to give him a piece of my mind about how he trains his soldiers." Lith said.
"You just knocked him out, Sir." Replied one of the guards after snapping out of his reverie.
"What happened?"
Lith explained the reason of his coming and his need for meeting the Count Cestor.
"I understand, Sir. I apologize on behalf of the Sergeant. I can assure you he is a good man. It's just that these days we are all jumpy." The soldier replied. He was a young man in his early twenties, with light brown hair and blue eyes.
"My name is Firgon Heklas. Nice to meet you, Sir." He said while giving Lith a salute. The other two took care of the injured guards before cuffing and move them to the nearest jail.
"What reason could possibly lead your comrades to commit such blatant insubordination?"
Firgon led Lith to the city Lord's mansion while explaining to him the details about Zantia's recent events.
"Please, don't be too harsh on them. Their families are going through a tough time. Not only is this winter really harsh, but a lot of people are falling ill. Healers are powerless against the disease and many of the relatives of its victims have joined a shady cult that claims to be able to treat any illness." Firgon said.
"Are you saying there is a plague here in Zantia?"
"Not a plague." Firgon shook his head.
"Technically, it's not even a disease. Every person displays different symptoms, so we don't even know if they are all suffering from the same thing, and it never lasts long. The problem is that after some time people get sick again, like it never heals. We call it: 'the Griever'."
"What about your Healers?" Lith found the story ridiculous. Illnesses and even poisons acted all the same. Someone poisoning several different people each with a different substance was as cruel as it was idiotic.
"They have confirmed it's not poisoning, but an affliction of the body. They can cure it, but it only makes things worse. Whenever the disease gets removed, it returns almost immediately stronger than before." Firgon replied.
"I can sympathize with them. One of my sisters has been ill for a long time, but that still doesn't explain your sergeant's odd behavior."
"I'm afraid it's because of the Church of the Six." Firgon sighed.
"Life in the north is harsh, so a lot of religions are born and die every year. They try to give people hope about the afterlife, but usually their absurd dogmas are just a cover to rob believers of their money.
"The Church of the Six is different for two reasons. First, they don't ask for 'donations' for everything, and second, whatever they do, it works. Or so they say. Some of them get rich, others get healed, and stuff like that.
"People whose relatives got the Griever became fanatics after word got out that the clerics can cure it for good. The bastards only treat the most loyal worshippers, though."
"I've traveled quite a lot and have never heard about either the Church of the Six or the Griever." Lith pondered.
"It's not a surprise. The Church was founded only last year and it would have already disappeared if not for the Griever."
"Let me guess, your Sergeant is a believer." Lith said.
"Yeah, a big one. He recently became a father, and there's nothing he wouldn't do to spare his son from all that suffering. His wife's hair is turning white from the fear."
"When did the Griever appeared?"
"Right after the winter lockdown started. The worst stuff always happens during that period. Bad luck loves company."
Lith nodded and decided to let the Sergeant off the hook. The man was already suffering enough.
'I doubt the Griever is a real illness. Most likely his son is terminally ill. If I accuse him of treason, he will lose his job, his life, and the little time they have left together.' Lith thought.
'Why don't you cure the baby? It shouldn't be difficult for you.' Solus thought.
'I sympathize with him, but that doesn't mean I care for him or his son. Especially after he pointed a blade at me. He made his choice when he preferred listening to a cleric rather than ask a Healer for help.'
After another few questions about the situation of Zantia, they reached Count Cestor's House. The city Lord was a short man in his mid fifties, around 1.62 meters (5'4") tall with white hair and thin mustaches.
The Count was sickly pale, far more than what passed for normal in the north, with bloodshot eyes and so many nervous tics that Lith suspected him of drug abuse.
"I'm really sorry to have wasted your time, Ranger Verhen, but as the guards told you at the city gates, our issues are already solved. I'm sure there are plenty of cities that need your help." His voice was firm, yet it sounded old and tired like he hadn't sleep in days.
"Why you didn't just cancel your request? We've tried to contact you for several days."
"Because I've seen the light, Ranger Verhen. Magic is the sad attempt of men to play god. Our arrogance has long since blinded us and angered the real gods. Only by relinquishing it can we pray to receive their mercy."
Lith was tempted to give the man a soapbox and a "the end is near" t-shirt as the Count looked at him with the ill-concealed contempt a self-righteous man usually reserved for a nonbeliever.
Chapter 561 Hostility Part 2
"Sure, right. I'd love to hear more, but alas I'm a busy man." Lith's tone was as condescending as it was full of sarcasm. He took out the army amulet from his pocket dimension, suppressing a chuckle when the Count yelped at the sight of it.
Lith reported everything to his handler, then he had her confirm the Count's well being and record his request for canceling the mission.
"I need you to state the reason why you requested the army's intervention in the first place for the record." Kamila said.
"Because Viscount Krame's mercenaries were harassing several upstanding citizens and interfering with their religious freedom, but now everything is resolved. Those sinners have received their retribution."
The Count's fervor put a dent in even Kamila's perfect poker face, making her raise an eyebrow in confusion.
"Do you mean that the local guards dealt with the problem?"
"No, the gods did. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a lot of work to do. When will Ranger Verhen leave? His services are unrequired and his disrespect most unpleasant." The Count asked her, like Lith wasn't even there.
"Right after lunch. Since you have already wasted my time, the least I can do is to get a hot meal and restock my food supplies." Lith left the Count's office, never hanging up the call.
"I've resolved two missions in as many days. I would like to apply for leave due to outstanding performance." He said.
"The second doesn't count since it was canceled, but nice try. If you need any kind of supplies, buy them from the local army store. Merchants inflate their prices during the lockdown, whereas we keep ours fixed."
'How cute of her worrying about my expenses. She seems to be faring much better than yesterday.' Lith thought.
'Yeah, but isn't it odd that she is still your handler after becoming a Field Assistant Constable?' Solus pondered. It didn't make much sense, unless someone was attempting to manipulate their relationship again.
Lith cursed himself for forgetting about her promotion again and called Kamila during her lunch break to make sure everything was fine.
"I was supposed to be replaced after I started my training course, but I asked to continue being your handler. I don't know if it's because of Lady Ernas or Commander Berion, but the central command accepted my request." Kamila said while unpacking her chicken salad.
Having a sedentary job and practicing cooking had made her gain some weight, so she was on a diet. To make matters worse, Lith's training routine gave him his lean muscular build and made her self-conscious about her body.
"Is that why you looked so tired recently? I don't want you to overwork yourself. Starting a new job is already challenging enough, you don't need extra stress." Lith ordered a whole roasted chicken with gravy sauce and potatoes, almost making her drool.
"Don't worry, it's no big deal. This way we can keep in touch even when we are away from each other. Being sure you're alright is worth a little overtime and I can use a little extra money." Kamila needed to save as much as she could for Zinya's procedure.
"I'm glad to still have you as my handler, but most importantly, as my girlfriend. I wish you were here." Lith caressed Kamila's hologram's cheek while she intently stared at his meal. She was already done with her food and yet she was still hungry.
"I got to go. Have a nice meal and remember to tip the waitress." Kamila said when the gong signaled the end of her break. Her hologram disappeared, leaving Lith's full blown paranoia to worry about why she seemed to be on edge the whole time.
'Maybe she is sick of our long distance relationship, or maybe she met someone else. Someone better than me.' Lith had no idea that it had been his meal upsetting her. Kamila couldn't forgive herself for speaking to the chicken the whole time instead of Lith.
"Hey handsome, is this seat taken?" Said a honeyed feminine voice.
Lith was so focused on his alleged troubles with Kamila that he almost choked on his lunch from surprise. Aside from noble girls, no one had hit on him since he had started working as a Ranger.
Without waiting for a reply, the woman sat in front of him while crossing her legs in a slow, seductive way.
"I'm flattered by your attentions, but in case you missed it, I was just talking to my girlf…" Lith looked up from his plate, too dumbfounded to continue his speech.
Aside from Tista, Tyris, and Thrud, it was definitely the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. Long silky black hair framed her delicate visage, emphasizing her light chestnut eyes and her fair skin.
Her soft curves and ample bosom were so voluptuous that not even her comfortable adventurer's clothes could hide them more than a passing cloud can eclipse the sun.
"Can you take me to a Healer? Because I just broke my leg falling for you." Lith replied, making her giggle.
A group of adventurers sitting a few tables apart were currently split between those too shocked to speak and those cursing out loud.
"Since when does the Captain have a thing for tall guys? She even rejected Hosung, and he was a giant!" Said a red haired man currently green with envy.
"Who cares! It's the first time I've seen her hitting on someone, let alone laugh at a cheesy pick up line." Said a young woman with light brown hair and her uniform dirty from spilling her wine all over it.
"What the heck are you doing here, Friya?" Lith said while embracing his old friend and causing most of the male customers of the restaurant to choke on their food from resentment.
"I could ask you the same thing. The north is a big place, I didn't expect to meet you so easily." Friya was still giggling at their flirting routine. It was an inside joke between them, from the time they both were Assistant Professors at the White Griffon.
Whenever they met, they would pretend to not know each other and spout the cheesiest lines they could think of. It helped Friya to keep annoying suitors at bay and she usually found the people's reaction to the scene to be hilarious.
"There's only one reason for me being here. They requested my presence. Luckily, I'm already done with my business and I'm about to leave. What about you?"
"I've been here in Zantia for a month. Viscount Krame recruited my whole guild to protect his properties from the local nutjobs." She shrugged.
"No offense but, why you? There are a lot of mercenary guilds in the north too. Finding you here, in my same restaurant can't be just a coincidence."
"There are several reasons for calling me. First, my guild has still a perfect score. Second, having a capable Healer during a lockdown is always a plus. Third, Viscount Krame is one of those stuck up idiots that look down on anyone who isn't a noble for at least three generations.
"There aren't many guilds lead by a noble, also he hopes that by hiring me he will get the opportunity to suck up on my parents, especially dad." Friya said.
"No sane man would approach your mother." Lith still found it odd meeting her like that.
Chapter 562 Hostility Part 3
"Indeed. As for the restaurant, I just kept tabs on you after I heard about a Ranger zapping the guards. I followed you here to surprise you and I accomplished that. Your face was priceless. By the way, do you need help with that?" Friya pointed at his meal.
"Thanks, but no thanks. I'm a firm believer that it takes two to truly appreciate a chicken. The chicken and me." He replied while pulling the plate away from her fork.
"Always the gentleman, eh?" Friya pouted while ordering a smaller portion of what he had taken.
"Speaking of gentlemen, Count Cestor called saying your guild harassed Zantia's citizens and that you've got some kind of divine retribution for it."
"That's rich! We harassed no one. Viscount Krame owns many magical workshops, mostly small stuff like enchanted home appliances and ornaments. Those jerks from the Church of the Six pestered his customers and his employees with their fanatical propaganda.
"We simply kept them away from private property, that's it. As for the 'divine retribution', the children of the Viscount got the Griever, but my guild members are fine." Friya's gurgling stomach forced Lith to share his plate while she waited for her own.
"What can you tell me about the Griever?" Lith's professional curiosity was piqued.
"It's no illness, that's for sure. I suspect it's caused by something in the water, because all three of the Viscount's children presented weakened organs and random damage to the skin, but I never managed to identify what caused the phenomenon.
"Not even after it returned for the third time. Since those noble idiots seems to be unable to follow even the simplest orders, I had to give them a detail 24/7. Playing babysitter means my men can't protect all of the shops anymore, but since we still get paid in full, I'm fine with that."
"I'm sorry to bother you, Captain, but are you not going to introduce us to your new friend?" Said a young woman in her early twenties. She had a pixie cut and a round face.
She could've been considered cute, if not for her thick muscular build and square jaw. Coupled with her fierce eyes, they gave her a cold demeanour, like a disgruntled drill sergeant ready to dish out a punishment.
"He's no friend, Wyra." Friya said with a suave voice, while taking Lith's hand and threading her fingers through his.
"We've decided to marry."
At those words, several mugs of beer shattered on the floor as many members of Friya's guild either dropped them or made them fall by standing up abruptly in disbelief.
Seeing their bewildered expressions, Friya burst out in laughter, shocking them even more. She rarely showed her emotions to them. A mercenary guild was no charity, nor was it like the army. They followed her to make a profit, not because of honor and blind loyalty.
They were all mages from minor academies or had graduated from the great ones yet failed to master any specialization. They were jacks of all trades, but without the means to make a living with magic.
Friya knew they could leave her the moment they received a better offer or if they thought the mission was too risky. She trusted only the core members of her unit and kept the others at arm's length.
"She's joking." Lith said since Friya was still too busy crying from laughter.
"I'm Lith Verhen. Nice to meet you miss Wyra." Lith offered her his hand and she promptly shook it.
"It's an honour to meet you, Sir. You're a beacon of hope for us mages of commoner origin." Wyra blushed while squeezing his hand with enough strength that she would have crushed it if not for Lith's enhanced body.
"Did they send you here for the Griever? Zantia could use a great Healer's expertise." Said the red headed man, making Friya angry.
"Hey, I resent that! I ranked second after him, both overall and in the light department. I'm a great Healer too!" She said while stabbing her chicken with anger.
"No, they didn't. I'm leaving the city after lunch."
After meeting Friya's ten men unit, Lith understood why Quylla didn't trust them to accompany her during her travels. Most of them were either trying to suck up to him or staring at him with envy or contempt.
Only a few, like Wyra, were just trying to befriend him.
'Judging from Friya's expression, some of them are going to get kicked out of the guild as soon as their current mission is over.' Lith thought after paying his bill and offering them a round of drinks.
He tried to push open the door of the restaurant, yet it didn't budge. Only when the hardwood started to creak did it open, but a chilly wind slapped his face and big snowflakes entered the hallway.
"What the heck? Where did this storm come from?" Lith asked the head waiter.
"From the sky, I guess. The weather changes often in the north." The man replied with a condescending tone, like he was talking to an ignorant kid.
Lith ignored the waiter playing captain obvious and closed himself in the bathroom. After checking with Life Vision that no one was inside, he opened a Warp Gate leading as far as he could, using Invigoration to boost the spell's strength.
'This is all too odd. First, they call me here for nothing and send me away despite there being an odd disease spreading. Then I meet Friya and I casually get stuck here because of a sudden snowstorm. Someone is playing with me.' Lith thought.
Yet despite Lith's full blown paranoia, no matter how far the dimensional corridor went, wind and snow would always strike his face with so much strength that it was impossible to see further than three meters.
'You're right. Clearly the sky spirits conspired against you.' Solus chuckled. Yet she checked as far as she could see with mana sense, making sure the storm really was natural. Just to be safe.
'Dammit! This is even worse than I thought. This isn't my first snowstorm, but I always managed to spend them in the tower with you. What am I supposed to do until it blows over?' Lith thought.
'Maybe spend some time with your old friend? Help the people of Zantia with the Griever? You two have a lot of catching up to do.'
Friya was really happy about the snowstorm and offered Lith an accommodation as an honorary member of the Crystal Shield, her adventurers guild. Lith didn't miss that such position would put him under her command, but he accepted anyway.
'The Count is a nutjob. He didn't want me setting foot inside the city, I doubt he would offer me a place to stay. This way I get a room, the opportunity to make up with Friya for not inviting her for my birthday, and I can take a look at the Griever.
'When shit hits the fan, it would be up to me to fix that mess anyway.' He inwardly sighed.
Unfortunately, Viscount Krame didn't share Friya's enthusiasm.
"Another mouth to feed during winter is a burden, Lady Ernas." The Viscount said. He was a man in his late forties, around 1.68 meters (5'6") tall with thick black hair and a finely trimmed goatee.
Chapter 563 Hostility Part 4
Everything about his appearance spoke of order and control. He was wearing a perfectly ironed black suit that didn't show a single wrinkle despite having been used for half day.
Not a single hair on his head was out of place, every one of his movements was slow and calculated. His stern expression was reinforced by his gold-rimmed glasses which made his calculative gaze look cruel rather than wise.
"Your guild is doing an excellent job, I don't see why I should welcome this man into my home. I'm sure there are plenty of free rooms in the city's hotels and that he can afford to pay for his meals." Krame only spoke to Friya, ignoring everyone else.
'Wow, this guy is as stingy as you are.' Solus thought. Both her and Lith were surprised at being treated like that. It was the second time in a single day that someone had looked down on him.
"Your Lordship, Lord Verhen is an excellent Healer and the Ranger in charge of the Kellar region. I'm sure you realize that his presence can be of great help. The snowstorm could isolate the city, if not even your mansion, for days." Friya said.
"You are an excellent Healer, Lady Ernas. Why would I need two? Besides, I doubt he can be of any use. No truly talented and sane man would ever work as a civil servant. It still has the word 'servant' in it and proves a lack of ambition."
"What about my mother and my father, then?" Friya hated to use her parents' names. The whole point of leading a mercenary guild was building her career outside of her family. Yet the 'sane' part prevented her from using Manohar as a model.
"Please." The Viscount scoffed at her naïve attempt of manipulation.
"Your mother chose a noble career that allows her to uphold and influence the law. She protects us from the scum of the earth. Your father's talent is bottomless. He is an Arch Duke, a warrior, a Forgemaster, and a leader of the Knight Guard.
"This man, instead, took the job of a watchdog with no further career path. Rangers usually drop out of the army or drop dead. He's barely more than a vagrant with a hundred masters, and as soon as the winter lockdown ends, I'll be one of them. Now please get out of my office. I have work to do."
"What a dick. I'm sorry, Lith." Friya said after they left the Viscount's office.
"Follow me, I'll show you your accommodations."
"Didn't he just say that I'm not welcome?"
"Yeah, but he never said no either. I know the type, if I take you in as my guest, he'll never dare to complain to my face. You've changed a lot, you know? The old Lith would have glared at Krame until he pissed his pants." Friya looked at him with curiosity.
"That's unfair. If I killed every single noble that treated me rudely, I'd have been called the new Balkor for years by now. I don't care what Krame says. He's just an irrelevant road bump on my path." Lith replied.
"I wouldn't be so sure. He's using the events caused by the Church of the Six to get Count Cestor removed and become the next city Lord. He's likely to succeed if you ask me."
"What events? The Griever is not a plague and a few nutjobs aren't enough to dispose of a loyal servant of the Crown."
"You would be right, if Cestor was competent. Ever since he joined the Church of the Six, those fanatics have harassed every mage of the city. They say that magic is an insult to the gods and all that crap." Friya said.
"What? That's enough to outlaw such a religion. Harming mages is a serious crime. Why has no one contacted the army or the mage association about this?"
"Because the city is split into two factions. One follows the Church's dogmas and wants to kick mages out of the city. The other one is collecting evidence to get rid of their opponents and seize their properties.
"Neither faction wants to involve the army, it would ruin their plans." Friya said.
"Then why did the Count call me? Wasn't that shooting himself in the foot?"
"Beats me. Maybe he really has gone mad." Friya shrugged as she opened the door of Lith's room. It was barely bigger than a storage room, with just enough space for a bed and a wardrobe.
"Sorry to give you the worst room, but it's all that's left."
"Don't worry, I've been in worse places." Lith lied. The only reason he had accepted staying there was to keep an eye on her. The situation in the city was too odd, and Lith had noticed how Friya was on edge while dealing with some of her guild members.
'Damn, I can't leave the city during a snowstorm. The army locates my position every time I make a report and a single Warp Steps only crosses about ten kilometers (6.2 miles).
'I can reach a mana geyser with it, but for a normal mage it would be suicidal. Now that I have a better understanding of the situation, I might as well play ball.'
As soon as he was alone, Lith called his handler and explained everything to her.
"My assessment is that Count Cestor is insane or being manipulated, while Viscount Krame is willing to exploit the chaos that will ensue as the conflicts escalate to further his political agenda." Lith said.
"Agreed. I'll contact my superiors and let you know their decision. Until then, investigate this Church of the Six and the Griever. If your friend is right about the means of contagion, then Zantia could be the rehearsal for something bigger.
"Gods, I'll never understand why people are willing to hurt those closest to them for the pettiest reasons." Kamila's voice was so sad that Lith understood she wasn't talking about Zantia, but rather about herself.
He called her on her civilian amulet immediately after ending the call. He had recognized the hologram's background as her home, so there was no risk of interrupting her job with his paranoia.
"Kami are you alright?" Lith said noticing she was crying, which made him sick with worry.
"It's just a rough moment for me. Everything is fine." Those words made Lith shiver. In his experience, when a woman said those three words, they were usually a lie.
"No, it's not. Yesterday you were in a bad mood, then you behaved oddly during lunch, and now this? Kami, if you don't talk to me, I don't know what to do." He said. At the mention of lunch, she laughed amid the tears.
"I was perfectly normal at lunch, silly. I'm just on a diet and couldn't stand watching you eat while I starved." She chuckled.
"But you are right about the rest, I'm not fine. I went to visit my sister and seeing her like that broke my heart. I don't know if I can save her anymore. I feel so helpless that it's driving me crazy."
Lith didn't understand much from her rambling, but he let her talk and cry as long as she needed to.
Seeing her breaking apart like that hurt him deeply. Kamila always smiled and she always had a nice word for Lith, turning his perpetual frown upside down. He wanted to drop everything and run back to Belius just to embrace her.
"Is there anything I can do?" It was all he could say when she was done talking.
"No, but thanks for the offer. I'll explain everything to you once you get back. I promise that the second time it will make sense." She chuckled.
"Thanks for listening to me. I feel much better now. Don't worry, you did nothing wrong. This time." She laughed harder, making him smile.
Chapter 564 Man in Black Part 1
"I'm going kill that fucker." Lith's smile disappeared as soon as the call ended.
He didn't understand everything, but based on what he knew about Zinya's situation, it wasn't hard to guess who the root of Kamila's problem was.
'Calm down. Making Kamila's sister a widow isn't bound to make her happy, especially if she finds out you are the culprit. She isn't as morally flexible as you are and she isn't stupid.
'If what's-his-face dies, she'll understand the truth and you'll lose her.' Solus said, quenching his anger.
Lith looked out of his window, noticing that the intensity of the snowstorm had decreased enough to allow him to move safely.
'Now that I have a mission, I can't ask Friya to go against the interests of her client. It would ruin her reputation.' Lith Warped outside and asked around for directions to reach the main temple of the Church of the Six.
Sorting out its believers from regular people was quite easy. Rangers were known to be mages, so whenever he met the former, they would either shudder in fear or call him names, whereas the latter would warn him.
"Be careful, son. Those nutjobs are a dangerous bunch." Said an old man who was taking advantage of the temporary relief from the snowstorm to stock up groceries.
"They will try to beat the crap out of you at the first opportunity they get. To make matters worse, if you retaliate that idiot Count will hold you responsible for their injuries." He spat on the snow as if Cestor's name tasted like horseshit.
Unlike most cities of the north, Zantia wasn't divided into rims, but into two districts. The eastern one, where Lith currently was, was the residential area. The Noble or rich households were the farthest ones from the city gates, whereas the poor people lived in its proximity.
The west district was the commercial area, where one could find shops, hotels, and restaurants. The main Church of the Six was located in an old warehouse near the center of the city.
Lith shapeshifted his clothes into a commoner civilian attire before proceeding any further.
'It would be a good idea to not stir unnecessary trouble. I'll get in, check out the most notable members of the church, and get out. If not for the Griever and the Count's support, this would be an open and closed case. Let's hope things keep being so simple.' Lith thought.
When Lith reached his destination, his mouth almost fell on the ground from the surprise. The temple was exactly as he expected it, a simple rectangular shaped building made of wood with a sloping roof.
What stunned him for a couple of seconds was the insignia hung above the double doors. It represented a handsome young man with silver hair and seven eyes, arranged exactly like those which appeared on Lith's face during a world tribulation.
Yet they weren't yellow, but each one was a different color with the exception of the seventh eye in the middle of the young man's forehead which was completely white, with no pupil nor iris.
'If it wasn't for the seventh eye and the pink skin, I'd think the Church of the Six venerates the Balors.' Solus thought.
"Agreed. The question is: how do they know what an ancient Balor looks like? What does the seventh eye mean?" Lith pondered.
Despite the bad weather, a lot of people were entering the building. Lith waited outside, using Life Vision and mana sense to check on them. He soon noticed they could be sorted into two different kinds of people.
Those who had a really weak mana core and looked really angry, and those who had a normal bright red or yellow one but looked to be in anguish.
'I can't feel any magical aura coming from the temple. It has no defenses nor arrays.' Solus pointed out.
Lith only had so much time before he was forced to get inside. The snow had turned the city white, making any passerby stand out. The sloping roofs didn't offer any cover, while patrolling from the sky limited his field of vision due to the still ongoing storm.
He didn't want to go inside before whatever ceremony or ritual they were about to perform started. He suspected they would use it to spread the Griever with magic, yet he couldn't afford to do small talk with the Church's believers.
'If they see a new face, the ones behind the scheme might get spooked and just spout bullshit, wasting my time. I'm too easily recognizable as a stranger. It's better to wait for all eyes to be on the altar. It will be easier to go unnoticed.' Lith thought while hiding behind a corner.
'From above!' Solus's warning made Lith dodge to the side with a roll. Nothing was falling from the roof over his head but a piece of snow, yet he knew Solus wouldn't yell like that without a good reason.
He was right.
A split second later, two deep footprints appeared in the snow and a thud could be heard. Someone almost invisible had just landed. Lith could see the air in front of him slightly distorted, but it was otherwise unnoticeable.
"You're better than I expected, Ranger Verhen." Said a male voice quickly closing in to him.
Lith activated Life Vision and took out the Gatekeeper Sword from his pocket dimension, making it shrink to the size of a short sword to more easily maneuver it in the alley they were in.
Thanks to Life Vision, the distortion was now evident enough to see the human figure hiding behind it.
'Whoever this fucker is, he's not on par with Zolgrish.' Lith struck forward with the Gatekeeper, too fast and too close for the opponent to dodge his lunge.
The moment their blades touched, a young man with blue eyes in his early twenties seemingly appeared out of thin air. He wore what seemed like black assassin garb, covering him from head to toe and leaving only his eyes exposed.
He was wielding a couple of long daggers. One of them had just deflected the Gatekeeper, while the other was aimed at Lith's heart.
His first instinct was to grab it with his free hand, but his paranoia stopped him.
'Solus, analysis!' He thought while taking a step back and a dagger out of his pocket dimension. Lith had no idea how to dual wield, but at least he could parry with it.
'Red core, normal weapons, and great life force. At least on par with Orion after you rejuvenated him, if not better.' She replied.
'Something is off with his blades, though. I can see they are coated with something viscous but colorless.'
'It can't be a simple poison. He knows I'm a Ranger, normal weapons can't even put a scratch on my uniform. He's hiding something!' Lith thought as he kept being forced on the defensive.
He had already infused himself with all the elements but the enemy was incredibly fast, plus he had the poison and was better suited to fight in such confined space. Lith suspected that there was more than a trap waiting for him.
He was careful not leaving an opening that a second camouflaged enemy could exploit.
To add insult to injury, the assassin had taken him by surprise, so Lith had no spells at the ready. He quickly jumped back, gaining the split second of respite he needed to Blink behind the enemy and finish him off.
Lith was flabbergasted when the enemy turned around, deflecting the Gatekeeper with inhuman speed as his second dagger, positioned exactly in front of Lith's exit point, skewered him using his own momentum.
Chapter 565 Man in Black Part 2
"I spy with my little eye someone who's going to die." The assassin laughed merrily as he exploited Lith's shock to push away the Gatekeeper and struck at his neck to finish him off.
The first dagger had pierced Lith's chest, but thanks to his reflexes, which had allowed him to stop at the last second, and to the Skinwalker Armor, it didn't go deep. Lith knew that a normal weapon couldn't cut his skin, let alone his armor.
Which meant that they were anything but normal.
'No one can move that fast. How did he predict my exit point?' Lith thought.
His mind spun at top gear as he used the dagger in his left hand to defend himself while he stepped back. The blade in his chest only needed one more push to pierce his heart and Lith had no desire to test if he still needed it to survive.
The assassin wasn't willing to let him go, but keeping his arm so close to the opponent left it exposed. He was forced to retreat to avoid losing his wrist to the Gatekeeper, but he left behind a gruesome present.
He dodged Lith's slash while twisting and pulling the dagger away. The movement ripped the flesh apart and turned the already deep wound into a gaping hole. Life fusion started to heal the damage the moment it was inflicted, yet it only made things worse for Lith.
As Solus had predicted, the assassin's blades were coated with some kind of venom that the light element boosting Lith's body was now quickly spreading through his blood system.
'Fuck! I can't use darkness fusion to cut my pain receptors this time. Otherwise I won't be able to notice the venom's effects until it's too late and it cripples me. I need to focus light fusion on flushing it out of my body.' Lith thought.
"I was wrong. You're such a disappointment, mate. So much for Treius' killer and the destroyer of the Black Star." The assassin sneered as he relentlessly attacked Lith with inhuman speed and surgical precision, not giving him any time to think.
The wound on his chest burned as if someone had stabbed him with a burning spear and was twisting it inside his flesh. The venom coursing through Lith's veins made his heartbeats hurt like his blood had turned into sand and now it was scraping at every fiber it met on its wake.
With every heartbeat, the venom spread further. With every breath Lith took, his brain went on fire, blurring his vision.
'This is no normal venom. I'm analyzing it with Invigoration and it's magical in nature. What the actual fuck is going on?' Solus was desperate. Her words fell on deaf ears and she knew it.
Lith was too focused on survival to listen to her advice and she was too shocked from mana sense failing her in such an obnoxious manner to think properly. Lith's knees suddenly went weak while he was trying to keep his footwork on par with his enemy's and two small cuts opened on his legs.
The assassin was not only inhumanly fast and precise, but he was also well trained. Since he had failed to overpower Lith he had changed his tactic. The cuts by themselves were enough to slow Lith down and the new doses of venom they carried with them made his situation even worse.
Then, all the pieces of the puzzle fell into place and Solus regained her cool. She took a lightning wand out of her pocket dimension and shoot at the assassin. He managed to dodge it, but his assault was interrupted.
"Not cool man. How did you do that?" His eyes were flaring with mana. He had clearly managed to follow the wand's movements with Life Vision.
'Son of a gun!' Solus cursed while weaving several spells at once. Lith had only one breath of time to rest before the opponent came charging through the barrage of lightning bolts she unleashed.
That single breath allowed Lith to regain his footing as well as his focus. The detoxifying spell from his magic ring coupled with life fusion gave him a brief respite from the blinding pain that was crippling him.
'This venom alternates waves of pain with sudden weakness. If I had used darkness fusion to cut off my pain receptors, I would have missed the pain fading right before my body goes limp and I would already be dead.
'I only have a few seconds before the spell stops blocking the symptoms.' Lith thought
He stored the Gatekeeper inside his pocket dimension and had Solus assume her gauntlet form. He deflected the first blade with his own while using his open palm to thrust at the opponent.
The assassin smirked, thinking Lith had lost it. He lunged with all of his strength, boosting himself with air and fire magic to cut Lith's arm from wrist to shoulder in one fell swoop.
Only when his blade struck the stone covering Lith's arm did he realize something was wrong. The impact made him almost lose his grip on his weapon as Lith's palm stuck at his nose, crushing it flat.
Blood started to stream and his vision became blurry as the sudden injury made them watery. He tried to step back, but Lith had stomped on his left foot, crushing it and locking him into place.
The palm slid on his face, followed by an elbow blow that shattered his jaw.
The stunned assassin had no idea what was happening. His enchanted garb was supposed to absorb most of the damage, yet it seemed to be nothing more than a tacky cloth in front of the Ranger's assault.
Solus had simply taken out Zolgrish's Eraser from her pocket dimension at the exact timing of the impact, shutting down the magical protections. Also, by cutting off his pain receptors, the assassin had missed both the pain and the stomp.
Now his foot was stuck under Liths', making it impossible for him to get away. At that distance, his weapons were useless, whereas Solus's gauntlet reached its apex. Whenever the thin blades struck the thick stone, the impact made his hands go numb.
They couldn't cut, nor express the full strength of their wielder, whereas the stone gauntlet was fast and hit like a hammer. The assassin ducked under the claws aimed at his face, but they still managed to make a small cut on his forehead.
After his breathing, the assassin also had his vision impaired from the blood trickling in his eyes. He activated life fusion to stop the bleeding, only to suddenly feel that something was wrong.
Solus had coated her claws with Balkor's venom to return him the favor.
It was a special substance devised by the god of death, which directly attacked its victim's mana core. The assassin felt no pain, yet he noticed his fusion magic getting weaker, making the difference in physical prowess between them grow even wider.
He activated one of his magical rings to turn the Ranger into a popsicle, but at that distance Lith had the time to react at his weak mana flow by grabbing and crushing his hand so that the twisted finger threw the spell in a random direction, making it useless.
The assassin lost one of his daggers, which Solus promptly stored away, and tried to use the remaining one to stab Lith in the neck. Lith reacted by deflecting the blade with his stone covered arm while the dagger in his left hand pierced the assassin's right side and cut him open until his ribcage stopped it.
Chapter 566 A New Enemy Part 1
The tables had been turned, but both Lith and Solus knew it didn't mean much against a fellow Awakened one, whoever the assassin was. He only needed to use Invigoration to go back to his peak condition and get rid of the venom, but luckily the same applied to Lith.
'Behind you!' Solus yelled as a new enemy Blinked at their back.
Lith turned around as fast as he could, noticing that the newcomer was swinging a curved blade at him. He was a young looking man, barely in his twenties. He had light brown skin and several tattoos on his face.
He reminded Lith of the man who had fused with the Black Star to prevent its destruction. Unlike the assassin, he wasn't wearing any cloaking device, so his body shone like a lightbulb to mana sense.
'Bright cyan mana core, infused with all the elements, and everything he wears is enchanted.' Solus said without waiting for Lith to ask. He could see the weapon's trajectory, but unfortunately, his body couldn't keep up with it.
Lith was still bleeding profusely from his chest and the venom was still ravaging his body. The best he could do was intercepting the scimitar with his arm protector. The enemy was fresh and charging with all of his weight and fusion magic, whereas Lith was running on fumes.
The curved blade pushed Lith's arm down and opened a deep cut from his left shoulder to his right hip. The assassin's venom coupled with the blood loss made Lith fall to his knees as the new enemy spun on himself to decapitate him with a horizontal slash.
The blade hit only air as Lith was suddenly swallowed into the ground. Solus could use only a few powerful spells before running out of mana, so she had to pick them carefully.
The first one she had weaved was a Warp Steps leading back to Lith's room. She placed it under his feet, turning gravity into their ally. Had she chosen to heal such deep wounds, the spell would have drained what little stamina Lith had left, while countering the venom would have required for her to not take part in the fight.
Lying on the floor of his room, Lith gasped as blood kept gushing from his wounds, forming a small pool under him. Breathing was becoming harder by the second.
He shut off his pain receptors to gain enough focus to be able to use his breathing technique. Invigoration healed his wounds almost instantly, yet the venom proved to be harder to deal with.
It had caused extensive damage that couldn't be treated without first cleansing the toxin. Whatever it was, its maker had infused it with darkness magic, making it capable of rotting its victim's body and using the light magic used against it to empower itself.
'That was awfully close. That assassin knew who I was and that I'm an Awakened. The venom, the cloaking of his mana core and of his equipment, everything was made to counter how an Awakened usually fights.' Lith thought.
It took him only a few seconds to get rid of the toxin, yet the process seemed to last hours to him. He kept looking around his room, waiting for his enemies to open a Warp Steps and finish him before he could recover.
***
Right after Solus had brought Lith to safety, the youth with the scimitar was giving his all to save his comrade's life.
"Wake up, Keiran. You know I suck at healing." He was mostly talking to himself since Keiran was unconscious. Being gutted like a fish with most of his organs damaged was already bad.
Balkor's venom eroding his body and turning his mana core grey only made things harder for the second Awakened. He was forced to gamble what would kill his friend first, if the bleeding or the never seen before toxin.
He could only treat one at the time with Invigoration, at least on someone else. As most Awakened, he had always considered healing magic a waste of time, since there was nothing that branch of magic could do that Invigoration couldn't do better.
Deraniel decided to bet on the Awakened's iron body and removed the venom first. As soon as Balkor's toxin was cleansed, light fusion started working again, making Deraniel work much easier.
"What the fuck were you thinking, man?" He said as soon as the assassin regained consciousness.
"Your stunt might have compromised the whole plan. Besides, we came here to see if the guy is as strong as that old bat Raagu says, not to kill him."
"Talk for yourself." Keiran said while using Invigoration to return to his peak condition.
"I'm sick of hiding like a thief. Tired of my master always reminding me of being careful of fake mages, undead, Guardians, and all of that crap. Damn, we trained for over fifteen years, spitting blood every single day, and yet they always treat us like kids.
"I want to prove to that old fossil that there's nothing we Awakened cannot face."
"Yeah, right. Remind me again, who saved your sorry ass?" Deraniel sneered.
"That's different! The fucker took me by surprise."
"Right. Your ambush took you by surprise. It totally makes sense and doesn't sound like a pathetic excuse only a ten year old would use." Deraniel was already regretting having saved Keiran's life.
***
Only when both Lith and Solus were back to their full strength did Lith allow himself to relax.
'If they didn't barge in here already, it means they have no idea where I am. Who were those guys and what's the beef they have with me?' Lith thought.
'The assassin mentioned the Black Star and someone named Treius. Maybe they are friends with the Awakened from the Blood Desert you killed a few months ago.' Solus said.
'Unlikely. There was only spite in his voice, not rage. My guess is that he had to be quite young. Aside from his carefully planned attack, everything he did and said seemed like a teenager during a measuring contest. Like he had to prove something.
'The real question is if he attacked me because I was near the Church of the Six or for a completely unrelated reason.' Lith's paranoia could easily trace a connection between two Awakened, a new religion, the Griever, and even with JF Kennedy's death.
'Whatever the answer is, maybe it's better to ask Friya's help. She's bound to know something about the Church of the Six, and Awakened cannot show themselves to the public. Together you can take both of those guys out.' Solus said.
'Unless they decide to go all out despite the presence of witnesses or there's more than two of them. Anyway, I've lost my opportunity for today's ritual, so second hand information is better than nothing.' Lith thought while watching the storm intensify again.
For a second, he considered the possibility of the Awakened assassin using the venom to cause the Griever, but he discarded it immediately.
'It's made to kill, not to incapacitate. Also, someone as skilled as Friya is would have detected and extracted it. Unless someone baited me in this house, meeting Friya might actually be a blessing in disguise.
'I can use her guild to collect the information I need and maybe even get access to some victims of the Griever. If really there is a link between those two Awakened and the illness, by understanding how it works I can guess what their endgame is.'
Lith used Accumulation to refine his core while waiting for dinner. Without his tower and with the storm raging outside there wasn't much he could do. A couple of hours later, someone knocked on his door.
Chapter 567 A New Enemy Part 2
"Hey Lith, mind giving me a hand before we go get our dinner?" Friya asked.
"No problem. What's the matter?" Lith stood up, feeling a little light headed.
"Are you alright? You are way paler than when we met earlier." Friya cast her best diagnostic spell on him before he could even open his mouth.
"Just tired from almost dying. No biggie." He shrugged.
Friya was happy when her spell confirmed that he was perfectly fine, just a bit famished. Yet the dying part made her flinch.
"Forget about my problem. What the heck is going on here? How did you put yourself in trouble so fast?"
"Off the record? Because it's Ranger business, so I need you to keep it a secret." Lith replied.
'If I have to ask for her help, I need to tell her everything. Otherwise I could endanger her life for nothing.' He thought.
"Sure. I'm your friend before being an adventurer." She said while forcing him to sit on his bed and giving him some beef jerky.
Lith told her about his new mission concerning the Church and how an assassin had ambushed him while he was on recon.
"Good gods!" Friya blurted out.
"Your Skinwalker Armor is superior even to a Ranger uniform, yet you're saying this guy had poisoned weapons capable of piercing it?"
"Worse. Even the venom was enchanted and the Kingdom has very few alchemists capable of creating such a thing." Lith pointed out.
"You said you took one of them before retreating. Can I see it? If we identify its design or the venom, we could get some clues about the assassin's identity." Friya said.
"No. If I take it out from my dimensional item, I risk them learning my position. Tracking spells are common for precious weapons, not to mention the possibility of a self destruct spell. Assassins aren't supposed to leave clues behind." Lith shook his head while munching.
"True. How many people knew you are in Zantia? I mean, you arrived just a few hours ago and now there's a snowstorm. How the heck did the assassin made it here in time?"
"Good point." Lith nodded. "Only Kamila, the city guards, Count Cestor, Viscount Krame, and your men knew about me." He stressed the last two possibilities, making her turn pale.
"Why would Krame put a bounty on your head?"
"For the same reason he doesn't want me here. To get Zantia for himself. If I solve the problems with the church and the illness, he would lose the merits from exposing the Count's collusion with the church and with them the chance of becoming the next city Lord."
Friya was about to ask why Lith suspected her men too when she realized she already knew the answer all too well. Money. The idea of having a traitor in her guild made her furious, even more so since it wasn't the first time.
"Calm down, Friya. I'm just looking at all the possible angles. My main suspect is someone else." He said as she bit her lower lip out of frustration.
"The Count? After all, he turned off his communication amulet after requesting your assistance. That way, he forced you to come even if he wanted to cancel the mission and had all the time to call for an assassin." She said.
"My thoughts exactly. The only loophole in this reasoning is that he had no way to know the snowstorm would stop me from leaving. Anyway, what do you need my help with?"
"Duluth, the Viscount youngest son, has the Griever again. It makes no sense since we kept him home all the time and checked the preparation of his meals. I said the others it's just the flu to buy some time. I need a second opinion." She said.
"Fine. If you screwed up, you owe me dinner." After eating the jerky, Lith had realized how hungry he was. Between the adrenaline rush and his paranoia, he had forgotten that Invigoration was helpless to replenish the nutrients lost after healing.
"And if I didn't?"
"You owe me dinner anyway. You can't put a price on your pride as a Healer, can you? That would make you stoop to my level." Lith's reply made her laugh, yet she didn't yield.
"No way. With an assassin around, you need my help, so this makes us even at best."
She Warped them outside Duluth's door, making the two guards she had left outside point their weapons at their throats out of surprise. Lith caught both short swords between his fingers, locking them into place like they were just pesky flies.
"At ease, guys. No need to make a scene every time." Friya sighed as she took a mental note to kick them out of her guild. Them being on alert was a good sign, the rage in their eyes instead of relief once they recognized her, not so much.
'Having failed to learn dimensional magic even though they attended one of the six great academies seems to bother them to no end. If they get any sourer than this, I'm sure "accidents" will happen.' She thought.
"Sorry, boss." Said a blonde mage with a snarl. She could barely stand Friya casually flaunting her dimensional magic instead of walking as any normal person would. Lith blocking her swing with just three fingers added insult to the injury.
Yet Friya didn't Warp just for showing off. The Viscount's Mansion had many floors and extended for hundreds of meters. With an ill patient waiting for her, she had no time to waste coddling her subordinates' feelings.
When they walked through the door, Lith whistled in appreciation. Doluth's room was actually an apartment bigger than his own house. Every piece of furniture was made from the finest materials and had the Krame family crest engraved on it.
'I can clearly see the hand of a true artisan at work and the ego of a true self-centered asshole messing with him. He's so stingy that he preferred masterpieces to look tacky rather than risking them being stolen.' Lith thought.
'Oh yeah? What's the difference between the two of you?' Solus giggled at Lith criticizing someone for being stingy and paranoid.
'I don't wear glasses.' His reply made her laugh harder.
The hallway also served as a living room, with several padded sofas arranged around a square table with a cigar box and a tray full of flower petals on it. The wood of the sofa was painted gold, while the silk covering them was deep green, to match the pattern of the precious carpet covering most of the floor.
The walls were pristine white, emphasizing the gold of which were made or coated all the ornaments in the room, even the frames of the paintings decorating the place.
After entering inside a bedroom similarly decorated and with more gold than a jewelry store, Lith expected the king sized bed to host a profligate teen. Yet Doluth was barely ten years old, with black hair like his father and covered in sweat.
Lith chanted some gibberish and activated Invigoration, performing a full body scan of the child.
"Are you sure this is the Griever? It takes a tier one spell to cure it." Lith said,
"Yeah. It's the fourth time in less than two weeks, so I'm pretty sure. Fever, bloodshot eyes, weakness, and black spots on his chest." Friya lifted the bedsheets and the youth's nightgown revealing what looked like oversized blackheads.
"I have good news and I have bad news. Which do you want to hear first?" He asked after creating a Hush zone around the two of them.
Chapter 568 Round Two Part 1
"The bad news." Friya said almost holding her breath.
"This is most likely to be an inside job." Noticing her shock, Lith beckoned to her.
"Use your diagnostic spell and follow my instructions. Can you see the greyed out zones near the blackheads and what's-his-name's organs?" He said as soon as Friya did as instructed.
'Why not use a random name like Zolgrish would? His name is Doluth!' Solus rebuked him.
"Of course, I can. Why?" Her answer surprised him quite a bit.
"Are you telling me you noticed them but you don't know what they are?"
"Yes, is it a common illness?" She felt greatly embarrassed, by the knowledge gap between them.
"No! It's what remains after someone gets tortured with magic and only partially healed. Didn't Jirni teach you anything?" Lith asked.
"Mom is no healer, how does she fit in?"
"Since when did it stop her from being good at her job? Your father provided her with plenty of tools to make up for her lack of magic. We exchanged a lot of pointers while we were in Othre. Bottom line, a wizard did it." Lith pointed at Doluth.
"That's the bad news. The good news is that you were right. There is no Griever no poison going around. Someone is harming people with darkness magic just to heal them immediately after.
"That's why the symptoms vary from person to person. It depends on both the mage's skill and how the victim's body responds." A simple wave of Lith's hand restored the youth's health.
"When you said inside job did you mean my men or the house staff?" Friya asked.
"Both. The culprit only needs to have access to Delicious here and some sedative to not wake him up during the process."
"It would explain why it's not contagious and how it can return so fast." Friya pondered.
"The culprit only has to repeat the process as soon as the Healer leaves the house to make them appear like a quack. To what end, though?"
"This is what I need your help for. I need a list of all the victims of the Griever and all the information you can get about the Church of the Six. After all, the main reason why religions don't take root is because of Healers being good at their job."
"I'll ask Wyra to learn everything she can about the church and the Viscount for the list. If he refuses to help, we'll be on our own, though."
"We? You're an adventurer. As far as I know, you can't serve two masters at once."
"Neither of you is my master." Friya gracefully showed him Orion's masterpiece she wore on her middle finger while making a fist.
"You are my friend whereas Krame is a pompous idiot. It's not difficult for me to pick a side, even though I doubt we'll come to that."
She took out her communication amulet and gave instruction to the core members of the Crystal Shield guild to investigate discretely about the church.
"I'm no expert, but while we wait, I can give you an abridged version of their teachings. I listened to their ramblings so many times that I got the gist of it."
Lith nodded at her to continue.
"The Church of the Six preaches that in the beginning there were six gods. Each one of them controlled a different element and together they created all of Mogar's lifeforms. According to the church, the world energy also comes from the six Elemental Sovereigns.
"They also say that long ago the world was at peace because the Sovereigns distributed their gifts equally with every living being. Then, some nondescript evildoers plotted to overthrow them and steal their powers.
"They succeeded yet failed at the same time. The weakened Sovereigns fell into a deep slumber instead of dying and magic as we know it was born. According to this cult, mages are the descendants of those who stole the gods' powers."
"This is ridiculous!" Lith blurted out.
"How could normal humans and beasts take down gods? Also, how do they explain the fact that mages can be born from non mages? What good can relinquishing magic do?"
"Beats me." Friya shrugged.
"Do you have any idea who is the guy with seven eyes on their poster?"
"The supreme deity, the All-Father. Each one of his eyes became one Sovereign while the seventh became Mogar, bestowing mana upon all of his children's creations." Friya said.
"The All-Father, eh?" A cruel grin appeared on Lith's face as a plan to use the church's teaching against itself formed into his mind.
"Are you sure you're not adopted?" Friya interrupted his musing.
"What? Why do you say that?"
"It's no wonder Phloria likes you so much. You're getting as tall as Dad and your expression right now is identical to Mom's when she's hunting her prey. What's our plan?"
"First things first. Dinner." Lith replied and his gurgling stomach agreed.
"Are you free tonight?"
"I wish. Now that I have an idea of what the Griever is, I'll take credit for it with the Viscount and after that, I'll need to change the detail's schedule. I'm sure he'll try to switch the blame on my men and the worst thing is that I have my doubts too. Why?"
"I'm planning to return the ambush. If I catch the guy, I can get new intel. Otherwise, I'll take out one enemy. It's a win-win."
"That's the dumbest thing you've ever said! If they are looking for you, they might even know you're here. Two against one is too much for anyone. You need my help." Friya said.
"I'll need you for the second act, that's for sure. First, I need to probe their strength and wits. Don't worry about me. I'm not the 'master of space', but I can still Blink to safety if necessary."
"Gods, don't use my title from the academy! I can't believe I used to find it flattering, it's embarrassing at best."
'Seriously, what are you thinking?' Solus asked.
'I doubt someone as skilled as the one who made the dagger didn't insert a tracking spell. Mostly because its cloaking effect makes it impossible to distinguish it amid normal weapons.' Lith thought.
'So what? Life Vision is no mana sense, but they can still recognize your energy signature. If they see you near the dagger, they will either stay away or attack together.'
'First, it's two against two. They have no idea of your existence and if we prepare the field, speed and coordination can make the difference in mana core level irrelevant. Second, they will never see me coming.
'As you said, they can recognize my energy signature, but I have more than one, right?' Lith inwardly grinned.
Viscount Krame was stingy, but it turned out that his avarice only spread those outside of his house. Both the kitchen staff and the ingredients at their disposal were top class, allowing Lith and Friya to enjoy their meal while reminiscing the old days.
It was part of Friya's plan to weed out the most likely members of the Crystal Shield that would betray the guild at the first opportunity they got.
It wasn't hard to spot them since they almost popped more than one vein whenever they talked about their specializations, their dreams for the future, or even talking about the Ernas couple.
After dinner, Lith returned to his room and checked with all of his magical senses that no one was spying on him. Then, he stored away the Skinwalker Armor and assumed his hybrid form before Warping away.
Chapter 569 Round Two Part 2
Back when Lith had just acquired his second life force, he had joked about slaughtering people and pin the blame on a black scaled monster. He would have never expected that the day would come that he would turn the joke into reality.
Lith flew towards the commercial district. He needed an isolated zone for his ambush, to have as few witnesses as possible. He couldn't afford to raise rumors about a demonic being appearing in the same city he was.
His nature as a hybrid was a double edged sword. It gave him an advantage against most human enemies, but it had to remain secret at all costs. It was necessary not only for it to keep being an effective weapon, but also as a matter of survival.
Lith doubted that liches like Inxialot or even the human Council of the Awakened would leave him alone if they knew about the existence of a new power. He was certain of it because it was what he would have done.
He picked the warehouse district for his plan. That late at night, with the snowstorm still ongoing, there was no one around aside the men of the night watch. Lith took the enchanted dagger out of his pocket dimension, collected all the venom still coating it, and then he hid as far as he could before dropping it in an open space between buildings.
'I hate fair fights.' Lith thought.
'Against any other enemy, I would leave Solus to stand guard on the dagger and ambush them. Too bad I only have one cloaking ring. If I keep it, then those two would discover her existence, while if I give it to her, my blue core would be like a goddamn sun to their Life Vision.
'If I'm right about the tracking spell, the only thing I can do is to remain close enough to the blade to spot the assassin, but far enough from it to be mistaken for a guard. As long as I wear Orion's ring, I look like an inconspicuous yellow cored individual.'
'What about me? I can't take my gauntlet form. It would give your identity away and defy the purpose of this charade.' Solus asked when she noticed that Lith was casting only a few spells.
There was a limit to the number of spells one could keep at the ready. Each one of them would exert mental pressure on the mage, wearing down their focus and willpower. They had no idea how long they would have to wait.
Mindlessly going all out meant getting tired even before conjuring their first attack.
'Save your strength and cast spells only when we have a grasp on the situation. Try not to draw attention to yourself.' Lith replied. The wait turned out to be so long that Lith had to dispel even the few spells he had prepared.
He kept moving around the warehouses, following the pattern of the guards for more than an hour before something happened.
'A red core is flying fast toward the dagger.' Solus warned him.
'He didn't rush in, but bid his time and watched from afar instead.' Lith thought.
'Clearly he has been trained well, but flying while wearing a cloaking spell is a blunder. There's no way a red core could fly. Either he got impatient or training aside he is a moron.'
'Or maybe it's a trap to lure you in the open.' Solus pointed out.
'If you're right, it's naïve and poorly executed. If he walked, I could have mistaken him for a guard until it was too late, whereas by flying he made an easy target of himself.'
'Unless he is the bait and his companion is the hunter.' Solus couldn't believe the levels of paranoia she had reached. It seemed that bad habits did indeed rub off.
Like Lith had predicted, the enchanted dagger had a tracking device. It alerted Kieran the moment it left the pocket dimension. The assassin had reached the warehouse district as fast as he could, smelling the trap from miles away.
His problem was that even though he knew there was a trap, he couldn't find it. There wasn't anything magical near his dagger, no array surrounding the area, and only weak ass cored humans patrolled the area.
Whenever he spotted a yellow cored human, Kieran checked his energy signature to be sure it wasn't the Ranger, but even after more than an hour, the area was still quiet.
'Damn! He can't have dropped my blade here without a reason. I waited for so long that now I have no time left. If I don't imprint the Reaver every two hours or store it in a dimensional item it explodes!
'That stupid master of mine is so afraid of others stealing her secrets that her safety measures border insanity.' He thought.
To make matters worse, only Deraniel had accompanied him to retrieve the lost dagger. The other members of the group blamed him for his solo stunt and aside from laughing at his expenses, they did nothing to help.
Even Deraniel would have given him the finger rather than a hand if not for their masters being good friends. He was following Kieran from a distance thanks to his surveillance mirror, ready to Warp to his side if necessity arose.
It was an enchanted item that allowed him to see everything in the vicinity of its transmitter, a small pin that Kieran wore under his cloaking garb. As the assassin was about to reach his blade, the Reaver, Lith took out a wand from his pocket dimension.
Then, he broke it in half before tossing it inside a Warp Steps leading directly beside the enchanted weapon together with a Hush spell. Although it produced no sound, the following explosion sent the Reaver flying against his owner.
The sudden flash blinded both Deraniel and Keiran, so neither of them could see a second Warp Steps opening above the assassin's head, nor Lith emerging from it. The rapier in his hand lunged at Kieran's right arm, yet he reacted by infusing himself with air magic and managed to avoid the strike despite being blind.
The black scales covering Lith's mouth opened as he breathed a stream of Origin Flames against the enemy. The blue fire ate at the black garb, revealing several overlapping auras.
The cloaking aura was the first to fall, allowing Solus to distinguish its pseudo core.
'Okay. This guy has a bright cyan core, a physical prowess slightly inferior to yours, and the dagger stuck in his chest.' She inwardly smirked, glad to have left enough venom on the Reaver in case something like that happened.
'His armor has a defensive barrier, a clocking aura, and something that reminds me of Full Guard. They were arranged so that the cloaking function covered them all.'
'Lucky bastard!' They thought in unison.
Full Guard was one of the most useful spells a Mage Knight had. It created a spherical blue aura with a radius of 1.65 meters (5.41 feet) around the caster.
Thanks to Full Guard, a Mage Knight had no blind spots. Whatever entered the sphere would be detected, allowing them to counter attack and dodge with surgical precision without even looking.
'That's how he reacted so promptly to my Blink, earlier. Full Guard's biggest downside is that it turns you into a neon sign, but the cloaking aura solved the issue. I need to get my hands on that thing!'
Chapter 570 Round Two Part 3
Even though their thirst for knowledge burned bright, Lith and Solus knew better than meaninglessly rush forward. Lith expanded the silence zone to not be interrupted by the city guards and unleashed a volley of lightning bolts.
Even Full Guard was useless if its user wasn't fast enough to react to the information it provided. Kieran cursed as his body went into a seizure. The blade stuck in his body was a perfect conductor, allowing the lighting to bypass the armor's defensive barrier.
Darkness fusion prevented him from feeling pain, but the electrical current still triggered his active motor neurons. Having the opponent lost his mobility, Lith pushed the Reaver through Kieran's body until its hilt struck his chest.
With a pierced lung and the venom flooding the assassin's blood system, Lith was almost sure to have absolute control over his enemy.
'Too bad that almost is never enough.' He thought.
'At least now he can't use Invigoration. I could question him, but if the scimitar guy is around, he will have all the time he needs to cast his best spells, if not even an array. Time to find out if we are alone or not.'
"Time to die, human. You shouldn't have messed with my turf." Lith's voice in his hybrid form was a low grumble, as if the words were half spoken and half roared, making it unrecognizable.
The rapier went straight for Kieran's heart, forcing Deraniel's hand. The man from the Blood Desert had no choice but to open the Warp Steps he had at the ready while unsheathing his sword.
It cost him the array he had been preparing from the moment the ambush started.
Another of the strong points of the surveillance mirror was the possibility to project arrays from a greater distance than it was normally possible, making it a perfect tool for Awakened working as a team.
'That idiot! Not only did he get his ass handed to him before I could finish my spell, but he also managed to anger an Emperor Beast. Fucking animals, they are almost as annoying as Keiran.' Deraniel thought.
'Behind you!' Solus warned Lith as her mana sense detected the opening of the dimensional corridor. It was too far for Lith to stab the opponent before he could react, so Lith feigned ignorance until the last moment.
Only then did he dodge the attack by rolling to the side while using spirit magic to toss the helpless assassin against his companion.
"Fuck!" Deraniel said, unable to express how frustrated he was. He had only two choices: to Blink away and be at the enemy's mercy or kill Kieran with his own hands.
Dimensional magic was the only way he had to alter the path of his blade, but Lith took the choice out of his hands by hurling a stream of Origin Flames against the two Awakened who were about to collide.
Deraniel cursed again, Blinking both him and his companion in opposite directions. He didn't do it to protect Kieran, so much as to create two exit points at once. He gambled on his luck, hoping the Emperor Beast would follow the wrong Blink.
Lith activated the spirit magic variation he had learned while in Zolgrish's lab.
"Demons of Darkness!" He shouted despite being deeply ashamed of his current persona. Talking like an evil overlord made him cringe to the bone.
He injected his pure mana inside his shadow and then he expanded it like a black sun. Blink had an area of effect much smaller than spirit magic so both Awakened were still within his grasp.
Kieran was too busy spitting blood to not drown in his own fluids to notice his shadow coming to life, whereas Deraniel activated fusion magic as soon as he realized an invisible force was constricting his movements.
'What the?' Not only the grip he felt all over his body was getting stronger instead of fading, but his life force was being sucked as well. It took him just a moment to notice that his own shadow now had yellow eyes and was wrapped around his limbs.
He freed himself with a small flash of light that dispersed the darkness and then he Blinked away.
'Damn, the shadow version of spirit magic has a weak spot even easier to exploit than the regular one does. Ratpack didn't notice it because he's an idiot.' Lith thought.
Instead of wasting his time giving chase to Deraniel, Lith went after Kieran. Preventing one enemy from running away and the other one from healing himself was impossible, so he decided to cut his losses along with the assassin's head.
"We need help!" Deraniel yelled at his communicator amulet panicking.
"Two against one? How pathetic are you two?" Replied a feminine voice full of disdain.
"You can't kill me. I'm…" Kieran attempted to say, but Lith enchanted rapier fully infused with air, fire, and darkness magic made a short work of the black garb's barrier.
"Dead." Lith completed the phrase for him.
'Oh, shit! Forget about the loot, this thing is going to explode.' Solus said when she noticed that all of the pseudo cores of the assassin's equipment were becoming volatile.
'No need.' Lith chuckled as he Blinked both himself and the corpse at Deraniel's opposite sides.
Deraniel now had to takes his chances with two kinds of demise. Either he faced the explosion and took the demonic beast's sword in his back or he took the explosion in his back and got skewered from the front.
Panicking and using the communicator amulet didn't leave him enough focus to cast a Blink fast enough to save himself.
Luckily for him, the person on the other side of the call wasn't really refusing to help. She just needed enough time to lock into his coordinates. She appeared in the nick of time, using the multi layered barrier she had prepared to save Kieran to contain the explosion instead.
Her companion blocked the incoming rapier with a great sword that he was able to wield with only one hand. He was a handsome man who seemed to be in his early twenties. He was even taller than Lith in his hybrid form and had the build of a mountain.
He wore a set of light armor that covered his vitals and his joints with small metal plates over a set of high end hunter clothes. Lith recognized it as a style originating from the Gorgon Empire. The youth had blonde hair and sky blue eyes.
"To kill Kieran so fast you must be a worthy opponent." He said.
"Too bad you can't harm me with that needle…"
"Scram!" Lith roared while infusing himself with all the elements as the youth did the same.
'Deep blue mana core, strong as a bull, good equipment. Especially the sword' Solus said.
"What the…" Pelion couldn't believe his own eyes when the shorter and much slimmer creature pushed him aside. Lith's hybrid form had the same abilities as the human one.
Yet despite the difference in build, thanks to his constant training and body refining, his muscles were even more powerful than the giant's.
The moment Pelion tried to fight strength with strength Lith sidestepped, making the enemy be thrown off balance by his own charge.
The youth was an excellent swordsman, but the nimble rapier exploited his weakness and slithered like a snake through his guard, opening deep wounds on his four limbs and crippling his strength.
Chapter 571 Round Two Part 4
Pelion managed to block Lith's last lunge with the hook shaped hilt of his weapon, shattering the rapier with a quick flick of his wrist.
"I'd run if I were you." He said with a grin. The creature was now unarmed and Ailia was done with the explosion. Together, they were unbeatable.
"Because I've lost a toy?" The demonic beast sneered. The rapier was just one of Lith's failed prototypes in the attempt of replicating the Gatekeeper's properties.
Having sparred a lot with Phloria and Friya in the past, it was one of the weapons Lith knew best. Also, due to its light weight, it required a minimum amount of ingredients.
He would have preferred to avoid using the Gatekeeper while he was in his hybrid form. It was Lith Verhen's signature weapon, but he couldn't afford to hold back now that they were three against one. Besides, he had come prepared.
"Come forth, my soul. Feel my wrath!"
A set of giant membranous wings popped from his back as the space in front of his hand was torn apart by emerald flames. An eerie light painted the night green, sending shivers down the spine of both the men of the night watch and the Awakened ones.
A small sphere of stone emerged from the fissure and it grew into a huge black sword.
"I'm not going to fight a Wyrmling who possesses an omni pocket just to avenge an idiot like Kieran. I'm out of here." Ailia grabbed Pelion and Deraniel from the collar of their shirts and Warped away.
The several spells Lith had just conjured hit only air, so he dispelled them before the ruckus could draw too much attention. After checking with his mystical senses that he really was alone, he followed suit and opened a series of Warp Steps leading to random destinations before returning to his room in Krame's mansion.
Both Lith and Solus were racking their brains trying to decipher the Awakened woman's words.
'What's a Wyrmling? What's an omni pocket? And how did you do that thing with the emerald flames again?' Lith thought.
'Me? What about your wings? Since when can you do that?' Solus had no idea what he was talking about.
'I was just flexing my shoulders for the evil overlord pose while you coated the Gatekeeper to make it unrecognizable. Maybe my second life force is growing over time. Why every single time we go out for answers, we only get more questions?'
Lith had no way to know that the reason why Ailia had preferred retreating was their pocket dimension, which was referred to by other creatures as an omni pocket.
Unlike common dimensional items, once a mage had imprinted an omni pocket, they could access it without actually carrying it with them. It made them unpredictable and usually only ancient, powerful beings like Tezka had one.
Ailia had recognized it because, due to Orion's ring shielding Solus's existence, Lith was apparently carrying no magical items while in his hybrid form. She had no idea that Solus's long slumber had destroyed all the treasures it contained.
Ailia didn't felt like fighting an unknown enemy in possession of such a treasure while Deraniel was still shocked out of his mind.
Lith experimented a few times by taking several objects of different sizes out of his pocket dimension, yet nothing happened. Lith sighed as something pulled at his shoulder, almost making him stumble.
One of his wings had struck the wardrobe without him noticing. It took him several tries to fold them above his shoulders and even more to make them disappear inside his shoulder blades before going back to his human form.
'Damn. I'm sure I can take down a couple of Awakened of that level with Friya's help but three?' Lith set aside all the questions he had to ponder about his predicament.
'Three is another matter entirely. To make matters worse, there could be actually five of them.' Solus pointed out, making Lith groan.
'You're right. The fucking Church of the Six! Six entitled idiots playing god with humans.'
'More likely they are just helping behind the scene. Taking care of a religion requires time and effort, whereas Zantia's problems only started after the winter lockdown.'
'I think you may be right.' Lith thought.
'I still have no idea what their endgame is, but here is what I think it might be happening. For some reason, they have a beef with me. They know I'm a Ranger, so they use the church to call me here.
'Maybe the snowstorm is just a coincidence, or maybe they predicted its arrival before having me summoned here. With no Warp Gate, no one can help me. In theory, I'm on my own.
The silver lining is that if they took so many precautions, it means that they can't afford being detected. That's one toy I can mess with.'
Lith took his army amulet and called his handler, telling her all about the ambush and the two mysterious individuals who he reported as capable of using an odd kind of magic like Nalear the Kinslayer did.
When her army amulet had woken her up in the middle of the night, Kamila didn't care about how she was dressed. Lith's rune could only mean an emergency. She wrapped a bedsheet around her nightgown as fast as she could and answered the call.
"Gods! I've checked the weather mages forecast. The storm will last at least for a week. I'll make sure they send you a Spellbreaker as soon as possible. In the meantime-" Kamila clenched her teeth.
For the first time since she had joined the army, she hated her job for what she was forced to say.
"Continue the mission. The High Command agrees with us. Your duty is to uncover if there is any correlation between the Church and this fake illness. You are hereby authorized to act as the ruler of Zantia until the crisis is resolved.
"As for those assassins, can you provide me a description?"
"I can do much better." Lith had to repress both a sneer and a snort while he projected the holograms of the two Awakened.
The assassin was dead, but the man from the Blood Desert was about to enter a world of trouble. Hence the sneer.
The snort was due to his inability to show the holograms of the other two Awakened he had met earlier. They had faced a hybrid, not Ranger Verhen. By exposing them he would expose himself too.
This way, if the assassin had a vengeful master, they would have a hard time tracking the culprit.
"Excellent. I'm forwarding our conversation right now. Over and out."
She called him back on his civilian amulet, begging him to ignore the orders and stay safe. It took him a while to calm her down, yet after the call ended, Kamila didn't manage to fall asleep until dawn came.
***
In the following hours, Lith's report moved through the official and unofficial chain of command. There was more than one middle ranked official handsomely paid to report keywords like "Nalear" and "incredible magic".
Once put together, it took barely an hour to reach all the right and wrong ears. The Royals didn't like having Awakened messing with their territory, and neither did Tyris.
Deraniel was an outsider, so he didn't fall under the free will umbrella she granted to the citizens of the Griffon Kingdom.
"Are you insane?" Deraniel's master, Tasaar Quinus, was mad with rage.
Chapter 572 Master and Apprentice Part 1
Tasaar Quinus was an Awakened almost 600 years old, yet he didn't appear to be one day past his fifties. He was 1.8 meters (5'11") tall, with deep bronze skin, greyed black hair, and a beard that emphasized his pearl white teeth.
He was considered one of the best Wardens and swordmasters of the blood desert.
He was still inwardly debating if being angry for his heir's defiance or for him having failed to kill a seemingly rogue Awakened. The purple aura exuding from his body made his white robe flap like he was amid a windstorm.
"Do you have any idea how long did it take me to obtain my territory? To have Overlord Salaark bestow upon me full authority over my tribe? Now I risk everything, and for what?"
The only reason why Tasaar wasn't already in Zantia to murder his successor with his own hands instead of talking to him with his communication amulet, was the distance between them.
"Have you forgotten what happened to Treius? Are you eager to join him in death? Well, I'm not! Come back here immediately."
"But, father, there is a storm outside…"
"Don't call me father! I've had dozens of children, but you are the only one who managed to go from most talented to most idiotic in less than a day. I prefer you dead in a snowstorm than alive doing more damage.
"Bring Kieran with you. I hope he has a good explanation. You know that I'm not serious when I say that I will kill the two of you, whereas Lesalia might not be so kind." Tasaar said.
"Master, I- I can't obey." Deraniel stuttered.
"Kid, if you make me come there, Lesalia will be the least of your problems." Tasaar's eyes flared with mana. He could understand his young and hot-headed successor making a blunder, but defying his orders was unacceptable.
"I mean I'll depart immediately, but Kieran is dead. I can't even bring his corpse back because it exploded." Deraniel went pale. His father was a meek man, but once angered he could upturn his entire domain to find a single missing coin.
"What? How?" Deraniel took his father's curiosity as the opportunity to get off the hook and told him all about the demonic beast they had faced.
"You moron! Are you telling me you asked the permission of neither the Awakened human nor the beast who rules over the Kellar region? I swear, if I have to offer them any compensation, it will come out of your pocket! Get home, now!"
Tesaar hung the call without waiting for a reply. He had a lot of calls to make. Tyris, Raagu of the human Council, the rulers of the Kellar region, but more importantly his life long friend.
Kieran was Lesalia's successor just like Deraniel was his own. They had hoped they would grow into good friends like their masters were, but life had decided otherwise.
'I don't want her to learn about her heir's death from a stranger. Kieran might have died an idiot, but she deserved better.' Tasaar sighed. He opened a Warp Gate leading directly inside her Forge.
Not only Lesalia was one of the best assassins in the Blood Desert, but she was also one of its best Forgemasters. She trusted no one, so all the equipment she used, no matter if clothes or caltrops, she made them herself.
"Dammit!" He heard her yell.
"I can't further purify adamant without Origin Flames and those damn beasts demand a lot of money for it. Do you have some left?" She asked.
"No. The only dragon I know asks so much for a single flask that it's more convenient to call him when necessary rather than stockpiling it. Look, we need to talk."
Lesalia took off the white mask covering her face revealing skin with the color and the wrinkles of hardened leather. Being almost 600 years old, she looked like a woman in her mid sixties, with several grey streaks amid her raven black hair.
She was wearing a scaly leather apron over a black tank top and leather work pants. Her gloves covered her arms up until her elbows and just like her apron, they were made from the golden skin of a Wyvern.
They protected her from the intense heat of the furnace which was strong enough to harm even an Awakened's enhanced body.
Her figure was slender, but she was strong enough to crush stone with her bare hands. Her average height and build allowed her to go unnoticed. She had sharp eyes and a long nose, giving her the look of a demanding artisan, but Tasaar knew better.
Her Forge resembled more a real blacksmith rather than a magical lab. Several furnaces and silvery tables occupied most of the stone cave she had built inside an active volcano, sometimes even using its heat for her most difficult pieces.
She was currently working at a forge fueled by a mix of lava and magic which made even her enchanted tools white hot. Yet the silvery liquid inside the obsidian mold refused to boil.
A snap of Lesalia's fingers made the purple flames and the small tornado empowering them disappear. The liquid turned solid in an instant as she cursed her bad luck.
"Is this about Kieran?" She asked making Tasaar choke on his condolences.
"You already know?"
"Of course, I do. I had a tracking device and a communication system embedded in his suit. I can show you how hard we failed teaching those youngsters."
Another snap of her fingers and the green crystal lighting the cave made the room go dark as its light focused on the nearest wall to project a hologram of both ambushes. The one the two Awakened had performed and the one they had suffered.
"See? In the alley, Kieran had all the advantages, yet he lost. He wasted time talking, he didn't capitalize on the venom, and stuck too close to the opponent." As one of the greatest assassins alive, every tiny mistake Kieran made was a capital sin to her.
Tasaar couldn't see anything wrong in the assassin's moves. If he had been in Lith's shoes, he would've survived only thanks to his artifacts
"This Lith is an interesting fellow. He turned the tables as soon as Kieran revealed to be an Awakened. His technique is a bit rough around the edges, but he adapts fast and there's no wasted movement. He clearly practiced a lot." She sighed.
"At the warehouse, it was an outright massacre. Once Kieran triggered the trap, his fate was sealed. That's what I tried teaching to all of my disciples, yet even the best of them was beaten by a mere Wyrmling at our own game."
"What are you going to do about it?" Tasaar asked.
"Nothing. Kieran failed twice, proving to be unworthy of inheriting my legacy. I told him many times that we are assassins, not warriors. Patience is of the utmost importance. Yet he mistook discipline for chains and my warnings for insults.
"I'm not going to cross two Countries and as many Guardians for a broken blade. Because that's what he was. I forged many before him, hoping they would receive my heritage. Some of them were too soft and were bent by my teachings. Others were too hard and couldn't endure them.
"When a smith fails, they don't blame the flames or the metal, they blame themselves. When a blade breaks, they don't collect its pieces, they learn from their mistakes and move to a new project."
Chapter 573 Master and Apprentice Part 2
City of Zantia, now.
"You heard my master. I can't stay here a second longer." Deraniel had packed everything so fast that when he was ready to depart, Pelion had yet to complete his Warping array.
With the strength of the four remaining Awakened, it was powerful enough to at least Warp him past the storm they had previously fueled and were now unable to control.
"I would leave in a hurry if I were you. If the Wyrmling contacts his master, both Pelion and Ailia are in danger. He has seen your faces. The Ranger must have powerful connections with magical beasts to summon the aide of the Lord of the region."
All of those present shuddered at the memory. If both master and disciple were capable of using Origin Flames, there was no telling what Forgemastering marvels they had access to.
"I don't care about the Church of Madmen, nor about Zantia. As long as we are alive, there's always next year." He walked through the Gate, leaving them to wonder if their plan of using the Ranger as their main ingredient had actually been a mistake.
***
A cave near the southern border of the Kellar region.
After receiving the apologies from the two Awakened humans of the Blood Desert, Xedros the Wyvern, the Emperor Beast ruling over the region immediately called his dear friend, Faluel the Hydra.
"I just heard the strangest thing. It seems a Wyrmling is protecting my territory, yet all of my children have long since left and it's been decades since I've mated with a human. Is him one of yours?" He asked.
She was the only other draconic Emperor Beast he knew in the Griffon Kingdom who could have spawned such a powerful creature.
A Wyrmling was the offspring of a dragon or a lesser dragon with a member of another race. A hybrid who was forced to choose the race he would belong to before reaching the twenty years of age.
One of the Hydra's seven scaly snake heads squinted her eyes, trying to remember when it was the last time she had copulated with a human while her other heads kept sleeping like logs.
Among the various species of Emperor Beasts, Hydras were considered part of the lesser dragons.
They had a stocky lower body with four short legs and a heavy tail. Both were necessary to balance their long, serpentine necks ending with a snake-like head the size of a muscle car.
Hydras' number of heads varied with their power and age. A newborn had two, whereas the most powerful of them could grow up to seven heads. Each head was capable of independent thought and casting its own spells.
Ancient Hydras were almost unbeatable thanks to the explosive attack strength they could achieve by alternating physical and magical attacks from seven different sources. Their weakness and strength overlapped, though.
Seven heads also meant seven times the energy consumption. No matter how many heads they had, they all belonged to a single Hydra, after all. If not careful, they would exhaust their mana and stamina in just a few seconds.
Unlike Wyverns, they weren't able to use Origin Flames nor to fly without a spell, so they were considered among the weakest of the lesser dragons.
Faluel was still half asleep, so it took her a while to understand what the Wyvern was saying. She hated cold in general and winter in particular. She lived in the Distar Marquisate, yet even its climate was too rigid for her tastes.
She liked to spend the cold season asleep unless it was strictly necessary otherwise.
Her nest was located under the Black Scar, one of the rare mountains in the south of the Griffon Kingdom which took its name from the obsidian rocks covering most of its surface.
Once it had been a volcano, whereas now the steaming hot springs heating Faluel's lair were the only legacy left of the mountain's fiery core. The rest of the underground cave was decorated with enough riches to put the Ernas Household to shame.
Piles of gold and precious gemstones were mixed with small mounds of magic crystals. The more precious a pile, the nearer to Faluel it was. All the artifacts she had collected and Forgemastered over the centuries were carefully stored inside a crystal case only she could open.
"One of mine? In the north?" She said.
"It's possible. Most of my hatchlings hate me because I haven't Awakened them. Can you describe him to me?"
Xedros, the first Wyvern, and father of the late Gadorf was a master of light magic, so instead of speaking, he showed her a hard light construct of the recording Lesalia had sent to him. His scoundrel son had inherited his talent, but none of his wisdom.
"By the Great Mother!" All the seven heads hissed in unison.
"I knew he was one of yours! Don't worry about him, I told them he's my apprentice. I don't give a shit about humans, but if they so much touch one of us, I'll Warp a whole mountain above their heads!" He roared.
"Well, thanks for your concern but actually no. He used Origin Flames and he has wings, so he's not a Hydra."
"What a shame. I was hoping you had found the right partner to further evolve your species. Why that reaction?" All Emperor Beasts strived to overcome the bounds separating them from the purest races, like Griffons and Phoenixes.
Unfortunately, none had ever succeeded.
'Because even though he is still in the embryo stage he already has seven eyes.' She thought. There was a reason if Hydras had seven heads and more than one for not sharing its secret.
"Because I know him." She actually said.
"He's a friend of my latest disciple and he asked me to watch out for him. I might need to send him over to you." Emperor Beasts had no Warp Gates, but by conjuring a Warp Array each, two of them could obtain the same effect.
Xedros nodded and ended the call. He spent several minutes watching the construct between his claws, trying to figure out what Faluel was hiding from him.
'If that old fox sends her disciple here, it might be a show worth watching.' He thought.
***
City of Zantia, the next morning.
Lith had spent the night sleeping to reset the effects of Invigoration. If he was right and there were still five Awakened on his tail, he couldn't afford to be the first one to run out of gas.
According to Solus, with her deep blue mana core, the woman was the magically strongest among those he had already met, while the two meters (6'7") guy was physically almost on par with him thanks to the gap in height and build.
'Unless they are geniuses on par with Manohar or much older than they look, I'm confident I can take them out one on one. With Friya or Solus I can take two of them out at once, but three or more would be potentially lethal.
'Not to mention that I should introduce Friya to Solus and things could get really awkward.' He thought.
'I don't get it. You have no qualms asking her to risk her life for you yet you are afraid of introducing me to a friend? It wouldn't be the first secret she keeps for you. I think Friya is a woman wise enough that she can accept my existence.' Solus said.
Chapter 574 Balance of Power Part 1
'No, she can't. With her trust issues, she would stop believing in me. Put yourself in her shoes. Friya wouldn't know with who she has really interacted so far and she would be afraid that you are somehow manipulating me. She too is paranoid. Telling her is a liability.' Lith said.
Solus sighed and said nothing more. Friya's level of craziness was dangerously similar to Lith's. She had chosen to establish a guild, yet she treated her companions as a means to an end and changed them more often than her socks.
Unless the opportunity presented itself, she would react badly to a revelation as big as Solus's existence was.
While waiting for Friya, Lith and Solus tried to sketch together all she could remember about the assassin's garb's pseudo core.
'Orion said that a gold alloy can't hold more than one incantation at a time, yet that garb had three of them. Maybe it used adamant instead of silver.' He thought.
'My thoughts exactly.' Solus forgot about her sense of isolation the moment they started to consider how to replicate the lost artifact. Ever since Ratpack's words had triggered her memory, her passion for magical research had become even stronger.
The more she learned, the more she could feel her lost memories scraping at a corner of her mind, like words she had never forgotten yet she was never able to express.
'A new armor would be the perfect recipient for all of our resources. Even if magically boosted, a cloth remains cloth. Adamant is one of Mogar's legendary metals. If we can combine the Skinwalker's properties with those of the garb, the durability lost due to mixing it with gold would be plenty balanced by its stealth properties.
'No one would recognize you as an Awakened anymore and by switching clothes at will you would always remain just a face in the crowd.'
'Agreed. The problem is that while I know the Skinwalker's pseudo core like the back of my hand, I've no idea how to infuse an object with Full Guard. I need to ask Orion if he's capable of doing it and if yes, I have to convince him to share the procedure with me.
'Something we can do as soon as the crisis is resolved, instead, is to take a second look at the fire I can produce while in my hybrid form. When it burned the layers of the assassin's garb, I realized that it can do much more than just destroy.' Lith thought.
'I am eager to see what happens to an enchanted item if the flames aren't put out. What if they can drain a pseudo core completely? They could open doors, disrupt arrays, maybe even delete the imprint left by the item's owner.' Lith thought.
'It's not so simple. I remember the Abomination who possessed the wargs calling them "Origin Flames". I don't remember what they are, but something tells me they are very important. We must find out their real nature.'
Solus couldn't put her finger on it, but she felt that they shared a connection with the title 'Ruler of the Flames' her master Menadion mentioned in her memories.
Lith and Solus spent the time before breakfast drawing and visualizing the assassin's garb's pseudo core. Solus hadn't seen it from many angles, and to make matters worse, the distance had made the mana pathways appear like a blur to her.
They only had one Forge of adamant, so their blueprint had to be perfect or everything would go to waste.
"Well, how did your hunt go?" Friya was happy seeing him in one piece, yet she knew it didn't mean much. Phloria wasn't the only one who back at the academy had noticed his ability to heal from deadly wounds like they were just scratches.
"One down, three more to go." Lith sighed while following her to the Dining Hall.
"Three? Oh, gods. We might need some of my men. Three versus two would already be bad against regular mages and it took four of you to take down Nalear. I don't like our odds."
"Don't worry. They are weaker than Nalear was and I'm much stronger compared to four years ago. Yet I agree with you, we need a contingency plan." Lith said.
They stopped talking the moment they saw a member of the house staff. Neither of them trusted their discretion, so they moved to a less sensitive topic.
"The Viscount was ecstatic of my discovery about the Griever." Friya said with a smug grin.
"He has doubled my guild's pay and fired half of his staff." Her smile disappeared thinking about all those poor people jobless in the dead of winter.
"Why did he do that?"
"Because he removed all those who had the magical talent to cause that kind of wounds and all those who have any affiliation with the church. Now my men have to sleep, eat, and drink with the members of Krame's family." Friya's explanation made sense.
'I have the authority of the King now. I could conscript the members of the Crystal Shield guild to compensate for the lack of manpower, but how much can I trust a mage who follows me only because he's forced to?
'At the same time, all of the city guards can't put a dent in an Awakened's body. Only a mage can defeat an Awakened mage.' Lith thought.
The dining room walls were painted of a pale blue and the floor was entirely covered by a single red and blue carpet with floral figures depicted on it. The chairs' lining had the same pattern as the carpet while the Viscount's coat of arms was engraved on their armrest.
The walls were decorated with several paintings depicting Krame's ancestors, and the room's furniture was adorned with blue porcelain vases.
The mercenaries sitting at the long rectangular table were all laughs and smiles due to the news of their pay being doubled, whereas the house staff was gloomy as if they were attending a funeral.
Not only their workload had just doubled, but they were also afraid to lose their job. The Viscount offered food and accommodation to them and their families. Getting fired meant becoming jobless and homeless in one fell swoop.
The members of the noble family weren't much happier having lost any shred of privacy. Yet they turned their frown upside down the moment they saw Lith.
They considered Friya the strongest noble in the city, but now that the existence of an enemy capable of violating the safety of their house had been uncovered, none of them was foolish enough to refuse the help of the most powerful being for miles.
Noble or not, Lith now appeared like a savior to their eyes, and they could only hope to not have compromised their relationship with the youngest Spellbreaker of their generation.
"I am very sorry for how I treated you yesterday, Regent Verhen." The Viscount said, making all those sitting around the table choke on their food. Krame rarely apologized even to the city Lord and even when he did it, his tone made it clear it was just a formality.
This time it sounded like he really meant it.
Chapter 575 Balance of Power Part 2
The Viscount despised commoners, but he was a man smart enough to know when to swallow his pride and play nice. Just a few hours ago, he was angry at Lady Ernas for bringing an unwanted guest inside his house.
Krame didn't complain to her about it only because he was hoping to establish ties with the Ernas Household. The sudden turn of events had made Friya a goddess of victory to his eyes.
Having the city Regent under his roof would ensure that all of his plans would come to fruition once the crisis was resolved. The Viscount was so angry at himself for his lack of foresight that if he could have traveled back in time, he would kick his own ass.
'Bad news travels fast.' Lith thought. The High Command had bestowed upon him full control over Zantia in the middle of the night, yet the Viscount already knew about the shift in the balance of power.
"Between that incompetent fool of Cestor, those lunatics hurting my business, and my family under siege, I must have lost my mind due to the stress. As a fellow noble and family man, I hope you can forgive my rudeness.
"If there's anything I can do to help, you just have to ask." Krame stood up, giving Lith a polite bow even though he was the Lord of the house. His hypocrisy made Lith want to puke, but he had more important matters to attend to.
"The past is in the past. I'm sure Mage Friya has mentioned to you our need for a piece of sensitive information." Lith said.
Before he could even finish the phrase, the Viscount took a folder out of his pocket dimension and handed it to Lith.
"I hope this is enough. I took care of procuring it through safe channels. The nature of your inquiry is known only to the three of us."
Lith quickly checked the folder's content. Not only there was a complete list of all the people affected by the Griever, but also another one containing all the names of the known members of the Church of the Six along with their addresses.
"It's perfect, Viscount. You can rest assured that the Crown will hear from me about your cooperation." Lith's words were actually far from being benign.
He meant that he would not forget to mention how the noble had put his own interest before Zantia's and how Krame had treated him when he believed to have the upper hand.
Yet his warm smile and calm tone fooled the Viscount, who could already picture himself obtaining the city Lord's seat thanks to Lith's recommendation.
After they finished eating, Lith and Friya went to her room to plan their next move. The Viscount had gracefully relieved her of all her duties and had assigned her as Lith's aide until the crisis was resolved.
"This suck! I didn't get to give you a single order that our positions are already reversed." Friya said while opening the door.
Her room was actually a small apartment. It had a living room, a bedroom, and its own bathroom. Each one of them was bigger than Lith's room and was equipped with all comforts.
"It seems that I got the room reserved for the unwanted guests." Lith sat at the high table in the living room and unfolded a big map of the city of Zantia from the folder the Viscount had given to him.
Then, he also took out the list of people affected by the Griever and marked their addresses with red dots. Friya helped him, cross-referencing their names with the known affiliates of the Church of the Six.
"This doesn't make much sense." She pointed out once they were done.
"The number of people suffering from the Griever are way less than I expected. There are barely more than 200 names on the list. Even a medium city like Zantia has thousands of citizens. Not even a hypochondriac would call something of this extent a plague."
"You are right. We are missing something." Lith said.
After witnessing the anguish of the city guards, the fear in the eyes of Count Cestor, and how the population of Zantia was split between believers and non-believers, he was expecting a much worse situation.
The dots on the map were just a mess and he didn't recognize most of the names. He called his handler and asked her help. Kamila was a data analyst, if there was a pattern, she should have been able to find it.
"Well, it's a very short list. It will just take a few minutes." She said after Lith had scanned for her all the information he had at his disposal. He could see her hands dancing on the holographic interface with the speed and the grace of a piano player.
"I can already tell you that the number of people on the list is oddly convenient. It's just a few units below the threshold that makes mandatory to alert the authorities."
Kamila's words made Lith realize another piece of the puzzle. Up to that moment, he had thought that the limited number of victims was due to the Awakened behind the church lacking the manpower for a bigger scheme.
Now, instead, he was sure it had been an intentional move to prevent outsiders from messing with their plan.
'Picking an isolated city in the middle of winter lockdown, the timing of my summon and of the snowstorm. This cannot be just a coincidence. Whatever they are doing, they must be hiding from the Council, not the army.
'Otherwise they wouldn't risk involving me.' Lith thought.
"I'm done." Kamila said as the list on Lith's hologram was now reduced to 84 names, each followed by their position in the city's administrative offices and their clearance levels.
"Aside from the obvious city Lord, these people are all bureaucrats and officials of medium importance. None of them holds a special relevance to the city, but if you put them all together, they give you access to all key points of Zantia.
"Among them there are the guards tasked to check the city entrances, clerks that can hasten or slow down any paperwork you might need, and even those in charge for the maintenance of the emergency arrays"
"With their combined help, a smart person would have full control over Zantia's available resources. They could smuggle or hide anything inside the city and even take some of the relics stored there for emergencies without anyone noticing."
"I doubt it's anything that big." Lith shook his head.
"How long ago was the Church of the Six founded?"
"Over nine months ago." Kamila replied.
"When did the Griever first appeared?"
"A month ago, right after the lockdown."
'I can't imagine six Awakened wasting a whole year in the middle of nowhere. According to Firgon, the Church was on the verge of collapsing before the Griever. They must be using the Church as a cover and as a scapegoat in case something goes wrong.' Lith thought.
"We need a second map. Maybe if we remove all the marks belonging to the officials, we can get a better picture of why they picked those people as victims." Friya said.
"It's a waste of time." Lith extended his arms and used light magic to create a holographic copy of the map right above the real one. Thanks to his training, he was now able to add a tinge of colors by using other elements, giving it a higher definition.
Chapter 576 Borrowed time
"Good gods!" Friya had seen Lith's creations during Jirni's birthday, but back then they were all based on a single element. Something that more or less, she too could do.
She waved her hand through the hologram, feeling its warmth and shattering it into stardust.
"Friya!" Lith said.
"I'm sorry, I was just too curious. It almost looked solid. Was it solid?" She didn't sound sorry at all. Her hazel eyes sparkled like during their academy days when she was about to learn one of the marvels magic was capable of.
"I wish! Do you have any idea how hard it is to create a map? There are hundreds of streets and buildings that I cannot possibly remember. I need to be able to look at the original to keep it stable. The moment your hand covered the map, I've lost both my focus and mana!" Lith snarled while creating a second one.
He was actually capable of creating a map from scratch, but only if the original was stored inside Soluspedia.
"Sorry, Lith." This time she was sincere. Friya felt stupid for both her action and her words, yet she didn't regret them. For the first time in years, she was having fun. Ever since the academy had ended, her life had been one of duty.
First, she had to take care of Quylla. Friya had helped her to retake her fifth year at the White Griffon and overcome the trauma Quylla had suffered after killing Yurial under the influence of Nalear's slave ring.
Then, her sisters had left Friya alone to search for their own path in life. After all that had happened to her during the Academy, Friya trusted no one and was unable to relax unless when in the safety of her own home.
The Crystal Shield guild was her creature and her cage at the same time. Leading arrogant and disgruntled mages was a full time job that left her no time for a personal life. Lith was a safe oasis for her.
Someone she could trust almost as much as Quylla, but who unlike her sister and guildmates didn't need her protection. Whenever they met, he always had something to teach her about magic, and that was the most precious gift anyone could give her.
"Don't worry. Lieutenant Yehval, please this time read me only the addresses of all those who have no role in the city's administration." Lith said while patting Friya's shoulder.
That small gesture made Kamila hate her job for the second time in as many days. Hundreds of kilometers and a snowstorm separated them, yet it was being called by her last name that exacerbated the distance between them.
For a moment, she envied Friya for her strength, her magic, and because Kamila imagined her free to do what she wanted rather than what she had to. Then, she started listing the addresses and a new pattern appeared on the map.
What appeared in front of their eyes was still a mess, but at least it didn't look like a Pollock anymore. They spent a few minutes trying to make sense of the image, but to no avail.
"If you tilt your head and remove these dots you can almost see a magic circle." Lith said while tapping on several locations on the map.
"Right idea but wrong dots. If we ignore the dots you proposed, you can see that some of the remaining ones form this array." Friya's slender finger traced a circle above the map.
"The problem is that you can't ignore any of those points. If all of the locations are magically marked the same way, then they would disrupt the formation. Even if you are right, two overlapping arrays would cancel each other without proper insulation."
Kamila's words left Friya flabbergasted.
"How come you are an array expert?" She asked.
"I'm not. I just repeated what Lith and Manohar yelled at each other back in Othre. They quarreled about runes and lines of power so much that I ended up learning a thing or two." Kamila chuckled.
'Wait a minute. I think you're both right. Check the list more carefully.' Solus thought.
"Sons of a bitch" Lith blurted out as he realized the meaning of her words.
"Kami- I mean, Lieutenant Yehval, please filter the names based on the floor they live on." Like most cities surrounded by walls, Zantia had no choice but to expand vertically rather than horizontally.
Most buildings were at least three-story high.
Instead of ignoring the dots, Lith split the map into three different layers, each one with its own set of tokens and marked with a different color. Even a layman like Kamila could easily recognize the magic circles formed by connecting the dots.
"Okay, this is not good." Lith said.
"I recognize the array on top and the one at the ground level, but I have no idea what the middle one is. The upper circle is a containment array, similar to those I use when I practice Forgemastering.
"Its purpose is to contain great masses of energy and prevent them from escaping. It maximizes the effects of a magical procedure. The bottom one is a grounding array, used to safely disperse mana in case a spell goes out of control."
"I've already taken a scan of the holographic map and of the three arrays." Kamila said.
"I'll contact immediately General Vorgh, the Master Warden, and call you back as soon as I have some answers. Over and out."
Lith pulled the curtain covering the window to check the weather. The wind carrying the snow was so strong that he wasn't able to see further than ten meters even with his enhanced senses.
'I have no idea where the Awakened could be and even if I did, I can't risk making a move before I understand what their endgame is. Going to the Church of the Six now would be pointless.
'The clerics are likely to be unwitting puppets in their hands, so interrogating them would be a waste of time. The ones performing "miracles" are the Awakened ones, but they will not show up without a crowd.
'Once the storm settles, I need to attend one of their ceremonies. If they made me come here, it means that they are almost done with their preparations.' He thought.
"A bronze coin for your thoughts." Friya said.
"We're on the clock. The arrays are completed and they felt so confident that one of them attacked me in the open. I don't like that they lured and trapped me here. If I don't get rid of them now, they could find me again.
"Also, I hate them for using arrays to perform their crap. Whenever I use an array, I can still hear Yurial whining about Wardens being useless." Lith replied. His voice went from calm to stone cold when he talked about his enemies and then it became sad while he remembered his lost friend.
"Me too. I miss him so much." Friya sighed.
"You know, right after Balkor's attack, when you and Phloria started to be all lovey-dovey, he asked me if I was interested in being his friend with benefits."
"Sounds like Yurial. What did you answer him?" Lith said with a light smile.
"I slapped him and said no, of course. I never regretted my choice, I'm only sad that he never got the opportunity to get the happiness he deserved."
Chapter 577 Borrowed Time Part 2
"Do you mind if I ask you a personal question?" Friya said while pouring them some hot tea.
"No, but I can't guarantee you that I'll answer."
"Don't worry, I'm not going to pry your wall of secrets." She chuckled.
"We all knew you had a crush on Nalear and a soft spot for Wanemyre. I was wondering why you never made a pass at me. Now that we are not young and stupid anymore, I'm not embarrassed to say that it hurt my pride for a bit."
"Well, it's simple. When we first met, you were just another pompous, stuck up noble. After the second exam, when we started to become friends, you had already become too similar to me." Lith said.
"You have always been the most beautiful girl in our class, but I have a thing for cute girls and you have never been cute. You went from obnoxious to dark and gloomy. You and I are like moons. We may shine, but our light is cold and distant.
"We need a sun, someone willing to walk that distance and accept us for who we are instead that for how we look like. That's why I ended up with Phloria first and with Kamila now."
Friya had to admit that even if they were good friends, her crazy matched Lith's crazy in all the wrong possible ways. Just the thought of being together with someone more paranoid, grumpy, and aggressive than she was, gave her the creeps.
"Are you still practicing the impossible arrays Yurial found for us?" Lith asked.
"Every single day. I'll always be grateful to you for teaching me the importance of first magic. There are so many things that I would have missed if I didn't follow your crazy training routine during the fifth year.
"I may not be able to create holograms yet, but I can assure you that once we find those rogue mages, they are in for more than one nasty surprise." She said with a ferocious grin.
Since the snowstorm continued unabated and Kamila had yet to call back, they started exchanging pointers about magic. Friya revealed to him that she had kept in touch with Professor Rudd, the dimensional magic expert of the White Griffon.
They were reminiscing together all the cruel words the man had said to his students in general and to them in particular when someone knocked on her door.
"I'm sorry to disturb you, Lady Ernas." A butler in a white and dark blue livery said her with a deep bow. He was a middle aged man with receding red hair and the face of someone who had just seen a ghost.
"There's a guest on the door who claims to be a friend of someone named Scourge. I tried to send him away, but he refused. Some of your men intervened, but I'm afraid they will only make things worse."
"Did he say his name?" Friya and Lith exchanged a quick glance hearing the name magical beasts had bestowed upon him.
"No, I didn't even ask him about it because he has clearly got the wrong address…"
Friya didn't let him finish the phrase and opened a Warp Steps leading to the mansion's hallway. The front door was wide open, letting the freezing wind in as snow started to pile up on the magnificent blue and gold carpet covering the floor.
Several members of the Crystal Shield guild lay on the ground unconscious. Only a few of them had managed to even draw their weapons, but none of them had the time to use them. Not a single drop of blood had been spilled.
The man in front of them was a barbarian, at least 2.1 meters (7') tall. He wore a hunter set of heavy clothes made of warm animal fur and boots bigger than a bucket. His face was rough and savage, with a square jaw and a cleft chin.
The hunter's long hair and his well trimmed beard were flaming red, with not a single snowflake on them. Even though he was lifting one of Friya's men from the neck with a single hand, waiting for him to pass out, his emerald eyes were calm and wise.
There was no way Lith wouldn't recognize him, even after all those years.
"Put Kallum down!" Friya said while unsheathing her sword.
"It's good to see you again, Friya." He said with a warm smile as he let the man's feet touch the ground again, allowing him to breathe.
"You may know me, but I don't know you. What do you want from Lith?" She said while never lowering her weapon.
A sudden gust of wind swept her hair as a blurry figure moved past Friya and struck the hunter on the side of his jaw with pinpoint accuracy, sending him tumbling outside.
"You bastard! How dare you to show your face like that?" Lith's anger was so great that, without Solus's help, his blue aura would have already filled the manor's hallway.
She would have liked to say something, but even though she was already restraining his mana flow, both the lights and the shadows were seconds away from coming to life. Solus couldn't afford to lose her focus.
Blood trickled from the hunter's mouth as he stood up.
"You've gotten stronger, Scourge. I hoped you would rather focus on becoming a better person. Power isn't everything." The man said as if Lith had offered him his hand instead of sending him flying with a punch.
"Five years! Five fucking years without a single word from you." Wind and snow slapped Lith's face. He ignored the former, whereas the heat emanating from his skin was so strong that the latter evaporated on contact.
"I almost died for you and what did I get in return? You deceived me! You turned the only friend I had ever had against me! You abandoned me! You took away Selia from me! Tell me why I shouldn't kill you on the spot." Lith said.
The snow melted and boiled under his feet as the whole street was plunged into darkness, as if the sun had been blotted out of the sky. The hunter stood tall, uncaring of the ongoing unnatural phenomenons and Lith's accusations.
"You didn't do it for me, but for yourself. What I did, instead, I did it for you. To stop your madness. It was the only way I had to give you a better future and judging from what I've heard, I'd say I succeeded.
"I never abandoned you. I simply couldn't afford to return and waste our sacrifice. As for Selia, she was never yours to begin with. She followed me of her own will. You are only right about one thing. I owe you.
"Without your reckless, selfish act I would be dead. I live on borrowed time, your time. My life is yours to take if that's what you truly want." Protector opened his arms in a defenseless position, exposing both his neck and heart.
Lith extended his clawed hands toward Protector's chest and hugged him as strong as he could.
'Solus, analysis.' He thought.
'Protector is barely halfway blue and his physical strength hasn't improved much.' She replied as Lith's fury faded.
"How can you be so weak after all this time?" Lith said.
Chapter 578 Catching up Part 1
"Raising two children while taking care of a pregnant wife doesn't leave much free time for training. Besides, it's not me being slow so much as you being relentless. Do you at least have a girlfriend?" Ryman said while returning the embrace.
Lith was happy to hear that his long since lost friends were all right and that Protector's manners had significantly improved. In the past, he would have opened the conversation by asking Lith about his mating habits.
"I do have one."
"Is she the one in the ring?"
"No."
"Is she the one waiting for you on the doorsteps?"
"It's a long story." Lith said.
"Come inside. I doubt you are here just to see me."
"I would never leave Selia and the children in the middle of winter for a social call. I'm here because you need my help, Scourge. Is this your new house?" Ryman said while pointing at the Viscount's manor.
"It is now. Remember to watch your mouth. I've yet to share any of my secrets with anyone."
At those words, Ryman lost his cool and stopped in his tracks.
"No one knows about Solus, the Awakening, your other form, or Carl?" He said with a whisper.
When Lith had given Protector part of his life force to repair his damaged mana core, the Emperor Beast had accessed to all of his memories, even those from his life on Earth.
"Tista knows about Solus and Awakening, Phloria knows about my other half, but that's it. Only you and Solus know everything about me." The tone Lith used made it clear he was still unwilling to open up.
"Who is this guy? How does he know my name?" Friya had put away her sword when she had seen the two men hugging, but her confusion still remains.
"He is…" Lith was searching for a plausible lie when Protector cut him short.
"We briefly met during Balkor's attack. You know me with the name of Protector, but I'd like you to call me Ryman Fastarrow. Selia says I should always introduce myself with a real name rather than just a title."
Friya racked her brain, trying to remember where she had heard that name before. Her mouth almost dropped onto the ground when she realized their guest's identity.
"No way! You are…" Lith snapped his fingers, Blinking all three of them back inside Friya's room before it was too late.
"…an Emperor Beast. How can you possess a human body?" A Hush spell prevented her voice from being heard.
"I didn't steal anyone's body." Ryman said with a tinge of annoyance in his voice.
"Once we reach this stage of evolution, we can shapeshift. It's not a big deal, a lot of creatures can do it." Lith didn't like how Protector looked at him while saying that.
"Yet it's a big secret among beasts, like the fact that they can talk." Lith chimed in.
"He is putting a lot of trust in you. Most humans would go crazy if they knew that beasts and plants can shapeshift. Do you remember Gadorf the Wyvern? He was able to do the same."
His words calmed her a bit, but not much. Suddenly she had no idea how to recognize who was human and who was just pretending to be one.
"I need to sit and something strong to drink." She shook her head, hoping the room would stop spinning soon.
"How is Selia doing?" Lith asked.
"I had to propose to her to make her move away from Lutia on such short notice." Ryman's words made Friya choke on her drink.
"Isn't Selia a woman? I mean a human? Are you two really married?" She blurted out.
Lith had to repress laughter. The same Protector who was always so patient and kind, the closest thing to a magical father figure Lith had, was now dilating his nostril in annoyance.
"Yes, yes, and yes. If you keep stating the obvious, I'll never get to the point, though."
Friya became beet red and hid her face behind her glass.
'I need something stronger.' She thought as she put the wine away and took a bottle of Griffon Fire out of her pocket dimension. A single malt whiskey with over 50% of alcohol content.
"Everything went fine until our first daughter was born. Thank the Great Mother, after almost getting killed I became proficient in healing magic, so Selia didn't need a midwife. It would have been a mess since Lilia had quite a fur."
Friya had one shot at the word "daughter" and another at "fur".
"Was she a hybrid?" Lith asked, giving Friya plenty of reasons for a third shot.
"Yes. Useless to say, Selia didn't take it well. She yelled at me for lying to her and kicked me out of our house. To be fair, I didn't lie. She never asked and I never thought of a reason for telling her about me being an Emperor Beast."
"How could you not tell her? That's a pretty big elephant, you know?" Friya said.
"I came out of the woods naked, I told her I knew her for a long time and I had uncanny magic powers. I thought it was pretty obvious."
"She must have thought you were a friendly but nutjob mage! What kind of logic is yours?" Another shot bit the dust.
"Is my life a drinking game or what? Gods, now I understand why you never speak about yourself with anyone. Silly me thinking you and Selia were just paranoid." Protector took the bottle away. She had already started slurring her words.
"Are you saying that Lith is an Emperor Beast too?" Friya was on the verge of a nervous breakdown.
"No, he's not. His body is on par with a veteran magical beast, but it's weak compared to an Emperor."
"Shut your damn mouth!" Lith couldn't believe how stupidly sincere Ryman was.
'He must have survived this far because Selia has him under her thumb.' He thought.
"I need more alcohol." Small sparks of light appeared around the bottle, making part of its content fill her glass again.
"Master of space, remember?" Friya was happy her ability with dimensional ability was able to shock the two monsters she was sharing the room with.
"After a few days, she calmed down and allowed me to return home. Selia was still pretty pissed off, but she had no idea how to raise a hybrid which made her desperate for help. She was afraid that if humans found out about Lilia, they would kill her.
"After I managed to make our daughter turn into her human form, things went smoothly and after a few months, she forgave me. Now everything is settled. We had a son, Leran and now Selia is carrying our third one.
"Selia picked all of their names in your honor. She says that without you, we would have never met and that without your sacrifice she would have been forced to raise our child alone. You are their godfather, so you should visit them sometimes."
On Mogar, it was custom to name a child with the same initial letter of the most esteemed member of the family as a good omen. Lith was moved by Selia's consideration towards him.
After Lith told him the part of his story Friya was allowed to know and they were caught up, Protector explained to them the reason for his coming.
Chapter 579 Catching Up Part 2
"After almost dying by the hands of Balkor's Valor, I understood I needed to study magic more seriously. Whenever I'm not providing for my family or raising my children, I study under a powerful Emperor Beast, Faluel the Hydra.
"I never forgot about my debt of gratitude towards you, so I asked Faluel to inform me if she ever heard something about you. That's how I learned about your predicament.
"Fighting three A- amazing mages alone it's difficult to even for someone as experienced as you are. I still regret not learning about Nalear until it was too late. I couldn't be there for you then, but I'm not leaving you alone this time." Protector said.
"You know a Hydra?" Friya had already reached the point where no amount of alcohol could calm her down anymore.
"Yes, she is my mentor. I'm sure she would gladly help you too, Lith. Except during winter. She hates the cold."
"Wait, how does she know about Zantia's situation?" Lith asked.
"The Lord of the Kellar region somehow spectated your fight. Emperor Beasts don't care about humans but look after their own. He knew I was looking out for you and he alerted Faluel. You know the rest."
"Gods, I can't believe it! Magical beasts sent reinforcements to help you whereas the army is still sitting on its thumbs." Friya had no idea that Lith had reported about the existence of only two Awakened ones to protect his cover.
"Magical beasts care only for themselves, whereas the army has to protect the entire country." Lith said while winking at Protector to make him shut up.
Lith told Protector everything he knew about the Church of the Six, the group of Awakened one he had fought, and showed him the arrays they had planted inside the city.
"Do you really know even about arrays?" Protector was flabbergasted.
"Does this Kamila really exist or is she made up? He can't possibly take care of her, his job, their cubs, and be so good at magic!"
"No cubs." Lith's voice was stone cold, while Friya giggled due to being tipsy and because of Lith's embarrassment.
"But you are together for…"
"No cubs and not planning on making them!" Lith's army amulet blinked signaling an incoming call and giving him an excuse to change the topic.
Contrary to his expectations, it wasn't Kamila's hologram which materialized in the middle of the room, but General Vorgh's.
He was a short old man, barely 1.5 meters (5') tall wearing the light blue uniform of the army. Judging by the several wrinkles on his face and the spots on his skin, he had to be at least seventy years old.
Yet his sky blue eyes had the wild vibe of a predator on the chase. His short white hair and finely trimmed beard shone like silver fur under the sun, reinforcing everyone's impression of being staring at a beast of the north.
The man's sleeves bore a silver star. It identified him with the rank of Brigadier General. His right hand was wilding a staff made of white oak with six violet magic crystals engraved on it in a straight line.
Six more floated above its top, forming a perfect circle that orbited around the staff and followed its every movement. Lith had already seen it in action. It allowed Vorgh to use impossible arrays as if he was an Awakened.
The six engraved magic crystals were likely to be its power source, whereas the floating ones were responsible for creating the true arrays and harmonizing the world energy with Vorgh's mana.
"Spellbreaker Verhen, I'm afraid you are facing madmen." The title Vorgh addressed Lith with made those present aware of the gravity of the situation.
"Before we speak, you should send away these people. Civilians can't be involved in a military operation." He said while pointing at Friya and Ryman.
"General Vorgh, allow me to introduce you Lady Friya Ernas and Ryman Fastarrow. I conscripted them to help me. They have all the right to know since they are putting their lives on the line along with mine." Lith said.
"So be it. I agree with your assessment of the two arrays you identified, but you have failed to grasp how they interact with the third one. To be honest, I'm not sure either. Mine are just speculations, but it's all I have to offer you for now."
Lith nodded Vorgh to continue as Solus griped due to mana sense not working on holograms. She would have really liked to take a closer look at the staff's pseudo core.
"The array between the grounding and the containment ones was called Third Eye by its creator and Fool's Gold by everyone else. It channels the world energy inside a mage's body, making it possible for them to awaken their hidden talents.
"No one uses it, though, because not only are its effects just temporary, but also using it greatly shortens its user's lifespan. Horan Palanor became one of Mogar's most powerful mages for almost two days before dying for its side effects.
"No one uses Fool's Gold because it doesn't really give you any power, it simply condenses your life force, so you can achieve for a few months the power you would get in two years of practice by losing ten years in the process."
The news stunned both Lith and Protector. Even Awakened ones had to take care of their life force because it couldn't be replenished. Accumulation and Invigoration slowed down its consumption, but they didn't affect the amount of life force one was born with.
Lith's Death Vision was a consequence of his attempt to saving Protector's life at the expense of his own.
"The worst thing is that whoever modified Palanor's array turned it into forbidden magic." Vorgh said making Lith even more confused.
"If a mage can get more power by simply sacrificing lives, I would expect it to be one of the most popular crimes. Why have I never heard of it before?" He asked.
"Because it doesn't work that way. Your talent requires your life force, your memory, your experiences." Vorgh explained.
"The upper containment array is used to store and amplify the world energy, Fool's Gold will temporarily enhance the talent of its user, and the grounding array will discharge the excess energy using the people affected by the Griever as a medium.
"It's not an illness. Those two mages injected their own mana inside others to both form the arrays and use them as catalysts. That way, the whole city will take part in the process and all its inhabitants will lose a decade or two of life!"
"What could they possibly gain from that?" Lith asked.
"My hypothesis is that they plan to lessen Fool's Gold's side effects by using the least necessary amount of world energy and discharging the rest on the population. This way, instead of losing twenty years they could reduce it to eighteen." Vorgh replied.
"It's a negligible amount, that's why I say they are madmen. The use of forbidden magic is a game changer. We are sending you Spellbreakers as soon as possible. Normally it would take them a couple of hours to get there between preparations and traveling, but the snowstorm will slow things down.
"The only other piece of good news I can give you is where you can find those responsible. To benefit from Fool's Gold's effects, the mage must be exactly in the middle of it. When they activate the array, it will become visible. Good luck, Spellbreaker Verhen." Vorgh ended the call.
Chapter 580 Desperate Moves Part1
"What's our next move?" Friya asked. "Even though we now know their endgame, we can't just sit idly. Once the array is activated, there's no telling how long the process will take. I don't want to lose years of life!"
"I agree. We must make our move before they get the upper hand." Ryman said.
"We must lure them out in the open and to do it, we need to break their toy. Without the people affected by the Griever, their array will break. The only reason why they do not get themselves healed is that they have fallen for the Church's deception."
"We need to get rid of the Church and heal those morons." Lith said.
After learning about the presence of more than two Awakened inside Zantia, Lith had been forced to give up on his original plan of storming the Church in his hybrid form. It was something he had to do on his own since it would have been hard to explain to Friya about his shapeshifting abilities.
Protector's arrival was truly a blessing. He was both an excellent fighter and a perfect cover for what was going to happen. Friya already knew about Lith's abnormal body, Death Vision, and about him sharing his life force with Ryman.
Now all Lith needed was a better understanding of the Church of the Six's teachings before giving those Awakened a taste of their own medicine.
***
Just a few kilometers away from Viscount Krame's mansion, the four remaining Awakened were arguing about their plan and cursing Kieran's name. If not for his childish pride of being the next heir of the Blood Desert's best assassin, everything would still be on the right track.
"We have no choice. We must continue even without Deraniel." Ailia said. Like Pelion, she was native of the Gorgon Empire. Her blue mana core was as strong as Lith's, whereas her body was weaker than his.
Her master had Awakened her when she already had a green mana core. Her body needed a lot of time to adapt, and she still needed help to survive whenever it was the moment to expel the impurities for a breakthrough.
She was 1.75 meters (5'9") tall with light blonde hair and green eyes. Thanks to being an Awakened, her figure would make most men break their necks while turning their heads at her passing. Yet among the Awakened ones, she was just one of many.
"Agreed. Not all of us have an Awakened daddy like Deraniel. 'There's always next year' my ass!" Pelion said while imitating Deraniel's accent and spitting on the fireplace, turning it into a pillar of fire with a spark of mana.
"I'm not saying to give up on the plan. I need Third Eye as much as you do. I'm just saying that maybe we should delay it. If we leave Zantia now, the Council will never find us." Benyo nervously bit her nails.
She was 1.77 meters (5'10) with flaming red hair and hazel eyes. She possessed a bright cyan mana core, but thanks to her master Awakening her when she was very young, her body refinement had been easy, at least compared to her companions.
Thanks to that, her body was stronger than Ailia, and her figure was even better.
"Delay it? We'll never get another opportunity like this. The city is isolated and the arrays are set in place. If you are so afraid, then I say that we start the ritual now and then we run away as fast as we can.
"During spring and summer, it would be impossible to keep so many people locked inside their homes, not to mention we will probably be already dead!" Jaren said.
He was 1.8 (5'11") meters tall, with brown hair and eyes. He wasn't as tall nor bulky as Pelion was, but he had the build of a professional fighter. He had a bright cyan mana core and his body was on par with Benyo, allowing him to go hand to hand with magical beasts.
He and Benyo were native of the Griffon Kingdom, but it didn't make them any less scared. The use of forbidden magic was a crime even in the Awakened community, in case the Council discovered their extracurricular activities, they were as good as dead.
Yet they weren't afraid of the Council so much as of their own masters. An Awakened mage was considered responsible for all of their disciples, so they would never bestow their gifts upon someone for nothing.
Awakening was a rare phenomenon, and not all of those who managed to do it on their own would live long enough to become hard to kill. There were those who died of starvation, in battle, or simply due to their own stupidity.
So, when an Awakened mage needed an heir, they would pick up one or more talented youths as their apprentices. The one who succeeded would inherit their legacy, while the others had to find a new master or die.
Deraniel was an exception since his master was also his own father. Even if he failed, Tasaar would not kill him. Kieran was another exception. Lesalia only picked one apprentice at the time and disposed of them as soon as she found them wanting.
Ever since Lith had destroyed the Black Star, Lesalia had used him as a benchmark to push her disciple to and beyond his limits. With his life on the line, Kieran had soon started to hate Lith's guts, fearing that the rogue Awakened's feats would be the death of him.
The remaining members of the group were the cream of the crop in their own territory, but only thanks to Third Eye. They were all brilliant, but not geniuses. With their talent alone they could see the top of the mountain, but never reach it.
That was the reason why they had resorted to using such an elaborate scheme. They had met each other during Council meetings, bonding thanks to their mutual age and problems.
Together, they had managed to alter Third Eye with forbidden magic, so that they would split his effects, both good and bad, equally between the six of them. They would still lose a consistent amount of their life force, but the ritual had brought them to the top.
They had calculated that to beat their competition they would lose a total of two hundred years of life each. It was a small price to pay to inherit their masters' legacy and territory.
Especially if the alternative was dying young after having spent their whole lives slaving away. Just like Vorgh had said, the forbidden magic allowed them to slightly mitigate the cost of the ritual each time they performed it.
Yet even one year of life force mattered, since thanks to Accumulation, it would last ten if not twenty times as much. The humans they harmed didn't matter. They would lose their own life force and die decades later, making their deaths seemingly unrelated.
The six Awakened had lured Lith for two reasons. The first was to use him as the seventh member and further reduce the strain on their life force. The second was because Kieran wanted to get rid of him and prove to be the best fighter in the three Great Countries.
Yet the plan was to make them fight after the ritual, not before. They needed both of them alive, especially since as a rogue Lith had no connection with the Council, so he couldn't report them even if he managed to escape.
The Wyrmling arrival, though, had proven them to be dead wrong.
Chapter 581 Desperate Moves Part 2
"We haven't gotten this far just to quit with our tail between our legs." Ailia said.
"I need to continue being my master's favorite student at all costs. She has already killed all those who didn't pass her exams. There's so few of us left that she is bound to pick her heir soon, and it's going to be me."
She exchanged a meaningful look with her companions, they were all in the same boat.
"If we take Verhen alive, the damage will be split among five instead of seven, but a shorter life is better than no life at all. If the Wyrmling exposed us, our masters would have already called me and Pelion back. Luckily, beasts do not care for humans.
"Kieran must have angered it and Deraniel got caught in the crossfire because they were always together. I agree with Jaren, we must wrap this up quickly and get out of here before something else happens."
Since the other three agreed, Benyo could only follow. The group decided to complete the ritual as soon as the snowstorm peaked again, forcing the human foci of the spell to remain in their place.
***
Lith spent the rest of the morning shouting orders and making preparations. He conscripted all of Zantia's mages for his plan. Most of them were unwilling to serve under a new master, especially one who didn't explain to them what they were about to do.
They were either city healers or noble heirs.
"I may have not studied at one of the six great academies, but I took an oath as a healer and my family has loyally served the Kingdom for generations." The most annoying of them was Baroness Ternas, a minor healer.
"First you had the guards kidnap us from our homes and now you want to order us around as if we are slaves? There's a reason I didn't join the army. I demand to know why we are trapped inside the city hall and what purpose this assembly has."
There were too many whispers and nodding of approval to dismiss her request.
"Those are all excellent questions. Allow me to answer." Lith's eyes became two blue torches fueled by his mana as he unleashed his killing intent against the over one hundred mages in front of him.
The weakest among them almost fainted. They fell onto the ground, gasping for air. The terror invading their bodies had almost made them forget how to breathe. The others were covered in cold sweat, unable to take their eyes off Lith, like deer in front of oncoming headlights.
He grabbed Baroness Ternas by the neck, lifting her like she was just a rag doll.
"There is a crisis at hand and I need healers." He explained with a calm voice while a stream of lightning coursed through her body sending her in a seizure.
"You are here because quantity has a quality all its own." Lith healed her as the smell of ozone and burned flesh spread throughout the room.
"I didn't call you here for a debate. Opinions are like assholes, everyone got one. You are trapped here because you are untrustworthy." Another lightning, another seizure. Lith was careful not letting her faint nor tightening her throat so much that she couldn't scream.
"This assembly has a purpose you'll be made aware of when the time comes and not a second sooner. I need your obedience, not your trust." Lith healed her again, releasing a bit more of killing intent and making everyone fell to their knees, incapable even of looking him in the eyes.
"You are either part of the solution or part of the problem. Those of you who agree to help me will be compensated for their service. As for the others…" More lightning bolts and screams completed the sentence for him.
"Any more questions?"
Some of them were crying, others had wet themselves due to the mental pressure Lith's mana and hostility exuded. All of them fell in line and nodded like parrots even after Lith had left the room.
He couldn't afford to reveal any detail of his plan without it leaking.
There was no telling who was affiliated with the church among his recruits' families, friends, or neighbors. Friya helped Wyra, one of the few members of her guilds who she actually trusted, with her investigation about the church.
They promised the former staff of house Krame that they would be reinstated if they provided useful information.
Protector couldn't help either Lith nor Friya, so he flew among the clouds and did all he could to mitigate the storm. He couldn't stop such a force of nature, but he could at least delay it to buy the others the time they needed.
Thanks to Protector's efforts, the snow had almost ceased to fall. The Church of the Six was full to the brim of loyal worshippers who were scared of the storm as much as they were of the sudden disappearance of the healers.
Lith had spread the rumor that the Griever had turned into a plague, forcing all the mages in the city to work together to contain the disease. He wanted them to be so scared that they would ignore the risk of a new snowstorm and assemble in the Church.
It was the only bait he had to lure the Awakened in the open.
"Dear brothers and sisters, I'm very happy to see so many of you despite the harsh trials this winter has put us all through." Said the high cleric of the Church of the Six.
He was an average man, 1.67 meters (5'6") tall with brown hair and eyes. His voice was deep and confident. With his stocky build and round nose, he wasn't a good looking man, but his manners were calm and amiable, making people inclined to listen to his words.
He was good at manipulating the crowd. First, he would make them feel close to each other by reminding them of all the common injustices they suffered from, and then he offered them a conveniently simple scapegoat to blame and an even simpler solution.
All they had to do was to follow his words.
"I know the Griever is getting worse, but rest assured. None of it is your fault. Thanks to your sacrifice, the six Sovereigns are slowly recuperating. Giving up on magic for your daily activities makes everything harder, but it's for the greater good.
"By not contaminating the world energy with your mana, you will allow the gods to soon return among us. I know that they are pleased with us because several of you have been finally relieved from your tribulation."
"Glory to the Sovereigns!" The relatives of the victims of the Griever who had recently been 'healed' praised the high cleric's words. They were simply people not meant to contribute at the array who had been harmed only to keep the others in line.
"It's only due to the blind selfishness of the mages that we have to work and suffer every day! They continue to profit from their ancestors' betrayal using powers that don't belong to them for their own good.
"Each time they use a spell, the world energy gets depleted and our Mogar gets closer to its end!" The high cleric said. According to the church's beliefs, there was only a finite amount of world energy.
With the Sovereigns gone, it couldn't replenish itself. It was all bogus since energy couldn't be created nor destroyed, it could only be transferred or changed from one form to another.
"The day of reckoning is upon them. Soon the gods will return and punish them for…"
A sphere of light the size of a chariot appeared above the main altar. Those present fell to their knees, praying with all their might, with the only exception of the clerics who stared in horror as space was torn apart by the monstrosity they believed to have summoned with their ramblings.
Chapter 582 All World's a Stage Part 1
The sphere of light turned into a gateway, which apparently led to another dimension full of stars and planets floating in the middle of space.
A monstrous creature emerged from the portal on top of a fiery beast, turning the joy of the worshippers into terror.
The rider stood slightly over two meters tall and was covered in thick curved black scales. Both his hands and feet ended in razor sharp claws enveloped in black flames. A set of upside down membranous wing came out of his back, producing with each of their flaps a gust of wind strong enough to rival with the outside storm.
His face was a black slate with no nose nor ears, but his seven eyes made everyone recognize him on the spot. Each one of the six eyes on his face burned with a different color of mana which emphasized his pitch black vertical pupils.
The seventh one on his forehead was deep blue and without a pupil.
"Isn't that the All-Father?" Everyone asked while staring in horror as the scales over his mouth opened, revealing a mouth full of fangs and blue fire. The killing intent the rider and hi mount emanated made them unable to move or even to aver their gaze.
Shivers went down their spines and the warm air inside the church became so cold that they could see their own breath steaming.
"Silence! You have relinquished your gifts, your free will, and your life. You have no right to say my name. Food doesn't get to talk, it only gets digested!" The portal behind the All-Father closed, and all the shadows in the room came to life, overwhelming their owners.
The worshippers were soon pinned to the ground by a distorted version of themselves. The dark forms had their faces twisted by an insatiable hunger, bright yellow eyes, and a white maw instead of a mouth.
"Fenrir, devour them!" He ordered to his steed, a huge beast resembling a divine wolf.
Its shoulder height reached two meters and a half (8'3"), making its rider's head almost touch the ceiling. Its whole body was covered by a flaming red fur and enveloped in a deep blue flame. It erupted with greater intensity from its neck, making it look like a mane.
The monster had two curved horns coming out of its forehead, right in front of its ears, eagle-like feathered wing coming out from its back, and its tail was made out of dancing blue flames.
Fenrir's howl made the ground quake and cracked the church's walls like they were just made of sand. All those trapped by their own shadows felt their strength being sapped as small spheres of light came out of their bodies and moved towards the All-Father.
Ailia and Pelion were watching at the show from a surveillance mirror. They recognized the spell as what Deraniel had called "Demons of Darkness". It was a variation of spirit magic they had never seen before.
They had yet to make a move because their minds were frozen in a stupor.
Everything had happened too fast and at the worst possible moment. They had no spell at the ready, and facing one on one an Emperor Beast wasn't a nice perspective. Yet they had no choice but to act.
If the Church of the Six collapsed, people would let themselves be healed, making it impossible for them to trigger the Third Eye array.
"He's not the All-Father, but just a pretender. We know it well because we are the Sovereigns!" Ailia and Pelion appeared from a Warp Steps. They unleashed a blinding light that dispersed the shadows and freed all of those present.
"Really? Wasn't that just a spell? Didn't you just come from a common room?" The All-Lith laughed unleashing a tier five spell while Protector did the same. The two Awakened had nothing to counter such a sudden and powerful move, so they Blinked to safety.
"Where the heck are you guys? We need help!" Ailia yelled at her communication amulet.
Everyone was now free to look around. Nothing in her demeanor or looks was very god-like. She sounded afraid and she was using a pricy yet common tool. Pelion quickly cast a tier three stream of lightning bolts while emitting a powerful blue aura.
"Air magic? This is insulting." Protector sighed. Even when he was still an evolved monster, air and fire were his natural elements. Manipulating them came as easy as breathing to him.
He had over thirty years of experience with it and five more since he had evolved into an Emperor Beast. By combining his will with Lith's, they didn't need to make a single move.
The closer the lightning bolts came to them, the smaller they got, until they disappeared in a puff of smoke.
"Nice trick! Do you work at birthday parties too? I'll show you what a real god can do! Fenrir, attack!" The All-Lith said making Protector snarl.
He hated corny speeches and even more getting hit in the reins by Lith's clawed feet like he really was a steed. Yet he didn't complain and directed his fury against the two Awakened by unleashing the tier four spell Flaming Tornado.
Using its light as a cover, Lith gave Protector the convened signal and breathed into it a burst of Origin Flames. Thanks to his elemental mastery, Protector made it so that the Origin Flames where stuck in the eye of his tornado without them damaging their surroundings.
The air element amplified the power of Lith's flames whereas the fire element of Flaming Tornado was sacrificed to prevent them from spreading outwards. The resulting effect was akin to a fire pillar produced by a Balor, but entirely made of Origin Flames.
The blue pillar destroyed everything on its path, making stone evaporate and turning wood into ashes. Ailia and Pelion used their defensive amulets, conjuring a barrier made of pure mana to shield themselves from the attack.
Yet no matter how much energy they poured into them, the boosted and focused Origin Flames were eating at it with a speed visible at the naked eye. The amulets became hot due to the stress their pseudo core was under.
Lith and Protector were doing their best to make it look easy, but neither breathing Origin Flames non stop nor keeping them under control was a simple feat.
"We need to get away!" Pelion yelled as the flames started to get past the barrier and ate at his enchanted clothes.
"How do you propose to do that? If we lose our focus, we are dead!" Ailia's prayers were answered by two Warp Steps opened by their companions, who pulled them back to the safety of their room.
"Damn!" Lith said. According to his plan, the other two Awakened were supposed to try and attack him from behind, where Friya was ready to ambush them. Unluckily, even the most perfect plan doesn't survive contact with the enemy.
"Cowards! Show yourself!" He said while both he and Protector used Invigoration to restore their strength.
'Plan B it is.' Friya Warped outside and then walked through the main door, enveloped in a golden light like a hero from the legends. With each of her strides, the shadows which had just started to come to life again screamed and died.
Chapter 583 All World's a Stage Part 2
"Begone monster! You don't belong in this world!" She said while pointing her rune covered rapier against the All-Lith. The golden light pushed the shadows back and made the killing intent which had oppressed the worshippers until that moment disappear.
"It is not by my will that I was summoned here. I only answered the call of humans who want to pay me tribute." The All-Lith replied.
"Tribute? You steal their freedom and treat them as nothing but food!" Friya couldn't believe that she was actually following Lith's script.
"Foolish girl! The same could be said of all religions." The All-Lith and his steed charged forward.
"Run away! I'll hold him as long as I can!" Friya flew forward, slashing against the rider. Her rapier produced a silvery sound as it clashed against the All-Lith's arm.
People stared in awe as the small figure managed to stop the two monsters alone. Many of them knew Friya and despised her for being Viscount Krame's henchman. Now their eyes were filled with tears of gratitude and their hearts with admiration.
"We should have never doubted our mages." Many said while helping those who were too weak to get up on their own due to the emotional rollercoaster they had experienced.
"Suckers." Lith said with a wide grin as Protector continued to step back, pretending that the fight was balanced.
"Is there something you can't do with those holograms?" Friya whispered while making sure that her back prevented the spectators from seeing Lith's human arm appearing where her blade made contact with it.
"I wish. I can't hold on for long." It was a lie. Only his eyes were covered by holograms, making them appear as if they were opened. Lith had simply reverted his arm to its human form upon contact.
They kept fighting spell against spell, claws against blade. Every of their move was dramatic and heroic, to the point it looked like an epic battle straight out of the legends.
It was all staged, of course. Their spells were flashy, made to appear powerful, but had no substance.
They were weaker than first magic, barely a light show. As soon as everyone got outside, the three mortal enemies stopped to plan their next move.
"I'd say that the Church of the Six is done." Friya said as both Lith and Protector reverted to their human form.
Ryman purposely produced a flash of light to blind her long enough for Lith to build and destroy a hologram that could cover his transformation.
"Indeed. I was expecting them to attack us during our little play, but they seem to be otherwise occupied." Ryman pondered while using air magic to reproduce the sounds of a heated battle and witty one-liners.
"At this point, they have no choice left but to activate the arrays now. Even if some of the spells' foci are out of place, they had enough to spare in case something happened." Lith used his army amulet to make sure that plan C was going smoothly.
A yelp and a "No!" accompanied an explosion big enough to make the whole building crumble. The alleged monsters had allegedly been defeated. The crowd still around the church exploded into cheers and applause as the three walked out of the debris.
The mercenary, the Ranger, and the hunter smiled at their audience. Lith even raised his hands while holding Ryman's and Friya's before giving those present a bow, just like they were actors.
The cheers and applauses intensified.
"Good gods! How did you become a man who can see a whole city almost ripped to shreds and joke like that?" Friya angrily whispered.
"For them, us saving their city might be the most important day of their life. But for me, it was just another day's work." Lith's reply earned him a nudge in his ribs from both of his partners.
"We have no time to waste! According to General Vorgh they must be at the center of the array. If even plan C goes awry, we're screwed." Friya chanted her spells with astounding speed, urging Lith to do the same.
This time, the Awakened would be prepared and have the home advantage. Lith chanted gibberish, giving Solus the task to provide for plan F while he took care of plan E.
He had to keep them both a secret, or the others would never let him hear the end of it.
'I'm completely against plan E and I wish you to reconsider.' Solus thought.
'This time it will be three against four. Four versus four at best, if we give away your existence. But what if they have prepared more arrays? I'm not going to risk the life of any of you. You mess with the Scourge, you get buried. Period.' Lith ended the argument before it even started.
Ryman opened a Warp Steps leading to their destination as soon as the chanting ended. Dimensional magic was mana expensive and Friya was the only one among them who wasn't an Awakened.
'She is the weak link. I have to make sure that nothing happens to her. Friya is a good person and I don't want to see Lith experience any more grief. The next time he snaps, it could be the last one.' Ryman thought.
The Warp Steps led them to a spot far enough from the array's epicenter to not make them visible with Life Vision, but close enough to check their surroundings for traps.
"All clear." Lith said after performing the array detecting spell and using both his own and Solus's mystical senses.
"Same. I can't sense any suspicious sound or smell." Ryman found the lack of enemy traps disturbing. He had checked for undead, explosives, and even hidden soldiers to no avail.
They flew toward the center of the array and soon they were able to see four figures high in the sky. The four Awakened moved rhythmically, using Invigoration to conjure more and more world energy.
It would ensure them the successful activation of Third Eye even if they lacked a few focal points. Due to the temporary relief from the storm, people might had left their homes. The four were arranged back to back in a circle, covering all the possible directions their opponents could come from without leaving a blind spot.
"They are here!" Benyo said. Things couldn't have gotten any worse. With only four of them, Third Eye would take a big chunk of her life force. To add insult to injury, the makeshift addition to the ritual would ensure its activation, but they were likely to lose the grounding array's effect and even more life force in the process.
'I hope there is a special place in the afterlife for idiots like you, Kieran.' She inwardly cursed.
"Let them come. Ready on my mark." Ailia said. Her face looked like it had been chiseled in stone. She had sacrificed too much to allow anyone to stop her. All of them knew the risks involved when they had accepted to become Awakened.
Back then, however, death seemed something distant, whereas now it was waiting for them around the corner.
"Now!" At her signal, a golden six pointed star appeared in the space between them. It soon grew enough to cover all the space around them for over 100 meters (328 feet). Silverwing's Hexagram was one of the most common training routines for Awakened ones.
Four of them could cast it quickly and suppress any enemy thanks to Invigoration providing them with endless mana. Lith's group suddenly lost their flight spell and gravity did the rest.
Chapter 584 Tactics and Strategy Part 1
"Nothing works!" Friya said. None of the items Orion had prepared for her could project its energy outwards. Under the seal of the Hexagram, only inner energies like fusion magic could be used.
She wasn't worried about dying. The enchanted armor she wore still worked and it would prevent the fall from being lethal. Yet without magic, they had no way to stop the four criminals.
"I know." Protector's voice was peaceful. He took a deep breath and the world stopped moving. He was the first one to disappear, quickly followed by his two companions.
"What the heck? They Blinked away!" Jaren couldn't believe his own eyes.
"Stop spouting bullshit! They are still inside the array. Had they attempted any spell, we would have felt it and countered it in a jiffy." Pelion could still sense Lith's group presence thanks to the enhanced mana perception the Hexagram provided to all four of them, yet he couldn't pinpoint them.
At least not until one of Protector's horns rammed at him with the force of a freight train. After almost being killed by a single move of the two Emperor Beasts, this time Pelion had come to the fight prepared.
The moment Benyo had spotted the incoming enemies, he had activated his armor's pseudo core to boost its defensive abilities at the expense of duration. The enchanted protection his master had Forgemastered for him was now five times stronger than usual.
Such a powerful effect came at a price, though. It would take less than two minutes for the pseudo core to exhaust its mana and when that happened, his armor would be no different from normal clothes for hours.
Fights were supposed to not last for long and Pelion would return home as soon as they were done with the Third Eye ritual. It was a perfect plan, at least on paper.
Despite the armor's boosted effect, despite earth fusion making Pelion's body as durable and heavy as stone, he was sent flying out of the formation. All of his precautions had prevented him from being skewered by the horn, but he still took a lot of damage.
His sternum cracked along with several ribs, making him spit a mouthful of blood as he fought to regain control over his own flight spell. Silverwing's Hexagram disappeared, making it possible for Lith's group to use magic again.
Lith and Friya jumped off Protector's back as he disappeared again.
"Where did he go?" Ailia didn't panic and kept her focus on her ritual. She could feel the energy accumulated in the air closing to its critical mass.
"He did another invisible Blink!" Jaren said while turning his head in every direction, hoping to spot the Emperor Beast's exit point.
"It's you who blinked, not me." Protector struck Jaren with one of his horns, sending the Awakened flying and following up with a tier four spell, Shadow Edge. A darkness infused air blade cut deeply into Jaren's defenses and sapped his strength.
"There's just the two of us left!" Benyo had several spells at the ready, but had no idea which one to use without exposing herself or her companions to the Emperor Beast's impossible attacks.
Lith darted toward her, well aware of her eyes blazing with mana.
'They are all using Life Vision. Dimensional magic is useless, I can only employ fusion magic to move faster.' He thought.
Friya stayed behind, casting one spell after the other. A Mage Knight's role was to support and protect their companions. She would join the fight the moment the others required her help, not a second sooner.
'How the heck can these guys use Silverwing's Hexagram? Even by combining their strength, it's supposed to be impossible. Speaking of impossible, how does Ryman Warp space without opening a dimensional door?' She wondered.
The answer was pretty simple: he wasn't Blinking, just flying with his wings.
Ryman was so fast that from such a close distance not even the Awakened's enhanced senses could follow his movements.
Now that he could use air magic again to support his wings, he had become even faster. In an aerial fight, anyone could fly, yet those born with wings had superior speed and maneuverability.
Seeing that Jaren and Pelion had yet to recover, Benyo clapped her hands and activated the tier four spell Chasing Lightning. Several golden magic circles appeared around her and from each circle erupted a bolt of lightning which resembled a snake in both motions and appearance.
The lightning bolts moved toward Lith in a zig zag pattern, slower than normal, but they were still very fast. Thanks to air fusion and his flight spell, Lith managed to dodge all of them, yet his efforts bought him less than a second of advantage.
Being true to their name, the thunderbolts turned around and chased after him. Yet even a split second was more than enough for Lith. He took the Gatekeeper out of his pocket dimension, infusing both himself and the sword with all elements.
Benyo could oldy unsheathe her own blade, an estoc, and use fusion magic too. None of the opposing teams could use tier five magic. The slightest mistake at handling spells with such a big area of effect would hurt their companions.
Benyo froze in place when she saw how fast Lith's blade moved.
'I can't dodge, I have to block it!' She lunged at the Gatekeeper's tip, to use it as a leverage point to deflect the much heavier blade with her own. Unfortunately, even though fusion magic boosted both of them, it made the gap in their physical abilities even wider.
To make matters worse, the Gatekeeper's ability to channel the elements made it faster, heavier, and sharper than most enchanted blades could be. When the two weapons clashed, Benyo almost lost the grip on her rapier and remained defenseless from her waist to her chin.
Lith's slash blasted away her guard and opened a diagonal cut from her left shoulder to her left hip. Chasing Lightning was almost upon him, he had no time to follow up with another attack.
"Thanks for falling into my trap, you moron!" Ailia and Benyo had a smug grin as the world energy that they had painstakingly accumulated up to that point was released. Ailia used Blink on her two missing teammates to bring them back at the epicenter of Third Eye.
The three arrays forming the magical formation became visible to the naked eye. The Awakened ones used their own mana to channel the gathered mass of world energy through the magical focus points scattered along Zantia.
The magic circles encompassed the entire city up to its tall walls, creating so much light that they would have been visible for kilometers if not for the ongoing storm.
'We managed to split the damage among five, yet it's just a partial victory. Activating the Third Eye during a moment of quiet means that there will be a lot of witnesses. Once we are done with those three, Zantia has to disappear.' Alia thought.
Wiping out a whole city was dangerous, but doing otherwise implied an even greater risk. Lady Tyris was bound to know about Kieran's trespassing in Zantia and if anyone recognized the use of forbidden magic, she would interrogate Deraniel.
At that point, their lives would end and all of their efforts be squandered. A snowstorm wiping out a city was uncommon but not unthinkable of in the north.
Chapter 585 Tactics and Strategy Part 2
The residual energy the Awakened ones had planted inside the victims of the Griever formed several dots in the sky that stabilized the arrays. Lith could feel his entire body going on fire as the cracks present on his life force were about to be burst open once again.
Yet the dots were too few to sustain any of the three arrays, which collapsed on themselves due to their inability to store so much world energy.
"That's actually my line." Lith unleashed the tier five spell Raging Sun he had kept at the ready for that precise moment.
A burst of violet flames engulfed the space around him with the strength and the heat of a volcanic eruption. Friya and Protector were safe from the spell, whereas all of Lith's enemies were close enough to be caught in its area of effect.
'I love it when a plan comes together.' Lith was smiling inside and outside.
Before going to the church, Lith had mobilized the city guards and the conscripted healers. Their role had been to forcefully heal the victims of the Griever, eliminating the focus points that the arrays required to function properly.
While he kept the Awakened ones occupied, the healers had dismantled Third Eye in his stead.
'Well, at least plan C succeeded. Maybe third time really is the charm.' Solus said. The enemies were still all alive, so she continued to focus in case the worst happened.
"Crazy bastard. He really pulled it off." Friya activated Full Guard and Dimensional Ruler. Her body was now surrounded by two auras, one blue and the other golden. She had already consumed a top tier potion, making herself immune to spirit magic.
The other two spells were meant to take away most of the advantages an Awakened had against a fake mage. Friya had heard many times from her parents about Nalear's abilities, so she knew what to expect.
Even with Raging Sun as the opening act, she didn't like their odds. They were still three against four, and no matter how fast he was, Protector couldn't deal with two enemies at a time. Yet she didn't hesitate and joined the fray the moment the purple flames dissipated.
***
Blood Desert. Panneia Tribe. Tasaar Quintus' home, now.
Tasaar was thinking about how to punish his foolish heir and what gift he could give Lady Tyris to apologize for Deraniel's trespassing inside her territories when the answer presented itself to him.
A delicate feminine figure walked out of a dimensional fissure right in front of him.
"Lady Tyris! To what do I owe this honor?" His voice sounded like someone had put his genitals in a vice. For a second, Tasaar's body couldn't decide whether to be aroused or terrified from the apparition.
Tyris's human appearance had a delicate oval face and perfect features. She was 1.76 meters (5'9") tall and wore the uniform of a Royal Constable that fit her like a glove, emphasizing her figure.
Her shining golden hair was braided into a waist long tress. There was no trace of her usual kindness within her silver eyes, so Tasaar's common sense made him settle for terror.
"Do you really think I'm that stupid?" Tyris voice was calm, yet the mana it carried made Tasaar fall to his knees and bleed from his eyes and ears.
"Your son and his friend trespass and a mysterious disease appears right in the city they were in. I could have overlooked their blatant violation of my laws if it was just a prank. Yet now it turns out that you sent him to practice forbidden magic on my turf."
A wave of her hand made all of the arrays protecting Tasaar's home collapse. The artifacts he wore turned into dust, even his prized Blood Scimitar.
"I swear I don't know what you are talking about!" He said as his bones started to break one after the other in a symphony of snaps and agony.
"You don't know? Then it's even worse. You are so stupid that you didn't even question Deraniel properly. Do you at least know what punishment awaits those who practice forbidden magic?" Her delicate hand lifted Tasaar by his head, threatening to squash it like grape.
"Death."
"Who is responsible for a disciple's faults?" Tyris's voice was unable to hide her anger anymore. Her question was accompanied by a roar of thunder.
"Their master. But Deraniel wasn't alone, Kieran…"
"I've already dealt with Lesalia. Unlike her, you were unaware of your disciple's plan, so I'll grant you a peaceful death." Her reply was the last nail in the coffin of Tasaar's hopes.
"At least spare my children." He wept.
"All but Deraniel." She nodded. "I'll leave them all of your riches and enough books to study magic, if that's what they want. Yet your legacy is mine!"
Tyris placed her hand above Tasaar's chest and stopped his heart. She waited for his mana core to disappear before moving on the second to last item on her to-do list. Deraniel wasn't going to be as lucky as his father.
Her only regret was to have wasted too much time with Lesalia. Thanks to the surveillance device she had enchanted Kieran's clothes with, the assassin knew all along what the six youngsters were doing, she simply didn't care.
To Lesalia, everything and everyone was just a means to an end. She never cared about the Council, nor the Guardians. Tyris had taken her time to show Lesalia how wrong she had been.
***
Zantia's sky, now.
The few seconds the forbidden formation lasted was enough for Xedros the Wyvern to recognize its nature.
"I knew it that following Faluel's disciple was a good move. With this recording, I can blackmail those pathetic humans and their masters to give me everything I want. It only takes a call to the Council to kill them if they refuse." A wide grin appeared on his scaly face.
"Where is that Wyrmling, though? How can a measly yellow cored human be so powerful? I smell human treachery here." Xedros wasn't aware of Orion's ring shielding both Lith and Solus, but he knew of the existence of such items.
The more the fight progressed, the more he was certain that Lith was using a cloaking device.
Meanwhile, several hundreds of meters below the Wyvern, the battle was still ongoing. To come out unscathed from Lith's Raging Sun, the four Awakened had to sacrifice something.
Pelion's armor was as good as dead and he had consumed all the barriers he had at the ready. Ailia had sacrificed most of her spells and mana to carve a path for herself out of that blazing inferno.
Jaren and Benyo had managed to Blink away in time, just to discover that Ryman was able to hit both of them almost at the same time.
'Curse their magical protections! With just my body I can't kill them with one hit. I need a weapon.' Protector thought. With tier five magic sealed by the proximity of his allies and dimensional magic sealed by Life Vision, Ryman's options were limited.
Keeping two Awakened busy by himself was the only way he had to give his companions the opportunity to take out their opponents. Otherwise, the enemy would exploit their superior numbers to buy themselves time and use Invigoration when necessary.
Chapter 586 Tactics and Strategy Part 3
Ryman assumed a hybrid form over two meters tall, which resembled a two legged humanoid wolf with feathered wings on his back. He was wearing Lith's prototype of Skinwalker armor and wielding an enchanted two handed mace.
It was another failed attempt at reproducing the Gatekeeper, but it had to do. Protector had never learned how to use weapons. He had dedicated all of his free time to magic.
Lith was eager to even the field. He charged at Ailia, who was currently the easiest target while unleashing a barrage of spells to prevent her from escaping.
Pelion had the same idea. He Blinked behind Friya, having care of remaining outside of Full Guard's area of effect. His hands were brimming with mana, ready to unleash a spell that she couldn't avoid from such close range.
Unfortunately for Pelion, he was well within Dimensional Ruler's area of effect. The golden sparkles of light which were filling the air distorted the space and made his dimensional door volatile.
Instead of closing, the exit point exploded. The resulting burst of flames burned Pelion's back and threw him off balance. Friya turned around, performing several lounges with her rapier aimed at his vitals.
Pelion took his greatsword out of his dimensional ring and a small explosion almost threw his weapon away. He managed to catch it by infusing himself with air fusion, but the desperate movement left him exposed.
The rapier hit him several times, draining Pelion's armor of its last bits of energy before piercing his shoulder. Pelion grunted, using darkness fusion to cut off his pain receptors. Between his burned hand and his wounded shoulder, he wouldn't be able to keep his focus otherwise.
"A greatsword? Are you overcompensating for something?" Friya said with a sneer.
Pelion was enraged at the idea of having been hurt by a fake mage twice, yet he managed to keep his cool and unleashed the tier four spell Wendigo's Wail. It was an unblockable attack that produced a cone of freezing air mixed with a shockwave.
The former would weaken and slow down the enemy, while the latter would stun them long enough for Pelion to deal her a finishing blow. The sparks of golden light coalesced in front of him, forming a Warp Steps which swallowed the spell and released it right behind Friya's back before dissipating.
It all happened so quickly that Pelion was still trying to understand how she could have deflected his spell when Friya resumed her attack. The potion she had taken made up for her lack of fusion magic while her swordsmanship outmatched the opponent's.
She never attempted to block the much bigger and clumsier great sword if not with her conjured tower shield. Her rapier danced like a snake against Pelion's guard and every one of her hits created a deep wound.
Pelion cursed his bad luck realizing that even when his attacks landed, they did little to no damage. Now that his armor's pseudo core had exhausted its energy, the difference in defensive abilities was overwhelming.
Light fusion alone wasn't enough to heal his wounds fast enough. Thanks to darkness fusion shutting down his pain receptors he didn't feel pain, but every new cut was making his stamina deplete faster.
He faked a lunge and the moment Friya retreated, Pelion flew back to buy enough time to use Invigoration. Friya lunged too, but despite the distance, she hit her target. The golden lights had coalesced again, forming a small Warp Steps right in front of Friya's weapon and another at Pelion's back.
She kept stabbing the air in front of her and her blade started to appear out of nowhere from impossible angles, forcing Pelion to use all of his focus just to remain alive.
"What kind of monster are you?" He said.
Friya didn't reply. She moved forward, making more and more golden lights surround her opponent.
Dimensional Ruler was a tier five dimensional magic spell which used Friya's great mana perception and her talent for space manipulation to open countless small Warp Steps all around her.
It allowed her to perceive anyone Warping near her and to make space instable at will. It was the reason every time Pelion employed a dimensional ability something had exploded in his face.
Friya could also use it as a means of attack or defense, but only within a short range. Like all dimensional spell, it was also very mana expensive, but she knew that time wasn't on their side.
They had to get the upper hand quickly, or they would be defeated.
Lith and Ailia were fighting in close quarters and things weren't going well for her. She had come to the fight prepared. Too bad that according to her predictions it was supposed to be a long-range battle where her group would outnumber and outgun their opponents.
After activating Third Eye, Ailia and her companions were supposed to become even stronger, whereas their enemies would be like fish in a barrel after suffering from a damage to their life force they weren't used to.
Even the worst case scenario she had prepared for didn't involve fighting one on one at close range. Lith was faster, stronger, and more devious than any opponent she had ever sparred with.
If she tried to buy some time to cast a spell, he would exploit her lack of focus to aim straight for her vitals, whereas whenever she focused solely on dodging his attacks, Lith would cast a spell toward her escape route and disrupt her rhythm.
'We've been fighting for just a few seconds and I'm already covered in wounds. Where the fuck are the others?' Ailia released all of the attack spells stored inside her rings.
The Gatekeeper was seconds away from chopping off her head and she knew it. The sudden barrage of spells forced Lith to step back and dodge, giving Ailia a full breath worth of energy from Invigoration.
Most of her wounds healed, yet the most important thing was that she had regained part of her stamina.
'Dammit! I was so close to finishing her off. The silver lining is that her rings should be out of energy now. I could use Origin Flames, but aside from giving away my identity, I would gain no advantage.
'Back at the church, her barrier withstood Protector's and mine combined attack. A simple blast of flames would just surprise her. She's physically weak, I need to exploit it!' Lith thought while he Blinked away.
The moment Ailia saw the dimensional door opening, she spun on herself like a top to find its exit point and counter attack, yet she found nothing. She then watched above and finally below, where Lith had just appeared at dozens of meters of distance.
'I expected him to stick at close range, but maybe he too is running out of strength.' Ailia was about to use Invigoration again, to not waste a single moment of that unexpected break, when Lith released the tier five spell, Stormnado.
The air around him became thick and heavy. Strong gales spread upwards the noxious fumes generated by his hands. Stormnado was a mix of air and darkness magic that conjured a thunderstorm of poisonous gas.
Lith had switched his position to make sure that even with its huge area of effect, only Ailia would get caught by the ascending toxic tornado he had unleashed.
Chapter 587 Tactics and Strategy Part 4
"Please, no." Ailia said even though she knew that the Ranger couldn't hear her.
She was a smart girl. Ailia could easily guess what was going to happen. The moment the spell hit her, Lith would be free to cut her down with his swords while she was too busy defending herself from the storm.
A mage couldn't be hurt by their own spell, so the Ranger could disregard Stormnado's effects and focus solely on attacking.
Jaren too understood that her friend had a few seconds left to live. He had no idea how a fake mage could hold her ground against Pelion, but he knew that the moment one of them fell, the rest would soon follow.
The Emperor Beast had no skill with his weapon, but each of his strikes had the weight of a mountain. The only time Jaren had blocked with his broadsword, not only did the blade almost break, but the impact also numbed his hands.
"Benyo, keep him busy! Ailia needs help." He yelled as he dived below to the rescue.
Benyo released a strong cyan aura and went all out. Up until that moment, Protector's strikes had been shallow because he had to shift his attention from one Awakened to the other, but now he could focus solely on her.
'There's a silver lining in being alone. Here goes nothing!' She unleashed a tier five spell, Shattering Star. The space around her was now filled by ice shards as big as a man, each one infused with several lightning bolts worth of electricity.
Protector dodged the magical hail like it was moving in slow motion, but then Benyo snapped her fingers and the ice constructs exploded into a heavy rain of smaller crystals.
The damage each one dealt was negligible, but they were almost impossible to dodge and sharp enough to cut through Protector's thick fur. They would also release a jolt of electricity so strong that they would cause a seizure even to someone using earth fusion.
Protector cursed his naivety and conjured a small tornado around himself to escape from the jaws of death. Shattering Star ended up inflicting him only scratch wounds, but it had never been meant to win the battle, only to stall for time.
Benyo smirked at her turtled up opponent and cast more spells while using Invigoration. She considered Emperor Beasts dangerous only because of their physical abilities. Due to their primitive brains, their magic lacked finesse.
Or so Benyo thought until she noticed that the tornado didn't deflect the ice crystals, so much as capturing them. She could feel the Emperor Beast's mana flooding her spell and make it his own.
The shards grew in size by the second and so did the electrical current they held. When Protector released half of them, they had become ice lances which moved as fast as bullets.
Benyo had no defense that could stop that kind of firepower and was forced to Blink away. The moment Protector spotted her exit point, he released the other half while he called the first volley back.
Benyo was ready to Blink again, but the ice lances hit her barriers like a truck, making her lose her focus. By the time the second volley arrived, all of her protections were exhausted.
The first spear pierced through her lung, the second through her stomach, and the third through her shoulder. Each one opened a gaping hole into her flesh, so big that Protector could see through them the events unfolding at Benyo's back.
The number of holes in her body increased until it was turned into a burst of blood, skin, and guts.
"I'm sorry, but you left me no choice." Protector said as Benyo's remains were scattered to the wind.
"I was willing to spare you if you surrendered, yet you kept fighting despite everything was lost. I can't afford mercy when you willingly threaten the members of my pack." Then, he had the wind blow under his wings and turned into a blur.
"Ailia, Blink behind me!" Jaren said the moment he was sure that the Emperor Beast wasn't following him.
Ailia did as instructed, but unfortunately, so did Lith. The two Warps opened almost at the same time, making it impossible for Jaren to distinguish friend from foe.
"Me and my big mouth!" Since he couldn't attack, Jaren weaved several barriers in front of himself, just to be safe.
Lith had run out of tier five spells, so he had to resort to the tier four spell Death Call. Four long arms made of shadow came out of his body, ignoring both of his enemy's defenses.
From such a close distance, neither of them could use magic without the risk of harming their partner rather than their enemy. To make matters worse, they soon discovered that, even two against one, they were physically no match for Lith.
Both the Ranger and his blade were infused with the power of the elements, doubling the effects of fusion magic. After exchanging a quick glance, Ailia and Jaren Blinked away at the same time, hoping that whoever Lith ended up chasing would buy the other enough time to turn the tables.
Pelion wasn't faring any better. Dozens of deep cuts covered his body and the blood loss was draining his stamina by the second. Dimensional Ruler prevented him from using dimensional magic to escape and all of his means of attack had been neutralized by Friya's combination of spells.
Full Guard allowed her to move her conjured tower shield wherever it was needed, and the golden light surrounding them made her rapier appear from his every side, as if he was surrounded by several opponents.
Trying to get at least a second of respite, he unleashed all of the spells he had at the ready and those stored inside of his magical rings. Friya did the same, but whereas she had several means to defend herself, Pelion only had earth fusion and his enhanced body.
He infused the amulet at his neck with what mana he had left, generating a barrier made of pure energy that saved his life. Friya used her tower shield to block as many attacks as she could before it crumbled, and then she Blinked behind her opponent while Pelion was blinded by the light generated by the spells exploding on his barrier.
Pelion wasn't naïve and was expecting something like that. His enhanced senses alerted him in time. He managed to turn around in the nick of time and block Friya's sword with the hook shaped hilt of his own.
He ripped it off from her hand and used his free arm to grab at her neck.
He was now out of mana, making it necessary for him to finish her quickly. Unfortunately, while he so skilfully overpowered her arms, her leg found her way to his gonads.
Friya kicked them hard and fast enough to send them keeping company to Pelion's tonsils. With his pain receptors functioning again, he doubled over in agony and Friya's knee welcomed his face as her elbows struck at the back of his head.
Meanwhile, in the sky above Zantia, Xedros was considering the idea of going down and save the three Awakened youths remaining.
'If those weaklings die, I will never learn their masters' identities. Dead men tell no tales and can't be blackmailed!' He thought.
Chapter 588 Punishment and Rewards Part 1
A small rift opened in the space near Xedros. It was so thin and delicate to be almost invisible.
"What are you doing here instead of stopping the ritual?" A feminine voice holding the fury of a storm asked.
"According to the rules of the Council, every Lord is responsible for protecting their territory from trespassers and from Awakened who employ forbidden magic. Yet you are here not doing anything. Any last words?"
"Lady Tyris, I…" Xedros attempted to say before her punch crushed every single bone in his body and sent him crashing against the nearest mountain, a couple of dozens of kilometers away.
'It seems I'm late. Yet the air is still pure. The forbidden ritual didn't succeed.' She thought while she descended to the ground.
Jaren had gotten the short end of the stick. He had just walked through his dimensional door when Lith's blade lunged at his neck. He managed to dodge it only to be caught by the four shadow arms conjured by Death Call.
The darkness magic flooded his body draining Jaren of his vitality. The combined action of the four limbs made him lose his focus along with all the spells he kept active or had at the ready.
With no more barriers protecting his enemy, Lith's blade had no problems to sever Jaren's head from his neck. Ailia was quickly recovering her strength while she cast her strongest tier five spell.
She was so focused on haste the completion of the spell, that she almost didn't notice Protector approaching to her position at breakneck speed. This time they were far enough to allow her enhanced senses to spot him thanks to air fusion and Life Vision.
Ailia was about to unleash her Collapsing Moon spell against the Emperor Beast when two golden rays of light descended from the sky, piercing Ailia's and Pelion's heart.
At the same time, Lith's group noticed to be inside an impossible array, which generated a spherical barrier around all of those present, corpses included.
'This is General Vorgh's energy signature, but I don't recognize the one behind the golden rays.' Lith thought.
'It seems the reinforcements have finally arrived, but I don't understand why they put us inside- Never mind.' Solus's thoughts didn't make any sense to Lith until a huge explosion destroyed the Awakened ones' corpses and cracked the barriers sealing them.
"You are lucky, son." General Vorgh said.
"A lot of mages don't want their treasures to be stolen. Sometimes a dead enemy is more dangerous than when they were alive."
Lith actually had no such problem. Solus would always warn him if a pseudo core was going awry, but he had no reason to tell that to Vorgh.
"Thanks for your help." He said while giving him a small bow. Solus preferred to keep her eyes on the magical staff Vorgh was wielding and try to understand its secrets.
"No, Ranger. Thank you. I'm sorry we arrived so late, but casting such a long range Warping array requires time and skill. I suppose you already know Spellbreaker Tyris Griffon."
Tyris waved her hand at Lith's group while she kept open the dimensional corridor from which Vorgh and other Spellbreakers were rushing out.
"Where are the rest of the enemies?" Vorgh asked.
"Dead or still inside their homes." Lith handed him the list containing the names of all the officials and nobles who were likely to have helped the Church of the Six to spread its influence.
"Well, cleaning up this kind of mess is way beyond your paygrade. We'll take it from here. There's anything else I need to know?"
"Yes. I stopped those rogue mages with the help of my friends and I'd like for them to be compensated. They are Friya Ernas and..." Lith turned around just in time to bit his own tongue.
"Don't worry. The Griffon Kingdom doesn't discriminate against his loyal citizens just because of their race. Both Lady Ernas and the Emperor Beast will be rewarded for their efforts." Tyris said.
Lith had almost noticed too late that Protector was still in his hybrid form.
'Fuck me sideways! Protector doesn't know them, nor must he like being caged like an animal. Lucky for us, the army seems to know about shapeshifting abilities. Otherwise things could have gotten awkward.' Lith thought.
Vorgh dispelled his array, making the barrier trapping Lith's group disappear.
"Who are these guys, Scourge? Friends or enemies?" His voice sounded like a snarl. Protector's lips were curled, revealing his snow white fangs and showing he was ready to resume fighting.
Protector was too young to know about the Council or the Guardians. Since Tyris wanted to appear as a cyan cored human, even his senses perceived her as such.
"Friends." Lith said stepping in front of him and shielding Ryman with his own body. Just to be safe.
Friya was still confused about the quick development of the events. At first, she had been annoyed by someone stealing her prey, but when Pelion's corpse had exploded, making even her bones tremble, her rage had been replaced by gratitude.
The emotional roller coaster resumed when she saw Tyris. She had no idea who that Constable was, but seeing another Tista was a big blow to her pride.
"Thank you very much, Lady Ernas. Your family truly is a pillar of the Kingdom." Tyris said while shaking her hand.
"Thank you for your kind words." Was all that Friya managed to think of that didn't sound like a pick up line.
"It's never easy to reward an Emperor Beast. Your needs are often very different from human's."
"I didn't come here for a reward. Just leave me alone and I'll consider us even." Protector said. There was something off in the woman in front of him, and he didn't like how the other Spellbreakers were looking at him.
He chose to remain in his hybrid form to not give away his human appearance.
"If that's your wish, I can promise you that no one will disturb you. I hope you will at least accept some gold as a token of my appreciation." Tyris handed him a bag containing a few hundred gold coins.
Protector was tempted to refuse it, but with another kid incoming that money would make a huge difference. He wouldn't need to work for a long time, allowing him to focus only on his family and magic.
Also, Selia could use a bigger home, and both of them some help with the kids. He nodded at Tyris and made the bag disappear inside his dimensional amulet after checking that none of the coins was enchanted.
"What can the Griffon Kingdom do for you, Ranger Verhen?" Tyris shook his hand too, coming a little too close for Lith's comfort. Her beauty was stunning, her hair smelled like spring had finally arrived, and her smile had melted countless frozen hearts in the past.
"I would like to apply for leave again. Two missions completed in as many days and an entire city saved from forbidden magic should grant me at least that much." He replied without hesitation.
Tyris's smile reminded him of Kamila, making him yearn for his girlfriend's company.
"That's a given." She chuckled. "You'll be awarded 10 days leave for your meritorious acts and another 10 days for being the top ranker in the Ranger corps. I was asking if there's something specific you might desire.
Chapter 589 Punishment and Rewards Part 2
"Please, refrain from asking more titles or annuities, because those who rise too fast draw on themselves the wrong kind of attention." Tyris said.
"Then I'd like to keep the Balor's body for myself. Also, I think I'll spend my leave practicing Forgemastering. Can you provide me with these metals?" Lith handed her a very short list, but each material was accompanied by a big number.
"I can assure you that all of your requests will be fulfilled, except for the adamant. It's too rare and precious to waste it for the experiments of a novice Foragemaster. No offense." She replied.
"None taken. What's the next best thing I could receive?"
"Money and Orichalcum. Gold is a mage's best friend. Whatever your project is, you'll need it. As for the Orichalcum, it's a natural alloy of silver containing traces of adamant. It's the perfect material for most artifacts and with the proper treatment, it can become harder than steel. Is it good enough for you?" Tyris asked.
"Yes, thank you very much. I would also like to learn the metalworking techniques you mentioned earlier."
'I can't depend on Zekell forever. Especially for the items I need to create with true Forgemastering.' Lith thought.
"Everything will be delivered to your door. But I have to order you to remain here until the situation settles." Tyris made him snap out of his reverie.
"Removing so many nobles at once will make the city chaotic. Once Count Cestor's treachery gets exposed, the citizens of Zantia will lose much of their trust in the nobles who have failed them and they will shift it on the heroes who saved them.
"Your presence will help to make the transition as quick and painless as possible."
Lith was happy at the idea of spending some more time with Friya. Leaving right after completing his mission would mean treating her as if she was just a means to an end, whereas she was his friend.
'I can't believe I'm thinking about this in a non sarcastic way.' Lith thought.
'One step at the time. Progress, not perfection.' Solus said. In her eyes, Lith had many important people in his life, yet he appreciated only a few of them.
Solus too was afraid of the possibility that he could die and reincarnate somewhere else. However, what really terrified her was the idea that to achieve his goal, Lith would lose everything and everyone else in the process, making it a hollow victory.
"I'll take my leave. Scourge, Ernas." Protector opened a Warp Steps and disappeared. The arrival of the army and all the magic employed during the battle had lured quite a crowd of onlookers.
Lith approved of Protector's choice. He had left before more humans could see him and had pretended to not know Friya.
'I guess that during the past five years he has learned some common sense.' Lith thought.
Friya and Lith had to provide a full report of all the events before returning to Viscount Krame's mansion. They were both starving and craving for some rest.
"Shouldn't you call Kamila? I bet she's jealous of you spending so much time alone with a gorgeous woman." Friya said during dinner while sweeping her hair behind her ear.
"Don't worry. Tyris and I are barely acquaintances. Also, I never remained alone with her, so my reputation is safe." He replied with a sneer.
"Son of a…" Friya didn't like her joke being turned against her and punched him on the shoulder. Pain radiated from her wrist the moment her fist struck him. She had hit softer brick walls.
"I noticed that you didn't bring any member of your guild with you at the Church of the Six. We could have used some help." Lith said.
"I know, that's why I had them waiting outside in case things got out of our hands. Yet I couldn't risk them meddling with your play. They would see Protector's beast form and your holograms.
"As much as it pains me to admit it, I don't trust them with my own secrets, let alone with yours or those of your friends." She sighed.
"They could have panicked or tried to blackmail the two of you. If there's something I learned during the last year, is that it's better to hire mages from minor academies rather than those from the great ones.
"The former never got the opportunity to learn a specialization, so they are full of hope and ambition. People like Wyra are loyal and grateful for the opportunity to gather merits.
"Once she gets enough, she can join the Mage Association and search for a teacher. The latter, instead, are bitter because of their failure at learning any specialization, dimensional magic, or even Crystalsmith.
"Very few of them have the confidence to study again on their own and their wounded pride prevents them from asking for help."
"By the way, what was that golden light you used? That guy was huge and used that strange magic, yet you handed his ass to him." Lith asked.
"How the heck did you have the time to pay attention to my fight? Do you have eyes even behind your head?"
"I was just looking out for you." Lith lied. Solus could see all around them and then share her memories once a crisis was resolved.
"That was one of the dimensional spells I created. Even during our time at the academy, I knew I could never be a Healer as good as you or Quylla, nor a Mage Knight as good as Phloria.
"I'm very good at my specializations, but I'm aware I'll always be the Vastor of our group. Instead of moping, I realized that I wasn't called 'Master of Space' for nothing. I had my own thing and did all I could to get good at it.
"Now I'm a full-fledged dimensional mage, like Professor Rudd." Friya was brimming with pride. To her, dimensional magic was just like her guild.
Friya was tired of being second in everything she did. She wanted to carve her own path thanks to her talents. Even though the jury was still out on the guild, Friya was certain that dimensional magic would become her true field of expertise.
She was explaining to him the effects of Dimensional Ruler, leaving Lith wondering if he would be able to handle such a spell, when the butler entered the dining room.
"Regent Verhen. Lady Ernas. Please forgive my intrusion. Your friend is back and he is asking for you." He said while giving them a deep bow.
Most of the house staff was so grateful to both of them for saving the city and their jobs that they treated them better than their own master.
"Let him in and bring another serving." Lith had yet to finish to speak that Ryman walked through the door with an embarrassed look on his face.
The butler did as instructed and left them alone.
"Did Selia kick you out again or did you just miss me too much?" Lith asked.
"Neither. I forgot to give you your enchanted items back." Ryman took out both the mace and the pseudo Skinwalker.
"You can keep them. You already have imprinted them, plus they are just failures." Lith dismissed the issue with a wave of his hand.
"Also, I need a favor."
Lith nodded for him to continue while Ryman sat at the table with them. Ryman looked at the great number of silverwares near his plate with wonder. He took a fork and a knife at random, making Friya giggle.
Chapter 590 Lost and Found Part 1
"I need a ride back home. Xedros, the Lord of the Kellar region, must have gone away for some important reason. He isn't home and he doesn't reply to his amulet. Can you help me, Scourge?" Ryman asked.
Xedros the Wyvern was actually laying on the side of a mountain with most of his bones broken. Tyris had decided to spare his life, but that didn't mean she was willing to let his act of defiance go unpunished.
Not only did her fist crush Xedros's body, but it also had tampered with his life force, making it impossible for him to heal with Invigoration. It would take him days to fix the damage his life force had suffered and months to get back to his peak condition.
"Yes, don't worry. I was going to visit you and Selia anyway." Lith said.
The army didn't need their help often, so the three of them spent most of their time relaxing and sharing pointers about magic. Friya had many things to teach them about dimensional magic, whereas Lith had a lot to teach them about everything.
"How the heck did you learn the basics of all the specializations?" Friya had shed blood and sweat to train her three specializations.
"You have your guild, whereas I have no life." Lith shrugged.
Three days later, Lith and Protector left Zantia. Friya was sad to see them go. Protector's kindness reminded her of her father, Orion. It didn't take her long to grow fond of the wise yet socially awkward Emperor Beast.
The two of them Warped until they reached the nearest mana geyser.
"Why are we here? I thought we would take a Warp Gate." Protector asked.
Lith didn't reply as Solus changed to her tower form, allowing them to get inside.
"It's bigger than I remembered it." Protector looked around the familiar yet unknown place.
"What do you mean? It's your first time in here. I expected you to at least be surprised." Lith asked.
"Your memories, remember?" Protector tapped the side of his head with a forefinger.
"Well, I bet you don't know this." Lith snapped his fingers and a slight tremor spread throughout the tower. The space around them stretched and deformed as they crossed thousands of kilometers in a heartbeat.
"By the Great Mother." Protector recognized the all too familiar Trawn woods.
"I can't let the army clerks register all of my movements. If I had to vouch for you to let you use a Warp Gate, the Griffon Kingdom would easily guess your true identity. I don't have many friends and most of them have free access to Gates." Lith said.
"Thank you, Solus." Protector gave her a deep bow, making her blush.
"I hope you get a body soon. Fire and stone are not enough to express who you truly are. Whoever did this to you either loved you so deeply that they couldn't stand the idea of losing you or was a heartless monster."
"You're welcome, Protector." Solus regretted not being able to show him her physical appearance. She considered Ryman as one of her oldest friends, just like Lith did.
'I only have one secret and I'm already sick of it. I don't know how Lith manages to keep so many of them and honestly, I don't care. I want to come clean with him' She thought.
Ryman's home was just a few hundred kilometers from Lutia. It took them just a few minutes to Warp to destination. When Lith saw Selia, her physical appearance shocked him.
She was supposed to be in her late-thirties, yet she looked even younger than the last time he had seen her. She seemed to be barely past her twenties. She was still 1.7 (5'7") meters tall and her skin was tanned from the years-long exposure to the sun.
Her black hair was now longer, reaching her shoulders and giving her more gentle looks. She wore a leather hunting jacket over a green shirt, green cargo pants, and brown hunting shoes with a soft outer sole, to limit the noise made while she moved.
Lith could tell by her round belly that she was past the six months of pregnancy. Her sharp eyes and rough attitude hadn't changed though.
"It's about time!" She snarled while giving the children in her arms to Protector.
"Do you have any idea how hard is it to chase around those two pests while I'm bloated like this? Make yourself useful and fix us something to eat while we entertain our guest."
Her eyes became much kinder when she looked at Lith.
"Oh, gods! I would have never expected that the famished runt that once came begging at my door for help would get so tall. Give aunt Selia a hug, Scourge!" She extended her arms and embraced him before he could even answer.
"Scourge?" Lith asked.
"Ryman never calls you Lith and I think that Scourge is a fitting name for a great hunter." She replied while not letting him go.
The house was a mess. Toys were left around on the carpets and furniture. Most of the walls had been scribbled on, and Lith could see the traces of Selia's efforts to scrub them off.
Yet it wasn't the chaos reigning in the hallway which gave him the second shock in less than ten seconds from his arrival. Their home was almost identical to his own. It even possessed most of the enchanted home appliances he had made over the years.
"Selia, I missed you so much. Especially at Nana's funeral." He returned the embrace the moment he snapped out of his reverie.
"I missed you too." She sobbed due to the joy of their reunion and the hormonal roller coaster she was experiencing.
"It's all that wolf's fault! I wanted to come at your graduation, but he said no. That the time wasn't right and all that cheese." Selia wanted to swear, but she had learned the hard way how fast children were at copying their parents' bad habits.
"I don't want to sound rude, but how can you look like this? Why does the house look like this?" He asked when she released him from her embrace.
"It's all thanks to your memories." She gave him a big kiss on the cheek.
"Not only did you save that wolfhead's life, but you also taught him more about the world and magic than he could ever achieve on his own. I asked him to do for me what you did for Elina and to make all the cool stuff you do."
Balkor's attack had happened during the third trimester of his fourth year at the White Griffon, giving Protector most of his knowledge about regrowing limbs, Forgemastering, dimensional magic, and even magic crystals.
"I can't do all the things you can, but at least I know the basics." Protector squinted his eyes and used a small blast of darkness magic to clean the walls.
The moment Ryman let them down, Lilia and Leran ran towards Lith. They were respectively 4 and 2 years old. With Ryman's red hair and Selia's sharp eyes, they were the spitting image of their parents.
They seemed to be curious about him, but instead of asking questions, they sniffed him for a while before shapeshifting their hands and bare feet into claws to better climb his legs.
"No claws with the guests! Get down immediately!" Selia's pants were riddled with holes. Now Lith could understand why she was so edgy. If Aran had magical powers, Elina would have gone insane without his help.
Chapter 591 Lost and Found Part 2
"I can believe my memories gave him an edge, but knowing and doing are two different things. Where did you find the mana crystals to make those things? They seem to be made with true magic."
Lith projected one of his little brother's favorites fairy tales to keep the children busy.
"As I already told you, after almost dying by the Valor's hands and receiving your memories, I understood how lacking my magical knowledge was. As soon as Selia and I settled down in our new home, I searched for a teacher." Protector said.
"Just like humans, beasts too don't spread the secret of Awakening unless it's strictly necessary to keep the balance among the races. The law is very strict, you can't even Awaken your own children if you aren't willing to put your life on the line for them."
"What do you mean?" Lith had no notion of the social rules among the Awakened ones.
"You are responsible for those you share our secret with. If your disciple breaks any law, you pay the consequences along with them. Since Awakened ones have a long life, only after a century the bond between master and apprentice is considered broken.
"It's never hard to know who gifted who with Awakening, since no one gives such a gift freely. Also, when the Council captures a criminal, they can be very persuasive."
Ryman's words made Lith think that Jirni would feel at home in the Council.
"Don't you want to be Awakened, Selia?" Lith asked.
"Honestly, I don't know. I prefer a good life to a long one. Not to mention that I should start to study magic and I never had a good relationship with books. I don't know how long Ryman has left to live.
"To me, outliving both my husband and children is a fate worse than death." She ruffled the kids' hair. They were two little angels now that they had stopped destroying the house and she wasn't forced to chase them around.
"Unlike humans, however, we don't hide our identity. I found my master, Faluel the Hydra, simply by asking the magical beasts of the Distar Marquisate for directions. Convincing her to teach me wasn't easy.
"A disciple takes a lot of time and effort. Being an Awakened isn't enough to be accepted by a master. You have to prove to be reliable, talented and to have an affinity with your future teacher. Because of your influence, I was interested in learning about healing and forgemastering.
"I had to prove my worth by doing all kinds of jobs for her for almost a year before she took me in."
"A year? I wouldn't have lasted that long. During that time, I completed half of my studies and I've made a lot of connections within human society." Lith said.
"An Emperor Beast wouldn't have taken you anyway. Back then, you were just a human. Even Scarlett considered you a dangerous anomaly. Faluel would have probably chased you away, if not worse." Ryman shook his head.
Selia was more interested in Lith's light show than in all that talk about Awakened and Lith's nature, which made him wonder.
To Selia, Lith asked: "What did he tell you about me, exactly?"
"After the scare he gave me with Lilia, I gave him only one condition if he wanted us to get back together. I demanded that there wouldn't be any more secrets between us.
"He told me all about himself, but he only told me about you what he needed for his story to make sense. I'm fine with it and I never pried further. He never shared with me your secrets aside from you being an Awakened, how the two of you met, and what you did together.
"Your parents are almost of my same age. We grew together in Lutia, so there's no chance one of them is an Emperor Beast. They would have never let one of their children suffer from hunger or illness as Tista did.
"I'm really curious, but if you don't want to tell, it's fine. Just consider that you are unlikely to find someone as open minded as me." Selia said pointing at Ryman.
Lith hesitated, not knowing to which one of his two hearts he should listen to. On one hand, he was certain that Selia wouldn't be too shocked if he decided to show her his hybrid form.
With an Emperor Beast for a husband and two little shapeshifting wrecking balls born from their love, she had proven to have an inhuman tolerance for weirdness. Yet they hadn't seen each other in a long time.
She had helped him a lot before he entered the White Griffon, but they had never got that close. He had never willingly revealed his hybrid nature elf to anyone except for Phloria.
Showing it to Selia before than to his family or Kamila, made him feel bad about himself.
"Thanks for the offer, but I'll pass. For now." Lith said.
Selia dismissed the issue with a shrug and fell asleep shortly after. Her body was aptly trained to rest as soon as the kids allowed her to.
"What kind of jobs did Faluel ask you to do?"
"Many things. I had to kill rogue magical beasts, human hunters that kept harming her forest, and sometimes even deal with Abominations."
"It sounds like she was making you do her job for her." Lith said.
"Mostly, yes. Each task was actually a test to see if I could be trusted with more power. Not all of those she pointed me at deserved to die. Humans are more complex than beasts. They are so grey that most of the time is really hard to tell if they are bad or just desperate."
Lith had the impression that Protector was now talking about him.
"After winter has passed, come find me. I'll introduce Faluel to you. She seemed to be very interested in your Wyrmling form and she is an invaluable teacher. Even with your memories, I wouldn't have been able to do any of this without her help. She provided me both the materials and the mana crystals."
Protector pointed at all the forgemastered marvels furnishing his house.
"What's a Wyrmling?" Lith asked. It wasn't the first time he heard that term.
"A hybrid between one of the draconic species and something else. She thinks you are one of them because of your scales and because you can use Dragon Fire." Protector replied.
"I can use what now?"
"Maybe you know them as Origin Flames. You know, the fire you breathe from your mouth? Not everyone can use them, which makes them special."
"Do you know why?" Lith couldn't believe his luck. He might have found a proper Awakened teacher and learn about Origin Flames, all in one day.
"Sorry, no. Not even Faluel can use them, so the first time she mentioned them to me was before sending me to Zantia."
Lith spent the night at Ryman's home. He studied the pseudo cores of Ryman's creations to appreciate the difference between his own results as self-taught with those of someone who had a master.
'It seems I'm really talented for Forgemastering. My work is in no way inferior to Protector's.' He thought.
Before leaving, he exchanged communication runes with Protector and Selia. He also gifted some of his toys to the kids. He had prepared a new set of fairy tales projectors and miniature models.
They were shaped like mages and magical beasts and could emit light of different colors as if they cast different spells. Lith could always make more and Selia needed a way to keep them busy when Ryman was away.
Chapter 592 Fanning the Flames Part 1
"Will you get back to Lutia now?" Lith asked, hoping for a positive answer.
"I don't know." Selia bit her lower lip.
"I'd love to get some help and company. Living in the middle of nowhere is really tiring, but I have to endure it for the kids. I'll think about it as soon as they understand that they can't shapeshift in front of strangers." She sighed.
Selia and Lith exchanged a long hug. She made him promise to come back before the end of winter.
"Remember that we are your friends, not just a deadline. If you come back only for the lizard, I'll never forgive you."
After saying their goodbyes, Lith used the Tower Warp to get back in the north and reach Belius with the army's Gate. He needed to leave enough traces of his passage to never make people wonder where he disappeared from time to time.
'I would love to work on my Forgemastering, but my talk with Kamila is long overdue. I can't delay it any longer without giving her a good reason. I can't just fit her in my spare time, I need to make time for her.' He thought while knocking on her door.
It was early enough in the morning for her to still be at home, but not so late that she had to rush to work. Lith had the keys to her apartment, but he wanted to make her a surprise.
He rang the bell several times before he could hear an angry voice coming from behind the door.
"Look, pal, whatever you sell, I'm not buying. I was in the middle of breakfast and…" Kamila choked on her words after watching through the peephole.
"I swear, this is the last time I make you a surprise. This is not how I pictured our reunion."
The door opened abruptly and Kamila hugged him tightly for a few seconds, making sure he wasn't hurt.
"How did you get here so fast? I wasn't expecting you here before noon." She asked.
Lith didn't reply. He silently stood there, returning her embrace. He had missed her warmth, the scent of her hair, and even the sound of her voice. The difference between speaking with her and her hologram was like heaven and earth.
"Is it too much to ask for a 'welcome home' and a kiss?" Lith's words made Kamila blush. He had just referred to her house as his own, as if to ask if he could live with her.
"Welcome home." She said before making him bend down to reach his lips.
"Come in. I want to hear all about Friya and Ryman." Kamila had no need to ask him about the events in Zantia because she already knew them from his daily reports. She was more interested in learning about his never mentioned before friend.
They had breakfast together, while Lith told her how he and Protector had met and how he had become his magical father figure. He always referred to him as a vagrant mage.
Exposing his identity as an Emperor Beast could endanger his family. Ryman had not betrayed Lith's secret and he was willing to do the same for him.
"Did you really fight together against your first Abomination when you were just twelve?" She asked.
"Yes. My parents learned about it only a year later."
"That man is crazy, bringing a child to fight that kind of monster." No matter how much enthusiasm Lith used when reminiscing all the times he had fought or hunt alongside Protector.
To her, he was just a nutjob who had endangered Lith's life multiple times.
"Without me, the Trawn woods would have been destroyed and maybe Lutia razed to the ground. He's not crazy. If we had never met, I would have probably died fighting the Abomination alone." Lith said.
"You can keep trying to make it appear heroic later. I'm almost late for work." Kamila put her jacket on, giving him a last kiss before going to the door.
"I would love to have lunch together, but I have barely ten minutes at random due to overwork. I'll be back for dinner. I want you to promise me that when I arrive home, I'll find you here and that you will not risk your life today." She grabbed the handle without turning it, waiting for his reply.
"I promise. Are you ready for our big talk?" Lith asked.
"I was born ready." She blew him a kiss and left the apartment.
'Not risking your life is a big promise. What are we going to do all day? Sitting on a couch' Solus chuckled.
'I'm not tired. I had plenty of time to rest during the last few days. The materials I have requested should have already arrived home. Time to Forgemaster us a few new toys.'
Lith used Belius's Gate to get to Derios, the capitol of Distar's Marquisate, and then Solus's tower Warp to arrive directly in the Trawn woods.
His parents were overjoyed to have him back home. They showered him with affection and rebukes.
"This is becoming disturbing, son." Raaz said.
"Why are you only getting missions where you risk your life at least once per day?"
"I'm the Ranger in charge of one of the most dangerous regions in the north, Dad. Not the captain of the sewing club. High risks mean high rewards. Speaking of rewards, I was expecting a few crates. Have they arrived already?"
"Yes, dear. I've stored them for safekeeping" Elina handed him several dimensional rings.
"Are you eating properly? It seems that stress has made you lose weight. Maybe you should change your career plans."
"Please, Mom, Kamila is already bugging me. She says that I endanger my life like she changes her clothes. I don't need to hear the same song from you and Dad."
"You should listen to her. Kamila is a judicious woman. Will you have lunch with us?"
Lith nodded in reply and then he and Elina came out of their home to pass the crates from her dimensional rings to his pocket dimension. After that, he went to the village of Lutia to meet with Zekell Proudhammer.
He was the village blacksmith and Rena's father-in-law. He had insisted for both Rena and his granddaughter, Leria, to keep the Verhen last name, making them Verhen-Proudhammer.
Lith's name was the best sword and shield any sane man could ask for.
"What can I do for you, dear Lith?" Zekell loved all the privileges he had acquired through his son's marriage and was always eager to help Lith however he could.
"I need to make me a few items out of Orichalcum. Do you know how to process it?" Lith asked.
"No. I never heard about it outside of legends."
Lith took out the first crate and a booklet about Orichalcum.
"I gave it a read. It doesn't seem much different from silver. Is it as easy as it seems?" Lith was so used to learn things with Soluspedia that every second that Zekell spent reading the booklet seemed to last an hour to him.
"We can give it a try. We'll need a few ingredients for…"
Lith opened the crate, revealing that the ore had been delivered with all the necessary for its treatments.
"Okay, then we just have to wait for the furnace to reach the right temperature. I'll reread everything again while we wait."
Wait. Lith hated that word. It usually implied wasting time he could use to do something else.
It took him less than a minute to pulverize the ore with magic, another few minutes to prepare the rest of the ingredient, and then he could only stare at the flames.
Chapter 593 Fanning the Flames Part 2
Lith already had a copy of the booklet inside Soluspedia, so he had no need to review the procedure again. Zekell had put a dirty silver ore inside the crucible to check the temperature of the furnace.
"Is it a problem if I use magic to speed things up?" Lith asked.
"Be my guest, but remember that metals can evaporate. Finding the right temperature could require even more time since I know nothing about magic and you know nothing about metals." Zekell shrugged without taking his eyes off the booklet.
Lith sighed.
'Even Fire Vision could be useless without proper knowledge. I need to start practicing now, or I'll need months to create even a single item. Here goes nothing.' He thought after checking that no one was looking.
Lith's throat became covered in black scales as he breathed Origin Flams inside the furnace. The blue magic flames overpowered the normal yellow ones, spreading an eerie light.
"What the heck have you done?" Zekell jumped off his chair, trying to save the situation.
The crucible, the coal, the silver ore, everything but the stones was engulfed in blue flames. Zekell took out the crucible using metal tongs, but even those caught fire. He kept his cool and took the crucible out of the furnace before splashing the tongs in a bucket of water.
"Is this normal?" Lith asked pointing at the flaming crucible.
"No, it's not. You should've… Oh, gods!" Zekell couldn't believe his own eyes.
His old, trustworthy tongs seemed now to be made of two different parts. One was blackened with dirt, time, and use, whereas the extremity that had been eaten by the flames was slightly smaller than he remembered it.
He touched it with his fingers, he even hit the anvil with them to make sure of his findings.
"This doesn't make sense. I get that your flames destroyed the dirt, but this? The metal seems to have been purified several times."
"What about this?" Lith used spirit magic to have the crucible float in front of Zekell.
The crucible was shiny as if someone had spent hours polishing it and the silver ore was reduced to a small clump of metal.
"By the great hammer! I've never seen such pure silver. This is bad." Zekell said.
"Why bad? Isn't the purer the better?" Lith asked.
"If you want to make an ornament, yes. If you need it for something that has a practical use, impurities aren't all bad. Pure metals are a myth. Sometimes, you have to add impurities to obtain the right balance between hardness and softness.
"Too much of the former and the final result will be brittle, too much of the latter and it bends just by watching at it."
Lith had his doubts, but he couldn't experiment with Origin Flames in the presence of witnesses. He spent the rest of the morning with Zekell, learning how to smelt the Orichalcum and how to turn it from as ductile as silver to harder than Damascus steel.
The procedure was relatively simple. First, they picked a crucible big enough to contain quite some ore, but not so heavy that Lith couldn't easily lift it even when full.
Zekell covered the bottom of the crucible with a special sand to prevent the ore from sticking, then he prepared a mixture of ore, wheat flour, lard, and ashes. The flour would provide the carbon for the oxidation of impurities and heat the metal from the inside.
The ashes served for both the oxidation and to make the impurities clump together. Much to Lith's surprise, the lard was used to help the ore form an ore bar and to help build up the heat.
Once the crucible was filled with the mixture, Zekell covered its surface with more ash, sand, and sytium. The sand would prevent the metals from volatilizing, whereas the sytium was a substance necessary to keep the silver and the Adamant in the ore together.
They put the crucible inside the furnace and Lith used magic and Fire Vision under Zekell's supervision to spread the heat evenly until the ore looked like honey with no lumps of unmolten material.
After pouring the liquid into a dry mortar, the ore quickly solidified into an upper part made of slag that looked like colored glass and a lower part made of metal. They separated the metal from the slag and repeated the process until it was pure.
Only then did they add the last ingredient, Darkestkhan. It would make the Adamant saturate the silver, giving to the metal ingot the properties of both metals.
After they had treated a few batches of ore, Lith noticed that it was almost lunchtime.
"Can we stop here? I need you to make me a few things for me." Lith asked.
"Isn't it a bit late for that? You should have told me way earlier. Without a mold, there's not much I can do and you didn't give me enough notice to prepare anything."
"Do you still have the mold for the silver hammers you made me some time ago?"
"Sure. Do you need a hammer?" Zekell was surprised by his request. It couldn't be a weapon since Lith only used swords, nor something merely decorative. It would've been a waste of Orichalcum and Lith was as thrifty as he was.
"More than one. I need to enchant them and failure is likely. I also need a chain mail and chain pants of Orichalcum. The shape doesn't matter. I'm going to make a better Skinwalker Armor." Lith said.
Zekell had enough time to prepare him a couple of hammers, everything else had to wait. Zekell would first finish to purify the rest of the Orichalcum and then work on the items Lith had requested.
'Orichalcum is definitely different from other metals.' Solus thought.
'Indeed. It's much lighter and durable of all the hammers we used to far.' Lith had struck Zekell's anvil with it several times, yet the metal didn't bend nor did it get scratched.
'Not that. I mean that it has a very thin mana flow of its own.' Solus's words shocked Lith.
He activated Life Vision, noticing that Solus was actually wrong.
'It's not really a mana flow. Orichalcum seems to be able to draw the world energy and channel it. There's no life force nor mana core.' Lith used Invigoration to put his hypothesis to test.
He discovered that he could now see inside the metal like it was a living being and even spot the residual impurities within.
'I wonder why we didn't notice that with Zolgrish's forge. Orichalcum is just silver and Adamant, whereas the forge he gave us is made of pure Adamant. It makes no sense that Orichalcum has better properties than Adamant.' Lith thought.
'Probably because we were both blinded by all the magic stuff stored inside his lab. The place was about to blow up, we didn't have the time to use Invigoration on the forge. Plus, after we escaped, we never took it out from our pocket dimension.
'Right after leaving Jambel we came to Zantia. We simply had no chance to give it a second look.' Solus replied.
'It seems we have so much work to do and only 20 frigging days at our disposal.' Lith thought.
Chapter 594 Necro Forge Part 1
Lith swung the Orichalcum hammer in his hands to check its balance, making Solus green with envy. She yearned to put her hands on it, but as long as she kept her ability to take physical form a secret, Solus could only watch.
Aside from being entirely made of Orichalcum, the hammer wasn't much different from the carpenter tools with a nail slot Zekell sold in his shop. It consisted of two parts: a straight shaft to hold it and the head. The head featured the actual hammer and the claw.
"The design is really poor." Lith sighed. In none of the stories he had read as a kid an enchanted item seemed out of a WellMert. He was solely interested in its properties, but the mundane look of the hammer made it underwhelming even for him.
"With no mold at his disposal, there wasn't much Zekell could do. Since we just have to perform experiments, we'll worry about the shape for last. Solus, can you make me a blacksmith lab?"
"Give me a moment." She replied, making the tower rumble for a few seconds.
A new door appeared in the basement. Behind it, there was a perfect replica of Zekell's workshop. Lith nodded in approval and looked at his pocket watch. He had six hours before he had to be at Kamila's place.
"Okay, no time to lose. First things first. Let's check out our Forge."
Solus took the Adamant Forge out of her pocket dimension, allowing both of them to appreciate the vigorous flow of world energy it induced in its surroundings. The Adamant was like a magnet for world energy.
No matter how good a mana conductor the Adamant was, it couldn't contain an indefinite amount of energy. Once it was saturated, the constant stream of new world energy would force the old one stored inside the metal to come out, generating an artificial mana flow.
It was a phenomenon very similar to Invigoration, when Lith made the world energy course through his body without absorbing it. That way the world energy wouldn't nurture his mana core, but it would replenish his mana and bring his body back to its peak condition.
"This is interesting. What if Adamant is just one of the many metals that don't exist on Earth? What if it's a metal capable of using some kind of Accumulation to refine itself over the centuries until it becomes Adamant?" Lith wondered.
He placed his hand over the forge and used Invigoration on it. Just like for the Orichalcum, he could see inside the block of metal as if it was a living being. To him, the forge appeared as if it was made of light, with very few impurities inside of it.
The impurities were thin black veins, tainting the otherwise pristine element. He attempted to take control of the Adamant's mana flow to expel the impurities, but they refused to budge even of a single millimeter.
Not even Solus's power, boosted by her tower form managed to do any better. They couldn't risk damaging it, so they put it back inside their pocket dimension and took out a new crate of Orichalcum ore.
"I'm really curious to see if Zekell is right. Maybe with Origin Flames we can skip the smelting phase and obtain Orichalcum faster." Solus proposed.
Lith put the ore inside a crucible and made his throat turn into his hybrid form.
"Wait a minute!" He choked on his flames and burned his own mouth.
"Everything in the tower is part of you. Did you make the crucible or crafted a real one?"
"I made it." Solus's wisp shuddered. With the Origin Flames' power, she had been seconds away from a world of pain.
After Lith made a makeshift crucible from clay with earth magic, he put it inside the furnace and breathed a small jet of Origin Flames. The crucible held, but Lith could see it getting thinner, forcing him to add new clay that would immediately ignite as well.
Solus had to use a few arrays to keep the flames in check and prevent them from attacking the furnace too.
"Origin Flames are hungry little critters. If I'm not careful they would spread everywhere." She said.
When the fire went out, the results were appalling. The clay had turned into high quality ceramic, which was useless to them, whereas the over 10 kilograms of ore had disappeared, leaving only a few droplets of silvery metal.
"The good news is that's pure adamant. The bad news is that there is so little that I can't even make a ring out of it. Sure, if I sacrifice a few crates I could get an Adamant ring, but to what end?
"I have no blueprint for powerful rings, it would only be a waste of precious material. I don't know how much Orichalcum we'll need to make the improved version of the Skinwalker armor. 10 kilos is already a huge hit." Lith sighed.
"Let's work on the hammer, then." Solus said.
Their aim was to Forgemaster a tool that would improve all of their future works. The idea was based on their studies on true Forgemastering when they were still at the White Griffon academy.
Back then, Lith had been forced to use a hybrid technique using both fake and true magic to Forgemaster his creations, but now he could rely solely on the latter to step up his game.
During his research, he had devised two possible ways to create superior magical items with true Forgemastering. The first required for him to shape the pseudo core outside its future recipient and then merge them together before creating the necessary mana pathways to make it permanent.
The second one, instead, would have him create both a small pseudo core and thin mana pathways at once. Lith had to infuse both of them with more energy until they reached the desired size.
Each method had its pros and cons, at least on paper.
By creating a complete pseudo core, Lith had all the time he wanted to shape it with surgical precision and charge it with enough energy to fuel the effects he wanted to achieve.
The downside of such a method was that injecting such a big energy mass inside inanimate matter would encounter a lot of resistance and put a huge amount of stress on its recipient.
If he wasn't careful, most materials would shatter due to a mana flow too strong and sudden for them to handle. To make matters worse, the pseudo core was likely to be deformed in the process, and fixing it would require to inject even more mana, adding even more stress on the material.
Only then could Lith try to create the mana pathways necessary to stabilize the pseudo core. Too few and the mana would be dispersed, too many and the item would crumble.
Creating a small pseudo core and mana pathways at the same time, instead, would allow Lith to pile up the mana inside its recipient one bit at the time. It would give him the opportunity to not exceed the limits of the chosen material and fix any errors he might make in the early steps during the later stages.
The main problem of this method was that any late mistake couldn't be fixed. Also, developing all of the mana pathways along with the pseudo core at the same time was very demanding in terms of mana and focus.
Chapter 595 Necro Forge Part 2
Lith had dubbed the two methods as Necro Forge and Bloom Forge respectively.
The former followed the same pattern Lith used to create his lesser undead. Back in Zantia, his plan E involved keeping a perfect blood core at the ready along with Trouble's corpse. An undead Balor was the perfect way to beat numbers with raw power.
Unfortunately, powerful corpses craved for the necromantic energies of a blood core and had no need for mana pathways, whereas inanimate objects rejected magic.
The latter method was derived by Lith's studies on the growth of the pseudo cores of mana crystals and of the mana core of plants. Once again, the main difference was that inanimate objects had no core nor room for growth to begin with.
"Let's start with Necro Forge." Lith said.
With a bleeding wallet, Lith took two cyan mana crystals out of his pocket dimension. He couldn't use blue crystals for a mere test run, nor he could risk using weak green crystals and fail just because he was a cheapskate.
He used Invigoration to fill his body with mana, then he drew several runes in the air to perform the true magic version of Bonding. It was a tier five Forgemaster spell that was used to fuse together mana crystals and items before enchanting the latter.
Once fused with inanimate objects, mana crystals would grant them a mana circulatory system, of which they were the literal beating heart, and an innate mana flow akin to a living being.
Each rune produced a mana filament as thin as a hair that would go through both the hammer and the mana crystals, bringing them closer and closer at each passage until they became one. The three objects started to float in mid air, orbiting around each other like triplet stars.
Lith had performed this process countless times. Each one of the magical home appliances or toys he made was fueled by mana crystals. He would consume low quality materials, make his family happy, and gain a lot of experience.
Three birds with one stone.
Then, it was time to create the pseudo core with Necro Forge. Even though Lith was a master at energy manipulation, shaping a complete core was something that only an Awakened could do.
Cores looked like spheres of energy, but they were so much more. Thanks to Necromancy, Lith had learned that a blood core defined how strong the undead would be, if it would retain any memory or conscience, and even the abilities they would be born with.
Creating a core, no matter if a pseudo or blood one, was akin to create a whole living being.
'The purpose of the hammer is to act as a temporary vessel for my mana. The problem of Forgemastering is that the stronger the spell you want to infuse an item with is, the greater the amount of mana that you need to succeed.
'If the maximum amount of mana a Forgemaster can handle is 100, their limit is a spell with a mana cost of 99. With this hammer, my limit might expand up to 150 while Forgemastering enchanted items.
'It needs a simple but powerful pseudo core with the sole purpose of storing mana.' Lith thought.
He shaped the pseudo core to resemble his own, but without all the complex patterns that linked it to his body. Thanks to Invigoration, Lith could look at his own mana core anytime.
Whenever he spotted a mistake or an imperfection, he needed but a thought to correct it. Next came the hard part.
Even though Orichalcum seemed to accept the pseudo core as a thirsty man yearns for spring water, even with the mana vessels creating a complex system capable of evenly distributing the incoming energy mass, Lith felt the core distorting the moment it made contact with the hammer.
The Orichalcum allowed magic to circulate almost freely, but the energy signature of the crystals rejected the foreign mana the pseudo core was made of. It was like transplanting an organ from a random donor and then beat the patient's body into submission to prevent graft rejection.
Lith took things slow and easy. He made the pseudo core slowly enter the hammer to have the time to spot and correct any deformation as soon as they formed. At the same time, he flooded the hammer's mana vessels with his own mana.
It reduced the resistance the core encountered by both weakening the opposing flow and improving the affinity the Orichalcum had for Lith's mana. The process required an enormous amount of energy that only an Awakened using Invigoration could afford.
Once the core was at the center of the mana circulatory system, Lith created the mana pathways. With each pathway he completed, the two different kinds of mana started to freely flow into each other until they merged into a single entity.
When the process was over, Lith was covered in sweat.
"I just want to take a bath and sleep. I used Invigoration so much that my entire body aches. The silver lining is that the procedure succeeded." Lith said.
"Well, imagine how hard it would have been without me fueling the magic circle in your stead. This is just a prototype, so I wouldn't count my chickens before they hatch." Solus said.
"Why so negative? Everything went smoothly and now all we have to do is to use the Orichalcum hammer to Forgemaster something to check its performances."
"I suppose we could do that. You always have a lot more time when you are single." Solus said while making the pocket watch float in front of Lith.
"Six-thirty already? Why didn't you tell me earlier?" Lith blurted out.
"We were in the middle of a six hours and a half experiment. I don't think you would have gracefully thanked me if I made you lose your focus."
Lith had barely the time to imprint the hammer to check if it worked, take a quick bath to wash away the stench of sweat, sulfur, and all the smelly stuff he had used at the smithy before Warping for his life to get at Kamila's home.
"Thank my paranoia for cleaning her apartment before leaving and for storing all the dishes from our favorite restaurant in my pocket dimension before starting my experiments." Lith said to himself while he set the table and made all he could to not make it evident that he had just arrived.
Even though he had used Invigoration after the bath, he needed to use it again to stop panting. He was at his second breath worth of energy when he heard the key turning and the door opened.
'Seven sharp. Kamila really is a military woman. I never thought the day would come where I would wish for my girlfriend not to be on time.' Lith thought.
Kamila looked at the dim lights and the steaming food on the table with a radiant smile. She put her military cap on the coat hanger in the hallway before asking to Lith:
"You are here, so you kept at least half of your promise. Did you risk your life today?"
He thought about it for a couple of seconds before answering.
"No. Worst case scenario I would have wasted a lot of money and materials."
"Then you kept your promise and made my day." Kamila put her arms around his neck before giving him a passionate kiss.
Chapter 596 Two Steps Forward and One Step Back Part 1
"You're really sweet, but you didn't have to prepare so much stuff. We are going to have a big talk, not a romantic date." Kamila said.
She would have liked to take a shower and change her clothes, but Belius's arrays made it impossible to use dimensional magic. Once outside the pocket dimension, the food would get cold. Even if Lith could reheat the delicacies with magic, they would still lose part of their flavor.
"We haven't seen each other for so long that we could as well take it as a date. My past is ugly, a bit complicated, and with a sprinkle of mortal danger, but it's all in the past. You aren't going to break up with me, are you?" Lith's paranoia got knocked into twelfth gear, making her laugh.
"Gods no. I would be a monster to do something like that after how I welcomed you back home this morning. It's just that I know a lot of bad things happened when you were at the academy. To be honest, I have a gloomy story to tell as well." Kamila sighed.
"Do you want to go first?" Lith asked while pouring her one of Maekosh's finest beers.
"No way. I've waited too long for this. You first."
Lith told her about his early days at the White Griffon academy and how he had unpleasantly met those who he now called friends. He was surprised to discover that once he removed the magical jargon, there wasn't much to tell.
At least until he talked about Kaduria's plague first and then Balkor's attack. Kamila wept when she learned about Protector's struggle against death to entrust his last words and love to Lith.
She had to stop eating to hug Lith when he explained to her at what cost he had saved the life of his friend.
Kamila still didn't like the idea that Ryman had endangered Lith's life so often, but after realizing how deep their bond was, she started to like him simply because of his love for Lith.
"Okay, that's enough for now." Kamila said after Lith finished to tell her about the fourth year.
"I've consumed a lot of tissues for Balkor already. If we get to Nalear, I don't think I would have the strength to continue our conversation." They had finished eating from a while, switching from beer to red wine.
"I really need to wash my face, but at this point, I might as well take a shower. I'll slip into something more comfortable while I'm at it. Go easy with the wine. I don't want to find you asleep when I get back." Kamila said.
As she closed the bathroom door, Lith moved the dirty dishes in the kitchen, dimmed the lights, and shapeshifted the Skinwalker from the uniform into the black suit they often used for their romantic role play.
Then, he took the dessert out of the fridge.
'Gods, I really didn't miss this part. See you later.' Solus grumbled while she cut their mind link and hid in a corner of her own mind.
Unfortunately for Lith, Kamila did slip into something more comfortable. A loose shirt and pants she used when she was home alone. Even her hair was fixed in a makeshift bun.
"Pervert! I told you I had a sad story to tell. How could your mind go straight to sex?" She wanted to sound angry but she failed to repress her silvery laughter.
"Shower plus 'something comfortable' equals sex. Math never failed me before." Lith said without even trying to hide his disappointment and making Kamila laugh harder.
"You're incorrigible." She sat on his lap, embracing him and giving him a short kiss before going back to her seat.
"Is it better now?" Kamila asked.
"Can you at least keep your hair down?" Lith turned up the lights.
"No. I want to make sure that you listen to my words instead of staring at my face." She chuckled. She actually needed quite a bit of willpower to prevent herself to skip the conversation and go straight to bed.
Talking about Zinya was sad, painful, and somewhat embarrassing for Kamila. Not because of her sister's handicap, but because what she had to ask for him made her feel vulnerable.
Also, Kamila knew how the request would sound to Lith's ears. Like an attempt to exploit him. No matter his answer, she knew that by simply speaking those words their relationship would change.
She was afraid because when things changed in her life, usually it was for the worse.
'It would be so easy to avoid the topic and pretend that nothing's wrong. These last weeks have been so hard, always thinking about how I can help Zinya in case she decides to divorce.
'Being overworked and lonely only made things worse. I missed him a lot and now that Lith is back, I only wish to cling to him and lose myself in his embrace. Yet it would mean running away from a problem I don't want to face.
'Zinya has already suffered for too long. If I keep not doing anything for her, now it wouldn't be because I'm helpless, but because I'm an egotistical coward.' She thought.
Kamila told Lith about Zinya, this time in detail. She explained to him her sister's current predicament as a prisoner in her own house, the cheating, the domestic abuse on her and the children, everything.
Lith's eyes turned into fiery slits brimming with mana as Zinya's story resembled more and more his own. His Earth father, Ezio McCoy, among his many flaws was also a cheater.
Back when Lith's name was still Derek, he had once found an e-mail his father had sent to his lover, where he professed her love to her and her children. Lith had no idea why they had later broken up, but he never stopped resenting his father for giving his affection to someone else's kids while he treated so badly his own.
His inner turmoil drew Solus's attention, who quickly returned fearing something really bad had happened.
'Dammit, that was unexpected.' She thought after checking Lith most recent memories.
"There's no need to get angry." Kamila had no way to understand the rage in Lith's eyes. She misunderstood it as aimed at her for trying to exploit his magic with a sob story.
Lith's reaction hurt Kamila deeply and made her think that, if he believed her capable of such a thing, he must've had a low opinion of her.
"I'm not asking you to do it for free. I have enough money to cover even Manohar's fares." Her voice was calm but cold, like when she spoke to Lith as his handler instead of his girlfriend.
"Wait, what? I'm not angry at you. I'm angry at that f…" Lith then demonstrated to have an extensive vocabulary and a venomous tongue. The streak of insults lasted for several seconds.
The teaspoon in his hand was now reduced to a small ball of metal. The twisted metal was both a source of shock and relief for Kamila. Relief because it proved her the sincerity of his words and indignation.
Shock because she knew Lith was strong, but she had never witnessed how strong he actually was.
"As for the treatment, I can't make you any promises. Body Sculpting is a very complex discipline and I didn't practice it ever since I quit my job as Assistant Professor. Worst case scenario, I'll find you an expert." Lith said.
Chapter 597 Two Steps Forward and One Step Back Part 2
"Don't worry, both Zinya and I know a lot about it." Kamila held Lith's hand, moved by his words. Usually, healers had god complex. Hearing him admitting his own limits was proof of how seriously Lith was considering the matter.
"The real problem will be convincing her to get treated and how to deal with her husband."
"I can assure you the latter will not be an issue." Lith had a psycho killer smile that gave Kamila the creeps and forced Solus to step in.
'You are Lith Verhen now, not Derek McCoy. You have no known reason for a personal vendetta against that kind of man. You are scaring Kamila out of her wits.' She thought.
Lith snapped out of his bloody daydreams and noticed his girlfriend's distress. He took a deep breath and wore his best mask for the occasion.
"Sorry, I got carried away. Still, dealing with a dirtbag is easy, but if the patient doesn't want to be treated, there's nothing I can do." He said.
Kamila sighed in relief. He was back to be the person she knew and loved. She even felt flattered for him taking her sister's situation personally.
"I know. That's why I want you two to meet. Maybe Zinya will change her mind if she knows that her Healer doesn't think of her as just a number on his personal record. Are you free tomorrow morning?" She asked.
"For you, I'm free the whole day."
"I wish. I'm in the middle of a bad case, I had to beg my supervisor just to get a few hours leave. Once we are done with Zinya, I have to rush back to work and we will not see each other before dinner." Kamila's shoulders slouched.
She had long since dreamed of becoming a Royal Constable, yet between the training and the fieldwork, she was already missing her job as an army handler. The pay was average and the work repetitive, but at least it usually left her quite a bit of free time.
"Then go to bed, you need some rest. I'll join you as soon as I'm done with the kitchen and a long, cold shower." Lith said while plates and cutlery floated in mid air to be cleaned by a mix of soap, water, and darkness magic.
"Thank you very much. You have no idea how much freeing my sister from that monster's clutches means to me." She said while hugging him tightly from behind.
'I know it all too well.' Lith could feel his rage trying to manifest outside his mind, but he kept it at bay and said:
"There's no jury in the world that would convict me if I pounced on you now. It would be a clear case of self defence."
"Pervert." Kamila chuckled as she gave him a good night kiss before disappearing in the bedroom. She really did feel very tired, but the worst thing was that things had already changed.
'Whatever I do, I'm afraid that Lith might think that I'm bribing him with sex or sweet talk. Gods, I'm so happy he agreed to help us, yet I'm so scared about how things will turn out.' Kamila's stomach was churning out of stress.
Meanwhile, Lith took a very cold shower to calm his nerves. The idea of facing a man who resembled his first father made his blood turn into magma.
'You did well not suggesting her to kill this Fallmug guy. I think it would have scared her to death. Remember that a lot of people have a problem with your switch personality.' Solus thought before asking:
'Why are you taking so long with the shower?'
'To give Kamila the time to think and me an excuse to think she is already asleep. This is not how I pictured my first date with her after my return. This is damn awkward.' Lith thought.
Lith was regretting both his earlier attempt at seducing her and his stupid sex jokes, but back then he had no idea Zinya's situation was that bad. He thought it was just an unhappy marriage.
'Tomorrow I'll need your help to not level the neighborhood.'
'Don't worry, we'll deal with this problem like we always do. Together.' Solus thought.
***
The following day, city of Xylita
Lith and Kamila reached the Sarta Household in a matter of minutes after walking through the city Warp Gate. His flight spell brought them quickly to their destination. Xylita wasn't located in the Kellar region nor the Distar Marquisate, so Lith had no authority as a Ranger nor as a Baron there. It was the reason he was wearing the deep green robe that identified him as a Great Mage.
Power was something that even the most stupid people respected.
"You have no idea how much I'd like you to go full Othre on them, but I can't afford to play hero. Whatever we do, it will be Zinya to pay the consequences." Kamila said after looking at Lith's stern face.
He was wearing the same expression he had while fighting Thrud's meat puppets and even though it was addressed against her, his bloodlust was almost tangible.
"Don't worry. I came here to visit a patient and kick ass. And I'm all out of patients." Lith replied making her laugh.
Kamila stepped forward and knocked on the door. It was her problem, so it was up to her to face it.
Vylna, the housemaid and current mistress of the master of the house, was surprised seeing Kamila come back so soon. Her expression turned into a smug grin as she prepared to repeat to Kamila her master's words.
Then, she went pale and chocked on her rehearsed speech, leaving Kamila flabbergasted.
"I'm back to see Lady Sarta." Kamila said while wondering why the housemaid stood there with both her eyes and mouth wide open.
She had no way to know that a huge mass of spirit magic was slithering around the housemaid, making it hard for her even to breathe. The pure and unbridled killing intent it was imbued with made the experience utterly terrifying.
Lith's eyes returned to normal when Kamila turned around to check on him.
During that short moment of respite, Vylna's survival instinct took the wheel.
"Please, come in. Lady Sarta is in the tea room, like always." She handed to Kamila her master key.
"Thanks. You don't need to accompany us. I know the way." Kamila walked double time, eager to check on her sister. Yet Lith remained behind, never averting his eyes from the maid's even when the door suddenly closed behind him by itself.
"I usually don't prey on the weak. It's cruel and pointless since you have nothing I want. Yet if you stand in my path, if you do anything to harm those close to me, I will end you." Lith raised his hand slowly as if he was about to grab her throat.
Vylna was paralyzed by fear, almost suffocating due to the mana that pressed on her from every side.
"Feel free to eavesdrop or call your master. Becoming a Great Mage means receiving a Royal Pardon. All I need is a good reason to use mine." Those words sent a hot liquid trickling along Vylna's legs.
It wet her shoes before forming a stain on the carpet.
Chapter 598 Overlapping Images Part 1
A royal pardon was a get out of jail free card for any crime non punishable by the death penalty. The Crown granted a few of them every year to their most loyal servants for their outstanding results and becoming a Great Mage was one of them.
As Vylna realized the mortal danger she was in, tears filled her eyes, forcing her to blink. When she opened them again, Lith had disappeared as if she had been talking to a shadow the whole time.
"Please, be nice to her. Zinya went through a lot and I think that bastard of Fallmug might have taken it out on her after my last visit. Let me do the talking." Kamila said, too worried to notice that she was alone.
"Don't worry. You lead and I'll follow." Lith Blinked behind her. Thanks to his enhanced senses, he had no problems hearing her words from a distance.
Kamila unlocked the door, hating that house more with each passing second. The tea room was exactly as she remembered it. A mix of order and hypocrisy.
The white sofas and armchairs looked like they had never been used. The center of the hardwood table in the middle of the room had been carved out and replaced by a crystal slab.
The vases decorating the room along with white cotton doilies were still there, yet all the flowers had disappeared. Zinya was sitting on the same chair she had used during Kamila's last visit.
Her face was turned toward the sunlight coming from the glass panelled east wall, as if she was looking at the sky.
"Zin, I'm back." Kamila said.
"Kami, you shouldn't be here. The last time Fallmug was so enraged by how you strong-armed Vylna to enter the house that now he doesn't buy me flowers anymore. Why do you insist on making my life miserable?" Zinya said.
Her voice was filled with sorrow and it cracked before she could finish her phrase.
"Don't say that, Zin. You have always been a terrible liar. What did he do to you?" Kamila ran to her sister, hugging her. They both wept, bringing to Lith's mind the memories of when he and Carl did the same after one of them had suffered a heavy beating.
"Forgive me, Kami. I didn't mean those things. I just want to hear my children again."
Memory and reality overlapped as the ground trembled.
'For a moment, I hated her because she reminded me of my mother. Always whining about how giving birth ruined her life and blaming us for Ezio's behavior. When she accused Kamila, I thought she meant it, but she had just been instructed about what to say.' He thought.
"He beats her legs so that even if they have guests, they can't notice the bruises. That's why she didn't stand up during your last visit." Lith said with a stone cold voice as he turned around.
Kamila noticed his gesture and lifted Zinya's gown up, revealing many black and blue spots shaped like a horsewhip.
"How did you know?" She asked, her voice full of shock and fury.
"My brother, Orpal, would do the same thing to me when I was a child."
Kamila lowered Zinya's gown, allowing Lith to get close to her.
"Zinya, this is Lith Verhen, my boyfriend. Lith this is Zinya, my sister."
"Nice to meet you. Do you mind if I heal you?" Lith needed all the help Solus could give him to take the edge off his voice and not raze the house to the ground.
"The pleasure is all mine. As for the healing, please help me."
Lith chanted a quick gibberish before placing his hand on Zinya's shoulder and using Invigoration on her. All of her bruises and injuries disappeared. He found some poorly healed fractures and fixed them too while he checked her condition.
"You really are as good as Kami says. It's been ages since I had no difficulties breathing." The naïve happiness she expressed while blurting out the gravity of the damages her ribcage had suffered, made Kamila go pale and Lith grit his teeth.
'This is wrong. No one should be happy just because they stopped suffering. That's not life.' Lith thought.
"I have bad news, Kamila. Zinya's problem doesn't lie in her eyes. She completely lacks the optic nerve."
"The what?" Both sisters asked. Most Healers knew nothing about anatomy, let alone laymen.
"It links the eyes to the brain. Without, it one cannot see. It's a big problem, like missing a whole arm. I hoped your sister's case would be simple, but for something like that, I need to consult an expert.
"I won't mess with Zinya's brain until I'm 100% sure I know what I'm doing."
"I never said I want to be treated!" Zinya's voice was full of fear.
"Really? Do you want to stay here? With that man?" Lith was angry, but Zinya wasn't afraid of him. His outrage wasn't cruel like that of her husband. It sounded more like a fellow victim who had yet to give up on hope.
"He took your children away from you, your legs, and your sister. How long will you allow him to feast on your soul?" Nonetheless, his words hurt. Tears streamed down Zinya's face again and Kamila put herself between them.
"Zin, I know I'm asking a lot of you, but please, reconsider your decision. Lith went a little overboard, but he isn't completely wrong. Before you had no choice, whereas now I'm offering you one.
"We have waited for a long time, but things only got worse. Fallmug got worse, his violence always escalating. I've lived the past few years afraid to receive a call telling me that you died at his hand.
"If you can't find the strength to do it for yourself, do it for the kids and for me." Kamila said.
"I know you're right, Kami, but I'm too scared. What if Lith fails? Even worse, what if he succeeds?" Zinya asked.
"We'll think about it when the time comes. Right now, all I need is your consent. I need to know that you are willing to fight this battle with us."
"Be honest with me, Kami. Is this world really worth fighting for? Or is Mogar just full of misery? I never understood how people like me can be born just to suffer whereas people like Fallmug are free to destroy everything they touch without suffering any consequence.
"I'm too old and too tired to fight, Kami. It's not worth it." Zinya shook her head.
"Yes, Mogar is unfair. Every world is unfair." Lith said with a stone cold voice.
"The only way to survive is to make life unfair to your advantage. If you don't fight for yourself, no one will." He placed his hands to the sides of Zinya's head, activating two tier five light magic spells, Scanner and Chisel.
He used the tendrils of mana Chisel created to connect the life force of her brain with that of her eyes, using mana as a temporary conduit. Zinya's pupils moved around the room as light and colors flooded her vision.
"Zin?" Said a beautiful woman in front of her. Zinya couldn't believe her own ears, the woman sounded like her sister. She raised her hands, touching the woman's face and recognizing her on the spot.
"Is that really you Kami?" Zinya asked.
"Yes, Zin. It's me. I've brought you your favorite flowers." Kamila took a bouquet of fresh silver wattles out of her dimensional amulet. Their vibrant scent filled her nose and their color was a marvel to her eyes.
Chapter 599 Overlapping Images Part 2
Zinya started to cry again, but this time out of joy. She appreciated even her newfound vision turning blurry because of tears. Anything was better than the eternal night she had been trapped in.
"Zin, only you can decide if Mogar is worth fighting for. Even at your age, there are so many things you can still experience. There are so many things that I want to share with you.
"I won't force you to do anything, just know that no matter your choice, I'll always be by your side." Kamila said.
Zinya turned her head to look at Lith's face. She didn't know much about magic, but she had guessed that the moment he would remove his hands from her head, she would lose her sight again.
"Your trick is quite a low blow. How can I say no after you showed me all this? After seeing the pain and anguish in Kami's face? Yet I'm grateful you did it. I've been stuck in this cage for so long that it had trapped even my mind.
"If you think you are likely to succeed, I'd be grateful to have you as my Healer. You are the first man I've ever seen, so I have no idea if you are handsome or not. Yet the way Kamila describes you fits like a glove. You're terrifying and kind at the same time." Zinya said.
"I'll take that as a compliment. If there's one thing you have to learn is that in life there's no such thing as a low blow. Only victory and defeat. Prepare for my next trick." Lith conjured an ice mirror in front of Zinya, to allow her to watch at her reflection.
"Is this my face?" She said.
"I'm so pale and thin. I must look terrible." Zinya moved her eyes from the mirror to Kamila, trying to make a comparison.
"Believe me, for someone in your situation, you look gorgeous." Kamila said.
"I just wish the children were here. I'd give everything to see them, even just once." Zinya sighed.
"First things first." Lith took a piece of paper out of his pocket dimension.
"This is the legal form that grants me the status of your personal Healer. I'm aware you are illiterate, so you can just draw an X where Kamila points you to. Then, we'll need three witnesses. Kami?"
Kamila ran out of the room with a huge smile on her face.
'I can't believe Zin accepted to get treated so fast, nor that Lith would bring a legal document that grants him the authority to protect her. This is all too good to be true.' She thought while knocking to the neighbor's doors.
It took her less than a minute to come back with two men and one woman. They all signed the document and then Kamila showed Zinya how an X was shaped.
"Just a few words before you leave." Lith said while never leaving Zinya's side.
"If you think even for one second to go back on your word and deny to have signed the document, remember this. The moment you do that, you'll become my enemies and I'll treat you as such.
"If anything happens to Lady Sarta, I'll hold you responsible for it in front of the Law and the Mage Association."
His voice was calm, yet the three started to shake uncontrollably. Lith wasn't using killing intent to not scare Kamila, but his gaze was more than enough to scare normal humans to death.
There was no warmth in them, just a silent promise of pain. They nodded and gave him a deep bow, their heads almost touching the floor before rushing out of the door.
"I'm sorry, but I can't keep the spell up any longer without the risk of hurting you. Your body can't handle so much mana at once." Lith said, waiting for Zinya to nod before he interrupted his spells.
Since everything had been settled in a matter of minutes, they had the time to enjoy tea with some pastries together. Kamila loved seeing her sister's real smile, instead of the fake one she had worn during her last visit.
Seeing Zin eat and talk so much filled her heart with happiness. All of her questions about their personal life, especially as a couple, not so much.
'Oh, gods! I've never introduced one of my boyfriends to her before. This is so embarrassing.' She thought while Lith dodged a question about having children.
When they left, Kamila was still on cloud nine. There were so many things that she wanted to tell Lith, but there was no time. He had to Warp them to the city's Warp Gate to not make her arrive late at work.
"I'll see you tonight!" She said with a radiant smile before leaving.
Lith called the greatest expert of Body Sculpting he knew, Professor Zogar Vastor.
"What a pleasant surprise, Lith. What can I do for you?" Vastor replied immediately, as always. Unlike Manohar, he often did freelance jobs and unlike Manohar, he was reliable.
Lith has learned everything he knew about Body Sculpting from him and he had seen Vastor perform miracles with that spell. Lith explained to him the situation and requested his help.
"I would be glad to help, but you caught me in a bad moment. The Academy is about to open and I'm swamped preparing my lessons and filling old paperwork. Can you wait for a couple of days? I should be free by then." Vastor said.
"Yes, of course. Thanks for your help, Professor. I'd like to show you the patient's status. I think it might help you understand her problem." Lith placed his amulet on a table and started to focus.
He conjured a real size hologram of Zinya's head, peeling off one layer at a time until only the eyes, the brain, and the skull remained.
"Good gods. That's almost as good as visiting the patient in person. Almost." Vastor said while recording everything to look at it later in detail.
"It's a difficult case indeed, but it's treatable. I'll send you all the reading material my assistants can find. The rest I'll explain to you in person." Vastor hung the call.
Lith informed Kamila and then went back to Lutia.
'I've done all I could for Zinya. I've even alerted the local authorities of her situation and added her to my patient list at the Mage Association. I have a lot of free time until evening, time to try Bloom Forge out.' He thought.
Zekell was still smelting the first batch of Orichalcum, so there wasn't much else Lith could do. He wanted to put to the test both the Forgemastering techniques he had created before working on the new Skinwalker Armor.
'One of them is bound to be better than the other. Another thing I could do is a replica of Orion's cloaking ring. That way Solus and I could move separate ways when necessary without anyone noticing her.'
'Excellent idea! Yet isn't an Orichalcum ring wasted for a single spell?' She asked.
'No, if it allows us to make a better and more powerful ring that completely hides your life force. Safety is priceless.'
Once they got back inside the tower, Lith took out the second hammer and performed the Bonding spell to fuse it with two cyan magic crystals. Only when the mana circulatory systems of the hammer had stabilized did the real Forgemastering begin.
Chapter 600 Bloom Forge Part 1
Bloom Forge was the polar opposite of Necro Forge.
Instead of creating a perfect pseudo core from the start and merge it with its host, Lith would create a small pseudo core and the mana pathways necessary to prevent it from dissipating at the same time directly inside the hammer.
It was supposed to require less focus and mana compared to Necro Forge. The mana pathways would allow Lith's energy to mix with that of the mana crystals during the Forgemastering process.
It would reduce the resistance that the pseudo core experienced when interacting with the mana vessels, and by starting small, all mistakes Lith might make could be tweaked as he shaped the core. Bloom Forge was far from perfect, even in theory.
Lith had already predicted that the more the Forgemastering process progressed, the more difficult things would become. Neither the pseudo core nor the mana pathways could exceed their ideal form.
Bloom Forge had a threshold past which any mistake would mean an unredeemable failure.
Necro Forge's difficulty peaked at the very beginning of the Forgemastering process, when Lith was at his prime, and decreased as the pseudo core merged with the item. Bloom Forge, instead, would start easy and become harder with every next step.
The second issue was that taking care of the pseudo core and the mana pathways at the same time would require a lot of focus from Lith. Since he would only grow more tired with time, he would face the most delicate steps while he was at his weakest.
"Are you ready, Solus?" Lith asked.
"Ready. Commencing to power up the mana circle." The space around their Forge was surrounded by a blue pillar of light. It was made of the world energy Solus extracted from the mana geyser below them.
Lith positioned the Orichalcum WellMert hammer on the center of the obsidian table that was his Mana Forge and then placed his open hands at the sides of the hammer's shaft, so that his palms touched a mana crystal each.
He used true Forgemastering to create a pseudo core the size of a pinhole and several mana pathways as thin as hair. At the same time, he activated Invigoration to check the development of his experiment and be able to look at his own mana core, using it as a blueprint.
'So far it's much easier than I expected and better than Necro Forge.' Lith thought.
'I just need to take things nice and easy. The core has already started to exchange mana with the crystals, making it easy to expand.'
By simply taking his time, Lith discovered that developing the core was the easy part. As its energy grew, so did its affinity toward the hammer. The process required a steady flow of mana, but it would not encounter any resistance.
Giving the core the right shape was quite difficult, instead. The lack of resistance made so that the slightest slip of the mana would create a bump or a cavity, making the pseudo core defective.
To make matters worse, if he developed the mana pathways too slowly, the core energy would disperse. If he developed them too fast, the mana coming from the crystals would flood the core and deform it.
Lith used his knowledge of mana cores to find a workaround. He would treat the pseudo core as a developing mana core and the mana pathways as its host body. He would first grow the core until it gave signs of instability.
Then, he would strengthen and enlarge the pathways until the pressure they exerted almost compressed the pseudo core. At that point, he would focus again on the pseudo core again, rinse and repeat.
'Bloom Forge is even slower than Necro Forge, but it allows me to enhance the power of single enchantments better. Necro Forge, instead, is limited by the massive resistance it encounters during the early steps, but by shaping a complete pseudo core from outside, it allows me to harmonize multiple enchantments.' Lith thought.
'It seems is quality versus quantity.' Solus pondered.
'For now, yes. Consider that so far, we only created one of the simplest pseudo cores for the hammers. We have yet to see how the hammer itself changes the rules of the game.'
When even the second hammer was ready, Lith was once again covered in sweat and tired for the repeated use of Invigoration. The only reason he was still able to stand was thanks to his bond with Solus.
The mana geyser empowering her would also send energy coursing through his body and grant him uncanny recovery abilities. He was still hungry, though.
"Damn, I skipped lunch. It's a good thing that yesterday I had a full night's sleep, otherwise my experiment would have failed." Lith said.
He took a quick shower before consuming a full course meal and napping for an hour. Before using either of the hammers, he needed to rest enough to let Invigoration bring him back to his peak condition.
Ever since Lith had refined a blue core, he would absorb world energy through his nose and skin with every breath, like a much slower version of Invigoration that didn't lower his max energy cap.
Also, as long as he was inside the tower, the effects of the mana geyser would make him both physically and magically stronger. The two combined effect made so that even a single hour of sleep would greatly rejuvenate his body.
Solus spent that hour weighing and caressing the hammers. They were quite ugly, yet everything about them was oddly familiar to her. Lith had already imprinted them with his mana, but she could use them because their bond made their energy signatures almost identical.
"By my maker, I wish there was something, anything, I could Forgemaster." She sighed.
"Unfortunately, with a deep green mana core I'm too weak. I can manipulate the energies of the tower and those from the geyser, but they are not my own. I want to infuse my essence, using anything else would be pointless."
She took the adamant Forge out of her pocket dimension, hitting it with the Orichalcum hammer in frustration. The silvery sound they emitted scratched at the wall in the back of her head, the source of her recently found memories.
She froze, staring blankly into space. Then, she hit the Forge again as the echoes of the impact caused her body to shiver and purple flames to fill her mind. Another hit made her remember something.
A delicate hand inside a black glove, holding a much better looking silvery hammer with its surface covered in runes of power. There was something she was working on, but it was blurred behind recognition.
Something silvery as well laid between the hammer and the blurred object. Purple flames danced inside a furnace, but Solus couldn't distinguish any of its features. The furnace was too far and it became more distant by the second until she snapped out of her reverie.
Solus hit the Forger multiple times, but the memory was lost once again and no matter how many tears she shed or how much effort she put into hammering, nothing could bring it back.
***
When Lith woke up, he was still very tired, but now Invigoration had recovered part of its effectiveness. He found Solus to be quite dispirited despite their earlier success.
"Is everything alright, Solus?" He asked.
"No."
"Do you want to talk about it?"
"Not now, thanks."
Lith decided to not pry further. After reassuring Elina he had missed lunch only because he had been engrossed with his work, he went to Zekell's blacksmith.
Chapter 601 Bloom Forge Part 2
"How nice of you! It's your second day leave and I haven't seen you except for collecting your packages and eating. Would it kill you to spend a few hours with us? Do I have to invite Kamila to have you grace us with your presence?" Elina wasn't happy with his time table and had no qualms rebuking him.
'Now I understand why some mages become Liches. How am I supposed to spend time with my family, practice magic, help my girlfriend, and continue my research all at the same time?' Lith thought.
'It's impossible. To achieve something, you have to sacrifice something else in return.' Solus said.
'You can always ditch your duty as a Ranger and your loved ones. You just have to content yourself in becoming like Zolgrish, who has nothing but his work and a demented assistant.'
Just the thought of it made Lith shiver. He was still fighting to keep his sanity and he knew that Solus's had been slipping for years. If he forced her to stay away from any form of human interaction, Lith knew that sooner or later she would snap.
He walked to Lutia instead of Warping, to take a minute for themselves and appreciate the scenery. Winter in Lutia was about to end, but snow still covered fields and trees. There was no one around, giving Mogar a peaceful appearance.
When he reached Zekell's workshop, the blacksmith looked really tired.
"I'm sorry, Lith, but even with Senton's help this work is huge. Smelting the Orichalcum is the easy part, same for the hammers since I can directly pour the molten metal into the mold.
"The problem is the chain mail set. I've never worked on something so tough and I need time to get used to it. I can either work on the chainmail or on the smelting, not both." Zekell had bags under his eyes and a raggedy breath.
"Can Senton take care of the smelting while you create the chainmails?" Lith asked.
"Yes, of course. I thought you wanted me to do it." Zekell knew that Lith only wanted perfection. Senton had worked with him for over a decade, but the skill gap between them was still huge.
"It's fine. Even I can do it, so I doubt someone like him will make any mistake. How many chainmails are ready?" Lith asked.
"Four, but their design is terrible. I'm ashamed of how bad they look, but I couldn't do better with so little time." Zekell lowered his eyes in embarrassment.
"You are dead tired and four are plenty. Take the day off, I have 18 days leave left. I have all that I need for my experiments and I prefer perfect materials for my real crafts. I want you at your best.
"Have Senton keep smelting, I have no idea how many times I will fail." Lith gave Zekell another crate and a few silver coins for his troubles. The blacksmith's eyes shined like stars, his body was full of energy again.
"No seriously. Take a rest." Lith placed his hand over Zekell's shoulder to check on his condition with Invigoration. The blacksmith was on the verge of collapsing.
Zekell nodded with a big yawn. A sprinkle of light magic had relaxed his muscles and burned the last shreds of stamina he had. Zekell was in for a long power nap.
Lith took four horrible chainmail that looked like they had been made by a child assembling spare keychains and stored them inside his pocket dimension.
'Eww.' He thought.
'Enough is enough. We have to think about the design too.' Solus was outraged. Her pride as a craftsman was horrified at the idea to work on something like that.
Lith was about to reply when his communication amulet drew his attention.
"What is it now? This is the busiest leave ever!" He groaned noticing that it was Quylla's rune.
"Lith how could you do that to me?" Her hologram looked quite pissed off.
"Do what? It seems I'm pissing off a lot of people these days so I need you to be more specific."
"Don't get smartass with me! Vastor told me everything since I'm his assistant. Why didn't you call me for help? You know I majored in Body Sculpting and I'm working my ass in the field." Quylla said.
"You are really cute when you're angry." Lith's reply managed to make her turn beet red from a mix of embarrassment and rage.
"Jokes aside, the case is complicated. I believe in your skills, Quylla. You know I always considered you a genius, but I need the help of an expert. No matter how good you are, you have graduated a year later than me.
"You have less than two years of practice. Even if you healed one person per day until now, you would be nowhere near Vastor's level of skill and experience. Messing with a person's brain is a serious matter and you know it."
Quylla took a deep breath. As a friend, she felt insulted, but as a Healer, she could only agree with him.
"Point taken, but after spending a week with Friya, how could you not even give me a call for a consult? I've seen you for just one day for almost two years. I miss my best friend." Her last words struck at Lith's conscience, making him feel guilty.
He also considered once again becoming a lich.
"I'm sorry. Do you want to join the team? With your talent, you could spot any issue Vastor or I could miss. Maybe even find an easier way to treat Zinya."
"I'd be honored to!" Her anger disappeared like a snowball thrown into the sun.
"By the way, you absolutely have to teach me how to create holograms. The level of detail in the patient's model was astounding." There was a bit too much enthusiasm in her voice, making even Solus wonder if she missed more Lith or his teachings.
"How is it going with Anathor?" Lith promptly changed the topic.
"Oh gods, you remembered! Very well. He finally mustered the courage to meet my parents. I was starting to think he was just playing with my feelings, but it turns out he was just scared. He almost fainted facing dad's gaze." She chuckled.
"Glad to hear that, but don't lower your guard. He might still be a jerk. You deserve someone who treats you right, otherwise you'll end up with a jerk like my current patient." Lith Warped back to Trawn before telling her about Zinya's background.
"Poor woman. Her situation couldn't be any worse. Between her husband and her condition, it's hard to tell which one is worse." She said.
"Any ideas?"
"Well, I read a lot of papers and I agree with your evaluation. Her case is as bad as she was missing part of her spine. What makes this case difficult is that the problem doesn't lie in a malfunctioning part of her body but in a complete lack of it.
"Creating an optic nerve is very dangerous. Things can go wrong when you create it and also when you link it to her life force. Both times you have to manipulate her brain. The slightest mistake could affect her personality, her memories, everything.
"Asking Vastor for help was the best thing you could do. I'm forwarding you all the papers on similar procedures I found."
Watching at the double digits appearing on his communication amulet, Lith was glad to have such a dear friend. Quylla had done a thorough job, giving him everything he needed.
He also was once again glad of having Soluspedia. He only needed to write all that stuff down with water magic to save himself two days worth of reading.
Chapter 602 Overpowered Part 1
Lith and Solus needed only a few minutes to put on paper all the information Quylla had sent them. After that, Soluspedia did the rest. Once something was stored inside of it, they knew its content by heart, as if they had an eidetic memory.
Lith and Solus discussed together all the possible approaches to give Zinya sight, taking into account the degree of risk/success rate each procedure involved.
'Even though none of those who have the fewest failures have shared their spells, they all described in detail how they work. Thanks to true magic, we can follow their lead and even combine their techniques together.' Lith thought.
They spent a few hours using holograms to simulate the procedure. Lith created a replica of his own optic nerve while Solus would tweak and twist the hologram at random, to cause complications he had to deal with on the spot.
All the while he actually used Scanner on both himself and Solus while using Chisel on the hologram. Triple casting tier five spells while keeping the hologram active proved to be quite tiring.
"Dammit, this is hard. I made over thirty attempts, succeed twelve times, partially succeeded five times, failed eleven times, and killed Zinya at least four times!" Lith said.
"Calm down. This is the first time we deal with such a complex case. You got too used to true magic making healing the impossible possible. Don't forget that you are working non stop since you returned home. Follow your own advice and take the day off.
"Tomorrow we'll practice the procedure until we are satisfied with the results. Now it's too late and you are too tired. There are less than two hours before you have to be at Kamila's place." Solus's wisp rubbed against his shoulder, spreading her mana around him in a warm embrace.
"I think you are right." Lith replied.
"I'll take the day off as soon as I'm done with the Skinwalker." He Warped inside his Forgemastering lab, taking the WellMert hammer and the keychainmail out of his pocket dimension.
He placed them over his obsidian Forge while Solus demonstrated an outstanding creativity in mixing English and common language insults to express her feelings about Lith's stubbornness.
First, he used Invigoration to go back to what was now his peak condition. With just an hour nap and after practicing the medical procedure many times, Invigoration wouldn't last for long.
"Necro or Bloom Forge?" Lith asked.
"Neither! Go to sleep dammit!"
"Necro it is!" Lith said, making her emit a loud and unladylike groan.
Lith had acquired the blueprints for the Skinwalker Armor when the Crown had elevated him to the status of Great Mage. They had even provided him with all the ingredients needed to make a new one.
Yet only now that he also had the Orichalcum at hand he had the opportunity to improve its properties. Tista had already received her own as a reward for her services in Othre, whereas the rest of the family had no need for it.
Not after Lith had given them all of his Skinwalker prototypes and Forgemastered for them magical protections in the form of rings, bracelets, or necklaces.
"Whenever people ask me why I joined the army, I always have to spew a bunch of lies about how much I love the Kingdom. The truth is that it's much better than the alternative. I get to rake merits, rewards and get paid for it.
"To obtain ingredients, I would be forced to travel Mogar with my own money and risk my life. Not to mention the necessity of doing missions for the Association to obtain the blueprints.
"This way, all expenses are covered and I get everything I need delivered to my door. Every time I solve a mission, the army rewards me with ingredients according to its difficulty.
"Sure, usually they are not as precious as Orichalcum, but it would still be hard and expensive to get them on my own." Lith said while taking the ingredients for the Skinwalker out.
It required the skin of a polymorphic monster species known as Skinwalker, hence its name. It also needed a bit of slime goop as a stabilizer, powdered petals of Magma flower as a power core, and a Thunderbird's plume to boost the base material's defensive properties.
Thunderbirds had sturdy feathers as hard as iron, and their affinity to lightning granted them a natural electromagnetic field capable of weakening most attacks.
The last ingredient to Forgemaster a Skinwalker Armor was the pseudo core of a dimensional storage item that would be merged with those generated by the rest of the ingredients.
First, Lith used the Bonding spell to fuse a blue mana crystal with the keychainmail.
Then, Solus powered up the Forgemastering circle as Lith refined the ingredients one by one. The skin, the powder, and the feather were all flooded by his mana. It revived and amplified their magical nature while destroying their physical vessels.
They produced a rainbow colored, a red, and a yellow pseudo core respectively. After Lith was certain that all the residual magical energy had been extracted from the ingredients and assimilated by the pseudo cores, he generated the last one.
A Skinwalker Armor required a dimensional subspace to store the clothes that it would reproduce.
Lith had Forgemastered countless dimensional items over the years, so he threw the dimensional core just a glance to make sure it was perfect. Lith raised his arms, bringing the four pseudo cores close to each other, until they started to emit sparks.
At that point, he refined the slime goop. Slimes were incredible creatures, with amazing vitality and capable of adapting to any environment. The goop didn't produce another core, but a fine mist that filled the Forgemastering circle.
The mist harmonized the different energies of the pseudo cores, allowing Lith to merge them into one. Then, keychainmail and the pseudo core started to orbit around each other.
The Orichalcum started to resonate with the mystical energy, making the pseudo core grow in size and power.
'Fuck me sideways! That never happened before. It must be due to the interaction between the Orichalcum's artificial mana flow and the Thunderbird's amplification field.' Lith thought.
He stimulated his own mana core, boosting its energies until his body started to ache from mana overloading. Solus called upon the energies of the mana geyser, filling the Necro Hammer with mana to allow Lith to exceed his limits.
The armor rejected the pseudo core until Lith struck the Forgemastering circle with the hammer, producing a silvery sound. It released a deep blue burst of light that was captured by the circle and channeled into the ongoing spell.
Lith's mana and willpower pushed the pseudo core inside the keychainmail, allowing it to overcome the resistance the mana coming from the blue produced. As soon as Lith was overcharged again, he hit the circle a second time, generating another burst of light.
With each strike, the merging process became easier and faster.
'Dammit, I think we messed up. We created a pseudo core just as strong as the one in the hammer, but this time it's much more complex. I cannot regenerate it and continue the merging at the same time!' Lith thought.
Solus stepped in to help him, but between keeping the hammer charged and powering the circle, her focus was already spent. They fought against the odds for half an hour before the pseudo core collapsed and the blue mana crystal shattered.
Chapter 603 Overpowered Part 2
"I can't believe it. I've worked on the armor for less than an hour and I'm way more tired than after we crafted the hammer." Lith said while checking his pocket watch.
"It's perfectly normal. The hammer required a single core, whereas this time you fused four cores of the same power together." Solus said.
"Handling that kind of energy for an hour while repairing any deformation the clash between five different kinds of mana induced is much more difficult than working six hours and a half on a single core. By the way, I'm beat too. I need time to recuperate." Solus wheezed.
Lith had never heard of a tower being out of breath, but he could feel the energy in the tower being somewhat diminished.
"We'll continue tomorrow." Lith said.
"What about Zinya's procedure?"
"Fine! The day after tomorrow."
"You have an appointment with Vastor scheduled for that day." Solus said, making Lith erupt in a streak of swear words.
Lith went inside the bathroom for a long bath. He had over an hour of time and planned to make it count. He arrived at Kamila's early, using the time before she returned home to run simulations with Solus to understand how to compensate for the unexpected complication.
'The boost the final pseudo core receives from the Orichalcum makes it impossible for us to succeed. What if we lower the output of 30%?' Lith thought.
'It would be enough if we were using a single core. There's four of them, so you have to take into account the energy necessary to keep them both merged and in the correct shape. I'd start with 50%. It leaves you enough mana in case another unexpected complication arises.'
'50%? It's a waste of blue crystals, Orichalcum, and ingredients!' Lith rebuked.
'Yeah, but so is another failure. 50% is a reasonable amount and allows us to test the waters. If we succeed, at least we'll have a starting point, whereas another failure would teach us nothing.'
Lith was pondering Solus's words so hard that he completely missed Kamila's arrival. Seeing him brooding with a dejected look threw her into a panic.
"Lith are you alright? It's everything okay with your family?" Knowing his talent at risking his life at least once a day, she was worried he could be hurt. She touched his shoulder, chest, and arms searching for injuries.
"I'm fine and so is my family, don't worry." His answer only made her worry more since he kept staring blankly. Light magic could heal any kind of wound, but not those to his wallet. Lith was almost grieving for his most recent failure.
"Is it for Zinya? Is her situation so bad? Did Fallmug beat her or something?" She shook him, to force Lith looking her in the eyes while answering.
"No, no, and no." He checked his communication amulet, just to be safe.
"Then what's the matter? Speak to me, please" She asked.
Seeing how worried she was for him, almost on the verge of tears, made Lith feel like a jerk.
'I can't tell her I'm grieving for a failed experiment. She would think I'm a self-centered, stingy, idiot. Solus, analysis!' He thought.
'If you ever plan to reveal to her at least as much as you did with Phloria, you can't hide your flaws. Just be honest with her. Besides, she already knows about the stinginess and you're not very self-centered.' She giggled.
Lith told her the truth. She waited patiently until he finished expressing his gripes before saying:
"Idiot! You made me worry for nothing."
'All according to keikaku.' Solus thought.
"I'm really sorry about your materials, but the important thing is that nothing happened to you." She sat on Lith's lap, putting her arms around his neck before giving him a soft kiss.
Lith returned her embraced and his arms ran along Kamila's hair and hips, making her arch her back in pleasure. They started to kiss with growing passion, forgetting all about their daily worries as electricity seemed to course through their skin every time they touched.
"Is it better now?" She said. Her voice was a soft moan, making his morale raise among other things.
"Very much."
"I'm too tired to cook and I assumed it would be the same for you, so I reserved a table for us at the Velorian. We need to hurry, otherwise we'll get late." She said while standing up.
She noticed his disappointed expression and quickly added:
"It's barely seven pm, silly. We have all evening and night. We didn't have a date in weeks and I really miss your company. Would you have dinner with me? My treat, so you'll forget about your financial losses." She chuckled.
"I'm okay going out for dinner, but not with you paying the bill." Lith replied and his stomach grumbled in approval. Even if it had been a failure, the Forgemastering experiment had drained his energy.
"It's my treat, to apologize for giving you a scare. Also, it's not like saving a few copper coins can hurt after having already lost around twenty gold coins. That without taking the Orichalcum into account, since it has no market price."
His words made Kamila choke on her laugh. Twenty gold coins was more than Manohar would ask to treat Zinya's blindness. A single gold coin was worth a hundred silver coins. Even a Constable was paid in silver.
The amount Lith described was enough to buy a house.
"That much?" Suddenly his gloomy disposition was much more relatable.
"Yes, but I'm likely to waste more. One has to fail a lot before succeeding." He sighed.
The food was nice and the wine excellent. Lith told Kamila about Elina's gripes on his work schedule and her intentions of kidnapping her if he didn't spend more time with his family.
"Tell her that I'm a-okay with that. She just has to knock out my boss and I'm all hers." Kamila said.
Between the cheery mood and Kamila's soothing presence, Lith was finally able to relax after weeks of unrelenting work, fight, or training. His body felt light and the anxiety that had been clouding his mind during the last two days disappeared.
'Man, I'm so glad we got out for dinner. I really needed a break.' Lith thought.
'Yeah, I wonder where I heard those same exact words before. Oh yeah, it was me! You just didn't listen, like usual.' Solus was pissed off, yet she took note of all the ideas that were popping in Lith's now clear mind.
"I'm sorry to ruin the mood, but I have to tell you." Kamila said.
"What you did today for Zinya was amazing. I brought you with me because I wanted you to reassure her, but you did so much more. You gave my sister hope and even allowed her to see me for the first time.
"I can't thank you enough for that. I've never thought I'd see Zinya so happy, it meant the world for me."
"You're not ruining anything. When my sister was ill, I felt the same as you do." Lith said, giving her the strength to ask the question that had tormented her since yesterday.
"Is it everything alright between us?" Kamila asked.
"What do you mean?" Lith had no idea what she was talking about.
Chapter 604 Outcast Part 1
"I know how things must seem to you. That I dated you only to get a freebie for my sister. I never meant to hide how bad her situation is from you, it's just that it's not something I like to talk about.
"I wouldn't have even bothered you with it if you weren't the best Healer I know and now that I'm a Field Assistant Constable, I can afford the treatment. I can pay you, so nothing has to change between us. I'm not trying to exploit you." Kamila said.
"Gods, my paranoia is really rubbing off on you. I never thought anything like that. I too hid a lot of things from you. I know all too well how difficult it is to speak about a painful past. Only those who want to garner pity from others would speak of such things on a first date.
"I'm glad that you asked for my help, because it means you trust me enough to share your burden with me. I'm even more glad to hear about all the silly thoughts running through your head, because it means you are not taking me for granted." Lith gently caressed her hand.
'I wish I was that strong. I have yet to tell her about my hybrid nature. I can't tell her about Awakening and true magic, but if things get really serious, I can't make the same mistakes Protector did.' He thought.
"Thanks." Kamila sighed in relief, feeling her worries fading.
"The thought that you might be doubting about my feelings was eating at me since yesterday. To be honest, it's the reason I avoided to… you know." She said while the waitress brought them desserts.
The conversation moved again to their respective day's work and silly anecdotes about their lives. When they went to Kamila's apartment, Lith was happy, relaxed, and most of all, sleepy.
"I had too much wine. I'll go take a quick shower to clear my head and I'll join you as soon as I slip into something more comfortable." Kamila said.
'Tomorrow I have a full day and today I've used Invigoration so much that all my body aches. With a full stomach and considering how tired I am, I'd better avoid making advances.
'Besides, things with Kamila will be awkward for a while, at least until we solve Zinya's problem. Heck, I'm too tired even for theory crafting magic.' He thought as the Skinwalker shapeshifted into his pajama.
Lith checked with Life Vision that nothing was out of order and that there was no unknown magical item before being able to relax. He fell asleep the moment his head touched the pillow.
It didn't last long, though. A sudden flash of light and a mildly amused voice woke him up after what seemed a second.
"What are you doing?" There was a tinge of annoyance in Kamila's voice.
"Isn't it obvious? I was sleeping." Lith shielded his eyes from the cruel light with a hand.
"After how you kissed me when I returned home? After what I said earlier? What happened to your math skills?" She was tapping her foot, her hands on her hips.
"What do you- Good gods!" Lith's mind recalled her earlier words as his vision returned to normal. Kamila was standing in front of the door wearing only red lace lingerie. It made wonders emphasizing her pale skin and soft curves.
During his time as Assistant Professor at the academy, Lith had used the White Griffon network to patent the underwear he had plagiarized from Earth. It hadn't been the success he had hoped for, except for the women underwear, of course.
Lith had gifted Kamila a few for their amorous plays and she was now wearing his favorite one.
"But yesterday you said…"
"Yesterday we had to talk, silly." She crawled on the bed on all four with deliberately slow, sensual movements, showing miles of cleavage.
"Didn't you miss me? Even one bit?" She said before giving him a peck that tasted like heaven.
Lith turned off the lights with a snap of his fingers before taking her into his arms. They started to kiss while feeling each other's body. Lith took his time to appreciate the feeling of the lace covering her skin before removing it slowly, one bit at the time.
'Thanks, math. I knew you wouldn't relinquish me.'
***
The next morning, after they had breakfast together and Kamila left home, Lith went back to Lutia. He took Belius's Warp Gate to leave a trace of his movements and then used Solus's tower Warp to reach his destination and sleep.
Kamila was fine because he had shared with her a bit of his life force, but they had slept too little and Invigoration's effects had yet to reset. Four hours later, Lith was back at his full force and practiced Zinya's procedure until it was lunchtime.
His parents were very happy to have him with them for a while, even more when he chose to stay a bit longer after lunch. Lith told them about his latest mission everything that wasn't a state secret.
"I'm glad to hear that Friya is doing well." Elina said.
"Yeah, too bad that girl is a workaholic just like you. You didn't see each other since Jirni's birthday and yet you spent the entire time practicing magic. You need to relax, son." Raaz said.
"It's what I'm doing now, right?" Lith used spirit magic to play with Aran, moving some of his toy soldiers and engaging him in a fierce battle.
"Why did you pick the beanpole instead of aunt Friya? She's a babe." Aran said with a pensive tone. Some words made little sense to him, so he had a hard time remembering them
"Raaz!" "Dad!" Elina and Lith said in unison. The only way Aran could say such things was by hearing those words from someone else and often at that.
"Guilty as charged." Raaz showed his hands, surrendering.
"I'm sorry, but I never understood how you pick your girlfriends. Even when you two just met, Phloria was already very tall. Taller than me and even than you. Also, she's too…" Raaz was almost too embarrassed to finish the sentence.
"Strong?" Lith asked. He knew that his father was still shocked after losing to her in many strength contests. As far as Raaz knew, Phloria was stronger than Lith as well.
"Yes. A woman shouldn't be so intimidating. Now you have Kamila, she's lovely sure, but she's…"
"Old?" Elina's voice was so cold that it made the temperature in the room plummet.
'If Kamila is old, then what am I?' She thought.
"…er. Older than Lith, dear. Whereas Friya is about the right age, height, and is a wonderful woman. A father has all the right to worry about his eldest son." Raaz said, his voice became low and sour.
"Eldest son? What about Trion?" Lith didn't miss either Raaz's tone nor Elina turning pale.
"Dear, I told you it had to wait." She said.
"Sorry, honey. I didn't mean to." He sighed.
"Your brother came here a few days before Jirni's birthday, when only your mother, Aran, and I were at home. Things didn't go well. Our reunion started badly and things escalated quickly. Long story short, he disowned us and is no longer a member of our family."
Chapter 605 Outcast Part 2
Trion had never forgotten his promise to Lith, mostly because he was afraid that his brother would barge in his base and humiliate him again. It still took him months to find the strength to go back home.
He loved his parents with all his heart and that was the reason seeing them was much harder than continue to avoid the unresolved issues he had with his family. Trion had thought for a long time about Orpal's fate before realizing that by endangering their baby brother's life he had crossed the line.
Thanks to the life in the army and the camaraderie with his peers, Trion had realized that what he had with his older brother was a sick relationship. Orpal always ordered him around and they rarely argued simply because Trion obeyed to him.
He didn't resent his parents anymore for disowning his beloved older brother, yet the more he thought about it, the less home felt like a home. His parents had never loved him any less than Lith, but he was tired of being always compared to his little brother.
Tired of being painfully often referred to as "Lith's brother" rather than with his name.
The army gave him a place where he could be himself, where the shadow of his brother couldn't reach him anymore. That was the reason he had never returned home. Even if Lith was always at the academy, his presence had tainted the whole Lutia.
In her letters, after asking Trion to reply to her and let her know he was alright, Elina would always mention how the village had expanded, how their house was being renovated. Until the house he remembered was no more.
Things became even worse for Trion each time Lith made a name for himself. The plague in Kandria, single-handedly facing a Valor, becoming a top ranker, they were all events that reached every corner of the Griffon Kingdom, barracks included.
Every time Trion heard people praising Lith for his achievements, despite him being a nameless commoner, he couldn't help but be jealous.
'If there's one thing Orpal was right about is how unfair it is that no one cares about our hard work. No one praises me for my efforts, nor anyone cares for how well I'm doing in the army. Lith only has to move his hands while spouting bullshit and everyone blows smoke up his ass!' He would often think.
When Lith received a family name from the King himself, Trion learned about it the worst possible way. A Lieutenant asked him if he wanted to take the Verhen name in front of the whole Mess Hall.
Suddenly Trion was no more, and in the blink of an eye his name became "Lith's brother" Verhen. Trion had to ask to be relocated and buy a family name, Proudstar, to avoid being associated with the Verhen again.
He regretted what he did to Phloria, but no matter how deep he buried his hatred, it was always there, smoldering. Any mention of his brother's name, no matter the reason, was enough to rekindle it into a blazing fire again.
When Trion returned home, it was exactly as he feared. The house was unrecognizable and so was the village. Most of the farmhands had no idea who he was and those who did spit on the ground at his passage.
"If you were my son and you made my Liza cry as much as Elina did for you, I'd kick your ass back to where you came from." Bromann said, eager to tell about Trion past to whoever asked him who that Sergeant was.
Trion had yet to set foot inside his home and he was already full of venom. He was thinking about throwing the thousands of miles he had crossed into the gutter when the door opened.
Raaz immediately recognized him and held his long lost son into an embrace.
"Welcome home, son." Was all he managed to say while fighting his tears back.
Hearing those words, Elina too rushed to the door, joining the embrace as tears of joy streamed down her face. In that moment, Trion remembered how much he loved his parents and all the wonderful things they had shared.
"I missed you so much, Trion." Elina said between sobs.
"I missed you too, mom. Sorry for not visiting for so long." He said letting go of his past grievances.
Unluckily, they all flooded back the moment his eyes looked at his right, where once there was his old room. It had been replaced by a pantry years ago. He ignored his parents' question about his friends and career, asking in anger:
"What the heck happened here? Where is my room?"
"Don't worry, sweetie. We haven't thrown away anything. Your room is on the second floor, like everyone else's." Elina said.
"What has become of Lith's study? Is it now a laundry room or what?" He asked with way more emphasis than necessary.
"Lith's study is still there, just like Rena's. Lith sometimes brings his girlfriend home and Rena is married now. They deserve a bit of privacy." Raaz explained.
It made perfect sense, especially considering that Lith had paid for all the renovations with his own money, yet Trion lived it as an unfair treatment.
"Come in, dear. Have a seat. We have so much catch up to do." Elina took hot tea and freshly baked pastries out of her dimensional ring, leaving Trion flabbergasted.
Now the kitchen and the dining room where two separate rooms. Every piece of furniture was of good quality. The house was warm and without a single draft, with more magical tools than the apartments Trion lived in.
With every step he took, he felt alien to that place. Only his parents gave him the strength to sit down and fight the rage that was consuming him.
"Who is this man, mom?" A small voice asked.
Trion had heard about Aran from both Phloria and Lith, yet he still couldn't believe his own eyes. He had always thought that giving birth to a demon like Lith had made her barren.
Secretly, he found solace at that thought, like it was some kind of divine justice balancing the scale.
"Sweetie, come meet your brother Trion." Elina held him in her arms.
"I've only one brother." Aran stubbornly said.
"Forgive him, Trion. Aran is barely four years old and has never met you before. You know how kids are." Her tone was apologetic, but Elina never stopped smiling nor her eyes sparkling while looking at the little miracle in her arms.
"Don't worry mom, it's fine." He blatantly lied, making it clear that he resented the small child.
"Tell me everything about you, son. How are things in the army? Do you have someone special?" Raaz asked.
"Sorry, dad. I'm not as good as Lith. I'm not married nor do I have a girlfriend. After all, even after working my ass off for years I'm just a Staff Sergeant, whereas he is a mighty mage who became a Lieutenant right off the bat!
"Why would anyone be interested in a nobody like me?" He said while slamming his hand on the table.
"Trion I'm not making comparisons. I just want to know how you are." Raaz said while Elina tried to calm down Aran. He didn't like strangers, even more those who yelled.
Chapter 606 Retribution Part 1
"How do you think I can possibly be?" Trion stood up abruptly, flipping his chair.
"This isn't my house anymore! You got rid of my room as if it was trash yet you kept Lith's intact. Everything here stinks of him. Your rings, your clothes, even him!" He said while pointing at Aran, making him cry.
"We didn't get rid of anything. Our room and Tista's are on the second floor, just like yours. What's wrong with this house? With your brother Aran? This is a good place where we have a good life." Elina said, her heart hurt by Trion's words.
"Of course the trash goes on the second floor, where it can't offend his majesty's eyes! I'll tell you what's wrong. You cut me out of your lives to the point that I had to learn from a stranger that I had a brother!"
"I never stopped writing to you, but my letters were always returned. According to the army, there was no Trion nor Trion Verhen…"
"And there never will be!" Trion yelled, cutting Elina short.
"I'm Trion Proudstar now. It's clear that as long as you have your precious Lith, you have no need for a failure of a son like me. I better be off before I waste more of your time." He walked towards the door, but Raaz grabbed him by the shoulder.
"Son, what's this madness? Why do you always talk about Lith? What did he ever do to you? We don't love Rena any less just because she's not a mage. If you are trash, then what about her? What about us?"
"Easy. You're worse than trash and I don't need you anymore. Don't bother teaching the runt my name. If I'm not a member of this family, I might as well be disowned too. Even better, I'll disown you, so at least I'll spare you the inconvenience to kick me out." He said before storming out of the house
***
Lith's house. Present day.
After Raaz finished telling him the whole story, Lith took a deep breath before saying:
"I'm sorry it ended up that way." Yet he was sorry for his parents, not for Trion. He had always considered his older brother a lost cause.
"Me too, dear." Elina sighed.
"Do you want me to go talk to him?" Lith asked.
"No, it would only make things worse. Thanks, though." Raaz said.
"I think it's partly our fault. After what happened with Orpal, we have been so overprotective towards Tista that we failed to notice the hole that losing his big brother opened in Trion's heart.
"Maybe if instead of just trying to forget about our lost son we spent more time with him, trying to explain Trion why Orpal had to go, things would have gone differently."
"No offense, Dad, but I call bullshit. After Orpal was disowned, you did the best you could and so did everyone else, even me." Lith said.
"Why do you say that, dear? You've always been a perfect brother." Elina said.
"No, I wasn't. I never liked my brothers and you know it. They couldn't miss how everyone in the family improved their looks after receiving my treatments and they knew I wouldn't do the same for them.
"By forcing you to keep such an open secret, I created a divide between you and them that further fueled their jealousy. Yet their actions are still inexcusable. Neither Orpal nor Trion ever apologized. Trion has been loved, well fed, and dressed his whole life.
"I didn't love them, but you and Rena did. They had everything they needed yet it was never enough. I never bullied nor humiliated them by showing off my powers. I always minded my own business asking the same from them.
"Their problem has always been that their abilities didn't match their expectations. Even after all these years, the only person Trion worries about is Trion.
"He didn't ask about Rena or Tista, right?"
Both of his parents shook their heads.
"Always a self centered a… apple." Lith corrected himself while looking at Aran.
"Mom, Dad, you've been two wonderful parents and whoever says otherwise is a liar, stupid, or both." He stood up and hugged them both, hoping to better convey his feelings.
"Maybe you're right, son, but it's a parent's job to take care of their children, even when they are lost." Raaz said.
Lith went back to Solus's tower to use its empowering effects to learn more about the methods his most successful colleagues had used in the past. Creating the optic nerve from scratch was simple.
Lith only had to use Kamila as a blueprint and Zinya's flesh and blood as materials. Them being sisters made their physiology similar enough that what worked for Kamila was supposed to work for Zinya too.
The problem was that the new tissues and nerve endings would occupy an already taken place, so the problem was twofold.
Connecting the optic nerve to both eyes and brain without harming either and make space for them without mutilating the patient. Lith tried different approaches, working on his holograms while keeping active both Scanner and Chisel for hours.
His success rate improved dramatically with practice and observation, but in the end, they were just simulations. Lith had never manipulated life force to that extent. He kept revising all the material Quylla had sent to him and spent the rest of the time studying the life force of his own optic nerve.
'Dammit. Even if I kidnap Fallmug and experiment on him, it would be pointless. He's a healthy subject, whereas I'd need one with Zinya's condition.' He thought.
'We can only hope that Vastor has an ace in the hole. Otherwise it might be better to let him operate while we watch.' Solus proposed.
'It's a good idea, but I'd feel more comfortable with him making space for the optic nerve and then connecting it to the rest, while I do everything else. Vastor is an outstanding mage, but a fake mage nonetheless.
'If something goes wrong, I can fix it faster and better than…' Lith's thoughts were interrupted by his communication amulet. A single, long beep warned him that shit had just hit the fan.
***
City of Xylita, a few minutes ago.
Fallmug Sarta was fuming with rage like he hadn't been in months. The day before he had noticed that something was wrong, but he had paid it no heed. His stupid servants were always jumpy around him for no reason and that stupid wench of Vylna was just an attention whore.
Only after noticing that even his neighbors threw odd glances at him had Fallmug decided it was time to get some answers. It didn't take him long to learn about Kamila's second visit.
The house staff was much more terrified of losing their job than of a random mage. Lith was gone, whereas they had to live there. Their families depended on their job and getting fired without receiving good references would have meant having no future.
"Why you didn't send her away? Have you forgotten what I have instructed you to tell that cunt?" Fallmug's face was centimeters away from Vylna's, his lips curled in outrage.
"I wanted to, but there was a Great Mage with her."
"Who cares about a Mage! That was an abuse of authority, you should have called the guards!" Fallmug hated Kamila's guts.
Not only did the little wench always reject him, but also now that she had her new boyfriend, she was the only thing his family would talk about.
Chapter 607 Retribution Part 2
"I couldn't, he was too scary. Even after he left, it took me hours to recover." Vylna said.
At those words, Fallmug slapped her so hard that she was sent slamming against the nearest wall. Her head started to spin due to the slap and the impact.
"Enough of your excuses! With all the money I waste on you, is it too much to ask for a bit of loyalty?" He lifted her by the collar of her shirt and slapped her again. Vylna's cheek turned purple and her lips started to bleed.
"Was he scarier than me?" Another slap followed, making her cry.
"What about now? Are you still scared of him?" Fallmug threw her on the ground before kicking her over and over, until her whining stopped.
"I work my ass to give to all you parasites a good life, and that's how you repay me? With lies and betrayal? Do you have any idea how difficult it is to be a successful businessman with all those foreigners using the Gate to sell their merchandise even during winter?"
Fallmug Sarta hadn't always been the man he was now. Back before the Warp Gate had been opened, he was the young master of a powerful and rich household of merchants.
He had inherited the family business and made it thrive thanks to his charismatic personality and the network of connections that his predecessors had established. With time, his pride turned into arrogance and his self-confidence into conceit.
After the Gate, though, his life had become a daily battle to the death with his competition.
He had never been a very kind man, so being forced to be nice and patient during work always caused a great deal of stress on him. He had managed to hold his rage in until the money flowed into his pockets and the community respected him for it.
Now, though, each victory came at a price. Also, every single time he was defeated despite putting so much effort into the negotiations, despite the many personal sacrifices he endured, his pride was wounded and something inside him became more twisted.
He had started by beating his servants, but only with an occasional slap and only after a really bad day. Then, he had started to do it just to relieve his stress. Seeing them suffer made Fallmug feel better about himself. It made him feel powerful.
He wasn't proud of it, but the business was better for it and he cleared his conscience by giving them gifts every time he closed a good deal.
Yet the more he gave into his darkest impulses, the more things got worse. Soon he started to beat his wife whenever she pestered him with her whining about him being too hard with the house staff or the kids' schooling.
Then it was the turn of those little runts, who disrespected his hard work and never let him have a single moment of peace.
No matter how much he scolded them, they seemed to remain oblivious of the sacrifices he made for them every day. They would always drive him crazy with their squeaky voices and stupid laughs whenever they played.
He couldn't stand them being so happy at his expenses, even less to spend his hard earned money just for being subject to their terrified expression whenever they met. He was their father, yet they treated him like he was a monster.
Now Kamila, that stupid woman, had dared to violate the sanctity of his house twice, defying his orders and will.
"Someone has to pay." Fallmug said while walking towards the tea room.
He slammed the door open, his voice a low rumble like a thunder announcing a storm.
"Didn't I tell you not to see your sister without my permission again? Have you gone deaf as well or are you just too stupid to understand a simple order?"
Zinya gulped in fear. She was waiting for Fallmug to continue his ranting, but the prolonged silence meant his questions weren't rhetorical for once.
"I didn't invite Kami. She came here on her own and Vylna let her in." She clenched a small, red stick in her hands, trying not to stutter. It would only make Fallmug angrier.
"Did you tell her that whatever happens now it's on her?" He asked.
"I did, but she stayed."
"Good. Your sister should have followed your example. A married woman learns about obedience and discipline, whereas a spinster doesn't realize that each action has consequences.
"I'm sorry, dear, but you'll have to pay the price for your sister's defiance." Fallmug took out the horsewhip from his jacket's pocket, making it snap against his palm.
"Please, don't. She did nothing wrong, she was just worried for me." Zinya now clenched the stick with both hands.
"She had no reason to. Didn't I always take good care of you?" He stepped forward as the whip cracked on his palm again.
"Stay away! There's a reason I never stepped out of this room!"
"What might it be?" His tone went from cold to angry. He hated it when people ordered him around.
Zinya broke the red stick, which was actually a red mana crystal. Six more were hidden from sight under a couch and arranged to form a small array that became visible to the naked eye.
"He's coming. Lith promised me." Zinya said.
"Really?" Fallmug laughed as he grabbed Zinya by the collar of her dress, forcing her to stand up.
"Even if he lived in Xylita, it would take him minutes to get here and he doesn't. He lives in Distar. By the time he gets here, there will be nothing to find. A healer friend of mine will make sure of it. He may be a mage, but in this house I'm your god!"
Zinya sobbed as two strong hands grabbed Fallmug's arms with enough strength to shatter them, forcing him to let her go. Yet she heard nothing because of the Hush zone enveloping her husband.
"Get over here!" Lith dragged him inside the dimensional fissure leading to the Mirrors Hall on the tower's first floor.
The moment the array had been activated, Solus had Warped the tower to the nearest mana geyser while Lith focused on Zinya's room coordinates through the Warping Mirror which amplified his Warp Step's range.
"Hello, Ezio. Long time no see." Lith said while giving him a backhand slap. It broke Fallmug's jaw and spread his nose all over his face, sending him crashing against the nearest wall.
"Please, stop. My name is not Ezio." Fallmug whined. Tears of pain were streaming down his eyes.
"I know, and that's the only reason you'll get out of here alive." Lith's fist struck Fallmug's chest, making his ribcage and lungs collapse.
Fallmug fell to the floor, coughing out blood. For a few terrible moments, he thought he was about to die, but the pain slowly faded and he could breathe again.
"What the…?" Fallmug could lift his arms, now perfectly healed. His nose and jaw were back to their original state, and so was his chest.
"Magic." Lith explained with a laugh as the mirrors disappeared and an array became visible to the naked eye.
"I gifted you an immortal body. The dream of countless kings and emperors, all for you." Lith's grabbed Fallmug by the neck, slamming him against the stone pavement. His skull shattered, his spine was severed, leaving him limp like a stringless marionette.
"Immortal doesn't mean invulnerable, though. You can still feel pain. You just cannot die while we are having fun!"
Chapter 608 Web of Lies Part 1
The array enveloping the first floor of Solus's tower was something they had developed in case Lith managed to find a mana geyser while being on the brink of death.
It allowed Solus to harness the energy of the mana geyser to heal all kinds of wounds almost instantly and to share part of her life force with Invigoration. The final result was a powerful healing field capable of beating death as long as the subject's mana core was intact.
In Fallmug's case, however, Solus wasn't giving him any life force. Lith refused to have her tainting her noble spirit with such a human faced monster.
Fallmug's spine recovered and so did his limbs. He was seconds away from fainting due to exhaustion when Lith used Invigoration to restore his life force. Lith wouldn't let him get any respite.
Even healing was an excruciating process since Solus was performing it without any kind of anesthesia. The bone fragments would dig through the flesh and blood vessels to return to their original position, opening new wounds at their passage.
Fallmug could feel his body constantly get torn apart and reconstructed.
"How does it feel, Ezio?" Lith waited for him to have completely recovered before crushing his windpipe with a fist to the throat.
"How does it feel to be helpless against someone much bigger and stronger than you are?" Fallmug couldn't even breathe, let alone reply. His vision blurred before the array allowed him to breathe in fresh air again.
"How does it feel walking a mile in your children's shoes?" A flick of Lith's finger and one of Fallmug's nails flew off, spraying blood through the room as he screamed in agony.
"Your voice is definitely high pitched for a god." The nail was still regrowing, biting the flesh on its way when another flew off.
Fallmug kept screaming, holding his right hand to defend it, just to have the fingernails on the left hand be ripped off all at once. The pain almost sent him into shock, but Solus's healing and Lith's life force saved his life again.
"Any last words?"
"You will not get away with this. If I disappear…"
"Then what? Who would even care? Your wife? Your children? Your family?" Lith stomped on Fallmug's kneecap with enough strength to almost cut the leg into two.
"The Kingdom will never…" Fallmug attempted to say as soon as the pain allowed him to.
"Wrong!" Lith stomped on the other leg, cutting him short and making Fallmug grateful to the gods for giving him only two legs.
"The Kingdom wouldn't give a damn, but death is too good for the likes of you. I will turn you into your wife." Lith's fingers shapeshifted into claws, piercing Fallmug's eyes all the way to the brain.
"Just like she is your plaything, you shall be mine. I will beat you an inch from death every single day and then send you home unscathed. No one will hear your screams." Lith slammed his opened palms against Fallmug's ears, destroying his eardrums.
Fallmug lost control of his bladder as his world was now pitch black and devoid of sound. Solus only healed his ears, to make him feel like Zinya did every day of her life.
"No one will witness what I'll do to you." Lith's knee struck Fallmug's nether regions, turning his genitals into toothpaste.
"No matter who you ask for help, they'll just think you're crazy. No one will believe you." A jet of Origin Flames set Fallmug ablaze as Solus kept the healing speed fast enough to keep him alive despite the flames eating his ever regenerating flesh.
Lith went outside, using his army amulet to create himself an alibi. The amulet pinpointed his position while he asked for updates from Commander Berion. The army would be his witness, stating that he was at his own house if anyone asked.
When Lith returned to the tower, the flames were gone and Fallmug was unconscious.
"His body couldn't take any more punishment without eating." Solus said.
"Well done." Lith's voice was joyless. He hated the idea of letting him live, but his disappearance would make Kamila ask questions he didn't want to lie about. They brought Fallmug back in the tearoom and prepared a new alarm array, this time above a cupboard.
"I always keep my promises." Lith said while embracing Zinya and giving her another stick to replace the one she had consumed.
"What about Fallmug?" She asked.
"He is alright, but I doubt he'll touch you again for a long, long time." Between his studies at the academy and the time spent with Jirni, Lith was an expert about the human body and mind.
It would take Fallmug days to recover from the physical exhaustion, but the mental trauma would last much longer, whereas he would return the following day to bring Zinya to the academy's hospital to prepare her for the procedure.
"If anything happens, you know what to do. Remember, if anyone asks, I've not been here."
"Thank you so much." Zinya buried her face into his chest.
"He might be a monster, but he's still the father of my children."
"Believe me, they are better off with their mother. Giving guys like him a second chance will bite back at you sooner or later. I'll pick you up tomorrow, so rest easy but keep the trigger always with you.
"Once you stop hearing my voice, count up to ten, and then use the handbell to summon the house staff. Fallmug just had a stroke." Lith let her go and disappeared inside the Warping Mirror.
When Zinya started to scream for help, no one came. The house staff thought Fallmug was beating her in a particularly vicious manner since she usually never yelled. Like anyone else in the house, Zinya knew that it only made things worse.
'Oh, right. They must think that if they get in here, Fallmug will pick on them too.' Zinya thought.
"Help, Fallmug doesn't respond."
When the servants arrived, they had to help Vylna first. She was still bleeding from her injuries and required a healer whereas aside from being unconscious, Fallmug was fit as a fiddle.
The beating had taken less than half an hour and before returning him to his home, Lith had erased all proof of what had happened with darkness magic and even ironed the man's pants and shirt.
Fallmug would be unconscious for days before his body and mind could overcome the trauma. Lith had made sure of it. Once he was back to Lutia, Lith kept researching the procedure to heal Zinya until it was time to go back to Kamila's home.
When she arrived, Kamila instantly noticed he was once again in a gloomy disposition, but after what had happened yesterday, her heart was at ease.
"What's the matter, babe? Another failed experiment?" She sat on his lap, trying to kiss him, but Lith stopped her. She was shocked, it had never happened before.
"I wish. It's about Zinya. Her dirtbag of a husband found out about our visit and tried to get even with her." Lith couldn't stand the thought that a man of the caliber of his Earth's father was still breathing even though he had all the opportunities to kill him.
It made his face dark and his voice sour.
"Oh, gods! Why didn't you contact me immediately? Is she alright? We need to go…" Kamila tried to stand up, but Lith grabbed her hand, with a firm but gentle touch.
Chapter 609 Web of Lies Part 2
"There's no need. Do you remember the mana crystals I left in the tea room and the promise I made to your sister?" Lith asked.
Kamila nodded, yet she wasn't reassured by his words. Lith was too serious, he was clearly hiding something from her.
"I kept my word. I used the array to know when she was in danger and unleash a spell that reflected on Fallmug all he did to Zinya. He didn't harm a single hair of hers."
"That's- great news. If everything is fine, then why the long face?" She asked.
"Kami, what I did is a crime. A blatant abuse of power made it worse by the fact that I left him alive. Now, I'm confessing my crime to you and entrusting you with the knowledge about a secret spell of mine at the same time.
"Do you understand how serious this is?" His words wiped the smile from her face.
"I understand." She said after a moment of hesitation.
"You committed a crime to protect my sister and you're asking me if I can live with it, right? You're asking me if you can entrust your secrets to Kamila the girlfriend without Yehval the handler revealing them out of duty."
Lith nodded, putting their relationship to the test for the first time. Just like he did with his academy's mates when he revealed to them his inhuman physical prowess. To him, it was a critical moment.
He had not told her all the truth so that if Kamila proved to be unworthy, he would risk nothing. A spell like the one he had described was out of a fairy tale, even a first year student would laugh at such a story.
Zinya had heard nothing while Fallmug's story would be completely different from Kamila's and even less believable. Not even Manohar could cover the distance from Lutia to Xylita in a matter of seconds.
"Thank you." Kamila's voice was happy but broken. Small tears streamed down her face.
"Even though I have plenty of friends, I spent all my life alone because when push comes to shove, my burden was my own. When people heard about my problems, they would pity me and say a lot of nice words, but no one would do anything.
"Thank you for saving Zinya at all costs. Thank you for taking to heart a problem that's not even yours and putting your career at risk for me." She sobbed, but she never stopped looking in his eyes.
"Most of all, thank you for trusting me so much. I don't care about my career. I'll do anything to protect your secret just like you did for me." She hugged him, hiding her face on his shoulder, trembling like a puppy scared by a clap of thunder.
"You're welcome." Lith replied, holding her tight.
"As I already told you before, being in a relationship means solving together problems that you wouldn't have alone. This means that sooner or later you'll get dragged into the mess that my life is. Are you up for that?" He asked.
"Yes, I am." She said with all her heart. Yet Lith didn't shapeshift nor told her anything else. He just wiped the tears and the snot from her face before giving her a short, soft kiss.
'Now she's too clouded by her emotions. I have to wait until she is cool headed again. Only then I will see her true reaction.' Lith thought. Words were meaningless to him, only actions mattered.
"Tomorrow I'm going to speak with Professor Vastor about your sister and probably I'll have her admitted at the White Griffon Hospital for the procedure. Do you want to come with me?" He held her face between his hands, gently caressing it.
"I wish I could, but I have to work. I shouldn't even be here." She sniffed.
"I'll try to be there for the intervention. Please, keep me posted."
Lith nodded in reply.
"Do you want to get out for dinner or do you want to stay at home?" He asked.
"I want to stay with you." Was her reply. She refused to both release him from her embrace or stand up from his legs. Kamila felt like his arms were her castle and his heart was her sky. She wanted that moment to last forever.
"Are you sure that nothing happened to Zinya?" She asked.
"Absolutely. Not only did the spell protect her, but it also gave me a full check up of her condition. No harm came to her after our visit." Lith's voice was so confident that it made Kamila's worries disappear.
Lith had a hard time preparing dinner while never letting her go, managing to do it solely thanks to spirit magic and fire vision. When he attempted to spoon-feed her, she couldn't repress her chuckle anymore.
"You're the least romantic man I've ever known. Couldn't this wait a few hours?"
"Maybe you are right, but I'm hungry and so are you. I can't feel the romance in the air with all this noise." Both of their stomachs had grumbled for a while before Lith started to cook.
"I know. Stupid stomach. Always ruins everything." It grumbled harder since she had refused the spoon and the smell of the food was delicious.
"You're too good a cook. It's all your fault if I get fat." The first bite was enough to make Kamila realize that between her long day at work and all those emotions, she had worked quite an appetite.
"Hands off my plate, woman!" Lith rebuked her merrily as she exploited being on his legs to eat from both plates.
"Make me." She said while feeding him.
***
The next morning Lith hadn't slept much, again, but he was definitely happy about his past night. Kamila had refused to let him go even during the morning shower, giving to his day a really pleasant start.
'One thing is for sure. If you two keep up like this, Kamila will lose weight fast.'
'Solus, that's dirty!' Lith rebuked her.
'Hello, pot. My name is kettle and I'm black.' She sneered.
He left Belius for the White Griffon academy, where Professor Zogar Vastor and Quylla were waiting for him.
"Lith, my boy. It's so good to see you again. It would be much better if you didn't visit or call only when you need something, though. I know we are both busy men, but it's kind of rude anyway."
"That's exactly what I told him, Professor." Quylla nodded.
"I apologize to both of you." Lith said, having a hard time to repress a sigh of annoyance.
"I've consulted all the material Quylla sent me and I'd like to hear your opinion about the different approaches I devised."
"Hold your horses, Lith. No competent Healer would give their opinion based on a hologram, no matter how good it is. We need to see the patient. I've taken the liberty of setting the Gate's coordinates to Xylita already." Vastor stood up abruptly.
How he managed to do it without wobbling despite his egg-shaped body was still a mystery to Lith. When they reached the Sarta household, the servants quaked in their boots, not daring to say anything.
One mage was terrifying, but three at once were the stuff nightmares were made of.
Chapter 610 Arrangements Part 1
"Zinya, allow me to introduce to you Professor Zogar Vastor and Healer Quylla Ernas. He is the leading light in the field of Body Sculpting and the expert I told you about. Quylla is a genius healer and a dear friend of mine.
"They are both here to help me with your procedure." Lith said.
"It is my honor that such an important person bothered himself for a nobody like me, Professor Vastor." Zinya stood up and gave a deep bow in the direction of Lith's voice, her head almost touched the floor.
"It's nothing, my lady. There's no need to thank me, at least not before we've succeeded healing you." Despite his humble words, Vastor puffed out his chest in pride.
It had been a long time since a beautiful woman had praised him with such sincerity.
"Nice to meet you, Healer Ernas. Please, take good care of me." Zinya gave a curtsy, this time following Vastor's voice.
"The pleasure is all mine." Quylla said. There was something wrong with both the house and its inhabitants, something that gave her the creeps.
"We need to perform a few diagnostic spells that require physical contact. Do you mind if we touch your head?" Vastor asked.
"Not at all."
The moment Vastor cast his best diagnostic spells Lith could see him turn pale before his usually calm visage was twisted into a red mask of anger. He was clenching his teeth so hard that Lith wouldn't be surprised to hear them crack.
"Quylla, I need a second opinion." Vastor said while making her way.
"Lith, I would like to take lady Sarta to the White Griffon Hospital immediately. We can't perform any procedure until her body doesn't recover and she doesn't put a bit of meat on those bones." His voice was calm, but Vastor had a murderous look in his eyes that could rival with Lith's.
"I agree with your assessment, Professor. Lady Sarta needs immediate assistance." Unlike Vastor, Quylla's poker face was perfect.
'So far so good. I healed everything but left behind everything a competent healer would need to diagnose the repeated domestic abuse over the years.' Lith inwardly smiled. In the case of divorce, Vastor's testimony would mean a great deal.
"Now? I've not prepared any luggage." Zinya said.
"There's no need for luggage. The White Griffon will provide you all that you might need." Vastor opened a Warp Steps leading them back to the city's Warp Gate and from there they could reach the hospital ward directly.
Once Zinya was settled in her bed, Lith called Kamila with his civilian communication amulet and left the two sisters talking before meeting the Professor again in his study.
Kamila's supervisor wasn't very happy about a social call during working hours, but Jirni had a family as well, so she let it slide.
"Scum of the earth." Vastor snarled as Lith entered the room.
"These are the moments when I regret having left the Queen's corps. Back then, I would have killed people like mister Sarta without a second thought, just adding their name in the 'collateral damage' list."
"Professor! We're Healers, not cold blooded killers. We took an oath!" Quylla rebuked him.
"It's easy to say when you are so young and naïve. When you reach my age, after you'll see things so bad that make that poor woman look lucky in comparison, you'll change your mind. I'm tired of seeing good people die while the bad guys thrive."
"I agree with Professor Vastor." Lith said.
"Now, if we can please discuss the treatment, I would love to have your input about how to proceed."
"I won't sugar coat this, Lith. It's hard. The optic nerve is part of the central nervous system, one slight mistake can turn her into a vegetable. Even if you succeed in restoring her sight, it's likely that she'll suffer from side effects for the rest of her life.
"Her other senses might be altered and her personality might change. If you want my help, you'd better have a good plan." Vastor said.
Lith explained to them how he had already managed to temporarily give Zinya sight using mana as a conduit.
"I plan on using Kamila, Zinya's sister, as a blueprint. There may be many differences between them, so my idea is to use mana as a probe. To test where to connect the nerves before actually doing it.
"This way I can simply slow down the process and use a trial and error approach to avoid affecting her brain in any permanent way."
"This is genius!" Vastor blurted out.
"Kid, you make me feel useless. How long did it take you to manipulate mana to this extent? It must have taken months just to create a spell so complicated, let alone master it."
Lith felt embarrassed. He had devised the spell on the spot, by simply altering his true magic version of Chisel. Back then, Zinya's desperation had driven him into an outrage. He had done it simply to give her something to fight for.
Only later, while he had performed Body Sculpting simulations, did Lith realize that it could actually be employed as a diagnostic tool to solve most of the unknown factors when harnessing Zinya's brain.
"Don't be so harsh on yourself, Professor. I worked on that spell ever since you taught me Chisel, so it's not such a big deal. Also, I can assure you that with your experience in manipulating mana, you would master it in just a few days, if not hours." Lith's words were only a half truth, as usual.
"Thanks, but rather than me reinventing the wheel, it would be better if you shared such a spell. The Kingdom would reward you handsomely." Vastor said.
"Sure." Lith shrugged.
'As soon as I make a fake magic version of it.' He thought.
The three of them spent the following hours discussing the details of the procedure. Vastor gave Lith plenty of advice thanks to his rich medical experience. The more Lith explained to him how his Probe spell worked, the more Vastor understood what its strong points and limitations were.
Quylla took note of everything, using water magic to manipulate the ink and writing faster than a stenographer. She didn't have Vastor's experience, but her ingenuity allowed her to find a solution whenever they got stumped.
"Zinya needs plenty of food and rest before undergoing any procedure." Quylla said.
"I recommend to wait for at least a week."
"Agreed." Lith and Vastor said in unison.
"Professor, here is the paper that qualifies me as lady Sarta's personal Healer. If her husband tries anything funny, please alert me immediately." Lith handed him the document so that Vastor could register it into the academy's archives.
"I hope he does, dear Lith. This time of the year the magical beasts are particularly voracious. Not to mention how many diseases he could 'accidentally' catch while visiting a dangerous place like our labs."
The two men exchanged a murderous look that gave Quylla the creeps. Before leaving the White Griffon, Lith went back to the hospital ward, to say Zinya goodbye and give her a present.
"Thank you so much." She said while handing Lith back his communication amulet.
"Too bad Kami is so swamped with work, we could barely talk. You know, I didn't step outside for years. Even the air is different from how I remember it. I already feel much better."
Chapter 611 Arrangements Part 2
"Well, it is different. The academy is surrounded by a luscious forest, so the air is bound to be much fresher and fragrant than a city's. I'm sure that Kamila will gladly take you out for a walk, both before and after the procedure." Lith said.
"If she finds the time, I suppose she could." Zinya sighed. She had rarely been in a park, let alone a forest. She would give anything just to sniff a few of its flowers.
"In the meantime, you can talk to her with this." Lith gave Zinya a communication amulet with only two runes: his own and Kamila's. He explained both how to imprint and use it before he left.
Lith invited Quylla and Anathor for a double date so that they had the opportunity to meet outside their medical practice.
"Kamila is a lucky woman." Quylla sighed.
"First the Camelia, then the procedure, and now even a free communication amulet. I wish I had someone who spoiled me like that."
"You have two wonderful parents that do nothing but spoil you!" Lith said.
"I meant as a significant other, my father doesn't count."
"No offense, Quylla, but what can a boyfriend do that your parents can't? When I was with Phloria, finding a present for her was a nightmare. You have to set the bar a little lower, or any sane man will run away in desperation."
His words make her half laugh and half worry. Not only were her parents scary, but also being the Ernas one of the most powerful families of the Kingdom, there wasn't much that she couldn't acquire with just a snap of her fingers.
Quylla walked Lith to the academy's Gate and from there he went back to Lutia. Lith spent the time before lunch with his parents, returning to the tower only after they consumed the meal together.
He had used no mana in the morning and the time with Quylla and his parents had relaxed his mind, allowing Lith to be at the top of his game.
"Solus, we are going to take a second attempt at the Orichalcum Skinwalker. If I have enough energy left, I'd like to work on your personal cloaking ring." Lith said.
"Necro Forge again?" Solus asked while preparing everything they needed on the Mana Forge.
"Yes. If it fails again, I'll use the remaining two chainmail sets to experiment with Bloom Forge. If even lowering the output to 50% doesn't work, I'll have no other choice left."
Lith went to the Forgemastering lab, taking out the chainmail set, the ingredients, and the blue mana crystals. First, he performed the Bonding spell, to give the Orichalcum armor a mana circulatory system capable of harnessing the power of the powerful magic he would imbue it with.
Then, he refined the Thunderbird's feather, the Magma flower's petals, and the Skinwalker's skin into as many pseudo cores. This, time Lith refined them one by one.
Since he was forced to use a low energy output, he also had the opportunity to focus on the cores' smallest details rather than on raw power. The four pseudo cores were so puny that Lith sighed, considering the experiment worthless already.
He merged them with the help of the slime goop and only then did the real Forgemastering begin. Solus used the energy from the mana geyser to empower both the magic circle surrounding the Lith's obsidian Forge and the Necro Hammer.
The Forgemastering energies made the armor and the merged cores orbit around each other. They kept getting closer until their auras clashed so strongly that they bounced back to their initial position.
Lith kept the charged hammer still while he studied the unknown interaction between the Orichalcum and the Thunderbird's feather. Soon the merged cores started to pulse and grow.
The Orichalcum's artificial mana flow was drawn by the feather's energy field. Somehow, the feather was able to amplify the incoming mana, using part of it to feed the merged cores before returning the rest to the Orichalcum, making its mana flow also grow stronger.
The exchange of energies lasted a while until some kind of symbiotic equilibrium was established. At that point, the merged cores were almost as big as those Lith had prepared during the last experiment.
"Incredible! No wonder our first attempt was an utter fiasco. Not only did I have to keep the pseudo cores merged and fix any imperfection that appeared, but also due to the amplification effect on both magical items I had to fight against an increasingly strong rejection between five different kinds of mana!"
"No duh, Sherlock! I told you that 50% was an excellent starting point." Solus gloated.
"Alright stop. Hammer time." He said making her laugh so hard that she almost lost her focus.
The Necro Hammer struck the condensed mana circle, channeling Lith's mana and willpower through it so that when the two items collided, they started to merge. Lith rhythmically struck at the circle, releasing each time a blue blast of energy.
He would switch between using the accumulated mana to continue the merging process and fixing the deformities that arose due to the clashing forces at work.
'I'm so glad that I put the lab in the basement, otherwise the light this new type of Forgemastering produces would be seen for miles.' Solus thought.
After more than an hour of unrelenting focus that pushed Lith's blue core and mind to their limits, the first prototype of Orichalcum Skinwalker Armor was complete.
"That was intense." Lith said while wheezing. "I wouldn't have managed to succeed without your help and the hammer. I wonder if fake mages can use Orichalcum like I just did.
"Jirni's armor wasn't much different from my old one, whereas the Awakened assassin's was a masterpiece with a lot of powerful enchantments."
"Oh, yeah. I almost forgot. Why didn't you try to add to the new armor Full Guard as well?" Solus asked. She knew how power hungry Lith was.
"Because without the cloaking field it would turn me into a neon lamp. That means adding not one, but two new pseudo cores to the mix plus using an alloy of gold and Orichalcum. Too many variables for someone that had yet to succeed once."
Lith imprinted the new armor with his mana and gave it a test run. In its chainmail form it was ugly and uncomfortable to wear. The rough edges of the Orichalcum rings scratched and prickled even his enhanced skin.
The moment he stored one of his suits inside the armor's dimensional space, the metal turned into a silvery liquid resembling quicksilver, which spread all over Lith's body until the mimicking process was complete.
"It shapeshifted faster than the old armor. The fabric of the clothes feels identical to the original as well. Let's test its defensive properties." Lith took an enchanted dagger out of his pocket dimension and handed it to Solus.
She struck at Lith's chest who blocked the dagger with his open palm. Thanks to an invisible energy field enveloping Lith's body, not a single drop of blood was spilled. Solus draw the dagger back and struck again, but this time Lith stood still.
When the clothes and the blade collided, neither Lith nor the armor sustained any damage.
Chapter 612 Hardships Part 1
"It's a success! The old Skinwalker armor would have been pierced and its barrier wasn't strong enough to protect my exposed limbs from the dagger's enchanted edge. If only both the armor and hammer weren't just a prototype!" Lith moaned.
He had used cyan mana crystals to make both hammers instead of blue ones, which meant that not only was the Skinwalker ugly to look at, but it also wasn't as powerful as it could have been.
"Yeah, right. Quit moaning and rejoice. Or at least take a break before working on Blood Forging another Skinwalker. There's a reason they are called experiments. We don't know if the blue crystal hammer will add new complications." Solus said.
"Also, I refuse to keep using WellMert hammers as their design."
Lith checked at his pocket watch. They still had a lot of time before going back to Belius. He took a quick shower and ate a ham sandwich to recover the lost strength. After half an hour, he was almost back to his peak condition, but used Invigoration nonetheless.
"It's the first time I use Bloom Forge, so everything must be perfect. I can't predict what will happen, but at least by being both mentally and physically at the top of my game, I can rule out tiredness as possible source of mistakes." Lith said.
The initial phase of the experiment was identical to Necro Forge. Bonding the chainmail to the mana crystal was easy, whereas what followed quickly turned into a nightmare.
Lith had to refine the ingredients one by one, creating from each one a small pseudo core. Condensing so much energy in such a small form required a lot of his focus, but he easily succeeded.
The first real problem arose when merging the first two pseudo cores. The mana pathways weren't strong enough to contain them both, so Lith had to expand the pathways while keeping the cores fused and fighting against the rejection effect.
With each core he added, the situation became more complicated. He had to strengthen the mana pathways, fix the deformities that appeared when the armor and the cores collided plus those which occurred during the pseudo cores' merging process.
To merge all four cores, it took him over an hour and much more slime goop than he had predicted since he had to consume some for each new pseudo core. Then, he was forced to stop, focusing only on stabilizing the mana pathways while the resonance between the Orichalcum and the cores made the latter grow.
'Dammit! If I miss their rhythm by a beat everything will go down the gutter. To make things worse, I also have to be careful that the cores don't get deformed beyond recognition. Bloom Forging a Skinwalker is a mammoth task straight from the beginning!' Lith thought.
Since they had no need for the hammer yet, Solus was free to help him to give the cores the rights shape. Then, the Forgemastering turned from a nightmare into a Lovecraft novel.
Despair, helplessness, and madness seemed its only possible ending.
Growing and fixing four pseudo cores at once, all the while adapting the mana pathways made Lith almost puke blood. Unlike what it happened when he crafted the Bloom Hammer, a small increase in the pseudo cores' size meant a fourfold increase in the pressure they exerted on the mana pathways.
The process was even slower than Lith had predicted, taking a further toll on his mind and mana. On top of that, every time the merged cores grew bigger, the Thunderbird's plume and the Orichalcum would interact again.
Soon Lith was forced to stop the Forgemastering, making it a failure and a success at the same time. A success because the Bloom Skinwalker was complete. A failure because Lith had been forced to halt the process before the pseudo core could become as big as the one of the Necro Skinwalker.
"What time is it?" Lith asked.
"Almost late. How do you feel?"
"Terrible. I never used Invigoration so many times in a row. It has almost no effect anymore." Lith said.
"I need some rest as well. Do you mind if I stay in Lutia? The mana geyser will help me recover quickly and I don't want to be your fifth wheel again." Solus asked.
"Are you sure? You know that I'm not planning for any lovey dovey stuff, right? Even if I wanted to, I'm too tired." Lith had got used to being separated from Solus, but he still hated the void that her absence left inside of his soul.
"Right. Just like yesterday and the day before." Solus's voice oozed sarcasm.
"I'm a healthy young man in a healthy relationship and it's been weeks since I spent a bit of time with Kamila. How could I turn her down?"
"You couldn't and you shouldn't, but that doesn't make it any easier on the fifth wheel. Me. I'll see if I get the girls to come visiting me, otherwise I'd rather spend some alone time working on Bloom Forge.
"We have one last chainmail suit. If we fail again, it means that our first estimate is correct and that at our level Bloom Forge isn't suitable for crafting so many pseudo cores at once."
Lith reluctantly accepted her decision. Solus was her own person and just like him, she deserved her own space.
When Kamila arrived home, Lith had just finished showering. He looked like someone who had just ended a double shift in a mine. His breath was short and his shoulders slouching from the fatigue.
"Hello, handsome. How was your day?" Kamila pretended not to notice, throwing her arms around his neck. She brimmed with joy.
"Safe but tiring."
"Are you ready to get out for dinner?"
"Won't you prefer to stay at home for some cuddles? You seem a bit- tired." She said.
"That's a nice way of saying that I look like crap, and yes, I would rather stay at home, but I can't afford to lose the reservation. I'll bring you to a family restaurant, so there's no need for fancy clothes."
Kamila wore a light blue shirt over a knee length black pencil skirt. Her long black hair was down. That together with her black eyeliner and light red lipstick emphasized her pale skin.
"Aren't those the same clothes you wore during our first date? It's not our anniversary, yet." Lith asked.
"I know, but now I consider them my lucky clothes, and I'm feeling pretty lucky recently." She said before giving him a passionate kiss. She was flattered that Lith remembered both the clothes and the date they had met.
Kamila was surprised when he brought her to Belius's Warp Gate. Lith wasn't the type to get too far for a meal. Her surprise became even bigger when the Gate led them to a private office in what looked like an ancient castle.
"Headmaster Marth, this is Kamila, my girlfriend. Kamila, this is Headmaster Marth, a man that I have the honor to call a friend."
Duke Marth had more grey hair than the last time Lith had seen him and seemed even more tired than Lith was.
"Nice to meet you, miss Kamila. Follow my advice and never get too high in life, or the paperwork will burn your wings and bury you alive!" A wave of his hand opened a Warp Steps that Lith forced her to cross before she could even understand where they were.
Chapter 613 Hardships Part 2
"Surprise!" He said to both Kamila and Zinya. Zinya had been accommodated in a single room as big as a small apartment. The furniture was simple but tasteful, giving her all that she needed to make herself at home and even have guests.
There were big windows from which entered plenty of sunlight and lots of different flowers decorated the room.
"Zin?" Between the tonics, Vastor's treatments, and the safe environment, Kamila almost couldn't recognize her sister. Her knees buckled, forcing Lith to sweep her off her feet to prevent her from falling.
"Kami? How did you get here? Visiting hours are over." Her knees buckled too, but she was in bed, so no one noticed.
"Hey, I may not work here anymore, but I still got friends. Visiting hours is whenever you want for you two." Lith said bringing Kamila near the bed before putting her down on a chair.
The two sisters started chatting and crying out of joy while Lith used his old Professor ring to order dinner for the three of them. He was feeling better by the minute. His blue core was thriving by being so near to the abundant mana source that the academy was.
The two women talked a lot, giving Lith a taste of an evening in Solus's shoes, but to him it didn't feel so bad. He was satisfied with seeing Kamila being so happy. She never stopped smiling, like it hadn't happened ever since her first visit at the Sarta household.
'If Solus feels like this the whole time, she's a saint.' Lith thought. He was already getting bored not having any part in the conversation.
"Can I show her your gift now?" Zinya asked, finally remembering about Lith.
"Yes, of course."
Kamila remained flabbergasted seeing the communication amulet.
"Thanks, but we cannot accept it. It's too expensive." She said.
"I knew you would say that, and that's why I had her imprint it already" Lith laughed.
"You can only suck it up and accept that your sister can now call you whenever she wants and vice versa."
Kamila was lost for words, incapable of expressing the feelings that were taking her by storm.
"Thanks." Was all she managed to say. She spent the rest of the evening chatting with Zinya, reminiscing together the happy moments of their shared past and planning the future ones, once the procedure was over.
Lith half listened and half slept, making the two women giggle when his snoring reached new heights.
"Lith is indeed a bit scary, but he's a keeper. Don't let him get away." Zinya said.
"I know, but how can I possibly repay him for all of this? We're so different that sometimes it feels like our relationship is one way only, and I'm always on the receiving end. What do I have to offer to him?"
"Your love and trust. Those are too rare commodities, especially for someone who's coveted for their power. Just be honest with him and don't overthink. You are a wonderful person and he knows it." Zinya took Kamila's hands between hers.
"Has he ever asked you for something?"
"No." Kamila replied.
"Then it's you he's interested in, not in what you have. As long as you feel the same, then you've nothing to worry about."
Later, when they were returning home, Kamila pondered all the way back on Zinya's words, even asking Lith for a walk to have more time to think. With winter close to its end, there was no snow covering Belius.
The chilly air of the night and the late hour made the city silent, very few people were still walking around. Kamila looked and the big black buildings that comprised every single city block, thinking for the first time in years if that was the place that she wanted to call home for the rest of her life.
Her mind started to wonder, reminiscing the party at the Ernas house. It was so big and flashy that it almost scared her. Then, Lith's house in Lutia came to her mind, with the entire family around the fire, with the kids playing together or watching a movie with the rest of the family.
That image warmed her heart. When they arrived at her apartment, Kamila felt the need to let Lith know how important he was for her and how deep her affection was. Just Like Solus had predicted, tired or not, Lith was more than happy to spend the third night in a row doing anything but sleeping.
***
Earlier that night, inside Solus's Tower
Thanks to the tower Warp coupled with the Warping Mirror on the first floor, which greatly enhanced the range of her Warp Steps, it didn't take Solus much time to pick up her friends.
"I still can't believe how easily we just crossed hundreds of kilometers at once. Lith is really lucky to have you." Tista said. She had been moving around the Distar Marquisate, collecting all the information she needed for her travels once spring finally arrived.
"Yeah. It makes our sleepovers so easy to arrange. To what do we owe the pleasure this time?" Nyka asked. Kalla's daughter was no normal girl, but a vampire, so she could only move after sunset.
Nyka looked like a young woman in her mid twenties, around 1.7 meters (5'7") tall with raven black hair and emerald green eyes both emphasized by her rosy skin. A vampire was pale only when unable to properly feed and that wasn't her case.
She wasn't a stunning beauty, but undeath gave her smooth, delicate features and kept her body toned without a shred of body fat. Every one of her movements was graceful and sensual, even when she wasn't attempting to flirt.
"I need help." Solus said. She was wearing a work shirt and pants. Leather gloves covered her hands, leaving the natural glow of her humanoid form radiate only from her head.
"Do you need another pep talk or advice about lil bro?" Tista asked.
"Neither. I mean help with a Forgemastering experiment." Solus told her about the last memory she had recovered and what had triggered it.
"This is huge, sister." Nyka was adamant considering Solus a fellow vampire due to her bond with Lith's life force.
"Why you didn't tell your spouse? One secret is okay, but two… The more secrets you keep, the more you'll grow apart."
"For the last time, he isn't my spouse. Lith isn't even my boyfriend. He's with Kamila now." Sometimes Nyka's single minded approach on life exasperated Solus.
"You share one body, one mind, and one life. If that's not a spouse, what is it?" Nyka said, always striking the iron no matter if it was hot or not.
"I'm with Nyka, for once." Tista stepped in before the two could start bickering.
"What if something happens and you two fuse again? If Lith discovers how many things you've kept from him, it will hurt him. I could understand if this was just about not wanting to mess with his relationship, but now it has become about your life.
"Maybe he could help you recover your memories. Like you always say, just give him a chance." She said.
Chapter 614 Success and Failure Part 1
"You are right and I know it." Solus said. "That's the reason I brought you here. Every time we Forgemaster a magical item, I can feel something scratching at the back of my head. Lith's the only one who performs magic, though.
"I want to Forgemaster something myself, but with a weak ass core like mine, I can't do it alone. I need your help to keep the mana circle filled with energy and I'll do the rest. If I'm right, I'll regain another chunk of my memories.
"If that happens, I'll have no choice but to come clean with Lith. If I'm wrong, nothing will happen and we would have just wasted an hour of our time. Are you with me or not?"
"I'm with you, sister. No matter what." Solus was special for Nyka. She was an 'immortal vampire', just like her, and was also the first friend she had ever had.
"Let's do this. I always wanted to learn true Forgemastery." Tista said.
"What are we going to make?"
"A cloaking ring. Without it, Lith and I can't ever go separate ways without risking that someone spots my life force. If that happens, our lives would be in constant danger.
"To make one, I need only basic ingredients. An alloy of gold and silver would suffice, but I'll go with Orichalcum instead of silver to achieve a stronger pseudo core than Orion's.
"It's a very simple pseudo core, so even with a deep green mana core like mine I should be able to make it. Even if I fail, it's no big deal. The materials for one ring are negligible. Except for the mana crystal." Solus whispered that last part, but everyone heard it distinctly.
Tista knew how stingy her brother was and she doubted he would miss the disappearance. As for Nyka, she couldn't care less. Her mother provided her for everything, so she had no concept of expensive or cheap.
Solus took the Bloom Hammer out of her pocket dimension. Both hammers had the same properties, but since she was going to use Bloom Forge for the ring, it seemed the proper choice to her.
Solus melted in a crucible a nugget of gold together with one of purified Orichalcum and then she poured the liquid into a mold, giving the ring its shape. She cooled it with water magic, taking the still white hot metal with thongs and placing it on the Adamant Forge instead of the usual Obsidian one.
'In all of my memories I work with a silvery hammer, using a silvery Forge to enchant something. My guess is that it was all made of adamant, but since I don't have any, Orichalcum will have to do.' Solus thought.
Another thing that bothered her was the runes of power engraved on all the enchanted items that appeared in her memories. Fake Forgemastery used them to create and stabilize the mana pathways, but they would disappear forever once the process was over.
The true Forgemastery Lith and Solus employed didn't use runes at all, only pure mana. She was certain that master Menadion wouldn't have all of her creations engraved with runes just to make them look cool.
The problem was that even if Solus was right and runes could help to step up their creations, she had no idea what they did nor how to engrave it.
'Carving random runes is bound to make a big boom. Let's hope to regain some memories of them. It would be a wonderful anniversary present for Lith.' Soon would it be the anniversary of Solus's awakening from her slumber.
Lith considered it like her birthday, but for Solus its significance went beyond that. It was the day when she had gained her family, her best friend, and maybe even more. It was the day when their bond had evolved from the pact between an artifact and its master into a partnership.
She wanted both the secret of the runes and the ring to be her fist gift to Lith. To return something after only having taken from him for so long. Also, it would give her the courage she needed to reveal him her humanoid form.
Unlike Orion, she had no purple crystal. Solus could only Bond the ring with a small blue mana stone. Then, she created the magic circle and let the girls fill it. Solus had to take care of both the hammer and the pseudo core, there was a limit to what her focus could do on her own.
Gold proved to be incredibly resistant to mana, both during the Bonding spell and the Forgemastering process. Solus had chosen to use Bloom Forge because she lacked the raw power necessary to overcome the combined rejection effect of the gold and the mana circulatory system.
Finesse was her only route to success and Bloom Forge was the perfect means to her end. First, she created a small pseudo core and mana pathways, only using the hammer to increase their size once she was certain that she had shaped them to perfection.
Each strike produced a deep green burst of light, yet no memory emerged.
'This is odd. In my memories I was striking directly at the item, not at the magic circle. What significance could it possibly have?' Solus thought.
It took the girls almost two hours to complete the ring and by the time they were done, they were completely exhausted.
"You and my brother are two peas in a pod, Solus. If this is your concept of fun, remind me to take a rain check the next time you invite me." Tista was covered in sweat, her body aching like it was going to break.
To keep the circle powered up, she had been forced to use Invigoration non stop.
"I'm starving." Nyka said while trying to not look at Tista like she was a giant cheeseburger. She had no sweat but no Invigoration either. To do her part, she had gone dangerously close to a feeding frenzy.
"I'm sorry, girls. I never realized how hard is to do what I do with the mana geyser." Solus gave Nyka a jug filled with Lith's blood that she kept in her pocket dimension for her undead friend.
Nyka smelled the delicacy, drinking it in small sips, using the Refine meditation technique in-between gulps. Vampires would get stronger over time by feeding. The stronger the source of blood, the more nutrients they would obtain.
Normal vampires would just drink blood that would be partially processed by their blood core, making it slowly grow in power each time they fed. Even though they were not Awakened ones, some vampires had discovered a technique to refine all the blood they ingested instead of just a small part.
They had shared their knowledge with Kalla and she in turn had passed it onto his daughter. Thanks to Refine, Nyka was able to assimilate most of the mana and light energy inside Lith's blood, allowing her core to grow at a faster rate than normal.
Unlike mana cores, the power of a blood core was determined by how much black energy they still held. The more powerful a blood core was, the less black streaks it had.
According to legends, a perfectly red blood core granted a vampire the ability to turn back into a red cored human at will, overcoming all the limitations of their undead status at the price of all their magic powers as long as they maintained such form.
Chapter 615 Success and Failure Part 2
"Since you have no troubles with other women sleeping with your spouse, can I borrow him from time to time? He's beyond delicious and Mom has taught me how I can feed on a man while we both experience the same amount of pleasure." Nyka asked.
Blood was the most abundant source of life force, but it was not the only one a vampire could draw sustenance from.
"He is not my spouse and like heck I'm fine with it!" Solus blurted out.
"I'm jealous, okay? I admit it! Are you happy now?"
"Actually, yes." Nyka said while giving the flabbergasted Solus a big hug.
"I would never touch your man, I just wanted you to express your feelings out loud."
Nyka was usually tactless and so direct when she wanted something that she bordered on being rude. Solus had completely fallen for her act and so did Tista, who had become beet red at the image the Nyka's words had painted in her head.
"What about your memory?" Tista asked, eager to change the topic.
"I did everything I could like it happens in my visions, but nothing. The cloaking ring is a masterpiece, but the attempt to retrieve my memories was a failure. It seems I can afford to keep my secret for a bit longer before…"
Solus choked on her words as she noticed that Tista was deadly pale.
The prolonged effort had triggered the body refinement process. Tista was soon in spasms as her body expelled the accumulated impurities by turning her inside out like a sock. Tista's bones cracked and reformed, causing her such an intense pain that Solus had to use her Immortal Body array to ensure her survival.
"Worst girl's night ever." Tista said once the process was over, right before losing consciousness.
***
In the days before the procedure, Kamila used all of her free time to stay with her sister while Lith alternated between experimenting on Forgemastering and on Origin Flames. Even his second attempt at crafting a Bloom Skinwalker Armor ended up in failure.
Its pseudo core was too complex and the amount of mana it required too big for Lith's current abilities, even with Solus's help. In the meantime, Zekell had finished smelting the first two batches of Orichalcum into metal ingots.
He was working on a way to make chausses, hauberks, and coifs with a decent shape since Lith had yet to send him the blueprint for the hammers. After thinking about it for a while, Lith gave him two different images for two different hammers.
One was shaped like a proper blacksmith tool, consisting of a shaft and a head with two hammers. The second was more similar to an ice ax, featuring on its head a hammer and a small pick.
"Why two hammers? No matter the Forgemastering technique we use, they'll have the exact same properties. It's a waste of Orichalcum and mana crystals!" Solus couldn't understand Lith's decision.
For someone as stingy as he was, such a thing was like throwing money in the gutter.
"I have my reasons." Was the only reply he would give her.
Lith and Solus Forgemastered both hammers and then practiced with the amount of extra mana the Forgemastering tools could hold before attempting to craft a Skinwalker Armor again. Also, they learned a few new things about Origin Flames.
Even though there was a huge difference between how they interacted with physical materials and magical energy, they could burn them both. Things like stone or metal would seemingly be destroyed and reformed several times.
It would cause them to change their shape and physical properties. Both the quality and the quantity of Origin Flames employed influenced the outcome. A little amount would act almost as if it was a common flame, too much would destroy anything.
"During our first attempt, we didn't really purify the Adamant. More like we incinerated everything else. Adamant is incredibly resistant, even to Origin Flames. It's the only reason it survived the blast" Lith pondered.
Magic, instead, would be simply consumed by the flames, but the process had a limit. Origin Flames could only destroy an amount of mana equivalent to the world energy they held.
It meant that a delicate structure like an ongoing spell or a temporary array could be easily affected, whereas a permanent array or a magical artifact required much more effort.
Lith tried using them on some of his oldest works, who had now become too weak to be useful, to put to the test his theory about Origin Flames being capable of breaking the imprint of the owner on a magical item.
He obtained conflicting results. The flames would eat at the magical aura, forcing the item's pseudo core to consume its energy to survive. After a certain point, however, the pseudo core would rather break than bend.
Lith even tried using the Clean Slate spell on a weakened pseudo core, but the only result was making the item crumble.
"So far Origin Flames act more like some kind of anti matter for magic rather than a fine controlled tool. They can attack the structure of a spell, but not its energy signature." Lith said while one of his old daggers turned into a puff of smoke.
"I'm not so sure of it. Maybe the problem lies in your hybrid form." Solus said.
"After all, if we compare it with the complete one you assumed in the past, you still have a long way to go. Another possibility is that just like true magic, they might be affected by your will."
"I don't use mana to create her, only a tiny spark of life force." Lith objected. "I have no idea how to imbue my will inside my own life force. Even if I did, how the heck can I command it to burn something and ignore the rest?"
Solus had no answers as well, so their days passed quickly. Between family, friends, and experiments, Lith resumed sleeping only when strictly necessary, like the day before Zinya's procedure.
Kamila had managed to obtain a sick leave for medical reasons. She was Zinya closest of kin, making her optic nerve the closest thing to a compatible blueprint. Without her Lith couldn't operate.
After a whole week of proper feeding, safety, and constant care, Zinya had flourished to the point of being almost unrecognizable. Yet that day she was pale again, twitching at the smallest noise.
"How do you feel today?" Lith asked.
"Scared to death." Both sisters replied.
"Are you sure you want to proceed with the treatment?" It was an obligatory question before a Body Sculpting procedure.
Zinya held Kamila's hand tightly before replying:
"Yes, please. I can't wait for this to be over."
Unlike normal magical treatments, for tier five healing spells, the patient's head and limbs had to be strapped to their bed.
"Is this really necessary?" Zinya asked.
"Yes. It could be painful, or it could affect your personality. You might even become violent. If that happens while I'm growing the optic nerve inside your head and you move abruptly, it could result in a fatal hemorrhage." Lith replied.
"Now I really wish I didn't ask you any explanation." She was now even more nervous.
Lith, Quylla, and Vastor all double cast their Scanner spell on both sisters, to check their conditions. Lith and Vastor also activated the Chisel spell. Lith needed it to perform the procedure, whereas Vastor would keep it at the ready in case his intervention was required.
Chapter 616 End of a Struggle Part 1
The first part of the operation required to make space for the new nervous tissue without harming the patient. Lith had no experience in the field and the brain was too sensitive an organ for a rookie.
Vastor took the lead, removing what he could and using Body Sculpting to slightly alter Zinya's skull to create more room whenever he had no other choice. The changes were so subtle that only a detailed diagnostic spell like Scanner could detect them.
When he was done, he stepped out and made space for Lith.
"Remember, the best approach is always to go from easy to hard. Start by creating the optic nerve from the eye end and leave the connection with the thalamus for last. That way, we can immediately check if the brain receives the right stimuli.
"If we worked the other way around and make even just a few mistakes, the sudden massive flow of wrong inputs might cause permanent damage. Plus, we would need to destroy all the connections and redo everything from scratch, since we would have no idea what went wrong." Vastor said.
Lith did as instructed and created the optic nerve, the chiasma, and the optic trait. Then, he used his Probe spell to create small tendrils of semi solid mana that stimulated Zinya's visual cortex following Kamila's optic nerve pattern.
The tendrils would carry the electrical impulses that light generated by hitting Zinya's eyes and allow Lith to check how the brain processed the acquired information. That way Lith could make sure that the impulses would travel through the right pathway before making a physical connection.
"Zinya, I need you to keep talking during the entire procedure. I don't care what you say, I just need to check your cognitive functions and your mood. If you feel anything weird, just tell me. Don't hold anything." Lith said.
Zinya nodded and started to recount whatever she remembered from her youth. As long as everything was okay after testing with Probe, Lith would grow the optic nerve, yet more than once he was forced to stop and backtrack.
Sometimes the electrical impulses would cause her small spasms. Other times fits of pain or uncontrollable mood changes. Every time that happened, Lith had to quickly disconnect the tendrils and search for another point of access to her brain.
Luckily, the more the procedure progressed on the right track, the more Zinya regained her sight. It gave Lith a clear indicator of his progress and gave Zinya something useful to talk about.
At the beginning she could only see a white light, but every time Lith found a proper pathway she would start to see small dots of colors appear.
"Dammit, Lith. Your Probe spell is amazing. It saved us a lot of mana and the patient a lot of pain." Vastor said. Even with his expertise, he would have missed the right connection more than once.
Yet his help proved to be invaluable for Lith. Whenever he had no idea how to proceed, it would take the Professor just a couple of tries to find the right pathway among hundreds of seemingly identical alternatives.
"You are doing great, son. I'm really proud of you."
Lith nodded, not having the luxury of wasting his focus to reply. What Vastor had no idea of, was that to be able to carry a physical stimulus, Probe required a great expenditure of mana.
It was one of the reasons Lith couldn't hold it for long back when he had used Probe for the first time on Zinya. Such a huge amount of energy would have burned her brain and left him weakened in a matter of minutes.
Now, however, he was only creating the extremities of the optical nerve with Probe, lessening the burden on both Zinya and himself. The procedure took a few hours, forcing Lith to take some rest.
Vastor or Quylla stepped in to check on the progress, keeping the patient's conditions stable while Lith consumed a tonic and used Invigoration to regain his mental focus.
Mana wasn't an issue, but he could feel his concentration declining. For a normal Healer, it would have taken several minutes for a tonic to give them back their focus, but Invigoration had no such problem.
By the time everything was over, Zinya could see better than most.
"Is it over?" She asked when she felt the straps being removed.
"Yes. Can you touch my hand?" Lith offered her his right hand, keeping it low and on the right. Zinya had no problem with depth nor distance perception. She managed to grab Lith's hand easily no matter where he placed it within her field of view.
"Thank you so much. I know it isn't worth much coming from a blind person, but you all are the most gorgeous people I have ever met." Zinya embraced and kissed the entire medical staff and the nurses that had taken care of her until that day.
Kamila and Zinya hugged in joy while Lith and Vastor planned together her physiotherapy. Zinya still needed to learn how to move normally, read, write, and even to associate a name to common objects.
"One more thing." Vastor cleared his throat to get everyone's attention.
"We can keep Zinya here for a couple more days to make sure that there are no post-op complications, but then she has to leave. We need the room for the next patient."
"How much do I owe you?" Kamila asked.
"I'm sorry your sister isn't part of your family register, otherwise the army would cover part of the expenses." Vastor handed her the invoice.
Kamila owed the White Griffon much less than she had feared. Two gold coins for Vastor's consultation and Body Sculpting, 30 silver coins for Quylla's research job, and 70 silver coins for Zinya's stay at the White Griffon, for a total of three gold coins.
It was still a huge amount of money considering that Kamila was paid two silvers per week. Body Sculpting was the most difficult technique, after all. Most people would more easily afford a magical item to compensate for their handicap rather than having it treated.
"That's it? I expected at least ten gold coins." It was how much the cheapest and less competent Healer would have asked, the same price of two communication amulets.
Kamila wouldn't have been able to afford her own if the army hadn't gifted it to her when she had been promoted to First Lieutenant.
"You would be right if the lead Healer had charged you with something, but he didn't." Vastor pointed at Lith. He knew how Kamila hated to feel indebted, so he didn't ask for favors to Vastor nor the academy.
Otherwise the whole procedure would have been free of charge.
'I respect Kamila's desire to save her sister and I can't take it away from her. If I stepped in and solved everything by myself, she would feel useless. All of her struggles and fears would be for nothing.
'This way, she can still feel like she has done her part because she did. Even without me, Zinya would still have got her sight, it would have just been more expensive.' Lith thought.
"How much do I owe you?" Kamila turned to Lith repeating her question.
"I'll cut the workmanship and charge you only at cost price. So, it's 50 silver coins for the amulet and dinner for the procedure."
Chapter 617 End of a Struggle Part 2
"What?" Kamila was flabbergasted.
"The mana crystal is small but powerful and I bought the silver ingot at market price. The healing only took me some mana, so dinner will suffice." Lith explained.
"It's too little money! I can't accept that." She said.
"Sorry, miss. Healers make their own fares." Vastor and Quylla nodded at those words.
"Besides, you should worry more about Zinya's accommodation. Your apartment is good for two people but cramped for three. Also, we're both often away for work and your sister needs guidance." Lith said.
Kamila bit her lower lip in stress. Zinya could indeed move into her home, but there was only one bedroom, so either she had to take a break from their relationship or they would be forced to go to a hotel every time.
Changing the apartment wasn't possible. With a debt on her shoulders, Kamila couldn't afford a new one with just her savings. The one she lived in was provided by the army for a reduced fee, but they wouldn't help her pay for a bigger house since she was officially single and without any family member.
To make matters worse, Belius was a horrible city for someone as inexperienced as Zinya was. Public transportation required to be able to read, there was almost no green area, and people were paranoid of newcomers.
To not leave Zinya alone all day, Kamila would need to hire a caregiver to keep her company and teach her everything she might need.
"Don't worry, Kami. You've already done too much. I can't let you give up on your life for my sake. I'm still Fallmug's wife, I have a home and duties to attend to. Maybe now that I'm not blind anymore, he might change his ways.
"He hasn't always been a bad man." Zinya's smile trembled just as her whole body did. Despite all of her efforts, she was terrified at the idea of seeing her husband or even hearing his voice again.
"No way! It's too dangerous." Kamila, Lith, and Vastor said at once.
"Lady Sarta, according to my experience, things can only get worse now that you aren't helpless anymore." Vastor said. "On top of that, in your condition, a single blow to the head could ruin everything we did today. Your body needs time to heal and adapt."
"I have an idea." Lith said. "Zinya could stay in Lutia with my parents until the end of my leave. They have plenty of free space and could use a hand with the kids. I can Warp you there whenever you want and when I have to go back to work, she can move into your apartment."
Kamila couldn't decide what to do. Lutia was much better than Belius for her sister's recovery, but she felt like she was once again relying too much on Lith.
"Zinya has only experienced an abusive relationship. Maybe seeing how the marriage of my parents and sister work could help her to make up her mind about the divorce." Lith whispered in her ear.
"Lutia it's a perfect solution." She sighed. Her pride was a bit wounded, but Zinya's well-being came first.
***
Fallmug had just recently started to walk again after being unconscious for several days. Lith had been true to his word. Ever since Fallmug had woken up, Lith would kidnap him, blind him, and beat the crap out of him until his body collapsed.
Fallmug Sarta had been living in terror the whole time. There was no place he could hide where the demon wouldn't be able to find him. He used the unexpected respite Zinya's intervention had given him to run to the authorities and expose the evil mage.
The desk clerk of the Mage Association, listened to all he had to say, before dismissing everything for the ramblings of a madman.
"I'm sorry, sir Sarta, but your story is really hard to believe. If you did make an enemy of the strongest young mage of the Kingdom, how can you possibly be still alive? Also, you failed to mention why he would have a beef with you."
Even the clerk of a medium sized city like Xylita was sick and tired of all the lunatics blaming Ranger Verhen for everything. Pregnant girls claimed he was the father and demanded compensation, nutjobs said to have been cursed by him or that he had taken credit for their achievements, like restoring Kaduria.
Fallmug realized to be in a pinch. He had been so anxious to get rid of his torturer to forget about making up a believable lie. He thought far and wide how to explain why someone like Lith was tormenting him, but unless Fallmug confessed the abuse on his wife, his story wouldn't make any sense.
Yet if he did, Lith would become the last of his problems. Despite his constant pain and suffering, Fallmug was still a respectable man with consistent income. If the truth about his home were to be exposed, he would go to jail, and Zinya would be entitled to everything just by asking for a divorce.
"He is after my wife!" His words made the clerk chuckle.
"Sorry, sir. I don't mean to disrespect you, but if I ask your wife, will she confirm your story?"
"Of course not! She's on his side."
"Enough wasting my time!" The clerk had run out of patience.
"If your wife wanted to be with him, she would just ask for a divorce. A Great Mage has plenty of money, she wouldn't need anything from you. What proof do you have of your claims?"
Fallmug was taken aback. Now he understood what Lith meant when he said that he would turn Fallmug into his wife. He was now alone and with no one who could help him. There was no witness of the aggressions nor proof of his injuries aside from his words.
Just like his wife until a few days ago, he was trapped in an inescapable cage.
"None? Well, then I hope you'll forgive me if I don't believe a word coming from a man accused by three Healers of repeatedly beating his wife." As the clerk was filing Fallmug's statement for the record, his name had triggered a flag.
"Not to mention that according to the army records, at the time of the alleged assaults, Ranger Verhen was still at his home. I don't know what your problem is, sir, but maybe a night in jail will help you clear your mind."
"What about Verhen?" Fallmug asked while the guards dragged him towards the dungeon.
"None of your business. In your place, I'd worry more about being charged with slander of a state mage and wasting the Association time, because those are two crimes I can testify about."
***
Lith's parents knew all about Zinya's situation, so they were glad to offer their help. In their eyes, she was the embodiment of what could have happened to Tista if Lith had never been born.
Zinya fell in love with Lutia, with the Trawn woods, and with the closest thing to a real family she had ever had. Learning how to read, write, and count together with Leria and Aran was embarrassing, but after a while she stopped worrying about it.
Elina also taught her how to cook and sew, so that once she moved back with Kamila, she could at least help her managing her home. The days passed, and soon Lith's leave was about to end.
Chapter 618 Travels Part 1
A few days before Lith had to once again leave to resume his duty as Ranger of the Kellar region, Zinya finally mustered enough courage to tell Kamila about her final decision.
"Kami, I could never thank you and Lith enough for what you did for me. The last week has been the happiest time of my life." She said.
"This is just the beginning, Zin. There are still so many things that we have yet to do together. I'll not be often home, but I'll try my best to not make you feel lonely. I've already found a caregiver for you." Kamila replied with a smile.
The daily expenses for the caregiver and Zinya would make it even harder for her to repay her debt, but she didn't mind at all. Kamila had planned everything and was ready to bear the consequences of her decision.
"Thank you, but I'd like to remain here." Zinya blurted it out.
"What? Why?"
"You have your personal life and your career to worry about, Kami. I'm not a child and you can't take care of me forever. I'd rather live here as a housemaid than burden you more than I already did. I already spoke with Elina about it.
"The Verhen are nice people. They accepted to give me food and accommodation in exchange for my job while they teach me everything I need to stand up for myself. They are even willing to pay me once I'm done learning.
"I've also decided to file for divorce. If I stay at your house, Fallmug might look for me there. He will never come looking for me here, instead. I don't know if I have the strength to face him yet, so this is the perfect solution."
Kamila tried to convince Zinya to reconsider, but she was adamant about it. Kamila was sad at the idea that meeting her sister without Lith's help would take her quite some time. The closest Gate was in Derios, and to reach Lutia from there it would take her over one and a half hours.
Yet seeing her so happy and determined, filled her heart with joy.
'I did all I could to give Zin her freedom, if I force her to come with me, she would just exchange one cage for another. Here she'll be surrounded by people who don't take care of her because it's their job but because they want to.
'Also, she will be safe from Fallmug, since attacking a mage's family is plain suicide.' She thought.
'Zinya and I have tried visiting her children, but Zinya's in-law didn't even let us in. According to the law, she is just a disabled, incompetent mother who has run away from her home.
'To be able to claim any right over her children, she first needs to get a divorce and have the means to take care of them. I don't want to burden Lith with this matter as well.' Kamila thought while preparing to say her goodbyes.
"I'm really sorry, I knew nothing about this. It wasn't an elaborate scheme I devised from the very beginning to keep you and your home all to myself." Lith said as a joke, yet for second Kamila almost fell for it.
"When will you be back?" She asked.
"I don't know. It could take weeks, maybe months. The silver lining is that now that you have exchanged your communication rune with Tista, she can help you reach Lutia whenever she is at home." Lith said.
"That's not what I asked you, you silly. I miss you already." She hugged him tightly. During those twenty days they had lived together and the idea of waking up alone hurt her more than she expected.
"Will you wait for me?" He asked returning her embrace.
"I promise."
Lith took her back home, where they kissed one last time before he had to resume his duty.
***
Ever since Scarlett the Scorpicore had visited Leegaain, asking for his help to solve the issue of her inability to obtain a purple core and achieve new tribulations, she had remained within the Gorgon Empire.
Hundred of years had passed since the last time she had left the Griffon Kingdom, back when she was still a young Emperor Beast. Taking the mantle of the Lord of the Forest had given her great powers but also a great burden.
"Travelling allows me to learn about different magical philosophies, understand what the heck Mogar wants from me with its stupid tribulations, and to check about Abominations. Many birds with one stone." She said out loud, drawing attention on herself.
'Dammit, I'm not used to be disguised as a human. I keep making stupid mistakes that force me to move from a town to another as if I'm a wanted criminal. I keep forgetting that fake mages need to chant gibberish to use magic and that they can't break stone with their bare hands.' She thought while calling a waiter to get seconds.
Another thing she had a hard time with, was the small portions of food humans consumed. Even if her appearance was that a woman, her body was still that of a Scorpicore and so was her stomach.
She looked like an adventurer in her thirties, about 1.67 meters (5'7") tall. Her shoulder length ashen gold hair had red shades and she wore a gold rimmed pince-nez on her nose.
The body Scarlett had shapeshifted into was pretty, but not gorgeous. She preferred to go unnoticed in human settlements rather than being forced to constantly deal with flocks of admirers.
Centuries ago, when she had taken a walk with Salaark, they had been forced to knock down the entire male population of a village just to be able to order a beer without someone hitting on them.
She was currently in the city of Tyrenar, to investigate the rumors about a mysterious monster that was slaughtering men and beasts alike for no apparent reason.
'If I'm right, I might have found one of those new Eldritch Abominations. Right after the monster outbreaks ended, the Council reported the appearance of several creatures of unparalleled power.
'According to my sources, they should still be within my league. If I manage to track one of them and defeat it, I could finally learn something more about this Master. I could even find out his location.' Scarlett thought as she took her communication amulet out of her pocket dimension for the first time in almost a year.
"Oh crap!" She blurted out, this time intentionally. She had so many missed calls that it took her quite some time just to take note of who she wanted to call back and who she would just ignore.
"Call me if you need anything else." The young waiter gave Scarlett a kind smile that she returned while wondering why the heck a Treantling was working in a restaurant. Treantlings were trees that after living for centuries in a zone rich with world energy had become Awakened.
They were the plant equivalent of a magical beast. His disguise was flawless, but Scarlett's enchanted pince-nez allowed her to not only see the mana core of her opponents, but also their life force.
The Eyes of Menadion were one of her most prized artifacts, which had allowed her to increase her knowledge about light magic by leaps and bounds ever since she had 'liberated' it from the paws of a mad Griffon.
Just like for any living creature, being born from a good natured parent didn't guarantee that they would inherit their heart or wisdom. Some of Leegaain's children were so infamous that the Council had put a bounty on their head even though they weren't even Awakened.
Chapter 619 Travels Part 2
The same had happened for the offspring of Salaark and Tyris. Since the Guardians' children were born capable of using all kinds of true magic and were gifted with a life that could span for almost a millennium, the Council considered them to be a threat of the highest level.
'Well, the silver lining is that plants are the chattiest among living beings. The disguised Treantling might be able to point me in the right direction.' Scarlett thought.
She handed several copper coins to pay for her meal to the waiter, enough to feed a small platoon, and almost as many as a tip.
"I'm flattered by your attentions, miss, but I'm strictly a waiter. You're not even my type, sorry." The young man said, yet he still pocketed all the money.
"Neither you're mine, smartass of a Treantling." Scarlett's voice was a low growl, her teeth shapeshifting for a second into fangs. She wanted to make sure the greenhorn would get her point.
"You're lucky I'm a carnivore, otherwise I would be glad to make a salad out of you as a token of my appreciation."
"How do you know who I am?" The waiter looked around, worried that someone might have noticed their exchange.
"You can call me Scarlett, little salad. Now if we are done playing, I'd like you to tell me everything you know about the creature that plagues this land." Scarlett said.
"I'm sorry, but I only know what everyone does. A few months ago, right after the monster outbreak, a creature started to raid the Gheluan forest. At first, it only attacked the magical beasts, so we didn't care.
"Then it killed even the Lord of the Forest and after that, everything went downhill. There's nothing alive there anymore, most wildlife and flora have been wiped out." The Treantling sighed.
"The Lord of the Forest is dead? Are you saying that thing killed Myshar the Unicorn too? How is it possible? She was young but quite powerful!"
"Why do you think I'm here? Every sane creature is running away from death. I've no idea what it is because no one who has seen it has survived the encounter. Allow me to give you a fair warning in exchange for the generous tip.
"Now that the Gheluan forest is nothing but an empty shell, the monster has started to attack nearby human settlements. It's only a matter of time before it arrives here too, so don't make yourself too comfortable." The waiter went back to serving the tavern clients, keeping an ear out for rumors about the monster.
The idea of an Emperor Beast dying so easily at the hands of an unknown creature made the ancient Scorpicore worry. She returned to her hotel room and called Leegaain, hoping that the Guardian of the Gorgon Empire could help her.
Even though he had almost relinquished those lands, they were still his turf.
"What it is now? I'm kind of busy." Leegaain sounded annoyed, but him responding immediately eased Scarlett's fears.
"Why has no one taken care of the Gheluan Forest yet?" She asked.
"The Empire takes one good third of the Garlen continent, it's not something as puny as your old forest was. I'm hunting down one of those insanely strong Eldritch Abominations, so I've no time to waste.
"Milea is busy dealing with a lich who got bored with his research and wants to conquer her lands. She can't leave until she has destroyed him, but she has dispatched her troops already to take care of your problem.
"Unfortunately, the Gheluan forest is in the middle of nowhere. Do you have any idea how many crises Milea has to face on a daily basis? Cut her some slack. Over and out."
'Leegaain is having trouble tracking an Eldritch? Either it's a master at hiding their presence or the situation is even worse than I thought. I need to achieve a frigging purple core or soon my power will not be enough to survive against the new breeds of Abominations.
'Solving the Gheluan forest's problem might trigger the breakthrough I've been looking up until now. To further evolve, I need a real challenge. Plus, if I do him a favor, Leegaain will owe me. I can't pass on the opportunity to ask him for a reward.' Scarlett thought.
A wide grin appeared on her face. At her level and age, the real challenge to further her magical research was the lack of very powerful and rare ingredients. Adamant and Davross were the only metals she looked for, and Guardians usually had quite a stockpile of them.
Even if the threat turned out to be a minor one, she could always ask Leegaain for a bit of his blood or one of his scales. The power of such powerful ingredients would allow her to finally upgrade her equipment.
Scarlett left the hotel and spread her membranous wings. Air magic filled them with wind, boosting her flight speed to sub sonic levels. She had been to the Gheluan forest in the past, but her memory of the place was foggy.
She didn't remember enough to perform consecutive Warps and even if she did, the place was quite far.
Dimensional magic would make her travel shorter, yet at the same time, it would drain a lot of her mana, forcing Scarlett to use Invigoration more than once.
'If this monster is so strong, I need all of my trump cards to beat it. I can't risk being defeated just because I'm too tired to put out a decent fight.' She thought.
Flying would take longer, but it would consume an insignificant amount of her energy. Only humans with their short life span would Warp even to go to the bathroom. Half an hour later, Scarlett had almost reached her destination.
A small caravan moving from Gheluan drew her attention. It was composed of humans, plants, and beasts. The caravan was too an odd mix to be normal.
Despite it was still at several kilometers of distance from her, Scarlett could distinguish them clearly as if she was standing right beside them thanks to the Eyes of Menadion.
With just a flap of her wings, she reached their position and gracefully landed on the ground. The group was as heterogeneous as it was powerful.
There were Dryads, Thorns, who were creatures born from the Awakening of bushes whereas Dryads were born from flowers and Treantlings from trees, magical beasts of various species, and several human mages.
The weakest mana core among them was cyan, yet they were all on edge and armed to the teeth. As soon as they noticed Scarlett, they assumed a defensive formation.
"What the heck is going on here?" Scarlett retracted her wings, uncaring of their threat. They were too weak and their equipment was poor. She was quite surprised noticing that the humans weren't impressed seeing a winged woman.
"Don't worry, she's one of us." Said a big Ry, a wolf type magical beast, after sniffing the air for a second. A magical beast giving away so easily their ability to talk was also a bad sign.
"How can you be so sure this isn't just another trick? I lost my wife by trusting a stranger." Said a burly wizard who was holding a metal staff brimming with mana.
"Just as I lost my pack. Stop whining and keep moving, human!" The Ry growled and resumed his advance.
Chapter 620 Hybrid Part 1
The magical beasts started moving at a speed the humans could follow while keeping their spells at the ready.
Scarlett could feel that each one of them was grieving and was filled with hatred. Yet there was no bickering nor disrespect between the different races. It was enough to give her the creeps.
"We can't afford to stop. If you want answers, you'd better follow us." The Ry said.
"We are all that's left of the entire Gheluan forest. The others have either already escaped or died. To answer your earlier question, Mogar has turned against its children and none can escape its fury." His words made Scarlett sneer.
"Very dramatic. I never heard of a Ry with so much talent with words. Do you mind being a bit more specific?"
"It's hard to explain. One day the natural order was simply turned upside down. You could see a plant eat a deer, the deer hunt a wolf, and the wolf attack his own pack. Humans too were affected by the phenomenon, but them attacking their own or killing for sport is hardly a novelty. No offense." The Ry said.
"None taken." Replied a middle aged magician who was sitting on top of a Cingy, a boar type magical beast, to be able to cast the Life Sensing array from time to time. It had allowed them to identify the enemy hidden among the grass and escape from several ambushes.
"Whatever it is, it's capable of taking any form it wants. A flower, a Ry, a human, anything. Even its smell is almost identical to the original. I had to almost die twice to learn how to distinguish the anomaly it holds."
"What anomaly?" That word reminded Scarlett of Lith, making her fear that her decision to spare him all those years ago had finally backfired.
"It's a hybrid smell. Part beast, part Abomination, part undead." With each word the Ry spoke Scarlett's stomach churned stronger, at least until she heard the last part.
"Undead? Don't you mean human?" She asked.
"No, I'm sure of it. For once humans are innocent." The Ry shook his head.
"Ambush!" The Warden yelled one second before black sprouts emerged from the ground. They grew at an unbelievable speed, draining all life from their surroundings to sustain their existence and turning the grasslands into barren earth.
Like the group they were chasing, the creatures mimicked the appearance of members of different races. Their age and gender appeared to be random. There were even children and elderly among them.
The creatures were a pulsing mass made out of bones, of the Chaos energy typical of Abominations, and of black vines instead of flesh. The red light of undeath burning inside their eyes revealed a desperate hunger.
Yet as fast as they had appeared, their forms became indistinguishable from the living. Vines turned into flesh, and the red light was replaced by normal pupils as their skin or fur turned from pitch black to what it was supposed to be.
"Why did you abandon us, mom? We miss you. We promise to behave if you return." Said two little kids to the Warden. They had big watery eyes, like those of a child too naïve to understand what they have done to anger their beloved parents.
"You're not my real children! I've seen you die." Rage and grief boosted the power of her darkness magic spells. Two black bolts erupted from her hands turning the two kids into rotten mush among high-pitched screams of agony.
"Don't run away, my love." Said a female Ry to the leader of the group.
"I'm not dead and I mean you no harm. I just want to be reunited with you. If you pledge your alliance to the Great Mother, we could both happily live forever."
The male Ry hesitated. He had fought many of those creatures, but never before one of them had taken the semblance of his beloved Nia.
"Nice try, scum." Scarlett raised her pince-nez above her head, making it emit a pulse of light that brushed off the illusion and revealed the cruel reality underneath. No matter their gender, age, or race.
All the creatures had a single life force, a single smell, and were made of mud. The Vines that covered their bodies allowed them to move, while the Chaos energy covering them replaced their true semblance with a familiar face.
Once their secret was exposed, the creatures dropped the act like it was a live grenade and turned toward Scarlett.
"Long time no see, Scorpicore." They said in unison with a neutral voice. "You might just be what I need for my final breakthrough."
Scarlett ignored the ramblings and focused on the voice. She was certain to have heard it in the past. With the pince-nez back on her face, she studied the creatures' cores.
'Whoever is behind this it's not Lith. That is not his voice nor his ring's and these creatures have three cores each, whereas Lith had a single hybrid core with multiple properties.' She thought.
The hybrids extended their arms to attack, but the group of survivors wasn't willing to chat, so they attacked the moment the Eyes of Menadion stripped the creatures of their disguise.
Killing a pile of random stuff was much easier than murdering your loved ones over and over again. The undead nature of the creatures made them incredibly sturdy so that most spells had little to no effect on them.
Darkness magic was their bane, but it was also slow, and very few creatures could use it aside from humans. That was why the group had formed and how they had survived for so long.
The magical beasts would pin the enemies down to the ground, the humans would kill them with darkness magic, and the awakened plants would keep their allies alive without fail. Plants were the most gifted creatures in the rejuvenating arts. There was no injury they couldn't treat in a matter of seconds.
By harnessing Mogar's life force, they could almost regrow an entire body with no burden on their patient's stamina. Yet that was before Scarlett's arrival. Now that she was the creature's target, the mastermind was no longer interested in capturing the others alive.
Scarlett could see the Chaos magic assembling on the creatures' fingertips a second before they unleashed a barrage of black rays as fast as bullets. A wave of her hand enveloped the group of survivors in a dome of light that stopped the Chaos spells.
Chaos magic could destroy matter almost to the atomic level, but light magic was its fatal weakness. Chaos magic was nothing but darkness magic that had been forcefully stripped of its light counterpart.
It was the imbalance that made Chaos magic so powerful. The raw darkness magic was drawn by the light element residing inside its target, making it fast. Also, the darkness magic would drain the light element to return whole, amplifying darkness magic's destructive force several times.
A light magic energy construct would restore the balance, turning Chaos magic back into common darkness magic.
"Your version of Hollow Void is truly amateurish. It didn't put a dent in my Source Wall." Scarlett said. Her aim was to taunt her opponent into revealing their identity.
No matter how hard she racked her brain, she had met too many people to remember them all.
Chapter 621 Hybrid Part 2
"You've grown stupid with age." The creatures said with a stern tone while charging at the Source Wall.
"Your barrier just traps my prey preventing them from both escaping and retaliating. On top of that, only Abominations need to feed on life force. For the undead, light magic it's nothing but a full course meal!" Scarlett could see the creature's blood cores going into overdrive, lured by the spell's energy mass.
"If you say so." Scarlett snapped her fingers, turning the Source Wall into Night Wall. The creatures slammed into the mass of darkness energy which destroyed their blood cores and made their bodies crumble.
Without the blood core's energy keeping the other two apart, the black core was free to feast on the mana core first and on the mud puppet holding it in later.
'What a moron. Darkness and light are two faces of the same coin. Converting one in the other is a child's play if you know what you're doing. I can rule out my most brilliant acquaintances from my suspect list.' She thought.
"Okay, it's time you get out of here." Scarlett opened a Warp Steps leading a dozen of kilometers away.
"Those things were all linked to the forest, so the further you go, the weaker they'll become. Keep walking straight past the Steps and you should reach a village by nightfall."
The magical beasts took the others on their backs and ran through the dimensional door while giving the Scorpicore a nod of their heads as a thank you. They were grateful to Scarlett, but also aware that they were nothing but a liability to her
Ants caught in the middle of a fight between titans who could stomp them without even noticing.
Now that Scarlett had the enemy's energy signature stored by the Eyes of Menadion, she had no more need to guess the identity of her opponent, she just needed to reach them.
Her pince-nez had allowed her to track Balkor despite he was hiding in the Blood Desert and she was in the Griffon Kingdom, whereas the new hybrid behind the mud puppets was just a few kilometers away.
Their life force shone like a sun to her eyes, allowing her to fly in a straight line at subsonic speed until she reached her destination. It was a cave, located at the base of a hill.
Once it had been covered in grass and flowers, but now the whole area was a wasteland full of dead trees. Her pince-nez could only pick up three different energy signatures and they were all hybrids.
"This smell… Xacha, is it really you?" Now that most of the smells were gone and with the hybrid so close, Scarlett's nose could easily perceive the familiar scent which in turn jogged her memory.
Xacha was an Emperor Beast even older than Scarlett was. In a sense, Scarlett considered her almost as a relative. Xacha was the mother of all Nues, a feline species of Emperor beasts.
She had the head of a monkey, the body of a tiger, the wings of an eagle, and the front half of a snake for a tail. Both the Nue and the Scorpicore were chimeras, sharing light magic as one of two innate elements.
The other one was fire for the Scorpicore and air for the Nue.
"How could you do something so cruel to your own home? To yourself? Have you gone insane?" Scarlett asked. She remembered the Nue being a gentle and kind soul. To the point that she had refused to take the mantle of Lord of the Forest because of her hate for violence.
"I have no idea how you could find me so quickly, but it doesn't matter." Xacha's voice wasn't feminine anymore. It was the flat and cold tone of an undead who didn't care for their past anymore.
"As for your question, what kind of mother would let her children starve?" The creature that came out of the cave barely resembled the Emperor Beast that Scarlett remembered.
Xacha had now a horned skull for a head, her body had turned white snow, and she was capable of standing on her hind legs 3 meters (9'10") tall, having become more humanoid than before. Xacha's empty eye sockets were lighted by red undead energy.
"I don't know what you are talking about, but nothing justifies such a blatant abuse of Forbidden magic." Scarlett's eyes became stone cold as she guessed what kind of changes had Xacha put herself through.
"It's not Forbidden magic if it's done for the greater good. All kinds of creatures will be able to benefit from my discovery! Normally, a mana and a black core cannot coexist, but what happens if you add blood core?
"Being made of darkness magic, a blood core can withstand the Chaos of the black core, while its red part made of pure life force can nurture a weakened mana core, prolonging its existence.
"What I've found it's the cure for all illnesses. Something so great that it can defeat death itself. This is my legacy for all of our children, who will be able to thrive as perfect life forms."
"The only problem is that both the black and blood core need a lot of energy, but I'm certain that with enough time I will be able to solve this issue as well." Xacha said.
"Are you out of your mind? Your current form is far from perfect. To survive just for a few months, you have killed thousands and completely destroyed the balance of the forest! Mogar will not allow this."
"Foolish cat. Mogar doesn't care about any of it. Otherwise how could it let so many bad things happen? Why Abominations and undead are the only ones allowed to live forever while all the other creatures live a life of pain before dying?" Xacha asked.
"I could tell you that pain is a constant of life and that the immortality you envy so much has a heavy price, but I'm tired of listening to your nonsense. Have at you!" Scarlett had hoped to appeal to whatever good there might be left in the Nue, but after seeing the monstrosities Xacha had turned herself into, she had given up.
She used that time to cast her Light Sovereign array. It projected a white six pointed star inscribed in a white circle that filled its area of effect with the light element so that using Chaos magic was impossible.
On top of that, it created a natural source of light energy that allowed Scarlett to skip conjuring energy and go straight to manipulate it, making her casting speed much faster.
Unfortunately, the Nue was on her same page and had used that time to cast more than just an array.
To turn herself into a hybrid, Xacha had used forbidden magic and sacrificed countless lives. It had allowed her to merge her body with part of an Abomination and a Grave Lord she had raised with Necromancy.
She now had three different minds capable of parallel thought, resulting in triple casting. The Nue unleashed the Life Suppression array while her Abomination side cast the tier three Chaos magic Void Rain.
Void Rain produced a volley of Chaos arrows as fast as bullets, but because of Light Sovereign's effect, they immediately turned back into slow darkness projectiles. Only thanks to her array did Scarlett have the time to block them by conjuring stone shields with a wave of her hand.
Chapter 622 Hybrid Part 3
Life Suppression, however, was a tougher client. It conjured a black five pointed star inscribed in a red circle which allowed the person at its center to feed on the energy the array drained from everything inside its area of effect.
Scarlett inwardly cursed as she realized that both her array and her life force were being turned against her, making the Nue even more powerful.
"Yes! I knew it! You are the key to my research." Xacha said as the flood of nutrients made the hunger that had tormented her ever since her metamorphosis disappear.
Black flames erupted from her neck, enveloping her skull as her body started to mutate once again.
"What goes around comes around, pal." Scarlett reacted quickly, turning her Light Sovereign into its darkness magic counterpart. Normally she would have suffered from its deadly effects as well, but thanks to Life Suppression, all of its energy was redirected to the Nue.
The black flames disappeared as the hybrid started to wither. Life Suppression injected the poisonous darkness energy directly into Xacha's cores, making it spread like wildfire.
"No! All the life force I have collected. Lost!" Darkness magic was the bane of both undead and Abominations. Xacha could feel her blood and black core weakening as the darkness magic seeped through them until it almost reached her mana core.
Her tail fell onto the ground, turning into specks of darkness before fading into nothingness.
"Look at yourself and at what you have become. Do you understand now? Abominations and undead leave no corpse behind because they are simply shadows of their former self.
"If there's anything left in you of the kind Nue I knew, let me give you a painless death." Scarlett said, dispelling Shadow Sovereign a second after Xacha did the same for Life Suppression.
"Shut up! What good is a mother who can't protect her own children? I refuse to die!" The sky blackened and the earth trembled. A black pillar descended from the thunderclouds that were blotting the sun and enveloped the Nue.
"Do you see it? Mogar agrees with me! This is my world tribulation. The planet still considers me one of its Guardian candidates!" Dark clouds gathered and spun around the two Emperor Beasts as Xacha's form became covered in black scales.
"You're only half right." Scarlett said. "The black pillar is just a sign that Mogar has relinquished any hope for you. You're turning into an Eldritch and there's no way back from that. You're right about the tribulation part, though.
"Only it's not yours." Scarlett was forced back into her bestial form and then her body started to change, doubling its size. Her fur morphed into red scales as thick as a shield and a new set of feathered wings appeared on the Scorpicore's back right beside her membranous ones.
Her muzzle turned into a mask of fire, only her eyes remained visible. Scarlett's red mane erupted into a raging purple flame, hot enough to blacken the ground below her.
The Emperor Beast roared as she attacked the Eldritch with her claws. The two creatures rolled on the ground, spraying red or black blood whenever one of them managed to wound her opponent.
Soon Scarlett realized her mistake. Her fangs and claws were as sharp as those of the Eldritch, but she lacked the deadly touch such creatures possessed. Each wound Xacha's new body inflicted to Scarlett would also drain her life force, mending the Eldritch's wounds.
The scorpion's sting at the end of Scarlett's tail stung Xacha multiple times. At such close range, neither of them could cast spells and the Eldritch was quickly getting the upper hand since she could heal and attack at the same time.
"What good is venom against someone who has no blood? You took everything from me, so I will slowly savor your death." In her Eldritch form, Xacha's heart was quickly being replaced by the hunger that plagued all Abominations.
She was aware that after killing Scarlett, her own cubs would be her next prey. She was too hungry to care anymore for such a dead weight. Her mind was becoming colder and more calculative by the second.
'It's all Scarlett's fault! If not for her meddling I would still be a Nue. All of my hard work is ruined!' Xacha train of thought was interrupted by a sudden burst of pain coming from her back.
A Scorpicore's tail didn't inject venom. Plants, undead, Abominations, there were too many creatures that would be immune to such a weapon. Acid, on the other hand, worked the same way on all kinds of enemies.
The surprise made the Eldritch falter long enough for Scarlett to escape from her deadly embrace and take flight. She was bleeding from multiple deep wounds and her red scales had been blackened by the Eldritch's parasitic touch.
'That does it! Mogar is truly a scumbag. How can it give Xacha a power up, turning her into an Eldritch in the middle of our fight while giving a tribulation to me? Not only does it not give me a single advantage, but also if I fail it, I'll die, no matter the result of the fight.' Scarlett thought, using light fusion to treat her wounds.
Xacha was still getting used to her new body, but since air was one of her innate elements, she was able to fly better than Scarlett. The Scorpicore only had the time to wave a single spell before the enemy caught up with her.
'Damn if I miss my pince-nez. It would help me to understand how much power Xacha has left. Too bad that Chaos magic is too dangerous. If I take any artifact out of my pocket dimension, I risk it getting destroyed. I only have one trick left at this point.'
Scarlett kept dodging and stinging with her tail at her opponent, trying to stall for time as long as she could. Eldritchs were indeed powerful, but because of their hunger, they consumed mana even while standing still.
They needed a constant supply of energy to survive, so during such a heated battle, a newborn Eldritch like Xacha couldn't last long. She had yet to learn how to use her new abilities to their fullest.
Xacha was well aware that the tables had been turned. Each sting of Scarlett's tail opened a new wound, making her hunger worse. In the few seconds they had played airborne tag, she had consumed a lot of vitality just to keep up with her opponent's speed.
Xacha was eager to finish the duel and find something to eat. She focused her remaining energies into a full powered tier four Chaos magic spell, Hollow Void. The black spear erupted the moment Scarlett was forced to slow down to avoid a patch of tall trees.
At such a close range, the spell was unavoidable.
'Finally! Here's my chance!' Scarlett thought as she unleashed a powerful tier four spell, Light Pillar. For a split second, the two spells clashed and Howling Void easily pierced through construct, but Scarlett was expecting that.
She reversed the light into darkness, so that the opponent's Chaos magic stripped her own spell of its light element turning the Howling Void into normal darkness magic and vice versa. Thanks to her ruse, Xacha had unwillingly turned Scarlett's Dark Pillar into a Chaos spell.
The huge energy mass was too big and too fast to dodge. The Eldritch took the full force of the Chaos Pillar, dying on the spot.
Chapter 623 Hybrid Part 4
Scarlett didn't fare much better. Darkness magic was slow, but she was still close to its source and she was wounded.
She managed to only partially dodge the incoming attack and crashed to the ground with half of her side destroyed by Xacha's spell. She gritted her teeth to not lose consciousness and used Invigoration to escape from the jaws of death.
After she recovered from her wounds, Scarlett was surprised to notice that she was still in her pseudo Guardian form. She waited to be back to her peak condition before taking the Eyes of Menadion out of her pocket dimension.
Much to her surprise, the artifact could still perceive Xacha's life force running under the Gheluan forest in the form of an intricate network of hybrid tentacles. They were all converging into the cave from which the mad Nue had emerged.
Scarlett stepped inside the cave, finally able to make sense of Xacha's ramblings about her offspring. In the middle of the cave, inside two gelatinous pods, there were the remains of two smalls Nues.
The tendrils that Scarlett had seen and fought up to that point were coming out of the pods, providing the cubs with a constant flow of nutrients.
They were the size of ten years old child, but they were skeletal and on the verge of death. Up until Xacha's death, the tendrils had harvested life force just to keep them alive.
Thanks to her pince-nez, Scarlett could see a black core inside their bodies. Somehow it had taken a deep root, to the point that without it the small Nues wouldn't be able to survive.
"They must have been infected during the monster outbreak." Scarlett pondered.
"Judging from what I see, the Abomination must have been killed before its seeds could properly develop. Once the creature died, Xacha's children must have started to slowly die due to the black core fading.
"Emperor Beasts have an amazing vitality, but in this case, it would be a curse. It must have taken them weeks to get to this point. Weeks during which Xacha could only watch them suffer. It must have driven her mad."
Scarlett was really close to the truth. The creatures involved in the so called monster outbreak weren't actually monsters, just Abominations hidden behind a meat mask. One of them managed to spread its disease to some of the creatures of the forest before being captured.
When Xacha had realized her cubs were among the victims, she had begged the Lord of the Forest, Myshar the Unicorn, to spare the Abomination. To keep it alive long enough for her to safely extract the black cores or at least find a cure for her cubs' condition.
Yet Myshar refused. She knew that any attempt would have been pointless. That a corrupted core was beyond saving and that leaving the Abomination alive would only mean giving it more chances of escape.
Xacha wasn't the only one struck by that tragedy, but unlike the other parents, she couldn't find the strength to put her down her small, innocent pups. She had used all the ingredients she had, all the artifacts she possessed just to buy them one more week, then one more day until she struggled to prolong their lives of even one second.
It was then that her mind had snapped, making her turn to Forbidden magic to solve her problem. The other beasts called it madness, but to Xacha it was an epiphany. If they needed the black core to survive, then she only needed to find a way to make it thrive.
The answer was so simple that she almost couldn't believe it. Her research needed test subjects, but luckily the forest was full of life. When Myshar had realized what was happening, it was too late.
Xacha's hybrid form fueled by her madness and countless sacrifices proved to be too strong for her.
Scarlett watched at the pods and at their content. Her heart ached at the idea of killing such helpless creatures, but she had no choice. Even if she managed to somehow stabilize their condition, those hybrids were cursed to experience the worst of their three worlds.
Like an undead, they would never physically grow.
Like an Abomination, they would live in perpetual hunger. Last, but not least, it was only a matter of time before they regained some form of consciousness and either committed suicide or fell into desperation once they understood how cruel their destiny was.
Through the gel of the pods, Scarlett could hear their small voices moaning in pain, their bodies squirming now that Xacha's death had stopped the tendrils from working. She had no idea what kind of magic the Nue had used, and the young creatures were in agony.
A wave of her pawn released enough darkness magic to shut down their pain receptors before giving them a peaceful death. They didn't even notice it, Scarlett made sure to make them fall asleep before putting them out of their misery
Only after the last hybrid was dead did the sky clear and the earth cease its trembling.
'Wait, what? Wasn't the tribulation about killing Xacha but releasing the cubs? Then why did nothing happen when I met Lith? He's a hybrid too, but Mogar didn't want me to put him down. Isn't he supposed the potential Guardian of death or something? Then what am I….'
Her streak of unanswered questions was interrupted by an all too familiar feeling. It was like a stomach-ache, but worse. As if instead of bile, she had to puke molten lava.
'No! Please, not now. I've waited for over a hundred years for my core to evolve and it happens now? I'm never coming back to the Gorgon Empire. This place is bad luck!' Scarlett thought as the impurities accumulated inside her body over the years were expelled.
The pain she was experiencing made the fight with Xacha look like a pleasant experience.
***
A few weeks had passed since Lith had resumed his duty as a Ranger. Lutia was already free from snow and bad weather, whereas spring had yet to reach the Kellar region.
After the events of Zantia, everything became quiet. Despite the chilly winds and black clouds on the horizon, the northmen could see all the signs that announced the end of winter.
Days would pass now between snowstorms and the bad weather would last hours instead of days. Soon the roads would be open again and supplies wouldn't be an issue anymore. Rich and poor alike could plan their tomorrow without fear, so there wasn't much for Lith to do.
He had often the time to visit Kamila and his parents, but most importantly, he had received full access to some of the most important libraries of the Kingdom. It allowed him to gain a complete understanding of the basics of higher Necromancy and to learn all about the known undead species.
"Fuck." Lith said with a dejected voice, drawing on himself several looks of reproach. He had searched for years for that knowledge, working day and night for the Griffon Kingdom to get his hands on everything known to mankind about undeath.
It was a vital step in his research to escape from the cycle of death of rebirth that had worried him since his reincarnation on Mogar. Like if often happens, the answers he got weren't the ones he had hoped for.
Chapter 624 Raid Part 1
Thanks to all the merits he had racked during the past year, Lith had been granted access to the Royal Library. It was the biggest and most complete library in the Griffon Kingdom, covering all the subjects known to mages, including the forbidden ones.
The library was comprised of many floors, one for each element. Normal books could be checked out freely, whereas to consult forbidden books it was necessary to spend merits and receive a recommendation letter from someone with a high clearance level.
In Lith's case, both Professor Marth and Vastor had vouched for him along with his commanding officer. Lith was now sitting behind at a hardwood table, surrounded by fellow mages in search of knowledge.
The city of Valeron, the capitol of the Griffon Kingdom, was surrounded by all kinds of protective arrays and because of them, Lith couldn't put the valuable tomes inside Soluspedia to read them all in a single moment.
Dimensional magic would allow spies and thieves to freely Warp, so it had been sealed. Lith and Solus had spent the last few hours reading tomes about Necromancy, to see if among the undead species there was one suitable for Lith's tastes.
Unfortunately, despite having even checked the legendary creatures' section, their quest had ended up in failure.
'Sigh, why real vampires suck so bad? They have so many limitations that now I can understand why despite becoming a vampire is relatively safe and easy no mage wants to be turned into one.' Lith thought.
'Please, if there was such a thing as an immortal and eternally young species that had no weakness at all, outside becoming a disco ball under the sunlight, they would have ruled Mogar for millennia.' Solus said, yet despite her mockery, she was dejected as well.
As long as Lith was human and with a cracked life force at that, he was bound to die sooner or later. Solus had no intention of letting that happen, but just like Lith, she was now clutching at straws.
According to the tomes of the Royal Library, there was a way for Lith to safely become an undead and retain all of his memories.
Unlike Necromancy, that worked on corpses that no longer had a working brain and mana core, many species of undead could slowly turn a living being into one of their own.
In such a case, the subject would never really die. A blood core would take form inside their bodies and grow over time, replacing their mana core the moment their heart ceased to beat.
The problem was that there was no undead specie without absurd or crippling limitations. Most of them were unable to even move during the day, trapped in a forced slumber no matter the danger they were in or how deep below the earth they hid.
Others, like the Banshees, couldn't cross water and would die if they fell into a river or a lake. Yet their biggest weakness was their inability to use light magic. For someone like Lith, who had spent countless hours to become a Healer, it was an unacceptable trade.
To make matters worse, light magic wasn't just needed to heal others. Without it, Lith would also be unable to Forgemaster truly powerful artifacts and even to use dimensional magic as freely as he had always done.
Blink, one of his bread and butter spells during fights, required light magic and so did Switch. Undead weren't completely unable to use light magic, but since their blood core was unable to assimilate it from its surroundings, they had to consume their own life force in order to produce light energy.
It meant that if Lith decided to turn into an undead, just to Forgemaster a single item he would need to consume the equivalent of a pigpen of food. Some undead were picky about who they could feed upon and of course, their victim had to be alive.
Lith couldn't store living humans inside his pocket dimension and he couldn't bear the thought of traveling with a caravan of slaves. He would have to feed and care for them every day just to murder them later.
'I can be morally flexible, sure, but where the heck do I keep so many people at all times without being found out and hunted down? Liches have no such problems, but after reading a lot about them, I don't think it's something I'd like to become.
'First, there is no sure fire way to become one. I would need to spend years to find a way suitable for my unique mana core and life force, just for a measly 10% success rate, with no do-overs. My luck always sucked, so I don't feel like playing with dice.
'Also, the phylactery is a huge weak point. It cannot be stored in a dimensional item and it can't be too far. On top of that, after meeting Zolgrish, I discovered another weak point Liches have.
'If I can seal space with an array and I cut them off from the link with their phylactery, both their physical and magical strength will be halved, plus they would become unable to recover their mana.' Lith thought, not knowing he had just discovered the principle underlying Leegaain's anti Lich spell.
'Unless they bring it with them.' Solus pointed out.
'That's too risky. Life Vision, your mana sense, Scarlett's pince-nez. There are countless ways to spot such a powerful object and even if the Lich might somehow cloak it, the constant stream of mana and life force would betray its position.'
Lith was right, yet most ancient Liches would rather bring their phylactery around with them while fighting a truly dangerous opponent than being one-shotted.
'I can definitely discard becoming an undead as an option, unless I'm either desperate of I discover a new species with acceptable limits. Creating a new race all by myself might as well take all the lifespan I've left and I would have no certainty of success.' He thought.
'I don't like the idea of turning into an Abomination either. They may be immortal, but so far all the ones I met seemed to be mad, miserable, or both. My best shot is to research ways to improve my life force to prolong my existence while I search for the blueprints of a soul binding artifact.'
After copying everything he might need to improve his true Necromancy, Lith left the Royal Library. Both of his communication amulets were silent, but in his experience, no news were good news.
If the army kept not bothering him Lith could keep exploring the Lost Cities of the Kellar region for clues, whereas not hearing from both his family and Kamila meant that Fallmug had yet to try anything funny.
Lith would have loved to stop torturing him and take him out of the picture once and for all, but he had to play it smart so that no one would suspect him. Thanks to the Tower Warp, he had never left his prey alone for long.
Lith let those morbid thoughts slide and used the capitol's Gate to return to the north. Despite all of its flaws, the army was still the perfect cover to spend a long time away, performing his research night and day.
Among his most recent pet projects, there was crafting with the eyes of the Balor a magical staff that could mimic General Vorgh's, improving the power of the lesser undead he was able to create at will and raid the lost city of Huryole.
Unlike the other ruins he had visited, Huryole was almost perfectly preserved. Gold, jewels, magic books, there were countless things up for the taking. Unluckily, the creatures inhabiting the city made every raid extremely difficult.
Chapter 625 Raid Part 2
Lith's predecessors hadn't left all that goodies out of the goodness of their hearts. Finding something valuable inside Huryole required luck, plus one had to fight not only against powerful monsters, but also against time.
The lost city was a living labyrinth that would periodically rearrange itself, making any old map useless. To make matters worse, its walls couldn't be affected by earth magic, dimensional magic was sealed, and destroying the walls to make haste only made the cursed item that ruled Huryole angry.
Normally, the problem with the inhabitants of a lost city was that they would grow in power and numbers over time. It was a Ranger's duty to cull them and reset their power before they became too strong.
In Huryole's case, however, the number of creatures that spawned and their power was fixed. Even the monsters had a hard time finding their way out of the city and Lith only had to kill those who managed to reach the external barrier before they could breach it.
From the outside, the lost city looked like a giant stone dome. The only entrances were located at the ground level and breaking the dome would make the cursed object who 'protected' the city turn the whole Huryole into a rampaging golem.
Flight was useless as well, making many wonder what lay at the center of the city and for what purpose it had been built. Lith couldn't stop thinking how odd it was that Rangers were allowed to take for themselves whatever they recovered from it.
Huryole was also nicknamed "The Cursed Training Ground".
Lith used his badge to bypass the magical barrier isolating the city and checked the reset counter. The labyrinth would randomize itself at fixed intervals, so he had to make sure that it wouldn't happen any soon.
Otherwise, if a combat lasted for too long or if he managed to get deep into Huryole, Lith would risk becoming trapped inside the city. According to the counter, the next reset was in half a day, so Lith went directly inside.
'I swear, this place is oddly familiar. The rooms are always different, but the vibe here is something I already experienced somewhere else.' Lith thought while crossing a small courtyard, where several training dummies and weapons were orderly lined up.
A quick check with Life Vision confirmed to him that there was nothing valuable. The only magical aura in the room belonged to the walls encasing the courtyard. Solus used her spirit magic to pick up the weapons and use them to strike down the dummies.
"Why did you do that?" Lith asked as the last strawman was cut into half.
'Cursed training ground, training dummies, I thought maybe there was a reward for clearing the task.' She replied.
"Yeah, if this was a video game, you might be right. Real life is a bit different, though. No one rewards you for completing menial tasks." Lith's voice oozed with sarcasm.
The following room looked like a warehouse of some kind. Wooden cupboards and shelves where lined against the wall, while multiple vases filled with food lay around, enchanted with an unknown spell that prevented it from rotting.
'Jackpot!' Lith thought. 'I've never seen this kind of pseudo core before. I wonder if I'm the first to…' A quick use of Invigoration made him lose interest.
'Damn, the pseudo core it's too complex compared to a dimensional item. This thing is worthless to me.' Lith still copied it down to the smallest detail, just to be safe.
Fake mages couldn't scan magical items as he had just done and even if such a spell was of no use to Lith, the Kingdom might have been interested in buying it from him. The shelves in the room had several books, but after a quick glance, they turned out to be either inventory or account books.
Lith opened the door leading to the next room, surprised that he had yet to find a crossroad or a monster. Up to that point, his path had only one way in and one way out, making a map pointless.
'The outer layers have always been easy, but never this simple. If it keeps like this, I could get really deep into Huryole. Why is my paranoia sense tingling, though?' Lith thought.
'Well, maybe because if it's easy to get in then it's also easy to get out? It's not like this place is inhabit…'
'Thanks, Solus. Way to jinx it!' Lith said as he stepped inside what looked like a dorm, running into a Mage Slayer and a White Lady. They were two kinds of undead who were able to stay awake during the day, as long as they avoided direct sunlight.
Unfortunately for Lith, all the light inside Huryole was artificial, so that his enemies could move without problems. A Mage Slayer was usually born from the dying body of a powerful swordsman.
In their new form, they would be unable to use fake magic, but their undead nature combined with their skills allowed them to channel the elemental energy into their swordplay.
They weren't true mages, but they were able to cast spells without any chant or hand signs. They just needed to perform a series of attacks to unleash all kinds of elemental attacks up to tier three.
On top of that, magic was their source of nourishment, making all kinds of direct spells useless against them, no matter their tier. Both fake and true mages had a hard time facing someone with infinite stamina that could use magic by simply swinging their blades in close combat.
The Mage Slayer in front of Lith looked like a featureless humanoid mass of orange gas wielding a longsword covered in runes of power. Its red eyes were fixated on him, seething with hunger.
Inside the borders of Huryole, all the creatures the labyrinth spawned couldn't die, but that didn't mean that they would be freed from their needs.
'Why is its sword covered in runes? Aren't they supposed to disappear after the Forgemastering process ends?' Solus thought, glad to have the opportunity to share part of her memories without giving out her secret.
"Why is your sword covered in runes?" Lith asked with a sarcastic voice, talking to Solus more than to the Mage Slayer. The creature rushed at Lith, its blade slashing the air in front of itself to unleash a fireball.
'Sorry, Solus. It says it doesn't feel ready to share on a first date.' Lith thought while clapping his hands. It conjured a spinning air dome that sucked the fireball and deflected it against the White Lady.
Born from the corpse of a woman who had killed her own children, White Ladies were capable of using only two elements, water and darkness. They needed to feed on the life force of children and they extracted it by drowning them.
The undead was wearing a tattered wedding gown. The pristine white of the dress emphasized her grey necrotic flesh. Due to the prolonged lack of food, the White Lady was unable to retain her humanoid physical appearance and was reduced to a zombie-like creature.
Yet her hunger didn't diminish her magical powers one bit. She hurled a powerful stream of water that enveloped the fireball and snuffed it out like it was a candle. The White Lady shrieked in anger while looking at her companion with so much anger that Lith hoped she would attack the Mage Slayer.
Chapter 626 Loot Part 1
'White Ladies are weak to fire. According to the gazillion books I consulted recently, they burn like gasoline. I don't know what kind of relationship these two have, but if they coordinate their attacks I'll be in a pinch. I must even the field.' Lith thought.
The Mage Slayer ignored the White Lady's grievances and jumped at Lith's spell, incapable to see past the meal served in front of itself. Lith dispelled his air dome and struck with the Gatekeeper sword infused by darkness magic, the only element Mage Slayers couldn't feed upon.
The creature was unable to scream, but its eyes went wide open as the enchanted metal pierced through the orange gas, creating a gaping hole the size of a soccer ball on its chest for a split second.
'Solus, wasn't his heart supposed to be there?' Lith asked. Their vengeful heart was the source of all the powers a Mage Slayer had and also their weak point. Only a physical weapon could destroy it, but finding it wasn't easy.
The undead could move it freely inside their gaseous body, even while they were fighting.
'Yes, it was. Now it's in the nether regions.' She replied. Lith's Life Vision was blinded by the magical gas that made up the Mage Slayer's body, but her mana sense was keen enough to follow the heart's movements.
The White Lady had never stopped hurling new water. She was using it to shape a water cage to drown Lith. He was an adult, so he was bound to taste like horseshit, but beggars couldn't be choosers.
Lith blocked the lunge of the Mage Slayer, interrupting both its attack and its spell while unleashing a stream of lightning from his hand. The electricity traveled through the water and entered the White Lady's mouth, setting her ablaze from the inside.
It wouldn't have been so easy in normal circumstances. The starvation had turned her flesh into dried meat, making it even more inflammable than a White Lady already was.
The undead turned into a pyre while screaming in agony. It took her less than a second to be reduced to a wet pile of ashes.
Now that Lith could focus on a single opponent, he conjured a thick layer of spirit magic around himself. It would be useless against a gaseous opponent, but the enchanted blade the Mage Slayer was using was physical.
Lith used spirit magic to envelope the sword more each time it clashed with his Gatekeeper, making it slower as his grip over the blade of the enemy became stronger. The Mage Slayer wasn't able to use fusion magic and with its sword being constantly pulled in random directions, it was unable to complete a single spell
Soon the second undead was at Lith's mercy.
Spirit magic kept its blade locked in Lith's left hand while the Gatekeeper in his right hand cut through its body so fast that its heart was perfectly visible, no matter where the Mage Slayer moved it.
Lith cut the heart into small pieces and kept cutting it until the smoke stopped regenerating. Unfortunately, the sword disappeared as soon as the undead was vanquished.
A Mage Slayer's physical body actually consisted of two parts: the heart and the blade.
'It's very odd, Solus. According to the books, the sword should be an exact replica of the blade master's weapon. Yet in the pictures we found, their enchanted weapons had nothing special. I'd remember so many runes.' Lith thought.
'Yeah. It's likely due to Huryole being very ancient. If the Mage Slayer was centuries old, maybe so it was the Forgemastering process they used when it was still alive. It's too bad that conjured blades have no pseudo core. We might have learned a lot.' She sighed.
'Look at the bright side. If the path in front of us continues to be straightforward, those creatures would have reached the exit in no time and then we would have been forced to come here to slay them.
'Not only did we save ourselves a trip, but also we might get deeper inside the city than anyone else ever managed to!' Lith replied, regretting his words the moment he thought them.
'Way to jinx it, Lith.' Solus chuckled, hoping that for once they would be lucky.
Before moving on, Lith searched the room. The dormitory was a long rectangular room, and least 100 meters (330 feet) long with four-poster beds lined up against the wall. In front of each bed there was a dimensional chest, ready to be imprinted.
'This is even odder. According to Professor Wanemyre, a magical item that's not imprinted can't last long. Then how can these dimensional chests be in perfect condition?' Lith thought.
'Maybe they are also full!' Solus said.
'I told you to look at the bright side, not to start daydreaming. This is barely the third room. We might as well be like the hundredth visitor or something.' Lith still imprinted one of the chests to probe its contents.
It contained a chamber pot, some kind of odd looking pajamas, and a set of items for personal hygiene.
'This place must be very old if they expected the residents to use chamber pots. It means they had yet to discover how to use mana crystals to obtain tap water.' Lith thought.
Their path kept being straightforward only for a few more rooms. Lith found a training weapons warehouse, an office filled with paperwork written in an unknown language, and a canteen bigger than the village of Lutia before they met a crossroads.
At that point, Lith checked his pocket watch and started to draw a map. During his past visits, he had never managed to get very far due to his busy schedule and the abundance of monsters.
According to the army's information, every time a monster was killed, it was sent back to square one, near Huryole's core. Also, the city was built on multiple levels and all the rooms would be shuffled every time the labyrinth rearranged itself.
Lith had no idea what floor the city core was on, nor where the good stuff could be stored. Yet the prospect of finding ancient artifacts and study the pseudo core of a being capable of resurrecting its minions without taking away their free will drove him to continue his search.
After several more offices, pantries, and even an inner garden bigger than a football stadium, Lith was about to run out of time. He started to run and avoided searching the rooms hoping to find something useful.
When he stumbled into a Forgemastering lab, Lith knew that it would be his last stop. There were so many enchanted items to almost blind their magical senses. The Forge in the middle of the room was made of an unknown metal.
One second it was white with black veins all over it and the next second it was black with white veins. The Forge was solid, but its surface constantly changed, as if there were two colliding forces battling for dominion over it
Lith struck it with the hilt of the Gatekeeper, making it emit a crystal clear sound he had never heard before.
'Solus, this thing isn't made of Adamant, right?' He asked while placing his hand on the Forge and using Invigoration.
'Nope. I have no idea what it is, but its mana flow is magnificent.'
Lith couldn't agree more. Unlike his Adamant Forge, the one in front of him was able to draw in the world energy and compress it to the point it almost had a pseudo core even though it wasn't enchanted.
Chapter 627 Loot Part 2
Lith tried to lift the Forge, but it weighed too much, even for his inhuman strength.
'Damn! Without dimensional magic, we cannot store it nor warp it away!' Lith inwardly cursed non stop.
'You could make it float with a spell, but this thing is too big to get it out of here by crushing through the walls. The cursed object that oversees this place would kill us before we manage to escape.' Solus said.
Lith tried to lift it with a spell anyway. Much to his surprise, an external source of mana blocked his spell and the room started to rumble as an earthquake was about to bring down the roof. The quake stopped the moment Lith let the Forge go.
'Let's run away. There's enough mana surrounding us to kill you in the blink of an eye.' Solus warned him. Lith waited a few minutes and resumed searching the room only when Solus confirmed to him that the hostile mana was fading.
Even if it was very old, it was still a Forgemastering lab. After working for two years at the White Griffon, Lith knew how such places were built. He ignored the open cabinets and went straight for the test room, where any competent Forgemaster kept his prototypes.
A weapon rack full with all kinds of swords covered in blue runes was waiting for him.
'Yes!' Lith started picking them up, but after the first blade the rumbling resumed, forcing him to put them back in their place except for one. A second attempt to collect more than one sword confirmed his intuition.
"Okay, fine! They all have the same spell on them after all." Lith's sour grapes claim was followed by a quick read of the textbooks stored in the libraries. Once again, he could only pick one or pay the consequences.
The problem was that they were all written in gibberish and he was dangerously running out of time. The only silver lining in Lith's situation was that even if he was unable to understand the words and all the magic circles depicted were unknown, the basics of Forgemastering were still the same.
Lith and Solus were instantly able to tell the tier of an enchantment just by looking at the complexities of the drawings and the number of pseudo cores each spell was devised to handle.
They picked a small book that was filled with only complex tier five Forgemastering spells.
"Let's just hope they actually have a practical use. With my luck, they might as well be just teaching spells…" Lith choked on those words, finally realizing why the Huryole seemed so familiar to him.
The furniture's design was outdated and he had met the rooms in a random order, but too many things inside the lost city reminded him of the White Griffon academy. Lith would have liked to put his intuition to the test, but there was no time.
He used his flight spell to backtrack, moving as fast as he could while checking the map to not get lost. Solus couldn't help him this time, she was too focused keeping watch against possible threats.
'Watch out! Something big and powerful is coming our way!' She warned him. Lith turned to his right just in time to see and incredibly handsome man with emerald hair and purple eyes came from around the corner.
'Powerful I can believe, but big? Also, what's wrong with his hair? Did he come out of an anime or what?' Lith didn't slow down and set up several barriers, just in case the newcomer was hungry like all the creatures Lith had met during his explorations.
<"Wait! If you help me to get out of here, I'll reward you handsomely!" > Said the green haired man in a forgotten language. Seeing that Lith wasn't even listening, he charged forward with inhuman speed, shapeshifting into his real form.
An emerald scaled dragon the size of three-storey noble house started to give Lith chase, using air magic to support its gigantic wings and gain more speed.
< "I said wait!"> The creature roared while desperately trying to catch up.
Lith had never seen a real dragon before. His first reaction was surprise, immediately followed by his survival instincts kicking in.
'How bad is our situation?' He asked.
'Bright blue core inside the stronger body I have ever seen! Shapeshift?'
Lith was losing ground, so he had his hybrid form's wings emerge from his back.
One of the perks of the Orichalcum Skinwalker was that it was able to revert to its liquid form at will, so even if dimensional magic was sealed inside Huryole, Lith had no need to take it off to be able of shapeshifting.
The wings allowed him to go as fast as the dragon since his much smaller figure had an easier time maneuvering along the corridors. Lith only needed to fold his wings to go through a door whereas his alleged enemy had to revert back to human form.
The emerald dragon was flabbergasted and overjoyed seeing a fellow dragon, so he attempted to speak in draconic.
< "Wait, I mean no harm, little brother. We can get out of here together!" > Too bad that draconic was a guttural tongue so filled with power that it would hurt the ears of a normal human, making them bleed.
Lith took it as some kind of sonic attack and moved even faster.
< "I said stop!"> Outraged by the blatant lack of respect from the lesser dragon in front of him, the emerald dragon breathed bright blue Origin Flames against Lith.
"Thanks, sucker!" Lith replied hurling a jet stream of Origin Flames of his own which countered the enemy attack and produced a conflagration that further enhanced his speed whereas it forced his enemy to stop.
The emerald dragon couldn't cross the raging firestorm in front of himself without risking to die.
'How can a lesser dragon produce such a powerful flame? I only fired a warning shot, but he still managed to block it. Father Leegaain must have become even stronger if even such a hatchling can reach that kind of skill.' He thought.
Lith was back to the straight path, so he could put away the map and focus only on his speed.
'How much until the reset?' He asked.
'Less than five minutes.' Solus's reply made Lith curse.
'That's too much time! I don't want to fight a dragon. I don't even know what they are capable of.'
Lith moved outside the barrier, using his army amulet to call for reinforcements. General Vorgh went pale hearing about the emerald dragon.
"Good gods, him again? The strike team will be there as fast as they can. Do not engage him unless the barrier is at risk. Fighting alone would be a suicide."
Lith nodded while preparing for the worse. Little did he know that the conflagration caused by the Origin Flames had damaged Huryole's walls, making the cursed object overseeing the city react with extreme prejudice.
The emerald dragon was currently fighting for his life against an endless barrage of spells which prevented him from moving even one inch forward.
Vorgh and a full platoon of Spellbreakers arrived less than a minute after Lith's call. They patiently waited for the enemy's arrival, casting several arrays one on top of another and using the barrier's power source to boost their spells.
When the reset time arrived, the whole stone dome surrounding Huryole trembled and the emerald dragon was sent in a remote corner of the city.
Chapter 628 Birthday and Anniversary Part 1
"It seems we were lucky, son." Said General Vorgh while dispelling the arrays he was keeping at the ready.
"Usually when Jakra manages to get out, things go downhill fast."
"Is Jakra the dragon's name?" Lith asked.
"No, that's how we call him. Her. Whatever that is. We've tried multiple times to communicate with him, but it never works. A dragon would be a powerful asset, so we've tried bringing language experts and giving him food.
"Yet the only thing he is interested in is getting out, so we are forced to kill him every time. We still have no idea why so many powerful creatures have been locked inside Huryole, but we cannot allow any of them to escape unless we are sure they can be trusted.
"In my book, whoever spews fire first and talks later, is unworthy of trust." Vorgh waved his staff, creating a Warping Array leading to the closest Gate.
"Ranger Verhen, you'll remain here until the next reset. If by then Jakra is still trapped, then you'll resume your regular duty. Don't hesitate to call for help."
After Solus confirmed Lith that they were alone, he Warped to the nearest mana geyser and had her assume her tower form. He had no need to camp in the middle of nowhere when he could use the Surveillance Mirror on the tower's first floor to keep an eye on Huryole from a distance.
"I know it may sound hypocritical coming from me, but I think Vorgh is too paranoid. That dragon can only escape out of pure luck. Huryole has several floors and we never managed to fully explore even one of them in the short time between resets." Lith said, taking their most recent prizes out of his pocket dimension.
"Agreed, but if you look at the bright side, it's like you got a few hours leave." Solus welcomed him in her wisp form.
"Yeah. There are far worse ways to spend your birthday, Solus. Happy birthday." Lith confirmed on his clock that it was more or less the same hour when thirteen years ago he had spoken with Solus for the first time and given her a name.
"Thanks!" She said brimming with joy. She only needed a shred of consciousness to stand watch with the Mirror. The rest was focused on the task at hand. It was one of the most difficult things Solus had ever done, but she wanted to do it anyway.
"Lith, can I ask you something as a birthday present?" She asked.
"Anything you want. Within reason, of course."
"Can you promise me not to get angry?" The wisp rested on his shoulder, wobbling in anxiety.
"I can try. That much I can promise. Are you sure that's all you want for your birthday? You're making me feel like I set the bar so low for you that…"
The wisp left his shoulder and stopped in front of his eyes before starting to grow in size, cutting Lith short in surprise. Soon Solus was in her humanoid form, wearing a simple dress with a flower design that left her shoulders and arms exposed.
"Well? What do you think?" She searched his neck for the vein that she knew would throb whenever he was really angry, no matter how good his poker face was.
"That it was about time you told me. I was really starting to feel left out." Lith said, his neck vein calm and composed.
"Plus, if you waited more, it would have made my birthday present kind of awkward." He handed to her one of the Orichalcum hammers they had forgemastered. Its shaft was slimmer and more delicate compared to the other one.
The words "Maker of Wonders" had been magically engraved of both sides of the shaft. The hammer's head featured an actual hammer on one side and a pick on the other.
"You knew all along?" Solus felt embarrassed and frustrated at the idea of having spent so much time worrying for nothing.
"It wasn't that hard to guess. First, you refused to keep me company when I bathed…"
'That happened way before I got my body.' She thought.
"… then, you started to press me to 'go to sleep' or left me to spend time with Tista. Plus, there was the increase in the food expenses and the bills for clothes Tista bought but never wore.
"If you consider that I knew that once the first floor of the tower would be restored you were meant to acquire your body made of light, it was almost obvious." Lith shrugged.
"So, you're not angry?" She asked.
"No. I know all too well the difference between sharing your secrets because you want to and because you have to. I honestly don't understand the reason why you kept it a secret from me, but I was willing to give you the benefit of the doubt.
"You look gorgeous in that dress, by the way." Solus brimmed with joy at those words, and so did the tower.
She hugged him, feeling for the first time Lith returning the embrace. Solus then told him that the reason she hadn't told him about her new form was that she didn't want to mess up his relationship with Kamila.
"I just wanted you to be happy. I realize that now it��s like you are living together with two women at once and I didn't want to force you to lie to Kamila. I decided to come clean with you because I think my past could help us with your problem."
Solus started to share with him all of her memories, about the Forgemastering method she had witnessed during her visions and how different the enchanted items she remembered of were from those they currently used.
They watched the memory of her adamant hammer over and over, comparing it with the sword they had recently acquired. There was a striking resemblance between them.
"Maybe this Master Menadion of yours was also a teacher in an ancient academy. If I'm right and Huryole really is some kind of twisted version of the six great academies, maybe this sword was one of her works." Lith handed Solus both the book and the enchanted item, hoping they would trigger one of her flashbacks.
Solus ran her fingers over the runes engraved in the blade. Each time she did it, they turned from blue to gold for a split second, emitting each one a different musical note.
"This hasn't been crafted by Master Menadion. Don't ask me why, but I'm sure of it. I think it might have been Forgemastered using one of the techniques she shared, though. It feels so familiar to me that it can't be just a coincidence." She said.
"What about the gibberish. Can you read it?"
"No. What's worse I don't recognize any of these spells. I don't think I have ever seen them before." She replied.
"Maybe it's because Menadion was an Awakened too. If like Master Silverwing she decided to pass her knowledge onto fake mages, this is not what she would have taught you. According to your memories, you were likely to be her Awakened disciple." Lith pondered.
"If you are right, why did she do this to me?" Solus pointed at the tower and then to herself.
"Most powerful mages are batshit crazy." Lith didn't know what to tell her.
Chapter 629 Birthday and Anniversary Part 2
"Or maybe it was just the result of a failed experiment. The really important question is: do you really want to spend your birthday working or do you have anything in mind?" Lith asked.
"I actually do." Solus took a small package from a secret compartment in the walls.
"Happy anniversary, Lith."
He destroyed the gift paper, revealing a cylindrical ring made of an alloy of gold and Orichalcum, with a blue mana gem set in the middle of it.
"The cloaking ring! That's why you didn't rush me making one. Does it have any special abilities?" Lith's Orichalcum armors had proven to be better than he had planned. The adamant was able to enhance a pseudo core in unexpected ways.
"Not that I'm aware of." Solus said.
Lith imprinted the ring before slipping it on his right forefinger.
"How does my mana core look like now?"
"Red, and your life force appears to be at human levels."
"Interesting. Normal cloaking items do not affect the life force. Maybe it depends on the fact that I'm wearing two at once. Let's see if it works the same for you too." Lith put the ring on Solus's right hand, but she felt her heart pounding anyway.
Her light body disappeared with a pop and her dress fell to the ground.
"Fuuuuu…" Solus's voice made the tower's wall tremble for several seconds until she managed to make her body reappear.
"...ck! That cost me a lot of stamina. We can't check the effects on me until I return in my gauntlet form. To add insult to injury, I don't have much time left before I need to rest. Taking human form drains a lot of energy." She said, her mood was getting worse by the second.
"Then revert to your wisp form. I don't want you to disappear in the middle of dinner. We've waited for too long for the moment when we could share a meal together." Lith said with a sigh.
They spent the time before supper studying the unknown blade. The metal it was made of was nothing special, the mana crystals it was fused with were just cyan, and its pseudo core was rather simple.
If not for the runes, Lith wouldn't have given it a second look.
"I don't get what purpose can engraving runes have. There's nothing special in this blade. Its mana pathways, its mana circulatory system, and even its pseudo core is insignificant."
"Maybe they have a special effect. We should try it out." Solus was out of options. She couldn't find any reason to waste time engraving runes as well.
Lith reluctantly imprinted the blade with his mana. He would have preferred not doing it, because the weapon would have no market value until the moment he died. Solus created a test room, using earth magic to shape several dummies of different durability.
The sword made short work of those as hard as wood, but was unable to put a dent on rocks. Lith channeled his mana through the pseudo core and activated its effect. The pseudo core suddenly grew in size and power, yet the mana pathways remained stable.
The excess energy was drawn to the runes and spread across the entire weapon. A split second later, several air blades cut down all the remaining dummies, even the ones made of stone, before hitting the tower walls.
"Damn, that was unexpected. Are you alright, Solus?"
"Yeah, don't worry. That thing is too weak to hurt me. Do you think what I think?"
"Yes. The runes somehow compress and stabilize the pseudo core, allowing even common iron to withstand such a powerful magical energy. Also, despite the cyan mana crystals, the spell had the same firepower that normally would require blue gemstones." Lith had determined the strength of the spell with Life Vision.
"The problem is that we have no idea how to carve them, nor if their number, kind, or position holds a special significance." Solus said.
"Nor we know when they have to be applied. Before or after the Bonding spell? Before or after the Forgemastering process?��� He asked.
Lith opened the booklet, but he couldn't decipher a single word.
"We need a library, an archaeologist, or both."
"I doubt there are many dead language experts. Most of them are likely to work for the Crown." Solus said.
"Sharing our discovery will be the last resort. If this kind of knowledge spreads, Awakened ones will be able to convert it into true magic, just like us. I don't want to lose our edge on the competition." Lith put away both the sword and the booklet, searching his memory for someone trustworthy they could ask for help.
"Maybe and maybe not. Remember that Awakened ones have a long life. This knowledge might be lost to fake mages, but it could be common among the Council or whatever it's called.
"The Crown might actually be aware of it as well. Do you remember the insanely powerful weapons Thrud had? Or Vorgh's staff? They are impossible to make, even at our current level, at least without the runes." Solus pointed out.
"Are you saying that I'm the only idiot who doesn't know about it?"
"No, more like you are part of the 99% population who doesn't have access to it. Also, the book is damn old. Magic makes progress over time, so the method described might be good for you who are starting from scratch but it's likely to be old news.
"Unless we evolve it into something unique by combining it with your talent for Forgemastering and my abilities as a tower, of course." Solus was intrigued by the idea.
Mana geysers gave them an edge that no other mage, even Awakened ones, had.
Lith took it less gracefully. Having spent hours exploring Huryole, risking his life, and almost facing a dragon for almost nothing made him want to scream.
Almost.
"Fine! It's dinner time. Let's eat something and then I'd like for us to do something I always dreamed about ever since I've seen your light body form." Lith said.
Solus needed sheer willpower to not blush. Lith's dirty mind plus seeing him with his girlfriends too many times had rubbed off on her over the years.
When they moved to the dining room, Solus discovered that Lith had stored a small banquet inside his pocket dimension.
He had no idea what Solus liked or disliked, so he had bought a lot of stuff from his favorite restaurants. Most of them were meat dishes, but there were also vegetable soups and grilled fish.
Solus ate to her heart content, brimming with joy. Usually she could only consume food already stored in the tower, but aside from pastries and meat, Lith didn't carry much along with himself, at least not already cooked.
Solus had no idea how to prepare a meal and neither did Tista, so her eating habits until that point had been pretty repetitive. Solus lived it more like a date rather than as a birthday, having all of Lith's attention for herself.
He asked her all about her new body. How it worked, how much she could feel, and experience.
"It doesn't feel like skin, but it's soft, warm, and pleasant to the touch." He said while touching her naked arm while using Invigoration on her. Lith wanted to check if there was any way to speed up her recovery process.
"No. I mean, yes. I mean, thank you." The situation was getting more awkward by the second. Solus was swallowing non stop out of stress.
Chapter 630 Odd Ranger Part 1
When Lith started to talk about Forgemastering, things went back to normal.
'So that's what he was he was talking about.' Solus thought, half relieved and half disappointed when they went back to the Forge lab.
"We are, hopefully, the only two people in the whole Mogar who have the same mana signature. Now that you have a body, we can Forgemaster together! Imagine what kind of items we can craft by combining our efforts.
"Not only do we always live, breathe, and work together, but our minds are also linked. I doubt there are many artisans who can match our mutual understanding." Lith said, being overly optimistic.
It turned out that their mana was indeed compatible, but they had two completely different ways of Forgemastering and they had to learn how to adapt to each other. The problem was that Solus had to keep the magic circle, empower both hammers, and Forgemaster, whereas Lith could focus only on shaping the pseudo cores.
On top of that, Solus could only hold her body for a few hours if she did nothing, but Forgemastering exhausted her strength much more quickly. Time was an enemy she couldn't beat.
"With the little time we got, the best we can do is some basic stuff I have no need for anymore. Either we must make you stronger or find a way to speed up the crafting process. We could try again, but this time you step in only during the pseudo core injection phase." Lith proposed after a few test runs.
"Seems like a great idea. Do you mind if we continue another day? I'm so tired that even my wisp is about to collapse." Solus was back in her wisp form, wheezing and panting.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to make you work even on the date of your birthday."
"If you didn't, I would've thought that you had been replaced by an alien shapeshifter." She chuckled.
"Besides, I had a lot of fun. I never feel alive like when we work together, especially on Forgemastering."
"Next time, I keep the circle and you do the crafting. That way I can observe your method and learn how to better coordinate with you." Lith proposed after they had discovered that they couldn't use mind fusion to speed things up.
Fusing their minds caused Solus's body to get assimilated as well, making it impossible for her to wield her hammer. The fusion would allow them to feel what the other felt, but also would flood their minds with each other's thoughts.
Shaping a pseudo core required surgical precision and their conflicting approaches at crafting ended up being a distraction.
As soon as the next labyrinth reset happened and there was no trace of Jarok, Lith received a call on his army amulet. He returned back to Huryole via the Warping Mirror before answering.
"Ranger Verhen, this is Ranger Morok Eari. I supervise the Hessar region and I'm calling you to schedule your yearly evaluation. Are you done with urgent business in Kellar?" Lith had never heard of other Rangers, but he knew about Hessar.
It was the region neighboring his own and according to his books, it wasn't much better. Ranger Eari was a man in mid twenties, about 1.8 meters (5'11") tall, so he was quite tall according to Mogar's standards.
He had black hair and dark eyes. Like most Rangers, he had a stubble a few days old and unkempt hair. There was no reason to keep appearances if you were alone most of the time.
"Yes, I've already taken care of most Lost Cities and I've nothing to do except for patrolling. What do you mean, evaluation? I do regular reports and so do those who request my help. I never heard about a further test." Lith asked.
"It's no standard procedure. A normal Ranger has no need for a yearly evaluation, but so far you have proven to be anything but. The army is interested in putting your abilities to test since you have only one more year left of service.
"If you pass, the top brass might make you a good offer to tempt you to prolong your military career. I'll be in charge during the mission you and I will undertake together." Morok said.
"What kind of mission requires two Rangers at once?" Lith hated teamwork. Tower warping would become impossible with a partner and he wasn't a fan of camping in the open.
"The worst kind." Morok sighed. "Babysitting."
"I beg your pardon?"
"Some poor bastards have discovered ancient ruins inside an underground network of tunnels inside a dungeon and a group of idiotic mages with more money than brain have organized an expedition."
"What does it have to do with us? Can't they pay for their private guards?" Lith was getting annoyed just at the thought of such a job.
"In theory, yes. Ruins, however, are all considered Royal properties unless a team of experts decides otherwise. The Crown cannot allow for lost artifacts or knowledge to fall into the wrong hands.
"To make matter worse, one of those noble mages has a powerful daddy who demanded the best, and that's where we come into play. The ruins are located at the border between our turfs and we were both graded as Monsters from the army."
'He was graded as me? Turf? This man speaks more like a beast than a human. Solus, analysis.' Lith thought.
'Yeah, right. Since when Ican evaluate someone from his hologram? I need to see him in person.' Solus replied.
"When and where?" Lith asked, eager to finish the mission quickly.
"Let's meet in Letras. It has a Warp Gate, it's close to our destination, and their roasted pork shank is to die for. I'll wait for you at the Wild Boar tavern. We have a few things to do before picking up the kids, so come prepared. Over and out."
Lith took into account how much time it would take a normal mage to reach his destination and used all the extra time to use Accumulation. One of the problems of conducting experiments was that it left him little time to refine his mana core.
Luckily, a mana geyser combined with his tower allowed him to absorb world energy at a faster rate than normal. Lith's blue mana core needed enormous amounts of world energy for a single cycle of expansion and compression.
'Usually, I'd rush there, but I don't want to raise suspicions by moving too fast. Behind Morok's kind words there could actually be a trap. General Morn never liked me. He is likely the reason for this evaluation.
'He must be doubting my achievements. I bet that pompous ass is envious of how Constable Tyris rewarded me after Zantia's events. Either it's him, or one of the enemies of Commander Berion is trying to pull a fast one.' Lith thought.
Lith's had no intention of serving in the military more than it was needed. He hated politics and all the struggles that taking a side would result in, but at the same time, he wouldn't allow anyone to take away his merits.
The following day, Lith reached Letras. Solus was back in her ring form, wrapped around the cloaking ring she had crafted. She now appeared as nothing but a fancy stone decoration.
'If this Morok Eari is an Awakened or an Emperor Beast in disguise, at least Solus is safe as long as I give him no chance of using Invigoration on me.' Lith thought.
Chapter 631 Odd Ranger Part 2
Letras was a trading city and due to the winter lockdown, dimensional magic was still banned inside its walls to prevent illegal food trades to alter the price markets. Like most of the cities of the Griffon Kingdom, it was divided into three areas.
The outer rim was the biggest and the most populated one.
It was where the commoners lived, the granaries were located, and the resting place for tired travelers like stingy Rangers who wanted to save a few coins but still enjoy a decent meal and bed.
During winter, moving huge loads of merchandise required wagons and draft animals, so the roads were large enough to accommodate three of them at once. One lane was usually reserved for civil servants tasked with removing the brown and yellow snow that would otherwise turn entire city blocks into open outhouses.
The houses were one or two-storey high, made of stone or wood based on the owner's income. They were usually tightly packed with little to no space between them. Entire blocks consisted solely of warehouses, most of which were located near the city gates or bordered on the middle rim to facilitate the transportation of goods.
The middle rim was occupied by merchants' shops, craftsmen's and artists' workshops. Only the middle class could afford a house there. They were all made of stone and at least two storey high. There was enough space between them to have a garden or a small stable.
According to the Desk Sergeant who welcomed Lith when he stepped out of the Warp Gate, the Wild Boar tavern was located in the middle rim.
The ground level consisted of a wooden floor and walls, with several hardwood tables where groups of clients could sit to order their meal.
Those who came in alone would rather sit in front of the counter to enjoy the company of the barkeep, of the other customers, and be served more quickly. The room had a cozy feeling and was lighted by several chandeliers and a big popping fireplace that occupied a good quarter of the east wall.
A whole pig was being roasted over the fire, spreading in the air a delicious smell that made people open up their stomach and loosen their wallet. Lith was no exception, so he ordered a plate of roasted pork and a beer to go with it even before sitting down at Morok's table.
The Ranger was eating one of the tavern's famous pork shank with the appetite of a man who had been stranded for a long time and had forgotten his manners.
'Bright cyan core, excellent physical conditions. According to my mana sense he shouldn't be an Awakened and based on my life sense he is human.' Solus said.
The man had a lean but muscular physique. From the last time Lith had seen him, Morok had cut his hair, but the beard was still there. Except it was now dirty with gravy and the fat dripping from the meat.
"Please, have a seat." Morok said with a full mouth and spitting over most of the table. A powerful burp later, he cleaned his right hand over his shirt before offering it to Lith, who reluctantly shook it.
'If all Rangers are like this guy, I now understand why we have a bad name.' Lith thought.
"It's great to eat warm food without worrying about it getting cold or luring hungry beasts, right?"
Lith nodded, his appetite waning by the second. Morok noticed Lith's eyes staring at the grease stain above his heart which had yet to completely fade.
"Gods, sorry. I almost forgot how a civilized human behaves. I've become too reliant on the self-cleaning properties of our uniform to fix my mess. I'll never be grateful enough for it.
"Without such a marvel, after a few weeks in the open, we'd stink so bad that the stench would kill us faster than any enemy." He laughed, making Lith glad for Solus's company and the safe haven she represented.
"Any question about the mission?"
"Many. How dangerous is it supposed to be?" Lith asked.
"Wish I know. It can go from boring as heck, where the worst thing we have to face is the whining of pampered smarty-pants, to a nightmare where we have to pave our road in blood, steel, and bacon."
"Bacon?" Lith asked regretting the question the moment he heard himself saying it out loud.
"Well, yes. When push comes to shove, we might run out of supplies, and monsters are meat, after all. A man needs to eat." His words sent a shiver down Lith's spine and made him check his food supplies stored inside his pocket dimension.
"How are you supposed to evaluate me if nothing happens?"
"I wish I was still such an optimist. Shit always hit the fan, kid. It's only a matter of when. If it's of any consolation, I'm not enjoying this any more than you do. As soon as winter ends, I'm going to retire." Morok replied.
"Retire? You're what, 25?"
"Being a Ranger it's not an easy job. Most people quit after two years, four tops. I've been a Ranger for six years now. I've done my part and now I'm eager to convert my merits in a noble title, get me some lands, a missus, and dedicate my life to magical research.
"As for you, I heard you are a bounty hunter and now even a Spellbreaker. This mission is the perfect task to put your abilities to the test. When exploring ruins, the real danger doesn't come from monsters or magical beasts.
"The real threat usually comes from the human sitting right beside you." Suddenly, Morok's jovial mood disappeared. He took a dramatic pause, looking at some point past Lith.
He had the expression of a man who had experienced one betrayal too much and was now lost in unpleasant memories.
Lith felt an odd sense of kinship toward the fellow Ranger. At least until Morok stood up and said.
"Man, the food here is great, but it runs through your stomach as if it Warps. See you in a jiffy."
Lith sighed, wondering what kind of a moron he had been paired with while pondering Morok's words.
'Interesting. So the army suspects that someone inside the group might be a foreign spy interested in our ruins.' Lith thought.
'Or maybe they want to prevent an internal strife. In case of a big discovery, a lot of people might be tempted to cause an "accident" to take credit for it. It's not just a matter of fame or glory, but also of the reward that the Crown would bestow upon the one who contributes the most.' Solus suggested.
After Morok returned, they went stockpiling for food and everything they could need during the following days. Once they were done with the preparations, the two Rangers left Letras by flight.
"Our destination is the crystal mines in the duchy of Laroxya. The rest of the expedition should arrive shortly." Noticing Lith's surprised look, Morok quickly added.
"Do you remember the monster outbreak? Well, some crazy-ass goblins raided the permanent guard post that protects the mines. Normal monsters would have been easily killed, but the little bastards could fire some black rays from their hands that pierced through our defenses like they were made of paper."
Lith had no idea how to call it, but he had seen Chaos magic enough times to recognize it from its effects.
Chapter 627 Gathering Part 1
"Our defenses? You were there?" Lith asked.
"Of course, I was. That's my turf and the Kingdom spends big money to protect something like a crystal mine. They are more valuable than even platinum. Their production can't stop even during winter because even magical research would be affected.
"Thanks to their weapons and arrays, the guards managed to hold on until my arrival, but there wasn't much even I could do. You know goblins, right? Well, they were a frigging army, each one capable of using normal magic and those black rays as well.
"Once I realized we had no chance against such an assault, I detonated the arrays to buy us some time and lead the survivors inside the crystal mines. We went to its deepest tunnels and then I used earth magic to bring us even deeper.
"Usually doing such a thing is idiotic, raw crystals are unstable and earth magic could make them detonate. That's why you need specialized personnel and Crystalsmiths to work in the mines. Yet between a likely death and certain death, the choice was obvious.
"We walked for days, with only my rations to feed dozens of people, constantly on the run. Somehow, the goblins would always find us, and to make matters worse, they seemed to become better at magic over time.
"Long story short, we found the ruins by sheer luck. While escaping, we crossed an underground network of tunnels we weren't even aware of. At that point, our luck turned. The goblins stopped following us and I finally had the time to wait for reinforcements. You can easily guess the rest." Morok said.
'Fuck me sideways! This means that the Abomination inside the goblins had enough time to completely reform and is waiting in the area, or that even such a powerful creature is scared of those ruins. Either way, this is bad.' Lith thought.
Solus opened all of her senses at once. Lith's dirty mind wasn't the only thing that had rubbed off on her over time. Her paranoia was now fully developed too.
"Is that the moment when you consumed monster flesh?" Lith asked.
"Yeah, but not the goblins'. There was something off with them. Their smell, how they moved, heck, they could even talk."
When they landed, Lith casually sniffed his partner. He trusted Solus, but after the experience with the Awakened assassin, he had started to consider that her senses could be fooled.
Morok kept talking like a magical beast. A normal human wouldn't have the time to perceive the goblins' smell in the middle of a crisis. Yet all of his enhanced senses told him the odd Ranger was human.
The entrance to the mines resembled a military fort. A tall, round wall made of stone one meter (3.3 feet) thick surrounded an area the size of a village. Four guard towers stood 10 meters (33 feet) tall, allowing the guards to notice incoming enemies from afar.
Life Vision showed Lith a series of arrays surrounding the fort. All the buildings within the walls were made of stone and in mint condition. At the fort's very center, there was an arch made by stone and huge wooden beams that lead to an underground passage.
"Are you sure this is the place? It's in perfect condition. I don't see any traces of the attack." Lith said,
"Told you. The Kingdome spares no expenses for a crystal mine. Winter or not, they rebuilt it in less than a month."
"Then why not put a Warp Gate? It would allow moving reinforcements and crystals way faster than any other common means of transportation." Lith asked.
"Crystals are unstable. Even the number of arrays in place here is fine-tuned to not trigger a chain reaction. A Warp Gate would be a liability since bending space for such long distances creates ripples that might make the crystals explode.
"That even if there was no array, and defense takes precedence." Morok took several rectangular wooden rods out of one of his dimensional amulets. The rods were about 2 meters (6.5 feet) long and 3 centimeters (1.8 inches) thick.
Each of their four sides was covered with bright red runes, pulsing with power. Lith immediately recognized those rods. They were the same the late Captain Velagros used to build a temporary waypoint near Kandria.
Back then Lith knew nothing about runes and advanced Forgemastery, so neither Solus nor him paid the enchanted item any attention. Now that they had discovered about the importance of the runes, it took them quite an effort to not stare dumbly at them.
'By my maker, each of these things holds only part of the pseudo core. The runes are even more amazing than we thought! They can even allow a magical item to be disassembled and assembled at will.' Solus thought.
'Also, why red runes? Are they different from the blue ones or what?' Lith wondered.
"First time seeing one of these?" Morok asked after noticing Lith's surprise.
"Second time, actually. Do you have any idea why these things have runes on them? Aside from communication amulets, I've never seen them on an enchanted item and I'm a Forgemaster."
"Lucky you! I spend a fortune every time I need to upgrade my equipment. Honestly, I have no clue. Maybe just like the runes on an amulet mark their owner, these runes are related to the coordinates they are locked on." Morok shrugged and started to move away from the mines.
"I wish these things weren't so delicate. It's hard to assemble them when you are under siege, but the worst part is that they can be used only once and are linked to a specific location.
"Even if I had one back then, I couldn't have used it to escape because without a proper structure, the dimensional ripples a Gate generates would have blown up the mines and killed us all." He sighed.
Lith helped Morok to assemble the beams, forming with them a circle on the ground. Solus could see that each time a beam was correctly positioned, the pseudo core fragments would assemble.
The slightest mistake would make them clash, and the beams would disconnect releasing sparks. When they were done, the Rangers had to inject mana into it. It took them time and effort, but after several minutes a Warp Gate materialized above the circle.
"What did I tell you? Spoiled rich kids are the worst. We had to fly here and do all the hard work so that they don't break a sweat. Lazy bastards." Morok said.
Lith was more interested in sharing Solus's mana sense and studying how the runes interacted with the Gate rather than listening to Morok's ramblings. Normal enchanted items couldn't hold spells like flight, healing, or Warp Steps because they required their caster's will to work properly.
A mage could only infuse such spells inside his own magical rings, which was one of the reasons that made even tier three rings expensive and tier four ones prohibitive for most mages.
The pathway, instead, was able to overcome such limitations thanks to the runes. They enveloped the pseudo core, bearing the will of its creator and channeling all the accumulated energy in the beams to connect to a Warp Gate.
The dimensional corridor was big enough to allow several people to cross it together. Those walking through the Gate were all members of research teams from all the six great academies, each one wearing their distinctive uniform.
The clearing was quickly filled with a rainbow-colored mass of people.
Chapter 628 Gathering Part 2
"What the heck? Are we really supposed to take care of so many people with just the two of us?" Lith couldn't believe his own eyes. There were already ten people and more kept stepping out of the dimensional Gate.
"Of course not." Morok replied.
"Each one of these bastards would gladly cut their best friend's throat if it meant getting more funds and recognition. I'm here to guide them to destination and you are here as a contingency measure. For everything else, there's the army." Morok's words garnered him a lot of attention.
Mostly of the bad kind. What he had said was true yet incredibly rude. He was speaking of esteemed Mage Professors and Researchers as they were just common thugs.
Lith recognized the uniforms from the Black, White, Lightning, and Fire Griffon, whereas it was his first time seeing people from the Crystal and Earth Griffon.
"Ranger Verhen!" A young woman greeted Lith by giving him a big hug.
"Dad really has done it. He made you come here with the excuse of the evaluation!"
"What the heck do you mean with that, Quylla?" Lith's paranoia had made him see countless shadows and conspiracies on his path, yet the truth had turned out to be beyond his wildest expectation.
"I told you that there's no one I trust enough to watch my back while on the field. Since you never got the time to accompany me, I had no qualms exploiting my family's influence to get you assigned here."
"Don't worry, miss. Us Rangers are always glad to help hot women." Morok said with his arms open, expecting to receive the same treatment.
"I'm sorry, I don't hug unknown creeps." Quylla replied with a straight face, before letting Lith go. The scene was drawing too many gazes.
Lith went to greet the White Griffon Professor who had brought Quylla along as her Assistant when the real bodyguards stepped through the Gate. It was a five men unit, donning deep green uniforms that identified them as members of an elite troop.
Their clothes granted them protection on par with that of a Ranger, but they also wore enchanted arm, legs, and shoulder guards that increased their defense to the level of a Professor's uniform.
Each one of them had at least a cyan core and excellent physical condition. Their weapons were nothing much, though. They all held the same pseudo cores, giving them several versatile abilities rather than few but powerful ones.
The only exception was their Captain. All of her equipment was custom made and on par with Lith's Gatekeeper, if not even better.
"Lith, what are you doing in the Hessar region?" Phloria asked. She now had very short hair that resembled a pixie cut. It made her look even more tomboyish than usual.
"It's nice to meet you too, Phloria. How are you doing?" Lith was happy not being the rude one for once.
"Pretty well, thanks. I volunteered for this mission to make sure that nothing bad happens to her. I was expecting to meet another Ranger, so you'll excuse my surprise." She said while pointing at Quylla.
"I'm your man, man." Morok offered his hand to her.
"Ranger Eari, at your service. Now that we are all here, let's not waste any more time. We need to fly to the mines and then it takes a long walk to reach our destination.
"Since we're babysitting academics, it might take us days to get to the ruins."
Phloria's soldiers repressed a chuckle, while the Professors and their Assistants threw at the Ranger more gazes filled with contempt. Morok collected the wooden bars forming the temporary gate before leading the group to the mines.
"Is it really necessary to have a guide? We could've found the ruins on our own." A middle aged Professor from the Crystal Griffon asked to Phloria after they landed. He had blue eyes, white hair, and a beard.
"Good luck with that." Morok chimed in.
"I closed the passages as fast as I created them to make it harder for the goblins to follow us. The only traces left are those of the tunnels opened by the goblins, but most of them have collapsed during the chase or shortly after.
"The little bastards only cared about catching us and they made quite a few crystals explode in the process. I'm the only one who can find the way, so shut up and follow me."
After checking their identities, the guards residing inside the fort let the expedition team in. Despite the incident with the monsters, the mines were already fully operational. Carts full of crystals were being unloaded near the entrance before being sent back.
Lith's group was comprised of twelve experts, one Professor and one Assistant from each academy, Phloria's five men unit, and Morok.
The mines had ample corridors, but not big enough to accommodate 19 people while workers and Crystalsmiths did their job. Even though they moved slowly, by the time the group reached the lowest levels, the people from the academy were exhausted.
The Professors were all experts in their fields with decades of experience, which meant they were quite old and more used to sit behind a desk rather than walk on rough terrain.
Their assistants were younger than them, but equally out of shape. None of them was warrior material.
"Girl, you may be pretty, but if you start getting a fat ass at your age, it will be hard keeping your boyfriend. You need to exercise a little." Morok said to Quylla. He had yet to break a sweat and had only compassion for a young woman who wheezed like one of the old fossils.
"Lith is not my boyfriend." She angrily replied.
"I know. I'm talking about the Captain guy. He clearly fancies you if he's risking his ass for your safety, you could at least…"
"Phloria is my sister." Her voice became stone-cold, her eyes brimming with rage and fatigue.
"Oh. Sorry, I just heard a noise coming from that way." Morok said pointing his finger in a random direction.
"We'll resume this conversation never." Morok moved quickly and silently like the wind, reaching the position of the make-believe threat under the baffled gazes of the soldiers he met along the way.
"Did you hear that too?" Lith emerged from a shadow, pointing at the only tunnel that despite the many mana crystals coming out of its walls and the artificial lights was poorly lit.
"I sure did. I mean, that thing is a woman?" Morok's voice was still shaken by the revelation.
"Not that. That." A small clunk made the hair on both Rangers' necks stand up. They waited in silence, ignoring the noises coming from the distant miners and the nearby academics.
A clunk, followed by another. Lith used Life Vision but the mana crystals inside and outside the walls messed up his perception. He could have sworn there were life signatures among the crystals.
Solus's mana sense didn't fare much better, so she stopped focusing on the details and looked at the corridor's bigger picture.
'There's a distortion in the mana along the right wall.' She said.
The moment Lith's gaze followed her directions, he could notice that the distortion had a humanoid form.
"It seems that hiding any further is pointless." A raspy, feminine voice said. A snap of her fingers made the tunnel they had come from be sealed by a stone wall while the entire zone was silenced.
Not even the guards near the collapsing tunnel noticed that something was wrong until a volley of Chaos arrows came flying their way.
Chapter 629 Sudden Death Part 1
Korgh, the Eldritch Abomination whose fragments had been implanted inside the goblin tribe, still believed to have drawn the short end of the stick by being bonded to such useless and ugly creatures.
On the contrary, she had been quite lucky. The goblin's only strong point was their reproductive ability, so she had an easy time manipulating them at first and then overpowering their feeble minds once she had grown stronger.
Assaulting the crystal mine had given her plenty of time and energy to refine a body similar to the original Eldritch she had been spawned from. Unlike the other hybrids, she didn't give chase to her 'mother' due to her vessel's weakness.
She had preferred to remain hidden inside the mines all along to build her strength and regain her knowledge. Korgh had no trouble avoiding the miners. There were too many unused corridors she could use as havens and as long as she didn't suck the crystals dry, they would always recover their energy.
She was one of the few hybrids still alive in the entire Garlen continent. Most of the others had been killed by humans or Emperor Beasts before reaching their maturity or assimilated by their originals after challenging them.
The noise that Lith had heard and Morok pretended to, was her slowly digging out a particularly juicy mana crystal to feed upon without being noticed. She had no idea how the humans had found her.
Her light manipulation abilities rendered Korgh almost invisible and with all the noise echoing through the tunnels she was as silent as a mouse.
Korgh wasn't worried, though. Those guys weren't miners, their disappearance was likely to go unnoticed for days if not ever. Lith cursed his bad luck as several darts from a tier one Chaos spell threatened his life.
There wasn't enough space to dodge them and he knew from experience that most barriers would be useless against Chaos magic.
Lith and Morok Blinked in opposite directions in the nick of time. Holes several centimeters deep opened in the wall behind where their vitals had been just a second ago.
Korgh couldn't use powerful spells without risking to trigger a chain reaction that would make the mine collapse, killing both herself and the humans in the process. Luckily, the Rangers had the same problem plus they had to take care of the dead weight.
Many Professors were caught by surprise and remained severely injured. The same happened to their Assistants and the soldiers tasked to protect them. The only silver lining was that their enchanted armors had prevented any deadly wound and that Korgh was focused on the Rangers.
'How bad it is?' Lith asked while taking the Gatekeeper out of his pocket dimension and shrinking it to the size of a short sword.
'She's magically stronger than you, but her physical strength sucks. Half of her body is still that of a goblin.' Solus replied.
Korgh's appearance was that of a humanoid creature, about 1.6 meters (5'3") tall, with thin limbs and a head too big for her body. Half of her skin was a yellow so pale to almost be translucent, allowing to see what little of her organs still remained.
The other half was a pitch black gelatinous substance that seemed to constantly move and change its shape like it was a flowing liquid. One second it resembled the slimy skin of a toad, the next one it was full of hair like that of a beast.
'Let me guess, the black half is a tough client.' Lith thought.
Solus telepathically nodded while turning into her glove form. The last hybrid they had fought was capable of accessing to strong equipment. In presence of so many witnesses, Lith needed a decent excuse for his Awakened skills.
Her glove form with its two mana crystals shining on the back of the hand fit the bill. She had even changed its design, to give it a more complex look that resembled the artifacts they had seen in the past.
Korgh sneered when she saw Lith charging forward. The two Rangers were the only one unscathed from her sneak attack, so she had been afraid that they might Blink away and call for help.
Yet at least one of them was saving her the time of a boring chase. She welcomed Lith's arrival with another volley of Chaos arrows. The distance was now too short even for Blinking and the magic missiles were so fast to be almost invisible.
Lith had gambled on his enhanced speed further boosted by air fusion, hoping it would allow him to reach his opponent before she could cast even more powerful spells and lost the bet. Korgh had started to weave her spells from the moment the two Rangers had stared in her direction.
Also, she held numerous advantages. By being near a wall filled with protruding crystals, she prevented her enemies from using magic against her, since the slightest mistake would make the mines collapse and kill hundreds.
Plus, her position blocked Blink, leaving physical attacks as the only mean to harm her. Korgh expected to see Lith fall, his body riddled with more holes than swiss cheese, so she was quite shocked when the impact didn't even slow him down.
Instead of open wounds, his chest was filled with what looked like a molten silvery liquid deformed from the impact that was quickly fixing the damage it had received.
Another one of the unexpected abilities derived from using Orichalcum to Forgemaster a Skinwalker armor was that, by injecting it with mana, it was possible to amplify both its hardness and its repulsive energy field.
Before charging, Lith had covered himself with mana from head to toes, just in case. The mana expenditure to withstand Chaos magic had been enormous, but it still beat instant death.
Lith performed an upward diagonal slash from right to left, forcing Korgh to move from her safe spot to not be cut in half. She ducked while sidestepping on Lith's left, her eyes fixated on the blade infused with darkness magic that passed millimeters away from her face and cut off the extremity of her pointed ears.
She had yet to perceive the pain from the injury when Lith's left fist struck her side, one of the parts her body which still belonged to the goblins, with enough strength to lift her from the ground and made her spit out a mouthful of blood.
She ignored the pain, grabbing his wrist to cut it open with her claws, only to discover his whole arm was covered by the silvery liquid, turning it into an Orichalcum living hammer.
'Cunning bastard! The sword was just a distraction to hit my weak spot. If he thinks an armor can protect him from my touch, he's in for a surprise.' She thought as her grip turned into a vise, sucking his vitality through the enchanted protection.
Unfortunately for Korgh, she wasn't Lith's first Abomination. Under the silver, there wasn't the pink, frail skin of a human, but the black scaly body of a hybrid. Both of them had the ability to prey on the vitality of their opponent and even if Korgh was more skilled, Lith's counter flow made hers a hollow victory.
The stolen vitality was so scarce that it was barely noticeable. Lith was unable to free his left hand, so he lunged with the Gatekeeper at Korgh's shoulder which was still made of goblin flesh.
Chapter 630 Sudden Death Part 2
She intercepted the blade with her open palm, letting it pierce through her hand until her fingers closed unto its hilt.
"Beating an Eldritch in a contest of strength it's a foolish quest. The only question is which one of you will break first. If you or your blade." Korgh sneered.
Lith inwardly cursed as her black blood corroded the Gatekeeper's surface and dripped onto the mana crystals embedded in its hilt. Of all the creatures he had faced, Lith had never met one with acid for blood.
Lith tried to pull the blade away, but Korgh was too strong. At the same time, she tried to break his arm, but between his mana boosting the Skinwalker Armor and earth fusion boosting his enhanced physique, it felt to her like moving a mountain.
"What do you think I'm here for?" Morok said from behind her a split second after one of his short swords pierced her chest and another her head.
Korgh had forgotten about the other Ranger and that by not having her back against the wall anymore, Blink was a significant threat.
"By the gods!" Morok was shocked seeing that the creature wasn't dying whereas his blades were melting.
"No vitals! Go for the yellow parts!" Lith said while exploiting Korgh's indecision to let go of the Gatekeeper and struck with Solus's gauntlet at Korgh's goblin sternum. Solus had infused herself with all the elements and released a few spells she kept at the ready at the moment of the impact.
The resulting effect of the combined attack of Lith, Skinwalker, and Solus was akin to a jackhammer on the snow. The fist pierced through her chest and came out of her back, spraying red, harmless blood all over Morok.
"Copy that." He replied starting to stab at the exposed goblin parts so fast that before a wound had enough time to bleed, four more had been opened.
Korgh inwardly cursed, trying to find a way out. Hitting her goblin body couldn't kill her since she had no vitals, but the wounds were making her strength plummet.
Lith kept hammering her body with his free hand and when she tried to move him aside with both her hands to escape from Morok's onslaught, Lith grabbed the Gatekeeper's hilt.
He flooded it with all the mana he could spare, infusing it with darkness magic as he twisted and pulled the blade away. Black blood hit the spot Lith had been until a split second before, making the rocks sizzle while they melted.
Feeling her life slipping, Korgh didn't hesitate to Blinking to one of the upper levels of the mines. She kept Blinking until she reached the surface, choosing a crystal deposit as her hiding spot.
'The crystals will help me recover my strength and shield me from an Awakened's Life Vision. I can only hope no one enters the deposit before I'm able to fight back, otherwise I'm screwed!' She thought while feeding off the nearby crates.
"Where did she go?" Lith asked Solus while looking around. The crystals surrounding them were jamming his Life Vision, making it hard for him to even see Morok's energy signature.
'She might have gone anywhere. The mines are a maze and there are too many interferences.' She replied.
"That thing was a woman too? Weirdest day ever." Morok replied while using quick flicks of his wrists to clean his blades from the black blood.
"I don't think she will be back any time soon. By combining our attacks we have given her ugly ass a solid kicking. How's your weapon?"
Lith stuck his back against the wall to prevent being stabbed in the back while using Invigoration on the Gatekeeper. The massive flow of darkness magic had already destroyed any trace of the Abomination's acid, it was only a matter of assessing the damage.
"No, no, no!" Was all Lith said. The corroded metal wasn't an issue, but the damaged mana crystals were another story. Too much black blood had soaked them for too long.
The pseudo core had already spent most of its energy to regenerate the damages as fast as it could, but Lith's last darkness burst had been the final straw that broke the camel's back.
The Gatekeeper was already in critical condition. If he didn't retrieve it, it would have been destroyed, but to do it Lith had been forced to push it beyond its limits. Lith drew a Forgemaster repairing circle so fast that even the Professors watching at the process couldn't believe their own eyes.
He fought with all of his skill, using his mana as a life support system, but the Gatekeeper's pseudo core slowly faded as the corruption caused by the black blood destroyed its mana circulatory system.
"It's dead." Lith said after a while. The magic was gone and the crystals had turned dull. The piece of metal in his hands was nothing but scrap. The memories of the enemies they had vanquished together, of all the times it had saved his life flooded Lith's mind.
For a moment, he grieved the Gatekeeper like it was a lifelong friend. Then he started to worry about his immediate future.
"Sorry to hear that, man. Hope you have another to spare. Losing your main weapon before even starting a mission is the worst that could happen." Morok was honestly sad. He knew all too well how expensive good equipment was.
"Phloria! Quylla! Are you alright?" Lith blurted out as soon as the word dead escaped from his lips. In his battle frenzy, he had completely forgotten about his two real friends.
Replacing the Gatekeeper would be hard but feasible. Lith knew that sooner or later he had to upgrade his weapon.
A living being, however, couldn't be replaced. The image of Yurial appeared in his mind as Life Vision was focused to spot the only two life forces that held any significance to him in that tunnel.
"I'm okay." Quylla said, her voice was feeble from fatigue.
"I was staring at the rude Ranger, so I had all the time to drop down the moment I heard the voice. Phloria wasn't so lucky, though."
More than half of the expedition team was laying on the ground in a puddle of their own blood. The Chaos arrows couldn't pierce through the magical protections, but they could still smash bones and rupture organs.
Following her duty as a Mage Knight, Phloria had pushed those who were near to her to safety while conjuring a protective shield for herself. Unfortunately, she had never met an Abomination capable of using Chaos magic.
Her spell had been ripped to shreds and she had taken the full force of many arrows at once. If not for all the enchantments Orion had imbued her equipment with, she would have died on the spot.
"How is she?" Lith asked while placing a hand on Phloria's shoulder to check her condition with Invigoration.
"Aren't you a Healer? The Captain is already being treated. You should take care of the wounded." Said a woman in her late fifties donning the colors of the Black Griffon. She had been hit on a shoulder, but her assistant was in critical condition.
Chapter 631 Friend or Foe Part 1
"It's none of my business." Lith replied. Phloria's recovery was slow because she had suffered extensive damage and because of her fatigue, Quylla hadn't much life force to spare.
Phloria had several broken bones, punctured organs, and was bleeding out of her head, mouth, and nostrils. She was deadly pale, gurgling more blood with each breath she took.
"I already risked my life to protect you guys from that thing at great personal cost. I will not waste my mana on a stranger when the life of another of my friends is on the line."
He started to support Quylla's spell, stopping Phloria's internal bleeding before it was too late. He could've fixed her in the blink of an eye, but with Quylla monitoring Phloria's condition he had to pretend to be a normal mage, incapable of recovering his full strength with just a few deep breaths.
"Great Mage Verhen! The duty of all the members of the army is to protect life without giving preferential treatments." The woman from the Black Griffon was seething with anger.
Her shoulder length grey hair was dancing in the air due to the mana exuding from her body and her eyes were reduced to two fiery slits. Yet she was holding her left arm in pain.
The healing spell from her magic ring would take a while to heal her completely and until that happened, she was unable to cast spells. Fake mages needed both arms and magic words to use magic.
"The Captain performed her duty honorably and with your actions, you are wasting her sacrifice. You should…" Talking about Phloria as if she was already dead made Lith snap.
His right forefinger whipped as a scorpion's tail, releasing a small air bullet that struck the injured shoulder right where it would hurt the most. With his innate skill for deathblows and extensive knowledge of the human body, Lith didn't even need to use Life Vision to find the right spot.
The bullet was weak, barely as strong as a push, yet enough to rattle the bone fragments inside the Professor's body like it was a flesh maraca. It caused her a pain so intense that the woman fainted without emitting a sound.
"That's why I hate academics." Morok said while treating the Assistant from the Black Griffon.
Healing wasn't a specialization he had learned back when he was a student at the Crystal Griffon, but after becoming a Ranger, he had quickly understood how dangerous it was not being able to treat all kinds of wounds.
It had taken him some time, but the army had provided him with all he needed to become an excellent Healer.
"You think you are so much better than us because of your knowledge, yet when shit happens, you're as useful as a third nostril. Just because we chose to wear a uniform, it doesn't make us expendable.
"Instead of running your mouths for whining, help yourselves. Our lives aren't any less important than yours."
Quylla felt the sting of those words as well. After leaving the academy, she had neglected physical training, thinking that always being either at her home or at the White Griffon made it unnecessary.
'What good is a Healer that gets exhausted after a long walk? Lith has walked as much as I did, fought for his life, and yet he still has enough energy to help Phloria. I'm no different from that old hag. I'm too dependent on others in times of crisis.' She thought.
Once Phloria's condition was stabilized, Lith helped the others. Every one of those present was able to use tier three healing magic and had plenty of potions, so only a handful of people were still injured.
When the Healers were done, the group in the tunnel looked like war survivors. Their clothes were damaged, their bodies weakened from either performing or receiving the healing, making their breath ragged and irregular.
Except for Lith, who thanks to Invigoration was still at his peak condition.
"What kind of monster are you? How the heck did you survive those black rays?" Morok was proud of his stamina, yet after sharing his life force with the wounded, he wasn't faring any better than one of the old fossils.
He would gladly take a few hours long nap, if given the chance.
"Orichalcum." Lith replied.
"I recently Forgemastered a Skinwalker Armor out of it. The results are way better than I expected."
"What? That's impossible." Morok said, quickly followed by a few experts.
"I'm no Forgemaster, but when I commissioned one, I was told that the spell reacts erratically with metals, that's why Skinwalkers are always made out of clothes."
"Believe what you want. The important thing now is getting out of here. The Abomination might return and with the crystals surrounding us, we can't set a proper defensive perimeter nor use spells for self defense.
"Must I remind you that I've lost my weapon?" Lith was eager to change the topic.
Back when he didn't find a metal Skinwalker on the army's catalog, nor on the Association's one, he had simply thought that just like many items of his interest, they were hidden to the public and reserved for the elites.
His objective had always been to copy and improve the best artifacts money could buy, so he had never stopped considering that there could be a different explanation.
"Opening the collapsed corridor is too dangerous. We must Warp to the outside!" A panicked youth from the Lightning Griffon tried to cast the dimensional spell, but his master slapped him, interrupting his cast.
"Don't panic, you idiot! The Rangers could Blink because the dimensional rift it creates is weak and lasts for a split second. If you open a dimensional corridor, we might all die!"
Even if the Warp Steps had never been completed, some of the crystals protruding from the walls started to tremble madly, resonating with the huge amount of released mana. Everyone stopped what they were doing, even breathing.
After a few seconds, everything went back to normal.
"I agree with Ranger Verhen on the matter." Morok said out loud, for everyone to listen.
"I would like to rest too, but this position is a defensive nightmare. Those who can walk will walk, the others should use a float spell and let themselves be dragged. If any of you wants to back down, I've already alerted the mines' supervisor.
"Wait here and someone will open the passage in a few hours."
A lot of moans and groans could be heard. Almost all the mages chose to float and it was up to the soldiers to bring them along like balloons filled with helium. Morok took point, while Lith covered their back, walking alongside Phloria and Quylla.
"Thanks, Lith." They were both able to walk after he had given them a bit of his life force.
"I'm really sorry about your sword. I know how much you loved it. Do you have a replacement?" Phloria asked.
"I have a lot of weapons with me, but they all suck. All my attempts to craft a better Gatekeeper failed. I guess I'd have to ask Orion for something better once we get out of here." He sighed.
"Did you really try to improve my father's work without even knowing the manufacturing process? That's bold. If Dad learns about it, he would be royally pissed by your attempts at stealing his secrets." She chuckled.
Chapter 632 Friend or Foe Part 2
"I think he will be more pissed off by you almost dying due to your bravado. There's no defense against those black rays, your shields are no safer than wet paper against them. What the heck were you thinking?" Seeing Phloria almost die had triggered his memories about Carl.
Both Quylla and Phloria were surprised by his aggressive remarks, but only because neither of them had ever faced a fully formed Abomination. Only after Lith explained to them what they were capable of, did the girls realize how big of a bullet they had just dodged.
"Even if I knew all this, I wouldn't have acted any differently." Phloria said.
"My aim is to become a member of the Knight's Guard, the elite of the elite for Mage Knights. If we don't protect our assigned marks, we're useless. What just happened is an occupational hazard."
Lith would have liked to scold Phloria for her nonsensical behavior, but in the end, he decided against it. He too had risked dying many times to follow his own agenda, criticizing her for doing the same would have been plain hypocritical.
Soon Morok started to open new tunnels with earth magic. Seeing how fast and confident he was while taking several apparently random turns, made Lith curious.
"How can you be so sure this is the right way? Do you have a map or something?" He asked via the army amulet.
"No, I just marked the walls on my passage to react to my mana, in case I got lost or I needed to backtrack. That's why only I can lead the expedition. Don't you do the same in dungeons or underground places when there is no time to draw a map?" Morok replied.
"No. I have a great memory." To be exact, Solus did.
In emergency situations, Lith would rely on her abilities to access to his memories and find the right path. Otherwise, he would always take his time to draw a map and store it inside Soluspedia to gain tactical awareness in the case an ambush occurred.
Like he was doing at that moment. Morok had tasked him to close the tunnels as soon as possible so that no one could follow them without being noticed. Earth magic produced a lot of noise and with the echo in the tunnels, its use could be heard from hundreds of meters of distance.
The expedition team managed to move forward for two more hours before even Morok was on the verge of collapsing due to exhaustion. Their advance had slowed down even further due to the lack of lighting since they had left the mines.
The natural tunnels were bumpy and uneven. Their footing was also very precarious because the humidity would condense on the ground, making it slippery. Luckily for them, during his first passage, Morok had marked safe rest spots.
"You take the first watch." Morok said while pointing at Lith.
"Then have someone relieve you after one hour, I don't care who. I'll take the last watch. We're not moving from here before four hours minimum."
Before any of the soldiers could complain that he wasn't their commanding officer, Morok was already asleep. His behavior caused many grumbles, but they didn't last long. Everyone was so tired that they fell asleep the moment they sat down.
Lith checked his surroundings with Life Vision. The light coming from the crystal mines was far enough to allow him to scout far and wide, making sure that there was no imminent threat.
He even performed a Life Detection array to cover more ground.
"Forgemaster, Healer, fighter, and even Warden?" A voice asked.
Lith recognized the woman from the Black Griffon. He was expecting some snarky remarks or even that she would attempt to report to his commanding officer the assault she had suffered by Lith's hand.
Not that Lith was afraid of either possibility. He was used to being insulted ever since he had stepped inside the White Griffon academy. Powerful people hated the idea of witnessing the growth of someone that could become more powerful than them.
Their natural response was to nip people like Lith in the bud, at any cost. As for the latter possibility, Lith would have loved to see Jirni discuss with someone that had dared to suggest letting her daughter die.
'I'm sure it would be something so slow and gruesome that I could learn a lot. I'd like to think of myself as a master of coercion, but compared to Jirni I'm just a learner.' He thought.
"Everything that's needed for survival has to be learned." Lith replied.
"Wise words for someone so prone to violence." Her voice was calm. She wasn't trying to insult him, only stating a fact.
"Without strength, wisdom is nothing but hot air. Without wisdom, strength is just violence. I was only protecting someone who I hold dear. If you expect an apology from me, don't hold your breath." Lith replied.
"Quite the contrary. I've come to apologize for my earlier behavior. My assistant is like a son to me. I couldn't stand watching him die while I was helpless because of my wound. I was angry at myself and I took it out on you." She gave Lith a small bow.
"Take these as a sign of my goodwill." She handed Lith several mana cyan crystals, each one with a flat bottom and as big as a beer bottle.
"Thanks, but what am I supposed to do with them Professor…?" Lith was very confused. He had a lot on his mind, from the loss of the Gatekeeper to almost watching Phloria die. His brain was about to pop.
"Yondra Mefaal. Black Griffon's Professor of history of magic and Forgemastering. You can use them to set a barrier. I'm too weak to cast a spell, but at least I can give you some help." She replied with a kind smile.
Seeing that Lith wasn't moving, Yondra laughed and showed him how to perform the Silent Shroud array. When Lith was done, a black dome surrounded the camp, preventing both light and sound from spreading outside of its premises.
"Now no one can see or hear us. The barrier it produces is not very strong, but as you can see, it's a very useful formation." Thanks to the array, Lith could see the area surrounding them as if he was wearing thermal goggles.
It was quite useless for someone capable of using Life and Fire Vision, but it would allow him to rest more easily when others would relieve him from guard duty.
"Thank you very much." Lith said while copying the spell in his grimoire along with his thoughts about how to turn it into true magic.
"Don't mention it. By protecting you I'm protecting myself. I'd like to talk about many things with someone as peculiar as you are, but alas, I'm beat. See you later." Yondra checked on her assistant condition and after she made sure he was just fatigued as she was, she fell asleep.
Lith followed her example and went checking on his friends. Morok didn't seem to need his help and judging by his snoring, he was having a good time. Quylla and Phloria were both sleeping.
Invigoration confirmed to him that there was nothing wrong with them. Since there was no point in waking them up, Lith started to circle around the edges of the formation while using Accumulation.
The tunnel was quiet. There was no noise nor energy signature coming towards them, yet the space around them was far from being empty.
Chapter 633 A Fair Trade Part 1
Under the crystal mines, he could see a flow of world energy so big that it made mana geysers look like drinking fountains.
There were also life forces inside the ground, the kind of which he had never seen before. He couldn't notice any of it earlier because he was in the middle of the raging storm that was Mogar's essence.
It was also the reason he had been unable to chase Korgh.
Only now that Lith was far enough, could he glimpse the magnitude of the natural phenomenon that gave life to mana crystals.
'Does the life force belong to Awakened crystals or to Mogar itself? Thank heavens we left the mines. Being exposed for long to such a vigorous flow of world energy might speed up Phloria's Awakening process.
'It would be a shame if I had to kill the entire expedition to protect our secret. Yondra and Morok seem to be nice people, but "seem" is not enough to…'
"Who are you planning to kill?" Phloria's voice took him by surprise and make Lith flinch.
"No one. What are you doing here? You should be sleeping."
"I don't believe you. Your eyes were ablaze and you were making the face." She shook her head.
"What face?" Lith asked.
"Your battle face. When you look at people as nothing but corpses to dissect. You know, it hurts thinking that when we first met, you looked at me that way. If I knew what it meant back then, I would have never asked you out." Phloria chuckled.
"Do you mind company while you stand guard? I think I'm still tense from the ambush and I can't fall asleep, no matter how hard I try."
'I must have given her too much life force.' Lith pondered.
"I've no such face." He lied through his teeth, making her giggle.
"And these eyes are not because I'm angry. I call this Life Vision. It allows to those like me to gauge our opponent's strength and to see even through walls." He said while using a quick Hush to prevent others from hearing him.
Seeing that Phloria had become beet red and was covering her chest and nether regions with her arms, Lith rushed to explain.
"It came out wrong. I don't mean I can see through clothes or something, I see people as featureless lumps of energy. I can't even tell a man from a woman unless they're very close."
"Really? Do I have your word?" Her arms didn't move an inch.
"Yes, I swear on my family. Am I making my perverted face?" He said while looking straight at her body. According to Kamila, he had that one too.
"Definitely not." Phloria relaxed as the realization he actually had a perverted face stung at Lith's pride.
"Why are you telling me this now?" Phloria asked.
"Because there are a lot of things down here and I don't know if they are friendly or hostile. You already know enough about me and I need your trust so that the next time something happens, you'll do as I say."
Lith also wanted to check how much he could reveal about himself without shocking someone he cared for.
"Who among my men is the strongest?" Phloria asked, curious to put his ability to the test.
"Physically, the small guy with red hair. Magically, the woman sleeping near the people from the Earth Griffon."
"You're correct. Helion has an uncanny constitution and Jerth is the only one in the team who got into one of the great academies. Wait, what do you mean 'those like me'?" She knew about the Hush zone, but she still lowered her voice until it was barely audible.
"There are others?"
"Yes. Nalear was one of them. Why do you think she only kidnapped me? She was afraid that I could mess with her plan, and she was right."
Suddenly many things started to make sense to Phloria. Why both Lith and Nalear could emit an aura without the use of spells, how he had been able to notice the slave items despite they all had a different shape.
The revelation was quite a big shock, so she needed to sit down for a minute.
"Could she shapeshift too?"
"No. As far as I know, only Emperor Beasts and I can shapeshift. Undead too." He said after a while.
"Are you a human or an Emperor Beast?" The shock in her eyes was growing stronger, but Phloria was just surprised, not scared.
"I wish I knew. My parents are humans, and so are my siblings. As for me, I'm me. I can't give you a better answer, sorry."
Phloria stood up, never averting his gaze. She couldn't stop asking herself how she looked through those blazing eyes.
"Do you mind if I ask you a personal question?" Lith said, grateful that she wasn't prying further.
"Not at all."
"What in the gods' names did you do with your hair? It was so…" His hand moved towards where the soft mass once was, before stopping midway.
"And now is so…" There was no way to express his disappointment without being rude. Phloria's hair had always been a delight for his touch and his nose. After losing the Gatekeeper, seeing her with the pixie cut was like one blow too many.
"Men are idiots. You've lost your blade, I almost died, you opened to me four years late, and your biggest worry while we are stranded hundreds of meters below the ground, guided by the rudest man I've ever met, it's the length of my hair?"
She was laughing heartily, bringing back for both of them many happy memories.
"I didn't do anything to it. My hair is alive and kicking." Phloria grabbed a small silver hairpin in the back of her head and took it off. A cascade of waist long hair fell down from her head, giving Phloria back the appearance she had at Jirni's birthday party.
"I cut them once I joined the army, but I got permission to grow them back once I became an officer. My mother too nagged at me for my looks, so I asked Dad for help. Long hair might be nice to look at, but for a fighter is nothing but a nuisance.
"So, he did this for me." The moment she put the hairpin back, her hair rolled up like a shutter while it was compressed as if it was vacuum-packed.
"Can I see it?" Lith's Forgemaster curiosity was piqued. The hairpin turned out to be a mix of dimensional, air, and light magic. It was the most complex useless pseudo core Lith had ever seen.
'Son of a gun!' Lith thought as Invigoration revealed several little runes covering the hairpin.
'Not only was Solus right about the Kingdom knowing about the runes, but also that big oaf used so many resources for his daughter's hair and made my Gatekeeper so frail!' He was quite pissed off by Orion's double standards.
'First, unless we're talking about people, I'm always right. Second, hello kettle! My name is pot and you are black!' Solus replied.
As if mentioning his name was akin to a summoning ritual, Orion's rune lighted on Lith's communication amulet, drawing his attention.
"Is Jirni okay? Did something happen to Friya?" Lith asked before Orion could even utter a word. There was no other reason he could think of to explain the call. On the rare occasions they had talked to each other, it had always happened in person.
Chapter 634 A Fair Trade Part 2
"What the heck are you rambling about? Do you think that if something like that had happened to them, I would be wasting my time on social calls? I would be hunting Manohar's ass down while one of my men seeks your help.
"I'm calling you because of an outrageous rumor I heard a few hours before. Some of my Forgemaster colleagues in the expedition say that you claim to have crafted an Orichalcum Skinwalker armor.
"At first, I paid it no heed, but when I called my Little Flower to hear about her mission, she confirmed it. Is it really true? I need to hear it from your voice." Orion said.
Lith furrowed his brows while looking at Phloria, who just shrugged.
"The cat was already out of the bag. There was no point in denying it." She said, hurting Orion's feelings. The idea that one of his daughters could keep secrets from him was terrible.
Yet Phloria had never shared with anyone Lith's secrets just as Friya never talked about Protector's ability to shapeshift into a human.
"Yes, it's true." Lith injected a bit of his mana into the Skinwalker, making it turn into a quicksilver-like liquid that covered him from head to toes and made him resemble a humanoid metal golem.
"Amazing! That's supposed to be impossible. The Thunderbird's feather and the Orichalcum release wild energy whenever they interact, making the spell unstable. I tried countless times with as many variations but I never succeeded.
"How the heck did you do it?" Orion asked.
"There's no such thing as a wild energy release." Lith wasn't going to give away his secret, but if he wanted to obtain something decent to replace his lost weapon, he had to drive a hard bargain.
The first step was baiting the prey with an honest, but useless information.
"It's just that the Orichalcum amplifies the feather's energy field, so if you had planned to handle a spell with 100 units of power, you actually get one with 130, which is more than your spell is devised can harness."
"It makes sense." Orion pondered. "Orichalcum has the property to amplify energy based enchantments. It's the reason Orichalcum is considered so precious since its hardness is just above Damascus steel levels.
"Still, I handled tons of Orichalcum, yet only a few crafting techniques always fail, like it happens for the Skinwalker. How do you explain that?"
"Because the interaction between ingredients is very strong and it significantly varies with the amount of adamant in the Orichalcum." Lith replied.
Only a true mage like him could comfortably wait for the pseudo core to stabilize before fusing it with an enchanted item. Fake mages used spells that would barely last twenty seconds and they had no way to assess how great the amplifying effect was.
They could adjust the energy output with a tier five spell, but without Life Vision or Invigoration, it would still be like a blind man trying to kill a bird with a single arrow.
"Would you like to share your method? I've struck a bottleneck in crafting armors because to upgrade my products I would need to use Orichalcum or Adamant, but the little bastards always mess with my spells." Orion's request was the closest thing to a taboo between mages.
Sharing spells was something that could be done only on a voluntary basis, and usually no one would reveal one of their trump cards.
"Would you like to share your crafting methods?" Lith replied with a sneer.
"Of course not." Orion sighed. "What about an exchange? I heard that the Gatekeeper has been destroyed. I can give you an even better weapon if you provide me with an Orichalcum Skinwalker as a study subject."
Orion wanted to exploit the situation as well. Any decent warrior knew that a weapon was more than a tool. In their line of work, it was a lifeline.
"I first need to see what you're offering. As you can see, my crafting process made the armor much more versatile than a normal Skinwalker. A Gatekeeper is good, but it's not enough. To use it at its full power, it takes a lot of mana.
"On top of that, it was too frail. It almost broke during the events in Othre, Maekosh, and even Jambel. What good is a weapon that it's not able to protect my life and that requires to be protected?" Lith painfully remembered every time he had come close to sacrifice the Gatekeeper to protect his life.
"Fine! You're right." Orion yielded, especially because Phloria was giving him a bad, bad look.
"It was just the gift for a 13 year old and one I didn't like much at that. I'll make you something worthy of a Ranger. You have my word."
Lith hung up after showing Orion exactly what his armor could do. Lith didn't ask him for anything specific because he knew that as a craftsman, Orion's pride would force him to give his best to not fall short of Lith's skill.
Making specific requests would have been like giving him boundaries, whereas this way Orion could do whatever he wanted and Lith was free to refuse the trade if he considered it to be unfair.
To Phloria, Lith said:
"Well, at least now I can put one of my prototypes to good use. You have no idea how many tweaks it took to craft something that could store my full power without it exploding into my face."
"Are you really going to give Dad just a prototype? A faulty item?" Now she was giving Lith a bad, bad look.
"Not faulty, just not the best one. He will tinker with it a lot, probably even damage or destroy it. There's no reason to waste a good armor when even a mediocre one follows the same principles and has the same properties." Lith shrugged.
"If your father is even one bit like me, if I were to give him a masterpiece, he wouldn't bear the thought of destroying it and limit his experiments as a consequence. This is yours, by the way."
Lith handed her a chainmail set that even under the dim light of the camp shone like a precious gem, creating a rainbow on the tunnel ceiling.
"As I told you, I made a lot of them but I only need one. You've already almost died today and if something happens to you, I would never forgive myself. I might not be in love with you anymore, but I love you nonetheless." Lith said.
"I- I can't accept it. It's too precious." Both his gesture and his words made Phloria incredibly happy and sad at the same time. Lith still cared for her deeply, but not like before.
When he looked at her, she could almost perceive an invisible wall between them and its presence hurt her way more than she expected.
"Precious, yes. Rare, not so much. I have already given one to Tista and to the rest of my family as well. It took a lot of work to get this right, so I have plenty to spare. I have even one for Quylla and Friya. So get down your high horse and accept my gift."
Phloria took the armor and imprinted it immediately. There were just cyan crystals bonded with the metal. They proved that it was indeed a prototype and that Lith lacked powerful resources.
Chapter 635 Davross Part 1
In Phloria's family, purple crystals were a given for almost everything. Yet even most Archmages couldn't afford many of them, along with the natural treasures, metals, and ingredients.
The Ernas family was one of the most ancient and richest in the Griffon Kingdom, after all.
"Did you tell Kamila?" She asked while hugging the chainmail suit as if it was something precious and delicate as a newborn.
"About what?" Lith asked.
"About the things you told me. She deserves to know and the longer you wait, the harder it will be for her."
"I don't see how time can make accepting me for whatever I am harder." Lith chuckled.
"Not that. If she really cares for you, she will be a bit scared at first, but then she will start wondering: why did he wait for so long before telling me? How many more things is he hiding? Kamila might start doubting your feelings and her own as well."
Phloria conjured a stone dome around herself to get changed into the Skinwalker armor, using the cover from the Hush zone to not alarm the others.
'She's right, you know.' Solus said.
'I know.' Lith replied.
After his pocket watch marked the passing of the hour, Lith woke up a couple of soldiers and went to sleep. He had already used Invigoration a few times and with no Gatekeeper to help him, he needed all the edges he could get.
After four hours had passed, Quylla went to ask Morok to resume their journey.
"I'm still beat, but we can move. If that witch didn't hunt us down after so much time, she's likely moved to an easier prey. Let's move!" The Ranger said.
Lith recovered the mana crystals and dispelled the Silent Shroud while Phloria took her place at the center of the group to better coordinate her men while Quylla moved to the rear, near Lith.
"Any advice on how to get stronger? My magic has grown since our days at the academies, but I think I've become as physically weak as a kitten." She said.
"Do like I did when I was at the academy. Train until your muscles hurt, eat meat, use light magic to assimilate the food and rebuild your tissues. Rinse and repeat until you are too tired to continue."
"Sounds dull. How long would it take?" Quylla asked, making Lith feel her arm's muscles.
"A week to get some meat on those bones and a few months to get stronger." Was his reply.
"Months? I thought it would be easier. I mean, you and Phloria make it seem easy."
"We trained a lot over the years. If there was a shortcut, everyone would take it. Besides, even if you had a magical way to regain your stamina at will, you would still need to sweat a lot. It's just like magic, it takes time and effort.
"There's no 'become an Archmage by training 5 minutes a day' cheat in life." Lith shrugged.
Professor Yondra and her Assistant, Rainer Lomann, joined them after a few minutes. Rainer was wearing the uniform of the Black Griffon, a black magician's robe that was made out of a material that seemed to be made out of living darkness.
He was the same age as Lith, around 1.72 meters (5'8) tall, with red hair and blue eyes. The black of his robe made him appear even thinner than he already was. Lith couldn't believe that he was a Forgemaster.
Being muscular wasn't a prerequisite, but a Forgemaster's body would be tempered by harnessing the enormous amounts of mana that the advanced crafting processes required.
Rainer was holding his chest, and his breath was already short despite the fact that they had just finished resting. After receiving the mana crystals and a new spell from Yondra, Lith felted indebted to her, so he decided to further smoothen up the previous incident between them.
Lith placed his hand over Rainer's shoulder and gave him a bit of life force before treating his injuries. The young man stopped slouching as his chest stopped hurting.
"Thank you, but we didn't come here for that. I hoped we could resume our earlier conversation." Yondra said, throwing a mean look at her pupil.
"Kid, I'm old, so I need time to recover from a bad wound. What's your excuse? Do you realize you are making even a complete stranger notice your weakness?"
At those words, both Rainer and Quylla blushed in embarrassment, they were in a similar situation.
Seeing them walking side by side, reminded Lith of the odd Forge he had found inside the Lost City of Huryole.
'She's the best next thing to an archaeologist, plus Yondra is a Forgemaster. I forgot to ask Orion about it, but maybe she is even more likely to know what that was.' Lith thought.
"I brought him on this expedition to show him that even being an historian requires strength and guts." Yondra said. "Sure, we spend most of our days sitting behind our desk doing research, but when you actually need to search for relics, you can't just ask to monsters and beasts to kindly step aside and let you do your job.
"You need to learn how to fight, dammit."
"But Professor, what about the army or the mercenary guilds? Isn't it easier to get their help rather than pointlessly risking our lives?" Rainer asked.
"The army will help you only if you have solid evidence of a discovery that could benefit the Kingdom." Quylla replied. "As for mercenaries, I wouldn't trust them to be satisfied with a few coins if you find a priceless treasure. They are mages too."
"Exactly." Yondra nodded. "This is likely to be the easiest expedition you'll ever take part in. We have two Rangers, an elite squad of soldiers, and six Professors. The number of things that can go wrong with all this firepower is very limited."
"Easiest?" Rainer was flabbergasted. "We almost got wiped out before even starting!"
"My dear, that 'almost' makes all the difference in the world. When I was your age, my so called bodyguards tried to kill and rob me after I stupidly showed off how much money I had. I wanted to buy their loyalty, not give them a motive, and yet…"
Rainer swallowed several times, wondering why he was the only nervous one. Quylla was shorter and wimpier than him, yet she looked confident.
Lith used the sudden silence to tell Yondra about his recent trip to Huryole. He didn't mention the sword, the booklet, and not even his theory about the lost city being actually a lost academy.
Lith had checked the army database, yet Huryole was always referred to as a city in the official documents. Even if Yondra knew the truth, she was unlikely to share it with him.
Once Lith reached the part about the black and white Forge, her eyes lit like stars with greed and wonder.
"Are you sure? A whole Forge?" She asked more than once, as if she couldn't believe her own words.
"Yes, I can show it to you." Lith materialized a hologram of the Forge, mimicking its shapeshifting pattern.
"Good gods, how unlucky of you! You found and missed a Forge made of pure Davross." She said.
"I didn't miss it. It was bolted to the ground and when I attempted to take it away, the city tried to kill me. There's a big difference. What's Davross?"
Chapter 636 Davross Part 2
"The strongest metal known to man, even stronger than pure Adamant." Yondra's words made Lith internally scream in frustration.
He clenched his temples, taking deep breaths before finding the strength to ask:
"Why have I never heard about it? What makes it so special?"
"It's a legendary metal, said to be indestructible. It can be broken, only melted and refined into ingots. It's so rare that I've seen it only when I was allowed to study the artifacts belonging to Valeron Griffon, the first King.
"In all my years, I've never seen it again and you say there was a whole Forge?"
"Yes. Any idea why it shapeshifts?" Lith asked.
"Ideas, no. Only a legend, if you're interested."
Lith nodded for her to continue.
Yondra first explained Lith how according to the lore, Mogar, the Great Mother, had given birth to the six gods of magic. There was one god for each element and according to such legend, those blessed by the gods would bear their mark on their hair or fur.
Lith looked at Quylla's hair and her silvery streaks, finally understanding the meaning of such an odd coloration. According to the fable, the gods had shared part of their essence with all things on Mogar, even metals.
Normal metals would receive the blessing of two gods at most, the only exceptions were Adamant and Davross.
Adamant was considered a metal where the elements had failed to achieve a perfect balance as it was proven by the fact that instead of absorbing the light, Adamant would split it into its components like a prism.
Davross, instead, was supposed to be a metal where the elements of destruction, fire and darkness would battle against those of creation, light and earth, while the remaining two with their dual nature would try to keep the balance.
Water gave life, but ice would take it away and the same applied to air and lightning. The conflicting natures of all six elements refused to coexist, so the three factions would always be eternally at war.
Lochra Silverwing, the first Forgemaster, had written in her diaries that it was up to the mage to tip the scale by adding the seventh element, the only one that the Davross lacked. The element of life, more commonly knowns as mana.
"It sounds like a load of rubbish." Lith said.
"I would agree with you if the artifacts I studied didn't shapeshift anymore. I saw King Meron using the Sword of Saefel, and he can make the whole blade change color according to the element he needs to boost.
"I wasn't much younger back then, but I can still count. The sword turned into seven colors. Red, yellow, black, white, blue, orange, and emerald green. The Davross ingots, instead, would follow a pattern similar to the one you showed me."
"Wait, are you telling me that Adamant is nothing but dead Davross?" Lith asked.
"At least I think so. The Royal Family has ingots of Davross, but no one knows how to use them. Plus, if the legend is right, then it's only a matter of time before they lose their special properties. Otherwise why let experts like me study Valeron's Armor or his sword."
Lith's mind started spinning like a top, trying to put together everything he had learned ever since he had arrived on Mogar. The shades in the hair of living creatures, the different colors of mana cores and crystals, the seven eyes of his hybrid form, and now even the Davross.
'If I'm right, life happens on Mogar when the six elements the world energy holds become one. According to such logic, by absorbing enough world energy, living creatures can become Awakened by becoming part of the planet's breathing cycle.
'A blood core would be nothing but a mana core which has lost its light element and craves for it, whereas a black core it's nothing but pure darkness. Also, it would explain why the Davross Forge I found back in Huryole almost had a core whereas the Adamant one Zolgrish paid me with doesn't.' Lith thought.
"Do you mind me asking why you're telling me so many things? Not to sound ungrateful, but most of them sound like classified information. The Kingdom usually likes to play close to the vest." Lith didn't believe in generosity, especially from someone he had just met.
His companions, the Ernas couple, even the Royals, they were all indebted to him. Their bond of trust was based on having been together through thick and thin or on the services he had provided.
He could smell that something was off with Yondra.
"You're quite perceptive. Yes, it's classified information, but you work for the Kingdom as well and I am looking for someone that could inherit my legacy. Rainer might take my place as History Professor in a few years, but I doubt he'll become a decent Forgemaster any soon.
"The kid lacks motivation, and even if he finds it during this expedition, I don't have that much time left." Yondra said.
"I'm sorry, Professor, but I checked your condition earlier, and you are just fine. Why do you talk like that?" Lith was getting more confused by the second. The offer wasn't that good either.
He wouldn't take an Awakened master lightly due to all the responsibilities and the obedience it would imply, let alone a fake mage one.
"I'm not talking about death, young man, only about retirement." Yondra laughed.
"I've lived for over sixty years and I'm tired of a life of duty. I want to spend what time I have left with my family, doing things I like. I was thinking about it for a while and almost getting killed by a random creature as if I was just a first year student made me think.
"I wasn't able to defend my assistant, heck I couldn't even defend myself. It made me feel terribly old and helpless. Discovering that a kid has succeeded in crafting Orichalcum artifacts whereas I failed at it for over forty years sure didn't help." She sighed.
"Orion told me that you might be interested in working for an Academy and I'd be glad if you could replace me in the Forgemastering department once I retire. The White Griffon can't offer you the same opportunity. The Professors there are too young, it would take decades for a spot to open."
'Interesting. So it must have been her telling Orion about my new Skinwalker Armor. I might work with this development. Maybe I could even ask her about the runes and the sword I found in Huryole.' Lith thought.
Yondra insisted on her pitch and Lith listened to her while using Solus and Life Vision to keep their surroundings in check. He noticed that the underground was populated by several creatures, but they would all shy away from their lights.
Some would follow them for a while, but after finding no opening and maybe even perceiving the power exuding from the expedition, they would soon leave. Solus identified some as magical beasts, others as monsters, whereas the rest were a complete mystery.
Unfortunately, none of their mystical sense could see more than a silhouette, so Lith couldn't even figure out which was humanoid and which was just a two-legged creature.
The walls and the ground were too rough to have been carved, so the passage had to be natural. The scratches and the claw marks he spotted on several occasions, though, were not.
Chapter 637 Kulah Part 1
They were too regular as if someone had carved directions in the stone to not get lost. Lith pointed them to Yondra, who carbon-copied them with a piece of paper and chalk.
"How the heck did you notice them?" She blurted out after calling the rest of her colleagues to take a look at his discovery.
"Secret of the trade." Lith replied since revealing his Fire Vision was out of the question. The humidity in the cave had filled the carvings with water, making them stand out like a sore thumb to his thermographic vision.
After studying the carvings, the unanimous conclusion was that they were indeed some kind of ancient language.
"If I'm right, our expedition will go in history books." Said Professor Ellkas from the Fire Griffon. "I recognized this alphabet! It's an ancient dialect of the Odi language." Cheers and applause to both Lith and Ellkas erupted from the group as everyone took their books out of their respective dimensional items to decipher the writings.
"The Odi!" Most of the Professors and their Assistants repeated enthusiastically so often that it almost resembled a chant.
"Who the heck are the Odi?" Morok said, followed by the soldiers.
'Fuck me sideways! The Odi.' Lith thought.
They were the reason he had chosen to be assigned to the Kellar region in the first place, but he had never predicted to stumble into their legacy with so many people to babysit.
Worse than that, the Professors could actually do more harm than good, so he started to think of a way to ditch them with no consequences for his military career.
"What's wrong Lith?" Quylla asked. "You're doing your 'I'm screwed' face."
"Seriously, we have spent too much time together!" Lith didn't like being read so easily. Phloria he could understand, but Quylla too?
After setting a perimeter to defend the blabbering Professors, Lith took Morok, Quylla, and Phloria aside to share with them the history of the Odi Kalla had taught him about.
According to the books in Scarlett's lab, they were an ancient and powerful race that had conquered all illnesses. They had reigned above the other races until they had become so conceited to resort to forbidden magic in the attempt to become immortal.
They had developed spells able to move the conscience of an individual from one body to another, achieving eternal youth. Their plan had backfired for two reasons. The first was the fact that the new body was younger, but the talent for magic wasn't carried over.
The second was that their victims and the Odi lower class had rebelled to such use of their children, leading to a revolution that had wiped the Odi from the face of Mogar.
On top of that, the Odi were considered to have laid the foundation for Lichhood.
"Let me get this straight." Morok said.
"If any of this crazy ass story of yours is true, then rather than ruins we might stumble into a populated city since those guys are supposed to live as long as they got a spare body. Also, they might have access to technology as good as ours if not even Liches?"
Lith nodded in reply. He doubted the Odi could have actually progressed that much, but it was better to be safe than sorry.
"Okay, I'm out of here. I'll call my superiors and abort the mission. I've got plans! I'm too young to die just a few months before retirement and in the company of a group of fossils at that!"
Phloria waited for the Ranger to be far enough before saying.
"Anything else we should be aware of?"
"Yes. The Odi were incredibly arrogant and racist." Quylla said. "They believed to be the master race and that everything besides magic was below them. They were divided into caste according to their magical talent.
"I'm telling you this because if somehow their protections are still working, they'll discriminate us based on our mana. Another thing. To avoid doing menial jobs they had slaves, but for protections they used golems."
Lith and Phloria stared at Quylla with surprise.
"How do you know all this stuff?" They asked in unison.
"Because even though what they did was wrong, they reached the apex of Body Sculpting. All historical sources agree on the Odi having truly defeated all illnesses, it's not just a groundless legend.
"They managed to do something we still can't. If we get our hands on their data, at least the sacrifice of their victims will do some good. We could achieve the same results without injuring anyone!" Quylla was trying to convince herself as well as the others.
She couldn't stop thinking about the moral implications of using such bloodstained knowledge.
'My biggest fear is that the modifications the Odi underwent to become immune to disease might have also caused the collapse of their society. Such a deep change in the life force might have easily affected their minds.' She thought.
"Is the expedition you needed my help with also related to the Odi?" Lith asked.
"Yes. Their empire was located in the Kellar region, but aside from some small ruins, nothing relevant has ever been found. I joined this expedition hoping I might find something that could help me to locate their capital, Reshia, but I would've never thought we would find something in the Odi language.
"What if we are about to discover Reshia itself?"
"It's unlikely. A capital is a place that must be easily accessible. A city with a constant flow of people, merchandise, and a lot of guards." Phloria said. "Signs on the walls and underground tunnels make me think more about a secret facility of sorts."
Their debate was interrupted by Morok's return.
"Goddammit! The high command ordered to continue with the mission and seal all the communication with the outside." He took a small device the size of a glass marble out of his dimensional amulet.
A shorth pulse of orange light spread through the tunnel, drawing the attention of the Professors. Lith expected them to be enraged by such lack of trust, but they looked all smug instead.
"Excellent move, Ranger Eari." Said Professor Gaakhu, from the Crystal Griffon. She was one of the youngest in the group, a woman in her early forties with several blue streaks in her light brown hair and dark eyes.
"According to the markings found by Ranger Verhen, we are about to find the ruins of Kulah."
"What's that?" Lith asked turning to Quylla, who shrugged in reply.
"I've no idea either, but since it must have taken a lot of effort to build something so deep below the earth, it must be something important. Captain Ernas, I don't need to tell you how security has just become of paramount importance." Gaakhu said.
"We'll keep protecting you at the best of our abilities." Phloria nodded.
"Not us, foolish child! I mean our discovery. Ranger Eari, didn't you explain anything to her?"
"No, because you butted in before I could." Morok said with a snort.
"Odi ruins are considered a state secret. Revealing their position or stealing any kind of artifact and knowledge is an act of treason. According to my commanding officer, all Odi ruins discovered so far contained priceless treasures.
"Everything we found is considered a Royal property."
At that point, Morok turned to Phloria.
"We're now under martial law and since you are the highest ranked officer, the command is now yours. It makes me happy because everything that goes wrong it's your fault and not mine."
Chapter 638 Kulah Part 2
"What are your orders, Captain Ernas?" There was something in the way Morok said the word that made it sound like an insult.
"Let's move. We need to reach the ruins as soon as possible. Ranger Eari, you and two of my men take point. Ranger Verhen, cover our back. Everyone else, if someone tries to sneak away from the group, strike first and ask questions later."
The three soldiers nodded, making the Assistant Professors swallow. None of them had expected their bodyguards to turn into their jailers.
Morok picked up the pace and so did everyone else. Everyone walked in silence, they were too busy watching their steps to waste energy chatting.
Lith was alone with Quylla again and was now worried about another unexpected turn of events. The more they advanced, the fewer creatures he would spot along the corridors until the group was completely alone.
'Whatever Kulah is, it seems that no one dares to come close to it. Let's hope I don't meet my third Lich.' Lith thought.
After more than four hours of walking, the group needed a break. From that moment onwards, only the members of the military were allowed to stand guard, whereas the others had to stay grouped together, making it harder for anyone to escape from their watch.
Aside from moss, nothing grew inside the tunnels, making them all look identical.
As hours turned into days, most members of the expedition started to fall into depression. There was no sunlight, the air was stale and smelly, making it painful to breathe from time to time.
Morok was still able to find his way thanks to the marks he had left while escaping from the Abomination-goblin hybrids, but every time he opened a new passage, he could see doubt and mistrust in the eyes of the others.
They were growing afraid that he had lost his way and their lives in the process. The group was so deep inside Mogar that dimensional magic was useless. All places looked the same, so opening a Warp Steps was no longer an option.
Using earth magic with no idea where they were was likely to result in getting stranded or even cause a fatal cave-in.
The impossibility to do anything but walking, sleeping, and eating was a heavy burden for everyone which worsened with each rest they took. The dullness of their routine turned the enthusiasm of the discovery into a bleak, hopeless silence.
More than once one of the Assistants had a claustrophobic attack and needed to e sedated. According to Lith's pocket watch, only four days had passed, but to everyone the march seemed to have lasted weeks.
"Here we are. This is where I was forced to stop during my first visit. Now it's all up to you, smarty-pants." Morok said.
The group had reached a huge underground cave of irregular shape which was at least 100 meters (330 feet) wide with a ceiling about 20 meters (66 feet) high. Once again, Lith could see that aside from moss, there was no life form dwelling in the vicinities.
The floor was too regular to not be man made and several corridors departed from the cave. Each one of them had been clearly realized with earth magic and was wide enough to allow a huge carriage to easily pass.
"Where do they lead?" Lith asked.
"I don't know. I had no time to play explorer, my priority was survival. The moment we were cleared to leave, we took the same path back to the surface. It was the safest route." Morok replied.
"As you have probably noticed, there's not much to eat down here, so any predator that gets stranded will welcome our arrival as if we're a free meal ready for the taking.
"We can't close the passages without running out of fresh air but we can't leave them like this."
The two Rangers started to put tripwires and alarms along the corridors while the Professors studied the structure at the end of the cave. There was a huge door there, so perfectly crafted that it would have been invisible if not for the moss that over the years had grown inside its small crevices, outlining its shape.
It was a double door made of rock, so high that it almost reached the ceiling and so wide that three carriages could easily pass together through it. The problem was that there was no sign of its activation mechanism.
Soon the cave was filled with light and noise as everyone did his best to find a solution to the conundrum in front of them. The array detection spells perceived several magical formations protecting both the door and the wall, making them immune to earth magic.
"How the heck can those things still work? Aren't arrays supposed to fade without maintenance?" One of the assistants asked.
"There are several possible explanations for this phenomenon, but your clearance level is too low to learn about any of them. So shut up and help us open this damn door." Gaakhu replied.
Lith only needed a glance to learn the answer to that question. Just like most of the lost cities, whatever was behind the door had been built above a mana geyser. The arrays could draw their sustenance from it and unless an event of catastrophic proportions happened, they would last until someone turned them off.
Lith and Solus consulted all their Warden books, but the design of the arrays was unknown. The only thing they were certain of, was that they were powerful and that they would react badly if someone tried to forcefully open the door.
'There are several points in the wall where the word energy has been accumulated and compressed. It can't have any other purpose than to act as a defense mechanism in case of attack.' Lith thought.
To Morok Yondra asked:
"Do you have any suggestions on how to open the door?"
"No. During my first visit, my main worry was not dying of starvation and fortifying the place." He pointed at the south wall, where a few small buildings had been created with earth magic.
The ground in the vicinities was full of holes big and deep enough that moving recklessly would likely result in a sprain or worse, depending on how badly one would fall.
"What about you?" Phloria asked. Now that she was aware of Lith's Life Vision, she could expect one of his usual 'miracles'.
"None." He used Hush to avoid being heard. The cave was so full of echoes that even a whisper would be carried around, making it noticeable.
"The design of the arrays is too complex to understand something on a first glance. I need to study them carefully and then I'll let you know."
"Are you saying you can see arrays too?" Phloria was flabbergasted.
"As clearly as I can see you. Unlike people, they are entirely made of mana, so it's much easier to notice their details. Be careful with the door, I think it's surrounded by magical traps."
The situation made no sense to Lith. He knew thanks to Life Vision that no one was around, yet Morok had told him how they had met so many monsters during their stay to be forced to fortify the place and even resort to eating them.
'The question is: did it happen out of pure bad luck, was it some kind of automatic defense mechanism like the arrays, or did someone send the monsters to kill them?' Lith thought.
'I guess it's only a matter of time before we learn the answer.' Solus replied.
Chapter 639 Teks Part 1
Soon fatigue trampled over the renewed enthusiasm from reaching their destination. The Professors had come prepared, they had all the necessary to set up a few defensive arrays before going to sleep.
"I don't know how long we'll stay here, but we can't allow depression to dull our wits. Give me a few minutes." Professor Yondra said.
After a while, the cave was lit by a sphere of light that resembled a small sun, positioned in the middle of the ceiling. The array provided both light and warmth, even giving the ceiling a blue color.
A second array made the air fresher, ridding it of the excess humidity. Despite their simple effects, the two combined arrays made wonders to lift the morale of the expedition.
"The Solar Cycle array will reproduce the solar phases, including sunset." Yondra explained while checking her pocket watch. "This way we can recover our normal sleep cycle and have an artificial night with an artificial moon that will provide us light."
Morok had already sealed the path behind them, so Phloria's soldiers could now guard the natural corridors without worrying that anyone could escape. Without Ranger Eari there was no way out and the cave offered no privacy.
The group expanded the building Morok had previously created and split it into separate spaces for men and women. Once the camp was set, a hot meal consumed around a fire gave everyone the energy they needed to resume their task with optimism.
Now the members of the expedition didn't feel lost anymore. They had a purpose, a roof, and light to guide their way. While Lith searched the stone door for a way in, he noticed that Phloria and Quylla had joined the rest of the team.
Both of them had what looked like a thin wand made of silver that resembled a conductor's baton. They would strike with it at any unusual rock or apparently out of place detail they found.
Each time the wand hit, it would produce a ding, but nothing else. Since Forgemaster Professors like Yondra had a similar tool, Lith felt compelled to ask:
"Quylla, what is that thing?"
"A Royal Forgemaster tool. If you cast the proper incantation, it forces an enchanted item to reveal its nature." She explained.
"It can tell you what a spell does?" Lith was as shocked as his voice sounded.
"No, silly." She laughed. "It just reveals the magical nature of an otherwise seemingly normal item. Then it's up to the Forgemaster to study it. We're looking for some kind of enchanted secret compartment."
"Since when the two of you are Forgemasters?" Lith asked.
"I started to practice it seriously after- you know, I killed Yurial. I spent the entire year I was cooped up home learning the basics. It helped me a lot to keep my head clear." Her voice was sad but firm.
Quylla had come to terms with the actions the slave ring had forced her to commit, but that couldn't erase the guilt she felt for the death of one of her best friends.
"I, instead, started as soon as I finished my boot camp." Phloria was eager to change the topic, she didn't want to let Quylla dwelling too long on such bad memories.
"I couldn't stand my men having poor equipment because there's never enough budget. Plus I always wanted to follow my father's footsteps. Once I got rid of grades, I could finally take my time and learn things at my own pace."
"Why have I never heard of such a tool?" Lith was kind of envious. He didn't need it, but it would have made it much easier for him to justify his findings with Life Vision.
Also, if he had Orion's teachings and resources, the sky would be the only limit for his true Forgemastery.
'You can always dump Kamila and marry Phloria, if she's okay with it.' Solus sneered.
'Sorry, you are right. I should stop thinking with my wallet.' Lith replied.
"Because it's a secret of the trade." Yondra said. "Only Royal Forgemasters know how to craft one and only they can entrust one to someone else. Doing that puts in danger their own title and status.
"It's part of the legacy of Valeron Griffon, the first King. Are you perchance interested in my offer now?"
Lith was about to give her a polite but firm hard pass when his nose caught an unfamiliar scent. Now that the air was clear, his perceptions were back to their full efficiency.
"What's that noise?" Morok said putting everyone on the alert.
'How the heck did he hear something above our voices?' Lith thought while running toward the entrance and activating Life Vision. The previously empty tunnels were now filled with unknown creatures.
They triggered all the alarms the two Rangers had set along the way before finally coming into the light.
It was a group of magical beasts with the appearance of humanoid crabs, who stood over two meters (6'7") tall. There was no head above their shoulders, just a pair of stalks ending with eyes that moved independently, allowing them to have a 360-degree sight.
Their bodies were covered with a thick and pale white chitinous exoskeleton that made them look like stone colossuses come to life.
They had huge pincers instead of hands, big enough that they could easily chop a bull's head off.
They had no equipment, but between their bulky size and their bright green mana cores, Lith could tell that they probably didn't need it. The soldiers stuck at the creatures with their blades, but they were easily repelled by the exoskeletons without leaving a scratch.
Then, the soldiers activated the spells imbued in their magical rings, unleashing lightning bolts against the magical beasts while seeking the protection of the array. The electricity slipped over the humanoid crabs like rain on a window, inflicting no damage.
Using fire magic was too risky inside caves. The air was thin and the only fresh oxygen was that provided by the ever-present moss. Fire might made the cave inhabitable or destroy the moss needed for the group's survival.
Hence the well-trained soldiers used earth magic to conjure a barrage of earth spikes to crush open the exoskeletons or at least pin the creatures against the walls long enough for the Professors to prepare a powerful spell that would finish them in one fell swoop.
Unfortunately, the creatures only needed a wave of their pincer-hands to overpower the control of the soldiers over the spikes and threw them against the barrier. The crab beings were smart enough to aim for someone who wasn't the one who had cast the spell, so that they could actually hurt them.
"Don't waste your spells! Dinner here is called Tak. Their only weak points are the joints and the eyes!" Morok said.
One of his twin short swords pierced into the midriff of the Tak in front of him, hitting its white cartilage with surgical precision despite it being almost indistinguishable from the same colored exoskeleton.
The creature tried to crush the Ranger with its pincers, but Morok stepped back, taking out the blade from the open wound as a trickle of blue blood came out of it. He also hit the creature with a palm strike, apparently using the momentum of the hit to propel himself backward faster.
Right after the dodge, a thud could be heard and smoke came out of all the joints of the Tek as it collapsed to the ground, making them visible.
Chapter 640 Teks Part 2
Morok had actually cast a fireball right through the open wound and into the innards of the creature, using its own hard shell to trap the powerful explosion inside the beast.
"I like my crab well cooked and now you know where to hit. Time to earn your pay, boys!" He said with a feral smile before moving onto the next opponent.
Lith's blade, one of the failed prototypes, went for the eyes instead. He wanted to check why Morok had chosen such a dangerous strategy when there was a much easier target.
The answer came in the form of the eyestalks actually being articulated peduncles capable of being folded back into the shell in case of danger.
'Plan B it is.' Lith thought, putting the blade back inside his pocket dimension. Fusion magic empowered his body as Solus turned into her glove form, fully enveloped by the silver protection of the Orichalcum.
The fist struck the Tek's abdomen like a jackhammer, lifting the creature off the ground of a few centimeters as cracks spread over its armor. The waves of pain the hit caused made the eyes reflexively pop out, allowing Lith to grab them with his free hand and discharge lightning directly into them.
The electricity traveled straight into the brain of the Tek, killing it on the spot. A second creature, incredibly nimble despite its size, circled around its dead companion and released a hail of razor-sharp ice crystals.
'Water fusion is a game two can play.' Lith thought.
Now that he knew the two elements Tek could use, he could predict their basic strategy. Lith sidestepped the attack, letting it harmlessly strike the barrier as a palm strike injected a volley of Plague Arrows inside the enemy.
Seeing that Lith had killed two enemies in the same time he had needed to kill one, Morok clicked his tongue.
"Fine. Let's get serious. Pick Hammer." Morok said, sheathing and unsheathing his blades in the blink of an eye. The weapons shapeshifted into one-handed battle hammers that closely resembled Solus's Forgemastering hammer, having both a hammerhead and a pick.
Morok struck with the pick side of the weapon at the carapace of the closest Tek, but to no avail. His strength wasn't enough to pierce its rock hard shell. At least not until a second later, when the second hammer hit the head of the first one as if it was a nail.
The pick crushed both the exoskeleton and the heart of the creature, instantly killing it. The soldiers and the Professors were so shocked by the display of raw power in front of their eyes that they stared dumbly at the scene, incapable of moving a muscle.
The Teks started to coordinate their moves, attacking in waves and dying in waves. Morok would crush between his hammers any pincer that came too close for comfort, whereas Lith used water fusion to be as nimble as the Teks and air fusion to be faster than them.
Every one of his palm strikes would send one of the creatures flying against its comrades, spreading his deadly touch to all of them since Plague Arrow's ethereal nature would pierce through any kind of matter until all of its energy was exhausted.
"Good gods." Jerth said. She was the second most powerful mage in her unit after Phloria.
"I thought they were just tall, dark, and rudesome, but those two are not human. Are all Rangers like that, Captain?"
"No. There is a reason why unlike the academies the army ranks Monster cadets above the Special ones." Phloria replied snapping out of her reverie.
"Which one did you date?"
"The less rude one. Now stop flapping your gums and drink your potions, they need backup!" She was right. The first group was already dead, but a much larger one was flooding out of all tunnels.
"Are we really going to stand here like morons?" Professor Syndra from the Lightning Griffon yelled.
"Captain, buy me five seconds and I'll close the curtains on this madness."
Phloria nodded and started yelling orders.
��Stall them with hit and run tactics, there's weakness in numbers. Darkness magic may be slow, but there's too many of them. If you shoot in the middle, you are bound to hit some of them."
"What can I do?" Quylla asked.
"Stay behind me and get ready to treat the wounded."
The Teks were too many, forcing the two Rangers on the defensive, back to back to avoid being surrounded.
"Nice glove." Morok said.
"Nice weapons. Also, duck." Lith replied while clapping his hands and emitting a silvery sound due to the Orichalcum covering them.
"What duck? Oh shit!" Morok kneeled just in time as Lith's hands released a ring of darkness energy that expanded outwards, mowing through the horde around them.
The spell wasn't strong enough to kill so many Teks, but it temporarily weakened them. It allowed the two Rangers to escape the encirclement and find shelter inside the array.
Phloria's soldiers were shooting darkness magic non stop, killing dozens of enemies at once while she unleashed her tier five Mage Knight spell, Boom Box. All the spells in a Mage Knight's grimoire could be cast with only one hand, making their casting speed exceptionally fast.
Their greatest downside was their very short range, but against so many enemies amassed in the little space between the tunnels and the barrier, there was no such problem.
Five square-shaped ice shields with a side length of 7 meters (23 feet) surrounded the Teks from all directions but below, trapping them. Before the creatures could smash through the ice, a sphere of wind exploded in the middle of the spell.
The thunderclap was followed by a shockwave that rebounded on the ice walls after being amplified by a resonance effect. The shockwaves grew in power every time they hit an ice wall, piercing through all the prisoners after each sonic speed rebound.
The Teks crumbled like sand castles facing a high tide, but more of them came out of the tunnels.
"Everyone, step back!" Professor Syndra said.
He lifted both his arms, conjuring a tidal wave out of thin air that crashed against the Teks both inside the cave and those still inside the tunnels.
"No offense, gramps, but all that water will just make much easier for them destroying the array with enough ice to make winter look like summer." Morok said.
Professor Syndra's lips curled up in a disgusted expression. It was hard to tell if he was more insulted or annoyed by the Ranger's obvious remark.
"Once you're old, you need to eat a lot of fish. It's good for your memory."
"Corona Discharge." Syndra said with a flat tone.
The mother of all lightning bolts erupted from his body, in the wake of the tidal wave. Corona Discharge was a tier five War Mage spell. It used water to soak the opponent so that the following bolt of lightning could bypass all protections and hit the weak spots of an enemy. In the Teks' case, their eyes.
Like all tier five spells, both the water and the lightning were guided by Syndra's will, making them impossible to escape from. Over fifty Teks died in an instant, their bodies emitting the characteristic aroma of stewed lobster.
"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Lith asked.
"Yes, I call dibs on the well-cooked ones. I know we just ate, but all this action made me work an appetite." Morok replied.
Chapter 641 Perfect Array Part 1
Those words made Lith almost slap his own forehead, but luckily he remembered in time about the Orichalcum still covering his hands.
"Those are water creatures, but there can't be a big enough water body around here to sustain such a big colony. If that was the case, we should hear the underground water stream or at least smell a lot of humidity in the air. Does any of you perceive any of that?" He asked.
The group started to sniff the air like a pack of hounds.
"No. The air is drier than many places we crossed on our way here." Said Professor Gaakhu.
"Exactly. So where the heck did they come from? Why we didn't hear them coming despite the ever-present echo?"
"Those are good questions, but I can at least answer one of them." Professor Yondra said. "Teks manipulate earth. They must have made the ground softer to avoid making noise."
"That doesn't explain why they were so focused on us. If they were starving, they would have eaten their fallen first. Instead, they kept attacking like their lives were on the line even though we did nothing to provoke them." Lith looked at the tunnels.
They were empty again. There was no trace of scouts or survivors fleeing from the scene.
'It doesn't make sense. My paranoia sense keeps tingling.' He thought.
"I think he is right." Professor Syndra said.
"Either the Odi's longevity is a hard truth rather than a myth, or we must have activated some automated defense mechanism. No matter the answer, both of them mean that we are in front of the discovery of a lifetime. Half of us will…"
"With all due respect, I give the orders here, Professor." Phloria cut him short.
"Before resuming our search, the Wardens must strengthen the barrier while my soldiers and the Rangers rest. In the meantime, all those that didn't do anything will guard the tunnels."
"Sir, yes, sir!" Morok said spitting a bit of Tek meat from the arm he was chewing.
"How certain are you that they didn't just come here following our noise?" She asked Lith with a whisper.
"Remember this?" Lith tapped the side of his eyes, resuming to speak as soon as she nodded him to continue.
"I'm 100% sure that those corridors were empty. Then there were ten Teks and after we started killing them others popped up. I mean it. I didn't see anyone walking."
"Then please rest and help us to find a way to open that door. This place is already giving me the creeps."
Lith used Accumulation while he looked around the cave. He remembered that both the White Griffon academy and his tower had surveillance mirrors, so the idea that someone was actually looking at them from a distance was quite likely.
Life Vision scanned every centimeter of the cave, searching for the transmitting device. Divination didn't exist, to spy on someone it was needed a transmitter that would capture the reflected light like a camera would and Warp the images to the mirror.
It could have been anything, but its magical aura was supposed to be visible.
'Unless it's cloaked.' Solus suggested.
'It wouldn't make sense. Only Awakened can sense mana and I doubt that those Odi creeps were Awakened. Otherwise each body they occupied would have lasted centuries and they would have kept their magical talent.' Lith replied.
'Maybe they weren't Awakened, but they might have been aware of their existence.' Solus suggested.
'Solus, do you realize that you've become a bigger pessimist than I am?' Those words put an end to their argument and made Solus wish they were both wrong. Solus about the Odi and Lith about her.
Unlike Invigoration, Accumulation had no rejuvenating effects, it would simply absorb the surrounding world energy and feed it to Lith's mana core, making it stronger.
Since whatever Kulah was it was built on a mana geyser, Lith could draw much more nourishment than usual from the environment.
'Even though hours of Accumulation don't amount to much of a power up, if I'm right about someone operating Kulah's defenses, every bit can help.' He thought as his enhanced body naturally recovered his mana and stamina.
While Morok slept to recover from the fatigue of the fight, Lith ate some food and searched for the activation mechanism of the door. The entire stone wall had been enchanted and several arrays overlapped on its surface.
'Whoever did this was indeed a Master Warden.' Solus thought. 'The runes comprising the various arrays never touch each other and have an even spacing between them, allowing the runes to work in perfect harmony.
'On top of that, it makes really hard to understand which rune belongs to which array. I'm afraid that I was right about the Odi being aware of Awakened.'
'Maybe and maybe not.' Lith replied. 'There are things like Scarlett's pince-nez or General Vorgh's staff that can make them visible to the naked eye. So far the only thing we know for certain is that they were crafty bastards.'
Lith placed his hands on the stone wall, as if he was searching for crevices or a hidden switch, and activated Invigoration. It was the only means he had to bypass any kind of cloaking device that could hide the truth from his eyes.
Invigoration required Lith to override someone's or something's mana flow with his own. It was a skill he had developed as a kid and it was second nature to him. Unfortunately, he had never used it on something that big.
There was only so much space he could cover without spreading his resources too thin, dulling his senses. To make matters worse, the complexity of the arrays and the enchantment of the wall made it hard for him to properly examine their countless details.
On the bright side, Solus could now deactivate her mana sense and focus solely on deciphering the incantation by sharing Lith's senses. Lith's antics drew more than one surprised look and several scoffs.
"Ranger Verhen, this is a waste of your abilities. If groping a wall was enough to bypass a protective array, then Wardens and Forgemasters wouldn't have spent so much time and effort developing their spells for tasks like the one at hand." Professor Syndra said.
There was no mockery in his voice, only sincere worry.
'If that idiot of my Assistant was half as capable as Lith, instead of cackling at him like a child…' He thought.
"Thanks for your concern, Professor. Yet we must consider that the Odi might have taken spells into account and resorted to some kind of mechanical trigger." Lith replied with the first believable explanation that came to his mind.
"Excellent point! Did you hear that, Calil? Take a lesson from Ranger Verhen and use your brain. If by the end of the expedition your contributions amount to nothing, I'll have you fired."
Just like the other Assistants, Calil had been noting down his master's findings so that he could later revise and make sense of the bigger picture. The rest of the time, the youths had been laughing behind the wall-groping Ranger's back.
Suddenly, there wasn't much to laugh about. Instead of mindlessly writing, he started to rack his brain for a solution to the conundrum at hand.
Chapter 642 Perfect Array Part 2
By the time the artificial sun started to set, the members of the expedition decided to call it quits for the day. Yondra could make the sun rise whenever she wanted, but that would mess up their sleep cycle even more.
Everyone was tired either because of the constant spellcasting or from trying to make sense of the collected data about the wall. Some, like Quylla, had a splitting headache from doing both.
Morok and Phloria's soldiers were pretty relaxed instead. They had slept, eaten, and spent their time playing dices or cards while guarding the tunnels.
"How do your weapons work, exactly?" Lith asked Morok while eating dinner.
"The problem with the wilds is that you never know what mess you're going to stumble into. So I had a good Forgemaster made me Orichalcum weapons capable of shapeshifting at will.
"The sheaths are part of the weapons and the key to trigger their shapeshifting abilities. If I need them to be heavier, the extra mass comes from the sheaths. They are also made with Orichalcum and are thicker than they look."
Solus studied their pseudo core with mana sense and was relieved to discover that they had no runes engraved on their surface.
'It seems that we are right. Runes must be a state secret. The pseudo core is very complex and it even required purple crystals to be stabilized.' She thought.
"They shapeshift? That's it?" Lith asked.
"That's it my ass!" Morok was offended.
"They saved my life countless times. They have a few minor incantations too, but nothing more. Energy based properties and Orichalcum are hard to not mix together, smartass. I don't have that kind of money." He said while looking at the Skinwalker in envy.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to belittle them. It's just that between the Orichalcum and the purple crystals, I expected something a little flashier."
"What does your gauntlet do?" Morok asked, ignoring the apology.
"Not much, yet. It's a work in progress. So far it can store a few low tier spells and serve as a last-ditch weapon." The glove's fingers turned into claws.
"I think it's very useful already. If you ever mass-produce them, I call dibs. Why use stone as its foundation though?"
"I told you, it's a work in progress. I used cheap materials because I constantly upgrade it." Lith replied.
"No duh, man. You are too stingy. Those magic crystals are smaller than my eyes and green and yellow at that! No offense, but that's lame."
'Lame? I've worked my ass off for years to get those two… gems, things, whatever they are!' Solus thought. 'Can I please punch him on the nose?'
"Any idea about how to open the door?" Lith was stuck between a rock and a moron, so he was eager to change the topic.
"None and I don't even care. I get paid no matter the result of the expedition. Fighting an Eldritch and those Teks should be already worth a hefty bonus. Anything more is just gravy."
Since there was nothing to get from him, except maybe getting cleaned up at gambling, Lith went to speak with Quylla. Aside from the Professors and Solus, she was definitely the smartest person in the cave.
"How's your head?" Lith asked.
"After I treated myself, the pain is gone, but I'm still foggy. I can't waste a tonic on our first day." She replied while massaging her temples.
"Gods, I feel so useless. I'm more of a deadweight in battle now than when we were still at the White Griffon and I can't even open a damn door."
"That's not true. You saved Phloria's life and many others'. As for the door, I'd say you are in good company." Lith tried to cheer her up.
"That was days ago. The only thing I've achieved today is getting prime callouses on my fingers." She showed him her right hand. After swinging the Forgemaster wand for hours and using healing magic to treat blisters and skin irritation, her skin had hardened.
Quylla could easily get rid of them, but since she seemed to have many hours of wand swinging ahead of her, it would have been pointless. While they were talking, one of the Assistants passed them a copy of the information collected by the members of the expedition during the day.
Withholding knowledge in front of a common hurdle was pointless. Each Professor wanted the glory for themselves, but unless they got past the door, there was no glory to take.
The data had been sorted so that each array could be studied separately from the others and from the door's enchantment, making it easier to identify their rune patterns and energy nodes.
There was a lot of Warden jargon on each piece of paper and Lith could only understand the terms that Kulah's arrays and those he knew had in common. Quylla squinted her eyes hard as if there was something she couldn't focus properly on.
"Great, my headache is back! I give up. Good night, Lith." She put the notes in her dimensional amulet and stormed away.
'Why didn't you help her with Invigoration?' Solus asked.
'She's tired and frustrated with herself. The headache gives her a reason to rest and blow off some steam. If I make her head clear and she still fails, Quylla will feel twice as useless.
'Once because I fixed something that she couldn't and the second time because she would have no excuse for failing to open the door.' Lith replied.
Lith wasn't prideful. He didn't care how he solved a problem as long as he succeeded so he had no qualms asking for help to his betters. He walked towards Yondra's campfire.
Up to that point, the Professor from the Black Griffon was the one he had the best relationship with. She had already taught him a few things and maybe she was willing to expand his understanding of ancient arrays.
"Professor Yondra, maybe it's a stupid question, but why no one has tried to use Clean Slate to open the door?" Clean Slate was a tier four Forgemaster spell that would temporarily disable an enchantment, so in theory, it might solve their problem.
"It's not a stupid question, Ranger Verhen. This array here-" She said while showing him one of her notes. "-prevents the lock from being tampered from the outside. If we use Clean Slate, it will trigger the first energy node and cause a chain reaction that will activate all the other arrays."
'Damn. I can't even use Invigoration, then.' He thought. 'It's not a spell, but it's likely to be perceived as an external energy. I don't know what most of the other arrays do, but they are too powerful for a blind tinkering approach.'
Lith started to ask her about all the runes he was unfamiliar with and Yondra was happy to answer all of his questions. They had got off on the wrong foot, but the more time Lith spent with her, the more Yondra reminded him of his late mentor, Nana.
Yondra wasn't that old nor her back hunched, but the fierce light in her eyes was the same as Nana's and so it was her shameless approach to get what she wanted from people.
"It's fantastic that someone as young as you are has already comprehended the importance that every single rune comprising an array has. Most students are only interested in learning how to cast an array and how to bring them down.
"They don't care for the hows or the whys involved in the process." She patted his back before yawning.
Chapter 643 Perfect Solution Part 1
'It's hard to miss their importance when you see how runes affect the space around themselves and how the order of their activation can make so that the effects of two arrays comprised by the same runes are completely different.' Lith thought.
"Alas, I'm too old and tired to keep going. The moon is high already. Get some rest. If more creatures attack us tomorrow, I'll be counting on your protection." Yondra smothered the fire with a finger snap and entered the women quarters.
Lith remained alone for a while, sorting the new information acquired with Solus and taking notes on his own papers to later store them inside Soluspedia. Soon fatigue gave him a headache and his brain begged him for a break.
'Fighting is so much easier.' He sighed.
'Your body can withstand a lot, but your mind still needs to relax. Go to sleep, I'll keep an eye on the situation.' Outside her tower, Solus was unable to sleep or rest. It gave Lith an edge in many situations, but in the long term, it affected her sanity.
Lith went to sleep near a guard post, ready to act at the first sign of danger. He trusted no one. Morok was too strange and the soldiers too weak for his taste. The Professors were magically strong, some even more than Lith, but as Korgh had demonstrated, it only took a single shot to take them down.
Paranoia was a cruel mistress but it had served him well too many times to ignore her. Except when it was dead wrong, of course. When morning came and nothing happened, Lith cursed at himself.
'Hindsight is always 100% correct.' Solus chuckled.
The members of the expedition went back to study the door and before any of them could notice, dawn turned into sunset. Lith had even tried using Fire Vision at noon to spot hidden compartments.
If a switch was camouflaged under a fake rock, it should have shown a different coloration at his thermal vision when compared with the rest of the rock wall after being heated for hours by Yondra's spell. Unfortunately, even this attempt failed.
Lith spent dinner with Yondra and Quylla, comparing notes in search for a solution. The expedition was Lith's best shot at getting his hands on ancient Odi technology that might help him solve his reincarnation problem.
'If we crack this riddle and in the future I find more ruins on my own, I'll know how to get in. If we fail despite so many wise mages working together, I might as well check the Odi off my list of possible solutions.' He thought.
During the third day, Lith started to become restless just like the Assistant Professors. The older mages knew that solving ancient mysteries required time, effort, and luck, whereas their aides took failure personally.
After whispering "open sesame" in front of the door, obtaining nothing in return but an awkward echo, Lith asked Professor Gaakhu, the language expert:
"What's the Odi word for friends?"
"Glavrish. Why?"
After a painful second that shattered his last hopes, he replied:
"No reason. I was just curious." He said while Solus laughed her ass off at his expense.
When dinnertime came, Lith decided to give a break to both himself and Yondra, spending the evening with his friends. After receiving her own Skinwalker, Quylla's mood had improved a lot, but she was getting gloomier with each passing day.
"Gods, it's so frustrating to me. I'm probably the one that knows more about the Odi among all the Assistants taking part in the expedition since I've been researching them for over a year now. Yet my contribution is close to zero." Quylla said.
"I'd rather not work while I eat. If I hear another word about arrays, I'm going to scream." Lith said. "But since we are already there, maybe there's something we are missing. When I taught magic to Tista, I improved my foundations by learning from my own teachings.
"Maybe if you tell us what you know about the Odi, we could better understand their way of thinking."
"First of all, they were conceited, self-centered bastards." Quylla said with a voice full of spite.
"Their laws allowed them to have slaves, as long as they weren't Odi, and they treated the other races worse than their cattle. The Odi would use their slaves as guinea pigs, infecting them on purpose with the illnesses they had yet to cure.
"When healing magic wasn't enough, they would resort to Body Sculpting, permanently altering their subjects' physiology trying to make them immune to congenital diseases.
"Once they achieved perfect health, they moved on altering their appearance so that every member of their race would be born with what they considered to be perfect proportions.
"For decades they attained countless feats, uncaring for their cost since they weren't the ones paying for it. Then, they tried to defeat aging and failed.
"You know the rest. They were obsessed with the search for perfection in every aspect of their life. I mean, look at the arrays." The word was enough to make Lith's head throb.
"The spacing between the runes, the way they overlap with each other, and the door at the same time. It's a seamless formation with no weak points."
Lith reviewed his notes inside Soluspedia, comparing them with Quylla's words.
"It's indeed an amazing piece of work." He said, his eyes fixated in a blank spot as he examined the runes one by one and forced himself not to puke.
"Even if there are five arrays covering the door, the resulting structure resembles that of a musical score. Each rune is perfectly placed, one flows into another and is reinforced by the other runes surrounding it as it in turn reinforces them."
"Yeah, it's almost like… That's it! I think I know how to open that door!" Quylla stood up abruptly, flipping her plate. Only a well-timed use of spirit magic saved the innocent food.
She dragged Phloria and Lith to Professor Gaakhu's campfire to share her success with them. Gaakhu was the head of the expedition, her permission was required before making an attempt at opening the barrier.
"We got it all wrong, Professor. There aren't five arrays, just one and I know how to open it." Quylla said.
"Nonsense, Mage Ernas. Any of us, you included, can detect five different structures and their unique power nodes. We have even identified the purpose of each one of them…"
"No, that's where you are wrong. You have identified the purpose they have when you take them separately and that's why there's no solution. Please humor me. What happens if you consider them as a single array? What becomes of their runes?"
Professor Gaakhu sighed, using water magic to write down the information about the different arrays on a single page.
'I can't just say no to Mage Ernas. At least she has shown initiative and confidence. The morale is already bad as it is. Trying and failing is better than letting yourself fall into despair.' She thought.
At least until the entire picture appeared in front of her eyes.
"This is amazing! The five arrays actually do combine into a single one with its own purpose." She blurted out as her colleagues started to huddle up behind her back, looking at the piece of paper in her hands.
Chapter 644 Perfect Solution Part 2
"Exactly! They split the array into different parts to disguise its real structure." Quylla said.
"It's more than that." Said Professor Neshal, the Master Warden from the Earth Griffon.
"The five arrays can work both individually and as one. The Odi found a way to make overlapping arrays more than the sum of their parts. But you are right. The final array is the weak spot because once you discover the truth, it allows you to destroy them all at once.
"It's unbeatable if you don't know the trick behind it, but once you do, you can topple them all like a house of cards. It would be revolutionary otherwise." She sighed. Neshal admired the Odi for their ingenuity and despised them at the same time for their conceit.
They had clearly thought that no member of the 'lesser races' would notice the fatal flaw in their creation.
"Excellent work, Quylla." Said Professor Phesta from the White Griffon. "I'll make sure that you are rewarded properly by the academy. Without your insight, we might have wasted days standing in front of the door."
"Thanks, Professor!" She was brimming with joy. "Can we open it now?"
"Absolutely not." All those present said in unison.
"We have no idea what lies beyond the gate and we are all tired. We will work on the sixth array after we are fully recovered and are ready for any surprise the Odi might have left behind." Professor Gaakhu said.
Quylla was kind of disappointed. After struggling so hard and for so long, she had to continue waiting to see if the fruits of her labor would pay off. Lith didn't share her anxiety. He didn't need Life Vision or mana sense to perceive the danger that kind of array posed to his life.
The next morning, the Professors used earth magic to conjure a table made of stone and worked together to safely open the door. As soon as all the papers were laid on the stone surface, Lith made his proposal.
"I don't think that opening the array is a good idea. Destroying it will require the same energy and it's much safer."
"Are you insane?" More than one Professor said.
"That kind of technique in laying arrays constitutes a relic by itself. Even if it's a faulty product, we could study it and learn a lot about the ancient Odi magic. We might even find a way to improve their creation!" Professor Syndra said.
"Indeed. But what if we open the door, trigger a trap, and the arrays activate again? What if they shoot us in the back the moment we walk through that door? Is a single relic worth our lives?" He spoke looking in Phloria's eyes.
She was the commander of the expedition and the only one who was aware of the anomalies occurred while battling the Teks.
"I agree with Ranger Verhen." She said. "Take your time to study and copy the array formation if you must, but no one is going inside until that thing is taken down. The first rule for every combat situation is to have a clear retreat path.
"If the Odi's defense system identifies us as members of the 'lesser races' and the gate closes behind us, we'd have no time to open it again. Leaving our back exposed is out of the question. My decision is final."
What started as a low grumble soon rose in intensity, until outraged yells echoed throughout the entire cave.
"Give it a rest, will you?" Morok's voice overcame them all like a roar. "We could be attacked by a whole army and I would miss their arrival because of your yapping. If you want to die, leave me out of it."
The bickering went on until it started to grind on Phloria's nerves.
"Maybe you're not familiar with how the army works. The discussion is over." She said.
"Maybe, and maybe not." Professor Gaakhu replied. "Over two-thirds of the members of the expedition disagree with you. We demand to speak with your commanding officer."
"How dare you questioning my judgment?" Her voice was low, yet it was perfectly audible and scarier than any angry yell or threat.
"I dare because I think that due to your young age you fail to realize how important this discovery might be, Captain Ernas. Ours is not just the temper tantrum of some old fogeys." Gaakhu replied.
"We are concerned that your hasty decision can harm the development of magic and the Kingdom itself. Not to mention that albeit Ranger Verhen has a point, I believe that your past relationship is affecting your judgment.
"Being careful is good, being paranoid is not. As the head of the expedition, it's in my right to veto your decision if it damages the Kingdom."
"Fine." Phloria knew Gaakhu was right.
Since there was no emergency situation and the army communication amulet still worked, she had to rely the message. Yet it was the first time during her military career that someone had disrespected her orders so blatantly.
She broke the communication silence and called the high command, explaining to them everything that had happened. She mentioned Lith's insight on the most recent attack and emphasized the risks that keeping the array would imply.
"Interesting." Commander Berion replied while tapping his mahogany desk with his forefinger.
"Who proposed to preserve the array?" He asked.
Judging from his choice of words and his tone of voice, the Professors understood that he agreed with them so they introduced themselves one by one. With the Mage Association's bleak looking future, receiving the support of a rising star in the army like Berion could lead to countless benefits.
Even some of those who had previously agreed on destroying the formation switched sides. Only Professor Yondra and Professor Syndra were adamant in putting their safety first and didn't change their mind.
"Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for your honesty. I have to agree with Captain Ernas and Ranger Verhen. They both have a 100% mission success rate, so I'll trust their judgment since it's the only reason you are still alive.
"No offense, Professor Gaakhu, but without Ranger Eari the coordinates of the ruins would be lost. On top of that, in case the expedition gets wiped out, the Kingdom would have lost some of their most valuable subjects.
"Captain Ernas is right. Study the formation as much as you want and take it down when you are ready. Over and out."
Berion's calm attitude disappeared as soon as the communication ended.
"Damn idiots! I didn't invest so much to keep Ranger Verhen under my command just to lose him to preserve a crappy array. Even if he wasn't there, I would think twice before putting at risk one of the Ernas's daughters on a whim, but two of them?
"I like my head where it is."
Once he managed to calm down, he called his secretary and instructed him to update the status of the expedition.
"I don't know whether those Professors suffer just from hubris or dementia, and I don't care. Flag their personal files as unfit to command for the next missions."
Meanwhile, in the cave, Lith was sighing in relief.
'I'm not willing to risk my life for those morons, worst case scenario I'd have been forced to commit insubordination. Luckily for me, Berion earned his spot by working in the field.' He thought.
Chapter 645 All is One Part 1
'The silver lining is that now we know who is worth protecting and who is just dead weight.' Solus said, making Lith worry about her mental condition.
She was perfectly fine, it was just that the closer she got to achieve her human body, the more protective toward Lith she became. Solus still valued all lives, but she was willing to make sacrifices to preserve her own happiness.
To her, a bunch of suicidal idiots wasn't worth the risk of a lifetime of solitude.
Many of the Professors swallowed loudly, thinking they had just signed their own death warrant. Gaakhu, instead, wasn't worried. Berion was just a single man that coincidentally was in charge.
There were many others in the army that would share her vision and help her to protect her status.
'It's pointless to worry about a minor failure. Bureaucrats only care about results. If I bring back something valuable, this blunder will be dismissed as an insignificant incident.' She thought.
The expedition team started to examine the array down to the smallest details, double-checking everything. Quylla was very annoyed by the prolonged wait. She was eager to see what was on the other side of the wall.
It took them half a day to complete their study and another half to make sure that their spell would destroy the formation in the safest way possible. The morning of the second day after Quylla's epiphany, the spell was finally cast.
Just as Professor Neshal had predicted, by tampering with the sixth hidden array formed by the overlapping of the other five, their finely balanced structure collapsed. Two arrays were destroyed, while the other three became purely ornamental.
The door unlocked, turning on its hinges as if it had been properly preserved for all that time. Moss and dirt fell from its crevices, throwing up a lot of dust.
"Oh shit!" Was the collective opinion of the expedition the moment they could see what was waiting for them. Kulah wasn't a city, a village, nor a shelter. It was formed by long rectangular buildings that looked all the same.
They had been built out of some unknown pale blue material that was neither rock nor metal. It emitted a bright luminescence that made the whole area around the buildings as clear as the day.
The roads connecting the buildings were covered by a layer of dust several centimeters thick. It proved how no creature, living or not, had walked them during the last decades.
Each facility had only one access, consisting of wide double doors made of metal, and no windows. Each door was sealed by a yellow array visible to the naked eye.
It was shaped like three concentric circles inscribed with unknown runes and fueled by both purple crystals and the mana geyser underlying Kulah.
With Life Vision, Lith could see that there were cable-like devices that ran across the whole compound, carrying the world energy to the various arrays, including those the expedition team had just deactivated.
"This is a fucking military base!" Morok said, taking the words right out of everyone's mouth.
"Lith, what do you see?" Phloria asked. Her question made no sense to the others, yet no one dared to move. Any country would react to intruders accessing to a secret compound with extreme prejudice.
The Odi were likely to have left a lot of nasty surprises behind.
"The coast is clear, but we can't allow ourselves to relax. Everything, and I mean everything, is still perfectly functional." He pointed at the arrays on the doors, which were supposed to have faded centuries before.
Lith started to chant gibberish while preparing his spells, quickly followed by Morok and Phloria's soldiers. Once he was done with his preparations, he took a step forward.
The door and the stone wall started to flash with bright red color and emitted a high pitched noise. The surviving arrays activated one after another, but because of the damage they had sustained, they could only produce a series of sparks and sizzling before imploding with a thud.
Lith kept watching around, waiting for something to happen.
"Morok's log: add to my report how the old fossils would have been the death of us if we didn't destroy the arrays before entering." He said, drawing on himself several mean looks.
Morok was about to reply when Lith's prudence paid off. Life Vision showed to him a life force rushing through the several centimeters thick dust layer covering the floor, making it come to life.
It took the form of a colossus over 3 meters (10 feet) tall with bright yellow eyes. Aside from the eyes, it had no features nor definite shape. The whole dust cloud was its body, and the creature used it to try and drown Lith.
"Oh gods! A sand golem." Said Professor Ellkas in a panic. "It's supposed to be impossible! Where the heck might the core of that thing be?"
Phloria didn't care if it was possible or not, the only things worrying her were that it was standing right in front of them and that Lith had yet to react.
"Hold your fire!" She said while raising her open hand in the air to reinforce her command.
'Sand golem my ass.' Lith thought. 'Golems have no life force whereas this thing is alive. The obvious response would be to burn it, but if it was me, I would have filled the air with something volatile.
'Even finely dispersed flour is highly flammable and if this thing is what I think it is, the resulting explosion might kill me.'
Lith was right about almost everything. The creature in front of him was alive and flammable, but it wasn't an explosion the real threat fire posed. It was a fungus-like creature he was facing and the dust was actually its spores.
Putting it ablaze would have caused a small explosion strong enough to send them flying everywhere, killing the expedition in a matter of seconds. The creature was capable of moving each spore individually and was using them to flood Lith's respiratory system, making it impossible for him to breathe or cast new spells.
The spores were also able to feed upon their host and drain their fluids to increase their numbers. Surviving to such multi pronged attack was nigh impossible. Unless of course one had fusion magic.
The darkness coursing through Lith's body fed on the spores and turned them into nourishment while Invigoration allowed him to study their attack pattern.
"Ingenious." Lith said while releasing a series of darkness magic pulses that slaughtered his grain sized opponents. The fungus emitted a prolonged, bass noise that Lith interpreted as pain.
The creature retrieved all of its spores, condensing them to assume a physical form.
"Gods' there are so many things we can learn from the Odi." Professor Gaakhu said while following Lith's lead and releasing a wave of darkness energy. The creature opened its body in response, letting the spell harmlessly pass through the empty space it had created.
Lith would have liked to give the Professor a piece of his mind, but the eyes of the creature were drawing his attention. There was no fury, pain, or battle spirit in them. Lith knew that look, it was how Carl and Tista looked at him when they were little.
It was hope.
Chapter 646 All is One Part 2
"That thing is no golem, it's alive." Lith yelled without averting his gaze from the fungal creature in front of him. Life Vision and mana sense kept scanning the surroundings, trying to make sense of the creature's odd behavior.
'Hope? What kind of fool would look at his sworn enemy with hope?' Lith thought as a black aura enveloped his body, protecting him from the deadly spores.
'Maybe you're looking at the issue from the wrong angle. Why would a seemingly immortal creature bother to defend this place? The Odi are no more, and if Mogar's fungi are like those on Earth, killing one is nigh impossible.
'Especially if the spores share a hive mind. One of them is enough to regenerate the whole creature from scratch.' Solus pointed out.
'It shouldn't care. Unless it's bound to this place, of course.' Lith thought.
His train of thoughts was interrupted by the creature using earth magic to make a hail of stalactites fall from above. Lith had no problem dodging them, but the creature grabbed and used them as clubs.
The spores arranged themselves in tendrils capable of freely attacking Lith from every direction. The pseudo arms had no bones nor joints, so they could change their trajectory at any time, forcing Lith to Blink away before being trapped.
"We need to help him!" Calil, Professor Syndra's assistant, was tired of waiting on the sidelines. Unlike the others, he wasn't just a theoretician. One of his specializations was Battle Mage.
A wave of his hand unleashed the tier five spell, Fire Arms. A volley of flaming hands the size of an adult intercepted the clubs and clawed at the enemy at the same time. Each one of the magical hands was made out of air and cyan flames.
The wind element allowed them to grab anything without inflicting harm or could boost the flame's intensity at any given time according to the situation.
'If it's a sand golem like Professor Gaakhu says, my spell will turn it into glass. If it's a living being like Ranger Verhen says, then Fire Arms will kill it. No matter the species this bird belongs to, mine is the right stone for the kill.' Calil thought.
"Don't use fire, you idiot!" Lith said, crashing Calil's heroic dreams.
The spore cloud exploded with a series of small thumps, spreading the mushroom creature's minuscule limbs past the door.
Only those like Phloria who had blind trust in Lith had prepared a darkness barrier to protect themselves. All the others resorted to air or earth magic, but such elements couldn't do anything against a pollen sized attack.
Calil took the brunt of the spore wave, coughing madly while he started to bleed from all of his orifices due to the mycotoxins the creature released as it grew inside his body.
The infection spread so fast that it took it seconds to entirely cover the youth's skin.
"Light magic is useless!" Professor Syndra said after his attempt to save his assistant's life only accelerated the spreading of the disease which was now also covering Syndra's hands.
"It's a fungus!" Lith yelled with his last breath as the creature now enveloped his body withing its own, pummelling at him non stop with its appendices. Lith could kill the nearby spores with darkness magic, but they were just expendable.
The entire Kulah was covered in them, giving the creatures almost infinite mass to draw upon. Lith turtled up, infusing his Skinwalker with mana so that the Orichalcum protected him from head to toe.
The spores couldn't touch him anymore and the stalactites were just normal weapons. Thanks to the Thunderbird's plume, the Skinwalker was immune to blunt attacks. At least until he had enough mana to keep the armor in its boosted form.
'Any ideas?' Lith asked while searching for a way out.
'Working on it.' Solus replied. 'There must be something that forces the creature to stay here. Now that I know the creature's energy signature, I should be able to locate its core from a distance if I focus hard enough. If it has one, though.'
Phloria and Quylla had their own battle to fight. Aside from Morok and Yondra, the rest of the expedition was dying. Quylla could only treat one person at a time, whereas Phloria was racking her brain to find a spell that could turn the tides of the battle.
'Think, Lith. Think. How do you coerce a plant to do your bidding? A hostage? Nonsense. With a hive mind, one is all and all are one. A slave ring? Even more idiotic. How do you put a ring on a bunch of spores?
'They would just need to cut off the f- That's it! The hive mind is the key. The Odi must have infected part of the spores with some kind of slave agent. It would be enough to take control of the entire creature due to the consciousness the spores share.
'If I'm right, the enslaved spores must be somewhere nearby. A place where they are protected by random harm but have enough resources to survive. If it was a sealed container, over time they would have died of starvation.'
'On it!' Now that she had at least an idea of what to look for, Solus could restrict her search parameters.
Even if his intuition was right, Lith had yet to find a way to escape from his predicament. Most of the spells he had at the ready weren't suitable against such a creature and Origin Flames were now an even worse option than they had been before.
Even though they were mystical, they were still made of fire, and to make matter worse, they would hurt Lith along with his enemy. He had avoided using them because an explosion made by Origin Flames might have wiped out both the expedition and Kulah.
"If we get out of here alive, I'm going to ask for a raise!" Morok complained while cleansing another Professor from the spores. He wasn't much of a caring guy, but he was aware that as soon as the fungus was done with the fossils, he would be its next target.
"This is never going to work!" Quylla blurted out in desperation. With only three healers and 14 patients, some already in critical condition, fighting the spores as if they were not sentient was a losing battle.
She stopped treating Professor Phesta and started to spread short and weak pulses of darkness magic all around her.
"Are you insane? Your spell is going to affect us too!" Morok said.
"No, she is a genius just as you are a moron!" Yondra said. "The pulses she emits are strong enough to prevent the spores from spreading but weak enough to be stopped by our armors. She's buying us time by acting as a human array."
'A reckless genius.' Yondra thought while treating her next patient as fast as she could. 'You can't improvise spells, which means she is using first magic. Covering an area that big while keeping such fine control over the pulses must put an immense burden on her body.'
Yondra was right. Unlike Awakened ones, fake makes were unable to stimulate their cores to produce more mana without the help of magic words and hand signs. Even producing the effects of a tier one spells with first magic would endanger their lives.
In the meantime, Phloria had never felt so helpless. The sword and spells she had practiced so hard were useless against the monstrous fungus, especially now that it held Lith inside its clutches.
Chapter 647 All are One Part 3
'I can't use fire unless I want to repeat Calil's mistake. Earth would only squash Lith, the same applies to darkness. I'm no Healer so I can't help the infected. What are the elements I can safely work with? Air and water.' Phloria thought.
A sudden idea popped up inside her head. It was dangerous and likely to backfire, but Phloria had learned from her father that she had to fight with the options she had, not those she might want.
Regretting to have never learned a single tier four War Mage spell, she unleashed a barrage of the tier thee spell, Frostbite. Fake mages couldn't amplify the strength of a spell below tier five at will, so Phloria had to compensate for the lack of quality with speed and quantity.
A frozen wave after another struck the mass of living spores surrounding Lith, limiting their movements and making those closing in to replace the mass lost due to Lith's dark aura fall to the ground.
The fungal cage became thinner by the second as its external layers were frozen and the internal layers were sucked dry by darkness magic. Lith managed to escape by releasing a sudden burst of his aura that scattered the creature's remains away while Phloria's unrelenting barrage of spells prevented the spores from taking a physical form again.
"Why you didn't do that earlier?" Lith asked while flying to her side.
"Because I was afraid that something like that would happen!" The moment she stopped casting to catch her breath, the spores broke out of the ice and started to multiply at a terrifying rate.
"If something that size lived for so long and kept such a huge mass, then the Odi must have left it plenty of food. Food plus lots of water…."
"Make the problem even bigger." Lith completed the phrase for her.
'So she was aware of the risks and yet she used water anyway. How can she still trust me so much that she bet her life on me finding a way to beat this thing?' Lith thought.
'Maybe it's not just trust. Maybe she wasn't willing to abandon you. Feelings don't fade just because we want them to.' Solus hated it when Lith was so dense, but being cynical also made him blind to the most obvious and cheesy answers.
'I hate to ask you for this after all the troubles we had to escape from that living prison, but I need you to get back in the belly of the beast. Metaphorically, of course. I can't find anything from here, so if you are right, the corrupted spores are in some place deeper inside Kulah.
'It would explain why the creature didn't attack as soon as the door was opened. Probably if its consciousness gets too far from the corruption, the mind link might be broken. It had to wait for us to be in position.'
Lith mind whimpered before saying:
"Thanks for your help, Phloria. Also, please don't get mad at me!" Then he seemingly threw in the gutter all of her efforts by charging at full speed against the spore cloud that was now so big that it covered the entire Kulah from her sight.
'I really hope Lith does have a plan. Otherwise that creature will have to get in line to kill him, because I call dibs.' Phloria thought as she was now left alone against a raging storm of deadly spores.
Only half the creature was following Lith. The remaining half was determined on crossing the entrance and dealing the finishing blow to the crippled expedition team. Then, it would have all the time to focus on the last invader standing.
'Well, at least protecting is what I do best.' Phloria activated her tier five Mage Knight spell, Death Bastion. It conjured a stone wall infused with darkness magic that quickly replaced the opened door, sealing Kulah's entrance.
The spores tried to seep through the crevices in the newly formed rock, but darkness magic killed them faster than they could advance. Then, the creature tried to overpower Phloria's control with its own earth magic, but tier five magic allowed her to infuse her will inside her spell.
On top of that, darkness magic wouldn't make a distinction between the spores and their mana. It devoured them both, giving Phloria an edge in the willpower tug of war for the control of the earth surrounding the city gate.
On the other side of the gate, Lith moved as fast as a bullet, using waves of dark energy to force the enemy to open a path for him. At the same time, he canceled some of the spells he had at the ready and started weaving new ones that were better suited to handle his current situation.
'This plan sucks so badly for so many reasons.' Lith thought. 'The Odi should have ordered the creature to protect the container holding the corrupted spores. The closer I get, the more focused on me the creature will become.
'If on one hand it will help me to understand how close I am from my destination, on the other hand, it's also likely that once I become its only mark, things will get even more difficult.'
Lith flew above Kulah's blue buildings, but kept himself away from the ceiling. The fungal creature had already proved to be able to manipulate earth and the fight was already unfair as it was.
Tidal waves of spores were surrounding Lith from all sides. They couldn't keep up with his speed but they had no need to. The creature was slowly collecting all of its mass, sealing all the possible way outs with living walls made of spores mixed with earth.
Each one of the walls was at least 2 meters (6.6 feet) thick and kept expanding by the second. Their hardness was also increasing, making them able to withstand most tier three spells without effort.
The creature had spent centuries trapped inside Kulah, with nothing to do but eat, multiply, and develop its skills.
'Found it!' Solus said. 'Same energy signature but stuck below the ground. In front of the third building on your left.'
The moment Lith came 100 meters (330 feet) close to the container, the defense order took priority. The entirety of the creature moved against Lith, giving Phloria and the Healers the respite they so desperately needed.
Even the spores infecting the expedition members willingly abandoned their victims and tried to reunite with the main body. Unfortunately for them, the moment they were far enough from the humans, Phloria, Quylla, Yondra, and Morok shot a darkness pulse that wiped them out from the face of Mogar.
Quylla collapsed as soon as she made sure that her patients were alive, not a second sooner. Yondra cursed at her old age. She had not much stamina left and Quylla was not faring any better than the victims of the spores.
Morok was whistling, he had done his part so he could pretend to be exhausted and wash his hands of the rest.
In the meantime, Lith had just landed on the spot Solus had identified. He conjured his tier five spell, Setting Sun. It generated a globe made of darkness imbued flames around him to act as his last stand.
"I'll stall for time, you take care of the container." He said.
Solus glove detached from Lith's arm, using Invigoration to make sure there weren't hidden traps or arrays while Lith filled the space of 10 meters (33 feet) around himself with black flames.
His own magic couldn't harm him nor Solus, whereas it would incinerate the fungal creature as if it was paper thrown into the fire.
Chapter 648 All are One Part 4
Lith's problem was that if you toss enough paper at once, it can end up smothering the flames.
'Fuck me sideways. I wish I had added the air element to the mix. A tornado of black flames would be much harder to overpower.' Lith thought while looking at the incoming avalanche.
'Again, only hindsight is 100% correct.' Solus replied. 'Plus, making two elements coexist is already hard. If there was a third one, you would be complaining about not having enough mana to maintain it active for long.'
As she had feared, the container was protected by several arrays. They were layered one upon the other, to force the enemy to waste their time deactivating them one by one.
It was a perfect plan since with the fungal creature on a rampage, Lith and Solus didn't have more than a few seconds at their disposal. Even an Invigorated Setting Sun could only hold for so long.
"I really hope you Odi are all dead, otherwise I'm going to kill you!" Lith said while making the black flames so tightly packed that they almost became solid. The first tidal wave of spore was turned into ash on impact, but the second one managed to penetrate the barrier, and the third went deeper.
Tons of spores were crashing on him non-stop from every direction, Lith was too focused on slowing their advance to keep his breathing rhythm. Invigoration had been sealed by the simple raw power of the creature's onslaught.
'Did they really devise this strategy to fight Awakened ones?' Lith thought while the enemy was seconds away from eating his face.
'Nah. You know the Odi. Too arrogant to admit that the devil is in the details.' Solus said as the arrays collapsed in unison, allowing her to destroy the corrupted spores. The moment the creature was freed from the mind control spell, it stopped its attack.
After that, most of the cloud died, leaving only enough spores to form a humanoid figure that creepily resembled Lith down to the smallest details. He had no idea it was the creature's way to show respect toward a member of another race.
< "Thanks, human. Even though we doubt that freeing us was your real purpose, we can't argue with results nor justify our attempts to end your life."> The creature said. Unfortunately, Lith couldn't understand the beasts' language, let alone mycetes'.
He used that moment of respite to rekindle Setting Sun back to its full power.
< "You have no idea of the pain we endured. Centuries of slavery spent having our mind violated every day and forced to increase our numbers despite the pain having our consciousness split between such a big colony inflicted to us. We'll hinder you no more. May the Great Mother bless you.">
The Lith-looking creature beckoned with its hand and a small ring floated in the space between them.
< "We don't know if it's powerful or not. Its magic comes from the accursed Odi and it's useless to us. We pray it will aid you in your journey. Please, forgive us."> The creature gave him a deep bow before bolting away.
Only when Solus and Life Vision confirmed Lith that there were no more spores did he lower his spell.
'Okay. First of all, how the heck did you crack so many arrays that fast?' He asked while using spirit magic to lift the ring before studying it with Life Vision. Lith had no idea what it was, but he could recognize blue glowing runes when he saw them.
'It was actually an incredibly menial task. What do so many powerful arrays need to work?' She asked while studying the ring with her mana sense. Its pseudo core wasn't very complex and the gem on top of it was just green.
It made both Lith and Solus very happy.
'A lot of mana. So?' Lith replied.
'Do you see mana crystals around here?'
'No. Wait, don't tell me that…' Lith couldn't believe that an entire race could be so shrewd and yet so idiotic.
'Bingo! I just cut the mana crystal cable that supplied the arrays with the world energy from the mana geyser and they dissipated. Easy as flipping a switch.' Solus wrapped herself around Lith's arm before returning to her ring form.
'Morons. As for the gift the creature left us, it's must be a trinket someone lost and never bothered picking it up. Which is awesome. It might as well be our Rosetta Stone for studying runes.' Lith thought, putting the ring inside his pocket dimension.
Lith had already returned to his peak condition thanks to Invigoration. He flew back to Kulah's gates, to check on Phloria and Quylla. Maybe on Yondra too. The rest of the expedition might as well die for what he cared.
"It's me. Let me out, the creature is gone and the area is safe." Lith said once he reached the Death Bastion.
"What's my mother's name?" Phloria asked. She wasn't leaving their lives up to chance. For what she knew, someone or something might have been imitating Lith's voice.
"Jirni. Your father is Orion and your dog Lucky. In name and in fact."
Phloria dispelled Death Bastion, giving Lith a solid punch in the stomach right before hugging him with enough strength to squeeze out the little air left in his lungs.
"Thank the gods you are alright. You almost scared me to death. Again!" She quickly searched his body for injuries and when she found none she said:
"Please, help Quylla. She's not getting better." Phloria had no idea how he could still be so energetic and couldn't care less. Calil was dead and many others were on the brink of death, Quylla included.
Yondra was deathly pale, her breathing was irregular and she had barely enough life force to remain conscious. Morok was black, blue, and pale as well. Once the creature had ceased its attack, Phloria had 'politely' demanded that he pulled his weight.
Lith first checked on Quylla. Her life force was so faint that it couldn't hold her mana core together. It was still intact, but her body was already past the point of recovery. Unless one could use Invigoration, of course.
Lith had her drink a tonic and gave enough life force to fill two bulls. Only then did her condition stabilise and her skin turn from pale to pink. Lith then gave a bit of life force to Yondra before moving onto the others.
Phloria's soldiers and the rest of the assistants were just unconscious. The proper treatments and Quylla's care had prevented them from dying on the spot but unlike them, the Professors weren't so young anymore.
"They all need life force and I've not enough for all of them. I can save one, maybe two, but the rest is up to their luck and constitution." Saving them all would have meant revealing his secret. Lith wasn't willing to put at risk his entire life work for a bunch of self-entitled strangers.
"Use mine." Phloria offered him her hand which he promptly examined.
"That makes two more tops. Which means that one or two of them have to die. Make your decision, Captain." In that moment, he wasn't speaking as her friend but as her field Healer.
Phloria didn't think twice about her answer and she hated herself for it.
"Save those who are more likely to survive. It's pointless to waste life force on those who might die even after getting treated."
On the battlefield, terrible words had been invented. "Resource management", "collateral damage", "rules of engagement", they were all fancy terms to describe the forms of murder that the human society considered acceptable.
Chapter 649 Tough Calls Part 1
Lith didn't play favorites and obeyed his orders. Professor Gaakhu was his first choice being the youngest among her peers and the language expert. Then came Professor Neshal. Her condition was as bad as the others', but she was the only Master Warden in the group so Lith presumed he might still need her help.
After saving them, Lith had enough strength to save only one Professor. His choice was between Professor Ellkas from the Fire Griffon, the one who was better at deciphering the Odi language, and Professor Syndra, who was a War Mage.
The Odi's protections were all heavyweight and Syndra could kill dozens of enemies with a single spell. Professor Phesta from the White Griffon was the most useless member of the team.
Aside from a historian she was also a Master Alchemist and a Mage Knight. The former was inconsequential for the expedition and the latter was ruined by his old age.
"This is up to you, Phloria. Both of them can be useful in their own way and their survival rate is identical." Lith said. He was panting and his breathing was irregular. Using so many times tier four healing magic without Invigoration was truly exhausting.
'Thank the gods Quylla is still unconscious. She would cry her eyes out knowing the old, meek Phesta is going to die.' Phloria thought.
She wasn't faring any better than Lith. It was her life force he was using now, and even after drinking a tonic and eating some food, she still needed rest to recover.
"Is it impossible to save them both?" She asked. Lith shook his head in reply.
"Then save Ellkas. So far, all the threats we faced required more brain than brawns, not to mention that Syndra's contribution to the expedition has less significance compared to Ellkas'."
When Lith was done, both Phloria and he were on the verge of fainting.
"Why didn't you ask Morok to contribute?" He asked, glad that Solus was able to keep watch and that it would only take him a few breathes to recover in case something else happened.
"Because he is already tired from all the healing he performed. We need at least one person able to stand guard while we rest." Phloria fell asleep the moment she finished her explanation.
Lith followed her lead after using Invigoration to restore half of his strength, just to be safe. Luckily, the arrays were all still standing since Professor Neshal was alive and well. Morok's guard duty was hellish due to his fatigue but relatively safe.
When Lith woke up, bad news was waiting for the survivors of the expedition team. Professors Phesta and Syndra were dead and so was Nilla, Professor Gaakhu's assistant. Many tears were being shed, either due to shock or for the loss of precious friends.
The Professors had known each other for years and even if they were rivals, they still respected their competition. On top of that, seeing a veteran mage die that easily filled their hearts with the fear of being the next one to fall.
Rainer was crying like a lamb sent to slaughter.
"The easiest expedition my ass! We're dying like flies. Professor Yondra, please, I want to go home."
"Field work is bound to be unpredictable, son. We came searching for ruins and we found a military compound. No one could have predicted this outcome, otherwise the team would have been assembled very differently.
"It was Calil's naivety that brought this disaster upon himself and us as well." She replied, bursting into a violent cough she was unable to repress. To save her beloved assistant, the old Professor had given her all and some more.
Rainer regained his cool, performing on his mentor a quick diagnostic spell.
"Oh gods, Professor Yondra, what have you done? Don't speak, you need to rest." He forced her to lie down. Despite her protests, Yondra was now weaker than a child and unable to get up without help.
Thinking about his previous words, Rainer felt like an egotistical prick. He went in search of a Healer while cursing himself for his helplessness. Quylla was still asleep, the Professors were still weakened, leaving only Morok or Lith as a possible choice.
'Professor Yondra and Ranger Verhen are in a good relationship. He should be willing to help.' Rainer thought. The youth was shocked seeing the Ranger's appearance.
Phloria and Morok had suffered no damage as well, but even after eight hours they still bore the signs of exhaustion. Phloria was slightly pale and had bags under her eyes despite having plenty of sleep.
Lith, instead, looked like someone who had just arrived there after a relaxing vacation.
"How is this possible? You have fought that thing, healed people, and yet you look amazing."
"Do you have a reason to disturb me or are you just hitting on me?" Lith had relieved Morok from guard duty for a while, to allow his fellow Ranger to get some sleep.
Rainer inwardly cursed and explained to him how dire Yondra's condition was. Lith wouldn't have believed a single word if not for the honest fear he could see in Rainer's eyes.
"It's impossible. I personally checked on her before going to sleep, but taking a second look can't hurt. You stay here and if any of the traps I set up make a single noise, scream."
Rainer nodded, staring at the tunnels in front of him as they were the open maws of as many beasts, ready to release unknown horrors upon him. He was scared of them, but he was terrified at the idea of losing the closest thing to a family he had ever had, so he calmed his heart and kept an ear to the ground.
Lith discovered that Yondra's condition was actually worse than Rainer had described. Her life force was such a mess that he needed to use his tier five Scanner and Chisel spells to stabilize her.
The moment he was done, she opened her eyes abruptly.
"What the heck did you do to damage yourself that badly?" Lith asked.
"I simply did what was necessary. Rainer and the other Assistants needed help. If it wasn't for this old body, the poor Nilla would still be alive. I collapsed before treating her." Yondra sighed.
"That was stupid of you, it almost cost you your life."
"Nilla was barely twenty! She has- had all her life in front of her whereas I squandered mine. I spent so much time researching magic that I almost lost my family more than once. My children may recognize my face, but they don't know me at all."
Her voice was filled with regret while her eyes looked past Lith, staring at visions of all her past mistakes. Yondra now regretted many things and wished she had made different choices in her life.
"That's why I want to retire and why I approached you. I want someone to relieve me of the burden of my magical legacy. Most of all, I know you can use rejuvenation magic. Please, give me back my strength! I beg of you.
"I can't keep living like a helpless fool, incapable of protecting even what she holds dear the most!"
Yondra looked at Lith's face, finding sympathy, compassion, and more. She felt like she was staring into the eyes of an ancient creature, something whose feelings were smothered by the dust of centuries and too many still open wounds.
Chapter 650 Tough Calls Part 2
"I can do that, even now." He said, yet Yondra was unable to rejoice at those words. There was no warmth in them. "My price is steep, though."
"As long as it doesn't involve high treason or murder, I'm willing to pay. Be it in gold or artifacts, I don't care. They would be part of my legacy anyway." She replied.
Lith was actually more interested in her knowledge. Yondra was a Royal Forgemaster and a leading figure among historians. She could help him deciphering the mysteries of Huryole.
'If only I could trust her, I'd take both the runed sword and the booklet out of my pocket dimension right now. First, I'll make her indebted to me, then I'll find a way to put her to the test.
'Maybe I could pretend to find a page of the booklet inside Kulah and study her reaction.'
Lith kept planning his next moves while rejuvenating Yondra's body. Rejuvenating magic was Healing magic capable of detecting and fixing all the marks that the passage of time inflicted on the human body.
On paper it was something simple, but officially there were only four mages capable of performing it in the entire Griffon Kingdom. Professors Manohar, Vastor, Marth, and of course, Lith.
He realigned Yondra's spine and bones while also fixing her muscles. Healing magic was no miracle, it simply sped up the natural healing process. A broken bone would still present traces of being fractured after being healed, scar tissues would be formed after an internal injury.
Rejuvenating magic was the only thing that could rebuild rather than repair an injured body, even returning worn cartilages to their mint condition. Lith did all he could, but was forced to stop halfway through.
"The damage you have inflicted to your life force needs time to heal. If I proceed any further, it would do you more harm than good." He said.
Yondra nodded. She felt terribly fatigued and even though she had just woken up, the only thing the old Professor wanted was to fall asleep again. Yet she could already feel different, as if a weight had been removed from her shoulders and another from her chest.
Breathing was much easier and none of her joints bothered her, no matter the position she took.
"It doesn't matter, we can always resume later. I feel like I'm twenty years younger." Yondra said before losing consciousness. Lith placed his hand over her shoulder, checking her life force.
That was the real source of a human's life span. He had treated Nana countless times with rejuvenating magic, allowing her to spend her last years free from all the symptoms of old age, yet death had come for her anyway.
'She got this close to shorten her lifespan just to help those useless brats and so did Quylla. Sometimes I wonder why I even bother saving this kind of people over and over.' Lith thought, yet the resemblance between the Professor and his old mentor led his hand to sweep her hair away from her face, to let her breathe better.
'For the same reason you protected Carl from your father when he became his favourite target. Or when you choose to take care of Tista's illness. You could have always taken the easy way out and only cared about yourself.' Solus said.
'Yet how would you feel if Quylla died? If any of those few people you let into your life disappeared and you didn't do anything to prevent it?'
Lith knew the answer all too well. He remembered how he felt after his brother's death. Lith/Derek was Carl's only beneficiary, so between the inheritance and the money Derek had accumulated for his brother's college and wedding, he had so much money he had no idea what to do with them.
Yet all he had been left with was an empty life, dragging his feet forward just waiting for death well before he discovered to have lung cancer. It was how the void inside of him had been born and Yurial's death had only made it bigger, just like Nana's.
Still upset from Solus's words, Lith returned in front of the tunnels.
To Rainer, Lith said: "Yondra is okay now, she just needs to rest. Send the other Professors to me the moment they wake up. They need to know what kind of monsters we are about to face."
The youth thanked him many times, giving Lith such deep bows that his head almost touched the ground. Yet Lith didn't care. His gaze was fixated onto the caves, praying for something to attack him and provide him the opportunity to vent his rage.
Thinking about all those he had lost during his lives, Lith had finally realized how close he had come to losing Quylla as well. His hatred the Odi, for what they had done to the fungus creature, was beyond what words could express. With their actions, they had messed with what he could only think of as his turf.
The hours passed and nothing happened. The few creatures that stumbled in the vicinity of the camp ran away as soon as they perceived his murderous intent targeting them.
Phloria went to keep him company as soon as she was certain that Quylla was out of danger and that nothing had happened to the soldiers she had tasked with guarding Kulah's gate.
"It seems I'll have to learn Healing Magic as well. Now I understand why Dad says that a good mage must never stop learning and why my mother is so happy not being a mage." She sighed.
"Tier five is really an edge case. Unless one wants to become a professional Healer, but yes, I agree. You should learn at least tier four. Regrowing limbs and sharing life force is much more important than one could think." Lith offered her a few sweets from his pocket dimension along with a cup of hot tea.
"By the way, thanks for saving Quylla. I don't know how you did it, since according to both Yondra and Morok she was on the brink of death." She said with a casual tone, never stopping to look in his eyes.
"Thanks for the heads up." Lith nodded, thinking about a plausible explanation for his feat.
"Yeah. Consider that it's amazing how you managed to help her and the others even after an all out battle against such a powerful creature." There was no curiosity in her voice, only worry.
Phloria had given up on Lith explaining her how he performed his "miracles", she just wanted him to be aware of what the rest of the expedition knew about the most recent events.
Sure, Yondra seemed a nice woman and Morok seemed indifferent to anything that didn't involve him directly, but she had learned how deceiving appearances could be. There were few people whom Phloria really trusted, and still fewer of whom she thought well.
Lith was one of them and she hoped that one day he would feel the same about her.
"It wasn't as hard as you might think." Lith lied with such grace that Phloria almost fell for it. Unfortunately, almost wasn't enough, dealing another blow to her feelings.
Lith explained to her how the creature had been enslaved and that instead of defeating it, he had just set it free.
"The Odi really were shameless in their use of forbidden magic." After what had happened to Yurial, Phloria had a bone to pick against anyone who used slave items almost as big as Lith's.
Chapter 651 A Threat from the Past Part 1
"I think we should contact our commanding officer." Phloria said. "As a person, I just want to run away from this nightmarish place. As a soldier, however, I think we should at least make sure that by opening Kulah's gates we haven't unleashed some ancient horror upon the Griffon Kingdom."
Lith nodded. He really hoped to receive the order to retreat. In the case that happened, he would only need to have Solus's to assume her tower form above the mana geyser once to be able to return there anytime he wanted.
'If it works.' Solus said. 'The ground has been enchanted to not be affected by earth magic and even if the mana geyser has not been claimed, most of its energy is drained by Kulah.
'There might not be enough world energy left to assume my tower form, let alone to perform a Warp.'
Phloria took her army amulet out of her dimensional amulet and tried to contact the headquarters. Unlike a civilian device, the army communication amulet had green mana crystals supporting the blue one and amplifying its signal.
Yet all the runes carved on its surface were inactive. She had to infuse it with her own mana to have even the emergency rune to lit up.
"Dammit, I don't know the reason but now the signal sucks. Give me a hand, please. I can't speak and focus so much all at once."
With Lith's help, the hologram of commander Berion soon appeared between them. Phloria reported to him everything that had happened and the losses they had suffered.
"Dammit! You should have called me the moment you realized it was a military compound! Your expedition isn't suited for that kind of recon. Historians are a must, but you need many more Master Forgemasters and Wardens." Berion slammed his fist against his desk.
Lith had never seen him angry, not even during the events of Othre. Once he looked more carefully, Lith could notice that he stood corrected. The Commander was worried, not angry.
"With all due respect, sir, the creature attacked the moment we stepped inside Kulah, despite not even it being provoked. There is no telling that even if we didn't enter the premises it wouldn't have attacked us the moment we lowered our guard.
"It was controlled by a slave item, so despite its will was restricted, it was far from a mindless creature. Also, I think that your first order would have been to assess the danger the compound poses to the Kingdom." Phloria replied.
"You are right." Berion sighed. "Those Odi were cunning. If you didn't destroy the arrays, they would have killed you as soon as the door was opened, whereas removing the arrays let that fungus thing free to murder you on the first occasion it got.
"Normally I would order you to get out of there and wait for reinforcements, but we have no idea what other contingency measures the Odi might have set in place. On top of that, now that the gates of Kulah are open, we can't risk that someone coming from the tunnels might trigger the gods know what traps or steal the Odi's secrets.
"Even worse, something could follow you to the surface, and if the fights break out inside the mines, our losses would be incalculable. For now, your task is to guard the compound and make sure that nothing gets in or out of it.
"I'll inform you as soon as the Royals make their decision. This is too big, even for me to decide alone. Over and out."
The moment the conversation was over, Phloria put her amulet back inside her dimensional item and conjured a Hush zone to prevent being heard.
"At least now we have our orders. Can you see something out of the ordinary in the tunnels?" She asked.
Lith's eyes flared up with Life Vision and then he looked around before replying:
"Nothing, but it doesn't mean much. When the Teks attacked, I had no notice of it until it was too late and I can't see inside Kulah's buildings due to the arrays surrounding them."
"Ugh, I hoped to receive some good news." Phloria said. "Quylla mentioned how the Odi used slaves and golems to do their scut work. Unless they managed to imprison another eternal being, we are bound to face golems.
"Being Kulah a military compound, there must be a lot of them, and all armed to the teeth. Can Life Vision see them or are they invisible to it?"
"They have no life force, but I can see their mana flow so I should be able to warn you in time. Unless they pull some stunt like the Tek, of course." Lith replied.
By the time the remaining members of the expedition team woke up, it was already noon. Old age was an unbeatable enemy and some of the Professors had suffered great damage, forcing them to rest for more than a day.
Quylla and Morok were surprisingly energetic. They showed no sign of fatigue and they both ate for two people. Yondra still looked exhausted, but her movements were now lighter and nimbler than before.
After Phloria brought everyone up to speed, explaining to them what had happened after they had lost consciousness, Professor Gaakhu, the expedition leader, took a few deep breaths to calm down before saying:
"As much as it pains me to admit it, Berion is right. This team is ill suited to explore such a historical marvel like Kulah appears to be."
At the word "marvel" the Professors who were still grieving needed sheer willpower to not strangle her, and so did the surviving Assistants. Yet everyone gritted their teeth and let her continue.
"Our team is still powerful, but us Professor lack the stamina and speed necessary to be truly useful. Our Assistants' inexperience is a liability, Calil almost doomed as all. To make matters worse, the Odi were truly cunning.
"In all of my years of experience, I've never faced arrays with so many layers of traps, nor creatures that powerful. I'm not going to lie, I proved to be a liability as well. If we preserved the arrays as I wanted, they would have killed us. Even if somehow we survived, I don't think I would have been able to beat that magical beast.
"I still don't understand how Ranger Verhen defeated it, but I can say that if that fungus had been on the level of an Emperor Beast, we wouldn't be having this conversation."
Everyone nodded to those words, Lith included. He had faced only a non Awakened Emperor Beast in the past, and even then he had needed help to beat him.
Now he was much stronger and better equipped, but after facing the sentient fungus, he realized that it wasn't only a matter of how powerful the opponent was, but also of how long the creature had to prepare the terrain for the fight.
The spores would have been a much easier opponent if they hadn't spent centuries multiplying.
Lith then explained to the rest of the group how he had survived the encounter.
"Gods, the Odi are almost embarrassing in their hubris." Gaakhu said when she heard about the cable fueling the arrays.
"Once again it would be a groundbreaking discovery, if not for its fatal weak point. If they applied the same method for sealing the buildings, getting inside will be the easy part, whereas facing what's waiting for us might cost us our lives."
Chapter 652 A Threat from the Past Part 2
"By the way, how did you find the container and how did you discover the cable?" Gaakhu asked.
Lith had already prepared an explanation and after speaking with Phloria, he had made it even simpler to justify his measly expenditure of mana.
"Thanks to Captain Ernas I had the time to prepare a Life Sensing array. Once I spotted the container, I got there too fast for the creature to follow me. I had enough time to notice that the arrays needed a power source and I did what anyone in my situation would have done.
"I struck at everything that stuck out."
"Well done. A good mix of wisdom and luck is exactly what we need to survive." Gaakhu said.
"Survive? Do you think the army will not allow us to leave?" Rainer asked, causing most of those present to sigh at his naivety.
"Of course not. We opened a can of worms and we are the only ones that can take care of it before the worst happens." Yondra said while patting his shoulder to reassure him.
"Now, since it's only a matter of time before going back inside Kulah, I'll tell you all I know about the Odi's technology and my colleagues will do the same."
Yondra explained to them the kinds of golems previous expeditions had faced and how to defeat them, going into details to the point of sharing even what Forgemasters considered secrets of their trade.
No one missed it wasn't an act of generosity so much as of desperation. Gaakhu and Ellkas prepared for everyone a list of common Odi words they had to watch out for and the secret signs used to mark dangerous zones.
By the time the seminar was over, it was already evening and everyone had quite a headache from the cramming.
"Oh gods, we're idiots." Phloria said. "Berion can't contact us if we don't boost the signal on our end." As predicted, the Commander had been waiting for them for hours, even starting to fear that the expedition had been wiped out.
His orders were predictable as well. Their mission was now to search Kulah with the utmost caution and leave only after making sure to not leave behind anything that could endanger the Kingdom.
"Sadly, sending reinforcements is nigh impossible. Because of the interference, we can't pinpoint your coordinates, and even if we could, the interference would make it impossible to open a Warp Gate.
"I can only wish you good luck and hope you find only constructs and corpses down there."
"I'd have a request, sir." Lith said. "Could you please tell my family I'm alright? They don't hear from me since the communications have been sealed. They must be worried sick."
Berion nodded, expecting the others to ask for the same, yet only an awkward silence ensued.
'Good gods, what a bunch of no lifers! Now I really feel the need to tell my wife and kids I love them.' The Commander thought before hanging up the call.
"I envy you." Yondra said. "Even if I went missing for a year, nobody would care."
"I would." Rainer's tone was hurt.
"No, you wouldn't. Because you're always with me. You're the only real family I've left."
"Well then! It's already late, so I'd say we can start our exploration tomorrow first thing in the morning." Professor Gaakhu was eager to change the subject. Her career had been as successful as her personal life was empty.
"We'll split into two teams, each one comprised of a Ranger, since they are our heavy hitters, a Warden, and a Forgemaster. Do you agree, Captain Ernas?"
Phloria nodded and after organizing guard duty, everyone went to sleep. They had a lot to do in the morning.
***
Duchy of Laroxya, Crystal Mines, that same morning.
Ten days had passed since the expedition team had left the mines and the goblin-Abomination hybrid named Korgh had managed to safely resume her routine. The mines were now under heavy surveillance, but she didn't mind.
Her dimensional magic combined with her ability to manipulate light made her invisible even to Awakened ones, fake mages had no chance of finding her. The fight with the two Rangers had been a blessing in disguise.
After almost dying due to having her goblin side heavily injured, her evolution had resumed at an astounding rate. The flesh and Chaos energy which comprised her body were two separate entities no more.
They had finally started to merge together, creating something new and completely unprecedented. Thanks to the goblin's unbridled vitality and the long incubation period while being constantly overfed by mana crystals, Korgh's new body was now able to withstand the Chaos.
Puppeteer Abominations needed to find new host bodies once the one they occupied was corroded, while Eldritch Abominations' bodies were made of pure Chaos energy. It made them almost indestructible, but at the same time, it crippled their daily life.
To prevent their energy from killing or destroying everything they touched, a lot of willpower was needed. To add insult to injury, it also required to consume part of the energy they had accumulated.
Even if they could take human appearance, they couldn't keep such form for long without causing a massacre, either to feed or because they failed to control the raw energy their bodies were comprised of.
For the same reason, things like Forgemastering, Alchemy, and all creative jobs were much harder for them than for humans. Korgh's body instead was, for the lack of a better term, normal.
She could freely touch things and, unlike all of her fellow Abominations, Chaos energy didn't seep out whenever she became distracted. It was a perfect shell that decreased her energy consumption and in turn her need to feed, leaving her lots of mana to spare for her magic.
'Who would have thought that being injured was the key to my evolution? Goblin tissues have repaired my Abomination side while Chaos energy strengthened my damaged flesh. Soon all of my Forgemastery skills will become more than nostalgia!
'Fuck Korgh! I'll be once again known as Bytra, the Forge Goddess. I bet that if my so called "original" learned the truth, the envy would give her a stroke.' Bytra thought.
'You're damn right. Unluckily for you, I've no veins anymore.' An all too familiar voice resounded in her head.
Bytra turned around, watching her double standing in front of her.
'Don't try to escape. I might not have Life Vision anymore, but I can track my own energy signature when we are close. Not running away after your existence was revealed to the public is the last mistake you'll ever make.' Korgh thought.
Her clawed hands were filled with Chaos mana, ready to be unleashed. Unlike the hybrid, she had all the time to prepare for their meeting.
Back when she was still an Emperor Beast, Korgh had been a Raiju, the evolution of a Cyr (horse type magical beast) whose powers were based on the light and air element. Their appearance was that of a Chinese dragon fused with a warhorse.
The resulting creature had silver white scales covering their horse body, with large branching horns over their head, long whiskers, a thick silver mane, and a long, scaled dragonic tail.
Korgh's Abomination body was humanoid and covered by black small scales. The small horns on her head and her hair dancing in the air despite the complete lack of wind in the cave were the only vestigial remnants of her old self.
Chapter 653 Fall of the Mighty Part 1
Bytra Blinked away, immediately followed by Korgh. No matter the direction she took, her double would follow her without fail. Soon both of them were outside the mines, in a secluded space away from prying eyes.
'Something is wrong.' Korgh thought. 'After Blinking so many times, even I feel tired. How can a hybrid have such strength? Also, why did she left the mines? I couldn't use powerful spells there without the risk of killing us both.
'Even if she's just half as smart as I am, she can't have given me this advantage for no reason.'
'You bet I didn't!' Bytra replied, shocking her double. Korgh couldn't believe that a mere copy had developed a willpower so strong that she could easily invade Korgh's mind.
An enormous array, over 100 meters (330 feet) large surrounded them as Bytra assumed the perfect form of a Raiju. Korgh could clearly feel that her clone didn't just shapeshift, that was an exact copy of their original body.
The only difference was that its scales were black and its eyes yellow instead of being respectively silver and red.
Korgh unleashed the tier five Chaos spell, Flood Storm, only to see the Chaos magic revert to its darkness version because of the array. Bytra didn't miss the opening. She dodged all the darkness bullets as if they were still and pierced Korgh's chest with her horns, ripping it to shreds.
Korgh screamed in pain realizing she had fallen into a trap. Not only did the light-based array made Chaos magic useless, but it also made the light element seep inside everything within the premises of the formation.
Because of that, the light element was constantly assaulting her Chaos made body, turning it into darkness energy as well. The light magic flooding through her open wound was like poison, sapping her strength at an alarming rate.
Each chunk of flesh was actually highly compressed Chaos energy that once lost couldn't be recovered due to Bytra's energy signature infecting Korgh's. Unlike Scarlett the Scorpicore, Bytra knew all the secrets of Chaos magic and its fatal weaknesses as well.
Bytra, on the other hand, was unaffected by the array. Her body was physical, hence the light element was a source of nourishment for her.
'Fuck! All the spells I had prepared are now useless. If this keeps up like this, I'll be the one devoured!' Korgh thought as the Raiju tore her apart limb from limb, with such speed and ferocity that she had no time to cast a single spell.
It had taken Bytra a lot of time and effort to steal enough crystals from the mines to support her Reversal array, but it had been worth it.
The more of her original' memories and wisdom she recovered, the more the psychic bond between them grew stronger. She knew it was only a matter of time before the Eldritch who had spawned her would hunt her down.
Bytra could already taste the enormous amount of energy she would obtain by consuming her double. Enough to maybe even satiate the hunger that tormented her ever since the day she had turned into an Abomination.
Suddenly, the ground trembled and the earth below the two sworn enemies turned into a hand the size of a cruise ship, crushing both the array and Bytra under its grip.
"I told you not to underestimate a hybrid. We've already lost several Eldritchs due to their conceit." Xenagrosh said, using her Mother Earth glove to trap her prey.
Not only did it allow her to dominate the earth element, but it also distorted the elemental balance so much that it made it impossible to use dimensional magic.
After consuming her Troll double, Xenagrosh had become able to recover her human body. She looked like a woman in her mid-twenties, around 1.6 meters (5'3") tall wearing an ample cream-colored magician robe.
Her looks were kind of plain. She had light brown hair with black streaks and youthful chestnut eyes that contrasted with the ancient wisdom of her gaze.
"How long have you been there?" Korgh asked. Only her head and part of her chest remained. It would take her months to recover from her injuries without committing genocide.
"From the beginning."
"Then why didn't you do anything?" Korgh's voice was full of anger and spite.
"To teach you a lesson I hope you will in turn teach other Eldritchs. Never underestimate an opponent. You knew your clone was bound to have recovered most of your memories, yet you charged in blindly. That was beyond stupid."
"Please, let me go." Bytra said. "Original or clone, I don't care. I just want to live. I promise that if you spare my life, you'll never hear again from me."
"Beg all you want, your destiny is sealed. There's only room for one Korgh on the entire Mogar." Korgh replied.
"Then you can be Korgh and I can be Bytra! I'm tired of hiding and fighting. I want to use my hammer and Forgemaster again. I don't want to be defined by my hunger any more."
"Bytra is a name I relinquished, but it's still mine." Korgh said, regrowing her limbs so that she could stand up. "You own nothing and you deserve nothing. Once I'm done with you, I'll become strong enough to devour anyone who dares to stand in my path."
"What?" Xenagrosh was flabbergasted. "What about your title of Ruler of the Flames? What about your herd? You could finally meet other Raijus again after centuries of isolation, and all you can think of is something meaningless as preying on the weak?"
"Who needs a herd when you can have power? What use can have wasting time to Forgemaster artifacts when I can simply take them from the hands of my fallen enemies?" Korgh said with a mad grin on her face, showing many rows of shark-like teeth.
"As for my title, do not worry. I will cleanse Mogar in a Forge of Chaos!"
"I changed my mind. Feel free to eat her." Xenagrosh opened her hand and freed Bytra from her stone prison.
"What?" Both the original and the clone asked in unison.
"I told you to not underestimate your opponent, in this case, me. The cause has no use for a power-hungry fool. Neither I nor the Master have ever aimed for Mogar's destruction.
"The Master just wants to make the human race better, whereas I'm content with breaking free from the chains of fate. Since you're bound to be a problem in the future, I might as well take care of you right now in your weakened state." Xenagrosh nodded for Bytra to resume her attack.
The Raiju charged against Korgh's broken form one last time, skewering the Eldritch with her horns before absorbing the very life essence of her double. A blinding light erupted from Bytra's body as the two black cores merged into one.
If for Xenagrosh the key for her new form had been absorbing her troll's counterpart light core, for Bytra was the goblin's vitality. With each generation, they had become more and more resistant to the Chaos energy they were born with until both their cores and bodies were able to coexist with it.
Bytra wasn't just an Abomination anymore, she was now a perfect hybrid. Her human form and Raiju form were now almost identical to their original appearance. Bytra looked at her own naked figure, combing her silver hair with her fingers.
"Gods, I'm not a monster anymore." She blurted out.
Chapter 654 Fall of the Mighty Part 2
"How do you feel?" Xenagrosh asked, her hands casually placed on her Dragontooth blade hung on her hip.
"I'm not hungry." It was the only thing Bytra could think about.
"First, you need some clothes. Second, I'll fetch you your hammer. We have a lot of work to do."
***
Expedition site of Kulah, the following morning.
Everyone was back in top shape, but the morale was dangerously low. The Assistants now looked at the military compound as if it was their personal gallows, while the Professors were doubting their own skills for the first time in years.
'A simple graduate who is not even a Warden unlocked the arrays sealing the doors and if not for the army, we'd be already dead. Have I underestimated this mission, were the Odi too cunning, or have I just got too old for this job?'
Was what every one of them was thinking.
Lith was the more nervous of them all, but he was good at hiding it. His instincts were telling him that something was off.
'After the Teks attacked, I was expecting that whoever is pulling their strings would raise the ante, yet nothing happened. Then we opened the door and that fungus came out. Two more days have passed and once again, nothing.
'Are we really facing just automated defenses or is our enemy adjusting their strategy the more we reveal our cards?' He thought.
Despite all the evidence pointing at him being wrong, Lith was unable to relax. There was something akin to a tingling in a corner of his head that bugged him to no end. On the bright side, the Professors were now wearing their best equipment.
'By my maker, that's a blinding appearance.' Solus said once she attempted to look at the group with her mana sense. Every one of their items was imbued with multiple powerful enchantments.
The only problem for her was that there were so many that she had no idea which one to study first.
"It's good to see that you have geared up. We need all the help we can get." Phloria said. "We'll split into three groups. Professor Yondra, Professor Ellkas, Ranger Verhen, and I will explore the first building on the left, right after the city door.
Professor Gaakhu, Professor Neshal, Ranger Eari, and two of my soldiers will explore the second building on the left. This way, if anything happens, we can provide backup to each other with minimal notice thanks to dimensional magic.
"Plus, if the necessity arises, we can retreat behind the protection of our arrays with the same ease. The rest of my soldiers will protect the Assistants during our absence. Your task will be to make sure the camp's barriers are at full strength and prevent anyone from attacking us from the back."
"Yes!" All the Assistants said but one.
"This is unfair! I'm not a fighter, but I can help. Just like I did with the door." Quylla objected.
"And you will, if we find something we can't decipher, we'll return to the camp and work on it together. Until then, stay in the camp." Phloria's tone didn't leave space for arguing, so Quylla slouched her back and dragged her feet until she was among her peers.
"She can Blink away and has my armor. I don't see why Quylla can't come with us." Lith whispered in her ear.
"If push comes to the shove, I can order the Professors to scram and they will obey. Then you can go all out without worries. Quylla, instead, would never leave your side, she loves you like a brother. Why do you think I organized the groups the way I did? To have as little prying eyes as possible."
Lith had to admit that her reasoning was excellent. He gave Phloria thumbs up and after finalizing the details, the two groups entered Kulah again. Lith took point, using Life Vision and mana sense to make sure that nothing had changed.
After a thorough analysis of the area, he moved to the nearest building. All structures inside the military compound looked the same, resembling huge rectangular warehouses with a flat roof like those Lith had seen more than once on Earth's docks.
Each of them had a single entrance, comprised of a double door so big that a truck could easily fit with space to spare and a sealing array visible to the naked eye.
It was shaped like three concentric circles, each one inscribed with unknown runes and fueled by both purple crystals and the mana geyser underlying Kulah. A thin cable made of mana crystals connected the arrays with the ground, fueling them.
"Oh gods, I've never seen something so complex on a single door!" Professor Neshal, the only Master Warden of the group said. "It will take us days only to understand how to deactivate one of them."
"Can everyone see that thin, blue line, camouflaged along the door frame?" Lith asked.
"Yes, why?" Professor Yondra couldn't see the relevance such a visual detail could have.
At least until Lith used a small knife to cut it and two out of three arrays were suddenly powered off, leaving only the one fueled by the purple crystal active.
"Or not." Professor Neshal was flabbergasted. "Is this how you freed the fungus creature? I swear, if we make it back to the surface, the title of my report will be: Odi, the dumbest geniuses ever."
"Well, there is still the last array to defuse." Lith said.
Neshal just shook her head, pulling the purple crystals out of the wall with her bare hands and giving them to Lith.
"You would be right if the arrays you just deactivated weren't also the ones protecting the energy cores. I'm starting to believe that the real reason the Odi empire was wiped out in less than a generation is that once the weak points of their workings were revealed by the Odi rebels, their defenses amounted to nothing."
Seeing such a poor design, Lith's lip curled in disgust. He wasn't a Master Warden, but even his creations required more than pulling a plug to be deactivated.
'Those morons abused the "Keep it simple" rule. They basically left on/off switches on all the arrays we met so far.' He thought.
'Maybe back then reading and magic were an exclusive of the elites.' Solus suggested. 'For ignorant folks and laymen, magic is a godlike power. It seems dumb to us because we are all cultured people.'
After giving her a mind nod, yet not stopping from considering the Odi a bunch of idiots, Lith asked:
"Why did you hand me these crystals?"
"Consider them a present. They're nothing special, so the Kingdom will surely give them to us as a reward. They will deduct them from my share instead of yours. You just saved me days of work and weeks of frustration.
"Just the thought of wasting a single brain cell to solve such a moronic device might have given me a stroke." Neshal replied.
Professor Gaakhu opened the second door under Lith's supervision, cutting the power cable before asking:
"How did you understand how they work?"
"I have an excellent mana perception. These arrays have not enough crystals to support them and the cable emits a powerful aura."
"I noticed that too, but only because I could take my time and focus on the door. Doing it under that creature's siege must have required more than cold blood. It takes talent and guts to bet everything on an intuition.
"Would you be interested in becoming a Professor for the Crystal Griffon?"
"I called dibs already." Yondra snorted.
Chapter 655 Horrors and Wonders Part 1
To stop the two Professors from bickering, Phloria gave the order to enter the second building at once. Helion and Jerth, her two best soldiers who she had assigned to the second group, yelped in surprise at the vision appearing in front of their eyes.
Gaakhu and Neshal quickly joined them, unable to hold their curiosity. Almost at the same time, Phloria stepped through the door of the first building, happy that she hadn't let Quylla join them.
She was looking at a huge antechamber, very similar to one of those at the entrance of a military base. On her left, there was a regular-sized desk and a chair, testimony how the Odi couldn't be much bigger than humans.
On her right, a series of chairs were lined up against the wall. Judging from the size of the room and the number of seats, the base had to receive frequent visits from the Odi's upper echelons.
There was no other reason she could think of to justify the presence of all the transparent tanks lined up in front of the chairs. Each tank held the remains of a member of a different race.
Phloria identified a human, a Ry, a Dryad, and an orc. The other two were members of races unknown to her. Their bodies had been dismembered and submerged in an unknown transparent liquid that seemed to have preserved them.
Bubbles of some kind of gas were pumped from below and then sucked from the upper part of the tank in a continuous loop. At the base of each tank, there was a pedestal with a holographic display.
Words and images appeared at fixed intervals, reminding Lith of an interactive museum.
"What kind of monster could do such a thing?" Phloria pointed at the body parts. Their flesh had been divided into irregular chunks, but somehow the blood vessels connecting them were intact and the hearts were still beating, giving the creatures a semblance of life.
"Humans, for example." Yondra replied. "Why do you think the definition of forbidden magic is so lax? Even Healing magic can be considered forbidden if you use it to experiment on others instead of treating them."
Before allowing anyone to touch anything, the Professors scanned the room for arrays and any kind of magical traps while Lith did the same with Life Vision.
"The place is safe." Professor Ellkas said. "Let's see what's written here." He stood in front of the tank holding a human male, around twenty years of age.
"It's mostly technical jargon that I don't recognize, but from what I can understand it's an explanation of how the life force of humans works." Ellkas could browse through the different pages at will thanks to what looked like a touch screen.
After tinkering a bit with the commands, she became pale as a ghost.
"Good gods, these are no explanations. Once you get past the introduction, there are daily reports up to this date. The tanks are constantly monitoring their condition and somehow they keep these poor creatures alive!"
Lith already knew it. Life Vision had shown him that the prisoners' life forces were tangled and twisted, almost on the verge of collapsing. Yet they had life forces nonetheless.
Most of the heads were split into multiple pieces, making it hard for normal people to notice that their eyes were following the newcomers from the moment they had entered the room.
Lith could read them like an open book. All they were filled with was pain and hope. Each time one of the air bubbles popped up after reaching the surface, Lith could hear faint screams of agony vibrating through the glass-like tanks.
The choir of voices he was able to discern thanks to his enhanced hearing made him want to puke. The fragmented beings had long lost themselves into madness, yet Lith could have sworn to recognize some words among the gurgling sounds they emitted.
"Scan everything with your army amulets and let's destroy this horror." Phloria said activating the encrypted mode on her amulet and forcing it onto all the amulets belonging to someone of inferior rank.
The data would be stored but remain inaccessible even to the amulet's owner, to prevent dangerous knowledge from falling in the wrong hands.
Lith wasn't new to pain and torture, but such a cruel exhibition was unthinkable of even for him. The Odi had clearly perfectioned their life force manipulation techniques to an extreme level to dismember different races like that and keep them alive for so long.
They had achieved their purpose and yet the Odi had kept their victims on display, like an animal's head hung on a wall. That wasn't science anymore, just an empty abuse of power, like a kid plucking a butterfly's wings.
"Captain Ernas, forgive me, but I think we shouldn't destroy this place." Yondra said with a pained voice.
"What do you mean? What good could possibly come out of this?" Phloria was tempted to threaten the old Professor with a charge of insubordination, but Phloria could feel her emotions clouding her own judgment.
"These pods can preserve life. If we had something like them, maybe Calil and the others would still be alive, just in suspended animation." Those words reminded Phloria of Yurial's death, cracking her self-righteousness.
"Lith? What do you think?" Asking him to be her moral compass sounded crazy even to Phloria's ears, but she had no other options.
"Normally I would agree with Professor Yondra. These creatures…" Lith refused to refer to them as people. What was left of them could be barely described as meat puppets.
"-don't seem to age nor bleed despite their terrible condition, which is good. Yet if it was up to me, I would destroy everything. First, this is not suspended animation. Their eyes still move and if you listen carefully you can hear their screams, which makes the pods just a torturing device."
Yondra put an ear against the glass-like material, flinching back in horror less than a second later.
"Second, I doubt the Odi's motives. Whatever they have done to them, is likely to be some kind of weaponization system. This is a military compound, after all. Just like for the arrays on the door, I don't trust my back to the unknown."
Lith couldn't share with them the fact that Solus had seen with mana sense something embedded inside the prisoners' brains. Something with an energy signature similar to the corrupted spores.
'No sense in using slave items on meat puppets unless they are meat soldiers.' Lith thought while placing his hand on a tank and activating Scanner. Somehow the liquid was able to transmit his mana, allowing him to study the condition of the trapped human.
'Just as I feared. These things had their life force maimed in a way that allows them to live at a terrible cost. This is no immortality. Their life force has simply been compressed to the point of stopping its flow entirely, making them neither dead nor alive.
'Such condition eternally keeps them on the brink of death, like a twisted version of Schrodinger's cat.' Lith thought.
'It's worse than that.' Solus said. 'All of these people have lost their mana core. The mana flow you perceive comes from their flesh. I think you are right about the weaponization. I believe this is the Odi's failed attempt to transform the other races into Balors.'
Chapter 656 Horrors and Wonders Part 2
Meanwhile Lith and the others were taking through scans of the tanks, Morok could now understand what could have possibly made two elite soldiers yelp like little kids. The second building had an antechamber similar to the one in the first building, but filled with wonders instead of horrors.
In front of the chairs reserved for the visiting guests, there were several weapons racks, each one filled to the brim with weapons crafted from the finest materials.
"I call dibs on Adamant stuff!" Morok said while darting towards the shiny mass of sharp metals. Professor Gaakhu snapped her fingers, hitting him with the wind blow equivalent of a punch to the stomach.
"We have yet to scan the room for danger, you fool! Also, what makes you think we can use any of those weapons? I doubt the Odi would let them be imprinted by a member of the 'lesser races. It's more likely that you'll trigger some trap."
At those words, Morok snapped out of his greed fit, finally noticing that there was nothing to prevent intruders from seizing one or more of the weapons.
'If back in the day slaves cleaned this place, leaving an arsenal within easy reach would have been beyond idiotic.' He thought. Despite the epiphany, his greed and self-preservation instinct were battling to the death.
Some weapons were made out of metals he had never seen before, while others had intriguing shapes. They seemed to be made by two rectangularly shaped blocks of metal, joined to form a 90° angle with some kind of small lever in-between.
The longer block had a sight on its top and a cylindrical hole bigger than Morok's thumb right in the middle. All of them had a magical aura so strong that it made the hair on his body stand up.
When the array revealing spell was complete, the whole place lit up like a Christmas tree, especially the weapon racks.
"Ingenious." Professor Neshal said admiring once again the Odi's craftiness.
"The mana crystals imbued in the weapons have been arranged to form an array that is probably meant to preserve and protect them from hands that are quicker than the brain of their owner.
"There's no telling what would have happened if you triggered it."
"Yeah, okay. Lesson learned. My bad and all that stuff. Let's get down to the important part. Can you break the array? Is any of those weapons good?" Morok asked.
Professor Gaakhu would have liked to give him a snarky remark, but the Ranger wasn't completely wrong with his observations. Even in all her years as a Forgemaster, she had never perceived such a powerful magical aura.
All more the reason to be extra cautious.
She was unable to identify most of the metals nor the design of what Lith would have instantly recognized as guns. To make matters worse, despite them being spotless, the weapons had a peculiar smell.
Something Gaakhu was certain to know but she couldn't put her finger on.
"I can but I won't." Professor Neshal replied. "I had no time to make sure they are not linked to some kind of alarm. There are too many arrays here, so it's better to add one more formation rather than removing one."
He placed the mana crystals she had taken from the door at the four corners of the room and another one at its center, chanting a powerful spell that enveloped the room in a purple light.
"There. If anything happens, the barrier I placed on top of the Odi's arrays should give us plenty of time to get to safety. I also arranged it so that it will slow down the activation of the other arrays. I'm done underestimating the enemy." Neshal said.
Gaakhu used that time to decipher the holographic display in front of each weapon rack. Unlike Ellkas, she could read even the technical jargon, giving her a much clearer understanding of the Odi research.
She had reached her position despite her relatively young age thanks to her perfect memory that allowed her to learn anything after just a couple of readings.
"Gods, I doubt the Kingdom will give any of these weapons as a reward, and even if it did, I would turn down the offer. Here it says that they tried to compensate the metals' lack of a strong mana by fusing them with living beings.
"The weapons you can see here are all worse than cursed items. Not only were they made by using sacrifices, but also living flesh has been merged with their metal. Now I finally recognize the subtle smell of decay that fills this room." Gaakhu explained.
"That's gross!" Morok blurted out.
"Well, it gets worse." Gaakhu kept reading. "The weapons have been left in the open because they are a failed experiment. Instead of acquiring a mana flow and a life force like the Odi wanted, each one of these cursed objects is a bottomless pit of hunger.
"Even with the stasis array protecting them, here says that they failed to both find a way to prevent the biological part of the weapons from rotting and their owners from being sucked dry of their life force after imprinting them."
"I take my dibs back. Can we enter the next room now? I really hope to find something that the Odi didn't screw up with or that will not kill me on contact. Maybe even both." Morok said.
Neshal and Gaakhu performed a series of spells on the closed door in front of them.
"This is odd." Neshal said. "I have got only good news. The door is open and is not connected to the arrays in the room. Let me double-check." Yet she obtained the same results.
Gaakhu shrugged, turning the handle and stepping inside the next room. In front of them, there was a long metal corridor with many doors along its sides. The walls were made of a transparent glass-like substance, so they only needed to check the corridor for traps before being able to move freely.
Each room was both a Forgemastering lab and a blacksmith workshop. Despite the passing of time, both the corridor and the labs were in pristine condition. The furnaces looked like they were brand new and the Forges were made of pure silver.
"I don't get it." Morok said. "What good are furnaces for a Forgemaster and why silver? From perfectionists like the Odi, I would expect at least Orichalcum, if not Adamant."
"I'm afraid I know the answer." Neshal said. "Those furnaces are big enough to fit a human body. I think they conducted their experiments on fusing flesh and metals here. As for the silver, after seeing their failure rate, would you give an Odi Orichalcum?"
"Definitely not." Morok replied.
The group ignored the labs since they contained just the basic instruments for Forgemastering. There was no trace of blueprints nor ingredients. At the end of the corridor, they found two doors, each one with a different tag.
"This one is the Main Office." Gaakhu explained with a big grin on her face. "It might contain blueprints, but honestly I doubt it. I worked in an academy long enough to know that no project would be left in the hands of bureaucrats.
"This is likely to be where Forgemasters handed over their reports and requests for materials."
"Then why are you so happy?" Neshal asked.
"Because the other one says: 'Armory'."
Chapter 657 Flesh and Stone Part 1
Neshal and Gaakhu checked both doors, just to be safe. One could easily understand the value of what lied beyond a threshold based on how heavily defended it was.
The Main Office had just a good quality door, with no defensive arrays and no locks at that. Turning the handle released in the air with the smell of paperwork that all those present knew and hated.
The room was filled with filing cabinets and had three desks, one for each side of the room except for its entrance. The place closely resembled the academies' administrative offices.
The Professors could almost hear the echoes of a clerk demanding for a report to be filed in triplicate.
The Armory, instead, had a solid metal door. It also had several powerful arrays restricting its access, a holographic pad to insert a password, and heavy metal cylinders acting as locks.
Getting rid of the arrays was the easy part. The Professors only needed a few seconds to find the mana crystal cable running along the door frame and cut it along with the power fueling the magical defense system.
"Gods, they were real morons." The group commented in unison.
The holographic pad was still active, displaying both numbers and letters in the ancient Odi language.
"Okay, we have two choices. We could force the door with magic, but it's risky. There are no active arrays any more but we don't know what kind of weapons are stored here. They might explode or worse." Gaakhu explained.
"Our only other option is to guess the password. If this was the Crystal Griffon, I would devise a way to safely crack the metal door open. Our passwords are obscenely long and convoluted.
"The Odi, however, have proven to be conceited at best. I bet that the password is 'Odi'."
"Ten silvers on 'Armory'." Neshal said while pointing at the door tag.
"Twenty on 'Open'." Morok said.
Professor Gaakhu input the word of her choice in the Odi language first. The holographic display emitted a beep and the metal cylinders were pulled inside the door frame.
"I can't believe they picked a three-letter word password!" Morok handed the Professor twenty silver coins while he inwardly cursed the Odi to the best of his abilities.
"We call them Odi, but in their language, they were called Minhuyti. It means 'the chosen race'." Gaakhu said with a smug grin. "I think that you're right Neshal. Arrogance was the cause of the Odi's fall."
Neshal was glad that her colleague agreed with her, yet she was still pissed off by the lost bet.
The door slid on its hinges easily, as if it was made of paper. Inside there was a huge room, 20 meters (66 feet) wide and 15 meters (50 feet) long. The walls and ceiling were entirely made of metal and so were the shelves filling the room.
They were regularly spaced, going from one end of the room to another.
Most of the shelves were empty, but some stored weapons with several magic crystals embedded on their surface. Unlike the racks in the antechamber, the weapons were locked behind a glass-like substance that in turn was protected by a multi-layered array, each one fueled by purple crystals and the usual cable.
The floor was made of metal as well, but it was covered by a layer of sand a couple of centimeters (1 inch) thick.
"Seems we found the motherlode." Morok said while stepping inside the room.
Gaakhu grabbed his shoulder, locking him into place.
"Wait. Look carefully." She pointed at the sand under their feet.
"I saw that, but I also know it's not enchanted. It's just regular sand. Must have been a trick to spot intruders by their traces in case someone snuck inside. It's simple but effective."
Gaakhu and Neshal scanned the room, but aside from the shelves, there were no protective arrays.
"See? I told you- fuck!" Morok said.
The four corners of the room opened, revealing as many Charging Station arrays, each one holding a golem. The constructs were made of a mix of metal and earth, resembling humanoid creatures 2 meters (6'7") tall.
The moment the metal shutters revealed their presence, purple eyes appeared on the golems' faces and they were all fixated on the intruders. Arrogance had indeed been the cause of the Odi's fall as well as of the second group.
Once the wrong password had been inserted, the holographic display had attempted and failed to activate the arrays, hence the beep. Then, it had opened the door and activated the auxiliary defense system to prevent the weapons from being harmed in the incoming conflict.
"Run!" Morok said while pulling the Professors by their sleeves and regretting they weren't at least 30 years younger. That way he could have hoped instead of feared that the adrenaline rush might later lead to amorous offers.
"There are five of us and only four of them. Why are we running?" Jerth, the strongest mage among Phloria's unit asked while following their temporary leader.
"Because sand!" Just as if the Golems and Morok had rehearsed their timing, the layer of sand came to life a split second after the Ranger spoke. The Golems were injecting it with their mana, moving it as if it was just one of their limbs.
Soon the sand formed a wave that the constructs rode to chase after their prey.
Jerth used a tier four earth magic spell, Great Rumble, to use the wave against its own makers. Unfortunately, something prevented her mana to take root. The four golems were akin to four true mages, so her willpower was unable to override their combined efforts.
Gaakhu used gravity magic to reverse the gravity pull and send the constructs slamming against the ceiling. Before they could hit the metal, the four creatures shapeshifted so that their legs became their arms and vice versa, landing on their feet while they unleashed a barrage of rock bullets.
The Golems mixed together earth magic to condense the sand into magic bullets and air magic to give it a magnetic charge opposed to their own, creating a makeshift equivalent of an electromagnetic railgun.
Even the metal floor was deformed by the violence of the impact, yet the armors the group wore allowed them to survive. Each bullet still managed to overpower the armors' gravity sheath and hit them like a solid slap.
"Whatever happens, do not stop running!" Neshal said. "They have just been activated, so they are still powering up. We need to reunite with the rest of the expedition before it's too late."
The light in the golems' eyes burned brighter as a purple lightning bolt went from golem to golem, its power amplified several folds at each step until it struck the metal floor with the goal of killing all the intruders in one fell swoop.
***
At the same time, in the first building, Lith's group was still in the antechamber. After scanning the six tanks and their prisoners, they were weaving their spells to kill the unfortunate creatures as quickly as possible and then some, in case something went wrong.
Once everyone was done with their own preparations, Professor Yondra was the first to strike. They had no idea how strong the glass-like substance was, so instead of unleashing four tier five spells in such an enclosed space, it was better to test the waters a little at the time.
AN: If you're not reading this on https://www.ReadReadReadReadReadNovelFull.com/book/12820870105509205/Supreme-Magus you're reading pirated material. Please support the official release.
Chapter 658 Flesh and Stone Part 2
Yondra used her tier four darkness magic spell, Black Heart. The glass was likely to be immune to lightning, whereas fire and ice would give those poor souls a slow, painful death. Plus, there was no earth to manipulate in the chamber.
Darkness was the most humane means to put them out of their misery.
When the energy mass struck the tank, instead of passing through the liquid and kill the orc like it was supposed to, it was completely absorbed by the tank and turned into nourishment.
The liquid surrounding the orc turned muddy and so did the other five tanks.
"I'm quite sure that's not water." Yondra said while trying to understand what was happening.
Thanks to the mana now coursing through the transparent liquid, Lith could see with Life Vision that the six tanks were actually one system and that one of the creatures belonging to an unknown race was absorbing the darkness energy.
It converted Yondra's spell into pure mana and then shared it with its companions via the liquid flow, giving them new strength.
'I've got bad news and I've worse news.' Solus said.
'Hit me.' Lith replied.
'The bad news is that I was right, they are indeed some kind of Balor replica. Now that they have enough juice, I can see that each one of them is infused with a single element.
'The worse news is that a few moments ago, an alarm has been triggered. It has activated an array above our heads that I couldn't notice in its dormant state. It's very weak, but it might still be deadly.'
Unbeknownst to Solus, the golems in the Weapon Research department had just struck the metal floor with a lightning bolt, spreading a general alarm. The whole Kulah was waking up from its centuries long slumber.
The array above their heads was a safety measure that simply closed a circuit to send world energy to the bio-weapon.
The tanks suddenly lit up, each one of a different color. They were respectively red, yellow, black, white, blue, and orange, reminding Lith of the story Yondra had told him about the six components of the world energy.
The previously withered limbs were regaining their ancient vigor as the screams of agony Lith heard grew louder.
"They're getting stronger!" Lith shared with the rest of the group what he saw with Life Vision as he unleashed his tier four water magic spell, Ice Age, on the red colored tank.
He hoped to freeze them all to death or at least counter the fire energy instead of feeding more power to the Odi-made Balor. Yet his spell was absorbed and redirected by the blue colored tank, making him curse.
"Don't waste your energy. It seems we are forced to wait for the tanks to open before being able to attack those creatures." Phloria said.
"Don't worry, Captain. I got this." Yondra took what looked like a silver tuning fork from her dimensional item and after infusing it with a massive amount of her mana, she struck with it at the nearest tank.
The tuning fork sucked a small sample of the energy from the tank while emitting a high pitch. Lith could see Yondra's pure mana resonating with the sample until it was 180° out of phase with it, turning the sample into nothingness.
The whole process had taken barely one breath time.
The tuning fork stopped its pitch and Yondra struck at the tank again. This time, instead of taking energy, the tuning fork released its own. The destructive interference shattered the tank on impact and quickly spread to the other five, shattering them as well.
'Yes! No damn cutscene while the boss assumes his final f- …uck me and my big mind!' Lith thought while the six maimed bodies started to wrap around each other, forming a much bigger creature.
"Attack!" Phloria said out of habit, even though everyone was already going all out. The creatures' blood vessels moved like snakes, making the different parts from different creatures perfectly match with each other, like a jigsaw puzzle made of flesh.
Yondra had stopped the rejuvenating process before it was complete, so their attempts to combine were slower and clumsier than their creator had planned. To make matters worse, they were still coated by the colored liquid, making it obvious which part was immune to which element.
'I never thought that one I would get to fight the Frankenstein's version of the Force Rangers. Nevertheless, I'm not going to give them the time to morph.' Lith thought.
"I'll take Red!" Lith announced to prevent the other from messing with his spell.
"Yellow!" Yondra said.
"White" Phloria said.
"Blue!" Ellkas picked last, as Lith did his best to not chuckle at the irony of their situation.
'You are indeed a Ranger and picked red. Does that make you the Red Ranger?' Solus giggled while assuming her glove form.
'Oh shut it, please. This is probably one of the most embarrassing moments of my life.' Lith replied while he unleashed again his tier four water magic spell, Ice Age. Tier five spells were too powerful for such a confined space and by mixing multiple elements, he was afraid it would have made it easier for the creatures to counter.
Lith had the cold energy wrap around his arm, focusing it in the form of an ice pick the size of an estoc. He struck at the exposed heart of the fire-infused being, hoping that since the blood system was the only part of the creatures' bodies still intact, it was also their weak point.
Lith could see that the more pieces fused together, the stronger the aura of the combined monster became. The meat giant reacted to the threat like no living being could, literally pulling its flesh away to avoid Lith's attack.
'By my maker! Just like Morok's temporary waypoint had its pseudo core split into parts, so was the mana core of these wretched beings! As their bodies merge so does their magical aura. I'm afraid that once the mana core is completely formed, they will be able to use the gods know what kind of powerful magic.' Solus warned him.
"There is no time to lose! Keep it still!" Lith was apparently just stating the obvious, but the worry in his voice made everyone understand how the situation had to be worse than it appeared. Ranger Verhen had never asked for back up before.
Phloria activated the spells Full Guard and Master Sword. Master Sword was a tier five Mage Knight spell that allowed her to channel her magic inside her estoc and unleash it at will upon contact.
Mage Knights had often to fight in close combat while defending their mark, so Phloria had devised Master Sword to be able to use all kinds of spells without having to worry for her allies.
All the darkness spells she had at the ready were now stacked inside her blade, focused on the tip of the estoc and guided by her will due to the nature of tier five spells that made them resemble true magic.
She lunged at the heart of the white creature, but it managed to dodge by elongating its blood vessels until its weak point was out of her reach. Much to its surprise, Phloria opened her hand and the estoc darted forward like a bullet, piercing its target with pinpoint accuracy.
The heart exploded in a burst of dark energy that the corresponding creature neutralized as fast as it could, while the other parts tried to connect their blood vessels to the pieces of their now fallen comrade to continue the merging process.
Chapter 659 From Bad to Worse Part 1
The Odi had taken into account that one or more of the creatures composing the pseudo-Balor could be killed in battle and had given them plenty of options.
The six heads were the first to finish assembling. The final result was a monstrous face with four mouths and twelve eyes arranged in a circle.
Ten of them were brimming with power and emitted a stream of multi-colored mana that closely resembled a Balor's elemental pillar. Except it was much weaker due to both the incomplete powering up and merging of the creatures' mana core.
Ellkas used one of his artifacts, the Void Shield, to take the full power of the mana pillar without interrupting his attack. Phloria's kill had thrown the creature off balance and by using one of its more powerful moves despite its debilitated state, had forced its movements to a halt.
Lith exploited that opening to slip under the still ongoing pillar and struck at the red heart. Unlike fake mages, all of his spells were infused with his will, so that the moment the second heart exploded, Lith managed to recover all the excess energy, leaving the creature nothing to feed upon, preventing it from healing its wounds.
Another set of eyes became dull, the flesh monster screamed in agony and envy. The survivors had to endure an inhuman pain whereas their fallen comrades were finally free from the Odi's mind control.
The creatures' movements slowed down even further, allowing Yondra to use her tier four spell, Great Glacier, on both the yellow and black hearts. It turned them into ice crystals that shattered at their next attempt to beat as if they were made of glass.
Professor Ellkas unleashed three tier four spells at once, one for each remaining heart and the third for the main body. He had no idea if once all the hearts were lost the creature would simply die or it might self-destruct.
He had seen enough of the Odi's cruelty that his scientific curiosity was overshadowed by the revulsion he felt. Lith's paranoia and Life Vision agreed with Ellkas judgment, so he used the remaining spells he had at the ready to destroy the flesh titan before it could overload its accumulated mana into an explosion.
The giant's body turned into ashes, while everyone was panting due to the repeated use of powerful spells or artifacts.
"I'd gladly take a break before moving forward." Yondra said. "I still have quite some mana left, but no spell at the ready anymore."
"Agreed." Phloria said while sheathing her blade. "Let's go back to base and prepare new spells before…" The sound of what seemed to be an avalanche was quickly followed by the noise of a heavy door crashing on the ground.
The four of them started to chant new spells while running outside to make sure that such a ruckus wasn't the harbinger of a new enemy. When they saw the second group Blinking in front of them, quickly followed by a massive wave of sand, they had their answer.
Their intuition was correct, it wasn't one enemy but four of them, making Phloria's group uncertain whether to laugh or cry.
"Gods, no!" She said when she identified the constructs as an unknown kind of hybrid Golems made of stone and metal.
"Gods, yes!" Morok said when he saw that the members of the first group were in perfect condition. "We already threw at them everything we had, but nothing worked. Buy us a little time so that we can prepare new spells."
"We are on the same boat!" Lith said pretending to have finished one chant before starting another. As a true mage, he could speak and weave spells, yet he dispelled the Final Sunset he was casting anyway.
It would have been useless against Golems. Those in front of him were the first he had ever met on the battlefield. The Golems were nothing like the modern constructs Professor Wanemyre had taught him about during his time as a student first and as Assistant Professor later.
Constructs were by far the most complex artifact that a mage could craft. The simplest ones required only a Forgemaster to be made, but a really powerful Golem required Forgemaster, Warden, and even Alchemical magic.
Golems were also known as artificial mages or mindless mages. The Forgemastering process bonded them with magic crystal that fueled their magical properties, while Warden magic was required to 'program' them, giving them a purpose and even teaching them battle strategies.
If their master had enough magic crystal to invest in their creation, Golems could even act as walking arrays. Alchemy, instead, was a great tool to provide Golems with an extra number of abilities that wouldn't affect their power cores.
Due to their enormous power, Golems also consumed an enormous amount of energy, more than what any number of mana crystals might provide. Once the output of their power cores would drop below a certain amount, they would return to their recharging arrays.
If not for such a weak spot, Golems would have been considered perfect killer machines. They could self-repair, were immune to most spells, and had no vitals, making it almost impossible to destroy them.
Fire would inflict them no damage since it would take a prolonged exposure to a flame thousands of degrees hot to vaporize their bodies, and a Golem never stood still. The same applied to water, air, and darkness magic.
Stone and metal would just ground lightning bolts, ignore the cold just like they did for the heat, but most of all, they were darkness magic's bane. Darkness strongest suit was its ability to bypass protections and attack the vitals of its target, but a Golem had none.
When encountering their enchanted bodies, darkness magic would eat at their magic first and then at the matter the Golems were made of. Turning stone into dust required an enormous amount of energy, to the point that even tier five darkness spells would barely scratch its surface.
The Golems' only weakness was indirect attacks performed by using earth magic. Once their movements were restricted, one only had to wait for their battery to run out. Time was a Golem's worst enemy.
Unfortunately, the whole Kulah was protected by an array which made its surface immune to earth magic, so the only thing the expedition members could use was the sand that the Golems used to speed up their movements.
To make matters worse, Golemsmiths were aware of the limits constructs had, so there was no Forgemaster that wouldn't give them the ability to manipulate earth. Lith tried to take control of the sand, just like Jareth had done barely a minute earlier, and he failed as well.
'Solus, why can't I manipulate the sand and what kind of power can those things draw upon?' He asked.
'Bad news #1: that's not sand, it's part of the Golems. They have pulverized the outer layer of their bodies to move faster and be able to physically attack from a distance. You can't control that sand more than the Golems can force your arm to punch you.' She said.
Mana sense allowed Solus to see that Golems and sand had the same energy signature. It was another clever trick of the Odi, to make fake mages waste their mana in a fool's errand.
'Bad news #2: their power core is the size of a soccer ball and entirely made of purple crystals. Either they can last very long or their abilities require a lot of mana. No matter the answer, you're in big troubles.'
AN: If you're not reading this on https://www.ReadReadReadReadReadNovelFull.com/book/12820870105509205/Supreme-Magus you're reading pirated material. Please support the official release.
Chapter 660 From Bad to Worse Part 2
'Any idea why they are made of both metal and stone? What's the advantage in that?' Lith opened a Warp Steps, allowing the others to reach the camp in a split second, while he covered their retreat.
'I have a few theories, but none of your liking.' Solus knew that Lith was hoping she could find the Odi's trademark fatal flaw of design that would allow him to effortlessly destroy them.
'No visible power switch? No cable fueling them?'
'None that I can see. Why are you still here?' She asked after he closed the Warp Steps the moment the last of his allies had crossed it.
Lith's reply came in the form of a giant mass of blue Origin Flames aimed at the closest Golem. Much to his dismay, the constructs waved their hands in unison, making the sand wave turn into a shield that smothered the flames like a wet towel.
'Four versus one isn't good. They simply have to use the mass of the sand and their mana flow to overpower Origin Flame's effects. Now, for my next trick…' Lith conjured the tier one Float spell.
He could have used gravity magic, but he was afraid that sending them against the ceiling would only give them more earth to manipulate. The fungal creature had employed the same strategy, exploiting the stalactites to circumvent Kulah's array.
Golems lacked creativity and Lith didn't want to give them ideas. Float, instead, was supposed to lift them from the ground long enough to make them deplete their energy.
The Golems had the sand coil around their limbs like an anchor, but that was within Lith's calculations. He conjured a big wave of water that drenched the sand, allowing him to easily freeze and destroy the footholds.
The Golems, however, had yet to tell their side of the story. One of them unleashed a stream of purple flames that vaporized the ice while another used a tendril of sand as a sling to throw itself at Lith.
The flying Golem's arm opened, revealing what looked like a Gatling gun that instead of metal cylinders had magic wands.
'This bodes poorly.' Lith thought as the Golem activated the wands in pairs, releasing at the same time a burst of flames and a blast of wind.
Wands could only store up to tier three spells, but thanks to the Golem's clockwork precision in both aiming and timing their cast, the synergy between the air and fire elements boosted the power behind its attack on the level of a tier four spell.
Lith could see with Life Vision where the construct was aiming, but it had so many wands that Lith had no place to retreat. The perfectly chained explosions blackened the streets of Kulah and made its walls tremble until the oxygen in the area was completely consumed, smothering the flames.
The Golems used the cover that the smoke provided them to release chains of purple lightning. By combining their efforts, not a single centimeter in front of them was spared by the electrical onslaught.
Their creator had devised this strategy starting from the assumption that the lack of air would make the enemy incapable of defending themselves. It was a two-pronged attack executed without a split second of delay.
And that was the reason it failed. Lith had timed his Blink so that the explosions would cover his escape, hoping that the massive release of mana would jam the Golems' sensors.
'I have good news and I've bad news.' Solus swallowed loudly despite the fact she lacked a throat.
'The good news is that your plan worked. The Golems have just wasted a lot of mana in the attempt to kill you. The bad news is that they have still plenty of juice left.'
By the time Lith Blinked inside the camp, the others were still casting their first spell. Several blades almost struck at his throat, believing him to be an enemy.
"I'm the student and you are the Professors. Do any of you have something to take them down?" Lith asked.
Yondra finished her chant before answering.
"Yes and no. Here the ground can be manipulated and I've yet to use my best tools, so yes, there's a lot I can do. No, because there is no way to destroy a golem in one hit. Unless you know where their core is and manage to damage it, of course."
Golems could move their power cores freely within their bodies, but Lith could clearly see them thanks to Life Vision. His problem was how to destroy them.
"I know it may sound crazy, but I've trashed Golems before." Morok said, drawing everyone's attention. "Spells are just a waste of mana. The quickest way to get rid of them is to go in close quarters and expose their power cores."
"How do you propose to do that?" Phloria asked. A crazy plan was better than no plan.
"You guys stop trying to damage them, you would only risk hurting us." Morok said while pointing at Lith and himself.
"Some of you have to use spells that can hinder their movements or throw them off balance, while the rest must wait for the moment the power core gets exposed and strike with all they have got."
The Golems reached Kulah's gates and unleashed a hail of electromagnetically charged stone bullets. The defensive arrays trembled, but they managed to nullify the attack.
The Golems scanned the magical formation for a split second before resuming their assault. Since the bullets bounced on the barrier, they could quickly retrieve them and use them again as if they had infinite ammo.
The four constructs focused their fire on the same exact spot, weakening the barrier enough for one of them to slip inside.
"What are you waiting for? A written invite?" Morok said. "Keep them busy while we take care of the unwanted guest."
Lith was way ahead of him, using the tier five spell, Land Shark. It conjured a stone maw filled with magma right under his enemy. Without the sand to boost its movements, the maw was supposed to take care of the Golem's lower body while Morok attacked high.
Unfortunately, the construct's body promptly reacted to the threat by activating an Earth Blocking array that dispelled the stone jaws even before they could fully open.
'Those Odi were idiots to the bone.' Morok thought. 'What good is such an array to a stone-made creature? Now the Golem is paralyzed by his own hand and it can't block my war hammers.'
The Odi mage who had designed the Golems had Forgemastered them out of an iron-rich ore exactly for that reason. The metal allowed the Golems to use air magic to generate powerful magnetic fields that could be used to move them while they were under the influence of the array or as a guide for their lightning-based attacks.
The apparently helpless Golem used both those abilities at once, using its own electromagnetic field to raise its arms, using them to block the attack of the enemy, and unleashed a purple bolt of lightning.
The construct split the spell evenly, striking at all the members of the expedition at once. Morok was struck at point-blank so he was also the first one to fall. He gritted his teeth, trying to not lose consciousness while his entire body sizzled, emitting the characteristic smell of barbeque.
AN: If you're not reading this on https://www.ReadReadReadReadReadNovelFull.com/book/12820870105509205/Supreme-Magus you're reading pirated material. Please support the official release.
Chapter 661 From Bad to Worse Part 3
"Damn if I smell delicious." Morok said while wobbling from the electroshock. His many magical protections and uncanny constitution had allowed him to survive the Golem's sneak attack.
The fact that the powerful tier four spell Hammerfall had been split several times, significantly reducing its prowess, also helped. Lith tried to Blink away, just like his fellow Ranger had done a split second earlier, but earth magic was necessary to use dimensional magic, so his spell failed.
He had Solus's glove cover his hands as he injected the Skinwalker armor with his mana, boosting its defensive properties. The armor's energy field was now strong enough to disperse part of the spell while Solus's stone body blocked the rest.
'That was close. Did it hurt?' Lith thought.
'Just a sting. Don't worry about me and kick its ass. The other Golems are seconds away from breaking into the barrier.' Solus warned him.
Professor Neshal raised her magical staff and the remaining bolts of lightning were drawn to the gemstone on its top, which redirected them against the stone floor, rendering them harmless.
"Why didn't you use them to attack another Golem?" Yondra asked.
"They all have the same energy signature. One Golem's spell can't damage the others, it only strengthens them. I've seen it happening before." Neshal explained while channeling more mana into her staff to activate another of its properties.
Neshal's weapon was nothing compared to General Vorgh's but it still made Lith and Solus wish they could borrow it for a while. It was made of some kind of wood that had a mana flow similar to Adamant, with several purple mana crystals embedded on its sides.
On its top, there was a diamond-shaped purple mana crystal the size of Lith's fist, surrounded by smaller crystals of the same shape, giving it the appearance of a crown.
Neshal's mana was gathered inside the main gemstone after being amplified by the smaller crystals along the way, allowing her to cast spells beyond her actual capabilities.
She was still inside the Golem's array, so earth magic was sealed to her as well. Neshal used her tier five spell, Crystal Clear, conjuring a frost wave boosted by a raging tornado.
Air magic allowed her to focus the cold with surgical precision and also to strike at the frozen solid enemies with a thunderstorm that would seep into every nook and cranny the ever-expanding ice opened.
The three remaining Golems were suddenly brought to almost -200°C (-328°F). The sand froze and became useless, while the thick ice covering their limbs made every one of their movements terribly slow.
The external thunderstorm messed up with the constructs' spells and to make matters worse, the ice covering the stone allowed Neshal's lightning bolts to finally reach one of the Golems' compartments where its Alchemical tools were stored.
The moment one of the wands sustained enough damage to break it, the resulting explosion triggered a chain reaction that blew up the Golem's entire arm, revealing a shining purple mass through the now hollow shoulder socket.
"A power core!" Neshal yelled while focusing Crystal Clear on the wounded Golem to prevent it from moving the power core to a different and more protected location. Unfortunately, another array was activated, negating water magic.
Neshal's spell went haywire and the thunderstorm exploded, sending the Golems crashing against Kulah's walls. The group had been saved from harm by the defensive arrays that protected the camp.
"First earth, now water?" Phloria was starting to lose hope. The moment they were about to gain the upper hand, the Golems pulled a new trick out that allowed them to escape from the jaws of defeat.
The fight had broken out for less than a minute and half of their spells had already been sealed, crippling their chances of victory.
"It's not as bad as it seems." Yondra said. She was aware that to a non-Forgemaster, Golems appeared as an unbeatable foe. "Those kinds of arrays require a lot of mana to affect such a wide area. The longer the Golems use them, the faster they will run out of energy.
"It also limits both ours and their attack options, making them predictable."
In the meantime, Lith was done casting his Array Detection spell.
'I need reliable information to devise a plan with a chance of success. Land Shark's fizzling already cost me a lot of mana. I can't afford to waste any more without a good reason.' Lith thought.
The spell revealed the presence of several arrays, all stacked one upon the other to make them overlap, but without creating the weak point that Kulah's gate had.
'Damn, the Odi sure knew their stuff. The most internal array is the Golem's AI. I can't tamper with it without using Invigoration, but I have no desire for a second shock.
'Another one allows the construct to use air magic to shapeshift, then there is the Earth Blocking array. I can work with that.' Lith thought.
The Water Blocking array was too far to affect him, just like the Earth Blocking Array didn't hinder the rest of the Golems. Unfortunately, the rest of the group was caught in the middle.
Lith grinned, using spirit magic to lift the Golem and throw it on the opposite side of the camp. Constructs were capable of fighting in a way similar to Awakened, but they were just things. They had no fusion magic that could stop Lith's spirit magic.
The Golem's AI reacted by conjuring an air shield that was supposed to stop the attack, but spirit magic's ethereal nature ignored the barrier surrounding the enemy and proceeded to slam it left and right against the ground.
Lith kept the construct far enough that he could easily dodge any lightning the Golem could release with air fusion.
"I don't know how you do that and honestly I don't care." Morok said. "Yet by the time you put a dent to it this way we'll be both dead of old age. Pass the ball on my mark."
The Ranger whispered a word to his weapons that Lith was able to hear thanks to his enhanced senses.
"Brezza."
The battle hammers turned from silver to yellow, starting to crackle with power.
Lith continued to slam the construct against the ground while preparing his spells. He had no idea what Morok was planning but either he succeeded or failed, Lith could hope to find at least an opening.
After being separated from its group and its lightning bolts reduced to nothing but a light show, the Golem deactivate the Earth Blocking array. The construct needed its best spells to free itself from that invisible cage.
"Mark!" Morok said while spinning on himself and throwing the hammers one at the time.
Lith did as requested and used spirit magic to launch the Golem against the incoming projectiles. The construct tried to use its electromagnetic field to deflect the war hammers, but the enchantment they were imbued with pierced the protection as if it was just a piece of paper.
The first hammer struck with the combined energy of Lith's and Morok's toss, giving the impact enough momentum to crack the Golem's shell, but nothing more. After the collision, the second effect of the hammers was activated.
The first hammer had now a strong positive charge while the second hammer was negatively charged. The resulting effect was to guide the second hammer right onto the first adding the magnetic pull to its momentum.
AN: If you're not reading this on https://www.ReadReadReadReadReadNovelFull.com/book/12820870105509205/Supreme-Magus you're reading pirated material. Please support the official release.
Chapter 662 From Bad to Worse Part 4
The following hit produced a thunderclap as the hammer stuck in the cracked stone was turned into a giant nail that shattered the Golem's protective shell and revealed its power core.
The construct had managed to move it out from harm's way in the nick of time. The power core was spherical purple mana crystal as big as a basketball, with its entire surface covered with blue runes of power.
"Darn it. I missed it by an inch!" Morok said.
Lith had been able to see it moving from the Golem's chest down to its abdomen thanks to Life Vision, so he already knew that Morok's plan would fail. He used spirit magic to keep the Golem away from the ground and from the materials it needed to fix the hole in its chest.
Earth was the second slowest element, so the enchanted sand would need some time before reaching its master. A time that neither of the Rangers was willing to give. The hammers had already returned into Morok's hands and Lith used spirit magic to slow the Golem's arms long enough to give his companion the time for a second attempt.
The Golem opened all of its compartments and released several Alchemical tools to protect its core. At the same time, it activated the strongest spell in its arsenal, the tier five Earth Splitter.
Lith saw the massive amount of earth element build up near the construct and rejoiced for it. The power core's light had become significantly duller after conjuring such a big spell.
The only problem was that the Golem had resorted to a low blow as a last-ditch effort. The Alchemical tools it was using were a darkness based toxic gas and the same combination of air and fire wands the other Golem had used earlier.
"Crap, that thing wants to suffocate us!" Morok said after noticing that only a few fire blasts were aimed at them while the rest destroyed the biggest moss deposits in the cave.
Everyone had avoided using fire magic because after the Golem's initial attack the air in the cave was already thin. If the oxygen dropped any further, no amount of light magic could save the expedition team from a slow death by asphyxiation.
'Do you want to play dirty? Fine by me!' Lith had no choice but freeing the Golem from his spirit magic so that the mana strand could snap the wands grafted inside its arms in half.
Leaving them exposed for so long was a huge risk since alchemical magic harmed its user as well as the enemy. Lith had avoided that tactic because the resulting explosion was bound to be huge, but at that point worrying about it was useless.
He could only cut his losses and hope for the best.
Morok was about to curse at Lith for letting go of the enemy and making it impossible for him to deliver the deathblow when the Golem disappeared in a burst of flames.
The chain reaction destroyed the construct's limbs, neutralized the noxious gas, and cracked the power core. Just a scratch, but enough to dispel Earth Splitter and make the Golem fall limp.
Morok turned the curses into praise as his hammers' combined strike shattered the power core. The purple sphere exploded, releasing a pinkish goo.
"Is it dead or just playing dead?" Lith asked to both Solus and Morok.
"Only one way to know." Ranger Eari moved his hand and the Golem disappeared inside his dimensional amulet.
"It's dead. If there was any active spell, I wouldn't have been able to store it."
"I know that too, you idiot? Why do you think I kept myself at safe distance? What if it self-destructed?" Lith was seconds away from strangling his fellow Ranger.
"Big deal. There's so little oxygen left that I'm barely able to breathe. Worst case scenario, the explosion would have raised some dust." Morok said as breathing was just a hobby for him.
"And killed us all by consuming our last air. I- You- Let's help the others!" Lith would have gladly murdered Morok on the spot, but he had yet to understand Ranger Eari's real nature and he needed all the help he could get to defeat the three remaining Golems.
Once Lith had removed the Earth Blocking array from the field, the rest of the group had quickly gained the upper hand. One of the three remaining Golems had been heavily damaged by Syndra's spell and its power core was now partially exposed.
The animated sand quickly went to fill the empty shoulder socket, hiding the power core from the enemy's sight.
"They have the same design." Professor Neshal, the Master Warden, said after analyzing them with her spell. "Each one of them can use only one Elemental Blocking array. The other two can respectively stop air and fire magic.
"Only the one the Rangers are taking care of can block earth magic."
That piece of news was the only silver lining of their situation. Darkness and light magic were useless against constructs, water magic was still sealed, and fire magic was currently a suicidal option.
Even though they were barely needed to move thanks to the defensive formation blocking the Golems' attacks, the whole group was gasping for air.
Quylla was sick and tired of being a spectator, helplessly being forced to rely on others for her own survival and for that of the people she loved.
'If I get out of here alive, I swear I'll learn at least one offensive specialization.' She thought. Her rage and self-loathing fueled her brain, pushing it to top gear in search of a way of making the difference.
"All the non-Professors, come with me if you want to live!" She said before rushing to one of the few spots of the cave that hadn't been ravaged by the flames or by the fight.
The Assistants and Phloria's soldiers all thought she had gone mad from the lack of oxygen, yet they followed Quylla nonetheless. They were all ill-equipped to face Golems.
Their situation was so dire that only specific tier five spells could be helpful, whereas most mages would focus on darkness and fire because they were the elements of destruction.
The Professors, instead, not only did they have a wide range of spells at their disposal, but also being Forgemasters, they all had several masterpieces at hand. Yondra focused on the injured Golem while the other Professors took care of the remaining two constructs.
Being unable to bring the defensive array down, the Golems conjured several small flames all around the barrier to quickly consume the remaining air. Their protocols included that strategy because it was all part of the Odi's plan to defend their facility.
The fungal creature had been enslaved to both defend the city and keep the moss at a minimum so that any life form attempting a siege would be easily exterminated.
"Enough with your cheap tactics!" Professor Neshal threw several red mana crystals in the air. The gemstones surrounded the two undamaged Golems and formed two concentric circles before exploding.
The magical forces released generated a powerful tornado that enveloped the magical constructs, making them smash against each other and the cave's walls as if they were trapped in a makeshift blender.
To escape from the death-trap, a Golem activated its Air Blocking array, allowing them to return safely to the ground.
"Do you realize that now we have only the earth element left to fight?" Gaakhu asked.
"Please, like any sane mage would waste mana for a spell that those things could block with a thought. Besides, as that obnoxious brat would say, it's only proper etiquette to use earth magic in a battle between fossils."
Chapter 663 Battle of Wits Part 1
It had been a long time since Professor Yondra had felt so alive. Her situation was dire, but her rejuvenated body had yet to feel the fatigue from the fight.
'Once we get out of here, I need to have my husband rejuvenated too and thank Lith properly. A couple of artifacts should suffice.' She thought while unleashing her tier five spell, Burial Grounds.
It allowed her to seize control of the ground around them while imbuing it with darkness magic at the same time. Golems were darkness' bane since it dealt them little to no damage, but in a battle of wills, even a small chip could make the difference between victory and defeat.
Countless black tendrils erupted from the ground, restricting the injured Golem while trying to rip it apart limb from limb, to expose its power core. Yet the construct was capable of using earth magic just as well as Yondra.
It first turned the surrounding ground in its docile servant and then conjured tendrils of its own. The Golems natural affinity with the earth element allowed it to stop Yondra's spell and to strike at the defensive arrays with enough power to almost made them crumble.
Yondra knew that no human could compete with a Golem's willpower and strength, at least not in the short run. Constructs were single-minded creatures that followed their orders to the letter without hesitation.
Their power cores provided them with plenty of mana and their bodies were built to handle the burden that such power implied. Unlike humans, they were unrelenting and devoid of fear. It was their strength but also their weakness.
"Thanks for the idea, kid." Yondra said as she stopped her spell from defending the barrier and focused solely on the Golem. "Let's see which one lasts longer. My array or your core."
Darkness magic couldn't harm the construct, but it could wear down the mana that the Golem used to sustain its spell and existence. The two colliding spells were similar, but unlike her opponent, Yondra could blend together different elements.
Darkness magic didn't make her Burial Grounds stronger, it made other spells weaker. As Yondra's tendrils enveloped its body, the Golem's mana expenditure skyrocketed and its healing speed plummeted.
It took it only a split second to conjure even more tendrils and get rid of that disturbance. At the same time, the Golem unleashed a bolt of purple lightning to destroy the barrier that prevented it from achieving its goal.
Yondra waved her hand, making the stone wall that she had kept at the ready until that moment emerge from the ground and block the lightning.
"Sorry, kid. You're not the only one who's able to multi-task. Do you know what I really like about tier five spells? Sure, they consume a lot of mana and require a lot of focus, but once they're cast, you have your hands free."
Yondra took out of her pockets a small crystal sphere and threw it in a lob shot above the maze of living earth between them, aiming for the construct. The Golem used earth magic to manipulate the enchanted sand and block the unknown menace.
Unluckily, it was exactly what Yondra wanted. The sand was just pulverized parts of the Golem's body that they used as a means of both attack and defense, so when the sphere released the Clean Slate spell it held, it counted as a direct hit.
Golems were animated lumps of earth, imbued with too much mana and too many arrays for a simple tier four spell to deactivate them, but it was enough to make the construct's AI stutter for a split second and lose control of its spells.
Yondra exploited that moment to overpower her opponent and sink the Golem under multiple layers of Burial Grounds. Its body was sturdy and its power core had still quite some power, but there were just too many things to defend against at once.
Burial Grounds was crushing the Golem like a vise, the darkness energy weakened all its attempts to get free, and Yondra was using the smaller tendrils to dig out its power core. The Golem was unable to cope with its many conflicting protocols and in the attempt to perform them all at once exhausted its power.
'What would I give to keep the power core intact.' Yondra thought while crushing the Golem's very heart. 'Yet it would expose us to countless risks. Not having enough juice to move a construct doesn't mean that it can't pull some underhanded trick.
'Purple crystals recharge damn fast and even a small explosion could consume the little oxygen we have left.'
On the other side of the cave, Professor Neshal was grinning from ear to ear. Only two Golems were left, but not for long. She was a Master Warden inside a set of arrays that she had set up, even upgrading them to military-grade after the Teks' sneak attack.
While Gaakhu kept the constructs busy, Neshal was finally able to stabilize the arrays, making them recover from the damage they had sustained and that had almost compromised their integrity.
Now that they were back at full power, the arrays' power nodes lit up one after another as she activated their offensive abilities.
Neshal channeled her spell through her Crown Staff, which amplified her magical force before injecting it into the arrays that further enhanced it tenfold. The ground under the Golems darted upwards like an elevator gone haywire while a portion of the ceiling several meters thick came crashing down like a meteor.
The constructs tried to jump off, but the earth under their feet had turned into quicksand, making them unable to move. They used earth magic to try and free themselves, but Neshal's boosted Titan Crusher was immune to their magic.
When the two slabs of rock collided for the first time, the Golems' bodies cracked. Yet it was far from over, the tier four spell simply pulled them away before slamming the two flat surfaces again and again.
The second impact cracked the constructs open, the third shattered their power cores and by the time the spell was over, nothing but dust remained.
"How did you do it?" Gaakhu was flabbergasted. "I had to resort using artifacts because the air is so thin that I might have fainted at the slightest effort and such a combined spell is quite the feat."
"Didn't you notice?" Neshal said. "At some point, the air got much better and that allowed me to go all out."
Now that they could finally relax, Gaakhu noticed that she could breathe even better than when they had first arrived at the cave.
"Is it over?" Jerth, one of Phloria's soldiers asked. When the Professors nodded, she yelled:
"You can stop now, we are safe!"
Quylla and the others had used light magic and some food from their dimensional items to stimulate the growth of the underground moss. By enhancing its metabolism and even giving it some life force when necessary, they had turned a whole patch of the cave green.
"Help me spread the moss near Kulah, otherwise it will take too long to make the air breathable again." Quylla said.
The Golem Lith and Morok had fought had destroyed most of the moss inside the cave, so once they stopped feeding the patch with light magic, the oxygen it produced wasn't going to be enough to supply such a wide space.
AN: If you're not reading this on https://www.ReadReadReadReadReadNovelFull.com/book/12820870105509205/Supreme-Magus you're reading pirated material. Please support the official release.
Chapter 664 Battle of Wits Part 2
"Excellent thinking, Quylla." Phloria said while placing food and moss at the four corners of the cave. "Defeating the Golems would have been a hollow victory if we died right after taking care of them."
"Yeah, but once I got the idea, anyone could have done it. I would have much preferred to help the others on the front line rather than play gardener and leave to others doing the dirty job." Quylla replied.
"You and me both, sis." Phloria said.
"Now you know how it feels to be me. It sucks, right?" Both women chuckled.
Lith was impressed by the Professors' prowess. Sure, they had the protection of the arrays whereas he had been forced to fight inside the formation, but defeating three Golems had taken the Professors the same time he had needed to crush just one and with Morok's help at that.
'I really need a good weapon. There's only so much I can do bare-handed, especially against an enemy capable of blocking my best elements.' Lith thought.
He had yet to have the time to relax that the ground trembled. Lith used Life Vision to see through the wall surrounding Kulah. A giant pillar of red light was enveloping the second building, the one from which the Golems had emerged.
'That's an array, the question is: what is trying to achieve?'
'Based on the runes it's comprised of, it seems some kind of huge self-destruction array. Too bad that because of the Golems' plan to asphyxiate us now there's not enough air inside Kulah for the array to work.
'Our array keeps the oxygen inside our camp, out there you couldn't light a match, let alone a bomb.' Solus explained.
After a few failed attempts, the pillar turned from red to a mix of orange and black. Since it couldn't explode, the array made the building implode under its own weight by using earth magic.
Then, it conjured a focused mass of darkness magic that fed upon everything the armory contained until the nothing but dust and debris were left. No one had told him what the building contained, otherwise Lith would have probably started cursing on the top of his lungs.
He was in dire need of a new weapon and all the marvels the Odi had left behind were now lost forever.
The sound of the collapsing building alerted the camp, but no one was willing to go outside after such a heated fight. Lith kept staring at Kulah even after the ground stopped trembling.
The destruction of the Golems had triggered some kind of safeguard that was now flooding all the buildings with the world energy that the magic crystal cables extracted from the underground mana geyser.
Lith could see them through the wall thanks to Life Vision.
'What could they possibly need all that energy for?' Lith pondered.
'The world energy is simply flowing through the buildings, without any apparent effect. No new array has been activated nor the mana is accumulating in specific points to power up weapons or new constructs. Do you have any idea, Solus?'
'None, but we already know that inactive arrays are invisible even to my mana sense. We need to get close and cast the array detecting spell to make sure that the coast is really clear from danger.' She replied.
'The Odi were indeed arrogant, but they spared no expense on security. There must be something worth protecting. Maybe even the secret of body-swapping you are looking for.'
Lith couldn't tell if Solus was more excited or worried at the idea of getting closer to an answer to his reincarnation problem and maybe even her lack of a human body, so he asked her what the problem was.
'I really hope this gets us somewhere, but at the same time, I'm very scared. Not only because I'm afraid that using the technology developed by such monsters could affect us negatively, but also because of the implications finding the body-swapping spell implies.
'The Teks are alive, so nothing prevented one of the surviving members of the Odi to hide down here and use their bodies to prolong their lives while researching a way to once again become the dominant species or waiting for young, powerful mages to be delivered at their door.
'Like the members of our expedition. What if this is all a test? And not one of those ridiculous "tests to search for a worthy heir" that the bards sing about but more like a "test to find a body worth possessing"?'
Solus's words sounded dangerously similar to the worries Lith had hidden for many days. According to Morok's story, when he first reached the ruins with a group of miners and Crystalsmiths, they had been attacked multiple times by different types of creatures.
The expedition, instead, had been attacked only once on the day of its arrival. It made sense, in a twisted way, since Morok's first group consisted of weak individuals, whereas the current one had wiped out the waves of Teks in a matter of seconds, hence 'passing the test'.
'Viewed in this way, maybe the Odi weren't so stupid after all. The Teks could be considered the admission exam, the array on the front gate was just a test of intelligence, and so on.' Lith thought.
'It would also explain why the Golems had no weak point. They were the first real safety measure we have encountered and maybe by defeating them we have proven our worth.' Solus said.
Lith stood there for a while, hoping that with time the flow of world energy would stop and Kulah wound go back being dormant, but even after several minutes, the situation was unchanged.
He tried going outside the barrier, but the oxygen coming from the tunnels wasn't enough, making Kulah uninhabitable. The Professors were resting to regain their mana, studying the Golems' remains while Assistants and Soldiers continued planting new moss patches.
"It might take a few days to get some fresh air, we might as well get comfortable and catch up a little." Phloria noticed his worried look and tried to cheer him up.
By the time Lith was done explaining to her his new theory about Kulah's real nature and the changes that had occurred to the city after the destruction of the second building, she was the one needing to be cheered up.
"By the gods, if you are right, then we need to get out of here as soon as possible. I'll have the Professors reinforce the arrays again while the cave gets filled with oxygen." Phloria said.
"Excellent idea. In the meantime, I think I'll go examine the tunnels. With Kulah open, there was no time for playing adventurer, but now I have a reasonable explanation to explore them.
"If I find traces of creatures living in the vicinity of Kulah, then all my theory is just my paranoia going wild again. If I discover hidden passages or more signs leading here, instead, it will mean that our trouble has just begun."
Lith would have really liked to sneak out of the camp to check if Solus could assume her tower form inside Kulah. It would give him an immediate escape route in case things went badly or an access point in case he ever decided to return.
AN: If you're not reading this on https://www.ReadReadReadReadReadNovelFull.com/book/12820870105509205/Supreme-Magus you're reading pirated material. Please support the official release.
Chapter 665 Mixed Signals Part 1
Unfortunately, even if Lith could conjure a bubble of air around his head, it would last him only a few seconds if he was forced to go all out. Leaving the camp in such circumstances was an unnecessary risk that he had no reason to take, at least not yet.
The situation was still under control, Lith could afford to wait a little longer.
"I agree with your plan. We'll leave tomorrow at dawn once we make sure that nothing is going to follow us or attack the camp." Phloria said.
"We? No offense but isn't it better if I go alone? You know I'm a tough nut to crack." Lith had mixed feelings about Phloria coming with him. She was a reliable partner, but living together again for so long was becoming kind of awkward.
"Yes, but between your Warden skills and my Forgemaster tools, we can explain anything we might find. You should be the first one to realize how easier would our situation be if we could share all our information with the Professors.
"Your secrets may protect you, but at the same time, they keep you in the dark. On top of that, you're strong but you're not invincible. You needed my help against the fungus just like you needed Morok's against the Golem. Right?"
"Right." Lith had to admit that Golems were his bane. Being an Awakened one meant nothing against constructs. Without the Gatekeeper and with the fire element sealed, he needed help.
'If there really is a guiding hand behind all the hurdles we have faced so far, then the mastermind's next step would be testing us individually. Phloria is the best partner I could ask for. She is strong, smart, resourceful, and I don't have to hold back in front of her.' Lith thought.
The following day, while the rest of the group continued to grow moss patches so that they could resume exploring Kulah as soon as possible, Lith and Phloria took the corridor from which the first wave of Teks had emerged.
Due to the late Professor Syndra's Corona Discharge spell, the walls were still wet from the water and black streaks were visible where the powerful lightning had struck.
"It seems that we are lucky." Lith said while using the array detecting spell on the area in front of themselves.
"What do you mean?" Phloria asked. She was using a light spell to illuminate their surroundings. "Gods, I hate confined spaces. Any move we make echoes and carries across the caves. To make matters worse, all this light makes us an easy target."
"I mean that Professor Syndra might have involuntarily tossed a huge monkey wrench in our invisible enemy's plan. Damn, I overthink so much about the small details that I always end up missing the obvious stuff."
"If that was supposed to be an explanation, it's no wonder that the White Griffon relieved you from your duties as Professor. The class here is almost blind, do you mind being clearer?" She grunted.
"First, I was just an Assistant Professor. Second, I was referring to the soot on the walls. Think about it. According to my theory, someone sent the Teks to attack our camp, and maybe, when Syndra unleashed his tier five spell, he didn't hit just a few overgrown crabs."
Lith could have taught her Fire and Life Vision, but he was afraid that their use would have speeded up her Awakening process. Both spells required to let the mana flow from the core to the eyes, and to make sure that Phloria survived despite her already bright cyan mana core, he needed all the time he could get.
Phloria looked at the blackened walls in a reverie before saying:
"You're right! We only need to follow the markings left by the Corona Discharge and check where they end. If the Teks came from a hidden tunnel, maybe its jammed and we will find it still open.
"If the markings disappear suddenly, instead, it will mean that during the fight the spell must have entered the dimensional corridor the Teks were coming out from and that it killed the mage or destroyed the array that generated the Gate."
"Exactly." Lith nodded. "Maybe the attacks didn't stop because we passed a test, but because Syndra sealed the entrance."
They kept walking in silence for several minutes before Lith was forced to take a rest. Constantly using both Life Vision and the array detecting spell was exhausting for him as using all of her magical senses was for Solus.
Invigoration was an option, but they preferred to be underestimated, in case someone was spying on them.
"Did you find anything?" Phloria asked. The silence and the darkness surrounding them didn't scare her, but the thought of what might be hiding around the corner kept her on edge the whole time.
She kept preparing spells just to be forced to release them once the mental stress they required became too much.
'Unlike Lith, I don't see through walls.' She thought.
"So far the corridors are completely dead. You can relax, the moment I spot an enemy, I'll warn you."
��Yeah, unless they Warp on our back. Anything else?"
"Yes. There are markings on the walls at regular intervals. They are different from those we met following Morok's path." Lith replied.
"Are they always the same word or different ones?"
"Some are Kulah's name but some are different. I jotted them down." Lith said while handing her a piece of paper filled with unknown characters.
"Gods! You should have told me earlier. I'll be right back." Phloria opened a Warp Steps leading straight inside the camp, uncaring of the alarms she triggered.
She gave the Professors the piece of paper along with a brief explanation and returned even before the dimensional door could close.
"You just wasted precious mana. We could've given it to them after our return. Who cares if this tunnel leads to Lutia while that one goes to Valeron? We are here to find out what happened to the Teks, not to sightsee." Lith said.
"Yes, and that's exactly why I asked for a translation. If your theory is right, then those characters are just road signs. If you are wrong, however, they could mark secret tunnels, deposits, monsters breeding grounds, everything.
"You can see the markings with your special sight, but for normal people, Odi included, they are just as good as a secret code. They could help us to unravel this mystery faster." Phloria explained.
"I still think it's a waste of mana, but since we're clutching at straws, your idea is as good as mine." Lith needed a bit more time to recover, so they sat down in a silence that grew awkward with time.
"How are things going for Kamila's sister?" Phloria asked after a while.
"Pretty good. The physical activity is helping her to get used to her newfound sight. Her headaches are almost gone by now and the vertigo fits are becoming a rare occurrence. How do you know about Zinya?"
"Well, your girlfriend now works for my Mom, and she's even more of a control freak than you are. Mom runs background checks even on grass if she gets the chance. I'm happy that things are going well between you and Kamila."
'And that's my cue.' Lith thought while standing up and resuming to walk. 'I'm comfortable spending time with Phloria, but not enough to talk with her about my current relationship.'
AN: If you're not reading this on https://www.ReadReadReadReadReadNovelFull.com/book/12820870105509205/Supreme-Magus you're reading pirated material. Please support the official release.
Chapter 666 Mixed Signals Part 2
They kept following the trail left by Corona Discharge's stream of lightning until it suddenly stopped. The floor went from dripping wet to humid as if an invisible barrier had halted the spell's advance.
"It seems you were right, the only possible explanation for this phenomenon is a Warp Steps." Phloria said.
"Quite the contrary, it doesn't make sense." Lith shook his head. "According to what I saw with Life Vision, the Teks appeared close to our camp, this place is too far to have any significance."
He even tried using Invigoration on the nearby wall despite the fact that none of his magical senses perceived anything, but to no avail. Rocks were just rocks. There was nothing magical in the area.
While Phloria was racking her brain to find an explanation to that riddle, her army amulet drew her attention. The interference prevented her from communicating with the outside, but it still worked just fine at close range.
"I have good news." Professor Neshal's hologram was fuzzy, but her voice was clear. "Most of the characters you found are just well-hidden road signs, but some of them are powerful rune words."
"Never heard of them." Lith replied, noticing that Phloria seemed distressed.
'That's her "I'm hiding something from you" face.' Lith thought. 'Damn, we really did spend too much time together. If she's able to do the same to me, then all my lies are for nothing.'
"I read your file, you've actually met them before." Neshal said. "Do you remember that ancient Warp Gate you discovered in Othre? The one the Dawn Court used? Well, it was made of rune words.
"This is classified information, so I can tell you only the bare minimum to understand our situation. In ancient times, when Forgemastering had yet to be created, mages used runes to empower their creations.
"Runes are power words that represent an aspect of magic and that can imprint it in an object. They were awfully expensive and unreliable. You needed to carve them and then fill them with magic crystal's dust to keep them active."
'Like those cables!' Lith thought.
"They were expensive because once pulverized, a magic crystal loses a lot of power and recharges slowly, so you could only use purple crystals and obtain mediocre effects. Unreliable because if anything happens to a single rune, the whole spell is broken.
"Imagine a sword that can stop working after a bad clash, or an armor that offers no protection if it takes a hit. That kind of bad. In ancient battles, runes became the first target because they were easy to spot.
"That's the reason modern magic uses only mana runes to create arrays and artifacts. They are conjured by the spells, giving them their effects, but being made of energy, they can't be damaged."
'So runes were the first way fake mages had found to emulate true magic.' Lith thought. 'Fake Forgemasters need to draw magic circles, whereas I don't need them because I can freely manipulate my mana.'
'Yes, but Neshal is feeding you only old news.' Solus pointed out. 'I bet that Runesmithing has evolved with time. Both the sword in our possession and Phloria's hairpin are the proof of that.
'Huryole's sword must be some kind of middle link between ancient and modern Runesmithing. I'm sure of it because its runes are all made of energy, not carved, but unlike Phloria's hairpin, they are visible.
'If you think about it, visible runes have several downsides. The most obvious are that they made it impossible for you to hide since they shine like a torch and that just by watching at your blade your opponent can predict its enchantments.'
'If even after receiving Silverwing's legacy fake mages didn't stop using runes, then they must be useful.' Lith thought.
"What did those runes do?" Phloria asked, snapping Lith out of his inner debate with Solus.
"Each one of them represents a set of coordinates for some kind of Warping device. My guess is that the Odi used them to Warp troops at the right intersections to surround invaders." Neshal said.
"Can you point them out to us?"
Following Phloria's request, a set of characters appeared on her communication amulet. Then, the Professor broke each character down into words and runes. After ending the call, Phloria said:
"I think I know what happened to the Teks, but to be sure I need to get to this rune. Do you remember where is this placed?" She was showing him a character comprised of an unknown power rune and the word "Meat Shields".
Lith had no clue, but Solus did. He opened a Warp Steps that lead them straight to their destination and then pointed the hidden character to Phloria. She took her silvery wand out of her dimensional amulet and touched the character with it.
A strand of silver light filled the markings on the stone and then more. Corona Discharge had scraped the surface of the wall, making part of the character unreadable. The markings only had a physical nature, not a magical one, so Lith could only see them with Fire Vision.
Phloria's wand, instead, was able to imbue the markings with magic, forcing the rune to activate. The faint traces of mana left from its latest activation outlined the original shape of the rune, allowing Phloria to repair it with earth magic.
Once she was done, she used what looked like purple crystal dust on the restored rune until it glowed for a second.
"There. Old runes are really annoying. Giving them the correct shape is not enough to repair them, you also have to restore their mana flow with crystals." She explained.
"I guess Orion has taught you about runes. Did he do it in case your hairpin gets damaged?" Lith asked.
"So you knew." She said with a smile. "No, modern runes can't get damaged. Dad taught me about runes in case I decide to become a Royal Forgemaster as well. By the way, it's not just your sight being special, but your touch as well.
"Otherwise you would have noticed that my weapon and part of my equipment have been Runesmithed as well."
Unlike Lith, Phloria didn't even attempt to lie and shared with him everything she could.
"What are you doing exactly?" Lith asked.
"One of the many downsides of ancient runes is that they couldn't be imprinted. As long as they have power, anyone can use them."
Lith nodded at her words. The Dawn's Court Warp Gate worked the same way.
"Which means that if I can properly restore the dimensional rune the Odi used to ambush us, we can get behind the enemy lines by using their own secret pathway."
"How do modern runes work, exactly?"
"I'm sorry, but I can't teach you about them. First, I know only the basics, so it wouldn't be much of use for you. Second, if I did, I would put more than just my life on the line, I would put Dad's as well.
"Even speaking about them is an act of treason. My father trusted me and I'm trusting you, but I cannot involve him in my decisions."
'Fuck me sideways.' Lith thought. 'The Kingdom takes Runesmithing very seriously. Being a Royal Forgemaster must be quite a big deal if no one ever talked me about it before.'
"How did you discover about runes? Not from Othre, otherwise you would have already made the connection between the vampires' Warp Gate and the Odi's." Phloria asked, proving Lith once again that she had not to be underestimated.
AN: If you're not reading this on https://www.ReadReadReadReadReadNovelFull.com/book/12820870105509205/Supreme-Magus you're reading pirated material. Please support the official release.
Chapter 667 Meat Factory Part 1
"I raid Huryole on a regular basis. During my last trip, I met an emerald dragon and I found these." He took the booklet and the sword out of his pocket dimension.
Phloria's wand hit the ground and emitted a ting.
"Did you really fight a dragon? A real one? Big, scaly, and everything else?"
"More like I ran away from him. I'm not stupid. Emperor Beasts refer to me as just a Wyrmling, so a full-grown dragon is definitely out of my league. Yet."
Phloria picked up her wand, using it to examine both the ancient relics. Forgemastering helped her to avoid thinking about the implications Lith's latest revelations held.
"The sword is an interesting link between old and modern Runesmithing, but it sucks. Judging from its runes, it's a teaching prop." Phloria said.
"Nailed in one." Lith gave her thumbs up. "What about the book?"
"I only know the Three Great Countries standard language, so this is gibberish to me. As for the magic circles inscribed in here, they are more teaching props. Some of these are powerful spells, others are meh. Do you want me to mark them?" Phloria asked and Lith nodded for her to proceed.
She gave each spell an academy like score based on her understanding, adding a question point whenever she met a spell beyond her knowledge.
"Why Huryole had teaching props and how did you understand their use despite being completely oblivious about runes?"
"Again, I'm not stupid. If my theory is correct, Huryole is the zeroth great academy." He then proceeded to tell her about his findings about the lost city, turning her surprise into shock.
"I bet that this knowledge is a state secret as well, so keep it for yourself."
Phloria nodded, her mind was still a little fuzzy. She had never expected that Lith would actually reply to her questions.
'Is he being honest with me because he trusts me or because he just wants to get even for my earlier explanation? Gods, the more I learn about him, the less I understand how Lith thinks. Maybe I should just ask him…' Her train of thoughts was derailed by Lith exploiting her moment of weakness.
'In for a penny, in for a pound.' He thought. 'If Runesmithing is as important as I think, Yondra will not teach me about it unless I become her apprentice or something catastrophic happens. I must strike the iron while it's hot.'
"What do you make of this?" Lith asked showing her the ring that he had received from the fungal creature.
'You're a horrible person.' Solus said. 'Phloria just admitted that she is putting her life in your hands and you can only think about squeezing as much knowledge as you can from her?'
'Solus, let's be honest. I put my life in her hands the day I showed her my other form. Besides, anything I learn can help us to get out of here alive, save Phloria from her Awakening, and maybe me from my reincarnation problem.
'I'm morally flexible, yes, but everything I do, I do it for a reason and Phloria knows it as well as you do.'
"Where did you find it? It's even crappier than the sword, but this is a different kind of approach to blending old and modern Runesmithing." Phloria had known Lith for years, yet she still wondered why sometimes a golden light shone behind his eyes.
It was the manifestation of Solus's strong emotions.
"Off the record?" Lith asked, receiving a nod of approval. "It's a gift. The living fungus gave it to me. It also said a lot of gibberish. I really hope it was just a thank you, because if it shared with me the secrets of Kulah, you'll see a grown man cry."
"And you didn't tell me this before because…?"
"Because I knew about runes, I want to learn about runes, and if I told anyone I had found an ancient Odi ring, the army would have taken it from me. Being my friend and my commanding officer, I didn't want to burden you with any more secrets but since we already got to this point…"
Phloria sighed. She had the impression of being taken advantage of, but she could also understand Lith's reasoning. Her father could provide her with everything she wanted, whereas Lith only had his own cunning and a mountain of secrets.
"Did you imprint it already?"
"Despite knowing that the Odi used slave items and suspecting some of them might still be alive and kicking?" His words were full of sarcasm.
"This should just be a dimensional item. It's nothing dangerous." She gave the ring back to Lith.
"A dimensional item with a crystal?" Lith couldn't believe his own words.
"I told you, old runes suck. Now, I need a few moments to collect myself and prepare my spells. We have no idea what lies beyond the Gate, so it's better to be prepared for the worst."
Lith nodded and started to blurt the first American pop song he could think of as he was seriously considering accepting Yondra's offer.
'Wait a minute. I still have to talk with the Hydra lady, maybe she might be able to help me. It's better not to rush into anything.' The promise Lith had made to Protector also reminded him about the one with Selia and her threat to kill him if he didn't visit them again.
'Damn, I don't hear from Kamila for almost two weeks and winter is almost over. I would need to clone myself to do everything on my list.'
"Are you ready?" Phloria asked.
"Yes." Lith replied, stopping in the middle of the chorus.
Phloria touched the rune with her wand and said a single word.
"Kron."
Lith could see with Life Vision that her body was emitting pure mana, as if she was using spirit magic. The mana traveled from her core to her hand and into the wand, filling the rune.
It wasn't blue like the one Lith usually emitted, nor emerald green like the legend said. Maybe it was because of the Orichalcum wand, but her mana was of pristine white.
'If this is like the Gate the Court used, then only one of its sides needs to be powered up since its coordinates are permanently fixed.' Lith thought while having the Skinwalker armor cover his now scaly throat.
Origin Flames were more than an instrument of attack, he could also use them to force the Gate to collapse in case the necessity arose.
A Gate as big as the tunnel they were in appeared in front of them. On the other side, there was a room entirely made of metal.
Every building in Kulah seemed to follow such design choice, making Lith wonder if the Odi did it to avoid them being breached with earth magic or simply because they lacked the mana necessary to protect them all with the earth blocking array.
'Even if they knew about Awakened ones, the mana geyser provides them both a perfect cover from above and all the world energy they needed. Unless they were already using most of its power for some experiment.' Lith thought.
"By the Great Mother!" Phloria said.
The Odi word associated with the Warp rune was "Meat Shields", an accurate definition for the purpose of such a place.
AN: If you're not reading this on https://www.ReadReadReadReadReadNovelFull.com/book/12820870105509205/Supreme-Magus you're reading pirated material. Please support the official release.
Chapter 668 Meat Factory Part 2
The Gate opened in the bottom right corner of the room, allowing them to examine its contents. There were several thanks filled with a transparent liquid, similar to those Lith's group had found in the first building.
One cylindrical tank held a female Tek in what they could only hope was a state of suspended animation. Her exoskeleton was pierced by tubes in several places, flooding her body with liquids of different colors.
The liquids' nature was a mystery, but their purpose was as clear as the day. The poor creature was forced to produce eggs non-stop. Each one was the size of an orange and was made of a translucent pearly substance holding a smaller golden sphere at its center.
The second tank held another Tek that had to be a male. Based on the extra tube on his nether regions, he wasn't faring any better than his unwilling breeding mate.
Another tank, this one shaped like an aquarium, contained several Tek younglings the size of a ten year old child. Their diet seemed to be based on defective Tek eggs, deformed Tek younglings, and the corpses of those who died in the constant struggle for food and space.
The white of their chitinous bodies looked blue due to all the Tek blood spilled inside the tank. The battle for survival was so fierce that the water filters weren't capable to keep up with the bloodshed.
The younglings were currently chopping a newborn Tek with their pincers and eating its remains.
"This is a nightmare! Those poor creatures are being turned into cannibals, only the most ferocious and the strongest among them have any chance of survival." Her blade shone of a black light, ready to unleash several spells, but Lith stopped Phloria from crossing the threshold.
"We can't risk triggering more alarms, also we don't know if we can safely open the portal from the other side and get back into the caves." Lith said.
"Also, you have yet to explain to me what do you think happened after Syndra used Corona Discharge."
"As if you don't know it already, but thanks." Phloria said while regaining her cool and clutching her estoc so hard that her knuckles turned white.
"The lightning must have struck in-between waves, otherwise you would have seen the Gates. That way, it could fry the Teks and destroy the runes.
"When the system attempted and failed to open the Gates again, it must have tried to open them in succession from the closest to the farthest, riding along the wave until it beat Corona Discharge to the punch and swallowed the spell."
"It makes sense." Lith nodded, trying to think about something to say to keep Phloria's mind occupied. The procedure taking place in front of them was something disgusting to the point that any sane person would have their stomach churning.
'It must be because of people like the Odi that magical beasts prefer suicide and filicide to let themselves captured.' He thought.
"What do you want to do, Captain Ernas?" Lith used her military rank, to remind her of their situation, but most importantly, of her status.
"If we go inside an activate traps that block even one of the elements, we might not be able to escape with dimensional magic. We can destroy the tanks from here, but there's no telling what defensive mechanisms are in place."
"I had no intention of doing either." Phloria's eyes were as cold as ice. "I just wanted to take a peek inside and check if we can use the ancient gates to raid the place. Arrays?"
Lith waved his hand, and several magical formations became visible to the naked eye.
"What the heck?" Phloria blurted out. There wasn't a single centimeter of space covered by at least two arrays. "I recognize only the lighting and the self-cleaning array."
"Same. The others use runes too old for me to know them. Is there any you recognize?" Based on what Neshal had said, the same runes were used for both arrays and Forgemastering, so Lith had actually decent foundations for Runesmithing.
Or at least he hoped so.
"Yes. That is the ancient rune for fire." She pointed at a glowing character that resembled an English P.
"That is the rune for darkness…" The character resembled an M overlapping with an X.
"…and that one is the rune for air. The others I have no idea what they mean." If Lith had to describe it, he would compare the rune to something drawn by someone who sneezed with their pen on the paper.
"My paranoid guess is that fire is for intruders. Darkness is for the Teks, in the case they manage to escape, and air is an alarm." Lith said
"Agreed. Now we have to wait and see if the Gate has some defensive mechanism too. I wouldn't be surprised if opening it by our side required some kind of convened signal." Phloria was cautious. Her spite for the Odi only made her more vigilant.
"Can you tell me if there's any difference between ancient and modern runes?" Lith asked.
"Ancient runes were less efficient and more unstable. That's all I can share with you without endangering Dad."
'Damn! Then both the ring and the sword are only good as teaching props. At least thanks to Phloria now I know the ancient runes for dimensional items. I can compare them with the modern ones I know and start experimenting already.' Lith thought.
Just as Phloria predicted, after a handful of second the alarm array was triggered. It emitted a high pitched sound and activated the other arrays in the rooms as the dimensional door was closing.
"Well, the damage is done. We learned what we needed so we might as well crash this party for good." She unleashed her Tier five Mage Knight spell, Blade of Destruction before the Gate disappeared.
For a moment, Lith could see a great mass of darkness and lightning magic take form inside the room. Noises of shattering glass and screeching metal filled the air just for a split second.
The dimensional door was now sealed again and silence returned. Phloria damaged the dimensional rune on the wall she had just repaired to prevent further attacks from the "Meat Shields".
"I know that what I did was seemingly useless. The Teks in the tanks were probably comatose or raving mad and I doubt there's only one such a room in Kulah. I did it because this way the smoke should point us to the right building." Phloria said.
"Our orders are to find and destroy anything that can harm the Griffon Kingdom and I think that a monster farm qualifies. I also did it because, orders or not, I can't see such things and do nothing.
"I joined the army because I want to make a difference for the citizens of the Kingdom, humans and beasts alike. Some people might consider my actions just a drop in the ocean, but to me, it was saving them from a fate crueler than death."
Phloria opened a Warp Steps that brought the straight back to the camp. After showing to the Professors the arrays revealed by Lith's spell and describing them the alarm mechanism, their next course of action became clear.
AN: If you're not reading this on https://www.ReadReadReadReadReadNovelFull.com/book/12820870105509205/Supreme-Magus you're reading pirated material. Please support the official release.
Chapter 669 Planning Ahead Part 1
"You were wrong, Ranger Verhen. The darkness array wasn't for the Teks, but for us intruders." Neshal said. "If you had stepped through the Gate, the darkness spell would have tried to kill you right after sealing the dimensional door.
"Using the Odi's runes is too dangerous. It's better to go through the front door and clear our path one bit at a time instead of jumping feet first into a trap."
"How long before we can resume exploring Kulah?" Lith asked.
"At least a couple of days. I recommend four days so that we can use fire magic without risking to suffocate. Judging from the Golems' behavior, the Odi worked hard to prevent intruders from using powerful fire spells, so by messing with that we might have an easier time countering their defenses."
"Agreed. We only have to wait now." Phloria said.
Since he had nothing to do, Lith went inside the men's quarters. He used earth magic and the Hush spell to get some privacy. Then, he took out his army amulet and called his handler while using Accumulation.
Feeding the amulet enough energy to counter the interference was child's play for him. Unlike fake mages, Lith could freely manipulate his mana core.
***
Meanwhile, on Mogar's surface, the sudden pull at her consciousness made Kamila flinch. She anxiously took her communicator out of her purse to check if it was the Human Resources.
They were in charge of informing Constables if something happened to their relatives. Lith had disappeared off the face of Mogar for almost two weeks and to make matters worse, Fallmug was missing as well.
After Zinya had petitioned for divorce, he had tried multiple times to contact Kamila to discover his wife's whereabouts, failing every single time. She had never shared her contact rune with him and had blocked her mother's the moment Zinya had received her own communication amulet.
Her family was now officially dead to her. Yet she couldn't help but worry that something had happened to Lith or that Fallmug had found Zinya, so Kamila was on edge at the idea of receiving bad news.
"How many times do I have to tell you to stay away from that thing during our lessons?" Jirni said, stabbing their prisoner in his tight with one of her needles.
"Whatever it is, it can wait."
"Lith's rune is active! He's calling me." Kamila ignored the man's screams and showed Jirni the blinking rune, almost jumping for the joy.
"What are you waiting for? Answer immediately, I haven't heard from neither him nor my daughters for days!" Jirni planted a mouth gag on the prisoner with a well-placed fist, which also dislocated his jaw so that it would not need straps to secure it.
"But first: Royal override. Identification: Archon Jirni Ernas. Password of the day: Sylpha, Silverwing, Knight, Blue." All the magic crystals on Kamila's amulet lit up at once.
"I've activated the secure line. No one can listen to your conversation, not even the army."
"Thanks! There are so many things I can't say as a handler." Kamila couldn't believe her luck.
"If you really want to thank me, once you two are done, put him on. I need to speak to him as well. While we are at it, use meeting room number three. It's the only one without recording devices." Jirni said.
"Will do! I'll try to be quick."
"There's no rush dear. We're done for today." Jirni's words surprised the prisoner quite a bit. He had been captured during a slave auction and identified as one of its ringleaders.
He had been interrogated for days before Constable Ernas resorted to using more violent approaches. He had yet to say anything. He was aware that the moment he had nothing to offer they would execute him.
'The longer I hold on, the more time my accomplices have to get me out of here.' He thought. 'They have to, otherwise a lot of noble heads will roll. I have no intention of dying alone.
'This stupid woman has even given me the means to contact my associates. With her password, I can easily bribe a guard and safely use their communication amulet.'
Jirni seemed to read his mind, because the more confident he became, the wider her grin grew.
"You know, it's hard to find scum like you." Jirni said. "That's the reason you're still alive. My apprentice is still naïve, so when I saw you, I knew you would be a tough nut to crack.
"I used you to allow her to practice all the normal interrogation techniques and develop her own. Then, when as predicted you didn't talk, my aim was to use you to not make her feel guilty for what she was going to do. Everyone has to start somewhere.
"This call changes everything, though. We both deserve some quality time with our families and I hate leaving a job halfway through, so…." She struck both of his lungs with thin, hollow needles.
At first, the prisoner felt barely a sting. Then, he realized he couldn't breathe anymore. The air entered from his nose and mouth, but it was as if someone was choking him.
"That's called a pneumothorax. I punctured your lungs so that no matter how much air you draw in, they can't fill up because it leaks and fills your thoracic cavity. You'll die in about eight minutes, without being able to talk or even cry.
"If you're lucky, she'll be done soon. I always confirm my kills, so the moment that door opens, I'll give you a quick death." Jirni noticed the confusion in the man's eyes, all the unanswered questions that were keeping the pain at bay.
"Do you really think by remaining silent you had any chance of survival? In my line of work, the first one to talk gets the better deal. Your accomplices were smarter than you and told us everything we needed.
"Some of them will go free, others will serve a sentence. You instead, were nothing but a teaching prop since the beginning."
In the meeting room three, Kamila was overjoyed seeing that Lith was alright. He couldn't tell her much about his mission, so she was the one speaking for most of the time.
"These ruins are a pain in the neck. Between the constant danger and communication blackout, I really missed you." There were many things he would have liked to ask her, but the army amulet triggered his paranoia too much.
The idea that someone could listen to their conversation kept him on the edge despite Jirni's reassurances.
"Why are you still working on the weekend? I hoped to reach you while you were still at my place, to 'casually' talk with my family."
"The weekend ended yesterday, silly." She giggled. "You must have lost track of the days."
"Damn, I think you are right. How is everyone?"
Kamila told him the last news about his family. Tista had finally started her journey, sending everyone in a panic. It was the first time that she traveled completely alone and her absence complicated things even more now that Rena was pregnant.
"Oh gods! Not again!" Lith blurted out.
"Your sister is very young and her family is wealthy. Why shouldn't she have more than one child?" Kamila found Lith's reaction somewhat disturbing. She had never considered having children of her own, but such a fierce denial made her scared of the future.
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Chapter 670 Planning Ahead Part 2
'Am I worried because I'm older than him or it's just my insecurity talking?' Kamila thought, a second before turning beet reed for apparently no reason. 'What's wrong with me? We have never even talked about marriage and I'm already worrying about how many children we should have?'
"Kami, are you feeling alright? You seem a bit off." Lith said, snapping her out of the chaos her mind had become.
"I'm perfectly fine, thanks. I'm just worried about Zinya." Happy to change the topic, Kamila told him all about the divorce and Fallmug's disappearance.
'I don't pay the bastard a visit since the mission started. I hope he doesn't get the wrong idea and thinks to be off the hook.' Lith thought. 'I really hope he tries something funny near my home. Between the arrays and the Queen's corps, they'll pick up his remains with a teaspoon.'
"I'm more worried about you. Being a civil servant, most of your information is public. Fallmug must know that the easiest way to get to Zinya is through you. Be on your guard, always." He said.
"Don't worry, I'll be fine." Kamila was both flattered and happy by how concerned he was about her safety. She was more than able to take care of herself, especially now that she was a Field Assistant, but being pampered a little after such a long separation felt nice.
"Belius has so many safety measures that even if Fallmug comes there, there's not much he can do. Besides, I've been staying at the Ernas Household for a while. I doubt even he would be so foolish to attack me there."
"What? Why?" Lith asked.
"Officially, for my training, so that Archon Ernas can teach me how to arrange the work from home when necessary and teach me everything I need about Constable's codes away from prying eyes. Off the record, the Ernas feel lonely with all their daughters away.
"I suppose they want some company or maybe they were hoping for something like this to happen. You know, you calling me so that they had the opportunity to speak with Phloria and Quylla. How are they?"
"Given the circumstances, I'd say they're doing fine. Quylla is the one struggling the most. She can't stand remaining on the sidelines, but she knows that she can't help us in a fight. As for Phloria, she has to make tough calls almost every day.
"Luckily for me, I'm just a Ranger. The Professors know they stuff but are too arrogant, they- Never mind. I can't talk about that. We would both end in trouble and I don't want to endanger your career." He said with a warm smile.
"Speaking of Rangers, how is he?" Kamila asked.
"Who are you talking about?"
"Ranger Eari, the beast-man."
"The what?"
"Beast-man. They call him like that because there was a year when he never took a single day leave and when he finally returned to civilization, he behaved more like a magical beast than a human."
"He is indeed odd." Lith replied, wondering if Morok was just a man rude enough to act like a beast or simply a beast shapeshifted into a man.
When they finished talking, Kamila gave the amulet to Jirni. By that time, the prisoner was already dead by more than half an hour. Jirni had taken care of piercing the corpse's heart and brain before beheading it.
There were rumors about necromancy techniques capable of extracting the memories from the recently deceased and Archon Ernas liked to err on the side of safety whenever state secrets were involved.
There were people who would pay a small fortune to get access even to a daily password.
"How are my girls? Spare me the niceties, I want the truth." Jirni asked as soon as Kamila left them alone after she activated a personal device that further ensured their privacy.
"They both almost died more than once. Quylla is putting up a tough act, but I think she feels guilty for failing to save our fallen comrades. Phloria, instead has a few problems with deciding who lives and who dies." Lith could openly talk with Jirni.
With her status and rank, he doubted that anything that passed through Berion's office didn't reach her ears in less than a minute.
"Good. This experience is bound to help them to understand the implications of their life choices. Sometimes I'm afraid that Orion has sheltered them too much. I'm glad that you're with them in their time of need.
"You protect mine and I'll keep protecting yours." She said.
"Do you mean that…" Lith could only call himself an idiot for having taken Kamila's naïve thinking seriously.
"That Kamila now lives in my home for her own safety. I took some information on this Fallmug. He's not a criminal, but he's acquainted with plenty of them. If he decides to, he can mess with Kamila. Zinya, on the contrary, is beyond his reach.
"Promise me that you'll bring my baby girls back home and you have my word that I'll keep your courtyard clear." Jirni said.
"I would have done it anyway. I resent you doubting my friendship." Lith's voice turned cold. He didn't like to receive ultimatums.
"So would have I, but you know as well as I do that common interests form a stronger bond than any pretty word can. Now that we have a deal, please put Phloria through. I hope that for once she will listen to me." Jirni sighed.
Lith was now in quite a pickle. The moment he left the amulet, the conversation would end. On top of that, he would have to explain how he had managed to establish a connection without external help.
He and Solus quickly arranged an array with the purple crystals Professor Neshal had gifted him to fuel the amulet.
'We're lucky we had this many big and powerful crystals at hand, otherwise such a makeshift formation would never work.' Solus thought.
Phloria was amazed by Lith bypassing the interference so easily, but she didn't ask him for explanations. Their cohabitation was starting to become awkward. Lith had opened up to her more in those last few days than in the two years they had been together.
That coupled with the words they had exchanged during Jirni's birthday were giving her a headache. To add insult to injury, her mother's smug grin told Phloria that she was well aware of that.
"I'm glad to see you're alright and in one piece, dear. I hope you can get back home soon." Jirni would always caress before landing a blow.
"Thanks, Mom. I can't wait for this mission to be over. The things I've seen here will give me nightmares for days, I'm sure of it." Phloria was used to the killing part of her job, to her life being constantly at risk.
Seeing the results of the Odi's work, facing the consequences of their experiments, however, was eating her from the inside. How could she hate the living fungus for killing so many innocent people when the creature itself as a victim?
Even the people forming the monster who had attacked them in the lobby weren't at fault. Killing innocents was chipping away the pride she took in her job, making her feel more like a murderer than a soldier.
The memory of the Teks in the tanks overlapped with that of Morok eating them as if they were just crabs, making her want to puke.
AN: If you're not reading this on https://www.ReadReadReadReadReadNovelFull.com/book/12820870105509205/Supreme-Magus you're reading pirated material. Please support the official release.
Chapter 671 Impending Threat Part 1
"You'll get used to it, dear." Jirni said, trying to ease her daughter's mind after seeing how pale Phloria had become. "I have the same problem with Kamila. The poor woman pukes and cries a lot when we run into certain types of crimes, but she's getting stronger for it.
"I'll tell you the same thing I told her. Don't bottle up, your feelings, otherwise one of these days you will snap. Find someone you trust and share your burden with them, as I do with your father.
"You could talk to Quylla…"
"No way. She's already got a lot on her plate. I don't think she could handle the pressure of knowing how conflicted I am about this mission. She needs to believe that whatever happens, I'll be there to protect her." Phloria said.
"Then you could talk to Lith." Jirni 'casually' suggested, as if it hadn't been her goal from the beginning.
"In the lost cities, he has faced worse things than some human experimentation. It would be a perfect opportunity for you two to reconnect after avoiding each other for so long. Is Lith still airtight or has he finally opened up to you?"
"Nothing has changed." Phloria's reply came out too fast to be believable.
"That's good to hear." Jirni said, as if Phloria had told her the opposite.
"Yet don't get carried away. He still has a girlfriend and one should never overestimate the feelings that constantly being together in a life or death situation can induce. They die as fast as they are born, so tread with caution."
"Mom, I'm not going to discuss that part of my life with you!" The sudden blood rush to her face told Jirni that something was indeed happening.
"Sure, dear. Do you mind passing the communicator to Quylla? I would like to cheer her up too. If you call me again in six hours, you would have the opportunity to talk with your father."
While Jirni talked with her daughters, Kamila used her civilian amulet to inform Lith's family about his well-being. Hearing about it from Berion never meant much to them.
He could only tell them that he was alive and on a mission, which they already knew simply by looking at Lith's rune on their amulets. When someone died, their imprint on a magical item disappeared and so would their communication rune.
Kamila, instead, told them how he looked well-fed, in perfect health, and even in his normal spirits, so the mission couldn't be that bad.
Since they had finished early, Jirni and Kamila could go back home for lunch instead of eating in a local restaurant.
'Gods, I've always heard that Constables have to watch their backs, but we have so many soldiers in our detail that the only threat is that to my figure.' Kamila thought.
'Long hours sitting behind a desk, delicious meals, and then when I get back home, I'm too tired to exercise. How the heck does Lady Ernas keep her hourglass figure with our line of work?'
To make matters worse, the lunch at the Ernas House was always a full course meal, so Kamila would end up eating more than at any restaurant to not offend her hosts.
"I'm glad that Lith is with our baby girls. Those Odi gave madness a whole new definition." Orion said. "Their Forgemastering experiments were as cruel as insane. The expedition members are lucky to have faced only faulty projects, otherwise they would have probably died."
At those words, Kamila became pale, whereas Jirni's curiosity was piqued.
"How do you know what they have faced? There has been no report." She asked.
"When he called Kamila, his amulet sent all the data they have collected in encrypted mode to the research division and I'm a Royal Forgemaster, dear. You'll read my report once I'm done writing it, but I can spoiler you some things."
"Please do." Jirni nodded for him to continue.
"From what I have seen, everything we heard about the lost Odi civilization was an understatement. The ruins they are at must belong to the period immediately preceding their fall…"
"Do you want me to leave?" Kamila said.
On one hand, she had no idea if her clearance level allowed her to hear such conversation, nor if she was capable of bearing it. On the other hand, she was dying to know what was happening to Lith.
"There's no need for such a thing, dear. We are in the same boat, both at work and for the pinch our loved ones are into. You deserve to know." Jirni said while holding Kamila's hand.
'Gods, I wish my mother was such a good, sensitive person. Appearances are indeed deceiving. When I first met Lady Ernas, I thought she was a monster.' Kamila thought, moved by Jirni's kindness.
'Gods, my wife is a monster. She's playing that poor woman like a fiddle.' Orion thought.
'I still don't understand why Lieutenant Yehval now practically lives in our home, but if I know one thing for sure: by having Kamila listening to these kinds of things, Jirni is hastening the development of Lith's relationship. They will either break up or get serious soon.'
"What were you saying about the Odi, dear?" Jirni asked.
"That their experiments were a perfect blend of genius and madness. I received the data about two facilities. In the first one, there were the results of the Odi's attempt to Forgemaster living beings." Orion replied.
"Do you mean to create artificial life?" Jirni had heard countless tales about such nonsense, but aside from Necromancy, no magic had ever been able to create a functional life form.
"No. I mean using light magic to alter the life force of their slaves. Carving runes inside their bodies, to use them as vessels for their Forgemastering spells and make them akin to enchanted items."
"What? Did they succeed?" Jirni turned pale for the first time in years.
"Of course not. As you know, life force is very delicate. Even with all their experiments, the Odi only managed to turn their victims into living slave items, but both their bodies and life span were horribly crippled.
"They could live for just a few hours before dying."
"So it's not a feasible line of research, right?" Jirni was worried about such an eventuality. Any mad tyrant would have made such human modification mandatory on both their subjects and prisoners, turning them into an unwilling army of spies.
It would have meant the end of life as she knew it, making the army and all the security measures that had protected the Kingdom until that moment useless.
"No. The biggest flaw of this kind of experiment is that the Forgemaster and the vessel cannot be the same person. Two kinds of mana cannot coexist in the same body, so the victim soon dies of mana poisoning."
"What about the second facility?" Jirni asked.
"It was equally disgusting. As you know, normal metals do not have a mana flow, which is the reason we Bond them with mana crystals. They are not only needed to fuel the Forgemastered spells, but also to help the relatively inert metal to withstand the magical energies without crumbling.
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Chapter 672 Impending Threat Part 2
"In their attempt to artificially create Davross and Adamant, the Odi siphoned life force from their subjects and forced it into common metals, in the hope that a mana flow would form as well.
"What actually happened, was the creation of cursed items that instead of giving power to their user, they would actually take it away. The weapons crafted this way turned out to have the flaws of both metals ad living beings.
"Like metals, they have no mana flow. Plus, like humans, they need to feed and sooner or later they die."
"You gave me a big scare." Jirni said. "Based on Phloria's early reports and your assessment, the Odi look like just a bunch of incompetent tinkerers. Nothing they did actually worked. Then why do you look so worried?"
"Because you seem to forget that they managed to enslave a magical beast and it survived centuries. Also because the data comes from the hallways, where every craftsman would only exhibit prototypes and incomplete works.
"Those are things that prove the value of their crafter's skill but are disposable. The real artifacts, if there is any, are bound to be inside the buildings and they have yet to explore them.
"It's quite a terrifying perspective if you think about it. Also, I'm afraid because the Odi weren't just tinkerers, they had mastered light magic to the point that they were able to try and expand its boundaries.
"If even one of their experiments succeeded and the expedition team faces it, we can only hope it's a non sentient artifact. Anything that is still alive after so many centuries would have all the power and the skill needed to do a lot of damage."
Orion's outline of the risks that Kulah posed made the rest of the lunch pass in worried silence. Even if Phloria contacted them, there wasn't much besides a "be careful" they could tell her.
Orion had just speculations about the severity of their situation, but he couldn't provide the expedition with anything useful at the moment. After the meal, Orion went back to study the data from Kulah, while Jirni and Kamila resumed their lessons.
Besides investigation techniques and the Constable's protocols, Jirni was also teaching Kamila self-defense. Their sparring sessions were long, tiresome, and most of all, humiliating.
Kamila couldn't understand how a woman smaller, lighter, and older than herself could effortlessly throw her around as if she weighed no more than a dirty rag. The only silver lining was that they didn't spar often.
Usually, at the end of a work's day, Kamila was too tired to do anything but sleep. After the Ernas' family healer fixed all of the scrapes and bruises Kamila had sustained during training, she couldn't wait to go home.
"Are you sure you don't want to stay for dinner? It takes a minute to add another serving and the guest room is always ready." Jirni asked.
"Thanks Lady Ernas, but the Camellia needs to be recharged and I've yet to check the papers for Zinya's divorce. She hasn't learned how to read, let alone understand how the Kingdom's law works.
"Without my input, her lawyer can't proceed."
"You could bring the Camellia here and maybe our lawyer could help you." Jirni offered.
'Yeah, right. The only time I accepted, I spent the entire evening studying under your supervision. Then you woke me up before dawn for a sparring session that went on until breakfast and then we went straight to work.' Kamila thought.
'The Camellia is the perfect excuse to get some personal space and some time to relax. I have enough of your boot camp.'
"I prefer to keep the Camellia at my home, so in case Lith comes back he'll know I'm okay and that I always think about him." She actually said.
"Also, I'm grateful for your offer, but this is a family business. I turned down Lith's offer for help, so you'll understand if I do the same to yours."
Kamila wasn't stupid. She was aware that if either Lith or Jirni got involved too much, Fallmug would probably die in an 'accident'. Despite the fact that she hated him deeply for what he had done to her sister, Fallmug Sarta was still the father of Zinya's children.
Her sister wanted the matter to be solved in a court of law, to give Fallmug the opportunity to redeem himself in the future and maybe be part of their children's life. Kamila respected her wishes and as long as Fallmug played fairly, she would do the same.
Returning to her apartment took her just a few minutes. The Ernas Household had its private Gate that led Kamila back to Belius, and from there a City Warp brought her to her neighborhood.
Even if winter was almost over and the days were getting longer, after sunset the temperature would still plummet in the north. The streets were almost empty, and the few people still around were rushing to their homes.
Kamila could see her breath steaming while walking toward the building entrance, the key already in her hand.
'Now I understand why Lith hates Belius so much. Dimensional items are so convenient that once you get used to them it's like an addiction. Just a few months ago, carrying bags of documents didn't bother me, yet now…'
Her train of thoughts was derailed when she neared a corner and a strong hand grabbed her shoulder, pulling her inside a blind alley. It yanked her so hard that she was about to fall face first against the concrete, but her training kicked in.
Kamila let go of her suitcase, that went crashing against the trash bins and used both of her hands to grab the arm over her shoulder. It allowed her to regain her footing and to use the strength of the pull to perform a shoulder throw.
The unknown attacker was bigger and heavier than Jirni, but compared to her, he opposed no resistance. Their back slammed hard against the ground as Kamila never let go of the arm, making it impossible for them to break the fall.
She twisted and pulled the limb, breaking it in three different points. Their shoulder, elbow, and wrist shattered, making the assailant curl up in pain.
Kamila stepped back, to look at her enemy from a safe distance. Her hand went to her pocket, searching for her communication amulet, when a second assailant struck at her back with a metal pipe, sending the amulet flying.
The impact was strong enough that would have broken at least two of her ribs, if the Orichalcum Skinwalker armor she wore didn't take the brunt of the impact, dispersing most of its energy.
She turned around just in time to intercept a second hit aimed at her head. Kamila infused the armor with some of her mana, making it turn back into its metal form. When the pipe struck her arm, the resulting impact was akin to hitting a mountain.
The weapon slipped away from the injured hand of its wielder as Kamila's now metalized foot kicked the man's groin, emitting a squishy sound. His eyes rolled, showing only the white, and his mouth foamed in pain.
Kamila was tempted to look for her amulet, but she was afraid a third assailant might have been stalking her. Cursing Belius' array which prevented her to access to the civilian amulet that she had forgotten inside her dimensional ring, Kamila put her back against the wall while checking her surroundings.
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Chapter 673 Paying the Price Part 1
Kamila looked at her assailants' faces, but the two men were strangers to her. Her eyes then searched the alley for her communication amulet and the main street for a passerby who could help her to contact the authorities, but no one was around.
A spark of light and a buzzing sound preceded a tier two lightning spell that struck her chest and caused her a seizure.
Without the armor Lith had given her, the electricity would have caused Kamila severe injuries and made her faint, instead of just inflicting upon her the equivalent of a brief taser shock.
"So much for professionals. They got their asses handed to them by a woman. My father was right when he said that if you want a job done right, you got to do it yourself." Fallmug said, unleashing a second bolt of lightning before Kamila could recover.
She pumped more of her mana inside her Skinwalker armor, but with her weak mana core and after already using its metalizing properties thrice, she was already running on fumes.
Yet it was enough for Lith's masterpiece to completely deflect the spell.
"Are you insane, Fallmug? Attacking a Royal Constable in the middle of a populated area? The guards will be here any moment." Kamila was dizzy from the shock and the lack of mana, so she decided to try and bluff her way out.
She had a few wands inside her pockets, but she was in no condition to win a contest of speed against someone pointing a weapon at her from such a close distance.
"I'm not stupid. Why do you think I hired those two buffoons?" Another lightning came, but this time she was able to dodge.
"I know the city guards' reaction time, it will take them a while to get here. Those two idiots were supposed to help me kidnap you, but now I've got no time for being nice. Tell me where my wife is or die." Despite his rage, his voice barely higher than a whisper.
He was afraid that someone could hear the ruckus and alert the authorities. The citizens of Belius were famous for being unreasonably paranoid. Before making his move, Fallmug had been forced to wait that Lith was out of the picture and then for the occasion when the street in front of Kamila's home was deserted.
Despite his twisted personality, Fallmug had come well prepared. Hired help so that he wouldn't get directly involved, a means of transportation to abduct Kamila unnoticed, and an illegal wand as a contingency plan.
Unluckily for him, everything was going south. The men he had recruited were down, he couldn't lift Kamila by himself, and the wand seemed to be defective since she was still conscious and screaming.
"You shouldn't have stuck your nose where it doesn't belong!" Fallmug said.
"Now tell me where my wife is and we can solve this peacefully."
His words didn't match at all with his crazed eyes. Kamila knew that her brother-in-law couldn't afford to let her live. Otherwise he would become one of the most wanted men in the Kingdom.
The army didn't take well when someone went after one of their own, even less if a Constable was involved. Fallmug looked nervously left and right, he couldn't afford witnesses.
That night, he would have to kill and dispose of the bodies of three people already, more wouldn't fit into his carriage. Kamila and his hired muscle had to die. He couldn't afford anyone being able to link him to attacking a Royal Constable. The lighter sentence for such a crime was death.
"I really didn't want to do this, but you leave me no choice. You force me to…"
"Roll over and die." A voice coming from behind him cut him short. At the same time, a small but strong hand caught Fallmug's wrist, twisting it backward so that his wand was now pointed at his own face.
Then, a low kick broke his left femur in three and a palm strike sent his face slamming against a wall and flattened his nose.
"Lady Ernas, what are you doing here?" Kamila was glad to see her mentor. She was physically fine, but the lack of mana was giving her a strong headache. Her vision was blurry and she had trouble focusing.
"Giving you a lesson, child." Jirni replied. "This is what happens when you underestimate your enemies."
'What a stupid bitch.' Fallmug thought. 'She should follow her own advice and remember I still have my wand!' A stream of lightning came out of the alchemical tool as he unleashed more than one charge at once.
There wasn't time to play anymore, he had to kill them both quickly and get away from there. Unfortunately for him, the needle in Jirni's hand absorbed the spells without letting even a spark reaching its master.
"I didn't mean to scare you." Jirni explained, while completely ignoring Fallmug. "I had to wait until he revealed himself as part of the attempt on your life and more importantly, I wanted you to realize that this isn't a fairy tale.
"Some people will do anything to get what they want. Playing fair will only get you killed. Do you see that scum?"
Fallmug released more lightning bolts, yet they were all absorbed by Jirni's needle.
"That's what you get for leaving him alive. If you want to keep doing this job, you need to grow up. Not asking for my help nor for Lith's when he was still here was stupid. What would've happened if I hadn't been following you all this time?
"Here, let me show you."
Jirni threw the needle at Fallmug's nether regions. Once it hit, the needle released the stored bolts of lightning one at a time, causing Fallmug to lose control of both his wands.
"Look at what he had planned for you. At the pain he would have inflicted upon you if not for your armor. Maybe he would have even let his goons have some 'fun' with you as part of their payment." Jirni said. Then she waved her hand and the needle returned to her.
Even in her confused state, Kamila shuddered at the thought of what could have happened if she hadn't accepted the Skinwalker armor Lith had gifted her. One blow would have been enough to take her out.
Then, without Jirni, her fate would have been sealed. All of her dreams for the future, all the things she had planned to share with her sister, all the hard work she had put into becoming a Constable, would have been destroyed by a petty man for his own petty reasons.
"Now, we can arrest them and have them executed, I can do it for you right now, or even better, you should do it" Jirni pointed at the pocket where Kamila kept her wands.
"Please, no. Have mercy. I've got a family that depends on me. I was just doing my job." The man with the broken arm, the only one still conscious, said.
"And so am I." Jirni replied. "In our line of work, you'll hear pathetic excuses like this one countless times. No matter their reasons, the penalty will be death. The only question is: do you have the guts to defend what's yours?"
She offered Kamila a non-imprinted wand, ready to be used.
"I do." Kamila stood up, her mind was getting clearer by the second. "Yet I'm not like you, Lady Ernas. I can't put down a helpless man. It would make me no different from them, a cold-blooded killer.
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Chapter 674 Paying the Price Part 2
"Also, I couldn't face my sister and tell her that I killed her husband so that she could inherit everything and get her children back. She would never forgive me and neither could I. What I can do is to turn them in and ask for the maximum sentence."
"Which is being tortured to death." Jirni smiled. Killing them on the spot was actually the greatest act of mercy they could do to her assailants.
"Exactly." Kamila nodded while recovering her communication amulet. "I'm not going to dirty my hands nor my conscience for these scums. They have made their choices and they will pay the consequences."
"Excellent choice, dear." Jirni said, putting the wand back inside her utility belt. "Do you want me to inform your sister about what happened to her late husband?"
"Thanks for your offer, but I want to be the one to break the news to her. She deserves that much."
***
Expedition team camp, in the same moment.
During the four days necessary to restore Kulah's levels of oxygen to the point that it would be possible to use fire magic within its premises, there wasn't much Lith's group could do.
Quylla decided to use that time to follow the physical training routine Lith had suggested to her and to learn a few tier four offensive spells. Lith and Phloria pooled her knowledge about runes and his about Forgemastering to decipher the booklet from Huryole.
They didn't progress much. The ancient language was gibberish to them and even though Phloria helped him to convert some of the old runes into modern ones, her knowledge of Runesmithing was too shallow to understand the purpose of the blueprints just by looking at their pictures.
"Do you think I could show one of the pages to Yondra and ask her for help?" Lith said.
"It's a huge gamble." Phloria shook her head. "These kinds of runes are too advanced for the Odi, a Royal Forgemaster like her is likely to realize that yours it's just a ruse. Even if she falls for it, she might always ask you to share your discovery with the rest of the group, and at that point, you're likely to get caught.
"Don't forget that Runesmithing is a state secret. The army might confiscate the booklet if they knew it's in your possession."
Lith had to agree with her. Either he told Yondra the truth or he risked doing a lot of damage. If Yondra started basing her plans to counter the Odi on the booklet, it would lead her and the others astray and might cause their demise.
The more Lith discovered about the Odi, the higher the expectations to find a cure for his reincarnation problem. They had been raving mad, but their mastery in light magic was something that would have impressed even Professor Manohar.
Those days were the first real break Lith and Phloria had got in months. Despite the fact that they were near a death-trap, they both enjoyed the time spent together. They felt as if they were back at the academy, finally speaking with someone who could understand their respective problems.
Tista was too ignorant to help Lith in his experiments and Kamila wasn't even a mage. That part of his life was quite lonely and up to that moment, Solus was the only partner he had ever had in his quest for knowledge.
Phloria had a lot of pent up stress due to her personal life in the army. Her rank, build, and family created a divide between Phloria and her peers. Her soldiers respected her, but they were no friends.
There were boundaries that had to be kept for discipline to be preserved. Between her job, learning Forgemastering from Orion, and improving her skills as a Mage Knight, her social life was almost non-existent.
Now she had someone who wasn't intimidated by her rank or height. Someone who could practice both sword and magic with her, not caring about winning but just about learning.
The level of competition between the young Captains was akin to that she had experienced as a student in the White Griffon. All those below her in the rankings wanted to see her fail, while those above felt threatened by Phloria and kept her at arm's length.
The only problem with their renewed friendship was that by spending so much time alone in such a confined space, rumors were bound to be born. Hence they made sure to spend as much time with others as well.
Phloria trained her soldiers and Quylla, along with anyone who was willing to improve their physical prowess, while Lith sought Yondra for knowledge. During dinner, the day after they had defeated the Golems, Lith asked:
"What's that tuning fork you used to break the water tanks for?"
"Do you mean the Dampener?" She took the magical item out of her pocket and handed it to Lith.
"It's one of my creations. As you have seen, it has the ability to prevent other enchanted items to absorb mana."
"That's amazing." Lith said while scanning it with Invigoration. Just like Phloria's hairpin, it was covered in energy runes invisible to the naked eye.
"Why didn't you use it against Kulah's door or the Golems? It would have saved us a lot of time."
"You misunderstood me, young spirit." Yondra laughed. Her giving Lith the same moniker Nana used for so many years stung at his heart.
"Kulah's door was solid and its array was fueled from the inside, just like the Golems. The tanks, instead, were made of a material that would have shattered after being hit by our spells if not for their ability to absorb our mana.
"My dampener simply jammed such ability so that our spells could demonstrate their real prowess. There is no such thing as a skeleton key for arrays, otherwise the Kingdom would have made me a Magus rather than a Professor."
"Do you mind if I examine it with a spell of mine?" Lith asked.
"Be my guest." Yondra smiled. "I'll consider it as a proof of your goodwill in becoming my heir. You can tell a lot about a Forgemaster's talent by how much information they can acquire with their spells.
"We and Healers have a lot in common. Diagnostic spells are the foundation for both specializations."
Lith spewed gibberish before returning the Dampener.
"That's truly a masterpiece. I can see you have infused it with at least ten spells."
"Twelve actually, but still pretty close." Yondra put it back into her pocket. Lith was actually capable of determining the number of spells held by an enchanted item by studying its pseudo core and mana pathways, but he preferred to play it close to the vest.
He'd rather like to be considered brilliant than threatening.
"Thanks, but one thing surprised me quite a bit. How come there are runes on it?"
"Your spell allows you to see runes?" Yondra was flabbergasted.
"A few months ago, I found this inside Huryole." Lith took the rune covered sword out of his pocket dimension. "I've been studying its runes ever since, and after Professor Neshal explanation about the ancient runes, I was surprised that no one taught me about them at the White G…"
"Put it away before someone sees it, you idiot." Yondra said. "You are lucky that no one is around."
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Chapter 675 Conflicting Desires Part 1
Luck had nothing to do with it. The topics Lith usually talked about with Yondra were too boring for Professors and too difficult for assistants, so after a while, they would always be alone.
Lith had waited until only those on guard duty were awake before showing her the sword.
"Why the fuss? The Kingdom allows Rangers to keep everything they find inside the lost city of Huryole."
"That's because aside from the Warden, Forgemaster, and Alchemical lab there's nothing worth the trouble of entering that damn place. You hit the jackpot and if you had told anyone else, they would have taken it away from you." Yondra explained.
"So I'm right. Huryole is an academy." Since Yondra seemed more worried about his safety rather than his discovery, Lith decided to strike the iron while it was hot.
"Hush, young idiot, and yes, it was an academy. That's why now choosing a Headmaster is such a big deal and because only they can interact with the power core of an academy.
"The Kingdom allows you to raid Huryole because that way you are more likely to kill the creatures trapped inside its forest and in case someone founds something valuable, it gets snatched the moment they start researching its nature."
"Dragons and undead in an academy's forest? Who was the madman who devised such a dangerous environment?" Lith asked, pretending to be flabbergasted.
"Does the name Arthan ring any bells?"
"The Mad King! But why?"
"Because he hoped that at least one of them held the secret of immortality. Clearly, he was right, but something went terribly wrong and instead of subjugating them, the power core gained sentience and unleashed its prisoners against the academy staff. According to the chronicles, we lost several geniuses that day."
"Please, let's talk about this another time. I'm getting a headache."
'Rather I have no interest in history lessons. I must avoid changing the topic.' Lith thought.
"I still don't understand. The Undead Courts use runes and so did the Odi. Why is the sword I found such a big deal?"
"Dammit. Since you decided to trust me, I can tell you at least this much. Do you remember how hard enchanting the Orichalcum was?" Yondra asked.
"Yes. It took me countless attempts and a lot of effort. Why?"
"Back when Forgemastering didn't exist, the ancient runes were used to imbue a spell inside anything they were carved onto, but they were delicate and expensive. After Silverwing's legacy became available, it was discovered that they could still be used in the preparatory phase of Forgemastering to lower its requirements."
"It makes sense." Lith said. "The enchantment of the blade is too strong for the mana crystals that were used to craft it and such a cheap metal is supposed to be unable to withstand powerful magical energies."
"Then you already have half the answer, what you lack is the other half. Runes allow weak metals to hold powerful spells, but when applied to powerful metals, like Adamant, they are the only way to unlock their full potential.
"Without runes, once you use the Bonding spell to embed purple crystals on Adamant, its mana flow becomes so strong that it becomes impossible to Forgemaster it. Do you understand now why it's such a big deal?" Yondra's eyes were dead serious. She kept looking around, to be sure that no one was overhearing them.
"Yes, thank you." Lith replied.
'Thanks to Bohr we didn't use the Adamant Forge for the Skinwalker armor!' Lith thought. 'We've dodged more than one bullet there.'
'By my maker! Now sure it makes sense why Runesmithing is a secret. This way, only Royal Forgemasters can use Davross and Adamant to create the ultimate artifacts, giving the Royal Family the monopoly over them.' Solus replied.
'Even better, we now know that Runesmithing is part of the preparatory phase, so it has to be performed either after or before Bonding. That's an invaluable information that will save us countless failures.' Lith pointed out.
"That's enough for tonight. Please, don't ask me anymore about runes unless you accept becoming my disciple. If anyone discovers what I told you, I might be charged with High Treason, and my whole family would be wiped out." Yondra tried to stand up but Lith stopped her.
"I can't make you any promises about the apprenticeship, I like going solo. Yet we have yet to finish your treatment. Your life force has recovered enough to allow me to further rejuvenate your body."
Yondra didn't miss how the timing of her treatment 'casually' matched that of her lesson about runes and she didn't care. She remained silent the whole time, admiring Lith's focus and the subtle changes in her own physique at the same time.
'Shameless kid. I bet that runes are the price he was hinting at when I asked him to rejuvenate me. Either I'm too paranoid, or this whole conversation was staged from the beginning. I must make him my disciple.' Yondra thought.
'Crafty bastards achieve greatness whereas goody two-shoes die early because they're too stupid. That's how Mogar spins. I must be careful to feed Lith enough information about runes to keep him hooked, but not so much that he can work the rest out by himself.'
By the time they were done, Yondra's body once again had the prowess of its thirties, even though she still looked like a sixty years old woman. She was also exhausted from the treatment and fell asleep the moment her head touched her pillow.
Two days later, while planting patches of moss inside Kulah, Lith left Solus inside the military compound. With her mana sense, she could easily dodge the Odi's traps as well as the other members of the expedition and find the perfect place to assume her tower form.
'I'm honestly conflicted about this Phloria thing.' Solus thought while dodging and copying the Odi's arrays at the same time. 'On one hand, I'm happy he is finally opening of his own will with someone. Sadly, Protector and I do not count.
'On the other hand, I'm jealous. I would like to be able to spend some time with another man, just to see how Lith takes it. I'm feeling a bit neglected recently.'
To be fair, Lith would always talk with her and ask her opinion about everything. Even in that moment, he was working hard to fuel her with mana despite their distance, to make sure that Solus wasn't forced to spend an ounce of her own life force.
When she finally found a spot with no arrays and hidden behind a building tall enough to completely eclipse the tower, she made her attempt.
'What the heck?' She thought. 'The mana geyser is almost completely spent, but this doesn't make sense. It doesn't take that much energy to fuel these many buildings and their arrays.
'Even when we perform our experiments, my tower consumes barely a fraction of the geyser's energy flow. For so little world energy to reach the surface, there must be something below that is siphoning it near its source.
'That's why the Odi used the cables! It's not a design flaw so much as a way to divert the minimum amount of energy necessary from whatever they are doing. I must inform Lith.'
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Chapter 676 Conflicting Desires Part 2
Despite her initial panic, Solus quickly regained her cool and started to look around Kulah, searching for clues about the nature of what could possibly require an entire mana geyser as a power source.
Yet the buildings' repetitive nature gave her nothing to work on. On top of that, between the internal and external arrays, she was unable to pry inside the military compound with her mystical senses.
'Solus, are you alright? I'm getting tired here. What's taking you so long?' Lith's message made her realize she had lost track of time.
'I'm peachy! Sorry to make you worry, I'll be there in while.' She replied while rushing to Lith's position. When her detailed report received a lukewarm reaction, she felt forced to ask:
'You're taking this way better than I expected. Not even a swear word. What makes you so confident about our predicament?'
'Whenever we found a city built above a mana geyser, we have always been forced to make camp on another geyser. I hoped that the Odi might had not been able to fully exploit the world energy, but the more we are discovering about them, the more I realize mine was naïve thinking.' Lith replied.
'We must consider Kulah as if it was a lost city. If there are any more flesh factories around, then the number of our enemies is nigh-infinite. It was a long-shot and we failed, nothing to mope about.' Lith mind-shrugged.
The following day, after lunch, the Professors shared with the rest of the expedition team their discoveries about the Golems' remains. Constructs were the apex of a mage's work, so they had pooled their resources to grasp how dangerous the Odi were at the time they had founded Kulah.
"I'm sorry, but we have only bad news." Professor Gaakhu said. "After a thorough analysis, we concluded that even though the Golems had an outdated design, they had all the necessary firepower to wipe us out if not for our protective arrays.
"The constructs weren't as powerful as modern ones but their ability to process information and coordinate their attacks was something unprecedented. At first, we couldn't understand how it was possible, but after receiving Archmage Ernas's report, everything changed."
'Orion is an Archmage?' Lith was flabbergasted. 'Everyone always referred to him as Lord Ernas and I've never seen him wearing a robe.'
'It's not that surprising after he created the Gatekeeper so easily, crafted the anti Balkor weapons, and him being a Royal Forgemaster. It's just that the title of Archduke is probably more important. Now shut up and listen.' Solus said.
"We examined the internal structure of the Golems again and discovered cerebral fluids and brain matter mixed with their power core fragments. Our hypothesis is that they contained a Forgemastered brain." She took a pause, to let her audience understand the implications of their discovery.
"Do you mean they were alive?" Morok asked. His tone was more curious than disgusted.
"An organ can't survive for centuries without a body." Gaakhu shook her heard. "Yet it's likely that the regenerative properties of the Golem kept them intact and in turn used them to compensate for the lack of improvisation that arrays have.
"The reason I'm telling you this, is because if we face more defensive mechanisms with and odd behavior, then they are likely to be bio-weapons, just like the Golems. The only silver lining is that if we destroy their biological component, they should become inactive or at least have their abilities crippled."
'Forgemastering organs? Solus, is that even possible?' Lith asked.
'In theory, no. The mana of the person receiving the enchantment and that of the one casting it would just cause a mana poisoning, unless…'
Phloria made Solus's same objection, but out loud, receiving a shocking answer.
"You're right Captain Ernas. It's indeed impossible unless the Forgemaster sacrifices their life to become part of their own creation." Neshal replied.
"That's sick! What mage could possibly do such a thing?" Phloria was hating her mission more with each discovery they made.
She had the impression of looking at the twisted reflection of what the Griffon Kingdom might have become if the Mad King hadn't been stopped.
"A dying mage, for example." Yondra replied. "Once you're old, you've got nothing to lose. Or simply a mage without any other choice. If you think about it from a ruler's perspective, you're turning a mage in an eternally loyal and unfaltering guardian."
'Forgemastering my own flesh is something I have never thought about.' Lith was shocked. 'Maybe that's my solution.'
'Or not.' Solus said emitting a retching sound. 'We have no idea what the aftereffects of the procedure would be and you have only one shot at it. I believe that altering your life force might also alter your mind to the point you'd became another person.'
Lith's mind stopped in its tracks. After arriving on Mogar, undeath seemed the perfect solution to his problems, based on Dungeons \u0026 Looting rulebook at least. Reality had begged to differ enough that Lith had been forced to discard the possibility of turning himself even into a Lich.
'Okay, sorry. We'll think about it when we have more data.' He replied, making her sigh in relief.
"After contacting the Headquarters, our first priority is to find anything we can about Forgemastering life force and its opposite process: sacrificing lives to give inanimate matter a mana flow. Everything else is of secondary importance." Gaakhu continued.
"Aside from guard duty, all other activities are suspended." Phloria said once the Professors finished their debriefing. "Rest and recover because tomorrow we'll split into groups again and resume our search. Professor Neshal, what's our arrays' status?"
"Better than ever. I brought them to such a level that they are almost as good as permanent arrays."
"Perfect! Can I come with you then?" Quylla asked.
"Absolutely not! Three days of training are just like three days of a diet, barely a start." Phloria replied. "As you are now, you would just be a liability."
"That's not true! I can Warp you all to safety, without the need for Lith to remain behind. Are you really willing to use him as a scapegoat every time something goes wrong?" Quylla's words stung at Phloria.
'Dammit, from her point of view what I did was heartless. Quylla has no idea of what Lith can do and to be honest, neither do I.' Phloria thought.
"No, I'm not, but that doesn't change the fact that you can't come with us. Retreat is our last resort, which means that during the fight someone should protect you. Or do you think you are capable of defending yourself?" She actually said.
"Fine!" Quylla stomped her feet and walked away before saying something that she was sure she would have regretted the moment after such cruel words escaped from her mouth.
Rainer followed her, trying to calm her down. The youth was charmed by both her ingenuity and strong character. At the same time, however, he was scared by her reckless attitude.
"What's wrong with you? Your sister is only trying to protect you, to protect us Assistants. We are not trained for actual combat, so the least we can do is not drag them down." He said.
AN: If you're not reading this on https://www.ReadReadReadReadReadNovelFull.com/book/12820870105509205/Supreme-Magus you're reading pirated material. Please support the official release.
Chapter 677 Body Modification Center Part 1
"What's wrong with me? More like what's wrong with you! Are you really willing to live all your life on the sidelines, letting others risk their lives for you? Back at the academy, the three of us stood through thick and thin, but now I'm just a dead weight.
"What if something happens to one of them because I'm not strong enough to be of help?"
"It would be nobody's fault but the Odi's. They were the monsters that…"
"Really? Blaming dead people for our own incompetence? Would you be able to say such words if something happens to Professor Yondra or would you blame her teammates for letting her die?" Quylla cut Rainer short, making him turn pale at the idea.
"I would blame her teammates." He admitted after a second.
"Great. At least we're on the same page about you being a coward."
"I'm not a coward! You have no idea what I had to endure at the Black Griffon just to survive my fourth year during Balkor's attack, not to mention the mana poisoning and the hazing from my peers.
"I choose the academic career because I was sick and tired of fighting. I choose Forgemastering because it's a challenge with yourself rather than others. Does that make me a coward?" He asked.
"No." Quylla replied with a warm smile.
"That makes you a coward who dares patting himself on the back!" Just like her mother, she would always caress before landing a death blow. "Cry me a river, I've survived the same events you speak of, and if it wasn't for Nalear's betrayal, I would be able to fight alongside them instead of being this…."
Quylla waved at herself, unable to express the self-loathe she felt. After attempting at Jirni's life and killing Yurial, she had refused to learn offensive spells because she felt guilty for being still alive while so many had died that day.
Because she was afraid that another Nalear would come and force her to hurt the people she loved again. Yet after Phloria almost died in her arms, after seeing Lith and Phloria risk their lives time and time again to protect her, Quylla had changed her mind.
She wasn't angry at Rainer so much as at herself. Quylla was so harsh with him only because he had made her same choices. She had focused solely on Healing and Forgemastering for the same reasons Rainer did.
"Oh Gods, I'm so sorry. I forgot you are from the White Griffon." Rainer said, realizing his blunder.
"I'll accept your apologies only if you accept mine." Quylla replied. "I shouldn't have taken it out on you, it's just that before this trip, I've never realized how helpless I am and it's driving me crazy."
She apologized to him again before turning around and entering the women's quarters. Rainer stood there for a while, unable to stop thinking about Professor Yondra.
'She is the only family I have ever had and she has supported me during my academy years. How can I be happy to be left behind after she had almost died for saving me from that fungus? How can I be so relaxed despite the fact that she might not return from Kulah? Maybe Quylla is reckless, but I'm really an idiot.'
***
The following day, the Professors, Lith, and Phloria entered the first building together, leaving all the soldiers and the Assistants behind the protection of the arrays.
Since the Weapon Research Center, the second building, had collapsed, Phloria had decided it was best to clear at least one facility before splitting the group again. Now that the pseudo-Balor was dead, nothing stopped them from moving forward.
Behind the door, there was the usual metal corridor. A huge plaque was hung above the entrance and several doors led inside what looked like hospital rooms. Part of the walls was comprised of reinforced glass panels that allowed the group to look inside.
"What's written on the plaque?" Lith asked.
"Body Modification Center." Professor Gaakhu replied, grimacing in disgust.
While the Professors scanned the corridor for traps and arrays, Lith used Life Vision to search for any life force. His sight was partially blinded by the mana coursing through the building, but he was quite confident they were alone.
Each room had a single bed and was quite spacious. It would have put the White Griffon VIP ward to shame if the beds didn't have multiple means of restraint and the inner walls weren't heavily padded.
Lith used Invigoration on the nearest wall, to confirm his hypothesis.
'Each wall is half a meter (16.5 feet) thick and enchanted to be soundproof. There is no offensive spell nor array. This must be a psychiatric ward of sorts.' He thought.
"Something is off." Professor Yondra said. "This is too clean to be a place for members of the 'lesser races', I mean only one bed per room?"
"Agreed." Ellkas said. "The lack of safety measures is disturbing too. The paddings usually are to protect the patient from themselves and the Odi do not strike me as caring."
The corridor was U shaped, ending with an administrative office and a reinforced door with no signs. Half of the team run through the files in the office while the rest examined the door.
"Judging from its position and the size of the nearby room, the door must lead downstairs." Phloria said. Once again, disabling the arrays only required to pull the plug, but a password was still required to safely open the door.
"No bets this time." Morok said. "One mistake and we'll have more Golems on our tail and another collapsed building once we defeat them."
"It's worse than that. There are more arrays on the other side of the door. Triggering them might be even worse than Golems."
Lith used Invigoration on the door, even spotting the cable fueling them. He sent a stand of mana as thin as a hair through the door, having care of moving it slow and easy as he looked out for alarms.
Unfortunately, the arrays on the other side completely sealed the door, blocking even light, sound, and mana. As soon as the spirit magic strand touched them, Lith felt their power change.
He had been delicate enough that the defensive system had mistaken his mana for an energy fluctuation and was trying to restore the balance. Lith made the strand disappear and everything returned to normal.
He then focused on the holographic pad and much to his surprise, he could see how the mana composing each letter was linked to a specific quadrant of the display.
Most of them went straight for a single relay, whereas a few of them were connected to two different relays.
'The good news is that I know what characters the password is made of, the bad news is that I have no idea about their order, if they have to be repeated, and more importantly how the heck I can share the information with the others.' He thought.
The metal cylinders of the lock were also connected to the arrays on both sides of the door, making it impossible to move them by force.
Lith was out of options, and due to the limited space, only two people could examine the door at once without their spells interfering with each other. He left his spot to Neshal, letting her coordinate her efforts with Yondra's.
He beckoned Phloria to come close and conjured a Hush spell to not be overheard.
"Good gods! Get a room already! There's plenty of beds and the doors aren't locked. I checked." Morok said.
Chapter 678 Body Modification Center Part 2
The Professors kept their composure and managed to avoid chuckling at the expense of their comrades. Ranger Eari was much funnier to those who weren't the targets of his rude, inappropriate remarks.
Lith was getting tired of his shenanigans, but being Morok one of the only three people in the entire expedition capable of holding their ground in a hand to hand fight, he soldiered on.
Phloria was used to inappropriate comments since she had joined the army. Every time someone got close to her, people would spread rumors about her alleged affairs.
"Insubordination and slander of a superior officer might not get you court-martialled, but I'm sure that my disciplinary notes will impact the amount of money you will receive for your retirement as well as this mission." She said while adding the episode to her report.
"I'm sorry, Captain. I was just joking." Morok inwardly cursed at himself for his stupidity. Rangers had a great amount of freedom, but the army was very strict about respecting the ranks.
"I'm sorry too. I wish I could kick your ass, but I need you alive. Yet. Now, unless you want to overhear state secrets that could compromise our mission and put your life at stake, I suggest you shut up."
Just because such comments were common, it didn't make them less annoying nor hurtful. With her perfect record, those who were envious of Phloria could only badmouth her for her personal life, making it even harder for her to find a boyfriend or just a friend.
"What were you saying?" She asked, both her face and voice were stone-cold.
"I know the characters that make up the password, but I have no clue how to make use of such information without screwing up my life." Lith said.
"Did you discover them with your special eyes or with one of your personal spells?"
"Both. Just as I analyzed your hairpin, I studied the holographic pad. It only has two relays: right and wrong." Lith had no intention of lying to her. He knew that despite her expression, Phloria was likely to be hurt by his fellow Ranger's outburst.
Lith had noticed that her mood got worse every time he lied to her and got better when he was honest.
'She already knows enough about my skills that this piece of information is irrelevant. Besides, she's putting a lot at stake to help me with the runes, the least I can do is return her trust.' He thought.
"I can try something, but Dad is likely to get pissed off. Some of the spells he taught me he keeps them a secret even from the army. Just like you do." She smiled, raising the temperature in the room of several degrees.
"We're done examining the administrative office and for once, may the gods bless paperwork." Ellkas said. Those who were able to read the Odi language were translating several pages, giving each member of the expedition a copy.
"The first floor was the medical center for the Odi. Once they were done experimenting on the 'lesser races', they would attempt body modifications on their own people." He pointed at the padded rooms.
"Just like Assistant Ernas assumed, major changes in the life force also brought severe mental damage, that the medical files we found describe as temporary. My guess is that Quylla is right and that these alterations permanently affected their minds, bringing the entire Odi race to consider madness as normality."
"Below us, there are several underground floors where according to these files, experiments on both incurable diseases and life force modifications were conducted. Those floors are bound to be messier and more dangerous.
"Some diseases may still be active, so before opening the door, everyone put on a safety mask." Professor Gaakhu handed to each one of them a plague doctor mask identical to the one Lith wore back in Kandria, but this one was enchanted.
"They are Alchemical items, so they are not reusable." She explained. "They offer good protection from pathogens but are not suited to fights, so in case something goes wrong, retreat is our first priority."
"Good to know. Our problem here is opening the door." Yondra said. "Each one of us has managed to discover a few characters of the password, but we have no idea how to piece them together."
Both Lith and Phloria were flabbergasted. Royal Forgemasters really were on a league of their own.
"Show them to us. If we're lucky, it's the anagram of an actual word. If it's just random letters, we're screwed." Ellkas said.
"They missed a couple of them." Lith whispered in Phloria's ear after Hushing them again.
"Dammit. Which ones?"
"The M overlapping with the reversed P and that R with a dot in its middle."
"It's official, we're screwed." Gaakhu said. Luckily, everyone was too busy looking at the password to notice their exchange.
"There's no word comprised of these letters, so either the password is random or we are missing some characters."
"Let me give it a go." Phloria stepped forward, taking her silver wand out of her dimensional amulet. "I was supposed to do this earlier, but someone distracted me."
She threw Morok a look that gave his future grandchildren frostbite and then she cast one of Orion's spells on the pad. Just like Invigoration and the Professors' spells, it was able to pick the residual traces of mana that the repeated input of the password was supposed to have left.
She moved her wand over every single character as silver filaments probed them. Phloria was actually ignoring most of the characters and focusing solely on those Lith had pointed out to her.
It took her a while, but she managed to pick a very faint energy that her spell enhanced, making it visible. She pretended to also scan half the panel before giving up.
"I'm beat, I can't focus anymore without affecting my ability to fight." Phloria was panting. The trace was so faint that she had to pour quite some mana to find it.
Yondra performed her spell with her silver wand again, this time focusing only on the new characters.
"Good gods, we really missed two of them. You must have an exceptional perception, Captain, to sense such a small amount of mana." She said.
"Thanks, Professor, but it's mostly due to my father's spell." Phloria said. Orion's masterpiece would have also revealed the relays' position if she hadn't dispelled it in time.
"Those are very uncommon letters." Gaakhu said. "They are bound to be rarely used and have the faintest signature. Excellent job, Captain. I believe we have our password. Ascension."
The Forgemasters scanned the pad's most uncommon characters again before inputting the password, just to be safe. When the holographic display beeped and the metal cylinders were retracted, the memory of their past failure made the members of the second group shiver in fear.
Lith put on his plague mask and a thin white layer of solid white energy covered every inch of his body.
'This is Manohar's spell.' Lith recognized the effects of Life Ward he had witnessed during Othre's mission. 'It seems that the Mad Professor also dabbles in Alchemy, but I doubt he does it of his own will. This must be rare equipment since even in Kandria we didn't use it.'
Everyone prepared a couple of spells before opening the door. The moment the metal turned on its hinges, a black and green fog invaded the corridor as what looked like veins made of black mold grew with the speed of a hungry beast.
Chapter 679 Survival of the Fittest Part 1
The living fog tried to invade the bodies of the members of the expedition team as well, but Life Ward burned it on contact. Whatever the nature of the fog was, it emitted a sizzling sound as the protective spell turned it into ashes.
"Be extra careful not damaging the suit's external layer." Neshal explained. "If any of us gets infected, we might need to quarantine them or worse. Remember that in this facility the Odi were researching the deadliest diseases."
"Yeah, but that was centuries ago." Lith said. "Magic has progressed by leaps and bounds since then. I might not be immune to all their mad creations, but I know all the most advanced decontamination protocols by heart."
A wave of his hand released a pulse of darkness magic that made the black veins expanding on the metal corridor wither and disappear while the fog was pushed back behind the door.
"Everyone stays behind me and each one of you prepare at least a darkness magic spell. Captain Ernas, if anything happens to me, Blink me to Quylla. She'll know what to do."
Quylla was the only Healer that Lith considered on par with Manohar. He was even considering to teach her how to produce holograms. According to Professor Manohar, Lith had almost grasped the secret behind offensive light spells, but even after months of practice, he was still swamped.
Quylla had silver-colored streaks in her hair and was a genius with light magic. If she managed to find the missing link between holograms and hard light constructs, Quylla would then explain it to Lith, allowing him to become even stronger.
Yet his trust issues prevented him from sharing his secrets with even Phloria, let alone Quylla. If because of his teachings Lith triggered her Awakening as well, Quylla would become another person who he would need to take care of.
'Dammit. According to Kalla, I'm responsible for the Awakening of both Phillard and my sister. If they mess up, my line is on the line along with theirs.' Lith thought.
Even after repelling the fog, the stench of death and decay was revolting. The filters on the plague masks weren't enough to protect them from the rancid smell assaulting their senses.
"For the gods' sake, don't use air magic." Lith said while releasing a second pulse that made the air breathable a split second before he started puking.
Yet it was a second too late since a few people were already barfing their gust out, Morok included. Luckily, the masks were equipped with puke bags placed right under its beak-like protuberance, making Lith's teammates soon resemble pelicans rather than crowns.
'You're lucky that between your enhanced body and darkness fusion you're immune to most of this crap.' Solus said.
'Yeah, but I can't last long. This space is too big and every step requires another pulse of darkness magic.'
The staircase didn't go deep, but the lower they went the denser the fog became. Even to reach the door at the end of the stairs a group effort was necessary.
"I'm terrified at the thought of what kind of slaughterhouse can produce such a stench." Yondra said. "Do you think there could be survivors?"
"Survivors, no. Specimens, yes." Morok replied. "Am I the only one wondering how the fuck can mold grow on metal? Isn't it supposed to need food, humidity, or something?"
"Good point." Everyone was flabbergasted. It was the first sensible thing that had ever come out of his mouth.
'Solus?' Lith asked while activating Life Vision. The air in front of him lit up like a Christmas tree, forcing him to turn it off.
'Working on it.'
The fog was so dense that the air around them was green and black, giving everything an eerie feeling. Once they stepped inside the next room, a squishy sound and an agonizing moan broke the silence.
Everyone had the impression of walking on small, wet garbage bags filled with rotten food.
"Whatever you do, don't look down." Lith said. He had understood what was happening the moment he noticed that the moans were timed with their steps.
"Dude, what could be possibly worse than…" Morok released a pulse of darkness magic that dispelled the fog enough to allow him to take a look at the floor. Green entrails that looked like huge rotten sausages covered the ground.
With no more fog to block his view, Morok could see that they were moving like brain-damaged snakes. The entrails were trying to wrap around his legs to feed upon the intruders with small mouths full of teeth that covered their surface.
Only Manohar's Life Ward was keeping them at bay, burning the living viscera on contact.
"Oh gods!" Morok said while puking his guts out. "I'll never eat sausages for the rest of my life." Once full, the vomit sack detached and was replaced by an empty one.
As the group advanced, the fog became denser, forcing them to increase the intensity of their light spells just to be able to see farther than their own nose.
'I've got bad news.' Solus contacted Lith while they were exploring the first underground floor. Unlike the Odi's medical center, the rooms were smaller, not padded, and with at least six beds each.
The doors had been ripped off from their hinges from the inside.
'I know how this thing is still alive and how it can grow on metal. It's because it's feeding on the light element, just like an Abomination.'
'What? How?' Lith asked.
'First, I don't know. I'm here for less than a minute, so sorry if I don't understand years of research at a first glance. Second, a little thank you wouldn't kill you.' Her voice oozed sarcasm.
'I'm sorry, you're right. Thank you, Solus. I guess you've spoiled me so much with your abilities that I consider you nigh omniscient.'
'You're welcome.' She said with a giggle, happy for the heartfelt praises. 'I'll let you know as soon as I discover anything else.'
With that new piece of information, Lith could now decipher what had happened there in the past. The cells were filled with corpses sucked down to the bones and from each one of them departed colored veins that covered the entirety of the floor.
Whatever the Odi had infected their prisoners with, had grown by feasting on their flesh before searching for more food. The Abomination-based disease had then forced its way out, probably by sucking dry the light element from everything that kept them locked.
Then, it had engaged the strains born in the other rooms in a battle for dominance.
Burnt marks of different colors covered the walls where the creatures had fought, allowing Lith to determine who had come out victorious from each conflict. The winner would consume the loser and then move to the next cell.
'This seems the horror version of a survival game.' Lith thought. 'The question is: is the fog black and green because two creatures are still struggling, or is there only one and the black is due to its Abomination nature?'
When they reached halfway of the U-shaped corridor, the fog was now surrounding their hands, smothering the light they emitted to the point that it was impossible for them to see in front of them.
"I've bad news." Lith said borrowing Solus's words. "This thing is feeding upon the light element we employ to light our way. I've no idea what might happen if we give this thing a full course meal, but I'm ready to bet good money that we'd be its dessert."
AN: If you're not reading this on https://www.ReadReadReadReadReadNovelFull.com/book/12820870105509205/Supreme-Magus you're reading pirated material. Please support the official release.
Chapter 680 Surival of the Fittest Part 2
At those words, everyone unleashed the darkness spells that they had kept at the ready. The agonizing shrieks rose in intensity and made their stomach churn, but their survival instinct beat their compassion by a landslide.
The air turned immediately clear, but the flesh tentacles at their feet reacted with violence, attacking Lith's group from all sides. Luckily, centuries of feeding only on the light element that seeped through the two layers of arrays blocking the door had left the creature severely weakened.
Each one of their hits was quick and well-aimed, but it lacked the strength necessary to pierce the enchanted protections. Life Ward further protected the expedition members, inflicting deep burns to the entrails whenever they struck at the white membrane.
A second volley of darkness spells killed the attackers and cleansed the air enough for the ward's in-built lights to allow the Professors to read the documents they had brought along.
"This should be Project Evolution." Professor Ellkas read.
"The Odi had discovered that Abomination don't suffer from aging nor diseases, so they attempted to fuse the Abomination's life forces with that of members of the 'lesser races' before infecting them with incurable ailments. I'd say they failed big time."
"Idiots." Lith was enraged by the Odi's reckless approach to science. "They failed to understand that if creating hybrids was so easy, everyone would do it. Their foolish experiment didn't bond the Abomination with their specimens, but with the diseases!"
"How do you know that?" Phloria asked. The Professors were flabbergasted as well. None of them was a Master Healer, but Lith's comprehension of the Odi experiments was too accurate to not be creepy.
'Oh crap!' Lith thought. 'I forgot that the others don't have Solus to explain everything to them almost in real-time. I've got to play my genius card.'
"Isn't it obvious?" Lith acted smug. "The fog is clearly alive and has been feeding on our lights ever since we stepped down here. The moment you told me that Abominations were involved, all the pieces of the puzzle fell into place."
"No, it's not obvious at all." Gaakhu said. "How do you explain the things that just attacked us? That was no disease."
'My money on a partial success.' Solus came to the rescue. 'Probably one of their victims partially fused with both the Abomination and the disease. It gave them the edge they needed over their competition but at the same time it trapped them in here.'
Lith repeated her words and added:
"That's why we hear screams and why the door upstairs was still standing. Probably the hybrid has a real body somewhere and can't get too far from it."
His brilliant deduction surprised everyone, Phloria included. She knew that Lith was brilliant, but not that much. Yet she said nothing aside from praises and kept her questions for later.
The carpet of entrails led them to a cell near the access leading to the next underground floor. Just as Lith, or rather Solus had predicted, the heavy metal door had been ripped off as if it was made of paper.
Nothing remained of the arrays or the holographic pad. The only thing left was the mana crystal cable, around which the only healthy tentacle was tightly wrapped.
"I guess that explains how the hybrid survived for so long." Lith said while pointing at it.
Inside the cell, there was something of vaguely humanoid shape. The creature had a spongy look, as if a black and green moss had entirely covered a man's upper body, from the head to his midriff.
Yet it wasn't moss and there was no underlying body. The creature could twist all of its parts like a rag doll, forming unnatural angles while it tried to escape from the shining red chains that bound its arms to the wall.
Its pseudo skin bubbled like a boiling liquid at each attempt. The creature was featureless, with only the red eyes made of pure energy typical of Abominations and an open mouth. It allowed Lith's group to see that there was nothing inside its body, just a uniform mass of moss.
The tentacle-innards were generated from its midriff, the creature had no lower body. Seeing the fresh, juicy prey willingly stepping inside its cage, the hybrid twisted its arms with enough strength to rip them off at the wrist level to get rid of the chains.
Yet the enchanted item created red lines of power on the creature's body, forcing it to heal and reattaching it to the wall time and time again. The hybrid gurgled in outrage while the group decided what to do.
Suddenly, a humane voice made came from the creature's entrails.
< "Please, kill me."> It spoke in an unknown language, but for some reason, Lith understood its words. A human head was emerging from the tentacles that the creature had amassed, preparing for an attack.
< "I beg of you, don't let it..."> The creature roared, cutting the person short as it stretched its neck enough to bite the newborn head off, causing red blood to spray through its cell.
"Good gods! What was that?" Gaakhu asked, on the verge of puking.
"I was right, the fusion is incomplete." Lith explained after consulting Solus. "This is a pathogen-Abomination hybrid and that was its host. The hybrid is the dominant one so it treats the host like a parasite. Neither of them can kill the other."
"Anyone wants to take scans of this horror?" Phloria asked. Her question was followed by pent up barfs and shaken heads.
"All those in favor to put it down?"
Everyone raised their hands. Half the group kept the creature away from the mana cable while the others bombarded the hybrid with tier four darkness spells. Once the creature's body disappeared, so did the living fog and all the black veins covering the floor.
The ward's lights now allowed Lith's group to take a good look around. Now that the living entrails were gone, they could see that dozens of corpses littered the floor. The first underground level was a mass grave for both prisoners and Odi guards.
All skeletons had been sucked dry, but the Odi's were easily recognizable. They had no imperfections, with ivory white bones that seemed out of an anatomy book. All males were identical to each other and so were the females.
If not for the struggle signs and the black aura of undeath that Life Vision revealed, Lith would have thought they were just mass-produced skeleton mannequins.
"What's on the next floor?" Phloria asked.
"This was the Immunization Ward. Next should be the Body Enhancement Ward. I think it refers to their enchanted human program." Ellkas said.
"Can we go outside and take a break?" Morok asked. "I've seen a lot of disgusting things in my life but this one takes the cake."
"I wish." Neshal explained. "Once we take our Alchemical protection off, it will be gone. We could rest here."
Everyone looked at her as she was raving mad.
"I mean on the ground floor, not here-here."
They went back to the Odi ward, but the nightmare followed them. Even though the place was pristine and with perfect lighting, they kept seeing everything in shades of green, as if the living fog was still there.
Only when the creature's screams stopped resounding in their ears and their steps emitted squishy sounds no more did they go for the second underground floor.
AN: If you're not reading this on https://www.ReadReadReadReadReadNovelFull.com/book/12820870105509205/Supreme-Magus you're reading pirated material. Please support the official release.
Chapter 681 Mysteries Part 1
'Solus, how could we understand a dead language.' Lith thought after replaying the events in his head until he was certain that it wasn't just a hallucination.
'Not "we", you did. I heard only gibberish until you translated it for me.' Her answer hit Lith harder than everything he had witnessed so far. He even asked Phloria and the Professors, but they confirmed to him that all they heard was unknown words.
That bit of news shocked Lith. The last thing he needed was more unanswered questions.
The door to the second underground floor was ripped off as well, but the signs of struggle stopped halfway through the U shaped corridor. The creature's limited range of action had prevented it from conquering the whole building.
The floor was empty, only corpses remained and this time they all belonged to prisoners that the Odi had left locked inside their cells. The administrative office was intact, so while the language experts studied the medical reports, the others examined the bodies.
The first thing they noticed was that once again the cells were small and cramped with up to six beds. Lith noticed that some of the inmates had runes of power surgically carved over their skeletons. Most of them, however, shown bite marks and the only clean bones were as brittle as breadsticks.
'I can understand the cannibalism. If the Odi abandoned them here, hunger must have driven them insane, but why a set of brittle bones in each cell?' Lith thought and even Solus had no explanation to offer him.
Since there was no threat, no relic, nor anything worth studying, the Forgemasters went examining the next holographic pad to discover its password while waiting for the linguists.
This time they didn't need Lith's help. The Professors had learned their lesson and thoroughly examined the uncommon characters too. Ellkas and Gaakhu only needed a glance to guess the password.
"Seems that enchanting living being was a total bust." They explained. "There were only two possible outcomes for the Odi's experiments. The first and more common was death by mana poisoning.
"Those who somehow adapted to the foreign mana were barely one in a hundred and they would die in a way as slow and painful as mana poisoning that the Odi called 'mana drain'.
"Basically, their bodies were unable to fuel the enchantment with their innate mana and would collapse over time. They tried to fix the problem by Bonding the specimens with mana crystals, but the survival rate was 0%."
There was a total of five underground floors and each one of them recorded a different kind of madness. The third floor was for intellect enhancement experiments, but aside from failure reports and corpses with deformed skulls, there was nothing to see.
The fourth one was the Immortality project, but since all the prisoners were dead there was no doubt about its failure. On the fifth floor, the Life Merging process truly scared them.
The whole floor was empty. There was no corpse lying around nor documents left in the office.
"Oh shit! I think this one succeeded." Morok said. "Also, there must be a secret passage around here. Otherwise we should have found much more Odi corpses on our way here."
"Indeed." Yondra nodded. "If the Odi locked themselves in here to escape from the hybrid, they would have died like all the others. Instead not only did they manage to continue their experiments, but they also had the time to clean everything."
After searching the floor, they discovered the existence of an elevator in the wall near the stairs. It wasn't actually hidden, just hard to notice since on Mogar elevators didn't exist and its doors were so perfectly sealed for security reasons that nothing distinguished them from the nearby metal walls.
Unfortunately, it was useless. It required both a password and a key to access to each floor, clearly to keep the different research teams in the dark about what others had achieved.
It was barely past lunchtime, but everyone was exhausted, so they decided to call it a day and go back to the camp.
Lith and Phloria spent all of their free time with Quylla. Lith explained to her all the failed experiments they had witnessed and their consequences.
"Gods, I'm really starting to believe that the Odi's life force underwent so many modifications that they became utterly insane." Quylla could tell by Phloria's face turning green at the recount of the events that Lith was sparing her the most gruesome details.
"Body Sculpting is named so because it's almost a work of art. The smallest mistake can scar forever your patient, that's why we practiced so much on slimes before treating people. The Odi, instead, seemed to hammer randomly and hope for a masterpiece."
Quylla's words sparked a crazy idea in Lith's mind, something that gave Solus the creeps.
"What do you think they could achieve with the Life Merging project?" Lith handed her the translated documents that they had retrieved from the main administrative building.
"I understand all the other projects, but this one is beyond me. It has no military application nor it would have brought the Odi any closer to achieve eternal life."
"Maybe, and maybe not." Quylla moved closer to Lith, sitting beside him before Hushing the area around them.
"Good gods, that one too? Leave something for the rest of us. That's not cool bro." Morok said before hitting on Jerth and being hit in return.
"As you know, life force determines the life span of an individual. By merging two life forces, you could in theory live twice as long." Quylla ignored the Ranger, explaining her hypothesis.
"Of course there would be the problem of split personalities, the fight for dominance, and the risk of rejection that could kill both subjects at once. So maybe the Odi were trying to remove the side effects. We know that it's possible because Thrud succeeded."
"I know that, but Thrud had centuries at her disposal as well as Arthan's Madness, whereas the Odi society collapsed soon after they began their experiments." Lith said.
"Your theory would make sense if they experimented on other Odi, but judging from the cells, they kept working on 'lesser races'. Also, there's the contradiction that they apparently succeeded and yet there isn't a single Odi alive.
"What did they use such technology for, then?"
"I have no clue, but I'll see if there's anything useful in these notes." She said hugging Lith a bit too close for comfort. "Don't worry, we'll figure it out. Where there's a will there's a way."
At first, Phloria thought that Quylla was just talking about the current mission, but Lith's shocked expression told her otherwise.
"How do you know about it?" Lith asked.
"How does she know about what?" Phloria echoed, reminding him of her presence.
"Smooth move, Lith. All my efforts to be as vague as possible are ruined. Do you tell her or do you want me to do the honors?" Quylla said, letting him go and allowing herself to sniffle a little.
"You have yet to answer me. How do you know about it?" Lith said.
"Everyone in the light department knows. The Professors treated you after Balkor's attack, remember? Do you think they could miss such a thing? I…"
"What are two hiding from me?" Phloria cut her short, her patience was running thin.
AN: If you're not reading this on https://www.ReadReadReadReadReadNovelFull.com/book/12820870105509205/Supreme-Magus you're reading pirated material. Please support the official release.
Chapter 682 Mysteries Part 2
"Saving Protector gave me Death Vision because it crippled my life force." Lith said. He could only blame himself for losing his cool earlier.
"What does it mean?" Phloria actually knew enough about light magic to put the pieces together, but her brain refused to.
"It means that he is dying." Quylla said, making her sister turn pale as a ghost.
"I hope you haven't focused on Body Sculpting because of me." Lith said.
"I'm not doing it only for you, but also for people like Zinya. Body Sculpting is the next frontier of healing magic, yet few people practice it because of its risks. I researched the Odi because I think they might have found a solution to your problem."
'What the heck? Quylla came here for the same reason.' Solus was shocked and so was Lith.
"I'm not in love with you, but I care for you deeply. You're part of my family." She said hugging him again. Hearing Quylla using almost the same words he had told Phloria at the beginning of the expedition, gave his cynical heart a blow too many.
Lith returned her embrace, not caring anymore about keeping up appearances and stupid rumors.
"Seriously, what the fuck?" Phloria demanded an explanation and this time Lith went into details, even telling her how much he was supposed to have left to live. By the time he was done, Phloria's outlook on their mission was completely changed.
If before it was just a detail mission, now it was personal. Phloria took a walk to clear her head. To her, Kulah was no longer a threat to defend against, it was a fortress to storm which potentially held a priceless treasure.
Her instincts told her to put her suit back up and keep exploring the city, but it only lasted an instant. She knew that raw power and will could only take her so far. The key for that peculiar vault was knowledge, not violence.
The Odi had left too many self-destruct mechanisms that she was unable to deal with on her own. She needed to rest and she needed to wait.
Morok approached her to ask if since there were two of them and one of Lith they needed a fourth player, but before he could even open his mouth, Phloria glared at him.
It was a look that all of Jirni's victims knew all too well, holding a promise of infinite pain and misery. In Morok's case, it reminded him of the look of the Phoenix that had caught him in the attempt of taking one of her eggs to check if a Phoenix omelet was as spicy as legends said.
He had survived the encounter only because after throwing him off the top of her mountain with all of his spells sealed, the beast hadn't bothered confirming the kill. Having learned from his past mistakes, the Ranger gave her a salute before remembering about a very important matter he had to attend to somewhere else.
***
In the following days, they kept searching one building at a time. The second facility had collapsed, leaving behind no trace of the Odi experiments to create artificial Adamant.
After discovering the records of the umpteenth failed monstrosity, the team had decided to explore the right area hoping to have better luck. What they found out, instead, was that while the left side of Kulah held labs and research facilities, the right side was composed of the personnel living quarters.
They found shops, restaurants, and even a library. Unfortunately, it was a civilian library, so it only contained books unrelated to the Odi research. It was a gold mine for an anthropologist, but just a pile of garbage to the expedition team.
Just to not leave any stone unturned, they explored one building of each side per day.
"If we find Kulah's upper echelons' apartments, we might find the key to decipher this mystery instead of just clutching at straws." Phloria pointed out.
Even though the Professors thought it was just wishful thinking, Lith supported her idea for several reasons. After the Golems had been destroyed, both sides of Kulah were lit up with mana, so their existence couldn't be as simple as it appeared.
Also, every time they deactivated an array or cut a mana cable, there was more world energy available, so it was only a matter of time before Solus could take her tower form.
Last, but not least, he could bring Quylla to the cleared buildings and use her help to understand what could have happened to the Odi. When they had arrived, Kulah was sealed, so the rebels had failed to find it.
Yet there were no corpses, no graveyards, nothing. Too many things didn't add up unless the Odi had simply disappeared off the face of Mogar leaving behind a perfectly functional military facility.
The worst part of their situation was that despite the fact that the living quarters were big, spacious, and were equipped with comfortable beds, the place felt so creepy on so many levels that no one wanted to sleep inside Kulah.
It only made them homesick, lowering their morale even further. The soldiers and the Assistants felt more useless by the day. Their pride crumbled with every challenge the first squad overcame.
The Professors, instead, were starting to be affected by the Odi's abominable experiments. They were academics, after all, they had seen their fair share of atrocities but Kulah was undermining their trust in the magical research.
Not only they were questioning their mission, but also their entire careers, debating more and more often if it shouldn't have been better to just raze Kulah to the ground.
One building held a research lab focused on robbing magical beasts of their true magic. Each one of its floors contained the results from fusing together a beast and a member of the 'lesser races', no matter their age or gender.
According to the notes left by the mages, the hybrids would live a few minutes in excruciating agony before dying by mana poisoning.
Another building gave them a pleasant surprise. The Odi had tried to bestow their specimens a 'potion organ', something that would make them capable of enhancing their bodies in a way similar to fusion magic.
Each floor was dedicated to a different element and all of them were littered with corpses of both Odi and inmates. The victims had been granted unstable powers that crippled their life span but gave them the opportunity to bite their oppressors back.
The project had been dropped because the more the procedure was perfected, the more casualties the Odi would sustain, especially on the air and fire fusion floors.
"Do you see what I mean?" Lith said to Phloria and Quylla once he was sure that they were alone.
"I get that they modified their bodies to reach what they considered perfect beauty, but aren't these skeletons too similar between each other?" He said pointing at both female and male bodies.
"Also, why none of these women has given birth, not one of them. Their pelvic bones are too perfect."
"If they body-swapped, why give birth?" Phloria shrugged. "They couldn't keep a bloodline just like they couldn't keep their bodies."
"Point taken, but isn't it strange that despite having a young, healthy body, none of them had children? Kulah has no nursery, no school, nothing. These kinds of experiments lasted years, isn't it unnatural that no one had a family?"
AN: If you're not reading this on https://www.ReadReadReadReadReadNovelFull.com/book/12820870105509205/Supreme-Magus you're reading pirated material. Please support the official release.
Chapter 683 Trust Part 1
Phloria thought about the apartments they had visited. Some of them hosted more than one person, but always adults. There were enchanted photos in each room, but none depicting children.
In the meantime, Quylla and Lith studied the skeletons in the old-fashioned way, with magnifying glasses and picking samples to analyze later.
"It's indeed odd." Quylla said. "Even discoloration streaks on the bones seem to have developed the same way for all same-sex Odi. Another thing that I noticed, is how well preserved the corpses are despite centuries have passed.
"Do you have a theory to explain all of this?"
"I have. It's farfetched and creepy but I think it fits this place perfectly." Lith replied.
"Let's consider what we know. The Odi first defeated all illnesses by dramatically altering their bodies, correct?"
Both women nodded.
"Then they moved on altering their physical appearance to achieve perfect looks, but doesn't that mean they were basically copies of the same mold?"
"Oh gods." Quylla had no concept of things like DNA or cloning, so she managed to grasp what Lith was saying, but her mind needed some time to consider the implication of such practice based on what she knew.
"Okay, what?" The discussion was way above Phloria's head. Her confused expression made Lith chuckle, creeping both of her friends. They hadn't seen him laughing ever since he had lost the Gatekeeper.
"I'll make it simple. Imagine that to achieve perfect health, all of the Odi subjected their bodies to the same, identical alterations." Lith said.
"I got that. I'm not stupid." Phloria pouted.
"Never even thought that." Lith gave her a soft smile, making something in her stomach flutter. "Then they wanted to have the same looks, maybe changing just their hair or skin color, but can you picture a society like that?"
"Gods, it would resemble a world full only of purebred dogs." She said.
"Exactly, and what happens when you inbred often to keep the so-called purity of any race?" Lith asked.
"Are you saying that the Odi were sterile? All of them?" Phloria asked.
"Well, if he's right being sterile was the least of their problem." Quylla said.
"Madness, reduced lifespan, and congenital diseases are all things that would require even more Body Sculpting, with easily predictable consequences. Yet it seems a bit rushed conclusion to me. What makes you think their situation was so dire?"
"Lack of children, identical bodies…" Lith wanted to use the term clones, but Mogar's language lacked such a term. "…and your earlier observation, Quylla. This is not medical research, it's too random and desperate.
"As you said, they were hammering rather than chiseling."
"Why aren't we telling this to the Professors as well?" Quylla asked while putting together the various pieces of the puzzle.
"First, mine is just a groundless theory. I'm afraid that after hearing it, their judgment of our future discoveries might be biased. I want to see if they reach the same conclusion on their own.
"Second, I don't trust them. They are facing the same problem the Odi had. They are old and they know they are going to die. Flawed or not, this technology would allow them to prolong their existence and keep their physical appearance."
Lith's paranoia was contagious and suddenly Quylla was almost happy that Professor Phesta had died. Each Professor had conveniently arrived with a talented Assistant/spare body, according to Lith's idea.
Clearing the labs brought them more questions than answers and the private quarters confirmed at least part of Lith's theory. The people in the enchanted pictures looked awfully similar, to the point that the Odi had to embroider their names on their clothes to recognize one another.
Another week passed and the expedition was done exploring half of Kulah. With time, they had grown insensitive to the various horrors and since they had grasped how to safely crack the defensive systems, they could explore multiple buildings in a single day.
Now what slowed them down was the fact that only two Professors were able to read the Odi language and the number of documents they had to read to understand each building's purpose varied greatly.
While they deciphered the papers, the others explored the private quarters, searching for Kulah's supervisor's office.
"I think I need help." Said Jerth while standing in front of a closed door, apparently identical to all the others. Yet she had opened so many of them that she couldn't miss the presence of two extra runes in the array sealing the door.
"Good call." Professor Neshal said. "Those are not extra runes, there is actually a fourth magic circle hidden below the first three. Cutting the mana cable would have triggered it and probably activated more Golems."
Neshal followed the hidden array's power nodes, discovering several hidden doors behind which she could sense the presence of Golem charging arrays.
'Damn. Even Life Vision couldn't spot the trap with all that frigging mana flooding the walls. What about you, Solus?' Lith thought.
'Same. All the buildings are just a white mass to me. I think that the Golems' destruction has triggered some kind of alert. We are one mistake away from activating either Kulah's defenses or its self-destruct mechanism.
'At this point, I can't find any other explanation for keeping all the buildings charged up with mana.'
Once again Lith cursed at his inability to share such precious information.
'What about your tower?'
'Not enough world energy for the full form, let alone for a Warp.'
Once Neshal deactivated all the arrays, she scanned the area again and so did Lith.
"I think we have found the headquarters." The Professor said after opening the door.
The building was clearly an office of some kind. On the right, there was even a reception where the desk sergeant would sort visitors based on their rank. Even though there was no trace of danger, they scanned the place at each step.
Now that they were inside, both Life Vision and mana sense worked properly, allowing Lith to evaluate the importance of each room. Hidden arrays were only good as traps, to keep secret documents secure active spells were necessary.
Phloria teamed up with him as soon as she saw his eyes flaring up from time to time with mana. Lith gave her a small bow as a thank you. With her by his side, he would have had an easy way to justify any discovery he might make.
They navigated the floor quickly, taking just the time Lith needed to scan for hidden arrays. From the front desk departed several corridors, each one identical to the others. They encountered several doors along the way, each one was warded by arrays and had a golden tag at the eye level.
Lith had no idea what was written, nor did he care.
"What if they hold something important?" Phloria asked. "Otherwise why keep them sealed with arrays?"
"Paranoia." Lith replied and Phloria took his words at face value. It was the opinion of an expert, after all.
"They are just offices. There's nothing magical inside, just desks and cabinets. That room, instead, glows like Kamila's smile. Someone took a lot of energy to protect it."
Phloria had yet to recover from the small stung she had experienced when Lith had used another woman as a benchmark to describe something beautiful that he Hushed their surroundings and shared with her Solus's hypothesis about how dangerous Kulah's glowing buildings were.
Chapter 684 Trust Part 2
"Good gods, one mistake and we might blow up?" Her survival instinct took the wheel and her Forgemaster wand appeared in her hand.
"Maybe. I'm paranoid, but the Odi were crazy, so it's not so unlikely that..."
"You're not paranoid. I mean, not this time." Phloria cut him short.
"Once a safety protocol is breached, the defense readiness condition is raised. Unless the Commander promptly resets the system, two things are bound to happen. The first is the call for reinforcements, which probably failed, being the Odi dead.
"The second is triggering the failsafe mechanism protecting a base' secrets. It usually implies self-destruction so to kill the invaders and prevent state secrets from falling into the wrong hands."
"Can you reset it?" Lith asked.
"Maybe. So far the Odi protocols are not so different from those of the Griffon Kingdom."
'If she manages to do it, we might have enough energy for the tower!' Solus thought.
"Let me guess, that's where we're headed." Phloria pointed at a room that was double the size of those they had encountered so far.
It had ample glass windows which allowed them to look inside and there was a small antechamber in front of it, with a desk for the secretary and seats for the guests.
"Five arrays, three mana cables, twelve purple crystals. This is going to be tricky."
During his stay in Kulah, Lith used Invigoration so many times to scan for dangers that he had discovered new ways to use it. He placed his hands on the walls nearby rather than directly on the arrays.
He made his mana travel from a safe distance, closing it in to the magical formation to make sure that he could study them without triggering their defense mechanisms.
"Or not." Said Phloria, while walking to the secretary's desk. "Secretaries are usually the real second in command. They know everything about their boss and organize their workday, so they have access to pretty much everything."
Lith had already cleared the area, so she could cast some of the spells Orion had taught her. Silvery strands of energy came out from her wand, highlighting several secret compartments where Life Vision showed nothing.
"Wait, what?" Lith asked both Solus and Phloria.
'Beats me. To my mana sense, it's just a normal desk.' Solus said.
"Paranoia." Phloria quoted the book of Lith, chapter 1, verse 1. "The spell I just used specifically reveals cloaked spells. Dad developed it right after studying how such spells work."
"I'm really tempted to ask you what the heck that wand is." No matter how much Lith looked at it, it appeared as a conducting baton made of silver to him.
"You'll have to keep your curiosity to yourself so that my father can keep his head." She replied as several silvery runes appeared over the desk.
For the first time, Lith was interested in Royal Forgemasters' spell, looking at Phloria's actions in the detail. The magic words she used were mostly unknown and the few he recognized derived from Forgemaster spells.
She formed hand and wand signs, using both to draw energy runes in the air. After a few seconds, all the compartments opened at once. One was full of paperwork that Phloria stored for the Professors, one was for office supplies, and the last contained a small keyboard.
"Gods, even the Odi suffered from a bad case of stationery thefts if they used secret compartments for them."
"Paranoia should tell you they are enchanted." Lith replied with his eyes ablaze with Life Vision.
"My bad. My spells can take me only this far and the buttons all look the same. What do you make of them?" She asked.
Lith placed his hand on the desk and performed a thorough scan, hoping that Orion's spell had missed something.
'Apparently, it's as good as Invigoration and it doesn't require contact. Yondra's apprenticeship offer is becoming more interesting by the second.' Lith thought.
Once he focused on the buttons, he could follow their enchantments as if they were power lines and discover what they were connected to.
"One button is for the door, one is for the arrays, and the other two go too far for me to follow them." Lith said.
"They must be the one to call for the security and another to raise the alarm." Phloria suggested.
"Do we really want to bet everything on a button?" Lith asked. The array was a minefield but facing it head-on felt safer to him.
"Do you really expect a secretary to be a Master Warden that every day has to defuse and reactivate that kind of array?" Phloria's reasoning made a lot of sense.
After Lith nodded to her, she pushed it and the arrays disappeared. Another click and the door opened.
Once inside, they ignored the papers and scanned the room for secret compartments. Lith noticed with Life Vision that almost everything in the office was enchanted, especially the desk.
It was filled with mana crystals, resembling a huge wooden communication amulet. Invigoration allowed him to peek inside its drawers, but there was nothing worth mentioning.
"More paperwork and enchanted stationery. What about you?" Lith asked.
"I can feel something enchanted behind this library, but I can't find a magical switch to open it." Phloria replied.
Much to Lith dismay, the library behind the commander's desk was completely ordinary, so Life Vision, mana sense, and Invigoration showed nothing.
'Okay, it's my time to shine.' Solus slipped off Lith's finger and inside the shelves in her liquid form, exploring every nook and cranny, until she found the hidden mechanism. Then she backtracked its workings until she found its trigger.
'Oh my! It seems that the Odi had developed something similar to C-4.' She said. 'I've stored everything for research purposes, but before opening the library I'm going to check for more surprises.'
It was the first time since he was reborn on Mogar that Lith heard about explosives, so he asked Phloria about them.
"It's ancient stuff, no one uses it anymore. Spells are much more powerful and more easily controlled. Also, if someone wears decent protection, you can't kill anyone with explosives unless you make the ceiling collapse on their heads. Why do you ask?"
"Because it's the only thing I could think about to activate the underlying arrays if we just ripped the library off the wall." Lith said.
"That would be an incredibly crude but ingenious way to fool a Forgemaster. Good thinking." Phloria nodded.
'Thanks.' Solus replied in Lith's mind while Phloria and he looked for some kind of switch. Luckily for them, there was only one switch and no traps. After removing the locks, the library easily moved on its hinges, revealing a safe and a block of explosive that Solus had left to prove Lith's theory.
The safe was a small rectangular door, covered by several overlapping arrays, each one fueled by several purple crystals. Above them floated a small holographic display.
"Dammit, the magic crystals powering the safe are the same that fuel the arrays. I can't deactivate them without triggering the safe defense mechanism." Lith said.
"Unless we know the password." Phloria pointed at the holographic display, showing only numbers. She used another of her father's spells and the numbers lit up, revealing that each one of them was connected to two different relays.
One was linked to the safe and the other to the arrays.
"Great! The password contains all the numbers, so they can all be right or wrong depending on their sequence and repetition. I don't think even the Professors can crack it this time." Lith said.
Chapter 685 Last Stop Part 1
"I wouldn't be so sure." Phloria shrugged.
"Why, exactly?" Lith asked.
"Well, this safe is really old. I've seen a lot of them in the army. Heck, I even have one in my own office and none of them is a hybrid between Warden and Forgemaster magic. Maybe this was cutting edge technology centuries ago, but magic never stopped evolving."
Phloria went to call the Professors while Lith examined the safe with Invigoration. Solus had already slipped back to his finger, helping him to sort that mess.
'Dammit, if it wasn't for the Odi's obsession with explosions, there are a lot of things I could try. To make matters worse, I need what's inside this safe, so I can't risk getting it damaged.' He thought.
'Consider this a learning experience.' Solus said. 'Phloria is right, we've never met a safe before, so they must have weak points that dimensional items do not have. Otherwise everyone would use them.'
"Nice work getting here so fast." Yondra said, quickly followed by her peers. "What do we have here? A Nightmare Safe! It's the first time I see one outside of books."
"Can you open it?" Lith asked.
"Of course we can." Neshal laughed like a madwoman at the sight of the ancient relic. "It's just like Kulah's door, an unbeatable conundrum unless you know the trick."
"Do you know why no one uses safes nowadays?" Yondra asked, making both the youths shake their heads.
"First, their ungodly price. Having one Forgemastered or array protected would cost much more than a dimensional item and it would be much less safe. Second, any Forgemaster can crack a safe if they have enough time, the same stands for arrays. But this? This is just idiotic."
Yondra's laughs forced Neshal to continue.
"You see, the safe is password protected, which means that the arrays must also recognize it as well, correct?" More nodding ensued.
"Hence, if you use a very simple array detecting spell…" Neshal made the full form of the array appear, revealing its runes.
"Here says that the array must trigger unless the number 3 is pressed." She deciphered the runes for them. "Then, that it must trigger unless the number 9 is pressed within one second…"
"Are you saying that the password is written on the array and cannot be changed?" Phloria's mouth was agape.
"Yes. Unless you redo everything from scratch, the password cannot be changed and it would still be written as clear as day for any Warden worthy of their title."
Yondra pressed the numbers in quick succession, opening the safe.
"Wait, what about the combination for the door locks in the labs?" Lith asked.
"It was different. The arrays and a holographic pad were two distinct protections, in fact we safely deactivated the array first and then worked on the pad. Heck, the password would have been inconsequential if we could have reached the arrays on the other side of the door." Neshal explained.
Inside the safe, there were several folders that were given to Gaakhu and Ellkas, a metal key, and what looked like a keycard to Lith.
While the linguists deciphered the papers from both the safe and the secretary's desk, Yondra worked on the commander's desk, opening all of its drawers. Countless reports were orderly disposed, making the linguists moan at the idea of having to read them all.
Since their presence was no longer necessary, Lith and Phloria left the commander's office and moved to another building. Life Vision didn't spot any more hidden areas and just to decipher so many papers, it would take the linguists quite some time.
By the time dinner was ready, Lith had cleared three more buildings without finding anything interesting. The Professors were still working on the folders found inside the safe, so after finishing his meal, he decided to give his handler a call.
Lith hadn't heard from Kamila in over a week and he was starting to get worried about her. She replied almost immediately, but the vision he saw sent shivers down his spine. Kamila looked terribly pale and had huge bags under her eyes.
Her skin was stretched, like she had lost too much weight too fast, making her almost unrecognizable.
"Thank the gods you are alright. I was starting to get really worried. Wait for a second, please." Only her radiant smile was still the same. The contrast between her joyous expression and her physical appearance made Lith feel as his heart had been caught in a frozen vise.
A familiar voice in the background snapped him out of his reverie.
"Of course, dear. Royal override. Identification: Archon Jirni Ernas. Password of the day: Abomination, Balkor, Die, Manohar."
"Thanks, Jirni. Now you can talk with both your handler and your girlfriend." She giggled.
"Kami, are you alright? You look terrible. Did something happen?" Lith blurted out the second they were alone again.
Those weren't the first words she had hoped to hear from Lith after such a long separation, but the honest worry in his voice more than made up for it.
"Physically, I'm fine. The rest, not so much. It's a long story, do you have time for it?" Lith nodded for her to continue and Kamila told him all that had happened after Fallmug's attempt on her life.
"That bastard!" Lith yelled when her story was over, slamming his fist against the ground with such strength to crack it. "I told you we should have dealt with him the hard way."
Kamila flinched, quivering like a puppy and making Lith feel terrible.
"Oh gods, I'm so sorry. I'm not angry at you, I just wish I was there to rip him apart, limb from limb."
"That's exactly my problem." She said. "Right after the attack, I was so enraged that I had him arrested and asked for the maximum sentence. Now, however, knowing that he is still alive, getting tortured every day, I feel terrible."
Kamila started to sob.
"I can't sleep, I can't eat. I'm barely functional. Why did I take this job? Everything was much easier before."
Lith let her vent her pain, whispering her sweet words from time to time, before saying anything.
"I would like that Fallmug died a horrible death, but if it's affecting you so badly, then ask for mercy and have him executed. He's not worth a single hair on your head, let alone one of your tears."
"After so long, would it even matter? I helped Constable Ernas capture many people, but it's the first time that my job and my personal life get mixed. I never realized the pain I bring to those who get arrested." She replied.
"First, you didn't do anything wrong. He attacked you, and no matter your role in the army, his sentence would have been the same. Second, what about Zinya? What about all the victims? Why are you worrying for the culprits instead that for yourself?
"If you didn't stop those people, a lot of innocents would have got hurt. Your job is as necessary as mine. As for Fallmug, yes, his death matters. It will give you closure. Kami, you are not a bad person and his fate was never in your hands, but his own.
"What do you think would have happened to your sister and her children if you didn't step up? Nothing you did was meant to hurt him, only to have justice for them, so please stop torturing yourself over such a dirtbag."
Chapter 686 Last Stop Part 2
Kamila pressed a button on her amulet, making Lith's hologram become life-sized and he did the same. She tried to grab the hologram's hand, but there was nothing to touch and it wasn't even warm.
Lith kept his hand open, letting her palm touch his, in the only form of contact they could share.
"You know what? You are right. I think I wouldn't feel so bad if I had asked Jirni to have them immediately executed. It's just that even though Fallmug is a scumbag, I attended to their marriage. I even spent some time with him when Zinya was giving birth.
"He's still someone I know, not just a faceless criminal with a record I have to study." Kamila said.
"I also think you have yet to recover from the attempted murder." Lith said. "The first time is always shocking."
The memory of Fallmug's attack, with all its possible implications, made Kamila shiver and seek the comfort of a heavy blanket.
"When will you be back?" She asked. "I miss you so bad that it hurts."
"Wish I know, but soon." Lith sighed. "Once I return, I promise you that we'll spend a lot of time together and that I'll cook you all of your favorite dishes. We need to get some meat back on those bones."
"Thanks. Your words mean the world to me." Kamila said.
Their conversation continued for a while, but before passing the amulet to Phloria, Lith spoke a bit with Jirni.
"You promised me that she would have been safe." He didn't mean to sound aggressive, but between gritting his teeth and pulverizing rocks with his bare hands to vent his stress, any other person would have found him terrifying.
"And I kept my word. She was never alone, not for a single moment. I gave Fallmug only enough rope so that I could build an airtight case against him." As a married woman, Jirni could understand his distress.
If Orion ever ended up looking like Kamila, she would demand an explanation, and an excellent one at that.
"Then why didn't you kill him on the spot? You know how soft Kamila is, and killing someone in self-defense is much different from doing it in cold blood. The guilt is eating at her alive." Lith rebuked.
"I hoped to make her harder, stronger. In our line of work, what Fallmug did is barely a practical joke. I can only tell you that compared to some of the criminals I arrested, the Odi were amateurs." Jirni said.
"Please, have Fallmug killed as soon as you can and then bring Kamila to my home. The kind of help she needs is something that only her sister and my family can provide to her. No offense." Lith knew that Jirni was right, but also that demanding from Kamila to react like they would was going too far.
"None taken. Any preference on the execution method?"
"I prefer not knowing." Lith replied with a cruel smile. That way, if Kamila asked him anything about how gruesome Fallmug's death had been, Lith wouldn't be forced to lie to her.
***
The next morning, Lith heard words that he had always believed to be just a myth.
"We have great news." Professor Gaakhu said, handing and abridged version of their findings to all the members of the expedition.
"No bad news? At all?" Phloria spit her breakfast in surprise.
"Nope. Not even good news, only great ones." Ellkas replied with a warm smile.
"The documents we have found in the commander's office were the most recent reports and updates about all the experiments conducted in Kulah. Needless to say, most of them were a complete failure.
"Archmage Ernas was right in his estimates. Both Forgemastering living beings and the attempts to create artificial adamant proved to be impossible."
"You said most were failures." Yondra pointed out. "What about their successful experiments?"
"I was getting to that." Gaakhu said. "According to the reports, the Life Merging, Mana Reactor, and Flesh Golem projects were brought to fruition. In the upper part of Kulah, the Odi continued to work on their failed experiments whereas they moved the three successful projects in the lower levels of the city.
"There is an underground facility even better equipped than the one right under our feet. We have all the data we need in our hands, so as soon as we collect the evidence from the under-underground lab, we can finally leave this place."
Gaakhu's words were greeted by a round of applause, yet neither Lith nor Phloria took part in it.
'That's why so much world energy is being siphoned. The Odi must have focused on improving the technologies that actually worked, giving to the other projects just the necessary scraps to keep the base operational.
'Life Merging, Mana Reactor, and Flesh Golem. I have a faint idea of what each one of them does and I like none of them.' Lith thought.
"What about their 'Meat Factories'?" Phloria asked. "Shouldn't we give those poor creatures relief from their life of torment?"
"They'll die once we cut off the power lines to the complex." Ellkas replied.
"No, that's just what you hope for. What if the modification they underwent allow them to survive? What if after a lifetime in slavery, we leave them for dead while they slowly die of hunger? Even worse, what if by doing so we set them free to roam the Griffon Kingdom?" Phloria's words made sense.
The Odi were crazy enough to unleash the horrors they had created against the 'lesser races' in revenge. After all, they were as dead as a doornail, whatever happened wasn't their problem anymore.
"We'll move to the underground floor only once we make sure that not a soul stays trapped in this nightmare a second longer than necessary." Phloria was pretty sure that without their life support systems, the creatures would die. Pain was the only variable.
She hadn't forgotten about the Teks and her failure to locate them. The image of the Tek younglings eating each other still haunted her dreams. After such a terrible parody of life, she wanted to grant them at least a merciful death.
"That shouldn't take long." Ellkas nodded. "We have a list of the facilities and based on the buildings we already explored, we now know which is which."
There weren't many labs left were live specimens had been used, so before moving to their last stop, the group explored them. They made sure that no creature like the pathogen-Abomination hybrid was still alive.
Yet no matter where they looked, they only found either empty buildings or mass graves.
"This really doesn't make sense." Lith said. "Why some places have been cleaned while the rest appears as if the Odi just left, leaving their guinea pigs to starve? It's like a sudden crisis forced them to run away."
His words pictured in everyone's head the image of the Odi still alive in the safety of their underground lab, waiting for them like predators stalking their prey.
"It's worse than that." Phloria said after checking their maps. "Why are the meat factories empty? These rooms are nothing like the one Lith and I witnessed."
The buildings where the creatures that had assaulted Morok's first group on multiple occasions were supposed to be, turned out to be just warehouses filled with junk. There was no trace of dimensional runes, working arrays, or even defensive systems.
"I think I know the answer." Neshal said.
Chapter 687 Death Trap Part1
"Such an extensive automatic breeding facility like the one you described couldn't be used to just breed warriors in case of an assault. The magical beasts were probably used as prototypes for the Flesh Golem project as demonstrated by the brains embedded in the constructs we fought.
"Hence they have probably been moved to the underground lab." Neshal said.
The other Professors nodded, cursing at their own stupidity. It was now too late to enter the underground complex. Even though they had fought no enemy, deactivating arrays and constantly scanning their surroundings was quite a tiresome job.
Still, to Lith it hadn't been a fool's errand. They had now cut off enough mana cables that Solus was almost able to assume her tower form.
Lith used that forced break to use Accumulation a lot and call Kamila again. After seeing her in such a bad shape, he had decided to try and support her to the best of his abilities despite the distance separating them.
Lith spent dinner with her and thanks to his company, Kamila managed to eat a full bowl of soup instead of just nibbling at her food before sending it back to the kitchen.
"It sucks having no one waiting for you but Mom and Dad, uh?" Quylla asked Phloria. She was knee-deep in sheets of paper filled with her notes about the Life Merging reports they had managed to find.
"Well, at least you have Anathor." Phloria said, realizing she had been staring too much at Kamila's hologram and averting her gaze from the couple.
"I don't know. I haven't thought about him once since we got here. I think it's a pretty bad sign. Are you interested in hearing a crazy theory of mine?"
Seeing that Quylla wouldn't stop working even during dinner unless someone actively conversed with her, Phloria nodded.
"I think that all the three successful projects were means to prolong the Odi race's existence. Life Merging probably exploits their artificially identical life forces to avoid rejection when assimilating one another, just like Thrud does with her meat puppets."
"Flesh Golems should be a perfected version of the constructs we have already faced, capable of implanting their minds in a Golem's body, whereas the Mana Reactor should be related to convert mana into life force." Quylla said.
"Is any of these three things even possible?" Phloria was suddenly very interested in the matter. The first two were revolting, but the third option might allow them to give Lith a normal lifespan if they found its blueprints.
"In theory, yes. In practice, maybe. The only problem I have with my crazy theory is that it doesn't explain why the Odi disappeared even though all three projects worked. I mean, I get that the rebels might have killed those on the surface, but what happened to the Odi residing in Kulah?
"Also, I don't get how they were supposed to find life force donors for the Life Merging project. If Lith is right and the Odi were sterile, then their numbers could only decline with time."
"Couldn't they use Body Sculpting on the Teks and absorb their life force?" Phloria asked.
"No, that's impossible. Even with heavy modifications, a magical beast's and a human's life force are too different. My hope is that we find enough about the Mana Reactor to at least repair Lith's life force since it's the only way to help him that doesn't involve forbidden magic." Quylla replied.
There were few things that she wouldn't do to help her friend, but killing people was among them.
Lith tried to give Kamila his undivided attention, but his enhanced senses heard Quylla's words and he got curious. When he listened to her reasoning, he couldn't disagree more with her.
'Her idea of Life Merging kind of makes sense, but the rest is just wishful thinking. If the Odi were willing to consider becoming Golems as a form of eternal life, they would have much more easily turned themselves into undead.
'As for the Mana Reactor, mana and life force are two entirely different things. With Invigoration, I can have my mana core produce as much mana as I want, yet I can't repair my life force.
'Either Quylla sees so far that I can't even comprehend her theory or she's completely off track.' Lith thought.
"Why are you sighing so much?" Kamila asked. Lith didn't want to burden her with his problems, so he replied with a white lie.
"I can't wait to be done with this awful place. Having you so close and yet so distant is killing me." His words managed to make her laugh and eat some bread.
The rest of the evening was uneventful and so was the night. The guards had become so relaxed with the prolonged quiet of those last few days that they had a hard time not dozing off from time to time.
The following morning, despite all of Quylla's pleads, the expedition team was once again split into two groups, leaving the Assistants and the soldiers in the camp while the Rangers, the Professors, and Phloria went to collect the last data.
"I'm sorry, Quylla, but if those we faced so far were the security measures for almost abandoned projects, I can't imagine how tight the security will be for the successful ones." Phloria said.
Even though she appeared to be calm, she was actually on edge. She had searched thoroughly Kulah's commander's office, but she hadn't found the device to reset the base's DEFCON level.
According to Lith's estimates, they were one mistake away from a gruesome death. By keeping her sister as far away as she could from Kulah, Phloria could better protect her life and give her the opportunity to escape if the worst happened.
The elevator for the underground facility was located inside the administrative building, right past the commander's office. Just like the other elevators they had encountered, its metal doors were nigh identical to the walls, making it hard to spot, if it wasn't for the small keyhole at its side.
The moment Phloria put the metal key in the lock, it was ripped off her hand before she could turn it. A thud could be heard as a bright yellow light became visible through the elevator's crevices, accompanied by a rumbling sound.
"Oh shit!" Phloria unsheathed her sword and conjured an energy shield around those close to her. The Professors reacted as well, taking their best equipment out from their dimensional amulets.
"What did you do wrong?" Morok's said, his hands above his weapons as he was uncertain of what form shapeshift them into to better face the metal monster in front of them.
The panic in the air amused Lith, who had to repress his chuckle.
'I guess they have never heard a mechanical elevator moving.' He thought.
A ding accompanied the metal doors opening, revealing a lift big enough to easily accommodate 20 people or a stretcher and a medical team. The key was waiting for them on the inside, behind a glass panel right beside a card reader.
"What the heck is this?" Gaakhu asked. "There are no buttons and no runes, how do we command this thing to move?"
"It seems that the elevator only makes one stop." Lith explained. "We need the other key." Mogar's language had no word for 'keycard', so he just pointed at the other item they had found inside the safe.
"How do you know?" Gaakhu asked. She was a historian and she had never heard of such a device. Before Lith could cook up an explanation, the ground below their feet began to rumble.
Chapter 688 Death Trap Part 2
The activation of the ancient elevator had also triggered a device placed several hundreds of meters below them. It awoke the Odi from their long slumber, signaling to them that rescue had finally arrived.
They were many and there was only one monitor, so they crowded in front of it while shoving each other away to see which one of the ancient noble families had managed to find a cure for their condition and repress the revolt.
What appeared in front of their eyes was much worse than the dreamless sleep they had just escaped from.
"What does this mean?" A male asked. "Those aren't even Odi possessing human bodies. According to the sensors, they are actual humans, or at least most of them are."
Nimble feminine fingers ran across a keyboard, activating the surveillance devices scattered throughout Kulah. The cameras showed them the camp on the outside and how many buildings had been breached.
"These people are no helpers, but raiders." A female said. "We need to exterminate them before going back to sleep."
"Don't be so hasty." Another woman replied. "Look at their equipment. I've never seen anything like that. They might hold the key to resume our research."
After a quick debate, an agreement was reached.
"Fine. Let them come like lambs to their slaughter, but we must make sure that no one of their slaves manages to escape." A second male voice said while pressing a button which activated their ultimate defense mechanism.
***
In the meantime, Lith could see with Life Vision that something was terribly wrong. The world energy compressed and accumulated inside Kulah's buildings was being released all at once while more was being pumped from the mana geyser below.
"This is a quake! We must make sure that the people at the camp are alright." Yondra said, worried about Rainer.
Yet it was no quake. The world energy was being converted into a thick, black miasma that was flooding the whole underground cave and its tunnels, consuming every form of life on its path, even the moss they had painstakingly grown during the last few weeks.
The camp was already submerged in darkness element and the only reason its occupants were still alive was the multi-layered array that Neshal and the other Professors had left. Yet it wasn't going to protect them for long.
The dark energy was eating at the magical formation, whereas the miasma could slowly pass through it. Barriers wouldn't prevent air and light from entering, making the situation of those at the camp even more desperate.
Luckily, the cave was now filled with air, allowing them to use fire magic to destroy the toxic gas before it got too close. Without all the moss they had planted, they would have had no defense against such an attack.
Jerth was about to contact Phloria, but she beat her second in command to the punch.
"Is everything alright at the camp? The quake…"
"Is caused by a mass destruction spell that's consuming the whole cave." Jerth cut her short, the external layers were already crumbling. "What do we do?"
Jerth pressed a few buttons on the amulet, allowing Phloria's group to take a look around.
Lith didn't waste time, opening a Warp Steps right in front of Quylla, quickly followed by both Phloria and Yondra who had started to chant as soon as they had seen Jerth's terrorized expression.
Only thanks to the three dimensional corridors did the rest of the expedition team manage to get to safety before the array collapsed.
"And now what? We can't get outside and we have no idea how much further that thing reaches the tunnels." Almost as a reply to Morok's question, the black miasma started to flow inside the administration office through the ventilation system.
"Give me the card!" Lith took the keycard from Phloria's pocket, quickly swiping it from both sides, just to be safe. The metal doors closed in the nick of time and the elevator started to move down, allowing them to survive.
***
"Amazing!" Said a woman. "They managed to use dimensional magic without runes! We must interrogate them thoroughly and learn their secrets."
"You're insane, Leela." Replied a man. "They speak gibberish and none of us is willing to waste their time teaching a bunch of monkeys our language."
"Talk for yourself, Rizo." Said another man. "If we learn their language after we steal their bodies, we could get outside and learn how close the Odi empire is to defeat the rebels."
"Are you insane?" Rizo's voice was full of poison. "Taking the body of a monkey? Have you forgotten why we hid inside Kulah? It would mean throwing away all of our efforts and sacrifices!"
"I haven't forgotten, but have you seen how low have we stooped? What we have become to remain alive and preserve our magical talents? I'd say that even a monkey's body is better than this thing you call life."
Rizo was about to kill Jiira, but many seemed to share his vision and even more blocked Rizo's arm, keeping it away from his sword.
"There' something I don't understand." Leela said, ignoring the commotion around her. "Why did they save their slaves instead of using dimensional magic to escape? How can a bunch of children be worthy of their masters' lives?"
"The answer is simple." Jiira said. "Either those are not slaves or their spells are flawed and can't bend space far enough to escape. By the way, I call dibs on the brown-haired youth. It's the less disgusting among them."
No one wanted the Professors because they were too old, also in the following quarrels for who would obtain the Assistants' bodies, the Odi agreed on only one thing: the non human had to die.
***
'Solus, what was that thing?' Lith asked.
'Some kind of poisonous gas strengthened by darkness magic. In a way, it's worse than the explosion we were afraid of. No matter how powerful, we could have avoided the explosion by Blinking away whereas we have no idea how long will it take for the gas to disperse.' Solus replied.
Phloria was checking that Quylla was alright, casting all the diagnostic spells at her disposal. Yondra was doing the same for Rainer, while the other Professors were too worried about themselves to care about their Assistants.
"Captain Phloria, how in the gods' name one can fail even to use a goddamn key?" Gaakhu's fury hid the terror she felt for being trapped hundreds of meters below the ground, without knowing if she would ever see the sky again.
"I made no mistake nor I triggered any alarm. You checked the door yourself." Phloria kept her voice calm. The only thing worse than being underground was to remain imprisoned in a metal box with no way out.
None of them had ever been in a mechanical elevator before, all those they had experienced in the past were magical in nature. The buzzing of the engine and clanging of cables were upsetting everyone but Lith.
"Then how do you explain our situation? We did nothing and the Assistants were too far to mess up!" Gaakhu wasn't willing to let it slide. Each squeaking she heard felt as if someone was hammering nails into her coffin.
"I don't owe you any explanation. I don't know what happened, but I know that arguing won't take us anywhere. We need to keep calm."
When the elevator reached the bottom floor, the structure jolted to a stop, making the group yelp.
The metal doors quickly opened, forcing the two women to interrupt their quarrel. It was best to not ignore the welcome committee waiting for them.
Chapter 689 Conflicts Part 1
A small army of Teks, Thorns, and Koas unleashed a barrage of spells against the intruders as soon as they had a clear line of fire. Thorns were creatures born from the Awakening of bushes, or in the case of an underground environment, of moss.
Their bodies were short, barely reaching one meter (3'3") of height. They looked like octopuses made of mold, with glowing yellow eyes and odd protuberances on their backs that almost resembled wings.
Koas, instead were fish type magical beast, about 1.5 (5') meters tall. They had big green eyes and humanoid bodies covered in silvery scales as hard as metal. Their razor-sharp claws and teeth made them formidable opponents in close-quarter combat.
All of them had been born and bred in an environment that only allowed to the most aggressive of them to survive, so their first reaction was always to try and eat each other. The bloodbath between the different species ended only when the elevator's doors opened, revealing its cargo of soft, tender meat.
Once again, the entire structure was made of metal, making earth magic impossible to use. The Teks attacked with a hail of ice shards, while the Thorns released their darkness infused spores to weaken their prey enough to feed upon them.
The Koas preferred a much simpler approach, releasing their bolts of lightning against everyone but themselves. Unfortunately, both Teks and Thorns were immune to lightning, so electricity was a threat only to the expedition group.
Between the sudden crisis and the fear that the mechanical elevator had caused them, the humans had no time to prepare their spells. Phloria stepped in front of Quylla while injecting mana into her Skinwalker armor.
The few projectiles that hit Phloria before her conjured tower shield could take form didn't even put a dent in the silvery layer covering her skin. The soldiers reacted in unison, each one stepping forward to protect the civilians while activating their energy shields and using their wands to return fire.
They had learned from the previous attack that in such a confined space, darkness was the best choice. The projectiles were slow, but the creatures had no camaraderie and would hinder each other's movements in their attempts of dodging the darkness bolts.
Lith and Morok Blinked almost at the same time. Before the first blood could be shed, they appeared respectively on the left and the right side of their assailants. Morok crossed his blades right in front of his eyes as he whispered: "Infiro."
The two short words emitted a red light that scorched everything on its path, while Lith released a stream of blue flames from his hands from the opposite direction, leaving the creatures no way out but to move toward the black bullets.
The red light and the blue flames burned the Thorns while heating the Teks' exoskeletons and Koas' scales to the point that they ended up cooking rather than protecting their internal organs.
Lith would have liked to use Origin Flames, but ever since they had activated the elevator, Solus had spotted magical cameras, warning him that they were being watched.
"What the heck was that?" Lith asked while using the army signal to alert the others about enemy spies. To a casual onlooker, they would just appear as a nervous gesture.
"I thought your weapons didn't have energy-based attacks."
"And you were right about that. The spell was mine, my weapons simply absorbed the flames and released only its heat. I'm not as confident as you are in controlling my spells." Morok nodded in understanding.
"This is all metal, there's no way to start a fire." Lith said, noticing that aside from Yondra, the Professors had only shielded themselves. If not for the soldiers, most of the Assistants would have died.
The two Rangers continued babbling for a while, giving Phloria the time to decide their next move while keeping the enemy focused on them. She retrieved the metal key from behind the glass before stepping outside the elevator.
The compartment had opened after Lith had swiped the keycard the right way, but between Gaakhu's yammering and the creepy noises from the elevator, Phloria had almost forgotten about it.
"We need to find an easily defensible place." She said. "Our first priority is to avoid getting blind-sided again. Then, we must find and destroy the meat factories. I don't care if the magical beasts are willingly helping our enemies or not, they are part of the Odi's automated defences and we'll treat them as such."
Neshal hid behind Phloria to cast a Detector array, following the orders hidden behind her words. The magical cameras emitted a glow visible to the naked eye for a split second before a snap of Neshal's fingers turned them into dust.
"What the heck is this stuff?" Yondra said while studying the devices' remains.
They looked like small metal cylinders with a glass lens mounted at their extremities. They would have reminded Lith of some kind of security cameras if not for the fact that they were covered in runes and powered by magic rather than electricity.
"First the card, now this. How did you notice them without an array?" Gaakhu had shifted her rage from Phloria to Lith.
"The lenses reflected the lights from our spells." Lith lied through his teeth. "Also, I get that you are scared, everyone is, but that doesn't give you the right to vent your stress on those who just saved your useless life.
"Captain Ernas, I propose to leave Professor Gaakhu here. It's because of her that the enemy ambush almost succeeded. She's a liability." Before she could retort in outrage, Lith lifted her from the neck with one hand.
His grip was so strong that she couldn't breathe and he only needed a flick of his wrist to break her neck like a twig. Except for the Orichalcum boosted by mana, enchanted armors offered little protection against that kind of attacks.
"All in favor?" Phloria asked.
The Assistants, the soldiers, and Morok raised their hands.
"The majority agrees." She said while looking into Gaakhu's desperate eyes. "Luckily for you, this is not a democracy. You're the best linguist we have, so your usefulness outweighs how annoying you are. Yet.
"So, I'm willing to give you a last chance. Keep your emotions in check and help the others to survive, because the next time you mess up will be your last. Release her, Ranger Verhen."
Lith opened his hand, making Gaakhu fall butt first to the ground, gasping for air. She was outraged by the treatment she had received, but she kept her mouth shut. Her colleagues had opposed to her execution, but none of them had said a word to defend her nor tried to prevent the judgment from being carried out.
Gaakhu was alone and Phloria's ultimatum was still ringing in her ears.
'Damn old fossils. I'm too young to die.' She thought. 'As much as I would like to teach these arrogant kids a lesson, I need them for my survival. The moment we're out of here, I'll use all of my resources to ruin you and your precious careers.'
The group started to move, but no one helped her to get up. The Professors were busy studying and scanning the space in front of them while the soldiers focused solely on the Assistants.
Gaakhu decided to swallow her pride and prove her usefulness to them. She had no idea what that place was, but her instincts told her that she wouldn't stand a chance alone.
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Chapter 690 Conflicts Part 2
The lobby in front of the elevator was a rectangular room, 2.4 meters (7.9 feet) high and 7 meters (23 feet) wide. It reminded Lith of the company he had worked for in the Q\u0026A department.
There was no furniture, only tags and signs to navigate the facility. The walls had been painted of a pale green while the metal grate that covered the stone ceiling was white.
The magic cameras had been hidden between the grate and the stone, making them almost invisible to the naked eye. After a thorough scan of the room was completed, Phloria said:
"First the gas and now another ambush. If this is the response of an automated defense, then it's like to be a sentient cursed object. We're too much at disadvantage here to safely continue the mission.
"Does anyone have an idea if it's safe to go back upstairs and leave Kulah? I'll take full responsibility for the decision."
The Professors pondered for a while before replying.
"I've seen that gas before." Yondra said. "It's a neurotoxin laced with magic crystals' powder so that it can carry and amplify darkness magic pulses without being destroyed by them. Its half-life is about three days, so we'd have to wait at least a week before leaving this place.
"Otherwise even if somehow we carry with us enough fresh air to survive, another black pulse would travel through the toxin so fast that we would die before having enough time to open a Warp Steps."
"We'll be all dead before a week." Morok said. His words caused more nods than glares this time, making Phloria realize that her real first issue was morale. Gaakhu was a symptom, not the illness, just like Morok had simply stated what everyone was thinking.
"What about the signs? Is there any indication of an emergency exit?" She prayed to the gods for good news.
"They only say: 'Main Lobby'…" Gaakhu pointed at the tag in front of the elevator.
"…'Living Quarters' and 'Research Area'." Those were the signs respectively pointing left and right.
"Good." Phloria nodded while everyone looked at her as if she had gone insane.
"The Living Quarters are bound to be a safe spot. The Odi would never place a meat factory near their lodgings. Let's move." Phloria was way less confident than she appeared.
Yet she had to find a place where to leave the Assistants before exploring the rest of the compound. Such a large group would be too difficult for her to manage. Along the way, they kept finding working cameras that were regularly disposed of, leaving the enemy blind.
The corridor was quite long and full of surprises. First, they found leaflets of bright colors hanging on the walls. According to Ellkas, they were just propaganda inciting the scientists to fight for the Odi cause and not lose hope.
Then, there were traces of ripped leaflets, replaced by what looked like a kid's drawing of the outside world that covered most of the walls, until it turned into a wall text of gibberish repeated over and over.
"It says 'doom'." Ellkas said, noticing that it wasn't the work of a single person. The word was the same but the handwriting was different. The nail marks and the almost faded bloodstains on the walls told them a creepy story.
No one would ever let such an unsettling message, let alone the blood if the phenomenon hadn't become so widespread that the authorities had given up on removing the madmen's message and leave one of their own.
A message of violence.
Luckily, the double metal door at the end of the corridor was pristine, lifting their spirit. The Odi hadn't let the insanity spread too far, so the humans could still hope to find a haven rather than an asylum.
The Living Quarters had another card reader. Phloria had seen Lith using the keycard and managed to swipe it right at the first attempt. The display turned bright green and several letters appeared.
"Commander card recognized." Gaakhu translated without even giving Phloria the time to ask.
Phloria nodded and opened the door, revealing a space that extended as far as the eye could see, almost as big as Kulah's residential area. Judging from the distance between the doors, each apartment was quite spacious.
The area was clean and perfectly lighted, with no sign of vandalism. The pavement was covered by a soft red moquette and the cream-colored walls made everyone relax the moment the heavy door closed behind them.
"We have only a keycard." Phloria said pointing at the card reader at the side of each door. "So, we'll have to live together until we find a way out. Professors, please scan the area. I'll look for the biggest apartment while the rest of you stay here."
As soon as Neshal signaled her that the coast was clear, Phloria went to the nearest door and swiped the keycard, obtaining only a beep and a red light in return.
'Maybe this is the commander's personal key and it can open only their own apartments.' She thought, but the idea of a commanding officer needing more than once key made no sense to her, so when after the second door refused to open as well, Phloria called for Ellkas.
"What does this say?" She asked after the swipe.
"Access denied. Permission revoked." Neshal turned pale and started to chant a spell.
Phloria gave the alarm as she walked back to the entrance and swiped the card at the door that they had opened barely a minute ago.
"Access denied. Permission revoked." Neshal read the message accompanying the red light.
"Dammit, it's a trap! This is no automated defense, someone has trapped us here." Phloria could cast a Warp Steps to get them out of there, but her problem was that she had no idea where to go.
The apartment's doors opened all at once and a small army of Golems stepped out of them. The constructs were nothing like those the expedition group had faced outside Kulah.
They were all humans, but their bodies had been heavily modified, replacing most of their flesh with stone and metal. Huge mana crystal had been grafted on all their limbs, including their head.
Thin tubes came out from their backs and pierced their abdomen. Their skin was deathly pale, their eyes bloodshot with the veiled pupil typical of corpses, yet they were still alive.
Lith looked at them with Life Vision as his worst fears about the Flesh Golems turned into reality. They still had a faint trace of life force, but no mana flow except for that exuding from their artificial parts, which bore an inhuman energy signature.
Morok didn't wait for orders, he struck at the closest construct after shapeshifting his weapons into war hammers. The Golem reacted as fast as a magical beast, shapeshifting its hands into shields to block the attack while breathing fire against Morok.
The Ranger crouched down to avoid the attack and struck at the construct's kneecaps at the same time, swinging his hammers in an X shaped motion. The impact was so strong that it shattered them but instead of falling the Flesh Golem simply floated while its limbs regenerated.
< "Kill me."> It said in an unknown language as its hands emitted streams of lightning bolts that sent Morok slamming against a wall and into a seizure.
Once again, Lith somehow understood its words. He recognized that state, he had seen it happen once in the past when Protector was about to die.
The Odi had solved the mana poisoning issue by somehow destroying the mana core of their victims.
Chapter 691 Bane Part 1
As any decent Forgemaster knew, the Golems' greater weakness was the fact that they were limited to the tactics their maker managed to imbue in their core's array. No matter how talented a mage was, there were only so many situations they could cover without overloading the array.
On the other hand, living beings could learn, could be trained, and most importantly, they could be enslaved. The only problem with Forgemastering living beings had been the mana poisoning that sooner or later would kill them.
Yet by studying the death of countless specimens, the Odi had discovered that when a living being was on the verge of death, their mana would disappear. They had no idea that the phenomenon was due to the cracking and fading of the mana core, nor it had any relevance to their research.
They had gotten the idea from the pseudo-Balor experiment they kept in the Body Enhancement department. Between being dead and almost dead there lied countless applications.
The organic matter of the Flesh Golems was in a constant state of decay, but thanks to the pseudo light fusion the constructs were imbued with, their death was constantly being delayed as their tissue regenerated just as fast as they rotted.
The tubes transported the nutrients straight to their stomachs, allowing them to sustain the perpetual healing process. The whole existence of the Flesh Golems was pure agony, but that was irrelevant in the Odi's eyes.
They just needed to order them not to complain to solve the issue of their annoying wails.
Lith moved his hands, conjuring several small spheres of flames directly inside the Golems' mouths. The detonation made their brains splatter, yet they continued their attack while the flesh regrew at a speed visible to the naked eye.
'Solus, I can see two weak points right off the bat. First, the slave item. If we destroy it, these creatures will help us. Second, being alive they are vulnerable to darkness magic. Do we conscript or destroy them?' Lith asked.
'I'm afraid neither.' Solus replied stopping him in his tracks. 'The slave item is once again forgemastered in their flesh, to remove it you have to kill them. As for darkness magic, the only flesh they have left is that needed to keep them functional.
'Damaging it would only temporarily hinder their battle prowess until it's regenerated, but that's it. I can assure you that they have no vitals.'
While Lith's spheres were still exploding, Professor Yondra unleashed a volley of black arrows that struck the nearest Golems at their heads, hearts, and stomachs. She was a Forgemaster and a Healer as well, so her reasoning was akin to Lith's.
She smiled seeing the tissues turning green and black from the decay, yet it disappeared the moment all the allegedly injured constructs turned to face her with their rocky hands brimming with mana.
'See? At the moment they have no life force, yet they still work. Soon their flesh will heal, making Yondra's spell just a waste of mana.' Solus thought.
Yondra was about to be blasted away by five Golems and Morok wasn't faring any better. The constant stream of lightning kept him in mid-air, screaming while his steaming flesh started to smell like barbeque.
Phloria activated all of her magical rings, trying to buy some time. The constructs simply ignored the spells. Tier three could barely dent their bodies and their orders were clear.
Bring the youths to their masters and kill the rest. The Flesh Golems ran towards their prey with the inhuman speed that their small build and magical bodies bestowed upon them.
Rainer and the rest of the Assistants used their best spells, yet not having a combat specialization, the best they could do was mimic Phloria and obtain her same result.
"Yondra, help me!" Rainer yelled as a Golem grabbed him before using a Warping Array to disappear. Yet the Professor was using all she had and then more just to resist the combined assault of the five Golems she had attacked.
If not for Gaakhu's and Neshal's help she would have been the first one to fall. The Professors combined their efforts and artifacts to block most of the Golems, keeping them away with an energy barrier while racking their brains for a solution.
Lith didn't care about the Assistants, so he weaved his spell while trying to find a way to defeat his opponents or at least free Morok.
Everything changed when he saw that Quylla was among their targets.
Lith joined his open palms conjuring a compressing a tier five Setting Sun until it was no bigger than a tennis ball. The black flames struck at the Golem attacking Quylla, making its stone parts melt and its organic matter evaporate.
Yet what slowed the Golem down wasn't the negligible damage it had sustained, but only the push that the highly compressed flames exerted.
'Solus, please. I need an idea!' Lith thought. He had been casting non-stop, but Golems were the bane of all mages, Awakened or not. In such a confined space, most of his tier five spells were more likely to injure his friends rather than his enemies.
'I'm thinking!' She replied trying to sound reassuring, but she had no clue how to face that many unstoppable constructs.
Lith's spell still bought Phloria enough time to join him and activate her tier five spell, Torment Guard.
As a Mage Knight, she needed earth magic to conjure her tower shields, so she always kept a few kilograms of the hardest rock that money could buy in her dimensional amulet.
That way, no matter if the fight was in the air, underwater, or in a metal room, Phloria always had what she needed to execute her best spells. Torment Guard conjured a small stone tower around Quylla, infused with fire and darkness magic to reinforce Lith's spell.
She had fallen into the Odi's trap as well. Darkness dealt negligible damage against the heavily enchanted inorganic matter and the flesh on the golems was merely a bait. The humans' brains were safely stored inside their power core and the metal parts stored enough meat samples to endlessly regenerate their bodies.
The only variable was the amount of pain they would endure.
Quylla and Solus racked their brains. They weren't fighting, they weren't giving their all to stop a single dreadnought of stone and metal while everyone around them was getting beaten or kidnapped.
'Gods, I'm so stupid! The Odi are just the polar opposites of the undead.' Both girls thought in unison.
'Using darkness to fight light is pointless. Light's magic bane it's light itself!'
"Let me go, sis! I know what to do!" Quylla had no time to explain her plan, she had to execute it herself. Solus, however, used her mind link with Lith to bring him up to speed.
'If you had a body, I might kiss you right now.' Lith thought while conjuring his battle-oriented Body Sculpting spell, Cleaver.
He recalled Final Sunset to his left hand while emitting the mana weapons from his right hand together with a cold wave that would allow him to touch the Golem without being burned to cinders.
His attempt was foiled by a second construct that was hell-bent on capturing him. It attempted to tackle Lith, who was forced to take the construct head-on to prevent it from reaching Quylla.
Lith infused his Skinwalker armor with mana, turning it into quicksilver that covered him from head to toe dispersing most of the kinetic energy of the charge, stopping the Golem on its tracks.
AN: If you're not reading this on https://www.ReadReadReadReadReadNovelFull.com/book/12820870105509205/Supreme-Magus you're reading pirated material. Please support the official release.
Chapter 692 Bane Part 2
'I'll have to trust Quylla as much as I trust Solus on this.' Lith thought while his tier five spell, Scanner, enveloped the construct that was grabbing him, allowing Lith to put Solus's theory to the test.
'What the heck can I do?' Phloria thought as the first Golem was dismantling her Torment Guard as if it was made of paper, ignoring both her spells and swordplay. To make matters worse, after kidnapping her soldiers and the Assistants, the constructs were now free to focus on killing the Professors and the Rangers.
Phloria hadn't missed that the Golems seemed to have a different approach based on their enemy, yet she had no idea how to exploit it.
A third and a fourth construct were about to reach her, their arms already extended.
"Phloria, trust me, dammit!" Quylla yelled. She was so focused using Scanner on her future opponent that she couldn't afford to Blink out of her cage. It would make her lose her concentration and waste both the tier five light spells she had prepared.
Phloria snapped her fingers, releasing Quylla and used all the earth she had at her disposal to block her enemy. Alas, hundreds of kilograms were required to stop a Golem. Just a few dozens of them were merely an annoyance.
It was one of the reasons Lith hadn't brought any with himself. Even if he had used his entire pocket dimension, he would have barely enough to stop a single construct at the price of losing everything he had.
Besides, he had many strings to his bow.
The Golem tried to zap him, but the Orichalcum deflected the spell. Then, it tried to lift the Ranger, but by coming this close to him, Lith's spirit magic was a raging river that the creature could barely stand.
'Okay, ignore its life force. To do any damage to whatever is left of its human side, it would take us too much time. Focus on the runes. Find and damage them.' As if Solus was speaking to both of them, Lith and Quylla performed the same task.
One was protected by her beloved sister, who was facing three Golems at once, while the other only had spirit magic to prevent his opponent from Warping him away.
It was an incredibly hard task for both Healers. Quylla had to ignore Phloria's battle screams and set aside her fears as the unliving monstrosity grabbed her, while Lith had to manage many things at once.
Yet he wasn't alone. Solus examined the Golem's complex life force, searching for the runes hidden inside the many building blocks and energy bridges that once gave life to the man in front of them.
'There, under the heart.' One thought to herself and the other to her partner.
Quylla's Chisel scraped the rune engraved in the creature's life force whereas Lith's Cleaver split it asunder. Until that moment, the Golems' movements had been relentless.
No matter what kind of attack they were under, the constructs had followed their orders with no care for the consequences. Their bodies healed the moment they suffered any damage.
Even Lith's and Phloria's combined attack had barely left a mark on them. Yet as soon as a single rune was damaged, they both stuttered. Lith and Quylla found another rune in the Golems' head, crushing it with their respective spell.
A Golem was a complex machine, but a Flesh Golem was in a league of its own. Damaging their runes was akin to removing random gears from a clockwork marvel, destroying its perfect balance.
The constructs froze, but while Quylla could only search and destroy more runes to make sure it wouldn't come back to life, Lith had other options. Solus's glove covered his hand and the Orichalcum covered Solus.
Life Vision showed him their power cores, so after using fusion magic to boost his physical prowess, he was capable of piercing through their stone shell and ripping the still pulsing power core from the creature's ankle.
< "Thank you."> The man said as his flesh turned to mush and the Golem collapsed.
A split second later, the Golem in front of Quylla was dead too, letting her focus on the two that were seconds away from overpowering Phloria.
***
"That's impossible!" Jiira said watching at the Golems control panel. Two lights had just gone offline. "Flesh Golems are perfect, immortal creatures. Not even us could take them down if not for the slave control engraved into their very being!"
"If only we still had the cameras." Rizo was tempted to bite his fingernails out of stress, but ruining his perfect body would be considered as a sign of weakness from his peers.
"It must be the non-human's work. Emperor Beasts drove us into corner one time too many to underestimate them." Leela said. "We must kill all the remaining invaders."
"What? And lose the only semi-decent looking woman of the herd?" Veiga was outraged. She had her eyes on Quylla from the beginning. "Also, we need the old ones to learn their language, otherwise spare bodies or not, we'll not last a minute outside."
"Veiga is right. We can always make more Flesh Golems whereas powerful mages are hard to find." Guuna had been a powerful mage back in her days. She didn't care if her body was male or female, as long as it was powerful.
"I have a better idea." Jiira smiled. "We order the Golems to kill only those that managed to destroy their comrades. After all, what makes the Flesh Golems truly perfect is the fact that they are not mindless machines.
"Their human side allowed us to train them in the use of the spells we bestowed upon them, to getting used to their peerless physical prowess, and more importantly, to properly follow orders."
All the Odi nodded at those words. They believed that if Kulah hadn't been cut off from the rest of the empire during the Great War, if only they had received enough supplies and specimens, an army of Flesh Golems would have guaranteed their victory.
The Odi could already picture the entirety of Mogar on its knees in front of the true and only master race.
***
Once the order was given, the Golems focused on Lith. All twenty of them.
"This is bad." He said.
The Professors could finally catch their breath. Up until that moment, the four of them had kept at bay the entire horde of enemies, but each time one of the constructs managed to slip through their barrier, someone had been kidnapped.
Now they were holding back seventeen Flesh Golems, the others were the one that had been frying Morok up until that moment, and the two that had almost cornered Phloria.
They all turned towards Lith, ignoring their old marks and readying their spells. Morok's body slid down the wall and on the ground, but instead of falling to a side, his feet stood firm.
"Thanks for nothing, you frigging bastards!" Morok's skin was almost black, yet he seemed to be more pissed off than wounded. "I almost got roasted because of you. Is it too much to ask for a little help?"
It was hard to tell who was more surprised if the Golems or his own allies.
"Magna!" He yelled as his hammers turned orange and his body swelled. Every muscle in his body was now as tense as a bowstring.
AN: If you're not reading this on https://www.ReadReadReadReadReadNovelFull.com/book/12820870105509205/Supreme-Magus you're reading pirated material. Please support the official release.
Chapter 693 Retreat Part 1
The Golem ignored Morok, turning around to focus on Lith. When the first hammer struck, the back of the construct exploded, spraying the nutrients stored inside its hunch all over the corridor.
The second hammer hit the Golem's side, it pierced through the stone shell until only its handle was still visible.
"Now you ignore me? Now? Too little too late!" Morok's hammers struck in a flurry of attacks, sending debris, flesh, and blood flying around. By the time the Golem managed to react, its power core was destroyed.
Morok fell to his knees due to exhaustion, too weak to even hold his weapons any longer. Both the Odi and the humans were astonished that another Flesh Golem had fallen so fast.
"All right, stop. Hammer time will resume in a jiffy." He said panting.
Normal Golems would have frozen now that their protocols were contradictory. Back when Jiira had ordered them to kill the Golem slayer, only Lith fit their bill, but now there were two.
Unfortunately, the human side allowed them to understand an order beyond its literal meaning, so they simply split.
"Never screw with the Healer, because the next time you go down, you stay down!" Quylla had never stopped moving, grabbing the nearest Golem. She was glad to discover that the Forgemastering process for all the constructs was identical.
That way she already knew where the three runes she had located when Scanning the first Golem were located in the life force of the other enemies.
Her Chisels broke them all at once.
"Lith!" She yelled while tackling with her small body the third Golem that Phloria had been facing until a second ago. The construct wasn't stupid. Its orders were to bring the bodies alive, not intact.
The little girl had already paralyzed two of its kin, and even though the poor woman grafted inside the Golem wanted nothing more than to be put out of her misery, her self defense protocols forbid her to allow any damage to be willingly inflicted upon the enchanted rock that was now her body.
The construct struck Quylla with a backhand slap, sending her slamming against a wall. Even with the Skinwalker armor's protection, the hit was strong enough to break her jaw and nose.
She fell limp on the ground, leaving a trail of blood on the wall where her head had struck.
Lith swallowed his rage to not let her sacrifice go to waste. He ignored the still active Golem and ripped off the power core from the still stiff construct, further reducing their numbers.
Now only eighteen were left, yet they were likely to be seventeen too many of them.
"We have to retreat. We can't hold them for much longer." Yondra was the most vigorous Professor thanks to her rejuvenated body. She quickly conjured a Warp Steps and gestured her colleagues to get into it.
"What about me?" Morok was still wheezing for air, cornered like a mouse between two walls. The eight golems around him had yet to attack only because they were taking position.
"Blink, you moron!" She replied while Phloria used that very same spell to rescue Quylla and bring her past the dimensional door.
'The Golems are charging up their arrays, we have to be quick!' Solus warned Lith, who Blinked as well and dragged Yondra with himself. He knew that unlike Wardens, a construct only needed a handful of seconds to activate an elemental blocking array.
Yondra's plan would have failed if everyone wasn't already close to each other. Not even five seconds had passed since the moment the Warp had been opened and it was already about to be closed.
"Oh shit!" Morok could feel the mana density in the air rise to the point of making his skin crawl. He had no Life Vision, but his instincts were screaming at him to get the heck out of there.
He Blinked a split second before the Air Blocking array was activated and jumped inside the Warp while it was collapsing on itself. Morok curled up in fetal position, managing to lose only the extremities of some of his toes due to the dimensional cut.
He immediately stopped the bleeding and then started to regenerate the missing flesh and bones.
"I need some help." He said, but no one made a move.
Yondra only handed him some food and said:
"Sorry kid, everyone is beat and has something better to do." She pointed at Neshal, who was chanting an array as fast as she could.
She was casting the Earth Blocking array which would greatly hinder the Golems. It would prevent them from opening a Warping Array in the proximity of the makeshift camp and limit their movements in case they came too close for comfort.
Lith was treating Quylla. Her nose and jaw weren't a problem, but the concussion was a different story. If she had suffered brain damage, she would need a long time to recover, time that they didn't have.
Lith used Invigoration on her, making her instantly recover and even partially replenishing her mana. She woke startled and instinctively raised her arms in defense.
"Don't worry, little one. You're safe." When he had heard Quylla's skull crack, something inside Lith had almost snapped. Her pallor had almost driven him insane, reminding him of Carl's corpse lying on the hospital's stretcher.
"How many times do I have to tell you to not call me 'little one'?" She angrily replied. "Where are we?" She asked when she realized that everyone was staring at her.
"In front of the elevator. The furthest place we know from the Golems." Yondra replied, noticing that Quylla was way too healthy for someone who had sustained multiple fractures and the blood loss from both her head and nose.
Healers weren't miracle workers, or so she had always believed.
Quylla nodded and took some food out of her dimensional ring, wolfing it down as fast as she could. Invigoration could do many things, but not give a body the nutrients it required.
"Can you work your magic on me too?" Morok asked, eating and healing at the same time to not collapse due to exhaustion.
"Fuck you." Lith snarled, taking care of Phloria first.
"I'm fine, don't worry." She tried to push him away, but his grip was as gentle as it was strong.
"A body with cracked ribs, arms, and countless bruises is far from being fine." Lith replied while cursing at the constructs' insane power.
Phloria had fought with all she had, and even though the Golems had only tried to capture her, they had still managed to hurt her badly. And that despite her Skinwalker armor.
"Now stay still. This may feel weird but bear with me." Lith chanted some gibberish and Invigorated her. Phloria's battered body healed and recovered as her mana was fully recovered.
The surprise made her turn pale as a ghost, helping Lith to keep up his façade. Not that he cared that much. His life was on the line and the Odi were the perfect scapegoats in case he had to get rid of any of the members of the expedition.
Only Yondra troubled him. She reminded him of Nana too much to leave him indifferent. Luckily, until they were stuck underground, he had all the time to make up his mind.
Lith took out all the food he could before Neshal's array was complete. After that, dimensional items would become useless.
"Am I there yet?" Morok asked. He was about to collapse due to the lack of nutrients and mana, yet he still had the energy for being obnoxious.
Chapter 694 Retreat Part 2
Lith would have liked to ignore him, but Morok and Quylla were the only ones capable of helping him to defeat the Golems. On top of that, he had no idea how many constructs were left, so he needed all the support he could get.
After handing to his fellow Ranger something rich in calcium and proteins to compensate for the amputation, Lith used normal tier four light magic to complete the regeneration process of Morok's missing toes.
Now both Rangers were beat and in dire need of rest.
"How long do you think we have?" Phloria asked.
"Hard to say." Ellkas replied. "Depends on how smart the Golems are and if there really is someone guiding them. We have destroyed all the surveillance items on the way to the living quarters, so they might search the entire corridor.
"Best case scenario, we have a few minutes, so shut up and rest."
Lith had to agree, their situation was beyond dire. The only way he had to increase their chances of survival was to use Invigoration on all of those present, but that meant turning any doubt they might have into certainty and being forced to kill them all later.
Both he and Solus racked their brains while taking deep breaths to absorb as much world energy they could without resorting to Invigoration.
"Minutes? Then why the heck did you have me create such a huge array?" Neshal said. Her breath was ragged and her hands trembled so much that it was hard for her even placing the mana crystals necessary to fuel the Earth Blocking formation.
"Because otherwise we would have only a few seconds of respite and because the larger the array, the further the Golems have to stay from us." Ellkas helped her to sit down on the floor and gave her some food.
Neshal took just a few bites before losing consciousness. She was way past her sixties and using so much mana in less than five minutes took a great toll on her stamina.
"How can you be so calm and why do you seem to be the less tired among us?" Gaakhu asked Yondra.
"Those bastards took Rainer, but getting angry will not help me to save him." Yondra was sitting cross-legged, in a meditative state to calm her mind and regain her mental focus faster.
"The Golems took the Assistants alive whereas they tried to kill us old fogeys, so I guess they want young bodies. I doubt the Odi will start the procedure before catching the Captain, the Rangers, and Quylla.
"Rayner will be fine as long as I stop the Odi from capturing them. As for my youthfulness, unlike you, I'm not so dumb to make an enemy of a rejuvenator. On the contrary, I sought both his services and friendship." Yondra explained.
"How can you be so sure that we're dealing with the Odi?" Ellkas asked, inwardly cursing himself for not thinking about getting rejuvenated as soon as they had opened Kulah's doors.
Ellkas knew about Lith's status, but he took pride in his well-preserved physique. Asking to be rejuvenated meant admitting he was getting old, and that was one big bullet to bite.
"First the elevator, then the flat card. We checked everything, there was no security measure that the Captain might have triggered. Also, Golems can't change their protocols without a direct order." Yondra explained.
"What do you mean when you say that they need us for the procedure?" Phloria asked, doing her best to pretend to be tired. Her mind was a blur. Now too many things finally made sense, bringing her just a small leap of fantasy away from Lith's secret.
"Silly child, you misunderstood my words. They don't need you for the procedure, they need you to stop quarreling about who gets who." Yondra's voice was calm, but her words were terrifying.
"I disagree." Morok said. "They were clearly trying to kill me."
"If that was the case, you would already be dead." Yondra sneered. "The Golem tried to make you faint, but you are too dumb to know when to give up and that saved you. As simple as that."
Morok bit his lower lip in frustration, swallowing his pride. There were many things he would have liked to do and say but he lacked the strength necessary. He could hear the Golems' stone feet hitting the metal floor in the distance.
"Do any of you has something I can use as a weapon?" Lith asked. Solus's glove had too short a range to be useful. He looked at Morok's hammers in envy, wishing he still had the Gatekeeper.
A series of "No, I'm sorry" was the only answer he got. Lith tried to keep calm, but if the Odi were still alive, then the Golems were the least of his worries.
'Yet it doesn't make sense.' He thought. 'If they achieved immortality with Life Merging, how did they lose the war? If they didn't, how the heck are they still alive?'
Solus was trying to solve that conundrum as well, but she had no answer to offer him.
"Quylla, what kind of weapon can a Mana Reactor be?" Lith had no time to lose. He could hear at least a Golem getting close.
"Why do you think it's a weapon?" Quylla already felt ashamed for thinking that the Odi had considered turning themselves into Golems. Her crazy theory had turned out to be just foolish. Those things weren't eternal life, more like eternal agony.
"Because I think we have misunderstood this place from the beginning. This isn't a medical facility, but a military facility to develop new weapons for winning the war against the 'lesser races'." Lith replied.
"They are all based on life force and you are the best Healer I know after Manohar. Think about it. How would you weaponize a hypothetical endless supply of energy with light magic?" He stood up, the Golem was almost at the fringes of the array.
Life Vision confirmed what his enhanced senses already told him.
"I expect you to have an answer for me when I get back. I'm going to buy us some time." Lith walked toward the corridor leading to the living quarters.
The Professors looked at him as if he was a mad man, Morok with an odd savage grin of camaraderie, while Quylla tried to stand up before Phloria stopped her. No one said a word or tried to stop him.
Crazy or not, they were in desperate need of rest.
"Sit down, sis. We are both tired." Phloria was still pale, but her voice was stern and her eyes as hard as steel.
Quylla was about to rebuke that she felt perfectly fine and that she wouldn't let Lith fight that battle alone. And that was the moment she understood her sister's words.
She wasn't supposed to be fine, at all. In her experience, after sustaining such severe injuries and using so many tier five spells, she was supposed to be barely conscious, yet she was overflowing with energy.
Quylla became pale as well, her knees buckled from the shock. As she sat down again, the Professors thought that her previous outburst was just because of an adrenaline rush.
In their eyes, there was nothing special in Lith's healing. Not now that both women were sweating bullets, incapable even of standing up.
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Chapter 695 Third Eye Part 1
Those were the moments when Lith would have loved Mogar to be like a video game. That way, before consuming Invigoration, he could safely go down on HP and MP to maximize its effects.
Real life, however, was quite different. Injuries drained his stamina, which in turn slowed his reflexes down, making him an easier target. On top of that, low mana also meant having a splitting headache, blurred vision, and difficulty concentrating.
Even though he was right above a mana geyser, his natural world energy absorption rate wasn't enough to allow him fighting a Golem after so few minutes of rest. At least under normal circumstances.
'Solus, I need to delegate a few things to you to save as much energy as possible. We don't know how long we'll be trapped down here, so Invigoration is our lifeline. I want Phloria, Quylla, and Yondra to survive, in this order of importance.
'The rest of the group are just expendable pawns.' He thought.
Solus didn't like that Lith placed Phloria above Quylla. They were both supposed to be just his friends, yet he seemed to value her more despite her lesser talent. Solus didn't object though, she just mind-nodded for him to continue.
'The moment we engage the enemy, I need you to scan the Golem for any form of communication device. Golems can talk, but maybe they can also share their vision or thoughts with their kin and masters.
'Based on the results of your analysis, I can greatly improve our odds of survival.'
Life Vision flickered in his eyes, Lith kept it active only long enough to check both the Golem's position and where the array's borders were.
'Okay, stop.' Solus thought when he was about to turn around a corner. 'We're close enough that my senses can display their maximum proficiency. Give me a second.'
Solus had to admit that without Phloria their situation would have been much worse. Thanks to their work on runes during the last few days, the three of them had written a small rune dictionary.
It allowed Solus to instantly recognize the old runes of which they knew the modern equivalent. Without it, she wouldn't be able to even guess how the Flesh Golems were enchanted.
'There is some kind of communication device, but it's only linked to its ears and human mouth. They can't share their vision.' Solus said.
Lith checked that all members of the expedition were still in front of the elevator before shapeshifting into his hybrid form. Its claws were nothing compared to the Gatekeeper, but now that his prized weapon was lost, they were an invaluable tool.
The Flesh Golem had just reached the fringes of the Earth Blocking array and was about to report its findings when suddenly an invisible force pulled it inside the array as a Hush enveloped its mouth.
It could speak, cast spells, but no sound would escape its throat, leaving whoever was listening on the other side of the communicator in the dark. The moment the Golem stepped inside the array it was over.
Its limbs went limp as the magical formation sealed both the earth magic the construct needed to move and all of its dimensional spells, communication included. Lith was waiting in ambush behind a corner, using in combination his own claws, Solus's, and the Orichalcum to reach its power core before the Golem could react.
The creature tried to unleash his full power in bolts of lightning all around itself, using the metal walls to prevent its enemy from avoiding the area of effect of its attack. Alas, Solus had placed a very small yet perfectly functional Air Blocking array on Lith's hunting spot.
The wasted mana only made it easier for Lith to kill his prey in a single lunge.
'When earth fails them, they always go for air. Yurial, you truly were a moron. Arrays aren't useless. A single one can turn an invincible construct into a pile of scrap.' Lith thought.
< "Beware…"> The Golem who had once been a young brown-haired man said Lith with the last strength he had left. His eyes were full of gratitude and tears of joy. Finally his pain had come to an end, but he had no time to waste with thanks.
Now that he was free from the slave enchantment, he wanted to help his savior with his last breath.
<…"of the green array. Destroy Reactor first. The…"> The man inwardly cursed. Even using the least amount of words he could while still making sense, one breath was too little to convey his message.
Without the Golem, once his lungs were empty, he had no way of filling them again. He moved his lips, mouthing the last words with what strength he had left. Unfortunately, Lith had no idea how he could understand a long dead language, let alone how the unknown words were spelled.
The man died between Lith's arms, turning the joy of his victory into an odd sort of grieving. The youth was barely younger than Lith was when he had taken his own life. Like him, the youth had suffered an unjust fate from which there was no escape.
Yet, the young man had never given up, fighting until the last second to do what he believed was right.
Lith moved the corpse away from the hunting spot with spirit magic, giving it a bow as a thank you before using darkness magic to destroy every trace of flesh until the man was free and only the machine was left.
'All the spells engraved on the Golem have faded. No transmission was sent during the ambush.' Solus thought. 'Yet it's possible that the moment you brought it inside the array, it was perceived as "dead". Locating spells are dimensional spells as well, so Neshal's array interrupted its signal.
'Even better.' Lith thought. 'I'm far from the camp and if more Golems come, I can take them down.'
The ambush had consumed only a small part of Lith's energy, he still had no need of using Invigoration. A second Golem Warped on his comrade last known position, falling into spirit magic's clutches.
"Beware of the green array. Destroy Reactor first. The…?" Lith said, hoping that the young woman grafted in the second Golem could understand him and that she was willing to help him as well.
'I can't let her waste her last breath telling me what I already know. I must stay one step ahead.' He thought.
She looked at Lith with a puzzled look. Death wasn't the best thing to clear someone's head.
< "Oh!"> She said when his words finally made sense. < "The basement. Go there. Thank....">
A single word wasn't enough to explain the rest to her savior. The young woman used the last of her strength to express her gratitude and stare at the floor. Even in death, her gaze guided Lith somewhere on his far right, like a beacon.
'So there is more than one underground floor and the good stuff is further below.' Lith waited that Solus had approximatively calculated where the woman's eyes were pointing at before giving her mangled flesh peace.
A wisp of light came out from the darkness his spell had generated, passing through Lith's hybrid body before shooting towards the sky.
'Was that her soul?' Solus was flabbergasted. 'Did she really refuse to leave until being certain that she had passed her message to you?'
'She was a brave woman.' Lith said. A single drop of water streamed down his right temple. A blue eye was now open.
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Chapter 696 Third Eye Part 2
Lith's hybrid form had no blood nor tears, only flames and shadows dwelled in his body. Yet the opening of the third eye produced a small droplet of water that closely resembled a tear.
The blue eye quickly turned yellow like the other two, before closing again.
'Okay, seriously. What the fuck was that?' Lith thought as soon as Solus recovered from her shock enough to share with him her memories of what had just happened.
'Maybe water magic is linked with souls?' Solus blurted out before remembering how dire their situation was.
She performed a thorough analysis of Lith's body, life force, and mana before concluding that nothing had changed. Or at least, nothing she was able to detect.
'Never mind eye number three and focus on the potential Golem number three. My Air Blocking array will not last long without mana crystals.' She pointed out while deactivating the magical formation to preserve its always dwindling energy reserves.
Lith didn't like the sudden turn of events one bit. He had no idea what the energy mass that had just left the underground facility was, but one thing he knew for sure.
When he had witnessed the same phenomenon in the past, back in Kaduria against the Black Star and in Maekosh against Tezka, the warg-Abomination hybrid, both times living beings had been enslaved.
Their flesh had been twisted and their minds trapped into an endless nightmare until Lith had broken their chains. That revelation gave the name "Mana Reactor" a new meaning.
'According to legends, mana is the element of life, not the world energy.' Solus pondered. 'Quylla was wrong, the Mana reactor can't be something that converts mana into life force, but the other way around. To what end though, I don't know.'
'Great thinking, Solus.' Lith kept waiting for another Golem to appear, yet nothing happened. The minutes passed, until Solus was back to her full strength and could cast another Air Blocking array, but to no avail.
'Yondra is right, there's clearly the Odi's hand behind the attack. After losing two Flesh Golems, they must be worried.' Lith's reasoning was spot on.
Flesh Golems were supposed to be perfect killing machines. Two of them dying so fast had made the Odi reconsider their plan and listen to their soldiers' reports to better plan against the unknown enemy.
They were baffled learning that the major threat appeared to be the young woman. The others were just brutes and old farts. They had managed to kill four constructs only because the female mage had somehow crippled them.
Also, that was when the humans were still at their full force. After such a heavy fight, with the female mage down, they were supposed to be easy prey, yet they seemed to have gotten even stronger.
"I call dibs on the female mage!" Veiga repeated. "If one of your rust buckets damages her body, I will kill you Guuna."
"She's clearly the most powerful of the group. Her body would be wasted on a vain wench like you, Veiga. I could put her to good use." Guuna replied.
Before they could start bickering, with the serious risk of killing each other and compromise the entire group's survival, Jiira stepped in.
"Enough, you two. As everyone has agreed before, the bids on the bodies will start once we have an exact number. Dibs are for children. Now, if we want to get those bodies, we need a strategy.
"I've sent the Golem back to their charge pods, so when they resume the attack they will be at full strength. Now I want answers. How did they kill two Flesh Golems so fast and how can we prevent it from happening again?"
The Odi stopped thinking about the bodies and focused on the matter at hand. They could Forgemaster new Flesh Golems from their meat factories, but even though magical beasts could understand their orders, the Odi couldn't understand beast speech.
Also, using beasts as a material meant that the resulting Golem would be too big to be able of moving easily in confined spaces. Those were the reasons why human Golems were considered elite troops.
Yet breeding humans took years, and the Odi had barely the resources to keep themselves alive, let alone care for enough test subjects until they reached maturity. Only fourteen Flesh Golems were left, so their next attack had also to be the last one.
***
After waiting for more than half an hour, Lith decided to go back to the elevator. The mana geyser had replenished part of his strength, but there was nothing like sleep. By the time he was back at the camp, only Quylla, Phloria, and Yondra were still awake.
Yondra had used her meditation technique to achieve a deep trance that allowed her to rest almost as well as she had slept, replenishing her mana and relaxing her body. The other Professors and Morok had all ingested a tonic to hasten their recovery before exhaustion got the better of them.
"How did it go, young spirit?" Yondra asked.
"Two Golems less." Lith replied, almost breaking her trance. "I tricked them one at a time inside Neshal's array plus one of my own. With earth and air blocked, it wasn't hard killing them."
None of those present missed the use of the word "kill" instead of "destroy".
"I don't know how long will pass until they return. Quylla, what about the answer to my question?" Lith asked.
"I've bad news. If we consider this place a weapon facility instead of a medical facility, the nature of a Mana Reactor is almost obvious." She replied, expecting that her words were self-explanatory.
"No, it's not." Everyone said in unison, Solus included.
"Gods, guys. Mana Reactor! The name says it all. What makes a difference between a mediocre mage and a good one? Why do we need tiers of magic? It's all a matter not only of the talent one possesses, but also of the amount of mana available.
"With unlimited mana and enough training, anyone could cast all tier of spells, at least in theory. The problem is that mana is something that can't be borrowed or stolen without incurring into mana poisoning." She looked at Lith's eyes, wondering how could he violate such fundamental law of magic.
"So, a Mana Reactor is clearly something that provides to its user an endless supply of mana, making them invincible."
"No, that's impossible." Lith replied, expressing Solus's objections.
"This place, like most lost cities, is fueled by world energy, but that's not mana. World energy can condense into crystals and be used to fuel an enchantment, but it can't empower a mage."
'At least not without being filtered through the mana core, as you do with Invigoration.' Solus explained. 'If the Odi knew about cores, they would have all been Awakened, which they clearly weren't.
'Without that piece of knowledge, just injecting world energy into a living being would just have deadly effects. Static mana cores can't handle it without being destroyed. It's like forcing more air inside a balloon already full to the brim, it can only burst.'
"I'm not talking about world energy Lith." Quylla sighed.
'Sometimes I wonder if I talk too fast or the rest of the world is just slow. Oh gods! I'm starting to sound like Manohar.' She thought.
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Chapter 697 Dreadnought Part 1
"I'm talking about mana, something that only a living being can produce. I think that after thoroughly manipulating their specimens' bodies with light magic, the Odi found a way to extract, purify, and store mana from other living beings.
"This, let's call it neutral mana, is something without an energy signature, allowing it to be used without suffering from mana poisoning.
"Hence, a Mana Reactor can only be fueled by living beings, which also explains why the Meat Factories have been moved down here, why the Odi keep breeding them up to this day, and how they were able to craft Flesh Golems.
"Forgemastering those dreadnoughts is otherwise impossible."
Lith had become so used to using true Forgemastery that he had almost forgotten that fake mages only had as long as a magic circle held to craft their works. Grafting flesh to stone, infusing the constructs with so many arrays and spells, it would have required more mana that even Manohar could possibly have.
'Dammit, Quylla is right. I bet that first they completed the Mana Reactor, and only thanks to that did they manage to bring the other projects to fruition.' Lith thought.
'Yeah, but why?' Solus asked, her mind sounded dejected.
'Why what?'
'Why did Quylla understand what a Mana Reactor is even though she had way fewer clues than me, whereas I failed? Maybe I'm not as smart as you think.' She replied.
'First, you're at least as smart as she is, and even if you weren't, you would still be leagues above me. Second, you failed because of me.' Lith said.
'Because of you? Do you think that you make me stupid or what?' Solus chuckled at Lith's silly attempt to justify her shortcomings.
'No. It's just that both you and Quylla are polymath geniuses, but while Quylla has always focused solely on light magic, because of me you also practice all kinds of magic known to us, both fake and true.
'Which means that, compared to her, you didn't have enough time. Magic is infinite, Solus, whereas we only have a limited amount of time each day. You didn't fail because you're not good enough, but simply because you've chosen to become a jack of all trades but master of none to help me overcome my problems.'
Lith's words forced Solus to take a few steps back from her wounded pride and look at the bigger picture. He was right, of course. Quylla knew nothing about other specializations, whereas Solus could outsmart most mages their age in their own field of research.
The realization made her feel better because as any mage worthy of their title, Solus was very competitive. Yet at the same time, it made her worry. Lith was periodically dragged into a big mess, and every time she was his life line.
If it wasn't for Quylla, this time they might have lost an important clue for his survival until it was too late, which she promptly pointed out to him.
'You're right, but let's be honest. If I was here alone, I would have left this accursed place right after fighting the fungal creature. I'm not stupid enough to not understand when I'm outside my field of expertise.' Lith thought.
He wasn't the only one worried about Quylla's words. Yondra and Phloria were racking their brains as well, trying to find a flimsy chance of survival. They were locked inside an unknown place, with nowhere to run, and surrounded by timeless enemies.
Their situation wasn't dire so much as a death sentence. They all reached the conclusion that their only hope was to find a Warp Rune that would bring them far enough from Kulah to escape the range of the deadly gas.
Lith took a short nap to recover his strength. His natural recovery was a great help, but it couldn't reset Invigoration on its own, only delay the next use of his breathing technique.
Unfortunately, that peace didn't last long. While the expedition group rested, the Odi studied the Earth Blocking array via their surveillance devices or by sending the Golems to investigate where cameras had been destroyed.
Neshal's formation was made of modern runes, but all arrays could be broken with enough time and preparation. On top of that, thanks to their hybrid nature, Flesh Golems could use magic almost as true mages, making it easier for them to adapt their spells to any circumstance.
A bit more than half an hour after Lith had fallen asleep, the Earth Blocking array started to flicker and the mana crystals fueling it to rattle. Yondra quickly woke up everyone while chanting her spells.
Despite her daze from being still quite tired, Neshal realized what was happening and recovered the mana crystals. Thanks to her mind link with her arrays, she knew that she had no chance to block the assault by herself, at least not for long.
Instead of wasting mana to buy a handful of seconds, it was better to prepare for the incoming fight.
"This shouldn't be too hard for you, right?" Morok said, wishing he could have slept just a bit more. His strength had almost returned, but almost wasn't enough. "You killed two more Golems on your own. If we just cover your back and delay the others, destroying fourteen constructs should take you what, one minute?"
"First, weren't you supposed to be asleep?" Lith was flabbergasted by both Morok's hearing and idiocy. "Second, that was an ambush, where I struck one Golem at a time under the influence of two arrays.
"They were sitting ducks. I didn't fight them, I assassinated them. Now they come in numbers and I have to face them head on. It's completely different."
"A man can dream." Morok sighed.
"The Living Quarters are a dead end. We must find the Meat Factories and their Warp Runes. The labs are our only way out." Phloria said after explaining everyone Quylla's discoveries about the Mana reactor.
The group nodded, and while the array slowly collapsed, they started moving along the east corridor and destroying the surveillance devices on their path. They were aware that is was a double-edged move, but it was their only option.
On one hand, it meant giving away their position, since magical items didn't break down on their own. On the other hand, in the case of retreat, the Odi and their minions wouldn't be able to trace them.
"We need to make haste." Professor Gaakhu said. "If we don't get far away enough before the array collapses our back with be expos…"
As Lith inwardly cursed her for jinxing their situation, the array disappeared, replaced by two Flesh Golems on their back plus two more in front of them. More would have been unable to move along the hallway.
This time it was the group suffering a well-staged ambush. The constructs didn't try to get close to their prey but unleashed a powerful bolt of lightning in unison. The electricity traveled through the metal comprising the whole corridor.
Each time it reached a fellow Golem, the lightning would be absorbed, released, and amplified, allowing the four constructs to create a devastating electrical formation in just a split second.
Lith and Morok jumped to avoid the shock, activating a float spell to stay away from the ground. Neshal activated another Earth Blocking array she had prepared while using her Crown Staff to absorb the enemy's spells before they could reach her.
Phloria managed to cover the ground below her feet with the stones stored inside her dimensional amulet just in the nick of time, dragging Quylla above it with her.
Chapter 698 Dreadnought Part 2
The rest of the expedition team wasn't so lucky. They had many spells at the ready and even more protections, but their reflexes failed them. Once the electrical shock sent them into a seizure, they lost their focus and so any chance to counter-attack.
The Earth Blocking array only slowed down the Golems. They were still able to move thanks to their metal parts and electromagnetic fields, plus it did nothing to stop them from using other elements.
The Rangers darted forward with their flight spells, only to be struck by another bolt of lightning firs,t and then swatted like flies by the Golems' arms. With so little momentum and no ground below their feet, they could exert only a fraction of their true strength.
Luckily, thanks to earth fusion, Lith managed to avoid the brunt of the damage and remain conscious, but the hit was still strong enough to crack his ribs. Bouncing on the metal corridor made things worse, though.
Suddenly, more Golems appeared, flying in the middle of the group and collecting the Professors who had fallen unconscious or were about to. No matter how good their protections were, they couldn't endure such prolonged shock with an already debilitated body.
In the blink of an eye, Yondra, Gaakhu, and Ellkas were brought away and disappeared through a dimensional door opened right past the array. Then, the two new Golems moved to stun and collect the remaining women.
'Sons of a gun!' Lith thought while his teeth clattered due to the electric shock. 'The first four constructs are just a living array. The real threat comes from the other two. These Golems are damn smart.'
'It's worse than that.' Solus explained. 'They have timed their attack so to not let us stack an Earth and an Air Blocking array. This way, no matter which element blocking formation was cast first, they would have taken us down anyway.'
Overlapping arrays was a complex matter. If not done properly, the first array prevented the second from activating. During their ambush, Solus had taken her time to prepare her Air Blocking array and make sure to not mess with the camp's protection.
The Golems near the Rangers closed in on them, their stone fists ready to turn them into a pulp. Lith and Morok managed to get back in the air, but their situation hadn't improved much.
Meanwhile, Quylla looked at the nearing enemy and noticed something strange. All Golems seemed to be wary of her and somehow puzzled. Their orders were quite contradictory since the young woman had to be apprehended at all costs, but without harming her nor allowing her to touch them.
With earth magic sealed, the golems could only wait that she slipped off the rocks and fell into the stream of electricity. The current was already enough to overcome most enchanted protections, any more might kill the precious specimens on the spot.
Suddenly Quylla remembered Yondra's words and decided to take action. She shapeshifted her shoes off and jumped on the floor, giving Phloria a heart attack. The Golems followed their protocols, halting the attack before it could hurt her.
"Thanks for your kindness." Quylla said while activating both Scanner and Chisel. The Golem tried to dodge her, but its movements based on air magic were too slow compared to her potion-enhanced reflexes.
It tried to push Quylla away but the "do not harm her" command was quite annoying. Meanwhile, the Rangers could finally plant their feet on the ground. Flying in such a confined space was as hard as it was dangerous.
They had no space to maneuver nor to kite their opponents, but it was the only way they had to avoid being electrocuted to death.
"Now what?" Morok asked. Their situation had just gone up from horrible to terrible. The Earth Blocking array prevented them from using dimensional magic and being so close to each other sealed the other elements as well.
"You and Neshal take care of the two in the front, Phloria and I will hold the others back until you're done." Lith said while darting backward.
Now Morok was alone against two Golems, but at least had all the space he wanted whereas his opponents stumbled because of the array. Professor Neshal was trying to think of a way to help him, but her staff was holding an insane amount of energy she had no idea how to get rid of.
Hitting the Golems with their own spell would have just recharged them, hitting the floor would have killed her companions, which left her with no choice.
"Dodge!" Neshal said while unleashing the mother of all lightning right in the middle of the constructs. It moved past the corridor and turned around the corner guided by Neshal's will, who hoped to have blasted open a door.
Now that she had her full focus again, she started chanting a spell as her staff floated in front of her, leaving her hands free.
'I really hope the old bat knows what she is doing.' Morok sighed as the air in front of the Golems was turning pitch black. Some powerful darkness spell was about to be activated and he had no way to counter it.
Meanwhile, Quylla had grabbed the construct in front of her and used four Chisels to destroy as many runes as she could in one go. Conjuring so many at once was exhausting, but she couldn't afford to take down just one rune at a time.
The punch that had almost killed her was vivid in her memory, so she decided to gamble on the Skinwalker armor to protect her in case the Golem's priority changed and it attacked her.
Just as she had predicted, as soon as the creature was deactivated, its companion took off its gloves and sent a powerful shock to make her faint. Quylla pumped her mana into her armor, deflecting most of it while she tried to grab her next victim.
The Golem welcomed her with a fist to the face. It knew that with such a level of protection she wouldn't die, Quylla had fallen for its trap. She took the full force of the improvised counter-strike and her body bounced with a silvery sound against the wall before collapsing like a rag doll on the floor.
Phloria stared at the scene in horror, but there was nothing she could do. Her estoc was pointless against golems and even her best spells inflicted them no damage. She could only slow them down, but without earth magic, most of the spells in a Mage Knight's arsenal were sealed.
Lith arrived just in time to see the Flesh Golem picking up Quylla's body and take flight. The face of the human grafted on the construct was smiling. Now that it had its prize they were limited no more.
Its body glowed before emitting a sphere of darkness as big as the corridor, making it impossible for Lith to dodge.
'Nice thinking. If I just go through the spell at full speed, I'll be blind for a second, take some damage, and let the spell strike both Neshal and Morok down. Too bad that cheating is a game two can play.'
Lith breathed a burst of Origin Flames which devoured the darkness spell, allowing him to pass the black shroud unharmed. The Golem kept smiling, emitting one pulse after the other and forcing Lith to a halt.
Chapter 699 Fugitive Part 1
'Either that man has gone crazy due to the prolonged agony, or he enjoys his work.' Solus pointed out. 'The other Flesh Golems are way less creative because they limit themselves to follow their commands whereas this guy is doing his best.'
It was indeed a smart strategy. Just like true mages, constructs didn't need to chant. Even better, they could use some of their abilities freely, without even wasting time weaving spells like Lith did.
By using wide darkness pulses, the Golem was making sure that Lith was forced to either exhaust all of his spells or doom the other two humans behind him. Normally, Lith wouldn't have cared much for either Neshal or Morok, but without them, he would have to face three Golems instead of one.
This time math was a harsh mistress.
To make matters worse, the black pulses were packed so close that Lith had to resort to alternate spells and Origin Flames to not get overwhelmed.
The Golem noticed the human's absurd casting speed and soon grew tired of that game. It turned around to leave, but its body refused to move. Quylla had just finished destroying five of the runes forgemastered in its life force.
She had just played possum, taking her time to incapacitate the opponent while saving as much mana as she could. Between the tier five spells and the beating she had taken, her energy reserves were dangerously low.
"They are both helpless!" She said to Lith who granted the first Golem a swift death while making sure that the sadistic construct would suffer as much as its body allowed it to.
Quylla was really curious about how Lith seemed to be able to always find power cores at his first strike, but in that moment she didn't care. Phloria was about to fall and there was nothing either of them could do.
"Is there really nothing useful you can do?" Morok said while nullifying two darkness pulses with as many spells he had at the ready. "Seriously, if you can't fight, why go to a dangerous city and put innocent Rangers in danger instead of spending quality time with your grandkids?"
He had tried to physically attack the Golems, but they kept him at bay by shooting spells non-stop. Corridors were truly a nightmare for him since ice lances would shatter against the walls and release razor-sharp shards that were almost impossible to dodge.
Fireballs would produce enough noise and light to make him blind and deaf. Morok had managed to survive the last few exchanges only thanks to his enchanted protections and the fact that the Golems seemed to be more interested in taking Neshal alive than killing him.
Whenever he got close to her, they would lower the output of their attack. Morok would have gladly abandoned her if not for the fact that once the old bat had fallen, so would the array. Also, he didn't have anywhere to run. There were even more Flesh Golems on the other end of the corridor.
"Ekidu!" Morok said as his hammers turned pitch black before he lunged them into the incoming darkness blasts to nullify the Golems' spell.
"Please, there's no need to rush, granny. I wouldn't want you to sweat." His voice oozed sarcasm.
The Rangers were doing their best, but their spells were useless and by coordinating their attacks, the Golems made it impossible for Lith to get close enough to touch them or for Morok to hit them.
Whenever one of them came too close, the constructs would just electrify their bodies and push them back. Phloria had managed to hold that long only thanks to the Skinwalker armor's defensive abilities that covered her in Orichalcum every time she infused it with enough mana.
Otherwise the constant onslaught of spells they had inflicted upon her would have made her collapse. The worst thing about facing a Golem in such an environment was their lack of a weak point coupled with their ability to instantly cast spells.
Once again Lith suffered from having lost the Gatekeeper. He could see the power cores, he could get close enough to strike at them, but none of his prototypes weapons could withstand the mana necessary to pierce through the constructs' body.
Both teams were fighting a losing battle, where the enemy would relentlessly move forward while they were forced to step back. The Golems were constantly sending streams of lighting to each other and the nearby walls, creating an electrical curtain that prevented their prey even from escaping.
"We could Blink to safety, if not for your stupid array!" Morok said to Neshal once he and Lith were back to back. "Since I'm going to die, please be honest with me. Whose side are you really on?"
"Will you shut the fuck up?" Neshal roared while slamming her staff on the ground and releasing the spell she had painstakingly prepared despite all of his yammering. "Destroy them, now!"
Neshal knew that, for a mage, keeping more than one array at the ready was impossible and so it was casting a second one for another mage without them taking their time to study how the first mage had organized their formation.
That because in the case two arrays were to overlap badly, the second one would simply fade into a waste of mana. Since in battle there was rarely the time to cast a second magical formation, Neshal had devised a way to use her own spell as a framework for the following array.
By making use of the runes they had in common, she could shorten the cast time at the expense of the duration of both magical formations. When the Air and the Earth Blocking array overlapped, the Flesh Golems fell face-first on the ground.
Lith struck one of them while Quylla and Morok did the same, yet soon the group was forced to run. The Golems were paralyzed, but far from helpless. They emitted a thick darkness fog from their bodies that almost killed both Quylla and Morok.
Lith had struck down the power core of his mark, so at least one construct was unable to retaliate, leaving them enough space to get to safety. Lith had to take on his shoulders his two fallen comrades while they sprinted away as fast as they could.
Right after darkness magic, the constructs had started to unleash spells in random directions, exploiting the corridor's confined space that made any area of effect spell impossible to dodge.
"Can we really afford to leave them alive?" Lith asked. He and Solus were racking their brains to find a way to destroy the temporarily paralyzed constructs, but to no avail.
Lith had yet to heal his wounds and even once he did, such a powerful layer of darkness magic would have likely killed him even with the Skinwalker armor's boosted protection.
That if he managed to get past the barrage of explosions that were ravaging the corridor.
"No, but killing them will drain my last energy. Do you think you can protect us all until we recover?" Neshal asked.
"No." Lith shook his head.
"Oh, well. I've lived long enough." Neshal took what looked like three giant nails out of her dimensional amulet, starting to chant another spell. She was so weak that her breath was ragged and from time to time she had to hold on her staff to not fall.
Chapter 700 Fugitive Part 2
The Flesh Golems were close enough that a small array was enough to cover all of them, shortening the length of Neshal's chant and requiring less mana.
As soon as it was complete, their power cores became visible despite the darkness shrouding the Golems. A wave of Neshal's hand deactivated her arrays and sent the three nails flying at their targets at such a speed that the air deformed at their passage.
The enchanted items made short work of the construct's protections and pierced through their cores. Then, they absorbed the lingering energy of their master's arrays and injected it inside the Golems, killing them on the spot.
"Feel free to leave me here." Neshal said while collapsing on the floor.
Lith had no time to ask her what she had done exactly and why she hadn't done that earlier. First, he had to treat Quylla and Morok, who were in a desperate condition. The massive dose of darkness element at point-blank range had aggravated their wounds and crippled their vitality.
After stabilizing them, he and Phloria were the only ones still conscious, and that only because Phloria had left most of her wounds untreated. Without her shield, she couldn't block the Golems' attacks, which had resulted in her taking quite a beating.
Several shards of ice were still edged in her left side, a fireball had burned part of her hair and turned the right side of her face red. She had no more eyebrows and her right eye was veiled.
Under her armor, her skin was a collection of burn marks due to all the electricity she had endured, yet she was still standing.
"Oh, fuck it." Lith said, placing his hands on her shoulders while chanting gibberish. He fully Invigorate her, making Phloria feel as if she had just woken up from eight hours of sleep.
All of her wounds had disappeared and even her hair was back. Phloria was too tired to be shocked, so she simply accepted that blessing and waited for an explanation.
"I need your help." Lith said instead. "I can't carry them all by myself and take care of the security measures at the same time. I'm not leaving Quylla here and these two are needed for our survival."
"Just one question." Phloria replied. "What use could they possibly have in such a state? Wouldn't it be better if you recharged everyone now? What good are your secrets if the Odi get their hands on our bodies?"
"I'll take my chances." Lith said.
Before they moved towards the research area, Phloria put her rocks back inside her pocket dimension. They advanced slowly, destroying the cameras on their passage to prevent the Odi from spying on them.
***
Quylla wasn't the only one who had thought about playing possum. Manohar's reckless act to find out Thrud's hidden fortress had been a hot topic for quite some time.
The moment the Golems had surrounded them, Yondra knew that struggling was pointless, so she had used her resources to not lose consciousness and had let the construct take her.
'We are too much at a disadvantage, fighting can only buy us so much time. This way, instead, I can find out what happened to Rainer and get behind the enemy lines in a single move.' She thought.
Quylla had explained to her how to defeat the Golems, so Yondra had used that time to Scanner her captor and the moment he had brought her in front of the cells, she had struck at its runes with Chisel.
It was enough to paralyze but not to kill it. To do that, she needed to employ much more crude methods. Time was of the essence, so she just stabbed with her most powerful enchanted blade all of the Golem's stone parts until she cracked its power core.
It was a feat that would have been impossible if the construct wasn't completely helpless. Knowing that she didn't have much time, Yondra used her detection spells to check for the presence of surveillance systems and study the cell's door.
Her aim was to rescue Rainer and then find a way out of there. She would have loved to help Lith and the others as well, but Yondra wasn't so naïve to think that she could manage to do everything by herself.
Like everything else, the underground prison was made of metal and its doors were made of some kind of reinforced glass to allow to look inside. The cells clearly weren't meant for prisoners so much as for specimens.
There was no bed nor bathroom, only glowing red chains from which the Odi's victims were hung to the wall. Yondra looked at Ellkas and Gaakhu, lying unconscious at her feet, wondering if they could be of any use to her.
It took her just a second to decide to heal them just enough to wake them up.
'I can't read the Odi language and if things turn for the worse, I can always use them as a diversion.' Yondra thought.
She didn't wait that her colleagues recovered and started looking around for her beloved Assistant. Each cell was made to contain up to four specimens, so the missing members of the expedition were held into two different cells.
One for the soldiers and the other for the Assistants.
After disposing of the security cameras, Yondra was quite surprised to discover that there were no protections on the doors. The only thing restricting the prisoners was the same chains that had been used to imprison the Abomination-disease hybrid.
The youths were all awake. Some were pale from the fright, while others had their eyes red from the crying. Rainer was among the former, yet his face regained color when he saw Yondra.
"Seriously? I get that you are scared but with your hands and mouth free how could you have chosen to remain here?" She loved Rainer like a son, but the idea that terror had led him to sit idly enraged her beyond what words could express.
One thing was being meek, being stupid was another thing entirely.
"I tried to escape, but these goddamn chains block my magic." Rainer conjured a small wisp of light before the chains started to glow. They emitted an ominous pulse of energy that made Rainer's veins bulge as waves of pain ravaged his body.
Yondra felt guilty for her rushed judgment. Rainer had willingly endured that pain to reveal the nature of the magical artifact to his mentor.
"This explains why the hybrid was unable to use anything but physical attacks." Yondra mumbled. Even though she had no time to waste, her scientific curiosity made her cast a few Forgemastering spells to analyze the chains.
'Such knowledge might come in handy in case we get captured again.' She thought in an attempt to justify her actions.
Curiosity was what separated powerful magicians from a mediocre one, just like the brush they used allowed to distinguish between a painter from a whitewasher.
'What in the gods name is this? The chains are able to lock on the life force of their prisoner to nullify their mana flow and to heal them in case of injuries. That's why the magical beasts the Odi captured didn't manage to commit suicide nor the hybrid to escape from the chains. Even amputating your limbs is not an option.'
Yondra was amazed by the cruel ingenuity of such a device, but luckily, it was older than her first diaper. A simple tier four Clean Slate made the red chains open, freeing Rainer.
Chapter 701 Split Part 1
Well, at least the chains patched you up just fine. Let's move." Yondra said.
"What about the others?" Rainer asked.
"Good question." Yondra sneered, looking at her colleagues who had yet to move a finger.
"My Assistant Nilla died at the hands of the fungal creature. I have no obligation towards any of these kids. I already failed to protect myself, taking care of someone else is out of the question." Gaakhu said.
"I'm sorry, Onma, but Professor Gaakhu is right." Ellkas said. "I promise you that if I manage to escape from here, I'll send the whole army to your rescue. If I fail, I hope you'll be able to kill me, because whatever the Odi have planned for us I'm certain it's worse than death.
"But all of you are powerful mages!" Rainer stuttered. Quylla's voice calling him a coward still echoed in his head, driving him to be a better man. "Is there really nothing you can do?"
"Kid, grow up." Gaakhu said. "Saving everyone, beating the odds, those are all fairy tales. I bet that our story will end with 'and then they died too'. If Yondra wants to burden herself with you, it's none of my business."
She then freed the imprisoned soldiers, who immediately started to eat and drink to recover their strength.
"As the head of the expedition, in the absence of Captain Ernas I'm the highest-ranked officer." Gaakhu said. "I order you to help me find a way out of Kulah to alert the Kingdom of the threat the Odi still pose. Is that clear?"
The soldiers gave her a salute, turning to look at the weeping Assistants only once. As members of the military, they were all too familiar with collateral damage, but that didn't mean that they liked it.
Yet, there was nothing they could do. The Assistants had proved to be dead weight more than once. Sure, the soldiers had fallen by the hands of the Golems as well, but they had gone down fighting, not crying and begging for mercy.
Phloria's soldiers had all someone waiting for them at home and none of them was willing to die for nothing. They would either get out of there or die trying to alert the Kingdom. Everything and everyone else was irrelevant.
"You heard her, she only cares about herself." Yondra whispered to Ellkas while her esteemed colleague was playing her part as Yondra had predicted. "I need you to read the Odi gibberish and you need me to operate the Odi technology. Deal?"
Ellkas nodded and shook her hand. The door to the prison was open as well, which gave everyone an eerie feeling. It could only mean that no one had ever managed to escape.
They entered in a wide room, from which branched several corridors, each one with its own tag. Gaakhu guided the soldiers in the second hallway to her right, without even looking at her colleagues.
"Where is she going?" Yondra asked.
"To the warehouse." Ellkas replied before reading and pointing the other signs one at a time. "Mana Reactor, Meat Shields, Golem Factory, bathrooms, administrative office, stairs, and canteen."
"It's a good idea, that's why we'll go to the Meat Shields room." Yondra said after scanning the corridor of her choosing.
"And why is that?" Ellkas trusted no one, but at least Yondra needed him. He was afraid of outliving his usefulness and needed to be ready to fend for himself.
"Because when she triggers the alarm, because she will, I want to be as far away as possible. Plus, Lith and Phloria took a look at the room and told us what kind of arrays we can expect. It's our safest bet."
Ellkas nodded, realizing that the Odi must have had prepared multiple exit points for their guards, and maybe one of them was near a town whose name he might be able to recognize.
Yet he kept that idea for himself. After abandoning his own Assistant, leaving Yondra behind to increase his chances of survival was easy as cake.
***
Meanwhile, on the upper floor, Lith and Phloria had reached the door leading to the research are. The Flesh Golems had managed to find them a few times only to witness the humans Warping away.
With the cameras down Lith was free to go back to any place he had previously visited, forcing the constructs to split up and search for them.
"Now this is the reason why I waited." Lith used Invigoration on the others, restoring about half their strength.
"How long was I unconscious and where are we?" Neshal asked while stretching her limbs.
"Three hours." Lith replied. Barely ten minutes had passed, his lie almost made Phloria yelp in surprise. "We decided to rest before moving, but we were forced to Warp several times to avoid the Golems."
"Thanks for letting me rest and for not leaving me behind." Neshal gave Lith a deep bow. "Now let's get out of here."
While she operated the door, Morok and Quylla wolfed down quite some food, both amazed by their perfect physical condition despite all the wounds they had sustained. Just watching them made Phloria hungry, forcing her to eat again.
"Bad news. This door is full of arrays but none of them is linked to the lock. They are all linked to that slot." Neshal pointed to the keycard reader. "Which means this is a work for a Forgemaster."
After thanking her for the great news, Lith chanted gibberish and used Invigoration. Just as he hoped, there were two relays again, but this time only the wrong one was linked to the arrays.
All he had to do was to send a pulse of mana to the relay associated with the lock to make it click.
'Sure a keycard energy signature is much harder to mimic compared to a key, but with such a design, I don't need to.' Lith thought. 'Unlike the holo-pads on the upper floor, there is no such thing as repetition or correct order of characters, only right or wrong impulse. Against a true mage, it's like not having a lock at all.'
'Good gods, I should have learned Forgemastering.' Neshal thought. 'No one of us knows how to read the Odi, but at least if we can open all the rooms, we are bound to find a way out. Without Gaakhu and Yondra, these guys are my best bet.'
Quylla had taken down more Golems than anyone else, Morok seemed to be immortal, and Lith appeared to Neshal's eyes like a genius.
They found themselves in a T junction with several doors spaced between them so much that each room had to be as big as a hotel's suite.
"Wait, before we continue, I need to know which array do you prefer. Earth Blocking, Air Blocking, or the Power Detection?" Neshal asked.
"Can't we have them all?" Morok asked.
"You wish. Keeping an entire magical formation at the ready is already draining, two would make me collapse in just a few minutes."
"Do you have more of those enchanted nails?" Lith asked.
"Yes, but the last time the Golems were completely still. I can't kill them on my own if that's what you're asking me." Neshal replied.
"Then the Power Detection. That way all three of us can destroy the Golems and use dimensional magic. Okay?" Phloria and Morok nodded at his words, both shapeshifting their weapons into thin, high density blades that would more easily pierce the constructs' thick shell.
Chapter 702 Split Part 2
Meanwhile, the Odi had mixed feelings about the most recent developments. They had lost more than half of their so-called invincible army and for the first time in centuries, they had prisoners yet had managed to let them escape.
The silver lining was that among the runaways there was at least one person able to understand their language. Gaakhu had decided to prioritize speed over stealth since disabling the cameras would reveal her position anyway.
Unbeknownst to her, it had allowed the Odi to notice how she checked every sign before deciding where to go.
"This solves all of our problems." Jiira said. "We only need to preserve this monkey and the youths to have full access to the outside world. It's time to take out the trash."
***
Lith's group moved along the corridors, being forced to explore them all in search of a way to reach the floors below. While their companions were unconscious, Lith had shared with Phloria the Golems' dying words.
She was glad to know they had an edge over their hidden enemies and shared Lith's amazement at his ability to understand the dead language even though he was unable to read it.
'Could his Death Vision curse and the near-death state of those wretched creatures be the explanation for the phenomenon?' Phloria thought. 'I hope I'm wrong, otherwise it might mean that Lith's condition is even worse than what the Professors assessed.'
The place was completely empty, but thanks to the reinforced glass windows, they could watch inside each room and Phloria could use her Forgemaster spells to look for dimensional runes.
The underground labs were completely different from those on the upper level of Kulah. They were all clean, with no chains nor cells. Each room was full of a mix of magic and machinery, the Odi's signature technique to overcome the limits of ancient runes.
The labs were designed to host a full research team but only two specimens at the time. Clearly, they used them to perform the perfected procedures on the Odi or just to fine-tune the last details.
They found both an elevator and the stairs, but being cramped in a confined space with the risk of the Golems Warping with them was a no go, so they preferred to take the stairs to reach the lower floor.
'Anything useful, Solus?' Lith asked while opening the keycard locks one after another.
'Nope, but stay on your guard. I'm surprised that the Odi haven't used their meat shields more nor did they move to face us. After centuries of practice and with their ego, they should believe to be unbeatable.' Solus replied.
Lith was pondering about her words when a more pressing problem arose. There were two corridors in front of them, one to the left and the other to the right, and above each one of them multiple tags were hung.
Both corridors branched into many others and since no one was able to read the Odi language nor the room had windows, the floor was akin to a maze to them.
"What do we do now?" Lith asked everyone, Solus included. The Golems had warned them about a green array and prompted them to reach the basement, but that information had become pointless.
"Open these goddamn doors one by one and as soon as we find a dimensional rune, if there isn't that noxious gas on the other side we leave, period!" Neshal said.
Phloria had many objections to leaving behind her soldiers, the Professors, and the Assistant. Not because it would have been an utter failure on her personal file, but because after all the time they had spent together, she considered them almost as friends.
Yet not knowing if they were even still alive and the idea of joining them on an Odi's operating table left her with no choice. She pointed at the closest door and nodded for Lith to open it.
Using Live Vision, Lith could see that there were no life forces inside, so he did as instructed and looked inside. The room turned out to be an archive, full of cabinet files and orderly placed folders.
Lith closed the door while shaking his head when Solus warned him.
'They're opening Gates!'
'From what direction?' He asked.
'All of them!'
Lith had barely the time to alert the others when Warp Steps opened at the end of each corridor. A Flesh Golem stepped out of each one of them, unleashing a fireball as large as the corridor itself.
Neshal activated her Power Detector array, keeping herself ready to Blink to safety. Lith was aware that each time he opened a lock he gave out his position, but he couldn't Warp to unknown locations.
To make matters worse, that kind of attack was clearly meant to force them to split. The Golems had waited for the humans to be in a place impossible to defend before using a spell that could be dodged but not blocked.
The moment Lith's group Blinked it was over. Metal walls fell from the ceiling, blocking both their view and their path to retreat.
'How did we miss them?' Lith couldn't believe his own eyes.
'They are not magical, but mechanical in nature. None of us has gear sense.' Solus explained.
Lith Blinked near the Golem's power core, pretending to follow the enemy script. But instead of aiming for a direct strike, he Blinked away, to dodge the attack he knew was about to come and use the opening it would create to kill his enemy.
Unfortunately, together with its attack, the Golem also activated a Water Blocking array, sealing dimensional magic. Thanks to his enhanced reflexes, Lith managed to block the construct's fist but took the full power of the fireball accompanying it.
Only the Skinwalker Armor boosted by his mana and earth fusion saved his life.
Close combat wasn't Neshal's specialty, so she had kept away from the construct. Unfortunately, with dimensional magic sealed she was soon overwhelmed. Keeping the array at the ready had required most of her focus, she had few spells to protect herself.
She couldn't even access her dimensional item, leaving her with only the means she had on her pockets and fingers.
"Fuck!" She said while unleashing all the spells she kept inside her magic storing rings. Some of them were even tier four and five. A jet stream of flames thousands of degrees hot struck the Golem, instantly followed by a blazing tornado.
Neshal chanted as fast as she could, timing the release of the spell so that to buy herself as much time as she could. The only good thing about being isolated from the others was that the walls also protected her allies from her most powerful spells.
'If I hold on long enough, they'll come for me.' She thought.
Yet the Golem just kept protecting its core with its arms while walking forward, ignoring the blazing inferno Neshal had created and attacking with more fireballs of its own.
With no earth nor ice to manipulate, Neshal couldn't block them nor she could Blink away. The first explosion made her eyes bleed and brought her eardrums on the verge of bursting. She kept attacking despite being blind, but the second explosion broke through her magical protections and made her cough out blood.
The Golem undid its array and Warped in front of her, clutching her head with its half-melted hand. Luckily, the Golem killed her before she could feel the heat that charred her bones and made her blood evaporate.
Chapter 703 Tyrant Part 1
The heat from the fireball was burning Lith's lungs while the light blinded him, but by switching to Life Vision he became able to see again. He unleashed a burst of Origin Flames, which the Golem shrugged off as if they were nothing more than a parlor trick.
Flesh Golems were so heavily enchanted that a single breath of Origin Flames could barely heat their stone surface due to the powerful magic coursing through their bodies that amounted to several tier five spells.
The construct struck with its fists again, activating even more fireballs. Lith was exactly in Neshal's situation. He couldn't block nor dodge the enemy's spells, yet he had one more means of defense.
Instead of wasting his Origin Flames to attack, he used them to cancel the fireballs as he stepped back to avoid the physical attacks. Origin Flames' greatest weak point was that it required him to exhaust the air in his lungs, leaving him breathless.
'Beware, this thing isn't trying to take you alive.' Solus warned him.
The Golem had no idea what was happening, so it tried to switch to darkness magic, only to have its black waves devoured by Lith's blue flames.
Lith infused his prototype Gatekeeper with air magic, to boost its speed and piercing abilities, but thanks to the mix of earth and air magic the construct used to move its body, the Golem was as fast as an Awakened.
The stone fist shattered the blade before it could get even one centimeter under its skin. The other fist struck at Lith like a charging bull, making him bounce on the floor before sending him crashing against the back wall.
Even with the boosted protection of the Skinwalker armor and Solus promptly covering his chest to shield him, Lith's vision was blurred and his focus lost. He used Invigoration to recover his strength, but it felt like a fool's errand.
Magic was useless and so were physical attacks. Lith refused to surrender and used a sudden wave of spirit magic to lift the opponent and sending it slamming against a wall.
The Golem was surprised but unfazed by the invisible energy, so it just resumed its magical onslaught, forcing Lith to interrupt his breathing technique to use Origin Flames to save his life.
A sudden explosion and the Golem's power core becoming invisible again made Lith aware of Neshal's death. Lith racked his brain for a path to victory, but he kept not finding any.
'Damn, Golems are too powerful. Now I understand why the Odi made the entirety of Kulah out of metal. Without earth to manipulate against them, they are nigh invincible.' Lith thought.
'I have only one shot left, but I need your help, Solus. It's dangerous and likely to fail. You could remain…'
'Just do it.' She replied while reading his mind.
Lith took a breath as deep as he could before hurling a wall of flames against the construct. It ate all of the incoming spells, sticking on both the flesh and the stone parts of the Golem, leaving the creature blinded as its human side suffered in agony.
The moment the flames struck, Lith bolted forward, infusing himself with all the elements and striking at the power core hidden inside the Golem's left thigh.
Just like it had happened for the sword, the moment his claws pierced its rock skin, the construct's fists fell down like hammers, shattering Lith's arm in several places and sending him sprawling on the floor like a ragdoll.
The Golem lifted its foot to shatter Lith's skull, but suddenly it lost its balance and fell to the ground. Solus's glove had detached at the last second, using the blue flames as a cover and the hit's momentum to reach the power core.
The Golem had failed to notice the damage she had inflicted due to Origin Flames dulling its senses and its lack of sense of pain. However, victory came at a cost. Lith was barely conscious and so was Solus.
Between the Origin Flames and the construct's attacks, she was heavily wounded. It took her several seconds to collect all of her pieces spread throughout the room and return to his side.
Lith used Invigoration again, knowing that until Solus recovered, using that trick a second time might kill them both.
***
Phloria had Blinked while holding Quylla, foiling the Odi's plan to split them. She knew that her sister wouldn't last a second alone against a construct. When Phloria Blinked again, much to the construct's surprise, she was running away along the path they had taken to get there instead of facing it.
It made the Golem's array useless and forced it to give them chase.
"Any idea?" She asked Quylla. They were just around the corner. Instead of wasting her mana, Phloria had opted for hide and strategize.
"None. If I can't touch the Golem, I'm useless. You?"
"Even if I can see its power core, I doubt it will let me strike at will. Quylla, does indirect contact work for tier five healing magic?" Phloria asked.
"Only if I touch a living being, I can't transmit Scanner through metal."
"Good enough for me. Stay close to me, no matter what." Phloria would have liked to Blink by Lith's side, but with their visual obstructed, she had no idea which direction he had gone, nor she could Warp to an unknown location.
***
Lith had just recovered enough to stand up when his nose picked up an odd smell. Following it, he noticed a small hole in one of the metal walls that separated him from his companions.
It allowed whoever was on the other side to look at Lith's position.
A split second later, Morok Blinked in front of him. His clothes were tattered to the point of being rags. Even an army uniform would take some time to recover from such damage, yet the Ranger looked alright.
"Man, I hate Golems. No vitals, immunity to most forms of magic, terrifying recovering abilities. They are a pain in the ass even for those like us."
"Us?" Lith echoed, not understanding the meaning of Morok's words.
"Come on, there's no need to be shy. There's just the two of us now."
"How the heck did you get rid of the Golem so fast and how did you pierce that wall?" Lith asked, still incapable of making heads of tails of those words.
"Fine! I'll show you mine and then you'll show me yours." Yet instead of taking off his clothes, Morok shapeshifted.
His skin became snow-white, with only one big red eye in the middle of his forehead, another eye the size of a football appeared on his chest, and two more on his shoulders.
His appearance was still humanoid, but he was now over two meters (6'7") tall.
His nose had disappeared, leaving only two slits on his face and his mouth was full of several rows of shark-like teeth. Lith recognized immediately the Emperor Beast known as Tyrannical Eye, or just as Tyrant.
They were the magical beast equivalent of Balors, but unlike them, Tyrants weren't part of the Fallen races and their mastery over the elements wasn't as developed.
"All those abilities, they didn't belong to your weapons, it was you all along." Lith finally understood many things, like his fellow Ranger's heightened senses and inhuman battle prowess.
'Solus, you told me he wasn't an Awakened.' Lith thought.
'He's not. Morok is just like Gadorf, the offspring of an Emperor Beast.' She replied.
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Chapter 704 Tyrant Part 2
"There's no point in denying it." Morok said. "Between your fancy glove and all of your trinkets, I would have bought your act if it wasn't for your smell, brother. You need to fix that."
"How did you kill the Golem?" Lith repeated his question. He preferred to avoid explaining that he could do nothing about it. Unlike Morok, he didn't just shapeshift, he had two different life forces with a unique smell.
"My old man refused to Awaken me, but at least he gave me a nice gift." Morok juggled with his weapons before sheathing them. "They can absorb and enhance the power of my eyes, giving me plenty of tricks.
"Balors are losers compared to Tyrants, we evolved correctly and it's only a matter of time before we outmatch them in every aspect." His smile was full of spite, pronouncing the name of their rival species as if it was poison.
"Don't get startled, I'm not a Balor." Lith said while assuming his hybrid form.
"What the fuck?" Even though he had been forewarned, Morok jumped back, unsheathing his blades. "Was your father a Dragon who mated with a Balor or was it the other way around?"
"I don't know what I am." Lith replied. His blue eye remained open for a few seconds before closing shut.
"You got abandoned, huh? Is that why you have the hots for human women?"
"What?" Lith snarled, a puff of black smoke came out from his mouth.
"It's nothing to be ashamed of." Morok raised his hands in a sign of apology. "My mom kicked out both me and my old man when she discovered the truth. I've got mommy issues too. Why do you think I became a Ranger?"
"For fun?" Lith replied.
"Nailed it in one. Emperor Beasts are so boring, always blabbering about duty and balance. In the army, I get to kill stuff, see stuff, date hotties, and the best part is that I get paid for it. By the way, are your eyes for decoration or what?
"They should be pretty powerful if you descend from a Balor and you have seven of them. Odd, even us Tyrants develop six tops. I am still stuck at four, sadly."
"I can only see how people will die, if they do, in the immediate future. Nothing else." Lith said.
"Seven worthless eyes? That's harsh, brother. Maybe rather than from a Balor, you descend from a Peeping Dragon." Morok gave Lith a wink.
"Whatever. We need to find Phloria and get out of this place. The longer we remain here, the higher the risk of more Golems finding us."
"Dating so many women at once is not cool. Also, she's not that cute. We can find much better girls outside and…"
"First, she's just my friend." Lith was seconds away from strangling the Tyrant and his face was a few millimeters from Morok's.
"Second, I don't know how to operate dimensional runes. Without her, we're stuck in here. Is that clear?" Each word was a snarl, accompanied by a puff of smoke.
"You need to literally chill, brother." Lith's scales had turned red hot from his anger. "You definitely have Dragon blood. The brimstone breath is a killer. Mint?"
Morok offered him a dew fresh leaf from his dimensional amulet, which turned into ashes the moment Lith touched it.
"Can you find the girls with your sense of smell?" Lith asked while scanning their surroundings with Life Vision, finding several mana signatures but no life form.
Morok sniffed the air like a hound before shaking his head.
"All the spells cast during the fight have destroyed any trace I could find. Plus, the fact that they likely used dimensional magic doesn't help. I think we should work on the assumption that they've been captured. Humans have no chances against Golems."
After checking on Professor Neshal, Lith was forced to admit that the Tyrant was probably right. Bits of the Professor's corpse were mixed with the Golem's remains. Neshal had detonated all of her magical items to bring her enemy down with her.
Only a suicide attack of that magnitude was enough to destroy constructs. With their arrays sealing dimensional magic and uncanny bodies, there was nothing that Phloria could do against them.
'When I get out of here, I must warn Friya. Dimensional mages like her are basically powerless against constructs.' Lith thought.
He told Morok about the dying words of the two humans grafted to the Golems he had killed, hoping that the Tyrant's eyes could help him to find his target.
"So you don't just see people dying, you also somehow commune with them. Seriously, who the fuck were your parents?" Even though they were alone, they had both reverted to their human form to keep the element of surprise.
"Focus, dammit. Can you find something like the Mana Reactor or the so-called green array? The former we have to find and destroy, the latter we have to avoid." Lith asked.
"I can only sense great amounts of mana belonging to the elements associated with my four eyes." Morok said while moving around the corridor. The red, yellow, black, and orange eyes on his body moved independently, searching for energy traces.
"Something like what you just described should be visible from a distance, yet I can't find anything. Either it's too far from here or it's cloaked."
Both mana sense and Life Vision revealed nothing but the usual set of locks and arrays on the nearby doors, making Lith grit his teeth.
"Fine. Let's backtrack our steps. If Phloria or Quylla managed to escape, they'll be waiting for us. If we don't find them, we have to assume the worst and destroy the Mana Rector." Lith checked on Solus's condition before moving.
She was using her own Invigoration to recover, but she had yet to return to her full strength. Lith quickly opened a small Warp Steps, leading to the farthest point to the camp he had access to, closing it the moment the noxious gas started to seep through the dimensional window.
"I tried that too, otherwise I wouldn't have come back for you." Morok sighed. "Without one of the Royal Forgemasters, we're as good as dead."
***
Professor Gaakhu reached the Warehouse in a matter of minutes, the problem was that she had no idea how to safely open its door.
"Stay back! We've already thrown caution to the wind, there's no point in using finesse." After her chant was over, a pillar of black flames struck one of the Warehouse's sidewalls.
Darkness lowered the metal's melting point while the fire was just fire. A hole the size of a door slowly opened and the pillar made its way inside the room, destroying the crates and their content until Gaakhu was able to see in front of herself.
Her actions triggered several alarms, but she didn't care. The soldier assumed a defensive formation around her while Gaakhu cooled the wall and scanned the arrays inside the room.
It was then that three Flesh Golems appeared from as many Warp Steps, surrounding them from every side. They blocked fire, ice, and darkness magic before unleashing their thunderbolts against the floor, hitting all their prey at once.
The soldiers weren't aware of that trick and Gaakhu had never bothered warning them. She had already fought the Golems, so she knew that the soldiers were only good to buy her time.
'Five soldiers and only three constructs. I can still escape while they capture them again.' She smiled while using the Disarray spell to deactivated the only dangerous magical formation in the room.
Chapter 705 Judgment Call Part 1
Gaakhu dashed inside, using her magical protections to tank several small air blades and ice spikes. The room had several dimensional runes which she recognized. They were the names of ancient Odi cities, some of them were too far from Kulah to be affected by the poison tainting its surroundings.
Gaakhu struck with her Royal Forgemaster wand at the dimensional rune associated with the modern city of Othre. The Gate opened, revealing a stone tunnel devoid of danger.
Gaakhu jumped towards her freedom, only for a stone hand to hit her on the head and made her lose consciousness. She had been the constructs' priority from the beginning.
Only after their precious slave had been apprehended did the Odi order the Golems to collect the soldiers.
***
Lith and Morok went back to the elevator and even to the living quarters, finding no trace of their missing companions. After returning to the research labs, Lith put the list of Odi words the Professors had shared with the rest of the expedition members inside Soluspedia.
He hoped that it would help him to make head or tails of at least a couple of signs. Unfortunately, they turned out to be useless. The Odi language was too complex and the words at his disposal were too few to allow Lith to figure out the meaning of the writings along the corridors.
When they finished exploring the lab, they found another door, probably leading to a lower floor.
"We should go down. The woman told me to search the basement and this place doesn't fit the bill." Lith said.
"Agreed, but I don't like the idea very much." Morok shapeshifted from time to time to look for clues. His mystical senses had a greater range than Lith's and Solus's but they didn't provide much information about the nature of the threat at hand.
"There's something big and really powerful down there and for some reason, it's visible to all my four eyes."
"Why is that bad?" Lith asked.
"I'm no Awakened, so I can't see world energy, life force, or any of that stuff. I can only spot elemental mana. What I can see, even from up here, is some kind of energy pillar as big as a hill and is composed of all the four elements at my disposal."
Lith tried using Life Vision, but the pillar was too far for him. He couldn't see past the arrays sealing the door in front of them. Solus's mana sense was blinded by the amount of magical equipment surrounding them instead.
Lith closed in on the door, activating Invigoration to study and neutralize its lock. He had to hold back a laugh when he recognized the Nightmare Safe. It was the same device the Odi had used to lock the secret documents in the office of Kulah's commanding officer.
"We're lucky, it seems that at the time this kind of protection was considered to be the best magical seal available, while it's actually the easiest to crack if you know what you're doing." Lith said while reading the array containing the password.
"Hey, that wasn't an array revealing spell. You're an Awakened!" Morok had seen his own father using such abilities so often that he immediately recognized Invigoration.
"Does it change anything?" Lith asked, opening the door while Morok took note of the password.
"No, but that's an amazing piece of news. Are you willing to Awake me?" The Tyrant knew that with that kind of power, very few beings could pose a threat to his life. Alas, Golems would still be among them.
"Depends, are you willing to swear me obedience for one hundred years?" Lith replied.
"Absolutely not!"
"Then you have your answer. If I have to put my life on the line for you, you have to be damn worth the risk. So far you're just a pain in my ass." Lith opened the door, scanning his surroundings.
The coast was clear, but they had to move fast, to not give the constructs the time to pinpoint their position.
"What if I save your girlfriend?" Morok said while they were darting along the stairs.
"She's not my girlfriend, and a human doesn't live as much as we do." It was Lith's biggest gripe with every one of his relationships. Even with a crippled life force, he was likely to outlive most of his loved ones.
"It was worth a shot." Morok grumbled.
Forcing someone to Awaken another person was a waste of time. All Lith had to do was either to let the Awakening fail or report Morok to the Council. Both events would lead the Tyrant to a premature death.
To make matters worse, Morok had seen his fellow Ranger fight and Lith was a force to be reckoned with. The idea of having a semi-immortal enemy of that caliber on his tail forever was simply appalling.
The moment they reached the bottom of the staircase, Lith could catch a glimpse of the pillar Morok was talking about. Yet it was still too far to take a proper look at it, making it necessary for them to find a way to the lower levels.
Whatever was on their current floor, it was nothing useful.
***
After waiting for a bit in front of the elevator, Phloria and Quylla had been forced to Warp away because of the Flesh Golems looking for them. The more time passed, the more they had to assume the worst.
Lith might have been captured or killed. Also, without a Warden, they were stuck with just Phloria's Forgemaster skills, which greatly limited both their options and escape chances.
The two young mages were growing more desperate by the minute. Phloria even checked with Warp Steps the furthest point in Morok's pathway to Kulah she could remember, but even that was filled with black smoke.
The various underground tunnels had to be connected or at least share their airways.
"We can either get ourselves captured on purpose or take our chances and open random doors." Phloria said. They were getting tired, constantly changing their position without rest drained their mana.
"If we get captured, we can rescue the Professors and have them help us. The problem is, what if the Golems stun us? Remember that they know I can deactivate them if they touch me." Once again, Quylla cursed her own helplessness
'If only Yurial was here, he would know what to do.' She thought.
"Don't worry, I've a plan. It's very risky, but it can bring us behind the enemy lines and get rid of a Flesh Golem at the same time." Phloria said, taking deep breaths to calm herself down.
"What? Why didn't you propose this earlier? Professor Neshal has died and maybe even Lith. You could have saved them both!" Quylla started to sob. Another Warden had died, and yet she was still alive.
She wasn't actually angry with Phloria, Quylla was just trying to shut up the voice in her head telling her that she was bad luck. First Yurial, now Lith. Everyone she loved died because of her.
The fear of losing Phloria, made Quylla feel like her existence was cursed.
"Because it's a desperate plan. Earlier, with Lith and Neshal, we still had a chance of escaping on our own. If it fails, we'll end up in the Odi's hands." Phloria hugged her sister, trying to comfort Quylla.
"Since both our lives are at risk, I can't make this decision on my own. Are you with me?"
Quylla stopped crying and nodded. Phloria explained her plan to Quylla, making her yelp more than once. A few minutes later, they were in front of a locked door. They had hoped that a Golem would find them, but since that didn't happen, they had to lure one.
Chapter 706 Judgment Call Part 2
Phloria used one of Orion's spells, which revealed the relays of the keycard lock mechanism and allowed her to open it simply by sending a mana pulse to the right spot. She opened the door and ran into hiding.
They had chosen a place at the end of a corridor, so that there was only one way in and one way out, requiring just a single Golem to trap them.
As Phloria had predicted, the construct Warped at the end of the hallway to block the only escape route available. The Golem was surprised seeing that there was no human in front of itself, nor its sensors could pick up any energy signature.
Yet the door was open.
Phloria and Quylla were on the opposite end of the corridor, waiting for the Warping Array to open and Blink through it. Once on the other side, Phloria was surprised to discover that not only did the surveillance devices have already been destroyed, but also the cells were all empty except for the one holding the Assistants.
The Golem reported its failure and stepped back inside the Gate, getting struck by both sisters with their respective Clean Slate. The tier four Forgemaster spell required physical contact and had no permanent effect on something as complex as a construct.
Yet it could temporarily stop its functions. Two Clean Slate at once were enough to turn the Golem's power core off for a split second, which made the dimensional corridor collapse.
The Construct was only halfway through, so it got cleaved in half along with its power core. Phloria's plan had been a complete success.
"Please, don't abandon us here as the Professors did!" The Assistants started sobbing the moment their jailer was gone.
"I don't have much time, so I need you to be honest with me. Which one of you is a Warden?"
They all started to yell "Me! Me!", making Phloria curse.
"We should take with us both Asera and Onma." Quylla said while opening their locks with Clean slate. They are the Assistants of Neshal and Ellkas. I spoke with them more than once, so I know that they are respectively a Warden and a linguist.
Onma was actually an Alchemist, but that information was useless in their situation.
The two remaining Assistants started to scream so hard that Phloria had to Hush them.
'Is this how Lith felt during Balkor's attack?' Phloria thought. 'Knowing that you can't save everyone and that even bringing one more person along might doom us all?'
Lith had never felt anything like that. He had just pretended so to not be burdened by people he didn't care about, but Phloria had no way to know it. She regretted leaving two innocents to a fate worse than death, but at the same time, she couldn't kill them in cold blood.
"Great thinking Quylla, we must…" Her words were interrupted by another Warp appearing. She and Quylla had expected that the destruction of a Golem might alert the others, so they had a contingency plan for that.
What they didn't have a plan for, was the man accompanying the construct. Tired of losing their precious Flesh Golems, Jiira had decided to personally take care of the latest disturbance. His eyes lit up with joy when he saw the two young women.
< "Well, well, well. Finally our luck it's turning."> His smile creeped all those presents out. They had seen multiple Odi pictures, but even that wasn't enough to prepare them to meet the real deal.
Just like all his colleagues, Jiira was the embodiment of perfection, but only according to Odi's standards. He was 1.70 meters (5'7") tall, with long purple hair and blue translucent skin.
It allowed them to see every single twitch of his muscles and organs since he was almost naked, wearing only a loincloth to cover his genitals. His body was comprised only of muscles and what was visible of his face could have been considered handsome, if it didn't appear completely unnatural.
He looked more like a statue come to life rather than a living being.
Phloria attacked the Odi with her estoc the moment he appeared. She had no idea what he was capable of, but she had to stop him from casting spells. Jiira grabbed her blade with just three of his fingers.
With a wave of his hand, the Golem disappeared inside the Warp, while a green array formed around Jiira. Phloria gasped recognizing by its color the spell that the dying Flesh Golems had warned Lith against, so she promptly unleashed the spells stored in her rings.
Jiira just pointed his forefinger, generating a ray of light that pierced through Phloria's spells and chest, leaving a hole the size of a golf ball. His finger flashed one more time, striking Quylla down before she could do anything.
He then chained them where once the Professors had been, letting the red chains' properties to heal and restore their bodies before the procedure.
< "Finally! We have our interpreter and enough bodies for our most useful members. We only need to retrieve the boy to start our plan. The old coots and the non-humans can die, we have no use for them.">
The other Odi welcomed his proposition with an applause. After being prisoners inside their own home for so long, they could finally see a way out.
***
Lith and Morok walked through the door and ran along the corridor, to avoid falling in another ambush. Lith kept revealing and destroying the surveillance devices along their path until they reached a large, circular room from which branched several corridors, each one with an arrow-shaped tag to identify their destination.
Lith looked at the sign pointing from the direction they had arrived and noted down the Odi word for stairs. Then, he searched the remaining tags for another one containing the same characters that was supposed to lead them further down.
Yet he stopped halfway for two reasons. The first was that he recognized the character for "Meat Shields". It was identical to the one he had found with Phloria in the tunnels departing from Kulah.
The second reason was that his revealing spell couldn't find working surveillance devices in the room nor in the corridor leading to the magical beast breeding center.
"One of ours went this way." Lith pointed with his finger.
"It was Yondra, her Assistant, and Ellkas." Morok said after sniffing the air. "That's not all. The soldiers and Gaakhu went that way."
He was pointing at the warehouse, but Lith didn't recognize the character and his spell confirmed that the surveillance devices in that corridor were still operational.
"All the Professors seem to have managed to escape. How long ago did they pass from here?" Lith asked.
"Not much. A few minutes tops." Morok replied. "If we make haste, we might be able to catch up with her. After all, she had to slow down to clear her path, whereas we can just follow into her footsteps."
His idea was interesting, but not for Lith. If they actually found Yondra, Morok wouldn't need Phloria anymore to escape nor could Lith say them anything to stop them from leaving him alone in that nightmare.
Yet he nodded and used Life Vision to scan the area ahead. If he found Yondra and a dimensional rune leading to safety, he would know where to Warp to as soon as he rescued his friends.
Also, if he managed to convince Yondra to teach him how to operate a dimensional rune, their escape would proceed even smoother.
Chapter 707 A Forgemaster’s Wand Part 1
The metal corridor turned out to be very long. It branched several times because each kind of magical beast had its own breeding facility.
Also, they were further split according to what they were destined to become. The elite Meat Shields were breed in a department while the fuel for the Mana Reactor was breed in another.
To find the right path, Lith just had to check at each intersection where the cameras had been deactivated and where they were still active. Unbeknownst to them, they were following Yondra's group toward the Teks' breeding facility.
"Good gods!" Lith said when Life Vision perceived three familiar life signatures and his Array Detecting spell revealed five elemental blocking arrays to him, hidden but ready to be activated at any moment.
"It's anyone there?" Lith asked, even though he already knew the answer. "We followed your trail."
"Thank the gods, young spirit! It's so nice to see you, we were just biding our time and fearing for the worse." Yondra came from around the corner, hugging Lith while sighing in relief.
She looked terrible. They had been separated barely half an hour ago, yet she looked like someone who didn't have a good night's rest in days. She was covered in sweat, panting heavily with every word.
Yondra seemed to have suddenly got older, to the point that she was even unable to stand up-right properly. She was leaning against Lith rather than just hugging him.
"What happened to you? Are your injuries so severe?" Lith asked while performing Invigoration on her. Her body was fine, but she was running on fumes. Both her mana and stamina were almost depleted.
"No injuries, but you see, I've been thinking ahead." Her crafty smile and hunched posture made her resemble Nana so much that it almost hurt.
"I've disabled the surveillance devices of all the corridors from the last junction so that the Odi don't know where exactly we are." Lith nodded. He had found them with Life Vision and had yelled to pretend to have fallen for her deception.
"Yet the moment I open a door, everything will be for naught. So I spent all of my energies to cast the necessary arrays to turn any Golem that tries to block us into scraps."
Lith found several flaws in her plan. First, if more than one Golem came, they would be doomed. If they activated the arrays while only one construct was inside its area of effect, the second would need but a handful of seconds to make a temporary array collapse.
If they waited for the second construct to enter the arrays, by that time the first Golem might as well already captured them all. Last, but not least, even if they somehow managed to trap several Golems at once, all the Odi had to do was to unleash the magical beasts to finish them off.
The arrays would seal their spells as well, making it impossible for humans to stand their ground against magical beasts.
'This plan is idiotic, Yondra must be beyond desperate.' Lith thought.
"My problem is that if they send more than one Golem we're screwed." Yondra continued. "Don't get me started on how bad things would get if instead of inside the corridor, the Odi make the constructs Warp inside the room, where is not covered by my array's area of effect.
"We can't deal with Golems, magical beasts, and the arrays inside the room at the same time. At least not by ourselves."
'Or not.' Lith corrected himself, listening to Yondra's well-thought reasoning.
"Then what's the meaning of all this?" Lith asked.
"The original plan was for me to rest and recover enough strength to take care of the defensive arrays while Ellkas dealt with the magical beasts. If we manage to move fast enough, we might reach a dimensional rune and escape.
"The elemental blocking arrays are a last last-ditch effort, to cover our retreat in the case the Golems arrive before we find the rune. I planned on using them more defensively than offensively.
"But now that the two of you are with us, things will go much smoother. None of us can fight hand to hand, but you can. Your presence at least halves the time we need to find and activate the rune." Yondra said.
"Keep resting. In such a debilitated state you'd slow us too much." Lith forced her to sit down and handed her some food. Then, he explained what had happened since the group hand been split.
"If they have captured your friends, they must be in the prison, locked by those terrible red chains." Yondra said, explaining to him the artifact's properties.
"Is the prison nearby and can you Warp me there?" Lith asked.
"Yes to both, but please, listen to me first. According to Rainer, there is always a Golem standing guard to the prisoners, so if you go there, you'll trigger the alarm and give away our position."
"Are you asking me to abandon them? Like you abandoned Rainer?" Lith sneered.
"No, what I'm asking you to do is to play it smart." Yondra shook her head. "Let's say you find and save them. What then? You would still be trapped here with no way out. Worst case scenario you'll ruin my plan.
"Here is my idea. Stay here and help us clear the path. If we succeed, all you need to do is to Warp to the prison, rescue them with our help, Warp back here, and get out. You might even not need to fight. Stalling a Golem is much easier than destroying it."
"Your plan is good, but what if after we find the rune you get away and leave me behind? Why should you risk everything for me when freedom is just a step away? What if the Odi or their Golems damage the rune?
"You would reap all the benefits of my work and I would be stuck here." Lith knew that no one would sacrifice so much for a stranger. If their roles were reversed and Yondra wanted his help to save Rainer, he wouldn't think twice leaving her behind.
"He's right, you know? I'm not staying here a second longer than necessary. Don't count on me for your rescue mission. Unless of course…" Morok winked at Lith with a greedy smile on his face. Becoming an Awakened was a nice incentive.
"Neither am I. I'm sorry, kid, but someone has to alert the Kingdom. This is too big for any of us. Only an army of well-prepared Spellbreakers can destroy this place. Anything but running is just suicide." Ellkas tried to sound as if he was more worried about the Kingdom than for his own life, but failed miserably.
"Do you see what I mean? Just point me to the prison and I'll do the rest. I'll not mess with your plan but I won't help you either." Lith stood up, ready to leave.
"There's only one thing I need to know. Can you teach me how to activate a dimensional rune?"
Yondra was conflicted by the choice at hand. She had really hoped that they could escape together, but without Ranger Eari and Ellkas, there was not much she could do. Rainer kept looking at her like a lost puppy, begging her to bring him home.
Chapter 708 A Forgemaster’s Wand Part 2
'Seriously, I can't believe we've come to this point.' Yondra thought. 'Even if I could actually make a difference, I would never trust Ellkas or Eari with Rainer. They both strike me like someone who always looks out for number one.
'Hence I can't stay here and hope that they will help him out of the goodness of their hearts and why I can only trust them until the dimensional Gate will be opened. After that, I'll be on my own.
'I can't be like these idiots, I must think about the bigger picture. What if we get interrupted and we have to run away? What if something happens to me? Everyone else would be doomed.' She took a deep breath, trying to make her mind.
She was too tired to think clearly, yet she had to. After a few seconds, she decided to gamble one last time, to leave no stone unturned.
"I could teach you how to operate dimensional runes, but it would be pointless." Yondra replied. "There are only two ways to fuel them. The first is with what their maker intended as a key.
"In the Odi's case, it's probably a mana crystal carved with a particular shape. The second way is to use a Royal Forgemaster's wand to directly activate the rune with your mana."
"Great. So you're blackmailing me. Either I come with you or I risk getting stuck here forever." Lith didn't like ultimatums, yet he had his back against the wall. Both choices sucked.
To stay behind meant to risk everything for someone who might already be dead, but leaving was even worse. Phloria was the first person who had ever accepted him for who he was and Quylla was almost like a sister to him.
She had come to that horrible place because of him, to find a way to prolong his life. More than everything, he couldn't keep living with the thought to have given up on two of the people who mattered the most for him.
When Lith had been reborn, surrounded by the love of his family, he had sworn that nothing and no one would have ever been taken away from him again. Yet it was exactly what was likely to happen.
"No blackmailing, I'm offering you my help. Help us to reach the dimensional rune, give Ranger Eari whatever he wants from you, and I'll help you save your friends." Yondra said while looking him straight into his eyes.
"If it's just the two of us, your plan would be suicidal, but with Eari's help, it's like having the whole team." She sneered at Ellkas and Rainer. Their battle prowess was bordering on insignificance.
"Fine!" Lith didn't like the deal much, but it was the best compromise he could get. That way, no matter if Phloria was alive or not, he would still have a way out. His infant conscience and his selfishness had stopped quarreling, giving him time to think.
'It's not that bad of a deal.' He thought. 'If Yondra's plan succeeds, their help will make saving Phloria and Quylla much easier. If it fails, well, my deal with Morok will be the least of my worries.'
"You heard the lady. Are you in?" Lith asked.
"For real? Do you give me your word that this is not a trick?" Morok had never thought that Lith would have actually accepted. His earlier offer was barely a joke, to spread salt on Lith's wounds.
"You have my word. A life for a life." Lith extended his hand and Morok promptly shook it.
"Well, as we eye brothers use to say, if before you had my curiosity, now you have my undivided erection."
"Don't you mean attention?" Rainer asked.
"I know exactly what I mean, kid."
"Good. While we wait that I recover some of my strength, let me teach you how to use a Royal Forgemaster's wand." Yondra handed Lith her silver wand, making Rainer's jaw almost fall to the ground.
"Master Yondra, why?" He asked.
"Because if we fail and something happens to me, everyone would be stranded here. We need a contingency plan." She replied.
The moment Lith had it in his hands, he used Invigoration to understand the wand's nature. Much to his surprise, it didn't have a pseudo core, nor it was actually made out of silver.
The external layer of precious metal was just a focus for a small mana crystal. Both of them were covered in silver-colored runes Lith had never seen before. Unfortunately, Yondra demanded his attention before he could study it properly.
"The wand is basically a filter. It purifies your mana from its energy signature, allowing it to be universally accepted by all kinds of devices as if you are a giant mana crystal.
"Also, the lack of energy signature allows your mana to interact with most artifacts without triggering their defensive systems, hence why we could safely examine Kulah's various locks and seals.
"It has many other properties, but that would be beyond the scope of our lesson." Yondra then taught him the spell to activate the dimensional runes and once she was certain that Lith had learned it properly, she gave the wand to Rainer and asked him to perform the spell as well.
That way, no matter who survived, her Apprentice would be useful and hence the others would be more careful about his well-being. The spell itself was simple, but it required both a high amount of mana and a highly developed mana control, the two trademarks talents of a Forgemaster.
Lith had learned the spell so fast that Rainer lived it as a competition, doing his best to not let down his beloved mentor.
While Yondra repeated her instructions to her pupil, Lith asked Professor Ellkas to translate for him all the signs they had found along the way. Ellkas was happy to help.
His talents as both a linguist and an Alchemist weren't very useful in their predicament. Just like Quylla, he was deeply regretting not to have practiced an offensive specialization.
He had spent his whole life holed up in his academy, letting his love for the past civilizations made him forget about the dangers of the present.
Thanks to him, Lith was able to enrich his Odi vocabulary and even find the way leading to the lower floors.
'I wonder if Gaakhu managed to escape. If yes, the warehouse might be worth checking. I'll know more after visiting the detention facility. I need a contingency plan in case the dimensional rune of the Meat Factory gets destroyed.' Lith thought.
Yondra hadn't taught him how to repair runes and he suspected that it was not only because the task required special ingredients, but also to ensure Rainer's survival. If the youth already knew the restoration spell, then Lith would be forced to take care of him.
'Such a shrewd woman.' Lith thought. 'If she was a true mage, I would immediately accept her offer of apprenticeship. With her deep knowledge about almost all magical specializations and her title of Royal Forgemaster, Yondra's help would save me decades of research.'
Lith turned to look at Morok, yet his glare only found a sleeping Ranger. He would have gladly followed the Tyrant's example, but time was a luxury he couldn't afford. While Yondra rested and meditated, he squeezed all the knowledge he could from Ellkas.
"We have to move now." Yondra said less than half an hour later. "Without mana crystals to fuel them, my arrays are going to disappear in a while but we can't place mana crystal without making our trap lose the element of surprise."
Chapter 709 Strength and Weakness Part 1
Yondra had stopped wheezing, but she was still far from being strong enough to fight. Lith gave her an alchemical flask that Solus had prepared for him which contained all the necessary nutrients for a speedy recovery after being injured.
"Thanks for the offer, but I already took a tonic. One more would do nothing but drain my energy." Yondra politely refused.
"This is no tonic. It will complement the effects of the potion you already took. Also, I'm going to give you a bit of life force. I can't afford to lose you." Lith insisted.
Yondra gulped down the potion. It had a really weird taste, as if someone had blended together grape juice, steak, and vegetables. The problem with tonics was that even though they enhanced the metabolism, they still required food to work.
Yondra had eaten but she had yet to digest the food, whereas Solus's concoction could be instantly assimilated.
Lith used Invigoration to give her a bit of life force and mana back. Not enough to arouse her suspicions but enough to clear her head.
"This thing tastes like shit, but I feel much better." Yondra said, appreciating the full effects of both Solus's potion and Invigoration. "Let's move."
She quickly cast an array detection spells, making the Odi's magical formations become visible. With another spell, she made all the protections crumble, leaving only the card reader lock in place.
"Once I open the door, I need to stay behind to check the corridor and activate the elemental blocking arrays in case one or more Golems appear." Yondra said. "Lith, Morok, you clear the room and call me as soon as you're done.
"Rainer, Ellkas, you two stay between the Rangers and I. Support us at best of your possibilities. Ready? Go!" A flick of her wand made the light above the card reader turn green, releasing the lock.
Lith entered the room and used one of his personal spells. It revealed that the compound shared the same protections that he and Phloria had found in the Teks' breeding ground. There was a fire based, a darkness based, and an air based magical formation.
The room was 20 meters long and 10 meters wide. Along the walls, there was a long line of cylindrical tanks holding adult Teks in what looked like suspended animation. There were at least 40 magical beasts, each one as big as a closet.
He, Morok, and Ellkas took down one array each while Rainer neutralized the security cameras. They were all casting from behind to door, to keep both their numbers and identity a secret.
Lith cursed when he saw with Life Vision that several Gates were about to open inside the room, whereas the corridor where Yondra had placed her arrays was empty.
'Fuck! How many of those accursed Golems they had prepared and why didn't they use them in the war?' Lith received all the answers he needed when he saw that the creatures stepping out of the Warping arrays were no Golems.
A small army of Thorns was filling the room while the tanks holding the Teks were being opened.
"There's too many of them!" Morok said. Based on his estimate, even if he went all out as a Tyrant and burned his cover as a human, it would still take them too long to clean the room.
On top of that, they would be too tired to hold their ground in the case a Flesh Golem appeared.
"I got this!" Ellkas said, glad to be useful for once. The Professor messed on purpose with his Disarray spell, so that instead of dissipating the magical protection, he sent it haywire along with the others.
Ellkas closed the heavy metal door just a second before the resulting combined explosion made the wall tremble.
"Ellkas, you idiot!" Yondra said. "You've probably alerted the entire base. What if you destroyed the rune? There a limit to the damage I can repair."
"Better than being butchered!" He replied. "Or do you expect us to take down dozens of creatures in just a handful of seconds?"
Morok opened the door again, discovering that despite the fact that most of the creatures had been heavily injured or maimed, most of the Teks were alive and so were the Thorns.
"There's one thing I have to try." Lith said, unleashing his spell, Death Zone. A huge cloud composed of darkness magic invaded the room, killing the Teks as if they were a bunch of flies.
"Stop that spell!" Morok cursed. Instead of taking damage from Death Zone, the Thorns were getting bigger and stronger by the second.
"Trust me!" Lith kept the spell active until all the wounds the Thorns had sustained from the detonation of the arrays were completely healed.
"You idiot! You made them stronger. Infiro!" Morok's human eyes turned red as his fire eye charged his short words making them emit a deadly heatwave.
Contrary to his expectations, instead of just pushing the Thorns back, the ray burned the first row of creatures to a crisp, stopping only when the Thorns managed to combine their efforts to conjure a protective wall of darkness.
"The fuck?" Morok couldn't believe his own many eyes.
After fighting Irtu, Lith had learned that some creatures were able to absorb darkness magic and use it to heal themselves. During the battle in front of the elevator, he had noticed how the Thorns weren't affected by the darkness element, so Lith had used their ability to his own advantage.
To heal wounds that severe and grow their bodies, the Thorns needed nourishment. Sure, they were now bigger and healthier, but also exhausted, making them an easy prey. The Thorns started to feed upon each other, reducing their numbers and helping Lith's group to clear the field even faster.
A new set of Gates opened, letting an army of Koas swarm the room.
"There's no end to them. Yondra, you need to find the goddamn rune and fast!" Ellkas used his alchemical tools to mow the magical beasts down while still being able to speak and, if necessary, prepare more spells.
Yondra ran inside the room, giving a little red mana crystal to Rainer.
"You keep guard in my place. Do not activate the arrays unless all the Golems step into them. Don't hesitate to run if you think you can't handle the situation."
Yondra Blinked near the door leading to the next room, past the enemy lines. Lith followed her lead, to provide her cover while she cleared the path. He engaged the Koas physically, triggering their bloodlust so that they would only focus on him.
The Koas' hard scales made blades useless, so both he and Morok employed blunt weapons to damage their internal organs. To resist the deep-sea pressure, Koas had sturdy and compact bodies, yet their organs were packed so tight that the shockwave of each hit easily propagated through them.
Unfortunately, living or dying didn't matter to the Koas. They attacked the Rangers in waves, simply stepping over their fallen comrades. Their lightning-enhanced claws managed to pierce even the Skinwalker armor, sending shocks through Lith's body that made him almost spasm more than once.
The Koas had no qualms in using lightning bolts even against their own, using the magical beasts in front as a cover for their spells. A Koa was nothing compared to Lith, but there seemed to be no end to their numbers and his body continued to sustain wounds. To add insult to his many injuries, Lith had to prevent the Koas from getting past him. If even one of them disturbed Yondra's work, she would have been forced to start again from scratch.
Chapter 710 Strength and Weakness Part 2
Lith stood in front of Yondra, unleashing all the spells contained in his rings to buy himself a moment of respite. The living wall of Koas in front of him fell to a volley of wind blades while a sphere of darkness magic slowed the following waves of creatures, making them stumble.
On the other hand of the room, Morok wasn't faring much better. Even with the physical strength of an Emperor Beast and the power of his eyes, he was slowly getting pushed back.
To make matters worse, the fallen Thorns were regrowing their bodies by feasting on the corpses of their fallen enemies. Green tentacles imbued with darkness energy wrapped around his legs and sapped his strength.
He cut them down as fast as he could but they would release toxic spores laced with darkness magic that made it hard for him to breathe.
'What a deadly combination.' Morok thought. 'Teks are like heavy infantry, Koas are fast and armored like cavalry units, while Thorns are almost immortal. They just need to feed on fallen enemies or allies to rebuild themselves or even increase their numbers!
'We're lucky that they are completely unable to cooperate or we would be already dead.'
Just like Ranger Eari had assessed, the three combined magical beasts were a threat on par with the Flesh Golems. Unfortunately, the Odi experiments had made them mad and incapable of understanding even the simplest order.
When they had tried to use slave items on them, they had no effects. The mass-produced magical beasts would attack anything but their master, even their own kin.
"Old man, don't you have an herbicide? Something to kill them all in a fell swoop?" He asked to Ellkas while the spore density had become so high that both he and the Koas were suffocating.
"I do, but it would kill you in the process. Also, I've no guarantee that it wouldn't reach the other end of the corridor and kill Yondra as well." The Professor replied. To him, Lith and Morok were expandable, but without Yondra, he was screwed.
Among the other things, Morok was a Battle Mage, but between the nature of his opponents and of the location of the battle he had no way to put his specialization to use.
There was no earth, all the creatures were immune to lightning, darkness would strengthen the Thorns and offer him little protection, and fire might harm his allies. Lith had the same problem and no solution as well.
"I'm done! Blink inside!" Yondra yelled while opening the room.
"Are you crazy?" Morok replied. "Aren't supposed to be arrays in there as well? What stops our friends to just Warp there and follow us?"
"Excellent point!" Lith used spirit magic to grab a few Koas and throw them inside the next room before closing the door. A series of booms and sizzles told them that the place was indeed protected.
"Damn runts, you had one job." Yondra started to chant, while Lith tried all the spells he had at the ready, hoping to turn the tables. A frozen wave got rid of the spores in the air, but no creature seemed to be affected.
A barrage of jets of fire almost made the air unbreathable and hurt the nearest Thorns, but they simply used the carpet of corpses on the ground to smother the flames and rejuvenate themselves.
He would have loved to use Origin Flames, but in such a confined space they would hurt him as well. He erected a wall of wind, strengthening it with spirit magic to buy Yondra a few seconds, yet it lasted only one.
The pressure that the Koa exerted was too great. The creatures were uncaring of their death or of that of their companions. They were so many and their scales so hard that even wind blades would cut only one of them before losing their edge.
Yondra finished her chant, conjuring four walls made of ice that sealed the creatures away while a pillar of flames materialized in the middle of the room.
'Fire and ice? This doesn't make sense, unless…'
Just as Lith had predicted, the ice walls couldn't stop water creatures like the Koas for long. With their sheer strength and numbers, it took them a little more than a second to crack the half a meter (1.7 feet) thick walls.
In the following seconds, the cracks grew until they covered the entirety of Yondra's spell. Then, just as fast as they had appeared, the fissures started to close. The fire pillar was almost gone and so was the air inside the ice walls.
The mass of bodies blocked the Gates and even the little oxygen that managed to enter wasn't enough to sustain so many creatures. Once Yondra was certain that her spell would hold, she turned around and started to take the arrays in the next room down with the help of the Rangers.
"This took us way longer than I predicted." Yondra said while spreading in the air silvery strands of mana from her wand to look for dimensional runes. Lith took down the cameras, but unless the Odi were incredibly stupid or they were against an automated defense, their goal was obvious.
Without waiting for Ellkas, she started to activate all the runes she managed to find. Some, like the one Phloria had triggered, were too close to Kulah and lead to tunnels filled with poison.
When she finally found one leading to a safe area, she said:
"Tell Ellkas and Rainer to join us. We'll stay behind but they can leave."
Lith didn't like their situation at all. He had hoped to not have to explore two rooms, nor to face a whole army of creatures.
'Dammit, if I knew it would have been so difficult, I could have gotten a much better deal. What really worries me, though, is that no more Gates have been opened. Whoever our enemy is, they know our position and goal.
'We're so weakened that another wave of frenzied beasts would be enough to kill us.' Lith was using Invigoration, his paranoia told him that everything was going too smoothly to be true.
Lith left Yondra and Morok to their work. The room was so full of arrays that it would take a while to neutralize them all and walk safely through the Gate. He called for his companions, but no answer came.
He activated Life Vision, noticing that there was no energy signature. Only the black wind of death was emanated by something in the proximity of the door, where Ellkas was supposed to be.
Lith turned around to check the room and the next. Morok and Yondra were safe and the Odi's Gates had been closed. Lith opened the door, to be sure about what to tell Yondra and found Ellkas' corpse.
It had two holes the size of a golf ball, one in the middle of his eyes, and the other in his chest. Whatever had killed him had also struck at the metal walls with such strength that it had left molten indentations as big as Lith's head.
There was no trace of Rainer. The red mana crystal that Yondra had given him to activate the arrays was lying on the floor, still ready to be used. Whoever was responsible for it, they had been as quick as silent, otherwise Lith or Morok would have sensed it coming.
AN: If you're not reading this on https://www.ReadReadReadReadReadNovelFull.com/book/12820870105509205/Supreme-Magus you're reading pirated material. Please support the official release.
Chapter 711 Green Array Part 1
Lith rushed back to the Warp room while keeping Life Vision active.
'It must have happened after Yondra disposed of the magical beasts. That's why no more dimensional corridors have been opened, our enemy must have captured Rainer while we were busy!
'They didn't want us meddling to be sure that they would manage to take him alive, dammit. This means that I have no time to waste. If Phloria and Quylla have been captured as well, the Odi can start the body-swapping procedure at any time!' Lith was right and wrong at the same time.
It hadn't been a plan, like his paranoia suggested to him. The Odi had simply exploited the opening that had been created the moment the group had split. Also, they would never start their experiments before being sure that nothing could mess with the first opportunity they had in centuries to walk Mogar again.
"Enemy incoming in front of you!" Lith said when he saw dimensional energies gathering in front of his comrades.
Yondra thought Lith meant "from behind" and tried to turn around, but Morok knew better and kept her still while summoning the tier five Battle Mage spell, God of Water.
A full armor made of ice covered his body while all the moisture in the air condensed throughout the room in spheres of water that would allow Morok to replicate the effects of all tier three and four water magic spells he knew without the need to cast them.
It was the spell that coupled with his blue eye had allowed him to take single-handedly down a single Flesh Golem with relative ease.
A Warp Array opened, letting Jiira join his guests. He clapped his hands, mostly to compliment himself, for a job well done.
< "Too bad that old coots never survive being turned into Flesh Golems. With a brain like yours, you'd make an excellent slave."> He said as a green array formed all around him, enveloping the whole room.
Jiira had watched the fight through both cameras and small dimensional gates. He had always been a huge fan of gladiator pits, and the last show he had witnessed had taken place centuries ago.
< "As for you, filthy beast, no matter what form you take. You can't hide from us.">
Morok had no interest in listening to Jiira's ramblings and attacked the Odi the moment he appeared. He didn't care about the green array nor the warning Lith had received from the dying Golems.
'This is going to be easy. The fucker can't even use dimensional magic. So far they have always opened Warping Arrays, not Warp Steps.' Morok thought as he commanded half the water spheres to freeze his enemy while the other half turned into icicles that darted toward Jiira.
The Odi just laughed at Morok's efforts and the green array flashed for an instant. All of Morok's attacks stopped a few centimeters away from Jiira, as an invisible force had prevented even the energy from moving further.
"What the fuck?��� Morok and Yondra said in unison. The Ranger was flabbergasted. Suddenly he couldn't feel the God of Water spell anymore, yet its effects were still visible in front of his eyes.
< "Nice suit of armor. I wish we were capable of such spells."> Jiira was engrossed by the dramatic changes that Silverwing's legacy had triggered in the development of new forms of magic.
< "Yet to be really safe, you should wear it tighter, like this!"> Jiira clenched his fist, and the ice armor turned into a torturing device which trapped its wearer and stabbed him with countless small ice shards.
A flick of the Odi's wrist made all the conjured icicles fly across the room, to get rid of the beast and the old woman in one fell swoop.
'Now I understand why the Golems warned me about the green array and why Rainer failed to defend himself despite the arrays Yondra had left him.' Lith thought while studying the events unfolding in front of his eyes with Life Vision.
The moment the green array had flashed, Morok's energy signature had been replaced by Jiira's, allowing him to take control of the tier five spell.
Yondra had no mystical senses, but years of battle experience let her understand that conjuring a spell before having a clear idea of the opponent's abilities might do them more harm than good.
She used her defensive amulet, which created an energy barrier that stopped the icicles and crushed them to bits.
'First weak points of all arrays, they can't be moved.' Lith thought while using spirit magic to drag both of his companions outside the room without stepping inside the Odi's magical formation.
< "What is that?"> Spirit magic was supposed to be invisible, yet Lith's tendrils of mana were clear as the day the moment they crossed the green array's threshold.
One of the many reasons the Odi had lost the war was the Emperor Beasts' revenge against them. They didn't need Silverwing's legacy to create tier four or five spells and just a few Awakened of them could turn the tides of every battle.
The green array, also called God's will, was the solution they had found after countless experiments and sacrifices. To perfect it, many Odi had died and because of its limitations, it couldn't be used outside Kulah.
Jiira was too surprised to react in time, so Lith managed to save his companions and dispel the tendril he meant to use to snap the Odi's neck before it could be used against him.
"We have to run, now!" Lith said, unwilling to fight a losing battle,
'Solus, how the heck can he conjure an array that fast? I thought that only Golems could do that due to their power core.' Lith asked.
He was confident about killing the Odi with his physical abilities alone, but he had no idea if the array had more than one ability or what to do if a Flesh Golem joined the fray.
'There is a small bead hidden inside his ribcage.' Solus replied. 'That's the source of the array, yet it doesn't explain where the Odi takes the mana to fuel it. That thing combines the worst of a Golem's power core and Silverwing's Hexagram.
'Even an Awakened one using Invigoration would have a hard time keeping it active. It seems that Quylla's hypothesis about the Mana Reactor was correct.'
"Where's Rainer?" Yondra asked.
"Taken. Ellkas is dead." Lith said while Morok broke free from his armor with pure brute force. He was bleeding from many cuts, some even deep, yet they couldn't afford to slow down.
Yondra gritted her teeth. All of her plans, all of her hard work to protect her beloved assistant had actually doomed the youth to a fate worse than death.
"There's no point in running away." Yondra abruptly stopped. "If we can't defeat a single Odi, then we'll never manage to save anyone."
"We can, but only if we take down the Mana Reactor first!" Lith stopped as well, but only because Jiira was once again in front of them.
He had placed the Golems in strategic positions, allowing him to freely Warp from one point to another, sealing off the only escape route they had.
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Chapter 712 Green Array Part 2
"Don't worry. This is exactly the kind of situation for which I devised my Dampener." Yondra took the small tuning fork from her pocket, imbuing it with her mana.
"Come on, you bastard. I dare you to try and rob us of our spells again."
Lith would have considered it an excellent plan, if not for the fact that the enemy was likely to have endless mana.
'She's right, though. If all Odi have one of those things, I must find a way to neutralize it if I want to have a chance to save Phloria and Quylla. We still have the advantage of numbers and Yondra's artifacts. It's worth a try.' Lith thought while unleashing a Final Sunset.
Jiira activated the God's Will array again, hijacking Lith's spell as if it was just a chore magic trick and stopping the ray of black flames in its tracks. Lith fought with all of his willpower, trying to keep his energy signature and the control over the spell.
Yet just like he had feared, it wasn't a matter of will as much of mana. Jira was simply flooding Lith's spell with his own energy. Final Sunset required a lot of mana, so there was a limit to the amount of energy Lith could employ before becoming too weak to keep fighting.
Yondra's Dampener absorbed a speck of Jiira's mana and analyzed its energy signature, allowing her to disrupt his control over Lith's spell.
Final Sunset resumed its advance, yet Jiira seemed to be more amused rather than scared. No matter how much of his mana the Dampener scattered away, the Odi just had to inject more.
< "Finally a true challenge that can put to the test the fruits of our endeavor! I praise your efforts. You're not bad for a bunch of hairless monkeys."> Jiira said, yet no one understood his words.
"It's not working, we have to go before it's too late!" Lith replenished his reserves with Invigoration, but he knew that Yondra couldn't keep up.
"Fuck, no. He's almost done. Ekidu!" Morok reverted to his Tyrant form using the black eye on his chest to produce a black pillar of energy that his weapons captured and amplified.
He didn't care for his secrete so much as for his survival. Morok darted forward, getting past Yondra and into the array. His Emperor Beast's body was boosted by fusion magic, allowing him to move as fast as a shooting arrow.
He had learned his lesson. No more spells, only physical attacks. Meanwhile, Yondra was sweating bullets. Even though Lith had given her a bit of energy, she didn't have much mana from the start.
Disabling the arrays, unlocking the doors, and using the tier five Magic Knight spell Empty Prison had only made things worse. She needed sheer willpower just to keep standing, so when Yondra saw Morok's real body she didn't even flinch.
One small mistake and Lith's spell would kill them both.
The Tyrant's red eye showered Jiira with flames, but countless ice crystals intercepted and smothered them into nothingness. Thanks to the Mana Reactor, Jiira could empower fist magic to the point of making its effects as powerful as tier three magic.
In such a state, he was even superior to an Awakened. First magic required barely a thought and willpower to be shaped, it had no casting time. The cold wave slowed Morok enough that Jiira had the time to lift his right forefinger before the Tyrant could hit him.
It emitted such a condensed stream of fire that it was almost solid. Morok managed to raise his blades at the last second, deflecting the energy beam aimed at his head. The impact was so strong that it pushed the Ranger back and bent his blades.
Even though they were made of Orichalcum, without the darkness energy coursing through them they would have been pierced along with their master. Morok cursed, sheathing and unsheathing his weapons to repair the damage they had sustained.
Jiira smiled, amazed by the many marvels that were waiting for the Odi race on Mogar's surface. Everything seemed to be ripe for the taking. His forefinger flicked three times, emitting as many fiery beams.
The first two were deflected by the Tyrant's blades, but the third found the way to his heart, opening a sizzling hole the size of a golf ball. Morok sprawled on the floor in a pool of his own blood. His body twitched for a bit before becoming still.
Yondra had barely the time to register what had just happened, putting all the mana she had left in her Dampener. Lith's Final Sunset was their only hope and it was now just a few centimeters from the Odi's face.
Jiira gave them one of the cruelest smiles Lith had ever seen, something that usually appeared on his own face when he outsmarted an enemy.
A simple wave of the Odi's hand made the tier five spell turn 180 degrees, making it now aim against the two humans.
< "There's nothing better than leaving maggots like you a shred of hope. You fight so hard when you believe that you actually have a chance. Then, when I take away that hope, when your expression turns into despair, that's the moment that makes me happy to be alive."> Once again, Jiira wasn't talking to them, just to himself.
Yet Yondra didn't need to understand the Odi language to realize what was going on. The tables had been turned too suddenly to be just because of her getting weaker. The enemy had played them all along, like a cat with a mouse.
The energy beam almost reached her face before stopping again, in a last act of idle cruelty.
< "Any last words, maggot?"> Yet he didn't wait for a reply, resuming the attack the moment he was done with his mockery.
Realizing what was about to happen, Yondra used the last spark of mana she had left to slow the hijacked spell long enough to change its trajectory and give Lith the time he needed to retreat.
Unfortunately, Lith's Final Sunset boosted by Jiira's mana was fast and powerful enough to strike them down almost at the same time. The spell opened a hole in her chest, cauterizing it while piercing through Yondra, before striking down Lith and engulfing him in black flames.
Jiira laughed while waiting for Lith's body to stop moving, and closed in on Yondra. Her Dampener had shattered when Final Sunset had struck it, but her Royal Forgemaster wand was still intact.
Jiira had no notion of dimensional items so he searched both her and Morok, taking away everything he could find before Warping away. The moment he disappeared, Lith dispelled the black flames, thanking his cunning and the Odi's ignorance about tier five spells.
Once Lith had understood Jiira's intentions, he had recalled his Final Sunset, using it to protect himself from the enemy's attack. Jiira had no idea that what he had captured with the God's Will array was just a portion of the spell, nor that the part outside the array was still under Lith's control.
Between the mana boosted Skinwalker armor and his own black flames, Jiira had only managed to inflict upon him small burns. First Lith went to Yondra's side, using Invigoration to check on her condition and lessen her pain.
AN: If you're not reading this on https://www.ReadReadReadReadReadNovelFull.com/book/12820870105509205/Supreme-Magus you're reading pirated material. Please support the official release.
Chapter 713 Despair Part 1
"Thank the gods you're still alive." Yondra said between gasps and stuttering. The wound being cauterized had prevented her from bleeding out, but she still experienced all the pain such a wound implied.
Yet it wasn't the tennis ball sized hole in her chest that struck Lith like a fist in the stomach, but her collapsing mana core. He refused to surrender, using Invigoration to replenish both her stamina and mana, but to no avail.
Her blue mana core kept leaking everything he gave her and was already turning cyan.
"I'm sorry. We should've run away like you wanted." Tears of pain and regret streamed down her cheeks while all he could do was ease the pain of her last moments.
"No, there were Flesh Golems waiting for us. The moment we Blinked they would have trapped us with their arrays. We could only fight." Lith replied.
Yondra raised her hand in an attempt to reach his cheek. Lith bent down to make things easier for her while supporting her hand with his.
"Please, tell my children that I didn't abandon them and that my last thoughts, even this last caress was for them. Tell them that I'm sorry I could never be the mother they deserved. I wasted my life, always giving priority to the wrong things.
"In the end, I let everyone down. My family, Rainer, even you. If only I could have one more…"
Year? Chance? Breath? Lith would never know what Yondra Mefaal was about to say, nor did he care. All he cared about was that she had died in his arms, crying, after everything she had precious had been taken from her.
Not even death could make despair disappear from her eyes or face. Lith stored her corpse inside his pocket dimension before going to Morok's side.
"Are you done playing possum?" Lith asked.
He knew that such an amount of blood was not enough to kill an Emperor Beast and when he had looked at both his fallen comrades with Life Vision, the Tyrant's vigor wasn't what Lith would expect from a dying man.
"Yes, and thank you for nothing, jackass. While you were playing the hero, I was working my ass to bleed enough to fool that moron without dying. I guess he mustn't know that Tyrants have two hearts. Losing one is painful, but not lethal.
"By the way, I need food or I'll die for real. To heal these wounds, I need energy and that fucker has stolen everything I had but my weapons." He showed Lith the two holes in the metal blades. Jiira had left them thinking that they had been damaged beyond repair.
Yet Morok only had to sheath and unsheathe them again to return them to mint condition.
'Normally, I would point out to Lith that the trick behind Morok's apparently indestructible blades lies in their scabbards. As he told us back in the camp, they are part of his enchanted weapons, so both the mana crystals and its pseudo core are actually there.
'The blades are just an extension that can be regenerated as long as the sheaths remain intact. Yet I don't think that Lith cares about that right now. Yondra's death shook him quite badly.' Solus thought.
Lith gave the Tyrant lots of foods while his mind couldn't stop replaying Carl's death, Nana's death, and his own. The look in Yondra's eyes was the same Lith had when he had looked at Carl's corpse through the obituary glass for its identification.
The memory of his own reflection still haunted him to this day.
"Our deal his off." Were the first words Lith said once he snapped out of his own memories. "Without the wand, there's no way out unless we rescue Phloria. She won't leave without Quylla and neither would I.
"You have two choices: you can stay here alone and either die of starvation or by the Odi's hand or you can help me."
"That's not much of a choice." Morok said while finishing his meal. "I'll help you, but since we don't have much time, you should fill me up with energy. All this fighting has left me drained."
Lith Invigorated both Morok and himself, wondering how many uses of his breathing technique he had left.
"What's the plan?" The Tyrant asked.
"First, we go check the prison ward. If my friends are still there, we rescue them and Warp ourselves here. If not, we have to find and destroy the Mana Reactor. Without it, the Odi don't stand a chance against true mages that can use spells above tier three."
Morok nodded and used a bit of his new mana to repair his armor. Before leaving, they searched Professor Ellkas's body, discovering that Jiira had already taken away everything but his clothes.
They followed the trail of broken cameras to the prison, but Lith didn't need to enter to know that they were too late. There was no energy signature inside, not even the jailer Golem that Rainer had told them about.
"It seems that shit has hit the fan. They have everything they want. I'm really sorry about your friends." Morok said. His voice was honest and his pain sincere. Without a Royal Forgemaster they were as screwed as the Assistants.
"It's not over yet." Lith replied. "I know the way to the lower floor and we both can see the Mana Reactor. Follow me."
They ran along the corridors, following Ellkas' instructions that Lith had copied inside Soluspedia.
"My plan is as follows: If on our way we don't find the place where the spare bodies are held, we destroy the Mana Reactor, slaughter all the Odi, and then wait until the noxious gas fades.
"If we find the lab and my friends are still alive, we will be forced to split. You take care of the Reactor and I'll save them. They think that you are dead and if we keep things that way, they will not realize our plan until it's too late."
"Is that the reason why you're not destroying the surveillance devices anymore?" Morok asked.
"Yes. They will be too busy bickering and preparing the body-swapping procedure to look at the surveillance mirror. If I were to destroy more devices, I could trigger some alarm and alert them. This way we'll know that our cover has been blown the moment a Golem Warps in front of us."
"Wouldn't it be bad?"
"Quite the contrary. I could Blink through its Gate and reach my destination. With all eyes on me, you'd be free to continue with our plan."
"Are you kidding me? How am I supposed to open doors and stuff by myself? I'm no Forgemaster, so it would be better to switch our roles. I'll go help your friends and you take down the reactor." Morok said.
"Yeah, right. How long do you think you can last against someone with infinite mana?" Lith replied. "By the way, what are your specializations?"
"Battle Mage and War Mage. I was forced to attend the freaking Fire Griffon to learn the upper tiers of spells because my father couldn't be bothered with me."
"Gods, you're really useless. Focus more on creation and less on destruction, if you want someone to Awaken you. Right now, you're just a rude, walking disaster." Lith knew only a few spells of Morok's specializations, but all of them could be easily turned against their own caster by the green array.
'If push comes to shove, we could split.' Solus proposed. 'I could go with Morok and help him open the doors and shut down the arrays.'
Chapter 714 Despair Part 2
'No way.' Lith refused Solus's offer right off the bat. 'To stand a chance, I need to be at 200%, which means that I need both your smarts and help. Don't get me started with the consequences that revealing your existence might cause.'
While they were running along the corridors, Lith and Solus reviewed their fight with Jiira, noticing several things out of place.
'Why did they send only one Odi to take us down and how was he linked to the Mana Reactor?' Lith pondered.
'I doubt they can have made many spheres capable of creating the green array and even if they did, giving someone infinite mana and conjuring such a powerful array is something even my tower form can't achieve.
'It probably takes the full output of the Mana Reactor and geyser to just fuel one person. As for the link, beats me. If I had to take an educated guess, I'd say they have Forgemastered their bodies.
'After all, the reason why the Body Forgemastering procedure on the specimens failed was that they didn't have enough mana to fuel the enchantments, but if part of the Forgemastering process gives them access to infinite mana…'
'The problem is solved.' Lith completed the sentence for her. 'That also means that all those linked to the Mana Reactor can't leave Kulah without getting a new body first since their survival depends on a constant supply of mana.'
The further down they went, the clearer Lith could see the Mana Reactor. It was a giant structure, at least 30 meters (100 feet) high, placed right in the middle of the natural mana geyser.
Somehow, the Reactor siphoned most of the Geyser, which explained why despite they were right in the middle of one of Mogar's most powerful natural phenomenons, all of their mystical senses worked, whereas in the crystal mine Lith and Solus had been blinded.
'I guess this also explains where he Odi found so many crystals. This place had to be a mine in the past.' Lith thought, while observing the constant stream of world energy being sucked and spun inside the reactor.
Lith couldn't see how it was shaped, only how the energy moved inside the device. The world energy was then divided into all of its components before being reassembled in the form of pure mana.
The process was intriguing, but Lith was more concerned looking for Quylla's and Phloria's energy signatures. He was afraid of arriving too late, to see their expression fixed by death in a state of pure despair like it had happened to Yondra.
Even worse, he was afraid to arrive just in time to see their bodies perfectly fine, but occupied by someone else. Lith wouldn't hesitate to kill someone who was just borrowing Phloria's appearance, but it would still be the proof that he was as helpless now as he had been on Earth.
'Calm down, the body-swapping procedure is bound to be difficult. No one can remove the Skinwalker armors except for their wearer, so they'll probably leave Phloria and Quylla for last.'
'That, or they'll shatter my prototypes with their ridiculous array. Damn me and my avarice. Why didn't I prepare something better for them?' Lith thought.
When they reached the fifth underground floor, the two Rangers perceived an odd vibration running through the metal structure surrounding them. Lith also heard muffled screams, but both Solus and Morok confirmed to him that the corridor was actually silent.
Lith had been feeling strange since he had discovered to be able to understand the words of the Odi's victims, but now that sensation was getting stronger with each step he took.
Something was stirring inside of him, almost triggering his memory about it, but every time he was about to recognize it, the feeling stopped. It was like listening to a familiar jingle, but only to its first notes, making it much harder to remember the name of the song.
On the sixth underground floor, Lith almost felt dizzy. The noise ringing in his head was becoming unbearable and not even Hushing his ears worked. The silver lining was that they had reached the Mana Reactor's level.
Both Rangers could clearly see it in the distance and were near to their destination. Lith's stomach was churning because they had yet to find any trace of his friends. For security reasons, the stairs leading to the upper and lower levels were located at the opposites ends of each floor.
He had hoped that he would find Phloria by looking through the walls, ceiling, and ground on his way down, but reality had proven him wrong. Lith was about to ask Solus for an analysis of their situation when he noticed that all the shadows that the lights projected were now filled with angry mouths and eyes.
They would appear and disappear every time he blinked. Once again, Lith was the only one who seemed to be able to perceive the strange phenomenon. To make matters worse, now the ground was trembling so much that the Rangers thought that an earthquake was about to happen.
'Don't worry about them Lith. If something bad had happened to Phloria and Quylla, we would feel it.' She said, trying to calm him down.
'That's bullshit and you know it. When my brother had the car accident, the only thing I felt was the urge to get a cab and go to work. Where the fuck are they?'
'My guess is somewhere near the Reactor. According to Kalla, the Odi laid the foundations for Lichhood, so we can assume that the Reactor works akin to a phylactery.' Solus said.
'They didn't use it to win the war because the further they get from it, the weaker they become. Ripping someone's life force away and replacing it entirely is a mammoth task, on par with splitting and removing a mana core like a Lich does.
'I think that the lab where they Forgemaster the Flesh Golems, use the Life Merging process, and perform the body-swapping are all near the Reactor, so to maximize their odds of success.
'Based on what happened to Kalla and what we know about Forgemastering, they only have one shot for each body. There are no do-overs.'
Lith thanked her, focusing on Life Vision even more while scouting his surroundings. He much preferred a hard truth to wishful thinking.
The Reactor was a beacon, the Rangers didn't need to read the signs to know where to go. Much to Lith's dismay, the door leading to their destination was blocked by two Flesh Golems.
Clearly the Odi were at least as paranoid as he was and they weren't willing to take any risk of their improvised plan to resurrect their civilization to be ruined just because they had miscounted the hairless monkeys.
"Fuck, we have to fight them one on one. I'm not much worried at the idea of facing a Golem again as much of wasting our time and blowing our cover." Morok said while scouting the area from around a corner.
"Don't worry, we'll kill them so fast that when mister see-through arrives we'll already be next to the Mana Reactor. At that point, we'll have the upper hand. That kind of device is delicate, fighting in its proximity means destroying it." Lith replied.
"What makes you so sure of our success?"
"We're both highly motivated." Lith shapeshifted into his hybrid form "Phloria is in a room nearby the Reactor, so neither of us has any reason to hold back. It's do or die, and I've got no intention of dying."
Chapter 715 Mana Reactor Part 1
The late Professor Neshal was right. For a single Warden keeping two arrays at the ready was impossible and so was for two different Wardens to activate both their arrays at the same time.
Unless, of course, they shared a mind link that allowed them to synchronize their very thoughts and perceptions.
'As soon as we are done casting, I want you to use Invigoration and recover your strength. An array is too much of a burden for your green core. I want you at your 100% to face that Odi's anatomy model.' Lith thought.
'But the strain on your body…' Solus objected.
'I don't give a damn about having a perfect body just to die like a lab rat at the hands of those madmen!' Lith cut her short. 'Don't worry about me, worry about yourself. If something happens to you, I'll never forgive myself for dragging you to Kulah.'
"Jump on my back and strike at their power core on my mark."
"I can't see their power core, you dimwit." Morok replied.
"My Soul will light your way."
Morok was about to sneer at the happy-go-lucky bullshit Lith had just spewed when the hybrid unfolded his wings, using a flight spell, air magic, and air fusion to fly as fast as a bullet.
When the Flesh Golems noticed them, Lith activated his Earth Blocking array while Solus used her Air Blocking and used light magic to draw an X where the construct's power core was located.
A second later Morok's hammers had smashed their target while Lith's Orichalcum glove had pierced his own. Lith used Invigoration on the door in front of them to release its lock while keeping an ear at the creatures' last breaths.
< "Grid. 325627. 32562…"> The female construct said while searching for Lith's eyes with hers.
< "893465. 893465. 8934…"> The male Golem repeated his message as fast as he could, but to Morok it was gibberish, so he ignored him.
Lith didn't miss that the door in front of them just had a card reader, making such numbers pointless. Two small wisps of light came out of their remains, but instead of shooting towards the ceiling like it had happened before, Lith saw them getting sucked through the door and into the Reactor.
"What the heck was that?" Morok asked, but Lith could only shrug in reply, reverting to his human form. The door clicked, revealing an enormous cave, at least thirty meters (100 feet) high and 50 meters (166 feet) wide.
In the middle of the cave, there was a pillar made of metal and mana crystals that pierced the only part of the ground not covered by the metal plates, digging deep into Mogar's crust.
Even though the pillar was so tall that it reached the ceiling and was larger than any tower both Rangers had ever seen, they could barely distinguish its features. In front of them, there was a green grid made of energy that blocked their path just after a couple of meters from the door.
"So much for our blitz." Morok whined. "Hod did you miss something this huge?"
Lith had no idea how to reply since both he and Solus could see only with their conventional sight. The energy net was invisible to their mystical senses.
The Tyrant had enough surprises for a lifetime, so instead of trying to Blink, he tried and failed to open a Warp Steps on the other side of the grid. Somehow the two points in space couldn't be connected.
"I could say the same about your eyes." Lith said, noticing that the Odi had crushed the holographic pad on the outside, leaving intact only the one inside the barrier.
"Grid. 325627." Lith repeated, sending a tendril of mana through the barrier. He could still reach the other terminal with spirit magic. Or so he thought until a fizzle and a shower of sparks crushed his hopes.
"This is not magic." Lith said understanding the nature of the obstacle in front of them. "Nor is it a spell, a construct, or an array. This is pure mana, without an energy signature that I can recognize."
They couldn't afford to waste time, but Lith was actually thinking out loud to better study their situation and giving his partners the means to help him. He noticed that just like normal barriers, the grid didn't completely seal the cave from the external world.
Light and air could still pass through, so all he had to do was follow the Odi's lead when they had forced the Assistants to leave the camp.
"This is going to hurt." Lith said while generating a strong light from a high point behind him, making his shadow grow long enough to reach the holo pad. Then, he infused his mana into his own projection, to give it life as he had already done in the past.
"That's amazing! How do you call this spell?" Morok had never seen such a trick, not even from his father.
"It has no name." Lith was too focused and embarrassed to tell him that his personal variant of spirit magic had a cringy name like "Demons of Darkness." Lith had used that name during his mission in Zantia for his play with Friya.
The thing on the other side was half shadow and half made of Lith's mana, so he knew that it was only a matter of time before the barrier recognized it as a threat or at least an anomaly.
"3-2-5…" The shadow needed to be solid to interact with the pad. At the three Lith felt his skin crawling. At the two, the green energy of the barrier started to seep into the dark streak connecting Lith to his double, forcing him to double his focus to counter that invasion. At the five, it was as if he was touching a live wire.
"6-" The green energy was now invading his body, charring Lith's feet while it worked its way up
"2-" Lith was forced to use darkness fusion to cut off his pain receptors and a massive amount of mana to stop the grid from reaching his mana core.
"7!" The green dot on the pad was replaced by a red one as the grid disappeared.
Morok Blinked right behind the Reactor, bringing Lith with him and preparing for the arrival of the enemy. Lith was doing his best, helped by Solus, to cleanse his body by the still lingering green energy.
His mana core was shaken from both the assault and the strain it had sustained, to the point that Lith didn't feel safe using Invigoration. If his mana core mistook the pure mana for world energy, there was no telling what damage it could inflict upon him.
Only when his body was once again filled with mana carrying his own energy signature did Lith use his breathing technique to heal his wounds. Solus didn't have the heart to tell him that he was almost charred from the waist down, but the hunger that overwhelmed Lith once he was able to stand on his own again wasn't so kind.
Lith had started gulping down the second of Solus's disgusting nutrients tonics when two more Flesh Golems appeared. Life Vision allowed him to see that Jiira wasn't with them.
Also, they had Warped right next to their fallen comrades, which likely meant that the grid was off-limits to them as well.
Chapter 716 Mana Reactor Part 2
Lith shared his discoveries with Morok while closely following the Golems' movements.
"I guess our cover is blown." The Tyrant sighed.
"No, only mine." Lith shook his head. "I collected the corpses of both Professors not only to return them to their families once we get out of here, but also because if one of them goes checking the place where we fought the Odi, they will think I destroyed the bodies of my fallen comrades.
"Remember that mine is the only death that hasn't been confirmed, whereas the hole in your chest was pretty convincing. Also, our cover was blown the moment we took down those constructs."
"Okay, two questions, then. First, how do we dispose of them? Second, the Reactor is really big. Any idea of how to destroy it?" Morok asked.
Lith looked around the room before answering. There were three doors leading outside. The one they had arrived from, the one leading where Phloria and the others were, and a third one he had no idea what purpose could it have.
Lith couldn't see any energy coming from behind it, so it was useless to him. He had no time to explore the compound.
"I have a plan for the Golems. As for the Reactor, we still have one code from the Golems we have just defeated. Let's search for a holographic pad with numbers. Maybe it's the shut down code." Lith said.
"I take back what I've said earlier about your eyes. Speaking with corpses is damn useful. By the way, how do I distinguish Odi letters from numbers?" Morok had never bothered learning how to recognize them because he had all the Professors' notes stored in his dimensional amulet, but now it was lost.
Lith groaned, making a copy for him of both the code and a comparative table between the Odi's numbers and their own. Meanwhile, the Flesh Golems outside the room had completed their report and moved toward the door.
Lith stepped out of his hiding spot, checking for the presence of surveillance devices while spreading tendrils of spirit magic in every direction. As he expected, the room had no cameras, likely to avoid the security codes from being spied and because the mana grid was already a formidable defense.
Contrary to his expectations, one Golem entered from the door while the other one Warped in front of the room where Lith's friends were, making him curse. His trick was likely to work only once and it needed the constructs to attack at the same time.
'Do you want me to cast the elemental blocking array?' Solus asked.
'No, I can't afford wasting more mana in arrays, and neither can you. Invigoration has only a limited number of uses and we have yet to face mister anatomy model.' Lith thought.
Luckily, the second Golem had just gone checking that no one had entered the lab before moving to the Reactor room. The lab's door lead directly inside the grid, allowing it to operate the commands and let its partner in.
Both constructs were surprised seeing the intruder and the energy field deactivated, but being more machines than persons, their feelings caused no delay in their response to the threat.
One ran toward Lith while the other activated its Warping array to cover the distance separating them. Lith moved all the tendrils he had prepared at once, touching the holographic pad and restoring the grid.
The Warping array instantly collapsed, cutting the first Golem in half while the remaining tendrils of mana wrapped around the second construct that was already inside the energy cage and sent it slamming against the barrier.
The results were impressive. The moment the Golem touched the green grid, its body was pulverized as if it was sand passing through a sieve. Lith's only gripe with his strategy was that by instantly killing them, he had missed the opportunity to obtain more information.
"Quick, we don't have much time." Lith said while looking around for another pad. He left the grid active to prevent anyone from Warping while he was distracted. If even the Golem had been forced to use the door, the Odi were bound to do the same.
Especially since they seemed to be incapable of using dimensional magic.
"I really hope those were the last constructs." Morok's mystical senses were useless while in front of the Mana Reactor. Its raw power blinded him, so he could only use his natural sight.
Lith and Solus had the same problem, making them wish they had a Royal Forgemaster wand with them. Even by using Invigoration on the Reactor, it would take them quite a while to search it thoroughly.
"There's no pad, here. Just metal and crystals!" Morok said.
"Go check the other door inside the grid. If they protected it from dimensional magic, there must be a reason." Lith had yet to finish examining the Reactor with Invigoration and couldn't afford to waste one single second.
There was something wrong with the Odi's device, something that made it painful for him to use his breathing technique like usual. It had never happened before, yet Lith was too focused to care about the cold shiver running down his spine.
The only thing he could think of was cracking the mystery in front of him.
The Mana Reactor was just like Solus, it had both a mana flow and a life force, yet the two living artifacts couldn't have been more different.
While Solus was a person with her energy signature, her stone body, and the red wind of life coming out of it, the Reactor was a maelstrom of energy signatures, a bodyless mass of pure energy which emitted constant screams of agony.
Now that he was so close, he could see the red of life and the black of death endlessly turning into one another. Lith could swear that the Reactor was trying to pull him inside, just like it had done with the Golems' wisps.
Only his body prevented his energy from being stolen. Lith felt dizzy and nauseous. The longer he remained in contact with the Reactor the more he could feel the lives spinning inside its bowels.
"More stairs. They seem to lead to the upper floors again. Weird. Any news?" Morok asked upon his return.
"None. Use your best spells and find a way to shut this thing down. I'm going in." Lith didn't wait for a reply and ran towards the lab, his mind filled with doubts.
'Was the Golem trying to deceive me or did I fail to understand its message? After all, while the woman mentioned the grid, the man just repeated a sequence of numbers. Could it be another code for the grid's pad?' Lith thought.
'Unlikely. My best guess is that if you input the wrong number, you sound the alarm, cause the grid to fill the whole room killing any intruder, or both.' Solus thought while studying the defensive device pattern.
She was almost certain that the grid could be moved. The next room was nothing like Lith had imagined it. The wall on his left was filled with what resembled monitors to him, from which he could observe the whole facility of Kulah, both above and below levels.
The camp was still filled with the toxic gas, so using the elevator to escape was out of the question. The rest of the monitors didn't show anything interesting, just empty corridors and rooms.
Chapter 717 Immortal Body Part 1
There was a keyboard below the monitors that allowed its user to switch between the different cameras, but Lith had no idea how to operate it. There was no mouse and his coding skills were nihil for Earth's operating systems, let alone for alien technology.
On the right side of the room there was an empty cylindrical water tank, similar to the one that contained the pseudo-Balor in the Body Enhancement department, but much more complex and refined.
Several cables of different colors went from the nearby wall to and inside the tank. Every single centimeter of it was covered in runes of power that Lith had never seen before, making it both a powerful artifact and the focus of at least twenty different arrays.
Lith noticed that there was a single set of footprints going from the tank to the monitors and moving around the room. Lith followed them with his eyes, noticing that for some reason, the man from the tank had stopped in front of a wall.
Lith used Invigoration, discovering a hidden compartment that had been cloaked against detecting spells, Life Vision included. Triggering it was easy. One of the metal bolts was actually a switch that once pressed made two stone slabs slide, revealing a holographic pad protecting a safe.
"893465." After checking with Invigoration for traps, Lith entered the password. The pad disappeared while the safe opened. Inside there were three books, each one several centimeters thick.
Lith put them inside Soluspedia to examine them. He couldn't read the Odi language, but judging by the pictures, they were the schematics for all Kulah's successful projects.
'Fuck me sideways! The Flesh Golems folder doesn't help me one bit and neither does the Body Swapping book. The pictures are self-explanatory and I can't find any weak point just by looking at them. The Mana Reactor, however, is a different story.
'The part on this floor it's seamless. I doubt Morok could damage it unless he manages to make the mana crystals detonate. The schematics show that its structure reaches the upper floor, where there is a metal gate from which specimens can be thrown inside the Reactor for a reason I don't understand.
'I must inform Morok of this before…' Lith thought when he discovered that his "before" was already expired.
Jiira, the one that Lith referred to as 'mister anatomy model' due to his translucent skin that allowed to see his muscles and organs as if he was some kind of plastic toy, had just walked inside the same room where Phloria was.
Normally Lith would weave his best spells, preparing for the fight, but the enemy's green array made most of them useless, so he preferred to save all of his energies for those abilities that couldn't be turned against him.
'Okay, filthy bastard, just pick one of them who's not Quylla or Phloria, so I'll have all the time I need to inform Morok.' Lith thought.
Unfortunately, after examining all of their prisoners, the Odi had moved Phloria on the bottom of the body rankings and had decided to experiment on her to check if their body-swapping procedure was still effective on humans.
Despite her powerful mana core, with her height and build she was the least charming female specimen according to their standards. Even when they had mistaken her for a man, she ranked pretty low.
With her light bronze skin, fit body, and callous hands she was the embodiment of everything a noble Odi despised. Hard work under the sun was something that only slaves did, not to mention that her height was too far from what they considered perfection.
Jiira closed in on her and released Phloria from the red chains restraining her. Then he used an air spell to move her on what looked like a table. Lith wished with all of his strength for the Odi to go away again, so that he could speak with Morok while Solus freed his friend.
Once again, wishes proved to be a waste of time. Thanks to Life Vision, Lith could see through the walls that part of the energy from the Mana Reactor was flowing inside crystal cables linked to whatever Phloria was lying on.
Lith clenched his fist so hard that his knuckles turned white, yet before taking action he had to wait the moment when the Odi's full focus was on his best friend.
'Wait a minute.' Solus thought. 'If he takes Phloria's body, what need does he have for the other members of the expedition?'
'I'll ask him after I rip his head off.' Lith replied, darting inside the room the moment mana started to flow through Jiira's body.
Lith was in his peak condition, so he infused his body with all the elements and went all out right from the start. He entered the body-swapping room moving so fast to be barely a blur.
Inside, instead of the usual metal, the room was entirely made of stone carved out with earth magic, to allow the world energy to saturate its air. All the remaining members of the expedition were lined up along the wall in order of importance on Lith's right.
Each one of them was restrained by red chains that kept them healthy while preventing them from using magic.
In the middle of the room, there was a stone table where Phloria was. She was conscious but deadly pale. The red chains had healed her wounds, but without being properly fed she was so weak that she didn't have the strength to fight.
Above and below the table, there were bundles of cables that ended into two purple mana crystals, pointing respectively at Phloria's forehead and nape. Jiira had already activated the God's Will array to maximize the procedure's chance of success, so he managed to react fast enough to spread his fingers and release five energy beams.
Lith had already seen that trick and was expecting it. He bent down, passing right under the beams before stepping inside the array against his better judgment.
'I don't know exactly what the green array does, but if I can't attack from a distance, then close combat is my only option.' He thought.
Like Morok had previously told Lith, the Mana Reactor not only did provide the Odi with infinite mana, but also split the world energy into its base components, providing them with the next best thing to fusion magic.
Jiira kept the beams active, sweeping down his hand and cutting through stone and metal as if he was projecting a laser grid while he stepped back. Lith grinned, noticing that the array hadn't moved along with the Odi.
Lith crouched even lower, executing a right leg sweep that almost took his enemy by surprise. Jiira's air fusion allowed him to see Lith's move and react by taking a single step back, putting the enemy right under his line of fire.
Great was Jiira's surprise when the sweep struck at his legs nonetheless, sending him flying while his own energy beams almost damaged the priceless machinery. Lith had partially shapeshifted his body into his hybrid form to succeed.
His hybrid legs were longer than his human form's, something that he had worked hard to prevent the Odi from discovering. He then used the sweep's spin to pivot on his left foot and turn the sweep into a roundhouse kick.
The Orichalcum covered talons of his foot cut deeply into the Odi's chest. Jiira's outrage knew no bounds. The perfect body of a god had just been defiled by a hairless, treacherous monkey.
Chapter 718 Immortal Body Part 2
Two more beams departed from Jiira's eyes while he was slamming against the back wall, taking Lith by surprise. Both rays struck at Lith's heart with enough strength to make him bounce off the floor, filling it with cracks, and then crash against the metal door.
Jiira had used pure mana to attack, giving the beams the same energy of a speeding truck in exchange for the lack of any piercing ability. The results were nothing to scoff at. Jiira had clearly heard the human's bones shatter not only when he had been hit by the beams, but also every time Lith had struck a hard surface.
The small pool of blood forming under Lith's head was a clear sign of how deadly the Odi's aim had been. Jiira could sense the enemy's life force fading, so he focused on the Body-Swapping device to make sure that it had sustained no damage.
A snapping sound was all that warned him of the impending danger. Somehow, the Ranger was inside the God's Will array again, with his silver clawed hand aimed at Jiira's brain.
The Odi stepped back, emitting energy beams from both his eyes and hands, but Lith was fast enough to crouch down in time to dodge them. Then, he used his hands to deflect the opponent's to the side and his head to struck upwards at the Odi's chin, sending all of his ray against either the floor or the ceiling.
Jiira rage exploded when he tasted his own blood invading his mouth, something that had never happened to him, not even during the great war. Two more beams, this time made from the fire element erupted from his open palms, striking respectively Lith's head and heart.
Jiira could now see the reason why his opponent had managed to survive this far. A split second before the impact, Lith's whole body was covered by Orichalcum, which had absorbed part of the impact.
The two new rays were strong enough to push the metal liquid aside and reach their target. Even though their trajectory had been deflected by the Skinwalker armor's energy field, a smell of barbeque spread throughout the room as half of Lith's face evaporated.
The blood from his wounds generated a spray of red fog while his body crashed against the metal door again before sprawling on the ground
< "Stay down, dammit!"> Jira said while unleashing several bullets of darkness magic to destroy the enemy corpse.
Much to his surprise, the corpse wasn't a corpse. A simple wave of Lith's hand deflected the bullets. Out of habit, Jiira had used fist magic again, but outside the God's Will array the dark projectiles had returned to be just a very powerful cantrip.
Lith's body floated in mid-air allowing him to stand up, also revealing the flesh and muscles of his face regenerating at a speed visible at the naked eye, until no trace of the wound was left.
< "That's impossible! Humans cannot have achieved an immortal body before the Odi!"> Jiira refused to believe his own eyes. He knew about the existence of Awakened ones, but he had no idea what exactly their powers were.
Hence, he wasn't aware that each time Lith was about to be struck, instead of tensing up and clenching his teeth, he simply took a deep breath with Invigoration. That would make the healing process start even before a wound could be opened.
The destructive power of each energy beam had been greatly reduced because Lith's tissues and bones healed so fast that the beams had to damage each layer of his body multiple times before managing to go deeper.
Jiira wasn't a Golem. With each second of his stupor, he allowed Lith who was insensitive to pain thanks to darkness fusion to breathe regularly.
With every breath, his body healed. With every breath, his strength returned.
A snap of Lith's fingers made all of the chains restraining the prisoners open in unison, plunging the room into chaos. No one cared about how Lith had done it, the only thing they wanted was to get out of there.
"Well, you only need to shoot beams from your mouth, nipples, and crotch to have the complete set." Lith said.
He was usually deaf to the rantings of his enemies. Talking was just a waste of breath that would only encourage more babbling. Lith was a firm believer that during a fight less was more.
Unless of course, he needed to buy some time. Only in such a case, would he indulge the madness of his opponents. Like now, when he was waiting that Solus returned by his side.
The first time Lith had stepped inside the green array, he had made sure that the enemy was unaware of her existence and incapable of detecting her despite her half-artifact nature.
The second time, Solus had exploited the moment after the leg sweep to reach the prisoners unnoticed and spread her body between the chains before activating Zolgrish's Eraser.
The impression of a multiple Clean Slate spell being cast from a distance was what Lith needed to reinforce the enemy's shock and buy even more time.
"Quylla, follow my hand!" He said handing her the book about the Mana Reactor opened at the right page, while a trail of fire and darkness resembling a human hand flew through the air leading her toward Morok.
When Lith had arrived, Quylla had hoped to be able to fight by his side, but the two clashes she had just witnessed were more than enough to make her understand that whatever the Odi was, it was beyond her capabilities.
The idea of leaving her friend to fight alone against an ancient horror while her sister was still strapped to the stone table made her clench her teeth so hard that for a moment she thought they would break.
Quylla didn't raise questions nor objections, she just took the book and followed the mystical hand's trail, ignoring everything else.
Meanwhile, in the adjacent room, Ranger Eari was giving his all to damage the Mana Reactor, but to no avail. Not only was its metal exterior extremely sturdy, but also it seemed to weaken and absorb all the mana that came in contact with it.
Even destroying the protruding mana crystals had turned out to be quite hard and so far, it didn't seem to have caused any significant damage. No matter if he used tier four or five spells, the best he had achieved was to leave bumps and scratches.
"Fuck! This is just a waste of time. Since I can't go any further below, I might as well go see what's on the upper floor." He said, right before the door in front of him opened.
Morok made just in time to revert to his human form and hold back the spell he was about to unleash, thinking that the newcomers were once again Golems. Soldiers and Assistants were all so scared that none of them noticed the small figure of the Ranger near the Mana Reactor.
Quylla kept running to follow the mystical hand that was pointing to the door leading to the upper floor. She had seen the Reactor, the picture at the page Lith had handed them, and the door.
It was enough for her to do the math. Morok followed her, hoping to receive good news.
"Has Lith won already?" He asked.
"No, but if we don't destroy this thing, we'll all end up as spare parts." She replied while heavily panting. If not for the adrenaline rush, she would barely be able to stand, let alone think clearly.
Chapter 719 Doomed Race Part 1
The soldiers were terrified. Without their weapons and equipment, they felt as if they were naked, but the worst thing was the acknowledgment of being completely helpless. Even if they were still fully armed, there was nothing they could do.
Once freed, they had run away out of survival instinct, but now they realized that it had been a pointless action. There was no way out of the underground facility nor a place where they could hide.
The Assistants didn't stop thinking, they just kept running toward any door they could see, to get as further away as they could from that nightmare.
Quylla was getting weaker by the second, but since she seemed to know what she was doing, Morok gave her a bit of his life force and carried her in his arms up the staircase.
The door was unlocked, leading inside a room even bigger than the Reactor itself. The walls were covered in dimensional runes, which made Morok's heart flutter, at least until he remembered that he had no idea what was written on them.
"You have a Forgemaster wand, correct? We can escape if you activate one of those runes." He said.
"No can do. First, I'm not leaving my sister and my friend behind. Second, they took my wand. So unless you want to retrieve it, we're stuck." Quylla stared at the Reactor's upper part that entered the room through the floor, trying to make a sense of the picture in the book she held.
"Damn my rotten… Wait! You said they. They who?" He asked.
"The blue guy and Gaakhu, she has sold us to the enemy. That bitch speaks the Odi language, so she must have cut herself a deal." Since the situation still made no sense, Quylla used her Forgemaster spells on the Reactor, to understand how it worked.
The moment her first spell was completed, her eyes rolled back, showing only the white and she started to puke uncontrollably, crying her eyes out.
"What the fuck is going on?" He blurted out while trying to stop Quylla's seizure from harming her.
The Reactor's insulation was lighter on its upper part, so she had experienced something even worse than what Lith had felt while using Invigoration. The term Mana Reactor was just a fancy word to hide its real purpose.
In order for the device to work, countless lives had been thrown into the mana geyser below Kulah. The life forces of the Odi's victims had been modified, so that they could absorb the world energy and filter it with their bodies, turning it into mana.
The structure made of metal and mana crystal had only the function to store and contain the energy while the Reactor purified the mana produced from its energy signature to allow the Odi to use it freely.
Yet because of its nature, it wasn't just the energy that the Reactor had stored. Every single living being that had been thrown inside the device was still in there. The world energy would invade their bodies and mana cores, making them explode due to the failed Awakening process.
Yet thanks to the modifications they had sustained and the Reactor splitting the world energy into its six components, the light element would heal them the moment they were damaged, keeping the living fuel in an eternal cycle of death and rebirth.
Some of them had even turned into Abominations, but they were trapped as well. They had no advantage over their peers, quite the contrary. Their black cores were the perfect filters, so the amount of energy they endured was much greater and so was their suffering.
The Mana Reactor was akin to a cauldron where world energy, flesh, and souls were constantly burned to provide the Odi with unlimited power. Quylla's spells had made her feel just a spark of the suffering those trapped inside its bowels perceived every single second, yet it was enough to drive her insane.
***
When Jiira snapped out of his stupor, all of his prisoners had escaped. He considered it just a minor inconvenience since he could always capture them again later. What worried him was the odd creature in front of him.
Jiira had no idea how Lith could still be alive.
< Surrender now, or she dies.> Since the human had come that far to rescue them, Jiira assumed they were important for him. A condensed sphere of light was now pointing at Phloria's head, burning her hair.
"Do it and your precious machine come next." Lith pointed his hand to what looked like a console installed in the wall, to which most cables were linked. The bolt of lightning on his hand was strong enough to turn it into scraps.
None of the two men could understand the other's words, but their actions spoke volumes. Jiira realized that his earlier assumption was wrong. Even while he was making the female on the table scream in pain, the male was unfazed, still charging his lightning.
Lith was actually furious. Each one of Phloria's cries of agony, every single drop of blood she shed, was enough to make him lose his mind. The scene reminded him of his father, Ezio, beating his brother Carl while he could only stand and watch.
Yet Lith managed to control his rage, turning it into fuel to his power rather than fire burning his mind. In a hostage situation, giving in to demands was idiotic. The hostage had only value as a shield. If Lith surrendered, she was as good as dead.
Lith released his spell, making Jiira gasp in surprise for more than one reason. The console was inside the God's Will array, so instead of giving the thunderbolt a straight trajectory, Lith moved it along the array's borders, so that it entered the magical formation from the nearest point to the terminal.
Also, Lith hadn't wasted his time charging it with mana, but with his own will. Between the strong imprint he had left and the lightning's natural speed, Jiira was forced to commit his entire focus to stop the spell before it destroyed his life work.
Lith charged in, his hands turning into Orichalcum covered claws, one aimed to Jiira's brain and the other to the sphere embedded in his body that allowed him to use the green array.
Lith moved so fast that Jiira was forced to let some of the energy go and unleash a barrage of small energy beams, to not give Lith any place where to dodge. Much to his surprise, the human didn't dodge, but deflected the beams with his arm and legs.
Cracking sounds could be heard once more, but this time Lith only slid back of a few meters. The enemy attack didn't even have the strength to make him fly away anymore.
Jiira was shocked, throwing the lightning back against Lith only to discover that it was nothing more than a light show. While the Odi was starting to panic, Invigoration fixed Lith's limbs.
<"What's wrong? Why doesn't our array work anymore?"> Jiira said.
<"Calm down, you idiot. Just look at its runes."> Veiga pointed out.
It was only then that Jiira noticed that even though the magical formation was still standing, several of its power nodes had been destroyed. Lith hadn't blindly charged in, but had followed a methodical plan.
His attacks had always been just a distraction, to force the Odi to reveal his cards and making him fail to notice that Lith was using his spells to strike at God's Will's power nodes, just like Vastor had taught him.
Chapter 720 Doomed Race Part 2
That way, the array would still work, but its effects would be greatly diminished with each lost node. Even while Jiira was studying his predicament, he saw tendrils of Lith's mana coming from below the floor and crash another node.
"Come on, pal. You just have to turn it off and on again to reset it." Lith said while a blue aura erupted from his body and several spells could be seen on the verge of taking form.
Looking at Lith's savage smile, Jiira felt an endless fear taking hold of him. Sure, the Odi could do as Lith had suggested, but taking down the array meant remaining completely exposed to Lith's spells.
Jiira was in a pinch. As long as God's Will was active, the enemy could only engage him in physical combat. Yet the longer they fought, the weaker the array's power focusing ability would become.
Lith had attacked only one of the array's functions on purpose, to not make his opponent realize what was happening until it was too late. Lith could almost taste the blood of his enemy, almost hear his dying screams.
Lith's teeth became the size of small knives and his cheeks covered in scales. Jiira involuntarily took a step back from the grinning monster in front of him. The Odi had seen the monster moving, the second he needed to reset the array was a second too long. At least as long as the creature remained on the fringes of God's Will.
To make matters worse, he couldn't just move the array, so its area of effect was fixed until he replaced it with a new one.
A clicking sound made Jiira look down, just in time to notice that somehow, the human female was now free. Yet instead of running away, Phloria placed her hands on his abdomen, releasing a fireball from point-blank range.
What the Odi had confused for ramblings of agony were actually magic words. The moment a chance of survival had appeared, Phloria had started to cast all of her best spells.
Yet after seeing the Odi controlling Lith's spells as if they were his own, she had been forced to change her tactic. If she had to die, she would die fighting, without leaving the Odi anything but a broken carcass.
The fireball exploded too fast and too close for even God's Will to have any effect. The detonation made Jiira fly against the back wall and cracked both the table and the mana crystals.
Her own mana couldn't hurt Phloria, but it could still hurt Lith and Solus, who was hiding under the table after undoing Phloria's bindings. Lith rushed forward, uncaring of the flames and the heat.
It was his opportunity to both rescue his partner and put down his enemy. The Orichalcum enveloped Lith, protecting his lungs from the hot air that was making it hard for Jiira to breathe.
His midriff was shredded, only the constant infusion of light magic from the Reactor had prevented his viscera from being on the floor rather than where they were supposed to be.
Jiira saw Lith approaching, the air element coursing through Jiira's body allowed him to follow the monster's movements. The Odi joined his hands, focusing all the energy he could muster in the biggest energy beam he could conjure in such a short time.
He used water magic to cool the air and hopefully turn the enemy into a popsicle.
Even if weakened, the green array made the beam too fast for Lith to dodge, but weak enough to be blocked. Lith's right arm deflected it while his left arm pierced the enemy's brain first and heart later, releasing each time powerful spells that made the Odi's body parts explode like water balloons, emitting a wet sound.
Lith was about to strike at the sphere that controlled the array when Jiira overloaded his life force, causing an explosion powerful enough to send both Lith and Phloria crashing against the door.
'This is impossible.' Lith thought. 'There is no spell that can keep you alive with your brain and heart destroyed. I've seen his life force fade like it happened to all those who I killed in the past. How could he activate such a spell and why is the array still standing?'
Lith was right, Jiira was dead. Yet the same didn't apply to all the other Odi he was sharing his body with. When Kulah's researchers had understood that no one was coming to save them, they had used the Body Merging project to halve their numbers but double their lifespan by alternating who was in control of the body.
Only the active life force would be consumed, while the other would be preserved. Yet it also meant halving the speed of their research, since there was only so much work that a single body could do.
With each of their failure, the Odi's number would decrease, until they had decided to merge all inside a single body, to buy as much time as they could while waiting for rescue.
The tank where they had slept slowed their metabolism to one-tenth, so that each one of them would only lose one day of life force after 10 days. The Odi had spent the last few centuries switching from one body to another, prolonging the existence of their doomed race.
When the other Odi had felt Jiira's consciousness fade and his precious life span go to waste, they had activated the detonation spell engraved in his body to buy enough time for the next of them to take charge.
Lith used Invigoration on both Phloria and himself while trying to make heads or tails of the events. She was just wounded while his frozen right arm was second away from shattering into pieces.
Only when he saw Jiira's body shapeshift into another much more muscular body, did Lith understand what Life Merging meant. All the injuries he had inflicted upon his earlier enemy had disappeared and even though just the hair color distinguished Jiira from Rizo, their energy signatures couldn't have been more different.
Rizo took an elaborate longsword and a heavy armor out of Ellkas's dimensional ring that was now his own. Once their owner was dead, their imprint on an enchanted item would disappear.
Dimensional items were easy to use and the Odi had seen their specimens use them multiple times from their cameras, so the first thing they had done after killing the useless old coots was to find one and use it to store all of their best equipment.
In that single ring, there were the results of countless experiments conducted in Kulah, plus the best equipment that the Odi could craft during their empire's golden age.
***
"Wake up, kid!" After Quylla's seizure had stopped and Morok had made sure with his diagnostic spells that nothing bad had happened to her, the Tyrant had tried his best to make her regain consciousness.
Up to that moment, healing magic, buckets of cold water, and yelling had proven to be useless.
"If we don't do something, we're all going to die. At least tell me what the heck this picture means!" The open Odi book didn't make sense to him. It only showed a hatch and the Reactor, but that was something he could see with his own eyes.
Chapter 721 Great Fortress Part 1
Since Quylla kept being useless, Morok stood up and conjured his strongest tier five War Mage spell, Wheel of Fate. Usually it had an area of effect too big to be used in a closed space, but the Reactor's maintenance room was big enough to accommodate two of such spells.
Four rings, each one made of a different elemental energy and as big as a ferris wheel surrounded the Reactor. Normally there would be five of them but without earth to manipulate, that part of the spell was just a waste of mana.
The four rings attacked the structure in turns. Darkness first to weaken the structure and all the spells it was imbued with, then fire to heat the Reactor until its metal parts were white-hot.
Then followed the water ring, to inflict a powerful thermal shock and drench the enemy in water, so that the ensuing lightning ring could seep through all the cracks that the previous attacks had opened.
Several mana crystals exploded and the lights in the room flickered while the spell relentlessly hammered the Mana Reactor, almost giving the now awake Quylla a heart attack.
"What are you doing, you idiot? If you destroy the opening mechanism, we will never stop the Reactor in time." She said.
"The what now?" Morok dispelled the Wheel with a wave of his hand.
"Can't you see the hatch on the picture?" She slammed the book under his nose. "We have no chance of destroying the Mana Reactor with normal spells. For the gods' sake, how can you think that something made to contain infinite mana can be harmed by mana?"
"Now that you point that out, it explains why my strategy wasn't very effective on the lower floor, but here the shielding is lighter. No matter how sturdy a dam is, it only takes a crack to take it down." Morok quoted his wise father.
"Yeah, too bad we are in front of the dam! I'm sure that Lith asked you to find a way to turn it off, not to blow us all in the greatest conflagration Mogar has ever seen. What part of 'infinite mana' isn't clear to you?"
"Fine, egghead. Then what's your brilliant plan?" Morok firmly believed that attack was the best defense, especially when there was nothing you could say to make you appear less moronic.
"To fuel the Reactor, the Odi need to throw living creatures down that hatch, is that clear?" She asked and Morok nodded for her to continue.
"Then if we trick the system into believing that it's recharge time but we throw inside something hard to digest instead of fresh meat, the in-built safety measures will stop its functioning.
"I doubt that the Odi planned on dying at the first misoperation and since the Reactor is powerful enough to blow its way out to the surface, there must be a panic button or something. We just need to trigger it."
Quylla walked to the Mana Reactor and started to compare the picture with the real thing in front of her. It took her but a wave of her hand to get rid of the layer of frost covering the console and the several monitors.
"Good job, jackass! Most of them are broken!" She said while using water and air magic to dry everything, in the hope that at least some of them would start working again.
"Who cares? It's not like any of us can read that gibberish!" Morok acted tough, but he was starting to realize why his father had refused to Awaken him until the young Tyrant would learn to think more with his two brains and less with his two fists.
"Yeah, but at least we could have watched the fucking images!" Quylla would have stabbed him to death if the Odi hadn't taken everything from her but her Skinwalker armor. And not for a lack of trying.
Even a Golem's level of strength was pointless against an artifact capable of switching from the solid to the liquid state at will and that only responded to its master.
It was the reason why Phloria had been chosen as a guinea pig, using an inferior specimen to check if the Skinwalker armor would interfere with the body-swapping process before attempting it on their masterpiece: Quylla.
With her slender body and her mastery of light magic, she was the closest thing to an Odi they could get. Yet now that very similarity was working against them.
"Okay, I can't read the tags above any of these buttons, but judging from their positioning I can guess what they do. I think I can open the hatch, but that would lead us nowhere." She said.
"Why?" Morok asked.
"Because even though I can open it, the system has a double access to prevent energy leaks. First, it opens on our side, then we have to throw something inside, and only then will the hatch close from our side and drop the load in the reactor."
"Well, with the hatch open, a well-placed spell could break the inner door and…"
"Blow us all to the surface!" Quylla cut him short. "We need someone to sacrifice themselves, put them in the hatch, maybe loaded with all the alchemical tools we can find, so that once we drop them inside the Reactor, they can detonate themselves while the system is SEALED and activate the failsafe."
"Yeah, two problems. One, I'm not going to jump. Second, we've got no alchemical tool. Mister blue skin groped me for good as well. I've nothing left."
"He didn't grope me!" Quylla really hoped that what the Odi had performed was just a body search. Thank Lith, the armor had shielded her from any probing and body examination.
"Sure thing, sweetheart. The bastard was so thorough with me that I almost expected he would ask me out." Morok sneered. "Back to business, how do we stop it?"
Quylla looked at Morok, calculating her odds of throwing him down the hatch. Worst case scenario, it wouldn't help Lith but she would still get rid of him. Yet she was aware that some Golems might still be on the loose and she couldn't afford being distracted.
"We need to capture a Flesh Golem or Gaakhu. That bitch betrayed us, so in my book, she's expendable." Quylla replied. To be fair, Gaakhu had betrayed no one. Just like Quylla back at the academy, she had been enslaved.
The Odi had permanently altered her life force, making the slave item impossible to remove without killing her.
"Can't we just throw a couple of Assistants inside and see how it goes? They are much easier prey." Morok proposed.
"Yes, we could, but we still need something to detonate inside, otherwise we would just add new fuel to the Reactor." Quylla's reply shocked the Tyrant. He was just teasing her, never expecting that she would actually agree to such a heartless plan.
Quylla was disgusted by her own weakness just as much as she was from that of her colleagues. The lives of her sister and her best friend were at stake. To her, a couple of rambling idiots were now a small price to pay to save their lives.
***
Lith stood up, watching at Rizo walking towards them. The God's Will array was gone and ready to be activated again at any moment. Unlike Jiira, Rizo was a master swordsman. With his strong body and the power of the elements coursing through his body, he was certain to be able to take care of Lith.
Chapter 722 Great Fortress Part 2
Rizo was the one that was going to take Phloria's body. The other Odi might consider her ugly due to her height and strength, but to a fighter, she was just perfect.
< "Get away from my vessel, kid. I'd hate for my new form to be tainted by the blood of a filthy beast."> Rizo's movements were calm and controlled while he pointed his sword against Lith as a challenge.
"Fuck off." Lith replied, unleashing all of the spells he had kept at the ready for Jiira. The two men didn't understand each other's words, but their faces spoke volumes.
Rizo's was full of pride and contempt, whereas Lith's was brimming with unbridled rage and killing intent. Two hands made of living streams of lightning, each one the size of a person, clutched on the Odi while a jet stream of black flames pierced through his chest.
Lith's tier five spells Final Sunset and Death Grip struck Rizo to no avail. The swordmaster laughed while activating his Great Fortress armor's enchantment. By imbuing it with mana, it generated an energy barrier that blocked the incoming attacks.
Its limitation was that it required a lot of mana to protect its master from such powerful prolonged spells, yet mana wasn't an issue for Rizo. The Reactor made it the absolute defense, with no weak points.
< "Not bad, kid. I wish I had some decent meat for a barbeque. Your flames make you a poor excuse of a mage but an excellent stove."> Rizo laughed, showing the monster that a true noble didn't need the God's Will array to prevail.
Solus quickly analyzed the armor and gave Lith the results of her observations.
'Hence, that armor is almost perfect.' She thought.
'Thanks, Solus. It's just as I predicted. This guy is just a moron that uses a tool without having any idea about how it works. Let's teach him a lesson.' Lith replied.
Jiira had been a difficult opponent and Rizo appeared to be even worse, yet Lith thought nothing of him. After watching Yondra die between his arms, after seeing Phloria being tortured, he could feel something twisting inside of himself, clawing to escape.
He could feel it in the low rumble of the earth around him, in the unnatural warmth of the air in the room. Burning inside of him there was a black flame born of force and will that for some reason couldn't find its way out.
The Odi had taken a lot from Lith. The thought of being able to put an end to their entire race by killing those in front of him was the best payback he could think of.
Lith moved his spells, making them flank Rizo and leaving his front exposed before hurling a river of Origin Flames which started to attack more than just the barrier, striking at its very enchantment.
< "Origin Flames? Guuna, it seems we've got you a furnace!"> Rizo laughed again, but the laughter died when he noticed that there was no end to the flames. Lith kept inhaling and exhaling as fast as he could, piling up more blue flames than he ever did before.
< "It must be a monster, not an Emperor Beast. Only monsters are crazy enough to waste their strength like that."> Rizo said. The first wave did nothing to his barrier. The second and the third produced no effect as well, but from the fourth onwards he felt that something was wrong.
No matter how much water magic he used to cool the surrounding air, Rizo felt burning.
'You idiot!' Guuna screamed inside his head. 'Our bodies were modified to withstand infinite mana, not your armor.' The Odi had no concept of pseudo core, but they had learned from experience that there was no enchanted object capable of perfectly channeling mana, not even those made of Adamant.
That was not because of a metal's fault, but due to the crafted pseudo core being unable to process the constant flow of energy. A pseudo core was just like a mana core: if abused it would overload and explode.
Unlike a living being, however, there was no risk of an Abomination being born, only of junk. Lith had aimed for the armor first, to strip his conceited opponent of an advantage that in the latest stages of the fight, when they were both exhausted, might have been decisive.
Now, instead, the Great Fortress armor's pseudo core was already on the verge of collapsing, before the fight even started. While Guuna cursed him for his incompetence in handling her masterpiece, Rizo finally activated the God's Will array.
Alas, it was too late. The two spells from Lith, his Origin Flames, and the powerful explosion that struck Rizo's back were the final nail in the coffin of the ancient armor.
Even though she was still shocked and traumatized from the recent events, Phloria refused to be just a spectator. While Lith hammered the barrier, she was taking care of the body-swapping machine.
Countless blades made of ice, fire, and earth had cut the entire device into pieces no bigger than a cup of tea. First, she had disposed of the stone table to make her weapons, then she had cut off all the cables in sight, and finally she had struck at the protruding mana crystals, making sure that their opponent would shield them from the conflagration with his own body.
Suddenly the Great Fortress armor was just a heavy lump of metal, offering no more protection to Rizo's exposed head and arms due to the collapse of its energy field. To add insult to injury, the Odi discovered that not even God's Will could do anything against Origin Flames.
The array had just been created but the blue flames were already eating at its entire structure, greatly reducing its effectiveness. Rizo could turn it on and off to once again reset it, but that way nothing would stop the Origin Flames from turning him into charcoal.
***
"I'm going to search for a Golem, you stay here and don't touch anything." After a few tries, Quylla had already understood the Mana Reactor's basic commands.
Her problem was still the same. She needed a sacrifice loaded with enough firepower to damage the Reactor's internal mechanism but without damaging its outer shell. A Flesh Golem was her best bet.
During her imprisonment, she had all the time she needed to think about how to take them down and had ended cursing her own stupidity for not realizing it sooner. Yondra had been right since the beginning, fighting was the wrong move for Quylla.
"Are you sure you don't need a bodyguard? Those things are nasty." Morok asked.
"Damn sure. I might need your help to move them, though." Quylla went downstairs, making as much noise as she could. She had no idea where the constructs could be hidden, but she was certain that the Odi had to keep them close.
They had shown her multiple times that without the Golems' Warping Array they were incapable of using dimensional magic. Once back in the lower Reactor room, she used her Forgemaster spells to scan the walls and search for Recharging arrays.
Her efforts triggered a hidden mechanism that released the last two Flesh Golems. The rest had been destroyed, which was the reason why the Odi had ordered them to remain hidden.
Chapter 723 Judgment Part 1
The colossi moved towards her, but Quylla's next move froze them on the spot. Instead of infusing her armor with mana to better defend herself, she shapeshifted it off, remaining in her underwear.
The Golems' first priority was her safety, they couldn't harm her. They stepped back as she advanced until they had their backs against the wall. They couldn't touch her without being deactivated but there was no spell in their arsenal weak enough to not kill a half-naked normal human.
Constructs had no access to first magic, only to the spells that they had been imbued with and Flesh Golems were war machines. Quylla placed her hands on them and turned the normally unstoppable dreadnoughts into huge piles of stone in a split second.
Only when she was sure that they posed no threat to her did she put her armor back on. Then, she used a Float spell on the Golems and brought them to the Reactor's upper floor.
"How the heck did you manage to capture two constructs without a scratch?" Morok's genuine surprise at the sight of the Golems made her sigh in relief. Quylla was afraid he might have been following her and peeped the whole scene.
"Finesse." She replied. "Now our question is if it's better to throw them both at once or one at a time and study how the Reactor behaves before making a final attempt."
Quylla used both Scanner and her Forgemastering spell to search for a self-destruct mechanism. As a Forgemaster, she knew how important it was to not give the enemy the opportunity to study a masterpiece.
Once she found the mechanism, she placed the constructs on the hatch before triggering it. The people grafted inside the Golems looked at her with eyes filled with gratitude, almost making Quylla feel guilty.
In any other time, she would have worried about finding a way to save them from their destiny and give their body back to them. Almost. She was now at war, and no matter her oath as a Healer or how innocent those people were, they still remained her enemies.
The hatch opened, making the Flesh Golems fall on the inner metal door that unlocked as soon as the outer door was closed. The constructs fell down into the pit the Mana Reactor was, filled with world energy, elemental forces, and the emerald green light of mana.
Their flesh was instantly consumed while their stone bodies withstood the maelstrom around them long enough to almost reach the bottom of the Reactor. The following explosion broke the balance between the three energies at work, forcing the machine to a stop.
The Reactor was still full of mana, but no more would be produced until the emergency wasn't solved. The world energy was now free to return where it belonged, making the shaking of the ground increase as a silver pillar of light descended from the sky, right above Lith's position.
***
There was a reason why the Odi had been forced to merge all in one body, why they had abandoned their research in a hurry, and why almost no trace of their passage but ruins remained.
During the great war, while the people of the Galen continent fought for their freedom and the Odi did their worst to prolong the existence of their dying race, Mogar had passed its judgment on them, deeming them unworthy.
The Guardians had mobilized, ending the war that would have lasted a few more years in a matter of hours. The Odi knew about the Guardians, as well as that the only way they had to fight against such powerful creatures was to use the Guardians' best weapon against them.
By trapping the world energy in the Mana Reactor, not only did they achieve the key to unlimited power, but they also hid from both Mogar and its Guardians. Even in the case that Kulah where to be discovered, the Odi believed that they had enough weapons to take the Guardians on and beat them at their own game.
As long as the Mana Reactor was operational, the Guardians would be diminished, while the Odi would be unstoppable and the God's Will array would allow them to trample even Mogar's will over the elements.
As long as the mana Reactor was operational, which wasn't the case anymore.
The world energy flooded Kulah's underground floors, triggering the world tribulation that had been forcefully stopped since the moment Lith had listened to the words of the dying Golems.
< "Oh shit!"> Rizo said, unaware that now both humans were finally capable of understanding his language and vice versa. He had fought his whole life on the front lines, he could never forget the feeling that was now covering his whole body in a cold sweat.
The feeling of the presence of a Guardian.
A silver pillar descended from the sky while the normally hidden black one emerged from the ground, as if the fingers of two opposite gods were connecting right in the space Lith occupied.
Finally, the thing inside of him stopped clawing and erupted from his whole body, covering it in red and black scales, while two curved horns emerged from the sides of his forehead.
Phloria was so shocked that she almost forgot about Rizo. She had seen Lith transformed, but never like that. She had never seen the four upside-down wings on his back, the tail, the horns, nor the seven eyes all opened at once.
An inhuman roar erupted from his fangs-filled maw as his body grew past the two meters (6'7") and the whole room turned pitch-black. Countless eyes opened on every centimeter of the walls, ceiling, and floor, staring at Rizo in hatred.
Fearing for his life, the Odi decided to give his all, releasing a tier three spell from his sword. Even though the God's Will array was weakened, it was still capable of turning the simple lightning into something that exceeded even a tier five magic spell cast by a genius on Manohar's level.
The magical formation had been devised as an anti-Guardian weapon for a reason. The spell was faster and stronger than anything Lith had ever seen. It moved so quickly that even if he had seen it forming with Life Vision, even with his body infused with air magic, he couldn't dodge it from so up close.
It pierced through the layer of Orichalcum covering Lith's head, through the thick scales and bones protecting his brain.
Realizing that nothing was enough to stop such a force of nature, Solus did the only thing that she could. She used the split second the spell needed to overpower so many layers of protection to slip inside Lith's skull and cover his brain with her stone body.
Lith's armor vaporized, his skull caved in, and Solus was turned into small pebbles.
Yet not a single spark of electricity nor bone fragment damaged Lith's vital organ, allowing Invigoration to rejuvenate him in only one breath, thanks to the massive amount of world energy enveloping him.
'That was damn close. Thank you so much, Solus.' Lith thought, yet only silence ensued.
'Solus?' Lith could feel an immense void inside of himself where Solus's light usually was. He could still manipulate the glove, his pocket dimension, everything. Yet his best friend was lost to him.
An all too human scream of grief made the cave tremble so much that both Phloria and Rizo, who were still shocked at seeing Lith alive, thought that the whole of Mogar was about to collapse above their heads.
Chapter 724 Judgement Part 2
"That's Lith's voice! Something must have happened to him." Quylla triple checked the Mana Reactor.
A lot of red lights signaled that the device had stopped working and the lack of all the buzzing sounds that had previously filled the air confirmed the success of her strategy.
Yet instead of declining, the rumble of the earth was actually worse than before.
Cursing her bad luck, she ran toward the room where the fight was taking place despite the fear of the operating table and of the blue monster who wanted to steal her life still burned vividly in her mind.
"Wait, I don't think you should go. You can't possibly help him!" Morok ran after Quylla, trying to stop her. He could imagine how hard Lith had worked to hide his real nature and knew that the Odi wasn't an enemy that could be underestimated.
On top of that, even though he couldn't see the silver and the black pillar with his human eyes, he could feel an enormous power at work. Such a small human like Quylla was likely to be incinerated simply by stepping too close to such a force of nature.
He grabbed her by the shoulder, forcing Quylla to stop. She followed her father's teaching, using the Ranger's yanking motion to add his momentum to her own and kick him in the nuts with all the strength she had.
Quylla was tired of his non-sense. She wouldn't waste a single moment listening to Morok, not while she could actually do something to help her family. If Lith and Phloria lost the battle, she was dead anyway.
Quylla much preferred spending her last moments with those she loved rather than with an annoying prick. Morok yelped while grabbing his crotch and fell to his side. Beast or not, enchanted protection or not, it would take him some time to recover.
When Quylla opened the metal door, she couldn't believe her own eyes. Phloria was still there, sitting on the ground and chanting one spell after the other despite the tears streaming from her eyes.
The room seemed to be out of a nightmare, filled with eyes of all shapes and sizes staring at the fight while inhuman screams coming from its walls filled the air. In the middle of it, someone that looked like the Odi Quylla knew but who wasn't him was battling to the death with a monstrous creature.
Phloria wasn't crying because she was afraid of death, nor because she had any idea of what had just happened. She was crying because the thing in front of her, somehow, was exactly as she had always imagined Lith to be.
She had always known that he was filled with a pain and anguish that usually he hid from the rest of the world, something that she had only caught a glimpse of from time to time. Now it was all laid bare in front of her, in a storm of claws, snarls, and fury.
It was the most inhuman and yet human being she had ever seen. She was crying because the darkness surrounding them resonated with that pain, allowing Phloria to share his grief and shed the tears that Lith couldn't anymore.
After the first lightning, Rizo didn't have the time to cast another that Lith had darted towards him, in a flurry of Origin Flames and fists. The first punch had been strong enough to lift Rizo from the ground, sending him crashing against the back wall.
His once prized Fortress Armor was now deeply bent and bore the mark of Lith's fist.
Rizo's earth and light fusion allowed him to remain conscious, but the strike had brought the both of them outside the God's Will array, forcing him to undo the old magical formation and create a new one.
That split second had been long enough that Lith had struck the Odi's face so hard and so many times to almost rip Rizo's head off. One of his eyes was swelled and closed, many of his teeth were now on the floor while his nose, broken in many places bleed profusely.
Rizo hadn't taken the onslaught idly. He was a master swordsman and his blade was still in perfect condition. The Eternal Blade was the apex of the Odi weaponry. He had stabbed, cut, and deflected Lith's arms at each and every one of his attacks, but the monster didn't care.
The silvery armor covering his curved scales deflected most of the impacts and every wound started to heal the moment it was opened. Lith was using darkness fusion, but it wasn't the lack of pain that allowed him to fight in such a frenzied way.
It was the unbridled fury for having once lost once again someone precious to him.
'Solus is gone. I will not hear her laugh or cry anymore. She will not be with me the next time I'm happy or sad. She will not scold me when I do something stupid or insensitive. I'm once again alone and it's all your fault!
'You took her away from me!' Lith thought while his hands turned the Orichalcum of the now dead Fortress armor to shreds, bringing him just a few centimeters away from the beating heart of his hated enemy.
Until that moment, Rizo had completely focused on protecting his head, but cuts and bruises were being inflicted upon his now exposed flesh, forcing him to lower his blade.
'You have to end this quickly!' Guuna said in his head. 'Your precious little wench has destroyed the Body-Swapping machine and the Mana Reactor has stopped working. Once the stored mana goes dry, you'll not last a second!'
Rizo hated to agree with her just as he hated the mage's guts. Yet there was no point in denying the truth, so he used first magic and the green array to surround himself with white flames, forcing the monster to retreat and giving himself the time he needed to heal his injuries.
***
The first thing that Solus saw when she woke up from the darkness that had shrouded her, was a luscious sea of green. The soft grass tickled her feet while a gentle breeze made her light bronze hair dance in the air.
She had no idea where she was, but she felt at peace. All of her pains and worries appeared like something distant in the past. The only thing she wanted was to lay down on the grass and stare at the blue sky above her head.
"Am I dead?" She asked while the memories of the recent events made her snap out of her reverie. "This is nothing like what I saw in Lith's memories and… By my maker, my skin is pink. I'm human! I'm really human!"
She tried to conjure a mirror of ice to look at her own face, but nothing happened. She couldn't feel her mana, nor any of her mystical senses seemed to work. To make matters worse, the only thoughts she could hear were her own.
"Oh dear, it's been so long since the last time I had a visitor. Let me wear something you can relate to." A disembodied voice said inside Solus's head, making her yelp in surprise.
The ground rose, twisted, and turned, until the lump of mud in front of Solus looked exactly like Elina down to the smallest detail. The only difference was her hair being of the six colors of the elements instead of light-brown with shades of red.
Chapter 725 Lord of Destruction Part 1
"Where are we? Who are you? More importantly, am I dead? Is Lith dead too?" Solus asked. She felt as if she was about to faint, yet she was physically incapable of doing it.
"You are where no living being is supposed to be. Inside of my consciousness. As for who I am, usually you call me by many names. The All-Father, the Great Mother, but I think that recently Mogar is the most popular." The Elina-thing replied.
"Wait what? Why am I here? If I'm not dead, why I don't have any of my powers?" Solus was only getting more confused with each answer she received.
"You would be dead if you still had your original body, but the one Menadion bestowed upon you is too strong for a mere lightning to kill you. Not to mention that your life force is linked to the human's.
"You're in a state very close to death and since I was there when it happened, the most human part of your mind naturally returned to me. You don't have powers because you don't need them here. You're safe. Unlike him."
A wave of Mogar's hand made their surroundings disappear, returning Solus to the Odi's underground complex.
Solus suddenly realized that something was wrong. Mogar's presence was calm like that of any normal human, but there were three more pillars other than the one enveloping Lith.
They were much bigger than his silver pillar and so powerful that even in her current state, just being so close to them covered Solus in a cold sweat.
"What are you doing to Lith? What's the meaning of the silver pillar and who or what are those things?" Solus pointed at the remaining three pillars surrounding Kulah.
"I'm not doing anything that your friend didn't ask for himself. He calls for me so wearily often, but this time I answered his call." Mogar shook her head, shapeshifting into Rena.
"The silver pillar is the way I communicate with those like him. As for the others…" The second wave of her hand gave Solus the impression that the whole world was zooming out.
She could now see with her eyes three enormous beasts surrounding Kulah. A golden griffon, a black scaled dragon, and a white phoenix. Each one of them was standing on its hind legs which seemed to reach down to Mogar's core while their heads stood so tall that they were able to pierce the skies.
The closest comparison between the dragon in front of her and the emerald dragon they had met inside Huryole she could think of, was that of a volcano and a match.
"They are my Guardians. I brought them here to pass my judgment in the case that your friend dies." Mogar's warm and motherly smile despite the dire circumstances Lith, Phloria, and Quylla were, gave Solus the creeps.
"For too long those bastards hid from my sight, sucking my blood for their filthy experiments. I usually don't mind mosquitoes, but this one has got too big and too annoying to let it live."
"If you already have Guardians, what do you need Lith for? Can't you see he is suffering?" Solus saw Lith's seven eyes burning like torches. She had no idea if it was either due to his rage or the tears that in such a form looked like flames.
Even without their mind link, just by looking at his face, she could tell that he was grieving.
"Life is suffering, child. You should know it better than anyone else." Mogar sneered, assuming Jirni's features. "I still need many pieces on my chessboard and so far, your friend fits the bill. Do you know why magical beasts are born with two elements?
"It marks what their purpose is, what they are supposed to be. Take the Griffon, for example. Its elements are light and air. Together, they bring order and change. That's why the Griffon's duty it's to nurture what already exists.
"Back when people still believed in the gods, it was considered the Lord of Prosperity."
"The Dragon is made of fire and air, elements that complement each other. Both of them are shapeless and intangible. Together they bring the passion and the open-mindedness necessary to those who seek knowledge.
That's why dragons are usually wise and the first Dragon was considered the Lord of Wisdom.
"Last, but not least, the Phoenix. Its elements are light and darkness, twin elements that despite being polar opposites cannot live without each other. Together, they are an unstoppable force of death and rebirth.
"For something new to be born, something old must die. That's the oldest rule of the balance. The Phoenix embodies the radical changes that living beings must undergo in order to survive, both as individuals and a society.
"Its conflictual nature made the first Phoenix the Lord of War."
"Sometimes, however, change is not enough. There are things in every world that are simply born wrong and no matter how much they change, there's no fixing them, like the Odi.
"Do you know what are the elements your friend was born with? Fire and darkness. Together, they don't nurture, don't protect, nor do they change. Their only purpose is to cleanse and disinfect, to get rid of what is toxic.
"Too many mistakes on the evolutionary ladder have brought me to agree with your friend. I need a Lord of Destruction." Mogar pointed her slender finger at Lith's proto-Guardian form.
"By the way are you sure that you can afford to stay here and chatter? Things aren't going well for him."
Solus followed the images in front of her, noticing that there was more in play than the physical battle between Lith and Rizo. Now that the Reactor was still, its prisoners were finally able to truly die.
The souls that it had trapped for centuries were finally free.
Yet while some turned into shooting stars and disappeared in the sky, others were now free to look for their revenge upon their captors. All those whose hatred and rage was strong enough that it would've turned them into undead if they still a shred of a body to cling to, found in the abyss erupting from Lith's soul a beacon.
Each one of them tainted his mind and body, trying to force him to become the instrument of their reckoning. They projected into his mind all the atrocities they had endured, all the loved ones they had lost, adding their fury to his own, driving Lith on the verge of madness.
They couldn't offer him power, only rage, but that was something that he had plenty already. Feeling his body getting invaded by foreign feelings, Lith focused on Carl's death, on Yondra's, and on the painful void that Solus's absence had left.
The black fire inside of him burned brighter, attacking the dead souls clinging to him and forcing them to release their hold on him. The spirits changed their tactic, replacing their features with those of his loved ones, asking him to avenge them.
Rizo didn't miss the opportunity that the chaos Lith's mind currently was had created for him. He dispelled both the white flames and the God's Will array, charging forward in a downwards slash that would've split the monster asunder.
Lith managed to partially dodge, but the strike still managed to chop his left arm off. The pain snapped Lith out of his frenzy and before Rizo could even gloat for his success, black tendrils erupted from Lith's shoulder as well as from his amputated limb, reattaching it in a split second.
Chapter 726 Lord of Destruction Part 2
Rizo knew that such a wound couldn't heal so fast and that Lith's left side was currently exposed. He lunged his blade at Lith's weak point, only for a silvery clash to stop him in his tracks.
Lith's wings were coated in Orichalcum as well, and since he couldn't move his left arm properly, he had shielded himself with his wing. Being upside-down, they almost resembled a hand with the thumb pointing down, allowing Lith to flex the upper part of his wings so to grab the enemy weapon.
Before Rizo managed to free the blade by twisting it and ripping part of the wings to shreds, Lith's right fist struck at the Odi's kidney just in time to dodge a horizontal slash that would otherwise chop his head off.
Phloria and Quylla didn't miss the opening, unleashing a burst of lightning that almost brought Rizo to his knees. He had yet to activate the green array again because once set, he couldn't move it.
Without a solid strategy, Lith's Origin Flames would have damaged it before he could exploit the advantage that God's Will granted to him. Also, the array was very mana expensive and with the Reactor down, Rizo couldn't afford to waste what energy he had left.
The moment his opponent faltered, Lith took a Gatekeeper prototype out of his pocket dimension and lunged for the kill. Alas, Rizo's title of blade master wasn't just for show.
The Odi managed to ignore the shock thanks to sheer willpower and deflected the prototype striking at the point where the metal was thinner. The difference in quality between the blades coupled with Rizo's skill allowed him to break Lith's weapon and use the recoil from the clash to launch a counter-attack at the same time.
The attack was too fast and too close for Lith to dodge it, so he had to once again resort to using his metal coated wings as shields. Much to everyone's surprise, the inner part of the wings was covered in faces twisted in anger and pain that could be seen moving right below its black membrane.
Countless black arms made of darkness and spirit magic erupted from the wings, attempting to grab both the sword and its wielder. Rizo managed to cut them all before they could touch him, but at that point, the strength of his attack had been neutralized.
< "What's happening?"> Rizo asked more to the Odi who shared the body with him rather than to the humans. < "Where are these things coming from?">
More and more black arms came out from the surrounding darkness as the lost souls found a way to exploit their link with Lith to use Demons of Darkness in his stead. Soon there were more than just arms, but also heads and full bodies as well.
"Die!" Lith replied joining the onslaught. Thanks to the cover that the shadows offered to him, Lith managed to get close enough to lunge with his claw at Rizo's right lung, where the sphere that allowed him to conjure the God's Will array was hidden.
Even among the red sea of rage possessing him, Lith was aware that without the artifact, the enemy would be at his complete mercy. With just tier three spells at his disposal, not even a blade master would last more than a few seconds.
"Is that really Lith?" Quylla asked, finally recognizing the familiar voice. Until that moment, snarls and roars had prevented her to understand who she should root for. She had previously aimed her bolt of lightning against Rizo only because it was what Phloria had done.
"Yes." Phloria nodded. She instinctively tried to reach for her sword before remembering that the Odi had taken it away from her. "We have to help him, he can't win without a weapon."
Quylla was about to reply that she begged to differ since his claws had pierced through the damaged armor and the Odi's flesh, spraying blue blood everywhere, when Rizo reactivated God's Will in the nick of time before Lith's fingers could close around the sphere.
A wind-push as strong as a tornado sent Lith crashing against the wall while the vengeful shadows were dispersed. The God's Will array allowed Rizo to manipulate mana, not the lost souls inhabiting them.
Rizo could have used fire or lightning to kill him, but since the monster appeared to be immortal, if the attack failed and the thing still managed to take the God's Will from him, even the female humans might have been able to kill him.
"I don't want to stay here." Solus said. "How do I get back to Lith?"
Jirni-Mogar laughed with a sweet and silvery voice that would have been soothing if it didn't come from someone with Jirni's features. It sounded mostly creepy.
"You're so funny, child. I already told you: that's your mind-" Mogar pointed at Solus's human form.
"-and there's your body." She was now pointing at the arm protector visible on Lith's right arm, covering him from the hand to the shoulder.
"Do the math."
Solus still had a lot of questions, yet Phloria was right. Lith couldn't win without a weapon. Also, Mogar was right. With a broken life force and apparently also a broken soul, without her Lith was at risk of being possessed by the undead that he was currently manipulating.
She walked toward Lith, looking at her slender, pink hands one last time before overlapping her body with his own.
'Get up, we don't have a second to lose!' She thought. There were countless things that she wanted to say to him, but that wasn't the time nor the place.
Rizo had realized the threat that the two female humans now posed to the Odi's lives and with the body-swapping machine destroyed, they had no use for them anymore. He dispelled the God's Will, conjuring it again so that it enveloped the area between him and his prey.
Phloria and Quylla were at its fringes, but having their backs against the wall they couldn't escape. Not before he reached them and cut them down. Rizo was at the opposite side, darting through the array, leaving no blind spot that Lith could use to stop him.
The two women attempted to Blink, but the magical formation prevented them to.
Lith had yet to recover from the joy and shock to have Solus back yet he could already feel his heart squeezing from pain. He was about to lose one of his closest friends and the only woman that he might have ever loved.
His body moved faster than his mind and faster than Rizo. The Odi's elemental fusion was more powerful, but Lith's body was stronger and his limbs longer. It allowed Lith to reach Phloria and Quylla before his enemy.
'Solus, I know that I can beat him, but I need your help. There's one last trick that I didn't dare to attempt before because it will put your body at great risk and I hoped that giving you some time to heal, would allow you to recover.
'Thank heavens, I was right. I know that it's unfair to ask you to suffer again even though you've just returned but…'
'I know and I'm deeply grateful for everything you've said and done for me, but now stop wasting time. I trust you with all of my heart, so do what you must.' Solus cut him short.
'We'll face this enemy like we faced and will face anyone who stands in our path, together!'
Chapter 727 One Shall Fall Part 1
"Begone!" Lith screamed at Rizo while using his wings to cover his arms, creating a multi-layered protection to stop the incoming slash.
Rizo laughed at the monster's stupidity, this way he could kill all three of them in one fell swoop. He activated the powers of his Eternal Blade, fueling them with an enormous amount of the power that the Reactor still had left.
The Odi's masterpiece was now surrounded by a white aura, strong enough to literally cut the air in front of it and even to split matter down to an atomic level. Lith's black wings evaporated, unable even to withstand the intense heat and power the Eternal Blade emitted.
'Wait! Why are the wings black?' Guuna pointed out. She was a genius on Solus's level, so she couldn't possibly miss what was happening.
'What the heck are you saying? This Scourge has always been red and black!' Rizo ignored her remark, putting all of his weight and focus behind the strike.
'The monster, yes, but his armor was silver! Where is its armor?' Guuna had noticed that Lith's wings were back to being pitch-black, only made of flesh and bone.
The answer to her question came in the form of a silvery sound as the Eternal Blade was pushed away by an unstoppable force. Rizo could only curse at his stupidity when he saw that the armor wasn't the only thing to have disappeared.
The arm protector was gone as well and, in their stead, there was a silver bastard sword between Lith's hands. Its shape reminded Phloria of the Gatekeeper, but it was clearly made of Orichalcum and had a green and a yellow mana crystal on its hilt instead of two blue crystals.
Lith had made Solus's stone body took the form of his once prized blade and given her the entirety of the Skinwalker armor to protect her from harm. As the final step, by injecting his mana inside the armor, he gave to the makeshift weapon the same properties of mana boosted Orichalcum.
Yet Solus was more than what even the Gatekeeper once was. Not only could she channel Lith's elemental fusion, but also add her own, further enhancing all the blade's and Orichalcum's properties.
The Adamant alloy was semi-liquid, so no matter how many times the Eternal blade's aura pushed the liquid metal aside, new Orichalcum kept flowing to replace the missing parts while its energy field clashed with Rizo's weapon.
Lith's strength plus Solus's while combining their fusion magic was enough to almost rip the Eternal Blade off Rizo's hands. Both blades were now above their masters' heads, but only one of the fighters still had a firm grip and both hands on his weapon's hilt.
Lith's body was wounded and battered, his mana almost depleted.
Too long had passed from the last time he had used Invigoration and even more since he had actually slept. Yet thoughts of his broken existence back on Earth were filling every corner of Lith's mind.
Almost losing Solus had reopened all of his old wounds. It had reminded him of the differences between the loveless world, devoid of anything worth living for, that he had left behind and Mogar, which was filled with people who needed him.
Rizo was now defenseless from his midriff to his chin, yet it wouldn't last for long. Lith moved his blade in a downward diagonal slash, to cut Rizo from his right shoulder to his left hip.
Even if with only one hand, Rizo managed to strike at the Soluskeeper with his own blade, preventing the cut from being deep by pushing the edge down and away before it could pierce his organs.
With his other hand, Rizo imitated the spell that Jiira had previously used and emitted from his palm a red beam of concentrated first magic aimed at Lith's heart.
'If the striking the head doesn't work, this thing must be like a vampire.' Rizo thought. 'Burning his heart should do the trick.'
The green array made the beam too fast and powerful to be dodged, not that Lith would have done it even if he could. Rizo had almost taken Solus away from him, Lith wouldn't let anything happen to Phloria or Quylla.
'No matter how powerful, that thing it's still fucking chore magic!' Lith thought as his red eye burned with mana of the same color, infusing both Solus and the enemy's spell. The red light born from the eye tilted the beam enough that his blade's aura was enough to push it aside.
Lith adjusted his grip on the Soluskeeper, following the motion from the previous attack to draw it near his chest in a horizontal stance and then lunged at the enemy. The combined beam parry and sword stab took Rizo by surprise.
He tried to deflect the Soluskeeper again, but his one-handed grip was too weak compared to Lith's double-handed form. Lith's blade pierced his chest, forcing Rizo to fly back to not be impaled.
'Stick to what you know, you moron!' Guuna scolded him. 'You're no mage, your control over first magic is pathetic at best and that thing has three eyes flaring with mana. Judging by their colors, you have to avoid fire, darkness, and water magic.'
'What do you want me to do, then? Heal him?' Rizo rebuked while a jet stream of Origin Flames tried to strike at him, only to be stopped by both the God's Will array and a bolt of thunder.
'No, you idiot! Use your damn blade and the advantage that having hostages gives you. He stood still to defend the women before so…' She stopped the moment she noticed that Quylla and Phloria hadn't remained idly.
They had used Lith's cover to get out of the array and free him from the need to fight inside the magical formation.
'Damn! Why am I the only one who is partnered with idiots?' Guuna thought.
Lith followed his enemy and now that everyone was out of the array, God's Will was reduced to be just a tacky decoration on the floor. Rizo used the thunderbolt from his blade again, but without the array, it was just a peak tier three spell that Lith deflected with a flick of his blade.
Once the two men were engaged again in close quarters combat, the difference in weapons soon become overwhelming. Just like the Skinwalker armor protecting her, Solus had no definite shape.
She adapted after each clash, making the parts of the blade that Lith used to block thicker at the right moment and shapeshifting it to be shaper and more curved whenever a hit connected, causing a deeper wound.
Rizo had a hard time following the Soluskeeper's movements, mostly because the blade kept changing its form, making it hard for him to hit its tip to easily deflect an attack.
'Fist it was double-edged, then single-edged, and now it's a goddamned curved sword! What the heck of a weapon is that?' Rizo had to predict both the movements of the Soluskeeper and its wielder, who despite being less skilled than the blade master had a vastly superior physical prowess.
Quylla didn't understand anything of what was happening, so she focused on Lith's non yellow eyes and the enemy's array, trying to find a way to help her friend. Phloria instead was in awe for his performance.
She had often heard the term "being one with the sword" but it was the first time she was actually seeing it. Solus wasn't just a powerful magical artifact, it was also part of Lith's body, allowing him to bring all of his techniques to a new peak.
Chapter 728 One Shall Fall Part 2
Phloria's amazement didn't stop her from also using her brain. Afraid that their enemy could once again steal the power of their spells, Phloria used earth magic to change the pattern of the floor to Lith's advantage, making it slippery where Rizo was and rough where Lith stood, giving her friend a better footing.
Sometimes she would make small bumps appear where she predicted the Odi would move, making him almost trip more than once. Fighting three against one without the green array was too much for Rizo.
He conjured it again, but before it could fully form the Eternal Blade was ripped off his hands, quickly followed by his head. Lith knew what was going to happen, so he quickly stepped out of the array as Rizo's remaining life force was detonated to buy the time necessary for the next Odi to step out.
'I need to rest, sorry.' Solus slipped back to Lith's finger and the Skinwalker back on his body. Between her near-death experience and her weak core, Lith was surprised that she had lasted for so long.
He gave Solus his most heartfelt thanks while hurling a constant stream of Origin Flames against the green array. By the time the explosion had faded and Veiga's body was fully formed, the magical formation was in shambles.
< "Rizo, you damn idiot!"> Veiga said, taking her magical staff out of her dimensional ring. Thanks to the array's power amplifying effects, her tier three spell filled the room with ice shards as big as a person, giving her prey no chance to escape.
Phloria used her tier four earth spell, Tidal Wall, to make the ground in front of her and her allies rise like a wave, buying Lith enough time for a full breath of Invigoration.
Veiga sneered at the ugly female's attempts to stall for time, conjuring one volley of shards after another, in a constant onslaught that soon brought the magical protection on the verge of crumbling.
She didn't care about how much mana was left in the Reactor, the only thing that mattered was her own survival. Lith pondered his options, trying to find a way out of that pinch.
'Dammit, that's a spell worthy of the name Checkmate Spears. I can't Warp in due to the array and since the offensive spell covers the entire room, I have no place to dodge. I could tank a wave or two, but I would die long before reaching that crazed mage.' He thought.
Quylla shared his opinion, but while Lith had fought putting his life on the line, she had done the best that she could to study the God's Will array. Quylla was no Warden, but she knew the Array detecting spell and how magical formations worked.
She also knew many more runes than Phloria, especially those the Odi used due to her thorough study of their magical discoveries. After seeing the green array being used so many times and how the various missing runes affected its working, she had a pretty good idea of how to make the assault stop.
She focused her Disarray spell on a single rune near one of the array's power nodes, triggering a domino effect that the already faltering magical formation wasn't able to bear.
Its structure collapsed, reverting the above tier five spell into an average tier three. When Veiga realized that despite the fact that the God's Will was still standing, its effects had completely disappeared, it was too late.
Lith exploited that opening to Warp in front of her, ripping the sphere from her chest with his left hand and squashing her head like grape with his right hand. Without the God's Will array, there was no need to dodge the life force explosion, so he could breathe a stream of Origin Flames that engulfed the corpse and smothered the detonation.
While the next Odi was still forming, Lith ripped her heart off before hurling a new jet of flames. He kept killing them non-stop, even though he felt that something was wrong.
Invigoration or not, he had never used Origin Flames so many times and his instincts screamed at him to stop. His life force was close to suffering more damage.
< "Please, have mercy!"> Guuna said when her turn came. < "You are killing an entire race. This is genocide.">
Lith's reply was to tear her asunder before stepping back to avoid the ensuing explosion. His eyes were blurring and his strength dwindling yet he didn't dare stop his work.
Only the Odi could actually see that as more of them died, the eyes in the room converged into a single point until they assumed a physical form that got closer and closer until they could feel its breath down their necks.
The black hands had disappeared once the spirits of the dead had been dispelled by the God's Will array but now Mogar's consciousness had coalesced to be ready to take her prize, leaving only the darkness originating from Lith behind.
Each of their forced rebirths drained more mana from the Reactor until nothing remained. Without its nourishment, the lump of flesh in front of Lith stopped squirming as time finally moved forward and demanded its toll from the Odi.
Their collective body withered and aged until they all turned into dust.
Only then did Mogar disappear. Finally its mistake had been mended and over time, from all that death life would blossom again. Along with the planet's consciousness both the silver and the black pillar disappeared, leaving Lith back into his human form.
"Well, that was interesting." Salaark said. "I'd say it was worth the trip.
"Really? I think the fight was really good as well, but from a battle crazed warrior like you I was expecting a lot of criticism about that poor kid." Tyris said. "Also, the only effective part of the Odi's plan was managing to hide themselves from us. Reactor or not, they wouldn't have stood a chance."
"I'm not talking about the fight, even though I have to admit it was pretty decent. I was referring to the anomaly's companion speaking with Mogar. It rarely speaks to non Guardians. By the way, what do you think the two pillars mean?" She asked while looking at Leegaain.
"It's a good sign. The first time the anomaly underwent a tribulation, the pillar was black, like that of an Abomination. Now there's also a silver one, which probably depends on the fact that he's not technically a beast and we've never seen the pillar related to humans.
"I think the two pillars mean that his nature is getting more stable, no more lost in between species but giving birth to a race of his own." Leegaain replied.
"It's more than that." Mogar materialized in the middle of its Guardians, appearing to each one of them in the form it had assumed back when they had met the planet's consciousness for the first time.
To Salaark it appeared as a blood-stained beast, to Tyris like a pregnant woman, and to Leegaain as the World Tree.
"Both hybrids are conflicted about their nature and are troubled to accept the changes they are still undergoing. Yet while the female is driven by her feelings and hindered by her memory loss, the male is almost a lost cause.
"He keeps living in the past, carrying a burden that drags him down no matter what choice he makes. That's why he still carries the mark of Abominations."
Chapter 729 One Shall Stand Part 1
"At the same time, the male hybrid fights for his future. It allows him to move forward and accept the change, rather than trying to foolishly bring back a forever lost past. It'll be interesting to see which side he'll choose, if he ever makes his mind." Mogar said.
"Are you saying that he might remain a hybrid?" Salaark asked. "I always thought that hybrid was just a temporary state of the spawn of powerful species before they reach maturity."
"And you were right." Mogar nodded. "But things are different now and so am I. A hybrid is now walking the path towards Guardianhood and even the Abominations I had forsaken as a lost cause have managed to evolve into something new.
"Things are changing pretty fast for my standards, and only time could tell if it's for the better or the worse."
***
Meanwhile, inside the Body-Swapping room, Lith was fighting to retain his consciousness. His cracked life force was on the verge of breaking, his stamina was depleted, and all the mana he had left wasn't enough to light a candle.
Lith had fought, ran, and cast spells non-stop for hours now, to the point that Invigoration would bring him back to less than 20% of his max strength. The fight with the Odi, with the necessity to constantly keep the Skinwalker armor in its boosted state, had drained his energies like never before.
"Are you alright, Lith?" Phloria asked while helping him to lie down on the floor.
'Are you alright, Solus?' Lith was still so scared from almost losing her that he constantly checked on her condition.
'I'm peachy, stop asking me that.' She giggled.
"I'm fine. I just need to sleep for a few hours. A week tops." He replied to Phloria.
"Shit, shit, shit!" Quylla was kneeling right next to him, checking his vitals. "This is really bad. He needs absolute rest. He's this close to further reducing his life span."
She then blew away the nearby pile of dust that once had been the lost Odi race and imprinted Ellkas' dimensional ring, taking back all of her stuff and Phloria's. Quylla had brought several potions with her, some of which were needed to stabilize the life force of a patient after a Body Sculpting procedure.
She forced Lith to drink a tonic, a stabilizer, and then she used tier four light magic to make sure that his body had the necessary energy to recover from its many wounds. All the damage his wings sustained had been carried to his human form as open cuts on Lith's back.
Lith protested for a second or two before the strain from the healing process and the stress from the fight made him fall asleep. Only once Quylla was certain that both Lith's body and his life force were out of danger did she allow herself to relax.
"We have a lot of catching up to do." She said while throwing a meaningful look at her sister. "You two have a lot of explaining to do, but right now I'm too tired and too happy to care about answers."
She hugged Phloria, enjoying her warmth. While she was working in the Mana Reactor's control room, Quylla had hated herself for abandoning Phloria in the hands of the Odi. She knew that Lith would have done anything to defend her, but to Quylla that wasn't an excuse.
She had no idea what Lith was, but, in her eyes, being a little inhuman was a small price to pay if it meant being powerful enough to protect those she loved. Then, she checked Lith's condition one last time before falling asleep as well.
Even if the red chains had healed the hole in her chest, her stamina was depleted by all the healing she had performed and the life force she had passed to Lith. Taking care of those two Golems had taken quite a toll on her mana as well.
Phloria's physical condition was pretty good thanks to Lith Invigorating her after killing Jiira. She armed herself to the teeth, standing guard in the case that more constructs, magical beasts, or whatever the Odi had left might pop its ugly head up and threaten their lives.
When the metal doors opened, her blade moved to fast that Morok's neck started to bleed even before he managed to notice the wound that the tip of her estoc had opened.
"First your sister kicks me in the nuts so hard that I don't know if I'm still able to have children and now you almost turn me into a kebab? What's wrong with you Ernas?" He asked while pushing the blade away with a finger.
"Have you ever heard of knocking? Not only it's a very polite thing to do, but also prevents others from thinking you're a fucking enemy trying to sneak inside and finish us off." She said.
"Point taken. Can we leave now? I'm sick of this place and I've no idea if there are more Golems left."
Phloria pondered about her options. Normally she would worry about rescuing her soldiers and the Apprentices, but the fact that they had left with no care for her well-being while even Morok had come to help, royally pissed her off.
"We have to wait until their condition stabilizes a bit. Then we get the heck the out of here." That was how long she was willing to wait for her comrades to return. They were all perfectly healthy whereas Lith needed medical attention.
"Do you want me to look around for our runaway friends while you guys rest?" Morok asked.
"No. I can't take on several magical beasts at once or a Flesh Golem and defend them at the same time. I need you here."
"Don't worry, I counted them. If those that attacked us back in the Living Quarters were all of them, there are only two left. If they are smart, they'll keep away from us."
"Quylla and I killed one on our own." Phloria said.
"Even better! Then there's only one left. The chances it attacks us are almost… Shit!" His optimism died as the metal door opened again, letting the last Golem in.
Solus was very tired but she was incapable of sleeping outside of her tower, so she was watching and hearing everything in the room.
'Maybe Lith is right. Maybe jinxing stuff really is possible.' She thought.
Yet the construct moved slowly, its arms raised in the air and its power core was exposed, protruding from its stone shell. Now that every single Odi was dead, the imprint on the slave runes carved into its life force had disappeared.
It was now free to do whatever it wanted as long as it didn't clash with its protocols, like self-harming. Seeing the pain and anguish in the eyes of the man grafted to the construct, Phloria's hand hesitated.
Killing out of mercy was different from doing it out of self-defense.
< "Please, I n…>" The creature attempted to say while using sheer willpower to hold back its screams of pain.
Morok had no such problems. He had seen enough Golems for a lifetime and couldn't wait to retire. His hammers smashed the power core, putting the creature out of its misery.
"He was trying to say something!" Phloria said.
"Then it should've talked faster. I'm not putting at risk the last Royal Forgemaster… I mean, my precious friends for a dead man walking." Morok hoped that Phloria wouldn't notice the greed with which he was staring at the silver wand in her pocket.
Chapter 730 One Shall Stand Part 2
By the time Lith woke up, all members of the expedition had returned. They had mustered the courage to check the outcome of the battle only after they had realized that they had no way to open the closed doors.
Quylla returned them their items from Ellkas's dimensional amulet and Phloria left took Morok with her to explore what remained of the room Gaakhu was still alive, and she couldn't afford to leave their back exposed to the alleged traitorous mage.
She didn't have to search for long since the missing Professor's corpse was waiting for them in the next room. No one would even know that just like the Odi, their slave seal on their victim's life force required the Mana Reactor to work.
The moment the device had run out of power the spells engraved in Gaakhu's life force had consumed her life in the attempt to prolong their existence. Phloria stored the corpse in her dimensional amulet. Traitor or not she didn't deserve to be left there to rot.
After Quylla checked Lith's condition, Morok Warped them all to the Tek's breeding facility and Phloria activated the dimensional runes until she found one that led to a safe corridor.
No one had any desire to walk until they found a way back to the surface, so after Phloria marked the rune on the outside so that Royal Forgemaster could spot it and easily get access to Kulah's lower floors, they used earth magic to dig their way out.
From that point, returning home was easy. As soon as the army could pinpoint their communication amulets again, Commander Berion sent a rescue team to their position.
Less than an hour later, the members of the expedition had said their goodbyes and had been sent to their homes.
Lith was brought to the Ernas household since Quylla refused to let him go anywhere until she was certain that his life force was stable, his life span was unaffected by the strain of fighting a literal one-man army of Odi, and she hadn't got some answers from him.
Kamila was overjoyed from seeing him and appalled by his condition.
"Good gods, you look terrible." She said while looking at his pale face and battered body. Even though Lith had eaten non-stop since he had regained his consciousness, to reattach his arm and heal all of his wounds had made him lose a few kilograms.
"I missed you too, babe." He said, holding her tight for a few seconds before giving her a passionate kiss. After feeling so close to death for so long, he needed to feel alive again.
"Stop right there!" Quylla separated them. "No action, of any kind is allowed to you until you have recovered. You're too weak for anything more 'romantic' than a hug. Healer's orders."
"Can we at least eat together? We both need to get some weight back." Lith asked, prompting Phloria's stomach to rumble in agreement. She had been too tense to eat properly after escaping from Kulah.
The three of them told their story in turns during the late dinner they consumed with Orion and Jirni, soon joined by Lith's family that wanted to see him as soon as the Jirni informed them of his condition.
Later, when Kamila and Lith were cuddling in their bed, Lith couldn't stop thinking that the Ernas had accommodated him in the very same room where years ago he had spent his first night with Phloria on purpose.
Sharing that bed with another woman was really awkward for him.
"How is Zinya doing?" He asked, trying to find a way to introduce the topic he really cared about. During the last few weeks, Lith had shared so much with Phloria, and now even Quylla knew part of his secret.
Yet Kamila, the most important woman in his life, was still completely in the dark. He would have lost her at the hands of Fallmug if not for Jirni, but due to the distance separating them and the countless impending threats at the time, he had failed to realize the real meaning of such an event.
After almost losing Solus, after finally holding Kamila between his arms, looking at her pale and gaunt skin, he now understood how fragile human life was.
"She's doing pretty well. Fallmug's death was a huge shock for her, but I think that having her children back made her too happy to waste even a moment of her time grieving.
"She also received all of his possessions as compensation from the abuses Fallmug inflicted upon her over the years. Between Vastor's testimony and Fallmug's attempt on my life, the judge had no qualms imposing the maximum sentence."
"Is she still at my parents' home or has she gone back to her house?"
"Are you kidding? Neither Zinya nor her children want to step foot again in that horrid place. She's selling the house and everything within it to get a fresh start. Zinya has moved to Lutia now, to stay as far away as possible from Fallmug's family and our own."
"What? Where?" Lith asked. The implications of that piece of news startled him a bit.
"She's bought a house near yours, so our families are neighbors now." Kamila blushed a little, but hid her embarrassment by burying her face in his shoulder. "Your parents did a lot for her and she has fallen in love with the warm climate of the south.
"She can now afford a tutor for both herself and the kids to get them homeschooled. They've been apart for so long that she wants to make up for the lost time and give them the freedom they never experienced.
"Their grandparents weren't as harsh as Fallmug was, but so far their childhood has been reduced solely to fear and duty. They deserve to know happiness as well as their mother.
"It's all thanks to you, you know? First, you gave her sight, and then you gave Zinya her life back." Kamila snuggled up to Lith, searching for his embrace.
"Nope, it was all thanks to you, Kami. It was you who never stopped fighting for her, even at the cost of your personal safety. By the way, there's something I'd like to tell you…"
"Is this about me losing too much weight? Do I really look that bad?" She asked. Embarrassment was the only thing that gave a bit of color to her face.
"No, but actually yes. I mean, you're bordering on putting at risk your 'assets'. You can't afford to skip even one meal. The fate of Mogar depends on it!" Lith replied with an overly dramatic tone while checking her goods.
"Stop it." She moaned. "You heard your Healer, you need rest."
"This is no foreplay, just a medical examination that I'm conducting as your personal Healer. We can always call Quylla, if you need a second opinion."
"Pervert! That's not your professional face." She said before giving him a slow, deep kiss.
"Is it important?" She asked, receiving a serious nod in reply.
"Can it wait, please? I've already had too many emotions for today. The only thing I want right now is to enjoy your company and the first happy moment I have since Fallmug's attack."
"It can wait." Lith said. That speech had been on stand-by for so long that a bit more couldn't hurt.
They had both quite a lot of pent up stress and being so close reminded them how lonely they had felt without each other. Yet Quylla's instructions prevented them from doing what they really wanted.
Chapter 731 Gains Part 1
Only Lith's exhaustion saved them from a long, awkward silence. Due to the constant fighting and use of Invigoration, he had lost all of his body fat along with part of his bone and muscle density.
Lith fell asleep the moment he closed his eyes to sniff Kamila's hair, giving his metabolism the opportunity to fix all the damages he had sustained.
Thanks to all the nutrients he had ingested during dinner and Lith's ability to assimilate world energy, his body was rebuilt from its foundations, pushing the impurities within it away from the new tissues and closer to his mana core.
***
Lith spent the next two days doing nothing but eating, sleeping, and using Accumulation. His enhanced metabolism sped up his recovery, making him regain weight at an astounding rate, but that came with a price.
Healing and evolving required a huge amount of energy that Lith decided to take only through conventional means. His choice was based not only on the fact that his recovery speed was already unnatural, but also because in his condition, using Invigoration would do him more harm than good.
Despite all of Quylla's and Lith's treatments, his life force was still unstable. Forcefully injecting a strength that his body might not have been able to handle yet was as risky as it was pointless.
Aside from the headaches Lith got by standing so close to Kamila and yet being forced to keep his hands in his pockets, there were no threats in the Ernas household. Also, he had noticed his impurities moving and by using Accumulation instead of Invigoration he could exploit that opportunity.
His entire body was being flooded by world energy, rebuilding itself stronger and denser than before. Using Accumulation allowed him to speed up the natural process of moving the impurities towards his core so that he would experience the next breakthrough the moment his body was ready for it.
It was a win-win situation for him which allowed Lith to strengthen both his body and mana core at once. Also, it gave him the time to assess his loot from Kulah. He still had in his pocket dimension Rizo's Eternal Blade, the bead that activated the God's Will array, but more importantly, the books he had found in the lab's safe.
The Ernas Household was one of the most ancient and powerful magical bloodlines of the Griffon Kingdom. Their library could easily compare with that of any academy, covering almost all topics known to mankind.
It also contained several books about lost languages and all the dictionaries Lith needed to make heads or tails of his possessions. Or better, Solus did and he just reaped the fruits of her endeavor.
They were both overjoyed discovering that one of the books was a detailed explanation of the Body-Swapping technique, of which the Life Merging process was just an incredibly hard and mana expensive variation.
'Building the necessary equipment might take a lot of time and resources since I don't recognize half the ingredients listed in here, but this is a great start!' Solus had devoted her whole time since they had gotten back to checking Lith's condition and translating the book about body swapping.
'Agreed, also, we might not even need all of them. The Odi were stuck with tier three magic in all fields but light magic and forgemastering, whereas we can use all tiers of true magic.' For once Lith shared her enthusiasm.
Not even he could find a sour note in such a discovery. Sure, there was no certainty that it would work, nor that they would manage to understand the underlying mechanism of the process, but it was a start. More than they had ever had.
'I'm so happy to have you back Solus.' Lith was brimming with joy like it didn't happen since the day he had healed Tista from her congenital disease. 'When I thought I had lost you, I almost went insane.
'I'm really sorry that while we are here I can't spend more time with you, but isolating myself would arouse even more suspicions than my recovery speed already does.'
'Don't worry, we have all the time in the world, I'm not going anywhere, you big oaf.' Solus mana enveloped Lith's body, while her mind pushed her feelings of joy to the fringes of his mind, in what was the closest thing to a heartfelt hug she could give him.
'By the way, there's something you need to know.' Solus shared with him all of her memories about her encounter with Mogar, the existence of the Guardians, and Lith's alleged role during the tribulations.
'Fuck me sideways.' Was his first reaction. 'I don't like this at all. Do you think that Mogar has manipulated me so far? That all the bullshit that happens to me depends on some kind of cosmic scheme?'
'Honestly, no. I didn't feel any malice from her, and I consider myself an expert in recognizing cold-hearted manipulators.' Solus replied while looking at Lith first and then to Jirni.
She was teaching Kamila about Royal Constables' protocols and revising with her some of the most controversial cases as simulation exercises.
'Mogar also said that it's you who constantly call upon her, not the other way around. I'm more worried about the Guardians. What if they feel threatened and decide to kill you? We don't stand a chance against such powerful creatures.'
'Please, that's fubar paranoia, even by my standards.' Lith replied. 'I doubt that they care about someone as weak as I am, just like I don't stomp all ants I see because they might evolve into something more powerful.
'We must focus on the good news. Mogar didn't call me a monster or an alien, which means that either even this planet doesn't know what I am or that it doesn't care. Also, your out of body experience has finally given us conclusive proof that I was right all along.
'You are human and have a nice C cup.'
If Solus had a body, she would have blushed from head to toe. She had completely forgotten about having checked her body back then and now she had shared all the knowledge she had acquired about her real form.
'You- How can you focus on my breasts during such a dramatic moment of my life?'
'It's just a memory, we're safe now. Also, cut me some slack. I'm only human, after all.'
"How are you feeling, Lith?" Orion's arrival saved Solus from her predicament. She really didn't want to hear Lith's opinion about her build, especially not in the over-aroused state he was.
"Weak, but aside from that, I feel great. Thanks." Lith was sitting on a bench in the manor's park, located nearby the veranda where Jirni and Kamila where working. After being underground for so many weeks, he really missed the sun.
"I will never be able to thank you enough for saving my little girls, especially Phloria. It was really brave of you to face that monster alone instead of running away once you rescued the rest of the expedition."
"As I already told Jirni, our friendship runs deep. I would never let something happen to them on my watch. By the way, what's the status of the sword?" Lith asked.
"It's coming along nicely, but since I'm really serious about it, it will take some time. I don't think you want something half-baked again."
'What the actual fuck? What kind of monster Orion is if the Gatekeeper was just something he did for fun?' Lith thought.
Chapter 732 Gains Part 2
"Of course not. After all, you have to compensate me for three Orichalcum Skinwalker armors. You better give it your all, old man." Lith actually said. His smug expression hid his awe at the idea of what Orion could craft for him if he actually went all out.
"Yeah." Instead of mocking Lith back, Orion nodded. He hadn't forgotten how Lith's armors had already saved her daughters plenty of times. Orion would make the best he could without breaking the Kingdom's laws.
Royal Forgemastering techniques could only be employed to craft authorized equipment. Doing otherwise was considered treason.
Lith then decided to strike the iron while it was still hot and exploit Orion's unusual meek attitude. Lith told him about the discoveries about runes he had made during his stay in Kulah, putting the blame for his forbidden knowledge on Neshal and Yondra, while keeping Phloria out of it.
Dead mages told no tales and the Kingdom could not put dead mages to trial.
"I'm really curious about runes. Is it a hidden specialization like those that are taught in the academies? How do I get to learn about it?" Lith asked.
"How the heck did you squeeze so much information from them?" Orion was taken aback by such a request.
"I told you. Kulah was filled with old runes, so they had to explain to me how to operate the dimensional runes and counter the Golems. Also, my Forgemastering analysis spells can detect runes, which made them all the more eager to recruit me for their academies." Lith replied with his usual blend of truth and lies.
"You're a bit too young for this stuff. The Kingdom doesn't accept Forgemasters who don't have a history of loyalty to the Crown. So far, you've been quite useful but no one thinks that you're loyal to no one but yourself." Orion sighed.
"What about Phloria and Quylla? They already have wands and know runes. What's with the double standards?"
"Kid, do you really want to compare a grassroots mage to an ancient household? Do you have any idea how many people owe me favors? I'm not waiting for the moment of my death to collect them.
"Since my daughters are interested in Forgemastering, it's only natural that I do the best that I can for them. Phloria is determined in pursuing her military career, just as Quylla wants to become a teacher for one of the six great academies.
"That's something the Kingdom is willing to bet on, at least with me vouching for them. But you? In a year you'll be out of the military and who knows, maybe even out of the Kingdom. Would you give away state secrets to a rogue mage?" Orion said.
"So, you can't teach me or you just don't want to?" Lith asked.
"Both, but I can at least answer your questions. Runesmithing is just a branch of Forgemastering, just like the Bonding process. As for how you can learn about it, there are only two possible ways.
"Number one, you commit to the Kingdom. Become a permanent military member, an echelon of the Mage Association, get a role in an Academy, whatever works for you and roots you to the Kingdom.
"Number two, marry into a family important enough to give you access to the resources you want. That's another kind of bond that can't be overlooked and works just fine."
"Isn't there at least a third way? Learning from an Emperor Beast or from another rogue mage?" Lith asked.
"Sure, that's not against the law. Good luck finding someone who possesses that kind of knowledge and is willing to give it away for free." Orion sneered at the idea. "Any more questions?"
"None that you're willing to answer to, thanks." Lith stood up and went to the kitchen. He hadn't eaten in almost two hours and his stomach was rumbling.
While eating a T-bone steak with roasted potatoes Lith pondered about what to do with his loot. After a thorough analysis with Invigoration, he had discovered that the magical artifacts were useless to him
They had a safeguard mechanism that would react to the imprint of a non-Odi destroying them, not to mention that the God's Will bead required a mana output that put Silverwing's Hexagram to shame.
The sword was at least covered in runes that Lith could study and its pseudo core was worth replicating.
'What if we trade the God's Will to the Crown in exchange for something?' Lith thought.
'The problem is in exchange for what? If we give it away now, there's nothing we want, whereas if we reveal its existence later, you could be charged with treason. We have only until you give your report to decide.' Solus replied.
Those two days soon became very boring to him. Not being able to practice magic and being forced to rest was something that Lith didn't experience since his childhood.
The only silver lining of that situation was that thanks to Solus using Invigoration on Kamila to speed up her metabolism and send the nutrients to the right places, she was recovering almost as fast as he was.
Quylla examined Lith multiple times a day, to check that his life force hadn't sustained any more permanent damage. She believed that just like Death Vision, Lith's transformation was due to the damage he had received by saving Protector.
That maybe their life forces had interacted, awakening some latent trait belonging to one of Lith's ancestors. It was impossible to think that Raaz wasn't Lith's father. The two men looked too much alike for their resemblance to be just a coincidence.
The truth was that Lith's current condition was due to the abuse of Origin Flames. The powerful technique required to mix a tiny speck of life force with world energy, but no matter how little it was, it would still put strain on the life force of its user.
To fight the Odi, Lith had pushed his body to the limit, resulting in his precarious state.
"You still need to rest, but tomorrow you might be able to do some light exercise." Quylla said at the end of the second day. Lith's life force was stable, but she would like for him to wait at least another full day to let it settle properly.
"Lith, I know it's none of my business, but I have to ask you anyway. What the heck did happen in that cave? What was that thing you became?" Her voice was genuinely worried.
Lith could see from her eyes that she wasn't afraid of him being a monster so much as of being sick. As if his second life force was a disease to cure instead of another mystery in his life.
'I wonder what did I do to deserve such people in my life.' Lith thought.
'You did the right thing for the wrong reasons, but it's paying off anyway. Be careful about what you say to her. You have yet to speak with Kamila. The more people know before she does, the more it will hurt her.' Solus warned him.
"Beats me." Lith honestly replied. He still had no idea what a world tribulation was nor why he was a hybrid even though both his parents were humans. "It started off back when I went to Kandria, but only recently I became able to shapeshift.
"I don't know how to explain it, but I've got two life forces."
"That's impossible." She said after examining him with Scanner again. "There is no such thing as a second life force."
Chapter 733 True Friend Part 1
"Look deeper. The second life force is hidden by the first one, like a faint melody can be easily covered by loud music." Lith said.
"Wait, are you saying that you can hear life forces as well? Gods, that's a relief. I was starting to think it was a sign of insanity." Quylla said with joy, having finally found a kindred spirit.
"What do you mean? I thought that every talented healer could."
"Manohar is the only one who has no problems admitting that he hears life forces and as you know, being like him is not considered a good thing." She chuckled, making a second attempt at Scanner.
"Good gods! This is amazing." Quylla said after finally finding Lith's second life force. "It looks like that of an Emperor Beast, but theirs isn't surrounded by a black sphere, nor do they appear to be battling. I've never seen anything like that before."
Nor she would ever be able to. Scanner required physical contact and usually, those who touched an Abomination wouldn't live to tell the tale.
If the human life force looked like a mix of lego blocks and erector set pieces, while the Emperor Beast life force looked like a burning star, the Abomination's looked like an empty black sphere.
"When exactly did you visit an Emperor Beast?" Lith asked. Even he had been able to make the analogy only after treating Kalla's failed attempt at Lichhood.
"Light magic is something most beasts are terrible at, so when they get injured, the Lord of the forest sends them to the academy to be treated. I always wanted to understand why magical beasts can use a different kind of magic and I think the answer lies in the difference between our life forces. They are nothing alike."
'That's because we are two different species.' Lith thought. 'The difference lies in the beast being born partially Awakened but limited to two elements, whereas we humans can always use all elements but we have no innate affinity to them.' Lith thought.
"Your condition is truly unique. Your two life forces complement and strengthen each other. This probably explains why you always recover so fast." Quylla said over his musings.
"Meaning?"
"Whenever you take damage, your human life force tries to fix it, like it happens to every other person. What makes you special, is that your other life force is capable of helping and nurturing the former by sharing part of its energy.
"Which means that, at least in theory, not only could it lead to fixing your human life force over time, but also that you might actually live as long as a normal human being. Twice the life force, twice the life span." She said.
"I'm sorry, Quylla, but I think that's not the case. My life forces are intertwined, when one runs out the other will die as well. Also, if you take a good look at them, they share the same energy.
"I haven't got double the amount of life force, it just flows from one form to another. Otherwise the crack I sustained while saving Protector would have already healed." Lith sighed.
Quylla used Scanner on him again, this time focusing less on the marvel that a patient with two life forces was and more on what the implications of such a thing could be.
"You're right. It's like two bottles sharing the same liquid. Yet it still makes no sense." Quylla was suddenly at a loss for words. She loved Lith like a brother, yet the fear of the unknown started to seep inside her heart.
If the second life force wasn't a disease, nor a consequence of saving Protector, then it opened the question about what Lith was. At first, the fear of dying at the hand of the Odi hadn't left any space for doubts and then, once they returned home, her affection for him had trampled her caution.
But now that that Quylla was forced to face the bits of truth that Lith could offer her, she didn't know how to react. On one hand, she was supposed to be scared of the unknown being sitting in front of her, but on the other hand Lith was always Lith.
His strange abilities didn't change the fact that he was her first crush, or all the time they had spent together, or the several times he had risked his life to help her, just like against the Odi.
Yet she couldn't just shrug everything off as if nothing had changed.
"Do your parents know?" She asked.
"No. It's not the kind of thing that you can tell lightly. Hi, Mom. Hi, Dad. Do you remember when Orpal said all the time that I'm a monster? Well, guess what, he was right." Lith replied with a sad smile.
"That's not true, you're not a monster!" Quylla blurted out before she could think about her words, surprising even herself.
"You're very kind, but we both know that most people would put me on a lab table just because I'm stronger than the average Joe, let alone if they knew I'm whatever this is." Lith waved at his body.
"Does Phloria know?"
"Of course she does. I would have never dragged her in a relationship without letting her know the mess she was walking into."
"It was really brave of you. Of both of you, I mean." Quylla wondered if she would be able to accept as a boyfriend a man-something hybrid.
"Nah, it wasn't bravery, at least on my part. Once I realized that Phloria was falling in love with me, that things were getting serious, I revealed myself to her in the hope to scare her away."
"Wow, that's a dick move if I ever heard one. Almost as bad as breaking up with her with a letter." Quylla said with a chuckle. For a monster, Lith was pretty damn human.
"You're right, but you know me, dick move is my middle name. She deserved someone better, someone normal. Yet she accepted me anyway and kept my secret for all this time. You have no idea how much it meant to me."
"Were you planning to tell me, sooner or later?"
"No. I didn't want to risk one of my only four human friends. Beside you, Phloria, Friya, and Selia, I've no one. I didn't tell my parents for the same reason, because I'm afraid of their reaction." Lith said.
"So, no one beside me and Phloria knows?" Quylla didn't know whether to be scared of flattered by the burden she now had to carry.
"Protector knows about it too. As I told you, I've no control over the transformation. It also happened when I was trying to save his life, otherwise I don't think I would've told him either. Why do you think I chose to work alone as a Ranger?
"It's to stay away from people as much as I can."
"What about Kamila?" Curiosity was getting the better of Quylla.
"She doesn't know it, yet. But since we're almost together for a year, I think it's time to break up or move up. With all that has happened between us, I can't let her delude herself or make plans for the future without knowing anything about the real me."
Lith had no intention of making Protector's mistakes nor to play with Kamila's feelings. He had never planned to grow so fond of her and the idea of losing her hurt like hell, but hiding the truth would have only delayed the inevitable.
Chapter 734 True Friend Part 2
Quylla was about to rebuke that Kamila knew a lot about the real him, but this time her mind was as quick as her mouth and she managed to stop herself.
What she was about to say would have been hypocritical since Quylla knew Lith even better than Kamila did and yet she had no idea how those revelations had changed their relationship.
"Can I talk about it with Phloria?" She asked.
"Yes, but with no one else. There are too many lives at stakes."
"You have my word that I'll keep your secret, no matter what I decide. Before giving you my answer, I need some time to think."
Lith walked out of the room, leaving Quylla alone with her thoughts. For the first time in her life, magic had no answers to offer her, only more questions.
'That went well.' Solus thought, trying to cheer Lith up.
'Not really. First, she treated me as if I was one of her patients, then as a freak of nature, and lastly, she was scared. The worst thing is that I think that Kamila will go straight to the third step. Maybe I should just break up with her.' Lith replied, ignoring the sting that such words caused to his heart.
'That would be wrong for both of you, but especially for you. It would mean that you can't have a relationship with anyone but Phloria, or well, me, if I ever get a body.' It took Solus sheer willpower to say that without stuttering.
Contrary to her expectations, instead of taking it as a joke, Lith nodded. Kamila and Jirni were out working, so he informed Phloria of the most recent developments before starting to study and organize everything he knew about Runesmithing.
"I'm sorry it came to this." Phloria said. "I really hoped you would tell her of your free will instead of being forced to. Don't worry, I'm sure everything will be alright."
Yet her words lacked conviction. Lith didn't reply and kept staring outside the window of her room while using Accumulation. Even the silences between them were never awkward, they could both tell what the other was thinking just by looking at their face.
"By the way, since when do you have horns, tail, and all that stuff?" Phloria asked.
Lith told her the little he knew about world tribulations, about how it started in Kandria and how he lacked the ability to control the transformation in such circumstances.
He even assumed his hybrid form to show her the differences between his normal and tribulation state.
"Wait! Turn around." She said.
"What's the matter?"
"Your eyes are not yellow anymore and there's a blue one opened on your forehead."
"Yeah, it opened while we were in Kulah's underground facility, but it does nothing, just like the others." Lith shared with her the details about his sudden ability to understand the Golems' language and the messages he had received.
Thanks to Solus's talk with Mogar, now Lith knew that somehow even his understanding of the Odi language was related to his tribulation, just like the eyes and the hands erupting from the shadows whenever he was very upset.
The eyes were Mogar's consciousness while the hands were the manifestation of the dead spirits around him. It wasn't only his life force to be damaged, but his souls as well, making it a natural receptacle for necromantic energies.
"I don't think it's so simple." Phloria said.
"And why is that?" Lith had already reverted for a while in his human form.
"Because your left eye is still black and your right eye is still red. That has never happened before. Your hybrid eyes have always been yellow and the human eyes brown."
Lith conjured a mirror made of ice, discovering that Phloria was right. A simple thought and everything went back to normal.
"Well, that's new. At least I can change them at will." Lith switched them several times from red to black and then to blue, testing the limits and the speed of his control.
"The question is what can they do?" She asked.
"Just what I fucking needed right now! Another goddamn change I've no control over!" Lith stood up abruptly looking for something to destroy to vent his rage until he remembered that he was in Phloria's room, not his own.
"I know that there's nothing I can do or say that can make you feel better, but please, remember that if you ever need someone to talk with, you can always count on me." Phloria held his hands until the rage and frustration that made them tremble faded.
She didn't try and reassure him about how Quylla would react, nor attempted to ease his worries with empty words. Phloria just hugged him, holding Lith tight to let him know the only certainty that she could offer to him.
That he wasn't alone.
No matter the details of his physical appearance in any of his forms. To her, Lith was an irreplaceable person.
After witnessing all the pain and anger he bottled up that only his hybrid form could express, after seeing him put his life on the line for her over and over against the Odi, she wasn't scared of him one bit, she only loved him more.
The two of them might not even belong to the same race, they weren't together anymore, yet Lith was always there for her, no matter the cost. And not because he wanted her money or lusted after her body, he simply cared for her.
Phloria was only 21 years old, yet she already knew how rare finding such a person was, how precious such a blessing was.
Lith returned her embrace, wondering once again if he hadn't made a horrible mistake not fighting for her back when Phloria had proposed to break up. Oddly, for the first time in years, she asked herself the same question.
'Maybe Lith was the right person, but back then I was too young to really understand the implications of his secret and he was too afraid to open up to anyone. We met in the wrong moment of our lives.' She thought.
"Thank you, Phloria. Now I'm sorry, but I feel very tired."
Back in his room, Lith used Accumulation non-stop to assess the condition of his body.
'Did you notice that every time you use a lot of mana or receive serious injuries the process of accumulating the impurities in your body speeds up?' Solus pointed out, trying to take Lith's mind off his predicament.
It was hard to decide what was worse between the risk of losing one of his few life long friends and being dumped by his girlfriend not because of something he did, but just for who he was.
'Yeah. I think that it depends on the massive mana flow coupled with the complete body reconstruction I have endured. It happened almost the same way after Balkor's attack' Lith replied.
'I'm nearing the breakthrough, but I can't risk it happening while I'm at the Ernas manor nor in front of Kamila. That would mean opening up not because I want to, but because I have to once again.'
Lith's life force appeared to have returned to its peak condition, but he decided to follow Quylla's advice and take another day of rest, just to be sure. A failed breakthrough meant death or becoming an Abomination.
Chapter 735 Prodigal Daughter Part 1
To make matters worse, each breakthrough was harder than the previous ones and since it was the first body refinement Lith would experience with a blue core, he couldn't take any chance, not with his life force already cracked.
'I was thinking about Yondra's words, she actually left us a big clue about Runesmithing that we have overlooked so far.' Lith thought.
'She used our Skinwalker armor as an example, saying that after the Bonding process, the Orichalcum's mana flow becomes too vigorous to be Forgemastered. Which means that runes have to be applied before Bonding the material with mana crystals.'
Lith took the sword and the booklet he had acquired from Huryole out of his pocket dimension.
'While we wait for Orion to fulfill his part of our bargain, we can start experimenting on the swords. We have two blueprints, after all, and we can even try out the patterns in the book.'
'Well, yeah, but those are all old-ass runes. I mean, the Odi's Adamant sword is much better than the teaching prop we found, but its runes are even older. The materials needed for the experiments are cheap, but I'm afraid we might just waste our time and learn outdated methods.' Solus replied.
'True, but we can try and experiment with the new runes we know and see how different the outcome is. Orion isn't wrong when he says that it's unlikely for anyone to accept us as a disciple.
'I doubt that the Hydra will take us in with no strings attached, so the more we know before we meet her, the more knowledge we can squeeze from her even just by a few hints.'
Lith spent the rest of the time until lunch in the Ernas library, consulting tomes about Wardens. Arrays were the only form of magic that used runes and by comparing old and new arrays, Lith could expand the number of runes from the booklet that he was able to convert into modern magic.
Jirni and Kamila returned to dine with the family, but since they were following a delicate case, they left soon after, leaving Lith alone with his worries. He would have loved to sneak out and go back to his tower, but each time he watched at his impurities nearing to his core, he was reminded of how little time he had left for a complete recovery.
There wasn't much he could do without magic and on top of that, Quylla had also forbidden all kinds of physical exercise to him.
"This is going to be the longest day of my life." He groaned.
'That's not true! You can spend your time with Phoria and Quylla, or you could call Friya. I mean, how long has it been since the four of you have done something together?' Solus objected.
"Good gods, Lith, you look wonderful." Friya said. "When Quylla told me that you were on the brink of death, I returned home as fast as I could, but you look damn dandy."
Lith had already regained the lost weight, but his body had rebuilt itself better than before, with the result of him being less lean and more muscular than before. He suspected that Quylla was right and that his two life forces somehow communicated.
His muscles weren't much thicker than before, but way denser, like they were in his hybrid form to not get hindered by the scales.
"Friya, it's so good to see you. Not only because you're even hotter than I remembered you to be, but also because I'm bored as heck!"
"Are you coming on to me?" She chuckled. "Because the compliment sounded a little too honest for our usual role play. Has something bad happened between you and Kamila?"
"Yes, it did. Because of my wounds, we can only hug and hold hands despite the fact we haven't see each other for almost a month. Sorry if I made you uncomfortable." Lith preferred not hugging her this time, limiting their greeting to a handshake.
He already had enough headaches with Kamila.
"Well, let's go get my sisters. The four of us have a lot of catching up to do."
***
Free country of Lamarth. Beyond the eastern borders of the Gorgon Empire.
"I never dared to dream that this day would come true!" Bytra, the Raiju-goblin hybrid Abomination said.
Now that she had moved in the Master's Headquarters and had been bestowed the Rank of Master Forgemaster, she had spent the last month practicing the skills that back in the day had earned her the title of Ruler of the Flames.
It was the greatest honor that an Awakened Forgemaster could receive and there could only be one per generation. Yet since now Bytra was an immortal Eldritch Abomination, she would have all the time she needed to reach perfection.
There were so many things she had forgotten and even more still clouded in her memory. Even after consuming her original self, her hybrid body and mind had yet to stabilize completely.
Still, even though the Master had no clue about runes or how to smelt very powerful metals, there was very little that their network of human and Abomination connections couldn't provide Bytra.
After countless explosions and having wasted almost a ton of precious black iron, Bytra had finally completed her first Orichalcum weapon.
"That makes the two of us." Xenagrosh didn't share one bit of Byra's enthusiasm and neither did her voice. Xenagrosh had spent the past month only eating and training in using Origin Flames under Bytra's insistence.
According to their resident Forgemaster, Origin Flames could be used to refine any kind of material in its purest form, granting to enchanted items made out of such materials astounding properties.
The Master and Xenagrosh had kept this knowledge for themselves and had prohibited Bytra from sharing it with anyone else. Even to the eldest Abominations such secret was either unknown or well kept.
The Master had ordered Xenagrosh to help her newfound "sister" to the best of her abilities since soon things would take a turn for the worse.
The Eldritchs who didn't take part in the monster hybridization project were envious of those like Xenagrosh who had reached the next level while they were still stuck in their old form and all the other plans of the Master had yet to bear any fruit.
Also, they were scared of the clones that had defeated their originals and were now hidden in plain sight, maybe plotting to feed on their weaker kin. The Master was aware that only power could keep such a rough bunch in line and powerful artifacts would help them reaffirm their authority.
Xenagrosh had always used Origin Flames only as a means of attack against those dumb or slow enough to stand in her way. They were just flames, after all, hence easy to dodge compared to a spell that she could freely move around at will.
Bytra had taught her that just like spells, Origin Flames could be controlled, in order to not have them destroy so much as purify. The problem was that Xenagrosh had no idea how to do it and Bytra had only vague explanations to offer Xenagrosh based on her memories.
Xenagrosh had destroyed a mountain worth of ores before understanding what she was supposed to do and had almost died in the process. Using too many Origin Flames in a short amount of time had weakened her life force to the point of almost breaking it.
Chapter 736 Prodigal Daughter Part 2
Xenagrosh had been horrified discovering that performing just one more breath would have crippled her troll half, forcing her back to be just an Eldritch Abomination in a matter of a few decades.
The Master had used all of their skills to save her and forbidden her to use them in such a mindless way. Once she had recovered, Xenagrosh had then being forced to learn tier five light magic to keep her own life force in check.
After that, she had spent all of her time as Bytra's furnace, gaining the Raiju's eternal gratitude and the mockery of her peers. For a several centuries-old being feeling ignorant first, falling ill, and finally being a laughingstock was far from a pleasant experience.
"Is it good?" Xenagrosh asked.
"You tell me." Bytra handed her what looked like a set of dragon claws. "I made it so that you can use it in both your human and dragon form. They will grow in size with you."
The silvery glove had six purple magic crystals embedded on its surface, one for each finger and one in the middle of its backhand. It shone so brightly that Xenagrosh could hardly believe it wasn't made out of pure Adamant.
As soon as she imprinted it with her mana, she could feel its several enchantments pulsing at her fingertips.
"Father of Dragons! This thing is better than my prized Adamant blade." Xenagrosh said.
"That's the best compliment I could hope for." Bytra giggled like a little girl. "Where did you find it?"
"I bought it from a Forgemaster for the price of a small kingdom 800 years ago."
"Well, then it's normal." Bytra said, turning gloom. "Back then runes were highly inefficient and if the Adamant hadn't been purified, it's likely to be crap."
Xenagrosh wasn't stingy, but hearing her most powerful weapon, with which she had slain countless Awakened ones being called a piece of crap hurt her wallet deeply.
"I have a question. Even though I've recovered most of my abilities, I still can't use Invigoration, Accumulation, and not even Life Vision. Is there something wrong with me?" Bytra asked.
"No, I'm in your same boat and I've got no idea how to fix this." Xenagrosh sighed. "How long before you can work on good stuff like Adamant and Davross?"
"Depends. How long before you can purify them instead of just melting them or even worse vaporize them?" Bytra replied.
"Oh, fuck me sideways! Again with this crap? Seriously, sister, we need a break."
"But the Master said…" Bytra wasn't really interested in following orders, but after longing her Forge for centuries, she would use any excuse to practice her art.
"The Master can go fuck themselves for all I care. You keep crafting weapons for us hybrids, we must nip the rebellion in the bud. I'll search for a solution to our common problem." Xenagrosh was tired of studying and learning about her new abilities.
The problem of having evolved was that she knew nothing about her new self, making her feel like a child again. With it, fear had returned. Back when Xenagrosh was just a Wyrmling, she had given up on her dragon half to avoid the hassle it implied.
Then, when she had later tried to achieve a purple core, she had failed miserably and had become an Abomination. Xenagrosh was afraid because the past she had run away from for centuries was finally catching up with her.
'I'm a fucking dragon again and I've to study again. This doesn't bode well. What if I fail? I've always failed in everything I did. The Master considers us Eldritchs to be the top of the evolutionary scale, but to me, we're just the kings of losers.
'We've lost our bodies, our Awakened powers, and even Mogar has turned its back to us. I hoped to never have to do this again, but if there's something that I've learned after spending decades with the Master, is that there's nothing wrong with asking for help.'
Xenagrosh flew for hundreds of kilometers until she found a small island in the middle of the ocean. Then, she cast all of her best arrays to prevent anyone from following her signal or pinpointing her position.
Only then did she take her communication amulet out of her omni pocket. What Lith called 'pocket dimension' was referred to by other creatures as an omni pocket.
Unlike common dimensional items, once someone had imprinted an omni pocket, they could access their storage dimension even though they didn't carry it on them. It made their owner unpredictable and usually only ancient, powerful beings like Xenagrosh had one.
They were so rare that even Xenagrosh had not found nor bought her own. It was her coming of age gift, the only thing she had left from her past together with her amulet. Her eyes became watery when she saw that only a handful of communication runes were left.
Her mother's had disappeared first, then her friends, and even some of her siblings. She hadn't used her human amulet for centuries, too many memories were linked to it.
She activated the first rune she had ever imprinted it with, which belonged to the one who had gifted the amulet to her, along with her omni pocket.
"Hi, Dad. It's me, Zoreth. How are you?"
"Sugar plum, you're alive! You've no idea how many times I've attempted to call you over the years." Leegaain said. He hadn't heard from Zoreth in a long, long time. She was one of his firstborn and Leegaain considered her to be one of the biggest failures of his life.
She had rejected his legacy first and then his teachings, walking a path of self-destruction before breaking her mother's heart.
***
Commander Berion's Office, City of Belius.
"I've already listened to the reports of all the survivors of Kulah, at least to those which make any sense, except for yours, the Ernas's, and Ranger Verhen's." Commander Berion said, drumming his fingers over his desk.
He was a man in his early thirties, standing 1.8 (5'11") meters tall with pitch-black hair and eyes. His pale blue uniform could barely contain his muscular body, giving to each of his movements an impression of strength.
In front of him sat Morok Eari, the Ranger ranked first among the veterans and ready to get honorably discharged to return to civilian life.
"You are the one who fought by Verhen's side the most and you're the only one who didn't get himself captured or killed. Hence your report is of the utmost importance for both evaluating Ranger Verhen's worth and the danger that Kulah posed to the Kingdom."
Morok told Berion his side of the story. Omitting parts like his nature as a Tyrant Emperor Beast, Lith's secrets, and Quylla getting the drop on him by kicking him in the nuts, of course.
"My final conclusions are as follows: all the Odi ruins should be classified as danger zones. We got this close to having those madmen infiltrate our country and I doubt that anyone would have noticed until it was too late.
"As for Ranger Verhen, the earlier reports about him greatly underestimate his talents. I've seen him destroying Golems stronger than anything I've ever faced before as if he was squatting flies.
"Don't get me wrong, he bleeds just like you and me, plus a well-planned ambush can put him in a corner. Yet give him one bit of advantage and he'll turn it into a kilometer. Also, at the cost of sounding repetitive, Golems!"
Chapter 737 Menadion's Story Part 1
"Those things are the apex of enchanted automated weaponry, with no weak points nor vitals that one might exploit. Usually it takes a squad of well-trained people to take one down and Kulah was all made of metal, making it impossible to employ the standard anti-construct strategies.
"Consider that even though I destroyed as many Golems as he did…" Morok allowed himself some poetic license to keep their secrets safe. "… I still had my weapons, whereas he lost his blade at the beginning of the mission.
"That's the bit of good news. The bad news is that I don't think that you will be able to keep him in the military. He's too good for you. I've seen his Forgemastered creations at work and they are masterpieces."
"I believe that Captain and Mage Ernas wouldn't be alive without the enchanted armor that he gave them and his glove weapon is simply amazing. The Professors bickered like children to recruit him, so I doubt that the measly pay of an officer can be of any interest to him." Morok said.
"We're aware of his talents as a Forgemaster, but normally soldiers exchange their merits for enchanted weapons. The army is the only organization that can provide high level equipment to its members based on their performance." Berion said.
"Well, there's nothing 'normal' about people like him or me." Morok shook his head.
"Your items have no allure for him. Even Royal Forgemasters admire his pieces. Money is pointless since he can just sell a couple of his prototypes and make more in one hour than you pay him in a year.
"Remember my words, if you don't feed the bird, then don't cry when it spreads its wings and leaves the nest. One last thing, I highly recommend Quylla Ernas for whatever position she applies to.
"She has opened Kulah's door, killed more Golems than anyone else, besides Lith of course, and if she didn't deactivate the Reactor, we wouldn't be having this conversation."
"Do you really hold her in such high regard?" Berion asked. It was uncharacteristic of Ranger Eari to think about the best interest of the Kingdom rather than his own. It was one of the reasons why they weren't fighting to keep him in their ranks.
He created almost as many problems as he resolved.
"I sure do. She's a small but fiery woman. I think I'm in love." He said before leaving the Commander's office, who quickly alerted Lady Ernas of the calamity that could reach her home at any moment.
***
Ernas Mansion
While hearing the story of their adventure in Kulah, Friya didn't miss how things seemed to be kind of awkward between Lith and Quylla, whereas Phloria seemed to be a little too relaxed for someone who had just experienced the first major failure of her career.
All the Professors and some of their Assistants had died under her command. Odi or not, the six great academies were bound to not let it slide, with the risk of Phloria being punished or even demoted.
Even at the end of the story, after they told her how they had combined their strength to wipe the Odi off the face of Mogar, Quylla seemed to be more embarrassed than relieved to have survived such dramatic events.
Quylla had never lied to Friya before, so keeping Lith's secret was already a burden to her. Plus, she had yet to make up her mind about their relationship. Being together in the same room forced her to confront her conflicting feelings, making her only wish to be out of there as soon as possible.
"I'm sorry, but I've to say this. Quylla, why are you squirming on your seat like that? Did you make another pass on Lith and he rejected you or did you catch them making out?" Friya said while pointing at Lith and Phloria.
"What? No! Why do you think I am the one who got rejected? Couldn't it be the other way around?" Quylla became beet red from embarrassment, while Lith and Phloria just chuckled at the idea.
"Because you haven't looked so nervous since you had the hots for him, while Lith seems to be worried about you. So I thought that maybe, after spending so much time together in a life or death situation, something spicy might have happened."
Quylla's reaction was interesting, but since the other two didn't show a shred of guilt, especially Phloria, Friya understood that her guesses were way off the mark. Since no one seemed to be willing to talk about the elephant in the room, she decided to not pry further.
"So, what are you going to do now? I suppose that you two will ask for a leave, while you, Quylla, will apply for some time off."
"Yes, I hope so." Lith replied. "I have plans with Kamila to make up for the lost time and talk about some important matters. Also, I have a lot of studying to do." Lith couldn't wait to start practicing Runesmithing and continue his translation of the Body Swapping book.
Joining the army was finally paying off. He had found both a way to increase the prowess of his creations and maybe the clues for a definitive solution to his reincarnation process.
From the little he had managed to understand, body-swapping was as hard as achieving Lichhood, but the process had been standardized, making things much less risky compared to undeath.
The key differences were that Lith had to build the apparatus and find a replacement body.
Its biggest downside was that he would lose his mana core, his body, and even his muscle memory. Yet since he would retain all of his artifacts and knowledge, plus having an Awakened human a very long life, he wouldn't be forced to repeat the process often.
'Who knows, maybe I'll find a way to transplant the rest as well. After all, the Odi weren't Awakened and I can rely on modern magic, not their ancient crap. If I can get my hands on real Runesmithing, the sky's the limit.' He thought.
"I honestly don't know what will happen to my career." Phloria sighed. "So I think I'll use this time to get serious about Forgemastering and maybe start learning a bit of Warden magic. I don't want to ever feel so helpless just because of one goddamn array."
"And I'm going to study Battle Mage spells first and then work on War Mage. I'm tired of being completely useless in combat." Quylla said.
"Boring!" Friya replied. "All you can think about is studying. It feels like we're back at the academy. I'm currently unemployed, so if the three of you have nothing better to do, then we could do something together."
She had expected for her proposal to be enthusiastically accepted, yet its reception was lukewarm at best. Lith had a lot on his plate between Kamila, Selia, and Faluel the Hydra.
Quylla didn't feel like spending more time with Lith until she had sorted out her feelings whereas Phloria really needed a break. She had never believed the rumors about Lith being bad luck, but she really wanted some peace and quiet.
"Okay, fine, oh grumpy ones! Let's ruin our reunion by moping around and holing ourselves up in our respective labs. After all, we just have to wait another four years for the stars to align again and have some spare time together."
Lith remembered Yondra's dying words about her regrets for always having put her work first, leaving her no time to truly appreciate everything she had.
Chapter 738 Menadion's Story Part 2
To make matters worse, he had returned the Professors' bodies to the army, but he still had to deliver Yondra's final message to her family.
'Solus, do you want in or do you prefer that I leave you in Lutia? I'm sure you'd like to spend some time in your body with Tista and Nyka.' Lith thought.
'Until you have a proper weapon again, I'm not going anywhere.' Solus replied. 'Just have her pick something easy.'
"I can agree with your idea with the following conditions. First, we make camp somewhere near a Gate, so if bad luck follows our tail we can always ask for reinforcements.
"Second, let's do something fun rather than dangerous. Third, and I mean no offense, but I'm not single. I'd really like to spend some time with my girlfriend, especially after risking my life on a daily basis for a month. So nothing too long."
"Oh, my! You groomed mister 'mean eyes' into a true gentleman, dear sister." Friya chuckled. "I'll accept all of your conditions and raise your ante. You can have Kamila join us for dinner once she is done with work.
"With a Gate, it will take her a step to reach us and a Warp for us to bring her to our restaurant. Yet, four women and one man seems a bit inappropriate. What if we invite the other Ranger as well? Judging by your stories, he seems like a funny guy…."
"Absolutely not!" The three veterans from Kulah replied in unison.
"He's obnoxious, even by my standards." Lith said.
"He's damn rude." Phloria said. "It took him a week to believe that I'm a woman."
"Plus, he hits on everything that breathes. Ranger Eari made so many passes at me that if I hear his voice one more time I might snap. I don't even dare imagine how he would react if he sees you." Quylla said with a bit of envy.
She was pretty, but Friya's hourglass figure was a stunner.
Phloria agreed as well. Because of her relentless rise among the army's ranks and her sisters' full-time jobs, she hadn't seen them for more than an hour at lunch for years. Also, she could feel Quylla's eyes staring at her from time to time.
Lith's secret wasn't a heavy burden but it wasn't small either.
'It was much easier for me to accept his nature. Back then, we were still together and I think I was in love with him like a teenage girl can be. After seeing so many people die during Nalear's attack, after losing Yurial, I would have accepted Lith even if he was a five-headed dragon.
'As long as he was fine and by my side, nothing else mattered.'
At that point, Quylla was forced to agree. She really wanted to spend some time with Friya, and Phloria was the only one that could help her unravel the tangle of thoughts in her head.
Friya then started to tell them about how she had spent the last few months. As she had told Lith the last time they had met, she had completely changed her guild's hierarchy.
She had kicked out all the mages from the great academies in favor of those from smaller academies after obtaining the right to teach her own specializations to the most talented members of the Crystal Shield guild from the Mage Association.
It had made things quite competitive, but now there was more motivation than envy, and everyone now worshipped her like a goddess. Since most of her lessons would find practical application during their work, usually talent and survival rate went hand in hand.
"This way those with little talent quit after having a taste of their own limits, while those who stick with me are either really talented or motivated. I was able to apply for harder jobs and successfully complete them.
"Now that I have people who I can actually trust, I'm finally starting to make some real money!" She dropped a bag full of gold onto the table, gloating.
It was more than a Captain or even a Professor would make in a year. Lith would have liked to point out to her how such a sum was less than what he could make by selling a single Orichalcum Skinwalker armor, but preferred not to ruin her moment.
After all, he wouldn't make many of them since he liked to keep his advantage. After chatting a bit more, Lith gave Friya her own Skinwalker armor before returning to the library.
After talking with Solus about his plans for the future, he had decided to take a look at her past. Orion could really teach a thing or two to most libraries in the Kingdom. Not only were the tomes in the Ernas's library divided based on their topic and arranged in alphabetical order, but also each section was linked to a holographic pad.
By inputting specific keywords, each pad would notify its user what tomes they had to consult. First, Lith tried to input the name "Menadion", but without much luck. After all, for such a research method to work, the pad would have been able to contain a digital copy of all the tomes, which was still beyond the capabilities of magic.
Then, he tried with "Ruler of the Flames", getting several hits. In all the other libraries he had access to, he had to explain why he was researching such a specific topic which proved to be quite a difficult feat to Lith since he had no idea who Menadion was.
Saying: "It's for a friend" would only get him a sneer and more questions than he was willing to answer. After checking that the system had no internal memory and that there was no surveillance system in the library, Lith put all the tomes inside Soluspedia.
He and Solus could immediately search for any information related to her master, discovering an appalling lack of details. The title's meaning seemed to be obscure since many Forgemasters had used it in the past, but never bothered to explain its origin.
As for Menadion, it turned out that Solus's memories were correct. It was the name of a woman, one of the best Forgemasters of her era who had lived almost 700 years before and was considered to be one of Lochra Silverwing's closest friends.
According to Orion's books, Menadion had left behind several powerful artifacts which together formed a set. The picture of the Eyes of Menadion reminded Lith of Scarlett's pince-nez, making him curse when the book just described it as a "peerless treasure".
There were also depicted a helm as the Ears of Menadion, a set of gloves as the Hands of Menadion, a mask as the Mouth of Menadion, and a hammer as the Fury of Menadion.
Little was known about her personal life, aside from the fact that she had been born in the Griffon Kingdom and that even though she had raised many apprentices, none of them seemed to have inherited her talent nor her title.
There was no mention of her having a tower or working on forbidden magic. Menadion seemed to have lived in Silverwing's shadow for most of her life. Her friend's achievements were so great that the few historians who mentioned her did it only because the two ancient mages were really close.
Chapter 739 Menadion's Legacy Part 1
The only other bit of relevant information he found was about Menadion's sudden disappearance right after sharing with the magical community the set of artifacts bearing her name.
The historians also reported that it had been her, together with Silverwing, to build and project the foundations of all the great academies. Also, even if it was Silverwing's legacy that had allowed magic to develop into the disciplines now called specializations, Menadion was universally recognized as the inventor of Forgemastering.
'Poor woman.' Lith thought. 'She was the Salieri to Silverwing's Mozart. The fact that she was basically a recluse and left no legacy behind doesn't help either. Does her story ring any bells, Solus?'
'Sadly, no.' She sighed. 'I can't believe that there are so many stories, between truth and fiction about Silverwing and so little about master Menadion. It's unfair! She's the mother of Forgemastering, after all.'
'It's not like other mages got it any better. Aside from Silverwing, do we know the name of the mage who created modern healing magic? Or any other specialization? No, all Professors always quote Silverwing's writings.' Lith replied.
Solus had to admit that he was right, yet it didn't make her feel any better.
At least until Lith walked to Orion's study and asked him about Menadion.
"How do you know that name?" Orion was quite curious. Aside from powerful crafters, very few bothered to remember the name of the First Royal Forgemaster, the Ruler of the Flames who first had tamed all metals with her blazing Fury.
"I'll be honest with you." Lith said, opening his speech with a blatant lie that made Solus laugh her ass off. "I was snooping around your library, hoping to find something about runes, when I discovered her existence.
"It pisses me off that nothing is recorded about her, so I wanted to ask you, a fellow Forgemaster, if there��s any tome I can consult about her life."
"There's no such thing as an official biography about Ripha Menadion. Most of her works are still a state secret, but if you content yourself with some lore, I can share with you all the information available to the public."
Lith nodded for Orion to continue and Orion offered him a seat.
"According to what I know, she was born in Derios. Back then the city was just a small-time village, but due to her choice to build two academies near her hometown, it soon grew until it became the capital of the entire region.
"She was rumored to possess an amazing mage tower, that she was capable of rearranging as she saw fit. Menadion could turn a bedroom into a kitchen or a broom closet into a perfectly equipped Forgemastering lab with just a snap of her fingers.
"Some even say that her tower was alive, capable of independent thought and movement."
"Does that mean that she dabbled in forbidden magic?" Lith asked, almost causing Orion to fly into an outrage.
"That's a perversion of magic! No Forgemaster would ever dare to do something like that. Master Menadion was also one of the founding Spellbreakers, she took down countless scums who dared to mess with her legacy.
"What I meant to say, is just that it was akin to a living being, like an academy. Every single of its stones was enchanted, its master could reshape it at will, and it was able to self-repair.
"It was only thanks to her tower that Menadion managed to craft such wonders. After her death, countless mages, human, undead, and even beasts scoured the entire Kingdom looking for her tower, but to no avail.
"The legend says that Menadion's disappearance was due to a demon, who stole her Fury. Without it, Menadion was akin to crippled, so she searched for it for the rest of her life."
"A demon?" Lith sneered. Aside from himself, he had yet to see anything that even looked like one.
"Yeah." Orion sneered as well. He believed in demons just like he believed in free meals. "It was probably a rival mage who managed to seduce her first and then betrayed her trust to steal her secrets.
"That or one of her disciples. You know what they say. Keep your friends close…"
"And your enemies closer." Lith nodded.
'Is there any chance that you are the demon, Solus? Maybe you stole her tower and she fused you with it as a punishment.' Lith thought.
'What? No! I could never do something like that, at least based on who I am now and the little I remember.' She replied, even though she couldn't think of any other reason why a kind person as her master could have doomed her to an eternity of misery.
"Is there a museum about her? Anything? I would like to pay her my respects." Lith said.
"There's none, Lith." Orion shook his head. "But know this. Every time you work in your Forge, you already bestow upon her the greatest honor she might have ever wished for.
"Every enchanted item you craft, you shape it from her teachings. Know then, that every time you create even the most insignificant trinket, you're following the footsteps of the First Forgemaster.
"The second greatest honor Menadion could ever ask, is for you to take a disciple. Only those who have learned her lessons and in turn teach them, making it so that a unique innovation can become a foundation for all, can say that they have truly inherited her spirit.
"I will not lie to you, there are ancient bloodlines and Emperor Beasts who have their own legacy, but none of them is superior to Menadion's.
"Despite the fact that they might live longer than we do, their numbers are too few, whereas Royal Forgemasters share and improve her teachings every single day as they have done since she gifted us her knowledge.
"If you really consider yourself a Forgemaster, you should think about leaving a legacy that amounts to more than mountains of corpses and broken buildings. Your feats might one day take one page in history books, whereas your teachings might fill books and most importantly, shape lives."
"Thank you, Orion. After meeting you and Yondra, I'm considering the idea of becoming a Royal Forgemaster." Lith said with a smile. Orion's words were almost the same Lith had told Morok.
On top of that, whatever the Hydra might teach him, it would be the legacy of a single bloodline and the same would stand for all Awakened. A master could teach their disciples, but could the work of a single person, no matter how gifted, compare with the constant work of thousands?
Especially since people like Manohar and Balkor existed. A single non Awakened could make Runesmithing improve by leaps and bounds, allowing people like Vastor or Marth to find even more applications.
Awakened ones, instead, were limited by their small numbers and were unlikely to share their knowledge.
'At least in theory.' Lith thought. 'Who knows if Awakened had their own Silverwing or if this so-called Council provides to its members a base amount of knowledge. I'm really looking forward to meeting Faluel the Hydra.
'She will help me determine the next course of action after I quit the army. Or maybe she will just try to eat me alive.'
Lith and Orion went to dinner together, still talking about any trivia Orion could remember about Menadion. Lith was likely to have already got her tower, Menadion's Fury, the prized Forgemastering hammer, would have been a fine addition to his collection.
Chapter 740 Menadion's Legacy Part 2
City of Ocra, Griffon Kingdom
The news of the fall of Kulah had shed an even more disturbing light around the rogue Awakened Lith Verhen, Raagu Drerian, the human representative in the Council of the Awakened decided that their meeting was long overdue.
"First this Verhen has killed Treius, causing the downfall of master Glamus as well. Then he got caught in the scheme laid by those six runts in Zantia, causing the death of six disciples and two more elders.
"Usually it takes an all-out war to kill so many Awakened in such a short time. To make things even worse, rumors are spreading that he has managed to apply the Skinwalker spell to Orichalcum on his own.
"It would be a simple feat if he had a master, but according to our background check, he has none. We can't afford to let such a powerful individual remain a rogue anymore, he must be brought into our ranks."
Raagu failed to mention that Lady Tyris had already met Lith in person twice, something that most Awakened failed to accomplish during their whole life, Raagu included.
"What are your orders, master Raagu?" Athung Soranot asked. She had once been one of Raagu's apprentices, now a free Awakened and one of the candidates to inherit her legacy.
"Go to Lutia, wait for Lith, and bring him here on friendly terms. I've no desire to discover how far his power goes nor to alert the Queen's corps. We have nothing to gain from kidnapping him. Best case scenario, we make an enemy out of him."
"What about the worst-case scenario?" Athung tilted her head, she had rarely seen her former master so nervous.
'Lady Tyris comes here and slaughters us all.' Raagu thought.
"Believe me, you don't want to know." Was what she actually said.
***
Ernas Mansion, after dinner
Lith was sitting on his bed, working together with Solus to translate the words of power engraved on Huryole's sword into modern runes. Enough pieces of paper to fill a book were floating in mid-air along with several blots of ink that he used to either take notes or make corrections.
From the following day, Lith would finally be able to use his own magic instead of relying on Solus's, which meant he would be free to go back to Lutia and make experiments in their tower.
Also, he had to plan his visit to Protector and Selia, something that now was of the utmost importance. With the body-swapping book in his possession, Lith could finally plan ahead.
The future wasn't so scary anymore, especially since if he managed to conquer the Odi's technology, he would solve his reincarnation problem. If he hadn't joined the army, he would have never got access to the Royal Library, nor to all the confidential information about the undead.
His original plan was to turn himself into an undead, which he had discarded due to their many limitations in movement or use of magic, or to bind his soul to an item, yet cursed objects had proved it to be an even more desperate plan than becoming an undead, or to achieve immortality.
Body-swapping wasn't really immortality, but it was still the next best thing. Even if he had to rebuild his body and mana core from scratch, what could a few dozen years mean to someone who would live centuries?
"Lith, don't you think there's something wrong with me?" Kamila asked, forcing him to arrange the papers in a folder with a flick of his wrist before storing them inside Soluspedia.
"What do you… Great Mother almighty!" Very few things made Lith religious and that was one of them.
Kamila was standing in front of him, wearing only black lace lingerie and a worried expression.
"Wow, I wasn't expecting so much enthusiasm. It's not the first time you've seen me without clothes after all." She giggled while noticing the sudden rush of blood to his heads.
"May I remind you I spent a whole month fighting against unspeakable horrors, risking my life every single day while surrounded only by old coots and stinky soldiers? I'm not used to such beauty anymore. You should have given me some warning."
Kamila would have loved to keep flirting, but her worries couldn't wait.
"I've been pale for weeks, yet in the last two days, not only am I back to my regular complexion, but I'm also gaining weight. Haven't you noticed?"
Lith had a hard time, and not only at not noticing her smooth skin and soft curves.
"That's because since I've returned your mood has improved and you eat more." He replied.
"Yes, but this fast? I'm already amazed by how quickly you recovered, but I've never had a shred of your inhuman constitution. How do you think it's possible that the only places I gained weight are here and here?"
She said while touching her bosom first and her buttocks later, giving Lith a monstrous headache. The answer was a bit of Invigoration and light magic from Solus's side that had enhanced Kamila's metabolism.
Solus's intention had been to simply help Kamila to assimilate the nutrients and quickly relieve her body from all the stress it had sustained. Since Kamila was still young and very fit thanks to Jirni's training, the results had far exceeded even Lith's expectations.
"That might be my fault." He admitted. "Do you remember those disgusting tonics we both had to drink?"
Kamila nodded.
"I think they might have turned our famished bodies into this." He took off the upper part of the Skinwalker armor, showing his upgraded body to her for the first time.
"Well, I'm not going to complain, as long as you swear to me that this isn't any form of body modification. I'm your girlfriend, not your toy, correct?" Kamila's voice was soft, but her question held a lot of implications.
She knew about Body Sculpting and seeing her physique change so fast had made her fear that Lith might have gone overboard. Seeing his honest surprise had greatly reassured her, but she still wanted to hear it from his mouth.
"I did nothing to your body, nor would I administer you any potion without your consent. I'm shocked as you are. This actually adds insult to injury, making what I'm about to say even more painful." Lith sighed.
"What's wrong baby? After all this talk about my body, I thought you would be happier to check out how much stamina I've recovered." She sat on Lith's lap, rubbing her body against him while kissing him with growing passion.
"Quylla thinks that I should rest today as well, to let my life force stabilize." He moaned with a mix of pleasure from Kamila's movements and pain from the words coming from his own mouth.
"Seriously? After worrying about you for an entire month, after two whole days of holding myself back for this moment, do we really have to postpone again?" She nibbled at his earlobe before kissing her way down Lith's neckline
"Yes. Unless you want to risk taking a few years off my lifespan." He pushed her away before his mind went completely blank.
"Is it really so dangerous?" Kamila stopped abruptly, becoming as stiff as he was, afraid to hurt him.
"Sadly, yes. The silver lining is that once the sun rises, I should be good to go."
Chapter 741 Plans and Blueprints Part 1
"Yeah, too bad that I can't take tomorrow as a day off. We're in the middle of a case. Damn if I hate being a responsible adult." Kamila went into the bathroom, replacing the lingerie with a baggy pajamas.
"That makes the two of us, babe." Lith said before taking a lonely cold shower.
The following morning, Lith left the Ernas household. Quylla's Scanner confirmed that his life force was now no different from how it had been before. There were no new cracks and the old ones hadn't grown any bigger.
Once he was back into his tower, Lith took all the loot he had gained from Kulah out of his pocket dimension, letting Solus prepare their Forge while he called Protector.
"Scourge, what happened to you? I tried to call you multiple times to remind you of your promise. At first, Selia bugged me because she thought you were avoiding us but over time she got so worried about you that she almost forced me to visit your parents and ask them about your whereabouts." Protector was relieved from hearing Lith's voice.
As long as the owner of a communication rune was alive, their rune would remain, but not seeing Lith's amulet active for a month had brought Protector to the point of thinking that he was held captive and unconscious.
Lith told all about the events in Kulah to Protector, explaining that going deep underground had blocked all communications. Life in the wilderness was quite boring, so Selia's hologram appeared as well, sitting on Ryman's lap along with their children, listening to Lith's story as if it was a fairy tale.
Lith was amazed by how quickly Protector Hushed the kids' ears during the most gruesome parts. Then, Lith asked for their help.
"I would like to introduce Kamila to the four of you."
"Well, any kind of company is most welcome, but can I ask you why? I thought you wanted to keep your life as an Awakened a secret." Selia asked.
"And I mean to keep things that way. Learning about Awakening might put her in danger. My issue is about leaving her in the dark about my other half as Protector did to you. In a while, we'll have our one year anniversary.
"I don't think it's fair to drag things this long without giving her the opportunity to decide if she wants to stick with me or find someone more normal." Lith sighed. "You are the only mixed couple that I know, and seeing how she reacts to your situation would greatly help me to understand how open-minded she is."
"So, you're asking us to reveal our secret before gambling on yours?" Selia asked. Lith hadn't shared his hybrid nature with her, but the huntress had actually guessed a lot from the subtext.
"Yes." Lith nodded.
"Fine by me. What about you dear?" Selia asked Protector.
"Wait, what?" Both men said in unison. Ryman trusted Lith so much that any friend of his was also Protector's friend, otherwise he wouldn't have revealed himself so easily to Friya.
"Why so surprised? It's obvious that I'm interested in checking if all humans are scumbags. You are now in the same situation my children will be in a few years. I'm not doing it just for you, but also for my family.
"By the way, if she breaks up with you just because of what one of your ancestors did, she doesn't deserve you." Selia said, believing that Lith carried the blood of an ancestral Emperor Beast.
"It's kind of more complicated than that." Lith replied.
"Are you going to tell me?"
"Not now. Otherwise she would be the fifth one to know, which would make things even harder for her. Especially considering that my ex already knows…"
"Slow down. Are you saying that you already found a girl who accepted you in the past?" Selia cut him short.
"Yes."
'Actually two.' Lith thought since he considered Solus a girl too.
"And you let her go? I'm not going to lie, kid. That was a dick move on your part. When do you think you'll bring her here?"
"As soon as I can. She has a full-time job and so do I. Finding the right time might be tricky. I plan to do that first and then visit Faluel. As you can see, I haven't forgotten about my promise."
After another bit of chit-chat and receiving from Selia the magical equivalent of a grocery list of enchanted items she wanted as a "spontaneous gift" for her troubles, Lith joined Solus in their Forge.
She had already placed several cheap swords and all the lower grade mana crystals in their possession above the obsidian table that they employed for their experiments. She was in her humanoid form, wearing a simple blue dress with a knee-length skirt.
"I hoped that after our bodies fully regenerated, I would look even a tiny bit more human, but I'm still glowing like a frigging bedside lamp." She sighed. "My physical appearance must be linked to my mana core."
"Well, you still look gorgeous." Lith said. "Are you sure you don't want a body? With my current knowledge about constructs, undead, and even body-swapping, we could easily fetch you something."
"Damn sure. Now let's get to work. I've already organized a few things for you to look at. First, the Odi's runes on the blade are more advanced of those we found in Huryole, since they don't glow, but I think they are also less powerful.
"I've drawn you a comparison between all the rune engraved weapons we managed to examine with Invigoration, including Phloria's."
"What? When did you do that?" Lith was flabbergasted. That was the kind of dirty trick he would usually employ, something that he wouldn't expect from the kind-hearted Solus.
"The moment we got stuck in Kulah's lower floor and the life of everyone depended on you. I studied all the artifacts left around while the others rested. I did it only because I thought that learning about runes might boost our chances of survival." She replied as the lights in the tower turned red in embarrassment.
"As I was saying, even though the Odi blade has a pseudo core as strong as Phloria's, the entirety of its surface is covered in runes, whereas Orion used barely thirty runes in total."
"Are you telling me that Orion is already able to do much better than the Odi?" Lith's shock almost made his mouth fall on the floor.
"Well, it's no surprise if you consider that he is likely to use state of the art magic whereas the Odi stopped making any advancement centuries ago. Phloria's blade is just made of Orichalcum yet it would have been able to take the Odi on equal footing even if the other one used an Adamant sword.
"The main difference between the two weapons is that the Odi's was designed akin to a mana blade. By pumping the mana they received from the Reactor into it, the sword can be turned into the rough equivalent of a laser blade." Solus explained.
"I wish I could imprint it and discover its powers! It would be a huge step in understanding how runes work with different enchantments. I can't even fuse it to retrieve the damn Adamant!" Lith cursed the Odi and their self-destruct mechanism.
"Maybe, and maybe not." Solus said with a triumphant smile. "Rather than give it away to the Griffon Kingdom in exchange for pocket money and a handshake, we might as well try to purify it with Origin Flames."
Chapter 742 Plans and Blueprints Part 2
"Great thinking! My control over Origin Flames is still crappy, but since Adamant is very resistant and hard to find, we might as well try and see if it can withstand the flames.
"Maybe Adamant will be destroyed like normal metals, but maybe it could be just cleansed from the previous incantation. This will have to wait though. I'm not going to use Origin Flames for a while.
"I don't want to take any chances of weakening my life force before it fully recovers." Lith said.
"Right. I'm sure that your decision has nothing to do with you not getting laid once since your return." Solus's voice oozed sarcasm.
Lith dodged the question by starting to craft runes, stumbling upon their first hurdle. Engraving one rune at a time seemed to have no effect. They would retain his mana just for a few seconds before turning into just a fancy inscription.
He then tried to use Bonding to give the blades a mana flow of their own, yet the runes engraved before the Bonding remained inactive, whereas the ones engraved after the procedure would actually weaken the item's mana flow.
"Seriously, what the fuck?" Lith said after wasting quite a few crystals. He could buy the blades in bulk, but mana gemstones were another story entirely.
"Yondra said that Runesmithing is part of the preparatory phase, then why does nothing work?"
"Remember that we are attempting to reproduce the work of fake mages. They can't do things in steps like we do. Maybe if the network of runes isn't complete, it can't hold the power they are imbued with." Solus pondered.
"I disagree. Look at this junk." Lith showed her the blueprints of the only three rune-engraved swords they had, pointing at the old blades.
"I could understand if we were talking about Orion's blade but the others? Both swords are covered in so many runes that I can't think of a single fake mage with enough mana to carve them all at once. Sure, the Odi had the Reactor, but this blade was clearly crafted before its construction was completed
"With runes, Adamant, and infinite mana at their disposal, the Odi would have never settled for such a small pseudo core."
"Fine. Do you have any better idea?" Solus tapped her foot, her hands were planted on her hips.
"No."
"Then give mine a try."
Since it was still early in the morning and runes were his new priority, Lith did as instructed. He reproduced the runes of Huryole's sword, which had the simplest rune pattern among those at his disposal, on a new one down to the last detail.
The result was impressive. All the runes shone with power, not only retaining the mana Lith had employed, but also absorbing the surrounding world energy to empower themselves.
Soon they were even stronger than both Lith and Solus had predicted they would be.
"Told you so!" Lith said throwing his latest failure inside the safe room. Any decent Forgemaster had their lab connected to a room where to throw their faulty products in case they detonated.
Unlike most of his colleagues, however, Lith had Solus put a reinforced glass between the lab and the safe room, so that he could observe the deterioration process of his creation until its bitter end.
It had allowed them to more easily understand what had gone wrong and why. Lith used the technique he had learned during his stay in Kulah, making Invigoration move through the stone of the tower so that he could study the sword with his breathing technique from a safe distance.
In normal circumstances, it would have been an impossible feat. The further the subject was, the fewer details Invigoration would perceive, to the point that even Life Vision would be better.
Yet the whole tower was part of Solus's body and she was in turn part of Lith.
It greatly boosted his new ability's range and effectiveness, plus Solus could replay all the events he spectated, allowing him to focus on different aspects of his failure just by performing an experiment once.
"Yeah, but it was worth a shot." Solus said. She had never expected to succeed at the first try. There was a reason why runes were a state secret that not even most Awakened were aware of. "Any idea what's gone wrong?"
"Off the top of my head, at least a dozen." Lith replied.
"Hey, that's my schtick!"
"Just to be sure, I'll try out one of the spells that Phloria has marked as mere teaching props." Lith ignored Solus's remark and took the booklet out of his pocket dimension.
Some of the simplest enchantments had pictures showing what the final result would look like. Lith couldn't read the ancient language, nor had he found a dictionary for it, but now that thanks to Phloria he knew it wasn't anything dangerous, he could try and replicate the depicted runes.
To not waste any more materials, he used a stone slab as a medium and engraved the words of power according to the scheme in the booklet with his own mana.
Once again, the runes started to grow more powerful and unstable by the second, but since there were much fewer of them, the safe room was useless. The resulting explosion shouldn't be able to harm him.
"Do you see that?" Lith pointed at different runes that were pulsating in unison.
"Yes." Solus said, turning back into her wisp form and storing her dress. She had no Skinwalker armor and she loved her clothes dearly.
"It appears that there are at least two different sets of runes. Each set tries to connect with its components, but they both fail because the mana pathways they create mess with each other and cause the energy to overload."
"My thoughts exactly. What we believed to be a bunch of separate objects are actually all part of the same structure, like an oversimplified array." Lith tried to store the stone slab inside his pocket dimension before it detonated, but to no avail.
The haywire energy was rejected by his storage space.
"Dammit. It would have been nice having a few live grenades of that magnitude ready to blow." Lith said. "Maybe we should apply runes to Alchemy as well."
"I don't think it's possible." Solus pointed out. "Most alchemical tools are made of pure mana, whereas Runesmithing takes place during the preparatory phase. Wands are an exception since they have a physical medium, but we don't know if runes might interfere with the spell infusing process."
"Point taken. We'll think about it later."
They spent the following hour by studying the recording of the explosion of the sword, separating the different sets of runes based on the rhythm at which they pulsed.
It took them a few more failures to iron out the last details since if a rune was surrounded by the components of another pattern, its frequency would mimic their own and screw up Lith's predictions.
Once they were done, Lith could discern three different sets of runes on Huryole's sword, at least five on Phloria's and too many to count them on the Odi's. He even managed to perfectly replicate the weapon from the lost academy.
"Well, the good news is that now we know that runes have to be engraved in sets and that a single one by itself is useless. The bad news is that even with this knowledge, we have no idea what each pattern does." Lith said.
Chapter 743 Double Breakthrough Part 1
"Yeah, we still know too few runes to decipher a whole pattern and on top of that, I think that even if we know the modern equivalent of some power words, either we alter the entire set or we leave it as it is.
"We have no idea how ancient and modern runes interact, but if I had to take a guess, I'd bet that they go boom." Solus said.
After a quick experiment that proved her right, Lith decided to study the three rune patterns he knew by engraving them on three different blades. Much to their surprise, all the sets worked as amplifiers, but each one had a different function.
The first set would enhance Lith's energy signature so that the mana flow from the crystals embedded into the blade offered a bit less resistance to the Forgemastering process.
The second set amplified the strength of the pseudo core while the third set dispersed the excess energy so that the cheap metal could withstand the energy that the enchantment released and reduced the stress that the boosted pseudo core would experience.
The three sets combined allowed the magical item not only to avoid mana overload, but also to replenish its energy reserve faster than normal. The runes absorbed the surrounding world energy and aided the mana crystals to empower the pseudo core.
"Fascinating! Now I understand how Thrud could use such powerful artifacts freely. The runes act as a lesser Invigoration, shortening the recharge time of both mana crystals and power cores." Lith said.
"Yeah, too bad that we know only bottom tier sets of runes and we don't have a copy of Phloria's sword to detonate…" Solus was cut short when Lith suddenly doubled over in pain.
"Not now, dammit!" He said while a familiar burning sensation rose from his mana core and moved towards his throat. Lith knew that his breakthrough was close and that the more mana he employed, the sooner it would happen.
What he had failed to take into account was that, while he was inside his tower, part of the energy from the underground mana geyser flowed through his mana core, further speeding up the process.
Soon his whole body started to undergo the refining process that allowed an Awakened one to get rid of the impurities hindering both their mana flow and life force, allowing them to obtain a physique strong enough to handle a new and more powerful mana core.
This time, however, things were different. At first, Lith puked a huge amount of tar-like substance that had reached his core. After that, the deep blue core became brighter and started to pulse like a star.
'By my maker! Now I understand what impurities are for and why Tista needs helps every time she makes a breakthrough. Impurities are a double-edged sword that both protects and damages the body.
'On one hand, they hinder a person's development and enhance the signs of aging, but on the other hand, they are a natural inhibitor of the mana flow. Without them, normal people would die the moment their bodies are not strong enough to bear the power of their own cores.' Solus thought.
'Impurities move toward the core because the closer they get, the more effective they are and once the core gets rid of them, the body is forced to evolve or die.
'Removing Tista's impurities while she grew up made her develop a body that doesn't need to break as much as a normal person's would to be refined. At the same time, however, because she has too few impurities the process is more violent and quick compared to Lith's.
'To help her to survive her next breakthrough, we need to force her body to produce more impurities, whereas Phloria's case is the opposite. We must remove part of her impurities and force her body to rearrange itself enough to not get broken beyond repair when she Awakens.'
Lith's now blue mana core sent one pulse of energy after the other, like a beating heart. Each wave hammered at the impurities present in the rest of his body, forcing them out.
First, his hair and nails fell entirely. Then his muscles were ripped and his bones broken so that the impurities hidden even in the innermost layers of his body were laid bare and expelled.
His body kept breaking and reforming non-stop as if a rough surgeon was working together with a merciful healer to excise the black masses infesting every fiber of Lith's being.
Thanks to the fight with the Odi and having a much denser body, this part was relatively easy and less painful than his last breakthrough. Alas, his inner organs proved to be more difficult clients.
Even shutting down one of them at a time was a near-death experience that put Lith's endurance to the test. The only silver lining was that each time one of his organs was reformed, it would greatly improve the amount of mana and life force that flowed through his body, making the recovery of the other organs faster.
"It's really amazing." Solus said. "Now each one of your organs, your skin included, is an extension of your mana core. We could even rename them mana organs since now everything you do is actual magic."
"Yeah, but if my brain has already gone into the dryer, why do I still feel like crap instead of just tired as usual?" Lith asked. His skin, nails, and hair had already finished regenerating, so the body refining was supposed to be over.
The answer came in the form of a new series of spasms, that caused him to shapeshift uncontrollably back and forth from his human to his hybrid form.
'This doesn't make sense!' He thought. 'This form is mostly made of energy, it doesn't even run on blood, what kind of impurities can it have?'
Lith's seven eyes, even those that were still closed shut, shed black tears while his scales fell off as if he was a molting bird, revealing a fiery red skin lying underneath his hardened shell.
Yet unlike the human impurities that would just leave Lith's body, all the so-called defective parts gathered up on the side of his head and at the end of his spine before bursting into flames.
Where before there was nothing, small curved horns and a short tail appeared. New, thicker scales replaced the old ones while three rays of pure elemental energy erupted from Lith's opened eyes, flushing out more and more impurities.
Lith's hybrid form was born from an already evolved body which possessed a powerful core, so it was perfect. What it lacked was the ability to channel the full power generated by the constant battle between his Emperor Beast and Abomination life forces.
Lith's hybrid body was too small and weak to withstand the full scope of such powerful conflicting energies. Lith's human body would break just to be reshaped into a more suitable host for his core, whereas his hybrid form was forced to grow so that it could unlock its true potential.
Emerald flames suddenly burst out Lith's every pore, but instead of hurting him, they nurtured his scaled body, making it grow bigger and taller until it almost stood 3 meters (9'10") tall, before reverting to his normal height.
Once everything was over, even though Lith had just spent three full days resting, he was on the verge of starving, incapable to move a muscle.
Chapter 744 Double Breakthrough Part 2
"Quylla saved your life by forcing you to rest for one more day. If this happened yesterday, your life force would have shattered. Now, instead, it's stronger than ever." Solus said, observing with Invigoration how the boundaries between Lith's mana core, body, and life force had become thinner.
The two different kinds of energy now flowed through his veins along with his blood, making him different from normal humans.
"I know." Lith stuttered. "Solus, promise me that no matter what, you'll wake me up for dinner."
"Yeah, sure. What could the changes in your body possibly matter compared to a night of wild, steamy, hot sex with your girlfriend? By the way, I take back what I said yesterday.
"I'll stay here in Lutia while you have fun. There's no reason for me to…"
"I'm hungry." He cut her short before fainting.
"Oh, yes. There's that too." Solus said while carrying Lith on his bed with spirit magic. She had developed the nutrients potion exactly for that kind of situation, where Invigoration couldn't help Lith, and feeding him the old-fashioned way was impossible.
They tasted like crap and smelled almost as badly, but it was much easier administering them to an unconscious man rather than feeding him a full course meal. Solus's mouth almost fell to the ground when she noticed that Lith was absorbing the potions like a dry sponge water.
"Dammit! The mana geyser is boosting his metabolism to the point that if I don't keep the nutrients coming, by the time Lith wakes up he'll look like a monk after a month of fasting."
Invigoration could do nothing to help Lith recover faster and even if it could, Solus wouldn't have used it. She hoped that the changes both of his life forces had experienced could heal the crack that cursed Lith to a shorter lifespan or at least get rid of Death Vision.
It wasn't a skill so much as a curse that made his life miserable and constantly drained his focus just to keep the visions at bay. Only when he was alone with Solus inside the tower, could he relax without worries.
That, or when he was alone with Phloria.
'It really irks me to no end that I'll never know if it's just because I'm seemingly immortal or because Lith has feelings for me as deep as he has for her. Right now, even the members of his family suffer from Death Vision if they are further away than three meters.
'He never allowed himself to see if things work the same for Kamila as they do for everyone else he loves or if she's an outlier like Phloria. I guess it would mean a lot and Lith doesn't want to second-guess their relationship.' Solus thought.
She remained by Lith's side until his condition stabilized, feeding him potions and checking on his life force from time to time with the Scanner spell. Yet the cracks remained and even though his body brimmed with vigor, the amount of life force Lith had remained unchanged.
Solus sighed, saying goodbye to her broken dream before using both Invigoration and mana sense on Lith. Now both his liver and kidneys were capable of detoxifying most harmful substances as if they were a tier two cleansing spell.
With each regular breath Lith took, his lungs drew bigger amounts of world energy than before, filling his chest with mana that his heart would pump through his whole body along with thin streams of life force that enhanced his recovery abilities.
Only when she was certain that the breakthrough would cause Lith no harm did Solus leave his bedroom, calling her friends to make plans for the night.
***
Uninhabited island in the middle of the ocean.
Leegaain had failed to understand why his long lost daughter had gone to such lengths to prevent him from tracking her position, at least until he took a good look at her.
He couldn't use Souls Vision (AN: the Guardians' ultimate form of Life Vision) on a hologram, but all of his regular senses picked more than enough anomalies to make him suspicious.
Xenagrosh, who he knew as Zoreth, was supposed to be already dead, or at least very close to the end of her lifespan. She had chosen the human nature, so even if somehow she had managed to Awaken on her own there was only so much time it could have bought her.
Yet her body was full of vigor, her skin didn't show any sign of aging, and even her heart was off. Mostly because he could hear two of them, beating rhythmically like war drums into his ears.
Her body was too slender, her movements too gracious to be human.
"Let me guess, you are one of those Abominations who fused with their monster doubles and yours was a troll. How can you have stooped so low?" Leegaain asked.
Xenagrosh cursed her bad luck. She was aware that tricking her father was a fool's errand, but she had hoped that her deception would at least last the few minutes she needed to obtain a few answers from him.
"Nailed it in one. Sorry dad, I know I've always been nothing but a failure in your eyes. I guess it's better to end this conversation right now." Her voice was honest. Since the call had started, Leegaain didn't perceive an ill intent coming from her.
Zoreth's words stung hard, reminding him why he had such a poor relationship with most of his children. Too often in the past he had treated them as a Guardian would rather than a father, something that he had tried to correct in his relationship with Melia.
"Why do you say that? I've never considered you as a failure!" He said, trying to stop her from ending the call.
"Oh please! You could never forgive me for picking my human half over yours, or the fact that even though I grew in your cave, I wasn't able to Awaken by myself like so many of my siblings did!" Xenagrosh finger was still above Leegaain's rune, yet she couldn't find the strength to push it.
"Is that what you believe?" Leegaain was flabbergasted by the depth of his failure as a parent.
"Of course! Otherwise why did you never look after me once I left your lair? Why didn't you Awaken me?" Her voice didn't sound like that of a murdering monster so much as that of an abandoned child.
"Because with both your words and actions, you made it clear that you wanted to have your own space! As for the Awakening, do you realize how short a human's lifespan is? If you had chosen to be a dragon, I would've had more time to understand your character.
"Awakening someone is a big deal and you were so hot-headed that I feared that power would get the better of you. The state you're in just proves that I was right!" Leegaain said, his voice shaken like it didn't happen in centuries.
"Yet you didn't hesitate to Awaken that Empress of yours. Guess that's true what they say. You can pick your friends, not your family." Xenagrosh's voice oozed poison.
"You know, the reason why I joined the Master is that unlike you, he at least gave me a chance! He took his time to know me, even when I was just another horrid Abomination before tagging and bagging me like you would.
Chapter 745 Fallen Cores Part 1
"I never wanted for you to see me in my fallen state, forcing you to hunt me and put me down like a rabid beast. That's why I never answered your calls before and I wouldn't have contacted you if I wasn't desperate.
"Guess what, oh mighty Leegaain, the only thing you were right about me is that I should have chosen the dragon side of the family from the beginning!"
Xenagrosh shapeshifted into her Shadow Dragon form, flaunting a size that rivaled with that of her father. Her right hand was covered by Bytra's Sky Piercer claws, which pulsed with the same fury that possessed their master.
Leegaain's eyes moved from his daughter to the familiar design of the weapon she was wielding, finally understanding the meaning of Mogar's words during Lith's last tribulation.
The threat they were facing was beyond that of the usual madman aiming for eternal life. Whoever this Master was, he had somehow managed to upset the balance as Leegaain knew it.
The Dragon-Eldritch hybrid in front of him was proof of that.
"What do you need my help for, dear?" He asked. His voice was calm now and there was no judgment in his eyes. Xenagrosh was so shocked that she returned to her human form without even realizing it.
For the first time in her adult life, Leegaain was speaking to her like a father instead of a Guardian.
"I-" Xenagrosh was several centuries old. She had seen Mogar change in ways she deemed impossible, she had fought the most powerful creatures that roamed the planet without batting an eye, yet she couldn't stop herself from stuttering.
Hating Leegaain the Guardian was easy. Hating the father who had read her bedtime stories when she was little, who had taught her almost everything she knew about magic, was another story entirely.
She felt incredibly stupid for revealing her envy towards the Magic Empress to him, for yelling like a petulant child while flaunting her hybrid form as if it was a new toy. She had emitted such a powerful energy signature that Leegaain would probably be able to track her if he wanted to.
"I'm feeling so lost, Dad." She fell on her knees, crying. "I started this because I wanted more power. Because I wanted to become powerful enough to show to this stupid planet that it made a mistake by abandoning me!"
For a magical beast, turning into an Emperor Beast meant that Mogar had accepted them. That was the reason why they would receive its help to shed their old form and be granted a painless evolution.
For Abominations, turning into an Eldritch was the lowest point. It meant that Mogar had completely cut them off from the natural order of things, relegating them to a state lower than the Fallen races.
They could at least still evolve, whereas an Eldritch was the end of the line.
"Yet after spending so much time with the Master, after I stopped living like a beast, thinking only about eating, surviving, and becoming stronger, I realized that power is not what I really want.
"What I truly wished for was to be freed from my hunger, to enjoy little things like smelling a flower without it wilting at my touch. Now I'm so close to getting back everything that I lost, but no matter how much I struggle, I can't overcome this new wall and I'm scared of screwing things again." She sobbed, making Leegaain's heart tighten.
"What's the matter, sweetie pie?"
Then Xenagrosh told him everything about her twin core and her inability to Awaken or to access to any of her old abilities.
"Do you know what's wrong with me, Dad? I tried all the breathing techniques I learned over the years, yet all I've achieved is the feeling that if I make one wrong move, my new core will overload and my new body will be lost." She said.
"And you're right. The Master's crazy experiment has simply created bodies and cores capable of withstanding the Chaos energy that normally ravages an Abomination's physical form, but it didn't cure your status as an Eldritch.
"I'm sorry, Zoreth, but you've been deluding yourself, you are still far from being normal.
"The Troll core is incapable of processing the darkness energy just like the black core is incapable of processing the light element, which creates a symbiotic relationship that allows you to maintain your human form, but that's it.
"Both of them are still fallen cores, so they cannot Awaken. Any attempt on a fallen core will make it burst and fall prey of the black core, killing you on the spot. I don't think you can survive anymore without the troll core. You've changed too much." Leegaain said.
"Wow, fallen cores? Do they really exist?" Xenagrosh wiped her tears while Leegaain nodded.
"I can't believe it. I live together with the most ancient beings on Mogar, Guardians excluded, and no one was able to understand what was wrong with us. Yet you solved it all just by looking at my hologram. Can you cure me, Dad?"
"Honestly, and I don't say this often, I don't know. You're a new life form so it would take me some time just to understand what you've become, but I'm fairly optimistic about your condition." Leegaain said while thinking about Lith.
The anomaly was an Abomination hybrid as well, yet he hadn't fallen, had been able to Awaken by himself, and was living a full life, even walking the path to Guardianhood.
'If I could get to study how his mana core and life force works, I could cure my little girl. Yet I can't afford to let her know about his existence. As long as Zoreth associates herself with the Master, she's a liability to the balance.' He thought.
"Really? Do you think you can help us?" Xenagrosh said, her eyes were full of hope.
"The others? Maybe. I need to see them to be sure. You? Absolutely, but first you have to tell me the Master's identity and where I can find the Eldritchs. I can barter such information with the other Guardians in exchange for your safety, but I can't make any promises about the others." Leegaain replied.
"Are you really asking me to betray my family and the only person who ever gave a damn about me since the day I fell?" Xenagrosh's hope vanished, replaced by her usual determination.
"They are not your family! They are worse than undead. Eldritchs are crazed beasts that destroy everything they touch. Each one of them has made more victims than the entire vampire race! As for the Master, he's not any better than an Eldritch.
"The number of living beings sacrificed for his mad experiments is in the millions. He can't be allowed to exist. Mogar can't afford another Arthan Griffon."
"Then what about me? I'm an Eldritch too, what makes me so different from the other Abominations? If it wasn't for me, the Master would have never learned about the secrets of Awakening, nor about Arthan's madness!" Xenagrosh said.
"By the Great Mother! You're my baby girl, that's the damn difference! I protect countless lives every single day. Humans, beasts, undead, plants, and the only thing they have in common is that I don't give a rat's ass about them.
"I can afford to be egotistical from time to time, especially when my family is involved. Come back home and I promise you that I will do all I can to save you."
Chapter 746 Fallen Cores Part 2
"I'm sorry, Dad, but I can't do it. They may be monsters to you, but to me they are precious people who need me. I've come too far to turn my back on them like that." Xenagrosh sighed.
"Thanks for your help, Dad. I promise you that I'll use what you've taught me today to make you proud. I'll find a way to redeem my race in your eyes. I hope that the next time you see me, I'll be whole again."
She turned the communication amulet off before Warping to random locations to make herself untraceable, unaware that there was no need to. Leegaain considered it his parting gift to his daughter since the next time they met they were bound to be enemies.
"I've got bad news and terrible news. Which do you want to hear first?" He said after activating his mind link with his fellow Guardians.
"The bad news." Tyris replied.
"I know why the Master knows us so well and who has helped them with Arthan's Madness. My daughter Zoreth is among his hybrid Eldritchs."
"My condolences, old friend." Said Salaark. "If I meet her on the battlefield, I'll try to give her a painless death."
"The terrible news is that among her peers there's even Bytra, the 4th Ruler of the Flames. Zoreth was wielding one of her weapons."
"Fuck me sideways!" Said both Guardians in unison.
"The inventor of modern runes? The same Bytra who taught us how to unlock the true potential of Davross?" Tyris asked.
She had always believed that Bytra had disappeared due to the tragic consequences of her never-ending quest to find Menadion's legacy and beat the Mother of Forgemastering at her own game.
No Guardian would have ever thought that Bytra's passion could have turned into an obsession, leading her to become an Abomination.
"Yes, and that's not all. Just like the anomaly, the Master's experiments have allowed my daughter to tap again into her draconic nature even though she discarded it centuries ago, back when she was still a normal hybrid.
"Not only is this supposed to be impossible, but also if the same happened to all the other Eldritchs, there's no telling what kind of bloodlines we might have to face. As you know all too well, some Eldritchs pre-date even us Guardians."
Only silence followed Leegaain's words. Some of the Fallen Races had obtained great powers before devolving into madness. The idea of such powerful creatures combining their might with the wisdom of millennia and with the Chaos energy that only Abominations could wield, made them worry.
***
Solus Tower, eight hours later.
Despite the fact that the mana geyser and his tower were supposed to enhance his recovery speed, when Lith woke up he felt as if someone had stopped time the moment he had closed his eyes and then buried him under several steamrollers.
'Guess I would've been out cold a full day if this had happened in any other place.' He thought while yawning like a bear ready to go in hibernation for winter.
The first thing he did was check his pocket watch. Luckily there was still plenty of time to snack and go back to the Ernas mansion. The second thing he did was to investigate the source of all the noise he heard.
The moment he tried to focus his attention, Lith could almost feel as if something inside of his head clicked. He could now distinguish all the voices and the smells despite the several closed doors that stood between him and his guests.
'It seems that Solus invited Tista and Nyka at the tower.' He thought.
Pain aside, one of the last things he remembered before losing his consciousness was taking the Skinwalker armor off to more easily get rid of the impurities. So Lith made sure to be presentable before opening the door of his room.
"Big sister, how nice of you to visit. Yet when I was bedridden you didn't show up." He said.
"Not everyone has a magical tower that moves freely through space." She replied with fake rage before hugging him.
"I was too far from the nearest Gate and too busy clearing a couple of dungeons to return. Especially after hearing from Solus that you simply needed rest and that you would pick me up later."
"Why dungeons?" Lith asked.
"I need real battle experience and I prefer fighting known monsters instead of putting my head inside the dragon's lair like you always do. I always go alone, so that I can practice both fake and true magic according to the circumstances.
"Spotting things from a distance with Life Vision almost makes things too easy. Almost." She shuddered at the memory of a couple of her recent near-death experiences. Tista had learned the hard way that monsters could be Awakened as well.
"Hi, sweetie." Nyka said, and judging from the red content of her glass, she was being literal rather than flirty. "Gods, you smell delicious."
"Thanks, I guess. What's all the ruckus?"
"Solus wants to beat the crap out of me. She says that it's the best way to temper my body and fill it with impurities, to delay my next breakthrough as long as possible." Tista replied.
Solus then brought Lith up to speed about her most recent discoveries about the body and mana core refinement process.
"Excellent news! This will allow us to greatly improve Phloria's survival chances. By the way, how do you feel, Solus?" Lith asked.
"The quality of my nourishment has greatly improved but even though I used Accumulation during the last few hours, it's too soon for my own breakthrough. I really hope that something will happen the moment I graduate from deep to pure green." Solus said.
"Excellent news my ass!" Tista said, interrupting their daydreaming about the content of the second floor of the tower.
"I'm not a fan of pain. To add insult to my future injuries, I'm will not even be allowed to use Invigoration after getting beaten since it would rejuvenate my body and make most of the imperfections that light magic leaves disappear."
"You can always use darkness fusion." Lith shrugged. "Also, I think that it's better to be prepared than dying the moment you experience a breakthrough during our absence."
After eating enough food so to stave-off his hunger, Lith and the girls practiced together Silverwing's Hexagram. After seeing the Wargs use it as a learning tool for Awakened while they were under Tezka's influence, Lith had applied the same method to both groups he supervised.
Solus's friends and the Emperor Beasts living inside the Trawn woods that he had Awakened would regularly practice the array. It served as both a means of defense and to learns the finesse of manipulating different elements.
Usually, it required one person for each element and there were only four people in the tower, but with Lith's level of mastery, managing two elements at once was an easy job.
The exercise required that the Awakened ones practicing the spell would cycle the control of all elements while keeping their mana output at the same level. For Tista it was an opportunity to learn by imitation how Lith handled his mana flow.
Solus was at Lith's level in terms of control over the elements and magical knowledge, but she appreciated the training to build teamwork. She hoped one day to be capable of leaving the tower and experience the world together with her friends.
Chapter 747 Deep Bonds Part 1
With her weak mana core, Solus was the benchmark of the group, except when it was Nyka's turn to handle light magic.
It was always a vexing experience for the vampire and her blood core, requiring her to feed often. Yet she needed to do it in order to better understand the powerful darkness magic that flowed inside her body instead of blood.
Usually, Lith would use the gathering to share his knowledge and further strengthen his foundations of magic, but this time he focused on himself the most. The problem with breakthroughs was that he needed to get used to his new strength, both physical and magical.
The array exercise allowed him to learn about the changes his mana core had undergone and how to regulate his mana flow without causing an explosion while trying to light a match.
After a while, he and Solus tower Warped back to the Ernas mansion. He needed to make sure to not kill the next person he hugged and Orion's training dummies, which had the same durability of a human body, were the perfect subjects.
Much to his surprise, the guards at the gate had a message for him.
"Great Mage Verhen, you have visitors from the army waiting for you in the lounge, yet Lady Quylla needs to speak privately with you before anyone else. She's been pretty clear about this point."
Lith nodded and went to Quylla's room, where according to the guards she was waiting for him.
'I wonder what she needs me for. I doubt she has already made up her mind about me being a hybrid. It's more likely to be related to the army's envoy. Probably she wants to make sure that our versions about Kulah's events match.' He thought.
"I've got your message. What's the emergency, Quylla?" Lith asked.
"I never got the opportunity to return this to you." She replied, handing back to him the book about the Mana Reactor. Quylla was so nervous that she was unable to stop fidgeting. Even folding her hands didn't help.
"That's hardly a reason to be worried." He shrugged.
"No, you don't get it. We're about to give our report. If I hand this book to the army, they'll ask me where I got it. Since I was held prisoner, I'll be forced to tell them that I got it from you."
"And?" Lith kept missing her point.
"And once the army explores Kulah and founds the safe near the Odi's life pod, they might wonder if such a big container was really meant for a single book. In their shoes, I would expect to find all the information regarding all the Odi's successful projects, not just one.
"You could end in trouble because of me." She said.
"You're right." He nodded, moved by her concern. Her brain seemed to have a hard time making a decision about their friendship, but her heart didn't seem to care.
"Thanks, but there's no reason to worry. I was going to hand over to the army everything that I found back there anyway. That kind of knowledge its toxic, but it's not up to us to decide what to do with it.
"You're really a genius, little one. There were really three books in that safe." Lith said while ruffling her hair out of habit. Back then he had been in too big of a rush to hide the safe before the fight and there had been too many witnesses once he had regained consciousness.
He couldn't expect everyone to be dumb, blind, and deaf so he knew all along that it was a matter of time before he would be forced to choose between giving up on the tomes or being charged with treason.
Lith had already copied the contents of the body-swapping book, so he no longer needed the original for his purposes.
Quylla became stiff under his touch, yet she didn't push away his hand.
"I've done my best to read and translate the book about the Mana Reactor, to make sure that there's nothing written in there that might help you with your life force." She said.
"Thank you for your kindness, but it was clear that such a monstrosity couldn't help…"
"I couldn't be sure until I read it." She cut him short. "Countless times wrong things have been modified to do some good, but sadly this is not the case. You were right, the Reactor can only be used to produce mana, not life force.
"By the way, these are the Odi dictionaries that I've compiled during my studies. Some of the terms they use do not have an equivalent in our language nor in modern magic, so most dictionaries can help you translate a poem, but most of the magical jargon gets lost in translation."
Quylla handed a couple of books thick enough to stop more than one bullet to him.
"Feel free to borrow them. Aside from you and me, no one knows that I wrote these vocabularies." Quylla had never underestimated Lith's intelligence, so she was well aware that he might as well have made copies of whatever he wanted.
It was her way of telling him that if he needed to research the Odi language, the army might take notice if he started to consult Odi magic dictionaries and that even though she wasn't sure if she wanted to help him, Quylla didn't want him to get caught either.
"What are we going to say to the army's emissary?" She finally asked.
"The truth. Well, mostly." He quickly added after noticing her flabbergasted expression. "We'll tell them that we defeated that monster together and that I did most of the job. Damn, this really feels like being back at the academy."
Lith's attempt to make her laugh failed. Quylla's expression became even more serious and her feet restless.
"Is it because you're not human that you're this strong? Like when you saved Yurial from the assassins or when you killed the Abomination in the forest?" She asked.
"No. I told you. I wasn't able to shapeshift back then." He replied.
"Have you ever considered us as your friends? I mean for real? Or was even that a deception?"
"The truth?" Lith asked and she nodded for him to reply.
"Not at first and not for a long time." He said, making her turn pale.
"I don't expect you to understand how hard my life was, nor how thick-skinned I am. Yet I want you to know that after Balkor's attack, I started to grow fond of all of you and that now I consider you one of the few true friends that I have."
Lith stored the dictionaries inside his pocket dimension and then told Quylla how he was going to explain the fight with the Odi to the army's envoy. She was amazed by how short and precise his report was, not finding a single weak point in it.
Lith and Solus had prepared it together, interrogating each other in turn to find plotholes in their story. In the doctored version of the events, once the Mana Reactor had been shut down, the three of them had employed hit and run tactics to make the enemy ran out of juice by exploiting the Odi's need to take them alive.
In this story, Phloria had detonated the body-swapping machine only to inflict the death blow. It explained everything, from how they all survived to all the battle marks that remained in the room.
Chapter 748 Deep Bonds Part 2
To make everything fit, the only thing they had to lie about was how much mana was left in the Reactor.
Once Lith went to meet his guest, he was surprised to see that Constable Griffon had come to see them in person.
Not only because sending a member of the Royal Family was a clear indicator of how serious the events of Kulah were considered by the army's upper echelons, but also because a Constable meant more an interrogation rather than a report.
Lith wasn't worried. Phloria knew what to say because they had discussed the matter when he had gone visiting her the previous day, and even if Quylla was still on the fences about how to react to his nature, she had just proved how much she cared for him.
The butler led Lith to the Tea Room for esteemed guests, where Jirni, Orion, Phloria, and Constable Ernas were waiting for him. It wasn't the Tea Room the family normally used, its furniture was more formal and the seats more spaced between them.
Comfortable padded red sofas and chairs were arranged around a white elliptical oak low table. A soft white and silver carpet covered the floor, preventing the moving chairs from making noise and muffling all the sounds that the servitude might make while serving the guests so that nothing could disturb the conversation.
The east wall consisted of a glass wall that allowed the morning sun to illuminate the room and make the many silvery ornaments spread throughout the room shine like jewels. On the west wall, there was a huge fireplace surmounted by a huge mirror with a golden frame that covered most of the wall.
Lady Tyris was exactly as Lith remembered her, time didn't seem to have any effect on her appearance. Finding the whole family assembled for the report was quite odd, but Lith hoped that it was just the deference an old bloodline was supposed to show to a member of the royal family.
Tyris Griffon wore the uniform of a Royal Constable and was 1.76 (5'9") meters tall. She was a woman in her mid-twenties, or so it seemed. There was something about her that made her look young yet ancient at the same time.
She had shining golden hair braided into a tress long enough to be twisted and knotted above her head resembling a crown. Her silver eyes sparkled like stars under the morning sunlight.
Most men found her beauty intoxicating, but to Lith it was unsettling. Such a degree of perfection in her forms, in the symmetry of her features, was simply too good to be true.
He gave her a deep bow the moment their eyes met, using it as an opportunity to hide his suspicions and wear his usual poker face. Much to everyone's surprise, Lady Tyris stood up at his arrival and offered him her hand.
"Ranger Verhen, I had heard that your injuries were quite severe. I'm glad to see that you're recovering so well." She said with a dazzling smile.
The moment Lith shook her hand, Tyris used Mother Earth, her version of Invigoration, to scan both hybrids at the same time. Mogar seemed to be interested in Solus as much as she was interested in Lith, so it was time to give to Menadion's Desperation the attention she deserved.
The black hybrid's mind was a shattered, incomplete puzzle, the pieces of which were fighting to fit each other without falling apart. Some cracks had disappeared, empty gaps between spaces were now filled by small yet growing pieces, showing the healing process Lith was still undergoing.
The white hybrid's mind, instead, was whole, but with multiple cracks that seemed to have grown over time. Just like Mogar had told her Guardians, Solus's memory loss coupled with the lack of a physical body had prevented her to have any semblance of normality in her life and had deeply affected her mental state.
'Interesting.' Tyris thought. 'His body has further evolved after the events of Kulah. His second life force is now more distinct and the wall between it and the human life force seems to have thinned, unlike how it happened to my children.
'Normally, the more a hybrid grows stronger, the more apart their life forces grow until one of them has to be sacrificed to allow the other to thrive. In Lith's case, instead, they have moved closer.
'I've seen it happen in the past. It could mean that either the two life forces will clash for dominance, in which case Lith's life will be at risk, or that they are trying to fuse. If the latter happens, then Mogar is right and he would be really moving towards becoming his own species.
'Also, Lith's core is not a Fallen one. On the contrary, it presents an extraordinary affinity towards the fire and darkness elements. There is no sign of unbalance, the light element flows through his body as well, preventing Chaos energy from being formed and harming his body.
'As for the woman in the ring, she's truly unique. She possesses only one life force, yet I can feel she has two bodies and two cores as well. The tower's core is part of her body just like her own mana core and they have been bonded with means like I've never seen before.
'Yet she's not a cursed object. Neither she was sacrificed to give life to the tower nor she's enslaved by it. She a true human-artifact hybrid and the only reason she doesn't have two life forces like Lith is that items do not have life force.
'Her condition allows her to control Menadion's artifact in ways that not even the First Royal Forgemaster could. She and the tower are one, making the girl more than human yet less at the same time.'
"Quylla Ernas is the only healer of my generation that I acknowledge as my equal, and the Ernas family has treated me very well every time I needed help." Lith said, appreciating the soothing warmth that Tyris's skin exuded.
Looking into her eyes was almost as staring at a placid lake during a morning spring. It made him feel at peace and almost lulled him into staring at the golden reflection of the sun on her irises.
Almost.
"The Ernas truly are one of the founding pillars of the Kingdom." She said while turning around and giving a deep bow to the masters of the house. "The Crown is deeply indebted with you and for your unwavering loyalty, you have our gratitude."
Seeing an involuntary nervous spasm on Jirni's face was something unprecedented, no matter if it had lasted barely a split second. Clearly the situation was as odd for them as it was for Lith.
Yet for Tyris it wasn't odd, just nostalgic. Orion and Jirni came from two of the most ancient bloodlines, that had been established together with the Griffon Kingdom. Their ancestors had been founding members of the Queen's Corpse back when Tyris was still Queen and Valeron's dear friends.
Juria Ernas and Oghrom Myrok hated each other so much that it had taken their families centuries before considering their oath of never mixing their blood just a legend, leading to Orion's and Jirni's marriage.
Being inside the Ernas's tea room was a trip down the memory lane to her. While the Ernas couple reminded Tyris of her long lost friends, Lith and his companions reminded her of herself.
Lith was just a candidate Guardian, but she could feel that their bond ran deep.
Chapter 749 Hard Truth Part 1
"Why don't you sit down while we wait for the last member of this meeting to join us?" Tyris said, pointing a padded chair near to Phloria at Lith. The Guardian was intrigued seeing that both hybrids were broken beings, even though for completely different reasons.
Quylla entered the room soon after Lith. Her surprise was big as well, but her poker face wasn't up with the rest of the family's standards. She stuttered when Tyris stood up to greet her and she tensed so much that even Lith would have suspected she practiced forbidden magic if he didn't know better.
"There's no reason to worry." Tyris chuckled at her reaction, making everyone present swallow a lump of saliva. They all knew that a Constable's reassurances were mostly smoke and mirrors.
"This is a friendly hearing. I assembled you here because I know that you're all tired, but I need to hear from you how you dealt with the last of the Odi. This should be the quickest way for you to give your report and go back to your deserved rest." Tyris said.
Phloria took the initiative and told only the truth, at least until the part where she and Lith had remained alone with Jiira in the body-swapping room. Too many people had witnessed the first part of the fight and she had no idea what they had reported.
She undersold the gravity of the injuries Lith had sustained but kept the rest accurate. After that, she stuck with the story they had agreed beforehand. Tyris didn't interrupt her nor asked questions, she just stared at the other two and studied their reaction.
Lith was as calm as Quylla was nervous. Tyris's set up was as simple as it was effective. Since they have had all the time to forge a story, by putting them all together and in front of their parents as a reminder of the consequences that lying would have, Constable Griffon could find the weak link in the group.
Unfortunately for her, Lith just nodded from time to time, whereas Quylla was so nervous that she never stopped fidgeting, even when Phloria told the truth, making it impossible to understand the reason for her discomfort.
When it was Lith's turn, he told her how he and Morok had reached the Reactor and how he had found the safe. Lith also handed Tyris the three books and the God's Will array bead.
After carefully studying the artifact, he and Solus had realized that now it was just a piece of junk. Not only did the bead require the Reactor to be fueled, but also half of its runes had to have been carved into the Odi's enchanted life force.
Without them, the bead's pseudo core had slowly started to crumble. With just the mana pathways inside the artifact, the pseudo core was unable to sustain its existence.
"Did they ever leave your storage items? Did you make any copy of their content?" Tyris asked while putting them away with her eyes staring into Lith's.
"No and no. I made no copy." Much to Tyris's surprise, he was telling the truth. When dealing with opponents of Jirni's caliber, Lith knew that even he couldn't afford to lie.
That was the reason he had stored them inside Soluspedia, to never have to take them out, and why he had let Solus do all the work. A fight was a messy, unpredictable series of events, so it was hard to discern facts from fiction, whereas simple yes or no questions were much harder to lie about.
Quylla told her all about her experience with the Reactor and Morok, including the kick which had prevented him from partaking in the final battle. She was quite relieved having to speak nothing but the truth since just like Lith, they didn't repeat what Phloria had already told Tyris.
"I'm glad to hear that despite the dire circumstances you experienced you've managed to keep a level head. Captain Ernas, you have failed to protect the Professors, but judging from the reports of the other survivors, it's already a miracle that so many people made it out of Kulah alive." Tyris said.
"The failed mission will go down in your personal file but it will not affect your career. You have my word. Mage Ernas, you took part in the mission as an Assistant, and yet your contribution overshadows that of most Professors. I'll make sure that the White Griffon academy compensates you properly.
"Ranger Verhen, you have played your role splendidly, yet there is only so much that the Kingdom can do to award you and that's one of the reasons why I'm here. This matter is even more pressing due to the excellent references that Ranger Eari gave you.
"Are you still unwilling to claim a land as your own?" Lith nodded.
"I suppose that the same stands for your career in the army or the Association." More nodding ensued.
"Is there anything in particular that you want?" She asked.
"I've seen the Royal Forgemasters at work and I'd love to study their art." Lith replied.
"I'm sorry, but no." Tyris shook her head. "You've been given plenty of chances to become an integral part of the Kingdom yet you always refused, remaining at the fringes of the system.
"Even right now, you're like a wolf that circles around a village and refuses to be domesticated. The Griffon Kingdom or any other of the three great countries cannot put a wolf to guard the henhouse, it's too dangerous.
"I can grant you free access to the Royal Library, mana crystals, anything that money can buy, but nothing more. I've come personally here today to assure you that the Crown holds you in great esteem and hopes that you'll decide to become one of its keystones in the future.
"Yet right now you are too young and too many people question where your loyalty lays. The Kingdom can't afford to disclose its secret to someone that might use them against it.
"We would love for you to take this country as your home, but the choice is up to you. Feel free to contact the embassies of the other countries, you'll discover that your situation there would be the same."
Tyris had spectated to the whole fight, so she knew the truth without the need of listening to their reports. Also, she knew that Lith was withholding Rizo's Adamant Eternal Blade.
On one hand, it proved that he was a smart and resourceful man, capable of inspiring the loyalty of those around him. On the other hand, however, it made him a thief that had pushed two of the most talented young mages of the Kingdom to commit treason.
They both knew about the sword and yet neither of them had mentioned it to protect their friend's secret. Sure, they had no idea what Lith could make out of that sword, but that didn't make him any less dangerous nor their crime any less severe.
Yet Tyris decided to let it slide. She was an enforcer of the change, not of the law.
Also, she was pretty sure that Mogar had assembled all the three Guardians of the Garlen continent to spectate, even though one would have been more than enough to wipe out the Odi, to make them aware she had plans for Lith.
Chapter 750 Hard Truth Part 2
'I really hope that Lith understands how important the few years he has left with his friends are.' Tyris thought. 'Without roots, a man is nothing but a leaf in the wind that life is. My beloved Valeron didn't abdicate to prevent others to discover about his long life.
'With me by his side, there was no one that could threaten him or our children. He left all that he had fought so hard to build simply because he had no one to share it with anymore.
'He loved me dearly, and so he loved our children and grandchildren, but after over a century, he couldn't stand being a relic of the past, nor seeing our kids become old while he remained young.
'Valeron begged me countless times to Awaken them, and that was his only plea that I could never fulfill. It broke his heart and almost our relationship. Yet it was Arthan's treachery that killed him.
'He could never recover from the guilt of having chosen the wrong person to stand on the throne and it's the reason why he asked me to select the rulers in its stead even when he was still alive.'
Before leaving, Tyris shook everyone's hand and told Lith to call Commander Berion when he had decided about what he wanted as his reward.
'I must say, Salaark is right. I have to get out more often. I truly enjoy seeing the Kingdom thrive and knowing the descendants of my old friends. Yet Leegaain is also right. I must pick another human form. I'm sick and tired of people that check out my ass, make me a marriage proposal, and sometimes do both at the same time.'
She thought while Warping to Salaark's home. Tyris wanted to share her impressions about the two hybrids with her before going to Leegaain's place. Since he had heard from Zoreth, he had become obsessed with finding a cure for his daughter.
"That was definitely out of the ordinary." Jirni said with her eyes semi-closed while she searched her memory. "I've never heard of this Constable Griffon, not even after becoming an Archon.
"To make matters odder, I was certain to know every member of the Royal family, yet I would surely remember a person this peculiar."
"She was so powerful and intimidating that I had a hard time keeping my composure." Said Phloria. "Not to mention that she made me feel like a really ugly duckling."
"You and me both, sis." Quylla sighed while all the implications of Tyris's words were slowly sinking in her brain.
"Not that. I mean how she spoke about Phloria's career. It's not a Constable work to decide how a failure will be handled by the High Command, no matter if they're members of the Royal Family or not.
"Just like the Queen doesn't mess with the army, the King does the same with the Association. Yet she spoke on behalf of both of them. Either she is the middleman of the Royal couple, or she has been sent here as an eye-candy to sway a certain someone." Jirni said while looking at the unfazed Lith.
Orion had something to add, but then he remembered about Jirni's presence and his brain activated before it was too late, allowing him to turn the very poetic words he was about to say about Constable Griffon into a harmless:
"I told you so, Lith. The Kingdom will pay you handsomely for your services, but gold can only get you so far. Otherwise you can only rely on your own research or a stroke of luck."
Lith considered the purple crystals he had gotten from Kulah, his gold coins funds, and the Adamant in his possession.
'A truckload of gold sounds nice, but what I must really aim for are metals and crystals. The mana crystals we found in Kulah are rough since Crystalsmithing had yet to be invented, but that's the least of my problems.
'Sure, if Solus is right and Origin Flames can cleanse powerful materials from the residual traces of failed Forgemastering attempts, it means that I have enough Adamant for both a sword and an armor, plus I can try as many times as I want.
'Yet not only is that a big "if", but it also is pointless unless I find some blueprints for runes. Based on what both Yondra and Orion told me, without runes I can't Bond crystals to Adamant, and without crystals, I can't infuse powerful enchantments.' He thought.
'Well, we got back from barely three days. Let's rest and recover before using Origin Flames, I don't want you to lose one more day of lifespan.' Solus said.
"You are right, Orion, but no matter how well the Kingdom promises to treat me, I prefer flying solo. I've got enough time that I can rely on luck for a little longer. If push comes to shove, I'll probably ask you as my mentor." Lith smirked.
"And I'll be glad to refuse." Orion smirked back. "I'm already too busy between my duty and my apprentices, so unless a Royal decree forces me to take you in, you'll have to look for another master."
"Speaking about time, it's damn late. I have to go." Lith ignored Orion's remark, according to his pocket watch he was going to be late for dinner. He left the room with a brisk walk while he and Solus organized their days between research and experiments.
Time. That word triggered something inside of Quylla, who had never stopped fidgeting ever since Constable Griffon had summoned her.
"Phloria, I need to talk to you. Can we please go to my room?" She said.
Phloria nodded and the two young women left the tea room as well.
"Those were two more things I didn't expect to see today after a member of the Royal family actually bowed to us. Quylla lying to a Royal Constable and you refusing to take Lith as your apprentice. Do you mind explaining?" Jirni asked.
"I'll be honest with you. I like the kid mostly because he cares for our girls, but I don't trust Lith farther than I can throw him. He pulled too many miracles out of his ass during the years. First his sister, then Balkor, then Nalear, and now this?
"I mean he was an extra in the expedition and ended up saving the others. Plus, there's the matter of Orichalcum and Skinwalker armors. I'm a Royal Forgemaster for more than twenty years and I never managed to pull that.
"Heck, even the Royals commission some of their equipment from me. The fact that he dumped my little flower is another minus on my book." Orion replied, grunting loudly.
"Geniuses are just like that dear. Our daughter faced Nalear as a student as well and it was her dumping him." Jirni rose an eyebrow at his reaction. To her, Lith was a friend and a priceless asset, the best combination she could ask for.
"He should have fought for her instead of moping his way out of her life! Also, he's no genius and we both know it. Manohar is a genius, Balkor is a genius, and they are both completely out of it. Lith is too normal to be in their ballpark. He's as magically talented as me and as devious as you are, dear."
Chapter 751 Secrets of the Trade Part 1
"Lith's achievements make no sense. Phloria has trained all her life under my guidance, yet he fought Nalear better than she did, even holding his ground alone. I had plenty of masters, books, and time to refine my art, yet he managed to craft an Orichalcum Skinwalker armor before me.
"Aren't you scared of what he could become with proper training?" Orion pointed out.
"I've only two regrets. That Lith wasn't born as our child and that he is too stubborn to realize his own limits. I'm not afraid of what he might become so much as him dying in another crazy experiment of his. It would be such a waste of potential." Unlike Orion, Jirni knew about Lith's crippled life force and so did Elina.
That was the reason why both women would have liked him to have children, even though for completely different reasons. Elina just wished for his son a happy life, to experiment all the joy that he had gifted to others.
Jirni, instead, hoped that Lith would pass down his secrets to his natural heir and that would create another opportunity for her family to inherit such knowledge as well.
***
Meanwhile, in Quylla's quarters, the young mage couldn't pretend anymore to ignore the elephant in the room. Not now that she had lied on his behalf to a Royal Constable.
"Oh, gods, what are we going to do now? What if Constable Griffon exposes our charade?" Quylla asked, adding a quick pacing to her fidgeting since her legs were unable to stay still as much as her hands.
"We're not going to do anything." Phloria picked Quylla up and force her to sit down on the bed. Her sister's anxiety was seriously starting to annoy her. "You haven't lied and neither did Lith. I'm the only one who distorted the facts just enough to cover for him.
"Besides, how could she possibly expose us? There were only the three of us in the underground lab."
"Yes, but what if Constable Griffon is as good as Mom at sniffing lies? What if the Ernas household ends up paying for our mistakes? Lith kept the sword for himself and I still lied by omission." Quylla said while holding her own head between her hands.
"Quylla, we have lied to our parents, to the Headmaster, and to everyone else until now whenever Lith pulled one of his miracles. This is hardly the first time we lie to the authorities. What's the real issue here?" Phloria asked.
"It's just that it feels so weird. You think you know someone and then you find out that they are another person entirely, if even the term person is still appropriate in our case.
"Don't get me wrong, I love Lith like a brother, but he is- Gods, I don't know what he is. How can you be so calm? What we've just done is an act of treason. We have lied to an official of the Kingdom and helped a potentially dangerous individual to snatch a powerful artifact.
"We have basically put everything we have at risk for a dragon-human thingy. Why didn't he tell us the truth sooner and how could you have kept being his girlfriend knowing what you know?" Quylla asked.
"I'm calm because this changes nothing to me." Phloria replied. "I lied for him back when I thought he was just stronger than regular people and I'll do it again whenever Lith needs my help.
"He should have explained to you why he didn't share his secret before. He was afraid of scaring you away and judging from your reaction, I can't blame him for it. As for me, how could I break up with him just because he had come clean with me?
"How could I turn my back on him when he did it thinking only about my sake, to protect me from the danger that Lith believed he posed to my life? Lith knew I would have been afraid, that my first instinct would have been to scream and run, just like you're doing right now.
"Yet I stayed, because what really scared me weren't the scales, the eyes, or the claws. It was all the pain in his eyes, the honesty when he called himself a monster like it was the most natural thing in the world, and how afraid he was that somehow whatever is tainting is body could harm me.
"Do the scales change him from the mean eyed little runt who taught us about first magic? Do the eyes make him less of the friend who held our hands during and after the fourth year's second exam? Who fought alone against Balkor's minions for our sake?
"Maybe it's stupid of me, but when he tried to push me away, I didn't think about the people that I've seen him kill, nor about how scary his true nature was. All I could think about was how after Nalear enslaved you, Lith spent every night on your bedside, holding your hand and caressing your head until you fell asleep.
"About all the time he spent holding me at night because I was terrified by all the terrible things we've experienced and by all the people we have lost during our time at the academy.
"Lith had lived our same experiences, yet even if he was the one on his deathbed after saving Protector, even if he had been captured and tortured by Nalear, he consoled me. Not the other way around.
"Sorry, but I don't feel a martyr for doing what I did back then nor for doing what I've done today. Neither I'm acting out of pity, only out of affection. It's always easy to talk in hindsight, but have you ever stopped considering that he could have left us for dead?
"And I don't mean just back in Kulah, but also every time he could have easily get out of danger if not for our presence. How many times have we been able to afford the luxury of being helpless just because Lith was with us?
Phloria sat down in front of Quylla, watching her in the eyes while holding her hands.
"Who is the real monster? A human who can shapeshift into something else or a person capable of turning their back to a friend just because they are different? He saved you, me, even Mom, so many times that I wouldn't even care if wasn't human at all. Lith is Lith, everything else is just a meaningless detail."
"Gods, Dad is right. Lith has been a moron to break up with you." Quylla said while pondering her sister's words.
"I'm the one who broke up with him. Why does everyone seem to always forget this part?" Phloria chuckled.
"Because you're one of the most amazing people I've ever known." Quylla replied while hugging Phloria. "And you know what? You are right. Even though Lith himself doesn't know what he is, I do. He's my friend and part of my family.
"Lith basically adopted me before Mom did and over the years, he has done more than just saving my life. He has always been there for me, helping me to get back on my feet when I was too broken to stand on my own.
"That's all I need to know about him."
Phloria nodded, returning her hug. The matter with the sword, however, worried even her quite a bit. She had shared most of her knowledge about runes with Lith back in Kulah and all members of the expedition knew how close the two of them were.
Chapter 752 Secrets of the Trade Part 2
If Lith started to produce rune-based artifacts, Phloria and her whole family would end in a lot of troubles. Yet she remained silent, to not ruin the moment.
'I can only trust Lith to do the right thing and use the knowledge he will acquire from the sword in a cover way. After all, he has trusted me with his everything, I don't see why I shouldn't do the same.' She though.
"By the way, do you think we should tell Friya?" Quylla said. "I wonder if she would be more surprised by discovering the truth or outraged by being the only one of us left out."
"It's not up to us to decide." Phloria shook her head. "Lith's and Friya's lives are their own. They both have a lot on their plate already. Plus, I think we had enough emotions for a long, long time, right?"
Quylla nodded, hoping that the next surprise she experienced would be less mind-blowing and more heart-warming. Like Lucky having puppies or one of her sisters finding someone deserving their love.
***
Athung Soranot, the emissary of the Council of the Awakened Humans was having one of the biggest headaches she had ever experienced during her 25 years of life.
The same day the expedition team had escaped from Kulah, her old master, Raagu, had given her the mission to lead Lith at the current Headquarters of the Council to be examined, but approaching him had turned out to be a nightmare.
The Ernas mansion didn't allow for visitors until the three survivors had recovered. At least all those who didn't bear the Royal Crest. Even with all of her contacts, Athung had failed to find a way in to the mansion, official or otherwise.
To make matters worse, with all the protections in place, even a true mage would be easily detected and she needed a friendly approach, not to become the target of a manhunt.
She had thought to have found her opportunity when Lith had left the manor, only to lose his tracks before she could even reach his last known position. Moving with Tower Warp made most of his movements untraceable since it left no official record she could follow.
Yet it wasn't Lith moving like a ghost to cause her such distress. While waiting for her mark, she had collected all the information available about him and it was enough to make her want to cry.
"I thought this job would be about leading by the hand a small kid inside a wolf den, but this guy looks more like a rabid beast." Athung said to Zartan, her best friend. "According to his file, this Lith is a paranoid with anti-social behavior who has paved his career with corpses.
"How the heck can I persuade this Verhen to even sit down and talk to me without him attempting to chop my head off? All the Awakened he met in the past tried to kill him, so opening with 'I'm like you' is more likely to trigger him rather than reassure him.
"What's worse, they were all affiliated with the Council, so the reputation that precedes me isn't good at all." She sighed.
"Why don't you tell the old bat to fuck off and give this crap assignment to one of her beloved disciples?" Zartan asked. Just like her, he was free from all the master-disciple obligations and was a minor member of the Council.
"Are you kidding me? Even though now I'm an independent player, I'm still one of the most eligible candidates to inherit her legacy, and I want to keep things that way. Raagu may be a pain in the ass, but she's a filthy rich pain in the ass and she's not going to live much longer." Athung replied.
Unlike regular disciples, Athung had Awakened herself when she was just twelve years old and her feats had led Raagu to her doorstep when she was just fourteen. Raagu had taught her everything Athung knew about magic, but the young Awakened was aware that her mentor was withholding most of her knowledge.
Being a natural Awakened meant that Athung wasn't bound to serve her master for one hundred years since it was a treatment reserved to those who had needed external help to be turned into true mages.
Once Athung had learned all that Raagu was willing to teach her and the Council had recognized her as its full-fledged member, she had got her freedom back. Yet it had come at a price.
Sure, as an apprentice she had to obey Raagu's every order without question and had been forced to put her abilities to the test even in fields of the magical research that she had no interest into, but her life had been so much easier back then.
Whenever she had a question or reached a bottleneck in her personal research, Raagu or her library would provide Athung will all the answers she needed. During her eight years of apprenticeship, Athung never had to worry about books, money, or materials.
Whatever she needed, her master would provide it to her on a silver platter in a matter of minutes. During the last two years, instead, her abilities had stagnated. Since Athung had never attended an academy, she had no connections nor a name for herself.
The moment she had walked out Raagu's manor, life had harshly reminded her that without money one couldn't make magic and vice versa. Finding a place where to live, setting up her own lab, acquiring the proper materials, were all things she didn't even know where to start.
No one would hire a rogue, nameless mage, and to acquire what she needed through crime would have made her one of the most wanted criminals in the Kingdom, if not even put her on the hitlist of the Council.
Magical knowledge and resources were all heavily guarded by the Association. An Awakened one could bust one or two deposits, but not without leaving plenty of evidence and witnesses behind.
Exposing the existence of true magic for petty reason was the most common cause of death among foolish Awakened ones. Raagu had reminded her of it countless times during her training.
So Athung had spent most of her time building her own reputation and making a living instead of focusing on magic, which frustrated her to no end.
"Those old bastards set you up too, huh?" Zartan sighed. Once being a self Awakened was reason enough for an elder to bestow upon people like Athung their legacy, but ever since Silverwing had spread her knowledge, things had changed.
Back in the day, the Council had laughed at her simplified version of true magic, considering it a fool's errand. Yet after genius magicians like Manohar had appeared, the Awakened had almost choked on their own laughter.
In less than a millennium, the combined efforts of the magical community had brought fake mages on a level dangerously similar to that of true mages and it was only a matter of time before they caught up or, even worse, surpassed the Awakened.
Now people like Raagu couldn't settle for brilliant heirs, they looked for geniuses. Everyone wanted a Manohar of their own. His feat to conjure hard light constructs, something that only light magic experts with centuries of experience managed to learn without a legacy, had made more than one Council elder weep blood.
Chapter 753 Meeting Part 1
"Yeah, they did it on purpose. Keeping us from the academies so that we have no plausible explanation for our powers and we are completely dependent on our old masters.
"I never had to learn how to cook or even buy groceries, let alone get myself a job. I can't miss this opportunity. If I become Raagu's heir, I'll easily become an elder and I will never have to bother myself with money again." Athung snarled.
Each mage could only have an heir because legacies had proved to be like kingdoms, they couldn't be split without causing a war. The Council's first attempt of increasing the numbers of Awakened to keep up the pace with fake magic's development had brought disastrous results.
Madmen, degenerates, or even worse, foolish goody-two-shoes idealists that wanted to save Mogar from itself had infiltrated their ranks, forcing the Council to purge the rotten apples before they could plant their seeds and spread like a disease.
Having more than one heir had also proved to be nigh impossible. Every mage lived believing to be the best, and sharing wasn't their strong suit. Usually having more than one heir devolved in them plotting against each other or trying to persuade their master to get rid of the competition.
Since raising their numbers had turned out to be too difficult, the Council of humans had decided to increase the quality of the heir candidates. If people like Balkor could achieve that much just by themselves, there was no telling the heights they might reach with millennia of legacies backing their research.
"Aren't you afraid that this Verhen guy could steal your spotlight? I mean, if he's really a self-Awakened, he has our same background, but unlike us, he has already made quite a name for himself." Zartan said.
"Unlikely." Athung sneered at the idea. "Most of his so-called feats can be easily explained with the basics of true magic disguised as talent. The only notable thing he has is his Forgemastering skill and Raagu is no Forgemaster.
"That and his body count." Zartan pointed at all the names listed as Lith's confirmed kills.
"That's why I'm so frustrated. Even if Raagu allowed me to employ it, brute force is not an option. I spent the first twelve years of my life as a normal human and the rest holed up in a safe environment, whereas this guy has grown up on the battlefield.
"How the heck do I get a paranoid psycho killer to follow me without asking questions?" She slammed her fists on the table in frustration, cracking it. The idea of having to spend money to replace the furniture turned her stress into fury.
"Honey trap?" Zartan suggested with a laugh while exposing his hairy calf. "I mean, if violence and diplomacy are off the table, you don't have much of a choice." His joke earned him a powerful punch in the face as an answer.
"That's not funny at all! It's my future that is at stake here, so either you get serious or you get out of here." All Awakened received physical training and combat lessons, but very few of them actually had the opportunity to put them to use.
After two years of adventuring on her own, Athung considered to have gained quite some battle experience, but not enough to take head on an Awakened Ranger, at least not if she played it fairly.
She checked with her contacts again. The moment Lith took a Warp Gate, she would be informed of it. The hard part would be to find a way to not let their meeting end with one of them leaving the field in a body bag.
***
Living in the Ernas manor had many perks, like their personal Warp Gate. After a good shave, Lith only needed a few steps to reach any destination he wanted. The Skinwalker armor relieved him of the necessity of changing clothes and he hated cologne.
Due to his enhanced senses, most smells were too intense to be anything but a nuisance for him.
'I can't believe I had to Forgemaster myself a razor.' Lith thought.
'Well, it's not like you had any other choice. Normal blades lose their edge after just one use. It was either that or starting to use regular fire.' Solus said. 'Being too impervious can become annoying. Even cutting your hair now requires a mage or an enchanted blade.'
Lith walked through the Gate, stepping directly inside the army's headquarters of Derios. Unlike Rangers, Constables didn't operate in a specific zone, they would go wherever their services were required.
While his identity was being checked, Lith regretted not having a single gift for Kamila. It was their first date in over a month and yet he was empty-handed. Between the rest and the breakthrough, the best he could have done was stealing flowers from the Ernas's garden, but that was low even by his standards.
'It's better to give her nothing rather than random bullcrap. Kami knows what I've been through and I can always make up for this for our one-year anniversary.' Lith thought.
'Don't forget about me. I don't want to play third wheel.' Solus said.
'Don't worry. The moment I know what she has planned for tonight, you're free to go. There's a mana geyser near Derios. I'll Warp you there before leaving the city.' Lith replied.
One of Kamila's duties as Jirni's Field Assistant was to check all the statements and alibis collected during their investigation. It was a job as important as it was boring. It required quite some time, during which Jirni would usually sort out her case folders.
There was only so much time before a trail became cold and they had to follow multiple cases at the same time, even in different cities throughout the Kingdom.
Kamila had been left alone because Jirni knew that when a fellow Royal Constable requires your presence while she interrogates your daughters you can't turn down the invitation lightly.
Lith had no idea why he would always meet Constable Griffon, but he was certain it was no coincidence.
'I think the Royals are onto me because of all the "odd disappearances" that happen around me ever since I took the purple crystal while I was still attending the boot camp. I guess they were worried I might have taken some souvenir from Kulah, so they used my relationship with the Ernas to try and intimidate me.
'According to Yondra, if I had ever asked someone about the sword or the booklet that we recovered in Kulah, the Kingdom would have confiscated them from us. I doubt that the Odi's sword or the fungus' ring would be any different.
'Tyris confirmed us that the Royals are airtight about runes, let alone on Adamant. If we manage to purify and reuse it, we'll need a heck of a cover story.' Lith thought.
'Agreed, but why send her specifically?' Solus asked. 'Wouldn't Jirni have been a better choice? She's our friend and that way they could've tested the loyalty of both of you at the same time.'
'Classic carrot and stick technique. The stick is a powerful mage, who is also a Constable and a member of the Royal family. It's the best combination to put pressure on me and attempt to make me fall in line.
'Also, she's quite the carrot, but if they think that I'd fall for a pretty face, they are gravely mistaken.'
Actually, Lith couldn't be further from the truth. Their first encounter was due to the silver pillar that had appeared when he had killed Treius. Since such events had unfolded inside Tyris's turf she had been eager to check on the anomaly.
Chapter 754 Meeting Part 2
The second had happened when a group of trespassing Awakened had practiced forbidden magic, triggering Tyris's wrath. As for Kulah's aftermath, she was more interested in Solus than she was in Lith.
Usually, aside from Guardians, no one was ever allowed to have an audience with Mogar.
"Are you done working or do you need some more time?" Lith asked after seeing that Kamila still had a couple of folders open in front of her.
"I'm done. Why are you so late?" It wasn't a reprimand, more genuine curiosity. Lith was anal-retentive in many things and punctuality was among those.
"I'll tell you on our way out."
"Give me a couple of minutes." Kamila said, walking towards the nearest bathroom. She didn't need to freshen her make up for the place where they were headed, she just didn't want to flaunt her Skinwalker armor in front of her colleagues.
Having reached the position of Field Assistant despite her background was already a reason for envy, and having an Archon as her mentor even though she was just the last arrived only made things worse.
The last thing Kamila needed was to add more rumors to those that already were whispered behind her back.
She entered one of the stalls and let the uniform shapeshift into civilian clothes. Having a small wardrobe of self-cleaning, tailor-made clothes on herself was another luxury she doubted that she could live without now.
"Where are you taking me tonight?" Lith asked after her return. Kamila was now wearing a white silk high neck layered ruffle blouse, black pants, and shoes with just enough heel to be able to kiss him without too much effort.
"I was thinking about a family dinner. You're just back and I don't want to hog you all to myself." She replied while taking his hand and leading Lith back to the Warp Gate.
Lith sighed, it was what he had suspected the moment he had seen her coming out of the bathroom. Those were the less sexy clothes she had, more suited to a business dinner than to a date.
"Wow, I thought you would have been happy of spending a bit of time with your family after this long." Kamila was a bit annoyed by his reaction, but at least he wasn't pretending to be thrilled about it.
"Don't get me wrong. I love them, but a family dinner is not exactly what I was looking forward. Besides, we spent some time together on the day of my return."
"Seeing you eat and sleep is not much of a visit! Also, there's someone I think you should meet." Kamila's words made Lith's mood go from sour to bad. His evening was already looking like a bust, meeting strangers wasn't an improvement at all.
"Do you want to bring them along for our anniversary too? Because for that many people I'll need to make the reservation quite in advance." He sneered.
His words made Kamila stop abruptly.
"Did you remember that?" She was honestly shocked. After everything Lith had been through during the last few weeks, she was sure it would have slipped his mind.
"Of course. Jokes aside, do you want to go somewhere in particular? Because…" A long, sweet kiss cut him short before he could rant about how little time was left.
"Anything is fine by me." She replied with a dazzling smile that almost made Lith feel guilty about his currently grumpy mood. Almost.
A few Warp Steps brought them near their destination, where a surprise was waiting for him. Someone was standing right past the borders of the arrays protecting Lith's house.
It was a woman in her middle twenties, about 1.75 (5'9") meters tall with raven-black hair that reached the small of her back. She was wearing a comfortable adventurer set made of hardened leather comprised of a jacket, a shirt, pants, and boots.
The clothes were loose enough to not impede her movements, but could do very little to hide her soft curves. There was something nervous about her countenance that raised several flags in Lith's mind.
The spot of her choosing was too peculiar to be a coincidence. She either had used an array detecting spell or she was able to see them. Also, there was the fact that she had been staring at them from the moment they had appeared, as if she had seen the Warp Steps opening.
'Zartan may be an idiot, but he was right about one thing.' Athung thought while waiting for Lith to arrive. The moment her contacts had let her know that he had taken a Gate, she knew it was only a matter of time before he came home.
'I can't give up on diplomacy without even trying. Mostly because I've got no other option.' Athung took a long look at the couple with Life Vision before they could notice her.
She was honestly unimpressed by both of them. The only astonishing thing about Lith was his vigor, whereas his mana core seemed weak. The cloaking rings he wore hid Solus and his magical powers, but not his vitality.
Lith was an Awakened since his birth, so his body was as strong as it could possibly be.
Lith's physical prowess was something that an Awakened of his same build and stage of core refinement could equal but not surpass. Which made him much stronger than Athung who was shorter, lighter, and had experienced fewer breakthroughs.
'For the gods' sake, how can someone so much younger than me already being that strong?' She thought. 'To make matters worse, for an Awakened, he doesn't seem to have a great taste in women.'
Due to the body refinement, all Awakened were beautiful according to human standards, which made them very picky about their partners. Athung had lived most of her life with Raagu, so she found most humans to be ugly.
According to Awakened standards, Tista would have been considered a beautiful woman, Lith an average guy, Kamila homely at best, and Athung pretty.
"Is she the person you wanted to introduce to me?" Lith asked while weaving several spells at the same time, just to be on the safe side.
"Of course not!" Kamila replied a bit too fast for her own liking.
'As if I'd introduce such a hottie to my boyfriend.' She thought. 'What's wrong with Lutia? How can so many beautiful people live here?'
She was unaware that Lith's family had been treated by him over the years, bringing them up to Awakened standards.
'I don't know who that woman is, but all of her equipment is enchanted and she is likely to be an Awakened. I can see her blue core sending streams of mana throughout her body, whereas fake mages have static cores.' Solus thought, breaking the impasse.
"Kami stay behind me and don't move, no matter what!" Lith stood in front of her as a blue aura erupted from his body, covering ten meters (33 feet) around him and two sets of what appeared to be membranous wings came out from his back.
Lith had just used the Full Guard and the Death Call spells. The former allowed Lith to perceive everything and everyone within its boundaries, making it impossible to take him by surprise. It also allowed him to defend himself even from attacks coming from his blind spots.
Usually Solus's senses were enough, but since he was with Kamila and had no idea if more people were cloaked in the vicinity, he couldn't afford to take risks.
Chapter 755 Demands Part 1
Death Call, instead, was one of Lith's personal spells.
It conjured four dense constructs made of darkness magic that he could move as if they were his limbs. Once they looked like tentacles, but after fighting Thrud Griffon Lith had learned how to alter their shape at will.
He had chosen to make them look like wings, as a cover in case he had to shapeshift and to not give out their purpose to his opponent.
"Calm down, I'm not here to fight." Athung said, swallowing a lump of saliva. "My name is Athung Soranot and I'm here on behalf of the Council. We need to talk."
She decided to go all out as well, spreading a blue aura that was just an aura and preparing her best spells in case she needed to buy some time to escape.
'Lith has interacted with Awakened more than once, he can't be that much of a country bumpkin anymore. Mentioning the Council should calm him. I can't afford a fight.
'Not only because of Raagu's orders, but also because if the Queen's corps meddle with this, I'm as good as dead.' She thought, hoping that Lith wasn't the madman his personal file described.
A flick of Lith's wrist Blinked Kamila inside his house, letting him free to speak or fight as he saw fit.
"I've nothing to say to the Council. The last time I dealt with one of you, I almost got killed!" Lith was referring to Inxialot the Lich, who had forced him to partake in a ritual fight to the death against a vampire, but Athung had no way to know it.
"I assure you that the Council was unaware of the deeds performed by the rogue Awakened you faced in Zantia. Forbidden magic is a crime and their masters' have been already been punished according to the Council's law, so the issue can be considered as settled." Athung replied.
'Those six nutjobs too were part of the Council? And here I thought that the Griffon Kingdom was fucked up. Guess the Council takes the cake.' Lith thought, adding Zantia to his grievances with the Awakened community and wondering if Treius had also been part of such a viper's nest.
"Settled my pale ass." Lith said. "Every time I met an Awakened, I had a fight to the death. First, the idiot from the desert who tried to merge with the Black Star-" an almost imperceptible flinch in Athung's eye corner confirmed his suspicions.
"-then that crazy Lich, and finally those idiots. I already have enough troubles abiding by the Griffon Kingdom's laws, I've no reason to waste my time with another bunch of incompetent imbeciles. Scram."
Lith moved forward and several spheres of mana appeared in mid-air, surrounding his enemy. Athung was impressed, but far from scared. As far as true magic went, Lith was clearly a self-taught and had yet to show anything remarkable to her.
"How can you be so blind?" Athung repeated word by word the same pitch that Raagu had used over a decade before to entice Athung into becoming her apprentice.
"It's your first real opportunity to meet other people like you. People that will live as long as you do and that have answers to questions that you probably have yet to think about.
"Our magical legacy is as ancient as Mogar itself, it's greater than Silverwing's or of that of any other human mage you'll ever meet. Aren't you tired of hiding who you are? To practice the humans' fake magic?
"I'm not offering you a cage, but a place where you belong. A place among people who can help you carve your path in life.
"Awakened are a tight-knit community with rules that are meant to protect you, not to imprison you. If you come with me, you'll become part of something much bigger than the army of this insignificant Kingdom.
"Awakened have no borders, we live here as well as in the Empire and the Desert. With the backing of the Council, you will be able to travel ignoring all the political shenanigans and have access to many so-called state secrets."
Lith was long since aware to not be the only Awakened. He had stopped considering himself special after befriending the magical beasts, learning from them fusion magic and most of their knowledge about magic.
Since Athung nor her equipment seemed particularly powerful, he had no reason to believe that Awakened, just like humans, would give their secrets away for free. He had stopped believing in free meals and fairy godmothers back on Earth.
'Solus?'
'We're alone. The members of the Queen's corps are either cloaked or far away enough to not be a threat. Since we never had trouble spotting them in the past, I'd say they are not here.' She replied.
"You are letting your prejudices prevent you from seeing the bigger picture." Athung continued. "Yes, Awakened have criminals among their ranks, just like humans, but without the Council, the undead would have taken you prisoner. You owe us."
"Also, if you follow me, you'll have the opportunity to become a recognized member of our kin and deepen your understanding of how Mogar really works."
"I owe you nothing. You didn't protect me so much as our common secret." Lith snarled, but after talking with Orion and Tyris, the part about the Awakened ones' legacy was almost intriguing. Almost.
"Plus, why should I follow you? Why should I trust someone I've never met before? You could easily lead me into a trap or best-case scenario get me surrounded by a bunch of pompous jackasses who think they are my betters. Thanks, but no thanks.
"Last warning, scram."
"Is there something I can do to earn your trust?" Athung asked. She felt as if she was talking to a wall and the worst part was that he was right.
If Athung could turn back time to when she had been offered her apprenticeship, she would tell Raagu to fuck off and make the Council chase her, rather than begging for their favors like she was now forced to.
"To scram would be a good start and never returning would be even better." Lith snapped his fingers and Silverwing Hexagram appeared around them, suppressing only Athung's spells.
'It's impossible! No one can conjure this array so fast by themselves. I need to…'
Her train of thought was derailed by Lith's hand closing around her neck and lifting her from the ground. The split-second of surprise had been more than enough to close the distance separating them before she could react.
Athung unleashed all the spells she had at the ready, making the six points of the Hexagram light for each element nullified, yet Lith was unfazed. Life Vision showed Athung that even though he had countered several tier five spells his mana was unaffected, whereas hers was almost depleted.
'What kind of monster is this guy?' She tried to loosen his grip, but it was like pushing a mountain away.
The choke prevented her from using Invigoration and she knew that she wasn't his match in a physical confrontation, so she simply stopped fighting back.
"That's better. Are you ready to go now? You can either pass my message or become my message. Take your pick." Lith said, receiving a nod in reply.
"As long as I don't expose our existence, I don't break any law of the Council, correct?" He asked as more nodding ensued.
"Then we've nothing to talk about."
Chapter 756 Demands Part 2
"Tell those idiots that if they stay out of my hair, I'll stay out of theirs. If they really want to meet me, we'll do it at my conditions, and only after I received proper compensation for all the troubles their incompetence caused me."
Lith let her go since killing was pointless. The Council might always send someone else and the woman was nothing more than a messenger. He had made his point, any more would only anger the power backing her.
Someone capable of making a blue cored Awakened move at their whims was a force to be reckoned with. It was better to speak softly and let them play by his rules. As long as Lith could prepare the field in advance, he was certain to have the upper hand.
Athung recovered her strength the moment she was capable of breathing again. She stepped back slowly, using Life Vision to confirm that Lith wasn't conjuring more mana for some sick cat and mouse game.
Athung got out of Silverwing's array and Blinked away, eager to tell Raagu that she had done her part and that she wanted nothing more to do with Lith Verhen.
'I don't believe he had no master. His abilities don't make sense. Someone must have helped him along the way. That or he Awakened in the crib.' She thought.
It was just an idiom that the Awakened community used to describe an unbelievable event, except this time it was an actually precise description of the truth.
Lith cast the Life Detection array, to make sure that no one, not even the members of the Queen corps were near enough to have bore witness to the events.
Spending his first night out in a month with his family was already bad. Being forced to kill the very same people who had loyally protected his beloved ones would have been the icing on the crap.
For once luck was by his side. Or to be more precise, it was Athung's doing. To be able to freely speak with Lith, she had organized a small distraction that had actually worked against her.
"Thanks for your help, Reaper." Lith said turning towards a secular oak. Back when Kamila had confirmed Lith that Athung wasn't their guest, he had used air magic to alert his allies with the magical equivalent of an ultrasonic whistle.
"Please, we just answered your call, Scourge." Reaper the Manticore, the king in the south of the Trawn woods stepped out of the shadows. He had the body and the head of a lion, with quills like those of a porcupine protruding from most of his body.
Reaper also had black feathered wings on his back, horns like an ibex on his head, and the tip of his tail was a mass of spikes. Each one was infused with a different element and ready to be thrown at the enemy.
"Who was that puny female?" The Manticore was so tall that he needed to slightly tilt his head up to look into Lith's eyes.
"Troubles. Is Lifebringer with you?" Lith asked while checking on Reaper's equipment.
The cloaking ring on his tail reduced his signature to that of a big animal to anyone who wasn't Lith while the metal claws he had made for the Manticore made the creature even more lethal.
"Yes, and so is Sentinel. Without them, I wouldn't have been able to set the Hexagram up so fast." The other two Emperor Beasts, respectively a Kirin and a Garmr, joined them as soon as they were certain that the coast was clear.
They each wore equipment similar to Reaper's that Lith had crafted for them before leaving for Kulah.
"Why didn't you let us simply turn her into our dinner?" Sentinel asked. She once was the Ry that had taken Protector's place as pack leader and king.
"Because with an unknown enemy, one has to be careful. The cloaking rings coupled with your stealth abilities make you invisible even to Awakened ones.
"This way, she thought I was some kind of monster whereas if she learned about you, the next time she could stage attacks on your packs to keep you busy and prevent you from helping me." Lith replied.
"How are things going with the woods?"
"Strangely." Lifebringer replied. "Several men had come to your house during the last months, all came through our forest to avoid the human guards."
The members of the Queen's corps were nigh invisible, but since everyone knew they were protecting Lith's house, the only way to launch a surprise attack without being spotted from a distance was to use the cover of the trees.
"Mages?" Lith asked. His duty as a Ranger had pissed off quite a lot of people, so it was nothing unexpected.
"Some, mostly soldiers of some kind."
"Awakened?"
"None. That female was the only one we ever saw, except for your sister, of course." Reaper replied, quelling Lith's only real worry.
"Good to know. Now, if things go as I expect, Athung will return and the next time, she will not be alone. Have you practiced with the arrays and your equipment as I instructed?"
The Emperor Beasts nodded.
"Excellent. Now that you know her smell, I want you to keep watch in case she returns. Do not attack unless she tries to harm one of my pack. By the way, I need you to add this one to the people you have to protect."
Lith took a lock of Kamila's hair out of his pocket dimension, letting his allies memorizing her scent. He kept it on himself as a good luck charm and because if something happened to her, any of his Emperor Beast friends could help him to track her down thanks to their sense of smell.
"The female you were with earlier?" Reaper asked while sniffing Kamila's scent that emanated from Lith's clothes. "We always considered her a member of your pack, so we've been also taking care of her small herd of weaklings."
"Meaning?" Lith asked before remembering that Zinya and her children were now his neighbors. He had still to wrap his head around the idea. It was both flattering and disturbing at the same time.
"The female…"
"Kamila." Lith pointed out. The term 'female' referred to her irked him to no end.
"Kamila always had your scent of her and has come often visiting your pack along with her own. We guessed you were on friendly terms and extended our protection to them."
"Thanks. I don't need more distractions. I've got a lot on my plate already."
"No need to thank us." Lifebringer snorted. "We're friends and you've given us many gifts. It is only natural for us to return all the good you have done for our tribes."
Their equipment was actually the means necessary for the Emperor Beasts to do their job. Without proper schooling or tools, the kings of the Trawn woods could have been easily overpowered by a well-prepared opponent and Lith only played worst-case scenarios in his mind.
Lith would have loved to thank them again and explain at least a few of his continency plans to them, but according to Solus, if he delayed any longer Kamila, his mother, or both might sound the alarm.
He set up an appointment with them before entering his own home. Or at least trying to since the door was blocked from the inside. Even his attempt to Warp in was blocked by the array surrounding the place.
Clearly his paranoia had rubbed off on his family to the point that they weren't willing to take chances.
Chapter 757 Meeting 2 Part 1
"Open up. It's me." Lith said, proud and pissed off equally.
"If it's really you, then how much will it cost one Skinwalker armor?" Tista's voice asked.
"I'm not going to sell them. I like my monopoly as it is." Lith replied while holding back his surprise.
'Tista came home before me, yet she isn't supposed to be here. She should be waiting for Solus in the woods with Nyka. What's going on here?' He thought.
The door opened into the hallway, revealing a room filled with people armed to the teeth with Alchemical tools provided either by the Kingdom or Lith himself. Kamila had her army amulet active and was keeping a tactical team on stand-by while Raaz was holding the panic button the Queen's corps had given them years ago.
"Relax, everything is fine." Lith said. "It was just a recruiter from a guild of pompous idiots. She's gone now, I sent her away and told her to fu…."
Only when he was about to swear did Lith remember about the kids and notice that they were nowhere to be seen, along with Elina.
"Where's Mom?" Lith asked.
"In the cellar with the kids, in case things went badly." Raaz replied.
He opened the hatch hidden under a carpet in the kitchen, letting out Elina, Aran, Leria, Zinya, and a couple of unknown kids. They were a boy and a girl, respectively around eight and ten years old.
Zinya's children were scared, whereas the Verhen kids were too young to understand danger and had never faced any hardship. They were laughing, relaxed as if they had just finished playing hide and seek.
"Is there something wrong?" Kamila asked. After aborting the rescue request and turning her amulet off, she had noticed that Lith was frozen stiff.
'Everything is wrong!' He thought.
"No. Just I'm surprised. I didn't expect to find Zinya here. Why didn't you tell me?" He actually said after taking a deep breath to calm down.
"Because I wanted to surprise you." She giggled. "To my defense, I told you that I wanted to introduce someone to you. Lith, these are Frey and Filia, my nephew and niece. Kids, this is Lith, a friend of your aunt."
"Hi, uncle Lith." Frey said with a very serious face while extending his small hand, pushing Lith one step closer to panic. Kamila had told him earlier that this was a family dinner and putting the two families around the same table could only mean one thing.
"Mom and auntie talk a lot about you." The kid was too rigid and the speech too formal to not be rehearsed.
"Nice to meet you, Frey." Lith said, noticing that the mood in the room was as serious as he feared and that his sisters were barely holding their laughter in. They seemed to find the word "uncle" hilarious.
After they shook hands it was Filia's turn. She gave Lith a clumsy curtsy before saying:
"Hi, uncle Lith. Can I ask you to make some toys for us now or do I have to wait until you marry Auntie like Mom says?"
Kamila and Zinya turned bright red while his sisters emitted the kind of choked noise a balloon losing air makes. The war against laughter was about to be lost.
"Toys!" Leria came to his rescue, pulling him by the leg. "Before leaving, you had promised us presents, where are they?"
"Leria, it's not nice to ask me for gifts after not seeing me for so long. Moreover, I've just recovered so I didn't have the time to…"
'You actually did. Or rather, I did. Check our pocket dimension.' Solus cut him short.
'You knew about this?' Lith asked while noticing a vast assortment of Forgemastered toys where only empty space was supposed to be.
'No, I'm not liking this any more than you. I simply used the time when you were asleep after the breakthrough to prepare a few of the things Selia requested for us. I used the opportunity to teach both Tista and Nyka a bit of Forgemastering.'
Examining the toys Lith could easily guess who had crafted what. Solus's skills were on par with his own, but her weak mana core limited her. She had clearly used Tista's talents for the items that required too much mana for her and Nyka's only for the simplest ones.
'What are you teaching them, exactly?'
'Just the basics. I'm not going to share with them our research without asking your opinion first, but I think that Forgemastering for an Awakened is a must-learn.'
Actually, Lith wouldn't mind if Solus shared everything with Tista. He trusted his sister. He was still on the fences about Nyka, though. Teaching to an immortal being could easily backfire, but he had no time to talk about that.
If he dwelled any longer in their mind link, he would appear to be lost in thought.
"…to prepare much. What are you supposed to say in these circumstances, young lady?" Lith resumed talking a split second after faltering.
"I'm sorry uncle Lith." Leria lowered her gaze while fiddling with her dress in shame. She wasn't spoiled or rude, just shamelessly hungry for shiny new toys like all kids her age. "Welcome back."
Lith patted Leria's head to show her that he wasn't angry and to check her with Invigoration.
'Dammit, she is five years old and already has an orange mana core? I had to work my ass off even for that.' Lith thought.
'Shut up, mister blue core.' Solus pouted. Being stuck at green, she believed that if someone had the right to complain it was her. 'At least it seems that yours might really become a magical bloodline.'
"Welcome home, Lith." Aran said, tugging at his leg to be taken into his arms. Lith's little brother was a bit younger than Leria, but he had an orange core as well. Solus's theory seemed to be spot on.
"Are you alright? Mom said that the monster man this time was really strong. But not as strong as you are, right?"
"No one is stronger than your brother." Lith replied while handing a couple of toys to each one of the four kids. Luckily, to avoid jealousy, Solus had prepared the same toys for both Lith's relatives and Selia's children, so everyone got the same things.
Frey and Filia were older than Leria, but they had never received an enchanted toy, so they were even more amazed than her.
"It's nice to see you again, Lith." Zinya said once the kids had run to the fireplace to examine their new treasures. She looked much better than the last time he had seen her. She had gained weight and her face was of a healthy shade of pink.
Only the shadows still lingering in her eyes betrayed her past sufferings, just like her habit of touching furniture in her proximity to make sure she wouldn't bump into them showed that she still had problems with depth perception.
"It's nice to see you too. You look wonderful." He said while hugging her. After a bit of chit-chat about her new life in Lutia, Lith went to talk with Tista.
"Why didn't you warn me earlier?" Lith said while glaring at her, only achieving to make her laugh. He wasn't scarier than a teddy bear to her.
Chapter 758 Meeting 2 Part 2
"And missing your shocked expression? No way. Besides, what did you expect? You and Kamila have been together for almost a year, you live together for a while, and after helping Zinya, you sent her here for her recovery." Tista shrugged.
"If this wasn't your intention, you sure sent Mom and Dad mixed signals."
"I-" Lith was about to rebuke her when he started to look at things from their point of view instead of his own. Ever since he had turned into an adult, he had treated relationships exactly has he would have done back on Earth, except Mogar wasn't Earth.
'It's close enough, though.' Solus thought. 'I mean, living together, introducing each other to your respective families, and helping Zinya like that would have been a big deal even on Earth.
'The only difference is that there no one would expect for you to marry before you turn twenty.'
"Damn, you are right. It seems that Kami and I will need to have that conversation sooner rather than later." Lith said.
The dinner was delicious and the evening was lovely. Both grown-ups and children enjoyed themselves with only one exception.
Lith felt like crap most of the time, and even though after returning to the Ernas mansion he finally had some quality time with his girlfriend, the thought that it might be the last night that he spent with Kamila, almost made him not appreciate the event.
Almost.
***
City of Ocra, Griffon Kingdom
Even though it was late, Raagu was still working in her Warden lab, swapping and shifting the runes in her latest project to find the symmetry that would achieve the maximum mana efficiency.
Unlike fake mages, by altering the structure of their spells, Awakened could alter an array's properties. They could make a magical formation's casting time shorter, strengthen its effect, and expand or shrink their area of effect.
It was all a matter of properly arranging the energy nodes and words of power. True magic was akin to turn simple threads into fabric. The number and the position of the magical stitches could produce a simple blanket or a complex tapestry.
It was the reason why true mages were also known as spellweavers in the Awakened community.
Old and powerful mages like Raagu were capable of keeping together incomplete spells and alter their patterns at will, allowing her to achieve arrays of great power with an ease that fake mages could only dream about. Yet.
Unbeknownst to all, Yurial had done the same thing to turn Silverwing's Hexagram into a more practical formation.
Raagu's focus was so great that, even when Athung stormed into her lab, the old Awakened managed not only to keep her prototype spell active, but also to continue experimenting on it while talking with her former apprentice.
"You're alive. Good." Raagu nodded in approval while swapping the position of two runes, improving the mana flow of the makeshift array.
"Is that approval or just surprise?" Athung snarled.
"Approval. I knew you'd fail your mission the moment you departed."
"Did you set me up? Were you trying to have me killed?" Athung took deep breaths to calm herself. She knew that she wasn't a match for her old mentor. At least not inside Raagu's home.
Yet snapping that old, thin neck was a temptation hard to resist in her outraged stated.
"Silly girl, no. If I wanted to kill you, I'd done that myself." Raagu spoke with a casual tone, as if she was talking about the weather. There was no arrogance nor rage in her voice, which made her words even more terrifying.
Athung knew from experience that real threats weren't made by people yelling or flailing weapons, those were just the tantrums of overgrown children. Really dangerous people spoke softly and had the cold indifference Raagu had in her eyes.
"What I requested for you, like everything else ever since I took you in my home, was a test. A test that you failed, but at least not completely. It means there is still hope for you." Raagu explained.
"It was an impossible test! I even consulted with some of my friends and they all agreed there was no chance of success. Or did you expect me to seduce that runt?" Athung disgust was only matched by that of her mentor.
"If you did that, you would have lost more than my respect. I would have kicked you out of the Council. I trained a brilliant, powerful woman, not a harlot. As for your friends, I always told you they are idiots.
"As for the mission, I would never give you an impossible test. Did you read his file?"
Athung nodded.
"Then you should know that Kalla the Wight requested our mediation when he parlayed with the Dawn Court."
"Do you mean that…" Athung would have slapped herself for not thinking about it.
"Yes. Since I asked you to act on behalf of the Council, you could have requested her help and have her vouch for you. This Verhen is a dangerous individual with trust issues and a penchant for violence.
"Trying to talk to him was akin to smear yourself with blood and jumping in a lion's den."
"Why didn't you stop me, then? Why didn't you tell me these things earlier?"
"It was another test. For both of you. If you clashed and you killed him, it would have meant he wasn't worth my time. If you died, it would have meant that he was a deranged individual and you a failure." Raagu nodded as another rune fell into place, bringing her array a step closer to completion.
"Now tell me what happened."
Athung told her only the truth, leaving her mentor impressed.
"So, he wore cloaking devices that prevented you from discerning both his physical and magical strength, correct?" Raagu asked.
"Yes, but when we both went all-out the mana coming out of his eyes was blue, so he is likely to have a blue core. Also, his physical strength makes no sense. When he clutched my neck, it was like a vise. Even using both hands I couldn't get free."
"He's a man. If you two have the same core, he is bound to be stronger." Raagu tilted her head at such naïve remark.
"No, I spar with Zartan often and even if he is even bigger than Verhen, he's not that strong. I felt that kind of pressure only when I fought Emperor Beasts, or you."
"Interesting." Raagu took note of it.
"Interesting my ass. He also activated Silverwing's array in less than thirty seconds!"
"That's impossible." Raagu shook her head. "He is a Healer and a Forgemaster. It would require my level of expertise to accomplish such a feat." She waved her hand enveloping the room with the golden array.
"It's more than that! He even neutralized ten of my best spells without even flinching. Cloaked or not, his mana level was unaffected."
"Well, this explains everything, silly child. The more unusual an event is, the simpler to find an explanation for it. Lith Verhen is clearly a cunning bastard who probably has a contingency plan even in case someone tampered with his toilet paper." Raagu laughed heartily.
"What do you mean?"
"He had help, silly girl. It explains everything. How the array was cast that fast, how effortlessly he countered your spells, and why you were no match for him."
Chapter 759 Diamond in the Rough Part 1
"I scouted the area with Life Vision and…" Athung said.
"Didn't you tell me that he cloaked himself? He must have done the same for his allies." Raagu cut her short.
"I decided my timing on a whim, how could they…"
"Paranoia and preparation. Probably an agreed signal you missed. You were on his turf, after all, where a mage is at their strongest."
"Who the heck would act on his back and call? He's too young to have disciples…"
"Yet he's old enough to have friends. Kalla the Wight and Protector the Skoll are two of his known associates. If Scarlett has Awakened more beasts inside the Trawn woods, there could be even more."
"Do you have any more tests for me, master?" Athung suddenly felt naïve and stupid. She had always had all the pieces in front of her yet she had failed to put them together, whereas it seemed to be as easy as connecting dots to Raagu.
"For you? No. But I think that spectating to someone else's could help your growth as a mage." Raagu activated her Council communication amulet, pressing the rune of the Awakened human in charge of Derios.
Raagu gave him the same information Athung had received plus Athung's report about her encounter with Lith. The only thing she didn't mention was the exchange of questions and answers with her disciple.
"Listen well, Gaaron. One of my potential heirs got destroyed by this rogue Awakened, so I want you to take charge. I don't want him killed, it would set a terrible precedent and make us lose a potential Ruler of the Flames.
"We have already lost Lesalia and her legacy, we can't afford to waste more talented Forgemasters." Lesalia was the elder Awakened who Tyris had killed after her disciple had practiced forbidden magic in Zantia, demanding her legacy as weregild.
More than a century had passed without an Awakened Forgemaster worthy of the title of Ruler of the Flames. Lesalia was the next best thing and now she was dead due to her hubris.
"The only thing I want for you is to test his abilities and see if he is Council material. I don't care how you do it as long as you don't kill him. Defy this simple order and I'll have your head."
Gaaron sneered at those words, but he had to hold his poisonous retort in. He hated Raagu, but since she had called him in her role of Council representative, he was bound to show her respect.
He hated Athung even more since despite the fact that he had lived for over 300 years, Gaaron was still stuck with a bright blue core, whereas she was close to achieving it after merely 13 years of training.
'If I succeed where Raagu's precious disciple failed, I'll humiliate both of them in one fell swoop. Even better, the old bat will be forced to award me with some of her knowledge. For once lady Luck is smiling at me.' He thought while accepting the mission.
"Why didn't you tell him about what you have discovered from my report?" Athung asked after seeing a Council member being set up just like it had happened to her.
Raagu laughed in reply.
"Do you really think that my heirs are the only ones I put to the test? I gave him everything he needs and the answers are under his nose. If he can't figure them out, well, one way or another his spot in the Council will become vacant.
"A role that you could fill with honor, not like a moron whose biggest achievement is setting his own farts ablaze with first magic." Raagu returned Gaaron despise with interests.
The idea of a mage achieving his seat in the Council only due to seniority made her want to puke. There were four possible roles available for Awakened recognized by the Council.
Apprentices were those who were Awakened by a senior member or were being tutored by them. Apprentices had personal rights but no voice in any of the Council matters and were considered just extensions of their masters.
Vagrant Awakened, like Athung, were released from their masters and considered independent beings, but had no territory of their own. They could only express their opinion in the matters of their own race's Council.
Only those who also oversaw their own region, like Gaaron, were considered true members of the community and would be asked to cast their vote in all the important decisions involving Awakened, no matter their race of origin.
Ruling over a territory had a different meaning for Awakened than what usually the term implied. They wouldn't collect taxes, they wouldn't help the development of the land, nor would care for common crimes.
Their role was solely meant to enforce the laws of the Council and make sure that no Awakened practiced Forbidden Magic or threatened to expose the secrets of true magic.
It was more a matter of responsibility and glory rather than profit, but the role also had it perks. When an elder assigned them a mission, they could ask the elders for a reward in the case they succeeded.
Also, those who achieved a territory would receive the help of the Council to set up their new house and labs, which meant having access to unlimited resources and state of the art equipment.
Lastly, there were the elders, like Raagu. Awakened mages who not only had a territory, but also who were recognized by their own community as leading figures in the field of magic.
Young or rogue Awakened would do anything to earn their favors. Becoming an elder's apprentice, no matter if one aimed to become the heir of their magical legacy or not, meant to gain access to the most powerful magic known to any race.
"Are you really doing all of this for me?" Athung asked, surprised by her mentor's ruthless form of kindness.
"No, I'm doing this for our race. Awakened have become complacent to the point that instead of using our long life to aim for something great, they are simply going through the motion and becoming obsolete." Raagu replied.
"If you are to become my heir, you have to learn that there are only two kinds of people in this world. People like this Verhen, that due to talent, hard work, or both have achieved something.
"If properly groomed, they can become a means to our ends and help our community to grow as a whole. Then, there are people like Gaaron. Arrogant fools that after doing the bare minimum become so blinded by their pride to stop trying to improve themselves.
"They are tools, and as such,they have to be treated. They must be replaced with a more useful tool as soon as it presents itself."
***
The following day, Lith's mage tower
As soon as Kamila had left for work, Lith had contacted Solus for her to pick him up at the nearest mana geyser, to get back to working on Runesmithing.
"How did things go with Kamila yesterday?" Solus asked.
"Very good, thanks. I told her that I want her to meet Protector and we even set up a date for the visit. Damn, my stomach is churning just at the idea." Lith replied while taking the ring that the fungal creature had gifted him after Lith had freed it from the slave enchantment out of his pocket dimension.
Chapter 760 Diamond in the Rough Part 2
"We couldn't examine this yesterday because of the sudden breakthrough, but now I'm really curious to see what this does. Phloria thought it was a dimensional item, but the Odi had to steal Professor Ellkas's ring to have one, so she was wrong."
The small ring was covered in glowing blue runes and had a small green mana stone embedded on it. Lith could now recognize a single rune pattern, which made it even more underwhelming.
Such a weak pseudo core that required both runes and a crystal to work couldn't be anything important. Especially since after it had been lost, no one seemed to have ever cared to pick it up, letting it end in the fungal creature's hands.
After checking that there was no self-destruct mechanism, Lith imprinted the ring. Much to his surprise, the enchanted item started to suck upon his mana avidly and its pseudo core grew in both size and power.
"Damn, I'm a moron!" Lith blurted out. "Of course it was weak as fuck, the ring was ownerless for centuries and if not for the runes, its pseudo core would have already dissolved."
While the ring recovered its strength and its pseudo core stabilized, Lith continued to translate the book about the body-swapping procedure, searching for a way to replace the lost Odi technology with modern magic.
Quylla had been right all along. Normal dictionaries were pretty useless to decipher the Odi's jargon about magic. Thanks to the vocabularies she had written and borrowed to him, however, Lith's and Solus' work progressed smoothly.
Even when they encountered an unknown term, between Quylla's work and their own brain it wouldn't take them long to make sense of it. At some point, Lith took also out the books he had copied from Kalla about Lichhood.
The two procedures were indeed quite similar and the past mages who had strived to achieve eternal life had already solved some of the issues that Lith was now facing.
"If they succeeded, then I can do it too." Lith said with renewed confidence once he realized that he could blend the two procedures into a new one and maybe obtain something better than the Odi had ever dreamed on.
"Yes, but it will take some time." Solus pointed out. "Even by using the Odi's book and Kalla's notes as a foundation, it's still a mammoth task. In the little free time you have as a Ranger, we can work on the theoretical field, but putting it into practice will have to wait."
"That's what I was planning to do anyway. It's not like I'm going to drop dead tomorrow, so there's no rush. The more we travel, the more we learn. Once I'm done with the army, I might visit the Empire and the Desert.
"I'm sure that they have lost ruins and secrets as well. The problem is how to get there without having trouble with the local authorities. To them, I might as well be just a spy." Lith sighed.
"We'll think about it when the time comes. Now let's get back to the ring. It has already stabilized for a while now. We can use it without the risk of it crumbling due to mana stress." Solus said.
Lith nodded and took another good look at the small blue thing on his finger. Now that it had the time to self-repair, the ring didn't look so shabby anymore, making Lith's hopes fly high.
It was then that Lith suddenly realized he had no idea how to use it. Huryole's sword was a different matter since its enchantment was so simple that it only needed to be activated to produce air blades against a target.
Lith was sending the ring the mental command for activation, yet nothing happened.
"Okay, maybe Phloria was right and the Odi were just dumb due to their long slumber." He shrugged and then tried to store his inkwell inside the ring's alleged dimensional subspace, but nothing happened.
Then he tried to infuse it with his own spells, in case it was a magic holding ring like those he already owned. Lith had yet to find a single ring capable of holding a tier four spell, so it would still be quite a catch.
After another failure, he remembered that the Odi lacked tier four and five magic except for Light and Forgemastering. Both were too complex to be stored, so he had to discard that idea as well.
"Okay, so it's not meant as a means to attack, nor to store energy." Lith checked the pseudo core again, looking for clues. It somehow reminded him of a dimensional item, which explained why Phloria's Royal Forgemaster spells had mistaken it for one.
A flash of understanding appeared behind Lith's eyes as he sent his will through the ring and making it generate a small energy bubble around his hand.
"Eureka!" Lith said in amazement.
He had been wondering why the runes on the Odi's blade were invisible whereas the ones on the ring glowed with a blue light. The answer was that they were part of the ring, but not engraved into it.
They were part of the enchantment itself and were now floating in the air, encompassing the ring's energy field. Lith discovered that it could be shrunk at will and enlarged up to a sphere of one meter (3.3 feet) around his hand.
"This looks great and stuff, but what does it do?" Solus asked.
"It's a gravity field of sorts." Lith replied while putting one of the books inside the energy bubble. Yet instead of floating, it retained its normal weight, at least until Lith wished for it to be lighter.
Then the book darted toward the ceiling, stopping in mid-air after exhausting its momentum and falling back down in the energy field.
"This makes no sense. Odi had slaves to carry their weights and air magic would be much easier to use than this thing. Unless…" Lith placed his hand above the book, wishing for it to be lighter again.
This time, however, he and Solus used Invigoration to understand what was happening. This way they managed to see the mana going from the ring into the runes, charging them up before sending the book flying.
"Newton's apple!" Lith blurted out when he confirmed that he was indeed the problem. When the book fell back, he simply wished for it to be a little lighter and noticed that instead of accelerating, the book moved through the energy bubble as if it was a dense jelly.
It took Lith a few tries to learn how to properly regulate the ring output, but once he managed to do it, he realized that even though the ring itself was utter crap, the runes surrounding it were a ground-breaking discovery.
"By my maker!" Solus said. "Runes can also be used to overcome the on/off-like nature of the enchanted items that we are able to craft! This is a property that not even the artifacts used by the Awakened we faced in the past had."
"Indeed." Lith grabbed a chair, noticing that once he touched something, the sphere would stick to the object like a second skin, allowing him to make it heavier or lighter at will.
"So far, all the Forgemastering techniques we have developed follow the same limitations of fake magic. A stored spell can only be released in one go, a barrier can only be active or inactive, whereas the Odi's ring can be regulated like a true magic spell."
Chapter 761 Fright Night Part 1
"Adding a control field can't make our enchantments more powerful, since the cap is always determined by the amount of mana that I can handle, but these runes can make my Forgemastering much more versatile.
"For people with a weak core like Kamila, such items would be a priceless treasure." Lith said.
"She can activate the Skinwalker armor's boosted state only a couple of times, but if I had engraved these runes, she could selectively boost a single part of the armor, without the precision and focus that doing such a thing now requires."
"It's nice of you to think about her first, but we still have a problem." Solus said.
"Those runes are visible just like those we learned in Huryole, but unlike them, the books at our disposal don't contain any of the ancient Odi runes, so we can't convert them into modern ones.
"Moreover, we have yet to discover how modern Runesmiths make their runes invisible. If we apply that enchantment as it is, we would be immediately discovered.
"Until we don't understand if this is another Royal Forgemaster technique, or even worse, something that only the Odi were capable of, we must tread with caution."
Lith nodded and then ran to his forge, to craft a new magic holding ring bearing the regulator runes. His plan was to use it to hold a healing spell that he could activate in battle little by little, enhancing his own life fusion and lessening the strain that light spells exerted on his body.
Since he bought rings in bulk, he took one of them, engraved the rune pattern, and skipped the Bonding step before performing the actual enchantment. Green or not, mana crystals were expensive.
Lith also wanted to check if modern Forgemastering methods could work properly with the ancient power words. Everything went without a hitch and the tier three charged spell was easily stored within the ring.
Yet when Lith tried to activate the spell, the runes started to flicker. He could feel the light element slowly seeping into his body, but since he was healthy, only his metabolism was enhanced, making him hungry.
In a matter of seconds, the runes were unable to fuel themselves properly and started to siphon the energy from the pseudo core until it crumbled.
"You cheapskate." Solus grumbled. "Are you happy now? The runes are gone and the ring is nothing but scrap metal."
"Actually, I am." Lith replied while studying his latest failure. The edges of the runes were now charred in the metal and the healing spell stored in the ring was being released in the form of pure light.
"First, I understood why the Odi ring needs a mana crystal. It's not because the enchantment is powerful, but because the regulating runes work akin to a dam. Once they are opened, it takes a lot of energy to prevent them from crumbling under the pressure of the mana that wants to be released at once.
"Second, don't ask me how, but after the pseudo core collapsed, the light element was separated from the darkness element, generating a destructive power similar to those off spell employed by the last two Abominations we faced."
Lith showed the black marks on the ring to Solus, who was flabbergasted noticing how the more the light element seeped out of the failed item, releasing a feeling of peace and tranquillity, the more the Chaos energy ate at the ring, turning it into nothingness.
"Please, tell me that you don't want to research that kind of magic." Solus was now extremely worried. "Yes, you have part of an Abomination's life force, but I don't like the idea of strengthening that side of you.
"No offense, but you're already fucked up as you are."
"None taken." Lith replied. "Also, no. I don't plan on researching Abomination magic. At this point, it would do me more harm than good. A single failed experiment could kill both of us at the same time.
"Sure, the black energy is fast and lethal, but so are many of my spells. I already risked losing my hand for a mere cantrip, I'm not so eager to die."
Lith showed her his right hand, where his middle finger was hanging by a thread, and part of his skin was blackened out.
"Good gods! If you were a normal human, the corruption would have probably spread up to your elbow." Solus said.
"Whatever this is, before making more experiments we need to learn more. Power without control is madness." Lith nodded and used healing magic to regenerate his hand.
Lith then Forgemastered a new magic holding ring, this time with both the runes and a mana crystal, plus another ring with a single set of the runes he had learned from Huryole's sword.
The Odi runes this time worked like a charm, but they stuck out like a sore thumb. Not only using the ring in public was idiotic, but Lith also discovered that the difficulty in regulating the mana output of the enchantments wasn't due to their pseudo core but because of the runes.
They were too rough and inefficient to allow the fine-tuning that Lith could already achieve from true magic, but at least it was a start. The Huryole runes, instead, were a complete bust.
He had applied the amplifying runes, to see if he could use them to turn a tier-three spell holding ring into at least a tier four. Yet the moment Lith tried to release the harmless tier-three wind spell, the rune pattern flared up and the mana they held went haywire.
Lith had to throw it inside the safe room to avoid healing his hand another time.
"Dammit. Either the runes for rings are different from those for swords or the proportions were wrong." He said.
"I think both your hypotheses are right." Solus said. "To engrave the runes on the ring, we had to scale them down and we don't know if the size of the runes matters. On top of that, no matter how careful we are, the spacing between runes on a sword and a ring is completely different."
Lith and Solus spent the days before the double date at Protector's house working to understand how runes worked and translating the Odi book about body-swapping. Lith hoped that by complementing the device with a pseudo phylactery, he might be able to even retain his own mana core, or at least preserve his muscle memory.
The only problem with that particular side project was that finding a body with a red core was damn easy, finding one that could withstand even his now blue Awakened mana core was nigh impossible, at least based on Solus's recent discoveries about impurities.
Lith buried himself in work, to not think about how badly Kamila could react to his revelation. When the day finally arrived, he would have rather got another round with Jiira. At least he would have known what to expect.
"Why are you so tense?" Kamila asked. "Protector is your friend and even though I never met an Emperor Beast before, I'm sure we'll get along. The only thing I don't understand is why we're going to his place rather than having him come to your home.
"A forest is not a nice place at night, whereas your house has all the space and food the three of us need to have a pleasant meal together."
"It's not just the three of us. I told you we'll meet his family as well." Lith swallowed a lump of saliva. "Please, don't ask me anything. You'll understand when you know them."
Chapter 762 Fright Night Part 2
Kamila shrugged. Between her training and Lith's presence, there was a very limited number of things that could endanger their life. Besides, moving with mostly Warp Steps made it impossible to ambush them, even to wild animals.
'Protector's whole family? Are we going to eat with a pack of wolves?' Kamila thought. 'Thank the gods the Skinwalker armor can self repair and clean, otherwise I could kiss my beloved evening suit goodbye.
'This thing is amazing. I love the Skinwalker armor almost as much I love L…' Due to her family history and her past relationships, Kamila had conflicting feelings about the dreaded L-word, so she mercilessly snuffed the thought out.
In her experience, thinking that word meant that it was only a matter of time before saying it out loud. After that, things could only go downhill. Love meant commitment, faithfulness, and honesty.
All things that most men she had met in the past abhorred like a plague and she wasn��t fond of committing herself either. Despite her age, Kamila was still building her career and Lith was quite younger than her.
'The last thing I need now is to have more complications. Zinya needs all the help I can give her and my current job doesn't leave me enough time to breathe, let alone to think about l- that.' She thought while stepping through the dimensional corridors.
After a while, they arrived in front of a nice two-storey cottage in the middle of nowhere. A light came out from its many windows and so did many childish noises. The house was surrounded by a tall fence and its lawn was well-kept.
The scene was odd enough by itself, but it was made eerie by the fact that the cottage seemed a replica of Lith's house. Kamila had been there too many times to miss the countless similarities. Protector had no idea what humans could consider cozy, so he had simply improved his home according to Lith's memories.
"I thought we were going to meet Protector." Kamila said, incapable of making heads or tails of the house.
"We are." Lith knocked on the door, feeling his feet heavy and his stomach churning. Selia opened almost immediately.
"Lith! It's so good to see you again. You had me worried sick! The next time you disappear for this long, at least give me a warning." She said while giving him a brief hug, before turning to Kamila.
"And you must be Kamila. Gods, you're just lovely. I'm Selia Fastarrow. I hope that this stupid apprentice of mine has mentioned me at least once." Selia took Kamila's hand and gave her a dazzling smile.
Selia hadn't talked with another woman since the start of winter. To reach the nearest village during the cold season she needed Ryman's help, but leaving the children home alone, even for a while, meant finding a wreck at her return.
"He talked a lot about you." Kamila couldn't help but notice the huntress' youthful appearance and wonder what the heck was she doing there. "Are you here to meet Protector too, miss Fastarrow?"
"Been there, done that." Selia tittered. "Call me Selia, otherwise you'll make me feel like I'm an old woman. Believe me, having two kids does the trick already. By the way, call him Ryman, otherwise he'll forget his own name."
Kamila's confusion kept getting worse by the second. Even the inside of the house was almost identical to Lith's and Selia's words made no sense to her.
Lilia and Leran were hidden behind a couch, staring attentively at their unknown guest. They knew Lith, but their parents always warned them about humans. They were respectively 5 and 3 years old.
With Ryman's red hair and Selia's sharp eyes, they were the spitting image of their parents.
'The children are the first normal thing I see since we got here.' Kamila sighed in relief, at least until Selia made them come closer and the kids started sniffing at her like hunting dogs.
"Remember to behave." Selia said with a commanding tone. "No claws on the guests."
"Claws?" Kamila echoed, not knowing if to be more confused by Selia's words or the kids' whimpering.
"Yes, claws." Ryman said while coming downstairs accompanied by the clanging of his toolbox. "Children usually lack self-restraint. You must be Kamila. Lith has told me many great things about you."
"Likewise." Kamila suddenly felt lightheaded. She had expected to meet a huge wolf thing coming out from the woods, maybe from a cave, not a man doing carpentry work.
The guy in front of her was a giant, at least 2.1 meters (7') tall. He wore a leather overall over a brown shirt so big that it could be used as a tablecloth and his boots were bigger than a bucket.
Ryman's face was rough and savage, with a square jaw and a cleft chin. He kept his long flaming red hair in a tress long hair and there were wood chips in his well-trimmed beard.
Despite his huge size and bulging muscles, Ryman's emerald eyes were calm and his smile was as warm as that of the father Kamila had always longed for.
"Are you Protector, I mean Ryman, I mean him?"
"Guilty as charged." Protector nodded, not moving any closer to give Kamila space and time to think.
"And you are…" Kamila turned to Selia as his reluctant brain was forced to connect the dots from one to five and notice the obvious picture that took form from such a trivial exercise.
"His wife and mother of his children, dear." Selia brought an armchair near to Kamila, who plunged more than sitting on it. Her mind was still holding, but her knees had already fallen.
"And they are…" Kamila pointed at Lilia and Leran, her voice was reduced to a gasp.
"The above mentioned children, yes." Selia moved near to Ryman, quickly followed by the kids. Seeing them all so close, it was impossible even for Kamila's shocked mind to refuse to notice the resemblance.
"It's wonderful." It was the only thing she managed to say before fainting.
"Well, this isn't a good start, but it could have gone much worse." Selia sighed.
"Really? How, exactly?" Lith was dejected.
He had seen Kamila fight Thrud's meat puppets, crazed human beings, and even survive the attempted murder planned by her criminal brother-in-law, yet she had never fainted. Not even once.
Yet a happy family of four had managed to do the trick.
"She could have run away screaming, or tried to attack us. That's how usually goes." Selia replied.
"Really?"
"Yes." Ryman nodded. "Sometimes people get lost and finds our home. It all goes nicely until the kids do, well, their thing and shapeshift. The runners we let them go. They are usually so scared that don't remember anything that could compromise our safety."
"What about those who attack you?" Lith asked.
"They make excellent fertilizer for the garden." Protector snarled. "I don't take murder attempts lightly, nor I can allow such fools to leave safely just to lead a monster hunt straight to my home."
"It sounds about right." Lith first checked Kamila's condition, making sure she had just lost consciousness.
Then he gave Selia her due. He had prepared several toys for the children plus a lot of clothes capable of self-repair, clean, and to adjust their size to their wearer. Selia's kids grew fast and played hard, turning even the hardest of leather to shreds in a couple of friendly quarrels.
Chapter 763 Fright Night Part 3
Selia had become as skillful as a professional tailor, but sewing clothes took days, whereas Lilia and Leran only needed minutes to destroy them. Not to mention how hard it was washing them without tearing the stitches apart.
"Oh, gods! Thank you, thank you, thank you!" Selia cried out of joy at the thought that her nightmare was finally over.
Being pregnant to term, she couldn't jump at Lith's neck, so she dragged him down by the collar of his shirt to give him a big kiss on both cheeks before forcing her kids to wear their enchanted clothes.
"They are no better than the academy's uniforms." Lith warned her. "They are no Skinwalker armor, so the degree of protection those clothes offer is limited."
Lith only had so many prototypes, and after giving them to his family, the Ernas's girls, and to the kings of the woods protecting his home, he had none left. Orichalcum was too precious and he had only a limited amount of it.
Sure, Lith still had to cash in his latest reward, but before filling a blank check, he wanted to be sure to not later regret asking for too little or for something he didn't need.
"As long as I don't have to patch them every other day, they are fine by me." Selia said while preparing a strong tea and spiking it with an even stronger liquor. Kamila was already regaining consciousness and she could probably use a drink.
"Kami, are you alright?" Lith held her hand, giving her courage, and making the paleness of her face disappear.
"Yes, sorry. I was- I am-" Kamila kept tripping on her tongue as she couldn't stop staring at the abnormal family in front of her eyes.
"There, there, dear." Selia offered her a cup of hot spiked tea that Kamila gulped down too fast, starting to cough due to the liquor. The alcohol burned through her throat and stomach, but it also spread a soothing warmth that eased her nerves.
"Not so fast, or it will go straight to your head. There's nothing to be scared of. I'm human, just like you. Do you think Lith would ever put you into danger? Does Ryman or my kids look scary?"
"No, and that's the really scary part." Kamila blurted out.
They weren't normal, yet there was nothing distinguishing them from humans. The sudden realization that Body Sculpting wasn't a prerogative of humans, that magical creatures could live next door and she would never notice was what was freaking Kamila out.
"Can I have some more? Pretty please?" She asked with lost, begging puppy eyes.
"Do you want tea in your Phoenix Plume, dear?" With its almost 40% of alcohol content, it was Protector's favorite medicine after a bad day.
"Yes, but leave the bottle, please." Kamila replied while filling her cup with tea and liquor in equal parts.
"Do you want to stay for dinner or do you want me to bring you back home?" Lith was caressing her hand and looking at her with deeply worried eyes.
"I'm fine, really. I'm just…" Kamila didn't know what to say without sounding incredibly rude to their hosts. "Overwhelmed. You told me a great deal about both of them, but never that they were together or that Ryman could change his form."
"Because it wasn't up to me to share it, nor does it change what they represent for me. My relationship with Ryman would be the same even if he was a wooden puppet come to life." Lith replied.
"I really don't get what's so scary about me." Protector furrowed his brows. "You surely have met plenty of criminals in your line of work and I doubt you fainted while looking at the evidence of their crimes. What makes me even worse than they are?"
"You're not worse than them, quite the contrary." Kamila suddenly felt incredibly stupid. Based on Lith's and Friya's words, Protector had been nothing but a good friend to them and a hero to the Griffon Kingdom.
Yet she was reacting as if she was in the presence of a man-eating monster.
"It's just that I never expected that Emperor Beasts could take human form, nor that they could conceive children with members of other races."
"Appearance might indeed be deceiving, but do your criminals wear a tag to warn others of their nature? Do undead flaunt their status when they mix among you humans in social events?" Protector's words made Kamila remember about the vampire she had met in Othre.
Even then, she had been scared, yet she had managed to keep her cool.
"I'm not asking you anything but to give us the benefit of the doubt and to not judge my family just because of who I am instead of what I do." Protector went to the bathroom, to wash and change his clothes for dinner.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset him." Kamila said to Selia.
"Don't worry, he isn't angry. To be honest, I never saw him getting angry, not even once. I think Ryman is just sad. He cares a great deal about Lith and he was eager to meet you. He's probably afraid that we���ll not get to spend as much time with you two as we hoped." Selia patted her shoulder, preparing two shots of Phoenix Plume.
One for Kamila and one for herself, until she remembered that she couldn't drink. The idea of living such a scenario every time one of her children brought someone home was already giving her a headache, but she had to bear with it.
Lilia walked timidly towards Kamila, holding a wet handkerchief. With her shoulder-length red hair, emerald green eyes, and her small face full of freckles, she looked like a doll in her small hunter suit.
"Thanks, sweetie. I appreciate your thought, but I'm feeling much better now." Kamila took the handkerchief and applied it to her forehead, grateful for the fresh relief it provided to her.
"It's not for the head, silly." Lilia giggled like crazy and so did her brother. "Mom always says that's important to be clean, especially if we want to sit after we w…"
"There's another bathroom on the first floor." Selia cut her short, wanting to avoid making the evening more unpleasant by adding further embarrassment to the poor Kamila. "You can wash your head and freshen up a little."
Only then did Kamila realize the meaning of Lilia's words, becoming aware of her own little problem and assuming a deep shade of purple. Selia helped her to get up and accompanied her upstairs, just in time before the final blow could be landed.
Leran handed Lith one of his old cloth diapers while the two women left the room.
"Your lady friend can use it, uncle Lith. I don't need it anymore, I'm a big boy now." He said with a voice full of pride.
"Sure, thanks." Normally, Lith would have never let Kamila hear the end of it, but the situation wasn't funny in the least.
'If that's her reaction to a complete stranger, how big will be her shock when she discovers that Protector and I aren't that different?' He thought while storing the diaper in his pocket dimension.
'It could be bigger, but it could also be smaller.' Solus said. 'She knows you, whereas she has never met Protector. Even Friya after the initial surprise couldn't care less about his human form.
'To her, it was the same person who had almost died to protect you all from Balkor and she knew how you risked your life to save him. Your shared past can make a world of difference in how she reacts to the news.'
Chapter 764 Fright Night Part 4
'Yes, but both in a good and in a bad way.' Lith replied.
'Are you ashamed of Protector? Would you really hide his existence like he was a criminal just because he's different? Are you ashamed of me?' Solus asked.
'Don't be ridiculous!' Lith thought. 'I'm not ashamed of him and I would let the whole world know you if I wasn't certain that people would only see you as an artifact instead that as a person.
'Also, revealing Protector's nature is easy as pie compared to telling any sane woman that I literally have a hot girl at my fingertips.'
Solus blushed, thinking about how hard it had been for even Tista to accept the fact that her brother had a magical conjoined twin ever since he was four.
'Yeah, I think that even Phloria might pass out when you'll tell her about me.'
'Indeed, she will. The only question is if she will do it before or after strangling me.' Lith inwardly sighed. He couldn't save Phloria from her Awakening without Solus, which meant they were bound to meet sooner or later.
'But know this: I'm not ashamed of you in the least. Whoever can't accept you is not worthy of taking part in my life.'
Lith played with the kids, showing them how to activate their new toys' enchantments. It was just the second time that they had met Lith, but he was already their hero.
The clothes he had given them didn't itch and he always brought bags of marvels for them.
"You're way better with them than I am." Ryman said once he came out of the bathroom, wearing a green shirt and brown pants.
"Are you kidding me? Didn't you tell me that you sired a lot of pups?"
"Indeed, but it's my first time handling humans. They grow so slowly and are so slow on the uptake. Not to mention how noisy and frail they are. Yet I wouldn't change them for the world."
"What do you think of Kamila?" Lith asked.
"She's a beautiful woman. Definitely prettier than the other one."
"I meant as a person!"
"I know, but so far that's the best I can say about her. Are you sure you want to do it? You can always have your answer another time. I don't want you to get hurt because of me."
"Now or later is the same. Some things are like a band-aid. The faster the better." Lith said, speaking English for the first time in almost two decades.
When Kamila and Selia returned, seeing Lith playing with the kids while Ryman checked the dinner warmed the hearts of both women.
'I can't believe they named both their kids after Lith. They look so cute and behave like normal children. Shapeshifting aside, of course.' Kamila thought as, in the heat of the make-believe battle between their toys, the children's fingers turned into claws for a split second.
'Protector seems to be a better husband than most. Beast or not, compared to Fallmug he is a saint. He built this whole house by himself to keep his family safe, not to hold them prisoners.'
'I can't believe I spent almost half an hour without clothes ripping or something breaking.' Selia thought, almost moved to tears. 'Once I give birth I must ask Lith to babysit the kids so that I can finally get a night out.
'I always thought about leaving them with the Hydra, but I don't trust her judgment. Beasts have an odd concept of raising kids and the last thing I need is for those two little cyclones to learn magic.'
Dinner went more smoothly than everyone expected. After the initial shock, Kamila quickly adapted to the situation, becoming more relaxed. The four of them talked about their respective lives for a bit before starting to tell each other how they had met.
Selia's first meet with Protector was heavily redacted due to the presence of the kids, whereas Kamila only had to leave out the reason that had led her to meet Lith in person before moving on their first date.
"Such a romantic story. I wish this oaf was that caring back then, instead of just being a freeloader." Selia sighed.
"I wasn't a freeloader!" Protector rebuked her. "I was trying to learn human customs and I helped you with hunting big game. It was you who never explained to me what a proper date was until you got tired of just-"
His eyes fell on the kids, forcing him to use an understatement.
"Stay home and cuddle. Correct me if I'm wrong, but it took you months."
Selia blushed violently, making Kamila chuckle at the idea that despite the fact that they knew so little about each other when they had met, they had gone so far to get married.
"Stop making me look like a pervert in front of our guests. Some things are better left out. Lith is almost like a son to both of us, and there are our actual children listening too!
"After hearing how cute a couple they are, can't you at least try to make our love story look more like a fairy tale and less like a tavern joke?" Selia tried to sound angry, but she couldn't hide her embarrassment.
Back then she was younger and bored out of her brain due to isolation. She just wanted to relieve some pent-up stress with her newfound hunting partner. Selia had never believed for a second that one day she would have to share that part of her life with someone else, so she had been more carefree than usual.
"As you wish, my lady." Ryman gave her a deep bow, before starting to recount how he had been mesmerized by her poetry and gracefulness, lying so blatantly that even the kids soon started to laugh at Selia's expense.
"I'd say that's enough." Selia was red up to her hears. "I blame you for this, Lith. Before spending so much time with you, he wasn't such a smartass."
Kamila's awkwardness at that point had completely disappeared. The kids, the house, the food, even the couple's quarrels were exactly like those she would have expected from normal people.
And that was when it struck at her.
'What's normal, exactly? Lith's eldest brother was "normal" and yet almost had him killed. Fallmug was a "normal" man and yet he treated his family like they were mere possessions. My mother is a "normal" woman, yet she never cared for me like Protector does for Lith.' Kamila thought.
'After all the evil I've seen people do to their own kin as a Constable, judging Emperor Beasts out of prejudice is simply hypocritical. I need to step down my high horse and take things as they come.'
After the meal, the kids fell asleep in their parents' arms while Lith projected a movie. After Protector put them to bed, the grown-ups could finally talk freely.
"Is there anything you want to ask us, dear? Don't pull your punches, the worst has already passed." Selia said.
Kamila asked them about Selia's pregnancy and when the child would start to shapeshift, to which Selia answered honestly. The only difference with human babies was that hybrids would shapeshift in case of stress, so quite often.
"Luckily, they are born with no teeth nor claws, so they are harmless."
"Have they ever hurt you?" Kamila asked.
Chapter 765 Moment of Truth Part 1
"No, never. Hybrid children can instinctively judge another person's strength and react accordingly. They are no stronger than a human child and the worst they have ever done is snarl at me when they have a temper tantrum." Selia said.
"Can I see your other form?" Kamila was tactful enough to not ask for the 'real' form, since it would imply that Protector's human form was just a lie.
"The hybrid form, the Emperor Beast, or both?" Protector asked.
"You're a hybrid too?" Kamila was flabbergasted, but this time she wasn't scared, just surprised.
"No, I'm an Emperor Beast to the bone. Yet our huge bodies make it really hard to move whenever we are not in open spaces, so I needed a hybrid form to be able to fight at the best of my abilities in any environment."
"I would like to see them both if it's not a rude request. Is it rude? Sorry I have no idea…"
"Stop panicking over the small things, Kamila." Selia said while pouring her a shot of Phoenix Plume. "You're not rude, just curious. It's normal. Back when I learned the truth, right after I stopped being angry at him for not telling me sooner, I had Ryman shapeshift for the most trivial reasons, just to enjoy the show."
"What show?"
"First, I have to get naked. Second, it's quite a flashy process." Ryman replied, making both women blush.
'Why do I keep painting myself like a pervert? I need to get out more.' Selia thought.
'Gods, Selia is such a character. I wonder who seduced who exactly, but I had enough of hot details for one night.' Kamila pondered if she could ever be as daring as the huntress.
Selia handed her the drink while Lith held her hand, making Kamila wonder if the transformation process was so ghastly that it required such care or if her earlier fainting had scared them to death.
"I'm ready." Kamila said, leaving the drink on the table, to not spill it in case of shock but still at arms length in case of need.
The transformation was so fast and seamless that she had just the time to emit a single yelp. Protector's body was now covered in a flaming red fur, his head had turned into that of a wolf with fangs instead of teeth.
Yet neither his eyes or voice had changed. They were still calm and wise.
"To see the rest, you have to get outside." Protector started to undress since the transformation had gotten rid of the embarrassing bits.
Once out of the fence, Protector turned into his full Skoll form while emitting a pillar of light, as if his body held a small sun.
His shoulder height reached two meters and a half (8'3"), with a flaming red fur with shades of white and yellow. His whole body was enveloped in a deep blue flame, that erupted more intensely from his neck, almost looking like a mane.
Protector now had two curved horns coming out of his forehead, right in front of his ears. Eagle-like feathered wings came out from his back and his tail was made out of dancing flames.
"It's amazing!" Kamila said in awe, not feeling intimidated by the feral apparition. Her hands ran on his soft fur, starting from the head and them moving towards the wings. "Can you fly with these?"
"Yes, but it took me practice since I wasn't born with them. Also, I'd like to remind you that despite my appearance, I'm not a pet." He said while Kamila was playing with his big ears, making her blush.
"Hands off the merchandise, sister." Selia laughed while giving Protector a dog treat and making him snarl.
"Gods, this never gets old. Who's a good boy? Who's a good boy?" She kept ruffling the fur on his neck and behind his ears while Kamila laughed her ass off.
Protector flared his nostrils before reverting to his hybrid form. Then, he collected his clothes and went back into the house to get dressed.
"How do you feel about our evening with my friends?" Lith asked while giving Selia the signal. It meant "give us some space but be ready to get back in case something goes wrong."
"So far it has been interesting. Very different from what I had expected. It has been quite shocking, but mostly interesting. I wonder how many Emperor Beasts live among us, hiding in plain sight." Kamila said.
"Them, the undead, and the plants." Lith said with a sad smile. Kamila had no idea how big Mogar was, nor she knew about Guardians. He could've shared his knowledge with her little by little, but it would've taken a time he didn't have.
"Plants? That's why you forgemastered me the Camellia? Are you so paranoid that you're afraid a flower might spy on us?" Kamila gave him one of those smiles of hers that gave Lith's heart a pleasant sting.
He really wasn't used to be happy. The moment he got attached to someone, he would lose them. It had happened with Carl, with Yurial, and, in a way, with Phloria as well.
Staying away from his family for long periods of time was also a way to protect them. Lith had so many enemies already and he had no idea how long the Griffon Kingdom would protect them in his stead.
He kept worrying, planning, and getting stronger to seize control of his own life, but he knew it was just an illusion. No matter how strong he was or how far he planned, good and bad things would still happen, like the woman he was embracing.
Lith hadn't planned on getting this attached to Kamila and yet…
"Then the next time that a Dryad hits on me, I assume you'll not be jealous if I accept her offer, right?"
"Come again? Did you really meet a Dryad and she hit on you?" Suddenly she didn't find the idea of sentient plants funny anymore.
"I met two of them but only one hit on me. Twice." Lith materialized the Dryad's hologram between his palms, doing his best to depict her properly.
"Okay, seriously, why there are so many hotties around you? There's Friya, that strange woman a few days ago, Constable Griffon, and now even Dryads?" The woman in the picture was so gorgeous that she could cause a traffic jam simply by crossing the street.
"First, Dryad aside none of them hit on me. Second, you're the one I choose to stay with, so there's no reason to be jealous." Lith replied while hugging her. Kamila returned the embrace, making him wish for the best.
"Do you know why I wanted you to meet Protector so badly?" He asked, receiving a shook of her head in reply.
"Not only is he one of my oldest friends, but there's a deep bond between us…" At those words, Kamila started to fear that Ryman was actually Lith's uncle, but the truth sounded much worse than that to her.
He told her the rest of his story, of how saving Protector had crippled his life force and given the Emperor Beast part of his memories.
"Are you serious? Is your life really going to end prematurely?" Kamila was on the verge of tears.
"I could live another hundred years or maybe just twenty more, I don't know." He couldn't explain to her about Awakening without sending Kamila into a nervous breakdown. There was only so much information a human brain could handle.
Chapter 766 Moment of Truth Part 2
Except for Manohar, of course. The Mad Professor would probably just look at those revelations as a means for his research. He was beyond morality, if not even beyond sanity.
"So you brought me here to show me the life you've saved, to not make me angry when I discovered why you're going to leave me?" Kamila pushed him away, her eyes watery and her voice hurt.
"Leaving you?" Lith asked.
"Well, if you're going to die, you can't waste your time with me. I'm older than you, I've yet to build my career and make a name for myself. I know that I'm just…"
"No, you got it all wrong." Lith gently shut her up, placing his forefinger on Kamila's lips to get the opportunity to explain.
"I brought you here because I don't want you to waste your time with me without knowing that if my line of work doesn't kill me, my past could at any moment. Because I wanted to be honest with you before moving forward with our relationship, otherwise all we might build together would have lies and omissions as foundations.
"Due to the exchange of life forces, Protector knows almost everything about me, yet he accepted me nonetheless. It makes him one of the very few people I've been completely honest with, and I think you deserve to know the truth as well."
Lith told her about his first tribulation in Kandria, how things had started to change, both inside and outside of himself, and how those changes had become deeper over time.
"So, not only do you have a crippled life force, but you're also…. Inhuman?" She asked, pacing in circles, trying to match the speed with which Mogar was spinning around her head.
"Some say a Dragon, others a demon, but they all agree on the term hybrid." Lith nodded, without trying to get close to her.
"Show me." She stopped abruptly, facing Lith with her hands clenched so hard that her nails pierced her skin, making Kamila bleed.
"Are you sure? It's kind of unsettling…"
"Just do it." She cut him short, hoping that his story was just a convoluted, sadistic way to break up with her. Yet it was all true. Just like Protector's, Lith's shapeshifting was so fluid that one blink was enough to miss it.
Selia almost yelped from the shadows in surprise and only Protector's hand silenced her, leaving Kamila's illusion of being alone intact.
Kamila looked at the black scales, whose tips were reddened by the inner fire burning within. She noticed the razor-sharp claws that had replaced Lith's nails, the short tail full of bone spikes coming out from his spine, as well as the black wings on his back.
They were different from those he had created a few days before to defend her. They were twisted and unnatural, like the hands of a giant clutching him. Then, she looked up, way higher than she normally had to meet his eyes.
Lith had apparently no mouth nor nose, with just two small curved horns on his forehead and three eyes searching for her gaze. Just like Protector's, Lith's eyes hadn't changed, they were the same as before.
Honest, worried, and full of that pain that so rarely left them alone, making his gaze sad or cruel most of the time.
Kamila took several deep breaths until Mogar stopped playing tricks on her. Only then did she manage to open her hands, touching Lith's claws first and then his scaly neck.
She expected it to be cold and rough, maybe even sharp. Yet his body was warm and soft under her touch, the scales twitching as if that contact gave Lith goosebumps, either out of pleasure or fear.
Kamila felt a little itch on her hands, where the nail marks were quickly healing without leaving any trace of their existence. She instinctively flinched, as if she had just got hurt instead of being treated.
"Oh, gods!" Kamila yelled at the night sky while kneeling on the grass and holding her head.
"Don't worry. I understand this is hard to accept." Lith's voice was different, sounding like a howl coming from an abyss that somehow had learned how to speak. "I also brought you here so that Protector can get you back home without having to see me ever again. I'm sorry, I never meant to hurt you. I…"
"You're hot, you know?" Kamila cut him short, making Lith aware that his inner turmoil had turned most of his scales into a white-hot color and that they were now steaming in the chilly spring night.
"Yes, I do. The scales actually contain the fire within this body. I've got no bodily fluids in this form." Lith explained.
"No, I mean it. You're hot." Kamila stood on her tip-toes just to drag the collar of his shirt low enough to manage to put her arms around his neck.
"It seems that Selia's not alone, I'm a pervert as well." She said while stamping a kiss on the layers of scales that hid his mouth unless he willingly retracted them.
"What?" Lith's knees suddenly buckled and hit the ground, incapable of standing Mogar's break-neck rotation speed anymore.
"That's why I was yelling before. Knowing that you're a pervert is one thing, but admitting it to yourself is hard." She kissed him again, looking Lith in the eyes now that the height difference was gone.
Outside he might be someone else, but the man inside that hardened shell hadn't changed one bit. He was still full of worry, pain, and scars, but he had been nothing but kind to her.
He had fought for her, for her family, never asking anything in return. Lith had protected her from humans, monsters, and everything in between them, but what made him most precious to her was that he had never taken her for granted.
Suddenly, her mind went back to their second date, when after singing that song for her, Lith had revealed Kamila the trick behind his masterful performance.
That night, he had told her that he wanted to impress her for who he was rather than pretend to be someone else. He had told her that he wasn't willing to build their relationship on a lie and he had been true to his word.
Lith had risked so much by sharing with her the truth about Protector and about himself, yet he had done it anyway. He had done it for her, with no strings attached.
Lith's hybrid form started to fall apart in patches, slowly reverting him into his human body and bringing him so low that Kamila had to kneel to not lose eye contact.
"It will take you more than a few scales and bad breath to get rid of me, Lith Verhen." Even though the scale mask had remained closed the entire time, the pungent stench of brimstone was still in the air.
Kamila held him tight and soon Lith returned her embrace. He clung to her as if she was a lifeboat in the eternal storm that his life was, still incapable of finding his balance or even to believe his own ears.
"Are you sure? Wouldn't it better for you to find someone normal? Someone who can offer you a boring, peaceful life?" Lith asked while listening to the steady rhythm of Kamila's heart.
She wasn't afraid of him nor was she lying. All of her body gave off a feeling of tenderness and affection.
"I'm more than sure." Kamila said before kissing him with the same passion they shared the first night they spent together.
Chapter 767 Opening Act Part 1
"And that's our cue." Protector whispered, even though he and Selia were already enveloped in a Hush spell, while dragging his wife toward the back door.
"Come on, they're just making out and on our lawn at that. There's nothing wrong with making sure that things between them are okay." She whined.
"According to what you have taught me, that's being a peeping tom." Protector rebuked her. "Come inside. While Lith explains everything in detail to her, I can do the same to you now."
Selia nodded and followed him back home. She was very curious about Lith's hybrid form since she had never seen a dragon before and so was Kamila. After both Lith's and her heart had stopped quivering, she pushed him away gently, full of questions that needed to be answered.
"Is this the reason why the army holds you in such high regard?"
"The army doesn't know, nor does the Mage Association and the Royals." Lith replied.
"So I guess I can't tell Zinya, right?" She asked.
"Right. Only four people, you included, know about it and I'd like to keep things that way." There were actually five people, but talking about Solus was still out of the question.
"Just four? Protector and I are two, who are the other two? Your parents?" Kamila felt flattered and the idea of being the first person he had ever shared his secret with. Protector knew about it only because they had exchanged their life forces and his parents because there was no way they hadn't noticed.
"No. No one in my family knows. They would probably accept me as I am, but I don't want to pointlessly complicate their life. For them knowing or not changes nothing, whereas you had the right to decide about your life."
Lith's words made sense. Aside from making his relatives worry about giving birth to more hybrids and make them paranoid about protecting Lith's secret, telling them wouldn't do any good to them, nor would alter their relationship.
Yet it made Kamila furrow her brows.
"Don't tell me that…" She knew she wasn't Lith's first girlfriend so the answer to her own question was now quite obvious.
"Yes. Phloria knows. I told her as well when things seemed to be getting serious." Lith replied.
"Fine." Kamila snorted, feeling jealous for not being the first person Lith had opened his heart to. "Who's the last one?"
Lith perceived more than a tinge of rage in her voice, but lying would have been pointless.
"Quylla."
"What the fuck? Did you sleep with her too? Did it happen before or after the academy?" Even though Lith had an enhanced skin and wore a Skinwalker armor, he could still feel her nails stinging at his flesh such was Kamila's barely bridled fury.
"What? No! Who do you take me for? I never slept with Quylla nor did I voluntarily tell her. It happened while we were in Kulah." Lith told Kamila the truth about the fight with the Odi and how he couldn't always control his transformation.
Kamila sighed loudly in relief.
"Let me get this straight. I'm the fourth to know but the second you opened up with, correct?"
"More like the fourth to know and the first person I opened up with hoping to keep you rather than just to scare you away." Lith replied.
"When you put it that way it sounds much better." The edge in her voice disappeared and she kissed him again. "Are those three the only people I can freely talk about it?"
"There's also Selia. As soon as Protector tells her about it, of course."
"She didn't know? Even though she is his wife?" Kamila was flabbergasted.
"Ryman never shared my secret with anyone and I did the same for him. Selia was damn curious about it, but when she realized I was keeping my mouth shut only because I wanted to tell you first, she understood and let it slide."
Kamila felt really happy at the idea of how deep the bond between Lith and Protector was, and the lengths Lith had gone to let her be among the first people to know.
"Now what?" She asked while looking at the starred sky.
"Now what indeed." Lith shrugged, having no idea how things would change.
***
During the following days, Lith's research progressed smoothly. Ever since he had opened up with Kamila, not only did a huge burden had been lifted from his chest, but also his mental scars hurt much less than usual.
Lith was much more relaxed and open-minded now, free from the fear of being rejected like a freak and destined to spend the eternity alone. Now his mind wasn't filled only with paranoid thoughts about things to not do and not say anymore.
The Body-Swapping device allowed him to plan his future, and Kamila's blessing meant that he had someone to share it with. Lith had finally things to look forward to rather than to be afraid of, making his brain much clearer and more focused.
Before leaving Protector's house, they had set up a meeting with Faluel the Hydra, Protector's Awakened master. Lith aimed to use Faluel's connection with the Council to understand if they had something to offer to him and maybe learn from her about runes.
'Depending on how our meeting goes, I might even ask to join the Emperor Beasts' side of the Council. Some of them are good, like Kalla, while others are mad, like Gadorf the Wyvern, whereas humans look like a bunch of psychos.
'They cannot be trusted.' Lith thought.
'What about your little adventure with your academy friends? Do you think you'll make it this time?' Solus asked.
'Well, yeah. Quylla seems to be much calmer now in my presence. It almost makes me feel guilty for not telling Friya. I mean, that way, when Kamila joins us for dinner or lunch, there would be no secrets at the table.' Lith replied.
'True, but since it's a leisure trip, there's no point making things awkward again like it happened with Quylla.' Solus pondered while checking their surroundings. Lith had started traveling only by using Warp Gates, to make his position known.
After meeting Athung, he had hoped that the Council would find a way to communicate with him in a civilized manner, but their prolonged silence didn't bode well.
Even though to his eyes it was a largely useless and incompetent organization, the Council was still a force to be reckoned with. Hence Lith made sure that they knew where he was, to prevent them from targeting others to get his attention.
Being predictable was a two-edged sword since they would know where to find him, but at the same time, Lith could easily predict the most convenient spots for an ambush and prepare accordingly.
After all, the Council was pretty limited in its choice of approach. Attacking the Ernas mansion was suicidal and Lith's home was heavily guarded. To avoid exposing their existence, the Awakened couldn't risk triggering a full-scale war with the army or the Association, so they would target Lith unless they were forced otherwise.
Lith Warped always to the same places to go from Derios to his own house, pretending to have let his guard down whereas his path was intended to lead his unknown enemies to take action exactly where he wanted them to.
Chapter 768 Opening Act Part 2
Gaaron Roghias was an ambitious man. Even though he had not inherited a magical legacy nor made any important discovery in any field of magic, he was one of the youngest and most powerful members of the Council.
He had spent his youth training in the art of magic and developing his mana core until he had struck the ceiling that stopped most Awakened, the bright blue mana core.
Being just fifty years old when it happened, he hadn't let it get in the way of his ambition. Quite the contrary. He had stopped practicing magical theory and had joined the enforcers of the Council, the Hand of Fate.
It served the purpose to put into practice all the things he had learned and to make the elders indebted to him. They all possessed a purple core since it was one of the two only requirements needed to be considered an elder, with the other requirement being a major breakthrough in any magical discipline.
Gaaron was certain that once he had acquired a purple core, things would have gone smoothly for him, like they always had in the past. As rewards for his achievements, he only asked for their advice about how to further develop his mana core, but to no avail.
No matter how many meditation techniques he learned or magical philosophies he practiced, nothing seemed to work.
So, after wasting another fifty years as a dog of the Council, he had started developing his political power both inside and outside the Awakened community. He had hoped that such power would give him access to the knowledge he needed.
Countless Awakened of all races throughout history had achieved a purple core and some humans would even naturally develop it. It was just the matter of finding the answer to his question, so he searched both the Royal Library and those of all Awakened whose status was below his own.
Or so he thought. Even now that he was 300 years old, he was still stuck at the blue core. He had gone from being considered a genius to being treated like any other average Awakened.
Building influence, especially in the human world, took time and effort, so all the energy he poured in politics was drained from what he was supposed to use in developing his magical abilities.
Gaaron was one of the richest and most influential Awakened, yet no one of the elders dignified him with a second look. Money could only bring an Awakened so far and most of them were hermits, so they didn't care about society.
In their eyes, he was just wasting his time with trivial matters, so there wasn't even one of them who considered Gaaron a worthy candidate to inherit their legacy. At the same time, however, young Awakened considered him a role model.
Most of them struggled to make a living and to survive their breakthroughs without submitting to a master. While the Council ignored them, Gaaron was always glad to help and train them, be it with his connections or knowledge.
Little did they know that he was just using them as guinea pigs for his theories about mana cores and that the only reason he founded them was to have access to their research.
His "generosity" had allowed Gaaron to build a small army of Awakened, probably the only one on Mogar, and to poach knowledge from dozens of brilliant young minds. Alas, none of them had produced significant innovations.
The mission Raagu had assigned to him was exactly what Gaaron had been waiting for. All the young Awakened that Lith had bested in battle were disciples of elders and legacy inheritors at that.
If one of Gaaron's apprentices succeeded where all the others had failed, it would prove the Council that his teachings based on modern magic were superior to those of the elders.
It would count as an important magical achievement and would force the Council to reconsider the rule about having a purple core to be an elder. Gaaron had listened to all the elders' stories and teachings, yet neither he nor their own disciples had reached a purple core.
Clearly, they had just been lucky. Obtaining what was considered to be the last frontier of magical power seemed to be more a matter of chance instead that of wisdom and practice like those old fossils kept ranting about.
Gaaron had read Lith's file thoroughly, studying him for days before taking action. Because of Lith's cloaking devices, Life Vision was pointless and Invigoration required physical contact.
He had been forced to agree with Athung's report: diplomacy wasn't an option. Asking help to the beasts would bring Gaaron a hollow victory, so he had opted for a direct approach.
"We're dealing with a rogue mage, so only the basic laws of the Council apply to him." Gaaron explained to his disciples. "You can do whatever you want. As long as you don't kill him, anything goes.
"Your mission is to evaluate his strength and the only way to do it is with Invigoration. You all read his file, so you know what to expect." The five young Awakened nodded, knowing how important the matter was for their mentor.
There wasn't just their gratitude on the plate, but their pride as well. They didn't understand why an elder was so interested in recruiting someone so young whereas no one had cared about them for years until they had stumbled into a fellow Awakened who had introduced them to the Council.
They were all grassroots self-Awakened like Lith. Some were even already past thirty years of age having Awakened late, and most of them had not attended an academy. Being Awakened and having magical talent were two different things, plus they had deemed useless to spend years learning fake magic.
"I'll take care of it, Gaaron." Cresia said. He was a man in his early twenties, about 1.78 meters (5'10") tall. He had brown eyes and hair, with shades of blue that identified him as someone talented in water magic even before his Awakening.
Cresia's family belonged to the army, so he was a skilled fighter who had started training early in his life. He had graduated from the Crystal Griffon and after Awakening, he had left his family to search for someone who would teach him about true magic.
He had refused to submit to the army's or the Association's rules just to discover that Awakened were even stricter about control. Cresia had never accepted to obey to a master, so his talent had stagnated until he had met Gaaron.
Their contact in the army had warned them that Lith had just stepped out of Derios' Warp Gate, so Cresia readied his air blocking array and waited for his prey. The moment Lith emerged from his dimensional corridor, the array activated, cutting off all of his main escape strategies.
'This isn't good.' Lith thought while checking his surroundings and ignoring the most obvious threat. 'This isn't where I predict they would attack, this place sucks for an ambush. Are they idiots or just arrogant?'
Cresia didn't waste time talking, he just wanted to get done with it and go home. Gaaron had promised him a powerful enchanted blade in exchange for his help. Cresia would use it to enhance his battle strength and knowledge.
As any real swordsman, he wanted to become a powerful Forgemaster, but with only the knowledge from the academy, he had long since hit a wall. Runes were a well-kept secret by both Awakened and humans.
Chapter 769 Ruin Part 1
Cresia infused his body with all the elements and darted forward, his blade aimed for Lith's neck. A well-placed lunge would make it impossible for him to breathe plus the time it would take Lith to die of blood loss was much longer than what Cresia needed to use Invigoration.
Great was his surprise when the short sword hung at Lith's hip grew in size until it became a silvery long sword with a hilt long enough to allow for a two-handed grip.
'What a moron.' Cresia thought. 'Heavier doesn't mean stronger. Such a weapon allows him only a couple of attack patterns, making him predictable.' Like most Awakened, he favored speed over strength.
Yet Lith didn't attempt to slash, but lunged as well, aiming at his opponent's head while his sword continued to grow in size. Orion's blades were all exceptionally light, but with Lith's strength, even a non-enchanted zweihander would have been as quick as a foil.
Cresia had barely the time to intercept the enemy blade with his own when the unexpected happened. The moment the two weapons touched, he felt as if his body had been turned into iron. It felt so heavy that it took his full focus to not slip and fall onto the ground.
'Gravity magic?' He thought in surprise.
All Awakened knew it, but no one practiced it. With the exception of its first magic form, even tier one gravity magic required to cast six spells at the same time and to infuse them with willpower, making it akin to casting two tier five spells at once.
Another of its downsides was that, unlike normal elemental magic, gravity had no direct effect, but only an indirect one. It meant that it would behave like an array, influencing even its caster if they were inside its area of effect.
It was the reason why gravity magic was widely used in Forgemastering and in crafting permanent arrays. It did still require huge bursts of strength to activate it, but the fine-tuning of its effects would be performed by the runes forming the enchantment.
Cresia's enhanced senses noticed that the ground was cracking under his feet, that even though his muscles and bones could withstand that sudden weight increase, his joints were already at their limit.
Yet the leaves kept flying in the wind and Lith seemed to be unaffected by whatever was happening. Even Gaaron was racking his brain, trying to make heads or tails of the situation by using Life Vision.
"It's the fucking sword." Yet he had grasped only half the truth.
Lith had realized the limitations of gravity magic back when he was still at the academy and had tried to overcome them to no avail. At least until he had mastered the use of the ring that the fungal creature had gifted him.
Tier zero gravity magic could be cast quickly, but it was too weak to be effective in real combat and it would hinder Lith has well. Everything had changed when Lith had practiced using the gravity ring, learning how to weave a small array together with gravity magic to escape from its negative effects.
Yet it was only thanks to Orion's new sword, Ruin, that Lith could bring first magic to the next level. Unlike the Gatekeeper, Ruin could also focus and amplify gravity magic, turning an annoying parlor trick into a game-changer spell.
The moment Cresia pushed Ruin away his weight went back to normal, leaving him free to move and his head to fly high in the sky. Reacting under such physical strain had required him to make a wide movement, which had created an opening that Lith had exploited.
'Solus?' He asked while preparing another Warp Steps now that the air blocking array had vanished along with the life of its caster.
'That guy wasn't alone.' Her Life Detecting array spotted the enemies who were outside the area of effect of their mystical senses. 'It's the stupidest ambush I've ever seen. They are too far away to intervene and lumped together like a bunch of morons.
'The dead guy had a deep blue core, so I guess that the others are about the same level.'
'How many?'
'Five more. This is worse than we expected. Plan D?' She asked.
'Plan E.' Lith collected the corpse and opened the Warp Steps at the same time, Blinking through it to not get killed in the case the enemies had another array at the ready.
"Let's kill that bastard!" Horyu said, another of the young Awakened, readying the Warp Stone that would allow them to chase after their prey.
"Verhen acted in self-defence." Athung said with a sneer. "What did you expect him to do after a stranger popped in front of him and tried to kill him? Have a cup of tea and some cookies?"
'Master Raagu was right. These guys can teach me a lot about how not to plan ahead.' She thought.
"She's right." Gaaron gritted his teeth, almost chocking on every one of his own words. "We're not here to kill, but to examine him. But that doesn't mean we can't make him suffer. Attack all together and chop off his limbs.
"We need him alive, not well."
The Warp Stone was a device linked to a specific set of spatial coordinates, that usually dimensional mages used to cover very long distances with a single Warp Steps.
Its use lessened the focus necessary to visualize the exit point and reduced a dimensional corridor's mana cost since the spell would be partially fueled by the stone. In Gaaron's case, he had prepared several stones, each one linked to a different exit point where he knew Lith would reappear.
"Watch out for his sword. Until we understand the trick behind it, you have to dodge instead of blocking." Gaaron activated the Warp Stones until he found Lith, then he activated the Stone leading to Lith's next stop so that they could take him by surprise.
"Why do you send your minions, Gaaron? You could always take action yourself." Athung mocked him. For a 300 years old Awakened and a regional lord at that, moving against someone who was an infant would have been a terrible humiliation.
It would mean that he was incapable of nurturing even one worthy vassal and that his claims to the Council would be forever dismissed as a joke. To make matters worse, in case he needed to intervene, anything but a crushing victory was unacceptable.
"Shut up. You're here only as an observer. Don't you dare mess with my plans, little girl." Gaaron words only made Athung smile.
'He really is a tool. I wonder how such a small body can contain such a bloated ego.' She thought.
Meanwhile, Lith had reached his destination. When he came out of his Warp Steps, the four Awakened had surrounded him, but he was ready for them.
The blue aura from Full Guard covered five meters (16 feet) around him and the four pseudo-wings from Death Call coming out of his back flapped furiously, forcing them to scatter or be engulfed by the impending darkness.
An overly handsome guy wielding a war hammer threw his weapon at Lith while flying back to avoid the wings, and so did a stunning redhead with her twin battle axes.
At the same time, their allies turned the area surrounding Lith into a quicksand, to restrict his movements and leave him no other choice than Blinking. They were all using Life Vision, so they only needed to exploit the split-second Lith was helpless while stepping through a dimensional door to turn him into a pinhole.
Chapter 770 Ruin Part 2
Lith knew by the positioning of his enemies that even though his current situation was dangerous, it had to be a set up for something even worse. If not for Death Call's darkness constructs, the two Awakened near his exit point would have already maimed him, but the fact that the other two mages were keeping their distance was what really troubled him.
With enough preparation, there was no telling what a true mage could cook up. Blocking the hammer with a spell was impossible, the enemy had already seized control of the ground, and Lith was facing too many threats at the same time to engage two mages sitting at a safe distance in a battle of willpower.
Having no idea what kind of spells the enemy weapons might have been imbued with, blocking was not an option and so was Blinking.
'They made so that I can't block nor dodge, to force me to use dimensional magic.' He thought. 'Too bad for them that I had time to prepare as well.'
Lith snapped his fingers, unleashing several fireballs at the same time, each one aimed at himself. Flames composed of his own mana couldn't hurt him while the shockwaves generated by his spells deflected the incoming weapons and freed his legs from the quicksand restraining him.
Lith then tried to use spirit magic to capture the battle hammer and the axes, just to discover that they had been enchanted so that they would always return to their owners.
'What a clever spell. This way not only can't its owner be disarmed, but I can't also store their weapons inside my pocket dimension until I kill them. Yet this gives me another opportunity.' Lith thought while a huge smile appeared on his face.
With the magical sand flying around, all the Awakened's Life Visions were blinded, but Lith didn't need to see his enemies to find them. He used spirit magic to grab at the battle hammer and used it as a compass to find its master.
The four Awakened had scattered around the area, bombarding Lith's last known position with explosive spells while looking around for the exit point of the Blink spell that they assumed was his only way out from their combined onslaught.
When Horyu saw Lith hitching a ride on his own hammer, it was already too late. Lith had used a combination of air magic cantrips and a flight spell to turn the returning weapon into a homing missile.
Horyu had to interrupt his spellcasting and focus all of his willpower on the enchantment controlling his hammer's movements, to prevent it from swatting him like a fly.
The hammer was imprinted with his energy signature, so none of his enchanted protections would react to it. Moreover, Lith was boosting the makeshift projectile's speed non-stop, making it was so fast that even altering the hammer's trajectory by a little margin required a lot of energy.
'Dammit! The hammer is too fast to stop it in time, and even if I did, I would have no means to defend against that bastard. I've only one choice left.' Horyu thought.
He canceled the returning spell and Blinked away. It was better to have his own weapon stolen than letting it kill him. What none of the Awakened could have predicted was that Lith would exploit the opening by Blinking as well.
The two identical spells had been cast with a split-second difference in timing, making it impossible to know which belonged to who. Life Vision could show them the position of the exit points, but the time they had to react was too short to hesitate.
One exit point had been placed near Aria, one of the long-range attackers, while the other exit point was located at a safe distance in the middle of their formation. Aria released one of her best tier five spells, Great Flood, on the person coming from the exit point near her while stabbing at them multiple times with her estoc.
Every one of her lunges was aimed at the stomach level, to incapacitate the opponent without the risk of killing them. She was already regretting having taken part in such a mission, yet she didn't have much of a choice.
Gaaron was her best shot at earning enough money to finish building her lab and with his connections, she would easily set up her business in human society, allowing her to become truly independent.
'All of my hard work will be wasted if that Verhen psycho pops out near me and cuts my head off!' She thought while her spell took form. Great Flood was a restricting spell that conjured a powerful stream of water infused with darkness magic.
The body of water would smother all kinds of attack spells and deflect physical attacks, while the darkness flowing through it would seep into the victim and rob them of their strength.
Aria enveloped herself with the spell, giving it the shape of a grey colored water dragon. The remaining two Awakened decided to follow her lead and take precautions. They pointed their hands at the remaining exit point and released all the tier three spells they had at the ready.
Yet due to Blink's speed, even faltering for a second was a second too long.
While Aria mercilessly stabbed and weakened Horyu, Lith had wrapped himself with Death call, reshaping his darkness wings into a thick cocoon that weakened the incoming spells enough for the Skinwalker armor boosted by his mana to easily repel them
Ormr, a young man who had Awakened before his growth spurt and had become as tall as Lith was, decided to take the kid gloves off and go all out. A blue aura erupted from his body as he activated his Battle Mage tier five spell, God of Darkness.
'Now the bastard is so close that all he needs is a well-placed dimensional spell to use one of us as a meat shield against incoming attacks. The best way to put him down is to go mano a mano.
'Even if our mana cores and physical bodies have similar power, he's no Battle Mage. It took me years to master the Elemental God book, time that Verhen spent Forgemastering trinkets.
'Even if we are both Awakened, my skillset as a warrior exceeds everything he can do!' Ormr thought while darting towards Lith. A black armor made of living shadows now covered his body and four black spheres appeared behind his back, spinning so fast that they would appear like a circle.
It would need him but a thought to using the spheres to replicate any tier four or lower darkness spell without the need of casting them.
'Note to self, I must learn that stuff.' Lith thought, regretting to not have asked Morok why he had never heard of those spells before.
The spells composing the Elemental God book were something the academies taught only to Rank S Battle Mage students or in Ormr's case, that Awakened elders taught to their pupils to test their loyalty.
Ormr had failed his test, becoming so drunk on power that he had challenged his master and had been kicked out in the result. He had learned the hard way that the only reason such powerful spells had been bestowed upon him so easily was that might without wisdom was an empty threat.
Chapter 771 Spirit Magic Spells Part 1
Lith's cocoon opened and the wings shapeshifted into four huge arms. Each one of them grabbed one of Ormr's spheres, wrapping them like a shroud and making them useless.
Ormr turned the spheres into a combination of blades and projectiles made out of darkness element. Lith's shrouds twisted and deformed under the spells' pressure but they didn't break.
Ormr was flabbergasted, he had no idea that a darkness spell could physically interact with another, something that Lith had learned while fighting against Thrud Griffon. Ormr tested Lith's defenses with a series of quick jabs, only for his left arm to be trapped in the vise that Lith's grip was.
Ormr didn't even try to break free. Being his body shrouded in darkness magic, the longer Lith touched him, the weaker he would become. Ormr exploited the hold to throw a powerful right at Lith while pulling his own left back, to not give the enemy the opportunity to dodge.
Too bad that Solus's darkness infused glove protected Lith from the enemy armor, making it possible for him to crush Ormr's wrist simply by going all out as well. Lith twisted and pulled Ormr's arm, breaking his ulna and dislocating his shoulder at the same time.
The Awakened felt only a sting thanks to darkness fusion, but his body was dragged along nonetheless. Ormr's fist missed whereas Lith's found his target. It crushed the young Awakened's trachea, piercing through the neck until it pulverized the spine.
Ormr had made two huge mistakes. He had challenged Lith with confidence because he had mastered the God of Darkness spell, but Lith had long practiced the darkness element itself, not just a single spell.
As a healer, Lith used darkness as much as he used the light element. One of his favorite quotes from Professor Marth was: "He who knows how to heal also knows how to destroy."
The second mistake had been assuming that since their build was similar, so it had to be their physical strength. Thanks to his last body refinement, Lith was now in-between veteran magical beasts' and Emperor Beasts' prowess, whereas his opponent would have struggled even against an adult magical beast.
Ormr was older than Lith, but the latter could still overpower him like an adult with a teenager. A snap of Lith's fingers conjured a small fireball that blasted Ormr's neck to pieces, making any attempt to heal him pointless.
The three remaining Awakened, of which only two were still able to fight since Horyu was still using Invigoration to recover from the friendly fire, decided that a dishonorable escape was better than an honorable death and Blinked away to safety.
Lith begged to differ, exploiting their temporary blindness to kill them one by one. He Blinked where the stunning redhead, the one with the weakest protections, would appear as his Checkmate Spears spell surrounded the other two exit points.
Lith appeared right behind the young woman's blind spot and Ruin made short work of her armor as well as of her heart, leaving a gaping hole where the pulsing organ had been until a second before.
The ice spears struck the two Awakened from every side, piercing their bodies. The onslaught made them lose their focus and all the spells they kept at the ready, leaving them helpless while the barrage of icicles ripped them to shreds.
After freeing Ruin from its meat scabbard, Lith performed a horizontal slash to decapitate the woman. Awakened were much sturdier than humans, needing but a breath to fully recover from a mortal wound.
Alas, Gaaron stopped Ruin with his Frostbound blade and conjured two emerald green barriers made of pure mana around the other two Awakened, saving their lives.
'Good gods! This guy has a bright blue core!' Solus warned Lith.
'Fuck me sideways! That's a spirit magic spell. The mana materialized around those two instead of spreading out of his body like usual. Solus, focus on the spell's matrix. I can't allow taking this guy alive to interrogate him later.' Lith asked Solus.
Even though Gaaron couldn't read their minds, he was utterly offended by Lith's behavior. Gaaron was going all out right off the bat, spreading a bright blue aura much bigger than Lith's, yet the child was unfazed by his appearance.
Without a cloaking device, Lith was supposed to notice the arsenal the old mage had at his disposal, but he still acted as if it was all an annoyance. Gaaron tried to strike at Lith's neck, but the blades were glued together by Ruin's gravity field.
The increased weight also put enough strain on Gaaron's body to put him on his back foot.
"Don't Blink! Fly, you fools!" He yelled while using his other hand to regenerate the redhead enough to allow her to complete the job herself with Invigoration. He had moved the moment Ormr had died, yet it had almost not been fast enough.
Dimensional magic was too dangerous, not allowing him to distinguish friend from foe, whereas if his pupils flew, he could easily recognize them from their energy signature.
Being their swords locked and Gaaron's focus split, Lith pushed his advantage further. He emitted an inhuman roar that made the Trawn woods fell silent for kilometers while kicking with all of his strength at the enemy.
Gaaron's equipment was made of Orichalcum and was among the best pieces that money could buy in the Awakened community, yet he felt as if a horse had kicked him in the chest.
Lith hadn't struck him in the nuts because with darkness fusion pain wasn't a factor in their fight, while aiming for the head would have exposed him to a counter. The chest, instead, was the source of breathing and a major weak point in a battle between Awakened.
The air in Gaaron's lungs was squeezed out as a web of cracks appeared on his ribs.
'What the heck? A physical attack shouldn't be able to inflict this kind of damage upon me.' Since darkness fusion negated the pain, most veteran Awakened kept a self-diagnostic spell always active in battle.
The lack of pain meant the inability of noticing potentially lethal wounds, like ruptured organs or punctured lungs. Lith's kick had caused no pain, but it had still caused his opponent to lose a good chunk of his stamina.
Pain is just a symptom of the damage a body sustains, just like fever is of infection.
Lith grinned noticing that his enemy had refused to give up on the sword, allowing his kick to hit deep. The other three Awakened took each a deep breath with Invigoration before flying away at break-neck speed, but he didn't mind.
All the pieces of the chessboard were already in place. He only needed to get rid of the king to end that nonsense.
Gaaron squinted his eyes and two rays of emerald green energy erupted from them aimed at Lith's pupils. Lith tilted his head to dodge them only to notice that they were able to follow their target.
He then used Ruin to block them, sustaining no damaged but freeing Gaaron from the gravity field and leaving both of his hands free.
'That was much more powerful than spirit magic as I use it.' Lith thought. 'It's visible, but its speed and destructive power are greatly enhanced. Emerald green energy, huh?'
Lith had mixed feelings about his situation. On one hand, not only had the madman in front of him a stronger mana core, but he was also able to use an unknown kind of magic.
Chapter 772 Spirit Magic Spells Part 2
On the other hand, however, with each spell Gaaron used, he gave Lith more clues about spirit magic's real potential. Spirit magic was one of the Awakened's hidden talents, so the academy had taught him nothing about it.
Solus didn't share one bit of his excitement and focused solely on analyzing the enemy. While Lith's senses were aimed at his enemy's visible movements, her mystical senses scanned the invisible, collecting all the data she could get.
She was studying the pseudo cores of Gaaron's equipment to notice which one was being activated to warn Lith in time while also studying the mana flow of the enemy to predict the kind of spell he would employ and how dangerous it would be.
'Earth from below.' She thought as Gaaron adjusted his grip on the Frostbound blade and made the ground erupt in the form of a giant stone fist right under Lith's feet. Lith had just the time to take flight and reduce the strength of the impact when a mass of yellow flames surrounded him.
'Air and fire all around us for 15 meters (50 feet).' Solus warned him.
It was Gaaron's War Mage tier five spell, Electrifired. The flames were actually bright blue, the overbearing yellow derived from the streams of electricity flowing through them.
It was a sure-kill spell that would paralyze its victim while the flames burned them to a crisp. Lith recalled his black wings, shaping them into a cocoon again to buy some time.
Gaaron laughed at his naivety.
'Such a puny amount of darkness magic can only make his agony last longer. Sorry, kid. I have to break you to not turn this mission into a failure.' He thought.
"Surrender now and…" Gaaron was cut short by a mass of flesh and metal dropping on him at break-neck speed from above. The impact made the Awakened fall face-first onto the ground and opened a few meters deep crater.
The cocoon had never been a defense, it was just a smokescreen to prevent Gaaron from seeing Lith Blink. After shapeshifting Death Call, Lith had left it behind, making the dimensional gate invisible to Gaaron's Life Vision.
The third spell's energy was indistinguishable from that of the other two overlapping spells. Lith had reappeared as high as he could, combining gravity magic, his best flight spell, and the mana boosted Orichalcum Skinwalker armor to turn himself into a living meteor.
He had achieved such a speed that, without a Full Guard to protect him, Gaaron's enhanced senses had perceived the threat only when it was too late. To make matters worse, Lith had spun on himself and shapeshifted his lower body into his hybrid form.
The metal-coated talons on his feet drilled through Gaaron's protections and flesh while the amplified weight of Lith's body crushed his bones.
Gaaron coughed out a mouthful of blood as his focus and all the spells he had at the ready were lost. Unluckily for Lith, Gaaron's equipment was nothing to scoff at.
'Defensive amulet and detonating glove.' Everything was happening so fast that even their mind link couldn't keep up. Solus used as few words as she could, conjuring an image depicting her prediction of the events in Lith's mind to help him understand what she meant.
The moment they had made contact, the amulet at Gaaron's neck had enveloped its master into a barrier while activating a powerful healing spell. Usually, it would have been pointless since mending such deep wounds would have left Gaaron exhausted.
Lith was too close, so using Invigoration was impossible, but the Gaaron's glove turned the tables. A sudden explosion of emerald green energy enveloped Gaaron, destroying everything in his vicinity.
If not for his latest breakthrough and Solus's timely warning, Lith would have been caught by the energy field, remaining gravely injured in the process. Lith unleashed a few spells, only to discover that the green dome was solid.
'That's a spirit magic holding item!' Solus thought. 'It's an excellent means to force the enemy to back away and buy time to use Invigoration. Together with the amulet, it forms a perfect combo.'
'Sounds more like a last-ditch trick to me.' Lith replied. 'I've lost the effect of surprise, but if I'm right, I still have the upper hand.'
Athung was watching everything from a safe distance in envy. Spirit magic, the seventh element, wasn't taught even to legacy heirs. It was deemed too powerful for someone so young and only imparted before the master's death.
Gaaron had learned it only thanks to his centuries of loyal service to the Council and through relentless practice. Yet he appeared to be losing.
"And I thought to be a good fighter." She sighed. Athung was able to notice the web of feints both mages were weaving along with their spells only because she was far away and relaxed.
"That's why I told you it would have been a great learning opportunity. A fighter is like metal. It needs to be tempered in the fires of the battlefield over and over. No one is a genius from the start and practice alone crumbles in front of the real deal." Raagu commented while watching through the communication amulet.
"I must say, I'm disappointed in this Lith Verhen." Raagu sighed. "If Gaaron's minions weren't cowards, they would get back and fight beside him, making this fight end in a matter of seconds."
"They are not cowards." Athung replied. "I know them and I have personally worked with them. Their knowledge is lacking due to not having ever had an Awakened master, but none of them is so stupid that they could miss this chance."
"Where are they, then? At this point, they should be back at full strength, yet they are nowhere to be seen." Raagu sneered. Her disciple's naivety disappointed her as well.
It was only then that Athung did notice that the woods were too silent and that many things were off.
'Lith could have Warped again when he noticed Horyu and the others, yet he chose to stay. Nor did he seem to worry when they escaped.' Athung used Life Vision to scan her surroundings, finding nothing.
The Trawn woods were supposed to be full of wildlife, yet aside from plants, she was alone. The realization sent shivers down her spine.
'Could all of this be a trap? Lith didn't say a word the whole time, but he roared when Gaaron appeared. Maybe Raagu is wrong and that wasn't bravado, but a signal, just like when he faced me.'
Meanwhile, Lith too was using Invigoration and had cast Death Call again. The wings were a means of defense, offense, and deception.
'That guy has better equipment and a better mana core than me, but once he sees Death Call after falling for my last trick, he will start overthinking things.' Lith thought while checking his surroundings with all of his senses.
Much to his surprise, when the green dome disappeared, Gaaron was still there. Lith had expected that the enemy would use the spell's cover to move to a vantage position, yet he still seemed to want a direct approach.
The veteran Awakened was mostly hurt in his pride and was eager to get over with that embarrassment. Not only had he been knocked down for the first time in centuries, but his disciples had also abandoned him like a dog.
His rage was beyond words, to the point that he didn't care about Raagu's orders anymore. Gaaron activated the Frostbound blade enchantments and those of most of his equipment as well while unleashing the only spell he had the time to prepare before the effects of the spirit magic spell, Destructive Ward, disappeared.
Chapter 773 Trickster Part 1
'If I'm alone, at least I don't have to worry about those losers anymore.' Gaaron thought while activating his tier five spell, Stone Grinder.
Earth magic was the second slowest element after darkness and it couldn't be used while fighting in the air, but it was the element that offered the most powerful offense and defense at the same time.
It could block all the other elements and couldn't be stopped by them, since the mass of manipulated ground was always bigger than what a mage could conjure by using a different kind of magic.
Gaaron's personal spell mixed air and earth together. It created several small twisters that carried huge amounts of earth, allowing it to overcome its weakness, and surrounded every single rock fragment carried by the vortexes in air blades.
To add insult to injury, being the ground around its caster under their control, it was impossible to use earth magic to defend against Stone Grinder.
Lith quickly considered his options, discovering that he had only a few of them. He could run away, but that would mean leaving his back exposed to further attacks. Even taking the skies was out of the question.
Gaaron was an Awakened, just like Lith, so he wouldn't run out of mana just because of a single powerful spell. On the contrary, the more time Lith wasted, the more it was likely that Gaaron would gain the upper hand due to his superior resources.
'I have no clue what spirit magic spells can do or how many effects he can obtain by combining his artifacts.' Lith thought. 'Against a stronger opponent, the only option is to finish things quickly before he can understand what I'm lacking.
'If he chose to use such a big spell, it means he's desperate. Let's keep things that way.'
Life Vision had shown Lith that Gaaron's magic flow had been greatly diminished by using Stone Grinder, plus the glove and the amulet had yet to recharge. He was aware that the older Awakened was probably betting everything on Lith running away.
Their fight was at its final turning point. If Lith reached the now spell-less Gaaron, the victory would be his, whereas if Gaaron managed to weave a new set of spells, he would turn the tables.
Both were big "ifs", but alas, Lith's was bigger.
None of his spells could deal with Stone Grinder, even Final Sunset's black flames would be easily extinguished by such a frenzied avalanche. To make matters worse, Gaaron's level of mastery over the air element was such that he was able to create horizontal tornadoes that were now converging to Lith's position from every side.
The ground cracked at their passage while trees were uprooted and smashed to bits in a matter of seconds. Lith was just a dozen meters away from his enemy, but with such a powerful barrier between them, it was akin to being oceans apart.
Lith took flight to go above the horizontal tornado in front of himself, but Gaaron made it grow even bigger, to the point that it resembled an ocean wave. Lith then had Death Call's wings envelope him like a shroud and then darted inside Stone Grinder.
It was a suicidal, pointless move that made Gaaron grit his teeth in frustration.
'Does he really think I'm so stupid that I would fall twice for the same trick?' He thought. 'Sure, I don't have Full Guard, but I still have my own fucking eyes.'
Gaaron raised a stone slab behind his back to not have blind spots, looking up, left, and right to search for the exit point he knew that would appear soon. He saw the space getting bent on his far-left side and sent the vortexes he had kept close to himself against it.
Gaaron didn't let his guard down nor allowed himself to smile until the noise coming from the exit point proved to him that his spell had hit something. He was about to dispel the vortexes, to check if Lith was still alive when another noise caught his attention.
Lith had emerged from the giant horizontal tornado and was darting towards him. Such a feat had only made it possible by Gaaron making the tornado grow so big. No matter how violent the external storm was, the eye of a cyclone was always a safe zone.
Once Lith had determined that there was enough space for him, he had used the cover provided by the enemy spell to Blink, halving the space he needed to cross, and then had executed a double Switch spell.
The first Switch was intended to move some of the rocks comprising Stone Grinder on the other side as a diversion while the second allowed Lith to travel almost to the other side.
Almost. Appearing outside of Stone Grinder's area of effect would have meant being visible, so he had appeared right where he had removed the rocks. The air current had still caught him, slamming Lith on the ground and producing the sound that Gaaron had heard, but he had managed to make it through sustaining little damage.
The cocoon combined with the mana boosted armor and darkness fusion had allowed Lith to not lose his focus, so that the moment he came out, he was able to unleash all the spells he had at the ready.
Most of the Stone Grinder tornadoes were aimed where Lith was supposed to be, to cut off all of his escape routes, so Gaaron only had those he had focused on the visible exit point to defend himself from Lith's barrage of spells, some of which were even tier five.
'Time to retreat.' Gaaron thought while activating the flight spell stored in one of his magic holding rings, only to remember one second too late about the stone slab behind his back which was now blocking his escape route.
Cursing his own stupidity, Gaaron recalled the small cyclones just in time to block a Checkmate Spears, two Chasing Lightning, and most of a Final Sunset. Only his enchanted protections blocked the rest of the black flames.
He was still unscathed, but the pseudo cores of his artifacts were now spent and needed time to recuperate. A time that he didn't have. The only things he had left were his swordsmanship and a couple of magic holding rings.
By the time Gaaron managed to make the stone slab crumble, Ruin was already lunging at his throat. Gaaron blocked it, and this time he was expecting the gravity field, reducing it to nothing more than an annoyance.
His body refinement was advanced to the point that even his joints had been strengthened past the human level.
'You fool! I still have Stone Grinder active and more than two centuries of practice. What do you think you have aside from petty tricks? Your blade might be a masterpiece, but mine is even better!' He thought.
Actually, Ruin was just a prototype. The magical equivalent of a courtesy car while Lith waited for the real deal. Yet it was Orion's prototype, an item of such quality that most mages not working for the Griffon Kingdom wouldn't see their whole lives.
Moreover, like most Awakened of his age, Gaaron had become too reliant on his outstanding physical prowess. So while he had no problems deflecting Lith's thrust, the strength blocking his own riposte left him shocked.
Their body refinement was roughly equal, but Lith was heavier and taller, allowing his fusion magic to bring his physical prowess above that of his opponent. Gaaron's mana core was stronger and so was his fusion magic, but he never heard about the Gatekeeper blades.
Chapter 774 Trickster Part 2
There was a reason why the Royals had asked Orion to craft a perfect version of Lith's joke blade for themselves. Orion had made his creation capable of being infused with the elements, amplifying the effects of fusion magic.
The gravity field, now also amplified by Ruin's enchantment, allowed Lith to make the sword heavier when it hit and lighter when it moved. Ruin amplified Lith's abilities and vice versa, tipping the scales in his favor.
Soon Gaaron was forced on the defensive to not be overwhelmed by the raw strength and speed of each attack. The few times he attempted a counter, Lith pushed his blade so far that Gaaron almost lost his grip and life.
'Dammit! I spent too much time in politics and too little on the battlefield.' Gaaron thought. 'I'm rusty, but my battle experience is way superior to his. To overcome raw power, I must set my pride aside and use my brain.'
He activated Frostbound's effect and a thick layer of ice instantly covered him, making Gaaron look like a crystal statue. Aside from a strong elemental aura now surrounding the older Awakened, Lith had no clue what such an effect could be good for.
At least until he noticed that the crystal layer kept growing, but not to make the protection thicker or enhance Gaaron's body mass. Even though they kept fighting at the best of their abilities, two more crystal statues had come out of the original one and were flanking Lith.
'Solus?' Lith asked.
'Beats me. I can't say which one is the real body. The ice layer is too thick and rich in that guy's energy signature to see through it with mana sense. I've bad news, though. Those three are the focus points of a simple but deadly array.
'The temperature is dropping at an alarming rate and soon the air will become unbreathable. Plus, I can see that the crystal's growth has never stopped. It's just a matter of time before the ice constructs stabilize and you have to fight nine of them.'
Lith gritted his teeth in frustration as he deflected the blade of the Gaaron in front of himself before shattering him with a powerful right uppercut. The gravity field had locked the blade in place, making it impossible for Gaaron to dodge Lith's attack from such close range.
'Damn! Not only can he control them at will, but he also swapped position when the copies came out. It's a nice trick, but a trick nonetheless.' Lith thought while deflecting the two blades aimed at his vitals.
The other two Gaaron had struck at the same time, exploiting the moment when Lith was focused on the crystal statue he had assumed to be his real enemy. Ruin trapped the first blade while Lith's gauntlet grabbed the second.
He was assessing the difference in strength between the two attacks to find the real source of the spell when the third statue regenerated and joined the fight again.
'Fuck me sideways.' Lith thought as both Gaarons twisted and pulled their blades, forcing Lith to either let go or be forced to assume an unstable stance that would leave him open to the third construct.
Lith reacted by using gravity magic to turn everyone lighter so that, instead of stepping forward, the statue in front of him performed an involuntary jump while Lith easily lifted the other two and slammed them against their flying comrade.
Normally such a move would have failed since Gaaron could use gravity magic as well, but even though Frostbound's spell was powerful, it took a huge toll on the caster's focus.
Even with the help of the artifact and its magical formation, moving three bodies at the same time and boosting them with fusion magic was far from easy. Lith had exploited Gaaron's slightly slowed reaction time to beat quantity with quality.
Two of the statues shattered while the third one revealed Lith's prize. The Skinwalker armor was already crackling at his every movement due to the ice growing so fast that it would be soon thick enough to become bothersome.
Between the armor and his enhanced body, Lith had yet to feel the sting of the cold, but his breath was already steaming and his eyebrows were covered in frost. Aware that he had no time to lose before the cold robbed him of his superior strength, Lith threw away the copies and slammed the original on the ground.
Gaaron released the last spells in his rings, but Lith simply tanked them with the boosted Orichalcum and slashed down with Ruin. Gaaron managed to defend despite his awkward position, but a huge wound still opened on his chest.
In a last-ditch effort, Gaaron threw his pride to the wind and activated a mind link with Lith by using a tendril of spirit magic to connect both their cores. There was no time for words and he had the distinct impression that Lith wouldn't believe to anything he might say.
Thoughts, instead, could not lie.
'Wait, I'm not after your life. I'm here on behalf of the Council.' He thought as Lith slashed again, making Frostbound fly out of Gaaron's hands.
'Tell me something I don't know.' Lith mind-sneered, intrigued by the interference enough to reply but not enough to stay his hand.
"The moron had enough. Go rescue him." Raagu ordered Athung, whose attempt to Blink was blocked by the sudden appearance of Silverwing's Hexagram.
"Not so fast, kid." Sentinel the Garmr said while appearing from behind a nearby tree. Her brown-red fur was still bloodstained from her last victim and her flaming red eyes were staring at Athung in hatred. All four of them.
The beast looked like a wolf, with a height at the withers that reached 1.7 meters (5'7"). Its red fur was comprised of hairs so thick that they resembled spikes and her tail looked like a thorned whip, cracking the ground at its every movement.
Reaper and Lifebringer joined her, completing the encirclement and leaving Athung no way out.
"Well, this explains why those three never returned nor called for help." Raagu was mildly amused by the sudden turn of events.
Lith's orders were clear. He had asked the Emperor Beasts to not interfere unless he asked for help, like he had done when the three Awakened had attempted to escape. Once they had been dealt with, the Emperor Beasts had focused their attention on the last remaining intruder.
Athung looked at them with Life Vision. Their mana cores were cloaked, appearing barely stronger than a squirrel's, whereas their vitality was overbearing and resembled that of her own master.
"I can't fight them by myself and save Gaaron at the same time." Athung said while taking out her staff. One of the Hexagram's weak points was that it couldn't block enchanted items.
Pseudo cores had a different mana flow than mana cores and the magical formation was incapable of allowing its users to perceive it.
"Point taken." Raagu replied. Red runes appeared all over Athung's Council amulet, connecting her position with the Gate in the elder's office and allowing Raagu to cross the distance separating them in one step.
"I'm the human representative of the Council and I'm here on official business. Step aside." Raagu ordered.
"What's the Council?" Sentinel asked, receiving from the other kings of the woods a shrug in reply.
"Gods, that's why I hate country bumpkins." Raagu could see that the Emperor Beasts were completely oblivious of the meaning of her words. Her title bore no significance to them.
Chapter 775 Powerhouse Part 1
Raagu had no time to waste and fighting three Emperor Beasts while under the Hexagram was suicidal, so she grabbed her disciple and ran like the wind. The situation was spiraling out of her control, forcing her to take action before it was too late.
Raagu's purple core and her mastery over fusion magic allowed her to escape the encirclement before the kings of the woods could react. They immediately gave chase even though they were well aware that the newcomer was beyond their level.
Strength wasn't everything when things had been long since planned out. Besides, no creature willing to back down so easily would have earned the title of king. They started weaving both spells and arrays while emitting a powerful roar to warn Lith of the impending danger.
Meanwhile, Gaaron was on his literal last leg. Lith had wasted no time talking, removing one by one the limbs that the opponent had used as shields to prolong his existence.
'If you kill me, you'll anger the elder who sent me here. You should stop if you value your family…' Those words were his last mistake. Lith usually obeyed the laws of the Griffon Kingdom because it was the place his parents loved, their birthplace.
The Kingdom had done him no favors, but it hadn't tried to blackmail him either.
'If your Council is willing to sink so low that they would threaten normal humans, maybe you guys need your own Balkor!' Was Lith's reply as Ruin cut Gaaron asunder. The moment he died, the self-destruct mechanism of his equipment activated, turning them into dust.
Lith would have liked to keep the Awakened alive longer, to squeeze from him more spirit magic spells, but after hearing Reaper's warning he knew he had no time to waste. He started to use Invigoration and broke the second seal in his pocket.
The first had been shattered after meeting the group of Awakened, so that the kings would meet him at the agreed-upon location and put his plan D in action. Yet now the four of them might not be enough.
Someone capable of scaring Reaper couldn't be underestimated.
When Raagu appeared in front of him, Lith regretted not to have the means for a plan F.
She looked like a woman in her late fifties, but she had lived for over five centuries. Her long black hair had partially turned into a silvery-white color and was held up in a chignon.
She had delicate features, but her expression was devoid of any warmth and her eyes were looking at the scene in front of them as if she had stumbled into a garbage pile. She was barely 1.6 meters (5'3") tall with a frame thin enough that a casual onlooker would have been worried that a sudden gust of wind might blow her away.
Yet both Life Vision and mana sense begged to differ. Her vitality was something that not even Scarlett possessed and her mana core was bright purple. Lith was so intent keeping watch on her every movement that it took him a while to notice that the oddly shaped handbag she carried was actually a person.
"Do you know who I am?" Raagu asked after taking a long look at Gaaron remains. His death meant she would have a lot of paperwork to fill. Even though he was just a local Lord, he was still a full-fledged member of the Council.
"No." Lith shrugged while casting more spells and one of his best arrays. "But I guess you are a member of the Council, just like that guy."
He pointed with Ruin at the corpse at his feet while the three kings joined the fray, surrounding the two women in a diamond formation with Lith at one of its edges.
"If you knew who he was, why did you kill him?" Raagu didn't sound angry so much as curious, which made Lith worry. He had slain six Awakened yet she seemed to consider the matter a minor inconvenience.
"He and his goons came to my turf, near my house. Why should I justify myself to you? I don't care who you think you are, if someone attacks me, I reply I kind." Lith said.
"Aren't you afraid of the Council?" Raagu tilted her head, a soft smile too similar to Jirni's to not being creepy appeared on her face.
"What's to be afraid of?" Lith was unfazed by her not-so-veiled threat. "You are just a bunch of people who never did squat for me when I needed help and now you dare to send people to tell me what I can or I can't do?
"I'll tell you this only once. I've got nothing to gain fighting you, but that doesn't mean that you can order me around. Your friend here has just learned the difference between a bully and a predator.
"A bully is a coward who only preys on the weak, whereas a predator is not afraid to fight even against a stronger opponent."
"Agreed." Raagu nodded, surprising all those present. "I assure you that despite his crude methods, Gaaron wasn't sent here to kill you, but only to put you to the test. A test that you brilliantly passed."
Suddenly Lith realized to have been used all along. Raagu was calm not because she deemed him important, but because she had used him to do her dirty work. Unbeknownst to Lith, she had just committed the perfect crime.
By killing Gaaron in self-defense, Lith had freed a spot in the Council for Athung, whereas if Lith would have died at Gaaron's hand, she would have had the perfect excuse to kill him for disobeying a direct order.
No matter the result of the fight, she would achieve what she wanted and no one could hold her responsible. Lith had already proven to be a useful means to an end, the only thing Raagu wanted to check was how useful he could be.
"You should remember Athung, my disciple." The young Awakened ignored the nonsensical conversation happening in front of her and focused on the beasts. Several miniature arrays had formed on top of her staff and were ready to be unleashed.
'What the heck is Raagu thinking? She might be strong, but we are two against four and those beasts only need one hit to take us down.' Athung was worried, looking around for traps and arrays that might be hidden under a cloaking spell.
She wouldn't repeat the mistake of underestimating her opponents ever again.
"I'm Raagu Drerian and I'm the human leader of the Awakened. Now, we can stay here and glare at each other all day or you can follow me. You have no idea how much time you have wasted in this backwater village.
"The Council is more than just those idiots you've faced in the past. There's plenty of knowledge that we are willing to share."
Her words would have made Athung laugh if their situation wasn't so dramatic.
'Yeah, right. Like all the things you've shared with me. I've seen his house. Maybe I'll be able to afford it in another couple of years!' She thought.
Lith was intrigued at the idea, but taking a stranger's words at face value was out of the question. Being powerful and being trustworthy were two entirely different things.
Chapter 776 Powerhouse Part 2
"Are you saying that you Awakened know about Forgemastering runes and that the members of the Council have access at least to the basics of all magical disciplines?" Lith needed to stall a little longer.
"Of course we know about runes, but we don't give anything for free." Raagu's grimace wouldn't have been worse even if Lith had just attempted to stab her.
"I meant that with my help, you could find a master who would allow you to discover your true potential."
"Thanks, but no thanks." Lith shook his head. "I'm not interested in serving someone in the hope to get something in return. I don't deal in maybes, only in certainties. All the Awakened I killed were part of your Council, yet they were nothing special."
Raagu's grimace surprisingly managed to get worse, but Lith didn't stop talking.
"Unless you're willing to give me a concrete proof or your goodwill, I'm going to decline your offer. I'm done working for free."
"Kid, you have yet to live a quarter of a century and you dare to be so conceited?" Raagu said.
"Soon you'll hit a wall that you can't overcome with just effort and wishful thinking. Soon every person you know will die of old age and you'll be alone. When that moment comes, I'll be still alive and I assure you that I'll remember our conversation.
"I can deny you the access to the Council and with it all the chances you might have to learn about true magic. So think carefully before you open your mouth again." Raagu was actually bluffing.
She could prevent Lith from getting a seat in the Council, but any elder or Awakened could recruit disciples on their own without needing her consent. She was just exploiting Lith's ignorance to humble him.
"I beg to differ." Said a voice from above, when Lith's plan E brought along with him the fabled plan F.
Protector landed in his Skoll form right beside Lith instead of taking part in the formation as planned, simply because it wasn't needed. Faluel the Hydra was right behind him and she was big enough to blot out the sun.
She had a bright purple core as well and her physical strength was beyond what words could express. She had a stocky lower body with four short legs and a heavy tail.
Both were necessary to balance her long, serpentine necks ending with a snake-like head the size of a muscle car. Her whole body was covered in deep green scales, yet each one of her seven heads had shades of a different color.
"First, the little one is one of us, not one of you. Second, you've got some guts to mess with my turf and threaten one of the kings of my woods!" Since each race only cared for their own, each region had multiple lords.
Faluel and Gaaron covered the same role for the Distar Marquisate, but their status among their peers couldn't have been more different.
"What do you mean one of you?" Raagu was furious for the unexpected meddling with her plans, but her face remained unfazed.
"Lith Verhen never lost his title of king, hence he is my retainer. He was trained in true magic by my disciple, Protector, who in turn was taught by Lith once he mastered his specializations.
"Plus, it was Kalla, not you, who asked on Lith's behalf the Council's protection in the matters of the Dawn Court. If you still question his allegiance, just look at his allies. While you humans attacked him for petty reasons, the other kings helped him. Do you dare to deny it?"
Raagu couldn't retort to any of her claims. The Council didn't have a rigid structure. There was no rule about humans having disciples of other races or vice versa. Raagu gritted her teeth and shook her head.
Her interest in Lith lied in the fact that Awakened were already few in numbers and the talented ones were even fewer. Faluel's seven heads chuckled seeing her opponent retreating.
Her motive was the same as Raagu, but she was also aware of Lith's ability to harness Origin Flames. For a Forgemaster like her, it was a priceless treasure. It was the reason why when her disciple had received Lith's distress signal she had been happy to tag along.
Having the opportunity to help the Wyrmling at their first meet was a great way to introduce herself rather than a long boring speech. Faluel was aware that trust was something that had to be given before one could ask for it.
"Let's go, Athung. We've got nothing more to do here." Yet the young Awakened ignored her mentor's words and approached Lith.
The four kings were still keeping their guard up and their formation ready, but it only proved how little they knew about Council matters. She took an odd-looking communication amulet out of her dimensional amulet and offered it to Lith.
"No matter what race you decide to join for your apprenticeship, you're now considered a member of the Council. This communication amulet is the only way to contact us in the case the events of Zantia happen again." Athung said.
Lith immediately noticed that the metal the amulet was made of was the same of the Forge he had found in the lost academy and that instead of blue, the mana crystal fueling it was white.
When Solus's mana sense confirmed him that aside from a complex series of cloaking spells that made both the amulet and the signal it emitted untraceable there the amulet wasn't enchanted with unknown spells, Lith had a hard time to contain his enthusiasm.
Solus had also spotted several invisible runes on it, which made it the first item engraved with modern runes that he would possess.
"This is my communication rune." Athung said once he had accepted it. "If you want to have a talk about Council matters or if someone from the undead Courts bothers you again, this is the quickest way to get help.
"Now that Gaaron is dead, I'll be in charge of the Distar Marquisate. I look forward to working with you, Faluel." Then she turned around before the Hydra could reply and Warped away with her mentor.
"Where did you get that amulet?" Raagu asked once they were outside the beasts' earshot.
"I had it made under your name before we left. I had no idea how things would have turned out, but I was certain that Verhen wouldn't have trusted us. I also knew that no grassroots Awakened Forgemaster would have turned down a runed artifact.
"This way, I'm his only contact in the human Council and whoever wants to get in touch with him has to go through me." She smirked. Athung had learned a lot from that experience and gained even more.
A seat in the Council, a land to call her own, and the opportunity to make business with someone who had aroused the interest of two Awakened races. It was an event rare enough to make some noise and she had more than one idea of how turning it to her advantage.
Meanwhile, Lith made sure that the Awakened women had really gone before handing the amulet to Faluel. He had yet to even imprint it.
"Is it safe? No tracking device or something?" He had accepted the runes, but he was far from trusting the present of a stranger.
Chapter 777 Secrets and Ignorance Part 1
A pillar of light emerged from Faluel's body as she shrunk into her human form. She placed one hand on the amulet and used Invigoration to study it for a split second before returning it.
"Yes, it's a standard device, just like the one I would have given you after making sure that you're just as Protector says. You need to be careful. If the humans discover that you've Awakened so many people, they will get pissed." She said while pointing at the other kings.
"I'll keep that in mind." Lith nodded and then checked the equipment the kings had collected from the young Awakened after slaying them. The weapons were made of standard metals and the enchantments were nothing useful.
They would help Lith to understand how to shape a pseudo core to give it the desired effects but nothing more.
"How did you know it was me?" He asked once he realized that not even Protector knew about it and he trusted the kings to keep it secret.
"Just like I know that Protector was Awakened by Scarlett without the need to ask him. Because of the breathing technique he uses. When someone Awakens, they always make up their own method, unless they are taught.
"There are no two identical techniques, so the moment I noticed that the four of you breathed in unison I understood why the kings of the Trawn woods are so loyal to you."
Lith inwardly cursed, but appreciated her kindness. If Faluel had noticed it, then Raagu had probably done the same.
"Do you mind if we go to my place? I'm sure that you have a lot to ask and so do I. I've never met a hybrid like you before and there are a few things I'd like to try out." Faluel asked with a dazzling smile.
Those words triggered Lith's paranoia, making him realize that he had no reason to lower his guard. Because of her relationship with Protector, Faluel knew too much, yet between the help she had provided him and her appearance she had managed to make him relax.
Faluel now looked like a young woman in her mid-twenties, about 1.7 meters (5'7") tall. Her face had an oval shape, with rainbow-colored eyes and long hair that framed her fine features.
Unlike Mogar's avatar, along with the six colors of the elements, there was also the emerald green of mana, making Lith wonder if she was somehow in tune with the natural forces even more than the planet itself.
The reason Lith had instinctively trusted her was that she had nothing of Tyris's overly perfect beauty or of the Awakened women's usual stunning bodies. She was indeed a lovely woman, but she also had a girl next door vibe that put everyone at ease.
Nothing in her face or curves screamed "look at me", Lith had met plenty of regular girls as pretty as she was. Yet she could be easily called a perfectly imperfect beauty. The simple grace of her slender body seemed to be perfectly attuned with her demeanor, making the final result much more stunning than the sum of the single parts.
Lith's attention was drawn more to her eyes and smile rather than her figure, while her voice sounded reassuring like that of an old friend. Even her oddly colored hair was easy on the eyes rather than look like something out of a Comicon.
She was wearing a pink shirt that left her arms exposed and tight pants that Lith could swear were jeans. The contrasts with her Emperor Beast form was so great that Lith had a hard time remembering that she was always the same person.
"Not at all. Care to join us?" Lith asked Protector. One moment of weakness was one too many for him.
He needed his friend's presence to make sure that the Hydra didn't play any more tricks on him and because otherwise he wouldn't believe a word she said. Protector would ensure both his safety and her sincerity.
Yet the Skoll whined loudly. Between Selia, the kids, and his apprenticeship, it was the first occasion in years he had to reconnect with his old pack and friends. After exchanging his contact rune with the kings of the woods, he followed them through the Warp Steps Faluel had opened.
The moment Lith stepped inside, he was almost blinded by the shine of all the gold and rare metals amassed in her lair. The Hydra's home was nothing like its master's human form, it was a tacky mess of invaluable items piled up like a child's toys.
Only her Forgemastered creations were orderly displayed behind glass cases, creating an impressive and classy museum. Lith held the desire to inspect them one by one in and patted Protector's neck, apparently as a thank you.
He was actually letting Solus hide in his fur. The Hydra was likely to use Invigoration on him at some point and Lith wasn't willing to let her learn about Solus's existence.
Sure, beasts had turned out to be better than humans on average, but they had also proved to be greedy and prideful. If the story about Menadion was true, if Solus really was the key to the Ruler of the Flames' tower, then a Forgemaster like Faluel would treasure her much more than an oddity like Lith was.
"How did you make so much money?" Lith asked.
"First, I'm older than I look." She said with a lovely chuckle. "Second, I don't live under a rock. Part of these riches I inherited from my ancestors, the rest I earned them through war, my services as Forgemaster to the Council, and my investments in the human society."
"I beg your pardon?"
"Whenever the Griffon Kingdom went to war, I offered my services for a price, both as a warrior and an artisan. Also, as you already know, being a Forgemaster requires a lot of money, I can't just sleep on my treasure or I would be broke in a few decades.
"All that you can see here is just a memento. The rest is invested in merchant guilds and magical shops. Now, if I've satisfied your curiosity, I'd like you to satisfy mine. Please, show me your other face." Faluel said.
Lith had a hard time not immediately complying with her request. More than a Hydra, he had the impression of dealing with a Siren. Everything she did, no matter how insignificant, was soothing and her voice was so kind to almost make him feel guilty for doubting her goodwill.
The room was full of treasures, yet she didn't sound arrogant nor tried to make him feel small. There was a stone throne in the center of the room, from which she could have looked down upon him, yet she was standing in her own home.
Faluel's form was so short that she needed to look up at him and she had even said please. It was a form of courtesy that no one had ever given him unless they needed his help, let alone someone so powerful.
Lith took a deep breath to regain his cool and remember why he was there.
The thought that his secret was known by so many people gave him a headache, but there was nothing that could be done about it. Scarlett had been the first one to realize, then Protector and Kalla had witnessed his transformation.
The only silver lining was that beasts seemed to be very secretive about their own since no one even among the members of the Council had discovered the anomaly Lith was.
Chapter 778 Secrets and Ignorance Part 2
Lith shapeshifted quickly, assuming his hybrid form that was taller than two meters (7'), yet Lith felt that he could get even bigger if he wanted to.
Faluel looked with interest at both the hybrid and his armor. Her professional curiosity was piqued at the idea that someone had realized an Orichalcum Armor without the need for runes.
Yet the Wyrmling was far more interesting. Just like Scarlett had told her, whatever the Lith-thing was, it looked like a dragon, and yet it was nothing like one. The wings were upside-down, making them useless in theory, yet she could feel they were more than a tool for flying.
With their ability to flex like a hand and the many spikes at their extremities, they were meant to fight. Dragons were supposed to only have two eyes and their power was supposed to increase with their age and wisdom, yet there were seven.
"Can you please breath Origin Flames for me?" Her request left Lith flabbergasted. He had shared that part of his secret with no one, only Solus was supposed to know about them.
"Your fight in Zantia was recorded." Faluel said, almost as if she could read his mind. "One of the late elders responsible for one of your attackers mistook you for one of Xedros's children since Wyverns are known to be able to use them.
"Xedros vouched for you after mistaking you for one of my children and then he showed me the record. That's how I know about it and why I was eager to meet you."
Protector looked at Lith in surprise. He knew that Lith was able to breathe fire, but he had no idea they were something that precious.
"Where, exactly?" Lith asked while gesturing the Skoll that he would explain later.
"I don't want you to make a mess, so just breath a small amount of flames upwards." Faluel pointed at the ceiling.
It was so high that it could easily accommodate the Hydra in her true form, so there was no way that a bit of Origin Flames could do it any damage. A small burst of blue flames erupted from Lith's mouth and then Faluel raised her hand as her eyes turned into emerald green.
The jet of fire performed a U-turn, stopping a few centimeters above her open hand, making both Lith's and Protector's jaw drop in surprise. The Hydra didn't pay them any attention, waving her hands around the small flame that was shrinking by the second.
The Origin Flames' shape changed with each one of her gestures, getting split and reunited multiple times while producing a crackling sound. Lith was almost sure that it was almost as if the fire was a living thing and the Hydra was dissecting it.
"They are a bit coarse and amateurishly done, but they are definitely Origin Flames, kid." She said after snuffing what was left of them by clenching her fist. "You are quite a mystery, but maybe I can help you unravel it a bit.
"Can I use my breathing technique to study your hybrid body?" She asked.
Lith made sure that Solus was far away enough before stepping forward. Faluel placed her hands on his chest and started using Abyssal Gaze. She immediately noticed the cracks in Lith's human life force and the existence of the hybrid one.
Yet her attention focused the most on his eyes and on the source of the heat that reddened the tip of his scales.
"This is really odd, but I think we can work with that. Before making you my predictable offer for an apprenticeship, what do you want to know about first? Your eyes or your flames?" Faluel asked.
"My flames."
Most of what Faluel told him about the Origin Flames Lith had already discovered or guessed on his own, yet there was more.
"Origin Flames can be used only by a few creatures, like Dragons, Phoenixes, Wyverns, and more. There are other Emperor Beasts, like Lindwurms, who can turn the world energy into some kind of universal acid, or like Rocs, who can turn it into Living Thunder.
"What makes Origin Flames special, is that they can be manipulated at will and used to purify almost any substance. For a Forgemaster, it means the ability to work only with perfect materials and to obtain items that would be impossible otherwise.
"Not only do impurities alter a material's physical properties, but also their ability to conduct mana. All kinds of metals, if properly purified, can be greatly enhanced by the use of Origin Flames."
"For example, it's impossible to purify Adamant without them. The strongest flame can liquify it, but not make it boil, leaving the impurities trapped inside. Only Origin Flames can remove them without harming the material or losing most of it in the process.
"The second and most important property they held to a Forgemaster, is to allow them to melt not only the physical form of a metal, but also to remove all the traces from a previous enchantment, failed or not.
"Some metals are so rare that is up to the client to provide them, hence a single failure can ruin the name of an artisan. That's why Origin Flames are highly sought." Faluel said.
"Is it enough to engulf Adamant in Origin Flames to purify it?" Lith asked.
"You wish. That way you only risk to evaporate it. What you need to do is to use your breathing technique to spot the impurities that you want to cleanse and then manipulate the flames to attack them."
'Damn! Luckily, I never tried to reset the Odi sword. Otherwise Solus might have been injured in the process of scrubbing off the Adamant off her walls.' Lith thought.
"How do I do that?"
"Beats me." Faluel shrugged. "I've traded my services for Origin Flames a lot of times, but no one ever explained to me how they work. You must experiment on that yourself, but beware.
"While some metals like Adamant are at their strongest once you have completely removed all external elements, others, like Orichalcum or steel, only maintain their properties as long as they hold a certain amount of impurities.
"Just spewing Origin Flames is the recipe to waste a lot of money and resources."
"Wait, what do you mean you don't know? I just saw you manipulate them." Lith said.
"No, not really. That's another matter entirely and it has to do with your eyes. Protector, do you mind leaving us alone?"
"Why should he leave? He already knows everything about me, I trust Protector enough to stay." Lith rebuked her since he didn't trust her enough to remain alone with her.
"Maybe you do, but this is a secret you and I share, not him. I know and trust Ryman as well, but I can't risk exposing something like this to someone who's barely more than a child." Faluel shook her head.
"You're not making any sense. I'm way younger than him and I'm not even your apprentice. What makes me so different from Protector?"
"Your ignorance. Yet it doesn't make you different, only more dangerous to you, me, and even my species." Her voice was stone cold and so was now the air in her cave.
"I understand that being born from humans you're suspicious. I'm aware that you have no reason to trust me, but remember that no matter what, once you stepped inside my house, if I really meant you any harm, you would be already dead."
Chapter 779 Dominance Part 1
Lith didn't want Protector to leave, but he hadn't much of a choice. What Faluel said was true, plus she was willing to explain to him the secret behind his seven eyes, no strings attached.
Or at least so she said.
Even if she were to refuse to teach him about runes, even if she placed unacceptable conditions for his apprenticeship, between what he had learned about Origin Flames and what he was about to learn, it was more than he could have ever asked.
'I don't like this, but since Solus will leave together with Protector, our secret is safe. Moreover, if things go south, I can always use our mind link to ask them both for help.' He thought.
After Protector left, Lith also cut off his mind link with Solus, in the case that the Hydra had some way to notice it. Both Scarlett and Gaaron had somehow established a mind link with him.
If Awakened knew how to form them with anyone, maybe they also had a detection technique. Lith had to play it by ear and caution had always been his strong suit.
"Please, sit." Faluel said as she materialized a simple round stone table and two padded armchairs. A transparent crystal bottle of wine appeared at the center of the table, along with two silvery cups and several plates of food.
"I thought you were supposed to teach me, not to invite me to a date." Lith snarled, not sure about what was happening.
"Your hunger is annoying." She replied a split second before Lith's stomach grumbled. Killing six Awakened had made him work quite an appetite, but due to his stress, he had failed to notice.
Faluel poured herself a glass of wine before starting her explanation.
"Do you know why people and beast alike have shades of different colors in their hair?" She asked.
"It's supposed to be the blessing of the six gods of magic." Lith replied between mouthfuls. After a simple spell had confirmed to him that the food was just food, he had helped himself. "It means that a person is talented in a specific element."
"That's partially true, but there are no such things as gods of magic. It's just the way mortals refer to the first six Guardians, but I suppose you've no interest in lore. I'll go straight to the point.
"Thanks to mana cores, anyone can use magic, but if you paid attention during your academy years, you should have noticed that there are actually three levels of magic. The first is the simple use, something that any fake or true mage can do.
"No matter if you need a formula or a series of thoughts, you still mix your mana with world energy and obtain an effect." Faluel said and Lith nodded for her to continue.
"Then there is the mastery over the elements. It's what Lochra Silverwing taught to all races who didn't know about true magic. It's the ability to infuse them with your willpower, evolving them from a simple tool to an extension of yourself."
Lith nodded again. The most advanced spellcasting required to manipulate the elements, conjuring them wasn't enough. He had spent quite a bit of time trying to infuse even his low tier spells with willpower, to improve their versatility in combat.
"Last, but not least, there is dominance over the elements. This is something that not everyone can do and even those who can are limited to an extent since it requires an innate affinity towards the elements.
"Dominance is the ability to take control of someone else's spell and make it your own. Talented geniuses can even absorb them."
Her words reminded Lith of both Irtu the Byk and Thrud's weapon. The former had managed to feed upon Lith's Plague Arrow, something that he had never managed to explain before.
The latter, instead, could do the same thanks to Arthan's Sword, a replica of the Royal Sword, making her nigh invincible.
"Are you saying that…" Lith almost dropped his fork in surprise.
"Indeed I am. The shades in someone's hair are the indicator of what elements you're attuned with and that you can achieve mastery over. You should have noticed that some people have more than one shade." She twirled her multi-colored hair with a playful smile on her face.
"Wait. My mother has red shades but a pitiful red core, how is she supposed to have mastery over the fire element?" Lith asked.
"What does a red core mean to someone who can Awaken, aside from good luck?" Faluel rose her eyebrow. "If your mother were to Awaken, you'd find out that she's a great fire mage."
'Damn. This means that the advantage that women have over men in the field of magic is even bigger than I thought. It also explains why even after Awakening I didn't get any shades- Wait a minute!' Lith's thoughts suddenly froze.
"Nailed it in one." Faluel said as if she could read his mind, whereas she had just read his expression.
"Humans usually only have one shade due to their egotism. Your kind can rarely empathize with the needs of Mogar, which limits them greatly. All magical beasts, instead, start with two elements, the ones they can naturally use.
"Except for rare cases that's their cap as well. You might object that between one and two there's not such a big difference, but during a battle between equals, with their cores and equipment on the same level, it's quite handy.
"It's also one of the reasons why the Griffon Kingdom spares no expenses to buy my services from time to time." She played with her hair again as her eyes light up with mana of seven different colors.
Red, yellow, black, white, blue, orange, and emerald green.
Lith still remembered from their first encounter how Scarlett's fur had shades of all those colors but green and orange. Based on what Faluel said, the creature's potential was amazing.
"What exactly does the emerald green stands for?" Lith asked.
"Pure mana. How do you call this?" Faluel used tendrils of spirit magic to move the bottle and refill both their cups.
"Spirit magic." Lith replied.
"We Hydras call it mind magic, instead. It allows us to perform several spells that the other elements can't." She formed a transparent green barrier around herself and then established a mind link with Lith.
'This is just to give you an example.' Her thoughts reverberated through his mind, giving him the creeps.
"Protector has shades of red and white, which means he could have dominance over at least two elements, three if we count air magic. Why did you send him away?" Lith asked.
"Because that pup has still a lot to learn about magic. Right now, he's using your memories as a crutch, but that can't last forever. He needs to gain solid foundations to become a master, and only then should he worry about dominance.
"Any other path would only be a waste of time and energies. I'll be honest, I don't like teaching you about dominance either. You're too damn young and you don't even know about spirit spells." Faluel sighed.
"Then why are we having this conversation?"
"Gods, that's why I hate kids. Have you been listening to me earlier? Because dominance is a secret between Awakened just as Awakening is a secret among humans.
"You have seven eyes, in case you failed to notice, and three of them are already active. I'm willing to teach you how to control them only to prevent others from finding them out. That or I might just kill you."
Chapter 780 Dominance Part 2
Those words almost made Lith choke on his food, just like the killing intent that was suddenly filling the cave.
Faluel found his distress amusing and started giggling like a little girl. Yet now he didn't find her adorable anymore.
"I'm just joking. I've already told you that I'd like to have you as my disciple and that I could really use a constant supply of Origin Flames. If I wanted to kill you, I wouldn't have wasted my breath for this long.
"Before I continue, do you have any questions?" Faluel asked.
'Fuck me sideways. This woman is making my head spin right round like a record. She goes from girl next door to killer queen in a split second. I wish Solus was here.' Lith thought.
He then told her about both his fights with Irtu and Thrud, to understand what had actually happened to his spells.
"Irtu was clearly a rare genius. Usually, only Emperor Beasts develop dominance. To achieve that while he was just a Byk is impressive beyond reason. Too bad he was also a psycho. I would have loved to have him as a disciple as well." Faluel sighed.
"As for Thrud Griffon, she's another anomaly on a league of her own, just like you. She has a rainbow core, something as fabled as the legendary white core of immortality…"
"Woah! Hold that thought." Lith cut her short with a time-out gesture that confused Faluel but also earned him another of her smiles that would make almost any straight man ask her for a date.
Almost.
"I thought that her rainbow core was due to the failed expulsion of her impurities since she isn't an Awakened. Are you saying I was wrong? Also, white core of immortality?"
"You keep surprising me, Lith. Not only did you survive the encounter with two geniuses of such caliber, but you also had the time to use Invigoration on Thrud to see her core? That's simply amazing." Faluel's words made Lith want to bite his tongue.
What she had suggested was obviously an impossible feat. He only knew about Thrud's core thanks to Solus's mana sense. Solus was a secret that he had to defend at all costs and not just because of her abilities.
Lith's feelings for her were as messed up as those he still had for Phloria, something that he would never admit, even to himself. As long as she was at his finger, it would mean to risk hurting her.
Yet the memory of almost losing Solus in Kulah still hurt Lith badly, allowing him to put on his best poker face. Pain was an old friend to Lith and a great motivator.
"Thanks for your kind words, but my bravado almost cost me my life. If not for my team and Invigoration, I would not be here today." Lith replied, blushing on cue to fake his embarrassment.
"Don't worry. Luck is part of someone's talent." Faluel replied, toasting to luck. Little she knew that aside from meeting Solus, luck had played a little role in Lith's life.
"To answer your question, yes, you are right. Thrud's rainbow core is the result of Arthan's Madness, but that doesn't make it any less special. It proves that forbidden magic can actually recreate Awakening.
"She obtained an immortal body and a magical power that has yet to be fully put to the test. Some say she is weaker than a purple core, others say she is stronger. More importantly, what if she actually Awakens?
"She might be the first being to ever achieve a white core, something that not even the Awakened undead ever accomplished, not even after millennia."
"Okay, but what is a white core?" Lith asked.
"Mostly a legend." Faluel replied. "According to such lore, a white core grants its master an eternal life and a power second only to Guardians. Some even say that you can force your way into Guardianhood with it, but I call bullcrap.
"My grandfather told me more than once the tale of when he witnessed a Guardian's fall from grace and according to his words, the poor girl had fewer chances of survival than a snowball has against a fireball.
"She lost her powers and turned into dust so fast that he could barely catch a glimpse of her appearance. Hence I doubt you can strongarm Mogar into doing anything."
"Is your grandfather still alive?" Lith's curiosity was piqued.
"Of course he is. Hydras have a very long lifespan and Awakened Hydras live even longer." Faluel nodded.
"By the way, why undead would be interested in a white core? They are already immortal and have infinite time to practice magic. It doesn't make much sense." Since this was one of the few occasions Lith had to gain real knowledge about Awakened, he was willing to let the chatty Hydra go wild.
"You really are curious like a little kid, huh? First, just because someone lives long, it doesn't mean that they can achieve everything. The blue core you possess now is the cap for most Awakened, not everyone reaches the purple core.
"Second, undead Awakened have a much harder time compared to the living to refine their cores. On one hand, their immortal bodies make it impossible for them to die during a breakthrough, but on the other hand, blood cores are faulty.
"They absorb most of the light element, so undead need a damn long time for Accumulation to do its job. Third and last, according to legends, an undead with a white core can revert at will into his original race with no negative side effects, achieving the best of both worlds."
'A power above purple cores and escaping all the side effects undeath has? It seems too good to be true.' Lith's disbelief was strong, but the idea was juicy enough for him to put undeath from the "no way" into the "maybe" pile.
"As I was saying, not only Thrud Griffon possesses a mana core that might be even stronger than a purple core, but she also has access to a precious piece of equipment that allows her to exert dominance over all elements." Alas, Faluel was back on track, messing with Lith's plans.
"All of them? Even mana?" Lith suddenly felt very lucky to still be alive.
"Yes. To make matter worse, she knows about Awakening, she simply has no idea how it works. I believe it's only a matter of time before she finds a way to join our ranks. Believe it or not, the human Council is hunting her down from a lot, but she has slaughtered all those who managed to find her."
"How exactly dominance works?" Lith wasn't interested in Thrud, she was none of his business.
"I'll make it simple. As you should have noticed and practiced by using spirit or high tiered magic, world energy is susceptible to mana, and in turn mana is susceptible to willpower.
"Dominance is nothing more than the ability to force your will into someone else's spell." Faluel said.
"That's it? I can already do that." Lith was suddenly underwhelmed. All that speech had turned out to be a huge waste of time.
"Really? Then send this back at me." Faluel threw a tier one lightning at Lith, who only needed a wave of his hand to make it strike the Hydra instead, who remained unfazed as if it was a breeze rather than electricity.
Chapter 781 Loyalty or Wisdom Part 1
"Just as I thought. You know squat, that was simple mastery, something that even fake mages know how to do. Hit me." Faluel said. Lith flicked his finger, sending a small shard of ice against her.
Faluel's eyes turned blue and the shard went through her as if she was a ghost before turning around and hitting Lith's forehead with enough strength to make him bleed.
"What the fuck?" He blurted out.
"Dominance is the ability to not only take control of a spell, but also of its mana." Faluel explained.
"With Dominance, I can return the spells sent against me to their casters, killing them on the spot. Most mages are so used to be immune to their own mana that they don't even bother defending against it."
Lith then told her about the God's Will array he had faced in Kulah and how it had been even stronger than Arthan's Sword.
"That's exactly what Dominance is, but as you witnessed yourself such a perfect form requires too much energy to be of practical use." Faluel couldn't believe such an ancient and idiotic race could have stolen the Hydras' secret.
The idea of how many of her kind had to have suffered and fallen at the hand of the Odi, made her wish to be able to resurrect them just to kill them over and over again.
"Dominance is a great tool, but it's not all-powerful. As you have noticed, only spells without willpower can be easily highjacked, but that it's only the first step. The second step consists in injecting your mana along with your will into a spell.
"You must use enough to make it harmful for the opponent, but not so much to replace all of its mana with your own, like the Odi did. Otherwise it would be much easier to dodge and cast it yourself since the mana cost would be more than doubled.
"Another thing that you must consider, is that Dominance can rarely be used to affect spells imbued with willpower. That's because just like the Odi, you would need to inject it not only with mana, but also with enough will of your own to overwrite that imprinted in the spell.
"Since most tier five spells are as fast as they are lethal, standing still is not a wise move. Unless you're suicidal, of course."
Lith had experienced the fear of losing control of his own spells against Thrud and the Odi, so he immediately realized how powerful dominance was. Tier Five spells were uncommon and most of them could be used solely if certain prerequisites were met.
Most magical battles were based only on tier three and four spells, with tier five magic used mostly as finishers. Dominance could easily turn the tide of a battle.
"So, are you going to teach me Dominance?" Lith asked.
"Yes and no. I'm going to teach you how to activate it only because it's the only way you can learn how to avoid using it in the presence of witnesses. You must always kill those who see you use Dominance.
"Us Hydras are considered to be part of the lesser Dragons because we lack Origin Flames and flight, but no one knows about Dominance. I'd like for things to stay that way." Faluel said.
"You're not going to teach me even if I become your apprentice?" The words 'waste of time' were appearing in Lith's mind again.
"If I take you as my apprentice, I'll teach you Dominance as well as Spirit spells, but only once you're ready. First, you'd have to focus on our common specializations, Healing and Forgemastering." Faluel took a bite from one of the plates in front of her.
Such was her grace that even the simple act of eating was a pleasure to watch. Yet what all of her beauty managed to do was to make him miss Kamila more with each second. After the night at Protector's house, every positive emotion he felt reminded him of her.
"Our specializations?" Lith asked.
"Your memories had a great effect on Protector's mind. He sought my help because I'm a Master Healer and Forgemaster. There's a reason why legends say that Hydras can regenerate two heads if one gets cut off." She giggled.
"You offer is very alluring, but as long as I'm serving my time in the army, I can't spend much time here. Moreover, I doubt you would do it for free." Lith said, obtaining a nod in reply.
"One more thing before discussing my apprenticeship. Why do you say when I'm ready? Are Dominance and Spirit spells that hard?"
"Very hard." Faluel nodded. "They are both techniques that are mostly situational and require an outstanding amount of focus. More importantly, they both require you to do everything without the help of the world energy.
"So far, to cast your spells you only needed to mix you mana with elemental energy, whereas these two disciplines work each in a way of its own. Dominance requires you to identify and infiltrate with your mana and willpower the focus points of a spell.
"Too little and you will be struck down like a moron, too much and you'll spend more mana than if you cast the spell yourself. As for Spirit spells, they are entirely made of your own energy, so they are really mana expensive.
"Just like Dominance, Spirit spells have to be used only when necessary. Rookies tend to get excited and abuse them, ending up dead. That or exhausted first and dead later."
Lith pondered her words. It was true that without the aid of a medium like the Odi and Thrud did, a single mistake could lead to taking the full power of a potentially lethal spell.
The only thing he wanted to learn as soon as possible was how to make barriers out of spirit magic. He had seen plenty of mages, Awakened and not, creating them thanks to magical items, and even though that kind of protections was mana consuming, they were the ultimate shield.
Unlike earth magic they could be used in mid-air, they couldn't be pierced by heavy objects like happened to air barriers, and they blocked the entirety of the damage whereas darkness magic could only weaken incoming attacks.
"Let's start with Dominance." Faluel said. "I noticed that in your hybrid form your eyes are always burning with elemental energy, which is good if you have to use Dominance and terrible if you need to hide it. Try to shut them down."
Lith remained in his human form, making his eyes turn red, then black, and lastly blue, to remember the feeling of controlling the elemental energy. After Phloria had pointed out to him that his eyes sometimes remained lit, he had practiced controlling the phenomenon, at least for his human form.
It had been quite easy since when not in his hybrid body, he needed great focus to achieve such a state due to his lack of attunement with the elements. Then, he shapeshifted and tried to make his eyes go back to plain yellow.
Much to his surprise, he only managed to depower the blue eye, no matter how hard he tried. The moment the water element left it, the eye closed shut against Lith's will.
"What the heck? Why did it close and why can't I turn them back to yellow?" Lith asked.
"Extra limbs are hard to manage, especially when you're not born with them." Faluel explained.
Chapter 782 Loyalty or Wisdom Part 2
"Every time a Hydra gains a new head, we need time to learn how to see, think, and speak properly without it conflicting with our other heads.
"The same stands for your eyes. You're not used to see with three of them, so right now the blue eye only serves as a medium for the elemental energy. As for the other two, it just takes practice. I'll teach you a meditation technique that should help you with it."
The Hydra taught Lith how to feel the connection with the single elements rather than with the world energy as a whole. Once he grasped the basics, Faluel had him revert to his human form.
"Are you really not going to teach me how to dominate spells?" Lith asked.
"Don't you have enough on your plate already to venture into a new field of magic?" Faluel rebuked him. "We'll think about that later, now I'm more interested in listening to your answer."
"My answer to what?"
"To my predictable offer for an apprenticeship, of course." She said with a warm smile.
"It depends on many things. Like, do I have to take your tests like Protector did? How much do you know about runes and how long would my apprenticeship last?"
"Since I'm offering to take you under my care, there would be no admittance tests, but plenty of assignments to prove your mettle. As for the runes, I told you that I come from a long line of Forgemasters.
"My family doesn't trade its secrets with other Awakened, beasts or not, but we share our discoveries among ourselves. Our legacy is better than that of Royal Forgemaster, but unlike them, don't expect me to share it completely with you.
"You would be an apprentice, not a member of the family. I would teach you everything you need to be plenty capable of working on your own, but that's it."
Faluel's words were a punch in the stomach for Lith. He was basically at a crossroads where he had to pick whether to join the Hydra to obtain an incomplete knowledge or the Royal Forgemasters' ranks for a full education.
It wasn't an easy choice, especially since at least Faluel was sincere and she would teach him what she had promised with no strings attached, whereas the Royals might require from him demonstrations of loyalty before letting him learn the best techniques.
On top of that, becoming a Royal Forgemaster was a commitment for life, something that Lith couldn't take lightly.
"Don't worry about time." Faluel snapped him out of his reverie. "I'll keep you as an apprentice as long as it takes. It could take months as well as years, but beware. While humans demand loyalty, Awakened require wisdom.
"Fail even one of my tests and I'll kick you out."
"Seriously?" Lith was flabbergasted. The difference between the Hydra and the army was getting thinner by the second.
"Seriously." She nodded. "I didn't Awaken most of my children, nor did I teach them anything but the basics. Do you have any idea what kind of damage can one of us do with the wrong knowledge?
"I'm honestly amazed by how mature you are despite your young age."
Faluel had no idea Lith was currently in his third life and he was glad to keep things that way. He then activated Death Vision out of curiosity, to see if such a powerful creature had any weak point he could exploit.
Yet aside from a very slow aging process, Faluel appeared to be just fine.
"And that's why I brought you here." The Hydra said. "I can't let the humans get their hands on a valuable Awakened that might be one of us, plus they must never learn either about Dominance or your Origin Flames.
"If you manage to master them, to learn how to use them to purify instead of just destroy, I'm willing to trade with you according to the services you can provide me."
"My flames in exchange for what, exactly?"
"That's on you." She shrugged. "Knowledge, artifacts, gold, materials. Just state your price and we'll bargain from there."
"Wait. Didn't you just say that you wouldn't share your secrets with me as your apprentice? Why would you give them to me for just my flames?" It was all too good to be true, Lith was certain that there was a catch.
"Indeed. Yet do you expect that any of my suppliers don't ask for proper compensation? I'm well aware that any Awakened that buys an artifact from me can study its runes and pseudo core, but my Forgemastering techniques aren't so easily reproduced.
"My family had millennia to learn how to protect its secrets. Also, you're overestimating yourself. If you want gold, I'll give you mountains of it, but if you want knowledge, it takes more than a few breaths of fire to get some.
"Not to mention that you have no idea how to use your flames and that I can't help you with that. Nor I'm willing to, unless you become my faithful apprentice." Faluel was again sincere and her words made a lot of sense.
Just like Lith would give Orion a Skinwalker armor in exchange for a decent blade, trading goods and trading knowledge were worlds apart. Both of them would need a lot of work to hope and steal the other's secrets.
"I'll let you know once I'm done with the army, or at least as soon as I master Origin Flames." Lith replied. He had learned much more than he had hoped to, yet much less than he would have liked to.
"One last question. I'm practicing runes on my own and there's something I'm struggling with. How do I make them invisible?"
Faluel's eyes lighted with interest at those words. The Wyrmling was even more promising than she had thought. Just by his words, she was able to understand that Lith had gained access to both old and modern runes.
It was an amazing feat that put him in front of the greatest hurdle for a self-taught Runesmith.
'What an interesting fellow. I'm really curious to see how he will develop. There's no harm in giving him a hand on such a trivial…'
"What does a human do here, mother?" A deep voice derailed her train of thought. "I hope he's just your lunch because if he's your new plaything, I'll be truly disappointed. First a dog and now a vermin? Not even you should stoop this low."
"Lith, allow me to introduce you to one of the reasons why Emperor Beasts and humans are not so different. This is my one of my sons, Sedra. I never Awakened nor taught him any of the family secrets. Guess why." Faluel's serene face was suddenly twisted in annoyance and her voice oozed sarcasm.
"Sedra, this is Lith. He is a self-Awakened that I'm willing to take in as my apprentice, hence he has already bested you twice."
Sedra looked at Lith as if a steaming pile of shit had found its way on his favorite couch, whereas Lith looked at the young Hydra with Life and Death Vision before losing interest.
"The pleasure is all yours, Sedra. Can you answer my question, please?" Lith asked.
"You have no idea how to engrave runes, correct?" Faluel ignored her son as well, focusing on how deep Lith's ignorance was about the art of Runesmithing.
Chapter 783 Gifts and Knowledge Part 1
"I've received no training about Runesmithing, but I've found enough relics to use as learning tools. My only problem is that I've no access to modern runes so…"
Sedra couldn't understand how so many powerful creatures could favor weaklings rather than their own flesh and blood. He was young, but he had already witnessed several of his siblings and friends die.
All because their parents, the very same people who had given them life had refused to give them the knowledge that was rightfully theirs. In his eyes, the source of the Awakened's decline wasn't due to the progress made by fake mages.
He believed that the old fossils who had power clung to it and refused to share their knowledge with the young because they were afraid to lose their privileged position.
"I won't stand being ignored!" Sedra roared, stomping his foot toward his mother.
Faluel's eyes burned with power as she said:
"Be quiet." Her voice was calm and yet it carried so much power that Sedra found himself kneeling with his head on the floor. Lith was surprised noticing that she hadn't used magic but some kind of killing intent.
"I'm really sorry for my son's rudeness and I'm willing to explain to you the basics of the basics of Runesmithing as an apology. Do you know what's the main difference between Warden magic and Forgemastering?" She asked.
Lith could only shake his head and admit his ignorance. The question was apparently simple, yet its answer was bound to be far from obvious.
"Warden magic uses runes to create magical formations just as Forgemasters use them to bind a metal to their will, but that's as far as the analogy goes. A Warden uses runes to hold their energy and create extraordinary effects, whereas a Forgemaster uses them to alter the properties of a material.
"Ancient runes, the ones that are visible to the naked eye, were akin to Warden runes, placing the enchantment on the surface of the metal rather than inside of it, to not tamper with the mana pathways that the Bonding process creates.
"You can think of them as a permanent array, to complement the strength of the spells imbued within an artifact."
"Modern runes, instead, even though they are still carved on the surface of an item, they exert their energy inward rather than outward, and that's why they are invisible to normal means.
"Also, this way they are able to alter the properties of both the metal and its mana circulatory system so that once the enchantment is applied, the final result is given from the synergy between the runes and the pseudo core.
"Old runes can only add an effect, whereas modern runes are able to blend together with the pseudo core and the mana crystals, creating something that's greater than the sums of its single parts." Faluel said.
"Does this mean that old runes are useless?" Lith moaned at the thought that all of his findings inside Huryole were for naught.
"Gods, no." Faluel chuckled. "You can apply modern forgemastering methods with old runes. It will make them invisible and preserve their effect, but that will not change the fact that such runes are outdated.
"It would be like crafting a sword following an ancient blueprint. The sword will still cut but it can't match a modern masterpiece, no matter how good the smith is."
The fear that had kept Sedra at bay was washed away by the shock and then by his unbridled outrage.
It wasn't just the fact that his mother was explaining to a stranger things that she had always refused to teach him that was driving him insane, so much as the realization that the human was able to understand her words while he could not.
In his human form, Sedra was an overly handsome man in his mid-twenties 1.9 meters (6'3") tall, with golden hair and a well-trimmed beard. Despite his young age, he had already achieved a cyan core and a second head.
His hair had streaks of both red and orange, making him appear as if a sun god descended among the mortals. His body twisted as it increased in size, reverting to his real form.
The two heads stared at the human in hatred, standing over 5 meters (17') tall. Sedra's stumpy lower body was all muscles and his claws were piercing the stone such was the strength that he was exerting to overpower his mother's command.
Faluel sighed while Lith made the young Hydra's fury turn into bloodlust.
"Wow, he's really small compared to you. Is it because he's young or is he a hybrid?" The question was incredibly rude, implying that no pure-blooded Hydra could be that puny and that Sedra had to be born from a lesser race.
"It's normal for someone who has yet to live a quarter of century." Faluel said. "He's not bad, just stupid and conceited."
The two heads plunged down with their mouths open, revealing a maw of poisoned fangs. Hydras bore more than just their appearance in common with snakes. Faluel struck her son's body with her opened palm, paralyzing him on the spot.
"Before you go, we should exchange our communication runes." Faluel took her Council amulet out of her dimensional item and so did Lith.
"If anything related to Awakened happens, feel free to give me a call. I'm officially your contact with the Emperor Beasts' Council, after all. Don't forget what we have discussed today." Her choice of words told Lith that she didn't trust Sedra with his secret.
"I've got tons of metals that need smelting and I could really use a hand."
"What if he bothers me once I get out of here?" Lith asked.
"Then beat him an inch from death and call me. The last inch is my burden for failing as both a parent and a teacher." The coldness in her voice sent shivers down Sedra's spine.
Lith had no idea what was going on, but he could feel that Faluel was deeply embarrassed. Her pearly pink cheeks had now a tinge of red that made her look less ethereal and much more charming.
'The idiot already earned me a free lesson. It's better to strike the iron while it's still hot.' Lith thought.
"One last thing. I know that you can't bestow knowledge upon me for free, but I could really use a magic dictionary book for this." He took one of the pages from Huryole's booklet out of his pocket dimension and showed it to Faluel.
"This is just the old language." The Hydra couldn't understand the reason for such a request. "You can find plenty of tomes about it in any decent library."
"Been there, done that." Lith replied. "You can find tomes about it, yes, but it's still a dead language. Dictionaries are not common, even less those who contain words related to magic. If I ask for them, I'm bound to be exposed."
"Humans." Faluel muttered in disgust while a pair of thick books flew from an adjacent cave into her hands. "I'm fluent in the old language, so I don't really need them. You can keep the dictionaries as long as you need."
Lith put them straight inside Soluspedia, discovering that one was a book about common words and the second was solely about the magical jargon.
"Thank you very much." He gave Faluel a deep bow before leaving the cave. Old runes were outdated, but beggars couldn't be choosers.
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Chapter 784 Gifts and Knowledge Part 2
'I was almost certain that she would have refused to help, keeping me on a short leash and yet… I need to ask Protector about the beasts' customs because something strange just happened here.'
The moment Lith left, Faluel released her son from the spell that had been restraining Sedra until that moment. She couldn't bear the thought to raise her hand against her own child, but discipline had to be enforced.
"How dare you insulting me in front of an esteemed guest? Even attacking them while they are under my protection in my own home!" The seven-headed Hydra was back to her full size, so big that even in his Emperor Beast form, Sedra looked like a snotty brat in front of an adult.
"You say that you despise humans for their arrogance, yet you behave just like one of them. How could you breach the sacred host-guest relationship that our race holds sacred?
"Did you take the human treachery along with that ridiculous eye-candy form?" The seven heads spoke in unison, their voices roaring like a choir of angered gods.
"But mother…" Sedra had never seen his parent enraged before. His earlier arrogance had disappeared like snow under a scorching sun.
"No buts!" She roared, cutting him short. "Because of your foolishness, I had to give more than I could take to not taint my honor. What kind of master can I possibly be if I can't keep order in my own house?
"What lessons am I supposed to impart if I'm incapable of teaching how to behave to my own children? You embarrassed me for the last time. Get out of this house and don't return until you've found a master willing to Awaken you.
"Only then will I know that there is at least one person on Mogar who thinks you've proven yourself worthy of becoming an Awakened." Both mother and son knew that the assigned task was arduous.
The older an Emperor beast got, the more powerful the master needed to be to allow them to survive their Awakening. Moreover, powerful beings were usually very picky, just like Faluel.
"For someone who thinks himself of a Wyrm, you're nothing more than a worm. Prove me wrong if you can." Faluel's words struck a nerve, hurting Sedra more than any spell could.
All the lesser Dragons suffered from an inferiority complex towards their forefathers and dreamed of claiming for themselves the ancient title describing them, Wyrm. At the same time, being wingless creatures, often resembling more a snake rather than a dragon, worm was the worst slur that could be inflicted upon them.
A squishy, helpless creature forced to hide and eat dirt to not be eaten by predators.
***
Ernas Manor, Later that day.
After saying goodbye to Ryman, Selia, and their kids, Lith could finally relax after days and days of careful preparation against the human Council. He hated to admit it, but he was going to miss Phloria's house big time.
It had a huge library, all the training facilities he could dream of, and was full of people that would take care of him, unlike it happened when he was in Lutia. There someone would always get hurt, need his help, or his attention.
The only exceptions were the Verhen kids, that despite the protection their enchanted clothes offered they often managed to do all three things at once. Moreover, at the manor he would get to share with Kamila every moment of respite she had.
After their talk at Protector's house, she had become even more loving and affectionate, to the point of being almost clingy. Yet it didn't bother Lith since he had expected Kamila to treat him differently, at least at first, but never that she would become kinder.
Solus was working on the translation of the booklet from Huryole while Lith was practicing spirit spells. This time they were splitting their focus for a good reason. The booklet was only about practical lessons and explained only the bare minimum of theory behind the experiments that the students needed to understand how the spell worked.
Expanding a few lines into a proper explanation of an unknown discipline required a tremendous amount of focus and brainpower. Solus could do it only by constantly switching the books from Soluspedia in the Ernas library and vice versa.
She was giving her all to understand the foundations of Runesmithing, going over and over the first chapter to make sure she hadn't missed anything. If Lith were to work on the following chapters, it would be a mechanical work that could make important details be lost in translation, forcing Solus to do them over.
After reviewing his memories about Spirit Spells, Lith preferred to work on replicating those he had seen in action and then share his discoveries with Solus, just like she would do about Runesmithing.
'No wonder Faluel wasn't willing to teach me, this stuff is damn hard.' Lith thought during a common break. 'Without the world energy, every part of the spell must be imbued with will and shaped with precision.
'Elemental magic is akin to using a mold to give shape to clay, whereas spirit magic requires to start from scratch every time. Without elemental energy as a guideline missing a single focus point of the spell, it's enough to turn it into a waste of mana.
'To add insult to injury, each failure consumes roughly the same energy of five tier-three spells, and every time I'm forced to stop to understand what went wrong.'
'Same here.' Solus sighed. 'Whoever wrote this book assumed that the student had a knowledge that we currently lack, even after our conversation with Faluel. Still, I'm positive that once I understand the foundations of Runesmithing and with a bit of practice, things should go smoothly.'
Lith nodded. Their bigger obstacle wasn't engraving the runes so much as identifying their different patterns and their properties. Once they managed to do that, every time they met an opponent with a runed weapon, Solus's mana sense would allow them to learn its secrets.
Unfortunately, as long as they failed to understand the runes' meaning, how they worked both separately and as a whole, the words of power would be nothing but gibberish.
Lith took a deep breath with Invigoration before resuming his practice of spirit magic. He had only seen Gaaron use two spirit spells: a barrier and a mind link. Solus had studied their matrix with mana sense and Lith had more or less understood how the mana had to be manipulated.
Yet a mind link required to link two mana cores, making it too dangerous. Since Gaaron hadn't used it as a means of attack, there wasn't the risk of damaging Lith's subject but the concrete chance of sharing more than he liked to.
So his only remaining option was the barrier. In theory, it was a simple matter, but putting it into practice proved to be far from easy. Barrier spells were all similar in their matrix, requiring to give to a specific elemental energy shape, size, and thickness.
Yet Lith's problem was that now he needed to give substance to something that was ethereal by nature and to give it form away from his body. So far, all of his attempts that didn't use tendrils of mana to shape his creations had failed.
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Chapter 785 Grudge Part 1
'Baby steps.' Lith thought, using his own fingers as a scaffolding for the spirit magic barrier. Soon his left hand was covered by a thin and eerie green glow.
'This stuff wouldn't block a pen stroke and is thinner than a hair, but it's still a barrier.' He thought. 'Now let's try to move it away from my fingers.'
A sudden knocking on his door made him yelp and shattered the infant spirit spell.
'Nice job.' Solus laughed. 'If we ever have to use it in battle, we must hope that our enemy is as silent as a mouse.'
"Lith? Do you mind if I come in? Phloria asked.
"Not at all." Lith tried to open the door with a spirit spell and failed miserably. Even from barely a few meters of distance, the green glow was so faint that Solus's mana sense could barely perceive it.
"Do you want to come down for dinner? You've been locked in here all day and I was beginning to worry. Besides, Mom and Kamila will be here in a while." Phloria said.
Only then did Lith look out of the window above his desk and notice that it was way past sunset. The realization drained his energy and made his stomach grumble. He had been so absorbed in his work that he had failed to notice the passing of time.
"Thank you, Phloria. If it wasn't for you, I'd starve. I'll join you in a minute." Lith put away all the papers Solus had worked on, leaving Phloria amazed by the amount of research he had done and by the amount of mana still lingering in the room.
It was enough to make the hair on her neck stand up.
'How the heck can Lith write and weave spells at the same time?' She thought. 'Either each one of his eyes has a mind of its own or being a hybrid is just one of his secrets.'
She couldn't even consider the idea that Lith had lied to her. After all, she knew that there were still many oddities about him that even having two life forces couldn't explain.
"One more thing. Tomorrow is Yondra's funeral and you told me that she had entrusted you her last message. I've been tasked to return her body to her family, do you want to come along?" Phloria asked.
Lith nodded and followed her downstairs. He hadn't known Yondra Mefaal for long plus they had started off the wrong foot. Yet she had been the first to recognize his talent and offer him to inherit her legacy.
Even though death had prevented her from keeping her part of the bargain, Lith was willing to fulfill her dying wish.
***
Mogar didn't have a specific set of clothes for funerals nor specific rituals to pay a final farewell to the departed among its customs. Some would mourn them and cry while others would throw a party to celebrate the life of their beloved ones rather than focus on the way they had died.
Much to everyone's surprise, Yondra's funerals took place at the Black Griffon academy instead that at her home. Lith and Phloria wore their uniforms, while Quylla wore her White Griffon Assistant Professor clothes.
Phloria had to answer the Mefaal family and the Black Griffon for having failed to protect Yondra, while Lith was there only to impart them her last words and check how Rainer was doing.
Quylla had no reason to be there, but she had insisted to come because it was a rare occasion to speak with both Lith and Phloria without arousing Friya's suspicions.
She was itching to learn the latest news about Lith's relationship with Kamila, but between their respective work plus Kamila's and Friya's meddling, she had never gotten the opportunity to question him. Until now.
The Black Griffon Auditorium was as big as a football field now that Headmaster Onia had removed all the furniture to make space for her guests and the banquet.
She had even replaced the Black Griffon's banners from the walls, replacing them with magical tapestries recounting Yondra's numerous achievements since the day she had enrolled. The enchanted fibers rearranged themselves cyclically, each forming a slideshow about a specific event.
The room was full of high officials from the army and the Association who had come to pay their respects. Due to the several Professors who had met their fate during the expedition, only the faculty of the academy was truly grieving.
Attending a funeral was a sad event, whereas attending six of them in as many days was mostly annoying. Phloria had a stern look as she apologized and bowed to all of Yondra's friends.
She didn't share her colleagues' attitude and had taken part in each memorial service as if it was the first one. Even though she was aware that predicting the survival of a mad civilization was impossible, it didn't make her feel any less guilty.
"So, how did Kamila take the news?" Quylla empathized with her sister's situation, but she had never been close to Yondra and she had waited too long for her answers. Lith had never been fond of public displays of affection, so even if they lived under the same roof, Quylla had no idea how his relationship fared.
"Better and worse than I thought." Lith replied while Phloria almost chocked on her drink in surprise. She was curious as much as Quylla was, but she was too tactful to resort to such straightforward questions.
"Better because she has decided to accept me. She never considered breaking up or taking a break. Worse because she was royally pissed when she discovered that three more people knew about me and you were one of them." Lith watched Quylla in the eyes, managing to keep a straight face.
"What? She worried about me and not Phloria? Why?" Quylla was the one among the Ernas sisters who had the best relationship with Kamila, so she couldn't understand such a reaction.
"Exactly because of Phloria. She assumed that you and I, you know, bow chicka wow wow."
"We what?" Quylla had no idea what Lith's tune meant.
"That the two of us at some time had shared a similar degree of affection." Lith tried to be as delicate as he could since the three of them were surrounded by a bunch of bored strangers.
"Gods, no." Quylla couldn't stop herself from laughing at the idea. "Phloria and I might not share the same blood, but that would be too messed up."
Phloria started chuckling as well, allowing herself to forget for a moment about her sad duty.
'Kamila really is a strong and wise woman.' She thought. 'I guess that she has learned from her harsh past rather than just be scarred from it. A certain Verhen guy should follow her lead and stop being so afraid of…'
A loud tongue clicking made her blush in embarrassment. Headmaster Onia was staring at her in spite.
"Laughing at the memorial service of someone who died because of your incompetence is beyond tasteless, Captain Ernas. I guess that your household truly deserves the nickname of the Royal branch family if not even six dead Professors from the great academies can put a dent into your brilliant career.
"Headmaster Marth told me many great things about you. Yet it turns out that the only thing you are good at is running away, even at the cost of paving your way out with dead bodies."
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Chapter 786 Grudge Part 2
"You have my word that we'll learn together how far your household's power goes because I'll be damned before letting this matter slide."
Headmaster Onia turned her back to Phloria without giving her the opportunity to reply to the Headmaster's allegations, but even if she didn't, Phloria lacked the will to do so.
Even though Constable Griffon had reassured Phloria that her service record would not be affected by Kulah's failure, most Headmasters didn't agree with Tyris's decision.
After their return, the assistants had told everything about their imprisonment. The part about how both Professors and the members of the army hadn't hesitated one second to leave them behind during their escape attempts had caused quite a stir.
Not only was Phloria the officer in charge of the mission, but she was also alive and well. People were trying to pin all the blame on her since the Professors were already dead and no one wanted to taint their memory.
"I'm sorry, sis. This is all my fault." Quylla said, inwardly cursing her own stupid mouth.
"Don't worry, Quylla. She was just waiting for an excuse to spit her venom. This has nothing to do with you. At this point, I'm used to such treatment." Phloria said with a sad smile.
Lith saw past her stoic expression and noticed all the pain she was hiding. The thought that he had left her alone to face such an unfair treatment stung at him hard. While Lith had spent his days since his return only obsessing with how to deal with Kamila and Quylla, Phloria had always been there for him.
She had listened to all of his rants and worries, even making sure that he would eat properly. He had forgotten that unlike him, Phloria treasured her career. A lot of people resented Lith for the most disparate reasons, but he didn't care for it one bit since his job as a Ranger was temporary.
Phloria, instead, had worked her whole life toward that goal, making countless sacrifices to prove herself to be more than just a spoiled girl who used her family name to rise the army ranks.
"Don't worry about Onia, Captain Ernas. She's always been an uptight prick." Lord Mefaal said, taking everyone by surprise. Not only because they expected the widower to be angry, but also because he looked more bored than most people in the room.
Yondra's husband was a man in his late sixties of average height, with grizzled hair and a well-trimmed beard. There was no trace of pain or rage in his chestnut eyes, only bitterness.
"You are not at fault. It's just that to cover the shame of losing their cream of the crop staff, the academies need a scapegoat. As for my wife, don't feel guilty about her fate. She died as she lived, working." His words were cold enough that they sounded cruel.
"Thank you, Lord Mefaal." Phloria said, pondering carefully her words.
"I want to assure you that Professor Yondra's contribution was…"
"Save it for the memorial speech. Rainer told me about her final days and that was more than enough for me." He replied before turning to Lith. "Ranger Verhen, I presume? You were her last pet project. I hope she treated you well."
At those words, a small group of people joined the conversation. They were all dressed with the colors of the Mefaal household and were looking at the three Kulah veterans with an odd mix of envy and annoyance.
Yondra's children were old enough to have children of their own and along with the resemblance with their late mother they all bore a stern expression.
"She did." Lith nodded. "I'm here to pay my respects to Yondra and to pass onto you her final words."
"Nice. Less than a month and you were already on a first-name basis." Said a man in his late forties while wrinkling his nose so much that Lith almost expected him to spit at any moment.
Lord Mefaal squeezed his eldest son's shoulder and forced him to shut up before asking Lith to proceed.
"Here? Wouldn���t it be better somewhere a little more private?" Lith asked.
"Here is perfect." Lord Mefaal said.
Lith performed a series of hand gestures and gibberish before materializing in the middle of the circle of people a hologram of Yondra's final moments, doing his best to imitate her voice.
"Please, tell my children that I didn't abandon them and that my last thoughts, even this last caress was for them." The hologram said, her voice kind and caring despite the pain from her deep wounds.
"Tell them that I'm sorry I could never be the mother they deserved. I wasted my life, always giving priority to the wrong things. In the end, I let everyone down. My family, Rainer, even you. If only I could have one more…" Lith did his best to express all of her honesty and regret, yet his audience seemed underwhelmed.
"Thank you, Ranger Verhen." Lord Mefaal gave both Lith and Phloria a small bow, quickly followed by the rest of the family. "I can assure you that neither of you will have problems from us.
"Between our support and Rainer's testimony, you can rest assured that Onia will not be a problem."
"How can you all be so cold?" Quylla was the only one moved to tears. "You have literally seen her die and yet you don't care about how she got wounded or if she was avenged?"
"We know about you, Mage Ernas." Said a woman in her late thirties while wiping Quylla's tears with a handkerchief. She was wearing a gentle smile and a motherly expression on her face.
Even Lith was shocked seeing that Yondra's daughter was more touched by Quylla's words rather than those of her own mother.
"You're an orphan, so you probably assume that family is something sacred, but it's not. My mother died to me a long time ago, after I understood that she loved her students and long lost civilizations more than me.
"She spent time with me only to force me to learn magic, losing interest as soon as she realized that I wasn't gifted. The opposite of love isn't hate, but indifference and I've long since grown indifferent to my mother as much as she was to me.
"I'm not cold, child. It's just that I stopped grieving her years ago."
"Why do you think we're holding the funeral here?" Lord Mefaal asked. "She spent more time at the Black Griffon than at our home, making these people her real family.
"I don't know if her regret was sincere and honestly, I don't care. It's too little and too late for it to matter."
Once Phloria, Quylla, and Lith were alone again, they remained silent for a long time, each one of them lost in their thoughts.
"When I was little, I hated how Mom always tried to mess with my life, ordering me around and trying to force me to do what she considered to be the best thing for me." Phloria said after a while.
"Now that I'm old enough, however, I finally understand why she always worked her ass off to dine with us and spent every moment of her free time badgering me. It was her twisted, manipulative, relentless way to be an important part of my life."
"Can we leave?" Quylla asked. "Suddenly I feel like hugging Mom and telling her I love her."
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Chapter 787 Javvok Part 1
Lith had conflicting feelings since he had walked more than one mile in Yondra's shoes. Ever since he was a small child, he had always chased his ambitions, spending with his loved ones less time the more he grew in power.
He was worried about making Yondra's same mistakes and waking up one day to realize how much he had lost only when it was too late. Raagu's words about how short-lived humans were compared to Awakened echoed in his mind, making Lith second guess his path in life for the first time in years.
After they returned home, Lith decided to take a bit of time off from his research and spend it with his family. His leave was about to end and with all that had happened, he had put Kamila's first for too long.
He wanted to make sure that his family knew how much they meant to him, even though it meant falling behind on his schedule.
***
A few days later, while they were having their afternoon tea in Quylla's quarters, Friya waltzed triumphantly in while holding a scroll in her right hand.
"It wasn't easy, but I finally did it. I found a place that satisfies everyone's requirements for our leisure trip. Due to spring, Rothar caves have become a dungeon infested by a still unidentified race of monsters."
"And how is that relevant?" Lith asked.
"Rothar caves are near the trade city of Javvok, which means we can sleep in a good hotel and that Kamila can come to us anytime she wants thanks to the city Gate, smartass." Friya replied.
"I get that part." Lith rebuked her. "I mean why monsters and more importantly, why us? Can't they deal with it on their own?"
"Of course they can, but that's not the point. Quylla wants to practice offensive magic under supervision. It's not like she can skulk on city roofs and hope for crimes to happen, nor she can wait for the next nutjob to take a swing at her.
"Monsters are the perfect practice target. They are strong, ugly, and you don't feel guilty when you kill them because they treat every living creature like we treat our dinner."
"I'm okay with it." Phloria sighed. "I need to vent quite a bit of frustration and simply training won't do. I just got suspended from duty until further notice."
"You what?" The others blurted out in unison.
"Headmaster Onia has been true to her word." Phloria said. "A special committee has been formed to evaluate the events in Kulah and assess if there was something that could have been done differently.
"Until their investigation is over, I'm back being a civilian."
"I call bullshit!" Lith said. "A bunch of paper pushers can't judge a life or death situation by reading reports while drinking tea in the safety of their office."
"Yet that's exactly what is going to happen."
"Don't worry, sis." Quylla said while hugging her. "I'm sure that Mom and Dad would rather kill them than let something bad happen to you. Plus, there's Constable Griffon on your side."
Phloria didn't reply. She was well aware of how influential the Ernas household was, but hoping that, despite the fact that so many important assets of the Kingdom had been slaughtered like fish in a barrel, no one would be held accountable for it was just naïve thinking.
Someone had to take responsibility for what had happened. Berion was too high in the chain of command while her soldiers were just grunts. Hence Phloria was the only living member of the expedition who could be reasonably pinned with the blame.
"Out of curiosity, what were the other requirements you had to fulfill?" Lith asked Friya, to lighten the mood and not let Phloria dwell too much on the bad news.
"Phloria wanted a place rich of natural treasures for her Forgemastering experiments and I wanted something that would look on the resume of my Crystal Shield guild." Friya said while handing each one of them a mana stone shaped like a round shield.
"You're all recruited, by the way."
"When do we leave?" Phloria asked.
"Whenever we want. All in favor of moving out at dawn?" Friya said.
Her proposal was accepted unanimously and then they resumed their business as usual. Lith went back to his research, Phloria secluded herself inside Orion's Forge to keep her mind busy, Quylla continued with her tier five spells training schedule, and Friya started to make arrangements for their trip.
Later, that night Lith discussed the last details of his plans with Kamila. They had just returned from Lutia, where they dined every other day with both their families, making everyone incredibly happy but Lith.
He felt like the misunderstanding was getting worse just like his mother's expectations were growing by the day, but there wasn't much he could do. He wanted to spend some time with his relatives and since Zinya was their neighbor, it would have been incredibly rude to keep the two sisters apart.
"Do you think you can make it to Javvok without stressing yourself too much?" Lith asked. "You're already working a lot and I don't want to burden you with another chore."
"You're not a chore, silly." She said while putting her arms around his neck and kissing him. "Besides, as long as you're waiting for me on the other side, stepping out of the Ernas's Gate or Javvok's is the same."
"Damn, I have yet to leave and I miss you already." Lith said while running his hands on her back and then lower.
"Since when squeezing my butt is a form of goodbye?" She giggled.
"I miss it already as well." He replied, happy of how easily a Skinwalker armor could be taken off.
***
The following morning the group reached Javvok and went to check-in at their luxurious hotel.
"It's a waste of money." Lith grumbled, cursing for not having thought about it beforehand. "Why don't we just commute from here and the Ernas household instead of staying in a hotel?"
"It's not a waste of money!" Friya rebuked him. "If we go back and forth, it would be as if we never left, plus everyone here needs to unwind big time. Maybe you live our home as a free resort, but for us is a constant reminder of our duty. Plus parents!"
"Agreed." Said the other two women in unison. They loved Jirni and Orion, but after spending so much time together they were starting to feel like little girls again and itched for being treated as adults.
"Gods, it has been years since my last vacation. What about you guys?" Phloria said.
"I think it's my first." Quylla replied. Back when she was an orphan, survival was her priority and once she had enrolled in the White Griffon academy, she had never stopped practicing magic for more than a day.
She had never traveled anywhere if not for work-related issues.
"Same." Lith said. Whenever he wasn't working for the army or his family, he had spent all of his free time inside his tower.
"All the more reason to not commute. You need to stay away from books and labs for a while. Just have fun." Friya said, leaving Lith flabbergasted. He had no idea how to have fun without a computer and some video games.
Mogar offered little entertainment for someone like him who had no interest in arts.
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Chapter 788 Javvok Part 2
Javvok was an important city located in the southwest part of the Griffon Kingdom, only a few hundreds of kilometers from its borders with the Blood desert. Friya had picked it because of its warm climate and abundance of natural resources.
Also, it was far enough away from the borders to not have through customs inspections every time they needed a gate and dimensional magic could be employed within the city borders. The lack of strict safety measures had allowed the city to grow over time, making it a blend of old and new architectures.
Unlike most cities of the Kingdom, Javvok wasn't divided into rims, but into districts. The trading district occupied the center of the city and extended all the way to the four city gates.
Shops and their warehouses were usually adjacent, to allow the merchants to keep an eye on their supplies since dimensional items were a two-edged blade. Contrary to what one could expect, the slum district was right next to the market.
The bustling activity and the constant noise made it a horrible place to live. Yet it also made the housings so cheap that daily workers would manage to easily pay the rent and need only a few steps to reach their workplace, killing two birds with one stone.
The residential area was right past the slums, using parks as a buffer and to further reduce the interaction between social classes. Farmers lived outside the city, near the fields they worked on, and too far away for the stench their cattle made to affect the citizens.
The numerous guards patrolling the walls and the beautiful sight offered by the luscious forest that surrounded Javvok made the outer district the most expensive place to live.
Lith's hotel, the Golden Dragon, was located in the outer district and occupied an entire twelve floors building. Friya had reserved the last floor of the hotel to enjoy the scenery and have an easier time moving by flight thanks to the rooftop doorway.
"What the fuck does this mean?" Lith said when he noticed that there were only four rooms on the twelfth floor.
"A woman needs some space. You'll thank me once Kamila arrives. Poor girl, I bet you never brought her to a place this nice." Friya scoffed at Lith's cheapskate attitude.
"I work, she works, and whenever I get a leave, I've so much catch up to do that I don't have time for this kind of shenanigans. I told you that I don't go on vacation."
"Good for you. It means you should have plenty of money since you never got the opportunity to spend it. Now stop whining and pick a room." She said, offering the four numbered keys to him.
Lith actually picked three, giving the other two to Phloria and Quylla, to make sure that Friya would be the further away as possible from him.
"Very mature of you, Lith." Friya said.
'I've good news and bad news.' Solus said while laughing her ass off at Lith's expense.
'Give me the bad news first.' Lith inwardly moaned.
An image of the hotel's brochure and its prices appeared in Lith's mind. The sheer amount of zeroes almost burned through his wallet.
'What about the good news?' Lith was glad to have managed to sell several of his lesser creations lately. Even though they weren't made out of Orichalcum, his custom made Skinwalker armor was highly sought after.
'Meals are included and the whole hotel is covered by an air blocking array. Your key makes so that you're the only one who can use dimensional magic or flight spells while in your room. It's enough to satisfy even your levels of paranoia. Also, the walls are soundproof.'
'Meaning?'
'That once you engage Kamila in battle, you don't have to worry about collateral damage.' Solus thought.
Lith blushed at the remark. He already found awkward when Solus played third wheel, but the idea that Quylla, whose room was adjacent to his, could hear something had completely escaped his mind.
Not knowing how to reply, he glossed over the matter and entered his room. It looked like a five-room apartment with a hallway, a living room big enough to host a small party, a dining room, a sauna, a king-sized bedroom, and a bathroom.
The walls were painted sunny yellow and the glass wall provided lots of natural light. The furniture was of simple design but it was elegant and its quality wouldn't make them look bad even in the Ernas house.
Every room was large, airy, and well-light. It was the first time Lith was in a classy hotel, so he remained quite surprised noticing that there were small cabinets for toiletries and all the common items provided by the hotel but no wardrobes.
Rich people had no need for them since they would store everything inside their own dimensional amulets. It left plenty of space to decorate the room and made them appear even larger than they were.
'Too bad there's no kitchen. I bet they aim to milk the customers with the room service.�� Lith thought after touring his room.
He went back to the lobby, finding Quylla waiting alone in front of the floor's Gate. The hotel had no elevator, it used a short-ranged dimensional device to allow people to move from a floor to another.
"Hey, Lith. How hard is clearing a dungeon?" Quylla asked.
"For me, it's mostly boring. You must forget all the crap about mystical rooms and treasures. It's just a place infested with monsters. The only traps you'll find are those the monsters laid, and the only loot you can earn belonged to those who failed to clear the dungeon."
"That's not what I asked you. I'm not looking for profits or excitement, only for the experience."
"For you, the hardest part will be just not falling for traps, ambushes, and avoiding that your spells hit us as well as the monsters. The good thing of going solo is that you don't have to worry about anyone but yourself." Lith said.
"Yeah, too bad that one mistake and you're dead. No companions also mean that no one is looking out for you." Quylla replied.
Lith shrugged while instinctively caressing Solus's ring. He was never really alone.
After the others returned, they went to the roof and took flight, following Friya.
"Rothar caves are a bit far from the city, they are deep inside the Gelugan forest." Friya said in her communication amulet. While flying at high speed it was the only way to keep in touch with others.
"We'll have time to enjoy the scenery when we get back, now focus solely on following me and memorizing the course." She sped up, moving south while avoiding flock of birds and the magical beasts soaring the sky in search for their lunch.
Normally the even green ceiling of the forest would have made it impossible for her to find the caves without a guide, but since there were monsters involved, Friya knew she could count on their help.
It took them just a couple of minutes of high-speed flight to notice a huge bald spot in the middle of the forest. It was exactly what Friya was looking for. Unlike what happened in fairy tales, monsters didn't draw sustenance from thin air, allowing them to remain holed up in their dungeon 24/7.
They needed to eat, drink, and crap like anyone else which usually meant bad news for the local fauna.
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Chapter 789 Weeds Part 1
The members of the Fallen Races had an astounding spawn rate. It gave them an appetite for food matched only by their thirst for battle.
Yet Friya didn't expect to find a bald area of that size. It surrounded the caves for a space of over 100 meters (328 feet) and to make things even more unsettling, it wasn't just trees that had been cut down.
Even the grass was missing, along with any trace of wildlife. Friya's hand emitted two consecutive short pulses of light, signaling everyone to stop.
"Doesn't this remind you of something?" She pointed at the familiar scenery.
"It looks like the place where I killed the Abomination in the White Griffon forest." Lith replied. "Yet too many things don't add up, I doubt this is the work of an Abomination."
"What do you mean?" Phloria asked. Abominations were rare creatures, even rarer than Awakened. If not for Balkor using them for his revenge, they would have still been considered just a myth.
"A newborn Abomination would have eaten much more than that, whereas an adult Abomination would have never been so obvious. They are apex predators, not morons."
They all had seen what had happened to the academy's forest and the Trawn woods. Years had passed and they both had yet to completely recover.
"Could this be one of those hybrids you told us about? Like that thing you've fought in the mines? After all, the report mentions the presence of an unknown race of monsters. What if they are just a known race mutated by an Abomination?" Friya said.
"Unlikely." Quylla had just finished casting a Life Sensing array.
"I've studied lots of samples from both Balkor's minions and captured hybrids. They all have one thing in common. While undead are not detected by Life Sensing arrays, all creatures who have Abomination blood gets detected as a negative life force.
"It's something that doesn't make sense but at the same time makes them incredibly easy to find. I can clearly sense a lot of life forces below us. They are unusual, but that's to be expected. Each race has its own life force and that of monsters is usually twisted beyond recognition."
The group landed gracefully, without making a sound. Lith activated Life Vision and Solus started to scan their surroundings. They both agreed with Quylla's evaluation. There was no trace of black cores or Chaos magic in the air.
Also, if it really was the work of a hybrid Abomination, Lith knew that it would have attempted to train its thralls to hasten its development whereas the creatures he could spot through the ground had weak cores.
Too weak for Awakened creatures that had already had enough time to practice Accumulation.
Everyone prepared their spells before discussing what to do. The caves had more than one access, making it easy to fall victim to an attack from behind. Three small stone arches lead into the ground and were covered in footprints.
The lack of grass coupled with the soft soil gave them plenty of clues about the nature of the threat at hand. Whatever it was, they were heavy, with claws on their feet and each individual weighted at least 100 kilograms (221 pounds).
"What's the plan?" Lith asked.
"Usually, I'll have you guys go down while I searched the forest for ingredients." Phloria said while digging from the ground the remains of what once was a precious Stoneflower.
"Yet since the nature of our enemy is unknown, it's too dangerous to split up. Lith and I will cover your back, you focus only on defending yourself, Quylla." She was aware of Lith's Life Vision, so by teaming up with him it was impossible to take them by surprise.
They had just nodded when Quylla fell on her knees, panting.
"Gods, how do you guys manage to keep tier five spells at the ready with such ease?" Keeping the Life Sensing array plus several powerful spells had drained her until she had lost her focus.
"We don't." Friya replied. "I've prepared just a few tier three and a dimensional spell in case things go bad."
"Couldn't you tell me earlier? We have yet to start and I've already wasted a lot of mana." Quylla was so pissed off while drinking a tonic that even the gulping sounds she emitted sounded grumpy.
"The burned hand teaches best." Lith said. He had only prepared a Blink, to keep his mind clear and focused. With Ruin at his side and Solus telling him that there was no one in a hundred meters radius, he had no reason to worry.
Quylla replied in a very creative and impolite way that would have made a sailor blush. Then, she prepared a few spells and took the stone arch on the right, where her array had spotted the biggest number of creatures.
She preferred to take them on while she had still plenty of stamina. Also, that way she would be able to kill many monsters with a single spell.
"Have you noticed that there's no smell in here?" Phloria asked.
"Yep, the air is too clean, both inside and outside the caves. Either this is the first race of monsters to care for personal hygiene or things are going to get weird."
Lith had cleared dozens of dungeons in the Kellar region and the Rothar caves barely qualified as one. If not for the footprints outside and the havoc the creatures had caused, the area was too clean.
There were no bones laying around, no blood spats, nor the marks that the constant quarreling between monsters usually left everywhere. There was too much order under the thin layer of chaos of the caves to not stir Lith's paranoia.
Yet the deeper they went, the less he felt threatened. According to Solus, their mana cores were weak and their life forces unremarkable.
'It's not any race of monsters we have ever met.' She thought. 'Their energy signature is too weird.'
Quylla had no way to know that, and even though Friya was just a couple of steps behind her, she was as tense as a bowstring. She was wearing Orion's night vision goggles to avoid the need of light, plus she had cast spells that canceled her smell and the noise of her steps, yet she still felt insecure.
She had seen too many horrors to be scared by monsters, yet there was something in the reading she had gotten from her earlier array that kept bugging her. She was trying to sort out her thoughts without losing her focus when two creatures stepped from around the corner, yelping at the sight of intruders.
They were yellow-skinned humanoids, standing 1.9 meters (6'3") tall with long pointed ears and nose. They had long dirty brown hair all around their head, making it look like a mane, white eyes, and teeth so big that they were visible even when their mouth was closed since their lips barely covered their gums.
They were holding thick three branches that could barely pass for clubs.
Quylla immediately recognized them from the bestiary she had read at the academy. They were bugbears, another failed mutation in the goblin race in the attempt to recover from their fallen state.
They were bigger and stronger than their forefathers, but also more stupid. They had obtained a greater physical strength in exchange for their magical talents. She didn't have the time to wonder how could anyone had mistaken them for an unknown race when the bugbears screamed their challenge and charged towards her.
Chapter 790 Weeds Part 2
She unleashed a simple tier three spell, Windblade, that was supposed to chop off their legs and chests at the same time. Although deep, the wounds opened by her spell turned out to be far from lethal, stopping even before reaching the bones.
The bugbears stumbled just for a second before swallowing their pain and resuming the charge.
"Seriously? A tier one spell?" Friya was flabbergasted.
"It was a tier tree!" Quylla rebuked her while unleashing a second Windblade, aimed exactly where the first had struck.
The air spell managed to cut the bugbears' femoral artery and pierce their lungs, making the creatures drown in their own blood.
"First, you shouldn't have let them call for reinforcements. Second, there's no way that a tier three didn't kill them on the spot from that distance." Friya spoke as softly as she could, but the annoyance in her voice was unmistakable.
"I know I messed up, but that's also because of your false information. As for the spells, I swear that I only prepared tier three…" Quylla was cut short when one of the maces struck Friya's head, sending her sprawling on the floor.
Quylla turned around just in time to dodge the one aimed at her. The two bugbears were standing up, the wounds on their bodies were barely visible.
'Since when do bugbears have regenerative powers?' Quylla thought while unleashing the tier three Frost Cutter spell. Icicles the size of an arm pierced the creatures' heads and chests, turning them froze solid in the process.
This time she also used first magic to alter the ground so that they would fall onto rock spikes that easily penetrated through the frozen meat, destroying the brain and the heart at the same time.
Afraid of the bugbears' recovery abilities, this time Quylla cut off their heads before worrying about her sister.
"Friya?" Quylla asked, incapable of making heads or tails of that situation. Her sister was wearing a Skinwalker armor and the mace was just a piece of wood. It wasn't supposed to do her any harm, no matter the amount of strength behind the hit.
Lith was amazed as well, but compared to his friend he had more clues. Quylla was right about everything. Bugbears weren't supposed to regenerate, nor wood could harm someone wearing an enchanted armor, let alone one of his making.
The problem was that it wasn't wood and that those weren't bugbears, or at least not completely. The two corpses stood up again, uncaring for the missing heads or the gaping hole where once a heart resided.
"Undead?" Phloria asked while unsheathing her sword.
"No, plants." Lith replied. A split-second later roots and vines filled the empty space in the creatures' chest and a sapling grew out from their necks.
Quylla had enough of that madness, so she used the only tier five spell she had at the ready. Volcano was a mix of fire and earth magic that turned the ground below the monsters into molten lava swallowing them whole.
The creatures died in an instant, without the time to emit nothing but the smell of sandalwood incense.
"What the heck happened?" Friya's vision was still blurry but she was otherwise uninjured.
"Your information network sucks!" Quylla replied while checking that she didn't have a concussion.
"And you are sloppy." Lith said, throwing the clubs into the still fiery pit. The wood split and germinated into small tendrils that tried to escape death, but the lava turned them into cinders before they could reach the safety of the ceiling.
The screeching sounds of agony cleared all doubts about how Friya had been stunned.
"Those things were not their weapons but part of their bodies. Once you saw that we are not dealing with bugbears but with some kind of parasite, you should have disposed of all the wood in sight."
"What the heck?" The three women said in unison.
"This doesn't make sense! Plants creatures are rare and I've never heard about them being parasites. I work with them for years at the White Griffon, some of them are my good friends!" Quylla's brain felt as if it was burning.
"Why would plants damage vegetation and how the heck did they took over the bugbears?"
"I have no idea." Even according to Lith's books, the entire situation was simply absurd. He had understood the nature of their enemy only because the clubs had the same life force and a mana flow that coursed under the monsters' skin.
"What do you want to do?" Lith asked Quylla. "This isn't a learning experience anymore, but a frigging mess."
"Which makes it perfect as a learning experience." She replied. "Nothing ever goes according to plan and not only must I learn how to handle high-level spells, but also how to keep my cool when the unexpected happens.
"The enemy has called for reinforcements, so we don't have much time. Remember that plants are not weak to fire like most people think since they are not made of dried wood but from living tissues rich in water.
"On top of that, they have an outstanding ability in manipulating both their bodies and earth magic. Their real weaknesses are water and darkness magic. The cold blocks their regenerative and shapeshifting abilities, so focus on that."
Due to her job as Assistant Professor, Quylla knew a lot about plant creatures compared to her companions, Lith included. Knowing their real enemy and its weakness, it took the four of them just a few hours to kill all the infested bugbears.
Quylla even made a few attempts to communicate whenever they isolated a single specimen, but they proved to be unwilling or incapable of explaining their reasons.
By the time they were done, they had more questions than answers. Sentient plants had coexisted with Mogar's other races for ages, and their existence was well-documented.
The appearance of a new species, and one so aggressive at that, was a bad sign.
"We have to report this immediately." Phloria said. "If they can take over bugbears, they might do the same with humans. We need to put people on alert before the phenomenon becomes widespread."
"Yeah, too bad that we can't examine a body. It would greatly help me to understand what's going on." Quylla said.
She had gained a lot of experience and her learning rate was terrifying. After just a few tries, she had become able to use some tier five spells in confined spaces without harming her allies.
"What do you mean?" Lith had collected a few bodies precisely to study their altered physiology.
"Sorry, I forgot to tell you earlier. Plants don't leave any corpse behind. The moment they die they also wither, reverting to their original form. So if these things started out as flowers, you'll only get a flower.
"It's the reason why plants cannot be turned into undead." Quylla said.
'Fuck me sideways! I could have played a little with them and used Invigoration instead of wasting time speaking. How was their core, Solus?' Lith thought.
'Sorry, I have no clue. By invading the bugbears' body in the form of vines, they also spread their core, making it invisible to my mana sense. It's the same thing that happened with the plant Abomination.
'We needed to force it all in one place to see its core. What I can tell you for sure, is that it couldn't be very strong since if it wasn't for the animated clubs, their mana flow was perfectly eclipsed by their victims' weak ass core.'
'Finally some good news!' Lith inwardly sighed in relief. 'Luckily we picked a city with a Gate, so whatever this is, the Kingdom can take care of it on its own.'
Chapter 791 Ill Omen Part 1
Friya used her communication amulet to perform a conference call with the army, the Association, and Javvok's authorities. She was the guild master of the Crystal Shield, after all, and it was her guild that had taken the job and performed such an important discovery.
Friya wanted to make sure that she would receive proper recognition since in her line of work reputation was everything.
"I bet that the army's upper echelons now regret having suspended you." Lith said, trying to cheer Phloria up.
"I wish. It's still a small matter for someone of my rank." She replied. "I'm more worried about them thinking that if you're feeling fine enough to do free-lance work, then you're also good enough to resume duty. They could revoke your leave."
Lith cussed. He hadn't thought about the possibility, otherwise he would have asked Friya to leave him out of her report.
"It's almost lunchtime. It's better we go back to the Golden Dragon. This is a vacation and we are here to spend some quality time together, not to work." Friya said once the call was over.
She wasn't happy at all about the recent developments. Sure, the mission had been a total success, but it also risked to kick a hornet nest. She was afraid that being the one who had reported the issue, she would also be tasked to investigate the matter.
It was the first time in four years that she managed to spend more than a few hours together with her sisters and her best friend. Friya just wanted to sit back and relax.
They Warped back to the city and enjoyed a slow, pleasant meal like it hadn't happened in ages. Away from their parents, their commanding officers, and nothing to worry about, they could finally catch up with each other properly.
The only sour note for Lith was that Kamila was working hard and she couldn't join them. She didn't even know if she could make it for dinner since the more successful her investigation was, the busier she would get.
"What are our plans for the afternoon?" Lith asked.
"I don't know you, but I'll take a long bath first, then a short nap. We can meet in a couple of hours to go back to the Rothar caves and search for Phloria's ingredients." Friya said while drinking way more wine than she would usually do.
"Yeah, there's no rush." Phloria sighed. "Natural treasures are very hard to find. We're likely to just have a long stroll in the woods and find nothing to bring back home. I always use ingredients as an excuse when I want to stay alone for a while."
"Well, that's because very few people know where to look." Quylla giggled.
"What do you mean? I've excellent senses, yet even at the academy I never found anything." Lith said.
"Well, of course you didn't. The academy's forest is rich in natural resources, but you aren't the only one who searched for them. There were the other students, the academy staff, the magical beasts, and even outsiders.
"Even if you stumbled into a good spot, since it was likely to be close to the academy, it had been already cleaned out of everything useful. The same stands for the forest outside Javvok.
"If we go where everyone goes, we're bound to find nothing."
"What makes you so confident about your skills?" Phloria asked. In all of her strolls, she had found a couple of semi-precious herbs, but nothing more. If not for the fact that natural treasures were available on the market, she would think they were just a myth.
"As I told you earlier, I'm friends with some of the plant folk who live in the academy's forest. They taught me everything I know." Quylla put down the silverware inside her plate for the waiter to collect it.
She would have liked to eat more, but now that her growth spurt was over, she had to watch her weight. Eating recklessly would now make her grow larger instead of taller.
"Natural treasures only grow in places abundant with world energy, similar to what happens with mana crystals. If you find a flower still blooming past its season, it's likely to be evolving into a natural treasure.
"World energy seeps out from the ground, so the most magically talented plants can absorb it along with their nourishment. If they are talented and lucky enough, they can even gain consciousness."
"Wait! So every time someone picks a natural treasure they are potentially killing a plant folk?" Friya was flabbergasted, looking at the salad in her side dishes with an almost guilty look.
"Yes. Just like every time one eats a chicken, it might have become a powerful magical beast." Quylla shrugged. "Don't sweat it. Plants themselves don't care about it. Who do you think supplies the academy of the most precious ingredients?"
They all remembered how the Dryad had given Lith plenty of natural treasures to save her sister, so Quylla's words actually made sense.
'Too bad that she gave me top grade ingredients when I was still an apprentice. I still have to find something worth using them. I can't waste the opportunity of a lifetime for a crappy item.
'Luckily for me, as long as they are inside my pocket dimension, they can't rot.' Lith thought.
"The fight for survival is gruesome even for plants, it's just that it happens so slowly that us humans don't notice it." Quylla said. "They have to fight among themselves for sunlight, water, and nutrients. Not to mention parasites, fungi, and insects.
"Some plants even feed upon each other, which even once they evolve makes them psychopaths, at least according to human standards. They are really interesting fellows."
"Have they ever told you about crystal folks? After all, they follow the same principle. I've always wondered if mana crystals can gain sentience too." Lith asked.
"No, they didn't, but I never asked. I don't think it's possible. Plants are alive to start with, whereas crystals are just solidified energy masses. If it was possible, I think miners would have met crystal folks and we would have studied them at the academy, like all the other races." Quylla replied.
Even though it was a logical conclusion, her answer didn't convince Lith. Quylla was unaware of the existence of mana cores, nor she knew that powerful crystals acted exactly like one.
There were too many secrets the Griffon Kingdom covered and the academy's teachings were incomplete. Undead were considered just monsters, while Faluel had told him that they were full members of the Council.
'I guess that if sentient crystals were Awakened, they would be part of the Council. So either crystals can't Awaken or they are simply objects.' Lith thought.
Everyone followed Friya's lead, washing away their fatigue from the morning before taking some well-deserved rest.
'This is so boring!' Lith thought once he was finished bathing. Solus was mind glaring at him just because he was using Accumulation and had already prevented him from taking his notes out of their pocket dimension.
'Rest, not work.' She ordered.
Kamila's rune was offline, so she wasn't available to talk, leaving him with very few options.
Lith spent the rest of the time using Accumulation and playing with Solus at the most disparate games while talking about trivial things like their favorite books.
He ended up enjoying it, especially once he realized that even though they knew each other so well, because of their mind link they rarely talked about anything but work.
Chapter 792 Ill Omen Part 2
Lith relied too much on their shared feelings and memories to appreciate little things like the sound of Solus's voice, which was getting more human with each passing day from his last breakthrough.
Time flew so fast that when Quylla knocked at his door he almost flinched in surprise.
Once they Warped back to the Rothar caves, Quylla took the lead of the group and shared her knowledge with them. She didn't make them walk, preferring to fly barely above the treeline and landing from time to time to check their surroundings.
"Kiro, a Treantling I know, explained to me that the best place to search for natural treasures is where the green is more luscious. We must look for a spot where the flowers have vibrant colors or where there's a spring."
Her words reminded Lith of mana geysers, but Solus confirmed to him that they had yet to spot a single geyser. It took them a few tries to find the right place.
One could have missed it at a first glance, but Quylla pointed out the presence of a young but majestic tree and many colorful bellflowers growing in its proximity.
'Why didn't we notice it, Solus?' Lith asked.
'There is no mana geyser here, just a fluctuation in the world energy.' She explained. 'Now that we're close enough, I can tell you that there's a small stream of world energy converging on the tree as if it's conjuring it.
'The surrounding plants are simply reaping the side effects of the tree.'
'I'm starting to wonder if natural treasures really are plant folks in the making or just a strategy that they employ to ensure their survival. What if semi-sentient plant folks actually offer natural treasures as a tribute to divert the attention from themselves?' Lith thought.
The tree was beautiful but magically unremarkable, whereas the bellflowers had a faint magical aura.
"This is the right spot but the wrong time." Quylla examined the patches of unnaturally big flowers for a bit before shaking her head. "These plants will evolve into Blood Amethysts, but it might take them months if not years to complete the process."
She pointed at the red streaks inside the bellflowers' petals, which had also partially turned into crystals.
Lith used Invigoration on the tree before leaving, noticing a mass of raw mana hidden inside of it. The tree was too big and the mana too thin to make it remarkable, even to Solus's mana sense.
'I think this is no geyser. The world energy is here because of the tree and not the other way around.' Solus pondered. 'This is like the light pillar that manifests when a magical beast evolves, just slower and smaller.'
After a while, they found a wood anemone as big as Lith's fist and almost as tall as Quylla. According to her, it had no magical value, but the Zephyr Apples growing on the nearby trees were quite a catch.
"It's the first time I actually find something of value." Phloria said while Quylla showed them how to recognize the most valuable fruits from those that actually held little magical properties due to not being exposed long enough to the world energy.
Soon they started quarrelling for the best pieces. Quylla called dibs because she was the one who had found them, Friya because she was the guild master, and Lith claiming to be the poorest among them.
"Isn't this odd?" Phloria wasn't interested in the argument. She trusted her sisters to be fair. "How come in none of the places we visited there was any sign of wildlife?"
Lith was aware of it as well, but he had avoided mentioning it to not ruin the mood and to not get further involved. Whatever was happening, it was none of his business.
Quylla shushed the others and listened. Aside from the rustling of leaves when the wind blew, the forest was silent. Lith confirmed with Life Vision that there was no threat nearby, but the situation was still creepy.
They collected their prize and resumed to move, searching for clues and natural treasures. They didn't spot a single animal during their flight and soon things got worse.
The deeper they went into the forest, the more numerous were the bald spots they found. Each area was small, barely a few meters large. Yet whoever did it had taken care to not touch the trees, so that from above the damage was nigh invisible.
"Fuck me sideways." Lith said when they found a withered area recent enough for him to catch the scent of the culprit. Life Vision revealed to him that the ground was enveloped in a black aura so thick that is was unmistakable.
"This is the work of undead." He said while pointing at a young sapling that somehow had become fossilized. Its bark had become as black as coal after having its life force completely drained.
"Undead in a forest? It's ridiculous!" Friya said. "Magical beasts would kill them and plant folks would be glad to help them."
"Yet we have not found a single one of them." Each word Lith said made the forest look eerier.
None of those present was afraid of a vagrant undead, but to cause that amount of devastation, to drive the wildlife away, it couldn't be the work of a normal undead. Even worse, it could be lots of them.
"We better leave." Phloria said while looking at the sun that was dangerously close to the treeline. Spring had just begun and the days were still short. "They might still be nearby."
"Yeah, I'm starting to think that whoever did this, didn't touch the trees not to remain hidden from onlookers, but from the sunlight." Quylla said.
<"Not so fast, sweetie."> Said a raspy voice in an unknown language. A rotten figure stumbled out of a patch of woods. The creature had glowing red eyes that burned with a hunger that had been denied for too long.
The exit point of a Blink spell appeared in the middle of the group and Ruin cleaved the dimensional door in half along with its caster, leaving both undead as flabbergasted as they were angry.
"We got company!" Lith yelled as he could see several dimensional doors opening, too many for him to cover them by himself. Not with the creature at his feet still undead and the one in front of them rushing in as fast as a bullet.
The group of undead had sniffed them the moment they had found the first bald spot in the forest and had been tracking them ever since. Their shabby appearance wasn't caused by the damage they had sustained while moving during the day so much as from starvation.
On Mogar, undead could feast on any life force, no matter its source. Yet only the life force of a member of the race they were part of when they were still alive could properly feed them.
Every single kind of undead needed a specific source of vitality. Feeding on another prevented them from dying, but it tasted like shit. Also, it would require an enormous amount of 'wrong' food to satiate their hunger.
The little group of undead was composed of humanoids, so the smell of young and fresh bodies represented an allure so great that they were willing to risk the sun turning them into ashes rather than miss a full course meal.
Chapter 793 Ill Omen Part 3
Lith cut the head of the cleaved ghoul, yet its flesh reattached to its neck and so did the two halves of its body. Ghouls had regenerative abilities on par with trolls, and just like their living 'cousins', healing from their wounds didn't make them weaker, only hungrier.
'How the heck do you kill a ghoul?' Lith thought.
'Either you destroy its heart or you pulverize its body with darkness magic.' Solus replied, hoping to remember it right. Soluspedia was still stuffed with the material about runes and spirit magic, so there was no space for bestiaries.
Lith struck where the heart was supposed to be, but Ruin only hit the ground as the undead was swallowed by the earth as if it was a ghost. Meanwhile, his warning coupled with the failed ambush had given the others enough time to react.
Each one of them had studied the different species of undead back at the White Griffon academy. Friya and Phloria had actually slain a few of them during their respective missions.
Alas, this time they had no clue what they were facing. All of their opponents looked almost the same due to starvation. The undead had decaying grey-green skin and skeletal bodies that emphasized their long clawed fingers.
They seemed to coordinate their actions, but no one in Lith's group could understand a single word they said. Phloria quickly activated Full Guard to foil any other attempt to Blink in her blind spot while Quylla unleashed a stream of lightning from one of her rings.
She was aware that it would buy her a split-second at best, but she needed time to prepare a suitable spell since her close combat abilities were non-existent. The creature bolting toward them was actually a vampire, but he was so emaciated that only his ability to talk made it possible to distinguish him from a mindless zombie.
The vampire, once a noble among his race, took the full force of the spell, but not because he relied on the natural resistance undead had against all elements. He simply couldn't dodge it with the little strength he had left.
The bolt of lightning made him trip and fall, yet the creature turned the motion into a roll, managing to stand up with inhuman grace without ever slowing down. Friya Blinked behind him, stabbing at his heart while one of her rings released a pulse of darkness magic that blew his chest apart.
Darkness magic was the bane of the undead, and the vampire's debilitated state had made him an easy prey for Friya's spell, amplifying its effects.
Meanwhile, since the ghoul kept hiding, Lith struck at two more undead while infusing Ruin with darkness magic. The creatures had spent the last of their energies for the surprise attack, but their plan had failed on all levels.
None of their alleged victims had been paralyzed by fear and Lith could see their bluff for what it was. To Solus's mana sense, their blood cores were almost pitch black, making Lith wonder why they had not succumbed to their hunger and attacked the trees as well.
One of the undead fell to its knees as the darkness Lith had injected inside his blade ravaged the little strength it had left, but Ruin went through the other one without doing so much of a scratch.
The second undead's body dispersed on contact, like a dense cloud of smoke struck by a sudden gust of wind. Lith performed a barrage of quick spells, yet none of them, not even those darkness based, had any effect on the undead.
Its body would just let them through before reassembling itself.
'Please, tell me that you remember what the heck this is.' Lith thought in frustration.
'A Wraith, maybe?' Solus shared with him all she remembered, but it wasn't much. They already had to remember hundreds of spells, true and fake, the people they had met, the lies that they had told, and countless other things.
Remembering every single creature that existed on Mogar was impossible, especially those they had never met before. Usually Soluspedia would cover that subject, but even though their dimensional library had never stopped expanding over time, the number of tomes they had collected grew even faster.
The Wraith kept swinging its claws at its prey, avoiding to use magic to not waste precious food while Lith was forced on the defensive while keeping an eye on the still underground ghoul.
Phloria's Full Guard allowed her to keep up with her enemies' inhuman speed, but barely. Even blocking their attacks with her conjured tower shield took all the energy she had.
'Gods, if it wasn't for my monstrous strength that scared so many of my suitors in the past, the undead would have already overpowered me. Fighting with no potions and defending Quylla at the same time is too much.' She thought.
Luckily for her, the Awakening process that was endangering her life had also removed the biggest impurities in her body and brought them near her core. Ever since she had left her academy, Phloria's physical abilities had slowly improved past human limits thanks to her strict training schedule.
Three sudden gusts of wind pushed the undead away, giving Phloria's almost numb arms the relief they desperately needed.
There was no time to cast big spells, so Quylla's big brain was spinning at top gear to try and find a way to achieve the maximum effect with tier three spells, but unlike Solus, she had to worry about her own life as well as about Phloria's.
'Those damn trees are too high and the sun is too low to just blow away a few treetops and hope to get enough light to kill them. If only darkness and earth magic weren't so slow…'
She was barely able to follow the undead with her eyes and only when Phloria blocked their attacks. The rest of the time it was all a blur, making any spell slower than a bolt of lightning just a waste of mana.
'If only I could understand what the heck they are, I could exploit one of their weaknesses, but these things all look like zombies on drugs!' Working in an academy and with Balkor's threat still lingering over her students, Quylla had thoroughly studied the undead race.
Yet until they used no spell or special ability, she was in Lith's same boat.
"On my mark." Phloria said, drawing both of her sisters' attention.
"Mark!" The moment the two undead charged at her again, she unleashed one of her personal Mage Knight spells, Gravity Blast.
Like Blast Guard, it generated a small flaming sphere that affected everything in her surroundings except for the space within a meter (3.3 feet) from her body. By mixing tier zero gravity magic with it, however, the spell would also lower the weight of all those in its area of effect, sending them flying like leaves.
Normal mages wouldn't develop such spells, since they could just Blink to safety, whereas a Mage Knight's duty was to protect their allies and to create openings for them to attack.
The explosion caused an updraft that lifted the undead from the ground, taking away their mobility. Quylla shot all the darkness spells she had prepared against one of them, leaving the others to Friya.
Unfortunately, the creature just Blinked behind Phloria's back, who only managed to avoid a fatal injury thanks to Full Guard and her Orichalcum armor. Friya activated her rapier's enchantments and went for the kill.
Chapter 794 Ill Omen Part 4
The third undead snarled and Blinked as well, only to discover that aside from its coordinates, nothing had changed.
'Master of space, jackass.' Friya thought while her weapon easily pierced through the enemy's tough skin and released a blast of darkness magic. She had used one of her personal spells, Lock.
Unlike normal dimensional magic, it didn't lock on spatial coordinates, but on energy signatures, allowing her to follow her mark and making Blink useless.
The creature was stronger than the others, so even though it had suffered quite some damage it was still able to fight.
Yet all Friya had to do was pump more mana into Dreadnought to release one energy blast after another until the undead started to turn into ashes. Orion had enchanted the rapier so that it could emit all the six elements, even light, so to give his daughter the greatest versatility in battle.
She could even use it to heal her allies or to stab and heal her target at the same time, so to more easily capture them alive.
Phloria's failed attack gave Lith an idea. He Blinked away, to buy himself enough time to weave a simple spell. Then, when the Wraith was upon him again, Lith slashed at the creature so fast that all of its body became immaterial at once.
Lith smirked as a tier two vortex erupted from his left hand, sucking in the smoke while it shot upwards, quickly reaching above the treetops. The remaining sunlight was weak, but more than enough to make short work of the still ethereal undead.
The black smoke was set ablaze and an inhuman scream of pain accompanied its demise.
'Now, where is that ghoul?' He thought.
Now that two of her opponents were gone, Phloria could finally focus on the offense. Her conjured tower shield blocked all the incoming attacks and limited the enemy's field of vision while her estoc was getting closer to its target at every exchange.
Her left hand was free to cast the hand signs for one Mage Knight spell after the other, coordinating sword and magic to pressure her enemy as if it was fighting two against one.
The undead shot a ray of concentred darkness magic at point-blank range, exploiting its superior speed, but the shield stopped the spell with ease while the estoc almost took away the undead's life.
Its instincts warned the creature to not let the blade touch it. While dodging the lunge, the undead stepped on a small wisp of light that exploded with enough power to blast away its foot.
The creature stumbled, creating an opening that only someone blind, dumb, and deaf could miss. The undead cursed the human and quickly formed the hand signs for a Blink. Unfortunately, its right hand touched another small wisp of light.
The resulting detonation wasn't enough to kill, but it maimed the hand, making the spell fail, and blinded the creature long enough for Fang to find its mark. The estoc pierced through the undead's chest, releasing all the kinetic energy accumulated with each swing and block Phloria had performed.
The effect of the hit was akin to being run over by a speeding train. The creature exploded due to the force of the impact and turned into shreds.
"What was that?" Friya asked, referring to the odd spell her sister had used to seal her opponent's movements. It wasn't a dimensional spell nor anything she had ever seen before.
It was Phloria's personal tier five Mage Knight spell, Blast Field. It used air and fire magic to create and compress dozens of fireballs, making each one of them not bigger than a firefly while even enhancing their destructive power.
They would scatter all around Phloria and remain stable until someone touched them. In case of need, she could even trigger them all at once, causing a chain reaction that would serve as a perfect means of offense and defense thanks to her own mana being harmless to her.
"There's still one enemy around!" Phloria replied. Even in the heat of the battle, she had counted the death throes, so she was aware of the missing ghoul.
'Solus?' Lith thought, hoping her mana sense would accomplish what his Life Vision was failing at.
'It must have run away after its companions started to fall like flies.' She replied.
Quylla used the protection her group granted her to cast an Undead Sensing array, which came out negative as well.
"We're alone, but since the sun is setting, it won't be for long." She said.
"Way ahead of you." Friya opened a Warp Steps that brought them directly back at the hotel's reception, where she had left one of her Warp Stones, allowing her to cover the distance with only one spell.
"This is an awful mess. Our vacation is as good as ruined!" Friya whined during dinner. She had reported everything to the local authorities before going back to her room and prepare for the evening.
"I guess Lady Ernas is right. Someone here really is bad luck." Kamila chuckled, poking at Lith with her elbow.
She knew how that particular rumor about him irked her boyfriend, but it was an in-joke between them linked to the first mission they had taken together. So it made him laugh as well.
She had reached Javvok soon after their return and after taking a quick shower with Lith, they had joined the others for dinner.
"Please, don't call Mom 'Lady Ernas'." Quylla said. "Jirni is fine. It's not like she's here to reproach you, and hearing someone calling Mom by her title always sounds weird."
It didn't take long to bring Kamila up to speed since there wasn't much to tell except for all the oddities they had encountered.
"It doesn't make sense." Friya said. "Parasite plants capable of possessing monsters that took down a good piece of the forest and a bunch of wandering undead, all in the same place.
"To make things even odder, the undead seemed to belong to different species while they are usually very territorial and don't mingle unless their interests align."
"Do not forget how famished they were and how tattered their clothes." Lith pointed out. "With an entire forest at hand, I wonder why they let themselves be reduced in such a poor state."
"How odd indeed." Kamila nodded and then became absorbed in her meal. She could only hope that Lith wouldn't notice her distress.
"That's your 'I know something but I can't tell you' face." He said crushing her hopes. Even though her job required from her nerves of steel and an unbreakable poker face, Kamila was used to lowering her guard outside office hours.
Especially with Lith. Even more after he had shared so much with her and he continued to open up to her little by little. Being honest with each other was something that she was too happy about to even consider lying to him.
"Yes, I do. Be right back." She took her army amulet and went into a corner of the restaurant to call Jirni. Even from a distance and with the Hush spell preventing them from hearing her voice, they recognized her hologram at first glance.
Kamila returned to the table, placing the magical device in the middle before making sure that there was no one beside them inside its area of effect.
Chapter 795 Pay the Piper Part 1
"Don't you think that once the waiters notice that our lively table has suddenly got quiet, they might try to eavesdrop on us?" Lith's paranoia knocked directly into sixth gear.
"You would be right if that was a Silencer, but it's a Scrambler. It converts our words into boring small talk, like how was the weather or if you're liking your food." Kamila replied, piquing Lith's interest.
Adding words to his Hush spell was a child's play. Making them have a shred of sense was very hard since it depended on the place and context. He tried to examine the device, but Kamila slapped his hand away.
"Move it now and our voices will sound as if we've brain damage." She said.
"Sorry, I had to ask Lady- I mean Jirni's approval because of the confidential nature of the information.
"I didn't mean to hide anything from you, but there are some things in my line of work I can't talk about, just like you do." Kamila took Lith's hand, looking him in the eyes to show him her sincerity.
"Please, brace yourself and remember that nothing I'm about to say has to ever be discussed in the presence of witnesses." She then looked at each one of the Ernas in turn, to let them understand how serious she was.
Once they all had nodded, she took a deep breath before speaking. Kamila herself had a hard time accepting the truth she was about to share.
"As you probably know, the Garlen continent where we live is not the only one on Mogar. The other continents our Kingdom has been historically more involved with are the Jiera on the west and the Verendi on the south."
There were actually more, but that wasn't a geography lesson. Those were the only two continents close enough to Garlen to represent a threat. Or at least they were in the past, before Silverwing's legacy and the development of tier five magic had made dimensional magic reality and naval warfare obsolete.
Dimensional magic made sending reinforcements so fast that any invasion was bound to fail before an army could even land while War Mages could conjure such destruction from a safe distance that any ship would sink without a chance to retaliate.
"Well, let's just say that now all the three great Countries are busy making plans to safely colonize Jiera without messing with each other. Too much, at least. Sabotage, fake information, are to be expected, no matter how well diplomacy works…"
"Hold that thought!" Friya had dropped her fork in surprise, staining her clothes for a second or two before the Skinwalker armor destroyed the traces of sauce with a controlled pulse of darkness magic.
"What do you mean safely?" She had already connected the dots, but the thought of the image that would appear was too horrifying.
Kamila took another deep breath before saying:
"The human race has disappeared from the Jiera continent. It has become a literal no man's land." She took a pause, to let the news sink. The thought that more than half a billion people were no more plunged the table into a shocked silence.
"Seconds, please." Or at least most of it. Lith couldn't care less about people he didn't know. His only worry was to eat to his heart content and put all the money he was wasting in the luxury hotel bill to good use.
"Seriously?" Kamila looked at him disapprovingly while the waiter took away the empty dish replacing it with a new one. Being honest was one thing, being tactless was another.
"Seriously. Believe it or not, murder attempts on my person make me work quite an appetite." Lith said. Kamila was about to rebuke him but a quick peck on her mouth caused her enough embarrassment to defuse her anger.
"That's terrible, but I still don't see how this is relevant to our vacation." Friya said.
"Don't you see?" Quylla had become pale as a ghost. "No humans means no food. The undead of the Jiera continent are mass migrating to our continent to survive. That's why the undead spoke gibberish. It wasn't a dead language but a foreign one!"
"Nailed it in one." Kamila said. "Actually, they are migrating everywhere, even to the Verendi continent. It's not just your vacation that's affected, it's happening in all the three Great countries.
"Only some of them have received asylum from the Undead Courts while most of the others are desperately looking for a place to live and, more importantly, a stable source of food.
"Local undead are far from welcoming since newcomers not only might cause a monster hunt, but there also are too many of them to not upset the balance. Each human settlement in the Kingdom risks doubling its undead population."
Back when Fenagar, the Leviathan Guardian, had informed Leegaain of the effects that the man-made plague had inflicted upon his continent, he had done so to warn Leegaain not only about the living, of which Milea had taken care of, but also about the dead.
The bored Lich had resurfaced and threatened the Gorgon Empire because he couldn't miss the opportunity that having an undead army at his disposal presented. At least not when it came knocking on her door without her having to do nothing more than feeding them and point them to a target.
"This explains everything." Phloria pondered. "They were probably recovering from a battle with other undead and they couldn't feed properly upon the forest without giving away their position. What about the plants?"
Even though it was quite unsettling, that piece of news didn't help to understand the bugbear issue.
"I have no clue about that." Kamila shrugged. "I could ask around, but that would mean getting involved. All the news about Jiera is a state secret, to prevent panic to spread among the population."
"Is that because of the undead or because of what caused the extinction of the humans?" Lith asked, almost certain to already know the answer.
"Both. According to our ambassadors in the Empire, it was some sort of plague. The undead aren't the only concern, there is also the possibility that they carried something infected with them to use it as a deterrent."
"Like the one from Kandria?" Lith didn't like plagues. He was immune to them thanks to Invigoration, but they still threatened life as he knew it.
"Worse. Kandria's plague was developed with the aim to conquer, so it didn't kill fast and the area was quarantined quickly. This one was designed as a weapon of mass destruction and was released on a large scale."
"Wait, ambassadors and not spies?" Quylla had no clue how the Empire could know so much, even less about why they willingly shared such information.
"Yes. The Empress warned us on time and even provided us with the cure. Otherwise our colonization plan wouldn't have even started, nor would we be in such friendly terms for sharing Jiera.
"Don't ask me why she did it. She's either the kindest or the shrewdest person alive."
Both Kamila's hypotheses were wrong. The plague was of magical nature, so no vaccine could be synthesized, only a cure. If the plague spread without her neighbors knowing about its existence, every single traveler would be a ticking bomb.
Moreover, to plan her invasion of Jiera, she needed a cure. Leegaain had accepted to help her, but only at the condition that it would be shared.
Chapter 796 Pay the Piper Part 2
Melia had promptly accepted.
Not only because she had many friends in all the three great Countries, but also for her own survival. If the Kingdom and the Desert disappeared, undead and Abominations from two entire continents would have only one source of food.
The Gorgon Empire. Her empire.
She already had her plate full dealing with the Lich's army, the rogue hybrid Abominations, and the minions of the Master raiding the Empire's crystal mines for resources. She knew that she would never manage to deal with all the Undead Courts by herself.
Not without Leegaain direct intervention, but he had already given her an ultimatum. Milea had not been chosen by the Father of all Dragons as his apprentice for her strength, nor her talent, but for her wisdom.
It allowed her to handle all the power the Guardian bestowed upon her without getting drunk on it.
Kamila clicked on the holographic pad of her army amulet, showing to the Healers in the group the spell for the cure. What looked like just a bunch of gibberish to a layman, was actually a description of how the Jiera's plague worked and how to counter it.
Each magic word and sign was a command with a specific effect, just like a line of code while programming a software. An expert Healer could never be fooled into using a harmful spell, because they knew what every one of their actions would cause.
"Good gods." Quylla blurted out. "This thing is real. Thanks for showing us, Kamila."
"It was the least I could do. If the undead you met really came from the Jiera continent, then there is a risk of infection. Now enough with work, please. This is my free time and I would like to enjoy it instead of worrying. Do we have plans?"
They already had dessert, yet no one but Lith had appreciated its taste.
"Bad news aside, our day has been pretty light and we've already rested a bit." Friya said. "I was thinking about touring Javvok on foot. Maybe visiting the market. Do you guys feel like it or are you too tired?"
"Of course we're up for some evening shopping!" The motion was unanimously approved, making Lith almost choke on his last spoonful.
Shopping was his nemesis. It implied walking for hours, looking at goods he didn't care for, giving opinions that would be required but not listened to, and lastly spending money.
He was about to make up an excuse to avoid the impending torture when his eyes fell on Kamila. She was beaming with joy, not for the shopping, but at the idea of spending some time together.
Between Kulah, his research, and all of his plotting, it had been too long since the last time they had done something together outside the bedroom. So he smiled her back and sucked it up.
unlike the cities in the north who followed the rising and setting of the sun, Javvok was sleepless. The shops were still open and the streets bustling with people. Luckily for Lith, the market proved to be interesting even for him.
The stores weren't grouped up based on their products, so he could find a magical shop right beside a bags shop. He and Solus checked everywhere, hoping to find some forgotten artifact among the common goods, but with no luck.
Bookstores, instead, were a nice surprise. He found some old runes dictionaries for Wardens that had likely been throw away from an academy due to being obsolete and even a few books with a faint magical aura.
The former would help him with updating the spells from Huryole's Forgemastering booklet, while the latter was a gamble he could afford.
'Don't leave Kamila alone. Pay her some attention, dammit!' Solus scolded him.
Lith had been so engrossed in his findings that even though they were just a few meters away, it was like they were on different planets. Lith inwardly scolded himself as well and followed Solus advice.
Kamila's mood improved even more when instead of monosyllabic words he started to use a proper phrasing to express his opinions and soon, while browsing through the store, she started to unburden herself with him about her day.
She had dreamed all her life becoming a Royal Constable, yet now she was second-guessing her career choice. It wasn't the long hours or the heavy responsibilities that troubled her so much as all the horrible things she had to witness on a daily basis.
As a handler and a data analyst, she was used to reading reports about the most heinous crimes, but seeing them with her own eyes, having to deal with the human-faced monsters who committed them was eating at her.
There was nothing Lith could do about it, nor she was asking for him to fix her problems. It was her life and her choice to make. Kamila just wanted to share her worries with someone who was able to understand her without worrying about being judged or pitied.
Lith listened to her and expressed his compassion from time to time, while also noticing how different was the approach to shopping the members of the group had.
While Friya and Phloria would just buy whatever caught their eye, Quylla and Kamila would mostly window shopping, always looking at the price before putting most of the goods back on the shelves.
But while for Quylla one of her sisters would quickly buy them for her and ignore Quylla's complaints about not needing or really wanting them, Kamila had bought only a small handbag and a shirt.
Their price was insignificant even by Lith's standard, leaving him flabbergasted.
"Stop making that face." She giggled.
"Not all of us are born nobles and I've yet to repay the medical loan for Zinya's operation. Luckily, your Skinwalker armor mimics the clothes I store within it as if they are brand new, because I'll be stuck with second-hand goods until I manage to save enough money in case of more rainy days."
Lith didn't know whether to find more disheartening the fact that she could smile while saying such a thing or that he had never noticed until that moment that she always wore the same things.
He inwardly cursed and followed Friya's lead, backtracking Kamila's picks and buying them for her. He had enough of that attitude when he was back on Earth and his brother Carl had to watch every penny they spent until he had got his first job after graduating from college.
"Stop it! That's a lot of stuff and I don't need your money." Kamila felt guilty for having mindlessly spoken about her money issues. It made her feel like a beggar.
"I know. I'm not buying them because you asked me to, but only because they would look good on you and as your boyfriend, I've got the right to get you a present from time to time." He replied.
"But, the money…"
"I might be stingy, but all of this stuff costs way less than a single one of my failed experiments." Lith cut her short, making the merchant's eyes shine like stars at the idea of having caught a whale.
Kamila opened her mouth to reply, but no words came out. She had lived for so long relying only on herself that asking for help was hard, but accepting someone's kindness was even harder.
"Thank you." She said while hugging him. She wasn't big on public displays of affection but this time she couldn't stop herself.
Chapter 797 The Root of the Problem Part 1
After the shopping spree, they went for a romantic night walk in one of Javvok's many parks. Or at least it was romantic for Kamila and Lith, whereas for three single women, being surrounded by lovebirds was cringe-inducing.
Despite the late hour, there were lots of young couples, making the three Ernas mages regret their choice.
They had yet to finish visiting the park when suddenly something that resembled a Warp Gate but wasn't one appeared on a nearby tree.
Lyta the Dryad come out of it, extending her arms towards Quylla.
"Quylla, sweetie. You're really playing hard to get." She said while closing in to her mark.
"Good gods! Help me, Phloria." Quylla promptly hid behind her sister's wide back.
Phloria remembered well how flirty Dryads were from her days at the academy, especially that particular Dryad.
"What do you want from her…" Phloria attempted to ask before Lyta threw her arms around Phloria's neck and kissed her.
Lyta managed to give a good squeeze on her butt before Phloria recovered from the surprise and managed to push her away.
"Dryads are very assertive and swing both ways." Quylla said after moving behind Friya, just to stay safe.
"You don't say." Friya sneered, watching Lyta's every move.
They were all so surprised that they almost failed to notice Professor Duke Marth emerging from the dimensional corridor as well. He was a man in his mid-forties, about 1.78 meters (5'10") tall, with thick blonde hair.
Aside from his goatee, his face was perfectly shaven, giving him a calm and youthful appearance. Yet his tense expression and the heavy bags under his eyes told them that he wasn't there for a courtesy visit.
"Why the heck isn't your communication amulet available, Mage Ernas? I've been trying to reach you for hours." Marth said.
"Because I'm on vacation and I'm not supposed to return to the academy before another week." Quylla replied while noticing that Lyta was now looking at Lith.
"Hi, handsome. Long time no see."
"Hands off the merchandise, sister." Kamila stood between them, not liking what she saw one bit.
Lyta's big red eyes sparkled in the park's magical light like masterfully cut rubies. Everything in her visage was perfect, from her delicate features to her full lips.
She had waist-long silky hair, red like maple leaves during autumn, that gave her a wild and unrestrained allure. She was wearing what looked like a skin-tight cocktail dress made out of leaves that left little to the imagination about her soft and full curves.
The only thing that betrayed her non-human nature was her light green skin.
"You're really pretty, sister. I don't mind sharing." Lyta replied.
"But I do." Kamila's voice was stone cold.
"Enough with your tomfoolery, Lyta." Marth said. "We really don't have time for this. I apologize for her behavior, but without her, I wouldn't have managed to find you in time."
"Wait. So you're looking for Quylla, not me?" Lith asked, half relieved and half worried. He was really starting to believe that he was bad luck.
"Yes. Now, if you'll excuse us…"
"You are not going anywhere with my sister without a proper explanation." Phloria towered over Marth with a threatening look. Ever since she had been suspended from duty, everything in her life had gone south.
Getting harassed by a Dryad only made things worse. She could use beating someone, even Headmaster Marth, to relieve her stress.
Marth had no desire to argue in front of all the people that had gathered to witness at the scene, so he just nodded and pointed at the Gate.
"Please, follow us. We'll speak in private."
Once they stepped through the dimensional corridor, they found themselves inside the living room of what looked like a cozy cottage. Everything from the walls to the furniture was made of wood, while carpets and curtains were made of leaves.
Despite their simple looks, every single piece was heavily enchanted.
It was different from the magic that Lith was used to imbue. Rather than being Forgemastered individually, to Solus's mana sense, it appeared as if the house had a powerful pseudo core that somehow was shared with everything else inside.
Marth invited them to seat around the big oval table at the center of the room and a wave of Lyta's hand made the table bloom seven sprouts that turned into wooden cups. A second flick of her wrist filled them with what smelled like a strong tea with honey.
"Where are we, exactly?" Quylla asked.
"I wish I knew." Marth sighed. "We might be inside the Blood Desert for all I know. What's important is that I need your help Quylla."
Lith stood up abruptly, looking out of one of the windows. The street was perfectly light, but the stone pavement had been clearly realized with earth magic. There were no bricks nor stones, it seemed like it had been carved out of a single massive piece of rock.
The light came from thin but tall trees that grew on the sides of the road, whose branches bore fruits glowing like torches. Every house Lith could see, even the one they were in, was actually a very large tree.
Some of them were even several stories tall, with so many floors and windows to make him wonder if their owner was filthy rich by plant standards of if they were inhabited by several people.
'Solus, I have a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore.' He thought.
Everything he laid his eyes on was enchanted like the cottage, making his Life Vision incapable to see past their walls.
"My help with what?" Quylla asked.
"You are the fourth best diagnostician in the Kingdom, but the second best when it comes down to bloodwork and magical plant physiology." The cream of the crop in that specific field was Marth himself.
"I guess that Field Assistant Yehval has already brought you up to speed about our undead issue, correct?" Everyone nodded in reply.
"Good. It will make explaining our current predicament easier since the root of our problem stems from that. Pun not intended. I'll skip the usual 'this is a matter of state' speech and go straight to the point.
"We're currently inside one of the city-states of the plant kingdom. They are scattered throughout Mogar and are independent from each other. The only things I know about this place are that it's called Laruel, that the city is located somewhere on the Garlen continent, and that it's experiencing a civil war."
"I don't see how any of that is of any relevance for the Kingdom or connected with the undead migration." Phloria was eager to get out of there.
"First of all, you must understand that despite the fact that they look like us, plant folks have a completely different approach to both life and morality. They are used to feed on everything, even their own kin, and their reproduction cycle doesn't involve parenting.
"Even once they become sentient, things like friendship, filial love, and family are meaningless words, only strength matters. The ruler of each city-state doesn't get elected, nor the position gets inherited.
"The ruler changes every time a stronger individual appears and manages to seize power. Its current leader, Leannan the Titania, has long since established a friendly relationship with the Kingdom, whereas her current rival, Erlik the Draugr Treant, wants to turn Laruel into a safe haven for his fellow undead.
Chapter 798 The Root of the Problem Part 2
"None of the three great Countries can allow the Undead Courts to have such a stable foothold. Not with the current migration of undead both boosting their numbers and resources.
"If Erlik gets his hands on the plants' Gate network, he will achieve a high seat in the Courts, and in turn the Courts will become able to travel Garlen without restrictions, something that so far we managed to prevent."
"Draugr Treant?" Quylla said. "I thought that plants couldn't be turned into undead."
"That's only part of the truth." Lyta said. "Unlike you fleshlings, our bond with life is so strong that undeath can't reach us unless we wish so. For the same reason, those of us who choose to give up on life are scorned and expelled from our society.
"Yet our law only applies to those too weak to face its enforcers. By defeating Leannan's constables, Erlik has gained the right to defy her law and challenge her rule."
An eerie silence fell in the room. The rumors about the Lich ravaging the Empire were already bad. No one had any idea how the Empress managed to hold her own alone against such an ancient and powerful being, nor they wanted the phenomenon to spread.
Undead claiming the land of the living would mean having all races being raised as cattle to feed an ever-growing horde of living corpses.
"Okay, the situation is dire, but I don't understand why you are here instead of the army or the Spellbreakers, Headmaster Marth, nor how Quylla can help you." Lith said.
"She's working hard to learn tier five magic, but she's far from being a Battle Mage. Not to mention that you shouldn't even be aware of this."
"Lith, even though the outcome of Laruel's internal strife will affect the Kingdom, the city isn't part of it. We don't meddle with other states' affairs, nor we can afford wasting manpower while dealing with the invasion of undead and preparing to colonize Jiera." Marth explained.
"I'm not here as a fighter, but as a Healer. As Lyta has just told you, plants value strength above all. If Leannan needed the help of humans to keep her throne, her subjects would deem her as weak as unworthy, giving Erlik the victory by default.
"This is an all-out war and Erlik is abiding by the plant folk code of honor just enough to not lose his right of conquest. In other words, he's bending the rules as much as he can.
"Erlik knows that he can't beat Leannan's army, since only plants can take part in the conflict and undead plants are too few to win the battle. So, he devised a way to grow the numbers of his followers without breaking the rules.
"He has engineered Jiera's plague so that it now affects only plants, but it doesn't kill them, it just partially turns them into undead. Yet since innocent citizens are being turned against their will, Leannan could ask the three great Countries for help.
"Not against Erlik, but against the disease. Due to their extraordinary regenerative abilities, plant folks usually don't need Healers, so they know little about light magic. The Kingdom sent me here because I'm both a Healer and a Spellbreaker.
"If necessary, I can covertly help Leannan and defend myself in case Erlik plays dirty. Moreover, I need Quylla's help because she's the most brilliant mind of her generation and, unlike you, she knows very well plant folks' biology."
"I'm flattered by your offer, Headmaster, but why me?" Quylla asked. "Professor Manohar is the most brilliant mind of this century and even though he knows nothing about plant folks, you could easily bring him up to speed…"
Quylla suddenly realized that maybe Manohar was already there. Maybe the legendary god of healing had finally hit a wall he wasn't able to overcome.
"You're right." Marth sighed. "Gods, I hate that man so much. Here's what happened…"
***
White Griffon Academy's forest, two weeks before.
Tired of Manohar's unreliability, the Queen had the Royal Forgemasters create an ankle bracelet for him. It couldn't be removed without Marth's external help and also prevented the Mad Professor from using dimensional and flight magic, making it impossible for him to escape again.
Just to be on the safe side, it also contained a locator spell that allowed the Royals to always know his position. Manohar had thrown more than a tantrum against such unfair treatment, saying that the artifact violated his civil rights.
Only showing him the list of his crimes for which he was still on parole managed to shut him up. Manohar had been forced to perform his duty as a Professor and as a Healer, even doing rounds with the students.
Life had become much easier for Marth, who could finally sit back and relax. At least until the problem with the undead horde reached the academy first and the news of Laruel's problem later.
Then everything went back being a nightmare. The stress from his duties as Headmaster, Spellbreaker, and one of the Royal Healers, made him forget about his scheduled appointment with Leannan.
So, when the dimensional corridor opened in his office, the academy registered it as a perimeter breach and sounded the alarm. Both Emperor Beasts and plant folks living in the forest were authorized to use dimensional magic, but not inside the academy.
The members of the staff adept at combat used their Professor rings to Warp on the scene, and alas, Manohar was among them. He would have usually ignored the call, but anything was better than paperwork.
When Manohar stepped through the Steps, he saw Leannan staring menacingly at Marth, her court on the other side of the Gate, and an opportunity.
"You guys deal with the old hag! I'll block her reinforcements." He said while jumping on the other side of the Gate and finding only a flabbergasted blonde Dryad, Ryssa, waiting for him.
"Dammit, woman. Where's your invading army?" He rebuked her. Manohar's plan had been to act heroically and then pretend to be captured by the enemy as a cover story for his imminent escape.
"What army? It's a diplomatic mission." Ryssa showed him her empty hands in a sign of peace and so did the member of the court.
"Oh, that." A light of comprehension shone behind his eyes as all the pieces of the puzzle fell into place. "Well, the good news is that this means that the academy is safe. The even better news is that what happens now is all Marth's fault."
The ankle bracelet was just like a Ballot. It needed the academy as a power source to work. Even with the dimensional tunnel still open, the arrays from Laruel interfered with those of the academy, making it easy for Manohar to deactivate it.
He wasn't a Forgemaster, but there was little he couldn't do when he put his mind to it
Manohar gave Ryssa the ankle bracelet along with a psychological evaluation that certified Manohar as clinically insane and hence not responsible for his own actions. Then, he had flown away and no one had seen him ever since.
***
Free Country of Xarion, City of Laruel, now.
"How bad is the situation?" Phloria asked. She had never counted on Manohar. The man clearly had his own agenda and had never shown interest in the matters of the state unless they aligned with his plans.
Chapter 799 Manohar's Wife Part 1
"Very bad. Erlik's army grows by the day and the city is akin to a warzone. If not for the fact that all living quarters are heavily enchanted, there would have been countless casualties among civilians." Marth said.
Yet Quylla noticed that he seemed to have gained weight, his face wasn't deadly pale as usual, and even the grey streaks that he had recently gotten on his hair due to stress was returning to their natural color.
"Are you done with your guests, baby? I'm tired of waiting." Ryssa walked out of the bedroom, sitting on Marth's lap while putting her arms around his neck.
She had wheat-blond straight hair, wearing what seemed a light cotton white nightgown, leaving only her delicate shoulders and arms exposed. Her figure was slenderer than Lyta's but not less attractive.
Marth swallowed a lump of saliva in embarrassment. That wasn't like he wanted to be remembered by his students and colleagues.
Duke Marth had never had an easy life ever since taking care of Manohar had become his full-time job. First when the god of healing was still a student and then when Manohar had become his peer.
Cleaning up his messes and keeping his shenanigans under control was something that only a few people were able to do. Even if it was an unpleasant job, Marth was the best at it, so the Royals had dumped the Mad Professor on him.
Manohar managed to escape from time to time, but that was the price the pay to keep him alive and with all of his limbs intact. On top of that, no woman who had ever met Manohar, especially when he barged in Marth's quarters uninvited, which happened quite often and at all hours, had ever been willing to repeat the experience.
Marth had remained a bachelor despite his fame and riches because of it. No noble family wanted to share the table with a man whose best friend put potions in the drinks to use guests as test subjects on a regular basis.
The Headmaster's reputation was so poor that in the academic circles he was referred to as "Manohar's wife".
Back when Linjos was still alive, at least they shared the burden and the responsibility, but after Marth's predecessor passing away, everything now rested on his shoulders, to the point that he had been forced to abandon his magical research completely.
Being back on the field, away from all of his duties as Headmaster, and not having to worry about Manohar anymore, was the closest thing to a vacation he had experienced in over twenty years.
So when Ryssa had made her move on him, the Headmaster didn't think twice before accepting. It was finally time for Marth to experience the springtime of his youth after entrusting the title of Headmaster to Vastor.
Now, he was one of the most powerful and influential men in the entire Griffon Kingdom. Vastor had coveted the position of Headmaster for a long time, yet now that he had achieved it, he was cursing the gods for fulfilling his wish.
Supervising the search for Manohar, taking care of all paperwork for the Academy, supervising the light magic department, all while keeping the students of the White Griffon safe from both internal and external threats was driving him to the grave.
The normally round Professor didn't sleep more than one hour per night, had lost several kilograms, and the number of his wrinkles had doubled since Manohar had left him in charge.
"Curse you, Linjos!" He would scream in the middle of the night. "You always made it look so easy. If Marth doesn't get back soon, either the Queen or the stress will kill me!"
Meanwhile, in Laurel, Marth tried to make Ryssa stand up and failed miserably, having to endure the chuckles of his students.
"I see that you've taken to heart to create deep bonds between the Kingdom and Laruel." Lith said. "But I'd still like for you to explain how creating such disease can help Erlik's cause.
"Undead, alive, or in-between, its victims should retain their personality. Hence both the infected and the still healthy plant folks should resent him."
"You might be strong, but you really are stupid." Ryssa didn't like someone ruining her fun. "How many times do we have to tell you that our kin values strength above everything? Do you have any idea how hard it is to evolve?
"So many of us, especially among our weakest, have spent decades to improve our strength, yet we failed to turn into Fae." Just like magical beast evolved into Emperor Beasts once they Awakened, plant folks became Fae.
"Undeath is against all we believe in, yet it gives you the opportunity to grow stronger simply by eating. Not having to constantly train just to keep yourself alive, not having to worry about dying before achieving anything, has a great allure even to us.
"The problem is that, most of those who become partially turned into undead, become so drunk in their newfound powers and abilities that they ask Erlik to complete the process of their own volition.
"Erlik didn't spread the undead plague to kill Leannan's followers, but to corrupt them. Our leader needs your help not only to preserve her seat, but also because if Laruel falls, more city-states might follow." Ryssa said.
"The last thing we need while facing an undead migration is to have even more undead." Marth said to highlight the Kingdom's interest in the matter.
"And they sent you because whatever this is, it uses the bloodstream as a means to spread the disease." Quylla was aware that plant folks' real bodies had no internal organs. Their resemblance to the human race was merely appearance.
"Exactly." Marth said while trying to stop Ryssa from cuddling him in front of the others.
Quylla then told Marth about the plants infesting the bugbears and the damage they had caused to the Rothar caves.
"Damn, things are even worse than I thought." Marth replied. "What you are describing might be another strain of Erlik's plague. Plant folks are few in number and not all those he infects fall for his bait.
"He must be trying to use monsters as test subjects to try and turn the members of other races into undead plants as well. If my hypothesis is correct and his experiment succeeds, conquering the other city-states will be child's play."
Every one of those present cursed at their bad luck. They were supposed to be on vacation, but with all that was at stake, refusing to help might have led to terrible consequences.
They all remembered the fear Kandria's plague had struck in the hearts of all the citizens of the Kingdom, how a good chunk of its region had become a mass grave. This time is was even worse because while the previous plague was mindless like all diseases, the threat at hand would spawn creatures that would hunt down humans, no matter where they hid.
It was a plague capable of moving along with the refugees, of using dimensional magic and of planning ahead.
"I'm sorry, girls, but I'm not going to continue the vacation with you. Headmaster, you can count on me." Quylla could easily guess that her parents' workload had already increased just because of the undead migration.
If Erlik's plan succeeded, they would the creatures coming from the Jiera continent would finally have a safe haven from where plan their attack. It was something she wasn't willing to allow.
Chapter 800 Manohar's Wife Part 2
Moreover, if the Undead Courts became able to freely move throughout Garlen, they would overcome their biggest limitation that until that moment had prevented them from being a real threat to the living.
Most undead couldn't move during the day and some couldn't even leave their deathplace for long. The Kingdom's Gate system security made it impossible for them to use it without getting discovered and establishing one of their own was impossible to them.
Undeath made them lousy Forgemasters due to the inability to properly channeling the light element. Creating a Gate, carving it with runes, and infusing it with a spell powerful enough to bend space through hundreds of kilometers of distance was more than any of them could do.
Their only hope was to get their hands on a pre-existing one.
After hearing Quylla's answer Marth inwardly sighed in relief. He couldn't order her anything and when he had tried to contact Jirni, she had refused to tell him about her daughter's whereabouts.
"Quylla has just returned from the living nightmare Kulah was and she has yet to fully recover from her trauma of being the victim of a slave ring. She has already sacrificed plenty enough for the Kingdom.
"I will not allow you to bring her to a warzone." Had been Jirni's parting words with Marth and her tone had left no space for discussion, not if Marth liked his head where it was.
"Is there anything we can do to help?" Phloria asked. "With all due respect, Headmaster, I can't entrust my sister's safety to a bunch of strangers. Especially when they are a bunch of weirdos."
"If it is of any consolation, we are not here alone. Both the Blood Desert and the Gorgon Empire have sent their best Healers to find a cure as soon as possible." Marth said. "The research teams have details from both our respective countries and Laruel. So far, things have gone smoothly."
"Yeah, but that's only because you're nowhere near finding a cure." Friya said. "Otherwise you wouldn't risk asking for Quylla's help. Only once you get a hold of the problem will the real fight begin. I'm with Phloria on this.
"It wouldn't be a vacation spending my time worried for Quylla every second of the day anyway."
Lith inwardly cursed and after asking to use the bathroom, he set up all of the necessary protections to make a call. He was eager to inform the Council about it and ask them to move their asses. Unfortunately, all of his amulets were dead.
Laruel's arrays prevented any form of communication with the outside to prevent the city from being discovered. Lith returned to his seat, incapable of making his mind. On one hand, he didn't want to leave his friends alone, on the other hand, he was sick and tired of that kind of bullshit.
"You don't have to worry about me. Do what you think is right." Kamila took his hand, mistaking Lith's silence for guilt because he was about to go away again.
"This is bigger than you and me. I'm not really okay with you spending so much time with your ex, nor staying in a city full of…" She didn't mean to be rude for their hosts, so all Kamila could do was pointing her finger at Ryssa who kept caressing Marth uncaring for the presence of guests.
"But if this situation gets out of hand, it wouldn't be just a problem for the big cities anymore. Any psycho could come and go at will, even to Lutia. No one would be safe, no matter where they live."
Lith silently nodded. This time even escaping to the Empire or the Desert was pointless. For once the Griffon Kingdom wasn't at fault and the problem was too big to leave it in the hands of a bunch of strangers.
"Thanks, babe." He said. "When do we start?"
"Now it's too late. I'll have Lyta bring you back to Javvok and pick you up at the same spot at dawn tomorrow. By then your accommodations should be ready." Before meeting them, Marth had no idea they were all together hence he had only prepared a room for Quylla.
To host so many people, they had to change location to a bigger tree. Magical or not, to grow them took time and they could use all the help they could get.
Back to the Golden Dragon hotel, everyone went straight to their amulets. The girls had to speak with their parents, Kamila with her commanding officers, and Lith with Athung.
The problem would involve mostly the human civilization since beasts didn't have cities of their own, or so he thought, hence dealing with it was a matter for the human Council.
Athung picked up almost immediately, curious to learn why one of the hottest topics in the Awakened community needed her help. After Faluel the Hydra had verbally kicked Raagu's ass, the human Council and the beast Council were at odds for the lack of respect that the Hydra had shown.
"This is all old news." Athung said once Lith had finished ranting. "The Council doesn't bother with human's affairs. We have nothing to gain nor to be afraid of. Quite the contrary. Jiera has been a stroke of luck for its Awakened.
"Now all the resources belong to them, they managed to put their hands on most the magical legacies of the fake mages, and what's amazing, is that they can finally live in the open.
"The only inhabited cities are now populated either by Awakened or beasts. We consider it a great opportunity to see if having a country of our own can work and how we can get along with non-Awakened beasts.
"We are even considering to claim Jiera for ourselves if everything goes well."
"You knew about the plague and you didn't do anything about it?" Lith was flabbergasted, that was a level of douchebaggery beyond even him.
"Of course we knew, and so did the Guardians. Humans aren't children that you can guide by the hand, we have tried and failed countless times. Sure, we could kill the King and those who had researched the plague, but what about the other states?
"They were researching magical weapons of their own as well. If we killed everyone involved in that kind of research, the void of power would have triggered wars that would have lasted decades and exposed our existence.
"Why should we risk our lives, our safety, for people who would burn us at the stake or experiment on us like rats to steal our secrets? We Awakened may be assholes, but at least we have rules and we abide by them.
"Humans, instead, are greedy for power and never think about the consequences of their actions.
"They made their choice and paid for it. We can only hope that the Garlen continent will learn from their mistakes. The local Guardian did everything he could. You can't stop an idea with violence, only try to prove it wrong and that's what he did together with the other Guardians.
"They warned the humans, but they didn't listen. The Guardians even caused a small outbreak before the plague was unleashed, hoping that humans would realize the immense risks such a madness carried.
"They buried their dead and moved on as if nothing had happened. For the greater good, they said. For once, they were right. To us Awakened it was a great deal of good." Athung smirked.
Chapter 801 A New Field Part 1
"If you want, I can propose a motion to help Laruel to the Council…"
"No, thanks anyway." Lith recognized a failure when he saw one. The motion was bound to be a dud and he would be indebted to Athung for trying. Moreover, the idea of a country where he would have no secrets to hide was beyond alluring.
Lith then contacted Faluel as well, but her reply was equally lukewarm. The downfall of humanity in Jiera had benefitted the beasts even more than it did the Awakened. The plague only affected humans, so now Jiera belonged to plant folk and magical beasts.
"We don't fear the undead, no matter their numbers." Her interest in the matter was so little that only one of her heads was looking at Lith. Half of the remaining heads were asleep while the other half was working on three different projects.
'Fuck me sideways!' Lith thought. 'Lesser dragons my pale ass if she can work on seven different subjects at the same time. Why my beast part is not a Hydra?'
"That's because unlike humans, beasts know about Awakening and Emperor Beasts take good care of their turf. I can slaughter an entire branch of any Court on my own in a matter of minutes and so can my peers.
"Humans are scared of undead for two reasons only. First, due to their dull senses, humans can't feel undead approaching, nor recognize them when they disguise among the living. Second, they are too used to have an overwhelming advantage in numbers.
"Despite the fact that they can live forever, undead are actually the race with the smaller population, because most of the other races kill them on sight. The idea of having their numbers doubled is terrifying only for those who can't rely on their Awakened."
"Why the Council of plants or of the undead don't do anything, then?" Lith asked.
"Awakened undead have no place in the Courts and despise them. There's also very few of them because Awakening an undead is much harder than a living being due to their blood core, so most of them are Liches or Awakened that turned to avoid death.
"Both kinds are very focused on their research and have very little interest in such trivial matters. As for the plants, Awakening doesn't change someone's nature, so they are still a bunch of psychos. I trust them even less than humans."
After talking with both his contacts in the Council, Lith realized how small of an issue Laruel was in the eyes of such ancient and powerful beings. They were probably capable of slaughtering Erlik and his army with a sneeze, it was just that they didn't care.
The following day, after escorting Kamila to Javvok's Gate, Lith and the others returned to Laruel. Professor Marth was waiting for them inside another treehouse, this one big enough to accommodate all of them.
"First of all, thanks for your help. Second, if you need to take anything out of your dimensional amulets, do it now. Laruel blocks all kinds of dimensional magic, amulets included."
Lyta approached each one of them in turn, placing her hands above their storage items to allow them to retrieve their weapons and some potions. Solus used her mana sense to notice that just like what happened for the house, the Dryad wasn't employing her own powers.
She was actually borrowing the same energy that was flowing through the tree, manipulating it to temporarily bend the arrays surrounding them.
Then, Lyta opened a Gate that led them directly to their lab. There were several tables made of solid stone, arranged at a safe distance from one another. Some were occupied by complex machinery magical in nature, while others had tissue samples stored inside crystal cases and several magical items to study them.
Even though it was barely past dawn, there were a lot of people at work, most of which were clearly foreigners. The people from the Blood Desert had brown skin and wore colorful clothes.
Mages from the Empire were so pale that Lith wondered if they lived underground and wore clothes that even though resembled those from the Kingdom, they were made of a thicker fabric.
Lith had never seen so many people with blonde and red hair in a single room before. Luckily, all the people in the Garlen continent, despite their many differences, spoke the same language, so communicating with each other was easy.
Marth quickly greeted his colleagues before bringing his ex-students plus Phloria to the closest table above which the crystal cases were orderly arranged.
After the events in Kulah, just like Quylla had decided to learn battle magic, Phloria had decided to follow Ranger Eari's example and learn at least tier four healing magic. Her problem was that she was just a beginner, still struggling even with sharing her stamina.
Phloria looked at the tissue samples hoping that Marth would dumb it down enough for her to understand. So far, the problem didn't seem something that could be beaten with a sword, making her second-guessing her choice to be there.
'Gods, I feel so useless. My career is slipping through my hands, I got attacked every time I left my home, and now I even have to pretend that I understand this stuff. I wonder if this week can get any worse.' She thought.
"We're working on this for almost a month, so we've already understood how the plague works. The only thing left to do is to formulate a cure and then put it into practice." Marth took a crystal case containing what looked like a piece of bark the size of a napkin.
The crystals were the only way to preserve the tissue samples without them disappearing like what normally happened to a piece of a plant folk once it was separated from its main body.
"This is a fragment of the skin of a healthy Treantling." He gave it to Quylla for examining it while teaching the others a tier one diagnostic spell that worked on plant folks since normal spells would have been of no use.
"What the heck!" Phloria blurted out after examining the crystal, almost dropping it in surprise.
A common diagnostic spell would simply allow the Healer to identify what was wrong in the patient's body, but would provide no information about their anatomy. The spell that Marth had taught her, instead, had allowed Phloria to see even the single cells inside the bark as if she had used a powerful microscope.
She had felt the life and the will inhabiting every single cell that composed the bark. Unlike humans or beasts, every single part of a plant folk shared a fragment of their sentience. If detached, they would attempt to reunite with the main body or to rebuild it from scratch.
Lith had no idea as well of how a Treantling body worked. Based on his previous experience with Lyta, he knew that a Dryad's only vital organ was the flower they had instead of a heart.
As long as it was intact, their bodies could endlessly regenerate just by absorbing nutrients from the soil. The flower could also be willingly removed as an act of submission.
The Dryad would have their power halved and their life would be in the hands of whoever held the flower.
Chapter 802 A New Field Part 2
"My guess is that Treantlings have no vitals at all. If a piece gets separated from its main body for too long, it dies due to the lack of nutrients while trying to regenerate its body." Lith said while passing the sample to Friya.
"Great guess and almost correct." Marth nodded. "A Treantling only vital organ are their feet, where once the roots were. It's the only way they have to absorb their nourishment."
Once they had all examined it, he gave them a second crystal. This one held a sample of the same size, but its color was much more vibrant, with the brown of the bark covered in bright green streaks that made it look like a precious gemstone.
"This is a fragment of the skin of an infected Treantling, instead." Marth said.
"Really?" Quylla was once again the first to receive the sample. "Being an undead plague, I expected them to be rotting, gross, or at least show sign of…"
It was her turn of almost dropping the crystal in surprise and only Marth's quick reflexes saved it.
"Be careful. Appearances can be beautiful on the outside as much as they are ugly on the inside." He said.
Only when it was his turn to examine the sample did Lith understand the meaning of the Professor's words. Each one of the green healthy cells had its cellulose walls surrounded by a second wall made of a grey substance that squirmed and twisted around them like a bundle of worms.
The grey wall pierced both the cell walls and membrane, establishing a symbiotic relationship with it. The undead tissue was somehow able to steal a little bit of Lith's vitality even through the crystal.
The grey material fed the energy to the cells, making them grow stronger and multiply at an alarming rate. Each new cell was immediately coated by tendrils of the grey substance and the process started anew.
"We call it a plague only for simplicity's sake but the truth is much more complex. This is not the work of a parasite, a fungus, or any microorganism we've studied in the past.
"The plague is actually made by undead tissues that somehow are capable of bonding with their host to create a symbiotic hybrid structure that can assimilate both nutrients and life force.
"It does no harm to its host, quite the contrary. The vibrant green streaks on the bark are due to the invigorating effect that the symbiote has on the living tissues, which allows them to reach their full potential.
"The infected all develop outstanding physical and magical prowess, allowing them to best their healthy peers. To make matters worse, infected have no need to feed like an undead.
"Sure, if the symbiote is not fed with life energy it preys on its host, but due to plant folk's innate regenerative abilities, it only needs they need to eat more. To make matters worse, when the infected feed upon life force instead of nutrients, it gives them an intoxicating feeling that in the long term becomes addictive."
"If the affliction isn't so bad why are we here?" Quylla asked. "Honestly, I don't understand why they even want our help. As you describe it, it seems some kind of legendary blessing with no downsides.
"If such a thing was possible, why no one ever did it before?"
Her words made Marth shook his head, sighing in frustration.
"What you say would be true for an individual, not a community. First, if everyone has powers, then it's as if nobody has them. Second, undead abilities consume life energy that has to be replenished, forcing the infected to eat more.
"There is no way for the soil to be able to sustain that kind of consumption, hence sooner or later it will cause a famine. Also, those who start feeding on their kin soon lose themselves to the feeding frenzy and kill their victims.
"Plant folks aren't murderers. They lack empathy because thanks to their regenerative abilities, killing them with conventional means is really hard, but everyone dies if their life force is drained. There have been countless killings since the epidemic started.
"Once the food starts to run out, no one could afford to remain neutral, turning a simple battle for power in an all-out war for survival that could spread outside Laruel's walls."
"Do you have a cure already?" Lith asked.
"Sadly, no. We have tried starving an infected patient, but they die along with the symbiote. Normal healing and darkness spells have no effect because the life force of the patients and the symbiote are linked.
"We have achieved partial success injecting small and constant amounts of darkness magic in an infected, resulting in a complete recovery. Unfortunately, it's not something we can use for everyone.
"The process is slow and excruciating, plus the starvation almost made the patient go mad."
"I need to see a patient." Lith said. "My abilities as a diagnostician are ill-suited for small samples and lab analysis. My spells work at the best of their abilities when they are used on a full body."
Marth nodded and called at their table one of his colleagues. It was a woman, wearing the uniform of the students of the White Griffon despite the fact that she was too old for that. No academy would take in as a student someone in their thirties.
She was 1.75 meters (5'9") tall, with shoulder-length raven black hair and a lithe frame. Yet she moved slowly and clumsily as if she was afraid to destroy the expensive equipment simply by touching it.
She was pretty, but her stern expression and cold blue eyes gave her an eerie aura. Lith didn't miss how she was working alone, nor that most researchers, even those from the White Griffon, seemed to be scared of her.
"It's nice to meet you again, Scourge. Your strength grew remarkably since your last visit." Her voice was warm, creating a deep contrast with her appearance.
"Kalla? What are you doing here?" Lith recognized her immediately from both her voice and smell.
Kalla nodded and gestured him to follow her.
"I'm the White Griffon's resident expert in necromancy and I'm friends with Marth ever since Balkor's attack. Also, I've a personal interest in this plague. If I could create its living equivalent, I could give Nyka a normal life until I find a proper cure for her condition."
"Is this how they dragged you in this story?" Lith asked.
"Not really. It was Lyta asking me for help and I accepted only to avoid more senseless deaths. As you know, undead must feed on their own living kin to thrive. Feeding on another race barely gives them sustenance.
"The reason why Queen Leannan called humans for help is that their life essence tastes disgusting to both Erlik's followers and the infected. Being partially undead, I'm in charge of the interactions with the patients since they can't prey on my life force."
"I've heard that both the ruler of Laruel and the pretender are evolved plants. Are they Awakened?" Lith enveloped them in a Hush spell as soon as they were too far for the others to notice it.
"No. Otherwise this would be a matter for the Council. Unfortunately, they are just born from Fae. It gives them great power and makes them desperate for more. They know about Awakening but have no idea how to achieve it."
Chapter 803 Smokescreen Part 1
As Kalla talked, her body constantly shifted from a normal appearance to a skeletal figure enveloped in living shadows, very similar to what happened in her Wraith form.
"I didn't choose this form to be pleasant to the eye, nor to make friends." She explained once she noticed Lith's surprise. "It's just that being a giant bear makes it really hard to work with little things and I can't use spirit magic in front of humans."
"Have you discovered anything with Invigoration that we can use to develop a cure?" Lith asked.
"Yes and no. You'll understand once you see one of the infected. Is Solus with you?"
Lith showed her his right hand, where a stone ring was wrapped around the cloaking device Solus had forgemastered to hide her existence.
"Excellent move. I couldn't even perceive her even from this close. Nice to meet you Solus. I hope one day you'll show our human form to me as well." Kalla said.
"Just come visit me once." Solus used air magic to speak to her friend. "I've invited you to the tower more than once."
"I know." She sighed. "My children always rebuke me for my long absences, but my research is too important. If not for the crisis at hand, I would have not left my lab."
"I would have never thought that you cared so much for the human world." Lith was surprised by Kalla's words.
"I don't. You are misunderstanding my words. Undead plants are much more dangerous than normal undead. No matter if they feed on regular humans or beasts, their victims always have the opportunity to call for help or to band together to better defend themselves.
"In the case of undead feeding on plants, their victims are sitting ducks. Entire regions might be infested with undead and no one would notice until it is too late. Without the green, herbivores would starve and once they fall, everyone else will follow."
The tree hosting the labs was bigger than the White Griffon hospital, forcing the two Awakened to take a walk to reach the stairs for the lower floors. Lith noticed immediately that the underground facility was made entirely of rock and enchanted with an earth blocking array.
"Here we keep the patients that are willing to be cured, no matter the cost." Kalla explained. "Rock to prevent them to feed on the nutrients of the soil and the array to stop them from escape with earth magic once starvation kicks in."
Everything from the bare stone corridors to the thick metal doors made the place look more like a prison rather than a hospital ward. Kalla led Lith to one of the cells, showing him the enchanted padlock and the sequence of runes necessary to open it.
Inside, there was a Treantling, a tree who had gained sentience. Lith had no idea if plant folks had a gender or if it was just a matter of how they choose to appear, but it looked like a male to him.
Even though the Treantling was curled up in a corner of his cell, hugging his knees close to his chest, he was still over 1.5 meters (5') tall. His wooden limbs were as thin as a walking cane and the pile of leaves that covered the cell's floor once belonged to his now bald head.
The bark of the Treantling was nothing like the sample Lith had seen upstairs. It was of a dull black, creaking every time the plant folk moved. The creature's eyes were two black holes lit by a fierce red light that proved how the hunger of the symbiote was consuming its host.
The creature snarled at their entrance, yet he didn't move. Their stench was so disgusting that the Treantling was able to suppress his violent instincts.
'This is interesting.' Solus thought. Metal doors and walls didn't impede her mystical senses, so she had taken a good look at all the inmates before sharing with Lith her findings.
'Just as I expected, this Treantling has a blood core along with his mana core. Marth's therapy works because a weakened blood core can be easily destroyed by darkness magic but the resulting pain is inhumane.
'Also, for such a method to work, the body must be so weakened that it can't supply the blood core with energy any more. I'm afraid that not even all plant folks can survive this method, let alone humans.'
'You said this was interesting. So far the situation is just desperate.' Lith replied.
'Let me finish. Their situation is completely different from the undead thrall we met in Othre. Count Xolver had a blood core that was near his mana core and they were both made out of his own energy.
'The patients here, instead, have a blood core as well, but it doesn't show any sign of attempting to merge with the mana core. What's even more unsettling, is that the energy signature of the two cores doesn't match.
'Quite the contrary. Each infected has their own energy signature, whereas the blood cores bear the same energy signature, as if they all belong to the same person.'
Lith used both Invigoration and the tier five spell Scanner on the Treantling to double-check Solus's findings.
'What the heck?' Lith's exams proved that she was right, except for one thing. According to Scanner, there was no such thing as two Life Forces, only one.
After closing the cell door and Hushing the zone, Lith shared with Kalla everything he and Solus had found.
"Interesting." Kalla said. "My readings match yours, yet Solus's makes much more sense. During my time here, I used Invigoration to check both our patients and those who refuse to be cured.
"No matter how much they feed, they never turned into proper undead but remained hybrids. The only ones who actually became undead are those who willingly joined Erlik's ranks."
"I'm sorry, but you've lost me after 'more sense'." Lith admitted.
"What I'm trying to say, is that the plague is actually undead tissues that bond to their victims like a parasite and then spread to the rest of their bodies. The infected are not really undead.
"They are simply invigorated by the parasite who shares with them both its strength and hunger. Hence no matter if they choose to feed like undead or not, the parasite can only grow up to a certain extent without killing their hosts.
"They are not really hybrids so much as two different living beings almost fused together. We failed to realize it because whoever created this parasite engineered it so that the second life force would always be eclipsed by that of its host."
"Does this knowledge help you in finding a cure?" Lith asked.
"No, but it's a start. At least now I know why all of my experiments so far failed. It's because they were based on the wrong assumption that the undead matter was part of the patient, while it's actually a foreign organism."
Kalla sighed deeply and her whole figure turned to a shadowed skeleton for a split-second.
"Poor Nyka. She really hoped to become able to remain awake during the day. Yet if my hypothesis is right, whoever created the plague didn't make it to create hybrids, but only to use it as a ruse to push the inhabitants of Laruel on Erlik's side."
"And no hybrids mean that you can't apply it to your daughter." Lith completed the phrase for her.
Chapter 804 Smokescreen Part 2
"Exactly. Now our problem is how to share this information without revealing Solus's existence. I'm here for over two weeks and I've failed to make any breakthrough, like anybody else.
"I can't take credit for the discovery simply because I wouldn't know how to explain it. What about you?" Kalla asked.
"I'm already too famous and I'm not even supposed to be here. They asked for Quylla, not me. I have no plausible excuse either nor do I want more fame. We'll have to lead the research group by the nose and make them stumble on the discovery."
Kalla nodded and guided him back upstairs. She pondered the revelation, in search of a way to share it or at least use it to find a cure.
***
Erlik the Draugr Treant's Headquarters, now.
Even though over a century had passed since Erlik had become a Draugr, he still hated his condition's guts. If not for the fact that he would have long been dead otherwise, he would have never accepted to be turned.
As all Draugr, he was a creature of greed. During the day he was forced to remain inside his burial ground to keep watch on his possessions even though both his body and mind were paralyzed by the presence of the sun.
Even his minions were forced to speak to him through the heavy door of his apartments, such was Erlik's fear of someone robbing him after laying their eyes on his treasures.
The greed of a Draugr didn't reflect only on their sleeping habit, but also on the way they fed. Draugr weren't content on sapping their victims' vitality, they also had to rob them of something they held precious.
Erlik's room was filled with trinkets of his past victims, who he had devoured whole in his envy for all the things they had and were now denied to him. His new lodgings in Laruel were filled with the earth from his original burial ground in Jiera.
Another part of his curse was his inability to get too far from it without his powers growing weak by the hour.
"What's the status of our research on Bugbears, Gremlik?" He asked. During the day, even speaking required sheer willpower and a control over his blood core that it had taken Erlik decades to acquire.
"A complete failure, master." Replied the Grendel Dryad through the door. "Animals don't seem able to reach a symbiosis with your tissues. They don't obtain any power after being infected.
"On the contrary, the stronger your tissues grow, the weaker the infected become, until their body gets overcome by your saplings and die."
"What becomes of the saplings?" Erlik's experiments were twofold. He wanted to check if the same method he meant to use for conquering the plant folk cities could be applied to the human's as well and if it could overcome the undead course of being sterile.
He had no desire for offspring, but if he managed to artificially spawn even Treantlings who would share part of his abilities, they would make excellent pawns. Erlik wasn't content with Laruel.
His real aim was to use the city as a stepping stone to a high seat in the Undead Courts and then use it to change their policy. Erlik had already lost a home due to the foolishness of humans and he wasn't willing to see it happen twice.
Humans were just dumb beasts who needed to be tamed and he was willing to be the one putting them to the leash once and for all.
"They die along with their host." Gremlik replied. "Some of the biggest specimens almost resembled you, but none of them managed to stabilize. There is something missing, but we have no idea of what."
The problem was actually simple. Erlik had used light and darkness magic to fuse his tissues with Jiera's plague, making them capable of thriving even inside a foreign body.
Undeath boosted their vitality while the plague gives them the ability to fuse with living beings, yet neither could change the fact that tissues alone couldn't create a real blood core.
Once their host died, Erlik's monstrosity would follow due to the instability of its pseudo blood core and the lack of nourishment. Unlike Abominations, who were able to feed on any kind of energy, undead were very picky eaters.
Monsters or even humans provided to the Draugr such a poor meal that his saplings needed to feed on the local flora to survive. That was the reason why the Bugbear's cave Friya had found was completely devoid of vegetation.
"Dammit!" Erlik roared, yet even though he was beyond furious his body didn't move an inch. "I've invested most of my riches in this research. If we fail to capture Laruel, I will be left with nothing.
"No home, no status, and even more importantly, no money!" A Draugr stinginess was such that compared to them, Lith was a spendthrift.
"I have more bad news, sir." Gremlik stepped away from the door, just a split second before an inhuman roar made it tremble. Erlik was certain that the Grendel delivered him bad news only during the morning to be safe from his master's anger.
And he was right.
Erlik had a temper, but by the time the sun had set, he would have regained both his ability to move and his cool.
"Another Awakened has arrived in Laruel today. We identified him thanks to the Night Court. He is willing to help Leannan as well, but the silver lining is that he is a human."
Erlik finally had a good laugh after so much cussing. He envied Awakened above everything. They had power, unlimited stamina, and longevity. Erlik had never forgiven his parents, whoever they were, for abandoning him, nor the Awakened he had met when he was still alive for not sharing their secret with him.
He was aware that stealing the secret of Awakening was out of the question, yet having the opportunity to kill not one, but two Awakened was too good to be true.
***
Technology was an appendix of magic on Mogar and was used only by those in the field of state-of-the-art magical research. Hence only Quylla knew how to use the Alchemical tools and Forgemastered devices to further scan the various crystal encased samples.
To Friya and Phloria, all that pushing buttons and turning knobs made no sense. While everyone worked, moving from one instrument to another, they were just standing dumbly while waiting for instructions.
It made them feel left out and reconsider their offer for help.
"I think that Kalla really looks good in her human form." Friya said, hoping to make some conversation to pass time.
"What do you mean her human form?" Phloria asked, receiving a grunt of agreement from Quylla who was studying all the samples at her disposal before reading the other Healers' findings about the disease.
She wanted to face the problem with an open mind, without being influenced by their conclusions.
"Seriously? You don't know? I mean, how many Kalla that call Lith Scourge do you know?" Friya was shocked. She had always thought that after being together with her sister for that long, Lith would have opened up with her at least a bit.
"Are you saying that woman is our Kalla? The bear, I mean the Byk, I mean the Wight?" Phloria asked.
"Yeah. Emperor Beasts can shapeshift into humans. Prot…" Only then did Friya remember that she was the only one to have witnessed to Lith's reunion with his old friend.
Chapter 805 Empress' Gambit Part 1
By that time, he and Phloria had long broken up, plus they hadn't talked to each other until Jirni's last birthday. Phloria had no way to know and Friya had completely forgotten that shapeshifting was supposed to be kept a secret.
"Probably." Friya corrected herself in time.
"Headmaster?" Quylla asked.
"Your sister is right." Marth said. "It's rare, but some Emperor Beasts can change their appearance. I asked for Kalla's help because the White Griffon lacks a Necromancy expert and even though she is young, she runs circles around even the Professors of the Black Griffon.
"Everyone in this room knows, since its common knowledge among the upper echelons of all the three great Countries. But it's a major secret among the general population, so keep it for yourself."
Marth didn't like the idea of sharing state secrets with children, but Kalla was still very clumsy, both physically and socially. It was only a matter of time before they found out anyway.
'Neither Lith nor Friya were surprised. I must report to the Kingdom how deep the bond of those two with the Emperor Beasts is.' Marth thought. Humans with a good relationship with beasts were even rarer than shapeshifters, or so he thought.
All countries were looking for ambassadors capable of talking Emperor Beasts into sharing their secrets.
"I need a drink." Phloria sunk into the nearest chair, quickly followed by Quylla.
Friya kept biting her tongue to not share Protector's secret in front of the Headmaster, nor to laugh about how similar her sisters' reaction was to her own.
"Kalla? Is that you?" Quylla asked once the two Awakened returned.
She had never talked much with the Wight, but she had cried a lot during Balkor's attack when she had thought that both Kalla and Protector had died to save the White Griffon students.
"Who else could I be, little one?" Kalla replied while making her flesh turn into darkness and revealing a glimpse of her human skull.
"Dammit, Kalla." Marth said in frustration. "Why do you keep doing that? I told you to keep your identity a secret for the good of both the Kingdom and your own. Most researchers refuse to work with you because you scare them with your shenanigans…"
"They refuse to work with me because they are close-minded cowards." Kalla's voice was calm and soft, yet echoed throughout the lab, making more than one Healer flinch.
"This is not a shenanigan." She pointed at the half of her body covered in darkness while the other half was still flesh and blood. "This is who I am, what a Wight would look like if they were born human instead that as a Byk.
"I've no reason to be ashamed of my origins nor I'm here to coddle their prejudices about Mogar. If my presence is unwanted, I'll gladly leave."
"Well said. It's them who should be ashamed of their childish behavior." A strong, feminine voice said, accompanied by the sound of clapping hands.
Milea Genys, the Magic Empress of the Gorgon Empire, stepped forward with her hand extended towards the Wight, who promptly shook it.
She was a 1.75 meters (5' 9") tall woman, with long wavy honey-hued hair who looked like to be in her mid-twenties. She was wearing the ample deep-blue mage robe of the healers from the Empire, making her indistinguishable from her colleagues.
Her blue eyes lingered on the anomaly a second longer than she would have liked, but curiosity got the better of her. Milea didn't expect to meet Lith in person so soon and had no idea how to introduce herself without sounding creepy.
Kalla had given her the perfect opportunity and she seized it.
"On behalf of the Gorgon Empire, I apologize for my mages' rudeness. I'm always looking for competent allies, so if the Kingdom lets you down, my door will always be open."
Milea was still the only Awakened the Empire could rely on. Unlike the Kingdom, Leegaain refused to produce fake Awakened and she had yet to find someone she trusted enough to share her gift.
Thanks to her relationship with the Dragon Guardian, Emperor Beasts had a favorable opinion of her, yet they refused to follow her political ambitions. She deeply longed for someone capable of understanding her burden.
Power and isolation didn't corrupt her, but they were still eating at her from the inside. The fact that the Council refused any contact with Milea, considering her to be nothing more than an appendix of Leegaain only worsened her loneliness.
There was not a single Awakened member of all the races that didn't resent her for her luck. She was barely past her thirties, yet Milea already had a purple core and a mastery over all branches of magic that would take decades to obtain even to a genius.
Over time, the gap between her and the centuries-old elders of the Council was only getting thinner, which made their resentment grow stronger.
"My dear students, allow me to introduce you to Milea Genys, also known as the Magic Empress. Your highness, these are Friya, Quylla, and Phloria Ernas. Also, this is Kalla the Wight and Lith Verhen."
The girls were so shocked that they needed Marth's help to stand up from their chairs. The woman in front of them looked barely older than them and yet was the ruler of one of the Kingdom's greatest rivals.
If not for having met Faluel just a few days before, Lith would have been in the same situation, even though for completely different reasons.
'By my maker! This woman has the brightest purple core I have ever seen and her physical prowess matches Faluel's. On top of that, she is an Awakened with a monstrous mana flow.' Solus said, shaking in her mind-boots.
"Are you here to help as well?" Lith asked while giving Milea a deep bow and avoiding her extended hand. Invigoration was the only thing that could spot Solus.
"I thought you were too busy with the Lich."
"I still am." Milea sighed. "I came just to check on the progress and to see if I can provide some insight. I was the one who found a cure to Jiera's plague and this undead outbreak is clearly just a variation of it."
She had actually just helped Leegaain, but she had been forced to take all the credit since he demanded for his existence to be kept a secret.
"It's not an undead outbreak, it was just staged to look like one." Kalla said.
Lith had told her that he didn't want to be credited with the discovery and it would give her the opportunity to humble all those jerks that giggled every time she broke something due to not being used to such a flimsy body. Two birds with one stone.
Kalla shared with those present Solus's analysis and her own theory about how the undead tissues worked. To explain everything, she just pretended that she had developed a powerful diagnostic spell.
"This is an amazing piece of news, dear Kalla." Milea's eyes sparkled like stars. "It gives us a completely safe route to save Laruel from this pinch."
"Which is?" Kalla asked, expressing the curiosity of everyone. Solus's discovery was important because it allowed the research team to realize their mistake and pointed them in the right direction, but at the same time, it made the matter much more complicated.
Chapter 806 Empress' Gambit Part 2
There was no telling how to cure a sentient disease, nor a way to separate host and symbiote safely. Unlike Othre's situation, there was no vortex messing with the healers' mana, but the entity didn't reside in a specific part of their victim's body.
It was so widely spread that removing it surgically like Manohar did with Thrud's meat puppets was impossible.
"Isn't it obvious? The source of the disease is a plant, and undead or not, Fae don't leave a body behind. Hence, if we found the one whose tissues were used and kill them, all of our problems will be solved." Milea said.
"Another possible option is to identify the undead who spawned the parasite. It will not only help us to narrow our search, but it could also help us in finding a way to neutralize the affliction.
"Aside from Liches, all the undead have several weak points. This isn't a disease so much as a living being, which means that it must share the flaws of its creator." Marth said.
Such was the mix of embarrassment and enthusiasm in the room that no one stopped to wonder how odd the timing of Kalla's discovery was. Milea had her suspicions, but she would not betray a fellow Awakened.
She focused on making sure that even if the issue was lingering in someone's head, it would go unnoticed. She harshly reprimanded the Empire's research team and changed their leader as a punishment.
The woman's skills were top-notch and Milea couldn't blame her for missing the two different energy signatures since even Milea's own Invigoration had failed her. Yet the Empress demoted the team leader anyway because her short slightness could make the Empire lose precious allies in the future.
"Dear Kalla, the Empire would be honored to become the home of a talented individual like yourself. Humans, beasts, undead, or anything in-between, I give you my word that I don't discriminate." She said while stealing a glance at Lith to see if he had any reaction.
Unfortunately for her, his poker face was carved out of stone.
Kalla gave her a polite bow.
"I'll think about it. Does your invitation extend to my children as well?"
"As long as they abide by our laws, yes."
Their exchange made Marth shudder. Emperor Beasts like Faluel had been powerful assets of the Kingdom for centuries. Even though she was young, Kalla had already proved to be resourceful.
As Headmaster of the White Griffon, losing her to the enemy would be considered Marth's fault.
"The same applies to you, Lady Ernas." Milea grabbed Phloria's hand before she could react, emphasizing the loss of her military title.
"I've heard of your troubles and I'd be glad to offer you a position in the Empire's military. Our soldiers don't risk to be victims of political plays because there are none."
"Thanks, but no." Phloria replied without a second of hesitation. "My family has lived and served the Griffon Kingdom for generations. I'm not going to betray my household and my country as an act of petty revenge."
"As you wish." Milea didn't insist. The bait had been cast, now it was only a matter of waiting and seeing how appealing the Kingdom's foolishness would make it.
"Ranger Verhen. I've heard of your troubles with Runesmithing." Lith's poker face crumbled and so did Marth's patience. The Empress knowing about a conversation he had only had with Orion was beyond disturbing.
"Are you here to help Laruel with the disease or to scout talents?" Marth stood between the Empress and his alumni.
"I'm here to protect the interests of the Gorgon Empire." She replied with a sly smile. "Now I'm really sorry, but I have to go. That damn Lich has been spotted and I can't afford to miss this opportunity. I wish you the best of luck."
Milea walked away, reproaching her research team one last time before disappearing through a Warp Gate she conjured out of nowhere.
"Since when a dimensional mage can create a Gate?" Friya asked. It was her favorite specialization, yet she wasn't able to open a dimensional tunnel under normal circumstances, let alone bypassing all Laruel's array.
"A dimensional mage can't, but the Empress can." Marth gritted his teeth in frustration, yet he didn't belittle the enemy's feat. Milea posed a great threat to the Kingdom, but at the same time, they had much to learn from her.
In the Empire, there were already several cities where humans and beats coexisted peacefully. Even though Emperor Beasts weren't part of their regular army, they still willingly patrolled the Empire's borders and their wilds, sometimes even creating settlements.
It was something that the Kingdom could only dream about since most of its citizens had a hard time considering even Hydras as more than huge animals.
"You have much to do and I don't intend to slow you down." Kalla moved toward the lab's exit, gesturing Lith to follow her.
"What do you mean?" Marth asked, finally understanding how Linjos must have felt every time the Queen threatened to behead him.
The responsibilities that the role of Headmaster implied, especially after Balkor's attack had destroyed the hold that the ancient households had on the Academies, were overwhelming.
After being rebuilt, both the Crystal and Earth Griffon had already changed several Headmasters due to their incompetence in dealing with their students or the Lords of the forest.
The Queen didn't hesitate to replace anyone she found wanting and Marth felt like he was about to become one of them.
Kalla's voice was oozing with spite.
"Rather than waste my time learning how to use all of these instruments, now that I have a solid lead, I mean to follow it. My spell will allow me to recognize the energy signature we are looking for, or at least to spot an undead that fits the bill.
"I'm not foolish enough to go alone. I need protection and Lith is the only one I trust among you." Kalla wasn't really angry. She needed an excuse to bring him along since without Solus, she would be just taking a stroll.
"If it's protection you need, I'd be glad to assist you." Phloria said. "I'm afraid that my talents as a healer are not enough to be of help here."
"Me too." Friya said. She had come to make sure that Quylla was safe, but after seeing how sturdy the building was and recognizing some of the most famous mages from all the three great Countries, she was feeling utterly useless.
Also, she couldn't miss the opportunity to tour a foreign city filled with plant folk marvels. Just because her vacation was ruined it didn't mean that she couldn't enjoy the beauty of Laruel.
Until that day, the only plant folk she had ever met was Lyta.
Kalla looked at Lith for a second, waiting for his nod before replying.
"Fine by me. Lyta, we need a guide." Kalla said.
"This is really a bad idea." The Dryad said.
"You must understand that there are only two kinds of plant folk. Those like us Dryads, who love humans because we consider evolution as a path that leads all races toward the same destination, and those who hate humans and beasts alike because they still hold a grudge.
"They still remember how it feels to be stepped over, to see your kin being ripped off the ground just to play a tune, or being treated as a disposable gift. It pains me to say that our cities are a dangerous place."
Chapter 807 Laruel Part 1
"You would be at risk of being attacked even without the current struggle for power, but as it is now, you might as well walk with a target on your back." Lyta said.
"Between plant folk resenting humans, the infected starving due to the parasite, and Erlik's followers disguised among the crowd, being Leannan guests of honor might not be enough to ensure your safety."
Lyta was many things, but rude to her friends wasn't one of them. She was politely trying to warn Kalla that once again her nature could bring her a lot of trouble. Erlik was bound to consider her a traitor, whereas plant folks would only see her undead half and consider Kalla either an enemy or a plague-spreader.
"Thanks for your concern, but I'll take my chances." Kalla reverted to her full Wight form.
It was a mass of shadows as big as a small house, which kept shapeshifting until it resembled a bear. Its only distinctive features were its glowing red eyes and its massive skeleton that glimpsed from time to time underneath the ever-changing darkness composing Kalla's body.
"Where do you want to go?" Lyta asked, wondering why so many people only looked at her friend's eerie appearance and were incapable of seeing her loving character.
Despite the fact that all Dryads had a stunning appearance, it wasn't a matter of them being vain, nor an attempt to please the humans' eye.
Just like what happened for the first form Emperor Beasts learned to shapeshift into, when a flower evolved into a Dryad, they simply would take the physical appearance they envisioned themselves with.
"I'm not going to sightsee, so lead us to the last known position of Erlik's headquarters." Kalla replied. "If the tissues that create the disease are made out of his body, it would be just perfect.
"We'll even have a good reason to participate in the power struggle even though the plant folk law requires only for the citizen of the city-state to be able to take part in it."
"But that would be dangerous!" Lyta said. "They have probably moved from the last raid, but if they see you, they'll try to take you down."
"What's the point in me staying here? It's better if Erlik's followers find me, at least they will give me something to study." Kalla replied with a wolfish smile. Ever since Lith and Solus had taught her light magic, her research to achieve Lichhood had progressed by leaps and bounds.
Kalla wasn't as skilled as Scarlett in the use of light magic, nor she could turn darkness into light at will, but she was slowly understanding how deep the bond between the two seemingly conflicting elements was.
If she managed to capture a few undead, she would be able to study their blood cores without the act of playing god with their very life essence troubling her conscience. Kalla was gentle, but not stupid.
She had buried all her past opponents and once she resolved to kill someone, the how and how long would it take were just meaningless details.
"One last thing. Can we use dimensional magic inside Laruel?" Kalla asked. In a city full of potential dangers, it would have been foolish to move without having a clear retreat path.
"Technically, no. The arrays are set up so that only plant folks can use both the public transportation system and dimensional items. However, you are Leannan guests, and that grants you special privileges." Lyta gave to each one of them what looked like a small acorn.
"Channel your mana through this focus and your spells will work as usual. Be careful, because even dimensional amulets are sealed to foreigners."
The moment the two Awakened held their respective acorn, they could feel the power residing within with Invigoration. It wasn't a magical device, but a still living piece of something bigger.
It had no mana core, yet both its life force and mana flow were visible.
'Fucking great!' Lith thought. 'This is the best bug one could possibly devise. Whoever spawned this seemingly harmless acorn, could be listening and watching whatever we are doing, maybe even scanning our mana.
'On top of that, I can't store it inside my pocket dimension because I need the acorn to use my dimensional storage. It's a perfect catch 22!'
'Do you think it could sense me?' Solus asked.
'Unlikely, but I'm not going to take risks.'
The group practiced a bit how to open and close dimensional doors through the acorns before leaving. Kalla stored her own inside a small utility belt she wore around her neck.
Then, Lyta opened a Gate leading to their destination and wished them good luck.
Even though the Awakened were pissed off at the subtle attempt to spy on them, even if all the members of the group were tense at the idea of stepping inside the lion's den, the spectacle in front of their eyes was breath-taking.
The sun was up from a few hours, but somehow there was still dew on the leaves of the tall trees that covered the sky above Laruel like a ceiling, preventing the city from being spotted by any flying onlooker.
The dew reflected the sunlight so that even though the thick foliage made it impossible to look at the sky, the city was perfectly lit. The dew also created several small rainbows that moved along with the group's gazes, giving Laruel an appearance worthy of a fairy tale.
Its buildings weren't carved or built, so much as grown, making each city block no different from a patch of trees. Some houses were close to each other, while others were afar as if whoever planted them had acted on a whim.
Yet there was harmony and beauty at every corner. Laruel didn't feel like a city, so much as a natural treasure that extended as far as the eye could see. The fresh air was filled with long-forgotten scents that rejuvenated their lungs.
The vibrant colors of the flowers that grew almost everywhere soothed their restless spirit and the vision of the magical inhabitants of the city, with their oddly shaped yet beautiful bodies almost made the group forget about the importance of their mission.
Almost.
Even Lith found it hard to not stop and smell the roses, but the fairy tale turned grim if one bothered to look past the surface of things. Several anomalies alerted his senses. The lack of all the characteristic smells of a city allowed him to perceive that something was wrong.
Beneath the fragrant scent of flowers, the air reeked with decay. The buildings where Erlik and his followers had hidden were revealed by patches of withered green. The signs of the struggle that ensued after they had been found by Leannan's guards were still visible.
Only the houses tainted by the touch of the undead had yet to recover whereas the rest of the neighborhood was in pristine condition.
Solus scanned their surroundings, reassuring Lith that somehow, the living treehouses hadn't been affected by the blight, but the same couldn't be told about the citizens of Laruel.
She identified several plant folks with a blood core and that made her think.
"Kalla, does reflected light count against undead?" Lith asked on Solus's behalf.
"Yes. The massive amount of light energy it bears has negative effects on many species of undead. We already know that the infective tissues do not have an adverse reaction to sunlight.
Chapter 808 Laruel Part 2
"Their victims retain their physical strength during the day, so we can already rule out all the undead that would be harmed by exposure to the sun. Sadly, it doesn't narrow the research enough.
"Even if they belonged to an undead who is paralyzed during the day, we have no idea how Jiera's plague altered its metabolism. Maybe the tissues are still, but the organisms carrying them are not undead and allow the infection to spread even during the day." Kalla said.
"Then what are we doing here?" Friya asked. "Wouldn't be better to get back at night, when all kinds of undead can freely move around?"
"We're doing research, child. If we find out that no undead matching the energy signature we are looking for is outside during the day, it means that they probably can't move.
"Also, this is the perfect time to look for Erlik. Draugr can't move as long as the sun is up, no matter if it's covered by clouds or leaves. If we find him, he can't escape."
"What makes you think that we can succeed where even Leannan's network of spies and constables failed?" Phloria asked.
"Plants folks are too obsessed with power to mind the small details, while you humans are helpless without your toys. Us beasts are natural hunters, and hybrids like me have many aces up their sleeves." Kalla grinned, winking at Lith, who would have loved to share her optimism.
Sure, they had Life Vision, something that non-Awakened could only dream of, but the magical aura of the place was overwhelming to the point that even Solus's mana sense was foggy at best.
They needed to get really close to a treehouse to see past its shrouding and with all the sweet scents lingering in the air, Lith's nose was already jammed. Yet Kalla was right. Among the plant folks, there were undead spying on them.
'Sorry. I don't recognize their energy signature, which means none of them is the one who spawned the disease nor do they belong to the same undead kin.' Solus said.
They had already put all the books about undead they had inside Soluspedia after their first squabble with the famished creatures in the Rothar forest, but that didn't allow Solus to recognize an unknown type of greater undead just by looking at their blood core.
Lith had met very few undead in the past, like Liches, a banshee, and a couple of vampires. Whatever the things watching at them were, he had no clue what they were capable of.
While Lith and Kalla looked carefully around themselves, with their eyes glowing because of Life Vision, Phloria focused on the details of the scenery and the crowd, looking for anything out of place.
The first thing she noticed was that she wouldn't expect more hostility from the locals even if they were there to conquer the city rather than save it. She was wearing her acorn on her chest as if it was a badge, yet the glares she received were spiteful at best.
The second thing she noticed was the absence of children. It wasn't just that, except for those watching at the group from behind their windows and those loitering, the streets looked deserted.
Phloria couldn't hear a child cry, laugh, or any noise related to the presence of someone who wasn't an adult. She had studied plant folks at the academy, but she had never met many of them before.
Treantlings were humanoids who looked like trees, with bark instead of skin, leaves instead of hair on their head, and both had different shades of colors just like it happened for human hair.
Their height varied, but none of them was shorter than 2 meters (6'7").
Each one of them exhibited a different build and numbers of limbs. Some Treantlings were thin, with arms not thicker than a human's, while others were big enough that it was easy to mistake them for a real tree if they stayed still with their eyes closed.
Most of them walked on two legs, but they were able to grow extra limbs whenever they needed, just to reabsorb them once they were no longer necessary.
Thorns, the plant folks born from bushes, were nothing like the creatures she had met back in Kulah. Some had a human appearance, like the vegetation that the gardener of her household trimmed to give it the semblance of a mythical creature or of a hero of the past.
Others looked more like beasts, standing on all four and seemingly sniffing the air like hunting dogs. Their shape, size, and even color varied greatly from an individual to another, but she soon noticed that their form was merely dependant on their choice.
Thorns could assume any appearance they wanted, as long as the final mass didn't exceed their own. They could actually grow as big as they wanted and obtain a greater strength, but doing that required them to spend huge amounts of stamina and mana.
"Kalla, why no one is attacking the undead? I thought that plant folks hated them." Friya asked while nodding at a few red-eyed creatures among more than one group of bystanders.
"Because those are not undead." Kalla said. "The red you see is the same that graces Phloria's hair. It's the sign of the blessing of the gods of magic. Not all plants have leaves, but all of them need eyes to see.
"The red light of undeath is much colder than that and is only visible if the creature has no longer eyes, just like me."
"Wait. Thorns, Dryads, and Treantlings all have leaves." Lith said. "What kind of plants are you talking about?"
"Those who grow and live underground. You might not meet them often, even in the wilds, but here is different. Laruel is their city, so they are not afraid of mingling with their cousins." Kalla pointed with her snout at a creature that at first glance looked like a mass of mold infesting a tree.
Only when it moved did Lith realize it was actually a living mass of moss. It snarled at Kalla's gesture, staring at her with its blue and yellow eyes. Kalla returned the glare, flaring her eyes with mana to cover her use of Life Vision while looking at the plant folks.
She identified several undead and discretely pointed them out to Lith, but he shook his head every time.
"This is interesting." Kalla said while they approached the almost withered tree-house that was Erlik's last known base of operations. "The rate of infected in the neighborhood is very low, whereas the number of undead is high.
"My guess is that Erlik wanted to keep a low profile, so that his followers could feed and pin the blame for their victims on the infected."
Now that she knew how the plague worked, Kalla could use her mystical and physical senses to recognize the infected plant folks without the need of a diagnostic spell.
"Your kind has already done enough damage to our city." A Treantling said while standing in their path. Despite their huge size, they moved nimbly. The creature had covered dozens of meters with just a few steps.
"We don't need nor want your help. Get out of here before we make you." It was speaking to Kalla, but Lith stepped in front of her, facing the Treantling. It was way taller than Lith, almost 2.5 (8'2") meters tall, with light brown bark and few yellow leaves with shades of black.
Chapter 809 Grendel Part 1
"Kalla, my friend, you spoke too soon." Lith said with a smirk "Now this is what I call interesting. No one dared to stop us until we almost reached our destination. Either Erlik has gone insane or he is afraid that we might discover something.
"Otherwise his goon would never bother us."
Most of the bystanders plant folks who were grinning at the idea of turning the unwanted guests into fertilizer flinched at those words. Their amused expressions were replaced by anger and suspicion as their gazes moved from the humans to Illum the Treantling.
"Shameless mammal! You are the one who associates himself with an undead. How dare you accuse me of being one of them?" The Treantling's outrage and words were enough to shift the tide in his favor again.
Illum tried to push Lith back, but the small human kept his relaxed stance as if the steel beam thick arms of the Treantling were just a gentle spring rain hitting a mountain.
"How? Easy enough. Your skin, bark, or whatever you call it, shows signs of withering and so do your leaves. Yet even famished infected display an enhanced physique, hence you're not one of them.
"Plus, you can't be an undead either. If you were one of them, it would take days of starvation to reduce you to such a state. With such a hunger, you wouldn't be able to restrain yourself in front of so much food. Do you know what does this mean?" Lith asked.
"That you are accusing an innocent to cover your friend's ass!" A Thorn said. Judging from her forms and voice, she was supposed to be a female, or at least she wanted to appear as such.
Her whole body was a mass of vines and foliage that resembled a woman as tall as Phloria, with blue hair and eyes. She was quivering in indignation, making her humanoid appearance falter from time to time.
"He's probably a victim of some undead scum. They must have fed upon him just like they did on me and my siblings! Many of us died to sate your bellies." She pointed her finger at Kalla.
"And yet you perfectly recovered, like all plants folk do." Lith's voice was calm, he had dealt with more victims and angry mobs than he liked to. Yet it had taught him how to manipulate their fury.
"Of course I…" The Thorn stopped the moment she realized Lith's words. She placed one of her hands on the Treantling, making her vines seep under his bark.
"You're right. He's not an undead nor an infected. Yet his life force is impure." She said while taking several steps back while her form shapeshifted into her battle form, resembling a green wave of barbed vines.
"Of course it's impure. He's a thrall, and a powerful one at that." Lith said. "The only question is who sired him."
A thrall was a living creature in the process of being turned into an undead. To make it happen, the sire had to feed upon the thrall and the thrall upon the sire. The exchange of life force allowed the blood core to form and slowly grow in power without it being rejected by the body while the mana core became weaker.
At the end of the process, the mana core would be swallowed by the blood core, allowing the thrall to become an undead without losing any of their memories, since they would never be completely dead.
They would turn from living into undead. Lith had been able to recognize the Treantling for what he really was only thanks to Solus. Her mana sense allowed her to see the Treantling's twin cores that were just a few centimeters away from each other.
They both had the same energy signature, which meant the creature wasn't an infected, just like the presence of the mana core was proof of the Treantling being alive.
The Treantling's blood core filled to the brim with the energy of his sire was also proof that he wasn't just a pet, but a precious asset. Once again, Lith's Sherlock acting left his audience flabbergasted, yet to not give away Solus's existence, he had to "reveal" his trick.
"The next time, don't shove away a Healer. Most of our spells need physical contact to work, you know?" He said.
The Treantling snarled at the crowd ready to lynch him, emitting sounds that no living being was supposed to. He shapeshifted his arm into a wooden spear as thick as a tree and as fast as an arrow, aiming at Lith's heart.
If he dodged, the spear would impale the Wight that was currently blinded by her own companion, making the sucker punch a sure kill attack, the only variable was its victim.
Or so Illum thought. Lith's left hand pushed the spear down so that it harmlessly sunk into the ground while his right hand formed a fist infused with darkness magic, hitting the paralyzed Treantling where his heart was supposed to be.
The left side of Illum's body shattered as Lith's fist pierced through the wood and opened a hole so big that the thrall's left arm was now hanging by a tread. The creature yelped in pain and surprise.
Not even his sire had ever hit him so hard. Yet even a damage of that entity was just a mere inconvenience for a plant folk. The stumpy legs of the Treantling sprouted roots that penetrated the soil, extracting all the nutrients he needed to mend his body.
Countless small wood tendrils collected the shattered pieces from the ground and in the blink of an eye, it was as if nothing had happened. Much to Phloria's and Solus's surprise, Lith had remained still the entire time, yet they trusted him enough to not ask questions and played along.
"Do you care to explain how come you just healed such a big wound even though it was made with darkness magic without a scratch, yet your bark and leaves still look like you're about to die?" Lith asked.
The Treantling ignored the human and focused on the other plant folks who were approaching him with a dangerous look on their faces. Lith remained still, checking the reaction of the undead who pretended to be bystanders.
He didn't think that Erlik could have been so stupid to leave something important in his hideout, nor that Leannan's guards were so incompetent that they would miss any relevant clue after forcing their enemy to escape.
Yet that unwarranted provocation had to be part of a bigger scheme. A thrall wouldn't move without their sire's permission, nor would they make such a clumsy attempt to kill them.
It had to be a diversion. The question was: to cover what? After noticing the Treantling's attempt to rile up the crowd, Lith had decided to use it to his own advantage.
If the undead wanted a diversion, they had got it, but he was free to mess up with whatever their plan was. What he hadn't predicted was the savage fury that the plant folks demonstrated the moment they realized who their real enemy was.
Treantlings, Dryads, Thorns, and even the moss creatures surrounded the thrall after shapeshifting into their combat form. They ripped him apart so fast and with such fury that even though Illum's roots were still planted in the ground, his regenerative abilities weren't capable of keeping up with them.
Yet no one stepped forward to help him.
Chapter 810 Grendel Part 2
'Either their plan is so important that they can afford to sacrifice him or the undead know that such attacks can't kill the thrall.' Lith thought while taking his acorn out of the sealing box he had stored it into.
Undead couldn't use dimensional magic inside Laruel, but thralls could and he had no idea if there were others in the crowd if not even disguised among the angry mob. What happened next took him by surprise.
The thrall roared, emitting a pulse of darkness magic that combined with the raw strength of his shapeshifting body was enough to ward off his attackers. The leaves and bark had disappeared, replaced by a dirty brown thick fur that covered the entirety of what had been a Treantling just a second before.
The creature in front of them had a round head, with feral eyes as big as a saucer. It had bright red irises and vertical pupils that looked at the crowd with a mix of hate and spite.
Its maw was lipless and so big that it took all the lower half of his head. The mouth was filled with sharp, long fangs, each one about ten centimeters (4") long. All the damages the thrall had sustained were gone and his arms were now even more muscular than before, ending with razor-sharp claws.
"By the Great Mother! The spawn of a Grendel is not something plant folks can take. If we get surrounded, prepare to run." Kalla said while preparing for the fight. The thrall of a Grendel alone was already a tough opponent, but she was even more worried about what the other undead would do.
The plant folks did their worst, but air, water, and earth magic just bounced harmlessly on the creature's fur, nor any of their attacks left so much as a scratch on him.
The thrall laughed his heart out and then began to literally mow down his opponents, cutting through wood, vines, and flesh as if they were just paper mache.
"What's a Grendel?" Friya asked while unsheathing her weapon, quickly followed by Lith and Phloria.
"A very rare and dangerous undead. They are nigh-invulnerable due to their iron skin. Neither magic nor blades can usually harm them. Their only weaknesses are darkness magic and blunt weapons."
"What's the catch?" Lith asked. Grendels were considered barely more than a myth and the information about them in the bestiaries stored inside Soluspedia was centuries old. He trusted Kalla more than a collection of hearsay.
Also, there had to be a reason he had never heard about them. If Grendels were that strong, they wouldn't have gone almost extinct.
"They can't stand sunlight, can't use any magic outside of the darkness element, and they can't heal. A Grendel can only replace their wounded parts with healthy ones taken from their victims…." Kalla's reply was cut short by the thrall appearing in front of Lith with lightning-fast movements.
Even though Lith was already infused with all the elements, the creature was so quick that his claws managed to get past Lith's guard and aim at his heart. Kalla had no time to warn them that Grendels made up for their magical shortcomings with a physical prowess that rivaled that of veteran Emperor Beasts.
Yet the thing in front of them was just a thrall, not a real Grendel. The powerful blood core the Treantling's sire had gifted him with allowed Illum to borrow the form of a Grendel and some of its abilities, but that was it.
Otherwise being out during the day would have been fatal for him, nor the Treantling would have healed so easily from Lith's previous attack. Lith sidestepped the lunge and struck at the extended arm after infusing Ruin with as much darkness magic as he could.
The thick fur covering the arm sizzled and burned as the chaotic energies turned it pitch-black, but neither the spell nor the blade nicked the underlying flesh. The impact sent waves through the blade and Lith's arms, making him feel as if he had struck a rock.
'What the heck? If this is the durability of a thrall, how though is a real Grendel?' Lith thought while circling around the creature and forcing him to turn his back on the rest of the group.
The thrall surprised Lith once again, simply ignoring him and continuing to charge forward. The creature extended his left arm toward Kalla's head in another sudden attack.
His claws pierced through the thin layer of darkness protecting her physical form, clutching her skull and ripping it off her spine before any of her allies could react.
"This is going to leave a mark." The skull said while still trapped in the clutches of the thrall. The creature tried to get rid of the undying monster and throw the bear skull away, but it melted in his hand and revealed its real nature.
While Lith stood in front of her, Kalla had swapped places with her own shadow, giving it shape and substance by manipulating the darkness and light elements. What the creature had attacked was a huge mass of energy that had now marked him as its target.
The thrall shrieked as the darkness element seeped into his arm, eating away both the Treantling and the blood core empowering him.
'Wow. It's the first time that someone ignores me. Let's thank him properly.' Lith struck at the creature with his gravity infused blade multiple times, making the thrall's weight increase tenfold each time Ruin hit its mark.
Not even that managed to leave a scratch, but the sudden gravity variations threw the creature off balance, making it impossible for him to dodge the dark mass shaped as Kalla's body that was charging at him.
The thrall was more than strong enough to escape from the gravity pull, but when he attempted to dodge the living projectile, Lith removed the extra weight. The sidestep was performed with too much momentum, so the Grendel crashed against the nearest tree-house, forcing him to a halt.
The dark mass struck first, immediately followed by Phloria's and Friya's swords, both aimed at the open maw of the creature who was screaming due to the pain it felt. Darkness magic was corroding both the Treantling and the blood core fueling his transformation, greatly reducing the protection that the Grendel's life essence coursing through his body offered.
The blades only met soft tissues, piercing their way until they hit the skull and releasing their enchantments the moment they failed to penetrate the bone. The thrall started to spat out huge amounts of black and green blood from the gaping wound in his mouth.
A Treantling would have easily mended the damage, but the transformation did more than just enhancing his physical abilities. It also carried the curse of the Grendel, slowing his healing abilities so much that they were useless.
"Revert to your plant form and I'll call back the darkness energy. You have a lot of explaining to do." Kalla said, triggering the reaction of a couple of undead hidden amid the crowd.
They had been waiting the whole time for an opening, but neither Kalla nor Lith had let them out of their sight, and with dimensional magic sealed, the undead's options were limited.
Now their situation had just gotten from bad to worse. If Illum fell into enemy hands their master plan would be ruined. The only thing they could do was either rescue him or make sure that he wouldn't talk.
Chapter 811 Laruel's Secret Part 1
They were both undead Thorns, their bodies so vaguely shaped that they looked like green mannequins. Lith didn't recognize their energy signature, hence he had no idea of what kind of undead they were nor what kind of abilities they possessed.
He Blinked behind their backs, cutting them in half with a single slash before setting them ablaze with the black flames of his tier five spell, Setting Sun. The undead cussed out loud, revealing to be a male and a female.
They unleashed respectively a Chasing Lightning and a powerful pulse of darkness magic.
The first spell forced Lith on the defensive, while the other dispelled enough of the black flames that by sacrificing their lower halves the undead managed to escape by burrowing through the ground.
There was no way of dodging Chasing Lightning, Lith could only conjure a stone wall and block the spell. It took him just a second, yet it was more than enough to make it impossible for him to chase the two undead.
Meanwhile, Illum was aware of the gravity of his situation, but no matter what he did, he couldn't manage to escape from the encirclement. Kalla had generated several shadow-copies of herself that had Illum completely surrounded.
To make matters worse, they were all casting darkness spells non-stop, making it impossible to distinguish the copies from the original. Attacking the wrong Wight would have meant triggering the attack of another mass of darkness magic.
Kalla first attack was wearing down his transformation, his flesh was slowly turning back into bark as his brown fur withered and fell.
Moreover, Phloria kept conjuring stone constructs that restricted both his field of vision and movements, allowing the Wight's spells to hit him with increasing frequency despite their slowness.
Friya, instead, kept appearing in his blind spot, hitting him with pulses of darkness just to disappear the moment he turned around.
'Dammit! This was supposed to be a simple job. The plan was to blend in with the crowd and have the Awakened attacked by an angry mob, so that in the ensuing chaos we could easily kill them.
'Master Gremlik sent me because not even Awakened are able to recognize a thrall from a normal living being, yet that bastard blew my cover in an instant. Time to get out of here.' Illum thought, gambling everything on the strength his sire had bestowed upon him.
Even though as a plant folk Illum was capable of using dimensional magic, the Grendel form prevented him from casting spells. The fight had begun just a few seconds before, yet he had already witnessed how powerless his Treantling form was.
His only chance to escape was to break through the enemy defenses, but he couldn't just run away. His reinforcements had just been defeated, so there wasn't much time left before Lith returned, forcing Illum to fight alone versus four.
'I just need to injure one of them, it doesn't matter who. That way, I'll get rid of two enemies at once, since the healer will not be able to chase me as well. I'm sure that I can beat even these monsters if we fight one on one.' Illum thought.
Kalla was hidden among her shadows, Friya always retreated behind the wall of Wights, so his choice fell on Phloria. The annoying woman had foiled all of his previous strategies by moving one of her stone shields in his path at the worst possible moment.
The thrall charged at her while dodging Kalla's darkness bullets too fast for even Friya's dimensional magic to lock on him. Phloria didn't flinch, simply raising the only tower shield she had kept for herself while preparing for her riposte.
Normally, Illum would have laughed at her bravado, but he was aware that Mage Knights could express their full potential only in close quarters. With his life on the line, he forgot his pride as a plant folk and as a future ruler of the night, facing her like a peer instead of a bag of flesh full of nectar.
Illum pushed his speed to the utmost limit, circling around the protection of the conjured shield to avoid surprises, just to discover that Phloria's skill allowed her to keep up with him.
Cursing his bad luck, the thrall lunged forward with all of his might. His left arm easily pierced through the shield and the soft flesh it was protecting. Illum clenched his fist to crush her organs and to make sure that the injury would put her in critical condition.
Yet the moment the attack landed, he found himself drowning in his own blood.
His left arm was cut in half at the elbow level, and the other half was still wriggling out of his own back, whereas the human was unscathed. Phloria had hidden a dimensional door behind her tower shield so that when the enemy had been foolish enough to attempt a frontal assault, she was ready.
A Grendel's claws were sharp enough to pierce a Grendel's skin, allowing her to turn the enemy strength into a weakness. Phloria had also dispelled the dimensional door the moment her shield had collapsed, to not give the enemy the time to pull his arm back and try again.
The bleeding stump and the hole in the chest of the thrall were too much for his already battered body. The shock from the massive damage taken and the darkness energy ravaging Illum's body killed him on the spot.
"That was insane!" Friya couldn't believe her own eyes.
She prided herself of being one of the few dimensional mages, a title belonging only to those who had stepped up a simple means of instant transportation into a battle technique, yet not even Friya would have dared to try such a thing.
"Opening a dimensional door from so close it's too dangerous. Locking the coordinates of its entry and exit point takes time, plus you couldn't know the angle the attack would come from. You could have gotten yourself ripped into shreds!"
"You're only partially right." Phloria said while checking that there were no more enemies. "I would've never managed to pull it off if I were fighting one on one, but I'm a Mage Knight and I rarely battle alone.
"The hardest thing was to not move from the spot, so that the entry point was always the same and I had only to adjust the exit point."
Friya still had many things to say about the craziness of such a move and so did Lith. What Phloria had pulled off was more a matter of cold blood and timing rather than talent, things she had proven to have plenty.
Yet it was a highly impractical technique that required for the mage to stay almost still and focus entirely on one target to the point of ignoring their surroundings. Lith was afraid that the rage from being suspended was affecting Phloria's mind.
She had never been reckless, which made him worry.
Neither of them had the time of saying anything because the plant folks that had been watching until that moment were now surrounding the corpse of the Treantling, which had reverted back to a young weeping willow.
"Can you burn it?" Asked the Thorn woman who had defended the thrall before Lith exposed him.
"Don't you want to bury him or something?" Phloria asked. Based on what she knew, plant folks would happily feast on their dead to assimilate part of their essence and power.
Chapter 812 Laruel's Secret Part 2
"He's a traitor of our race. He traded the gifts of life for those of death. His corpse has no place in our sacred ground. Only fire can purify his remains and by turning him into ashes, his spirit will be cleansed of undeath and be able to start anew once he blooms again." A Treantling said.
Friya snapped her fingers and the dried willow was soon turned into ashes and carried away by the wind. Once killed, a thrall would lose all the vigor that their blood core granted them and their body would revert to the shriveled state that constantly feeding their master inflicted upon them.
"I must say, I would've never expected for a human woman to be so strong and powerful. Watching you killing a filthy Grendel was… exciting." A male Dryad wearing nothing but a smile and sporting a six abs pack you could grate cheese on said while grabbing Phloria's hip.
"I was hoping you could show me some more of your moves, if you have the time." The Dryad was beyond handsome and tall enough to look her in the eye. Yet Phloria just grabbed his wrist before he could go any further and just said:
"Thanks, but no. I'm on a mission and I've no idea who I can trust. There could be another like him hidden among you."
At her words, all plant folks looked at each other with eyes full of suspicion, at least until Lith patted each one of them pretending to be using a diagnostic spell.
"You're all clean, there are no more thralls here. You can stop doubting each other and maybe you could help us." Lith said. "Have you noticed…"
He was cut short when the female Thorn hugged him from behind, squeezing her full breasts against his back. Her form was now perfectly compressed, making her look just like a human woman with emerald skin and blonde hair.
Every part of her body was soft and warm. Her touch was a sensual caress.
"I don't feel too well. Probably it's because I've partially merged with that scum. I think I need a more throughout examination." She said.
"No, you don't." Lith replied while pushing her gently but firmly away. He was tired of those shenanigans.
'Damn! Plant folks are utterly insane, they really don't care about anything but power. One minute ago, she wanted to beat me up, now she wants to eat me up. I wouldn't trust them even if I was still single.' He thought.
"We're looking for Erlik's last known headquarters." All the plant folks pointed at the most withered tree-house, just a few meters from them. Lith was relieved to notice that both the Dryad and the Thorn didn't seem angry for being rejected, just disappointed.
"Have you noticed anything or anyone suspicious around here?" He asked, receiving so many answers at once that he had to interrogate them one at a time. It turned out that plant folks were paranoid enough to be in Lith's league.
Not only did they point fingers at each other, but also to everyone living in the neighborhood.
"Okay, forget about it. Do you have any idea why even the neighboring houses are partly withered?" Lith was repeating the questions that Kalla was whispering in his ear with a spell.
The enthusiasm for the battle had momentarily made the plant folk forget about her existence and she wanted to exploit the situation as long as she could. The moment they noticed her again, best-case scenario, the plant folks would refuse to help.
Worst case scenario, Kalla would have to fight again.
"No clue, but we found it ominous as well and reported it to the guards. Yet not even them found a decent explanation." A male Thorn said. "We thought that it was due to some infected feeding upon them or because Erlik and his minions had poisoned the ground, but it's not the case.
"As you've pointed out, they should have recovered at this point. Even though houses aren't plant folks, they still possess quite powerful regenerative abilities. The undead have been put to flight days ago and the buildings checked for infected.
"Everything turned out clear and yet..." He pointed at the fallen leaves and the blackened windows.
If all the houses of the city block were blooming as if it was spring, Erlik's hideout seemed to have just come out of winter while the neighboring houses looked to be at the start of fall.
"This makes me wonder, why Erlik didn't infect the tree-houses? They would make a powerful juggernaut." Friya asked, drawing the undesired attentions of both males and females creatures.
"Laruel's buildings are not alive as you and I are." A female Thorn tried to hold Friya, but she dodged in time. "They lack sentience and they'll never gain it. They are grown with the purpose of giving every one of us a place to live.
"They are just a means to an end, like your cattle."
"Why do you say that they will never gain sentience? Laruel seems abundant in world energy and they are living beings. On top of that, their ability to respond to their owner's will makes them look almost sentient already." Friya dodged the strong arms of a Treantling as well.
"That 'almost' makes all the difference in the world. The tree-houses are just regular trees, but being planted in Laruel grants them special properties. What you mistook for intelligence is just the energy of the World Sapling coursing through them." Said the female Thorn who had hit on Lith.
"World Sapling?" Lith asked.
"The offspring of the World Tree, the first and most ancient among all plant folks. Not only are they alive, but they are also the only reason why our kingdom has peacefully existed for centuries.
"World Saplings supply each city with enough magical power to allow everyday life and protect us from all intruders. They are the true ruler of our kingdom since each city is nothing but a manifestation of their power."
"Now you've lost me." Phloria was on the verge of starting to chop hands and heads if someone tried to grope or caress her again, but she could only grin and bear it. She could recognize the look in the plant folks' eyes.
It was the same look that her suitors who were too desperate or drunk had while revealing things they shouldn't talk about just to try and impress her. The fight seemed to have sent them into a mating frenzy.
Making them snap out of it would have probably meant that they would become hostile again.
"If these World Saplings are so powerful, why do you even have a ruler? Why don't they stop Erlik?" She asked.
"You humans call the World Saplings 'plant Liches', but they are so much more. Such a powerful creature doesn't reason like a mere mortal. They choose a place abundant in world energy as their home and then they focus entirely on the search for knowledge.
"Like Liches, they become so engrossed in their magical research and their attempts to reach the next step of evolution to forget about everything else, but unlike the undead, they are alive and benevolent.
"In exchange for knowledge and resources, they grant us their protection and bestow the elected ruler of each state-city a fraction of their power."
"In exchange for knowledge?" Lith echoed.
"Yes. We share with the World Sapling all our spells, magical research, literature, arts, everything. It's a small price to pay for a peaceful life."
Chapter 813 Laruel's Secret Part 3
When a male Dryad tried to hit on Lith, his patience was on the verge of snapping and so was the Dryad's spine.
Yet learning about the Sapling's existence sent a shiver down everyone's spine. Suddenly the situation had become much more complicated. Lith and Kalla shared a worried look, forcing her into action.
"Thanks for your cooperation. Now if you'll excuse us, we have a job to do." Kalla said as the small crowd of plant folks opened in front of the Wight as if she was carrying explosives on her back, freeing her human companions from their respective suitors.
"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Friya asked, patting Kalla's head and appreciating its odd warmth.
"Yes. If what the plant folks have told us is the truth, then this city itself is a priceless treasure. If Erlik becomes its Sovereign and gains access to the knowledge Laruel holds, traveling undead will be the least of the Kingdom's problems." Phloria felt the dire need of a shower and to leave Laruel as soon as possible, but abandoning her sister was out of the question.
"Indeed. I wonder if Marth didn't mention the possibility because it's a secret or simply because even he is unaware of it." With the stakes getting higher, Lith inwardly cursed his inability to overcome Invigoration's limits.
He had already asked Faluel how she could visualize life forces with her breathing technique instead of using the tier five spell Scanner, but the Hydra had refused to share her secrets.
Friya shrugged, taking her communication amulet out of her dimensional amulet to contact Marth, just to discover that even though she was channeling her mana through the acorn Lyta had given her, the device was still dead.
The group reached the treehouse and only when they were in front of where the door was supposed to be, did they realize how big the damage it had sustained was. The bark was of pale white with only a few brown areas.
Even though the air was fresh, the wood smelled like it had been soaked for a long time, making it swell in several places. The base of the tree was covered in mold, and even the rejuvenating abilities of the Sapling were having a hard time fending off the infestation.
The treehouse was also completely sealed. There was no door nor window, making it look like a giant rotting tree. Lith took his acorn out of the sealed box where he kept it, making sure to not touch it with his bare hands but only through the gloves conjured by his Orichalcum armor.
The thought of being spied upon by Leannan was bad, but if the acorn actually belonged to a World Sapling, a most likely Awakened being of untold age and restless hunger for knowledge, then even the simplest interaction with it might expose his hybrid nature.
The moment Lith's acorn touched the white bark, his worst fears became true. Lith could feel an unknown energy passing right under his feet that used the acorn as a focus while the outline of a door formed in front of his eyes.
'Fuck me sideways! This is worse than I thought. The Acorn is part of the Sapling and the Sapling has granted Leannan part of its authority. The closest comparison I can draw is that the plants' city-state is like an academy and its Sovereign is akin to a Headmaster.
'The question is, who actually controls who?' Lith thought while he pulled the door open. A disgustingly sweet scent assaulted their senses, making even Kalla cough.
The space inside the tree was completely empty. There was no trace of its previous owner. Only the signs of an intense struggle remained. The walls were charred in several places and several centimeters deep nicks were present even on the ceiling.
The inside was even worse than the outside, with the wood randomly turning from ill white to rotting black to healthy brown and with irregularly placed swollen patches that gave everyone the impression of being inside an agonizing beast.
The house reacted to their presence by attempting to bloom a table and a few seats, but unlike in Marth's apartments, the process was slow and painful. The pavement and the sprouts squeaked in an almost human way that gave the group the creeps.
The old wood's screaming ended only when the makeshift furniture collapsed under its own weight, almost making the floor follow suit. In the effort to provide to its masters a minimum of comfort, the house had consumed most of the flooring's wood, but being incapable of regenerating it fast enough, the floor had become paper-thin.
"Easy, big fella. Just rest and recover." Kalla said while using a healing spell on the nearest wall and a diagnostic spell on the floor. The former was sucked like water poured on the desert, whereas the latter gave an unexpected response.
Kalla didn't see any wound or illness, she only felt pain. Something that light magic wasn't supposed to be able to do.
"Okay. Let's do our best." Lith's eyes flared with mana as he activated Life Vision, Invigoration, and the tier five spell, Scanner.
Friya used her best diagnostic spells, while Phloria took out her Royal Forgemaster silvery wand to scan the area for any enchanted item that Erlik might have left behind.
She had come to Lith's same conclusion and even though her means as a Healer were inferior, she was far from resourceless.
The short time she needed to chant her first spell what was allowed her to notice Lith becoming pale as a ghost a second before he doubled over in pain. She caught him in time before his face met the floor.
"Are you okay?" She asked while lifting and picking him up in her arms as if he was just a baby.
Her act of kindness prevented him from puking his guts out. Lith was plenty capable of multi-tasking, but what he had not considered was that the tree-house was his biggest, most complex patient ever.
Just like the tissue samples he had previously examined, each cell sent him a feedback, causing his three detection means to give him a sensory overload.
From the inside of the house, Life Vision perceived the green of the plants, a lingering black shadow of death, which was unclear if due to the tree precarious state or the previous presence of the undead, and an unknown color brown.
Normally, Lith would have worried about Life Vision detecting an unknown color. Yet because of Invigoration, the pain of the tree was reverberating through his body as if it was his own, while Scanner was feeding him a massive amount of information that was driving his mind insane.
Whereas a human body appeared as something made with a mix of lego bricks and an erector set, the tree was like countless streams that crossed paths with each other several times.
Each interaction changed their shape, size, and color, giving Lith the impression of looking at an Escher painting while using stroboscopic lights and while being under the effects of LSD.
Solus would have incurred in the same fate if the lack of a physical body had made her used to employ her long-distance mystical senses and share Lith's physical perception.
"Now I do." He said. Phloria had unknowingly dispelled both Scanner and Invigoration, relieving the pressure on Lith's brain.
Chapter 814 Laruel's Secret Part 4
"This place feels… wrong." Kalla shapeshifted into her human form.
She doubted the house could bear the weight of her Emperor Beast body without incurring in even more agony. Also, keeping active the Float spell would divert focus that she preferred to employ to clear the mystery at hand.
"I know nothing about plants' life force, but still I've got the feeling that the big guy has been turned inside-out. Things get even worse downstairs." Friya said, causing a perfectly circular hole to open in front of her.
"What about the stairs?" She asked, yet the house remained silent.
Friya jumped down the hole, using air and earth magic to soften her landing, quickly followed by the others.
'Solus what the heck is the brown?' Lith asked, trying to make sense of the dense fog that Life Vision perceived in their surroundings.
'Based on your memories, we've met this only once in the past, but back then you weren't able to see it. It's the mold. Remember that even according to Earth's science, fungi are not plants.'
'So I'm seeing spores?'
'Nailed it in one.' Solus modified Lith's sight to highlight all the mold patches that on a closer look were eating at the treehouse's roots. 'I think we should get rid of them. It will help the tree to recover.'
'I think not. This is the city of plants, not of fungi, hence Erlik must have brought or engineered it on purpose. Once we discover why Erlik wants to keep us away from here, we'll need the mold as evidence.' Lith thought.
"We need to be careful." Kalla said while looking Lith in the eyes. "I don't like this place nor the infestation. Traps can have many forms based on their intended prey, so the enemy might have left something behind that would not bother plant folks but that might prove lethal for us mammals.
"As for the mold, it's not supposed to be here. Places like Laruel are intended to be a paradise for plants. I would understand if it was a symbiote, but the fungus is clearly a parasite."
Lith had learned his lesson and used only one diagnostic ability at a time. Life Vision confirmed to him that the treehouse's life force was even weaker underground, where the infestation was at its worst.
Invigoration continued to make him experience part of the living structure's distress, but whatever the tree was trying to communicate, Lith could only understand its screams of pain.
Last but not least, when he used Scanner again, he focused on a small area instead of trying to examine the whole place at once.
He chose a spot free from the mold, to avoid having interferences and because Kalla's words made his paranoia go full throttle. The memory of the fungal creature from Kulah was still vivid.
Lith remembered how such creatures could move their consciousness at will, turning what looked like harmless patches of mold potential into the body of a powerful creature.
Until he had a clear understanding of Erlik's resources, Lith wouldn't underestimate the enemy.
Scanner showed Lith that the life force of the treehouse was like a river with countless tributaries. Since studying a still point of such a dynamic phenomenon was pointless, he stopped focusing on the physical tree in front of himself and followed the life flow it generated instead.
It allowed Lith to understand that every single branch, every single leaf created its own flow, contributing to shape a powerful stream that coursed from the top of the tree to its deepest root.
'Dammit, I'm way out of my area of expertise. Plants and animals are too different. I need to speak with Quylla.' Yet Lith didn't stop his work, hoping to find a lead for their suspicions.
Scanner was the only spell that he had in common with fake mages, so whatever he found, he would be able to share it with everyone.
Friya used a few of her personal diagnostic spells, but to no avail. They simply were ineffective on a life form so different from those they were intended to. Scanner was the only one that provided her with some data, but just like Lith, she had no idea how to interpret it.
Her hands ran down the bark, feeling the fluctuations in the tree's life force, allowing her to discover that it didn't become weaker near the patches of mold, it actually became stronger.
It made no sense, hence it piqued her curiosity. Friya considered herself a dimensional mage, but she had never stopped honing her skills as a Healer. Being the guild master, she always led the most difficult missions, and being the only one with a specialization, the life of her people depended on her.
After making sure that no one needed her assistance, Phloria used the Royal Forgemaster spell, Tinkering Soul. It allowed her to pick up the lingering energy signatures that only powerful artifacts would leave after their prolonged use.
Silvery threads came out of her wand that slowly filled the air. Then, they started to amass and compress, taking the ethereal shape of devices she had never seen before. Most of them had been used too briefly to leave behind more than just a shadow, while others were so definite that she could almost see their runes.
Alas, their design was as alien as its users were. Jiera's runes and Forgemastering techniques made no sense to her. The only thing Phloria could determine from her spell was that several artifacts had been applied in-between patches of mold.
'By the Great Mother, these kids are impressing.' Kalla thought, almost regretting not having taken her time to attend the academy. She wasn't much of a Healer, and now that Scarlett had left, she found herself envying the fake mages' legacy.
'I doubt I can find with light magic something that Scourge can't. I'd better focus on my Necromancy and see what we've got.' She activated her personal spell, Restless Echo.
It allowed a Necromancer to assess how badly the balance between the light and the darkness element had been upset, plus to gain insight of the kind of spell undead creatures might have used.
Much to her surprise, the place was pristine. She couldn't even sense the traces of Erlik and his followers gorging on the tree's life force. If not for the fact that both Lyta and the plant folk living in the neighborhood had pointed the place has the Draugr residence, she would have had a hard time believing it.
'This doesn't make sense. Down here not a single undead has been created, no major darkness spell has been cast, nor the tree has been used as a means to nourish the undead's blood cores.' Kalla thought.
'Then why is the life force at its weakest here? What was the purpose of the devices that Phloria's spell shows if they weren't intended to spread Erlik's plague?'
She left the others to their investigation and cast Restless Echo on all three floors of the house. To access to each one of them, a hole would simply open in the ceiling since plant folks had no need for stairs, they would just elongate their legs and reach their destination with a single step.
What Kalla found made her worry even more. Despite the terrible state the building was in, not a single Necromancy spell had been employed. On the contrary, the light element was dominant, making the lack of darkness energy part of the reason why the tree had troubles recovering.
Chapter 815 Life Poisoning Part 1
'Undead using light magic spells is beyond odd. It's utterly dangerous. I must quickly inform the others!' Kalla rushed downstairs, where everyone but Lith was done with their own research.
"I made an amazing discovery." Friya said. "The mold is indeed negatively affecting the tree, but the tree's life force has been unaffected by the infestation thanks to an external life flow that helps it to heal and adapt.
"It's just a matter of time before the tree develops an immunity and the parasite gets destroyed. It explains why no one bothered killing it."
"Yet I think the mold played an important role in weakening the tree-house." Phloria pointed at the still lingering silver ghosts. "They have been placed on purpose between patches of mold, but I have no idea why."
"If only my amulet worked, I could take scans of the devices they used and ask Dad or the army about their runes.
Lith ignored both of them and kept following the flow of life force inside the tree-house. It took it a long time to do a complete round of the house and on top of that, he had found several odd spots.
The ones in the basement where exactly where Phloria had conjured the echoes of the magical devices, but since Lith was too busy with his work, Solus collected all the information and started to make sense of it.
"I don't know what I've just seen." Lith said once he lost his focus. It happened the moment the treehouse's life force interacted with an unknown source from below. It was a presence so powerful that it scrambled his spell.
To avoid sensory overload, Lith had been forced to cancel Scanner. He had withstood the massive source of information as long as he could, discovering that its energy signature was similar to the treehouse's and yet different.
"I'm no expert in plants, but my guess is that this wasn't a hideout at all. This was their lab." Lith said.
"If it was a lab, my spell would pick up more than a few magical devices." Phloria said.
"I think you are both right." Kalla explained her findings to them and had Phloria cast her Forgemaster spell on every floor of the treehouse, just like the Wight had done.
"What the fuck?" Phloria blurted out in surprise. The higher they got, the more the magical devices she managed to track. Moreover, they got bigger and more powerful, to the point that she managed to read and recognize some of their runes.
"What use can undead possibly have for medical equipment?" She asked. "More importantly, why did they apply life support machines to the tree, and if I'm right how the heck is this poor thing in such poor shape?"
Lith cast Scanner again, to make sure that Solus's explanations were correct. She believed that the places where the tree's life force was still twisted and turned matched the position of the magical devices spotted by Phloria, but it was just a guess.
The tree was too big and its life flow too alien for her to properly mentally visualize what was where.
"This is bad." Lith said every time he checked the bark underlying one of the ghosts, his voice becoming grimmer with each result.
"This was indeed a lab, but its purpose escapes my understanding." Lith said. "The only thing I know is that those machines altered the tree's life force, forcing whatever fuels its magical and self-repair properties to fight their influence.
"The tree is in such a bad shape not because of the mold, but because the alterations the tree underwent make it unable to properly process the light energy. It's literally bursting with vitality and it needs darkness magic to remove the alien source that's bloating it.
"If I'm right, this is the life force equivalent of mana poisoning."
"That's impossible." All the women said in unison.
Life forces could be altered or exchanged with the use of tier five light magic and different sources of life forces naturally blended together, no matter even if the donor and the recipient belonged to different races.
Life poisoning wasn't even a myth or a joke. To any proper mage is was the equivalent of theorizing the existence of dry water.
"I would have said the same until an hour ago, but based on my readings, the alterations are so deep that they created sacks of life force that are not recognizes by the tree which perceives them as a disease.
"It causes the tree to mobilize its life force in the attempt to get rid of the sacks, but it only ends up strengthening them. To add insult to injury, even though the results of this experiment are horrifying for its victim, they don't seem to have any practical use.
"There are countless more effective and less expensive ways to torture someone. I think we need Quylla, Marth, or anyone that can make heads or tails of this contraption." Lith said.
By the time the group left the building, the sun was about to set. They were all tired, hungry, and confused. Friya had even double-checked the treehouse's life force, refusing to believe that life poisoning really existed until she saw it with her own eyes.
Back in Marth's lab, the enthusiasm from the earlier discovery had been drowned in hard work and failed experiments. Quylla was struggling to find a way to separate the host from the symbiote without killing them both.
The patient was her priority, but a live specimen would allow her to grasp the true intentions of the enemy. Being it a man-made disease, finding a cure without understanding its underlying principles would mean that if Erlik had more strands of the parasite, they would have to start from scratch every time.
The main problem, even for a keen expert of tier five magic like Professor Marth, was that the lifestream of the plant folk host and of the parasite were fused together on a cellular level.
It was the reason why they had missed the second life force up to that point. The parasite was devised so that it would grow following its host so that both his life force and mana flow would remain undetectable.
Its only weak point was Solus's mana sense, which had allowed her to perceive the pseudo core since unlike what happened with the bugbears, the parasite was already fully developed.
It covered its host like a second skin, creating a perfect double that granted its victim part of the powers of a Draugr with none of its downsides except for their hunger and their greed.
It was the greed that actually made it hard for plant folks to resist the corruption of their mind. The more powerful they became, the more things they wanted and the Draugr nature would easily turn desire into compulsion.
"I'm sorry, Professor. I've no clue how to proceed. All of my experiments failed and all my theories turned out to be wrong." Quylla's eyes were bloodshot from the strain of constantly looking through vision-enhancing devices under a strong light.
"Good gods, Quylla. If you're useless, then what about us? You're here from less than a day and you already want a solution? If you keep beating yourself like that, you'll get bald. Ask Vastor." Mart laughed, patting her back in consolation.
"But Professor, people are dying right now and if we don't stop it, the plague will pave the way for war."
Chapter 816 Life Poisoning Part 2
"People die every day, Quylla." Marth sighed. "Even if it's horrible, this time war would give us a common enemy and the opportunity to stop our pretentious squabbles. There's so much the three great Countries could learn from each other.
"You have no idea for how long I wanted to speak with my colleagues from the other nations. Besides, it's too soon to despair. We know this plague is artificial, hence it must have a kill switch. We even know the cure for its original strand.
"We already have all we need here. It's only a matter of putting together all the pieces of the puzzles. If we can't, it means we are still missing some of them. Don't obsess yourself with the cure and focus on the illness.
"Once we understand how to recreate it, we'll also learn how to treat it."
Quylla wanted to reply that it would be her relatives to fight in the front lines, but she was too tired and hungry to reply. In her frenzy, she had skipped lunch and was about to skip dinner as well.
When she saw the Warp Steps opening in the middle of the lab, she prayed for good news.
"Took you long enough for a simple recon. Have you found our undead?" Marth asked. They had no idea that the parasite contained Erlik's tissue and even that small piece of knowledge would have been a game-changer.
"No, but we can rule out Grendels as well." Kalla said before recounting them their encounter with the thrall and the discoveries they had made in the treehouse.
"Are you sure about it, Lith?" Marth was having a hard time to prevent his disbelief to leak into his voice. "You're the most competent Healer that I know and I would take your word at face value if not for your lack of understanding about plant folks."
"Damn sure." Lith spoke gibberish while his hands performed random gestures before sharing with Marth what he had seen through a holographic 3D depiction of the altered life force.
'Gods, I wish I could do that.' Marth thought in envy, and with him almost all of those presents. The members of the research teams were the cream of the crop of their respective countries, experts with decades of experience in the field of light magic.
Yet none of them was able to create holograms without the support of a magical device, let alone create hard light constructs.
"Professor, you can ask Lith for details later. Someone has to go there and take scans of the residual traces of the artifacts before they disappear forever." Phloria said. "Maybe it's nothing, but maybe it's how Erlik farms the symbiotes."
"Someone else, to be precise." Friya said, her stomach had finally settled up after being assaulted by Scanner's results and the long-suppressed hunger was kicking in.
"We're all physically and mentally tired. Unlike our enemy, we need some food and rest to work properly." A choir of growling stomachs agreed with her. Lith could go on, but Friya and especially Quylla were suffering from a massive headache due to lack of mana.
Marth nodded and had Lyta bring them back to their apartments, where the table was ready for eight and there were a couple of unexpected guests waiting for them. Kamila and Jirni were discussing in front of a big holographic map representing the entirety of the Garlen continent.
The map was filled with multi-colored dots and despite the unconcealed hostility in their voices, it wasn't addressed to each other.
"Kami, what are you doing here?" Lith's question made both women jump off their seats and hug their respective beloved ones.
"You're not going to get rid of me that easily." She said while making sure he was alright. Kamila was used to Lith facing attempts on his life on a daily basis, but that didn't mean that she was okay with it.
"Mom, what's that thing?" Phloria pointed at the still open map.
"We're hunting for Manohar. The green dots are his known hideouts, the yellow dots are the reported sightings, and the red dots are where I almost got him." She snarled.
"I swear that after I get his sorry ass here to solve this situation, the moment he is done working, I'll kill him first and Marth second."
"You almost got him?" Lith was flabbergasted. "I thought it was impossible."
"The Royals are not stupid and neither am I. We've been keeping track of all his research projects, making copies of his notes to know what was on his agenda. Thanks to that, we know where to search since the ingredients he's after are very, very rare." Jirni replied.
"Even ignoring the blatant violation of a mage's most basic rights, how do you even translate that gibberish? His handwriting is even worse than mine." Lith said, knowing that Manohar refused to write with water magic for safety reasons.
Mostly his own, since he would use the first thing at hand to jot down his bursts of inspiration, be it a napkin or someone else's clothes. It made his notes easy to lose and hard to recover from his latest victim.
"It's more than bad handwriting, it's a code. We had to hire his mother to translate it for us and believe me, she doesn't come cheap. Now sit down and tell me everything."
Lyta clapped her hands, making several dishes appear out of the house's dimensional storage. Everyone was a bit embarrassed noticing that Lyta would dine with them and that several side dishes included vegetables.
"Isn't it awkward for you?" Quylla was afraid that eating them would hurt the Dryad's feelings.
"Not at all. Once something is dead and digested, it's just food. Don't worry about me, dear. I made sure that to respect your customs, no human meat was employed to prepare your dinner." The entire table froze at those words.
"Do you guys eat humans?" Friya asked.
"Why not? Aren't they animals as well? We don't actively hunt them, exactly like we do for beasts, but if a conflict happens, they're a fertilizer as good as any other corpse." Lyta shrugged.
It took them a couple of seconds to remember that despite the fact that their appearance closely resembled humans, plant folks weren't humans at all. It wasn't just a matter of a different skin color or traditions.
Laruel had its own culture and morals, whether they liked them or not. Kalla had no problem with her food since the only thing she wouldn't eat was Byk meat, but according to her nose, there was none.
'Damn, if I ever visit one of those cities of Emperor Beasts Faluel told me about, I must remember to specify that I'm not a cannibal.' Lith thought. Beasts shared such traits with plants, feeding indiscriminately upon every life form, even their own kin if necessary.
Jirni listened to their story, trying to use her expertise about human plotting and power plays to make sense of Erlik's plan. Her face looked like it was carved out in stone, never betraying an emotion she wasn't willing to express, but Lith could feel that Jirni knew more than she was letting on.
"My opinion is that the plague is just a diversion." Jirni said after asking Lyta more information about the size of the armies in play.
"If his aim really was to follow the rules and dethrone Leannan in battle, he would have already challenged her."
Chapter 817 Utopia Part 1
"Also, if he really wanted to build an army, the better strategy would have been to send thralls like the Treantling-Grendel you've faced and infect only the most powerful plant folk instead of random people.
"It would have taken time, but undead can wait. Consider that most plant folks wouldn't reveal being infected in fear of being shunned or considered a traitor. All of this mess, even involving the three great Countries, is too dangerous even for Erlik himself.
"Not only did he make himself an enemy out of the entire continent, but even in the case his plan succeeds, Erlik will never be able to feed so many mouths. Undead are many things, but stupid isn't one of them.
"The stupid ones never live long enough to become this dangerous. Undeath is something that cannot be spread carelessly, especially now that the human population has been dramatically reduced.
"I'm certain that even if Erlik somehow wins, he would weed out the weaker newborn undead as his first move as the new regent. In times of war, food is more important than gold."
"What do you think his real aim is?" Friya asked.
"I wish I knew." Jirni sighed. "Yet it must be something damn important and that can alter the status quo with the other powers of the continent. Otherwise the Undead Courts would have never allowed for this.
"One of the reasons why the Kingdom barely tolerates them is that the Courts are a necessary evil. They take care of rogue undead and often take control of the criminal underworld, preventing useless chaos.
"To risk their shaky truce with the great countries, it means that they either have no other option or that they finally have the numbers to step up their game."
Jirni's words made the mood turn gloomy. The burden of all those present had just become much heavier. Kamila quickly changed the topic, telling Lith that she had already warned his family and that they wouldn't worry about his amulet being offline.
'I can't understand why Lady Ernas spoke like that. Her daughters are already under a lot of pressure, especially Quylla and Phloria. The former has been basically introduced as Manohar's replacement, which means too many expectations for someone so young.
'As for Phloria, I'm afraid she might become more interested in rescuing her career rather than Laruel, leading to bad decisions. In her situation, a single mistake could get her kicked out of the army.' She thought.
***
Erlik the Draugr Treant's Headquarters, now.
Now that the sun was set, Erlik the Draugr Treant could finally stand up and stop staring at his treasures like a demented man. Yet being able and being willing to, were two entirely different things.
It always took a Draugr considerable willpower to step away from their resting place. After making sure that all the protections were in place and that whoever violated his sanctum wouldn't live long enough to regret it, he went looking for his second in command, Gremlik the Grendel Dryad.
If there were more bad news waiting for him, at least he could give that annoying pest a proper beating to ease his nerves. Gremlik was too clever by a half and way too powerful for Erlik's liking.
One wrong move and all of his sacrifices, all of his plotting would bring fruits that Gremlik would reap after using Erlik as a scapegoat.
'Dammit, I wish he was just some mindless goon. So far our interest aligned, but our ambitions never did. I can't trust him.'
Erlik opened the door to Gremlik's room, finding a pleasant surprise. The place was trashed to the point that there was not a single piece of furniture intact, the walls were covered in claw marks, and there was lymph splattered everywhere.
Erlik recognized the remains of the Grendel's most loyal followers from their smell. They were unlikely to still be alive.
"What happened?" Erlik asked, pretending to not notice the grimace twisting the otherwise handsome face of the dryad.
"I underestimated the Awakened. I wanted to get rid of them before they could check our prototype and make sure that their death would further compromise the relationship between Laruel and the Countries to buy us more time.
"Yet not only did I fail to kill even one of those filthy humans, but I've also lost the most promising thrall of my herd. I spent years preparing him to handle the fury and power of a Grendel, but it was all for nothing." Gremlik gritted his pearly teeth so hard that they cracked, only to heal a split second later.
The loss of the two undead was negligible, but his thrall was a huge deal. Grendels were almost extinct because they were plagued by a reckless bloodlust that consumed their senses once they assumed their true form.
Gremlik was a master magician in his Dryad body and an unstoppable war machine as a Grendel, yet to achieve the best from both worlds it had took him a lot of practice.
"That's none of my business." Erlik smirked. "I want to know about our plan."
'So my losses are my own, whereas Laruel is "our plan"?' Gremlik needed his decades of self-discipline to not fight the Draugr to the death.
"Everything is going as we predicted. The infected feeding off anything they can get their filthy vines on are hiding the damages on the treehouses. We might have to leave this place in a while, but I've already prepared our next location. We've progressed by leaps and bounds compared to our first prototype."
Erlik nodded, looking at the bark of the enchanted house surrounding them. Their control over the mold had improved and the side effects of their experiments had yet to show on the outside.
The Draugr placed his hand on the nearest wall and released countless vines that allowed him to take control of the agonizing tree. He made sure that all the damages would be hidden by a healthy layer of bark, making it impossible to spot them from the outside again.
'The undead of the Garlen continent must have become soft after establishing their Courts for missing such an opportunity for so long.' Erlik thought. 'If my plan succeeds and I manage to not get killed by Gremlik, my dream will come true.
'As Laruel's regent, I'll gain access to a World Sapling and if my theory is correct, I'll Awaken. It will give me the means to build an eternal kingdom for the undead. A utopia where we will not need to hide and cower anymore.
'Just by asking the Sapling to remove the dew covering the treetops, the city will be plunged into an eternal darkness that will free us from the tyranny of the sun. I want to believe that the plague was a sign from the god of darkness. That all this suffering after losing our homes has a meaning.'
'Very soon, undead will not be the neglected race anymore. Our Awakened will not be able to continue ignoring us. We will not be just a worm hiding in an apple but the owners of the orchard instead. My race will thrive, and I'll be acclaimed as its savior.'
Little did he know about the life poisoning accident or that the mold was still where they had left it. Leannan was a tricky enemy, who had lulled them into a false state of security before launching an all-out attack that had flushed them out, almost costing them everything.
Chapter 818 Utopia Part 2
Packing and moving the devices took priority, so they had cleaned most of the mold before escaping, sure that without the proper care and with the treehouse's natural healing abilities the little pest would die before the next sunrise.
Luck, however, was a fickle mistress.
***
The following morning, Lith was sad while looking Kamila warp away. It had taken her and Solus quite an effort to not let Jirni's words making him stay up all night in a fit of paranoia.
Lyta was even sadder since she had spent the night alone. She couldn't fathom why everyone had turned her offer for company down, even Jirni.
Once they reached the laboratories, they discovered that Marth had never left. He looked almost as bad as when he was Headmaster and had a frenzied look in his eyes.
"Is it morning already?" Was his reaction when he saw them step out of the dimensional door. "I need to take a nap, but first I must bring you up to speed. Things have gotten quite hectic since you left."
Marth explained to them how the team he had sent to the treehouse had discovered nothing about the plague, but had confirmed all of Lith's group speculations.
"Ever since we collected scans of the residual images of Erlik's devices, the Forgemasters from all the four countries are studying the runes to understand what their function is." Marth said.
"Four?" The question was on everyone's lips, but Quylla beat the others to the punch.
"Forgetting about the plant kingdom, even though you're in one of its cities is rude even for a human, child." A cold voice came from one of the nearby desks, where several samples of the injured treehouse had been placed in crystal cases.
A fourth team was busy examining all the collected data and despite the fact that they all looked human, they were actually plant folk. Their leader was Leannan the Titania herself, ruler of the city-state of Laruel, and emissary of the World Sapling.
Marth tried to break the awkward silence that ensued by introducing Quylla and her group to the leader of the plant folks.
"Sovereign Leannan has decided to join us in the search for a cure since Erlik keeps hiding." The Professor said.
"I'm impressed with how quickly you human work as much as I am with your lack of manners. For a species who cares about appearances the most, is quite the contradiction." Leannan dropped the human form she had assumed to not scare her guests and reverted to her real body.
She looked as if a giantess had been fused with several kinds of different plants. Leannan was over 3 meters (10 feet) tall, with wheat blond hair, light green eyes, and slightly long pointy ears.
Her skin, or at least the little of it that was visible except that on her face, was pearly pink. She wore a sleeveless dress made of vines that covered everything under her collarbone.
Several branches came out from the back of her head and a thick bunch of leaflets circled around her forehead, giving the impression she wore some kind of tribal tiara. She wore brambles around her neck that yet didn't do her any harm.
Leannan's neck, shoulders, and arms were exposed, and covered with what would look like complex tattoos to a layman, but Lith recognized them as runes. Small branches also grew on her forearms, where her skin was mostly bark covered in ivy.
Her hands had slender fingers ending with long nails that together with the wrinkly appearance of the wood and their darker color made them look like belonged to a much older woman.
There was beauty in her, but no kindness nor warmth. Lith's instincts warned him that the creature in front of him was more ruthless than most Abominations he had ever met. To her, kissing a baby or twisting their neck was the same thing.
"I meant no disrespect, Your Majesty." Quylla gave the Sovereign a curtsy without being intimidated. Between her etiquette lessons and facing the Odi in combat, Leannan had to try much harder to impress her.
"Until yesterday I wasn't aware that plant folk had their own kingdom. Also, I've yet to see any of Laruel outside the walls of this lab, so my knowledge of your world is too limited to call it a country. If I offended you, I ask for your forgiveness."
"There's no need to apologize, child. Your ignorance just reassures me that we've been doing our job right. Our secrecy is what has protected us so far, preventing countless conflicts with small men plagued by even smaller minds." Leannan said while looking at the members of the group one at a time.
'The Sovereign has a bright blue core and an uncanny physical prowess.' Solus thought. 'Her dress hides several powerful artifacts, but their pseudo cores are of unknown design, so I have no idea what they are meant for.
'Her tattoos are enchanted and exude quite the magical power. My guess is that they are an array of some kind, but not like those we have met so far. The runes don't draw power from Leannan, on the contrary, they allow her to receive it from an external source.'
'It must be the way she sealed her contract with the Sapling.' Lith thought. The Titania was impressive even without the help of the ancient Awakened tree, but after meeting Faluel and Raagu, a blue core wasn't enough to worry him.
"I've come here to help you." Leannan said. "Professor Marth told me that you intend to examine the treehouse, correct?"
Quylla nodded.
"Then it's best if I accompany you. I heard about Erlik's previous attempt at your companions' lives and I don't want that to happen again. Also, I'm the only one that knows how the treehouses work, so you'll need me to understand whatever you might find."
A snap of her fingers brought them straight to their destination, in the basement where the side effects of Erlik's experiment were still eating away at the living house's essence.
"The devices you've spotted, Mage Ernas, have been crafted by my kin and so their runes. I've never seen anything like that, but I know my people's magic enough to understand its purpose.
"They are the Forgemastered equivalent of what you call Body Sculpting."
"I thought plant folks didn't practice light magic." Friya said.
"We don't. Our regenerating abilities make it useless up to tier four and plain torture at tier five. The only way to alter our life force is to do it all in one go. Unlike you humans, we can't be treated a little at a time.
"Any alteration of our life force is quickly corrected, just like what happens for our bodies. If even a small trace of our original essence remains, the entirety of the tier five spell is nullified, but it takes time and involves a lot of pain." Leannan said.
"What kind of mold is this?" Lith pointed at the grey patches infesting the roots.
"I don't know. It's not native of the Garlen continent and I doubt it's even natural, but I can't be sure. Fungi are as numerous as plants, plus I don't speak their language. They are as different from us as we are from humans."
"Sorry guys, but I need silence to concentrate." Quylla said. She followed Lith's instructions, using her personal version of the tier five spell Scanner to study the treehouse's lifeforce.
Chapter 819 Erlik's Plan Part 1
Quylla followed the life force's movements throughout the tree's huge body, dwelling mostly on the sacks of corrupted life force and the areas affected by the mold. Quylla knew nothing about gardening, but as a Healer, she could understand an illness just by looking at the effects it had on her patient.
Leannan was itching with curiosity, wondering why she didn't feel anything amiss during her first visit after Erlik's escape and why her mystical senses were still unable to sense her subject's suffering.
'I could temporarily merge with the tree to understand what's happening or examine the mold, but I can't risk interfering with the little Ernas's work.' She thought. 'My link with the World Sapling might enhance the treehouse healing factor and erase all traces of Erlik's experiment.'
Time passed, and when Quylla's consciousness returned to the roots, she followed them and went deep underground. Lith had been forced to stop at that point, the mass of life force was too great and complex to follow it by using means devised to study humans.
Quylla, instead, had adapted Scanner to make it work on plant folk, so when the interference assaulted her senses, she was able to shield her mind and continue following the treehouse's lifeforce.
"What the heck?" Quylla suddenly snapped out of her spell. Her face turned pale while huge droplets of cold sweat quickly appeared on her face.
"What's wrong?" Lith had been on guard the whole time, yet he had no idea what could scare her so badly.
"There's something down here. A creature so powerful that barely approaching its consciousness almost damaged my mind."
'How can a human reach out to the Sapling?' Leannan was shocked. No one could interact with the plant folk's ancestor without their existence being acknowledged by them and being bestowed the runes that adorned her shoulders.
"That's it? It must be the World Sapling that fuels the treehouses." Friya's sighed in relief, giving Leannan the plant equivalent of a heart attack.
"How do you know about the Sapling?" She asked. Its existence was supposed to be kept a secret from outsiders. The edge on her tone let the group understand that she suspected them to be spies.
Not wanting to cause a diplomatic incident, they told her the full story about their fight with the Grendel's thrall, including its aftermath.
'By the Great Mother, my subjects are a bunch of morons!' Leannan suddenly didn't consider keeping the plant folk isolated from the outside world a good thing anymore.
'They are so used to freely talk about everything that they spilled the beans with humans just to satisfy their urge to mate. So much for Laruel's secret. The silver lining is that it will make explaining things easier.'
"It might be, but that's not all." Quylla was eager to finish her report before the details of the impressions she had experienced while using Scanner faded away in her memory.
"There's one more sack of life force between the creature and the treehouse. Yet this isn't just the tree's own life force twisted beyond recognition, it belongs to an undead energy signature."
'Solus?' Lith asked while his partner used her mana sense to probe the ground below them.
'Sorry, there are too many interferences. I can't tell you if the energy signature of the undead sack and that of the parasite match.'
To Leannan's ears, Quylla's words were as scary as they didn't make sense.
No one besides Laruel's ruler was supposed to be able to perceive the Sapling's energy since even though the entire city was actually grown upon the roots of the ancient tree, Laruel and the Sapling were still two separate entities.
The World Sapling was long since in a deep slumber, trying to prolong its existence and find a way to escape its inevitable death. The magically engraved runes on her body were supposed to be the only way to draw the Sapling's consciousness and call upon its power.
Yet a simple human claimed to have accomplished it on her own. A terrible picture appeared in Leannan's mind as finally everything started to make sense. She scratched a bit of mold from the treehouse's roots, lowering her defenses to allow it to invade her body as well.
She was shocked seeing how quickly it spread from her nail to her hand, covering it in a matter of seconds. On top of that, the mold didn't just rob the Titania of her nutrients, it also started to attack her life force and converted her flesh into its own.
"This is impossible." Leannan blurted out. "The mold is capable of overtaking its host life force, not just sucking it. It means that if it's not stopped in time, the victim gets turned from their original race into mold."
The contradiction in her words was apparent even to Phloria, who was just a junior Healer, yet no matter what the academy had taught them, no one could deny what they were watching with their own eyes.
Leannan's hand had not shapeshifted, it had been entirely replaced by the mold while retaining its appearance while the infection spread to her forearm. The Titania snarled and stopped suppressing her strength.
Both her life force and her body were too powerful for the flimsy mold, which was eradicated in a matter of seconds.
"This is terrifying." Quylla said. "Life force can be stolen or shared with spells, but it always goes from one recipient to another while shielded by darkness magic, so that the two energy signatures never interact.
"Otherwise the stronger life force would completely assimilate the weaker, making the healing impossible."
"Somehow, this mold is able to open a channel to its host's life force while also preventing it to swallow the mold's. I could feel my hand being ripped apart piece by piece as if it was being constantly cut and sewn back together." Leannan said.
She immediately called the Healers, tasking them to retrieve samples of the foreign organism to study it. Yet as soon as the mold was without a host, it died. They tried to cut it away with part of the treehouse, but it died again.
"Dammit. Whoever designed it, used plant folk's physiology against us. The piece of treehouse dies almost immediately after being cut away from the main body since its vitality is already compromised after being affected by the mold for so long.
"The only way to sample it, is to give it a live host." Leannan tried to have the mold move on regular plants or small animals, but to no avail.
"I think I know what's happening here." Quylla said, giving Leannan the second heart attack of her long life.
"Erlik has infected the tree with the mold because thanks to its abilities, it weakened the plant's life force enough to apply the Body Sculpting devices. As you said, plant folk's life force regenerates quickly, so without the mold, the devices wouldn't have worked.
"Then, for some reason that I can't explain…" Leannan inwardly sighed in relief.
"They repeated the operation on the upper floors. I don't get what their aim was, but I'm sure that they didn't mean to kill the treehouse. It would have been pointless since the tree's bad shape was bound to give away their position.
"Also, they didn't want to create the sacks of life force either." Quylla said
Chapter 820 Erlik's Plan Part 2
"The only reason the tree is in this state is that Erlik couldn't predict that the interaction between Body Sculpting and the mold would cause long term side effects. Tier five light magic twists the life force, while the mold is capable of preventing its victim from reclaiming its lost parts.
"Both effects were supposed to be destroyed by the tree's recovering abilities once the devices had been removed, but even after its death, the mold's life force blocking properties allowed the sacks of life force twisted by Body Sculpting to survive."
Her words made Lith think about a mosquito bite and how the annoying pest would inject an anti-coagulant to suck blood to its heart's content.
'The mold does something even worse. The toxin it produces prevents the victim's life force to recognize the invasion so that the mold doesn't encounter any resistance aside from that of the immune system.' Lith thought.
"If not for the synergy between the two attacks, the treehouse would have long since healed, like what happened to Leannan's hand, and we wouldn't have noticed anything." Quylla said.
"Can you fix this?" Leannan pointed at the treehouse. The Titania had almost no experience with high tier light magic and calling upon the Sapling's power would have been a liability.
Leannan had finally understood Erlik's game. He had never meant to take over Laruel by fighting her fair and square. He wasn't even trying to fight dirty. The Draugr plan was to take her crown without throwing a single spell.
Leannan cursed her arrogance, which had led her to think that an undead would be so foolish to care for traditions to the point of fighting a losing battle. By becoming a Draugr, Erlik had gained many great powers, but also several limitations.
His link with the Great Mother was severed, most of his abilities as a Treant were lost. Even if Leannan was younger than him, even if she couldn't tap into the Sapling's powers during a ritual fight, she was certain of her victory.
Unlike her opponent, she would still be able to draw upon the nutrients in the soil to achieve regenerative abilities and a stamina that would put even an Awakened to shame.
Mana was the only thing she couldn't recover by feeding, but the same stood for her opponent, who would be unable to recover as fast as her. Either he chose to fight her one on one or army against army, he was doomed for.
His followers were nothing compared to Laruel's forces, even after growing their numbers thanks to the plague. It was the reason why Erlik had kept buying time with guerrilla tactics.
To keep her distracted long enough to complete his real plan. Leannan had still the opportunity to win, but to do that, she needed to do the hardest thing for someone who was both a seasoned veteran and a ruler.
Asking for help.
"Yes, Your Majesty. I can fix the tree." Quylla placed her hands on the nearest wall and started to dissolve the sacks of life force in the basement, restoring its natural flow.
Quylla also wanted to confirm her theory, hence she chose the biggest sack as her first target. The moment she undid the damage inflicted by Erlik's Body Sculpting, the tree's life flow destroyed the mold's toxin and moved on to the next sack.
Quylla needed to give it just a nudge to fix the second sack as well. After that, she didn't need to do anything anymore. The restored flow triggered a domino effect that washed away all the sacks and killed the mold in a matter of seconds.
The light element that had been shackled until that moment stopped bloating the tree's life essence and was drained down the roots back from where it came. Leannan followed the entire process from within, through the vines she had spread throughout the treehouse.
It allowed her to observe the Sapling's consciousness as it moved back into the depths of the ground, yet the undead life force remained. The space between the treehouse's roots and the Sapling's was tainted with a scar that refused to heal.
It confirmed Leannan's worst fears and left her only one way to survive.
She snapped her fingers, moving everyone back to the lab.
"My dear allies, our situation is way worse than we suspected. Erlik is but a few steps away from gaining total control of Laruel." Her voice was steady and her tone calm, yet it echoed like thunder.
Everyone stopped working, incapable to believe their own ears.
"What do you mean? You're still alive and Erlik's army still in hiding. How can he possibly win if he never showed up?" Marth asked.
"All of this was just smoke and mirrors." Leannan waved at the tables, clicking her tongue at her own idiocy.
"His real goal has never been defeating me or creating more undead. His objective has always been taking Laruel for himself. Literally." She added after noticing the confusion in the eyes of her audience, plant folk included.
"Laruel isn't just a city. It pains me to admit it, but due to the chaotic nature of my species, of our inability to consider anyone else as either food or a mating partner, we would have never been able to build something so majestic.
"Laruel's power doesn't come from spells or artifacts, it comes from the World Sapling that grows at its very center. It's a living being of untold age that shares its power with us.
"The Sapling keeps the city hidden, granting to us a safe haven where our powers are multiplied and those of our enemies are locked. The Sapling, however, is far from being a benevolent ruler.
"It's simply a dying creature who has chosen its final resting place. A Sapling slows down its metabolism and enters into a deep slumber, using the knowledge it has accumulated during his millennia-long life and the magical research we share with it to try and prolong its existence.
"It's precisely because of the pact between the Sapling and the plant folks that a ruler is needed." Laruel pointed at her runic tattoos.
"I act as its consciousness and make sure that the community thrives so that the mind of the Sapling is constantly fed by new knowledge. All the treehouses are grown from the seeds of the Sapling, allowing it to reach and control them even in its dormant state, akin to an automatic reflex.
"The reason I'm telling you all this is because Erlik has found a loophole in the Sapling's system and he intends to use it to take over its body." A shocked silence fell on the room while the mages from the three Great Countries pondered the destructive abilities that such a creature would obtain.
"Whenever a treehouse has to be grown or repaired, the Sapling simply wills it to happen, turning it into reality.
"Erlik has used a combination of Body Sculpting and an unknown moss on one of the Sapling's offsprings to inflict to it a great damage for a prolonged time. He did it so that a simple sliver of power wasn't enough, a stray thought wasn't enough to solve the problem.
"Even in the Sapling's dormant state, the pain the tree experienced was enough to draw the Sapling's consciousness and with it a link to the source of its powers. A link that Erlik used to connect with the Sapling via the disease just as I do with the runes."
Chapter 821 Poisonous Tree Part 1
"Erlik's first attempt failed because the undead energy he planted sped up the decay process of the treehouse and allowed us to find him, but there's no telling how much knowledge he has acquired in the process." Leannan said.
"If he succeeds, he will become more powerful than any Sovereign of Laruel has ever been. I can only access to the Sapling's mana, whereas he would be able to access its mind as well.
"Millenia of experience, spells, secrets, and even the location of countless artifacts would all be within his grasp. Worst case scenario, Erlik will infect the Sapling with his disease and exploit its symbiotic abilities to take control of the Sapling's body without it even noticing.
"This wouldn't allow him to move the Sapling since such an act would surely awaken it with disastrous consequences, but all the mana that fuels the protective arrays surrounding the city, all the life force that so far has been used to create our housings, Erlik could employ them as he sees fit." Leannan said.
'This is way worse than I thought. The Sapling might not be an Awakened, but it's akin to a living academy and Leannan is its Headmaster. Yet if Leannan is right and he gets access to its mind as well, the countless magical legacies that the Sapling has accumulated so far would fall into Erlik's hands.
'Plant folks may be psychos, but thanks to their limited life span they have no way to master such amount of knowledge whereas Erlik would have all the time and the power he needs to become one of the most powerful beings on Mogar!' Lith thought.
'I wonder if the Council would dare to shrug again if they knew about this.' Solus said.
"What can we do to help?" Marth asked.
"First, keep searching for a cure. If the Sapling becomes infected, it would be impossible to break Erlik's hold over its powers without removing the symbiote. Second, I should be able to narrow the possible locations of the enemy hideout to a few treehouses and I need your help to find the right one as soon as possible.
"I have left the scarring that the undead energy inflicted upon the first treehouse intact so that you Healers can study and learn how to recognize it. This way, by checking a suspicious treehouse's life force from the outside, you will be able to find Erlik's new lab.
"I could do it myself, but to do it I would need to physically merge with the tree, alerting the enemy, whereas your spells are undetectable." Leannan said.
"I'll remain on stand-by, ready to support whoever of you needs backup. Depending on how smart Erlik has decided to play and on how successful his first experiment was, I wouldn't be surprised if he set up more than one lab or at least a few fake ones.
"By now, he has already been informed of your visit to his lab and I bet that the news about the treehouse recovery will spread fast as well. Erlik might place fake scarring to force us to split our forces and lure us into ambushes.
"Start deciding who is going to scout the locations while I ready my troops. Once the fight begins, I can give you only a limited number of soldiers until Erlik makes his move. I'm the only one who can stop him, so don't count on my help either."
The Sovereign disappeared without even giving the Healers the time to reply. They were her allies, not her subjects, but in time of war, anyone could be conscripted. Marth and the mages from the other countries knew it very well and didn't raise objections.
As long as Leannan didn't ask them to do something harmful for their homeland, they would obey her. After all, they didn't have much of a choice. Their orders were to help her to keep her throne, not to just cure the plague.
The rulers of humankind already had the cure for themselves thanks to the Magic Empress, the only thing that worried them was to lose control over the undead horde.
All the members of Lith's group volunteered for the mission, Kalla included. They were both fighters and Healers so they needed only a limited number of guards. As for Quylla, she wasn't much of a fighter, but Phloria wasn't much of a Healer either.
They decided that, in case of emergency, they would work together, covering each other weaknesses. Their teamwork was on a league of its own thanks to all the awful things and the training they had endured together since the academy.
On top of that, neither Lith nor Friya would have entrusted Quylla's safety to anyone else. They didn't trust plant folk. Their congenital lust for power made their loyalty dubious at best and if they learned about Erlik's project, some of them might be tempted to jump on his bandwagon.
They didn't trust the other Healers either. Quylla was known as the most promising Healer of the Kingdom after Manohar, which made her a threat to the other countries since she was much more loyal and saner than the Mad Professor.
It would have been easy to take her out in the chaos of the battle and pin it on the undead. Lith was kept in a similar regard, but his background made him a wild card and as Milea had already demonstrated, everyone thought they had a shot of bringing him to their side.
Each research team sent their worse healer to work to examine the darkness energy mass, considering them expendable. Marth would have loved to do the same.
"Quylla there's no need for you to participate. We can send someone else." He said as soon as they were alone. The others had already left to study the scarring under Erlik's fist hideout.
She had remained in the lab to revise the samples at her disposal, to understand if the symbiote could affect treehouses as well, and how to counter it.
"Sovereign Leannan asked for my help for a reason. I'm the one who identified the black mass under the tree and I have been able to cure the twisted life force. Also, I've got a feeling that when we find Erlik, Leannan will be too busy dealing with him to take care of anything else." She replied.
Meanwhile, Lith cursed once again his inability to use his communicator amulet.
'If only I could contact Faluel. She would be able to tell me if the Sapling is an Awakened or not. If yes, I would get the Council's help and this story would end before it can begin. If not, I'm certain that Faluel would help me.
'She might not fear any undead, but Awakened or not, just the size of the Sapling makes it a threat even for someone like her. I doubt she reached her age by letting her enemies acquiring such powerful weapons.' Lith thought.
He used the tier five light spell Scanner to find the scarring, and once he was done studying it with conventional means he used Invigoration. Normally it would have been impossible since Erlik's spell was so deep underground, but the scarring was just between the treehouses' and the Sapling's roots.
Lith could use them as a support to conduct his mana without it losing effectiveness.
'Fuck me sideways! This is no scarring at all. The darkness element is filled with willpower.'
Chapter 822 Poisonous Tree Part 2
'Best case scenario it's another unexpected side effect of the experiments since now I got Erlik's energy signature and it matches the symbiote's.
'Worst case scenario, it's a trap that we might trigger by trying to remove the scarring.' After his meeting with Faluel, Lith had practiced the meditation techniques she had taught to her, enhancing his willpower perception.
To control Domination, the first step was learning how to sense willpower, while the second step was to identify its focus points in a spell and replace it with his own. Lith was still inexperienced due to the lack of time for training, but the mass of willpower in front of him was powerful enough for him to easily sense it.
He immediately covered them with a Hush spell and shared his discovery with Kalla, who had a hard time suppressing her enthusiasm.
"Fascinating. I never thought about using darkness magic in such a fashion. I must have a talk with this Erlik before he's put down like the madman he is." She said.
"Fascinating or not, we must check if the tree is infected, and we need it for yesterday!" Lith had met two Liches in his life, and judging by her level of craziness, Kalla would be a perfect addition to the club.
Since according to Solus's mana sense the treehouse had no blood core, both the Awakened used the diagnostic spell Marth had taught them to check on the nearest wall. Unfortunately, the spell was meant to study small samples, not gigantic creatures.
The area that Lith managed to study with it was clean, but that meant nothing. If it really was a trap, then the symbiote was likely to be dormant. Kalla and Lith grimaced, neither of them wanted to use Invigoration.
The treehouse was a giant living being, each cell of which shared a part of its consciousness. The first time Lith had attempted such a thing he had almost fainted due to sensory overload.
He focused solely on limiting the area analyzed at a time while Solus searched for anomalies. Just as he feared, they found several small lumps of inactive symbiote located in the treehouse's key points.
They had been arranged so that once the infection started, it would take them less than a minute to spread to the whole building.
'This is actually good news.' Solus thought. 'Depending on the trigger, we might be able to safely cleanse the parasite. I doubt they expected that this could happen. It would also explain why they didn't care for fake mages studying the phenomenon and sent a thrall against you instead.
'They were afraid of what only an Awakened could discover.'
'Well, yes and no. Sure, we can remove them, but there are too many lumps and we have no time to waste. A partial cleansing would slow the spreading of the symbiote and nothing more. Moreover, we have no way to explain what needs to be done and why.' Lith replied.
Kalla had examined a much smaller area than Lith due to the strain of not being overwhelmed by the tree's voice, yet her findings were similar.
"Kalla, do you know how to establish a mind link with spirit magic?" Lith asked, hoping to avoid talking under the effects of the Hush spell in front of so many people.
"Is such a thing really possible?" Her surprise gave him the answer he wanted.
After a quick exchange of opinions, he and Kalla were of different minds. Lith wanted to leave the lumps alone, to not risk activating the trap, whereas Kalla wanted to trigger it on purpose.
"If this thing comes alive, Erlik could use it as a giant soldier and screw us in a snap. We are not equipped to deal with something this big." Lith said.
"I agree, but at the same time, isn't it better to see what it's capable of? What if the treehouses we enter are in the same condition? Do you want to enter inside the belly of such a beast without any preparation?" Was her objection.
"First, the darkness element has a will of its own. It means that it might alert Erlik and warn him of our arrival. Sure, we'd see what a possessed treehouse is capable of, but we'd also lose the enemy in the process and we'd walk into a fully prepared ambush when we find his base.
"Discovering the tree's abilities is pointless if we lose the element of surprise."
Their arguing went on for long enough that everyone noticed and asked them what was going on. Both of them refused to answer to not cause panic and decided to leave the decision in Leannan's hands.
By the time they returned to the lab, Leannan was there as well.
"I have good and bad news." Kalla said. They had decided she would take full credit for the discovery, to not draw any more attention on Lith. "The good news is that the energy signature of the 'scarring' is the same as the symbiote.
"If it belongs to Erlik, then the infected plant folk have Draugr tissues mixed with their own and we can work with that. The bad news is that the treehouse is rigged."
She explained everything they had found and their conflicting opinions as well.
"Thanks, Lady Kalla. I must admit that at first, I feared your presence here. I thought that your partial undead nature would make you sympathize with our enemies, yet you've proved yourself to be a loyal ally time and time again.
"You deserve my sincerest apologies." No one missed Leannan addressing the Wight with a title. Marth already felt his neck in danger and it only became worse when the Titania gave both Kalla and Lith a deep bow.
Everyone assumed it was because she had appreciated his participation, but Leannan was actually old and smart enough to notice that every huge discovery had happened in his presence.
'The situation has stagnated until the arrival of this Verhen. According to Lyta, Kalla is a natural Awakened. If the human is the one helping her, it means that not only is he Awakened as well, but also a powerful one.' Leannan thought.
"As for the danger the infected treehouse poses, I'm sorry but I'm with Lord Verhen. I can wither a whole neighborhood with a snap of my fingers, whereas finding Erlik is not that simple. If we lose him again, we might not find his trail until it's too late."
***
Erlik the Draugr Treant's Headquarters, now.
Just like Lith had described them to Kalla, the scar tissue between roots was actually a mass of darkness element bearing Erlik's willpower. What he had failed to notice due to his inexperience in dealing with plants and to his paranoia, afraid to trigger the trap, was that inside that mass there was a good chunk of Erlik's symbiotic tissues.
Magic was magic, after all. Even an array wouldn't have lasted for so long without a good number of powerful mana crystal, let alone a simple tier five spell. Lith and all those who had examined the situation after him, had thought that the spell drew sustenance from the treehouse, but they had been only partially right.
To sense an external threat, to manipulate a treehouse from a distance, Erlik had left parts of himself behind. Quylla checking them the first time had worried him to the point of rushing the relocation of his lab.
The moment Erlik perceived multiple external willpowers interacting with his own, he knew that either he was the luckiest being on Mogar or his plan had been figured out.
Chapter 823 Battle of Wits Part 1
His long life had led the Draugr to not believe in optimism, so he put in action all of his contingency plans and started to prepare for more.
'It must be the humans' work. Ever since the new batch of pests arrived, things have started to go wrong. I don't know if the root of my problems is the human girl Marth was so eager to find or the Awakened the Night Court warned me about.
'Luckily, I know how to throw them off their game and buy the time that I need to bring my plan to fruition.' Erlik thought while activating his communication amulet.
His control over the Sapling was still rough, but after corrupting his latest dwelling for long enough, he was able to deactivate the arrays that covered the city within its area.
After his arrival to the Garlen continent, before he could enact his plan, Erlik had made contact with all the Undead Courts to find out which one of them would be the best partner.
He didn't expect that the Dawn, Dusk, and Night Court would set aside their differences, agreeing to a common strategy. The Courts had been founded as a means for the undead to protect themselves from the persecution of the lesser races, but with security and time, they had started to yearn for more.
They had grown sick of hiding in the shadows and feed upon the scraps of society instead of being part of it. The undead migration had boosted their numbers, giving them the power that the Courts had always lacked.
The survivors from the Jiera continent were mostly powerful creatures that had the wisdom of centuries and the might of the relics they had accumulated during their long lives.
Veeza the Lich, who was currently battling with the Magic Empress, had shown them that even with all of its limitations, an undead army could take head-on one of the three great countries.
Yet it wasn't something that even the Undead Courts could replicate. The only reason why the battle had lasted months instead of days was that unlike common undead, Liches had no fear of sunlight, no problem with solar cycles, and most importantly, they had no problems practicing Forgemastery or dimensional magic.
Veeza had erected several Gates before launching her attack, allowing her troops to move as fast as those of the Empire. When they were victorious, fresh troops would reinforce the offensive, allowing them to cut deep in the Empire and secure their hold.
When they were defeated, the undead could retreat quickly and safely, with the Lich herself covering her hordes. Veeza wasn't afraid of dealing with a whole army by herself since no matter how many times they destroyed her, she always had a spare body at the ready.
Erlik's plan was exactly what the Courts needed. With the plant folks' Gate network, they too could fight with any opponent on equal grounds. They needed the Draugr because Jiera's Liches had not left their homes.
Liches didn't feed on the living, they only needed to keep their phylacteries safe. As for those of the Garlen continent, they had refused to help. Or better, that was the only explanation the Courts could think of.
None of the messengers of the Courts had returned undead to tell the tale. Disturbing a Lich during a critical phase of their research was a deadly feat, and Liches always thought of being in a critical phase of their research.
Approaching Veeza had proven to be pointless as well. She was willing to help, but only in exchange for their literal undying loyalty. She had devised slave rings that worked on undead and demanded to her servants to wear them.
The Courts wanted her as an ally, not as their master, so they had turned down her 'generous' offer. The act had enraged Veeza and left them Erlik as their only hope. He had contacts in all the three Courts, so it didn't take him long to find the best man for the job at hand.
After the huge fiasco in Othre, Kaelan the vampire had lost everything because of Lith.
The death of his chosen, of Count Xolver, and his failure in the negotiations with the Griffon Kingdom, had led the Night Court to strip Kaelan of his rank, turning the centuries-old vampire into a social pariah.
After months of mockery and humiliation, he had abandoned the Court, becoming an Outcast. It was the only way to achieve his revenge without being restricted by the rules of undead society.
He had attempted for over a month to find Lith, but the task had proven to be a nightmare. Lith moved as fast and silent as a ghost. No matter how much Kaelan spent to corrupt his sources in the army, the Ranger was never where he was supposed to be.
The vampire had no idea that thanks to Solus's new powers, the position Lith provided in his reports was purely nominal. He would have the army amulet scan a location in the north just to Warp with his tower back in the south of the Kingdom.
Infiltrating Belius had proved to be impossible. No matter how rich he was, the city's security measures were so strict that he couldn't get in. Among the city arrays, there was one able to detect the undead.
The Crown spared no expenses to keep the Courts out of nerve centers of the Kingdom. It made Kamila untouchable for him, just like the Queen's Corps units outside Lith's house made kidnapping a member of his family suicidal.
Kaelan could have killed one of them from a distance, but his thirst for revenge couldn't be quenched by such an impersonal act. He wanted Lith to know who was the architect of his misery and why he was being punished.
"What do you want, Erlik?" Kaelan's spite for the Draugr was only second to the one he held of the Courts.
"You're already capable of staying awake during the day. Remarkable." Erlik didn't care for respect as long as the other party kept their end of the bargain. "Are you interested in regaining your position in the Night Court, if not in rising even higher?"
"What's the deal?" Kaelan knew that Erlik had no authority in the Courts. He was their golden boy, but that was it. At least until his plan succeeded. After that, the Draugr would become a leading figure, if not the leader of all Courts.
Alas, between saying and doing, there were a lot of people to slaughter.
"My plan was going smoothly, but in the last few days, I've run into a few complications. I hoped you could help me deal with them." Erlik explained to Kaelan his current situation.
"I need you to buy me just a few days. Past that point, unless the Council or a Guardian intervenes, the events that I'm going to set in motion will be impossible to stop."
"How exactly am I supposed to do it? I can't enter Laruel and even if I could, I couldn't move as freely as your thralls and undead plants." Kaelan replied.
"I don't need you here. I need you to deal with those bothering me. No matter how powerful a warrior or how cunning their mind is, the heart will always be their weak point.
Chapter 824 Battle of Wits Part 2
"Attack the ones they love and they will either lose their focus or become mad with revenge. Quylla Ernas and Lith Verhen have proved to be too dangerous, but luckily, I know how to dispose of both of them at the same time."
"Are you insane?" Kaelan laughed, incapable to believe his own ears. "It would take me months to reach Lutia and attacking Archon Ernas in her own home would be a fool's errand."
"I understand now why you've fallen from the Night Court's grace." Erlik said with a voice full of contempt. "Your brain doesn't match your power, just like a lesser undead."
Kaelan held his rage in, waiting for an explanation. He had nothing to lose listening to the Draugr until the end.
"You don't have to move from Othre. Give the Archon and her pupil what they want and they will willingly come to you."
"Manohar? I have no idea where to start to search for him and even if I did, I wouldn't dare face him. The last time the Night Court tried to capture him during one of his escapees, it was a massacre.
"He turned his assailants back into mortals long enough to slaughter them like pigs. I survived only because he mistook me for a passerby. My powers returned after less than a minute, but it was the longest minute of my life." Kaelan shivered at the memory.
He was a powerful vampire, but in life, he had been weaker than most.
"This is actually great news. If Manohar came to Othre in the past, it will make the false report more believable. Change the appearance of one of your thralls so that he resembles Manohar and lure the Archon to you." Erlik said.
'This vampire is an idiot, but only an idiot and a desperate one at that, would believe my promise. Once I'll have control over the Sapling, once I manage to Awaken, I'll have no need for the Courts.
'Conquering the plant Kingdom is a pipe dream. Once news of how I bested Leannan comes out, my plan will never work again. Yet I only need it to work once.'
The Draugr had never shared his real goal with the Courts, otherwise they wouldn't support him. One Sapling was more than enough to build Erlik's undead kingdom.
He would be the only one capable of opening Gates at will, to move troops or bringing his subjects to safety with nothing more than a thought. Even if the plants united against him and somehow managed to defeat him despite the power of the Sapling, Erlik would still retain all the knowledge gained through their symbiosis.
As long as his plan succeeded, it was only a matter of time before the Draugr could give his people the country they deserved.
***
City-state of Laruel
After Leannan had unraveled Erlik's plan, she had yet to find a way to stop him. All her attempts to locate his position via the bond she shared with the World Sapling had failed.
Her only option was to mobilize her troops and hope to find Erlik's lab among all the withering treehouses. The problem was that Laruel was a big city, taking an area of 1,285 km2 (496.3 sq mi).
Relying on eyesight and citizens' reports to identify the enemy position was akin to finding the proverbial needle in a haystack.
The only silver lining in such a dire situation was that Erlik's claim on Laruel didn't stand any longer. Even though he was an undead, he was still considered a plant folk and as such, he had to abide by the tradition.
To challenge a ruler, after defeating his constable, a pretender had only two possible choices of duel. The first was to challenge one on one the current Sovereign, without the aid of any external means.
For the pretender, it meant that they couldn't rely on artifacts, while for the Sovereign it included even the possibility to call upon the Sapling's power. Such rule was meant to put to the test the abilities of both contestants instead of showing who simply had more resources.
Erlik had refused such a possibility because he was aware that on fertile ground, he wouldn't be a match for Leannan, plus the time of the duel was decided randomly. If it happened during the day he might as well commit suicide.
The second was a battle army versus army, which usually required the contender to be a citizen of a city-state and have grown their forces over time.
It was the path that Erlik had apparently chosen, using the plague to gain followers since it wasn't allowed to foreigners, even if plant folks, to take part in the matters of a city-state.
Just like Leannan, Erlik was entitled to have his own court, which allowed him to employ his most loyal followers like Gremlik, even if they weren't citizens of Laruel, but the custom was very strict about their numbers.
Now, however, it was pretty clear that Erlik didn't mean to follow the tradition. His growing army of undead and his guerrilla tactics were only meant to stall for time and give the impression that he was trying to rally more soldiers.
His real aim was to gain control of the World Sapling and use it to take control of Laruel. Since now Leannan had proof to back her claim, she had alerted the other city-states of the threat at hand and even requested their help.
"I can send you troops to help you search Laruel, but until Erlik is found, I can't risk sending away my elite troops. I've already changed the city arrays so that they don't grant access to undead plants anymore.
"I can't risk repeating your mistakes." Erwal the Redcap said. Like all the Fae of his kind, the top the vegetation composing his hair was deep red due to the blood of the enemies he had feasted upon.
It allowed a Redcap to use the skills and spells of his fallen enemies, but each use would consume some of the stored blood, plus such abilities couldn't be studied nor learned.
"Thanks." Leannan replied.
"This is a race against time. If I can find Erlik before he infects the Sapling, the battle will be over before it can even begin. Yet if he somehow gets full access to the city's resources, I've no chances of defeating him alone."
"Don't worry, even if Laruel falls, we'll help you with all our means." Erwal, like all the Sovereigns that Leannan had contacted, were much less confident than he appeared.
Giving to undead plants the opportunity to enter a city-state had always been nothing more than a ruse to lure the hated fallen members of their race and kill them. All of the challenge's rules had been written to make it impossible for an undead to prevail.
No one had ever considered the possibility that one day someone would exploit their mockery to invade their home.
Meanwhile, in the research lab, once Lith had understood that he could do little to contribute in finding a cure due to his ignorance about the anatomy of plant folks, he had asked Lyta to bring him back to Lutia.
Thanks to their mystical connection, World Saplings could open Warp Gates almost anywhere as long as there was plenty of vegetation and no defensive array. He told her that he wanted to visit his family, but he actually meant to ask for Faluel's help.
Chapter 825 World Tree Part 1
Lith had no idea what a World Sapling was, so he planned of using the only powerful Awakened he knew to gain the Council's support or at least ask Faluel to share with him her knowledge about the matters at hand.
"You have done well coming to me, Lith." Faluel said. She was in her Hydra form because he had caught her in a bad moment. Between her magical research and training Protector, Faluel could only pay one head worth of attention to him
"Not only is Laruel's situation quite dire, but also if you contacted the human Council, you would have put yourself in danger."
"What do you mean?" Lith asked.
"I've never lied to you and I'm not going to start now. You have done wonders in achieving amazing feats while keeping your nature as an Awakened hidden, but now that you've been acknowledged by the Council, the two worlds are bound to meet.
"You've already made yourself a lot of enemies in the human society, but now they can rely on the backing of several Awakened you've crossed."
"Wait a minute. I've never crossed anyone. I've simply defended my life from those who made an attempt on me. Also, I'm pretty sure that I've killed all those who stood in my path, so who exactly has a bone to pick with me?" Lith asked.
"Every single young Awakened." Her reply shocked him, but what followed was much worse.
"You've slain Treius after he bonded with a cursed item, an event no one cared for as long as you were just a nameless Ranger, but now you are a benchmark.
"You've killed the disciples of many leading figures of the Awakened community, but most importantly, you've caused the downfall of their masters as well. On top of that, you've refused Raagu's scouting attempt and drawn my attention.
"Those are all feats that garnered you respect, but also envy and resentment. A lot of masterless Awakened depended on Gaaron to make their living and all the young apprentices now have to fight you to gain their master's recognition.
"You have become a constant in their life. For the former, you're the one who took away what little they had and got away with it. For the latter, you've turned down the opportunity they never had: to become the disciple of the strongest human Awakened alive.
"To make matters worse, you've also become the object of their resentment since now whenever they make a mistake, their masters compare your achievements with theirs.
"Just like the old Awakened are thrilled at the idea to watch the heights you might reach, the young Awakened want you to fall, both metaphorically and literally. Possibly dying in the process.
"As you can imagine, they are more than willing to give fate a 'hand' and trigger your destruction."
"Wait a minute, if the old fogeys admire me, why don't they just stop their disciples?" Lith asked.
"Because if their disciples beat you, it would mean that you were not destined to greatness, but just the spur others needed to reach their true potential. If their disciples fail, instead, you'll just have weeded out the weak for them.
"Also, don't forget that all the old Awakened, Raagu included, want to bring you from the beasts' side to their own." Lith didn't miss how Faluel had not said 'to the human side.'
It heavily implied that the human Council wasn't treating the matter as a community, but considered him a bone of contention.
"Yet they don't want to treat you like a peer, they want you docile and humbled down for the use. Hence they'll let slide most of what happens with the goal of forcing you to seek for their protection." Faluel said.
"Isn't anything that the beasts' Council can do to help me?"
"There is and they would, if you were part of it, but you're not even my disciple. You're still a rogue Awakened with no affiliation, otherwise no one would allow this disciple war, especially humans.
"Awakened are few in numbers and recently many of them have died because of their apprentice's foolishness. The human Council can't afford an open conflict with the beasts."
Lith pondered Faluel words for a split second before understanding all of their implications. With the help of the Awakened, all the enemies that he had made and that he had ignored so far would have the resources to mess with his life.
Both personal and professional. He even suspected that Phloria's career was being endangered as a twisted way to get back at him
"Let me guess. You're not going to help me either. This way, I'll be pressed to fall in line and do as you say." Lith snarled.
"Wrong." Faluel sighed. "If I wanted to force you to do anything, I would have put a price to my help against Raagu, or I wouldn't have mentioned any of that to you. The smart move would have been to let them catch you unprepared, to make you feel small and helpless.
"Then, when you were at your weakest and desperate for help, I would have 'casually' sent Protector to help and renew my offer."
She was right. Lith felt a jerk even more than usual for accusing the Hydra of treachery. Maybe Faluel wasn't his friend, but she was honest with him, which was already more than he could ask.
"I'm telling you this so that you'll be ready for the worse. A trap isn't a trap if you know it's there." Faluel said.
"I'm deeply sorry for doubting you and for my earlier words." Lith gave her a deep bow. "It's just that so many bad news at once made me feel cornered…"
"And a cornered beast is the most dangerous one." Faluel completed the phrase for him. Even though it wasn't what Lith was about to say, he liked the spin she had given to his words.
"We'll make sure that even those blockheads learn such an obvious lesson. I am willing to help you, but there's a limit to what I can do as just the ruler of Derios helping one of the Awakened kings of the Trawn woods.
"At least I can guarantee you that your family will be safe. Any attempts to harm your human cubs will be met with extreme prejudice." Her voice was just a hiss, yet it held a power that reverberated through the cave, making it tremble.
Lith had an odd feeling about it. The vibrations were nothing like when he went all-out. The Hydra's lair didn't quake so much as shifted its weight as if it was readying itself for battle.
"Thank you, Faluel." Lith bowed to her again. His enemies had lost the element of surprise and as long as it was him they had to deal with, Lith was confident about his odds of success.
"It's not me you have to thank. I wouldn't have gotten wind of any of this until it was too late if my human colleague, Athung, didn't tell me about it."
"Athung? That young Awakened?" Lith asked.
"Indeed. My guess is that she likes you where you are. If you become part of the beast Council, you two will never have to compete. Also, you would become a reliable asset as both a Forgemaster and liaison with another race of Awakened.
Chapter 826 World Tree Part 2
"I usually don't appreciate duplicity, but in your shoes, I'd say that an honest rival is better than a treacherous friend. Also, I'm not done with the bad news."
Lith sighed and nodded for her to continue. His situation was bad, but it could still become much worse.
"What you're facing in Laruel is a big threat, almost big enough to involve the Council. Unfortunately, this Erlik is a cunning bastard. As things are right now, almost isn't enough.
"No one of the involved parties is an Awakened, so the Council is likely to sit on their hands until is too late." Faluel said.
"The Sapling isn't an Awakened?" Lith was flabbergasted.
"Sadly, no. The World Tree, from which all the Saplings descend from, is probably the first, but surely the most ancient Awakened on Mogar. Legends say that its roots encompass our whole planet, allowing it to hold all the knowledge of the past, of the present, and even to catch a glimpse of the future.
"Many Awakened and Dragons have spent their lives looking for it, in the hope to find answers that no one else can provide them. Some seek the truth about the past, others look for redemption."
"I get that being Awakened expands your lifespan, so a tree that could live hundreds of years on its own would live millennia, yet isn't this story farfetched? No one can live that long." Lith said.
"You're right. We call it the World Tree, but it's just an inherited title. When the original Tree felt its end approaching, it didn't despair nor sought for a way to prolong its existence.
"The Tree's only worry was that all the knowledge and secrets it had accumulated would be lost, so it found a way to preserve them. At the moment of its death, its consciousness would travel through its roots to meet all of its offspring.
"Once the World Tree finds a worthy candidate, their consciousnesses merge and a new World Tree is born from the Awakening of a Sapling."
"It takes over the body of one of its children? Isn't that forbidden magic?" Lith asked.
"No. It would be forbidden magic if it consumed the Sapling's life force, but it's the other way around. The World Tree gives what life force it has left to the Sapling, just like you did with Protector, allowing the younger being to live longer and inherit all of the Tree's memories but none of its emotions.
"This way, only information is passed on, whereas all the traumas and the prejudices due to bad experiences die with the old Tree. The new Tree can look at its newly acquired knowledge as if it's just reading a book.
"Otherwise the emotional burden would drive each generation of World Trees insane with unpredictable consequences. It's one of the reasons why the Saplings are referred to as plant Liches.
"Each one of them is like a living phylactery that will allow the Tree to live on. If Erlik gets his hands on a Sapling's mind, he might barter the knowledge it holds in exchange for the secret of Awakening.
"At that point, he'll simply have to ask his new master to help him to join the undead Council so that no Awakened can mess with his turf. The Sapling would provide him with all the knowledge he needs to buy himself not only a seat, but also several powerful allies." Faluel said.
"So, basically the Council will not intervene because there's no Awakened involved, but once Erlik becomes a threat, they would not have the chance to intervene because he'd have become one of them?" Lith asked.
"Gods, no. No one is that stupid. It's just that so far, you've just reported me your guesses, but no proof. I was just speculating. If you are right, Erlik's plan is brilliant, but it's still just a plan. There are countless things with it that can go wrong.
"Leannan might kill him, the Sapling's mind could burn Erlik's, or even better, his invasion might awaken the Sapling from its slumber and make it wipe out all the undead.
"Even if none of the above happens and he succeeds, the Awakened plant folks will unite and destroy him for tainting what they hold sacred the most.
"For his plan not to be a death sentence, he must already have a contact among the Awakened, become an Awakened himself, and then gain the undead Council's approval.
"Which of course is an unlikely sequence of events. Unless you're missing some key element, he is bound to fail." Faluel said. The tone of her voice contradicted the confidence her words implied.
She and Lith both realized that if Erlik didn't run away after his plan had been exposed, he had to be either desperate or incredibly clever.
Lith left the Hydra's lair and returned to Laruel, devoting all of his energies to learning about plant anatomy in search of a clue for a cure or at least unfolding the secret behind the Draugr's confidence.
Leannan's comb search of the city wasn't providing any new leads, so the Sovereign joined the human Healers and aided them at the best of her possibilities. The Titania had limited knowledge about light magic, but thanks to her ability to merge with other plants, she had her own means to study the infected.
She even allowed the plague to take hold in small parts of her body to try and get rid of it, just to cut them off before it could spread to her whole body every time her attempts failed.
The discovery about the undead tissues belonging to a Draugr didn't help much in finding a cure. That kind of undead couldn't move during the day, but they weren't harmed by sunlight.
It simply caused the disease to spread more quickly during the night, but as Quylla had noticed on the day of their arrival, the grey tissue was still able to be transported by its host's lifestream and infect newly generated tissues even when the sun was up.
To make matters worse, Draugr could feed upon their victims through various means like devouring their flesh, by feeding upon their fears, and by drinking their blood. It gave the infected tissues too many ways to spread the disease.
A Draugr's major weak point was their inability to stay away from their burial ground, but the infected didn't show any discomfort even after being locked up for days.
"I think we've been facing the problem from the wrong angle the entire time." Quylla said after another failure at cleansing an infected.
"Our problem lies in the fact that because our diagnostic spells are unable to distinguish the host from the symbiote, we can't kill one without dealing an almost lethal injury to the other.
"The so-called cure that Professor Marth explained to us simply exploits the disease's trait of always remaining in the background. It means that the weaker an infected becomes, so does the symbiote, but since it's devised to keep its host alive it dies before the infected can.
"This is plain torture and is not a viable cure because if even one bit of symbiote survives, all the pain the patient has gone through would be for nothing.
"I think that if we want to find a remedy, we must take into account that we are dealing with an undead, and a Draugr at that. There must be a weak point that we can exploit to purge Erlik's tissues from his victims." Quylla said.
"I agree with you, but it's not easy to find a solution." Marth replied.
Chapter 827 Domino Effect Part 1
"It's not the first time that an undead has managed to infect people, either to safely feed upon them or to control them. This kind of trick, however, always followed the same pattern.
"The tissues would be hidden inside their victim and act as a parasite. Hence you would find two energy signatures, each belonging to a different being and then remove the unwanted one.
"In our case, the Draugr tissues form a symbiote that fuses with its host, making it impossible to treat them separately. That's why it managed to fool us for so long. It followed the pattern of Jiera's plague but had a different effect, leading us to believe it was simply a different strain of the disease." Marth said.
"That's it!" Quylla jumped off her chair in excitement. "Professor, if I recall correctly, Jiera's plague deadly trait was its ability to bond with its victim tissues and make them rot from the inside so that any attempt to heal it would just hasten the decay process."
"Exactly." Marth nodded. "It was a disease that couldn't be cured with normal healing magic. It required a combination of darkness and light spells because otherwise the healing would multiply the infected tissues and help spread the disease until it became untreatable."
The cure required the Healer to distinguish the healthy parts of the patient's body from those damaged. Then, they had to bombard the body with pulses of darkness magic strong enough to kill the infected tissues and only weaken the rest.
At that point, it was possible to infuse the patient with both life force and light magic, since only healthy cells would manage to reproduce whereas the infected would die of strain.
The procedure had to be applied to the patient's head and torso first since unlike limbs, they couldn't be regenerated. Also, time was of the essence. Due to the plague's nature, if there were no healthy tissues the patient was doomed.
"My guess is that Erlik has infused his tissues with the same spells that empowered the plague. So far, first, you have treated it as if it was Jiera's plague and then as if it was just an undead parasite.
"Yet our enemy is actually a hybrid. We already know how to eradicate the plague, but how can we adapt the cure to a Draugr?" She asked.
"Draugr don't have many weak points aside from being unable to move during the day. They are creatures of envy and greed, so…" A flash of understanding appeared behind Marth's eyes.
"Oh gods! It's just an idea, but if it works…"
***
Ernas Household, now.
As an Archon, Jirni Ernas was no longer just an Officer. Her role required to supervise the job of many Royal Constables and the reports that kept flooding on her desk made her more worried by the day.
The Empire had managed to stop the advance of the Lich's army and was slowly reconquering the lost lands, but there were still a lot of people who had lost their homes.
All those who had family members in the Griffon Kingdom or in the Blood Desert were seeking refuge from the war in the other countries, but distinguishing those who were really so desperate to betray their own homeland from the spies sent to spread false information was very hard.
The Kingdom had strengthened the army presence at their borders, even considering the idea of invading the Empire before deciding against it. Not because the Griffon Kingdom pitied its neighbor's predicament, nor out of gratitude for sharing the cure for Jiera's plague.
Just like when the Kingdom had faced the threat of Kandria's parasite, it was a matter of opportunity. Forcing the Magic Empress to split her forces would have caused her certain defeat, but the joy from the victory wouldn't last long.
If the Gorgon Empire crumbled, half of it would fall under Veeza the Lich's grasp, giving the undead a stable foothold on the Garlen continent.
To make matters worse, not only would every single fallen citizen of the Empire be turned into another member of the Lich's army, but also the Griffon Kingdom would become her new neighbor and next target.
With the current invasion of undead coming from Jiera, it would mean fighting enemies from both inside and outside the Kingdom, plus the risk of offering their back to the Blood Desert.
The Empress was their best bet against Veeza, or at least the Kingdom planned to use her to buy enough time to get rid of its domestic problem with the undead while preparing to colonize Jiera.
All the resources that the Empress had to invest in the war, the Kingdom was using them to not lose the colonial race against the Blood Desert. Unbeknownst even to Jirni, Salaark was treating his undead guests as she treated anything else.
They could either bend the knee or become fertilizer for her personal garden. Rumors said that her renowned Blood Roses would grow in the middle of the desert only thanks to the outstanding nutritional values vampire's ashes had.
Which, needless to say, had led all but the bravest or most desperate among Jiera's refugees to stay away from the Blood Desert.
The Kingdom wasn't so lucky. Between the murders committed by the undead but disguised as common crimes and the criminals trying to pin their deeds on the undead Jirni's workload had doubled.
Too many nobles had raised their heads again, daring to commit crimes against the Crown and against the rules of magic now that they had the perfect scapegoat. On top of that, Archon Ernas also had to orchestrate the search for Manohar.
All of her predecessors had failed to bring the Mad Professor back during the Kingdom's time of need and had paid for that with their position.
'First Phloria and now this. I'm wondering if I got this assignment because the Crown trusts me since I succeeded in handling Manohar in the past, or if it's just some political play to undermine the Ernas's authority.' Jirni thought.
Lately, Orion was subject to harsh criticism for having shared the secrets of the Royal Forgemasters with his daughters even though he had only done it after vouching for them and getting the authorization from the Royals themselves.
Jirni wasn't new to political attacks, but that was the first time that the Ernas family was surrounded from all sides. The Ernas was one of the most ancient and powerful households in the Kingdom, wielding both blue blood closely related to the Crown and the power of magic.
Usually, only Jirni would be targeted and solely because her job as a Constable made her an enemy of criminals, be them noble or not. Orion wasn't involved in politics and his work as Royal Forgemaster was highly praised.
However now someone was systematically undermining their prestige and authority, starting from the weakest member of the family.
'I knew that becoming an Archon would have made my position even worse, but I would have never expected that they would have taken it out on the entire Ernas household.
��If it was me behind this plotting, I would make sure that Phloria gets reprimanded for her incompetence as both a leader and Royal Forgemaster. If they pin the blame for the Professors' death on Orion's teachings, the domino effect will hit him next.'
Chapter 828 Domino Effect Part 2
'After that, I would just wait for Manohar to be Manohar, give myself the impossible task of catching him and use it as a pretext to strip the annoying Archon of her title if not even ending her career.' Jirni thought.
Between her ancestral household, all the allies she had made during the years, and the excellent relationship she had with the Royal family, she was supposed to be safe from power plays, yet she was starting to feel cornered.
The worst thing was that for the first time in her life, Jirni was powerless against it. Phloria's fate only depended on the army official part of the commission, while Orion could only rely on his fellow Royal Forgemasters.
There was no easy way out, no favor she could call in to solve the situation, nor any plot she could scheme. Jirni Ernas was a resourceful woman, but taking on alone the six great academies, the army, and several noble families was too much for her.
Too much for anyone.
Yet she didn't despair, channeling her frustration in her job to make sure to do everything by the book. This time, success or failure was almost the same. Even if Jirni managed to find Manohar, she could still be blamed for being too late for it to matter.
Manohar or no Manohar, if Laruel fell she might be held responsible so Jirni's main concern was not leaving anything that her hidden enemies could use against her.
The silver lining was that thanks to Manohar's escaping streak, blaming her was a paper-thin argument, but that only if she was able to prove that she had left no stone unturned.
"Archon Ernas, we just received a sighting report from Othre." Kamila said, showing her mentor only the interesting bits. Kamila had worked her ass off ever since Laruel's crisis had started, barely taking the time off to eat, sleep, and see Lith.
Once he had departed, she had dedicated herself entirely to the manhunt.
"Othre? This is great news." Jirni checked the list of ingredients Manohar was after. A fossilized Gorgon scale was among them, and according to the report, one had just reached Othre's black market.
Gorgons were officially extinct, so everything related to them was incredibly hard to find, even on the Royal trading channels.
"Do you want to send a squad to check?" Kamila asked.
"No time." Jirni shook her head, making sure to have with her all the Manohar-capturing artifacts that had allowed her to succeed the first time, plus some new pieces that Orion had prepared for her.
"A squad would take too long and they would not get 100 meters from him without getting discovered. Manohar can't Warp inside of Othre but he can still fly. You and I will have to suffice."
"Me?" Kamila was surprised. "I've never received training to go undercover and if he recognizes me…"
"Manohar will ask you if Lith is with you. He doesn't bother remembering insignificant details like the names and jobs of the people he meets. Either he will just take you for a pretty face in the crowd or recognize you as Lith's plus one." Jirni cut her short.
The Mad Professor had an incredible acumen in recognizing someone's magical talent. It was one of the reasons catching him was so hard. Only a powerful mage could corner Manohar, yet he would recognize one on the fly and escape.
The two women changed into casual clothes and Jirni even altered her hair color, applying make-up on her face and hands to pass as a random thug instead of a hunter on the prowl.
She took her army amulet to perform a quick status update while walking towards the Ernas's Gate.
"Where are you going this late? You'll miss dinner." Orion asked. He was having a hard time as well, working late hours to prepare anti-undead weapons for the army. On one hand, Balkor's threat had undermined the Griffon Kingdom's stability for years.
On the other hand, it had forced them to develop the most advanced cutting-edge magic and tactics while dealing with Necromancers, allowing them to deal with the invasion from Jiera better than their foreign counterparts.
The Empire had never faced such a widespread undead phenomenon, whereas even though the Blood Desert had Salaark, she couldn't be everywhere at the same time.
"Just a quick trip to Othre to check on a sighting report. I'll be back in a jiffy." She said while giving her husband a kiss on the cheek.
Orion found it fishy since there hadn't been a single sighting in days and Manohar used to move mainly during the day to exploit crowds to go unnoticed. At least, as unnoticed as he could go.
His antics and temper tantrums made him easy to find once he decided to come out, just like his genius made him hard to catch. Yet Orion said nothing. Jirni knew how to take care of herself and worst-case scenario, it was just someone wasting her time.
He went to the Ernas's Forge, ordering to not be disturbed until his wife was back.
Jirni and Kamila appeared from Othre's Gate located in the army's headquarters, going straight for the sewers after taking a map from the desk Sergeant. The black market would change its location often, but it would always be found only by moving underground the city, away from prying eyes.
The sewers of a city as big as Othre were full of places to hide, allowing the underbelly of the society to move and gather without anyone noticing. To find the black market required to know the temporary code and use first magic.
The army's information network had provided Jirni the former and training the latter, allowing her to follow the trail that would be revealed only by using the correct sequence of elements.
Contrary to what most would expect, the sewers of Othre weren't narrow and the ceiling was high. The tunnels were as wide as the streets above, but instead of the pavement, there was a river of sewage separating two sidewalks made of grey stone wide enough to allow two city workers to walk side by side.
The air was damp and smelled as if something really big had died weeks ago, making it hard to breathe.
"Do we have to follow the light?" Kamila asked while using applying magical plugs to her nose to filter the stench. Even though it was late, several magical lamps were still lit, forming a path in the surrounding darkness.
"No. It's just a safety measure. If someone gets lost in the sewers, the lights will guide them to the nearest constable station, where they will receive help and have to give a really good explanation of what they were doing down here.
"Only authorized personnel can enter the sewers, but both street urchins and homeless people don't care much for laws, only for survival." Jirni replied, while using the map to find their destination.
No one could possibly cover the entirety of the sewers in signs, so along with the code, the starting point was also provided. Jirni had to use earth magic first to soften the dry clay that between bricks, then fire magic to light the fluorescent substance mixed with it, and lastly darkness magic to cover the mark.
"What the heck?" Kamila blurted out. After applying darkness magic, the arrow pointing north had turned to the east.
Chapter 829 Heartless Monster Part 1
"Don't be surprised, kid. The first layer was a decoy that darkness smothered, leaving it visible only the real mark etched under the clay." Jirni explained, repeating the procedure at every corner.
"It seems it's going to be crowded." Kamila said while pointing at the clean path in the middle of the dirt covering the floor. It was something that only many people taking their same path could have created.
Jirni signaled her to halt and be quiet while she conjured a sphere of darkness to keep the light of their amulets from being seen. It wasn't the number of footprints to worry her. For a rare item like Gorgon parts, a crowd had to be expected.
Yet the fact that so many of them had walked orderly was highly unlikely unless they had come all together. Jirni activated the Silencer device of her army amulet and reported the anomaly before taking another step forward.
"You truly are the cunning woman I've heard so much talking about." The voice coming from her communication device didn't belong to the desk Sergeant she was supposed to be talking to.
"Too bad that you noticed it too late. Yet what really pains me is the idea that I have to kill you quickly. The army should have already noticed my Communication Jamming array and sent reinforcements to your last know position." Kaelan the vampire said while walking from around the corner.
He was around sixty years old, barely 1.72 meters (5'8") tall, with silver hair and goatee. His silver-rimmed monocle couldn't hide the excited red glow from his eyes that shone brightly in the darkness of the sewers.
The man had gentle features and a warm smile, but Kamila recalled him all too well to be fooled by his ordinary appearance.
Jirni gritted her teeth recognizing him, but her grimace became even worse when her lighting spell revealed that he wasn't alone. Several undead came out of all the four corners of the tunnel, leaving them no way out.
Judging from their long canines and the silent grace they moved with, they had to be vampires. Some had even shapeshifted their fingers and toes into claws hard enough that they allowed them to crawl on the ceiling.
"How the heck did you know how to override an army amulet? That's a state secret, you leech!" Jirni took out her enchanted weapons while keeping Kamila behind her. Jirni had promised Lith to keep her safe and Jirni was true to her word.
"You have many enemies, Lady Ernas." Kaelan twisted his mustache as a cruel grin appeared on his face. "Some of them even value your death more than their own allegiance to the Kingdom."
"That's not an answer, vermin." Jirni held six of her needles in between her fingers, ready to strike at the first enemy who dared come too close.
"Because you'll receive none, wench. When I'm done with you, not even your hu…"
A flick of her wrist, a blur in the air, and the numbing pain that ensued cut Kaelan short, making him kneel onto the ground.
'What in the gods' name is this?' He thought looking at the needle sticking only a few centimeters out of his chest. 'How come I didn't even see it coming?'
Kaelan had a bright blood core empowered by centuries of experience and abundant feeding, yet it was turning muddy like that of a newborn.
The rest of the vampires charged forward and Jirni's fingers moved so fast to be just a blur. The remaining five needles found their mark, killing them on the spot. Their blood cores were much weaker than Kaelan's and couldn't withstand the mass of darkness energy ravaging them.
Those weren't Jirni's usual needles, but the anti-Balkor weaponry developed in the case he ever returned. Not only did they held imploding tier four darkness spells, but also the runes covering them made it impossible for anything but normal sight to spot them.
They had no magical aura, no heat signature, and the noise-canceling spell they were enchanted with made even a beast's hearing useless against them. Unlike humans, the vampires were relying on their mystical senses, but the needles were invisible to them.
Kaelan tried to pull the needle out of the wound, only for its metal to melt and burn his skin like acid.
The part still inside his flesh kept releasing pulses of darkness energy that poisoned his body and blood core, leaving him without even the strength to get up.
One of the vampires managed to reach Jirni while using her fallen comrades as a cover, without giving the human the time to make another move. Yet the next thing she knew, her face was being grabbed by an iron gloved hand bigger than her head, which squashed her like a grape.
"Hands off my wife, scum." It wasn't the fact that Orion was over 1.96 meters (6'5") tall that stopped the surviving undead in their tracks, so much as the full armor he wore, with bright purple mana crystals as big as an apple grafted on its hands and thighs.
Three more white mana crystals were respectively embedded on each one of its shoulders and the middle of its chest. The armor appeared to be made of golden feathers that shone like a sun, lighting the sewers.
The helmet was shaped like an eagle's head, its gloves ended with claws, and a couple of wings made of energy were draped like a mantle around its shoulders. They allowed the wearer to fly and they could also be used to intercept incoming attacks, be they physical or magical in nature.
The suit made Orion resemble a humanoid Griffon covered in metal.
The vampire shuddered in fear recognizing the fabled Royal Fortress armor. They could be worn only with the authorization of the Queen herself, bestowing upon a normal human the power of an Emperor Beast and upon a mage the strength of a small army.
Little was known about their working since those who saw them usually died. Kaelan assumed it had to be Royal Fortress armor because the golden knight moved faster than the vampires and the Adamant armor repelled their spells as if they were just a gentle breeze.
Kaelan was still trying to make sense of the nightmare unfolding in front of his eyes when it suddenly turned into horror. Several people wearing Orion's same suit of armor Warped in the middle of the tunnel, while others blocked all the possible escape routes.
'What's the Knight's Guard doing here?' Kaelan thought, recognizing the coat of arms on their shoulders.
The shock from the sudden turn of the events would have paralyzed a lesser man, but the vampire had brushed with his final death enough times to keep his cool even during desperate times.
'Othre's arrays should make it impossible to use dimensional magic, but if they Warped in, then I can Warp out.' He performed the hand seals for a Blink while Jirni darted towards his with inhuman speed, holding in her hands a golden spear aimed at his chest.
The mana left Kaelan's body, the spell was perfect, and yet it failed nonetheless, blocked by a superior power.
The vampire realized that he had no other option but running away so he gathered what was left of his strength to escape. Unfortunately for him, Jirni was too fast and pinned him to the wall by piercing through both the vampire's chest and the rock bricks with her spear.
Chapter 830 Heartless Monster Part 2
In the blink of an eye, all the vampires were slain by the members of the Knight's Guard. They were wielding weapons surrounded by a golden aura, just like Jirni's spear.
"Did you really believe that I got this old by sheer luck? That I would fall for such a blatant trap?" Jirni said while piercing with her needles Kaelan's four limbs and head.
He tried to shapeshift into his mist form to slip through the restrictions, but his flesh refused to move. Then the vampire summoned the mana from his blood core, to use true darkness magic to kill the wench that dared to stand so close to him.
Yet the mana went haywire and exploded inside his body, making his veins burst open as he coughed out a mouthful of blood. The pain and weakness almost made Kaelan faint.
Almost.
'What does she mean obvious? I studied Manohar's pattern and played it by the book…'
"Let me tell you a secret. Manohar would never attend a black-market auction. He would simply 'liberate' the ingredients from criminal's hands in the name of the 'greater good'. His own." Jirni's words derailed his train of thoughts.
"That was your first mistake. Your second mistake was forgetting that it's the army array blocking dimensional magic, hence the army can turn them on and off at will. The moment you jammed my amulet's signal, you signed your death warrant."
She poured a flask of blood on Kaelan's head. His skin absorbed the red nectar as dried earth would do water. It healed his wounds and gave him new strength, but just enough to not die.
"Your third and fatal mistake was thinking yourself better than Balkor. The weapons we made are devised to block all of your powers to more easily capture live specimens. You undead are hard to kill and even easier to keep alive, since you can't stop yourself from feeding."
Jirni poured another flask and Kaelan abandoned all hope. The sweet pleasure he derived from the blood only made the suffering from the golden metal pieces piercing his flesh more intense.
The woman in front of him could bide her time, whereas as soon as sunrise came the vampire would become more helpless than a child. He had seen it happening to other members of his race, he had done it himself a few times.
Move the prisoner to a safe place and then let the hunger do its thing. An undead could die of starvation, but it was a long and excruciating experience that would reduce them to little more than beasts willing to do anything just for a drop of blood.
Jirni didn't even bother asking questions. There was no need to. Soon, it would be the vampire to beg to be interrogated.
"Great job spotting the footprints." She said to Kamila. "You have a keen eye for details, but you have to learn how to put the pieces together."
"Couldn't you warn me beforehand? I almost crapped my pants!" Kamila was still quaking in her boots. The vampires had been scary, but the Knight's Guard was terrifying.
Aside from Orion, no one spoke, focusing solely on their surroundings. They acted more as golems rather than as humans.
"Sorry, kid. I needed them to buy the act and your nervousness might have compromised the mission. Vampires have amazing instincts and can feel the blood pressure of humans from a distance. It allows them to read our emotions.
"If you knew about them, you would have been afraid, whereas if you knew about the Guard, you would have been too cocky." Jirni replied.
"What about you?" Kamila asked, giving voice to Kaelan's thoughts. They had followed the women for a while, to make sure they had no detail and that they were unaware of the trap.
Kaelan had checked on Jirni personally, feeling her thrill for the hunt at first and then her resolve to die fighting once the ambush had been triggered. None of it made sense.
"Controlling my emotions is second nature to me. You'll learn it in time."
Kaelan was now calm enough to listen to the heart of all those presents. Kamila was still shaken while the members of the Knight's Guard were excited from the fight and ready for more.
He could feel their cold determination in pursuing their mission, the passion for their jobs, and even the tension in their muscles despite their apparently relaxed stance. Only Jirni Ernas gave him no reading.
To him, it was akin to listening to a person taking a nap.
Her pulse was steady and the only smell he could pick from her was the stench from the sewers. She was a blank slate, a mannequin ready to wear the next mask.
"What do you want to know?" Kaelan asked.
There was no point in delaying the inevitable. He knew that she would show no mercy, hence begging was pointless. Making her angry was impossible as well. Hoping that she would lose control and kill him was a pipe dream.
Even now, she wasn't gloating in front of her defeated opponent. She didn't feel superior for besting him, nor did she threaten him with promises of pain. Kaelan knew her type.
For Jirni, he was nothing more than a tick on her checklist.
The silver lining was that after being stripped of his title, Kaelan had no loyalty left for the Night Court. Once he would have fought to the death for them, but now he rejoiced at the idea that they would pay for what they had done to him.
Jirni Ernas would be the instrument of his revenge, leaving him the only regret of not being able to see the fall of his enemies with his own eyes.
***
City of Laruel, Erlik's Hideout
When the sun was about to rise yet Kaelan refused to pick up on his communication amulet, Erlik knew that something was wrong. Only newbies would make the mistake of being away from their lair at such an hour.
"It's time to move." His roar was filled with hatred.
The incompetent vampire risked destroying all of Erlik's meticulous preparations
He quickly explained the situation to Gremlik while activating his dimensional amulet to store all of his possession and earth magic to cover himself with the soil from his burial ground.
"Even if Kaelan was captured, I don't see the rush." Gremlik said. "No one knows where we are and he wasn't even a member of the Night Court in the first place. Isn't that the reason why you chose him in the first place?"
"No one?" Erlik sneered. "For someone so sly, you're surprisingly naïve. Even though we picked only fellow Jierans, I wouldn't be surprised if a few of them accepted to keep tabs on us in exchange for a nice position in the Courts.
"Kaelan knows nothing about us, but knows a lot about the Courts As for the reason why I picked him, it was because he had all to gain and nothing to lose from our bargain, which makes him dangerous to us as well.
"If captured, he will spill the beans about his ex-associates who in turn might know about us. If Leannan attacks while the sun was is up, half of our followers will be either paralyzed or incapable of exerting their full strength.
"We would have no chance of victory or escape. There's no time to lose."
Chapter 831 Opening Move Part 1
Gremlik was forced to agree with Erlik. The Grendel Dryad started yelling orders while inwardly cursing the human race for the umpteenth time. If it wasn't for them, he would have never left Jiera and he would still retain the role in the local undead society he had fought so long to achieve.
After the fall of the human race, there was no more strength in numbers, only weakness. More people meant more mouths to feed, making the damages on the local flora too extensive and without even someone to use as a scapegoat.
No more afraid of the humans' interference, plant folks and Fae had started to band together, hunting down the undead that had no place to hide.
To add insult to injury, the undead couldn't even run away from their oppressors since they were also their main source of food.
Nonsentient vegetation provided them with so little nourishment that, to feed properly, undead plants caused too much devastation, allowing beasts to follow their trail and kill them as soon as the sun was up.
Back before the plague, it had been so easy to use the Courts' riches and connections to leave all the dirty work to humans. They would capture and grow herds of plant folk for their masters to feast upon, working happily just in exchange of the hope of receiving the gift of undeath.
With their disappearance, basic food had become a luxury, and each time a member of their herd died it was almost impossible to replace them. Powerful people like Gremlik or Erlik didn't hunt in decades, so they had no idea where to even start.
For creatures of their age, only power and status mattered, yet they had gone from being rulers to scavengers overnight. Gremlik had lost most of his thralls during his escape from Jiera. Some because he had overfed upon them, others simply due to the constant struggle for survival.
He had joined Erlik because his plan was the only way they had left to make sure that the horrors of the past would not repeat themselves.
***
Contrary to Erlik's paranoia, it took Jirni days to extract information from the members of the Night Court of Othre and even longer to decipher the acquired intel before she could share it with the team in Laruel.
"Kaelan is dead?" Lith still couldn't believe his own ears.
"Yes, and so are most of the undead residing inside Othre." Jirni said through Leannan's communication amulet that was set to conference call mode.
"The old bat told us about the position of all the dimensional gateways he knew, so most of those who managed to escape from our tactical teams just walked into an ambush. Some of them had self-destructing dimensional items, others didn't, so we had quite the haul.
"Deciphering codes and dead languages required a bit of time, so I'm afraid that I've got only old news for you."
They had retrieved Erlik's last known address, but by the time Leannan and her guards stormed the place, the undead were long gone. Before leaving, the Draugr had made sure to perform a proper clean up. There was no mold nor did the treehouse show signs of suffering.
The only evidence of the passage of the invaders was that the plant folk who were supposed to live there seemed to have disappeared into thin air.
The Healers identified another bundle of Erlik's tissues below the tree and several sacks of the plague ready to burst placed along the lymph-stream.
'The energy signature of the tissues is the same as the other tree. It also matches that of the infected.' Solus thought. 'What worries me is the number of sacks they have left. They are enough to spread and cover the whole tree in a matter of minutes.'
"Do you want us to cleanse the infection?" Lith asked to Leannan. He could think only of a few reasons to explain the setup and none of them was a good one.
"No. I don't want to alert Erlik. Unlike what happens for the infect, I can feel part of his essence still dwelling here. If we remove the tissues, he'll discover that we know about his plan and we'll lose the element of surprise." She replied.
Lith was almost sure that ship had long sailed, but repeating it for the umpteenth time was pointless.
Everyone was brimming with confidence ever since Marth had found a cure for the plague and Lith didn't want to spoil the mood. Rather than wasting his breath, he preferred to prepare himself for the worse with the help of Kalla and his friends.
In the end, the solution to their problem had been surprisingly simple, once they knew where to look. The cure for the plague had turned out to be the plague itself.
Plant folk were capable of fusing together and with other forms of vegetation. It was one of the means that allowed healthy individuals to recognize those affected by the plague.
When two infected merged, however, the respective symbiotes would react with extreme prejudice.
They belonged to Erlik, after all, so they shared his greed and envy. They wouldn't join forces, but rather fight to possess the stronger host. It not only caused the weaker of the two plant folks to get rid of their symbiote, but would also force the second entity to detach from its host to fight the invader.
Once symbiote's life forces were distinguishable from the patient, it was easy for the Healers to destroy them with darkness magic. The only issue left was that the plant folk couldn't be released until Erlik's threat wasn't over.
The patients had gladly accepted to be detained to not give in to temptation and ask to be turned into undead, but now that their condition had been treated, they wanted to go back to a normal life.
Leannan was forced to keep them prisoners, to prevent Erlik's spies from discovering that his master plan was now an utter failure. The Sovereign of Laruel spent her days communing with the Sapling, trying to find any trace of the Draugr meddling and to locate his position.
She even attempted to awaken the ancient being from its slumber, but to no avail.
Lith was still hoping to hear from Faluel or at least be relieved from his duty and be able to go back home, but he knew they were both pipe dreams. If the Council was truly interested, they would have already made a move.
Back in Othre, he had found Inxialot waiting for him, so having yet to receive an answer after days meant they couldn't care less. As for his duty, leaving would have ruined everything. Dismissing the Healers was like declaring that the plague had been cured, so all of Faluel's traps would be for nothing.
It also meant removing one of the two biggest monkey wrenches in Erlik's plan: the presence of an Awakened. No matter how old the Draugr was, his ignorance about true magic wasn't something that could be filled just by reading books.
There were weak Awakened like Tista, but also monsters like Inxialot or Faluel. Lith remembered all too well the fear that the Lich first and himself later had struck into the undead Courts.
Inxialot by showing unlimited power, Lith by killing Kaelan's champion without so much as a scratch. Based on what Jirni had discovered, Erlik was connected with the Night Court, so they had likely warned him about Lith's powers.
Chapter 832 Opening Move Part 2
The Healers, Leannan included, kept working on the infected treehouses. Their role in Erlik's plan was still a mystery, hence they had no counter for it.
"The sacks have been placed near all the plant equivalents of major arteries, so my hypothesis is that Erlik wanted to make sure that even if he was forced to release them during the day, the natural flow of lymph would quickly spread them throughout the treehouses.
"Draugr tissues are paralyzed during the day, after all." Quylla said. It was the same conclusion Solus had come to, but neither of them understood the point of such a move.
The sun had just completely set and the research teams were about to call it a day when suddenly, a small quake made the orderly placed crystal cases jingle against each other.
"Are quakes frequent in Laruel?" She asked.
"We don't have quakes." Leannan explained. "The power of the Sapling protects the city from them. Between its control over the ground and its roots, the Sapling is able to disperse most of their energy."
"Your Majesty, the usurper has just walked inside the Main Hall and demands you to surrender Laruel to him." Norlorm the Changeling said.
"How nice of him." Leannan sneered, taking her communication amulet out of her dimensional item and calling to arms all the Sovereigns from the other plant cities.
"How did he get there?" Undead were banned from using Warps, so the Titania was expecting that to make such a bold move, the enemy believed that his plan was already complete.
"He walked." Norlorm repeated. "Erlik and his followers stormed the gates, killing a few guards and forcing the others to retreat."
'Either he still can't use dimensional magic or he's just pretending not being able to keep the element of surprise.' Leannan thought. 'We'll see who's playing his cards closer to the chest.'
Leannan Warped to the castle built inside the World Sapling itself. It was a sequoia that had reached over 200 meters of height (657 feet) with a tree trunk larger than the whole village of Lutia.
Lith's group had never noticed it because the smaller trees that covered Laruel's sky with their foliage also blocked the view of the Sapling, making it look like a taller building in the distance.
The spaces needed for the daily activities of Leannan's court were negligible compared to the size of the tree. The Titania chose the castle lobby as her arrival point, to check the damages and have enough space to organize her troops before the conflict began.
Now their roles were reversed. Erlik probably wanted to finish things before dawn came, whereas Leannan had no rush. She was confident of being able to take care of the Draugr by herself, but she was not conceited.
Just like her enemy had done until that day, she was going to stall for time before making her move. The scene that appeared in front of the Sovereign and the mages from the three great Countries that had accompanied her was baffling.
Judging by the number of withered vines, saplings, and flowers, Leannan could tell that the number of casualties on her side was about a dozen. They had all been plant folks, not Fae, so Erlik didn't face much resistance.
What troubled the Sovereign and her companions, was the sight of the double doors of the castle broken. Even though they were 5 meters (16.4 feet) tall, weighing several hundred kilos each, they were almost torn off their hinges.
There was a hole where the lock was supposed to be, so big that the first thought everyone had was that a giant had punched the door open.
"Who did this?" Leannan asked Norlorm.
"A Grendel, Your Majesty. A real Grendel, like those of the legends." The poor Changeling quaked in his boots at the memory, making his whole body squeak like an old chair.
"His claws ripped our soldiers to shreds, whereas our weapons and spells were powerless against him. It took him a single charge to blow the door down."
"What about the traps I have laid?"
"Only the Sapling managed to hurt him, but all it took the Grendel was to eat one of our guards whole to fully recover." Norlorm said.
Leannan nodded while evaluating the opponent's might.
"The bad news is that the castle's automated defenses were supposed to kill even the strongest Fae in one blow. They might take out even me, without giving me the time to regenerate if I didn't know exactly to look out for."
Her words were grim, but all of those presents were mages. To them, knowledge was literal power and every bit of information they got would increase their odds of victory.
"The good news is that the Sapling is still on our side and that the legends about Grendels being invulnerable are lies. They can be killed, but I doubt he'll just roll over and die if we ask him to.
"Look out for this guy." Leannan placed her hand on the nearest wall and the runes on her shoulders shone with a blue light.
The wood pavement of the castle came to life, sprouting several real-life wooden figures that replayed the recent events for them.
"This is the Grendel in both his forms." The Sapling had recorded everything, even Gremlik's shapeshifting.
The creature in front of them had a round head, with feral eyes as big as a saucer. It had bright red irises and vertical pupils that were filled with a mix of hate and spite. Its body was entirely covered by a dirty brown thick fur, akin to that of a giant sewer rat.
Its maw was lipless and so large that it was the entire lower half of his head. The mouth was filled with sharp, long fangs, each one about ten centimeters (4") long. Gremlik's slender, almost feminine arms were now as long and thick as a tree, ending with razor-sharp claws.
To the humans, the contrast between Gremlik's handsome male Dryad form and the monstrous Grendel made him even more disgusting than his deformed associates.
For some reason, Quylla looked at Gremlik and then at Lith a few times, making a comparison between them.
'Even when I saw Lith change, even if his hybrid form is nothing like his human appearance, I never felt revulsion while looking at him. When Lith changes his appearance, he simply shows another side of himself, but he is always Lith.
'This Grendel, instead, seems like two entirely different people forced to coexist in the same body.' She thought and she wasn't wrong. No matter what form they took, beasts, Guardians, plants, even Abominations were always themselves.
Undead, instead, with the sole exception of Liches, required their bodies to be possessed by the necromantic energies of their sire to continue existing once their life was ended.
The undead called it the Hunger, whereas the living just called it the curse of undeath. Yet it was no curse, nor external force. Undeath required a blood core, and a blood core was ultimately a faulty core.
It wasn't just the inability to produce light element that made it faulty, it was also the imbalance in their mana that such absence caused. On Mogar, all living beings interacted with the world energy.
It was the way the planet interacted with its children, giving them the opportunity to protect themselves. Just like the world energy, mana was made up of the six elements as well.
It was the reason why every living being had the potential for magic, why the elemental energy of the world answered the call whenever a mage cast a spell. In Lith's and Faluel's case, it was part of the secret behind the former's number of eyes and the latter's number of heads.
Only those who mastered all the six elements were able to assemble and disassemble them into their own mana, hence capable of exerting Dominance even over spirit magic, the life essence of others. It was the proof of becoming a lesser version of Mogar itself.
Chapter 833 Traitor Part 1
Assimilation, Lith's breathing technique, was nothing more than a way to absorb Mogar's mana, cleanse it of the planet's will, and add it to his mana core. Awakened were by definition people capable of breaking the world energy into its six components, remove the planet's energy signature, and replace it with their own.
Only then could the elemental energy be turned into an Awakened's mana and used to develop their magical potential.
"This, instead, is Erlik." Leannan pointed at the towering figured walking in the middle of the small army of undead.
"By the gods!" Friya blurted out. The Grendel was disgusting, whereas the Draugr was domineering.
He was over 6 meters (20') tall, to the point that even the massive Grendel looked like a baby in comparison. His appearance was that of a dead tree come to life after being possessed by an evil spirit.
His bark was swollen, blackened, and hideous to look at. His whole body kept rotting and regenerating in an eternal cycle, leaking a dirty white substance from its cracks that resembled pus.
The liquid was undead as well and wriggled like worms while searching for another crack to get back inside the Draugr's corpse. Erlik had been a Treant in life, so he was much bigger and stronger than a Treantling.
In death, all of the leaves forming his hair and goatee had turned yellow with brown spots, giving him a sickly look. His eyes shone with the red light of undeath and even if what those present were looking at was just a copy, the mages felt a terrible strength hidden behind even the simplest movement he made.
'This doesn't bode well.' Lith thought. 'Usually big enemies are slow, but evolved beings are unnaturally fast. The life force of a Treant plus the boost of undeath could give him enough power to kill most opponents with one hit.'
Lith had no idea what powers a Titania had, but the Sovereign of Laruel paled in comparison with the wooden titan.
"Whatever happens, leave Erlik to me." Leannan continued. "I've already assembled my army to take care of the invading undead and soon we'll receive help from the other city-states.
"I'm not going to take any risks. We'll attack only once all our allies are assembled…"
"I see you're fashionably late, like it suits the star of our event." Erlik's voice cut her short. "I was thinking about waiting for you while sitting on your throne, but then I would have missed your terrified expression when you realize no one is going to help you."
Erlik's voice didn't sound like anything Lith had ever heard before. It wasn't something that he would have expected from any living being. It sounded as if two rocks were being grated together and were rebuking each other.
Undeath distorted all words the Draugr Treant spoke, as if two people were talking at the same time, trying to eclipse the other.
"I like flair, but my act would have cost me precious time. I'm anything but a practical guy." Erlik said.
Leannan ignored him and activated her dimensional amulet, receiving several calls at the same time. Yet no matter who the source was, the words were all the same:
"Every time we try to Warp to Laruel, we end up in a random location."
It wasn't just the reinforcements from the other plant cities, Leannan's elite soldiers who had been patrolling the city were in the same situation. At least they could still fly to the Sapling, but it would take them time.
"I must congratulate you, Leannan. I never thought that you would figure out my plan." Erlik's eyes moved left and right along with his head, as if he was trying to listen to several voices at the same time.
"You even managed to convince the other Sovereigns to help you. A commendable effort. Too bad that in the end, it didn't matter."
"We'll see about that!" Leannan extended her left arm and tendrils of wood erupted from all sides, aiming at Erlik's followers.
"A futile attempt." Erlik raised both his arms while a grimace of focus appeared on his face. His red eyes burned like torches as the ground quaked again and the tendrils stopped.
"Is it? Are you sure?" Leannan said. A cruel grin twisted what had been a beautiful face into the mask of a bloodthirsty warrior.
The tattoos on her arms and shoulders ignited with a blue flame that covered Leannan from head to toe. The tendrils resumed their charge, squashing the undead on the frontlines.
They tried to activate their blood cores to recover from the wounds, but the wood absorbed them. Under Leannan's guide, the Sapling broke the undead down into nutrients and fed upon them before they could even yelp in surprise.
"Guess you didn't see this coming." The Sovereign said while more and more tendrils of wood rained down on Erlik's army like a flock of birds preying on hapless worms.
"You bastard!" Erlik was furious, yet he was yelling at the Sapling rather than at Leannan, which rose several unpleasant questions.
The Draugr tapped into his undead tissues planted under Laruel, forcing a connection with the ancient tree akin to that of his opponent. He managed to stop the onslaught before losing more soldiers, but suddenly he didn't feel so confident anymore.
"What are you waiting for? Kill them and then kill her!" Erlik was outraged at his allies more than he was at his enemies.
'How can a vicious seasoned warrior like Gremlik get cold feet just because Leannan is here? He's well aware that I'm incapable of accessing the Sapling's mind from the outside and that as long as she's alive, I can't fully bond with this old bastard.' Erlik thought.
'If Erlik thinks that I'm going to immolate myself to win this battle, the rot must have reached his brain.' Gremlik thought. 'Even if we win, I'd just be his second in command.
'I'd achieve only as much power as he's willing to bestow upon me and it would take him but a thought to kill me. Yet he's right about one thing. If we don't win, we're all dead.'
The Dryad led the charge without transforming into his Grendel form. Gremlik was a powerful magician and as long as he kept his plant side's regenerative powers, he could afford to sustain some damage to test the waters.
One of the Grendels' greatest secrets, was how heavy was the strain that their battle form inflicted upon their blood cores. A Grendel's characteristic bloodthirsty fighting style was also due to the perpetual hunger that wore them out once they assumed such form.
"Now!" Leannan yelled.
All the Fae who were part of her personal guard came out from the room, emerging from the walls they had been merged with until that moment.
Erlik's followers found themselves surrounded by every side as a rain of tier five spells fell upon them, reducing their numbers. Most of the infected that were still at the thrall stage died on the spot.
Their sires preferred to protect themselves and those they had already turned into their kin rather than waste their energy on half-baked warriors.
"Did you really think that after discovering your plan I wouldn't take countermeasures?" Usually, mocking an undead was pointless. Their passions were muffled by the lack of light element, so things like fear or morale were unknown to them.
Yet the Draugr and the Grendel were respectively creatures of envy and fury.
Chapter 834 Traitor Part 2
The darkness element coursing through their bodies exacerbated those feelings, requiring sheer willpower to keep them in check.
What focus they had to employ to control their basal urges, the undead couldn't use it on the task they had at hand.
"Unlike the lesser races, us plant folks cat take any shape we want. My personal guards never left the castle in the first place. Those outside are just body doubles." Leannan's words planted the seed of the doubt in the Draugr's mind.
He had wondered why their battle of wills regarded only the control of the Sapling and the dimensional magic coming from outside Laruel, whereas Leannan didn't seem to care about the inability of her internal allies to Warp.
He would have liked to stop blocking dimensional magic inside of Laruel, which would give him enough focus to overwhelm his opponent.
Yet after falling for two traps, Erlik was afraid of jumping feet first in the third as well.
'Curse you, woman. If I drop the array and you are lying, your army will turn the tides of the battle. If I don't and you're telling the truth, then I'm wasting my limited energy in a fool's errand.' Erlik thought.
'I must believe in my plan. Leannan's Fae can't amount to just a few dozens. This must be another of her deceptions!'
The Draugr roared his challenge and tapped into the Sapling's energy to restore his dwindling mana.
Leannan was flabbergasted seeing that the ancient tree seemed unable to distinguish between its loyal vassal and the invader. The tendrils of wood stopped attacking the undead and turned against the Sovereign's allies.
Leannan did her best to protect the Healers and the Fae, but she only managed to slow the tendrils.
'Fuck me sideways!' Lith thought. 'I knew that plants were psychos, but I only feared they could reach such level. The moment Leannan explained to us that a Sapling is a dying tree, the undead invasion assumed a completely different meaning.
'Erlik isn't forcing the tree any more than Leannan does. His plan has never been to take control over the Sapling, but to cut a deal with it. Erlik needed time not to complete his experiments, but to sway the tree with his bait.
'Eternal life in exchange for unlimited power.'
'Ugh, I really hate you being always right.' Solus said.
Erlik's arms flared up, the bark covering his shoulders opened up and revealed a set of runes identical to the one Leannan was wearing.
"Guess you didn't see this coming." The Draugr said, echoing the words Leannan had used to open their fight.
All the undead were capable of recovering their strength, both physical and magical, simply by feeding. Killing their prey wasn't a necessity, only newborn undead would fail to control their hunger.
Erlik sent some small tendrils of the Sapling to his minions, so that they could feast upon them. It was one of the reasons why the thralls had been discarded. Their sires had no time to feed them in the heat of the battle.
The Draugr could feel the Sapling's disgust at being tainted by the touch of the undead, but he didn't have the luxury of the time to care.
'I can't believe that Great Mage Verhen was right. The World Sapling is half awake and is aiding our enemies. It explains why I failed to trace Erlik and how he acquired partial control over the city.' Leannan thought.
The situation was so dire that she was on the verge of panic.
'The old bastard is seriously considering the idea of betraying its own race. Luckily, runes or not, Erlik doesn't have my experience in handling the Sapling's power and my set pre-dates his own, interfering with his link.
'Also, even though the human's idea sounded ridiculous, I was crazy enough to listen to him.' Leannan nodded for Kalla to take action, and while the battalion of Fae slowed down the small army of undead, the humans revealed to have brought each a huge sack.
They spilled the sacks' content on the floor, covering it with several sets of human and beast bones.
"Arise." At Kalla's command, small wisps of green fire erupted from her body, each one taking place inside one of the corpses and becoming its blood core. The bones assembled themselves in their original shape and a shroud of green flames covered them, leaving only their hands and heads exposed.
The Wights that Kalla had created were lesser undead, yet her research had allowed her to kick things up more than one notch. With a thought Kalla sent them to prey on the enemy undead, catching them by surprise.
Now Erlik's side had lost the advantage of numbers, giving the combined force of humans and Fae the possibility to fight one on one.
"Curse you, traitor!" Gremlik hated Kalla for siding with the humans. He also hated her for being an Awakened, but most of all, he hated her because, despite her semi-undead state, there was no trace of fear or disgust in her allies.
Gremlik remembered all too well how he had accepted becoming an undead to save his glade from being razed to the ground by the humans, only to be banished from the same plant folks he had sacrificed everything to protect.
In a single day, he had lost everything twice, making him the man he was now. Gremlik unleashed the tier Five Spell Raging Sun that he had at the ready while chanting the next one.
Undead were naturally in tune with darkness magic while plant folks were with earth and water magic, which allowed them to use their true magic form. Yet they weren't Awakened, any spell that required one of the other elements they had to learn it like fake mages did.
Raging Sun was a mixture of fire and earth, which generated a powerful explosion that released flames so hot that they could melt stone. Its effects were akin to a volcanic eruption.
Using such a powerful spell was very dangerous since, aside from its caster, the energy released wouldn't distinguish between friends and foes. Yet Gremlik was old enough to know how to exploit the undead natural resistance to most elements.
Fire dealt little damage to them, and since the Grendel's allies were all plants, their bodies rich of water further reduced the effects of the Raging Sun. Even if one of them were to take its full power, they would only sustain minor wounds, whereas Kalla and her human allies had no such luck.
The explosion forced the humans to fly to safety, breaking their formation, while the undead didn't care one bit and pressed their advantage. As for Kalla, she was too focused on controlling her minions to react in time.
Her human body was blown away like a paper doll and slammed against one of the wooden columns that supported the Hallway's ceiling. She coughed out blood while rolling on the ground to smother the flames burning her clothes.
The Sapling trembled in outrage, its body had not been harmed in centuries. The ancient creature's spite for the undead grew once more so it sent a clear message to Erlik through the bond they now shared.
'I've given you the opportunity to prove your value to me. If you vermin keep angering me, I'll reconsider our deal.'
Chapter 835 Battlefield Part 1
"You're mine!" Gremlik went for the kill, unleashing another tier five spell, Silent Reaper.
A small sized tornado appeared around Kalla, surrounding her from every side. Its edges spun slowly, cutting everything they touched into a fine dust. Flying magic was useless and Erlik was still blocking dimensional magic, leaving her no way out.
"Lith!" Phloria yelled while kicking the ghoul who had engaged her away. The potion she had previously ingested allowed her to fight on par with the undead, but she couldn't defend herself and Kalla at the same time.
The creature snarled, using his venomous nails to slash at her still extended leg in riposte. A ghoul's bite and hands were their best weapons. They secreted a paralyzing toxin that made their victims helpless and seasoned their flesh.
Yet the ghoul's nails only hit the Orichalcum of her armor. The undead was about to purse Phloria when an invisible force pulled him away.
"Don't get close to him, no matter what!" Pala the Nightwalker yelled to warn his ally. The ghoul noticed that even though Nightwalkers were close combat specialist, his fellow undead was keeping her distance.
Her shadow body was covered with hideous scars that even her blood core was having trouble mending.
"Get over here!" Lith's spirit magic had completely tied the ghoul up, whereas the Nightwalker had used the air fusion she had carried over from her Thorn nature to break free from the human's hold before it was too late.
Four huge limbs came out of Lith's back, each one ending with what resembled a shadow maw.
The ghoul was a veteran fighter, so he knew the basic powers all Awakened had. Megon recognized immediately Spirit Magic, and acted accordingly. He used earth fusion to boost his defense and free himself from the invisible grip.
Then, instead of following Pala's advice, he bolted toward Lith as fast as an arrow.
Megon the ghoul wasn't afraid of darkness magic and sneered at the Nightwalker's cowardice.
'How can she have survived this long without learning how to deal with such measly spells?' Megon thought while covering his body with a thick layer of darkness element.
It would protect him from Lith's Death Call and give him the opportunity to exploit a ghoul's uncanny regenerative abilities to break through the enemy's offense. As long as his heart was intact, Megon's body would always fully regenerate with minimum strain on his blood core.
Plague Bringer, the twin katars he wielded, were akin to extensions of his arms. Not only they could regenerate as fast as their owner, but they also were able to channel the ghoul's venom through their blade.
One scratch was enough to put an end to most fights.
"Megon, you idiot!" Pala said, managing to turn pale despite the fact that turning into a Nightwalker had blackened her skin.
Only when the limbs from Death Call formed a cocoon to hide the fight from prying eyes instead of attacking him did Megon realize his mistake. Lith's grin grew larger, revealing the blue flames burning inside his throat.
Nightwalkers regenerative abilities weren't as powerful as those of a ghoul, yet leaving even a scratch on them when their blood core was full to the brim was quite a feat. Yet Pala's wounds were still open and her Thorn body was almost charred.
Megon suffered the same fate when a jet of Origin Flames engulfed him. The cleansing fire ate through the layer of darkness magic protecting the ghoul, feasting upon both the ghoul and his weapons.
Megon wanted to run away, but that would have meant to leave his back exposed and go through the thick layer of darkness the cocoon Death Call had formed without any protection.
'If Pala survived, then so can I! I didn't live this long just to get killed by a brat.' Megon had no idea of what Origin Flames were, so he believed that his undead constitution could take another few blows.
Usually, those who met even a lesser dragon wouldn't survive the encounter and there was no way to distinguish them from a normal fire until one felt their sting. The ghoul could feel that something was wrong.
The flames weren't just damaging his body, but directly attacking his life force as well. The Origin Flames wore down the energy stored inside the ghoul's blood core, sapping his strength as if he had been thrown into a volcano.
'That's why Pala didn't heal! Why didn't I dodge those stupid flames in the first place?' Megon thought while lunging at Lith's left eye and right leg at the same time.
One of the advantages of his dual-wielding style was the ability to pierce through the enemy defenses since he could perform twice the attacks. Wounds weren't a problem for ghouls so they could devote solely on the offensive.
Much to his surprise, Ruin shrunk to the size of a short blade and deflected the first katar, matching both its speed and precision. The second blade, instead, kept clashing against Lith's left hand, dealing no damage whatsoever.
'No matter how good his armor and earth fusion are, Plague Bringer is capable of piercing through the strongest metals. I only need a wound the size of a pinhole to turn the tides.' He thought.
Yet a breath worth of time passed and nothing happened. Lith's lungs were filled with air again and blue flames crept out of his teeth and engulfed the ghoul again.
Megon stored his weapons inside his dimensional amulet, leaving his hands free to perform the necessary hand signs and Blink away to safety. Neither Lith's nor Solus mystical senses could perceive the exact position of a ghoul's heart.
It could be freely moved and it was a physical organ that even lacked a heartbeat that could betray its current location. Lith was in a rush to finish his fight. If the Nightwalker attacked Phloria, causing Kalla's demise, Erlik's triumph would be inevitable.
His left hand moved like a snake, grabbing Megon's arm to keep him from getting away. Then, he unleashed the tier five spell Setting Sun from his right hand that was now placed on the enemy's chest.
It was a mix of fire and darkness magic, so that the regular flames would cover the effects of Origin Flame while the darkness element would kill the ghoul for good. Instead of shaping the black flames into a sphere around himself, Lith focused the entirety of the spell in a single pillar of energy.
The sudden burst of Setting Sun engulfed Megon, pierced through the dark cocoon hiding the two warriors, and converged on Pala's position. Megon wore one of the best armor money could buy on the Jiera continent, but it wasn't enough.
The armor's pseudo core had spent a good chunk of its energy to withstand the Origin Flames, leaving it not enough juice to take the full force of a tier five spell from point-blank range.
The beam of black fire was akin to a raging river. It exerted such a pressure that Megon's right arm was ripped off its joint, remaining in Lith's hand, while the rest of the ghoul went crashing against his ally.
Pala was far away enough to realize what was happening and Blink, but her exit point was as clear as day to Lith's Life Vision. He split the beam in two, with one half pinning the ghoul to the ground while the other half followed the Nightwalker's movements.
Chapter 836 Battlefield Part 2
Pala kept Blinking and Lith kept adjusting his aim. He didn't care for the Sapling trembling in pain and outrage due to Setting Sun ravaging the tree as well as the undead.
'Since you can't make up your mind about which side to take, let me give you an incentive. This is what we do to traitors where I come from.' Lith thought.
Megon screamed in agony while cursing himself for not listening to Pala. Without an arm, he couldn't use dimensional magic. His prized armor and regenerative abilities were only delaying the inevitable and prolonging his agony.
He prayed every second he had left that someone would come and help him. It was his only thought even when his body had already started to turn into dust. His heart was still intact, but his blood core was gone, eaten by the black flames.
Meanwhile, Phloria conjured one Mage Knight spell after the other to protect Kalla. Yet there were two big problems she had no idea how to overcome. All of her best spells required to be at close range and the shrinking tornado kept her away.
To make matters worse, there was no way to gather enough mana to stop an ongoing tier five spell. Blast Guard surrounded the fallen Wight, clashing with the edges of the Silent Reaper spell for a second before being crushed.
Crystal Guard and Wind Guard lasted shortly as well, barely putting a dent in Gremlik's spell.
'By the gods, I can't believe Lith was right about the Sapling. If we get out of here alive, I swear to not mock him anymore for his paranoid delusions. Not too much, at least.' Phloria thought.
Everything inside the castle was made out of wood, to make the Sovereign akin to a god within its premises and block earth magic. Luckily, just like Leannan, Phloria had preferred being safe rather than sorry and had taken all the rocks she always carried with her out of her dimensional amulet.
She compressed and then threw them inside Silent Reaper. The spell was unable to pulverize the mass of the giant boulder, only to shave its most external layers into dust.
Yet the dust was still made of earth, hence under Phloria's control. It joined the stone mass again and enveloped the curled figure of Kalla, who was still trying to use Invigoration to recover.
"It's useless, woman!" Gremlik laughed at her desperate efforts and kept his distance.
"If you get away from the traitor, your makeshift shield crumbles and she dies, but if you stay there, you'll die." The Dryad Grendel didn't trust his physical abilities enough to challenge a Mage Knight in close quarters, but he had no need to.
Gremlik weaved one spell after another. He only needed to hit Phloria once to break her focus and kill two enemies at the same time.
'Cunning bastard. I hoped that he would mindlessly charge forward. Now I have to focus on both my tier five spell, Bastion, and him.' She thought.
Earth magic usually had the upper hand against air magic, but that only when the mage could conjure all the stones they wanted, whereas she was forced to recover every bit of dust the conflicting spells created and fuse it back with the dome.
On top of that, she couldn't use dimensional magic. Gremlik Blinked around, too far away for Full Guard to be useful, unleashing a barrage of tier three spells arranged in a formation that exploited the limited room to move she had.
Unlike her, Gremlik could continue pouring mana into his tier five spell, since he only needed to touch the Sapling to restore all the spent energy.
'I wish I had thought of this plan myself. Now I understand why Erlik always blabs about Awakened. The ability to conjure infinite mana is intoxicating. Once we are done here, I should take a city-state for myself.
'Or maybe I should wait for the two "Sovereigns" to kill each other and then take out the winner.' The Grendel thought.
Contrary to his expectation, after dodging a hail of ice lances, Phloria lunged at him despite the distance between them exceeded ten meters (33 feet). Her estoc burst with light, cutting through space in an instant.
It was Piercing Light, her improved version of the tier four spell Phantom Blade. It allowed a Mage Knight to imbue their weapons with mystical energies that, using their blades as a template, could temporarily extend them and expand their attack range.
The extra parts of the sword were made of light, hence weightless, giving the Mage Knight complete freedom of movement. The downside was that covering such a distance required a huge amount of focus and mana
Since she couldn't always keep it active, she used it in short bursts whenever the situation allowed for it. Even if the spell's effects only lasted for the duration of a single slash, it was enough for them to kill her target.
"Nice try." Gremlik tilted his head sideways, dodging the lunge with the bare minimum movement to not mess up the spell he was casting.
Piercing Light was fast, but so was the Grendel.
Moreover, the farther the target was, the easier the attack was to dodge due to the telegraphed movement.
"Likewise." Phloria allowed her grimace of frustration to turn into a smirk only when it was too late for Gremlik to react.
From the tip of her estoc came out a Fireball and a Wind Blast. The combined effect of the two tier three spells triggered a powerful explosion that was accompanied by a deafening noise and blinding light.
The damage wasn't nearly enough to harm an undead, but it still managed to blast Gremlik away and make him lose his focus. As a Grendel he had heightened senses that made the bark of the spell much worse than its bite.
To achieve such a small miracle, Phloria had employed her personal spell, Master Sword. It was a tier five Mage Knight spell that allowed her to channel her magic inside her estoc and unleash it at will.
Mage Knights had to often fight in close combat while defending their mark, so Phloria had devised Master Sword to be able to use all kinds of spells without having to worry about her allies.
It was the first time that she had attempted to combine it with Piercing Light since controlling two tier five spells at once required too much focus, leaving her only enough energy for low tiered spells.
'Thanks, Dad, for teaching me that even the simplest of the spells can have the most devastating effect.' She thought.
Phloria had fused a spell meant to strike multiple enemies at the same time and another that was supposed to inject her magic inside an enemy to create an instant movement ability for her spells.
Gremlik's Silent Reaper disappeared, allowing Kalla to return to the battlefield unscathed. The fight between Phloria and the Grendel had been brief, but long enough for Invigoration to mend her wounds.
"Thanks for your help. I need you to buy me a few more seconds." Kalla said while re-establishing the connection with her undead. Without her to guide their movements, the Wights had no strategy and were recklessly at their enemies, uncaring of their life as long as they could inflict them the most damage.
Between Kalla's absence and the gap in equipment, Erlik's followers had managed to make a short work of the Wights despite their ethereal nature.
Chapter 837 Battlefield Part 3
Enchanted weapons were able to break the bones that formed the Wights' bodies while darkness magic spells attacked their blood cores, snuffing the green flames that animated Kalla's minions as if they were just candles.
Yet instead of just disappearing, the flames reverted into small wisps that darted back into Kalla's body, who only needed a breath of Invigoration to give them new strength.
Before all the bone fragments of the dead Wights could touch the ground, the wisps were back, animating the lesser undead once again.
Conducting experiments about Lichhood on herself had taught Kalla a lot about blood cores and phylacteries. On top of that, she had learned how to imbue small amounts of her willpower inside the blood cores she created.
In normal circumstances, it would allow her to control her minions as if they were part of her body, even giving them access to all the spells she knew. When such a fine control wasn't possible, she would use willpower to create a different kind of link with them.
She would become their phylactery, allowing them to be raised back from the grave as long as she was unharmed. The new wave of Wights joined the fray, shifting the tides of the battle again.
Even if Erlik's followers were able to overpower the Wights, it still took them time, effort, and wounds. Kalla had called upon a lesser version of herself because they were among the worse opponent an undead could face.
Physical attacks and normal weapons did them no harm, whereas even being grazed by them meant having part your life force sucked and your body invaded by darkness magic.
Undead could feed upon other undead, but it would weaken them rather bring them nourishment. Kalla's Wights had no care for their lives, being mindless lesser undead, and every time they fell, she would simply animate them again.
This strategy allowed them to double the damage they inflicted upon their enemies at the expense of their lifespan like Balkor had shown her. Yet unlike Balkor, Kalla had access to Invigoration, and with it to an almost unlimited supply of mana.
Gremlik was afraid that Phloria would press her advantage so he Blinked away and consumed a fraction of the energy stored inside his blood core to instantly recover. He rejoiced seeing that the human didn't move, just to curse when he realized why.
Erlik was still locked in battle with Leannan, making both him and the Sapling useless. On top of that, the rest of their army wasn't faring well. Leannan had emptied her vaults to equip the Fae with the best artifacts Laruel had to offer and the damn Wight negated their numerical advantage with her own troops.
By protecting Kalla, Phloria was holding half the battle. Gremlik had just the time to cast his best flight spell when Pala's death cry reached his ears.
After killing Megon, Lith had used the two beams of Final Sunset to aim at where the Nightwalker was and where she would appear at the same time. Pala's reflexes and the distance separating them had saved her at first, but Blinking so many times without rest had taken a toll on her.
Being an undead, she didn't tire but the mana in her blood core was still limited and a battlefield was a chaotic place. Lith could afford to fly while keeping up a multi-layered barrier, whereas if she Blinked in the wrong place she would be caught in the crossfire between plants and undead.
The moment the black flames had pinned her against a wall she no longer had the strength to fight back and was turned into ashes.
'Two down, two hundred to go.' Lith thought while using Full Guard to dodge the barrage of incoming spells. It was his first time facing so many enemies that could actually kill him in a few blows at the same time.
Kalla's undead never left the field for long, but each time one of Erlik's followers was without an opponent, they would strike at the closest enemy who offered them their back or suck upon the World Sapling to recover their strength.
'Our side is barely holding their ground.' Solus checked the cores and the life forces of the fighters to estimate the outcome of the battle. Her mana sense gave her a much better judgment than Gremlik's.
Lith kept moving while searching for a quiet place where he could use Invigoration. Between the barrier, Full Guard, and using Setting Sun for so long, he was starting to feel tired.
Even with Solus's help, encompassing the whole room with his senses was a mammoth task. He reached Kalla, seeking Phloria's protection as well.
"Focus on him. I won't get caught off guard this time." The Wight reverted to her Emperor Beast form, revealing the equipment that Scarlett had gifted her before leaving the academy's forest.
A silver armor covered her from head to toe, sticking to Kalla's body like a second skin and giving her the same looks she had when she was still a Byk.
Several purple mana crystals, each one the size of a nut, were evenly spread throughout the armor, forming a network that would fuel its enchantments and boost Kalla's physical abilities.
She stood on her hind legs, beckoning to Gremlik in defiance. The Grendel hesitated, weighing his options.
'On one hand, the three of them assembled means I could kill them all at the same time and turn the tides of the battle. On the other hand, fighting them by myself is a pointless risk. I should focus on Leannan…' His train of thoughts derailed when he noticed that the mindless Wights weren't mindless anymore.
If their opponent retreated, instead of blindly charging forward as they had done until a while ago, they would join forces with their nearest ally. To make matters worse, they had even started casting spells.
With no other choice left, Gremlik darted towards Kalla. He transformed into his Grendel form and used the momentum of his flight spell to increase his already enormous strength.
Kalla sidestepped the attack, knowing that facing head-on a Grendel was suicidal. His attack failed, yet Gremlik smirked. His aim was perfect, so now that the Wight had dodged, he would strike Phloria first and Lith after her.
The Grendel had planned his attacks so that the three would block each other line of sight and each time one of them dodged, the next I line would be caught by surprise. His claws barely grazed Kalla, yet they still managed to cut through her armor and deep into her body, almost reaching the bones.
A Grendel moved so fast that each of their attacks generated an air blade, so dodging their attacks was nigh impossible. Kalla had yet to grunt in pain that Gremlik's other hand extended towards Phloria.
Her tier five spell, Bastion, was still active, so she managed to conjure a stone wall in front of herself. The rocks she carried with her were harder than most metals, yet it took Gremlik just a slash to destroy both the wall and her conjured tower shield.
Contrary to the Grendel's expectation, not a single drop of blood was shed. Knowing that now her enemy was unable to use magic to change his flight path, Phloria had abandoned her protection and flown up.
'I've no reason to worry for Lith since he can see past me thanks to Life Vision.' She thought.
Chapter 838 Battlefield Part 4
Gremlik lunged at Lith, who deflected the attack with Ruin that was now back into its bastard sword size while pivoting on his feet to use the opponent's momentum and move out of his trajectory.
'If I took flight as well, I would have lost one breath's worth of Invigoration. I don't know when I'll get another opportunity to use it, so I must make this count.' He thought.
'I strongly disagree.' Solus replied. 'The Thrall was nothing compared to the real thing and I've already told you why. In their mutated form, a Grendel becomes one with their blood core.
'That guy's mana flow has fused with his life force with amazing effects. Sure, he can't use magic anymore, but his entire body is now made by mana and elemental energies.
'It's like your fusion magic, except that instead of infusing his body with the elements, he is now one with them. It explains a Grendel's resistance to magic and their lack of healing abilities.
'Undead have no light element to start with and now that the life force is mixed with mana, he can't rearrange his flesh to close a wound without undoing his transformation.
'To keep the balance between the two forces, feeding is the only way he has to heal since it grants undead both nutrients and mana. He might be just a brute, but now his physical prowess is close to Faluel's.
'One breath of Invigoration is not worth risking your life.'
Lith was about to reply that he needed all the power he could gather when reality ended their argument. Gremlik managed to use Lith's sword as a fulcrum to change his direction.
His body moved as if it had no joints, freely rotating the hips in mid-air so that now his feet were touching the ground. It allowed his claws to dig deeply into the rock-hard wooden floor and perform a 180 in the Grendel's charge.
'Definitely not worth it!' Lith thought, noticing that even though he was stepping back, the creature's fingers never left Ruin.
Lith had infused the blade with all the darkness magic he could, but the same element coursed through the Grendel's body, to the point that Gremlik could physically interact and repel darkness as if he was a living spell.
Wielding a sword was supposed to give him the range advantage, but between the length of his claws and arms, the undead had the upper hand nonetheless. Lith released a powerful tier three bolt of lightning and a Plague Arrow stored inside his rings.
'He has had no way to dodge them from so up close without exposing himself to Ruin. No matter if he dodges or tanks them, I should get some space.' Lith thought.
Yet Gremlik ignored both spells and swung his claws at the enemy, aiming at Lith's major arteries with surgical precision.
'Those spells were both charged up to the rings' maximum capacity. How the heck is this possible?' Lith was amazed seeing that his rings appeared to be useless.
'The guy is a mass of living mana. If you don't hit him with more energy than that stored inside his body, the conflicting elements will simply nullify each other and he will take no damage.' Solus said.
'The bad news is that it makes him nigh-invulnerable to magic, the good news is that to do that, he has to consume his own mana so he can't last forever.'
'Are you telling me that Grendels work like Silverwing's Hexagram?' Lith asked.
'Yes. He is no Awakened, so if you stop him from feeding, the time he can sustain his transformation gets reduced with each spell he takes.'
Being three against one, Lith could now see a path to victory thanks to Solus's analysis. The problem was that he had no way to convey the message to his two allies. To make matters worse, the martial mastery that the Grendel had honed through the centuries required Lith to use his full focus just to not get ripped to shreds.
'If only I knew spirit spells outside of cantrips, I could establish a mind link.'
Meanwhile, Friya was cursing herself for choosing Javvok as her vacation spot. Dimensional magic was sealed and light magic would only strengthen the undead. The only specialization she had left was Mage Knight which was aimed at defense, not offense.
She was supposed to buy time for her allies to deal a critical blow, but amid the chaos of battle, she was alone against many. Luckily, she had activated Full Guard at the beginning of the combat, allowing her to dodge both incoming attacks and friendly fire.
She was used to either coordinate with her group or fight one on one, whereas now she was experiencing the chaos of war. Each time a spell missed its target, each time an attack was dodged, it might strike another enemy as well as an ally.
She was fighting a vampire Redcap, one of the most vicious combinations of plant and undead skills. Her opponent, Tyria, looked like a woman about 1.75 meters (5'9") tall, with green skin and arms almost as long as her legs.
A row of sharp fangs came out of her protruding jaw that together with long pointy ears and glowing red eyes made her look like something out of a nightmare. The red mass decorating her head was shaped like a red cap, but it was actually a bunch of vines filled to the brim with blood.
Tyria had filled herself before the fight, to exploit her double nature to its fullest. She could use that blood as a Redcap, drawing from it the skills and spells of her victims, or feed upon it as a vampire, securing herself extra juice in case of need.
She wielded a two-headed halberd that could be split in the middle, becoming two battle axes. Despite Tyria's brutish appearance, Friya had never seen anyone moving with such grace.
She moved amid the ensuing chaos like a dancer on stage, using her weapon as a polearm whenever Friya managed to step back and as axes the moment she came too close or the space around them became too crowded.
The fight had started from barely a handful of seconds and yet Friya was already covered in cuts and bruises. If not for Lith's Skinwalker armor and Orion's weapon, she wouldn't have lasted that long.
'I can hold a bit longer, but if I keep being forced on the defensive, I'm dead. Not only can she Blink freely, but she will also never tire.' Friya thought as she stepped back to relieve her conjured shield from the vampire's relentless onslaught.
She had waited for an opening, but her enemy was too experienced to fall for the tricks of someone so young.
Quylla was faring better than her sisters. She had been left behind in the lab, together with Professor Manohar in the case that things went south. To be extra safe, they had assigned her a bodyguard, Trouble the Balor
Lith had restored his body for his experiments, even forging for him a Gatekeeper so big that it resembled a steel slab. It was just a prototype, so it could channel only two elements, fire and darkness.
Lith had designed it to match two of the three eyes of the Balor. Yet it was Kalla the one controlling him.
Chapter 839 Clash of Titans Part 1
Lith had yet to find a way to raise the Balor's corpse as a lesser undead without the effects of the black eye amplifying the spell and turning the dead monster into a greater undead with a will of its own and a big grudge against him.
Kalla was a much better Necromancers, so her green wisp carried enough of her willpower to harness the full potential of the creature while retaining full control over its ever-growing blood core.
On top of that, Trouble-Kalla shared his thoughts with her original body, keeping the Healers updated about the events unfolding inside the Sapling.
"There's no time to lose, we must go help them!" Marth said once he understood how deep was the Sapling's betrayal.
"You will never make it in time." Trouble-Kalla shook his head. "Dimensional magic is sealed even to those with an acorn. Lyta?"
The Dryad tried to open a Gate leading to the city and failed. She tried several times, changing the destination, but to no avail.
"If you want to evacuate, you must do it by flight. Even the powers that Leannan bestowed upon me don't work anymore." She said.
"That, or we could move to the infected treehouses." Quylla said. "Professor, we didn't choose to stay behind just to run away. We did it to deal with any trick that Erlik might have left behind.
"If we stay here and the treehouses activate, whatever their purpose is, we'll never make it in time."
Marth nodded.
'As long as there's hope for victory we cannot retreat. Yet I can't just fool around either. I need to warn the Kingdom about the threat that such a powerful being could pose to us if it sides with the undead.'
Marth sent a couple of mages away, to get out of Laruel and report everything to the Crown. Then, the mages in the lab split into three teams and moved towards the three known places where Erlik had left bundles of his tissues.
Kalla-Trouble took flight thanks to the Balor's wings while appreciating how the black eye of the Balor naturally replenished the creature's blood core while the other two eyes were charging up with elemental energy.
'Such a wonderful specimen. Too bad that Scourge is unwilling to give it to me.' Even a sliver of Kalla's mind would worry about her research first and about her own impending death later.
As Manohar would say, first things first.
Leannan was having a hard time dealing with Erlik. The Draugr was inexperienced compared to her at handling the Sapling's resources cost him a lot of focus. They had been standing still nearly for a full minute, yet no one had disturbed their fight and for a good reason.
Both of them were trying to use the Sapling's wooden tendrils to attack the enemy faction, but due to their conflicting willpowers giving conflicting orders with almost the same authority, a vortex of squirming wood had surrounded them.
It blocked all kinds of magic and turned whoever came even close to it into shreds. Erlik was blocking dimensional magic within the entirety of Laruel for anyone but undead and manipulating the wooden tendrils, whereas Leannan was just manipulating the tendrils while trying to open a dimensional pathway for her allies from the other city-states.
In theory, having fewer things to control, and with her superior knowledge, she was supposed to overpower the Draugr. Unfortunately, the Saplings begged to differ. The ancient creature was slightly sided with the undead, tipping the scales in their favor.
'Why are you doing that? Have I not upheld my side of our bargain for all these years?' Leannan wanted to curse and threaten the Sapling, but she knew better. Were the true ruler of Laruel to believe her, it could end the battle in seconds.
Even though she despised it for its betrayal, she had to parlay.
'You're only partly correct.' The Sapling replied. 'Yes, you kept providing me knowledge, but it's useless. My days are about to end, I have barely a few more centuries in me.
'You didn't find a single exceptional mage, nor did you persuade a single Awakened to live here, just like your predecessor. Erlik, instead, found a solution to all my problems in a matter of months.
'His symbiote will prolong my existence, so that once I Awaken, those centuries will turn into millennia, giving me the time I need to find a way to pass my knowledge onto a new generation and becoming a second World Tree!'
'That's it? You're blaming us for your failure to Awaken?' Leannan was flabbergasted. 'You still have plenty of time to Awaken, plus you could just entrust your knowledge to us. Death is not the end, just the beginning of a new cycle.
'Plenty of us die every day, yet none of them sacrificed a whole city for petty reasons.'
'Plenty of time?' The Sapling sneered. 'Without the symbiote, even if I were to Awaken tomorrow, it might not be enough. With the feeble minds you lesser beings have, the population of the entire city can barely hold a fraction of the wisdom I gained through the millennia.
'Also, it's easy for you to speak about life and death since you are still young. Once I die, you just have to find yourself a new Sapling, whereas I'll rot here, abandoned like trash.
'I won't allow myself to just become a footnote in history! You should be grateful that I'm still giving you the opportunity to prove me wrong. Erlik's greed knows no bounds, hence I can't trust him fully.
'Sure, his alleged ally in the Council will Awaken both of us, but how much of my knowledge they'll demand in exchange? What if their method fails? In the past, I've discovered at my expenses that the same technique doesn't work for everyone, especially for those belonging to a different race.'
'If you don't trust him, then why go along with his plan?' Leannan asked.
'You are his last test. If Erlik doesn't manage to defeat you, it means that he's too weak to succeed. I can't support a weakling, otherwise his Awakened master will just take what they want.' The usually strong voice of the Sapling was filled with doubt and desperation.
Leannan could somewhat understand their reasons, but not condone their methods. The World Sapling was just looking for an easy way out, something that would have a steep price and that would take much more than it would give.
Yet the Sapling didn't care because it wasn't the one paying the piper, otherwise it would have just asked to be turned into an undead.
'Who is this Awakened master?' Leannan asked.
'I don't know. I've clouded my mind to Erlik just like he did to me. I only know that it's an undead and it's very powerful, which is exactly the reason why I need Erlik to prove to me that he's more than a brilliant mind. So far, he disappointed me.' The Sapling replied.
'Only one way to find out!' Leannan cut off the mind link that the tattoos on her back had created and requested the Sapling to activate the ancient ritual of the Chosen. The vortex of vines surrounding the contenders grew in size and power.
Each one of them became covered in runes, suppressing all the artifacts within its premises and leaving the Sovereigns with nothing but their skill.
Chapter 840 Clash of Titans Part 2
It was the ritual Leannan had resorted to in the past to replace the old Sovereign.
'What's the meaning of this?' Erlik was flabbergasted. 'What about my army?'
'As long as you have me, you don't need an army.' The Sapling's voice was condescending. Even with his long life, Erlik was barely more than a seedling in the tree's eyes.
'If they die, it means that they weren't worth the trouble I took in keeping them alive. The same stands for you.'
Erlik inwardly cursed. The Sapling was still a plant folk to the root. Plans and deals didn't mean anything to it, only power. Leannan had unraveled his plot, predicted his moves, and even managed to hold her ground despite the fact that the Sapling was actively helping him.
In the ancient tree's eyes, a stalemate under those conditions was as good as a defeat.
'You old fool! You have no idea what you have just done.' Erlik thought.
Now that the living array sealed him from the outside world, his contingency plan in the case he was captured or gravely wounded sprang into action. The sacks of symbiote he had left inside of the treehouses belonged to a different strain than what he had used to infect the plant folk.
It would take over its host, shaping the treehouse to resemble Erlik and give them part of his abilities.
The moment that the mind link with Erlik was broken, the sacks released their content, turning the treehouses into Draugrlings. The monstrous titans were as tall as a five-storey building and moved to aid their master.
Yet now that the bond with the Sapling was weakened, not even their orders could keep them from sharing the hunger of their maker. With each stride they took, the Draugrlings swung their massive limbs, catching a handful of plant folk that they swallowed whole to fuel their march.
Erlik knew that he had no time to waste. Once the Draugrlings arrived, their priority would be to help their master, even if that meant attacking the Sapling. He could feel the ancient being becoming more and more annoyed at him.
A direct attack was likely to be the last straw that would break their deal.
Erlik went all-out and activated all of the most powerful abilities of his undead race. Not only were Draugr much stronger than their alive counterpart, they could also increase their size at will without it affecting their speed.
Unlike shapeshifting, the extra mass came from the victims that Erlik still stored inside his massive body, temporarily adding their flesh to his own. The transformation even temporarily boosted his blood core since when a Draugr ate, they didn't just consume the living matter but also the life essence of their victims.
Part of their mana cores was preserved by the necromantic energies animating a Draugr and could be assimilated to enhance their magical abilities. Yet it all came at a price.
The transformation would not only put a heavy strain on the Draugr's energy reserve like what happened to Grendels, but also on their blood cores. Assimilating foreign energy was akin to mana poisoning.
Even though undead were naturally resistant to it, processing too much energy at once would not damage their bodies but it could break their cores, killing them on the spot.
Erlik doubled in size, swinging his fists at Leannan.
'Neither of us had the time to chant spells and even if she did, by now the strain of keeping them at the ready will make her an easy mark.' Erlik thought.
The Titania managed to dodge the attack, but the Draugr had grown so big that he filled most of the arena the World Saplings had arranged for them. Erlik used the impact of his attack with the ground to lift his lower body and pivot on his knuckles to follow up with a kick from an unpredictable angle.
Leannan grabbed the incoming foot with both hands, exploiting the enemy precarious stance to lift him off the ground and throw him against the barrier surrounding them. The spinning vines struck Erlik's back with enough strength to damage even his augmented body and send him back in the middle of the ring, where Leannan was waiting for him.
"Do you really think that size is the only thing that matters? Have you ever wondered where the word 'titan' comes from?" The Titania said, striking at the Draugr's chest with her fist.
Even in her Fae form, she looked smaller than a child if compared with her opponent. Yet her attack smashed through the rotten bark, making a web of cracks spread from the point of impact to the edges of his limbs.
Erlik was flabbergasted, bust most of all he was confused. None of what was happening made sense to him.
Just like Hydras and Dragons, there were Fae that kept their most powerful abilities hidden even from the members of their same race. Titanias's bodies were the result of compressing their mass to the utmost limit.
They could become even bigger than what Erlik was, but that would mean spreading their life force and offer a bigger target. Their line of evolution had progressed by favoring quality rather than quantity.
The branches coming out of her head, the vines among her hair, and even the leaves decorating her forehead, were just vestigial parts that had been discarded over time.
Erlik was sent bouncing against the wall of vines again, but he managed to regain his cool and put the experience of centuries to practice. Sapling or not, their mastery over the earth and water elements allowed Treants to manipulate wood at will.
It was one of the skills that he didn't lose when he had been turned into a Draugr. Their cage and even his own body were made of wood, hence Erlik could shapeshift them as he saw fit.
Countless arms and mouths sprouted all over his body, chanting several spells at once, while wooden spikes infused with the darkness element were fired from his palms as if they were two enormous Gatling guns.
All of this while he was still in mid-air.
"Thanks for the lesson, but quantity has a quality all its own." The Draugr replied while his wound disappeared, making Faluel curse. Undead felt no pain nor fatigue. Only death and lack of mana could stop them.
"Gods, yes!" Friya said with an enthusiasm that left her opponent shocked since usually having your heart impaled was hardly cause for celebration.
'This human must be an extreme masochist for…' Tyria the Redcap's mind went blank when she realized that, her halberd infused with enough darkness magic to kill a magical beast in one hit, had struck the right place but the wrong target.
The moment the Sapling had refused to obey Erlik, Friya had felt the space around herself relax, giving her back her best weapon. She had Switched herself with a Banshee who was her size so fast that Tyria had noticed Friya's voice actually coming from behind only when it was too late.
The Banshee spat out a mouthful of black blood, looking at the Redcap with angry eyes. Tyria ignored her and pulled the halberd out, lunging at the voice's point of origin without even looking.
A vampire's senses were so keen that they could always find a target whose blood they had spilled. Friya had suffered several cuts during their short battle, making her an easy target.
Chapter 841 Desperation Part 1
Or at least Friya was an easy target for the vampire back when she couldn't use dimensional magic.
Friya switched herself with the vampire Redcap this time, placing the enemy in the right spot to skewer through a flabbergasted Wraith's side and in front of the horizontal swing of a Treant's giant mace.
Tyria involuntary assist paralyzed the Wraith long enough for the Treat to struck both of them at the same time, sending them flying. The Wraith died on the spot, her body was unable to endure the heavily enchanted hammer that had followed the deep wound caused by the halberd.
Tyria fared much better. Pain wasn't a problem and healing wounds from a single strike wasn't a big deal. She Blinked a few times, to give her body the time to recover and keep Friya from Switching her again.
"Not so fast!" Friya slashed at the position from which Tyria had Blinked the first time, activating her personal spell, Dimensional Cut. It was an offensive spell, whose purpose was to destabilize space and make it collapse, resulting in a devastating explosion.
In this case, Dimensional Cut rode the ripples in space that Tyria's series of Blinks had left behind. It allowed Friya to exploit the still lingering mana to amplify the effect of her own spell and have it appear right in front of Tyria.
"Fuck!" The vampire said while turning into her mist form. Blinking would have not only dragged along the golden fissure, but it would have also further boosted its power.
The explosion opened a small crater in the ground, yet Tyria was unscathed. No matter how powerful, the blast triggered by the dimensional spell was more physical than magical in nature, so it couldn't harm her now ethereal body.
Yet a Vampire's Mist Form wasn't usually used in combat, or at least not on the entire body. It was a technique better suited to avoid a single attack or stalk prey. As long as Tyria was in her Mist Form, she could only use her innate true darkness spells since she was unable to speak and form hand signs.
The smoke hid Friya Blinking where the Dimensional Cut had struck and, without her nose, Tyria didn't notice her coming. Friya struck at the small mist cloud while unleashing a series of darkness pulses that forced the vampire Redcap back in her humanoid form.
Tyria consumed all the blood stored in her hair to heal her wounds and release a barrage of silent spells at the same time. No one but her knew what abilities she had stored, so she was certain that the combined assault of her victim's skills would take the human by surprise.
The wooden spikes that only a Treant could conjure erupted from the ground while the Origin Flames of a Wyvern filled the air along with the corrupted black lightning of a Jotunn.
Unfortunately for Tyria, Friya knew everything about Redcaps. They were among the easiest opponents that a dimensional mage could face. A mage couldn't be hurt by their own mana, but the abilities Redcaps used were stolen and so was the energy empowering them.
Professor Rudd had shared with her all of his knowledge about creatures with similar abilities and had instructed her about how to finish them in the quickest way possible. Friya knew that she couldn't possibly beat a more skilled and powerful opponent by playing fairly.
Also, war wasn't a test of skill or honor, but only a matter of survival.
Full Guard bestowed upon Friya full spatial awareness, while dimensional magic allowed her to exploit the chaos of the battlefield to Switch the position of the chess pieces and cheat her way to victory.
Friya had resorted to attacking solely with the darkness pulses generated by her weapon as bait, to prepare the field for the spell she was keeping at the ready, Warp Steps. The dimensional door appeared in front of Friya who stepped out from its exit point, which appeared right in front of the surprised Redcap.
Friya hopped past Tyria and used the vampire as a meat shield against the raging storm that was following her.
Unlike Blink, Warp Steps would remain open as long as the mage provided it with mana. The skills that the Redcap had conjured could freely move through the dimensional door as well, hitting her with their full force.
Friya was covered in wounds, old and new. Tyria had stabbed her when she had come out of the Steps and neither the vampire's body nor Friya's conjured shield had managed to fully block such a powerful onslaught.
'So much for an easy opponent.' She thought while mending the most severe injuries and stopping the bleeding. Most of her hair was gone and her armor was charred from the Flames and lightning. Yet she was alive and relatively safe.
Before her death, Tyria had moved to a mostly empty area to keep Friya from Switching, so there were no enemies nearby. The Dimensional Mage wanted nothing more than dispel Full Guard and rest, but those were luxuries she couldn't afford.
Friya remained at the fringes of the battlefield, searching for her friends or at least for an opportunity to turn the tides of the battle.
Meanwhile, after Solus had unveiled for him the secret behind the Grendel's nigh-invulnerability, Lith released the spells stored inside his rings every time an opening appeared in Gremlik's offense.
Phloria was looking for an opportunity to take part in the fight without hindering Lith's movements while also using the short respite to prepare a few new spells. Kalla, instead, was still busy using Invigoration to close the deep wounds a single slash of the Grendel's claws had opened in her chest.
'No wonder Grendels are considered on par with mythical beasts. For some reason, the wounds he has inflicted upon me have yet to heal, whereas in normal circumstances one breath of Invigoration would have been plenty.' She thought.
Kalla had no Solus, so she wasn't aware of Gremlik's body being fused with his blood core. It didn't just make him a mass of living elemental energies, it also involved the seventh element, the mana.
The wounds Gremlik caused while in his Grendel form were both physical and magical, inflicting a slight mana poisoning upon his victim. It wasn't enough to threaten their mana core, but it still managed to scramble their mana flow and hinder the healing process.
At first, both women didn't understand why Lith kept wasting his spells. Gremlik didn't even bother to dodge them, taking every time the full force of whatever Lith threw at him without a scratch.
The creature seemed to be immune to direct damage, so they wondered why Lith didn't use spells that would at least grant him a tactical advantage.
Yet when Lith cast his tier four spell, Plague Storm, the Grendel dodged the hail of darkness bullets, giving Lith the first opportunity to catch his breath since they had started fighting.
Gremlik wasn't the kind of opponent he could play with, and going all-out right from the bat was exhausting.
"There's a limit to how much punishment the Grendel can take!" Phloria said. There was no other way to explain why Gremlik had tanked Plague Arrows before but was now wary of them.
"Is it?" Gremlik grinned, stabbing the floor with both his hands. The wooden floor withered and rotted as the Sapling's energy was devoured by the Grendel, refilling his core.
Chapter 842 Desperation Part 2
Lith managed to take only one deep breath worth of energy with Invigoration before Gremlik darted toward him like a bullet. Lith dodged the charge, only to discover that he had never been the intended target.
The undead was confident in his abilities, yet taking on two Awakened at once with a mage specialized in support magic backing them was a risk that he wasn't willing to take.
Phloria was the weakest link in the chain, and once he took her out of the picture, the advantage from having endless energy coupled with his immunity to damage would be enough to ensure Gremlik's victory.
Kalla was on his same page, so she stood in front of Phloria and activated the weapons Scarlett the Scorpicore had made for her, the Bear Claws.
Kalla had no martial training, so any kind of human weapon would be wasted on her. For that reason, Scarlett had Forgemastered metal covers for Kalla's forelegs, allowing her to keep using the innate fighting style that she had developed as a bear first and as a Byk later.
The Grendel slashed at her with such strength that, even though Kalla weighed over half a ton, she was almost thrown aside. The impact had even left nicks on her weapons and allowed Gremlik to get past her.
'Dammit! Not even Invigoration can keep up with an undead feeding speed while fighting inside a living being. Magic is useless against the Grendel and he's physically superior to us.
'Losing Phloria means losing our tactical advantage. If she falls, we'll follow soon after.' Kalla thought.
Watching Lith fight had given Phloria's eyes the time to get accustomed to Gremlik's speed and movement pattern, so the moment he appeared in front of her she was ready.
Dodging and blocking were pointless, so she chose to escape upwards with a flight spell. Gremlik jumped to intercept her, but she suddenly changed her trajectory and moved back, gaining distance since the Grendel's inability to use any kind of spell prevented him from moving without touching the floor first.
"Oh, fuck me…" Gremlik said while Phloria unleashed all of the spells in her rings at once without even a single one of them missing their target. Knowing that she would face only undead, most of them were darkness based.
Most of them because for Phloria creating an opening was more important than dealing damage. The darkness element ate a good chunk of Gremlik's mana, but it was the fireball mixed with it that worried him.
It sent him flying through the air, bringing the Grendel further away from the ground and close to Lith. Ruin was engulfed in darkness magic to the point that the blade was hidden under the thick layer of energy.
'Fuck, fuck, fuck! I can't let them bounce me to death.' Gremlik thought. As long as he was in mid-air, only gravity determined his speed, making his physical prowess useless.
He undid his transformation, Blinking away in the nick of time before Ruin could strike at him. Yet the blade didn't seem to notice, piercing through his chest until the hilt was stopped by his spine.
'The dimensional blocking array is gone.' Solus didn't have Friya's keen spatial perception, but her mana sense worked just as well. Aside from her and Friya, no one else was aware of the change that the ritual of the Chosen had brought to the fight.
At least until Lith Blinked as well, following Gremlik like a shadow.
Kalla's and Phloria's eyes sparkled at the idea of having their full battle prowess restored, whereas Gremlik felt his undeath slipping away from him. Ruin was a prototype, yet a very powerful weapon.
His Dryad body was as durable as paper if compared to his Grendel form. To make matters worse, the darkness infused in the blade was the bane of the undead, and now that he wasn't infused with the elements anymore, it damaged both Gremlik's body and blood core.
Luckily, Gremlik had Blinked near the ground, so he only had to grit his teeth to endure the pain and revert into a Grendel. Ruin was now trapped inside his body, and thanks to his plant physiology, Gremlik had shapeshifted so that, even though Lith had stabbed him in the back, they were face to face again.
Gremlik was now taller than Lith and his huge mouth came down on the human to bite off his head while the Grendel's claws lunged at his lungs.
Lith Blinked away, leaving his blade behind along with another kind of present. He breathed a short jet of Origin Flames right inside Gremlik's mouth before disappearing.
Not even dimensional magic was fast enough, so Lith found four claw marks on both sides of his ribs once he reappeared. The Orichalcum had barely managed to stop the wind blades generated by the Grendel's slash.
As for Gremlik, he recognized the Origin Flames and put them out at the expense of another chunk of his life force. Together with darkness magic, Origin Flames were one of the few things that could make an undead feel pain.
With Ruin still planted in his chest, releasing wave after wave of darkness, Gremlik couldn't afford more distractions.
'How the heck does this thing keep working without its master? I need to pull it out and feed.' The Grendel thought.
Unfortunately for him, Kalla begged to differ. She Blinked to his back, slashing with her full force behind her Bear Claws. Not only were they as sharp as a razor and as hard as a diamond, but they were also capable of channeling darkness magic and give it physical form.
It served both to extend Kalla's attack range and allow her to exploit her mastery of the darkness element in close quarters as well. Yet the senses and reflexes of a Grendel were enough to allow him to perceive the threat and react accordingly.
The moment Kalla's claw grazed his weakened skin, Gremlik managed to spin on himself, sidestepping the Wight and moving to her back. He managed to slash at her twice before Phloria could Blink Kalla to safety.
Kalla's was deeply wounded, but not in vain. The Grendel was getting weaker by the second thanks to Ruin still channeling Lith's magic. All the wounds Gremlik had sustained as a Dryad had been carried over so that if he didn't feed soon the accumulated damage would kill him.
If they managed to keep him under pressure, it was their win. Yet if the Grendel tapped into the Sapling again, they wouldn't get another opportunity.
Gremlik was aware of the stakes as well, but while the matter of who controlled Laruel was a life or death matter for the humans, no matter who won the battle, it wouldn't do him any good.
If Leannan killed Erlik, all the undead in the room would have to run away or die. If Erlik triumphed, the Grendel would be forced to bend the knee, and once the Draugr Awakened, things would get even worse.
Erlik would betray the Courts and fall from their grace, dragging Gremlik with him. Yet While the Draugr would achieve his Awakening and obtain a place in the Council for it, Gremlik would be left with nothing but an eternity of servitude ahead of himself.
Erlik wouldn't Awaken him and the Courts would mark him as a traitor, turning Laurel into his prison.
Chapter 843 Desperation Part 3
Gremlik's initial plan had been to steal Erlik's research and to take his place as the new ruler of Laruel. The first part had succeeded, but he had never expected that the Draugr would parlay with the Sapling instead of dominating it.
The need to obtain the Sapling's consent made it impossible for Gremlik to take Erlik's place, and with it his chance to Awaken. On top of that, even if the Grendel managed to escape from the city, he wouldn't be able to use the stolen data.
Finding another Sapling and persuading it to share its knowledge was possible, but if Leannan had really unraveled Erlik's plot, then the other city-states would lock the undead out to make sure that Laruel's situation didn't happen again.
Dying by the hand of the humans, being the Courts' errand boy, or serving Erlik were all the same for him. Gremlik was tired of running away, tired of obeying to people who were barely half as smart as he was, but his power never seemed to match his ambition.
He pulled Ruin out of his chest and threw it away before charging at his enemies.
'I have only one chance to get out of here on top. I need to survive until one of the new Sovereign is chosen. Then, I'll see if all of my preparations pay off or if I've just wasted my life.' Gremlik thought.
A group of fighters stumbled on the scene, but while Lith and the others had to spend more energy to get rid of the new enemies, Gremlik killed the undead and gobbled a wounded Fae. It was a far cry from filling his core, but enough to close his wounds.
Meanwhile, inside the Sapling's barrier, between the darkness infused wooden spikes, the impending hail of spells, and Erlik's giant form, Leannan the Titania had been painted into a corner.
Her only trick left was to fuse with the wooden floor and use the traitorous World Sapling as a shield.
"Curse you, Leannan. Come out and fight!" Erlik roared in outrage after seeing his best shot fail miserably. Not only the ability Leannan had employed was one of the many he had lost after being turned, but had also made him waste lots of mana.
Unlike true mages, a fake mage would consume their energy the moment they started to cast a spell, no matter if they completed it or not. Erlik wasn't an Awakened, so he couldn't follow the movements of the Titania's energy signature while she moved inside the wood.
"Like you did after infiltrating my city?" Leannan's voice oozed sarcasm. "You turned the Sapling against me, so it's only fair for me to return you the favor."
"We'll see about that!" Erlik snarled, clawing at the floor with his giant hands. It would allow him to feed upon the Sapling, regain his lost strength, and smoke Leannan out.
She could have been everywhere, but thanks to the many extra limbs he had sprouted, the Draugr would cover the entirety of the floor, leaving her no choice but to face him or become his meal. Two birds with one stone.
The Sapling quaked once again in indignation. In all of its life, it had always been an apex predator, yet now it stooped as low as a dog infested with fleas. The Sapling hated being helpless while the undead kept sucking on its lifestream, but it had no choice.
To defend itself it needed either the help of a Sovereign or to completely come out of its slumber. The former had yet to be chosen while the latter would mean reducing the centuries left of its lifespan into a few decades.
The World Sapling's pain intensified and Erlik shared it through their bond.
'This doesn't make sense. Even if all my followers were to feed upon the Sapling at the same time, it should be the equivalent of a mosquito bite to it. Why is it shaking so much and why do I feel such pain? The ritual was supposed to cut off our mind link.' Erlik was right, of course.
The source of the pain they were both experiencing wasn't the feeding, nor the ongoing battle outside the wooden arena. It was Leannan poisoning the tree with a massive amount of darkness magic that was being sucked in by the Draugr, poisoning him as well.
'If I get out of here alive, I'll make sure that this Sapling gets its due.' Leannan thought. 'I won't stand living with such a fickle and egotistical creature. It has betrayed me once, it might as well do it again.'
Erlik reverted to his regular size while his bark started to fall apart. By feeding upon the darkness element, he had unknowingly allowed it to directly reach his blood core, causing it to collapse.
"I underestimated your ruthlessness, Sovereign." Erlik's body broke down, starting from his knees. Too weakened to bear his massive weight, they snapped and forced him to kneel. "I thought that you Fae considered the Sapling as a sacred being.
"Tainting its very essence with darkness magic might shorten its lifespan…"
Leannan's right hand bloomed behind the Draugr, slowly and without making a sound. It unleashed a tier five darkness spell that turned him into dust.
'It's over, you damn fool!' Leannan's thoughts were louder than a scream. 'I won the duel, reaffirming my right to rule and proving you that there's nothing undead can offer you that I can't. Now stop blocking dimensional magic and kill the invaders.'
The Sapling's reply surprised the Titania. During all those years, she had never heard the ancient tree wail.
'What did you do to me? First, your allies attacked me, then you poisoned me, and now this? Cease your attack immediately!' The Sapling's words made no sense to her. The creature was in agony, making all of its threats sound empty.
The ancient Fae was screaming non-stop, refusing to obey even the simplest of her orders.
'I'm not doing anything. Stop the fight before more plant folk die because of your madness!' Leannan thought.
'She's right, old fool. It's me.' Gremlik's voice interrupted their conversation.
'I didn't work so hard just to become someone else's pawn so I spiced up Erlik's tissues with a bit of my own. My plan was to use them to get rid of him once he killed Leannan, but I guess this will have to do.
'Beware, you World Moron, a Grendel's tissues aren't as kind as a Draugr's. They're spreading through your roots even as we speak, devouring everything in their path.'
With Erlik's death, the plague had disappeared from Laruel and all the infected had been cured. The only exception was the Draugrlings that were still walking toward the Sapling and the bundles of tissues that had allowed Erlik to commune with the Sapling before it could bestow its blessing upon him.
Those were the only tissues that Gremlik had contaminated with his own, keeping them as his last trump card.
The Draugrlings screamed in agony as the entirety of their bodies was shaken by both the death of their former master and the rise of their new one. Their sudden transformation threw the protectors of Laruel into a panic.
Being replicas of Erlik, the treehouses had resembled a Treant, whereas now they assumed the monstrous appearance of Grendels. The creatures were much more voracious now, making the plant folk a measly meal for them.
Chapter 844 Desperation Part 4
The Grendelings started to bite at the surrounding treehouses, feeding off the Sapling's essence that coursed through them while tendrils coming out of their feet dug deep enough in the ground to reach the Sapling's roots.
Between the corruption spreading throughout its body and the Grendelings' mayhem, the Sapling was suffering as it had never happened in millennia.
'My terms are simple.' Gremlik's voice invaded the mind link between Leannan and the ancient tree. 'Kill all the humans, surrender yourself to me, and imprison all the plant folk of Laruel.
'If you do that, I'll let you live and I will uphold the same deal you had with Erlik. My tissues can prolong your life just as well as his. Once Laruel is under my rule, we'll Awaken together. Refuse and I will kill you.'
'Why would I trust you?' The Sapling's mind was filled with pain and outrage. 'Awakened or not, I would still be under your thumb. You don't want a partner, you want a slave!'
'Please.' Gremlik said with a sneer. 'How could I possibly trust you? First you betrayed your own kin, then Erlik. I just want to make sure that the third time is the charm. Besides, I could say the same thing about you.
'Without my contingency measure, what would stop you from killing me once I've outlived my usefulness?'
'The same reason why I needed Erlik.' The Sapling replied. 'As you said, I've betrayed my kin. Once I Awaken, I'll become an outcast and the undead will be my only possible family!'
Those words shook Leannan to the root, making her understand how deep was the madness twisting the Sapling's mind.
'I'm not Erlik! I don't care about family or the undead, only about myself. It's been too long since I had a proper feast and I can't wait to eat some plant folk. Now bend the knee or die!' Gremlik said.
'You insolent whelp. If I interrupt my slumber, I'd have all the power I need to kill you.' The Sapling rebuked him.
'With your roots rotting and my Grendelings I'm sure that I will manage to escape, whereas you'd be left with just a few years left to live. Unlike you, I've got nothing to lose.'
The rage and desperation in the Grendel's thoughts struck at the Sapling like a slap. The two of them were like the two sides of the same coin. Gremlik had eternal life but nothing to live for, whereas the Sapling had little time left and too much to lose.
Yet the thought didn't garner the Grendel any pity, only more spite.
The World Sapling tried to kill the insolent undead with its arrays, only to discover that the plague not only affected its body, but also its mind as well. For the first time in millennia, the ancient plant folk was helpless.
The moment the Sapling had bestowed upon Erlik the communion runes, Gremlik had used the anomaly that having two Sovereigns at the same time created to mess up with the Sapling's mind without it noticing.
While the Grendel's mind delivered the ultimatum, his body exploited the chaos on the battlefield to slip away from Lith's group and run toward Leannan. With her dead, the ancient plant folk would lose its last means of defense and be forced to surrender.
'There's no other way, my chosen Sovereign. You must kill the undead and free me from his grasp.' The Sapling's commanding tone, as if nothing had changed between them, flabbergasted Leannan.
Meanwhile, on the outside, the Grendelings were proving to be more formidable enemies than a Draugr ever could. They couldn't fly nor Warp, but nothing the defenders of the city had attempted left a scratch on them.
Their size made physical attacks pointless and the amount of elemental energy empowering them nullified even tier five spells with ease.
"It's a pointless struggle." Kalla-Trouble said. "As long as they can feed upon treehouses, even if we manage to damage them, they can easily recover."
"Yet we have to stop them." Marth said. "Such creatures cannot be left alive. They are a walking disaster. Once they finish destroying Laruel, they'll consume everything in their path."
"I wonder why Erlik didn't activate them sooner." Quylla pondered. The answer was that they had only been meant as a last resort to escape in the case that the Sapling didn't agree with Erlik or Leannan managed to find him before they closed the deal.
Such monstrosities were a breach of the pact between the undead and the Sapling. They were living proof of Erlik's ability to infect not only plant folk, but the Sapling as well.
To make matters worse, they would never fit into the castle, so Erlik couldn't even use them during the final battle.
"Our only hope is that they are not full Grendels and they have only recently mutated." Kalla said. "They are a living-undead hybrid, and undead are at their weakest during infancy. We must strike them down before their condition stabilize."
The black eye of the undead Balor turned into a black sun, blotting the night sky with its black light. It emitted a pillar of energy the size of a freight train that stuck a Grendeling right in its chest.
The creature collapsed to the ground while the transformation came partially undone, reverting its upper body into a tree. A volley of ice and darkness spells rained upon the fallen Grendeling.
The massive onslaught of tier five spells managed to keep the creature from turning back into a Grendel and killed it on the spot.
"That was amazing! Why didn't you do that earlier?" Quylla asked.
"Because it took me everything I have to project so much energy. Any more and this body will revert into a corpse. I'm too far away to raise it again if it falls." Kalla replied. The Balor's wings flapped clumsily now that the darkness element animating it was almost depleted.
"The good news is that Grendelings aren't immune to magic like they would like us to believe, the bad news is that to break through their defenses with conventional spells it takes too much energy."
"Are you suggesting we should just give up?" Marth asked.
"Do you have a better idea?"
Before they could continue, one of the mages from the ground called them down.
"Look at that." A middle-aged woman pointed at the Sapling's roots that were now visible under the road pavement. They were blackened and full of blisters that popped as if something was burning them from the inside.
Along the dead creature's path, there were several holes in the ground, corresponding to each one of its steps. To give life to such a humongous creature, Gremlik's symbiote required a lot of energy.
Feeding off the treehouses wasn't enough, so the Grendelings used the Sapling's roots as their power line. All the healers immediately came to the same realization.
"They are not invincible. If we get them away from the ground or cut their feet, they will not last long." Marth said.
"Indeed. The question is: how?" Kalla sneered.
"Well, we can either cause a quake strong enough to make them fall, or we can kill that damn Sapling." Marth's reply left everyone dumbfounded, but it made sense. If not for the Sapling's betrayal, none of that would have happened.
"I don't think we can kill such a powerful creature with our small numbers, but I think we can do the best next thing." Quylla explained her idea to them, obtaining their unanimous approval.
Chapter 845 Hard Times Part 1
Without communication amulets, it took Quylla's group a while to assemble the rest of the mages and share their plan with them. The mages from the three great Countries moved ahead of the creatures' path and used their spells to unearth the Sapling's roots.
They were already rotting and sizzling from the inside due to Gremlik's plague working its way toward the main body. All of the energy that the Sapling spent trying to block the infection only made the parasite more powerful, which was good news for the humans.
The mages cast their strongest darkness spells on the roots at the same time. Quylla waited for the others to be done, weakening the underground leviathan before unleashing her tier five spell, Black Light.
Normally, darkness magic would only affect the area where it struck.
Black Light, instead, used the light element to carry the darkness energy throughout its victim's body. Not only did light magic allow its dark counterpart to spread as quickly as a healing spell, but it also enhanced darkness' destructive power.
The light element forced the damaged tissues to heal, wasting the vitality they needed to resist the darkness element's onslaught and inducing the same effects of prolonged starvation due to the consumption of nutrients.
Black Light caused a cycle of healing and destruction that doubled the speed with which its victim's life force was sapped. Quylla didn't have enough mana to affect an enemy that big, but the combined effect of Black Light, the parasite, and the other mages' spells did the trick.
The root withered and died, causing to the Sapling a pain so great that the entirety of Laruel quaked. Leaves fell from the treetops as the tremors intensified to the point that it was impossible to stay upright.
Without their nourishment, the Grendelings first tried to sustain themselves by draining treehouses. Then, once the creatures discovered that their prey had been turned into regular trees, they started to fight against each other.
The mages targeted solely the strongest Grendeling, changing target as soon as the tides of battle turned. By always siding with the losing Grendelings, by the time a victor emerged, the last creature standing was half cannibalized.
It took them only a few more spells to put it down.
Meanwhile, Leannan was trying to use her tattoos to tap into the Sapling's power and kill the invaders, but something was wrong. She couldn't make the Sapling move nor access to any of its arrays, leaving her reinforcements still locked out of Laruel.
'First the undead, now the humans. Don't you see that they are killing me? Why don't you do something?' The ancient plant folk asked.
Leannan cursed the Sapling's betrayal and blocked Gremlik's claws with her arm protector. Somehow, he had aimed them exactly at her weak point, the flower that acted as the core of her power.
"Nice armor." The Grendel was surprised by both her reflexes and equipment. Few were fast enough to match his speed and even fewer things could stop a Grendel's mana infused claws.
Now that the ritual of the Chosen was over, she could finally use her artifacts again. Gremlik would have loved to employ his own as well, but among Grendels' weaknesses, there was the inability to use magical items in their battle form.
By fusing their blood core with their bodies, they lacked even the magic spark necessary to activate an alchemical tool. The transformation altered even their energy signature so that the items that Gremlik had imprinted in his Dryad form didn't recognize him as their master.
Leannan took her twin battle hammers out of her dimensional amulet and started her offensive. Each one of her weapons was so big that to a regular human they would have been too unbalanced to wield it with two hands and too heavy for a one-handed grip.
Yet to a creature of her size, they were just perfect. On top of that, they allowed her to express the full potential of her physical prowess. A blade would require more skill than strength to cut, whereas a blunt weapon transmitted to its victim every iota of its wielder power.
Each time she used them to block or deflect an attack, golden threads would form between the hammerheads and the Grendel's claws. At first, Gremlik had no idea what they could be meant for.
They were weightless and ethereal, making it impossible for his mana infused claw to cut them. The same happened whenever the hammers hit their mark, leaving new threads behind.
Leannan took several hits as well, but between her protections and her regenerative abilities, she sustained only minor injuries. To keep his Grendel form, Gremlik required a lot of energy and now that Erlik was dead, the tendril of the Sapling that had followed Gremlik like a loyal dog was gone.
'Damn, I need to feed or she will end me. Why doesn't the Sapling make its mind? By now the plague should have reached it and my Grendelings should have taught it a lesson in humility.' He thought, unaware that Erlik's prized contingency plan had already been foiled.
Gremlik jumped back, to both avoid a horizontal swing and to put some distance between himself and the frenzied Titania. Only then did he discover what the golden threads' purpose was.
The moment his feet left the ground, they became tangible, allowing Leannan to drag him back into her attack range while he had no defense but swinging his arms wildly in the attempt to cut the strings that held him prisoner.
A Grendel was fast, so he managed to cut one of the threads before they turned intangible again.
"What the…?" Leannan's hammer cut him short and hit his arms with the strength of an avalanche.
To add insult to the literal injury that the strike inflicted upon him, a new golden thread was now binding the Grendel's arm to the hammer, replacing the only tendril of light he had managed to destroy.
Leannan's war hammers, War Shackles, were the relic left from an expert of the light element. Their purpose was to make it impossible for the enemy to escape after the fight had started.
The tendrils were intangible only when the wielder of the Shackles willed so. Leannan could choose which and how many threads would turn into hard light constructs, turning her enemy into an unwilling puppet.
Gremlik wasn't allowed to step away unless Leannan wished for it. During their exchanges. she had attached enough threads on him that she could alter the trajectory of his attacks simply by swinging her weapons.
'Fuck me sideways! That weapon is a nightmare for a zoner like me. By locking the range of the fight, it also keeps mages from preparing new spells. The only question is if it's possible to escape its prison with Blink.' Lith thought.
'In theory, yes.' Solus replied. 'I'm pretty sure that threads have a limited range and that light magic or not, the closing of a dimensional door would also cut the energy they are made of.
'Dimensional magic is based on gravity, and gravity bends light.'
'I wish I knew the secret behind hard light constructs. It would open endless possibilities for my Forgemastering.' Lith thought.
Leannan shared such desire as well. She had researched light magic for years, looking for a way to weaponize the light element, but even inside the Sapling's library, only healing spells were recorded.
Chapter 846 Hard Times Part 2
Erlik's defeat had greatly affected the battlefield. The undead believed that without their leader, even if somehow they managed to kill the Titania and her Fae guards, it would be a hollow victory.
They were unaware of Gremlik's contingency plan and were expecting that the reinforcements from the other city-states would arrive shortly to finish them off. The moment one of Erlik's followers managed to disengage from their opponent, they Warped away with no care for their allies.
With the enemy side's number thinning and Kalla being able to devote her full attention to her minions, the Fae were quickly gaining the upper hand. Phloria stood guard at the Wight while Lith and Friya backstabbed one undead after the other.
They would have loved to help Leannan and kill Gremlik, but the Titania kept him too close to her for them to have a clear shot at the Grendel.
Gremlik knew that as well, so he tried to finish the fight in a last burst of strength, hoping that losing its only means to interact with the outside world would force the Sapling to surrender to his will.
The Grendel had no magical equipment, but his battle experience was vastly superior to that of the Fae and so were all of his physical abilities. Also, he had fed upon the Sapling multiple times, whereas Leannan hadn't got a single opportunity to rest.
Her fight with Erlik had drained her mana, which was the reason why she had opted for a match of pure strength. Every time the Grendel struck at her, she could feel her body snap under her protections.
Gremlik was able to strike with the claws on both his hands and feet, biting whenever she came too close. His whole body was a weapon, forcing Leannan to move her grip near the hammerheads to be able to swing them in time now that Gremlik stuck so close to her that she could smell the stench of decay from his breath.
She could feel her protections getting weaker, her body's regenerative abilities soon wouldn't be able to keep up with the damage she kept sustaining, whereas each time her opponent bit off a chunk of her flesh, he regained part of his strength and health.
"Finish him!" Leannan yelled, throwing away her hammers with all the strength she had left while making every single golden thread turn tangible.
Gremlik struck at her one last time, plunging his claws deep into her body and almost reaching the flower that was her core. Even after becoming an undead, he had kept a Dryad's affinity with life that allowed their kin to always find their target's weak spot.
It was the Dryads' only real offensive talent besides magic.
Despite his speed and the opponent being wide open, he could barely graze the flower before the threads sent him flying away. Leannan's strength was so great that the hammers pierced deep into the wooden walls.
The golden threads were so many that they formed a net that restricted Gremlik's movement. His claws and fangs ripped the energy threads as if they were made of silk, but it was still not fast enough.
A barrage of spells rained upon him from every side, depleting the mana inside his body. Gremlik was forced to revert into his Dryad form since not even feeding off the wall provided him with enough energy to withstand the attack.
'What are you waiting for?' Gremlik sent his thoughts to the Sapling. 'Do you really think that anyone will trust you anymore? I'm your only hope.'
To make his argument even more compelling, Gremlik made the infection stop hurting the Sapling, but didn't stop its spreading. If he really had to die, he didn't want to die alone.
The sudden relief from pain gave the Sapling enough clarity to probe Leannan's weakened mind and discover her plans about getting rid of the Sapling once the fight was over.
The ancient plant folk cursed its bad luck and started to form a new contract with the Grendel. The runes appeared on Gremlik's arms and shoulders, just before his body completely turned into dust.
Where the Grendel had been stuck until a second ago, now there was a giant hole that allowed to see the city outside. Everyone had cast their tier five spells without caring for the Sapling.
The creature tried to talk with the Titania, but she broke their link by her own will, making the runes on her body disappear.
"The undead threat is over." Leannan said in her communication amulet, speaking with the other Fae leaders. "I need your help to evacuate the city and take the humans back home. After that, we have to take care of the Sapling."
***
A few days later, Laruel's crisis was solved and the city-state was no more. The Sapling had tried to explain its reason, but had met only deaf ears. Erlik's death while they were still linked had damaged its mind, while Gremlik's parasite had deeply affected its roots and compromised its body.
Even if it decided to completely exit its slumber and run away, the other Saplings would always be able to locate it, forcing it to spend the few years it had left on the run.
Lith and the others could finally return home, spending the rest of their vacation home. Jirni didn't manage to find Manohar, who only reappeared months later, once he was done with his project.
Yet it didn't affect her career nor it influenced Phloria's trial. Purging the Night Court out of Othre was still a huge success, something that had been considered a pipe dream for decades.
The prisoners that Jirni had taken and the documents she had recovered would give the Kingdom a lot of work to do in the future, easing the pressure that the undead invasion from Jiera was causing.
The Magic Empress, Milea Genys, rejoiced of all that good news, yet wished she had a few of her own. The cure to Erlik's plague had still set a terrifying precedent, forcing the city-states to further isolate themselves and depriving the Empire of the plant folk's reinforcements.
The battle against Veeza the Lich was at a stalemate. Both the Empress' patience and resources were growing thin while she searched for a way to end the conflict once and for all.
"Killing a goddamn Lich is nigh impossible!" Milea slammed her fists on the wooden table where her generals had just finished setting the maps and miniatures that represented the opposing armies' numbers and positions.
"No matter how many times I defeat her, Veeza always returns. Every corpse we fail to retrieve becomes a new member of her army. How the heck did this situation never happen before?"
"Two reasons. First, Liches rarely have any interest in conquest. The only thing that drives someone to become a Lich is the obsession with the magical research since by the time one achieves Lichhood things like love or revenge lose any meaning." Leegaain explained.
"Undeath clouds most of their mortal feelings, making only their obsessions survive. Second, usually raising greater undead is a problem. You have to feed them and you have to somehow keep them by your side since they have a will of their own.
Chapter 847 Dograth Part 1
"Veeza solved the feeding problem with the war and ensured the loyalty of her followers by offering them a new home. The undead from Jiera are desperate enough to keep spawning and brainwash their own infants to keep the war going.
"So far, there's never been such a high population of undead. They are so egotistical that they can barely unite under the banner of the undead Courts, let alone work together in an army.
If not for Veeza, the battle would have lasted only the time for the first sun to rise." Leegaain said.
Undead could move and fight freely only during the night, but during those few hours they were almost unstoppable and no matter if wound or maimed would regain their full strength just by eating, whereas Milea's men needed to rest and recover after each battle.
"You are a Guardian and the protector of the Empire at that. Why do you still refuse to help me? All of my plans about the academies, all the preparations to colonize Jiera, heck, even my plans to find a companion to ease my loneliness have been delayed." Milea asked.
"That's a common misconception among humans. Guardians aren't protectors of any race, only of the balance. Otherwise we should protect the humans from the undead, the beasts from the humans, and the monsters from the beasts." The Father of all Dragons replied.
"Why do you think Tyris didn't intervene despite the fact that Laruel falls within her area of influence? Why do you think I apparently sit idly while your people get slaughtered?
"Because whether Laruel fell or survived, whether Veeza triumphs or not, it would just tip the balance, not break it. Just like carnivores cannot outnumber herbivores too much without starving, the same stands between living and undead.
"Also, if we intervened, neither the rulers of the countries nor their subjects would learn their lesson. They would just commit any atrocity that comes to their mind that grants them short term advantages, thinking that if something goes wrong, we Guardians will fix things for them."
"I get it, but this crisis happened because of Jiera, not us. For once we're innocent." Milea replied.
"I agree, but look at things from my point of view. Now the entirety of Mogar knows about Jiera's downfall and will strive not to make the same mistake. Laruel's events allowed the three great Countries to work side by side for the first time in centuries.
"Veeza's military success has demonstrated to all of you the danger that a mass migration poses. In your story, you are the hero who defends innocent people, but in the undead's eyes, it's Veeza the one gallantly fighting to give them a home and a future while you're the bad guy who wants to exterminate them just because of who they are.
"If you talked with any of the undead, they would tell you that they are innocent as well and that they just want to find a new place for themselves. Both of you are right, both of you have the right to live, yet someone has to die." Leegaain said.
"Are you saying that I should request a truce? Give them some lands?" Milea's voice was full of sarcasm.
"By the Great Mother, no. Veeza is batshit crazy, negotiating is impossible. Also, any form of compromise would require for you to give humans to the undead as cattle and for the undead to keep their numbers to a controlled amount.
"A sacrifice that I doubt neither of the two parties is willing to make for peace, yet they'll gladly do it for war. After all, isn't your army thinning their numbers? Aren't the undead already capturing life forms to sustain their existence?"
"Then what should I do?" She asked.
"Win, and make it quick. Only by defeating Veeza you'll prove to the other Liches that are watching at the war, waiting to make their move, that there's no victory in war, only destruction."
"How am I supposed to do that? I can fight her, I can beat her, but I can't kill her!" Milea slammed her fists again, making the table collapse under the weight of her hit.
"That's where I come into play. I will not help you directly, but I will share with you my strategies." Leegaain replied.
"Why now? This damn war has been going on for months."
"Because it gave you and your generals lots of experience in dealing with the undead. It showed you where the weak points of your domestic defenses are, and most importantly, it has nipped in the bud the divide that was opening between mages and normal citizens of the Empire.
"It forced them to put aside their differences and fight together. Also, it made you and your aids better rulers. Sooner or later, once you'll step down from the throne, your legacy will allow the Empire to prosper, just like the Kingdom did.
"Once Salaark steps down, instead, the Blood Desert will fall into chaos. They are too reliant on her, forcing their leader to hold a whole country on her shoulders." Leegaain explained.
Milea could understand his point of view and how precious those lessons were. Yet she wasn't an immortal. In her eyes, the price that the present had to pay to ensure the people of the Garlen continent a better future was enormous.
"Okay, oh great one. Enlighten me."
***
A few days later, Milea was done with the preparations and was ready to execute Leegaain's plan.
Everything had gone smoothly because due to the war, both the army and the Magic Council of the Empire had been purged of those who had reached their position only thanks to their family's influence rather than their own individual talent.
War had put all the upper echelons of the Empire to the test, and incompetence couldn't be tolerated when it cost thousands of lives or made the Empire lose dozens of kilometers of fertile land.
The chosen place for the attack was, as usual, the Twin Fortresses of Dograth.
They marked a geographical bottleneck that had prevented the human army from advancing ever since Veeza had personally captured the two strongholds during the first days of war.
Undead were at their weakest during the day, but they still managed to hold their forts thanks to the members of their kin who had no such problems, their living thralls who shared only the perks of undeath, and the people who served the undead because their families were held hostages.
The day Milea put Leegaain's plan into action, the undead controlling the twin cities didn't notice anything out of the ordinary.
The Empire's army attacked Dograth at dawn, trying to capture as many strongholds as they could before sundown. It was a gruesome battle since the castles' walls didn't need many people to defend them.
Not with the full power of the city arrays under the undead's control. Veeza had started the war during winter because the days were short and the nights long, so Milea's men had just a few hours before Veeza's unrelenting army swept them away, forcing them on the defensive.
The frontlines moved back and forth according to the solar cycle. If a fortress wasn't conquered before sundown, all the people that had died on the human's side would have sacrificed themselves for nothing.
The undead generals watched at the unfolding events with a mix of boredom and conceit.
Chapter 848 Dograth Part 2
"It seems that the humans are losing hope. Today they are sloppier than usual, spreading their forces too much to be effective." Sukhet the Banshee said on his communication amulet.
"Agreed. This way they'll accomplish nothing but being swept away as soon as our main force wakes up." Angorn the Lamia replied.
As time went by, the conceit disappeared from their voices, replaced by genuine worry. The humans were just pretending to attack the twin fortresses, using that time to set up something.
The undead generals' problem was that they had no way to stop them. The humans were employing just enough manpower to force them on the defensive, but nothing more.
If the undead deactivated the dimensional arrays sealing the cities to move their troops, they would also open themselves to an invasion. The same would happen if they sent part of their main force outside.
The few elite undead able to stay awake despite the sunlight would be slaughtered simply due to the enemy's numerical advantage. Undead grew more powerful with age, so even though they could increase their numbers quickly, the loss of a single elder was more severe than losing a thousand newborns.
To make matters worse, undead capable of moving during the day were rare, and those who had developed their skills to the point of not being too severely hampered by sunlight were even rarer.
The humans worked relentlessly, completely surrounding the twin fortresses from all sides, building some sort of device too far away for any kind of spell to reach them.
When night came, the Empire's army had completely retreated behind their border without even trying to hold the land reconquered by day. The generals had already reported everything to Veeza, who easily understood what was going on.
"It's just as you suspect. The humans have laid a trap that's as obvious as it is ingenious." She said. Veeza had left plenty of surveillance devices near all the nerve centers of her just founded empire.
She was younger than her generals, but compared to them, her knowledge of the mystical arts was boundless.
While most undead had spent half their existence asleep and the other half searching for a meal or in pursuit of personal glory, she had devoted the last few centuries to the study of magic, without taking a single hour of rest.
"My surveillance devices allowed me to spy on the human's workings. They have built several long-distance Warping arrays." Veeza's finger pointed at the four corners around each fortress.
They were far away enough to not be affected by the city's arrays but close enough to allow the reinforcements troops to coordinate with the Empire's army and perform a multi pincered attack on Dograth.
"If we ignore the Gates and fight as usual, the armies coming out of the dimensional tunnels will conquer the city and our army will end up slaughtered. If we try to attack the arrays, instead, we'll offer our back to the enemy and split our forces too much for them to be effective."
"Have we lost months' worth of war in a single day?" Angorn the Lamia asked. The old general clenched his fist in disbelief.
"Of course not." Veeza sneered. "This is a good trap, but there's a reason why no one uses this strategy anymore. First, to succeed the Empress has to mobilize at least two army's worth of troops, which means leaving her own castles unprotected.
"Second, such Gates can turn the tides of the battle both ways. If we manage to conquer and keep even just one of them active, we'll have a way to attack the Empire from the inside.
"At that point, all we have to do is to destroy their food supply and poison their water. The humans have chosen to try and gamble everything on this battle, but there's no reason for us to do the same.
"We'll fall for their trap, but only because we can exploit it to deal our enemies a much bigger blow than that they'll inflict upon us."
Veeza decided to play it safe. After all, time was on the undead's side. The longer the war lasted, the more elite troops she would manage to raise while the human's resources would start to dwindle.
She had captured the Empire's most fertile lands first to make sure that the longer days of Spring would mean nothing if the Empire's army had not enough food to sustain its soldiers for prolonged fights.
Veeza used her communication amulet to order an all-out attack on all battlefronts so that she could discover from where the Empress had diverted her troops.
'If I can exploit the sudden lack of manpower in a few key areas, then this war will last less than I planned.' She grinned. Milea wasn't the only one that could count on fresh reserve troops.
The twin fortresses of Dograth were currently being flooded by all the battalions Veeza could spare. The city arrays protected those inside the castle walls from the effects of the enemy's and kept the Gates open.
It would allow Veeza to mobilize her troops wherever she needed to or to make them retreat to safety in case things went south. The Lich had faced Milea too many times to underestimate the Empress again.
Despite her youth, Milea had proven to be a fine strategist and a mage even more powerful than Veeza herself.
'Gods below, how can someone so young have such powerful magic? My first act as a ruler will be to send killers to take out people like Balkor, Manohar, and Verhen. They are too dangerous to be left alive.' Veeza thought.
Her losing streak against Milea had reminded her of how dangerous it was to let the competition flourish. It was a mistake that she wouldn't allow the undead to make again in the future.
Veeza used a powerful Life Sensing array to check on the human's movements. Their army was still hiding behind their trenches, there wasn't a single soul near Dograth, and the devices surrounding the fortresses were still inactive.
On one hand, it made Veeza happy, giving her all the time she needed to enact her countermeasures. On the other hand, it worried her. If Milea had chosen to attack as soon as the Gates were ready, she would have flooded the battlefield and gained the initiative.
'Sure, the advantage wouldn't last long thanks to the city Gates granting us a constant flow of reinforcements. To make matters worse for the humans, we only need to hole up behind the walls to render their offensive pointless.
'For some reason, Milea wants our respective armies to fight in the open. I must be careful and not move until I understand what her endgame is.' Veeza thought.
A few hours passed, yet nothing happened. The Lich was worried, unable to start her attack until she had enough troops to deal with the multi pincered attack. Veeza's worst fear became true when the human device on the other side of Dograth opened.
What scared the Lich was that the human troops weren't moving toward the fortress, but rushed past the natural bottleneck as if they had a dragon on their back.
"Damn! I misread the situation. The external Gates aren't means of attack. The humans are using them to get behind our lines and attack where our defenses are at their weakest." Veeza yelled orders in her amulet, alerting all the troops in the nearby area.
Chapter 849 Deadly Combo Part 1
"If the Empress' mages manage to establish a safe Gate past Dograth, the castles that secure the bottleneck will become nothing more than a bunch of useless rocks!" The Lich took flight, moving against the invaders.
Veeza alone had the prowess of a battalion and thanks to her phylactery, she was nigh immortal.
Several units moved outside the city walls to surround the remaining human devices, to force the enemy to reveal their hand while the main undead force remained inside Dograth on standby.
It took Veeza a handful of seconds to get close to the open Gate enough to be able to attack it with her spells. The ground quaked as several tons of earth engulfed with purple flames started floating.
It was Veeza's tier five spell, Shooting Stars, a mix of fire, earth, and gravity magic. The detached ground split into giant flaming rocks that flew at near sonic speed against the human array.
Gravity magic allowed the usually slow earth to overcome its boundaries, making it as light as a feather while Veeza threw them up in the sky and then heavier than lead once they had been locked on their target.
The gravitational slingshot effect gave each one of the projectiles the momentum of a falling mountain.
A lonely figure flew up in the sky, unleashing a tier four gravity magic spell, Wheel of Fate.
The night air was suddenly distorted into a black whirlpool that sucked in the Shooting Stars, making them explode against each other while they were still in mid-air, still too far away from their intended target to deal any damage to the Empire's Gates.
Wheel of Fate used gravity magic to trap its target in a loop and darkness magic to engulf them and smother whatever effect the enemy spell had, turning even Shooting Star's roaring explosions into the muffled sound of a distant firework.
"Nice try!" Milea said while activating her tier five spell Manastorm. She traced with her right forefinger an arc of emerald green light in the air in front of herself.
The crescent released a barrage of emerald bullets made of pure mana, each one with the power of a cannonball.
Veeza activated the barriers built in her magical defenses, but the sheer number of bullets and their might was enough to shoot her down to the ground.
Spirit magic spells had no weakness aside from the huge amount of mana they required, making the Lich's elemental barriers unable to keep up with the emerald onslaught. The projectiles pierced through the Lich's conjured defenses one after the other as if they were nothing more than silk sheets.
Meanwhile, the remaining devices surrounding Dograth activated. Once again the troops coming out the dimensional Gates ignored the fortresses and moved to secure the human vanguard's back while leaving behind just enough soldiers to keep the incoming undead at bay.
"This cannot be! A proper Gate requires more than just a few stones and a bunch of mana crystals. It must be aligned with Mogar's mana lines for grounding and requires adequate protection. Otherwise, all you have is a devastating dimensional bomb."
The Lich unleashed all the spells stored inside her artifacts to buy herself the time she needed to chant her next move.
"So what? It just means that in case we can't defend the conquered lands, I can make sure that the humans you keep as cattle will not have enough food to survive and in turn your army will starve as well." Milea sneered.
"It pains me to sacrifice my people and my land, but in war, collateral damage is unavoidable."
Veeza had never hated Awakened beings so much. They could weave their spells silently, had access to spirit magic, and seemed to have access to an infinite source of mana.
The Lich had no idea what Milea was conjuring, whereas the Empress could predict the elements Veeza would employ based on her chant.
At the Lich's signal, the undead army came out of Dograth and of all the undead fortresses in the Empire, so to turn Milea's plan against her. Every soldier or mage she was employing for her gamble was missing from their original position, weakening the human battlefront somewhere else.
The Empire's army stationed in front of Dograth finally moved forward to intercept the enemy, revealing its numbers to be unchanged. Contrary to Veeza's predictions, it was the undead who flooded the valley in front of the twin cities, moving fast and smoothly like a river, whereas the humans advanced at a slow pace.
The Empire's troops moved forward while keeping their ranks close and their shields even closer. The front rows were comprised of Mage Knights, who fused their conjured defenses together, sharing the burden of the incoming volley of darkness-based spells and forming a living dam that easily stopped the enemy's march.
"Something is wrong." Sukhet the Banshee's voice resounded inside Veeza's communication earpiece. "Only the devices on the north and east side of the cities have formed Gates. The others are still inactive even now that the battle has begun."
The Lich could only reply with a grunt to not interrupt her chant. At the same time, she accessed to all her surveillance artifact at the same time, to better grasp her forces' predicament.
'What the fuck?'
It took her just a quick glance to notice that it was only the undead army to have conjured their reserve troops. The number of people coming out of the dimensional Gates barely reached one thousand, making them irrelevant.
Milea's plan made less sense by the second as the living dead outnumbered the Empire's forces with each soldier that stepped out the fortresses. Yet there was no chaos nor fear among the human ranks.
Despite the fact that the outcome of the battle was already written in stone, the Lich felt the need to get rid of the Empress as quickly as possible. Milea was about to face an army and Veeza at the same time, yet she was so calm that she inspired terror in the Lich's long-dead heart.
Veeza unleashed her tier three gravity spell, Collapse, increasing Mogar's gravitational pull one hundred-fold. Trees collapsed, incapable of bearing their own weight, and rocks cracked as a crater formed in an area several hundreds of meters around Veeza.
The magic fueling the Gate and the gravity field surrounding it allowed the dimensional tunnel to resist the onslaught, but the people caught by the spell weren't so lucky. Some of Milea's finest operatives were turned into meat paste as their skeletons broke down, piercing through their flesh and organs.
The Empress herself didn't come out unscathed. Milea found herself suddenly bleeding from her eyes and ears since no magical protection could save her from the burden that her own body had become.
Only her perfect body refinement allowed her to survive long enough to conjure a gravity field of her own to counter the enemy's. The Lich's bones weren't as sturdy, so they cracked and broke non-stop, but her regenerative abilities were so great that her body still managed to keep performing difficult spells without missing a syllable or hand sign.
Veeza's jaw almost fell more than once, but her voice had nothing to do with her lungs or throat. It came from her blood core, just like the tier four Chaos spell, Howling Void.
Chapter 850 Deadly Combo Part 2
The Chaos energy was so violent that it consumed its own caster, destroying more than half of Veeza's body in its wake. Collapse and Howling Void were a deadly combo impossible to perform for anyone who wasn't a Lich or an Abomination.
Collapse prevented the enemy from escaping, even blocking dimensional magic thanks to the spatial distortion it created. Howling Void, instead, was a sure kill spell capable of piercing through mountains.
Chaos magic feasted on the light element, even that of its master. Abominations had no such problem because they had none, Liches, instead, could simply regenerate from a wound that would kill any other undead.
Even a single Howling Void was enough to turn a blood core black, but a Lich's body was just a vessel. Their real mana core was stored inside their phylactery, safe from the chaotic energies that were now ravaging Veeza.
'By the Great Mother! Since when undead can use Chaos magic?' For the first time since she had met Leegaain, Milea was scared.
Her Blink fizzled and the distance between her and her enemy only gave Milea enough time to activate the spells she had at the ready. A sphere of emerald energy capable of stopping even a Dragon's breath enveloped the Empress.
Milea then infused the barrier with her best healing spells, making it become as bright as a star. It was a makeshift defense, but it was all she had.
The Chaos magic would have made short work of any element, but pure mana was the densest and resilient of them all, buying Milea the split second she needed for the light element to flood her barrier.
Howling Void feasted on the healing spells, turning back into common darkness magic as the equilibrium was restored, but it was still a dangerous element. Milea released a couple of fireballs on herself to absorb Veeza's now darkness spell and exploit the detonation to move away.
A second Howling Void struck where the Empress had been just a second prior, making Veeza curse her bad luck. Collapse was supposed to stop her enemy movements, but Milea's own gravity field had made it possible for her to dodge.
On top of that, now that both the Lich's arms were gone, she was a sitting duck until they regenerated.
'Dammit, this couldn't go any worse.' Veeza thought while dispelling Collapse, that was now only hindering her recovery.
A single breath was all it took Milea to get back to her peak condition. Her eyes were fixated on the Lich and her mind was weaving one spell after the other, preparing a proper counter for the next Chaos spell she knew was about to come.
"Dograth's gates have been closed! I repeat, Dograth's gates have been closed." A voice in Milea's communication earpiece said, signaling that all the undead forces were now on the battlefield.
"Activate Jumpscape, now!" Milea ordered.
Despite her long life and cunning, Veeza had underestimated the resources that an ancient being like Leegaain could provide. Only half of the devices that the Empire's army had built during the day were actually dimensional arrays and even those had a different purpose from just moving troops.
The other half were mana cores detecting arrays, the effect of which had been as discreet as it had been useful. The sensing arrays had allowed Milea's generals to uncover how many and what kind of undead the enemy army was comprised of so that the generals could adjust their strategy accordingly.
Even that was just a single step of the plan. Once Milea gave the order, the dimensional and core sensing arrays grew in size, overlapping with each other until they covered the entirety of the battlefield.
The mystical runes of the eight arrays flowed into each other. Each power word found its place in the magical symphony that was unfolding until the small arrays combined into a bigger one.
The new array was bigger than the sum of its parts and it grew in power as it closed to completion, emitting a blinding light as if the sun had risen on the battlefield. The moment the magical formation was fully formed, it opened a dimensional tunnel for each one of the targets it was locked into.
Before any of the undead could react to the sudden turn of events, every single undead unit outside the area of effect of Dograth arrays was Gated away, in the middle of one of the Empire's military camps.
Not only they were in a plain that offered no shelter from the sun that would rise in a few hours, but they were also surrounded by all sides by troops armed to the teeth who unleashed a volley of spells even before their enemies appeared.
Undead knew no fear nor low morale, so they promptly reacted by adjusting their formation, and by doing so they triggered all the alchemical tools that had been buried below their feet. The human soldiers were protected by solid walls and trenches, whereas the undead were stuck on a minefield.
Spells kept exploding from every side, below as well, mowing their numbers down by the second. Most undead soldiers died before they could even spot their enemy or shed a single drop of human blood.
The human army never left their forts, unleashing spells and arrays from a safe distance. The slaughter lasted only a few minutes yet it took out a huge number of Veeza's elite troops, crippling her military force.
The human army instead had not been Warped and was now marching toward Dograth. The few enemy soldiers that had been lucky enough to not be caught by the Warping field offered little resistance and soon the Empire was sieging its lost fortresses that now had so little manpower to be barely functional.
Veeza couldn't believe her own mystical senses, yet no amount of disbelief could stop the despair flooding her mind.
Before meeting the so-called Magic Empress, the Lich had never suffered defeat, not even when she was still alive.
Yet that flimsy human had managed to destroy her vessel time and time again, until Veeza had stopped believing she had a chance to best Milea in a one on one fight. Even after giving her all, even after resorting to a double-edged exotic magic like Chaos, Veeza couldn't keep herself from feeling helpless.
Months of plans and preparations had been ruined in a single night. The empire she had fought so hard to establish was on the verge of collapsing. If Dograth fell, nothing would stop the humans' advance, especially since it was night time.
The time when undead were supposed to be at their strongest. Once the sun would soar the sky, the twin fortresses would be lost and with them all the neighboring lands.
Veeza needed time to recover from the huge blow the sudden loss of so many powerful undead caused to her army, but she was sure that Milea wouldn't give her any.
'Why hasn't she Warped the both of us as well?' The Lich thought while she cast her most powerful spells as fast as she could. 'We're outside the city arrays and if she brings me away from my phylactery, my strength will be halved…'
Her train of thoughts was derailed when six spheres, each one as big as an adult man, surrounded the Lich from every side. Each orb was of a different color, but they were all surrounded by an emerald aura.
Chapter 851 Commitment Part 1
The spheres formed a six-pointed golden star that took away Veeza's magic and pinned her in mid-air as if time had stopped for her. It was the perfect form of Silverwing's Hexagram which employed spirit magic as well.
Spirit magic carried the mana and the willpower of its Awakened caster, allowing Milea to conjure an array in a matter of seconds instead of minutes. Also, spirit magic gave the magical formation a physical manifestation, so that while the elements restricted the Lich's blood core the green energy trapped her body.
Without her hands, Veeza had no way to cast more spells. The undead tried to unleash the power of the artifacts she wore, but the containment field turned them against her and since they weren't fueled by her mana but by their own pseudo cores, Veeza only ended up harming herself.
"Nice trick, Empress." The Lich was burning in humiliation, feeling helpless like a child in front of an adult, but she wouldn't give her enemy any satisfaction.
One more defeat was nothing compared to the magical wonders she had witnessed. Not only the Empress' tactic had opened her eyes about the true potential of mixed arrays, but it had also shown her enough spirit magic to enlighten the Lich about the true nature of Awakening.
Even the loss of her army was a small thing if it led to infinite power to complement her already eternal life. Veeza was sure that once she got back to her lab, she would achieve both infinity and eternity, something that in due time would make her akin to a god, if not even a to a Guardian.
"I've learned a lot from you. The next time we met, I'll make sure to show you my gratitude." Veeza's skeletal figure had most of her face intact and it was now distorted into a cruel grimace.
A Lich's appearance depended solely on their whims. They could appear as alive, undead, or any shade in-between. Veeza liked the sound of her own voice, so she preferred to keep her old human appearance.
It saved her the trouble from relearning how to draw runes with bone hands.
"There will be no next time." Milea clenched her fist, making Silverwing's Hexagram shrink to the point that the six spheres overlapped completely. The resulting cage trapped the Lich within its boundaries and ravaged her physical form and the same time.
The Empress took a purple flask out of her omni pocket and placed her thumb on its cork. Veeza withstood the elemental onslaught without emitting a sound. She couldn't feel pain and even if she could, Milea's words were bothering her.
Once the Lich's vessel was hanging by a thread, the Empress dispelled the array and opened the flask. A stream of white Origin Flames destroyed Veeza's physical form, forcing her mind to go back to her phylactery to be born anew.
Unluckily for her, the white Flames stuck to her, burning at her conscience. Veeza felt pain for the first time since she had achieved Lichhood, but it wasn't pain that worried her.
It was the white fire trail that she was leaving behind, which betrayed her movements and the position of her phylactery. Veeza couldn't keep her mind from re-joining with her missing half, no matter how much she tried.
Milea had not moved the Lich away because she was determined to end their fight once and for all. No matter how strong Leegaain's Origin Flames were, they couldn't kill a Lich by themselves nor would they last for too long a trip.
Milea was certain that the Lich's phylactery was bound to be hidden not too far from Dograth. It was the only way Veeza had to be both able to protect the fortresses while retaining her full might and get away in the case things went south.
Keeping the pace with Veeza's mind was impossible since it moved at the speed of light, but the fire trail it left behind lasted long enough for the Empress to Warp without losing sight of her prey.
It led Milea to a wheat field where only thanks to Invigoration was she able to reveal the presence of several powerful arrays surrounding one of the most powerful artifacts she had ever seen.
Both the phylactery and the magical formations were invisible to other mystical means of detection, Life Vision included.
"Remarkable. I would have never found it in a million years." The phylactery was made out of a white mana crystal, but it had been painted with such a mastery that it looked like a pebble.
Hidden amid dozens of similar-looking stones, it was part of a small mound supporting a scarecrow. Milea dispelled the arrays one at a time, without triggering any of the traps that Veeza had set up at the best of her skill.
"I wish I could let you live. There is so much that you could teach me, so many artifacts stored in your lab, wherever it is, that could be put to good use." Milea sighed.
"But you have slaughtered my people out of boredom, threatened everything that all the Magic Emperors before me worked so hard to build. Even if it pains me losing all the treasures you possess, I can't possibly trust you."
Milea activated her communication amulet, generating a signal that was picked up by all the communication devices in the Empire, whether their masters wanted it or not. She publicly executed Veeza, shattering the phylactery with a single strike of her sword, Dragon Maw.
"Let this be a lesson to those who conspire against the Empire. No matter how old you are or how strong you think yourselves to be. Struggle as much as you want, only death awaits you."
With Veeza's gone, Dograth fell before sunrise. Before the following sunset, the war was over and the Gorgon Empire was restored.
***
Months had passed since the situation of Laruel had been resolved. Spring had given the three Great Countries the time they needed to heal from the many scars that the undead invasion had caused during winter, but the situation was far from being solved.
The days were getting longer and the nights shorter, leaving little time for the undead to move whereas their hunters were always on the prowl. When summer came, it made it even easier to spot the unwanted guests from the Jiera continent.
Even the north was dealing with a heatwave and it was impossible for the undead to pretend to have perspiration problems. Lith didn't like his current situation much. There had been no hard missions ever since he had returned to active duty and he had promoted to captain, but that didn't mean that he had lots of free time.
Quite the contrary, his final year as a Ranger was way busier than he would have expected.
'Previously, on Lith the Vampire Slayer…' He thought while listening to his handler describing to him his latest assignment.
For the first time since Lith had started his military service, the Kellar region's Lords and their citizens were at peace. Unfortunately for him, his workload was more than doubled.
During spring and summer, the monsters' spawn rate peaked. On top of that, he had to deal with all the undead sightings that were reported to him. Local constables could deal with a single vagrant creature, but they were powerless against cadres of powerful entities.
Chapter 852 Commitment Part 2
Lith had to tend to all villages and cities that didn't have a Gate, forcing him to travel non-stop. Leaves and discharges had been suspended until the situation was stabilized, preventing him from returning to the lost academy of Huryole or spending quality time with anyone but Solus.
Not even the recent Royal decree that assigned three Rangers to each region had helped to relieve the burden on the law enforcers.
"Central command was hoping it was just a hoax, but a witness of the attack on the caravan is certain that the assailants had red eyes and long fangs. If not for him, we would still be looking for normal bandits.
"After all, the Kusha Route is one of the most trafficked and the undead were smart enough to never leave survivors after their robberies…"
'Well, well, well, this mission must be a phone, because damn if I called it.' Lith thought, making Solus laugh.
'Stop being a smartass and listen to Kamila.' Solus replied. 'Mission assignments and daily reports are the only moments you share with each other for months now.'
Lith's and Kamila's work schedules kept not aligning, making their calls scarce and short. They were both forced to work overtime on a daily basis, to the point that to have dinner together one of them had to defect.
Lith actually had a free day from time to time. He pretended to move from one place to another with conventional means while he actually used his tower Warp, but he had no way to share those moments with Kamila without revealing Solus's existence to her.
'Please, I could do this blindfolded and with one hand tied behind my back. At this point, I've slain enough bloodsuckers that I could have my own spin-off series.' He replied.
"I'll be there in a couple of days tops. How are things on your end?"
"It could go way better." Kamila sighed. "I haven't seen Zinya in months and Archon Ernas is more on edge by the day. Her daughter has resumed service only due to the national emergency, but Phloria's trial is still ongoing, and her career frozen, which makes the Archon cranky."
Lith was aware that it didn't bode well for Phloria. Her trial was supposed to be just a formality, at least according to Tyris, yet it seemed to be still far from a conclusion.
Usually the army would have been unforgiving about discussing personal matters during work hours, but soldiers were people first. Also, until the undead migration was solved, working hours meant whenever they weren't eating or sleeping, so the army gave them some leeway.
After a bit of chit-chat, Lith consulted the map of the Griffon Kingdom, being pleasantly surprised by the discovery of the Kusha route being close to the city of Zantia.
'Sweet. I can get there quickly via the local mana geyser or I could report normally and use the extra time to seek an audience with the local ruler, Xedros the Wyvern. He's a good friend of Faluel and this could be a great opportunity to learn how to control my Origin Flames.' Lith thought.
He could allow himself short breaks only in-between missions, which had led Lith to not being able to help Selia giving birth, let alone to make any breakthrough in the magical field.
The communication amulet was the only link he had with his family and friends.
'Do we have to? I hoped we could take some time to visit Protector.' Solus sighed. 'We've yet to see the baby and you know that due to their forced isolation Selia could use all the help she can get.'
'I'm sorry, but a courtesy visit would get us nowhere, whereas deepening our relationship with Xedros can help us in the long run. If we want to get the Awakened runts off our back, we need the beasts' Council's support.
'Also, improving our Forgemastering skills is an opportunity that I can't turn down easily. Faluel showed us that, even though we can use spirit magic and Origin Flames, we are still stuck with cantrips.
'I have the gut feeling that both disciplines can greatly improve the success rate of the body-swapping procedure we have learned from the Odi. After all, spirit magic is pure mana, while Origin Flames are made from my life force.
'If I learn how to control both of them at will, I will become able to Forgemaster artifacts capable of doing the same. They would replace the pieces of technology that I'm unable to replicate and make the procedure feasible even with my limited resources.'
Solus sighed again and surrendered to Lith's logic. There wasn't much they could do in one day anyway, and learning advanced Forgemastery was one of their higher priority.
Without the ability of engraving runes, things like the Adamant Forge, the natural treasures he had received from the dryads, and even the Balor's body were all useless.
Thanks to his visits to the Kingdom's magical libraries, Lith had discovered that a Balor's eyes were powerful ingredients, that if properly treated could bestow the artifact they were embedded into both the power of their corresponding elements and effects similar to Dominance.
Unfortunately, being they made of organic material, to properly preserve the eyes' potency it was necessary a mix of Necromancy and Runesmithing. Lith had already self-studied the former with great success, but the latter required a teacher.
Faluel had told them that she would teach him and, more importantly, that she was willing to exchange knowledge for Lith's flames. After talking with Athung, he had learned that all Awakened were willing to perform such trade.
Obtaining Xedros's help would mean obtaining the key to the secrets that magical bloodlines usually kept for themselves, saving Lith years, if not decades of research just to re-invent the wheel.
On top of that, once he mastered Origin Flames, Lith would have the opportunity to experiment on the Adamant Forge and maybe even craft a powerful artifact. After all, thanks to the Flames, he would be able to cleanse the enchantments from the metal and use it anew to craft a superior version every time his knowledge about magic improved.
Many birds with one stone.
Lith flew to the closest mana geyser and had Solus assume her tower form. Since there was no end to the assignments he would receive, being fast was pointless. Lith had taken the habit to reset Invigoration's effect between missions so that the rest of his assignments he could use his alleged sleep hours to practice Accumulation.
In a way, he was glad that his current working frenzy didn't leave him much time to think. His birthday was nearing and with it the end of his military service and his second anniversary with Kamila.
Too many things were supposed to change abruptly after his discharge and for the first time in his life, Lith was afraid of commitment.
Commitment to Faluel, who was supposed to become his mentor in the advanced disciplines of true magic, commitment to his family, that ever since he had enrolled in the academy had been forced to make do with the crumbs of his free time.
Most of all, he was worried about his commitment to Kamila. After having gone through thick and thin during the last two years, it was time to man up or break up.
Chapter 853 Xedros Part 1
Kamila already knew a lot about Lith's secrets. The next step was to tell her about Awakening or at least introduce Solus to her. The longer they stayed together, the more awkward the elephants in the room would become.
Just like Phloria, Kamila was starting to notice the many things that didn't add up like the secrets and silences that too often were the only answers he could offer to her questions.
"Well, at least she knows that you are a hybrid, so explaining to her where you disappear during your apprenticeship with Faluel will be easy." Solus's human form had lost most of its luminescence over time.
She was worried about it, whereas Lith was certain that it was a good sign. He believed the phenomenon was caused by her form turning from pure energy into flesh and blood.
The fact that she was now able to retain her humanoid appearance for a longer period of time backed his theory, yet it made Solus even more worried. Once she would become fully human, the excuses she had exploited to postpone facing her own feelings for Lith would crumble.
They were definitely more than friends, but that was it. Also, once it happened, Solus wouldn't be able to delay finding the secrets behind her origin any longer. She had fully devoted herself to Lith for all that time and now she needed to think about herself.
'To become a proper person, having a physical body is just the first step.' Solus thought in a hidden corner of her mind. 'I need to learn why master Menadion did this to me and what happened to her legacy.
'It's the only hope I have to find a way to be more than just a magical artifact and get a life of my own. Otherwise I'll always be relegated to the role of Lith's plus one.'
"True, but that's not enough. If she keeps sticking with me, Kamila is bound to meet more and more Awakened. Not to mention that even after I complete my apprenticeship, she wouldn't be able to understand why I have to keep traveling, nor how I can freely move around.
"If she wants to be part of my life, then she must be able to accept you as well. Whatever the future holds, I don't want you to share with me only the bad stuff and keep you hidden like some sort of past mistake I am ashamed of." Lith replied.
"About that, what if we start with your family? It's really painful for me to know so much about them and yet they don't even know I exist or how much I did for them." Solus said.
Lith nodded and went to sleep, nostalgic for the times he could sleep hugging Solus's wisp. Ever since she had got her human body, it was too awkward a situation to continue with their tradition, making him feel as if he was cheating on his girlfriend.
***
The following day, Lith called Faluel the Hydra to make sure about Xedros's lair location and that she would announce his coming to the Wyvern. Lesser dragons loved to hoard treasures and being mistaken for a thief was the last thing Lith wanted.
"I'm glad to hear you have decided to become my apprentice." Faluel was in her human form, wearing the sweetest smile Lith had ever seen.
"It's the only possible course of action. The Kingdom is becoming too reliant on my help and I prefer to fly solo." Lith's words made her giggle, yet he preferred not to ask questions and keep their relationship strictly professional.
He wasn't aware of Solus's emotional turmoil but had enough of his own to not wish for more trouble.
"As for Xedros, I'll call him as soon as our call is over. I'm sure he will take a liking to you since you two have so much in common. Wings, Origin Flames, mastery over the light element…"
"Are you saying that he's a Healer as well?"
"No, I'm a Healer, whereas he's a Light Master and a Dimensional Mage." She shook her head, making her rainbow-colored hair dance under the morning light. For some reason, she was taking a stroll instead of working in her lair as usual.
"Meaning?" Lith asked.
"That unlike you who just project illusions, he's capable of giving them substance. A Light Master can achieve with elemental magic almost the same results of Spirit Magic by consuming a lot less mana. It's a rare and powerful discipline."
A greedy light appeared in Lith's eyes while he wondered if the Wyvern would be willing to take him in as an apprentice as well. Faluel would teach him Spirit Magic and Runesmithing, while Xedros could educate Lith about Origin Flames and hard-light constructs.
Being part of the beasts' Council was turning out to be the biggest stroke of luck Lith had experienced ever since he had met Solus.
"Hold your dragons, Wyrmling." Faluel said, recognizing the look on Lith's face. "Xedros is a good friend of mine, but in your place, I wouldn't trust him much. Wyverns are considered to be the upper tier of the lesser dragons, which makes them all the more dangerous.
"They are prideful, greedy, and arrogant like real dragons yet they are rarely as wise as our common ancestors. Wyverns are desperate to find a way to take the last evolutionary step and become Wyrms. Xedros is no exception.
"He considers all those who don't belong to the draconic bloodline to be inferior beings, so you better always keep your hybrid form in front of him. Also, he's no Forgemaster, so never mention to him about your skill in the art, or he'll place an exorbitant price to the smallest of favors."
"Why someone wielding Origin Flames wouldn't practice Forgemastery?" Suddenly Xedros sounded like someone whose ego could barely fit in a football stadium.
"Because he doesn't need it. Unlike us who are constantly in search of ways to improve our skills, Wyverns only need a few decent weapons and protections to be content. They are apex predators who resort to weapons only when fighting their peers.
"Old Wyverns like Xedros can sell their flames at a huge price because of the few creatures capable of using Origin Flames and even fewer of them are capable of controlling them to the extent that a Forgemaster requires.
"All mages, no matter their race or if they are Awakened or not, need Origin Flames to purify and smelt the most powerful metals, tipping the scale of supply and demand in Xedros's favor.
"If you consider that it's up to the client to provide materials like Adamant or Davross and the means to purify them, you can easily understand why he doesn't waste time learning Forgemastery."
'Yeah. If I wasn't forced to find a solution for my reincarnation problem and if I had been born into an Awakened bloodline, I would have no need for Forgemastering either.' Lith nodded.
"Last, but not least, Xedros is in the second half of his life span. This means that he is determined to succeed where everyone else failed and evolve into a Dragon. There are bad rumors about him, not to the point of making me suspect he might resort to forbidden magic, but enough to require caution.
"Your bloodline is unknown, but more draconic than most I've ever seen. If he asks you for blood or anything else, give him a polite but firm rejection. Since I'll introduce you as my disciple, you'll be fine, but otherwise you might find yourself in a pinch if you pique his curiosity."
Chapter 854 Xedros Part 2
The memory of Gadorf the Wyvern struck Lith, making him reconsider. Xedros sounded more troublesome by the second, but Lith didn't have much choice left. The Wyvern was an opponent he could face or who had least had to respect his new master.
A Dragon, instead, would likely treat the both of them like bugs.
A sudden childish noise awoke Lith from his brooding, raising even more questions about the Hydra being so chipper.
"What was that?"
"Sorry, the little one is a real rascal and managed to snatch my amulet." She showed him an infant that couldn't be more than a few months old.
"I helped Selia during her delivery and it made wonders to break the ice. Sometimes I babysit her children to allow her to catch some sleep or go on a date with Ryman. Gods, I had almost forgotten how wonderful hatchlings are. It makes me wish to have a few of my own again."
'Thank heavens, this explains everything. For a moment I was afraid that Faluel was flirting with me, but she's just swayed by her maternal instincts.' Lith inwardly sighed in relief.
"I heard you already have a companion. With your cracked lifeforce you've not long left to live. You should hurry, you know. You're not getting any younger." Faluel repeating Elina's mantra but with much less tact made him almost regret the decision of becoming her apprentice.
Almost.
Faluel then offered Lith to Warp him directly to his destination, but he preferred to study the surroundings instead.
'If this Xedros is even half as bad as she described him, then it's better to have an escape route and a few contingency plans ready.' Lith thought.
The First Wyvern lived on the top of the Golden Crown mountain, near the south border of the Kellar region. It was a peak so high that it would be always surrounded by clouds that, whenever there was a storm, thunders would paint its glaciers a golden color, giving the mountain its name.
Xedros's cave was hidden by such a thick cloud layer that Lith doubted it could be natural.
'Are you sure you don't want me to come?' Solus asked when Lith left her in the middle of the most powerful array at their disposal.
'Positive. I don't plan on letting Xedros use Invigoration on me, but he might still have means of detection able to spot you. Menadion's legacy would give anyone plenty of reason to defy Faluel and I don't want to take risks.'
Solus's mana sense had perceived a lot of arrays covering the mountain. Some of them were invisible even to their mystic senses and Lith found them only because his paranoia forced him to use Invigoration before landing.
Xedros seemed the kind of creature that would not leave anything to chance and Lith followed the Wyvern's lead, placing his own arrays in the blind spots of the enemy formation.
Before assuming his hybrid form, Lith stored most of his equipment inside his pocket dimension. He wasn't expecting a fight and his usual display of mystical artifacts might give Xedros ideas about what to ask in exchange for his help rather than command respect to Lith's scaly host.
Lith had no intention of providing a perfect Orichalcum Skinwalker armor, nor to give away Ruin until Orion was done with the real deal. The mess with Phloria had involved her father as well, making it difficult for Orion to receive the authorization to use advanced Forgemastering techniques for a grassroots magician like Lith.
'Judging by Xedros's mastery over Warden magic and Faluel's description, I can easily guess from where Gadorf got his shitty attitude. The Wyvern only knows that I'm a Wyrmling and that I'm Faluel's apprentice, so if I play the dirty poor card, I should be able to avoid unreasonable requests.' He thought.
Lith even switched Orion's cloaking ring with a medium tier dimensional ring. An Awakened Wyrmling with just a yellow mana core would have aroused Xedros's suspicions and Lith knew that hiding too much of his power might give a bad rather than good first impression.
'I want a business partner, not to look like a beggar.' Lith flew in front of the cave's entrance, discovering that the arrays covering it were so densely packed in energy to be visible to the naked eye.
The circular opening in the rock was big enough to accommodate a freight train, making him wonder if Gadorf was incredibly young, a dwarf Wyvern, or if his host had simply arranged the house to properly fit its owner's ego.
If Xedros's aim was to become a Dragon, then he was likely to have built his lair so that he would not be forced to move out after his evolution.
'I can count at least four different arrays, but they overlap so perfectly that they act as a single entity. I'd better take note of all the unknown runes, just to make sure that this trip doesn't result in a complete waste of time.'
Lith had just taken a piece of paper and an inkwell out of his pocket dimension when the magical protection covering the entrance split up into four different arrays that disappeared one by one, leaving the passage open.
It was only then that Lith did realize the ingenuity behind the Wyvern's course of action in protecting his home. Each one of the magical formations had its own purpose and was capable of working alone, but when combined, so did their effects.
Unlike the Odi's faulty overlapping arrays, the combined formations didn't obtain a new function, so much as their runic inscriptions were able to fit into each other's blank spaces.
It allowed them to combine their powers to increase their versatility by several folds. Until that moment, Lith had only witnessed manors where several different arrays were stacked together to offer protection from different possible sources of harm.
The Wyvern's lair, instead, had few arrays compared to those protecting the Ernas Household, but those formations were capable of blocking different kinds of magic according to how and where their runic inscription met.
Normal arrays were static in their position and could only be turned on or off, whereas Xedros's occupied all the same magic circle so that based on which of its sections were powered up and those that weren't, they could seal specific elements within their premises.
On one hand, that kind of arrays couldn't protect from all the possible threats at the same time like those of the academy, but on the other hand, they required much less maintenance and a far less powerful energy source to be fueled.
'If I'm right and Xedros controls his house's protections telepathically, this way he can seal off his enemies' best cards at the right time. On top of that, he's the only one who knows how the arrays' combination affects the elements at a given time.
'It gives him an edge that not even Life Vision's ability to see arrays can compensate and allows him to fuel all the formations I spotted on my way here. Otherwise not even a crystal mine could sustain that many arrays.' Lith thought.
"It's impolite for a guest to try and steal his host's artworks. It was already rude enough of you to arrive unannounced. Come in, and waste my time no more." A manly voice coming from Lith's back said.
Yet there was no one there, making him frown.
Chapter 855 Parasite Star Part 1
Lith couldn't spot any surveillance device, so either they were cloaked or he was within the range of the Wyvern's senses.
Now that he was without Solus, his memory alone might not be enough to capture so many complex, unknown runes. Sure, she could access his memories, but just like for the technological blueprints he had studied during college back on Earth, a single blurred area was enough to make the whole thing useless.
It was the reason why they always took their time to copy unknown runes like they had done while flying along the mountain.
'Xedros must be pissed off because I avoided all of his sensing arrays while arriving up here or maybe he helplessly watched me studying his workings.' Lith flew inside, noticing that the energy gate reassembled right after his passage.
The tunnel split into two or more intersections several times, some going upward and others below, making him wonder if the entire mountain wasn't actually hollow. Lith had no problem moving along the maze since upon his arrival only one passage was open while the others were sealed by mystical barriers.
The room he entered at the end of the road was nothing like he had pictured in his own mind. After visiting Gadorf's and Faluel's homes, after hearing so many things about a Wyverns' greed, Lith would have never expected to find Xedros curled up in a completely bare cave.
The First Wyvern wasn't much bigger than his late son.
If the creature stood on hind legs, Xedros would have been over five (16'5") meters tall, with his long neck taking a quarter of his eight and ending into a long reptile snout as big as a barrel.
His tail was about 1.67 meters (5'6") long, ending with a thick bone spike that resembled the sting of a giant wasp. Two golden membranous wings extended from his forelegs, connecting his little fingers to his hips.
The wings were a few shades paler compared to the scales that covered Xedros's upper body and made it shine like a masterfully cut gemstone under the mystical lights illuminating the cave.
The raw splendor of the Emperor Beast almost made Lith fail to notice how Xedros's gaze was filled with rage and envy.
Almost.
Envy because Lith's wings came out of his back, like those of a true Dragon. Because the dimensional aura surrounding the Wyrmling was a clear tell that he possessed an omni pocket.
A treasure that the Wyvern had long coveted and yet it had always eluded him.
Most of all, Xedros was envious of the infant's vigorous mana flow that betrayed Lith having a blue core despite his young age, whereas the First Wyvern had spent decades to achieve it.
Xedros's rage, however, didn't derive from Lith's possessions or talents, but from the fact that the Emperor Beast blamed him for the pitiful state he had been stuck in for over a year.
Xedros had yet to fully recover from Tyris's punch, his punishment for watching a forbidden magic ritual unfold instead of stopping it like his duty as Lord of the region required.
"You've become much stronger from the last time I've seen you Ranger Verhen." Xedros's voice was warm and gentle as if he was a teacher complimenting his dearest pupil, yet his words reeked of mockery.
"You can drop the act and take your human form if it makes you more comfortable." The Wyvern clicked his tongue multiple times, wearing a smile that seemed more a pretext to bare the row of pearl-white fangs filling his mouth rather than a friendly gesture.
Lith didn't move nor replied, more curious about the hostility he felt coming from his host rather than worried. He didn't have Solus with him, but, according to Life Vision, Xedros probably had a weak purple core and a physical prowess way below Lith's.
All the glitter of the Wyvern's scales couldn't hide the fact that his wings were bent at unnatural angles, nor that the Emperor beast had a bald spot on its abdomen the size of a woman's fist.
The area lacked any form of protection, exposing Xedros's soft flesh that pulsed at the rhythm of his breathing. The First Wyvern was doing his best to keep the weak spot hidden, but Lith's trained Healer's eyes were capable of following all the involuntary spasms in a patient's body.
'Below all of his bravado lies little substance. I can count at least four cracked bones beside the obvious ones.' Lith wasn't willing to challenge such an ancient being in his own home, but prepared a few spells, just to be safe.
"What do you mean human form?" Lith asked, curious to understand the reasons of such unwarranted hostility and what had given him away.
"Please, I'm not stupid." Xedros's attempt to perform a menacing cackle ended up in violent coughing. Judging by his grimace Lith estimated at least three cracked ribs.
"Ranger Verhen goes to Zantia, a Wyrmling appears, and even though Faluel sends her disciple to help his scaly friend, Protector ends up fighting alongside the Ranger. To make things even odder, said Ranger will coincidentally later become her disciple, creating a divide between the human's and the beasts' Council.
"Also, I've spectated your fight with those pesky Awakened back in Zantia and no matter what form you take, your energy signature remains the same."
'If he knows who I am, all my precautions are for nothing. Me being a Healer and a Forgemaster is public knowledge.' Lith inwardly cursed.
"If you were there, why didn't you help? As far as I know, stopping Awakened from employing forbidden magic is your duty."
"Why do you think I am in such a pitiful state?" Xedros's voice oozed venom, literally. His saliva sizzled on contact with the stone, each droplet leaving a hole as big as a marble.
"The Kingdom's Guardian inflicted upon me wounds that can't be healed normally before taking matters into her own hands. Now tell me what you want and then beat it."
Lith didn't know what was more shocking. The idea that Guardians could make healing magic useless, the Wyvern's pettiness, or the revelation that Constable Tyris was a Guardian.
Even though Xedros didn't mention her name, she was the only one that could fit the bill. Upon her appearance, she had put an end to the fight and opened a Warp Gate all by herself. It explained all the oddities surrounding her.
Lith spaced out only for a split second before making his request.
"I'm capable of producing Origin Flames, but so far all of my attempts to control them failed. I was wondering if you could point me in the right direction." Lith didn't waste time with niceties.
The Wyvern's behavior made it clear to Lith that he had already overstayed his welcome.
"Origin Flames, you say?" Xedros said with a hiss. He had almost forgotten about that, making the reasons why he didn't like Lith increase by one.
"Why should I…" The Emperor Beast almost bit his own tongue as Lith's request finally reached the most rational part of his brain, past all the stress and pain originating from his wounds.
"Maybe." Xedros said with an amiable smile, making the temperature in the room rise several degrees. "As you can see, I'm still wounded. I hear you are a competent Healer and I was wondering if there's something you could do about it."
Chapter 856 Parasite Star Part 2
Having access to Invigoration, most Awakened had no need to study healing magic. Being a Light Master, Xedros had mastered healing magic up to tier four before discovering how to create hard-light constructs.
To him tier five light magic was all about combat, he had never bothered with Body Sculpting. Nor could he just call a Healer to his home. It would mean to reveal his weakened state and risk to be killed, leaving his treasures ready to be plundered.
He didn't receive Lith in his throne room because Xedros didn't feel confident about being able to protect his treasures in the case that Lith took too much a fancy to them and decided to risk his mentor's rage for them.
In the Wyvern's mind, no Dragon would pass on such an opportunity, no matter the consequences, especially a half breed.
"Maybe." Lith shrugged. "I don't do freebies, though, and I demand my payment regardless of the outcome."
The smile disappeared from Xedros's snout, replaced by an annoyed look.
"You fail at manipulating Origin Flames because you handle them like you do with magic. Yet they're not alike. Magic is made of mana, whereas our Flames are made of life force.
The difference is the same between moving a chair and moving your arm.
"The former needs you to apply your strength on a foreign object, whereas the latter just requires awareness of your own limb. Elemental magic is the ripple effect you produce by emitting your mana, it has no will of its own unless you bestow it upon it.
"Origin Flames are just another part of your body, like an atrophied limb you've forgotten how to use. You can't inject willpower inside of them because they already have one, yours. By attempting to do so, you give the Flames conflicting orders that make them unresponsive."
"It makes sense. How do I fix that?" Lith asked.
"That was your down payment. For a Forgemaster, Origin Flames are an invaluable tool. I'm not going to take you by the hand and bring you to my level. I might offer you some more insight if you heal me." Xedros's grin returned, but Lith was too focused on his teachings to care about it.
Just the implications of those few sentences were enough to make his head spin and him glad to not have brought Solus with him. Body sculpting required physical contact and she would have had no way to hide her presence once the treatment began.
"Fine, let me uphold my part of our bargain." Lith stepped forward and placed his hands on the Wyvern's back. Invigoration confirmed his assessment about the Emperor Beast's skills while his tier five spell, Scanner, examined Xedros's life force.
Much to his surprise, there were actually two energy signatures residing inside Xedros's body and what was even more amazing was the fact that the stronger life force wasn't the dominant one.
The life force belonging to the Wyvern looked like a red sun, the mass of which was slowly getting drained by a nearby white dwarf. The red sun's surface was distorted and there were small threads connecting the two energy cores that made Xedros's life force look like a bridled beast.
Lith could hear the melody coming from the red star was overwhelmed by that emitted by the white dwarf to the point of being almost rewritten.
'Fuck me sideways. I guess Tyris could have even turned him into a lizard for good if she felt like it. Let's hope I don't get her angry by treating this jackass.' The moment Lith's Scalpel spell touched the white dwarf, the small star shapeshifted into a human form.
'Greetings, Healer. Xedros the Wyvern has violated the laws of the Council and has been punished accordingly. I wished for him to remain bedridden long enough to reflect on his own actions, but I would've never expected that he would wait this long to call for help.
'Such hubris cannot be condoned, so even though I allow you to treat him if you're capable of such a feat, be ready to stop when I say so, or you will join Xedros in his sufferings.' Tyris's voice and appearance were exactly as Lith remembered, confirming his deduction about the Constable's real identity.
Lith had never seen such use of healing magic before, so he took his time to understand what Tyris had done and how to replicate it if he ever needed to.
She had left behind a spark of her own life force, about as much as he used to produce a single breath of Origin Flames. Yet it was strong enough to cripple the Wyvern's recovering abilities for over a year, making Lith wonder how long would it last if left untreated.
Unlike what Lith would have done in her shoes, Tyris had inflicted no damage to Xedros's life force, neither temporary nor permanent. Her technique was of such finesse that it left him in awe, wishing he had at his disposal a recording device to study and discuss the phenomenon with Faluel, Solus, and maybe even Quylla.
The Guardian had employed light magic so that Xedros's body still knew what was its proper form, yet it had no idea how to achieve it, turning the healing process into a trial and error that made any attempt to speed it up a torture.
Lith attempted to restore the red sun's shape, but to no avail. The presence of Tyris's white dwarf was its cause, and removing it was beyond the scope of the bargain.
Then, Lith tried to compensate for the effects produced by the foreign life force and allow the Wyvern to mend at least most of his wounds. First, he split Scalpel into several tendrils that scanned the white dwarf trying to find some weak point.
The mere contact was enough to burn Lith's mana, sending painful spasms through his nervous system as if he had touched a high voltage wire. Then, he used light magic to attack Tyris's life force, hoping to weaken it enough to lessen its effects.
Avoiding direct contact prevented him from incurring more pain, but it didn't change the situation one bit.
'Brute force is pointless. If I employ enough strength to affect the Guardian's spell, I'll kill Xedros and get in trouble with Faluel. Tyris said that it's possible to heal this Lizzie, so I just need to change approach.'
Lith focused his attention on Xedros's life force, studying its shape, color, and the melody it emitted. Unlike humans, Emperor Beasts' life forces were raging streams of pure power. It allowed Emperor Beasts to shapeshift more easily but it also made it much harder to apply tier five healing magic to them.
The static nature of humans' life force allowed a Healer to locate the problem and focus on a single spot, whereas in a beast's case it was impossible to alter a single stream of life force without affecting their being as a whole.
Lith's task was further complicated by Tyris's spell, which distorted Xedros's life force and in turn the melody it produced. Usually, Lith would use the latter to better understand his patient's lifestream and find the best way to fix it
Unfortunately, not only was the melody off-key, but also the white star left by Tyris's spell emitted its own tune.
It distracted Lith and made it difficult for him to notice if his attempts were making Xedros's situation better or worse.
Chapter 857 Hard Bargain Part 1
Lith's only option was to synch his own life force with that belonging to his patient and make them resonate.
After several attempts, he managed to keep the red sun as a perfect sphere. The melody coming from the Wyvern's life force rose in intensity enough for Lith to spot where the alterations that prevented the injuries from mending were.
Each time Lith fixed a damaged energy stream, the red sun turned to a brighter color and its melody became clearer. Xedros's life force suddenly turned orange, then yellow, and lastly green.
'That's enough.' Tyris's voice resounded again in Lith's mind.
'Xedros will be able to recover on his own, in due time. I want him to suffer a bit more so that he realizes how much time he has wasted simply because he was too prideful to bother asking for help.'
Before Lith could reply, the white dwarf broke his spell and concentration. He found himself covered in sweat, panting as if he had fought for his life. Due to the lack of sunlight, Lith had no idea how much time had passed, but being Xedros fast asleep, the treatment had lasted hours.
Lith used Invigoration again, discovering that now the Wyvern's physical prowess was close to his own and that the Emperor Beast's mana core had turned several shades of purple brighter.
'Fuck me sideways. Today I've learned a lot, maybe even too much. I would've never expected that a prolonged physical condition could also affect an already developed mana core, otherwise I would've never restored Xedros so much.'
As if he had heard Lith's thoughts, the Wyvern suddenly opened his eyes and took a deep breath. His wings popped back into place and his ribs finally healed, yet the punch mark on his chest was still there, the broken scales refusing to grow back.
Finally free from the agony that had tormented him for over a year, Xedros bellowed an unhinged laughter that led Lith to use Invigoration on himself and prepare for the worse.
At least until the invigorating effects of Lith's newfound Body Sculpting healing technique completely disappeared and the laughter turned into a violent cough again.
"You didn't heal me completely!" Xedros snarled in a fury.
"I did the best I could. How many healers do you know that can undo a Guardian's spell?" Lith replied.
The truth behind those words made the Wyvern take another deep breath to regain his cool, which Lith mistook for a threat. Lith filled his lungs with air as well, to counter the allegedly incoming Origin Flames with his own.
"I apologize for my rudeness." What was came out of the Emperor Beast's mouth instead. "During the past year, I failed to get a proper night's sleep or even enjoy a single meal, which greatly exacerbated my mood."
"I hoped to be finally back to my peak condition, but I guess this will do. As a sign of appreciation for your patience, I'll give you a few more hints about how to control your Origin Flames."
Xedros's voice was calm and full of gratitude whereas his mind was filled with malicious plans.
'I was about to ruin my relationship with Faluel because of a temper tantrum. I've already wasted a year, and until I regain my full mobility, someone like this lesser Dragon might be useful.
'I'll share with him a couple of things he's likely to work out on his own, given time. This way I should gain his trust. He's young, desperate, and there's only so much that Faluel can teach him. Once Verhen finishes his apprenticeship, he'll be on his own and I'll be able to do whatever I want with him.
'Best case scenario, I can experiment on the Wyrmling and use him as a material to reach my next evolutionary step. His hybrid nature should make his draconic essence highly compatible with mine.
'Worst case scenario, I only need to gain Lith's trust enough to discover where he hides his omni pocket and steal it from him once he outlives his usefulness. Yet for now, I have to wait.
'I can't risk attempting to evolve while I'm in a weakened state, not to mention that Faluel or the Council would kill me. This will take time and patience. Let's put him on a leash by teaching him something about Origin Flames and establishing a business partnership.
'After all, it will take a while for me to get out of here for good.' Xedros thought.
While Lith performed Body Sculpting, the Wyvern had exploited the Healer's meditative state to use Invigoration on him. It had allowed Xedros to discover Lith's hybrid nature and confirm the presence of a dimensional aura typical of an omni pocket surrounding him.
The Emperor Beast could only see it thanks to his mastery over dimensional magic and was in dire need of such a powerful artifact for centuries. While common dimensional items had a fixed internal capacity, an omni pocket's storage space was proportional to the power of its master.
With all the riches, the artifacts, and the equipment Xedros had amassed inside the Golden Crown mountain, it would take him so many dimensional items to store everything that he could build a house with them.
No matter how powerful the defenses of a place were, a good mage could get past them with enough time and materials. Xedros's experiments required very rare materials, but he couldn't leave his house for too long without incurring the risk of being robbed.
There were only two ways an ancient and rich being could freely travel Mogar without worrying about their material possessions.
One was having an omni pocket, like Lith or Xenagrosh. The other was to entrust their home to someone who would perform the maintenance in their stead and sound the alarm in case of intruders like Scarlett had done with Kalla.
Omni pockets were very rare and very powerful artifacts that even Royal Forgemasters or ancient bloodlines of Forgemasters had no idea how to craft.
To obtain an omni pocket, a mage had to find it by dumb luck, receive it as part of their family legacy, or bond with a cursed item. Xedros believed to have finally met the first criteria. The problem was that it already had an owner and the Wyvern had no idea where its magical focus was hidden.
Just like a phylactery, once imprinted, the focus of an omni pocket could be left anywhere and the mage would still be able to access the dimensional storage, no matter the distance separating them.
'Killing Lith now would mean leaving the focus ready to be imprinted by the first lucky bastard that finds it. I need to slowly gain his trust to not make him aware of my intentions.' Xedros thought while starting his explanation.
"Unlike magic, Origin Flames cannot be controlled once they are released. Only during the very moment you light their spark can you decide what to destroy, what to purify, and what to ignore."
"Ignore?" Lith echoed.
"Yes." The Wyvern nodded. "A true master of Origin Flames can use them safely, even on themselves. I told you, they are just like a hand. Our flames can be used to caress someone as well as to crush them.
"Destroying is the easy part. Just spit your flames and you're done. Purifying, instead, requires your flames to affect the entirety of your target at once, both inside and outside.
"Otherwise it's only the outside that takes the brunt of the heat and ends up destroyed before the inside can get purified. Let me give a practical example."
Chapter 858 Hard Bargain Part 2
Xedros took two metal ingots out of the dimensional ring he wore on his tail. The first was just iron while the second was Orichalcum. He then breathed on the former a tiny wisp of a purple flame that consumed the ingot until only a sliver of black liquid was left.
"That was a destructive breath. Purification is just a side effect since the purest parts of the metal naturally resist the Origin Flames." The Wyvern grieved the lost ingot for a second before continuing, making Lith feel like a spendthrift.
Then, Xedros breathed a small jet on the Orichalcum ingot, making it shrink while retaining its shape. Lith was amazed seeing that it didn't boil or even turned to liquid, but had just lost about one-fourth of its volume.
The Orichalcum's surface had gone from dull silver to mirror-like substance that reflected every single beam of light that hit its surface. Xedros hesitantly handed it to Lith, snarling more than once.
Xedros glared at the Wyrmling with the burning hatred one would expect if the Wyvern had caught the healer in the attempt of snatching one of his eggs.
"I want it back." Xedros said, just in case Lith was blind and dumb.
Lith used Invigoration, discovering that the mana flow of the purified ingot was two times more powerful than the metal the Kingdom had provided him with.
'The good news is that if I learn how to control my flames, I can turn all the ore I have left into this and double my Skinwalker armor's durability. The bad news is that without runes, at my current level I can't even draw the Orichalcum's full potential, let alone Adamant's or Davross'. Lith thought while handing the ingot back.
"Ignoring a selective target means that you can safely use Origin Flames in battle without harming yourself. You can even remove an enchantment from an item without damaging the materials it is made of." Xedros said.
"Can't you just remove the magical imprint without affecting the enchantments?" Lith asked.
"No. The imprint is part of the enchantment, so you can't remove one without destroying the other." Xedros shook his head.
"How do I go from destroying to purifying?"
"Such a lesson would be worth much more than the service you have provided me." Xedros said with genuine outrage.
"But I'm sure we can work out a deal. I've been a prisoner of my own home for a year and I don't know how long will it take for me to return at my full strength. I heard that you are a skilled fighter and I'm quite the collectionist.
"If you find any of the following body parts, bring them to me. I will make them worth your while." Xedros handed Lith a long scroll that listed specific parts from monsters, magical and Emperor Beasts, and even human mages.
"Are you interested in buying the ingot?" Xedros asked while Lith was checking the items on the list. "It's an excellent material for a Forgemaster like you and by studying it, you could better understand the purification process."
"How much?" Lith asked with a flat tone. He doubted that the Wyvern would give away the ingot if he really believed that Lith could use it as a learning tool, yet it was a tempting offer.
Solus had already worked miracles in the past and by comparing the purified ingot with those in their possession there was no telling what she could discover.
"Since you're Faluel's apprentice and a fellow Dragon, I'll make this a bargain for you. Ten thousand gold coins."
"Ten thousand?" All seven of Lith's eyes opened up in surprise. "It's ten times its market value and enough to build a castle. A material that's only twice as good as its smelted version is not worth that much. Also, with a single ingot, I can only make accessories."
"What good is all the money in the world if you die leaving it unspent? In a life or death situation, you need all the advantages you can get. 9990 gold coins. Take it or leave it."
"Consider it left." Lith would need to work full time for a year as both a Healer and a Forgemaster to make that much. "I possess the pelt of a powerful Byk capable of using darkness magic and a Clacker Queen corpse. Are you interested?"
"Maybe. Show me the goods." Xedros hid his enthusiasm behind a stone face as Lith took out Irtu's corpse.
"There are more holes than fur here, not to mention the organs splattered everywhere." Xedros clicked his tongue. "As for the Queen, I've never seen a carcass butchered so badly. I can offer you one hundred gold coins for the whole package."
"No problem." Lith put them both back inside the storage space, leaving the Wyvern flabbergasted.
"I can still rise them as greater undead, so their value as servants dwarves your offer. Good luck finding and killing a genius Byk and another Emperor Beast without upsetting the local Lord."
Lith walked towards the exit. He had never learned how to bargain, but Selia had taught him how to recognize a bad deal.
"One hundred and fifty." Xedros said.
"Yeah, right. Give me the ingot and we'll call it even." Lith replied.
The Wyvern almost roared in outrage. His eyes were now reduced to two fiery slits brimming with mana.
"200 gold coins and another tip about Origin Flames."
"You want material goods and to pay me with hot air? I'll take your offer only if you accept the sound of my coins as currency." Lith replied while making a gold piece hit the rock surface.
"If I do it 10,000 more times do I get the ingot?"
Many harsh words about the contenders' and their respective ancestors' morality in their choice for mating partners were spoken until both parties were satisfied. Lith sold the carcasses in exchange for one-tenth of the ingot.
Barely enough to craft a single ring, but plenty to use as a study material.
'It couldn't have gone any better.' Xedros thought. 'Even finding a black-furred Byk would have taken me a long time, let alone overpowering a whole Clacker army just to reach their queen.
'On top of that, with such a harsh start, once I start "growing fond" of him, it will make a much bigger impact than if I acted mushy from the bat. First, I must earn, Lith's respect, then his trust, and only then will I be able to collect my prize.'
'It couldn't have gone any better.' Lith thought. 'Irtu's corpse had no market value, and after I used it to practice Necromancy to learn how to regenerate undead tissues, both corpses lost part of their potency as ingredients.'
Lith kept the list and let the Wyvern add his communication rune on Lith's Council amulet. Lith had already given up on Xedros teaching him anything about Origin Flames or hard-light constructs.
The Wyvern knew about his real identity and was bound to ask an ungodly price for his help. Yet that way if Lith found any more parts, they could discuss their price from a distance, saving him the trip if the negotiations failed.
Also, Xedros was still the Lord of the Kellar region, so if Lith had any more troubles with Awakened he could just wash his hands of them and let the Wyvern deal with it.
Chapter 859 Hidden Truths Part 1
Once he left the cave, Lith flew at low altitude all the time. He had to retrieve Solus before leaving and way, even if Xedros was still watching at him via his arrays, the Wyvern wouldn't notice the pebble jumping into the Wyrmling's hand.
As soon as their mind link was restored, Solus jotted down everything Lith remembered about the overlapping arrays and their runes. Lith had focused on keeping a clear picture of them on his way back so the details were still clear in his memories.
Only when she was done her task did he share with Solus all of his memories about the meeting with Xedros.
'So the Lord of the Kellar region is a genius Warden, a Light Master, and he even has absolute control over his Origin Flames. Too bad his character is all over the place. If he wasn't so untrustworthy, he would make a perfect mentor once we're done with Faluel.'
Lith envied Solus being able to have a conversation with him while she reviewed her notes about the runes and studied the piece of the ingot in their possession at the same time.
'First, I don't plan on being an apprentice all my life. Second, I wouldn't trust him even if he had welcomed me with a hot pie. People like Faluel are an exception, everyone else just would try and use me as a means for their ends.' Lith thought.
'I'm certain that Xedros would have refused to teach me tier five offensive light magic, just like Manohar did. Divulging an ability that powerful also means losing your monopoly over it. It's the reason why the Kingdom is so secretive about Royal Forgemasters and the Council about the secret of Awakening.'
'Then why did he teach you about Origin Flames?' Solus asked.
'Because Faluel asked him to and because I didn't leave him much choice. He needed my help not to remain crippled for years. Also, he just gave me a few crumbs. Xedros knew that I couldn't extort knowledge from him. His body and mana core were weakened, but his protective arrays were all at full power and aimed at me.
'Not to mention that even if I succeeded, it would have destroyed my relationship with the beasts' Council and with Faluel. He knew that I need their support to protect my family from the human Awakened that are out for my blood.' Lith replied.
'What a cunning son of a gun!' Solus couldn't believe that Lith had managed to squeeze so much out of an unwinnable scenario.
While Solus was still cursing the Wyvern's name, Lith wore his cloaking rings and Warped away from the Golden Crown mountain to lose any tail Xedros might have had put on him.
Only after several Blinks and Warps in random direction did Lith feel safe enough to reach the nearest mana geyser and rise his tower.
He wasn't supposed to reach Zantia before the following day and he meant to use all the time he could to study the ingot and put Xedros's teachings to the test.
He started by comparing the purified Orichalcum with that in his possession.
The purified ore was denser, harder, and capable of sustaining a much greater amount of mana before showing signs of stress compared to its just smelted counterpart.
"Despite the fact that Xedros was no blacksmith or Forgemaster, the Origin Flames affected both the metal's physical and mystical properties. It's great news since it means that I don't need to understand how the Flames interact with physical matter, but only how to make them seep inside their target."
Lith used Invigoration on both ingots, studying their internal structure as if they were his patients. To his eyes, the effect of the Origin Flames was akin to what happened to his body after every breakthrough.
The main difference was that the weak parts had been straight out destroyed rather than broken down and infused with mana before being regenerated. Aside from that, the final result was identical.
The metal refinement hadn't just removed the weak parts so much as those that compromised its integral structure, like those that made the Orichalcum brittle or offered resistance to the mana flow.
"How can you be so sure that Xedros isn't at least a blacksmith?" Solus asked.
"He had no knowledge about Body Sculpting hence he can't shapeshift. A Wyvern's forearms cannot use tools and you can't practice anything for hours by only using spirit magic." Lith replied, before focusing on their latest prize.
"The most amazing thing is that, after being purified, not only is the world energy now evenly spread throughout the metal, but it also builds up from time to time, forming a pseudo core-like energy mass.
"When such natural pseudo core dissipates, the energy it releases tempers the metal. With every cycle, the Orichalcum ingot improves both its physical and mystical abilities."
"It explains why Zolgrish the Lich granted to his Adamant Forges shapeshifting abilities." Solus said.
"Being able to alter the shape of the purified metal before the Forgemastering process allows him and us as well to study how different forms alter the energy flow. That way we can Bond the mana crystals only once we find the perfect shape instead of blindly following blueprints.
"It should enhance the mana capacity and exponentially increase the quality of the final product. However, it's not all fun and games. I'm sorry to burst your bubble, but I think you've missed a critical point.
"After every cycle, the built-up mana tempers the metal and improves its properties, but at the same time, the process brings the Orichalcum closer to its destruction. Too much tempering breaks even the most powerful blade.
"Otherwise Xedros would have already purified all the ingots in his possession and sold the oldest ones at a higher price. Instead, he kept them in their smelted state that has no expiration date."
Lith cursed once he realized that Solus was right. It was only a matter of time before the Orichalcum became so hard to be so brittle that it would be useless as a crafting material.
"To think that treacherous son of a lizzie wanted 10,000 gold coins for the ingot! The only silver lining of this con of a trade is that I learned that purification is the last step before Forgemastering. Only giving the metal a stable pseudo core can stabilize its condition.
"Sadly, I don't have a single ring worth crafting."
Lith and Solus spent the hours before dinner on a rocky and desolate plateau, trying to put into practice Xedros's teachings about Origin Flames. To not waste precious materials, Lith Warped the tower to a mana geyser that fit his bill and only used small stones as study subjects.
Origin Flames couldn't be practiced inside the tower because everything inside of it was part of Solus's body and failing to control the Flames could bring her harm. Lith had no idea how to produce small wisps of fire like the Wyvern had shown him, so most of the pebbles he breathed upon just evaporated.
The "luckiest" ones were liquified, yet they didn't show any sign of refinement.
"I know you hate hearing it from me, but you need to rest." Solus said once all the small stone near the mana geyser were gone. "Do you remember how the overuse of Origin Flames during the fight with the Odi almost crippled your life force?"
Chapter 860 Hidden Truths Part 2
Until that moment, Solus had managed to make Lith take a break only for lunch. She had been pleasantly surprised to be able to keep her human form for so long even outside the tower, yet she was worried sick about Lith's mental condition.
The longer he remained alone, having only work and research as his companions, the closer he got to his old, single-minded self. She was the only tether he had with sanity, and since they had started to give each other more space due to her being more a woman than just a voice, the chain had got loose.
"I can go on a little longer." Lith replied. Despite the mild climate of the region, his hybrid body was steaming. The air in his proximity was heated to the point of distorting Solus's vision.
"No, you can't! You've not reverted to your human form even since you started practicing, not even for eating. Stop this immediately." Solus hugged him from behind, whimpering when her skin touched his scales.
The heat they emitted was so strong that the contact would have filled her arms with blisters if she was fully human.
The stinging pain hit Solus hard and their mind link made Lith feel it as it was his own, making him realize that he had truly gone too far.
"Dammit. This stupid body has no organs, so it doesn't feel pain until it gets heavily damaged. Get off me, Solus, your dress is burning!" Lith wanted to push her away, but his hands were as hot as the rest of his body.
Also, if she offered any resistance, he might have made things even worse.
"I have plenty of dresses inside the tower." She replied refusing to let go.
"Before I release you, you must promise me two things. First, no more practice until tomorrow. We don't know what we will face and I don't want to risk losing you because you're exhausted before the mission even started."
"I don't care what your terms are, I promise!" Lith couldn't believe that he was putting one of the people he loved the most through so much pain just because of his stubbornness.
"Second, no matter what, don't turn around until I say so." Only after saying that last part did Solus let him go and run stark naked inside the tower to change. She could have created a dress out of her own energy or taken one out of her pocket dimension, but that would have been too fast.
She didn't want Lith to notice how bad her burns were nor that the more her energy body lost its glow, the more it gained other features. She had tried to turn into her wisp form, but the attempt had made the pain from her wounds become worse.
'Why does this kind of stuff always happen at the worst possible moment?' Solus thought, her golden skin was reddened by the scorching heat it had endured and purple from embarrassment.
'Until a few days ago I looked like a doll-shaped glowing stick and now this? If Master Menadion wasn't already dead, I would kill her for not leaving behind an instruction manual about this ridiculous condition of mine!'
By the time Solus returned, her appearance was back to normal. The mana geyser boosted all of her abilities and being inside the tower provided Solus with unlimited power. She didn't need to cast a single spell to recover.
The world energy flowing through her body relieved the pain and allowed her to make a full recovery even before she reached her room.
Solus was now wearing a sleeveless knee-length white dress. Her golden hair floated in the air as if she was swimming under the sea rather than flying.
"Okay, now you can turn around." She said.
Lith was still in his hybrid form, partly because he was too worried for Solus to care about himself and partly because he had no idea how his human body would have reacted to such heat in the case it was retained after the transformation.
After a few seconds of pure terror about Solus's condition, he had regained his cool, both literally and metaphorically, enough to noticed that his scales were able to move by themselves. Their tips would rise and lower rhythmically as if they were breathing.
It made Lith's scale armor looser, almost exposing the burning red skin underneath, but at the same time, the scales were sucking the heat back inside his body. The process seemed to lower Lith's external temperature and allowed him to recover part of the life force spent.
'Could it be that the heat is still part of my essence, even after getting mixed with the world energy? Then maybe…' His train of thoughts was derailed by Solus's voice. Lith turned around and tried to hug her and make sure she was alright.
"I'm so sorry Solus. If only I listened to you, I wouldn't have gotten you hurt…"
"Back off, buster! I don't want to be barbequed again nor lose another dress. You must literally chill." She said while extending her arms with her palms open in front of his face to keep him away.
Lith froze in place at those words. Solus then placed a finger on his forehead.
"Still too hot to handle." She chuckled while quickly pulling it away.
"Do you think a bath could help?"
"No clue." She shrugged. "We have no idea how a Wyrmling's body reacts to thermal shock. I'd say it's better if we take no risks. Sit down and rest. We can discuss Xedros's teachings while we wait."
A wave of her hand made two stone chairs appear from the ground.
"We should restore the landscape before leaving, otherwise someone might discover our secret spot." Solus pointed at the area that was now devoid of small rocks and at the glazed ground where the Origin Flames had struck every time Lith had failed to control them.
Lith nodded while cursing at the unpredicted annoyance.
"Judging from my constant failures, I can tell you that the opportunity window to imprint the flames with my will is quite small. At this point, I think that purifying is strictly related to the target-ignoring ability Xedros described.
"To make the Flames seep inside a metal, I must become able to make the Origin Flames ignore it for a split second. An even more crucial step is learning how to produce only a controlled amount of fire.
"Otherwise even in the case I succeed at making the Flames affect the entirety of the metal at once, the excess energy would consume everything as it happened here." Lith pointed at their surroundings that looked like a volcanic eruption had recently happened.
"Xedros really is a jerk." Solus used Fire Vision to constantly check Lith's temperature from a safe distance. Much to her surprise, over time his inner body was getting hotter whereas his scales were getting colder.
"Unlike Faluel, he spoke in the most obscure possible way while keeping things apparently simple, so that you would need a lot of hints to understand even the basics. If not for his greed, you wouldn't have wasted a day just to learn the proper training phases to control Origin Flames.
"First comes quantity, then quality, and only then comes phasing through solid matter."
"Come again? Quality?" Lith said.
"Yes. I've sorted through your memories and look at what I've found." Solus used their mind link to show him how while the flames Xedros had used to destroy the steel ingot were purple just his still recovering core, those he had employed on the Orichalcum ingot were of a much brighter purple color.
Chapter 861 Rising Tide Part 1
"Please note that the mass of Flame Xedros used on the iron was a shapeless blot, whereas those he used to purify the Orichalcum matches the ingot's size. Xedros worked hard to misdirect you into focusing on insignificant aspects of the smelting process.
"You noticed obvious phenomenons like the metal shrinking in size and its quality improving, but you missed the really important stuff."
Lith kept cursing the Wyvern in all the ways he could imagine, masterfully mixing English with the Garlenian language to form a harmonious flow of swear words.
"He didn't tell you that there must be a way to increase the quality of the Origin Flames to a level that exceeds your current life force, nor did he stress out the importance of matching the flames' size with their target's." Solus said.
"Let me guess, you didn't tell me this earlier because…"
"Because he deceived me as well. It took me a while and a lot of your failures to make sense of the underlying problem. Forget about phasing your flames through the metal. Until you learn how to adjust their quantity and quality, it's just a waste of time.
"I'm betting half my wardrobe that Xedros emphasized the battle use of phasing flames to screw up with your training and delay your growth as a Forgemaster as long as possible."
"Just to recap, he sold me what will soon become a piece of junk and he paid my treatment in riddles rather than teachings." Lith snarled.
As long as the Orichalcum was stored inside his pocket dimension it wouldn't deteriorate further, but he still couldn't help but see it as a ticking bomb. A bomb that would blow up a lot of money.
"Do you know what's the only silver lining of this situation is?"
"That for once you see the glass half full? I mean, you almost got ripped off for good this time." Solus dangled her legs off the edge of the chair, appreciating the warm spring breeze passing through her toes.
'By my maker, I have toes now!'
"It's you." Lith said while using spirit magic to pull her between his arms.
"Thanks for everything you've done and that you keep doing for me. I'm sorry that you've gotten hurt again to protect me." His mind was filled with the memories of all the times that Solus had paid the price for his choices and he had come close to losing her.
Like during Nalear's ambush, after saving Protector's life, during the fight against the perfect Balor, or against the Odi. Feeling her pain had opened some of his old mental wounds, sending his paranoia to full throttle.
Now that Lith could safely touch her, he used Invigoration to make sure that she was alright.
"Hey, you got toes now."
"Yes, I do." Solus said, returning the embrace with joy. It had been so long since the last time that they had shared any intimacy. Even though it was just a medical examination, she lost herself in the moment.
"What are our plans for the night?"
"The same thing we do every night, Solus. Try to take over Mogar!" Lith said with his deep, draconic voice before bursting into a maniacal laughter while shapeshifting back into his human form.
The two overlapping voices would have been creepy to the casual onlooker, but in Solus's case, they made her laugh out loud.
After dinner, Lith would have liked to use the dictionaries that Faluel had borrowed him to keep translating the Forgemastering booklet from the lost academy of Huryole, but that would require to pull an all-nighter.
Not only would it royally piss off Solus, but it would have meant to resort to Invigoration again to compensate for the lack of sleep. Between treating Xedros and all the practice to control his Origin Flames, Lith was really tired.
He had no idea if his next assignment was going to be simple and boring like all those he had carried out during the last few months or if it would turn out to be the umpteenth unexpected crisis.
On top of that, Solus was tired of his evasive answers and was starting to glare at him. So, he decided it was the right time to give Solus a little something that he had prepared for a while.
Lith had traveled a lot as both a Healer back when he worked at the academy, and as a Ranger, taking note of all the mana geysers they encountered. Lith moved the tower to a place located in the south-west corner of the Kingdom, near the city of Vinea.
"What are we doing here?" Solus asked while looking out a window. The pale reflection of the moon was glimmering on the water of the Rodimar sea.
"You've seen a lot of rivers and lakes during our travels, but I've never had the occasion to take you to a beach. Would you like to learn how to swim?" Lith said while taking an ocean blue one-piece swimsuit out of his pocket dimension.
"Where did you get that and how do you know my size?" Solus was flabbergasted at the vision of the unusual piece of clothing. It was much revealing compared to Mogar's standards, mostly because there was no such thing as swimsuits.
"I had it prepared one of those times that we split up, after I realized you'd got a body. As for the size, I had to guess a lot based on our shared memories. There's no reason to worry, though.
"You can use my Skinwalker armor to make it fit since I just need to cut a pair of old pants into short trousers to get a swimsuit."
"Are you sure?" Solus fiddled with the cloth, turning her head from the window to the swimsuit while riddled with doubts.
'With this kind of fabric, it's basically a thicker underwear and once it gets wet, it will not leave much to the imagination. Hoping that the night will hide me is a fool's dream. Not only Lith's vision is about 100/20, but I also still glow like a lightbulb.' She thought.
"Absolutely. We are both cold-resistant, so the water should be just fine even though is still spring. Also, this place is quite far away from human settlements. The odds of a random encounter at this hour are low.
"This is the closest mana geyser to the sea we've got, so you shouldn't have problems reaching the beach from the tower while keeping your body." Lith replied, misunderstanding what she was concerned about.
He went into his room, changing so fast that Solus had no time to come up with a proper excuse to turn down his offer. Even when she was in the company of Tista and Nyka, Solus would rarely get out of the tower.
Even when she did, she would take her ring form to go unnoticed. It was the first time ever that Lith offered to take Solus out while in her human form. Her longing to experience life outside her gilded cage battled with her shyness, making her hesitate until it was too late.
Solus and Lith shared the same mana signature, so the Skinwalker armor recognized her as its master and took the desired form after storing the swimsuit.
Chapter 862 Rising Tide Part 2
"Fuck me sideways. I never thought the day would come that I would be glad to be a midget." Solus blurted out while looking at her own reflection. The swimsuit had no neckline, but still exposed way too much for her taste.
'The coast is clear.' Lith told her via their mind link, mistaking her hesitation for the fear of being seen by strangers.
Solus needed to take a few deep breaths before stepping out of the tower, walking toward Lith instead of floating like usual.
'I'm barely 1.54 (5'1") meters tall, whereas Lith is 1.83 (6'), so he shouldn't be able to see much… By my maker, what's this?' The fine sand covering the beach had a silvery look under the moonlight and it got between her toes with every stride she took.
It was then that the thought struck her.
Solus looked at her surroundings, seeing the water along the shoreline moving like a living being, feeling a gentle breeze ruffling her hair while so many new sensations reached her senses, forcing her to a halt.
For the first time in her life, she wasn't disguising herself as an accessory nor there was anything shielding her from being seen. There were no walls, no trees, nothing that blocked her line of sight, allowing Solus to take in with a single glance more than she had ever seen of Mogar with her own eyes.
The sea with its salty smell and its noises, the coarse yet pleasant sensation of the sand against her skin, the view of the shoreline leading to Vinea and its lights made her dizzy.
The only reason she didn't hyperventilate was that she had no need to breathe.
"Well, the swimsuit definitely looks better on you than me." Lith said, making her snap out of it. He was walking around Solus, shamelessly checking her out. Contrary to her expectations, Solus was too scared to be embarrassed.
"Does it always feel like this, being in the real world, like a real person?" She asked while extending her had to Lith, who promptly held it.
"Yes. The outside world is always scary at first. You better get used to being checked out, because once you stop glowing and we go outside together, I won't be the only one doing it. Ask Tista if you want to hear from an expert."
Tista, Lith's older sister, had been a shut-in due to her congenital condition until he had cured her. She had felt uncomfortable as well once she had started living a normal life.
Lith walked Solus to the water, constantly scouting their surroundings with Life Vision to avoid being forced to perpetrate a midnight murder and ruin the mood.
Between her access to Lith's memories and her mastery over water magic, it took Solus an hour to learn all the swimming styles he knew. Soon she started to swim on her own, putting to the test how far away could she get from the tower before losing her physical form.
Only when Lith called her back because it was getting late did she return to the shore.
"Any longer and won't be left enough time to reset Invigoration's effects. Sorry." Lith said, watching her glowing figure walk out of the water like a goddess emerging from the sea.
"Thank you so much for the wonderful present." Solus wrung out her hair before throwing her arms at his neck in a tight hug. "Can we do this again, sometime?"
"Sure." Lith said without thinking. Then he remembered all the things he had to do and the people he had to make time for. "I mean maybe, in a not too far distant future."
"Gee, can't you be vaguer? You're almost making it sound like a date." Her voice oozed sarcasm.
"What happened to your shyness? Do you realize how embarrassing would it be if someone saw us like this?"
"Do you mean because we look like a couple?" Solus's cheeks turned slightly red.
"More like a koala hanging from a tree." Lith pointed at her feet dangling far from the ground.
"Very funny. Bring me home, smartass. I'm tired." She adjusted his arms with spirit magic so that Lith lifted her in a princess carry while she reverted into her wisp form.
Before he could make a snarky reply, she was already fast asleep. Solus's human form put a heavy burden on her and the prolonged physical exertion had made it worse.
'The good news is that if I find a species of Emperor Beast that looks like her, I can introduce Solus to my friends and family now that her range from the tower extends so far.' Lith thought.
'The bad news is that she still has feelings for me, which would make the meeting with Kamila extremely awkward. The problem is that once I'm done with the army, keeping the two worlds apart will become much more difficult.'
The following morning, Lith reached the city of Zantia right after sunrise. Because of the undead migration, most local Lords had imposed a curfew. City gates would remain closed and the dimensional magic blocking arrays would remain active all night, unless in case of emergency.
All travelers had to be tested with a simple diagnostic spell.
The undead could change their appearance, but their bodies would still be as dead as a doornail. Their blood core would absorb the light element without letting the spell manifest itself.
Lith was considered a local hero, so the guards let him skip the line and treated him with the highest honors.
Everyone he met wanted to thank him and shake his hand, filling him with small gifts. To reach the manor of the new regent of Zantia, Baroness Mergrave, before sundown, Lith was soon forced to take a stagecoach.
'Looks like someone is popular.' Solus giggled.
'Looks like someone has too much free time, dammit. They were seconds away from throwing me a parade.' Lith replied.
"Great Mage Verhen I'm glad you made it here so fast." The Baroness opened the door herself, revealing to be a woman in her late forties with shoulder-length blond hair and green eyes.
She gave Lith a curtsy even though it was custom for the guest to greet their host first. It was a privilege that nobles reserved only to those of much higher status or for the times when they were in dire need of help.
Judging from her impeccable makeup, her cream-colored day dress way too elegant for the meeting with a Ranger, and the tension visible in the Baroness' sharp features, typical of the northerners, Lith guessed that Mergrave's situation met both the requirements.
"Normally I wouldn't have bothered you for such a small inconvenience, but the presence of undead is a game-changer." The Baroness said.
Based on the information Kamila had given to him, the number of disappearances along the Kusha route wasn't much bigger compared to the past. If not for a reliable witness reporting that the perpetrators were vampires, the army wouldn't have cared.
Mergrave led him to her study, where a mahogany desk was covered in orderly piles of documents.
"Indeed." Lith replied. "Even the underworld is wary of the undead and yet no one warned us. Either criminals and vampires have an agreement or the rats already have abandoned the ship, leaving the Kusha route to the undead.
"The former implies that the vampires might have free access to the populated areas thanks to the black-market channels while the latter might be the indicator that they are plotting something big in the area, like building a Warp Gate."
Chapter 863 Suspects and Theories Part 1
"My thoughts exactly. No matter the answer, I'm ready to bet we're not going to like it." The Baroness nodded while showing Lith a map of the Kusha Route that went from Zantia to Jambel.
The Kusha Route extended for hundreds of kilometers, passing through the biggest human settlements in the area and connecting them to the nearest Gates. It allowed the local merchants to move and sell their goods with the rest of the Kingdom.
It was enough for a single city along the route to fall to leave thousands of people without the means to contact the authorities. The Baroness had marked with red dots all the sites were caravans had disappeared and had associated each spot with the date they had been reported missing.
"That's a lot of ground to cover." Lith was familiar with the area and by cross-referencing the Baroness' map with his own stored inside Soluspedia, he noticed that a couple of mana geysers were relatively close to the sites of interest.
"No one expects you to do everything on your own. You've been summoned to Zantia because someone else will take care of Jambel's side." Mergrave said. "The vampires have been spotted here."
She pointed at the most recent red spot, located near the Snake Tongue mountain range that ran alongside the first part of the Kusha Route.
"I doubt that the undead are behind all the attacks, but this report worries me to no end. No matter if they are building a Warp device, a nest, or whatever. The Snake Tongue offers them hundreds of possible hiding spots and the perfect location to launch a surprise attack on our city.
"With no Gates nor powerful mages, it would only take a couple of weeks to overrun the region and no one would notice. I requested for you because, among the three Rangers patrolling the Kellar region, you're said to be an excellent tracker."
Lith nodded, even though reality was quite different. His tracking skills were mediocre, but between Life Vision, Solus's mana sense, and the Mirror Hall located on the first floor of his tower, it took a very capable Warden to hide anything from him.
"I'd better leave immediately, before the trail goes cold. Did it rain during the days after the assault?" Lith asked.
"No. I've left a detail to protect the scene, to make sure that you'd find it exactly as we did."
Lith inwardly cursed, knowing that clumsy guards were likely to step over the few traces left, but he thanked the Baroness nonetheless. She was doing everything in her power to help him, even offering to provide him supplies.
"Ranger Verhen, is it true that you're engaged?" The Baroness asked while he was rummaging through her stock of rare metals.
"I beg your pardon?" His shocked expression told her everything she wanted to know.
"I knew they were just baseless rumors. A young, promising Great Mage such as yourself involved with a spinster, and a mere civil servant at that." The Baroness meddling with his private life annoyed Lith, but it was the spite in her voice that made him want to pull her guts out of her mouth.
"I like to think that during your service, you've established a connection with the people of the north and with Zantia in particular. After your discharge, your presence would bring order to these lawless lands." The Baroness said with a warm voice.
"If you ever need a place to stay, consider my city as your own. Maybe, once the mission is over, you could stop here to rest a bit. I have a daughter your age that has begged me to be introduced to you ever since you were still a student of the academy."
"I'm sorry, but I'll probably have to leave as soon as the crisis is resolved. Also, I don't discuss personal matters while on duty. We'll talk about this again when I don't represent the Kingdom anymore and I'm back to be a free citizen." Lith said.
'Free to raze your entire household to the ground. If I bother to remember about your existence until then, of course.' He mentally added.
'Don't be so hard on her.' Solus thought.
'She's been rude to Kamila, but the Baroness is only doing what she thinks is in both her own and your best interest. Remember that no matter the country you live in, talent can only get you so far before you hit the glass ceiling that only politics can break through.'
'Yeah, and that's why I'm quitting the army and joining the Awakened Beasts' side. There are too many strings attached.'
Lith took from the Baroness' stockroom everything he thought might be needed for his mission or his personal labs before leaving. During the day, the use of dimensional magic was allowed so Lith was able to Warp outside Zantia and then fly toward his destination at breakneck speed.
'Normally, it would take me a while to find my way, but this time I just need to follow the road.'
'Do you really think we'll find a Gate construction site or a barrack for a mass invasion?' Solus asked.
'No. A dimensional tunnel that size would require one or more powerful mages who have free access to the light element, which vampires lack. It would make sense if they had kidnapped mages instead of robbing caravans.
'A barrack, instead, would require a constant supply of prey in its proximity and the reports indicate no pattern in the disappearance. I blatantly lied to the Baroness to feed her fears, get as many merits as I can from my mission, and don't waste time with niceties.
'My educated guess is that a group of refugees is building a vampire nest to survive summer.' Lith thought.
'If that's the case, then how could they be so stupid to let a witness survive? Even under a feeding frenzy, they should've known that being discovered would make things much harder for them. As the Baroness said, you're quite popular.' Solus pondered.
'Good question. Either they are a bunch of morons or luring me here is part of their plan.' Lith accessed his map stored inside Soluspedia and checked the distance of the nearest mana geyser from the site of the attack.
'Close enough to serve as an observation point while I mind my own business. The tracks are bound to be dead cold. I'm visiting the caravan wreck just to show off and let those poor guards think that they have done more than wasting their time.' He thought.
It took him less than an hour to arrive at his destination, where he found that the caravan had been moved off the road to not hinder the passage of travelers and goods.
The Kusha Route skirted the Snake Tongue mountain range. The mountains provided the travelers with precious shade and water during summer, shelter from spring's and fall's rainstorms, and forced the road to be closed during winter.
There were four soldiers and a sergeant keeping guard, or better, goofing around since there wasn't much to do during the day. Their horses roamed around grazing at the grass.
'So much for preserving the scene of the crime. Even if tracking spell really existed, by now every usable clue would have been destroyed.' Lith landed and offered his hand to the sergeant before starting his investigation.
Chapter 864 Suspects and Theories Part 2
"Thank the gods you're here, Ranger Verhen. I'm sergeant Guilden, at your service." The sergeant was a middle-aged man, with grey hair and a mustache. He wore a light armor over his grey uniform, protecting his forearms, shins, chest, and shoulders.
Guilden wielded a spear in his left hand that was mainly being used as a walking stick, and carried a short sword on his hip. If not for the stripes on his sleeves, his outfit was identical to that worn by the rest of the guards.
"The other Ranger has proven to be useless so far. If it was for him, we might as well rot here until the next winter." The sergeant's words toward a superior officer were rude enough to earn him a court-martial for insubordination, but Lith noticed that despite the nice weather, the whole unit was shivering.
They suffered from sleep deprivation due to the constant fear of being attacked at night and from exhaustion for doing their job during the day. Not a single piece of their equipment was enchanted, making them lambs rather than soldiers in the case of another attack, and they knew it.
"What other Ranger?" Lith was so surprised that he interrupted the gibberish he was chanting.
"The one who reported the attack, Ranger Acala. He was patrolling the area, yet he failed to save even one of the members of the merchant caravan, to capture a vampire, and even to follow them to their base of operation." Guilden snorted.
"All he has managed to do is to cause panic. This story has shaved at least five years off our lifespan. I'm telling you, I wouldn't be surprised if the 'vampires' are nothing but thieves and Acala has made a big deal out of them to steal your spotlight."
"Yeah." A female soldier spat to the ground. "He has been our Ranger for over ten years and he has never achieved anything before retiring. He's over thirty now and has been recalled only because of those damn undead."
Lith inwardly sighed in relief at those words. The presence of another Ranger explained everything and defused every worst-case scenario his paranoia could cook up.
After a bit more gibberish, Lith activated Life Vision and a few detecting arrays. The soldiers were average humans, the caravan didn't bear any relevant magical trace, and the area of effect of his spells gave him no clues about the recent events.
'I can't find any surveillance device, Warping array, or anything that a magic user would employ during an ambush. Either the vampires use conventional means for their robberies or the sergeant is right and we're dealing with common criminals.' Solus thought.
Lith even used Invigoration on everything and everyone, to make sure that no cloaking devices were obstructing his mystical senses.
'Agreed, so far it's just a huge dud.'
"Thanks for your hard work." Lith gave them the salute. "I've got everything I need now, so you have permission to return home."
The soldiers quickly returned the salute before mounting their horses and riding back to Zantia. Lith even opened a Warp Steps for them, saving them precious daylight and getting rid of any witness.
He had no idea where to go and no desire to meet the other Ranger. A partner would only make things difficult for him. After making sure via his natural and mystical senses that no one was around, Lith Warped toward the mana geyser.
Following a trail on a rocky surface was impossible and the mountains offered countless hiding spots to any moron capable of using earth magic. Even a combe search performed by a platoon of magicians would have been a fool's errand.
"Acala is not as incompetent as sergeant Guilden thinks, otherwise he wouldn't have survived ten years in the corps. My fellow Ranger knows that in this kind of situation, the hunter pretends to be the prey, to let the enemy come to them instead of aimlessly walking around." Lith said.
"Sounds cool, but what are we doing here, then?" Solus asked.
"Be they vampires or bandits, we'll find nothing during the day. I'll use this time to get familiar with the area without exposing myself or risking to meet our colleague. You continue translating the Runesmith booklet please, I'll handle surveillance for now."
Lith sat on the stone throne located on the first floor of the tower, in the middle of the Mirror Hall. He clenched his fist, making each mirror produce a glass sphere that he spread throughout the whole area.
Being part of the tower, the spheres would still benefit of both its cloaking devices and mystical senses. Everything that reflected on their surface appeared in their respective mirror, allowing Lith to keep an eye on the road while exploring the Snake Tongue mountain range at the same time.
'I can easily understand why mage towers are legendary artifacts. The spheres can see 360° around them, can be set on auto-pilot, and can provide me a 3D real-time map of the area.' Lith thought while a detailed hologram of the robbed caravan's surroundings was taking form in front of him.
He sent two spheres along the Kusha route. One scanned the road in front of the wreck and the other the path leading to Zantia, searching for clues while the remaining spheres mapped the mountains.
'I can even use Solus's mana sense through the mirrors so that the moment they spot anything or anyone with magical powers, I can safely follow them from a distance.' After a couple of hours, the spheres had found nothing useful. Lith left the Mirror Hall and went to Solus's quarters.
"How is it going?" He asked.
"The usual. I am about halfway through the book, but it's hard to tell when I'll be finished. I keep finding obscure terms that force me to check both Faluel's vocabularies and my translation of the early chapters.
"I've rewritten the whole damn thing over thirty times already. I can't risk botching a single line, otherwise any crafting based on my work would result in failure." Solus was in her wisp form, looking like a small sun that had books for satellites instead of planets.
Even though she loved her human form, having only two eyes was crippling compared to her wisp's full spatial awareness, which allowed her to read several tomes at once while writing.
"Are you looking for something in particular?"
"Of course. We need the blueprints for a ring." Lith took the purified ingot's piece out of his pocket dimension and showed it to Solus.
"I want to give it a pseudo core to check if it stops the self-tempering process. It doesn't matter if we succeed or fail. As long as the metal is not destroyed, I can always later remove the enchantment with Origin Flames once I master them."
"Then why not just crafting a dimensional ring or something?" Solus asked.
"And waste the only bit of purified Orichalcum I got? This way we can practice Runesmithing and put our own advanced Forgemastering techniques to the test. We need to know if Necro and Blood Forge work with runes or if we just wasted our time inventing them." Lith shook his head.
The Forgemastering techniques Lith and Solus had learned at the White Griffon academy were incapable of both producing superior artifacts and harnessing the full potential of metals with their own mana flow, like Orichalcum, Adamant, or Davross
To do that, a Forgemaster had to use Runesmithing, a discipline that was only accessible to Royal Forgemasters and ancient magical bloodlines. Being neither, Lith had devised Necro and Bloom Forge to successfully tap into the Orichalcum potential without runes.
Chapter 865 A New Project Part 1
Yet neither Bloom nor Necro Forge was enough to harness the magical strength that Lith's tower bestowed upon him. His hope was that by combining Runesmithing with his own original techniques, he would be able to follow the footsteps of Menadion, the First Forgemaster and Solus' mentor, if not even surpassing her.
"Faluel will only teach us Runesmithing, but that alone might not be enough. Her techniques will allow us to reach our full potential but that will just put on equal footing with normal Forgemasters, while we are nothing but.
"The tower allows us to tap into mana geysers and draw from Mogar's power unlike any other mage, but at the same time, it makes conventional methods useless. We need to find a suitable technique to overcome such a limit.
"Faluel can't help me with that unless I reveal your existence to her, and that's not going to happen." Lith said.
'Thanks to the tower, Menadion's artifacts are still considered unparalleled despite having been crafted with obsolete methods. There's no telling what we could achieve if we couple its power with modern Forgemastering techniques.
'I wonder if the tower is something master Menadion just found, inherited, or did she craft it herself.' Solus thought while skimming through the untranslated booklet.
"Contrary to what we learned as Forgemasters, Runesmithing considers rings as high tier items. That's because, unlike weapons and armor, they offer a limited surface for engraving runes.
"It makes rings more difficult to craft since a single poorly placed rune can greatly reduce the enchantment's efficacy." She said.
"Are you telling me that crafting methods for small objects are described at the end of the book?" Lith inwardly cursed at his bad luck.
"Mostly, yes. There are a few described in the pages that I'm about to translate, but we're talking about simplest stuff." She read a few pages, giving him a rough translation of the requirements to perform Runesmithing process.
"On top of that, I can't rush my work. These experiments are supposed to be practiced in sequence so that the students carry over everything they learn from the simplest spells. This adds another layer of difficulty in doing a proper translation."
"This is just perfect." Lith hugged the wisp with enthusiasm, almost causing Solus to drop everything on the ground. "Creating runes costs money and I can't waste time and ingredients crafting crap."
Being them learning tools, most of the initial blueprints produced items without practical value.
"A simple ring is the best way to put to the test how well our Forgemastering techniques work with Runesmithing while keeping our expenses to a minimum. As soon as you find the description of a ring we could use, send me the list of the necessary ingredients and I'll do the rest."
Lith left Solus's room and went outside to keep training at controlling his Origin Flames. He was now focused solely on producing small amounts of fire. Each attempt required very little life force so the new experiments caused a minimum amount of strain upon his body compared to his previous training methods.
Lith was so focused that noon arrived and passed without him noticing. From time to time, he would send a stray thought to the tower to check on the map completion rate and Solus's progress with the booklet.
'This is interesting. Quality and quantity of Origin Flames might be closely related since no matter how small the life force spark is, the fire tends to propagate like, well, fire. It just loses power since the area of effect is the same but the energy behind the phenomenon is reduced.
'If I'm right, to produce higher quality flames I don't need to spend more life force, just to focus it to the limit and…' His train of thoughts derailed when something pulled at his consciousness.
'Fuck me sideways! Today I forgot to report twice already. Kamila must be worried sick. Can you hold the fort while I'm away, Solus?' Lith's army amulet was blinking, but he couldn't reply without giving out his location.
'No problem, but if you go outside our mind link's range, I will not be able to contact you if the spheres find something, so make it quick. Also, we must find a name for those things. Calling them glass spheres sounds wrong.' She replied.
'Solus's Eyes?' Lith returned to the first floor, using the Warp Mirror to instantly arrive at the wreckage site.
'Too long and my eyes work perfectly, thanks. You are a Wyrmling, so what about Wyrmling Balls?'
'If we were on Earth, I'd say we'd got seconds away from getting sued with such a name. Sentries?' Lith crossed over the dimensional tunnel and activated the communication amulet.
'Sentries. A fitting name for our scouting units. See you soon.'
"Ranger Verhen, are you there? Is everything alright" Kamila asked the moment Lith's hologram appeared. Her voice was calm and professional, but Lith could see from her eyes that she was on the verge of panic.
"Ranger Verhen reporting for duty, and yes, I'm fine. I apologize for being late but I was so focused doing my job that I lost track of time."
"Did you find the culprits already?" She sighed in relief.
"No. As you can see by my coordinates, I was investigating the area and…"
"Lith Verhen, let me get this straight." From the sound of her voice, Lith guessed that if he had a middle name, Kamila would have used it and with a particular emphasis at that.
"According to Baroness Mergrave's report, you traveled to Zantia and made contact with her right after sunrise, correct?"
"Yes."
"Which means that you arrived at the scene in about two hours…"
"One, actually." Lith corrected her. He was half proud of his speed and half certain that somehow, he was digging his own grave.
"Can you explain to me why, in the last six hours, even though you had a perfectly working communication amulet at hand and you were aware of how dangerous the situation is, even though you failed to find the slightest clue, did it never cross your mind to give me, I mean the Headquarters, a call?
"Before answering, I want you to know that the only reason why the army didn't send reinforcements to your last known position is that I personally assured our commanding officer that you work best alone and that it would have been a waste of resources."
After Lith had shared with her his hybrid nature and his ability to use magic like an Emperor Beast, Kamila knew that her boyfriend's survival rate was at its peak when he had no one to witness the full scope of his abilities.
Not having heard from Lith for hours, she feared that if the army pinpointed his location while his life was endangered, they could not only discover his secrets, but also lead Lith to his demise.
Martial law was strict to begin with, but since the undead invasion had become of public knowledge things had become even worse. To overrule several military protocols and make sure Lith would have free rein, it had cost Kamila quite the effort, to the point of calling in favors and owing a few on her own.
Discovering that the missed reports she had fought so hard to cover up in order to protect his privacy if not his life from harm, were actually caused by Lith's total disregard for his duty, almost made her pop a vein.
Chapter 866 A New Project Part 2
Lith knew she was right and that if Commander Berion decided to assign him a partner to compensate for his unreliability, not only his current mission, but also the entirety of his remaining stay in the corps would become a nightmare.
The undead crisis had put everyone on their toes and one of the reasons was that usually an operative missing a call now meant that they had been killed or captured.
Every person that disappeared in the wilds was assumed dead or in the process of being turned into an undead since it wouldn't make their communication rune vanish. Both the Kingdom and the undead Courts were recruiting the best elements they could find to fight the ongoing war.
Things were becoming so dire that both the Mage Association and the army had enforced a buddy system, to protect their best operatives from being "recruited" by the other side.
Rangers were one of the few remaining exceptions and while Lith's blunder would've had no consequences in the past, now was likely to make his commanding officer prone to apply the buddy system to him as well.
Which meant no more tower Warping around, no more alone time with Solus, no more any of the comforts that his tower offered to him, and being forced to hide most of his talents.
Being their conversation recorded, Kamila expressed only part of her outrage. She lectured Lith only about the importance to respect the protocols, like any competent handler would do when dealing with an irresponsible Ranger. The girlfriend's fury had to wait.
"I'm really sorry, it won't happen again." Lith tapped his lips twice with his forefinger, a secret code between them that meant there were things he couldn't say on the army amulet.
He gave Kamila a full report, explaining his theories and showing the results of his work. Or better, the results of the Sentries' work
"I didn't stay idle. I scouted the area in search of clues and even though I found nothing, in the case of a chase, my marks will not be the only ones familiar with the territory."
A 3D hologram of the area appeared between Lith's palms. Red lines marked all the possible escape routes by land from all the known attack sites.
"Did you find any trace of Ranger Acala? His handler has reported his disappearance for almost a full day now." Kamila asked.
'Damn my rotten luck. That's why the high command is so jumpy. They must have thought that our disappearances were connected. Thank heavens Kamila watched my back.' Lith thought.
"None. Do you want me to look out for him?"
"Yes. A rescue team would take too long to get there. Tracing the vampire activity takes priority. Finding your fellow Ranger is a secondary objective. If you miss any more calls, we'll assume something has happened to you as well. Lieutenant Yehval out."
The conversation ended abruptly, only to resume a second later on his civilian amulet.
"Well, what do you have to tell me?" Despite the fact that Kamila's voice was a thin whisper, it still managed to sound angry. She was walking double-time toward the bathroom, the only place where she could have a bit of privacy.
"I'm really sorry for making you worry for nothing, Kami. It's just that giving reports is akin to torture to me. Seeing you, listening to your voice, and yet being unable to really be with you." Lith tried to touch her hologram, but his fingers passed through it.
"That's what happens when someone in your line of job chooses to date someone." She sighed, massaging her temples.
"Do you think it's any different for me? I'm the one who is forced to look at the damn amulet at fixed intervals, hoping to hear from you one more time and that our previous conversation wasn't also the last.
"I'm the one who has to deal with her own work and your shenanigans. Maybe you can afford to lose yourself in your job, in your experiments, in whatever you do while you're alone out there, but I can't.
"It's me who your family calls to make sure you are alright. As your handler, it's my duty to worry about you, but as your girlfriend, every time you miss a report's deadline, I start imagining terrible things that make me want to cry.
"There's nothing more that I'd want than having you here. These months have been hard on the both of us, yet I soldiered on and tried not to add my burden to your own. I don't want your apologies, I don't even care about your goddamn missions, I just want to know that you're alive."
Her eyes became watery, yet she didn't cry nor her voice cracked. Her strength only made Lith feel more like a jerk than he already did. He was actually having an easy time thanks to his mage tower and he didn't worry about his family or Kamila because he knew they were well protected.
He remained silent, not wanting to sound like a broken record with his apologies. Lith couldn't even ask Kamila if she wanted to take a break from their relationship. He was the one traveling alone, so it would sound like asking her permission to sleep around.
"Do you want me to tell something to your mother the next time I hear from her?" Kamila was the one breaking the silence.
"Yes. Tell her that I'm still an egotistical jerk that doesn't deserve his girlfriend. Also, tell her that, once I'm back, I'll make up to everyone, especially to said girlfriend."
"I'll make sure to relay the message." Kamila giggled. "I miss you."
"I miss you more." Lith closed the communication before it became too painful and returned to his tower. He shared everything with Solus and was scolded again for it.
"Don't think I haven't noticed that with the excuse of not revealing your position you are calling home way less frequently than usual." Solus said. "They must be worried sick."
"Well, they could call me. Also, I already have so little free time that when I get a break I'm always itching for my research."
"How could your family call when they believe that you're working day and night? Also, whenever you get a break, you shove the civilian amulet in the pocket dimension to not be disturbed!"
Solus left him off the hook only because the disappearance of Ranger Acala made the situation even more dangerous. The members of the corps were only the cream of the crop, so even an average Ranger was an excellent fighter and a great mage.
Lith ate his meal and continued training until sundown. The Sentries had yet to find anything relevant, so he called them back to patrol the area nearby the Kusha route in search for enemy movements.
He timely performed his evening report and asked for updates.
"These guys seem more like ghosts than vampires. I got nothing so far. Can you forward me all the information about the caravans currently in the area? I plan on following them and catch the bandits unprepared." Lith said.
"Done and done. Beware that if Ranger Acala has been really caught, the operation might be compromised. Maybe the vampires are not showing up because they are busy interrogating him or because they learned about your arrival. I'm also sending you Acala's last known location."
The Ranger's amulet was still unavailable, yet his rune proved that he was alive.
Chapter 867 Light and Crystal Part 1
Lith had the Sentries following the caravans within the tower's area of effect, but his efforts were fruitless. The guards hired by the merchants were capable of dealing with most the common criminals and the presence of two Rangers in the area was well known.
The smart professionals preferred to take a rain check and look for less dangerous jobs.
During the following days, Lith checked the inventories of all the disappeared caravans, but there was no apparent connection between them. Following the bandits dumb enough to show their faces to their hideouts proved to be useless as well.
They knew nothing about Rangers or vampires, they were just trying to make easy money by selling the stolen goods and asking ransoms for the hostages.
Lith spent daytime practicing Accumulation and Origin Flames while during the night he would search for Acala and his captors. The only silver lining of the situation was that Solus had translated Huryole's book up to the rings and that they already had all the necessary materials to craft them.
"It's time to practice Runesmithing! I'll engrave the runes on some scrap rings to get accustomed to the technique before attempting the real deal. The purified Orichalcum from the ingot is barely enough for a couple of tries so I can't afford mistakes." Lith said.
"Good idea. Luckily, the materials are not too uncommon. Most of them can be easily bought on regular channels while we'll have to rely on the army for restocking once we run out of them. Now, I've narrowed our selection to a couple of rings that…"
Suddenly their consciousness was pulled by the Mirror Hall, where one of the Sentries was reporting unusual activity.
"Now of all moments?" Lith blurted out with frustration.
"I mean, it's still daytime." He corrected himself a second too late. Wisps had no eyes, yet the intensity of Solus's glare was almost physical. "I was just surprised. I didn't mean that I don't care about the lives of those poor merchants."
"Tell me another one." Solus clicked her tongue while Warping them to the Hall.
Contrary to Lith's expectations, the mirror wasn't showing a caravan, but a lonely figure flying at high speed at the ground level.
"Human, bright blue core, outstanding vitality." Solus zoomed on the face after adjusting the Sentry's position. "Isn't that Ranger Acala?"
Solus recognized him from the images Kamila had forwarded them.
"He's being followed! Multiple hostiles inbound, all of them have a blood core. Some are thralls, others are full undead."
"It's worse than that, look at his hand." Lith said pointing at the communication amulet Acala was holding. "He's requesting back up and he's near our alleged position. There's no time to lose."
Lith moved the tower as close as possible while casting a Warp Steps, finishing just a few seconds before his amulet started to ping. Acala's handler had forwarded the call directly to Lith, who received only a map showing his own position and that of his fellow Ranger together with the order to provide back up.
The first Warp brought Lith where he was supposed to be, while the second materialized him in front of his flabbergasted colleague, forcing Acala to a halt.
"You idiot!" Acala's green eyes were bloodshot from the lack of sleep and fury. "You were supposed to ambush them, not join the escapees club. If we don't reduce their number, we're as good as dead. We need reinforcements..."
Lith's reply was to push him through the Warp and then close the dimensional corridor right before the two closest enemies reached their position. A blonde-haired thrall swooped down like an eagle releasing a stream of lightning shaped like a net while a true undead pierced at Lith's flank with a heavily enchanted spear.
Ruin appeared in his right hand, cutting through the net first and the blonde thrall's head second. The blade absorbed the spell and used it to empower itself, cutting her vertically asunder while cauterizing the wound at the same time.
Lith sidestepped the spear lunge and raised his left hand, releasing a sphere of darkness magic that engulfed the creature and turned him into ashes. A small piece of a pristine white crystal fell from the dust cloud, shattering on contact with the ground.
The female thrall's corpse turned into fractured glass. The fragments broke down into smaller pieces until the only thing left was her equipment.
'What was that?' Lith asked while focusing on the remaining enemies.
'No clue.' Solus replied. 'The woman was a human while the man was a vampire. It's all I know.'
'Since when do humans turn into crystal upon death and can vampires withstand daylight?' The group had stopped advancing, their eyes shone with a white light that didn't bode well.
'Again, no clue. What I can tell you is that the energy coming from their eyes bears the same frequency. My guess is that they share some kind of mind link.' Solus stored their fallen enemies' equipment inside her pocket dimension.
'Are they Awakened?' Lith was flabbergasted. His own eyes emitted a blue light because he had a blue core. If the same applied to his opponents, it meant that he was about to fight four people with white cores at the same time.
'Not that I can tell. The thralls' mana cores don't match their eye color. Something is off here.'
The four came down in a coordinated formation, attacking Lith from every side at the same time. Life Vision spotted several lines of white mana. It was invisible to the naked eye and connected the white-eyed creatures, forming a magic circle that became more complex by the second.
'Do you want to trap me inside an array? Thanks, but no thanks.' Lith Blinked away before the magical formation was completed, leaving behind a Raging Sun as a parting gift.
It was a tier five War Mage spell created by mixing fire and earth magic that generated a powerful explosion and flames so hot that they could melt stone. Its effects were akin to a volcanic eruption.
The shroud of white energy became visible and engulfed the purple flames for a second, as if it was attempting to smother them. Then, the explosion overpowered the array, breaking it along with the enemy formation and sending the four to crash against the ground.
All of them were burned and battered, but still alive.
'I get that undead are naturally resistant to magic, but what about the thralls?' Lith kept his distance, weaving one spell after another while trying to understand the real nature of the threat at hand.
Both the living and the undead were healing at a speed visible at the naked eye, yet neither their vitality nor their blood cores were diminished from it.
'That's it! They must be Awakened. Only Invigoration can regenerate wounds without exhausting the body.' Lith thought.
'No, they are not. The array was a hard-light construct meant to squash you like a bug while protecting them from whatever spell you could dish out. As for the healing, do you see the white light engulfing them? Well, it has an energy signature of its own.'
Solus's words made little sense to him and to make matters worse, Lith didn't have the time to ask for a more detailed explanation. The four were back at their peak condition and ready for round two.
Chapter 868 Light and Crystal Part 2
Another array was quickly forming, using the four as its cornerstones. The magical formation seemed to draw in the light element from the world energy, casting a twilight over the area even though the sun was still high in the sky.
Not willing to discover its effects, Lith Blinked near one of the thralls, the weak link in the magical chain. Unfortunately, the four were each looking in a different direction, leaving no blind spot.
The moment Lith appeared they all turned toward him, each unleashing from the formation between them not fire, but pure heat condensed in a scorching white beam. It vaporized earth and stones on contact, leaving only a diamond-shaped hole the size of a man in its wake.
The four smiled in triumph and then screamed in pain. Lith was still alive and stabbing, right behind the other human thrall. Ruin pierced the man's heart while Lith's free hand squashed the head like grape, making any kind of recovery impossible.
'Can you believe that they tried to pull a mind link trap on us, Solus?' Lith thought, Blinking away to safety.
'Beating us at our own game? Those amateurs had no chance.' Solus replied with a sneer.
One of the risks of using a too deep mind link was that along with thoughts, pain would be shared as well as anything that afflicted the brain, like the feeling of having your head squashed.
Moreover, casting together an array was a mammoth task that required perfect synch between the mages.
The violent loss of one of their members had also caused an unbalance in the spell that spiraled out of control and resulted in a conflagration of the stored energy. The three were still blinded by pain and unable to react in time.
A wild spell was dangerous by nature. It was capable of harming its caster even though it bore their energy signature. A wild array was much worse since even perfect magical formations were unable to distinguish friend from foe.
Lith sighed, sad at the idea of having sacrificed precious loot in the line of duty. Aside from the scorched crater in the ground, there was no trace left of his most recent enemies.
'There, there. Three out of six is still good, plus you have saved the Ranger. That should amount to something. For the Kingdom, I mean.' Solus thought, trying to cheer him up.
Lith thanked her and conjured a Warp Steps to reach his colleague, yet he found nothing but his fake camp waiting for him on the other side. The moment Lith took his army amulet out of his pocket dimension to check about Acala's whereabouts, the rune of his handler started to blink.
"Ranger Verhen, do you copy?" Kamila's voice sounded worried.
"Affirmative. I've rescued the missing Ranger Acala and disposed of the enemies pursuing him."
"All of them?" Her voice turned from worried to surprised.
"All of them. I've lost visual of Ranger Acala, though. Where is he?"
"Flying for his life toward the nearest army base with a Gate." Kamila said. "He's telling his handler an interesting story, according to which Acala was against a group of powerful enemies that forced him on the run.
"He's also spent quite a few words about your idiotic bravado that cost you your life. According to Acala, your communication rune is still online because they have either captured you or are about to kill you."
"I guess this man redefines the concept of 'being wrong'." Lith shrugged. "Do you think you can persuade him to give me all the information he possesses? I've got nowhere so far, and I've got no one left to interrogate."
"I'm still happily confused seeing that you are alive and well despite what stated in Acala's dramatic report, but I can do better. I'll have him go back, so you can ask him anything you want. Once you're done with him, I expect a full report.
"I'm going to print it in triplicate and use it to slap off the face of Acala's handler his contemptuous smirk.
"You should have seen him while he described the entire office how my famous Ranger Verhen got himself killed like an amateur, whereas his unremarkable Ranger Acala discovered a plot that could jeopardize the Kingdom."
Kamila wore her usual gentle smile while talking with Lith, but the twitch in her left eye told him that her colleague was in a world of trouble.
While waiting for Acala, Lith lighted a fire and put up a water kettle. Judging from their brief encounter, his fellow Ranger had undergone a lot of hardships. Lith needed to know what was happening, and Acala was the only one who could point him in the right direction.
Hot tea with some liquor was the best way to help him relax and loosen his tongue. The man had already lost a lot of face by disappearing for so long and running away from enemies he claimed to be mighty.
Upon learning that Lith had easily dispatched them and was about to steal his limelight, Acala might prove to be uncooperative.
'You always expect the worst from people, do you?' Solus sighed.
'Everyone is guilty until proven otherwise.' Lith nodded.
'By the way, aren't you curious about how the heck did those guys used advanced light magic? The first array they employed resembled Manohar's offensive spells, while the second one was more like a mix of light and fire magic.
'We've never seen anyone, not even the Mad Professor being able to mix the light element with anything but darkness.' He thought.
'True, but that's only because so far we've met only one person capable of using offensive light magic.' Solus pointed out.
'To answer your question, yes, I'm curious. I'm also ready to bet that their ability was linked to the external source of mana they shared. Do you remember when I told you that the white aura surrounding them had an energy signature of its own?
'Well, the vampires bore two energy signatures, one from their blood core and the other from the white light, while the thralls bore three of them. Their own mana core, a blood core from their sire, and the white light as well.'
'And energy signature without a core?' Lith was flabbergasted. 'What was its power source and how the heck can vampire survive under direct sunlight?'
'Now you're asking too much from me. The fight lasted barely twenty seconds and I was more focused on keeping you alive than asking them trivia. By the way, we have guests.' Solus telepathically pointed at a figure flying in their direction.
Ranger Acala was a man in his early thirties, 1.78 meters (5'10") tall with already a few grey hairs mixed with his chestnut hair and a beard of a brown so light to look almost red.
His slouched shoulders made him look tired and dejected while he neared the campfire, a feeling that was further emphasized by the lines around his green eyes.
"Sorry for leaving you for dead, but in our line of work you have no idea how many conceited youngsters with a death wish I've met." Acala said. The two Rangers shook hands before sitting on the stone chairs that Lith had conjured.
Acala looked at Lith with respect, more surprised by the second of not finding a single scratch on him. He sipped his spiked tea for a while, waiting for Lith to explain how he had managed to survive.
Chapter 869 Two’s Company, Three’s Crowd Part 1
"Don't worry about that. Do you mind telling me what's going on here?" Lith had no intention of explaining anything. At least until he learned how much the other Ranger knew.
There was a reason why he had pushed Acala through the Warp Steps and avoided submitting his report. For his story to be believable, it had to match with Acala's.
"Sure." Acala nodded, emptying his cup and immediately asking for a refill. "As you probably know, I was tasked with dealing with the bandits while you took care of the important stuff. I'm just an emergency replacement, after all."
His voice contained a tinge of resentment and was coated with more envy than sugar on a candy bar. A Ranger was considered at their peak condition at 25 years, when they had gained enough experience and their body was still in its prime.
Despite having spent ten years in the corps, Acala's name was just one of the many on the list. Moreover, being him past his thirties, no one expected anything from him but to keep things in order while Lith was busy.
Acala knew to be nothing more than a placeholder and he was absolutely livid about it.
"So, once I discovered that instead of bandits I was dealing with the undead, I followed them to their hideout to investigate. The reason I failed to contact my handler so far, is that the place is a goddamned maze filled with arrays that block dimensional magic.
"You have no idea what I went through. No food, no sunlight, no way to call for help, just surviving out of scraps while waiting for the right moment to get away."
"It sounds rough." Lith handed him a piece of fresh bread, eager to get back on topic. "Where is the place and what were they doing?"
"I was getting there." Acala nodded while wolfing down the food. "First of all, those vampires are weird. No matter how strong the sun shines, there's always this thin shroud of darkness around their bodies that allows them to move freely even during the day."
"Also, their numbers are too little to have built a whole underground complex. My guess is that they either found the place by chance or they were looking for it."
"I heard from your handler that their plan can jeopardize the Kingdom. How exactly?" Lith asked.
"The network of caves they are hiding in is full of ancient junk. From what I could see during the past few days, they are using it to build a Gate. To make matters worse, their numbers increase by the day.
"Those leeches didn't kidnap the travelers to feed upon them, but to turn them. If we lose too much time, the Kingdom will have to deal with a vampire nest capable of freely moving wherever there isn't a protective array."
'Wow, a Gate and a nest at the same time. Way to go to jinx it, Lith.' Solus tried to make it sound like a joke, but she was starting to believe in bad luck.
"That makes no sense." Lith replied to both. "A Gate requires a power source and a growing nest needs lots of food. The vampires should have emptied entire villages already if that were true."
"I saw what I saw." Acala didn't bother to hide his annoyance at Lith's disbelief. "I can't explain the Gate, but one thing I know for sure. Those bastards don't need to feed."
"What?" Lith blurted out with a bit too much enthusiasm for the liking of any sane person listening to him.
Vampires able to move during the day, capable of using all elements, and with no hunger were a nightmare for the three Great Countries, but wonderful news for Lith. It was the answer to all of his problems, nicely wrapped up and served to him on a silver platter.
"Are you insane or what? Do you understand what I'm telling you? I was stuck in there for days, waiting for an opportunity to escape. Those guys don't sleep nor rest. The moment their guards spot you, they'll come at you in numbers."
Acala looked at the huge grin on Lith's face with disgust. In his eyes, only a madman could treat such dire news as a funny joke.
"I understand, but your story still doesn't make any sense. Turning someone into a vampire doesn't grant you dominance over them. If they are just kidnapping random people, why don't the thralls and the newborn vampires rebel?" Lith was sick of Acala's attitude and decided to put him in his place.
"I could understand if they were rising corpses, but resetting their victims' personalities would also take away all of their knowledge and it would take months to teach them the basics of combat from scratch.
"Among your attackers there were humans and all of them fought like professionals. How do you explain this?"
"I don't." Acala snarled, abruptly standing up to look Lith in the eyes. "I'm no Necromancer, but since you're a genius, I'm sure that you'll find an answer to all of your stupid questions.
"I've already asked for reinforcements. Once they are here, we must sweep the caves as fast as possible and solve the problem. We're dealing with hard facts, there's no time to waste with your philosophical questions."
"Wait all you want. Just point me in the right direction and tell me what to expect. I'll do the rest." Lith said.
'There's no way I'm going to let some zealot kill all the vampires before I discover what's their secret.' He thought.
'If the Kingdom finds whatever is empowering them, it will end up in the Royal Forgemasters' hands. If I go in alone first and take that knowledge for myself, I'll be several steps closer to solving once and for all my resurrection problem!'
"I don't know if you're more reckless or arrogant." Acala spat on the ground. "If you go there, we'll lose the element of surprise!"
"That ship has sailed once they found you out." Lith replied. "I've already cleaned up your mess once, I can do it again. They are waiting for us and the more time passes, the better they can prepare. Or do you think they'll ignore the disappearance of six of them?"
The two Rangers had their hands on the hilt of their respective weapons when both their army amulets started to blink. Once turned on, they projected two holograms.
The first belonged to Kamila and the other to a young man in his twenties who could have been considered handsome, if not for the fact that he seemed to have a broomstick up his ass.
The mood between the handlers seemed as tense as that between the Rangers. Lith reviewed Acala's report with Kamila, pointing out its inconsistencies to undermine the threat level of the situation at hand.
Then, he described how he had dispatched Acala's pursuers, leaving out their ability to use offensive light magic. Arrays couldn't be used while flying at high speed and Lith doubted that undead needed that kind of firepower to deal with weakly humans.
He was certain that Acala didn't witness the full scope of their powers and the ensuing silence confirmed Lith's guess.
"Best case scenario I'll get rid of them on my own. Worst case scenario, I'll still be able to scout the area and provide the assault team with the information they need, preventing them from falling into traps." Lith said.
"That's an excellent idea." The hologram of Commander Berion appeared behind Kamila's.
Chapter 870 Two’s Company, Three’s Crowd Part 2
He was a man in his early thirties, almost as tall as Lith, standing 1.8 (5'11") meters tall with pitch-black hair and eyes. His pale blue uniform had one large black silk band around the right arm with several golden marks knitted on it.
Each mark represented a fallen member of an elite army corps during the current week. Even though the Griffon Kingdom was in a privileged position, they kept losing good people on a daily basis.
All the upper echelons of the Kingdom wore such bands to be reminded of the consequences of their actions.
"Ranger Acala has already explored the complex while Ranger Verhen has proved time and time again to be a one-man army. It offers us a perfect combination and the opportunity to test the buddy system for the Ranger corps." Berion said.
"With all due respect, sir, I work best alone. All I need is a detailed report of the complex's location and layout." Lith already had a partner. Compared to Solus, Acala was dead weight.
"I agree with Ranger Verhen, sir." The simple act of saying those words turned Acala's face into a disgusted grimace.
"After the prolonged isolation, I'm in dire need of rest and food. Time is of the essence, so if Verhen thinks he is able to handle himself, he should be allowed to go in alone." Acala wanted to be left out of such a plan.
He could already see the final report in the case the mission succeeded. Lith would get all the glory and he would barely be mentioned in the footnotes.
"Two against one. Too bad the army is not a democracy." Berion had his first laugh in days seeing the hostility between the two men laid bare in front of him.
"The fact that you both agree is the start of a wonderful comradeship. Ranger Verhen, no report can replace first-hand experience. If the vampires move even a rock to place a trap, Ranger Acala would notice. Having been trapped there for days I'm sure he paid close attention to the slightest details.
"Ranger Acala, I don't see any wound on you and judging from your flight speed, you're more than fit for the mission. I expect you to move out in the next ten minutes. Is that clear?"
"Sir, yes, sir." The two Rangers said in unison.
"Cut back on the alcohol and switch to water." Lith handed Acala a still steaming steak sandwich and a jug of fresh water. "I officially got a ten minutes break and I'm going to spend it with my girlfriend."
When Lith Blinked away, surrounding himself with the Hush spell and proving to his fellow Ranger the complete lack of trust between them, Acala almost choked on his meal.
'What the fuck is that? I spent ten years of my life, enduring sweat, tears, and blood for my country. All I got for it is a minor noble title and a land in the middle of nowhere. How come a little runt gets all the honors and a hottie?
'When I was still on active duty, if I wanted company, I had to pay for it. No one is supposed to like Rangers!' Acala bit the sandwich with fury, his green eyes never left Lith's standing figure in the distance as he ruminated about life's unfairness.
"Buddy system or not, I've sent you Acala's full report along with his personal file and the attack force he had requested to take down the vampire nest." Kamila had gone to the bathroom and used Jirni's code to make sure that their conversation would stay private.
"I don't trust that guy. He whined all the time and left you for dead. I'm digging up his past exploits to give you an idea of his specializations and how he employs them. Just in case he tries something funny."
"Thanks, Kami. You're the best." Lith skimmed through the data, noticing that the most relevant parts had already been underlined. Kamila had prepared them while Berion was still talking.
Lith didn't know whether to be proud of her paranoid behavior or just worried.
'I wonder who between me and Jirni is the worse influence on her.' He thought.
'My money is on Jirni.' Solus said. 'You try to keep her out of the worst shit that happens to you, whereas Jirni rubs Kamila's nose in it to teach her how a Royal Constable survives.'
"You better remember it while you're out there surrounded by pretty noblewomen." Kamila's laugh made his day.
"What about you? I bet that by following Jirni all day long, you got a line of suitors as long as the Kusha route. Do I have to get jealous?" Lith asked.
"Not really. Lady Ernas kills the mood in a room just like she does anyone else. Even when she's not with me, no one is brave enough to face the guards bearing the Ernas insignia. Jokes aside, do you think Acala will drag you down?" Kamila looked at her amulet's watch.
Their time was running out.
"He doesn't seem incompetent like a noble nor annoying like Ranger Eari. As long as he does his job properly, I'll manage."
By the time Lith returned to the camp, Acala was done eating and was taking a nap. The first thing one learned in the corps was to keep their temper in check, the second was to sleep whenever they could.
Lith stored everything inside his pocket dimension before waking him up.
They agreed on reaching their destination by flight. Dimensional magic was mana expensive and they preferred to save their strength.
'Solus, analysis.' Lith thought while Acala led the way.
'Bright blue core and excellent physical condition. For a human. Judging from his file, he lacked both the ambition and the luck necessary to rise among the army ranks. Talent wasn't his problem.
'Ranked second overall at the Fire Griffon academy, two specializations, Battle and War Mage, plus a third as Healer achieved during his service. My estimate is that, unlike you, he lived during peaceful times.
'No conflicts also mean no opportunity to shine. Long story short, peace crippled his wings and now that things got "interesting", he's eager to make up for the lost time. I'm afraid that your coming ruined his plans to finally become a hero.
'The attack plan Acala proposed to Berion revolves around himself. Glory hog much.' Solus was memorizing Acala's file while Lith focused on their surroundings.
'So Kamila's gut was right. He might really try to take me out just to fulfill his ambition.' Lith was mildly amused, but not surprised. Acala had done very little to hide his feelings of envy, and the bloodlust he had released after learning that Kamila was Lith's girlfriend had sealed the deal.
'Too bad that, as the guide, he is the one who has to entrust his back to me. I had already planned to make an "accident" happen to him in the case I need to go all out or we discover the secret behind perfect undeath.
'I can't risk mister boy scout ratting me out or delivering my prize to the Royals just to get his 15 minutes of fame. The undead's dimensional sealing array will be my best ally, preventing the amulets from working.'
Solus had many issues with killing innocent people, but the more she knew Acala, the harder it was to consider him as such.
Chapter 871 Old Enemies Part 1
"How did you find the undead's base of operation?" Lith asked.
"I was lucky. I stumbled upon the vampires during my patrol, while they were assaulting a travelers' caravan. I was about to intervene when I noticed that the bandits were freaking undead.
"I let them do their job and then I followed them back to their hideout. They had taken the humans alive, so I thought that I could save them later. Worst case scenario, they would have been collateral damage. The Kingdom sometimes requires sacrifices." Acala shrugged.
"After alerting the Headquarters, I tailed them in an underground network of caves that led me damn deep. That plus the arrays shut down all communications.
"I got stuck there because, after performing the ritual to turn their prisoners into thralls, the guards resumed their positions while I was still studying the odd machinery they built. I had to wait for their next expedition to get my opportunity to escape.
"After days without sleep and eating, not only was I so tired that they spotted me, but I had also the pleasure to learn that fucking Baroness Margrave and all the fucking nobles I risked my ass for a decade to protect, didn't trust me enough to get the job done and had their golden boy meddle with my hard work." By the time Acala was done talking, the veins on his neck were bulging in outrage.
'This explains a lot. The vampires didn't let anyone escape, they were just unlucky. Also, deep underground caves? Machinery?' Lith had no interest in Acala's rants, only in figuring out what he was about to deal with.
"You talked about a ritual, but making a thrall doesn't take one. Can you describe it in more detail?" He asked.
"The members of the nest formed a circle around a stone table where the victim was strapped. Then, their bodies emitted a white light that formed an array which empowered a white mana crystal.
"The crystal was embedded in a big bundle of metal wire and pipes. After a while, the energy was accumulated and amplified by the crystal and then injected inside the victim. That's all I've got." Acala replied.
'From his description, it sounds like an Odi lab, but this still doesn't make sense. The Odi despised undead and weren't able to use tier five spells. Even assuming that all the undead I faced had their original personalities replaced, where the heck did they learn modern magic?
'Also, the fact that the vampires fueled the array needed to empower the machine is another inconsistency. Without enough people that know the ritual and how to operate the device, the whole thing is just a piece of junk.
'There's no way a group of recently awakened Odi can overpower an entire nest of vampires to steal their bodies. Moreover, why would a nest even be here in the first place?' Lith thought.
"You said the machine turned them into thralls instead of vampires. How can you be so sure?" Since the undead he had encountered were able to withstand sunlight, Lith was able to distinguish between thralls from vampire only thanks to Solus's mana sense.
Acala's words confused Lith to no end.
"You ask too many questions. How the heck did you manage to join the army with such an attitude? A soldier only needs to obey his orders and let his superiors do the thinking." Acala said.
"As for your question, the ritual involved the exchange of blood between victims and vampires so I assumed they became thralls. Undead don't feed upon other undead."
"You ask too few questions and assume much." Lith replied. "No wonder you remained a grunt your whole career. Blind loyalty is only good for foot soldiers, whereas initiative is required from officials.
"Or do you believe that you get the permission to think for yourself along with the promotion?"
The exchange of insults continued until they reached their destination. It was a pile of rocks leaning against the side of a mountain.
"That's just a landmark formed after a landslide. Follow me and shut up." Acala cast an array detecting spell to make sure nothing had changed since his last visit.
Then, he led Lith toward the south-east, following the mountain range.
Even with his 3D map, Lith had trouble understanding where they were exactly. The Serpent Tongue derived its name from the mountain range splitting into two smaller branches at some point.
The mana geysers at his disposal were located respectively at one of the Tongue's ends and another near the Kusha Route, whereas Acala had brought him somewhere near the root of the Tongue.
The Ranger signaled Lith to expect two guards and be careful. Then, he flew up until he found a mark in the stone that resonated with his mana. It was a common trick among Rangers that Lith had learned from another veteran, Morok.
A whisper and a series of hand signs made the rock wall open, revealing a tunnel. Yet no one was there. Acala had a shocked expression for a few seconds before regaining his cool and casting a Life Detecting array.
"No guards? Where did they go?" He said after confirming there was no one around them. Acala sheathed his weapon while turning to Lith.
When Acala's eyes met the red blade of Ruin, he was barely able to contain another burst of swearing. As any competent mage, the Ranger could perceive the blade's powerful mana flow and appreciate its elegant design.
Purple mana crystals were embedded in both sides of the hilt, on the guard, and the pommel. Smaller blue crystals the size of a nut were placed in a vertical line along the middle of the flat sides of the blade, to ensure that the enchantments stored within its pseudo core were evenly channeled throughout Ruin's surface.
Even though runes couldn't be seen by the naked eye, Acala was close enough for his mana perception to feel the complex pattern of mystical words that covered the sword and gave it its red glow.
"Either I scared the shit out of them or they are making new puppies as we speak." Lith sheathed Ruin and started to take small bags of food out of his pocket dimension. "Once we get in, our storage items will become useless.
"You're the one who knows the complex. How much food do we need to safely complete the mission without starving?"
"How do you know that the arrays start right inside the cave and where did you get that sword?" Acala ignored Lith's question. He was too busy cursing how life was unfair to answer him.
"I don't." Lith lied. "Getting prepared in an open space instead of inside an unknown cave is just common sense. As for the blade, I traded a piece of my own for it with a fellow Forgemaster."
He avoided telling his drooling colleague that Ruin was just a prototype. Lith couldn't risk Acala having a stroke out of envy. Not until he had outlived his usefulness.
"I heard you come from farmers and serious Forgemastering requires money. A lot of it. How could you afford to take such specialization?"
"For someone who claims to not be curious, you sure ask a lot of questions." Lith replied. "I don't plan on having an official biographer so it's none of your business. Take out the food and make way."
Acala grumbled non-stop until they stepped inside the cave, each one of them carrying five days' worth of provisions stored inside special bags that trapped smells and sounds. The cave was dark, damp, and recent.
Chapter 872 Old Enemies Part 2
The condensed water dripping from the ceiling had yet to form pools and the rock's surface was too smooth to be natural. Lith didn't need light thanks to Fire Vision and Acala thanks to an amulet he possessed that made his eyes turn green.
The cave led into a much older tunnel that was part of a network of passages that extended downwards. They kept moving forward for hours, stopping only to check for the presence of enemies and traps by using detecting arrays.
Acala was able to find the way thanks to the mana imbued marks he had left during his first visit, while Lith's brain worked at full gear to make sense of the many contradicting details.
Solus scanned their surroundings with mana sense from time to time, finding nothing but bugs and moss.
'It's too bad that Ruin is still a complete mystery to us.' She thought once she got bored of revising the known facts over and over.
'The rune pattern is too complex to discern the different sets that comprise it and there are too many unknown runes to make any sense of a single line.'
'It's worse than that.' Lith replied. 'Even if we were able to read all the runes, we know nothing about the ingredients needed to both cast the enchantments and synch them with the runes. Without that, any attempt to replicate the blade would end up in failure.
'Besides, Ruin is just a prototype, which means that Orion is still tinkering with the project. It's better to work on the perfect version rather than waste our limited resources on what might as well be a partial failure.'
The Gatekeeper, Lith's previous weapon, was of a much simpler design. His mastery over Forgemastering allowed him to guess what kind of ingredients were needed to craft a pseudo core based on the enchantments it carried, but only as long runes weren't involved.
Normal Forgemastery was akin to fake magic, giving an object a spell that could only be turned on and off. Runesmithing, instead, made the enchantments work like true magic, giving their master the ability to activate, shape, and amplify the imbued spells at will.
The runes also allowed the wielder of the artifact to alternate between consuming their own mana, that of the pseudo core, or both, whereas regular artifacts could only feed off a fixed power source.
Attempting to replicate a complex piece like Ruin with Lith's current knowledge about runes would have been like a butcher leading a liver transplant surgery.
***
Meanwhile, near the rock pile, a humanoid figure half-covered in fur sniffed the air, following the scent of their prey. It took them a while to find the wall behind which lied the cave, but once they did, the stone became as soft as a fluid.
It allowed them to just walk through it without making any sound nor letting a single ray of light enter the cave. In the enclosed space of the tunnel, the scent became clearer, yet the creature had no intention to rush things.
They placed their claw-ending hand on the pavement, releasing small bursts of earth magic that spread through the ground for kilometers, providing them with a complete layout of the tunnels as well as their prey's location.
'You can hide behind a human form, but I know your real face. You'll pay for slaughtering my tribe, women and children alike, just because you considered us nothing but monsters. Your scales and fire will not protect you from me.
'It took me months to track you down, but now that you're in my element, there's no way out for you.'
The creature smelled the presence of undead, so it performed several checks in search of arrays before diving into the floor and swimming toward their enemy. The two Rangers had to walk along the corridors, following their twists and turns.
The creature moved in a straight line, quickly reducing the distance that separated them from the humans.
***
After conjuring a Hush spell to prevent smells and sounds from propagating through the tunnels, Lith and Acala stopped for lunch.
"Are you sure this is the right place? We've been walking for hours and I've yet to see a single trace of our enemies." Lith said.
"I really don't know what to say." Acala's mood kept swinging from rage to depression. He was aware that unless they found the vampires soon, he would become a laughingstock.
'If the mission turns into an utter failure, the Commander will either believe that I made up the threat to look good, or that Lith is so strong that he scared them shitless and forced them to flee. No matter if they peg me as a liar or an incompetent, I'm screwed.' He thought.
"How far is the cave where you witnessed the ritual?" Lith asked, avoiding to point out that so far escaping from the tunnels wasn't something that would have taken more than a few minutes to a competent mage.
He needed Acala's help. Yet.
"Not much. That damn machine has to be there. I've not made things up, I swear. This place was filled with guards, arrays, and stuff. I counted at least 30 between leeches and thralls!"
"I believe you." Lith nodded in reply.
'But only because Solus says so.' He thought.
'There is still a lot of residual energy in the air as if lots of arrays had been kept active until just a while ago or some major spell has been cast. To make things more interesting, the dimensional blocking array is still working.' Solus pondered.
'Its design is very old and its workings match the Odi magic that we found in Kulah, so at least part of Acala's story is true. Another interesting thing is that the array has been recently repaired by a genius Warden.
'Time and lack of maintenance have eroded some of the old runes and someone has replaced them with modern runes. The two kinds of magic work differently, yet they have been arranged so that they wouldn't interfere with each other.
'Vampires are ageless creatures, so they are capable of such feat. Also, restoring a pre-existing magical formation is much easier than building a new one from scratch. It fits the profile of a group of powerful runaways in search of a new home.'
'Thanks, Solus. I am good with math, but I minus you is still an equation I'm unable to solve.' Lith thought in awe. Even without Soluspedia, the knowledge she possessed dwarfed most libraries he had consulted on Mogar.
Lith didn't know if it was due to Solus being a genius or somehow related to her tower half. He was too happy of having her by his side to care about small things.
'Me neither.' Solus replied, rejoicing for his sweet words. 'But I still can't relax. There's something off with this place. I can't put my finger on it yet, but whatever it is, it gives me the creeps.'
The two Rangers resumed their walk, following the mana marks Acala had left on the walls during his stay and finding a few protective arrays they had no problem disabling. When they reached the cave, it was exactly as Acala had described it.
It was a circular room, with a stone table at its center and a complex yet ancient machinery right above it. The air was stale, allowing Lith to smell the remnants of the blood, piss, and tears that had been shed in there.
Chapter 873 Hidden Signs Part 1
Lith could distinguish the passage of several different people in the room, each one with their own smell and fear. Lith illuminated the area, revealing several different shreds of clothing near the table's edges, where the people strapped to it had struggled to escape.
Brown stains of dried blood were visible on both the stone table and floor, making it resemble more a sacrificial altar rather than a science lab. The raw amount of mana still lingering in the air made Lith's skin crawl.
'By my maker. Whatever that is, it needs so much mana to work that I wouldn't be surprised if we found a second Mana Reactor.' Solus thought while Lith took scans of the device with his army amulet.
"This is no mana crystal." Lith pointed at the white prism that was supposed to fuel the artifact.
Instead of being cut like a precious gem, it resembled a huge salt crystal, formed by several rectangular blocks fused together. By looking at it with Life Vision, Lith noticed that it bore the same signature of the white energy surrounding the weird undead he had fought.
The prism, however, was powerless. It had no mana flow nor life force, making Lith wonder what its origin could be.
'This is interesting. The design of the machine is similar to ancient Odi technology, but the techniques used to build it are all modern.' Lith thought. 'If I manage to copy its schematics, it might be useful in reproducing the body-swapping device I'm working on.'
"What do you mean, this is no mana crystal?" Acala examined the prism, cursing his bad luck. Not only were the enemies missing, but the device's value amounted to its own weight in scrap metal.
Without a power source, it was just an ugly oversized paperweight.
"What now?" Lith asked.
"Beats me. This is as far as I was able to mark my passage. There's some kind of Warp Gate past one of those corridors, but I saw it only once while trying to avoid a patrol so I have no idea where to look.
"I doubt I could interest you in the side caves and empty tunnels where I hid for the past few days." Acala could feel his dreams of glory and riches shattering.
He sat against the wall, incapable of raising his eyes from the ground without crying.
Lith cast his best Life Detecting array and when it came back negative, he lighted the whole cave, revealing several passageways leading further below.
"Let's be honest. We don't like each other and so far hunger is our greatest enemy." Lith said. "We need to understand if the vampires are still here or did they move out after discovering about your presence, and we need to do it fast.
"After reading your report, the army will send a research team here as soon as they are done with the most urgent business. If by the time they are here we don't have a clear picture of the situation, human lives will be at risk."
"Do you really believe me?" Acala almost couldn't believe his own ears. He had been expecting nothing but mockery and disdain from his more successful junior.
'Heck, in his shoes I would have called myself a liar. Maybe this Verhen is not as bad as the rumors depict him.' He thought.
"Of course I believe you. You put your life on the line to get us here." Lith replied.
"It's better if we split up, to cover more ground. Let's meet back here in a couple of hours. If one of us encounters an enemy, he should return here early and wait for the other. Okay?"
"Okay."
Lith and Acala were all smiles, making Solus want to puke.
'Let me guess. "Cover more ground" means that you'll be free to take whatever you want without witnesses while the other clause is to make sure he doesn't find anything relevant by himself.'
'Correct.' Lith inwardly wore a wolfish smile. 'Acala doesn't know that even the thralls leave no corpse behind, so even if I meet someone, I just have to kill them and then move the loot to a secure place.
'I doubt that an important area would be left unguarded, so by sending him away I get free reins for myself and a free scout that will check the road, saving me a lot of time. Two birds with one stone.'
Both Lith and Acala used earth magic to open a little hole in the cave's walls and hid their food bags there before exploring a random corridor. Or better, Acala took a random corridor while Lith followed the still lingering energy signature belonging to the white aura.
Only when his fellow Ranger was far away enough, did Lith return to the device room and sent Solus to closely inspect the machinery.
The army amulet couldn't transmit any data as long as it was within the array and Lith couldn't just wish the army would trust him enough to share the schematics of an Odi sourced unknown device.
Solus used her semi-liquid form to take a mold of every nook and cranny of the machine, while Lith used the information she passed him to create a scale replica with earth magic.
Once they were done, he hid the stone statue in his food bag. Then, he started exploring. Lith could move much faster by himself since Life Vision and mana sense allowed him to pick up non-cloaked arrays and to spot people from a distance.
He used his Array Detecting spell every time he noticed a good place for an ambush, yet he found nothing. Part of the stone corridors was natural while the rest was man-made via the use of earth magic.
Both were really old, with small stalactites and stalagmites growing as well as vast patches of mold that had lived long enough to cover huge sections of the walls.
'There's something really wrong here.' Solus pondered as they kept going further below the bowels of Mogar.
'With the dimensional blocking array still in place, the vampires can't have stored their things and fled. Even if they could, why leave behind their precious machine? Also, I can't explain why they used such a small part of the upper caves.'
'Agreed.' Lith nodded. 'The materials for the device have to come from somewhere and none of the robbed caravans transported the necessary to build one. Just like the array, that machine looked like a mix of modern and old, hence the old parts must have been taken from here.
'This place reeks of Odi, yet we can't find any trace of their presence. As if…'
'As if someone already cleared everything.' Solus completed the thought for him.
Lith stopped walking ad started to use Fire Vision and Invigoration on the walls, looking for clues. It took him a while to reach the next intersection and find the remnants of an ancient Odi writing carved in the stone, just like those he had spotted on the way to Kulah.
Part of it had been eroded by time and the rest was covered by moss, making it easy to miss and almost unreadable.
Almost.
'It says "Storage".' Solus thought while Lith was already cursing the array stopping him from moving the Odi dictionaries inside Soluspedia.
'Wait. Do you speak Odi now?'
'A bit. By dint of translating the books about body-swapping, I've picked up a few words. Didn't you?'
'Absolutely not.' Lith replied.
Chapter 874 Hidden Signs Part 2
'I'd rather sort my socks drawer than waste my brain cells to remember a dead language in the remote case I find an inscription while I'm unable to just cheat my way with Soluspedia.' Lith opened the storage door, finding what looked like a Warp Gate being built.
It was a stone circle of 1.5 meters (5 feet) radius, with an odd mix of old and new dimensional runes engraved. Yet just like the other device, there was no trace of a power source capable of activating it.
'Seriously. Why build a Gate in a storage and why all the traces of the white energy don't go any further than this?' Lith thought.
Lith retraced his steps, finding several inscriptions along the corridors he had already visited.
'What the actual fuck?' Due to the rock's erosion, he had to use earth magic to read most of the engravings. It was the only way to sense even the slightest traces remaining in the rock and make sense of the words.
What shocked him was the fact that above and sometimes below the engravings there were air bubbles in the rock. At first, Lith had thought they were just imperfections, but after a while, he noticed that they were located exactly where the Odi would place their hidden road sign.
'Someone has altered the rock to erase the writings. Those remaining prove that this place once belonged to the Odi, but they only lead to places that are the magical research equivalent of broom closets.' He thought.
Too many things didn't add up, making Solus unwilling to mock Lith for his paranoia.
'We'll think about that later. Something is coming our way from the north-east wall.'
'Living or dead?' Lith asked while activating Life Vision. Without the sun, he had no idea what direction Solus was talking about.
'Living. It has two cores so it should be a thrall…' Solus paused for a split second to take a better look at their opponent. It was still at the fringes of her mystical senses so her readings were approximative.
'By my maker, it's no thrall. The second isn't a blood core.' She thought in amazement.
'Oh, great! Another Abomination hybrid then. What the heck is one of them doing here?' Lith unsheathed Ruin and started to weave his best anti Abomination spells.
'Hybrid, yes. Abomination, no. It has two mana cores, but one is human while the other has a beast's energy signature.' She replied.
Lith canceled his spells and prepared new ones. He had no idea what his new opponent's abilities were so he wanted to be prepared for the worst.
'Bad news. Somehow, not only they are able to spot our position, but also to follow your movements through the rock, just like a Clacker.' Solus thought.
Lith had moved out of the creature's trajectory, to strike at them the moment they came out the wall. Yet they seemed to have noticed and adjusted their course to not fall into his trap.
'How the heck can they move like that without causing the mountain to collapse nor suffocating?' Lith's attempts to take the enemy by surprise were constantly being foiled.
Tired of that game, he stopped moving and activated Full Guard. The spell enveloped even the space inside the walls, allowing Lith to notice that the creature wasn't digging so much as swimming through the rock.
'What a cunning bastard! They are weakening the tunnel's structure to cause a cave-in with minimal effort. Their ability uses so little mana that is barely noticeable even to Life Vision. I might have missed it if not for Full Guard.'
Lith extended his open hands and clenched his fists, making the softened rock harden again. The spell served to both foil the enemy plan and trap the creature. Before they could react, Lith clapped his hands, turning the trap into a vice that squashed the enemy like a bug.
'What the heck?' Solus thought as she witnessed with her mana sense a white brilliance radiating from the creature. The unknown spell was growing in intensity but it had no apparent effect.
'That's idiotic. The hot air and the pressure generated by the vaporized rocks will crush that thing along with my spell, unless…' Lith's paranoia moved his body before his brain could finish processing the scenario.
A white-hot ray pierced through over three meters (10 feet) of solid rock, passed where Lith had been standing until a second before, and hit the wall behind him, leaving a circular hole several meters deep.
The edges of the hole were clean-cut as if it had been made by a laser.
"Murderer! Your time has come!" A roughly male voice yelled while a dozen white spheres emerged from the wall and tried to strike at Lith.
'The bad news is that this guy can use offensive light magic. The good news is that producing that heat ray took quite a toll on him. His two deep blue mana cores are half-spent already.' Solus thought.
'Did I miss an offensive light magic bargain sale or what?' Lith was pretty pissed off seeing another hybrid use such rare magic, but he was more focused on defending against the spheres of light.
The only silver lining of that mess was that he could finally try out Ruin's second enchantment, World Mirror. Ruin's ability to also channel gravity magic was simply the proof of how much more polished Ruin's first enchantment was compared to that Orion had infused the Gatekeeper with.
An Orichalcum Skinwalker armor was quite a catch, and Orion's pride would never allow him to try and scam Lith. Orion had listened to all of Lith's stories, about how Thrud Griffon, the Odi, and Manohar were the greatest threats he had been forced to deal with and almost died for it.
The Mad Professor was more an unwilling ally than an enemy, but since capturing him was becoming a state affair, his unparalleled skill in using light magic couldn't be underestimated.
All three of them had in common the ability to conjure long-lasting spells that could be shapeshifted at will. Hence Orion had imbued Ruin with the ability to leech off the elemental energy from any incoming spell and use it to improve its own performance without any mana cost for its wielder.
World Mirror came with several limitations, like being ineffective against fast spells or the fact that it sapped the elemental energy of a spell too slowly to dispel it completely, but it was still effective in many situations where most mages would be helpless.
Also, Ruin was but a prototype.
Lith infused the blade with the light element, making its glow become brighter. The creature was less powerful and skilled compared to the Mad Professor, giving Lith plenty of openings to work with.
The further hard-light constructs got from their caster, the weaker they would become so Lith moved away from the creature while blocking the spheres that were swarming him.
With each step he took, the constructs became slower, and with each hit they sustained, the mana they were made of was dispersed.
A spell with a physical vessel could attack its target multiple times before losing strength, but at the same time, it could be struck back. Ruin's magical properties allowed the blade to easily cut through the constructs while also draining their energy.
On top of that, thanks to having practiced the meditation techniques that Faluel had taught him, Lith was able to perceive the focus points of the creature's spell.
Lith's Domination over the light element was none, but he could still see where the willpower and the mana that fueled the spell were accumulated.
Chapter 875 The First Horseman Part 1
By aiming his attacks at the constructs' focus points, Lith quickly got rid of the unknown tier five spell without spending much mana. Ruin's World Mirror enchantment sustained itself with the mana it leeched, lessening the burden upon its master.
"Where the heck did you get that blade?" The creature stepped out of the wall, revealing to be a two-legged humanoid, about 2.5 meters (8'2") tall with his body covered by large hardened overlapping plate-like scales.
Only his belly, the inner side of the paws, and its snout were covered by soft grey fur. His head resembled that of an anteater and a long tail came out of his back. If Lith had ever seen one, he would have recognized it as a humanoid pangolin.
'Why does everyone ask me that and what the heck is that thing?' Lith thought. None of the books inside Soluspedia described the creature, but the oddest thing was that he seemed to have a bone to pick with Lith.
Lith conjured a volley of lightning bolts mixed with ice lances to put the creature's endurance to the test.
The thing stomped his feet while clasping his claws, making the rocks from the ground, the ceiling, and the walls spiral in front of himself. The spell created a barrier that absorbed the incoming attacks without a scratch.
'Okay, he definitely uses true magic like an Emperor Beast. Is he Awakened?' Lith asked.
'I don't think so.' Solus replied. 'Having two cores would make Awakening difficult and he didn't use Invigoration to recover while you were busy with his constructs.'
The creature clearly had a high affinity with the earth element and they were surrounded by rocks so Lith had no choice but to switch to close-quarters combat. Otherwise the enemy would be able to neutralize most of his best spells by conjuring stone walls or diving back into the ground.
Ruin struck at the barrier's focus point, making it crumble as if it was made of sand. The creature had no idea why his spells kept failing him, yet he had come too close to his revenge to give up.
His body emitted a white glow and a set of giant white hands tried to grab Lith, who used spirit magic to struck at the creature, sending him crashing against a wall. The hands stopped moving for a split second, becoming sitting ducks for Ruin's World Mirror.
"Are you happy now? Was it worth killing my whole tribe to become this strong?" The creature roared while shedding red tears of rage.
'Did you really kill his whole tribe yet you don't recognize him?' Solus was flabbergasted.
'First, if I did, you would have been with me. Second, he needs to be more specific. I've done a lot of killing.' Lith replied.
The creature infused himself with the air element and dashed forward with the speed of a bullet. Having two cores granted him double the mana pool of a normal creature and twice the effects of fusion magic.
Lith switched to a two-handed grip and moved forward while keeping Ruin steady in front of him.
'Double the speed also means double the strain. With both of us moving so fast, the slightest mistake will cause him to self-impale.' Lith infused his armor with mana, to boost its defensive properties in preparation for the impact.
'Oh shit!' The creature thought, realizing that any attempt to change his course at such speed would break his kneecaps while doing nothing would result in a gruesome death.
His only hope was to curl up like a ball and hope that his scales would withstand the hit. The impact sent both of them flying at the opposite sides of the tunnel. A gaping wound was now open on the creature's back, running from the right shoulder to the tail.
The injury started to heal the moment it was opened, but the creature was now running on fumes.
As for Lith, his hands were still numb from the collision but he was otherwise okay. The Skinwalker armor coupled with earth fusion had absorbed the brunt of the attack, yet Lith had lost his grip on Ruin that was now stuck into a wall.
"Okay, pal. Time to finish this." A spark of spirit magic and a flick of his wrist brought Ruin back into Lith's hand. Solus assumed her arm protector form, adding her fusion magic to Lith's.
The creature's beast form had poor eyesight, but his enhanced hearing and smell compensated for that.
'Wait. The stench is that of the Ranger and I can feel the presence of the cursed object, but the voice is wrong.' The creature sniffed the air, studying Solus's scent. His weakened state had also relieved the hybrid from the rage that had clouded his mind.
'Dammit, I got the wrong person! What are the odds of meeting two humans fused with a cursed object?' The creature cursed his own stupidity. He had been so thrilled by the hunt that he had failed to notice that the smell was similar yet different.
While Lith dashed forward to deliver the death blow, the creature kicked the ground with the last remnants of his energy and let the wall swallow him. Ruin pierced through the rock until the hilt struck it with enough strength to form a small crater.
'I hate that trick! It's the second time already that I lose my target this way.' Lith could see with Life Vision the unknown hybrid getting further away, yet he couldn't do anything to stop him.
Using an earth spell to hit at such distance while being deep underground was too dangerous. With dimensional magic sealed, a cave-in would have killed Lith for sure.
'I can't risk losing my prize, let alone my life.' Lith thought while looking at his watch. He still had one hour left to explore the tunnels. He followed the air bubbles in the walls, determined to find out the reason why the road signs had been deleted.
***
Meanwhile, in a distant cave, Ranger Acala wasn't faring much better. He was surrounded by over thirty individuals, half of which were vampires while the other half were thralls.
Each one of them had a white prism similar to that used in the machine room grafted on their bodies. They were arranged in three circles, forming a complex multi-layered array that left him no way out.
"I can't believe how unlucky I am!" He said while slashing with fury at the nearest undead, aiming at her exposed weak point. A prism protruded from her chest and its glass-like substance was getting duller with each strike she took.
The light within the prism seemed to be on the verge of extinguishing.
"You promised me that everything would be fine! You promised me that you would turn my life around for good! Yet nothing ever goes the way I want. I did everything you asked from me and this is how you repay me? With failure?
"All your insignificant spawns had to do was to kick Verhen's ass, maybe even kill him, to make me look good and turn me into the new hero of the Griffon Kingdom. Instead, you made me look like a fool, running away with my tail between my legs.
"You are a piece of…"
The three-layered array activated and Ranger Acala was at its center. A diamond-shaped crystal emerged from his uniform, collecting the light coming from the smaller and imperfect gems.
Chapter 876 The First Horseman Part 2
The light spread from the crystal on his chest throughout his body, lighting his vein with the rhythmical pulse of a beating heart. The white glow invaded his eyes, twisting his features into a more controlled expression while his voice became chipper and calm, no longer sounding like a tantrumming child.
"Gods, if I love humans. So pure, so honest with themselves, so stupid. I should have given up on greater undead centuries ago. They are so annoying with their pondering each and every step before even taking it.
"Their long lives make them too cautious, whereas humans are like butterflies. Their existence is so short and they are so eager to get everything they want that taking over is almost too easy.
"Almost." The thing wearing Acala said.
"Agreed. Controlling vampires is hard. They keep resisting me even after this long. Their thralls, instead, are just sweet little lambs." The undead speaking was the same one Acala had been hitting until a second ago.
She looked like a middle-aged woman in her fifties who while alive had clearly enjoyed the pleasures of the flesh too much, to the point that undeath had yet to get rid of all the lines on her face and the fat from her body.
Yet the voice coming out of her mouth was identical to Acala's.
"Talking to myself is pleasant, but inefficient. Let's start the Reunion." The thing wearing Acala said.
The perfect prism in the Ranger's chest collected the thoughts and experiences from its lesser versions and then charged them back to their full power, making them shine as bright as the original.
'This Verhen guy is more annoying than I thought. He easily disposed of six of my spawns. Sure, half of them were vampires still resisting my control and all of them were at half the charge due to building that damn machine, but still.
'The good news is that I've got an idea of what he's capable of. I can use such knowledge to outnumber and outmatch him. It's the perfect option to get away with it and achieve the kind of wealth I need.
'The bad news is that the machine is an utter fiasco. The moment my spawns died I lost all of their memories and abilities. I still have a long way to go before becoming perfect.'
The cursed object known as Bright Day, the Horseman of Dawn, started to plan ahead how to exploit Lith's presence to receive a huge reward without arousing any suspicion. To accomplish her true goal, she needed an enormous amount of gold.
She had already tried to obtain it by theft, but that kind of riches was heavily protected, making them very hard to procure and impossible to spend without getting caught.
While plotting her next move, she lulled what remained of Acala's broken personality with promises of wealth, power, and respect. He was her inferior half and the answer to all of her prayers.
By making him a hero, the Griffon Kingdom would give Bright Day everything she wanted on a silver platter and thank her for that. Rising and controlling undead was her specialty after all, and the undead invasion was the perfect opportunity to make her puppy known as the Courts' Bane.
'If only those undead fools from the Dawn Court knew that they took their name from me. Now I'm going to take everything from them.' She giggled.
***
After escaping certain death, the hybrid creature who had attacked Lith fell asleep the moment he allowed himself to relax. Light magic had completely restored his body and his two cores recovered fast thanks to their synergy.
He shapeshifted in his human form, to relieve his body from the burden of the transformation and further improve his recovery speed.
'I was a fool falling for Dawn's trickery. It must have tainted the other Ranger with its stench to throw me off its trail.' The hybrid thought, unaware that he couldn't have been more wrong.
In his fury, he had simply mistaken Solus's scent for Dawn's because Acala's musk had stuck on Lith during the time they had walked together. Unlike Lith who bathed regularly in his tower, the other Ranger had forgotten about personal hygiene after being alone in the wilds for so long.
'Right now I have no chance against the artifact. The only silver lining is that it doesn't know I'm here yet.' He sat cross-legged on a mountaintop, calling the world energy to himself.
The breathing technique was no Invigoration, but it allowed the twin cores to breathe in what the other breathed out. This way, no world energy was wasted, generating a slow but constant flow that would give the hybrid his lost mana back in just a few hours.
***
Meanwhile, hundreds of meters underground, Lith didn't like his situation one bit.
'This place isn't like Kulah at all. Kulah was a still active military base, whereas these are ancient ruins.' Lith thought.
'The defensive arrays are long dead, the magical stuff I recovered had their pseudo cores depleted, and the books I found were so moldy that not even Soluspedia can read their content.
'Yet someone went to the trouble of reactivating the dimensional blocking array, deleting dozen of road signs, and ransacking what's left of the labs to build that machine.
'At first, I thought that the vampires were after the device Acala described. It was the only thing that could explain their extraordinary abilities and why they bothered to stay here for so long instead of running away.
'Yet if the machine was so important, they wouldn't leave it unguarded.'
'Not only that.' Solus said while checking her own memories. Without the possibility to move the Odi tomes inside Soluspedia, it had taken her a while to compare the mould Lith had taken with the machine they had found in Kulah.
'That thing is no body-swapping device nor is it in any way related to the light element. From what I understand, it doesn't affect the mind of the subject, only the body.'
'How exactly?' Lith asked.
'I'm really starting to think that I spoiled you too much. I don't have all the answers after just a few looks. We need some reference material or experiment with the machine ourselves.' Solus was both proud and annoyed by how much faith Lith had in her.
'Any idea about what the prism does?' Lith had examined it with Invigoration, but being the prism an inanimate object he had discovered nothing from it.
'I think it's related to the crystal-like substance the thralls turned into after you killed them, but the how and why are beyond me.' She telepathically shrugged.
They spent the rest of the hour exploring the complex and discussing the unknown hybrid's physiology. Lith was certain to have never met the guy before, yet his abilities were too similar to the odd undead he had faced for it to be just a coincidence.
'The way he mixed light and fire to create heat rays, the hard-light constructs. Everything matches but their modus operandi. He used true magic and ranted a lot, whereas the undead used mostly arrays and kept their mouths shut.' Lith thought.
All those unanswered questions coupled with the stale air were giving him a royal headache.
'Agreed. It's a longshot, but if I had to take an educated guess, I'd say that they had the same teacher.' Solus replied.
Lith went back to the starting cave, finding a tense Acala waiting for him. The Ranger was no longer dejected and an unwavering will shone inside his green eyes.
Chapter 877 Master and Servant Part 1
"Have you found anything interesting?" Acala asked with a smug grin on his face.
"Only the Warp Gate. Aside from that, just empty caves and lots of dirt." Lith lied, dusting his shoulders. "No trace of the undead either."
"Well, it seems it's up to me saving the day, huh? It took me a bit of luck, but I found Odi writings engraved on the walls."
"You can read them?" Lith opened wide his eyes for an instant, feigning surprise and ignorance.
"Of course I can. Sort of. After hearing about the Kulah incident, I thought that not everyone can be so lucky to have Professors by their side when they stumble upon ancient ruins.
"I researched the Odi a bit before resuming duty since they gave even the great Ranger Verhen a hard time." Acala mistook Lith's grimace for envy, while it was his usual glare.
'He knows about the Odi. How surprisingly convenient.' Lith thought while a few pieces fell into place.
"I followed the signs pointing at some kind of lab until my detection arrays spotted our enemies and several dormant magical formations. I think they didn't expect us to find their lair this fast, nor that we would deactivate their alarms on our way in.
"I counted 15 of them. The others must have left to capture more humans to replace the thralls you killed. There were still too many of them to take them on by myself, but together we have a chance.
"Divide and conquer, I say. First, we kill the undead that are still here with an ambush, and then we can easily get rid of the second group upon their return. We have all the time we need to set up enough arrays to make my plan work." Acala's patronizing voice almost made Lith chuckle.
Almost.
He curled his upper lip instead, pretending to be angry with himself and with his fellow Ranger.
"It's a good plan, but 15 is still quite the number. Maybe we should get out and report everything to Commander Berion." Lith said.
"Report what? That we found a junkpile? I already gave the location of the lair and the enemy numbers in my previous report. Berion knows as much as we do." Acala sneered.
"Reinforcements are already on their way. They might even get rid of the missing undead for us if they stumble into them. We don't have much time to waste. If the vampires disable the dimensional array, they can pack up and leave in a jiffy.
"If they manage to get away, it will be on you." Seeing that Lith was still hesitating, Acala softened up and changed approach.
"Come on. You've already killed six of them all by yourself and with no time to prepare. With the two of us and a proper set of arrays, 15 is nothing to be afraid of. Once we get our reward, the first round is on me."
"Make it two rounds and I'm in." Lith said with a stressed sigh as if he was still reluctant, but could not deny his rival's logic.
"Stop being so glum. We don't need to like each other to have some fun together. Follow me and I promise that I'll get you wasted for good." Acala smiled while caressing his chest where one of Dawn's corners slightly protruded.
***
Lith followed his colleague along the stone corridors, trying to make sense of his current situation. Not trusting Acala, Lith silently cast detection arrays even though his fellow Ranger assured him that their path was clear.
Acala didn't seem smart or knowledgeable enough to be a mastermind and his history confirmed the theory. Lith was certain they were about to walk into a trap. The question was if the vampires had fooled Acala or if he just wanted to exploit the chaos that would ensue to try and put Lith in his place.
'He's no Awakened, there's no trace of Necromancy studies in his background, and his equipment is slightly better than average for a Ranger.' Solus studied Acala, trying to understand how deep his involvement could be.
'Those vampires we killed earlier were way stronger than he is. He can't have possibly created them nor does he have the means to control such powerful creatures. Heck, it would be enough for him to be able to use offensive light magic to become famous.
'If he got back in the Ranger business at his age, it must be because he's desperate for attention.' Solus said.
'Let's wait and see.' Lith replied. 'If it really is an ambush, we'll spot it in advance thanks to our mystical senses.'
They went deeper and deeper underground until they found several traps and arrays that Acala showed Lith how to disable. Solus could already spot the 15 enemies ahead and there was nothing out of the ordinary that could alarm her.
'What is the vampire-thrall ratio?' Lith asked.
'Half and half, just like before. Don't ask me why.' Solus replied.
The vampires were vagrants that Dawn had captured and enslaved, but due to their strong willpower, she was having a hard time keeping them in check. That was one of the reasons why she had kidnapped people.
She had forced the vampires to turn the prisoners into thralls so that she would enslave them while they still retained their weak human psyche. This way, by the time the thralls would be turned into undead, there would be no trace left of their personality.
They would be reduced to mindless puppets ready to die on her whim. On top of that, Dawn could exploit the psychic bond between sire and thrall to strengthen her hold over the vampires until they had outlived their usefulness.
Another reason to keep the number of undead in check was that Dawn was powerful, but far from omnipotent. Every time she generated a spawn prism, it would weaken her will and diminish her power.
Spreading herself too thin would mean not only to lose her grip on the undead, but also on Acala. She couldn't afford the Ranger awakening from the web of delusions she had trapped him within.
Back when they had just bonded, he was hell-bent on revealing his newfound abilities to become the Kingdom's champion and filthy rich in the process. It had taken her quite a lot of time and effort to discourage him.
"How will you explain to them your powers without revealing my existence?" Dawn had said. "You have been a Ranger long enough to know how the Kingdom treats my brethren. Do you want us to end up like the Black Star?
"Also, what good is being a hero? Did this Verhen become rich? Did Manohar? No, the Kingdom just works them to the bone, forcing them to risk their lives time and time again."
Lith was actually pretty rich and could've gotten much more if he didn't suffer from his reincarnation problem. It was the reason why had turned down the many lands and titles that had been offered to him
As for Manohar, he was indeed filthy rich and the Kingdom's most wanted man at the same time, but that was another story.
Yet Acala was unaware of the implications that wielding a huge power involved. He just wanted a simple solution to a complex problem, which made him as greedy as he was ruthless.
Chapter 878 Master and Servant Part 2
"Even if they accept me, what good is wealth if you never have the time to enjoy it? If we follow your plan, you'll die as you've lived, like a tool. If we do as I say, instead, we'll be the one on top and the Royals will grovel at our feet."
Dawn neglected to mention the part where she would erode his mind, take control of his body, and use everything they would be rewarded with to pursue her own personal agenda.
She wasn't as naïve, empathetic, and kind as Solus back when she had first met Lith.
Everything the Bright Day had explained and taught to the Ranger after they bonded came with a price. The more Acala relied on Dawn's abilities, the more she was able to manipulate his thoughts and actions.
Constantly having a voice in his head and a whisper in his ears even while he was asleep, had thinned the boundary between their personalities until Dawn had become the dominant and Acala her servant.
Fusing with a cursed item meant having two minds but only one body, and the Bright Day wasn't willing to spend a lifetime following Acala's pipe dreams. She had a goal to achieve, just like her siblings, Red Sun and Black Night.
Their mother had entrusted to each one of them a different duty, and being the firstborn, she couldn't stand the idea that one of her siblings could beat her.
Lith and Acala were placing their own arrays while an unseen Solus did the same, securing the nearest escape route. Unlike her, Dawn had been made to completely fuse with her host. The Bright Day shared with Acala both his mana signature and life force, making it impossible to distinguish her from her host.
Yet Solus didn't trust the Ranger and wanted to take precautions in the case Acala wanted to use Lith as a stepping stone for his own career or the missing undead did return untimely.
It took the two Rangers over half an hour to complete their task, but the final result was worth the wait. They had both centered their arrays on the undead's living quarters and laid a few others on the paths the enemies would be forced to take once the battle began.
Solus kept moving on her own, unseen thanks to her mimetic abilities and her cloaking ring, searching for anything or anyone out of place. Yet she wasn't able to find any trace of a possible ambush nor did she spot any danger.
To smoke the undead out, the Rangers activated a darkness array to weaken their enemies and an earth blocking array to leave them no way out but the doors that had been rigged as well.
Everything seemed to go according to the plan and the first five enemies died before being able to even scratch one of the Rangers. The arrays had been laid so to synergize their effects and amplify each other's effectiveness.
Darkness whittled away the vampires' strength while a gravity formation in front of the doors slowed down their movements and made it impossible for them to fly.
Lith and Acala attacked their respective marks from behind a conjured rock trench that protected them from incoming spells while Solus studied the situation from a vantage position in the ceiling.
Suddenly, the walls of the room burst open. The vampires had learned their lesson and instead of putting themselves in the line of fire like lambs to the slaughter, they had used their magic and physical strength to create new exits.
The ten enemies each took a different approach, flying, running, or crawling on the walls and ceiling to surround their respective target from every direction.
'This is bad.' Solus thought. 'And it can easily get worse if…'
As if the undead had read her mind, they started shooting small focused rays of white-hot light from their fingertips. The offensive light spell was a cantrip compared to the that the hybrid-scaled creature had employed, but still a cantrip capable of digging centimeters-deep holes into the rock.
'Damn my big mouth. I jinxed it. Somehow, they are all Light Masters. Judging by the low tier spell they use they can't do much without arrays. At least unless they can…' Solus managed to stop thinking about hard-light constructs, afraid to jinx things again.
Both Rangers used the trenches to block the light rays and create improvised mazes to prevent the enemies from surrounding them. Ruin was useless against attacks that fast. Lith could use his weapon to block the rays, but at the risk of damaging the blade.
'Interesting.' He thought. 'Maybe light magic doesn't split into an offensive and defensive branch just for tier five. Maybe it has two different branches from the start, with holograms being its first magic.'
Dodging low tiered light spells was easy for him. They could only travel in a straight line and the glow they produced before being conjured gave away their trajectory. For a veteran mage like Lith, a lightning bolt would have been more difficult to defend against.
Lightning bolts were as fast as light magic and would stun their target upon hit, whereas small light beams would inflict small, already cauterized wounds. On top of that, offensive light magic would lose power quickly with distance.
'I understand now why Professor Manohar only uses hard-light constructs. They are much more versatile and the mana to conjure them doesn't get wasted if the enemy dodges.
'My only question is how the heck can undead have light magic among their innate talents? Otherwise they wouldn't be able to use its true magic form without being Awakened.' Lith thought while impaling a thrall's heart with Ruin.
He had decided to take down the easiest opponents first to regain some mobility in the cave's confined space.
'Light and darkness are the two sides of the same coin. Maybe the energy signature they have in common allows them to convert darkness into light and apply their innate mastery over the darkness element to light magic as well.' Solus said.
Solus's train of thoughts was derailed when she noticed that in the time Lith had needed to take down a single thrall, Acala had killed two vampires with ease.
Lith was too busy fighting to notice that while his opponents used teamwork to cover each other openings to prevent Lith from delivering a deadly counter, the creatures fighting Acala were on their back foot despite their numerical advantage.
The Ranger seemed to be able to predict all their movement and strategies, dodging with ease even the more sophisticated attacks. Acala was so overwhelming that for a moment Solus thought that he was fighting normal humans rather than undead.
'This is really odd. If Acala is such a genius fighter that he can easily deal with five opponents of such caliber, why did he run away from six of them? Sure, this time they are weakened by the arrays' effects but he's so good that it doesn't make much difference.
'What really worries me is that his mana flow gets stronger with each enemy that gets taken down. Is it the effect of one of his relics or what?' Solus thought, unaware that it was just Dawn recovering the strength she had bestowed upon her fallen minions.
She was still uncertain whether to kill Lith or just bring him back near fatally wounded. On one hand, succeed where even the mighty Ranger Verhen had failed would have given Acala a lot of fame.
On the other hand, Lith's death would raise too many questions.
Chapter 879 Simple Math Part 1
People might wonder how could Acala best an opponent that had managed to kill Verhen, if not even suspect him to have killed his fellow Ranger with his own hands. Saving Lith's life, instead, would have given Dawn the perfect witness to her puppet's heroics.
To add insult to injury, Lith would not only be forced to publicly admit his defeat, but he would also owe them a big favor. Acala was still a social outcast, whereas Lith was acquainted with all the upper echelons of the Kingdom, to the point of being familiar with the Royals themselves.
'I'm dying to steal all the secrets behind the success of such a man and Verhen is far more valuable alive than dead.' Dawn thought while studying Lith's movements through her spawns' eyes.
'I've made up my mind. I'll use Verhen as a stepping stone and revel in his ruin before using one of my spawns to take control of…' Her plans turned into a pile of debris in a second, along with a big portion of the south wall.
The scaled hybrid came through a wall with enough strength to make the cave tremble, destabilizing the whole underground network.
"Die, you monster!" He said while unleashing a white-hot energy beam that filled the entirety of the corridor Acala was in. The giant ray was too fast and too close to dodge it, leaving Acala no way out.
"You again?" Both Rangers said in unison, uncertain whether to be more surprised by the creature's return or by the fact that their respective partner knew the hybrid as well.
Much to anyone surprise, the undead Acala was fighting against turned around, shielding him with their bodies and using their own light magic to take the brunt of the damage.
The creatures fighting Lith were torn between their instinct to protect their master and obeying her command.
The inner conflict slowed them enough for Lith to kill the last thrall of the group with a palm strike that pushed her away and engulfed her body into Final Sunset's black flames.
The sudden death of all the thralls and Dawn focusing on the newcomer allowed the vampires near Lith to regain their senses. The cursed item had not possessed them for long, allowing them to retain their personality.
"Get out!" Said a vampire that looked like a dandy young noble in his early twenties. Lith was so flabbergasted by how sincerely worried his enemies now looked about his wellbeing to stop his attack midway.
"I said get out!" The vampire had a panicked look, all the bloodlust in the room was gone.
"The other Ranger is possessed by the Horseman of Dawn. It's too late for us, but I'll be damned if I let go of the opportunity to screw up with her plans, even if it cost me my life."
"Listen to him and run!" Said a charming middle-aged woman while pointing at a corridor with her still extended claw.
"She might be back any moment and if you strike us down, she'll become more powerful than you can possibly imagine. Warn the Kingdom. Warn the undead Courts that the Bright Day is back. She's…" The prism in her chest released so much light to become visible underneath the heavy clothing.
The white energy traveled through the undead's veins, making them bulge as it reached their brains and restored Dawn's control over their minds.
Lith stepped back and raised his arm to the ceiling. He pretended to perform a hand sign to hide Solus returning on his finger. Too many things were happening at the same time and the only thing he was certain of, was that he couldn't afford to leave her behind.
Acala's skin was burned to a crisp, yet he didn't seem to care much. Only a few shreds of his uniform covered the Ranger's chest. His eyes, bloodshot from the heat and damage, were fixated on the scaled hybrid.
"Nalrond I'm so sorry. I swear, I didn't want to do it. If only your tribe would listen to me…" Acala started to sob, but Nalrond didn't care for his tears nor excuses.
"We took you in as one of our own. We saved your life and shared with you our very homes. Yet you turned on us, killed our youths, stole our treasure, and you dare to say you're sorry?" The hybrid brought his palms closer, making a small star appear between them.
At the same time, the missing 15 undead came rushing from every tunnel, sealing all the way outs.
'I think I'll follow Obi-Vamp's advice and get out of here.' Lith darted away the moment Solus was back. She had confirmed to him that the undead was telling the truth.
Despite all the damage Acala had sustained, he was actually stronger than before. A white gem as big as a fist emerged from his chest. It was the purest mana crystal Lith had ever seen and it was brighter than the sun.
"That's great. Thanks for ruining my plan. Now I have to kill you all." Dawn's feminine voice replaced Acala while the white light from her crystal mended all the wounds on Acala's body.
'By my maker, that crystal bears the same energy signature that all the undead share.' Solus thought while the pieces of the puzzle fell into place. 'This was all a charade. We've danced in the palm of her hand until now.'
'Thanks, captain obvious.' Lith replied while defending from three vampires at once. They were now much stronger than any undead he had ever faced. Dawn's light element provided them with more power than even ancient blood cores would hold.
It was as if they were constantly feeding, even during battle, making any wound last but a second and their bodies brim with vigor. Undead didn't need to use fusion magic to become faster and stronger, their might came from consuming the essence stored within their blood cores rather than from their bones and muscles.
Yet they could still use fusion magic to further boost their already enhanced physiques. Between their prisms and fusion magic, Lith was facing three creatures as strong as Kaelan, the ancient vampire he had met in Othre.
Running wasn't an option. The slightest opening would lead to his demise, let alone showing his back to such powerful opponents.
'Solus, remind me to never work with another Ranger anymore. They're nothing but trouble.' Lith's left elbow deflected the first vampire's claws that were lunging at his head before striking at the creature's face with a darkness infused fist that released a few tier three spells on impact.
Lith's right shoulder shoved away the second opponent that had come too close, sending her slamming against a wall. Then, Lith intercepted her on the rebound with a pillar of black flames emitted from his right hand that was still channelling Final Sunset.
The third vampire rushed at Lith, whose front and back were exposed, only to be impaled on Ruin wielded by a second right arm.
"Three arms?" Dawn couldn't believe her spawn's eyes so she ignored the massive energy mass accumulating between Nalrond hands and turned her head toward Lith.
The third limb came out his right side and was made entirely of stone. It had a bright green gemstone on the back of its hand, and two more bright yellow crystals, respectively near the elbow and shoulder.
Lith had no reason to hold back. Everyone in the room wanted to kill him and it was his policy to return such favors in kind.
Chapter 880 Simple Math Part 2
"What the heck?" Lith was as surprised as Dawn, but for a different reason.
The three deathblows had actually failed to kill two out of three targets. Dawn's prisms enhanced the regenerative abilities of her spawns to the point that almost destroying their heads or hearts wasn't enough.
Only Ruin had succeeded and only because it had shattered the prism along with most of its victim's torso. The spawn turned into glass shards and released a sphere of light that returned the cursed object another portion of her strength.
"Most impressive." Dawn clapped her hands while another gigantic white energy mass moved towards her at subluminal speed.
Lith didn't like her tone nor her calm. The spawns had yet to fully recover, so he used that opportunity to disengage and put more distance between himself and the battlefield.
The Bright Day clicked her tongue at his paranoia, redirecting the light pillar in his direction with but a gentle slap. To not hit her minions, she focused the beam to half its size and aimed it at the middle of the corridor.
The spawns shared her mind and strategy. Dawn ordered them to stick to the walls and add a few heat rays of their own. The move allowed them to dodge Nalrond's spell and prevented Lith from doing the same.
'Did she use Dominance?' Lith's brain was working at full gear to find a solution.
'No, just mastery over the light element. The spell's energy signature still belongs to the hybrid.' Solus replied.
'It's worth a shot then.'
Lith kept flying back while conjuring perfect ice crystals on his hands and boosting his Orichalcum Skinwalker armor with a steady flow of mana.
'The beam is half heat and half light. Ice can neutralize the heat and help the Orichalcum to reflect the light. Silver is the most reflective across the visible spectrum, so Orichalcum shouldn't do any worse.' Lith thought.
When the elemental energies clashed, the light pillar melted the ice until it came dangerously close to Lith's body. The temperature of both spells was solely dependent on the amount of mana their respective casters imbued them with.
Nalrond had accumulated a lot of mana before unleashing his attack, but their connection was now broken whereas Lith kept pouring mana into his own. At first, the residual ice and the Orichalcum only managed to refract the light.
The ever melting and reforming ice separated the pillar into seven different colored beams that carved deep cuts into the rock while they moved in random directions.
Then, once the cold overpowered the heat, Lith managed to refocus the seven beams into a single one by adjusting the ice crystal's shape.
Nalrond and Dawn were locked into close-quarters combat so they took the full power of the reflected pillar, but since it carried the hybrid's energy signature, only the Bright Day was affected by it.
Nalrond had no idea where the attack came from, but he exploited the opening it had created to carve the Living Legacy out of the Ranger's chest. Nalrond infused his long claws with the darkness and fire elements, using them the cut through the flesh while hindering the artifact's amazing recovery abilities.
Unfortunately for him, between the loss of the fire element and the huge distance it had covered, the light pillar had barely a quarter of its initial strength. Dawn recovered from the surprise and shrugged off Nalrond as if he was an annoying fly.
"Maybe my long imprisonment made me lose my touch at genocide, but luckily, failing to kill a single Rezar is a mistake I can easily fix." Dawn snapped her fingers and another array enveloped the underground cave network along with the dimensional blocking formation.
'Damn, I've failed again. Time to go.' Nalrond the Rezar had spent most of his mana for the two light pillars. He knew that he couldn't beat the Bright Day in a direct confrontation. His only option was to overpower her quickly.
The tunnel's wall bent under his touch as he dove into the rock again. Retreat to fight another day was a strategy that had kept him alive for long until it didn't.
The earth blocking array Dawn had just activated cut him off from one of his most powerful means of attack and the only escape route he had left. With dimensional magic already sealed, he was now trapped in the spawn infested corridors.
'Three of those creatures are enough to give a hard time to that Verhen guy, and he handed my ass to me.' Nalrond thought. 'I'm between a rock and a hard place, but there is still a silver lining left.
'If I can get Acala to focus his efforts on Verhen, I have a concrete chance to escape. The two bastards are both the puppets of a Living Legacy. With a bit of luck, the two cursed objects will kill each other and Mogar will be better for it.'
Lith, instead, was planning to save Nalrond, but not for altruistic reasons. The Rezar clearly knew both Acala and Dawn so he was Lith's best shot at understanding what was going on.
The undead had spoken of the artifact as if it was the end of the world, yet not one of the many books he had ever read made a single mention of such artifact.
'Solus, analysis.' He thought while darting toward Dawn as fast as a bullet. The two undead were closely following him, their bodies had yet to fully regenerate so Lith was faster.
'Whatever the Bright Day is, it's not as strong as the Black Star but still terrifying. To make matters worse, she's still not at her full power. My guess is that the Bright Day is a relic crafted by an undead to overcome their innate limitations and conquer the light element.
'It would explain why she only took thralls and undead as her spawns. The only thing I don't get is why bonding with Acala of all people.'
Lith nodded and pointed his right forefinger at Acala's head.
"Hi, Dawn." Lith unleashed everything that was left of his Final Sunset upon her at point-blank range, hoping to either kill her or buy enough time to save the hybrid.
"Bye, Dawn." A stream of black flames engulfed Dawn, who conjured a shield made of white light to protect her host's body.
Lith was about to use the conflicting spells to cover his escape and save Nalrond, but his plan was ruined by the hybrid who slashed at both Rangers before running away.
The corridor Lith had come from was blocked by two undead, so his only choice was to move deeper into the complex and find a way to deal with the array.
"Guess you two aren't good friends either." Dawn took the blow without flinching, whereas Lith almost lost his focus to block the incoming claws with Ruin. Nalrond had infused them with enough light and fire magic to make them look like laser daggers.
"Let me teach you a bit of math. Two beats one!" Dawn placed her open palms behind her shield, turning it into a powerful beam of light that ate the black flames and almost managed to do the same with Lith's face.
His answer was to use both hands as well to channel all the mana he could muster before it was too late. The stalemate lasted a split second before Solus gave him a literal hand.
'And three beats two, sister!' Solus noticed that the undead were upon them, so she slightly altered the spell's angle, using it as a means of propulsion rather than just attack.
Chapter 881 Bad Manners Part 1
The resulting speed from Lith's flight spell plus the two clashing attacks allowed him to dart through the spawns and strike at Nalrond with the momentum of a freight train.
The hybrid spat out a mouthful of blood as his scales cracked and his bones broke. Lith had no time to play nice nor to explain his intentions to the crazed beast so he made sure to hit his unwilling ally hard enough to make Nalrond faint.
The moment Dawn's reinforcements stepped on the arrays Solus had placed earlier, Solus activated the magical formations, diverting the enemy's attention from their escape.
'I'm starting to believe that Acala was right all along. Maybe the gods really don't want him to achieve greatness. Why is everything going wrong?' Dawn thought while the arrays fooled her into believing that more intruders were coming through the tunnels.
She couldn't allow any witness to reach the surface and since the source of the attacks came from the only way out of the underground complex, she had to deal with the newcomers first.
The Bright Day ordered her spawns to block the tunnels leading to the upper levels while she took care of the threat, leaving only the two undead who were already chasing Lith after her prey.
Lith regretted not having killed them sooner, but the light beam he had redirected was already weakened. If he had used it to destroy the vampires, not only would their energy have flown back to Dawn, but the beam would also have lost even more power.
'My bet was that with Dawn dead or incapacitated, her minions would have followed. Too bad that I failed. Solus?' Final Sunset was about to run out of mana and he couldn't waste a tier five spell like that again.
'Two against one while protecting a hostage is suicidal. We've already lost the element of surprise. They know about me and I haven't got much mana left. Bright green mana core, remember?' She replied.
Lith sighed, dropping Nalrond as if he was a bad habit. The hybrid weighed half a ton and the undead were moving at near sonic speed while weaving several spells at once.
The vampire was so focused on her own spell that she failed to notice Lith's movements until it was too late. The living boulder met the flabbergasted undead like a windshield does a mosquito.
Blood and bones splattered everywhere on the walls as the living corpse was forced to a halt. The damage she had sustained wasn't enough to kill her, but the cracks the impact had opened in her prism would cripple the vampire's strength until she made a full recovery.
'That was mean but effective. One on one is much better' Solus thought.
Lith infused the Skinwalker armor with his mana, turning himself into an Orichalcum block before stopping abruptly. The remaining undead was expecting something like that so he slowed down and dodged Lith, blocking the corridor ahead.
'The enemy is trapped. I need backup to prevent them from escaping ag…' The mind link between Dawn and her spawn was abruptly cut off as the prism inside his chest shattered.
Along with his power, Dawn retrieved the images about his final moments as well. She discovered that when her servant had surpassed Lith, the third stone arm had struck like a scorpion's tail from the blind spot that the Ranger's metal body created.
The red blade of Ruin had merely grazed its target, but at such speed, it had been enough. The only silver lining was that Dawn had gotten a good look at Solus. Once metalized, the Skinwalker armor had no mantle anymore and this time there was no spell blinding her Life Vision.
"That's no artifact but a member of the family! Objects don't have a life force." Bright Day was flabbergasted. Her surprise turned into outrage when Lith executed the remaining helpless spawn.
"That's it! Family or not, I'm going to beat them an inch from death before I let them explain the secret of their success to me. I heard that Verhen found a big important Odi ruin, so maybe he had access to the research I'm looking for.
"If they play their cards right, once I'm finished with my dear 'cousin', I'll give them a painless death." Cursed objects used the term "family" only because they lacked an alternative.
Living Legacies were no race since each one of them was unique. Not even being crafted by the same hand gave them any sense of kinship. Dawn and her siblings had tried multiple times to kill each other so she was quite an expert at dealing with cursed items.
'I wish that all undead had such a blatant weak point. Sure, Dawn's prisms give the vampires a lot of extra powers, but I only need one good shot to take them out.' Lith thought. 'The problem is: what do we do now?'
Nalrond was badly hurt, so Lith healed him enough to make sure that the hybrid would survive while keeping his stamina low to prevent him from regaining consciousness.
'No Warping, no digging, and all our communication amulets are disabled. I've already tried everything I could, but even though it's old and patched up, the Odi array does its job. We should get some distance between us and Acala.
'We need to rest before looking for a way out, or at least I do. I'm beat.' Solus replied.
'Agreed. The Odi would often set up multiple exits to their complexes so we have two options. Find an emergency exit or one of the array's nodes and disable it. To fix them, Dawn needed to have access to their focal points so they must be around here.'
Lith lifted Nalrond over his shoulders and resumed flying. He followed the world energy flowing through the walls until he found what he was looking for.
'Bingo! Knowing the Odi's modus operandi and how two arrays of this magnitude managed to resist the passing of time without any maintenance, I knew there had to be a mana geyser somewhere.' Lith thought.
'It's not at full capacity.' Solus studied the geyser and how part of its energy was being siphoned. It was missing way more world energy than that needed to sustain just two arrays, but it was still more than enough to assume her tower form.
'The arrays prevent me from Warping and digging while the ceiling is too low to materialize even the first floor. The ground floor alone will have to do.'
'I don't trust much your light bending skills against a Light Master, but it's our best shot.' Lith walked inside the tower, bringing Nalrond with him.
It always amazed him how much bigger it was on the inside.
"I wonder how come you can't Warp but you can still bend space inside of here. You can't dig into the ground but you still managed to enlarge the door for him." Lith said.
"Because it's my body, dummy. Just like the earth blocking array can't stop your earth fusion, it can't stop me either. Inside the tower, I make the rules." Solus's appeared in her human form.
This time she wasn't wearing a dress but her own Skinwalker armor that was shaped to mimic Lith's uniform. As long as she was on the tower's premises, she could do much more than just provide intelligence.
Chapter 882 Bad Manners Part 2
Lith had prepared contingency plans in the case his tower was ever discovered and the spare armor was part of it. He prepared the table for three, bringing out some food from his pocket dimension.
Lith didn't even use Invigoration, to save it for later. Within the tower, his recovery abilities were enhanced to the point that a short nap would allow him to return to his peak condition.
"Please, allow me. I don't get many occasions to practice Invigoration on someone else." Solus said while waking up their guest.
She was curious to study a hybrid who had two mana cores, so while she was performing the healing, Solus also activated the tier five spell, Scanner. She discovered that like Lith, the creature had two life forces.
The main difference between the two hybrids was that in Lith's case his life forces were linked, growing stronger together every time he experienced a breakthrough. Also, the barrier separating them seemed to exist only to protect his human body from the excessive strain that the other form would cause him.
She was certain that the barrier would disappear as soon as Lith became powerful enough to handle the energy that the combined bodies would possess.
In Nalrond's case, instead, despite him being in his late twenties, the two life forces were completely isolated from each other by an airtight barrier that prevented any energy exchange.
That coupled with the two mana cores, gave Lith and Solus the impression of being in front of two beings that had somehow been forcefully merged into one. There weren't two sides of the same coin so much as two coins glued together.
The moment Nalrond awoke, he tried to stand up, but a gentle hand forced him to sit.
"Relax. You're safe here." Solus said, wearing her best smile.
Seeing a being made of light, however, was the most terrifying thing that Nalrond could imagine. His response to the perceived threat was to stand up with all of his might while striking at the creature's heart with his razor-sharp claws.
It was the place where Dawn usually hid within her current host.
Solus slapped away the clawed hand with a grace that painfully reminded both men of Dawn and kept pressing on his scaly shoulder, locking the Rezar into place. The hybrid weighed half a ton, but in her tower form, Solus's weight reached the dozens.
The attempt to overpowering her hand made him feel small and foolish as if he had tried to uproot a mountain.
"She said relax. If we wanted you dead, you'd have stopped breathing a long time ago." Lith had a smug grin on his face. He was curious to see how Solus would handle their guest and how powerful she truly was.
Nalrond had already proven to be aware of her existence and to somehow be able to trace Living Legacies like Solus. Hiding her from him was pointless, whereas having a hostile within the tower was a nice experiment.
Solus couldn't harm Lith, she wouldn't lift a finger against Tista or Nyka, and Zinya's husband wasn't worthy of being considered a test subject more than a cockroach would.
"Believe me, there are things worse than death. The puppet of a cursed object such as yourself should know better." The hybrid said while panic made his heart drum into his ears.
Nalrond conjured a small sphere of light out of one of his claws that instantly turned into a white-hot beam aimed at Solus's forehead.
"That's rude!" She snuffed out the light with a flick of her wrist. With the same movement, she also slapped Nalrond with so much strength that his jaw almost dislocated.
"Who are you and who is that... woman called Dawn?" Lith was about to say "thing" when Solus had glared at him.
Nalrond coughed out a mouthful of blood and attempted to cast an earth spell, to crush Solus with the stones of the pavement. Unfortunately for him, every single piece of the tower was part of her, so his spell found nothing to work on.
A backhand slap came close to twisting his neck, yet he refused to back down, conjuring one element after the other. Each failure was rewarded with another slap, until his spirit was as broken as his body.
Lith had been forced to move the table away during the slaughter to protect the food.
'I didn't pay and preserve all this stuff all this time just to get it spoiled by blood.' He thought.
"You are half-human, so let's behave at least as half-civilized people. My name is Scourge. Who are you?" Lith asked.
Nalrond attempted to talk, but only jumbled sounds came out. He was suffering from multiple concussions and his jaw was shattered into more pieces than a puzzle.
"Ops! My bad. I'm not used to be the one doing the beating. I thought with all those scales he would be sturdier." Solus fixed the Rezar again with Invigoration, but not even the breathing technique could restore his warrior's pride.
Nalrond was aware that physical appearance meant nothing when facing a cursed object, but Solus was so lithe and petite that being handled by her as if he was just a stuffed toy crushed his morale.
"My name is Nalrond." His voice was dejected and he couldn't muster the strength to stop staring at the floor.
"Nice to meet you, Nalrond. I'm Solus." She held out her hand, almost triggering him into a panic attack the moment he laid his eyes on it.
'Solus, what point does using an alias have if you give out your real name?' Lith expressed his grievance via their mind link. 'Also, do you realize how scary your hand is to him right now? You might as well point a blade at his neck and he would feel more at ease.'
'Who cares about my name? You gave it to me so even if Nalrond knew how master Menadion called me, he wouldn't be able to recognize me.' She replied, trying to avoid talking about her blunder.
"You're right about me. I'm only half-human." Nalrond hurried to say, terrified at the idea of being slapped again.
"I belong to those you humans call the werepeople."
"Like a werewolf?" Lith was honestly surprised. He had read about werepeople only in storybooks and according to lore, only carnivores could infect men with their animal spirit. Yet the creature in front of him closely resembled an armadillo.
"Yes. Except the full moon does squat, we're not afraid of silver, and our condition is no curse. It's man-made." Nalrond's voice found courage in his heritage. The only thing he hated more than Acala was bigotry.
"Really? Then why is your race listed among monsters?" Lith asked.
"We're not a fallen race. We are no race at all. Werepeople were born out of experiments with forbidden magic in the attempt to create soldiers capable of using magic without training, as it happens for magical beasts." Nalrond couldn't hide his contempt for such a foolish theory.
"Magical beasts have a natural affinity toward elemental magic, but that's it. They have to work their asses off to become good mages." Lith replied.
"You're telling me." Nalrond chuckled. "Why do you think the project was dropped? The final result was an utter failure. Those who survived the procedure were capable of shapeshifting into an Emperor Beast, but apparently they shared no magical ability with their animal counterpart."
"Emphasis on apparently." Lith said.
Chapter 883 Evil Light Part 1
"Oh, yes. My ancestors could use all elements like humans and cast all kinds of spells silently like beasts. What they lacked was the animal's affinity for magic and the human's training, so the experiment was an apparent failure.
"Imagine their captors' amazement once my ancestors realized that first magic was just the beginning. When they broke out of their filth-ridden cells, drank the blood of those arrogant mages to quench their thirst and then feasted upon the arrogant nobles families who had commissioned the job."
Nalrond's pupils turned bright red in a blood frenzy, as if he could see the entire scene unfolding in front of his eyes and he was eager to join his kinsmen.
"Once they achieved their revenge, my ancestors tried to live among the beasts, but because of our human mind, their society was hard to cope with. On top of that, our reproductive preferences remain unchanged, no matter the nature of our animal half.
"Living among humans turned out to be impossible as well. My ancestors had to hide their magical talents at all times, but it wasn't our hubris driving us away from civilization, it was fear.
"Fear of being discovered, of being subject to those experiments again. Adults can hide their abilities, but kids are hard to handle while newborns…" Nalrond shook his head.
"I know, they can be born in animal form and shapeshift according to their stress levels." Lith dismissed the thing with a wave of his hand. "I'm not interested in a history lesson so much as in understanding our present situation. Get to the point."
"Do you think I enjoy revealing my heritage to someone like you? I'm only doing it because your master is strong. Maybe strong enough to capture Dawn. I'm betting on the monster I don't know only because my hatred beats all reason.
"You need to know this stuff, so in the case you beat the Bright Day, you'll be able to make contact with my people who know how to contain her. You can't store her in a dimensional space, you can't destroy her, and entrusting her to anyone else would be utter madness." Nalrond assumed he would die the moment he outlived his usefulness.
"Do I look like a servant to you?" Lith released his aura, enveloping the entirety of the dining room in blue light.
There was no hostility in his voice nor killing intent in his mana, just pure, unbridled power. Solus wasn't the only one benefitting from the tower. World energy endlessly flowed inside Lith, turning his aura into a raging ocean.
"Solus is not my master, she is my partner." Lith said.
Even though Lith wasn't moving, Nalrond felt as if the ground was collapsing under his seat while his host grew in size until he was a giant. After spending years watching after the Bright Day, the hybrid could discern the energy coming from a cursed object from that of its host.
The moment Nalrond realized that Lith wasn't lying, that all that power belonged to him and didn't come from Solus, the Rezar's mind went blank in confusion.
"Now continue with your story." Lith recalled his aura and the world went back to normal.
Nalrond could finally breathe again. The feeling of oppression that had been weighing on his chest was gone.
"We withdrew from the world, taking for us special places of Mogar where we could live in peace. We wanted to find a way to remove the duality in our nature, to succeed where our makers had failed.
"Our species is cut off from Mogar. We don't belong to any of the four races nor can we Awaken. We're not monsters, yet what was done to our forefathers prevents us from achieving any form of further evolution. We're stuck as we are.
"Our condition has only one perk. We can't bond with a cursed object because we're already fused with our animal half. We have two mana cores and two life forces, while a cursed object can only bond with one of them.
"Throughout history, when a Living Legacy couldn't be contained nor destroyed, it was entrusted to one of our clans for safekeeping. That's how I know Dawn. She's one of Baba Yaga's horsemen." Nalrond said.
Lith knew that name. It was often mentioned in the fairy tales that his parents told him when he was little on Mogar. Unlike her Earth's counterpart, Mogar's Baba Yaga wasn't a seemingly omnipotent old witch who lived in a chicken-legged hut.
She was considered to be the first person to have discovered magic and according to lore she had achieved immortality. Her story, however, wasn't told to inspire children, but as a cautionary tale.
In her greed for power, Baba Yaga had isolated herself for so long that once she came out from her hut, Mogar was changed and everyone she had known and loved was dust.
She was unable to relate to the new society, even the language was unknown to her. She worked hard to adapt, to learn about the world, and to fall in love again. But while everything changed and died, she remained the same.
Baba Yaga's children inherited her talent for magic, but not her longevity. No matter what she did to prolong their life, death would always claim them.
Mad with grief and desperation, she devoted her efforts to give birth to a new race of creatures that could live as long as she did, to save her from loneliness. It was thanks to Baba Yaga that the first undead had walked Mogar.
"One of what?" Lith asked. In all the stories he knew, Baba Yaga was considered the mother of all undead, the one behind all the bad things that lurked in the dark. There was no mention of horsemen.
"Undeath is imperfect. Baba Yaga's children have too many weak points so she crafted the horsemen to continue her research while she keeps improving her strength before making a new attempt at creating a better race." Nalrond replied.
"Undead are weak to sunlight, but those who merge with Dawn share her mastery above the light element and become immune to it, but that's not her mission. She was sent out on Mogar to perfect the undead's feeding method.
"As you should know, with each life they take, the undead become stronger, but that's it. When an undead feeds upon his prey, he absorbs the victim's life essence which contains more than just mana. It also holds all of their memories and abilities.
"Luckily for the living, such knowledge is lost during the feeding process.
"In Dawn's case, however, whenever she bonds with her host or does she create a spawn, she inherits the entirety of their being. The creatures we've fought so far were strong because they shared all of their abilities with each other and were guided by an ancient being who can use any skill to its fullest."
"Are you telling me that if Dawn bonds with a sword master, she acquires their swordsmanship and that each spawn adds new skills to her collection?" Lith finally found a common link between the victims of disappearance.
It wasn't the caravans' cargo Dawn was after, but the people who possessed special knowledge. He asked Solus to start compiling a list of what she could do if such people became their obedient slaves while he kept conversing with Nalrond.
Chapter 884 Evil Light Part 2
"Yes, she does. Yet like any other children of Baba Yaga, Dawn is imperfect as well." The hybrid replied. "The moment a spawn dies, she loses access to their abilities and knowledge except for the bits she has spent time practicing.
"Otherwise with her eternal life, she would have already become nigh-omnipotent. Dawn is the incarnation of the undead's feeding flaw and her mission is to find a fix to it. If she ever succeeds, the undead will become unstoppable."
'That's why she's after the Odi ruins.' Lith thought. 'The Odi were body snatchers, but their procedure was imperfect as well. The new body would not inherit the original's mana core nor their muscle memory.
'I bet Dawn is after their research about memory transfer and that's what that odd machine is about. She's trying to apply to Odi technology on herself before adapting it to the rest of the undead.'
"How did Acala came into play?" Lith asked.
"Dawn can't be destroyed. She feeds upon the light element so even locking her in a cave is pointless." Nalrond said. "Yet like her maker, she suffers from isolation. Given time, my tribe exchanged our company for her knowledge about all kinds of light magic.
"We hoped that Body Sculpting would help us find a way to merge our twin essences. That we could put her skills to good use. We never succeeded, but over time, our skill with healing magic became legendary.
"People would seek our village to fix what was wrong with their bodies, their minds, or even their souls. They believed us to be heavenly creatures, but there's only so much we could do for them.
"Acala is among the few that managed to find our village. He was at the lowest point of his life, to the point that salvation and death were equally charming to him. Acala told us how he had slaved away for his masters until they had thrown him out once he was no longer deemed useful.
"Now I know that his side of the story was twisted, but his pain was genuine. We felt empathy for his situation and we did all we could to prevent him from throwing away his life.
"Like many before him, Acala found peace among us and decided to remain. He was a good man and a powerful mage, so we accepted him as one of our own. Acala even took one of our women as his wife and that was the beginning of the end.
"Our skills reminded him of someone called 'Manohar', one of the most powerful men in your Kingdom. He asked us to teach him the art of shaping light, but we know nothing about human magic and he proved to be incapable of learning the way we do."
'Yeah. That would require him to be Awakened.' Lith thought.
"As long as Acala was our guest and lived at the fringes of our community, he knew no envy. Yet once he got married, watching so may marvels, watching so much power wielded even by children while he was stuck with his primitive ways made him bitter." Nalrond said.
"He started to live it as another injustice. As if every time we practiced our magic, we reminded him of how insignificant he was. We were worried by him spending so much time alone in the forest, but only because we thought he might commit suicide.
"Dawn was locked inside a chest, hidden in our chieftain's house, and protected by several arrays we inherited from our ancestors. We had no idea at the time that just like we learned from her, she had learned from us.
"Even from within her prison, Dawn used her mastery over the light element to see everything that happened inside the village and learn our personal spells. She also managed to discover the passwords for the arrays and how the chest's lock worked."
"Wait. How could you be so stupid to not use a light-blocking array against her?" Lith asked.
"We did, but it wasn't enough!" Nalrond clawed his own legs in frustration. "You don't get it. Dawn doesn't feed upon light magic, but on the light element itself. Hide her inside a cave, bury her in a marine trench, it doesn't matter.
"The only way to fully stop her would be to destroy the sun."
"I'm sorry, but I still fail to see how Acala could help her. It seems to me you had everything under control." Lith said.
"So did we, and we were wrong. Dawn had already tried to free herself from the arrays in the past, but she always failed. We believed that our teamwork, our relentless preparations were the reason for our success, but the truth was that Dawn was just probing our ranks.
"It had never been us or the arrays to keep her from leaving, it was the lack of a suitable host. Someone so crazy and desperate to bond with her even though he knew what she was.
"Without a host, she could exert less than half her full strength. That along with the passwords for the arrays was enough to escape from her prison but not enough to get away from the village. With our numbers, it would have been only a matter of time before we captured her again.
"Dawn only had one chance, because once she revealed her hand, we would have changed the codes often to foil further attempts. Sadly, a single mistake was also our last. Dawn deactivated the arrays, burst through our ranks, and reached Acala.
"We had failed to understand that what he looked for wasn't a family, a place where he belonged, or even acceptance. The only thing Acala wanted was what he believed that Mogar owed him.
"Once he bonded with Dawn, he absorbed so much light energy that he blotted out the sun and then he burned the whole village to make sure that no one would live to tell the tale. I survived the massacre only because I was on the front lines when it happened." Nalrond started to sob.
"I beg your pardon?" Lith asked. The hybrid's words made no sense to him.
"After Dawn deactivated the arrays, I was part of the guards that took the full power of her first attack. I was too severely injured to be of help, so I Blinked away to heal and avoid becoming a hostage.
"I watched at the whole thing from a distance and when Acala bonded with Dawn I know everything was lost. I tried to Blink back to the village to save as many people as I could, but without light element, there's no dimensional magic.
"The only thing I could do was fly away and curse my own weakness. You can easily imagine the rest."
"Have you tried warning the Kingdom?" Lith put the table back in place. His hospitality surprised Nalrond, but at that point, the hybrid didn't care about anything but his own hunger.
"And tell them what? That a decorated Ranger had stolen a legendary artifact from a tribe of monsters? Don't your people give a medal to those who commit such crimes?" Nalrond wolfed down the food the moment he shapeshifted into his human form.
His stark-naked human form.
Chapter 885 Elemental Arrays Part 1
Nalrond was a man in his mid-twenties about 1.84 meters (6') tall, with a lean and toned body that no one in their right mind would associate with his hulking animal form.
He had raven black hair, green eyes, and an unkempt beard. His bronze skin was a clear sign that he wasn't from the Gorgon Empire nor from the north of the Kingdom.
"Oh my." Solus blushed, and with her all the lights in the tower.
"I guess you are right, Nalrond. Alerting the Kingdom would have been pointless." Lith nodded. "Whether they believed your story or not, you'd have ended up as a lab rat. As for Acala even if they decided to kill him instead of exploiting his skills, Dawn would have simply moved to the next moron."
"Now that you know everything, do I get a last wish after my last meal?" Nalrond asked.
"How many times do I have to tell you that wanton murder is not part of my plan?" Lith emitted a stressed sigh. "The plan is to avoid useless fights, contact the Beast Council, and have them deal with this mess."
"What?" Nalrond couldn't believe his own ears. He had noticed that Lith was capable of using first magic during their earlier confrontation, but he thought that just like Acala, his abilities originated from his bond with the cursed object.
"Are you really part of the Beast's Council?"
"I am. I also guess it was them entrusting your tribe with the relic." Lith said.
"That was centuries ago. We had no contact with the Council ever since. Otherwise I would have asked for their help instead of acting solo." Nalrond said.
"Get some rest while you can. Dawn's spawns could find us any minute now and I've no idea how to get out of here. Worst case scenario, we'll have to fight our way out." Lith sent the Sentries to patrol the area.
They would warn him as soon as the enemy approached, giving him the time to make preparations.
"You don't need my help. Her powers rival those of the Bright Day." Nalrond pointed at Solus, who was trying to eat while avoiding to look at their naked guest.
The hybrid didn't believe in free meals and the whole situation still made no sense to him.
"I wish it was that simple." Lith said. "We are against at least 15 spawns plus Acala. Do you know about a weak spot we could exploit?"
"Dawn has no weak point." Nalrond shook his head. "But if you really want to escape, there's a tunnel in the lower levels that leads outside."
"Are you sure?" Lith asked.
"Absolutely. I investigated the area earlier while I was trying to understand Dawn's endgame. It was my plan B in the case I failed to kill her host. Destroy everything she is working on and then bury her under the whole mountain." Nalrond replied.
He told Lith about an ancient underground lab that the Living Legacy had worked hard to restore to its full functionality. According to him, there were a lot of tomes and a machine.
"The only reason I didn't touch anything was to not lose the element of surprise."
"A lab you say? We should pay it a visit before leaving." Lith gave Nalrond some of his old clothes. The hybrid was less muscular and taller than Lith so their size was a bit off.
"Just a couple of questions before letting you catch some sleep. How can the undead possessed by Dawn survive sunlight and what can you tell me about her 'siblings'?"
"It's easy. It's the abundance of the light element during the day that forces most undead to sleep. All Dawn has to do is to absorb the light in their surroundings to create an artificial night." Nalrond replied.
"As for her siblings, I know only what legends say. The Black Night's mission is to find a way to make the undead immune to darkness magic, while the Red Sun's is to restore the undead's ability to use all kinds of magic.
"As it is, they can't become Forgemasters nor Dimensional Mages."
"What about Liches?" Lith asked.
"They are not children of Baba Yaga. They are a man-made perversion of undeath. Dawn and her siblings are known as the bane of Liches. Not only because the three Horsemen consider them unnatural, but also because Liches make a mockery of what they consider their secret mission.
"Every time a Horseman meets a Lich, the latter dies. Sometimes even for good." Nalrond sighed. Even though he was certain that one of the cursed objects would be the death of him, he wasn't afraid, just sad.
Part of it depended on the awareness that he wouldn't achieve his revenge, but mostly because he realized how foolish he had been. Ever since the destruction of his village, Nalrond had never reverted to his human form for long, letting his grief and animal fury drive his actions.
Now, however, he realized that he had been fighting a losing battle all along.
'Even if I manage to kill Acala, then what? I can't build alone the arrays to contain Dawn, nor would she give me the time to reach another tribe of werepeople. She would just kill me and then find a new partner. Gods, I'm so stupid.' Nalrond thought.
To add insult to injury, even though he was surrounded by enemies, finally being able to hear a human voice that wasn't his own, eating hot food, and wearing clothes were pleasant feelings he had almost forgotten.
They reminded him of his home, of all the people he had loved and lost. Soon his nostalgia turned into hatred, but this time, instead of giving him strength, his rage only made him feel helpless.
"I'm sorry for your loss." Solus said while conjuring a bed for their guest. "Killing Acala will not bring anyone back, but I hope that at least it will give you closure."
Nalrond was shocked by the cursed object's kindness. He considered Solus an enemy and wouldn't hesitate a second to kill her or her human host.
Even in his human form, the hybrid could smell the subtle scent that only a Living Legacy could emit and it made him sick.
His face turned red from anger and he was about to lash out at her when he felt a cold gaze piercing his neck. Nalrond turned around, meeting Lith's eyes that were brimming with blue mana.
"Say thank you and get to sleep." The coldness of Lith's voice smothered Nalrond's rage, reminding him that his life was hanging by a thread.
"Thank you, Solus." The hybrid fell asleep the moment his head touched the soft pillow. All of his inner turmoil crumbled in the face of the exhaustion he had accumulated during the months spent hunting Acala.
'What are we going to do with him?' Solus asked.
'It depends on how useful he's willing to be. First, we need to get out of here alive. We are currently outnumbered but not outmatched. No matter how strong a cursed object is, we've learned from the Black Star that once they bond with someone, the host is their weak point.
'If we kill Acala, Dawn will lose most of her strength and that should create an opening for our escape. If by then Nalrond is still alive and willing to teach us offensive light magic, I might consider letting him live.' Lith replied.
Chapter 886 Elemental Arrays Part 2
What I'm really interested in, however, is to find out what the Odi researched in this facility. If Nalrond's story is true, we might find clues about how to solve the problem I would have in common with the undead if I ever decide to body-swap.
'Retaining my own physical skills and mana core is no small matter. Maybe this mess is actually a blessing in disguise. Our only issue is to get rid of Dawn and seize everything relevant before the Kingdom searches the lab.'
Lith used the tower Sentries to scout their surroundings and search for secret passages while keeping an eye on the enemy. Dawn's spawns were taking it easy, checking every nook and cranny for their prey before moving forward.
The Bright Day believed that after interrogating Nalrond, Lith would have killed him since it was what she would have done.
'Breaking Nalrond should take Lith enough time for me to find him. Even if somehow that dumb hybrid knows about the exit and reveals its position to the Ranger, the traps I've left behind will make short work of the other cursed object's human host, leaving them helpless.
'Without a body or an energy source, the lesser members of the family are unable to move. I want to learn who they are and what they know before turning them to the Kingdom. I have now the perfect scapegoat to make up for this mess.' Dawn had a smug grin at the idea of dooming Solus to a fate worse than death.
'No matter what they tell the humans, no one will ever believe a word they say.'
***
A couple of hours later, Lith woke up Nalrond and they left the cave. The enemies were getting closer and Lith wanted to keep enough lead to always have the time to check his surroundings.
Nalrond was forced to take point because Lith didn't trust the hybrid. Yet he couldn't afford to dispose of such a precious asset. Nalrond's clan had learned from Dawn everything they knew so he could offer Lith insight about the enemy's strategies.
"Baba Yaga's horsemen are different from anything else you might have faced before." Nalrond said. "They are smart, powerful, but most of all they are immortal. No one has ever managed to destroy one of them, yet they are not conceited.
"Dawn has never underestimated her enemies and always takes her time before making a move. You have only two advantages over her. First, she's in competition with her siblings, so after being trapped for centuries, she must be in a rush to make up for the lost time.
"Otherwise I can't explain why she kept that dirty poor Ranger instead of swapping him for someone more influential."
Lith had trouble keeping his poker face intact. Nalrond's ignorance about society was baffling.
'Dawn made the best possible move. If she picked someone like Marchioness Distar, I doubt that it would have been easy to corrupt her as Dawn did to Acala. A powerful mage would never trust a sentient unknown artifact.
'Also, the Marchioness has a family and a truckload of responsibilities. Any odd behavior wouldn't have gone unnoticed and Dawn would have wasted most of her time filling paperwork just not to betray her presence. Acala, instead, is a blank slate.
'The only thing Nalrond is right about is Dawn being in a rush. There's no other way to explain why she wants to lead the Kingdom to these ruins. Odi remains have been declared state secrets, hence discovering one is bound to boost Acala's status and give Dawn access to most of the rare ingredients she needs for her research.
'Sure, she'd lose any piece of knowledge she has overlooked, but the Odi also offer her the perfect explanation for the presence of the odd undead Acala has allegedly discovered.' Lith thought.
"Your second advantage is me." Nalrond waved his hand, revealing the presence of several arrays that covered most of the corridor in front of them.
Lith had already spotted the traps with Life Vision, but he wanted to check the hybrid's skills and how trustworthy he was.
"How did you know about their presence and how can such powerful formations remain active even without mana crystals to fuel them?" Lith asked.
"I can sense the unbalance in the elements that this kind of arrays create. As for their power source, there's your explanation." Nalrond pointed his finger at several runes that were unknown to Lith.
On top of that, once he and Solus started to study the array's composition, they noticed that the runes Nalrond highlighted had no sense, occupying the empty spaces between the magic circles.
"Normal arrays are comprised of all elements and their effects depend on the runes they are inscribed with." The Rezar said. "Elemental arrays, instead, are forged out of a single element. They are less versatile in their use but at the same time, they are easier to sustain.
"Those runes are actually power foci for Dawn's mana. She can keep them active as long as she provides them regularly with light energy."
'Fuck me sideways. That's probably the reason why both Xedros and his son are so skilled as Wardens. I wonder if it's something exclusive to light magic or if all elements can do the same.' Lith thought.
"Do you know how to deactivate them?" He actually said.
"Yes. These are arrays that my people developed based on Dawn's teachings." Even though Nalrond was focused on prolonging his life until he found a way to escape, he couldn't hide the bitterness in his voice.
In his eyes, by using his people's magic for her own ends, Dawn was tainting all the good memories Nalrond had of them. He waved his hand again, making several runes move out of their place without disrupting the formation.
"What the fuck?" Lith blurted out.
"If I deactivated the arrays, she would notice just as if I triggered them. This way I have just blocked their mana flow. We can pass the formations without alarming Dawn nor leaving any trace of our passage." Nalrond stepped inside the array yet nothing happened.
The missing runes prevented it from activating without losing its structural integrity.
"We used this kind of elemental formations to protect our village from outsiders. They are not as good as permanent arrays but they have no maintenance cost and are safe for children.
"Even those with no talent for magic can deactivate them with first magic as long as they know what runes have to be moved."
Lith followed him closely, leaving to Solus to remember the sequence of gestures necessary to alter the arrays while he kept an eye on their surroundings. The stone corridors were filled with metal plaques that pointed them the way, but also reminded him of the horrors of Kulah.
When the stone was replaced by metal, a cold shiver ran down Lith's back.
'Damn, if I meet a single golem, I swear to Newton that I'll desert the army.'
Lith's worries were dispelled a few steps later when he noticed that the artificial lights didn't work and that the entire place had been ravaged by time. The metal was completely rusted, alternating green and red patches that screeched at their passage.
The humidity had formed small pools of water from which mold had spread to the seams between the metal plates. Lith channeled Invigoration through the mold, using it as a conduit for his breathing technique and examining the full floor before even taking the first step.
Chapter 887 Mother Lode Part 1
Lith was surprised when Invigoration traveled through the moss and revealed to him that countless mana crystals nucleated from the cracks in the rocks underlying the rusted metal walls. The crystal vein followed the path of the mana geyser that they had previously encountered.
Both Kulah and the ruins Lith was currently exploring had been crystal mines in the past. Unlike the resting place of the last members of the Odi race, the ruins had to have been abandoned for centuries.
Mana crystals took a long time to form and judging by their vitality, nothing had interfered with their sustenance in a long while. Another surprise was the complete lack of defense systems, be them ancient or modern in making.
"Why are there no arrays here?" Lith's thought out loud, receiving an unexpected answer.
"Never cast any kind of spell near growing crystals." Nalrond pointed at the closest crystal vein. "They are hungry for world energy and if you mess with their meal, your magic will go wild. If you are lucky."
"What if you are unlucky?"
Nalrond quickly closed and opened his hands while mouthing a boom.
"How can you perceive the crystals through all this metal?"
"I don't. I stumbled upon several crystal veins while swimming through the mountain. Nothing useful for at least 300 more years."
Lith had still many questions, but their words echoed like thunder and Hushing the zone wasn't an option.
'I guess that's how his people dug their share of crystals. I bet that if the Kingdom knew about their skill, swimming through the earth would be added to the list of forbidden magic.' He thought.
After walking together for a while, Nalrond had stopped worrying about Solus. He looked at Lith from time to time, trying to understand who the real monster was.
The cursed object had shown empathy and compassion while he had recounted his story, whereas her host seemed to be more interested in the Odi library than worried by the ancient horror that was stalking them.
Their descent continued for hours. Neither of them needed light, so they advanced in silence and stopped only for a quick meal or to drink some water. Before leaving the tower, Lith had taken more food out of his pocket dimension to replace the bag he had lost.
Hunger was the worst enemy for a mage since water could be easily conjured whereas food couldn't. To make matters worse, a starving mage couldn't even heal their wounds without hastening their own demise.
'Not to jinx our mission, but what makes you think that we'll find the tomes we need still in place? If I were Dawn, I would store them inside my pocket dimension and always bring them with me.' Solus said.
'True, but you must also consider that she has no Soluspedia. Dawn needs to constantly consult the books and with the dimensional blocking array in place, her options are even more limited.' Lith replied.
'Turning off such a big formation without severing its link with the mana geyser that serves as a power source is almost impossible. Especially since she had to patch up what remained of the Odi array.
'Also, you have to consider how it was probably Dawn who destroyed the tags leading to the underground facility. My guess is that, whatever she is building in these caves, it needs the mana geyser to work.
'When you assumed your tower form, you told me the geyser wasn't at full capacity, remember? Two arrays are nothing compared to the flow of world energy. My guess is that she planned on using the Odi lab until Acala got a place and a mana geyser of his own.
'She never expected that we would escape from her trap, nor that we would have a guide. Without Nalrond, we would be wandering aimlessly instead of moving straight toward her lab.
'The real problem will be taking everything we need outside before Dawn or her spawns catch up with us.'
'Maybe, and maybe not.' Solus didn't want to put Lith's hopes up, but she could feel they were getting closer again to the mana geyser they had accessed earlier. Most of the world energy ran through the mountain, forming the crystal veins. Without an access point, the mana geyser was useless for their purposes.
But if they found another opening, then all books could have been stored inside the pocket dimension after moving them inside the tower.
Lith's stomach told him that it was about dinnertime. That and Nalrond stumbling more and more frequently made Lith decide it was better to take a break. They had been walking for hours and he was the only one with an enhanced body.
Lith was still as fresh as a daisy, whereas Nalrond was drenched with sweat and panted like a steam engine. His human body was suffering from hunger and exhaustion. He had survived the last few months by eating bugs, fruits, and rarely some fish, which had further weakened him.
By watching at Nalrond's battered body and how voracious he had been during their shared meal inside the tower, Lith guessed that had been the first real food the Rezar had eaten since the destruction of his village.
Lith needed to plan their next move with Nalrond, hence they needed to talk. After checking with all of his senses that there were no enemies nor crystal veins, he conjured a Hush spell and gave the hybrid a big ration of food.
Nalrond sat in the less dirty spot he could find and devoted his full focus to make sure that not a crumb would be lost.
"I'm surprised. You have yet to make a single attempt to escape. Why?" Lith asked.
"I can't Warp, I can't dig through stone, and I'm pretty sure that even if I managed to get the drop on you, I wouldn't come out unscathed. Also, the commotion would alarm Dawn and her flunkies.
"I'm no match for her one on one, let alone if I'm put against 15 spawns." Nalrond replied.
"That was going to be my next question. I noticed that you have got good spells but you fight inefficiently. You invest too much mana in a single attack, leaving you exposed whenever it misses."
"What do you expect from me?" Nalrond asked and received seconds. The lack of mockery in his tone was the closest thing to a thank you that his hate for cursed objects allowed him to give Lith.
"I'm no warrior. I lived all my life in my village as a Healer and making sure that the Bright Day wouldn't escape. Gods, how I missed meat. I never had the time to field dress animals."
"Then I guess you don't know how to use a weapon." Lith had an unimprinted short sword with him. He had taken it from the tower to give it to Nalrond in the case the enemies caught up with them.
"What good is a weapon against an artifact?" Nalrond shrugged. "I never learned how to use a blade because I never thought I would need one. This isn't how I planned my life."
"Can you take on her spawns while I deal with Dawn?" Lith asked.
"Alone against 15 hive-minded individuals who share part of her power and all of their skills? No way. I can kill a couple if I manage to take them by surprise. Maybe three. 15 is madness." Nalrond shook his head.
Chapter 888 Mother Lode Part 2
'They didn't seem so strong when we fought them.' Lith thought.
'Probably they were holding back, to lull you into a sense of false security and keep you from escaping. You instead went all-out and killed them all before they had a chance to retaliate.' Solus pointed out.
'As for the second wave we faced, we got the upper hand again, but only because they weren't aware of my existence. Their teamwork was seamless and their plan would have worked if you didn't have a third arm.'
"Wait a second." Lith said to both his allies. "How long has Dawn been fused with Acala?"
"Five months, 16 days, and six hours, more or less." Nalrond gritted his teeth as the memory of his village burning at noon, when Dawn's strength was at her peak, flashed in front of his eyes.
"And how long has she been sealed by your people?"
"A couple of centuries. Lady Sinmara, one of Overlord Salaark's daughters, brought the Bright Day to us after she failed to destroy it. Her mother…"
"I didn't ask you for a history lesson." Lith cut him short.
"We are on the clock so shut up and listen. I might have found Dawn's weak point. Her knowledge about modern magic is limited to what Acala knows, that's why she kidnapped those people.
"Caravans always bring bodyguards and the best bodyguards are always mages. You told me that she doesn't retain the knowledge of her victims after they die, so if we take out her spawns before she gets to us, she'll be much easier to handle."
Lith pondered if to take out the undead or the thralls first. The vampires were bound to have a lot more knowledge, but they were probably useless in terms of dimensional and Forgemastery magic.
The thralls, on the other hand, held the knowledge Dawn wanted for whatever she was planning. Also, Lith had already witnessed how losing the humans seemed to weaken her hold over the vampires.
"She has another weak point." Nalrond said, derailing Lith's thoughts. "She is in a weakened state during the night because the only sources of light element are the stars and the moon.
"Dawn always took undead as her host to compensate for it, but this time she has bonded with a human."
"You are not making any sense. You told me that she can be buried underground and still access to the light element, so what difference does the solar cycle make? On top of that, Mogar's world energy holds all the light element she might need." Lith replied.
"Elements have a physical manifestation. Just like it's easier to practice water magic near a river and you can't practice earth magic without actual earth, sunlight provides us with pure light and fire elements, whereas world energy belongs to Mogar.
"To access a single element, you need to use your mana as a focus to connect with the elemental energies surrounding you. If Dawn tried to absorb huge amounts of the light element from the world energy, the resulting imbalance would kill her."
Nalrond's words made Lith reflect further on the nature of his Accumulation technique.
'He has a point. As a tower, Solus absorbs all of Mogar's life-breath and so do I with my breathing techniques. Maybe, if I find a way to split the world energy into its single components before absorbing it, I could exploit the released energy to accelerate the growth process of my mana core or channel it into…' Lith thought before Solus snapped him out of it.
'There's no time for enlightenment, only for planning.'
"Are you suggesting we should strike now?" Lith asked.
"No. I'm just saying that if we are still here once the sun rises again, we have little chance of survival. We can talk while we move." Nalrond took point again. Their lunch break had lasted barely fifteen minutes, but with a full stomach and renewed hope, the hybrid felt much better.
Despite the barrier separating his life forces, Nalrond's Emperor Beast's half coupled with his meditation technique improved his recovery abilities beyond the human level.
"As I was saying, if we meet Dawn's spawns, kill the humans first." Lith explained his theory while Nalrond deactivated the arrays they met on their way.
After a while, a white light shone in front of the hybrids, making them freeze in place.
"How the heck did they got in front of us?" Lith whispered.
"We might as well have taken the scenic route for all I know. Maybe there was a shortcut we missed." Nalrond replied.
"I thought you knew the way!" Lith cursed himself for trusting his prisoner.
"I do, but without earth magic, I could only rely on my memory. This place is a damn maze so I had us take the simplest and only route I could remember that would bring us to our destination without getting lost."
"Why didn't you tell me earlier?"
"Tell you what? That I was gambling with each turn we took? I'm pretty sure that you would have killed me if you thought I was an unreliable guide. Now, instead, you need me more than ever." Nalrond said.
The Rezar's body was tense and ready for the fight, yet he couldn't stop smiling at the idea that he wouldn't die yet.
Lith switched from Fire Vision to Life Vision, recognizing Dawn's energy signature in the light coming from ahead. Whatever it was, it emitted vast amounts of mana that was so dense to blind Lith's mystical senses.
Lith took the lead, floating a few centimeters from the metal while hiding his smell with a darkness spell. Once he reached the source of light, he gasped in amazement.
What remained of the door frame was huge. Judging from the hinges, it had to have hosted a piece of metal of considerable size. The locks and arrays that protected what once was the vault's door were still in place despite the passing of time.
The scorch marks surrounding the metal frame and the molten scraps were a clear indicator that Dawn had brute-forced her way in by evaporating the door with her light magic. The spell had generated enough heat to deform the rest of the corridor.
Yet the real reason for Lith's awe was what lied beyond the gate.
It was a squared room with a side of at least 25 meters (82 feet). At its center, there was one of the most complex machines Lith had seen since he had been reborn on Mogar. The device was placed right above the energy stream of the mana geyser.
It was similar to the machine Acala had shown him on the upper levels, but more ancient in design. The entirety of the cave's walls was covered with hard-light constructs that replicated bookshelves and each shelf was full of perfectly preserved tomes written in the Odi language.
The rest of the room was filled with more constructs that had been shaped like lab desks and all the non-complex research tools modern Forgemasters used. Except for ingredients and alchemical analysis devices, everything was made of solid light.
"How the heck is this possible? To keep so many constructs active at all times, Dawn should be as weak as a kitten." Lith didn't let his curiosity get the best of him and used Invigoration on the floor to look for more traps.
Between the mana geyser, the Odi machine, and all that magic, his other mystical senses were blind.
Chapter 889 Sorcerer’s Apprentice Part 1
Nalrond was speechless. Back in his village, he was considered one of the best Light Masters of his generation, yet even he had no idea how to answer Lith's question about Dawn's ability to keep so many hard-light constructs active at the same time.
"Be careful. There's so much magic in here that you could hide one hundred arrays and I wouldn't be able to sense them." The Rezar said, aware that a single mistake would spell death for both of them.
Nalrond cast an array revealing spell that projected into his mind so many magical formations that his knees buckled from dizziness.
'By my maker.' Solus thought while trying to identify the presence of traps. 'Dawn used light-based arrays to replicate a state-of-the-art magical lab down to the last detail.
'I wouldn't have ever thought it was possible to combine the Warden and Light Master specializations to such degree. If I ever become able to incorporate them into the tower's defense systems there's no limit to the applications…'
'No time for enlightenment, remember?' Lith cut her short. 'Just tell me if there are traps waiting to blow us up or not.'
After his experience at Laruel, he had learned how to apply Invigoration to a complex system, be it living or magical in nature, without puking his guts out, but to quickly process the information acquired he needed Solus's help.
'Right, sorry. We can enter the room, the lab is clear.' She replied.
'Are you serious?' Lith performed a second check, just to be sure.
'Yes.' Solus emitted a stressed sigh as she examined everything again to calm his paranoia. 'If there were any trap, the books and the machine would need to be protected by the effects of the traps.
'Also, to build her lab, Dawn needed a lot of arrays and there's only so much space in here. Runes cannot overlap and it took her quite the effort to arrange everything so that it didn't mess up with the array that connects the mana geyser to the machine.'
Lith stepped inside and as Solus had predicted, nothing happened. The stone floor and ceiling were the only things not covered in light. Several tunnels departed from the cave.
Some were made of metal and seemed to go upward while others looked of natural origin and went deeper underground.
Lith didn't know whether to focus on the Odi machine in the middle of the room or on the tomes that were still open on a nearby desk. Both piqued his interest and would be lost the moment the army responded to his distress call.
'I'm sorry, Lith.' Solus thought. 'There is enough energy coming from the mana geyser for me to assume my tower form, but not enough space. Even if I keep it as small as I can, I would still need to get rid of many constructs, and by doing that I'm sure that Dawn would notice our presence.'
Nalrond couldn't understand why Lith was staring at the lab instead of moving forward, nor did he like the place. Now that they stood on solid ground capable to withstand his weight, he shapeshifted into his animal form.
"I liked those clothes." Lith snarled.
"Me too. Sorry." Nalrond sniffed the tunnels for any sign of their pursuers.
"I've got good news. From the south tunnel comes a faint scent of grass, so the exit is that way. Also, I'm pretty sure that we have enough lead on Dawn that, by the time she gets here, we'll already be outside the blocking arrays' range."
"Excellent." Lith said while studying the titles of the books on the conjured scaffolds. He made sure to not touch the constructs to avoid triggering any kind of safety measure.
He believed Solus when she said that there were no offensive spells hidden between the runes' lines, but to embed a silent alarm into an array was a Warden's oldest trick. It required to add just a couple of runes and it would inform the caster every time something or someone interacted with their working.
'It seems that Dawn has collected all the tomes she has salvaged while exploring the Odi complex here. I don't know if she planned to keep them for herself or give them to the army to increase Acala's reward.
'Either way, it's all junk. Obsolete magical subjects and reports about the Odi experiment hold no value to me.' Lith thought.
'Not to rush you, Lith, but we are in a pinch.' Solus thought. 'On one hand, we can't dismiss a library after checking a few books. There's still plenty more on the upper levels and there's another library just as big behind your back.
'On the other hand, even if we split up, to examine everything and the machine it would take us the whole night while we have an hour at best before Dawn gets here. I need you to make up your mind, fast!'
'So much for not rushing me.' Lith sighed. 'Don't worry, I have a solution to all of our problems.'
'Gods, no!' Solus whimpered.
'Gods, yes!' Lith replied before turning to Nalrond.
"Listen to me, kid, and you listen to me good because I'm going to say this only once. First, when you fight against an opponent who has much stronger magic power and mastery over an element than you, never use spells without infusing them with your willpower.
"Otherwise no matter how strong your spell is, it will be deflected."
The memory of Dawn swatting away one of his strongest spells like a fly was still vivid in Nalrond's memory. Finally, the reason for his defeat was clear to him, yet the Rezar was baffled by Lith's sudden outburst of generosity.
Magical secrets were well kept, and sharing them meant a great deal even to the most insignificant mage.
"Second, when dealing with multiple enemies, hard-light constructs are much better than heat rays." Lith continued. "You can keep using them until their mana runs out plus you can adjust their output and shape based on the threat at hand.
"They are not fast, but in close quarters combat speed is irrelevant compared to the versatility of a tool that can be used for both attack and defense. Now start conjuring your spells, because the enemies will be here any minute now."
"No, they are not. I just told you…" Nalrond choked on his words when Solus jumped off Lith's arm and assumed her tower form by siphoning all the energy coming from the mana geyser that wasn't already employed to sustain the array field.
The ceiling was high enough to not be a problem, but while she grew in size, Solus smashed several lab tables, turning all the instruments that Dawn had spent days to shape based on her spawns' memories into light shards.
An inhuman scream of pure rage made the entirety of the Snake Tongue mountain range tremble while dust and debris fell from the ceiling on the hybrids' heads.
'Too bad there's a nasty dimensional magic sealing array preventing Dawn dearest from warping here, isn't it?' Lith though. Like a sorcerer's apprentice, at a wave of his hand, the room came to life.
Only instead of brooms and buckets, it was Sentries and books that flew through the air. Instead of scouting the area, the swarm of glass constructs from Solus's Mirror Hall scanned the Odi machine from every side and checked the bookshelves at the same time.
Chapter 890 Sorcerer’s Apprentice Part 2
Every single book that had an even remotely interesting title would float toward the tower's door or windows along with all the tomes that Dawn had left on the lab counters.
Lith didn't even bother checking them and took his enemy's opinion at face value.
'Can your tower form help us in the case enemies get here before we're done?' He asked.
'It can amplify your magic, but I would be a sitting duck. The tower has yet to regain real defensive abilities like barriers. All I can do with the earth blocking array preventing me from digging underground is becoming invisible.
'However, even if Dawn wasn't an expert of light magic, by blocking her constructs from reforming the tower walls give away my position.' Solus replied.
'I'll take it as a no.' Lith thought while weaving his most destructive spells.
"According to what you've told me, Dawn and her spawns should be vulnerable to darkness magic. Focus on that and hard-light constructs!" He ordered Nalrond.
"This is ridiculous. If you wanted to kill me, there are countless less idiotic ways to do it. Why are you throwing away your life for some books?" The Rezar had considered flying away, but the tunnel was narrow.
If Lith decided to shoot him in the back, Nalrond would have no way to avoid it. Even if he survived the blast by sheer luck, the wounds wouldn't let him go far. Rather than being at the mercy of the winner, Nalrond preferred to take his chances and fight.
'I can always run away the moment an opportunity arises. I must survive until Lith and Dawn are too busy tearing each other's throat to mind me.' He thought.
Luckily for Lith, the swarm of Sentries plus the enhanced intellect Solus gained while in her tower form greatly reduced the time needed for a full sweep of the room. She managed to get back at his finger when the first fanged shooting star reached the underground lab.
'Why are you in your ring form?' Lith was worried that the mental strain he had put her through might affect her combat abilities. He had planned several moves ahead, but they all required her assistance.
Against an opponent as powerful as Dawn, Lith had to go all-out right of the bat. Without Solus boosting Ruin's fusion magic and supporting him with her spells, things would go downhill quickly.
'Because there's something I have to try. It shouldn't take me long.' She replied as another shooting star joined the fray and the first vampire charged at Lith with the momentum of a freight train.
'"Long" is a relative concept when each second could be the last!' Lith was already infused with all the elements and attempted to dodge the living bullet, but the vampire shapeshifted into her Chiropterann form.
It was a giant hybrid between a human and a bat.
The creature was 2.5 meters (8'2") meters tall, with membranous wings connecting her hands to her hips. Ten centimeters long razor-sharp talons replaced her nails and a thick dark brown fur as hard as steel covered the rest of her body.
Her open mouth emitted a beastly screech, revealing fangs as long as short swords. A single flap of her wings allowed the vampire to perform an abrupt turn in mid-air. Between her high-speed movements and her long arm, she managed to catch Lith's leg.
The Chiropteran spun on herself, adding centrifugal force to her own, and slammed Lith against the ground. The impact opened a crater one meter deep and sucked all the air out of his lungs.
Even with earth fusion and the mana boosted Orichalcum armor, Lith's vision went blurry for a split second. Gritting his teeth allowed him to not lose consciousness despite the concussion, but such focus cost him all the spells he had prepared.
On the bright side, even if he was stunned, even if the prism was well hidden under the creature's fur and muscles, Lith managed to use Life Vision to spot Dawn's spawn.
He struck with Ruin the moment the undead beast came for the finishing blow. The blade released the spells Lith had infused it with and blew up a hole in the vampire's chest. Without both the prism and her own heart, the creature fell.
The second vampire assumed the Chiropteran form as well the moment he saw Nalrond. The Rezar held still, anchoring himself to the ground with the claws on his feet and bracing for impact.
He had never faced a vampire before and had forgotten to ask Lith what he should expect from them.
The bloodlust exuding from the Chiropteran was so powerful that it crippled Nalrond's will to fight. Vampires were a link above humans in the food chain. It was something that their victims instinctively knew and that struck fear into their hearts.
Nalrond swallowed a lump of saliva, his human half was paralyzed by the creature's red eyes that were numbing his mind, lulling him to surrender. His animal half, however, reacted like a cornered beast and lashed out.
A wall of light materialized a split second before the Chiropeteran's claws could reach their target. The impact broke the creature's wrists, but it wasn't enough to stop the charge. Light constructs weren't as sturdy as earth magic and required some time to fully form.
The Chiropteran smashed through the wall, just in time to see the Rezar curled up and charging forward with all of his scales slightly bent upwards. A Rezar's body was covered by sharp scales that could be packed together to increase their defense or raised to use them as weapons.
The impact sent them both flying back, but while the Chiropteran was covered in deep cuts and had sustained several broken bones, Nalrond was fine. Adrenaline cleared his head, allowing him to uncurl his body and use his prehensile tail to catch his enemy in mid-air.
The undead didn't feel pain and his wounds were already closing, but all the damage he had sustained slowed his reaction time. The Rezar's tail wrapped around his chest and released two tier four darkness spells.
The combined effect of magic and of the powerful hold generated by the opposing momentum of the two titans ripped the Chiropteran in half. Before the hips could reattach to the torso, Nalrond was on top of the fallen vampire.
While their claws were locked into a grip contest, the remnants of the Rezar's construct reassembled into a giant spear that impaled both fighters, striking at the prism bulging out the Chiropteran's chest.
The spear was made of Nalrond's mana, so it harmlessly phased through him and cracked the prism. The Chiropteran screeched in pain and his eyes regained focus. Dawn control over him was temporarily lifted.
The proud vampire used his claws and all the magic he could muster to dig the prism out of his own flesh. His act of defiance cost him his life. Dawn stopped using her power to heal the minion's wounds, letting him turn into dust.
Nalrond would have liked to take a moment and marvel at the vampire's bravery, but two more creatures had just darted inside the cave.
'Solus, I need you. I'm running out of tricks' Lith had to resort to Invigoration to heal the concussion without getting exhausted. To make things worse, he had only two new spells at the ready.
'Working on it.' She replied. 'The good news is that Dawn is only sending vampires to fight you. Probably she can't afford to lose the human's knowledge and be forced to start from scratch again. Worst-case scenario is you two versus six.'
Chapter 891 Power Source Part 1
Lith decided to gamble and placed his back against the library. He hoped that Dawn would care about the books and wouldn't dare risk damaging them. The vampire in the Chiropteran form breathed a white-hot ray of light that cut through stone, books, and shelves alike as if they were butter.
'Okay, she doesn't give a crap about them. Duly noted.' Lith thought while dodging.
This time, the creature was wary of Ruin. The Chiropteran kept his distance from the dangerous blade and chose to fight on the ground while using his claws as weapons. The creature retracted his wings under the armpits and assumed a martial arts stance.
Both of his arms were coated with light, enhancing the undead's battle prowess. Between his longs claws and unnatural arm reach, the Chiropteran could use his right hand as a spear when Lith tried to step away and as a sword in close quarters combat.
The left arm was used as a shield, exploiting the fact that the light construct surrounding it became denser and sturdier by the second. To make matters worse, the vampire was able to read every move Lith had used since meeting Acala thanks to the hive mind connecting the undead with the Bright Day.
When one of her spawns died, Dawn would lose their abilities, but she would also retrieve the power she had bestowed upon them and the memories about their last moments.
Against an opponent stronger and more skilled than himself, Lith needed the surprise element to win. He was quickly pushed on the defense, without the time to think about what technique was better to save for later.
'Fine! Playing dirty is a game two can play.' He thought while defending against a volley of heat-rays.
Lith had tried to turn the enemy's long arms into an advantage by getting so close that the Chiropteran couldn't attack him without impaling himself, but the vampire had simply engulfed his body in darkness magic to push Lith away while releasing light spells from his fingertips.
Dawn's energy could hurt even the vampire, but the holes they opened were too small to affect his movements, whereas Lith had to defend all of his internal organs from the onslaught.
Unlike the Chiropteran, he needed them to live. Lith dodged half of the heat rays and blocked the rest with Ruin before lunging at the prism with the blade.
The vampire sidestepped the telegraphed attack, blocking Lith's arm with his light shield while accumulating a mass of darkness magic in his right palm, ready to unleash it on contact.
"Gotcha." They both said the moment the vampire performed his counter attack.
A black upside-down membranous wing that resembled a slender clawed hand had emerged from Lith's back and was now wrapped around the Chiropteran's right arm, keeping it at distance.
The vampire could easily pluck the wing off by bending his arm while taking a step back, but the latter was impossible due to Lith having stomped the creature's foot with his own.
The talons of Lith's Wyrmling form pierced both the Chiropteran's flesh and the rock thanks to the layer of Orichalcum boosting their sharpness. The vampire attempted to bite Lith's head off, only to find a scaly face at his eye level that responded to the attack with a headbutt.
The creature's rich battle experience allowed him to react to the unexpected turn of events with but a second of delay.
Unfortunately for him, it was a second too late.
Ruin had never been aimed at the prism, it was just a ruse to get the enemy in position. Lith's left wing trapped the creature's right arm while Ruin kept the shielded arm at distance, leaving the chest wide open.
Helped by the boosted Skinwalker armor and his own darkness infused scales, Lith ignored the spell protecting the Chiropteran. His left arm struck in a spear-hand, using his Orichalcum-coated claws to pierce through the layers of magic, flesh, and bones that shielded the prism.
Dawn had seen Lith fighting long enough to discover that he was an Awakened and had played her pawns accordingly. The first vampire's reckless assault was meant to leave the enemy without spells and force him into a hand to hand fight that no man could possibly win.
Yet her plan had failed because Lith was a man unlike any she had ever faced before.
'This is impossible! Hybrids can't bond with a member of the family.' When the third vampire had died, Dawn was tinkering with her version of the Odi machine located in the upper levels of the caves.
Controlling her minions while she performed complex magical calculations and reverse-engineered an ancient device at the same time was a child's play for her. Or at least it was as long as she had enough brains to share the intellectual burden with.
On top of that, there were several reasons why Dawn couldn't afford to lose all the vampires of her nest. The humans she had captured granted her knowledge about all the modern magical fields, but the vampires were the ones that allowed her to bridge old and new magical theories.
Without the vampires, it was impossible for her to convert her outdated spells into modern and more efficient techniques. Another reason was that the Bright Day couldn't bond her prisms with humans, only with undead.
Thralls were an exception because they possessed two cores, making them part undead. Yet without their sire, their blood core would sooner or later dissipate and with it her prism.
Losing all the vampires meant losing everything Dawn had worked hard to acquire since Acala had freed her. With her nest reduced to one-fourth of its members, it was time to take matters into her own hands.
Meanwhile, Nalrond was fighting a losing battle. Even with air fusion enhancing his speed, he was a sloth compared to a Chiropteran. Also, he had never fought an undead before so he kept making mistakes like aiming for vitals in the hope of slowing the enemy enough to break his prism.
The vampire, on the other hand, had lived long enough to turn killing into an art-form, and thanks to the hive-mind, she had already witnessed most of the Rezar's best spells.
The only reason Nalrond was still alive was the light construct protecting him. After killing the first Chiropteran, Nalrond had split it into smaller energy cores to lessen the burden on his mana cores and use them to attack his next enemy from every side at once.
Unfortunately for him, the light spheres couldn't keep up with the undead's speed so he had been forced to use them as shields. The Rezar had already lost several scales and was covered in claw marks.
Some were shallow, others were deep, but all of them bled profusely. By the time Nalrond managed to mend one bleeding wound with light fusion, two more had already been opened.
'If only I could Blink or at least use earth magic!' Nalrond couldn't believe how unlucky he was. Rezars were supposed to be invincible in caves, yet he felt that his end was nigh.
'Lith was right about the speed of a spell being meaningless at close quarters, but that bitch keeps her distance. This way, both my constructs and my darkness spells are useless. I could emit a light pillar, but if it gets deflected again, I'm done for.'
The moment Lith killed his opponent, the last Chiropteran standing received the order to retreat. Her problem was how to disengage from the enemy without leaving herself wide open to a killing blow.
Chapter 892 Power Source Part 2
The vampire shuddered at the memory of the energy beam that Nalrond had earlier unleashed against Dawn. A single spawn wasn't able to use powerful constructs, let alone to defend against an attack big enough to engulf the entire tunnel.
Unaware that the battle was already over, Lith used an air spell to fly behind the undead without using his wings. He wanted to keep as many secrets as he could in the case that they failed to escape and had to face Dawn.
"What are you waiting for? I'll keep her busy until you cast Nightfall." The spell Lith mentioned was one of the most powerful tools the Griffon Kingdom employed against the undead.
Both the Rezar and the Chiropteran looked at each other in confusion. The former had no idea what he was supposed to do while the latter looked at Nalrond with a mix of admiration and fear.
Dawn cursed her bad luck. She knew from Acala's memories that Lith was a Great Mage, but the Griffon Kingdom entrusting a state secret of that importance with someone that young was unheard of.
'The Ranger must have shared Nightfall with the Rezar while we lost track of them.' Dawn thought. 'Luckily, my strategy made Lith lose his spells and the kid is too green to fight properly.'
Dawn ordered the Chiropteran to run away. Winning in a two against one scenario was impossible. If either of them finished casting Nightfall, she would lose another vampire.
The creature flapped her wings while using air magic to increase her agility to its utmost limits. Thanks to her superior air maneuverability, she managed to escape from the encirclement and reached the tunnel.
Exactly where Lith wanted her.
In such a confined space, the Chiropteran's huge frame was a fish in a barrel, incapable of dodging an area of effect attack. Lith's tier five spell, Raging Sun, created a blast of purple flames right in front of the vampire.
The heat and the shockwaves produced by the blast bounced on the corridor's wall time and time again, attacking the Chiropteran from every side as if it was in the middle of a volcanic eruption.
Pieces of stone turned into lapillus that pierced her flesh while the shockwaves pulverized her body and the searing heat made it impossible for her wounds to recover. The explosion also made the tunnel collapse, closing the only way to the underground lab under tons of rocks.
'This should slow Dawn long enough for us to escape.' Lith thought.
"What the heck is Nightfall?" Nalrond could finally heal his wounds and regrow the scales he had lost.
"Wish I knew." Lith sighed, using Invigoration at every breath.
He had only heard about it during the boot camp. Nightfall was an army secret on par with Royal Forgemastering, something that would be mentioned to the troops with the goal of encouraging them to do their best and join the elite anti-Balkor corps.
Lith's bluff had exploited Dawn's mind link with Acala. He was a Ranger as well and knew how dangerous such a spell was. Otherwise Nightfall would have just been a random word.
"Which way is the exit?" Lith asked.
Nalrond pointed at the second corridor on the north wall and took flight.
'This is my only chance to get out of here alive.' He thought. 'If I stay here, Dawn will kill me. If we run away together, Solus will kill me. Next time, I need a proper strategy on how to contain the Bright Day once I kill her host.'
Fighting the spawns had been an eye-opener for him. Driven by his blood rage, Nalrond had never truly understood the burden of the task he had undertaken. Like the Rezar himself had said earlier to Lith, he was no warrior.
He had no experience against undead and had managed to survive until that moment only by sheer luck. Hunting down the Bright Day had been madness, let alone facing her without having a plan.
Unfortunately for him, panic and enlightenment only made him forget that they were still inside enemy territory. The array placed in front of the exit detonated the moment Nalrond stepped into it, burying the Rezar under a ton of rocks and sealing the only way out.
'Fuck me sideways!' Lith cursed the hybrid's idiocy. 'Even though Dawn and I have the same problem, our situation is like night and day. We both can't use earth magic to clear the tunnels, but…'
A pillar of light that reached thousands of degrees vaporized the debris blocking the tunnel where the Chiropteran was buried. Despite light magic's short range, the light pillar had still enough power to cross the cave and dig a hole the size of a rail tunnel in the opposing wall.
Acala slowly floated inside the cave. The Ranger shone like a sun, emitting white light from his every pore as if he had broken past the boundary between energy and matter.
A priceless gemstone was bulging out of his chest, emitting rhythmical pulses of light akin to heartbeats. Heartbeats that melted the rock and made the ground quake. There was no spell actually lifting Acala's body.
The energy surrounding him was so dense that it almost reached a physical manifestation. It was the sheer force of Dawn's mana pushing against the ground that was making him float.
"Do you have any idea of the delay that your meddling will cause to my plans?" The feminine voice was furious and it definitely didn't belong to Acala. "Do you have any idea how difficult it is to find the right undead to enslave?"
'Great.' Lith thought while weaving a spell for each one of his fingertips. 'Not only is Dawn at the peak of her power due to recovering the strength she had borrowed to the fallen spawns, but I have also to listen to her deranged rants.
'Where the heck is Solus?'
'Right here.' She replied. 'Sorry if I'm late. I've never attempted to take full control of a mana geyser while in my gauntlet form. That time against Thrud doesn't count because she had already tapped into the geyser to fuel Arthan's Madness, leaving me only the crumbs.'
'You did what?' Lith couldn't believe their own shared brain as the massive flow of information about the procedure flooded his mind.
"I usually don't enjoy taking down a fellow cursed object, but for you, I'll make an exception." A longsword made of light appeared materialized in her hands as she performed a downward slash aimed at Lith's head.
The mana blade emitted enough heat to distort the air and contained enough power to split a mountain. All the more reason why Dawn froze the moment she realized that her attack had been easily blocked.
A blue aura engulfed Ruin's red blade, providing it with so much mana that the runes covering its surface became visible to the naked eye and all the mana crystals embedded along the blade turned into small suns.
The white and the red blade clashed only for a split second. The mana supporting them was equally matched, but it wasn't the same for the arms wielding the weapons.
Dawn found herself crashing through one of her conjured libraries before the stone wall behind it stopped her flight. Ancient tomes rained upon her until the Bright Day was buried under thousands of pages describing the Odi's forbidden magic research.
Chapter 893 Killer and Murderer Part 1
'It's impossible.' Dawn emitted an energy pulse to shook off the Odi tomes that were clouding her vision. 'Even though I still haven't Awakened Acala due to his too powerful mana core, I've refined his body way above the human level.
'He's almost ready to withstand a blue cored Awakening without turning into an Abomination, yet Verhen swatted us away like a fly. To reach such a degree of body refinement at his young age, he would need to have Awakened in the crib, but that's impossible.' And yet it was the truth.
Usually, Lith would have not missed the chance to follow up with his attack, but his body was still trembling with all the world energy coming from the mana geyser that was now coursing through him.
Solus had assumed her arm protector form, covering his right arm from the hand to the shoulder. Yet it wasn't stable enough to harness the same amount of power that the tower usually would, forcing her to share the burden with Lith and dispel the excess.
'By my maker. This is worse than I thought. The dimensional and earth blocking arrays are still in place, so it's time to improvise.' Solus's stone body bonded with the Orichalcum Skinwalker armor, becoming pure silver in the process.
In turn, the armor started to expand, reshaping itself according to Solus's arm protector, turning from a thin layer of silvery metal into a thick full armor that covered Lith's body from head to toes.
The world energy coming from the mana geyser now kept the Orichalcum in its boosted state without the need of mana from Lith's core.
'The good news is that I've just tapped into the full potential of your equipment, me included.' Solus thought. 'The bad news is that, unlike me, neither the sword nor the armor was made to withstand this kind of power.
'It's only a matter of time before they collapse.'
Lith cursed his bad luck, resuming his attack the moment he regained control of his movements. Dawn had recovered as well and plunged her hand inside the crystal on Acala's chest, taking a prism out of it.
The prism changed its shape into a longsword, working as a scaffold for the light construct and further boosting its power. Now the blades were equally matched and so were their bearers.
Dawn had on her side hundreds of years of mastery above all forms of combat, but Acala's body couldn't keep up with Lith's speed or strength. It was a bout of technique against physical prowess.
Lith managed to evade all the attacks because he was faster, whereas Dawn did the same by predicting his movements and dodging before an attack motion had even started.
"Not bad, boy. Keep entertaining me like this and I could take a fancy to your body." Dawn conjured countless hard-light constructs shaped as blades around them, each one holding the same destructive power of a tier four spell.
"Sorry, sister, he already has a girlfriend. Also, you should at least offer him a drink first." Solus cast the tier five spell, Setting Sun, taking both Lith and Dawn by surprise.
The Bright Day still believed that Lith was the rival cursed object's personality whereas Lith just hated witty banter during a fight.
'Solus, what have we said a thousand times about answering a madman?' Lith thought while the sphere of black flames generated by the spell erupted from his body.
Instead of keeping Setting Sun active, Solus had it detonating to throw Dawn off guard and blast her constructs away.
'That it makes us sound just as crazy.' She replied. 'Yet that's your style. She already knows about my existence so there's no point in hiding. I'll do things my way.'
The mix of fire and darkness ate through Dawn's aura, burning away Acala's uniform. The Ranger lost all of his body hair and his skin became charred from the heat.
Dawn healed his host as fast as Solus's spell damaged him, using her own life force to provide Acala's body with endless vigor.
'This doesn't make any sense. I've watched this Verhen guy with Life Vision earlier and he wasn't this powerful. I have never heard of a member of the family capable of holding their ground against a Horseman.'
For the first time since she had bonded with Acala, Dawn was regretting her choice of not replacing the Ranger with an undead. The three Horsemen of Baba Yaga were not meant to bond with humans because they limited the artifact's potential.
Baba Yaga had sired her children to help the members of the undead race, not the humans. Dawn's plan had been to exploit Acala's mortal body to more easily Awaken him while hoarding the fame and resources necessary for her research.
Only once the Griffon Kingdom had outlived its usefulness would she turn her partner into an undead and join the Courts as their rightful ruler. She had never expected to face an opponent who would force her to go all-out.
Dawn's gemstone shone once more and covered the ranger with crystal-like scales that were an extension of her own body, bringing their fusion to the next level. At the same time, she willed for her burning light blades to bounce in mid-air and strike at Lith.
'We're still surrounded!' Solus warned him. He could either defend against the spell or against Dawn. Lith confided in his own Forgemastery talent and let the constructs hit his Orichalcum armor.
The spells had lost part of their power, but the distraction they caused was enough for Dawn to regain the upper hand. Her crystal blade pushed Ruin's tip aside, leaving Lith exposed to her tier five spell, Daybreak.
It was a mix of light, fire, and darkness magic that generated a wave of dark energy followed by a volley of fiery constructs shaped like snakes. The darkness would weaken the target and seal off their senses, be them physical or mystical, while the hard-light constructs attacked from every side.
The light would paralyze the enemy, the heat would burn them, and the darkness would destroy any form of protection they had.
To make matters worse, as soon as two constructs made contact between them, they would fuse and a new one would be generated until they became a small sun sealing both the darkness and the enemy at its heart.
'Oh, shit!' Lith was too close for a flight spell to be enough, he had to take out his wings to escape from the first volley.
Yet all he achieved was to buy some time. The constructs kept following him and even though they were not as fast as heat rays, they were much more dangerous because they didn't fade after their passage.
Lith could only dodge so many times before all the space inside of the cave was filled with light constructs, leaving him no place to hide.
'I could try to escape in a tunnel, but I have no idea where they lead. On top of that, Dawn could detonate the corridor just like I did.' He thought.
Lith used Dominance to spot the weak points in the constructs, striking at them with Ruin whenever he could. Daybreak shattered in several places, but all Dawn had to do was to use more mana to repair the damage.
Meanwhile, the pulse of darkness kept following Lith like a malevolent shadow, cutting off his escape routes and further limiting his movements.
Chapter 894 Killer and Murderer Part 2
'How the heck can she separately control two parts of a three elemental spell?' Lith was amazed by Dawn's ability, yet he had no time to waste.
The room was becoming hotter by the second and every time one of the constructs so much as grazed him, not even the Orichalcum could protect him. The armor blocked the hits but not the heat they produced, turning the boosted Skinwalker into an oven.
Lith and Solus both were weaving water spells non-stop to cool the armor, but low tier magic couldn't keep up with Daybreak.
Suddenly, a pillar of light aimed at Dawn emerged from the second collapsed tunnel. Nalrond had managed to dig himself out and had decided to do something instead of waiting for death.
Dawn attempted to redirect it to Lith, but the Rezar had learned from his mistakes. This time, the spell was infused with willpower and without Dominance, Dawn had no way to wrestle its control away.
The hit sent her against the wall and turned the crystal scales covering her body black from the heat. Yet it wasn't enough to make the Bright Day lose her focus. Daybreak continued its onslaught, devouring even Origin Flames as if they were nothing more than candles.
"Do you remember me, murderer?" Nalrond roared while using up all the mana he had left to keep fueling the pillar that nailed Dawn to the wall. "Is this the big dream you always told me about? To become a monster, no worse, the puppet of a monster?
"Was it worth killing my people? Answer me, you coward!"
"I'm so sorry." This time the voice coming out of Acala's mouth was his own.
"I never meant to harm anyone. I didn't choose Dawn, she chose me. We were destined to be together. It was your people who tried to take her away from me, I just wanted to…"
"To what? To betray our trust? To run away with the relic like the thief you are?" Nalrond cut him short. "I know how the Bright Day is capable of twisting any mind, no matter how strong, but that takes time!
"Back then, you two had just bonded, she had no hold over you. It was you who got intoxicated by her power and used us as target practice. You who burned down the village to make sure that no one would survive.
"Even now, you've betrayed your beloved Country, slaughtered your kinsmen, and for what? For some money and respect? That's not Dawn, that's you!"
Tears of regret streamed down the Ranger's cheeks as the memories of the time he had spent at the Rezars' village flooded his mind. Acala wasn't used to feel guilt for his actions.
Dawn was skilled in keeping his memories disconnected from each other, making sure that each and every one of his crimes appeared to be the response to injustice, no matter if real or just perceived.
To pursue her ends, she still needed Acala. Especially when dealing with the Kingdom and with the people that knew him well. They didn't bond for long enough to have absolute control over him so she still needed his consent.
The barriers she had placed in Acala's mind shattered, forcing him to face the full price others had paid for his choices.
"Shut up, shut up, shut up! Your people had everything. You had strength, magic, and artifacts, whereas I had nothing. All I asked you was to teach me light magic. Everything that's happened is your fault!
"You hid Dawn from me and tried to take her away once she found me because you, didn't want to share with me the gifts that she bestowed upon you. I only acted in self-defense. It was your people who attacked me first!" Acala said.
"We were trying to save you, not to kill you. Dawn's powers have killed my tribe, but it was you who murdered them." Nalrond replied.
"I said shut up!" All the lies that Acala had repeated to himself to justify the carnage crumbled. Over time, Dawn had corroded his mind to make him weak and obedient, but at the same time, she had brought Acala on the brink of madness.
For the first time in a long while, the Ranger and the Bright Day fought over the control of the body they shared. Acala wanted to kill Nalrond because in his deranged mind, once the Rezar was dead all the proof of his crime would disappear, and with it the guilt he felt.
Dawn, instead, knew how hard had it been to corner Lith and she had no idea if she could manage to do it again. Not only did the Ranger seem to always have an ace up his sleeve, but also Dawn was certain that she had yet to understand the full scope of Solus's abilities.
The struggle taking place inside Acala's mind diverted Dawn's focus from that in the outside world and made her Daybreak spell slower.
'An opening!' Lith had discovered the innate weakness that kind of construct had, but only when it was too late to exploit it. Daybreak strength lied in the fact that even if its extremities were destroyed, they could easily reform thanks to its underlying structure.
At the same time, however, if the construct was damaged near its source, then everything past the breakpoint would be cut off from the caster and collapse.
Lith had tried to attack the ever-growing structure at one of its critical points earlier, but all Dawn needed to foil his attack was to change the place from which the construct expanded.
Lith had almost got caught in a pincer attack and after that, he could only wait for an opportunity to appear. Until that moment, he had hoped that Dawn couldn't sustain a construct that big and powerful for long.
The bad news was that so far reality had proven Lith wrong, the good news was that it didn't matter anymore.
Lith flew in a spiral pattern, dodging the snake-like constructs that Dawn conjured every time he got too close. Unfortunately for her, between the excessive complexity her spell had reached and Acala's meddling, the waves of light were now too slow.
Even at such close distance, the wind that air magic pushed beneath Lith's wings allowed him to dodge, even if just by a hair-breadth. The Skinwalker armor's surface turned from silver to red due to the intense heat, constantly boiling and reforming as Solus put air bubbles in-between metal layers to slow down the melting process.
By the time Lith reached his target, half of the full suit of Orichalcum armor had evaporated and the skin beneath was covered in blisters. Lith pierced Daybreak's focal point with Ruin, using its enchantment to disrupt the flow of mana beyond repair.
Once the head of the snake was cut off, the body started to wither. The giant mass of light and heat went haywire and triggered a chain reaction that dispelled the darkness pulse that had never stopped chasing Lith.
The destruction of most parts of the construct compromised its integral structure, making the shockwave generated by Ruin's enchantment spread backward toward Dawn as well.
The resulting explosion vaporized Acala's right hand from which the spell originated. With Daybreak's disappearance, the temperature in the room quickly started to drop and Lith went blind due to the flash his strategy had caused.
Yet he didn't need sight to find his target thanks to the smell of burned flesh filling the air.
Chapter 895 Real Magic Part 1
Solus focused on regenerating the Skinwalker armor, turning the vaporized metal back into its liquid state.
The Orichalcum droplets rained on Lith's body from every side, piercing through everything that stood on their path until the armor was whole again.
The silvery storm of small blades further distracted Dawn and allowed Lith to unleash upon her three tier five spells at the same time. Tidal Bolt was a mix of water and air magic that bypassed Dawn's constructs and drowned her in a highly conductive tsunami.
The saltwater seeped through every crack of the crystal armor and into every orifice of Acala's body, allowing the lightning bolts that circled around the wave like a school of sharks to always hit their target.
Tidal Bolt not only damaged Acala inside and outside, but also induced powerful spasms that prevented the enemy from casting spells. At the same time, Lith conjured Setting Sun from his right hand and Dark Ages from the left.
A black sphere made of fire and darkness formed in his hand and split into two beams that struck Acala's head and heart at the same time, burning them to cinders. Dark Ages, instead, synergized with Tidal Bolt and added darkness magic to the mix.
The final result was an electrified spear of black water the size of a truck that struck at Dawn's crystal the moment Acala's body had gone limp, without giving her the time to conjure any kind of defense.
Lith had learned from the Black Star that a cursed object was more vulnerable as long as they were connected to their host. Just like it happened to Solus and him, any wound the host received would badly affect the relic's mental state and drain its energy.
'Once she detaches from Acala's body, Dawn will become nigh indestructible. This time I have no access to her blueprints so I have no idea how to permanently destroy her. I can only contain Dawn until the army gets here. After that, it's their problem.' He thought.
Solus didn't share his optimism and kept an eye on the situation as a whole.
'I'm almost done repairing the artifact originated from my fusion with the Skinwalker armor and Lith is still in great condition. The world energy from the geyser made him capable of conjuring many powerful spells at the same time and of withstanding their burden.
'Yet I'm afraid that he is in a no different condition from his equipment. Lith's body is not meant to harness that kind of power. The pseudo tower I've enveloped him with can relieve him only from a part of the stress… Dodge!'
A telepathic yell was nothing like a real one. It didn't hurt Lith's ears or mind, nor was a generic warning. Solus's yell was akin to a game's quick-time event that projected in front of Lith's eyes the direction he was prompted to move to and the source of the danger.
Lith dashed downward, using gravity magic to further boost his speed and managing to dodge the hail of light spears that had materialized behind his back.
'What the fuck?' Solus and Lith thought in unison.
'Treius died once I decapitated him. Heck, even most undead can't survive without their head and heart. Acala was a human, there's no way he's still alive.' Lith thought while staring at the corpse that was getting back on its feet.
'This doesn't make sense. I'm sure to not have missed any movement in both Acala's and Dawn's mana flow.' Solus couldn't find an explanation for the light constructs that had formed out of thin air and were currently giving them chase.
'By my maker! Even during our three-pronged attack, Dawn kept enough focus to control the lingering energy from her previous spell. These constructs are simple that very same light element rearranged into a different form.'
Lith had a hard time accepting that such a thing was possible, but the spears were as real as they were deadly, so he focused on destroying them with quick pulses of darkness magic rather than arguing with her logic.
To make matters worse, crystal shards were growing from Acala's wounds, replacing his head, heart, and right hand with inorganic counterparts.
"Thanks, I appreciated the help." Dawn's voice had become clearer than before.
The constant use of powerful spells had weakened her mana flow whereas injuries, no matter how severe, didn't seem to bother her.
"You've inflicted that dimwit so much pain that it will take Acala a week to come out of the coma. If I bother giving him his brain back, of course. Sharing is such a hassle."
The familiar light from the Body Sculpting spell enveloped Acala, shapeshifting him into a feminine form of alien beauty. The Bright Day appeared now as a woman of untold age, about 1.78 meters (5'10") tall with golden eyes without pupils.
Her skin was whiter than an albino's while her waist-long hair was pitch-black. Dawn's body was covered by the full suit of crystal armor she had conjured. Its countless facets absorbed instead of reflecting the light from her surroundings, restoring Dawn's powers and shrouding her in darkness.
Yet the armor was bright, acting as a conduit for the radiance that came from Dawn's real body, the gemstone resting between her bosom. Just like her Daybreak spell, the contrast between light and darkness, between black and white made her look as if a real dawn was taking place in the underground cave.
Lith and Solus were shocked, but their brains never stopped trying to find an explanation for the apparent immortality of their enemy.
'I think I have the answer.' Solus thought. 'Dawn and Acala are just like us, but reversed.'
'Meaning?' Lith was too focused on weaving a new set of spells to bother solving her riddle. 'Dumb it down for me. Hard.'
'Remember what Mogar told me? That as long as my body is intact, that as long as my life force is bounded to yours it's very hard to kill me? It's the same for Acala, but in their case, Dawn is the dominant personability.
'It means that Acala is part of her instead of being Dawn a part of him.' She said.
'Fuck me sideways. Unless I pulverize the entirety of his body, she can bring him back to life.' Lith had no idea how to achieve such a feat. Three combined tier five spells had barely been enough to pierce Acala's heart.
'More or less. You skipped the part where he suffers the pain of every wound and the regeneration is probably an agony as well, but I guess that sums up our situation.' Solus replied.
"Why the silent treatment, sister?" Despite being a couple of heads shorter than Lith's hybrid form, Dawn managed to look down upon them by floating in mid-air like a goddess descending among mortals.
"You were so chatty before. Why don't you at least introduce yourself?" The Bright Day opened her right hand, releasing a scorching pillar of light from each one of her fingers.
'Yeah, right. With our luck, she'll recognize me and maybe even know how to destroy me. I need an alias.' Solus thought while Lith combined footwork, flight spells, and flaps of his wings to avoid Dawn's constant onslaught.
Not only was each pillar as strong as those that Nalrond produced by expending half of his mana, but the Bright Day was also capable of keeping all five of them active at the same time and of adjusting their trajectory according to Lith's movements.
Chapter 896 Real Magic Part 2
'Fuck the Kingdom and the rewards. My life comes first.' Lith darted back and hid behind the Odi machine in the middle of the room to catch his breath.
Just as he had predicted, Dawn still needed the device for her own research. Being the one who had helped the Odi in their experiments, she knew all too well that there was only one built.
"Smart, but not enough." The Bright Day ceased her attacks and moved behind the machine as well.
'Okay, she's exactly where we want her.' Solus nodded.
'Really?' Lith didn't even get a full breath of Invigoration that Dawn was already looming over them.
'Really. Let's be real. She is as strong as I would be in my tower form if I was at my full power, if not even stronger. Fighting her with magic is suicidal since she outclasses us in experience and number of spells.
'Our only choice is to force her to fight us in close quarters. Her body is still based on Acala's which makes her way weaker than you.' She explained.
'You forget that she outclasses me in swordplay and hand-to-hand combat as well. Even with the boost from your pseudo tower form, we were on equal footing.' Lith darted forward, closing the distance between them before Dawn could cast a single spell.
'We don't have time for a full tutorial. Do you trust me?' Solus asked.
'Why do you think I threw myself into the tiger's mouth? I trust you with my life. Always.' Lith gave Solus free reins and activated Full Guard. The blue aura that now surrounded him brought his perception on par with Dawn's.
The spell bestowed upon him a full awareness of his surroundings, leaving no blind spots in Lith's guard.
"A crutch for the weak." Dawn recognized the spell and clicked her tongue in disgust.
"I dare you to repeat that after giving up both your immortality and your centuries of experience. We're not weak." Solus replied.
"We? Really?" The Bright Day chuckled, her voice both old and young at the same time. "Are you young, naïve, or both?" She lunged her crystal sword in a feint, waiting for Lith to sidestep the attack before changing her stance with a flick of her wrist.
Dawn dodged Lith's counter stab, throwing him off guard, and aimed for his heart. Lith was in no position to defend himself, so he turned the lunge into a roll without trying to stop his motion.
The crystal sword pierced through his armor and gut, cauterizing the wound on its passage to make it harder to heal. Lith didn't feel anything thanks to darkness fusion sealing off his pain receptors, but his situation was still dire.
During their previous fight, Dawn had been controlling Acala's body, a tool she barely had a few months to get accustomed to. Now she was using her own, and the difference was like heaven and earth.
All of her attacks were seamless, with no wasted movements nor openings. She had reached such expertise that she would predict even moves that Lith had learned back on Earth.
'Guess my sensei was right. All disciplines become similar at very high levels. Here goes everything.' Lith still couldn't understand Solus's plan, but wound or not he trusted her judgment.
He pivoted on his back foot right after the roll, turning around toward the enemy and slashing diagonally at the same time. Dawn intercepted Ruin's tip with her own blade, pushing it aside.
Lith added the momentum from her push to his own, spinning on himself to perform a right elbow strike aimed at her temple.
"Smart, reckless, but not enough." Dawn blocked with her right arm. The blow still managed to crack her bones that were now bent in an unnatural angle, but her crystal sword would have pierced Lith's head before he had the time to adjust his stance.
Or so she thought, until a second right arm came out of his side, striking at her chin with an uppercut and throwing her off balance. A second left arm grabbed Dawn's broken and unresponsive arm, pulling her too close to use her sword but in the perfect position to take two right hooks at the same time.
One on Dawn's left temple and the other on the side of her chin. The full force of such blows would have killed even an Awakened way stronger than Lith, but for Dawn internal organs were just like a pair of socks.
She could always make another.
Only then did Lith remember that in her tower form Solus could materialize her body. Feeling their bodies partially fused was weird, but personal space and boundaries could wait for a non-lethal situation to be discussed.
"I am neither naïve nor young." Solus replied to keep Dawn off her game while they kept hitting her non-stop from impossible angles. Ruin danced from one hand to another in an unpredictable pattern.
The bond they shared ran so deep that even if they had never practiced before a four-armed style, it was second nature to them. No matter who wielded the blade, the other was always ready to assist or pass Ruin the moment Dawn started to adapt.
"It's you who are ignorant and conceited. Horseman, Dawn, call yourself whatever you want, but the truth is that you're nothing but a parasite." Solus's words enraged Dawn, whose face was full of deep cuts and her armor of wide cracks.
The Bright Day couldn't understand how a lesser member of the family could stoop so low to share instead of dominating a filthy hybrid, let alone how could their combined efforts have put her into such a disgraceful condition.
"You and I are both born from Forgemastery, but you've forgotten the basics of the basics." Solus couldn't stop talking, the teachings of Menadion were becoming clearer again in her head as she fought.
"You don't just place the most powerful mana crystal above the mightiest of metals. That's something even a child can do. The real magic starts when the two become one." Solus passed Ruin to Lith, using her arms to conjure and compress all the world energy she could muster from the geyser.
Lith understood her intentions and breathed a jet stream of Origin Flames that set ablaze Solus's world energy as well, turning the jet into a pillar of fire the size of a road tunnel.
The blast pinned Dawn to the wall and its force prevented her from moving while the stone around her melted and boiled.
"Not bad for a Wyrmling." Dawn laughed. Origin Flames of that magnitude blocked all forms of magic and the soggy stone didn't offer her any hold, but she didn't care.
"It's as large as the breath of a Dragon. Too bad that it lacks the punch of the real thing. I've fought ancient Dragons and Phoenixes, yet I'm still here. What makes you think you're any better?" Dawn asked.
"Gods, Lith is right. You guys always talk too much." Solus added a spark of her own life force to Lith's and the blue Origin Flames became a searing white ocean.
The crystal armor blackened and cracked. The crystal sword lost all the mana it held and then crumbled along with her four limbs. Dawn's head, the only part of her body that the armor didn't cover, burned to ashes, leaving behind only the chest holding her crystal.
Yet once the Flames were gone, Dawn's armor self-repaired and her limbs grew back again, whereas Lith could feel that Solus's light had become dimmer. Like a candle about to burn out.
Chapter 897 Back Home Part 1
'What the heck did you just do?' The consequences of Solus using her own essence to strengthen the Origin Flames terrified Lith. 'Even inside our tower, you don't even have a real body yet, let alone a stable life force. Taking physical form here is madness!'
'Semi-immortal here, remember?' Even her thoughts were reduced to whispers. 'As long as my body is intact, as long as my life force is bonded to yours, I can't die.'
'That's bullshit! What if you burn your personality or your memories? What if you lose yourself and become nothing more than a tool?' Lith asked.
'Even then, I'd still be part of you.' She replied.
"Ready for round two?" Dawn only needed to create another prism spawn to replace her lost crystal blade.
For the second time in a single day, a roar of pure rage made the entirety of the Snake Tongue mountain range tremble while dust and debris fell from the ceiling on Dawn's head.
Lith refused to lose Solus just as strongly as she was willing to push herself to keep him alive. After almost five years from their first and last quarrel, the most powerful mana crystal and the mightiest of metals became one.
Solus's and Lith's mana cores aligned along with the tower's pseudo core that was able to manifest itself thanks to the partial link with the mana geyser. All three of them grew in size and power reaching new heights.
His body changed as well, growing a second set of membranous wings that unlike the one already on his back, the second set wasn't upside down and it was gold-colored. Lith's chin split, forming a second maw below his own and both growled with fury.
He now stood over 3 meters (10') tall, covered in scales the size of a brick. Usually Lith's body couldn't grow past a certain point because no matter the form anyone shapeshifted into, their mass wouldn't change.
This time, however, the tower could provide him with everything he needed. He was now too big for the Skinwalker armor to contain him anymore. The silver of the metal couldn't hide the pitch-black scales mixed with new golden ones, both with their edges blood-red from the heat sealed within Lith's body.
All seven eyes were opened and none was yellow. The red, black, blue, white, and emerald green eyes stared at Dawn with such hatred that if looks could kill not even the power of Mogar's sun could save her.
The remaining two emitted a dimmer light and were golden colored. The moment the fusion restored her life force, Solus's eyes shone as bright as Lith's, staring at the Bright Day in cold fury.
"This doesn't bode well." Dawn clicked her tongue, quickly reassessing her situation.
Even though she had no vitals, her energy wasn't infinite, otherwise she would have never been defeated by Sinmara the Phoenix, nor the Rezar clan would have been able to detain her for so long.
Casting so many powerful spells, generating spawns to shape her equipment, and regenerating her body several times had taken a heavy toll on her.
Until a moment ago, Dawn had been sure of her victory because whatever the Wyrmling was doing, not only was he still weaker than her, but she could also see with Life Vision that his might dwindled over time.
Now, however, the thing in front of her was brimming with power and seemed royally pissed off with her.
'Fuck my luck.' Dawn thought. 'Seven eyes and the white one is already open. If this guy can exert Dominance over my spells this is going to be…'
A left black-clawed hand came down on her with the speed of a lightning bolt. There was no wasted movement nor any tell preceding the attack, yet Dawn managed to predict its course thanks to her rich battle experience.
She sidestepped the attack and struck at the wrist with her blade. Lith changed the course of his hand with a flick of his shoulder, catching both the crystal sword and the arm wielding it in mid-air before crushing them under the raw strength of his grip.
At the same time, both right hands grabbed Dawn's left leg and arm while she was still recovering from the surprise, slamming her against the ground until all her remaining limbs shattered.
"That's enough!" Even without a head, she could still talk thanks to air magic, just like Solus did.
Dawn cursed the array preventing her from Warping away and used what energy she had left to produce a light pillar that shot upwards, digging through tons of rock until the night sky was visible.
Then, she bolted through the opening she had dug and run toward safety.
Lith's maws opened. The first emitted a near violet flame while the other released a deep cyan fire. The two flames met halfway, fusing into a jet burst of white fire that chased after Dawn that further widened the hole in the mountain.
Yet it wasn't fast nor strong enough. Dawn's words about having survived against elder Dragons weren't just for banter, but hard facts. Her crystal was slightly cracked and only bits of Acala's body remained, but they were both alive and kicking.
Her light pillar had damaged the already patched up remains of the Odi arrays and Lith's burst of flames had done the rest. High in the night sky, Dawn disappeared into a Warp Steps that led her thousands of kilometers away, back to Baba Yaga's hut.
Back home.
The link between the three Horsemen and their creator had never been severed, allowing them to always know where to find her. The hut was temporarily located in an open field in the Jiera continent, where the sun was still setting.
From the outside, it looked like a hunting cabin. The small wooden house had a pitched roof, only one door, and one window on each side. A clothesline filled with fresh laundry was located in front of the hut, giving the impression that a couple of newlyweds had started their new life there.
Dawn knew better and took her time to deactivate the multiple layers of deadly arrays that surrounded the cozy cabin. By the time she was done, the remaining sunlight had sealed the cracks in her crystal and returned her part of her strength.
"Welcome home, Dawnie." Said a soft voice as she crossed the threshold.
Baba Yaga, the first Awakened to have ever achieved the white core of immortality, was sitting on a simple wooden chair, mending a pair of short pants belonging to a kid.
A small pile of damaged clothes rested on a nearby chair while another pile of those she had already repaired was placed on the table beside her. Baba Yaga looked up at her daughter, yet her hands never stopped moving.
"What are you doing in this dump, Mom?" Dawn was referring to the Jiera continent, not to her ancestral home.
"My children have failed me as it happens so very often, but I'm still their mother. I'm here to see if the damage can be undone or if I can at least give birth to a new species capable of thriving in this new world."
Baba Yaga looked like a young maiden barely sixteen years old, with waist-long golden hair and clear blue eyes. Her voice was silvery and her body had the never-ending energy of youth.
It was the incarnation of those who had little past and a long future ahead of them. The form of Dawn.
Chapter 898 Back Home Part 2
"That's what all those children's clothes are about?" Dawn sat on Baba Yaga's lap. To regenerate Acala's body would take a lot of energy and she was too weak for that. Dawn made sure to preserve just enough of his tissues to not let her host die.
"Of course, dear." Baba Yaga smiled at the feeling of her daughter's warmth spreading through her womb. She now looked like a beautiful woman in her forties, with flaming red hair and emerald green eyes.
Her voice was calm and wise, her body had the reassuring aura typical of good mothers.
It was the incarnation of those who had reached half of their lifespan. She had as much past as future. The form of Dusk.
"Children are our future and the best material to work with." She tilted her head, pointing at the huge boiling cauldron on the fireplace, filled to the brim with meat paste and blood.
"Have you heard about that Lich? Veeza?" Baba Yaga's face was disfigured in a grimace of disgust while saying the word Lich.
"Yes. What about it?" Dawn asked.
"I'm really happy she failed. I hope the death of that imbecile and of all her followers brings my children back to the right path. How can someone be so stupid to want to rule?
"Why should a predator worry about the weak, spending their time to make sure that they thrive and prosper? Why so few of my children understand that the reason why so many Kings and Emperors look for immortality in their twilight years is that they realize that the throne sucked the life out of them?
"That they spent their whole lives amassing power and never really using it? I never intended for any of you to have a country of your own, to bind you with chains of duty. I just wanted my children to have a second chance at life, a better life.
"Why do they obsess themselves with the human way? What makes them so special? Among the five races, they are the most miserable." Baba Yaga angrily cut the thread hanging off the needle with her pearly white teeth.
"Because they have the greatest potential. For destruction." Dawn chuckled.
"Can't argue with that." Baba Yaga scanned the area surrounding her hut, finding no human life form for hundreds of kilometers. "Why are you here, darling, and what about your new flesh suit? Is this living host thing a new phase or did you just want to try something new?"
"Both." Dawn told her mother all about her imprisonment, her bonding with Acala, and all the doors that his petty mind had opened for her.
"What a charming fellow. I hope he treats you right." Baba Yaga wore a soft smile while listening to her daughter's plans. Dawn was one of the few to have never disappointed her.
"He sure does. Now comes the best part." Dawn told her about her encounter with Lith and Solus. About what she had discovered about them.
"Golden eyes, symbiotic, and capable of drawing power from mana geysers. Sorry, dear, it could be anyone. I have no idea who she is."
"No, Mom, it's not her the funny one, but the thing she is bonded with." Dawn had no intention to reveal Lith's true identity to the Griffon Kingdom nor to blackmail him.
The former would have only made him more interesting to whoever had a working brain, while she considered the latter a coward's weapon. She had other plans in mind for him and the Bright Day didn't want her gift to be ruined before it was ripe for the taking.
"Thing?" Baba Yaga had taught her children all she knew, so there were few things they couldn't define.
"A full-grown hybrid that can merge with members of our family, someone who can exert Dominance above at least five elements, and has an affinity for both the fire and darkness elements." Dawn explained.
"He could be the perfect Sword that little sister Night has always looked for."
"Interesting." Baba Yaga turned into a hunched crone with grey hair and stone-cold black eyes. Her nose and ears were long, her face full of wrinkles. Age spots covered her skin, making her look weak, but her voice was full of strength
It was the incarnation of those who had more past than future, holding the wisdom of age and the bitterness of regrets. The form of Night.
"If you are right, and that's a big if, I don't like the idea of Night being the first to get her Sword." Baba Yaga said. "Just like her Night Court, she's free and unrestrained like I always wanted for my children, but she's also as chaotic as them.
"She never has a plan, always going rage first and blood second. Not to mention the mess she makes with every one of her meals. The only undead species that have gone extinct were her blind followers and she's the only one who had me tussling with Guardians to save her sorry ass.
"Check upon him if you want, but share your findings only with me. Your little brother Dusk can't keep his mouth shut to save his life and I can't trust Night with that kind of power until I'm certain that she's worthy of it."
***
Meanwhile, inside the cave, the destruction of the arrays had left only the Odi machine to diminish the world energy that flowed through the mana geyser. Everything else was now under Solus's control.
The energy allowed the tower to grow to its full size, adding new mass to the body Lith and Solus shared. The hulking figure staring at the hole in the mountain had a wingspan that almost reached either side of the cave at the same time.
"It's convenient to go in and out, but it would be too hard to explain." Lith and Solus spoke in unison as if one was the countermelody of the other.
The creature raised their hand and channeled a fraction of the energy coursing through their body to make the hole in the mountain disappear.
Usually, a team of Wardens and several tier five arrays would have been necessary to restore the hundreds of tons of destroyed rocks, whereas all it took them was a thought.
Then, they cleared the two collapsed tunnels, creating a believable escape route for themselves. Acala's betrayal would already be hard to swallow for the army. Dawn was the perfect way to explain everything that had happened in the Snake Tongue mountain range, but the story had to be told properly.
What was left would earn him plenty of merits, money, and, unfortunately, glory. If the Kingdom had only half an idea what Dawn was capable of, Lith couldn't afford to claim to have sent her running without incurring more questions than he wanted to answer.
"The undead have Warped away as well." Solus's mana sense had now a range that covered the entirety of the underground complex, allowing them to keep an eye on everything and everyone that went in or out.
"Which begs the question, why are you still here?" They asked Nalrond who was sitting against a wall.
"Because I'm tired." After the end of the fight, Nalrond had reverted to his human form. "I'm tired of fighting, tired of running away. I've lost everything I held dear and one way or another, I've achieved my revenge.
Chapter 899 The Red Sun Part 1
"I've no regrets left, do what you have to do." Nalrond closed his eyes, finally at peace with himself. For the first time in months, the images of his village burning down didn't flash in front of his eyes.
Nalrond would never forget the agonizing screams of his friends and family, but those sounds had stopped haunting his ears. All he could hear now was silence. He had always imagined that revenge would make him happy, but he felt empty instead.
His life had no meaning anymore, without revenge he was just a lonely man.
"It's funny, you know." Nalrond chuckled at the irony of his situation. "Once you kill me, the only people to remember my name will be two cursed objects. Life sure has a twisted sense of humor."
"How many times do I have to tell you that we're not a cursed object?" The creature was calm, yet the tinge of annoyance in their voice was enough to make the ground quake.
Lith wanted to kill Nalrond until a few minutes prior, but now Solus was one with him, forcing Lith to look at things through her golden eyes. When she looked at the disheartened hybrid, she didn't see an enemy.
Solus saw Nalrond as Derek McCoy, and in turn as Lith. They both had suffered an unjust fate, losing their loved ones and ending up on a quest for revenge. Like Derek, Nalrond was now seeking death after achieving his goal.
'Is this who you are?' Solus asked. 'Are you still the same angry man whose only gift is death?'
The upper mouth of the creature opened in a snarl while the lower was bent down in a mournful expression.
"If you really want to die, you don't need our help. We will not carry your burden." The creature said after a long second. "If you seek life, instead, if you want to take your time and rest while you decide what to do next, follow this map."
A piece of paper appeared out of their pocket dimension, with the location of Protector's house marked.
"Tell them that we sent you. They will not care about who you are or what race you belong. They'll give you a place to call home and more trouble than you can imagine." The creature chuckled at the idea of how happy Selia was going to be having someone that would keep her company and help her with the kids.
"Now go." They handed a few clothes and a small bag of money for the travel expenses to Nalrond. It was more than Lith would have given him but less than Solus would. Yet neither of them minded because it wasn't a compromise, they were one.
"The army will be here any minute now." The creature waved their hand, Warping the hybrid right outside Zantia. They were shocked by their own prowess. Opening a Warp to such distance with the same ease as if it was just a Blink was beyond their wildest dreams.
Yet there was no time for patting themselves on the back, their situation was quite dire. They weren't aware that Acala was still alive so they expected that the death of a Ranger coupled with the absence of dimensional blocking arrays would cause the prompt intervention of the army.
They had already concocted a perfect explanation for everything, yet there was still a problem that even their combined might couldn't overcome. The creature had no idea how to go back to being two separate entities.
Even after Warping out of the cave, outside the area of effect of the mana geyser, they were still fused. Their body was much smaller now, back to 3 meters (10 feet) of height, but that was it.
The Wyrmling was genderless, but they were afraid of finding their privates mixed if they reverted to a human appearance.
"Fuck us sideways. This is bad as it is, but there's still plenty of room for things to get even worse. How can we…" Their trains of thoughts derailed when Lith's army amulet pulled at his consciousness.
Kamila's rune was blinking. Lith and Solus shared plenty of things, but his feelings for Kamila weren't among them. Their fusion came undone the moment her image popped into their minds.
"Well, it's been way easier than I thought." Lith sighed in relief at the sight of his body exactly as he remembered it. Solus was at his finger and her life force was brighter than ever.
'Are you alright?' He thought.
'My body is in tip-top condition, but my mind is royally messed up.' Their fusion included sharing all their past memories and thoughts. Even those that they had chosen to keep for themselves.
Unlike when they decided to perform the mind fusion alone, they wouldn't be forced to relive all the past events from their other half's point of view, but such memories could still be accessed as if they were their own.
When Kamila's rune had blinked earlier, they had instinctively accessed to their now shared most recent memories. For Solus was just the worry that being a Royal Constable could be too much pressure for her, but for Lith, it regarded his intention to move their relationship forward.
The news had been so shocking for her that it had broken their fusion.
'Let's promise to not look into each other memories as long as the experience is still vivid in our minds.' She said.
'Oh, my. Have you been a naughty girl in my absence?' Her request didn't make much sense to Lith. He never looked into her memories and when he thought about something, he always looked for something specific.
He always had too much at hand in the present to wander in his past.
'You're not funny!' She sounded angry, but her mind was in the telepathic equivalent of violently blushing up to her ears. 'I never wanted to peek at your alone time with your girlfriend, just like my experiments on my own body were meant to remain private.'
'Oh, my! You've experimented on your body?' Lith kept teasing her, enjoying her turning purple from embarrassment.
'Shut up and answer the damn amulet. But first promise me you won't try anything funny.' Solus cursed her slip of the mind.
'I promise.' He replied while taking the call.
"Ranger Verhen, do you copy? Is this a good moment?" The handlers had waited a few minutes after the amulets belonging to their respective Ranger had become active again before trying to make contact.
That way, no matter if the mission was already accomplished or had they been forced to escape, the two Rangers would have the time to hide. Acala wasn't picking up so Kamila was relieved hearing from Lith.
"Affirmative. The threat has been dealt with and I'm currently in a safe zone." He replied.
"Is Ranger Acala with you? Why isn't he answering his own call?"
"He's alive?" Lith and Solus couldn't believe their own ears. They searched the night sky, almost expecting Dawn to pop out of thin air and attack them.
"Affirmative. His rune is still active and available. Do you need to go back and search for him?" Kamila started to arrange for a rescue team and a field hospital to prepare for what she considered to be the worst-case scenario.
One or both Rangers maimed and in a near-death condition.
Chapter 900 The Red Sun Part 2
"No, but it means that this is not a good moment to talk. He's gone rogue. I need to establish a safe zone. I'll call you back as soon as I can." Lith replied.
'Way ahead of you.' Solus opened a Warp Steps leading to the nearest mana geyser. She took her tower form and activated all the cloaking and defensive mechanisms at her disposal.
Only after Lith was inside the tower and they were ready to tower Warp at a moment's notice did he contact Kamila. Meanwhile, his words had shaken the control room and Commander Berion had ordered to pinpoint the traitorous Ranger.
"I'm sorry, sir. Ranger Acala is out of range. I can't provide you with nothing but general information." The young lieutenant Guyles had his mouth as dry as the desert.
A Ranger going rogue was hardly their handler's fault, but depending on the gravity of the betrayal and the bad news he brought, Guyles was afraid the high command would demand someone to take the blame.
He was likely to be the prime candidate.
"What do you mean, out of range? Even if he crossed the borders, we can still locate one of our amulets inside the Empire or the Blood Desert." Berion hated incompetence.
In his book, a handler was more than a paper pusher issuing orders from above. Their duty was to bond with their operative enough to provide them psychological support and catch wind of anything wrong with them.
"His log moves him from above the Snake Tongue mountains straight to Jiera." Guyles said, making the entire control room become silent.
When Lith called, Berion took charge and demanded a full report. Lith had shapeshifted the tower so that the space around him looked like an underground cave. Seeing him holed up made Berion change Kamila's request for a rescue team into a Spellbreaker unit.
Lith explained all that had happened since the last contact, lying solely about the ending. In his version of the story, he and Nalrond had run away in different directions after dealing a seemingly lethal blow to Dawn's host.
At the first mention of the Bright Day, Berion ordered Lith to stop talking and moved the conversation to his personal office, bringing only Kamila with him. As Lith's handler, she had to be aware of the contingency measures the army would prepare in the case the two met again.
"If several spawns are still alive why did you say that the threat has been dealt with?" Berion asked.
Lith cursed his bad luck, racking his brain for a believable lie. In the original version of the story he had prepared, Acala's death had left Dawn weakened and forced her to reabsorb her minions, giving Lith and Nalrond the opportunity to escape.
Now, however, the only way Lith found to avoid his lies from being exposed was by adding another piece of truth to the mix.
"Because according to Nalrond, it takes time for the cursed object known as the Bright Day to choose and adapt to a new host. I assumed that after losing Acala and being her plan exposed, she would retreat along with what's left of her undead force.
"Now I'm not so sure anymore." He said.
"Don't worry about it. The two of you must have taught the Horseman of Dawn quite a lesson if it ran off to Jiera." Berion laughed merrily while thinking about the big promotion that he would surely be awarded with.
The appearance of the Bright Day was just another piece of bad news for the Griffon Kingdom, but it meant the world to him. It was only thanks to him ordering the two Rangers to work together that Dawn's plan had been foiled.
While the upper echelons of the army led by General Meron Griffon wanted to remove Lith from duty after the events of Kulah, it had been Berion who had vetoed the adoption of any disciplinary measure against Lith.
That, plus the discovery of a new Odi ruin was bound to make Berion into a one-star general, maybe even two-star.
After finishing his report and reassuring Kamila about his well-being, Lith called Faluel to inform her of Dawn's presence in the Kingdom. Lith couldn't risk Acala catching her unprepared in the case the Bright Day decided to settle their score.
Dawn knew who he was and about Solus's existence. Cursed objects seemed to consider her a traitor so in Lith's mind, messing with his family was a twofer for the Horseman.
"I'm glad to hear you are alright, kid. I was going to save the bad news for later, but we need to talk." The seven heads of the Hydra were focused on the amulet, which meant that the matter at hand was serious.
"Now might be impossible." Lith pointed at his uniform.
"Don't worry, it's nothing urgent. Your presence in the army will actually prevent most from bothering you, but I want you to be prepared. The moment when you're not a Ranger anymore, before you become my disciple, you'll be at your weakest.
"No one will have your back. Also, having a Horseman after you can change your life in a bad way. Come visit me as soon as you can. Not even this channel is safe." She said.
"Wait. Is it because of Dawn, of the human Council, or because of the Awakened undead who backed Erlik?" Lith asked.
"Yes. Don't worry about Nalrond. I'll give Protector a hand with his accommodation." Faluel ended the call while Lith was still showing off his extensive vocabulary of swear words.
"Frigging smartass! I wonder what else can go wrong." Lith moved out and waited for the Spellbreaker unit. Everything was like he had left it, the makeshift Warp Gate, Dawn's machinery with her prism still attached, and even the underground lab comprised of her light constructs.
The ancient Odi machine was the only thing still intact in there, whereas several books had been destroyed or damaged during the fight. It was a blessing in disguise for Lith, because no one noticed those he had taken and assumed they had been destroyed as well.
The only sour note was a message attached to the white prism, bearing a kiss mark and the words:
"Hope to see you soon, sister."
Not even a blind, deaf, and dumb person could mistake Lith for a woman and the army was aware of the friendly competition between Baba Yaga's children, so everyone just assumed that the Black Night was involved as well.
The result was the Kingdom raising the defense readiness condition for the Kellar region to the highest level and making Lith's feat appear even more outstanding. Yet he knew that the message was addressed to Solus.
Whatever Dawn was planning, clearly it wasn't over between the two sentient artifacts.
***
Dusk Court, right after the news about Acala's betrayal spread.
The Red Sun, also known as the Horseman of Dusk and the Hushed King of the Dusk Court, wasn't pleased by the current situation of the Garlen continent. He had only a few sources left in the royal army and he wasn't going to put them to risk just to read about such a trifle matter like Dawn's defeat.
Most of his information came from both the Royal and Undead Court gossip and from the bards' tales that were sung annoyingly often during social events. If the corpse he inhabited had even a single vein still working left, it would have popped.
Chapter 901 Predator Versus Predator Part 1
"Verhen. Where did I hear this name again?" Dusk asked.
"He was among those who foiled our plan to take control over a World Sapling, my liege." Inxialot the Lich King, Ruler of the Kellar region for the Council of Awakened replied.
Liches didn't actually have a king. The title was merely a consolation prize for getting the short end of the stick during the last raffle to determine who would represent the undead Awakened for Council duties.
"It's the same funny guy I had fighting to the death in a Foul Moon ritual."
"What do you make of him?"
"A cunning, devious, untrustworthy young Awakened." Inxialot checked his diaries before answering. A brilliant man like him would write down unnecessary things so that he could afford to forget them and keep his mind busy only with the important stuff.
"He will make an excellent Lich and a fine addition to our ranks, if he survives the process, of course."
"Mogar is changing, Inxialot. Our eternal life has made us become accustomed to sitting on our asses for so long that by the time we get up we have more cobwebs than clothes covering us. We can't afford that anymore." Dusk tapped his skeletal finger on his throne made of Davross.
He wasn't so frivolous that he would waste the most powerful enchanted metal on Mogar for a chair. It was simply the shape that his prized equipment assumed during peaceful times.
"A lonely, downtrodden man has achieved for sixteen years what we could only dream about. Balkor kept the entirety of the Griffon Kingdom hostage, he forced the very society that chased him out to change according to his twisted beliefs.
"Not only did he refuse my little sister Night when she courted him, but he also ended up drawing the Guardians' interest and now he works for them instead that for us. A Necromancer found us, his family, so untrustworthy to side with our enemies."
The Black Night had tried for a long time to bring Balkor in her fold, but had always failed. Just like Solus, cursed objects needed consent to bond with a host. Ilyum Balkor knew what Night was and trusted her even less than what he did the Kingdom.
Whenever she tried to lure him with promises of power, revenge, or even to give him back his family, the Lost Magus had simply struck her so hard that she ended up landing in the Gorgon Empire.
"Another loser, another pitiful not even Awakened human, in less than a decade has brought Abominations back on the path towards evolution, whereas we are still focused only on tearing each other's throat.
"This Master brought fresh water to their pond, while ours remains stale. Is there any news concerning them?" Dusk asked.
"None." Inxialot took out another booklet before answering. He had no idea who they were talking about. "Some of their followers are more ancient than us and reacted to our inquiries with extreme prejudice."
"We need to take them out." Dusk said.
"The Mister?" Inxialot had forgotten about their unknown enemy's name the moment his eyes had left the report.
"The Master, the Abominations, every single one of them. We have tolerated for too long those failures feeding off our prey. With Jiera gone, we can't afford our munificence being mistaken for weakness.
"We've become so pitiful in everyone's eyes that even the Guardians only care about Abominations while we lay forgotten!" Dusk slammed his fists on the throne's armrests so hard that the resulting shockwave pulverized Inxialot's form for a split second before reforming.
"Laruel was our first real chance to make a breakthrough. To fulfill my sacred mission, yet we failed by the hands of a bunch of insects and an overgrown flower." Dawn's mission was to find a way for the undead to assimilate knowledge along with the life force of their victims.
Night had been tasked with making undead immune to darkness magic, the only element that could truly harm them, no matter if they retained or not a physical form.
Dusk, instead, had tried for centuries to make all forms of magic accessible to Baba Yaga's children. It was the reason why, unlike his sisters and his own mother, he didn't despise Liches.
Quite the contrary, he had recruited most of them for his Court, whether they were Awakened or not. The Red Sun admired their ingenuity and believed that, even though the need for a phylactery crippled their potential, Liches were the key to his success.
They were the only undead who were capable of freely using all elements.
"Plants live until something kills them. Their lifespan rival our own without the burden of our limitations. Beasts know almost no war and are the only ones who can become Guardians.
"Humans keep spawning monsters like Manohar, Thrud, and now even this whatshisname who kicked my sister's ass to the moon and back. Last but not least, Abominations are the only thing Guardians are afraid of and the Council is even thinking about offering them a seat since they were all once Awakened."
The Red Sun was mad with rage, emitting uncontrolled pulses of mana that were seconds away from destroying his own house despite the countless protective arrays he had laid himself.
"Mogar keeps spinning every day. Yet where are we? What are we doing to prepare ourselves for the tidal wave that threatens to wipe us out of existence?" Dusk asked.
"We're in your tacky underground castle, listening to your rants. By the way, there's no tidal wave incoming. I forecast a mild winter and plenty of snow." Inxialot checked the entire Garlen continent's weather to make sure of it.
"I was asking a rhetorical question!" Dusk roared.
"And I gave you a practical answer. With all due respect, my liege, if you're done getting on my nerves like an annoying brat, I'll go back to my lab. At least there I can use my time productively." Without waiting for an answer, Inxialot bypassed the dimensional blocking arrays and Warped back home.
"By my Mother! It's in moments like this that I understand why my sisters don't deal with madmen. To make matter worse, now I'm talking to myself and sound like one. This doesn't bode well at all."
***
Free country of Lamarth. Beyond the eastern borders of the Gorgon Empire, in the Headquarters of the Master. After learning about the Horseman of Dawn.
The near-extinction of the human race on the Jiera continent and the ensuing undead invasion had thrown enough monkey wrenches in the Master's plan that they could open a hardware store.
"Damn, if once the presence of the undead was an asset, giving me a perfect scapegoat to blame in the case something went wrong, now they are worse than an enemy, they are our competitor." The Master had summoned a general meeting to discuss the issue.
Only the most ancient Eldritch Abominations and those who had evolved into a stable monster-Abomination hybrid participated. They were the backbone of the Master's Organization and among the most powerful creatures on Mogar.
"Indeed. Feeding our ranks, finding specimens for your experiments, and even restocking our supplies has become very troublesome. Between the arrays and the rigorous checks, the black market is on the verge of disappearing. With it also goes our main source of income." Xenagrosh said.
Chapter 902 Predator Versus Predator Part 2
"That's not the only thing that should be on the order of business. There's also the problem of the blood madness that Returner Abominations like me are experiencing." Bytra said.
The 4th Ruler of the Flames was among the clones that had absorbed their original counterparts, giving them a fresh start at life. Returners, however, would start as pure beings, with only the memories belonging to their life as Awakened.
Over time, they would remember all the atrocities they had committed and the pain that they had endured after turning into Abominations. It caused them psychotic breaks at random intervals that had cost the Organization many missions and even more casualties.
Every slaughter ended up having too many witnesses to kill them all, and by reporting the Abomination's location, their enemies had been able to unravel what the Organization was working on.
Because of that carrying out the next steps of the Master's plan was not much more difficult.
"Last, but not least. We must discuss the issue of the Returners that didn't join our ranks. They know too much. It's enough for one of them to be captured or be willing to side with our enemies to expose our location and long-term goals." Tezka said.
After Lith had killed his clone, the Master had performed the procedure again, turning Tezka into a Warg-Abomination hybrid. Losing his prized artifact, Endless Night, was worth the power he had gained in return.
On top of that, Bytra had already Forgemastered him a much better piece.
She was the rising star of the Organization, and everyone groveled at her feet to get in her good graces or have something crafted. She had already updated all of her Forgemastering techniques, reaching an unparalleled level of skill.
Bytra was one of the reasons why the Council was tempted to offer Abominations a seat. She was the only living Ruler of the Flames and her creations dwarfed ancient powerful artifacts.
Bytra was the only one who could recreate an outdated enchanted item with modern techniques, giving it new life. The Master and Xenagrosh were the only ones who had her unconditional love.
The Master had taken her in as a daughter, providing her with all the materials and books she could dream of. The Master had even predicted the risks of blood madness and had treated her the moment the first symptoms appeared.
Xenagrosh, instead, was her only true friend and partner. Original Abominations considered Returners as usurpers, while Returners deemed Originals as heartless monsters.
The Master had a hard time bridging between the two factions, but luckily, Bytra and her relationship with Xenagrosh helped him to find a way to make things work out.
Xenagrosh was the one who had brought Bytra back in the fold and with her Origin Flames, she was the crucial ingredient in all Forgemastering experiments. The two of them were the living proof that nothing separated Originals from Returners except their own prejudices.
"Last my Chaos ass!" Abthot roared. "As the representative of Eldritch Abominations, I demand to know what's the status of the research to make us evolve as well."
The Master sighed in stress. Between living their own human life and keeping all those powerful creatures in check was a mammoth task.
'I would love to rub his nose on the fact that they were the ones who refused to take part in the clone experiment, but the situation is already tense as it is. Between the lack of food and their personal agenda, regular Abomination are on the verge of mutiny
'I wish I was in a bard's tale where the hero always has followers who are blindly loyal to him, ready to throw away their lives and ambitions for no good reason.
'Also, in those stories both good and bad guys seem to find money growing on trees whereas I have to work my ass off to procure the necessary funds for the Organization.'
"Here is my proposal." The Master stood up, but they were the only human sitting at the round table while the others were all titans, so the change in height was barely noticeable.
"There's only place for a big predator in the Garlen continent and that's going to be us. From now on, kill all the undead you met on sight. No quarter given, no mercy shown.
"Wipe out the Courts if you find them and don't hesitate to ask for reinforcements. Avoid only Liches, they are a beast that it's not worth poking without a very good reason.
"By seizing the undead's backchannels and possessions, we'll solve many of our problems. Also, in the long term, their disappearance will lead the Kingdom to lax its security again. As for the blood madness, from now on Returners must always work with a partner.
"This way if one of them goes on a rampage, the other can stop them. We don't have many Returners, so I expect Originals and Eldritchs to give a hand."
Bytra instinctively leaned against Xenagrosh's arm, who held her hand and made Bytra blush. Everyone smiled at the scene, yet no one but the Master was sincere. Xenagrosh could wipe the floor with the ass of most of those present at the same time, while Bytra was their golden goose.
They were a match made in heaven and both were loyal to the Master. Their friendship heavily tipped the power balance and turned the Master's proposals into orders.
"Rogue Returners must be left alone." The Master continued. "They are not a threat. On the contrary, they are already part of the Organization. It's just that they don't know it yet. They are facing alone the humans, the undead, and even the blood madness.
"We are their only family and hope. If you find them, be friendly. It's only a matter of time before they come knocking on our door. Lastly, about the concerns Abthot expressed, I'm doing my best, but I'm only human, after all.
"Find me Thrud and her perfected Arthan's Madness or at least capture Dawn. With her ability to mass-produce the light element I could feed all of you and fuel my new project at the same time.
"Without either of them, I can only continue with the cloning experiments. All in favor?"
Those present raised their hands in unison.
"Excellent. Assembly dismissed. Xenagrosh, Bytra, please stay. I have a mission for you." The Master said.
***
Contrary to Lith's expectations, the following months were devoid of bad news. Summer came and left, followed by the quietest fall Lith had lived ever since he had enrolled in the White Griffon academy.
Over time, the Kingdom adapted to the undead threat and soon a new balance was reached.
The state of alert remained high and Lith didn't get a single day leave, but with two other Rangers helping him to keep the Kellar region safe, no matter the situation, things never got out of his hand.
The reports of undead sightings had become a rare occurrence. Unbeknown to him, the Abominations were silently contributing to stabilizing the Kingdom, forcing the Undead Courts to split their resource between the human's and Abomination's side.
Just like Leegaain had predicted, the number of the undead couldn't grow indefinitely and was bound to return to the pre-migration level. On the other hand, however, only the most powerful and cunning of the undead from both continents survived.
Chapter 903 It’s Home Again Part 1
The conflict between undead and Abominations weeded out the weakest among Baba Yaga's children, throwing the Courts into chaos. Yet it was only a matter of time before they emerged stronger than ever before.
All Lith know, however, was that the crime rate was at an all-time low. Between the curfew, the constant patrols, and all the cities now having elemental blocking arrays, it was a really hard time for the underworld.
Winter made everything worse, cutting off the trade routes and leaving the dishonest citizens without a good reason to step out of their homes. Once guards could be bribed, but now the thought that the hand offering the gold might be linked to the mouth that would rip their throat at night, had turned them into responsible officers.
Lith was surprised when Kamila notified him that he had been granted a full month leave that would allow him to spend his birthday home without worries.
"Are you serious?" He asked.
"I would never joke on something like that. The situation has calmed down a lot now. Military officers can apply for honourable discharge and even though overtime is appreciated, it's not mandatory anymore." Kamila replied.
"What about you?" Lith said.
"What do you mean?"
"Did you receive a leave as well?"
"Actually, yeah. For some reason, both my commanding officers made sure that our respective leaves overlapped. Thanks for asking." Kamila had expected a rant about his leave being long overdue, about all the magical research he had to do, and all the people he had to catch up with.
Discovering that her presence was the first thing Lith was worried about, made Kamila so happy that she felt her heart skip a few beats.
"I was thinking about working part time." She said.
"You what? After months without a break? You need some proper rest and relaxation!" Lith was flabbergasted.
"Yeah, right." Kamila giggled. "Your 'pot calling the kettle black' attitude never gets old."
"Meaning?" He asked.
"Are you really saying that you're going to spend all your free time home? No magical research, no working on any of those mysterious projects of yours?" Her questions were answered by an awkward silence.
"That would be torture." He replied after a while. "I love my family, but once we're done catching up, I would die of boredom. They have their own lives and so do I. Also, I don't know if I'm able to stay idle for that long without going crazy."
"I feel the same way." Kamila nodded. "Sure, I'm going to spend a lot of time with Zinya, Elina, and the kids, just like I hope to spend even more time with you. Yet after a week of goofing around, I'm sure I'd start to get restless.
"I can't ask everyone to change their routine just to keep me company and if I spend too much time cooking or cleaning, I feel like a housewife. Speaking of cleaning, can you get home first? I've abused Lady Ernas's hospitality during the last few months and I'm afraid of what I might find on my return.
"You, instead, have plenty experience with clearing dungeons and facing mold monsters." Kamila tried and failed to keep a straight face while making her plea.
"I'll see what I can do. When does my leave start?" Lith said.
"As soon as you're done with your current assignment." Kamila replied.
Lith was currently sitting on top of a pile of broken bodies that once had been known as the Black Dragons, an infamous mercenary group composed of dishonourably discharged ex-military.
Nobles, Undead Courts, organized crime, the list of their clients included whoever could afford their services. Jambel's local constable had requested Lith's help to bring them in for questioning.
The Black Dragons didn't like taking orders just like Lith didn't take a no for an answer. Luckily for him, the amulet filtered out the ambient moans of pain.
"I'm on leave then." Lith opened a Warp Steps and tossed them in jail. "Will I see you at home tonight, honey?"
"Wait. Is it your parent's, Zinya's, or our home?" She asked.
"Our home." Lith resisted temptation of answering with just a "Yes".
"I'll never get to Lutia before sunset. If I come knocking after the curfew, it will not be a surprise but a jumpscare. Also, I'm too tired to answer all the questions they are bound to ask."
"Good thinking. I'll be there in a few hours with dinner. See you soon." Kamila sent him a kiss and closed the call.
Lith could actually reach Lutia in record time with the tower, but that would leave no official record behind and he really didn't feel like getting a third degree as welcome gift.
Usually Lith's first day home was more tiring than being interrogated by Jirni.
When he opened the door of Kamila's apartment in Belius, Lith was flabbergasted. He had expected curtains of cobwebs and long forgotten dirty plates with so much mold that they had grown a fur and might be mistaken for pets.
What he found, instead, was a dusty place with stale air that seemed to have been abandoned for months. There was no sign of the Camellia, something that reassured Lith about his relationship.
It took him a minute to clean everything, five for a decent hot shower, and three seconds to fall asleep after his head touched the pillow.
'Man, I have so many things to do. Let's hope a month is enough. I need to check if Nalrond reached out to Protector, meet Selia's third born, speak with Faluel…' Were his last thoughts until the creaking of the door woke him up.
"Baby, I'm home." Kamila had learned the hard way to announce her presence to prevent a sleepy Lith from mistaking a playful girlfriend trying to surprise him for a real assailant and welcoming her as such.
He cursed his own paranoia, put Ruin back under the bed, and dispelled the thunderstorm brewing over his right palm.
"Do you need help with the plates?" Lith opened the door to the living room, finding Kamila with a bag full of take-away food in her left hand and the army suitcase in her right.
She dropped them both the moment she saw him and threw her arms around his chest.
"Welcome home, Kami. You have no idea how much I missed you. Even cleaning up your mess felt nostalgic." Lith returned her embrace, losing himself in her warmth and in the scent of her hair.
"I missed you more, silly. Why do you think I didn't set foot in here until now? Without you, it was just an empty place. Now it's home again." She said, dealing a huge blow to the great wall surrounding his heart.
Lith held her even tighter and used Invigoration on her. He examined every single millimeter of her body, fixing even the slightest damages he could find down to the cellular level.
A blue glow enveloped them both while Lith made her health as perfect as her heart was. Kamila felt her body relaxing, as if instead of being back from work she had just returned from a spa.
The tension built up in her muscles during the past few months disappeared and she sweated like a galloping horse while a warm feeling spread throughout her body.
Chapter 904 It’s Home Again Part 2
"What are you doing?" Kamila asked. She was used to Lith giving her butterflies in the stomach, but the blue will-o'-the-wisps in the living room were new. Also, she had been expecting a warm reunion, not a sweaty one.
At least not until they moved to the bedroom.
"I'm making sure that the perfection of your health matches that of your heart." He avoided using the word 'body' for several reasons.
His paranoia made him fear that Kamila would suspect he was shapeshifting her. Also, Kamila was already self-conscious about her appearance because of Lith's family good looks. He wanted to avoid adding oil to the fire.
"I was going to take a quick shower while you'd set up the table, but now it might take a while. Care to join me?" She asked.
"Usually I would jump at the opportunity, but we're both starving." Among its many effects, Invigoration always made it subjects work quite an appetite.
"You know that if I get in there with you, we'll come out only when the food is cold, the beer is warm, and the moon is high." He replied.
"It doesn't sound like a bad plan to me." She reached for his lips while her hands caressed his hair. It was a slow, sensual kiss that awakened the hunger they had for each other.
Lith tried to keep his cool, but Kamila's hands moved down his neck, back, and finally reached his ass. His willpower turned paper thin at that point but it held.
"Damn, woman. Kiss me again like that and you're not getting any sleep tonight." He said.
"Make me." She panted in his ear, making what was left of his rationality crumble.
***
A few hours later, after Lith had fixed their dinner at the best of his abilities, they dined together. The first thing Kamila did after getting out of the bedroom was to retrieve her army suitcase and take the Camellia out.
She then recharged the magical flower with her imprint and put it inside a small vase they used as centrepiece.
"Why do you bring it at work? Show off much?" Lith teased her.
"No, silly." She giggled. "Between the fact that I often slept at the Ernas Mansion, the night shifts, and the emergencies, it's been a long time since I knew where I would spend the night twice in a row.
"I always keep your gift with me because I want to make sure it never withers. Also, I consider it my good luck charm."
Her words made him happy and brought a smile to Lith's face, thinking back at how awkward had it been the moment when he had gifted the Camellia to her.
It took him a while to tell her all that had happened during his absence. Things like his meeting with Xedros or the truth about his battle against Dawn couldn't be shared during a call, no matter how secure the amulet was supposed to be.
"So that's what you were doing instead of submitting your report." She grunted. "First Faluel and now a Wyvern. I guess you've a thing for cold blooded lizards if you prefer their company to mine. Maybe it's because you're a Wyrmling yourself."
"Oh, please. Xedros is a male and an ass. You've no reason to get jealous. As for Faluel…"
"I'm just messing with you." She giggled, cutting him short. "Gods, you fall for it every single time. Guilty conscience much?"
Lith ignored her second taunt and just held hand.
"I can't believe I missed even our small bickering." He said. "Speaking of Faluel, I need your help talking to my family."
"All you need to do is tell me when and I'll be there for you. Yet I don't see how the two things are related, unless you want to introduce her to them." Kamila said.
"That's actually a good idea, but that will have to wait. First, I have to come clean with them about me being a hybrid." Lith sighed.
"Finally! I mean, why now of all times?"
"Because I don't know how long my apprenticeship will take. I can't lie to them about where I'll be staying, what I'm doing, and with who. That would be unfair to them and as you so subtly pointed out, it's a talk long overdue.
"I might bring Protector and Selia along to smooth things over, but I need your help to also find an excuse with your sister to leave her out. I like Zinya but…" Lith didn't know what to say without sounding awfully rude.
"But she's not family. You don't feel like trusting her with such a big secret." Kamila completed the phrase for him.
"Exactly. Depending on how it goes, my parents might need a bit of space. We might be living in Belius for a while." Lith hated the city's dimensional blocking array but it was nothing compared to his fear of rejection.
"Don't worry. I'm sure that everything will be fine." She said, trying to reassure him.
Lith could withstand sub-zero temperatures without batting an eye and their house was warm, yet he was shivering.
Kamila stood up, hugging him from behind until she managed to make Lith feel safe again.
"Stop being paranoid. I had no problem with your other half and I knew you for just over a year. They are your parents and they know you forever." She kissed his neck while caressing is chest. "Let's get to bed now. We'll cuddle until you fall asleep."
Lith jumped up, shapeshifting into his Wyrmling form while lifting her in a princess carry.
"I warned you, yet you didn't listen. My word is my bond. No sleep for you tonight." He used his fiery gaze and growling voice to sound menacing.
"It sounds fair. If you play with fire, you're bound to get burned. Only one question. Are we doing the dragon and the maiden or the demon lord and the princess?" Kamila asked.
"Good gods, woman! At least try to act scared." Lith chuckled at her odd choices of role play.
"Of you? Never." Her words followed by a kiss on the scales covering his fangs gave Lith hope for his future and made him rush to their destination.
***
The following morning Lith had to use Invigoration to get out of bed early and not waste precious daylight. Between the sun setting early and the curfew, time was precious.
"I'm going to visit Protector before going to my parents. I'm curious to see if Nalrond has accepted my offer and if he did, how Selia took paying the price for my 'generosity'." Lith said once he was back from the shower.
"Maybe I'll go visit Faluel as well. The last time I heard from her she seemed to have some important matters to discuss. Worst case scenario, we'll meet for lunch at my parents'. I'll keep my amulet at hand in the case you need a Warp to Lutia."
Yet Kamila was already snoring. Without Invigoration, she didn't hear a single word from him. Lith wrote her a note and set an alarm clock, just to be safe. Then, on second thought, he shared with her a bit of vigor, just to be safer.
Chapter 905 Meet Solus Part 1
Belius's Warp Gate led Lith to Derios, the capital city of the Distar Marquisate and from there reaching Protector's home took him just a few minutes.
The moment Lith saw it, nostalgia almost broke his heart. His old friend had shaped his own house as an almost perfect replica of Lith's. It was a lovely two-story cottage entirely made of stone with a spacious yard overlooking the Trawn woods.
He almost expected Elina to open the door and welcome him home. Selia's reaction, however, didn't differ much from what his mother would do.
"Oh, Lith! I'll never understand why beasts call you Scourge. You should be named Bearer of Gifts." She pulled him down with a strength and an enthusiasm that surprised him quite a bit.
She kissed him on the forehead and both cheeks before giving him a huge hug.
"I beg your pardon?" Lith was still processing the situation, whereas Solus was laughing her ass off.
'Well, oh great Dark Lord, you just need to trick a powerful Forgemaster to craft a few power rings to deserve such title. Should I get jealous?' She thought.
'Been there, done that. Am I not wearing the legacy of the greatest Forgemaster on Mogar on my finger along with her heir, oh Bright Lord?' He replied.
"Thanks to you, my life has never been easier." Selia said. "Come in. We're about to have breakfast, feel free to join us."
Lith understood what she meant only when he entered the living room. Sitting at the rectangular table there were Ryman, Nalrond, Lilian, Leran, and a floating crib made of hard-light near Selia's chair.
Judging from the giggles and child noises it emitted, Lith guessed that it was filled with the new member of the family. Several constructs shaped like small fish swam in the air in front of the crib, keeping the child entertained.
At a wave of Selia's hand, the cradle floated between her hands.
"Guys, you all know uncle Lith. Uncle Lith, meet the little Fenrir. We named her after Faluel because of all the help she gave me with childbirth and because she offered to be my daughter's scaly godmother." Selia offered him the barely eight months child with pride.
Lith smiled while rocking the baby between his arms, even though to him all newborns were equally ugly and annoying.
"It seems you did a great job, Selia. She's a healthy child." Lith performed a full check-up out of habit.
"This time I can't take the full credit. If not for Faluel, things could have gone badly." Selia said, making Protector turn pale. "We'll talk about this later, I don't want to upset the kids."
"Hey, I'm not a kid, I'm the breadwinner." He grumbled.
"Yeah, right. You're a big bad wolf that has no trouble hunting down monsters yet you faint at the sight of a little blood." She chuckled.
"It's a completely different matter! I'm a good Healer but you are my wife. I was afraid of losing both…"
"As I said, I don't want to upset the kids." She placed her forefinger on Ryman's lips, hushing him.
Lilia and Leran were staring at their father with their little faces full of curiosity. Ryman could see all the questions about Selia's health and where babies come from that were starting to form in their young brains because of him.
"It's always a pleasure to have you here, Lith. Did you bring new toys for the kids?" He said, grateful to the gods for the children's short attention span.
"Toys!" Lilia said dropping her spoon to run and tug at Lith's pants
"Presents!" Leran followed her lead like a good little brother.
The kids had grown a lot since the last time Lith had seen them. According to Solus, they weren't Awakened, yet they were as tall as Lith had been at their age. It was the sign of perfect body development.
'I wonder if it's because of Protector's genes or Faluel is doing for them what I did for my sisters.' Lith pondered.
Luckily for Ryman, during his free time, Lith had copied the most popular toys in the Kellar region. He had also enchanted them with weak spells to make them safer and funnier.
"Thanks, uncle Lith. You're best." The kids said enthusiastically.
"Not like uncle Nalrond. He always nags at us."
"That's because he's never here, whereas I have to clean your mess on a daily basis." Nalrond said, generating several constructs at once. Boxes of light took the toys away from the kids' hands while tendrils forced them back on their chairs.
"You'll get your new toys only after finishing breakfast. Show some respect for all the hard work your Mom put into preparing your meal." He ignored their screams of outrage, making a new spoon appear in their hands.
Only then did Lith notice that plates and silverware weren't normal. Until that moment, their dull color had made him fail to notice that they were all constructs.
"See what I mean?" Selia looked at the hybrid with eyes full of gratitude. "I'll never thank you enough for sending us such a priceless aid. One day you'll make an excellent househusband, dear Nalrond."
"You're too kind, Selia." He replied. "Back home we used to say that it takes just two people to make a child, but a whole village to raise them."
In the Fastarrow household, they didn't use pots, only cauldrons. Ryman ate a lot and so did the kids, leaving plenty of food for seconds or unexpected guests. Even Lith's appetite was a drop in the sea of their servings.
During the meal they made small talk about the situation in Lustria county. The undead invasion had reached every corner of the Kingdom, forcing Count Lark and his heirs to invest a lot of money to set up a local army base.
Local constables and militia were powerless against anything but small-time criminals. The county needed the presence of permanent troops just to keep the order and prevent mass hysteria at the slightest sign of undead activity.
'I must pay Lark a visit. I don't see him in over a year.' Lith thought.
'I doubt there's much we can do, but we should at least offer him our help. He's an old friend, after all.' Solus thought.
Luckily for everyone, Lutia was one of the safest places in the Distar Marquisate, some even said safer than the capital itself. Between the presence of the Queen's Corps, the Kings of the Trawn Woods, and Faluel keeping a close watch on Lith's house, anyone looking for trouble would soon fit in an ashtray.
Lith told them an abridged and embellished version of his missions in the Kellar region, giving Nalrond his due credit to make him look cool in the eyes of the kids.
"Wait. You two met three months ago." Leran had a focused expression while counting the passing of time on his fingers. "Yet uncle Nalrond is here for less than a month. Was this Snack Torch…"
"Snake Tongue, you dummy!" Leria corrected him.
"What she said, really far away, or is uncle Lith much faster than you? It took him less than a day to get here." Leran asked.
"I didn't come here straight away, Leran." Nalrond replied. The adults already knew his story and Lith wasn't stupid. He could read between the lines.
Chapter 906 Meet Solus Part 2
"When I met Lith I was in a bad place…" Nalrond said.
"Like the corner where Mom grounds us until we reflect on our actions?" Leria asked. Her mind was too young for metaphors so she took everything literally.
"Kind of. After we dealt with Dawn, I needed some time to think if I really wanted to join my tribe in their journey. I tried living among humans, but I didn't fit. They treated me like the stranger I was, making me feel even more lonely than ever.
"Then I tried to live among beasts, but it didn't go much better. Magical beasts felt even more alien to me than humans, while Emperor Beasts were friendly, but had no time to spare for me. They all treated me like an oddity.
"It was only when I came here that you made me feel…"
"Special. Like us." Leran shapeshifted his right hand into red fur and claws.
"Exactly." Nalrond raised his left hand and did the same, placing his palm against Leran's. "I felt like I belonged."
"People are mean, uncle Nalrond." Leria shapeshifted only her arms, making them long enough hug his waist. "Mom tells us all the time that we must never listen to mean people."
"You've finally learned to control yourself. Good job, kids." Lith's hand turned into scales and claws before ruffling Leria's hair.
"See, Mom? Uncle Lith is special as well. Why are you the only one that can't change?" Leran asked.
"Because." Was her reply. "I'll explain it to you when you're older. Now go and play outside with your new toys. Nalrond?"
"On it." The Rezar snapped his fingers, making all plates, cutlery, and cups reach the trash bin in an orderly fashion before popping out of existence. At the same time, a cage of light overlapped with the fence surrounding the house.
"See what I mean?" Selia's smile went from ear to ear. "No more washing nor breaking anything. Also, I can finally let the children go out without supervision."
Lilia and Leria retrieved their new toys the moment breakfast was over. They hugged their parents and uncles before going outside, showing Lith how much their manners had improved.
"Now that the kids are gone, I want to apologize for what I said and done to you down in those caves." Nalrond said with a sigh, his eyes filled with regret. "I owe you a great deal for sparing my life and giving me a chance.
"A chance that, in my ignorance, I squandered. To make it up to you, Lith, I could teach you Light Mastery. I heard from Protector that you already are a powerful healer, so it shouldn't take…"
"Hold your dragons." Lith was thrilled at his offer, but there was annoyance in Selia's eyes and embarrassment in Ryman's. Something was off. "Squandered how?"
Nalrond lowered his gaze, staring at the table for a few seconds before answering.
"When I first arrived here, I was stubbornly clinging to my theory that you were nothing but Solus's puppet so I used her name to introduce myself to Selia."
"You what?" Lith inwardly cursed, knowing that the Rezar's offer was too good to come with no strings attached.
"The more I explained things to her, the more Selia wanted to kick me out. Luckily, Ryman returned home in time to clear the misunderstanding. You can guess the rest." Nalrond said. "For what is worth, I'm really sorry."
"Now that the cat is out of the bag, why don't you introduce me to your girlfriend?" Selia asked.
"You already know Kami."
"I mean the one literally at your fingertips." She replied.
"Selia, this is Solus, my first and best friend ever. Solus, this is Selia, the one who ripped us off time and time again when we were little." Lith theatrically placed his open palm in front of Selia. "Feel free to talk to the hand."
"Hi, Selia. I'd say nice to meet you, but I know you since forever." Solus said before the huntress could rebuke Lith for his sass.
"Since we got to this point, we should do things properly. Selia, Ryman, can you leave the house for a bit?" Lith asked.
Even though she had been expecting something like that to happen, Selia was still too shocked to reply. She stared at Lith's ring as if it could eat her face at any moment. Solus's voice was completely different from the recorded phrases Lith imbued in the toys he made.
It was full of emotions and vibrant, like that of a person.
"Sure we can. Do you mind keeping an eye on the children, Nalrond?" Ryman said.
"No problem. I've been there already, so I'm not going to miss much." The Rezar had guessed Lith's intentions, yet he was far from the truth. Back in the Snake Tongue mountains, he had only seen what Lith wanted to show him.
Lith opened a Warp Steps leading to the mana geyser in the Trawn woods while feeling the turmoil in Solus's mind. It was a mix of excitement and fear of rejection.
'Don't worry about it. She'll love you.' Lith thought.
Solus jumped off his finger, being careful to not shapeshift into her spider form out of habit. She knew how human minds worked and she didn't want Selia to perceive her as anything less than human.
She turned to liquid and dug into the ground unseen. The tower emerged a split second later, now a three-story building with the second floor almost restored. Sadly, almost wasn't enough to even clear the debris leading to the new level.
"Good gods!" Selia and Ryman said in unison while holding their hands out of fright.
Selia had seen plenty of marvels since she had started her relationship with Ryman, but a building over ten meters (33 feet) high and with a base larger than her house popping out of thin air was something that only happened in myths.
Protector, instead, was shocked seeing how much it had grown compared to the last memory he shared with Lith. Also, unlike Selia, he could perceive the massive amount of energy that coursed throughout the building, making it look like a fortress.
"Please, come in." Lith said.
To make matters worse for his guests, from the moment the tower had appeared Lith seemed to have grown as well. His stature was unchanged, but his presence was much more overbearing as if he could squash them like bugs.
Lith had no hostility toward them, so the feeling of dread lasted only for a second.
Only once they stepped in, did Solus appear.
"Oh, gods! It's much bigger on the inside." Selia watched in amazement at the solid staircases in white stone leading to the adjacent floors and the many doors on the walls.
"It is. The ground floor is designed for the living quarters. Bedrooms, living room, kitchen, and stuff like that. The basement is for my labs and the first floor, well, it's easier if I show you. Before I give you a tour, allow me to introduce you to Solus again." Lith said.
"Hi, Selia. Hi, Ryman." Solus came out of her bedroom. She was in her luminous human form and wore a set of hunter clothes that closely resembled Selia's. It consisted of a leather hunting jacket over a green shirt, green cargo pants, and brown hunting boots.
Solus avoided floating to not scare her guest, which emphasized her diminutive stature. With her 1.54 meter (5'1") she was a good head shorter than Selia and barely reached Ryman's chest.
Chapter 907 Open Wounds Part 1
"Oh gods, I need to sit down." Despite Solus's best efforts, Selia could feel her knees buckling. The golden hair, the luminous body, and the majestic aura that surrounded Solus made her look like someone out of a fairy tale.
"Oh gods, where does this thing come from?" Selia flinched when a comfortable armchair appeared out of thin air.
"It's good to finally meet you in person, Solus." Ryman offered her his hand, but she hugged him instead.
Protector wasn't just a business partner, he was their oldest friend.
"Same here. What do you think?" She said after taking a few steps back and turning around to let him see her full figure.
"You're a lovely young woman." Ryman nodded.
"Yeah, how old are you?" Selia asked.
"Centuries-old, but since I've forgotten almost everything about my past life, my mental age is around twenty." Solus said.
Lith had them move to the living room before starting to explain things properly.
"Let me get this straight." Selia said after the question and answer session was over. "You found her when you were four, but she didn't get a body until last year, correct?"
"Yes." Lith nodded.
"Are you cheating on Kamila, young man? Because I like that girl and if after everything you went through together you hurt her, Awakened or not I'm going to kick your ass." Selia said.
"I've never cheated on anyone in my life." Lith was outraged by her accusation. "Solus and I work and live together, but we have separate rooms."
"Why don't you explain to us in your own words how you feel about each other, then? Selia crossed her arms and legs, clearly unconvinced.
Lith opened his mouth and raised his forefinger, yet no word came out.
'If I say she's my moral compass, I'll sound like a madman. Saying that she's my better half or the fairy on my shoulder would be even worse.' He thought.
'My life companion? My other half? My most beloved person? By my maker, why do only expressions that make it sound like we're married come to my mind?' Solus thought.
"It's complicated." They replied in unison.
"I can see that." Selia said. "If you don't mind, I'd like to talk to Solus alone."
Lith and Protector left the living room, moving to the upper floor. Lith wanted to show him the Mirror Hall and take a look at the Trawn woods.
"I won't mess with your personal life because it's not my place. Yet from what I understand, your only friends are Nyka, Tista, Ryman, and Kalla. Correct?" Selia asked, receiving a nod in reply.
"No offense, but I think that a newborn vampire, a young woman with no life experience, an oaf that told his wife about being an Emperor Beast only after their first child was born, and a wannabe Lich don't have much wisdom to offer you.
"I don't know how much of what I experienced in our relationship so far was really Lith and how much it was actually you, but I'm willing to find out. We both don't have many friends and we could use some company.
"If you ever need to talk about how it feels to be lonely, in love, or even just human, feel free to contact me." Selia shared with Solus her communication rune.
"Thank you very much." Solus's smile was gleaming, and not only that. "We have a month's leave and I don't hang out with Lith while he stays with his girlfriend. I would love to spend some time together.
"You have no idea how many questions I've got." Solus stared at the little bundle that was Fenrir, resting between Selia's arms.
The huntress couldn't bear the thought of being separated from her daughter, not after coming so close to losing her. Selia could entrust Lilia and Leran to Nalrond but not Fenrir.
It was the same feeling that Elina still had for Lith after all those years.
"Do you want to hold her?" Selia asked, noticing Solus's gaze.
"Yes, but actually no. I'm stronger than I look and quite clumsy." Solus replied.
"Don't worry. Babies are stronger than they look, too. Especially hybrids." Selia stood up and slowly moved around the table, passing the child to Solus who froze in panic.
She treated the sleeping baby as if it was a ticking bomb wrapped around a priceless piece of art.
"Oh, gods. She's so small and beautiful." Solus said once she recovered from the shock. "I can't believe Lith considers all children ugly and never hesitates to kill them."
"Lith what?" Selia instinctively moved her hand to the knife hidden inside her boot.
"Oh, sorry. It's not like you think. We rarely kill human younglings. Most of the time it's just monsters, undead, or Abominations." Solus tried to fix her blunder, only making things worse.
"Sister, you have problems, but we'll talk about this another moment. I better get back home, it's late." Selia retrieved the baby, making Solus worry she had managed to make and lose a friend in less than one day.
Then, she looked at the sun coming from one of the windows and she realized they had lost track of time.
"We're going to be late for lunch!" Solus blurted out.
"Yeah and I've yet got to prepare ours. Nalrond is a great babysitter, but a terrible cook. He's forbidden to use the stove except for warming non-explosive liquids." Selia's remark made Solus really curious, but there was no time for questions.
Solus used the Warp Mirror to return the Fastarrows home and then Lith flew home as fast as he could.
'Fuck Nalrond and his big mouth! I was supposed to check on Selia, talk with Faluel, and then spend the morning with Mom.' He thought.
'Well, I'm happy that you introduced me to Selia. Now I have a place to stay while you speak with Faluel. It didn't happen as you planned it but I think it could have been much worse. Did you ask Protector for help?' Solus asked.
'Yeah, he agreed to provide support for when I tell my family that I'm a hybrid and an Awakened. All I need is to set a date. I was thinking about my birthday.'
'Are you serious?' Solus was flabbergasted by the news.
'Yes. It's time to come clean about a few things. I don't need to hide in the shadows anymore neither from them nor Kamila.' Lith thought.
'Do you think I should invite Faluel as well? She has a weak spot for kids so knowing my little ones could make her reinforce her protection. Also, knowing her could smooth the transition for my family. Two birds with one stone.'
'I don't know. Your trump card is Selia and her kids. They know her quite well and she can provide them with all the support your parents might need. I'm afraid that crowding them with powerful creatures might backfire and scare them instead.' Solus said.
'Point taken.' Lith flew at breakneck speed, yet arrived home only one hour before noon.
Just like Kamila, Lith had learned to announce his presence to avoid being accidentally shot down because someone mistook him for an enemy. He slowed down the moment his house was in sight and landed far away enough for people to recognize him.
The farmhands were well trained and most of them had their alarm whistle pressed against the lips, to signal their masters the necessity to activate the numerous arrays that Lith had placed around the house.
Chapter 908 Open Wounds Part 2
Lith's paranoia was like a disease, spreading and infecting all those who worked for or with him. Even the member of the Queen's Corps were seconds away from blasting him down with their wands.
"Hi, Mom. I'm home." He opened his arms for a hug while crossing the threshold.
"Lith! What a wonderful surprise. I wasn't expecting you at all." Elina dropped the quill she was checking the farm's accounts with and ran to welcome him.
She was a graceful woman in her late thirties, but thanks to Lith's treatments she didn't look a day past thirty. She was well endowed in all the right places, with a fit body honed through hard work.
Elina's shoulder-length hair was of beautiful light-brown color, with shades of red highlighted throughout. The sunlight coming from the windows made her hair look like there were flames dancing within.
She looked carefully at Lith, checking his clothes for holes, his hands for injuries, and then his face for any sign of malnutrition or weight loss.
"Mom, I'm an adult and the number one ranked Ranger in the entire Griffon Kingdom. I can take care of myself." Lith said.
He still had his arms opened, making him feel like he was getting a body inspection rather than a welcome.
"All the magic in the entirety of Magar can't change the fact that I'm your mother and you're my son. It's my right and duty to worry about you."
"But Mom!" No matter how much time passed, Elina always made him feel like when he was still a child and she checked his clothes during winter to make sure he wouldn't catch a cold.
"Shut up and give your old mom a hug." With her 1.65 meters (5'5") of height, Elina was small compared to Lith, yet her arms were the safest place in the world to him.
"Never say that, Mom. You're not old." Lith rested his head on her shoulder.
"I'm not getting any younger for sure. Yet neither you nor Tista have given me a grandchild." Elina wanted to sound stern, but she was seconds away from bursting into tears.
She hadn't seen her son for months and the only thing that had allowed her to keep her sanity for so long was constantly checking Lith's contact rune on her own communication amulet.
As long as the little piece of gibberish was there, Elina had the proof that wherever he was, her son was still alive. With all the horrible news that she received from Jirni and Tista about what was happening in the Kingdom, Elina never dared to call Lith when his rune was available, afraid of bothering him or endanger his life.
"You can't keep Kamila waiting forever, you know? May the gods bless that woman. We've been so scared during the last year, always afraid you had been captured or disappeared somewhere.
"She's been our rock. Without her, your father and I would have died of fright."
Lith wanted to rebuke his mother for ruining their reunion with her nagging, but her sniffling and quivering between his arms made him feel in full the weight of his actions.
"I'm sorry for making you worry, mom. I should have called more often." He said.
"Don't worry. It's all in the past now." Despite her words, Elina refused to let him go. "How long will you stay this time?"
"The whole month." Lith's reply made her flinch.
"Really?" Elina pushed him away just enough to hold his face between her hands and look him in the eyes.
"Really."
"A full month?"
"Yep."
"Really?"
"Mom, not again! Do you need to hear it from my commanding officer to believe it? You can ask Kamila as well if you want. She'll join us for lunch." Lith was annoyed, but mostly with himself.
Elina's reaction spoke volumes of how little time he devoted her.
"Kamila is coming here? Now?" Elina's touch turned into a grip, squeezing Lith's cheeks.
"She got a month's leave as well. We have plenty of time to catch up and…"
"Why didn't you tell me sooner? I have nothing ready and I have yet to invite Zinya. Oh, gods. I'll never make it in time." Between her trembling and her obsessive staring at the clock, she reminded Lith of the white rabbit.
"Don't worry, Mom, it's just lunch. Also, what's the delicious smell that comes from the stove?" Lith tried to calm her down.
"How can you say call it 'just lunch'? It's our first meal together so it's very important. The gruel for you father and I is not proper food, you fool." Elina took the pot off the stove and stored it inside her dimensional item.
Then, she moved to the pantry and selected the best ingredients for the best meal she could prepare with what time she had left.
"I can help, you, Mom. It will be like the old times when we cooked together for the whole family." Lith had eaten many things during his early life just to quell his hunger, but nothing that Elina had ever fed him with could be labeled as gruel.
Back before he started to hunt, their house was poor and they didn't have much to eat. Their meals lacked quality and quantity, but hunger and all the care Elina put into her cooking had made them delicious.
"Nonsense. You're tired and need to rest. Take a seat, we'll talk while I cook." Elina fixed her hair in a ponytail with a hair clip after wearing an apron.
"Do you really think that cooking can be tiring for me? You know I'm going to use magic."
"In this case, I'll take up your offer." She hugged him again. A little tear streamed down her cheek while the memories of all the time she had spent in the kitchen with her son flashed in front of her eyes.
When Elina let him go, Lith found himself wearing an apron and his mother took more food out of the pantry.
"How the heck did you do that and what is all that stuff?" Lith tried to take the apron off, but the knot was too tight.
"Secret of the trade. As for lunch, with your help we can aim a lot higher. Cut and peel these vegetables, please. I'll season the meat and prepare the stuffing." Elina said.
Suddenly Lith wasn't so sure that making his mom a surprise had been a good idea. He spent the following hour talking only to receive and give instructions while they prepared the equivalent of a Thanksgiving meal.
"Why don't you hire a housemaid for this kind of stuff?" Lith asked once they were done with the preparations and the only thing left to do was waiting.
"Do you mean cooking?" Elina clicked her tongue. "Now that you and your sisters are all grown up and moved out, I only have to take care of Aran and your father. I may be older, but cooking for three is nothing compared to do it for seven…"
Elina found herself unable to continue. Orpal was an old but never closed wound while she still couldn't believe that Trion had abandoned his family because of his feeling of rivalry with Lith.
The room fell into a grieving silence, only broken by the gurgling sounds that came from the pots. Elina spaced out, her eyes veiled by too many questions that she would never find an answer to.
Lith missed his brothers as much as he could miss a hole in his head, but he stood quietly out of respect for his mother's suffering.
Chapter 909 Bad News Part 1
"Was I a bad mother?" Elina suddenly asked.
Lith turned his head abruptly, incapable of making sense of her absurd question.
"Is it my fault if all my sons have given up on me one after the other? Do you think that Aran will hate me as well once he grows up?"
'I think that between the constant worry and your surprise visit you broke her.' Solus thought.
'Meaning?' He asked.
'Your mother was in pain all this time, you numbnuts. She probably lived in fear that you weren't calling home because you had decided to follow Trion's footsteps and ghost her.'
"Don't be silly, Mom. You're the reason why I didn't raze Lutia to the ground the moment I learned magic." Lith couldn't bear the thought of resembling his older brother.
He wanted to have nothing in common with Trion, not even a similar haircut. Let alone make Elina suffer as Trion did.
"Thanks, dear." Elina laughed at what she considered a joke.
"You did the best you could for all of us, always going the extra mile, even if it meant giving up the little you had saved." Lith took her hand, refusing to let his mother beat herself up.
"All of your children love and respect you, but sooner or later, we have to grow up and find our own path. Orpal chose self-destruction, while Trion his own pride. As for Rena, well, I seem to recall her being your pride and joy for marrying in Lutia and giving you two grandchildren."
"You are all my pride and joy, silly." Elina sniffed. "By the way, your sister will probably move here for the last month pregnancy now that you are home. You should give Rena a Warp. She's trouble moving lately so I can only see her when I visit Lutia."
"Don't worry, Mom. I'll bring Rena, Leria, and even Senton along." Lith was about to open the portal when Elina stopped him.
"Was the 'even' really necessary? Senton is a good man. Also, remember to knock. If you open a Gate in the middle of their living room, you'll give Rena a heart attack. They are not used to your visits anymore." Elina's words sounded like genuine worry and mild scolding, making Lith sigh.
He appeared in front of the Proudhammer's house, yet it was the Verhen crest that was engraved on the door and walls. It represented a black dragon coiled around a tower. A magic staff and a sword were crossed behind them, symbolizing all Lith's and Solus's skills.
Every time Solus looked at the Verhen coat of arms she brimmed with joy. It not only represented their bond, but also how Lith considered her part of his family.
After knocking on the door, Lith heard quarreling from inside.
"You shouldn't tire yourself answering the door." Lith recognized Sirma's voice. She was Rena's mother-in-law.
"You already moved my bed here to not make me climb the stairs. I can at least open a goddamn door. I'm pregnant, not crippled!" Rena's voice was angry like Lith had never heard her before.
'Oh shit. I might have just gone from the frying pan into the fire.' Lith thought.
Luckily for him, Rena's face lighted up with joy seeing him.
She was a gorgeous woman 24 years old. Rena was 1.70 meters (5'7") tall with shoulder-length blonde hair with shades of black and bright brown eyes. Pregnancy had made her bosom and belly impressing.
"Lith, it's so good to see you." She tried to throw her arms around his neck and almost tripped for the excess weight leaning forward. To make matters worse, she never called him by name unless she was about to scold him.
Lith held her carefully, testing the danger level of the area.
"Twins?" The thought was terrifying for him.
"Oh great, we meet for the first time in over half a year and even you can't see past my belly?" Her voice turned angry again.
"Besides, you would know already if you bothered asking those few times you called. You scared Mom to death, little runt. Don't you dare to do that ever again." She wagged her finger at Lith's nose, just like she did back when they were little and he disappeared in the Trawn woods for too long.
"I'm sorry sis. I'll be more careful in the future." Lith found himself repeating his old lines. He was slowly realizing how many things he had missed by neglecting his family and how much suffering they had gone through because of him.
"You're alright, that's what matters." Her voice was now sweet and motherly, filled with the relief of seeing Lith in one piece. Rena hugged him tight while sobbing softly.
'I don't know whether to find scarier her mood swings or the fact that she's right.' Lith thought.
"Do you need a check-up?" He asked.
"Gods, yes. You have no idea how hard it has been for me since Tista left. The new Healer is good, but he can't compare to having White Griffon quality medical assistance 24/7." Rena let Lith help her to a couch while she told him about the discomfort she had experienced.
More than symptoms, it sounded like a grocery list.
'Gods, no.' Lith thought while using Invigoration on Rena.
"Congratulation on your triplets. Do you want to know the gender?" He relieved her back from the inflammations, regulated her hormonal imbalances, and got rid of all the aches tormenting her.
"No thanks, I want it to be a surprise. Are they healthy?" Rena's voice almost sounded like a moan of pleasure as her body relaxed for the first time in months.
"Of course they are." Lith lied.
One of them had inherited the same disease as Tista. His little lungs were filled with impurities to the point that Lith doubted he would survive for long once the umbilical cord was removed.
"Thank you so much. I couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong. Maybe I'm just paranoid. It runs in the family." Rena chuckled along with Lith.
'The bad news is that being a congenital disease I can't treat it with normal light magic. The good news is that after my breakthroughs and managing to treat such a bad case like Xedros's, this little guy should be easy.' He thought.
'There's no such thing as easy when dealing with a life force that weak.' Solus said. 'You must tell Rena the truth. Healing the baby might take a lot of time, just like with Xedros, and you can afford neither being distracted or interrupted.'
'Not going to happen. In her state, stress could send her into labor, and then I'd be putting four lives at stake instead of one. I'm going to tell her only once she and the babies are safe.
'And I'll do it only because she needs to be aware of being the carrier of the disease, otherwise the next time we might not be so lucky.' Lith shuddered at the thought.
Rena was overjoyed at the idea of returning to her ancestral home with her beloved brother and personal Healer. The mention of the big meal waiting for her sweetened the deal, since all those emotions had made Rena work quite an appetite.
Truth to be told, those days almost anything did. Eating for four was a tough job, but someone had to do it.
Chapter 910 Bad News Part 2
Her daughter, Leria was delighted to have her favorite uncle back. Lith would have been highly complimented for such words if it weren't for the fact that he was the only uncle she had.
From what she had heard about them, Leria imagined Trion and Orpal with monstrous features, whereas she considered Aran like a little brother. She was the one taking care of him, not the other way around.
"Are you alright, Uncle?" She extended her arms upwards, in a plea to be held. Leria was now a little past four years old, yet she was already 1.1 meters (3'7") tall. She had taken her mother's eyes and hair along with her grandmother's grace.
She was as lithe as a cat and almost as strong-willed.
"Mom and Granma cried a lot. Once they cried so hard that I thought you were dead, so I started crying too." Her words managed to make him feel even worse, but he sucked it up and smiled.
"I'm fine, thank you. I just had a lot of work to do and some issues with my amulet." Lith lifted her from the ground with ease, as if she was weightless.
'Wow, lying to a child. That's a new low, even for you.' Solus sneered.
Senton, Rena's husband, was surprised by the invitation. Lith's family was kind to him, yet he couldn't shrug off the feeling of being an unwanted guest every time he was there.
Usually he would politely decline, but he couldn't stand being apart from his wife in such a critical moment. After Warping Rena, Lith picked up Kamila and together invited Zinya.
Luckily, during the last renovation, Raaz had planned the living room so that it could host their son's private events, engagement parties included, so there was plenty of space at the table for the guests.
The only person who didn't make it to the homecoming lunch was Tista. With a single hour's notice, she couldn't make in time to the nearest city Gate nor could she just drop her clients out of the blue.
"You'll pay for this, Lith Verhen." She said, making him happy to not have a middle name.
The meal was delicious and the mood joyful. Lith gave presents to everyone. Useful enchanted items for the adults and toys for the children. Yet there were two sour notes ruining the reunion for him.
The first was the fact that once the initial relief had passed, everyone was pissed off with him whereas Kamila was held in high regard. She had done her best during the last few months, covering for his shortcomings and keeping his family updated about Lith's well-being.
The Verhens didn't meet Kamila since Lith's last visit, but they had heard from her almost every day and considered her as part of their family.
Last, but not least, there was the issue with Rena's unborn child.
'It's a very odd situation. Tista's illness has never been observed in male patients.' Lith had thoroughly studied the disease as Nana's apprentice first and at the White Griffon later.
Usually, treating a congenital condition required Body Sculpting, but Lith had used Invigoration as a kid to get rid of all the damages and symptoms. By the time he had learned about tier five healing magic, Tista's self-Awakening process had already fixed the imperfection her life force had been born with.
'Indeed, maybe we should try asking for help.' Solus said. 'Degenerative diseases are already hard to treat in children, getting rid of them while the baby is still in the womb is even worse.'
'Yeah, it took me over a month to treat Tista, but she was self-sufficient and could help me understand when to stop the treatment. Not only does the unborn child not have that much time, but I must also avoid triggering labor or damaging his mother and siblings.
'On top of that, I must also perform the procedure without Rena knowing. If she freaks out, there's no telling the possible consequences the domino effect might have.' Lith leaned against an open window, staring at the clear sky looking for answers.
"A kiss for your thoughts." Kamila gave him a peck the moment he turned his head, sparking a debate about their relationship among the children that soon spread to their respective families.
Leria kind of resented Frey and Filia, Zinya's children, for calling Lith Uncle without having received her approval first. She was younger than them, but she knew Lith for much longer and in her mind, that gave her priority claim.
Kamila knew him well enough to see the troubled expression hidden behind his poker face. To his family, Lith was akin to a god. They had problems even considering the idea there was something he might not be able to do.
Kamila, instead, saw him as a man with great powers and even greater challenges ahead of him. Lith only showed his strongest side to his family, whereas he allowed himself to be weak in front of her.
"Are you worried about revealing your hybrid nature to them? If so, there's nothing to be afraid of. As long as you're alright, they wouldn't even care if you had a head coming out of your ass." She whispered while holding his hand.
"No, it's not that. I mean, not only that." Lith gave her the gist of his current situation.
When she heard about the baby, Kamila tensed up and her smile disappeared.
"Maybe we should continue this conversation outside." She had recovered her amiable countenance almost immediately and even Lith was amazed by how good her façade was.
Nothing in her voice nor visage betrayed her inner turmoil. He could still tell only because of their close relationship and because Kamila's warm smile didn't extend to her eyes anymore.
"I guess your training with Jirni is paying off." Lith said with a normal voice. Whispering for too long would only cause trouble.
"It has many perks. I meet a lot of 'interesting' people and learn a lot of new skills."
After telling Elina they would take a walk for digestion, Lith and Kamila took a stroll on the paths running along the cultivated fields, toward the Trawn woods.
Kamila took her army amulet from her dimensional ring and started to browse through the Kingdom's medical databases.
"I've got bad news, you're right. I ran a search cross-referencing male patients and the Strangler disease, but no hits. There's not even a mention in scientific papers about past or present cases." Kamila said.
The disease was called the Strangler because its victims would experience shortness of breath as if someone was gradually increasing pressure on their chest until they couldn't breathe anymore and died of asphyxiation.
"That's the private network of the six Great Academies, how the heck do you have access to it?" Marth had revoked Lith's privileges the same day he had quit his job as Assistant Professor.
"One of those perks I told you about. I think you need help with this." Kamila said.
'If Kamila and Solus give me the same advice, I better take it.' Lith thought.
"I need you to talk about it with my Mom. I'd do it myself, but I have no plausible excuse to speak privately with her, whereas you could use my birthday present or something as a cover story.
"Before doing anything, I want to perform a proper check on the disease's progression, but it takes time. Rena is not stupid, if I touch her belly for too long, she'll understand there's something wrong."
Chapter 911 Apprenticeship for Two Part 1
"I need to do it while Rena is asleep, but I can't kick her husband out without looking like a creep." Lith said.
"Why not asking Senton for help, then?" Kamila asked.
"Yeah right. Because Rena sure is incapable of telling when the man she spends most of her days with is anxious or is lying to her." Lith sneered.
"Point taken." Kamila nodded. "Don't worry too much. You're a great Healer and there's still time. I'll speak with Elina as soon as I can, but now I really need to take a nap. I'm still tired from last night and eating that much didn't help. Care to join me?"
"Sorry, I can't. I have yet to speak with Faluel about my apprenticeship. After fighting with the Horseman of Dawn, Faluel told me she had some important news to discuss.
"Now that Mom's lunch has knocked everyone out, it's the best moment to take a short leave without being skinned for neglecting my family again." He sighed.
"Is this Faluel a beautiful woman?" She asked.
"Yes, very." Lying was pointless. Kamila had become very good at sniffing blatant lies.
"Are you going to introduce her to me?"
"Yes. You'll probably meet her along with my family."
Kamila closed her eyes and took a deep breath to calm herself. She wasn't the jealous type, but the fact that there were so many stunners around her boyfriend annoyed her to no end.
On top of that, the thought that Lith would soon spend most of his time working side by side with Faluel, probably more than what he would spend with her since it would be his new job, was giving Kamila a headache.
She already knew that Faluel was actually a Hydra, but Protector being an Emperor Beast hadn't stopped Selia from falling in love with him.
'I wonder how can Selia not feel threatened. I mean, we're not mages, we do not shapeshift, and we have no idea how does it feel watching at Mogar through the eyes of our partners, whereas Faluel does.
'We're so close and yet so different that it scares me. I guess the only thing I can do is believing in the bond of trust between us.' She thought.
"Are you really sure about leaving the army, then?" Kamila asked.
"Yes, my decision is final."
"Can I report it to my commanding officers or do you want to do it yourself?"
"I'm fine with both, as long as we do it after our leave ends." Lith shrugged.
"I'm not going to kick a hornet nest during my first vacation in months, silly." She said with a chuckle.
They returned to Lith's home and discovered that half the family was already asleep and the other half was about to. Between the food and the wine to celebrate the prodigal son's return, they could barely keep their eyes open.
Rena had no wine, but she was too exhausted just from all the emotion to even take a single step, so she took Tista's room on the ground floor.
"You have no idea how good it feels to have some privacy again, little brother. Damn the stairs and their inventor." She said while Lith helped her reaching the bed and tucked her in.
"What's this?" Rena felt a sudden discomfort under her back. She discovered it was caused by a piece of paper wrapped around a stone small enough to stay hidden under the sheets but big enough to be impossible to miss while lying down on the bed.
"To whoever found this note." Rena read out loud. "This is my room so no matter what reason has brought you to mess with my stuff, I expect you to treat it with the same respect you would use for me.
"If you have sex on my bed, have the decency to replace the mattress, burn the old one, and for the love of the gods, never let me know about it. With love, Tista. PS: Lith, if it's you, you're a dead man. Rena, keep Senton away from the last drawer of my dresser or you'll become a widow. Mom and Dad…
"I can't read the rest. It's like she had a seizure or something and tried to put it into words." Rena said.
"Well, you try imagining our parents having sex on your own bed." Lith had to fight the nausea and horror that just saying those words inspired.
"You monster. Now I can never unimagine that." Rena shuddered. "By the way, what's in Tista's last drawer?"
"Beats me. All I can tell you it's that there's an array protecting it." Lith noticed that Tista had taken precautions so that even Life Vision couldn't reveal the drawer's content.
"Bummer. I can't go through it by 'accident'." Rena laughed.
After giving a hug and kiss goodbye to his mother and sister, Lith went to Faluel's lair. Before that, however, he left Solus at a safe distance. Meeting Nalrond had confirmed to him that Living Legacies had a bad name.
He had too much on his plate already to waste time convincing his mentor that Solus was different from other cursed objects as much as he was from regular Awakened.
"I wasn't expecting you so soon." One of the Hydra's seven heads yawned, making the gold coins stuck between her scales fall to the ground in the most expensive rain ever.
Lesser Dragons liked to hoard treasures and use them as their bed as much as real Dragons did. Faluel's bunk was comprised only of gold and platinum coins that were covering most of her massive body, leaving only the nostrils of the six sleeping heads exposed.
"Visiting me on your very first day of leave shows quite the dedication." Another massive yawn exposed a row of deadly teeth and her snake tongue. Each one of her fangs was bigger than Lith.
"Sorry about that. I don't deal well with the cold. Scratch that, I hate winter." Faluel made a hot spring appear, drowning her body and tail in search of relief. "One of the reasons why I envy you Origin Flames users is that they always keep you warm."
"The last time I called, you told me we needed to talk. Here I am." Lith wasn't interested in rants. Faluel had mentioned the Council amulet not being safe and had avoided even mentioning the topics she wanted to discuss.
It was enough to keep him on edge.
"Relax, it's nothing dramatic. Otherwise I would have come to you myself. Also, even though I'm a huge fan of informal speech, I would like a bit more respect in your tone when you address your mentor, young man." She snorted.
"I'm sorry, Professor Faluel. I'm in a bit of a hurry because even when I'm on vacation, bad stuff keeps happening. Whatever is going to happen, I need to be prepared." Lith said.
"Professor? That's new." Faluel chuckled, tilting her head with curiosity.
"It's the best term to define our relationship if you're going to be my mentor. I have no master because I serve no one." Lith said.
His reply made the Hydra laugh harder, causing the coins that covered her body to jingle.
"Professor will do. Now, before we start our friendly talk, why don't you have your partner join us? I don't like beating around the bush and I think it's better if Solus can freely ask questions rather than rely solely on your wits." Faluel said.
Chapter 912 Apprenticeship for Two Part 2
Lith couldn't hide his shock as a mass of emerald flames appeared in his hand and was soon replaced by Ruin.
"How do you know about Solus?" He asked, eyeing the quickest way out of her lair while weaving his best spells.
"Stop eyeing the quickest way out and I'll tell you." All seven of Faluel heads laughed in unison, causing the lair to tremble and a cascade of precious coins to fall.
Lith's host looked jovial, but he didn't feel much reassured. Defeating Faluel would have been a herculean task if they fought on neutral ground, but inside her house, she was likely to be nigh-invincible.
"Did you really think I would take you in without running a background check? When Protector mentioned you for the first time, long before you two reconciled in Zantia, I was intrigued at the idea of a man who had cracked his own life force to save an Emperor Beast.
"I knew where the fight against Balkor took place, so I contacted Scarlett for information. The Lord of the forest surrounding the White Griffon told me all about how you two met and your foolish attempt to repair a cracked mana core.
"She was pretty explicit about not having full trust in you because of your hybrid smell and of your connection to a cursed object. Yet she vouched for you, and so did Protector and Kalla." Faluel said.
"Did they really speak on my behalf?" The only way that day could become crazier was Faluel confessing to being Lith's real mother, if not his father.
"Yes. Scarlett warned me to keep an eye on you rather than on your harmless Living Legacy. Protector never mentioned Solus, yet I knew from the memories he shared with you that he was well aware of her existence.
"He lied to his master in order to protect a friend, which only made you more intriguing in my eyes. As for Kalla, she vouched for both of you, inviting me to keep my mind open before rushing to judgment." Faluel said.
Lith cursed himself for forgetting about Scarlett the Scorpicore. She had discovered Solus's existence back when he was still at the White Griffon and had explained to him what a cursed object was.
"Are you saying that you will mentor both of us?" Lith asked.
"Of course. Solus would access my teachings via your memories anyway, so why should I make a half-baked job when I can put both halves to the test? I warned you in the past that I don't look for loyalty, but for wisdom.
"If either of you is found wanting, I will kick you out." Faluel said.
"One last question. Who else knows in the Beast Council?"
"No one, because it's none of their business. My the apprentices, my the responsibility. Now summon her, so we can get down to business." Six heads went back to sleep, leaving only one waiting.
Lith opened a Warp Steps, inviting Solus to cross over while updating her about his conversation with Faluel through their mind link.
"By the Great Mother, what is that?" Faluel's surprise at the pebble turning into a gauntlet was as genuine as it was nonsensical to Lith.
"Solus. Who else?" Lith asked.
"Nice to meet you." Solus didn't have a body so she waved Lith's hand as a greeting.
"You… She… You two can split? That's wrong! So Wrong!" Faluel couldn't find the words to express her shock. Her seven heads babbling while looking at each other in the eyes made her look comically confused.
"What do you mean, wrong?" Lith remembered how Scarlett had freaked out as well on their first encounter, but since the Scorpicore and the Hydra had already talked, Faluel wasn't supposed to panic that much.
"A Living Legacy can't be separated from its host. They are one. No matter if the physical form of the relic is a crystal, a pebble, or a sword, they are permanently fused. To break the bond, it takes a special artifact or a specific ritual, and both are risky.
"Mind and body are merged so usually the host dies in the process. Even the few who survive become mad in the process due to the trauma. I was expecting her to be hidden within your body, not to sit a few kilometers away." Faluel said.
"We keep our bond even when we are apart." Lith was eager to learn more about Solus's unique nature.
"Fascinating. Now I understand why Scarlett let Solus go and why none of your friends felt threatened by her presence. She literally is her own person. Even her ability to move independently is unheard of." Faluel said, pondering the enigma Solus was.
"It is?" Solus asked.
"Indeed. Unfortunately, time is of the essence and we have yet many things to talk about. We'll have plenty of time to find more about Solus during your apprenticeship. Now it's better to focus on the Bright Day." Faluel said.
"What about her?" Lith asked.
The Hydra shared with them everything she knew about the three Horsemen and their mission, which wasn't much. Faluel had never met Baba Yaga and believed her to be just a legendary Forgemaster like Menadion.
"Dawn was supposed to be sealed. Her return will give the Council a hissy fit, but it's worse for you."
"Meaning?" Solus doubted that Dawn could be so stupid that she would remain in the Griffon Kingdom after being discovered.
"The Bright Day is a practical creature, so she will not look for revenge. The Council, however, will look for answers. They are not the Griffon Kingdom, to them, Dawn is more than a legend, they have fought in the past.
"The members of the Council know what she is capable of and that's why they won't buy the story you told the Kingdom. Being an Awakened is not enough to explain how someone as young as you managed to survive the encounter." Faluel said.
"So what? Mages respect each other's secrets, correct?" Lith asked.
"Correct, they will not coerce you into giving them an answer, but they will still ask themselves many questions. Some harmless, other dangerous like, should we really leave him to the beasts?" Faluel said.
"The Council was already split before, but that was just bureaucracy. Now it has become a power play, and politics always make things unpleasant. Beasts and humans will want you to tip the scale in their favor, whereas the undead might try to take you out of the picture."
"I understand the beasts' and humans' point of view, but doesn't the faction I belong to only depend on my choice? I don't care about their politics, I'll only do what's best for myself. Also, why should the undead care about me?" Lith asked.
"As I said, no one will make a move as long as you are part of the army. There are forces in play that even the Council cannot afford to defy." Faluel said.
"Do you mean Tyris?" Solus asked.
"The Guardian plays a game of her own, which makes her dangerous, but the Kingdom is even worse. No faction can make an enemy out of one of the three Great Countries without losing access to their resources and lose all the possessions located on their grounds.
"Awakened do not live off air and to make money you need to be able to commerce in lands and goods. If anything happens to you, a random fall guy wouldn't be enough to quell the people's anger.
"You're more than the Kingdom's poster boy, you've become their hero." Faluel said.
Chapter 913 Planning Ahead Part 1
"If the army starts to dig, they won't stop until they find the culprit. That's why most Awakened don't deal with crime. If they get exposed, they would lose centuries of accumulated resources." Faluel said.
"Once you are on your own, however, the humans are bound to try and make you an offer you can't refuse. To switch sides or die. As for the undead, you defeated one of their champions.
"The Horsemen are the pillars that link the Undead Courts to their Councilmembers and now that the Council is considering to offer the Abominations a seat at the table, the undead need to strengthen their position.
"They have no idea how strong the new player is, nor can they afford the old players to get stronger. Since they can't take you in, their aim will be to take you out."
"Isn't the plan of both the humans and the undead against the laws of the Council?" Solus was flabbergasted.
"Indeed it is, but there's always a loophole, and politics is all about exploiting loopholes." Faluel sighed. "I thought about it for a long while, and even though there's no way to predict how things will unfold exactly, I can guess the worst-case scenario and help you prepare for it."
"I feel a huge 'but' incoming." Lith said.
"But to come out of this pinch in one piece and be freed from this nonsense, you'll need me. You'll need us beasts." The Hydra said with a grin. "As I told you when we first met, I'm not going to lie to you. All I offer is the truth and a choice, the rest is up to you."
"Let's hear it." Lith conjured a stone armchair and sat down. There was a lot to discuss.
***
"…and that's how I think we should play it out." Faluel ate a whole roasted cow from a bowl bigger than Lith's house that was filled with several salty snacks.
"I agree with your plan." Lith said after consulting with Solus for a while. There was too much at stake and they couldn't stand against three factions of the Council alone. Not yet.
"It's a wise move, as long as you're willing to pay the price for it." The Hydra nodded.
"It's not just a matter of completing your apprenticeship, so much as being truly recognized as one of us. Even if you fail me but the beasts' Council recognizes your worth as a Healer and Forgemaster, you're set.
"The gods know how close we are to fall behind fake mages. Talented people are now too precious a resource to let them go squandered, but that's also the reason why the only thing worse than a good mage's death is them joining the competition."
"I understand." Lith stood up and moved toward the exit. The few months left of his military service were going to be busy, so he wanted to enjoy his leave to its fullest.
"One last thing. If you don't want the Council to find out about Solus, a cloaking ring isn't enough. You need to be more careful about your crafts." Faluel pointed a claw of her forelegs at the Skinwalker armor.
"What do you mean?" He asked.
"Do you know why even though Hydra's are considered the least among the lesser Dragons, I hold the same seat in the Council as Xedros the Wyvern, who is considered to be the closest being to a true Dragon?" Faluel said.
Lith had no idea how lesser Dragons were ranked so he just shrugged in reply.
"Because except for Hydras, a good Forgemaster needs a partner to express their full potential. Which means double the fare for the client and double the risks for the smith. Let me give you an example."
One of Faluel's heads conjured the world energy into a Forgemastering circle, a second used Invigoration to provide a constant supply of mana, and a third cast the necessary spells to enchant an amulet.
A few seconds later, a brand-new Council amulet was ready.
"Without a partner, a Forgemaster can only manifest half of their prowess. Half their energy is needed to keep the circle stable and the other half for the crafting. The more powerful the Forgemaster, the more powerful the partner they need.
"Most mages don't like wasting their time just to help you practice, so you need to properly compensate them for their time and for not sharing the secrets of your workings.
"Hydras, instead, can do everything on their own thanks to their multiple heads." Faluel said.
"Okay, but how does this involve me?" Lith asked.
"Awakened are not humans, silly boy. They will never believe that you have bottomless mana because they can gauge your real ability with Life Vision. So far, you never created anything noteworthy, but recently things have changed." Faluel tapped on the Skinwalker.
"Your sister doesn't have the power or the skill to assist you anymore and even if she did, if people start believing that she shares your secrets, it will put her in danger. Whatever creation you have in mind, do not make it public until I take you officially under my wing. If you're forced to employ it, make sure no witness remains."
Lith didn't know the Hydra much, but he liked her logic a lot.
After agreeing with all of her terms, Lith returned home. He had spent quite some time with Faluel and his family was likely to have woken up already. He had a lot of things to prepare and calls to make.
'This is going to be the busiest leave ever.' Lith thought.
'Same old, same old, then.' Solus giggled. 'This has been a great day for me. You've introduced me to a lot of people and I got my own seat as Faluel's apprentice. It will be like at the Academy, but this time we're going to be rivals.'
'This has been a shitty day for me, instead. My family is pissed off at me, Rena's unborn child is ill, and there's an unexpected shitstorm brewing at the horizon.' He didn't share her enthusiasm one bit.
'Come on, don't be a sourpuss, and look at the bright side. You got famous.' She said.
'Yay me.' He sneered. 'Once we arrive, I'm going to check on Rena and then I'm going to sleep until tomorrow. This mess has given me a headache and I want to be at the top of my game for the procedure.'
'Already? There's a lot of time before childbirth. Isn't it better to research the Strangler thoroughly before starting the treatment?' Solus asked.
'That's exactly what I'm going to do. Yet since there is no paper about the Strangler affecting a male nor an established therapy for creatures that young, the best I can do is run simulations after I collect all the information available on the baby.' Lith replied.
Contrary to his expectations, most of his plan to rest was foiled thanks to his family. Raaz and Elina wanted to know about his travels, Rena wanted to spend some time with him to discuss her children's future prospects as mages, the children wanted to play, and Kamila wanted to show Lith how much she had missed him.
'Either I clone myself or I'll need a vacation to recover from the fatigue this vacation is giving me.' He thought. 'Even after sleeping for eight hours, I still feel like crap.'
Chapter 914 Planning Ahead Part 2
'The first days are bound to be intense.' Solus said. 'There is too much catch up to do. Things should get easier over time.'
During the following morning, Lith didn't get a second of rest as well. Between his family and his communication amulet ringing non-stop, he had barely the time to breathe.
News of his leave had spread out and his old friends and Professors were contacting him to congratulate or simply to get back in touch with him. The silver lining of the situation was that while everyone else kept Lith busy, Kamila managed to have a private conversation with Elina, ensuring her help with the treatment.
Lith had treated pregnant women in the past, but only curing minor diseases that required tier three magic or lower. Using Body Sculpting on an unborn child was a rare and difficult procedure.
On top of that, the Strangler disease's progression was faster than any medical textbook reported. Even if Invigoration was a peerless diagnostic tool, Lith needed a lot of time to understand what the best approach was.
Luckily for him, Rena would take a nap after every meal so that he could examine her while Elina and Kamila kept Senton busy.
Even though the baby was less than nine months, his condition was already worse than Tista's when Lith had first diagnosed her with the Strangler. The small lungs were properly developed but already more than half-filled with black matter.
Once outside the placenta, the baby wouldn't be able to breathe on his own, let alone survive even the simplest procedure. To make matters much worse, Lith had no idea where to start and even Solus had no solution to offer him.
The procedure he had devised for Tista was unsuited for a creature so small, to the point that Lith couldn't even alleviate the symptoms of the Strangler.
'Fuck me sideways, this is much, much worse than Xedros and Tista combined.' Lith thought.
'If I expel the impurities, I'll contaminate the amniotic fluid and endanger the lives of the healthy kids. I could destroy the impurities as soon as they come out, but I don't know how Rena and her children will react to darkness magic.
'No matter how much I focus to control it, darkness is still a destructive force that puts a strain on the patient. If it triggers labor, I risk killing all four of them. I was hoping to use Body Sculpting to help me find a proper treatment but that's impossible as well.'
Treating a single human life force was already complicated, four at once was the stuff nightmares were made of. Rena's life force was closely entwined with that of her babies as if they were four stringed instruments that shared their cords.
Any alteration on the life force of the ill child would have repercussions on that of the mother which in turn would affect the other babies.
If with Xedros Lith had to deal with twin suns, in Rena's case Lith had to unravel a tapestry and then weave it again without ever altering the image depicted.
To add insult to injury, this time his ability to hear a life force's melody was a handicap because there were four distinct melodies playing at the same time. The ill child's melody was barely audible due to it being much weaker than that of his mother and siblings.
'Great. To hear his melody, I have to purposely weaken Rena's, but that could lead to labor. Otherwise I can enhance the child's life force, who might not withstand the strain and die on the spot. Time to ask for the opinion of an expert.' Lith thought.
Headmaster Marth was happy to hear from one of the White Griffon's most famous alumni so he answered immediately. After a few mandatory niceties and chit-chat, Lith shared with Marth his diagnosis and doubts about his nephew's illness.
"If I heard this story from anyone else, I'd think that either the Healer is dead drunk or they are playing a prank on me." Marth remembered how serious Lith was about the Strangler disease.
Before Tista fully Awakened, he had her fully examined many times to make sure that the strain of attending one of the six great academies could compromise her health.
"The situation is indeed dire and if not treated before birth, the lungs will remain filled with liquid and the baby will drown without drawing a single breath. Why does it always happen with twins?" Marth slammed his fist on the desk in frustration.
"It usually takes an extra healer for each child involved and another for the mother, which in your case means four healers. I doubt you can pull it off stealthily unless you drug your sister and I do not recommend it strongly."
"Do you know someone who could help me?" Lith asked.
"I'm a specialist in regeneration and bloodwork, so my experience with newborn amounts to zero. Vastor would be the obvious choice since he is one of the best Healers of the Kingdom and a veteran, but due to his age, he can't lead such a delicate procedure.
"Endurance is everything when dealing with the unknown, and sadly he gets tired quickly. The best thing I can offer you is Quylla Ernas. She would be a great second and might help you find a way to deal with your problem." Marth said.
"Wait, what about our ace of all trades? I called you because Manohar likes challenges and he has yet to fail a single experimental procedure." Lith clenched his teeth, afraid of the answer.
"I'm sorry, but he's gone. Again." The poor Headmaster looked like he was about to burst into tears.
"He did what?" Lith unknowingly made an impression of the King that would have shocked even Meron Griffon himself.
"I know. The worst thing is that he's actually on official duty. As a penance for his repeated offenses, the Royal Court tasked him to identify the upper echelons of the Undead Courts and their associates in the Kingdom.
"Manohar seems to have gone so deep undercover that no one knows where he is or what is he doing." Marth said.
"How do you know that he isn't just fooling around with his secret experiments?" Lith asked.
"Because the Court seized all his notes and assets. I know his outrage was genuine because Manohar attempted to strangle the King before we managed to restrain him." Marth's words would sound as a joke to anyone who didn't know the Mad Professor.
In Lith's case, he doubted them not because an attempt on the King's life in front of the Royal Court was utter madness, but because he was shocked hearing that Manohar had failed.
'I guess Meron didn't become King by chance. He must be a really powerful mage.' Lith thought.
"I'll tell you what we'll do." Marth said. "Quylla, Vastor, and I will come to your house with the excuse to pay you a visit and we will discretely visit Rena. None of us might be able to find a cure, but between the three of us, we'll be able at least to point you in the right direction or suggest you the best expert to deal with the problem."
Lith nodded in reply and organized with Marth the details of their visit.
Chapter 915 Blood Ties Part 1
'There a reason why the White Griffon is called 'the cradle of the healing arts.' Lith thought. 'The five best Healers of the whole Kingdom have studied and worked there. Once those three come to Lutia, four of them will be assembled in the Verhen household.'
'If the four of us can't find a solution, then no one can. For Rena's and the Kingdom's sake, I hope we won't need Manohar. Otherwise the next time we meet, I'm going to kill that bastard.' Lith thought.
He spent the rest of his free time compiling a detailed report of his findings and observations that he forwarded to Headmaster Marth so that the Healers would come prepared, knowing exactly what they would be looking at.
The following day, Marth, Vastor, and Quylla knocked on Lith's door. One of the few perks of the cold season was that the academy was closed, so their social call didn't arouse suspicion.
"Headmaster Marth, I was expecting you later. I remember well how even when most students are gone, the paperwork must go on." Lith had announced their visit to his family to avoid making them worry.
"That makes the two of us. I was afraid that something would come up at the last moment and force us to reschedule, but here I am." Duke Marth was a man in his mid-forties, about 1.78 meters (5'10") tall, with thick blonde hair.
Aside from his goatee, his face was perfectly shaven, giving him a calm and youthful appearance. Marth had less grey hair than the last time Lith had seen him and had the relaxed face of a man who was at peace with the world.
That or he had simply resigned to the unjust fate of being Manohar's lightning rod.
The two shook hands and then Zogar Vastor came in. He was a short man in his mid-sixties, barely over 1.55 meters (5'1") tall.
The top of his head was completely bald while the hair he had left on the sides was snow-white and so were his waxed handlebar mustaches. Between his temporary role as Headmaster of the White Griffon and the undead invasion, he had lost a lot of weight.
He was still quite round, but he didn't look like a living egg anymore. Together with his jovial attitude, it made him resembled a kind grandpa straight out of a fairy tale.
"Lith, my boy, it's so good to finally see you outside a life or death situation. If you keep ignoring my calls, I might start to believe that you're avoiding me on purpose." Vastor said.
"I'm sorry, Professor, but when you are on active duty, your life isn't your own anymore. I can't even remember the last time I could stay for more than one day in the same place without someone trying to kill me." Lith shook his hand as well before greeting Quylla.
"Call me 'little one' and you are a dead man, Lith Verhen." She ignored his hand and gave him a big hug. She was a pretty young woman the same age as Lith, 1.65 meters (5'5") tall with long brown hair with shades of silver which proved her affinity for light magic.
"Fine. Nice to see you again, Assistant Professor Ernas. Have you made any breakthrough with your research since Laurel?" He gave her a polite bow before letting her in.
"On second thought, 'little one' sounds just fine. My students and parents are more than enough to make me feel old already. I missed you, tall one." She giggled.
"Thanks, little one. I really missed your house staff during my travels as well." He said while finally returning her hug.
"You son of a…" Quylla pushed him away with fake anger, but she was cut short.
"Language! There are children here." Vastor's voice was so stern that it reminded them of their first day in the light magic department, back when they were still fourth-year students and the Professor had yet to pick his favorites.
Thanks to his appearance, Vastor was quickly gaining popularity among the kids, especially Zinya's.
"Frey, Filia, say hello to Professor Vastor. He's one of the Healers who gave me sight and took care of me during my stay at the hospital." Zinya said and the children politely obeyed.
"You are too kind, Miss Yehval. I merely fulfilled my duty as Director of the light department." Vastor said.
"And you are too humble, Professor. I will never forget your help in court. Without you, my in-laws would have given me a hard time with child custody."
"Miss Yehval, if you keep calling me so often, I'll be forced to introduce you to my two nieces. Ever since they moved to my house after my divorce, they are bugging me to know you." Vastor looked really embarrassed by receiving so much attention from a woman much younger than him.
"Miss Yehval? Divorce? How much did I miss?" Lith asked while trying to keep his voice as low as possible.
"Nothing much." Kamila said. "After Fallmug's arrest, Zinya disowned both our parents and her in-law, taking my family name. Fallmug's parents tried to get custody of the children, claiming that, with Zinya's disability and no source of income, she couldn't take proper care of them.
"Vastor was asked to testify about her condition and he got so pissed off that after destroying the Healer of the counterpart, he had his accountant take care of all her possession. Now Zinya can live off a trust fund."
"It doesn't end there." Quylla said. "They have exchanged their communication runes and speak regularly. Some say that it was the last straw that made Vastor's wife ask for a divorce."
Lith was shocked by the events unfolding in front of his eyes. He didn't hear so much gossip since he had left the academy.
"Vastor is a nice man." Elina chimed in. "When he learned that both you and Tista couldn't follow her recovery, he started to come here from time to time to check on Zinya's condition."
"Oh, gods. Let's hope he is not having a midlife crisis." Lith whined.
"After Fallmug, I don't care who my sister is with, as long as it's a good man." Kamila said.
"Besides, wouldn't be cute if, after all he did for you, the Verhens and the Vastors become in-law?" The situation was dire, but Elina still pursued her own agenda. If there was one thing that the unborn baby issue proved, was that a Healer's place was with their family.
Lith ignored his mother's latest attempt at getting him married and brought Marth over to Rena. The Headmaster had already cast all the spells he needed before knocking on the door so he only needed to make contact with his patient to activate them.
One after the other, the three Healers found a pretext to approach Rena and took a thorough analysis of the child. Only an hour later, when the visit was over and Lith walked his guests to the door, did he ask for their findings.
"I'm very sorry, Lith, but there's nothing I can do." Marth gave him a deep bow of apology. There was no way to soften to blow without giving Lith false hope so Marth preferred a direct approach.
"Both the pregnancy and the disease are at a too advanced state for the prognosis to not be terminal. The only option I can suggest you is to keep your sister calm and then tell her that the child is stillborn."
Chapter 916 Blood Ties Part 2
Lith froze, staring at Marth with his eyes wide open before Vastor's voice forced him to turn around.
"I have to agree with Marth. If only we caught the disease earlier or if the child could survive even a few months after birth, then there would be a flimsy chance of success, but as it is, there's nothing we could do." Vastor wiped a lonely tear from his eye.
Age had made him softer in more than one way.
"Quylla?" Lith's voice was so thin that it was barely audible.
"Professor Vastor is right, Lith." Quylla shook her head. "To not negatively affect the mother and the other children, it would take months of therapy. After birth, even with a dozen Healers providing the baby with life force, he can't live without lungs.
"If we cure him fast enough to allow the child to breathe, his body will die because of the excessive stress the procedure requires. If we take it slow, he will simply choke to death."
Lith's knees buckled and it was only thanks to his friends that he managed to sit on the porch instead of falling to the ground.
"This is in no way anyone's fault." Marth said. "You and Tista couldn't predict this would happen. Heck, no one could. Diagnosing a fetus is already hard because of the link with the mother, but triplets is a mess.
"To make matters worse, the lungs form late and the disease has progressed at an uncanny speed. Unless one cast Scanner on a daily basis, it was impossible to spot the Strangler in time."
"I'm sorry for your loss." Vastor opened a Warp Steps and disappeared, quickly followed by Marth.
Quylla would have done the same, but Lith was refusing to let go of her hand.
"I'm terrible as a grief counselor and if I stay here one more minute, Rena is bound to hear me crying." She said.
Just like the two Professors, Quylla wasn't eager to leave out of indifference, but because she knew that nothing she could say would make Lith feel better. As Healers, they dealt with death on a daily basis.
Losing a patient was a feeling they had grown numb to, but when it happened to one of their own it was still as bad as the first time. It reminded them of their mortality and made them want to spend more time with their own families.
"Good, because I don't need a grief counselor. The reason why I kept you here is that you're more than a genius Healer. You're a genius Healer who knows who I really am." Lith's eyes were focused again and his voice was firm.
"I don't see how being a hybrid might help your sister. Sure, casting silent magic is a nice advantage over us humans, but our spells still follow the same principle. I've known you long enough to recognize your 'I've got a plan' face, but you can't outsmart a disease." Quylla said.
"Maybe and maybe not. To succeed I need more information on the Strangler and four Healers. I know just the place where I can get both." Without letting Quylla's hand go, Lith opened a Warp Gate while announcing his arrival via the communication amulet.
The exit point led them inside Faluel's lair. The Hydra was intrigued by the sudden call for help and had prepared several spells to face whoever had dared defy her authority in her own turf.
A single young woman yelping in fear and awe at the sight of her majestic body wasn't how Faluel had pictured the Council's goons. On top of that, the unknown woman wasn't even an Awakened.
"Well, that's definitely not the kind of life and death situation I was expecting." Faluel said after Lith had explained everything to her.
"Can you tell me anything about the Strangler disease that can help me with my nephew and more importantly, is it possible to save him?" Lith asked.
"First things first." Faluel assumed her human form while conjuring a redwood table, comfortable armchairs, and a hot beverage for everyone. Lith was too tense and Quylla to scared to make any sense. "Who is she and what does she know?"
Faluel now looked like a young woman in her mid-twenties, about 1.7 meters (5'7") tall. Her face had an oval shape, with rainbow-colored eyes and long hair of seven different colors that framed her fine features.
Quylla knew plenty of regular girls as pretty as Faluel now was. Yet the simple grace of her slender body seemed to be perfectly attuned with her demeanor, making the final result much more stunning than the sum of the single parts.
"My name is Quylla Ernas, your Ladyship. I'm a friend of Lith's and I know he is a hybrid." She said.
Faluel looked at Lith, asking him a silent question to which he answered by shaking his head.
"Nice to meet you, Quylla. My name is Faluel the Hydra and I'm Lith's mentor in the arts of Healing and Forgemastering. I wish we met in happier circumstances and earlier in your life. It's such a pity." Faluel's words puzzled both her guests.
'Quylla's mana core is bright blue with a tinge of purple. Probably she's beyond the point Faluel could Awaken her.' Solus thought.
"Now let's get to business. A Healer doesn't live for hundreds of years without treating the Strangler disease several times, so I know everything about it. Contrary to what humans think, it affects both genders.
"The reason why you never encountered it in a male is that it kills them in the womb way before the ninth month and it's always mistaken for a simple miscarriage." Faluel said.
'Dammit! The Strangler must be a genetic disorder linked to the X chromosome like hemophilia, but worse since it manifests even in females.' Lith thought.
"How can the baby be still alive, then?" He asked.
"Because of your blood." Faluel pointed her finger at Lith. "The same power that makes you who you are also flows inside your sister. Over time, your treatments made her stronger while weakening the dormant disease at the same time."
"Are you saying that it's because all the members of my family are potential hybrids?" Lith asked.
"Perhaps. Up to this moment, only your blood Awakened. Time will tell us if you are the rule or the exception." The Hydra said.
'Fuck me sideways. I don't know whether to hope Faluel is just speaking about the consequences of me using Invigoration on the members of my family or that being a hybrid is a trait we all share.' Lith thought.
"Is there anything we can do to save the kid?"
"I've successfully treated similar cases in magical beasts, but never in humans. Their bodies are much weaker so I can't guarantee you anything." Faluel replied.
"How?" Quylla was flabbergasted. "I mean, cubs come in litters and it takes one Healer for each patient. How could you do it?"
"With my seven heads, I alone can do the work of six Healers at the same time. Seven if it's a real crisis." Faluel usually preferred to keep one head free to use Invigoration. Each one of her heads was capable of independent action, but they all drew power from a single mana core.
Chapter 917 Master and Students Part 1
"That's wonderful news, but you can't fit inside my home in your true form and even if you could, Rena would have a heart attack." Lith said.
"Point taken. We still need a fourth Healer, but I can't recommend Protector. I taught him well but his experience in the field is extremely limited. We need someone with both experience and lots of mana." Faluel hinted at Solus not being up to the task, at least not in her stone ring form.
Lith racked his brain searching for a potential candidate. Phloria had yet to complete her specialization as Healer and Friya didn't practice Body Sculpting since she had graduated from the academy.
'Damn. I have no chance of success without Faluel, but at the same time, her presence prevents me from calling in Healers like Marth. Where do I find someone that fits my bill and has a high tolerance for weird?' Lith wished that Yurial was still alive.
Lith was certain that, given the chance, his friend would have become a great Healer.
'At Protector's home.' Solus said. 'Nalrond said that his people mastered the light element and that they were considered miracle workers by human mages.'
'Solus, I swear, if you had a physical body, I could kiss you right now.' Months had passed since their little heart to heart with the Razer and Lith had completely forgotten about the skillset of his latest ally.
"I think I know the right guy for the job, but I'd like to hear your opinion about him." Lith said.
Faluel nodded and wore a full set of fur clothes before opening a Gate to Selia's Living room.
"The sun is still high and the sky is clear." Quylla couldn't believe that someone so powerful could also be so sensitive to cold.
"Thanks for your concern, dear, but I like my climate like I like my men. Hot and sunny." Faluel replied. "Is that the man you were talking about?"
"That's him. Hi, Selia." Lith nodded.
"Hi, guys!" Selia was unfazed by the sudden intrusion in her own home. She just made sure that the children would stay away from the open Gate.
"That's me indeed so stop talking like I'm not here." Nalrond replied. "What are you doing here and who are the bear and the little one?"
"The bear, I mean the lady here is Faluel the Hydra. The little one is Quylla Ernas a friend of mine. Faluel, Quylla, this is Nalrond." Lith said.
Faluel skipped the pleasantries and grabbed the Rezar's hand, activating Invigoration.
"It's been decades since the last time I met one of the werepeople. How good are you with Healing magic in general and Body Sculpting in particular?"
"I practice the mystical arts since I was four. I studied light magic all my life and I'm specialized in manipulating life forces. Along with my tribe, we were looking for a cure for our condition." He replied.
"Do you have any experience with unborn children?" The Hydra asked.
"Yes. We studied the separation of our life forces from conception."
"That's perfect." Faluel ruffled Lilia's and Leran's hair who were clinging at her legs, begging for a new adventure.
"Please, Auntie. We're so bored and uncle Nalrond is no fun. It will just be another little secret between us." Leria said.
"What do you mean, another little secret?" Selia tapped her foot in annoyance.
"I'll lead the procedure and you'll be my seconds." Not having a plausible excuse, Faluel ignored the question and explained the situation to the Rezar who gladly offered his help. "When do you want to do it, Lith?"
"The sooner the better, correct?"
"Well, the kid's condition is only going to get worse with time. So the question is, are you two at the top of your game?" Faluel asked.
Both Quylla and Nalrond nodded. The former had rested a whole day, preserving her strength to face the worst-case scenario, while the latter had not exerted himself in weeks.
Another Gate led them outside of the range of the arrays that protected Lith's house.
"I understand that you don't want to scare your sister, but I can't afford to rush things nor to have Rena freaking out if she wakes up from her nap and finds a bunch of people casting magic on her. You need to talk to her." The Hydra said.
"Isn't there a spell that can keep Rena calm or asleep for the duration of the procedure?" Lith asked.
"Yes, but they require to alter her metabolism, adding even more stress to that our combined spells will inflict upon her. It's the magical equivalent of drugging her and I'd rather have a patient that can tell me when she experiences discomfort than one more enemy to fight."
Faluel looked comical as she shivered under the sun and the multiple layers of fur, but her voice was firm.
"Fine. I'll do it." Lith entered his house, searching for the best way to soften the blow. He was so focused rehearsing his lines that he almost failed to notice the deafening silence that welcomed him back in the living room.
Almost.
"There you are." Rena was sitting on a sofa with Senton to her right and Zinya to her left.
For some reason, Elina was alone in a corner with Raaz, whispering. Lith could hear the children playing with Kamila in his room. She was using one of Lith's devices to project a movie and keep them from panicking.
"Can you please tell me what's wrong with me?" Rena asked.
"What do you mean?" The cat seemed to be out of the bag, all Lith could do was damage control.
"For the gods' sake, Lith, I'm not stupid. How could I miss three of the best healers in the Kingdom casually visiting at the same time and each one of them casually touching me for way longer than a friendly greeting requires?
"I've lived here long enough to know how a Healer works, how you work. With white lies and omissions." Rena said.
"Just be calm, dear. I'm sure that Lith had his reasons." Senton said.
"Senton is right, Rena. As his sister, you should know that he puts his patients' wellbeing first. I was just a stranger to him, yet he went way beyond his duty to help me. Imagine to what lengths he would go for you." Zinya said.
"That's exactly why I'm angry. He spoke about it with Mom and Kamila, yet he kept me completely in the dark. Whatever is happening, I have the right to know. My body, my decision." Rena acted angry, but she was actually scared.
Scared that the illness affecting her could harm the children in her womb. Scared that the fairy tale that her life had been up to that moment could suddenly turn into a nightmare.
Lith took a deep breath to calm down and then moved a chair in front of Rena.
'She will need all the support she can get. Senton is the father of her children and Zinya has undergone a risky procedure as well. They are the ones that can relate the best with Rena.' Lith thought before explaining the situation in detail to her.
He talked softly, answering all of her questions to try and keep her as calm as he could. By the time he was done, despite his best efforts, Rena was pale as a ghost and on the verge of a breakdown.
"I don't understand." She said. "I remember that even Tista was born healthy. The disease manifested later. Leria is fine, the other children are fine. Why him? Why now? You must be wrong, your story makes no sense."
"Just bad luck, like Tista. She was the only one affected by the illness among her siblings as well." Lith stated the obvious to help Rena overcome her denial.
Chapter 918 Master and Students Part 2
Chapter 918: Master and Students (Part 2)
"I talked to a specialist about your condition and she thinks she might be able to help. Do you mind if I let her in?"
Rena was tempted to send Faluel away, hoping that the bad news would disappear along with the Healer. Yet her maternal instinct was stronger than her fears and superstitions, so she turned to Senton who agreed in her place.
"Who are all these people?" Rena didn't expect a second team of Healers to barge into the house. Especially not one wearing her own weight in fur and another looking like someone who was there because he had lost a bet.
"Good gods if it's chilly. Do you mind turning up the heat?" Faluel asked.
Nalrond was too shocked and embarrassed to say a word. To him, it was Lith's house to be identical to Protector's and he wasn't used to being around so many humans. He could have teared them up like paper mache in his beast form, yet the Rezar was quaking in his boots.
"Sure thing." Elina operated the panel that controlled the house temperature, making the room as warm as during a sunny spring day.
"That's really an ingenious system." The Hydra said while studying the central heating magical devices spread throughout the house. "Too bad it wouldn't work for my place. Maybe I should make myself a winter cottage."
Once Faluel was done undressing, all eyes were on her. To not scare her hosts, she had changed her hair to silvery blond with streaks of white, pretending to be just a normal human expert in light magic.
"Aren't you a little too young to be a specialist in anything, miss…?" Elina didn't mean to be rude, but aside from Lith and Quylla, the Hydra appeared to be the youngest person in the room.
'Darn, I knew I was forgetting something. Damn cold that slows my brain.' Faluel cursed.
"Faluel. Just call me Faluel. As for your question, I'm a well-renowned genius that some consider on par with the unreliable Manohar." Faluel wasn't actually that brilliant nor did she have any idea who would win if she ever fought against the Mad Professor.
All that mattered to her was to put her patient at ease and gain her trust.
"Really?" Everyone asked, Quylla included, making Faluel words lose a good chunk of their luster.
"Who's Manohar?" Nalrond was only getting more confused by the second. His ignorance put another dent in Rena's opinion about the odd squad of Healers.
"Yes." Faluel ignored the disbelief in the room, brimming with the confidence of an Empress talking to her loyal subjects. "I'm the mage who will take care of Lith after he is done with the army. I'm a specialist in Healing and Forgemastering."
"Really?" Everyone asked, again.
"Yes." Lith glared at Quylla to make her stop acting surprised at everything. "Master Faluel belongs to an ancient magical bloodline and offered to share her wisdom with me. She's an even better Healer than I am."
Lith hated to call the Hydra his master, but he knew that, if he used the term Professor, Quylla's reaction would make everyone doubt his words.
Lith was many things, but being humble wasn't among them. Hearing the deference in his tone toward Faluel and calling her as he had only done for Nana sealed the deal for his family.
"Can you save my baby, Lady Faluel?" Rena asked.
"Just Faluel, please. As for your question, I can't answer before taking a look myself. Do you mind me giving you a check-up?" Faluel said, receiving a nod for an answer.
She placed both her hands on Rena's womb and then activated Invigoration. Faluel's eyes burned with white light and her hair turned to silver. The light spread from her hands to Rena's body and three wisps appeared where each baby was.
None of it had any practical use, but she knew how humans were prone to mistake theatrics with real power. Her show was impressive enough to leave all those present in awe, Quylla included.
"The bad news is that the diagnosis of my esteemed colleagues from the White Griffon is right. The good news is that I don't agree with their prognosis. I'm confident I can save your baby, but I'll need everyone's help." Faluel said.
"What do we have to do?" Elina asked.
"To succeed I need time, space, and to not be interrupted for any reason. Also, for the duration of the procedure, I need the members of the family to be in a different spot from their guests. Can you do it for me?" Faluel said.
Kamila was worried by the gravity of Rena's condition, but she knew there was nothing she could do. She went to Zinya's home along with her sister and the children, leaving the Verhens alone.
'I do realize that Senton was allowed to stay only because he shares the same blood of the unborn child. Then why does it still hurt feeling cut out from the life of the people I love?' She thought, holding back her tears.
Faluel had Rena lie down in Lith's bedroom because it was the biggest in the house while the rest of the family sat on the other side of the nearby wall per the Healer's instructions.
"I'll take care of the kid with the Strangler. Lith, you know Rena better than anyone, so it's your duty to keep her stable and give us a constant flow of life force. Quylla, you take care of the other boy. Nalrond, you take the girl." Faluel gave Rena a potion to drink before the procedure and several others for later use.
"I said I wanted it to be a surprise." Rena half laughed and half sobbed.
"I'm sorry, sis. Feel free to beat me up once we're done." Lith said, trying to make her laugh.
He knew that Rena didn't actually trust Faluel nor Nalrond, she was just desperate. Yet he was also aware that the real reason why the Hydra had untrusted Rena to him wasn't to just hold her hand, but because he was the only one beside Faluel who could use Invigoration.
If something went wrong, it would be his duty to prevent the damage from spreading to the mother and then to the other children.
'Okay, guys. I can't waste time talking or explaining stuff so we'll use a mind-link during the whole procedure.' Faluel's thoughts echoed in the Healers' minds, shocking them to the bone. 'Yes, telepathy is a thing. Now put up your game face and stop scaring the patient.
'I usually don't give lessons for free, but I need you to understand what I'm doing step by step so that you can prepare your countermeasures before something goes wrong. Eyes on the prize, save the questions for never, and good luck.'
Everyone activated their tier five Scanner and Chisel spells. The former allowed them to sense the life force of the patient while the latter was used to manipulate it at will.
'Step one, treat the Strangler disease. The usual approach here would be to fix the life force and get rid of the congenital disorder once and for all, but the kid wouldn't survive, just like your Professors said.
'We can't even destroy the corrupted tissues and replace them with healthy new ones without killing both mother and child due to the release of toxic substances. What I'm going to do, instead, is treating only the already affected areas and leave the rest for after the birth.
'Keep your respective patient stable, watch, and learn.' Faluel thought.
When looked through Scanner, the life force of a human looked like something built out of lego blocks and an erector set. What the Hydra did was to take the blocks that comprised the blackened part of the lungs out one at a time.
Chapter 919 Spirit and Light Magic Part 1
Chapter 919: Spirit and Light Magic (Part 1)
Faluel filled the empty space with white tendrils from her spell, without even letting the child's body notice what was going on. Then, she scanned the bodies of the other children before examining the mother and, if necessary, even of all the nearby relatives to look for the closest match.
It was the other Healers' duty to prevent Rena and the children in her womb from feeling any discomfort. Raaz and the others were as fit as a fiddle, so they only experienced a small sting when Faluel operated on them from a distance, borrowing healthy pieces of their life force to use them as reference.
Lith and the others looked in awe as Faluel was able to turn the corrupted blocks into scaled-down versions of their healthy counterparts the moment she found the best match.
Her approach was akin to recycle the baby's own flesh, limiting the stress that the procedure exerted upon both mother and son. Lith provided Rena with a slow and constant flow of life force while the potion she had ingested earlier provided her with the nutrients she needed.
Neither Quylla nor Nalrond could understand how Faluel managed to perform Body Sculpting on Lith's relatives despite the wall separating the Hydra from her targets. Only Solus could see via mana sense that the Hydra was using tendrils of Spirit Magic as conduits for her spell.
'By my maker! Spirit magic can be mixed with other elements to make up for their innate shortcomings, in this case healing magic's short range.' Solus thought.
"Drink the next potion, Rena." Faluel had cleansed half of the kid's left lung.
'In this kind of procedure, it's vital to provide the patient with a constant supply of nutrients and enough time to metabolize them. It's the only way to prevent the rapid cellular regeneration from feeding off the patient's body and avoid complications during or after the treatment.' Faluel explained to her students.
Quylla was so focused on creating a sack of light magic around her subject, to protect him from the ripples of the Hydra's spell, that only the increasing number of empty flasks did allow her to perceive the passing of time.
Even though Nalrond and Quylla would have loved to admire Faluel's handiwork, they didn't have enough time nor focus to spare. The four life forces were linked to each other through Rena.
Every alteration on the ill baby's life force reverberated through the mother and until Lith didn't manage to restore Rena's body to its original condition, it was up to the other two Healers to shield the babies from the ripples of Faluel's spell.
One slip up and the number of patients would multiply in an endless loop.
Once she was done repairing the lungs, Faluel took a short break to allow everyone to catch their breath.
'Step two. Remove the accumulated mass that prevents the now healthy tissues from inflating and deflating properly. The amount of darkness magic needed to destroy it would inevitably affect the lungs as well.
'What I'm going to do is use just enough darkness magic to mobilize the mass and have it expelled through the umbilical cord. The problem is that once the liquid mass reaches the bloodstream, it can go anywhere.
'We can't let it reach the brain and the heart of the mother nor get into the other babies' system. You can't use darkness magic to stop the black mass, otherwise it will break down into toxins that might poison the mother along with the babies.
'Best case scenario, the toxin will trigger the labor, but none of our patients is in the shape to survive the experience, they need to rest. Yet we can't afford to delay the treatment because the pregnancy is almost over.
'If the natural labor happens before we complete the procedure or before the baby recovers, he will die and everything we've done would be pointless. We've to act now or it will be too late.
'Once I start the second phase of the treatment, the only tool at your disposal will be the Scalpel spell. Use it to lock any stray fragment of black mass into a safe place until Lith or I can safely draw them out of Rena's body.'
Faluel used small pulses of darkness magic to turn the solid mass into a liquid without damaging the baby, the mother, or the placenta. Contrary to what Lith had done years before for Tista, she was working on a much smaller and weaker subject.
She had been forced to treat the infected tissues in one go to prevent them from spreading into the still healthy parts of the lungs and to remove the mass as well so that whenever the labor would take place, the kid would survive.
Faluel moved the impurities away from the child and into Rena's blood system. She guided them to her foot, away from any organ that could be clotted or poisoned by the impurities. Then she proceeded to expel and destroy them.
All that Rena felt was as if someone was constantly dirtying and cleaning her heel. Lith helped the Hydra at the best of his abilities, keeping the mass compact and leading stray fragments back to the flock as fast as he could.
In normal circumstances, taking control of someone's metabolism with Invigoration was a piece of cake, but in Rena's case, it meant also to disrupt the children's metabolism with unpredictable consequences.
"It's done." Faluel said after triple checking that there was nothing left that could endanger the patients' life.
"What about the babies?" Despite the potions and Lith providing her with life force, Rena was drenched in sweat and deathly pale from exhaustion.
The repeated cycles of damage and repair her body had undergone would cripple Rena's physical strength until her life force was stable again.
"They are all fine, but we can't relax. I couldn't completely eradicate the Strangler, so not only it could manifest later again, but the disease will also be transmitted to your grandchildren." Faluel said.
"What do I have to do now?"
"Rest and recover. Lith can check up daily on the baby and keep the situation under control so that no further procedure will be necessary. Once the baby is born and a few month's old, it will be a piece of cake to get cleanse the Strangler from his body once and for all." Faluel wiped the sweat from Rena's face before leaving.
Yet Rena stopped the Hydra by grabbing her wrist.
"I know even though you don't know me I'm asking a lot, but when the time comes, can you please help me delivering the babies?"
"It will be my pleasure. Just remember to heat the house properly for me." Faluel said.
"I'll make it hot like a summer day if necessary." Rena let go of the Hydra, falling asleep the moment she managed to relax.
"Now that's everything is over, let's talk about my payment." Faluel said.
"What payment?" Lith hated surprises, especially those with a price tag attached.
"I'm in hot waters with Selia, so I expect you to put in a good word for me. Also, I like the warming-thing you did to your house. It doesn't need arrays nor mana crystals, which is nice and convenient."
"It's called air-conditioning. It keeps the house warm during winter and cool during summer." Lith said.
"Can you do it for my cave?" She asked.
"You cave is damn huge and it's not insulated." Lith shook his head.
"Luckily, it's your problem, not mine. You're a smart man, I'm sure you'll come up with a solution." Faluel winked and opened a Gate back to her home.
Chapter 920 Spirit and Light Magic Part 2
"Frigging cold." She shivered when a cold draft from the cave entered the room.
"Fine, but the materials are on you." Lith said.
"Deal. Say goodbye to your family for me and call me only if either you really need my help or you can properly introduce me. I hate lying to be accepted. I don't need anything from them, it's them who need my help."
Lith gave her a deep bow and went to give the good news to his family.
"If you have any questions, ask Quylla. I'll be back in a jiffy with Kami and Zin. They must be worried sick." He said while Hushing the living room, to keep their cries of joy from waking Rena up.
"Wait, how the heck did Faluel control Rena's metabolism? There's no spell I know that can do that. Also, how is it possible that after hours of treatment you and I are exhausted while those two didn't even break a sweat?" Quylla asked Nalrond.
"It's amazing how I'm the one who lived in the middle of nowhere all of his life and yet it's you who is this painfully ignorant." Nalrond said before going back home as well.
Back at Zinya's house, the kids had gone to sleep for a while. The procedure had taken so long that the sun had already set. Yet the two women had been restless the whole time, pacing around the house or checking the windows at the faintest noise, hoping for some news.
When Lith knocked, the door opened instantly. He was surprised noticing that Kamila's eyes were red and she had consumed quite the number of handkerchiefs. Zinya was worried as well, but she had kept her cool for her sister's sake.
"Everything went fine. Mother and children are alright." Lith said, trying to understand the source of her stress.
Kamila was on great terms with his family and she had a good heart, but judging from the pile of crumpled cotton, she seemed to have cried as much as Elina.
"Thank the gods! I don't think I've ever been so scared in my life." Kamila sighed with so much relief that it confused Lith even more. "I have a question, though. Was she…"
"The same Faluel I talked to you about yesterday? Yes. Did she make a bad impression on you?" He tried to understand if Kamila was concerned only about the child or also about him spending a long time with the Hydra.
Her human appearance was quite attractive, after all, and being jealous would have been natural.
"What the heck are you saying? She's a saint. You're lucky to have met such a caring teacher who's willing to help complete strangers for free. I wish me and Zin had such luck when we were younger." Kamila said, making Zinya nod and Lith scratch his head.
"I just want to know how the Strangler works. Is it a family thing? Do you have it as well? I've read the papers but the medical jargon is beyond me." She asked.
"It's a family thing, passed from the mother's side. I don't suffer from the Strangler, otherwise I would be kind of dead at this point." Lith replied.
"Only from the mother? So a father can't pass it on his children?" All traces of worry disappeared from Kamila's face. She was brimming with joy as if she had won a million gold coins.
"Exactly. I can't…" Lith choked on his words the moment he understood the reason for Kamila's anguish and she hugged him so tight that she squeezed the air out of his lungs.
***
Once the problem with the baby was solved, Lith's first week's leave was peaceful. Faluel's sudden appearance and her odd methods had raised a lot of questions, but the members of Lith's family cared only about cherishing the happy moment.
He would rarely get out of the house, spending most of his time catching up with his parents and checking up on Rena every two hours. She was recovering well from the procedure, but she was anxious about her babies.
After a while, Rena calmed down and so did the rest of the family. Lith enjoyed taking a break from all his worries and projects. Solus and he spent that time appreciating what they had fought so hard to build and protect.
After a while, however, peace just became boring and everyone grew restless. Even during winter, there was still a lot to do at the farm and at the smithy. Elina and Raaz had to deal with the farm's backlog while Kamila decided to start her part-time.
With Zinya taking care of Rena and Lith of the house, she was starting to feel useless.
'I think I'll follow her lead and get some work done in the tower.' Lith thought while Warping to the mana geyser in the Trawn woods.
'I agree. I'm itching to put to the test some of the Runesmithing techniques I've researched.' Solus said.
'Not about the Odi machine? I mean, between all the books we have retrieved, the mold of Dawn's device, and the scans of the Odi's knowledge swapping machine, we have a lot of material.' Lith said.
'Too much material, to be precise. It will take me months just to translate the manuals, then we have to understand how the old and recent machines work and if we can use such knowledge to upgrade the body-swapping machine.' Solus said.
"Definitely too much. Why don't you ever get me good news?" He sighed.
"I just did, you ungrateful man! While you cuddled at night with your lovely girlfriend, I was working my ass translating the booklet from Huryole. I've found the blueprints for your goddamn ring! Happy now?"
A pouting Solus appeared in front of Lith the moment he stepped inside the tower. She was wielding her Forgemastering hammer in a threatening manner.
"Very. Now put the hammer away, please." Lith said.
Solus snorted in reply, making a table covered in paper scrolls appear in the middle of the ground floor.
"I've found a couple of interesting blueprints. The first is for a barrier ring. It works like spirit magic. You inject mana into the ring and it generates a spherical barrier around you.
"The pros are that it can help us to study spirit magic and it's quite versatile. The cons are that it's mana expensive and that it can't change shape, only its size. The mana crystals and the pseudo core create a scaffold, but you must do the rest." She said.
"The second is for a tier five magic holding ring. I don't recommend it. Mostly because you don't use tier five spells often and that kind of item can store a single charge, whereas the barrier can be used as long as you have mana or use Invigoration."
"I don't know. I could use a free Final Sunset, it's my bread and butter these days." Lith didn't like having copied one of Nalear's spells, but its power was undeniable. "How many sets of runes do they require?"
"Three sets of runes and three mana crystals each." Solus replied. "If you consider they are equally difficult to craft, I'd say their effects cannot be compared."
"Agreed." Lith said, making space inside Soluspedia for both blueprints in the case they had enough purified Orichalcum to craft more than one piece.
Chapter 921 Runesmithing Part 1
The two different magical rings shared two out of three sets of runes. The first set would enhance Lith's energy signature so that the mana flow originating from the crystals embedded into the rings would offer less resistance to the Forgemastering process.
The second set amplified the effects of the rings' pseudo core, allowing it to be temporarily boosted when necessary.
The third set of the magic holding ring allowed for energy manipulation so that the spell could be used a little at a time instead of being released in one go. Also, as long as the stored spell wasn't completely spent, the runes made it possible to recharge or amplify it on the fly.
In the case of the barrier ring, instead, the third set contained a complex pre-set code that would allow the ring to channel Lith's mana into a spirit magic barrier even if he had no idea how to do it himself.
Both rings required three mana crystals each. Two had to be embedded close to each other and facing outside, to project the mana outwards, whereas the third crystal would be in contact with the palm of the wearer to more easily draw upon their mana.
During the first day, Lith practiced engraving the sets of runes one by one, wasting quite the number of cheap rings. This time he couldn't use pebbles because, for Runesmithing, with the shape of the item he wanted to craft also varied the spacing between runes.
Only when he became not only capable of engraving all runes correctly but also to keep the distances between the different sets so that they wouldn't mess with each other, did he start working on the final hurdle.
Before attempting to Forgemaster the ring with the purified Orichalcum, Lith had yet to convert the ancient engraving method in the modern fashion. Old runes would be always visible, giving away the nature of their enchantment and betraying Lith's success in raiding the lost academy of Huryole.
Modern engraving, instead, would project the energy of the runes inward, making them invisible to the naked eye. The process was tricky because the booklet at Lith's disposal only explained the old method and he could only study Ruin to understand how modern engraving worked.
"Explain that to me again, please." Lith massaged his temples after one failure too many.
"Okay. Ancient Forgemasters would physically carve the surface of the objects, so that the engravings would serve as both a beacon for their mana and as a template for the runes. The downside of this method is that the runes are isolated from the mana circulatory system of the item, so they act as separate entities" Solus said.
"Modern Forgemasters, instead, shape their mana as runes on their own before applying them on the surface of an item. This way, the energy released by the runes is not restricted by the physical carvings and can circulate throughout the artifact.
"The process makes them invisible to normal means of detection and able to alter the properties of both the metal and its mana circulatory system.
"Once the enchantment is applied, the final result is given from the synergy between the runes and the pseudo core, creating something that's greater than the sums of its single parts.
"The downside of this method is that it requires great focus. You must remember the runes that comprise each set and shape all of them to perfection at the same time. The slightest mistake in their form or positioning will lead to failure."
"How the heck do Royal Forgemaster achieve such precision with fake magic?" Lith asked in frustration.
The rings Solus had studied were among the simplest creations a Runesmith could craft, yet they required thirty runes each that were as small as they were complex.
"My guess is they have some kind of crutch, like the special ink they use to draw the magic circles for the Forgemastering process." She said.
"Solus, I love you!" Lith jumped up and tried to take her between his arms, but she popped away, letting the Forgemastering hammer fall to the ground with a silvery sound.
"I meant that you're a genius and that you may have offered me a solution."
"Meaning?" An incorporeal voice asked.
"I'll show you." Lith took a bottle of special ink out of his pocket dimension and used water magic to draw with it three magic circles, one for each set of runes. Then, just like when he was still a fourth-year student at the academy, Lith infused them with his mana.
The ink absorbed the mystical energy, acting as a template for their final form. The runes grew in power and splendor, keeping the right shape with minimal effort from Lith's side.
"I've never been so glad to have worked as Assistant Professor at the White Griffon. I know the recipe for the ink like the back of my hand. We can mass produce it in your alchemical lab." Lith said.
"That's brilliant thinking! Luckily we're both geniuses." Solus finally reappeared, embracing Lith with joy.
"Thanks for the compliment. By the way, nice double standards for hugs." Lith clicked his tongue, preparing for the final phase of the experiment.
To replicate a pseudo core with true magic, first Lith had to study its version obtained with fake magic. He used the special ink to draw and apply the runes to a cheap ring before Bonding it with the three mana crystals required for the craft.
"I wish I could use cheap crystals as well. What kind of madman would waste precious resources for teaching to kids?" He said in anguish.
"Green crystals are cheap. Also, pot, meet kettle. You went to an academy that 'wasted' a lot of resources on you, remember?" Solus said.
"That was a different case."
"Different how?" She asked.
"I wasn't the one paying for them." Lith started to chant the spell, preventing her from quoting his own rebuke about double standards.
The crafting went without a hitch, producing the lowest grade barrier ring a mage could conceive and turn their nose at. Lith studied the ring's pseudo core and how it interacted with the runes when and external flow of mana activated its enchantment.
"Now comes the part I hate the most. Prototypes." Lith sighed.
Prototypes had to be as close as possible to the real deal, hence to craft them Lith had to use high-quality materials. Otherwise, the gap in physical properties and mana flow between the prototype and the final product would add unpredicted variables to the crafting process.
For that reason, the prototypes required smelted Orichalcum rings bonded with blue mana crystals. It took Solus and Lith more than two weeks to fine-tune the entire process and iron out the final details.
He already had Zekell turn the piece of purified Orichalcum into three thick silvery rings, so he could afford up to three tries.
The first step was Bonding three purple mana crystals with the Orichalcum, giving it a circulatory mana system akin to that of a living being. According to the booklet from Huryole, the order of Bonding and Runesmithing could be swapped, but Lith had learned the truth the hard way.
Only when using outdated Runesmithing techniques the preparatory steps didn't require to be performed in sequence and that was because external runes didn't interact with the enchantment.
Chapter 922 Runesmithing Part 2
Lith, instead, used ancient runes but modern techniques, so that applying the runes before the Bonding caused distortions in the circulatory mana system due to the rejection between Lith's energy signature from the runes and that of the crystals.
Applying runes was the step Lith had less experience with and it was crucial. He would have liked to have all the surface of the ring available for the runes and Bond the gems only after the Runesmithing process, but unfortunately, it turned out to be impossible.
Bonding and Runesmithing both created a circulatory mana system, but while the former was highly susceptible to external influences and would change its course based on the obstacles that it met, the latter would relentlessly follow the instructions embedded in the runes.
Only after the purple crystals had become one with the metal and their circulatory mana system was stabilized could Lith move to the second step, Runesmithing.
The sets of runes would seep inside the Orichalcum, spreading their veins through its whole structure and relying on Lith's mana to overcome the resistance generated by the presence of the crystals.
'Fascinating.' Solus thought while examining the complex network of mana channels the two preparatory steps had created.
'It's as if the crystals created arteries that spread the mana evenly while the runes created veins that will allow the residual energy to return to the pseudo core without overloading the ring. All that is left is the heart.'
'You made an interesting parallel, Solus, but it's more than that. The runes also carry my energy signature, so with each set I engraved, I reduced the rejection between the mana generated by the crystals and my own, making the Forgemastering process easier.' Lith thought.
'Now I understand why the booklet is so adamant about the correct positioning for both crystals and runes. A slight alteration is all that it takes to turn a masterpiece into an utter failure.'
Then, Lith performed the third and last step, Necro Forge. Each failed prototype had made his wallet bleed, but at the same time had brought the process closer to perfection.
Without runes, Lith couldn't create a pseudo core holding more than half of his magical force, otherwise the amplification effect of the Orichalcum would boost the pseudo core to the point that Lith couldn't overcome the rejection between the two different energy signatures.
The ancient Runesmithing technique raised the limit to 60% while using the ancient runes and what Lith assumed were modern Runesmithing techniques, brought it up to 75%.
'I guess I'll need Faluel's teachings to reach 100%. Oh well, this is still a great training.' He thought while resting, preferring to save Invigoration for Necro Forge.
Such Forgemastering technique required him to shape the pseudo core outside its future recipient and then merge them together before creating the necessary mana pathways to make it permanent.
By creating a complete pseudo core, Lith had all the time he wanted to shape it with surgical precision and charge it with enough energy to fuel the enchantments he wanted to create.
The downside of Necro Forge was that injecting a powerful energy mass inside inanimate matter would encounter a lot of resistance and put a huge amount of stress on its recipient.
To make matters worse, the pseudo core was likely to be deformed in the process, and fixing it would require consuming more mana and focus.
The pseudo core had to retain a perfect shape after having been placed inside the mana circulatory system before Lith could add the correct number of mana pathways necessary to stabilize the artifact.
Mana pathways were artificial energy conduits that anchored the pseudo core, trapping its wild energies in a loop that prevented them from being dispersed due to a magical item's inanimate nature.
The number of necessary mana pathways depended on the pseudo core's strength. Too few and the mana forming the core would be dispersed, too many and it would crumble.
Lith first created the pseudo core between his hands, giving it perfect size and proportions. Invigoration allowed him to see in detail both his own creation and the mana core crafted with fake magic, so that by comparing them he could fix any mistake.
Then, he made it engulf the ring. At first, the purified Orichalcum absorbed the pseudo core like a sponge does with water. After a while, however, the flow of energy bearing Lith's energy signature and that bearing the three purple crystals' were matched in power.
The pseudo core started to distort, forcing Lith to stop and restore its shape. At that point, he wielded his enchanted Forgemastering hammer and used Solus's help to overcome the rejection caused by the two conflicting energies.
Solus had now to split both her focus and the world energy coming from the mana geyser between the magic circle and the hammer. Without the former, the mystical energies of the Forgemastering process would dissipate while without the latter Lith would lack the strength to imbue such powerful magic into the ring.
Each time the Forgemastering hammer was filled to the brim with mana coming from Lith and Solus, it would strike at the enchanted ring, emitting a blinding pulse of blue light that was captured by the circle and channeled into the ongoing spell.
The purified Orichalcum offered little resistance to the mana flow compared with its just smelted counterpart. The phenomenon had allowed the energy coming from the purple crystals to form a complex mana circulatory system that filled every nook and cranny of the ring.
Luckily, the same happened for the runes, whose network of mana capillaries constantly mixed Lith's mana with that coming from the crystals and made the Forgemastering process possible.
'It's incredible.' Lith thought. 'I have barely started and the procedure would have already failed if not for the runes.
'The secondary mana circulatory system the runes create not only allows the mana from the pseudo core to freely flow inside the ring as if I had already added a few mana pathways, but it also stabilizes the pseudo core, so that even under the energy amplifying effect of the Orichalcum, the number of imperfections that arise is fewer than ever.'
The more the pseudo core seeped inside the ring, the more it grew in size and power. What had started as a construct with only 75% of Lith's power had already reached 90% on its own and would soon go over 100%.
A Forgemaster couldn't imbue a spell stronger than his own magical power. It was the reason why having multiple mages powering up a magical circle was useless and why Lith needed the hammer.
With it, Solus could add a power boost from the tower and made it possible for them to overcome their limits. By the time the pseudo core had reached the center of the mana circulatory system, it had grown to 120% of Lith power.
All he had left to do was to create the mana pathways to complete the process.
With each mana pathway Lith created, the two conflicting energy signatures coming from the pseudo core and the crystals started to mix. The violence of the clashes between them progressively faded until they became one.
"It's done!" Lith immediately imprinted the barrier ring and put its capabilities to the test. A sphere of emerald light surrounded him, protecting him from any kind of danger.
Lith made the barrier shrink until it barely wrapped him while he was in a crouched position and expand up to a two meters (6,6 feet) radius. The mana required varied greatly with the barrier's size and energy density.
Chapter 923 Birthdays Part 1
"What do you think, Solus?" Lith asked.
"That for a ring that required simple ingredients and a single pseudo core it took a lot of effort making it. A Skinwalker armor uses four pseudo cores at once and if they all grow up to 120% your maximum magical power, it will take 480% of your output to make just one.
"The runes we have currently available are not up to the task. Any attempt to craft a masterpiece is doomed to fail." She said.
"Hey, being a pessimist is my thing. You should be the one looking at the bright side. I mean, we wasted no purified Orichalcum and can make more rings." Lith replied.
"I'm sorry. It's just that even if you can't notice it, under my golden glow I'm green with envy." Solus was gripping her own hammer as hard as she could in frustration.
She was staring at the ring without floating around as usual. Her head was low and her shoulders slouched, making her look even smaller than she was.
"What good is having a hammer, having my body, if all I do is watch from the sidelines?" She said. "Is this really all that the future holds for me? Being your second?"
"I don't know." Lith was shocked and hurt by her suffering, but he didn't want to give her false hope or empty words. "All I can tell you is that I'll do my best to give you the life you deserve.
"I'm sorry for always being so egotistical. Saying that I got distracted by the latest load of crap is no excuse since it happened to both of us. Would you like to work on the magic holding ring? This time you lead and I follow." Lith said.
"Really?" Solus lifted her head, brimming with joy.
"Really."
"Do you promise me to not get angry, even if I waste all the purified Orichalcum we've left?"
"I promise. Compared to your happiness, it's just scrap metal." He said, hugging her.
"Thank you so much. I promise you I'll do my best to gift you a masterpiece worthy of Master Menadion." She replied while losing herself in his warmth and hoping that moment would never end.
"Don't worry about it. Worst case scenario, once I master Origin Flames, we can always recycle the metal." He said with a mocking tone.
"I hate you, damn son of a gun. You ruined this moment for me." Yet she refused to let him go.
***
Between the real vacation and the experiments on runes, Lith's birthday was coming up so fast that he would have forgotten about it if everyone else didn't keep reminding him.
Solus was ecstatic at the idea of meeting all Lith's old friends, Kamila was terrified, and his whole family was as thrilled as if he was going to become president of Mogar instead that just one year older.
Tista had finally managed to come back from her mission and she almost had a heart attack after learning about how close Rena had got to losing her children.
"I'm so sorry, big sis. I don't know how could I miss it." She repeated many times until Rena hit Tista on the head with a slipper just to make her shut up.
"It's not your fault, dimwit! Lith explained to me that lungs develop late and by then you were already gone. I can't possibly ask neither of you to give up on your life every time I get pregnant." Rena loved her sister, but being constantly reminded of the narrow escape while the pregnancy term was so close made her cranky big time.
"But it must be my fault somehow. I'm the only one in the family who ever suffered from the Strangler. Somehow I must have passed it on the baby." Tista sobbed.
"Sure. You fell ill for the fun of it and then you dived into my belly to infect my baby without me noticing. Do you even realize the amount of nonsense you are spouting?" Rena held Tista tight, cradling her little sister in her arms.
Rena had helped Elina taking care of her siblings since she could remember. She had changed their cloth diapers, fed them, and rocked them until they fell asleep when they were ill.
To her, Lith and Tista were more like her children than siblings. Sure, Lith rarely cried or fell ill even as a newborn, but it didn't make him any less precious in Rena's eyes.
Lith watched the scene, feeling moved by the bond between the two sisters.
'I could tell them that in theory, it's Mom's fault since she has passed unto us defective genes, but I think it would only make everything worse and kill Mom in the process. It's better if they think it was just bad luck.' Lith thought.
'By the way, when do you plan on telling them about you being a hybrid?' Solus asked.
'First there is my social event birthday with the Ernas, my academy Professors, and all those people that I worked hard to avoid during the rest of the year. I can't risk my family being so upset that they might be forced to cancel the event. I'll wait for my private birthday party at the Verhen household.' Lith thought.
'Are you scared?'
'Half to death. To be honest, I can't wait for Rena to deliver the babies. With my luck, I'm afraid that it will either happen during the social event or right before I start shapeshifting in front of my family.' Lith sighed.
Fate for once seemed to listen to his wishes because Rena went into labor just a few hours later, in the middle of the night. Lith of course welcomed the news by cursing at his bad luck and calling Faluel.
Elina set the heating to the maximum while preparing hot water and clean cloths for the arrival of the magical midwife.
"Excellent thinking, Elina. I could use a hot tea to shake the cold off my poor bones." Faluel wrapped herself in the cloths and added tea leaves, mint, and Hydra strong alcohol to the pot containing the water.
Winter had finally arrived in its full might, with below zero temperatures, cloudy sky, and plenty of snow. All things that Faluel hated. She gulped down the entire pot in front of the flabbergasted Elina.
"That's much better. Now, I need everyone who's not a Healer to stay out of my hair." Faluel said with a burp before moving to Rena's bed-chamber and kicking out everyone but Lith and Tista.
"Now watch and learn." She said, placing her hands on Rena's hips.
A white light engulfed the woman in labor, enhancing the elasticity of her skin and muscles. Then, the Hydra manipulated the rhythm of the contractions along with the hardness and softness of the tissues.
The babies came out one after the other in less than five minutes since Faluel's arrival. While the siblings cut the umbilical cords and cleaned the babies, the Hydra kept working on her patient.
Tista was flabbergasted noticing that whatever the Hydra had done, it had prevented the formation of stretch marks and reverted Rena's figure to that she had before becoming pregnant.
"What… How…" As far as she knew, not even Manohar could make a delivery that easy. Mostly because he would rather commit treason than work as a midwife.
Chapter 924 Birthdays Part 2
Chapter 924: Birthdays (Part 2)
"Experience." Faluel said with a sigh, wrapping the babies in warm cloths before handing them to Rena. "You seem to be an interesting young lady, dear Lith's sister. I hope we'll meet again in warmer circumstances. Bye!"
Faluel disappeared so fast that Tista could only choke on all her questions while Rena found herself thanking empty air. She felt chipper and energetic as if instead of giving birth to triplets she had just returned from a day in a spa.
"Lith, how do you think I should call them?" Rena asked.
"Why do you ask me instead of Senton?"
"Well, because I got four Healers to thank for this miracle but only three babies. Someone has to be left out this time." Rena replied.
"Only three? This time?" Lith didn't know whether to be more horrified at his sister belittling the workload the little monsters in her arms demanded from the whole family or the idea she might get pregnant again.
"On one hand, I already named Leria after you, but on the other, it's you who brought Faluel here and even helped me in the delivery. I'm not going to lie, I have no clue what part Quylla played in the procedure, let alone that guy whose name I don't even remember." Rena kept thinking out loud, uncaring of the noise that the babies and the members of the family who had finally had access to the room made.
Elina was crying with joy, Senton was asking the Healers of the family if everyone was alright, Tista was demanding answers about Faluel's identity, and everyone wanted to hold the children.
Even Aran and Leria wanted to help with the newborns.
"Look, I don't care who you name them after, the only thing that matters is that all of you are alright. Just some friendly advice, we can't have the whole family starting with the L, so you should name a kid after Zekell." Lith pointed his finger at Senton without him noticing.
"I disagree." Senton said to Rena. "I love my parents, but it's not because of them that we were able to marry and I can't forget all the help your family gave to us so I'd rather name one of our children after Elina, if that's okay with you."
His words made Elina cry harder and the babies, scared by the noise, decided to tag along in a choir that crushed Lith's ears.
After a long debate that Lith avoided by asking Zinya for sanctuary, the three new members of the Verhen family received their names. Falco was the baby boy suffering from the Strangler disease, named after the person that had allowed him to survive against all odds.
The baby girl was named Teryon after Tista and Nessa after Nalrond who had kept her safe during the procedure. Rena chose Teryon as first name to thank her sister. It was only thanks to her loving care that nothing bad had ever happened during Lith's absence.
Last, but not least, Lenart Quontar was named after his uncle, for having made the impossible possible time and time again.
***
One week later, Ernas Mansion.
The gala associated with Lith's birthday took place the evening before the private party, so that on the stroke of midnight the two events overlapped and both took place on the correct date.
The gala would usually be held at Marchioness Mirim Distar's Household since she was the ruler of the Marquisate of which both Lutia and the White Griffon were part. That year, however, Orion had insisted to be the host and guarantee the safety of all the guests.
Marchioness Distar didn't let him repeat his offer twice, glad to leave the burden to someone else. Between her duty as ruler of the Distar region and Supreme Commander of the Queen's Corps, she had barely seen the light of day ever since the undead invasion had begun.
"It's been a long time since we could have a friendly chat, isn't it?" She said.
The Marchioness was a woman in her early forties, but even without the perfect make-up she wore, it would have been hard to consider her a day older than thirty. She had a beautiful face with great proportions, eyes brimming with intelligence and curiosity.
She wore her waist-long hair straight down, with only her golden cloaking hairpin and a diamond tiara to adorn it. She had dark brown hair with shades of blue all over that made it almost hypnotic to look at her whenever the Marchioness shook her head.
Her evening dress was of a pale red, showing a shallow neckline and covering her shoulders, but leaving her arms exposed.
"I'd like to take full credit for it, but you're a hard woman to find." Lith took two glasses of red wine from a waiter, offering one to his old patron.
"That's true." She said while resisting the temptation to drink the wine in one gulp. Just the idea of the workload waiting for her back at Distar was giving her a headache.
"Have you thought about the direction you want to give your career once you are done with the military service? I know for sure there are a lot of open positions in the army and the Mage Association that would be a perfect fit for a man of your talents." The Marchioness tried to sound casual, but it was part of the duty that Queen Sylpha herself had entrusted Mirim with.
The Queen was attending the gala as well, but she couldn't afford to make such direct questions. Only a fool would say no to a Queen and every one of her words might be mistaken for a threat.
"I did." Lith nodded. "I'm interested in pursuing magic so I've already found a mentor that will allow me to bring my specializations to the next level."
"Is it someone I know?" That wasn't the answer the Marchioness was hoping for.
Lith becoming a member of one of the two forces under the direct command of the Royals was in the Kingdom's best interest, but even if he married into an ancient magical bloodline it would still leave the Crown some leeway.
Especially if his in-laws were people of proven loyalty, like the Ernas.
"With all due respect, I doubt you know all the Emperor Beasts of Kingdom." Lith decided it was better to leave Faluel's name out of the conversation. With all that there was at stake, he couldn't afford any meddling in his private affairs.
"Emperor Beasts? I believe that the Royal Forgemasters or one of the six great academies can offer you more than any beast can." It was only thanks to years of experience receiving bad news that the Marchioness managed to not spit her drink all over the priceless silk carpet at their feet.
"Indeed, but for a price that I'm not willing to pay, at least for now." Lith made sure to leave room for negotiation. It was better to not burn bridges he could later use.
"Price? What price? The Kingdom would provide you with lands, wealth beyond your imagination, and all the rarest ingredients you might need." The Marchioness performed her best pitch.
"And in exchange, it would ask my time, put my loyalty to the test, and give me so many responsibilities that I would be dependant on the Kingdom's support even to blow my own nose. Thank you, but no thank you." Lith's smile was kind, yet it had 'I don't believe in free meals' written all over it.
Chapter 925 Secret Meeting Part 1
Chapter 925: Secret Meeting (Part 1)
"I don't mean to be pushy, but ever since you enrolled in the White Griffon, you have done a great service to the Kingdom and have been paid accordingly. Why this sudden change of heart?" Marchioness Distar asked.
"Who has offered her heart, body, and soul to the Kingdom more than Phloria Ernas?" Lith's voice was stone cold. "Yet it didn't save her from suffering an unjust fate. She's still just a Captain, isn't she?"
"Yours is a rash judgment. Nothing has been decided and she could be acquitted at any time." The Marchioness was now on shaky ground.
Phloria's still ongoing trial was a sour note that all the friends and the enemies of the Ernas played constantly. The former demanded acquittal and an apology, while the latter demanded an exemplary punishment.
"A trial that should not have even started and yet in a few months it will become one year old. If politics can push a family as powerful as the Ernas to such a degree, I'd rather stay out of it before it turns my blessings into curses. How is Brinja?" Lith asked.
In the Griffon Kingdom's social circles, asking about a relative was the polite way to put an end to a discussion. The Marchioness caught his drift and moved the conversation to less controversial topics, like the development of Lustria county.
"Care to join us, Trequill?" She had noticed for a while the excitable man waiting for the right moment chime in. The future of the Kingdom or of a Great Mage were out of the reach of a countryside noble.
"With pleasure, dear Marchioness." Count Lark literally jumped at the occasion, making his monocle pop out of the eye socket.
Count Lark hadn't changed much since the last time Lith had seen him in person. He was in his late fifties, around 1,83 meters (6') tall with a thin build, that made him appear even taller.
The Count had thick black hair with streaks of grey and a short-trimmed goatee. His inseparable black-rimmed monocle was attached to his breast pocket with a blue silk string.
"How are things going for the Lark family, dear Count?" Lith said while they shook hands.
"They could go much better." Lark sighed. Looking at how Lith had become as tall as he was and thinking about his achievements, Lark regretted the rumors about Raaz being his illegitimate son being lies. "Thank the gods we had three Rangers this winter.
"The problem is not the undead, but the panic they cause. Everyone who died during the last few months had their corpse decapitated and a few villages have been decimated due to violent cases of mass hysteria."
"It's the same everywhere." Lith shrugged. "In the north, a traveler who reached a village at night wouldn't live to see the day. People were so scared that they would mercilessly kill any stranger knocking at their doors.
"How are Jadon and Kelya doing?"
"Great, just great. Maybe too much. After acquiring the assets of my late wife, I let them rule one county each while I supervised their work. Our counties developed so much that my children almost didn't attend their own marriages.
"Never become a feudal lord, dear Lith. It sucks the soul out of you." Lark said before noticing the Marchioness glaring at him.
"Hi, Lith. Where have you been? We all missed you at the White Griffon academy." A gentle hand tapped his shoulder, prompting him to turn around.
"Professor Wanemyre, I thought you hated social events. Meeting you here is such a pleasant surprise." Lith gave her a bow and a hand-kissing.
Lyca Wanemyre was one of his favorite Professors and the woman who had taught him all he knew about Forgemastering.
She was a woman in her mid-thirties, 1.65 meters (5'5") tall, with waist-long black hair with shades of red held up. She was wearing an evening dress and gloves that highlighted her long and nimble fingers.
Not even the puffy fabric could hide her soft, luscious curves. It was one of the rare occasions where Professor Wanemyre would use make-up, making her lovely heart-shaped face stand out and appear younger than her age.
Before Nalear's betrayal, Wanemyre had a calm and composed attitude, but after being possessed by a slave ring, she had become paranoid and cold. Wanemyre had stopped trusting people, living as a recluse for over two years.
During his time as Assistant Professor, Lith had been the liaison between her private quarters and the outside world. He had taken care of both the theoretical and practical Forgemastering lessons while she struggled with the post-traumatic stress disorder caused by Nalear's orders.
"This is actually the first time I get out of the White Griffon ever since the… accident." Her eyes became veiled for a split second while the ghosts of the past tried to drag her back into her personal hell.
Wanemyre took a deep breath and regained her focus.
"You never call, never visit so I thought that meeting my favorite student was the perfect occasion to see how rusty my social skills are. Are you sure you don't want to become a Royal Forgemaster? I would be glad to have you as my pupil again."
Lyca Wanemyre was one of the youngest and most talented Royal Forgemasters of her generation. It was one of the reasons why the late Headmaster Linjos had made her a Professor despite the fact that she was way younger than her peers.
Even her actions during Nalear's betrayal didn't affect Wanemyre's skill or reputation. Lith had considered asking her help to learn Runesmithing after Orion had declined his request, but the price the Kingdom asked was too steep.
During the evening Lith met Professor Vastor and Headmaster Marth, who were flabbergasted learning that Rena's child had survived.
"If you found Manohar, not revealing his position is an act of treason." Marth said, half-joking and half-serious.
"If I did, I would deliver him to you in a body bag." Lith said with a dead-serious voice. "It was my mentor saving the kid. She's an incredible Healer and an even more amazing person."
Vastor was trying to have Lith promise that he would introduce such a genius to them when his father, Raaz, interrupted their chit-chat.
"I'm sorry, Professors, but I need to steal my son for a while. It's a minor family matter that still requires his attention. We'll be right back." Raaz was many things but a good liar wasn't among them.
Everyone understood that something was wrong, but pretended to not notice and didn't ask questions. For a moment Lith feared that something might had happened to Falco, but he caught a glimpse of Rena amiably talking with Quylla.
There was no force on Mogar that could keep Rena away from her son if he so much as sneezed so it had to be something else. Raaz led Lith to a servants' passage and then to a secret opening in the wall.
Lith found himself inside a hidden living room, without no windows nor doors except that through which he had entered. The entire room was made of solid stone and so heavily enchanted that Lith could feel the hair on his neck standing up.
The room was furnished only with a long oval table and many padded wooden chairs. There was no light source except for the magical gemstones embedded into the walls, giving the place an even claustrophobic look.
It was the perfect place for torturers and conspirators so Lith was surprised when he noticed that the person waiting for him was Orion and not Jirni.
Chapter 926 Secret Meeting Part 2
"Happy birthday again, Lith. Sorry for involving your father in this shenanigan, but these days I don't know who I can trust anymore." He said.
Orion Ernas was a man in his mid-forties over 1.96 meters (6'5") tall, with black hair and brown eyes like Phloria. His physique was lean but muscular and his perfectly shaven face showed great sadness.
Orion had some wrinkles around the eyes and temples, but every movement of his was still full of the vigor one would expect from a much younger man.
He and Raaz knew each other ever since their respective children had attended the White Griffon academy. Even though the difference in their social standing was like heaven and earth, the two men carried a deep bond of trust and respect.
"Thanks. What's going on that requires this kind of secrecy?" Lith asked.
"I will answer to all your questions in due time. First things first. Is it true that you have found a teacher unrelated to the Kingdom to teach you advanced magic after your honorable discharge?" Orion asked.
"Yes." Lith said. With both his leave and the military service closing to their end, it was pointless to play it close to the chest. Especially after what had happened with Rena.
"Do they know Runesmithing?"
"My mentor shares my same specializations and none of the chains the Kingdom tries to burden me with. What's your point?" Lith didn't like being interrogated.
"My point is that if this guy is as good as you say, then I can uphold my part of our bargain." Orion took one of the plainest bastard swords Lith had ever seen from under his seat and placed it upon the table.
It had a silvery blade, cross-shaped guard, and pommel while the grip was black. If not for the line of purple crystals along its fuller and Solus's mana sense spotting the runes hidden under the surface, Lith would have taken it for a joke.
"If anyone asks, I never gave it to you. Say that it's a gift from your new master, that you found it at a flea market, on the corpse of one of your enemies, I don't care. Just keep my name out of it." Orion said.
Lith caressed the blade, yet he couldn't feel a single spark of magic from it. Even Invigoration found it to be weird, as if it was some kind of magical corpse.
"What's going on, Orion?" Lith asked.
"I'll tell you what's going on. Phloria's trial is still ongoing and things don't look good for neither of you." With a wave of Orion's hand, three glasses and a bottle of Raging Phoenix appeared on the table.
It was a liquor so strong that it was mostly meant to be diluted with non-alcoholic beverages, to be used for medical reasons, and to burn corpses to a crisp.
"What does it have to do with my son?" Lith and Raaz accepted Orion's offer to sit down along with the liquor.
"Everything. They took it on Phloria first because they gave us Ernas for granted and because she was the commanding officer. You got away scot-free not because of your performance, but because they were still trying to rope you in." Orion emptied his glass with small, enraged sips.
"The Royal Court was afraid that charging you with anything might make you leave the Kingdom and offer your talents somewhere else. Now that your voluntary military service is about to end, things escalated from fear to panic.
"The Magic Empress tried to recruit you when you met in Laurel and after the existence of the Orichalcum Skinwalker armor was released to the public, you are considered a leading figure in both the Healing and Forgemastering field.
"The Kingdom is left with no moves except for those that would lead you to pack up and leave which makes a lot of people uneasy. Politicians don't like the existence of powerful people they have no control over."
"Which led them to the decision of leaving you alone, but at the same time, they have no convenience in helping you anymore. Long story short, I've been forbidden to deliver the sword to you." Orion refilled and emptied his glass before Lith could even taste his own.
"Are you telling me that the Royals are afraid of me? That they don't want to keep their part of our bargain?" Lith's gaze shifted from the plain sword to Orion, incapable of deciding which one piqued his curiosity more.
"Gods, no. They love you. They have been fighting long and hard to protect our respective interests, but they don't run this country alone. The army and the Mage Association fear that if you received a piece crafted with Royal Forgemastering techniques, you or your newfound master would be able to reverse engineer it.
"They can't afford state secrets being leaked to rogue mages or foreign countries so the official version is that Ruin is the best I could do. Off the record, I was ordered to continue my research but only share it with fellow Royal Forgemasters as I did with your armor."
"What about this sword?" Lith pointed at the blade still in front of him.
"It's something I worked on during my free time in the privacy of my home, using only methods that I invented myself. In other words, it doesn't exist. Even if you searched the whole Mogar, you won't find anything like it." Orion replied with a pride equaled only by his rage.
"No, what I meant is why are you giving it to me, and aren't you afraid of committing treason?" Lith was now more curious than ever, but he liked the Ernas family more than he liked the idea of a new sword.
He had yet to learn even the basics of modern Runesmithing or witness Faluel's Forgemastering skills. He had plenty of ways to procuring him good weapons, maybe even better than Ruin, whereas a trustworthy friend was irreplaceable.
"I'm giving it to you because that was our deal. Thanks to your armor, the Royal Forgemasters discovered how to apply energy-based spells to Orichalcum. It provided us with the answers we've been looking for decades." Orion said.
'What the actual hell?' Solus thought. She didn't know whether to be more shocked at the idea that Orion had invented his own Forgemastering technique or that Royal Forgemastering was so advanced that they could replicate true magic to such degree.
"As for committing treason, I'm simply returning the favor in kind. The army betrayed my family by starting a ridiculous trial against my little Flower and then by trying to pin the blame for Manohar's escapades on my wife!
"To add insult to injury, they had the guts to order me to betray my word, to lie to a friend. And in exchange for what? A fucking dog treat?" Orion's rage turned his voice into a snarl and his glass into shards.
"Don't worry about me. Both my family and Jirni's have played this game long enough to know what we can and cannot do. Believe me when I say that a lot of people are about to discover what happens when we're not happy.
"Misery likes company and I'm going to make sure that it will host a party no one will ever forget." Orion snapped his fingers, making the shards reform the glass before pouring himself another drink.
Chapter 927 Ruin and War Part 1
"You know, Lith, back when I crafted Ruin, there was a reason for its name. Wherever you go, shit happens and people die, yet you always thrive. The Kingdom almost gets destroyed by a plague and you get rich.
"The academies almost fall because of Balkor first and Nalear later, yet you survive and everyone makes a hero out of you. No matter if the shit rains or pours, you always come on top, fresh like a daisy.
"Back then, I considered you a scourge, someone who destroys everything he touches, the harbinger of Ruin. Hence the sword." Orion sat back on his chair, his voice was now calm.
"How dare you say such cruel things to my son? I thought we were friends!" Raaz stood up in outrage. Orion could probably break him in half with only one hand, but what stopped Raaz from jumping at his throat was their bond, not fear.
"We are, Raaz. I'm sorry, but those were my thoughts back then. I was angry about what had happened to my baby girls and I was looking for someone to blame. It took me a while to realize that no one is at fault but the goddamn Odi and the twice goddamned power games of the Royal Court.
"Lith isn't bad luck. Whoever says that is envious, scared, or both. Your son is neither a monster or a hero, just a survivor. Living for too long in peaceful times makes people forget how the lives of those like me and Lith are akin to war.
"War does not determine who is right. Only who is left. Your new sword will ensure that no matter the situation you are in, Lith, you'll be the last man standing." Orion pushed War toward Lith, who hesitated for a second before imprinting it with his mana.
The grip of the blade reacted to the imprint by shapeshifting its surface into small spikes that prickled even Lith's hardened skin and made him bleed. The grip sucked the blood along with the mana and then the entire sword started to change.
The red droplets flowed through the metal, activating the pseudo core and revealing the runes hidden under the silvery surface. The blade turned crimson while the hilt blackened and the guard shapeshifted from a simple cross into upward hooks.
The round pommel turned into a spike while the blade became wider and the runes rearranged themselves along its surface before becoming invisible again.
The entire process lasted barely a second, yet once it was over, the only thing unchanged about War's appearance was the position of the mana crystals aligned on its fuller.
"What the heck?" Lith said after noticing that the wounds on his hand were already healed.
"War is not like any other sword." Orion said. "It changes its appearance to match its user and doesn't tolerate being wielded by anyone else. The enchantments I've imbued it with and the Adamant of the blade allow War to always find both its marks and its master, but beware.
"Never leave it around because the safety protocols don't discriminate between friends and foes. Never unsheathe War unless you plan on using it, because it will refuse to return to its scabbard until it draws blood."
"What scabbard?" Raaz stared at the blade in awe, yet his feelings turned into horror when he noticed that War was exuding a red liquid that engulfed the blade before turning solid.
"Are you sure you're not going to get in trouble for this?" Lith asked.
"Damn sure. Not even I knew what War would look like after you imprinted it. Only three people know about its existence and all of them are in this room right now. Now let's go back to the Ballroom before my missus starts to wonder what the heck we are plotting." Orion said.
***
The following day, City of Valeron, inside the Royal castle.
The King's Council Chamber was part of his private apartments and it was located inside a heavily guarded tower. The room was about 6 meters (20 feet) long and 4 meters (13 feet) wide with only a round table and several wooden chairs as furniture.
The round table didn't mean that every opinion held the same importance, it was simply the only way to be heard from every side of the room without the need for shouting non-stop.
Aside from the furniture, the room was bare, with no windows and only one entrance. Both the floor and the walls were of a pale grey, there was no color outside that of the magical stones the room was made of.
The whole place was enchanted to prevent eavesdropping, either by conventional or magical means. It was also equipped with all the necessary protections to avoid the entirety of its occupants from getting killed in one fell swoop.
Normally, either the King or the Queen would use it to discuss important matters with their respective subjects, the army and the Mage Association. This time, however, the rulers of the Kingdom were presiding over the meeting together.
The upper echelons of both the most powerful and important institutions of the Griffon Kingdom had been summoned to deliberate about the situation at hand.
"I think you are just overreacting." Archmage Kwart, the Chairman of the Association said. "Who cares if Verhen quits the army? As long as his family lives here, we have leverage above him.
"Manipulating someone through the people they held dear is the basic of the basics. He's gotten too conceited because the Queen's Corps has always protected that shithole he calls home.
"Leave Lutia without detail for one week and Verhen will be the one coming to us, begging for help. Only the gods know how many enemies he's made over the years among the members of all the four races."
"My not so much esteemed colleague is forgetting that Lith Verhen made himself those enemies while serving the Kingdom." Mirim Distar, the Supreme Commander of the Queen's Corps said.
"If we follow his advice, what message are we sending to our loyal subjects? Thanks for your service, but we'll discard you the moment you're no longer needed?" Her voice was oozing sarcasm. "Hasn't the Ernas's situation already done enough damage?"
"What the Commander is forgetting, probably due to her age, is that's exactly the purpose of this meeting." Kwart's voice was as sweet as an unripe lemon. "Sending the message that people serve the Kingdom and not the other way around.
"The Ernas are just like Verhen. They think to be above the law, to be special. It's time to remind them that personal success doesn't grant special treatment. In this time of turmoil, using double standards can only backfire.
"Think of what happened with Acala. You have showered Verhen with so much glory that a good man who had honorably served the Kingdom all his life fell prey to the Bright Day just because he felt unappreciated."
"I couldn't disagree more." Brigadier General Berion said. "It's not a matter of double standards so much as to reward merit. Back in his day, Ranger Acala did a decent job, sure, but Ranger Verhen destroyed the Black Star, got us two ancient Odi ruins, and I could go on for hours.
"If we treat them the same way, then why should the next Verhen put his life on the line if excellency is rewarded the same as mediocrity?"
Chapter 928 Ruin and War Part 2
"Please, you're saying that only because Verhen earned you that star, Commander Berion" General Morn Griffon said.
"I agree with Kwart. Now that we know from reliable sources that Verhen wants to cut ties with the Kingdom, we must remind him that he needs us more than we need him."
"How can someone sharing the Royal blood be so stupid?" Queen Sylpha had enough of that nonsense. If not for King Meron holding her wrist she would have already ripped a few heads off.
Sylpha wasn't big on diplomacy. At least not when someone threatened the peace she had fought so long to protect.
"What if some stupid noble takes the removal of the detail as our silent approval and Lutia gets 'raided by bandits'? We've just got rid of one Balkor and you want to create another?"
"My Queen, I resent…" Morn tried to say.
"I resent letting you live." Sylpha snarled while tugging her hand so hard that Meron almost lost his grip.
Almost.
The General of the Army wasn't a meek man, but he had fought alongside the Queen on the battlefield and those memories still haunted his sleep. Meron was the only thing standing between Morn and a closed casket funeral.
To make matters worse, the General knew his cousin well enough to understand that Meron nearly letting his wife go was no accident, but a message.
"What the Queen means is that we must always look at the bigger picture." The King said.
"It's not just one Verhen we are talking about. His sister is also a very promising young mage and now there are five more candidates that might have inherited their talent or that will at least receive their magical legacy.
"If the Verhens really are a new magical bloodline, the Kingdom can't afford to lose all of them because of petty short-term thinking. As for the Ernas, I'm tired of hearing people belittling them.
"They are both living heroes and pillars of the Kingdom. If I had to judge the Court based on the Ernas's standards of merit, I'd have to say that I'm surrounded only by incompetent idiots, present company included.
"During her career, Lady Ernas has rooted out more corruption by herself than entire departments since their founding. It's only thanks to her foresight that we have brought valuable people like Kamila Yehval into our fold.
"Despite her humble upbringing, she has proven to be a loyal and resourceful subject of the Kingdom. Lieutenant Yehval is also one of the few tethers that can induce Great Mage Verhen to keep supporting our country in the future.
"As for Lord Ernas, he has made countless contributions to the development of Royal Forgemastering techniques and very few can equal his craftmanship. He's the reason you are able the equip your new armor and blades.
"Losing the Verhens might endanger the Kingdom's future, but losing the Ernas would be a blow we could never recover from." An awkward silence followed Meron's words.
Despite her anger, Sylpha waited for her husband's speech to seep through the thick wall that seemed to shield the brains of half of those present from common sense before talking.
"It's also worth pointing out that Verhen seems to have a privileged channel with the Emperor Beasts that inhabit the Kingdom. Headmaster Marth is barely able to follow in the footsteps of Linjos in that regard, whereas Lith seems to have befriended several powerful beings. Any news on his newfound mentor, Mirim?" Sylpha asked.
"Yes, your Majesty. Basing my investigation on his words, I discovered that he is going to receive the teachings of Faluel the Hydra." The Marchioness replied.
"How can you be so sure?" Archmage Kwart jumped up while the entire room went into uproar.
The Hydra bloodline had ruled the Distar Marquisate since ancient times. They had helped Valeron, the first King, to unify the Kingdom and later to protect its borders. Faluel herself had aided the Royals several times, but always as a mercenary.
No amount of wealth or land had ever been enough to make Hydras willing to share their secrets. Emperor Beasts respected humans, but didn't trust them. People like Faluel would offer their services, but never their loyalty.
"I asked her." Distar's tone was so sour that everyone could hear the 'you dimwit' that had remained unspoken.
"Interesting." The Queen was now calm, drumming her fingers on the table while ignoring the commotion around her. "First Lark, then the Marchioness, then the academy, and now Faluel. It seems that the young Verhen is progressively climbing the power ladder."
"Indeed." The King nodded. "No matter if this is deliberate or just a coincidence, we have only one path ahead."
***
The same day, Lith's house.
The second part of Lith's birthday was exclusive to his family members. Usually, he wouldn't even bring along his current girlfriend, reserving for her the time after dinner.
The previous year he had made an exception because he had only one day off and he couldn't take anymore being caught in the crossfire between his family and Kamila who were both nagging at him to know each other.
It was the reason why when he brought Kamila, Zinya, and her children over for dinner, everyone squirmed in anticipation for the big announcement they could see coming from a mile away.
"I hope the next year will bless us with as many grandchildren as the last." Elina whispered in Raaz's ears while making sure that her words would be perfectly audible while she moved her eyes from Lith to Tista.
"Are you sure you want to do it?" Tista said, showing everyone what a real whisper looked like.
"Yes. If you don't want to, feel free to fake surprise. The only thing I ask you is to help me soften the blow for them." Lith whispered as well.
"I'm not leaving you alone, little brother." Tista was scared as much as Lith was. Scared of rejection, scared of their family blaming them for their lies. "Worst case scenario, we'll get the boot together and I'll move with you to Solus's tower."
Both chuckled at those words, prompting Kamila to pull his sleeve.
"Are you sure you want to do it?" She had no idea what an Awakened was, nor that Lith was about to come clean about both his secrets.
"I know that I'm the one who told you there's nothing to worry about, but with all that's happened, I'm afraid that everyone's nerves are still quite shaken."
"Yes, I'm sure."
"Then take a deep breath and relax. I'll be at your side all the way." Kamila held his hand under the table, happy to see how calm Lith was.
'I'm glad our planning and rehearsing paid off.' She thought. 'He's much more confident now.'
'I'm glad our planning and rehearsing paid off.' Lith thought. 'Now that I'm able to control my upper body, no one can notice my legs shaking under the table.'
Raaz was disappointed when the dinner came to its end and yet nothing happened.
'Damn. I hoped that between all the bad things Lith has witnessed during his military service and Orion's speech, my son would finally settle down. If even his friends see him in a negative light, I'm afraid of what might happen once Lith is out there on his own.'
Chapter 929 Upside Down Part 1
'I don't want Lith suffering Phloria's same fate. Neither of them deserves such treatment, but at least she has several powerful households supporting her. I'm just a farmer who lives in the house my son built and cultivates the lands he bought.
'Aside from my unconditional love, there's nothing I can offer to him.' Raaz thought.
His disappointment was in good company, but it turned into confusion after Lith asked Zinya to take Leria and Aran home with her. The confusion was replaced by amazement less than a minute later when Selia knocked on their door.
No one had seen the huntress for five years, since her sudden and mysterious disappearance during Lith's fourth year at the White Griffon academy. Not only did she seem to not have aged a day, but she was also in the company of a red-haired giant who she introduced as her husband.
"Oh Selia, I'm so happy to see you again." Elina said while hugging her long-lost friend. "You had me worried sick. How could you leave like that, without saying goodbye or even leaving a note?"
Selia Fastarrow was supposed to be in her late-thirties, yet she looked to be barely past her mid-twenties. She was still 1.7 (5'7") meters tall and her skin was tanned from the years of long exposure to the sun.
Her black hair was now longer than the last time Elina had seen her, reaching her shoulders and giving her a gentler look. She wore a heavy fur coat over a cream-colored dress and snow boots.
Lith was amazed seeing Selia's sharp eyes become veiled with tears of emotion, but even more by seeing her wearing a skirt for the first time in his life.
'She never wore a dress nor make up for you.' Solus thought. 'Selia must be really desperate to make a good impression on your family. After all, if they have trouble accepting your hybrid nature, there's no way she can fit back in your lives.'
"I'm so sorry, Elina. I really hope you can forgive me for what I did." Selia said amid tears.
"Of course I can, Selia. The only thing that really matters is that now you're home now." Elina's surprise grew, noticing how emotional the huntress was.
Not even Selia had predicted how many memories returning to Lutia after so many years would have stirred inside her heart. Everything was different yet identical to how she remembered it.
The fields covered in snow, the scent of the Trawn woods carried by the wind, and the voices of the only people she had ever considered like her family made her guts tie in a knot.
Elina welcoming Selia home had been the final blow that made her emotional walls crumble. The fact that their respective houses were nearly identical didn't help her keep her cool either.
"I can't believe this oaf lacks even a spark of originality." She sobbed harder as all eyes moved on the oaf by her side, waiting for an explanation to the odd remark.
"She speaks the truth. I don't." Ryman scratched his head in embarrassment.
After he had found a proper place where to settle down, equally distant from Faluel's lair and from a human settlement, Protector wanted to give his wife the perfect home. He had received so much from Selia, and after forcing her to leave Lutia, her happiness was his first priority.
The problem was that he had no idea what made a human home comfortable, so he had built their love nest based on the projects stored inside Lith's memories. The only changes made to the original design were those Selia had requested him.
While the rest of the family welcomed Selia, half shocked and half moved from the sudden reunion, Lith shook hands with Protector.
"How do you feel, Lith?" Ryman asked with his usual stoic voice.
"Calm like someone who is about to be chased by an angry mob armed with pitchforks and torches." Lith replied, hiding behind his best poker face.
"That makes the two of us." After all that time, Ryman was still amazed by how scary those small people that he could break with one hand were.
They couldn't harm a hair on his body, yet they could easily break the heart of the woman he loved and hurt their children. The cruelty of humans never failed to impress him.
"Your face looks familiar. Have we met before?" Raaz was curious about the familiarity his son displayed with Selia's boyfriend.
Lith smiled a lot in public, but those were just an act. Seeing Lith without his mask despite the presence of a stranger made a good impression on Raaz.
"Yes, I lived in your village for a short while, but that's a long story and it's not for me to say it." Ryman replied.
"Is this baby spit?" Rena asked after recognizing the familiar smell coming from Selia's clothes.
"Gods, I was certain to have cleaned it up. I really have to learn how to use magic." She had fed Fenrir before leaving and the burp had left a stain that Selia had hastily tried to remove.
"Congratulations!" Rena hugged her sister-in-arms. Motherhood was a fierce battle that had cost her most of the clothes Lith didn't Forgemaster. "Is it your first?"
"Third, actually." More congratulations ensued while Senton and Raaz patted Protector's shoulders.
Between Lith's approval and Selia trusting him enough to start a family with him, the stranger had to be a good man.
After hearing from Rena about her triplets and sharing with her a few anecdotes about her own children, Selia started to explain to Lith's family how she had met Protector and the reason that had forced them to leave.
At first, they had moved from Lutia to a nearby village just to avoid Lith discovering that Protector was still alive, but after Lilia's birth, they had relocated to a safe place after the scared neighbors had tried to harm the baby.
Everyone now remembered the stranger that had lived with Selia before her disappearance and Protector was still dearly mourned. The members of Lith's family knew how deep his bond with the allegedly late Ry was and honored his sacrifice to protect the students of the academy from Balkor's monsters.
Accepting that they were actually the same person and alive at that, shook their nerves quite a bit.
"He- I mean, you- Oh, gods." Elina was so shocked that she was incapable of coming up with a coherent sentence.
Everyone kept moving their eyes from Selia to Ryman, expecting them to say it was all a joke at any moment. Yet nothing happened. Kamila was sitting next to the huntress, holding her hand to give Selia strength and courage.
Even Tista didn't know what to say and she was on friendly terms with several Emperor Beasts. She looked around the room, looking for something to say that wouldn't sound incredibly rude.
Then she noticed that neither Lith nor Kamila showed any hint of surprise on their faces.
"You knew?" Tista was glad to change the topic. "For how long?"
"I knew that he was an Emperor Beast from the beginning, but I only discovered that Protector was still alive less than a year ago." Lith replied.
"I never told you because I knew it would have been hard to accept and because it wasn't up to me revealing someone else's secrets. I asked them to come here tonight because Selia would like to return to Lutia and I got something to tell you."
Chapter 930 Upside Down Part 2
Lith explained to them how Protector had helped him in Zantia and later introduced him to their common mentor, Faluel.
"Wait are you saying that hot woman was a Hydra?" Raaz felt as Mogar had suddenly turned upside down. He had no idea who might be human and who was an impostor. The thought scared him so much that he looked at Kamila in suspicion.
"How can you find hot a girl old enough to be your daughter?" Elina snarled.
"She's actually several hundreds of years old." Ryman said, trying to calm them down but achieving the opposite. The room was about to erupt in chaos and panic when Tista said:
"Wait, there's something I don't understand. Even though I'm still scared shitless at the idea that some creatures can change their appearance like I change my clothes, I don't get why Faluel accepted to help you so much.
"I mean, an Emperor Beast teaching to a human is unheard of except that in fairy tales."
"That's the whole point of this meeting." Lith said. "In a few months I will be done with the army and I will be staying at Faluel's until the end of my apprenticeship. It could last months or even years and I don't want to lie to you about where I am and what I'm doing.
"To allow you to understand the reason behind my choice of career path and why I can't trust the Griffon Kingdom, I need to show you something." Lith took off his shoes and had the shirt of the Skinwalker armor disappear, remaining bare-chested.
He wanted them to witness how deep the changes his body would undergo after shapeshifting and he didn't want the clothes to hide the scales or the talons.
"Oh gods!" Tista gasped while shielding her eyes with her hands, yet leaving the fingers spread out enough so as to not have any problem seeing.
While his daughter was blushing up to her ears, Elina looked at her son with one hand placed above her heart and eyes full of wonder that Lith would expect in someone looking at a work of art like Michelangelo's Pietà for the first time.
Rena instinctively felt her husband's strong, muscular arms typical of a blacksmith before moving down to Senton's soft belly typical of a sedentary lifestyle.
"I promise you I will exercise, but now please stop comparing me with him." Senton felt so embarrassed that he wanted to die. He was still a young man yet Lith made him feel an old coot.
"Oh my. I love it when they do that. It never gets old." Selia's reddened cheeks while she nudged Kamila made Lith's girlfriend incredibly embarrassed yet proud, as if she was being congratulated for something she had contributed to making.
'What the heck is wrong with them? This isn't anything like I had predicted this would play.' Lith couldn't understand why the tension in the room was gone nor why it had been replaced by an awkward feeling.
'It's not the first time they see me half-naked. When I was recovering from saving Protector's life…'
'You were just twelve.' Solus cut him short. 'And you were also all skin and bones due to fatigue.'
'Oh.' Only then did Lith realize the extent of his miscalculation.
'Oh indeed!' Solus had to agree with Selia. She never got tired of that kind of show.
No impurities meant no imperfections during the growth spurt, no moles, no excess body hair nor fat. Lith had the build of an Olympic athlete at his prime, with broad shoulders and muscles that looked like they had been chiseled rather than trained.
"Goddammit, stop staring! This isn't a strip-show what I meant to show you is this."
Lith shapeshifted into his hybrid form, becoming over 2 meters (7') tall while his pink skin turned into black scales, whose tips were reddened by the inner fire burning within.
The change almost happened as if his body was comprised of domino tiles that were being flipped in a chain reaction. Razor-sharp claws replaced Lith's nails and talons grew on his toes and heel, making his feet resemble those of a bird of prey.
New limbs came out of his back, with a short tail full of bone spikes growing out of his spine, as well as a set of black membranous wings that erupted from his shoulder blades. They stretched to either side of the room for a second before wrapping around his body like a mantle.
The wings were twisted and unnatural, like the hands of a giant resting on his shoulders. Lith's face was now a black slate, apparently without a mouth or nose. Two small curved horns came out of his temples while his three eyes looked at those present.
Despite the fact that the house was warm and Lith wasn't emitting a single shred of killing intent, the members of his family felt a cold shiver running down their spines. Their stomachs were twisted in a knot, each one for a different reason.
Elina jumped up, walking in front of Lith and examining him as if she was seeing her son for the first time.
"Does turning into this thing hurt?" Her face was pale and her breath short. "Who or what did this to you? Was it Balkor? Was it the goddamn army with its experiments? Is this the reason why we couldn't see you for so many months?"
The last two questions were coated in an unbridled fury that surprised Lith. He would have never expected that a person as kind as his mother could harbor so much anger.
Lith shook his head and told her about his first tribulation in Kandria. How things had started to change, both inside and outside of him, and how those changes had become deeper over time.
"Are you saying that this started when you were still a student? That this is…" She had no words for it, only fear. "What is this thing?"
"It's not a thing. It's a part of me. Some say that I resemble a Dragon, others a demon, but they all agree on the term hybrid." Lith's voice was calm while he tried to answer to the best of his abilities.
Raaz was incapable of moving from his chair as doubts and insecurities ravaged his mind.
'I always knew that Lith was too smart and powerful to really be my son.' He had started doubting Lith's paternity way before hearing the word "hybrid".
The moment Raaz had seen Lith shapeshift, ugly thoughts had popped inside his mind like mushrooms in a damp cave.
'If Emperor Beasts can assume human form, then Elina might have been unfaithful to me and that thing might not be my son.' Raaz was an honest man, but the paranoia Lith had infected him with now made him expect the worst from people.
Rena didn't squeeze Senton's so hard ever since her first childbirth, almost breaking his fingers, yet he didn't even notice. Rena couldn't stop shifting her gaze from Lith to Elina and then to Raaz, wondering which one of her parents was actually an Emperor Beast.
'Mom cheating on Dad it's impossible and Lith is my brother. I saw him being born and my blood is screaming to me that thing is the same person I held to my chest for years. The only possible explanation is that one of my parents lied to me all my life.'
Chapter 931 Upside Down Part 3
'Is it because of one of my parents that Tista was born ill? Is it because of them that my baby almost died?' Rena instinctively touched her womb, afraid of what could come out of it the next time she got pregnant.
Senton, instead, was quaking in his boots. He wasn't afraid of Lith so much of being the only human in the room, afraid that one of the monsters hidden among them could harm his wife.
'I knew that there was something wrong in a runt six years younger than me who could scare the shit out of me with a simple glare. That thing must have replaced the real Lith years ago. It would explain everything.' Senton thought.
"Do you have any idea how this could have happened?" Elina's words derailed everyone's thoughts.
Just like Rena, all of her instincts were telling Elina that was her son. She wasn't afraid of who he was nor she believed even for one second that he would harm her. What terrified her were the consequences Lith's condition might have on his future.
"None. According to Faluel, either I am an anomaly or something inside my blood, our blood, Awakened." Lith looked Tista in the eyes while he spoke.
His older sister understood from his choice of words that Lith was warning her.
'I can't believe he's planned so far ahead.' She thought. 'Lith didn't warn me in advance to make me have a natural reaction to the news and allow me to play dumb in the case things go wrong.
'If becoming an Awakened makes the members of our family turn into hybrids, then I'm next. He has yet to mention being an Awakened so that if our parents disown him, I'd be safe as long as I keep my mouth shut.'
Her surprise quickly turned into outrage.
'I don't know whether to be more insulted by the fact that he thought I could stoop so low as to abandon him or that he told Kamila first!'
Tista had yet to make a move or say a word because she was worried about Lith, but she didn't miss how the Lieutenant was unfazed by the revelation.
"Why did you wait for so long before telling us? Was I such a bad mother that you thought I would chase you away just for this?" Elina's eyes became veiled with tears.
She had no idea what she had done wrong to lose the love of her eldest sons, but her ignorance didn't make her wounds hurt any less. Elina knew that Orpal's unbound selfishness had forced her to disown him and that it had been Trion's envy to drive him away.
Yet, as a mother, she could only blame herself for being unable to protect her children from those toxic emotions.
"I didn't tell you because I already gave you plenty of reasons to worry all the time." Lith's voice sounded like the wind howling inside an abyss. "Now, however, after what Faluel did for Rena and considering what she is going to do for me, I couldn't lie anymore.
"I will spend a lot of time with her and I wanted to let you know why. I know that you're not stupid, Mom. The moment you asked Jirni about her, you would have discovered that there is no Faluel among the known mages."
Elina had actually already talked with Jirni about the Hydra during Lith's birthday party and was waiting for her reply.
"He's telling you the truth, Elina." Kamila stood by her side, holding her hand. "Lith always trusted you. He simply didn't want to burden you with a secret that would only make your life harder."
"Wait, you knew?" Elina sniffed. A small part of her was hurt because he had told Kamila first, but a bigger part was happy that his son could rely on such a wonderful person.
"Yes. Lith told me for our anniversary, before things between us got too serious. He wanted to give me the possibility to decide whether to continue our relationship or not since it's likely that our children will be born hybrids as well." Kamila said while blushing.
They had never talked about having babies together, but she assumed it was heavily implied by Lith introducing her to his friends and their hybrid children. Also, after everything that had happened to Rena and her talk with Selia, Kamila couldn't stop thinking about motherhood.
"Well, yes. If you need some time to think we could leave and…" Lith's panic started to show. He didn't want to raise the stakes by involving his hypothetical offspring.
"I don't need time, silly." Elina embraced both of them, expecting to meet a stone-cold wall of scales and finding warmth instead.
"Eighteen years ago, I brought you into this world and into this very house. I don't care how do you look like or what race your friends belong to. All I ever wanted for you was to be happy.
"That night I almost lost you and it was the worst moment of my life. I can't bear the thought of you spending even one second thinking that your mother doesn't love you. This is your home and it will always be as long as I draw breath."
Elina had taken a liking to Kamila only after knowing her and her sister better. During the last few months, Kamila had been her only link with her son and the two women had talked for hours at a time.
It had made Elina grow fond of her and set aside all the doubts she had about the age gap between Kamila and Lith being an obstacle to their relationship. Hearing her say those words about children had scared Lith but had made his mother's heart flutter.
The fact that Kamila knew everything and had chosen to stay by his side despite all the possible implications was more than she could dream to ask for anyone.
Hearing Elina's words made Raaz relive what he remembered as the most terrible day of his life, when he had almost lost both his son and his wife. He remembered the pain his wife had endured during the long labor, the blood she had lost, and most of all, the moment when both she and the baby had gone limp.
'Gods, I guess it's true what Orion says. Peace really makes people become stupid. There's no way that Elina was unfaithful to me. Back before Lith started to hunt, my family was all I had.
'Elina and I spent together every single moment of every single day trying to put food on the table and buy clothes for those little pests to destroy. We had so little, yet we were happy anyway because we had each other.
'I still remember how joyful she was when she told me of being pregnant with Lith. Even though Tista was already showing the first signs of her illness, even though we didn't have much to eat, she was happy because it was born out of our love.
'I can't believe I doubted her, even if for a split-second. How could I let my paranoia make me forget all the hardships we went through together? That's not a thing, that's my son. The same who healed Tista and took care of this family, sharing with us every single dime he made.'
Raaz started to cry in self-loathing and joined the three in their embrace.
Chapter 932 Upside Down Part 4
"Don't worry, Lith. Your secret is safe with us." Raaz said. "You're hot, you know?"
"Dad, eww!" Even with his mouth still covered by the scales, Lith's voice managed to express all the awkwardness those words inspired and made Kamila laugh heartily.
"Not like that! I mean that I'm sweating here." Raaz turned beet red from the heat and embarrassment as Elina joined Kamila in her laughter.
Seeing that scene wiped all the doubts that were riddling Rena's mind.
'My parents are definitely too human to be an evil overlord in disguise. I shouldn't have let fear get the best of me.' She thought while turning to look at her husband in the eyes.
"I'm sorry, dear, but this is my family. I can't abandon them nor can I ask you to carry this burden if you don't feel up to it. If you don't want to have anything to do with us, I'll gladly consent to annul our marriage.
"Yet I have to ask you to keep all you heard tonight a secret. If not for the trust that my brother showed you, at least do it for our children. If this story goes out, they'll suffer for it as well."
Senton was still so shocked that he could barely make sense of the sounds coming from Rena's mouth. The word "annulment", however, cleared his head better than a frozen shower and the part about their children made his heart skip several beats.
"Rena, I am but a country bumpkin who can barely understand half of what has been said tonight, let alone make sense of what your brother just did. The only thing I know for sure is that I can't imagine my life without you anymore.
"I would rather die than let you go or let even the King lay a finger on you or on our children." Lith terrified Senton from the first day they met, the revelation of him being a hybrid had barely tipped the scale.
Yet Senton had kept courting Rena for the same reason he now wholeheartedly accepted his scaly brother-in-law. Because his greatest fear wasn't facing a monster, but spending the rest of his life without the woman he loved.
Not to mention that after Lith had saved their baby, Senton wouldn't care even if Lith turned out to be an otherworldly demon. The couple stood up merrily and joined the group hug, letting Tista sigh in relief.
She had waited that long not because she was uncertain about what to do, but because she didn't want anyone to feel the pressure of being the last and accept Lith only to not be left out of the family.
"What a night." She said while becoming a part of the loving crowd.
Selia held Protector's hand tight, sobbing in silence. That scene gave her hope. Hope that she could get back to her old life with her old friends. Hope that her children wouldn't be forced to spend their whole lives in hiding, with only magical beasts as their companions.
After a while, Lith reverted to his human form and released the hug, prompting everyone to get back to their seats.
"I thank you for your words and your love. It means the world to me." One of the biggest hurdles in Lith's life was gone. Until that night, he could only hope his family would accept him, whereas now he was sure of it.
"Put on your clothes, please." Senton said. Now the fear was gone, but his pride was still hurt big time.
The Skinwalker armor covered Lith again while Tista, Selia, and Kamila giggled like little girls. Solus was doing the same, but telepathically.
"As I was saying, I know I'm asking a lot from you, but there's still something you should know. Remember when I told you that Faluel thinks that something in my blood Awakened? I meant that. I'm an Awakened." Lith made a dramatic pause, waiting for their reactions.
"We're all awake, son." Raaz scratched his chin. "You get to sleep and then awake. Unless you're dead. Or undead." Everyone laughed at the joke except the Awakened in the room, who facepalmed together at Lith's blunder.
'Fuck me sideways!' Solus did her best Lith impression while he was still too embarrassed by the literal dad joke to even think. 'I forgot that normal people have no idea what an Awakened is and that the word that defines those like me is generic on purpose.'
'Thanks, captain smartass.' Lith explained to his family what being an Awakened meant.
He told them how it granted strength, silent magic, and even longevity. Then he gave them a practical example by conjuring a powerful storm between his hands without chanting.
He looked at his relative faces and their reaction shocked him. Mostly because they had none.
"Oh, you mean that? I've known for years, but I'm glad you finally decided to share it with us." Elina said.
"Indeed." Raaz yawned. All those emotions had made him sleepy. "I'm glad you are finally opening up to your old man, son. I hope that from now on you will not feel the need to keep so many secrets from us."
"It's not a big deal. Even my father can fuel the furnace without chanting." Senton had no idea how true and fake magic worked. Like most people in Lutia, he only used chore magic.
"I'll explain it to you later, darling." Rena chuckled, finding his naivety incredibly cute.
"You what?" Kamila was the only one reacting to the revelation with amazement. Her mind was reliving all the times she had seen Lith fight and now many of her questions finally had an answer.
"You should have told her, sweetie. Now Kamila is upset." Elina caressed Kamila's head with motherly affection. Whether those two ended up marrying or not, to Elina she would always be part of their family.
"How did you find out?" Lith asked.
"Well, I started to have my doubts back when you found a way to treat Tista like not even Nana could. I've witnessed Nana using a lot of spells during our check-ups, but none of her them took that long to be cast.
"At first, I thought you were a genius, but then you started to give us all those baths that made us beautiful and made us swore secrecy. I knew little about magic so I couldn't connect the dots, but everything made sense once you started the academy." Elina said.
"Yeah. If before meeting your friends and Professors, we thought your abilities were something only talented mages could do. Once we got to see more mages in action, we understood that you were different and why you wanted to keep it a secret." Raaz nodded.
"How stupid do you think we are?" Rena laughed. "Even when you helped Faluel treating my babies, Quylla was the only one chanting. I was scared, not blind and deaf."
"Hey, I'm not stupid, but when he told me I was shocked!" Tista felt rather annoyed by their casual attitude about the big secret she shared with her little brother.
"Of course you were, silly." Rena pinched Tista's cheek fondly. "You never questioned his abilities. You worshipped Lith so much that you wouldn't flinch even if he turned the day into night.
"Discovering that he wasn't actually a god but just a human with a secret must have been terrible for you."
Chapter 933 Cursed Objects Part 1
"I-" Tista's mouth remained open, but no words came out. As much as it bothered her to admit it, Rena was right. Her brother was her hero, so she had always taken Lith's words at face value and assumed he was the best of the best.
Doubting either thing would have been heresy for her younger self, so she had never connected the dots.
"What does be an Awakened imply?" Kamila asked. She didn't believe in free meals and suspected there was a reason why not every single being on Mogar was an Awakened. There had to be a catch.
Protector explained how becoming an Awakened worked and revealed the existence of the Council to them, going into detail of the internal power struggles that now involved Lith.
He told them how despite their small numbers, Awakened could greatly affect politics and that they obeyed no law but that of the Council.
"Let me get this straight." Between the rollercoaster of emotions and the long explanations, she was getting a headache." You must keep the fact that you are an Awakened from the Kingdom and the fact that you're a hybrid from everyone, correct?"
"Correct." Lith nodded.
"Also, after meeting other Awakened, you got dragged into their squabbles and now you need Faluel's help to withstand the pressure they will apply on you through their connections with the upper echelons of the Kingdom."
"Correct again." Lith said.
"Oh, I'm an Awakened as well, if anyone cares." Tista grumbled while releasing her cyan aura, hoping to get a reaction.
"I'm so proud of you, pumpkin." Raaz kissed her head before ruffling her hair, making Tista feel like a kid who had mastered the multiplication tables rather than the secrets of magic.
"Is there anything else we should know?" Elina asked.
Lith looked at Solus's ring for a split second before answering:
"I'd say it is more than enough for one birthday."
'I'm sorry, but I don't want to introduce you as a thing. I want them to meet you as a person.' Lith thought.
'There's no need to apologize. I feel the same.' Solus enveloped his mind in the only embrace she could offer him. 'Besides, if they see your ring come to life, they'll never wear any of the jewelry you've gifted them again.'
The thought made them both chuckle.
"Actually, there is." Selia said, making everyone turn toward her.
"I was wondering if I could come to visit you from time to time. Maybe I could bring my children along to play with yours. Lilia and Leran would love to make some friends of their age. They are respectively six and four years old."
"Of course you can. You'll always be welcome here. Feel free to come whenever you like." Elina smiled at her old friend, glad to have her back. The fact that Selia had named her kids after Lith was a big plus in her book.
"Thank you so much. I'll make sure to bring their nanny along. He's great with damage control."
Everyone laughed at what they assumed was a joke, unaware of how serious Selia was.
After getting the kids back from Zinya and saying goodbye to the Fastarrow couple, Lith entered his bedroom feeling like a huge burden had been lifted from his shoulders. Everything looked more vivid and beautiful.
The only sour note was that Kamila had been silent most of the time since she had learned about Awakening.
"So you gave your family a beauty treatment." She said while changing into a nightgown.
"Yes, why?"
"What about your friends? Are you also the secret behind Friya's beauty?" She casually asked.
"No, she's a natural. I only treated Phloria a bit because she had problems with her hair."
"Ah." That monosyllable held the coldness of an ice age, making Lith wonder if it was time to stop being sincere for the night.
"Sounds right. Your ex had long hair as well, so you know how hard and tiresome is to take good care of it. What about your other ex-girlfriends?" Her voice was calm but distant as if they were talking about work.
"I wouldn't call them girlfriends. I never spent enough time with them to consider them more than flings." Lith diverted all power to the frontal shields to block the passive-aggressive laser beams.
"What about me? I think we have spent together quite some time and you know I'm always on the clock. Yet I didn't get any mysterious Lith's blessing to make my life easier." She pointed her finger at the feminine products she always had to bring along.
"I remember that a few months ago, someone told me that she's my girlfriend, not my toy. Also, she asked me to not use magic on her without her consent. Since I really care for that someone, I took those words at face value and respected her will." Being cornered, Lith pulled the old switcheroo trick, putting Kamila against herself.
"Right." She suddenly remembered having that conversation. "This someone sounds like an incredibly smart and strong-willed woman."
Kamila's smile finally extended to her eyes, raising the temperature in the room of several degrees and thawing the ice formations between them.
"Now that you know everything about me, is there something you would like to ask me?" Lith could almost hear the all-clear in the air.
"I'd like to apply for one of your beautification programs." Kamila snuggled up to him, feeling very tired from the last two days.
"No problem, but we have to take things nice and easy, otherwise people would notice and ask too many questions."
"Don't worry. Even not having to untangle my hair anymore and avoiding split ends would be great." Her voice was already sleepy, but she managed to emit a low purring sound of pleasure before dozing off.
"Sure, no need to thank me. You're welcome." Lith sneered, whispering to himself since Kamila was already snoring. "Would you like me to treat Zinya as well?"
"Yes, please. At her age, she needs all the help she can get to find a decent companion." She opened one eye while answering. She ignored the high-density sarcasm layer coating Lith's rhetorical question and dealt the finishing blow.
"What? How? You were supposed to be asleep!" Lith stopped whispering in surprise.
"I'm part of the military, baby. I'm always vigilant." Kamila said with a smirk.
***
Lith and Solus spent the rest of their leave splitting their time between family and work. As promised, Solus led the research for the tier five magic holding ring while Lith assisted her.
By the time he resumed his service, they had consumed all the purified Orichalcum they had. One ring turned out to be a failure because they couldn't handle a sudden spike in the Orichalcum's energy amplifying effects that didn't manifest for its smelted counterpart.
The prototypes they had crafted worked as tier four rings and their production went without a hitch, whereas the real deal required the purified Orichalcum that made the experiment go haywire.
'The silver lining is that as soon as you learn how to control your Origin Flames, we can recycle the ring. Also, after harnessing the power of the purified Orichalcum, we obtained a ring that can store two spells instead of just one.' Solus thought.
'Yeah, but remember what Orion said. Until we don't start our apprenticeship with Faluel, we better not use War nor our latest creations. Or at least we have to take care of not leaving witnesses.' Lith replied.
Solus agreed with him, but she was actually worried by War.
Chapter 934 Cursed Objects Part 2
The sword wasn't sentient, yet it seemed to have been imbued with the vicious feelings Orion had experienced while crafting it, if not even inherited part of the spirit of its creator.
Whenever they practiced with War, she could almost feel it craving for violence and the fact that Lith had to shed blood just to put it away was really creepy. Orion didn't lie to him, War refused to leave his hand without being fed first.
Giving it a blood sheath was the only way to soothe the blade's fury. It was one of the reasons why he left it inside his pocket dimension most of the time. The main reason, however, was witnessing what happened when someone who wasn't Lith or Solus touched the blade.
Even though it had happened only once, the memory still haunted Solus's sleep.
They were back in the Kellar region, doing their patrol. Everything was quiet ever since Dawn had been chased out of the Griffon Kingdom. The Undead Courts were too busy dealing with the Master's Organization and trying to bring the Bright Day back into their fold to bother the Kingdom.
Lith could feel it in the air, something big was going to happen. It wasn't just the bards telling the tales of his adventures everywhere he went, the criminals also seemed to have gone into hiding since he didn't receive calls except for those related to social events.
There wasn't much time left before Lith's honorable discharge, so he had accepted Xedros's invitation and was going back to his place. The Wyvern was the Emperor Beast in charge of the region and their deal was still in place.
Lith didn't trust him, but even if now he could count on Nalrond to teach him Light Mastery, the Wyvern was still the only expert he could consult about Origin Flames. Also, if Faluel was right, Lith might need his help to deal with the Council.
After so many months, Lith assumed that Xedros was back at his peak condition, so when the Wyvern sought an audience with him, Lith asked to meet in a neutral place.
The two hadn't met often since Lith had treated Xedros's condition. Their trades had continued, earning the Ranger a few tips about Origin Flames and the Wyvern a few new ingredients, but nothing more.
If possible, their relationship was even worse than after their first meeting. After risking his life so many times, Lith had become more than just paranoid. His battle instincts had become so keen that over time he had managed to perceive an odd kind of bloodlust coming from the Wyvern whenever they talked.
A greed that shone in Xedros's eyes so intense that it was visible even through his hologram. Because of that, Lith communicated the drop spot only after leaving the goods and asked for tips via long-distance calls, never in person.
He arrived at the convened place an hour early, scouting the area for traps and arrays. Only when he was sure there was nothing ad no one lying in ambush did Lith land.
Much to his surprise, Xedros arrived shortly after he was done and performed a thorough inspection as well. The Almost Wyrm, as he was mockingly called by some and respectfully by other lesser Dragons, couldn't afford to underestimate Lith anymore.
'First, he treated Tyris's curse, and then he survived a tussle with the Horseman of Dawn. If what I heard is true, this might be my chance to get my hands on an omni pocket and the secret to become a Dragon at the same time. I cannot make a single mistake.' Xedros thought while landing.
"I asked you to meet me in Zantia." Lith caressed the hilt of War, ready to unsheathe it the moment he even suspected Xedros would attempt something funny, yet cautious to not unleash it at the same time.
The blade had a bloodlust of its own and Lith didn't want the Wyvern to mistake his intentions and attack in self-defense.
"Why do we have to meet on a plateau? Are you afraid of humans?"
"Me? Afraid of those pathetic meat sacks?" Xedros's voice was full of venom. "It's just that I don't know how to shapeshift. Body Sculpting is not an easy subject to study."
"After all these months you still have to master tier five Healing magic? Isn't it the very same light magic you use for your constructs?" Lith was flabbergasted.
"Yeah, and isn't it the very same light magic you used to heal me? Yet I doubt you can shape the simplest of constructs." Xedros sneered.
"I spent all this time holed up in my cave, reading and practicing healing magic, but without a master, it's not easy to improve. On top of that, shapeshifting requires altering your own life force. A single mistake can lead to death or worse, like losing my powers."
Now that they were close enough, the Wyvern's detection array allowed him to scan the hybrid properly. Xedros was hoping that the stories he heard were fake and that the reason why Lith had survived was that he had submitted to Dawn.
It would give Xedros the perfect excuse to kill him and get his hands on one if not two omni pockets. He could sell the second for an astronomical price that would allow him to make up for the almost two years lost due to Tyris's wrath.
Unfortunately for him, Lith still only had a single dimensional aura surrounding his body and the array revealed no cursed object. Lith had once again left Solus nearby to prevent the Wyvern from spotting her.
"Let's get to business, shall we?" Xedros said with a low growl, baring his teeth and making a few drops of his venom sizzle on contact with the ground.
"What do you want?" Lith had no idea why the Emperor Beast was so pissed off nor did he care.
"You are an incredibly lucky man, Lith Verhen, and I would like you to share that luck with me. In exchange, I'm willing to help you face the incoming storm and maybe even your enemies." Xedros said.
"Me? Lucky?" Lith didn't laugh only because he couldn't afford to lower his guard. "Read my reports. I almost die on a daily basis."
"Stop pretending with me!" The Wyvern snarled, uncaring for the appearances anymore. "You possess an omni pocket, you somehow defeated the Horseman of Dawn, and you met a fabled creature, so yes, you are damn lucky."
"I have indeed sent the Bright Day running, but must I must plead ignorance about the rest. What's an omni pocket and what creature are you talking about?" Lith shrugged.
Xedros wasn't the army, so Lith had no reason to play modest, quite the contrary. He didn't need to make a good impression on the Wyvern to get help from the beasts' Council. Scaring the crap out of them worked just fine as well.
"You really don't know?" Xedros opened his eyes wide and his mouth agape, staring at Lith as if he was the biggest fool on Mogar. Then, the Wyvern burst out laughing. Yet it was a cruel laughter devoid of joy and filled only with contempt.
"That's good news, at least for me. It seems you really need an honest friend since your dear master Faluel keeps you in the dark." The Almost Wyrm stopped laughing and wore the soft smile of a predator who has spotted the weakest member of a herd.
Chapter 935 Friends and Enemies Part 1
"What do you mean?" Lith trusted Faluel, but the Wyvern appeared too confident to dismiss his words as lies.
"First, any decent Dimensional Mage can perceive the spatial distortion surrounding your body. It's the proof you have an omni pocket. A rare and powerful device the capacity of which increases with its user strength.
"Also, unlike common dimensional items, once someone has imprinted an omni pocket, they can access their storage space even though they don't carry it on them. It makes its owner unpredictable and very dangerous." Xedros said.
"Let's say I do have one, in what way is it any different from other dimensional items? I'm not an Emperor Beast so I don't go around butt naked. Anyone who wears clothes can also have several storage devices." Lith shrugged.
"Normal items can be searched for and removed, whereas an omni pocket can be accessed even when you are 'butt naked', as you put it. Also, consider this. A dimensional item is the focus for the storage space but what about an omni pocket?
"Have you ever wondered why you can still summon your possessions even when you are thousands of kilometers away from your relic?" Xedros asked.
"Yeah, several times." Lith lied through his teeth. He always had Solus with him and neither of them had ever questioned how their pocket dimension worked.
"I'm willing to give you a hint as a sign of goodwill, but for the real answer, you'll have to help me. Let me guess, in moments of distress you conjure your items out of emerald flames, correct?" Xedros wore a sly smile.
"How do you…"
"Help first, answer second." The Wyvern cut Lith short. "Also, is it true that you met a Rezar, a member of the fabled werepeople?"
"Yes. We fought Dawn together. Why?" Lith asked.
"Gods, how can you be so ignorant? I take back my earlier comment about you being lucky. If that scum who sired you didn't abandon you with humans like trash, you might have already achieved true greatness.
"Worry not, I'm willing to fill the spot that both your parent and master left open." Xedros smile turned compassioned, but it only met Lith's hostility.
He loved Raaz, and unlike Faluel, the Wyvern had yet to prove himself to be more than venom and arrogance.
"Did he mention that his tribe lived in a special place?" Xedros was actually pleased by Lith's reaction. Hunting easy prey was boring and after being holed up for almost two years he could use some fun.
"Correct again. What's your point?"
"My point is that what he probably failed to mention is how special it was. Have you ever heard about the Fringes? They are hidden zones of this planet where the will of Mogar manifests itself." The Almost Wyrm didn't wait for an answer and proceeded with the explanation.
'I can feel a greed in Lith that almost rivals my own. The greed typical of Dragons. I only need to trigger it and he will dance in the palm of my hand.' He thought.
"They are similar to mana geyser but much bigger and more powerful. Fringes are out of phase with the rest of the world and are almost inaccessible. It's where fabled races like elves and werepeople live, spending their entire lives without any contact with those like us."
The word "elves" made Lith flinch. He had only met their Fallen cousins, the orcs, and they had given him plenty of trouble. The real deal was bound to be even worse.
"And I'm supposed to care about Fringes because…" Lith said.
"Because Fringes are places where the boundaries between the physical and the spiritual world are paper-thin. You can scry Mogar's mind to study the past, observe the present, and even catch a glimpse of future events.
"That's not all. Inside a Fringe, if you are lucky and competent enough, you can call upon Mogar and ask her questions to which she answers!" Xedros was getting more and more excited, to the point that he sounded like a zealot.
"Like what?" Lith asked.
"Do you really have no doubt nor goal in your life? All living and undead beings want to Awaken while those who Awakened want to live forever. As for me, I want to learn how to evolve into a real Dragon! Do you understand me now?" Xedros brimmed with joy just at the thought of achieving his life-long dream.
Lith nodded while considering his options.
'I could ask Mogar about the reason I'm here, about a way to never reincarnate again, about Solus's past, or even about what becoming her personal Lord of Destruction implies.' He thought.
'Yet what Xedros is offering me are just fairy tales, whereas Faluel saved my nephew and Nalrond already offered to teach me Light Mastery. Actions speak way louder than promises and I still don't trust this lizzie.'
"Just a few questions. If Fringes are such magical places, how come werepeople haven't already solved the problem of their dual nature nor did they find a way to destroy Dawn? If elves are real, then why didn't they conquer the world?" Lith didn't believe in free meals.
Xedros's story was too good to be true. To make matters worse, hearing Lith's questions made every trace of enthusiasm disappear from the face of the Wyvern only for it to be replaced by the guilty look of a kid caught with his hand in the cookie jar.
"There's a catch." Xedros nervously licked his lips with a tongue long enough to make even a chameleon gulp in disbelief. "Being close to Mogar's will means that you can communicate with her, but also that she can notice you.
"You might have noticed that this planet has an agenda of its own. If Mogar sees something she doesn't like, she destroys it. Not many seek an audience with her because most of those who succeed don't live to tell the tale."
"Then what makes you think it will be any different for you and me?" Lith asked.
"Because unlike those who came before me, I don't plan on hoarding that knowledge for myself. I want to give all Wyverns, no to all lesser Dragons, the chance to ascend to their rightful position.
"If I'm wrong, then Mogar is free to smite me. There's no point in living hundreds of years in mediocrity. If my dream is just a dream, I'd rather wake up." Xedros said.
Lith found his reasoning incredibly arrogant. Xedros had achieved a purple mana core, mastery over light magic, and was likely to live for a millennium if not more.
'If that's mediocrity, what about the rest of us? What a self-righteous buffoon. I'm ready to bet that even if he ever manages to become a Dragon, it will not be enough to sate his ego.' Lith thought.
"I'm sorry, but after the fight, I lost contact with the guy. Moreover, I have yet to finish my military service. I can't help you right now." He actually said. Lith wasn't going to accept any term without talking with Nalrond and Faluel first.
"It's fine." Xedros replied, making Lith raise an eyebrow in surprise. "I have a long life ahead of me whereas with your crippled life force, I'm sure you'll come to reason in a while. Also, my offer for help still stands.
Chapter 936 Friends and Enemies Part 2
"When Dawn comes back for her revenge, call me and I'll come to your aid. You'll get rid of her forever and I'll get my omni pocket. Everybody wins." Xedros said.
"You want to merge with Dawn? Do you realize what does it mean?" Lith was flabbergasted.
"It means acquiring endless power, millennia of knowledge and resources. Do not fret. If Mogar considered Dawn a threat, she wouldn't have survived inside the Fringe for so long. Humans fear cursed objects because they have both weak minds and bodies.
"I'm older than any of them will ever be and I've trained my willpower through centuries of magical practice. There's not a single speck of weakness in my whole being." Xedros said.
'No humility either.' Lith thought.
"Fine by me. If Dawn shows up, I'll call you. Same in the case I find that hybrid again." Lith's answer pleased the Wyvern, who in exchange offered his help with the Council.
Lith left first, resuming his patrol and hoping the three months of military service he had left would pass uneventfully.
***
Blood Desert, Forgotten Plume tribe, the same month when Lith's leave took place.
Winter was a meaningless word for the people living in the desert. The climate was always hot, clouds were nigh non-existent, and they would see snow only as pictures in illustrated books.
Like all of the desert tribes, the Forgotten Plume was nomadic. They were forced to relocate periodically to let the oases refill and follow the animals that represented their main source of food.
No one besides Overlord Salaark, her fake Awakened, the Feathers, and the merchants they traded with knew the position of each tribe. Moreover, the Blood Desert was the largest of the three great countries.
Those two factors made unexpected guests something more fabled than snow itself.
That day, however, a lonely figure came walking and puffing as he crossed one dune after another, visible for kilometers thanks to his white robes shining under the sun akin to a precious gem.
The children of the village spotted him first and alerted their parents. Even though Salaark and her fake Awakened kept the desert at peace, criminals still existed. Sometimes a small tribe of marauders would follow a migrating village and attack it the moment its Feather would leave.
On top of that, the people of the Forgotten Plume tribe were wary of strangers because their Feather was one of the most wanted men of the Griffon Kingdom, Ilyum Balkor.
The alarm bell resounded the second after a small boy pointed his finger at the approaching figure dressed in white and gold.
"What in the Great Mother's name is happening?" Balkor walked out of his tent with a cruel smile already on his lips.
"Who could be mad enough to attack my tribe knowing that I'm here and that Salaark can join me any second?" A wave of the god of death's hand bent the light, allowing him to see the intruder as if they were mere centimeters away.
"Me and my big mouth." He cursed. "Evacuate the village and reach the first safe point. I won't allow them to harm a single one of you, but I need to buy time until the Overlord arrives."
Balkor gave a quick kiss to Eos, his wife, before sending her away with their children. Her name meant sun and it couldn't be more fitting. She was the reason why he woke up every day and had chosen to not give up his life in pursuit of his revenge.
"What are you doing here and what do you want?" Balkor asked while casting a detecting array that encompassed the area around them for kilometers in search of the reinforcements that were bound to be hidden somewhere.
Ilyum Balkor was a man in his late thirties, about 1.76 meters (5'9") tall. He had a lean body toned by the regular training he underwent to withstand the most powerful spells and the recent fake Awakening process.
Balkor also had light blonde hair streaked both in black and white. The former was proof of his affinity for the darkness element whereas the latter was the consequence of him spending most of his life force to create his army of greater undead.
The Valors were Balkor's opus, stronger than any elder of any of the Undead Courts and it took him less than a year to make hundreds of them.
Despite the years of life in the desert, Balkor was still quite pale due to being born in the northern part of the Griffon Kingdom. Unlike the other men of the desert, he had no beard and his robe was black and silver, the same colors as the Black Griffon.
"Is this how you greet a friend you haven't seen in years?" Krishna Manohar replied while wiping the sweat from his forehead with a wave of his hand.
He was a man in his early thirties, with black hair and shades of silver. He was around 1.74 meters (5'9") meters tall and had a slender build.
"Do you mean since the last time I was still strong enough to lead the charge of my undead army while you Spellbreakers tried to kill me?" Balkor chuckled while weaving his best spells.
Even though fake Awakened had no access to breathing techniques like Invigoration or Accumulation, they could still use Life Vision, Spirit Magic, Fusion Magic, and cast perfectly silent spells.
Manohar, on the other hand, couldn't do anything without hand signs and chants.
"Well, yeah. Isn't that friends do? I mean, Manohar and the King always say they are my friends, yet they try to strangle me on a monthly basis."
"How did you find me and what does the Never Magus want from me?" Balkor's eyes turned pitch black and with them the entire space surrounding the two men, yet Manohar didn't seem to notice.
"You know, I've been called in many ways. God of healing, child of light, Mad Professor, but Never Magus is the only one I never understood."
"It means that you could have become a Magus if only you shared your knowledge about light magic and stopped disappearing at critical moments. Now answer my questions." Balkor snarled as the Forgotten Plume village was now under a total solar eclipse.
"Finding you was quite easy. Becoming a Feather is quite the feat so I guess congratulations are in order." Manohar gave him a small bow.
"The problem with fame is that it makes the news of a small, insignificant village getting its own Feather spread throughout the desert as wildfire thanks to the merchants you trade with.
"As for the reason I'm here, well, I need a second opinion." The Mad Professor scratched his head in embarrassment.
He wasn't used to asking for favors.
"You, the strongest and most unreliable magician of the Griffon Kingdom, dare asking for my help?" Balkor didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "Tell me another."
Tired of Manohar's shenanigans, Balkor activated his tier five spell, Shadow of the Colossus. The darkness surrounding the village was sucked by the god of death's shadow, which detached from the sand in the form of a dark monolith.
It started to grow in size, gaining a third dimension and physical substance until it turned into a 10 meters (33 feet) tall horned giant with purple eyes brimming with mana. The Colossus enveloped Balkor's body and hid him from Manohar's sight.
Chapter 937 Genius and Madness Part 1
The Shadow of the Colossus spell granted Balkor perfect attack and defense at the same time. The energy the titan was made of could be used to perform physical attacks or be instantly converted into any other spell, even tier five.
Balkor could freely move inside the shadow body while remaining hidden, so even dealing him a scratch was a gamble that cost a lot of mana to try. On top of that, Balkor could repair any damage the construct sustained just by adding more mana.
"Hey! Not only that's an improved version of your old Death Ruler spell, but you've also stolen my thunder. Don't think you can fool me with theatrics. That's a hard-light construct covered in darkness. How did you learn how to do that?" With a wave of Manohar's hand, several runes of light came out of his robe.
Balkor was shocked noticing that they were the components of a powerful spell. Manohar's tier five spell, Avatar of Light, took the form of a giant that matched the size of Balkor's Colossus, but instead of resembling a mythical figure, it was a replica of the Mad Professor's appearance.
"Light and Darkness are two sides of the same coin. You simply chose the wrong side of the spectrum." Balkor struck at the light giant before it could fully form, shattering it into countless pieces.
Unfortunately for him, every single piece was under Manohar's control. He had the construct disassemble before the mass of darkness could deal any real damage and reassembled it around his own body, mimicking Balkor strategy.
The gold embroidery on the Mad Professor's robe turned out to be more light runes that conjured more spells while the arms of his Avatar turned into maces that struck at the Colossus' shoulders, forcing it on its knees.
"You did all this while we were talking?" Balkor couldn't believe his own eyes. Somehow, Manohar was able to store the mana and the runes necessary for his spells in a light form, so that he only needed his hands to cast them.
"Didn't you do the same?" Manohar sneered while meteors made of light and fire struck the ground all around them. Light magic was slow, but the meteors exploded on contact and each one had the power to blow up a castle.
"You wish." Balkor clapped his hands, unleashing his tier five Dimensional Shroud spell. It distorted the space around the Colossus, so to redirect the explosions hitting the spell against their caster.
Manohar's own mana couldn't hurt him nor his constructs, but the shockwaves cracked his Avatar and almost sent it belly-up.
"Are you done with your magical measuring contest, boys?" Overlord Salaark appeared between them, forcing a cease-fire.
She had taken the appearance of a woman in her mid-twenties, with silky black long hair, emerald eyes, and a bronze tinge of skin so clear it seemed to shine under the morning sun.
She wore the white linen shirt and pants typical of her tribal leaders, the Feathers, but no turban, allowing her hair to graze the ground.
"Do you realize that Balkor is no longer a simple refugee? Attacking one of my Feathers is an act of war against the Blood Desert."
"He started it." Manohar's reply was as childish as his attitude.
"You came to my house uninvited, threatening my people!" Balkor replied.
"Balkor has a point. What do you want, Manohar?" Normally Salaark would have kicked him back to the Kingdom, but the magic displayed by the Mad Professor had impressed her.
"I've been tasked with eradicating at least five local branches of the Undead Courts located in as many important cities of the Kingdom. Until I do that, all my assets and research funds will remain frozen." Manohar crossed his arms, pouting at the thought while nervously tapping his left foot.
"And…" Salaark could tell there was more to it.
"And I'm kind of stuck with number three. A minor inconvenience, really, I could find a solution on my own, but it would take time and effort. Why should I reinvent the wheel when I can just ask for its blueprints?" Manohar pointed at Balkor.
"What kind of inconvenience are we talking about and what do you need?" Salaark asked.
"I met the Horseman of Night. A charming woman and a great conversationalist. Too bad she's as mad as a hatter and that defeating her along with her personal guards proved to be problematic." Manohar said.
"A Horseman who travels with their Chosen ones is indeed a tough cookie." Salaark nodded. Her daughter Sinmara was an Awakened and an Elder Phoenix, yet she had barely defeated Dawn in a similar condition.
"Why did you come all the way here instead of just switching targets? You need to destroy any five Courts, after all."
"That would mean that I've failed and I never fail!" Even when acting prideful, Manohar managed to still sound childish. "I heard that she pestered you quite for a long while, Balkor, and I thought you wanted to even the score."
At the mention of Night, Balkor's Colossus responded to its master's fury by assuming an even more demonic appearance. It grew wings and now wielded a blazing black whip.
"Why me? Why not ask your goddamn Spellbreakers and overwhelm her with the full might of your army?" The god of death was actually intrigued.
He hated Night's guts for having pestered him for years and threatening his new family in her attempts to force him to bond with her. Balkor had tried to destroy her multiple times over the years, but he had always failed.
Night disappeared after Salaark had approached Balkor, yet he didn't take revenge lightly. The opportunity to take on an old enemy with his newfound powers, maybe while sowing more chaos and death in the Griffon Kingdom, was hard to turn down.
Yet he had no reason to trust Manohar.
"Because you'll never take credit for Night's defeat and he doesn't want people to know he needed help." Salaark replied.
"I didn't ask for help, only for a second opinion! Besides, if a Great Mage and a junior of mine at that, survived going toe to toe with Dawn, how could an Archmage back down at the first setback?" Manohar snarled at Salaark's allegation.
"Is this really just a matter of stupid pride?" Balkor was flabbergasted.
"Said the man who's going to help me to pursue a stupid revenge." The god of healing shrugged.
"Do I have your word that this is not a trap and that you will not try to capture me once this is over?" Balkor said.
"Do I look like a man who ever lied?" Manohar had a point. He was famous because his talent was second only to his rudeness.
"Can you protect my tribe during my absence, Overlord Salaark?" Usually, Balkor didn't use honorifics even when he talked with Guardians, but now he was asking for a favor.
"Sure. I'll move my palace here until your return." With a wave of Salaark's hand several tents the size of a circus Warped around the Forgotten Plume village.
'This is a perfect opportunity to cripple the strength of those pesky undead that are plaguing our land.' She said to Balkor via a mind link. 'I want you to learn from that idiot how he can cast silent spells without true magic. Recruit him if you can.'
Balkor kissed his wife and children goodbye before leaving. He also took a few things with him, just to be safe.
Chapter 938 Genius and Madness Part 2
"Before moving out, you should wear this." Manohar gave Balkor a Skinwalker armor and several clothes typical of the Kingdom to store within it, ranging from a noble's attire to a street urchin's raggedy overall.
"Neither of us can afford to be recognized nor we can waste time changing clothes every now and then. As the two most wanted men in the Griffon Kingdom, we need to be creative." He answered Balkor's silent question.
"Do you need a ride?" Salaark asked.
"No, thanks. I'm going to make this quick." Manohar placed his hand on Balkor's shoulder, shapeshifting both of them into a couple of young maidens that anyone who knew Tista would mistake for her relatives.
"What the fuck?" The god of death's voice was now as feminine as it was full of horror.
"We need to lay low. Despite my disguises and tricks that damn Jirni Ernas almost caught me several times the last time I went for a few errands." Manohar took a red sphere out of his dimensional amulet.
"Maybe because they look for your trademark dickery and light constructs." Salaark laughed her ass off while looking at the two girls who moved with the grace of an elephant.
"That woman sure is annoying, but her husband crafts lots of great stuff. He gave me a few trinkets in exchange for my help in getting revenge for his daughter or something. I think you two would get along, always so full of teen angst. Passage for two." Manohar said to the sphere, ignoring Salaark.
The runes on the sphere rearranged themselves, locking onto the coordinates of Warp Gate in the city of Othre while creating a fake ID signal that would fool the Royal archives. Then, the sphere disassembled into several pieces that formed a circular Gate.
The moment the two "women" stepped through it, the gate imploded and the sphere turned into dust.
"Remarkable piece." Salaark tried and failed to salvage any information about the sphere's crafting methods by using her Invigoration technique, Mother Sun, on its remains.
"Tyris, old friend, why does your Kingdom keep pissing off the wrong people? Whoever this Ernas guy is, I wouldn't want him among my enemies." She whispered to the wind.
"That makes the two of us." The wind whispered back. Tyris was sick and tired of people who in the pursuit of their petty grudges and personal ambitions would put her life's work at risk.
Meanwhile, in Othre, Manohar seductively smiled at the guards who let them go without asking them a question except for a date.
"Smile, you idiot." Manohar rebuked Balkor who had reacted to the men's advances with hostility as if they had tried to murder him. "Tista, one of my students, taught me that if you're pretty enough, you don't need to ask to get what you want. You just need to smile."
"How can you find asking for help humiliating and yet have no issues doing this?" Balkor pointed in outrage at his now rosy skin and double D cup the moment they walked through the door of the army base.
"Hey, it's not like I'm talking or acting any different than I normally would. I've never cared for appearances and I can't be blamed if people are so shallow that a perky bosom is all that it takes to shut their brains off." Manohar said.
"The only real question here is if we want to attack during the day or the night."
"The Black Night becomes stronger after sunset and so do her undead. I'd say we should move as soon as possible." Balkor said.
"Okay then. We'll attack after curfew." Manohar dragged his companion in a restaurant and ordered for two.
Between the Mad Professor's eccentricity and the looks the waiter threw at their cleavage, Balkor was seconds away from turning Othre into a graveyard.
"Either you give me a good reason for waiting that long or I swear to the gods that I'll go home." The god of death said.
"We've got plenty of reasons." Manohar replied. "First, our earlier squabble cost us both a lot of mana. Based on the examination I gave you while we shapeshifted, it will take us food and a few hours of rest to get back to the top of our game.
"Second, during the day the army and the Association would notice our spells from a distance and promptly intervene. We can't afford them to join our little operation because once they recognize us escaping would become much more difficult.
"After curfew, instead, even if they spot the fight, it will take them so much time between preparing and getting the authorization to leave the city that by the time they arrive we'll be long gone."
"Third, is way more fun this way."
After hearing the last point, Balkor started to regret having accepted to help the madman sitting on the opposite side of the table. Yet the god of death couldn't turn down an opportunity to weaken the Undead Courts and secure his home.
Thanks to its Overlord and her Feathers, the desert was safe, but the situation was bound to change soon. Salaark couldn't be everywhere at the same time and the Blood Desert was full of precious magical resources.
Dawn had already probed the defenses of several outposts protecting the Adamant mines and crystal veins. To make matters worse, Dusk was unifying the renegade tribes under his banner with the promise of eternal life and Night had dared to harass Balkor's family again.
Now that the three Horsemen were acting together, they weren't afraid of messing with Salaark's turf.
"Since we have a few hours of waiting ahead of us, do you mind explaining to me how can you cast spells without chanting?" Balkor also had to follow the Guardian's orders.
"Sure thing." Manohar twirled his index and middle finger together, creating a Hush zone. "During the years I sometimes clashed with some psychos who could weave perfect silent spells of all tiers.
"Aside from that they were no big deal, so I never bothered learning their tricks. Last year, however…" He sighed, needing a pause to muster the strength necessary to say those words.
"I was def-. I was best-. I faced an opponent who almost made me sur-." No matter how Manohar tried to word the phrase, his mouth refused to comply.
"You got your ass handed to you." Balkor completed the phrase for him. "It happens to all of us, sooner or later."
The god of death still remembered how Linjos, thanks to the help of the Emperor Beasts, had foiled his plan to take down all the six great academies. After that, the Guardians had bested him magically and intellectually more than once while investigating the Master.
Yet Balkor didn't resent any of them. He believed that every defeat had made him stronger.
"Not to me!" Manohar jumped up, drawing a lot of attention despite the presence of the Hush spell. "That Thrud Griffon kept using magic without chanting and her mana seemed to be endless. I was better than her, but those stupid chants are too easily interrupted.
"After that day, I studied Lochra Silverwing's diaries in search of a way to overcome the limitations of magic as I knew it. It was then that I realized that we need chants and hand signs to line up runes quickly in an orderly fashion.
"We vocalize those too hard to be drawn and write with our mana the simple runes at the same time. So I thought, why not use Light Mastery's first magic to draw all the runes and infuse them with mana?
Chapter 939 Guest and Sword Part 1
"Sure, I still need my hands to quickly draw the runes of multiple spells at the same time without messing up, but it works like a charm. I wonder why no one ever thought about it before." Manohar said.
"Because Light Mastery is hard." Balkor replied.
He was at the level of giving constructs a shape, but alter it after they were formed was still beyond him. He had learned it on his own, without a master, and only practiced it as a hobby after swearing allegiance to Salaark.
After she had taken him under her wing, after becoming a Feather, Balkor believed that his days as a fighter were over. The only magical research he still performed was that with Leegaain.
"What about you?" Manohar asked. "I noticed earlier you had glowing eyes and pulled spells out of your ass like it was nothing."
"The 'psychos' as you call them, are actually Awakened." Balkor enjoyed the shocked expression on Manohar's face while he explained how Awakening worked. The god of death wasn't a member of the Council, so their rules didn't apply to him.
"It sure would explain a lot." Manohar pondered. "I always found ridiculous the theory that magical beasts use a different kind of magic, but I never managed to replicate their technique, even after they explained it to me.
"What intrigues me the most, however, is the ability to replenish the mana at will. Can you teach it to me?"
"I can do neither. I've no idea what Salaark did to me, but I'm just a humble Necromancer whereas you are a Healer." Balkor offered him his hand, hoping that Manohar would find an answer and give Balkor the means to provide his family with a long life.
The god of healing performed every diagnostic spell he knew, but came out empty-handed. Impurities weren't caused by a disease or an anomaly, they were as natural as the bridge on a nose or skin moles.
Conventional magical means were unable to detect their presence or removal whereas regular sight could. It was the reason why true mages who sold their beauty treatments had made up "cosmetic magic" to explain the effects of Invigoration.
Mana cores couldn't be studied either, yet in their case, it depended on the fact that mana cores weren't a physical organ.
Otherwise Manohar would have discovered both phenomenons back when he examined Lith while he was recovering from his attempt at mending Protector's mana core.
"If I didn't see people casting perfectly silent spells with my own eyes, I would never believe your story." Manohar said after a while.
"Me neither." Balkor paid the bill and then the two men left the restaurant for a nearby hotel to get some precious sleep. Manohar shapeshifted his companion into a handsome young man while he retained his feminine appearance.
'He must be born with a silver spoon if he can afford to rent a hotel room in the middle of the afternoon to spend time with his girlfriend. Lucky bastard.' The hotel clerk thought while looking at the youths.
"If I kept us both as girls, we wouldn't have a moment's peace with creeps knocking on our door non-stop, whereas if we were two men, some zealots might have reported us to the guards. You sleep on the floor, by the way." Manohar said.
Luckily for Balkor, the room had a comfortable sofa. Compared to some places where he had slept while he was in hiding, it was akin to a king-size bed.
"I've heard that you recently got the title of Lost Magus, but I couldn't get any information without getting caught. What did you do in my absence?"
"I've shared the basics of my Necromancy techniques with the Blood Desert's academies. I kept the advanced stuff for my children, but it was enough to earn me the title of Blood Magus in the Desert and Lost Magus in this shithole of a country." Balkor said.
Just like Manohar, Balkor had many titles. God of death, kinslayer, and orphan-maker were the most renowned. Lost Magus was just the most recent.
"They really give the title of Magus away these days." Manohar clicked his tongue.
There hadn't been one in over a century and he was proud at the idea that all he had to do to become the first in many generations was to give away a few paltry tricks and perform a few odd jobs.
Now, however, Manohar would be the second.
***
A few hours later, the two left the city of Othre before sunset, under the guise of two burly adventurers. The guards tried to dissuade them, but all it took was for Manohar to be himself for a couple of minutes to get them kicked out and prohibited from returning.
"Where are we going?" Balkor asked.
"Undead Courts are usually located underground and outside the big cities so that they can expand their bases as much as they want without getting noticed. The only access is old school permanent Warp Gates.
"Our destination is a secondary entrance I learned about during my first visit." Manohar said.
"How can you be so sure it still works?"
"Because." Manohar would never admit to having found the base by accident.
A few days ago, he had forgotten to change his appearance before getting drunk. He needed a way to bear the thought of not doing research and a member of the Night Court needed a sacrifice for their leader.
Manohar had been kidnapped, an experience that he found more convenient than it was annoying, and then he had unleashed all his pent-up stress upon the undead as a thank you.
Everything went fine until he faced the Horseman of Night and her Chosen ones. Her ability to cast powerful spells non-stop coupled with Manohar's inability to deal her a lethal wound had forced him to flee.
For the second time in a single night, he had been happy to look like a girl. No one would ever know the truth about his first and hopefully last tactical retreat in his life.
He was certain that the dimensional Gate would still work because it wasn't the one he had crossed to escape, but that they had used to bring him in while he was allegedly drunk and unconscious.
Ancient Warp stations were made by carving the magic circles and dimensional runes on a flat surface. Without a power source, they couldn't be detected with spells nor with Life Vision.
Also, they could bypass modern dimensional magic blocking arrays because they worked according to different principles than those currently in use. Ancient Warp Gates would permanently fuse two points in space, whereas modern ones could connect to multiple locations via dimensional corridors.
It made them more versatile, but also susceptible to being jammed by preventing them from locking on to their exit point's coordinates. Ancient Warp Gates had no such problem. There was no corridor to create, just a door to open.
A door for which Manohar had the key. His nimble fingers were not only able to trace multiple hand signs per second, but they would also spend quite some time exploring other people's pockets whenever the Mad Professor was bored.
He had no problem finding the cracked oak tree that marked the spot of the access point to the Court's base. Manohar took a red mana crystal shaped like a pearl and inserted it in the magic circle.
Chapter 940 Guest and Sword Part 2
The runes lit up, using the mana contained in the crystal to open the dimensional door and create a red vortex connecting two different points in space. Manohar dragged Balkor inside and shapeshifted them both back to their real appearance.
"No more tricks?" The god of death asked.
"No, just a piece of advice. Save your best spells for Night. There is no reason to waste good magic on goons."
Ancient Gates could be opened by anyone at any time, making them a security nightmare. It was the reason why Undead Courts placed a gatekeeper at every entrance and they had to be informed of every arrival or departure.
The moment the red door opened, Xear Rakley, gatekeeper and one of the oldest Ghouls of Othre, sounded the alarm. Ghouls had regenerative abilities on par with trolls and couldn't be killed unless their heart was destroyed or their entire body pulverized.
Both were arduous tasks since they could freely move their hearts throughout their bodies and merge with earth to escape all kinds of attacks. Balkor only needed a flick of his wrist to release his tier three spell Needle.
A hail of darkness rays pierced Xear from every side. Each one of them was no bigger than a pinhole, resulting in little to no damage to a living being. An undead's weak point, however, was another story entirely.
The ghoul's heart had now more holes than swiss cheese and even though they were small, the damage was enough to cut off the mana flow it received from the blood core. For a split second, the ghoul turned into a corpse, and then it stayed that way.
"Nice move." Manohar gave him a thumbs up before waving his hand and slaughtering an elite unit of undead.
His tier four spell, Full-Course Meal, fixed the imbalance in their blood cores, turning the undead back into living beings just long enough for the tier three spell Fire Wall to burn them into crisp.
"And here I thought I was the only one researching a cure for undeath." Balkor said. "Your method is crude and ineffective. It doesn't really fix anything. It just overloads the undead with the light element."
"That's the difference between you and me." Manohar said. "You think that reversing undeath is a cure, whereas I think that death is the cure. Look at these old fogeys. They have lived centuries, and for what?
"Did they make any great magical breakthrough? Have they brought any real progress to their civilization? No. They are pests and they need to be treated as such."
"I disagree." Balkor used the tier four darkness spell, Sandman, to send another wave of guards to their eternal sleep. "Undeath can be used to buy time and give a life to people affected by diseases we have yet to find a cure for.
"Not all the undead are born out of their own will and some regret their choice. They deserve a second chance."
"At what price? What about the lives of those they had to feed upon to sustain their existence? There's no such thing as a second chance." Manohar shook his head while impaling a vampire with a stake made of light.
"Price? Very few undead need to kill to feed. Also, every country has its jails filled with people who don't deserve to live. Their life force can be used to give back at least part of what they have taken from others." Balkor snarled as he turned a Golem into debris.
The two mages continued their debate while slaughtering everyone and everything so dumb to stand in their path. What made the elders of the Court run away, screaming for their mothers like children after a nightmare, was the fact that not a single piece of furniture was broken, not a single carpet was damaged by the Magi.
Even their area of effect spells were maneuvered with surgical precision that they hit nothing but their intended targets. The Magi followed the Court's elders to the throne hall, where their host was waiting for them.
"Manohar, it's so good to see you again." Night giggled like a little girl. "You shouldn't have bothered bringing me a present. I was going to take dear Balkor myself later, but thank you anyway.
"You've saved me the trip and another tussle with that overgrown desert chicken."
"I think there's a misunderstanding. I've never been here before." Manohar lied through his teeth, placing his hand over his heart to look more convincing.
"Please, there are only three renowned Light Masters in the whole Griffon Kingdom. One is a kitty cat, another is a lizzie, and the last is you." Night said. "Do you think I missed how the 'mysterious girl' used your spells and moved like a man?"
"I…"
"No, you don't have a sister. I checked!" She cut him short.
Night looked like a young woman in her mid-twenties, about 1.70 meters (5'7") tall, with ebony skin that seemed to devour all light and full lips that highlighted her sensual smile.
She had silver waist-long hair and round eyes without pupils that shone like moons. Her body was covered by a skin-tight black full suit of armor that left only her head exposed, yet she was no less charming than if she was wearing a cocktail dress.
Each one of her Chosen belonged to a different race, undead species and country, but they all exuded a powerful presence that would bring most mortals to their knees. They were the apex predators of their kind, yet they weren't allowed to sit nor to stay close to their lord.
They stood behind her throne, waiting for orders.
"Dammit, this is really embarrassing." Manohar scratched his head. "I know I only asked you a second opinion about Night, but now we need to kill them all. We can't afford these maniacs to spread their lies throughout the three great countries.
"I have a reputation to uphold."
Balkor started to laugh like a maniac, not knowing whether to be more amused by Manohar abusing the word "we" or by the fact that the god of healing was completely ignoring Night and her cadre.
"How dare you pitiful lambs disrespect the Dark Queen?" Beregor Skywulf had been a powerful barbarian chieftain before being turned into a Wraith.
Nothing of his flesh now remained, yet the living shadows enveloping his bones were shaped to resemble his lost physique. He stood almost 2 meters (6' 7") tall, with shoulders wider than most tables and arms as thick as small trees.
His fingers were caressing the hilt of his prized battle-ax, Stormhowl, that rested on his back. He wore leather trousers padded with fur, a leather shirt and boots. It was impossible to say if he was bald since shadows couldn't replicate hair.
Beregor's eyes shone with the red light of undeath that was now strengthened by his fury and mana.
"Silence, Beregor. You are but servants, whereas Manohar is my guest and Balkor is the Sword I've chosen." Night raised her hand, making her champions stand at attention like soldiers.
"Join me, Ilyum Balkor, and I'll give you more than you have ever dreamed about. Together we can conquer this Kingdom and kill all those who made your life miserable.
I'm not like the Royals, I don't care about anyone but Baba Yaga's children. I promise you that together we will destroy all the ancient noble households, including the accursed Ernas, and then even the children of the Griffon if that's what you want."
Chapter 941 A Magus’s Might Part 1
"How stupid do you think I am?" Balkor replied with a sneer. "I know you and your kin. Once you are done with me, I'd have no memory about what you promised me and even if I did, I wouldn't care if you upheld your end of the bargain or even if you asked me to take my children's life.
"I would only live to please you. You are just like the nobles I hate, if not even worse. I wouldn't be surprised if it was your hand behind what happened to my village."
"I wish I could take credit for that." Night laughed with all her heart at the idea. "Alas, back then you were nothing but one of the many talented youths of the Garlen continent. You were beneath my notice. It was your revenge that made you great.
"It was your revenge that allowed your genius to bloom and piqued my interest. Now choose and choose wisely because I'm a sadist, and I bore easily. Pick the wrong answer and my Chosen ones will stay their hands no more."
"My answer is no. You are no different from the Royals who first ignored my pleas for help and then tried to cajole me once they discovered my talent. Scratch that, you're even worse because you threatened my family.
"Not even the Kingdom's assassins ever dared to do that." Balkor's body pulsed with mana as the darkness of the room swirled at his feet like a loyal dog welcoming its master's return.
"What about this?" Night snapped her fingers and the wall behind her throne disappeared, revealing many sobbing, miserable figures chained to the ceiling.
Children from all the three great countries from four to ten years of age were forcefully brought by her spirit magic in front of her throne as a meat wall.
"Tell me, Ilyum, did fatherhood made you soft, or are you still the same man I fell head over heels for? Do you dare say no once again now that the lives of so many innocents are in your hands?" She asked.
"What about this as an answer?" An enormous amount of darkness magic enveloped Balkor's body.
Night had never seen such a spell before, but she could perceive its might. It was enough to end one or two of her Chosen, if not even injure her.
"Do you have nothing to say about it, dear Manohar?" Night said.
"In my line of work collateral damage is inevitable." He shrugged. "Also, I doubt they would live long even if Balkor says yes. They were dead the moment you captured them."
The god of healing had taken the words out of Balkor's mind. Unbeknownst to Night, during the eleven years Balkor had pursued his revenge, he had shared through the hive-mind connecting his minions all their kills.
He had slaughtered everyone on his path, no matter if they were elderly, infants, or even servants to the families of his enemies. Fatherhood didn't make Balkor softer, on the contrary, it made him more feral.
He had so much blood on his hands that the children in front of him were but a drop in the ocean. Balkor alone had killed more people than most wars and the only reason he had stopped was that his body couldn't handle it anymore.
Now that his word bounded him to Salaark, the only thing that mattered to him was his own family. The rest of Mogar could burn for all he cared.
"Excellent choice, both of you." Another snap of Night's fingers made the little bodies wither and die. Their life force was squeezed to the last drop to feed the Horseman and her Chosen ones.
"My children, make those Magi scream for me!" The Black Night's sensual smile became twisted into a grimace of savage fury.
After spending years courting Balkor, she knew how powerful he was and after her recent skirmish with Manohar, Night had gauged his strength as well.
'I wonder how far they can go against my spawns.' She thought.
Just like Dawn, Night could create prisms that she could share with her minions. The spawn would bestow upon the undead part of her powers and her mastery over the darkness element, leaving her weakened.
Unlike her sister, however, the link wouldn't grant her any knowledge nor control over their actions. Night was a spirit of destruction and as such, she would gain the innate abilities of all the undead she shared a symbiotic relationship with, but none of their weaknesses.
Beregor roared his battle cry and activated the black prism that resided where once was his heart.
It made the shadows that comprised his body became so dense that they took physical form. He wielded his battle-ax, Stormhowl, with two hands and swung it down despite the distance separating him from his mark.
The throne hall was 20 meters (66 feet) long, 10 meters (33 feet) wide and 5 meters high (16.5 feet).
Stormhowl channeled its master's mana, creating a replica of itself made of darkness magic so big that its handle touched the ground while the tip of the battle-ax grazed the ceiling for a split second before slamming into Balkor.
Darkness magic was supposed to be slow, but thanks to Stormhowl, the spell moved as fast as Beregor's hands. The Wraith had never forgiven the god of death for belittling his liege and had waited for a chance to prove that no human could be a Sword better than an undead.
"Hush, little child. Screaming is just bravado. It will not make you stronger." Balkor pressed his right forefinger against his lips while his eyes turned pitch-black due to Domination's effect.
The conjured ax stopped halfway down as Balkor's mana invaded the focal points of the spell and replaced Beregor's energy signature with his own. The spell shapeshifted so that the tip and the handle of the battle-ax switched place.
The dark blade was now aimed at the Wraith and struck with the might of a collapsing mountain. Beregor had gone all-out from the start, making the spell as quick as a bolt of lightning.
Not even its caster could dodge it from point-blank range. All the Wraith could do was to activate the black prism in his chest to defend against the attack. Darkness magic was the only thing that could stop itself and Night's spawn amplified darkness defensive abilities.
Balkor added a bit of his mana to reinforce the spell and used his skill to make it deadlier.
The dark ax cut through Beregor's shadow arms before stopping against his bones.
"A human capable of using Domination?" Night had suddenly lost her spunk, looking at the scene in disbelief.
Even with her great mastery over the darkness element, she was incapable of using Domination. No one of her siblings could and it pained them greatly.
"What's Domination?" Beregor and Manohar asked in unison, the former in the hope of saving his life while the latter poked Balkor for an answer.
"I'll tell you when you grow up." The god of death twirled his fingers, switching the tip of the blade with the handle again.
The following swing struck in an upward slash that cut the Wraith asunder. All of Beregor power was focused into his arms, leaving the rest of his body vulnerable. The Wraith and the black prism shattered, both turning into glass fragments before fading out of existence.
Chapter 942 A Magus’s Might Part 2
A Vampire and a Lamia conjured their respective best tier five darkness spells, Skybreaker and Cruel Sun. Skybreaker unleashed a stream of black lightning bolts while Cruel Sun generated a sphere of black fire that would grow until it covered the entirety of the room.
The former was a fast attack capable of tracking its target, while the latter was slow but its power would kill anyone who wasn't an undead bearing Night's prism. No living being could withstand such heat and only a spawn could resist so much darkness magic.
This time, Balkor had to use Life Vision to find the focus points of two spells at once. He released a pulse of darkness magic that took control of Skybreaker and Cruel Sun, turning them against their creators.
"By my mother, are you stupid or what?" Night couldn't afford to lose her Chosen ones so she shielded them with one of her defensive spells.
"Don't use darkness magic. They are just humans with shitty equipment whereas you're undead to whom I bestowed upon relics. Use them!"
Balkor kept manipulating the two spells, sending them to crash against Night's defenses until all of their mana was exhausted. Manohar, instead, was completely ignoring the battle and focusing solely on his companion.
"Seriously, how the heck do you do it?" Both Magi had a violet core and had been gifted with a similar amount of talent, but Balkor had lived for a decade longer.
On top of that, being forced to do everything on his own, from preparing the equipment for his Valors to open the Warp arrays against the Griffon Kingdom, had given the polymath genius plenty of experience in all fields of magic.
Manohar was still obsessed with the light element and resorted to the White Griffon resources to do what he considered scut work.
A Doom Knight charged forward and suddenly Blinked behind Manohar. Dimensional magic allowed her to keep her momentum so that between the difference in physical prowess and her heavy armor, she would hit with the strength of a truck.
"He said to shut up! Can't you see that I'm busy here?" The palm of the Avatar of Light erupted from the Mad Professor's body, stopping the Doom Knight on her tracks and slamming her against a wall.
The construct seeped through the openings in her armor as if it was water, and once inside it shapeshifted into buzzsaws that sliced her body until they found the black prism.
The Doom Knight died even before her feet could touch the ground again.
"Enough! Get to safety, my Chosen. I'll deal with the humans myself." Night stood up, snarling in outrage.
'During his first visit Manohar didn't manage to kill a single one of my champions, yet now he killed Yuta in a split second. How is this possible?' She thought.
The answer was that Manohar was known as the Mad Professor, not the Stupid one. Against unknown opponents, he would always save his strength in the case the worst happened.
All the light magic on Mogar was pointless if he was too dead to use it.
Now, however, his obsessive mind demanded answers. Usually looking at a spell once was enough for him to understand its underlying principles, but this time Manohar had no clue how Domination worked.
'Not knowing is the foundation of research, whereas not understanding is the trademark of idiots and I'm no idiot!' He thought.
However, even the Mad Professor's thirst for knowledge had to make way for his survival instinct.
Unlike Dawn, Night had never been captured. Her armor wasn't just a spawn shaped for the occasion but a powerful artifact, just like the spear that appeared between her hands.
The Black Rose and its Thorn were items she had crafted using the skills inherited from the best hosts she had inhabited over the centuries. Not only were they masterpieces, but she was also very skilled at using them.
"Dominate this!" Night lunged at Balkor without moving from her throne.
A pillar of darkness as fast and big as a freight train emerged from Thorn's tip, forcing the god of death to dodge. There were so much mana and willpower stored in that simple attack that Domination was useless against it and so was avoiding it.
The pillar performed a sharp turn and chased its target, no forcing Balkor on the defense.
"Darkness magic imbued with kinetic energy? How the heck is it possible?" Even though the pillar kept bolting across the room like a frenzied wasp, Manohar only needed a glance to understand the trick behind it.
'Spirit magic, you moron.' Balkor thought while dodging the relentless onslaught. He had understood it from Beregor's attack and employed the same principle to kill the Wraith.
Manohar with his human body couldn't keep up for long, so he used his Avatar of Light to clash against the pillar and snuff it out.
"I'm afraid she has a point." Manohar said. "That was just a lunge, yet to stop it I needed to spend half of a tier five spell's mana. Her equipment is far better than ours."
The god of healing had never relied on equipment for two reasons. The first was that he had never needed it to win, and the second was that usually everything the Kingdom gifted him with was jam-packed with trackers.
He had never felt so helpless before, not even against Thrud. Yet the difference didn't lie in his current opponent's might. The two women were almost matched in power and equipment whereas, against Thrud, Manohar had plenty of allies.
He was certain to have overcome the power gap between himself and the Mad Queen by learning silent magic, but reality seemed to differ.
"Surrender now, swear your loyalty to me, and you will live to replace the Chosen you have killed. Refuse and you'll die." Night swung her weapon twice, sending a pillar against each of her opponents.
The Magi managed to block the attacks, but Manohar's Avatar of Light shattered for good and Balkor was pushed several meters back with his arms half rotten.
"I might die, but I'm never going to be anyone's puppet! Ask the Royals!" Manohar snarled while his fingers traced dozens of runes at once.
"You're wrong as always, Night." Balkor was calm as light fusion healed his wounds and darkness fusion allowed him to ignore the pain. The energy mass he had conjured required surgical precision to be employed. "Death is not the end, just the beginning."
'How can a mortal quote my mother's words?' She thought, recognizing Baba Yaga's first teaching.
"Light and darkness were never meant to be used separately. They are part of the whole, and the same applies to all elements. Baba Yaga made a huge mistake by splitting them between you and your siblings." Balkor said.
"By doing that, she didn't give birth to perfect being, only to perfect failures. You are no different from the Fallen races. A mistake that needs fixing."
The mass of darkness magic surrounding Balkor exploded, forcing Night and Manohar to conjure their best shields to protect themselves from the raging storm of mana.
Contrary to their expectations, the spell suddenly imploded on Balkor as he took a few mana crystals and Orichalcum ingots out of his dimensional amulet. Darkness magic attacked the Skinwalker armor he was wearing, along with his Feather robe and the other ingredients he had conjured.
The spell had never been meant to hurt, only to destroy. It broke the enchanted items down to their molecular structure before revealing the light hidden inside the darkness.
Chapter 943 Creation and Chaos Part 1
The light element took all the broken parts and reassembled them into a new form. The entire process only required a split-second and once it was over, Balkor was wearing a full suit of black armor as well.
It was the tier five Creation Magic spell, Phoenix's Forge.
The Battle Mage's elemental god series of spells was nothing but a pale imitation of Salaark's original creation. Balkor had witnessed her using Phoenix's Forge while they had fought together against those who had tried to invade the Blood Desert.
No matter if Salaark faced millennia-old Eldritch Abominations, monster-Abomination hybrids, or ageless undead, no matter how hard they struggled, they all had fallen by her hand.
Salaark was Mogar's Lord of War, the incarnation of light and darkness. Her dominion over the two elements was such that she could use them to alter the nature of things.
Darkness would provide her with the raw materials while Light would shape them into whatever she could imagine. It allowed her to always have the right equipment at hand, no matter if she was against an old enemy or a completely unknown foe.
She could shapeshift and Forgemaster anything in a blink. The only limit of Creation Magic was that she still needed to know how the enchantments she was creating worked and her creations couldn't exceed the properties of the materials at hand.
Salaark could extract the strongest metal from the surrounding rocks, but it would still be nothing compared to Adamant or Davross. It was the reason why the Guardian always brought them with her inside her pocket dimension.
Balkor had often wondered why she brought him along if Salaark would do almost all the job and the answer he had come up with was that she was trying to teach him something.
The god of death lacked both her resources and her endless mana, so his creations were powerful but they never lasted long. To make matters worse, once the spell was over, all the ingredients would be useless since he couldn't use Origin Flames to at least recycle the metal.
The Horseman of Night couldn't believe what she had just witnessed. Until that day, only two creatures had proven capable of using Creation Magic. One was Salaark, the Lord of War, and the other was Baba Yaga, the mother of all undead.
Night's Black Rose was a full suit plate armor, all the pieces of which were shaped to resemble the petals of a rose in full bloom. Balkor's Phoenix's Forge, instead, had its plates shaped like feathers, the faceplate resembled a beak, and it even had wings coming from its back.
It was not by his choice that the armor was shaped as such. Balkor had barely scraped the surface of Creation Magic and the best he could do was to recreate the spell he was the most familiar with.
"By the Great Mother!" Manohar felt religious for the first time in his life. He had never been so close to death, yet he had never experienced so many sudden bursts of inspiration either.
"I really need to learn darkness magic." He said, regretting not to have the necessary knowledge to imitate Balkor. Manohar knew about the darkness element solely what he needed to perform his experiments, deeming it an accessory to the light element.
"Nice piece of crap, tin man." Night sneered. "You're still lacking a weapon, though."
The Thorn was a winged spear with the side tips bent upward and as sharp as the blade itself. They were meant to both make each thrust more difficult to dodge and to amplify the spells Night channeled through the weapon.
All of her equipment was made of Adamant because unlike her brother, Dusk, she wanted to save the best materials for once she found the perfect host. Only then would Night be able to craft something that would equally fit her and her Sword.
Night bolted forward, empowered by both fusion magic and the inhuman reflexes of the Awakened undead she possessed. She used the blunt extremity of the spear to strike right between Manohar's eyes, making his head snap back like a whip.
He conjured and stacked together several hard-light walls to stop the attack, which kept him from being knocked out in a single hit. His shield shattered, but not before taking the brunt of the impact.
The Mad Professor crashed behind Night's enchanted throne and used it to regain his footing.
'I think I need some good equipment as well.' Manohar thought while trying to clear the dizziness clouding his vision. 'Next time I see him, I'd better take the offer of that Ernas guy.'
Night didn't stop her movement and charged at Balkor, this time using Thorn's blade. The spear was crackling with the mana its master had stored within. Every one of its movements generated harrowing wails along with a blast of darkness, as if Thorn trapped the mournful souls of its victims.
The attack came so fast that only by combining air fusion with a flight spell and air magic to fill his wings did Balkor manage to dodge Night's lunge by a hair's breadth. Night smiled at his valiant yet futile effort.
Balkor had avoided the physical component of her attack, but Thorn wasn't that simple of a weapon. She turned back by pivoting on the balls of her feet and struck at Balkor, unleashing what looked like a storm of vengeful ghosts.
The god of death had plenty of experience in all fields of magic, but little at fighting opponents of that caliber by himself instead that through his minions. A single Wailing Wind, one of Thorn's abilities, was enough to open deep cracks in his armor and send him crashing against a wall.
"Well, what's your diagnosis?" Manohar conjured two open palms, one from above and one from below Night, that swatted her like a fly and produced a thunderclap on impact.
A second set of hands did the same from either side the moment the first pulled away, alternating the clapping motion between them so fast that Night would never touch the ground again.
"We're screwed." Balkor said while watching at the three of them with Life Vision.
Manohar and he had already consumed quite a bit of mana, whereas Night had still plenty of juice.
"The spells of her Chosen ones were about as strong as my own, yet she blocked them effortlessly. Your spells are not doing her enough damage and the moment Night escapes and brings the fight back to close-quarter we're dead. What about yours?"
"I have to agree. Any ideas?" Manohar said as Night pierced his constructs with enough darkness magic to turn them into wisps.
Between her Black Rose armor and the undead body she inhabited. Night had suffered little to none damage.
"Aside from dying, surrendering, or running away? Just one, but it requires that you buy me some time. Since she's handing us our asses already, there's no way that you alone can…" Balkor said.
"Leave it to me!" Manohar cut him short and charged at Night.
All the gold embroidery of his Professor uniform turned out to be runes made of light that conjured his most powerful tier five spell, Supernovas. Night and Manohar were now surrounded by meteors made of light and fire big enough to form a wall that prevented them from escaping.
On top of that, each one of them was powerful enough to blow up a castle.
Chapter 944 Creation and Chaos Part 2
Night would have liked to Blink away, but they were in the middle of the encirclement created by Supernovas, and it fully covered the dimensional spell's area of effect and then some.
"You are insane." She said while bracing herself for the impact. She pumped as much mana as she could inside the Black Rose armor and engulfed her body with a thick layer of darkness.
"Indeed!" Manohar replied as the world around them turned into the rough equivalent of the surface of the sun.
Meanwhile, on the outside, Balkor was amazed by both Manohar's control over his spell and his foolishness. Not a single speck of light or fire escaped the encirclement, leaving the god of death able to fully focus on his own spell.
Just like light and darkness were the two sides of the same coin, Creation Magic had its own counterpart in Chaos Magic. Salaark had forbidden its practice because it was too dangerous, but Balkor had no option left.
He cursed his hubris for showing so many skills to Baba Yaga's Horseman. Now that she knew what he was capable of, the Black Night would never leave him alone until she got what she wanted.
'If I back down now, I'll live in fear whenever Salaark is away for her personal business. I need to show Night that by messing with me she has more to lose than to gain.' He thought.
Contrary to what many believed, the greatest danger of conjuring Chaos magic didn't lie in losing control of its darkness component. When that happened, the caster would simply and quickly die.
The use of Chaos magic required to completely separate light from darkness, but while darkness would be shoot at the enemy light would remain. Without its other half, the light element would stimulate the metabolism of its caster to the extreme, turning each second into a year.
The few mages who practiced Chaos magic would either be eaten by the darkness, consumed by the light or both. Only Abominations could safely use it because their bodies could absorb the light element without a limit.
Balkor was just a fake Awakened and his life force would have already been extinguished if not for Salaark's treatments, he couldn't afford to make a single mistake.
While Manohar's spell ravaged the underground complex, causing the room to tremble and dust to fall from the ceiling, Balkor never lost his focus. He split darkness and light in two separate spheres, holding them respectively on his right and left hand.
When the blinding light of Supernovas faded, Balkor unleashed his tier three Chaos spell, Chaos Eater, the moment he recognized Night amid the steam. He was using normal vision with his right eye and Life Vision with his left.
One had been blinded by the mana while the other by the light so he could trust neither. Life Vision spotted Night's darkness magic, but it was eyesight that allowed Balkor to distinguish the friend from the foe.
Manohar stood too close to Night for Life Vision spotting him. His clothes were tattered and he was bleeding from his eyes, ears, nostrils, and mouth due to the aftereffects of his own spell.
'How the heck is he still alive?' Balkor was flabbergasted. A mage couldn't be hurt by their own mana, but the shockwaves were supposed to have ripped Manohar apart and the steaming air to be so hot that it would burn his lungs.
The god of healing was kneeling on the ground with his eyes veiled, but Balkor could see his chest moving rhythmically.
To make matters even more unbelievable, Night was faring much worse than the Never Magus. Her black armor had turned white-hot from the heat and emitted the characteristic smell of barbecue.
Small cracks had appeared on the Black Rose's armbands that Night had used to shield her upper body. For a Horseman, the head was just an accessory, only the living crystal in their chest mattered.
"How the heck are you still alive?" Night roared, unleashing her attack simultaneously with Balkor's.
She had seen an odd shroud of light wrap Manohar's body, but it was so thin that she assumed it was just a desperate last-ditch effort. Even though Manohar had sustained less than one-tenth of the Supernovas' full power, he was supposed to have died ten times already.
Thorn lunged at Manohar's heart as fast as a bullet, but Chaos magic was faster. Chaos Eater struck her right side, destroying the upper part of the Black Rose along with Night's right arm and part of her chest.
She lost her grip on the Thorn, but, even while withstanding such a deadly attack, the expertise Night had gained through the centuries allowed her attack to reach its target.
Manohar conjured all the constructs he had left, but they only managed to slightly deviate the attack.
Instead of piercing his heart, Thorn struck his left shoulder, blowing it up as it if was a needle pricking a water balloon. Blood, flesh, and bones splattered everywhere, leaving Manohar with a wound almost as bad as Night's.
The problem was that she was an immortal, whereas he was only human.
The Mad Professor fell on his side, screaming in pain while he tried to stop the bleeding before it was too late.
"At least now we're even, meat sack!" Night beckoned and Thorn returned to her left hand. "You've failed, my love. I can wait for another individual as talented as you to be born, it is you who is cornered and alone. Last chance."
Her arm was already regenerating and her armor mending. Without a distraction, the second part of Chaos Eater would never connect.
"Don't count your corpses before they croak, old hag! Do it now!" Manohar used his right arm to cling with the full weight of his body on her neck and unleashed a few heat rays through her exposed flesh.
He seemed to have overcome the agony and kept casting spells even with only one hand.
Balkor felt new respect and amazement for Manohar's stubbornness that edged on insanity and unleashed Chaos Eater again. The white pulse of Chaos Magic was as fast as its dark counterpart, but its effects couldn't differ more.
Chaos Eater absorbed all the darkness element from its victims' bodies to restore the natural balance, causing them to crumble and die. An undead would become stronger with age because the necromantic energies inhabiting their bodies would become more stable as they adapted to their host.
A powerful undead was nothing but a powerful mass of darkness magic with a soul and a need to feed upon light energy to prolong their existence. The undead fed only to stabilize their blood core, but it was the amount of darkness element it stored that determined how much mana they possessed.
Chaos Eater robbed Night's host of its darkness, turning her into a corpse filled with life force that had nowhere to go. The Black Rose cracked everywhere as the lack of balance made the enchantments that comprised it crumble.
The armor shattered and Night's host rot at a speed visible at the naked eye thanks to the light magic boosting the growth rate of bacteria and fungi.
As for Manohar, by the time the white flash disappeared, his body was already that of a person way over 100 years old. His limbs were as thin as twigs, his skin so flabby that it made him unrecognizable, his white hair and beard long enough to touch the ground.
Only the mad spark in his eyes was unchanged.
Chapter 945 Hostile Takeover Part 1
With her host reduce to a pile of ashes, Night emitted an ear-piercing wail and then Warped away, unable to stand anymore the shame of having her crystal form exposed. The black crystal known as the Black Night reached Baba Yaga's hut, seeking her family's comfort.
Unlike Dawn, despite being centuries old, Night still took defeat with the same grace of a spoiled brat.
Balkor was still in Othre, incapable of averting his eyes from the aftermath of Chaos Eater. He could have sworn that Manohar had smiled at him one last time before Night's scream shattered the god of healing's decrepit body.
Age had made it so frail that even a gust of wind would have killed Manohar and Night's temper tantrum had the fury of a storm.
"Your insanity was only matched by your bravery, Manohar. I may be the last man standing, but this victory belongs to you. Thank you." Balkor gave the puddle of bones and skin a deep bow with his eyes closed.
He didn't pray for Manohar's soul because he knew there were no gods listening. Otherwise, they wouldn't allow people like Night to exist nor things like what happened to his village to take place.
"No, thank you. I haven't learned so much since my first day of academy. This was a highly instructive experience." An annoying, familiar voice said.
Manohar came out of his hiding place, behind Night's heavily enchanted throne.
"When did you…" Balkor was flabbergasted, staring at him with eyes wide open.
"After she hit me in the head, I realized that without a fancy armor I was cannon fodder. So, I had a construct filled with mana and life force take my place while you two were so busy showing off your mad skills. Thanks for the tip about that Life Vision-thingy, by the way." Manohar cut him short.
"Man, I swear that this time I'll remember to send a gift basket to Lith. Without his anatomy lessons and his spell, I would never be able to make life-like constructs like that."
It wasn't the first time the Mad Professor expressed good resolutions toward Lith, but he would usually forget about them the moment he had a brilliant idea, which happened quite often.
"You dirty son of a… Who's Lith and since when you can add colors to your light projections?" Balkor asked.
"Lith Verhen, a nice guy. You should have heard about him, he's got a lot of titles for someone his age, but not so many as us. The magical beasts call him Scourge while the nobles you hate so much call him the harbinger of ruin.
"After surviving his encounter with the Bright Day, the undead refer to him as the blackest knight, whatever that means. As for the colors, since forever. I just never bother adding them because it's useless." Manohar said.
"I don't care about that crap. If you were alive and well, why that body aging trick? I thought you were dead!" Balkor stated his question so that Manohar couldn't avoid it with more ramblings.
"Well, that was the whole point." Manohar shrugged. "You thought I was dead and so did Night. If she decided to stay and fight, I wouldn't have lasted long. I'm only human, whereas she's immortal and you are kind of Awakened.
"Dying for a mission would've been stupid and I don't deal in stupid. By the way, we better bail before someone comes. I've got two more branches of the Undead Courts to take down and you need to rest, old man." Manohar said while pointing at the hole in the ceiling Supernovas had opened.
The flash had probably been visible for kilometers.
"You used me, putting my life at risk while you pretended to fight by my side. The next time we meet, I will make sure to return the favor." Balkor laughed at himself.
'To follow a madman means to be crazier than he is'. The god of death thought.
The Mad Professor used light magic to carve "Manohar was here" on all the walls of the throne room to take credit for the kill while Balkor took one of Salaark's plumes out of his dimensional item and used its power to go back home.
***
Free country of Lamarth. Beyond the eastern borders of the Gorgon Empire, in the Headquarters of the Master.
Bytra and Xenagrosh were working together in the Forge, crafting a fine piece of equipment as a gift for the Master.
Xenagrosh had purified the Adamant to its utmost limits. The enhanced metal was now physically and magically ten times stronger than its just smelted counterpart. They would have liked to use Davross, but the mightiest metal on Mogar was also the hardest to find.
Xenagrosh took care of the magic circle. Her role was to feed the mystical Forge with massive amounts of world energy and keep it stable for all the duration of the process.
That way, Bytra could focus solely on her personal Forgemastering technique, Spirit Anvil, that had earned her the title of Ruler of the Flames. She would perform the Binding of the mana crystals, the Runesmithing, and the Forgemastering at the same time.
It allowed her to freely manipulate all the single parts of the enchantments, from the pseudo cores' shape and size to the mana circulatory system's pattern. Unlike normal Forgemasters, she would bend the metal to her will, so that the materials she used would fit her spells and not the other way around.
It guaranteed her creations to always be perfect and to reach their full potential as she had devised them.
It was a technique that even Master Menadion admired and that Bytra had brought to the next level after she had stolen Menadion's Fury, the legendary Forgemastering hammer.
Once they were done, Bytra was holding a full suit of armor as thin as silk and yet capable of withstanding the hit of a Guardian.
"Do you think the Master will like it?" Bytra said while the armor shapeshifted into a suit comprised of a white shirt, night blue pants, and jacket.
"Should be mad not to." Xenagrosh shook her head. "Damn, I want one, too. My armor is crap compared to this one."
"When we get our hands on enough Adamant and ingredients, sure." Bytra sighed. The purification process enhanced the metal's properties, but it also consumed a lot of raw material.
Xenagrosh could use Origin Flames to recycle the Adamant of her current equipment, but she would still need nine times more to have enough to craft another piece like that.
"Why did you make the Master an armor? It's us who work in the field and take all risks." Xenagrosh asked.
"How can you say that? The Master took us into their home as daughters and risk their life every day to follow the whims of those stupid Royals. The Master even neglects their research to travel through the Great Countries and make sure the Organization has everything it needs." Bytra said.
"Yeah, right. A true hero." Xenagrosh grumbled, looking at the Dominator armor in envy. She liked the Master as well, but a Dragon's greed was an always-hungry beast.
"If we're done here, we got work to do. The Master has assigned us a mission, remember?"
"Are you sure you want me to come?" Bytra said. "It would be the first time I go out in the field since I escaped from Laroxya's mines.
Chapter 946 Hostile Takeover Part 2
"I already get plenty of blood madness fits at home and I'm afraid that under stress things will get much worse. I don't want to screw up your perfect record." Bytra said.
"All the more reason to bring you along. Blood madness is caused by the trauma that the memories of the other Bytra inflicted upon your mind when you assimilated her essence. You must embrace the good and the bad things of your previous life if you want to heal." Xenagrosh said.
"I'm not that person anymore. It wasn't me killing all those people for petty reasons. I don't want and I have no reason to remember what the Original Bytra did!" Bytra said, acting childish for a woman her age.
"You're not? Really? Then where that hammer and your Forgemastering techniques come from?" Xenagrosh pointed at Menadion's Fury that Bytra was clenching with all her might.
"Even if you discarded her Abomination name, Korgh, you are everything that Bytra the Raiju was. You reap the fruits of her work, so you should also accept the consequences of what she did as an Emperor Beast first and an Abomination later."
Xenagrosh's voice was calm and held no blame, yet Bytra started to sob.
"Do you really think I'm a monster, Zor?" Bytra was the only one besides the Master allowed to use Xenagrosh's human name, Zoreth.
"That would be hypocritical of me, Byt. I'm as much of a mass murderer as any other member of the Organization. I'm not accusing you of anything. I'm just saying that you can't only take what's convenient and hide the rest of your memories under the rug.
"It's not healthy. Please, believe me. I speak from experience." Zoreth said. They were so close that they used monikers whenever they were alone.
It took a while before Bytra managed to calm down and even more to get her to suit up for the occasion.
"By the gods below, Byt, we're not going to a gala. How can you take this long to get ready? Wear your armor, store your weapons, and we're good to go!" After waiting outside Bytra's room for half an hour, Zoreth was almost regretting her choice already.
"Where are we going?" Bytra asked, hoping to stall for time.
She had been ready for over 25 minutes, but she had yet to find the courage to open the door.
"We're headed to the city of Palaron, in the Gorgon Empire. The Griffon Kingdom is off-limits because both the Bright Day and the Black Night have been sighted there. The security is tighter than a corset and there are too many big players in the game.
"The Blood Desert is off-limits as well. Mostly because there is no black market except what Salaark allows for. Our treasury is almost empty and we need to fill it to the brim. Our mission is a raid.
"We are going to rob the local and very rich branch of the Dusk Court blind, seize their black markets, and their smuggling routes. Operation Hostile Takeover is a go as soon as you get the fuck out!" Zoreth said.
"Are we going to say hi to your father?" Bytra couldn't delay any longer and walked through the door.
Her original nature was that of an Emperor Beast, so her human form was shaped according to how she imagined herself to be.
Bytra looked like a lovely woman in her mid-twenties about 1.75 meters (5'9") tall, with golden eyes and silver hair. She had a pixie cut that emphasized her oval-shaped face and delicate features.
She kept her hair short because she was both a Forgemaster and a blacksmith.
Lava didn't go along well with stray hair and washing the smell of sulfur away was hard. Her foundry was located on the mouth of a volcano, the only natural source of heat strong enough to smelt enchanted metals.
She was wearing a set of clothes very popular among the Empire's adventurers. It was comprised of a khaki shirt and pants, a dark brown fur-padded leather jacket, and boots with a soft outer sole.
Two one-handed war hammers were hung to her belt and even though they were just for show, they clearly displayed how skillful the hand of the artisan was.
"Gods above, no. We're going to the Gorgon Empire exactly because my old man is the Guardian who cares the less about his own turf. He clearly told me that the next time we face will be as enemies and I'm not going to poke the Dragon with a stick without an excellent reason."
They alternated opening Warp Steps to save their strength until they reached the Empire's borders. Between the observation towers and the powerful arrays set in place, it was impossible for a mage to pass unnoticed.
Luckily for the monster-Abomination hybrids, there was a third option. Xenagrosh shapeshifted into her Shadow Dragon form, allowing Bytra to sit comfortably on her back before taking flight.
As a Dragon, Xenagrosh could fly so high that she was outside the observation towers' detection range and the air blocking arrays didn't bother her. A Dragon was too big and heavy to fly without magic, but she could still glide the air currents until she recovered her magical abilities.
On top of that, a Shadow Dragon could alter their weight by turning part of their body into black smoke. There was a reason why Leegaain was known as the Father of all Dragons.
Each one of his descendants would be a species of its own and their bloodline would have unique abilities. Between the Dragon's flight speed and dimensional magic, it took them less than one hour to cross the over two thousand kilometers separating them from the city of Palaron.
The Gorgon Empire had a harsher climate than the Griffon Kingdom and there were plenty of mountain ranges scattered throughout its territory. There was no such thing as middle-sized cities, only small villages and metropolises.
The extension of a city was determined solely by the number of cultivable fields in its proximity and how easy it was to get access to the already established commercial routes.
Winter and fall were harsh mistresses, so no city could host more people than it could reasonably feed. Relying on the imports was a prerogative reserved only for military bases.
Strategic geographical points, where it wasn't possible to build castles, were presided by floating fortresses similar to the Gorgon's empire capital, Manaron. The Empire had the most advanced magical development in all the three Great Countries, but cultivating clouds was still a myth, even for them.
Providing the magical fortresses with the resources they needed, made it mandatory for every city and village in the Empire to pay part of their taxes in gold and the rest in food.
It was a unique system that limited the development of urban areas and made fertile land almost more precious than gold.
The city of Palaron was an important commercial hub, located near the Dragon Plains, one of the most extensive and fertile areas of cultivated fields in the Gorgon Empire. After the defeat of Veeza the Lich, whose armies had conquered the Plains during the first days of the invasion, the province was undergoing a quick reorganization.
The servants of the Lich had destroyed the food reserves before running away and poisoned the earth, making the Empire lose two consecutive harvests. The food had become so scarce that the security of the fields had become one of the top priorities of the local governors.
Chapter 947 Dreams and Nightmares Part 1
It had taken the mages of the Empire a year to cleanse the fields and make the Dragon Plains suitable for cultivation again. Since most of the territories past Palaron had been occupied by the undead forces and were under reconstruction as well, they couldn't spare a dime to help with the Dragon Valley.
They were too busy fixing the damages they had sustained during the war to worry about others. It made the Valley dependant on Palaron, which had allowed the city to increase its profits by several folds.
The local underworld was also experiencing a golden age. Large flows of money meant more opportunities for corruption and increase protection money. Being awarded of a public contract could easily make a merchant into a small noble, so many people were willing to pay to oil the wheels of bureaucracy.
Palaron was a model city of the Empire. Its cultivated fields were surrounded by great walls made in dark grey stone over 12 meters (40 feet) high. The cultivated fields were miles away from the city walls, yet they were array protected and heavily guarded no less than Palaron itself.
The farmers lived in the external rim, to take care of the cattle and the fields at any moment. All of them had been trained in the use of light and earth magic to be able of taking care by themselves of all minor emergencies.
Past the city walls, in the outer rim, there was the residential area for the mages and the army, so that they could promptly intervene no matter if the enemy attack came from the inside or the outside.
Every building was built in solid, enchanted stones, and connected to the other districts with their own Warp Gate. It was the most luxurious and expensive area of the city. Aside from public officials, only the truly rich could afford a house there.
The middle rim was the business district, where all the trades took place. Merchant guilds had their offices built in hardwood, while small-time merchants operated in small buildings no bigger than a grocery store.
Each block had its Warp Gate, making the middle rim the place where normal people lived.
The inner rim was occupied by the red-light district of the city. It was supposed to be the slums, but unemployment wasn't a thing in the Empire. Public healthcare made everyone as fit as a fiddle and as long as one was willing to work hard there was plenty to do, even before the war with the undead.
The only people who didn't have an honest job were those who didn't look for one. Gambling, prostitution, drug dealers, they all had their base of activities in the slums. As long as people were alive, they would have vices.
Instead of wasting time outlawing them, the Empire had simply made them part of the system and took taxes even from them. There was a saying in Palaron, stating that the tax office was way scarier than the army itself and better funded, too.
Despite the inner rim's sordid appearance, the real corruption took place in the middle rim and it was there that the two Abomination hybrids were headed. As all long-lived members of any race, they had an alias in the Empire with a clean record and authentic IDs.
Getting inside Palaron was always the easy part. Getting out after committing any kind of crime, however, was another story entirely. Bytra and Zoreth had chosen the Prancing Dragon as their base of operations.
It was one of the finest establishments in the middle rim, ranked higher than the Dragon's Cove and the Dragon Chow.
"Is it me, or is everyone obsessed with dragons around these parts?" Bytra asked.
She didn't come there for less than a decade, yet everything was changed. Even her favorite dish, the Rewille stew, had been renamed Leegaain's stew.
"My old man doesn't make a secret of his existence." Zoreth replied. "Ever since Milea became the Empress and convinced him to return, the Gorgon Empire basically became the Dragon Empire.
"Everyone is trying to suck up on him and the upper Echelons didn't rename the country only because rewriting all the maps would cost a fortune."
"I get that, but why? Not even two hours ago, you told me the Guardian doesn't meddle with human activities. Why are they so obsessed with him?" Bytra said.
"Because on the rare occasion he does, Dad performs miracles and asks nothing in return. When the living from the Jiera continent and their plague tried to invade the Empire, he took care of both single-handedly.
"When a wheat blight almost caused a famine throughout the Empire, he cured it and even restored the affected crops. Sometimes, people get an audience with him and lore says they all find the answers they had been looking for." Zoreth said.
"Wow, your old man sounds really impressive." Bytra whistled in admiration.
"Long story short, they suck on him because they are afraid that Leegaain will leave once the Empress dies or retires." Zoreth ignored the compliment. "Everyone knows that he only came for Milea and is trying to change his mind about the Empire."
The Prancing Dragon was a cozy tavern made of redwood, lighted and heated by magical stones. The huge fireplace served merely to create a relaxed atmosphere, especially during winter.
It was furnished with square tables that could host four people tops, and with comfortable padded chairs. Waiters moved between the tables, bringing plates and beverages from the kitchen.
There was a counter on the east wall with several barstools and was reserved for the heavy drinkers.
Animal furs and depictions of Dragons decorated the walls. An unwritten law of the Empire stated that all Dragon's reproductions had to depict either a single scale or the full body.
Mounting a Dragon's head to a wall, no matter if fake, was enough to get the person responsible lynched by an angry mob.
"So, what are doing here, exactly?" Bytra asked after a cute waiter delivered her stew and a pint of red ale along with a wink. "I mean, we can kill a few mob bosses, but that would only create a power vacuum and turf wars.
"Sure, it would create an opportunity to empty their vaults ad get away with it, but a big treasure is good only for someone who wants to settle down, whereas we need a constant flow of money."
"Sometimes I wonder how you survived this long." Zoreth sighed. "Of course we're not here to play executioner. People don't submit to you just because you glare at them and we can't remain in Palaron to handle the business.
"The Master already made contact with the locals and set up a parlay for us. As I said earlier, we're here to facilitate a hostile takeover."
"Meaning?" Bytra was confused. She prompted a waitress so that her partner would be served as well.
"Black markets and illegal routes require powerful mages to be established, otherwise it's impossible to avoid the Empire's safety measures. This isn't the Griffon Kingdom, nobles do not exist and no title is hereditary." Zoreth said.
"In the Empire, mages are so highly regarded that crime pays way less than being a civil servant, so bribing one is nigh-impossible. Not to mention that the punishment for treason is beyond unspeakable.
"Hence since there are no rogue mages, Palaron's underworld relied on the Undead Courts. After the invasion from Jiera and Veeza's uprising, however, the Empire is tooth combing its territories for undead and even criminals don't trust them.
Chapter 948 Dreams and Nightmares Part 2
"Wern Nian, a deputy head of the Red Gorgon cartel, required our help to get rid of his boss, offering us the take the place of the undead. This way, Wern becomes the boss, the cartel takes the guards off its back, and we get a big share of the profits.
"Everybody wins." Zoreth finally received her meal and decided she would leave no tip for the poor service. Bytra's stew was now barely lukewarm.
"It's a good plan. Why don't we make Wern arrange our meeting with his boss happen inside the Court? The treasure vault should make an excellent advance payment for our services." Bytra asked.
"My thoughts exactly. The undead aren't going to drop a bone with so much meat attached easily, so I have already planned to strike them first and wipe them out before they can strategize properly." Zoreth said.
"One more question. Why are your plate and beer mug less filled than mine even though they cost the same?"
"Because you're beautiful and I'm not." Zoreth replied with a shrug. Her serving was actually generous, it was Bytra's that was exaggerated.
Zoreth had now the same appearance as when she was still a human Awakened. She looked like a woman in her early thirties, about 1.6 meters (5'3") tall, with black-shaded brown hair and youthful chestnut eyes that contrasted with the ancient wisdom of her gaze.
Her skin was naturally so pale that it almost looked sickly, and was full of too many freckles to be easy on the eye. She had sharp features, a squared jaw, and a nose a tad too long to be considered cute.
"No way! You're gorgeous." Those words made Bytra yearn to spill the blood of all members of the restaurant's staff. Suddenly the torturing techniques stored in her memory didn't seem so scary anymore.
"I wish. Unlike you, I was born a hybrid. My Dad never cared much for appearances when choosing a spouse, only for the versatility of their mind. My mother was a genius, not a stunner, and sadly I took many things from her.
"I remember that when I was little, I felt part of the family only in my Wyrmling form. Everyone else was so beautiful that it was upsetting, especially when I was a teen." Xenagrosh sighed.
"What about your mother? Didn't she help you?" Bytra asked.
"No, she was more concerned about her research than about me. Genius, remember? I was raised by my father and many siblings. I asked them the secret about Awakening many times, but they always refused to teach me, saying that I wasn't ready, that I would just hurt myself." Zoreth replied.
"In hindsight, they were right. Back then the only thing I could think about was body refining and becoming as beautiful as the rest of the family. If they taught me, I would've ended up bursting my mana core when I was too weak to become an Abomination and we wouldn't be having this conversation.
"Long story short, after I finished my growth spurt and most effects of body refining were lost forever, I threw a huge temper tantrum and ran away from home. When I came of age, I discarded my draconic half out of spite for my family.
"I was so conceited that I swore to myself that I wouldn't live a millennium with those looks, thinking that even death was better than such a fate. I spent years studying magic, learning to appreciate Dad's many teachings about mana and world energy, until I self-Awakened a few days after my 31st birthday.
"You'd think that by then I was mature enough to take things slow, yet the moment I noticed that, even if to a lesser degree, body refining still worked, I lost it. I was back being an insecure teen and started to practice Accumulation like there was no tomorrow.
"I ignored the signs, the pain, everything just to be able to return to the fold and show my father I made it on my own. Then my core cracked, but my mastery of magic and willpower were so strong that instead of dying I was reborn into an Abomination.
"At that point, pride, anger, self-pity, everything was swallowed by the hunger. To add insult to injury, once I evolved into an Eldritch, I started to regain the same draconic power I had discarded.
"Now I look exactly like I did before my death and I'm too old to give a damn about what other people think."
Zoreth had talked while eating while Bytra kept staring at her while her plate remained untouched.
"What about you? What's your story and are you going to eat that?" Long distance flight always made Zoreth work an appetite.
"I don't know. I…" Suddenly, Bytra's head started to hurt and several images flashed in front of her eyes.
She remembered a gentle woman she called Master Menadion, a tower with a staircase drenched with blood, and then her hand clenched around Menadion's Fury. Bytra tried to connect the dots, but it made her headache worse.
She felt so much rage, envy, and shame at the same time that she started to cry. Bytra recognized the early signs of a blood madness' fit and panicked.
'Gods, no. Please, I don't want to ruin our mission before it even starts. In my frenzy, I might harm Zoreth, or even worse, I might draw Leegaain's attention. I must…'
"Are you alright?" Zoreth snapped Bytra out of it by holding her hand. "Why are you crying? If you don't want to share your stew, just say it. I'll just order seconds."
Bytra was shocked realizing that her fit had lasted barely a few seconds, yet to her, it felt like hours. Even though she was still unable to talk, she was grateful for Zoreth kindness in dropping the subject and pretending it was about the food.
"Two pretty ladies like you shouldn't make each other cry. I'm sure that whatever is going on between you can be solved by good ale and a bit of company." A handsome young man said while pointing at himself and his friend sitting at a nearby table.
He was about 1.75 meters (5'9") tall, with short blond hair and grey eyes. He also had perfect, white teeth that he was showing off with a stunning smile.
"Thanks for the offer, but unless you're a waiter and you can bring us seconds, we're not interested." Xenagrosh said with a polite but cold smile.
"Sometimes…" The young man choked on his words when a sudden click announced Xenagrosh's ultimatum.
On her right hand, she wore a set of metal dragon claws Bytra had made for her, called Sky Piercer. The silvery glove had six purple magic crystals embedded on its surface, one for each finger and one in the middle of its backhand.
Her index, middle, and ring finger were pointed at him. Yet only the claws on her index and ring finger were extended to the length of a sword and touched either side of the youth's neck.
"Read between the lines, pal." Xenagrosh elongated the last claw as well, just enough to draw the man's attention to her middle finger.
"I'm sorry I didn't think…"
"Then don't start now. I don't want you getting a headache for doing something you're not used to. Now scram." Her icy glare made it clear that she wasn't going to repeat herself a third time.
Chapter 949 Overwhelming Power Part 1
Xenagrosh's charade provided a perfect cover for the two grown men wetting themselves like kids.
The truth, however, was that the killing intent came from Bytra, who was still seconds away from a fit of blood madness. She didn't like the stranger intruding in what she considered a private moment one bit.
The waiters promptly came washing the floor and provided the two women with seconds, serving them simultaneously in the hope to quell their anger.
A few hours later, once Bytra had managed to regain her cool, the two Abominations went to one of the Red Gorgon cartel's safe houses to meet their new partner, Wern Nian.
Officially, the Red Gorgon was a merchant guild so the place didn't differ much from a law-abiding enterprise.
It was a two-story building made of wood, with a receptionist sitting at a desk in front of the ground floor's entrance while the rest of the space was taken by offices furnished only with desks, armchairs, and file cabinets.
The first floor was similarly furnished, but everything was much more expensive and each room had been made soundproof with magic. The entire building was actually protected by several invisible arrays the value of which was worth more than the entire city block.
"I'm glad to see that your boss is taking us seriously." Wern said while looking at the two women with approval.
He was no mage, but he had a keen sense for recognizing talent in other people.
'I know that the most talented mages are women, but those two are off the charts. Heck, I feel threatened even though they sit there doing nothing. Their bearing is that of an apex predator.' He thought.
"I'm certain that your magical abilities are great, but are you sure that two of you are enough? We're dealing with undead who are strong enough to kill an adult bear with one hand. How do you plan to survive if they get close?" Wren didn't reach his position without planning everything five steps ahead.
Before making an enemy out of an Undead Court, he wanted to be reassured about their odds of success.
Wren Nian was a man in his mid-thirties, about 1.68 (5'6") meters tall, with blonde hair and a beard. He had a gentle face, but between his mean eyes and his burly body, he was the kind of person you didn't want to meet alone in a dark alley.
He had brought the two Abominations in his office, where four bodyguards, each taller and more muscular than Lith, and two of his associates were waiting for them.
On paper, Wren was just the manager of the branch they were in, yet his office was beyond luxurious. All the armchairs were silk-lined and crafted with the best materials.
Both the carpets and the tapestries hung to the walls were gold-embroidered, showing the masterful hand of the artist.
"Before discussing such insignificant details, I'd like to make the terms of our agreement clear." Xenagrosh sniffed the air and a disgusted grimace twisted her face as if they were sitting in a shithouse instead of a living room worthy of a Marquis.
"After we dispose of your boss, Tolmen, we'll provide the Red Gorgon with the personnel and the means to make your business thrive. In exchange, we'll take 60% of the net profits."
"What?" One of the other men in the room said. "60% is more than what we give to those bloodsuckers. Wren, what point does it have going from a bad to a worse deal?"
"Excellent question, Gelas." Wren raised his hand to make his fellow deputy head and conspirator shut up. "Let's hear our guests' answer before stopping the negotiations. Why should I accept your terms?"
He interlocked his fingers and leaned back, showing no fear nor weakness.
"Because if you are the smart man I think you are, you'll understand that numbers are more important than percentages." Xenagrosh said and Wren nodded for her to continue.
He had understood what she meant, but he needed the others to hear and understand it on their own, especially his bodyguards. Rebellions aimed high but started low. If the grunts didn't like where the conspiration was going, they would turn traitor in a jiffy.
An army only made of generals couldn't win a war. Wren needed loyal soldiers ready to give up their lives on the spur of the moment so that he could become filthy rich and die of old age.
"The Red Gorgon works well, but the undead can only support you during the night, whereas my Organization will allow you to extend work hours to daytime as well." Xenagrosh said.
"Double the time, double the profits." Noticing that only one of the deputy heads was smiling, Wren dumbed down the concept.
The room turned from gloomy into a ray of sunshine in the blink of an eye.
"That's just for starters." Xenagrosh continued. "Right now, the Empire is breathing down your neck because of Veeza and her undead. By getting rid of your current partners, the constables will shift their focus on your competition.
"Not only will you become able to make business more freely, but you could also exploit the enemy's weakness to expand your turf. Two birds with one stone."
All those present were eating out of her hand, nodding like parrots. Wren felt threatened by the sudden shift in the power balance in the room. He was now the only one on his side, feeling like a guest inside his own home.
'I've heard about charisma, but this is too much. If this continues, it will take a minute for this Xenagrosh to become my boss instead of my partner.' Wren thought.
"Last, but not least, we'll take care of the infiltrators in your ranks." Xenagrosh stood up, moving as quick and silent as a ghost in front of the other deputy head who had spoken earlier and his bodyguard.
"Tracking is my specialty. I'm even better than a magical beast at following a trail. The problem with you thralls is that no matter how many times you brush your teeth, you can't get rid of the smell of blood."
The man turned pale for a split second and then jumped up with so much strength that his chair turned into splinters mixed with stuffing. He had been barely 1.65 meters (5'5") tall, but now he was standing over 1.82 meters (6') with his body now covered with bristles ripping through his clothes.
The thrall hit Xenagrosh multiple times before anyone could even blink, each hit produced the noise of a hammer strike and the sound of broken bones.
"Are you done?" She asked a few seconds later, when the repeated impacts had broken his fingers, wrists, and forearms to the point that the creature's arms resembled an accordion.
"My turn, then." Xenagrosh waved her right hand as if she was shooing a fly.
The Sky Piercer cut the thrall at the neck, heart, waist, and knee level while also cauterizing the wounds. It turned him into five pieces without shedding a single drop of blood.
The bodyguard, who was actually the thrall's master, snarled and started to shapeshift as well. Korvaks were undead capable of moving during the day at the price of a part of their might.
Withstanding the sunlight limited their magical abilities, but their physical prowess was unaffected.
Chapter 950 Overwhelming Power Part 2
Xenagrosh let him complete the metamorphosis, so that all those present realized what kind of monsters they had dealt with until that day and that their new partners were even worse.
The moment the monster stood over 2 meters (7') tall, spreading a killing intent that added grey streaks to Wren's hair and wrinkles to his eyes, Xenagrosh tapped the Korvak's forehead with her finger.
The Hollow Mist Chaos spell that she unleashed spread inside the creature's body and turned it into ashes before he could emit a single wail.
All the humans in the room seemed to have aged a decade and even though the Korvak was gone they were still frozen in place.
"Anything else I should know?" Wren bit deep into his lower lip to overcome the terror that had paralyzed his limbs and reaffirm his leadership.
"No. Everyone else in here is clean." Xenagrosh sniffed each one of those presents, identifying many of their hobbies and vices, but none of them was relevant to the mission at hand.
"As the new head of the Red Gorgon, I accept your terms." Wren stood up and shook hands with Xenagrosh while the others were still unable to even blink, too afraid that a new horror would unfold the moment darkness clouded their vision.
Soon, they would spread the tale of the meeting, turning both Wren the Unflinching and Xenagrosh the Slayer into legendary figures of the underworld.
***
Later, that night, Wren brought Bytra and Xenagrosh with him under the guise of two mercenary mages he had hired. The meeting with Tolmen took place in the local branch of the Dusk Court, in front of the undead masters of the Red Gorgon.
Wren had sowed discord among the ranks of the cartel, demanding both a change of the terms of the deal with the undead and of leadership. After a failed attempt on his life, Tolmen Ironheart had been forced to ask for the help of his patrons.
When the rumors about thralls hidden among the cartel spread around, the Red Gorgon belonged to Wren in a matter of hours, leaving Tolmen with no allies in Palaron beside the undead.
He hoped that they would kill his rival and prefer continuity in the management of the Red Gorgon. Little did he know that the killer had failed on purpose, to force the undead to open their doors to the invaders of their own will.
If the assassination succeeded, Wren would have become the new boss and the Dusk court wouldn't have given a damn about who was the leader as long as the flow of gold and food didn't stop.
That way, instead, he wasn't just plotting against an insignificant human, he was daring to threaten the Court, demanding audience from them as if they were peers.
That was something the undead couldn't overlook, so they had invited Wren and his followers as their guests, to make an example out of them. Their slow, agonizing death would show the rest of the underworld what happened to a human who didn't play by their rules.
Xenagrosh admired Wren's guts to enter the tiger's den with no defence but her and Bytra. The two had known just for a few hours, yet the man was already willing to put his life in her hands.
'I must give it to him. Wren is a scumbag, but he also has an iron will. Besides, who am I to judge?' Xenagrosh shrugged. 'It would take him several lifetimes to commit a number of atrocities that could come even close to my own.'
"Why did you request this meeting? The Dusk Court and the Red Gorgon are long-time friends. There's no animosity between us except that you bring at this table." Lethe, a gorgeous vampire said.
The meeting took place in the Court's Main hall. It was built to resemble an underground amphitheater that had an oval layout and seating tiers that surrounded the central performance area, like a modern open-air stadium
Wren and the vampire were at the center of the scene, each with only their personal bodyguards on their side.
Half of the Hall was occupied by the undead and the other by the members of the Red Gorgon. In theory, it was meant to treat them as peers, but the truth was that the Dusk Court wanted to have as many witnesses as they could.
A single undead was capable of terrifying dozens of living beings and without any magical abilities, being exposed to the Court's collective bloodlust made the members of the Red Gorgon feel like fish out of water, gasping for air.
"Friends? What kind of friends puts spies inside our very homes? You betrayed our bond of trust first and now you dare question us? We work while you grow fat and our consciences pay the price for it!
"You ask for us to provide you with innocent teens, beasts, plant folks, and even children that you feed upon. I say that's enough!" Like most of those presents, Wren couldn't care less about innocents as long as he got paid.
Yet they were an excellent subject to rally even the worst crowd and spark what was left of their indignance. Besides, it offered the bunch of criminals a perfect scapegoat to wash their hands of all the blood they spilled.
It was like saying: "It wasn't your fault. You didn't do it for the money. You did it because the undead forced you to."
Lethe was stunned at those words. She looked at the head of the Court to signal that something was wrong. Their plan had been to let Wren renegotiate the terms of their deal and then kill him for breaching the etiquette.
Even if he acted flawlessly, they could kill him because by attacking Tolmen he had betrayed him and in turn the Court as well since he was their representative. It was a paper-thin argument, but it was how the Undead Court conducted its business for centuries.
Yet the human was attacking them directly, demanding to break the deal instead of asking for more favorable conditions. It was akin to a lamb sharpening the tools of a butcher before questioning his mother's honor.
Uria the White Lady dismissed Lethe's worries with a sneer. They had searched their guests before letting them in and she knew most of them very well. Aside from the two strangers, the least of the Court's members would easily be able to slaughter them all.
'Unless one of the girls is Manohar or the Empress, there's nothing to fear. The former is still trapped in the Kingdom while the latter is in the Empire's capital. This Wren must be tired of living.' She thought.
"Then we both agree, the line has been crossed." Lethe said with a wolfish smile. "Yet it's you who broke the pledge of honor by attacking your master, you who desecrated our hallowed halls with your poisonous words! Your end will be a warning for all those foolish enough to comply with your madness."
The vampire moved with such a speed that Wern was able to see her attack, but not to react in time. Lethe expected him to cry or wet himself, but after what Wern had witnessed during that same afternoon, the vampire looked terribly small to his eyes.
Xenagrosh intercepted Leth's slender wrist with her left hand, trapping it in a grip stronger than a steel vise.
Chapter 951 The Apprentice Surpasses the Master Part 1
"That's our cue, Byt." Xenagrosh said while a tier two Chaos magic spell opened a hole the size of a baseball in the vampire's chest. It destroyed her heart and killed Lethe on the spot.
"I'll protect the humans, you kill the undead." Xenagrosh jumped back, bringing Wren along with her on the stands.
"Who does what now?" Bytra was shocked seeing a wave of undead bodies belonging to all races flood the amphitheater while they emitted such an intense bloodlust that not even the Eldritch Abomination was immune to it.
"Kill them all!" Uria the White Lady had no plans to follow the rules of Xenagrosh's game and led her army against the humans.
A burly undead reached the humans' side with a single jump as he shapeshifted into a Grendel.
The creature in front of Xenagrosh was over 3 meters (10') tall and had a round head, with feral eyes as big as a saucer. It had bright red irises and vertical pupils that were filled with a mix of hate and spite.
Its body was entirely covered by a dirty brown thick fur, akin to that of a giant sewer rat. The Grendel's maw was lipless and so large that it was the entire lower half of his head. The mouth was filled with sharp, long fangs, each one about ten centimeters (4") long.
"A Grendel? What an amiable and rare pet you keep in here. It's like a small bird." Xenagrosh shapeshifted as well, turning into her Shadow Dragon form. "It fits in just one hand."
The Grendel froze in fear when he realized he had landed not on the floor but on a giant scaly hand. Xenagrosh's four red eyes were staring at him in amusement and each one of them was as big as the Grendel.
The Dragon's head scraped the ceiling of the cave while her claws dug deep into the ground that was forming craters under her feet due to her weight. Her wingspan covered the entirety of the amphitheater and prevented the undead from reaching the humans.
Xenagrosh killed the Grendel simply by clenching her hand and breathed a wave of purple Origin Flames that turned the first wave of assailants into puffs of smoke.
The undead stopped in their tracks, unable to believe their own senses nor to move a single muscle and the Hall fell silent for a second. After that, the stands full of humans burst into savage screams of joy as if it was just a football game and they were the fans of the winning team.
None of them had really believed in Dragons until that day, but seeing one appear in front of their eyes made all those teachings they barely remembered become deeply etched in their minds and hearts.
"We surrender. State your demands." Uria the White Lady said.
Unlike Lith, Xenagrosh only had two sets of eyes. The first set was where it was supposed to be and the second was horizontally lined up with the first on the Dragon's s snout, giving her a perfect peripheral vision.
"I have no demands. Palaron belongs to the Master, now. Your only choice is to either surrender and die or defeat one of us and survive." Her voice was a deep, guttural roar that shook the nerves of everyone who heard it.
"Are you saying that if we attack the other woman, you will not interfere?" Uria asked, receiving a nod in reply.
"If we kill her, do I have your word that you will grant safe passage outside of the city to all survivors?" Another nod ensued.
"I thought we were friends, Zor. Why are you doing this to me?" Bytra was on the verge of tears, something that the undead appreciated as much as they did her staring at the Shadow Dragon instead of keeping an eye on them.
They charged at Bytra with the violence of a raging river and the grace acquired after hundreds of years spent on the battlefield. Each one of the undead despised the other member of the Court well enough to know the abilities of their competition as well as their own.
It allowed them to have seamless teamwork despite having rarely fought together.
"We are friends, Byt, but not the kind that travels Mogar to make wreaths of flowers and good memories." Zoreth replied. "I need you to wake up. If you stay as you are, you're going to die, either by the hand of our enemies or by that of our so-called allies."
Bytra emitted a tier four Chaos spell, Howling Void, from each of her hands. They parted the sea of enemies in front of her, killing dozens of them, yet hundreds remained. All she had managed to achieve was to buy herself a second, maybe two.
"I don't want to kill them, I barely know them, they are…" She managed to say before being drowned again in fangs, claws, and spells. The undead's innate mastery of darkness magic allowed them to use its true magic form and to infuse it into their blows.
The spells that were hitting her non-stop ate at Bytra's body inside and out while her flesh was torn apart by the living storm of limbs surrounding her.
"They are what? Innocents? Each one of them has probably as much blood on their hands as you. They are disgusting pigs, fattened on the flesh of their own neighbors. They know nothing of our hunger or our loneliness. Why do you keep holding back?"
Xenagrosh was seething with anger. Her best friend was being slaughtered in front of her eyes, yet she stood still. Red tears streamed down her scaly cheeks while her feet stomped the ground in the only way she had to express her outrage.
The red drums of the blood madness threatened to burst Bytra's head open and the splitting headache it gave her eclipsed even the pain from her wounds. Yet hearing Zoreth's voice, her desperate screams of incitement was more than she could take.
Bytra stopped resisting the madness and let her heart follow the beat of the red drums.
She shapeshifted into her Raiju form and fought back. A Raiju was the evolution of a Cyr (horse type magical beast) whose powers were based on the light and air element. Their appearance was that of a Chinese dragon fused with a warhorse.
The resulting creature had silver-white scales covering their horse body, with large branching horns over their head, long whiskers, a thick silver mane, and a long, scaled draconic tail.
Bytra, however, was an Emperor Beast-Abomination hybrid, making her body black, her mane blood red, and her eyes yellow. The transformation was accompanied by a burst of lightning and Chaos energy that blasted away the undead that were the closest to her and allowed her to escape the encirclement.
Bytra's hooves emitted sparks of electricity every time they struck the ground, giving it an opposite charge to her own that made her gallop speed akin to a maglev train. She infused her horns with so much Chaos magic that they turned black.
Darkness magic was the bane of the undead and Chaos magic was still darkness, just several times stronger. All the undead in front of her charge disappeared in a puff of smoke as if they had just been mist figures instead of powerful beings.
The red drums of the blood madness beat faster with every life she took and soon the war song turned from sound into images.
Chapter 952 The Apprentice Surpasses the Master Part 2
Bytra performed a sharp turn to her left, creating an ash cloud out of her fallen enemies and reliving her memories as an Emperor Beast.
After evolving and learning the Forgemastering arts of the Raiju bloodline, Bytra had gone to put them to the test against the first and the greatest Ruler of Flames, Ripha Menadion.
She had lost in both experience and skill, but not in talent nor love for Forgemastering. The two master artisans admired each other's creations, so Menadion offered Bytra to become her apprentice.
The Raiju accepted and soon, thanks to Menadion's teachings and her own talent, Bytra became the 4th Ruler of the Flames. It was a highly coveted title that identified her as the best Forgemaster of her generation, but the number one spot overall still belonged to Menadion.
Bytra had lived in her tower and watched her work with Menadion's Fury long enough to understand the reason why she was incapable of surpassing the first Ruler of the Flames.
No matter how much Bytra tapped into her potential, without the tower she would never be able to craft something like the Fury. To come out of Menadion's shadow, she needed to even the field.
With each failed attempt to close the gap between them, admiration and respect turned into sour envy that poisoned Bytra's life as well as her creations.
The memory ended, making Bytra neigh in fury as if the events she had witnessed didn't happen centuries ago, but yesterday. Uria the White Lady exploited her confusion to hurl a mass of water the size of a river.
It covered the ground, dispersing the electricity it stored and making the Raiju crash onto the ground. The living bolt had finally stopped and the undead didn't miss their chance to regain the upper hand.
Wights and Wraiths drained Bytra's life force simply by touching her while the rest of the undead used their claws to aim at her vitals. They were now cursing their own dimensional sealing array that left them with nothing but what they wore.
To shut it down, they would need to reach the control panel that was just two corridors and three rooms past the Shadow Dragon.
"Don't stop! Memories are everything for a mage." Xenagrosh said. "They bring you pain, but also power and experience. Remember who you are, Byt! Remember and come back to me!"
Bytra whined in pain, torn between the visions of the past from the blood madness and the present threat. Prompted by Zoreth's words, the Raiju embraced the suffering coming from both sources and shapeshifted again.
Another burst of lightning, Chaos, and blood allowed her to stand up.
Her humanoid form resembled that of a woman covered in small black scales, with horns on her head and long blood-red hair dancing in the air as if she was amid a storm.
A burst of emerald flames enveloped her body, covering it with one of her prototypes for the Master's Dominator armor, and making Menadion's Fury appear in her left hand.
The mystical hammer amplified her natural abilities, turning Bytra into a living Tesla coil that unleashed lightning bolts as powerful as natural ones against her enemies. Some undead burst into flames, others died on the spot, while the rest bled from all their orifices.
The flow of blood and mana triggered the red drums in her head, showing her another glimpse from the past.
Even though Bytra's breakthroughs with Runesmithing had allowed the Forgemasters around Mogar to bring their crafts to the next level, it still was not enough to quench her ambition.
She was sick and tired of being the second-best, to the point of belittling her own achievements. In her mind, she had just improved something Menadion had created instead of inventing a new Forgemastering technique.
To add insult to injury, Menadion claimed to be her number one fan and always spoke highly of Bytra. To the Raiju, it meant that her former master didn't feel threatened by her talent, that Menadion didn't even consider her as a rival.
After one failure too many at crafting her own mage tower, Bytra had enough of playing nice.
The foolish Menadion had never revoked her privileges, so the Raiju had no problems getting inside the tower nor slaughtering all of Menadion's precious apprentices, even her so-called successor that she had spent so much time and effort preparing.
By the time the alarms triggered, the tower was painted red. Menadion was shocked by the betrayal of someone she had always considered as a friend and forced to decide whether to fight Bytra or try to save those who still had a spark of life.
She foolishly tried to do both, giving the Raiju the chance to steal Menadion's Fury and run away after piercing her heart with the horn Raijus had on their forehead.
Bytra knew that the tower would heal the wound, but it still bought her time.
Meanwhile, the lightning discharge had ended and Bytra threw the Fury against her enemies, creating an ash cloud. The undead believed her disarmed, but despite the hammer was still flying in the air, there was another in her left hand.
Menadion's Fury had the ability to create a temporary copy of itself, allowing more than one Forgemaster at a time to use its powers and perform four-handed crafting jobs.
It was how Bytra had got her first taste at the hammer and how Menadion taught her apprentices.
The Raiju used the copy to fend off the following waves while the original hammer returned to her hand, mowing down everyone on its path.
Bytra was covered in blood, most of which was her own, her flesh was torn, and her mana cores were almost spent. The hunger almost drove her insane and forced her to relive her final moments as an Emperor Beast.
After escaping from the tower, the Raiju had run for days while using Accumulation non-stop, to achieve a bright purple core and fight Menadion on equal footing.
There was no way to Forgemaster new relics since as long as the first Ruler of the Flame was alive, the hammer would bear her imprint and be nothing but a fancy paperweight.
Despite the Raiju's best attempts to stall for time, Menadion found her and the two Rulers of the Flames fought relentlessly for days, both befalling in worse condition than Bytra currently was.
Menadion was still grieving her fallen apprentices and her life force was injured by her attempts to save at least one of them.
Her lack of focus and vigor allowed Bytra to emerge victorious. The rush the Raiju felt when she imprinted the Fury, making it finally her own, was only equal to the fear she experienced when her mana core started to crack just a few days later.
The constant strain from the training first and fighting later had pushed the Raiju past her limits. That had been the day when Bytra had died along with all of her dreams and Korgh the Abomination had been born.
Bytra couldn't believe how stupid her original self had been. She had thrown everything and everyone she loved away for power, just to lose it soon after achieving her dream.
It wasn't just the victory that had turned out to be hollow, but her heart as well. Bytra wanted to throw away the Fury for good, to fall to her knees and cry her eyes out until she found a way to make amends for her crimes.
Yet she stood tall while appreciating Menadion's Fury's weight, both physical and spiritual.
Chapter 953 Raiders of the Lost Academy Part 1
'There's no time for weakness. Menadion is dead and so is everyone else I knew. All the apologies in the world will not turn back time. The original Bytra was a genius as much as she was a monster, but now it's up to me to carry her burden.
'I have people who depend on me and a second chance at life. This time, I will not let everyone down.' Bytra thought.
"I knew you would make it!" Zoreth roared.
She was so happy that she would dance with joy if not for the too many witnesses.
"How do you feel and what about the madness?"
"I feel horrible, inside and outside. As for the madness, it's still there but its hold over me has lessened. I don't know if I will ever be completely free from it, but right now, I'm aware of two things. First, I'm no more a threat to my allies, and second, I'm starving." Bytra said.
"We're done here. Let's get you something to- What the heck?" When Zoreth folded her wings and turned around, she discovered why the members of the Red Gorgon cartel had stopped yelling for a while.
They were no longer sitting on the stands, but kneeling with their heads and hands on the ground.
"What are you doing?" Bytra asked while her hair still whipped around as if it was alive.
"We've witnessed the power and the mercy of the gods today." Wern spoke in a soft, deferent whisper.
He felt unworthy of speaking to the two deities, yet not answering them would have been even more disrespectful.
Bytra twirled her forefinger at her temple, suggesting that their guests had gone mad.
"The Shadow Dragon clan swears its undying loyalty to you, my liege. Our lives are yours to take."
"Shadow Dragon clan? Gods? Now I understand why Dad stays cooped up in the castle all day." Zoreth told Bytra with an air spell, to not let anyone else hear her.
"And you dared say that you're not beautiful. You're a god now." Bytra giggled in reply.
"You'll never let me hear the end of this, don't you?" Zoreth said with a sigh.
"Nope. Now invite me to dinner. We have many things to celebrate tonight."
***
Griffon Kingdom, Kellar region, inside Lith's tower a few months later.
For once, life seemed to have listened to Lith's plea and nothing big had happened ever since his fight with Dawn. It had given him the opportunity to spend a lot of time with his now many nieces and nephews, with Selia, and his own family.
Thanks to the fact that he finished his rounds early, he always had a lot of free time that he could use to catch up with both his old and new allies while also assessing his gains.
After finishing the academy and coming of age, Lith had joined the army in the hope of finding some clues about how to solve his reincarnation problem. Gaining merits with the army had given him the chance to access all the books he needed for his research.
He had chosen to become a Ranger to always work alone and the Kellar region as his patrol area after asking Kalla for advice. The region was rich in lost cities that had allowed him to further study cursed objects and explore the possibility of binding his soul to an item.
Also, it was the motherland of the Odi, notorious body snatchers and the forefathers of Lichhood. On paper, it was the perfect place to find a way to either swap his dying body with a new one or at least gain further insight on Liches, the allegedly perfect undead.
Lith would have never thought of actually meeting, fighting, and interacting with all of them, even befriending a Lich named Zolgrish. That or whatever such raving mad undead passed as friendship.
During those two years, Lith had gained a lot and learned even more. He now was sure that turning himself into a cursed object was impossible. Just like it happened for corpses when they were risen as greater undead, the Living Legacies had a mind, if not a soul, of their own.
On top of that, Lichhood had lost most of its luster after noticing how mad each one of them became, even Kalla who was barely halfway through the process wasn't an exception.
Discovering that Liches couldn't get too far away from their phylactery without losing their powers had been the final nail in the coffin.
His visit in Kulah had given Lith the means to replicate the workings of the Odi, of which he had personally experienced their performance, and opened more questions about Mogar's role in his world tribulations.
Lith had never planned on meeting someone like Kamila, who he initially considered just a fling, nor to reconnect with Protector, or meeting Nalrond. His relationship with Kamila had grown slowly but steadily since their first date, to the point that she was aware of both his hybrid and Awakened nature.
She only ignored the part about him being from Earth and about Solus's existence, making her the only person outside his family with whom he had been completely honest and who didn't rip his secrets out of his mind.
Protector had helped him a lot to grow as both a man and a mage, introducing Lith to Faluel. As for Nalrond, Lith had at first spared him only on Solus's whim, but after the Rezar had helped to save Rena's children and had offered to teach him Light Mastery, Lith had started caring for him.
Mostly because Nalrond was his only lead about Fringes, mystical places where he could speak with Mogar. Such knowledge, coupled with Light Mastery, made the Rezar a priceless asset.
Lith was sitting at his desk while contemplating the lost academy of Huryole from one of the tower's windows. Now that Solus's mana core had reached the deep cyan core, she had unlocked the second floor of the mage tower.
"This is our last opportunity to raid the academy and get our hands on that sweet Forge made of Davross. Once we are done with the army, we'll lose our privileges." Lith said.
"Well, we've raided it more than a hundred times, yet we have found the Forgemastering lab only once, when we took the Runesmithing booklet." Solus said. "Also, if we stumble again into the Emerald Dragon, we might die."
"I love the smell of pessimism in the morning." Lith chuckled at her lack of enthusiasm.
"Look at the bright side. We've yet no idea how to remove the Davross Forge from the ground, we don't speak the draconic language so we have no way to communicate with the Dragon, and we're relying solely on dumb luck for Huryole's maze to rearrange itself in a convenient way."
"What bright side are you talking about? What you said sounded like the recipe for a disaster." Solus said.
"Because it is. The bright side is that after our honorable discharge, we're done cleaning other people's mess, be they past, present, or future. Our apprenticeship with Faluel will take place on our terms and once we're part of the Beast's Council, we'll be free to go wherever we want and do whatever we want." Lith steepled his fingers, planning what he considered the last steps of his journey.
Chapter 954 Raiders of the Lost Academy Part 2
"I've packed everything we might need and put all the ancient dictionaries Faluel has borrowed us inside Soluspedia. This time, we should be able to read the ancient language of the Kingdom as if we're native speakers." Solus had even found the time to finish translating the Runesmithing booklet.
She and Lith had revised its contents multiple times, hoping that it would speed up their study of modern Runesmithing with Faluel. Their only gripe with the booklet was the lack of blueprints for truly powerful artifacts.
Yet it was supposed to be just a school textbook, not the Grimoire of an Archmage, so the discovery had only mildly disappointed them.
Lith studied the lost academy one last time before turning the tower into a ring and Warping to his destination.
From the outside, Huryole looked like a giant stone dome. The only entrances were located at the ground level and breaking the dome would make the cursed object who 'protected' the city turn the academy into a rampaging golem.
Flying inside was impossible as well, making people wonder what lay at the center of the city and for what purpose an academy had been built in the middle of nowhere. Huryole was also nicknamed "The Cursed Training Ground".
Lith used his badge to open the field of several overlapping arrays that prevented everything and everyone from stepping through the city's borders.
The lost city was a living labyrinth that would periodically rearrange itself, making any old map useless. Its walls couldn't be affected by earth magic, dimensional magic was sealed, and destroying the walls to make haste only made the Living Legacy that ruled over Huryole angry.
The labyrinth made finding something of value inside the lost academy a bet for Lith, but the same applied to the creatures trapped inside Huryole who kept trying to reach the exit to regain their freedom.
Jakra the Emerald Dragon was among one of its most famous and powerful inhabitants. Unlike other academies, Huryole lacked a forest, but made up for it by hosting all kind of creatures, both living and undead.
'Who the fuck could be so mad to let a bunch of horny teens sleep in the same dormitory, with no privacy nor supervision, living under the same roof of unspeakable horrors?' Lith had no idea who had devised Huryole, but was pretty sure to know why modern academies were nothing like it.
'Beats me.' Solus shrugged. 'I'm eager to put to the test War's abilities. So far, we faced only C-listers unworthy of its blade. With a bit of luck, this will be our last fight for a long while.'
The bastard sword crafted by Orion hung on Lith's hip, inside the scabbard made from the blood of the last man dumb enough to force Lith to unsheathe War.
'That makes the two of us. Let's hope we don't end up testing its limits instead.' Lith cursed at himself one second after the thought formed in his mind.
'I swear, if you jinxed our last raid before it even started, I'm going to leave you spend your last weeks in the army alone while I take a vacation on my own.' Solus thought.
Lith silently agreed and started to dispose of the creatures that were hitting the barrier sealing the city with their best spells. It was a small group of famished undead, hence Lith didn't even try to communicate with them.
Their bodies were skeletal due to the lack of nourishment, but like all Huryole's prisoners, they couldn't die. For some unknown reason, nothing except for enchanted weapons and spells could destroy the physical form of those who remained trapped in the lost academy for too long.
'By my maker.' No matter how many times they faced them, the combat prowess the undead displayed despite their pitiful condition always managed to amaze Solus. Every one of their movements was flawless, allowing them to dodge Lith's attacks by just shifting their stance.
Yet they fell the moment one of the spells stored inside Lith's rings disrupted their teamwork. No matter how skilled they were, their starving bodies couldn't keep up with a strong and fresh opponent.
Lith only needed to graze them with War for the violent energies imbued inside the sword to ravage its victims and turning them into ashes. To make matters worse for the enemies, during his raids Lith would use Death Vision to spot the enemy's weakness.
Humans could die in so many ways that Lith's curse was useless against them, whereas undead could only die from darkness magic or if struck at their weak points. Their bodies would unravel starting from there, so Death Vision provided Lith with clues about how to defeat even creatures he had never met before.
The small ash clouds didn't disperse, but became small whirls that were sucked inside a small Gate. They would be reborn in a random spot of the city during the next cycle.
Huryole was also known as the "deathless city" because its inhabitants were forced into a seemingly unbreakable death and rebirth cycle. Some speculated that those who managed to leave the city's premises might be freed from such a cruel destiny, but no one was willing to take risks and allow it to happen.
'How long until the reset?' Lith thought.
'About ten hours. The fact that they managed to escape in barely two hours means that either they were very lucky or that this time Huryole arranged itself in a straightforward path. If I'm right, we might be forced to face a lot of enemies.' Solus thought.
'It also means we might get further than ever. Even if we miss the Forge, maybe we'll find something more easily portable.' Lith said.
Dimensional and Earth magic were sealed inside Huryole, so he couldn't access his pocket dimension nor widen the doors to make way for bulky loot.
Once they walked through the city gates, they found themselves in what looked like a kitchen where someone had tried to butcher a still alive bull. The stone counters were cracked in many places, the cooking utensils were deformed as if they had been used to hit something very hard, and there was blood everywhere.
"What the fuck did we just miss?" Lith wondered.
Huryole fixed and cleaned all kinds of damage the moment they happened, making the kitchen return to its original appearance at a speed visible to the naked eye. Whatever happened in there, it was likely to have wrecked the room and taken place barely a minute ago.
The kitchen only had a way in and a way out, so after checking around with Life Vision, Lith moved forward. The next room was a long corridor leading to a single door. Both of its side walls were covered by huge paintings perfectly lined up.
Lith froze in place, trying to understand the purpose of the room. In all of his visits, he had never found something as trivial as a passageway. Whoever had built the city seemed to hate wasting space, so every part of the building had a specific role in the lost academy, no matter if it was a bathroom or a classroom.
Life Vision revealed that the paintings were all enchanted with some kind of dimensional magic, yet they depicted still life scenes of no relevance.
Or so Lith thought until he recognized some of them.
"Wait a second. We've been there in the past. Could this really be some sort of waypoint to quick travel through the city?"
Chapter 955 Raiders of the Lost Academy Part 3
Lith used Invigoration on a painting to study its pseudo core and discovered that it had very simple controls.
'Honestly, I hope the paintings are no dimensional doors. If you're, right we might get swarmed at any minute. Also, we have no idea how many times these things can be used.
"If we go in too deep and then we find their pseudo core spent on our way back, we'd have no way out of Huryole.' Solus thought while keeping her mana sense active.
Lith shuddered realizing how foolish was his wish. Luckily, the dimensional magic inside of the paintings wasn't intended as a mean of transportation. By imprinting the paintings with his mana, Lith could solely explore the rooms they depicted, zooming in and out at will.
'This is some kind of cameras' control room.' He thought. After fiddling with the controls for a while, Lith discovered that the zoom out function allowed him to see where each room was in Huryole and the directions it led to.
'That's how those guys managed to get out so quickly.' Solus pointed him at a painting depicting another corridor filled with surveillance canvas.
Some of the images had been arranged so to form a path leading outside.
'The good news is that we can follow their lead and move faster, the bad news is that whoever stumbles into that corridor will find a way out and mess with our plan.' Lith was zooming out all the surveillance images in the room to see if any of them led to the Forgemastering or the Alchemical lab.
Unfortunately for him, most of the depicted areas were disconnected between them, so they provided him with no clues where to go and hit the jackpot.
'My advice is to follow the path of the undead. It will allow us to both move quickly and get rid of all those who might block our way back. Two birds with one stone.' Solus suggested.
Lith nodded and studied briefly all the paintings before moving out. He stayed in each room only long enough to give Solus the time to scan everything with mana sense for valuable relics.
No matter how many times he visited it, Huryole was always creepy. The place reminded Lith of the White Griffon academy to the point that he could almost see the students sitting in the classrooms, practicing magic in the labs, and bullying the weak in the bathrooms.
Yet everything was empty and silent until it wasn't anymore. For some reason, all doors would stay closed until someone opened them and each room was soundproof. Enemies would come at any time from any direction without notice.
Lith left the bathroom and entered the Gardens of Madness. He had already been there in the past, but this time he knew where to go next. The garden area was one of the biggest he had ever met, with so many doors that even Solus needed a map to not lose her way.
They spanned for several hundreds of meters, covering an area as big as a small village. It was also one of the most dangerous places in the lost academy. A green area meant plants which in turn meant food, and food was a priceless luxury inside Huryole.
Those who reached the Gardens would never leave until killed and would react to any intruder with extreme prejudice. Yet the place hadn't been named after the violence it caused so much as after what happened once one of the landlords had their belly full for a while.
Finally freed from their hunger, humans, magical beasts, and undead alike would be torn apart between their need for company and the fear of losing what they had. Lith had witnessed several times them crying like babies while hugging, having sex, or even eating each other alive.
Only a few would live long enough to realize they had just exchanged one hell for another and would resume their search for the exit. All the others would remain trapped mind and body in the Gardens of Madness.
Lith used air magic to float a few centimetres from the ground and darkness magic to cancel his smell. His Skinwalker armor changed its colors according to its surroundings, making Lith nigh-invisible.
While moving through the Gardens, Lith left several bombs hidden inside small bags, just in case he needed to retreat quickly and had no time for finesse nor violence.
The next room was a seven-story tall library, filled to the brim with books.
'Too bad we can't use the tower's Sentries to check their titles nor can we just store them inside our pocket dimension.' Lith inwardly sighed at the idea of the treasure of knowledge he was leaving behind.
'It would take hours anyway.' Solus replied. 'This place must belong to a time when dimensional items weren't common. Misplace a book even once and it's as good as lost forever.'
She skimmed the titles of the tomes they met on their way, but they were either trivial or nonsensical. Like "Basics of self-defence" or "How to cook your neighbour". If the Gardens extended horizontally, the library extended vertically, like a tower comprised of bookshelves.
Lith was surprised not meeting anyone on his way and believed that for once luck was smiling upon him. Yet the truth was much worse. Undead were the only ones capable of building long lasting alliance among themselves simply because they couldn't feed upon each other.
Emperor Beasts, humans, and plants, instead, would welcome even their own kin as if they were steaming cheeseburgers. Guilt was a meaningless word in Huryole since the victim would be reborn in a few hours.
After living inside the lost academy for a few days, the only feeling that mattered was hunger.
"Congratulations." Said a male voice when Lith reached the end of the known path.
"You've reached the Headmaster's office and earned your place in the Arthan Academy."
Lith had no idea if to be more creeped out by the person in front of him speaking the modern common language or by hearing the name of the Mad King spoken with deference instead of spite.
The man in front of Lith wore an ample golden mage robe and was about 1.60 meters (5'3") tall. He looked to be in his mid-fifties and had long brown hair and beard streaked red all over.
"How do you speak my language and what the heck are you talking about?" Lith said while pretending to be scared.
'Solus, analysis.' He actually thought while using the chatter to weave his best spells.
'Whoever this guy is, he has a bright violet mana core and a life force, so he's human. Yet he shares the same energy signature of Huryole, so I'm afraid we're actually talking with the host of the Living Legacy that controls the place.
'Be extra careful. If he's anything like me, you're speaking with the beast to whom belongs the belly you're inside of.' Solus prepared some spells of her own while trying to understand if the cursed object had any weakness she could exploit.
"Many people reach our institution every year and no matter how long they stay, they talk, talk, and talk. I had all the time I needed to listen and keep up with the outside world." At a wave of the apparently amiable old man, a hologram of Lith talking with General Vorgh appeared in the middle of the room.
Chapter 956 Raiders of the Lost Academy Part 4
"Ranger Verhen, you'll remain here until the next reset." Vorgh's hologram said, making Lith aware that the Living Legacy had kept an eye on him ever since his first visit in Huryole.
Then, the images changed, showing a montage of all his previous visits. The sequence highlighted Lith's battle tactics, his ability to shapeshift into his Wyrmling form, and cast true magic.
More than a polite introduction it sounded like a threat.
"As for what I'm talking about, I'm offering you to enrol in the final academy, the Golden Griffon." The man raised his hands and the entire room started to glow with power.
The light coming out of the walls surrounded Lith as if it wanted to seep inside his body, but his enchanted armor and strong mana flow kept it at bay.
"My name is Hystar Sevenus, born from the fusion of the Headmaster of the seventh academy and its very power core. I hope we will get along." The man said.
"Thanks, but no thanks. Been there, done that. I think it's better if I leave now." Lith moved toward the door, but it's outline disappeared and became one with the wall.
"What's the rush? There is still plenty of time before the next reset. The gods only know why the King never entrusted me with the power of making it happen at will. I've lost so many promising students because of Arthan's short-sightedness." Hystar said while making two comfortable chairs appear.
'Solus?' Lith refused to sit down. If Huryole worked like his tower, the chair could easily turn out to be a deadly trap.
'Don't worry, the corridor is still there and the wall hasn't changed its thickness. Get ready to move on my mark.' She thought.
"Why should I accept? This place is a dreadful prison, whereas the entirety of Mogar is up for the taking." Lith had to keep the conversation going, otherwise his host might activate arrays that would make his escape more difficult.
"As all those who came in the past, dear Verhen, you're letting fear cloud your judgment. This is no prison, but the birthplace of the final army that will make Arthan's dream of conquering the entire Garlen continent come true.
"Where others just see a bunch of people forced to become cannibalistic psychopaths, Arthan saw the possibility to create a battlefield where death has no place. Our students can practice their tactics until they perfect or discard them.
"They learn how to distinguish true friends from those who instead would betray them for a bowl of soup. Here there is no such thing as fatal mistakes. You can really learn how to improvise, adapt, and overcome any adversity.
"Your research needs Dragon's blood? We have a dragon. Even if we bleed him out, he'll just be reborn. The same stands for Phoenixes, Unicorns, and any rare ingredient you might ever need.
"Here at the Golden Griffon, everyone can make the extreme sacrifice for their country over and over again!" More than a pitch, Hystar's words sounded like the rant of a madman.
The basic concept was interesting but the total lack of free will to join the experiment or of any safe words to qui it, made Huryole no different from a prison camp used to conduct human experimentation.
"As our guest, I allowed you to pick a few souvenirs. But if you enrol and graduate, I'll award you with this." The Headmaster made the image of the Davross Forge appear in front of Lith's eyes.
"What do you mean, graduate?" Lith licked his lips with a greedy light in his eyes.
"All you have to do is to stay here until the reset, reach the exit, and then escape the pesky arrays that block me here. You'll be awarded extra points if you deactivate them. Would you be interested in a full suit of dragonscale armor?" Hystar said.
"Well, when you put it this way…"
'Mark!' Solus cut Lith short and made the shortest path to the exit appear in front of his eyes.
"Bye!" Lith charged at the point where once the door had been while boosting his armor with mana and activating the Spirit Barrier ring at the same time.
The combined effect of the artifacts turned him into a living battering ram that smashed through the solid stone wall without wasting a single spell.
Lith could always regain mana with Invigoration, whereas weaving new spells would take him time.
"How dare you ruin my school! Come children, lunch is ready!" Hystar sent the living light after Lith while all the doors of the Golden Griffon leading toward the exit opened at the same time, guiding the hunters toward their prey.
The walls of the academy came to life and took the form of golems. Unlike those from Kulah, they were made only of stone. The golems had no head nor neck, their eyes were on their ample chest, making them look like humanoid manta rays.
They were slow, but their number was so great that the moment Lith slowed down, he would be drowned in their stone limbs.
By the time he was out of the girls' locker room and back into the canteen, Lith finally understood the real meaning of the Headmaster's last words. The floor was filled with golems and the tables with steaming piles of gruel, probably made from the latest batch of fallen 'students'.
The stench made Lith turn his nose up to it, but to the rest of the inmates the meal smelled like heaven. All kinds of creatures swarmed from all sides of the academy, following the aroma to the canteen where Lith was fighting for his life.
War cut deep inside the golems' stone thanks to its enchantments scrambling their defences and allowing Lith to make short work of the golems. After the events of Kulah, Orion had modified his crafting method so that his loved ones would never be cornered by a construct again.
Both Ruin and War were capable of absorbing mana from nearby spells, which included the arrays that animated the golems. War, however, was much more efficient so that the moment it struck a construct, the earth magic that made it impervious to all kinds of damage faltered.
With each slash, the angry blade pierced the golems' external armor and reached their power cores, turning them into rubble. It would have been an impossible feat if not for Life Vision revealing the weak point to Lith and War allowing him to exploit it.
The bastard sword emitted a screech akin to a battle cry while it absorbed the power core's lingering energies and made them go haywire. The golem exploded, freeing War and repelling the other assailants without letting a single piece of rock hit Lith.
'Fuck me sideways. Whoever pissed Orion off this much has better to entrust their soul to the gods, because I'm pretty sure they will soon meet their makers.' Lith thought while clearing his path toward the exit.
'I have good news.' Solus said. 'Even though each golem you destroy is quickly replaced, their creation is weakening Hystar's energy signature in both the walls and the light that is chasing us.'
Behind them, the canteen had plunged into chaos. The living fought for the food, the undead fought to eat the living, while the weakest of the prisoner feasted on their fallen colleagues.
Only the constructs kept chasing their prey relentlessly, yet Lith's situation had become much worse nonetheless.
Chapter 957 Sometimes They Come Back Part 1
'Please, Solus, save the fancy words for later and tell why Hystar's energy signature weakening matters now.' Lith thought while activating Full Guard. Not even Solus could follow so many targets at the same time and he couldn't afford to be taken by surprise.
Stray spells flew throughout the room, limiting his space of maneuver, and the moment one of the Golden Griffon's inmates spotted Lith, they would chase him with haunted eyes as if he was a juicy prime rib on a barbeque.
'It matters because, unlike what happened when we tried to take the Davross Forge or when Jakra the Dragon used Origin Flames, the building is not coming to life. My guess is that Arthan didn't trust Hystar enough to give him full control of the academy.
'He admitted that Huryole has rules that even he has to follow. As long as you don't break any of them, he has to consume his own power.' Solus said.
The Living Legacy didn't lie about the academy offering the possibility to train endlessly, about how those trapped inside the Golden Griffon could sharpen and polish their skill to the utmost limit.
Each one of them was a fierce opponent with hundreds of years of battle experience and no care for their survival. They had fought the whole time while being famished, wounded, and sometimes even maimed.
Hystar's 'students' had learned how to mess their own spells up on purpose, to detonate along with the enemy and turn themselves into living bombs. Lith cursed his bad luck when an explosion sent him crashing on the ground.
He had sustained no damage, but the constructs had finally the opportunity to pile up on him and unleash their best spells in unison. Lith let them form a small mound that covered him from sight and from the ensuing chaos so that the students would turn against each other.
The Spirit Barrier ring required a lot of mana to sustain such weight and block the spells that were raining down on it, but Lith could afford it thanks to Invigoration. Once Life Vision showed him that the coast was clear, Lith expanded the barrier and sent the golems flying.
He used his wings and air magic to fly faster than a bullet, reaching the Gardens of Madness in two flaps. The route Solus had traced for him required to cut through the middle of the park, offering him no cover.
The golems from the canteen followed him and new ones emerged from the Gardens' walls. To make matters worse, those skilled enough to become the landlords of the green area were well fed and rested. Some even had followers.
They were a much greater threat than their starving peers.
'Time to trigger the detonator.' A snap of Lith's finger made all the small bags he had hidden inside the bushes open, releasing their delicious smell.
The "bombs" he had prepared were actually steaming delicacies that he conserved inside his pocket dimension. The bags were something he had devised for places like Belius or Huryole, where dimensional items didn't work.
They would keep the food warm and fragrant.
Even the Gardens' landlords didn't have a hot meal in decades, let alone those who found the canteen's disgusting gruel tasty. The food frenzy made everyone go insane, fighting with their life on the line just to get one bite.
The students ignored Lith, who kept away from the bags, and ground the golems into dust simply because the constructs were on their path. Lith kept flapping his wings, moving as fast as he could toward the exit.
He didn't really have ten hours left, but barely a few minutes. It was the time it would take Hystar to gather his troops and beat Lith with sheer numbers and power.
"Damn it all!" Lith yelled when he found the surveillance canvas room jam-packed with golems.
They stood one on top of the other, those above fusing their legs with the flat head of those below, forming a living barricade capable of grabbing, hitting, and using magic. A hail of stones filled the entirety of the corridor, forcing Lith to a halt.
He activated the tier five magic holding ring, unleashing both the Final Sunsets stored within. Lith focused the two spells into a single pillar of black flames that vaporized the enemies' spells and pierced through their ranks, creating a path.
'I take back what I said in the past about tier five magic holding rings. I need more of these babies.' Lith thought.
He entered the kitchen, finding that it was even more packed than the corridor, but this time Lith was ready. Until that moment, Lith had been forced to hold back to not damage the academy with stray spells and trigger its defenses.
He hadn't forgotten how the Golden Griffon was so powerful to stop even Jakra the Emerald Dragon. The last time they had met, the ancient creature had failed to escape because his Origin Flames damaged the walls.
Lith had learned from Jakra's mistake and Solus's earlier words confirmed his theory. The golems, the food, everything was just a ruse to make him go all-out and break the academy's rules so that Hystar could become all-powerful.
Now, however, the exit was in sight, so he could safely unleash all the spells he had at the ready. The entire kitchen blew up, opening a hole in the Golden Griffon walls. By the time the safety protocols triggered, however, Lith was already outside, using his amulet to open the array.
"No, you don't!" Hystar Warped in front of Lith while focusing all of his might into a gravity spell that sucked him back into the lost academy.
A jet stream of bright blue Origin Flames burned the Headmaster to a crisp while an emerald creature so fast that it was barely a blur pushed Lith through the fissure in the energy barrier before it reached for the sky.
< "Freedom, at last!"> (AN: translated from draconic).
Jakra rejoiced as he could finally breathe fresh air for the first time in centuries. He had remained trapped inside Huryole a long time ago, back when he was young and stupid enough to believe himself invincible.
Little did he know that even though the Golden Griffon gave him plenty of experience and made him immortal, it also stopped his aging. It was the reason why he was still stuck with a bright blue core despite having mastered Origin Flames and true magic to the point of almost self-Awaken.
Dragons only grew stronger with time, so eternal youth was a curse to them
< "Thanks, little brother! Now I need a proper meal, a year-long nap, and a month-long bath. After that, I'll learn your language and thank you properly."> Jakra knew that, as long as Lith didn't understand his words, any attempt to communicate would turn into a pointless fight.
Having nothing to offer but his promise, the Dragon spat on the Golden Griffon before Warping away.
'He must have followed you the whole time, hiding behind the golems.' Solus thought. 'I failed to notice his presence as well. There were too many enemies and dangers to care about a quiet dot in the backlines.'
'Yeah. Hystar opened all the rooms leading to my position, so Jakra had a clear path to follow. The Headmaster didn't even consider the idea that someone might be still sane and exploit his call to arms to escape.' Lith thought.
Chapter 958 Sometimes They Come Back Part 2
'Do you think I should mention this in my report?'
'You better do. Jakra's escape was just a matter of time, whereas the knowledge about Huryole's true purpose will help the Kingdom to better defend from it. With Thrud still at large and most of the knowledge about Arthan lost, they need to know that the Mad King left the ultimate army as a gift for his granddaughter.' Solus said.
'I bet that General Vorgh will be pretty pissed off anyway.' Lith sighed.
***
Grand Duchy of Deirus, Deirus Household. During Lith's escape from Huryole.
It had been a long time since Jirni Ernas had reached out to her old friend, Archmage Velan Deirus. Right after Yurial's death, Velan's son and the fifth member of Lith's academy group, the relationship between the Ernas and the Deirus Households became awkward.
The slave ring Nalear had put at Quylla's finger had forced her to cut the young mage's throat and it had been Phloria��s decision to heal her mother first that led to Yurial's demise.
Velan considered them responsible and as a mother, Jirni couldn't blame him. After a while, the two families had made peace, yet Archmage Deirus had never recovered from the loss of his only beloved son and suitable heir.
Velan had many children, but they were all as bad as they came. The Deirus household was a loveless place, so everyone only cared about themself and about enjoying the luxuries that their noble status offered.
Yurial's siblings had no passion for magic and no love for their subjects. Making any of them the next ruler of the region would be akin to put a fox guarding a henhouse. Velan had searched for someone to adopt, but talented mages were very rare and he didn't have much time.
After a while, Archmage Deirus resigned to his bloodline ending with him. He started to spend all of his time either in his lab or putting things in order for the families that would take his place once his Grand Duchy would be split into smaller lands.
Jirni and Orion had called to offer him their help multiple times and visited him whenever they could, just to find Velan's amulet offline and his doors closed.
All the more reason why Jirni was surprised to receive an audience with him in her time of need. After over a year, Phloria's trial was at a standstill and her career was ruined. Lith had already become a Captain as well and was likely to be promoted again before his discharge.
Even Kamila had surpassed Phloria in terms of ranks after becoming a Royal Constable and being appointed as Jirni's personal aid. Captain Yehval had no backers nor talent for magic, but she was smart and loyal.
Jirni had all the power a magical household could have, what she lacked were true friends. Having someone trustworthy watching her back was a priceless asset that made Kamila vital to her plans.
Yet a simple aide wasn't enough to solve Phloria's problem. Jirni needed to bring the most powerful bloodlines of the Kingdom on her side and Velan would make a fine addition. The Royals were doing all they could, but politics were a poisoned drink.
Exposing themselves too much to help the Ernas would set a dangerous precedent and be perceived as favoritism. Jirni and Orion had to play their part to solve the situation or risk alienating their life-long allies.
"Long time no see, Jirni." Velan tried to smile, but his face failed him. There was not a shred of joy left in his heart and he was too tired to fake a feeling he didn't experience in years.
He was a man in his late fifties, about 1.7 meters (5'7") tall, with red hair and a beard. Brown streaks showed his talent for earth magic that had made him an Archmage whereas grey streaks due to grief and age made him look older than he was.
"What brings you to my door today?"
"We are not friends anymore, Velan, so let's skip the part where you pretend to care about my problems and I to feign ignorance. You know exactly why I'm here. I want you to stop what you're doing." Jirni wore a warm smile that extended to her eyes.
Unlike Velan, she never revealed her true face until she was ready to deliver the finishing blow.
Lady Jirni Ernas was a petite woman, barely 1.52 cm (5') tall, with blonde hair that extended mid-way down her back and sapphire blue eyes. She wore a beautiful light green day dress worthy of the Court and her hair was perfectly curled, framing her face like she had been taken out of a painting.
She was in her early forties, but thanks to proper care and good genes she looked like she was in her mid-thirties, giving her the allure of a mature yet youthful woman. Many had mistaken her frilly appearance with her real self and most of them died for it.
"What am I doing, exactly?" Velan furrowed his brows. An old butler in a black livery served them one of the finest teas in the Kingdom.
"You're a lucky man, Velan. Or maybe you just timed your attack well, it doesn't matter. The point is that, without that goddamn undead invasion and all the spy work for the imminent colonization of the Jiera continent, we would've had this conversation months ago.
"Once I could finally stop for a moment and think, it didn't take me much to unravel the mystery behind my daughter's predicament. The Royals are already on my side and so are most of the ancient magical bloodlines.
"They know all too well the price for standing in my path and striking the Ernas down would set a very dangerous precedent for them. It would mean setting a glass ceiling past which anyone must be shot down, themselves included.
"Hence whoever was prolonging that pointless drama had to be someone from a young yet very powerful household. Someone who could use the massacre of Kulah to stir the still open wounds left by Lukart's attempts to trigger a civil war.
"Someone who is respected and well received, a leading figure who has suffered a terrible loss and never got justice for it despite his countless merits. Someone like you." Jirni said.
"You are too kind." Velan dropped the façade, letting all the rage he harbored toward the Ernas twist his face in a snarl of rage.
"I admit that I would've never pulled it off if your daughter didn't manage to get so many valuable Professors from the young magical bloodlines slaughtered. You old coots can afford to lose one heir or two because the foundation of your power is solid.
"Remaining mageless is nothing but a temporary setback for you, whereas it can spell the end for us commoners." His voice was amiable, yet every word of his was soaked in venom and spite.
"Also, I need to thank both you and your daughter for providing me such a valuable helper. Do you remember the young Kallion, I presume?" At a snap of his fingers, the door of the tea room opened and revealed the presence of a second guest
Kallion Nuragor was a handsome man in his early twenties, about 1.8 meters (5'11") tall with pitch-black hair and grey eyes. He had a lean but muscular build that not even his ample mage robe could hide.
Chapter 959 Different Games Part 1
Kallion Nuragor had been Phloria's boyfriend for a while, and after Lith had publicly humiliated him, the young man had trained his body as well as his magic without ever taking a single day of rest.
"Mage Nuragor, what a pleasant surprise. I'm curious to understand the role you played in Velan's little charade." Jirni welcomed him with a simple nod of her head, without even bothering to stand up.
"It's Great Mage Nuragor to you, Lady Ernas." Kallion clenched his fist so hard that his knuckles turned white.
He held his rage back only because he knew that from that distance, despite the difference in their build, height, and age, Jirni could hand his ass to him with only one hand. Attacking Jirni would only give her a plausible excuse to kill him.
One year of training was nothing compared to a lifetime on the field.
"Great Mage?" She giggled like an airheaded noble dame. "Kallion must have done a pretty good job if you spent the gold necessary to buy a two bits mage like him such title."
All about Jirni from her tempo to her tone of voice was studied to provoke her opponents. Both Velan and Kallion knew it, but only the former had the cold blood to remain unfazed by her disrespectful words.
Being called a talentless mage that needed to bribe his way into the Mage Association brought him seconds away from attacking her, but Velan beat him to the punch, sending him flying with a wave of his hand.
"Forgive him. Youth makes people slaves of their instincts to the point of being stupid." Velan sighed while keeping his left forefinger raised and Kallion nailed to the wall to save his life.
"For stupid he is stupid. How did he help you, exactly?" Jirni giggled again, taking another sip of her tea.
"Disgruntled daughters need to vent with someone about their meddling parents." Velan chuckled, making Jirni's smile disappear. "Boyfriends make an excellent shoulder to lean on. You wouldn't believe how many things a young woman is willing to share, especially during pillow talk."
"Moreover, you are underestimating Kallion. After your birthday party, he worked hard as if he had to prove the whole Mogar wrong, achieving such feats that it only took me a few good words here and a bit of gold there to make him into a Great Mage. Can you say the same about your daughters or your good-for-nothing sons?"
"No, because everything my children got, they achieved it on their own." Jirni restored her poker face while her brain spun at top gear to understand all the innuendos of their conversation.
"Force my hand and it will not just be your daughter's career at stake, but also her reputation, along with that of the Ernas Household." Velan said.
"If you really have such power over me, why there's no rumor going around, yet?" Jirni asked.
"Consider it a gesture of goodwill. We can still settle our scores peacefully." Velan emptied his cup and magically refilled it.
"Interesting. You invested all this time and resources just to show off your influence over the Royal Court. I must assume you're about to ask me a heavy ransom." Jirni didn't bother asking what he wanted. She was sure Velan would tell her of his own will.
"I only ask for what is rightfully mine!" Archmage Deirus almost lost it when she called him a thief. "I want no ransom, just weregild for my son. You can either disown Quylla, so that I can make her face justice without the protection of the Ernas name, or give me Phloria, so that I can adopt her."
"I beg your pardon?" Jirni raised an eyebrow in disbelief.
"A child for a child, as simple as that. Quylla killed my Yurial so it's only fair for me to do the same. The only other acceptable solution is that you give me an heir. Phloria's career is already over and she's an embarrassment for your Household.
"No one could blame you for getting rid of her, while I would take her in the name of our old friendship. Phloria would have her reputation back and the Deirus would thrive.
"It would be an excellent opportunity to show to the whole Kingdom that old and new magical bloodline can work together for the greater good. Everybody wins." Velan said.
"Not at all, it would be only you to emerge victorious. Disowning Quylla would make my Household lose a powerful mage and her future heirs, while if I gave you Phloria, the moment something happens to Orion or me you could make a claim over the Ernas's magical legacy.
"Let me guess, you're planning to marry her with Great Mage Nuragor, correct?" Jirni put down her teacup and stood up, ready to leave.
"You're smarter than I gave you credit for, Lady Ernas." Archmage Deirus stood up as well, to be able to keep looking down on her thanks to the height difference between them. "You've guessed everything right except for the last part.
"I would never mix my blood with a traitor. I'm grateful to Kallion for his services and I've properly compensated him for it, but I think the Deirus Household's heir deserves a husband who doesn't switch sides out of petty grudges."
Kallion turned pale at those words, realizing that the reason why Velan never released him from the spell that nailed him to the wall wasn't to protect him so much as out of spite.
"You are counting your chickens before they hatch. The Deirus Household will die with you because I'm not going to give up on either of my daughters. I'll see you in the Court." Jirni turned around and walked toward the door.
"That's what I'm counting on." Velan said, making her stop. "Go ahead, you can search even my private property without a warrant. I've always followed the law, so your role as an Archon will do you no good."
A rage bordering on madness lit his eyes.
"You know, I've tried to bring down Lith as well, but that monster has no openings. I had him searched after the ogre's crystal incident, I made sure that everyone in the north knew who he was and what he did, yet he never lost control.
"I failed to get him discharged after Kulah only because unlike Phloria, he belongs to no one so everyone wants a piece of him. The Royals, the army, the mages, the old and new household, all of them want to reel him and refused to support me.
"To make matters worse, Mirim Distar keeps protecting Lith, and bypassing the authority of the Lord Commander of the Queen's corps is no easy feat."
"You knew about her real role in the Court and still dare to make a move?" For the second time in less than an hour, Velan Deirus had managed to surprise Jirni.
"Of course I know. I served in the corps as long as your husband." Velan sneered. "Once Lith leaves the army to join those filthy beasts, however, all those who protected him so far will either turn their back to him or simply lose the authority to help him.
"I'm telling you all of this in the hope you listen to reason and do the right thing. I know you care about Lith enough to groom that little wench of his and believe me, once I'm done with you, he'll be the next on my list."
Chapter 960 Different Games Part 2
"There's nothing you can do to protect your daughter, let alone a grassroots mage who's this close to being considered a traitor for turning his back to the Kingdom in its hour of need against the undead.
"The incoming storm will end both their lives, yet you have the power to spare them from such a cruel destiny. Give me what I want and all will be well."
"I'll show myself out. Farewell, Velan." Jirni's voice was shaken as she walked through the door with wavering steps.
Only once she was certain no one was following her along the corridor and Orion's buttons didn't detect any surveillance spell, did she regain her confidence. Her worried grimace disappeared and was replaced by a stone-cold face.
"Did you get everything, dear?" She said in her communication earpiece.
"Yes. It's almost exactly as you predicted, only that now we have Velan saying it with his own voice instead of just another of your 'paranoid' theories." Orion inwardly cursed at those who had refused to take his wife seriously due to the lack of proof.
"I'm not worried about Velan, so much as about Kallion. That little runt needs a lesson. Make sure that Mirim hears the recording. In this game, she is our queen." Jirni closed the call and made sure to retrace her steps.
Lady Ernas collected the small beads she had left on her way in before someone could notice them. All the important households were protected by dimensional sealing arrays that prevented eavesdropping, the use of communication amulets, and even recording devices.
Communication earpieces, however, didn't rely on dimensional magic to work, but only on air magic. They transmitted the sound without recording it. It was the reason why they had a short range that made them useful for small teams on recon missions but not for spy works.
Jirni, however, had placed several relays that had transmitted her conversation with Velan to the other receiver in Kamila's ear. She was waiting outside the array's area of effect, with Jirni's communication amulet in one hand and a signal amplifier in the other.
The set up had allowed Orion to listen and record everything even though he was hundreds of kilometers away, giving Velan's spies the opportunity to keep an eye on him.
Once she left the Deirus Household, Jirni thanked Kamila for her help and the gods for giving her a deputy she could trust. Velan would have never felt confident enough to spill the beans if Lady Ernas brought along a member of her family.
That's why Jirni had made sure all her relatives were in places where Velan's spies could find and follow them easily. Jirni was known to trust no one and putting such knowledge in the hands of someone who could exploit it to their ends was a gamble that Archmage Deirus knew Jirni would never take.
Yet it was exactly what she had done.
Velan Deirus was a brilliant man, who had worked hard all his life and became an Archmage before he was even forty. He had achieved such a feat thanks to his talent for magic and his political ingenuity that allowed him to be at least five steps ahead of his competition.
Jirni Ernas, however, was a manipulator from a bloodline of manipulators who had mastered human interaction as it was a martial art. Be it politics, relationships, or work, Lady Ernas had learned from a tender age that just staying ahead was pointless.
Jirni knew that the only way no opponent could ever beat her was if she wasn't even playing their same game.
***
Once she got back to Belius, Captain Yehval was still shaken from the revelation that it was Archmage Deirus behind all the disciplinary notes in Lith's file and the cold reception he had received during his service as a Ranger despite his outstanding performance.
'I don't know what's worse. Whether to know that there is such a huge threat on the horizon or not being able to tell Lith until I meet him in person. Lady Ernas insisted that no channel is safe enough and she was damn right from the beginning.' Kamila thought.
She walked through the familiar halls of the command room where she had worked along with the other analysts and handlers for years. Until a couple of years ago, her colleagues were the only family she had and now most of them treated her as a stranger.
Some deeply respected Kamila for her career-making move of approaching Lady Ernas during the mission in Othre. Others envied her and thought that they would be in her place if only Ranger Verhen had been assigned to them.
All of them gave her the salute for a few months now and either treated her with deference or spat the moment she turned her back. Kamila had only a handful of friends left and she was cut off from the office's gossip, so she couldn't make head or tails of their behavior.
'I'm just a freshly appointed Captain with no authority. Everyone knows that Lith is going to leave the army and that Lady Ernas's position is getting shakier by the day because of Phloria's trial. What do they know that I don't?' She thought.
Kamila walked to her desk, collecting the last of her things. Lith was the only officer she was in charge of as handler and soon she would become a full-time Royal Constable.
'I wonder if distance will put a dent into our relationship. As long as Lith was a Ranger, he had to call me every day and, as his handler, I was allowed extra free time to take care of him.
'Once I become just his girlfriend, however, the army will revoke all our privileges. Maybe I should ask Lady Ernas for…' Her train of thought derailed when General Berion called her amulet to summon her to his office.
Even from his hologram, Kamila could notice that the General had a shaky voice and was sweating bullets. She knew Berion as a man who wouldn't even flinch in front of his own death, so seeing him upset was ominous at best.
Her gut feeling turned into a knot the moment when she opened the door to the office, finding that Berion was standing to the sides while Queen Sylpha herself was sitting at his desk.
Kamila had only met the Queen twice and both times at galas where they had barely exchanged a few words. She was so stunned that she gave the Queen the salute while performing a curtsy.
"Close the door, Captain Yehval." Sylpha didn't even raise an eyebrow at Kamila's comical performance.
As soon as Kamila obeyed the Queen performed the final hand signs for a powerful set of arrays that sealed the room so that nothing and no one could get in or out the room.
"Sit down. We have much to discuss. This conversation is related to state affairs, so disclosing its contents to anyone will be considered as an act of treason and punished according to our law. Am I clear?" Sylpha asked.
"Yes, Your Highness." Kamila gave her a bow, incapable of standing the Queen's steel gaze.
"Only you, General Berion, and I are allowed to discuss the matter at hands. Ranger Verhen and even Archon Ernas are not granted clearance to know until the events will be set in motion.
"There's a huge storm brewing on the horizon and secrecy is of the utmost importance."
Chapter 961 The Enemy Within Part 1
Lith's mage tower, at the same time when Kamila was talking with the Queen.
After returning from Huryole, Lith attempted to call his handler multiple times, yet Kamila's army amulet was unavailable. He then tried to reach Jirni, and when even that failed, Lith tried to contact them on their civilian amulets.
"This doesn't make sense. I'm certain that they had to work today and neither of them ever turns off her work amulet. Something must have happened to them!"
Lith searched his amulet for Orion's rune. The Tower Warp was pointless if he didn't know where to go. He rarely called Jirni's husband, so by the time he found the right communication rune his army amulet started to blink.
"What the heck has happened and why didn't you pick up earlier? You had me worried sick!" Lith said to a flabbergasted officer in his mid-twenties, with brown hair and eyes.
"I'm afraid there is a misunderstanding. Captain Yehval is currently unavailable so the system rerouted your calls to me. I'm Lieutenant Brarr and I will be your temporary handler until further notice." The officer said.
"What happened to Kami- I mean, Captain Yehval?" Lith hated surprises.
"I'm not at liberty to say, but feel free to start your report as soon as you are ready." Brarr said.
"When will she be back and why I can't get in touch with Constable Ernas either?" Lith looked at the hapless Lieutenant in such a way that if glares could maim, Brarr remains would easily fit in a lunchbox.
"The system says I haven't got clearance to know that." Lith's handler rushed to explain.
The hologram saved him from the oppressive mana the Ranger was exuding, but Brarr could see how angry he was, which reminded him of all the things he had heard about Lith. Horrible things.
"Fine!" Lith snarled and told the Lieutenant about the group of undead who had triggered the arrays' alarm that protected Huryole.
As soon as Lith mentioned Arthan's name, Brarr stopped him.
"This is way above my clearance level. Let me ask General Berion for authorization before you continue."
Lith nodded for him to proceed. Berion still retained his role of Commander because they had yet to find a valid replacement.
"What is it now?" King Meron's annoyed hologram appeared, making Brarr freeze in panic while Lith's paranoia shifted to top gear.
'If the system redirected the call, then Berion is unavailable as well. On top of that, for the King to take the call personally it means that either the General is under investigation for treason or that the King doesn't trust the upper echelons of the army. This doesn't bode well.' He though.
Lith repeated his story from the beginning, but the King interrupted him when Lith described his meeting with Headmaster Hystar Sevenus.
"Lieutenant Brarr, the contents of this conversation are state secrets. I've already locked the file and you are forbidden from disclosing anything about what you heard so far. If I catch a single word about it going around, you'll be charged with high treason. Am I clear?" Meron said.
Brarr nodded and the King forcibly shut down the Lieutenant's amulet.
"Now you can continue your report, Ranger Verhen."
By the time Lith finished talking, the King was pinching his nose in frustration.
"I never receive good news. I'm starting to think this crown is cursed." Meron said. "Who else knows about this?"
"Only your Majesty and I." Lith replied.
"I stand corrected. Finally good news." Meron sighed.
"Just like all your predecessors, you've probably understood for a while that Huryole is an academy. We always believed it was a failed prototype, but according to what Hystar said, it actually works as intended."
"You didn't know?" Lith was flabbergasted.
"Most of Arthan's records are lost either due to time or because he destroyed them once he realized his days were numbered. I'm not going to lie to you. You are not the first one to reach the core of the Golden Griffon academy, but you are the first to ever live to tell the tale.
"Repeat everything from the beginning and don't leave out any detail."
This time the King made Lith a lot of questions about the light Hystar had enveloped him with and about the combat prowess of Huryole's inmates.
"If the Living Legacy called them an army, then there must be a way to control them. I'm afraid that light was not only meant to bind you to the academy, but also capable to exert some kind of mind control." Meron said.
"My Orichalcum Skinwalker armor protected me and I'm certain to be alright." Lith didn't like the implications of those words one bit.
"We need to make sure. You could be an involuntary puppet right now. Jakra is already out there somewhere and if he ever crosses paths with Thrud, he might be compelled to tell her about the army Arthan prepared for her.
"I expect you to reach the Royal Capital for a mandatory quarantine. Meanwhile, I'll send someone to further investigate Huryole. This is no longer a matter of containing it, but to be prepared for the worse.
"We need to know if once outside the prisoners are freed from its influence or still retain their immortality. Thrud is already dangerous as she is. If she were to acquire an undying army formed by hundreds of years old battle veterans enslaved to her will, the Mad Queen would make the undead invasion look like a walk in the park.
"King Meron out."
"Solus?" The moment the King's hologram disappeared, Lith performed a full body scan on himself with Invigoration and Scanner while Solus did the same.
"Don't worry, you are fine. Between studying your hybrid life force and the cracks in your human essence, I know them as the back of my hand." Solus said. "Also, I made sure that the light never touched your body."
"That's a relief, but it doesn't save me from quarantine. They will never believe to a self-diagnosis and I can't bring you along. We got to split up." Lith put everything valuable inside his pocket dimension before reaching the nearest city with a Warp Gate in record time.
He found Royal Guards looking for him at the city gates, who stripped him of all his enchanted items before tying his fingers and putting a gag to his mouth. Such safety measures were pointless against an Awakened, but would render any normal mage helpless.
They brought him to Valeron, the capital of the Griffon Kingdom, where Headmaster Marth and Professor Vastor were waiting for him.
"For the gods' sake, Lith, we must stop meeting like this." Vastor said, trying to lighten the mood.
"Yeah. I can't believe that I'm starting to consider crises as the occasion for your social visits." Headmaster Marth nodded.
The two Royal Healers and their Guards brought Lith inside a white padded cell that Life Vision confirmed to him was covered in arrays that blocked all elements but light.
Without Solus, he lacked a good chunk of his usual brainpower, so Lith had no idea what was happening and asked for an explanation the moment they removed his restraints.
"Together with Manohar, the two of us have spent a lot of time studying the tomes and machines you found in the Odi ruins. We did it to assess the threat a second Kulah might pose to the Kingdom in the case they caught us unprepared.
"Imagine our surprise when the resident genius pointed out that he had only seen one contraption that exploited both light magic and technology to work." Marth said.
Chapter 962 The Enemy Within Part 2
"Arthan's Madness?" Lith's shock didn't stop him from putting together the pieces of the puzzle.
"As always, Manohar was right." Vastor had finished his chants and continued in Marth's stead, who had just begun. "Arthan's Madness is a modified version of the Odi's body-swapping machine with the use of modern tier five magic instead of the crap the Odi used."
"If Arthan really knew the Odi's workings, then the light that attempted to merge with me might be an improved version of the slave device the Odi carved upon their victims' life force." Lith completed the phrase for him.
"Exactly. It would explain why he attempted to force you to stay and how Thrud could control her army if she ever puts her hands on the Golden Griffon. We already have an Emerald Dragon at large that is likely to be enslaved.
"The Kingdom can't afford a mage of your caliber with a clearance level as high as yours to be another Wanemyre. Now shut up and let us work." Marth snarled at the memory of Nalear's betrayal.
The two professors worked relentlessly for over two hours, checking Lith's life force for any kind of subtle alteration. Lith did the same, but he used Invigoration to boost his life force and Scanner to make sure it hid his hybrid nature.
His second energy signature was naturally eclipsed by the human life force, and even if one was talented enough to also perceive life forces as a melody, it was almost impossible to spot unless one knew what to look for.
"My diagnosis is that Lith's life force is pure and unaltered." Vastor said while dabbing the sweat from his forehead. He was panting as if he had run a marathon. Despite his constant practice, body fat and age limited his stamina.
"I second your opinion." Marth sighed in relief. He was sweating as well, but unlike his colleague, he didn't need to sit down.
"I had hoped that time and your growth spurt would have at least partially mended the cracks in your life force, but alas, I was wrong. Do they have any side effects you want to share with us?"
"No." Lith replied while watching at his two teachers with Death Vision. He had released it to gain the full focus needed to make only one life force visible and was happy to see that no one in the room was Awakened or undead.
Yet the fact that dying of old age was an unlikely end for all those present, saddened him. Marth and Vastor died in such gruesome ways that Lith was speaking to small mounds of flesh most of the time.
The Royal Guards, instead, died mostly of poison or blade wounds, filling the air with the sweet, metallic smell of blood mixed with chemical substances.
"I would clear you from all suspicions, but healing magic is different from other kinds of spells." Vastor sat on what was going to be Lith's bed.
"It can have delayed effects so the quarantine will last a few days. Also, your cracked life force makes you more susceptible than normal to that kind of spell. Even an incomplete slave enchantment might work on you.
"We need to make sure you're not a threat to yourself or others. Do you have any questions?"
"Yes. How long will quarantine last and will I be allowed to have visitors?" Lith asked.
"A few days, maybe a week." Marth said. "As for visitors, it can be arranged, but no direct contact will be allowed. You could speak with them through a glass."
"Why so long?"
"Here. Let me show you why." Vastor took a silvery wand out of his pocket that Lith recognized as a Royal Forgemaster tool.
"What the-? Is it the Healer-Forgemaster combo such a common specialization?" Lith asked.
"Actually yes." Marth took out his own and showed it to Lith. "The two disciplines have very much in common. Only blockheads like Manohar disregard all branches of magic but their own."
Vastor chanted an unknown spell while drawing silver runes with his wand in the air, making Lith wish that Solus was with him to study the wand's pseudo core and memorize the spell.
A silvery fog came out of the wand, highlighting all the magical auras surrounding Lith's body. The fog took the shape of his Skinwalker armor, his rings, the dimensional amulet, and even of Ruin.
Luckily for Lith, due to War's violent nature, he rarely used the blade, so its energy signature was eclipsed by Ruin's. Also, both Orion's cloaking ring and Solus's weren't revealed by the spell.
What it revealed, instead, was a gaseous substance enveloping Lith's body that kept moving back and forth, like a wave crashing against a reef.
"As you can see, whatever 'Headmaster Sevenus' did to you is still there." Vastor said. "Once your body is cleansed by all lingering energies and if your life force is still unaltered, then you'll be released."
"What about visitors?" Marth asked.
"I don't want anyone seeing me like a caged animal." Lith said after pondering for a while.
"Can I at least talk with them with a communication amulet?"
"I'm sorry, no. Dimensional magic would allow you to escape. Recording devices aren't allowed either." Marth shook his head. "We'll try to visit you as often as we can. You're allowed to have contacts with healers capable of fighting you."
The two Professors walked out of the room to give their report to the King, but before leaving they made sure that Lith was served one of his favorite foods and sealed light magic as well. There was no telling what a talented healer like Lith could do nor they could risk him being able to create hard-light constructs like Manohar.
Also, with all the elements blocked by the arrays, the lingering energies surrounding Lith's body would have nothing to feed upon and hopefully dissolve faster.
First, Lith tried calling Solus with their mind link, but even their deep bond couldn't overcome the hundreds of kilometers separating them. Then, he tried all kinds of magic, discovering that Fusion and Spirit magic still worked.
'I can try to escape if shit hits the fan, but I can't afford to practice while I'm here. There are likely surveillance devices in the cell so the only thing I can do is train my body with calisthenics and my mana core with Accumulation disguised as meditation.' He thought.
Lith suspected his meal to be drugged, but ate anyway. He was still weakened from the fight in Huryole and also had confidence in his enhanced body. Between light fusion and his mana infused organs, there were few things he couldn't detoxify.
His paranoia proved to be wrong. The food was delicious and the only threat it posed was the one to his figure. Lith spent the following days training for 16 hours and sleeping for the rest of the time.
Vastor and Marth visited him daily, one in the morning and the other in the afternoon, to break his isolation. Jirni and Orion were too busy dealing with Velan Deirus to visit him often, but they still came as often as they could.
Between their clearance level and physical prowess, they were the only ones allowed to enter his room. With Phloria's exception, their daughters were deemed too weak, but she was on duty and unable to reach the capital.
Lith's family and Kamila even offered to sign a full release, but the Professors refused. Neither of them wanted to risk Lith going mad if he harmed someone he loved under the effects of the slave spell.
Chapter 963 The Fallen Part 1
After just a couple of days, Lith's body couldn't take the training regimen anymore, not with just three meals a day. He couldn't explain to them that thanks to Invigoration his body required but a second to regain his vigor, so he accessed Soluspedia to relieve his boredom.
Only then did he notice that his mental library was completely empty except for a scroll. It said: "If you can read this, eject the scroll inside the tower."
The moment Lith did as instructed, two more scrolls appeared inside Soluspedia.
The first said: "If you are alright, eject this scroll" while the second: "If they are holding you prisoner against your will, eject this scroll".
'Solus, you are a damn genius.' Lith smiled while ejecting the first scroll and continuing their long-distance conversation.
The two of them shared all of Solus's tower abilities, distance only made it harder for Lith to access his dimensional space, but he still managed to do it just by heightening his focus.
Solus told him that after separating from him, she had reached the mana geyser in the Trawn woods to assume her tower form and alerted Tista, Protector, and Faluel. None of them trusted the Kingdom, so they had waited to receive news directly from him while preparing for the worst-case scenario.
Lith's family had faith in the Ernas and the Professors, but since they were both forbidden from telling them the reason for Lith's confinement, everyone was scared to death, even Solus.
Together with Lith's Awakened allies, she was staging a prison break.
After being reassured of his wellbeing, Solus passed the information to Tista who in turn relayed it to the rest of the family under the pretense it came from an Awakened source.
Selia had to wait spring before starting the renovation of her house in Lutia, so she had been living with the Verhens in the guest room to run the house while Elina was too distressed to do anything.
She only brought the little Fenrir with her, leaving the other children in Nalrond's care.
After another couple of days, most of the magical energies lingering around Lith's body had disappeared. Huryole's fog was still there, but thinner and farther from his life force than before.
"Your life force shows no sign of alterations and the spell's effects are as good as gone. You'll be free soon." Vastor said with a smile.
Lith was so happy for the good news that as soon as the Professor left, he tried to eject the scroll in Soluspedia related to his release when he noticed a new message.
"I've lost contact with Tista. A small battalion is surrounding your house, preventing everyone from going in or out. The arrays have been reinforced to the point that even my Mirror Hall can't see inside.
"I'm afraid such precautions are related to your condition and to the approaching of the day of your discharge from the army. I suspect the Royals are afraid that someone might strike during your absence. I'll keep you posted, check Soluspedia often."
***
"What the heck is going on and why can't I leave my own home?" Tista snarled a few centimeters from the face of the Commander of the Queen's Corps squadron that had surrounded the Verhen household.
The poor man was torn between his duty and the mad desire to kiss her full lips.
Tista Verhen was a twenty years old gorgeous woman 1.76 (5'9") meters tall with waist-length auburn hair that had several shades of red. Tista's oval face and her delicate features only emphasized the perfect proportions of her curvy body.
Anger gave her pearly pink skin a tinge of red that made Tista even more alluring.
"I'm not at liberty to say." The Commander felt deeply embarrassed hearing his usually authoritative voice sound squeaky.
None of his men thought any less of him since they needed their sheer willpower just to look away from the goddess in front of them and perform their duty. Their throats felt dry as desert sand at the idea to speak to her, refusing her request was beyond them.
"I'm a Mage of the Kingdom and demand to know!" Tista said, almost making him crumble.
"And I'm a Great Mage and an army Major under the direct command of the Royals. My answer is still no." He tried to sound stern but it was as if he had inhaled helium.
The Commander's voice was so distorted that it sounded ridiculous, yet no one of those present was in the mood for laughing, especially Kamila.
She was squirming on her chair, torn between her duty toward the Kingdom and the desire to share with the others what she knew for days. Fear and stress had been eating at her from the inside all along, but she couldn't disobey the Queen.
Not with all that was at stake.
Selia wasn't faring any better. She had no idea what was happening, but if Fenrir decided to shapeshift in front of so many witnesses, her family would be in a world of trouble.
To make matters worse, she was unable to leave as well. She was afraid of leaving her children alone for so long and what Protector would do if he were to believe the soldiers were taking her hostage.
Despite all his patience and wisdom, Ryman was a father and a husband first. The moment someone threatened his family, he wouldn't hesitate to take on the army on his own.
"My son is no traitor!" Raaz jumped from his chair. "If you hope to use me as leverage for your dirty tricks, I'd rather die than force him to a lifetime of servitude."
Fear was quickly turning into anger and Kamila was afraid of what could happen in a room filled with people armed to the teeth. The glass Raaz was clenching was actually a Death Bomb that would destroy the life force of whoever was struck by it.
Elina's wooden spoon was capable of controlling all the arrays in the house and turning the home appliances into war machines.
Luckily for Kamila, her army amulet started to blink before the situation could escalate further. The hologram of the Queen appeared in the middle of the room without Kamila's touching the amulet, proving that she had used the Royal Override.
"Enough!" Her voice roared like thunder. Neither distance or the ethereal nature of the hologram managed to lessen the imposing presence of the Queen.
"Commander Ulpar can't answer your questions because he doesn't know anything." Sylpha looked around the room, making sure that everyone had regained their cool.
"Mage Verhen, I can understand your outrage but not your childish behavior. A mage incapable of controlling their emotions can't control the elements and it's nothing but a liability for the Kingdom." Only experience and self-control allowed the Queen to keep her voice stern and her eyes steady instead of checking Tista out.
"Members of the Verhen household and their guests, you knew from the moment Lith Verhen joined the army that his life wouldn't be his own anymore. The Kingdom has required many sacrifices for him and is about to ask one more.
"You can choose to witness the last moments of Great Mage Verhen or you can stay cooped up home. Either way, I will not allow you to endanger my plans to protect the Kingdom, even at the cost of arresting you all." At those words, all of those present turned pale as ghosts.
Chapter 964 The Fallen Part 2
"Captain Yehval, I charged you with keeping them calm and you failed me, forcing me to reveal my presence." Kamila was flabbergasted realizing that the Queen had been watching and listening to them the entire time.
Suddenly Lith's paranoia sounded reasonable.
"I relieve you from your duty. Prepare them for what is about to come and embarrass me no further."
Everyone turned toward Kamila, looking at her with steel gazes as if there was a traitor among them. Even Zinya didn't say a word to defend her.
"I couldn't disobey a direct order from the Queen, just as there wasn't anything I could say to ease your worries." Kamila said to both the Queen and the Verhens.
Sylpha's gaze softened, realizing she had tasked the Captain with an impossible mission. If it was her son they were talking about, the Commander and his men would be all over the place, reduced to small bits.
***
Two more days passed with no more news from either Solus or the Professors. For the first time in his life, Lith hated his secrets. He had asked Marth and Vastor multiple times if everything was alright at Lutia, only to hear them lie to his face.
Yet he couldn't expose them without revealing Solus's existence and their bond. He focused solely on Accumulation, drawing world energy non-stop in the case he needed to escape.
'If only I managed to see out of this cell and could tell Solus where I am, she might be able to help me.' He thought.
Lith understood that something was truly wrong when Vastor, Marth, and Manohar walked through the door of his cell in their Spellbreaker uniform and all wearing a stern expression.
"Change into this. We'll wait for you outside." Marth handed to him what looked like a light blue jumpsuit that would have looked identical to an Earth's prisoner uniform if not for bearing the army color.
Lith used both Invigoration and Life Vision, discovering that the cloth was enchanted, yet it was nothing he had ever seen before and was already imprinted.
'At least it's not a slave item, but I can't refuse to wear it anyway. I'm completely disarmed whereas they are veterans and are combat-ready. The Professors aren't wearing ceremonial garbs and weapons, but the real deal.
'I doubt I can take out even one of them. They are prepared and waiting for troubles. Also, I've already seen how good Vastor's and Manohar's teamwork is, if we add Marth, I don't have a ghost of a chance without my equipment and Solus.' Lith thought.
The Professors had him walking in the middle of a triangular formation, with Headmaster Marth on point while Vastor and Manohar walked behind him.
"I'm really sorry, kid. You deserved better." Manohar said, his tone sadder than Lith had ever heard him. The god of healing's ominous words deserved him several curses from his colleagues.
Paranoia made Lith plan on weaving his best spells, perform a surprise attack on his wardens with three tier five spells at the same time, and then flee from the Royal castle.
Then, his good sense stopped him.
'Even if I manage to escape from this corridor, I have no idea where the exit is. Let's assume I leave the castle, then what? My family is presumably held hostage and I've got nowhere to run.' He thought.
'On top of that, this is too weird. Jumpsuit aside, I've not been charged with anything, I wear no restraints, and I can feel that aside from dimensional magic, I can use all elements again.'
Despite the many inconsistencies, Lith silently cast his spells. Being rational was good, but being rational and prepared was better.
After walking through a few stark corridors, he understood that the Royals didn't hold him in the dungeon, but in the medical ward of the castle. The space around him went from mental asylum to royal palace of Versailles quickly.
Even mirrors were framed with solid gold, while all the tapestries and paintings on the walls were not only masterpieces to the point that even a layman of arts could appreciate them, but they were also enchanted.
The carpets were the same, but while the pieces of art on the walls depicted epic scenes of battle and the magical breakthroughs of the past Magi that had shaped the Kingdom's history, those covering the floor guided the guests by giving them directions.
Soon Lith recognized the path towards the Banquet Hall. It was filled with magical marvels, among which at least fifty different arrays and countless magical treasures hidden inside the walls that only Life Vision revealed to him.
The double doors leading inside were wide open. Before they could enter, a valet checked Marth's ID before announcing their arrival, speaking with a magically enhanced voice.
The room was more than forty meters (133 feet) long and over thirty meters (100 feet) wide, with a single red silk carpet with gold embroidered edges going from the three meters (10 feet) wide double doors up to the two steps that distanced the floor where nobles stood and the raised one for the royal family.
That way, even while sitting on their golden thrones, the Royal couple would be able to look down on everyone present, reaffirming their status and authority.
The whole room was lighted by crystal chandeliers, fueled by magic, leaving no space for shadows or need for maintenance.
On the walls, magically enchanted tapestries would recount over and over the great feats that the current King had accomplished to be deemed worthy of his power. Both the floor and the pillars of the room were realized from gold veined marble, the most precious and robust material available in the Griffon Kingdom.
The room was filled with nobles and mages of all ages and relevance. Some Lith knew personally like Marchioness Mirim Distar, Count Lark, General Berion, and the Ernas family, others were merely acquaintances like Velan Deirus and Baron Eiros Wyalon from Jambel, but most of them were complete strangers to him.
'I wish Solus was with me. She would probably remember who the beanpole is and why he is glaring at me like that.' Lith failed to recognize Kallion Nuragor and all the enemies he had made as a student first and a Ranger later.
The room was filled with those who thought of themselves as his friends and those who considered him a threat. Both were eager to witness Lith's judgment.
Lith glanced at the balconies. They were sealed, but it was nothing that his enhanced body and a spell couldn't open.
'So far I have no clue. I received my family name here, but I also witnessed several trials for high treason taking place in the banquet hall. The fact that no one wears evening clothes but only high uniforms don't bode well, though.' He thought.
Queen Sylpha and King Meron were the only ones allowed to sit, whereas all of their guests had to stand. Lith could feel how half the room was tense while the other half sent dirty looks at him.
No one seemed happy, which confused him even more.
'Fuck me sideways.' Lith thought when he noticed that the Queen was wielding the Sword of Saefel, the weapon of Valeron Griffon, the first King.
It was used mainly to declare war and execute traitors.
Chapter 965 The Arisen Part 1
Lith was already sweating bullets when Orion, who was wearing a silvery Royal Foragemaster robe, stepped through the crowd and joined the three Professors.
Manohar and Vastor moved to Lith's left side, while Manohar and Orion to his right, in a square formation that left him no way out. The clothes of the Lord of the Ernas Household and of the three Professors shapeshifted at the same time.
Lith shuddered in fear recognizing the fabled Royal Fortress armor. They could be worn only with the authorization of the Queen herself, bestowing upon a normal human the power of an Emperor Beast and upon a mage the strength of a small army.
The armor appeared to be made of golden feathers that shone like a sun. The helmet was shaped like an eagle's head, its gloves ended with claws, and a couple of wings made of energy were draped like a mantle around its shoulders.
They allowed the wearer to fly and they could also be used to intercept incoming attacks, be they physical or magical in nature. The suit made those who wore it resemble a humanoid Griffon covered in metal.
"Everyone, but the Royal Guards, kneel." Sylpha and Meron stood up. Her voice was calm and flat as if she had asked to close a window, but the authority in her words couldn't be denied.
Literally.
The arrays in the room forced everyone to obey at the same time, weighing down like a mountain on all those too slow to comply. Like everyone else, Lith was locked in place, incapable of doing anything but breathing while he stared at his own right foot.
"Lith of Lutia." Sylpha's voice echoed throughout the room like the first clap of thunder announcing the storm.
"I remember well the first time I heard this name. Back then, you were just a student of the White Griffon academy, yet your country already needed your help to face the plague that destroyed Kandria before it could spread to the rest of the Garlen continent.
"It turned you into Mage Lith, a title only those who graduate from an academy and join the Mage Association can bear. No one cared for your young age and assumed your future was set in stone.
"Then, you helped to save countless lives against Balkor and Nalear, becoming Mage Lith Verhen. The King and I personally chose your family name and bestowed it upon you, something that usually only the ancient households that are the pillars of the Kingdom can claim.
"A few years later, you joined the army of your own will and destroyed one of the ancient horrors we inherited from our forefathers. It was a feat deemed to be impossible, to the point that even the best of us had given up hope and lived in its shadow in fear.
"You made us dream a new bright future where you would become a new pillar for the Kingdom and help it thrive. It's the reason why you became Great Mage Lith Verhen despite having barely come of age and many doubted where your loyalty lay."
"Alas, all good things come to an end. All dreams shatter when daybreak comes. After all the Kingdom did for you ever since you joined the academy, we came to learn your intentions to quit the army and walk the lonely path of a beast."
Sylpha's tone turned from flat and calm to cold and sour.
Half the Banquet Hall started to grin if not openly smiling from ear to ear. The good thing about kneeling was that no one could see the expression on their faces.
"You discarded your brothers in arms of the army, turned down Lyca Wanemyre's offer to become a Royal Forgemaster, and never deigned to contact the Mage Association except when you needed something.
"Your actions speak clearly. You treat this Kingdom, your country as if it has failed you and this can't be tolerated any longer now that your military service is over."
From his vantage position, Orion noticed that too many people were clenching their fists in triumph. Lith was alone. The old households considered him a threat to their power because he had quickly risen to high places they considered as their own.
The new households considered him a traitor because of his friendship with the Ernas and the Distar households. On top of that, he had never joined their political cause nor helped his peers, which had only exacerbated the new magical bloodlines' mood with each success he achieved.
To them, Lith had squandered all the opportunities fate had presented him with to change the power scale in the Griffon Kingdom.
Orion steeled his heart, not letting any emotion transpire from his face. He silently prayed for Lith, knowing that the worst had yet to come.
"I, the Queen, and my spouse, the King, can't tolerate it any longer because you are right." Sylpha said.
"Your achievements as a student helped to prove that Linjos was right, changing the academy system from within and making Guilty Ballots standard equipment for all students.
"As a member of the army, you brought down the Black Star, you saved the city of Zantia from being the victim of Forbidden Arts, you stopped monster outbreaks that threatened thousands, and eradicated corruption or incompetence wherever you went.
"You faced Thrud Griffon, one of our most ancient enemies, and prevented her nefarious plan from coming to fruition at great personal cost. You discovered two Odi ruins, braving both times against ancient horrors that if not stopped might have brought the Kingdom to its knees.
"All those present can bear witness that without you, there would be Odi and Baba Yaga's children hidden among us. Yet what did the Kingdom for you in return? We gave you a few days' leave and a few trinkets that even the most unworthy in this room can flaunt."
A member of the Royal family could ever apologize, yet Sylpha's words accompanied by Meron's nodding came really close, making all those present freeze.
"Recently, the Orichalcum Skinwalker armor you gave Royal Forgemaster Orion Ernas allowed us an exceptional breakthrough in the mystical arts and provided our mages with answers we searched for decades.
"For all of your contributions that are too many to be listed in a single session of this Court, however, we can't allow Great Mage Verhen to live anymore. You are aware of too many secrets that can never be disclosed without endangering the lives of us all. For this very reason, today is the day you die."
Two-thirds of the room sighed in relief, while the rest of them tried to rebel to that injustice while cursing the Royals' name, but the arrays kept their limbs still and their mouths closed.
Sylpha stepped forward, wielding the Sword of Saefel with one hand. A mere thought of hers allowed her subjects, loyal or not, to raise their heads and bear witness.
"Great Mage Lith Verhen is dead." She used the flat side of the blade to pat Lith's left shoulder, then the right, and finally the top of his head.
"Long live Archmage Lith Verhen." At those words, the blue jumpsuit shapeshifted into a ceremonial Royal Fortress armor, bearing very few spells of the real deal, among which there was the one allowing Royal Guards to move freely.
Lith remained frozen in place, incapable of making sense of what had just happened. His mind was blank from the emotional rollercoaster caused by the Queen's speech.
Chapter 966 The Arisen Part 2
Sylpha sidestepped, now holding the Sword of Saefel with both hands and keeping its tip against the ground while Meron walked in front of the newly appointed Archmage and placed a wreath comprised of the plumes of a golden Griffon upon his head.
"Stand tall, Archmage Verhen. This is the last time I will force you to bend the knee. Unless you become a Magus, of course." Meron chuckled as he patted Lith's shoulders and helped him to get up.
The King's silvery laugh made the whole room burst into tears. Some out of joy, most out of despair.
'Fuck me sideways times two. What's the average age for an Archmage?' Lith thought.
'For a new magical bloodline with no fief of their own, around seventy.' Solus replied.
Only then did Lith manage to snap out of his reverie and turn around. He noticed his entire family coming from a side room, all wearing their best clothes and the jewels he had forged for them along with the Camellias.
Elina and Raaz had to rely on each other to not fall onto the ground, unable to even stand up properly on their own. Jirni and Orion quickly went to their rescue while Lith's sister and Kamila walked towards him.
'Why the heck didn't you warn me if you knew what was going on?' Lith asked.
'I tried, but even a single door of the Royal Palace is so heavily enchanted that it blocks our mind link.' She said.
"I would have loved to let your parents witness the ceremony, but during every rehearsal, your father cried so hard that he would drown out my magically enhanced voice. I felt bad forcing them to repress their feelings, so I had your parents spectate from a side room." Queen Sylpha said.
King Meron patted Lith's shoulder and the armor turned into a deep blue robe that identified him as an Archmage.
"Congratulations, Lith." Marth, Vastor, Orion, Mirim Distar, and Jirni almost said in unison.
"My condolences." Manohar said, his eyes veiled with sad tears. "Now you will never know peace. Men will covet your power and women your loins. Idiots will interrupt your research at all hours and…"
King Meron's glared at the god of healing when Manohar pointed at him while talking about idiots, but it was Jirni clicking her tongue that shut him up.
The scene was funny enough to momentarily stop the flow of Raaz's tears and replace them with chuckles, but no one else was actually laughing.
None of those present missed how Lady Distar, the Ernas, and even the magicless Verhen family were able to stand and move whereas everyone else was still kneeling. The arrays even kept the spectators from uttering a single word, making them feel like extras looking at the main actors on the stage.
Velan Deirus could only look up to those favored by the Royals while Jirni winked at her enemies.
"Not to question the infinite wisdom of Your Majesty-" Lith said.
"I feel a 'but' incoming." Sylpha giggled like a mother listening to a naïve child's question. The familiarity and closeness that she was displaying with Lith were a message that only someone as shocked as he could miss.
"-but am I not too young for such a title?" Lith was unaware of the political gears that threatened from behind the scenes all he had worked hard to build.
He believed that becoming an Archmage when barely past eighteen would compromise his position in the Kingdom. Of course, he was wrong. The ceremony made him a pillar of his country and had allowed the Royals to make all his past achievements public.
Between the Royals and the support he would receive from the commoners, no one could so much glare at him without an excellent reason.
"Too old?" Manohar sneered. "I became an Archmage and a Professor at sixteen."
"He could have become a Magus at eighteen if not for his behavior." King Meron rebuked the Mad Professor who completely ignored him while patting some random kneeling nobles as if they were pets.
He even left a dog treat balanced on the head of those who replied to his kindness by throwing him dirty looks.
"Twenty for me. You beat me by a landslide." Marth said, relieved by Lith's lack of madness.
"Twenty-five, here." Vastor sighed.
"Twenty-five as well. But I wasn't a Professor in the safety of his lab. I worked in the field, protected my wife as a member of the Knight's Guard, and had to raise my children." Orion puffed his chest out with pride.
He considered the other three men like no-lifers who had dedicated their youth solely to magical research, whereas he had attended his family and grown his lands into a Grand Duchy.
Vastor looked at him with real envy. Back then, he had a wife and kids as well, but his results as a family man were so poor that the Professor pretended to be a bachelor like his colleagues.
"Where are my manners?" Sylpha chuckled at her own 'blunder'. "Stand up and rejoice, my loyal subjects."
A snap of her fingers finally released everyone from the arrays' grip, but it took many people a few more seconds to get up due to the cramps that the prolonged paralysis had caused them.
"Don't worry, Lith. Age doesn't matter, only talent does." Meron said while the others nodded.
"Your ascension allows the Kingdom to finally replace Nalear's accursed name from the plaque of youngest Archmage of this generation. Also, there isn't a set order for these kinds of things.
"Manohar went from Assistant Professor to Archmage without ever becoming a Great Mage. Lochra Silverwing turned from nobody into a Magus at twenty-five, when she shared with the world her discoveries about magic, and Ripha Menadion when she was barely twenty."
"Don't hold back just because people are envious of you." Sylpha chimed in, placing her hand on Lith's right shoulder while Meron held his left.
"No matter what path you'll take in life, no matter where your research will lead you, the Griffon Kingdom will always be your motherland. Your house is here and we promise to take good care of it in your absence."
Lith's brain finally managed to process what was really happening and to see behind the masks of many.
"Nice move." Deirus snarled at Jirni. "My protégé is now a Great Mage so you made your own into an Archmage. How much did it cost you?"
"I'd like to take credit for it, but as you said to me, you're underestimating your opponent. Lith worked so hard, achieved so much, that it only took me a few good words in the right ears to set everything on the right tracks." Jirni gave him the soft smile that always accompanied her deathblows.
She failed to mention how the good words she was talking about were Deirus's, not her own. Jirni had shared the recording of their conversation with the Royals, both Orion's and her own household, and all the allies the two ancient bloodlines and Lith had.
Velan Deirus was unaware of the storm Lady Ernas was brewing with his unwittingly help. Something that she planned to use to take her opponent by surprise and drown him before Deirus even understood what was happening.
Aside from turning to a shade of purple, Velan managed to hide his anger. Kallion, not so much.
Chapter 967 Win Some, Lose Some Part 1
Kallion had spent the last year accepting and completing the most difficult missions the Mage Association had to offer. He used the merits achieved to boost his noble title and increase the Nuragor's family political influence, yet, in the end, all of his efforts amounted to nothing.
Just listening to the Queen praising Lith's meritorious acts made him green with envy. He was nowhere near that kind of prowess and he had always worked with a team. Kallion was aware that without Deirus's support he would've never become a Great Mage despite being older than Ranger Verhen.
The same Queen who treated Lith like a son in front of the Court had yet to grant Kallion a single audience without Archmage Deirus interceding for him. To make matters worse, both Lith and Kallion had received their Great Mage title in a private ceremony.
However, Lith's had received it directly from the King, whereas Kallion had been awarded by a nameless bureaucrat of the Association. Great Mage Nuragor was now replaying the entire event of Lith's ascension to Archmage in his mind.
Kallion felt humiliated by his opponent and exploited by his patron, making it impossible for him to attend the ceremony any longer. He stormed out of the room, losing a lot of face and drawing more sneers from his own allies than from his enemies.
Even Archmage Deirus considered such childish behavior unbecoming of a powerful figure. Losing with dignity was more important than winning to achieve the respect of the Royal Court, or any powerful association for that matter.
Sooner or later, everyone would make a mistake, even Lith had failures in his resume, like Kulah's massacre or the destruction of Zolgrish's lab. Just like with magic, what mattered was learning and improving from your own failures.
Someone who threw a tantrum and ruined the mood was hardly considered a worthy candidate for a key position in the Kingdom. At most, they would send him back to kindergarten.
Meanwhile, Lith was finally able to reconnect with his family. Each one of them congratulated him and Tista shook his hand, slipping Solus into his palm. They exchanged their respective memories of the last week, updating Lith on the outside world.
Solus had not remained idle, splitting her time between studying Kulah's books in the case Lith's life force needed fixing and Forgemastering weapons for the prison break with Protector's help.
She would sneak inside Tista's room at night through the window and receive updates from her.
'After I learned about the ceremony, I stopped producing weapons and remained at Tista's finger to not miss the departure. I wouldn't have missed your ascension for the world.' Solus thought.
'Our ascension.' Lith corrected her. 'None of it would have been possible without you, partner.'
Solus smiled with joy at those words, yet looked at Lith's sisters and Kamila with an envy so strong that he perceived it.
'Not only do they look gorgeous in their gala dresses, but they could actually attend the ceremony. How long will I be forced to be just an extra and to live at the fringes of Lith's life?' She thought.
"I'm so proud of you, Archmage Lith." Rena gave him a curtsy, barely holding her chuckles. "Don't you dare to give me a big scare like this again."
"At least you knew it was an award ceremony. I was kept in the dark." Lith said. Rena was stunning in her red dress. No one thought she could actually be the mother of four kids.
"What do you mean, kept in the dark? Everyone studies the ascension ritual at the academy." Tista said. "What did you think the jumpsuit and the honor guards were for?"
Only those already tempered by at least a couple of meetings with the alias Tyris used to attend the Royal Court, Constable Griffon, managed to not stare at her like a bunch of sleazebags. Gala dresses were meant to be seductive, but in Tista's case, it was like throwing rocket fuel into a blazing inferno.
"Never mind." Lith left all rituals and etiquette to either Solus or Soluspedia. Separated from the former and with the latter still empty, he was as ignorant as a Lich about social topics.
'It's best not to tell them that the ascension ritual and public executions only differ by the speech given and the ending.' Solus thought.
Lith approached Kamila, who had remained on the sides while the family reunion happened. On the one hand, she was embarrassed, feeling like she didn't belong to a place filled with so many influential figures.
On the other, the rules of etiquette strictly forbid public displays of affection and she wasn't sure to be capable of holding back. She had been worried sick the whole time that Lith's cracked life force might have been further compromised or that the Royal Healers could discover his hybrid nature.
Thanks to Jirni, she was posted in real-time about his conditions and treatments, making her even more anxious than his parents. On top of that, she didn't share that information with anyone to not make the others worry and had carried that burden alone.
After being finally reunited with Lith, it took her sheer willpower to not check his body and make sure he truly was alright before kissing him.
Kamila wore a silk-satin deep blue evening dress to match with Lith's Archmage robe. It had a v neckline which left her arms and shoulders exposed, emphasizing her bosom. She also wore a golden circlet which appeared to be made out of small camellias woven together.
The gold of the circlet brought out her black hair and vice versa, while both shone under the magical lighting of the room.
She wasn't much compared to Tista, Friya, or any of the gorgeous noble dames around them, but she was the only woman in his eyes.
"Good evening, Captain Yehval. Would you do me the honor of having the first dance with you?" Lith gave her a polite bow as if they had just met.
"Gladly." Was all she managed to reply while taking him by the arm.
'Thank the gods I'm wearing a dress, otherwise everyone would notice how much my knees are still shaking.' She thought.
The Ernas girls joined them as soon as Lith was done with the family reunion. It would still take a while for the ball to begin.
"Envious much?" Lith said while greeting them with a bow and a smug grin on his face.
"No really." Quylla punched his arm before giving him a curtsy.
"During the past days, Mom allowed us to read the reports of all your missions that have become public knowledge after the ceremony. I like my life as it is, peaceful. I already had my share of trouble at the academy and Kulah.
"If I had to live half of what you experienced just to become a Great Mage, I'll gladly pass on that. I'd rather build my reputation one magical breakthrough at a time rather than risking my life on a daily basis."
Quylla was wearing a silk satin cream-colored ballgown, which left her shoulders and arms exposed, and had a square neck. Her long brown hair was decorated with silver jewelry that complemented the silver streaks it bore due to her talent for light magic.
Chapter 968 Win Some, Lose Some Part 2
"I agree with Quylla." Friya said.
She was wearing a gold embroidered emerald-colored evening dress with a v neckline.
Her hair was arranged into an elaborate updo, with several tresses knot together that left her neck exposed, emphasizing her leaves-shaped parure composed of golden necklace and earrings with black diamonds that complimented her dark eyes and hair.
"I'm glad you are the first of our class to become an Archmage, but I think the price you paid for it is too steep. No amount of glory is worth facing so many dangers and giving up your personal life."
"Yet unless the excitement made me blind, I'm the one with a beautiful woman on my arm whereas you're single. Am I right?" Lith said.
"You'll pay for spreading salt on my wounds." Friya's cheeks flushed in embarrassment, but she kept her smile and composure intact.
Many noblemen spilled their drinks at that sight. Between the dress emphasizing Friya's hourglass figure and the blushing highlighting her delicate features, there was not a single bachelor that wouldn't face a Dragon to be the one on the receiving end of that smile.
"I really envy you." Phloria sighed.
She wore an emerald evening dress and white evening gloves, emphasizing her olive-colored skin due to the prolonged exposure to the sun.
It was skin-tight, with a neckline that somehow exerted a push-up effect. She wore part of her hair down, like a silky black waterfall that reached her tights, while the rest formed a tress resembling a wreath over her head.
The ballgown was decorated with flower-shaped small jewels and Lith's golden lily pendant was the only necklace she wore, drawing attention to her slim neck.
"I'm different from you two." She said to her sisters. "I gave up on everything to join the army as soon as I could. I wanted to follow Dad's footsteps if not even to surpass him, yet all I achieved is a big failure.
"I'm not as good with Forgemastering nor as a Mage Knight as he was at my age, I have no significant other, and despite I'm three years older than Lith, he outranks me on every level." Her face was pale and her pain ran deep.
Yet Phloria's smile was sincere and her voice never wavered. She would keep all of her tears, both those born out of joy and sorrow for later. She didn't want to end up like Raaz, who was still crying so much that Elina couldn't leave him alone and the King had a chair brought to him.
Many cruel people would have laughed at a grown man's tears, but Meron was expressing Raaz his congratulations and sympathy. Contradicting the King's opinion in public was still considered the closest thing to social suicide.
"I'm thinking about quitting the army as well. I'm willing to shoulder the responsibilities for my failures, but the thorny path that now blocks me is not of my making. I don't have the strength and patience to fight invisible enemies anymore."
Her words shocked and surprised everyone. Phloria was the only one among them who had always had her career path as clear as a beacon. Friya's guild was just an experiment, Quylla had yet to decide if the academy was the best place for conducting her research, and Lith was clutching at straws.
"You can't be serious, my little Flower." Orion was back in his high uniform and without the helm, his face expressed all of his worry and outrage.
"You are the best Mage Knight I have ever seen, a natural-born leader, and most of all, it is your heart that matches your talent instead of your ego. You might not have defeated as many monsters as Lith did, but you care about our homeland more than anyone else.
"Your place is with the army or at least with the Association."
"Thanks, Dad, but we shouldn't spoil Lith's night by talking about my career. We can discuss this later at home. Right now, I'm not complaining. I'm just telling my friends that probably I'll have much more free time in the future and that I would like to use it to catch up with them.
"You have no idea how much I missed you all. Do you think I could join your guild for a while, Friya? Whatever I decide to do, I want to keep myself busy." Phloria said.
Orion and Jirni felt their hearts as if squeezed in a vise, yet they both returned to attend to their allies. Phloria's parents knew that her making plans for the future meant that she had one foot out of the army's door already.
The King and the Queen felt the blow as well, but they kept smiling and laughing. To revel and be merry of their success was the only way they had to hide the magnitude of their failure.
If political pressure was enough to make even the daughter of the Ernas quit, a loyal officer who belonged to one of the founding families of the Kingdom, then the foundations of the country itself were rotten at best.
***
A few days later, village of Lutia.
After what he had lived as a near-death experience and hearing about Phloria's situation, Lith needed to spend quality time with his beloved to recover from all the accumulated stress.
Before being discharged, the army had promoted him to Major and put him among the reservists to be called only in the case of a state crisis. It allowed Lith to hold his rank in the army even as a civilian and the access to military resources that such clearance level implied.
There was still a bit of time before he started his apprenticeship with Faluel and Lith didn't want to spend it alone. During the day he would teach Leria and Aran how to read and write.
Once the kids' limited attention span was exhausted, he would make them play together with Selia's and Zinya's children. Protector was busy renovating the huntress' old house to accommodate their family once they moved back to Lutia.
Selia and Rena could use a hand since their newborns required from them a lot of attention, making Lith's skill as a Healer a godsend.
He was weary of the situation, because Lilia and Leria had a hard time controlling their shapeshifting abilities and because now that he was not a member of any organization, it was the perfect moment for his enemies to attack.
The title of Archmage worked only as long as he could blame someone. It was useless against nameless assassins that left no evidence behind. Yet the kids could run and play freely in all the space encompassing the Verhen, Fastarrow, and Yehval households.
It wasn't because of the arrays or the Queen's corps. The former had limited range and the latter had too many people to defend to cover such a wide area. The reason for such freedom lay in the magical beasts who soared the skies, patrolled the ground, and burrowed the underground.
That and the three Emperor Beasts known as the Kings of the Trawn woods always keeping an eye on the children. They were all Lith's loyal followers, eager to repay his gifts of knowledge and enchanted weapons.
At first, Zinya had been scared by the presence of so many mighty creatures, but after speaking with them and recovering from the shock caused by the discovery that beasts could talk, she learned to rely on their presence.
Chapter 969 Time to Move Part 1
"Why the other cats just meow while you can talk?" Aran asked Reaper the Manticore, the King in the south.
"For the hundredth time, I'm not a cat!" Reaper tried to appear scary, but the four years old kid failed to notice his deadly fangs, only focusing on the soft mane on the Manticore's lion head, the big round eyes of the feline, and the long whiskers on its snout.
"You're so fluffy." Leria hugged the Emperor Beast's side, destroying the last remnants of his dignity while she climbed on his back and played with his feathered wings.
"Kids are amazing." Phloria was laughing her ass off at the sight of Reaper's miserable expression while the children tried to interest him in their games and toys.
"My soldiers would wet their pants being surrounded by magical beasts like that, whereas…" She pointed at the kids now divided in two teams of three each for their next game.
Half of them were riding Shyfs (puma type magical beasts) and the other Rys (wolf type). The two teams would chase a leather ball in an odd mix of soccer, polo, and wrestling.
The rules were unclear and so were the victory conditions that changed according to the day, weather, and wind direction. The kids enjoyed every second of their games and once a match ended, mostly due to the physical exhaustion of the riders, Lith would bring them back home.
Their respective mothers were ecstatic about having their children too tired to misbehave or to try and avoid their homework. Also, the threat of being grounded and miss the next game was a great motivator.
Phloria had decided to take a sabbatical and was using that time to reconnect with Lith and his family. The undead crisis was far from being resolved but, for all she cared, the army might as well fire her.
Phloria didn't feel she had to prove herself to anyone anymore. She'd rather stop to smell the roses and plan her future than keep risking her life to pursue a dead-end job.
Once he was done with the kids, Lith would spend his afternoon at Solus's tower, studying the two new floors and practicing Forgemastering. She had gained a second floor both above and below the ground, yet he had little use for them so they focused more on the latter.
With her now deep cyan mana core, Solus could hold her human form longer and use that time to Forgemaster together with Lith. They shared the same energy signature and had a hammer each, so in theory by joining their hands they could double the strength of their creations.
In practice, however, they had two completely different ways of Forgemastering and they had to learn how to adapt to each other. On top of that, Solus had to keep the magic circle, empower both hammers, and Forgemaster, whereas Lith was the only one capable of shaping powerful pseudo cores.
It took them several attempts just to craft an upgraded version of the Skinwalker armor because they were so in synch that they would try and fix together the same imperfection that arose in the pseudo core while it merged with the Orichalcum.
The double hit would turn bumps into dents and vice versa, wasting a lot of their energy and making them quarrel. In the end, they decided to split the tasks and put an end to that mess.
With his superior magical force, Lith would focus solely on harmonizing the pseudo core with the armor while Solus with her finesse would take care of the imperfections.
Once Kamila returned from work, Lith would spend the evening with her either on a family dinner or take her out on dates.
Only after not receiving any news from Faluel for over a week did he go to check on the Hydra.
"Is everything alright?" He asked once they were done with the niceties.
"Yes, sorry if I made you worry, but I'm in a bit of a pinch. The climate is still quite rigid and Xedros just took my son, Sedra, as his apprentice." Faluel said.
"This doesn't bode well." Lith said.
"Indeed. I don't like cold and that idiot failed to notice that he's basically a hostage." Faluel sighed.
Lith told her all about his last meeting with the Wyvern and the things Xedros had asked him for.
"Why did you never tell me about omni pockets and about Nalrond's origin? The Fringes might hold the knowledge I need to fix my life force, Protector's, and maybe even a way to restore Solus's memories and power." Lith asked, while Solus was sitting on his shoulder.
Together with the deep cyan core, not only did she obtain new floors for the tower, but also new mass for her stone form. Solus had now a scaled-down humanoid appearance that resembled a 0.6 meters (2") tall stone doll.
She was completely featureless except for two deep cyan mana crystals where her eyes were supposed to be, two deep green gemstones on the back of both her hands and waist-long stone hair.
"For the same reason I never asked Protector why he lied to me about you, or I never asked you how you managed to Forgemaster such a powerful Skinwalker armor, nor about Solus's powers as Living Legacy.
"Because I respect people's privacy and their decisions. I never forced anyone to open up with me, nor did I expose their secrets unless there's a really good reason. I think that Nalrond should tell you the truth only when he feels ready to do it and not because you force him to.
"Give him time and the relationship between you three will be better for it."
Faluel assumed her human form, shaking her rainbow-colored hair in frustration. She didn't like either being overbearing while scolding one of her apprentices or Lith's selfish attitude.
"As for omni pockets, I don't have one so I don't know how they work. Xedros knows about them because he is a dimensional mage and yet even he has no idea how to craft an omni pocket.
"I never told you about them because I didn't even know you had one. Lith, we have yet to begin your apprenticeship and I'm already warning you for the first time. Don't become like Xedros, or I'll cut ties with you.
"Don't let your thirst for knowledge turn into a greed so powerful that it clouds your judgment. Xedros is willing to sacrifice everything to achieve his objectives and is so lost in his obsession that he believes that everyone thinks like him.
"Don't mistake kindness for deception, nor respect for a hidden agenda. When you have doubts, just ask and I'll answer to the best of my abilities as long as it doesn't compromise someone else's privacy.
"I respect you, but I still don't trust you. Minus points for doubting me, but bonus points for stepping forward instead of attempting to manipulate me. Total is zero. Anything else?" She asked.
"Actually, yes." Lith told Faluel about Phloria's imminent self-Awakening and how much she, Quylla, and Friya mattered to him.
"I should be able to make Phloria survive her Awakening, and since she already knows everything about me except for minor details, bringing her up to speed should be easy.
"The problem is that she needs a teacher to survive as an Awakened and I was wondering if you could take her in as well."
Chapter 970 Time to Move Part 2
"Maybe you could even teach advanced light magic to Quylla. Her healing abilities with fake magic are almost on par with Invigoration and I'm afraid that soon she'll hit a wall." Lith scratched his head in embarrassment.
He hated asking for favors, but he lacked the time and the necessary knowledge to help anyone to step up their game. Tista and the Kings of the Trawn woods were far from the skill bottleneck Lith and Quylla were facing.
They only needed a few lessons and Lith's notes about true magic to keep improving themselves by leaps and bounds.
'Faluel has seven heads, so she should be able to freely teach to seven people. Worst case scenario, there's me, Tista, Protector, Solus, Phloria, and Quylla. Faluel would even have a head to spare for her own work.' Lith thought.
He didn't include Friya not because she was the only one in the dark about his secrets, but because as long as she had her adventurer guild, Friya could never afford to take the necessary time off to take lessons from the Hydra's.
Both Faluel and Solus looked at him with eyes wide open, as if they saw him for the first time.
"Are you really willing to introduce them to me?" Solus asked with eyes brimming with joy.
"Are you really willing to put your life at stake again for the sake of others?" Faluel said almost at the same time.
"You've already bound your fate to the three Kings and your sister. Every person you Awaken is your responsibility for the next century. Humans are not like beasts. We age like wine, whereas they age like milk, becoming spoiled and sour."
"Yes to both of you." Lith nodded.
"Solus, you know that I never planned to keep you hidden forever nor I'm ashamed of our bond. If you weren't a girl, and a pretty one at that, I would've already brought Kamila to the tower to meet you."
His words would have made Solus blush if stone had blood.
"As for Phloria, she's saved me many times, both from my enemies and from myself. I'm not willing to lose her forever. She's worth every risk."
"I'm proud of you." Faluel stood on her tiptoes to pinch his cheeks. "A gazillion points for that. I'll think about this Phloria, but for the other human girl, the answer is no. Quylla's mana core is too powerful for Awakening, she'd surely die."
"I never meant to Awaken…" Lith tried to say, but Faluel cut him short.
"On top of that, she's a fake mage, hence competition. You can't possibly know about it because until now you've been a lone wolf, but Awakened and fake mages are at odds for decades.
"The magical progress of fake mages is outstanding. With their numbers and teamwork, they are slowly closing the gap between us and them. People like Tyris, Salaark, or the Magic Empress, who, after defeating an Awakened, share with their subjects their spoils of war don't help our cause.
"Just like you sharing your Skinwalker armor with that Orion, for that matter."
"I thought he would get nothing out of it and that he would end up destroying the armor." Lith said.
"Yeah, you're not the first to make that mistake and definitely you won't be the last. Did you get paid for it at least?" Faluel asked.
Lith took War out of his pocket dimension, having care to not take it out of the scabbard.
"By the Great Mother!" Faluel jumped back at the sight of the bastard sword.
She never attempted to even come closer, using Life Vision and her Forgemastering spells from a distance.
"You made an excellent bargain. That's a masterpiece like I've rarely seen from a fake mage. Take it out in the presence of my godchildren and I'll kill you." None of her words sounded like a joke.
"You know what's wrong with it?" Lith was flabbergasted.
"Magical metals are different from those a smith normally uses. They almost have a core of their own, which almost gives them life." Faluel nodded. "Have you ever heard the saying about artisans putting their soul in their creations? That's true, especially for Forgemasters.
"The longer one of us works on a mystic metal, the more it takes from us. It's our energy that composes their pseudo cores, so you might compare them to a Necromancer's work.
"Just like there are lesser and greater undead, there are lesser and greater artifacts. Your sword is one of the latter."
"Is it alive?" Lith could feel War humming with power as if it was trying to communicate with him.
"No. The comparison between the two arts doesn't go that far. Without a brain or life force, there can't be life, but there can be will. Whenever you craft something, you only strive for perfection because you can't allow any distraction.
"Exceptional Forgemasters, however, sometimes manage to imbue their willpower into the pseudo core, just like any good mage does with tier five spells. The difference is that spells are fleeting whereas artifacts are forever." Faluel said.
"Meaning?"
"It means that this sword carries two wills, or in your case, maybe even three if Solus can handle it. Whenever it strikes or it employs its skills, the lingering willpower of its maker will fight alongside you. War will both teach you and learn from you."
Faluel remained silent for a while, giving Lith the time to understand how complex War's existence actually was.
"Now go. I'll call you as soon as I'm done with my preparations. I'll teach you and Solus the same things, but I will not teach them the same way. Winter left me swamped and I'm afraid that soon the human Council will make its move, so be prepared."
***
Kellar Region, city of Jambel, a couple of days later.
As an Archmage, Lith had received countless invitations from feudal lords from all over the Griffon Kingdom. He had politely but firmly turned them down because he had no desire to be involved in any kind of politics.
Lith only accepted that of Baron Eiros Wyalon because the Baron was one of the few nobles he had met as a Ranger that he respected and he had used the opportunity to bring his family along.
Jambel was the only city where he had been treated with respect from the moment of his arrival and its inhabitants had aided him at the best of their abilities not afraid to risk their lives.
Also, the Baron wasn't a politician but an honest man, and Zolgrish the Lich's silver mines were ripe for the taking. With spring making the climate pleasantly chill and his family wanting to see the places where Lith had lived during the past two years he could take many birds with one stone.
Jambel was a medium-sized fortress city, entirely built of stone.
It was too far from the commercial routes to depend on merchants, so it was designed to be self-sufficient all year round. Jambel was built near two big lakes, which provided fish and freshwater, while cultivated fields surrounded the city walls up to the nearby woods.
They were the main source of game and wood, so the inhabitants of Jambel treated them with great respect. They planted two trees for each one they cut down and used turnover to give them time to grow.
Unlike most cities, Jambel had no slums. Even the poorest houses were made of stone and the only wooden buildings were tool sheds.
(AN: If you aren't reading this on ReadNovelFull, you're reading pirated content. Please support the official release)
Chapter 971 The Baron’s Hospitality Part 1
Jambel's walls were five meters (16') high and wide enough that two-armed people could easily walk side by side. They were made of grey stone and smoothed so that during the day they would partially reflect the sunlight and blind the aggressors.
With its nigh-zero crime rate thanks to the Baron's welfare system, its great scenery, and its rough but friendly inhabitants, Jambel was the perfect place for Lith to show his family the best the north had to offer and pocket a few silver mines.
If the precious metal's veins were accessible and Zolgrish had given up on them, of course.
"Archmage Verhen! It was already hard to believe a runt like you could be a Great Mage, but now you're an Archmage and you've even accepted my invitation. Well, I've seen it all now." Baron Eiros Wyalon laughed while hugging and patting Lith's back as if they were long-lost cousins.
He was a man in his late thirties, about 1.78 meters (5'10") tall, with red hair and a finely trimmed beard. Eiros also had blue eyes as clear as the twin lakes in front of the city and was wearing ceremonial armor which emphasized his lean but muscular build.
The Baron looked and acted more like a soldier receiving a friend rather than a noble welcoming an Archmage. His wife, Mirias, watched at the scene with her green eyes wide open in a mix of horror and embarrassment.
She was used to her husband being more respectful of his enemies on the battlefield than of etiquette during social events, but such a behavior was beyond her wildest nightmares.
Even without lands, an Archmage's authority was on par with a Duke. Lith could have requested a Grand Duchy from the Royals and be allowed to keep it after a trial period, if he demonstrated enough administrative abilities to make it thrive.
Seeing Eiros treating the potential Ruler of the entire Kellar region like another of his army buddies made her face become even paler than usual and wish Lith had enough mercy in his heart to grant them a painless death.
"Off the record, when the Queen spoke as if she was about to behead you, if it wasn't for that spooky array, I would've jumped at that hag's neck. You don't kill a good man for some petty secrets. I'd rather commit treason than bear witness to such crap!" The Baron said.
'Which is exactly what you're doing now! Public slander of the Queen, threatening her life, declaring indifference for the law…' The Baroness couldn't bear it anymore and fainted.
"Don't worry about my missus, Mirias does that all the time. She suffers from low blood pressure and has a weak heart, so she doesn't handle well public speeches." Baron Wyalon reassured his guests while the city guards caught the Baroness before she hit the ground.
What he had just described was actually a fatal condition, so Tista rushed by her side and performed a full check-up. Normal diagnostic spells came out negative while Invigoration revealed a high level of nervous stress.
Lith had a hard time not laughing his ass off at the scene. He knew the real reason behind the Baroness' sickness, but said nothing to not make things worse for his host.
The Baron was one of those who had actually tried to rebel when Queen Sylpha was allegedly seconds away from killing Lith. It was one of the reasons why Lith had chosen Jambel as his destination.
When she regained her senses, the Baroness couldn't believe her own eyes. Not only was her beloved city still intact, but the Archmage was amiably talking with her mindless husband and a real Mage was taking care of her.
"I'm really sorry for the inconvenience, Lady Verhen. I just made a fool out of myself in front of your husband." Mirias had not attended the ceremony of ascension to avoid the humiliation that her husband's antics usually brought upon her.
Seeing the most beautiful woman of the group wearing the deep red robe of Mages, Mirias had assumed that Tista was Lith's love interest.
'Good gods. It's no wonder Verhen didn't give my daughter a second glance. Iriel is pretty, but this woman is a goddess.' She thought.
"It's no inconvenience, dear Baroness. Helping the sick is the job of a Healer. As for Lith, he is actually my brother." Tista regretted those words the moment they came out of her mouth.
The perfect acoustic of the courtyard spread her voice like it was a clap of thunder, making many men feel free to ogle at her and a couple of guards falls from the city walls because their eyes stared at her figure instead of looking where they stepped.
"Baron, Baroness, allow me to introduce to you my family and friends." Lith waited for Mirias to get back on her feet before beginning with formal introductions.
Together with the Verhen family, there were also Kamila and Nalrond.
Kamila had received a leave so that she could attend the only official visit Lith had decided to perform and Nalrond had been brought along under the pretense of helping Rena with her triplets.
Lith actually needed the Razer's ability to swim through the earth to check how deep the silver veins were and if there was any trace of Zolgrish's return. Nalrond had been promised a share of the profits and he desperately needed a source of income.
Now that Selia was about to move back to Lutia, he didn't want to be a freeloader and rely on her money for everything. Nalrond was still scared of people, so he considered the trip to the north as the perfect opportunity to mingle with humans.
'No matter how many social blunders I might make, I'll never see one of these people ever again. What happens in Jambel will stay in Jambel.' He thought.
"-and this is Kamila Yehval, my girlfriend." Lith said after introducing the rest of the family.
"Girlfriend? Not betrothed?" The Baron raised an eyebrow and the Baroness rolled her eyes.
"Just girlfriend." Kamila blushed in embarrassment from the rude question, thinking that the nobleman had judged her and found her wanting
"A beautiful woman like you and a soldier at that?" Eiros needed but a glance to recognize someone who had received military training. "You must work harder, dear Kamila. Love is a battlefield and she who strikes first strikes twice. Especially in…"
The Baroness fainted again, requiring immediate assistance.
"…the kitchen. The quickest way to a man's heart is through the stomach."
"Thank you. I'll remember your words." Kamila gave him a small bow. She also remembered how much Lith liked her cooking almost as much as she liked his.
"Last, but not least this is Nalrond Fastarrow. He is…"
"My boyfriend." Tista cut Lith short and took the Razer's arm.
The small crowd of men and women bearing flowers and small pieces of jewelry that had surrounded the Verhens after Tista's blunder moaned in unison.
"Since when?" Nalrond blurted out in surprise, making everyone laugh at the alleged joke.
"You're so funny, dear." Tista giggled while nudging him with enough strength to hurt his ribs.
The Baron then introduced to the Verhens his wife Mirias and his children, Kotu and Iriel. The Baroness was a woman in her mid-thirties, with blonde hair and green eyes.
She was a good head shorter than her husband and Lith would have considered her pretty, if not for the milky white skin typical of the north, that gave her a sickly look in his eyes.
The siblings were twins, both with the red hair of their father and the green eyes of their mother. Seeing them reminded the Verhens about Orpal, Rena's disowned twin brother, and made their cheery mood turn sour.
Chapter 972 The Baron’s Hospitality Part 2
The Baron had no idea why everyone suddenly looked so sad, so he attempted to cheer them up.
"Now that we're done with the formalities, I hope you're hungry because I made the cooks…"
"Chefs!" Mirias whined, correcting her husband.
"…prepare us a gruel…"
"A breakfast! Good gods, admit it. You're doing it on purpose!" The Baroness said, incapable of enduring that torture any longer.
"…worthy of the Royals, but with larger servings. Unlike them, we all have a real job and don't spend our days sitting on our asses and spewing orders. We need meat on our bones, right dear?"
"I want a divorce!" That was all she managed to say before the Baron took her into his arms and gave her a passionate kiss.
"Gods, my wife is a real Dragon. The angrier she gets, the hotter she becomes. She is still as gorgeous as the day I fell in love with her." He said, making every one of those present blush.
"Please, follow me." The Baroness didn't have the strength to fight anymore and was resigned to bear whatever calamity her idiotic, yet beloved husband would make befall their household. "We've prepared stagecoaches that will lead us to our mansion.
"Jambel is no Othre nor Derios, but reaching its uptown from the city gates it's still quite a trip. Especially for someone with small children."
"Thanks for your concern, Baroness, but it won't be necessary. I have fond memories of your house and no one in my family likes moving by horse." Lith's two statements seemed unrelated until he performed a short chant that opened a Warp Steps leading directly in front of their destination.
The citizens of Jambel gasped in amazement. Many of them had only heard about the existence of dimensional magic and considered it almost a myth.
"Do you mind if I go first?" Baroness Mirias asked, clenching her husband's hand so hard due to her fear of the unknown magic that she made him bleed with her long, manicured nails.
The Baron didn't even flinch, he just caressed her hand with his thumb to reassure her.
"Not at all." Lith made her way and Mirias stepped through the dimensional door with the same relaxed attitude of a gladiator sent to their death.
Yet one step was all it took her to reach her house safe and sound.
The Baron's Mansion was a two-story manor, something normally one would expect to be a house fit for a merchant, not a city lord.
Each floor was barely as big as the Ernas' Ballroom. Only brickwork and a small garden separated the Mansion from the surrounding houses, and there was none more luxurious.
"What the…" Mirias's fear was replaced by awe.
She had been afraid of experiencing discomfort, of the Steps leaving her stranded in the middle of the Blood Desert, or of some monster coming out of it. Still unable to believe it could be that simple, the Baroness knocked at her own door.
The front door opened and the loyal family butler, Jarnes, welcomed her home. The hallway was about 20 square meters (215 square feet), with walls and floor covered by white painted wood.
There was a cabinet for the clothes and a small fireplace above which was a series of hangers to dry coats drenched by snow. A soft carpet led to the other rooms, covering most of the floor and keeping the house warm.
After making sure it was really her own home and not some kind of complex prank, Mirias stepped through the Warp steps again, returning to their guests.
"This is amazing! How do you do it?" Excitement gave her pale visage a shade of red that made her look cute and youthful.
She touched her husband through the Steps and then walked around it, appreciating the two different sceneries. Even though the dimensional door simply led to another part of her city, to her it was like a window leading to a different world.
"Mana and practice. Everything else is a state secret, I'm sorry." Lith replied with a smile. Dimensional magic was only taught by the six great academies and usually only half of their graduates managed to learn it.
"Kotu, Iriel, you have to try it." Looking at her children's flabbergasted faces, Mirias realized how childish her behavior was and regained her stern countenance.
"I apologize for wasting everyone's time. You're probably hungry and I'm making myself a fool out of myself with my antics." She gave them a deep bow, clenching her dress in embarrassment.
"There's no reason to apologize. We all did the same thing the first time Lith opened one for us." Elina patted Mirias's shoulder to set her mind at ease.
Lith patiently waited for everyone to step through the Gate, even letting some of the bystanders and guards use it a couple of times before closing the dimensional door.
The butler, who was still waiting in front of the open door, took the Baron's mantle while the noble sat on one of the chairs near the door to take off his snowy boots and replaced them with clean ones, showing to his guests where the clean house shoes were.
Lith and his family just shapeshifted their clothes into a lighter day attire. The process also turned their boots into shoes and cleaned them, leaving all the dirt outside of the door.
Even the Baron flinched in surprise this time, staring at his guests with the same curiosity with which they looked at his house. The furniture of every room was made of high-quality materials, but its design wasn't ostentatious.
The Baron's house wasn't great, but it definitely was a home. It was warm and cozy. Each one of its rooms was lived-in, not just designed for impressing guests with expensive ornaments.
"Do you mind if I take notes?" Lith asked while taking ink and paper out of his pocket dimension. "If I ever build another house just for myself, I want it to look exactly like this."
Without even thinking about it, Lith looked at Kamila for approval.
"I love it!" She replied a bit too fast and with a bit too much enthusiasm for her own liking.
'Get a grip, Captain Yehval. We've been together for almost two years, you can't get excited like a schoolgirl on her first date over a trivial question. Just because Lith seems to be including me in his plans for the future, it doesn't mean he is going to propose…' At that thought, Kamila's brain went out of control.
She started rambling nonsense and became so red that Elina had her sit down, afraid that Kamila was feeling unwell.
"It would be my honor." The Baron and the Baroness put a hand above their hearts, giving both Lith and Kamila a bow.
The dining room was comprised of a long rectangular hardwood table surrounded by several comfortable padded chairs. The table had already been set. The linen tablecloth was pristine white with gold embroideries depicting the Baron's exploits.
The cutlery and the plates were all made of silver that reflected the light coming from the magical stones in the crystal chandeliers hung to the ceiling. The house staff was lined up against the wall behind the table, ready to serve the moment their masters sat down.
Baron Wyalon had prepared for the Verhens all kinds of food, making the breakfast almost a full course meal for both variety and abundance of the servings.
Chapter 973 Gifts and Gratitude Part 1
While the Baron's family was eating together with their guests, Eiros used the holographic properties of the enchanted table to show the Verhens all the places of interest both inside and outside Jambel.
Being a city in the middle of nowhere, the Baron's fief was lacking in art pieces but was rich in natural wonders and breath-taking landscapes.
After the meal, Eiros showed the Verhens the place where they would spend their stay.
The house next to the Baron's mansion was almost as big and even better furnished. It was also at their complete disposal since it was always empty in the case Jambel received important guests.
"There's plenty of bedrooms on both floors, so you can accommodate yourselves like it makes you feel at home the most. The King himself slept in this very room twice." Eiros casually said to Lith while showing him around the house.
Lith took the hint and the room for himself to not offend his host.
"Have fun out there. I'll stay here and take care of the triplets." Nalrond had already had enough emotions for one day. He wasn't used to being served nor being around so many strangers.
On top of that, Jambel closely reminded him of his village, reopening wounds that had never fully healed.
"No way! I'm not taking a single step without a proper creep-ward. Mom has Dad, Rena has Senton, and Lith has Kamila to keep unwanted suitors at bay, no offense, Kami." Tista said.
"Quite a bit taken." Kamila was aware that between a Captain and an Archmage there was no competition, yet the idea of being the only woman in the room to be less desirable than her respective partner, pissed her off to no end.
"I need a proper shield or I'll be the goddamn third wheel the whole vacation."
"I'm flattered by how highly you regard me." Nalrond sneered.
Like any normal man, after a bit of time and a lot of awkward moments, he had gotten used to her presence and was now able to treat her like a person.
"We could take turns so that the kids are never left alone and we can all have fun." Senton proposed.
Unlike Kamila, he didn't mind Tista's remarks. His beautiful children and Rena's mean right hook whenever someone bothered her made him feel confident about the solidity of their relationship.
"I have a better solution." Lith created the hologram of a stroller and then split it into its components for Nalrond to study it.
"Interesting design, but why use wheels? That way a single bump in the road would wake up the baby." The Rezar waved his hands, creating hard-light constructs capable of floating on their own.
"Because I devised it for non-mages." Lith lied through his teeth. "Keeping a floating spell active for long is exhausting."
Rena looked at both men with awe.
She loved her children and the fact that they were growing by the week filled her with joy, yet it also made them heavier. Between breast-feeding and carrying the children around all day, the muscles in her arms were as toned as those of an athlete.
"Nalrond, hybrid or not, you'll make a wonderful husband. Selia is right when she says that the woman who gets you will count her blessings on a daily basis. Lil bro, I can't believe you're thinking about having children to the point of inventing things for Kamila." Rena, Elina, and Tista had their eyes veiled with tears.
'I didn't invent it, I just plagiarized it! The non-mage thing was just an excuse.' Lith thought while realizing his blunder.
It was hard to tell who was the more flustered among them, if Lith, Nalrond, or Kamila.
The Rezar made sure that the construct looked like it was made of wood so that Lith could make it pass for one of his Forgemastering crafts and keep Light Mastery a secret.
The strollers were a huge hit while the Baron toured the Verhens around Jambel, reinforcing Lith's reputation of being a polymath genius.
"How much does one cost?" Many parents burdened by small or lazy children asked them many times.
"Yeah, how much?" Raaz asked Lith with pleading eyes.
With their short legs, Aran and Leria would get tired quickly. A four years child was too small to endure long walks and too big to be easily carried around, especially those who thanks to Lith's treatments were tall for their age.
Raaz and Senton were puffing while they carried their respective child on their shoulders. They were both cursing themselves for not asking Nalrond for more strollers earlier. He couldn't make them pop out of thin air without revealing his secret.
"I don't want a stroller! I want Onyx! If you let her come, this wouldn't happen." Aran whined in childish outrage, referring to the Shyf he considered to be his loyal steed.
"And I want Abominus! He must be bored to death without me." Leria said, making her mother worry about her naming sense.
"Son, how many times do I have to tell you? Magical beasts aren't toys. She would need a place to stay and food to eat. Lots of food." Raaz said, trying to make Aran see reason.
"She's not a toy, she's my friend. Onyx could sleep in my room and I could share my food with her. I don't eat much." Yet his stomach was already gurgling.
Baron Wyalon had brought his guest to the market district and the street was filled with tempting smells coming from the local bakers. Luckily for the grown-ups, buying sweets for the kids was an excellent way to have a few minutes of respite.
They spent the morning visiting Jambel's downtown and shopping around.
'Gods, this is the part of any trip I hate the most.' Kamila thought.
Even after getting promoted to Captain and despite a few hefty bonuses for the cases solved, she was still neck-deep in debts. A year had passed since she had paid for the Body Sculpting procedure that had given sight to her sister, Zinya.
Even with all the discounts that Lith had granted her as head Healer, of the three gold coins and 50 silvers she had repaid less than a single gold coin. Even military officers like Jirni were paid in silver, and it took 100 silver coins to make a single gold one.
Even if now Zinya had no financial trouble thanks to the compensation money she had received from her late husband's family for the years of abuse Fallmug had put her through, she had no source of income and two children to raise.
Taking such a sum from the trust fund Vastor's accountant had created for her, would have crippled Zinya's annuities, so Kamila had to tread carefully with her expenses whereas the Verhens could buy whatever caught their eye.
"Take whatever you want. It's on the house." A middle-aged merchant said while giving Lith a deep bow.
Having an Archmage shop in his humble store was more than he had ever imagined.
"We can't do that. Your business would take a huge blow." Having married a blacksmith, Rena was well aware of the hardships retail traders had. "Please, allow us to pay."
"Nonsense. Archmage Verhen fought long and hard for this city during the last two years. He saved more than my business, he saved my home and my family. How could I turn down the first opportunity I got to express my gratitude?" The merchant said.
Chapter 974 Gifts and Gratitude Part 2
Not only the man was adamant about giving the Verhens gifts, but also Rena's words seemed to have hurt his pride, so she gave up. Kamila felt guilty at the idea of exploiting such a good man's heart, so she only picked one piece of clothing.
It was a close-fitting deep red woolen sweater so soft and warm that it felt like wearing a hug.
The rest of the family followed her lead and did the same. Her regret about not being able to take more was soon replaced by relief when all the shopkeepers did the same, always refusing to let them leave empty-handed.
By the time they were back to the Baron's guest house, her dimensional amulet was full and Kamila had to borrow some space from Lith's pocket dimension. Unlike the Verhens, the only storage item she had was the one Lith had gifted her for her birthday which was always half full with her working equipment.
"Good gods! If Jambel had more stores I would need a new apartment just to have a wardrobe big enough for all this stuff." While looking at the handbags, clothes, and shoes lined up on her bed, Kamila's voice and eyes brimmed with joy, in stark contrast with her words.
She had even managed to pick lots of souvenirs for Zinya and her children.
"If you are happy then I'm happy as well." Lith looked at his Archmage robe as if it had betrayed him. He had received a non-imprinted robe after the ceremony of ascension and stored it inside the Skinwalker armor.
Until that moment, all of his uniforms had kept people at bay, whereas the deep blue robe acted as a magnet. Lith didn't like receiving so much attention, nor had any interest in most of the things he had nearly been forced to take, to the point that he had mostly picked stuff that others wanted to give them as gifts.
"Thank you, thank you, thank you." Kamila ignored his flat tone and embraced him with so much enthusiasm that it almost resembled a tackle. "Is there anything I can do to return you the favor?"
She buried her face in his chest, emitting a low purring sound of pleasure.
"Maybe. You're a Royal Constable, right? How much do you know about mining rights?" Lith asked.
"Just everything. Why?" It wasn't the romantic answer she was hoping for, but she sucked it up and never stopped purring.
"It's a long story, we'll discuss it after lunch. Now get ready, or we'll be late." One of the things that Lith loved the most about having come clean with both Kamila and his family was that he didn't have to hide any of his schemes anymore.
He didn't need to come up with excuses and lies. All he had to do was tell her the truth and ask her for help.
"It's easy to say when you always wear the same damn thing, no matter the circumstances." Kamila stood in front of the mirror, trying to put together a classy outfit from the newly acquired clothes.
"It's me who needs to walk an extra mile just not to look like Elina's homely sister…" A slow, sweet kiss cut her short and made Kamila forget about the constant stress that comparing herself with the women of Lith's family burdened her with.
"Do you feel better now or do you need more confidence?" He asked.
"Much better, thanks." She started humming while picking the tight-fitting red sweater to emphasize her raven black hair, a pair of night-blue cashmere pants to highlight her slender legs, and both outlined her curves.
Just as Kamila had predicted, everyone but Lith had changed their clothes. The lunch was pleasant, delicious, and together with the busy morning made everyone sleepy.
Back in their bedroom, Lith told Kamila all about the real nature of Jambel's dungeon crisis, Zolgrish's lab, and the silver mines he hoped to acquire. She listened to the story with bated breath, becoming pale when she heard about the two Balors he had fought.
"Thank the gods you're alright." She clung to him as if those events had just happened instead of being in the past. "Helping a Lich was madness. Why didn't you call for backup?"
"Those monsters were immortal, remember? Also, Zolgrish would have rather helped the traitors than lose decades of hard work. At least they were in his same boat. That way I saved the day, preventing the death of lots of soldiers and an angry Lich from haunting these lands." Lith said.
"And getting yourself quite the souvenirs." Kamila furrowed her brows in disapproval.
"The job of a Ranger comes with both hazards and benefits." He shrugged. "Besides, I reported the existence of the silver mines and the Adamant forge would have either be retrieved by Zolgrish or lost in the cave in."
"Point taken." She said while pondering what the Kingdom's laws required for an ex-member of the military to make use of information acquired during their service.
"The Kingdom considered the mines lost after the mountain collapsed. The fact that they never sent prospectors means that they consider the task uneconomical. There is no Gate in the vicinity, no place where the workers could live on-site, and the mines would be closed mid-fall at best.
"To make matters worse, it would be a huge gamble spending so much money with no certainty the metal veins are worth the trouble. You can apply for mining rights, but make sure to state on your request how you learned about the silver.
"That way, if the Kingdom doesn't stop you, it will be equivalent to a formal waive on its side. If you don't, the ruler of the Region might use the omission as a loophole to seize your mines if the business booms." Kamila said.
"Thanks for the great news, Kami. You're really sexy when you use legal jargon." Lith embraced her while burying his nose in her hair, losing himself in its sweet scent.
"Not so great, silly. The Kingdom has endless resources compared to you and decided to give up on the mines. How do you plan on overcoming all the problems I listed?"
"No clue." He replied. "But at least Nalrond can help me find the best access point to the silver veins and check if they are worth the trouble. I'll think about the rest when the time comes."
The days were still short, so Lith used the time while the others napped to leave Jambel and work on his side project. He Warped together with Tista and Nalrond near the city walls, to alert the guards they were leaving.
"Don't worry, Archmage Verhen. There shouldn't be trouble this time of the year, but we'll reinforce security during your absence." Said the Gate Sergeant, a man in his mid-thirties, about 1.77 meters (5'10") with blonde hair and blue eyes.
He wore a light metal armor over heavy winter clothes and a bulky left shoulder protector to balance for the lack of his right arm. There was no stump, not even the shoulder was left as if the missing limb had been vertically cut off.
"What happened to your arm?" Tista asked.
"Nothing much. Last year we had a small monster outbreak of our own, but Ranger Verhen was already busy with Maekosh, so we had to deal with it on our own. One of those bastards emitted a black ray that opened a hole in the walls and took my arm."
Chapter 975 Madness for Hire Part 1
"There was nothing left to heal, yet I consider myself lucky. I survived to tell the tale and Baron Wyalon put me behind a desk instead of firing me. The only battlefield left for me is that against paperwork, but I can at least train recruits." The Sergeant said.
"Why not regrowing it?" Nalrond was baffled at human society abandoning its veterans.
"Not even his Excellency's personal mage knows how to do it, and even if she did, it would cost too much. I'm a member of the militia, not of the army. Jambel can't afford to send all those like me to the White Griffon."
Regrowing a limb required two teams of three Healers each. Hiring six mages at the same time was something beyond even a noble household's abilities. The six great academies were the only place that provided such services at an affordable price.
"Interesting." Lith took several purple potions out of his pocket dimension. "Drink one of these now and another one once per hour until our return."
"Will they make my arm grow back?" The Sergeant was flabbergasted.
"Do I look like a god to you?" Lith scoffed. "Of course they won't, but trusting me or not is up to you. See you later."
He opened a dimensional corridor that led the group where once the entrance to Zolgrish's lab was. Once the three mages stepped through it, the Steps disappeared and the Sergeant turned the one-hour hourglass after gulping down the first potion.
"That was generous of you." Tista understood his intentions, but she had a few doubts. "What was in those flasks?"
"Not generosity, just foresight. If I manage to get the mines, I'll depend on Jambel's guards to keep the area safe from brigands and protect the cargo until someone picks it up.
"Jambel has no Warp Gate, so I'll have to retrieve the silver personally from time to time or send one of the few people I really trust to do it. A few stolen silver nuggets are not a problem, losing a few kilos of it, however, is unacceptable." Lith replied.
He created a hologram representing the blueprints of the mines as he remembered them, showing Nalrond where he had spotted the biggest silver veins.
"I don't plan on spending a single coin unless we find an alternative access point to the mines ." Lith nodded at the tons of rock and debris that once were a small mountain range.
"Nalrond, I need you to look for a path to the veins that starts from the ground and it's stable enough to withstand being excavated without collapsing easily. The second most important requirement is that the silver must be abundant and not be too close to the old mines.
"The self-destruct mechanism has surely compromised their integrity and if you consider the thousands of tons of rocks weighing from above, reopening those tunnels is suicidal.
"Tista, help me look for arrays, traps, undead, or anything that could indicate that Zolgrish is still interested in the area. I'm not going to fight a Lich without an excellent reason."
Nalrond nodded and shapeshifted into his Emperor Beast form. He dived into the ground that parted in front of him and closed immediately after, leaving no trace of his passage.
In the meantime, Lith and Tista circled the ruins while casting Life Sensing arrays and Array detecting spells.
The former would spot any form of life or undeath that might have taken residence in the mines' proximity while the latter would reveal any recent magical formation. Right after the lab self-destructed, Lith and General Vorgh, the army's Master Warden, had checked the area without finding anything.
Unless Zolgrish had placed new arrays after they had left, the area was bound to be safe.
"Nothing on my side but animals." Tista reported via her communication amulet.
"Same here." Lith hoped he wouldn't be forced to resort to his contingency plan.
"Fuck me sideways!" He said a second later when his array detecting spell triggered a spell detecting array that had remained dormant and invisible even to mana sense until the energy of Lith's magic had fueled it.
'What a brilliant design!' Solus thought. 'Leaving the array depowered to preserve its strength and make use of the enemy's energy to activate your own formation makes it impossible for the intruder to react until it's too late.'
"Code blue! I repeat, code blue!" Lith yelled inside his amulet while cursing the Lich's ingenuity.
A depowered array was incapable to do any damage, but it was strong enough to send a signal to its caster.
Tista and Nalrond managed to Warp back to his coordinates just in time to see a Gate made of a red, spiraling energy open.
The humanoid figure that stepped out of it was that of a tall man with a skeletal body, with barely enough skin on his face to express emotions. The cold, red light of undeath shone inside his withered eyes, giving him a cruel gaze.
The Lich wore a golden magician robe and held in his right hand a silvery staff with several purple mana crystals embedded on it.
'Bad news. His life force is off the charts and his blood core is almost entirely red. On top of that, everything he wears is heavily enchanted.' Solus shared her mana sense's analysis of the Lich's prowess.
"We meet again, Zolgrish." Lith's voice was confident as his eyes flared up with darkness magic.
The Lich was taken aback by both Lith's eyes and their apparent familiarity.
"Do I know him, Ratpack?" Zolgrish turned to a small being that was following him, being careful to remain hidden behind the Lich's vest.
"He's the Ranger called Scourge, master! You fought together against the usurpers."
The creature didn't resemble anything Tista or Nalrond had ever seen before. Ratpack was a small humanoid, barely 1.3 meters (4'3") tall, with pale grey skin and thick grizzled hair.
Judging by his appearance and his voice, Ratpack seemed to be a male. He had small pointed ears, pitch-black eyes, and was wearing a yellow mage's robe. Despite his jagged teeth and the claws at the end of his limbs, it looked more scared than dangerous.
"It seems you've become wiser and stronger, Stooge." Zolgrish's trademark lack of care for names seemed to be unchanged. "Let's see how much."
The Lich left the Adamant staff into Ratpack's hands and stepped forward while Lith took a deep breath to calm down.
'Let's hope that Kalla's teachings work on this madman as well.' He thought.
Zolgrish eyes flared up with darkness magic as well, standing right in front of the human Archmage before offering Lith his open right hand. Lith slapped it with his own and went for a backhand palm strike to which Zolgrish replied in kind.
The amount of mana the two opponents released was enough to make the air vibrate and cause the body hair of those who witnessed the clash to stand up. Tista and Nalrond held their breath while weaving their best spells, ready to intervene the moment the fight started.
Yet instead of conjuring magic, the two men bumped their right fists up, down, and then frontally.
'Okay, now make a full spin, and as soon as you are done lift your left foot and touch it with your right hand.' Solus thought.
Chapter 976 Madness for Hire Part 2
The scene left all the three spectators speechless, especially because the two alleged enemies moved in unison. They held their nose while bending their knees and moved their upper body in a wave motion as if they were drowning.
After that, they abruptly stood up, making a finger gun with their left hand that shot a beam of light they both dodged and said:
"Dead on time."
"I can't believe you're really one of us, Scrooge!" Zolgrish burst into joyous laughter.
"Me neither." Lith was still cringing from embarrassment.
'I can't believe I avoided joining a frat house during college just to learn a fucking secret handshake to get along with Liches.' He thought.
'What matters is that it worked and we avoided a pointless fight. We must gift Kalla something nice to thank her for all the secret information about the undead society she taught us.' Solus tried to cheer Lith up, but even the kindest and wisest words sounded like a mockery when the one speaking them was laughing her ass off.
"What are you doing here and who are those guys?" Zolgrish pointed at Scrooge's helpers.
"I'm here for the silver mines. I've stepped up my research since the last time we met and I need both money and raw materials. As for them, allow me to introduce my servants to you. They are Thrud and Nalear." Lith lied all the way to protect both of them from further inquiries.
"Good move, Groog. A Lich always needs someone expendable. Ratpack, go mingle with your peers. Testalos, Nimble, this is Ratpack, my assistant. He is dumb, slow, and clumsy, but he has a big heart. I know because I put it in his chest." Zolgrish laughed at his own joke and pushed Ratpack forward.
"What about you?" Lith asked while the three 'assistants' awkwardly looked at each other.
"I'm not going to lie to you. I tried to recover the mines, but the collapsed mountains are too big to move and they make the ground too unstable. The array was something I left out of curiosity, to see if someone had better luck and maybe exploit their work." Zolgrish said.
"Care to elaborate?"
"If it was someone weak, I would have killed them to leave no witnesses, while if it was someone strong, I would have made them an offer they couldn't refuse." Zolgrish shapeshifted into the human appearance he had back when he was still alive.
He now looked like a man 1.78 (5'10") meters tall with brown eyes, hair, and a short beard, who was offering Lith what looked like a business card between his right middle and index fingers.
"Zolgrish Berkyx, Necromancer for hire." Lith read out loud.
"It's my human alias for when I need shopping. I tried sending Ratpack, but somehow the cursed humans always discover his undead nature. I tried disguising him as a noble, a merchant, an adventurer, and even as a belly dancer, but nothing worked." Zolgrish snapped his fingers, changing Ratpack's outfit several times.
'Why the heck does the Lich only change the clothes of his assistant whereas he shapeshifts himself?' Everyone thought.
"My plan was to offer my minions as the workforce. They can work under all weather conditions, require no rest, no sleep, nor pay. All I ask in exchange is 50% of the mined silver."
"50% is a lot!" Lith blurted out. "Way more than any workforce would cost. I don't see the allure of such an offer."
"My minions not only are loyal, but they can also defend the precious metal. They're a full package deal. Also, in case of refusal, I would kill my 'partner' and renew my offer to their next of kin." Zolgrish laughed.
'I would like to point out that one has no guarantee Zolgrish's minions wouldn't just deliver the silver to him, but Liches are prideful creatures. They wouldn't stoop so low as to lie. Also, I don't want to give him ideas.' Lith thought.
"Nalear, resume the search while I discuss business with my fellow Lich." Lith snapped his finger and his assistants out of their reverie.
"Why are you still here, Nalear?" He asked after waiting for a few seconds.
"You mean me?" The Rezar pointed at himself.
"Isn't your name Nalear?" Lith sneered.
"Really? Since when?"
"Good gods, even Ratpack remembers his own name, Nemea. Now scram!" Zolgrish yelled.
The intensity of the Lich's bloodlust made Nalrond shapeshift and plunge into the ground so fast that he seemed to disappear into thin air.
"If my minion finds a way to the mines, we'll split everything 70-30, costs included." Lith said.
"30-70, you mean. The mines were mine to start with and mine are the minions." Zolgrish replied.
"No, 70-30. They were never yours. You were just stealing from the Kingdom. Also, you collapsed the mines and I'm the only one who can apply for the mining rights. With the current love people has for the undead, if they find you out, you'll never get a single piece of silver without spending ten times its value." Lith said.
"40-60, but only because I hate paperwork and you're right about the Royal permits. Not having to kill anyone who sees the mines will save me a lot of resources."
"60-40 because without my minion there will be nothing to mine. Also, he can follow the veins or find new ones when the silver runs out!" Lith replied.
"50-50!" Zolgrish said.
"40-60!" Lith replied.
"No, you thief, 60-40!" Zolgrish snarled.
"Deal!" Lith said before the Lich could realize he had fallen for one of the oldest tricks in the cartoons.
"Deal! 60% to you and the rest to me." Zolgrish had a triumphant tone that made Tista wonder if he actually knew math or he just reversed whatever her brother said.
The two madmen wrote everything down in duplicate and signed each other's copy of the document. By the time Nalrond returned, they had even exchanged contact runes. He brought good news. The richest silver veins ran so deep that the ground was stable again.
The Rezar had prepared an underground map that Lith hid inside his pocket dimension, refusing to show it to Zolgrish.
"I'll contact you as soon as I'm done with the paperwork. Don't forget our deal and don't make mistakes. If anyone catches wind of the silver, we're both screwed." Lith said.
"I won't. I swear it on my phylactery." Zolgrish struck his fist where his heart was supposed to be, making Ratpack whine.
'That's a phylactery? I thought it was just a powerful artifact. I need to study it at the best of my abilities.' Solus thought.
"Master, no sense hiding phylactery if you tell where it is."
"Don't worry, Ratpack. I'm sure that no one noticed my subtle gesture." Zolgrish acted as if they weren't right there in front of him. "It was a pleasure doing business with you, Groucho. Ratpack, say goodbye to your new friends, Ding and Dong."
"Master, names wrong and we not friends. We said nothing all time." Ratpack said while another red Gate appeared.
"They didn't try to kill you and that's what real friends do. Take a lesson from me and Blorgflux. If I don't reply to your first 100 or so calls, don't take it personally, Bongbat. I'm just that busy. Bye!" Zolgrish dragged Ratpack along and closed the dimensional tunnel.
Chapter 977 Plans and Preparations Part 1
"That was intense." Nalrond didn't know whether to laugh or cry at the Lich's antics.
The only thing the Rezar was certain of, was that he needed a long bath to wash away the cold sweat he was drenched into. Even Dawn's minions were nothing compared to such a powerful undead.
"I get that he changed your name with every phrase, but if you're Blorgflux, then who was Bongbat supposed to be?" Tista asked.
"Always me. Zolgrish forgets even the names he makes up if they are too long. By the way, excellent work, Nalrond. We'll split everything 50-10-40, costs included." Lith said.
"I have no money!" The Rezar blurted out realizing the catch.
"I'll lend you the starting capital and you'll return it to me with the first profits." Lith shrugged.
Faluel wanted him to befriend the Rezar before asking for information about the Fringes. Yet Lith had no idea how to build a relationship without enduring life and death situations together or business.
Lith chose the latter option because any plan to endanger Nalrond's life on purpose just to save him could easily backfire.
'You suck with human relationships.' Solus sighed. 'You didn't trust Orion until he gave you the cloaking ring and now you try to bind your Light Mastery teacher with money?'
'I do suck and you know it. Cut me some slack. Progress, not perfection.' Lith replied before Warping the group back to Jambel, where the Sergeant missing his right arm was waiting for them.
'See what I mean? You never bothered asking his name.' Solus thought.
"How do you feel, Sergeant…" According to Lith's calculations, the potions the man had ingested would provide him with all the nutrients needed for the procedure.
"Terl Snowfield, sir. Bloated is the best word to describe my condition." The Sergeant burped and quickly apologized for it.
He was at the third potion and the first one had already been fully assimilated. Terl felt as if someone was stuffing him with food non-stop, to the point that he had been forced to take off his armor because of his bulging belly.
"Excellent." A short chant and random gestures conjured a stone chair out of the dust floating in the air.
Lith forced Terl to sit and used an air blade to rip open the Sergeant's shirt at the shoulder level, leaving everyone flabbergasted.
"You two provide him with the necessary vitality, I'll do the rest. This is how those like us should work." Lith said, referring to all those capable of using true magic.
He didn't know if Nalrond actually needed his guidance with healing magic, but Tista surely did. Also, by using assistants, Lith had a plausible explanation for what was about to happen.
After a bit more gibberish and gestures, Lith touched the Sergeant's forehead with two fingers, activating his tier four healing spell, Bloom.
Terl felt a sudden sting and an itch before the missing parts of his scapula and clavicle popped out of his flesh, reforming the right shoulder. Then, the humerus emerged from the shoulder joint, growing in length and size like a white sprout.
Only once the bone was perfectly formed did Lith make the muscles, nerves, flesh, and circulatory system grow one layer at a time. Thanks to Invigoration, he created a mirror image of the left arm the soldier still had down to the smallest detail.
Unlike fake mages that had to complete the procedure in one go, Lith built one piece at a time. He used the imaging properties of his breathing technique to not just regrow the missing limb, but also to give the new arm the same connections the other had with the spine, so that the mirror limb would retain the muscle memory of the original.
Unlike true mages, his training with Faluel's meditation techniques, allowed Lith to Dominate the light element even when it was coursing through Terl's body, allowing him to not blindly follow the left arm's template and be capable of fixing on the fly any imperfection he found.
The same happened for the radius and ulna. First, they popped out the humerus, and only once they were fully formed did flesh and blood bloom, completing the forearm. Only the hand was now missing, but that required special attention.
It was made of too many small, delicate bones to create all of them at the same time.
"Drink another potion now." Lith ordered and the Sergeant obeyed.
Terl was happy Lith had given him a chair, otherwise he would be with his ass on the ground like most of his colleagues. The shock from seeing such powerful magic in action had brought most of the spectators to their knees.
The Sergeant felt another sting as what looked like a white mist emerged from a hole in his newly formed wrist. The vapor grew and spread before turning solid and resembling a cobweb.
Except it wasn't made out of silk but of bones and cartilage that quickly turned into a perfectly formed hand. The different layers of muscles, nerves, and tendons formed one at a time but in such a quick sequence that the process made Solus think of a gruesome anime transformation sequence.
"It's done. Do…" Lith attempted to say.
"Yes." Terl cut him short while he moved his new arm and flexed his fingers one by one.
"Yes what? Do you feel alright? Does the arm work properly?" Lith asked.
"Yes, you look like a god to me." The Sergeant replied to Lith's earlier sarcastic questions.
During the previous year, Terl had studied the procedure to allow himself to at least daydream about what would happen if he could afford it. Regrowing an arm usually required six mages and about half an hour, yet for all he knew, Lith had done everything by himself and the entire process had taken seconds.
Actually, Tista and Nalrond had provided him with vitality and the procedure had lasted for over five minutes, but no one had noticed the passing of time.
"This is no time for jokes. I used an experimental procedure that should give your right arm and hand the same skill you got with your left. It's not much, but assuming you practiced a lot since losing your arm, it should speed up your physical therapy." Lith said.
"Wait, are you saying that you might have made me ambidextrous?" Terl took two coins out of his pockets, put one on each of his thumbs, and threw them in the air before catching them.
The right arm was slower and clumsier, but he still succeeded.
"Are you left-handed?" Lith had never taken the possibility into account.
"Yes. Is that a problem?"
"Not at all. Don't forget to eat a lot and contact a Healer to follow your recovery. The strain from the procedure will make you feel sluggish for a while, so I advise plenty of rest. Let me know if there are any issues and if you're really ambidextrous now." Lith said.
"How can I repay you?" Terl tried to stand up, but his knees refused to comply. Exhaustion and emotion paralyzed his legs.
"I'm an Archmage and one of the four best Healers in the Kingdom. Jambel has offered me hospitality and many gifts. This is the least I could do." Lith said.
'Once I obtain the mining rights, my friendship with the guards will smooth any mess Zolgrish might make. If his undead have even one fraction of his quirks, accidents might happen while delivering my share of silver.
Chapter 978 Plans and Preparations Part 2
'On top of that, people like Terl will take good care of my stuff until I come collecting it.' He actually thought.
The man started sobbing and grabbed the edge of Lith's robe to kiss it in a sign of devotion, creeping him big time.
"Calm down, Sergeant. There are no gods, just good mages doing their jobs." Lith said while stepping back.
"Archmage Verhen, I know I'm overstepping my bounds, but could you please visit the city hospital?" One of the soldiers that had managed to stand up said. "Winter left several people scarred and it will take a while before Baron Wyalon can afford a good Healer to take care of them."
For cities like Jambel, it was unfeasible to move so many people to the nearest city with a mage capable of using tier four and five of healing magic. The best course of action was to pay the mage to reach the city and treat those who required professional help.
Healing magic was no miracle. Up to tier three it simply sped up the natural recovery process of all kinds of injuries, but it was incapable of treating organs damaged by an illness, regrowing missing parts, or even fixing a badly healed fracture.
To do that was necessary the intervention of someone who had access to the Healer specialization that only the army, the Association, or one of the six great academies could provide.
Lith was about to find an excuse to refuse when he noticed two things. First, Tista was looking at him with big, puppy eyes like she did when they were little. Her little brother was her hero, and she pictured him way better natured than he was.
Second, the guard seemed too concerned for his request to be a selfless plea. Lith looked around, noticing that many of those present were holding their breath in expectation.
Clearly, they had a friend, a relative, or a loved one in need of help. One grateful guard would turn a blind eye to Zolgrish's antics from time to time whereas several guards might cover up even big messes if necessity arose.
"Sure, but now I need some rest." There was only so much Lith could do without ruining his cover.
Regrowing a limb with half the staff and time the White Griffon usually needed was worthy of an Archmage, doing more would raise a flag for anyone who knew about Awakened and their powers.
If not for Invigoration, Lith would have been exhausted. They Warped back to the Baron's guest house, where the rest of the family was waiting for them.
"If you want to play savior, why don't you do it yourself?" Lith asked Tista. "You have all of my skills, just less experience."
"Because I'm yet a nameless mage and I want to stay that way until I decide otherwise." She replied with a sigh. "You are already in trouble with the ancient households for your achievements and with the Council for the same reasons plus Awakening me.
"If I stand out too much, I'll offer them another target and force you to follow me during my travels. This way, instead, I'm just 'Lith's sister'. Everyone underestimates me and you don't have to worry about me. It's a win-win."
"Great thinking." Lith nodded. "I would still like you two to accompany me to the hospital. We'll work faster and I could use some help to not abuse Invigoration too much."
"Can you teach me?" Nalrond said. "In all my years as a healer, I've never seen such a technique. Regrowing a limb is easy, but they are usually a blank, clumsy slate whereas the one you made already had a certain degree of coordination."
Nalrond was part of the werepeople, an artificial hybrid between a human and a magical beast. He had two mana cores which allowed him to use all elements like a human and to use true magic like a magical beast.
Yet he lacked the beast's instinct and the skills of an Awakened. On top of that, he couldn't even Awaken because his two identities were more stacked together than fused.
"Sure thing." Lith was glad to share his knowledge about anatomy and the spells he had created for his students at the White Griffon with the Rezar.
That way, once their roles were reversed and Nalrond taught him Light Mastery, Lith's request of sharing with him the Rezar's personal spells would sound fair.
'Why waste time to reinvent the wheel when I can access the collective knowledge of a tribe who practiced Light Mastery for centuries? I bet they have spells even Manohar can only dream of.' Lith thought.
'By my maker, I hate you so much when you act like this. Progress my stone ass!' Solus rebuked him.
Lith ignored her and handed Kamila the map Nalrond had drawn of the underground silver veins. As a Royal Constable, rules, regulations, and bureaucracy were her bread and butter.
The more information she had, the easier it was for her to cover all bases and fill all the paperwork necessary to make any claim the local nobles could make on Lith's future business groundless.
Later, that same afternoon, Lith had Baron Wyalon accompany the whole Verhen family to the city hospital.
"Aran, Leria, I can't bring you on the battlefield with me, but at least I can show you what your big brother does when he is away from home." Lith said while taking the children inside their first hospital ward.
According to Solus, their mana cores were growing nicely, almost at the same rate as Lith when he was their age, and used Accumulation. According to her estimates, they were likely to reach the yellow core of a magico in a few years and later maybe even a green or more powerful mana core that would allow them to attend one of the six great academies.
'I don't know if I'll have the time to teach and guide the children in the ways of magic, but I don't want them to grow up as spoiled brats. Magic is a gift that no one should take for granted. They must realize how lucky they are.' Lith thought.
The ward was filled with people that needed constant care either due to wounds too severe to be cured in one session without depleting their life force or to diseases of which normal healers could only treat their symptoms.
Everyone on Mogar could use magic, but powerful mages were rare and among them those who also had enough talent to learn a specialization were even rarer. Most of them would become nobles or serve influential households and trade their magical skills in exchange for political power.
The rest would join the army, the Mage Association, or devote their life to magical research. A mage who spent even a bit of time helping others was about as rare as finding a unicorn holding a pot of gold under a rainbow.
"Why are these people sick?" Aran turned up his nose at the smell of disinfectants and blood that filled the air.
"Because not everyone has a mage for a brother or uncle." Lith explained. "These people are just like Mom and Dad, but less lucky."
"Why did you bring us here? This place is not cool, it's smelly and sad." Leria asked, feeling guilty for her tailor-made clothes that stuck out like a sore thumb amid so much misery.
Chapter 979 Gods Among Us Part 1
"Because whenever I get back home, the first thing you ask me for is toys. Because I want you guys to realize that violence isn't cool. Whenever I was called to fix a mess, a monster had made lots of people miserable.
"Even after I defeated the monster, its victims were still in need of help. Leria, Aran, this is life outside of our village. If one day you'll wield the same power I have, I want you to remember this place.
"Magic is but a tool. It doesn't make its owner better or more righteous than others, just luckier." Lith said to both Aran and Leria.
Then, he walked through the ward, needing only one touch to diagnose the problem and another to fix it. He left patients who had damaged organs or missing fingers to Nalrond, explaining to him how to use the information obtained via the diagnostic spells Lith had taught him to its fullest.
"Before I introduced the study of anatomy, even treating a comminuted fracture required tier four magic. By leaving to the patient's body the task of putting the bone fragments in place, they would usually do a lot of damage in the process.
"Now, however, a Healer can determine their position and decide the best course of action. If there is a clear path to the bone, the fragments can be guided, dealing minimal damage.
"Otherwise, it's better to break them down to their components and regenerate the bone by using the fragments as nutrients." Lith said.
Tista, instead, took care of those affected by congenital diseases, relieving them from the symptoms or curing the illness itself whenever she was capable of it.
"The difference between a professional Healer and a rejuvenator like me, is that, unless they alter its life force, the former can only help the body of their patient what it's supposed to do whereas I don't need tier five magic to cause changes.
"So, for example, when treating someone that suffers from the consequences of aging, only a rejuvenator can stimulate the body to fix itself according to how it was when it was younger.
"The information is still there, but it has been overwritten over time so that some conditions are now considered normal. What you have to do is to restore that information by spotting every single anomaly and making the body stop considering them as normal.
That way, the patient's metabolism doesn't just heal the damage, but returns the body to the state it was before being injured.
"Another example is a badly healed fracture that leaves a leg crippled. Tier three magic is useless at that point because the fracture has naturally healed. A professional healer will be forced to break the bone again and then fix it properly, but then the patient will still bear the consequences of both fractures.
"A rejuvenator, instead, will make the body remember how the limb was supposed to be. The bone will then reassemble itself as if it was never broken in the first place."
Many Healers and patients tried to understand what Lith was saying, but without Invigoration or the spells he had invented that simulated the effects of his breathing technique, none of his teachings made sense.
Together, the three Healers managed to clear a couple of wards before exhaustion became unbearable.
Lith had forbidden Tista to use Invigoration, so that her body would be forged by enduring the use of so many consecutive spells and her mind would get used to retaining its focus even when she was tired.
He knew from experience that using Invigoration wasn't always possible and he wanted Tista to be capable of healing herself in the case her throat was damaged. Lith had seen too many Awakened die at his hand because they relied too much on their breathing technique.
Lith and his family spent the rest of their vacation in Jambel peacefully. He used the time while the others took the afternoon nap to visit the local hospitals and teach his two apprentices as much as he could.
Baron Wyalon was moved by their dedication and Lith was glad to earn the respect of the man who would be in charge of supervising his mines while also finally having the opportunity to put Tista's skills to the test. Two birds with one stone.
A few days before they went back to Lutia, the Verhens were going to the bakers' district to buy a few sweets as souvenirs for their friends back home when screams and the sounds of galloping horses filled the air.
"There must have been an accident. Damn nobles and their carriages." Lith said.
Most people moved on foot, and the lack of traffic made them careless. That coupled with the rush of coachmen who just like their masters gave little value to human life was the recipe for a disaster.
Yet what Lith saw darting from around a corner wasn't a stagecoach nor a young dandy on top of his purebred. It was a column of raiders rushing uptown, toward the Baron's mansion.
"What the heck is a bunch of criminals doing here? There's nothing worth stealing in Jambel." Lith said, regretting to have kept his visit a secret.
No one in their right mind would assault a city with an Archmage.
Yet until his apprenticeship with Faluel started, his Awakened rivals could still exploit the resentment that old and new magical bloodlines had against Lith for their ends.
Lith didn't want to offend all those nobles whose offer for hospitality he had turned down, so he had asked the Baron to not divulge his whereabouts. That coupled with the still lingering winter and Jambel's remote location guaranteed that no one would learn about his vacation until it was too late.
"It must be for the Baroness' birthday." Raaz said. "The Baron told me that, this time of the year, all the local goldsmiths come here to give him the opportunity to pick the best present for his…"
Lith had used air and spirit magic to make sure that his family was safe on the sidewalk, but not everyone had the cold-blood to consider a mercenary group as a minor annoyance ad react accordingly.
Out of fear, a parent failed to grab his son and drag him out of the road before the young man was run over by one of the horses.
Even under normal circumstances, Lith had no care for the life of a stranger. Now that his family was on the line of fire, the whole Mogar could burn for what he cared.
Yet once he turned around after making sure that everyone was safe and sound behind him, Lith's eyes fell unconsciously on the fallen youth. He had brown hair, a cracked skull, and was bleeding from his mouth due to internal injuries.
Maybe it was just a coincidence, or maybe it was the cruel hand of fate, but between his wounds and the older brother holding the young man's broken body, the scene was exactly as Lith imagined it would have been if he had been there for Carl after the hit-and-run.
His pupils dilated and his breath became ragged as the last images of his late brother flashed in front of Lith's eyes. He started to turn his head from the youth to Aran non-stop, trying to calm down.
'That's not Carl, your brother is dead. You have only one little brother now and his name is Aran. He needs you now, so don't do anything stupid.' Lith thought while a cold sweat drenched his clothes.
Chapter 980 Gods Among Us Part 2
No matter how hard Lith tried to hold back, his mind kept slipping back in time, to that dreadful night. Then, one of the invaders noticed Elina's golden necklace and steered his horse while extending his hand to rip it off.
Unfortunately for him, Elina had picked up Aran to make sure he wouldn't run away in panic and was holding the child in her arms. All Lith could see was a hand aimed at his mother's neck and a car rushing against his little brother.
Lith's shadow came to life as he Blinked in front of the thug with War between his hands while the angry blade was still enveloped in emerald flames from its summoning.
A single slash was all Lith needed to cut down both the horse and its rider. They didn't shed a drop of blood thanks to the fire and darkness coursing through War. The corpses turned into a fine mist before even touching the ground as if they had never existed.
At the same time, the obscurity surrounding Lith spread out like a black sun and infected with spirit and darkness magic all the other shadows it touched. No matter if they belonged to a streetlight, a building, or a person, all the shadows joined together and enveloped the area.
"Close their eyes! They must not see this." That was all Lith managed to say before he Blinked again.
To the raiders, it was as if they were under the attack of an entire army. Lith seemed to be everywhere at the same time, striking without any notice and killing many with just a swing of his blade or hand.
The darkness made it impossible to see further than a few meters, so the raiders slowed down and regrouped to leave no blind spot. Their horses were well-trained and had seen enough magic to not panic.
Keeping a cool head while assuming a perfect formation didn't spare them from their fate. It was the horses, not the men who formed the circle, which left plenty of space behind them for Lith to appear and decapitate them all at once with a circular swing of his blade.
"There!" A woman in her early thirties pointed at Lith with her wand, unleashing a stream of tier three lightning bolts.
Her comrades followed her lead, conjuring a full-blown thunderstorm before War had yet to cut the last neck. To thrive in the harshness of the north. violence and bravado weren't enough.
Even bandits were well trained and equipped.
Lith tried and failed to activate Dominance. The lightning bolts were too many and too fast for his amateurish technique. Even his blue core coupled with his mastery over air magic wasn't enough to control so many powerful spells at the same time.
Yet, he wasn't alone.
The angry blade attempted to support its master's Dominance, but having no idea how the ability worked, the sword failed as well. Yet War grasped Lith's intentions and activated the World Mirror ability that Orion had infused the blade with after perfecting the enchantment.
World Mirror was boosted by Lith's and War's willpower, allowing it to absorb the thunderstorm inside the blade for a split second before sending it back against its casters after reinforcing the spells with Lith's mana.
Each bolt of lightning was now so powerful that it killed its target despite the raiders wore enchanted protections.
The remaining marauders couldn't see a thing, but they could still hear the death cries and recognize the familiar voices. On top of that, each one of them knew what the smell of ozone mixed with that of barbeque meant.
"We've been set up! Jambel has mages. Retreat! We must…" The man leading the charge froze in horror as his own shadow covered his mouth with one hand while chocked him with the other.
The shock of seeing his own face twisted into a grimace of hate, staring at him through the white holes that replaced its eyes, made him unable to resist. Seeing the black mass attacking their leader, the raiders thought it was an undead.
They lunged at the shadow, only to kill their comrade.
"What the heck is that thing?" A woman asked after noticing that her ax met no resistance while passing through the living shade.
Their horror turned into despair when black hands emerged from the ground, dragging the horses and their riders down while sucking their life force. Only then did they notice the white eyes belonging to the invisible army surrounding them.
When the sun returned, there was no trace left of the invaders. Even the young man between his big brother's arms was now as fit as a fiddle.
"Are you alright?" Lith returned by his family's side while his anger made clouds cover the sky and lowered the temperature by several degrees.
"Yes." Raz nodded, half scared and half proud of his son.
For most of them, it was the first time seeing him as a fighter instead of a Healer. They had listened to Lith's tales about his fights, but not even holograms had prepared them for the brutality that a single swing of War held.
Aran and Leria were still crying, whereas the triplets had slept through the events as if nothing had happened.
"Bring them home and protect them until my return. I've seen this scheme in the past. Half of the bandits reach the target while the other half keeps the city gates open." Lith said to Tista and Nalrond before warping to Jambel's entrance.
The streets were on fire because the marauders had set everything ablaze to force the militia to split their focus. Between the burning houses, the injured citizens, and the enemies fighting for the control of the walls, Baron Wyalon had his hands full.
Lith appeared above the gates, understanding what had happened at a first glance. The first wave had disguised themselves as merchants and taken down the gatekeepers while the rest of their forces rushed out of their hiding spot.
Judging by how fast and efficient they were, the invaders had carefully prepared the heist by learning the guards' routine and waiting for the moment when the security was more lax, high noon.
Many cities had become too used to fighting mostly undead, and with the sun shining bright above their heads, the guards felt overconfident.
Lith recognized many of the fallen soldiers. Some were relatives of those he had healed, others he had cured himself. He started to breathe regularly, conjuring with Invigoration a pillar of blue light that connected the ground with the thunderclouds.
With each breath he took, the storm grew stronger. With each breath he took, he separated allies from enemies.
"Mjolnir!"
Lith raised his hands and a natural lightning struck him. It coursed through his body, dealing him no harm as it was split into countless bolts that reached their marks with surgical precision.
The current formed a tidal wave that swept the ground and reached even those who were still fighting inside the city walls. Yet only the invaders died. The battle and the thunderclap ended at unison.
Lith lowered his arms, making the clouds disappear along with the mana controlling them. He came down slowly, needing only a wave of his hands to put out the fires and rescue those who had remained trapped inside their own homes until that moment.
"Did you see that, son?" Baron Wyalon said to Kotu while they were providing first aid to the injured. "That's why there's no need for prayers. You don't have to look up in the sky to see gods. They already walk among us."
Chapter 981 Cold War Part 1
Valeron, Capital of the Griffon Kingdom, Throne Room.
The Royal Court was in an uproar, torn between the reappearance of an old enemy and the never-ending strife between the ancient and the new magical households. A conflict that was only getting worse as the Ernas's and the Deirus's factions clashed more furiously by the day.
Phloria taking a sabbatical despite the fact that the undead invasion was far from being resolved had added fuel to the fire. She had disobeyed her commanding officer and abandoned her duty, an unprecedented act that made the matter of closing her trial even more urgent.
"Lady Ernas needs to be dishonorably discharged and sentenced for her crimes. Otherwise, all those who disagree with the laws of the Kingdom will follow her lead and ignore their orders out of petty grudges." Archmage Deirus called Phloria only by her family name, disregarding all of her achievements as both army officer and mage.
"Petty grudges?" Jirni echoed the words with her voice filled with contempt. "Lord Deirus forgets to mention that the laws of our Kingdom guarantee Captain Ernas a speedy trial.
"Yet first she was suspended for months before being forced to resume duty because her country needed her skill and talent. Then she got stuck with the same workload as everyone else despite being treated as a traitor and kept in a limbo for over a year now.
"Now that a new equilibrium with the Undead Courts has been reached and the conscription is no longer needed, Captain Ernas has simply asked to either get a sabbatical or an honorable discharge.
"This Court can't demand her to keep risking her life while all her merits and promotions are frozen.
"Not only does she deserve to be acquitted from all those ridiculous charges, but also a compensation for the service given and an apology for the unfair treatment she received."
"Acquitted over my dead body!" Archmage Onia, Headmistress of the Black Griffon said. "Six Archmages, each one a pillar of the magical community, died in Kulah because of her incompetence. As the representative of the academies, I demand justice!"
"A pretentious claim since the Mefaal Household didn't press charges and neither did the White Griffon." Yondra's husband said. He wasn't willing to let his late wife's name be used for political plays.
"Enough!" King Meron slammed his palm on the armrest of his golden throne. "Both parties have expressed their opinion many times and the only thing you agree on, is that the trial of Captain and Mage Phloria Ernas lasted too long.
"The Queen and I agree as well. We'll let you know our decision after carefully pondering all your arguments."
His face was stern and confident, yet reality couldn't differ more.
'This is bad, dear.' He said to the Queen via their mind link. 'On the one hand, Jirni is right. The army has no right over her daughter now that the crisis is over. Forcing a mage to do anything without compensation sets a dangerous precedent that might lead to losing our best elements.
'On the other hand, Headmistress Onia is also right. The death of so many Archmages cannot go unpunished. Someone has to take the blame for what happened and pay the price.'
'I know.' Sylpha replied. 'That's why I assigned to Phloria's unit only high-profile missions. Not to punish her, but because I hoped that she would achieve something so great that it would make Kulah's incident pale in comparison.
'Something like Lith's exposing the Bright Day's ploy or revealing the threat of the Golden Griffon. We wouldn't have been able to make him an Archmage if not for such outstanding results.
'Alas, she wasn't lucky enough and despite her accomplishments, she's not nearly in the clear.'
Sylpha couldn't believe that if not for Kulah, Phloria would have already been promoted to Lieutenant Colonel, if not even raised to the status of Great Mage as well.
"Yet the reason you're here is to discuss the eventuality of Balkor's return." Meron said. His telepathic conversation with his wife lasted barely the blink of an eye.
The King's words triggered an even bigger uproar that ended only when the Queen activated one of the arrays in the room, forcing everyone to kneel and shut up.
"If you keep behaving like children, then I'll treat you as such." She said. "As you know, under the cover of the night, several youths from the most powerful magical bloodlines of the Kingdom have been crippled.
"Their assailants maimed their bodies beyond what even tier five light magic can heal. Not only were their injuries deliberately so cruel that the youths need a rejuvenator, but they were poisoned with an unknown substance that crippled their magical prowess.
"According to our esteemed Royal Healer, it will take them months, if not years to recover. Also, this card was left on the scene of every one of the attacks."
Sylpha showed a simple piece of paper, bearing a single word that struck fear in the hearts of all of those present. It said: "Future."
"The Balkor department confirmed that this is his penmanship and that the venom employed is a variant of that he used during his previous attacks. That's why we've asked you to come here.
"We're all survivors and if the god of death is really back, then we must stick together. To prevent further chaos, I'll allow you to speak one at a time."
Several hands were raised and the King picked one per faction.
"Your Majesty, with all due respect, I don't believe it's true." Archmage Deirus said. "Crippling instead of killing is not how Balkor operates. On top of that, I find it suspiciously convenient that only the enemies of Archon Ernas have been targeted."
Given the seriousness of his allegations, Sylpha allowed Jirni to reply.
"I understand better than anyone else the cruelty of seeing a talented youth's future destroyed for petty reasons, so I'll forgive Archmage Deirus for his cruel words." Her voice sounded pained but compassionate.
"That said, I'd like to remind you that my family has been the victim of several attempts performed by unknown assailants as well, and so happened to many of my friends." Many heads nodded at Jirni's words.
After she had captured Kaelan the Vampire and destroyed the branch of the Dawn Court in Othre, the undead had spared no effort to kill both her magicless sons, Gunyin and Tulion.
Their detail was composed of men of the Queen's corps and Orion's best students while their staff was actually composed of members of Jirni's Myrok household. When the most stalwart defenders and the deadliest assassins in the Kingdom joined forces, only death awaited their enemies.
"The only reason why we have suffered no casualty is that none of our heirs is so profligate that they need to ditch their detail in order to indulge in their vices. Besides, the strategy you described is hardly a novelty.
"It's what the undead have done for centuries when they want to forcefully recruit someone and bend their families to their will. It's likely that Balkor is helping the Courts to strengthen their position inside the Kingdom.
"The fact that the god of death isn't capable of fighting on his own anymore is well known, just like his undying hate for all of us. The real question is why my esteemed colleagues seem more interested in pointing fingers rather than finding a cure for their heirs."
Chapter 982 Cold War Part 2
"The Kingdom is blessed with four rejuvenators, yet none of them has been called for help. I can't help but wonder if it's because the Undead Courts already got what they wanted." Jirni said.
Her words instilled the doubt that Deirus's side might hide several snakes in the grass. The Royals knew of the ongoing cold war between the Ernas and the Deirus, yet they couldn't dismiss Jirni's allegations lightly.
"We did call them, but they all belong to the White Griffon, Captain Ernas's academy, and they refused to help." Headmistress Onia said once the Queen allowed her to speak. "Mage Verhen said…"
"Archmage Verhen." Sylpha corrected Onia and raised the pressure of the array so much that the Headmistress almost kissed the floor.
"Archmage Verhen said things I dare not to repeat in this hall. Marth and Vastor managed to restore the body of the only youth they accepted to visit, but claimed to be incapable of cleansing the venom. As for Manohar…"
"It's mister Manohar to you." The Mad Professor corrected Onia and slammed her face on the floor with one of his constructs.
"Manohar!" The Royals rebuked him in unison. "The Headmistress is our honored guest and you'll treat her with the respect she deserves."
"Isn't that what I just did?" He sounded honestly confused.
"By the Great Mother." Meron clenched his temples that felt as if they were about to burst open such was the headache the god of healing gave him.
'Why every time I want him to be here, he's absent whereas he never misses an audience when I want him out of my hair?' The King thought.
'This man is a curse and a blessing at the same time.' Sylpha replied.
"Why did you refuse to help them?" The Queen asked.
"Because even though I don't like the old hag Ernas, I like that bunch of has-beens even less. I mean, unless we go down their family tree, their latest achievement is lighting their own farts, yet they act all high and…"
"Manohar!" The Royals cut him short.
"I mean, this lovely granny and I have our differences…" He pointed at Jirni, who couldn't get angry since Gunyin had given her grandchildren for a few years now. "…but we respect each other, whereas I don't even know those guys.
"I've got no obligation to help them, unless your Majesty orders me otherwise, of course." The god of healing gave the Royals a small bow, hoping for the best.
With each order the Royals gave him, one of his escapades would be pardoned. After clearing five branches of the Undead Courts and chasing Night out of the Kingdom, Manohar only needed a couple of pardons to get out of hot waters.
"Not yet. The Balkor department and all academies are studying the new venom as we speak. They only need some time and luck to figure it out." Sylpha shook her head, making the nobles groan.
Manohar had recently returned. Giving him the means to safely run away again was a terrible idea.
"I'd like to point out that, even though Archon Ernas is right about the Undead Courts crippling youths to discipline their families and about how it was due to the victims' stupidity that the attacks were successful, some of the witnesses claim to have seen a diminutive figure dressed in black escape from the crime scene." Duke Nuragor said once the King gave him permission to speak.
He was Kallion's father and his grudge towards the Ernas ran deep. The Duke was already planning his son's marriage with Phloria when he had received the news that she had not only ended their relationship, but also humiliated Kallion in front of the Royals.
"Are you suggesting that I did it?" Jirni was outraged at the accusation.
"The assailant worked alone, was short, and your world-renown needles would match the puncture wounds that crippled those poor youths. So yes, the thought that you might want to get even with us crossed my mind more than once." The Duke said.
"That's impossible." The King said while sweeping the air with his arm to firmly reject such an idea. "Archon Ernas works around the clock and is rarely alone. There are plenty of witnesses who can confirm where she was during most of the attacks.
"More than once she was here, to update us about the latest developments of her investigations." The King's words put no one at ease, they only made Jirni appear as an even more fearsome opponent to her enemies and allies alike.
They were certain that she was behind the attack and that she had left on purpose enough clues to be recognized. Except for the Royals, all those present believed that she was sending a message that said:
"If you destroy my daughter's career, I'll destroy your children's lives and with them the future of your households."
Everyone knew how hard it was to replace a magically talented heir who was also a good ruler for their lands. Velan Deirus was the living proof of how three generations of hard work could easily crumble.
After seeing how even the Mad Professor had sided with her, the members of the Royal Courts believed that in order to achieve her revenge, Jirni had agreed to work with Balkor.
The members of the Undead Courts, instead, after she had systematically destroyed their branches in the Griffon Kingdom, exposed the identities of their elders who had remained hidden for centuries before her arrival, and slain several of their champions, believed that Balkor worked for Jirni.
***
Blood Desert, Forgotten Plume tribe, a few weeks ago, right after Manohar was done with his task and had accepted Orion's offer for help.
After almost losing at the Black Night's hand and seeing how versatile hard-light constructs were, Ilyum Balkor now diligently practiced Light Mastery, Creation, and Chaos Magic every day.
'Manohar might be insane, but he was right about one thing. If Night decided to remain and fight after losing her host, if not for her wounded pride and her obsession with me, she might have easily finished me off.'
'I was too weak to defend myself even against her crystal form. To master higher tiers of Chaos Magic and keep my Creations from crumbling after a few minutes, I need to deepen my understanding of light magic.' He thought.
Thanks to all the years spent studying both undead and Abominations, there was little Balkor ignored about the darkness element. Just like Lith, he had discovered the art of shaping light through his studies about darkness.
The two disciplines were tightly interconnected and at high levels, they shared many more similarities than the average mage would ever think. Most people believed that each element had its opposite, whereas Balkor knew how wrong they were.
All the six elemental energies were able to coexist in both the world energy and the mana all things on Mogar possessed. There was no conflict, only a harmony that had to be upset to trigger their destructive abilities.
It was a mystery so deep that none of the Guardians had accepted to teach him, and to the study of which he devoted every minute that he didn't spend with Leegaain to study the monster-Abomination hybrids or with his family.
"I'm sorry to bother you, dear, but you have guests. Again." Eos Balkor, Ilyum's wife, pulled the curtain of his tent open, letting sunlight illuminate her husband's lab.
Chapter 983 Blood Judgment Part 1
Balkor worked in complete darkness so that he would be able to study the smallest imperfections in his constructs and how his state of mind affected their properties.
Eos was a lovely woman in her mid-thirties, about 1.62 meters (5'2") tall, with shoulder-length dark brown hair and deep brown eyes. The white linen dress she wore emphasized her bronze skin typical of the people of the desert.
"Damn merchants! I spent a lifetime lying low and they ruined it in a matter of seconds. I swear, the next time they come here I'm going to…"
"First, I don't think the merchants are at fault. They are loyal to Overlord Salaark and they wouldn't spread your secret like that." Eos cut him short. "Second, it's the same guy from the last time, but he brought a lady friend along."
"Friend?" Balkor was flabbergasted as he was incredulous. "Someone like Manohar has no friends, let alone a girlfriend. Bring me to them, dear."
Manohar and Jirni were quietly waiting in the middle of the village, surrounded by armed guards ready to attack the moment the intruders attempted something funny. They weren't actually a threat to their unwanted guests, but Jirni respected their bravery and loyalty.
Unlike Manohar, who always wore his Professor robe, Jirni was covered from head to toe by one of the characteristic traveler's outfits of the desert that left only her hands and eyes exposed.
The turban hid her blonde hair, a shawl covered her face, and make-up made her skin look bronze. There was no way to hide her sapphire blue eyes that drawn much attention since they were a rarity for southerners.
Balkor looked at them with Life Vision and was impressed by the fact that the newcomer was as magically weak as her equipment was outstanding. He led them to a tent where they could speak privately, offering them seats and hot tea while waiting for an explanation.
"I won't mince words with you." Jirni removed her headgear, revealing her foreign origin. "I don't like you nor did I forget all the tragedies you've put me through, yet I can't condemn your methods. If I had your talents, in your shoes I would've done much worse."
"I don't care what you think. Tell me why you are here and how you convinced Manohar to bring you along." The odd relationship between the two had piqued Balkor's curiosity.
Manohar had yet to crack any stupid joke, say something inappropriate, or act as if he owned the place. On the contrary, he was sitting straight while drinking his tea, opening his mouth only to say please and thank you to Eos.
Balkor could barely recognize the god of healing in the man in front of him, which made him wonder what kind of person could succeed where even Salaark had failed during their previous meeting.
"I'm here because our interests align. You have a vendetta against the Griffon Kingdom's upper echelons and so do I. My enemies have no qualms using underhanded tricks to get what they want and to make matters worse, they have the law on their side.
"Which leaves me with few options and not at liberty to be picky with my allies. As for Manohar, I must thank you for showing him the importance of good equipment. He doesn't want to suffer any more defeats-"
The word "defeat" made Manohar choke on his tea.
"-and I need his help to make sure my plan goes without a hitch. A plan that requires your assistance as well." Jirni then explained what her intentions were and how she planned to use the ongoing war with the undead as a cover for her operation.
Balkor was a smart man. No matter what lie she could come up with, he would understand the truth the moment her plan got into motion.
"Let me get this straight." Balkor said. "You want to exploit me and the Undead Courts for your agenda, pinning the blame on us to keep your social standing. Why should I help you and why do you need a crippling rather than a killing venom?"
"Because I know the details of your deal with Overlord Salaark. You can't set foot or even send a minion inside the Kingdom borders, yet it doesn't prevent you from helping a third party.
"I'm offering you the chance to borrow my knife and make those idiots tremble at your name again. As for the killing, it would mean giving them an easy way out. Every member of the Court has lost enough people to learn how to deal with grief.
"If I were to kill their heirs, they would simply pass the title on the next in line of succession. Crippling them, instead, means giving my enemies hope. To make them waste time and resources in the search of a cure while sowing discord at the same time." Jirni took a pause, letting Balkor figure out the rest on his own.
"You want to split each household into two factions. One that wants to cure the current heir and the other that wants to replace them. A brilliant plan indeed." He said.
"Two?" She laughed. "You're an optimist. The more candidates a household has, the more factions will form. Each one of them will seek external help to further their own agenda, leaving their households open to betrayal.
"At some point, they will be so busy dealing with their internal conflict to be incapable of keeping an eye on me. That's the moment when I'll strike. I'll expose their plots and crimes against each other, making their households implode.
"Yet all of my planning is just hot air unless you give me the means to turn it into reality."
Balkor looked into Eos's eyes, hearing her silent plea to refuse the deal. His wife was a sweet woman and a mother, she couldn't even fathom how could Jirni be so cruel to innocent children just to avenge her own daughter.
Eos had tried for years to convince her husband to let go of his grudge.
She understood that some things couldn't be forgotten, let alone forgiven. All she wished for was that her husband could finally make peace with his past and focus on what they had built together.
"If you want my help, then you'll have to accept my conditions." "I'm not really interested in new magical bloodlines, those who I really hate are part to the so-called ancient households. I want you to add the following names to your hit list."
Balkor handed Jirni a piece of paper containing several names. Most of them belonged to those who had sided with Deirus to stop the rise of the Ernas, some of them had remained neutral or she had never heard about them, and a few were her allies.
"Deal." Jirni offered him her hand and Balkor shook it.
'This list is actually a huge help. By giving those people special attention, Balkor will be the most plausible suspect. Alienating some of my allies is an acceptable risk. In battle, collateral damage is unavoidable.
'After the matter with Phoria is resolved, I can ask the Royals to have Manohar cure them. It will strengthen the loyalty in our ranks and cause even more despair to our enemies.' She thought.
After returning home, Jirni didn't share that part of her plan with anyone but her cousin Dyta Myrok. They were so similar that sometimes she acted as Jirni's body double and Dyta's combat prowess matched her own.
Chapter 984 Blood Judgment Part 2
Jirni gave her cousin the special paper with Balkor's calligraphy, the hit list, and the venom, trusting her judgment about when and how to strike.
The less Jirni knew the more natural her reaction would be when she received reports of the attacks, and the lack of an alibi from time to time was the small flaw her cover needed to be perfect.
***
Valeron, Capital of the Griffon Kingdom, Throne Room, present day.
"This isn't the first time I hear such wild accusations." Jirni's voice was indignant. "Yet this never before someone dared to throw them in my face right in front of my peers and the Royals themselves.
"Duke Nuragor has slandered my name and I demand justice. I invoke the right of Blood Judgment."
If not for the array sealing the mouths and the limbs of those present, the room would have gone into an uproar. The Blood Judgment was an ancient ritual dating back when the Griffon Kingdom had been first unified and most feudal Lords needed a way to settle grudges with their neighbors without causing a civil war.
Valeron, the First King, had forbidden nobles to have armies of their own, yet they were still entitled to have personal guards. Each side would appoint a champion that would fight until the first blood was shed or the opponent surrendered.
The ritual forbade the use of any kind of magic, even chore magic, and artifacts. It allowed households who lacked the talent or the money to have a powerful mage among their ranks to defend themselves and also to avoid casualties.
To avoid one challenge triggering another, Valeron had decreed that killing the opponent resulted in a defeat and that to issue a Blood Judgment, the offended party had to provide solid evidence of the damage suffered.
The entirety of the Court had witnessed the events, putting both the King and Duke Nuragor in a bad spot. The King wanted to keep things from escalating further while the Duke had no desire to put so much at risk.
Losing a Blood Judgment meant not only to be forced to publicly apologize to the winner, but also to be banned from all kind of social events for a year and pay half of the household's annual income as compensation.
Becoming a social pariah would cause the loser to remain out of the loop and to be cut out of the major business enterprises. It would cripple both the loser's wealth and influence in the long run.
On top of that, the Crown would pay the penalty up front, so that the defeated party would not be indebted to the winner, but to the Royals. Not paying a gambling debt would worst-case scenario incur reproach, whereas not paying what was akin to taxes meant having their assets seized.
Valeron had devised Blood Judgment to be as unpleasant as possible, so that no one would invoke it without a very good reason. The deeper the pockets of a noble were, the less inclined they would be to put their wealth at stake on a whim.
"Archon Ernas, the Nuragor and Ernas households are valuable assets for the Kingdom. The Duke's family recently gave us a Great Mage. I'm sure he's willing to apologize for his rudeness if you are willing to reconsider the challenge." Meron glared at Nuragor while trying to solve the issue peacefully.
Duke Nuragor had no desire to ask for Jirni's forgiveness and he wasn't scared of losing some money. He was scared of losing a shitload of money. To add insult to injury, the ritual required that the loser had to kneel.
Between the blow both his wallet and his reputation would take in the case of defeat, he couldn't afford to gamble several generations of hard work out of something as trivial as pride.
The Ernas's situation was completely different. Even if they lost, Jirni would still be an Archon, Orion would still be one of the best Royal Forgemasters, and none of their children's careers would be hindered.
Aside from being the heir of house Ernas, Gunyin had no career while Tulion was the black sheep of the family. Phloria was already ruined, Friya was just a lowly mercenary, and Quylla was an Assistant Professor.
If someone like Manohar could still retain his spot after committing countless crimes and social blunders, the academic world wouldn't so much as raise an eyebrow at something like a lost Blood Judgment as long as she produced results.
Kallion, instead, was both the heir and the only mage of the Nuragor Household. Becoming a social pariah would cripple his chances for a good marriage while losing the money would force him to put his magical career on hold.
To not share his merits with anyone, Kallion worked for no institution and used for his missions mercenary groups that accepted a non-disclosure agreement in exchange for a hefty sum.
This strategy had allowed him to quickly rack merits, but it also made Kallion dependant on the family wealth to found both his magical research and the jobs he carried out for the Association.
"Words are cheap, your Majesty." Jirni replied before the Duke could swallow his pride and apologize. "Accepting hollow apologies after being publicly accused of assault and murder would be like admitting he's right.
"The words of a powerful man have weight, hence they should also have consequences. Since I'm the offended party, I will also be the Ernas's champion. Do you have the guts to stand your ground on your own as well, dear Duke?"
Duke Nuragor cursed his big mouth one last time and started to think about how to exploit Archon Ernas's bravado.
'Demanding the Blood Judgment to take place now and revealing the identity of her champion would be a perfect move in a bard's tale, but this is reality. Rightful anger gives her no special ability and she's still a middle-aged short woman.
'Without the magical marvels her husband provides her, Jirni is not even half the fighter she usually is.'
'Maybe this is actually a blessing in disguise. With all the money I'll get from her Grand Duchy and Deirus's support, my lands will develop dramatically.' He thought.
"Your Majesty, I'm ill-fit and prepared for this unexpected challenge." Duke Nuragor said. "I'm forced to ask your help to contact my chosen champion: Lord Ifram Irehein."
Jirni flinched hearing that name. It belonged to one of her husband's deputies who had quit the Knight's Guard because his love for money outclassed that for his own country.
He was a young, talented man that after turning mercenary had achieved many great feats and racked lots of merits that he had converted into the title of Baron with its attached lands.
Once the King accepted, it took a few seconds for Lord Irehein to step through a Gate and minutes to define the terms of his deal with Duke Nuragor.
Jirni used that time to get changed and study her opponent. Ifram Irehein was a man in his late twenties, about 1.9 meters (6'3") tall, with military short pitch-black hair and ice-blue eyes.
Having enrolled in the army at 16, he had nearly 15 years of battle experience and his body was still at its prime. Every muscle of his body was well-toned and trained with the discipline Orion had ingrained in his daily routine.
Jirni was now wearing a black tank top and a pair of light blue pants. Being barely 1.52 meters (5') tall, Jirni looked incredibly small and frail in comparison with the newcomer.
Chapter 985 Struggle for Power Part 1
'Once I would have been forced to wear a goddamn shirt with the risk of my sleeves getting grabbed. This thing Lith calls a "sports bra" is really useful.' Jirni appreciated her tank top while fixing her blonde hair into a small bun.
The skin-tight combat gear emphasized her hourglass figure, making even her opponent swallow a few times. Jirni's diminutive stature made her curves stand out and her husband wish he could murder everyone in the room.
"You both know the rules." King Meron conjured the First Blood array, that would paralyze those within its premises the moment one of them bled.
"The victory belongs to the person who manages the injure the opponent first or pins them to the ground. Fight fairly and remember that the honor of your households is at stake. Begin."
Both contestants assumed a combat stance, but didn't move from their respective starting point. Jirni was wary of Irehein's long limbs and him of her counters.
"I'm sorry to meet you under such circumstances, Lady Ernas. I always respected both you and your husband." Irehein said while shifting his body weight in several feints without taking a single step.
"Sweet words coming from someone who sided with our enemies." Jirni, instead, remained still as the surface of a lake.
"No one ever got rich being nice." Irehein shrugged, using the motion to hide the change of his stance that would otherwise signal his strategy.
On paper, Jirni was an easy mark. Shorter, lighter, older, and with slower reflexes than him. All Irehein needed to do was to hit her once while making sure she wouldn't scratch him with her nails.
He was aware of Jirni's craftiness and how the rules of the challenge gave her an edge he couldn't afford to overlook. Irehein focused on her shoulders to anticipate the movement of Jirni's arms and with it her footwork.
A veteran like Jirni would always prepare both her attack and defense before moving, something that Irehein could use as a road map to victory. Yet she remained motionless while he charged forward, keeping her guard neutral as if she was focusing solely on the defense.
"Slow." Jirni sidestepped the split-second before his arms reached her own, using the momentum to spin faster and kick Irehein's left calf with all of her strength.
Unlike other kinds of kicks, hits on the calf instantly caused great amounts of damage and pain, making even a man as big as Irehein stumble during his charge and sending him to slam against the barrier that separated the fighters from the spectators.
"Clumsy." While Irehein was forced to use his hands to not hit the barrier head-first, risking a nosebleed, and his left leg was still partially numb, Jirni kicked his calf again in the exact same spot, forcing him to kneel.
"Unprepared." She struck at the back of Irehein's head with a knife-hand, severing his spine and leaving him paralyzed from the neck down.
Irehein fell onto the ground like a stringless puppet, screaming at the top of his lungs in fear. He felt no pain but he was perfectly aware that unless a rejuvenator cured him, that kind of injury might require months of therapy to heal.
"Maybe no one ever got rich being nice, but you should have known that biting my husband's hand and now mine would have consequences." Jirni ignored his screams and stood at the center of the array in defiance.
"Anyone else?" She looked at her opponents in the eyes, making sure that they got the second part of her message that said: "If you come at me hiding behind the law, I'll use it to my advantage to crush you."
"Lord Irehein, the fight isn't over unless you bleed or surrender." The Queen replied to the man's plea for help the only way she could.
His body was broken yet intact and Jirni had ceased her attack, leaving Irehein only one way to end the duel.
"I yield. Now someone heals me!" Seeing an adult man groveling in the dirt while crying in despair was a hard sight to behold.
Jirni left the array the moment it started to fade and brushed against Archmage Deirus on her way to the changing room.
"Nuragor is done for. You're next." Her voice was a soft whisper in his ear, yet it would haunt his sleep for a long time.
***
Village of Lutia, Solus's Tower, a week after Lith had returned from Jambel.
Solus achieving a deep cyan core had caused her tower form to grow bigger, larger, and had added two new floors instead of just one.
The second underground floor, located directly below Lith's labs, contained what in the future would be his personal crystal mines. Being the closest floor to the energy flux coming from the mana geyser, the tower's basement was the perfect environment to grow crystal veins.
The tower walls were naturally capable of condensing and focusing the world energy, which would allow the magical gemstones to grow at an accelerated rate. Unfortunately for Lith, it would still take over a century to grow something he could actually use.
The realization disappointed him, but it also provided him with an unexpected and priceless source to boost his scarce resources.
After studying how the artificial crystal mine worked, Lith had planted inside the walls the purple raw crystal he had taken from the orc shaman and all the weaker and smaller gemstones he had found during his travels.
The mines had a small effect on already cut crystals whereas raw ones would both keep growing as if they had never been mined and hasten the nucleation process of new crystals that would branch out those already formed.
On top of that, unlike a natural mine, the floor was perfectly insulated from external energy sources, making it safe for Lith and Solus to practice their magic without the risk of unstable crystals exploding.
Since the mana geyser was also required to keep the tower form and fuel Lith's experiments, Solus was able to regulate the flow of world energy according to their schedule.
"Whenever we are studying or resting, I can channel everything into the mine to accelerate the crystals' growth rate, but whenever we Forgemaster something or I'm not in the tower form, the process stops." Solus said while they were checking the development of old and new crystals.
"It's still better than anything I could hope for." Lith replied. "A normal mine would require specialized workers, around the clock security, and be kept a secret to not have it seized by the Kingdom.
"This way, instead, we've got our own portable mine. On top of that, its ability to refine all crystals we own has not to be underestimated. The orc's crystal is so big and pure that, given time, it might easily become white.
"Also, not only does the mine allow us to further refine even already cut crystals, but also to recharge and enhance red, orange, and yellow gemstones that would otherwise be disposable."
To not waste a single ounce of world energy, Lith had bought lots of yellow crystals and filled the tower walls with them. Yellow crystals were powerful but relatively cheap because they were the highest tier of crystals incapable of self-recharging.
Lith hoped that using already formed gemstones as a foundation would help the mine to develop faster and provide him with valuable resources within an acceptable time frame.
Chapter 986 Struggle for Power Part 2
After they were done checking the mines, Solus Blinked them to the second floor of the tower to continued their work. Just like its underground twin, the new floor was as powerful as it was demanding.
Lith and Solus called it the Heart, and they had spent quite some time deciding how to use the room to its fullest.
The Heart was the tower's control panel for its arrays. Being part of Solus's innate abilities, both Lith and she could switch the magical formations on and off with a thought, giving them a powerful tool against whoever tried to attack them inside their home.
The problem was that because of Solus's regression due to spending centuries without an owner, all the arrays Menadion had imprinted into the tower were gone. Moreover, the tower was far from being completely restored, which limited the number of arrays that could be stored inside the Heart.
Activating a magical formation already imprinted required but a split-second, whereas replacing one array with another more suitable with the task at hand required to cast it from scratch.
"Luckily, your ability to turn the tower invisible and to hide underground are not related to arrays so we have all four slots open." Lith said. "Since arrays don't discriminate between friends or foes, we have to choose carefully.
"I'd set both Silverwing's Hexagram and the Darkness Blocking arrays for defense."
"Agreed." Solus nodded as her Skinwalker armor kept shapeshifting between her favorite day dresses. "The Hexagram is mana expensive, but it's the only array we have full control over, allowing us to hinder only our enemies.
"The only issue with it is that the Hexagram requires our focus and will drain most of the energy from the mana geyser whenever we face a powerful opponent, making it impossible for us to Warp or use it in combination with other arrays.
"As for the Darkness blocking array, it will also block dimensional magic and protect us from Chaos magic. If we meet again one of those monster-Abomination hybrids, we can't risk them destroying with a couple of spells the years of hard work we spent restoring the tower.
"That said, we can't win any battle just by defending, and running away from an enemy who discovered my real nature must be a last resort. We need arrays capable of attacking without turning us into a crisp."
The Heart could even store impossible arrays, but none of those Lith knew were suitable for their purpose. The Mirror Hall already revealed all kinds of magical devices and formations better than any array could, while the tower Warp made all mass transportation arrays obsolete.
"Will you stop that? You're giving me a headache." Lith grumbled as Solus changed her dress once again.
"You wear your Skinwalker armor ever since you graduated from the academy, but this is my very first personal relic and one you made for me at that. I can only wear the armor while we are inside the tower, so can't you cut me some slack?" Solus replied.
Now that they were off duty, Lith and Solus spent a lot of time inside the tower, where she could take her physical form. No longer limited by time and space, Solus was developing her personality while experiencing what life had to offer her.
Even the smallest things filled her with joy and wonder. Unfortunately, her naïve enthusiasm annoyed Lith who considered any delay on his timetable like a personal offense.
The prolonged cohabitation and conflicting personalities made them bicker quite a lot.
"Look, I get that you're happy, but we still have to complete the Heart before being able to relax. Becoming an Archmage forced our non-Awakened enemies to take one step back, but the Council doesn't care about fancy titles.
"Until our apprenticeship begins, we're just a rogue Awakened who royally pissed off a lot of people by killing several potential heirs and causing their masters' downfall." Lith snarled.
"Fine! Then since we lack any decent means of offense we'll use the remaining two slots for the Immortal Body array and the Air Blocking array. The former will allow me to heal you and replenish your life force akin to Invigoration even during battle while the latter will prevent our enemies from flying in or out." Solus snarled back.
"Now that we're done, will you please calm down? I'm sick and tired of your grumbling. It's been years since we enjoyed such a long peace and were able to spend time with our friends."
Lith sighed, making his favorite armchair appear behind him before plunging rather than sitting on it.
"You don't understand how serious this is." Lith pinched his nose and closed his eyes as he tried to keep the edge out of his voice. "Our apprenticeship should have already started, which means that something went wrong.
"To make matters worse, Phloria is about to Awaken and our studies about how to make someone who is this close to a blue mana core survive the process are inconclusive at best.
"I'm tired of watching my back all the time and being forced to wait for the damn moment when I can finally exchange notes with Faluel about every topic. Yet until the damn Council stands in my way, I'll be stuck here in Lutia."
There was no point in traveling around just to be forced to drop everything and come back the moment the Hydra contacted him.
"Stop worrying and think about the bright side." Solus embraced him, trying to cheer Lith up. "During this time, we taught Tista a lot of things, you practiced with your Origin Flames, and Nalrond is teaching us the basics of Light Mastery."
Lith groaned at her words. Now that he was unemployed, he had expected to have a lot of free time, whereas he had never been so busy.
Teaching about advanced true magic to Tista and the three Kings of the Trawn woods was a full-time job while Origin Flames drained a lot of strength that not even Invigoration could restore.
Moreover, between taking care of the kids and helping Protector with the new house, Nalrond could give Lith only the crumbs of his time.
Last, but not least, his parents expected him to have lunch with them while Kamila to find him home when she returned from work. Not having to worry about Lith risking his life on a daily basis and being able to spend time with him every day made her happier than she had ever been.
"Why are you groaning? We would've worked more only if you went into seclusion. We've studied the tower mines, discovering things that probably even Menadion ignored.
"We've reforged our Skinwalker armor using our Twin Forge technique, strengthened your house's arrays, and I'm the one who teaches our disciples while your practice Origin Flames until you are forced to rest to not injure your life force.
"Don't get me started with all our Runesmithing experiments and I could go on for hours!" Solus said.
"Fine, I stand corrected. Let's take a walk, I need your help picking something nice for Kamila's birthday." Lith got up from his chair and walked out of the tower.
The building was now over 30 meters (100 feet) high, yet it took it a second to shrink to the size of a marble before slipping on Lith's finger.
Chapter 987 Boss Monster Part 1
That day, Lith and Solus were alone because Selia and his parents were out choosing the furniture for the huntress' new house, Protector was on a mission for Faluel, and Kamila was helping Jirni with a matter of the utmost importance that would keep her from returning home for a while.
Lith was supposed to be happy since he could spend the day as he saw best, but he was actually incredibly bored. The reason for his bad mood wasn't his family, quite the contrary.
It was the lack of company and distractions that forced him to admit that his magical knowledge had hit a wall that he couldn't overcome alone.
Lith had already checked the tower's surroundings with the Sentries and knew there wasn't anyone around. Instead of Warping to his destination like usual, he could afford to take a stroll back home to calm his nerves.
More than the Council's meddling, it was the lack of a purpose that was eating at him from the inside. All of his lives he had always had a goal, something to strive for, whereas now he felt like he was stuck in a limbo.
He reached his personal secret clearing in the Trawn woods and sat on a rock, letting the familiar scenery soothe his grumpy mood.
'This was our first training ground, back when we had no idea you could turn into a tower.' Lith thought.
'Yeah, we have a lot of memories connected to this place. Here I explained to you the difference between true and fake magic, you fought Irtu to the death, Tista learned how to swim in the river…' Three dimensional doors opened, cutting Solus short.
"You're a hard man to find, Lith Verhen." A stunning young woman said while her associates moved to Lith's sides, trapping him inside a triangle formation.
She was about 1.76 meters (5'9") tall, with wheat blonde hair and clear blue eyes. Everything in her figure from her fair skin to her curves bordered on perfection, reminding Lith of Tista.
At a first glance, she seemed to be in her early twenties, but if she was an Awakened, appearances were bound to be deceiving. The other two were handsome young men, both taller and burlier than Lith.
Their perfect physique coupled with the focused expression that Lith associated with a true mage silently weaving their spells left little space for guesses.
'Either one of my human enemies recruits solely stern-looking top models as their goons or these guys are Awakened.' Lith thought.
"Unless you're here to tell me that the Council has given Faluel its consent to make me her apprentice, you'd better scram. I'm in a bad mood today, and three jackasses invading my turf make it even worse." Lith was happy for the distraction.
He could use some human-shaped stress balls to vent out a bit.
'Solus, how tough are these guys?' Despite his bloodlust, he kept a level head and checked his opponents' level before doing anything rash.
'Your intuition is right, they are all Awakened. The woman has a deep blue core, while the men have a bright cyan mana core. Their physical strength is simply unbelievable, they are on par with Treius.' Solus's thoughts were filled with shock and incredulity.
She clearly had a hard time believing her own mystical senses.
Lith inwardly cursed his bad luck and sprang into action. He remembered Treius all too well. The youth from the Blood Desert had merged with the Black Star, a Living Legacy that had bestowed upon him the physical prowess of a real Dragon.
Even if the three youths had mana cores weaker than his own, Lith knew he couldn't afford to underestimate them. In the past, he had defeated several opponents stronger than himself with teamwork or cunning, so there was no reason they couldn't do the same.
To make matters worse, his enemies had not only the numerical advantage, but also access to insanely powerful relics that put them on Treius's level.
"How dare you threaten the emissaries of the C…" Cylla Gernoff froze in surprise seeing Lith charging at her and then sneered at his arrogance.
She was the strongest mage in the group, while the other two had been sent to physically restrain Lith in the case he resisted his arrest.
Cylla would have gladly done everything on her own, but not even Awakening could overcome the natural gap in strength between men and women if they had the same level of body refinement.
'Don't worry, Solus. Even though we are outnumbered, we are not outmatched. We are both much stronger than back when we defeated Treius and now we even have War on our side.' Lith slammed his fists together, making Solus assume her arm protector form.
It covered his right arm from the hand to the shoulder, with one of the deep cyan gemstones embedded on the back of his hand while a green crystal rested on both his elbow and shoulder.
A second stone glove covered his left hand and forearm, bearing the second cyan gemstone. The more Solus regained her strength, the bigger her physical form became, allowing her to turn into a more complex defensive artifact.
War appeared in Lith's left hand with a burst of emerald flames, screeching its fury the moment the blood sheath that shrouded its senses shattered. The three Awakened could feel a cold shiver running down their spines, yet they conquered their fear and activated all the mystical protections that their masters had bestowed upon them.
Lith lunged forward, forcing Cylla to move right in front of his fist.
'The moment she blocks my right cross, I'll pivot on her guard to move behind her and use the momentum for…' Lith's multi-layered attack plan crumbled when Cylla failed to move a muscle.
His fist connected with her face, breaking her nose, jaw, and sending her flying outside the clearing like a living meteor. The Awakened woman bounced against a few thick centuries-old trees before stopping.
Lith was still trying to make sense of the events when the two other Awakened unleashed several tier three spells against him.
"Seriously?" Lith asked Solus while he used War's World Mirror enchantment to redirect the incoming attacks so that the red-haired guy's spells would hit the brown-haired one and vice versa.
'I never said they were as strong as Treius after he fused with the Black Star.' She laughed her ass off at his amazement. 'You added that part yourself. I just didn't bother to correct your mistake.'
The spells cut deep into the youths' enchanted armor, but they were too weak to deal lethal damage.
The red-haired guy executed an overhead strike with an enchanted mace that broke into pieces when clashing against War. The angry blade shattered the weapon without losing speed and then cut through the youth's armor, almost severing his right arm from the shoulder.
'Why did you do that?' Lith used the gushing blood to reform the scabbard and put War away.
It made no sense to waste its power on weaklings.
'Because you always fight terrifying monsters. Seeing you wipe the floor with some "regular guys" for once is refreshing. It's also the perfect occasion to check how strong you have become compared to Awakened with a master.' Solus replied while playing in his head the boss theme of Ultimate Fantasy 77.
Chapter 988 Boss Monster Part 2
'Am I supposed to be the hero or the boss?' Lith asked.
'Depends. Do you feel like a hero?' Solus thought.
'Heck, no.'
'Then there's your answer.'
The brown-haired guy saw Lith unarmed and stored his weapon in his own dimensional item as well, believing that the rogue Awakened was challenging him to a duel. Also, he didn't want to give Lith a reason to destroy his prized weapon.
The youth performed a series of feints before hitting Lith with a left hook that carried all of his weight plus the strength from twisting his joints from the toes to the wrist. Lith ignored the feints and took the punch without moving.
The impact made his head turn left, producing the sound of cracking bones and sinews.
"This is just sad." Lith checked the inside of his cheek for injuries, finding none.
The Awakened, instead, was whimpering in pain while holding his hand that was broken in multiple points.
'I'll mark that as a "like a boss" on your personal file.' Solus giggled.
Aside from some minor enemies he faced during his journeys, Lith had become used to expect the worst from his opponents. Be them Irtu, the Talons, Nalear, or even Treius and the six Awakened he had faced in Zantia, Lith always found himself against the cream of the crop.
Opponents that outmatched him in experience, equipment, or who had been trained by the best masters Mogar had to offer. All of his previous enemies had been professional magical swordsmen, whereas now he faced people who were just average.
They weren't ancient monsters like Thrud, nor fused with powerful artifacts like Treius or Acala. They lacked even the motivation of the six Awakened that on top of training daily until they sweated blood, they had been willing to sacrifice part of their life span to achieve their masters' legacy.
"Good gods! I sent Cylla and her suitors to fetch Verhen in the hope she would gain some valuable battle experience and maybe learn a bit of humility. I never expected that she wouldn't last a single hit.
"Now I understand why you two hold him in high regard." Jiza Gernoff, Cylla's great-great-aunt and an elder in the human Council said while looking at her niece's embarrassing performance.
Both Athung and Faluel, respectively the human and beast Lord of the Distar Marquisate, had a hard time not laughing out loud. Jiza was taking her fiasco with dignity, there was no reason to rub salt in her wounds.
"Well, Jiza, maybe you should have remembered how I obtained my position before throwing the poor Cylla in the Dragon's maw."
Athung Soranot was a woman in her mid-twenties, about 1.75 (5'9") meters tall with raven-black hair that reached the small of her back. She was wearing a comfortable mage robe that Raagu had gifted her to celebrate achieving a territory at an age when most Awakened were still apprentices.
The heavily enchanted clothes were loose enough to not impede her movements, but could do very little to hide her soft curves. Just like Lith, she was a self-Awakened who had a blue core and had still to learn about the hurdle necessary to overcome its boundaries.
"That's exactly the reason why I sent her." Jiza shook her head.
"Cylla is a bright and talented mage, but because of our blood tie, she never puts any effort in her training. I'm recording everything to both provide the Council's elders with the evidence they need and to teach our youngsters a lesson.
"Gods', Verhen is right. This is just pathetic."
"We better move." Faluel Blinked right on time to save the two Awakened's lives. Lith had snapped their necks and windpipes to make sure they died slow enough to serve their purpose but had no way to recover.
"Okay, princess. Tell me why you're here and maybe I'll make this painless."
Lith's words terrified Cylla as his hand clutching her throat and keeping her lifted from the ground tightened its grip. She didn't like either Orton or Canto, but seeing their life force fading away was too much.
They had tagged along to hit on her, or at least make a good impression on her aunt. She felt responsible for their demise.
"Let her go." Faluel said while restoring the two men before their mana cores started to fade.
"Why would I?" Lith made Cylla's neck crackle like wood. "They invaded my turf and threatened me. They're still alive only because I let them."
"No, this is my turf and you're my guest." Faluel's voice became stern.
Letting Lith treat and speak to her as a peer while they were in the privacy of her lair was one thing, but doing the same in presence of witnesses was quite another. An apprentice who disrespected his master was a sign of weakness that neither of them could afford to show.
"I'm sorry, master Faluel." Lith let the girl go abruptly, making her fall butt-first on the ground while he gave the Hydra a deep bow.
"Our turf and our guest you mean." Athung appeared along with Jiza. "Until the Council takes a decision, Awakened Verhen is unaffiliated to any faction. Elder Gernoff, explanations are in order, if you please."
After making sure that Cylla was alright, Jiza Gernoff didn't deign her niece of a second glance. She focused all of her attention on the anomaly that the beasts' and humans' faction were fighting over whereas the undead pressed for his elimination.
"Awakened Verhen, your several achievements and breaches of the Council's law have been brought to our attention." Jiza said. "I've been tasked with taking you into custody and bringing you to the Council's headquarters for questioning.
"Are you willing to follow me or do we need to waste more time with pointless fights?"
'Solus?' Lith thought.
'Bright violet core, a physical prowess that dwarves all Emperor Beasts we've met who didn't weigh at least a ton, and she has more artifacts than decorations on a Christmas tree.' She replied.
"Please, make way." Lith gave her a small bow.
Jiza Gernoff was a woman 583 years old, but due to Awakening, she looked like she was barely in her early forties. She was 1.62 meters (5'4") tall with shoulder-length blonde hair streaked brown all over and light blue eyes.
If not for her ample mage robe instead of the army uniform and her slightly older looks, she would remind Lith of Jirni.
Both of them showed emotions only if they decided so and they were much more dangerous than their small builds would lead to believe.
"Not so fast. First, I have to assess your threat level. Please, remove all the cloaking devices in your possession along with any item you don't want to expose to my breathing technique.
"Feel free to remain naked, I doubt you have anything I haven't already seen in my long life." Jiza sounded polite and monotone like an answering machine.
Lith kept his Skinwalker armor on and stored everything else inside his pocket dimension. He doubted that it was anything new for an Awakened Forgemaster and his paranoia didn't allow him to remain defenseless.
"What about my dimensional items?" Solus couldn't be stored because she was a living being and he couldn't risk Jiza discovering about her existence.
"Lord Athung and Lord Faluel are here to witness that everything goes according to protocol and to offer you assistance. Take your pick, and remember that every choice has consequences." Elder Gernoff said.
Chapter 989 Miracles and Madness Part 1
The moment Lith took Solus's ring off, his life force and mana flow returned to normal.
"A dimensional device capable of cloaking? Remarkable." Jiza nodded while walking around Lith. Her gaze made him feel like a purebred dog being examined for a competition.
"Let me guess, your life force has been damaged in some crazy experiment, but that didn't hinder your body refinement. You must have self-Awakened for over ten years now minimum and you have a blue mana core, correct?" Jiza had yet to even come close, but her estimates were all on point.
"How did you know?" Lith almost expected her to discover his hybrid nature as well.
"Experience, child. I bet that right now you see me just as a big lump of energy." She replied as Lith entrusted his ring to Faluel.
"Now extend your hand and don't try anything funny. I like you already, but I will not hesitate to kill you if I need to." Jiza spoke with such a casual tone that it triggered Lith's survival instinct.
'Note to self, check if this woman is related to the Myrok household.' Lith thought.
"Had you given the ring to Athung in the hope of garnering the human Council's favors since you're already friends with the beasts, I would've been disappointed." Jiza explained as she used Invigoration to study every nook and cranny of Lith's body.
"Only suck-ups pretend to ignore that no relationship can be built without mutual trust. We don't know you and we have done nothing to deserve your loyalty. Your choice proves that you are grateful and respectful for the good received.
"That or you are a schemer son of a bitch." She took a long look at Lith, wondering which one of the options was more likely.
"You Awakened very young, trained very hard, yet you didn't make any rookie mistake and lived right under our nose for years. Which means that despite your young age you can't be underestimated. Put them on, please."
A pair of metal handcuff with a purple mana crystal the size of a nut on each bracelet appeared in her hands.
"Wait a minute, this is Odi magic!" Lith recognized the enchantment the moment he examined the artifact with Invigoration. Its design was modern, it used runes, and required much less magical power, but the pseudo core was roughly the same.
"Kid, the Council existed before the three Great Countries were founded and will exist even after the Guardians will get bored with them and let them rot. If you get excited by a pair of handcuffs, you'll die of a heart attack when we arrive at our destination."
Lith ignored her and looked straight at Faluel.
"Yes, it's really necessary." The Hydra said. "They will lock onto your life force's signature and prevent you from channeling any form of magic. Breathing techniques included. The Council upgraded them nicely."
Lith hesitated for a while, during which Jiza didn't so much as blink.
The moment Lith wore them, an ugly feeling spread from his wrists and coursed through his entire body. He felt as if a huge burden had been placed on his shoulders and he had to look at the world through tinted glasses.
Only then did Jiza blink again and opened a Warp Steps leading to the Council's headquarters. She pushed Lith, making him step through it first while she kept her hand on his back to control his every movement.
The four Awakened appeared in the middle of a courtroom with only a dock and a long rectangular table where five ancient beings that Lith assumed to be his judges sat.
There was no space for the jury, but plenty of stands for spectators. Lith instinctively tried to use Life Vision, but nothing happened.
'Well, the good news is that these things deactivated Death Vision as well. The bad news is that this doesn't bode well. At all.' He thought while recognizing some of those present.
"Off with the head!" A voice that Lith had hoped to never hear again said.
"Objection! This is not even a death penalty case." Faluel was flabbergasted by such outrageous demand and so was everyone but the judges.
"Objection sustained!" Raagu Drerian, the human representative of the Council was seconds away from destroying the physical form of Inxialot, the King of the Liches and representative of the undead. "Stop interfering with your antics, Inxialot.
"This is a matter that concerns the entire Council, not just two races."
She looked like a woman in her late fifties, but she had lived for over five centuries. Her long black hair had partially turned into a silvery-white color and was held up in a chignon.
She had delicate features, but neither her expression or her voice had any warmth. Her eyes were burning with mana, looking at Inxialot in a way that closely reminded Lith of Manohar and the Queen.
She was barely 1.6 meters (5'3") tall and had a frame thin enough that a casual onlooker would have been worried that a sudden gust of wind might blow her away. Yet from their previous encounter, Lith knew she had a vitality superior to that of Scarlett the Scorpicore and a bright violet mana core.
"If he dies the session ends, correct? Which means I can go back home." Inxialot's logic was as flawless as it was insane.
Inxialot Nagaar looked like a sloppily mummified corpse, with barely enough tissues and muscles left to express how annoyed he was. He wore a tattered red silk robe with gold embroideries whose holes were masterfully patched by thick cobwebs.
The spiders that were his tenants were pissed off from all that nonsense as well. Usually, a marble statue was a globetrotter compared to the Lich.
"No matter how much the undead press on the matter, Awakened Verhen is not going to die today!" Raagu roared and the rest of the Council nodded.
"The undead want him to die?" Inxialot was flabbergasted. "Bunch of hypocrites! If they wanted to save me this hassle, they could have picked someone else as their representative!"
Only then did Raagu understand, and with her the rest of the Council, that Inxialot had no idea nor care for what his faction wanted. He was there solely to represent himself.
Many facepalms ensued on both the judges' stand and among the spectators. Only Leegaain was laughing his ass off.
"And that's why so few among us Awakened decide to turn into undead." Faluel was in her human form and was as lovely as always. "With time and isolation, it's never a matter of if one becomes mad, only of when."
"Some people are born that way." Lith replied, finally understanding what was the weight that had burdened him ever since he wore the shackles.
Every single person in the room possessed such a powerful mana flow that, even though they weren't even trying to harm Lith, it threatened to crush him now that his own aura had been suppressed.
'Now I understand why untrained people tend to be scared shitless by mages. I would probably have the same effect on people if not for Solus's help restraining my mana flow. On top of that, if not for Faluel shielding me, I wouldn't even be able to stand.' Lith thought.
The Hydra had remained close to him the whole time, wrapping Lith with her aura to ease the pressure he had to endure.
Chapter 990 Miracles and Madness Part 2
From Faluel's pockets, Solus would have been drenched in a cold sweat if not for her total lack of glands. Her mana sense allowed Solus to realize what kind of monsters surrounded them whereas Lith remained calm due to his blissful ignorance.
"Let's put it this way. The more you interfere with the trial, the more time we'll waste." Leegaain said.
The Guardian had the appearance of a lean albino man, 1,75 meters (5'9") tall, with snow-white hair and skin. His eyes were purple and had a vertical pupil. The Father of all Dragons wore a full black war armor that only left exposed his face and hands.
Multiple spots of his skin were halfway turned into scales, making Leegaain look like he had tattoos.
At those words, Inxialot sat straight and shut his mouth. The entire Council admired once again the ability of the Guardian to perform miracles.
"Archmage Verhen, you've been brought in front of this tribunal to decide whether you'll be forbidden from having an Awakened master and banned from the Council like the undead demand-" Leegaain looked at Inxialot, whose mouth was agape while mouthing a "Really?", yet no sound came out.
"-or you'll finally become an integral member of our society. In the case the latter happens, we'll rule about who is more fit to fix your trouble-making character. You have piqued the interest of the beasts and the humans, so we'll give both parties the chance to present their arguments.
"First, we'll hear from the undead."
Everyone turned toward Inxialot, who looked at them as if they were raving mad. It took him a few seconds to remember why he was there and rummage through his notes to find what he needed.
"Remember to water the plants, buy food for your pet, nope this is the grocery list." Inxialot said. "Another damn Council meeting. Today Raagu looks hot as usual. I should make a move within the century. Nope, this is my diary."
Everyone went pale at those words, Raagu included.
"Here it is! Dear fellow Council members, the accused Awakened Verhen has broken several of our customs during the years and that was tolerable as long as he was just a rogue stranded among humans.
"Yet even after learning about our society, even after meeting several members of our kin, he never bothered learning our customs or worried about our endless struggle to keep fake mages from learning our secrets.
"During his short twenty years of age, he has shared the secret of Awakening with more people than most of our centuries-old members do, putting both us and himself at the whims of fate.
"Awakened Verhen has also traded an Orichalcum armor with fake mages, obtaining nothing for it but a fancy title and allowing them to come one step closer to true Forgemastery.
"For those reasons and because of how shady his past is, it's our conviction that he should be banned from our kin and left to fend for himself." Inxialot read the paper with a monotonous voice, without putting any effort to sound convincing.
It was clear that someone had written the speech for him, yet it didn't make his arguments any less true. If the proposal passed, Lith would have been forced to go back to the Kingdom or risk facing Dawn's wrath on his own.
"I can see from your file that you have Awakened four magical beasts, your own sister, and that you plan on Awakening more. Is it true?" Lotho the Treant, the plant representative of the Council asked.
He looked like a giant oak tree come to life. Even while sitting, his treetop brushed the high ceiling of the courtroom and squirrels could be seen running up and down his massive body.
If not for his huge amber eyes and the massive tree trunks that Lith assumed were Lotho's limbs only because they came out of his body at the shoulder and hip level, the Awakened was no different from a regular tree.
"Even if it is true, how is that a violation of the rules?" Lith stood up, to not be forced to look up to his accusers. "None of those I Awakened shared our secrets nor did they draw any attention to themselves.
"It doesn't matter how many people I Awaken as long as I instruct them properly. The reason you're losing ground against fake mages is that they work together whereas, despite your long lives, you have more factions than members.
"You should be grateful to me for bringing talented people into our fold."
"Well said!" Inxialot gave him a standing ovation, clapping his bony hands and making the undead in the public wish they could kill him.
"How do you answer about the matter of the Orichalcum armor?" Feela the Behemoth, the beast representative sat back and steepled her fingers.
Her original nature was that of an Emperor Beast, so her human form was shaped according to how she imagined herself to be.
Feela looked like a woman in her late thirties, but she was actually 453 years old. Her waist-long chestnut hair had streaks of silver, black, and orange all over, forming a multi-colored tress that reached the small of her back.
She had had an oval face with delicate features, yet her bearing was that of a battle-hardened general. Feela was 1.9 meters (6'3") tall and had a muscular yet curvy figure that seasoned warriors and women alike envied her.
"It's true that the Kingdom didn't fulfill their promise completely, but the Archmage title comes with many benefits, included the knowledge I needed to improve my skills." Lith couldn't tell them about War without putting Orion and the Ernas at risk.
He knew that a few members of the Council were helping his enemies from behind the scene, and Phloria's family was his most powerful backer. More importantly, they were his loyal friends. Selling them to please a bunch of old farts he had never met was beyond outrageous to Lith.
"I simply assumed that being my crafting process extremely complicated, they would fail to learn anything from it. Moreover, this incident is more your fault than mine. If young and masterless Awakened like me received from the Council the means to further their research, even the basics, we wouldn't be forced to rely on fake mages.
"You dare criticize my choice but, if not for the Kingdom and his mages, my talent would be still rotting in Lutia."
"Do you think that I've slain so many Awakened due to dumb luck or miracle encounters? It was all thanks to my hard work and the good deals I made with fake mages.
"That's how I disposed of the previous human Lord of the Distar region and his goons."
Lith was referring to Gaaron Roghias, the over 300 years old Awakened who had died at his hands, allowing Athung to take both his territory and place in the Council. Many murmurs followed Lith's words. Some reproached his hubris, most approved his results.
"Awakened Verhen is right." Jiza stood up from the defendant's stand.
Like Faluel, she had never left his side, yet unlike her, Jiza wasn't doing anything to protect Lith from the ocean of mana that threatened to swallow his mind.
"I've seen him fighting, studied his armor, and witnessed the prowess of his equipment. His Skinwalker armor is strong beyond his core, the blade he used is unlike any I've ever seen before, and he managed to craft a cloaking device that also serves as dimensional storage."
Chapter 991 Questions and Answers Part 1
"Even though Lith Verhen had no master, he achieved more than most of our apprentices. How many twenty years old Awakened you know capable of killing an old fox like Gaaron? He belongs to the Council. He just needs guidance."
Jiza Gernoff's words surprised Lith and made him understand that she was actually his second defense counsel.
"Intriguing!" Inxialot's eyes lit up as his greed overshadowed even the red light of undeath. "To accept such a claim as proof, we have to first examine said equipment. Give his belongings to me."
The King of Liches extended his skeletal hand toward Faluel, who didn't budge.
"A mage's secrets are sacred. Lith made the armor and the rings himself, while the sword is my gift for his apprenticeship." She said giving him a plausible excuse for War. "Stealing both his and my workings isn't within the purview of this court."
"All in favor to extend our investigation for the greater good?" Inxialot raised his hand, glad for the first time since he had been chosen as a representative to be part of the Council.
Yet only Lotho the Treant raised his hand along with him, making the Lich swear in many languages, both modern and ancient.
Raagu didn't oppose Lith joining the beasts just to share the secrets of his magic with everyone else. She wanted to keep them for the humans' side of the Council and mostly for herself.
Feela was on Faluel's side, and even though she knew little about Lith, beasts looked after their own.
As for Leegaain, he was against the trial from the beginning. It was exactly because he didn't like to mess with other people's free will that he stayed out of the Empire's business. In his opinion, Lith was free to join any faction of his choosing.
On top of that, he wanted to keep Solus's existence a secret. Leegaain not only wanted Menadion's Desperation to have all the happiness she could get, but also to observe how her bond with the anomaly affected his growth.
So far, Lith was the only hybrid whose different natures harmonized instead of clashing against each other. The Guardian hoped that by studying Lith, he could find a cure for his daughter, Zoreth.
"Motion denied. All in favor to move on the next item on our agenda?" Raagu said, and the Council approved unanimously. Once again, the undead who spectated the trial cursed themselves for the lack of judgment of their representative.
"Very well. Awakened Verhen, welcome to the Council." Feela beat Raagu to the punch and applauded him first, forcing the others to follow. "Now the only matter at hand is determining who is more suited to nurture your talent and guide your first steps in our society."
The Behemoth then turned to Raagu.
"By what right do humans interfere with our fellow Awakened's life? Your own defense counsel has admitted that you provided Lith with nothing but threats." Feela pushed a button on her Council amulet, making it replay the speech Jiza had earlier given Lith about loyalty.
"It's us beasts who offered him our friendship first, and then our guidance whenever Verhen needed it. The sword he carries is proof of our bond. He's an adult, responsible mage who has already made his choice. You should respect it."
Raagu clenched her temples while staring at Jiza with such fury that if glares could kill, it wouldn't remain enough of her corpse to fit into a plate.
"Well played." Jiza ignored Raagu and gave Faluel a small bow.
"Always record everything when on official duty." Faluel returned the bow.
"I would respect his choice, if not for the damage your so-called friendship caused to this Council. Despite the fact that Faluel had practically made him into her apprentice, he gave away the secret of Orichalcum we guarded for centuries.
"On top of that, all of you can read from his own report that Awakened Verhen met and let go a Rezar, a member of the fabled Werepeople. A human master would have never given him such a long leash, nor neglected to explain the importance of the Fringes to him.
"Your kin made us all lose ground with the fake mages and also the opportunity to learn why only beasts can become Awakened or how in Mogar's name so few achieved a white core." Raagu said.
Both matters hurt deeply the entirety of the Council except for Leegaain, who already had all the answers. Baba Yaga was one of his fiercest rivals in the fields of magical research and chess.
Lith was surprised seeing the allegedly secret report he had given the army appear on Raagu's amulet who was sharing it with the others.
'I have no idea what they are talking about, but I guess Fringes are way more important than I suspected. No one seems to be aware that Nalrond lives with Protector. Faluel told me the truth, she really does respect other people's secrets.' Lith thought.
"I strongly disagree." The Hydra stepped forward.
"You consider those actions mistakes because you look at them in hindsight, whereas I call them precious life experience. If we take our apprentices by hand and make all difficult decisions for them, then how can they ever become responsible?
"The armor is a negligible loss. Given how quickly fake mages uncovered its secret, it was only a matter of time before they discovered it on their own or by capturing one of our criminals.
"From the failed trade, Lith learned the importance of bonds and how untrustworthy human politics are. That's why he has come to me. As for the Rezar, I ask you to remember the history of Werepeople.
"It's because of monstrosities like those the Odi or the Forbidden Magic users committed that beasts and plants have learned how to take their own lives rather than allow themselves to be captured.
"Had Lith taken the Rezar by force, how could we get anything out of him except through violence? Even if we did, the only possible outcome would be either the Rezar committing suicide or Mogar punishing us for our transgression.
"Forcing our way into Mogar's consciousness is dangerous at best and suicidal at worst. This way, instead, there's a chance that he'll return and open up to us willingly."
Faluel stepped back, leaving the members of the Council and the judges to discuss her argument. Murmurs filled the room as everyone wanted to speak their mind, even guests and spectators.
Among them, Xenagrosh pondered those ideas, thinking about how to guide young Abominations as the Awakened did. She had been invited to discuss the Council's terms for allowing the hybrid Eldritchs to join.
Xenagrosh had chosen that date specifically because she was curious to witness how Council's justice worked and meet Lith in person. She had heard about him from the Master many times and when she had learned from her liaison with the Council that he was an Awakened, she decided to take two birds with one visit.
"You make some valid points, Faluel, but what-ifs have no place in history books, only facts matter." Lotho the Treant said. "Verhen's actions maybe helped his growth, but hindered us all nonetheless.
"Moreover, I read this report and many others while preparing for this trial. Rezar or not, human host instead of undead or not, I would like to understand how Verhen survived his meeting with Dawn."
Chapter 992 Questions and Answers Part 2
"In the past, it took many of us just to drive Dawn away and a Fringe to contain her, yet Verhen stands here before us, unscathed. On top of that, I can't find a reasonable explanation for how he destroyed the Black Star or defeated the last remnants of the forever accursed Odi."
The simple word filled the Treant with so much hatred that his foliage turned red.
"Awakened Verhen accomplished the very same things that usually require either an army or a Guardian to do. The presence of allies, be they human or Werepeople, isn't enough to explain any of this.
"In order to determine which faction is more suited to handle our new asset, we must first understand his true nature. Otherwise, we might groom a threat that would take several precious lives to put down."
Lotho expressed the worries that all factions actually harbored. Humans and beasts had no rush to answer those questions only because they were certain that they would learn Lith's secrets in due time.
The master-apprentice relationship would allow his mentor and their allies to harness such knowledge to their advantage.
Lith sighed in relief when none of the undead mentioned Solus. The plants' representative seemed to be his only real opponent since Inxialot was more worried about the time he spent away from his lab than about Lith's destiny.
'I don't think that it would be wise talking about my world tribulations. I noticed the grimaces all members of the Council did when Raagu mentioned their inability to become Guardians or to achieve the so-called white core.
'Also, based on the interest they shown even for my Skinwalker armor, I bet that, if they knew that I possess Menadion's Legacy and with it the ability to tap into mana geyser, this trial's topic would turn from "Who takes care of Lith" to "I call dibs on the mage tower" in the blink of an eye.' He thought.
"To quote one of my esteemed Professors, just because an idiot can't do it, it doesn't mean that something is impossible." Lith repeated the accursed Manohar's words, making many stomachs churn.
"Without their precious Mana Reactor, the Odi were barely a threat. Their inability to use magic above tier three and their conceitedness allowed me to resist long enough for Quylla Ernas to destroy the Reactor.
"It took just a handful of humans and a single Awakened to exterminate them. Ask him if you don't believe me." Lith pointed at Leegaain who he recognized only thanks to Faluel's instructions.
"The Black Dragon witnessed everything."
"Is it true?" The other four judges asked in unison after turning toward Leegaain.
"Yes. I had been summoned to intervene in the case Awakened Verhen failed." The Guardian snorted in annoyance. He didn't like to be manipulated.
"What about Dawn?" Lotho said. "She's not the kind of opponent that leaves openings and you had no allies. There's no way a human could escape from her clutches."
"That's true." Faluel replied, stepping forward again. "A human couldn't, but one of us could."
She waved at Raagu, Feela, and then to Xenagrosh, conjuring the only thing that could make a room filled with semi-immortal beings shut up.
Curiosity.
"Lith, show this court why you belong among us beasts, if you please."
Hearing his cue, Lith shapeshifted into his hybrid form, starting from his hands. The mystical handcuffs restricting him became useless and he easily shattered them open by using fusion magic.
Razor-sharp claws replaced Lith's nails and talons grew on his toes and heel, making his feet resemble those of a bird of prey.
New limbs came out of his back, with a short tail full of bone spikes growing out of his spine, as well as a set of black membranous wings that erupted from his shoulder blades.
They stretched wide, covering the spectator's field of view for a second before starting to flap and bring him to the eye level of the judges despite the hunched position that flying without magic required.
The wings were twisted and unnatural, like the hands of a giant swatting the air below him. Lith's face was now a black slate, apparently without a mouth or nose. Two small curved horns came out of his temples while his three eyes looked at those present.
The silence turned into an uproar as everyone stood up to take a better look at the unknown creature in front of them, even Leegaain. He exploited the ensuing chaos to study with Soul Vision both hybrids in the room.
To his eye technique, Solus was a short young woman wearing a golden roman toga and sandals. It was an attire outdated for centuries, that Leegaain recognized as the clothes that Menadion's apprentices used in the privacy of their own rooms.
Her figure was wrapped in two kinds of chains. One was big, thick, and made of life. It connected her to Lith through their respective mana cores, hearts, and minds. The second kind of chains was grey and thin, yet they weighed Solus down, forcing her to kneel.
Of the six original grey chains, four were broken and were slowly fading away. Two more remained and sucked her vigor, keeping her from achieving her true potential. The energy coming from the first chain was amplified by her body and was slowly eroding the grey fetters.
As for Lith, to Soul Vision he appeared to have grown bigger than ever, with two sets of wings instead of just one and with all seven eyes opened, each one of a different color.
"This is impossible! Shapeshifting is just a branch of light magic and the shackles are supposed to negate all kinds of spells. Jiza, explain!" Raagu was trying to make sense of what her eyes showed her.
"Verhen is a human, I checked it myself. His life force is cracked, but that's it. I even performed Blood Resonance on his parents to confirm his bloodline and I can swear upon my name that they are both human as well." Jiza replied, refusing to believe she could have made such a huge blunder.
Blood Resonance was a discipline created by Headmaster Duke Marth that was the magical equivalent of a paternity test. Nobles used it to make sure their spouses had not been unfaithful or to expose the existence of bastard sons whereas mages used them to trace hereditary diseases and Awakened to identify their descendants.
Using the creation of a fake mage was embarrassing, but Awakened always put practicality above something as insignificant as pride.
"How did you escape from Dawn?" Faluel asked.
Lith opened the scales covering his mouth and released a small burst of blue Origin Flames, doubling the uproar.
Everyone turned towards Leegaain, demanding an answer from him.
"I'm not the father. Thanks for asking." He said while blushing a little in embarrassment.
No one believed him, not even Xenagrosh.
'What the heck has Dad done this time? I remember this smell. It's the mix of human, beast, and Eldritch Abomination scent I found on the scene of Jarok's death. It's no surprise that a simple Rock Worm and an Empowered Abomination were no match for my lil bro.
'The Master was right all along in wanting to bring Lith into our fold. He might be the key to the perfect Abomination hybrid.' The more her draconic sense of smell confirmed her hypothesis, the more Xenagrosh felt hope grow in her heart.
Chapter 993 Dragon Bloodline Part 1
Feela the Behemoth glared at Faluel in reproach as she sniffed the air like a hunting dog on the prowl, confirming Lith's hybrid nature.
'Curse you, damn Hydra. Creatures like Phoenixes and Dragons don't even bother joining the Council whereas their lesser cousins seek us only for the secret of Awakening.
'A Wyrmling with Origin Flames is the best apprentice a Forgemaster could ever want. Now it's too late to change my motion and request to be the one appointed as Verhen's mentor. I can only give him to Faluel or Raagu. You tied my hands, you seven-headed deceptive snake!' Feela thought.
Raagu looked at Lith with even more greed, daydreaming about all the wonders that human Forgemasters could achieve once freed from the necessity of resorting to beasts to purify metals.
'Lith is the first human capable of harnessing Origin Flames. If his bloodline shares this trait, his descendants would be a priceless asset. We must keep him from falling in the hands of the beasts or nothing will change.' Raagu thought.
'This hybrid could bridge between the Council and the Abominations, if not even bring humans and beasts closer. I must tread with caution and make sure my people don't get swallowed by the shift in the power balance that this revelation might create.' Lotho the Treant thought.
'I always wondered how a meal cooked with Origin Flames would taste. Too bad they are too expensive to waste them like that. Now that I think about it, did I turn the fire below the cauldron off before I left home?' Inxialot thought.
He had long-since hoarded everything he needed for his research and had no care for what other undead might want. The King of Liches just wanted to go home.
After the five judges forced everyone to stay calm, they took turns in scanning Lith's second life force. If before it was just a squabble between two factions, now the result would affect them all.
"I owe you an apology, Jiza. I have never seen anything like this and the two life forces eclipse each other to the point that it's impossible to notice the second unless you know what to look for." Raagu said.
"He's a Wyrmling, yet he is not." Feela mumbled. "Usually, at his age, the two life forces of a hybrid clash violently against each other because they are incapable of coexisting.
"It's the reason why by the time a hybrid's mana core reaches full maturity at twenty years of age, it can't cope with the conflict anymore and the hybrid is forced to pick one life force.
"In Verhen's case, however, the two life forces are like light and darkness, two sides of the same coin. I believe that in due time they'll become one."
"Maybe we should ask our guest what she thinks." Lotho pointed at Xenagrosh. "After all, he's part Abomination. Why not let them take care of him? All the members of the Organization are hybris, so they are best suited to teach him."
Knowing that it was too late to lay claims to the young man on the plants' behalf, all he could do was damage control. The Abominations were few in numbers even for Awakened standards and had already access to Origin Flames.
If Lith fell into their hands the shift in the power balance would be negligible. Moreover, it would make the war between undead and Abomination escalate even further. Plants considered both races as parasites and only wished them to become extinct.
"No way. Abominations aren't part of the Council and I'll not give them an Awakened to experiment upon." Feela and Raagu said in unison.
Both their factions had resorted to inviting the Organization into their fold only out of desperation. Without a Ruler of the Flames, the gap between true and fake Forgemasters became smaller by the decade and with Dawn's return, the three Horsemen were reunited again.
Each one of them could Awaken their host without fail and provide their spawns with uncanny abilities. Bytra and Xenagrosh together would solve the former issue while the unique powers the monster-Eldritch hybrids held would force the Horsemen on the defense.
Yet if the Abominations discovered how to Awaken again and became able to produce an offspring, they would become Mogar's master race. Raagu and Feela regarded them as a necessary evil, but an evil nonetheless.
"Thanks for your trust. I'll make sure to convey it to the rest of my kin." Xenagrosh sneered. "I'm not going to take part in your power play, but I will not stand idly if you try to harm my little brother."
A small burst of purple Origin Flames came out of her mouth while a single gold coin appeared amid emerald flames between her middle and index finger.
"I beg your pardon?" Lith had been careful and followed Faluel's plan down to a t, yet the sudden turn of events couldn't be underestimated. "What do you mean, little brother, and how did you bypass the dimensional sealing array of this place?"
He would have liked to ask many more questions and discuss with Solus the findings of her mana sense, but he was afraid that among those old monsters there was someone capable of spotting their mana link if triggered from a distance.
"How dare you threaten the Council, Fallen Lord?" Lotho stood up, forcing the magical ceiling of the courtroom to grow higher to accommodate the wooden titan.
"Do you think that just because you possess an omni pocket you're a match for us? Conjure your best weapons, parasite, and we'll gladly put you down and retrieve them from your corpse, just like you stole them from your countless victims."
Lith had no idea how strong Xenagrosh was. To Life Vision, her black core and her troll core canceled each other in a foggy mess, whereas Lotho was brimming with so much power that he appeared as a small mana geyser.
"I gave her the omni pocket as a coming of age gift." Leegaain voice was quiet, yet it eclipsed everyone else's, making the room fall silent.
An odd feeling of cold spread among the Awakened, as if a winter storm had walked through the door, finding them stark naked.
"What did you say?" Lotho turned toward the still sitting Guardian, whose mantle turned out to be his folded wings.
"You heard me. She didn't steal the pocket." Leegaain stood up, and everyone else suddenly felt smaller. The only thing worse than discovering Xenagrosh's origin was facing her father's wrath.
"How dare you threaten my daughter in my own house, after I promised her hospitality rights to settle her business with the Council?" Leegaain flapped his wings, forcing everyone on their knees due to the air pressure that the gesture caused.
Only Xenagrosh was allowed to stand and Lith with her because she was shielding him with her own wings.
"This isn't your home." Raagu managed to stand, but barely. "This is the Council's headquarters…"
"Oh, no. This is the Empire and everything else is an insignificant detail on the map, waiting to be rewritten." A simple glare forced her to fall down again while Lotho had now shrunk to the size of a child.
"If you want to fight the Abominations as I asked you all years ago, be my guest. If you insist on bringing them to the Council, I'll get over it. Yet threaten one of my guests again and we'll see how many are willing to face me to indulge in your madness." Leegaain snarled, and the strength in his voice made the weakest in the room faint.
Chapter 994 Dragon Bloodline Part 2
All members of the Council had become too used to the Father of all Dragons' aloof attitude and treated him as a peer. Leegaain wasn't as overbearing as Salaark, nor passionate as Tyris, so many considered him an eccentric old man.
However, Leegaain wasn't old so much as ancient, and he was no man at all.
"I apologize on behalf of the undead faction and I give you my word that your daughter will suffer no harm from us until our next encounter." Inxialot said while taking a good look at his own shoes.
'I may be crazy, but I'm not stupid. I'm not going to put everything I worked hard for at stake for that dumb tree.' He thought. 'The Horsemen act cocky in front of the Guardians because their mommy has their backs, but for anyone else facing Leegaain without a rock-solid plan is plain suicide.'
After the vow, the undead were allowed to stand. One after the other the representatives of the different factions repeated Inxialot's oath, returning the room to normality.
"All Dragons come from the same bloodline, so I don't care about who sired you, you're my little brother." Xenagrosh said the moment she was certain that no one would interrupt her again.
"As for the array, it's a simple trick, but it requires both an omni pocket and an ability akin to Origin Flames. I would like to tell you more, but Dad might kill me if I reveal more in front of so many Forgemasters." The gold coin disappeared and what looked like a business card had taken its place.
One side had a communication rune engraved on it while the other was blank.
"If you ever find an omni pocket or you just need to talk, apply my rune on your amulet and your rune on the card."
The revelation that Menadion had managed to reproduce Leegaain's craft and the raw power Lith felt from Xenagrosh while she was protecting him shocked Lith. Yet he forced himself to focus on the newly acquired information.
'The Abomination told me even less than Xedros did a while ago, but her words weren't a riddle, and more importantly, I saw her using a pocket. I think…'
"Enough of your nonsense, Lotho. You already made us waste too much time." Raagu's words snapped Lith out of his reverie and earned her applause from Inxialot.
"This is a matter between only the beasts and the humans, yet its resolution can only be determined through the Council's ruling. We need to determine which one of us is better suited to nurture Verhen's talent."
"Indeed." Feela nodded. "The only things the Council respects are wisdom and power. You claim that Awakened Verhen has demonstrated poor judgment and that we failed at protecting the interests of our community.
"Yet what makes you think you can do a better job? Not only has he survived unspeakable horrors, but he has also already defeated the best disciples of some of the most powerful members of your faction.
"In battle, brawns without brains are useless. The fact itself that Verhen is alive proves you wrong. I can find someone who will teach him how to master Origin Flames, even forcing them if I have to. What can you humans do for him?"
Personal opinions and ideals had no place in the Awakened society. They were all too powerful and long-lived to let things like prejudice drive them on crusades to force their way of living onto others.
They firmly believed that power without wisdom was just violence while wisdom without power was just hot air. Both of them reached their true potential in the practice of magic on the battlefield.
Idiots who relied on raw power were doomed to fall for the simplest tricks and die, whereas sages with weak bodies would perish the moment something messed up with their plans.
"You know as well as I do that, unlike humans, beasts rely heavily on their physical abilities." Raagu said. "The body you're now using is just a suit for you, something to discard the moment things get out of hand, whereas humans have no choice but to fight with what they have.
"Just like you, Faluel needs her true form to demonstrate her full battle prowess and as you all saw, Lith is no beast. He's some kind of Wyrmling and his base is still human.
"My faction can offer him martial arts suitable for his body, spells that can allow him to exploit his small size against bigger opponents, and teach him all that allowed us to be a match for your kin.
"He was born a human and needs to reason like a human to survive. Aside from magic, you have nothing to teach him."
"That's a fair point, but I think it's not enough. Awakened Verhen has survived this far against opponents of all kinds and sizes. He's smart enough to learn such tricks on his own." Feela said.
Both Awakened rested their case and waited for the Council's resolution. They were both involved parties, so they couldn't take part in the vote.
"I doubt that any further debate will make either of you withdraw your claims, correct?" Leegaain asked, obtaining nods as replies.
"Then the solution is simple. The beasts claim that they are entitled to take care of Awakened Verhen because they nurtured his talent so far, while the humans claim beasts did a poor job and that they would do better.
"My proposal is to put to test the opening statements. To do that, we'll choose an opponent suitable for Awakened Verhen and have them fight in a controlled environment.
"If he triumphs, then the beasts are right in saying that, between his natural talents and their teachings, he will receive all the care he needs. If he fails, then the humans are right and will claim their prize. All in favor?" Leegaain raised his hand while looking around.
Lotho and Inxialot agreed to the proposal. The Treant trusted the Father of all Dragon's wisdom above all but the World Tree, whereas the Lich just wanted to go home.
"How did it go?" Lith asked while Feela and Raagu joined the rest of the Council to define the details of the task.
"Pretty good." Faluel returned Solus's ring to him. "By revealing your hybrid nature in front of the Council, you have achieved much with no risks. You've given the beasts a reason to watch over you.
"You are not just a human I'm taking as an apprentice on a whim anymore, you're one of us. On top of that, the beasts will do their best to protect their monopoly over Origin Flames. As for the humans, they now see you not only as a suitable heir for one of their legacies, but also as a valuable asset.
"If you learn the secrets of the Origin Flames, the ability to purify metals is precious by itself, but since you're also a Forgemaster, you have the potential to become a Ruler of the Flames.
"Awakened don't care about what race they belong, they are only interested in having someone on their side that will increase the gap between true and fake mages. They wouldn't seek help from the Abomination that once was the 4th Ruler otherwise.
"Last, but not least, you no longer need to hide in the Awakened society. Even if someone were to discover your secret, now they can't blackmail you." Faluel was clearly hinting at Xedros the Wyvern, of which she was becoming suspicious.
Chapter 995 Peerless Predator Part 1
"Thanks for everything you did for me, Faluel." Lith shook her hand.
The Hydra had accurately predicted how the trial would unfold, making her plan work like a charm.
At least until that moment.
"Don't thank me, yet. I've got no idea what they'll put you against and if you fail, all of this will be for nothing. Humans are stricter than beasts and after revealing your abilities, you need the Council more than ever. Whatever happens, accept the results of the trial." She said.
"She's right." Jiza had never left Lith's side, making sure that no one exploited the chaos of the debate to try something funny. "If you fail and then refuse to acknowledge Raagu as your master, your life will become a nightmare the moment you step out of that door."
"Revealing your true hybrid nature was a double-edged sword. Now that everyone knows how precious you are, they'll spare no dirty moves to force you to submit if you go back to being a rogue Awakened.
"That said, I know that Awakened humans have given you more trouble than help during your journey, but I hope you don't resent us all for that.
"Beasts are no better than humans. You'll find as many bad people among their ranks as among our own. The only reason why you faced mostly Awakened human criminals is that you lived in human society.
"Awakened are tightly bound to their race of origin. We live among our kin and task our descendants with taking care of business, whereas beasts mostly work as mercenaries and hate being forced to hide their nature.
"Even if you succeed in your trial, once you are done with your apprenticeship, you'll keep meeting more humans than beasts as long as you reside inside cities. Don't burn bridges that you may need later."
Lith gave her a small bow and then spent the time before the test talking with Solus.
'Glad to have you back. I need all the help I can get to not let our plans get screwed up in case Raagu doesn't agree with Awakening Phloria.' He thought.
'The monster-Abomination's words were interesting, but there's something you need to know. Aside from young people like you and Athung, every one of those present has either a bright blue core or a bright purple core.' Solus said.
'Meaning?'
'Don't you find it odd that even old looking Awakened have a bright blue core? I mean, sure, you Awakened from birth and had an easier time adapting your body to the mana core's growth, but how can it take people centuries to reach the stage right above yours?
'It doesn't make sense. Especially considering that all Awakened we met had either a cyan or a blue core. Unless…' Solus said.
'Unless getting a purple core requires to meet some hidden conditions.' Lith completed the phrase for her. 'Doesn't this also mean that fake mages are potentially even stronger mages than Awakened?
'People like Manohar naturally grow with a purple core, whereas Awakened are capped to blue unless they find a way to overcome their limits.'
'If we're right, then the cap plus the fact that even Faluel can't Awaken people with a bright blue core like Quylla, limits the Awakened's progress with magic. Whatever is needed to get a violet core, I don't think it can be taught.' Solus said.
'There are way fewer purple cores than I expected. Moreover, based on what Faluel told us, Awakened without a magical bloodline always have a master, so there's no way they wouldn't pass down the technique in the case something happens to them.'
"Everything is set. Please, follow us." Leegaain opened several Warp Gates at once, allowing all those present to reach what looked like an underground arena.
The place reminded Lith of the Colosseum and to Xenagrosh of the amphitheater where Bytra had come to terms with her pasts.
"The rules are simple. Once you reach the battlefield, the arrays will seal the space around you and your opponent will arrive. Dimensional magic works inside the arena, so you can retrieve and use all of your equipment.
"After all, your sword is a gift from Faluel, and some of your creations are certainly derived from the help she gave you. The Council allows their use because they are proof of what beasts have done for you.
"If you fail despite that, they can only blame themselves. Don't worry about death. We'll let you fight until your last breath, but the moment your opponent is about to deal you a lethal blow, I'll personally stop him and declare your defeat.
"You have one minute to prepare your spells. Starting from now."
Lith took all of his equipment out of his pocket dimension and started to weave his spells.
'The good news is that I can go all out. Origin Flames, War, my special rings, everything goes.' Lith thought.
'What about the bad news?' Solus asked.
'For once, no bad news. Do you think I should pull off a Silverwing's Hexagram, like against the Vampire in Othre? One minute isn't enough for me alone to do it, but there are two of us and I don't care pretending I'm a genius Warden.
'My life is safe, but what about you, Phloria, Kamila, and the others? Raagu might forbid me to visit them or restrict my actions as long as I'm her apprentice. Also, I'm not going to let Velan Deirus have his way with the Ernas.'
'It's worth a shot.' Solus telepathically nodded.
Faluel knew about her existence and was willing to take Solus as her apprentice, whereas they couldn't afford the risk to check if Raagu was as open-minded as the Hydra. Solus's future rested on the outcome of that battle as well.
Leegaain was nice enough to give them more than just one minute. He assumed that Lith and Solus could use a bit of time to calm down and strategize.
"Begin!" His voice created a golden translucent dome that enclosed the arena and Warped Lith's opponent on the opposite side of the battlefield.
"Oh, shit." Lith had never seen something that big.
To be precise, he had never seen the creature that was standing in front of him, not even in books. The beast looked like a lion, but it had a brown body and a deep green mane.
Its height at the withers reached 7 meters (23 feet) and its violet eyes shone with intelligence.
Unbeknownst to Lith, the creature was a Meneos, a monster as rare and hard to kill as a Grendel.
Its species was almost extinct due to how dangerous they were. The only few remaining specimens left could be found only in the most isolated places of Mogar or in Leegaain's biomes.
'I guess they took Raagu's words into account while choosing our opponent.' Solus thought. 'Most creatures this size we faced were our friends rather than enemies.'
Lith activated Silverwing's Hexagram, making sure to encompass both himself and the Meneos. He kept his breathing steady and was ready to counter any spell the beast could throw at him.
At the sight of the array, the lips of the creature curled up in what looked awfully like a smile. Then, it charged forward as fast as a lightning bolt, taking Lith and Solus by surprise.
Chapter 996 Peerless Predator Part 2
'Fuck me sideways, my initial assumptions were wrong. A monster this big only needs one step to close in and one strike to kill me. It has no reason to waste time with magic.' Lith thought.
'It's worse than that. It can use fusion magic and there's no telling how much it boosts the enemy's physical prowess. We never faced such a creature before, so I have no idea how big is the gap between you two.' Solus said.
Lith instantly dispelled the useless array that drained his focus and jumped back while activating his tier five magic holding ring. The Final Sunset spell it unleashed was focused into a powerful beam of black flames that struck the Meneos like a truck and propelled Lith backward, boosting his dodge speed.
He managed to avoid the change and put some distance between them again, yet all the damage dealt by a fully charged Final Sunset barely amounted to a burn mark on the creature's muzzle.
To make matters worse, the injury started to heal at a speed visible to the naked eye the moment the spell exhausted its mana.
'What the actual fuck? Final Sunset is comprised of fire and darkness magic that Mogar itself referred to as the elements of destruction. Not even golems are that tough. Solus, is it really a living being?' Lith asked.
'For alive it's alive.' She replied. 'Its mana core is really odd, but that's hardly a novelty with monsters. It's similar to that of trolls since I can sense an imbalance in the darkness element, but there's something different. Try changing approach.'
By the time Solus finished speaking, the Meneos was already in front of Lith, trying to bite his head off. Lith managed to catch the maw with his hands and activated his gravity field ring.
The creature was too big for the gravity sheath to affect its whole body, but the ring still managed to make the Meneos light enough so that Lith could exploit the momentum of its charge to execute an overhead throw.
At the same time, he unleashed all the spells he had at the ready down the monster's throat.
'This is supposed to be a test of wisdom, not a slugfest.' Lith thought. 'Maybe the creature's skin is nigh-invulnerable whereas its internal organs are frail.'
The fire scorched the soft tissues and made the air so hot to be unbreathable while streams of electricity coursed through the monster's bloodstream, reaching all of its internal organs at once.
"Remarkable nerve." Feela said from the stands. "Usually when facing something that big, people are too shocked to think clearly. Makes you wonder what kind of horrors he's used to facing.
"Why didn't you mention any of this in your request for an apprentice, Faluel?"
"Because I hate having competition." The Hydra replied with a smile.
'Good move! This time it took some solid damage.' Even though the opponent seemed to be down, Solus kept collecting data to understand the real nature of their trial. 'Its life force plummeted after taking those spells.
'Maybe this thing is really capable of absorbing the darkness element like a troll. Fire and lightning seem to be- Drop it!'
The Meneos had managed to twist its body so that its hind legs hit the ground first. Its claws dug deep into the pavement, allowing it to have a strong foothold and throw Lith away like a ragdoll.
The speed and might of the head alone sent Lith flying even though he had released his hold before the Meneos could complete the motion. The creature resumed the chase without a second of delay and attempted a second bite while its prey was spinning in mid-air.
'So much for the weakened life force.' Lith spread his wings, using air magic to gain a speed superior to that of his enemy. 'This dome is too small. I can't get vertical distance and that thing runs like a train.'
'The life force was indeed weakened. The problem is that it recovered so fast that I almost failed to warn you in time.' Solus said.
'That makes no sense!' Lith hurled a stream of blue Origin Flames that struck the Meneos's head and turned it into a ball of fire.
Yet the flames disappeared as if they were just a bucket of water and dealt about the same damage. The Meneos kept chasing Lith who could only fly around while breathing one burst of Origin Flames after the other.
'Stop that. You're only harming yourself. Neither the mana core nor the life force of the creature has taken any damage. I know it sounds impossible but it's true.' Solus's brain spun at top gear, yet the answer kept eluding her.
Lith unsheathed War, hoping that the cold Adamant would succeed where all kinds of magic at his disposal had failed him. The angry blade screeched its challenge, making the Meneos falter for the first time since its appearance.
Yet the creature's hesitation didn't last long. The giant lion slashed horizontally with its claws, forcing Lith back on the ground. He couldn't go up due to the golden ceiling nor stay in mid-air due to the creature's pincer maneuver.
'Dumb move.' Lith used earth magic to make the pavement under the Meneos's hind legs sink and throw it off balance since the forelegs were still hitting where he had been a second ago.
The creature fumbled, allowing Lith to slash deep into its defenseless paws and draw the first blood. He then used gravity magic to turn the fall into a crash. The sudden acceleration made the Meneos's head plunge on top of the blade that Lith had planted in the ground with its tip pointing upwards.
War pierced through the jaw and reached the brain, yet Lith could see with Life vision that not even that kind of wound seemed to affect the creature's vitality. He flew back without retrieving his blade, in hope that it would buy him enough time to solve the riddle and beat the test.
'Magic doesn't work and neither does physical attacks. The cuts War inflicted on our enemy healed a second after being opened. What are we doing wrong?' He thought.
'I could feel War's World Mirror ability activating.' Solus said. 'The skin of that beast must be infused with some elements that make it impossible to harm it with conventional means, just like a golem. The problem is that as soon as War's jamming effect fades, the wounds close.'
'Let me get this straight. Imbalanced like a troll, shielded like a golem, and heals like a ghoul since no matter the damage it takes, it doesn't need nutrients. What the fuck is that thing and how are we supposed to beat it?' Lith asked.
'Maybe we are about to find out.' Solus shushed Lith to make him focus.
The fact that the wounds healed didn't mean that the Meneos didn't feel pain or that the brain damage didn't impair his movements. The creature had clawed off its own skin in the attempt to take War out of the jaw.
Unluckily for the giant lion, he had just succeeded. The hilt of the blade was now stuck in the space between two claws, triggering the unwanted ability Orion had warned Lith about and that he had experimented on an unwise thief in the past.
Chapter 997 Treasure from the Past Past 1
Orion himself had no idea how War would react if the wrong person picked it up, but as its maker, he could feel how dangerous the enchantment was. What really troubled Lord Ernas, however, was the fact that he had never planned for such safeguard.
There was no trace of it in either his notes or blueprints, yet when he checked the final result of his labors with his Royal Forgemaster wand the extra pseudo core was there nonetheless.
Right after receiving War, Lith needed a guinea pig to understand what kind of threat the blade represented for his family and if it could be used as a means of interrogation.
One day, Lith took all the insignia of his status off, wore civilian clothes, and took a stroll in the slums of Zantia with the priceless blade hung to his hip. It took him less than one hundred steps to be surrounded by armed bandits.
"Give us the blade, empty your pockets, and no one gets hurt." A rough man in his mid-thirties said.
He had blonde hair and a stubble, both as dirty as his clothes. His mouth missed a few teeth, giving the man more a desperate look than a threatening one, yet he handled his knife like a professional.
"Catch." Lith turned his pockets inside-out to show that they were empty and threw the blade in a slow lob.
The thug took the blade from the hilt while it was still in mid-air and War didn't take the change of ownership well.
The hoodlum suffered the same fate that now was befalling the giant lion. Just like when Lith had first imprinted it, spikes erupted from the hilt and dug through the flesh before turning into hooks, making it impossible to remove them without amputating the limb.
Then, War unleashed all of his enchantments right inside the usurper's body, bypassing all kinds of protections they could wear. Through something that Lith could only describe as a reversed imprint, the angry blade flooded the enemy with his energy signature, causing mana poisoning.
The hindleg of the Meneos swelled like a balloon while its flesh burned, froze, and rot at the same time, making the earlier pain from the brain damage feel like a pinprick.
But while the hapless criminal had exploded in a burst of rotten meat that made his associates either faint or puke, the creature was much bigger and wiser.
In the time that it had taken War to kill a man, the blade could only corrupt the enormous limb it was stuck unto, giving the Meneos the time to realize the danger it was in and bite off the foreleg before it was too late.
"By the Great Mother, did you really gift such a masterpiece to someone that has yet to recognize you as his master?" Raagu used all the means at her disposal to study War from a distance, but Orion's workings were well cloaked.
"Only the best for my beloved apprentices." Faluel lied through her teeth as the giant limb exploded and War returned to Lith's hand on its own.
'If fake mages can craft pieces that powerful with their limited magic, then we Awakened Forgemasters need a damn Ruler of the Flames even more desperately than I thought.
'Whoever made War might be already on par with us.' The Hydra was firmly against letting the Abominations take part in the Council, but now even her wished that Bytra would soon join their ranks.
Meanwhile, Lith didn't move from his spot and kept studying his opponent.
'Not even amputating the whole hindleg weakened either its life force or mana flow. If I get close without a plan, I will not last more than a few seconds. How the heck did I…' Lith couldn't believe his own senses as he saw the limb regenerate almost as fast as it had been corrupted.
Despite being temporarily crippled, the creature had no openings Lith could exploit. On top of that, even regenerating so much flesh and bones didn't weaken the creature.
'That's it!' Lith and Solus thought in unison. The wound's healing process had allowed them to understand the nature of their task.
They had failed to notice it before because the other wounds were too small and they were too far away to take a good look at them. When the Meneos came charging again, Lith was ready for him.
He used earth magic to open a crater below the creature and gravity magic to send them both against the golden energy dome that covered the arena. When Lith released the second Final Sunset stored inside his tier five magic holding ring, the black flames this time engulfed the giant lion, making it scream in agony.
Meneos were nothing like trolls, golems, or ghouls like Lith and Solus had wrongly assumed. The giant lion was a plant-animal hybrid that had lost the ability to Awaken due to its fallen state but was still able to draw upon world energy as long as it touched the ground.
Meneos didn't need breathing techniques to constantly regenerate their strength and they could recover from any wound simply by extracting the nutrients from the soil. They were unstoppable predators, but once their weakness was exposed, they became sitting ducks.
'That's why the dome is so low and why the only time the monster's life force dwindled was during the throw. Not because this creature is incapable of flight, but because away from the ground it's nothing but an overgrown kitten.' Lith thought.
"Well, done. You passed the test." Leegaain dispelled the dome and rescued the Meneos. "Any objection?"
The members of the Council shook their heads in reply.
"Then Awakened Verhen is hereby a member of the beast faction and Faluel the Hydra will be held responsible for his actions until he learns to behave like a member of our society." Leegaain then turned to the monster.
"Thanks for your cooperation, Antor. I'll return you to your family as soon as your wounds heal."
"No need to thank me, my Lord." The monster bowed to the Guardian. "If not for you, I'd be long since dead or still be a slave to my base instincts."
"You can talk?" Lith asked in surprise.
"I'm no Balor, but not all monsters are mindless brutes." Antor replied. "If I used magic, our fight might have ended differently, but since you couldn't take flight, I guess I needed a handicap as well."
"Meneos are the only creatures that can use Invigoration without limits. Their bodies are so attuned with Mogar that they just need to make contact with the ground to replenish their strength to its fullest." Leegaain explained.
"They have several limitations to their magical abilities, but I hope that, by studying their condition, I can lift their Fallen state and develop a better technique that Awakened can use to draw world energy…"
"Yes, it's all so very noble of you." Inxialot cut him short. "Where did you find an energy field ring, child? I thought their design was lost to time."
"It doesn't generate an energy field, just a gravity field." Lith rushed to reply in the hope to quell the greed with which the Lich was staring at his finger.
"Oh!" Inxialot's disappointed look made Lith sigh in relief for one full second.
Chapter 998 Treasure from the Past Past 2
"That's annoying, but once one knows the basics, the rest comes easy. I can still work my way up to a proper energy field." The Lich said.
"You mean we can." Feela and Faluel stood between Inxialot and his prey as one. "Lith is one of us, undead."
"Yes, whatever. I don't care who does it as long as those runes get preserved and shared with the Awakened community. I can give you a couple of centuries, child. After that, either I get my ring or you and I will have a problem." Inxialot said.
'Guess what, you moron. 200 years from now I'll either be dead or powerful enough to not care about your kin anymore.' Lith thought.
"Seriously, though, where did you find it?" Feela said. She cared for Lith more by the second, but her curiosity burned as strong as Inxialot's.
Lith told them about the fungal creature he had met in Kulah and the present it had given him.
"Damned be the Odi!" Lotho roared. "My brethren must have lost all hope and their mind to part from such treasure."
"More likely they thought it to be still a common item. They were cut off from the rest of the world and had no idea that what once was just a parlor trick is now so valuable. Also, I doubt they would have kept an Odi artifact anyway." Leegaain said.
"Look at the bright side. If you find your fungal brethren, they are likely to know everything about this energy field you talk about." Lith said, eager to ease the pressure of the gazes fixated on his hand.
"Genius!" Inxialot clapped his hands. "I'll immediately start looking for them. We're done here, right?"
"Yes, we are. However, -" The King of Liches disappeared, leaving Lotho talking to himself. "- Searching the entirety of Mogar for a single being is not an easy task. Gods if I hate Liches."
"Will you really share it?" Despite her age, the Behemoth was giving Lith the lovely smile of a kid in front of his Christmas presents.
"I'll give it a thought, but first I need to understand what an energy field is and what benefits I'd receive from the Council in exchange for such knowledge." Lith politely but firmly replied.
"Now I really need some rest and to speak with my mentor, if you please."
"I told you not to show off your damn crafts until your apprenticeship started, kid." Faluel said the moment they were back in the safety of her lair. "I've already got a dozen orders for a blade like yours and even more for that ring."
"According to your plan, there should've been some kind of riddle, not a fight." Lith replied.
"If I lost, Solus would have been trapped inside her ring for years, Raagu would have used Phloria's Awakening to keep me on a tight leash, and I would've been nothing more than a dignified slave."
"Point taken." Faluel sighed. "Still, why didn't you show me that ring earlier? We could have still found a way to let you use it undetected."
"Because I thought it was crap. The runes are decrepit and they don't do anything different from the others I studied from Huryole's booklet." Lith threw the gravity field ring to Faluel, who promptly examined it with Invigoration and her Forgemastering spells.
"By the Great Mother, what a piece of crap! Runes carved with mana crystal's powder instead of being infused with mana, a messed-up mana circulatory system, and I could shape a better pseudo core with my feet." She blurted out.
"My point exactly. It's so bad that I didn't even bother crafting a new one but I used first magic to replicate its effects on my own through my weapon." Lith said.
"The bad news is that most Odi runes are lost to time. There are almost no books about them and the still existing few tomes belong to historians since they have no practical value." Faluel said.
"The good news is that we only need to decipher a few runes to be able to reverse engineer the whole thing and start working on upgrading the gravity to an energy field."
"How long would it take?" Lith asked.
"Well, unless we find the right runes in a book, I'd say a few decades to figure out the modern runes with a trial-and-error procedure. After that, a few more decades for the energy field. Two centuries tops." Faluel replied.
"Three hundred years in total?" Lith couldn't believe his ears.
"More or less, if you, me, and Solus work together the whole time. Kid, research takes time and dedication. Why do you think Inxialot left you off the hook that easily? He is probably already working on a project that will take him at least 200 years to complete.
"He's a Lich. They can afford to work alone because time is meaningless to them." Faluel said.
"What if I share it? After all, is what Royal Forgemasters would do."
"It would take much less time." Faluel said. "If the Council pools its resources and we Forgemasters start to exchange our respective findings, the entire process should take about two years.
"The problem is that we'll lose the exclusive and there's no guarantee that others will really cooperate instead of just leeching from those who share. Be them humans, beasts, plants, or undead, Awakened are greedy creatures."
"No wonder you're losing the magical research race to fake mages." Lith sighed. "We'll continue this conversation at another moment. I'm dead tired and I promised Kamila to take her out on a date."
"Have fun while you can, my apprentice, because once I start teaching you, we'll take no breaks until Invigoration stops working." Despite Faluel's girl next door looks and radiant smile, her words sounded awfully like a threat.
***
Jiera Continent, ex-city of Hervor, now reduced to a bunch of ruins.
After putting her resources to the test in Othre, Thrud Griffon had moved to the neighboring continent, like she always did after completing a rejuvenation cycle. She had spent centuries to create an alias that allowed her to live in the luxury she deserved and with access to the resources she needed.
Jiera was outside Tyris's influence and the local Guardian had no affection for any of her friends. It made Jiera the perfect place to lay low while Thrud enjoyed the fruits of her labors and honed her skills.
Unfortunately, after the release of the plague, all of her hard work was lost. Even a magical blight was powerless against her enhanced physique and that of her minions, but the plague had destroyed society as she knew it.
"Damn it all!" Thrud wanted to smash the crystal bottle she was drinking from in a fit of rage, but finding another would be nigh-impossible. "I can't go back to Garlen with the tight security all three Great Countries have established, but staying in this dead place is driving me crazy!"
It wasn't just a figure of speech. With the fall of human civilization, the continent had fallen into the hands of Emperor Beasts, who were able to identify Thrud from her smell and chase her away if she refused to leave.
She was a very powerful mage, even more thanks to the replicas of the Griffon Kingdom's strongest artifacts, but there were hundreds of Emperor Beasts living together. Some were as old as she was and nearly as powerful.
Chapter 999 Bonds of Trust Part 1
Awakened mages and their bloodlines ruled the only human cities remaining on the Jiera continent, but things didn't go any better for Thrud there. Somehow, the Awakened would become suspicious of her the moment she used her powers and refused to grant her hospitality.
Unbeknownst to Thrud, it was due to the vortex her rainbow mana core generated to imitate the effects of Invigoration and provide her with unlimited mana. Her long existence coupled with a lifetime of murder and secrets weighed heavily on her psyche.
Thrud was on the run ever since she could remember, to protect her father's legacy from Tyris's clutches and fulfill his dream to unify the Garlen continent under an immortal ruler.
"I was supposed to be enjoying my wealth and find a way to extend the gift of immortality to the future Imperial family, not scavenge for food and sew my own clothes! What good are gold and jewels in a place where a piece of fresh bread is a myth?"
Her rants were becoming more and more frequent, in an attempt to fill the silence surrounding her.
She was an extraordinary hunter and tailor, skills that would make her welcome in any human settlement, but only if Thrud stopped using her magic and lived like a commoner.
Doing that would mean to trample over her pride as the true Queen of the Griffon Kingdom and give up on the luxuries she felt entitled to. All the human Awakened of the Jiera continent were actually in her same boat, but she didn't care.
With the loss of craftsmen, farmers and stockbreeders had become the new rich. Even Awakened kept them in high regard because all the magic in Mogar couldn't create food.
On top of that, to pass down the practical knowledge necessary to grow all the edible plants and vegetables would take years.
If once the ancient mages' main worry had been to develop their skills, now they were focused on avoiding that a single bad harvest or common cold could wipe out what remained of the human race.
Beasts and plants had no such worries. They usually moved around naked and considered food anyone who trespassed on their turf. The Beast Empire that had been born after the fall of human civilization was now the most advanced and wealthy on Jiera, but humans had a hard time adapting to the beasts' morals.
Emperor Beasts would take in anyone, but only as long as they behaved. The beasts would teach kids how to read and write, and to adults how to hunt, farm, or whatever job they were talented for.
At the same time, however, the concept of redemption, fair trial, or prisons didn't exist in their society. The moment someone committed a crime for no acceptable reason, the culprit would be put down like a rabid dog.
Some people couldn't accept such a harsh and wild social order where everyone had to either make themselves useful or scram the moment they came of age. Yet most remained because the beasts offered them shelter from the weather, protection from the monsters that were now free to roam the lands, and healthcare.
Humans had tried to Awaken everyone to repopulate the continent faster and make all humans capable of wielding magic, but it had been a disaster. Children wouldn't get ill, but they would kill themselves or their parents using spells like toys.
Many meek and gentle adults, once they got a taste of true power would become overbearing toward their less talented peers and enforce the law of the jungle until their victims or their masters killed them.
To make things worse, very few had the patience to practice Accumulation for years to become stronger. With the constant threat of bad weather, monsters, starvation, and their own neighbors, many rushed their body development and exploded like gruesome fireworks.
In the end, less than a tenth of those who had become Awakened without a full-time tutor survived, so the experiment was deemed a failure and postponed to a moment when the masters could dedicate more time to classes.
All the remaining humans had been collected in a few megalopolises that couldn't survive without their Awakened rulers enforcing the law, treating diseases before they turned into plagues, and protecting the fields.
"I can't believe they Awakened even those useless cripples whose only talent is to be naturally immune to the plague whereas they refused to teach me!" Thrud roared. I'm so close, so damn close, yet I can never figure out the last piece of the puzzle.
"All living creatures have a core that acts like a heart for the mana flow, but only the so-called Awakened are capable to train their core and make it stronger over time.
I use my father's machine to feed my core with those of others, yet I never managed to sense the pulse of mana.
"The machine renews my life force and rids my body of the impurities that make people grow old, to the point that I reached human perfection. My flesh offers no resistance to mana.
"I can cast countless spells without putting any stress on my physique, so it can't be a matter of something being wrong with my body or lack of talent. I mastered all the damn specializations, for the gods' sake! What am I lacking?"
Only her echo replied to the question and Thrud finally snapped. She chanted her spell, hating each word she spoke and hand sign she drew, considering each one of them a reminder of her constant failures.
Purple flames invaded the empty halls of the house that she had spent years to build while earth magic caused a quake that split the ground and made the walls crumble. To her, the sound of destruction was now a better alternative to silence.
Thrud then walked through the rubble and started to destroy Hervor, the capital of her own Grand Duchy that she had named after her mother. It had taken Thrud generations to reach such a position.
She had introduced herself as a mage, became a noble, and then faked her aging while introducing one of her meat puppets as her daughter before taking her place, starting the cycle from young to old again.
She knew Hervor's every stone and every tree because she had shaped the city according to the memories of her birthplace. She loved it with all her heart because it reminded her of the old times, back when she was still the Princess of the Griffon Kingdom and her future was carved in stone.
Tyris was supposed to acknowledge her father's genius and become his spouse. Arthan's achievements would have surpassed even Valeron's and with her help, he would have unified the Garlen continent.
Then, once he grew tired of bearing the weight of the crown and the responsibilities it carried, Thrud would have taken the throne and made sure that her subjects thrived. Yet now her capital was just like all the stories Thrud's mother told her as a child, an empty lie, and the Mad Queen hated Hervor for it.
There was no one to serve her, no one left that would admire her beauty or talent. Thrud felt as if Mogar had turned its back on her one time too many.
"Why everyone leaves me in the end?" Not even her heart-wrenching sobs hindered the Mad Queen's spellcasting as she razed the city that once had been her pride and joy.
Chapter 1000 Bonds of Trust Part 2
"I had countless husbands and children, yet none of them Awakened. Death took them away from me before I could even grow attached to them.
"Even those I offered to share eternity with me, treated me like a monster and forced me to shut them up. Now, all of my subjects are dead and all I'm left with is stone and gold.
"Is this Tyris's doing as well? Has her curse reached me thanks to her blood that runs through my veins? I'm not letting you take everything from me again, you monster! I'd rather destroy everything myself!" Thrud unleashed another spell and a city block fell.
In her wrath and madness, she almost didn't notice an emerald bolt approaching to her position, blasting through the arrays that still defended Hervor from all threats.
Almost.
"A Dragon?" Thrud instantly regained her focus as the magical formations self-repaired and provided her with the information they had gathered about the invader. "It's been a long time since I killed one. Your flesh will make a meal worthy of a Queen."
Arthan's Armor wrapped Thrud's body and Arthan's Sword appeared in her hand as her face was twisted in a grimace of fury. Yet no protection could save her from what happened next.
The emerald bolt gracefully landed in front of her as if he weighed a few grams instead of several tons and shapeshifted into the most handsome man she had ever seen.
A handsome man with emerald shoulder-length hair and purple eyes who was kneeling at her feet, according to the etiquette that the Griffon Kingdom prescribed to loyal vassals when meeting their rulers.
<"Jormun Nidho reports for duty. Your humble servant begs your forgiveness for taking so long to find the last heir of the Great King."> The man that Lith knew as Jakra even spoke the ancient language of the Kingdom.
Thrud didn't hear it for centuries, yet she could still understand it perfectly. Tears kept streaming down her cheeks, but now she cried with joy.
<"Do you swear that you are not here to attack me?"> She kept weaving her spells and preparing her relics. Thrud had been betrayed too many times to believe in free meals.
<"I only come to serve, my liege."> Jormun started to tell her about the Golden Griffon and the many legacies that Arthan had left behind for his heir.
At first, Thrud didn't believe him, but the more the stranger spoke, the more many mysteries of her homeland made sense.
<"Are you really here for me?"> The Mad Queen had already fallen in love with that voice. For the first time in her life, she had met someone who knew who she was and shared her dream.
<"I entered the Golden Griffon when I was a little over 400 years old. If I fail to Awaken, I should have around 600 more left and I intend to spend them all to give you everything you deserve. All I ask in return is to know the name of my Queen."> Jormun said.
<"My name is Thrud Efila Daron Griffon, rightful Queen to the Griffon Kingdom, but you can call me Thrud. I hereby make you Duke Jormun Nidho."> She patted his left shoulder, then the right, and then his head with Arthan's sword.
<"Stand up, Lord Jorun. There's much we need to talk about and even more we have to do, yet it can all wait. I'm tired of being alone."> Her hand ran through his hair, caressing Jormun's face before moving down his chest.
The physical intimacy aroused Thrud as much as it disgusted Jormun.
After escaping from Huryole, he had slept for months before noticing that something was wrong with him. The life force of Dragons was incredibly strong, to the point of being capable of healing itself with time.
After spending centuries sealed inside the lost academy, Jormun had realized the existence of the slave spell that now impaired his mind only because he could feel his body trying to fix what he had always assumed was a natural development of his life force after mastering all elements and several martial arts.
The moment he had attempted to get in touch with one of his relatives, the spell had forced him to find the Mad Queen.
***
Griffon Kingdom, near the top of Lochra Mountain.
Lith had thought a lot about where to bring Kamila for her birthday. He would have preferred to take her to a place where he could give her an experience similar to Earth's summer on the beach, but she was born around mid-spring.
Not only were the seas still too cold to bathe, but she also refused to wear even a one-piece swimsuit in presence of witnesses. It would've been the equivalent of walking around in her underwear and people were quite modest on Mogar.
Without Solus, an inhabited island would mean no people, but no comforts as well.
"I'm sorry, but having no bathroom, sleeping on the ground, no privacy whatsoever, and being dependant on you to cook my meals sounds as romantic as another boot camp." Was her reply.
Hence Lith had taken her to a high-class resort where they could be immersed in the mountain's natural splendor without missing anything civilization had to offer. After becoming a Royal Constable, Kamila had started to travel around the Kingdom and do late hours.
Thanks to Jirni, she always managed to come back home for dinner, but after that, they would often leave again and only rarely sleep in their own beds. Between the terrible crime scenes she had witnessed and spending so much time interrogating criminals, Kamila was on the verge of a breakdown.
She felt terribly tired, but most of all, dirty inside as if all the horrors that rich and poor alike perpetrated to indulge in their vices had tainted her.
"Gods, this place is just perfect!" Kamila said while looking at the beautiful scenery the mountain lake surrounded by luscious green offered to the guests dining on the terrace.
The Flying Griffon resort had its own Gate. It connected the resort with the important cities of the Kingdom, allowing it to always have the best foods and provide its guests with anything they might need at a moment's notice.
"I promise you that we'll do this beach thing when I'm less stressed." Kamila couldn't take her eyes off the beauty of the full moon in the clear sky and its reflection on the lake.
Together, they provided enough natural light to watch the night wildlife and gave the valley where the resort had been built the feeling of a mystical place where time had stopped.
"Right now, all I need is a warm, comfortable bed and room service. Lots of room service. If I take one more step, I'm afraid my feet will fall off."
"It's a good thing that I reserved a suite then." Lith chuckled while pointing at her red stiletto heels that lay near the table legs.
Kamila wore them along with the red skin-tight cocktail dress she had chosen for their first real date in a long while where she could turn her work amulet off.
She wanted that night to be special, but the moment Lith had offered her to dine alone in their room because he wanted to speak with her about important matters, Kamila had immediately accepted and given her sore legs some relief.
Chapter 1001 A Gift Like No Other Part 1
"Reserving a suite isn't just a good idea, it's Great. I'd like to live the next few days as if we are the last humans on Mogar, with magical domestic staff that conveniently appears only to do the chores for us."
Kamila gave Lith one of her radiant smiles that always made him feel like the luckiest man alive.
She had applied months in advance for a few days' leave on her birthday to be sure that nothing would mess with their plans. Even though she had finished working just for a few hours and was dead tired from the long day, she had dressed up for him.
Moreover, Lith still found it hard to believe Kamila could smile like that despite knowing most of his secrets. She treated him as if Lith was just a regular guy rather than a mysterious hybrid implicated in power games that involved beings older than the Kingdom itself.
Having someone like Kamila by his side, who wasn't bound to him by blood ties or common interests, but simply by sincere affection, was the greatest gift he could ask for.
"Just like home, then. After all, during your days off you sleep all day and leave buying the groceries, doing the chores, and the cooking to me." Lith teased her.
"That's not true. I don't sleep all day, only when you let me." The fact that was the only part she could refute made her blush in embarrassment. "Jokes aside, this place is fairylike. I can't believe they soundproofed the entire building to not disturb the animals."
Even though the Flying Griffon was fully booked, the guests wouldn't hear anything but their own voices and the sounds of nature. Many small animals felt so confident that they would come close to the terraces and accept the snacks the resort provided to each room.
Lith was dolled up as well, wearing a black suit rather than his usual Archmage robe. The first course of their meal was venison stew, a local delicacy, accompanied by red house wine.
Unlike normal hotels, Lith's suite was located on the ground floor. It allowed the guests to watch the local fauna through the reinforced magical glass of the terrace and to take a stroll along the lake simply by walking through a door.
The apartment was made of redwood and was comprised of several rooms. It had a living room furnished with a tea table and sofas to spend some time with friends, a terrace where to dine while enjoying the scenery, a huge bathroom, and an even bigger bedroom.
Even though all rooms were magically heated, most of them had their own fireplace for ambiance and the resort was so quiet that, unless the guests called the room service, they had the impression of living in a mountain cottage in the middle of nowhere.
"What did you want to talk about?" Kamila asked.
"Can't it wait until after dinner? Or at least after I give you your birthday gift?" Lith said, visibly embarrassed.
"Not a chance. Once you say those accursed words, I can't relax until I hear the big secret you decided to share with me and mark it as irrelevant." She replied.
"Am I really so obvious?"
"If after living together for so long I couldn't read you, it would mean that either I don't care about you enough to notice or that you never allowed me to know the real you." Kamila said.
"I get that you're full of secrets and I'm willing to wait until you are ready to share them with me, but please, don't treat me like an idiot. That's something that I couldn't bear."
Lith nodded and then told Kamila about Death Vision in the details, explaining its quirks to her.
"Let me get this straight. So, unless you focus, everyone around you dies, or at least that's what it looks like to you." Kamila said and Lith nodded for her to continue.
"However, if someone is your friend, then they are 'safe' within a few meters, while the members of your family are unaffected by Death Vision as long as they are in your same room, and you ex even from over ten meters (33 feet) distance?"
"Yes. I never mentioned it to you before nor did I have the courage to stop holding Death Vision back in your presence because I didn't want to make you feel like you had to compete with Phloria." Lith said.
"And because you were afraid Death Vision measures not only a person's life span, but also the depth of your feelings for them." Kamila completed the phrase for him.
"Yes."
"Don't worry about hurting my feelings. I would've done the same in your shoes. A mystical power that tells you who you can or cannot love would be a curse even worse than Death Vision already is." Kamila held his hand, forcing him to look her in the eyes.
"What's the verdict?"
Lith took a deep breath to calm down and let go of Death Vision.
"You look gorgeous, like always." He said.
"Great, at least I'm a friend. Now walk to the other side of the suite." Kamila pointed him the farthest place from their table.
"Wait. You told me not to worry. That you would do the same." The sudden edge in her voice surprised Lith.
"I did, but you were also right. Maybe it's not, but Death Vision sure feels like a damn competition. What about now?" Kamila hated to feel so insecure, but she needed to know at all costs.
'For all I know, Death Vision might not measure Lith's feelings towards others but the strength of their bond. It would explain why Phloria was immune from the start whereas even his parents needed time.
'Not only did he open with her before anyone else, but also Lith relied on Phloria whereas he considered his family as something to protect. He always kept them in the dark, deeming them unable to cope with the truth.' She thought.
"You're still fine, but I must say you're taking this too seriously." Lith said.
"So says the man who waited two years before mentioning any of this to me." She sneered while walking through the terrace's door.
"Wait, you're still barefoot!"
"I don't give a damn about some dirt. What about now?" She stood in front of the glass door, about 15 meters (49 feet) away from him, just to be safe.
"You've just terrified several ugly carcasses that I can only guess are actually birds and squirrels. You've also ruined my appetite, but you still look as beautiful as a god's dream." He said.
"I win, I win, I win!" Kamila sprinted back inside the suite, jumping at Lith's neck and forcing him to princess carry her before giving him a kiss.
"So much for winning with grace." He chuckled at her enthusiasm.
"Sorry, I got carried away." Her radiant smile and excited voice were in stark contrast with her words.
After Lith carried Kamila back to her seat and cleaned the floor with first magic, her inquisitive mind that was now free from self-doubt, forced her to ask:
"Is there a reason why you choose to tell me about this right after settling the matters with the Council?"
"You're on fire tonight. Yes. Now that neither Awakened nor humans can mess with my plans, I'm going to Awaken Phloria. Faluel gave me permission to invite her as my plus one for the apprenticeship." Lith said.
Chapter 1002 A Gift Like No Other Part 2
"I'm sorry, but you lost me. Are you asking my permission to bring Phloria along or what?" Kamila's enthusiasm disappeared and her stomach churned as her insecurities returned.
She already didn't like the idea of Lith spending so much time cooped up with a beautiful woman like Faluel, but at least the Hydra was old enough to be his great-great-grandmother and neither of them seemed interested in the other.
Phloria, on the other hand, was just slightly older than Lith, was the only person he had opened up to for years, and was soon going to share with him Awakening on top of all the magical talents they already had in common.
Had Kamila known about Solus's existence, at that point she would have already declared that day her worst birthday ever.
Lith first explained to her how his presence and the constant practice of magic had induced Awakening in many people close to him. Tista, Yurial, and Phloria were the only ones he was aware of, but he kept a close eye on all his family members as well.
Only then did he reply to her question.
"I'm not asking for your permission. I'm just sharing with you my plans because I don't want any more secrets between us." Lith held her hand, finding it strangely cold. "I feel responsible for Phloria because what's happening to her is because of me.
"I'm not only talking about the Awakening, but also about her quitting the army. Without the support of the Awakened who wanted to destroy my personal life, Jirni would have probably already put an end to that farce of a trial.
"To make matters worse, I don't have much choice. If I don't help Phloria, she'll die. Even though we haven't seen each other much in the past four years, she's still one of my dearest friends and a person to whom I owe much.
"Without her, we probably wouldn't even be having this conversation because I would have broken up with you rather than sharing my secrets. Besides, if after Awakening her I don't teach Phloria how to use her newfound powers, she'll get both me and Faluel killed."
The last part awfully sounded like a lame excuse. Mostly because it was.
Kamila took a few deep breaths to calm down enough to not say things that she would later regret, like quoting the "out of sight, out of mind" idiom about the possibility of the apprenticeship rekindling his feelings for Phloria at the expense of their relationship.
"What about me? Am I going to Awaken as well?" Kamila asked.
"You have a barely orange core and I didn't remove many impurities from your body." Lith replied while scanning her with Invigoration. "Are you using magic a lot lately?"
"Yes. I can still kill people with first magic if they come close enough and Lady Ernas says that even the simplest trick can save our lives in times of need. She makes me use magic until I almost faint to temper my body and test my limits." Kamila said.
"It explains why your impurities have started to shift. The constant exposure to my mana flow combined with Invigoration and practice is affecting your system. Do you want to be Awakened?" He looked her in the eyes.
"To what end? I would see Zinya and the kids die just to live a long life alone in hiding. Awakening me now would just be a guilt trip on your side and a dick move on mine to force you to take care of me until death do us part." Kamila's voice and gaze were steady, but her hand trembled.
"What I want right now is an answer. I realize that you are an all-powerful Awakened Archmage who is probably going to outlive us all even with your crippled life force, but do you realize it as well?"
Before Lith could answer, she continued sharing her doubts.
"I know that this is just your second important relationship, so here is my question. Wouldn't it be better if you dated someone younger, with a less complicated life? Or someone richer and more important, so that no one in the Kingdom would dare to bother you?
"Or someone who's an Awakened mage as well? You could share with her all the marvels of magic and take your time deciding whether or not you want to settle down.
"I'm a 28 years old woman with more debts than savings, who has no power or influence, and whose career might crumble at any time just like it happened to Phloria. Are you sure you don't want to be with someone else?"
She let go of Lith's hand, both because Kamila wanted him to answer without the physical contact triggering any kind of guilt trip and because she felt the desperate need to hold onto something to calm her nerves.
Lith didn't reply immediately, taking a few seconds to consider her question and not give a hasty emotional answer.
"I do realize who I am, but even I don't know what I am. My parents are most certainly human, yet I'm anything but.
"Let's say that we discover that I'm some kind of otherworldly creature. A vengeful spirit similar to an Abominations who is just possessing a human body and slowly turning it into its own."
Kamila had shared her insecurities with him, so Lith felt compelled to do the same.
"There's no telling when my two life forces will merge nor how much will I change when it happens. If I turn out to be some kind of demon dragon with no place to live either among humans or beasts, would you really want to share such a horrible destiny with me?"
Kamila turned pale at those words. Lith's existence was amazing when considering it bit by bit, but when looking at his condition as a whole, it was utterly terrifying. Not even the most ancient creatures on Mogar knew what he was, and once they found out, anything could happen.
They might revere him as a king or hunt him down like a monster, and in both cases, he would be the only one of his kind.
'Am I really sure this is the life I want? Am I willing to put my career and family at stake for this man, with whom I have so little in common, after knowing him for barely over two years?' She thought for a while.
"Yes, I do." Kamila replied to both his question and her own while taking his hand that was still where she had left it.
"Then I don't want to be with anyone else." Lith stood up and walked around the table without letting her go.
He took Kamila between his arms, enjoying her warmth and the always sweet scent of her hair. Lith felt guilty because even though it was her birthday, none of the presents he had prepared could compare with that she had just given to him.
Her heartbeat, her perspiration, her eyes, and even the tone of her voice, everything about her said the same thing. Kamila had told him the truth, with no doubts nor hesitation.
***
Weghan region, near the city of Feymar, in the central part of the Griffon Kingdom.
Phloria Ernas looked at the barren landscape, wondering if the lack of vegetation was due to the presence of an undead plant dwelling in the vicinity or just Lady Spring being lazier than usual.
Chapter 1003 Clever Plans Part 1
"Are you in a bad mood again or did that clearing grope your ass to glare at it like that?" Friya Ernas asked from the back of her horse.
"I suspect there might be an undead nearby. Either that or the Winter King is not done with Feymar yet." Phloria waved at their surroundings while keeping an eye on the small caravan following them.
Belin of Feymar had gone from homeless to the middle class in just a few months by selling small mana crystals to the Mage Association. At first, no one had cared for him, thinking he had just been lucky since he brought only a few small gemstones worth barely a couple of silver pieces.
But instead of squandering the money on gambling or alcohol, Belin had bought himself a small house and a field, bringing more crystals to the Association each time his business needed funds to expand.
Belin had been careful, picking only small amounts at a time and never exchanging them when at the counter there was a clerk who already knew him. Thanks to that, the supervisor noticed Belin's name being mentioned multiple times only when he revised all reports to compile the annual inventory.
Instead of wasting time and resources to punish a victimless crime for which there was hardly proof, the supervisor made Belin an offer he couldn't refuse. Full immunity for the gemstones he had already sold and a hefty sum in exchange for the location of the unknown crystal vein.
Belin had already collected everything he could find, so he happily agreed. The ex-vagrant got himself a pretty house and the supervisor a promotion. All that remained to do was for a squad of miners and Crystalsmiths to check the place.
The crystals Belin had found were so small and their grade so low that they might as well just be a lucky find. Sure, crystals rarely reached the surface, but when they did, it was the presence of green gemstones the mark of the motherlode, not that of red ones like those Belin sold.
Preliminary reconnaissance of the terrain had failed to provide any clues, so the follow-up expedition required the utmost care. Crystal mines were priceless assets, especially with the ongoing struggle against the undead and the colonization plans for the Jiera continent.
The army suspected that either there was nothing to find and Belin had been extremely lucky, or he had just found the scraps left by illegal miners that would do anything to prevent the loss of their golden goose.
With most of the regular troops busy keeping the order and eradicating the Undead Courts whenever they found them, the army was understaffed to the point of asking the infamous Captain Ernas for help.
"Do you really still believe in those fairy tales?" Friya chuckled.
"No. I don't, but I like having someone to curse when one of my men loses his toes to frostbite." Listening to her own words reminded Phloria of her imminent discharge and made her sad.
At that point, the only question was if it would have been an honorable or dishonorable discharge.
"It's a good thing that you brought two professional Healers along, then." Friya pointed at herself and their sister, Quylla, who was keeping her horse near the caravan.
"Thanks for coming."
"Stop thanking me. You are making me feel like the worst sister ever. I didn't drop anything to give you a hand and I'm even getting paid for it." Friya tried and failed again to lighten the mood.
Phloria was tired of all the whispers and the mean looks that her presence caused due to the rumors Velan Deirus had spread, so to make her accept her final mission as a Captain, the army had been forced to agree to her two conditions.
The first was that Phloria refused to be the commanding officer. For all she knew, the mission might have as well been a set-up to further compromise her situation. The second was that she had demanded the presence of Friya's Crystal Shield guild.
"Sorry. It's just that between all that happened to me and the cowardly attempt to pin on Mom the blame for Balkor's return, I'm in dire need of someone trustworthy. I can't believe I dated that piece of shit of Kallion for almost six months." Phloria said with a snarl.
Friya's men were disguised as guards and the Crystalsmiths as miners. Without proof of the presence of a real vein, instead of sending elite units to scout the place, the army had opted for a softer approach.
Officially, the caravan belonged to a prospector in search for precious metals. It justified the deployment of guards and excavation tools without the risk of drawing the attention of local criminals that might be involved in the illegal mining operation.
Dimensional magic couldn't be used near crystal mines without the risk of triggering the detonation of the volatile gemstones. It was the reason why they were moving on horses rather than Warp Steps.
To make matters worse, Warping in the proximity of the mine would alert the enemies and leave them plenty of time to detonate the crystal veins before leaving. If the mine was in the hands of the undead, they would never let the Kingdom reclaim it nor leave anything behind that could lead to their Court.
A massive explosion would kill two birds and several elite units with one spell.
"By the way, I still can't believe Mom wiped the floor with the ass of a guy that big." Friya said. "Sure, she's well trained and everything, but Irehein was no pushover either. Not to mention he was much heavier and younger.
"Sometimes I can't help but wonder if Mom is just a monster of her own or if she's secretly blood-related to Lith. He's the only one I know who was that strong despite being that short back at the academy."
"None of the above." Phloria whispered, forcing Friya to come closer while she conjured a Hushed zone. "She just cheated. A few days before the Court was summoned, Mom got Manohar to rejuvenate her and give her what he calls 'a little extra boost'.
"By the time they fought, she had practiced long enough to get accustomed to her younger and enhanced body. That Irehein idiot had no chance from the start. Serves him right for deserting Dad after everything our father did for him."
Friya's brain froze at the revelation.
'This doesn't make sense. How could Mom prepare in advance for a fight issued in response to an accusation that she had no way to know that Nuragor would have made?
'The only possible explanation is that she already knew the topic of the conversation because she's really responsible for the attacks and had everyone dancing in the palm of her hand. But that's preposterous!' Yet it was the truth.
The caves where the crystal veins were allegedly located was close enough to Feymar that it only took a full day of travel to reach their entrance. The Crystalsmiths cast several detection arrays, but found no trace of enemies and crystals alike.
"I'm sorry, Captain Kortus, but so far the scouts were right. The crystals must be deep underground if there are any." Tlea Ormann, the Crystalsmith foreman said.
"Don't worry, Tlea. It only makes our little covert operation smoother since we can place as many arrays as we want. Any suggestions, Captain Ernas?"
Chapter 1004 Clever Plans Part 2
Kortus Dast was a mage in his mid-thirties about 1.73 meters (5'8") tall, with short black hair and ice-blue eyes. He found it hard to accept that such a young woman was taller than him and held his same rank, yet he managed to keep the edge off his voice.
"Negative, Sir. Aside from setting the perimeter, there isn't much to do." Phloria actually had an eerie feeling in her gut, but preferred to keep it to herself.
'If I tell them and I'm wrong, I'll be blamed for wasting everyone's time while if I'm right, I'll be blamed for not being able to prevent whatever will happen. I already learned the rules of this game during the past year.
'To undermine my success, they'll make so that no matter the choice I make, it will be considered wrong in hindsight. I'll share my impressions only with Friya, so that if the worst happens and we save the day thanks to her guildmates, at least her career will flourish.' She thought.
Phloria was tired of playing nice and let others ride her achievements to further their career while she was stuck as a Captain. The moment Kortus dismissed the meeting, she joined her sisters for dinner, uncaring for all the disdainful looks the soldiers threw at her.
"Can you feel it, too?" Quylla asked. Even though she sat in front of the big campfire, she couldn't stop shivering.
"Yes." Phloria said while rubbing her arms to get rid of the chill running through her body.
"Feel what?" Friya felt left out, so she Hushed their surroundings even though it was considered a rude gesture.
"After spending a long time in Kulah, both Quylla and I became sensitive to huge mana fields." Phloria said.
"It couldn't be stronger than that of the academy." Friya raised an eyebrow in disbelief. "I'm not saying that I don't believe you, just that it doesn't make much sense. Everyone here is a veteran of several battlefields yet you're the only ones affected. What makes Kulah so special?"
"It's not a matter of how strong the field is, but how hostile it is." Quylla explained. "The Mana Reactor, the Golems, and even the gates, everything was designed to keep people out. We didn't notice it at first, but after a while, you feel like there's a blade constantly pocking at your throat."
"The good news is that whatever it is, the source of the mana field has nothing of the pure hatred and suffering that permeated Kulah. The bad news is that these kinds of things are never natural." Phloria said.
After killing her first human at barely fifteen during an academy's exam, surviving Balkor, Nalear, and the Forbidden Magic ritual in Zantia, Friya had learned that, for a mage, optimism was the quickest way to the grave.
She doubled the guard around the camp and had her guildmates keep everything they might need at hand in the case the enemy trapped them inside a dimensional sealing array.
The army soldiers sneered at the excessive safety precautions the Crystal Shield took, considering them a bunch of paranoid rookies. The mercenaries, instead, considered the soldiers a bunch of morons.
Not only had their guild master yet to fail them, but she had also negotiated for that mission a payment equal to what the soldiers would earn in a month.
The night passed with no incidents, just as Phloria expected.
"Trained opponents act completely differently from regular bandits, sis." She said to Friya during their guard shift. The three of them had decided to not get separated from each other, no matter what, so they did everything together.
"Even if someone was expecting our arrival, they will not leave obvious traps to not reveal their presence until they are ready to strike. Usually, the first day is all about scouting the number of enemies, their tactics, and their defenses.
"There's a lot that you can discover about a group just by looking at how they set up their camp. A smart soldier will not employ cookie-cut strategies, but adapt those they are more skilled with to the situation at hand.
"Have your guildmates scout more than guard, so that the enemy can't observe us freely, and rather than setting up complex arrays, focus on simple but annoying formations, like barriers.
"This way, during the first attack, the strong energy field will be hard to take down and screw the enemy's tempo, giving you the time to devise a proper counter.
"The greatest flaw of being a bodyguard is that you always play on defense, reacting rather than striking first." Phloria drew a sketch of their surroundings, marking the points where she would put scouts if she was in charge of attacking the caravan.
"Thanks, sis. Did you learn this stuff at the boot camp or at the officer training course?" Friya was mostly self-taught about strategy, and even though escort missions were the most common, they were also those she hated the most.
Crushing the enemy meant nothing if the client died or the goods were stolen in the chaos of the battle. Her favorite assignments were clearing dungeons and capturing criminals, preferably the dead or alive kind, because they allowed her to go all-out.
"No, I learned from experience. The boot camp is all about teamwork and basic strategies, whereas the officer course is focused on war tactics. The problem with standard strategies is that not only any cultured enemy knows them as well, but also no battle plan survives the encounter with the enemy.
"There are too many things that can go wrong. One person makes a mistake and the entire formation crumbles." Phloria and Friya sighed while thinking about the teammates they had lost over time due to bad luck, carelessness, or incompetence.
"You know, I can't help but think back when we were at the academy, following Lith and his paranoid multi-layered plans." Friya said. "Even when one of them failed, there was always a contingency plan, and in the end, we all came out alive, no matter the danger."
"That's because Lith is so strong that even when we were taken by surprise, he'd buy us enough time to regroup and strategize. On top of that, we were no pushover either and were capable of executing his plans down to a t." Phloria said.
"Gods, I miss those days so badly." Friya updated her men according to Phloria's suggestion and restored the Hush zone around them. "Back then, grades were my greatest daily worry, I had no responsibility, and the future was something to look forward to rather than be afraid of. I can't believe I was in such a rush to grow up."
"That makes the two of us." Phloria sighed.
"Make it three." Quylla said, finally brave enough to join the conversation.
"It lives!" Her sisters said in unison and ruffled Quylla's hair, making her swear as a truck driver while she tried to make them stop treating her like a kid.
The moment didn't last long, but it took the chill off their hearts.
The camp awoke before sunrise and had breakfast while it was still dark to not waste a single second of precious sunlight. The members of the expedition were split into teams, each one comprised of miners, Royal Prospectors, and bodyguards.
Royal Prospectors were not just Crystalsmiths, but also skilled Wardens and structural engineers.
Chapter 1005 Talent and Experience Part 1
Royal Prospectors would use arrays to detect the presence of enemies and crystals alike. Thanks to earth magic, they could safely dig new tunnels or expand the natural network of caves.
Then, it would be the miners' job to dig around according to the information provided by the Prospectors. In their original state, mana crystals didn't like magic. Using powerful spells in their proximity could easily make them explode and trigger a chain reaction that would wipe out the entire crystal vein.
The tools the miners used were enchanted so to improve their durability and efficiency. A single worker could dig faster than a drill, but with crystals, skill and finesse were more important than speed.
"Gods, give me strength." Quylla turned pale while entering the tunnels.
"Since when are you afraid of enclosed spaces?" Friya could understand if the memories of Kulah still haunted her sister, but she knew for a fact that until a few months ago, Quylla had no such problem.
After everything that had happened at the White Griffon, Quylla had lost her naivety and put up a thick skin. After escaping from the Odi ruins, she didn't lose a single night sleep and visited several underground ruins.
That and the fact that Quylla didn't answer the question, made her sisters worry.
The caves were dark and damp, bearing no trace of previous mining activity. The Prospectors removed the asperities in the ground and made it coarse so to provide a firm foothold.
After a few hours, the expedition had yet to find any sign of mana crystals or of living creatures dwelling underground.
Before exploring deeper, the Prospectors had to safely enlarge the tunnels and stabilize the complex while the miners collected rock samples that would be later studied at the camp with alchemical equipment.
Phloria had no intention of sitting idly, so she listened to the scouts' reports, and then she took flight to study the area from above. Based on what she had seen so far, Phloria ruled out the hypothesis of an illegal mining operation at the hand of human bandits.
No matter how skilled or cautious they might be, humans were bound to leave traces of their passage behind. They needed light to see in the dark, food to keep their strength, and tools to work.
After long hours of hard work in the mines, even if they still had the energy to close the passages, they were bound to make mistakes. Undead, on the other hand, needed nothing but a safe haven where to hide during the day.
Day after day, they would make mistakes as well, but to find them one had to think outside of the box.
The entrance to the caves was located in a small clearing that the Prospectors had widened at their arrival but the surrounding terrain was hilly, leaving a lot of places for the undead to hide.
All officers of the Griffon Kingdom had thoroughly studied undead ever since the invasion had become public knowledge and Phloria was no exception. First, she checked the surrounding area for kilometers, to make sure that the lack of greenery wasn't limited only to the caves.
Once that she ruled out the presence of undead plants, she marked all the hills big enough to hide the food stocks that such a strenuous operation would require. The undead could lay almost anywhere as long as they were shielded from sunlight, but their victims were another story entirely.
They needed food, water, and space. Be them humans or beasts, once they turned into undead, it was their need to keep the source of their nourishment close to betray their presence.
By the time she was done, the sun was about to set. Phloria shared her findings with Captain Kortus and Friya while dining together.
"My suggestion is to send teams to perform Life Sensing Arrays tomorrow morning. Undead can dig deep holes for themselves, but the living need air to breathe." She said.
"It's an excellent plan, Captain Ernas, but I'm afraid we lack the necessary manpower to put it into action. The Wardens can either scout the area or expand the caves and I'm inclined to prioritize the latter." Kortus said with a gentle smile.
"I believe you're being overly cautious. We have yet to find any trace of crystals, let alone enemies. Delaying the exploration would just be a waste of time, especially if it turns out there are no crystal veins.
"Every day we spend here is a day when our troops can't help those really in need. If and when we find the vein, I'll authorize your plan. Until then, speed is of the essence."
"Yeah, too bad that by then it will be too late." Friya said. "Once we find the crystals, there will be too many assets to defend and our forces will be spread too thin to be effective against a well-executed attack.
"I'll send my men on-site first thing in the morning. They are no Wardens, but luckily, Life Sensing arrays are simple and such a huge group of life forces can be detected even by a half-baked spell."
Her words made Kortus's face turn into stone.
"I need to speak with you in private, Captain Ernas." He stood up, gesturing her to follow him.
"Whatever you might have to say, you can do it in front of my sister. This is my last mission and we have the same rank. You can't order me around and even if you report me, it will not change my situation one bit." Phloria's flat tone only made the man turn to a brighter shade of purple.
"Fine. When I asked you if you had any suggestions, you said you had none. Yet the next thing you did was to ignore protocol and go exploring on your own. Now you come back with your crazy theories that your sister is eager to indulge.
"This way, if something happens, you'll take credit and I'll pass for an incompetent. To make matters worse, if soldiers and mercenaries follow different orders, the teamwork will be disrupted and the trust in the chain of command will falter.
"You have all rights to be angry with the army, but that doesn't authorize you to undermine my authority nor compromise the mission. You're not a Ranger like your friend, you're supposed to play ball." He managed to keep his voice cold but polite.
"You are incompetent, otherwise you would have thought about those issues yourself. I didn't share my thoughts earlier because I'm tired of others taking credit for my ideas, just like I refused to lead the mission because I usually get assigned to me undisciplined soldiers who ignore my orders and then blame me for their failures.
"I asked for Friya's guild because private contractors prioritize survival over dumb pride or political plays. All the money on Mogar is pointless if they are too dead to spend it." Phloria said while looking at him straight in the eye.
"Bottom line, I'm done 'playing ball'. The mission will succeed because I'm here, but the number of casualties will depend on how badly you play your cards and it will affect your career. This time, I won't be anyone's scapegoat."
Kortus froze in place as his future suddenly looked dark. He had gladly accepted the mission, planning to use Phloria as a crutch. If things went well, they would have shared the merits and maybe he would have made connections with the powerful Ernas household.
Chapter 1006 Talent and Experience Part 2
Worst case scenario, he would have pinned the blame on her and taken credit for saving the mission. Phloria, however, had cut off all of his safe routes. As second in command, she had to step in only in the case he wasn't up to the task.
On top of that, Phloria had yet to give a single order, she only provided intel and suggestions, letting Kortus make all decisions. Yet with absolute power came the full responsibility.
Friya's mercenaries only made Kortus's situation worse by offering a benchmark. The more successful they would be, the more incompetent he would appear.
Before he could find a proper retort, Phloria and Friya walked out of the command tent and joined Quylla around the campfire.
"Do you really think there are undead here?" Friya cast Hush so often that no one glared at her anymore.
"Honestly? No. But checking the area just takes a bit of time whereas if I'm wrong, things could get out of hand quickly. I'm okay with this being my last mission as a Captain, not with it being the last thing I do." Phloria said.
The following day, Captain Kortus stuck to his plan and tasked the Prospectors with expanding the caves in the hope to be done with the mission as soon as possible.
If they kept not finding anything, the expedition could leave while if they located the crystal veins, the High Command would send reinforcements to secure the area, making Kortus's job foolproof.
Friya, instead, followed Phloria's advice and ordered the members of the Crystal Shield guild to report every five minutes, no matter if they found something or not. Undead attacked as fast and silently as magical beasts.
If someone disappeared, knowing their last known position would be of crucial importance.
Quylla had still a long way to go before becoming capable of fighting hand to hand, so she helped the Prospectors with her limited knowledge of arrays and her keen mana perception.
"There's something behind this wall." She said to Tlea Ormann, a plump woman in her late fifties with red hair and green eyes, who was the Prospector Foreman.
"Are you sure?" Tlea had spent more time inside crystal mines than at her own home, which gave her plenty of experience in the field. "I'm sorry, but according to my arrays, there is just more rock behind that rock."
"Do me a favor and humor me, please." Quylla was certain that the eerie feeling she had sensed since the day of their arrival came from there, along with a mana pressure so intense that made her eyes water.
'Whatever this is, I'm going to face it head-on.' She thought, tired of living in fear and second-guessing herself. 'All successful mages are confident, like Manohar. Scratch that, he's not confident, more like insane.'
"Everything for an Ernas." Tlea chuckled and gave Quylla a curtsy. "Just tell your father I'm still waiting for my staff."
Quylla felt embarrassed at the idea of having exploited her family name and was still stuttering an apology when the wall opened, revealing a second network of caves that went deeper underground.
"I take back everything I just said." Tlea used her communication amulet to call her colleagues. "You're wasted as a Healer. Are you sure you're not interested in becoming a Royal Prospector?"
Quylla stuttered some more until the pressure coming from the new caves was overshadowed by something worse. The ground in front of the two women rippled as if someone had thrown a pebble on the surface of a lake and a handsome man came out of it.
He looked to be around his mid-thirties and was about 1.8 meters (5'11") tall, with wheat-blonde air and grey eyes. The man was wearing a tailor-made white silk shirt and leather pants that emphasized his muscular built.
His goatee gave his delicate features a manly and wise appearance that almost made Quylla miss the fact that he was holding a sword in his right hand and a heart in his left.
Almost.
"Noor, Do your thing." He said apparently to no one while he threw both items in the air and dived back into the ground.
"A Ghoul and a Mage Slayer!" Quylla yelled inside her amulet after recognizing them both from the description Lith had given her.
A Ghoul was an undead that was free to move during the day as long as it avoided sunlight. Contrary to the lore, their appearance was no different from that of a human, at least until they ate.
Ghouls needed to feed upon living flesh to sustain their existence and were capable of swimming through solid rock just like Nalrond. That coupled with regenerative abilities on par with trolls made them very hard to kill.
Both the sword and the heart stopped in mid-air, releasing an orange mist that quickly assumed the humanoid features and red eyes typical of a Mage Slayer. They were usually born from the dying body of a powerful swordsman.
In their new form, they would be unable to use fake magic, but their undead nature combined with their skills allowed them to channel the elemental energy into their swordplay.
Mage Slayers weren't true mages, but they were able to cast spells without any chant or hand signs. They just needed to perform a series of attacks to unleash all kinds of elemental attacks up to tier three.
On top of that, magic was their source of nourishment, making all kinds of direct spells useless against them, no matter their tier. Both fake and true mages had a hard time facing someone with infinite stamina that could use magic by simply swinging their blades in close combat.
It was the reason why Rezo the Ghoul didn't even bother attacking. Alone against so many mages, it was suicide for a Ghoul, but a feast for a Mage Slayer. The only weak points Noor had, were her heart and darkness magic.
The former held her blood core, but she could freely move it inside the orange mist, making it invisible, while the latter was too slow to be a threat to someone as nimble as her.
Quylla cursed her bad luck and Blinked away while grabbing Tlea. Noor's blade only hit the air, making the mist that comprised her body ripple in annoyance before she moved onto her next target.
A few Prospectors panicked and unleashed the spells stored in their rings, providing the Mage Slayer with the first decent meal in weeks. The orange mist absorbed the elemental energy while the heart within fed upon the mana and stored it inside the blood core.
Noor's body recovered part of its human features, allowing her to smile as a thank you while she lunged at the idiotic mages in the hope to receive seconds.
"Dimensional magic as well? You really are wasted as a Healer!" Tlea stared at Quylla in awe.
Despite the fact that they were far from being safe, all the Royal Prospector could think about was how to convince the young mage to switch careers. Tlea had studied at one of the six great academies as well, but she only obtained the Warden specialization.
She had never been capable of manipulating and fusing six elements at the same time, so dimensional magic was beyond her reach and with it most of the combat roles the Association had to offer.
Luckily, Tlea had succeeded in Crystalsmithing. That together with her Warden abilities had granted her a wealthy and comfortable life.
Chapter 1007 The Mark of a Genius Part 1
Both Crystalsmithing and Dimensional Magic were considered lesser specializations, but while the former was just treated as the last chance out of mediocrity for those who failed at achieving a real specialization, the latter was considered the mark of a truly powerful mage.
None of those who graduated from an academy would be graded above B if they failed at dimensional magic, no matter how good their marks in the other disciplines were.
"Thanks, but no thanks." Quylla replied even before Tlea could think about a decent pitch.
As long as she kept Tlea close, Blinking two people cost the same as one, which was of paramount importance since the spell had limited range and reaching the safety of sunlight required a few of them.
Ghouls and Mage Slayers could move during the day, but the sun was still their bane.
Unfortunately for the two women, Rezo wasn't the only Ghoul in the cave, just like Noor wasn't the only Mage Slayer. Teams of two were scattered along the walls, with the Ghouls unleashing their partners before hiding underground and waiting for an opportunity to attack.
The Mage Slayers had been dropped on critical junctions of the caves, forcing those who tried to escape to face them no matter the route they took. The Ghouls, instead, had sealed all the entrances with earth magic and kept them that way.
"Fuck me sideways!" Quylla found a Mage Slayer in the middle of her path and all the exits closed. To her, all tunnels looked the same and without a clear mental image of her destination, Blink was useless.
She could use Warp Steps to get outside, but casting it required time, something that the undead weren't willing to allow her.
The camp wasn't faring much better. A horde of skeletons and zombies had popped out of the ground, surrounding the arrays and preventing anyone from getting in or out.
On the one hand, lesser undead were brainless creatures that couldn't use any magical tool because they were incapable of imprinting them, but on the other, to them the sun meant nothing.
Only the strong barriers that Friya had her guild set up in accordance with Phloria's strategy had kept the expedition from being wiped out in one wave. The various elemental blocking arrays were useless against creatures that fought solely using their bodies.
"This is a diversion!" Phloria yelled at the top of her lungs, to make sure that everyone heard her. "Their real aim is to kill the Prospectors. Without them, no matter if we win or lose this battle, the mission will fail."
She hated the fact that not only speaking made her a target, but also prevented her from casting spells. Panic, however, was the greatest weapon of the undead.
'Prospectors suck at fighting and soldiers need teamwork to beat physically superior opponents. We couldn't assign many bodyguards because of the limited space inside the caves and because it was more practical to keep reinforcements on stand-by.
'Whoever planned this, he's good.' Phloria thought.
"I'm going in to rescue Quylla. Can you hold the camp by yourself?" Friya had just finished recalling all the members of the Crystal Shield guild and was now using her custom-made communication amulet as a map.
Orion had planted tracker spells inside the armor of all his children, allowing Friya to pinpoint Quylla. On top of that, on Friya's request, Orion had added to her amulet the camera feature.
By scanning a place, she could conjure its hologram to serve as a memory aid. Even the Master of Space needed to know her destination and the camera allowed her to return to places with no landmarks or that she was unfamiliar with.
Useless to say, her communication amulet was a very expensive prototype.
"Yes, but I could use some help." A powerful explosion made the ground quake and the barrier falter, forcing Phloria to start chanting.
"I'll get back as soon as I can. If you finish first, join me." Friya focused on the hologram in front of her to jog her memory.
She couldn't reach a place just by seeing its picture. Warping didn't just require to combine all the elements together, it was also a matter of time and space awareness. Recreating a place in her mind while weaving complex spells at the same time was incredibly difficult.
Lith usually had no trouble doing it only because even though he rarely remembered even what he had for breakfast, Solus did. Using someone else's memory to cast dimensional and offensive spells together was something only cursed objects could do.
"Good gods, some of the skeletons have their ribcage and skull stuffed with Fire Seeds. One of them was enough to make the array tremble. You have to stop them before they break the barrier and kill us all!" Captain Kortus ordered.
Fire Seeds were fireballs in a candy-like shell that exploded on contact. Even lesser undead could use such an Alchemical tool.
"How exactly, Captain Obvious?" More than one soldier replied, too desperate to care about insubordination charges.
Except for the darkness element, magic was nigh-useless against the undead. Fire, ice, and lightning bolts caused them no pain and only massive spells could inflict them real damage. Air blades produced clean cuts that were mended simply by joining the severed limbs.
All soldiers used their wands to bombard with darkness magic the mass of skeletons and zombies hammering at the barrier with their bodies, but there were just too many. On top of that, from time to time a Fire Seed loaded skeleton would cut through the ranks and threaten to bring down the barrier.
The elite units were with the Prospectors, leaving in the camp mostly soldiers with alchemical tools. Being split from their main force made them incapable to deploy their best strategies and a panicking officer didn't help.
That's why Phloria activated her tier five Mage Knight spell, Death Bastion, instead of going on the offensive. Death Bastion would usually conjure a stone wall infused with darkness magic, but she turned it upside-down, using the wall to instantly create a deep trench all around the barrier.
The lesser undead fell with the grace of bricks and blindly followed their orders, climbing the rock walls to resume their attack, just like Phloria had planned. The entirety of the trench was brimming with darkness magic that sapped their strength and turned most of the undead to dust before they could get out.
With a clear path to victory in front of them, the soldiers didn't miss the opening and focused their attacks on the creatures near the top of the trench. It helped Phloria to keep the undead contained and left a clear line of sight of the battlefield.
Now it was possible to see the ground ripple and the explosive skeleton coming out of it in time to make it explode at a safe distance.
"Half of you, eyes on the ground. Ghouls fear sunlight, but we provide them with plenty of shade. They could drop all kinds of nasty surprises right outside the barrier. Don't focus only on the skeletons and prepare for the next wave.
"The other half use this time to put fresh crystals to fuel the barrier and make sure the arrays are intact." Once the units resumed working like a well-oiled machine, Phloria poured more mana in her spell and forced the trench to close.
Chapter 1008 The Mark of a Genius Part 2
Death Bastion turned into a vise that ground skeletons into dust and zombies into meat paste. After losing their infantry, the Ghouls stopped the attack and retreated. The barrier prevented them from sneaking inside the camp from below just like the sun made attacking from above suicidal.
"This is all your fault!" Captain Kortus said before people could have a clear idea of what had happened. "If you didn't order the mercenaries to leave the camp, this wouldn't have happened. Your thirst for glory left us open to an attack!"
Phloria's right hook put an end to the argument, breaking Kortus's jaw, cheekbone, and sending him tumbling on the ground until a carriage stopped him.
"In case you've already forgotten, there's still people in the caves who need our help. All those who are combat-ready follow me. We need to open that door!" She looked at the sky, hoping to see the Friya's guildmates back.
They were all mages and Phlroia could use some backup. Yet she couldn't afford to wait and charged at the entrance now sealed by stone. A tier three earth magic spell, Implosion, made the wall collapse safely, only for it to reform a second later.
It would have been long enough for Phloria to Blink inside, but doing it would also mean to leave the soldiers without a leader nor orders to follow.
'Gods, I wish Lith was here. He would find the Ghouls in the walls in no time with Life Vision, whereas I have to waste time casting an array.' She thought, hoping that Friya could buy her enough time.
Meanwhile, inside the caves, Quylla was fighting for her life. Mage Slayers were true to their name and required a talented fighter to beat them. Until that moment, the elite soldiers had managed to prevent casualties by teaming up and drinking potions.
The former allowed them to overpower the undead with numbers and the latter to bridge most of the gap in their physical prowess. Yet the situation was slowly getting worse.
Mage Slayers wouldn't get tired and while they couldn't be hurt unless their heart was hit, every small cut the mage soldiers suffered would drain their energies faster. The Prospectors were Wardens, and arrays not only required a long cast time, but would also affect their allies as well.
A melee fight was too chaotic to throw a random spell and hope it would hit the right target. Even the soldiers that used rings or wands to instantly conjure darkness bullets ended up hitting only the orange mist that comprised the Slayer's bodies.
To make matters worse, the undead were capable of conjuring spells with no notice, simply by swinging their weapons.
'Think, Quylla, think. It's an easy problem. All I have to do is to reveal their hearts without using magic since it would strengthen them nor swordplay because I suck at it.' Her thoughts oozed sarcasm.
'Messing with the ground is not an option because they are frigging gas. Air magic would blow the mist away if it didn't feed on mana. What the heck can I do? The only physical parts a Mage Slayer has are the heart and the weapon…'
A crazy idea formed in her head as she dodged a stray lightning bolt and took her Royal Forgemaster wand out of her pocket.
"Keep him still for a second!" Quylla yelled at the three soldiers surrounding the undead who was actually female.
They already had a hard time dodging the blade of the Mage Slayer and the spells it conjured, but the mage soldiers obeyed nonetheless. Quylla wore the uniform of the Assistant Professors of the White Griffon academy, so they assumed that she had to be competent.
Moreover, all their attacks until that moment had failed, leaving the mage soldiers open to suggestions. Noor emitted a sound that sounded like a sneer and resumed her assault.
Even though a Mage Slayer's body was made of mist, the strength behind each of their strikes was greater than that of any mortal and each one of them in life had been a blade master.
If not for the body enhancing potions the soldiers had drunk, they wouldn't even be able to follow Noor's movements. The mage soldiers could only dodge or deflect, because the last person to attempt a block had their wrist broken on impact.
One of them moved behind the undead, unleashing a tier two darkness spell aimed to her head that dispersed the mist. It dealt no damage but disrupted the Mage Slayer's perceptions enough for the other two to block her floating blade with a scissor maneuver.
Quylla knew that even by joining their efforts they couldn't hold for long against an unrelenting enemy. Yet a second was all she needed. A silvery strand that resembled a thin whip came out of her wand and wrapped the blade.
When Quylla activated her Forgemaster spell, Clean Slate, which traveled through the wand and its strand, affecting the magical blade as if Quylla was touching it.
Clean Slate generated a combined pulse of light and darkness magic that would temporarily short circuit the imprint on a magical item. In the case of the Mage Slayer, her blade was her own life.
Contrary to what many believed, the weapon of a Mage Slayer would become part of their bodies after they were turned into undead. The blood core and the pseudo core were linked, allowing the enchanted blade to grow in strength over time along with its master.
The magical short circuit caused the life force of the Mage Slayer to flood the blade in the attempt to jump-start its pseudo core. Yet until the effects of Clean Slate faded, their bond would remain broken.
The orange mist suddenly disappeared and without its cover, it took Quylla but a tier one spell to destroy Noor's heart.
"Forget the hearts and destroy their weapons. That's their real weak point!"
The mage soldier switched their blades with maces, so that each hit delivered or taken would weaken the thin weapons the undead used.
"Good to know, sis." Friya appeared right beside Quylla, enveloped by the blue aura of Full Guard and the golden sparkles of light from her personal tier five spell, Dimensional Ruler.
The former was a common Mage Knight spell, that created a spherical blue aura with a radius of 1.65 meters (5.41 feet) around its caster.
Thanks to Full Guard, a Mage Knight had no blind spots. Whatever entered the sphere would be detected, allowing Friya to counter-attack and dodge with surgical precision without even looking.
The latter, instead, did exactly what its name implied, bending the rules of the battlefield to her whims. Used in combination, they granted Friya a full dimensional awareness and a mastery over space limited solely by her imagination.
The Mage Slayers didn't like Quylla disclosing a secret that had gone unnoticed for millennia and were determined to not leaving any witness of the revelation alive. Even beasts and Awakened were unaware of how deep the bond between the undead and their weapons were.
In front of a beating heart of flesh and a piece of metal that could be as durable as Orichalcum, no one ever bothered attacking the weapon. Those strong or skilled enough to find the heart would triumph, while everyone else would die.
That was what the Mage Slayers considered the natural order of things and they would do anything to keep it that way.
Chapter 1009 Awakening Power Part 1
Another undead unleashed a ring of fire that forced his opponents to step back and used that opening to lunge at Quylla. Friya pushed her away in the nick of time, taking the hit in her stead.
The longsword pierced her chest until the hilt struck her bosom and produced a silvery sound when hitting the Orichalcum of her boosted Skinwalker armor.
A less skilled opponent would have rejoiced to see the blade protruding from her back in its full length, but the Mage Slayer shivered in fear instead.
It had been too easy.
The lunge had encountered no resistance passing through the Orichalcum, flesh, and bones. It didn't make sense, especially the fact that not a single inch of the blade was covered in blood nor inside her body.
The undead knew his weapon like the back of his hand and couldn't miss that too many things didn't add up. He tried to pull the blade out, but it was too late. The dimensional fissure created in front of Friya that led to her back closed, breaking the weapon in half.
The Mage Slayer shrieked in pain as he used all of his might to regenerate the blade before it was too late. His efforts made the heart brim with mana, revealing its position and allowing Friya to turn the undead into ashes with a flick of her rapier.
"That's one." Friya bolted forward while the golden sparkles of Dimensional Ruler coated her weapon.
She unleashed a volley of Plague Arrows, uncaring of the mage soldiers that the undead used to cover her line of fire like meat shields.
The Mage Slayers shrugged and performed the sword movements required to conjure a fireball. The explosion would hurt their companions since feeding upon undead magic was akin to poison, but they couldn't let her get close.
Suddenly the Plague Arrows and the soldiers Switched, forcing the Mage Slayers to focus on dodging them or becoming swiss cheese.
Friya Blinked between two of them, knowing that her own mana couldn't hurt her.
"Two and three." She slashed at her enemies who instinctively blocked, only for the golden aura surrounding the rapier to cut the space and leave an unstable fissure in front of them.
The explosion hit them from the front and the Arrows from behind, while Friya Blinked back beside Quylla, unscathed. Dimensional Ruler was mana expensive, but as long as it was active, all of her dimensional spells had no casting time.
The Mage Slayer that was about to attack Quylla stopped abruptly and focused on Friya so much that she didn't notice Quylla's silver string hitting her blade until it was too late.
The other Mage Slayers didn't like how things were going and since the Prospectors had already revealed the secret of their blades through the communication amulets, the undead considered the battle to be lost.
The Mage Slayers tapped the walls with the hilt of their weapons, signaling their allies to come and rescue them. The Ghouls arrived, but not the way the Mage Slayers were expecting.
While weaving the Life Sensing array, the world in front of Phloria's eyes had changed. Everything had turned into shades of grey, even the sky. The only colors she could see came from her own equipment, her soldiers, and some humanoid blots in the stone wall in front of her.
"Fire at will!" Phloria said after using first magic to imitate the effects of the array and marking the enemies' position with wisps of light.
She stabbed at the closest enemy with her estoc, piercing through the solid rock as if it was paper and unleashing the spells stored within the Reaver.
Orion had enchanted her estoc with the ability to hold spells on its own. Reaver relieved Phloria from the mental burden of keeping several spells at the ready required and prevented them from fading in the case she lost her focus.
Unlike a magic holding ring, the estoc couldn't hold spells indefinitely, but only for a short while. Yet battles would rarely last long and having the temporary equivalent of several magic holding rings of all tiers had countless applications.
The good thing about hiding inside the ground was that it concealed the Ghouls from sight and no normal weapon nor element could affect them. On the other hand, however, once they were discovered, they were sitting ducks.
Swimming through the ground made them slow compared to someone that could walk or run and also made them extremely vulnerable to earth magic. Phloria's Reaver made the rock surrounding one of the Ghouls implode on him, killing him on the spot.
The soldiers followed her lead, using earth magic wands to smoke out the other Ghouls and shatter their bodies. The broken forms of the shocked undead crawled like worms, trying to buy enough time to heal.
A Ghoul's regenerative abilities were on par with trolls, allowing their injuries to mend a split second after they were opened. On top of that, Ghouls could use the darkness element in its true magic form like most undead and the earth element due to their natural affinity with it.
Fake or true, however, all spells needed to be cast. The undead had at the ready only support spells and the means for sneak attacks since they were supposed to be invisible.
The sudden turn of events left them with nothing but their unnatural physical prowess and first magic. The former wasn't worth much due to their multiple fractures while the latter couldn't do much against the powerful tier three darkness spells stored inside the Alchemical tools.
"Seal earth magic and none of them will escape!" Phloria ordered the Prospectors that were doing their best to not get in the way of the reinforcements and to support them however they could.
The Prospectors nodded and started to chant in unison, greatly shortening the array's casting time. Phloria smirked seeing the panicked expression on the Mage Slayers' faces as they realized they were on a ticking clock.
To make matters worse for them, without the Ghouls using their willpower to block all forms of earth magic from inside the caves, the Prospectors were now free to use simple spells to open holes into the ceiling and the walls to let the sunlight in.
It created safe areas where the undead couldn't step in and greatly limited their movements.
Phloria ignored the weak darkness spell the hapless Ghoul threw at her, letting it crash against her armor, and pierced his chest with the Reaver, unleashing a darkness blast that turned it into ashes.
The limbs and the head were still alive, a clear sign that she had missed the heart, allowing the Ghoul to regenerate the missing torso at a speed visible at the naked eye.
"I suck at lotteries." Phloria used a simple air spell to send the five body parts rolling on a sunny area, where they caught fire as if she had thrown them inside a furnace.
By the time the Ghoul was burned to cinders, however, the others had already recuperated and were now fighting side by side with the Mage Slayers.
An undead swordmaster lunged at Phloria to keep her from casting any more spells and put her on the defense. He was shocked by the strength with which she easily parried the attack, changing the path of the blade and ruining the spell he had been weaving to complement the follow-up.
Chapter 1010 Awakening Power Part 2
Phloria sidestepped and quickly jabbed with her left, producing a flurry of fists fast and strong enough to scatter the orange mist at its passage.
"There it is." She said, revealing the position of the floating heart.
The undead had yet to recover his stance when Phloria's blade locked his own in place while her left hand grabbed the vital organ, squashing it, like grape.
"We're dead if we stay here. Do you trust me?" A Ghoul asked her Mage Slayer partner as the tide of the battle turned grimmer with each passing second.
The silent undead just shook his head, making her curse.
"Well, too bad!" She grabbed both the blade and the heart before throwing herself against the nearest wall while keeping them close to her chest. Her earth magic made it crumble and sunlight made her burn.
The Ghoul used her body's regenerative abilities to survive and protect her partner long enough to plunge into the ground again, leaving the other undead in even hotter waters.
"Thanks for the assist, sis. Now, for my next trick…" Friya spread her hands, opening a dimensional door in front of each hole in the walls and capturing the sunlight. She also placed their exit points so to light the entirety of the caves.
Sunlight was the only thing that could make undead experience pain as if they were still alive. All the spells the Ghouls had prepared were lost due to the sudden agony breaking their focus.
At the same time, the orange mist that comprised the bodies of the Mage Slayers dissipated, revealing their weak spot.
What followed was a slaughter that ended so fast that the Prospectors never got to complete their earth blocking array.
"You're amazing!" Quylla said while looking at Friya in awe.
Many nodded in agreement like parrots. The battle had been so desperate and chaotic that its abrupt ending made the survivor feel as if Friya had turned the tables all by herself.
"Well, that's true," She accepted the compliment but she also didn't like to hog all the glory. Both her sisters needed a victory. "Dimensional magic is amazing. That's why it's usually sealed first, but don't forget that it does no damage by itself.
"It's all about exploiting opportunities and without the two of you, everyone here would be dead. It was you Quylla, who discovered the existence of the Mage Slayers' second weak point and saved our lives.
"Without you, the best I could've done was to get you guys to safety outside. Also, without Phoria bringing reinforcements and breaking down the walls, I wouldn't have had the sunlight my spell needed to be effective."
At her words, soldiers and Prospectors burst into applause, making Quylla blush while Phloria only looked sterner.
"I hate to ruin the mood, but we'll have the time to pat ourselves in the back after we take care of the wounded and the fallen. Prospectors, take care of the camp first and then fix this mess later. We need some way to keep today's events from repeating.
"Soldiers, leave no man behind. I want everyone present and accounted for. I'll call for backup and report our situation." She pointed at the bodies lying on the floor, belonging to those too slow to react to the surprise attack.
Some were covered in blood and it was too late for them, but others were still begging for help. Her words swept away the smiles of the survivors who now cursed themselves for forgetting about their fallen comrades.
After making sure that there was nothing for which she could make the difference, Phloria turned around and took her army amulet out of her lily-shaped dimensional pendant.
'Was that really Lith's doing?' She thought while caressing the golden necklace. 'Did he really find a way to uphold the promise he made me the day of Mom's birthday and to fight by my side despite the distance separating us?'
She had no idea that what she had experienced wasn't a miracle, but a sign of her self-Awakening process.
"Captain Ernas, why the emergency call?" General Berion replied immediately, eager to offer his help
After Lith had become an Archmage despite the opposition of the head of the Mage Association, the already shaky ground had become shakier for the Association, tipping the power scale in favor of the army again.
If Berion managed to keep Captain Ernas from quitting and restored her reputation, he would also clean the only stain that the army bore to the Royals' eyes. Berion still longed to take over the Association and obtain the authority to convert merits into noble titles.
That way, soldiers could finally receive the award they deserved and all mages would become subordinates of the army. On top of that, gaining the favor of the Ernas household, a leading figure in both organizations, would be a priceless asset to his career.
Phloria explained everything to him, from the lack of vegetation she had noticed to the ambush they had suffered.
Hearing so many crucial details for the first time snapped him out of his reverie and pissed him off to the point that a lesser man would have Warped there to kill Kortus with his bare hands.
"Excellent work, Captain Ernas." Berion's face was a stone mask and his tone was unchanged, but Phloria could notice the throbbing vein on his neck. "Where is Captain Kortus now?"
"He's still unconscious, Sir. I gave priority to securing the camp and treating the wounded. After that, I'll secure the caves, give you a precise number of the casualties, and only then do I plan to wake him up.
"Conflicting orders would slow us down and leave us vulnerable to further attacks." She said.
"There will be no such thing." Berion's smile reached his ears, yet it held no joy. "Please, fix Captain Kortus's wounds and put him through. I want you both to listen."
Phloria shivered at those words. The way Berion spoke reminded her of the times when Phloria was still a child and Orion reassured her that an abusive well-renewed teacher or instructor wouldn't bother her anymore.
Usually, those people disappeared and no one heard from them ever again. There were even rumors saying that, after amputating their limbs, Orion kept them alive inside barrels filled with nutrients, condemning them to a lifetime of agony.
During quiet nights, sometimes, it was possible to hear groans of pain coming from the walls of house Ernas, making the domestic staff very respectful of their masters and wary of the children.
Actually, Orion didn't like keeping pets and the groans were due to Jirni bringing her work home, but that's a story for another day.
"How dare you assaulting a fellow officer?" Kortus said the moment he regained consciousness, even before his vision cleared enough to recognize Phloria.
"I'll report everything and have you court-martialled. I will-"
"You will shut up and listen. That's an order, Captain." Berion cut him short with a voice so cold that it turned the fire of Kortus's rage into chilling fear.
Berion then repeated Phloria's report with his own words, asking Kortus to confirm or deny its single parts with just a yes or no. It left the hapless Captain no time to make up excuses nor a way to justify his actions.
Lies would be easily exposed, digging him a deeper grave. None of the witnesses would lie to a General to protect a Captain, and after how Phloria had brilliantly resolved the crisis, Kortus doubted there was a single person in the camp on his side.
Chapter 1011 Change of Leadership Part 1
"I have many things to say, but too little time so I'll limit myself to one thing. A Captain that has the guts to issue the 'stop the enemy' order instead of formulating a strategy is worth to be added to the list of jokes the Association tells about the army.
"Captain Phloria, you're now in charge of the mission. Since I'm forced to change plans due to Kortus's manifest incompetence in leadership, I'll invoke the second-in-command protocol.
"Now put the Prospectors' foreman through. I need to inform her of my decisions. Reinforcements are already on their way." Berion said.
Those words made Kortus's eyes water. Usually, the second-in-command protocol was applied only when the commanding officer went mad during a mission, forcing his subordinates to replace him.
The protocol implied that whatever went wrong with the mission would be his fault, whereas every success would be to Phloria's merit. It left no space for politics or power plays. Even if Phloria willingly killed everyone, it would still be his fault.
"With all due respect, General, I wasn't done with my report. Permission to speak freely, sir." Phloria Said.
"Granted." Berion nodded for her to continue.
"Something doesn't add up. The undead clearly knew the caves well enough to stage an ambush, so we can assume that Ghouls mined the crystal veins undetected until recently.
"Yet this raises some questions the answers to which may prove vital for the success of the mission. If really this really is a crystal mine, then how could Belin of Feymar find red raw gemstones?
"Ghouls would never be so sloppy, quite the contrary, their presence shows carefully planning and preparation. I considered this to be a set-up, but putting a crystal mine at stake just to kill random soldiers makes no sense.
"Back when they left the scraps, the undead had no idea who would have found the gems or who would be sent here, so it can't be all part of a bigger scheme. Last but not least, why didn't they detonate the mines after we defeated them?
"It takes but one Ghoul and one spell to turn this place into a huge crater, yet the mines are still here for us to take." Phloria looked with worry at Friya who was talking with the members of the Crystal Shield guild that had finally returned.
"I'm glad to see there's someone capable of using her brain." Berion drummed his fingers on the black mahogany desk, asking himself the same questions yet finding no plausible answer.
"Requesting permission to join the conversation, your honor." Friya said while raising her hand.
"This is no classroom and I'm no judge, Mage Ernas. Permission granted anyway." Berion chuckled.
"My men brought good and bad news. The good news is that following my sister, I mean, Captain Ernas's instructions they found several hidden caves filled with prisoners…"
"Their codename is life banks, for short." Berion cut her short.
"Several life banks. My men were taking care of the survivors and collected some information. Based on what the prisoners said, the life banks were there for a while and before the oldest prisoner got turned into lesser undead, they talked about a mine." Friya said.
"Excellent job, both of you." Berion's smile was sincere now. "Captain Ernas, your cunning allowed us to confirm the presence of a crystal mine and to cut off the enemy's supplies.
"Mage Ernas, if not for your guild, the incompetence of the previous commanding officer might have been fatal. It was you who ordered the barrier array to be strengthened and then sent them to empty the life banks, securing our victory. What about the bad news?"
"There were also beasts in the blood banks, which means that today we didn't fight the main force. I suspect they were just probing our defenses." Friya said.
"Don't worry, they will find you ready. I've been updating your reinforcements the whole time. They will come in force and prepared. Rest until their arrival and then focus on finding the crystal veins." Berion said.
Phloria had nothing more to say, so she put Tlea through and went with Friya to help the wounded. All soldiers capable of using magic knew at least tier two healing spells and first aid, yet there was a lot to do.
Quylla was working hard on those in critical condition and was already sweating bullets. Small injuries required but a spell to be healed whereas life-threatening injuries required either the Healer to share their vitality or blood transfusions and complicated surgical procedures.
Tier four light magic was something only a specialized mage could use, which made every single Healer a priceless asset.
"You've done enough, sis." Phloria delicately pushed Quylla away, taking her place.
Friya silently thanked Phloria for doing what she couldn't. Using so many dimensional spells had taken a toll on Friya and she couldn't heal so much as a scratch without fainting. She was soldiering on to keep the morale high and an eye on Quylla.
"You are safe now. Just eat and rest." Phloria said to a soldier whose liver and stomach had been ruptured by ice spikes.
He had been deathly pale until a second ago, but after the healing magic had mended his holes-ridden abdomen, color had returned to his face. He managed to say thank you before falling asleep.
"Well done. You just need to learn tier five to become a full-fledged Healer." Quylla was pale as well.
She was happy to share both the Forgemastering lesson and the Healing specialization with her sisters, yet Quylla felt envious because she was incapable of fighting.
"Let's move to our next patient." Quylla needed help even to stand up.
"I don't think so." Friya stopped Quylla in her tracks. "We're both dead tired. We need to rest instead of making the patient list longer."
"You don't understand, we…"
"What's on your forehead?" Phloria cut her short and poked Quylla's head while activating a tier one healing spell. It healed her bruises and made her fall asleep.
"I love you." Friya said with so much sincerity that many turned their heads.
"In a non-sexual way." The bystanders lost interest in the scene and returned to their activities.
"Perverts." Friya said while covering Quylla with a blanket and putting a pillow under her head. "Thanks again. I would've done it myself but I've got no strength left but to talk for a few minutes. Quylla needs help. She almost endangered her life earlier.
"One of the first things they taught us at the academy along with tier four magic was to recognize our own limits. A dead Healer means hundreds of lost lives that could have been saved if the mage just took a break."
"I noticed that something was wrong with her since we started spending more time together." Phloria moved Quylla to their private tent so that no one would disturb her sleep or the ongoing conversation.
"She acts awkwardly whenever we are alone, has trouble speaking her mind even in your presence, but the worst thing is that she seems to have emotionally regressed to right after Kulah's events.
"She has never been scared of caves nor been so reckless while healing strangers outside the heat of the battle. Being a dedicated healer is one thing, acting as if the weight of Mogar rests on your shoulder is another."
"Agreed. We need to talk to her before it's too late." Friya nodded.
Chapter 1012 Change of Leadership Part 2
"By the way, you are quite energetic for someone who slaughtered an army of lesser undead by herself just to slay some Ghouls and then heal people without ever taking a break." Friya said.
"I'm surprised as well." Phloria had no idea the time of her Awakening neared. "I'll go heal as many people as I can before going to sleep. We're done exploring the caves for today, that's for sure."
Between taking care of the wounded, repairing the camp's defenses, and treating the people rescued from the life banks, everyone remained on edge until a few hours later, when the reinforcements arrived.
A single mage Warped outside the barrier and assembled a temporary Warp Gate. It allowed to instantly move the troops from the nearest base to destination and bring the victims of the undead where they could receive all the assistance they needed without compromising the safety of the mission.
"The army really doesn't spare expenses when crystal veins are involved." Friya yawned while looking at the newcomers.
Even though she had taken a tonic before going to sleep, her body still suffered from the strain of the previous day. Friya had a light headache due to mana abuse and her muscles were sore from the aftereffects of top-grade body enhancing potions.
Feeling her limbs too stiff to be useful in battle, Friya made a mistake, performing stretching exercises in the open. Her Skinwalker armor was still in its combat mode, resembling a tight suit of armor instead of her usual baggy clothes.
The sight of her luscious curves as she wiggled her whole body, the light dancing in her raven black hair framing her features, and her bosom giggling at her every move made a lot of soldiers fall into a stupor.
Some tripped on their own feet, the reinforcements fell onto each other in a comical domino effect, and the Healers poured the potions on their patients' heads instead of that in their open mouths.
"Nice to meet you, sweet fairy. I'm Sergeant Sfarzen Rosics of the Rosics household." A young man in his early twenties said, offering her the flowers that he was supposed to put on the bodies of the deceased.
Sfarzen was a bit taller than Friya, about 1.68 (5'6"), with dark blonde hair and grey eyes. He was half panting and half speaking because he had rushed to her before someone else could make his move first.
"I'm still new in the army, but my family has enough influence to allow you safe passage back to Feymar and I'm skilled enough to protect you in the case you decided to stay.
"The battlefield is not a place for such a lovely lady like you and I'm willing to put my life at risk just to be worthy of your smile." Sfarzen's words might have been considered romantic in a bard's tale, but in real life, they were beyond offensive.
Friya had spent her whole life training in both magic and swordplay, graduating from one of the six great academies and ranking second overall. Yet the man in front of her assumed she was just a soldier, failing to notice anything about her but her appearance.
Ignoring her armor, sword, and the tent she stood in front of was already rude, treating her as a damsel in distress waiting for a hero just added oil to the fire.
"Nice to meet you. I'm Mage Friya Ernas, of the Ernas household, Guildmaster of the Crystal Shield guild." Her voice was stone cold and her words made the hapless youth freeze like a deer in the lights.
The rest of the camp was laughing their ass off at his expenses. Even those who thought she was just a pretty face at first, still respected her status as both an Ernas and a Mage.
After seeing her fight, soldiers and Prospectors had understood while the members of the Crystal Shield guild referred to her as "god" whenever they thought to not be overheard.
"Now unless you wish me dead, bring those purple Plumes to the fallen, and don't talk to me again unless it's about the mission." She snarled, going back inside the tent to shapeshift her clothes into something more comfortable.
The flowers he was holding resembled a bellflower each petal of which had a black eye-looking spot that made them look like Phoenix's plumes. Laying one on a dead body was supposed to help and protect the deceased on their way to the netherworld, keeping them from turning into undead due to unsolved grievances.
According to the lore, it would also grant the fallen the possibility to be reincarnated if they wished for it.
"It's more than that." Phloria closed the tent behind her sister while glaring at Sfarzen. "This isn't just about the mines, but about stopping the undead from achieving whatever they were doing here. As much as I hate to admit it, the Kingdom is at war."
By the time Quylla woke up, the security of the camp had been reinforced threefold, the wounded had been treated, and the dead brought back to their families. The original members of the expedition were tense, yet in high spirit.
After seeing the Ernas fight and with so many elite soldiers joining their ranks, they were certain that the mission would be a huge success. At the same time, however, the mood among the reinforcements was sour at best.
Between Sfarzen being publicly humiliated in front of his comrades and the rumors that Kortus had spread about the methods Phloria had employed to wrestle the command of the mission from him, half of the camp glared at the Ernas in spite.
"Hiding precious information to look good in front of the General was really a cheap blow." Many said.
"Even if you don't agree with a fellow soldier, sucker punch him to make him miss the action and hog all the glory is too much. Phloria Ernas is a disgrace for the army." Others would reply.
"They are such powerful mages, all of them are healers, and yet over ten people died. I think they didn't save everyone on purpose to suck up on Berion and make Captain Kortus look bad. All nobles only think about themselves and don't care for us commoners."
The reinforcements' rude comments caused fights to break out the moment the members of the Crystal Shield guild or those who had survived only thanks to the Ernas heard them.
Before dinner, even the new Healers had run out of mana to treat all the injuries caused by the infighting and half of the camp was in detention.
Quylla refused to eat and remained in her tent, forcing her sisters to act sooner than they had planned.
"You're still pale and need to eat!" Friya said. "Seriously, what's wrong with you? It's not the first time I put a drone in his place and you know as well as I do that, outside noble courts, the Ernas name brings more trouble than respect."
"Yeah. Also, what's with being scared of the dark and trying to act like a martyr at all times? We have nothing to prove to those people. I care about your life much more than I care about theirs." Phloria said.
"I'm so sorry. This is all my fault. You have done so much for me, yet all I ever brought you was trouble." Quylla started to sob.
Not only she considered every dead soldier as her personal failure, but also seeing her sisters treated so unfairly was more than her broken spirit could take.
Chapter 1013 Elephant in the Room Part 1
"How is any of this your fault?" Friya hugged her, soon joined by Phloria who caressed Quylla's head and tried to calm her down enough to make sense. "You didn't call the undead here nor did you tell those idiots to ogle at me as if I'm just a piece of meat."
"Everything is my fault." Quylla replied. "I accepted that stupid ring back at the academy because I was jealous of Phoria and Lith. I killed Yurial and Mom almost died because I was too weak to fight the slave item.
"That day, I put you in front of an impossible decision that years later has ruined your career. If when I came to your house for the first time I refused being adopted, now you would be happy and I would have received the punishment I deserve.
"Mom should have given up on me and saved you from Deirus. Both at the academy and at Kulah, I failed to save anyone. I'm just a useless orphan. If it wasn't for me, you and Friya would be treated as the heroes you are.
"I don't deserve to be your sister." Quylla wailed in desperation, trying and failing to escape from the embrace of which she felt unworthy.
"And here I thought that Kortus was the biggest idiot in the camp." Phloria said. "You did nothing wrong. Quite the contrary, both here and at Kulah, you saved lots of lives, mine and Lith's included.
"Back at the academy, you had no idea your wannabe boyfriend had given you a slave ring. You were just one of the dozens of students that crazy bitch of Nalear turned into her puppets. What happened wasn't your fault but hers. Yurial was one of her main targets, just like Linjos.
"You attacked him only because Nalear ordered you to and Deirus knows it. His son, our friend, died in the attempt to prevent the outbreak of a civil war and with his actions, Velan Deirus is spitting on Yurial's sacrifice."
"Phloria is right." Friya said. "We all have read the diaries Yurial has left and we know how he felt about us. He wouldn't want you to blame yourself for what happened. As for Kulah, you were the true hero there.
"If you didn't stop the Mana Reactor, everyone would be dead now. We don't share any blood, but you are my sister since the day we met. I'd rather die than give up on you."
Friya lulled the sobbing Quylla in her arms, wishing that Jirni was really behind Balkor's return and that their mother would make all those responsible for her sisters' suffering pay tenfold for their actions.
Thousands of kilometers away, Jirni felt her ears burn and added a few lines to her masterplan.
"Quylla, life will always be unfair. Giving up on my job hurts, but it could go much worse." Phloria said. "I still have my magic, my family, and my whole life in front of me. You don't have to feel bad for something that even Mom and Dad couldn't stop.
"Now, since we are sharing everything, tell me the truth. Why did you break up with Anathor right after we entered Kulah?"
"He gifted me a ring." Quylla replied.
"That's a wrong move if I ever heard one." Friya said.
"It wasn't his fault, I never told him anything about my days at the academy because it was too painful. When he gave me the ring, I couldn't force myself to wear it or give him an explanation. After that, we just drifted apart until it was too late." Quylla had stopped crying, but Phloria refused to let go of her.
"Unhand me or I'll blow my nose on your sleeve."
"Be my guest. All Skinwalker armor are self-cleaning, little one." Phloria kissed Quylla's head and gave her a handkerchief.
"You know, back at the academy, I was always envious of your figure, Friya. Now, instead, I'm relieved I'm not the one forced to dress like a sack of potatoes to not be bothered every time I step outside the house."
Quylla still sniffled, but between the embrace and finally finding the strength to express her fears out loud, she realized how nonsensical they were. She still felt guilty, but Mogar had stopped resting on her shoulders.
"How nice of you!" Friya chuckled while ruffling Quylla's hair.
After the gloomy mood in the tent was gone, the three young women dined together, talking about all the good times they had shared during their time at the White Griffon until they fell asleep.
***
The following day, the Prospectors had joined hands with the army mages to create a first line of fortifications around the camp. The barrier that the Crystal Shield guild had erected during the first day was now several times bigger and stronger.
"What are your orders for today, Sir?" Captain Kortus had been forced to stay up all night to make sure that everything went according to Phloria's plan.
He didn't know whether to hate more the fact that she had managed to anticipate the moves of the undead or that he couldn't find a single flaw in her countermeasure plan.
"Same as yesterday. We need to find the crystal veins, if there are any, and understand what the undead were doing here. Maybe there are no mines and we stumbled into one of their secret bases.
"It would not make the Kingdom richer but it could deal a huge blow to their plans. Split the soldiers in three teams. One composed of elite units and Prospectors to search the mines, another of scouts to find all traces the undead might have left, and a third to keep watch.
"We can't fall twice for the same trick. If the Ghouls return, we have to regroup quickly and strike as one." Phloria said. "Captain Kortus, I'll leave you in charge of the camp while I explore the caves.
"If anything happens, call me and I'll Warp here. Are we clear?"
"Sir, yes, sir." Kortus almost bit his tongue to keep the edge out of his voice.
'How dare she treat me like a strawman even though we hold the same rank? Ernas is basically saying she doesn't trust me to do anything but keep watch. I don't know how, but I'll make her pay.' He thought.
Sfarzen was walking around the Ernas's tent, trying to find a way to make up for his blunder. The problem was that each speech he rehearsed sounded worse than the last.
"What are you doing here?" Friya was wearing an ample deep red Mage robe that covered from sight anything but her hands, head, and feet. "I thought I made myself clear yesterday, so unless invisible enemies are surrounding us, we've got nothing to talk about."
"Look, I know I've acted like an idiot yesterday…"
"Well, at least we agree on something." She cut him short and tried to leave, but he stepped in front of her with his hands raised in a plea for a minute of her time.
"…and I know this is sudden, but I'm in love with you. All I'm asking you is to give me a chance. One single date. After that, if you're not interested, you'll never hear from me again" Sfarzen said.
Chapter 1014 Elephant in the Room Part 2
"I like your guts and I would have given you a chance if you skipped the bullshit about love. You don't know the first thing about me, the only thing you are infatuated with is my appearance.
"Love is too strong a word to be abused like that. Only a shallow person that knows nothing about their own feelings can use it so freely with someone they have just met. I've been asked out by a lot of men like you.
"You all think yourself unique, but aside from your face, you're all the same. Goodbye." Friya walked around him and this time the youth didn't stop her.
Sfarzen felt even more idiotic than the day before, wondering if his brain and mouth had actually been disconnected by some unknown illness.
"Would you have really gone out with him?" Quylla had to walk briskly to keep up with Friya.
"Yes. If you don't date, you can't find anyone. He had the guts to face me again and admit his mistakes, which is rare considering that most men think themselves a godsend that I must welcome with joy. Yet that cheesy part was a deal-breaker.
"Quylla, what would you think if a random stranger claimed to love you at first sight?" Friya asked.
"I would either think he's after my money or he thinks I'm an easy woman." Quylla replied, suddenly finding Sfarzen's confession more tasteless than romantic.
"Then we are on the same page." Friya nodded to Quylla before turning to Phloria. "What do you want us to do, today, Commander?"
"Captain, not Commander." Phloria rolled her eyes at her sister's ignorance about military hierarchy. "The Prospectors will search for crystals, but examining things properly will take too long and in battle knowledge is power.
"The three of us will explore the underground network of caves and search traces of undead activities that might not be strictly related to gemstone veins. Quylla, your mana perception succeeded where even arrays failed, you'll be our guide.
"Friya, between your Mage Knight and Dimensional Mage specializations, you can fight or summon reinforcements according to the circumstances. You take the rear. I'm just tall, mean, and strong. My role will be to protect Quylla and buy you time in the case something goes wrong."
"Just the three of us?" Friya asked.
"Yes. We might be dealing with Odi ruins and I don't want to babysit anyone. Quylla can read their language, the gods only know why…"
"Lith needed help for a thing." Quylla said, but Phloria continued, uncaring for the explanation.
"I know how to find their runes, and the three of us are used to fight together. Our teamwork will allow us to move fast and don't worry about dead weight."
"Any special order I should give to my men in the case Captain dumbass tries something funny?" Friya said.
"Actually, yes." Phloria was amazed by her own naivety.
She had spent so much time in the army to consider orders as absolute decrees no one would dare to defy. Her recent missions, however, had taught her better, and the mercenaries were the perfect solution to her problem.
"Have them keep an eye on both Kortus and the Captain who led the reinforcements here, Lotta. Have your men take short turns so their marks don't notice being observed and have them report anything unusual. We can trust no one." Phloria said.
"Give the Crystal Shield some credit. We know how to tail someone!" Friya sighed.
She instructed her men, making it clear that they should not share any intel with the army unless it was vital for the success of the mission.
"It will be done." Wyra, one of Friya's seconds in command, gave her a bow so deep that she almost kneeled.
Friya didn't like being worshipped by her guild members, but at least it guaranteed their loyalty. On top of that, she knew that being the strongest sword, shield, and mage among them who also taught specializations to those she deemed worthy, made it easy for them to put her on a pedestal.
Quylla guided her sisters to the passage she had found just a minute before the undead attacked the Prospectors. It opened on a natural underground network that closely reminded to Phloria the one Morok had led them on the way to Kulah.
She used earth magic to look for hidden runes or marks in the rock, but her spells didn't find anything. Meanwhile, Quylla focused on the hostile mana, trying to find its origin.
There was no spell that could guide her, forcing Quylla to rely solely on her mana perception and instinct. They ended up in a dead-end more than once, forcing them to retrace their steps and pick another corridor.
Friya and the others knew the arrays necessary to search for crystals and might have used earth magic to open a passage, but they had no idea how to alter the walls without the risk of causing a cave-in.
It was the reason why Prospectors were vital during an underground exploration and why Lith needed Nalrond to cheat his way to any kind of underground treasure.
"I really envy you two." Phloria said during a short break for lunch. "We have both been to Kulah, yet my mana perception isn't as good as yours, Quylla. I can feel we're getting closer to the hostile mana's source only when it becomes so much stronger that it's impossible to miss.
"As for you, Friya, your dimensional awareness is outstanding. Not even the members of the Queen's corps I worked with were capable of using Warps the way you do."
"I feel the same. I always considered Lith and Quylla our Manohar. Together they have his same amount of genius and madness. You and Yurial were our Marth. You are strong, talented, and determined to the point that you know exactly what you want and how to get it.
"Which leaves me the role of Vastor." Friya sighed.
"The one people turn to only when the other two are busy. Let's be real. Put me in a dimensional sealed area and my skills are no better than the average mage. Sometimes I wonder if there's really nothing more to me than a pretty face."
"I would kill for breasts like yours." Phloria said, patting her left shoulder.
"Do not get me started about your ass." Quylla took care of the right shoulder.
"Very funny! That was the moment when you're supposed to tell me how talented I am. I'm already pissed off because Lith told you something that neither he nor you shared with me. Don't make it worse by spreading salt on my wounds."
Friya's sisters froze realizing that she knew about their little secret.
While they were in Kulah, Lith had treated Quylla with Invigoration, restoring both her body and mana. On top of that, she had seen him use magic without chants and turn into a Wyrmling.
Phloria knew even more than Quylla and after discussing the events of Kulah among themselves, aside from terms like "Awakened" or "Accumulation", they had figured out most of Lith's abilities.
Yet they didn't share any of that with Friya to respect his privacy. Phloria and Quylla were certain to have been discrete, yet the elephant in the room they believed to have brilliantly hidden was actually rampaging through the house.
Chapter 1015 End of the Line Part 1
"Don't act that surprised, I'm not deaf nor dumb. After Kulah, you were distressed about something, yet you refused to talk about it with me and spent a lot of time with Phloria." Friya said to Quylla.
"Not to mention all the times you two abruptly change topic the moment I get close and after that, you have guilty looks on your faces. Quylla never had secrets for me before Kulah, so it wasn't hard to understand what happened.
"Lith is the only person we all know whose secrets we have kept hidden from our parents and even from each other."
"Lith is right when he says that we spend too much time together." Quylla sighed. "You read me like a book, Friya. All you said it's true, but it's not up to me to share such things with you, just like you didn't tell me what really happened in Zantia."
"You noticed?" Friya was flabbergasted. She had always thought that Protector's secret was safe with her.
"Of course I did. By the way, the feeling of envy is mutual. People consider me a genius, yet my greatest achievement is always being the weak link in our chain. Sure, I learn quickly and my magic is powerful, but when push comes to shove, I'm either a burden or a first aid kit.
"You two, instead, not only are considered the best in your respective fields of work, but you can also hold your ground under any circumstance. Even in Laruel, I was the only one left behind. Morok was right, I might be young, but I'm as strong as an old fossil."
At that point, the cheery mood had turned sour. Just like Quylla couldn't deny Friya's words, her sisters had no way to sugarcoat the fact that Quylla was indeed weak. Whenever they moved, their first priority was always to keep her safe.
They resumed walking in silence, going deeper underground until it was time to go back to the camp for dinner. They were tired from the exploration and sad from the revelation that their bond of trust was flawed because of a certain someone.
'I could confront Lith about the events of Kulah, but I don't want to force him to open up. He already has deep-rooted trust issues and I don't want to ruin our friendship.
'I swear that if even Kamila knows what the heck is going on I'm the last to know, I'm going to kick his ass.' Friya thought while opening a dimensional door back to their tent.
Phloria listened to her subordinates' reports and Friya did the same. While she waited for their return, Quylla prepared dinner.
'I really like cooking. It's very similar to magic in its need for attention to the details and mixing the various ingredients while keeping them balanced.' She thought.
The soldiers had nothing to report while the Prospectors were fairly optimist. They had yet to find anything, but very rarely crystal veins ran so close to the surface and even if they did, it was likely that the undead had cleared them first to fool passers-by.
The members of the Crystal Shield, however, didn't bear good news. They had seen the two Captains use their personal amulets too often for it to be normal. On top of that, both Kortus and Lotta spent most of their time inside their respective tents, where Friya's men couldn't follow them.
Phloria shared all the information with Berion. The General wasn't pleased about fellow members of the army being put under surveillance, but he couldn't dismiss her worries nonetheless.
"I'll have their backgrounds checked again and extend the investigation to their families as well." Berion said.
"This is not just about external enemies, Sir." Phloria said. "We both know that Velan Deirus has many allies. Any accident that happens here could be easily pinned to the undead.
"After what happened to the Nuragor household, he needs a win to tip the scale again. That's why I didn't want to come here."
"I know, yet I wouldn't have recalled you if I had another choice." Yet Berion was only telling a half-truth.
The army was indeed understaffed, but he had chosen her because the mission seemed foolproof and crystal veins would look great on her resume. Her brilliant response to the undead's attack had made the situation even better.
Finding a crystal mine was already quite a feat, but snatching one from the public enemy number one was exactly the kind of achievement that could put Phloria's career back on track.
"Keep me posted and don't hesitate to come directly to me in case you need backup. General Berion out."
Upon returning to their tent, Friya and Phloria found Quylla talking with Tlea Ormann. The chief Royal Prospector was giving her best pitch to make Quylla switch careers.
"Don't worry about arrays. I can teach you myself and with your talent, I doubt it will take long to bring you up to speed." Tlea said.
After she was done, Quylla promised she would think about it and gave everyone a plate of beef stew with vegetables. The hot broth took off their bones the chill that spending the day inside the dark and damp caves had left while also keeping warm the other ingredients.
"Delicious. If I wasn't already married, I would propose to you. You are a great Healer, Prospector, and now even cook. Is there even something you're not good at?" Tlea cleaned her plate and asked for seconds.
"Fighting." Quylla sighed.
"Welcome to the club. You can be a junior member at best." Tlea replied. "At least yesterday you contributed, whereas most members of my unit just wet themselves and cried for their moms, me included."
"Seriously?" Friya blurted out, realizing how rude her question was the moment it came out of her mouth.
"Yep." Tlea nodded without a shred of shame. "You'll find no hero among Royal Prospectors. Don't get me wrong, we got plenty of nice people with a good heart, it's just that when danger appears, bathroom calls.
"We are braver than those mages who spend their whole lives cooped up in their labs or courts, but we are no warrior material. On the other hand, our mortality rate is the lowest in the army and our life expectancy is the longest."
After a bit of chit-chat exchanging tricks about how to spot crystals that would serve the Ernas during their exploration, and after all the three of them had silently agreed, Phloria asked:
"Tlea, have you ever worked before with either Captain Kortus or Lotta?"
"I've been in this business long enough to know almost everyone." Tlea replied. "Forgive my rudeness, but I don't like talking behind the back of my colleagues and I doubt you're asking because you fancy them."
"I don't want to dig up dirt on them. I just want to know if I can rely on them. There's only so much their personal files can tell me and you don't ask the barkeep if their beer is good." Phloria said.
"Point taken." Tlea thought for a while, pondering how close she had come to death due to Kortus's incompetence and if she could afford to entrust her life to Lotta.
"Kortus is as stubborn as a mule but less smart. He never got past Captain despite being active on the field because he got as many losses as victories."
Chapter 1016 End of the Line Part 2
"He's the to-go guy when you want things done by the book, but he lacks both foresight and flexibility. He was too good to remain a Lieutenant but not good enough to make a decent Captain.
"Lotta, instead, is a smart and competent woman, but too ambitious for her own good. You never know if she's serving the army, her political allies' interests, or her own.
"If I had to make an educated guess, I'd say that probably Berion chose Kortus to make you look good, while his enemies exploited the crisis to put Lotta in charge of the reinforcements before one of Berion's people was available." Tlea said.
"That's one heck of analysis for someone who just a second ago claimed to don't like to talk behind the back of her colleagues." Friya was glad to not have joined the army.
The more she learned about it, the less she liked the power plays hidden behind even the smallest decision.
Phloria rolled her eyes, glad that Friya was just a consultant. Her brash attitude coupled with her habit to speak to anyone as if they were her peers, disregarding both age and rank, would have made her career so short that she would become a cautionary tale in the army.
"Indeed, it is." Tlea laughed. "For a moment I had forgotten that in my line of work, there is no place for politeness. To survive as long as I did, you must learn to distinguish with a glance if a vein is worth your time or not, and people are no different.
"You're my crystal veins, girls. Don't let me down." The chief Prospector yawned and wished them good night before going to her tent. Casting arrays all day was a tiring business and age only moved forward.
"Is it me, or does Tlea resemble Yondra a bit?" Phloria asked once they were alone.
"Yeah." Quylla remembered with nostalgia the late Professor of the Black Griffon who had clashed with Lith on their first meeting, just to later offer her magical legacy and her professorship to him.
"Nope. Age aside, they have nothing in common." Friya had never met Yondra, but she considered herself a good judge of character. "Based on what you told about how she lived and died, Yondra was passionate, whereas Tlea is calculative.
"She didn't ask us for protecting her unit or her disciple, only her own ass."
"What a Lith-like thing to say!" Quylla gasped at her sister's cynical analysis.
"Yet Friya is not completely wrong." Phloria thought back at all Tlea's words and actions. "I'm not as cynical as you two, but if there's something I learned from Kulah's aftermath, is that believing in blind loyalty is for fools.
"Under all the pretty words about honor and the oaths we took, under our uniforms, the military are still humans. Let's take Tlea's words with a grain of salt and from tomorrow onwards, let's put a tail on her as well."
Friya nodded and prepared their beds. The following day promised to be interesting as well.
***
Thanks to Friya's custom amulet, they could resume their search exactly from the same spot they had left a few hours prior.
Between the words they had shared among themselves and with Tlea, the Ernas sisters had a lot to think about. They proceeded in silence, only interrupted by the status reports Friya and Phloria regularly received from their respective subordinates.
Moving in the tunnels gave them an eerie feeling. There was only magic to light their way, all the tunnels looked the same, giving them the impression of going round in circles, and every one of their steps produced an echo.
It made them feel vulnerable and fighting the urge to not keep spells at the ready, made them often lose focus. Casting arrays while keeping their guard already drained a lot of energy.
Keeping powerful spells at their fingertips would make their exploration last minutes instead of hours. Unlike Awakened, fake mages would consume mana the moment they cast a spell, no matter if they used it or saved it for later.
People like Lith, instead, could cast and later release unused spells, expending solely the mental focus necessary to keep them at the ready.
The Ernas sisters were forced to fight the paranoia and claustrophobia that walking for hours in the dark inspired, so when they saw a light ahead of them, they didn't rejoice.
They turned off their own light and weaved their best spells as fast as they could. Phloria's Reaver was the perfect tool for an ambush, while Friya's rapier, Dreadnought, was more a jack of all trades.
They slowly moved forward, using darkness magic to conceal their smell and air magic to float above the ground while creating the sound of their steps to give the impression that they had never slowed down.
The spell moved faster than them so that they would ambush anyone who attacked the source of the noise. Yet when the spell reached the illuminated area, nothing happened.
They didn't lower their guard and Friya conjured a dimensional fissure the size of a keyhole in front of her eye and its exit point in front of the source of light, using them as an improvised surveillance device.
"By the Great Mother." She whispered while passing the fissure to her sisters and allowing them to look through it as well.
The dark cave led to a crystal vein where the lowest tier gemstones were green colored, something that would put to shame even the mines of Laroxya. By rotating the exit point of the fissure, Friya had searched the place for enemies, only to find blue and violet crystals bigger than an apple protruding from the walls.
Only after conjuring a Hush zone did Phloria speak.
"Things couldn't get any worse. We just stumbled into the closest thing to a death-trap I've ever seen. The crystal vein means that we can't Warp away, only Blink. Yet in such a poorly lit and unfamiliar place, even that is pointless.
"If we step through that cave, we'll not be allowed to use big spells without risking to blow everything up. If I were an undead, I'd choose this place to ambush us since it would allow me to exploit my superior physical prowess and endless stamina.
"We need to get far away enough to safely open a Warp Steps and call for reinforcements." Phloria's analysis was so accurate that if the Ghoul in charge of the ambush could've heard her, she would've thought Phloria to be a psychic.
Unfortunately for the Ernas sisters, their trick with the sound of footsteps had fooled and alerted their enemies at the same time. Not seeing them appear had halted the attack of the Ghouls, who soon started to wonder what was going on.
The Hush zone kept them from overhearing Phloria, but the noise that the spell produced also made the Ghouls understand that somehow their plan had failed and that they had to move before it was too late.
They came out of the cave walls, surrounding the humans from every side. This time they wore enchanted protections and wielded short weapons that would amplify their attack prowess without being hindered by the confined space.
"Friya, take Quylla and run!" Phloria feared that without dimensional magic, Friya would be no different from Quylla.
Phloria was already outnumbered and outmatched, making the situation a losing fight before it even started. If she also had to protect someone, her chance of victory would go from little to none.
Chapter 1017 Orion’s Wrath Part 1
"Escape? That's easier said than done!" Friya understood her sister's worries, but the only way out was blocked by two undead.
The silver lining in their predicament was that the Ernas sisters had finished preparing their spells and had their weapons already in hand. The ambush had succeeded, but the girls' preparation had neutralized its element of surprise.
Each one of the Ernas conjured a Full Guard spell, reducing the advantage that superior numbers granted to their enemies. The only problem was that after finishing to weave the spells, they had no time to drink any potion.
Without the aid of the alchemical tool, the gap in physical prowess was their greatest enemy.
The Ghouls smelled the intoxicating fear coming from their prey and established the pecking order. The little girl was the weakest link, almost on the verge of panic. The hot girl was scared as well, but her determination was stronger than her fear.
The slender, effeminate man, instead, wasn't afraid for himself so much as for the two women.
"Where the heck is Captain Ernas?" The leader of the Ghouls asked Phloria, igniting her rage. She hated to be mistaken for a man just because of her pixie cut.
"She was supposed to be with her sisters. Tell us where to find the Captain and we'll make sure you are unconscious while we feast on your flesh." Karis Lessar the Ghoul pointed at Friya, calling dibs on her.
Undeath made so that none of the Ghouls was bad looking. Their bodies were toned like those of athletes, without a shred of body fat or imperfections of the skin. Yet none of them could compare to the human girl and that royally pissed them off.
The fact that the women's fear had suddenly disappeared and was now replaced by hilarity only worsened the Ghouls' mood.
"This is no laughing matter, children." Karis snarled. Rage fueled the red light of undeath in her eyes, making it so bright that the corridor seemed to be drenched in blood.
"If we can't get her, then we'll keep you as hostages. Alive is very different from well, and being devoured is no pleasant experience. Talk now or my deal is off."
"Fuck you. That's where she is." Phloria kept her voice low to not be recognized and stepped forward.
She hoped the Ghouls would surround her, leaving only the two undead in front of Friya to deal with her sisters. Despite the gap in physical prowess, with their equipment, Friya and Quylla had a chance in a two versus two fight.
The Ghouls followed Phloria's script, believing that despite his bravado, the effeminate man would regret leaving his back exposed while surrounded by so many enemies.
Phloria let the first enemy come in contact with her conjured stone shield before activating her personal spell, Dread Blast.
It generated a small sphere comprised of air and darkness that affected everything in her surroundings except for the space within a meter (3.3 feet) from her body. By mixing tier zero gravity magic with it, the spell also lowered the weight of all those in its area of effect, sending them flying like leaves.
Darkness magic injured her opponents while gravity magic robbed them of their foothold. Slamming against the wall would deal no damage to an undead, but the move had temporarily broken the encirclement.
Only then did Phloria advance further to take out the enemy leader in the hope that it would make the rest of her forces retreat. Karis inwardly applauded the effort and went for the kill.
No matter how well trained they were, humans could never compare with the experience of centuries and the perfect coordination that only a body whose strength didn't depend on muscles could accomplish.
The moment Karis entered the range of Full Guard, Phloria stopped holding back. The speed of her pseudo-Awakened body took the Ghoul by surprise and the years spent practicing the same moves over and over did the rest.
The lunge was a basic attack, with no trick nor feint behind it. Yet Phloria executed it with a speed and accuracy beyond human, without any wasted movement nor hesitation. She knew that there was no feint she could try that the Ghoul didn't counter at least a hundred times in the past.
Phloria didn't have an undead's reflexes, so she was bound to lose if things dragged on. The simplest move was the most lethal she could perform because her opponent would overthink.
Karis could see the estoc move and tried to read Phloria's muscles to determine her real goal. Attacking where a human heart was supposed to be was such a dumb strategy that the Ghoul refused to believe it.
By the time Karis realized it was really an attack instead of a feint, it was too late. Reaver pierced through her chest, causing nothing more than an annoying sting. Like all Ghouls, Karis could freely move her weak point around her body.
With a Ghoul's innate regenerative properties, the cut would heal the moment the sword was pulled out of the wound. Unfortunately for her, it would never happen. Reaver was engulfed in the golden aura typical of the anti-undead weapons developed by the Balkor department.
Karis suddenly felt weak. The golden aura was robbing her blood core of its strength and taking away all the gifts that undeath had bestowed upon her. Orion had never been a meek man, but after Kulah's events, he was considered the embodiment of wrath.
He had poured all of his rage into War, to make Lith into the blade that would strike at their common enemies while he had devised the weapons of his children to protect them from any harm.
Using a few state secrets for personal gain was a little price to pay to make sure his daughters would come back home safe and sound.
Karis tried to plunge into the ground, but the rock was deaf to her call. She tried to move her heart from the stomach to the calf, away from the estoc, but her weak point remained still and even her wound bled as if she was still alive.
"What the fuck?"
"Fuck you. That's how." Phloria used her personal tier five spell, Master Sword, to unleash the darkness spells stored inside her ring directly inside the Ghoul's body.
Master Sword was a tier five Mage Knight spell that allowed her to channel her magic inside her estoc and release it at will upon contact.
Mage Knights had to often fight in close combat while defending their mark, so Phloria had devised Master Sword to be able to use all kinds of spells without having to worry about their area of effect or speed.
Darkness magic was the bane of the undead. It made Karis's chest rot and with it her heart, reducing the conceited Ghoul into ashes before her companions struck by Dread Blast could even hit the ground.
'That was the "easy" part, but now that they know how fast I am, the same trick will not work again.' Phloria thought while stepping back to regroup with her sisters.
Friya had no idea what had just happened, but she took the shocked expression on the faces of the Ghouls in front of her as her cue.
Dreadnaught, her rapier, had been enhanced as well with the anti-undead properties and its abilities further upgraded.
Chapter 1018 Orion’s Wrath Part 2
Orion had enchanted the rapier so that it could emit all the six elements, even light, so as to give his daughter the greatest versatility in battle.
She could even use it to heal her allies or to stab and heal her target at the same time, making it easier to capture someone alive. Friya used the light element to lit the corridor and regain part of her dimensional abilities.
Unlike War, Dreadnought didn't channel and amplify its wielder magic, but it produced simple spells on its own, without them needing time to be cast nor requiring any mana from Friya.
The mines were too close to use Steps, but now all of them could Blink. She appeared right behind the two undead, unleashing the tier four Blood Dusk spell against one Ghoul while lunging with her rapier at the other.
Yet once outside the dimensional door, Friya's movements were akin to slow motion to them. Due to the confined space, she couldn't appear below them nor on the sides, making her strategy predictable.
They turned around a split second after the Blink, dodging the attacks with ease. The spell and the darkness infused blade hit only air, making Friya curse her bad luck. As long as the Ghouls were outside Full Guard's range, she could barely follow their movements.
Quylla racked her brain in search of a way to help either of her sisters, but everything happened so fast that her plans would become obsolete before she could formulate them.
She had practiced hard since Kulah, but one year was a drop in the ocean compared to the lifelong effort of her sisters and the decades of experience of the undead.
Quylla was barely able to follow Friya's movements when they sparred, Phloria and the Ghouls looked like demigods to her eyes. Her fear grew with each passing second as she helplessly watched Phloria being wounded and surrounded while the best Friya could do was Blink to stall for time.
She wished that her parents were there and then that Lith was there. When both failed, she prayed the gods to give her the strength to do something, but only grunts and blood ensued.
She hated herself for being so useless and the Ghouls even more for considering her so weak that they didn't hesitate to show their backs to her. The problem was that they were right.
The natural resistance to the elements all undead shared coupled with the Ghouls regenerative abilities would make most of her spells a threat only to Friya. Darkness magic would hurt them, but it was so slow that from that distance the Ghouls would dodge it easily, with the risk of Friya getting in the line of fire.
Quylla remembered the day when she had killed Yurial. Back then, her body refused to obey no matter how hard she tried whereas now she wasn't even trying. She stepped forward without even noticing, closing the distance between her and the Ghouls blocking the only escape route.
Thanks to their natural affinity with darkness magic, the two undead perceived the spell Quylla had conjured before it was fully formed while their enhanced senses allowed them to pinpoint her without even the need to turn around.
When a little girl met monsters, death was the only outcome.
"Make another step and we'll kill you. We only need one hostage." The male Ghoul said while conjuring an earth wall to block both Friya's sword and spells.
She was going all out just to keep up with them, whereas the undead could focus solely on the defense and wait for the moment she was too tired to fight back. Friya's prowess was well known and no one dared to underestimate her dimensional magic.
The Ghouls used earth spells to hinder her line of sight, afraid that she might turn the tables with a single spell.
Quylla ignored the warning and never stopped moving.
The two Ghouls regretted wasting such delicious meat, but the mission was more important than their appetite. Their hands moved so fast that they were just a blur, filling the air behind them with a swarm of enchanted throwing knives coated with poison.
With a little luck, one of them would hit the effeminate man as well and put an end to the fight.
Quylla took another step forward. Now that the Ghouls were inside her Full Guard's area of effect as well, she flicked her wrists and a silvery blur darted out of the ample sleeves of her Assistant Professor uniform.
Two Adamant chains deflected the throwing knives and then wrapped themselves respectively around the left arm of the male undead and the right leg of the female. The sharp hooks at their extremities dug through the protections and flesh, allowing Quylla's spells to reach their targets without fail.
Orion had tried to teach her how to use a weapon, but due to the little time they had to practice together and Quylla lacking even the basics, he had failed to find a tool suited to protect her life.
A shield would block, but without attack, there was no victory. Weapons required that she got close to her enemy, but with her skills, Quylla could consider herself lucky to survive two moves.
Long-distance weapons would always be less powerful and versatile than the tier five spells that she could guide with her willpower. Only after realizing there was no answer to his problem did Orion invent Bloodbind.
The enchantment on the mystical chains was simple but effective. All the energy from the mana crystals that would usually be used to fuel offensive abilities allowed Bloodbdind to move according to Quylla's will.
Unlike her body, they weren't affected by poor hand-to-eye coordination nor lack of muscle mass. They would move as she wanted them to the moment her mind willed them to do it.
On top of that, once Bloodbind grabbed their target, they were capable of transmitting Quylla's spells as if she was touching them. They were akin to another set of limbs that would put her thoughts into action.
Thanks to Full Guard, Quylla could perceive all the incoming projectiles and trace the shortest path to deflect them in sequence before going on the offensive.
Bloodbind was far from perfect. The farther it got from her, the weaker it would become. To make matters worse, the chains had almost no offensive power by themselves and their defensive abilities were bound to Quylla's ingenuity.
They were a last resort in the case everything went wrong and an enemy arrived too close for comfort. Exactly like it was happening down in the mines.
The golden aura of Bloodbind weakened the undead while the darkness magic they carried damaged their bodies faster than they could regenerate. The chains also restrained the Ghouls' movements long enough to allow Friya to kill them.
"Come on, we need to run!" Friya said.
"Do it and he's dead." A Ghoul said while holding Phoria from the neck while twisting her dislocated dominant arm behind her back.
Reaver lay on the floor, protected by a golden aura that made all the undead step back as if it could bite them at any moment. Her left shoulder bore a deep wound that bled profusely and her stomach another.
Phloria had killed most of their assailants before her body had failed her. Each injury she suffered and each spell she cast weakened her whereas her opponents would simply learn from the mistakes of their fallen comrades until none of her tricks worked anymore.
Chapter 1019 Out of Time Part 1
"Try to escape and we'll kill him first and then it will be your turn. We got plenty of backup waiting for you ahead. Give us Phloria Ernas and maybe you will live." The Ghoul said while choking his prisoner.
"What a load of bullshit." Phloria sneered, forcing her voice through the grip that almost kept her from breathing. "You don't want to kill any of us. What kind of deal do you have with Deirus?"
"How do you know about it?" The Ghoul was so flabbergasted that he blurted out the truth.
"Oh, please, I'm not stupid. The undead from two days ago attacked to kill and had allies whereas you act alone and wasted your time talking. You clearly belong to a different group.
"Only Velan Deirus would be so crazy to put everything he has at risk and mobilize a bunch of immortal worms just to get his hands on a 21 years old woman. By the way, I'm Phloria, jackass." She said.
"Thanks, this will make everything easier. You're right about almost everything. He didn't send us to capture you, but to kill all the three of you. A child in exchange for a child. Plus interest." The Ghoul said imitating Velan's voice.
Phloria cursed her naivety, wishing that the Ghoul was lying about the backup so that her sisters would manage to escape. Her windpipe started to deform under the increasing pressure and her lungs burned.
"Objection!" An annoying voice drew everyone's attention to the north corner of the tunnel while its owner Blinked behind the Ghoul and cut off both his arms at the same time with what looked like two one-handed sickles.
"I called dibs on the little one. I will not let months of hard work go to waste because of a few cannibalistic jerks." Morok Eari, ex-Ranger of the Hessar region and Quylla's suitor without her knowing, didn't change much from the time they parted ways.
He was a man in his mid-twenties, about 1.8 meters (5'11") tall, with black hair and dark brown eyes. His once unkempt hair was now finely groomed and his stubble had grown into a goatee.
Morok didn't care much for appearances, but he didn't want to look like a hobo when meeting Quylla again. According to his employer, lack of personal hygiene was a deal-breaker for most women.
"You again?" Quylla said without knowing whether to be relieved or worried by his arrival.
"Did you miss me, baby?" Since the Ghoul's arms had turned into ashes but their owner was still alive, Morok stabbed his chest and head with the sickles, flooding them with darkness magic.
Pain twisted the undead's face and then there was nothing left to twist.
Phloria took a deep breath to overcome the blinding pain from her wounds and recalled Reaver to her left hand, the only arm she could still move after the Ghoul had dislocated her dominant arm.
The moment Morok had appeared, the Ghouls had resumed their attack. There were quite a few left of them and their seamless teamwork gave them the upper hand. Phloria was half dead, Friya was running on fumes, and from such a distance Quylla was useless.
One Ghoul engaged Morok, keeping him busy thanks to her own dual-wielding style and her one-handed battle hammers that locked the sickles in place. Another one darted at Phloria for the kill while the others aimed at Quylla, the weakest link, and the last one called for backup.
"Code red. Repeat, code red!" The undead yelled inside his communication amulet.
Between her injured arm and almost being strangled, Phloria had lost her focus and with it all the spells she had at the ready. With Morok too busy to protect her, she had no chance of victory against a Ghoul.
'I need to stall for time. I should still have enough mana to activate the Skinwalker armor a few times and use first magic.' She thought as the undead circled around her so fast that her eyes saw him only as a blur.
Phloria spun around like a top, trying to follow the enemy movements. The Ghoul used his short-sword to deflect Reaver while the other blade lunged at her brain. Phloria grit her teeth, raising her right hand and releasing a volley of darkness spells.
The Ghoul took the hits with a confident smile and continued his attack. Her magic holding rings were long since empty, and with her body as broken as her arm, Phloria was akin to a cornered mouse attempting its last bite.
Or so he thought until her right hand deflected his own and the darkness spells she had conjured destroyed his heart. Unlike fake mages, a true mage could always turn first magic spells into their more powerful version.
By stimulating their mana core, an Awakened was capable of upgrading their spells up to tier three if necessity arose. The only downside was that it cost a lot of mana because low tiered spells weren't meant to hold such prowess and needed to be stabilized.
Morok had no time to lose and dead men told no tales. He used the Ghoul as a cover while he shapeshifted into his Tyrannical Eye form and activated the black eye on his forehead.
The small pillar of darkness destroyed her head, leaving her blind and deaf long enough for Morok to kill her quickly. The ex-Ranger wasn't a normal man, but the offspring of a human and an Emperor Beast known as Tyrannical Eye or Tyrant.
When he had come of age, he had abandoned his human nature just like his own mother had abandoned him. Thanks to his father's help, it didn't take him long to learn how to shapeshift with light magic.
Unlike magical beasts, however, the human appearance he took wasn't idealized, but an exact copy of the body he was born with. He shapeshifted back into his human form to not scare Quylla and Blinked to the save.
"How can you be so slow, child?" An annoyed voice said.
It was deep and strong, echoing in the tunnels akin to a war cry even though the voice was barely a whisper. The undead who were already in front of the two Ernas sisters tried to halt their advance, but even their reflexes weren't enough.
A hulking figure pushed the two humans to the side and swung his blade, cutting the undead down like grass. Even being cut in half wasn't a problem for a Ghoul, unless the wound was flooded with Chaos magic, of course.
The remaining undead was outside the blade's reach, so the newcomer unleashed a barrage of tier one Chaos bullets that riddled him with holes even though he had already started to merge with the rock to escape.
Only Phloria witnessed the slaughter because her sisters were unable to avert their gaze from their savior. The creature was 2.74 meters (9') tall, with the head of a bull, the upper body of a bulky man, and the lower body resembled that of a bull, but capable of moving on two legs.
The Ernas sisters had never seen before a weapon like that he wielded on his right hand. It looked like a great sword, but instead of a hilt, it had a gauntlet integrated as a handguard.
The design of the pata was foreign to them as much as the purple runes and mana crystals decorating the full length of the weapon.
Chapter 1020 Out of Time Part 2
To make matters creepier, the creature's body kept turning from what looked like flesh and blood into living shadows, yet his eyes were pitch black instead of red.
Whatever it was, the creature was neither an Emperor Beast nor an undead.
"I'm sorry for my unsightly appearance, but I can assure you I mean you no harm. I'm still getting used to this new form of mine. My name is Nandi and I was sent to rescue you." The pata emitted a sizzling sound that made the Eldritch Abomination curse.
Nandi had lost control of the Chaos energy coursing through his body that was now devouring his prized weapon and forcing him to take it off before it was too late.
The fact that they were still alive reassured Quylla and Friya of his sincerity. They quickly thanked him and rushed to heal their sister. Phloria had sustained wounds so deep that there was a pool of blood at her feet.
Yet when Quylla finished chanting her diagnostic spell, it revealed that Phloria's body was as fit as a fiddle. Quylla only found minor injuries that barely bled and even Phloria's vitality was higher than her own.
"How did you do it? I thought you had been critically injured." Quylla asked.
"I don't know." Phloria replied. "One moment my body felt like it was falling apart and the next I was full of energy again. Don't ask me how I killed that Ghoul because I have no idea."
Once Quylla's arrays confirmed to her that there was no longer a threat to their lives, it was time for some answers.
"What are you doing here and what took you so long to help us?" Quylla asked Morok who was actually hoping for an adrenaline-induced romance rather than an interrogation.
"I'm not a stalker, I was just doing my job." He put his hand over his heart as if he was swearing on it. "I've tried to get in touch with you several times after Kulah, but your house staff always stopped me saying that you don't want guests."
Quylla nodded for him to continue. So far, he was telling the truth. She did instruct both the academy and the Ernas staff to make sure no one outside her contact list bothered her.
"Then, after the Blood Judgment thing, your mother reached to me and offered me a job. She promised me that if I kept your sister safe, she would introduce you to me again and we would go out on a date." Morok said while pointing at Phloria.
"She did what?" Quylla would have liked to refuse the idea that her own mother had sold her to pursue an agenda.
Yet it was exactly what she knew that Jirni would do. After retiring from the army, Morok had got his title of Baron with its attached lands, lots of wealth, and responsibilities.
Of course, it had taken him just a few months to get bored to death, ditch the lands and responsibilities, and get back to work as a mercenary. After reading his resume, Jirni knew he was the perfect man for the job.
Morok was powerful, capable to live in the wilds for prolonged periods of time on his own, and most of all, he was expendable. His life was worthless in the scheme of things and his infatuation with her daughter made him easily exploitable.
"I know. I would have preferred to protect you so that we could know each other over time, but Lady Ernas was adamant in her instructions. As for me being late, do you have any idea how many of those creeps were following you?
"Even with Nandi's help, it took me a while to get rid of them and wait for the right moment to step in. A wrong move and they would have killed your sister. Thank the gods she's easily mistaken for a man and the Ghouls failed to notice they already got their prize until it was too late." Morok said.
"That bears one more question. Why did you help us?" Phloria clenched her stomach, feeling as if it was going to burst at any moment. "I don't mean to be ungrateful, but I recognize an Abomination when I see one, and your kind isn't renewed for being friendly."
"I'm not an Abomination, or at least not anymore. I'm a monster-Abomination hybrid not so different from the man whose smell you all carry." Nandi pointed at Phloria's necklace and to all Lith's gifts they wore.
"A hybrid?" Friya echoed while looking at the tier four magic holding ring Lith had given her for her birthday.
Unlike normal rings, it could store two different spells. She treasured it dearly and even kept it a secret from Orion, who otherwise would pester her for the opportunity to study it.
Suddenly, the memories about their adventure in Zantia, when Lith had taken a demonic form to impersonate the All-Father, assumed a completely different meaning. Friya had seen Protector shapeshift into a hybrid form and knew that the offspring of two different races would be born hybrids.
'Normally, I wouldn't believe any bull coming from a bull, but it would explain a lot. Why Lith is so strong, why he heals so quickly, and most importantly why my sisters didn't tell me about it.' She thought.
"As for the reason I'm here, I'm no different from the foul-mouthed man. I helped you because I was tasked to." Nandi said.
"Mom makes deals with Abominations as well?" The three women said in unison, wondering what kind of monster their mother could be to instill loyalty even into such dangerous creatures.
"Gods, no. I was sent to your rescue by a common friend. She'll do the explaining since I have no idea what her reasons are. Now follow me if you want to live. You don't have much time left." The minotaur walked toward the light-filled corridor, leaving the others behind.
"What do you mean, she doesn't have much time left?" Quylla examined Phloria again, yet she failed to find anything wrong with her.
Yet her sister's pained expression was in stark contrast with the results of her diagnostic spells.
"She doesn't have long enough for an explanation. You'd better move." He replied without even turning back, emitting a moan of pleasure the moment he basked into the mana crystals' light again.
Before turning into an Abomination, he had been a Minotaur, the Emperor Beast evolution of a Tyr (AN: bull type magical beast). The Master had fused some of his bits with a tribe of ogres, giving birth to a hybrid who could commune with mana gemstones like the Fallen race.
"What's wrong with me?" Phloria needed sheer willpower just to not scream in pain.
None of the wounds or illnesses she had suffered in the past was comparable with what she was experiencing. Even Balkor's poison paled in comparison.
Friya tried and failed to diagnose her as well, which made the sisters desperate.
"No offense, but I don't know you and my sister needs help." Friya took her communication amulet out of her storage item, only to discover that it didn't work.
Then, she got away from the crystal veins enough to cast a Warp Steps leading back to the surface, yet her spell failed.
"I told you. You can either follow me or die. It will not be at my hand, but you'll die nonetheless. It's never polite to make your host wait." The minotaur said.
Chapter 1021 A New Path Part 1
Thanks to the crystals, Nandi stabilized his body and quickly repaired his weapon.
'Follow me, dammit. I don't want to be trapped in here forever.' He thought.
With no other choice left and with Phloria's condition getting worse, the Ernas followed the Minotaur through a short maze comprised of crystal veins of growing purity. Soon they were surrounded solely by violet and white gemstones.
In the middle of such a treasure that would have made any mage go mad with greed, there was what looked like a hunting cabin. The small wooden house had a pitched roof, only one door, and one window on each side.
A clothesline filled with small clothes of different sizes was located in front of the hut, giving the impression that a large family had somehow found their way there.
Quylla and Phloria recognized the oppressive aura surrounding the place as that they had perceived all the way up to the surface, yet now it seemed to be no longer hostile to them.
Phloria suddenly felt much better. The pain stopped haunting her, her face regained its color, and she was now able to walk without help.
"What's happening to me?" She was half relieved and half scared witless.
"Come on in." After opening the door, Nandi had to stoop to enter.
Phloria and the others quickly followed him, discovering that what was waiting for them was even more amazing than the crystal veins.
"Oh gods, it's bigger on the inside!" Quylla blurted out noticing how spacious the room was.
The living room they had entered was over ten meters (30 feet) long and fifteen meters (45 feet) wide. There was a huge cauldron over the fireplace, filled with some unknown bubbling food that smelled delicious.
A huge rectangular wooden table, longer than the one they dined at during social events held at the Ernas household, had been set with enough plates and cutlery to feed a small battalion.
On top of that, even though the living room itself was bigger than what the hut looked from the outside, there were several doors and corridors leading to other rooms that seemed to be even bigger.
The most astonishing thing, however, was the vision of an old lady, sitting on a simple wooden chair while surrounded by over twenty children. She was reading from a book while they jotted down her every word to learn how to write.
The old lady had grey hair and expressive black eyes. Her nose and ears were long, her face full of wrinkles. Age spots covered her skin, making her look weak, but her voice was melodious and kind.
The children were a melting pot of all ages ad races. Some were barely four years old while others were nearly ten. All of them were hybrids. A girl had silver hair and the red light of undeath shining in her eyes.
A boy who was barely older than Aran had webbed hands, scales of his cheeks, and gills kept appearing and disappearing on his neck. Some had fur instead of hair on their head, others had leaves and an odd colored skin.
Even Morok was so flabbergasted that no odd remark found its way out of his mouth.
"You're late, Nandi. The kids finished their spelling test for a while and had to take an extra lesson while waiting for you." Baba Yaga, the first Awakened to have ever achieved the white core of immortality, closed the book, but the children kept writing.
"You know about my condition. I couldn't risk killing your guests in case I lost control of a spell or in a fit of madness." He replied.
"What's madness and how do you spell it?" A beautiful black-haired boy asked.
No one would have thought he was a hybrid if not for his right hand having no flesh nor blood, yet still capable to move normally.
"I'll tell you when you grow up. Dictate is over. Go wash your hands and faces. Dinner is almost ready." Baba Yaga stood up and the class quickly dispersed after collecting their things.
The moment the last child left the living room, all the doors closed on their own, sealing the room.
"Teach to the children the wrong word and I'll kill you. This is your final warning." Her eyes lost all warmth and became stone-cold.
The old lady had a hunched back and was barely 1.45 meters (4'9") tall, yet the Minotaur was cowering in fear. She emitted an overbearing aura that covered everyone in a cold sweat as the room seemed to plunge in darkness despite being perfectly lit.
"The same stands for you lot. Behave in front of the children or pay the consequences. Now come closer. We have many things to talk about and little time left." Baba Yaga tapped her foot and five wooden chairs popped into existence.
"Who are you?" Friya asked.
"What do you want from me?" Phloria was somehow sure that the creepy lady had something to do with her condition.
"Are some of those children really half undead? Does it mean that undead can have children?" Quylla's brain had stopped working for a while, but the implications of such a discovery snapped her out of it.
"I don't really like the other two Ernas, but are we really all going to die in a while? If so, I could at least cross off a foursome from my bucket list." Morok had his priorities straight.
If he had to go, he might as well go out with a blast.
"I've done what you asked. Give me my reward so that I can finally leave this prison and live!" Nandi said.
"Here I thought I would deal with grown-ups for once. Speak one at a time or do not speak at all. As for your questions, you can call me Nana, Friya. I want to speak with you, Phloria. Yes, to both questions, Quylla. Depends on your choices, Morok.
"Last but not least, you're far from completing your task, Nandi. I'll tell you when we're done." Nana sat down and her guests were suddenly forced to do the same.
"Nana?" Quylla politely raised her hand.
Using that word after so long gave her an odd feeling. In the past, she had been familiar with another person who had made the babble word that small children used for their grandmothers as her moniker.
Lady Nerea, also known as Nana, had been Lith's first magic teacher. The Ernas sisters had met her more than once and had attended to her funeral. Calling someone else Nana felt weird because even though the two women looked awfully similar, they couldn't have been more different.
Lady Nerea had been a harsh and cynical woman, but it was just a shell to hide how broken she felt after losing everything she had worked for. She had never recovered from being rejected by the magical community after being framed for a failed mission.
Baba Yaga, instead, had kind and gentle manners, yet under her soft exterior lay the strength of a true ruler. It wasn't just about her uncanny magical powers that could be perceived even when she did nothing, nor about her impossible house.
The entirety of her person exuded an aura of self-confidence and authority that left people in awe even when she did something trivial like a spelling test.
Chapter 1022 A New Path Part 2
Quylla was aware that the name of their host was nothing but an alias, yet she didn't pry about her identity because she was afraid of the consequences that rudeness might have.
"Yes, dear Quylla?" Nana smiled, creeping Quylla as she wondered how could their host know her name.
"How can an undead have children?"
"Aside from a few exceptions, the greater undead are still made of flesh and blood. Even though most of their organs aren't vital anymore, their bodies work just fine. Sure, their fertility is low, but it's nothing that luck and effort can't fix. Let me explain…" Nana took an illustrated book called "Flowers and bees".
"I know how it works." Quylla blushed at the misunderstanding. "I was just asking how a skeleton could have a son."
"Not a skeleton. A Lich." At that word, the book disappeared and with it all the warmth in the room. "Those creatures are the true abominations, dear Nandi, not your kin. They get bored, get laid, and then forget about the consequences.
"They have no care for their offspring because they only care about themselves. They are a perversion of undeath that only births madness and pain. Together with the need to feed, Liches lose their humanity. The lack of weakness makes them conceited just as the prolonged isolation drives them mad."
Nana spat on the fireplace, causing it to burst into an eruption of flames and brimstone. Yet not a puff of smoke escaped the chimney nor made the room stink.
"The poor Radi was almost killed the very day he was born. His mother had no idea about the father's real identity, so she attempted to murder the baby, mistaking it for a monster."
"Are all those children orphans?" Quylla asked.
"Yes. They were either abandoned or their parents died trying to protect them. All because they are different." Nana said.
"It's very noble of you, helping the less fortunate." Friya felt sick at the idea of how much suffering each one of Nana's foster children had endured.
'I wonder if the same happened to Lith. Maybe that's the reason his brothers treated him so badly. It would explain why he kept so many secrets for so long.'
"There's nothing noble in my actions. I've seen countless hybrids be born and die, yet I've never moved a finger. As you have probably guessed at this point, I'm a mage. The children are part of my most recent project, just like Nandi here." Nana said with a cold smile on her face.
"What do you mean?" Phloria clung to the armrests of her chair in frustration.
At first, she had been glad to be rescued by the Abomination, to be relieved of her pain. Yet now that it was gone, after Nandi had uncaringly revealed Lith's secret, after hearing all that talking about hybrids, Phloria suspected to have fallen into a trap.
A comfortable, cozy trap but a trap from which she had no hope to escape nonetheless.
"Mogar is changing, dear Phloria. What was once just a temporary anomaly like my adopted children or the fruit of forbidden magic like the werepeople, is now becoming a new race. A power of its own." Nana said.
"I've seen your friend, Lith Verhen, vanquish my daughter who among my creations is supposed to be one of the closest to perfection. I've witnessed an insignificant mortal, the Master, turn the only species that Mogar has truly abandoned into something new and powerful." She pointed at Nandi.
"It got me thinking. What if hybrids aren't just an accident but a new path life is taking? What if I've been wrong all along and the solution to all my children's problems was right in front of me from the beginning? Only time and research will tell."
"What does this have to do with us? Why did you bring us here?" Phloria asked.
"To understand the ending, you must first listen to the beginning. Nandi, tell them your story." Nana ordered.
"Have you ever wondered why all living creatures can use first magic the same way, yet every race suffers from different limitations? Most humans can't use magic and even those who can need magical words and hand signs.
"Animals are the same, and even when they evolve into magical beasts, they can only use a couple of elements. Plants can't use magic at all. When they acquire consciousness, they solely gain abilities linked to their affinity with earth and life.
"Undead share all the strengths and weaknesses of the other races because they are artificial. A failed experiment in the attempt to overcome how frail life is." Nandi looked straight at Nana, who curled her upper lip when he called her children "failures".
"Only Awakened are capable of using magic to its full potential and of unlocking the seventh element. The element of life, mana." Nandi explained to them what Awakening was, along with all the gifts and risks it implied.
"Abominations are just failed Awakened, creatures made of power and stubbornness who refuse to fade away as the natural order requires. I still don't remember how I lost my life the first time.
"All I know is that I was born during what you call a 'monster outbreak'. The Master had implanted bits of the original me inside a tribe of ogres, to turn them into food that would enhance his strength.
"Yet Abominations cling to life as no other race can. Somehow those bits grew into what you see now, a hybrid between ogres and the original Abomination. Ogres worship mana crystals, so they took a mine as their home.
"It allowed me to increase my strength and stabilize my condition without having to hurt anyone. Then, when the real Nandi, or Kimbug as he called himself, came to collect his prize, I was ready.
"Between our shared memories and the abilities I gained from my ogre half, beating him was easy." Nandi waved his hand at a crystal that was right outside one of the open windows.
A stream of energy came to him, taking the forms of all elements as the gemstone started to lose its luster and its light became duller. He pointed a finger at Quylla, sending a sliver of that energy against her Skinwalker armor that lost its magical properties and shapeshifted into its original state.
"What the heck?" She blurted out.
"Kimbug had no idea of the power mana crystals really hold. You and I produce mana of our own, but what about our spells or our equipment? They can't produce mana and depend on the world energy to work.
"Mana crystals are akin to crystalized will of Mogar and by controlling it, one can dominate the world energy itself. After I assimilated Kimbug, I stopped feeling hungry all the time but my strength turned out to be my weakness as well.
"As soon as I get further away from the crystal veins, my Abomination nature starts to corrode my body. An ogre can't withstand alone the Chaos energy that my life essence is comprised of.
"To make matters worse, whenever I get a glimpse of my old life, I fall into a destructive madness that makes me impossible to live a normal life. I'm imprisoned down here just as you are. All my power is for nothing!"
Nandi wanted to scream, but in presence of Baba Yaga, all he could do was to clench the indestructible armrests of his chair.
Chapter 1023 Dangerous Wishes Part 1
"Why does Nandi say that we're imprisoned here? Nana, are you going to use us and the children for your experiments?" Friya asked while the identity of their host became clearer by the second.
Her mind refused to believe that the protagonist of a cautionary fairy tale might be real, but the more she heard, the more legends made sense.
"Not at all." Nana shook her head.
"You're free to go whenever you want. I will not move a finger to harm you, but I'm afraid that those waiting for you outside will not be as kind. I'm offering you a choice.
"Stay here with me and help me with my research. Not only will I save your lives, but I will also give you power beyond your wildest dreams. Or you can leave these caves and die a dog's death at the hands of the very people you considered your allies."
Phloria took all of her amulets out of her dimensional necklace, discovering that none of them worked. She thought about how the upper floors of the mines were so clean despite Belin's findings, about how well-timed the attack had been and suddenly everything made sense.
***
Outside the crystal mines, a few minutes after the Ghouls' ambush.
Captain Kortus of the original expedition, Captain Lotta who led the reinforcements, Tlea, the Royal Prospectors' foreman, and Wyra, vice-head of the Crystal Shield guild, were dining together while waiting for the Ernas sisters to return.
Each one of them was interested in a different member of the Ernas family. Kortus and Eras were itching for some trouble to arise so that they could prove to be Phloria's match, if not even her betters.
Tlea kept rehearsing in her mind the speeches she had prepared to convince Quylla to become her apprentice. Between her talent and the political prowess of the Ernas family, Tlea was certain that with Quylla by her side, the sky was the limit to how rich her Ormann household could become.
Only Wyra was worried about their safety and kept looking at her communication amulet in the hope to receive a call.
'I know that it's dumb worrying for god, but I can't shake the feeling that something is wrong.' Wyra Yunja was a young woman in her early twenties, about 1.7 meters (5'7") tall, with a pixie cut and a round face.
She could've been considered cute, if not for her thick muscular build and her square jaw. Coupled with her fierce eyes, her physique gave her a cold demeanor that made Wyra look like a disgruntled drill sergeant always ready to dish out punishment.
All the reports she had received from the guild members tasked with keeping the high officials under surveillance had yet to reveal anything suspicious, yet it only made Wyra more anxious.
She didn't expect all of them to commit high treason or to indulge in unspeakable vices, but they were too clean for her taste. The background check Archon Ernas had performed on Friya's request had revealed nothing new and the daily activities of the three mages had stuck to the military code bordering on obsession.
'It doesn't make sense. I could believe if one high officer was a spotless goody-two-shoes, but all of them?
'An incompetent man like Kortus should take out his anger on the soldiers while I would expect that a shrewd social climber like Lotta would regularly call her contacts and try to make Captain Ernas look bad.
'Tlea Ormann is the only one I managed to predict. She works all day in the caves and when she gets back to the camp, she barely has the energy left to eat before going to sleep.
'Yet the only possible reason I can find to explain why the undead didn't detonate the mines is that there is one or more of them among us, waiting for the opportunity to strike.' Wyra thought.
While she stared at her steak as if it could provide her with an epiphany, a soldier pulled the curtain of the tent to the side, letting a handsome man in.
"Great Mage Nuragor, what a lovely surprise." Captain Lotta stood up and gave him a small bow. "To what do we owe the pleasure? Searching for crystal veins is hardly a task worthy of a Great Mage."
Everyone else present felt insulted at those words, especially Tlea. Hearing Lotta belittle her job just to suck up to a certified loser like Kallion made her want to puke.
"Alas, I bear bad news. Plan A was an utter failure. We lost contact will all members of the special unit tasked with retrieving the package. It's time for Plan B, Captain Lotta."
Clefas Lotta was a woman in her mid-twenties, about 1.6 meters (5'3") tall with wheat-blonde hair and hazel eyes, born and raised in the north. She always wore make-up to lighten the pallor of her skin, but hearing those words made her turn so white that everyone thought that she was about to faint.
"Attention, this is not a drill." She said into her communication amulet the moment she recovered from the shock. "Activate lockdown protocol. Password Blue, Dragon, 9, 7."
"What the heck does that mean?" Tlea stood up while pointing a darkness wand at Eras's face and her tier four magic holding ring at Kallion's heart.
Wyra had no idea what was happening, but seeing her communication amulet forcefully turned off was enough to make her weave her best spells while keeping an eye on the newcomer.
"Prospector Orman is right, Lotta. What reason do you have to enforce the dimensional sealing array and put the guards on alert? What the heck is this beanpole talking about? I never heard about any plan being implemented." Kortus said.
"Please, let me do the talking, Clefas." Kallion put his hands in the air in a sign of submission, quickly followed by Lotta. With their hands away from the weapons and their rings pointing at the ceiling, the other three mages felt a bit more in control.
"I apologize for the sudden intrusion, but Captain Lotta and I are working for the good of the Kingdom. The war with the Undead Courts is killing the best warriors from both sides and the price to pay for each victory makes them hollow." Kallion said.
"I come on behalf of Archmage Deirus and the Undead Courts who have resolved for a peaceful solution. The Undead Courts are willing to settle for 25% of the mined crystals in exchange to waive their rights over the veins and all Archmage Deirus asks is the life of the three Ernas sisters."
"Are you out of your mind?" Tlea couldn't believe her own ears. "Why the heck would we do something like that?"
"I'm glad you asked. First, in case you failed to notice, the army sent an entire battalion to protect the mines and all of them are either on Deirus's payroll or thralls.
"We took our time so that the moment our undead allies stage their attack to seize the mines, all your soldiers who didn't switch sides during the last few days will tragically die during the ensuing battle.
"Second, if you join us, you'll be acclaimed as heroes. All of you will be promoted and receive enough riches to never have to worry again about your future whereas if you refuse, you'll just rise the body count.
"Third, even if somehow you manage to kill both of us and escape, you'll be killed either by Captain Lotta's soldiers or by the undead army that has stepped inside the camp the moment the lockdown started."
Chapter 1024 Dangerous Wishes Part 2
Kallion looked Kortus in the eyes and said:
"Aren't you tired of being stuck as a Captain at your age? How do you think Lotta built such a quick and brilliant career? Not by risking her life like a moron, but by choosing her battles wisely and her allies even more wisely.
"If a paper-pusher like Berion managed to become a General, imagine what you could do with both the Undead Courts and an Archmage backing you. The secrets of magic they could share with their precious ally."
"Thanks, but no thanks." Kortus replied, making everyone open their eyes wide in surprise. "I'm already at my wit's end as a Captain. A higher rank would spell disaster for all the poor soldiers under my command.
"I might not be Great Mage material, but I believe in the oath I took to the Kingdom years ago. It's better to die like a free man after killing two traitors than joining them in disgrace."
"Talk for yourself." Tlea turned her darkness wand against Kortus and shot him at point-blank. "I'm too old and rich to die for something as stupid as an ideal. Great Mage Nuragor, count me in."
She was now pointing both her wand and ring at Wyra, who had never stopped chanting.
"What about you, Wyra?" Kallion said. "I read your file. You graduated from a minor academy and are now forced to follow Friya Ernas in exchange for the crumbs of her knowledge.
"Right now, my soldiers have probably already killed every single member of the Crystal Shield. Your guild is finished and your companions are all dead, but destiny has given you a chance you never had before.
"Join us and tell everyone how valiantly the Crystal Shield fought along their Lord to fight the undead before their untimely death. Once everything is over, you'll be free to choose your own reward.
"Specializations, a noble title, even eternal life might be yours." Kallion's words were filled with poison and yet coated by so much honey that it made them alluring.
Wyra Yunja had been born from a humble family, that had put all their hopes and dreams in her once her magical talent had bloomed. Yet Wyra had failed to enroll in one of the six academies, failed in following the Magic Empress footsteps, and even failed to join the Mage Association.
Being a mercenary wasn't her dream job, only a last-ditch effort to escape from a mediocre life of servitude at the whims of some noble. To not become a loyal dog fed on money rather than just meat.
So far, even that last-ditch effort had proven to be a failure. Wyra had become a vice-head only after Friya had kicked out the guild members from the great academies, and even if she was teaching them her specializations, it wasn't enough.
Wyra was a slow learner and Friya had to split her time to teach three different specializations, whereas Wyra would need individual lessons to make some real progress.
"Fine. Count me in." She said amid tears.
Just speaking those words made her feel dirty inside.
'If I refuse, they will just kill me. If I accept, at least I'll have an opportunity to tell the truth to Archon Ernas once we get back to the base.' Wyra said, not trusting Kallion one bit.
"Excellent." Kallion gave her a smile that had made many hearts pound in the past. "Words are cheap, so I hope you'll excuse me if I don't trust your word. I'll need a demonstration of your loyalty."
At a snap of his fingers, the curtain of the tent opened again, revealing the presence of three prisoners bound and gagged right outside the officers' quarters. The prisoners were the seconds in command of those that Great Mage Nuragor meant to recruit.
"Prospector Ormann is already our accomplice for killing the poor Kortus, who's spared from my test since he is, you know, dead." Kallion laughed at his own joke while exposing the neck of Rotha, Wyra's assistant and her best friend.
Fear dilated his pupils so much that they almost eclipsed his irises while Rotha looked at Wyra with eyes full of tears. That sight and his whimpering filled her with hope.
Despite Kallion's claims, now that the soundproof spell of the tent had been opened, Wyra could hear the cries of people fighting. The clash of metal and the sizzling of spells filled the air, revealing that the battle had yet to be lost.
"Forgive me, Rotha, but no one ever got rich by being nice." She said while unsheathing her combat knife. "I would do anything to spare you this pain, but I have no choice. For our god!"
Wyra released all the spells she had at the ready, making the command tent burst into flame, thunder, and rock spikes. She covered Rotha with her body while using her knife to set him free.
Hidden among the magical onslaught, there was the Flare spell that the Crystal Shield used as a signal on the battlefield. It was red and violet, meaning both "run for your life" and "there is still hope".
"Well, that was impressive." Kallion's voice surprised Wyra, but Rotha and her didn't stop running.
'How can he be still alive after being hit by so many spells at point-blank?' She thought while looking at the corpses of the soldiers guarding the tent.
Even Tlea's Royal Prospector armor couldn't do much from so close. Her face was badly burned and she was bleeding from all her orifices.
Kallion would have been in the same condition if not for his Vampire blood core mending his injuries just enough to let light magic do the rest. A thrall had the same powers of their undead sire, but they were limited by the amount of life essence they shared.
"Care to join me for a hunt?" He asked Lotta, who was healing even faster thanks to the Ghoul blood coursing through her core.
"Gods, I should have done this years ago." He said after Lotta nodded and they had started the chase.
"My strength, my magical powers, even my senses are enhanced to the point that I feel reborn. I wish Verhen was here so that I could kill him like the dog he is. Right after killing his beloved Phloria right in front of his eyes."
***
Flying Griffon resort, a few minutes after Kallion had enforced the camp's lockdown.
The communication amulet pulling at his consciousness forced Lith to get out of the shower with shampoo still in his hair. During the last few days, he and Kamila had spent every moment before sunset enjoying the beauty Mount Lochra had to offer.
The rest of the time they would talk about their dreams for the future, taste delicious food, and spend hours in the bedroom. Kamila liked how Invigoration made sleeping optional, allowing her to enjoy all the 24 hours each day had to offer.
"Damn, let's hope it's not Faluel." He said to Kamila who was still under the shower.
'I swear, if my apprenticeship starts now of all moments, with all the money I spent for this goddamn place, I…' Seeing Orion's rune lit made Lith sigh in relief for one entire second before he became grumpy again.
"What is it now? Do you realize how late it is here?" Lith asked.
Due to different time zones, it was almost dinner time at Phloria's camp, late night for Orion, and way past midnight for Lith.
Chapter 1025 Dragonspeed Part 1
"Help me, Lith, you're my only hope." Orion had watery eyes and didn't crack a single joke about the soap in Lith's hair or about him answering the amulet while shirtless.
"I put both a tracker and an alarm spell in my daughters' amulets so that whenever the communication amulets are not stored in a dimensional item, I get notified the moment the signal gets cut off by a dimensional sealing array.
"A few minutes ago, all of them went suddenly off the grid."
"Are you sure…" Lith tried to say, yet his stomach already churned.
"Yes! First, I checked with their commanding officer who knew nothing about an attack or lockdown. Then, I tried to call every single member of the expedition whose contact rune I have and all of them are unavailable as well.
"Berion tried to reassure me since he received the last report less than an hour ago and everything was fine, but when he failed to contact anyone even through the camp's secure line, we understood something is going on." Orion managed to keep his words simple and his explanation linear.
"What can I do?" Lith knew Phloria's location only by name.
Aside from the Kellar and the Distar regions, he didn't travel the Kingdom ever since he worked for the White Griffon academy. Even then, Lith had only been to cities with their own Warp Gates.
"Your apprenticeship has yet to start, so you might not know it, but just like plants, Emperor Beasts have their own network of Gates." Orion explained. "Your master can send you almost anywhere, whereas the closest City Gate is hundreds of kilometers from the caves.
"I'm in the middle of a mission for the Royals and I'm not even supposed to break the communication silence. Jirni is busy as well, but even if we weren't, we'd never get there in time.
"The army and the Association will need hours to prepare a strike force big enough to face an enemy so powerful that it isolated the 1000 men battalion they sent a few days ago as reinforcements. Even once they are ready, they still have to get there.
"You are the only one who can get there quickly thanks to the beasts' network and pull one of your miracles out of your ass. Please, I don't care about how you do it nor about anyone else in that goddamn camp.
"All I ask you to do is to get there, find my daughters, and get them to safety. I would do it myself but…" The signal disappeared and so did Orion's hologram.
In its place, there was a map of the Kingdom with a blinking dot where the camp was located. The moment Lith read the "crystal mines" tag, a shiver ran down his spine.
"Is everything alright?" Kamila approached him while wearing only a fluffy bathrobe.
She had never heard either of the Ernas couple lose their cool and even if the running water had covered most of the conversation, Lith staring at the amulet didn't bode well.
"No, not in the least. Phloria, Friya, and Quylla just went MIA in a goddamn crystal mine!" A small burst of water magic dried his hair and removed the soap as the Skinwalker armor covered him.
"I never told Phloria about her Awakening. Prolonged exposure to such a massive a mana geyser could…" Kamila placed her forefinger on Lith's lips, cutting him short.
"You can explain it to me later. Now, go. Your friends need you." Kamila looked at him in the eyes, letting Lith know that she had complete trust in him.
"Thanks, Kami, you…" He kissed her finger before being cut short again.
"I said go! Kiss any of them and I'll kill you." She yelled while he disappeared through a Warp Steps leading to the resort's lobby and its Gate.
"Ynca for one, now!" Lith slammed his ID on the counter to show that he had the privileges to go there.
Ynca was a military training camp in the Kellar region that had only one perk. It was built so close to a mana geyser that Lith needed a single dimensional door to reach it.
"Is it something wrong with your accommodation? The Flying Griffon would be glad to…" Losing an Archmage as a client worried the concierge, but the thick mana filled with killing intent that was strangling him didn't leave space for conversation.
"I said now!" Lith's eyes were bursting with mana while his body emitted sudden gusts of wind and generated enough pressure to make the furniture of the entire lobby rattle as if there was a quake.
"Have a safe trip." The poor man managed to say with his last breath. Not even fear could put a leash on over two decades of impeccable work.
Only once Lith disappeared and the concierge had made sure that someone would cover for him did the man allow himself to faint.
"Solus, pick me up at Ynca. Prepare for Phloria's omega protocol." Lith said in his communication amulet the moment the desk Sergeant cleared him to leave.
"Omega?" The word made the drowsiness disappear from her voice. Unlike him, Solus liked to sleep at night. To Solus, slumber was a rare commodity that also gave her access to glimpses of her past through dreams. "I'll be right there."
Lith found the tower waiting for him and used mind fusion to bring Solus up to speed in the blink of an eye.
'That's extreme and sudden. Are you really sure?' There was no time for words, even thoughts felt slow as she went back to Lutia and opened a Steps to Faluel's lair.
'Damn sure.' Lith walked through the dimensional door while the tower shrunk.
They had yet to reveal to Faluel Solus's tower form, so by the time Solus slipped back at his finger, Lith was already asking his mentor for help.
"I have no idea what's going on, but your friend Orion is right. I can send you in the turf of Ajatar the Drake and then he can Warp you even closer to your destination. Just give me a second.
"I can't use a mind link from this distance, so explaining the situation to him might take a while." Three of Faluel's heads were awake while the remaining four were asleep.
Hydras were among the few creatures that could rest and reset the effects of Invigoration while working non-stop, which in normal circumstances would make Lith green with envy.
Luckily, Emperor Beasts didn't mince words nor were big on pleasantries.
"Ajatar, this is an emergency. My disciple needs help. Open a Gate and then send him to the following coordinates as fast as you can, please." That was all the explanation Faluel gave while sharing the mines' location.
"On it." Either Ajatar's curiosity was non-existent or the word "emergency" meant a great deal for Emperor Beasts.
The Drake linked the Warping array of his lair to Faluel's without asking a single question until he looked his guest in the eyes.
"Is this a matter of friends, love, or family?" The Drake resembled an oversized lizard covered in sapphire-blue scales with a huge white horn coming out of his snout.
Drakes had the physical prowess of Dragons, but lacked both wings and Origin Flames. They could channel the power of the elements in their breath, giving it special properties that didn't consume their mana.
"All of the above." Lith had no idea what answer would get the lesser Dragon to give his all, so he went all-in.
Chapter 1026 Dragonspeed Part 2
"Man, and here I thought that my life was fucked up. You must be in love with your best friend who's also your sister." Ajatar laugh made the mountain under which his lair was located rumble.
His lizard form shapeshifted into a humanoid body that retained the scales and the original mass. Yet now Ajatar had legs, arms and stood as tall as Faluel, reaching over 20 meters (66').
"Jump in." The Drake placed his huge palm in front of Lith who was in too big of a rush to ask for an explanation and just obeyed.
"I can't open a Warp Steps leading so far from here and I doubt you have the time that I need to finish my business before I can give you a hand." Ajatar nodded at several cauldrons and magic circles that formed his experiment.
Life Vision revealed that the Drake was somehow keeping them stable from a distance thanks to several tendrils of Spirit Magic. They linked the caster with its creations, allowing him to put the unstable energies in pause.
'Am I a bad person for wishing that Faluel will teach us this stuff while our friends are probably risking their lives or worse?' Solus couldn't take her eyes off the magical apparatus, whereas Lith remained more focused than a laser.
"Which leaves us with best next thing. I know you have wings, so you'd better use them. Dragonspeed." A Warp Steps leading in the middle of nowhere appeared in mid-air, at a dozen meters distance from the Drake.
"Don't you mean 'godspeed'?" Lith asked.
"Nah, that's just an expression. Dragonspeed is real." Ajatar covered the hand he was holding Lith on with the other and then started to spin on himself like a shot-putter.
Yet instead of being done after one spin, the Emperor Beast became faster and faster, to the point that when Lith flew through the dimensional corridor, he had already reached a speed so great that the protective aura surrounding the Skinwalker armor caught fire because of air resistance.
That was before Lith activated his flight spell. Before he shapeshifted into his Wyrmling form and activated both air and fire fusion.
Lith's flight spell, Soaring Hawk, not only allowed him to move at several hundreds of km/h (mph), but also created a wind blade in front of his path that protected his eyes and boosted his speed by generating a slipstream effect.
Fire and air fusion, instead, gave his wings such power that each one of their flaps produced a thunderclap. Thanks to the Ajatar's Steps, Lith had skipped a couple of dozens of kilometers and started his flight at a breakneck speed.
He looked like a black comet shrouded by flames that soared the night sky, coming closer to its destination with each passing second.
***
Baba Yaga's hut, down in the mines, now.
"Are you saying that I've been betrayed?" Phloria asked.
"No, I'm saying that you would be dead and buried if I didn't send Nandi to help you. The moment you get out of here, nothing will stop your enemies from achieving their goal." Baba Yaga/Nana replied.
"So this is blackmail!" Friya was so angry that she overcame Baba Yaga's aura and managed to stand up. "Either we submit or you throw us into the wolf's maw, correct?"
"Blackmail is the coward's weapon." Nana shook her head. "If you want to stay here until the danger is over, you'll be treated as honored guests. As I already said, I will not move a finger against you nor will I force you to leave."
Her answer shocked them all, incapable of understanding what Nana's endgame was.
"Yet even after the army leaves the area and so do the undead, you will still die, dear Phloria. Do you remember what Nandi explained to you about Awakening and the risks it implies for an already powerful mage?" Nana asked, receiving a nod as an answer.
"That's what is going to happen to you. That's why I arranged our meeting here, down inside a powerful crystal mine. The pain you felt earlier is because your Awakening is imminent, but with so many impurities, with such a weak human body, you'll never survive the process." Nana said.
"That's bullshit! I can heal any kind of wound and even giving her my life force if that's necessary." Quylla stood up as well, refusing to believe such a preposterous lie.
"Heal?" Baba Yaga laughed. "Awakened can heal all kinds of wounds and replenish their vitality with just a breath, yet many of them die when their core evolves. Ask Nandi, if you don't believe me."
"She's right." The Minotaur grumbled. "Even if your body survives the shock of such a sudden transformation, if your core starts to crack there is no magic that can fix that. Without help, you have no chance of survival."
The word Awakened had no meaning for Friya, but its description fit what Phloria and Quylla had seen Lith do while fighting the Odi in Kulah.
'Can really Lith be both an Awakened and a hybrid? That sure would explain a lot.' They thought in unison.
"If I accept, will you help me to Awaken, then?" Phloria asked.
"Wrong again. Why would you settle for something so trivial? There are thousands, if not maybe tens of thousands Awakened on the entirety of Mogar. Why be one of the many when you can be so much more?" Baba Yaga's eyes lit with mana and enthusiasm.
"Didn't you listen to what I said earlier? Hybrids get the best from both worlds. Think about the Master's Abomination-monster hybrids or the werepeople human-Emperor Beast hybrids.
"Awakening someone is easy at my level, but you are a unique piece. A priceless gem for my research. You are a self-Awakened who has yet to complete the process, stuck in the middle between life and death.
"My children are flawed, broken if you prefer, and so is their blood core. That's why while an Awakened can always turn into an undead, the opposite is such a rare occurrence that I can count those who have succeeded on one hand.
"My plan is to bestow you a blood core while your life force is both very unstable and easily manipulable. Unlike my former creations, your blood core will not be devised to replace the mana core, but to coexist with it.
"This way, once the procedure is over and you Awaken, the blood core will lessen the strain on your body and use the massive amount of energy released to fix its imbalance.
"On top of that, the regenerative abilities and the toughness typical of the undead will guarantee your survival, no matter how violent the process is." Nana said.
"You want to make me a hybrid?" Phloria was flabbergasted.
"What is my role in this story? I thought you recruited me because you couldn't bear raising a hand against your children." Nandi's eyes were reduced to fiery slits as Baba Yaga's plan made less sense by the second.
He didn't fight his original self in those caves, the Returner Abomination actually came from far away. Baba Yaga had recruited him with the promise of curing his condition in exchange for his help.
They had moved to the crystal mines of Feymar and there she had tasked him to get rid of the undead that were digging out the crystals and keep the area safe while she prepared the field for their guests.
Chapter 1027 The Secret Tower Part 1
Nandi had preferred to side with the old witch over the Master's offer to join the Organization that Tezka had delivered to him because Baba Yaga proposed a one-time deal, whereas the Master required long lasting fealty for some crazy-ass plan.
Now, however, the difference between the two was getting thinner by the second.
"That's only half your job, Nandi." Nana said. "Right now, you and Phloria are two peas in a pod. Both of you have unstable bodies that only the powerful mana flow coming from the crystals keeps stable.
"The other half is to be my blueprint. I'll use you to replicate the Master's handiwork, to know where and how to place my blood core inside Phloria's body.
"This will allow me to succeed on the first try. I can't afford a trial-and-error process to understand how to make two different cores coexists. It would require many specimens whereas Phloria's condition is almost unique.
"Only once I'm sure that the procedure is complete will I Awaken Phloria and fix your problem." Nana said.
"Wait, I thought you were the reason why my sister feels better. Are you saying it's only thanks to the crystal veins?" Friya's anger turned into fear.
"No one, not even the Guardians can keep an Awakening from happening once it starts, yet I am the reason why your sister is still alive. I spread the gemstones for Belin to find. I sent Nandi to save you when you were doomed.
"I made sure that once Phloria's constant use of magic triggered her Awakening, she was inside the mines instead of dying an excruciating death." Baba Yaga wore a cold smile as she revealed how everyone had danced on the palm of her hand until that moment.
"I don't believe you. If it wasn't for your crazy scheme, the moment my sister felt unwell, we would have called someone who knows how to help her." Quylla remembered how Lith had saved even Protector.
She firmly believed that if he really was an Awakened, he would know what to do, if not even already have several of his crazy contingency plans at the ready.
"Someone who? The Blackest Knight?" Baba Yaga chuckled. "The runt is powerful indeed, but someone who has yet to live his first century lacks both the means and the knowledge to help Phloria. No, child. I'm her only hope."
A long, fearful silence fell into the room. Be they humans, Emperor Beasts, or Returners Abominations, they all felt like prisoners waiting for their own execution.
"Don't look at me like that. I'm no monster." Baba Yaga heard the children on their way back for dinner and was now sure that her guests had uncovered her real identity so she turned into her Mother form.
She now looked like a beautiful woman in her forties, with flaming red hair and emerald green eyes. Her voice was warm and her body exuded a reassuring aura that made her hosts feel homesick, longing to reconnect with their respective parents, even those who had long lost them or never known them.
"I'm Baba Yaga, the Red Mother, and I can be your parent as well. Quylla, Friya, once I'm done with Phloria, I can do the same for you. There is a great power slumbering inside all of you, but you need my help to become so strong that no one will ever be able to threaten your happiness.
"Nandi, even after you are cured, there are countless things that I can learn from you and you can teach to your brethren. Stay with me, help me to give birth to my children, and I promise you that I'll make everything I can to make so that your two natures merge into one, making you whole again.
"Hybrids are just the first steps towards new races, a necessary compromise until I find a way to harmonize different kinds of life forces.
"Morok, you're a hybrid no longer, but by studying the changes your life force has undergone, I can better understand the process that leads a hybrid's natures to clash and why they have to willingly choose between them instead of the strongest bloodline simply prevailing.
"Together, we can make Mogar better. We can be a family." Baba Yaga's voice was sweeter than honey and filled with promises of happiness.
Her guests could feel that she wasn't lying. Such a powerful being could trap them with ease and use them as her guinea pigs whenever she wanted. No one paid attention to Eari's secret being revealed, not even Morok himself.
They were all too busy considering her offer to care about the small stuff.
"Thanks, but no thanks." Morok replied first, snapping the others out of their reverie.
"If you succeed, I'll live forever and that's really a long time for someone without a goal like me. I honestly don't care about Mogar, being powerful, or having a long life.
"Otherwise instead of becoming a Ranger, I would have focused on finding someone to Awaken me. All I ever wanted was to be happy. I've seen the death and misery your children cause.
"I prefer a short, unhappy life to an eternity at your service. The only thing you have offered me is more time to be miserable. I'll take your offer for shelter, but once the storm is gone, I'm out of here."
Nandi considered his words as well, but to him, Baba Yaga was still the best shot at a normal life. He was already immortal, and while the Master was but a human, the Red Mother was eternal.
If there was someone who could really find a way to merge his two cores into one, that was her.
Phloria didn't know what to say. She didn't want to die so young, yet the idea of spending centuries leeching off the life force of others terrified her.
'Friya and Quylla can leave anytime they want, but the moment I step out of the mines, I'll die. I can feel my body being torn apart even while we speak. Maybe Quylla is right and Lith might be able to save me, but at what cost?
'His life force is already crippled and I couldn't live knowing that he died to save me.' She thought.
Quylla and Friya had no desire to live forever. Their lives were already messed up as they were and just as Morok had said, they had nothing to live for.
The idea of seeing Jirni and Orion die, of being forced to fake their own death and leave the Ernas household forever to keep others from noticing their unnatural longevity was a thought scarier than death.
Yet they didn't want to abandon their sister. If they left, she would be all alone, forever. The first and the only one of her kind to know how it felt to be truly alive while all the others would be born already half dead.
Phloria would survive, but it was a meager consolation since she would also lose everything in the process.
The hybrid children returned to the room and with a wave of her hand, Baba Yaga set the table for everyone.
"Have you washed your hands properly?" She asked while a flick of her wrist filled the plates with a delicious vegetable cream.
The kids raised their hands in the air and Baba Yaga checked them before turning to her guests.
Chapter 1028 The Secret Tower Part 2
"There's plenty of food for everyone. No need to brood on an empty stomach. Whatever you choose, you'll need strength." She pointed at the six empty chairs, one for each guest plus one for herself.
Baba Yaga was about to sit at the head of the table when she perceived a low rumble in the atmosphere.
"He comes!" She said as her eyes turned into blazing fires of mana.
A wave of her hand created a double of the dining room, sending the children and the Mother away to let them dine quietly. At the same time, the Crone and her guests watched at the events unfolding on the surface through what looked like a surveillance mirror that had appeared in mid-air.
"He who?" Phloria asked, feeling hope for the first time since she had walked inside those damned mines.
"My daughter Dawn calls him the Blackest Knight, while the Beasts know him as the Scourge. I prefer calling things as I see them, so he's the Destroyer to me. You, however, I believe know him as Lith Verhen." Baba Yaga said.
***
The flaming black meteor covered the last few kilometers separating it from the mines in the blink of an eye, without ever slowing down. Even though it was clearly visible on the horizon, the people at the camp were too busy either trying to kill or survive to bother looking at the sky.
'I don't know what's going on down there and I don't care.' Thanks to his enhanced senses, Lith could see humans, thralls, and undead fighting together against regular humans.
'Solus, any trace of Phloria and the others?'
'None, but there's a mess down there. Their energy signature might be cloaked by one of Orion's rings, covered by their enemies, or worse. Are you sure you want to do it?' Solus asked.
'I am. As long as no witness remains alive, we don't need to care about hiding anything of our strength. We can go all out and beyond. Fighting so close to such a powerful mana geyser is a unique opportunity and our best chance to save my friends.'
Solus slipped off his finger and reached the ground first, landing behind a small hill located a few hundreds meters away from the camp. Her drop point was exactly in the middle of the raging stream of world energy coming from below that gave birth to the crystal mines.
She shapeshifted into her tower form and then Warped away.
Meanwhile, Lith crash-landed, opening a deep crater in the ground and killing all the nearby undead in the process. He was back in his human form and wore his Archmage robe, wielding supreme authority over the soldiers who were miraculously unscathed from the impact.
"Phloria Ernas, where is she?" Not even the dimensional sealing array could lessen the pressure that his seething anger exuded.
Traitors and thralls quaked in their boots at Lith's sight whereas the soldiers cried with joy. That together with Life Vision showing him traces of the blood cores the thralls bore, allowed Lith to sort friends from enemies.
Seeing his hands move, the traitors pointed their weapons and wands against Lith. The formers hit his robe and cracked as the hands wielding them became numb from the impact.
The latter released spells that were instantly overpowered by Lith's own, without buying their owners a single second before Checkmate Spears killed all those who had raised a hand against the Archmage.
"Phloria Ernas, where is she?" Lith repeated the question to the soldier who was now clinging to his deep blue robe as if it was their lifeline.
"You need to help us! We almost died at the hands of the traitors and their undead allies…" A young soldier said until spirit magic choked her along with the whining of all her comrades.
"I didn't ask for a report. Ernas. Where?" Lith would have gladly abandoned them to their fate, but roaming the entirety of the battlefield aimlessly was beyond stupid when there was intel laying everywhere.
"I don't know." She said amid tears when the pressure on her neck lessened and the other soldiers nodded like parrots with a seizure.
"They are supposed to be in the command tent. It's located that way. I haven't seen them since this morning though." The young soldier pointed where the battle was at its fiercest, her voice begging to be spared despite her uselessness.
"Fine. Run away or die, the choice is yours." Lith threw them toward the path that his arrival had cleared.
Both the humans and the undead nearby were too focused on him to care about the survivors, giving them a chance to escape.
"Is he insane?" Nandi was flabbergasted. "The army's reinforcements alone amount to one thousand men and the undead are at least half that number."
"No, he isn't." Baba Yaga couldn't understand Lith's behavior as well and looked at the surveillance mirror with confusion.
"There is great power in him, yet his life force is broken and he is but one man. Not even an Awakened can walk away easily from such a battlefield, unless…" Everyone turned toward her, but Baba Yaga never bothered finishing the sentence.
She was too busy thinking back at Dawn's describing her defeat.
Solus Warped back above the crystal mines and this time she stayed there. The Sentries swarmed out of all the tower's doors and windows, looking for clues about their missing friends.
The Sentries were surveillance devices that looked like a sphere of glass the size of a basketball. They could scan everything that reflected on their surface and share with Solus all of her mystical senses, allowing them to identify someone based on their energy signature.
Baba Yaga followed Solus's arrival on another surveillance device that only she could see.
'A life force coming from a building? That's a cursed object for sure. It matches Dawn's description and explains Verhen's guts. A mage tower is the most powerful tool a mage can wish for.' She knew it well since her hut was actually a mage tower shaped in accordance to its master's will.
'Yet he is too young to have crafted a tower and I know them all. Then where the heck does that ruin come from?' Baba Yaga had seen Menadion's tower more than once in the past, but she failed to recognize it nonetheless.
Just like Solus had told Lith in the past, together they had discovered things about the tower that Menadion herself was unaware of, but that was just an assumption due to Solus's ignorance about herself.
By fusing a person with her tower, Menadion didn't create a cursed item so much as a human-tower hybrid. Normal relics were incapable of growing outside their maker's design, but Solus was a living being and so was now her tower half.
The more Solus regained her powers and learned about magic, the more the tower could reshape itself according to the most recent magical development. They grew together because Awakened naturally refined their own bodies thanks to the mana coursing through them.
Meanwhile, Lith darted towards the command tent while ignoring all the attacks aimed at him thanks to the combined protection of the boosted Skinwalker armor and his barrier ring that blocked the hits he failed to dodge.
"Ranger Verhen, how nice of you to join us." A somewhat familiar voice belonging to a somewhat familiar beanpole said.
Chapter 1029 Tower Tier Part 1
"Let that woman go, tell me where Phloria is, and I will kill you." Lith had no idea who the handsome man in front of him was, but he remembered Wyra well.
She had helped him back in Zantia and Friya would often speak fondly of her, considering the burly woman her closest aide.
"What kind of offer is that?" Kallion laughed while choking Wyra with one hand while piercing through her abdomen with the other.
He enjoyed squeezing her guts to see the agony in her eyes. The Vampire's blood coursing through his veins didn't just boost Kallion's physical and magical prowess, it also amplified his predatory instincts.
To him, humans were just cattle. Small mice destined to be the plaything of the cat.
'That's Kallion Nuragor, Phloria's ex-boyfriend.' Solus said via their mind link.
"The kindest deal I can cut you and only because I'm in a rush." Lith replied while looking at the several undead jumping on him from every side as if they moved in slow motion.
His tier five magic holding ring sparked, releasing both the Final Sunsets it held. A maelstrom of blue flames infused with so much darkness element to paint them black engulfed both Lith and his assailants.
Yet the spell only spared his owner, burning everyone and everything else on its path until only cinders remained. Darkness magic was the bane of the undead and the only element that even Mage Slayers couldn't feed upon.
After the Sentry that now had joined him confirmed to Lith that there was no one worth saving in the vicinity, the blazing dome grew in size until it surrounded both Lith and Kallion, isolating them from the chaos of the battlefield.
"How could I refuse such a generous offer?" Kallion broke Wyra's neck before throwing her tortured body at Lith along with a crushed golden pendant shaped like a lily.
For a second, Lith froze at the sight of the present he had given Phloria years ago. He had no idea it was just a replica identical down to the last detail that Kallion had realized for the purpose of torturing Phloria's parents.
The damage the pendant had sustained made it believable the fact that it had lost its enchantment and Phloria's imprint.
"Allow me to turn our deal into a real bargain." Kallion threw Rotha's body right next to Wyra.
"Happy now? They are all dead and soon you'll join them." Like Lith, Kallion wasn't big on talking, he just needed time to weave his spells.
He was still a fake mage, but thanks to the Vampire blood stored in his second core, Kallion could use both darkness and air magic in their true form, along with their fusion magic version.
Seeing the destroyed replica almost drove Lith insane. Great Mage Nuragor had even imitated the impurities in the metal comprising the original pendant that Lith had spread through the flower to make it look more lifelike.
Solus's nearby mage tower amplified the effects of his seething anger just like it did with all his other abilities. The sky darkened and the temperature dropped as his eyes turned into fiery slits burning with black mana.
Yet he knew Wyra well. Even while the light in her eyes dimmed, Lith could see in them a silent plea for help, but not for herself. Even on the verge of death, Wyra performed her duty.
"We'll see." Lith touched Wyra and Rotha, using Invigoration to restore them.
Their flesh regrew, their bones returned to their original condition as the breathing technique even replenished their vitality and mana. Yet they were still hungry.
"He's lying!" Wyra said with the first breath of air she inhaled. "They are still in the caves, alive."
'I can confirm. Phloria's rune on your amulet is intact.' Solus said.
"We'll deal with him, you go save them. Our lives don't matter, please save our god." Rotha shielded Lith with his own body and attempted to push him away from the incoming tier four darkness spell that Kallion had unleashed while the Archmage healed them.
Nuragor had no idea how Lith could have mended that many mortal wounds and still be able to stand, yet he didn't care. From such a close distance, dodging his Black Haze was impossible.
It was a spell that Kallion's sire had taught him that used both air and darkness magic to generate a black bolt of lightning that would split into two smaller bolts with each centimeter it moved forward.
The newly generated bolts would split as well until all the space in front of the caster was turned into a dark mist.
Rotha's attempt to push Lith away was akin to pushing a mountain uphill whereas Lith's hands moved the two members of the Crystal Shield guild behind him as if they were weightless.
"A lying traitor. I'm not going to take that filthy mana of yours." Lith refused to use Dominance or War's World Mirror ability and had a wall of black flames erupt from the dome to intercept Black Haze.
Kallion's shock grew once again.
Keeping two tier five spells active for that long was already a strenuous task, but doing it while also using those same spells to keep a small army of enemies at bay was supposed to have drained Lith's focus.
That degree of mastery over two Final Sunsets at the same time was impossible, yet reality begged to differ.
"I didn't lie so much as stating an inevitable fact. My words have yet to turn into reality but they will!" Kallion said as the metal rods stuck to his right leg assembled themselves to form his prized spear, Stormbreaker.
Unlike Lith, he knew about the dimensional sealing array, so he had taken out of his dimensional item everything he needed, just like all Friya's men had done since day one of the mission.
It was the reason why they had lasted so long.
'For years I practiced my spearsmanship until my skin broke and my hands bled because I knew my worst opponents would be human. No matter what kind of monster Verhen is, with my enhanced body and the superior range of my weapon, a disarmed man has no chance of victory.' Kallion thought.
"War, sing your dirge for this fool." Lith extended his open hand and the bastard sword appeared in a burst of emerald flames.
Between Xedros's words and Xenagrosh's practical demonstration, Lith had discovered the secret behind omni pockets. While regular dimensional items were the focus between their user and their storage space, omni pockets used their master's very life force as a conduit.
Otherwise, distance or a simple dimensional sealing array would cancel the imprint over time. The use of life force also allowed the owner of an omni pocket to ignore the effects of arrays simply by expending a bit of their life force.
Lith already knew to project it thanks to Origin Flames so connecting the dots had only required some practice.
Seeing the shattered necklace turned the angry blade into a grieving one. War broke free from its scabbard and what looked like blood tears streamed down the magic crystals on its hilt.
War almost moved on its own and struck at the tip of Stormbreaker, but instead of pushing it away, the grieving blade cut through metal as if it was butter. Kallion quickly tried to step back, but Lith moved much faster.
Chapter 1030 Tower Tier Part 2
The Vampire blood couldn't keep up with Lith's perfect body refinement and the gap in their respective mastery of fusion magic only made things worse. War's pain let the blade channel the energy coming from the tower to its utmost limit so that with each slash another piece of the spear fell off.
By the time Kallion moved of a single step almost a third of Stormbreaker was gone and with it his range advantage over the sword.
Kallion looked at Lith's weapon in envy and desperation. Every time that War moved, it emitted a desperate howl that made the Great Mage's skin crawl.
In a last-ditch effort, Kallion unleashed all the spells he had at the ready only to see War devour them and then throw them back at him. Lith lunged so fast that he beat the spells to the punch, plunging the blade into Kallion's heart.
Lith twisted War while pulling it out, leaving behind a hole the size of a basketball. As the spells reached their target, he decapitated Kallion, just to be safe. The dome of black flames disappeared as the constant onslaught from outside had exhausted the mana empowering the Final Sunsets.
Wyra and Rotha wielded their wands against the swarm of opponents that surrounded them while Lith just snapped his fingers, making a dome of light surround and protect them from all attacks.
"Demon Manohar!" A thrall said.
"The child of light is here!" A Vampire said.
"The Never Magus has come to our rescue!" All the survivors bust into cheers, believing the battle to be already won.
"Sorry to disappoint those poor fellas. You called?" Nalrond landed right beside Lith, carrying with him all the people he had managed to save while searching for the Ernas girls.
The Rezar had a Sentry following him as well, to both help to scout the battlefield and keep the communication with the rest of the group through Solus.
"Yes. My friends are in the caves. Protector is following their scent as we speak. Find and rescue all the people dressed like that." Lith pointed at Wyra and Rotha. "The guild is Friya's life work, losing them would destroy her."
"I can do that, but without dimensional magic, it's a fool errand. I can't protect that many." Nalrond waved his left hand and released a volley of small beams of light against the crowd of enemies hammering at the dome.
The humans died on the spot, the thrall became temporarily crippled, but for the undead, such wounds were but a minor annoyance.
"The arrays aren't going to be a problem much longer, but I need you to take them away fast. Once I go all-out, everyone will die." Lith said while a focused beam of light coming out of Nalrond's right hand mowed down the still standing undead.
The volley had removed the small fries allowing him to focus solely on the real threats. Even with their uncanny regenerative abilities, having their bodies cut in half with most of their flesh vaporized killed most of the undead.
"Are you saying that wasn't your best?" Rotha turned pale as a ghost.
"Believe me, you don't want to see my best."
'Otherwise, I'd have to kill you.' Lith thought.
Meanwhile, the red blur that Protector left on the battlefield while tearing apart the traitors and saving the soldiers, entered the caves as soon as the Sentry with him reported Wyra's words.
To fit inside the confined space, Protector had to shapeshift into his hybrid form, becoming visible for a split second.
"Where the heck did those guys come from?" The more Nandi watched at the events shown on the surveillance mirror, the less the situation made sense.
"How did that Verhen arrive here so quickly and how can he be that strong? Even if he started from the nearest Gate and Warped his way here with Invigoration, he should be exhausted."
The answer to the first question was that after taking root in the new mana geyser, Solus had gone back to Lutia for backup, bringing back with her all those ready at a second's notice.
"It's okay, Phloria. Lith has come for and that wolf thing is Protector, he is not our enemy." Friya reassured her sisters who had been surprised by the beastly figure wearing human clothes.
"How do you know?" Quylla asked.
"He helped Lith and me back in Zantia. He's no hybrid, just a shapeshifting Emperor Beast." The cat was already out of the bag, making it pointless for Friya to keep the secret.
'They would have recognized his voice the moment they heard it.' She thought.
"That's a relief." Phloria said. "You two go with Protector. I'm sorry, but I can't follow you. Baba Yaga was telling the truth earlier. The moment I step out of the mines I'll probably die."
Even with the thick world energy from the surrounding crystal veins and the help from Baba Yaga's tower, Phloria needed sheer willpower to keep her Awakening from triggering.
"You made a wise choice, child. Don't worry about the pain, as soon as you accept my offer, I'll stabilize your condition." The Crone extended her hand to Phloria to seal their deal.
Seeing that the young woman refused to take it, Baba Yaga added:
"You'd better make your mind quickly because once the process starts, even I will be powerless to stop it and I have no use for a regular Awakened."
Between his sense of smell and the Sentry's mystical senses, following the traces of the Ernas sisters was a child's play for Protector. He could almost move to his top speed, slowing down only at crossroads.
"How are you holding up?" Solus's condition worried Protector.
"I hate using air magic to speak and the situation above requires my full focus. Does this answer your question?" Her voice oozed irritation.
Solus was on the first floor of the mage tower, in the middle of the Mirror Hall. Even though she wasn't directly taking part in the battle, she was the busiest member of the team.
The Sentries kept sending data that Solus had to sort, relaying only the important bits of information while also providing real-time status updates to the members of the team.
At the same time, she was using her mind to weave true magic spells while her hands and mouth cast other spells non-stop. It was something that only someone skilled in both fake and true magic could do, allowing her to cast twice the spells and then pass them to Lith after amplifying their effects via the Master Mirror.
This way, everyone could safely perform their respective task and Lith could focus solely on the physical aspect of the fight while Solus provided him with all the magic he needed.
Thanks to Life Vision, Lith could see the very heart of the multiple magical formations that surrounded the camp. It was located under the command tent, where the soldier had pointed him at.
Kallion's death didn't deactivate them and Lith had no time to search for the person holding the arrays' keystone. He bolted outside Nalrond's dome, dragging with Spirit Magic all the enemies he met on the way to his destination.
The barrier ring's pseudo core was almost overloaded from the earlier strain so Lith could use some meat shields to intercept incoming spells aimed at him.
The moment he reached the center of the arrays, Lith unleashed his tier tower spell, Raging Nova.
Chapter 1031 Phloria’s Choice Part 1
The tower amplified both Lith's and Solus's abilities, so they had created the Nova series of spells that exploited the tremendous might that tapping into a mana geyser bestowed upon them.
Raging Nova was the evolved version of the tier five spell, Raging Sun.
Raging Sun was a combination of fire and earth magic which generated a powerful explosion along with flames so hot that they could melt stone. Its effects were akin to a volcanic eruption.
Raging Nova, added a third element, air, to both expand the area of effect of the explosion and raise the temperature of the spell. White flames engulfed an area of over one hundred meters (330 feet) around Lith, destroying the focus point of the arrays along with everything else in their path.
The undead were resistant, not immune to the elements, and Raging Nova was more than they could take. Creatures like Vampires or Ghouls died on the spot with their bodies torn apart and burned so fast that they were unable to regenerate.
The ability to move their weak point at will was useless against an attack that engulfed them from head to toe. Even Mage Slayers couldn't resist Lith's spell. The orange mist that comprised their bodies could feed upon the three elements, but their weapons couldn't do the same.
The intense heat melted the enchanted relics that made the other half of a Mage Slayer's physical body, damaging them beyond repair and dooming their masters. Lith remained unscathed only because he cast the spell on himself and released it from his own skin.
That way, he was at the epicenter of Raging Nova and the shockwaves generated by the explosion couldn't affect him.
With the arrays gone, Nalrond and Tista could evacuate the camp quickly by using their respective Sentry to open Warp Gates leading far away from the battlefield.
"Quick, everything is going to blow!" Tista said while exploiting the terror spreading among the enemy ranks to restore her strength with Invigoration.
'Good gods, little brother, how could you kill so many without a second thought? There might have been survivors or prisoners.' She had already expressed her worries to Solus who had promptly dismissed them.
Tista knew that the moment Lith would cast his next spell, she would be forced to abandon anyone left. To protect his secret, Lith couldn't risk leaving witnesses alive.
Meanwhile, Protector had finally reached Baba Yaga's hut. The place was surrounded by so many defensive arrays that he didn't dare come close to it and called the Ernas from a distance.
"Friya! Phloria! Quylla! It's me, Protector. Are you in there?" He said.
"Thank the gods you're here. You're an Awakened, correct?" Friya ran out of the house to not be forced to yell.
"Then if I tell you that Phloria is about to Awaken and that it might kill her, do my words make sense to you?" Her questions received just a nod for an answer. "Quylla and I are fine, but the moment Phloria leaves the mines she dies."
"Care to elaborate?" Protector asked while tapping on the Sentry to make sure that Solus listened as well.
Friya explained to them everything Baba Yaga had said about Phloria's condition and the reason why the Awakening process had yet to trigger.
"This wasn't in the plan! Is it good or bad news?" Protector said to the glass sphere, making Friya wonder if that day could get any crazier.
"Great news, actually." The glass sphere replied, giving Friya her answer. "Remain on stand by while I make a few modifications to the Heart."
"Copy that." Protector said.
"Hey, that wasn't Kamila's voice. Who was that?" Friya felt like she was going insane as Mogar made less sense by the second.
Lith was a hybrid and an Awakened with crazy ass powers she had never seen before. Her sister was about to join the club and that annoying prick Eari, of whom Quylla had complained about for months wasn't human, but something in disguise.
To make matters even more confusing, among Lith's allies there had to be Manohar the second and an unknown girl.
"You're about to find out. Go call your sisters, we need to be ready to move at a second's notice. I don't know who that hut belongs to, but I'm sure I don't want to stay here a moment longer than necessary." Protector said.
"That makes the two of us." Friya said before returning inside.
"Don't worry, sis. The bad news is that jerk of Lith knew about your condition, the good news is that he prepared for it. His assistant…"
"Partner!" Solus corrected Friya.
"What she said, says that they can help you." Friya said.
"Help how? He's outside fighting and we can't Warp. Even with the arrays gone, the crystals will blow if we attempt to open a dimensional tunnel leading to the surface." Phloria wanted to believe those words, but reason begged to differ.
"I've already taken that into account." Solus's voice was magically amplified, allowing the Ernas to hear her from a distance. "I'll open a Steps at the closest safe point. You Blink to Protector and he'll carry you to destination in a matter of seconds."
"She's right. I can vouch for Protector, he's the fastest man I've ever seen." Friya answered Phloria's silent question. "I know what I would do, but the choice is not up to me. The life is yours and whatever you decide to do, I'll be by your side."
Phloria looked at Baba Yaga and her still-extended hand before saying:
"Thanks for your offer, Lady Yaga, but future of Mogar or not, being forced to feed upon humans and becoming as good as sterile is something I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy."
Quylla and Friya left the hut, following Protector's directions to reach the location of the Warp Steps on their own. Morok tried to follow them, but Ryman stopped him in his tracks.
"Whoever you are, you're not on the list." Protector said.
"That's rude, man! Lith and I fought together in Kulah, we shared our secrets and whatnot. Heck, I saved his girlfriend, my own, and maybe even yours." Morok pointed at Phloria, Quylla, and Friya in this order.
"I'm not his girlfriend!" The three Ernas said in unison.
"And I'm a married man with three children. Say that in front of my wife and I swear that I'll kill you before she can kill me." Protector snarled.
Selia wasn't the jealous type, but hearing allegations about him spending too much time with a young woman as pretty as Friya might compromise their bond of trust and in turn Morok's life expectancy.
"But…"
"Not on the list. Everything is ready on my side." Solus cut Morok short and Phloria Blinked in Protector's arms who disappeared as if he had never been there.
"Seriously? How many women does Lith need to be happy? Can't he leave some to the rest of us? I mean, there's you, the army chick, the other army chick, the hot mercenary chick…" Morok's attempt to bargain with the Sentry failed when it popped out of existence.
Solus couldn't move the Sentry as fast as Protector, but rather than listening to the Tyrant's rambling she dispelled the construct.
"Man, I really hope that Archon Ernas keeps her word and sets me up for a date with Quylla, otherwise I just wasted months of my life!"
Chapter 1032 Phloria’s Choice Part 2
Morok left for the surface on foot, making both Baba Yaga and Nandi wonder how could he have such a narrow vision of life.
"I can't believe he didn't even bother to remember the names of Quylla's sisters. It's beyond rude and if he keeps up like that, their first date will be short and the last." Baba Yaga said.
"I can't believe you're still thinking about that moron while your precious project walks away!" Nandi blurted out. "What about your hybrids, and more importantly, what about me?"
"I can't keep them against their will. All I want is to make my children happy. Starting a new family over the misery of my own firstborn would doom my project to failure and is against all I ever worked for." Baba Yaga replied.
"No matter what you think, I'm not a tyrant but a mother. Even when my children go against my wishes, I don't put them in jail until they obey. That's not love, that's madness.
"Even without Phloria, I have already collected a lot of data about twin cores thanks to your prolonged stay in my home. For that, you have my gratitude." Compared to the Minotaur, the Crone was so short that she could barely reach his chest.
Baba Yaga touched his thigh and Nandi felt as if his body was being turned inside out. Multiple deep wounds opened and black blood streamed from all his orifices. He didn't experience such an intense pain ever since his mana core had crumbled, turning him into an Abomination.
Yet it only lasted a second.
Nandi gasped for air, realizing that the agony had brought him on all four. He checked his body and discovered that not only it had finally evolved, but also there were no wounds left.
The constant need to contain the Chaos energy was gone and it had been replaced by several small violet crystals that had appeared on his forehead, chest, and hands.
"What did you do to me?" He said.
"What you asked me since the day we met." Baba Yaga replied. "I fixed you. What blocked your growth was your own strength. Both of your natures were strong enough to live on their own, that's why they never merged into one.
"You needed an opponent strong enough to put you in a life-or-death situation to evolve. I forced your two sides to choose between fighting together against me and survive or continuing their squabble and die.
"Don't worry about the crystals, they are not weak points, but part of your own body. An orc without mana gemstones is crippled. That's why before their fall, orcs were capable of turning their flesh and blood into crystals."
Baba Yaga caressed the Minotaur's head that was now at her eye level with a kindness Nandi had never experienced, not even from his own mother.
"Even if you are not an undead, you have lived under my roof, eaten my cooking, and shared your worries with me long enough to be one of my children. Now you've been reborn through me, and that's a bond I cannot forget.
"Wherever you go, whatever happens to you, this will always be your home." She touched his forehead, bestowing upon Nandi the spell that allowed all of her firstborns to always know where to find her.
"Now you can go see the world again, like you always wanted." His head alone was almost bigger than she was, but Baba Yaga embraced it nonetheless. "Before you go, allow me to give you one last piece of advice.
"Once you are done having fun, go find the Master. They seem to be a smart human and the other monster-Abomination hybrids are your siblings. The Master can make you whole again while your kind can help you overcome your blood madness.
"The Organization is the other half of your family, and families stick together."
The violence of Nandi's inner turmoil kept him from standing up. Not even getting free from the insatiable hunger that plagued Abominations after absorbing his original self had been such an intense feeling.
Nandi had always considered his condition as a punishment for all the atrocities his original self had committed as an Emperor Beast first and an Abomination later. He had believed that Baba Yaga was no better and that she would screw him over as soon as she got what she wanted.
Yet while he had been wary of her and treated her as an enemy, Baba Yaga had grown fond of him. She had freed him from the shackles of his curse and was now sending him off with her blessings.
Warm tears streamed down his eyes while a feeling long forgotten ravaged the Minotaur's withered heart.
"Thanks, mother." Nandi returned her embrace, careful of not hurting the small figure between his hulking arms even though his reason told him that putting a scratch on her was an impossible feat.
Meanwhile, Quylla and Friya entered the tower a split second before Protector arrived with their sister in his arms. Phloria was still clenching her teeth, waiting for the fits of pain, when she realized they would never come.
The Ernas sisters looked in awe at the Mirror Hall that was now as big as Baba Yaga's living room. They could feel that each one of the mirrors was actually an enchanted item and the mana in the Hall was so dense that it made their body hair stand up.
Yet nothing could compare with the vision of the feminine humanoid figure floating in the middle of the room. It looked like a short woman, about 1.54 meters (5'1") tall, made of golden energy and with long golden hair that floated in the air as if she was underwater.
Yet what truly shocked the Ernas sister was the fact that the golden woman wore a Skinwalker armor identical to Lith's and that the voice they had heard before belonged to her.
"Nice to finally meet you all, I'm Solus. Don't worry about your Awakening, Phloria, Lith has- Fuck me sideways! No, you don't!" She said as the image in the mirror in front of Solus required her full focus.
Solus's voice was actually warm and kind. What creeped the girls out was that its tempo, inflection, and even the way she spoke sounded like a female Lith. They had no idea that the two of them had spent so much time in each other's head to be as one.
"What is that? Is Lith alright?" Tista had returned to give her friends all the explanations they might need while Solus cast spells non-stop, but the scene on the mirror left Tista no time for pleasantries.
After the effects of Raging Nova had faded, the main force of the undead and the traitors had surrounded Lith from every side.
"Verhen is but one man and after that spell, he must have run out of mana!" Captain Lotta said. "Today is our day! Verhen first and the Ernas later. Fire at will!"
The barrage of spells coming at him was so thick that it covered the sky, eclipsing the moon and the stars. Against a single enemy, filling the battlefield with spells was a common strategy that made it impossible for the target to both dodge or Blink.
Lith snapped his fingers, conjuring both the darkness and the air sealing array from the tower's Heart around himself. Most of the incoming spells disappeared and among those left, only a handful was actually aimed at him.
Chapter 1033 Nova Onslaught Part 1
War drew the stray spells to itself and fed upon them, absorbing their elemental energies to refill its pseudo core.
The blade had no idea Phloria was alive and the feelings Orion had imbued in the weapon were driving it crazy with grief. War would have done anything to avenge its little Flower.
"Stop wasting your spells and engage him in close quarters!" Captain Lotta said. "The fool has forgotten that arrays work both ways. He can't use magic as well!"
Lith charged at the tidal wave of bodies to not offer an easy target to spells belonging to the still available elements while he focused on the only spell he had at the ready. A split second before being swallowed by the living tide, he dispelled the arrays and unleashed Nova Sunset.
It was the tower version of Final Sunset that like the original used fire and air, but it was much stronger due to the power amplifying effect of the Master Mirror and added the air element to the mix.
A tornado comprised of black flames appeared around Lith, engulfing anyone who tried to get close to him. Even though the blazing pillar didn't reach the sky, with its over 30 meters (100 feet) of height it was a majestic sight to behold.
Some Blinked past the spinning fire walls, only to meet their end due to another kind of fire. Lith had assumed his Wyrmling form and filled the space inside the tornado with Origin Flames that were now under War's control.
Origin Flames didn't discriminate, burning humans and undead alike despite their natural resistance to the elements.
"A three-elemental tier five spell of that magnitude?" Quylla was flabbergasted. "If they existed, I would think that's a tier six spell."
"Still it's not enough, so if you can shut up and let me focus, I would greatly appreciate it!" Solus's snarl resembled Lith so closely that Quylla shuddered.
The way Solus talked, the way she moved her body to channel the mana and even the way she chanted her spells non-stop made the Ernas sisters wonder what kind of relationship existed between her and Lith.
Solus was now holding an energy replica of War, moving in synch with Lith to help him control the massive amount of world energy that flooded into him. Yet all that the others could see was a puppeteer moving the strings of the man on the other side of the mirror.
"If you don't come at me, then I'll come at you!" Lith said as he raised War in the air, using Domination over his own spell. The combined willpower of Lith, Solus, and War reshaped the blazing tornado into a giant replica of the angry blade.
Lith performed a horizontal slash that cut deep through the enemy lines, mowing down dozens of people with a single swing of War. Lith had halved Nova Sunset's range by compressing its energies to the point that even barrier amulets were shattered and their wielders killed on impact.
Every single one of his attacks left only ashes on its wake, turning the enemy's superior numbers into a disadvantage. Traitors and undead tried to put some distance between them and Lith, to once again drown him in spells now that the arrays were gone.
"You will not escape!" Lith unleashed Checkmate Nova, conjuring in mid-air so many black pillars of ice that they blotted the night sky.
The evolved version of Checkmate Spears used the ice, darkness, and air elements to bring a calamity from the skies. The black spears swarmed the field, striking where the enemies tried to regroup.
Their size didn't make them more deadly. Quite the contrary, dodging such a huge projectile was easy for any undead. Unfortunately for them, the moment a black spear struck something, the air element made them detonate into countless smaller spears that relentlessly chased their target.
With the combined effect of the black giant sword and the piercing hail, the battlefield quickly turned into a graveyard and only the strongest among the enemies remained.
Lith dispelled Nova Sunset and held War vertically, with his right hand on the grip that pointed at the sky now covered by roaring clouds and his left placed on the blade that pointed at the ground that shook with growing intensity.
'Time to finish this.' He thought.
'Just like light and darkness, air and earth are two sides of the same coin. Only those who realize this are their rulers. Nova Mjolnir!' Solus mirrored Lith's movements as he moved both hands to the grip.
The thundercloud above generated a bolt of lightning that struck War a split second before Lith plunged it into the ground. Nova Mjolnir created magnetite paths that preserved the electricity, allowing it to strike at its marks with its full force.
Rock spikes impaled the survivors and acted like lightning rods, drawing the storm upon them so that not a single thunderbolt missed its target. The magnetite circuit allowed each natural lightning to strike at all the victims of Nova Mjolnir at the same time, dealing so much damage that not even immortal bodies could survive.
When the corpse of the last enemy faded, so did the thunderstorm.
Under the moonlight, Lith used both his mystical senses and the Sentries to make sure that no witnesses remained. Only once Solus confirmed to him that he was the only living being for hundreds of meters did Lith put War at his hip.
The blood scabbard had never been so thick, yet it could barely contain the fury of the grieving blade.
Lith couldn't put it away because inside the pocket dimension time was still. The blade wouldn't be able to recharge its mana crystals nor to heal the stress that both its pseudo cores and the Adamant had sustained by wielding tremendous amounts of mana the fight had required.
"Status report." Lith said after Warping to the Mirror Hall.
"It's a long story…" Friya attempted to say, but Lith gestured her to stop.
His dark eyes turned golden while Solus's golden eyes turned dark as they shared through their mind link their most recent memories.
"I'm sorry, Friya, but there's not a moment to waste so we'll make this quick. Guys, this is Solus. She's my bright side as much as I'm her dark side. She already knows all of you so introductions are pointless." Lith said.
"Nice to meet you! I've been waiting years for this moment." Solus said with a smile so radiant that definitely didn't belong to Lith. To the Ernas, her enthusiasm made even less sense than his words
"Friya, Nalrond saved eight members of the Crystal Shield, Wyra and Rotha included. How many active members of the guild did you bring with you?" Lith waved his hand and on the mirror appeared the image of a humanoid scaled armadillo surrounded by dozens of people.
"All fifteen of them." Friya's eyes became watery at the sight of how few people had survived.
"I'm really sorry for your loss." Solus wanted to hug Friya, but being their first real meeting, it would have been inappropriate. "I've prioritized…"
"Sorry, Solus. No time for condolences either." Lith cut her short. "Phloria do you know what's happening to you?"
At her sight, War squealed with joy and went silent.
"Dad?" Phloria blurted out, recognizing Orion's typical reaction whenever they met after a long time. "I mean, yes, Lith. I know everything about Awakened like us."
Chapter 1034 Nova Onslaught Part 2
"Very well. First, allow me to say how sorry I am." Lith took both of her hands in his while looking Phloria in the eyes.
"I never meant to involve you in the mess that is my life. That's why I tried to push you away over and over back when we were at the White Griffon. Your persistence made me into a better man, but it also put you at great risk.
"I prepared for years for this moment, hoping that it would never come, but here we are. I can't guarantee your survival, only that I will do everything in my power to save you. The procedure could last long, but it will surely be agonizing.
"I can't anesthetize you and spare you the pain because, even though I can assist you, it will be your willpower to tip the scale between life and death. It's more pain than most men experience their whole life, so I would understand if you choose an easier way out." Lith said.
"Most men?" Phloria chuckled at the distinction.
For some reason, the tower felt like home. She could feel Lith even in the air she breathed and in the ground she stood upon. The pain in her abdomen was gone and so was the fear that she had felt while in Baba Yaga's hut.
"Indeed. Based on the women I helped during my career, each breakthrough is as painful as giving birth, but yours will be like Rena with her triplets." Lith replied.
"I guess it's a pain you're used to." Phloria said.
"Me, Tista, Protector, and a lot of other people I want you to meet." Lith said.
"What would you do in my shoes?"
"I don't know. I can only tell you that, in my shoes, I'm not ready to lose you."
"That makes the two of us." Phloria chuckled. "I don't want to die. Not here. Not now. Not like this."
"Then you'd better drink this." Lith took out two potions.
One was a purple potion filled with nutrients for Phloria and the other was a red top-grade tonic for himself. His body was battered from the mana abuse and he needed to spare as much Invigoration as he could for the procedure.
Even with the tower further boosting his recovery abilities, Lith needed a nap to return to his peak condition, but doing it would doom Phloria.
"Why the heck did you shut me and Friya up while you can give a speech?" Solus pouted.
"Because the mental state of the patient is vital for the success of every procedure and because it's Phloria's life that is at stake. She deserves to know everything she needs before making such an important decision." Lith replied.
"Sorry, guys. What did I miss?" Nalrond Warped back after finishing to treat all those in critical conditions.
"Nothing much." Protector replied. "Just Lith being cheesy instead of the usual sourpuss."
Nalrond knew there was a joke somewhere, but they didn't know each other for long enough that the Rezar could either understand it or laugh at it. He felt too indebted to Lith for introducing Protector to him and giving him a share of the silver mines.
Both Nalrond and Protector shapeshifted back into their human form, making the girls flinch.
"Wait, all this talk about hybrid confuses me to no end. What are you exactly?" Quylla said.
"It's complicated, but the short version is that I'm a purebred Emperor Beast, Nalrond is one of the Werepeople, a hybrid from birth, while Lith was born a human and became a hybrid later." Protector replied.
"I didn't understand anything aside from you being an Emperor Beast." Quylla clenched her temples. "Now, however, I'm only worried about Phloria. Why didn't she start Awakening and when will you start her treatment?"
"It didn't start because thanks to our mage tower, we can produce a mana pressure even above that of the mines." A snap of Lith's fingers revealed a magic circle surrounding Phloria.
It was identical to those used by Forgemasters to accumulate the world energy except for its lack of runes and the fact that it was perfectly stable. Solus had kept it invisible until that point because, even though she could move the boundaries of the circle at will, if Phloria noticed how small was her breathing space, she might have panicked.
"As for the treatment, we'll start right now." Another snap and everyone moved to the Heart of the tower, the control room for the arrays.
While Lith was talking, Nalrond was politely introducing himself to the Ernas as Selia had taught him. He was a man in his mid-twenties about 1.84 meters (6') tall, with a lean and toned body.
He had raven black hair, green eyes, and a perfectly shaven face. His bronze skin was a clear sign that he was a native of the Blood Desert.
Protector was a good-looking man, but he was too tall and rough-looking for Friya's taste, whereas Nalrond acted awkwardly but in a cute manner. He stuttered the same way with her, Phloria, and Quylla, making Friya feel treated like a person for once.
'Wow, he isn't staring nor spouting inappropriate compliments, I wonder why…' Her question found its answer when she noticed how familiar he was with Tista, almost at the same time when Lith's words hit her like a freight train.
"What do you mean, mage tower?" The three Ernas said in unison with their eyes almost popping out.
That day, legends and reality kept intertwining in front of their eyes. After meeting Baba Yaga, discovering about hybrids, Awakening, seeing Lith single-handedly exterminate two armies, and now discovering to be inside one of the fabled mage towers, their knees buckled.
Luckily for them, Solus had seats to spare and had them appear right under their falling asses.
"Who do you think I am? A god? I managed to fight like that only because Solus backed me up. Besides, why do you act so surprised? According to Solus's readings, the hut was a mage tower as well, so mine is the second you visit today." Lith replied.
He kept his eyes closed while taking deep breaths, not to use Invigoration, but to savor the energy that thanks to the tower coursed through him and slowly rejuvenated his body.
The Ernas became so pale that Solus worried they might faint at any moment. She conjured a cup of hot tea spiked with a bit of liquor and a lot of relaxing herbs for each one of them.
"Please, drink this, it should help." Solus said. "Phloria, you can't faint, no matter what. Otherwise, all we've done so far will be for naught."
Phloria complied, letting the hot beverage remove the chill of death from her bones and the herbs soothe her nerves.
"Wait a second. Why is your speaking pattern so similar and what's with all those 'we'?" She asked.
"We'll have plenty of time for explanations during the first phases of the procedure. Now I'll guide you step by step so that you can understand what's happening and not panic. Okay?" Lith said.
"Okay." Phloria finished her beverage in one gulp before hugging her sisters and then Lith to find the necessary courage to start the procedure.
She trusted him would make her survive, but the perspective of entering a world of pain that might last hours was far from alluring.
Chapter 1035 The Price of Awakening Part 1
"One more thing. You should strip." Lith said.
"Say what?" Phloria blushed from head to toes and so did Nalrond.
"The Skinwalker armor can shapeshift, but your body is about to get turned inside out, then unraveled and woven back multiple times so fast that the armor can't keep up. Taking your clothes off will spare you a lot of pain and make the body refining easier."
"And you will watch? Like the whole time?" Phloria asked.
"I'm a Healer." Lith felt slightly offended. "I helped Tista Awaken, I've treated countless women, and I've seen you naked in the past, so why so shy?"
"What about them?" She pointed at the others.
"Fair point." Lith brought everyone but Phloria back to the Mirror Hall.
"Hey, it's nothing we haven't seen countless times and I want to make sure Phloria is alright." Quylla said.
"Then, you should ask her permission. Otherwise, only Solus and I will keep Phloria company." Lith said.
"Can I at least keep my panties?" Phloria was already ashamed for not needing a bra and the idea of Lith drawing comparisons with his girlfriend didn't excite her much.
Even though she was now alone, Phloria still blushed up to her ears.
"No." Lith replied with the flat tone he would've used if someone had just asked him if he wanted milk in his tea. "Now listen well because I'm about to explain the cause of your condition and how we're going to fix it."
Phloria cursed and did as instructed.
"A normal human body is filled with what I call 'impurities'. They are a double-edged sword since the body produces them to protect itself from the power of the mana core at the cost of serious side effects." Lith said.
"On one hand, impurities hinder a person's body development and enhance the signs of aging, but on the other hand, they are a natural inhibitor of the mana flow. Without them, non-Awakened people would die the moment their bodies are not strong enough to bear the power of their own cores."
"When someone gets close to self-Awakening, impurities move toward the mana core because the closer they get, the more effective they are and once the core rejects the impurities, the body is forced to evolve or die.
"Back when Tista was a kid, I removed her impurities to improve her health. Because of that, while she grew up the lack of impurities made her develop a body that's similar to that of an Awakened and doesn't need to break down as much as a normal person's would to be refined.
"At the same time, however, because she has too few impurities, the process is more violent and quick than it should, so Tista risked her life as well when she Awakened and so does every time her core evolves.
"To help her survive her next breakthrough, we hurt her body on purpose, to force it to produce more impurities that will slow down the destruction process enough for the natural regeneration to keep up as it happens for me.
"Phloria, you and Tista are two sides of the same coin. You have the opposite problem. You have too many impurities and your body is too imperfect. Without my help, your mana core will produce mana waves so strong that they will expel your organs along with the impurities, causing your death.
"During Phase one, we will remove part of your impurities and force your body to rearrange itself enough so that it won't break beyond repair when the Awakening process reaches full speed. Is it clear?" Lith asked.
"So that's why all women in your house are so gorgeous? Do you know how insecure they made me feel whenever I visited your home?" Phloria sounded a bit pissed off.
"Tista sure benefitted from it a lot, but Mom is gifted by nature and so is Rena. Mom was fully developed when I started the treatments, so they just enhanced her natural beauty, just like when your mother underwent cosmetic magic.
"Rena had already started her growth spurt, so my treatments had limited effects." The fact that Phloria managed to not focus on her impending death or the incoming shitload of pain made Lith glad.
"Now I'm about to lower the mana pressure around your body. It will hurt quite a bit and it will allow me to start your Awakening in a controlled way. I'm going to let the mana waves slowly affect your body and I'll help them by removing the excess impurities when necessary. Are you ready?"
"I'll never be ready. Just start." Phloria almost regretted sending everyone away.
The tower's Heart was empty, making her feel scared and alone. The light of the magic circle started to progressively dim and Phloria could feel again the fire that burned within her.
The pain radiated from the area between her navel and stomach to the entirety of her body, as if someone added hot oil to her blood. Phloria could still control herself by clenching her teeth.
Her almost deep blue mana core sent one burst of mana after the other, trying to get free from the impurities that prevented it from further evolving. Phloria's body was like a pressure cooker on the verge of exploding, but the external counter-pressure of the magic circle had kept it stable until that moment.
Lith followed the waves with Invigoration and used his breathing technique to thin the biggest clots on their path until the impurities started to move along with the mana.
Phloria's pain intensified and tar-black patches covered her tanned skin, making her look like a sickly dalmatian.
"Is this normal? Can someone please keep me company?" She said while watching the patches grow until her skin turned pitch-black.
"Yes to both your questions." Lith sat on a chair and drank another tonic.
Quylla and Solus appeared beside Phloria, holding her hands to reassure her.
"Don't worry. Those are just the impurities leaving your body. It means everything is going according to plan." Solus said.
Meanwhile, in the Mirror Hall, Friya was outraged by Lith's composure and wanted to beat the crap out of him.
"How can you be so calm while Phloria is risking her life? You sit here and drink your potions as if it's just another day's work. Don't you have a heart?" She asked.
"What do you expect me to do? To scream around in panic or to run in circles like a headless chicken?" Lith replied. "Of course I'm scared. I didn't cross half a Kingdom and fight two armies for fun.
"Yet doing that had a price and now I need to focus on recovering before things get serious. Phloria is already scared and losing our cool will not do her any good. I need to keep calm and regain my strength, or she will die." Lith had another potion appear beside Phloria.
Quylla helped her to remove the cork and to drink it.
"What is this pain?" Phloria asked.
"As the impurities get removed, your body reshapes itself in a manner suitable to contain the powerful mana flow that now floods your system. The pain comes from the constant destruction and regeneration process you're experiencing.
"The potions will provide you with the nutrients you need and the first phase will allow your body to evolve at a cyan core level without putting too much stress on your organs." Lith explained.
Chapter 1036 The Price of Awakening Part 2
"Are you keeping an eye on me?" A pool of tar-like substance had formed below Phloria. Its stench was so terrible that it almost made the girls faint.
"Always. Don't worry, I'm the only one that can see in there due to my bond with Solus."
"I'm sorry." Friya sighed. "I shouldn't have taken it out on you. I know that even though you two are no longer together you care for Phloria. It's just that I feel so helpless and scared that my mouth ran wild."
"There's no need to apologize. I would feel the same if I didn't have years to prepare for this moment. Also, I didn't let Phloria hear your earlier outburst, so we can pretend it never happened." Lith held her hand and Friya finally let the emotions from that horrible day overwhelm her.
She had almost been killed by the Ghouls, met Baba Yaga, been betrayed by the army, half of her guildmates were dead, and now she risked losing one of the most important people of her life.
The events transpired in the last few hours were a burden too great for anyone to bear.
Friya forced Lith to stand up and hugged him as tight as she could, losing herself in his apparently endless strength as she had done during the academy's second exam.
"Thanks. Kamila is a lucky woman." Friya suddenly felt so weak that she had to sit down. "By the way, does she know about all this and what is your relationship with Solus exactly?"
"Since I don't know how long will it take to end phase one, I might as well tell you everything. Phloria could use a distraction to endure her pain." Lith said.
"Much appreciated, thanks." Phloria said. Hearing the voices of her sisters, Solus, and Lith helped her to not think too much about the passing of time.
Lith couldn't tell them about his rebirth so he moved his self-Awakening at four years of age and started from there. He told them how he had used his powers to hunt, to treat Tista's symptoms, and how he had met Solus and Protector in the same day.
"I still remember that awful sound stinging my poor ears and the obnoxious runt trying to kill me." Protector said with nostalgia. "I'm the one who gave him the name Scourge, you know?"
Lith then told them all that had happened until Solus had assumed her tower form for the first time.
"Wait, so she is the tower?" Phloria was flabbergasted.
"She's much more than that. Solus is always by my side in her ring form and until a while ago, we shared one mind and one body. I'm not going to lie, a good chunk of my academic success is thanks to her." Lith said.
"We studied everything together." Solus nodded. "Also, I'm not a tower, I'm a hybrid as well. Yet unlike anyone else, I'm a human-artifact hybrid. Without my human half, I would be just another cursed object, like Dawn or the Black Star."
The implications of such words were hard for everyone, but they were much worse for Phloria. She remembered how Lith never took off the stone ring, not even while in his sickbed after saving Protector's life.
'Just how much has Lith shared with Solus and how big of a role did she play in our relationship, break up included?' Phloria thought as a searing wave of pain ravaged her body.
Her agony had become so intense that she couldn't hold back the screams anymore.
"What's going on?" Friya asked.
"We've entered phase two. Due to the changes, Phloria's body has expelled most of the impurities and without their interference, the Awakening process is going too fast." Lith said.
He took a deep scan of Phloria's condition, allowing Solus to adjust the mana output of the magic circle that surrounded their friend until they found a new balance. Solus called upon both the world energy coming from the mana geyser and that from the tower's crystal mine.
They worked relentlessly until the counter pressure the circle generated not only stemmed the mana flow from Phloria's core, but also kept more impurities from leaving her body.
With their natural mana inhibiting factor, the impurities stopped Phloria's body from breaking down faster than it could recover. Her hair and nails had fallen off just to regrow so quickly that both processes hurt the same.
Her skin would dry and crack, revealing the muscles underneath that twisted as if they were living snakes trying to escape.
'That came awfully close.' Solus thought as soon as Phloria was stable again.
'Well, yeah. It's our first time doing this. We have no idea how things can develop for a core that strong. We can't afford a single moment of distraction.' Lith replied.
Once Phloria stopped screaming and her body kept evolving at a controlled pace, Lith resumed his story until it reached the present day. The Ernas sisters already knew most of it, he only had to fill them about Solus's involvement and the truth about some of his achievements.
"Do you really want me as your partner during your apprenticeship?" Phloria soldiered up the pain, focusing on her future rather than on her dangerous present.
"Yeah, what about me?" Tista already felt neglected by Lith in her studies about true magic. It was the reason why she had started to travel the Kingdom on her own, to gain as much experience as she could.
Tista was sick and tired of waiting for him to spend the crumbs of his time with her. Discovering that he had reserved a seat with Faluel for Phloria who had just Awakened and nor for her, irked Tista to no end.
"Yes, Phloria. You are my responsibility for the next one hundred years, your magical skills have hit the wall all fake mages meet, and you need to live among Awakened to get used to your condition before doing whatever you want to do with your life." Lith said.
"As for you, Tista, you didn't practice magic until late in your life. I know it wasn't your fault, but that plus your lack of fighting skills gives you a lot of things that you can learn on your own.
"I think you can learn Spirit Magic with us, once Faluel decides we are ready, but your knowledge about Healing Magic and Forgemastering isn't that advanced."
"That's unfair! What about me?" Quylla suddenly looked at her sister in envy. "I've reached Forgemastering skills good enough that Dad taught me Royal Forgemastering as well and I'm considered one of the best healers in the Kingdom.
"I know so much about light magic that I'm trying to expand its boundaries. Why do you think I'm focusing so hard on Body Sculpting? It's because there's nothing left for me to learn, whereas Phloria doesn't even know tier five!"
"Hey, that's unfair. I worked my ass off to learn a third specialization with a full-time job!" Phloria didn't like to pass for a slacker.
To prove her point, Quylla made a small hologram of a hand giving the finger appear above her palm.
"Remarkable. Did you learn it on your own?" Lith said.
"Well, duh. Manohar didn't help me for sure and neither did you. I had to spend a lot of time studying the holograms projected by the communication amulets and light magic even to perform this parlor trick."
Chapter 1037 Unbridled Power Part 1
"I've been saving my ability with holograms for the next time you told the kids a story, to both give you a hand and a scare." Quylla would have chuckled if not for Phloria's gruesome state. "I think she could use another potion."
"And you're right." Solus conjured a third one, but this time Quylla spilled the flask.
Instead of falling, the purple liquid stopped in mi-air and slowly seeped inside Phloria's body reaching directly her bloodstream.
"How did you do it?" Lith and Solus said in unison. They had tried and failed many times to create a magical IV line.
"I'm that good that's how." Quylla replied. "I developed this method to boost the effects of body enhancing potions and tonics as well. Not only does passing through the stomach take time, but it also reduces their potency.
"This way, instead, her body will receive 100% of the nutrients in just a few heartbeats."
"And that makes what I'm about to say even harder for me." Lith sighed.
"I already asked Faluel to give you a chance, but she said no. First, your core is too powerful even for her. She doesn't know a way to safely Awaken you and as long as you are a fake mage, you are competition. She firmly refused to teach you."
"Fake mage?" Both Friya and Quylla echoed in outrage.
The word sounded like an insult to all the years and efforts they had painstakingly spent training to their utmost limit.
"Okay, fine. Then just set me up for an interview with this Faluel. I want an opportunity to show her my worth. If after that she still refuses, I'll have no regrets." Quylla said.
"I'll do what I can." Lith sighed at all that trouble.
"Hey, what about me?" Friya repeating the same phrase as the others got on Lith's nerves and made him wish it was just the tower having an echo.
"Phloria gets longevity, secret magic lessons, and a lifelong beauty treatment while Quylla gets her job interview on top of her godly talent. Did you ask Faluel about me as well, at least?"
"No, I didn't. You are a Healer, yes, but you stopped practicing after the Academy. As far as I know, you're no Forgemaster but a Dimensional Mage. The only Dimensional Mage I know is an ass and the father of the Wyvern who tried to kill me years ago.
"I can ask him if you want, but in your shoes, I would stay away from Wyverns." Lith said.
"I've been hearing about those mana cores all day, but until now I had more important things to worry about. What's our respective level?" Friya drew a circle in the air with her forefinger to emphasize that she wanted information about everyone in the room.
"Lith has a blue core, just like Protector. Nalrond has two deep blue cores, Tista reached bright cyan, I'm at deep cyan, Quylla has a blue turning violet core, Phloria should reach deep blue once we're done, and you have a bright cyan core, Friya." Solus said.
"Which means I'm the weakest of the group despite the fact that I worked my ass off as much as anyone else! You Awakened are a bunch of cheaters." Friya snarled.
"Well, technically I'm the weakest, but mine is only a temporary condition. I'm still recovering from centuries of starvation." Solus shrugged.
"Well, that's rich! I…"
"Sorry to interrupt your righteous rant, sis, but I feel weird again and I'm afraid I might die." Phloria cut her short. "Lith, Solus, the pain has gone. Is it a good or a bad sign?
Before answering, they performed a thorough check-up of her body, comparing her status with Lith's previous refinement stages. During the first phase, her body had slowly turned into that of a yellow cored Awakened, while the second phase had covered the stronger green and cyan levels.
Thanks to the counter mana pressure the tower produced and Phloria's now enhanced body, the mana waves from her core were no longer able to force the Awakening process.
"It's a good sign. Quylla, inject another potion into her bloodstream. It's time for the final phase." Lith said while Warping to Phloria's side.
During that time, he had rested enough and wanted to be there for the critical step, avoiding relying on the tower's senses so that Solus could give her 100% as well.
"Looking good." Lith couldn't avoid checking Phloria out, giving a thumbs up to her fully naked body.
Despite the pained face and the fatigued expression, Phloria's olive-colored skin was smoother than a baby's, emphasizing her slender limbs. Her waist-long hair was now naturally straight, silky, and so black that they almost looked blue under the tower's lights.
Body refining didn't enhance her curves nor compensated for their lack thereof, but perfectly harmonized her muscles with her physique. It made them stand out less and gave her a more feminine appearance.
"What the heck are you doing here?" Phloria instinctively covered her breast and crotch, turning to a shade of purple.
"There no point covering up. As I said at the beginning, I never took my eyes off you for a second, otherwise you would be dead. I'm here only for medical reasons and you know it. Is this my perverted face?" Lith asked.
"Yes, no, sort of. I don't know." Phloria had trouble looking him in the eyes.
"Step, aside, Quylla. We need space." Lith ignored her and took Solus's hands in his, forming a circle that encompassed Phloria.
"In your shoes, I'd sit down and clench my teeth." Solus said. "This is going to hurt so much that the rest will pale in comparison, but the good news is that the process will last much less.
"We're going to let your core go wild and we'll intervene only if something goes wrong."
"How long, exactly?" During the last few hours, Phloria had felt as if someone had butchered and healed her non-stop.
The idea that was the easy part and seeing the Immortal Body array, along with many others, surrounding her, made her Phloria swallow several times.
"Based on Lith's experience, no more than a few minutes. Are you ready?" Solus asked.
"No, but let's get this started anyway." Phloria followed Solus's advice and braced for impact.
"Whatever happens, do not lose consciousness. Mind and body must fight together." Lith said before cutting off the power.
The moment the magic circle disappeared, the mana waves produced by her core forced the impurities that had been stuck deep inside her bones, tissues, and organs for years to be forcefully expelled.
Some of them were easy to remove, but most of them had become an integral part of her body over time. Her muscles ripped to shreds, her bones fractured to splinters, and part of her skin burst into a bloody mist.
Phloria screamed at the top of her lungs, feeling as if her entire body had been dipped into boiling oil. Friya and Quylla puked their guts out at the gruesome sight. Suddenly, the idea of becoming Awakened had lost much of its luster.
When everything seemed to be over, before Phloria could take a single sigh of relief, her organs started to break apart one by one. This time she didn't scream, but only because the pain was so intense that she needed sheer willpower to not faint.
Chapter 1038 Unbridled Power Part 2
'Dammit, we left too many impurities. Without the Immortal Body array and the potions we gave her, Phloria would have exploded during the first seconds of the process.' Lith inwardly cursed.
'No time for hindsight. Let's focus on softening the waves just enough to delay the process even if just for a few seconds.' Solus thought.
The problem was always the same. If the body, the impurities, and the core weren't balanced, the breakthrough would either happen so fast that the body wouldn't have the time to recover, or so violent that it would inflict damage beyond repair.
The former left behind a bloody puddle while the latter made the mage burst. The Immortal Body array combined with the magic circle allowed Lith and Solus to control both variables, but their lack of experience with Awakening different cores levels was showing.
They made mistakes and learned from them, but Phloria paid the price for it, suffering excruciating pain.
"Is it over?" Phloria asked among pants the moment the pain stopped again.
"Yes." Lith carefully examined her body with Invigoration and compared the results of her blue core breakthrough with his own.
Phloria smiled and then a small thud produced by her head hitting against the stone floor indicated that she had finally allowed herself to faint.
"This is very interesting. During the organs' refining process, I noticed a sudden increase of her mana flow, as if they developed properties similar to Adamant. For a few moments, instead of just channeling the mana coming from the core, they drew the world energy themselves." Lith cleaned Phloria's body from the traces of bones, blood, and impurities left.
Then, he covered her with a thick blanket and put her on a bed he had conjured from the tower.
"You are a horrible person, you know?" Quylla punched his arm, hurting only herself. "My sister almost died and yet you are here, ogling at her body and talking about her as if she's just another experiment."
"Magical research can never stop. We've collected some priceless data, here. If someday this happened to you…" Lith realized how Manohar-like he sounded only when he was too late.
"I was just messing with you." Quylla hugged him, sobbing. "Thanks for everything. Before you arrived, I was afraid we would have lost Phloria forever. I don't really care about Faluel, I just want you to always be my best friend."
Lith patted her head while returning the embrace.
"Don't worry, little one. I'm not going any- Fuck me sideways!" Lith pushed Quylla away, doubling over in pain.
"What's wr- Seriously? Again?" Solus blurted out. "Fuck!"
With a wave of her hand, Solus sent Phloria inside one of the rooms on the ground floor and Quylla back to the Mirror Hall with a small map that would lead her to Phloria.
"What's going on?" Like the others, Protector could hear what was happening but not see.
"Between the fight from earlier and helping Phloria, Lith's core has been stimulated so much that he's having a breakthrough." Solus said while preparing the Heart and herself for a second procedure.
"Why did you send me away? I can administer him a potion." Quylla said.
'I'm not letting you see him naked, sister.' Solus made Quylla return just for the time to inject a nutrients potion.
Only once they were alone did Lith remove his Skinwalker armor. He had learned from experience that the less resistance he offered, the smoother the process would be.
Thanks to being Awakened from the crib, Lith's body was always perfectly attuned with his mana core. From his last breakthrough, he had fought countless battles, manipulated enormous amounts of energy, and pushed his whole being to its utmost limits, expanding them every time.
Using so many Nova spells and then flooding his body with a controlled amount of mana for all the time needed to help Phloria had been the final straw that evolved the camel's back.
Lith's mana core produced waves of increasing power, seeking the last remnants of the impurities that it had to purge in order to achieve perfection. His body refining happened in a similar fashion to Phloria's, just quicker and less bloody.
At least until it reached the organs. Then, Lith felt as if Mogar was suddenly weighing on his shoulders. His skin dried up and his eyes shrunk, making him look like a desiccated mummy.
His organs started to fail one after the other and refused to return to their original state. Lith's mind was blank, beyond pain. The only time he had experienced a similar sensation had been during his two deaths when the soul had detached from his body and all physical sensations were lost.
"What the fuck is going on here?" Solus didn't panic, but it didn't make her any less scared.
Controlling the waves was pointless since they weren't doing any damage and the Immortal Body array didn't find any injury to fix. It was akin to treating a corpse. All kinds of healing spells simply failed to find their target.
'It's the first time that I see someone reaching a bright blue core, so this might as well be perfectly normal, but what if it's not? Any change sustained during a body refining process always reverts immediately. Why is it different this time?'
She was about to bring everyone in the Heart to ask their opinion when the tower trembled. A huge mass of world energy, so strong that it almost overloaded the tower's capacity, entered the room and flooded Lith's body.
His skin returned to normal and so did all his organs. World energy and life force flowed through them with a revitalizing effect, filling them to the brim. The normally static life force of humans had become more fluid, boosting both his physical prowess and recovery abilities.
Every single cell of his body was akin to a power battery for life force that now were no longer isolated from each other. They formed a circuit that connected them all from head to toe, allowing them to share both their energy and vitality.
Solus could see that all of Lith's organs not only offered no resistance to the mana anymore, but they also developed what she could only describe as their own pseudo core.
'If Phloria is like Adamant, Lith is like Davross. All of his body is now capable of drawing the world energy and storing it to assist the mana core. If before flesh and blood hindered the most powerful spells in our arsenal, they might now enhance them instead.
'The long pause was due to the time necessary for the world energy to build up enough to replace part of Lith's body weight with pure energy. I can't wait for…'
Yet as it had happened during Lith's and Phloria's last breakthrough, the world energy flowing through his organs didn't last long. The pseudo cores disappeared, returning his body to normal right before it was forced to shapeshift into his hybrid form.
Lith started to emit a silver light that spread both upward and downward, drawing even more world energy to itself. A silver pillar descended from the sky and a black one rose from the ground, meeting where Lith lay on the floor.
Instead of disappearing, all the impurities expelled from his human body now crawled back over Lith, covering his skin like a swarm of pitch-black insects.
Chapter 1039 Unbridled Power Part 3
'Okay, at least I've seen this happening before. Sort of. Normally, when a beast evolves, they release a golden light pillar, but Lith emits both a silver and a black one instead.
'It might depend on his hybrid nature, but I still wonder why it happened during his last world tribulation rather than just when his Wyrmling body undergoes body refining.'
Solus focused all the world energy the tower could muster inside the Heart, to make sure that Lith's body had all the energy it needed the moment it needed it.
'If I had helped the process earlier, maybe his human body refining would have been smoother, or at least less scary. Oh, well. There's no point crying over spilled milk. Now I know and I can act accordingly.'
Lith's seven eyes, even those that were still closed shut, shed black tears while his scales merged with each other, becoming thicker, harder, and denser until they rivaled with steel.
The process had left half of his body exposed, revealing a fiery red skin lying underneath his hardened shell.
Together with the human impurities that had crawled back on Lith's body, all the so-called defective parts gathered up on the side of his head, the end of his spine, and on his back before bursting into flames.
His small curved horns and short tail grew bigger, while a second set of atrophied wings popped out his back. New, thicker scales replaced the missing ones while three rays of pure elemental energy erupted from Lith's opened eyes, flushing out more and more impurities.
Lith's hybrid form was born from an already evolved body that possessed a powerful core, so it was perfect. What it lacked was the ability to channel the full power generated by the constant battle between his Emperor Beast, Abomination, and human life forces.
Lith's hybrid body was too small and weak to withstand the full scope of such powerful conflicting energy. During a breakthrough, his human body would break down just to be reshaped into a more suitable host for Lith's core, whereas his hybrid form was forced to grow so that the Wyrmling could unlock its true potential.
Thanks to the world energy stirring Lith's life forces, not only did they evolve, but also their fight for dominance changed. The Abomination side, in the form of a hollow black sphere, grew in size and attempted to swallow the others.
Yet the human side suppressed it from the outside while the beast side, in the form of a burning star, struck at the Abomination from the inside. The human and beast life forces' joined efforts allowed them to stop the Abomination side, reaching a new balance.
All three of them had grown not only stronger, but they had also seeped into each other, thinning once again the boundaries that separated the human life force from the hybrid and generating something that one day might become greater than the sum of its parts.
During the whole process, the conflict between life forces released a powerful energy that ignited the emerald flames of life. They burst out from Lith's body, covering him from head to toe.
Yet instead of hurting him, the flames nurtured his Wyrmling form, making it grow larger and taller until the Wyrmling stood almost 4 meters (13'1") tall, before reverting to its normal height once the energy was spent due to the lack of mass necessary to support such huge build.
"No new eye opened, correct?" Lith said amid pants once he managed to gather enough air in his lungs to speak.
"Sorry, none. They must be linked to your mastery over the elements or catalyzed by your world tribulations. The Odi made you open the blue one and…"
Lith's head hit the floor with a thud and his snoring cut her short.
"And I better put you to sleep as well." Solus had the Skinwalker armor cover Lith again and then tucked him in his bed before going to meet the others in the Mirror Hall.
"How are they?" Friya was pale as a ghost.
The screams of two of the people she loved the most were still echoing in her head. Neither her nor Quylla had moved from where Solus had left them, not even to go and check on Phloria.
"Dead tired, but otherwise they are as fit as a fiddle. Breakthroughs are heavy on the body and only rest can help them to recover their strength. They'll sleep for eight hours minimum." Solus's words made the Ernas sigh in relief.
"You're horrible friends!" Quylla poked Nalrond's and Protector's chest with a finger. "How could you be so calm? What if any of them died or worse?"
"I don't know your sister and I'm not going to pretend I care for her." Nalrond's honesty bordered on rudeness, making Protector sigh. "As for Scourge, he's bound to Solus. He can scream all he wants, as long as I don't hear her screaming and the tower quaking, I know he is fine."
'Good gods. I really hope I've never been so clueless in the past.' Protector thought. 'Even though I have to admit it would explain why at the beginning Selia insisted so much to accompany me everywhere I went.'
"Forgive him, Quylla. Nalrond went through a lot and because of it, he has a hard time caring for strangers. I'm sorry if I appeared indifferent, but I was just confident in Scourge's abilities to save Phloria.
"On top of that, if you saw him fight as I did, you would never think that something as trivial as a breakthrough can hurt Scourge. Solus, can we please check on them? I think it would help our friends to relax." Ryman said.
"Sure, just be quiet. I don't want to wake them up and Lith is extremely jumpy when he sleeps. He could react to the intrusion with extreme prejudice."
Solus let only the girls inside Phloria's room. Its sight made them gasp in amazement and almost moved them to tears. The room was a perfect mix of Phloria's bedroom from the academy and of that in the Ernas household.
It was furnished with exact replicas of all ornaments and pictures she loved the most. Lith and Solus had prepared the room for her ever since he had decided to bring Phloria to Faluel.
After Friya's and Quylla's diagnostic spells confirmed that their sister's condition was nothing that a power nap couldn't fix, they let her rest.
"By the gods, Phloria didn't look that good even after the cosmetic magic treatment. You would never guess she's survived several life and death situations in a single day instead of going to a spa. I'm so envious of her." Friya sighed.
"How many rooms you got here?" Quylla noticed the several doors.
"As many as I want." Solus shrugged. "At the moment there is Lith's, mine, Tista's, and Phloria's room, but I can always add another. The tower is a dimensional magic's wonder and it's much bigger on the inside."
"So, could you make ours as well?" Quylla had yet to give up on the idea of joining Lith in his apprenticeship and a home away from home was a dream come true.
"Why not." At a flick of Solus's wrist, another door appeared on the wall.
Inside, there were the living quarters that the White Griffon had assigned Quylla as Assistant Professor alongside her room from the Ernas Mansion.
Chapter 1040 Unbridled Power Part 4
"By the Great Mother! This is a Dimensional Mage's life dream. You bent and stretched space, creating matter out of nothing! Can you teach me? Pretty please with a cherry on top?" Friya said.
"You are right about the space distortion part, but I didn't create anything. I just reshaped the tower according to my memories. Everything you see it's just a copy made out of stones after I adjusted their density and composition.
"As for the teaching, sorry but I can't. I didn't create those enchantments, I just manage the place. All my memories about master Menadion are lost and we found no records nor even lore about how she made this tower." Solus said.
The Ernas spent quite some time customizing their own rooms and after that, Solus gave everyone a tour of the tower after making them take an oath of secrecy.
"Oh gods, you have your own crystal mines?" Friya said. "I thought you only recently gained these new floors. Are you really capable of growing purple crystals this fast?"
"I wish. The crystals you see are either spoils of war or bought. This way we skip the gemstones' condensation phase energy and focus the world to enhance already formed crystals.
"As you can see, only the weaker yellow crystals show already some green vein, whereas the purple crystal grew new branches but remained of the same quality. I wonder if it will ever turn white and how long the process will take."
Lith's pessimism had rubbed off Solus who saw the glass half full, but to everyone else the mines were beyond their wildest dreams.
"Girls, shouldn't you contact your father? Orion must be worried sick. He's the reason we came to your rescue in the first place." Solus said once the tour was over. "Friya, shouldn't you reassure your guild members as well?"
"Oh, gods, Dad! I almost forgot." The Ernas said in unison.
"Can you bring me back home, please? Right now Selia is all alone with three kids and I'm worried that if we wait any longer, I'll find my house in shambles." Protector said.
Quylla and Friya had no idea what he was talking about until they felt a low rumble. Suddenly, the scenery outside the tower changed to the familiar Trawn woods.
"It's been a pleasure meeting you all, but I can't wait eight hours for those guys to wake up. On top of that, I bet you have a lot of personal questions for Solus." Nalrond shook their hands before throwing a kiss at Tista. "Bye, darling."
"Call me!" Tista replied.
"I'm now Lith's neighbor. Feel free to visit me anytime you want. Selia loves company and the kids love roughing up new people." Protector and Nalrond left before the Ernas could recover from the shock.
"Are you two really dating?" The two women were beyond speechless.
Tista was even more gorgeous than Friya which made her life even harder. The idea that she had found someone before them despite her looks and her brother's looming menace made the Ernas sisters sick with envy to the point that they temporarily forgot about the marvel of the tower warp.
"No. It's just a joke between us, like yours with Lith, Friya. Nalrond had to act as my boyfriend for over a week during our stay in Jambel so that I could enjoy the vacation as well." Tista replied. "Why? Are you jealous?"
"Of you, a freaking goddess among mortals with the Lord of Destruction as your brother? Sure thing. As for Nalrond, I don't know him enough to care." Friya said.
"Dad! We must call dad." Quylla pulled her sleeve as Friya snapped out of it.
"Oh right." Solus warped them back at the mines. "Orion has put a tracker in your amulets and if you call him from Lutia he would get suspicious."
Friya and Quylla first called together their parents one at a time, reassuring them of their own wellbeing and Phloria's.
"Thank the gods you're alright. What the heck happened there and where is Lith? I want to thank him properly." Orion felt as if the sun had returned and he could finally breathe again.
"He's resting as well. He and Phloria took quite a beating. Sorry, Dad, we only know that the Undead Courts attacked the camp with the help of traitors in the army. Maybe one of my guild members knows more. I'll call you back." Friya left Orion talking with Quylla and checked her amulet.
Half of the members of the Crystal Shield guild were dead and their contact runes had disappeared from her amulet. She grieved them for a moment before calling Wyra.
'I'll mourn later. Now I need to know what happened and if they need healing.' She thought.
The conversation lasted long, but mostly because all the guild members wanted to speak with their god and make sure she was all right. Wyra told Friya everything she knew, which even though she didn't see much, it was still a lot to take in.
"Everyone but Kortus turned traitor and Kallion was involved?" Orion's shock quickly turned into anger. "That little piece of shit, bastard son of a bastard! I'm going to kill him! No, better, I'll give him to your mother. Where is he now?"
"Dead. He had a bad case of the Lith." Friya said.
"What about Captain Lotta and Prospector Ormann?"
"No one knows." She lied through her teeth. "Maybe they are on the run or the Undead Courts hide them."
Lith's allies had rescued people only until he had cast his first Nova spell. For an Archmage, it was a believable feat. After that, he had killed everyone to keep his real strength a secret. The survivors only knew that mysterious mages had saved them.
Only those inside Solus's and Baba Yaga's mage tower had witnessed the fate of the human and the undead battalions. The survivors believed the traitors had simply escaped, afraid of the consequences their betrayal would have once exposed.
Before Friya's call, no one had dared to call the army. The survivors couldn't trust anyone and they knew that revealing their position to one of the traitors hidden among the army's ranks would speel their doom.
"I swear that as soon as I get back home, I'll leave no stone unturned to find and punish those responsible for the attempt on your lives. Keep your amulets on and never forget that Dad loves you." Orion said before ending the call.
Quylla and Friya had a lot to ask and even more to do. Yet now that they were finally able to relax, all the revelations, the fights, and the emotional roller coaster they had endured took their toll.
They went to their respective rooms and fell asleep the moment their heads touched the pillow.
"I think we should follow their example." Tista said.
"Energy body or not, I can see how tired you are, Solus. You gave your all and some more today. You deserve some rest. Besides, once Phloria wakes up, we'll need all of our strength to answer the many questions she's bound to have."
Solus nodded and went to sleep as well, but only after activating all the tower's defensive devices and warping again to Lutia. The Ernas had put their amulets in their pocket dimensions to not get disturbed and Solus had no idea if Baba Yaga might be still watching them.
Chapter 1041 Two Sides of the Same Pain Part 1
'I don't know what her mage tower can do nor I'm willing to find out. Baba Yaga already knows too much. We can't afford to reveal any more of our hand to her.' Solus thought.
Eight hours after his breakthrough, Lith woke up. Even though his body absorbed the world energy on its own and the tower further boosted his recovery abilities, Lith still felt like crap.
Once again, after the core and body refining, Invigoration had no effect and could only be used to assess his physical condition.
'My bright blue core is half empty and my body has yet to stabilize.' He thought while checking his pocket watch. 'Usually, it takes me just four hours of sleep in the tower to reset Invigoration's effects, yet even after double that time, I'm barely able to stand.
'With each new breakthrough, the changes are so deep that this time I might need a few days before I can use either of my breathing techniques safely.'
Before even checking with the tower how and where everyone was, Lith called Kamila.
"Hi, Kami. Sorry to keep you waiting…"
"You disappeared for over half a day!" She cut him short. "I don't want apologies, just tell me that you are alright."
Kamila was still wearing the same clothes she had when Lith had left and judging by the state of the room, she had yet to let the cleaning service in, sleep, or eat.
"I'm alright, babe, don't worry." His words made her sigh in relief and flop into bed.
Kamila had no strength to look for her pajamas so she just stripped to her undies, giving Lith an adrenaline rush until the blankets covered her.
"Thank the gods. Now talk to me until I fall asleep. Why did it take so long? Did you get hurt badly?" She asked.
"Not really. Phloria's Awakening took a few hours and after that, I underwent a breakthrough as well. I called as soon as I regained consciousness, I have yet to check on her." Lith replied.
"Really?" Kamila giggled. "So now the powerful Archmage Verhen is even more powerful. When are you coming back? My leave ends in a few days and I miss you like crazy."
"Shouldn't you ask me what happened or how Phloria and everyone is?" Lith said.
"Nah. If you're so calm it means that the bad guys are dead and your friends are okay. I'll hear the details on your return, hopefully for breakfast. Now I just want to enjoy your company and hear only good news." Kamila yawned.
"Things went smoothly thanks to Protector, Nalrond, and Tista who gave me a hand."
"Say hi to them for me. Gods, I'm so happy that now I can talk about everything with them as well. Keeping your many secrets doesn't help my social life." Kamila stretched her lithe arms while looking for the most comfortable position.
"Will do. I'll get back as soon as I finish teaching Phloria the ropes. The rest can…" A small plop and the weird new angle of the hologram told Lith she was already asleep.
He closed the call and used his bond with the tower to check on the others. Aside from Phloria, everyone was up and having breakfast in the dining room. Lith stomach grumbled like a lion, demanding its due.
"Hi, guys, hope you slept well. Why the different location?" Lith asked after joining them.
"Solus…" Quylla attempted to say, but Lith's and Solus's eyes exchanged colors again due to their mind link. "Gods, don't do that in front of others. It's creepy."
"Thanks. I wanted to say it for years, but I never had the courage." Tista said.
"It's not creepy. It's efficient." Lith and Solus said in unison with their eyes still ablaze.
"And that was super creepy." Phloria said while walking into the room. "Gods, I feel like crap but I'm too hungry to keep sleeping. Are those hot chocolate and freshly baked chocolate chips biscuits?"
For a few minutes, crunching and swallowing were the only sounds filling the room. Only after the stomachs turned from roaring lions to purring kittens did the conversation resume.
"Kamila is waiting for me at the Flying Griffon resort and her leave is about to end. Tista and Solus offered to teach you the basics of Awakening until my return and answer any question you might have. Is that okay with you?" Lith asked.
"Are you really going away like this? After all that happened?" Phloria looked glum, way more than her sisters.
They all had hoped to spend some time together with Lith, but for different reasons.
"Phloria, it's her birthday and Kami waited months for this leave. If you were in her shoes, how would you take your boyfriend spending this time with another woman, an ex at that, rather than with you?" He put it bluntly for her to see.
"I would rip his head off after pulling his guts out." She grumbled.
"My point exactly. Thanks to you, I'm not obsessed with my work anymore…" Lith noticed Solus glaring at him while Tista could barely hold her laughter. "I mean, I'm not obsessed with it as before and I know how to treat the people I love right."
His words this time received a nod of approval.
"Once Kami has to get back to work, we can all spend a lot of time together. I don't see any of you taking another assignment in the near future." He chuckled.
"Yeah, I lost so many good people that it will take some time to find replacements. Honestly, I don't even know if I should try to rebuild the Crystal Shield guild or just disband it." Friya said.
The seven who had died during the incursion at the camp where all people she had recruited, tested, and trained personally. Friya had invested lots of hours in their preparation and to help them become better mages.
Friya cherished every member of her guild and now so many were gone, leaving a hole in her heart.
"Sorry, Friya, I don't mean to be rude. I'm really sorry for your loss." Lith said.
"Thanks, Lith. There's no need to apologize, too many things happened yesterday. Even though you had already given me the body count, I had completely forgotten about them until Solus reminded me of my duty.
"I can't believe that after you rescued us, all I could think about was Awakening and to not be the only one cut out of the group. I don't think I'm fit to be a leader." Friya's words struck at Quylla's heart as well.
'As soon as Phloria was out of hot waters, my obsession for magic kicked in. I didn't spare a thought about all the people that died nor about my parents. I'm no better than Friya.' Quylla thought.
The mood in the room turned so gloomy that Tista felt uncomfortable for being the only one happy to be alive and well.
"Before you leave, there are a few things that I'd like to discuss with you in private." Phloria cleaned her mouth and stood up.
"Do you want to take a walk outside? Because the tower and Solus are one, so if we stay in here, she'll hear everything." Lith said.
"What's the point? She and you are one as well. Even if she doesn't hear it now, she'll know the next time you do your creepy eye thingy anyway." There was an edge in her voice that hurt both Lith and Solus, making them feel guilty.
Chapter 1042 Two Sides of the Same Pain Part 2
They moved to Lith's room and Phloria made sure to lock the door.
"Is it soundproof like the academy? Because I don't know if we'll manage to keep it civil." She asked.
"Yes, it is." Solus nervously shifted her weight from one foot to the other.
"Yesterday, I was too scared to think clearly. Between Baba Yaga, the traitors, and my impending death, the only thing I could focus on was survival. After I woke up, however, I had the time and peace of mind to think back at the story you told us.
"I noticed that you conveniently left Kamila out of it. Why?" She asked while clenching her hands with so much strength that they turned white.
"Solus and I met when I was four, while I met Kamila just over two years ago. She isn't a mage nor an Awakened so she played little part in my life as a mage." Lith replied.
"Not that! What I'm asking you is: does she know?" Phloria snarled.
"I followed your advice and told her about me being a hybrid during our first anniversary. I told her about Awakening during my birthday, when I came clean with my family as well." Lith said.
"So, she doesn't know about Solus, correct?"
"No, she doesn't and so does my family. I never told anyone about her unless my hand was forced by the events or someone discovered her on their own. Scarlett the Scorpicore tried to kill her on their first meeting, so I became wary of our secret.
"Protector found out only because he shares my memories. Tista knows her because, just like you, without Solus's help she would have died during her Awakening. Nalrond helped us against Dawn and Faluel knows only because Scarlett told her.
"Any other question?" Lith said.
"Yes, I've got plenty. Was she there during our first kiss? During our first date? Was she there when we shared our first night together or whenever I opened my heart to the boy who I considered both my friend and boyfriend?" Phloria paced around Lith like a predator, without ever taking her eyes off him.
"Yes, she was always there. At least at first. After things got serious, after our first night, she learned how to temporarily sever our physical link to give to you and me some privacy." Lith said.
"What do you mean, after things got serious? Was everything a joke to you until that point? Did the two of you really care so little about my feelings before we…"
"Don't put words in my mouth, I never said anything like that." Lith cut her short. "Back then, we were both young and I never expected that you would care so much for me nor that in time I would come to return those feelings.
"You have no idea the kind of monster I was before meeting Solus. The things I did and that I would still do if it wasn't for her. Solus pushed me to give us a chance because she liked you and wanted me to be happy.
"She has been my moral compass for years until I met you. You fixed me, never letting go of the smallest fragment of me every time I fell apart, but it was Solus who allowed me to never forget what's like to be human.
"I know that you're hurt and you've got all the rights to be angry, but don't take it out on her. Put yourself in my shoes. I was the son of farmers, with a living artifact at my finger and the entirety of Mogar as my enemy.
"Everyone in the Kingdom knows about the Black Star and the lost cities. After meeting Scarlett, I understood that my worst fears didn't even come close to how dire our situation was.
"I was a monster, she was a monster, but at least we were together. When you and I met, Solus was just a voice in my head. How could I possibly tell you that and expect you not considering me either raving mad or under the effects of a cursed item?
"Only later did we find that she could turn into a mage tower again, something that existed only in legends. Not only Solus was a priceless treasure, but she already was my best friend.
"After that, you and I became close, but that only made things more difficult. She can't literally live without me and I can't possibly introduce myself by saying:
"Hi, I'm Lith Verhen and there's a girl living inside my head!" Lith found himself panting out of breath.
"Lith is right." Solus stepped forward, looking up to Phloria due to their height gap.
"For a long time, I've been nothing but a voice, oblivious of the ways of the world and as naïve as a child. He kept my existence hidden solely for two reasons. The first is that, unlike you, he doesn't come from a pampered background.
"You act all high and mighty, but you know nothing about hunger, hardships, or loneliness. Lith- No, we were completely alone, even inside our own family. Our magic made us a target for the envy of our brothers and neighbors.
"Local nobles treated us like an oddity and we had to keep it that way because none of them would have left a powerful artifact in the hands of a 'filthy commoner'." Her voice lost its innate kindness by the word, replacing it with anger.
"The second reason is that even if Mogar was a fair place where nobles didn't abuse their power, how could he possibly have a normal life if everyone knew about me?
"Lith would have been treated like a freak, just like you're doing, because they wouldn't understand the depth of our bond nor the boundaries that we voluntarily set to ensure our respective privacy.
"No girl would have dated him and no person would've hung out with him unless to exploit us. Telling the truth would've only meant sentencing Lith to a lifetime of isolation, just like me.
"You have no idea how terrible it feels when you can't even talk to the people you love without scaring the shit out of them. I've been part of Lith's family ever since he was four, yet I'm still a stranger to them.
"I depended on Lith to remain sane just as much he depended on me to remain human. Can you imagine how it feels to be able to see and hear, yet incapable of touching, speaking, or have the simplest human interaction?"
"For years I've been nothing but a voice in his head." Solus's body disappeared and her Skinwalker armor fell to the ground. "My real voice could only be heard inside the tower."
"Then, I became a wisp. The most useless, pathetic imitation of life." Her wisp form appeared and Solus moved through the room, the furniture, and even through Phloria.
The feeling of the ethereal body phasing through her made Phloria shudder.
"I was still unable to taste, to touch anything but Lith." Solus's wisp rested between his arms, like she once used to do.
"No matter how many marvels Mogar had to offer or how many people I wanted to befriend, his hands were my world and his heart was my sun. During those moments we spent together in the tower, I finally felt like a real person."
Chapter 1043 Unspoken Words Part 1
"Yet, in the outside world, I knew that I was a burden for the relationship between the two of you first and with Kamila later. That's why one year ago, once I regained my body, even if it's just a featureless energy construct, I kept it hidden from Lith."
The wisp jumped off his arms and floated in front of Phloria so that their eyes now met.
"Even before that, I left Lith's hand whenever he spent quality time with Kamila. I didn't tell him about my new body until I was forced to because outside this tower, I'm still nothing but a voice. Even now, I can only dream about having a normal life.
"After hearing my side of the story, do you still feel like blaming Lith for keeping my existence a secret? Before answering, think about how, despite all you two went through together, you lashed out the moment you learned the truth and how your much more immature self at the academy would've reacted."
Now Solus was out of breath as well, her hair whipped around as if she was amid a storm.
Phloria set aside her hurt feelings and felt stupid for wearing her heart on her sleeve. After Lith had rescued her, Phloria had been blinded by gratefulness, just like after sleeping on all the revelations of the past day, she had been blinded by jealousy.
"It seems I keep going from one extreme to the other." Phloria sighed. "Before you hear my answer, however, I would like you to cover up, Solus. From what I can see you're not very featureless anymore."
Solus's anger disappeared as she blushed up to her ears. A quick glance revealed to her that Phloria was right. Even though most of her body was still made of energy, its anatomy had become quite accurate.
She quickly turned her head, catching Lith who had been staring at her ass from the beginning.
"I didn't mention it earlier because I didn't want to ruin your heartfelt speech." Lith shrugged while giving her a telepathic thumbs up.
'Looking real good.' He told her via their mind link to not embarrass her in front of Phloria.
'Damn it. This is one of those times I'd like for us to not be always sincere with each other.' Solus replied while turning a few shades of purple along with the tower's light until her Skinwalker armor saved her from further humiliation.
Phloria paced around the room this time, trying to separate facts from opinions before speaking again. After a few minutes, Phloria sat down on the bed and took a few deep breaths to calm down.
"What part did Solus play in our relationship, exactly?" Phloria asked, her voice back to normal.
"She pushed me to take you out more, to be less of an insensitive jerk, and to be less stingy with my presents." Lith replied, making Phloria chuckle.
"Solus, were you there during my mom's birthday, when Lith promised to come to my rescue, no matter what, the moment I called his name?"
"Yes, but I swear that I never wrote any of his speeches nor did I play any part in the events that led to you two to become close and later to break up. That promise surprised me as well. It's one of the most romantic things he has ever done." Solus replied.
"I know, and that's why I got so riled up earlier. I'm not going to lie, discovering your existence, Solus, turned a creepy light on all those beautiful moments we shared. More than that, it made me doubt Lith's feelings not only for me, but for Kamila as well." Phloria said.
"What do you mean?" Lith asked.
"Well, put yourself in my shoes. We didn't see for a long time, yet you made that wonderful promise to me and in Kulah you put your life on the line to save me."
"That's because I still care deeply about you. You are…" Phloria raised her hand, cutting Lith short.
"Then, yesterday, you came to my rescue again, told me all those beautiful things about how much you care about me and that you want me at your side during your apprenticeship despite you already have a girlfriend. That made me think.
"Think that even though you have Kamila, you didn't tell her about Solus. That maybe you were using me as an experiment, to see my reaction to your other half and decide whether or not to share this secret with her as well.
"Worst case scenario, you might as well be trying to keep me as a replacement in case Kamila breaks up with you." Phloria said.
"That would be cruel and egotistical beyond belief!" Lith blurted out.
"No, it would just be human." Phloria shook her head. "I need time to think about my apprenticeship with Faluel and about how I want our relationship if there has to be any."
Phloria stood up, looking at Solus in the eyes.
"I apologize for my rudeness towards you. You've been through things so horrible that I can barely fathom them, yet I judged you both hastily and harshly. You're a brave, wonderful woman, Solus. You and Lith are lucky to have each other."
Then, she stood in front of Lith. Part of her wanted to hold him just as strongly as the other part wanted to slap the heck out of him.
"Do you have anything to add before we part ways again?" She clenched her hands to keep them under control.
His pained expression broke her heart in more than one way. It both rekindled her feelings for him yet it also exacerbated all those years of secrets and deception, making her wonder if any part of their relationship had ever been real.
"Yes. I want you to know that after you broke up with me, I felt like shit for a long time and I wondered why I didn't fight for you back then. Yet it was only after meeting Kamila that I understood the reason for my apparently foolish behavior.
"You've been there for me the whole time, you never let me go, no matter how much I pushed you away. You were the only person to know the truth about me and you accepted me anyway.
"Yet the moment you left me, I stood idly because it was the right thing to do. Because back then, I was still toxic. I was a lump of poison ready to plague whoever attempted to come too close to me.
"The only way I had to stop you would have been proposing, but everything we might have built together would have been doomed from the start due to its foundations made of lies and venom.
"We would have surely broken up after a while, but not before ruining both my life and yours, tainting every good memory of us we shared."
"I still regret not shedding a single tear for Yurial, just like I did when you left me. I had no feelings of my own but rage and hate. Without Solus, I was an empty shell. Without her light, I was no better than an Abomination.
"On top of that, we were both too young and our ideals too different.
"You dreamt of fighting for the Kingdom whereas my only goal was to discover what is wrong with me and protect my family from the danger that my bundle of secrets would cause the moment it gets discovered."
Chapter 1044 Unspoken Words Part 2
"I don't mean to be rude, but I think that you pushing your feelings onto me and calling them love also played a big part. You were too quick in telling me you loved me, especially since you knew nothing about love or me in the first place.
"You just loved the image you had of me and I knew it was nothing but a lie. Kamila and I, instead, took our relationship seriously and we almost broke up right off the bat because of Berion.
"We opened to each other slowly, accepting our respective flaws while trying not to drown the other with our own shit. With her ugly past, her twisted family, and her poor sister, I could truly relate to her.
"Not seeing each other for days, sometimes weeks at a time, allowed me to understand how much I appreciated the moments we spent together, separating my feelings for her from the egotistical desire of not wanting to be alone.
"I realized to have truly changed only when I found out that I cared for her even when parted from Solus. I'm still paranoid, cynical, and bitter, but I'm no longer poisonous.
"I'm scared to death of how Kamila will react when she learns about Solus and that's why I never told her that I love her. Because if I do and then she leaves me, I don't know if I would be able to take such a blow." Lith said.
"Wait, how the heck do you do that? What do you say when Kamila tells you that she loves you?" Phloria was deeply moved by how much thought he had put in their past relationship ad flabbergasted by the revelation.
"She never did, so I never had to say anything." Lith shrugged.
"After over two years? Are you kidding me?" Phloria's genuine surprise irked Lith to no end.
"Just like you, she understood I had many secrets and she had a few of her own. She's probably just waiting to have a clear picture before throwing the L-word." Lith said.
"I'm sorry, but you introduced her to your family, you helped her sister, lived together, and now Kamila knows everything about you but Solus. What the heck is she still waiting for? I agree that love takes time to grow, but this is too long." Phloria didn't like her own words.
They made her sound as if she was trying to undermine Lith's relationship and expected them to break up any moment. Yet she had to say those things because she believed them and she cared for him.
"She's just afraid." Solus said, making the other two turn toward her. "Phloria, Kallion has deeply hurt you, but he's the only one. Kamila had several Kallions in her life. People she believed she could love and yet tossed her away like garbage.
"Her family crushed her trust in bonds and those men that she had in people. Kamila is scared by everything the word love implies because it only brought pain to her."
"How do you know?" It was the first time Lith heard about such things.
He had never asked about Kamila's past relationships because he thought they were meaningless to her, yet now he had learned that the reason she didn't mention them was that her scars ran deep.
"I just watched her and listened to her words when I was there during your dates. That and while you were being cleansed from Huryole's energy, Kamila told Tista about her ex-boyfriends. Mostly they were horror stories." Solus replied.
"Then you better go back to her fast. Just remember that I'm no one's second choice and neither should be Solus." Phloria said while looking him straight in the eyes.
Solus warped the tower near the closest City Gate, allowing Lith to get back to the Flying Griffon resort around six in the morning thanks to the time zone difference.
"Kami, I'm back." Lith woke her up by gently caressing her face.
"Lith? What time is it?" She mumbled with a drowsy voice.
"Six twenty? Damn, I thought it was later. Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you up so early. Get back to sleep." Lith was still cursing the time difference when Kamila sat up, throwing her arms around his neck.
She gave him a long, soft, and sweet kiss that words could only describe as perfect.
"Silly, I wanted you to wake me up. I've been worried all the time, to the point that I was dreaming about you being engaged in a mortal fight with some mage." Her perky breasts pressed against his chest, causing an adrenaline rush that countered the exhaustion he felt.
"How can you possibly be so gorgeous after staying up almost for an entire day and why does every time I see you naked feel like the first?" Lith said while Kamila dragged him under the bedsheets, softly caressing his hair.
"Beats me, oh powerful Archmage." She giggled. "You look like crap, instead. What the heck did you do until now?"
"Believe it or not, I slept for over eight hours. Breakthroughs at my level are like giving birth to a damn cactus." Lith closed his eyes, losing himself in her caresses and the warmth of her bare skin.
"Is it a boy or a girl?" She chuckled.
"Definitely a boy. It was too much of a dick to be a girl."
"Well, since I'm up, you could tell me everything that has happened since you left. Before that, would you like to take a shower, have an early breakfast, or…" His snoring cut her short.
Between all the accumulated fatigue and the stress from confronting Phloria, Lith needed sheer willpower just to stay conscious. Kamila's gentle touch had crushed his defenses and allowed him to fully relax.
"Or me." Kamila finished the phrase a second too late. "This is nothing like the romantic reunion I had pictured. You're a killjoy, Lith Verhen."
She kissed his head, and when even that didn't cause any paranoid reaction, Kamila knew he was really fast asleep.
"With all your secrets and silences, you make it unbelievably hard to love you, but I love you anyway."
***
While Lith spent the rest of Kamila's vacation at the Flying Griffon resort, the Kingdom was in quite a turmoil. An army strong of one thousand men had disappeared overnight with no plausible explanation.
The few survivors all reported the same thing. The battalion led by Captain Lotta had let the undead inside the camp and then attempted to slaughter everyone before the arrival of a group of mysterious mages.
"Dammit." Jirni snarled.
She was sitting in the family tea room in the Ernas Mansion with all of her children, Orion, and Wyra, Friya's second in command. The Ernas sisters and their brothers had returned home with conventional means after devising a plausible cover story.
Jirni didn't believe a word of it, but being them alive by the miracle she knew as Lith, she didn't pry further. The how he did it paled in comparison to the result of bringing her daughters safe and sound back home.
"Are you certain that Kallion was there and that he said that Archmage Deirus was directly involved in the coup?" Jirni asked Wyra.
"Yes."
"Is there anyone alive who heard him say that that might testify?"
"I'm sorry, no. Captain Kortus is dead and so is Kallion. You could ask Lotta or Ormann, but if they faced Archmage Deirus, I doubt they survived." Wyra shook her head.
Chapter 1045 Towers and Effects Part 1
'No one survived, silly child.' Jirni thought.
'There is no other possible explanation for all the resources of the Kingdom failing to find a single traitor alive. The army deployed to the scene several investigation teams in a matter of hours after Orion gave the alarm and they have yet to find anything.
'Be them humans or undead, the contact runes of all those involved in the attack have disappeared from the face of Mogar. Even my contacts in the Undead Courts reported several high-profile members going missing about at the same time.
'A thorough investigation will take a while, but so far we found only corpses and piles of ashes. Something, maybe Lith, slaughtered them all.'
"I'm ready to testify, Archon Ernas. The truth must be revealed." Wyra mistook Jirni's silence for consideration about the risks that a trial involved.
"That's as brave of you as it would be pointless. You didn't see Deirus's hologram nor hear him give any order. All we have is your word against both a dead man who can't be interrogated and one of the most influential Archmages of the Kingdom.
"Unless you have a death wish, do not mention Deirus unless a Constable asks for Kallion's exact words. Otherwise, Deirus would have an easy time claiming that either you're accusing him because of your loyalty to the Ernas Household or that Kallion was simply bragging." Jirni said.
"Are you saying that after all he did, Deirus will not face justice?" Phloria jumped up.
"Yes, dear. You got away with your life, and that's more than most in that camp can say. Don't worry about it. Playing dirty is a game two can play." Jirni's soft smile while she thought about her opponent sent a cold shiver down everyone's back.
***
Dusk Court, a few hours after both mage towers left the Feymar mines.
After the contact runes of the officials of the Dusk Court involved in the joint mission with Deirus had disappeared from his contact amulet, the Hushed King had mobilized both his best scouts and spies.
He tasked the former with checking the events in Feymar and the latter with finding out if the humans or the Council were responsible for the massacre. Yet after days of investigation and spending a small treasure to grease the usual wheels they had all come back empty-handed.
"Run it by me again. How can a battalion strong of 500 elder undead plus another of 1000 thralls we spent years infiltrating the army disappear overnight along with most of the original members of the expedition?" When Dusk was younger, he had the habit to kill the messenger who delivered bad news.
The problem with such an attitude was that the next messenger would still deliver the same news, but it would take longer since no one wanted to report anything to him.
"We have no idea." Lukah the Vampire, Dusk's personal aide said.
"What about the mines? How could we lose them without putting up enough of a fight that not a single person lived to tell the tale?"
"We have no idea." Lukah shrugged.
"This doesn't make sense. My sources in the Awakened Council tell me that no powerful elder had any interest in our operation nor in the Ernas girls. Yet to bring such devastation so quickly it would take Mom's prowess, an Awakened assault team's, or at least someone like Raagu." Dusk drummed his fingers on his Davross throne.
"Keep investigating and leave no stone unturned. If this is the work of an unknown player, it could compromise more operations. The mines and Deirus are irrelevant, but we can't let this shadow take us by surprise again."
***
A few days later, Village of Lutia, Verhen Household.
The tower's warp and Phloria exchanging her communication rune with Solus made it easy for her to get in touch with Tista. Lith's sister taught Phloria the basics of Awakening, starting from the breathing techniques Invigoration and Accumulation.
Phloria had still a lot on her mind and would've preferred to stay away from everything remotely related to Lith, but Spirit Magic forced her hand.
All living creatures on Mogar were more than just flesh and blood. They had not only a life force, but also mana that came from their cores. In normal conditions, the core slumbered due to the dampening effect of the impurities.
Once Awakened, however, a core would constantly produce a mana flow parallel to the bloodstream, no matter if its owner knew breathing techniques, like the self-Awakened, or not, like Salaark's Feathers or Tyris's Queen's Corpse.
An Awakened core's mana output could be boosted by the mage's willpower and emotions. Spirit Magic was the consequence of the bond between the mage's core and their will.
Unlike all other kinds of magic, it didn't need any connection with the world energy, which made Spirit Magic both more versatile and wilder.
Lith had discovered it back when he was just a toddler and his core was so weak that Spirit Magic could barely shove spoons down his brother's throat. He had spent months mastering Spirit Magic until he could use it as if it was another of his limbs.
Tista had Awakened with a cyan core and had received Lith's training from day one, allowing her to not involuntarily hurt her academy mates. Phloria, however, had a blue core and just vague notions about what being an Awakened implied.
Whenever she was angry, the first hapless fellow who bothered her could feel an invisible hand crushing their throat or crotch, while when she was sad the objects in the house would float in front of the terrified eyes of the domestic staff.
Rumors about the Ernas Household being cursed were increasing by the day and after Phloria had realized that self-discipline wasn't enough to stop those phenomenons, she had been forced to ask for help.
She already had enough trouble adjusting to her newfound physical prowess that made Phloria break one cup out of two she used, but hurting people was way worse. Items could just be bought, but the fear and pain she unintentionally inflicted upon her victims couldn't be fixed that easily.
"Don't worry. Spirit Magic at its tier zero is easy. You just have to learn Lith's breathing techniques." Tista said.
"Are you saying this is just first magic?" Phloria had almost killed several people and destroyed a lot of things even from a great distance, something impossible for elemental first magic.
"Yes. Now breathe along with us." Tista nodded.
The three women were sitting cross-legged on the ground floor of the tower. Due to the violent nature of her Awakening, Phloria had never learned how to perceive the flow of world energy in her surroundings.
Such skill was the first step to control Spirit Magic.
"Take deep breaths from your diaphragm and you'll also draw small amounts of world energy. After you inhale, contract your lower muscles, so you'll hold your breath and the energy as well. Before exhaling, try to feel the excess of mana that's in your body.
"Once you manage to do it, you have to focus on the world energy getting in and out of your body with every breath. At that point, all you have to do is to use your core to draw in and absorb great amounts of world energy instead of small bits." Solus used air magic to speak while showing Phloria the correct breathing rhythm.
Chapter 1046 Towers and Effects Part 2
With Phloria's keen mana perception and two excellent teachers, it took her less than an hour to master both Invigoration and Accumulation.
"Now use Invigoration to study your own body and mana flow." Solus said. "Avoid using Accumulation until your body doesn't stabilize, otherwise you'll risk a core break."
Phloria gulped at the idea and did as instructed.
"This is the hard part. Open your eyes but keep studying your mana core while you also focus on the outside world." Tista put a small stone right in front of Phloria's legs.
"Focus on the pebble and will for it to float."
At first, all Phloria managed to do was to squint her eyes and frown. With each failed attempt, her frustration grew until she gave up in a fit of rage and the pebble reached for the ceiling.
"Did I do that?" Phloria had just perceived a tendril of mana coming from her core lashing like a whip and sending the stone flying.
"Yes, you did." Solus pointed her finger at a small burn mark on the floor where the whip had hit.
"Do that again, but this time do not affect your surroundings." Solus placed a fistful of sand in front of Phloria and the pebble on top of it. "Once you manage to move the pebble without messing with the sand, you're good to go."
Between her mana perception, the ability to see the mana tendril with Life Vision, and a few pointers, Phloria needed only a few attempts to succeed. She then learned how to move more pebbles at the same time and kept practicing until she was capable of applying Spirit Magic to her swordplay.
In a matter of a few hours her estoc, Reaver, danced in the air with the same grace and speed as if it was in her hand.
"Good gods, this is amazing! Why did Lith never use Spirit Magic to fight this way?" Phloria panted, drenched in sweat for the constant effort despite her repeated uses of Invigoration.
Yet she was smiling from the bottom of her heart like it didn't happen since her military trial had begun. Phloria loved magic, but between her stagnating career and having peaked the specializations she already knew, there wasn't much she could do except inventing new spells.
Now, however, she felt like during her first day of the academy.
"For several reasons." Solus said. "First, anyone who sees it will understand there's something wrong. Being Awakened is a matter of secrecy. Second…"
A tendril of her own mana interfered with Phloria's, making Reaver move as if its wielder was a drunken sailor during a storm. Phloria tried to regain control of the blade, but Spirit Magic was very sensitive to energy signatures.
"Third…" Solus exploited Phloria's distraction to Blink by her side, with a small knife aimed at her throat.
"Bottom line, it's not worth it. It's a flashy technique that requires too much focus and leaves you full of openings." Solus said.
"Got it, thanks." Phloria sat down on the floor, never stopping to smile.
She wasn't angry with herself for her mistakes nor with Solus for her strict teaching methods. Phloria had learned from her father that only an uncaring teacher would let their student get conceited.
A good teacher would point out all of the student's mistakes as well as their successes, so to increase their chances of survival on the battlefield.
"What's more?" Phloria asked.
"Now you take a shower, eat, and rest." Tista said. "You've only recently Awakened and I don't like you using Invigoration so many times in a single day."
"Why? I only need a few breaths to be full of energy again." Phloria shrugged.
"The more you use it, the less effective it becomes. On top of that, even if you feel fine, you still put a strain on both your body and mana core. They went through a lot and rest is an integral part of the training." Tista said.
"Gods, you two sound like my father. Or Lith." Phloria chuckled. "Where do we eat?"
"Well, you can go back to your home, to Lith's, but you might meet him and Kamila, or you could eat here with us." Solus said.
"Meaning?" Phloria dabbed her sweat with a towel.
"When Lith is with Kamila, Solus, I, and a friend of ours have a girl's night out. You can join us." Tista said.
"I'll gladly take your offer. After dinner the house is empty because my parents have to go back to work, Quylla is rehearsing her speech for Faluel, and Friya is dealing with her guild. I'm not in the mood to stay alone and I don't feel like seeing Lith." Phloria replied.
"You seem like a wonderful woman, Solus. I now understand why you and Lith did what you did. Yet it doesn't make it easier to accept that he lied to my face for the entirety of our relationship nor does it change the fact that he deeply hurt my feelings."
***
By the time Lith returned to Lutia, Phloria had learned the basics of true magic and had already converted some of her best spells into their true magic form. Weaving runes with her mind was easier than using words and hand signs, but it was still a new world for her.
To make matters worse, she had to convert her entire Grimoire and it amounted to hundreds of spells. A few days were barely enough to get used to casting the spells that were her bread and butter with true magic.
"How are you feeling?" Lith asked.
"Fine, thanks. I can almost move with the same grace I had before Awakening and I no longer crush everything I touch." She tried to smile but it came out forced, just like she couldn't hide the edge in her voice.
"There's no need to pretend that you like me. I knew this might happen when I revealed to you Solus's existence. Yet I prefer a Mogar where you're alive and hate me to a world where you died loving me." Lith's words were akin to a punch in the heart to Phloria.
Her messed up feelings could only get worse by hearing how deep is affection for her was. She opened and closed her mouth a few times, but no voice came out. The arrival of her sisters put an end to her impression of a goldfish.
"Now that you are all here, a few words before meeting Faluel." Lith looked them in the eyes one at a time, to make sure they understood how serious he was.
"Faluel the Hydra is not only the kindest Awakened I've ever met, but she's also incredibly strong and the worthy heir of the Hydra bloodline legacy. Millenia of knowledge rest upon her shoulders, so whatever you want to say to her, always be respectful.
"No matter how harmless she looks, she could kill us all in the blink of an eye if she wanted to. None of us is entitled to anything. She's going to teach me, Phloria, and Solus only out of the goodness of her heart.
"She owes us nothing so before you speak, remember that you are asking for a favor. Sass and arrogance will bring you nowhere because you have nothing she wants."
"Thanks, captain obvious." Quylla attempted to joke, but her voice came out stiff.
She had planned her speech as if she was addressing another academic. When confronting old coots, she employed confidence and grit, whereas based on Lith's words, dealing with the Hydra required to treat her akin to the Royals.
Chapter 1047 Harbingers Part 1
Lith led them to the Hydra's lair and then used the magical doorbell to announce their presence.
"Wow, to what do I owe such a crowd in my humble abode?" Faluel had such a radiant smile that it left the Ernas sisters speechless.
Faluel now looked like a young woman in her mid-twenties, about 1.7 meters (5'7") tall. Her face had an oval shape, with rainbow-colored eyes and long hair that framed her fine features.
Unlike a normal woman, her hair wasn't of a regular color with streaks related to the element she was more attuned with, but bore the six colors of the elements plus the emerald green of mana.
She was wearing a light green shirt that left her arms exposed and tight pants that Lith could swear were jeans.
Her legs were shorter than Phloria's, she was less curvy than Friya, and her face didn't look as chiseled as Tista's. Yet she could be easily called a perfectly imperfect beauty.
The grace with which her slender body moved along with the warmth of her voice emphasized Faluel as a whole, making the final result much more stunning than the sum of the single parts.
Even those who like the Ernas sisters had met Tyris multiple times at the Royal Court were stunned by Faluel's appearance. Compared to the Hydra, Constable Griffon had the countenance of a farmer whereas the Ernas felt like monkeys trying to imitate human behavior.
"Is there something wrong with my attire?" Faluel asked Lith, who seemed to be the only one not staring at her with a dumb expression and an agape mouth.
"You look amazing like always, Professor Faluel." Lith gave her a small bow.
"Indeed." Solus said. "I apologize for keeping my ring form, but taking humanoid appearance drains my energy, so I'll do it only if strictly necessary."
"Thanks for letting me know, Solus. I'll keep it in mind while planning your lessons." Faluel said.
"How could you not mention us that Faluel, I mean, Professor Faluel is so lovely?" Friya was the first to recover, yet her own words made her feel like she had gone down another step on the evolutionary ladder.
"More importantly, how can Kamila not die with envy and jealousy knowing you spend so much time with her?"
Faluel giggled at those heartfelt compliments but said nothing, waiting for Lith's reply.
"Whenever I introduce, you, my sister, or anyone else for that matter, I find beyond rude pointing out their attractiveness. It would make me appear as a pervert and even a creep in Tista's case.
"As for Kamila, she trusts me, that's how." Lith said.
"Well said. Now, unless someone wants to ask me out, I'd like to know who these three young ladies are." Faluel said.
"Professor Faluel, they are respectively, Phloria, Friya, and Quylla Ernas. You should remember Quylla from your meeting during Rena's pregnancy." Lith said.
"I certainly do." Faluel nodded while recognizing Quylla.
"Quylla and Friya have a favor to ask you." Lith said.
"Then please be quick. You're a bit early, but I plan on starting my lesson as soon as all my students are here." Faluel said.
"Professor Faluel..." Quylla gave her a curtsy, but the Hydra stopped her.
"Just Faluel will do. Let's also skip the pleasantries. There is no relationship between us nor appearances to keep up. I prefer blunt people to flatterers."
"Then I'll get straight to the point. Faluel, I would like to join your class and receive your teachings along with my friends." Quylla gave her a small bow.
No matter what Faluel said, doing any less would make Quylla feel like a small child throwing a tantrum to get a new toy.
"Simple and direct. I love it. Yet your execution fails to meet a crucial requirement. Why exactly should I agree to your request? I know and respect Lith. He and Solus put their lives in my hands many times, demonstrating a trust I'm more than happy to return.
"You, however, I barely remember your name. No matter how politely you present your request, it remains unreasonable." Faluel said.
"But my sister…"
"According to Awakened's customs, Phloria is Lith's responsibility for the next 100 years as if she is his daughter, wife, apprentice, or servant. I don't care about the nature of their relationship, that's something for them to decide." Faluel cut her short, giving Phloria's heart the second shock of the day.
"In turn, Lith is my apprentice and my responsibility. It's up to him to make sure that Phloria doesn't betray my trust or pay the consequences. Any more arguments?"
"I'm a brilliant mage. People call me a genius, but I never felt it as an appropriate title. I'm capable of doing this." Quylla conjured a complex hologram that was a scale model of the Hydra's lair.
"And this." She took out a potion and absorbed its contents through the skin in front of Faluel's surprised eyes.
"I have yet to share any of this with anyone. I created those techniques myself, as a fake mage barely eighteen years of age. Imagine what I could do with proper guidance." Quylla took a pause to let Faluel ponder her words.
"I'm willing to teach you everything I know, to share with you all of my personal spells in exchange for your help." Seeing that the Hydra seemed hesitant, Quylla raised the ante.
"Lith, did you teach her how to make holograms?" Faluel said.
"No. She learned it by herself in less than a year after seeing me do it in Kulah."
"Is she trustworthy?"
"I've put my sister's life in her hands just like I put mine several times." Lith replied.
"Then I accept, but there are conditions. First, you'll give me full access to your Grimoire as you promised. Second, as long as you live, whatever you develop from my teachings, any new discovery you make, you'll share it with me and only me.
"You're forbidden to teach even Lith or your sisters without my consent. Third, even after you are done here, whenever I'll require your help, I expect you to answer my call without asking for anything in return.
"Whatever height you reach in life, it will be because of me. Your debt will not be something easily repaid. Last, but not least, fail to comply with any of those conditions and I will kill you. Do you accept my terms?" Faluel said.
"Yes." Quylla swallowed a lump of saliva. "I've already quit my role as Assistant Professor at the White Griffon academy, so I'm ready to begin at any time, Faluel."
"Master Faluel or Professor will do. Feel free to take your pick, but don't forget who holds the leash." Faluel said. "What about you, Friya?"
"I'm here for the same reason: I want to learn from you." Friya could barely hold the Hydra's steel gaze.
"You?" Faluel sniffed at her clothes like a predator. "You're no Forgemaster nor healer. What could I possibly teach you, and more importantly, what would I gain from it?"
"I am a Healer!" Friya felt insulted at those words. "I'm not an Awakened like Lith nor a genius like Quylla, but I mastered all the light magic known to man. My drive is not knowledge, so I had no reason to pursue research in the Body Sculpting field, just like Lith did.
Chapter 1048 Harbingers Part 2
"I need you because I'm lost. There are countless places and jobs on Mogar, yet not a single one where I fit. I want to find my place in this world, but I feel like I've hit a wall that I can't overcome alone.
"I'm one of the few Dimensional Mages of the Kingdom." Friya performed her Dimensional Ruler spell and showed Faluel its prowess.
"I'm willing to take my sister's same oath, teach you every one of my secrets and share with you what I'll discover in the future. I'm even willing to become your Harbinger." Her offer made Faluel's stone face crumble and her eyes open wide.
While Quylla had practiced her Light Mastery non-stop during the last few days to impress the Hydra, Friya had studied everything about Dragons and lesser Dragons the Ernas library had to offer.
'Once again, I'm the Vastor of our group. To not be left behind, I can't let pride burden me. I must risk it all.' She thought.
"Your offer is quite alluring. No one ever offered to become the Harbinger of a lesser Dragon. Having one would make me the first of my kind and an object of envy of my peers, but do you realize the implications of your offer, child?" Faluel said.
The children of the Guardians had many unique abilities that other Emperor Beasts didn't possess. They would live over one thousand years even without Awakening, they possessed incredibly powerful bodies, and their mana core would never stop developing over time.
Yet long lives were also bound to be filled with loneliness and betrayal. Those weaker than them would covet their power while those stronger would live in fear that once a Guardian's child achieved Awakening, they would be unstoppable.
Dragons, Phoenixes, Griffons, and even their lesser cousins, could bestow part of their essence to a member of any other race that didn't share Guardian's blood and turn them in their Harbinger.
This way, the Guardian's children could secure their lover, obtain a lifelong friend, or simply an emissary in the outside world to deal with their business and properties without ever being forced to leave the safety of their homes.
It was a master-servant relationship that could be broken only with the death of either of them and it had several implications.
The Harbinger would be granted a lifespan similar to that of their master, their body enhanced by the Guardian's blood, and they would obtain knowledge and equipment in exchange for their lifelong servitude.
The bond created by the ritual was so strong that they could always find each other and open a mind link, no matter the distance. All of this, however, came at a price.
The Harbinger could never disobey their master because their bodies wouldn't be completely their own anymore and if angered, the master could seal the Harbinger's mana core as long as they wanted.
In the case the master died, the Harbinger would immediately follow whereas a Harbinger's death would only cause temporary pain to their master. On top of that, because of the physical and spiritual bond they shared, the Emperor Beast could read the mind of their Harbinger at will.
A Harbinger couldn't keep any secret from their master and the moment doubt or treachery seeped their mind they would be immediately killed.
On the other hand, their bond wasn't a slave ring. The Harbinger couldn't disobey a direct order, but could work around them and find loopholes to make a mission fail or information leak.
To make matters worse for the master, they could only have a single Harbinger at a time.
More would weaken them and permanently reduce their prowess. Also, in case the Harbinger died of violent death, their master would experience the same anguish through their bond, receiving a backlash that could take months to recover.
A disgruntled Harbinger could kill themselves when their master was engaged in battle to ensure their defeat, just like enemies could keep them prisoners and exploit the weakness the Guardian's child had created at will.
Due to the powerful bond the ritual created, very few creatures sought to be a Harbinger, and only a handful of them succeeded.
Moreover, the benefits one would gain from a lesser species couldn't compare with those from the pure bloodline of a Guardian.
Friya's pledge was akin to becoming the loyal servant of a second-rate kingdom until the moment of her death, giving the Hydra the right to decide about both her love and social life.
Becoming a Harbinger meant losing her privacy and part of her free will.
"I do." Friya replied. "I'm already 21 years old, yet I never had a significant other, only flings and shallow relationships. I'm not going to inherit the Ernas Household, so there are no blood ties to stop me.
"I've got no dreams nor purpose in life. While my siblings followed their ambitions, I just stumbled around while looking for a place to call my own. Now I discovered that my best friend is some kind of demon dragon, my sister Phloria will follow him for at least one hundred years, and my sister Quylla is so amazing that she impressed you.
"I'm tired of being powerless every time dimensional magic gets sealed. Tired of being left behind by my friends. Without them, I amount to nothing. Please, allow me to follow them on their journey. At this point, I don't care about being relegated to a secondary role anymore." Friya kneeled in front of Faluel.
"21 years? You're barely a child and your words sound more born out of desperation rather than resolution." Faluel replied. "Being my Harbinger is far from a 'secondary role' as you call it, which further shows how lacking you are for the position.
"Maybe today you're sure of your choice but what about tomorrow? If I accept, you would have a long future ahead and I can't risk you losing your motivation the moment you break up with your friends or realize that you don't like being a Harbinger."
"It's a no, then." Friya slouched her shoulders, avoiding the gazes of her sisters and Lith.
They had listened many times to her rants about being the Vastor of the group and wanting to be the best at something, but they had never expected Friya to be so miserable about her life.
She always avoided drowning in self-pity, but those last few days had been terrible for her. Seeing Lith wipe out two armies, Baba Yaga having traveled Mogar for Phloria, and the destruction of the Crystal Shield guild had broken her spirit.
All the time and effort Friya had invested in her guild was gone. Half of its members were dead and the survivors were currently under investigation because suspected of having deserted during the assault.
Even if Lith came forward to clean their name and explained why so many of them had survived while all the others had died, the Crystal Shield guild was done for. The stigma of cowardice would haunt them for a long time if not forever, and Friya didn't have the strength to start over from scratch.
She would have to rebuild the guild's reputation, hire new members to replace the fallen and train them after making sure they were trustworthy. Everything she had built during the last few years had crumbled and all her sacrifices had gone to waste.
Phloria was in her same boat, but at least she had something to look forward to.
Chapter 1049 Gods and Guardians Part 1
"I never said no." Faluel shook her head. "Let's call it a maybe. I'll take you in and treat you as my Harbinger, but I'll not perform the ritual. I expect loyalty and sincerity from you. Consider it probation. You can quit and I can kick you out anytime.
"Yet beware. If by the time I make my decision you have yet to show the proper resolve a Harbinger requires, I might be forced to kill you. I can't give off my secrets for free, so the more you learn from me, the greater the danger you are in."
"Thank you, Faluel. I will not let you down." Friya gave her a deep bow, smiling from ear to ear.
"Don't thank me, thank Lith. I gave a lot of thought to the speech he gave in front of the Council and I think he is right. They can't blame him for finding talented people.
"If the Council really wants to widen the gap with fake mages, we Awakened need to learn how to work together as our competition does instead of quarreling all the time." Faluel said while the Ernas sisters and Solus stared at Lith.
"Consider my humble abode as an Awakened academy, but with more strict rules and no sex. Fail me and you get expelled, killed, or worse. We'll work day and night because I've more important things to do than waste years teaching you lot.
"The non-Awakened must work until they faint while the Awakened must use Invigoration until it stops working. Only then will you be allowed to take a break. Are we clear?" Faluel's words made them all swallow a lump of saliva.
More than an academy, it sounded like a dignified prison camp.
"Am I interrupting something?" Nalrond asked.
"Child, you're on time, which means you're late. Always arrive early in sign of respect for my time, got it?" Faluel said.
"Yes, sorry master Faluel." He gave her a deep bow.
"What do you mean, master Faluel?" Lith asked.
"Just like your human friend here, Nalrond was impressed by my procedure to save Rena's child and has offered me a deal. He'll teach me Light Mastery and in exchange, I'll teach him Healing Magic. As simple as that." Faluel said.
"Now, before we start, let me evaluate your level so that I can tailor fit your individual lessons."
The Hydra used Invigoration on one of them at a time, taking a few notes when necessary.
"Nalrond, your two cores grant you double the mana, but you can only use one life force at a time. To avoid getting injured during your apprenticeship, you must train both your bodies and switch between them often, otherwise the mana flow might kill you." The Rezar looked at his thin limbs in embarrassment.
Having the body of an Emperor Beast had always made physical exercise look like a waste of time to him.
"Phloria, I have no idea how Lith managed to make you survive Awakening, but your body is a mess. It was refined from the red core to the blue in one go, making it highly unstable.
"The process didn't give your body the time to adapt to your new mana flow. You are akin to a weapon that has been forged but it's still being tempered. Put too much strain on it and the weapon will break.
"I forbid you to use any breathing technique until I say otherwise. I'll treat you as a non-Awakened and have you follow their same schedule." Faluel said.
"What about me? I've got two bodies and I've recently experienced a breakthrough as well." Lith asked.
"You're a completely different case. Your two bodies are like two sides of the same coin. You can't train one without training the other. Nalrond, on the other hand, has two bodies and two cores because he's two different creatures at the same time.
"On top of that, with your perfect body refinement, the moment your core recovered from the breakthrough so did your physique. You might as well achieve a purple core right now if it was possible, but that's a story for another day."
A clap of her hands made six chairs and desks appear.
"Six? What about Protector?" Lith asked.
"Having a family of four and a newborn at that requires time and sustenance. With Nalrond here, he's forced to either help his wife or work for money. Keeping two houses at the same time costs a pretty coin.
"Unlike you, he is in no rush. He can join us anytime the moment a non-Awakened is too tired to keep up." Faluel said.
"Besides, since you are all painfully ignorant in the ways of Mogar, today I'll teach you things that are considered common sense in the Awakened community. Solus, at your desk. I don't want Lith cheating and relying on your memory. If I see a mind link, I'll kick both your asses."
Solus attempted to protest, but Faluel's glare scared her too much. Solus was so used to the Hydra's gentle nature that her smallest frown looked utterly terrifying.
Faluel then explained to her students about the Awakened Council, how it worked, and its laws.
"At first, only self-Awakened existed and the death of a single one of them meant losing an amount of knowledge that is irrelevant by modern standards but was priceless millennia ago.
"Also, Awakened have always been few in numbers, making them torn between the need to hide their nature and the natural desire for company, be it platonic or otherwise.
"The Council was created as a place to exchange knowledge, seek for heirs for an Awakened's legacy, and to protect ourselves from being exploited by the other races. Only over time, it became our self-governing unit tasked with enforcing our laws."
"Why Awakened didn't conquer Mogar or simply rule their own country? Wouldn't it allow them to live safely, protected by their own army?" Phloria asked.
"Conquer Mogar?" Faluel laughed at the idea. "To what end? You've seen how hard it is to control a group of a few people, do you think you could rule a country and develop your magic?" Faluel asked, obtaining a no as a reply.
"You can't do everything at the same time, no one can. Awakened love magic because it's the only power you can trust and because effort will never betray you. A king, on the other hand, has to be wary of all his high officials and has to make sure that the very power he builds isn't used against him.
"Even if Awakened are powerful, we still need food, clothes, and ingredients. To acquire them, we need to move but outside of of our homes, we are vulnerable. Without the Council, naturally powerful races like Emperor Beasts or the undead could easily overpower one of us once they discover our location and extort the secret of Awakening.
"An Awakened King would be nothing but a target, and even putting a strawman creates a weakness that can be exploited. That's why only Guardians can do such a thing." After that, she explained to them the existence of Guardians, their identity, and their role.
"Royal Constable Tyris Griffon is a Guardian?" Except for Lith and Solus, everyone was flabbergasted.
The Ernas sisters because they knew her and Nalrond because he found their reaction idiotic. He had been taught as a child that a Guardian could look like however they wanted, just like any powerful mage. Only idiots would judge a book from its cover.
Chapter 1050 Gods and Guardians Part 2
"This doesn't make sense." Quylla said. "If Guardians really are this powerful, why do they let so many bad things happen? Like the slave collar system that plagued the Gorgon Empire for decades or Balkor's annual culling. How can they just sit there without doing anything?"
"That's a very common misconception. No matter their race, whenever people learn about Guardians, they consider them some kind of benevolent god, tasked with taking care of them. Guardians are not gods and couldn't care less about single individuals.
"They are forces of nature, incarnations of Mogar's will and agenda, whatever that is. Would you call a tornado cruel? Or the rain heartless because after irrigating the fields it makes rivers flood? Or the summer heat unfair? No, and the same applies to Guardians." Faluel said.
"What about the slave collars? Thousands lived and died as cattle for decades, yet Leegaain could have put an end to it with a snap of his fingers, just like Tyris could have killed Balkor!" Phloria said.
"To what end, exactly? You are talking in hindsight. Back then, people believed otherwise." Faluel's spoke with a calm and sweet voice, like a mother explaining to her children why they shouldn't touch embers.
At a wave of her hand, pages of ancient chronicles of the Gorgon Empire appeared on each desk for them to read. According to history books, the slave collar period was considered by those who lived it as a golden age.
Everyone would live longer and prosper thanks to mages providing the people of the Gorgon Empire, not only the nobles, with everything they might need. Dimensional Magic allowed anyone to travel freely without Gates, weather magic made every harvest bountiful, and healing magic would keep everyone healthy.
In those books, the enslaved mages were praised for their sacrifice and the action of putting a collar at their necks was justified by the greater good. Unlike nobles, free mages were hard to kill and their talent was considered an unfair advantage by those incapables of using magic.
One of them could kill hundreds of innocents, so the people from the Gorgon Empire considered it right to sacrifice the freedom of the few for the needs of the many.
"This is outrageous bullshit!" Lith said.
"That's what history taught us." Faluel said.
"Today, Leegaain is considered a heartless monster for abandoning his people, but thank to that, mages learned how to fend for themselves, nobility has been eradicated in the Empire which is now the most magically advanced country.
"What if he intervened back then? The people that wrote the books you are reading would have called him a heartless monster and a tyrant for taking away their free will.
"They would've also demanded from him to provide them with an alternative means to prosper since, in their eyes, he was standing in the path of their progress. Moreover, the mages would have become conceited and feel entitled to his protection.
"The same can be said for Balkor. He indeed killed many, but he was born out of a corrupt system that created countless victims. Lith didn't become one of them only thanks to Balkor setting an example.
"Now the academy system is being reformed, mages are allowed to reach nobility based on their merits without their humble origins being used as an excuse to undermine their achievements.
"Had Tyris killed him, people like Quylla and Lith would have had a hard time to enrol in an academy, let alone graduate. They would have become the new Balkors, if not worse."
Lith and Quylla remembered all too well the daily hazing and badmouthing they had suffered during their academy years. And that was with Linjos doing his best to protect them and with the law by their side.
Lith thought back at Nana and at how her life had been destroyed by envious nobles despite her great talent.
"What about the Blood Desert?" Nalrond asked.
"It's the Gorgon Empire's polar opposite. Salaark reigns supreme, her word is the law, her people thrive and the country is at peace ever since she took its reigns for herself. Yet she is considered a heartless monster as well." Faluel chuckled.
"What? Why? Didn't you just say that people thrive?" Friya was flabbergasted.
"Yes, but no opinion matters except her own. In the Desert, either you submit or die. All the tribes that she subjugated to unify the desert, all those who would like to try different paths to that she chose, hate her guts.
"As you can see, no matter what you do, you will be hated." Faluel said.
"Where does that leaves our Kingdom?" Phloria asked.
"Right in the middle. Tyris created the Griffon Kingdom, showing to all other people on the Garlen continent what could be achieved by working together under a just ruler. The Gorgon Empire and Blood Desert just followed her lead."
"You said that each Guardian has a role and that the Garlen continent has three of them. What do they do, exactly?" Quylla asked.
"Leegaain, Tyris, and Salaark are among the first six Guardians, who were once mistaken for gods. Even before they became Guardians, Leegaain dedicated his life to amassing knowledge, Tyris to nurture talent, and Salaark to put into practice all magical discoveries.
"They are respectively considered the wisest, the kindest, and the strongest Guardian." Faluel said.
"The kindest? Are you saying that we are stuck with the most useless Guardian?" Lith said with a sneer.
"Quite the contrary." Faluel shook her head. "Where do you think the knowledge Leegaain hoards and Salaark uses come from? It's only because of Tyris that the Griffon Kingdom is at peace ever since its foundation."
"She created the Academies, giving everyone the right to learn magic. It was Tyris who taught Lochra Silverwing magic just like Leegaain did with the Magic Empress, Milea Genys, yet the two couldn't be more different.
"While Milea is just an excellent leader for her people and the champion of the Gorgon Empire, Magus Silverwing invented all the specializations as you know them and she shared them with the entirety of Mogar.
"The Empire, the Desert, even the Jiera continent, they all learned tier four and five magic from her, yet her knowledge came from Tyris. Our Guardian helped Silverwing to spread her teachings and everyone is better for it.
"Fake mages became capable of harnessing the power that before only Awakened had, and even though the Council will never admit it, Silverwing's teachings helped us to develop as well.
"Before, you had to Awaken someone of your bloodline, hoping they wouldn't get drunk with power and try to kill you the moment they became powerful enough or age made you weak.
"Now, instead, we can pick our heirs even among fake mages after judging what they do with their talents. Emperor Beasts and Fae who fail to be Awakened from their parents and to inherit their legacies disguise themselves as humans to enroll in the six great academies.
"It's the only way they have to learn powerful magic. On top of that, we learned a lot from fake mages and they pushed us to improve instead of becoming complacent." Faluel said.
"Would it surprise you to know that when Tyris came to spectate your attempt to save Protector's life Scarlett the Scorpicore bowed to her, whereas Scarlett had no qualms to fight Salaark to fulfill her quest for revenge against Balkor?
"Why do you think all other gods have been forgotten, yet all races keep invoking Tyris's name when they pray to the Great Mother?"
Chapter 1051 Gods and Guardians Part 3
"What?" The class said in unison.
"This doesn't make sense!" Lith said. "I remember talking with a Dryad who said that after evolving, plants gain a stronger connection with the Great Mother. She was most certainly referring to Mogar."
"That's just a partial misconception." Faluel shook her head. "Mogar doesn't care for single races or continents, only about the balance. The only individuals she takes an interest in are those she considers possible candidates for the role of Guardian.
"Tyris is the Great Mother because she was chosen to embody Mogar's nurturing nature and promote the development of all species. Unlike Leegaain who hoards knowledge or Salaark who uses it for personal gain, Tyris spreads it.
"If you studied the history of the different continents, you'd see that the Griffon Kingdom leads and the others follow. Sure, they can do better than us, but change always starts here."
"You mentioned six Guardians that once were worshipped as gods, but so far you named only three and I fail to see how any of them could have been considered a god by the four races since they interact in such a whimsical way with them." Solus said.
"Once again, you speak in hindsight and driven by your human standpoint." Faluel sighed. "Guardians tried to be part of the four races and to guide them at the best of their abilities.
"Yet after the four races either distorted or exploited their teachings to subjugate one another, forcing them to intervene and fix their messes, most of the Guardians just gave up.
"Once, Leegaain was considered the god of knowledge. He accepted students and becoming one of his priestesses was considered a great honor.
"His students all became exceptional mages while his priestess, who shared his knowledge, were considered oracles capable of answering any question and even of predicting the future.
"Salaark too accepted students, who would become either the great magical swordsmen you read about in the legends or the makers of legendary artifacts. Salaark is considered the god of us Forgemasters.
"She crafts and upgrades her equipment in a split second and according to lore, she only needs a glance to replicate any item." Faluel said.
"What do you mean, according to lore?" Lith asked.
"Salaark fights alone. The only people who survive after witnessing her battles are those she is teaching to and all of her students are now dead." Faluel replied.
"Tyris, instead, was considered the god of life. Her students would all become Magi. Most of them were less skilled or driven than Leegaain's students, but they would all focus on making Mogar a better place rather than on themselves.
"Fenagar the Leviathan was considered the god of discovery. He is probably the only creature that has traveled through the entirety of Mogar, even legendary zones like the Fringes of which we'll talk another time.
"He is similar to Leegaain, yet completely different. While Leegaain focuses on studying the existent and making sure such knowledge is preserved, Fenagar only cares for the research of the unknown, be it a physical place or a new magical discipline.
"His apprentices discovered new branches of magic, but just like their teacher, they lost interest after a while and started to explore new projects, so whatever Leegaain hasn't recorded has been lost to time."
"Zagran the Garuda was the god of might. Unlike Salaark who battles to conquer and inspire others, she only fights to improve her own strength. She isn't interested in killing her opponents, because it's only through the fight that she improves.
"Her disciples mostly became monks and mages obsessed with reaching the white core of immortality, but none of them succeeded. Please, I can't shove everything in a single lesson, let me continue." Faluel stopped their questions before they could say them out loud.
"Roghar the Fenrir, was the god of mana. He spends his life trying to understand how mana and world energy interact. He believes that since all living beings have mana but only sentient beings have a core, it might be linked with the soul.
"His disciples researched ways to turn crystals into living beings and if it was possible to reincarnate people by preserving their core. He was often mistaken for the god of the afterlife because of his knowledge, but death is not his trade.
"Some say that Baba Yaga learned from both Zagran and Roghar. According to such rumors, it was their knowledge that millennia ago allowed her to create the fourth race, the undead. Any question?" Faluel said.
"Of the original six Guardians three live in the Garlen continent, where do the other three live?" Nalrond asked.
"In the Jiera continent, the closest place to Garlen they can live without fighting with their counterparts. Fenagar and Leegaain despise each other, just like Salaark can't stand Zagran. The last time they met, Tyris punched Roghar a continent away." Faluel said while looking at her clock.
"By the Great Mother, I didn't notice how much time has passed. Lunch break and then I'll give you your first lesson of magic. Light magic. Eat whatever you want and wherever you want except than here.
"I want to spend some quality time alone." Before they could even speak, Faluel was back into her Hydra form and Blinked in the middle of six magical labs built close enough for her to use them all at the same time.
"Rude!" Friya said once they found themselves outside the lair. "She could have at least told us how much time we have before Blinking us out."
"Faluel will probably contact me the moment she is ready." Lith showed his Council's amulet with pride, leaving them all flabbergasted.
It was made of Davross instead of silver, and had a white magical gemstone instead of a blue one, making it a priceless artifact.
"That said, Friya, shouldn't you be more respectful toward your future master?"
"Seriously, what were you thinking?" Phloria said. To her, the idea of her sister becoming a Harbinger was no joking matter. "Would you really spend your whole life serving a Hydra?
"Sure, Faluel looks nice, but you would still need her permission to marry, have children, or even dating someone. This isn't like with our parents. You can't defy her once you undergo the ritual."
"And maybe we shouldn't talk about it right on Faluel's doorstep." Quylla said.
Lith warped away and, after a few seconds, a Gate appeared in front of his friends. They found themselves inside Solus's tower in the Mirror Hall, where Solus was waiting for them in her human form.
"I've arranged the dining room so that you can talk in private. Lith, Nalrond, and I will dine in a different room." She said, once again doing her best to suppress her emotions.
Solus cared deeply for Friya, but she was aware that even though they had spent countless hours together, Friya had always considered her nothing but Lith's stone ring.
"Thanks for your concern, Solus." Friya gave her a small bow, making Solus feel like a stranger. "But there's no need for separate rooms. Lith is my best friend and I want him to understand my reasons.
"It's clear you're very important to him and are also the reason why he took care of us in the first place. This makes you important to me as well and I'd love to have your company."
Chapter 1052 Gods and Guardians Part 4
"As for Nalrond, making him dine alone would be beyond rude, and since we're going to spend quite a bit of time together, we'd better start now." Friya said.
Nalrond didn't like being on the receiving end of such blunt sincerity, but crashing the party beat spending all of his apprenticeship alone. He just gave her a small bow as a thank you and remained silent.
'Worst case scenario, I'll pretend to listen and nod from time to time. I don't know them or what they went through and honestly, I don't care. The problem is that I can't keep living like this. I must learn how to interact with the other races properly.
'I can't use my grief to cut everyone out of my life.' Nalrond thought.
Lith moved them all to the dining room, where a circular table set for six people waited for them. Everything from the napkins to the cutlery was the product of exquisite craftsmanship.
"Are you hitting on one of us or what?" Quylla said while appreciating the gold veined porcelain plates. "I didn't expect such luxury from someone as stingy as you."
"Nope. I'm just showing off my tower." Lith smirked. "Solus can replicate anything we see as long as it doesn't require enchanted materials so I can have whatever I want just by window shopping."
"You must be the only show-off who's also a cheapskate." The Ernas sisters laughed in unison.
"He truly is." Solus joined them. "You have no idea how long it took me to have Lith dine in more than just a replica of the Verhens' kitchen."
"I'm a creature of habit." Lith replied with a snort.
"Yeah, right. If not for Phloria and Kamila, his idea of romantic dinner would still be a well-done steak wolfed down over the Forge between experiments." Solus said.
After Lith took six pork shanks accompanied by Maekosh's award-winning red ale he had bought for the occasion out of his pocket dimension and everyone started eating, Friya spoke.
"I know that my choice might be sound reckless to you, but this is my life. I didn't tell you about it because you can't possibly understand my situation and because it's too painful." She had to admit that Lith had excellent taste in beer.
"Maye we can't fully understand, but we can at least try." Phloria said. "I don't believe you came to such a big decision out of the blue. You must have thought about it for a long time."
"Well, I never considered becoming a Harbinger until today, that was a desperate move, but you're right about the rest." Friya said.
"The truth is that before your mother, I mean, Mom, adopted me I had all my life planned out. I would take the reins of the Solivar household and make sure that my family grew in power, establishing us as a magical bloodline.
"I was ready to accept an arranged marriage and give birth to children until I had a magically gifted heir, but you know how it went. After my mother betrayed the Kingdom, I was left with nothing but the stigma of a traitor.
"The Ernas already had an heir, Gunyin, your family is already an established magical bloodline, and I was adopted. I wasn't part of the line of succession and had to just content myself with survival.
"I think I would have gone insane if I didn't have to take care of Quylla." Friya took her sister's hand, looking at her with affection.
"She was even more adrift than I was and I poured all my energy into helping her not only because she needed me, but also because I didn't have the strength to face reality.
"Once our group split up, after Quylla started to walk on her own, I had to do the same. Unlike you Phloria, my long-term plan was forever lost and unlike Quylla, I had no real passion nor interest. I never understood Lith's goals and to be honest, I still don't, so following any of you wasn't an option.
"On top of that, I was tired of competing and failing against you all. I never felt special. No matter what I did, one of you would manage to do it better. My guild was supposed to be my way out of mediocrity.
"I wanted to explore the Kingdom on my terms, to be my own boss. My plan was to find new companions, to find my place in the world, or at least understand what the heck I want to do with my life." Friya sighed.
"Yet even though everything went as I wanted, I never felt more alone in my life. I missed you all like crazy. No one of my new companions was really trustworthy. Most of them just wanted to hit on me or leech on the Ernas household.
"More than an adventurer, I've been a babysitter for lesser mages. During the last few years, I had my share of flings but no boyfriends. Heck, I don't even know if I ever loved any of them or if I was just trying to fill the void I felt in my heart.
"Yet I soldiered on and did what society expects from an adult mage. I earned my living doing a job I hated, I spent time with people I didn't actually care about, and I researched Dimensional Magic.
"Now, however, my guild is gone. I don't care enough about it to start from scratch, not when you all are about to go to a place where I can't reach you anymore." Friya put down her cutlery, doing her best to hold back her tears.
"Even when I risked years of life span in Zantia, I didn't care because you were with me, Lith. Between you and Protector, you made me feel more alive in those few days than I had been in years.
"You made me remember how it feels to fight alongside someone you really trust. Down in those caves, even inside Baba Yaga's hut, I wasn't afraid of the future because you, my sisters, were with me.
"The time we spent in the mines made me understand that I'm sick and tired of wasting my life with something I don't care about. I don't want to feel so alone never again, yet Lith and Phloria are Awakened while Quylla is bound to be the next Manohar if she learns from Faluel.
"I'm ready to become a Harbinger because at least it would allow me to not be a burden for you guys. I don't care about my freedom because it's wasted on me. I don't know what to do and I'm too tired to care anymore.
"If Faluel rejects me, I might as well go back home and marry one of Mom's relatives from the Myrok household. At least I'm certain that Mom will pick for me someone who will treat me right and I will be finally done with struggling for everything.
"I can't live with the thought of always being on the losing end nor of losing you guys forever. I'd rather give up and accept my mediocrity."
"How dare you talk like that about my hottest friend?" Lith said with such sincere outrage that made her giggle and pissed off the rest. "You have three specializations, one of which is rarer than finding a unicorn under a rainbow, and you are an excellent tactician."
Chapter 1053 Shapeshifting Part 1
"If you are mediocre, Friya, then what about everyone else? Half the people who graduate from the academies every year can't hold a candle to you. Solus and I pooled up our talents to replicate your Dimensional Ruler spell, but we failed because we lack your dimensional awareness."
"Lith is right." Phloria said. "I graduated from the White Griffon with only one specialization, so I can tell how amazing is someone like you who managed to achieve three of them at the same time.
"I wouldn't have ever become a Forgemaster without Dad's tutoring nor learned tier four healing magic without Quylla."
"Don't get me started about how pissed off I am at myself!" Quylla said. "Not only have I mastered only two specializations, but my combat prowess is nigh zero whereas you are all gods of war."
"I have no idea what a specialization is but I agree with Friya." Nalrond said. "You are failing to grasp her point. It's not a matter of how much she learned so much as of how little satisfaction she got from what you consider achievements.
"I know I'm a great Healer and that many would kill to learn Light Mastery, but I would give up all my magic if it meant to have my tribe back." His sadness was tempered by the tender meat with a side of roasted potatoes and by the excellent beer.
The Ernas sisters looked at him with a puzzled expression, uncertain how to reply. Lith briefly explained to them how his tribe had been tasked with sealing Dawn forever and had been exterminated by the Horseman after she fused with Acala.
The three were shocked hearing how the traitorous Ranger had betrayed more than just his country. In his search for power, Acala had not hesitated to kill the very people who had saved him from committing suicide and even his own wife.
"Thanks, Nalrond. Your words mean a lot to me." Friya said. Comparing her situation with that of the Rezar made her feel like a spoiled brat throwing a tantrum.
"No need to thank me. I can relate to you because my life got turned upside down as well and I know how hard it is to find a place where you belong after being uprooted. I spent decades preparing to take my mother's place among the keepers of the Horseman just to become a babysitter.
"I realize it could have gone much worse, but I can't say I'm satisfied with the outcome. I had a sacred duty to uphold and a betrothed to marry, yet now I have no purpose in life nor a family to take care of but Protector's.
"I know how you feel and I can only respect your determination in finding a solution to your problem." Nalrond said, killing the conversation.
At that point, the only thing that arguing with Friya could achieve was to hurt his feelings. They all knew and respected grief enough to postpone the discussion to another day, away from the Rezar.
"Changing the subject, I'm quite surprised by how easily you and Quylla accepted Solus's existence." Lith said to Friya. "I feared you might resent me for keeping her a secret for so long."
'Thanks for breaking the ice on my behalf. I'm still too embarrassed to speak with them freely.' Solus said through their mind link.
'Less thinking and more talking, partner.' Lith replied.
"I'll be honest with you." Friya moved her gaze from Lith to Solus, having a hard time accepting how two beings so different could fit so well together. One was short, kind, and shy, while the other was Lith.
"Had you stopped Phloria from breaking up with you, by now you two would probably be married and I'd be scared shitless of you, Lith. I would have no way to know if Solus was your mistress or if you had been playing with Phloria's feelings all along just to get your hands on the Ernas's riches and magical legacy.
"No offense, but everyone here knows how ruthless you are." Everyone nodded at her words, even Solus and Nalrond.
"Yet even after she broke up with you, you didn't hold any grudge. Sure, you childishly avoided her, but that was understandable since you cared so much for her.
Instead of giving me or Quylla the cold shoulder when we were of no use to you anymore, you kept being a great friend.
"You didn't hit on us, you never asked anything from my family, even when the two of us were Assistant Professors. Only then did I manage to get over your switch personality and understood how much you cared for us.
"The events in Zantia and Kulah only proved me right. I'm a bit pissed off at you, not at Solus, for keeping her a secret, but I understand why you did it." Friya said.
"Thanks, Friya. I really hope we can become friends." Solus said with a smile so happy that made Friya feel even more stupid.
Phloria had told her sisters about Solus's struggle to get a life of her own and even Nalrond called himself lucky compared to her.
"Same here." Quylla said. "I was honestly afraid that our relationship would wither. After Yurial's death and Phloria dumping you, you had no reason to stick with us, but you did.
"I'm not afraid to admit that without you and Friya, I wouldn't have ever graduated from the White Griffon. Back in Kulah, you didn't hesitate to expose your secret to save Phloria and I.
"After accepting your nature as a hybrid, after listening to how Solus fought by your side for us at every step and seeing her in action in your tower back in the camp, I'm angry only because you should have told me sooner."
"What is done is done." Lith sighed.
"You have every right to be mad at me, but even if I could turn back time, I wouldn't change anything. My secrets would have only made your life even more difficult and, as you just said, it's because of the hardships that we went through together that we came to trust each other so much."
"I'm really curious, Solus. How was the academy for you?" There was no point in beating a dead horse and make the mood gloomier than it already was, so Friya changed the topic.
"Great and terrible at the same time. On the one hand, I had never seen so many magic books or people our age. My condition as a stone ring, on the other hand, almost drove me crazy." Solus said.
"I was so thrilled when you and Yurial approached us, but Lith trusted no one. After Phloria joined the group, I dreamed countless times of being able to speak with you all like this. This is one of the happiest days of my life."
The fact that after all she had gone through, Solus could keep smiling like that just because of sharing a meal with other people, made everyone else feel like a cry-baby.
"How many floors is the tower supposed to have?" Quylla asked.
"Beats me." Solus shrugged. "In my memories, it's something enormous that extends both upward to the sky and downward through the ground. Yet so far it has only five floors and I've already achieved a cyan core.
"Unless the next levels unlock several floors at once, there should be four floors left."
Chapter 1054 Shapeshifting Part 2
"What do you think Faluel's next lesson will be about?" Phloria had still mixed feelings about both Solus and Lith so she preferred to move back to neutral grounds.
"Not Light Mastery for sure." Nalrond said. "I've agreed to teach it only to Lith, Solus, and Faluel. No offense, but it's the legacy of my people and I don't plan on sharing it with strangers."
"None taken, but wow! Did you take rudeness classes or it's just natural talent?" Friya said.
"I'm just being honest." Nalrond would have liked more beer, but he was starting to feel sleepy and the lesson could start at any moment.
"You were bound to find out and there was no way to sugarcoat the news. I thought it was better to put my cards on the table rather than act all mushy now and then drop them out of the blue."
"From a fellow Healer to another, you're kind of a jerk." Quylla said.
"Thanks." Nalrond replied with a smile as if she had complimented him.
The group kept chatting until Lith's Council amulet lit up.
"Playtime is over, kids. Get back here." Faluel was still in her Hydra form and her snake head spoke with a hissing voice that creeped them out.
The stark contrast between her human and Emperor Beast appearance only made her look like a monster out of a fairy tale. By the time they Warped inside Faluel's lair, the lab counters were gone and she was back in her human form.
"I hope you had a good time and a pleasant meal because I sure did." She was wearing blue overalls with several silvery tools coming out of its front pocket and a black shirt underneath.
Her outfit and the sawdust amid her hair made Faluel look more like a carpenter than a mage.
"Do you have any quick questions before we start the lesson? Any doubts that came to your mind during lunch?" She asked.
"I have a few." Phloria said. "How does one become a Guardian and why do they turn into beasts after being appointed? Is there a meaning behind it?"
"You become a Guardian if Mogar chooses you." Faluel shrugged. "As for the rest, you got it wrong. They didn't turn into beasts, they were all beasts to start with."
"What?" The Ernas sisters said in unison.
"Two continents and no human Guardian? How is that possible?" Friya's question made Faluel chuckle.
"Good gods, you girls would fit perfectly in the Council right now. There is no human Guardian on the whole Mogar, just like there isn't a plant Guardian nor an undead Guardian. Only beasts have ever managed to become one."
"What does this mean?" Friya said.
"Does Mogar discriminate?" Quylla asked.
"Are beasts the chosen race or what?" Phloria asked.
"I said quick questions, whereas those lead only to a philosophical debate that to this day has no answer. No one knows, sorry." Faluel said.
"I've got a quick one." Lith said. "Why there are only lesser Dragons? Are the other Guardians' bloodlines purer, more stable, or what?"
"There aren't just lesser Dragons. Do you remember Feela the Behemoth? Well, she's a lesser Griffon. All Guardians' bloodline can experience mutations that usually lead to a new and weaker species.
"Guardians are apex predators, improving their bodies is something that I think even Mogar would find it difficult to achieve. Anyone else?" Faluel waited a few seconds before resuming to talk.
"Excellent. Since you are all accomplished Healers, I will now proceed to explain to you one of the most common arts that Awakened use while most other creatures don't. Shapeshifting.
"It allows us to change their physical appearance and blend in more easily in a different society or to create us fake identities when we don't want to be recognized. Before starting, let's make a quick recap.
"Why do people consider shapeshifting to be just a myth?" Faluel asked.
"Because shapeshifting is nothing but Body Sculpting applied to the whole body. The smallest mistake while altering someone's life force can have terrible consequences. Brain damage, organs failure, deformities, and that's just naming a few." Quylla said.
"Correct. Anything else?"
"Shapeshifting is as dangerous as it's pointless from a fighting standpoint." Lith said.
"No matter how big you make yourself, the mass doesn't change nor does your strength. On top of that, moving with a body that it's not yours messes up your muscles memory and you need to get used to it every single time."
"Correct again." Faluel nodded. "Aside from making someone taller, slenderer, or more beautiful, shapeshifting doesn't change the nature of things, only their appearance.
"It also has several more risks that normal people never consider. There is a reason why people like Raagu don't try to appear younger nor Awakened make themselves look like Tista all the time.
"There's also a reason why a Hydra like me doesn't just shapeshift into a seven-headed Dragon to not be pegged as "lesser" anymore.
"When you change your appearance, you're not only fooling others, but yourself as well. Those who keep a fake appearance for too long often forget about their real self, about how they really are and become unable to revert to their original state.
"No matter how good-looking or muscular you make yourself, that's a lie and as such, it limits your natural potential. In the long term, such deep changes in the life force end up affecting the development of the individual.
"Your body wasn't meant to be like that and the changes you applied might as well suppress rather than enhance your natural abilities. Among Awakened, shapeshifting your body into that of another member of your race is almost considered a taboo." Faluel said.
"Wait, what about you, then? What about Protector and his hybrid form?" Friya asked.
"Those are both excellent questions. Changing into another race is easier because it's too different from your original form to affect your mind. Usually, beasts only have one human appearance and they stick to it all their life.
"On top of that, since our mass is much greater than a human's, compressing our forms helps us to keep our life force stable and retain most of our skills. We lose our fangs and claws, but our life force remains almost the same.
"Feel free to use Scanner on me." Faluel reverted to his Hydra form, making it easier for everyone to put a hand on her at the same time.
To Scanner, Faluel's life force looked like a bright violet star that burned with power. Lith could even see what looked like solar flares and eruptions. The surface of the star was never still.
It was comprised of countless streams of energy that flowed into each other countering their respective effects and allowing the star to keep its form stable despite the apparent chaos.
"Oh gods, and here I thought humans' life force was complex." Quylla said.
"Keep looking, I'm about to shapeshift." Faluel's body shrunk and so did her life force.
The maelstrom that comprised the violet star became more violent as the currents above compressed those below. By the time Faluel was back in her human form, her life force was apparently stable again.
The star was still violet and its power unchanged. It had just gotten smaller and reshaped so to look like a human's life force, but instead of lego bricks and erector set, it was still made of energy streams.
All the excess mass was stored in a compressed star identical to the original that was located where the human heart was supposed to be.
Chapter 1055 Shapeshifting Part 3
"Do you understand now?" Faluel said. "Having a bigger body makes so that when I turn into a smaller figure, I can retain most of my abilities. I only need to affect enough life force to shape my new form whereas the rest remains the same.
"Now for my next trick…" Faluel started to change again, assuming what could be considered a Dragon-Hydra hybrid.
Her body was not humanoid but covered in thick emerald scales, about 3.5 meters (11'6") tall. She had seven snake heads, each one on a serpentine neck over four times longer than a human's allowing them to look in every direction.
Both her hands and feet ended with razor-sharp claws and there was a set of membranous wings on her back. Her life force was back to look like a violet star, but it wasn't a perfect sphere anymore.
It was possible to see some bumps and dents that altered the path of the energy streams, making them move awkwardly. Yet that happened only on the surface. Below, the star was still compressed and retained its original form.
"This is my hybrid form. The bumps and dents you see are the alterations I needed to look more like a Dragon and less like a Hydra. Getting legs and arms messed up with my usually stumpy but also incredibly sturdy body, making it weaker.
"Usually, you always attack the heads and necks of a Hydra because the rest is harder than steel. To sustain the seven heads and move freely, our whole body is nothing but a bundle of muscles covered with scales so hard that they make it as solid as a mountain.
"Our long, slender necks, however, offer a much easier target. As for the wings, I wasn't born with them, so getting used to fly took me a lot of practice. I only use the hybrid form when I'm forced to fight in enclosed spaces because it's better than my human body but it's still inferior to a Hydra." Faluel shapeshifted back into her human form.
"Now, if you can take your hands off me, I would really appreciate it. As much as I like you, Phloria, I don't appreciate getting groped on a first date."
Nalrond and Lith had their hands on the Hydra's shoulders, whereas the Ernas sisters were in front of Faluel.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to…" Phloria blushed, realizing that having no knowledge of a Hydra anatomy, the place where she had put her hand on the Emperor Beast had turned out to be Faluel's human breasts.
"I was joking, child." She chuckled. "Back to our lesson. You now have all the elements to understand why shapeshifting is easier for beasts and more dangerous for humans. Nalrond?"
"It's because turning into a smaller body allows you to keep the extra life force in its original state whereas turning into a bigger one means to stretch your life force and making it frailer."
"Correct. It's not because our life force is simpler or easier to manipulate, but just a matter of mass. That's why I suggest you to practice shapeshifting mainly on your Emperor Beast body and not your human form. It will save you a lot of troubles."
"Life force works exactly like metal." Faluel took a steel plate from one of her nearby Forges.
"Getting smaller just means to increase its density, like bending and folding this plate on itself over and over until it becomes no bigger than a toy." She used Spirit Magic to turn it into a rectangular ingot no bigger than a deck of cards.
"Getting bigger, instead, means to spread your mass to the point that even the weakest impact can shatter your body." Another pulse of Spirit Magic unfolded the ingot while pulling it in every direction.
Soon it was a square with a side of over 10 meters (33 feet) but it was also so thin that even Quylla could pierce it with a fist.
"Emperor Beasts choose as their human appearance simply how they want to be perceived by humans. It's not a rational choice but only a matter of how they see themselves in relation to your society.
"Our hybrid form, instead, is simply a means to not be restricted by our massive size. Sometimes a bigger body just means a bigger target. The hybrid form allows us to employ all kinds of weapons while retaining most of our strength, but the more you alter it, the weaker it becomes.
"To give you an example, if I remove the wings, my hybrid form becomes more stable and hence stronger, but sometimes aerial maneuverability is more important than raw power.
"All of you can't assume an Emperor Beast or a magical beast form because you lack mass. It would be a dangerous procedure and a pointless exercise since your clumsy movements would give out your real nature.
"On top of that, learning how to move on all four and how to use a beast's senses would require more effort than it's worth. You'll practice changing from a human to another since discretion is a priceless asset.
"I'll split you into teams based on your nature…"
"Wait, I have a question." Lith said, cutting Faluel short.
"Care sharing it with the class?"
"In the past, Solus and I have merged a few times, becoming no different from Acala and Dawn. The last time it happened, my body grew in size and I was a lot stronger than usual. How do you explain it?" Lith said.
"I need more details." Faluel replied.
Lith told her how it had happened the first time when Scarlett had tried to kill him to study Solus, the second time when they had made up for their first and only big quarrel, and the third time while fighting the Bright Day.
"You told me you can fuse your minds at will. Can you do the same with your bodies?" Faluel said.
"No. We tried multiple times, but we always failed. It's not enough to just agree on it, we must be in perfect synch. After defeating Dawn, our union broke only when Kamila called me since Solus likes her, but not as much as I do." Lith winked at Faluel.
"Lith, I can see you winking!" Solus said from her desk.
"I have a couple of explanations for the phenomenon. Are you sure you won't tell me about what Solus's real nature is?" The Hydra had no idea that Solus was Menadion's legacy and Lith liked to keep things that way.
"I sure am."
"Then you'll have to settle for my guesses. I've noticed that Solus is becoming bigger as she recovers her abilities, hence either somehow she just adds her mass to your own and the resulting union works just like a new limb, or she has a battle form that gets unlocked due to your temporarily combined prowess.
"In both cases, you don't get new mass from nothing, you borrow hers which in turn increases by absorbing the surrounding energy and materials, correct?" Faluel said.
"Correct." Lith nodded.
'After all, the first time we both got just stronger. The second time, the tower got a new floor and you got your energy body. The third time we were on a mana geyser, but you couldn't take your tower form.'
Chapter 1056 Shapeshifting Part 4
'Maybe the creature we formed was a fusion of my hybrid form and yours. With the tower's mass, there's no telling how big I might become.' Lith thought.
'Yeah, but it's also a bit creepy. It also doesn't explain why since you gained the blue core, you temporarily grow in size on your own during each breakthrough. It might be related to your world tribulations or to your life forces merging.
'Do we want to talk about it with Faluel?' Solus said.
'Not in front of the others. Scarlett might have told her about my world tribulation since according to Protector, she spectated and even discussed it with Tyris. If that's the case, she's just respecting my privacy. But if not, it's big news.' Lith replied.
'By my maker! You just got rid of your secrets just to add a new one?' Solus said with a groan.
'Fine, you win.' Lith shared with everyone the description of what happened to him during a breakthrough or a world tribulation.
'After all, Quylla, Phloria, and Protector already witnessed it. If Mogar wanted me to be discreet about my tribulations, she could have sent me a note when she talked with Solus.' Lith thought.
"I'm glad that you finally told me about your tribulations. As for the changes you experience during your breakthroughs, I have no explanation for it, but I'm certain that they are unrelated to your chances of becoming a Guardian.
"Only time will tell if your growing life forces will also require more mass." Faluel said with a warm smile and without a shred of surprise.
'Fuck me sideways! How much did exactly Scarlett tell Faluel about me?' Lith though.
"I'm even happier to see you opening up with your friends." Faluel waved her hand to all those present, Nalrond included. "If I were you, however, I will not share it with any other Awakened.
"Not that they would try to harm you since making an enemy out of a possible Guardian is not a wise choice. Also, any attempt on your life would anger the Beast and Human Council big time, but the other factions might consider you a threat.
"It's better if they keep considering you just a human-beast hybrid. This way you can avoid making enemies inside the Council."
"So that's why in Kulah you already had four wings, the long tail, and all seven eyes opened!" Phloria needed to sit down and the others quickly followed her lead.
"Hybrid, Awakened, and even Guardian? And here I thought that my life was messed up." Friya said.
"Sadly, I have to agree." Lith sighed.
"Yeah, I wouldn't want to be in his shoes either." Faluel said. "The moment Lith fails a world tribulation, his crippled life force will be the least of his problems. I've lost a few friends that way."
"Do you mean that…" Lith needed to sit down as well.
"Yes. They all died."
"Fuck me sideways." Lith slammed his head against the hardwood desk. Suddenly being the Lord of Destruction sounded like a curse rather than a blessing.
"There's no need to be so glum. In the last few centuries, a lot of beasts have incurred into tribulations, none of them has become a Guardian, but very few of them died for it." Faluel tried to cheer him up.
"Meaning?"
"A world tribulation happens only when your will and Mogar's are in perfect synch, just like your union with Solus. It's a very rare event since usually Mogar doesn't wish for anything. Living a quiet life usually implies avoiding further tribulations." Faluel said.
"Now, let's get back to our lesson. Friya, Quylla, you will work with me. Nalrond and Phloria, both of you can use true magic so you're paired up. Solus, you will work with Lith.
"Your lack of a body and your natural ability to shapeshift your stone form regardless of your life force makes it impossible for you to practice on your own. Yet you know Lith's life force as the back of your hand and your bond will allow you to experience the pain from any mistake you might make."
Faluel patted the stone doll's head that was now Solus's appearance to reassure her.
"What do you mean, pain?" Friya asked.
"Today, you will learn how to change only the most external details, like the length of your hair, the shape of your nose, and your face. Do not attempt to alter your height, your organs, and most of all, do not even get close to your brain.
"One of the most important differences between fake and true mages is that the latter can weave spells with their minds, whereas the former needs to speak and form hand signs.
"That means that any mistake with the hands, voice, or even the tongue will leave the fake mage blocked in an imperfect body with no way to fix it. True mages, instead, as long as their brain is not affected, can always cast spells and correct their mistakes.
"It's the reason why learning how to Shapeshift is so dangerous for fake mages and relatively easy for those like Awakened or the children of Emperor Beasts who can use true magic.
"Before we start, we have to address a problem first. Lith, Phloria, and Solus. Come here." Faluel beckoned to them. "Based on what you told me, your breathing technique, Invigoration, doesn't allow you to see life forces, correct?"
"Correct. Solus and I worked on it since the fifth year of academy, but we never managed to fix the issue." Lith said.
"That's why self-Awakened often need a mentor." Faluel stood on her tip-toes and ruffled his hair as if he was a child. "Show me how it works and I'll tell you what you are doing wrong."
'There's no harm doing it.' Lith thought. 'Faluel's breathing technique has been passed down for generations, so it's bound to be better than mine.'
Lith did as instructed, showing and telling her how he performed Invigoration. Nalrond, Friya, and Quylla exploited the opportunity to learn it as well, but not having a shred of Awakening in them, they failed.
Faluel, instead, learned it on the first try. Then the Hydra used Invigoration on herself to understand its strengths and limitations.
"It's an excellent technique for something made by a child." Faluel had no idea Lith had always been an adult nor how much thought he had put in all of his creations.
"Thanks. Lith and I worked a lot on it over the years." Solus knew that Phloria could spot Lith's lies, but her own face was literally a stone mask.
"Let me guess, you created it with in mind the goal to study and understand the changes in your body." Faluel said.
"Exactly. Back then I had no idea what a core was nor what its color meant. It's only thanks to Invigoration that I understood what being an Awakened meant." Lith said.
"That's the problem. You see, another common misconception is to think of life force as something small, hidden inside the body. Yet the truth is that the life force is neither small nor hidden.
"Life force is what shapes the entirety of your bodies, both internally and externally. You created Invigoration as a spyglass that allows you to see a single pine needle, but at the same time, it gives you tunnel vision and keeps you from seeing the pine tree.
"You need to change how Invigoration distributes the world energy through your body and stop focusing on the details. As it is, Invigoration allows you to collect and put together small bits of information, but it fails at perceiving the bigger picture."
Chapter 1057 Elbow Grease Part 1
Faluel instructed Lith, Solus, and Phloria how to modify Invigoration by taking shallower breaths and holding them in longer. That way, the world energy would only flood the outer layer of their bodies without providing useless information about the single cells.
The Hydra's breathing technique, Lifestream, could see more than just life forces and mana cores, but she couldn't entrust such abilities to someone so young whose wisdom she had yet to put to the test.
'I'm sorry, Lith, but knowledge is the greatest power a mage can achieve. Too much and too fast can be toxic for a young mind. Too many of my children became drunk on power ad let their natural gifts corrupt their personality.' Faluel thought.
Lith and Solus needed a few attempts to succeed, but mostly because changing Invigoration that much felt almost like betraying a dear friend. The breathing technique was as old as Lith and had saved their lives countless times.
Giving up on it made them mourn like the day the Gatekeeper sword broke.
"Finally!" Lith said as soon as he became able to see his own life force without Scanner. "By the Great Mother, it's so much more accurate than Scanner."
"Yeah. The best part is that we can now both regain our mana and check on our patients without a tier five spell draining our focus." Now that Faluel had shown them how to modify a breathing technique, Solus was eager to experiment on her own.
Phloria was a beginner, so it took her some guidance to succeed.
"I thought you forbid me from using breathing techniques until my body stabilized. Should I use Scanner instead of Invigoration?" Phloria said.
"No need. Invigoration is just a variation of the technique Lith uses to develop his mana core. You can't use any of those techniques to rejuvenate your body or refine your core because it might put you at risk.
"Using Invigoration as a diagnostic tool, instead, requires solely to circulate the world energy without assimilating it. The amount you'll use for the exercise is so little energy that it's safe." Faluel said.
"Wait a minute. Scarlett never taught Protector a breathing technique, so I had to teach him mine. How did he manage to Shapeshift?" Lith asked.
"She taught him just what he needed. Protector is a self-Awakened, like you, so he is bound to have his own breathing technique even if he doesn't realize it. Scarlett's teachings were meant to give him the foundation to perfect it, but when you taught Invigoration to Protector, he fused them without noticing." Faluel explained.
She then showed them a box full of black spheres the size of an orange and offered it to them.
"Take one, pass the rest along." She said.
"Why are you giving us Guilty Ballots?" Quylla looked around, almost expecting to see bullies everywhere.
"Gods, no. Those are Life Sculptures. Just take one, imprint it, and then press the big button." Faluel laughed.
"Sounds more like a Ballot by the second." Quylla mumbled.
Yet once she performed the lasts step, instead of calling for help the Life Sculpture projected in her mind how Quylla's life force was shaped down to the smallest detail.
"Good gods, this is amazing! If we had these things at the White Griffon, our studies about Body Sculpting would advance by leaps and bounds." She said.
"As I said earlier, the greatest danger of shapeshifting is being unable to restore your original body. This way, even if you forget something, the Life Sculpture will aid you to not lose your way." Faluel gave Quylla a polite bow as thank you for her compliment.
"Unlike normal enchanted items, anyone can press the button and check your life force. That means that even in case you become unable to use magic, someone else can use the Life Sculpture to understand what went wrong and save you.
"Beginners should always work in teams and practice one at a time. Start by altering your bodies and don't stop unless you're exhausted or you need help fixing a mistake."
Lith, Solus, and Phloria spent the first few minutes getting accustomed to their new and improved Invigoration. Only once they made sure that their breathing technique was in no way inferior to Scanner did they start practicing.
Lith tried to make his hair longer and ended up bald. Then he tried to shorten his nose that he always found to be a bit too long for his taste, crooking it as result.
'By my maker! You trained too much and now you look like a clone of One Fist Dude.' Solus laughed her ass off.
"Professor Faluel, what am I doing wrong?" Lith had a hard time not laughing as well.
"Ten points to Lith for asking help and ten more for lighting my cave with his brilliant mind." Faluel had no such problem while pointing at his shiny head.
She checked his Life Sculpture and then his life force.
"Everyone, stop what you're doing and listen. Lith tried to extend his life force to make his hair longer and shortened that of his nose to get it smaller. Who can tell me what he did wrong?"
No one raised their hand, making Faluel sigh with disappointment.
"Extending the hair made them brittle. He should have stimulated his metabolism to provide them with nutrients as they grew. As Lith did, instead, he had the same mass spread over double its natural length until the hair couldn't support its own weight.
"As for the nose, you can't just shorten the bits you don't like and leave the rest as it is. You have to shorten the nose as a whole, otherwise you get a zig-zag effect. Remember, if you extend something, something else must get shorter. You don't get free mass." Faluel said while fixing Lith's appearance.
Solus tried something simpler, making his hair wheat-blonde and changing the length of a single nail. Once she was done, Lith looked as if someone had spilled bleach on his head and had put his finger into acid, but at least they managed to fix everything on their own.
"How do I look?" Quylla asked after making her face resemble Friya's.
"Creepy as fuck." Her sister said.
"Your talent really is impressive." Faluel gave her applause.
"Thanks, but between your explanations and the years I spent practicing Body Sculpting, I think I have an unfair advantage compared to others." Quylla puffed her chest out with pride in contrast with her words.
"No more than Lith. Invigoration gives him more information than Scanner does and it doesn't cost mana. On top of that, it also requires less focus." Faluel said. "Yet Friya is right, you're creepy. Don't mimic others, please."
They kept practicing non-stop until dinner time came. Lith had focused on his hair, trying all the haircuts of Earth's singers he could remember. Solus, instead, focused on his eyes, trying to make them look less cruel.
By the end of the lesson, Nalrond could change his skin color at will, switching from his usual bronze to a shade of pink almost identical to the citizens of the Kingdom or to the pale skin typical of the Empire in the blink of an eye.
"I just need to change my cut eye as well to go unnoticed." He said after checking the results of his labor in a mirror.
Chapter 1058 Elbow Grease Part 2
Friya focused on her nose, trying to ruin the symmetry of her face to look more inconspicuous while Phloria worked on her cheekbones.
Faluel allowed them a short break to catch their breath since all the non-Awakened were dead tired. They were exchanging opinions on their respective results and sharing the mistakes they had made when a sudden knocking took them all by surprise.
"It's too late for Protector to come and I wasn't expecting visits." Faluel focused on the door, receiving an image of her surprise guest. "Kamila is here."
At those words, Solus turned from stone doll back into her ring form and hid under her desk before Faluel let Lith's girlfriend in.
"Is there something wrong, miss Yehval?" Faluel asked.
"Actually, yes. I'm here to arrest Lith on the charges of not being home for dinner and mistreatment of girlfriend." Kamila had such a serious face and tone that it made the Hydra laugh.
"Nice try, but no cigar. I'll let them grab a bite to eat and then put them back to work. You should know that an Awakened needs but a breath to recover their strength." Faluel shook her head.
"Yeah, but Lith and Phloria are the only Awakened. On top of that, I seem to recall that her body is still highly unstable, so Lith would be the only one working all night long." Kamila replied, cracking her opponent's armor who couldn't tell her about Solus.
"I've worked all day and I really miss my boyfriend. His body and mind might be fixed by Invigoration, but what about his heart? Would you really keep us apart on a whim? Please, tell me that you're as beautiful inside as you are on the outside."
Between Kamila's words and her looking at Faluel with big, puppy eyes, the Hydra was unable to reply. Faluel knew a great deal about loneliness and isolation. That plus Lith's personality issues tipped the scale in Kamila's favor.
"Fine. Class dismissed. I expect him here at sunrise." Faluel said.
The class fell to the ground, thanking the gods for their mercy amid pants and groans. Everyone was drenched in sweat, their body sore from the mana abuse and the strain of shapeshifting for hours.
"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" Kamila hugged the Hydra and gave her a baking tray from the dimensional amulet.
The smell of food that spread throughout the lair was so good that it made everyone's mouth water.
"It's one of my specialties and I should have made enough for everyone." Kamila said while Faluel looked at the delicious lasagna with greed.
There was enough to feed eight people, but for a Hydra it was barely a bite.
"Do you want me to move you to Derios?" Faluel said.
"Yes, please. I've arranged a romantic dinner back home just for the two of us." Kamila embraced Lith and kissed him despite his pungent smell.
"Lith is really a lucky man." Nalrond said in envy.
"No, I'm the lucky one. I hope you enjoy my recipe. See you soon!" Kamila waved at them while the Warping Array covered the distance separating the lair from the capital of the Distar Marquisate in one go.
From there, a couple of Warp Gates and a flight of stairs led the couple to their apartment in Belius.
"Why don't we move somewhere else? This city is so glum." Lith said.
"No way. This is our home, the place where we shared a lot of wonderful moments together. I'm not going to move without an excellent reason." Kamila firmly refused.
"Besides, it perfect for two, it's already furnished with magical appliances, and thanks to the city's safety measures, no one can bother us with a surprise visit." She closed her army amulet inside a drawer, hoping it would remain silent.
"Now go take a shower, please. Your smell is ruining the ambiance I worked so hard to set." The house was clean and candlelit.
The table had been set for two with all the mystical Camellias Lith had gifted Kamila arranged in the middle as centerpiece. The food was already on the table, covered by Lith's Doggy Bags.
From his visits to Huryole, Lith had learned how to create enchanted cookware that would keep the food warm even in the presence of a dimensional blocking array. Kamila had no idea why he had named them like that since they had no dog nor Lith wanted one, but she had learned to not ask too many questions.
"I thought you didn't mind me exercising. Care to join me in the shower?" He said with a come-hither gesture.
"I don't mind a bit of sweat, not hours of dried sweat covered by more sweat." Kamila said. "As for the shower, I'd like to, but I can't. I have to give the finishing touches to the table."
Her reply disappointed Lith, but the thought that he had just a few hours before going back to his apprenticeship made him agree with her. After he was done, Lith found Kamila waiting for him at the table.
She wore a gorgeous black cocktail dress with a keyhole neckline that left her arms and shoulders exposed.
"Homemade food, beer from Maekosh, and that dress? I thought I was under arrest or something." Lith said while holding her between his arms.
"You've been a very bad boyfriend, Archmage Verhen, but your punishment can wait until after dinner." She gave him a long, sweet kiss before pushing him away. "If you dare to waste all my efforts, you'll spend the next fortnight on the couch.
"How did your first day of apprenticeship go?"
Lith told her a bit about the history of the Guardians before moving to his shapeshifting lesson.
"Bald with a crooked nose? Man, I would've loved to be there." She laughed. "Did you take a picture or something?"
"Luckily for me, no. I can't believe it's so hard even with Faluel's teachings and her help to upgrade Invigoration. It would have taken me years only to understand the basics on my own." Lith sighed.
"Do you think that Friya will really take the oath of a Harbinger? That would be really big news." Kamila said.
"Why big news? It's something that involves only her and Faluel. By the way, this is the best food you've ever made. What's the secret ingredient?"
"Gods, you're so naïve. First, Phloria quit the army for good, then the Crystal Shield got disbanded, and now Quylla took a sabbatical from the White Griffon academy. The Ernas are drifting away from the Kingdom and following you into the beasts' fold.
"The Royals are worried, the entire Ernas household is royally pissed off and with them more than half the Royal Court. Deirus is in hot water because even without proof, everyone is blaming him for those events.
"Between you, Quylla, and Manohar, the White Griffon is so enraged that if Deirus or any of his associates asks for the academy's help, they are likely to die from 'unforeseen medical complications'.
"On top of that, if Friya becomes a Harbinger, it would be the final nail in the coffin of the Kingdom's hopes to keep the loyalty of the first Dimensional Mage of your generation.
"As for the food, I'm glad that you like it." Kamila gave him a dazzling smile. "The secret ingredient is elbow grease, tears, sweat, and making sure that all of that doesn't end up in the baking tray."
Chapter 1059 The Seventh Element Part 1
"Knowing that you wouldn't risk your life for a long while made me so happy that I prepared all of your favorite foods. Eat to your heart content, there's plenty of seconds." Kamila said.
"About that…" Lith's guilt for ruining her mood twisted his face into a grimace so bad that for a moment Kamila believed to have used spoiled ingredients.
"Please, tell me that it's because of the food." She said once she understood what was about to happen.
"No. It's delicious. The problem is my potential Guardianhood." Lith explained to her everything he had learned about world tribulations.
He didn't want to hide anything but Solus from her, and Kamila had the right to know that he might drop dead the moment he failed a tribulation.
"That's wonderful news." Kamila replied, shocking Lith. "I can't believe I'm dating the future seventh god of Mogar."
"Guardians are not gods and I'm not even sure I'll…"
"Stop right there. I told you to not waste my efforts to prepare our date." Kamila slammed her hand on the table and cut him short. "No pessimism allowed in this house, not tonight. I forbid you to die, hence you shall not. Are we clear?"
"Crystal." Lith chuckled at how amazing she was.
"Good. Now, inmate Verhen, say once again how much you like the food and how good this dress looks on me." She took a pair of handcuffs from under her chair and made it rattle on her palm.
"The food is beyond delicious and the only thing more beautiful than your dress is the woman wearing it, Constable Yehval." Lith understood the theme of the evening and brought Kamila on his lap before kissing her.
"Don't get cocky, prisoner. I've still a lot of orders for you tonight." Kamila said while gently caressing his hair.
***
The following day, Lith met the others in front of Faluel's lair while the sun rose from the horizon, painting the treetops yellow. Solus jumped back on his hand the moment she perceived him approaching.
"Thank the gods you're here. Yesterday I spent a lot of energy and the mana geyser helped me to regain a bit of my strength, but I still need you for the real deal." Solus could feel her mana core recovering by the second, even without the use of Invigoration.
Lith's bright blue core provided her with an amazing amount of nourishment which coupled with all the sleep she had and the world energy absorbed by the tower allowed her for a quick recovery.
Quylla suddenly clung to him in an awkward embrace akin to that of a slumbering bear holding to a tree in the attempt to resist the call of winter hibernation.
"I envy you, Solus. Lith doesn't work for me and I still feel like crap." Her voice slurred and her eyes were half-closed.
"How can you be so tired? We only practiced in the afternoon and we had over eight hours of rest." Lith asked, receiving Quylla's snoring as an answer.
"How can you not be dead tired?" Friya replied. "Academy lessons lasted two hours and we only had three tops a day. Yesterday we had two lessons and we practiced from after lunch to dinner.
"Seven frigging hours of non-stop spellcasting is one hour more than we did at the academy during the entire day!"
"If Faluel keeps up like this, not even I might be able to put up with the workload." Nalrond yawed.
He had two bodies and his meditation techniques to assist his recovery, but his human form was beat nonetheless due to his lack of stamina.
"I'm the one in better shape after a good night's sleep, but my body ached all night as if I fought instead of resting. Is it normal?" Phloria asked.
"Yes. Once an Awakened acquires a blue core, their body becomes able to absorb world energy and circulate life force without the use of any technique. You, however, went from the body of a red cored human to that of a blue cored in one go.
"The unease you felt was probably due to the strain you endured yesterday tempering your body and making its refinement progress further. If you used Invigoration, instead, its rejuvenating effects would have kept your body as it was." Lith said.
"I couldn't have said it better." Faluel opened the door of her lair while checking everyone with Invigoration.
"Nalrond, Quylla, your bodies are too weak. You need physical training as well. Phloria, Lith, good job not using Invigoration to recover. Magic is for an Awakened's body what the flames of a forge are for a blade.
"It tempers your whole being and allows the impurities you still possess to move to your weakest areas. Friya, Solus, the fact that you both are still standing despite your condition demonstrates how promising your talent is."
Faluel touched everyone but the Awakened in the group and used Invigoration to restore solely their vitality.
"Get in, your lesson has already started." Faluel made the desks and chairs appear before forcing everyone to sit down.
"Today I'll tell you about Spirit Magic and then we'll proceed with the practice. Even though non-Awakened can't use it, the knowledge I'll share during this lesson will help you survive in the case you face Awakened enemies and might even help you to come up with better spells.
"First of all, what is Spirit Magic? It's the embodiment of the mana flow that only Awakened possess. Creatures like magical beasts, Emperor Beasts, Abominations, and the other Fallen races all can use magic in its true form, but not Spirit Magic.
"That's because true magic is nothing but the ability to weave the runes that comprise a spell with your mind. The species I mentioned have powerful cores and an affinity to the elements so high that, to them, calling upon the elements requires but a shred of mana.
"Elemental spells need to be cast an amount of energy that even a slumbering core can produce.
"Spirit Magic, instead, is comprised of pure mana. Even in its first magic form, Spirit Magics is more energy expensive than any other element and requires constant focus." Faluel waved her hands in the air, making emerald tendrils of energy come out from her fingers.
"Usually, it's invisible to the naked eye, but Life Vision can detect it and you can feel Spirit Magic with your touch because of its physical nature." The tendrils moved close to the desks, allowing everyone to experience Spirit Magic.
Even though the green mana looked ethereal and they could see through it as if it was a green mist, the tendrils were as hard as steel to the touch. Quylla even put a piece of paper on her tendril and it remained in mid-air, following the shape of the emerald construct.
"At a first glance, its solid-state seems cool, but it's actually one of Spirit Magic weaknesses. Spirit Magic requires a constant flow of mana to be used and because of its nature, it can be easily dispelled.
"The closest comparison to Spirit Magic's complexity, even in its first magic form, is tier five spells. They both need willpower to be shaped, they can be used as long as you have mana, and they require a strong focus.
"Try to use a spell on your respective tendril. Any spell will do." Faluel said.
The students did as instructed and even before their first magic could manifest, the emerald constructs started to crumble.
Chapter 1060 The Seventh Element Part 2
"What the heck?" Friya blurted out.
"As I said, pure mana. To affect something, most of its strength is focused on its point, making the tendril just a conduit. An impact strong enough can cut the tendril and any kind of foreign mana disrupts Spirit Magic in its first magic form.
"Potions, spells that make you emit an aura like Full Guard, fusion magic, all of them make Spirit Magic a complete waste of mana. If not for it being invisible and effective on non-magical creatures, one might think that Spirit Magic is useless.
"Yet they couldn't be farther from the truth." Faluel recalled the tendrils, using them to form a translucent emerald barrier around herself. "Feel free to attack me as you like."
Each one of her students cast a tier three spell of a different element and threw it against the barrier. Instead of just hitting it as they expected, the spherical barrier was actually spinning on itself, capturing the spells and sending them back to their caster.
"I could have easily used your spells against someone else, but my aim is to teach you, not to harm you. Spirit Magic can resemble Light Mastery at a first glance, but they are very different.
"Spirit Magic is as fast as air magic, as sturdy as earth magic, it can shapeshift like hard-light constructs, but it has none of the limitations of the other elements. Its greatest downside is the huge mana expenditure it requires due to not using any elemental energy. Any question?" Faluel said.
"I thought you would teach me Spirit Magic only after we completed Healing Magic and Forgemastering. What made you change your mind?" Lith said.
"Nothing. That's still the plan. What I'm going to teach you today is not like to weave Spirit Magic spells, but how to add Spirit Magic to your tier four and five spells like you would with any other element." Faluel replied.
"What? Are you saying that Spirit Magic is actually the seventh element?" The entirety of the class was flabbergasted and the non-Awakened felt envy eating at them from the inside.
"That's exactly what I'm saying. That's why Awakened consider themselves superior to everyone else. We are the only ones who can use the seventh element. Not the Abominations, not the children of the Guardians, not even the greatest genius can use it.
"I'm sorry, but that's the truth." Faluel gave them a few seconds to let the news sink in until their wounded pride stopped being the only voice they heard.
"Even in its first magic form, Spirit Magic can be mixed with the elements to create new effects. If used in combination with light magic, it becomes a new limb that overcomes the short range of both healing and diagnostic spells."
All those who had witnessed Faluel treating Rena's unborn child finally understood what had happened.
"If used with darkness or earth magic, it makes them faster and easier to manipulate." Faluel flicked her wrist, shooting a sphere of darkness as fast as a bullet that was the size of a marble.
It dug deep in the rock wall thanks to the darkness energy being focused on a single point instead of being spread over a huge mass. Then, Faluel raised her hands, conjuring six rocks the size of an adult man that struck at her students.
Despite their speed, Lith and Phloria managed to dodge it while Nalrond conjured a hard-light construct to defend himself. Unfortunately for them, the shooting stars shapeshifted into chains and changed their trajectory to follow their respective marks or get around their defenses.
"What the heck?" Even though he was using Fusion Magic to boost his enhanced body, Lith wasn't able to break free from the chains.
"As I said, easier to manipulate. By adding kinetic energy to an element, Spirit Magic allows us to dramatically alter the effects of common spells. By adding Spirit Magic, water not only pierces its target, but it can also hit like a blunt weapon.
"Fire magic can use the same principle to strengthen the shockwaves it produces, making the explosion more dangerous than the flames themselves while air magic can add the pressure from the mana to its own and repel almost all kinds of attacks.
"Remember that those are just examples. I'm not going to teach you my spells, only how to defend against Spirit Magic and how to mix with the other six elements." Faluel said.
"Wait a second." Quylla took out her Royal Forgemaster wand and made a thin silvery mist came out of its tip.
She closed her eyes to remember everything Faluel had done and produced six silvery tendrils. One for each of her classmates and another for the Hydra.
"Something like this?"
"Great Mother almighty!" Faluel recognized at first touch Spirit Magic despite its unusual color and it being unnaturally visible to the naked eye. "Where did you get that wand?"
"All Royal Forgemasters have one. They use it to safely interact with unknown enchanted items from a distance, cast their Forgemastering spells, and activate unknown magical formations." Quylla said.
"I knew the wand had to work on Spirit Magic because I used it against Mage Slayers to project my spells without touching them. Maybe it's not just limited to Forgemastering spells, but I could use it with all elements."
"First, remember your oath. If you divulge any of what I'm teaching you, we'll become enemies." Faluel's eyes were reduced to fiery slits brimming with mana.
She had never expected that fake mages would come so close to one of the Awakened community's most prized secrets. Yet her rage lasted only for the time she needed to see the huge silver lining in the matter.
"Second, I advise against it. Generating a strand of mana is one thing, but using enough to empower a spell might kill you. Unlike Awakened, you need a set of runes to draw mana from your core. Runes that no one researched for Spirit Magic.
"The wand takes one of your hands increasing your cast time and even if you managed to use Spirit Magic in battle, the strain on your body would be too much. You have no mana flow to temper your body nor can you perceive your core's conditions.
"One mistake and you'll deplete your mana and die."
"It's still worth a shot." Quylla replied. "I find it amazing to have finally discovered a field of magic where no other mage has ever set foot. Secrecy is no issue, you have my word.
"I'll work on the runes in my own free time."
"Count on me, sister." Friya took her own wand out of her dimensional amulet.
She was no Forgemaster, but Orion felt bad leaving her out when he had gifted the Wands to his daughters. Until that moment, Friya had only considered it a cute trinket that proved how much her adoptive family loved her, but now it had gained a purpose.
"What about me?" Nalrond said, feeling left out.
"I'm sorry, kid, but I can't make those things and I doubt Quylla will let me study it." Faluel shook her head.
"No way. I won't share my Kingdom's secrets with you just like I will not share yours. My Dad's life is on the line. By now everyone probably knows that my sisters and I have followed Lith, so if Faluel starts making silver wands, he'll be held responsible." Quylla replied.
Chapter 1061 Telepathy Part 1
"She's right, Nalrond. Besides, you don't know the first thing about fake magic. Even if you had a wand, you wouldn't be able to draw runes with it, correct?" Faluel said.
"Correct. I never chanted nor performed hand signs my whole life." He realized they all had a point, but the Rezar still felt pissed off.
"Good. Now, let's resume your lesson." Faluel nodded. "Spirit Magic is more than just offense. Being comprised solely by your mana and carrying your will by nature, it can also be used as a means of communication.
"Quylla, Lith, Solus, and Nalrond have experienced it when you helped me with Rena's baby."
"Was that really Spirit Magic as well?" The more Nalrond learned about how useful the seventh element was, the worse his mood became.
'Now the chances of me teaching Light Mastery to the girls are a solid zero. They can keep their fucking wands just as I can keep my secrets.' He thought.
"Yes. Believe it or not, that's also first magic and the first exercise you have to complete. It will teach you how to pace yourself and avoid wasting mana or worse, injuring others." Faluel said.
"In the past, this branch of Spirit Magic was called telepathy. The theory behind it is very simple, you just have to create a tendril of Spirit Magic and connect it to your target. Putting it into practice, however, is complex and dangerous.
"Contrary to what you might think, the tendril shouldn't go to the other person's head, but to their core. That's because you are not really sharing your thoughts, but using the willpower imbued within your mana to communicate.
"The problem with such method is that, if not properly done, it can share more than you'd like to, flood your mind with your target's thoughts and drive you crazy, or cause mana poisoning to either of you if not both." Faluel created several visible tendrils of mana and left one floating in front of each of her students.
'Good thing I never experimented it on my own.' Lith thought. 'The consequences of failure are even worse than I predicted. Choosing Faluel as my mentor was the right thing to do. The Kingdom could have never taught me any of this.'
"Now, those of you who can produce their own tendril and connect it to mine. If you use too much mana my tendril will fade, too little and it will be yours to disappear.
"I'm keeping them just strong enough to form a mind link so that when you practice among yourselves, the risk of accidents should be minimal." Faluel said.
"What about me?" Nalrond asked.
"Some individuals are capable of projecting their conscience outwards without the need of using mana as a focus, so your task is to try and connect with the tendril on your own. Once you get sick of it, your real exercise will begin.
"You must also learn how to defend in the case someone attempts to manipulate your mind." Faluel said.
"Attack how?" Solus asked.
"The same principle behind the mind link can be used to confuse the opponent or break their focus to keep them from casting spells. Some creatures are so expert with Spirit Magic that they have developed techniques similar to hypnosis.
"You must learn how to recognize when someone is attempting to influence you and resist the suggestion they try to plant into your mind. That's something that anyone can do, non-Awakened included."
"I experienced something similar in Othre, when the thrall of a Vampire tried to hit on Kamila." Lith said. "How can a wannabe undead use Spirit Magic and how is it different from the mind link between Solus and me?"
"Unless they are also Awakened, undead can't use Spirit Magic, let alone their thralls. However, all of them are masters at manipulating the life force. They can use it to convey their will, but it requires physical contact to pass the energy from their blood cores.
"Another difference is that their victim must hear their command since life force carries the willpower but not the thought. Otherwise, Dragons might use Origin Flames to communicate.
"As for your mind link with Solus, it could be achieved with Spirit Magic, but it would kill the recipient. The more information you share, the more mana is required, causing mana poisoning.
"You two don't have such a problem because you have the very same mana signature so no matter how much mana you use, it can flow freely from one to the other without the exchange affecting your reserves.
"Enough talk. Get to work." Faluel said.
Lith and Solus burned Faluel's tendril on their first attempt. They were used to just point and shoot their thoughts. They had no need for finesse between them.
Phloria and Tista were beginners with Spirit Magic so their tendril didn't survive the encounter with Faluel's. Tista had joined them for the lesson since Spirit Magic was one of the few disciplines her knowledge of which was on par with Lith's.
While Friya still tried to understand how to obtain a silver strand from her wand, Quylla shaped her mana according to Faluel's until the two tendrils matched in size. Only then did she make contact and obliterated her target.
"Nice try, but while I decide how my tendril looks like, yours is dependent on the wand. Start small and increase the output gradually, otherwise you'll run out of mana quickly." Faluel said.
'Even if Quylla doesn't allow me to examine her wand, I can still use the exercises to put to the test how close Royal Forgemasters are to Spirit Magic.' She thought.
Meanwhile, Nalrond used his enhanced senses to perceive the mana tendril and the message it held.
He tried to stimulate both of his cores, but to no avail. Then, he used a tendril of light to connect with the Spirit Magic, hoping that the two disciplines shared enough similarities to allow him to overcome his limits.
Unfortunately for Nalrond, each one of his attempts garnered him Faluel's praise but no success.
"I give up. Let's move to the next phase." He said after over one hour of constant failures.
"In your shoes, I would try a bit longer but if that's what you want, I'm okay with it. Are you ready?" Faluel moved the tendril right in the middle of his eyes, barely a few millimeters from his skin.
"What does this mean? You said that the link is established between cores." He said.
"Yeah, but you have two cores. Using the usual approach on you would mean double the mana and the chances of poisoning. I'm skilled enough to work with your brain so it will work just the same.
"On top of that, I would have moved the tendril anyway as soon as you get used to my influence. A person links with your core only if they want to communicate, but if they want to harm you, they aim for the brain.
"It's where your cognitive process happens and being it far from the core, attacking the brain makes the suggestion more effective." Faluel said.
It took the rest of the class several attempts to successfully establish contact without harming either mana tendril and by the time everyone succeeded ten times out of ten, it was already lunchtime.
Chapter 1062 Telepathy Part 2
"This is an amazing ability. We'll be able to coordinate silently and exchange even complex information in the blink of an eye if necessary." Lith and Solus succeeded first thanks to their years of experience with mind links.
By the time the lesson ended, they had become able to share images and battle plans through Spirit Magic.
"I don't get it. If this is basically first magic, why do I feel so tired?" Much to anyone's surprise, Quylla had succeeded second but had only learned how to transmit her thoughts.
"Because Spirit Magic needs a constant stream of pure mana and to imbue it with willpower." Solus replied. "Using it for so long drains both your core and mental focus."
"Master Faluel, how come did Quylla have an easier time than me?" Having used Spirit Magic for years and yet finish third wound Tista's pride.
"Because she can see her own tendril. On top of that, the brightness and thickness of the tendril are directly proportional to the amount of mana she employs which allows her to finely adjust the output. Also, the visual aid helped her to learn faster."
"Should I use my wand as well, then?" Phloria asked.
"No. If you use it in battle, having an invisible means of communication is an advantage that Quylla will lack. Also, you aren't allowed to use Life Vision either. During a stealth mission, glowing eyes would betray your nature as a mage.
"Now get out of my hair. You need to rest or our afternoon lesson will last minutes at best." Once again, Faluel kicked them out of her lair with a moment's notice, forcing them to move into Lith's tower.
"How was your training session, Nalrond?" Friya had Solus conjure a couch all for herself, to lie down and stretch her legs.
She wasn't used to sitting for so long anymore and her ass was begging for relief. Friya loved how the tower could grant her every wish while Lith took care of breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
"Horrible." Nalrond had bloodshot eyes and a terrible migraine that forced him to clench his temples. "Faluel kept whispering in my head, making me feel hot and then cold. Starving and then thirsty.
"To add insult to injury, resisting her influence left me with a headache that not even light magic can cure."
Saying those words in a room full of healers was a bad move. Soon everyone gave him a check-up and the constant touching of his head only made Nalrond's pain get worse.
"How is that possible?" Quylla asked.
"Beats me. Faluel just said that I had to think about it, but my head hurts so much that my eyes water. I can still almost hear her voice in my head and it takes most of my focus to resist her suggestions."
"It might be an effect of mana poisoning." Solus said. "Try using Fusion Magic. If I'm right, along with the elemental energy, it will circulate your mana as well and cleanse Faluel's will."
The moment Nalrond activated light fusion, he could feel his headache lessening and Faluel's voice fading. He then circulated all the elements until the effects of mana poisoning disappeared.
"Thanks, Solus. You were right. The only problem is that now I'm even more tired than before." He asked Solus to turn his armchair into a couch as well, falling asleep the moment his head touched the pillows and waking up only once lunch was ready.
After they finished eating, everyone went to sleep after taking a shower to get rid of the sweat and clear their head.
"Gods, I love this place." Friya said before leaving the tower after Faluel recalled them to her lair. "The high-density world energy allows us to quickly recover our mana and the beds are so soft that it's like sleeping on a cloud."
"Yeah, you do nothing but sleep and eat, leaving all the chores to me and Lith." Solus pouted. "You guys are the worst harem ever."
Everyone laughed at her joke, except Nalrond who blushed.
'Should I do something to repay her for my room and everything Solus is doing for me? Most importantly, how do I know she doesn't peek while I'm taking a bath? The girls might not care, but for me it's embarrassing.' He thought.
Solus was too happy finally having someone to share her life with to notice his discomfort.
'Now that Lith has finally opened up to his friends, Nalrond is the grumpiest of the group. The girls, instead, seem to get along with me. I can't wait to spend some time all together doing something that is not training.' She thought.
"Wow, we're barely halfway through the day and you all look like crap." Faluel gave the non-Awakened of the group a round of Invigoration. "Clench your teeth and hold tight, because there won't be chatting now, only hard work.
"Your afternoon task is to use what you learned this morning to communicate with each other. Keep using the method I showed you earlier and don't make direct contact unless you want a splitting headache.
"Solus, you train with Quylla. Lith with Phloria, Tista and Friya with me. Nalrond…"
"More torture?" He whined.
"That or you can practice shapeshifting on your own. Your choice." Faluel shrugged.
The Rezar groaned and accepted another session of mind manipulation. This time, however, as soon as he felt Faluel's influence becoming too strong, Nalrond would use Fusion Magic to counter her.
"Very good! You found out one of the weaknesses of this technique all by yourself. Try to use Fusion Magic as little as you can, so to train your willpower and fool your opponent into believing they have succeeded influencing you." Faluel said.
"Actually, it was Solus's idea." Nalrond said while resisting the impulse to scratch the itch Faluel caused on his back.
"Very bad, then. Solus, I'm not letting you practice with Lith because you all must learn how to fend for yourself. If you keep giving away answers, you hinder the growth of your companions.
"Don't let them get used to relying on your brain and force them to use theirs. Guys, when I give you a task, you're forbidden to ask others for help. No matter how many companions you have, on the battlefield, you can rely only on yourself.
"Otherwise you'll become all weak-ass like Quylla. No offense." Faluel said.
"None taken." Quylla lied through her teeth as the truth behind those words hurt her deeply.
'I never learned how to fight because I assumed that I wouldn't need to. Faluel is right, I'm too reliant on others for my survival.' She thought.
Meanwhile, Lith and Phloria needed Life Vision to spot each other's mana strand. Adjusting Spirit Magic's output took them but a few minutes thanks to the visual aid.
'Can you hear me?' Lith asked.
'Yes, but your voice is barely a whisper. Try to speak louder.' Phloria's reply sounded messy as if she was talking through a gag.
'This feels so strange. I had Scarlett and Faluel in my head in the past, but they forced their way in while this time it's like I'm letting someone in.' He thought while focusing his feelings inside the mana.
'It feels weird to me, too. Did you really spend years with Solus's voice in your head like this?' Phloria had a hard time sorting what thoughts she wanted to share from those she wanted to keep hidden.
Chapter 1063 Mixed Spells Part 1
'Yes, Solus and I always communicate like this. Focus more, please. I can barely hear you.' Lith understood why they had to use two tendrils.
This way, a stray thought couldn't be shared by mistake since they had to overcome the other's mana by infusing willpower in their messages.
Otherwise, while asking a question, a beginner would actually reveal what they were looking for and what they were trying to avoid to their prisoner. On top of that, the double mana strand technique prevented mana poisoning.
'How did you know what thoughts were yours?' Phloria said.
'Even inside my head, my voice and hers sound completely different. Also, the way she thoughts is nothing like mine.' Lith replied.
'How do you share images and plans? I tried all morning but Faluel said none of it made sense.'
'It's easy. You must visualize any detail you want to communicate. You can't let logic or memory fill the gaps or the other person will receive an incomplete picture because they don't reason as you do.' Lith sent her an image from their date in Vinea, back when they still attended the academy.
It was a picture of the night when Phloria had shared with him her fears for the future, wishing to have a few more years before coming of age.
'What does that mean?' The image triggered too many memories at once, both good and bad, making Phloria's heart hurt.
'I used an image of our shared past to make it easier for you to understand what I mean. You were there with me, but it's likely that you remember it differently.' Lith replied.
'You are right. To me, the stars were brighter than this, and I had completely forgotten about the chilly breeze.' When she sent her version of the memory to him, it looked like a painting drawn by an artist trying to express their love for life.
It depicted two people staring at a perfect night sky while holding hands. The absence of passers-by didn't give a feeling of isolation so much as of intimacy.
Lith had actually toned down the romanticism in his memories because he wanted to teach her, not to take a trip down memory lane.
'Excellent. Now try doing the same with a memory we do not share. Before sending it to me, make sure you have a clear mental image of what you want to share. Like this.' Lith showed her a clip of Acala turning into Dawn.
The beauty of the Horseman and her raw, savage splendor left Phloria in awe.
'Could the same happen to you?' She asked before even realizing it.
'What could happen?' The question confused Lith.
'Solus taking over. Replacing your body with her own.'
'I guess so. It's what happens to all those who bond with cursed objects. Why do you think Scarlett was bent on splitting us apart when she met us?' Lith's indifference made her understand how deeply they trusted each other.
Phloria shrugged off her worries and focused on the task at hand, trying to show him both Baba Yaga and her hut.
'I'm so happy to be paired with you, Quylla. Back at the academy, you were my favorite.' Solus's thoughts were filled with so much joy and enthusiasm that made Quylla feel awkward.
'Thanks, I guess. What do you mean, favorite?' Her question reminded Solus that even though she knew Lith's companions for years, they had no idea of her existence until recently.
'Your past was similar to Lith's, yet you never let your darkness turn you into a grumpy, cynical person. I always admired your good heart.' After Solus had realized how inappropriate was to tell Quylla how she had shipped Lith back at the academy, Solus had changed the topic with a mix of truth and compliments.
'Thanks. Yet I consider my past self weak and naïve. I let Yurial lead me by the nose at first and then I never had the guts to do what I really wanted.' Her thoughts sounded depressed, inducing Solus to change the subject.
'Do you know that Lith and I met a real Dragon back in Huryole?' Solus shared with Quylla all of her memories of Jakra.
'Oh my, I'd surely hit that.' Quylla thought while looking at the Dragon's human appearance.
'I beg your pardon?' Solus blushed at Quylla's following in-depth appreciation of Jakra's physical attributes.
'Good gods, did you heard that? I'm so sorry! I'm not a pervert, it's just that I'm not used to sharing my mind with someone else.' Quylla turned to a shade of purple, making Faluel wonder what kind of naughty pictures they might be sharing and if it was appropriate for her to ask for a copy.
'Jokes aside, the Royal Forgemaster wand is an amazing tool. Now I understand why Menadion is revered as the first Royal Forgemaster and she's considered the second Greatest Magus of the Griffon Kingdom.
'The wand not only allows fake mages to use Spirit Magic, but it also smooths their mana, making it a great conductor for their willpower. On the one hand, it lessens the focus required for high precision jobs.
'On the other hand, Quylla and Friya have a hard time keeping stray thoughts for themselves. I learned a lot about them this morning. Those two will make two excellent subjects.' Faluel thought.
She had not paired up Tista and Friya but made both of them practice with her to study the Royal Forgemaster wand. That way Faluel could better understand its properties and limitations while comparing the wand's effects with Tista's Spirit Magic.
'How am I doing?' Friya asked. 'Please, don't tell me I'm once again the worst in my group.' She added without her own knowledge.
'You're doing great. Your thoughts are loud and clear, much better than Phloria's. On top of that, your strand is more stable than Tista's.' Faluel said to help Friya overcome her self-confidence issues.
'Now try to share one of your memories with me. The better you remember those events, the easier it will be.'
Friya searched her memory for something not embarrassing nor too private that would make her look good, giving Faluel several glimpses of her past. Just like it had happened for Quylla, the little resistance the wand offered to their willpower was actually a double-edged sword.
In the hope of impressing Faluel, Friya showed her the fight against the Awakened in Zantia and how she had utterly defeated him despite being a fake mage.
'Remarkable performance.' Faluel nodded. 'Dimensional Mages are a rarity even among Awakened. Not only because dimensional magic is second only to gravity magic in complexity, but also because it can be easily countered.'
'Is that a compliment or a critic?' Friya said.
'A compliment. It means you are equally skilled in all six elements. Now you only have to properly send me a complex made up thought, like a battle plan, and your exercise will be over.' Faluel said.
"Okay, I need a break." The more Nalrond learned to build his mental defenses, the more Faluel increased the pressure until he had been forced to use Fusion Magic just to keep up with the onslaught.
Now his head ached as if he had remained trapped inside a ringing bell and had circulated so much mana that his human body was on the verge of collapse.
Chapter 1064 Mixed Spells Part 2
'Faluel attacked me non-stop while teaching to two people and keeping an eye on the others. What kind of monster can do so many things at the same time and yet have focus to spare?' He thought before losing consciousness.
'What a silly child. He could have quit whenever he wanted but his pride clouded his judgment.' Faluel said to Friya.
'Are you still talking about Nalrond?' Friya knew that those words applied to her as well.
Keeping up with Faluel's chat, showing her memories to the Hydra, and trying to accomplish each task the moment it was issued, had quickly drained her mana. Friya was already running on fumes.
'Mostly.' Faluel said with a chuckle.
"I need a break as well." Friya said, dispelling the mana strand and finding herself covered in sweat.
Her knees shook so hard from exhaustion that she didn't fall ass-first on the ground only because she was still sitting on her chair.
Lith and Solus, instead, had consumed very little mana. Years of experience with Spirit Magic and mind links allowed them to communicate freely using the minimum amount of focus necessary.
The only problem they had was to keep in check their mana and don't flood their partner. They had no such issue between them since their mana would just flow in a loop.
Seeing her sister panting like a bellows made Phloria realize how tired she was and interrupt the mind link.
Tista didn't like the idea of quitting right after Friya. She kept practicing until she managed to share with Faluel a detailed mental image of a contingency plan she had devised during her travels.
"I hope this qualifies as a complex thought, because I'm beat." She said.
"Don't worry. That's exactly what I wanted. We're done for now." Faluel said.
'First Friya, then Phloria, and now Tista. They quit first, so even if I stop now, I would have still performed better than them.' Quylla thought with a smug grin on her mind.
'That's not a nice thing to say about your companions. Being competitive is one thing, being mean is another.' Solus replied, making Quylla blush up to her ears.
"You weren't supposed to hear that either. We need to break up!" Quylla's words after abruptly interrupting their connection made everyone chuckle.
"I meant the mind link. We didn't have a mind flirt or anything." She rushed to explain, regretting her words the moment they came out of her mouth.
"Oh, my!" Lith said with a sly smile. "Solus, I expect a full report about that juicy blushing between you two."
"Don't you dare!" The more Quylla got flustered, the harder he laughed.
"Enough picking on her." Faluel clapped her hands to get their attention. "Ten minutes of break before moving on to the next subject."
"What do you mean, next subject? I'm tired." Quylla blurted out.
"What do you think Invigoration is for? I need only a couple of breaths to have you back in your peak condition." Faluel's usual warm smile had never looked so scary.
"What about me?" Phloria asked.
"If you shut up and meditate you will not need Invigoration. Drink this." Faluel gave her a tonic, making Phloria curse like a truck driver.
"Solus?" Lith said with a worried tone.
"I'm fine. At this distance is no different from being at your finger, but thanks for your kindness." Solus's stone doll jumped on Lith's back, sitting on his shoulder while he walked through the lair to stretch his legs.
'By my maker, I missed you so badly. I never considered that being free also means being often alone.' Solus said.
'I missed you more. Sometimes the silence in my head is scary. When you are away from me, a mean voice tells me how stupid I am for trusting others and that it will only lead to more pain.' Lith replied.
'That makes the two of us. Mine says that I'll never be able to walk among people nor have a normal life.' She sighed.
They spent the rest of the time in silence, simply appreciating each other's company and the feeling of security that their bond granted them.
"How do you feel?" Faluel asked.
Lith and Solus gave her a thumbs up, Nalrond kept sleeping, while the others assumed a foetal position, hiding their faces between their knees.
"Excellent!" Faluel used Invigoration on the non-Awakened and resumed speaking before Nalrond could realize that the nightmare in front of his eyes was real.
"Now that you are accustomed to the basics of Spirit Magic, let's move to something more complex. As I said earlier, Spirit Magic is the seventh element and it can be mixed with the others.
"I'll only teach you how to cast mixed spells and up to tier three. Upper tiers are part of my legacy and I'm not going to share them. I will still provide you with all the means to come up with your own spells, or in the case of the non-Awakened, the means to defend themselves.
"First, a quick recap. Normal spells are obtained by mixing your mana with the external elemental energies. Like this." A sphere of thunder appeared in Faluel's left palm.
"This is something anyone can do. Fake mages, true mages, and Awakened. What only Awakened can do, is to replace their mana with Spirit Magic, use it to bond with the elemental energies, and then coat them with it."
Faluel waved her hand and a small air blade the size of a saucer struck at one of the walls, leaving a small cut in the rock.
"That's regular first magic."
A second wave generated another small blade the features of which were visible to the naked eye. The air blade struck the wall and after leaving a deeper cut that formed an X with the other, it returned to Faluel like an obedient dog.
"While that is Spirit Magic mixed with first magic. As you can see, it allows me to bend or ignore some of the rules the elements usually abide by. Air blades don't disappear after a single hit, darkness becomes fast, and well, you know the rest.
"Your task is simply to use Spirit Magic instead of mana to cast your favorite first magic spell. If you succeed, remember that you'll need to coat the conjured elemental energy with the same amount of Spirit Magic, or the differences with a normal spell will be negligible." Faluel said.
"Why can't we just conjure a first magic spell as usual and just coat it with Spirit Magic?" Quylla asked while Lith had already started practicing.
"Because that would mean mixing three different energies. The exercise is already difficult as it is, there's no need to further complicate it." Faluel replied
"On top of that, the foundation of Spirit Magic allows the rest to be spread evenly whereas the mana in a normal spell is bound to the elemental energy so strongly that the Spirit Magic can't take root."
'This is more difficult than I thought.' Solus considered herself a master of tier zero Spirit Magic, yet the exercise baffled her. 'Normally, my mana mixes with the elemental energy as soon as it leaves my body, while now I have to conjure them one at a time.
'To weave a lightning bolt, I visualize one as I emit the mana whereas here, I have to focus on the strand of Spirit Magic and only then visualize the bolt. The two thoughts don't combine easily and solidified mana don't seem very good at conjuring the elements.'
Chapter 1065 The Source of all Spells Part 1
An invisible sphere of Spirit Magic the size of a nut rested on Solus's hand while electric arcs appeared around it from time to time. Unfortunately, the electricity was caused not by Spirit Magic but by her failed attempts.
Solus only managed to cast a second spell instead of adding the air element to Spirit Magic, triggering the arcs. Friya and Quylla found the task even more difficult since they had never used Spirit Magic before and they had to conjure it through their wands.
Nalrond looked at the others in envy, yet instead of cursing the unjust fate, he watched and learned from their mistakes.
'Based on what Faluel said, every time I cast a spell, I actually generate a strand a Spirit Magic. As a true mage, my core is not Awakened but I can still use silent magic.
'My people can't Awaken because our two cores would need to be refined at the same time and we are unable to control them separately, making their output unstable. I should take this opportunity to learn how to feel mana.
'Worst case scenario, I can adapt Faluel's teachings to Light Mastery to improve it.' He thought while casting first magic non-stop and focusing only on the moment the spell sparked before letting it fade away.
Nalrond aimed to learn how to feel the mana coming from his cores and use that knowledge to create Spirit Magic.
'Interesting.' Lith thought while constantly shapeshifting the sphere of Spirit Magic in his hand. 'Faluel said to use our favorite spell, but darkness and fire are unsuited for this exercise.
'Explosions would distract everyone, me included, while ethereal spells are hard to study. What a sly teacher I got. The air blade was more than a demonstration, it was a hint. If the spell is done correctly, the air element doesn't disappear and unlike earth or ice, air offers less resistance to Spirit Magic, making things easier for beginners like us.'
Lith had practiced true magic ever since he had opened his eyes on Mogar. He knew how imagination and willpower were the keys to success to every spell. Lith closed his eyes and instead of trying to conjure the air element, he simply imagined to be holding a small vortex inside the mana sphere.
'If there's something I learned after all these years, is that magic is simpler and yet more complex than people make it. Simpler because just like it happens for world energy, there aren't six or seven different elements, just magic.
'More complex because taking them individually generates an unbalance that is up to the mage to restore with his willpower and mana.'
Lith kept his breathing steady, focusing on the flow of air coming from his own lungs. It took him a while to realize that what Faluel wanted from them was nothing more than projecting Fusion Magic outside their bodies.
Suddenly, a small vortex appeared inside the sphere in his palm, making it visible to the naked eye. Then, Lith focused on adding solely more Spirit Magic, to recreate the feeling of holding his weapon, something that he knew like the back of his hand.
The sphere grew and extended until a misty replica of War made of yellow energy appeared in Lith's hand.
"Excellent work." Faluel clapped her hands. "Practice and hard work never betray you. Don't be discouraged, guys. Lith is a veteran compared to you. Find your own way to succeed rather than blindly try and imitate him."
"Why not?" A scaled version of the air blade appeared in the hand of Solus's stone doll.
"I meant aside from you." Faluel sighed. "Try with other elements or focus on manipulating air. The choice is up to you."
Even without the mind link, everything they had shared over the years had allowed them to learn how the other thought. Seeing Lith succeed was enough for Solus to complete her own technique.
By the end of the lesson, everyone was dead tired. Aside from Lith and Solus, no one had managed to mix Spirit and elemental magic.
"There's nothing to be ashamed of. Even Awakened have a hard time during their first day of Spirit Magic. You've seen how hard it is to manipulate mana on its own, mixing Spirit Magic with the other elements is even more difficult." Faluel said.
"I can see from your faces how frustrated you are, so I'm going to give you the night off. Invigoration can restore your mana, vitality, and focus, but it can't lift your spirit. That's why before letting you go I'll give you one final lesson."
Her words made everyone groan in despair. Even Lith couldn't wait to take a bath and do something else. Water and earth had proven tougher than air while light and darkness due to their ethereal nature were still beyond his reach.
"I'm sorry, it came out wrong. Not a lesson, more like a demonstration. So far, all I've explained to you is as difficult as it seems pointless. That's why I'm going to show you where these lessons will lead you if you endure them to the very end.
"Lith, use Invigoration and step forward, please." Faluel beckoned at him.
"Why me?" He said while rolling his eyes.
"You're the sturdier among them and the only one who can last long enough to prove my point. Feel free to use all kinds of magic and your equipment, I'll use only the Spirit Magic that I just taught you and my physical abilities." Faluel said.
"Sorry, but I'm eager to put myself to the test against someone of your caliber." Lith conjured the yellow blade again. It was still fuzzy, but more distinct than before. "I've yet to go all-out with my new body and you are the best opponent I could ask for."
"How naïve." Faluel giggled in such a lovely way that Nalrond's heart pounded. "You and I are really similar in many ways, but you forget that experience beats everything, talent included."
A yellow longsword appeared in her hand. It was shaped with such mastery that it had a hilt and a guard instead that just a blade like Lith's. Phloria could almost differentiate its edge from the fuller and even see runes over its surface.
"Do your worst and remember, I'm only restricting my physical strength and magic. Here I come." Faluel darted forward, her usual kind expression replaced by the stone mask of a warrior.
'Her speed is nothing I can't follow with fusion magic. I wonder what did she meant with-' Lith had his answer when Faluel anticipated his attempt to dodge her blade and changed the course of her lunge with a flick of the wrist.
Lith managed to block and felt relieved when he realized that Faluel had adjusted her abilities to perfectly match his own. The relief, however, disappeared when her sword cut through his as if it was just a wooden stick.
To make matters worse, such a balanced fight was only possible if she had somehow already grasped his limits while he had yet to learn them. The sudden awareness of the skill gap between them almost made Lith freeze.
Almost.
He stepped back and reformed the blade, focusing on its hardness.
"Get serious." Faluel's eyes sparked with yellow light, turning Lith's weapon back into just air.
Chapter 1066 The Source of all Spells Part 2
'Fuck me sideways! She never said she wouldn't use Domination.' Lith thought while taking War out of his pocket dimension and using it to block the following attack just in the nick of time.
"Good choice." Faluel swung her blade again, aiming at his head.
Lith had given up on dodging. Faluel's footwork was beyond him and the moment his blade got away from his body he would be finished. He could only focus on defense and wait for an opening.
The blades clashed so hard that Lith couldn't believe Faluel's weapon was made of just air. Electrical arcs sparked on contact that would have sent Lith into a seizure if not for War neutralizing them with its World Mirror ability.
Lith released all the spells from his magic holding rings, but it took only a flash of Faluel's eyes to neutralize them all.
"Excellent move. Making me waste my mana will slow me down, but if you keep defending there is no victory. You must also attack." Faluel lunged while Lith was still shocked from seeing so many spells countered at the same time.
He flew back, but Faluel's sword turned into a trident that simply extended faster than he moved. Lith tried to dodge, but the weapon followed him as if it was a living creature.
'That was a bad move. Sending her weapon so far from her body will slow her reaction time.' Lith thought, pushing the trident aside while also using his own Domination and War's World Mirror ability to dispel the air element.
Unfortunately, all Faluel had to do, was to replace the lost element with water. The Spirit Magic core of the spell was untouched, allowing her to switch to an ice spear in a split-second.
Before Lith could realize the implications of that move, Faluel was already in front of him again. Each strike of her spear released a cold pulse equivalent to a tier two spell that made him painful to breathe while the cold stiffened his muscles, slowing down Lith's reaction time.
"As long as you have enough mana, first magic can easily replace low tier spells so don't focus only on the blade. On top of that, by mixing Spirit Magic with the elements a Forgemaster can imitate the effects of all their creations." She said.
Faluel then split her spear into two smaller fragments and kicked Lith in the guts while he tried to predict what kind of weapons she would conjure next.
Lith didn't get fooled by her trick and intercepted Faluel's foot with his knee, but between the strength of her kick and him being in mid-air due to the flight spell, the impact sent him crashing against one of the walls.
Meanwhile, the two fragments had formed a bow and an arrow while water had been replaced by earth. The hardest element had been turned into a weapon that could exploit the strength of the Hydra in full.
"Oh, crap." That was all Lith managed to say when a small meteor crashed against War, making him create a small crater in the wall.
Lith spat out a mouthful of blood, feeling his hands numb from the impact. Faluel didn't give him a single second of rest, making it impossible for him to cast spells. Without Solus to help him, even with Faluel restricting her abilities, the match was already over.
"Get over here!" The mass of Spirit Magic had returned between her hands the moment after the impact, leaving the earth projectile behind and replacing it with fire and lightning.
Two whips cracked at him, the fiery one wrapped around War while the lightning whip caught his hip and injected electricity inside his body. Faluel was about to drag him back to close-quarter combat, but she stopped when she saw his raised hands.
"I yield." Lith used his own blood to sheathe War and put it away inside his pocket dimension.
"How did you do that? Was that really just first magic?" Phloria had no idea what she had just witnessed, but she had never seen the elements seamlessly flow into each other like that.
"Indeed." Faluel nodded. "My goal was to show you that splitting magic into branches, or specialization as you call them, is an excellent tool to focus on one aspect at a time, but it makes mages forget about the bigger picture."
"Isn't this what you call Battle Magic?" Faluel's whips turned into blades, hammers, and then spears.
"Isn't this what you call Knight Magic?" The weapons turned into solid tower shields, infused with the power of the elements.
"Isn't this what you call Warden Magic?" The shields shattered, instantly forming a small array big enough to affect the Hydra and her students.
"My point is that most of your hardships come from splitting your knowledge into small boxes and treating them as if they are different things. First magic is the source of all spells, no matter how you call them. There are no specializations, just magic."
Seeing the boundaries that they all had taken for granted during all those years shatter in front of their eyes, gave everyone enlightenment. In any other circumstances, Faluel's words would sound like gibberish, but now they had the means and knowledge necessary to understand them.
Even Lith cursed at his own foolishness for falling once again in the comfortable trap that habit was. He had seen Faluel cast the array so fast thanks to Spirit Magic and that alone opened countless possibilities.
"I could give you all the answers you look for, but then you'd become incapable of tapping into your true potential. No matter the destination, it's the journey that teaches you how to overcome any obstacle you might meet in the future.
"Obtaining things without effort is akin to wear blinkers. It limits your perspective and makes you incapable of thinking with your own head. It's the teaching method Tyris always used with the Kingdom. The method my father used with me and now I'm using it with you." Faluel helped Lith to stand up and healed his injuries.
Lith was still in a daze, seeing all the things he had learned so far in a new light, yet his first instinct was to embrace Faluel.
"Thank you for treating me like family." He said, amazed by how someone so powerful could also be that wise and soothing.
Soon the others joined the embrace, thanking the Hydra for the marvels she shared with them.
***
City of Valeron, Capital of the Griffon Kingdom, Underground Castle.
Queen Sylpha Griffon was a woman of average stature, 1.62 meters (5'4") tall with a slender build and despite being over fifty years old, it was hard thinking her a day past thirty.
Her long black hair was held up in a chignon, yet it still revealed her uncanny gift for the mystical arts, with all the six shades of colors marking her as blessed by all the gods of magic.
With her square chin and sharp features, she couldn't be considered beautiful, yet the aura of confidence and power she exuded coupled with her perfect manners made her quite a charming woman.
That day, she wore a light combat suit made out of Adamant yet as soft as silk thanks to the Skinwalker armor technique that the Royal Forgemasters had learned from Orion's bargain with Lith.
Chapter 1067 The Burden of Power Part 1
Unlike most people her age, the Queen was still in her prime. Tyris rejuvenated Sylpha on a regular basis, giving her the vigor and reflexes of a youth in her twenties.
Due to her talent and constant training, the Queen had run out of worthy opponents since a young age. At first, she had resorted to sparring with members of the Queen's Corps, but after she had become a fake Awakened, they couldn't keep up with her anymore.
Soon, even the members of the Queen's Corpse weren't her match, so she had spent the past thirty years training with Tyris herself. The Guardian used that time to also demand a full report on the Kingdom's situation.
"Why didn't you settle the matter with Phloria Ernas yet? I gave her my word that her career would not be affected by those disgusting Odi." Tyris's one-handed ax intercepted the point of Sylpha's spear, locking it between the blade and the handle.
Then, Tyris almost ripped the spear from Sylpha's hands with a sudden twist and pull of her weapon.
"I did all I could." Sylpha grunted in the effort of freeing the spear before it was too late.
"The Court is split and each faction has its own priorities. Too many people can't wait to set foot on Jiera and start a new life. Maybe, if you intervened directly…" The Queen managed to pull back and use the superior range of her weapon to gain the upper hand.
"I would destroy centuries of hard work." Tyris shook her head while sidestepping the quick burst of lunges with minimal effort. "I tasked the Royal family to do it for a reason.
"The Court is always split, but it's the Royals' duty to steer it in the right direction. What you ask me to do would require to reveal myself or kill Deirus from the shadows, but that wouldn't do any good.
"The former would only make people flatter me as it happens with Leegaain and undermine your authority while the latter would turn me into Salaark. I want my Kingdom to thrive because of its people, not because of me."
During each sparring session, the weapon choice would be completely random through a raffle that included even bare-handed fighting.
"The situation is no different from when the civil war loomed over the Country. Don't you think you could make an exception for once?" Sylpha cursed the spear's inability to perform anything but piercing attacks.
She had never defeated Tyris, but she had rarely felt so helpless. Too far and the First Queen would simply grab the spear with her bare hands, too close and Sylpha would end up with nothing but a broomstick in her hands and Tyris's fist in her stomach.
The whole fight was a dance to keep her at a distance while searching for a pattern that the Guardian couldn't predict.
"It's completely different. Back then, you didn't know who was your enemy and who was an ally. Now, instead, you know exactly the who, the why, and the how." Tyris replied.
"Balkor taught the people of the Kingdom more than how to fight the undead, he taught them how to nurture talented youths, no matter their upbringing. Nalear taught the traitors that they can't trust each other, just like Deirus is showing you the loopholes in our laws.
"If I take him out now, what would change? Someone else would take his place, the Undead Courts would find another disgruntled noble, and history would repeat itself. Challenges will always arise and you can't just wish them away." Tyris slashed with the ax, cutting the blade off the spear and ending the fight.
"What did you learn from today?"
"That spears suck as weapons as I suck as Queen." Sylpha panted.
"You couldn't be more wrong." Tyris shook her head while putting the ax back in the rack and the broken spear in the trash can.
"Spears might be simple and direct compared to other weapons, but that only means that is up to their wielders to make up for it with their craftiness. As for you, you're a good Queen.
"Unlike your predecessors, you never got complacent with your power and our training sessions are proof of it. Even though my blood doesn't flow in your veins, I couldn't be any prouder of you, Sylpha.
"For years you fought a losing battle against the old noble households until you won. You changed the academy system and soon even the conceited Mage Association will get its due.
"Times of changes are always times of chaos. Someone like Deirus who tries to fill the power vacuum left by the traitors you uprooted was bound to appear and he has yet to succeed only because you stopped him."
"If I'm that good, then why are we struggling so much?" Sylpha replied. "You could at least help us with those damned undead…"
"And here you go again." Tyris sighed, cutting the Queen short. "Why do people never learn the simplest of lessons? Peace, like all the most important things in life, is not something to be granted, it has to be earned.
"If a wolf wants to eat, it has to hunt. If a deer wants to live, it has to run. The only change that sitting around and hoping for the best can achieve, is to flatten your ass. Once the undead are defeated, after Deirus has been dealt with, something else will happen.
"You're the Queen of an entire Kingdom, which makes dealing with problems on a daily basis your job, not mine."
"Then, Mother, care to explain why are you still wasting your time with fleas?" A melodious voce emerged from the shadows of the underground palace.
It belonged to the most handsome man that Sylpha had ever seen. He seemed to be in his early twenties, about 1.8 meters (5'11") tall. He had thick golden hair and silver eyes that shone respectively like the sun and the moon under the magical lighting of the palace.
"One of your children?" Sylpha had met enough Emperor Beasts to be unfazed by his good looks and focused only on the silver eyes of the stranger.
"Indeed. Sylpha, this is Jorl. Jorl, this is Sylpha." Tyris said while the two exchanged greetings.
"Now that we're done with the niceties, do you mind answering my question, Mother?" Most of Tyris's children considered the Royals like traitors for giving up the Griffon bloodline and resented Tyris for not taking care of her true heirs.
Jorl was among them.
"Because unlike you, they need me for more than coddling their ego. It's no wonder you're still stuck with a bright blue mana core after over one thousand years of life. Your stupid pride and childishness keep you from growing." Tyris replied with a sneer.
"Maybe you're right and maybe not. Yet why did you grant that woman a violet core and refuse to do the same for me?" Jorl looked at Sylpha in envy.
He had managed to self-Awaken at twenty years of age, had reached a perfect body and bright blue core at one hundred years, and been stuck there ever since.
"Because Sylpha took a lifelong oath with me. If you're willing to do the same, I'll help you. The Queen's Corpse needs a Captain who can look after the recruits in my absence." Tyris said.
Chapter 1068 The Burden of Power Part 2
Jorl found Tyris's offer so offensive that he remained silent for over a minute. He had many flaws, but stupidity wasn't among them. Jorl knew how powerful his mother really was and angering her would get him nothing but a beating.
"I'm sorry, Mother, but spending the rest of my life taking care of lesser beings is beneath me." Jorl had come for a quick ticket to power, not for a job.
"Sylpha, do you know what your husband and Valeron have in common?" Tyris ignored her son and looked at the Queen in the eyes.
"Neither of them wanted to be King. Meron took the test only to please his parents and the first thing he asked me was to spare his life. He told me that he didn't feel worthy of the Crown, that the thought of thousands of people dying just because he made the wrong decision gave him nightmares.
"Meron believed that the role of King would be better suited for a stronger, more resolute person than him. That's why I spared his life and made him King. How could strength possibly be a prerequisite when I can grant perfect core and body refinement?
"What I looked for was someone who understood the burden of the Crown, just like Valeron."
"Wait, what? Wasn't Valeron a mighty warrior who unified the Kingdom to bring peace to our lands?" Sylpha was flabbergasted.
"That's just the official version to rally the troops. The truth, however, is quite different. When I first met the future King of the Griffon Kingdom, he was barely a fourteen years old kid.
"Back then, it was the moment when a boy became a man and had to learn how to wield weapons to defend their village. Magical talents were scarce because most mages died before realizing their powers or simply never met a master their whole life.
"Fake magic was also terrible and barely worth the trouble learning it. I choose to Awaken him not because I fell in love at first sight as the legends say, but because Valeron was weak, poor, and had nothing to live for.
"My hope was that with such a troubled past he wouldn't get drunk on power and use it wisely. Otherwise, I would have simply killed him as I had already done countless times in the past.
Like all Awakened, I was responsible for his action for one hundred years and I had no desire to spend that time cleaning up his messes. Valeron of course mistook me for a goddess.
"When he finally understood I was a woman, he proposed to me and I had to reject him a dozen times before he started to actually listen to me. I taught Valeron about magic, about how to fight, and then I just waited.
"He became the god of the battlefield and yet when they offered to him the role of village chief he refused. Valeron hated both war and political power. He didn't fight because he enjoyed it, only to protect his house and the life he cherished.
"Compared to magic, politics are a poisoned well. The more powerful you get, the more corrupt you become. Valeron preferred being a healer than a leader, to bring smiles rather than constantly opposing the greed of his neighbors.
"Yet with each victory he achieved, his village grew in size and power. With each enemy they defeated, slaves and war prisoners would be considered a standard commodity. Valeron felt guilty for it, but as a warrior and a healer, he couldn't change things.
"After his best efforts to abolish slavery only got him several attempts murders and poisoning, Valeron finally accepted the role of Mayor. The nearby cities felt threatened hearing that the fabled general had become a true leader, mostly because their citizens left their corrupt domains to look for a better life under Valeron's banner.
"At that point, war was inevitable. More people meant the need for more farmlands to feed them and no one believed that Valeron's ever-expanding city wouldn't one day become a threat for its neighbors.
"Valeron never attacked first, but each victory brought him more troubles and responsibilities. He cried every night he didn't spend searching for a proper way to organize what was more than a city but less than a Kingdom.
"He was an uncultured man and had no idea how to create a system of laws that couldn't be exploited to ruin his years of hard work, yet he never gave up. He asked other Awakened for help, sought Emperor Beasts for their wisdom, and Fae to teach him how to take care of his lands.
"He never hesitated to admit his faults and recognize his limits. Whenever he knew to not be up to the task, Valeron sought someone better than himself. Of course, he made a lot of mistakes, trusted the wrong people, and soon his country was on the verge of the civil war.
"That's when he proposed to me for the 128th time and I accepted. What I fell in love with wasn't his power or handsome face, but his willingness to sacrifice so much to build a better place for everyone.
"His determination to never surrender, even when he was forced to beg or crawl in horseshit. I helped him to get rid of bad counselors, corrupt officers, and to write laws that made sense.
"The Griffon Kingdom didn't arise from a power-hungry man who believed to know what was best for everyone, but from a farm boy who only wanted his conscience to let him sleep peacefully at night."
Tears streamed from Tyris's eyes while she looked at the statue of Valeron sitting on the throne next to hers.
"When I gave him children, he was such a good father that they wanted to be like him rather than me. They were hybrids who could have become almighty Griffons, yet they choose to become humans to better be able to understand the needs and the hardships of their subjects.
"Tell me, Jorl. When is the last time that you went to sleep hungry? That you felt afraid of your future? Do you think you could do any better of these 'fleas' if you weren't born a Griffon?" Tyris caressed the statue's cheek and its coldness stung at her heart reopening old wounds.
"Is this pathetic anecdote supposed to answer my question?" Jorl asked.
"Sylpha, kick his ungrateful ass out of here." Tyris's eyes blazed with mana that dried up her tears as her voice turned stone cold.
"Please, Mother. She might have a violet core, but she's not a real Awakened. Your puppy is human, and exhausted at that." Jorl said with a chuckle a second before Sylpha's uppercut shut him up.
Jorl snarled and shapeshifted into his Griffon form, infusing himself with the power of all elements. His height at the withers was over 30 meters (98.5 feet) tall and 52.5 meters (172 feet) long, but the underground palace was big enough to accommodate Tyris's real body, let alone her offspring.
Sylpha just grabbed the enormous beak that appeared in front of her with both her arms and struck at it with her knees in a rapid sequence. Her left knee hit with such strength that only her hold prevented Jorl's head to snap back.
Her right knee struck a split-second later, cracking the beak and making Jorl wail in pain.
Chapter 1069 Life Maelstrom Part 1
Dragons and Phoenixes had to conjure the surrounding world energy and add their life force to it to produce Origin Flames. Griffons, instead, would absorb the world energy over time and store it inside their bodies to generate silver bolts of lightning called Life Maelstrom.
Both processes didn't involve mana, only life force and world energy, but the principle behind them was different. Life Maelstrom could use the stored power to temporarily boost their magical prowess or unleash it against their enemies to destroy them.
The silver lightning was made of pure energy that could be used to supercharge both organic and inorganic matter since everything on Mogar had mana. A small amount could enhance a living being's spells or hasten the growth of mana crystals.
A huge amount, instead, would short circuit the mana flow of anything injected with Life Maelstrom, causing them to self-harm due to their energy going haywire. On the one hand, it had no purifying effect, but on the other hand, Life Maelstrom could be used to either recharge or destroy artifacts and golems alike.
Jorl consumed part of the Life Maelstrom stored inside his body to unleash a storm of silver lightning bolts, each one of them could flatten a mountain. Sylpha had recognized the familiar sparks and moved to the safest place of the battlefield: under her opponent.
She jumped upwards, striking at the Griffon's ribcage with the strength of a missile and cracking it in several places. The lack of air dispelled the storm and made Jorl spat out blood.
'Dammit, all those columns make it hard for me to move whereas that flea can move nimbly. I need but one spell or hit to put her down.' Jorl was right, but Sylpha knew her own limits as well.
Letting an Awakened breathe was a rookie mistake that she carefully avoided. Sylpha used a flight spell to move faster than a bullet, hitting the joints of the Griffon's four legs.
Jorl couldn't feel pain due to darkness fusion, but each strike was strong enough to both damage his bones and force the limbs to bend, throwing the Griffon off balance. Sylpha bounced randomly from one leg to another like a pinball, driving Jorl mad with fury.
A single roar of a Griffon infused with Life Maelstrom could raze the top of a mountain or dry up a lake. The shockwave spread from their bodies and moved in every direction, making it impossible to avoid.
The roar wasn't even a spell, so it didn't require any cast time. The impossible attack caught Sylpha by surprise and sent her slamming against a wall with such strength that, in any other place but a Guardian's home, it would have created a crater.
Jorl took a deep breath, using it to heal himself with Invigoration, and spent another chunk of Life Maelstrom to conjured more silver lightning bolts.
The thunderstorm hit Sylpha while she was still casting her spell, leaving her unscathed. Green energy set her eyes ablaze and revealed the emerald streak among her hair that the Queen always kept hidden.
She replaced the spark of Jorl's life force with her own and the circular motion of her arms trapped every single bolt inside her body. She used part of Life Maelstrom to boost herself, sending the rest back at the Griffon.
"A human using Domination?" Jorl's shock intensified when Sylpha showered him with silver bolts that ravaged his body.
Yet only when the Queen completed her gravity field did the shock turn into terror. The single breath of Invigoration had allowed Jorl only to mend some of his injuries. His cracked joints couldn't bear his weight now that Sylpha had increased it by a hundred folds.
The Griffon's four legs broke, his bones turned into spears that pierced the flesh and sprayed blood everywhere, turning the colossal beast into a slithering worm.
"The only reason you're still alive is that Lady Tyris ordered so, cat boy." The sword of Saefel pointed at Jorl's helpless throat made any nasty retort he could think of die in his throat. "Begone!"
Sylpha opened a Gate so big that the Griffon's massive body had no trouble going through it after gravity magic made him weightless and the Queen punched him on the beak, shattering it.
Jorl had become a living missile that crash-landed in a deserted plain several hundreds of kilometers from the castle. He was about to faint due to blood loss when Tyris appeared beside his broken body, using her breathing technique, Mother Earth, to mend his wounds.
"Thanks, Mother. I'm sorry to have angered you…"
"I'm not angry, I'm just disappointed." Tyris cut him short while forcing him to shapeshift into human form against his will. "I'm fed up with your tantrums. If power is the only thing you respect, in spite even of my feeling, we'll do this your way."
Jorl started to panic. Tyris held him by the neck with one hand and no matter how much he tried, no magic nor ability seemed to work.
"I hereby exile you from my home. The entirety of the Griffon Kingdom is forbidden ground to you. Come back, and I'll treat you as an enemy. Sylpha is just a human that I trained for measly thirty years, whereas I have millennia of war and training against fellow Guardians." Her voice was stone cold, with no trace of her usual warmth.
"I healed you solely because I wanted to make sure you got the message. Now clench your teeth and trouble your mother no more." Unlike Sylpha's, Tyris's fist reverberated throughout Jorl's body, breaking all of his bones before he could break the speed of sound.
When he landed in the Blood Desert, the impact turned the sand into glass, leaving Jorl but one breath before death claimed him.
***
Village of Lutia, Trawn woods, Lith's tower.
After Faluel's lesson ended, Lith's group had barely the strength to take a quick shower and grab a bite before they lost consciousness. They didn't want to spend the night in the tower again, especially Phloria, they simply had no choice.
"Gods, two full days away from home. Selia will kill me." Nalrond fell asleep the second after remembering that he could've asked to be Invigorated again.
The Rezar appreciated Faluel's teachings, yet he missed the Protector's children dearly. In a foreign country where he was the only one of his kind, they managed to make him feel at home.
"No Kamila tonight?" Solus asked while looking at the stars together with Lith.
"Big case. Again. After the events in Feymar's mines, Jirni is on the prowl. Even more than usual, I mean. She had no time to come back even for dinner and as her assistant, Kamila can't leave either." Lith said.
"I'm a bit sad, but at the same time, I'm happy we got to spend some time alone. Well, almost alone." The sound of snoring coming from the open windows broke the feeling of intimacy reminding them of the presence of their guests.
A wave of Solus's hand closed the windows and made them soundproof, making it impossible to overhear them.
"Phloria is still angry with you about me, you know?" Solus said.
"I knew all along it would happen. Why do you think it took me so long to introduce the two of you?" Lith thought about how Kamila would react in Phloria's shoes and sighed.
Chapter 1070 Life Maelstrom Part 2
"What about you?" He said.
"What do you mean?" Solus loved to speak instead of using their mind link. It made her feel normal and allowed her to hear the sound of their voices.
"Are you angry with me as well? First, I kept you a secret from the entirety of Mogar and now I leave you alone a lot. On top of that, I used you as an excuse to justify my actions after Phloria broke up with me." Lith said.
"A bit, but not for the reasons you think." Solus replied.
"I'm happy you finally made me part of the group and I understand why it took you so long. Now I realize how naïve I was in the past and how meeting a paranoid, cynical man was the best thing that could happen to me.
"A normal child would have never been able to keep the secret, dooming the both of us to become victims of unspeakable experiments. Another mage, instead, would have either enslaved me or forced me to become like Dawn.
"Even when you still didn't trust me, you always treated me with respect because you know the pain of being stranded amid a hostile world. Thanks to our bond, I experienced Mogar, growing and healing alongside you." Solus held his hand while never averting her gaze from the waning moon above them.
"I must admit that, at first, I was angry and jealous of you spending so much time alone with Kamila. Over time, however, it helped me put things in the right perspective. Like Tista told me for years, I needed to get a life of my own.
"For a long time, I couldn't even imagine my life without you." Solus suddenly blushed, then turned pale and rushed to say:
"Don't get me wrong, I still can't. What I mean is that before I considered myself more like another of your limbs rather than a person. The time we spent apart helped me to grow, both as a woman and as a tower." She brought his hand to her face as if she was expecting to be caressed.
"Use Invigoration on me and avoid checking me out with the excuse of a diagnosis." She chuckled.
Lith had used his breathing technique on Solus many times in the past, yet none of it prepared him for what he saw. Inside her humanoid form, it was possible to distinguish the outline of organs, veins, and bones.
Yet, more importantly, he could see a second core inside her body. It was different from everything he had encountered in all his life. The second core resembled a golem's power core, but it was complex beyond what Lith's mind could conceive.
It was both small and hazy, making it hard to properly distinguish its features or the complex network of runes that surrounded it like several asteroid belts, but Lith could sense the power core getting stronger by the second.
"You never had a second core. When did it manifest'" Lith asked.
"A bit after I obtained my energy body. Please, now focus on my human core." Solus replied.
At first, Lith didn't understand her request. Solus's deep cyan core looked no different from all those he had examined in the past, at least until he used Invigoration to look at it real close.
Part of the cyan sphere was blurry as if a small chunk of it had turned from solid into a highly compressed gas. It took Lith a while to realize that Solus missed part of her core which caused her mana to leak and formed the blurry area.
Once Lith understood the situation, he focused even more, checking Solus's two cores down to the slightest detail. The power core was deeply connected to the cyan core, keeping it stable and allowing it to slow down the mana leak.
Lith's own core was linked with Solus's, providing it with more energy than it lost over time and slowly nurturing the damaged core.
The shock left Lith with his mouth agape. He stared at Solus with eyes wide open for a few minutes, incapable of speaking a word.
"By my maker, you should see your face." She chuckled. "If anyone saw you now, they would think that I just told you that I'm pregnant."
For a long time, Solus had an energy slate with only eyes and a mouth for a face, but now that they were so close, Lith could almost see her nose and cheekbones.
"Didn't you wonder why it took me so long to gain my wisp form and reach the green core whereas I quickly refined a cyan core after achieving my energy body? As I told you before, being apart did me good.
"Remaining at your finger nurtures my human core, of which I was in desperate need after almost dying of starvation. Yet it's by tapping into a mana geyser that I can nurture my tower core back to its full strength.
"A living core, no matter how powerful, cannot empower something so big and complex as a mage tower, only a mana geyser can. After we started to spend more time on our own, my tower core managed to reassemble itself thanks to the constant exposure to the mana geyser.
"The more my tower core grows in power, the more stable my human core becomes and the more efficiently I can process the energy I receive from you. Tista and I have studied the phenomenon for a while and together we reached the same conclusions.
"The good news is that now I more or less know why Master Menadion did this to me and the bad news is that I'm screwed. Maybe I failed my breakthrough, or maybe someone killed me.
"Whatever happened, my core cracked, bringing me beyond what even today's healing magic can repair. To give me more time, Master Menadion somehow fused me with her tower, using its power core and the massive amounts of energy it draws from the geysers to keep me stable.
"Unluckily, either the strain killed her or whoever did this to me came back to finish the job and killed Menadion as well. Last, but not least, whenever we are together in the tower, like now, my recovery speed skyrockets.
"It's still damn slow and I have no idea when flesh will replace energy, but you've seen the progress I made. I can be human again. In the future, maybe I'll be able to keep my body without the tower, to have a normal life."
Solus gave Lith a radiant smile and took his hands into hers.
"Why do you say you're screwed, then?" Lith dragged Solus closer, embracing her with the foolish hope that physical contact would help her to recover faster.
He discovered that not only her body's warmth was now no different from a regular person, but she also smelled good whereas in the past she had no smell.
"Because a cracked core cannot be healed." Her smile disappeared, but Lith couldn't notice it with her face buried in his shoulder. "Saving Protector almost killed you and you wouldn't have even succeeded without Scarlett's help.
"Even once both my cores go back to their full strength, I will always be dependent on our bond to survive. I will be a burden for you and force you to take care of me no matter what kind of life you're going to build for yourself."
Chapter 1071 Foolishness and Wisdom Part 1
"On top of that, even if we find a way to fix my core, I cannot part from the tower. I might become my own master after your death, but that would mean living an eternity of loneliness.
"Immortality would be my curse rather than my blessing. After losing everyone I love, it would be only a matter of time before grief and isolation drive me insane as it happens to Liches." Solus had never been so scared of her future.
Finding the answers she had long searched had brought her no joy, only despair.
"Stop spewing nonsense, Solus!" Lith said. "You've never been a burden for me. You are my most precious friend and confidant. Our bond made me better and I have yet to even start repaying you for all you did.
"I'll take care of you not because I have to, but because I want to. No matter what kind of mess my life will turn into, I want you in it. As for immortality, you and I are in the same boat.
"I can't afford to die without taking another trip to never-never land so don't kill me off like that. Don't worry about the future. We'll deal with it when the time comes just like we did with everything else. Together." Lith kissed her head, lulling Solus between his arms.
"Since we still have some time before going to bed, what do you say I prepare you my worlds-renowned hot chocolate with whipped cream and pancakes drowned in syrup?" Lith asked with a soothing voice.
"Are you trying to give me diabetes?" Solus nodded and chuckled at the same time.
"The good thing about having an energy body is that you can't get fat. You should enjoy it while you have the chance. Once you get your real body, you'll be like anyone else. A moment on the lips, a lifetime on the hips." Lith playfully pinched at her belly.
"How dare you make fun of a lady!" Solus laughed, trying to return the favor but finding nothing to pinch at.
"I'll take your advice and a double chocolate. Then, maybe, I'll forgive you."
While Lith prepared the food, Solus checked her body and realized that she had no idea how to prepare a single meal. Mages were often so focused on their research to pay no mind to things like cooking or sewing.
The idea that to keep enjoying all of her favorite foods as she had always done without gaining ten kilos per month she would need to both exercise a lot and learn how to prepare them, made immortality look like a minor issue to Solus.
***
Weghan region, near the lair of Ajatar the Drake, in the central part of the Griffon Kingdom.
Ajatar was sound asleep even though the sun had just set. His latest experiment had not only been a massive failure, but it had also lasted over three days. The Drake was annoyed and in dire need of rest.
Invigoration couldn't mend his wounded pride nor his bad mood. The only prescription was taking a bit of time off to learn from his mistakes.
That's why when someone triggered all of his alarm arrays and knocked on his door, Ajatar was royally pissed off even before learning the identity of the unwanted guest or why they were bothering him.
"This better be urgent, pal, because otherwise I'm going to paint you black and blue all over." The Drake resembled an oversized lizard covered in sapphire-blue scales with a huge white horn coming out of his snout.
Despite his huge size, Ajatar moved as lithe as a cat, reaching the door in a split second.
"What the actual fuck?" He said noticing a raggedy man asleep on his doorbell. "How the heck does a human know how to find my buzzer and how did he trigger yet dodge my traps?"
Ajatar activated his mystical senses and arrays to make sure it wasn't some kind of elaborate ruse for an ambush. A lot of people would kill Drakes for their sturdy scales that could be used to craft extraordinary protections.
In a similar fashion, the Drake's home was surrounded by human skins to remind all wannabe hunters that skinning was a game two could play. Only after all the security sweeps came back negative did he take a good sniff at the stranger.
The ragged man smelled of dirt, loads of alcohol, and something that reminded the Drake of his own dissolute youth. Under all that stench, the smell of a fellow Emperor Beast was faintly detectable.
"If you want to sleep, go somewhere else. What do you want from me?" The Drake asked.
"Oh, sorry." Morok managed to yawn, burp, and fart at the same time, releasing a noxious gas that wiped away any trace of sleep left in Ajatar's body.
"I need a ride back to the Ernas Arch Duchy to collect my prize since those bastards dropped me like a bad habit." He said before literally falling asleep on the ground with a thud.
"What kind of idiot has just stumbled in my house?" Ajatar asked the heavens while rolling his eyes.
"Be more specific, dammit! Do you have any idea how big an Arch Duchy is? There are several Awakened Lords living there. Either you tell me where you want to go or I swear to the gods that I'll Warp you to a random location."
"Take me to the Ernas household, thanks." Morok stopped snoring long enough to answer and then promptly resumed.
Tired of playing along with all that nonsense, Ajatar used Invigoration on Morok, cleansing his body from substances and fatigue alike.
"It doesn't work like that, pal. Start from the beginning. Who are you and what do you want?" The Drake asked.
"You fiend!" Morok looked at the Drake with outrage, making him feel guilty even though he had no idea why. "That was some first-rate booze and chemical joy. Do you have any idea how much it cost me? I demand compensation!"
"Do you want me to pay for messing with your intoxication?" Ajatar was flabbergasted but no longer felt guilty.
"You break it, you pay for it. Why is the Warp Array still inactive?" Morok extended his hand for the money while looking at the messy lab in contempt. "Dude, this place is a stinky mess. Do you have no shame?"
The failure and consequent explosion had indeed left the lab in a pitiful state. Pieces of broken equipment lay everywhere and the stench of burned ingredients gave the lair a pungent smell.
Yet hearing those words coming from someone that made his lab look and smell like a rosebud in comparison, almost gave Ajatar a stroke.
"First, I'm not going to give you a single copper piece. Second, if you don't like my house, go to Feymar and use the humans' Gate." The Drake said.
"Have some respect, dude! I'm a fellow Emperor Beast and a war hero at that. I faced Baba Yaga, barely survived the legendary battle of the three armies, and then crawled my way here. Is it too much to ask for a little help?" Morok said.
"Even if I wanted to believe you met a living legend like Baba Yaga and lived to tell the tale, I call bullshit on the rest. The last war happened before I was even born and I've never heard about such battle."
Chapter 1072 Foolishness and Wisdom Part 2
"No duh, genius, it happened three days ago, right outside the Belin caves. The humans and the undead battled against Scourge and got their asses handed to them. Remind me to not hit on his sister on the rebound in case things go badly with Quylla.
"The girl is hot, but it's not worth the trouble of messing with a guy like that." Morok said.
"Wait, I know neither of those girls, but Scourge? I sent him to those caves and they are barely an hour of flight from here if you're slow. How the heck did it take you so long to get here?
"I can't believe you're able to shapeshift and yet you've never learned how to fly!" Ajatar felt a headache coming on.
"Of course I know how to fly! It's just that on my way here I stopped in a few cities to vent and have some fun." Morok replied.
"Three days on a bender is not having fun. You've got problems." Ajatar said.
"You'd be depressed as well if after months of work, after risking your life to save your damsel in distress, all the thank-you you received was the flip of the bird. Scratch that. What could you possibly know about women?" Morok sighed with such honesty that the Drake had a hard time not killing him on the spot.
"I can send you to the Ernas Arch Duchy, but it's the middle of the night there." Ajatar said. "I doubt anyone will receive you so late, especially while in such a state."
"You're right, man. I need to clean up and get some sleep. Do you mind if I crash here for the night?" A wave of Morok's hand cleaned his face, hair, and hands.
"Actually, I do." Ajatar's left eye twitched at the idea of having to put up with his "guest" for one second longer. The Drake couldn't wait to get rid of him. "There's a cozy little village…"
"Okay, thanks." Morok cut him short and fell asleep on a pile of enchanted clothes that the Drake had realized as prototypes of a new kind of armor.
Ajatar's eyes became two fiery slits brimming with mana as he took a deep breath that filled his mouth with black flames. It was the first time in centuries that someone dared to barge in his house and disrespect him like that.
'Either he's really heartbroken or there's something wrong with his head. I'll cut him some slack and wait until tomorrow morning before kicking him out. Who knows, maybe Invigoration actually failed and he's still drunk.
'Gods, I never thought the day would come that I would wish Invigoration failed me.' Ajatar thought.
The following morning, an annoying voice woke up the Drake and reminded him that no good deed goes unpunished, no matter the world you live in.
"What's for breakfast? I'm starving here and I'm on a clock. Dude, only lovers and sick people spend all day in bed. Do you have a fever or just a fetish for gold piles? Is your shiny pillow supposed to be your girlfriend or what?" Morok asked.
Like most lesser Dragons, Ajatar slept on a small mound comprised of his most prized possessions.
"Gods, it wasn't a nightmare." The Drake whined while getting up.
The two had breakfast together and during that time, Ajatar casually asked Morok about the events in the caves. No matter how obnoxious he was, the Tyrant had yet to tell a single lie.
If there really was a crystal mine nearby and Baba Yaga resided there, it was worth the trip. Digging out crystals would take too long, but her knowledge could save Ajatar months of research.
Despite her obsession with resurrection, Baba Yaga was considered an honorable character second in wisdom only to Leegaain. Getting her help would more than make up for all the troubles Morok had caused the Drake.
The Tyrant didn't leave out any detail. Especially those meaningless like how hot Baba Yaga was in her Mother form, how the Crone resembled a prune, and how smelly Nandi was.
"The guy needed a bath even more than you do and I don't say it lightly." Morok conjured a small breeze to clear the air. "You should do something about that nervous tic."
Ajatar's left eye kept twitching in anger, but his tone was polite.
"Did you really refuse her offer? In exchange for your help, you could have asked Baba Yaga the secret of her white core or at least to Awaken you."
"To what end?" Morok asked.
"My old man is over 600 years old and believe me, he has more bad memories than good. Nandi seemed more ancient than my grandfather and even more bitter. Baba Yaga was nice, but I think she's just like her creations, broken.
"She must have lost something or someone important to her, so she desperately tries to give others happiness just to fill the void her past trauma created. I'm not interested in a long life unless I've got something to live for.
"Be honest with me, did becoming an Awakened make you happy?"
Ajatar was taken aback by Morok's unexpected burst of wisdom. He pondered the question deeply before answering.
'I don't have a companion in years, most of my friends are dead, my kids hate me because I refused to Awaken them, and I spend most of my days accumulating power and knowledge that I probably will never use.' The Drake had just woken up and his mood was already ruined.
"Of course I am." Ajatar lied through his teeth before sucker-Warping the Tyrant to his destination
It took Morok seconds to reach the gates of the Ernas Household, where the house staff had been carefully instructed to not invite him in nor to ash him to wait for Jirni's return.
The guards gave him an envelope containing a smaller envelope, a map to Faluel's lair, and the following note.
"Dear Baron Eari,
"Thanks for your loyal service and for protecting my daughters. My word is my bond so I can assure you that I'll honor my part of our deal. Give the sealed envelope to my daughter Quylla who is currently residing at the marked location and I'll do the rest.
"PS: break the seal at your own risk. If you do it, I'll consider myself free from my obligation."
Jirni had signed the note using all of her titles and names to stress how she considered their contract to be over and done. After checking the envelope against the light in the hope of reading its content, Morok gave up and reached Faluel's lair.
"Who are you and what do you want?" The Hydra didn't like unexpected visitors. Especially those who robbed her of the little free time she had before starting her lessons.
"My name is Morok Eari and I've got a letter for Quylla Ernas. Are you Faluel, the Lord of this Region and the woman who's mentoring her?" He had never told Ajatar his name nor asked that of his host, yet this time Morok introduced himself properly.
Not because he actually cared but because, according to all his drinking buddies, making a good first impression on Quylla's friends would improve his chances after their rough goodbye in Kulah.
"I've never heard about you and Quylla is not here. Leave me the letter and I'll make sure she receives it." Faluel could smell both Eari being an Emperor Beast and some odd enchantment on the letter.
Chapter 1073 Foolishness and Wisdom 3
Any of those after the Ernas's heads could hire a mercenary Beast like Gadorf to do the dirty work for them. Faluel wouldn't let a stranger in her home nor the letter reach Quylla before examining it thoroughly.
"No way I'll entrust my hope and dreams to someone I just met. If you mess up, I'll be done for. Do you mind if I wait for her here?" Morok said.
"Yes, I do." Faluel snarled at Morok for taking the words out of her mind and saying them out loud. "Go away. When Quylla arrives, I'll tell her about you and then she can decide whether wants to call you or not."
"Yeah, right. If I had her contact rune, why the heck would I go through this hassle just for a goddamn letter? I'll speak slowly so you can understand. I only asked your permission out of courtesy. I'm not going to move from here." Morok sat on a rock and looked up at the brightening sky.
"I beg your pardon?" The air around Faluel started to crackle and her hair to dance in the air. Challenging the authority of a Lord was no laughing matter, especially from those who weren't even part of the Council.
"Man, first the stinky Drake and now you. You Lords sure are pretty dumb, but at least you smell good and have a tight little ass. Do you mind turning around so at least I can look at something nice to pass the time?" He asked.
"That does it!" Faluel roared and shapeshifted into her real form.
Her short, stumpy body was as wide as a building and as sturdy as a mountain. It allowed her to move nimbly on the ground despite her size. On top of that, by shifting the weight on her four legs, she could keep the balance even when her seven snake heads and their respective long necks moved in completely different directions.
Each one of her seven heads had its scales streaked of a different color and their eyes shone with different elemental mana. Faluel exposed her sets of fangs while towering at a height of 20 meters (66 feet)
"I take that back. I don't mind big butts but yours is just too much." He mocked her while unsheathing his blades. "It takes more than an overgrown snake to scare me off, sis-"
Faluel's first head swooped down while empowered by earth fusion. Morok tried to dodge it, but she moved too fast. He took the hit and almost plunged into the ground, like a nail hit by a hammer.
"That was my first and last warning. Get out of my turf, now!"
"No way, this isn't even my final form!" Morok shapeshifted and his skin became snow-white, with only one big red eye in the middle of his forehead, another eye the size of a football appeared on his chest, and two more on his shoulders.
His appearance was still humanoid, but he was now over two meters (6'7") tall.
His nose had disappeared, leaving only two slits on his face and his mouth was full of several rows of shark-like teeth. Faluel immediately recognized the Emperor Beast known as Tyrannical Eye, or just as Tyrant.
They were the magical beast equivalent of Balors, but unlike them, Tyrants weren't part of the Fallen races and their mastery over the elements wasn't as developed. Like Hydras, they were naturally gifted for the art of Domination, but even the strongest Tyrant could only develop up to six eyes.
Domination over the seventh element, mana, was impossible to them.
Morok exploited the split-second Faluel froze in surprise to open his four eyes and pour four beams of focused elemental energy onto his own weapons. The blades absorbed and amplified the beams turning them into pillars of great destructive powers, each one aimed at a different head.
"I recognize that weapon. I crafted the Baby Fangs for Glemos's son. Is that really you?" Faluel effortlessly dispelled the pillars and nailed Morok to the ground with one of her forelegs.
"Do you know my old man?" With no mana left and his body more battered than after his trip to Kulah, Morok thought that having a civil conversation wasn't such a bad idea.
"Yes. Hydras and Tyrants are usually on good terms due to our similar abilities. Why are you still using that junk? I gave it to your father as a present the day you were born. Baby Fangs are just a learning toy to help a young Tyrant to choose their weapon and master the power of their eyes." Faleul said.
"Because my father is an asshole! He told me it was my coming-of-age gift and that he had paid for it dearly." Morok cursed Glemos's name in many creative ways.
"You already have four out of six eyes open. How old are you exactly?" Morok had one eye more than Lith opened, which piqued Faluel's curiosity.
Sooner or later, she would have to teach him Domination, and having a training partner of similar talent would speed up things greatly.
"I'm 24. Why? On top of being a short-fused grandma, are you also a cradle snatcher?" Morok regretted those words the moment they came out of his mouth. "I'm sorry, I meant those words but not to say them out loud!"
Adding insult to injury didn't make things better. Faluel hit him again with one of her heads and knocked Morok out. After shapeshifting back into her human form, the Hydra checked Morok's equipment and found it mediocre.
"Glemos, your son is as much of a jerk as you are. Our children are supposed to be better than us." Faluel then took Jirni's letter and examined it with Invigoration.
The pseudo core on the envelope needed a specific imprint, otherwise the slightest damage would trigger the enchantment and destroy the letter inside.
The Hydra locked the unconscious prick in one of her lair's cells and waited for her students. When they arrived, aside from Lith, Solus, and Tista, everyone seemed out of a sleepless night.
They had deep bags under their eyes, yawned non-stop, and judging from their slouched backs, they were far from excited at the idea of receiving a new lesson.
"Master Faluel, not to sound ungrateful, but could you please give us a bit of free time?" Quylla said. "We arrive here at sunrise and leave past nightfall after getting so tired that we can barely keep our eyes open.
"I do love magic, but I want to be able to visit my parents and maybe take a little care of my personal life. We work so hard not even at the academy. On top of that, we always had the weekends free."
Friya felt the same way, but since her situation was precarious at best, she didn't even dare to nod.
'Who would ever want a Harbinger who asks for vacations before even starting her job?' She thought.
"This is just your third day here, Quylla, and it was you who insisted on taking part of my lessons. The point of this is to strengthen your bodies and allow you to wield powerful magic without collapsing." Faluel checked everyone's condition with Invigoration.
"Phloria, your body is stable enough to use Invigoration, but I strongly advise against it. The same applies to all of you. Invigoration is a great tool, but if abused it can hinder your growth."
Chapter 1074 Foolishness and Wisdom 4
"By rejuvenating your bodies, it both keeps impurities from forming over time and your bodies from strengthening properly in-between breakthroughs. Tista, to not need help to survive your next core refinement, you need impurities whereas Phloria has too many of them.
"She needs to remove the excess and reinforce her body which is still a long shot from that of a proper blue-cored Awakened. Quylla, Friya, Nalrond, if you remain so weak, your magic will also be limited."
Her words made everyone groan, making them feel like Lith had an unfair advantage over them, just like at the academy.
"That said, you're also right. A rigorous training requires rest, otherwise you'll never be able to absorb the knowledge I'm teaching you and it would just roll off your back. I plan on giving you free time, but only once you've learned the basics.
"Speaking of free time, this is for you." Faluel handed Quylla the letter.
The moment she recognized her mother's handwriting, a cold shiver ran down her spine. Jirni used letters solely to deliver orders. Whenever there was room for negotiation, she would always meet her children in person
Quylla imprinted the enchanted wax seal and it crumbled along with the envelopes' protective spell. The letter was surprisingly long and its tone mild.
"Dear Quylla,
During the past years, you've rejected all the suitors I introduced to you regardless of their talent, looks, or personality. At this point, I have no idea what you're looking for in a companion and I came to believe that you ignore it as well.
"I'm growing afraid that if you keep up like this, you'll let life pass by you and miss a lot of experiences. I'm not as worried about your sisters because they both have the strength of character to pursue what they want when they find it.
"No matter how wonderful magic is, it's a job like any other and once you grow older and live on your own, it will not give you a birthday present, it will not take care of you when you are sick, nor will it bring you a smile when you're sad. That's what people are for.
"Baron Eari is the perfect opportunity to face your trauma head-on and understand at least everything you don't want in a companion. I've spent very little time with him and I can assure you he's a living compendium of flaws.
"After a single date with him, I'm sure you'll be able to see the good in any other man. Remember that I gave him my word you would go out with him and to wait at least one hour before dumping him.
"With love, Mom."
"Is he still here?" After reading the letter, Quylla had to admit that most of Jirni's observations were on point.
Sure, it was likely to be just a ruse to manipulate her feelings, but it didn't make Jirni's words any less true. Quylla didn't have Friya's endless line of suitors, nor Phloria's guts to make the first move when she met someone interesting.
"Yeah. He is a piece of work, so I had him detained to keep me from either ripping my ears or his tongue off." Faluel's angry voice surprised Lith.
He knew the Hydra the best and he had never seen her that livid before, not even when dealing with the Council's underhanded ploys.
'I wonder who could possibly be obnoxious enough to make Faluel angry yet manage to not get themselves killed.' Lith thought.
The Hydra Warped Quylla to the prison and then she took Lith aside to share with him her plan about using Morok as a sparring partner for Domination.
"You two could work together and learn from each other's mistakes. Even though he is older than you, Morok managed to open four eyes whereas even my son is still stuck at two heads despite being the same age.
"Domination isn't something that you can share with your friends, nor can they learn about it. That's why I used only elemental mastery during our spar. Solus can help you to understand how Domination works, but she might not be able to control more than one element." Faluel said.
"I agree with you. Who knows, maybe he could even help me to open the rest of my eyes or at least to understand what keeps them closed. Yet Morok can't be allowed to stay here. He's not an Awakened, a Healer, and not even a Forgemaster.
"More importantly, he doesn't know about Solus and I have no reason to trust him. I won't sacrifice what little life of her own she's finally achieved for that jackass." Lith said while caressing Solus's ring.
Those words and the moments shared together the previous night moved her heart.
"Thank heavens! After five minutes with him, the idea of having Morok around was enough to give me the creeps." Faluel sighed in relief. "The moment Quylla is done with him, I'll Warp him as far away as I can."
Meanwhile, Quylla cleared her throat several times before realizing that Morok wasn't just asleep, but out cold, black, and blue.
"Wow, I knew you were dumb, but pissing off a Hydra gives a new meaning the word." Quylla healed him while inwardly griping at the idea of spending time with such a moron.
"Good morning to you as well, Quylla. How's your sister?" Morok asked after recognizing her from her voice since his eyes were still too swelled to see a thing.
"What?" She said in surprise.
"I mean the tall one, not the hot one. She was still dying before you left and I've been quite worried about the three of you." He replied, misunderstanding her question.
"She's fine, thanks. Are you here for the date my mother promised you?" Quylla blushed in embarrassment. Not only had he heard her rude remarks, but Morok had also asked her about Phloria, showing more good manners than her.
"Yes and no. I mean, I'm here to ask you out, but I don't want you to feel forced because of my deal with Archon Ernas. I did that just to have the opportunity to speak alone with you. If you're not interested, I'll get out of your hair." Morok half spoke and half groaned.
Faluel had broken many of his bones, making even breathing painful.
"You stalked Phloria for months just for that?" That was the creepiest and most flattering thing anyone had ever done for her.
"Not stalked, protected her from the shadows. I did it as my job, not for some weird fetish. And yes, just for that. Both the academy and your house staff refused to take my messages, what choice did I have?" He shrugged and gave himself a pang.
"Do you realize that's too much effort for someone you know for barely more than two weeks?"
"No, it isn't. When we first met, I thought you were just a pretty face with a body to match, but during our stay in Kulah, I got to know you better." His words made her turn to a shade of purple.
"Even though you're as fit as my grandma, you proved to be smarter than all those old fossils put together. Your ingenuity saved us more times than my concussion allows me to count and you even took down more golems than anyone else."
Chapter 1075 Core Principles Part 1
"It's easy being brave when you're stronger than any human will ever be and you can cast spells with your mind, taking everyone by surprise. You are just a human, yet when the Odi were on the rampage and everyone, me included, only wanted to save their own skin, you kept a level head.
"You found a way to shut down the Reactor and kicked me in the nuts to risk your life alongside your friends.
"That's the moment I stopped being envious of Verhen for having such a cool girl in his life and decided I wanted to at least try to be worthy of the affection of a person like you.
"I may have gone overboard accepting your mother's assignment, but when I heard that you didn't cut Lith off even after seeing him go all out, I thought that maybe you would have accepted me as well." Morok shapeshifted into his Tyrant form, looking at her reaction and pleasantly noticing that Quylla didn't flinch.
"As Baba Yaga told you, I was born a human-Emperor Beast hybrid but I relinquished my human nature just because it made my life easier. That said, here are a few things you should know about me.
"I spent so much time alone that I have forgotten the basics of social interaction, I'm rude, and my mouth moves faster than my brain. If after hearing all this you are still willing to go out with me, I promise you that I'll do my best to make the experience as less unpleasant as I can."
Quylla finished healing him in silence, pondering Morok words. On the one hand, the way he had described her was beyond charming, pointing out qualities that Quylla herself had never thought of having.
On the other hand, Morok was really rude, he clearly found Friya hotter than Quylla, and he wasn't even human. Just a faceless white thing full of eyes that looked way less cool than a Wyrmling and more out of a small child's nightmare.
"Thanks for your kind words. I'm really flattered by your attentions-"
"I'm feeling a "but" incoming." Morok sighed.
"-But I'm really busy right now, I've barely got the time to sleep." Quylla said.
"Sure, no problem." Morok got back on his feet with a kip-up and started to weave a Warp Steps. Prolonging his stay would only make things more awkward than they already were.
"If you give me your contact rune, we can set up a date as soon as soon as Master Faluel gives me a day off." Quylla took her communication amulet out of her dimensional item.
'Mom is right and so is Friya. If I don't date, I can't find anyone. Maybe getting out of my comfort zone is exactly what I need right now. Worst case scenario, I've only wasted a few hours of my life.' She thought.
"Gods, yes! I did it! She said yes!" Morok clenched his fists in triumph and made strange gestures before remembering Quylla was still there. "I mean, sure thing. Call me whenever you want, I'm unemployed so I've got lots of free time."
He mistook her stupefied gaze for scorn, so he rushed to say:
"I mean, I'm between jobs. I don't plan of sitting on my ass for long…" While he rambled an excuse after the other, Quylla sighed and exchanged their contact runes.
"Now you'd better go. Master Faluel is about to start her lesson." She said.
"No goodnight kiss?" He asked with a disappointed look on his face.
"It's early morning and this wasn't a date. Master Faluel!" Quylla yelled.
"Yeah, but back at Baba Yaga's hut it was still night…" A Warping Array cut Morok short and moved him thousands of miles away, in the middle of nothing.
"…and I must have pissed off the Hydra big time. I really need to learn when to shut up." There was nothing around him as far as the eye could see. For all Morok knew, it could be the Blood Desert or even the Empire.
"Today, I'll teach you about the art of Forgemastering and about the many similarities it shares with Healing." Faluel had a radiant smile, hoping that Morok would never reach civilization in time for his date.
"At some point in their life, all mages learn a bit of both. Healing magic allows you to treat conditions that even Invigoration can't fix while Forgemastering provides us not only with combat tools, but also with commodities like communication amulets or dimensional items.
"Both disciplines require a subject to be practiced, but while Healing affects physical matter, Forgemastering deals with energy, leaving the physical aspect to blacksmiths or craftsmen in general.
"Another way of seeing it, is to consider Healing the discipline that studies life forces while Forgemastering studies the mana cores. Even though it led to terrible consequences, Lith managed to fix Protector's core by merging his knowledge as both a healer and Forgemaster." Faluel said, making everyone shudder at the memory.
"Before starting, let's answer the question: what is a mana core? Except for Awakened who can actually see it thanks to their breathing technique, to anyone else those two words have no significance. Quylla, Friya. Come here, please." The two did as Faluel asked and reached her in front of the class.
The Hydra placed her hands above their shoulders and channeled her breathing technique, Lifestream, through their bodies. Suddenly Faluel's lair disappeared and the two women found themselves looking inside themselves as if they had used Invigoration.
At the same time, to the rest of the class, their bodies glowed with a golden light filled with black spots, and midway between their solar plexus and their navel, there was a sphere of energy the size of an apple.
"All living bodies produce mana, that's why the seventh element is also called the element of life. Mana is stored and accumulated in your cores, ready to be used when necessary. As you can see, Quylla's core is bright blue with tinges of violet.
"She's still 18 and cores develop up to the 20th years of age, so she could achieve a deep violet or even a bright violet core. Unfortunately, that places her beyond the level where even I can Awaken her." Faluel sighed.
"Friya, instead, has a bright cyan core. The color of a core determines not only the strength of the spells conjured but also the quantity of mana stored inside the mage's body. Both of them are not Awakened, in fact, their cores produce just enough mana to fill their bodies and their mana flow is so slow that it's nigh-unnoticeable."
"What about the golden glow and the black dots?" Nalrond asked.
"Respectively me covering their organs to not make you puke your breakfast and the impurities. Lith, Tista, it's your turn." After the pairs of siblings exchanged positions, Faluel used her Lifestream again.
"As you can see, an Awakened core is akin to a heart. It constantly beats, absorbing the world energy with every breath they take and then releasing pulses of mana that course through their bodies.
"The phenomenon is what we call mana flow. Each cycle tempers the body, making it able to offer less resistance when casting spells and slowly removing the impurities as the next breakthrough approaches.
"Even though Lith and Tista are both Awakened, a blue core is different from all the others."
Chapter 1076 Core Principles Part 2
Faluel pointed at how Tista's body was just enveloped by a cyan aura that pulsed rhythmically, whereas Lith's mana flow was a maelstrom full of vortexes that never clashed with each other.
"Fake mages can have cores of all colors, whereas blue is the cap for most Awakened. The breakthrough to violet doesn't happen naturally and must be induced by the mage.
"The vortexes are the sign that Lith is no longer limited to absorb world energy through his core, but also through the rest of his body.
"An Awakened violet core is formed when each of those vortexes merges with the blue core, creating a power on a completely different scale." Faluel said.
'The vortexes must be related to my organs almost achieving a core of their own during the breakthrough.' Lith inwardly cursed at Invigoration's inability to reveal them.
'Right now, they are just like Adamant that only draws the world energy while the violet core probably requires my organs to become like Davross, capable of also storing it.'
"Wait, so are non-Awakened more powerful since they don't have such a cap, or is an Awakened violet core superior since it's more difficult to achieve?" Quylla asked.
"It's more accurate to say that non-Awakened violet cored individuals are more common, since they just need to be blessed by talent, but the power is actually the same. A violet core is always violet, no matter how you got it.
"The difference is that an Awakened with a violet core has a body comparable to your legendary heroes. They can recover both their physical and magical strength at a rate non-Awakened can only dream of, making them virtually unstoppable." Faluel replied.
"How do you achieve a violet core?" Tista asked.
"It's only possible when mind, body, and mana are in perfect synch. Up to the blue core, you only need to refine your body and lower the resistance it offers to the mana flow by removing impurities.
"A purple core, however, requires that even the mind must not be a hindrance. Using magic must become akin to breathing to you. Moving a finger or casting a spell should require you the same focus.
"You need to deepen your understanding about the nature of magic until you make it flow instead of letting it flow. To give you a clear example, an Awakened achieves a violet core when become akin to a Mage Slayer.
"Fake mages, like Quylla, need chants and hand signs to weave magic, true mages, like Nalrond or Tista, can do it with just their minds, while a violet cored Awakened can perform magic just by moving their bodies.
"Those like me can form the runes and weave them while they walk, gesture, and even when they fight. That's what makes the violet core so powerful. Even in close quarters combat, I can still cast all the spells I need."
Faluel's words shocked everyone. Being able to cast tier five spells in the middle of a battle would allow anyone to easily turn the tables in an instant.
"How can we reach the violet core exactly?" Lith asked. He had tried to whole time to cast a first magic spell by moving his arms to no avail.
"That's a secret each bloodline protects with their life. I've used my ancestor's method and I will only share it with my heir. Sorry."
"I'm sorry, but I fail to understand how any of this will help me to become a better Forgemaster." Lith said. "What you said is just common sense for an Awakened."
"Believe me, you'll soon thank me." Faluel smiled and brought a simple dagger in front of the class before activating her breathing technique again.
Lifestream made both the pseudo core and its mana pathways visible to the naked eye.
"As you can see, an enchanted item has a core, just like you. The lines you see surrounding it are called mana pathways and have the task to keep the energies of the pseudo core from dispersing since inanimate matter can't store huge amounts of mana.
"Now, how many Forgemasters do we have here?" At Faluel's words, Quylla, Phloria, Tista, Solus, and Lith raised their hands.
"Tell me, how do you shape a pseudo core?"
"You draw a magic circle with the runes, fill the circle with mana, and-"
"Wrong. Anyone else?" Faluel cut Quylla short.
"You must simply use your mana to form a core according to the magical properties you want to reproduce-" Lith couldn't see the point in all that.
"Wrong again." Faluel cut him short as well. "Allow me to borrow a page from your academy's book. Tier four spell, dimensional ring."
It was the very first Forgemastery spell that Lith had ever learned and he still used it up to now.
"At the academy, you did it like this." Faluel took out the special ink, drew both the circle and the runes on the ground, and filled the latter with mana.
"If you paid attention in my previous classes, you should have noticed that even though fake mages are unable to use Spirit Magic, they have developed from Silverwing's teachings the tools to use pure mana.
"This ink and the Royal Forgemaster's wands are just an example. Lith, your Forgemastering technique is great, but up to this date, you only managed to improve other's people works. You have no original creation of your own, correct?" Faluel said.
"Correct, but that's only because I have access to a limited number of enchanted items. Shaping a pseudo core requires deep knowledge of each enchantment you want to imbue." He replied.
"Wrong." Despite her warm smile and silvery laughter, Faluel was starting to pissing him off. "It's because you are blinded by the academy's teachings. You keep thinking like a fake mage, not like an Awakened.
"Non-Awakened can't use Spirit Magic, so they split everything into smaller, more controllable steps. That's why they need the runes and the circle. What if you inject the mana directly into the runes?"
Faluel flooded the circle with her mana, making the runes lift from the ground and spin in a circle above her hand.
"At the academy, the mana would be compressed by the runes into a sphere and then injected inside the vessel. That's the illusion that you've been trapped inside until now. There is no compression nor a pseudo core, just runes."
Faluel made the set of floating runes flow into each other, just like an Awakened would do inside their mind for a normal spell. The result was that the mana stored inside the runes brought them together, fusing them into the pseudo core.
"Are you telling me that…" Lith and Solus were flabbergasted.
"Yes. Instead of studying the pseudo cores, you should have studied the runes in the circles. Let's say I want a dimensional item that's also capable of producing light." Faluel waved her hand, creating the set of runes of the dimensional storage spell and another for a simple lighting spell.
Once again, when brought close enough, the runes formed another pseudo core, more complex than the previous.
"As you can see, the more enchantments you add, the more complex a core becomes and the more energy it requires until it's more efficient to shape another one as it happens for elemental weapons." Faluel said while generating a third set of runes that assembled into a second pseudo core engulfed by flames.
Chapter 1077 Bytra’s Legacy Part 1
"Forgemastering requires not to shape the core, but to build it with the proper set of runes according to your needs. To overcome the limits of fake mages, you must imbue the runes made out of Spirit Magic with your willpower, or the mana will fall apart."
"Fuck me sideways! I can't believe I did it wrong the entire time." Lith's yell drew the attention of the class to himself.
He knew the runes of the regular Skinwalker armor like the back of his hand, having crafted dozens of them between practice and prototypes. Several strings of runes floated in front of him, almost resembling a musical score.
Lith removed a few runes, replaced some, and rearranged others, forming the four pseudo cores that comprised the enchantments of the Skinwalker armor. They weren't just perfect in shape and size, but also their mana flow was stronger and smoother.
"Exactly like that." Faluel clapped her hands. "That would be the Verhen's Skinwalker armor, but if I were you, I'd add a fifth core to give it my personal touch. Something to really make it my own."
'By my maker! The good news is that thanks to the thorough study of runes we did until now, we can easily step up our game. The bad news is that we wasted a lot of time.
'Manipulating and combining the runes in our books to achieve new effects would have been much easier than studying the pseudo cores since we had to reverse engineer even the small stuff.' Solus had never felt so dumb before.
"Why did Protector never tell me about this?" Lith was on the verge of tears with frustration.
"Because he didn't know. I'm breaking this to you only because otherwise you'll be stuck with your crappy Runesmithing. Are you done whining or do you need a moment to collect yourself?" Faluel hated to be interrupted.
Lith repressed all the rage and the self-loathing he felt, hoping that Faluel's teachings would allow him to make up for the lost time.
"Where was I? Oh, yes. Runes are the language of magic. It doesn't matter if you form them with your mouth and hands like fake mages or with your mind like true mages.
"It doesn't even matter if you arrange them in a temporary form like a Warden does or in a permanent item like a Forgemaster. What you have to understand is that, by arranging them in the correct order and infusing them with willpower, you can achieve infinite effects.
"During your fifth year at the White Griffon, you learned about the Bonding spell. It allows you to fuse magic crystals to an item to boost their powers." Faluel placed a communication amulet in front of the class and activated her breathing technique.
"Magic Crystals grant a mana flow to inanimate objects, by creating what we call a mana circulatory system. Always remember that only living beings offer little resistance to mana, whereas objects lacking a core are damaged by a strong flow of mana."
The mana circulatory system was akin to a network of veins, that spread the mana coming from both the pseudo core and the gemstone throughout the amulet.
"This is the only part where true and fake magic are identical. We all add gemstones because otherwise even metals like Orichalcum wouldn't stand too many pseudo cores without crumbling and because powerful spells need a power source."
'At least I did that part right.' At those words, Lith sighed in relief.
"At this point, you might ask, what's the purpose of Runesmithing and why such discipline bestowed to both Menadion and Bytra the titles of Magus and Rulers of the Flames?" Faluel said.
Magus was a title that humans bestowed upon mages who shared their knowledge with everyone, whereas Awakened made Ruler of the Flames those that allowed true magic to greatly surpass its fake counterpart.
"The answer is incredibly complex yet simple at the same time. If you remember what I said a while ago, the more runes you use to form a core, the more complex it becomes.
"Menadion's Runesmithing allowed the mage to apply a new effect to a pseudo core without making it more complex. Each set of old runes allowed her creations to overcome the boundaries or Forgemastering.
"This way, she could craft items impossible to make even for someone with her talent, because she would inscribe the most complex properties outside the pseudo core, avoiding the need of a new pseudo core to just add a single enchantment.
"Enchanted metals can hold many pseudo cores and an enormous amount of energy, but with the old methods, no mage could tap into their full potential because even Awakened have only so much mana.
"Runesmithing allows you to add the most complex enchantments in the preparatory phase and to craft the most complex pseudo cores without worrying about exceeding your limits.
"New runes are even more amazing. Menadion needed a set of runes for each pseudo core she wanted to affect, whereas Bytra's technique allows each set of runes to influence all the pseudo cores at the same time.
"As long as the enchantments you apply synergize between them, the complexity their pseudo cores can reach and the power they hold can go through the roof. Let me give you an example."
Faluel took three daggers out of her dimensional amulet and channeled her breathing technique, Lifestream, through one of them at a time.
"This is what you call tier five Forgemastering. It's comprised of pseudo cores, mana pathways, and circulatory system. Without runes, there's a limit to how powerful each enchantment can be, and to make matters worse, it's easily replicable.
"An Awakened doesn't even need spells to understand how it's done and steal your work, since the only thing you have to study is the pseudo core." The first dagger had three pseudo cores that Faluel showed one by one.
"This, instead, is the same artifact, bur realized using Menadion's runes." The entirety of the surface of the weapon was covered in a fit network of runes only revealed by Faluel's breathing technique.
"Each one of them is linked to a single pseudo core, making it more powerful and altering its structure so that reproducing the dagger with just Invigoration is almost impossible.
"Without a proper spell, there's no way to distinguish which set of runes is linked to which pseudo core since only the maker knows the exact number of runes each set is comprised of."
She activated the various enchantments, revealing that each core was more complex than it seemed and their shape and size varied accordingly to the mana channeled. It made it impossible to distinguish what properties belonged to the core and what to the runes.
"This, instead, is what you get with Bytra's runes." Even though it had been engraved with the least number of runes, the last dagger had the biggest and most complex pseudo cores Lith had ever seen.
Unlike those realized with Menadion's runes, their size didn't vary with the activation and the pseudo cores were so close that they would often overlap.
"Studying this even with spells is nigh-impossible. All craftsmen use the extra space to add a personal set of runes whose only purpose is to prevent the artifact from being examined by a rival Forgemaster."
Chapter 1078 Bytra’s Legacy Part 2
Those words made Lith whine as he finally understood why he had come close to understand how the Gatekeeper worked, had just a grasp of Ruin, and had no clue about how War had been crafted.
"Our lessons will be mostly theoretical. First, I'll teach you the basic alphabet of the runes so that you can learn how to design different pseudo cores on your own. Then, I'll teach you the Forgemastering diagnostic spells that will help you to both understand what went wrong with your prototypes and to steal the secrets of your competitors.
"Last, but not least, I'll teach you how to craft basic artifacts with runes. Bytra's method requires careful planning because you must be careful that the set of runes you apply have no side effect on the pseudo cores. Any question?" Faluel said.
"Just one. Do you think I can obtain the same effects with my Royal Forgemaster wand? I'm no Awakened, but most of the things you explained I had already learned from my father." Quylla said.
"Well, I guess we'll find out. Remember that just like I don't ask you to share with me your father's knowledge, you can't share mine with him. Also, whatever you make is mine to study." Faluel replied.
"I'm not a Forgemaster. Should I skip those lessons?" Friya asked.
"No. If you really want to become my Harbinger, you'll start from scratch as a true mage and learn Forgemastering on your own. Learning the runes will help you to improve your Warden magic while Forgemastering spells will allow you to separate the wheat from the chaff when you buy enchanted items.
"Even if you're just a beginner, my teachings will have several practical applications." Faluel said.
"What about me? I'm not an Awakened and I don't have one of those goddamned wands." Nalrond had a hard time keeping the edge off his voice.
"I'm sorry, but unless you manage to become the first Awakened among the Werepeople, after we're done with the runes, you should practice something else. Forgemastering spells require Spirit Magic." Faluel shook her head.
"That said, it's lunchtime. This afternoon Nalrond will teach me, Lith, and Solus Light Mastery. Phloria, Tista, and Quylla, you three will come back here so that I can train your bodies.
"I'll teach all three of you how to fight against an Awakened. While I'll focus on making sure that Tista and Phloria don't need help to survive their future breakthroughs anymore, Quylla requires some basic training first. Even the best strategy is pointless if your body can't keep up with your mind.
"Friya, here's a book about tier four Forgemastering. Study it until your eyes bleed or reading one more line makes you want to puke." This time it was the Ernas sisters having a hard time keeping their envy at bay.
"Why does everyone get combat training but me? I'm not interested in Forgemastering!" Friya said.
"If you were my Harbinger, you wouldn't be able to refuse my order, even if asked you to give me your wand. Unless you want to break our deal and be banned from my lair, do as you're told." Faluel handed Friya the book and then kicked everyone out.
"What do you want to do? Do you want to have lunch together or to go back home?" Lith asked, eager to get back to the tower and discuss with Solus what they had just learned.
"I'll stick with you." Nalrond replied. "I would love to help Selia with the cooking, but our lunch break is usually short and Protector's kids are great at making trouble. You can't drop the kids whenever you want, those little monsters demand a lot of attention."
"I'll eat with you guys and then go back home." Friya sighed. "Gods, I didn't practice Forgemastering exactly to not compete with you all and here we go again."
"Going back and forth from home takes too much time." Phloria shook her head. "We'll eat here and use the little free time we have to arrange our notes."
"Agreed. I was so happy to have a theoretical lesson for once. No muscle aches nor getting covered in sweat like a miner, yet it turned out much more difficult than all the other subjects so far. I need to rework my Forgemastery from scratch!" Quylla said.
"The same can be said for all of us." Lith opened a Warp to the mana geyser and Solus assumed her tower form.
While Lith and Nalrond prepared the meal, the women merrily talked among them while comparing their notes. Phloria had yet to make her mind about Lith and spending so much time together didn't help.
'I'm grateful to him for saving my life and giving me the opportunity to learn true magic, but this doesn't mean I can forgive years of lies so easily. Solus seems a wonderful woman, but this only makes things worse.
'Their bond is so deep that it's scary and I really don't understand how can Lith share his whole being with a woman and yet date another. I would've gone mad with jealousy if I knew about Solus while we were still together.' Phloria thought.
'My life is a mess and on top of that, we have to spend 100 years together? How the heck are we going to make it work?'
"Girls, I was wondering about one thing. Sooner or later, Faluel is going to send us on a mission to put us to the test. What will you do if she splits us into groups?" Solus asked.
"I don't think she will assign us something above our level so I don't see the point of your question." Friya shrugged.
She and Quylla didn't share their sister's issues with Solus. They loved to spend time with her and admire the wonders that the mage tower had to offer.
"I'm not worried about the mission, but about the food. I noticed that none of us cooks and in my experience, missions can take a while." Solus said.
"I've never got the time nor the will to learn. Being born in a noble family makes you focus more on your achievements than play home." Friya said.
"Same here." Phloria said.
"When I was an orphan, no one trusted me near food because they starved us." Quylla shivered at the memory. "Once I started to work as a healer, I devoted my full focus to magic to earn my meals and then I enrolled in the academy.
"I spent years developing my eating skills, so I can only cook very simple foods."
"I guess you'll need a few dimensional amulets filled with meals." Lith said with a sneer.
"That's the idea." Friya nodded. "By the way, Dad wanted us to give you this."
She took a bag out of her dimensional amulet and emptied it over the table. It was filled with unrefined violet crystals, each one bigger than a coconut.
"He wanted to thank you for saving our lives, but both of you have busy schedules and Dad didn't know when he would get the opportunity to meet you. He asked us if there was something you needed and after seeing your personal mine, I told him you could use some crystals.
"It took me a while to convince him that you had developed a 'personal cutting technique' that makes unrefined crystals a better gift than those already treated by a Crystalsmith."
Chapter 1079 Light Mastery Part 1
"Thank you very much, Friya." Lith left the cooking to Nalrond and proceed to examine his prize.
None of the crystals was as big or pure as that he had taken from the orc shaman, but they were all the best crystals that money could buy and each one of them was worth hundreds of gold coins.
"Those babies are just perfect. Solus, put them to grow in the mines. As soon as we are done with the Forgemastering lessons, we'll use them to craft a new and improved armor.
"I can't wait to put to use the Adamant Forge Zolgrish gave me and all those precious ingredients we received from the Dryad years ago. That plus all the practice with Origin Flames should allow us to craft a masterpiece." Lith said.
"Do you really have an Adamant Forge?" Phloria said. That day, shocking news kept coming one after another.
"What are Origin Flames and what do they have to do with Forgemastering?" Quylla asked.
Solus Warped the Ernas sisters with her in the mines, located on the second underground floor of the tower, to plant the crystals while explaining the situation to them.
The moment the gemstones touched the walls, their lower half was swallowed by the stone while the still visible part grew small roots along the lines of the nearby bricks. The world energy flowing through the tower started to refine the crystals, and their luminescence increased by several folds as if they had never been dug out Mogar.
"This thing is huge!" Friya said while looking at the Adamant Forge, a solid metal block one meter (33') long and half a meter (16,4') high and wide.
"Not only that. Zolgrish made it so that it can shapeshift at will. This way, we can know exactly how much metal we have and if it's enough for the piece we are working on." Solus had it shapeshift into two suits of armor with a blade and a shield, leaving even some spare metal.
"If Lith's flames can further refine the Adamant and his Forgemastering succeeds, calling the final product a masterpiece will be an understatement." For the first time since she had learned about Solus's existence, Phloria let go of her conflicting feelings for Lith and focused only at the marvels at hand.
"Gods, I wish I was born a hybrid as well." Phloria's love for magic surpassed everything but that for her family. "Do you think I could watch while you perform the enchantment?"
"Maybe. You have to ask Lith. You know how he likes his secrets." Solus said a split second before her eyes turned pitch-black. "Lunch is ready. You can ask him now if you want."
The sight of Solus's golden eyes changing colors made Phloria come back down out of the clouds and ruined her mood. She liked Solus, but Phloria had trouble discerning the nature of their own relationship.
'Is she going to be my friend, my rival, or just the member of a love triangle I was never aware of? Gods, and here I thought my life was messed up before.' She thought.
Meanwhile, on the upper levels, Lith and Nalrond were exchanging tips about cooking and magic.
"During the last few days, I understood a few things." Nalrond said. "Unlike my tribe who became complacent over the centuries, fake mages have never stopped improving.
"They can't use Spirit Magic, yet they've found countless ways to work around their limitations and produce the same effects."
"Indeed. Even I used their teachings as a crutch until now. Without the Forgemastering ink, I would've never managed to craft my rings." Lith inwardly griped at the idea of having consumed for them all the purified Orichalcum he had bought from Xedros.
'On the one hand, if I waited to make them, now I would be able to craft a much better version. On the other hand, I would be dead. I guess I'll take it as experience.' Lith thought.
"My point exactly. I don't have the time to attend an academy, so I wanted to ask you if you can teach me fake magic." Nalrond said. "I realized how lacking I am in the elements other than light and fire.
"Learning fake magic can help me to find a way to train my cores and maybe a way to access to Spirit Magic, if not even Awaken."
"Sure, but why the sudden interest in Awakening?" Lith asked.
"I've given a lot of thought about why even though Werepeople don't belong to the Fallen races they have never made any progress in fixing their dual nature. I believe the reason is that as long as our cores slumber, they'll never be able to become one.
"Think about what Faluel showed us today. Friya's core is static, unable to change or evolve past its natural boundaries whereas yours not only is alive, but it's also affecting your body development." Nalrond said.
"Yes, but remember that Awakened or not, all hybrids have to get rid of one of their natures. What if by Awakening your cores you have to choose between your bodies, or even worse, the conflict kills you?" Lith said.
"Yours are good points, but I can't let fear stop me. I can't live with Protector forever. When the time comes and I decide to settle down, I don't want my children to feel like I do every single day. Like there's no place on Mogar where I belong." Nalrond said.
The girls' arrival stopped their discussion. The Rezar didn't know nor trusted them enough to share with them his worries for the future. He didn't actually trust Lith that much, but between their common hybrid nature and all the time they spent together, Lith was the closest thing to a cousin Nalrond had.
They spent lunch talking about how to reach a violet core and the time after that sharing all the runes they respectively knew. In theory, Lith could already achieve the violet level, he simply had no idea how.
As for the runes, now that he knew that a pseudo core was nothing but runes shaped with Spirit Magic that determined its properties and complexity, there were countless things that Lith wanted to experiment with.
During the years, he had always wanted to craft original pieces, but he had always lacked the means to do it. At least until that day.
"Man, I'm so envious of the Awakened." Quylla said while looking at Lith shaping pseudo cores between his hands, checking their properties and stability.
"Just to find the proper combination of runes I need to craft a piece first and then study it with Forgemastering spells whereas you can create a pseudo core on the fly. This way, you don't waste precious metal and save a lot of time."
"True, but that stands only for pseudo cores that don't require ingredients. Also, not even I can check how different pseudo cores react with magical metals unless I Forgemaster something.
"By the way, none of you but Friya seemed surprised when Faluel showed us the differences between the crafting methods." Lith said.
"I can't share with you Dad's secrets but there's no point lying about our knowledge." Phloria said. "With our wands, we can see pseudo cores and we can even study them."
Chapter 1080 Light Mastery Part 2
"I think that most of the things Faluel is going to teach us are similar to the Royal Forgemaster spells you've seen me use in Kulah and Laruel. If not for my full-time job with the army, I bet that Dad would've also taught me how to forge cores from runes." Phloria said.
Lith nodded and thought back at his quarantine when Vastor and Marth had shown him how the Royal Forgemaster wands could reveal the traces of his enchanted equipment and even the spells with which Huryole had tried to enslave him.
'I wonder if Faluel can teach me something similar. It would be a great help to distinguish between the effects of an unknown illness and a spell, like during the mess that happened in Zantia.' He thought.
"Nalrond, is there any chance that you might change your mind and teach us Light Mastery?" Friya asked.
"Depends. Is there any chance that you might change your mind and provide me with one of those silver wands?" He replied.
"I'm sorry, but no. My Dad makes those and they are considered a state secret."
"My answer is the same. Light Mastery is not a candy that I can share lightly, but the last legacy of my tribe. I owe a great debt of gratitude to Faluel and Lith whereas I barely remember your names, sorry." Nalrond said.
"Wow. Are you this rude with everyone or do you have a bone to pick with me? I can understand your refusal, but not the total lack of tact." Friya said.
"I'm sorry." Nalrond gave her a small bow. "I've still trouble adapting to your customs. In my village, your request would have been considered inappropriate and that led me to reply in kind."
"Don't worry. My request is considered inappropriate in the Kingdome as well. No one gives away their secrets for free. I just hoped that you could make an exception for us since we're all Faluel's disciples." Friya scratched her head in embarrassment.
"I'm sorry, but no exceptions. Otherwise I would've taught Tista as well since I spend a lot of time in her home."
"No wonder I dumped you after your trial week. Worst boyfriend ever." Tista grumbled.
Before the Rezar could regret his choice of words, Faluel summoned them back to her lair. To everyone's surprise, she wasn't in her human form anymore. She had taken the hybrid appearance that she had shown them during the Shapeshifting lesson.
Her body was that of a humanoid covered in scales and had seven long serpentine necks with as many heads.
"No one can beat Hydras when it comes to multitasking." The seven heads chuckled in unison. "This way, I can use one head to train each one of the girls individually while the rest of them focus on your lesson, Nalrond."
A wave of her hand conjured three desks and chairs along with three humanoid golems that bore Faluel's human appearance. Then, she cast a Hush zone around the desks so that no sound would spread past its boundaries.
"We're ready when you are." Three of Faluel's head had their eyes turn blue as she took control of the golems with Spirit Magic, moving them as if they were an extension of her body.
"Thanks." Nalrond cleared his throat a few times.
He had already taught Light Mastery to the youths of his village so he knew exactly what to say, but this time his class was full of strangers. He hesitated to break one of the greatest taboos of his tribe.
"Let's start with first magic. Faluel, I've already seen Lith create holograms. Can you do the same?" He asked.
"Sorry, no." She shook one head.
"The ability to give the light a shape it's half the job. The other half is to give it substance. Faluel, have you ever tried to do either of those things?" Nalrond said.
"Several times. I even tried to apply the same principles that allow me to give shape to Spirit Magic, but to no avail." She sighed.
"Don't worry, it's perfectly normal. Anyone can learn Healing magic, yet even though Light Mastery is based on the same principles, very few realize it. The light element is that of order which means that it can be used to restore the original shape of things.
"When you use it on a living being, you achieve Healing magic. Unlike the other elements, however, light has no shape of its own and you can't give it one just by exercising your willpower.
"Light seeks order and the only way to shape it is to artificially create order. Let me give you an example. If I emit light magic and use my willpower to make it look like Lith, what do I obtain?" Both Nalrond and Faluel conjured what looked like a humanoid light bulb.
"This happens because our willpower is constantly battling the light element's natural inclination to seek order which in our case means to light the cave evenly. What if, instead of just using willpower we try to picture Lith in our heads?
"I don't mean to just remember what he looks like, but each one of his features, the details of his face, how his eyes move when he talks, and then we feed everything to the light element." Nalrond's lightbulb turned into a perfect replica of Lith and his Archmage robe.
Faluel tried to do the same, making her lightbulb brighter.
"I don't see any difference. What I'm doing wrong?" Faluel said. Nalrond had expected the ancient Hydra to be angry or frustrated, but she looked puzzled at best.
"You're just using your willpower. That's the trap that prevents most mages from even conjuring holograms, let alone give them colors." The hologram above Nalrond's hand became identical to Lith, turning his skin pink and his robe deep blue.
"Do not force your memories nor your will onto the light. Just think about Lith as if he was something you're trying to repair and the light will do the rest."
Faluel tried and failed again, making her Lith-bulb bloated.
"Has there ever been someone incapable of learning Light Mastery? Because being the first would greatly piss me off." Faluel said.
"No way. I've learned and taught Tista all I know about it, so I can assure you it's just that hard." Lith said. "What Nalrond means, is that when you conjure the light you mustn't do it as you would to shape a pseudo core, but as if you're healing a small bruise.
"Only that instead of letting the patient's body channel the light element, your mental image must be so clear to fool the light element to believe that the air is supposed to have a different shape. Like this." Lith conjured a doll-sized hologram of Faluel.
"So, the air is my patient, huh?" Faluel tried and failed again.
"Do not mix light with the air element or air's chaotic nature will mess things up even more. I meant that you must reason as if the air is the patient, but the only element you actually use is light." Lith said.
"You really are a good teacher, Lith." Nalrond said while Faluel kept putting their advice into practice. "You've understood so much about Light Mastery that I'm surprised you didn't figure it out the other half."
"Thanks, Professor Manohar said the same thing to me a year ago, yet I made no progress. Teaching Tista and Solus helped me to better control-"
"I'm trying to learn here. Can you please shut your trap and let me concentrate?" Faluel cut Lith short.
Chapter 1081 Light Mastery Part 3
Each one of Faluel's four heads experimented on its respective lightbulb and all of them looked very focused. Every time one of the heads made a discovery, the others would apply it as well and search for a way to further improve their technique.
"Good gods, that's cheating if I've ever seen it." Nalrond said. Just a few minutes had passed, but Faluel's hologram improved with each passing second.
"She works four times faster than a normal person and her heads can share any breakthrough and brainstorm any issue they encounter. How the heck is a Hydra 'just a lesser dragon'?"
"Yeah, and yet she forbids me to discuss any subject with Lith!" Solus said.
"You are two different individuals, whereas all my heads belong to the same person and follow my thinking pattern." Faluel had just completed her task and after creating a hologram of Lith, she did the same for each one of her students.
"Let me put it this way. Hydras rule." She chuckled.
"They sure do. To add colors to a hologram, you need to use the other elements. Do not mix them to the light, just add a few wisps so that they balance each other while they paint your creations the way you want them." Lith said.
It took Faluel just a few tries to understand how to succeed. Adding colors was akin to giving shape to elements and making them overlap with the hologram. For someone with centuries of experience, it was a simple task.
"Perfect. Now that you've grasped the easy part of Light Mastery, let's move to the real challenge." Nalrond said, resuming his explanation while one of the snake heads took notes and the other three gave him their full attention.
"The technique you've just learned is fairly demanding in both mana and focus, yet it can only produce ethereal constructs. Lith, what did you do in the attempt to turn holograms into constructs?"
"At first, I tried using more focus, thinking that the issue lay in my inability to properly visualize what I attempted to replicate, yet it only made my holograms more detailed and lifelike.
"Then, I tried to use more mana, thinking that the problem might be lack of density, but it only made them brighter. Doing both at the same time just stacked their effects. I even tried adding more elements, but it only messed things up." Lith said.
"That's because Light Mastery only requires the light element. To take it to the next level, you need to use light magic on light magic itself." Nalrond created a hologram of a small knife that suddenly turned real, cutting into Lith's desk.
The construct then replicated itself and moved to Faluel's and Solus's desks, to let them examine it as well.
"Wait, what?" The three said in unison.
Even when using their respective breathing techniques, the golden knife appeared solely as a mass of mana, with no particular features or characteristics.
"As I told you earlier, light is the element of order. To obtain a solid construct, you need to instruct your spell so that part of the light element gives the hologram shape while the rest gives it substance.
"It requires at least double-casting and the amount of mana necessary for making a construct solid varies with the mastery of the caster. For a beginner, even a small construct requires lots of mana while an expert can use the bare minimum according to circumstances.
"Even though we're starting with first magic, your first construct might require the same mana of a tier five spell. Keep things small and simple or you'll never succeed." He said.
After finishing his explanation, Nalrond let them tinker with their respective holograms for a few minutes while enjoying the sight of the golems beating the crap out of the girls.
Lith and Solus had much more experience with Light Mastery whereas Faluel had fourfold their brainpower, but none of them managed to give substance to their creations.
"Please, stop what you're doing. I'll now explain to you how to make a hologram and then we'll move to tier one spells. The trick to hard-light-"
"Please, stop." Faluel cut him short. "You've already told us more than enough for my tastes and I'd like to work out the rest on my own. I'll ask for tips or for more explanations only when I get to my wit's end.
"This way, even if I fail to create a construct on my own, all the time and effort spent will allow me to look at Light Mastery through my perspective instead of being limited by your teachings.
"Not only it will help me to give to Light Mastery my own personal spin, but it might even allow me to discover something new. This is how my ancestors taught my bloodline everything and how I'm going to teach you guys.
"Lith, Solus, feel free to proceed as you want. I'm not going to force you to follow my footsteps since for this subject we are peers."
Lith and Solus pondered her words for a while, before coming to the Hydra's same conclusion.
'She's right. We failed to understand Forgemastery's true meaning because we let ourselves get blinded by Wanemyre's teachings. A fake mage will see things as a fake mage, just as Nalrond can't think outside the box his ancestors set up for him.' Lith thought.
"I have a question." Solus said. "Who's the ancestor you're talking about?"
"Leegaain learned this teaching method from Tyris and passed it down to all of his firstborns, Hydras included." Faluel said.
"Okay, that settles it." Lith said. "If two Guardians worked on a method that allowed the Hydra's bloodline to rise to such heights, who am I to disagree? Sorry, Nalrond, but your services are no longer required for this afternoon." Lith said.
"Seriously? I can't leave and go home in the case you hit a wall so what I'm going to do the rest of the time?" The Rezar didn't like the sudden turn of events.
"You can join the rest of the class in their physical training." Faluel's fourth head stopped to work on its constructs and summoned another training golem.
"I noticed you had quite some fun watching at the girls' hardships for someone whose human body is weaker than Quylla's. Your Rezar form is a tough cookie, but your other half it's not even worth mentioning."
Nalrond looked at his thin arms first and then at the combat training. Everyone but Quylla moved so fast that his eyes could barely perceive Friya as a blur.
"Fine. Just go easy on me." He said.
"Looks like we're almost even now. Speed versus experience, one of the oldest battles in the book." Faluel could now only use two heads to make holograms.
She needed four to control one golem each and the fifth to use Invigoration. Even though the seven heads could perform seven different tasks, they belonged to a single body with only one mana core.
Doing so many things at the same time put a great strain on her, forcing the Hydra to eat and use Invigoration to keep her strength up.
While Nalrond taught Faluel the basics of holograms, the girls had already started their lesson after a brief introduction.
"The golems have the same physical abilities of a regular bright cyan-cored human Awakened." The Hydra said.
Chapter 1082 Light Mastery Part 4
"This way, you can get used to fighting people of your same weight class, without the gap in mass and core level affecting the development of your techniques.
"Quylla, your body is fit for a homebody thanks to your training, but it's inadequate even for a street fight. Before teaching you how to fight, you need better foundations so we'll focus on developing your muscles and endurance.
"Phloria, Tista, you two are two sides of the same coin. Phloria's body has evolved too fast compared to her core and needs further refining. Tista, instead, has a perfect body and too few impurities.
"Luckily for you, the solution is the same. I just need to push you to your utmost limits. Get ready, I'll show you how an Awakened fights." One of the golems with Faluel's appearance said while the others nodded.
Quylla had to run laps of the lair to work on her endurance while Tista and Phloria got pummelled by their respective golem. Faluel would always hit to produce little damage but great pain, to not let them underestimate their exercise and prolong it as much as she could.
The moment they became incapable of moving further, she would use light magic to speed up their recovery. It allowed them to strengthen their bodies and produced more impurities.
Then, Faluel would take out Phloria's impurities with Invigoration and leave Tista's intact. As soon as the healing magic fixed them, the training would resume. Phloria had much more battle experience compared to Tista yet she fared no better because neither of them had ever faced an Awakened.
The moment they tried to set some distance, the golem would be shrouded by a light that indicated the use of Invigoration. Each time it happened, the match would end abruptly.
The golems left them no time to use their breathing technique and exploited the sudden gap in energy to finish them off quickly. Tista was used to Fusion Magic whereas Phloria had trouble adjusting her footing to her faster and stronger movements, turning what was supposed to be an advantage into a hindrance.
"I can't believe I'm out of breath in barely over a minute." Tista said amid pants during one of the short breaks Faluel gave them to reflect on their many mistakes.
"Do you have any idea how mentally and physically exhausting it is to go all out while focusing on your opponent's every movement?" Faluel's golem said. "Tista, you never fought a real opponent and got used to easy wins.
"Phloria, you're an excellent fighter, but until you don't get used to Fusion Magic and to not leave the opponent the time to breathe freely, you'll never win."
As for Quylla, she soon understood the depth of the nightmare she was in. The moment she was exhausted and too tired to continue, Faluel would give her a tonic. Then, healing magic would enhance her muscles and share part of Faluel's stamina with her.
"Please, enough with the running. I'm sick of it." Quylla never stopped long enough to stop sweating and even if her body was always at its peak, she was frustrated beyond reason.
"Muscle training it is." The golem shapeshifted into a mud form that covered Quylla's body.
It didn't weigh much, but it opposed every of her movement, tripling the effort needed to take even a single step.
Nalrond joined them just in time to hear them beg Faluel to stop. The Hydra could use Invigoration as much as she wanted, providing her students with plenty of healing and vitality. None of them had an excuse to slack off, condensing days of training in a single afternoon.
While the others cursed the Hydra's bloodline with growing intensity and creativity, Lith, Solus, and Faluel's main body kept practicing Light Mastery.
'This is as interesting as it is frustrating.' Thanks to the Hush dome, Lith had no idea what was happening on the other side of the lair. 'Double casting light magic isn't the hard part, so much as not making the two different spells mix freely.
'One spell must work solely as Builder while the other as Matter. Each one of them needs to be imbued with a different type of willpower and the slightest mistake makes everything fall apart.'
Following Nalrond's advice, the three of them were trying to create a spherical construct the size of a marble. It was the smallest and simplest thing they could study with all their senses.
'To make matters worse, the Builder mana must coat the Matter inside out. The former serves as both the skeleton and exoskeleton of the construct at the same time, while the latter gives it mass and durability.
'Not enough Matter mana and the construct it's too brittle, too much and it collapses under its own weight. The Builder, instead, suffers from a different issue. If I don't set its boundaries with enough focus, the construct dissipates.
'Yet if I focus too much or make the structure too complex, I don't have enough mana left for the Matter and the construct comes out frailer than a sand castle. Each spell requires a fine balance that must also fit that of the other.' Solus thought.
'While shaping the other elements is like pouring water into a glass, Light Mastery is akin to preparing a potion while juggling with its ingredients. One single mistake means wasting everything and being forced to start over.' Faluel thought.
Minutes turned into hours yet none of them managed to make their respective hard-light marble withstand the slightest impact. Nalrond and the others had already consumed two meals and several liters of water just to not die of starvation or dehydration due to their non-stop training.
Lith had found several methods to shape his constructs, yet they had all turned out to have fatal flaws that made them useless.
'Maybe I'm just overthinking this. I shouldn't try to arrange properly every single millimeter of the marble. I've seen both Manohar and Nalrond use Light Mastery several times and none of their constructs was very detailed.
'On the contrary, they were fairly simple.' Lith thought back at his fight with Nalrond and that with Dawn.
He focused on how their constructs felt when he hit them and on the way they shattered. With each failed attempt, Lith deepened his understanding of the light element beyond that of Healers, who only tapped into half of its true potential.
After a while, his mastery over the light element grew enough to open the fourth eye of his hybrid form, making both of his human eyes turn white. Faluel and Solus congratulated him briefly under the cover of the Hush zone before returning to their own task with renewed vigor.
'I must follow the advice that Lith gave Nalrond after they first met.' Solus thought. 'Heat rays and constructs work the same, but while rays last a split second, constructs can be used until they run out of mana.' Solus thought.
'The question is, how can two phenomenons apparently so different derive from the same principle? Think, Solus. The secret must be in the name. This discipline is called Light Mastery, not Light Constructs.'
Solus and Lith had two completely different approaches to magic. Usually, by pooling their minds and resources they would always come up with a solution. That was the reason why Faluel had ordered them to work alone.
Each one of their two minds acted as a crutch for the other. Constantly receiving suggestions limited their potential and kept them from learning from their own mistakes. Only by realizing what each of them lacked they could truly improve.
Chapter 1083 Royal Summon Part 1
Lith's second attempt was to use the Builder only as an exoskeleton so that by pouring more mana into the Matter, it would increase its density.
Keeping the Matter formless, akin to water filling the vessel shaped by the Builder mana, relieved the stress the previous method inflicted upon his mind and allowed him to focus on making the exoskeleton as hard as he could.
Lith then threw his marble against the nearest wall, watching it bounce and roll on the floor instead of shattering.
"I did it! Nalrond, I did it!" All his joy and enthusiasm couldn't get past the Hush dome, no matter how the Rezar wished for a break.
"Shut up. I'm still working." Faluel's voice had an edge from the first time since they met her.
The Hydra was a good friend of Scarlett the Scorpicore, one of the three known Light Masters in the entirety of the Kingdom. Yet the two beasts didn't exchange their secrets and Faluel had never seen a Light Master in action.
Nonetheless, being beaten to the punch by a youth and one of her apprentices at that, irked her beyond belief.
Solus ignored Lith's words and focused solely on the problem at hand.
'When we deflected Nalrond's heat ray, we conjured ice to neutralize the fire element and used the Skinwalker armor to take the hit. The ray packed both heat and kinetic energy, but only the latter came from the light element.
'A construct is akin to a tool. It can be used over and over. A ray is akin to a bullet, instead, and can only be used once. Probably because it shatters on impact.
'The question is if heat rays are the equivalent of tiers from one to three, then doesn't that mean we're actually trying to reproduce with first magic a tier four if not a tier five spell? If the bulled is comparable to Plague Arrow, how do I turn it into Death Call?' She thought.
Plague Arrow was one of the simplest and most useful darkness spells Lith had created as a child that consisted of a mass of highly condensed darkness element. Death Call, instead, created four shadow limbs that Lith could shape and move at will.
'Light is but the other side of darkness so the same principles should apply.' Instead of creating a skeleton inside her construct, Solus used the Builder mana to form a network of channels inside the Matter, akin to a bloodstream.
Something that wasn't fixed nor hard, just dense enough to not shatter and evenly spread through the hard-light construct. That way, it would convey her will over time and allow her to reshape her creations as she saw fit according to the circumstances.
"I think I did it as well." Solus's construct not only didn't shatter once thrown, but it also returned to her hand and then shapeshifted into a small coin.
"How did you do that?" Lith tried and failed to do the same.
"Answer his question and I'll kick both your asses." Faluel said the moment Solus opened her mouth. "Nalrond, come here! Girls, take five." Her voice roared through the lair and made most of her disciples fall to the ground.
"Please, stop. My life force is about to break." Quylla's mouth tasted like dirt and the mud covering her body was drenched in sweat.
Nalrond tried to speak, but his lungs burned too much. He sat down to catch his breath and fainted on Faluel's desk with a thud.
"Weaklings. They slacked off for years and then complain for barely six hours of exercise." The Hydra took a deep breath of Invigoration, keeping the mana for herself and giving the vitality to Nalrond instead.
"Please, no! Let me go home or you'll live with the shame of forcing a grown man to cry." Nalrond said the moment he woke up, afraid that the nightmare was about to resume.
"Relax, we're done for today. I can't use Invigoration anymore and your life forces are really about to break. Just tell us which one of us did it right and why." Faluel returned to her human form as all the golems left their victims free before turning themselves off.
Nalrond nodded and took Lith's marble between his forefinger and his thumb.
"Close, but no cigar. This is no construct, just the base for an elemental ray. I'm too tired to explain, so I'll show it to you." The Rezar clenched it between his fingers until the hard exterior cracked.
Without a skeleton, the Matter faded in the air so fast that Lith didn't manage to save a speck of energy.
"You need to put something on the inside, or once given shape, the construct can't shapeshift nor conserve its mana."
Then, he did the same to Solus's marble, shattering it. Solus managed to reform it a couple of times before losing her grip on the accumulated mana.
"Excellent result for a first try. The internal control layer wasn't evenly distributed, so each time I destroyed your construct, it leaked mana. Work on that. Faluel?" He said.
"Yes?" She wore a warm smile.
"Where's your construct?"
"Do you mean this?" She created a golden pearl that quickly shapeshifted into a small lotus flower.
"It's just perfect!" Nalrond was flabbergasted. He had never seen someone succeed so fast. The flower and its petals would bend under the pressure instead of being crushed. "How did you do it?"
"I cheated, more or less. I focused this whole time on controlling the spells but failed to make one. After putting my seven heads to work together on what I discovered and make sense of your earlier comments about Lith's and Solus's constructs, figuring the rest was easy." She said.
"Easy my ass!" Lith and Nalrond said in unison.
Lith had still no idea what he had done wrong and Nalrond had needed more than one lesson to get to Faluel's same point even after seeing Light Mastery practiced on a daily basis back in his village.
"Told you guys. Experience tramples all, even talent." Despite her bright attitude, Faluel looked very tired.
Learning an unknown branch of magic while fighting two opponents of Phloria's caliber and constantly using Invigoration to refill four people with vitality for six hours had taken a great toll even on someone that powerful.
When the girls finally joined them, their pitiful state moved even Lith. Tista and Phloria were still black and blue from their last sparring sessions. They had dirt all over their hair filled, they wheezed like bellows rather than breathing, and the light in their eyes was dim as if they could faint at any moment.
Quylla's clothes were drenched in so much sweat that not even the Skinwalker armor's self-cleaning properties couldn't keep up, making it stuck to her body along with her hair.
Her eyes filled with desperation and homesickness made her look like a puppy abandoned under heavy rain.
"I have good news, guys. No lessons tomorrow." Faluel said.
The physical training group would have danced with joy if only their bodies allowed them to. They expressed their approval by closing their eyes and clenching their fists.
"As I already explained Nalrond, my teaching method doesn't rely on detailed instructions. I'll give you the basics for each discipline and then it's up to you to develop it on your own.
Chapter 1084 Royal Summon Part 2
"Only when you feel like you're at your wits' end and can't progress anymore can you come here to ask for another lesson. That means that each one of you will progress at their own pace and receive individual lessons.
"The only exceptions to the rule are Shapeshifting, that you can only practice here because no supervision can easily spell death, and Forgemastering. That kind of runes isn't something you can learn on your own, they can only be passed on.
"I'll also show you the basic Awakened Forgemastering methods, from which I expect you to develop your own or to incorporate them to those you already possess." Faluel looked at Lith during the last part of her speech.
"All those that require physical training must come here at least three times a week. Quylla, please tell Friya that she has to come here as well. I'll use that same time to instruct her in her duties of Harbinger and teach her the ropes of Forgemastering.
"One last thing. I'm dead tired so unless it's an emergency, I want to be left alone at least for a full day. Go home and rest." Faluel put away the training equipment and took her communication amulet out of her dimensional item.
Taking care of children felt as rewarding as it was exhausting.
'I deserve some quality time with my friends.' She thought.
After Faluel started to happily talk with several Emperor Beasts, most of which he had never met before, Lith gave part of his vitality to the rest of the group. Except for Nalrond, who had been recharged by Faluel, the others were unable to stand.
He checked them with Invigoration, discovering that the melody of their life force had become discordant and that they were on the verge of starvation.
"Do you want a ride back home or do you want to sleep in the tower?" He asked after fixing cracked bones and more bruises than he could count.
"Sleep?" Tista had a crazed look, glaring at Lith with a hatred he had rarely seen.
"While you sat on your ass for over six hours, I've faced death so many times that now we're best friends. I don't want to sleep. I want to take a bath and eat until I feel like I'm going to burst."
"Bring us to the tower and prepare a lot of food, please." Quylla said. "I'd gladly go back home, but I don't have the strength to take a single step nor the patience to wait for a meal. I'd rather kill someone with a fireball and eat their meat."
The way she said it didn't sound like a joke and the fact that the others just nodded, drooling at the thought, made only things creepier.
***
During the following days, Lith and the others only met at Faluel's lair. He focused mostly on Spirit Magic and Light Mastery since Shapeshifting had niche applications compared with the other disciplines.
As for the Forgemastery lessons, thanks to Soluspedia, memorizing runes took Lith and Solus just the time necessary to organize their notes before storing them in the dimensional library.
A couple of weeks after the incident in the mines of Feymar, Lith received a call from the Royal Secretary.
"Good day, Archmage Verhen. You have been summoned to the Royal Court to provide your testimony about the events that led to the rescue of the Mages Ernas." The hologram from Lith's amulet showed a man about fifty years old, with grey hair and a well-groomed beard.
His voice was polite, but each one of his words sounded like an order, not a request.
"I'm in the middle of an important research, but my duty to the Kingdom comes first." Lith used the expression that meant "I'm a busy man, not someone at your back and call. Yet I respect your authority as long as you respect mine."
"The Royals will be pleased to hear those words. Your audience is scheduled for tomorrow morning at the Royal Castle in Valeron. May the Great Mother grant you safe travel." The Secretary ended the call without giving Lith the opportunity to argue about rescheduling.
"Solus, what do you think?" Lith said.
"That it's better if we bring Tista along. She can back our version of the story and the Royals have probably guessed her involvement. She's not the type that can go unnoticed, even during a war." Solus said.
The two of them called their friends and Faluel. Giving an explanation to a low-clearance clerk was one thing, giving your official testimony to the Royals was another. All their versions of the story had to match and be believable.
'I'm actually surprised it took the Court so long to arrange for an audience. I wonder if this is even bigger than I thought.' Lith called Kamila to confirm his suspicions.
"Did you get summoned as well?" She looked worried and nervous.
"Gods, I've never spoken with the Royals except during galas and your ascension to Archmage. Why do they want to hear from me as well? The only thing I can testify about is the time you left and that you returned."
Suddenly, Lith was happy for his otherwise untimely breakthrough right after rescuing Phloria, because it had delayed his return from the Belin mines long enough to give him a plausible explanation for everything.
'Kamila is right. The only reason to summon her is to figure out if the beasts' Gate network is more advanced than the Kingdom's. They don't know about my tower Warp and are probably trying to make sense of how quickly I traveled.' Lith thought.
"Can you please pick me up tomorrow? If we go together, maybe I'll feel less awkward." Kamila snapped him out of it.
"Sure thing, Kami. Don't worry, you just need to tell the truth." He winked to both cheer Kamila up and remind her that she couldn't lie about what she didn't know.
The following day, except for Nalrond being replaced by Kamila, the entire group met in the Royal antechamber. The Ernas sisters were nervous because explaining their survival without mentioning Baba Yaga's help was the most farfetched part of their story.
Revealing the presence of the Red Mother would explain everything and make the Ernas look like they were raving mad. Baba Yaga was a legendary figure and even if the Royals believed in her intervention, it would raise questions that Phloria wasn't willing to answer.
'If they find out I'm an Awakened, my life will be over. I'll become part of some black ops squad or a test subject. How the heck does Lith manage to live with this burden?' She thought while walking the first real mile in his shoes.
Her sisters tried to reassure Phloria while everyone kept checking their own clothes. Kamila wore her Royal Constable uniform while the rest of the group their respective mage robes. Lith's deep blue stood out amid the deep red of normal mages.
Several court ladies pointed at him while checking him out, giggling, and gossiping. Many even gave him their contact rune.
"Someone is really popular with the ladies." Tista laughed, nudging at Lith from time to time.
Her ample robe hid her curves and the lack of make-up made her look plain compared to the dolled-up women who walked around the Royal Palace.
Chapter 1085 Internal Strife Part 1
"Yeah. You could make a deck of cards with all those contact runes." Kamila's smile didn't extend to her eyes and the edge of her voice could easily cut through Davross like a hot knife through butter.
"Friya, help me out here. You're the one who's usually in this kind of situation. Tell Kamila it's not my fault before my sister makes things even worse." Lith said.
"He's right." Friya sighed. "Those are just gold diggers lured by the color of his robe. There's no need to be angry, except for the smug grin Lith does every time one of those pretty ladies-in-waiting hit on him."
"I knew I wasn't imagining things! Once we get back home, we have to talk." Kamila pouted.
"Good gods, Kami, this is the Royal Court. I have to be polite and play along. I can't shoo them away like pigeons. Each one of them is at least a Marchioness and I can't afford to make an enemy of half the Kingdom." Lith said, trying to defend himself.
"Kami? What a cute moniker! Does Lith have one as well?" Tista nudged him again, making Kamila blush.
"Yes, I usually call him 'idiot'."
The doors of the Throne Room opened, saving Lith from further embarrassment. Tista's shenanigans had helped everyone to relax, keeping their mind off the audience.
The room was more than forty meters (133 feet) long and over thirty meters (100 feet) wide, with a single red silk carpet with gold embroidered edges going from the three meters (10 feet) wide double doors up to the two steps that distanced the floor where nobles stood and the raised one for the royal family.
The Royal couple was sitting on their golden thrones, looking down on those who were already inside. Lith recognized only a few of them and judging by the sound of their voices, only the presence of the Royals kept them from jumping at each other's neck.
The whole room was lit by crystal chandeliers fueled by magic, leaving no space for shadows. Both the floor and the pillars of the room were realized from gold veined marble.
It was naturally resistant to magic in general and to earth magic in particular, making it one of the most precious and robust materials available in the Griffon Kingdom.
On the left side of the room, Lith recognized Jirni, Marchioness Distar, Orion, and General Berion. On the right side, instead, there were Archmage Deirus, Archmage Kwart, the Chairman of the Mage Association, and Archmage Onia, Headmistress of the Black Griffon.
Both factions kept their hands at their sides and their voices low, yet Lith was certain that if glares could cast spells, the Throne Room would be in shambles despite the gold veined marble.
The Secretary near the door hit the ground two times with a thick golden staff, producing a dull sound that got everyone's attention.
"Archmage Lith Verhen, Royal Constable Kamila Yehval, Mage Tista Verhen, Mage Quylla Ernas, Mage Friya Teleta Aelia Ernas, and Mage Phloria Rose Terra Ernas have arrived." The Secretary said.
Lith had a hard time repressing a chuckle at their long, pompous names. Hearing them for the first time made them sound even more comical, especially Phloria's. Kamila and Tista were in his same boat, but they could only look at their noble friends without even turning their heads.
Friya and Phloria hated their middle names, but they could only inwardly curse the Court etiquette and suck it up.
The group walked in front of the thrones before kneeling.
"Thanks for coming here on such short notice." The Royals gave them permission to stand up. "Before calling you here, we searched for evidence that could corroborate the story of the survivors from the Belin expedition.
"Alas, even after weeks of using the best tools at our disposal, the events you all took part in are still as unbelievable as they were the first time that we heard about them. We summoned you in the hope you can shed some light on the most controversial parts of this terrible story." King Meron said.
Archmage Kwart, the precarious Chairman of the Association looked at Lith's group with contempt. He considered them all to be traitors who conspired with the army, the beasts, or both to destroy his life's work.
Yet he could only shut up and glare while Queen Sylpha asked questions.
"What happened after you entered the mines alone, Mages Ernas?"
Phloria had been the commanding officer of the expedition, so she stepped forward and told them everything up to the Ghouls' ambush. She followed Jirni's instructions, describing how they had been cornered and quoting word by word the Ghoul leader admitting they were on Deirus's payroll.
Unlike Wyra, Friya's ex-second in command, Phloria was already his target and the name Ernas meant a great deal in the Court.
"Despite Archmage Verhen's best efforts, we wouldn't be here today if not for the bodyguard that my mother, Archon Ernas, secretly assigned me and for the intervention of a mysterious creature who called himself Nandi." Phloria looked around the room, searching for Morok.
"Do you have any proof to support your claims?" The King asked.
"Only my word, that of my sisters, and of Mage Eari. My sister Quylla can show you a hologram of the creature. On top of that, his presence, just like that of the Abomination in the Laroxya mines, explains why the undead abandoned the mines and why they didn't detonate them when all was lost."
The Royals pondered Phloria's words, finding no fault in her logic. The mysterious Abomination hybrids had already proven to be able to communicate and they always chose places abundant with world energy as their dwelling.
Also, the Belin mines were a priceless asset and only the presence of a truly powerful opponent could have forced the undead to leave the most precious crystals for the Kingdom to take.
Yet the Royals focused their attention to another detail that Phloria had "casually" mentioned.
"Mage Quylla, can you really produce holograms as well?" The Queen asked.
"Yes, Your Majesty." Quylla gave her a bow and created a life-sized projection of Nandi's appearance.
"Fascinating creature." Sylpha nodded. "Did Archmage Verhen teach you?"
"No, I learned it on my own. My hope is to one day surpass Professor Manohar." Quylla's words made the heart of the Royals flutter just like that of Deirus's allies turn sour.
Each one of them resented Quylla for different reasons, but their spite united them against the Ernas family.
"Your Majesty, with all due respect, the events Mage Ernas described are way too convenient." Archmage Deirus said. "If what she says is true, where is this Eari fellow and why did this fabled creature disappear before the rescue team explored the mines?
"Not to mention how slanderous it is to associate my name with the ramblings of a Ghoul just to follow her family's agenda."
"I agree with Deirus only on one thing. Where is Eari?" Jirni asked.
"For some reason that we fail to understand, he reached the far end of the Blood Desert." King Meron pinched his nose in frustration.
"We sent a rescue team as soon as we pinpointed his location, but his presence past the borders created a small diplomatic accident that we have yet to clear."
Chapter 1086 Internal Strife Part 2
"As for the creature, I agree that its behavior is odd, but no more than that of the other members of its kin. Like Mage Ernas reminded us, the same happened at the Laroxya mines.
"After being discovered, the creature fled without harming any of the workers. Whether you consider Mage Ernas's testimony convincing or not, Archmage Deirus, she is innocent until proven otherwise." Queen Sylpha glared at Velan until he took a step back.
"I find her report as believable as it's suspicious the fact that the traitorous Great Mage Nuragor was your pupil, Velan. There's no doubt his loyalty lay with the undead.
"We've traced all the conversations and movements prior to Kallion's death. Several persons confirmed to have witnessed him displaying abilities only a thrall could have and after searching his apartments, we've discovered enchanted items belonging to the Dusk Court.
"On top of that, several survivors witnessed Great Mage Nuragor fighting alongside the undead during the coup. Tell me, Velan. Did Kallion change overnight, are you so incompetent that you failed to notice you were raising a snake in the grass or were you part of his schemes?"
The Queen had privately interrogated Wyra and Rotha, the two surviving members of the Crystal Shield guild who had heard Kallion speak on behalf of both Deirus and the Undead Courts.
Unluckily, their testimony was even more useless than Phloria's in a court of justice, but that didn't mean the Royals would let things slide easily.
"When I met Kallion Nuragor, he was just a brilliant youth eager to serve his country." Archmage Deirus kneeled in a sign of contrition. "Maybe I trusted him too much because he reminded me of my lost son, but I would have never taken him in if not for the many letters of reference the Association wrote him."
His attempt to use Yurial's death to solicit sympathy made every parent in the room want to puke and put Kwart in a bad spot.
"The Association has indeed many responsibilities, Velan, but it was you who took him as an apprentice just like it was you pushing for him to become a Great Mage. Do you deny it?" King Meron said.
"No, your Majesty. I failed to see Kallion for what he truly was and there's no excuse for it. I'll accept any punishment you see fit." Deirus said.
'I failed to see that he was an incompetent fool. How could he possibly be so stupid as to gloat before completing the deed? More importantly, what the heck happened to the two armies I sent there?' He actually thought.
The Undead Courts had conducted their own investigation as well, finding no plausible explanation for the slaughter of a battalion strong of 500 elder undead.
'I had invested a lot of resources into Kallion and his Nuragor household. Yet after falling for Jirni's trap and losing the Blood judgment, the Nuragor household was already crippled.
'Now that they have lost the only Mage in their family and are branded as traitors, I wouldn't be surprised if the Nuragor disappear faster than the Deirus. Kallion destroyed my reputation and my relationship with the Undead Courts in one fell swoop.
'I can only lay low until things settle down and use that time to plan for my next move. Taking on the Ernas now that my entire faction is under scrutiny would be suicidal. I must cut my losses and pin the blame to useless idiots like Kwart.'
"Archmage Deirus, because of all the services you rendered to the Kingdom in the past, you'll not be arrested nor will your assets be frozen. However, until a thorough investigation has completely cleared you of all suspicions, you are hereby forbidden to leave the country.
"On top of that, your privileges within the Royal Court are temporarily restricted and you can't have any contact with your fellow suspects in the attack. Kwart and Onia are among them. You'll receive a more detailed list before leaving this room.
"Any transgression will be considered an act of treason and punished accordingly." King Meron's words made the three Archmages turn pale for the first time in years.
Not even Jirni's plan to stage Balkor's return had dealt such a huge blow to their plans. Deirus had no children anymore, so he couldn't care less about Balkor. Yet losing Court privileges and having some of his most powerful allies cut off his contact list was almost a death blow.
Almost.
Jirni inwardly curled her lips in disgust, angry with Deirus for not leaving any trace she could follow and with herself for having yet to find a weakness she could exploit. Deirus loved no one and was already dismissing his lands bit by bit over time.
She had even considered spreading a plague, but it would have caused Deirus no pain. On the contrary, it would have garnered him compassion and support, if not even further boosting his status in the case he managed to find a cure.
'Velan only has two things left: his magic and his reputation. I could take away the magic with Balkor's venom, but the bastard never moves alone, and giving Dyta enough manpower to overcome his detail couldn't possibly go unnoticed.
'This incident has dealt a huge blow to his reputation, but depending on how he deals with the issue, Velan might even rise to new heights. If my enemy has no weakness, then it's up to me to create one.' Jirni exchanged a grim look with Orion.
She usually didn't involve her husband in her plans because he was too a good man and his conscience wouldn't let him sleep at night. This time, however, his blood ran almost as cold as Jirni's.
Touching their children had been the last drop that had awakened the sleeping dragon. He cared no longer for something as trivial as morality and having Orion's talent at her service opened Jirni countless new possibilities.
As for Onia and Kwart, they had no direct involvement in the attempt on Phloria's life nor with the Undead Courts. Unlike Deirus, their bloodline was safe and they had too much to live for to gamble everything on blind revenge.
Onia wanted solely to have justice for the friends she had lost in Kulah. The Headmistress had helped Deirus because she considered him a means to an end, not an ally. Yet all she had achieved was losing the trust of the White Griffon and a Royal Restrict Order.
She could feel her seat as Headmistress of the Black Griffon slipping from under her ass, just like it had happened to Headmistress Linnea years before. According to some rumors, after running away from the Kingdom, she had literally drowned herself in alcohol.
She had become a cautionary tale among Headmasters, birthing the idiom: "Those who do not swallow their pride choke on their own puke."
Kwart was in the same boat. He had provided Deirus with political support to keep the army from overtaking the Association. Lith's achievements belonged to the army, just like Jirni's, Orion's, and those of most of the Ernas Household.
To him, they were all enemies. He had no personal grudge against them, it was strictly business. Deirus, instead, had become an Archmage by giving the Association his full support over the years so he was Kwart's best bet against the army.
Or so he had thought.
Kwart's life revolved around his work, hence to investigate him meant to investigate the entire Association. Any dirt that would come out, no matter if completely unrelated to the Undead Courts, would hasten its fall.
Chapter 1087 Darkness versus Chaos Part 1
The three Archmages felt their knees so weak that to hide their inability to stand up, they pretended to kneel in a sign of submission.
"Archmage Verhen, thanks to the Mages Ernas we know what happened in the mines. It's up to you to reveal the fate of the two armies." Queen Sylpha said.
Lith told them how he had received Orion's call and then left for the nearest Emperor Beast's lair located near Ynca. To hide Solus's existence and justify his quick travel, he had to use the Beast Warp network as a cover.
"I contacted my master who arranged for my transportation, her own, and that of some helpers." Lith said to justify the presence of the mysterious mages that the survivors had reported.
"I met Kallion Nuragor on the battlefield and after disposing of him, I took care of the dimensional sealing array's core." He used his new mastery over light magic to project a hologram of the entirety of the camp as he remembered it, replaying both his fight with Kallion and Raging Nova.
In his version of the story, only a part of the human battalion had turned traitor while the rest had fought by his side.
Quylla became inwardly green with envy. Her level of Light Mastery was nowhere near Lith's now.
"The spell left me helpless, but without the arrays, my master could Warp away as many people as she could. After that, we left as soon as another of Faluel's disciples rescued the Ernas.
"At that point, the Hydra took us to safety and we spent the following hours to recover from our injuries. I've no idea what happened to the undead or to the rest of the army."
"Outstanding." The Royals nodded in amazement.
"Have you made progress with your Light Mastery and would you be interested in sharing Raging Nova with the Kingdom?" King Meron considered the death of so many valiant soldiers a tragic loss, but an Archmage capable of such feats gave him more reasons to celebrate than to grieve.
"Yes, Your Majesty. While Professor Manohar refused to teach me Light Mastery, Master Faluel found me a tutor." Denying Nalrond's existence was pointless since he had saved most of the people.
Lith chose his words carefully, to make the Royals understand how once again humans had let him down whereas the Beasts supported him unconditionally. It was a big fat lie, but the Kingdom had no way to discover the truth.
Xedros and Scarlett were known Light Masters, making the appearance of a third one hardly a surprise.
"As for my spell, I'm sorry but I have to decline. It's a last resort weapon that cost me countless hours to develop. If I share it, my enemies will know how to counter it." Lith said it while looking straight at Deirus.
The lie would make people believe that Lith could cast Raging Nova anytime he wanted instead that only in the presence of his tower, turning misinformation into a powerful deterrent.
"No need to apologize, Archmage Verhen. We are glad to hear about your success and we regret not being able to help you as well." King Meron inwardly cursed at Manohar for making him lose face compared to the Beasts.
"Mage Verhen, thanks for accompanying your brother. What have you seen on the battlefield?" Queen Sylpha asked.
Tista confirmed Lith's version of the story, claiming that Faluel had brought her and a couple of her disciples to help Lith rescue his friends. The Royals didn't ask to interrogate Protector nor Nalrond because having disguised themselves as Emperor Beasts, they weren't under the Kingdom's jurisdiction.
"Archmage Verhen, Mage Verhen, the Kingdom owes you a debt of gratitude. You will both be rewarded for your deeds and so will be your master. Is there anything in particular you want?" King Meron said.
"At the moment, I'm too busy with my studies to learn new spells. I'm focusing on Runesmithing and to practice it I require several ingredients. I'd like to receive enchanted metals and raw mana crystals.
"I'm developing a new cutting technique that I hope will allow me to bring out more power from the crystals than the one taught at the academy." Lith said.
The last part made no sense to both the Royals and Orion. The crystal cutting technique had been perfected centuries ago and not even geniuses like Manohar had ever found anything wrong with it.
"We can provide you with violet crystals and Orichalcum, but white crystals and Adamant are too precious. Once you have completed your studies, bring us a catalog with the workings you're willing to share.
"If you can give the Kingdom powerful equipment, we'll be glad to trade all kinds of magical resources with you." Queen Sylpha handed Lith the newest catalog that Professor Wanemyre gave to her clients as reference material.
Most of her workings had a price that could be paid in both money or ingredients, while the most powerful could only be paid in magical resources.
"Thanks for Your generosity, Your Majesty." Lith gave her a bow, understanding what she meant.
'Before handing me priceless resources, the Royals just want to make sure that I can tap into the ingredients' full potential and craft unique artifacts. Anyone can claim to be a Master Forgemaster whereas results can't be argued with.' He thought.
"I second my brother's request. I'm following his footsteps as Forgemaster as well, but unlike Healing magic, I can't practice without powerful metals." Tista said.
Tista's request flabbergasted the Royals who cleared their throats in embarrassment while looking at Lith for help. As far as they knew, Tista was nothing much. She had managed to join the Mage Association only thanks to Kwart's attempt to exploit Lith in Othre.
"I can vouch for Mage Verhen." Lith avoided referring to her just as 'his sister', wanting her to escape from his shadow. "She learned Forgemastering from me and has reached a level of mastery above that of any academy student I know."
Lith nudged Tista who projected holograms of her creations while explaining their properties.
The Royals could barely hold the enthusiasm of seeing the third human mage in a single day to perform Light Mastery and having confirmation that Lith's magical legacy would belong to his bloodline.
'Teaching me my ass.' Tista inwardly sighed. 'I learned only the basics from him, everything else I learned from Solus. I hoped to avoid revealing my Light Mastery, but it seems that keeping my talents for myself has both protected and limited me.
'I need to make a name of my own, otherwise I'll always be seen as nothing but Lith's sister. The crystals will empower the tower's mines, but I need Orichalcum to devise my personal Forgemastering technique.'
After Tista, the Royals interrogated Kamila, the staff of the Flying Griffon, and even the personnel of Ynca's military base to determine how quickly the Beasts' Warp network could work.
They assessed that it worked no better than their own, it simply had different access points. Being able to use both the human and the beast network made Lith an even more precious asset.
The Royals decided that it was time to follow the Empire's lead in building a better diplomatic relationship with the Emperor Beasts living in their territory instead of treating them as wild cards.
Chapter 1088 Darkness versus Chaos Part 2
Dusk Court, the same day.
The Hushed King wasn't pleased with the results of the investigation about the events in the Belin mines. The Royals believed that the undead had killed or captured all the members of the battalion sent to protect the expedition, but the reality was much worse.
The Kingdom had lost no battalion whereas the Dusk Court had lost two of them along with countless priceless artifacts. On paper, the Undead Courts had dealt a blow to the Griffon Kingdom, proving their superiority.
The truth, however, was that the undead had never been so weak before. According to his spies, a handful of Emperor Beasts had been enough to wipe out both his armies. Beasts and humans seemed to be on the best of terms for centuries and they had allied against his Court.
To make matters even worse, the Awakened Council couldn't care less about the undead's predicament while the Master's Organization was eating them alive. The number of Eldritch Abominations on the entirety of Mogar barely reached a few dozens, but each one of them could flatten mountains.
The hybrid Eldritchs were even fewer, eight in total, yet the rumors said that every single one of them could go toe to toe with a Guardian and live to tell the tale.
Humans, Beasts, and Abomination had unknowingly combined their efforts, putting the undead up against a wall. In less than two years, the undead invasion from Jiera had turned from the Courts' opportunity to conquer the Garlen continent into a struggle for their survival.
"Why the long face, little brother?" Dawn asked.
The beauty of her meat suit and the radiance she emitted made Dusk's servants cry blood tears. To them, being in her presence was akin to basking into the sunlight again, arousing feelings they believed to have lost centuries ago.
"Why the smile, big sister?" Dusk replied. "The peace talks between the Abominations and the Council are progressing smoothly. Xenagrosh being one of Leegaain's firstborns is only making things worse.
"Soon the Abominations will be recognized as the fifth race and we'll lose the war for good. All Abominations were once fucking Awakened so the Council might side with them and help the hybrids to wipe out all the non-Awakened undead."
He slammed his fist on the Davross's throne with such strength that the resulting shockwave sent everyone but Dawn flying.
"I think you're overreacting." The Bright Day shook her head, making her raven black hair dance under the mystical lights.
"How could a handful of individuals be considered a race? On top of that, why should the Council side with them for such trifle matter?"
"Exactly because there are few of them. If the Council recognizes them as a race, then the situation would be akin to the Undead Courts waging war against all Awakened humans or Emperor Beasts.
"We need to act before it's too late-" Dusk's communication amulet cut him short.
Another one of the Dusk Court's branches in the Gorgon Empire was under attack and its Lord had forwarded a distress call.
"We need help! A Dragon is making short work of our arrays with its flames. The moment our barriers crumble we'll die. It's still noon and most of our members can't even move." Lyra, the Blood Witch said.
"That does it!" Dusk slammed his fist against his throne again, but this time it produced no sound.
The Davross turned liquid and wrapped around his Lich host's body, shapeshifting into both a full blood-red armor and a double-headed ax. Dusk locked the arrays of his throne room onto those of the Tarmen branch of the Undead Court and Warped to the rescue.
"By the Red Mother." He said, witnessing the majestic Shadow Dragon standing over 30 meters (100 feet) tall while she ripped through tons of earth and enchanted stone blocks with her bare claws.
Xenagrosh's four yellow eyes studied the barrier, using Origin Flames to probe its resistance and look for weak spots.
Dusk had no time to waste with banter and unleashed his tier four Gravity Magic spell, Collapsed Star. It raised the gravity surrounding Xenagrosh of one hundredfold, making her bones and organs collapse under their own weight.
Even the outstanding might of a Dragon was helpless against the laws of physics and Xenagrosh would have pooped her own spine if not for her innate abilities.
Shadow Dragons could alter their density at will, allowing her to lessen the gravitational pull long enough to dispel Collapsed Star by shrouding her body with a burst of Origin Flames that she released from her skin instead than from her mouth.
"Nice to meet you again, Dusk. I thought you were dead. You should've stayed that way." Xenagrosh roared as she unleashed a perfect replica of Collapsed Star upon the underground building.
'Damn! I had completely forgotten that she's Leegaain's blood. Xenagrosh was already able to imitate most spells after seeing them a few times back when she was still an Abomination.
'Becoming an Eldritch must have resurrected her draconic nature and enhanced her learning ability.' Dusk only had a handful of seconds before the building imploded, killing all those he had come to save.
Instead of feeding new spells to Xenagrosh, he wielded his ax with both hands and charged at her faster than a bullet. His host body belonged to a Lich and an Awakened at that.
The undead's physical prowess was already superior to that of all other races with the same body mass, but Liches took things up another notch. Not only were Liches able to manipulate their own body with their mind just like Baba Yaga's children, but they could also use turn mana into life force to temporarily increase their mass.
Dusk's slash struck at Xenagrosh as if he weighed several tons, easily ripping through her thick scales and opening a deep wound that went from her stomach to the left shoulder.
The raw strength of the attack produced a shockwave akin to an air blade that cut through the exposed flesh and ripped the tip of her left wing to shreds.
Xenagrosh didn't even flinch, letting her troll half heal the cut so quickly that by the time her fist struck at Dusk who was still in mid-air, the wound had almost disappeared.
'That's new.' Dusk thought while he crashed through the barrier protecting the underground base. 'The last time we faced, one swing of my ax, Firebrand, sent her running. Back then I failed to kill her only because of those damned Chaos spells.
'Not only becoming an Eldritch restored her draconic abilities, but somehow Xenagrosh has also obtained regenerative abilities on par with a Ghoul.'
Dusk's rage burned so fiercely that it boosted the red light of undeath in his eyes, turning them into two small stars. All of Baba Yaga's children hated Abominations because they often fought for the territory or the food, but Dusk was an exception.
He hated them more than anyone else.
Not only Abominations were capable of using all six elements, but they also had access to Chaos magic, something that the undead lacked. The Red Sun would often draw comparisons between the two races and found his own wanting.
'Baba Yaga created us from the necromantic energy of darkness magic, making it an integral part of our lives. Then why are those pretenders that even Mogar itself abandoned the only ones that can use Chaos magic? It should be us undead, instead!' Dusk thought.
Chapter 1089 Darkness versus Chaos Part 3
Dusk couldn't accept that an inferior creature like Xenagrosh who just a few centuries before was nothing but a puppy in front of his might now dared to stand her ground and fight him on equal footing.
'Mom was right.' Dawn looked at the fight from Dusk's throne room.
'Whoever the Master is, they are not to be underestimated. My little brother still has the upper hand, but there are just three of us and we Horsemen are the closest ones to perfection among Mom's creations.
'Abominations are few in numbers, but if they all reach this level of power, then the balance will be upset.'
"Let's see how dumb you are." The fist of an adult Dragon packed enough punch that even a Davross armor couldn't fully protect its wearer from the shockwaves the blunt impact produced.
A normal person would have his internal organs shaking so much that they wouldn't be able to stand up for a while, but Xenagrosh knew that Dusk inhabited a Lich. Undead had no use for internal organs, so he would stand up the moment he stopped bouncing on the walls of the underground building.
She used that time to cast her tier five dimensional spell, Sealed Space. It was Leegaain's trademark anti-Lich weapon that sealed the surrounding area and cut off the undead from his phylactery, halving their combat strength.
Yet after completing the spell, Xenagrosh perceived that Dusk's power didn't change.
"I can't believe you're this stupid!" Her laugh made the ground tremble and more rocks fell onto the barrier, creating ripples upon impact. "You brought your phylactery along, good to know."
Xenagrosh took a deep breath and hurled a raging stream of violet Origin Flames that pierced through the barriers. The pillar of fire was so dense that it hit the Red Sun with the force of a speeding train.
"Enough!" Dusk roared as the red energy from the crystal embedded in the Lich's chest enveloped his surroundings. "I can't believe an inferior being such as you has forced me to use my true strength!"
Shame and outrage fought for dominance, ravaging what was left of Dusk's pride. Between his equipment and the powerful Lich who was his host, only an army of Awakened or a Guardian could force him to employ his innate abilities.
Yet if he didn't, the Undead Court's base and all those inside it would have died.
While his sisters were bound to the elements of order and destruction, representing the beginning and the end of all life cycles, Dusk was the Red Sun. He embodied which was in between birth and death, life.
His nature gave Dusk absolute mastery over the seventh element of magic and over all the powers that came from it. It took him a considerable amount of strength and willpower, but the Horseman managed to tame the Origin Flames and sent them back against the shocked Xenagrosh.
'Did Dusk just take control of my Origin Flames or was that Domination?' She thought while searing pain ravaged her body as it burned even faster than her troll regeneration could fix.
Unlike normal spells, Origin Flames could hurt even their own maker and Dusk had further boosted their power by adding his own life force to the mix after using his innate ability that imitated Domination's effects.
"Don't be surprised, yet. I'm far from finished." The world energy around Dusk started to crackle.
Silver lighting bolts typical of a Griffon's Life Maelstrom struck at Xenagrosh, making her fall to her knees to resist the spasms. Dusk could not only control pure mana and life force, but also mix his own with the world energy to reproduce all the innate attacks of the Guardians' bloodlines.
"Guess what? So am I!" Xenagrosh knew that one day the Organization would be forced to face the Horsemen.
It had never been a matter of if, only of when. The good thing of pooling together the strongest and oldest Eldritch Abominations on Mogar was that there was little they didn't know and even less they couldn't create.
They had created the tier five Chaos Spell, World Severance, exactly for an occasion like that. The flames and the lightning bolts disappeared as Dusk could feel there was something wrong with Mogar.
He tried to conjure his tier five spell, Firefly, but the moment the fire and air elements started to form the spell, the space around Dusk froze, encasing him into a block of ice, while the ground wrapped him in a deadly vise.
"Eat this!" A tier four Chaos spell, Howling Void, struck at Dusk's helpless figure.
The black spear made his ax, Firebrand, fly off his hands and left an ugly mark on the Davross armor. Xenagrosh wasn't an undead. Her living body needed nutrients after healing such heavy wounds and using too many powerful spells in a row would put a strain on her body.
Dusk, instead, only needed living beings in his vicinity to have access to their life forces and had the Lich's phylactery with him. It granted him endless vigor and a steady source of mana that would last much longer than her own.
A mere thought brought Firebrand back to him, yet the moment Dusk tried to conjure his legendary spell, Night End, a blinding light enveloped him. Severed from its darkness counterpart, the light element ate at both the Horseman and his equipment, bringing him to his knees.
"Stop using magic, you moron!" Dawn came to his rescue before it was too late.
"It's not her, it's you. Her spell severed the world energy in its six components, so whenever you call upon an element, you create an imbalance that strikes at you with a force equal to the spell you conjured but of the opposite element.
"Chaos magic is not affected because it's just pure darkness."
"Oh my! Two Horsemen? Such a pity." Xenagrosh's voice oozed sarcasm, sending a shiver down the siblings' back.
The sight of one Horseman was enough to make any sane creature run away, but two at the same time were akin to a natural disaster. Yet Xenagrosh seemed to have no intention of running away.
A blazing hammer struck Dawn's lovely face, ripping off her jaw. A second hit her chest, making cracks spread along her crystal armor. A third disarmed her, and more followed like a pouring hail of enchanted Davross.
Menadion's Fury's ability, Hammerfall, had yet to disappoint Bytra. Any other opponent would have been pummelled into meat paste before the weapon returned to her hand whereas both Horsemen were just severely injured.
"It's not nice messing with someone else's fight nor revealing their secrets. Why do you think I just stood there without doing anything?" Sunlight reflected on Bytra's silver hair, making her look like a fairy out of the legends.
'I guess the Master's buddy system just saved my ass.' Xenagrosh thought.
'I asked Bytra to step aside to put my new power to the test against someone who humiliated me in the past, but I never expected Dawn to arrive. Otherwise, I would have not played this long.'
"It's not nice attacking someone's back either." Dawn unleashed a pillar of light that destroyed the copies of Menadion's Fury before splitting in two and chasing her enemies.
Chapter 1090 Darkness versus Chaos Part 4
"One sibling controls life and the other is a Light Master. I guess your reputation is well-earned." Bytra could use neither and even in her long life, she had rarely met a master of such rare disciplines.
Even after Dawn had split the beam into two, each one of them was still big enough to vaporize Bytra's human body and so fast that even with her mastery of the air element she could barely dodge the spell in the nick of time.
"Don't fool around and watch out for the second beam!" Xenagrosh warned Bytra while raising two hills from the ground to block both the blazing light and the freezing darkness rays.
Xenagrosh's spell, World Severance, had produced a second energy beam comprised of the opposite elements. Unlike Dusk, Dawn didn't let the split energies run wild and turned them into a weapon, doubling the power of her attack.
"Oh fuck!" Bytra found herself between a rock and a hard place, with no way out.
She conjured the tier five Chaos spell, Hungry Void, that created a black sphere around her. The barrier fed upon both pillars, leaving Bytra unscathed.
'We need to take them out one at a time. As long as Menadion's bitch stays behind her barrier, she can't attack us.' Dawn said to Night through their mind link.
'Agreed. The problem is that I don't have the ability to control the other elements with such precision. I have to improvise.' Dusk inwardly cursed at World Severance for negating most of his host's abilities.
Luckily for him, the Red Sun was the master of the seventh element and pure mana had no counterpart that World Severance could mess up with. He activated the tier five Spirit Magic spell, Manastorm.
He traced in the air an arc of emerald green light with his right forefinger. The crescent moon-shaped energy mass released a barrage of emerald bullets made of pure mana, each one with the power of a cannonball.
The attack was so quick and powerful that it pushed Xenagrosh against the wall while also hammering at Hungry Void to keep Bytra from stepping out of it. Yet the Raiju didn't choose to stay behind her barrier out of fear.
As soon as her spell had taken form, Bytra had started chanting. Abominations were true mages hence she didn't need her voice to conjure a spell. Her song was different from that of a Guardian, yet it could still affect the world energy around her.
The Song of Undoing spread through the air and resonated through Xenagrosh's body. It made her stronger and she made it stronger as the two Abominations' energy signatures became more in synch by the second.
A black pillar erupted from their bodies and Mogar responded by producing an even bigger black pillar from both the heavens and the ground that enveloped the two women just like the day they had become Eldritch.
'What the heck is going on?' Dusk conjured another spell while his sister did the same.
They were almost done when a third black pillar appeared, soon followed by a fourth.
'There's no time for questions, just kill her!' The Bright Day unleashed her tier five spell, Daybreak, the same moment that the Red Sun unleashed his tier five Spirt spell, World Crusher.
Daybreak, its darkness counterpart, and World Crusher were aimed at Xenagrosh and strong enough to kill her. Yet Dawn's spells were suddenly swallowed by a black fissure in space, hitting Dusk at point-blank range while the Dusk's Spirt spell struck at her from behind.
The Horsemen doubled over in pain as Bytra, Xenagrosh, and a third unknown opponent rained down Chaos spells upon them.
"Thanks for calling me. I've been itching to put my new Endless Night to the test." Tezka, the Abomination-Warg hybrid, was a powerful dimensional mage.
His right hand released the tier five Chaos array, Chaos Dimension. Grey specks of light filled the underground cave, making it impossible to use dimensional magic unless it used Chaos instead of darkness and tipping the balance in favor of the Abominations even more.
The Song of Undoing had triggered the Eldritch Tune, making each one of the Abominations a dimensional focal point that allowed the other members of the Organization to locate and reach them as if they used a Warp Gate.
"You dare call for reinforcements? This was a one-on-one fight, you have no honor!" Dusk conjured a pillar of Origin Flames to protect both himself and Dawn from the onslaught.
"First, it's your sister who messed with Xenagrosh's fight. Second, who cares about honor? We're not here to win a medal but to kill you all." Bytra giggled as a fifth and a sixth black pillar appeared.
'We have to run! Those things are not there for ambiance, they are creating an array. The moment it's completed, we're dead!' Dusk said through the mind link.
'Don't worry, that little wench and I had the same idea.' Dawn focused all of her energy into a burst of light element that, together with its dark twin spawned by World Severance, weakened Chaos Dimension's effect.
The blast attacked the array from the inside while a wave of black mist attacked it from the outside, unlocking dimensional magic again.
The Black Night had received Dawn's distress call and had thought to be in for a treat. Yet when she noticed the caliber and the number of enemies they were against, she just grabbed her siblings and Warped away.
'Sorry, guys. My new host is still a barely Awakened weakling and I have yet to reforge my equipment after it got destroyed. I wouldn't last a second against one of those hybrids in a fair fight, let alone when they outnumber us.'
Night's feeling of shame disappeared when a seventh black pillar appeared, completing a magic formation shaped like the Big Dipper that suppressed all forms of energy but Chaos.
'You did well, sister.' The Bright Day was still healing from her wounds.
The thought of what might have happened if they had remained there for a second longer sent shivers down her spine.
'Today the three Horsemen were defeated, and it wasn't a Guardian who sent us with our tail between our legs.' Dusk still couldn't believe that despite the help of his sisters he had been so easily defeated.
'First Dawn got her ass handed to her by that Verhen guy, then it was my turn with that heartless bastard of Balkor, and now this. Dusk is right, we must do something about those hybrids.' Night didn't feel threatened so much as thrilled at the idea.
An eternal life and nigh unlimited powers made her easily bored. Having found so many playmates that could survive a few good hits made her smile from ear to ear.
***
A couple of months later, Faluel's lair.
Each member of Lith's group studied on their own and since they each progressed at their own pace, they would rarely take lessons together. The only exceptions were the Shapeshifting, Forgemastering, and the history of Mogar lessons.
To survive outside human civilization, where Emperor Beasts, Fae, and Awakened ruled, the knowledge about the customs that all members of the Council followed were vital.
"As the last part of today's lesson, we'll cover a few topics I mentioned during our first lesson but that I didn't waste time to explain because they are more lore than facts." Faluel said.
Chapter 1091 Facts and Legends Part 1
During that lesson, Faluel taught them how to recognize the signs indicating the residence of a local Awakened Lord and how to ask for their assistance. On top of that, she also instructed them about all the rules of the Council to which strictly abide while interacting with an Awakened before moving to a more interesting subject.
"According to lore, a violet core is not the most powerful that an Awakened can refine. Some people claim that it's possible to achieve a white core and that it can bestow upon its owner not just a long life like it happens for normal Awakened, but eternal youth.
"According to those rumors, Baba Yaga is one of the few known Awakened who has mastered the secrets of the white core. Sadly, there is no way to verify such claims because Baba Yaga never lets anyone use Invigoration on her and she is quite elusive."
"Then why do people think she has a white core?" Lith asked.
"Because even an Awakened Dragon doesn't live as long as she did, nor can afford to fight seriously against a Guardian and live to tell the tale. Baba Yaga is so ancient that she met all the six original Guardians and she gave birth to all the greater undead that live on Mogar.
"They are so many and they lived among us for so long that even though they are an artificial race created by her necromantic powers, the undead are now recognized as one of the four races."
The Ernas sisters had met Baba Yaga in person, making everything Faluel said about her feel more like a fact rather than a legend.
"Before moving back to the white core, what can you tell us about her? Is the legend about her true or just a myth?" Phloria asked.
"Do you mean the story about her going into seclusion and coming out centuries later just to find Mogar changed beyond recognition? Because that's just a cautionary tale that Baba Yaga spread herself to teach mages the value of their time.
"The problem with beings so ancient is that most of the information we have about them is only what they want us to know. All I can tell you is that she was already there when the Guardians were worshipped as gods and that she learned from them, becoming one of their priestesses.
"Even though her race of origin is unknown, it seems that at a time she underwent several world tribulations. Plants, humans, and even undead hope this story to be true because it would mean that even them can become Guardians." Faluel said.
"What about Lith?" Quylla asked.
"Lith is part Emperor Beast so he doesn't count." Faluel shook her head. "As I was saying, Mogar had chosen her as a potential Guardian candidate and it's because of this that Baba Yaga allegedly entered into seclusion.
"Tribulations only happen when you face events that shake your very soul, so a quiet life means no chances of tribulations. This way, she managed to reach the white core that made Baba Yaga not only eternally young, but also powerful enough to escape Mogar's will and fight on par with the Guardians."
Seeing her class gasp in amazement and a dangerous light appear in Lith's eyes, the Hydra rushed to say:
"Please, take my words with a load of salt. They are legends that might likely be spread by Baba Yaga herself to be left alone. The only people that know the truth are Baba Yaga and the Guardians who allegedly fought against her."
"Speaking of facts, instead, Baba Yaga is one of the few living mages who knows how to craft a mage tower and how to dismantle an enchanted item to upgrade it without having to redo it from scratch by using something called Creation Magic.
"According to lore, she enhanced both her tower and her Horsemen so many times that they gained the ability to upgrade themselves. It's the reason why the Horsemen are so powerful and have been tasked with finding a solution to the undead's weak points.
"Unlike other cursed objects whose abilities are fixed at the moment they were crafted, the Horseman can alter themselves just like they alter their hosts or their chosen.
"As for the white core, I can only tell you what I know for sure. A white core is more powerful than a violet. Through the ages, Awakened belonging to all races and even Eldritch Abominations have tried to capture Baba Yaga several times.
"They were all considered experts with bright violet cores, yet they always failed. Even the Awakened offspring of the Guardians never managed to subdue her, not even after luring Baba Yaga away from her tower.
"Just to be clear, like us lesser Dragons are better than normal Emperor Beasts so the pure bloodline is better than us. An Awakened Dragon that reaches a bright violet core can be considered as powerful as a natural disaster, yet they fared no better than anyone else.
"On top of that, only in rare occasions did Baba Yaga kill one of her pursuers. Why she shows mercy or not is something no one knows. Based on those facts, the Council thinks that she has a white core that grants her power far greater than violet but inferior to that of a Guardian.
"It might actually be similar, especially if Baba Yaga fights nearby her mage tower, but again, it's just speculation. Whenever Baba Yaga and a Guardian fought, she always ran away after a few exchanges.
"If you ask me, I think that it's only thanks to the tower that she didn't get obliterated. Guardians have too great of a power to be challenged by a single person. Moreover, if she really was that strong, she would have built a country for her children." Faluel said.
"Is a mage tower that good?" Phloria tried and failed to not sneak a glance at Solus.
"No. It's much better." Faluel's words made everyone clench their teeth and hands to not look at Lith in awe.
"A mage tower is like an extension of its master, boosting their abilities past their limits with no side effects. In close proximity of their tower, a mage can outmatch several of their peers at the same time with ease and even defeat someone stronger, better equipped, or both.
"A mage with a tower is feared by everyone, even by violet cored Phoenixes or Dragons. At the same time, however, a mage with a tower is also constantly the victim of ploys to get them away from their tower and kill them.
"Mage towers are like any other artifact, once their owner is dead, they are up for the taking."
"Is that the reason why we never heard about mage towers except in legends?" Tista asked.
"Indeed. Ripha Menadion was the last mage to successfully craft her tower. She never hid it or shied away from any challenge, and look how she ended. We don't know how she died, but it didn't happen of old age, that's for sure." Faluel sighed.
"What do you mean? If a mage tower is that powerful, how could Menadion possibly be defeated?" Lith had waited years to ask this question without it arousing suspicions.
"The same way most violet cored individuals die, be them Awakened or not. Killed by those they trusted the most.
Chapter 1092 Facts and Legends Part 2
"Why do you think Spirit Magic spells and advanced Runesmithing aren't taught to the student until the master is about to pass away?
"Because they are the two disciplines that allow to cast the strongest spells and craft the most powerful weapons. Once the student-master gap becomes too small, the only thing that a disgruntled apprentice needs to kill their more skilled mentor is a moment of distraction.
"No matter how powerful a tower is, if it doesn't recognize your aggressor as an enemy, it's no better than the armor that you left in your closet.
"Powerful mages don't die dramatically on the battlefield at the hand of their century-long nemeses. They die pitifully while taking a dump, at the hand of their own children or of those who they considered as such.
"Why do you think the children of the Guardians only trust their Harbingers?" Faluel said while looking at Friya.
"How many known mage towers and white cored individuals are there on Mogar?" Friya rushed to change the topic. With her life more on the line with each passing day, the word Harbinger sounded awfully like "death" to her.
"Unknown. As I said before, unless you use Invigoration on someone, you can't see their core. The closest person to a white core might be Thrud Griffon. Arthan's Madness refined her body in a way even the Council doesn't understand.
"She possesses the only rainbow core in Mogar's history. As for the towers, those who have them don't share the information easily, and unfortunately, there is no known crafting method.
"Even ancient bloodlines like mine are still looking for an answer. Now, enough with legends and let's get back to facts. One thing that non-Awakened ignore is the existence of the Fringes.
"Fringes are natural spatial distortions that are inaccessible with conventional means. We could have one right here in the Trawn woods and never notice it. Fringes can be considered akin to a storage space, but they accept living beings and time flows normally.
"No matter how many access points a Fringe has, inside it can be as big as a village, a city, or even as the entire Distar Marquisate." Faluel looked at her students one by one, lingering on Nalrond only for a split second longer than for the others.
'Damn, she knows for sure that my village was located inside a Fringe.' He thought. 'I wonder if I made a mistake by asking her to become my mentor. There's no telling if the Hydra is really that kind or if she just has a hidden agenda like everyone else.'
"It's fascinating, but I fail to see their point." Lith said. "I mean, what is their purpose and why they can't be found?"
"Mogar doesn't play favorites, but it's most certainly alive. Like all living beings, it suffers from loneliness and sometimes it likes to tinker with its creations. Fringes are places where Mogar's will takes physical form, allowing it to communicate.
"I've never been inside a Fringe, but my grandmother did. According to her, only those who are in tune with Mogar can access a Fringe, no matter if they're good or bad.
"Also, it uses them as protected habitats for species that might not survive in the outside world but that Mogar thinks they have yet to fulfill their role." Faluel said, looking at Lith first and then Nalrond.
'Interesting. Maybe Mogar has taken an interest in hybrids way before my arrival since Werepeople have been created centuries ago. It would also explain why some species like elves are considered a myth but Zolgrish used one of their children to create Ratpack.' Lith thought.
'The Lich's small assistant was capable of seeing Solus's human appearance even when she was in her ring form. If elves live inside a Fringe, then he must have also inherited their affinity toward the planet.
'That moron of a Lich had the key to the Fringes all along yet he considers Ratpack's vision nothing more than childish daydreams!'
"Fringes are places where the boundaries between the physical and the spiritual world are paper-thin. You can scry Mogar's mind to study the past, observe the present, and even catch a glimpse of future events.
"On top of that, according to my grandmother, you can call upon Mogar and ask the planet questions to which it answers." Faluel said.
"On the other hand, to communicate with Mogar's will implies to draw its attention on you and receive its judgment. If Mogar sees something or someone it doesn't like, it destroys it.
"My grandmother didn't seek an audience with the planet because most of those who succeed don't live to tell the tale. She felt already lucky for having learned many things just by breathing in world energy containing Mogar's memories."
By the end of the lesson, Friya couldn't stop daydreaming about creating her own Fringe. A mix between a dimensional palace and a mage tower where she would be akin to a god.
Everyone wanted to get back at Lith's mage tower, wishing to learn about it as much as they could.
"Be my guests." Lith said with a sneer. "It's not like I had years and the means to study it at the best of my abilities."
"Yeah, we both tried to understand how the tower works and how to hasten my recovery, but to no avail." Solus sighed.
"Well, you have Invigoration, but you surely lack Forgemastery spells." Quylla took her silvery wand out of her dimensional item. "Can you imagine how cool would it be if all of us had our own tower?"
"Since we're dreaming, I want mine equipped with a hot stud instead of Solus." Friya's voice oozed sarcasm.
"Wait, do you already know spells that allow you to study artifacts?" Lith suddenly felt like hiding all of his creations.
"Well, duh! It was the first thing Dad taught us after gifting us our wands. This way we can both recognize powerful items at flea markets and not get conned when we shop from a Forgemaster." Phloria said.
"We do?" Friya cursed at herself for never listening to a word about Forgemastering in the past.
"There's no need to hide your creations, Lith." Quylla recognized his paranoid look. "We never studied your stuff and we're not going to try our spells on Solus unless both of you give us your permission."
Lith and Solus exchanged a quick glance before nodding in unison.
Phloria and Quylla started to chant while Friya took out her wand as well and tried to memorize their actions. The Royal Forgemaster wands emitted silvery strands that seeped through the stone of the tower's walls.
Solus could feel several safety measures trying to lash out at the invaders, but she kept them from triggering.
'It seems that Lith and I are the only ones who can safely study the tower's power core-'
Suddenly Solus could see in front of her eyes some kind of administrator control panel. Their friends were marked as guests, with free access to open rooms but forbidden from altering anything inside the tower.
'After hearing Faluel's words, I don't feel like disabling the safety measures for anyone. This way even if our enemies slip a slave ring on our friends, no one could harm us in here.' She thought.
"Gods, I can't see anything. It's all blurred out." Quylla said.
Chapter 1093 Trust Issues Part 1
"I can't see the tower core either. It must be one of those cloaking spells that Forgemasters use to hide their secrets. Can you turn them off, Solus?" Phloria asked.
Solus shared the control panel with Lith and both browsed it for a while, trying to make sense of the various options.
'I thought you were supposed to know by instinct what each floor does.' Lith thought.
'And so did I. Maybe as my core recovers, I get part of my memories back. If I was Menadion's apprentice, this tower was both my academy and my home. Yet only the master of the tower could access this kind of features, that's why I have no recollection of them.
'On top of that, they might be available now only because the tower's pseudo core has finally recovered a bit of its power.' She replied.
Before Solus obtained her energy body, using Invigoration on the tower would only reveal her weakened human core. Now, however, the breathing technique would also reveal the power core that fueled the tower and kept her damaged life essence in check.
"Sorry, I can't. I didn't even know such a thing was possible. I'll give it a try later." Solus said.
"If you want to stay here, be my guests." Lith said while checking his pocket watch. "Kamila is waiting for me. I'm bringing her out on a date tonight."
He was so tired that had to use Invigoration while yawning to not fall asleep on the spot.
"Wow, did you really managed to make time for her despite our crazy schedule?" Friya envied Kamila's guts, wishing to have a decent boyfriend.
"Yeah. Between my cracked life force, the tribulations, and the fact that if I fail Faluel's test I might die, I don't feel like having so many regrets. Back when I was younger and my life flashed in front of my eyes during a near death experience, the good moments were drowned by bad stuff and work.
"I love magic and I love power, but those alone don't make you happy."
'Agreed. You've spent so much time working that if someone were to recap your life, you would be a catchy music short of it resembling a training montage or an AMV.' Solus chuckled.
Lith's words reminded everyone that Faluel's test was imminent. The Hydra wouldn't trust them with any more knowledge unless they proved worthy of it. Phoria's destiny was bound to Lith, but everyone else was in his same boat.
"Lith is right." Nalrond said. "Whatever Faluel asks us to do, it won't be a walk in the park. I don't want to spend my last moments buried under a pile of books or changing diapers. I want to make some good memories."
The girls felt embarrassed, expecting Nalrond to ask one of them out.
"I'm going to ask Brina out. She seems a nice girl and she doesn't look at me in a funny way because of the color of my skin. Lith, is there someplace nice where I could bring her?" Nalrond said.
Brina was the baker's daughter and part of Tista's shut-in club, a group of youths who for some reason had spent most of their early life in isolation, just like her. For Tista it had been her congenital disease while Brina had lost a few fingers and burned her right arm while helping her parents with the oven.
Lith had restored her body after learning tier four magic and now she worked in Rena's house as her lady's maid.
"You're lucky that Lutia has grown a lot ever since I became a Great Mage. Before then, there was just the local tavern, and bringing her to Derios with dimensional magic would have been a huge show-off on your side.
"I recommend you the Heavenly Wolf restaurant. The owner invited me and Kamila for the opening and it was a bit rustic but cozy place. The food is also pretty good. Tell them that I sent you and they'll give you their best table." Lith said.
"Thanks, man. Any advice? I've been out of the game for a long time and I don't want to come in too strong." Nalrond felt embarrassed, but he was afraid of making blunders due to the different customs of the Kingdom.
"Just keep calm and avoid showing off magic or speaking about the future. Mentioning kids or future plans that don't involve just yourself on a first date is a deal-breaker." Lith replied.
"Are you really going to ask Brina out? You barely know her." Tista asked the moment she managed to pick up her jaw from the floor.
"Yeah. You feel a bit out of my league and your brother scares me. Quylla already has a suitor and her baggage seems as heavy as mine. Friya is pretty, but she's way too self-conscious of that while Phloria would clearly spend the evening talking to me but thinking about someone else. Bye!" Nalrond Warped back home to change his clothes and get some money.
'I'm so glad that Lith's silver mines are starting to pay off. It would have been very awkward to ask Selia for money, being forced to explain how much and why I needed it.' He thought.
Before his apprenticeship with Faluel started, Nalrond had worked as a full-time babysitter for Selia. Even though she had often offered to pay him, Nalrond had always refused because he considered Protector's family as his own and because after renovating Selia's old house they were short on money.
Luckily, Zolgrish the Lich had been true to his word. His armies of lesser undead had worked to open the silver mines near Jambel as soon as Lith had been granted its ownership by the Griffon Kingdom.
Thanks to their relentless labor and expertise, it had taken the legion of skeletons just a few months to dig their way to the silver veins and even recover some of the old tunnels. Lith had no idea how lesser undead could be such skilled miners and engineers, nor did he care.
'Either Zolgrish studied the subject and has passed them part of his knowledge like I would have done, or he must have linked some poor soul to his minions. Whatever it is, as long as I get my 50% share of silver, I'm okay.' That was Lith's opinion on the matter.
Solus warped the tower near Derios, the capital of the Distar Marquisate, and from there Lith went to Valeron. For security reasons, those days Jirni and Kamila spent most of their time there while investigating Archmage Deirus, Balkor's mysterious return, and the incident of the Feymar mines.
Oddly enough, Balkor's case was the weakest of the three, no matter how much time and effort they poured into it.
"Archon Ernas, Royal Constable Yehval, I hope you're done with your job because I'm about to lose my reservation." Lith walked inside the room under the steady gaze of the Royal Guards placed at the four corners of the room.
Each one of them was a veteran mage wearing a Royal Fortress armor. A Griffon-shaped artifact that bestowed upon its wearer might similar to Tyris's bloodline.
"I call bullshit." Jirni grunted while checking some papers and interrogating one of her sources on her army amulet. "Your reservation is not up for another hour. By the way, nice to meet you Lith."
Chapter 1094 Trust Issues Part 2
"No, I mean, yes, I mean, how the heck do you know that?" Lith replied.
"Security reasons. What do you need all that time for?" Jirni said.
"Well, after working all day I like to-" Kamila attempted to say.
"I'm just messing with you, child." Jirni laughed for the first time in days and that made it even creepier than usual. "Go out and have fun. The paperwork can wait until tomorrow. Deirus has left no breadcrumbs that we might follow anyway."
Jirni Ernas was Phloria's mother and the most relentless, cunning predator Lith had ever met. Hearing Jirni praising her opponent made Lith regret that saving Phloria from her Awakening didn't leave him enough time to interrogate Kallion before killing him.
"Is it that bad?" He asked.
"Worse, it's exactly as he promised me. Deirus never made a misstep, never violated the law, nor did he associate with shady characters. So far, my hands are tied." She sighed.
Lith and Kamila left the room while Jirni stared at the documents over and over in the hope to notice a detail that she had missed up to that point.
"What's with the tight security? I thought you two worked alone unless there was a concrete threat to your lives." Lith asked while they crossed the Warp Gate to Belius.
"We did, but after the attempt on Phloria's life, Orion has asked Royal Guards to follow Jirni everywhere. She's no mage, and even with the quickest response time, reinforcements would take too long to reach our position." Kamila said.
Jirni could take on many humans on her own, even mages. Undead and their thralls, however, were a different story. Without a potion, not even Jirni could keep up with their speed and physical prowess. It would take them seconds to kill her.
Back to their home, Kamila needed half an hour to shower and prepare for their dinner. They spent the rest of the time before their reservation taking a walk and watching the sundown together.
It was almost summer and the days grew longer and warmer.
"Gods, after sitting all day I needed to stretch my legs. If it keeps up like this, my butt will become flat." Kamila wore a light jacket over a short-sleeved sky-blue shirt and grey pants.
"I hear you. Between lessons and self-study, I'm afraid that I'm getting soft." Lith sighed.
"Don't worry, you're doing great." Kamila said after a quick grope of his arms, chest, and ass.
"I was joking. Did you really need to do that?"
"No, but after such a boring day it sure got my blood pumping." She said with a laugh.
They reached a restaurant that Jirni had recommended to them, the Phoenix's Nest. Lith's deep blue Archmage robe and Jirni's name had guaranteed them the best table. It was located in front of a panoramic window with a view into the inner garden of the establishment.
It allowed the customer to dine while enjoying the songs of the many birds that inhabited the place and the smell of the freshly watered flowers. Their table was also more spaced from the others, giving them privacy.
The Phoenix's Nest didn't use magic lights, only candles. The dim light both created a romantic ambiance and made it hard for customers to see what was happening at a nearby table.
"Do you like it here?" Lith asked while estimating how expensive the silverware and the gold-veined porcelain plates were.
"Very. Living in Belius and moving from city to city to investigate people doesn't leave me much time to smell the roses. Thanks for remembering how much I like flowers." Kamila held his hand while looking Lith in the eyes and giving him the sweetest smile.
The Phoenix's Nest was way more romantic and expensive than the places they usually dined at. All those attentions flattered her, especially knowing Lith's stinginess. Yet they also worried her.
'Lith brings me to a nice place every time he gives me bad news or reveals one of his secrets to me. Please, gods, let this just be a good night.' She thought.
"You are welcome. I felt the need to get away from work and stay away from all those damn leeches. This is the first opportunity I got to celebrate the income from the silver mines and I don't want to 'casually' meet pests." Lith replied.
"Is it that bad?" Kamila asked.
"Yes. Climbing the ranks of the Mage Association caused me no trouble because my income was kept secret and everyone knows I'm not a kind man. The silver mines, however, aren't something that can be hidden.
"Ever since the mining operations started, I discovered how numerous and scattered my family was. Flocks of relatives I've never met or even heard about came to Lutia begging for money, hoping to exploit my parents' good heart during my absence.
"Unluckily for them, poverty made all of us quite unforgiving. My father remembers well all those he asked for help in the past to cover for Tista's treatments and gives them as much as they did. Zero.
"As for my mother, she's come to appreciate the many magical beasts who usually sleep on our lawn and she often unleashes them to chase away those who don't take a no for an answer."
"Did your parents say anything about me?" Kamila tried to act cool, but swallowed out of nervousness.
The silver mines made Lith even richer and set them further apart. She feared that his family might question her feelings and consider her just another leech.
"Of course they did. They told me to stop hoarding money and buy you something nice." Lith replied.
"Please, don't. I've got my job and I like to pay for my own stuff."
"Kami, stop worrying like that. My parents would have proposed in my stead months ago if they could. They love you." Lith cursed his own insensitivity.
Every time they spoke about money, Kamila's smile disappeared and she acted awkwardly.
"Do you mind if we change the subject?" She said while hiding behind the wine menu.
"Fine. I'm curious, what can you tell me about your ex-boyfriends?" Lith's words made her drop the menu and the plates clatter when she tried to catch it.
"Why the sudden interest? You never asked me about them before."
"Kami, I consider your body like a temple and I have no interest in knowing the men who shared with me the mystical experiences it has to offer. Yet since I started spending time with Phloria again, you wanted to know all about us.
"It's only fair for you to share a bit of your past and help me understand why sometimes you feel so insecure about our relationship." Lith said.
Kamila laughed heartily at the joke, but turned serious again the moment he mentioned her trust issues.
"Okay." She took a few deep breaths, using the time while the waiter served them the wild mushroom risotto and red wine they had ordered to calm down.
"I don't feel comfortable talking about them and once you take the drama away, there isn't much to tell, but you have the right to know." She sighed.
"My parents enforced a strict discipline on me and Zin, to keep us 'pure' and more valuable for our arranged marriages. Men can fool around freely, but if a young girl doesn't take precautions, she's the one paying the price both their stupidity."
Chapter 1095 Double Date Part 1
"Long story short, after joining the army I met this wonderful boy, Kron. He belonged to a rich merchant family and aimed to climb the army ranks to help his family develop their business.
"He was handsome, kind, gentle, and was willing to pay the birth control potion. I was young, horny, and stupid. I felt flattered by his attention and I wanted to get back at my parents by ruining their plans about my chastity.
"I fell for him like a dunce and barely survived the crash. Once he got what he wanted, Cron dumped me and made his move on my bunk mate right in front of me. I cried so much and performed so badly that I almost got kicked out the boot camp.
"What he did was already bad, but the worst part was everyone mocking me for my foolishness and reminding me that a wealthy man would never take a woman who got disowned by her own family seriously.
"After I failed the boot camp and started working as a clerk, things got better. I had friends, money, and a small apartment. My colleagues and I shared a deep camaraderie because we all had no place to come back to.
"The army was our only home and we were each other's family. I met Rufo, my second boyfriend, after being transferred to Ynca due to the base's lack of personnel. I had just lost all of my friends, the new place scared me, and I felt alone.
"He wasn't wealthy nor handsome, but he helped me get settled and introduced me to all of his friends, making me feel like I belonged there. He was really sweet and never pressured me so after a while we ended up together.
"Our relationship lasted for over two years and we even started to plan our marriage. Everything went fine until we both applied to the Official academy scholarship and only I achieved it. From that point, everything went downhill.
"At first, Rufo pretended to be happy for me and claimed that he would do his best to support my career. The moment I got my promotion and he failed at the scholarship again, however, he turned sour.
"Rufo always complained about how little he earned and wanted me to pay the full rent. He started to spend all of his income on stupid stuff, ask me for money, and then lash out at me if I refused.
"I tried to help him study, I did all I could to show him that I didn't care about rank or income, that I just wanted him to be the man I had fallen in love with again. After a drink too many, Rufo told me that he had never loved me.
"It turned out that he had asked me out because I was the only one in our group to have been disowned. Knowing that I had even less than him made Rufo feel better about himself. He could accept neither my promotion nor his repeated failures.
"It was then that I understood that Rufo had never cherished our relationship. He just used it as a crutch for his ego, feeling happy just because I was more miserable than him. The next day, I broke up with Rufo and asked for another transfer.
"There wasn't a single place in Ynca that didn't remind me of him and Rufo had an easy time convincing my ex-colleagues that I had dumped him because I considered myself too good for him.
"He had talked behind my back ever since I moved to a different office due to the promotion so no one believed me." Kamila sniffled while clenching her napkin hard. "The same people who until the day before helped me planning our wedding now blamed me for everything."
"I'd say that's enough sad memories for one night." Lith held her hand until she managed to calm down. "I'm sorry for ruining our date."
"No, you did the right thing." Kamila used a handkerchief to dry her tears and blow her nose. "I'm the only one who can fight my inner demons, but keeping them a secret creates a gap between us.
"Talking about them with you sets my heart at ease. Thanks for listening to my problems instead of trying to fix them for me."
Kamila's radiant smile made Lith happy to have waited before offering to find and kill her exes.
***
Village of Lutia, at the same time.
Nalrond didn't have a Skinwalker armor so after leaving the tower, he needed to go back home to shower and change into clean clothes. His wardrobe was already limited and Faluel's training had forced him to renew it often.
His slender limbs had become muscular and he had gained several kilograms of pure muscles, making his old clothes so tight that Nalrond couldn't wear them anymore. It would only take him a deep breath to rip them to shreds.
'Thank the gods Selia is better than most tailors. All that sewing because of the kids made her a professional.' Nalrond thought. 'Yet her creations are too simple for my first date in five years.
'Luckily, Lith accepted a payment plan for my debt so not all my share from the mines goes into his pockets and I could afford a few clothes.' He wore a simple white cotton shirt and brown cotton pants.
Neither he nor Brina was wealthy and, for a date in Lutia, even a jacket would be overdressing. During the last two years, the village had tripled its surface area, but it was still far from becoming even a small city.
Yet now it bustled with people even after sundown and several establishments had either expanded or opened their business.
Nalrond Warped to the village's outskirts to not reveal his magical talents and walked the rest of the way to Rena's house to pick Brina up.
Zekell's home had been recently renovated. The Blacksmith had bought his neighbor's house, turning it into a new and better equipped workshop after converting the old smithy into living quarters.
Lith brought most of his unsold silver to Lutia, handing it to Zekell who crafted all the items that Lith would enchant in his tower. The business went so well that Zekell had split the workshop into a blacksmith and a goldsmith.
The former would take care of the Orichalcum orders while the latter would craft the fine silver tools and charms that Lith needed for his experiments. Senton, Rena's husband, was young and strong, making him perfect to handle the magic metal.
Zekell was getting old and the business too frenetic. After working all his life, he just wanted to take a break and enjoy his grandchildren. Zekell still helped his son dealing with the most complex Orichalcum related procedures and personally crafted Lith's orders, but delegated everything else to his apprentices.
Zekell wasn't the richest man in Lutia but he was surely the happiest. Back when the King had bestowed upon Lith a family name, Zekell had made sure that Rena and his granddaughter kept the Verhen name.
Their family crest was painted over all doors and windows of Zekell's house so no one dared to mess with him, not even the local nobles. He could leave the shop's doors open at night and find everything where he had left it.
Chapter 1096 Double Date Part 2
The only sour note was that Rena and the children liked to spend a lot of time back at the Verhen household due to the various magical appliances that made a mother's life much easier, like tap water or a bathroom instead of an outhouse.
"Come in, Nalrond. Brina will get down in a minute." Rena sighed with relief while checking out his new outfit. "Thank the gods you're not like my brother. I was afraid you would show up with your usual clothes after just cleaning them with a spell."
"Lith can afford it because of the Skinwalker armor. Faluel doesn't mind patches and claw marks from the kids, but if Brina sees them, she would ask questions I don't want to answer." Nalrond envied Lith for many reasons and his self-repairing clothes were among them.
"How is Selia doing?"
"I have never seen her so happy. She has gone back hunting and is catching up with all her old friends. My guess is that she was sick and tired of being a housewife in the middle of nowhere." Nalrond said.
"What about the kids? With Prot- Ryman being often away and you all caught up by your apprenticeship, who takes care of the kids while she's out?" Rena asked.
"She does the same thing you do. Selia leaves Lilia and Leran with Zinya and the little Fenrir to Elina. Your mother is great with kids and she says that she's glad to have the opportunity to learn how to take care of hybrid children."
"Lith is getting himself into trouble." Rena shook her head. "Zinya is becoming a part of our family. If it keeps up like this, he will have to face Selia's wrath as well if he messes his relationship with Kamila."
"Indeed. While we're at it, how the heck did Lith manage to date while hiding everything about himself? Maybe this is a mistake. If Brina starts to ask the wrong questions, I might ruin a lot of lives." Nalrond was getting cold feet.
"Relax. Brina has already accepted to go out with you so the hard part is over." Rena straightened his shirt and dusted his shoulders like a mother sending her son to the prom.
"Lith didn't hide much, just the Awakening and the hybrid stuff. Just be yourself and talk freely, but remember to make no mention about those two things…"
"I'm sorry for being late. Have you been waiting long?" Brina came down the stairs.
She was 1.54 meters (5'1") tall with waist-long gold hair and clear blue eyes. Brina wore a white linen blouse and a beige skirt that emphasized her tanned skin. She was quite cute, especially since her diminutive stature emphasized her curves.
"No, I have just arrived." Nalrond took a deep breath and offered her his arm that she promptly took.
"Oh my. Have you been exercising?" Brina asked while feeling his muscles.
"It's a long story." Just the thought of his training made him shudder.
"Then it's a good thing we have all night in front of us. I'm really curious to hear everything about the Blood Desert and why you came to Lutia just to become a nanny. Are you really as good with children as everyone says?"
Brina's questions, her pressing his arm against her chest, and Rena's wink in response to his silent plea for help let Nalrond understand how screwed up he was.
***
Ernas Arch Duchy, a few hours later.
Lith and Kamila had left the Phoenix's Nest for a while and were taking a stroll through the city of Assar before going back home.
Aside from the talk about Kamila's past, they had spent a pleasant evening and she was happy to do a little window shopping.
"Big cities in the south are like another world." Kamila said. "I can't believe there are still so many people around and so many shops open. In the north, only restaurants don't close at sundown and only because people need to eat."
"It's because people here feel safe. The magical lamps light the streets and the Gates allow the guards to intervene promptly. Small villages like Lutia are no different from the north, even in the fear for strangers."
Lith wanted to offer to buy her something, but after hearing how money had been the root of all her trouble, he decided otherwise.
"Always a killjoy." Kamila sighed. "Would have killed you to be less pragmatic and more romantic? We're walking along one of the main streets of a beautiful city, under a beautiful moonlight, and all you can think about-"
An arrow covered in runes and coated in a pungent-smelling substance aimed at her back cut Kamila short.
Lith had pushed her away and intercepted the arrow in mid-air with his bare hand. He had actually used Spirit Magic to stop it and water magic to freeze the venom, keeping it from leaving the arrowhead, just to be safe.
His enhanced hearing had sensed the bowstring snapping and allowed him to react in time. Physical projectiles were usually slower and noisier than mystical ones. It was one of the many reasons why firearms had never been developed on Mogar.
Yet a few professionals would still prefer arrows to wands because arrows could be enchanted with armor-piercing spells and coated with deadly poison. This way, even if the sniper missed a vital organ, by the time the target realized they had been poisoned it would have been too late.
"Undead!" Lith said, making all the bystanders run away in panic.
Not only was the strength of the arm pulling the bowstring inhuman, but Life Vision recognized several blood cores in some of the people disguised as passers-by. Lith attempted to Blink, only to discover that dimensional magic had been sealed.
'Solus, where…' Only then did he remember that he was alone.
Cursing the assailants' perfect timing, Lith took War out of his pocket dimension in a burst of emerald flames and struck at everyone who had yet to run away with Spirit Magic.
Most of them were just regular people paralyzed by fear and the hit knocked them out. Some of them, however, got back on their feet like nothing had happened, revealing their nature of thralls.
"I can't call for reinforcements!" Kamila had learned to always keep her communication amulet at hand, but the array surrounding them sealed it as well.
Lith looked around, searching for the quickest way out of the magical formation and discovering they were at its center.
'This isn't just bad luck, someone is targeting us. The problem is that I don't know which one of us is the assassins' mark. If it's me, then this will be easy. Yet if it's related to Kamila's job, then the attack might just be a diversion to lure me away.' He thought.
Lith heard a second snap and he knew that another arrow had been shot. He conjured a shield of wind and activated his barrier ring, creating an emerald dome that surrounded both him and Kamila.
The enchanted projectile passed through the first defensive layer as if it didn't exist, but it crashed against the Spirit Magic barrier and shattered into countless splinters as its spells died out.
Another of the reasons why firearms had never been developed was that the smaller the item was, the harder engraving it with runes. On top of that, powerful spells put a lot of strain on the materials they were applied to.
Chapter 1097 Well-Laid Plans Part 1
Due to their small size, arrows and bullets couldn't bear mana crystals. Enchanting them cost dozens of gold coins and they would last only a few hours before they imploded under the pressure generated by the spells they were imbued with.
To make matters worse, making a bullet out of Davross or Adamant was not only incredibly expensive, but also pointless.
Even the simplest set of runes scaled down to the smallest size that would still allow them to work required an extensive surface to be drawn. The arrow Lith had intercepted was covered in runes from the tip to its feathers just to achieve the armor piercing spell.
Lith put Kamila over his left shoulder as if she was just a sack of potatoes and started to run while his mind spun at top gear.
'There are only two ways out of here. Either I throw Kamila outside the array so that she can call for help and I can fight freely, or I fight while protecting her. Both strategies are very risky.
'If I'm not the target, getting Kamila away from me means to fall into my opponents' trap while keeping her with me is a huge handicap. I have no choice but to fuse the two plans into one.'
Striking first had given Lith the opportunity to cast Full Guard and ran away before his enemies could realize how badly their strategy had failed. The blue aura filling the space for 10 meters (33 feet) around Lith gave him perfect awareness of the battlefield and made up for Solus's absence.
He chose the direction with fewer blood cores to more quickly escape the dimensional sealing array before the enemies could surround them completely. Only true undead could worry Lith, he had no fear of facing even a small army of thralls.
He moved like the wind, each one of his steps quick and powerful, sending his shoulder against Kamila's stomach that was full of delicacies they had just eaten. She needed sheer willpower to not puke her guts outs.
Two thralls disguised as a couple stepped in front of Lith, brandishing short swords that emitted a now familiar pungent smell. He noticed that the woman's nails had an odd color that she had tried to hide with nail polish, but the subtle stench gave it away.
'Fuck me sideways! The undead know that I'm an Awakened so using poison against me doesn't make sense nor does a woman trying to "casually" scratch me. My skin is so hard that it's more likely that she would break her nails and poison herself.
'These guys are out for Kamila.' He thought while swinging War in a wide arc.
The Thralls sneered and attempted to dodge, just to see the bastard sword suddenly speed up beyond what their eyes could follow. Lith's perfect body refining and Fusion Magic made the swing so fast that the Thralls couldn't react in time and so powerful that it cut them in half along with their weapons.
Their sacrifice, however, had given a handsome man enough time to get close to Lith. He kept his tier five magic holding ring at eye level, ready to fire a Final Sunset the moment the enemy made his move.
Yet the man was a Banshee. He didn't need to get close nor his attack could be blocked by the black flames. The undead screamed with all the anguish typical of its race, creating a powerful shockwave that cracked the pavement and uprooted the street lamps.
Those who had been cheated on by their alleged one true love could become a Banshee. They needed to kill the person who turned their love into hatred with their own hands and then commit suicide.
Only then could their sire turn the thrall into one of them.
'Oh, shit, a Banshee! Couldn't they work like in Dungeons \u0026 Looting? That way, a simple earplug would make them powerless.' Lith had no good defense at hand so he jumped back while curling up to protect Kamila.
Between the jump and the full force of the shockwave, Lith managed to almost fly outside the air sealing array that blocked his best spells. Seeing their prey get further away, the undead cursed the Banshee and converged on Lith, surrounding him from every side.
The boosted Skinwalker armor had protected Lith from harm and even filled his ears to block the noise, but the shockwave had made him lose focus. Lith felt dizzy and activated light fusion to negate the vibrations that still dulled his body.
"Stay close to me and get ready to retreat. If we don't escape the array, we're done for." Lith said with a slurred voice.
He needed a couple of seconds to cast Full Guard again and weave a few spells.
Unfortunately, Kamila lacked an enhanced body and light fusion so even with the protection of her own boosted Skinwalker armor, she couldn't hear a word he said. Her ears still rang and her bones rattled from the Banshee's scream, making her unable to even stand.
Yet she didn't give up. Kamila pressed a sequence of runes on her army amulet while taking a small purple mana crystal from one of her pockets. She inserted the crystal inside a slot of the amulet and then threw it away with all the strength she could muster.
By the time the undead reached Lith, light fusion and half a breath worth of energy of Invigoration had cleared his mind. A dome of black flames intercepted the first wave of enemies, turning them into ashes.
The Banshee screamed again, but this time, Lith was ready. The barrier ring almost overloaded to resist the combined pressure of the shockwave and of the darkness spells that rained upon Lith, but it held.
The still active Final Sunset turned into a jet stream of black fire that entered the still opened mouth of the Banshee and gave him an excruciating death. Then, a hail of enchanted arrows shattered the barrier, forcing Lith to activate the last Final Sunset stored inside his magic holding ring.
The spell created a dome of black flames that incinerated the Orichalcum arrowheads, but the second wave of enemies unleashed a volley of icicles that neutralized the new barrier as soon as it formed.
'Dammit, these guys are professionals.' Lith inwardly cursed while studying their formation via Full Guard. 'Not only don't they take unnecessary risks, but they also seem to be aware of my usual tactics.'
Two men and one woman turned into the Vampire's Chiropteran form, resembling giant demonic bats and amplifying their already outstanding physical prowess. Their bodies were big enough to cover Lith's field of view, but thanks to Full Guard he didn't need his eyes.
The Chiropterans looked at War with fear and surprise, having no idea how Lith could have pulled the sword out despite the sealing array. Yet they knew about the blade and had taken it into account for their contingency plan.
One of their allies was a Ghoul and thanks to her regenerative abilities, she feared no sword, not even the angry blade. Lith infused War with darkness magic while the Ghoul did the same to her body so that when she trapped Lith's weapon inside her chest the two energies simply canceled each other.
Chapter 1098 Well-Laid Plans Part 2
Two of the Chiropterans joined her and pushed Lith down, blocking one of his arms each. Their darkness infused claws pierced the Skinwalker armor and spread their enchanted venom inside his bloodstream while the third Chiropteran had a clean shot at Kamila.
Or so the Vampire thought until he crashed against the golden dome filled with emerald veins that appeared around her out of thin air.
Lith was still far from the skill level necessary to be considered a Light Master, but between Faluel's and Nalrond's lessons, stopping a single Chiropteran was child's play.
Lith had mixed Spirit with Light Magic, making his construct sturdier than a rock wall. The impact had broken the Vampire's claws and shattered his hands, but it was the surprise that hurt him the most.
"Surprise, motherfucker." Kamila activated several darkness wands at the same time from a point-blank distance.
The Chiropteran turned into ashes, but the volley of bullets didn't stop. Kamila kept firing darkness magic, aiming a few meters above Lith's head. He saw them coming with Full Guard and stopped holding back.
He effortlessly lifted the two Chiropterans and the Ghoul, putting them in the line of fire while flexing his muscles to trap the undead's claws inside his body. The barrage of spells killed them on the spot while War's World Mirror ability took control of the excess magic and redirected it against the nearest enemies.
Believing Kamila already dead, all the remaining assassins had converged onto Lith to kill him as well. They had no idea that Lith had left Kamila alone exactly to lure them out.
The undead tried to dodge Kamila's spells, but War turned them into homing projectiles that relentlessly followed their respective target while Lith used Spirit Magic to make them faster and Domination to add a bit of mana of his own.
The swarm of black spheres resembled an army of angry specters that circled around Lith's raised sword and attacked whoever came too close. The thralls fell first while the undead had to push their enhanced bodies to the limit just to survive.
Then, everything ended.
Just a few seconds had passed since Kamila had set up her amulet, allowing the army headquarters to receive the distress call and use the signal as a dimensional waypoint. A golden gate opened in the night sky outside the air sealing array, letting several humanoid griffons come out of it.
"The Royal Guards!" A Ghoul said before a beam of golden light killed him.
Each one of the Guards wielded halberds that shot unknown spells capable of killing the undead as if they were normal humans. They would point, shoot, and an undead would fade away like mist under the morning sunlight.
Lith didn't stop attacking until all enemies were dead and the Royal Guards erected a barrier around him and Kamila.
'Are you alright? Your crazy plan didn't mention how you would deal with the venom.' Kamila asked.
With the air sealing array blocking communication spells like Whisper, Lith couldn't afford to speak out loud, nor did he have the time for that. The undead had keen senses on par if not even better than his own, but they didn't know about Spirit Magic.
Everything Lith had said from the beginning was meant to fool the undead while he used a mind link to communicate with Kamila, allowing them to coordinate their action.
They had lured the enemies in the open and into a trap from which there was no escape.
'Don't worry. I had a detoxifying spell at the ready, but I didn't need it. My body purified the enchanted venom on its own. I knew that my resistance to toxic substances has increased, but even I didn't expect it to be this good.' He replied via the mind link.
Lith's body had isolated the venom on its own with light magic, preventing it from entering the bloodstream. Then, a few pulses of darkness magic had destroyed the unknown threat.
"Do you need a ride home?" A feminine voice coming from the Griffon armor bearing the captain stripes on its sleeve said.
"Thanks, but first I need to get out of this damn array. I have no idea if they attacked Kamila because she's a Constable or because of me." Lith replied while taking out his communication amulet.
"Fuck me sideways!" All the contact runes were still in their place, but all of those belonging to the people he knew in Lutia but Nalrond were unavailable.
"Mom never puts her amulet away and neither does Rena. The only possible explanation is that they are under a sealing array as well." Lith opened a conference call, adding Nalrond, Faluel, and Solus, but no one answered.
"Take Constable Yehval with you and don't leave her side for any reason." He ordered while preparing a Warp to the nearest city Gate.
'Please, take care of Zinya. Her amulet is unavailable as well.' Kamila managed to think before Lith disappeared in a burst of light.
***
Village of Lutia, a few minutes before the attempt on Kamila's life.
The Heavenly Wolf restaurant was just as cozy as Lith had described it and the staff had served only their best food the moment they recognized the Verhen insignia that Rena had earlier attached on Nalrond's shoulder while pretending to straighten his shirt.
Brina had turned out to be a pleasant company. She had asked him only about how the life in the Blood Desert was and why he had moved to Lutia. Brina didn't pry too much into his past, carefully choosing subjects that wouldn't make him uncomfortable.
The only problem the Rezar had the whole evening was that he had completely forgotten about the customs of the Griffon Kingdom. Brina was 21 years old while Nalrond was 25, both at what was considered a late marrying age.
Unlike the Blood Desert, where the tribe would take care of its members and guarantee them healthcare and food, life in the Griffon Kingdom was harsher and the life expectancy shorter.
In the Desert, a man could marry even past 30, as long as he had a good position in the tribe and the means to support his family. Nalrond had neither in the Kingdom, so he had assumed it was just a date.
Brina, however, had accepted the date with a completely different mindset.
Nalrond was known to be gentle, hardworking, great with kids, and had Rena's blessing. In Lutia, the Verhens were considered akin to the Royal Family which in turn was enough to make him an exotic Prince Charming.
Now that it was getting late, Nalrond had no idea how to end the evening without being rude. He didn't want to drop Brina like a bad habit but he couldn't find the right words to express his unease.
'Dammit! I'm sure that no one knows I have a share of the silver mines so she's no gold digger, but she's clearly looking for more than casual hanging out. Lith warned me about how everyone in his family likes to play matchmaker, but I never thought that Rena would include me in her plans!' He thought.
Nalrond's eyes looked at his communication amulet with hope, wishing that Selia called him for help with the kids. It would give him an excellent way out without the risk of goodnight kisses or worse.
Chapter 1099 Mourning the Dead Part 1
"Do you really need to show off so much?" Brina giggled while sweeping her golden hair behind the ear and exposing her slender neck. "Everyone knows that you're with the Verhens, that's just overkill."
She tapped on the insignia on his shoulder, making Nalrond inwardly curse at Rena again and at himself for his naivety. Communication amulets were common tools in any tribe of Werepeople, but in the rest of Mogar, they were the mark of big money.
"It's not about showing off." Even though his skin was bronze, Nalrond managed to blush.
"I left the Blood Desert after the death of my whole village. I'll never forget seeing their runes disappear one after the other until my amulet was back to be a clean slate. Ever since I got a new family, I've never put it away because it allows me to check on them."
He pointed at the various communication rune engraved on the silver.
"Oh, gods, I'm so sorry. I had no idea." Brina turned pale while realizing her blunder. "Was it because of Overlord Salaark? I've heard she's a heartless tyrant."
"No, she would never do such a thing. It was-" Nalrond's mouth became dry when almost all the runes on his amulet turned dim at the same time.
Only those belonging to Tista, Solus, Protector, and Faluel were still available, but he knew that all of them were out of Lutia. Protector was away on a mission, Faluel was gone with some of her friends, and the girls were having a night out.
He contacted them in a conference call while disabling the holograms to not draw any more attention.
"Oh, gods. It's my first day off in months and one of my kids calls me right when I was about to relax." Faluel groaned despite her masseuse's best efforts to alleviate the tension in her shoulders.
The Dragon Bath was one of the finest establishments in the Gorgon Empire and it accepted all races as long as the guests behaved. It had hot springs, thermal mud baths, and the best cooks of the Garlen continent.
"That's why I don't take apprentices nor do I want cubs for a while." Scarlett the Scorpicore laughed at the Hydra's misfortune. "Too much hassle. I prefer keeping things simple. Either I trust someone, or I eat them."
"Whatever. If she leaves, I call dibs on her snacks." Feela the Behemoth couldn't understand why human servings were so small. Every time she went to a spa, the leader of the Beast Council spent a small fortune on food.
"Then I'll take her drinks." Scarlett replied.
"Thanks for your concern, girls." Faluel snarled while answering. "Nalrond, what part of 'I don't want to be disturbed you didn't understand?"
"Master, can you please check what's wrong with Lutia?" Nalrond ignored her question and went straight to the point.
"What the fuck?" Faluel jumped up the massage table, making her friends' expression turn serious.
"I can't feel any of the protections I laid." She took a control crystal out of her dimensional amulet and discovered that its light was gone.
"Someone has not only disabled them all, but they also managed to not trigger any of the alarms. I'll be there in a- Oh, dammit! I can barely feel my lair as well. Someone has placed an air sealing array all around it to keep me from Warping straight home."
"Don't worry, I can-" Feela failed to contact her lair as well and so did Scarlett.
"Someone planned this carefully. They know where you are and with whom you are. I bet-" Scarlett attempted to say.
"Are you telling me that my children are in danger?" Protector cut her short. His tone felt even less respectful than Nalrond's. "Fuck the mission, I'm going back."
"Tista, I'd go check on Rena if I were you." Nalrond said while trying and failing to open a dimensional door near Selia's house. "Lith's house is protected by more arrays than I can count and by the Queen's corps whereas Selia has nothing but her hunting tools!"
In that moment, Nalrond couldn't care less about the customers of the Heavenly Wolf seeing him use magic. A Warp Steps leading to the Trawn woods opened right beside his table and it closed the moment he stepped through it.
He ended the call while shapeshifting into his Rezar form and flying at breakneck speed. The images of his burning village kept replaying in front of his eyes, making him unable to put away the communication amulet.
The contact runes were the only way Nalrond had to make sure that the few people who really knew who he was and who cared for him were still alive.
"Undead." Feela completed the phrase for Scarlett, ignoring the disrespect of a disciple toward their master for the first time in centuries. "They can't use dimensional magic much and they like to seal air magic to even the field."
"Can you help me to get back home?" Faluel asked while conjuring her clothes.
"I'll do more than that. Those leeches didn't just mess with one of your disciples, they dared to tamper with your home and even mine! I don't give a damn about humans, but if it's a war that the undead want, I'll gladly bring it to their doorstep."
Feela's amulet was covered with so many runes that their light made it impossible to see the Davross underneath. Yet it took but a wave of her hand to activate them all at the same time.
***
The only thing Lith hated about Lutia was that aside from the mana geyser located deep inside the Trawn woods, there wasn't another for almost a thousand kilometers.
It meant that, even if Solus was with him, he would have been forced to use a Gate to Derios, the capital of the Distar Marquisate, and then to go home. With his movements tracked by the Kingdom's system, going to Ynca's mana geyser with his family in mortal danger would raise too many questions.
Yet before giving his destination to the Gate's clerk, Lith tried to contact Faluel, finally noticing all the missed calls. Tista, Solus, and the Hydra quickly brought him up to speed.
"Derios, quickly!" He said the moment he learned that the mysterious aggressor had disabled even the Beasts' Gate network.
"Master Faluel, how long will it take you to get back to Lutia?"
"I'm in the Empire so my answer is: too long. I can use our network to get back to the Kingdom, but from there I'll have to reach Derios just like you." Faluel understood how dire the situation was when Lith called her 'master' instead of 'professor'.
He unconsciously buttered her up only when he was desperate.
"I'm going to Rena's home while Solus will wait for you at the usual spot." Tista said before closing the call.
Solus felt helpless for one time too many. Without a mana geyser to empower the tower, without Lith to fuel her broken core, she was no different from an average fake mage.
To make matters even worse, the Trawn Wood's geyser was too distant from Lith's home to even allow them to fight as they had done at the Feymar mines.
Lith inwardly cursed his own bad luck and the enemy's careful planning. They had waited for the precise moment when Faluel and all the most powerful beings of the Lustria county were away to strike.
Chapter 1100 Mourning the Dead Part 2
On top of that, such an operation surely involved enough manpower and firepower to take down Lith along with known associates in the case something went wrong.
'I bet that the plan was to make Kamila die in my arms and then exploit my grief to lure me into a trap by mentioning that my family was next. That way, I would have let the culprits run away and been so shaken to not think properly.
'At that point, killing me would have been a joke. The ambush in Assar would have worked like clockwork if not for my recent breakthrough and for Faluel's lessons.
'Whoever is behind the attack, they know everything about me until the moment I quit the army. Which means they ignore what happened in the mines and in the Council. I hate to strike deals with unknown devils, but desperate times require desperate measure.' Lith thought while taking a small card out of his dimensional pocket.
He passed it over the communication amulet akin to a contactless credit card, allowing runes to be exchanged.
"You picked a bad moment to call, little brother. I'm busy and also pissed off at you for ignoring me for so- " Xenagrosh's voice sounded clear despite the sounds of death and destruction coming from the background and so did Lith's when he cut her short.
It took him precious moments to bring her up to speed and request her help, but judging from her face and eyes wide open, it was worth it. Lith had never seen a Dragon turn pale until that day.
"I'll be there at Dragonspeed. Move that ass, you moron." Xenagrosh said while looking elsewhere as if she wasn't even talking to Lith.
'It seems that Dragons value their family even more than Beasts do. I didn't expect her to agree to help without strings attached. Fuck, why did I let Jakra go? I could use a gigantic emerald Dragon!' Lith opened one Warp Steps after the other, hoping to reach Lutia in time.
***
Rena's house, at the same time when Lith had been attacked.
After the house's renovation, Zekell Proudhammer could afford a small inner garden to give his granddaughter Leria a place where to play with her friends or with the swing that his uncle Lith had built for her.
He would have never expected that a Ghoul would use it as an access point to lead a small strike team inside the house without anyone from the outside noticing.
The ground rippled akin to the surface of a lake disturbed by a falling leave and a beautiful woman came out of it with her white dress still pristine. White Ladies were the best to deal with children and magical protections alike.
Born from the corpse of a woman who had killed her own children before committing suicide, White Ladies were capable of using only two elements, water and darkness. They needed to feed on the life force of children and they extracted it by drowning them.
To do that, White Ladies could lure and charm their victims so that they would be the ones opening the way for them. Children were easily swayed by nature and a White Lady's ability to speak and look like any child's mother made their Mesmerize ability unstoppable.
"Come to me, my baby. Mommy is so cold tonight and needs your help, Leria." Even though the two women had never met, Jolia's voice sounded identical to Rena's.
The White Lady's whisper was infused with both life force and willpower, making it capable of being heard only by its intended target as long as they were in the ability's range.
Unless, of course, someone was paranoid enough to put an air shield around the house. It prevented people from flying around the house and blocked the external noise along with any kind of air magic.
Lith had set it up because no one in Rena's house was a mage and he always called before Warping inside. On top of that, the bigger Lutia became, the noisier the village got.
His sister had asked him to soundproof the house so that the triplets could sleep and he had gone an extra mile by adding the air sealing array that allowed only her contact amulet to work.
That way, she could still answer and disable the array when Lith needed to Warp. He couldn't add more arrays because they required maintenance and mana crystals.
His sister could afford neither in his absence and she was too prideful to ask Lith for even more help than she already did.
Jolia tried a few more times before letting Brago the Ghoul pick the lock.
"We don't have much time. The others bought us this opportunity by attacking the Verhen household and luring away the Queen's corps unit that usually protects the house.
"There is no telling if they called for reinforcements and how quickly they will get here. Kill everyone and move out before someone notices. We're here to send a message, not to become martyrs." Quaro the Vampire said.
She hated that plan, but orders were orders. After the Horsemen's defeat by the hands of the Abominations, the Undead Courts had decided to nip hybrids in the bud. Lith's nature was known, making his family a target.
The undead's night vision revealed to them that the house was empty. All lights were off and the only noise they could hear was the snoring coming from Zekell's bedroom and the triplets' wailing to be fed.
Quaro sent Jolia to Leria's room while they took care of the parents. They had to act quickly and without making any ruckus. Lutia was known as "the Graveyard" for a reason.
Between the Queen's corps and the magical beasts, a single mistake might spell death.
Undeath bestowed upon them such a grace that even the old wood didn't creak at their passage. Leria's room was next door to Rena's, allowing her parents to keep an eye on her and the undead to coordinate their attack.
"You go first. We'll wait for them to go back to bed." Brago touched the door while sniffing the air coming out from the keyhole.
He could sense five life forces and no magical signature. The area was clear from magical devices of all sorts.
Jolia opened Leria's door by extending a fingernail and making the lock open without even turning the handle. The room was a mess, with piles of toys on its four corners and dirty clothes still on the floor.
Seeing the childish drawings that covered the bright yellow paint of the walls made the undead's heart ache at the memory of her lost children. Jolia stared for a second at the small library near the bed. It was the only tidy thing in the room, filled with children's books and bright pink diaries.
"Don't worry, my baby. Mommy is here. This is just a bad dream and it will end soon." Jolia whispered, locking Leria's eyes into her own.
Except for the beautiful wedding gown, she was identical to Rena, making the child not question why her mother wore such an odd dress or why water was flooding the little room.
White Ladies carried within their bodies the water from the place they had drowned themselves and needed it as a medium to feed upon the life essence of their prey.
Chapter 1101 Dumb Genius Part 1
"Isn't the water cold, mommy? Have you become a mage like uncle Lith?" Leria asked, incapable of speaking louder than a whisper.
"Hush, my child. Go back to sleep." Jolia caressed Leria's small head and her Mesmerize made the child lose consciousness.
"My baby." Jolia literally cried a river that entered Leria's nose and mouth, emitting a gurgling sound. "I won't let anyone hurt you. I'm doing this because I love you and I can't bear the thought of living without you."
In her mind, the image of her long dead daughter overlapped with Leria as Jolia repeated the same words she had said before taking both their lives.
The water flooding the small lungs also sucked the child's life force and replaced Jolia's suffering with the ecstasy of the feed, giving her a pleasure that made the entirety of Mogar fade away for a few precious moments.
It was then that Abominus, Leria's steed whenever she played in the fields of Lutia and her bodyguard the rest of the time, came out of the pile of toys next to the door.
His cloaking ring hid both his life force and smell, while the Orichalcum mouthpiece that covered his fangs was imbued with enough darkness magic to kill an elephant.
The Ry exploited the undead's feeding frenzy to bite at her neck, decapitating Jolia with a twist of his powerful jaws while the magic of the mouthpiece destroyed her body.
The water disappeared along with the White Lady as the stolen life force returned to its rightful owner. Leria gasped for air, crying for her mother at the top of her lungs while Abominus emitted a long, guttural howl that reached the Trawn Woods, alerting his pack.
"Oh, fuck!" With no more time to lose, Quaro opened Rena's door just a split second before a few hundred kilograms of red fur and unbridled fury jumped on her back, ripping her spine out.
The Vampire emitted a pulse of darkness magic that sent Abominus flying and turned his fur into a sickly shade of green.
"Don't worry about me and kill them!" Quaro's spine was already fixing itself, but the injury needed a few seconds before healing enough to allow her to move again.
Brago rushed inside while Rena still stared dumbly at the two intruders without stopping to breastfed her child. The room started to spin and suddenly there was blood everywhere.
***
Nalrond's flight stopped abruptly a few hundreds of meters from Selia's home, but he didn't slow down. He just curled up in a ball, using air fusion to roll faster and earth magic to remove all obstacles from his path.
He didn't need his eyes to perceive magical formations or the presence of undead. He could feel that the house was surrounded through the scales covering his anteater-like body.
The only reason why the undead had yet to finish their job was the several arrays that Protector had left to guard his family. He wasn't a Warden as good as Lith, but Faluel's help in setting them up had made the formation a tough nut to crack.
Yet without someone to protect them, the arrays could be easily dismantled and Protector had built them only to give Faluel the time to arrive. They were meant to stall, not to kill.
One of the undead noticed the car-sized incoming cannonball and tried to stop it. The moment the Rezar felt his momentum decreasing, he raised his scales to expose their razor-sharp edge and infused them with air and darkness magic.
The enemy could stop his advance, but his rotation speed was unaffected by the living obstacle.
The Vampire realized that the cannonball had turned into a blender when the scales started to slice at his forearms after making short work of his fingers and palms.
The creature kicked the curled up Rezar with all his strength, sending him flying in the middle of a group of armed undead who would quickly put the unknown enemy down.
No one expected a golden chute to appear in mid-air, allowing the Emperor Beast to keep rolling toward Selia's house while all they could do was to dumbfoundedly stare at the hard-light construct.
Their surprise grew when, instead of crashing against the defensive arrays and making the undead's job easier, Nalrond passed through them. The magical formation recognized his energy signature and offered him no resistance.
"Selia, is everyone all right?" Nalrond had a hard time talking instead of taking down the closed door.
"Thank the gods you're here! Tell me that you've brought reinforcements." Selia let him in, closing the door quickly to not let the children see what was waiting for them outside.
"Yes, of course. I called Faluel, Protector-"
"Who cares about them? I'm talking about the Kings of the woods." Selia cut him short, pointing at the very direction he had just come from.
"Are you telling me that you managed to forget about the three Emperor Beasts and four small armies of magical beasts who you could've asked for help?" Selia clenched her own head with frustration so hard that she would have cut her skin if not for her very short nails.
"I'm sorry, but after Faluel said that it will take her a while to get here, I rushed here to protect you. It was the only thing I could think about." No matter how true those words were, Nalrond still felt like an idiot.
"Excellent, now you can die with us. Crash and Slash have been howling until now, but those bastards have Hushed the area around the house." Selia slumped on a chair, wishing that Werepeople were as smart as magical beasts instead of humans.
Neither the Ry nor the Shyf liked how Selia had named them, but after making lots of damage to the house while playing with the children, they were too afraid of the alpha female to emit so much as a whimper of complaint.
"Are we really going to die, Mom?" Lilia, the oldest sibling said while tugging at Selia's leg.
"No way. Mom is just a bit stressed because your uncle made a huge mistake." She took Lilia in her arms, inwardly thanking the Hush spell which also prevented the kids from hearing the sound of the collapsing arrays.
"Can't you project a symbol in the sky with light magic? Something to call for help?"
"Like what? I never spent time with the Kings nor did we agree on a distress signal." The more he spoke, the dumber Nalrond felt.
'All that grieving and those inner monologues about not letting history repeat itself didn't teach me anything. I relied so much on Protector and Faluel that I never bothered arranging a single safety measure for my new family.' He thought.
"Do it anyway. It's still better than nothing." Selia snapped her fingers in front of his eyes to force him to focus more on reality and less on hindsight.
Nalrond did as instructed, emitting a pillar of golden light that reached over 100 meters (328 feet) of height.
"Good job." Selia put Lilia down and then made sure that Fenrir, her youngest daughter who was less than one year old, was firmly strapped to a sash on Slash's back. Then, she checked all the weapons she had and nocked an arrow in her bow.
"Now you'd better weave your spells before-" The door exploded, signaling that "before" had just expired.
Chapter 1102 Dumb Genius Part 2
"You two bring the children to the woods! We'll cover for you." Selia released the arrow just to watch it being deflected by the nearest undead's enchanted protection while more of Night's soldiers ripped out the windows from the outside.
Selia cursed her useless bow, regretting for the first time in her life to have never learned magic. Her hunting knife was enchanted, but with her speed, she had no chance to beat even a skeleton in close-quarters combat.
"You've heard her, run!" Nalrond's eyes blazed with black and white mana as the enemies swarmed the house.
Slash and Crash would have gladly obeyed if only they could find an opening in the undead's formation. They had even put Lilia and Leran on their backs, but unless something happened, running away would only put the children in pointless danger.
Nalrond pushed Selia on top of Crash while he helplessly watched their house being torn apart.
As the walls crumbled and the first wave of enemies hit him, Nalrond released the very spell that he had learned from Dawn during her fight against Lith, Daybreak.
It was a mix of light, fire, and darkness magic that generated a wave of dark energy followed by a volley of fiery constructs shaped like snakes. The darkness engulfed the room, sealing even the undead's mystical senses while the hard-light constructs attacked from every side.
The spell turned the Rezar into a one-man army while the light blooming from the shadows made him look like a rising sun. Each tendril of light moved akin to a new limb, coiling around his enemies and paralyzing them.
The heat coursing through the constructs was so intense that the undead's regenerative abilities couldn't keep up with the damage fire magic caused, making it impossible for them to escape the constructs' grip.
The darkness spreading from the Rezar destroyed their protections first and then seeped inside their blood cores. One after another, the undead disappeared in a puff of smoke and the tendrils of light started to chase a new target.
The magical beast decided that the chaos following the tier five spell was "something" enough and ran towards the Trawn woods, hoping that the rampaging Rezar behind them would keep anyone from noticing their escape.
***
A few hundreds of meters above the ground, Night looked at the mess unfolding in front of her eyes, wondering how could her plan have gone so wrong.
'I spent weeks planning this attack, waiting for the moment when only small fries are around and studying the Queen's Corps routine. Heck, I even disobeyed Mom and messed up with the Council, yet this is all I got?' She thought.
The team she had sent to kill Rena had yet to report, her sister Dawn seemed to have infiltrated her ranks to sabotage the mission, and the complexity of the arrays protecting Lith's home was beyond her wildest expectation.
'What kind of madman puts so much effort into protecting a frigging cottage and what the heck is that array?' Yurial's Hexagram spread its blue light above the house, thwarting Night's plans over and over again.
Right after completing the several arrays necessary to seal air magic in the area surrounding the Verhen household and to keep the noise from the attack to draw unwanted attention, Night had cast one of her personal tier five darkness spells.
Shadow Maelstrom was supposed to put the house's barriers to the test, if not even bring them down in one fell swoop, yet it had been absorbed by Yurial's Hexagram before it could deal so much as a scratch.
Then, she had unleashed another powerful spell, Seismic Blast. It was a mix of fire and earth magic that should have damaged the defensive array's focus point and breach through the barrier, but the Hexagram had absorbed it as well.
'I have no clue how that thing can eat my best spells as if they are candies, but I don't like it. After every spell, not only did the array's light grow stronger instead of weakening, but also the points of the star lit up one after another.
'Now only two of them are off and I really don't want to know what happens when all six points are charged. Dammit, the attack was supposed to be the undead version of the Feymar mines, with me killing everyone without leaving a trace nor witness, but it's taking forever!'
Her fight with Balkor and Deirus's attempt on Phloria's life had given her an idea. The humans' stupidity had already given birth to a monster like the god of death. All she had to do was to replay those events, pin the blame on Deirus, and then lure Lith in her fold before he could get over the grief on his own.
She had made sure that, if interrogated, the people she had sent after Kamila would lead Lith back to Yurial's father. With his known deals with the Dusk Court, the Archmage was the perfect scapegoat.
As for Lith's family, her plan had been to kill them all swiftly, before anyone noticed, recreating the scenario that had given birth to the Blood Magus and destroying Lith's faith in those who he considered his trusted allies.
Her plan would allow Night to humiliate the Council, weaken the Kingdom, and erase the humiliation of the Horsemen's defeat at the hands of the Abominations at the same time.
Her sources in the Council had reported Night how Xenagrosh cared for her 'little brother', making the Horseman eager to kill the Dragon Abomination while wearing Lith's face.
On top of that, Night wanted to put to the test Baba Yaga's theory about hybrids and Lith was the perfect specimen.
"By the Red Mother!" Night cursed as a blast coming from Lith's house sent her crashing onto the ground.
"I get that taking down the array surrounding the Verhen's house is hard since the Queen's corps is barricaded inside. I can sort of understand that the huntress is still alive thanks to arrays left by her husband.
"What really doesn't make any sense is how the heck the third house is still standing!" With each passing second, the risk of Night's plan failing increased dramatically.
She had underestimated the time and effort that both Lith and the Royals had invested in defending the Verhen household, making its defenses so sturdy to resist even the combined efforts of her army.
She couldn't afford to help the teams attacking Zinya's and Selia's house because the three units of the Queen's corps who had taken refuge inside not only blasted anything that came too close to the house, but they were also waiting for an opening to call for reinforcements.
"We don't know." A hapless undead she was lifting by the neck said. "The Yehval household has no arrays nor mages, yet everyone we sent there died."
"Then send more! I can't waste any more time on- Fuck!" Night cursed at the light pillar coming from Selia's house. Just a second later, her swearing reached new heights.
After hearing Abominus's howl, the other magical beasts patrolling the area had relied the message and spread the alarm. What started as a single voice spread like wildfire until it reached the woods and turned into a chorus.
Chapter 1103 Mistakes and Failures Part 1
Night had warned her agents that Lutia was called "the Graveyard" for a reason. A single mistake could spell death and the light pillar marked the fifth mistake the undead had made in just a few minutes.
Each still standing house was a mistake and things were about to get worse. Until that moment, the red eyes of the undead had been the only light visible for kilometers after Night had darkened the skies with her magic.
Yet now the woods had come to life and countless yellow eyes shone from the darkness of the tree, reflecting the light from the golden pillar.
***
Zinya's house, a few minutes earlier.
Night had patiently waited for the first opportunity when all the households were defenseless, leading the attack herself to make sure that everything went without a hitch.
Yet no plan survived contact with the enemy. Dawn had followed Baba Yaga's instructions, never sharing with Night that Lith was already bonded to a cursed object.
The Bright Day had also avoided mentioning the Rezar's existence, assuming that either Lith had killed him or that Nalrond had resumed chasing her in his foolish quest for revenge.
On top of that, Night couldn't have predicted that night Professor Zogar Vastor would be visiting the Yehval household.
The recent series of events had destroyed the old Professor's self-confidence, making Vastor think that the White Griffon didn't need him anymore and that it was time to retire.
Lith becoming an Archmage was the only silver lining in a streak of unlucky years.
First Balkor had killed dozens of his precious students, then Nalear had almost destroyed the White Griffon, causing Yurial's death and almost leading Quylla on the path of self-destruction.
Every time one of his pupils needed him, Vastor failed them. Such thought had eaten at him from the inside until even his marriage fell apart.
"I'm really sorry for bothering you so often. It's late so maybe I'd better go." Vastor said, yet his short legs refused to stand up from the chair.
"You never bother me, Professor Vastor. Lutia is a wonderful place, but it's quite lonely after sundown. Unless my neighbors visit, I spend my evenings alone while the kids play with their pets." Zinya pointed at the huge magical beast curled up in front of the fireplace.
"Please, call me Zogar, or at least just Vastor." Her constant use of honorifics embarrassed him
"I'll do it only if you stop calling me miss Yehval." Zinya chuckled while covering her children with a blanket.
They had fallen asleep while hugging their fuzzy friends who in turn refused to leave the room until the stranger left.
"That would be inappropriate. I'm old enough to be your father." Vastor looked into the magical beasts' big, round eyes and saw in them a reproach that actually came only from himself.
"And I'm old enough to hang out with whoever I want, Professor Vastor. Now, would you mind telling me what's weighing on your heart so much lately or do you prefer more empty chatter?" She said.
"It's about my students." Vastor sighed. "It all started with those idiots following Deirus destroying Phloria's career, then the undead invaded our land, and now Quylla has quit the White Griffon.
"I'm tired of seeing fools destroying the lives of promising mages out of petty grudges. Tired of power-hungry buffoons waging a war after another just to fill their pockets. Tired of seeing good mages drift apart from the Kingdom because we fail them in their hour of need!"
Vastor slammed his fist on the table, yet it didn't produce a single vibration nor a sound. The Professor had managed to cancel the impact with first magic in the nick of time.
"People hurting people is how Mogar spins, you have no fault in that. As for your students, did you play any part in their misfortunes or did you do everything you could to help them?" She asked.
"I did everything in my power, but in the end, it amounted to nothing. I might as well sit on my thumbs all day and nothing would have changed." Vastor said with a deep sigh.
"You're dead wrong about that. If you feel so bad after doing your best, imagine how would you feel if you didn't even try. Failure is an integral part of life. It's painful sometimes, but in the long run it helps us to improve." Zinya said.
"Please, if that was true, with all my failures I should have become so powerful that Manohar would be nothing compared to me, yet it's the opposite." Vastor's rage gave him the strength to get up.
"I meant to improve as a person, not as a mage. Otherwise I should be a Magus at this point." Zinya never stopped giving him a warm smile and making him feel like a jerk.
Vastor was born a noble and a powerful mage. After doing whatever he wanted for all his life and even reaching the peak of his profession, he found complaining about the unfairness of life with someone like Zinya beyond ridiculous.
She had been blind from birth and her parents had treated Zinya as a tool, forcing her to marry an awful man to ensure their own happiness. Vastor just felt powerless whereas Zinya had been powerless all her life and a prisoner in her own home.
"I'm really sorry for my tantrum. I'll take my leave now." Vastor attempted to cast a Warp Steps, but nothing happened.
"What the heck?" The communication amulet in his breast pocket was silent, all the runes on its surface inactive.
After failing to retrieve his equipment from his dimensional item, Vastor felt a cold shiver running down his spine.
"How many entrances does the house have?" He asked while looking out the nearest window.
"Just the front door." Zinya had never heard him with such a cold voice. For the first time since they had met, Vastor scared her.
"What about windows? Is there a wall thinner than the others?" He couldn't see anything due to the clouds, which in his experience never bode well.
"This is a house, not a fortress. It has plenty of windows to let the sunlight in and I've no idea about the walls. What's happening?" Zinya moved near her children while Vastor chanted one spell after another.
His hands moved so nimbly that he even managed to place potions on the table without disrupting his fingers tracing hand signs. The small Professor started to hum with power as his body glowed from the energy burning within.
He took a golden wand out of his pocket, moving it from the door to the windows non-stop. The energy inside him had become so powerful that it crackled, emitting from time to time small bursts that resembled bolts of lighting.
Seconds stretched into minutes until a thick mist seeped from under the door, slithering on the floor like a living being. Vastor flicked his wand and the mist turned into ashes.
Then, the door was burst open and so were the windows as unknown assailants entered the living room. Each one of them was taller than Lith and emitted such a powerful killing intent that Zinya had to bite her cheek to not faint.
She sweated bullets, feeling her knees buckling from the pressure those things exerted. Yet she was determined to not abandon her children and Vastor's calm gave her hope.
Chapter 1104 Mistakes and Failures Part 2
Another flick of the wand unleashed his tier five spell, Dark Dimension. Vastor's eyes turned black and every speck of light disappeared from the room, making Zinya think that she had gone blind again.
The darkness spread throughout the room and when the undead tried to move forward, they discovered that the energy surrounding them was so thick that it was akin to moving through mud.
A mud that seeped inside all of their orifices, flooding their bodies with darkness magic until nothing was left. To those staring at the scene from the outside, the lights inside the house had just flickered.
Yet five elder undead had disappeared, whereas the humans still stood there as if nothing had happened. Vastor drank the potions he had left on the table while looking in the eyes of the flabbergasted undead who were staring at him from the broken windows.
"Who are-" A beam of golden light cut the female undead short and her head off.
A split second later, all those who had met Vastor's gaze joined her in death, their bodies burning under the effects of the golden wand he wielded. Zogar Vastor was more than a short, overweight mage.
He was a Royal Forgemaster, a Spellbreaker, and after the undead invasion had started, he had even joined the Queen's corps again. The golden wand was the latest weapon developed by the joint efforts of the Balkor department, the Royal Forgemasters, and Manohar.
The enchanted tool was capable of turning tier four and five spells into the next best thing to sunlight. Each beam consumed a lot of mana and lasted for a split-second, but the amount of light it produced could kill any undead if the beam hit a vital spot.
Aside from the Royal Guards who aided Lith at hundreds of kilometers away, only a few selected individuals had one.
The second wave of undead avoided Vastor's line of sight and broke through the walls. Thanks to their enhanced senses, they didn't need to see the human to pinpoint his position and by moving in a straight line they were certain of taking him by surprise.
Vastor didn't even flinch while he activated his tier five spell, Night Parasite. The dust and debris that covered the undead came to life as darkness magic filled them to the brim. Black sand filled their eyes and mouths while the rocks turned into small worms that dug through the flesh of their victim.
The small worms didn't even try to pierce through the heavily enchanted armor the undead wore. The magical constructs simply became thinner until they could slip through the mesh.
Zinya's house rumbled due to the attack damaging some of the bearing-walls, but it held. Ten elder undead had entered and died so the leader sent twenty for the third wave and watched them die the moment they stepped inside the living room.
"Fuck discretion, bring down the house!" He yelled.
Flaming stones the size of a car crashed inside the Yehval household before exploding. Streams of darkness magic made the walls crumble under their own weight while earth magic produced a quake that turned the cozy cottage into a pile of rubble.
"Someone reports Lady Night that we're done with our task." The leader of the third squad said just a moment before his body turned into cinders.
The debris fell to the ground, revealing a silvery sphere underneath. It shapeshifted back into a Professor uniform from the White Griffon academy and Vastor wore it with pride despite the many injuries he had sustained.
Behind him, Zinya, the children, and the beasts were unscathed thanks to Vastor taking the brunt of the damage while focusing his armor to protect them. To keep his focus and endure the pain, he had bitten his lower lip so hard to almost cut it off.
Yet despite the dangling flesh and the cracked bones he made no mistakes while weaving his next series of spells.
"Ignore the old fool and focus on the others! They are his weak point." The second in command said with a smug grin before Vastor blew his head off.
"He's right." Zinya said while comforting her children during what she assumed were her last moments. "I'm dead anyway, Zogar, whereas you are a powerful mage with powerful tools. Please, take my children and run away."
"Shut up! How could I call myself a mage if I can't even protect the happiness of a single person?" Vastor's voice was firm, but his knees buckled up.
At his age, mana abuse would quickly weaken his body.
"I never begged in my life so excuse me if I suck at this." He said while looking the magical beasts in the eyes. "Keep this stupid woman behind me and run away at the first opportunity you get. Are we clear?"
The beasts nodded, looking at him not with suspicion anymore, but with the respect and deference, they would use for their alpha. That sight made Vastor regret to have always considered beasts as his inferiors.
Even though his left eye was burst open, even though his lower lip was hanging by a thread, none of the undead dared to come close or speak.
Vastor took off the cork of another body enhancing tonic and gulped it down, uncaring for the poisoning that stacking the effects of so many potions caused.
He had never been tall nor handsome, but his talent for magic was the real deal and he had worked hard since a tender age while the rest of his peers fooled around. So, when he had become an Archimage at 25 and everyone considered him the greatest healer of his century, it felt natural to him.
It was simply the proper reward for all of his effort. Yet shortly after he had reached the peak, life had thrown him down. Marth first and Manohar later made every one of his achievements look like child's play.
Vastor, who had once been considered a candidate to the title of god of healing had become a joke before he could even notice. The same people who before begged to have just a minute of his time would ignore him in favor of his rivals.
After years and countless failures at regaining his lost status, Vastor had resigned to his destiny as third best healer. To be judged for his physical appearance and to every single one of his feats to be dwarfed by those of his more talented colleagues.
All of that had changed after meeting Zinya.
He was used to people being nice to him until they got what they wanted, yet even after regaining her sight, Zinya would always speak to him with the same kindness she had when she was blind.
Even after meeting Lith, Marth, and several other healers, she still looked at him with the admiration she had when he was still the second-best looking man she had ever seen. When Zinya had asked Vastor to follow her recovery, he had gladly accepted.
From that moment onward, she would often call him. Not to ask for favors or talk about her rehabilitation, but to chat with him and make sure of his well-being.
Helping Zinya to deal with the lawsuit against her in-laws for custody and then to manage her money made him happy like it didn't happen in years.
Chapter 1105 Night’s Offer Part 1
After having failed to achieve the title of best healer of the Kingdom, to become the Headmaster of the White Griffon, after having failed as a father and a husband, Zogar Vastor had finally found his first place.
Someone he could make a difference for, someone who didn't treat him like a bag of fat and gold. By threatening Zinya, the undead threatened the only success he had left and the only person who didn't call him because they needed something or because Manohar and Marth weren't available.
The undead unleashed one tier five spell after another, exploiting Vastor's inability to use movement spells due to the arrays and to dodge because of the innocents that he was trying to protect.
Much to everyone's surprise, not only did he survive, but he also returned each one of the spells in kind. The other assault teams had to send reinforcements due to Vastor's death count quickly coming close to the three digits.
Vastor's only remaining eye scoured the battlefield while he kept chanting with the aid of his armor to move his broken arms.
'Please, don't turn away, Zinya. My life might be nothing but a streak of unremarkable failures, but I want someone to at least witness how I died. After all the terrible things I've done in my life, for both my country and for myself, give me the opportunity to be remembered for the one thing I did right.'
Vastor thought, regretting that the use of magic kept him from entrusting his last message to her.
"What the heck is that guy? He's taken enough spells to level a mountain, yet he's still standing and our marks are still alive." The fourth in command said to the new leader.
"You idiot, that's no man. That's a mage laying his life on the line. Keep underestimating him and you'll die like the others. Don't assume that just because he's on his last leg a mage is easy prey. Give it your all!" The leader said.
She shapeshifted into her Grendel form, wielding a blade bigger than a man and raising its hilt at her eye level in a sign of salute from a warrior to another.
Vastor trembling hand raised his own short sword, returning the salute right before sucker-punching the Grendel with his golden wand and turning her into dust.
'How dares she think about honor after they used an army to attack a family of civilians?' Vastor gritted his teeth and prepared for a new assault.
A Raging Sun exploded right under his feet, turning the rubble into molten stone and charred wood. The pungent smell and the heat hindered the undead's heightened senses, forcing them to check for survivors in person.
"Good gods, what is this thing?" An undead said while witnessing a silvery blanket shrink back into a suit of armor and revealing that most of the people it had protected were still alive.
"Whatever it is, it's mine." The new leader couldn't hear Vastor breathe and there was blood coming out of his ears, mouth, and his empty eye socket. "The guy is dead and his armor is ready to be imprinted."
The undead leader ignored the sobbing of the woman and her children, focusing on the priceless artifact at hand.
'Don't worry, pal, I will not repeat your same mistakes. If you didn't waste your armor to protect that sow, you would still be-' Vastor's hand moved like a snake, grabbing the undead's leg and unleashing a tier three darkness spell.
Something so weak and slow would have never killed an elder undead if not for being released on contact and manipulated with surgical precision. A diagnostic spell allowed Vastor to find the Ghoul's heart and focus the spell's full force on it.
"He's still alive!" The warning of the surviving undead made his allies unleash the spells they had at the ready on the fallen Professor until they had no more left.
Everyone was so focused on the apparently immortal man that the encirclement broke, allowing the magical beasts to run away towards the woods. Not having to protect others anymore, the armor wrapped around Vastor's body, repelling the spells as if they were just spring rain.
Its full form didn't resemble a Griffon like a Royal Armor, nor a Dragon like Lith's. The silvery armor looked exactly like Zogar Vastor did during his heyday, like a man full of confidence and pride.
It was the most terrifying thing the undead had ever seen.
"I…" It was all he managed to say as he reached the nearest undead in a single step.
'I won't let you touch them.' Between the armor and the potions, Vastor moved as fast as a bullet and shattered his own leg in the process.
His body couldn't endure such high-speed powerful movements anymore, but his spirit refused to die.
"not..."
'I'm not done yet.' His short sword pierced the undead and unleashed the spells it held, killing him on the spot.
Vastor's arm was nothing more than splinters puncturing his flesh, but the armor kept following his orders, chasing down the undead who were now running for their lives and killing one of them with each swing of his blade.
***
Lith opened a Warp Steps after another while looking at his communication amulet and hoping for good news.
'Come on, light at least one rune! I can't be in several places at the same time. I can't abandon Rena, but even though my house is much more protected, it's also much more isolated. What the heck is Nalrond doing?' He thought, unaware that the Rezar was still fighting for his life.
'Tista said she would take care of Rena and without Solus, I'm not at my full strength. I'll have to trust my sister and go home to pick up Solus before assessing the situation. After preparing all my life for a moment like this, I can only hope it was enough.'
Ever since Lith had joined the academy, every time the Royals or Marchioness Distar had offered him rewards, Lith had always asked for two things: materials for his research and strengthening the protection of his house.
Over the years, the combined efforts of Lith, the Queen, and her corps, had made the Verhen household the next best thing to a small fortress. It was the reason why even Night had failed to break in and slaughter everyone.
Yet Lith lacked the means to do the same for the others, forcing him to improvise.
***
Rena's house.
The room started to spin and suddenly there was blood everywhere. Brago the Ghoul had no idea what was happening until Mogar became dark.
"Who the heck are you?" Senton asked while watching the undead's head spin in mid-air before it turned into ashes.
A blonde man wielding a glaive had rushed inside the room, holding their daughter Leria in his free arm. The blonde man was 1.9 meters (6'3") tall, with yellow eyes and thick sideburns that reached his chin.
He wore a green hunter suit apparently made of leather that stuck to his skin revealing the bulging muscles underneath.
"My name's Reaper and this is the Harvester." Another swing of the glaive cut Quaro the Vampire asunder while his movements were still impeded by his healing spine. "Sorry for the delay, but I had to deal with the air sealing array first."
Chapter 1106 Night’s Offer Part 2
The darkness imbued within the Harvester hurt the undead, but wasn't enough to kill him before he could call for reinforcements.
"Are you insane?" Senton retrieved Leria while Rena covered herself and picked the triplets between her arms. "Why did you let him do that? My mother and my father live here as well whereas there's only one of you!
"How do you plan to protect all of us?"
"All part of the plan." Reaper guffawed as he retrieved Abominus with Spirit Magic and healed his wounds. "What's a King without his court?"
He tapped the ground with the Harvester, opening several Warp Steps that let the Shyfs of his pack enter the house and hide in strategical spots.
"This is no longer their trap, but our own. Yet there is no safe place on the battlefield so we'll move your family to the woods." Another dimensional corridor opened, bringing the humans to the safety of Lifebringer's tribe that was waiting for them.
Reaper silently looked at the undead bursting from the windows and the doors of the house, uncaring to hide their presence anymore. The mission was all that mattered to them.
The king of the woods couldn't agree more with them. As long as he kept the undead unaware of Rena's escape, the enemy would split their forces and waste manpower in a fool's errand.
Only once everyone was in their place did the slaughter begin.
***
Lith sighed in relief seeing Rena's rune become available again, yet his good mood didn't last long. His last Warp Steps had failed and so did that he had attempted to open a bit farther from his home, forcing Lith to fly to his destination to not waste more mana.
'Those bastards sure did a thorough job. Even Dad's fields are covered by an array.' The realization made him turn into his hybrid form so that when air magic failed him, his wings kept him from crashing on the ground.
'Thank the gods you're here. I need you to pick me up!' Solus said through their mind link from the ground.
Lith swooped down and collected the inconspicuous stone that was Solus's disguise. Without air magic, she couldn't either use the amulet to communicate or fly to reach him.
The moment she slipped on his finger, Solus used their mind fusion to share with him all that she had learned from the tower's Mirror Hall while waiting for his arrival. The scenario she showed him went beyond his worst expectations.
He had thought that the assault had been Deirus's way to get even with Lith for ruining his plans in the Feymar mines, but a human Archmage had no way to recruit so many undead troops.
In the images Solus had collected before perceiving Lith's arrival, Zinya's home had crumbled and Selia's was seconds away from being razed. Only Lith's house was still standing, yet Yurial's Hexagram had already absorbed four powerful tier five spells, so its protection was as good as gone.
'Your family is safe thanks to the men of the Queen's corps taking refuge inside your house and keeping the undead from messing with its defensive arrays, but until we don't get rid of the air sealing formation, they can't call for reinforcements.' Solus said.
Lith nodded and took the black eye of Trouble the Balor out of his pocket dimension in a blaze of emerald flames. Unlike normal dimensional items, an omni pocket could ignore the effects of a dimensional sealing array, if its master knew how.
Lith started to weave a spell that he had hoped to never use while using Invigoration to recover the strength that he had lost after opening so many Warp Steps.
When he reached Lutia's outskirts, an appalling scene appeared in front of his eyes. Only a crater was left where once Zinya's house was and no life force could be perceived.
Selia's house was standing only thanks to Nalrond's Light Mastery, but judging from the enemies swarming around the place and the Rezar's dwindling strength, he didn't have much time left.
To make matters worse, a figure donned in black prevented him to move any further.
"This isn't how I pictured our first meeting, but it will have to do." Night said while flying thanks to the wings of her black crystal armor resembling her lost adamant equipment.
She had taken the body of a young girl barely past fifteen, about 1.65 meters (5'5") tall, with blonde hair and brown eyes. There was nothing remarkable in Night's host except the madness in her eyes and her feverish voice.
Lith ignored her ramblings and unleashed one of the Final Sunsets stored inside his tier five magic holding ring against the unknown madwoman. Night didn't even attempt to dodge the black flames that hit her with their full force and yet didn't left so much as a scratch on her body.
'Was that Domination?' Lith asked, realizing that he couldn't afford to underestimate his enemy, no matter how dire his family's situation was.
'No. She simply used her darkness magic to stop yours and resisted the flames. Beware, though, she used no spell, just Fusion Magic.' Solus had a hard time believing her own words and estimating the enemy's strength.
'Are you kidding me? This woman is weak ass!' Lith could see with Life Vision that his opponent had barely a yellow core and the prowess of a woman who had barely started training for a few months.
'Mana sense agrees with your estimates, but that's what happened nonetheless.' Solus said.
Lith tried to kill the woman with War, but she dodged his attacks with the minimum necessary movement. Night had the highest host turnover rate among her siblings, so she was used to fight using a weakling.
"I wanted you to see a bloodbath, maybe even a few heads on a pike. Yet this should work as well." Night giggled like a little girl talking to her first crush while she danced around the angry blade.
"After all, you can't get past me, and even if you somehow managed to do it, you would have me at your back and my army in front of you. Many have already died and more will fall if you keep struggling.
"Surrender and accept to become my host. If you do, I promise that your family will be saved and that I'll not hurt you during our first night. Much." Night's words and her black crystal armor allowed Lith to figure her identity.
"Are you the Black Night?" Lith stopped fighting only to give Solus the time to verify his suspicions.
"Nailed it in one, my dear husband." Night shapeshifted into her real body, discarding her host's appearance.
She now looked like a young woman in her mid-twenties, about 1.70 meters (5'7") tall, with ebony skin that seemed to devour all light and full lips that highlighted her sensual smile.
She had silver waist-long hair and round eyes without pupils that shone like moons. Her body was covered by a skin-tight black suit of crystal armor that left only her head exposed, yet she was no less charming than if she was wearing a cocktail dress.
'I have bad news and I have worse news.' Solus said. 'The bad news is that you were right. We're against Dawn's little sister and we both failed to sense her real powers because her host hid her.
'The worse news is that despite her host is way weaker than Acala, for some reason Night is even stronger than Dawn.'
Chapter 1107 Demons of the Fallen Part 1
'My guess is that Night's strength depends on the lack of sunlight. Just like Dawn feeds upon the light element, Night is likely to feed upon darkness.' Solus thought.
'And just like Dawn's undead were immune to sunlight, Night seems to be immune to darkness magic.' Lith completed the phrase for her.
"I'm much better than any woman you'll ever meet, my knowledge surpasses that of any creature you met, and with me, you'll experience intimacy as no one else can offer you.
"We'll become one in mind and body, as the lovers you heard about in legends. We-" Night once again attempted her pitch.
"Been there, done that." Lith cut her short and pointed his finger at the woods. "Now get out of my hair because once my armies get rid of yours, once the air sealing arrays are gone, I'll kick your ass with all the might of the Kingdom at my side."
"What army?" Night turned around, noticing the four tribes of magical beasts coming out of the Trawn woods and exposing her back to Lith who didn't miss the opportunity to backstab her.
War pierced through armor and flesh until its hilt struck the black crystals, yet the Horseman seemed to barely notice the inconvenience.
"Do you really call that bunch of fleabags an army? Magical beasts can barely put up a fight against the undead. You-" Night chocked on her words as War's enchantments attacked her from the inside, ravaging both her flesh and mana core.
Orion didn't lie when he said that those struck by his masterpiece wouldn't live long. Unlike a normal weapon, War had the ability to twist energy on contact, making it possible to turn the very body of its victims against themselves.
The Counterflow ability allowed the blade to infect with its own energy signature any means that a powerful creature might employ to mend their wounds and use them as a weapon.
The Black Night's tried to fly back and escape the angry blade's bite but Lith charged forward, making it impossible for her to pull War out.
"I said armies. Plural." Lith threw Solus's stone gauntlet onto the ground while it held both the black eye of Trouble the Balor and the only tier five Necromancy spell Lith had ever created, Demons of the Fallen.
Neither the undead nor the beasts cared for the small crater the impact created, at least until the ground below their feet started to shake.
Just like she had failed to take into account Lith's meticulous defenses of his home, Night had also overlooked that while Lutia was known as "the Graveyard", Lith's home was known as "the Death's Door".
Over the years, many people had tried to harm his family and all of them had failed. Most of the time, the Verhens didn't even notice the members of the Queen's corps or the magical beasts killing the intruders from the shadows.
Lith's relatives were also unaware that he had left precise instruction to turn the flesh of the assailants into first-class fertilizer and to bury their bones nearby the house with earth magic, leaving no trace of the deed.
The ground split and only the Hush arrays surrounding the area kept the inhuman screams of a few hundreds of skeletons that rose from their grave from breaking the silence of the night.
The Horseman scoffed at the sight of the lowest species of lesser undead and so did her soldiers. At least until black streaks spread over the dirty ivory of the skeletons and an emerald glow replaced the red light of undeath in their eyes.
The black eye of a Balor had the ability to draw and focus the darkness element to the point of turning a lesser undead into a greater if applied to a single corpse. Lith had no use for someone with free will who might refuse his orders, whereas lesser undead were blindly loyal.
Demons of the Fallen used the black eye as a focus to conjure an endless stream of darkness element while splitting the energy between all the skeletons to keep them from achieving sentience.
The eye amplified the effect of the Necromantic spell, allowing the black mana not only to form blood cores, but also to flood the bones with darkness element and turn them into deadly weapons.
The skeletons attacked recklessly, strong of the innate resistance to most elements that they shared with their enemies. Their touch was akin to a tier three darkness spell, making physical contact torture for Night's soldiers.
Spells did little to no harm to the Demons of the Fallen, while physical damage was quickly repaired by the constant flow of necromantic energy. The elder undead had already their hands full facing the beasts and the arrival of reinforcements only made things worse.
Unfortunately for them, the worst had yet to come.
Once the skeletons' bones turned pitch-black, their shadows rose from the ground, acquiring a third dimension. They had white holes where the mouth and the eyes were supposed to be while their faces were twisted in a grimace of wrath.
Instead of attacking their owners like Demons of the Darkness would, the shadows wrapped around the black skeletons, replacing their lost flesh and clothes. The Demons didn't look like the skeletons' original owners so much as people from all the Garlen continent.
Some looked like farmers, others had their appearance resemble a full armor, a few were barbarians wearing nothing but clothes made from animal fur. All of them stared at the enemy with undying rage.
The white of the shadows' eyes mixed with the green light of the undead, giving the Demons emerald irises and white pupils. Both burned so brightly that the newborn army painted the fields nearby the Verhen household an eerie green.
Night had no idea what was going on and no time to analyze the situation with her mystical senses. War's bite kept ravaging her body and Lith gave her no quarter, leaving the control over Demons of the Fallen to Solus while he focused solely on the Horseman.
The undead on the ground didn't fare any better. With the beast armed with darkness infused weapons attacking from the front and the shadow army attacking their back, Night's servants had been caught in a pincer maneuver.
"Don't falter! The shadows' range is just their arm length and the beasts can only use elements that do us little damage. Take the shadows down with your weapons and the beasts with long range spells!" Voia the Banshee said.
She was supposed to become one of Night's Chosen once the battle ended. The Horseman had yet to replace those killed by Balkor and Manohar because sharing her strength with new Chosen would weaken her.
Night's host was barely more than human so she had preferred to keep as much power as she could to herself.
Voia's command was simple, but there were no rookies among those who had taken part in the assault. Her words allowed them to recover from the surprise and the centuries of battle experience did the rest.
They split into two fronts, fighting back-to-back to leave no weak spot in the formation. Both sides of Night's troops cast a volley of spells against their respective enemy to slow their advance and thin their numbers.
Chapter 1108 Demons of the Fallen Part 2
The beasts dodged or blocked them with earth magic while the Demons didn't budge and took the spells head-on. The shadow that comprised their body neutralized the darkness element whereas everything else simply went through them as if they were just illusions.
The moment the Demons charged at the undead's front lines, the green of their eyes moved to their hands, shapeshifting them into the weapons that the souls possessing the skeletons were more familiar with.
Be them a great ax or a kitchen knife, the emerald weapons took the undead by surprise, allowing the Demons to push the enemy's blades away long enough to break through their ranks and made their formation crumble.
Demons of the Fallen wasn't just a tier five darkness spell, it also mixed Spirit Magic to call upon the shadows that always followed Lith and to bestow upon them weapons.
The conjured blades were weak and brittle, lasting one single exchange before shattering. Yet together with the element of surprise, they gave the Demons the opportunity they needed.
Demons of the Fallen not only required to accumulate a huge amount of darkness magic and to feed it to the black eye of the Balor to be amplified, but it also required the caster to focus solely on its creations.
Solus couldn't conjure the necessary energy due to her inability to use Invigoration on her own and Lith couldn't afford to control so many creatures at once to keep them from consuming in a few bursts the Spirit Magic that comprised their bodies.
Together, however, they had no such problem. Lith took care of the main enemy while Solus focused on their army and protected the eye. Without it, Demons of the Fallen would crumble.
Only the might behind the black eye could provide the steady flow of darkness magic necessary for the skeletons to be more than a pile of bones and to protect them from darkness magic.
"Enough!" Night slashed at her own midriff with a knife-hand, cutting her body asunder.
With her other hand, she took a black prism out of her core, shaping it like her prized spear, Thorn, and lunged at Lith's heart. The two combined moves allowed her to escape from War's assault and forced Lith away.
"Now I understand how you beat my sister, but I'm different from her." Night said while crystal tendrils rescued and reattached her lower body. "I have almost no Chosen left and without the sun, the entirety of Mogar is my playground!"
Unluckily for Lith, her analysis was spot on. Even though Night's host was weaker than Acala, even though she had lost the Black Rose armor and the Thorn spear to Balkor's Chaos magic, her strength still outmatched Dawn.
Now that the Horseman had stopped goofing around, Lith found himself forced on the defense. Without Solus, he had to strategize alone. He couldn't follow the mana flow in Night's body to predict what spells she would use and the skill gap between them only made things worse.
Faluel outmatched Lith, yet even from their brief exchange, he could see that Night would probably give the Hydra a run for her money.
The spear had the range advantage and each lunge would produce a pillar of darkness bigger than Lith's body, forcing him to perform ample movements to dodge each strike and miss all the openings that Night left open to taunt him.
On top of that, the black pillars wouldn't just fade away. After missing their target, the energy mass stopped in mid-air, forming a massive sphere that just waited for Night's next command.
'Fuck me sideways! She can use Spirit Magic as well and way better than I do. Night's darkness magic is as fast as a bullet and she's leaving her spells around to strike at me from behind. If not for Full Guard, I would've already lost.' Lith thought.
"Cease this pointless struggle and surrender. Otherwise…" With a flick of Night's wrist, several of the black spheres darted toward Lith, attacking him from every side.
He stopped flapping his wings and used Spirit Magic to speed up his fall, escaping from the encirclement in the nick of time. His four eyes burned with the mana of four different elements as he unleashed the tier five version of Checkmate Spears.
Ice lances as thick as trees with emerald streaks all over appeared around Night, each one striking at her with the strength of a speeding car. She recalled the black spheres to herself, but the solid matter mixed with Spirit Magic resisted darkness magic's effects.
The kinetic energy the spears carried made them move fast and hit hard enough to crack the Horseman's crystal armor, taking away big chunks of her flesh with each hit.
At the same time, Lith charged at Night while using War's World Mirror ability to channel all the stray energy from the Horseman's spells and his own in a vertical slash that split her asunder.
"Smart and resourceful. I think I'm in love." Her two haves spoke as nothing had happened and her left arm lunged with Thorn from point-blank range, giving Lith no time to dodge.
The black pillar that originated from the spear had the destructive power of a tier four darkness spell, the kinetic energy of a meteor, and the piercing power of Thorn. It turned Lith into a black shooting star that crashed onto the ground, opening a crater several meters deep.
"No matter how much you damage my meat suit, dear husband, fixing it takes me little effort. I don't care for my host's pain and her life is meaningless to me. The only way you have to beat me is to make me run out of mana faster than you do.
"Alas, the night is my element and I'm not going to give you a single breath for free." The Horseman kept her word and resumed her attack while Lith had yet to get up.
Small bursts of red flames that were the equivalent of blood for his hybrid form came out of his eyes, mouth, and ears. He had managed to remain conscious only thanks to the combined protection of War's World Mirror ability, his boosted Skinwalker armor, and a last-ditch hard-light construct.
Together, they had taken the brunt of the damage and kept Lith's heart from being punctured. His knees wobbled, but Lith still managed to dodge Thorn and to get as much distance as he could from Night.
'Hang on. I already gave the Demons the order to take down the air sealing array first, but the undead are protecting the focal points of the formation with all their might.' Solus knew that between the lack of air and dimensional magic, the Horseman had a tremendous advantage over Lith.
He had barely a decade of battle experience whereas Night had spent centuries, if not millennia, wreaking havoc and fighting the most powerful creatures on Mogar.
Without dimensional magic, Lith couldn't use most of his tricks and he had no way to win a contest of strength against one of the most powerful relics in existence. Also, flying using only his wings wasn't easy since he had them for barely less than two years and he spent most of his time in human form.
'I'm trying everything I can, but I don't think I can stall Night for long.' Lith replied. 'Even with a bright blue core, I'm no match for her in a one-on-one fight. I've only got two aces up my sleeve left so wish me luck.'
Chapter 1109 Yurial’s Legacy Part 1
Lith darted in the air, thanking his latest breakthrough for the second set of wings. Despite the fact that they were nigh-atrophied, they still gave him a bit more speed and enhanced his flight stability.
"I love when they play hard to get." Night chuckled as she lunged with her spear and emitted another black burst of energy.
Her laughter died when a light pillar struck her from above, making her plunge several meters underground. The light element carried so much heat that her black crystal armor turned red and enough kinetic energy to give her the impression of having been swatted by a giant.
Lith had yet to become a Light Master, but he had learned how to cast up to tier three offensive light magic spells and how to mix them with fire and Spirit magic.
"Are you a one-trick pony or what? Because unless your ramblings count as an attack, you're boring me." Lith's banter would have been much more effective if he didn't run away.
Night laughed while regrowing her hair and repairing her skin.
"Do you want me to stop going easy on you? I'm fine with it." The Horseman unleashed her tier five spell, Ice Coffin.
Suddenly, a swarm of black crystal daggers filled the air, each one of them enveloped in a frost aura so cold that it started to snow. It wasn't their razor-sharp edge nor the darkness energy they carried to make them lethal so much as their ability to stick to their target.
Dodging them all was impossible and once one of the daggers hit, the frost aura would fuse the ice crystal to its victim's flesh. The cold would suck away the heat just like the darkness imbued within ate at the life force, leaving the target of the spell no way out.
Not even Lith's bright blue Origin Flames could fully defend him from the swarm. For each dagger he vaporized, two more would form from both the steam and the water condensed due to the spell's frost aura.
Ice Coffin needed but a few seconds to paint the Skinwalker armor black, turning Lith's flight into freefall as life abandoned his frozen limbs.
"Thanks for the lesson, sucker. I'll do my best to learn this spell." Lith said, leaving Night with her mouth agape.
She could see with Life Vision that, for no apparent reason, the ice daggers had left his body, allowing Lith to recover with Invigoration the strength he had lost. The Horseman focused on her spell, discovering that somehow the water element had been drained from Ice Coffin.
Without its key component, the spell had faded away.
'After Balkor, now even Lith can use Domination?' Night couldn't believe that both the husband she had chosen could be so alike.
'It doesn't make sense. He has no streaks in his hair and even if he has a black colored eye, he failed to Dominate any of my attacks so far. Why should the blue eye be any different?' She thought while unleashing her tier five spell, Stardust.
A wave of light magic infused with darkness flooded the sky, moving toward Lith's house like a tsunami. That way, even if he dodged, the spell would still hit the defensive formations of the house and weaken them further.
Only when the light element disappeared and Stardust fell apart did Night remember why she had avoided using big spells until that moment.
"Oh, shit!" She said when she noticed that now five out of six points of Yurial's Hexagram now burned with power, leaving only one missing.
"Thank you so much." Lith flew above his house, outside the range of the air sealing array.
He called upon his best tier five air spell, Mjolnir. A bolt of lightning as strong as a natural one descended from the skies and hit Lith's house for no apparent reason.
Yet this time the Horseman didn't let Lith's nonsense fool her. Mjolnir had disappeared just like Starlight, lighting the missing point of the blue Hexagram that surrounded the Verhen Household and activating its full effect.
'This doesn't bode well.' Night thought. 'Now I understand why Lith taunted me to use powerful spells and why did he run away. He was trying to use my own mana to fuel that knock-off Silverwing's Hexagram.
'The only question is what the heck does that thing do?'
"What the heck does that thing do?" Captain Locrias, the man in charge of one of the five-man units of the Queen's Corps tasked with protecting the Verhens asked.
After the undead's initial assault, all three teams had sought the protection of the array system after rescuing their respective marks. Between the arrays and the arsenal that each member of the Queen's Corps carried with themselves, Locrias had managed to keep the house safe until Lith's arrival.
After the arrival of the magical beasts and the Demons of the Fallen, the Captain had focused on helping his allies to stall as long as he could until Marchioness Distar sent reinforcements.
"It's a very powerful weapon." Elina tried and failed to remember how Yurial's Hexagram worked.
Lith had explained it to her many times yet Elina had never needed to employ any of the house's defense systems. She knew how to activate the array but she had forgotten what it did.
She knew that the Hexagram could stop up to six different elemental spells and that was the reason why she had used it to block Night's most powerful attacks, leaving the rest to the array system and the soldiers of the Queen's Corps.
"I get that." He grunted. "I'm just asking why you don't unleash it and why Faluel's apprentice attacked it. So far, that thing helped us against Night and your son is supposed to be under the Hydra's protection.
"We won't resist long if you hold your punches or if that Wyrmling turns traitor."
"How dare you?" Raaz's anger almost scared the Captain. "That's not a thing, that's a person. A person who's risking his life to protect us!"
Hearing such disrespectful words towards his son while watching Lith engaged in a deadly battle was more than Raaz could handle.
"I didn't mean to offend anyone. It's just that beasts look and sound all the same to me. I had no idea it's- I mean, that he's a male." Captain Locrias's words only added fuel to Raaz's rage fire, forcing Elina to intervene.
"Hold tight, this might hurt." She said while wielding the seemingly common wooden spoon that actually hid an Orichalcum core and enough mana crystals to control all the arrays around the house.
"What do you mean, it might hurt?" The soldiers asked in unison.
Elina couldn't remember for her life if the Hexagram would attack a single target or an area of effect. Yet she had seen Lith completing the formation after luring Night near the house.
She focused on the Horseman and ordered Yurial's Hexagram to attack her. The array followed Elina's will and shapeshifted into the tier five Warden Spell, Immortal Fetters.
A swarm of chains of blue energy struck at Night who countered them by creating a thick barrier of darkness magic. The power behind the chains, however, belonged to six tier five spells that the array had woven in the form of high-density energy.
Chapter 1110 Yurial’s Legacy Part 2
Darkness needed time to corrode such a construct whereas Immortal Fetters needed only a second to unleash its effects. The chains seeped inside the Horseman's body, ignoring the crystal armor and weighing her down with the power of a tier five gravity spell.
At the same time, the six elements stored inside the chains flooded Night's body, creating a mana flow opposite to her own and making it impossible for her to use magic.
"What the heck is this?" The Horseman plunged to the ground as her wings were no longer capable of sustaining her weight.
Her armor now felt as heavy as a mountain and moving her spear required her full strength. Her superior battle experience had become useless since even performing a feint required a swiftness of movement she no longer had.
Instead of answering, Lith took a full breath and unleashed a jet stream of bright blue Origin Flames at Night. He couldn't use them before since Origin Flames required close range and they didn't move faster than he could hurl them.
On top of that, every failed attack with Origin Flames would leave Lith breathless and create a perfect opening for a long-range weapon like Thorn. Now, however, Night couldn't dodge and her spear moved so slowly that Lith could follow its movements.
The Horseman channeled the darkness magic that flowed through her real body, the black crystal embedded in her host's chest, to conjure another thick barrier. Immortal Fetters slowed and lessened the energy flow, but it was still enough to block most of the Flames.
"Remarkable, truly remarkable. Achieving a bright blue core at such a young age is a rare feat." Night felt no pain and focused solely on conjuring as much power as she could to get rid of the pesky chains.
Immortal Fetters had the power of six tier five offensive spells and one true magic array, but a Horseman's mana core could do much more. On top of that, Yurial's Hexagram couldn't absorb any more spells to recharge the chains whereas new darkness element fueled Night's abilities by the second.
It was only a matter of time before the Fetters lost the tug of war against the living corruption that the Black Night was.
Lith hurled one stream of Origin Flames after the other, but between the crystal armor and the black aura, they inflicted little damage. Then, he used War to decapitate the Horseman, just to see a crystal tendril reattach the still-mocking head.
"Has anyone ever told you that to destroy a cursed object it takes the power of a Guardian and that the Horsemen are above any living legacy that any race can make?" Night laughed at his efforts and lunged her Thorn in a cross counter.
She had no need to defend. No matter the damage, as long as her crystal remained intact, Night would always return whole.
Lith cursed his bad luck as Thorn pierced through his left shoulder and wing, turning them both into shreds. With finesse off the table, the Horseman had no problem turning the battle into a slugfest.
She didn't even try to dodge, preferring to collect her strength for the moment when Lith put his weight into the strike and then hitting him back while Was pierced her flesh.
Such a suicidal tactic would have been impossible for someone without an almost immortal body, something that Lith had never faced whereas Night had spent centuries exploiting.
"What's the matter, dragon boy? Are we not feeling so hot anymore?" The Horseman said with a cruel grin on her face.
While Lith used Invigoration to recuperate, she managed to stand up. Thorn remained at her side while Night focused on amplifying the effect of the darkness magic coursing through her body to get rid of Immortal Fetters.
'Solus, analysis.' Lith hated to admit it, but Faluel was right.
That fight had made it clear how co-dependent they were from each other. Against opponents beyond their level, Solus needed his power and shrewdness as much as Lith needed her ingenuity and tactical expertise.
'Things aren't going well on my side either. Our enemies are elder undead, not small fries. They know the importance of the array to stop our reinforcements and are giving their lives to protect the seal.
'As for Night, there is no mana geyser we can draw power from nor does she have a weak point that we can exploit. Yet there is a way. Stop aiming for her host and focus on her crystal core.
'She can endlessly regenerate her host, but her power core can be overloaded or damaged. Dawn had to run away when our combined Origin Flames cracked her crystal.' Solus said.
'What do you think I've been trying to do until now? She moves the damn crystal and because she has the same energy signature of her host, I can't pinpoint it.' Lith replied.
'Well, here's my plan…' Solus explained.
She needed to say just a few words before Lith could follow her reasoning and connect the dots. He took a deep breath of Invigoration, using the energy to supercharge the last Final Sunset stored inside his magic holding ring.
"Darkness magic again? Has the damage to your brain made you forget who you're fighting against or are you just clutching at straws?" Night said as she used a powerful stream of darkness element to counter the raging river of black flames that was burning the grass and charring the ground around her.
Once again, the Horseman's ability to conjure massive amounts of darkness element made her immune to one of the undead's innate weaknesses and protected her from the tier five spell as if it was just a spring breeze.
To do that despite Immortal Fetters, however, the Black Night had to stop eroding the chains and focus solely on her barrier. She saw Lith taking another deep breath and strengthened the darkness shroud even more in anticipation of the second wave.
"Do what you want. I can do this all night-" War pierced the barrier's core, using its World Mirror ability to scatter the darkness and cutting her short.
Night cursed as the black flames melted the nearby stones and finally reached her armor, damaging more than just her host. Yet she needed a single swing of Thorn to push the angry blade away and renew her protection.
Just like Lith wanted.
Even someone as skilled as Nigh would create an opening while carrying out a serious attack so Lith exploited her move to counter with War, piercing Night's chest exactly where her crystal core was hidden.
As Solus had said, the crystal core had the ability to conjure and harness the protective darkness magic, not the host. That meant that Lith just had to force Night to use so much energy that he would be able to follow its flow back to the source.
Night shivered in pain due to War's bite and struck back, but Lith had already stepped back. She failed to understand his strategy until Lith used the deep breath not for Invigoration, but to hurl a jet-stream of Origin Flames along the path opened by War.
A path clear from flesh and crystal armor, leading straight to the exposed living legacy that was Night's real body. The shiver turned into an agonizing scream as the Origin Flames attacked the enchantments that gave her life.
Chapter 1111 Blood for Blood Part 1
Any damage Night's crystal sustained couldn't be healed just by spawning prisms nor by absorbing darkness element. Only time could fix the Horseman. On top of that, every small injury on Night's real body weakened both her physical and magical abilities.
"Nice trick, but I won't fall for it a second time. Let's see which one lasts longer, if your crippled life force or the daughter of Baba Yaga." Night said with a crazed laughter.
"Has anyone ever told you that your puny flames lack the kick of the real deal?" Night tried to move her crystal core behind the protection of her flesh and armor while Lith hurled another stream of bright blue fire.
It hurt her a lot, but it was far from killing her.
'Dammit, she's right. I might win in the long run, but I don't know if my life force can endure using Origin Flames so many times. My breath is that of a Wyrmling, not of a Dragon.' He thought.
The pillar of violet Origin Flames the size of a skyscraper that struck Night, instead, was the real deal. The stream of fire the Horseman with the strength of a collapsing mountain and threw her in the air as if she was just a ragdoll.
"How dare you attacking our family?" Xenagrosh's roar made Lith's house tremble despite all the arrays protecting it.
The Shadow Dragon landed with the grace of a ballerina and the fury of a storm. She stood over 30 meters (100 feet) tall, with her mouth brimming with fire and her four eyes lit by Chaos magic.
"Thanks for freeing me, you moron!" Night laughed at Xenagrosh blunder. Unlike Lith, her flames had enveloped her whole body and destroyed Immortal Fetters.
"I don't fear a single Dragon. I've got a set of carpets and curtains made from skinning you oversized lizards. Your presence does nothing but give me the ingredients I need to reforge my weapons."
"How dare you inflicting us pain?" Kigan, the Blood Wind of the desert, dismounted from the Dragon's back and turned into a black Phoenix so big that his wingspan covered the starry sky.
He unleashed a stream of violet Origin Flames that intercepted Xenagrosh's and hit the Horseman who was still trapped inside the first pillar of fire. The moment the two streams of Origin Flames met, they turned white and lit the night like a small sun.
The two beasts had mastered Origin Flames to the point that they could make the conflicting energies merge rather than collide, creating a combined attack that the Abominations called Primordial Flames.
'I've fought a Guardian in the past. A couple of hybrids are not- Oh, shit!' Night cursed her big mouth as several people jumped off the Dragon's back, each one shapeshifting to a size similar to Xenagrosh's.
"How dare you make us bleed?" A male figure turned into a 28 meters (92 feet) long Leviathan who conjured a tidal wave of Chaos and water magic that destroyed Night's host and decimated her army at the same time.
Lith, Solus, and every single sane person who witnessed the fury of the Abominations felt a mix of awe and fear running through their bodies.
The powerful mana flow coursing through Lith's body protected him just like the arrays shielded his family, but the aura the hybrids emitted was so powerful that many in Lutia fainted for no apparent reason while others experienced life-scarring nightmares.
"How dare you taking what's ours?" A female figure turned into a Griffon, who unleashed all the Life Maelstrom stored inside her body at once, making the skies scream with thunder and the ground tremble with a quake.
"Death is not enough to pay for your crimes, but it'll have to do!" A man turned into a Garuda, a gigantic feathered humanoid with two sets of wings on its back, the head of a black eagle and talons instead of feet.
A second burst of Life Maelstrom met the first as a female Fenrir appeared as well, joining the attack. Bytra wasn't with them simply because she was busy erecting a barrier around the entirety of Lutia, to protect it from the effects of the fury of her companions.
'What the heck?' Lith and Solus couldn't believe their own eyes.
Under any other circumstance, they would have wondered why so many creatures had assembled just to help him or what reason could drive them to such fury. Xenagrosh had already shown them how much she cared for her relatives, but the other Abominations were no Dragons.
Yet their anger matched Xenagrosh's and so did their power.
Their combined might was more than enough to kill Night. Lith could see the black crystal cracking as Life Maelstrom turned the spells empowering the living legacy against herself.
The silver lightning struck from the inside while Origin Flames and spells damaged the Horseman from the outside, covering her surface with cracks. The shockwaves of the attacks had killed every single undead and destroyed the sealing arrays.
The beasts and the houses survived only thanks to the silver barriers enveloping them.
"Enough!" A voice more ancient than the night itself resounded as a white barrier shielded the collapsing crystal and warped it to safety.
The fury of the six colossal beasts had been so stunning that no one had noticed the small hut running across the battlefield on what looked like 10 meters (33 feet) long chicken legs.
"You've really outdone yourself this time, child." Baba Yaga's voice was cold, but the kindness with which she rocked the dying Horseman between her arms was akin to that of a mother with her sick newborn.
"Unhand our prey, Blood Mother, or we'll make sure that your name on a gravestone will be the only thing left of you." Xenagrosh said as seven black pillars appeared from the sky, setting up for the Chaos array their combined presence conjured.
"Are you really sure this is what you want? I'm aware of the Master's plan. Of how they focused on restoring the powers of the direct bloodline of the Guardians to match their respective parents if needed.
"On reviving the Fourth Ruler of the Flames to provide you with weapons and armor that dwarf those of most Guardians in the case they try to interfere with your ascension. A clever plan indeed.
"Yet I see that many of you still wield outdated crap and your power is far from that of a real Guardian." Baba Yaga said.
"So what? There are seven of us and one of you. We prepared to fight our parents and you are nothing compared to my old man." Cyare the Fenrir said.
"I'm Baba Yaga, child, and I'm standing inside my mage tower." Solus could see that unlike her, Baba Yaga's hut was capable of moving and absorbing the surrounding world energy even in absence of a mana geyser.
It provided her with much less strength than the crystal mine but it was better than nothing. Moreover, the phenomenon made it harder to conjure the world energy, weakening all breathing techniques, Origin Flames, and slowing down the recharge of the Life Maelstrom.
"I admit that I can't take you all by myself, but if I go all out and put my life on the line, I'm confident I can kill two, if not three of you before attempting to escape. Worst case scenario, I'll die after halving your numbers."
Chapter 1112 Blood for Blood Part 2
"Best case scenario, I'll survive after crippling your strength. Can your plan survive such losses? Can you give up on your companions' lives just for this? After all, no one died, I made sure of it.
"No harm, no foul. Before answering, remember that you have gained your new bodies for a little more than a year whereas I mastered my skills before most of you were even born." Baba Yaga said,
Xenagrosh and the others pondered her words, yet never stopped weaving their best spells nor building their power.
'She's right. We grow stronger by the day, learning ways to combine our respective innate skills that probably the Guardians themselves ignore due to their past grievances. Each one of us is a member of our family and an unreplaceable asset.' She thought.
"Apologies are not enough." Kigan the Phoenix said. "Your daughter messed with our family and we can't just sit idly until she does it again. This isn't just about insignificant things like turf or money, this is about blood!"
His body turned into a living mass of black and violet flames as the Abomination put his life on the line with the next attack.
"What if I promise you that she'll never do it again?" Baba Yaga said.
"What good is your word when Night defied your orders countless times in the past?" Eycos the Garuda said. "We can trust you, not her."
"Well said." Baba Yaga activated Creation Magic, dismantling Night's crystal core while keeping her alive and fixing her at the same time. "This spell that you all can read will prevent her from attacking the Verhen household again."
"Mom, please no!" Night had no tears, but she cried nonetheless.
She could feel the spell removing part of her free will, making her less than a person and more like a thing.
"You brought this upon yourself, child. Back when I fought Salaark for you, I exploited the fact that, despite her great power, she is just one person and has many things to attend.
"There was only so much time she could waste on me. This time not only did you go against my will, but you also angered seven beings who have surrounded us and are willing to die.
"This is a small price for survival." Baba Yaga said.
"It's not enough." Xenagrosh said. "She could ask her siblings to attack in her stead or find a loophole in your spell by striking at the people nearby. No matter how strict a command is, there's always a catch."
Baba Yaga looked around, noticing that the Abominations protected more than Lith's house. Selia's house had been restored, the beasts healed, and even the village of Lutia had been enveloped in a silvery barrier.
"I fail to understand the reason for your generosity, but what about I change the spell so that Night will become unable to harm directly or indirectly anyone who resides in Lutia? I can also promise you to order my other Horsemen to do the same.
"They are not like Night. They never went against my will and always respect my orders. On top of that, know that in the case any of them breaks my oath and attacks this place, I will not intervene again. You have my word." Baba Yaga said.
"It's not enough. We demand blood for blood. Nothing less is acceptable." Hushar the Leviathan said.
"What more do you want then?" Baba Yaga had weaved her best spells, but she could feel the Chaos array empowering the Abominations and weakening her.
She wasn't afraid of death so much as of abandoning all the children that still needed her. Yet she couldn't let Night die without at least trying everything she could. If the Abomination dared to take her daughter away from her, she would make them pay.
"She never learned because you never punished her." Hushar was among the oldest among the seven hybrids and knew Night very well.
"Kill the Horseman's host while they are still bonded and make her experience our pain. That and the restricting spell will be enough to sate our anger. This time we'll give you the benefit of the doubt.
"The next time you mess with our family, witch, there will be no talking, only fighting."
"I couldn't agree more." Baba Yaga changed the slave spell on Night's core, turning Lutia and all of its inhabitants into something beyond the Horseman's reach even in her dreams.
The Black Night screamed and cried as part of her was forever changed. The pain of her maimed free will, however, was nothing compared to the physical agony that the death of Night's host caused to her.
She could feel the agony of every single cell and for the first time in her life, Night experienced the suffering of the living without the protection of darkness fusion.
By the time Baba Yaga was done, the physical damage the crystal had sustained dwarfed in comparison with the mental scar that the punishment left on the Horseman's mind.
Baba Yaga returned inside her hut to repair the crystal and then Warped away, soon followed by the Abominations.
'Solus, what the heck did just happen? What's this plan Baba Yaga talked about and how can the Fourth Ruler of the Flames be still alive?' Lith dispelled Demons of the Fallen and retrieved the stone gauntlet.
He couldn't shapeshift back into human form in front of the members of the Queen's Corps.
'I have no clue. We are missing a lot of pieces of the puzzle, like the identity of the Fourth Ruler or what the Master can do with the Abomination-Guardians hybrids. Before answering any of that, we must check on the others.' She pointed at the crater where once Zinya's house was.
Lith stared at the still-smoking rubble while fearing the worst. The death of his neighbors would be more than collateral damage. It would be the proof of how little he cared about protecting Kamila's family and mark the end of their relationship.
***
Free country of Lamarth. Beyond the eastern borders of the Gorgon Empire, in the Headquarters of the Master. A few minutes later.
"I have good news and better news." Tezka the Warg-Abomination hybrid said. "The good news is that I'm finally getting accustomed to my body enough to be once again a Dimensional Mage worthy of his title.
"The better news is that we have a new member of our family Do you remember Nandi, the Eldritch Minotaur I told you about? Not only has he decided to join our ranks, but thanks to his orc half, he can also solve all our mana crystal related problems.
"We don't have to look around for an orc shaman nor care about how they manipulate crystals anymore. Nandi is a living mana geyser that can provide us with all the answers we need."
"I don't give a damn about crystals! Today you all failed me with your foolish actions. You've jeopardized decades of hard work, and for what? Pride? Justice? Honor?" The Master said while squeezing what looked like a black tennis ball.
"I know that you're angry, but-"
"I'm not angry, I'm livid! How could you be so stupid to go against Baba Yaga when none of you still has their equipment? When aside from Xenagrosh everyone else has yet to fully integrate their monster side with their Abomination half?" The Master roared.
Chapter 1113 A Mage Among Gods Part 1
The Master couldn't believe that beings millennia old could also be so stupid that they would face Baba Yaga with outdated artifacts. Unfortunately, Adamant was rare and to equip a single creature the size of any of the Guardians' bloodlines required tons of enchanted metal.
After Xenagrosh purified Adamant to its utmost limit with Origin Flames, its quality increased tenfold, yet its mass decreased by the same amount. The Master couldn't afford to go into battle with the Guardians without giving the Abominations the best money could offer.
Davross was so rare that even Eldritch Abominations older than the Guardians had just accumulated a few ingots. Enough for a man, but barely enough to cover one of Xenagrosh's talons after she shapeshifted.
The Master had given up on finding enough Davross to make equipment and relied on the black market for a regular supply of Adamant of. The Gorgons living in Leegaain's lair produced the priceless metal simply by breathing on grass, making it inexhaustible.
The Guardian would put batches of Adamant on the market from time to time, to allow powerful Forgemasters to put their abilities to the test and improve their skills, but this is a story for another day.
"You're being unfair!" Xenagrosh stepped forward to protect Tezka from the Master's fury. "We did it only for you. Lith is not only my little brother, he's also precious for your plans. On top of that, his family was under attack and-"
"Nice try, but I don't believe you." The Master had the hologram of Lith's hybrid form fighting Night appear in the middle of the room. The Organization had the resources to get their hands on Captain Locrias's report the moment he submitted it.
"An unknown necromancy spell, an army of magical beasts, Origin Flames, and even an array powerful enough to make a Horseman bend the knee. Verhen didn't need your help. He would have found the path to victory on his own, he always does."
The Master replayed the images in a loop, sighing with admiration and envy.
Nandi did his best to read the room, but both his instincts and sharp mind failed to make sense of the events unfolding in front of his eyes. No matter what appearance the monster-Abomination hybrids took, they were titans whereas the Master was just a human.
No matter how powerful the Master's mana core was or how tall they were. In front of immortal beings that descended from the Guardians, anyone else looked like an ant. Something that should stay quiet and pray to not get stomped.
The Master, instead, acted like a disgruntled father reprimanding his unruly children and the Abominations couldn't even look them in the eyes.
'Maybe spending too much time alone drove me mad and Baba Yaga suppressed it while I lived with her because this doesn't make sense.' Nandi thought. 'I'll play along for a bit longer before taking my leave.'
"Nandi." The Master's voice snapped him out of his reverie. "Are you sure of your decision? From what I understand, you bear the mark of Baba Yaga's Firstborns and my Organization doesn't get along with her.
"I can't afford to waste time and resources on an unreliable ally. I need to know where your allegiance truly lies before admitting you among our ranks. Answer me and answer me honestly.
"Would you be able to treat the witch as an enemy if you were to meet her on the battlefield or does your past relationship cloud your judgment?"
"I don't know how you know about the mark, but my personal business is my own. Whatever I decide to do is only up to-" Nandi attempted to say.
"Kneel." A single word from the Master was enough to bring the powerful Minotaur to his knees, needing sheer willpower just to keep his head from hitting the ground.
"How stupid do you think I am?" A wave of the Master's hand made Nandi feel like his body was on fire.
"I created the process that gave birth to you monster-Abomination hybrids. I knew your body better than anyone else the moment I laid my eyes on you. Baba Yaga may have given you her blessing after merging your two halves, but she did a poor job."
'How does the Master know what happened and how can Baba Yaga's work be considered sloppy?' Nandi could feel both his black and monster cores going into disarray, causing him unspeakable pain, yet his curiosity burned stronger.
"You are not the first Returner we got here. A clone who bested his Original and took their identity. I've devised arrays to defend this place from the likes of you and spells that allow me to identify those who knock at my door." The Master said.
"I give you my word that I won't kill you, no matter your answer, but I need to know. Where does your allegiance truly lie?"
"What do you expect me to say? I barely know you and your plans whereas I lived with Baba Yaga for months, sharing her bread and teachings. Of course I won't fight her without a good reason." Nandi said amid grunts as he tried to break free of the Master's control.
"However, if what Tezka told me about you and if what even Baba Yaga told me is true, I'll gladly join your side. If the two of you clash, the best I can promise you is to assist neither, but only if you plan on helping me and not just exploiting me."
"Sounds fair." A snap of the Master's finger deactivated the arrays, allowing Nandi to stand up.
"That's it? Do you really believe me?" The Minotaur blurted out, unable to repress his surprise.
"A creature as powerful as you has no need to lie. If you really wanted to harm me or escape, all you had to do was to manipulate the world energy in the room and stop my arrays." The Master said, surprising Nandi even more with his accurate understanding of the Minotaur's abilities despite the fact that they had just met.
"Of course if you did that, the second set of arrays would have put you down for good. Welcome to the family, Nandi. Your role will be to make us a crystal mine and use your abilities to feed your siblings with world energy.
"You have no idea how much power it takes to fully develop your bodies. What you have is just the beginning." The Master activated two tier five spells, Life Master and Master Scalpel.
They were respectively the upgraded versions of the Scanner and Chisel spells. Together, they allowed the Master to stimulate Nandi's life force so that his two natures harmonized even more and his power rose to new heights.
"See? The witch's treatment wasn't bad for a newbie, but she failed to take into account that hurting your body mixed your life forces in a chaotic way. They don't have to just flow together, they must become one or you'll never reach perfection.
"I won't alter your life forces, but by studying them, I can devise methods that will allow you to tap into the best abilities of orcs and Abominations without being hindered by their respective limits." The Master said.
"Thanks, I'll get to work immediately." Nandi instinctively gave the Master a small bow. He didn't respect people for their race, only for their knowledge and the Master had proved to have plenty.
Chapter 1114 A Mage Among Gods Part 2
"No. Before that, I have another task for you. Do you know what this is?" The Master showed the black tennis ball to Nandi.
"No, but I can feel powerful Chaos energy coming from it." The Minotaur said.
"Correct. This is a mass of Abomination tissues that I have collected from all of your siblings. Thanks to their knowledge and the mystical instruments Bytra made for me, I've altered its life force so that not it's identical to mine."
The Master snapped his fingers, revealing three of his gene-tanks derived from the blueprints of Arthan's Madness hidden behind the wall on their back. Each one of them was big enough to comfortably accommodate an Emperor Beast and filled with a purple translucent liquid.
The gene-tank on the left was packed with rough-looking young humans, the one on the right was occupied by Abominations, while the middle one was empty.
"This sphere is the best next thing to what would happen to my tissues if I turned into an Abomination. I'm going to absorb it and then enter inside the gene-tank. The nutrients bath will provide me with everything I need to survive the metamorphosis.
"The human scum will supply extra life force in the case something goes wrong while my failed artificial Abominations will sustain my other half. If things go as planned, I'll become the first human-Abomination hybrid." The Master said.
"You can't be serious!" Xenagrosh stepped forward. "There's a reason why we always delayed the procedure. Even with all of our precautions, the success rate is barely around 60% and you have a single attempt.
"What if your body can't withstand the Chaos energy? What if the living matter of the sphere takes over your mind and body? You would die and our decades-long plan would fail!"
"First, with Nandi providing me with endless world energy, the Abomination tissue should always be sated. Without the drive of its hunger, the tissue is nothing but a mindless being. Second, you should know better than anyone how skilled I am.
"I believe that if you and Nandi work together to keep me stable, the success rate will be 100%. Last but not least, I'm tired of waiting. Tired of seeing my human body unable to follow my mind's prowess.
"Even if I die, the creature that will emerge the tank will still retain my memory and knowledge. If you take your time to nurture it, you'll lose a father but you'll gain a sibling." The Master always resorted to Xenagrosh's troll core to recover from the ghastliest of wounds.
The limitless light energy it produced only needed her body to ingest food to produce endless vitality, making her healing spells almost as good as Invigoration.
"But, Dad…" Bytra tried and failed to speak, her eyes watery.
"No buts! How could I call myself a mage if I can't even protect the happiness of a single person? I know that you did what you did to protect me. You endangered your lives because of my weakness and for that, you have my eternal gratitude."
Zogar Vastor, the third greatest Healer of the Griffon Kingdom also known as the Master, brought the black sphere to his chest, letting it seep inside his body.
"Thanks, Bytra. If not for your Dominator armor, I would be already dead. Thanks, Xenagrosh, if not for your healing magic, it would have taken me days to recover instead of seconds. Kigan, Cyare, Hushar, Eycos, Nelia.
"Thanks for your teachings that made me into a better man and mage than I'd have ever been on my own. You may be all older than me, but you've lost sight of what living really is for so long that I had to teach you how to walk, eat, and even use a bathroom.
"It might sound silly of me, but I've always considered you as my children. Whatever happens to this body, take good care of yourself." Professor Vastor entered the gene-tank only when he could no longer stand the agony of the Chaos energy eating at his body.
He had never planned on growing fond of Zinya, nor to put his life on the line along with decades of hard work just to save her life and her children's. Yet in front of the undead, Vastor had found himself incapable of running away.
After losing his seat as the best healer of the Kingdom, after losing the love of his wife and children due to his attempts to best his competition that kept him away from home, Vastor had given up on life for the ideal of helping mankind to reach the next evolutionary step.
However, he couldn't love an ideal. An ideal couldn't smile at him and make him feel appreciated. While facing death, Vastor had discovered what really mattered to him. He was still ready to die, but only because he couldn't stand his empty life anymore.
Zogar Vastor felt the purple fluid flooding his body yet allowing him to breathe as the fight to determine whether the man or the Abomination would prevail ravaged his body.
***
Ernas Household, a few hours before the undead attack.
After hearing Lith speak about making good memories with Kamila and after Nalrond had dumped all girls in the group to ask Brina out, Quylla Ernas decided that it was time to get back into the game.
As the Rezar had so impolitely reminded her, she had a suitor who had been waiting the last few months for her call.
On the one hand, it flattered her. On the other hand, she was afraid of making the date happen.
Before taking a decision that she might regret, Quylla had summoned her closest friends to the War Room. Which just meant bringing her sisters inside her private quarters after activating all the necessary arrays to keep parents and house staff from overhearing her plans.
"I never dated anyone outside the academy so I'm at loss for ideas. Phloria, you dated in the army. I could use your advice about what I can talk about with an ex-Ranger and first-class weirdo.
"Friya, your life-long streak of one-night stands should provide me with plenty of material about how to end the date without Morok making a scene. Let's start with something simple, where can I bring him for dinner?" Quylla said.
"Wow. Do you really think that's what our love life amounts to?" Phloria said. "Am I just an encyclopedia of how to handle weirdoes and is Friya the empress of shallow relationships to you?"
"Well, you dated a human-beast-Abomination hybrid who's also an Awakened and who shares his body with a pretty woman. I don't see anyone getting weirder than that." Quylla shrugged.
"Also, between Kallion and your exes, you can point me exactly at what not look for in a man. As for Friya, I've seen loaves of bread last longer than her relationships."
Phloria and Friya gritted their teeth but they didn't attempt to deny anything. No matter how heavy Quylla's words were, they were also true.
"If he spent too much time as a Ranger, then a fancy restaurant is off the table. Morok has probably little manners and no taste for gourmet food. You can't go to a tavern either. It would make you more like drinking buddies than two people dating." Phloria said.
Chapter 1115 The Healer and the Beast Part 1
"My suggestion is a cozy family restaurant. A place with a nice ambiance and good food where Morok's weirdness will still stick out like a sore thumb but will not get you kicked out." Phloria said.
"Excellent idea. Which establishment do you recommend me?" Quylla asked.
"In case you forgot, I've only recently got dismissed from the army. I only know several canteens and the fancy restaurants where my past dates brought me to. I never dated people outside our social status, except for Lith. Too many complications." Phloria shrugged.
"Friya, tell me you've got good news for me." Quylla said.
"The weather is nice and the temperature warm. Together with the full moon, it should make the evening perfect for a date." Friya pointed at the clear sky.
"Not that! I want you to recommend me a place or at least how to get out of it with class if things go badly." Quylla slapped her forehead in frustration.
"Sorry, but except during my time as assistant Professor at the academy, I always picked up men in taverns. Easy to find, easy to dump. It's amazing what loneliness can make you do after you drink enough liquid courage." Friya said.
"From my experience in break-ups, just be straightforward. Tell him that he's not the person you're looking for as a partner and that it's better to remain friends. Most men don't understand subtler signals and sometimes, to accept rejection they need to get their asses kicked so wear a nice dress and bring a weapon along."
Out of desperation, Quylla called Tista, who suggested to her a few restaurants in the Distar Marquisate.
"They are all nice establishments where I dined with my colleagues after I graduated from the academy. Lith was far away enough that men would muster enough courage to ask me out but his name still instilled enough fear to ward off idiots." Tista said.
"By the way, I'm honestly surprised by your bravery. My brother told me awful things about Morok and he's actually an Emperor Beast. Are you sure to have considered all the possible implications?"
"Good gods, I just want a date, not babies! Besides, he was a human just until a few years ago and if you spend a bit of time with him, you'll notice that Morok isn't much more insufferable than most guys who asked me out." Quylla said.
"Are you sure? I mean, the Griffon Kingdom is full of nice guys with no beast blood in their veins. You could have anyone." Tista said.
"My money could have anyone." Quylla scoffed. "But maybe you are right and finding a nice guy is easy. Why don't you ask your boyfriend to introduce me to some of his friends?"
"You know that I don't have a boyfriend!" Tista blushed in embarrassment.
"My point exactly. Thank you for your priceless advice about how to stay single." Quylla hung up the call and arranged her date with Morok at the Gluttonous Scorpicore, named after the ex-Lord of the forest of the White Griffon.
Scarlett the Scorpicore enjoyed its cuisine so much that thanks to her repeated visits and the amount of food she consumed each time, the owners had earned enough money to turn a small diner into a proper restaurant.
Even after her departure, the establishment was still famous for its jovial ambiance and large portions. They had no problems serving Emperor Beasts in their original form, so a shapeshifted creature like Morok was bound to go unnoticed.
Hopefully.
Quylla decided to wear a red blouse to emphasize her light pink skin, a silver necklace to draw attention to her slender neck, comfortable pants for a quick escape, and Bloodbind, the twin Adamant chains Orion had crafted for her, just to be safe.
Morok was pleasantly surprised by her lovely attire just like she was from seeing him dressed like a normal person for the first time since they had met. His long black hair with four streaks of different colors was clean and held in a ponytail.
His beard was kept short and well-groomed, giving him a mature look. He wore a light overcoat over a white shirt and brown linen pants. The only odd thing in his looks was his eyes, one red and the other blue.
"Looking good." Quylla said, trying to break the ice.
Morok was afraid to speak and say something inappropriate while Quylla felt more awkward by the second.
"Thanks, but it's all thanks to Ajatar the Drake, my new mentor. He beats the crap out of me on a regular basis, often for reasons I suspect are completely unrelated with my apprenticeship, but at least he knows how to dress." Morok said.
"By the way, you look…" He took a brief pause to look at his own right hand where he had written all the words to avoid, while the left contained a list of things that they could talk about.
"…stunning. The combination of red and silver sure draws attention to your… neck."
"Thanks, now let's get inside before we lose our reservation." Quylla walked through the door first, bracing for impact.
The Gluttonous Scorpicore looked much better than she expected, making Quylla inwardly thank Tista for her suggestion. The inner walls, the furniture, and the floor were all made of solid wood.
The interior was comprised of two rooms, both with square small tables with two chairs each, distanced enough to allow the clients to have enough space to guarantee their privacy.
Only natural fires lit the place, giving it a feeling that to commoners would remind them of home whereas to Quylla reminded solely of her missions on the field. Since she had become 12 years old and had enrolled in the White Griffon academy, the fire had become something she used only in her spells.
In a way, the lack of magical lights helped her to relax. The date felt akin to an exploration mission of uncharted territory to her so the fire set the mood right. Everything from the restaurant to the man in front of her felt alien.
"I didn't expect it would take you months to set our date. Did Faluel really gave you so little free time or are you here only because you lost a bet?" Morok noticed how tense Quylla was and tried to crack a stupid joke that unfortunately wasn't too far from the truth.
"No free time and no bets involved." Quylla blushed a little, mistaking the joke for Morok's usual bluntness. "It just-"
"What can I offer you tonight?" A nice-looking waiter in his middle thirties saved her from the embarrassment. He wore a simple white shirt, black pants, and a brown waistcoat.
"I don't know, man. I'm new here, so I'd start with a menu." Morok didn't like being interrupted, even less having to trust a stranger's taste about his food.
"I can suggest you-"
"Menu, dude. One of those pieces of paper with stuff written all over that are usually on the house. Do you want me to draw you a picture?" The waiter raised his hands in apology and handed them two menus before walking away.
"That was rude." Quylla said.
"Yeah, I know. The guy is free to give me the food he wants as long as he's the one paying for it." Morok nodded, glad they were on the same page.
Chapter 1116 The Healer and the Beast Part 2
"I was talking about you. That poor guy was just trying to do his job." Quylla sighed.
"Oh." That was all Morok managed to say.
An Awkward silence ensued until they ordered and received their food. It took Morok a few bites to collect himself and say:
"I'm curious about what led you to leave the academy and search the guidance of an Emperor Beast. I mean, your family is loaded, your father is a hotshot in the Knight's Guard, and the few times we spoke in Kulah, you always talked about your plans of becoming a Professor."
"It wasn't an easy choice to take." Quylla felt flattered by the fact that he still remembered those bits of conversation after so many months and together with the good food, it helped to break the glacier between them.
"I never wanted to become a soldier, a fighter, or to deal with danger on a daily basis. My only dream was to become an academic and to spend my days between teaching and magical research. The only problem with that is that bad things keep happening.
"First Balkor and then Nalear scared me so much that it took me a long time just to muster the strength to get out of bed." She shuddered at the memory of Yurial's blood spattering everywhere after she had cut his throat.
"I hear you. I was no longer a student, but I had to face Balkor's army three years in a row and I always came out alive by the skin of my teeth." Morok shuddered as well, inwardly thanking the Great Mother for Balkor's disappearance.
"Three times?" Quylla almost choked on her food from the surprise.
"Yeah. I joined the army at sixteen and as a Ranger, I was dispatched twice to protect the members of the Royal Family and once to protect the students of the Black Griffon.
"I always fought on the frontlines and seeing so many people die changes you forever. No offense, but compared to Balkor's army, Kulah was nothing." Morok said.
"None taken, but I wouldn't call it nothing." Quylla replied. "Sure, all the members of the expedition choose to go to Kulah whereas Balkor's anniversary was akin to an inescapable divine punishment, but it was still terrible. Kulah has been my wake-up call.
"It helped me to understand that even though I had managed to get out of my bed, I never stopped running. The academy wasn't my new home so much as my fortress that kept danger away.
"I didn't stop training because I lacked time, but because I lacked the will to fight. Kulah and meeting Baba Yaga taught me that the only way to avoid danger is to live under a rock." Quylla said.
"That's not true. Just mind your own business and take a quiet job. Lots of people enjoyed peace for years, even when Balkor was still active. It's just a matter of the choices you make." Morok said.
"Yeah, the problem is that I'm not like those people. I was born an orphan and my adoptive family means the world to me. Mom is an Archon, Dad is an official in the army, and no matter how much they deny it, my sisters are natural born fighters.
"I tried to do what you say, but it only made me feel isolated from their lives and incapable of helping them in time of need. Whenever their line of work put them in danger, I was more a burden than an asset.
"I gave up of my career in the academy because I'm tired of running away and always seeking the protection of others. The undead invasion is not going to disappear because I wish it so.
"Sooner or later, our enemies will knock at the door of my family and this time, I'll be ready for them." Quylla stabbed the dumpling in her plate as if she had a vendetta against it.
"What about you? Weren't you supposed to retire from the army and start your own noble household?"
"It's complicated." Morok sighed, taking a pause so long that Quylla was about to change the subject.
"When my mother discovered I was a hybrid and my old man an Emperor Beast, she kicked us both out of the house. I spent my youth traveling the Kingdom with my father, a six-eyed asshole named Glemos who never taught me anything but magic.
"During that time, I wondered what I had done wrong for making Mom hate me. I couldn't understand why all the other kids had parents and a home while I only had the road.
"When I became twelve, my father brought me to the Crystal Griffon academy and after I got admitted, he disappeared. Long story short, hearing all the marvelous stories of my classmates about their families, made me want to become like them.
"Everything I did after graduating brought me closer to my goal. I joined the army, the Association, I took the Ranger job that no one else wanted and succeeded where no one else could.
"I thought that with enough merits, I could achieve everything I ever wanted. Money, respect, a place to call home, and in due time, a family. All I got with the title of Baron, instead, were a bunch of responsibilities, people who only wanted my money, and enough paperwork to bury a Dragon.
"It took me months to set my pride aside and admit that I had wasted years of my life to chase the dream of a twice abandoned child."
"That being a noble wasn't what I really wanted." Morok took a bite of his steak, adding a bit more green pepper sauce.
Quylla could relate with him, even feel lucky in comparison. Even with all the bad things that had happened to her, after she had enrolled in the White Griffon academy, she had never been alone.
Yet just like him, she had only recently discovered that the path she had chosen to walk would never bring her any happiness. Quylla had asked Faluel's guidance for the same reason she had accepted that date.
Instead of taking the safe but unhappy route, she wanted to take some risks and understand what she truly wanted.
"What about Ajatar, your mentor? How did the two of you meet?" Quylla decided to move to a less depressing topic.
Morok told her all about his three days bender with his usual honesty, making her laugh when he quoted his first conversation with the Drake after he had sobered Morok up with Invigoration.
"Good gods, you really are crazy." She said after listening to the part where Faluel had kicked his ass. Hilarity made her eyes water.
"Too often people mistake being nice with being good." Morok shrugged. "I've been alone for too long to care about being nice, but I'm a pretty decent guy."
"Yeah, right. Say that to the waiter. I thought that Emperor Beasts were pretty picky with their apprentices. Between your rough start and the fact that you don't even want to become an Awakened, I'm surprised Ajatar took you in." Quylla said.
"He was surprised as well when, after returning from the desolate corner of the Blood Desert Faluel Warped me to, I asked for his help. I'm still not interested in becoming an Awakened, but just like you, I can't stand idle while the undead attack the only home I have ever had." Morok replied.
Chapter 1117 Dos and Don’ts Part 1
"I may not be part of the army anymore, but the Kingdom is my birthplace and the magical beasts' community is the closest thing to a family I have. Ajatar agreed to take me in after I offered to help him protect his turf.
"Between undead beasts preying on their kin and the undead who fail to infiltrate human cities to feed, Awakened Lords have their workload increased because humans do not care for what happens in the wilds as long as it doesn't threaten their lifestyle.
"Besides, I needed something to do while waiting for your call." Morok said, making her chuckle.
At the second course, they started to chat about their respective apprenticeships, sharing stories about their hardships and successes. After years spent hiding her activities from mostly everyone she knew, Quylla had a good time speaking freely.
Even at the academy, she rarely opened up to someone about her research. Laymen wouldn't understand a word of what she said, whereas competent mages would gladly steal her ideas.
The field of magical research was very competitive and even inside her own team, everyone only looked after themselves. To make matters worse, her talent often made others jealous.
Male Mages in her same field avoided Quylla like a plague while nobles only sought her to become magical bloodlines and for the power that being close with the Ernas household would provide them.
Morok was rude and often foul-mouthed, but he didn't seem to care about her being a better mage or even having a better mana core. His only reaction to learning she would probably achieve a violet core was to propose a toast.
"Are you really okay with not being Awakened? This way you'll be stuck with a blue core your whole life whereas Awakened can achieve a violet core and use Spirit Magic. It's pretty awesome if you ask me." Quylla felt tipsy for having drunk a bit too much.
Morok was a heavyweight and she had got carried away following his lead.
"If there's one thing I learned in my brief time as a feudal lord, is that with more power come a lot more responsibilities. I don't want to be forced to join the Council and being just a true mage is an excellent excuse to skip the Spirit Magic class." He said, making her laugh hard.
"That wasn't even funny. You should really stop drinking."
"I guess you're right." Quylla said after noticing that people were staring at her and she couldn't care less. "I need a detoxify spell but I'm having trouble focusing. Do you mind giving me a hand?"
Getting rid of alcohol from the bloodstream required but a tier one spell that Morok promptly administered. Its only side effect was the dire need for a bathroom to literally flush the wine out.
While the sobered up Quylla rushed to the lavatory, Morok used her absence to pay the bill in advance, giving the waiter both a generous tip and an apology.
'Like Master Ajatar always says, even beasts act like humans when they live among them whereas I act like neither a human nor a beast, just like a prick.' He thought.
Before leaving the Gluttonous Scorpicore, Quylla had to drink an entire water jug to make up for the lost fluids, but aside from that, her mind was as sharp as ever.
Once outside, Morok put his hands in his pockets so as to "casually" offer his arm to her which she "casually" failed to notice while they walked towards the city's Warp Gate.
"You know, if you didn't tell me, I wouldn't have ever thought that you were adopted." Morok said after checking the notes on his left hand.
"Why? Do I act as stuck up as purebred noble?" Quylla felt slightly annoyed at the idea of having become like those she hated the most.
"Not at all. I briefly met your parents in the past and you remind me of them a lot. I always thought you had gotten your mother's looks and your father's talent." Morok said.
"Thanks, it means the world for me." The idea that she could pass for her beloved parents' child was the best compliment that Quylla could ever hope for and made her puff her chest out with pride.
In the past, to express how fitting she was to her bloodline, Morok would have said that he found Quylla almost as beautiful as Friya and as muscular as Phloria. After Faluel's training, Quylla had gained a few kilos of pure muscles and become a couple of centimeters thicker in every direction, but not in a sexy way.
"How many times do I have to tell you?" The Drake's voice still echoed inside Morok's head. "If you use the mother as a benchmark, it sounds like a compliment. If you use the sister, instead, it sounds like you wish you could bang the other woman."
"I'm not worthy of your teachings, Master Ajatar." Morok had even kneeled to the Drake after realizing how wise his mentor was in all truly important aspects of life.
Ajatar had accepted to teach his pupil about the dos and don'ts of dating only because he was sick of Morok treating him like a wretched creature who knew nothing about women.
The realization that such lessons had garnered him the Tyrant's undying gratitude whereas teaching Morok the secrets of true magic had left little to no impression, made the Drake wish someone would beat his disciple in the head until it started to work properly.
"By the way, what happens when you give back a fief? Did you lose your merits as it happens to those who failed to become Lords?" Quylla asked.
In the Griffon Kingdom, when a mage asked for a noble title and its lands, they would be granted full authority over their chosen fief for a trial period while the previous lord of the region taught them the ropes.
Being a genius in magic didn't mean to be also capable of ruling a piece of the country. The mage needed to study the Kingdom's laws and to prove their ability as both politicians and administrators.
To become the permanent ruler of their fief, the mage had to be at least as capable as the person they were going to replace. In case of failure, the mage would keep their title and be assigned a smaller territory to see if they could manage it on their own.
"I didn't fail, young miss, I backed out." Morok snorted. "I got my merits back and exchanged them for the title of Great Mage. This way, I get all of the money and none of the hassle."
"Wait, are you really a Great Mage?" Quylla's voice held so much incredulity and so little admiration that it managed to dent even Morok's thick skin.
"Yeah. This might sound odd to you, but risking your life for the Kingdom on a daily basis for years is valued a lot more than sitting on your ass all day and wait for enlightenment like academics do." He took his deep green robe out of his dimensional amulet and shoved it in her face.
"I didn't mean to belittle your achievements. I can only imagine what you went through while you worked as a Ranger in the wilds. It's just…" Quylla didn't know how to express her feelings without sounding like a female Morok.
Chapter 1118 Dos and Don’ts Part 2
"It's just that it stings at your Ladyship's pride that despite your unparalleled genius you are still a Mage while Lith is already an Archmage and even I am a Great Mage." He said taking those rude words out of her mind.
"Yes. I mean, no. I mean- Oh, gods, am I so easy to read?" She asked while looking at the deep green fabric with envy.
"Usually, no. But the fact that you ignored my arm and yet you are sticking to my robe like a tick is a big tell." Morok had been trying for a while to retrieve his high uniform from Quylla's hands but she refused to let it go.
"I'm so sorry." She said while he stored the clothes back. "Sometimes I let my competitiveness get the better of me."
"No need to apologize. Since you find my robe so charming, next time I'll make sure to wear it. I like clingy women." He said.
"Next time? Don't get ahead of yourself, hotshot. I-" Her communication amulet drew her attention, cutting Quylla short.
Recognizing Orion's rune, she feared the worst had happened. Her father never called so late without a good reason.
"Thank the gods you're alright." Orion said the moment he saw her face. "Now listen to me because I'm in a rush. The undead attacked your mother's assistant and Lith's house is likely to be under siege. We've lost all contacts with their detail."
"What? We need to-"
"You need to return home as soon as you can. It's not safe out there." Orion cut her short. "If this is Deirus's revenge against Lith for messing with the attempt on Phloria's life, then you might be his next target.
"Remember that Velan hates you the most. There's no telling what he might do. I'm going to Lutia with the Royal Guards. If I didn't drag him in our mess, Lith's family would've been safe. Get home, now!"
Orion hung up the call while Morok opened a Warp Steps to the nearest Gate. Awakened or not, all Emperor Beasts could use true magic and they didn't need chants nor hand signs to cast spells whereas as long as she held her amulet, Quylla was a sitting duck.
For the first time in her life, she realized how big was the gap between true and fake mages, making her wish someone could Awaken her.
"Your father is right. With our fancy clothes instead of armor, we're an easy target." Morok shoved her to the safety of the local branch of the Association, unaware that Quylla wore one of Orion's Skinwalker armor.
"I'm going to see if my master can provide some help. Call me the moment you know something and I'll do the same." He Warped away before she could answer.
'That was a good move. Now I have an excuse to call her again and ask for a second date. Sure, the abrupt ending killed all my chances of a goodnight kiss, but I doubt I would've got it anyway. Man, going back to school is definitely making me smarter.' He thought.
'That was a dick move.' Quylla thought. 'Exploiting a crisis just to have an excuse to call me again. The only silver lining is that it kept him from asking for a goodnight kiss again. That would've been awkward.'
***
Village of Lutia, Verhen household, now.
Despite his exhausted state, despite the many still open wounds on his body and the almost tangible strain that the repeated use of Origin Flames had put on his cracked life force, Lith's mind was blank.
Discovering the truth about Night's assassination attempt on everyone he loved, Xenagrosh's arrival and the consequences of the truce between Baba Yaga and the Abomination hybrids were all big news.
On top of that, each one of those events had so many possible implications to be mind-numbing. Yet Solus was right, there was no time to stop and think. They first had to make sure that everyone in the family was safe and sound.
Lith retrieved the stone gauntlet and deactivated the black eye of the Balor. Demon of the Fallen ceased as abruptly as it had manifested, making the spirits of the dead warriors fade away and the skeletons they had inhabited crumble.
Even though Demons of the Fallen's power was undeniable, there was a reason why Lith had saved it only for times of emergency. Not only did it require an amount of darkness and Spirit Magic so great that it forced Lith to use Invigoration while casting it, but the spell would also destroy the corpses it used as foci.
Lith had followed Balkor's example, sacrificing his creations' lifespan in exchange for explosive power. To cast Demon of the Fallen again, he needed another batch of well-preserved skeletons.
Lith took flight and used Solus's mana sense to perform a quick headcount. His parents and little brother, Aran, were safe inside the house along with three units of the Queen's Corps, one of which he had never seen before.
'I thought there were just two units. I guess the Royals assigned me a third squad after I left the army.' He thought.
A quick flight allowed him to find Rena, Selia, Zinya, and their respective families deep in the Trawn woods. Lifebringer the Kirin, one of the Kings of the woods, had remained behind to protect them while the other Kings joined the fight.
Tista was there as well, giving her all to treat Nalrond's injuries. Lith had barely the time to make sure that everyone was present and accounted for when several golden Warp Gates opened along with even more violet Gates right outside the area where until a few seconds ago the air sealing array was.
Royal Guards swarmed out the golden light while Emperor Beast whose size rivaled with that of the Abomination hybrids came out the purple light, each one wearing enough Adamant to build a house.
'Great. Too much and too late. I can't face the Royal Guards in my Wyrmling form. I need to get out of here.' Lith Warped away, using healing magic to mend his wounds before returning to the scene with his human appearance.
His exhaustion and the damages left on the Skinwalker armor matched that of someone who had fought several undead to save his girlfriend and had warped his way there.
"Why the heck did it take you so long?" Lith said with a snarl. He had no need to pretend to be angry and surprised because that was exactly how he felt.
"We're sorry, Lith." The man who wore the insignia of a Captain of the Royal Guards on his sleeves said. His helmet opened and disappeared, letting Orion Ernas talk with his voice without the armor's distortion effect.
"Royal Guards are always on stand-by and we mobilized the second we received Kamila's distress call, but without coordinates for the exit point, it took a few trial-and-errors to find an unprotected location.
"We couldn't use Steps because they are too mana expensive and too small. Using such means of transportation would have just offered the enemy an easy target." Orion said.
"Alas, we're late for the same reason and more." The creature in front of Lith said.
It looked like an enormous red feline with a long mane coming out of its spine along with several long jagged bone spikes.
Chapter 1119 The Calm after the Storm Part 1
Two long horns came out from the crimson Emperor Beast's shoulders, protecting the sides of its head.
The long tail allowed it to balance its weight while the creature stood on its hind legs, while the violet feathered wings on its back looked too pretty for such a feral creature.
Lith recognized Feela the Behemot's voice, the beasts' representative in the Council and leader of their faction.
"The Kings of the woods signaled us the presence of the Horseman of the Black Night so we needed to assemble a force that could take on her and her siblings. Baba Yaga's children help each other in times of crisis and we couldn't afford them to escape." Feela said.
"Otherwise we would only achieve an empty victory and be forced to wait for their return. If we want to put an end to their threat, they must be destroyed or at least captured."
Despite his anger, Lith couldn't refute the logic of both humans and beasts. Royal Guards needed to swarm a place before the enemy could dispel their Gates, whereas beasts could protect their arrays but they needed first to assemble a force capable of matching that of the Horseman.
'Without Yurial's Hexagram and my countless tricks, Night would have made a short work of me thanks to the dimensional sealing array. Even if the beasts charged blindly, Baba Yaga would have appeared anyway and I doubt that anyone but the Abominations could strike such a good deal from her.' He thought.
"What in the gods' name happened here?" Orion asked while looking at the crater where once Zinya's house was, at the ruins of Selia's home, and at the ground surrounding the Verhen household that had been upturned by the Demons rising from their graves.
"Indeed. We received the call but a few minutes ago." Feela said. "A Horseman's power is great, but not even them can bring this kind of destruction in so little time."
At the wave of the hand of their respective commanders, Emperor Beasts and Royal Guards spread out in search of enemies or survivors. Feeling reassured by the presence of such a mighty force, Captain Locrias of the Queen corps came out of Lith's house and started to tell everyone about the events he had witnessed.
The description of the mysterious Wyrmling's and its army's battle prowess left Orion flabbergasted and made a smug expression appear on Feela's snout. When the Captain reached the part where Elina had unleashed Yurial's Hexagram her surprise matched Orion's.
When he told them about the six odd-looking Emperor Beast that had beaten Night to a pulp and even forced Baba Yaga to bargain for her life, both Orion and Feela thought that Locrias had gone mad from the shock.
Meeting a single member of a Guardian's bloodline was a rare event but six of them at the same time was something unheard of even in legends. Only the accurate description of Baba Yaga in her Mother form and of her tower, along with Lith's family testimony saved Locrias from a thorough medical examination.
'I still can't understand why those monster-Abomination hybrids helped me without asking nothing in return.' Lith thought. 'I get that Xenagrosh considers me a member of her bloodline, but I doubt that her companions feel the same way about me.
'Yet their rage was as genuine as it was groundless. The hybrids kept talking about their pain, their blood, their family. No matter how tight the ties between them are, I refuse to believe that Xenagrosh considers me part of her family after briefly meeting me once.' Lith thought.
'Maybe they consider your family members to be Abomination hybrids as well since you all share the same blood.' Solus thought.
'You could be right, but I'm pretty sure everyone is safe and sound. Their words made no sense.' Lith checked his communication amulet, sighing in relief as he noticed that no communication rune had disappeared.
"I'm really sorry, Scourge." Sentinel the Garmr, who had replaced Protector as leader of the Ry pack said. Her fur was covered in blood despite both her Skinwalker armor and the use of Invigoration.
She still lacked a front leg and several fangs that even the breathing technique needed time to replace.
"We thought about opening a Warping Array to transport you here or summon reinforcements, but to open such a long-distance Gate open would have required all the Kings and kept them away from the battle.
"Even with the weapons you provided us with, we couldn't let our magical beasts brethren go to battle alone. The undead are too powerful for them and the chances to rescue Rena's family would have been near zero."
"No need to apologize, Sentinel." Lith took lots of food out of his pocket dimension that the Emperor Beast wolfed down to accelerate her healing process. "You did the right thing. Arriving here faster would have been pointless if my pack died for it."
While the Royal Guards fixed the fields and the Beasts took care of their injured, Lith reached Tista and the others in the woods to bring them home.
"Your little army came just in the nick of time." Nalrond said while still in his Rezar form. He had lost his left arm and most of the scales on his back were either broken or missing.
Despite Tista's best efforts, he had so many open wounds that his body looked like a bloody railroad map.
"There were too many undead and every time they touched me, I could feel my life force abandoning me."
"Why is he still like that?" Lith asked in surprise.
An Awakened's breathing technique was supposed to heal even such ghastly wounds in a matter of seconds.
"Because he's on the verge of dying. Healing his life-threatening wounds drained Nalrond of nutrients. After I made sure that Rena was alright, keeping him stable and feeding him potions was the best I could do." Tista replied.
"His life force is compromised from the injuries he sustained, the darkness magic that the undead used, and the mana abuse for using too many spells. It's taking me everything I have just to keep his cores from breaking due to the built-up strain.
"I can't even allow Nalrond to lose consciousness or he might not wake up."
Lith examined the Rezar with Invigoration, noticing that Tista was right. Using light magic to accelerate the absorption of nutrients would further compromise Nalrond's body.
Without an external source, Invigoration would break down his flesh and bones to heal him, resulting in death. To make matters worse, both Nalrond's mana cores and life force were in critical conditions.
"I'm sorry to bother you, little brother, but have you seen Professor Vastor?" Rena pulled his shoulder to get Lith's attention.
"Why the heck should I care about him? The Professor is probably in the safety of the academy drinking wine whereas Nalrond here is dying!" Lith snarled at his sister's tactlessness.
"You don't understand. The Professor was here. How do you think Zinya managed to survive?" Rena's words struck Lith like a punch, giving him one more piece of the puzzle but raising more questions than they answered.
"Zinya is heartbroken and has never stopped crying. She thinks that he died to protect her or that the undead took him prisoner."
Chapter 1120 The Calm after the Storm Part 2
Lith called Faluel to deal with Nalrond while he contacted the missing Professor and the academy. Headmaster Marth didn't like being bothered so late at night, but the moment he heard Lith's report he moved as fast as he could.
"You must thank Quylla the next time you see her, child." Faluel was back in her human form, using the spell Quylla had traded with her to inject potions and tonics straight into Nalrond's bloodstream.
"Not even Awakened can heal so many wounds at the same time. We're healers, not miracle workers." The Hydra used her breathing technique, Lifestream, to scan the Rezar's life force and remove the darkness magic poisoning it before stabilizing his condition.
Just like a pseudo core needed mana pathways, a mana core required life force to remain stable. Too many severe wounds would destabilize the life force of an individual, putting their mana core at risk.
On top of that, massive doses of darkness magic did more than just inflicting physical wounds.
If untreated, darkness magic would infect its victim's body and core alike. It was how Lith had unwillingly created a greater undead back at the academy and how Protector's core had cracked during Balkor's attack.
Faluel focused on cleansing the darkness plaguing her apprentice and on closing all of his open wounds thanks to the constant stream of nutrients the potions provided him with.
Stabilizing Nalrond's life force allowed his two mana cores to recover as well, but only once he could safely fall asleep did Faluel sigh in relief. She kept injecting potions in his bloodstreams non-stop while inwardly thanking both the wonders of alchemy and Quylla's ingenuity.
"Don't heal him any further until he gets some rest. Between the combat and the healing spells, his body can't endure any more mana." Faluel said before going back to take care of the other injured.
She couldn't afford the Council to discover that a member of the fabled Werepeople lived next door to her. All races were still looking for a way to get access to the Fringes and very few would respect Nalrond's privacy. Even the other elders of the Beast Council would spare no efforts to squeeze Nalrond's secrets out of him.
"You bring me terrible news, Lith." Marth said while checking his missing colleague's whereabouts and last known position. "Vastor is too old to face a threat the caliber of a Horseman. Not even Manohar could, and he's much younger and madder."
Lith informed the Royal Guards about the Professor being MIA right after bringing Rena's and Zinya's families to his own home. Everyone was so pale that they seemed to be on the verge of a nervous breakdown.
The only silver lining was that, thanks to the presence of the magical beasts, the children were calmer than their parents.
"Please, you have to save Zogar." Zinya needed sheer willpower to not cry and keep her children calm. "He was on his last leg when we ran away. You have no idea the monsters he faced alone only to protect us. If anything happens to him, it would all be my fault."
Elina was still scared to death, but seeing her daughter and granddaughter safe allowed her to be the rock the others needed to survive that night.
"Don't worry, Zinya. If Professor Vastor is still alive, Lith will find him." Elina pretended to pat her son's shoulder while she actually checked that the injury Night had inflicted him earlier had properly healed. "Are you and Kamila alright, son?"
"Yes, we're both perfectly fine. I left Kamila with the Royal Guards and I had plenty of time to recover." Lith replied.
"Thank to the gods." Raaz hugged every member of his family, making sure they were okay before letting them go. "The only thing that kept me from having a stroke when those gigantic creatures appeared, was that they were on our side."
Then, he turned towards the small pack of magical beasts that served as both steeds and bodyguards for the children.
"I've never been so happy to have you annoying, drooling, fur-shedding beasts around the house. Thank you very much, guys. You saved my little girls."
Abominus and the others didn't like Raaz's words much, but his heartfelt gratitude touched their hearts and the big steaks that came with it won their stomachs.
"You can stay in Trion's room as long as you want, Zinya. Consider this as your home." Elina tried to send at least the kids to bed, but Zinya refused to let them out of her sight.
"Are you still there, Lith?" Marth's voice coming from the communication amulet drew everyone's attention. "I've got good news and better news. The good news is that Vastor's last known position is right outside Lutia so he must have managed to escape.
"The better news is that I'm certain he's alive and well. I've just received a message he sent a few minutes ago. Vastor says that he'll take some time off to recover from the wounds he sustained and that he'll be back to work in a week tops.
"May the gods bless that man. Unlike Manohar, he always leaves a message and his contact information before taking a leave of absence."
"Can I please see the message?" Zinya jumped up, taking the amulet out of Lith's hands.
"I'm sorry, miss, but I've no idea who you are and that's classified information." Marth's surprise only got worse as more and more calls popped on his amulet to inform him about Night's attack.
Only at Lith's and Orion's request did the Headmaster share the recording with them. In the hologram, Vastor had taken care of reproducing most of his injuries. A patch covered his allegedly missing eye, a splint kept his right arm still, and thick bandages covered most of his body.
"Hey, Marth. I hate leaving you in hot waters out of the blue, but I've just fought several undead and I got out of there alive just by the skin of my teeth. My apprentices have already treated my wounds, but it'll take me some time to recover and some more to fully rejuvenate my body.
"I've sent you all the paperwork for the next week and arranged the material for my lessons so that my substitute should have no problem following the program. Just one thing before I doze off.
"Please, tell Zinya Yehval that I'm alright and that I'm sorry for letting her down. Vastor out."
"How dare you say that, Zogar? You almost died for me and yet you apologize? Why did you call your boss instead of me?" Zinya said, yet the recorded message remained frozen.
"Please, calm down, miss Yehval." Marth said, realizing his earlier blunder. "Professor Vastor is a battle-hardened veteran, a Royal Forgemaster, and one of the best Spellbreakers I've had the pleasure to work with.
"Whatever are the reasons for his disappearance, I'm sure he'll contact you as soon as he can."
Even though Headmaster Marth could face a Dragon with a still heart, he had no idea how to deal with a woman's tears. Having no wish to be dragged in Vastor's personal business, he pretended to have an important call he couldn't miss and hung up.
'This makes no sense.' Lith thought. 'Vastor couldn't escape with the air sealing arrays and based on how Zinya describe his conditions, it would have taken Faluel to save his life. How could the Professor get away and heal enough to leave a message that fast?'
Chapter 1121 Scalewalker Armor Part 1
'As Marth has just said, Professor Vastor is a man of many talents. Maybe he Forgemastered something capable of bringing him to safety in the case he lost consciousness.' Solus pondered.
'After all, Zinya is no Healer and we both know that injuries can look way worse than they actually are. A mage doesn't survive as long as Vastor did without picking up a few tricks along the way.
'I mean, we are far from having the knowledge that Royal Forgemasters share, and yet our equipment allowed us to hold our ground against Night. Vastor could easily have an armor as powerful as War.'
By the time Protector returned home, Selia, the children, and the beasts were fast asleep in Lith's room.
"By the Great Mother, Scourge, I would've never thought that the day would come when I envied your paranoia." Ryman had spent almost an hour just looking at his asleep children and checking their bodies with Invigoration before leaving the room.
"If not for the magical books and the equipment you provided to the other Kings over the years, Nalrond would have died and with him my family."
"Paranoia or not, this doesn't answer an important question. Why didn't you call us for help, Lith?" Quylla asked.
Once dimensional magic had been restored, the Royal Guards had escorted Kamila and the Ernas sister to the Verhen Household.
"Because I had no idea what I was about to face and I didn't want to endanger even more people." He replied. "Let's be honest, Quylla, even after training with Faluel your combat experience is limited.
"I knew that without dimensional magic or very powerful equipment, defeating an undead is hard. It's the same reason why I didn't contact Friya. No dimensional magic means no quick way out of a fight and no tricks.
"Physical strength becomes crucial and as regular humans, your bodies would crumble after a few hits. You wouldn't even be able to cast a single spell."
The two women had to admit that chanting in the middle of the battlefield was suicidal. To use their true power, mages required time and space to prepare their spells.
"Then what about me?" Phloria said. "What point did it have turning me into an Awakened if you didn't even trust me enough to stand by your side in moments of crisis?"
"I didn't call you simply because I didn't want to break our cover. You're now very powerful, almost as much as me, but do you really think that your family would have opened the Ernas Gate for you knowing about the attack?
"Even if they did, how would you have explained your abilities afterward? I can shapeshift into a Wyrmling, but you only have your face. I knew about the Queen's Corps units protecting my family and acted accordingly." Lith said.
"You're right." Phloria sighed. "The moment Kamila called for help, Dad called all of us back home and put the mansion on lockdown. Friya and I were already there so even if you called us, reaching Lutia would have taken us too much time."
"I still can't believe Archmage Deirus did all this just because of what happened at the Belin mines." Kamila said. "He put an entire village in danger and attacked innocent civilians! I hope that Archon Ernas finds the proof she needs to bust his ass into jail forever."
"For once Yurial's dad is innocent." Lith said, drawing the attention on himself.
He then explained the details about his meeting with Night, how the entire attack had been an attempt to turn him into a madman like Balkor and induce him to become her host.
"After meeting Dawn, I checked the royal archives about the Horsemen. While Dawn is completely focused on following the mission that Baba Yaga gave her and Dusk likes to pull strings behind the Undead Court's scenes, Night is batshit crazy.
"She doesn't care about being seen or about the number of casualties. The Black Night considers everything like some kind of sick game of which she makes the rules and then forces you to play at.
"In her case, immortality didn't give her wisdom, but rather made her indifferent to the consequences of her actions. Night has no rush to complete her assignment and everything she does is just her way to relieve the boredom that her long life causes her." Lith said.
Then, he told the others about Xenagrosh's arrival and the deal the Abominations had cut with Baba Yaga.
"Are you telling me that if not for Vastor's visit my sister and her children would be dead? Just because they happen to be your neighbors?" Just saying those words made Kamila shudder in fear.
"Yes. Night carefully planned everything and waited for the perfect opportunity to strike. The only thing she failed to predict was Vastor's frequent visits, and that only because he considers all humans beneath her. I think-"
"Do you mind leaving us alone for a while?" Kamila cut him short.
The Verhen household was filled to the brim with guests, leaving Tista's room the only place available to hold their meeting. Tista, Protector, Faluel, and the Ernas could feel the tension in the room.
They left without saying a word, just making sure to Hush the walls to give the couple privacy.
"Please, tell me that you weren't about to question our relationship." Kamila said the moment the door closed and Lith conjured a Hush spell of his own.
"I wasn't, but I expected you to do it. Tonight, your family went through a lot, and all because of me. I failed to predict Night's attack and I didn't even bother putting the slightest protection around Zinya's house despite I knew that something like this would have happened, sooner or later.
"In your shoes, I would be furious at me and I can't blame you if you are. At this point, I'm a liability to you and to all those you love." Lith could read the anger in Kamila's eyes yet he didn't shy away from her gaze.
Lith was well aware of having failed her trust beyond reason.
"Gods, I can't believe you're such an idiot!" She lashed out, but not how he had predicted. "You and Vastor are cut from the same cloth. Always whining about failing someone or about not being strong enough to bend Mogar to your whims.
"Bad things happen and expecting to always be ten steps ahead of life is just moronic. I'm not saying that I'm not scared by Night's threat or at the idea of another attack, but surely I'm not going to blame you if that happens.
"You and Vastor gave my sister sight, then you helped Zinya to get her children back, and even got her a house. Vastor took care of her finances while your relatives showed her what a real family is.
"You two have given her a life and the opportunity to enjoy it to its fullest, yet you keep thinking that nothing is ever enough because you set your bar so high that you're never happy."
"Do you have any idea how many attempts on her life my job caused? How many times she would have risked her life if she didn't live right next to you, making every mercenary in their right mind turn down the job?"
Chapter 1122 Scalewalker Armor Part 2
"Because I do and believe me, being Jirni's assistant garnered me a lot of enemies. My role as a Royal Constable gives both me and Zinya the right to have a detail, but not to be protected by the Queen's Corps, let alone an army of magical beasts." Kamila said.
"I still failed to-"
"Say that again and I swear to the gods that I'll slap you!" She put her hand on his mouth, shutting him up. "This very night, I opened up to you about my exes and told you how hard it is for me to trust people. Do you think I take any of this lightly?
"No, I don't, but I never accepted to date you because I expected you to be a god. I dated you because you seemed to like me despite my flaws and because you cared for me. Has any of it changed after Night's attack?" She opened her hand enough to let him reply.
"No, but-"
"Then answer me this. Did you provoke Night in any way? Did you bring the undead army here? Did you ask the beasts to give Zinya's family a lower priority compared to yours?" Kamila asked, receiving a streak of no in reply.
"Then how could I possibly blame you? You're a victim as much as Zinya. I blame that living legacy bitch for playing with the lives of so many innocent people. I blame that senile fart of Baba Yaga for not turning her 'precious daughter' into a chamber pot at the first signs of madness!
"I blame the Kingdom for not investing more resources to protect its civil servants' families with a few decent arrays. Bottom line, I blame a lot of people, but not you. Now that we have made a few things clear, what do you have to say to me?" She said.
"I'm sorry for doubting you?" Lith said with an awkward smile.
"Wrong. Tell me that you're alright and that the next time you meet Night, you'll beat her crazy ass until she's dead." Kamila hugged him, making sure for the umpteenth time that Lith wasn't hurt.
"I'm alright and that the next time I meet Night, I'll beat her crazy ass until she's dead." He said.
"Good boy." She ruffled his hair playfully before pushing Lith down on the bed and giving him a long, deep kiss to forget for a moment about that frightful night.
"Wait." He pushed her away, trying to get up.
"Too soon?" She asked without even hiding her disappointment.
"No, but this is Tista's room. She'll kill me if something happens in here."
***
Solus's tower, a few days later.
The Kingdom had gracefully taken care of the reconstruction works of both Selia's and Zinya's houses. Between construction workers and mages, it had taken barely a couple of days to return everything as it was before the attack.
Under Kamila's and Jirni's insistence, Zinya's house received a few magical home appliances and basic defensive arrays, while Faluel took care of reinforcing the defensive system of Selia's house. The Hydra felt guilty for letting down so many of her disciples and even her godchildren.
Faluel connected Lith's, Selia's, and even Zinya's house with an underground tunnel so that if anything cut dimensional magic off, they could all find shelter in the most protected building.
"Are you really going to do it?" Phloria asked.
"Yes. I'm aware that this is the only block of Adamant I got and that it hasn't been long since Faluel's lessons about Forgemastering ended, but my new Skinwalker armor is long overdue." Lith replied.
"Until a few months ago, I had no clue how to tap into Runesmithing's true potential nor did I have the blueprints to craft a decent armor, but now I can finally put Zolgrish's Forge to good use.
"The silver lining in Night's attack is that once Faluel gives me my mission, it will not be just her protecting my home, but the entire Beast Council. On the other hand, however, it means that failure is even less of an option than it already was.
"If I don't prove my wisdom, Faluel will stop teaching us magic and I'll be back being a rogue Awakened. Sure, Feela and Raagu might offer me an apprenticeship, but I don't trust any of them near Solus.
"If they find out about Menadion's legacy, the undead will be the least of my problems." Lith placed his hand on the Adamant Forge, making it shapeshift into the form of a suit of armor resembling that he was looking on a Royal Forgemaster catalog.
During the last few months, he and Solus had spent most of their free time experimenting with the runes the Skinwalker armor's pseudo cores were comprised of. Only two out of four pseudo cores were made of pure mana while the rest required ingredients.
Thanks to their ability in shaping cores, however, they had been able to imitate the effects of the ingredient-generated cores with their mana and to test how altering their rune strings would affect the final result.
Putting their theories into practice always required them to spend part of the resources they had stockpiled because simple mana lacked the properties of the real deal, like the ability of the Thunderbird's plume to amplify energy-based effects.
Useless to say, by the time they were done with their experiments, their Orichalcum reserves ran dangerously low, and lots of people had received a brand new Skinwalker armor.
"Thanks for letting us spectate, Lith." Quylla said. "As a fellow Forgemaster, you've no idea what it means to me seeing what a mage with a tower can achieve. On top of that, I never witnessed an Awakened Forgemastery and I'm curious to see how different it is from my own."
"You're welcome, Quylla. It's not like you can learn anything from this demonstration. Solus and I have already determined which runes we'll use for the enchantments, which will be engraved on the armor, and how to split different abilities among the cores.
"Without such information, all you're in for is a light show." Lith said with a chuckle.
"Unless you are his lovely, gorgeous big sister. Not only do I have access to their notes, I also got one of their best prototypes of Lithwalker armor." Tista grinned from ear to ear as her clothes turned into a suit of silvery armor embedded with several magic crystals.
It resembled Lith's hybrid form so closely that it gave everyone the impression Tista could shapeshift as well.
"Scalewalker armor! It doesn't allow people to turn into me. That would be creepy as heck. Now stand back, please." Lith signaled them to move away as the Forgemastering lab became enveloped with a blue light that isolated both him and the armor from the rest of the room.
Thanks to Zolgrish's Forge, Lith didn't need Zekell's help to shape the armor, only his own willpower and imagination. After checking that every single detail, from the elm resembling his hybrid form to the joints being properly reinforced, the preparation phase began.
The Adamant Forge was a block of solid metal so big that Lith could have made at least three armor and a couple of weapons out of it. Unfortunately, to do that he would have to use the Adamant in its natural state.
Chapter 1123 Scalewalker Armor Part 3
Lith shapeshifted into his hybrid form, taking a deep breath while Solus erected several barriers to protect every part of the tower from the Origin Flames. The mystical fire didn't discriminate between enemies and allies, burning everything on its path, be it physical in nature or not.
Without a proper set of protections, the amount of Origin Flames necessary to purify the Adamant would damage the tower and cause a great deal of pain to Solus. Lith slowly exhaled a soft stream of Origin Flames that engulfed the armor inside out.
Ever since Lith had quit the army, he had devoted himself to learning how to control Origin Flames and how to enhance their purifying ability while suppressing their destructive effect at the same time.
Due to the lack of time between all his other magical research and taking care of his personal life, he had still a long way to go before mastering them, yet Lith had already learned more than enough to tap into the full potential of Zolgrish's Forge.
With each breath, the suit of armor that at the beginning was big enough to accommodate a giant became smaller and thinner. Along with the impurities, the Forge would lose mass and shrink accordingly.
Instead of spewing flames non-stop, Lith would stop from time to time to check the quality of his work. This way, he wouldn't miss when the Origin Flames had not spread evenly or had affected the exterior part of the armor more than the internal.
Such mistakes would have compromised the quality of the final product if not for Zolgrish's mastery over metalsmithing. All Lith had to do to fix the flaws in his job was to shapeshift the armor again so that it would restore its original proportions.
'It's as boring as watching paint dry, but Lith has no other way to purify the armor and study Origin Flames at the same time.' Tista said to the others via a mind, to not disturb his focus.
Nalrond and the Ernas found the process far from boring. Under Lith's control, the mystical flames danced around the Adamant and seeped into it, moving akin to a living being, sometimes even giving the spectators the impression to see visions of primordial times, back when Mogar was still a lava planet.
Lith used his willpower to adjust the density of the Origin Flames, changing their temperature when necessary and with it their color. Tista found the purification process boring because she had seen it countless times whereas to anyone else it looked like a black Dragon dancing with fire fairies.
'Either I find a way to get Zolgrish to spill the beans about how he can make metal shapeshift, or I'll have to practice a lot to avoid making so many mistakes.' Lith thought.
'We can do both things. Yet I'd like to point out how this is the first time we're working on Adamant so I'd say that you're doing a wonderful job. As I would say, progress, not perfection. As Kamila would say, you're an idiot.' Solus giggled.
Lith hated when both the most important women in his life agreed on something because it usually meant he was dead wrong.
'I'm never wrong. Being wrong is for idiots- May Marie Curie forgive me, I'm starting to sound like Manohar!' The terror the thought inspired made Lith stop whining and return focusing on the task at hand.
By the time Lith had finished purifying the suit of armor to perfection, the mass of metal had been reduced to the point of having the proper density and size to cover Lith's hybrid form while having a bit of metal to spare.
Lith used it to reinforce the joints and made sure that they properly distributed the weight of the armor. The final result left even Solus in awe.
"By my maker, Lith, check the armor with Invigoration." The metal looked like the purest and most polished silver yet some part of it perfectly reflected the light, while others completely absorbed it.
"Fuck me sideways! Guys, you must see this." Lith said, causing Nalrond to swear.
"I've got no Invigoration nor a wand. Care to elaborate for me?" Despite the Rezar had worked hard to become less edgy, he still resented Mogar for not giving him a shred of Spirit Magic.
Nalrond was the only one in the group incapable of using Forgemastering spells and it made him feel like an outcast.
"This is how a purified Orichalcum armor looks through Invigoration." Solus used the tower's abilities to project a hologram where the world energy seeped and spread evenly inside the metal.
"This, instead, is how the purified Adamant looks like." The hologram changed, showing several vortexes where the world energy accumulated inside the armor, but failed to condense enough to form a proper energy core.
"After being treated with Origin Flames, the metal almost behaves like Davross. Alas, almost is not enough." Solus sighed.
"Indeed." Lith pondered on the discovery. "We can say that Orichalcum is akin to a cyan core and Adamant to a blue core. After refining the core to bright blue with Origin Flames, I brought it close to the violet level of the Davross, but that's it."
"That's it my shiny ass!" Solus said. "This means the armor will be much more powerful than we expected but also that crafting it will be much more difficult. Luckily, we have valiant helpers."
Solus made chairs and tonics appear for everyone.
"You can count on me. Just tell me what I need to do." Phloria said.
"I'll need you to fuel a few things with your mana, leaving Solus free to help me in the most crucial moments." Lith said, handing to everyone a copy of the academy spell necessary to conjure world energy inside a magic circle.
The spell was simple enough that even Nalrond who had studied fake magic from Lith's academy book, managed to learn it at a first glance. The others had no need for it since their experience with Forgemastering made the spell second nature to them.
After making sure that the purified Adamant couldn't be further improved without compromising its stability, Lith took seven violet mana crystals out of his pocket dimension and cast the Bonding spell.
Each gemstone was as big as his fist and cut to resemble a diamond. After spending the last few months in the tower mines, the purity of the mana crystals that Orion had gifted Lith for saving his daughters had further increased, but they still didn't have a tinge of white in them.
Lith had chosen to use Orion's crystals rather than the orc shaman's because not only had it reached a shade of violet so bright that it made him hope for the best, but also because its size allowed it to spawn new violet crystals more easily compared to smaller gemstones.
'Another flaw in my original design of the Skinwalker armor is that I kept using a single crystal. Normal Skinwalker armor are made of cloth, while mine is made of metal. To tap into the Adamant's ability to boost its own defensive properties when imbued with mana, the armor needs a proper energy source.' Lith thought.
The armor started to float in mid-air while the seven gemstones followed its every movement, orbiting around the armor like planets with their sun.
Chapter 1124 Scalewalker Armor Part 4
The Bonding spell produced several blue threads made of pure mana that passed through the crystals and the armor over and over again.
With each passage, the crystals closed in the armor until they touched its surface. The metal seemed to turn liquid, offering no resistance to the gemstones that sunk in until only their top remained visible.
Bonding was one of the many Forgemastering spells created by fake mages that employed the best next thing to Spirit Magic. Each blue strand worked as both a mana IV that allowed the energy from the crystal to seep into the metal, preventing its rejection, and as stitches, keeping the two together until the end of the process.
Lith took such effects for granted, whereas Nalrond had focused his studies on such branches of Forgemastering in the hope of unlocking Spirit Magic.
Lith placed the seven gemstones in pairs, on the shoulders, arms, and hips of the armor, leaving the seventh for the neck area. Being Bonded at the same time, the crystals created a collective mana circulatory system that spread evenly throughout the whole armor.
"Isn't it too much? I get that you are strong, little brother, but seven violet crystals are a tough cookie to infuse anything with even a single spell." Tista asked.
As long as Lith didn't need her help, Solus kept projecting the hologram of how the Scalewalker armor appeared on mana sense to allow the others to better follow the enchanting procedure.
"In any other circumstances, you would be right. With my old skill, it would have been impossible, but that's what Runesmithing is for." Lith replied while drawing several strings of mystical runes in the air.
The first set of his choosing seeped inside the armor, bringing with it Lith's energy signature. The mana from the runes and the world energy released by the crystals slowly merged together until they couldn't be distinguished anymore.
To reduce the rejection of his mana, Lith had poured in the set of runes so much energy that he needed to use Invigoration before moving on to the second set.
"At this point, a Forgemaster would need to take a break and, without Runesmithing, it would be too long a time for the incantation to succeed." Quylla explained to Nalrond.
"The good thing of the preparatory phase is that there is no rush, allowing even us fake mages who are unable to quickly restore our energy to split the process into smaller steps."
The following six sets of runes required much less focus and energy, yet Lith had to use Invigoration two more times to engrave them.
The second set amplified the strength of the pseudo cores while the third set would disperse the excess energy during an all-out fight. Together, they would allow the Adamant to better channel the energy that the enchantments would release and reduce the stress that the boosted pseudo cores would experience.
Even with the mana circulatory system, holding too many powerful spells would otherwise weaken the metal over time and cause the imbued cores a mana overload.
The fourth set of runes would allow the armor to replenish its energy reserves faster than normal. The runes absorbed the surrounding world energy and would aid the mana crystals to empower the pseudo cores once put in their place.
The fifth and the sixth set would respectively absorb part of the kinetic and magical energy that would hit the armor during a fight, turning them into a protective energy field.
The seventh and last set would cloak both the pseudo cores and the rune formations, making it impossible for any regular Forgemaster to study them.
From his last trade with Orion, Lith had learned how to protect his secrets. Phloria's father had given him a true masterpiece like War, but had made sure that no one, not even Lith could reproduce it whereas the workings behind Lith's Skinwalker had been easily unraveled.
Once he was done with the runes, Lith took a tonic and a short break to save as much Invigoration as he could before the enchantment process started. He took all the ingredients he needed out of his pocket dimension, studying them carefully.
A normal Skinwalker armor needed four pseudo cores, but his Scalewalker armor had to do better than that. Lith prepared the pelt of a polymorphic monster species known as a Skinwalker that would give the armor its morphing abilities.
Then, a few Hydra's scales gently offered by Faluel that would improve the hardness of the metal while keeping it flexible.
Also, he set a bowl of slime goop to use it as a stabilizer during the various Forgemastering steps, a petal of the Golden Phoenix flower that the dryads had gifted him years ago, and a Thunderbird's plume to boost the base material's defensive properties.
Thunderbirds had sturdy feathers as hard as iron, and their affinity to lightning granted them a natural electromagnetic field capable of weakening most attacks.
The last ingredients to Forgemaster a Scalewalker Armor were the pseudo core of a dimensional item to store the clothes that the armor would reproduce and a pseudo core holding the matrix of the Full Guard spell.
'Solus's help usually makes such spell useless to me, but now that she's regaining her body, I can't force her to sacrifice her personal life just to act as my bodyguard in the case I'm attacked.' Lith thought.
'By imbuing Full Guard into the armor, I will remove its cast time and the need to focus to keep the spell active during a fight. My only regret is that the aura will be visible, but adding gold to cloak it would weaken the Adamant and make the process even harder.
'If I had more than one Forge, I could make a recon armor and a battle armor, but since I'm no spy, the battle version takes priority.'
After a light meal and some rest brought Lith back to his peak condition, he refined the ingredients. The process required to channel his mana inside each one of them, enhancing their magical properties while destroying their physical forms.
In the past, Lith would use the released energy to form pseudo cores but now he knew better. He let the energy from the Skinwalker pelt and the Hydra's scales to merge with his mana, forming the runes of his choice before assembling them into pseudo cores.
"By the Great Mother!" The spectators looked with awe at the two rainbow-colored spheres in front of their eyes that were so similar yet so different.
The Skinwalker's ability to shapeshift made it capable of changing colors as well, giving its pseudo core a dull light. The power of all seven elements filled Faluel's scales, instead, making the resulting pseudo core emit a vibrant light as it absorbed world energy and split into its components.
Lith sighed while looking at the Golden Phoenix petal before burning it with his mana. Each flower was a priceless treasure and he had only a few left. The petal produced a string of fiery runes that assembled to form what would be the Scalewalker armor power core.
Powerful enchantments and runes needed Lith's mana to work whereas crystals could provide the armor solely with world energy.
The power core would not only fuel all enchantments, but also hold the other pseudo cores together, keep them from clashing with each other, and turn the world energy into mana bearing Lith's energy signature.
Chapter 1125 A Forgemaster’s Pride Part 1
The plume of the Thunderbird produced a yellow pseudo core that was comprised of pure air element. The static discharges that the golden orb emitted became less and less frequent as Lith rewrote part of its natural runes, to make it more stable.
'All the runes related to the emission of electricity are a waste of mana. I only need those that create the protective magnetic field to boost the Scalewalker armor's defense.' Lith thought.
As for the pseudo core of the dimensional item and the spell matrix of Full Guard, Lith knew them so well that he needed but a thought to form them.
Then, he merged the five cores together, using the slime good from time to time to reduce the rejection effect that the different energies caused. Slimes were incredible creatures with amazing vitality and capable of adapting to any environment.
Once dispersed inside the Forgemastering spell, the goop produced a fine mist that saturated the five pseudo cores and harmonized their magical wavelength, allowing Lith to make them overlap with minimal effort.
"Solus!" Lith said.
"On it!" Solus redirected part of the world energy coursing through the tower to form a blue circle of light that engulfed the Adamant armor and the pseudo core that started to orbit around each other.
Violent arcs sparked between them as the world energy from the Adamant flowed into the pseudo core's mana and vice versa. The arcs soon stabilized, forming a cycle that made matter and energy resonate with each other.
Lith took out his Orichalcum hammer, now reforged with runes and a violet crystal while Solus wielded her own and charged both hammers with world energy.
"Guys, the moment Solus starts helping me, I need you to take over the circle. She already did most of the work, you only have to keep it stable and fueled. Tista, Phloria, be ready to use Invigoration on yourself or the others as soon as they need it.
"I have only one shot at this so let's make it count!" Lith didn't wait for an answer and struck at the pseudo core with his hammer, using the combined effect of the mana in his body and that stored inside the hammer to force the armor to accept the foreign energy.
The strike released a pulse of blue light so violent that it almost knocked everyone but Tista off their feet. She knew how Lith worked and had braced for impact while the others had never witnessed anything like that.
'It will be like that every time one of the hammers hits. Keep channeling world energy or the following blasts will destabilize the circle.' Tista said via the mind link.
'Thanks for warning us in time!' The others would have liked to give Tista a piece of their mind, but the moment they saw Solus move her hand they focused solely on their duty.
Ever since Solus had gained a deep cyan mana core, her strength had improved by leaps and bounds. Yet even with the help of Runesmithing, she still lacked the mana necessary to overcome the resistance that the Adamant offered.
While Lith took care of merging the armor and the core with his superior might, she fixed all the imperfections that the process caused in the pseudo core with her finer mana control.
The technique allowed them to both improve their chance of success and to greatly reduce the time that each Forgemastering process required. Wielding such powerful energy took a great toll on both of them and needed a constant use of Invigoration.
Time was of the essence because the more Lith used Invigoration, the less effective it became. The hammer blows flowed into each other in a symphony of silvery clangs, producing a raging storm of blue light.
With each hit of Lith's hammer, the pseudo core would go deeper inside the armor, but the world energy that coursed through the Adamant opposed to the process with such strength that it caused deformations in the core, compromising the integrity of the spells it held.
With each hit of Solus's hammer, the bumps and indenture from the previous clash would disappear, shaping the pseudo core into a perfect sphere again. She had to make sure to preserve and fix all five cores at the same time so that they could withstand Lith's working.
During that time, Lith replenished his body with mana and injected part of it through the runes. That way, the energy coming from the armor couldn't mess with Solus's work due to being temporarily synched with their energy signature.
Lith and Solus complemented each other, allowing them to focus solely on their respective task without the fear of any external variable. Their combined Forgemastering technique not only required the power that only a mage tower could provide, but also two mages to work as one.
By the time the Scalewalker armor was complete, Lith was running on fumes and Solus had to give up on her energy form to keep the tower from collapsing.
"I think that congratulations are in order, little brother." Tista said amid pants. "Your work looks like a masterpiece."
"Yeah, but I expect to be properly compensated." Nalrond laid on the ground, trying to catch his breath. "Without us, you would've never succeeded."
"Do you really think I allowed you guys to spectate just out of the goodness of my heart?" Lith replied with a sneer. "We never worked on Adamant before and I assumed that we might encounter several unexpected complications.
"Based on my experience, however, it should have been nothing that a squad of powerful mages, most of whom practice Forgemastery at that, couldn't solve. Worst case scenario, Solus would have focused on keeping the process on hold while we brainstormed the issue."
"You sure know how to make your friends feel appreciated." Friya said. "Does your brilliant contingency plan involve a good meal? Because I'm starving."
"My plan involves all the food and drinks you can eat plus the time for a hot shower. Every time I push myself to my limits, I sweat bullets and I can't appreciate a good meal while smelling like a wet dog." Lith said.
Everyone went to their respective room, replaying the Forgemastering procedure in their heads while pondering if they might be able to do the same. Soon, they all came to the same conclusion.
'No matter what I do, it's impossible. I would need to have several powerful mages to replace the mage tower in the process of conjuring and fine-tuning such a huge amount of world energy.
'On top of that, with Solus's help, Lith can exceed the limits of his mana core, crafting items that go beyond what a bright blue core can do. I wonder if Orion/Dad has a violet core.' They thought almost in unison.
The more they thought about it, the more everything seemed unfair, tainting admiration with a fair share of envy. Being friends, however, instead of ruminating such thoughts behind Lith's back, they told him to his face.
"Sure it must be nice having both a mage tower and Origin Flames. That's the same as cheating since not even Dad can purify metals with such ease." Quylla said, expressing the grievance of every single Forgemaster on Mogar.
"Indeed. Meeting Solus saved my life in more than one way and provided me with the best partner I could ask for." Lith had no problems admitting they were right.
Chapter 1126 A Forgemaster’s Pride Part 2
His heartfelt words made Solus so happy that she didn't mind skipping the meal due to the inability to assume her human form. The light wisp snuggled against his head like a small bird.
"As for my hybrid form, it messes with my love life and makes me a monster, but at least it comes with some perks. Right, Phloria?" Lith looked her in the eyes, making most of her envy and that of their sisters melt like snow under the summer sun.
During happy circumstances, it was easy to forget that such blessings were actually a double-edged sword. Over the past few months, Phloria had come to terms with Solus's existence and didn't resent Lith anymore for keeping his other half a secret.
Yet she still lacked the courage to ask some important questions like what part Solus had played in their past relationship and how much of it she had shared. The uncertainty still made it awkward for Phloria to remain alone with Lith.
'There is no way to ask them if we ever had some kind of threesome. Just thinking about how they shared their mind and Lith's body is embarrassing enough, let alone asking details of their arrangements about intimacy.' She thought.
Later, while the others rested inside the tower, Lith went to Faluel's lair to ask her opinion about his work and understand how safe his secrets were.
"By the Great Mother, it must be nice having free access to Origin Flames. Can you do the same thing for me?" Faluel didn't know about the tower, but she could recognize perfectly purified Adamant when she saw it.
The black and white shades of the metal that made it similar to Davross were hard to miss.
"Yes and no. Yes, I can but no, I can't assure you the same quality in the final product." Lith then explained to her the peculiar Forge he had employed and his current limits.
"Goddam Liches." The Hydra had yet to meet Zolgrish, yet she couldn't stand him already. "They already have the best stuff and usually it's because they have more meat on their bones than morals in their head."
"That said, don't worry about it. My forges don't shapeshift, but I know how to handle Adamant. We'll just have to alternate melting and purifying to keep the metal's composition balanced."
"What do you think of my Scalewalker armor and how is the cloaking of my workings?" Lith asked.
"I think that technically, producing such a powerful piece with a blue core is impossible. The crafting is a bit rough and the enchantments could have been balanced better, but it's still an impressive work for someone without a legacy.
"As for the cloaking, you gave the standard runes a good spin of your own. If you weren't my apprentice and I had no idea of how you work, I would've had a hard time studying your armor.
"I like how you used my scales to enhance the armor's ability to deflect impacts rather than just hardening it. Professor Wanemyre is right, you're truly talented for Forgemastery." Faluel said after thoroughly studying the armor.
"Thanks. Did we make the right choice in crafting an armor rather than a weapon?" Lith asked.
"Most certainly. I don't know how you made the Scalewalker armor just like I don't know how this Orion made War. Yet while I'm certain that I can make something much better than your piece if I give it my all, crafting a better blade would be a challenge.
"On top of that, even if I managed to match War's power, my piece would still lack the pseudo conscience that Orion's feelings imbued the sword with and the abilities that come with it.
"Unless you have lots of money and materials to commission a masterpiece to someone even better than I am, crafting an armor was the perfect choice. It allowed you to experience working with Adamant and to put your technique to the test against the second most powerful metal on Mogar.
"To be honest, I'm surprised you succeeded at your first attempt and a bit disappointed that you didn't come to me for help. Right now, your Forgemastering technique has few secrets to me, and sharing them would have been a small price to pay to not waste the only Adamant Forge in your possession." Faluel said.
'Which means that either those secrets are truly valuable and likely to be related with Solus's powers or that Lith's pride is so big that it clouded his judgment. He doesn't seem the arrogant type.
'Lith has never hesitated to ask for my help in the past so I bet that his Forgemastering prowess is somehow related to Solus. Gods, I wish he trusted me a little more. No matter what she is, Solus is my apprentice as well. I would never hurt either of them.' She thought.
Lith had pondered a lot about asking Faluel's help for the Forge, but doing it would have meant to give up on the tower's world energy and the dual hammering technique.
He had decided to try on his own not because of blind pride, but to gain precious experience. No one could teach Lith how to master the tower's abilities, it was something he had to do on his own.
No matter if the experiment succeeded or failed, understanding the limits that he and Solus had while in the tower came first. It would influence the way they developed their Forgemastering techniques and determine the heights they could reach.
Lith didn't ask Faluel's help because he had gambled on their skills and on the help of those he already had entrusted with the secret of the tower. Despite all Faluel's nice words, she was still a Dragon and a Forgemaster at that.
Lith believed that, after reaching the limits of their talents, any sane mage would kill to get their hands on Menadion's legacy.
"I'm sorry, Professor Faluel, but few or not, those secrets are still important to me and I don't share them lightly. On top of that, I've often learned more from my failures than from my successes. I don't want to become as good as you, I want to surpass you.
"If I start relying on you to forge my most powerful pieces, I'll never grow out of your shadow." Lith said.
"Don't set the bar so low." Faluel felt flattered by those words and gave him a warm smile. "I'm just a good Forgemaster. You should aim for someone like Menadion or Bytra, like I do. Surpassing my father was nothing but a stepping stone.
"We must aim to become Rulers of the Flames. They were Forgemasters so powerful that even the crumbs of knowledge they decided to share with the rest of Mogar allowed the Forgemastering art to reach new heights."
"My bar is not low." Lith shook his head.
"If you are just a good Forgemaster, then so is Orion and I'm less than mediocre. I know Menadion and Bytra just by name. There are none of their creations that I can study whereas you show me marvels on a daily basis.
"Your skills are the real deal and your teachings have allowed me to master Adamant on the first try. I will always be grateful to you for all that."
Chapter 1127 Plots and Schemes Part 1
Lith stood up and gave Faluel a deep bow that she accepted with a graceful nod of her head.
"Then I hope that my next request doesn't come out as rude as it sounds to my own ears." She said with a sigh.
"What do you need?" Lith asked.
"Information. I have heard a lot about you from Scarlett and Protector, but you've never told me about yourself. As you know, I'm soon going to ask you to prove your wisdom. Wisdom is not intelligence, there is no clear-cut test for it.
"What's wise for some, others might consider it foolish. To give you a mission on which we think alike, I need to know you better. I want you to tell me about your life, your goals, your ideals, everything you think I should know about you." Faluel said.
"This might take a while." Lith sighed.
Faluel conjured two comfortable armchairs, hot tea, and plenty of pastries. The Hydra did all she could to put him at ease yet Lith needed two cups of tea before opening up to her.
***
Griffon Kingdom, Xedros the Wyvern's lair.
The First Wyvern lived on the top of the Golden Crown mountain, near the south border of the Kellar region. It was a peak so high that it was always surrounded by clouds that, whenever there was a storm, thunders would paint its glaciers a golden color, giving the mountain its name.
Xedros's cave was hidden by a thick cloud layer generated by one of the many protective arrays that the Beast Lord of the Region had set around his home, yet such trick couldn't hinder the foresight of the Eyes of Menadion.
Usually, the mana imbued within the mystical clouds would keep techniques like Life Vision from finding the entrance to the lair, but to Scarlett the Scorpicore's pince-nez the entirety of the underground cave system appeared as clear as the day even while she still looked at it from outside.
Xedros was much older than her and allegedly the best Light Master in the Griffon Kingdom. The Scorpicore had come to him looking for answers, yet what she saw raised even more questions.
'Even though Xedros is known to be more a trickster than a deceiver, I can't trust him. I'm not even a lesser Dragon so his greed might get the better of his sympathy.' Scarlett thought.
She took her Council amulet out of her dimensional item and informed several of her friends about her position. That way, if anything happened to Scarlett, her disappearance wouldn't go unnoticed.
She grinned at the sight of Xedros snarling in contempt while looking at her via his surveillance system, unaware that the Eyes of Menadion allowed her to do the same. Scarlett kept her Emperor Beast form that rivaled that of the Hydra in both physical might and aerial maneuverability.
"What do you want?" Xedros's voice held no warmth as he replied to the unexpected visitor knocking on his array.
"Nice to meet you too, Xedros. We need to talk about Council business." After a few seconds with no answer, she added:
"Are you going to open the door, or do you want me to call Feela?" Mentioning the name of the Behemoth leader of the beast Council struck more than one nerve.
Xedros considered himself a Dragon and as such, he held in contempt all other species of Emperor Beasts. Yet the ones he hated the most were those who came from a Guardian's bloodline as well.
The idea that a lesser Griffon had beaten him, taking the throne that was rightfully his, still haunted Xedros's dreams. The defeat had been both political and physical since after losing the election, Xedros had challenged her to a duel.
The Behemoth had pummelled him so long and so hard that only Tyris's punch dwarfed the memory of that pain. Just like Drakes lacked Origin Flames, Behemoths didn't inherit Tyris's Life Maelstrom, but they shared the full physical might of their parent.
The idea that both mother and daughter had easily bested him, had deeply hurt Xedros's pride, making him even doubt for an entire day that lesser Griffons were inferior to lesser Dragons.
After that, he had recovered from the sad hungover and swore to never drink again.
The array disappeared and the rocks blocking her way became ethereal as the Wyvern emitted a low growl in reply.
"What do you want, cat?" Xedros said while looking down on her from his golden throne placed on top of a mountain of gold coins.
Now that he had fully recovered from the wound that Tyris had inflicted him almost two years ago, the Wyvern didn't hesitate to showcase his riches and artifacts to belittle the unwanted guests.
If the creature stood on hind legs, Xedros would have been over five (16'5") meters tall, with his long neck taking a quarter of his height and ending into a long reptile snout as big as a barrel.
His tail was about 1.67 meters (5'6") long, ending with a thick bone spike that resembled the sting of a giant wasp. Two golden membranous wings extended from his forelegs, connecting his little fingers to his hips.
The wings were a few shades paler compared to the scales that covered Xedros's upper body and made the Wyvern shine like a masterfully cut gemstone under the mystical lights illuminating the cave.
The raw splendor of the Emperor Beast was further emphasized by the shining mass of wealth beneath him, making most of his visitor cower I fear at the sight of their host.
Unfortunately for Xedros, the Scorpicore wasn't one of them.
Scarlett was unfazed by his theatrics. Her eyes wandered along the room, allowing Menadion's Eyes to count the coins and appraise the artifacts.
'I really hope I'm the one nearest to his lair when this guy loses it and gets himself killed. I could renovate my labs with all the gold and platinum that he pointlessly hoards.' She thought.
"You are still as tacky as always, lizard." His insult rolled off Scarlett who wasn't ashamed of her upbringing as a common house cat whereas her words struck at the Wyvern's ego like a meteor.
"I'm not a lizard, I'm a Wyvern!" Xedros's roar made the cave tremble and several coins fell from the top of their piles, producing a jingle.
"Leegaain was a lizard and you are Leegaain's offspring, hence you're a lizard as much as I'm a cat." She replied.
"What do you want, cat?" Xedros couldn't argue her logic, only curse at the Father of All Dragons for being obnoxiously open about his origins.
"In case you haven't noticed, the beasts are now at war with the undead. I'm here because you never answered the Council's call and because since we're fellow Light Masters, I could use your advice." Scarlett said.
"I didn't answer because I'm not interested. There's nothing to gain from this war. On top of that, I've already my hands full with my beloved apprentice." Xedros's lips curled up in a cruel grin, making Scarlett shudder.
"What do you mean, you're not interested? They attacked one of your precious Wyrmlings and you gave Lith your word to help him." Scarlett said.
"I upheld my end of our bargain by supporting his plea to become part of our Council. It is him who betrayed me!" Xedros hissed with fury.
Chapter 1128 Plots and Schemes Part 2
"That traitorous fake Dragon promised to call me in the case he faced a Horseman, yet he kept Night for himself. He called Faluel instead of me because she lacks the guts to merge with a powerful relic. Isn't one omni pocket enough for that bastard?"
Actually, Lith had promised to call the Wyvern if he met Dawn again. With his family at stake, Lith had called only those he knew that would focus on killing the Horseman rather than worrying about taking her alive.
"An omni pocket?" Scarlett was flabbergasted.
Back when she had met Solus, she had a yellow core, making the Scorpicore assume that a cursed object that weak had to be some kind of failure. Yet only the most powerful artifacts, like Baba Yaga's Horsemen, possessed an omni pocket.
Suddenly, Lith defeating Dawn didn't seem impossible anymore.
"Hi, aunt Scarlett. Long time no see." Sedra, Faluel's youngest son and Xedros's apprentice, said.
The young Hydra was now over six meters (20') tall, with three fully developed heads and judging from the space between the necks, a fourth was about to grow.
Yet it wasn't the sudden development that Sedra had undergone during the past year that turned Scarlett's shock into outrage so much as the sight of his blue core now Awakened.
"By the Great Mother, Sedra, I always knew you weren't as smart as you thought, but I would've never guessed you could be this stupid!" Scarlett roared at the Wyvern while spreading her wings in an act of defiance.
Xedros inwardly gloated, hoping that the Scorpicore would be so stupid as to attack him inside his own home while surrounded by enough arrays to take down a small battalion of Awakened.
"What do you mean, stupid? Unlike you and my mother, Master Xedros recognized my talent at first sight. He Awakened me right after taking me in as his disciple and since then I've grown stronger than you can possibly imagine."
The eyes of Sedra's three heads glowed each with a different color, showing the early signs of Dominance.
"No, you idiot, he turned you into a slave! For the next one hundred years you belong to him and even your mother can't oppose his judgment. The reason why no one offers their apprentice to be Awakened right off the bat is that anyone with half a brain would refuse." Scarlett said.
"That's not true, that Lith-" Sedra attempted to say.
"Lith was already Awakened, you moron. Your mother only judges him as a member of the Council, but she has no power over his right to live. If she kicks Lith out, he can ask another Emperor Beast to take him in whereas if Xedros kicks you out, you're dead." Scarlett cut him short.
"M-Master Xedros would never do such a thing! He even offered me to become his Harbinger and teach me the secrets of Light Mastery." Sedra tried to sound confident, but he stuttered the entire phrase.
"Why shouldn't he? That way, Xedros gets a permanent slave who cannot disobey any order nor hide anything from him, including all the powers of your bloodline, you moron!" Sedra's stupidity kept shocking Scarlett to the bone.
"Why do you think your mother never taught you anything? Because secrets can be stolen and entire legacies can be squandered by a single idiot who flaunts their techniques just to look good."
Sedra's three mouths opened and closed several times as he tried to find a single fault in her logic, yet no word came out. For once, his tongues remained as still as his brain. The young Hydra turned to the Wyvern who didn't even bother denying Scarlett's allegations.
"Relax, child. One hundred years goes by pretty fast. Either you decide to become my Harbinger or not, you have my word that as long as you behave, I'll let you get out of here alive." Xedros said.
Sedra shuddered at those words, glad for the first time in his life to be as ignorant as he was foolish. Xedros was going to squeeze everything he knew and that meant that Hydras would likely mark Sedra as a traitor and kill him the moment his apprenticeship ended.
The Wyvern had forced him into a corner, leaving him no choice but submission. All other roads led the young Hydra to a lawful death either at the hand of his master for attempting to escape or at the hand of his kin for his stupidity.
"As for you, cat, if you want my help I expect to be properly compensated. I would love to ask you for Menadion's Eyes, but only death can remove your imprint." Xedros sounded truly sad as he expressed his inability to kill Scarlett and get away with it.
"Yet we can still come to a deal. Tell me where to find another piece of Menadion's set or find me an ownerless working omni pocket. Either of them will buy you all lessons about Light Mastery you might ever need and even the release of this moron from my service."
Council's law allowed to pass a disciple to another master, but only if all parties agreed.
"Are you really that ignorant?" Scarlett scoffed. "There is no such thing as Menadion's set. She crafted each one of those pieces to help her best disciples to overcome their limits and kept only the Fury for herself.
"After her death, her apprentices scattered throughout Mogar to hide from the monster who had stolen the Fury, fearing that the creature would come for them as well. No one knows where they went. Even I found the Eyes by chance." Scarlett said.
"I don't care how hard it is to find them, those are my conditions. Of course, feel free to tell Faluel that in the case her disciple has an accident, I'm willing to trade her son for his omni pocket.
"As for our esteemed leader, tell Feela that I'm not going to participate in your battle against the undead until she gives me her reassurance that the beast Council will oppose the motion that would allow the Abominations to join us as peers.
"Those bastards have always treated us as food, killing most of my most promising heirs! If not for them, I would have already found a way to evolve into a Dragon with my children's help."
Xedros couldn't forgive Xenagrosh for restoring her Dragon form after willingly abandoning it nor the Master for having led his son Gadorf on the path of forbidden magic.
Xedros firmly believed that the end justified the means, but to him, feeding upon the mana of inferior races was an unforgivable act. The First Wyvern had been glad to hear about Gadorf's death. He considered it a fitting punishment for tainting his bloodline.
The idea to agree with Xedros on any subject caused Scarlett such a disgust that, for a moment, she reconsidered her position. Yet he was right, letting the Abominations join the Council was too dangerous.
No one had listened to Scarlett back when she had petitioned to take action against the Master, considering him like nothing but another madman. Now that his Abomination hybrids had proved to be capable of taking Baba Yaga head-on, the elders of the Council were torn between fear and hope.
Fear that by trading knowledge and resources with the Awakened, the Abominations would become unstoppable. Hope that between Bytra's crafts and the might of the hybrids, fake mages could no longer threaten the Awakened's supremacy.
Chapter 1129 Thinking Ahead Part 1
"I'll let Feela know." Scarlett turned around to leave, but Sedra stopped her.
"Aunt Scarlett, please, don't abandon me here."
"You dug your own grave, child, I can only hope you find it comfortable." She said with a stone face and a flat voice.
Scarlett's heart actually ached at the idea of his death. Sedra was indeed stupid, but all she could see while looking at him was the hatchling that followed her everywhere and believed to go unnoticed while hiding under her own mane.
Yet showing any concern for him would only make Xedros raise his price. Sedra tried to speak again, but Scarlett shoved a handbook in his mouth.
"Those are the laws that regulate the relationship between a master and their apprentice. Study them as if your life depends on it, because it surely does." Scarlett said before leaving for good.
***
Lustria county, Faluel's lair.
After the meeting with Lith was over, the Hydra summoned Friya to discuss her future. There was only so much that Faluel could teach her before the bond between them became too deep.
Friya wasn't like Lith, who the Hydra helped out of friendship and curiosity, nor like Quylla whose unparallel talent for light magic had helped Faluel to deepen her understanding of the elements.
'I wish one of my children had her talent and honest passion for magic.' The more Faluel got to know her, the more she regretted Quylla being a human. 'Instead of just teaching her small stuff, I would make her my assistant and heir, securing the Hydra bloodline for the next generation.'
"Master Faluel, I'm here as you requested." Friya entered through a dimensional array and gave the Hydra a deep bow, interrupting her train of thought.
"Please, sit down. We have much to discuss." Faluel pointed at her the comfortable armchair where Lith had been until a few minutes before.
Friya looked at the chairs, the tea table, and the pastries before swallowing a lump of saliva. She had been expecting another long and boring lesson about Forgemastering, not the perfect setup to get the boot.
"Did I do anything wrong?" Friya's legs refused to move, fearing that once she sat down her apprenticeship would be over.
"Nothing of the sort." Faluel gave Friya a warm smile that failed to reassure her.
Friya went to her chair, feeling as if the ground under her feet shook more with each step.
"The reason I asked you to come over is that I taught you all I could without compromising the secrets behind my core techniques.
"Nalrond is still teaching me Light Mastery, Lith is about to step into the next phase of his apprenticeship, and Quylla has proven her usefulness by helping me improve many of my spells.
"I still need all of them and I plan to help them develop their talents whereas I don't know what to do about you." Faluel said.
"I did everything you asked!" Friya jumped up, unable to stay seated. "During the last few months, I've learned more about Forgemastery than most students of the academy in one year.
"I've shown you my ability with both pure Spirit Magic and mixing it with the other elements. I even helped you to improve the dimensional arrays of your lair! What more could I have possibly done?"
A wave of Faluel's hand made the chair move forward, hitting Friya's knees from behind and forcing her to sit down again.
"You are just forgetting the part where you don't like Forgemastering much and you have reached your limit with the Spirit Magic you can use with just your wand. You have my thanks for the arrays, but as the recent attack has demonstrated, dimensional magic is easily disabled." Faluel replied.
"I really admire your talents and that's why I brought you here. I don't see you progressing much further without becoming an Awakened nor do I feel right about making you my Harbinger.
"You are a young, capable woman who should spend her time discovering what she likes and what she wants to do about her life. Becoming a Harbinger is a lifelong commitment that I don't think you are ready to take.
"You should return to your home and take your time to plan your future. Do not rush things. Ask your father to find you a master who can teach you offensive spells that would complement your dimensional abilities, travel Mogar on your own, take part in the Court's life, your possibilities are endless."
"Are you kicking me out?" Friya managed to say without making her voice quiver.
"No, I'm telling you that we've reached a crossroad. One way leads you to freedom, to a long and maybe not happy life where you can do whatever you want. The other, instead, lead you to either become my Harbinger or to lose your life the moment you realize you made the wrong choice and you want to back out." Faluel replied.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean that I'm not making you my Harbinger anytime soon. You are free to stay here and receive my teachings, but your development is limited by your non Awakened state.
"On top of that, due to the nature of our contract, you would be stuck with all the responsibilities that the position implies without any of the power. Tier four true Forgemastering is identical to that used by fake mages, but my tier five belongs to the Hydra bloodline.
"The moment I teach you any of that, your fate is sealed." Faluel said.
"I understand and I thank you for your concern, Master Faluel, but I've decided to stay. My father is a busy man and the only way to become his apprentice would be to either join the Knight's Guard or become a Royal Forgemaster." Friya said.
"Both are lifelong commitments toward a Kingdom that has failed its most loyal subjects too many times to be trusted. Life in the Royal Court is not for me. Just the idea of lying and scheming every day of my life makes me want to puke.
"As for finding another master, after seeing what Awakened can do, the higher I would get the more I would regret not having taken the chance to tap into my full potential.
"I'm tired of feeling useless. When my mother and Yurial were dying between my arms, I would have given everything to be as good as Lith and be capable of saving them both. Down in Belin mines, I could save my life only at the price of abandoning my sisters.
"When the undead attacked Lith's house, he didn't even consider calling me for help because I'm weak. I didn't tell him, but those words hurt me more than any wound ever did.
"I know that being weak is not a crime, but it's more than I can take. If Deirus attacks my family again, I want to be able to make the difference. I could never live with myself if I were to lose someone I love again just because I don't have the strength or skill to save them.
"That moron, Morok, told my sister Quylla some of the wisest words I ever heard. A long life is pointless if you don't have something to live for. I prefer a short life where I do what I think is right rather than spending what time I have left filled with regrets."
Chapter 1130 Thinking Ahead Part 2
"Are you sure you don't want to take some time to mull over my words before making your final decision?" Faluel asked.
"I've had years to mull over my life. I don't seek the power of a Harbinger because I find any pleasure in serving you, but because it's the only path that will allow me to give my life a meaning." Friya said.
"Excellent answer." Faluel nodded, giving Friya a wooden chest the size of a shoebox.
"Why are you giving me a gift?" Friya opened the chest and found a heavy hammer made of Adamant wrapped inside a silk cloth.
"That's not a gift, it's your Forgemastering hammer. I told you that my tier five magic is nothing like the academy. To learn Hydra techniques, you need a better tool than that flimsy wand." Faluel stood up and lead Friya to her personal Forge.
***
Lith's tower, at the same time.
Lith had left Faluel's lair through another Warping array because the Hydra didn't want to force any of her apprentices to share with the others information about their personal life unless they wanted to.
"How did it go?" Solus asked.
Faluel had summoned only Lith to keep his recollection of the events of his life from being altered by Solus's perception. Like most people in his life, the Hydra had a hard time understanding where Lith finished and Solus started.
Lith looked around, making sure that everyone was still asleep before activating their mind link and sharing with her everything that had transpired during the last few hours.
'I'm sick and tired of hearing how creepy I am.' Lith thought as his eyes turned golden and Solus's turned dark.
"Well, that was interesting." Solus pondered what she had just learned, trying to guess what kind of mission the Hydra could assign to them.
"How are the others?" Lith said.
"Still dead tired. Faluel's ban on Invigoration whenever sleeping is an option sure slows things down." Solus replied.
They spent the time until everyone woke up by practicing Light Mastery. Lith had perfected its first three tiers but he still found it difficult to shape and control complex constructs.
Solus, instead, was close to perfect the internal control layer of the high tiered spells, but her constructs kept being frail.
Nalrond had offered to explain things in detail to them and even to teach them powerful spells, but they had refused.
Solus and Lith didn't even share their progress with each other because just by looking at their constructs, they could see that their way of using Light Mastery was different from each other just like it differed from Manohar's, Dawn's, and Nalrond's.
They feared that by comparing notes, their technique might lose its unique edge. Like all high-level disciplines, Light Mastery could develop in different ways based on its user.
Nalrond woke up first and prepared breakfast for everyone.
"I still don't think there is such thing as a test of wisdom." He said after hearing Lith's story.
"I mean, whatever task she assigns to you, it would just demonstrate your ability to follow orders whereas Faluel would need a way to determine if you are capable of wielding the power that she is passing onto you without becoming its slave."
"That's what I believe as well." Lith nodded. "I'm pretty sure it will be something apparently simple but actually convoluted. Like it happened when the Council had me fighting that monster, the Meneos, who is invincible as long as it touches the ground."
"Worrying about it now it's pointless." Tista said. "You can't solve a riddle you don't know. I'm more interested in hearing about Nalrond's and Quylla's respective dates. What was your partner like? Do you think there will be a second date?"
Both of them choked on their tea, burning their tongue and needing a healing spell before being able to answer.
"My date went well, but I don't think that I'll see Brina again." Nalrond said.
"Why is that? She is a sweet girl and Rena thinks the world of her." Tista said.
"Several reasons. First, Brina made it clear that she's looking for someone to settle down with and I'm the wrong person for her. Unless I tell her about my hybrid nature, I would be playing with her feelings, but doing that would compromise the safety of Selia's family.
"Everyone knows that I live with them and if Brina lets anything slip, my life with them would be over. Also, she didn't take well to discovering that I'm a mage. Between the undead attack and seeing me use dimensional magic, Brina told me that my life is too exciting for her." Nalrond said.
"I'm sorry to hear she dumped you." Tista patted his shoulder.
"She didn't dump me! Brina is just looking for someone with a less complicated background who enjoys the quiet life of Lutia." Nalrond replied.
"Which means that she dumped you." Friya said. "Welcome to the club. Being a mage is a curse upon your social life. If you decide to become a noble, leeches will swarm you whereas if you live dangerously, everyone will treat you as a monster."
"What about you Quylla? How did Morok take you giving him the boot?" Nalrond said, eager to make people stop spreading salt on his wounds.
"My date was a bit odd, but I didn't give Morok the boot. Yet." The room went into an uproar bigger than after Lith had revealed Solus's existence to them which irked Quylla to no end.
"What? Why?" Lith looked at her as if she was insane.
"Maybe she got her brain hurt while practicing Shapeshifting." Friya checked Quylla's life force for any sign of alteration.
"Let me get this straight." Quylla pushed her sister's hand away the moment she recognized the chant.
"Selia is free to marry an Emperor Beast, Kamila can date whatever Lith is whereas I'm the crazy one just because I hang out with the only person outside my family who doesn't treat me as a freak."
"Morok's not a person. He's an insufferable prick." Phloria said.
"Maybe he is, but at least he's a prick who says everything to my face rather than my back and doesn't care nor for the Ernas's riches nor the difference in our magical talent. Do you know how hard it is to find someone like that?" Quylla asked.
"Almost impossible." Lith said.
"Rarer than a golden fly." Tista sighed.
"I've yet to find a single one like that." Friya said, leaving Phloria in the role of the bad guy.
"Fine, I give up. Tell us about your date." Phloria said.
Quylla didn't leave out a single detail, yet she blushed a lot while admitting her envy for Morok's achievement of the Great Mage status.
"I don't know if I'll see him again but if I do, next time spare me the theatrics."
***
A few days later, life in Lutia had gone back to normal. All the traces of the undead attack had been cleared up and Rena finally found the courage to go back to her own home.
Selia and her children had returned to their household as soon as the reconstruction had been completed while Zinya needed more time to recover from the shock and so did her kids.
Chapter 1131 Council Duty Part 1
Zinya remained in the Verhen Household until Professor Vastor contacted her to apologize for his sudden disappearance. She could tell that there was something different about him even by just looking at his hologram, but she was too happy seeing him safe and sound to care for small details.
"Mom, Dad, Kami, I'm leaving in a while. Faluel has just contacted me about the details of my apprenticeship and she says that until I'm done with this task, she won't teach me anything else." Lith said while playing with Aran and Leria.
"Where are you going and how long will you stay there?" Elina asked.
"I don't know, Mom. This isn't your usual fetch quest, but a trial of wisdom. It could take hours, days, if not even weeks." Lith shrugged.
"What if something happens again while you're gone?" Raaz asked.
"Well, the Beasts Council has assured me your protection and I've got that huge Dragon's contact rune on my amulet. I'm going to call her the moment I see any of your amulets become unavailable so keep them always at hand." Lith said.
"Are you going alone or does Faluel allow you to have companions? I could ask for a leave if you need my help." Kamila didn't like the idea of hearing from him only through the amulet like it happened when Lith served as a Ranger.
She had gotten used to dine together, to listen to his snoring while falling asleep, and to him being the last thing she saw at night and the first in the morning. With her work as a Royal Constable, Kamila found the routine reassuring.
On top of that, she liked the fact that Nalrond was the only other man in the group even less. The idea of Lith spending so much time with Phloria or Friya made her stomach turn into a knot.
"I don't know that either. Faluel only told me to pack my stuff and to be ready to leave as soon as she's done with the preparations. Which is quite odd since there is no place in the Kingdom and beyond that I can't reach with a simple Warp Gate." Lith said.
"I don't care about your wisdom. If something bad happens or if the test is unreasonable, get back home in one piece. It's the only thing I ask of you." Kamila hugged him tight, feeling as if Lith was going in a place where she couldn't follow him.
"I couldn't have said it better." Elina joined them in the embrace, quickly followed by Raaz.
"Not to be that guy, son, but have you recharged all of the house's defenses? You know, just to be safe." He said.
"Yes, Dad. I even replaced the mana crystals fueling the arrays with others bigger and of better quality. Also, I've notified my absence to the Royals who promised to increase your detail until my return." Lith replied.
'If push comes to shove, I can always get back here with the tower warp. Let's hope that wherever I'm going there is a mana geyser nearby, otherwise I'm really screwed.' He thought.
Much to everyone's surprise, it took Faluel hours to summon Lith to her lair, calling him in the middle of the night along with only a few members of his group.
Lith, Tista, Solus, and Phloria had received the call as well while the others had followed them only out of curiosity.
"I know this is an odd time to hit the road, but soon everything will be clear." Faluel took three yellow-collared potions out of her dimensional item and injected their content into their bodies with Quylla's spell.
"Solus, you'd better hide because this is an official mission for the Council and soon a few people will get here to help you moving."
"What's in the potion?" Tista asked, feeling a little unwell after the administration.
"The cure to Jiera's plague. Even though you're all Awakened, it's better not to take any chances." Faluel said while Solus quickly slipped at Lith's finger.
"Are you really sending me to Jiera?" Lith was flabbergasted.
"No, the Council is sending all of you to Jiera. I don't know anyone on the other side of the ocean and I needed their help to arrange your journey." Faluel replied.
"I don't speak a word of whatever Jiera's language is called. How am I supposed to communicate with the locals?" Lith asked.
"Don't worry, I got that covered. Jiera became a shithole because those assholes of the Guardians on the other continent hate Tyris's guts and never introduced her universal language with the excuse of preserving traditions."
Faluel couldn't believe how someone could be so ancient and yet so petty at the same time.
"Are you saying we all speak Tyris's language?" Phloria said.
"Well, yeah. How do you think we achieved such a long-lasting peace? People have much better chances of going along when they are able to understand each other without the need of learning dozens of languages." Faluel nodded.
"Who cares about the language? I want to know why they are allowed to go there and we're not!" Quylla's thirst for knowledge knew no bounds.
The idea of meeting a society where most people had magical powers and to have the possibility of comparing notes with countless experts made her feel butterflies in her stomach.
"Again, this is Council business. You are no Awakened and I wouldn't even send Tista or Phloria if they didn't belong to Lith." Faluel said.
"What do you mean, belong?" Phloria and Tista asked in unison.
"He Awakened you, hence you're his responsibility for the next one hundred years. On top of that, you also followed Lith in his apprenticeship so he has the duty to make sure that you don't abuse advanced powers like Shapeshifting and Spirit Magic.
"The Kings of the woods not only have a duty toward their packs and turfs, but they are also helping the Council to keep Lith's family safe whereas you have no bonds that can keep you from running away." Faluel said.
"Is it safe for me to spectate?" Nalrond words made little sense to the others but Lith and Faluel.
"Yes, as long as you don't do or say anything that can betray your identity. Now be quiet. We've got guests." Faluel pointed at some blinking runes of her Warping array that had suddenly become visible to the naked eye.
The Beasts' Gate network worked on a voluntary basis because it gave direct access to an Emperor Beast's home. Each Warping array worked akin to a communication amulet and could be easily updated to add new contact runes.
Such runes identified the caller and its spatial coordinates, working as a double layered security system. Only the Beast who owned one of such arrays could contact another and they could open a Gate only after receiving the authorization on the other end of the dimensional tunnel.
Both parties could cut the communication off the moment they detected foul play and activate their lair's defenses against the intruders who had eventually managed to sneak in.
This way, killing a Lord of a region also caused the destruction of their Warping terminal and even forcing them to open one would lead to a sure demise.
Chapter 1132 Council Duty Part 2
The contact rune on the Warping array belonged to Feela the Behemoth, the leader of the Beasts Council and one of Lith's biggest fans.
As a member of the lesser Griffons, the idea of a Wyrmling sharing so many aspects in common with true Dragons made her hope that a way to tap into their progenitors' true powers actually existed.
She had no idea that Lith had no blood relationship with Leegaain nor that all the amazing feats he had accomplished that she attributed to a Dragon's innate abilities were actually due to his bond with Solus.
"Looking good, kid. How is the old snake treating you?" Feela hugged Lith with so much strength that she squeezed the air out of his lungs.
The Behemoth's original nature was that of an Emperor Beast, so her human form was just a projection of how Feela imagined she would look like if humans had decent taste in women.
Feela looked like a woman in her late thirties, but she was actually 453 years old. She was 1.91 meters (6'3") tall and had a muscular yet curvy figure that seasoned warriors and women alike envied her.
Feela's waist-long chestnut hair had streaks of silver, black, and orange all over, forming a multi-colored tress that reached the small of her back. She had had an oval face with delicate features, yet her bearing was usually that of a battle-hardened general.
That day, however, by looking at how tightly she hugged Lith while ruffling his hair and kissing the top of his head, one would think she was an aunt meeting her favorite nephew after a long separation.
Between the warm welcome and the height difference, Lith really looked like a kid. To her, anyone below one hundred years of age could barely be considered a cub and she was very protective of all those she recognized as members of her kin.
"Remember that in case you change your mind, aunt Feela has always a spot open for you among her apprentices and a few batches of Adamant that could really use purifying." She let Lith go, who was uncertain if to complain about the harassment or ask some of the Adamant as compensation.
"Elder Feela, it's nice to meet you again. Thanks for everything you are doing for my family." Lith did neither of those things and gave her a deep bow instead. In his experience, it was easier to catch Adamant by using honey rather than vinegar.
"It's nothing, kid. You…" Only then did Feela notice that besides Faluel there were other people who were staring at her with eyes wide open and not out of respect.
"Why didn't you tell me we would have guests?" Feela's voice became cold and her demeanor turned into that her position in the Council required, but too late for it to matter.
"There's no we. I have guests, elder Feela, and you are among them." Faluel laughed her ass off. "Besides, I wanted to introduce my other apprentices to you."
"So, are these the members of your makeshift academy?" Feela ignored her friend's laughter and sniffed the pups one by one.
"Too many humans. I only have hopes for these two." She pointed at both Tista and Nalrond.
"You should do like your brother and turn into a Wyrmling. He has already Awakened you so once when you transform, there should be no problem teaching you how to master Origin Flames as well.
"The gods know how hard it is to find someone capable of purifying metals for a reasonable price."
"I'll do my best." Tista said.
"As for you, young man, being the only true Beast in the bunch it's your duty to uphold our race's honor. Work hard and get yourself Awakened soon. Each year you stay like this means reducing your Awakened lifespan of ten years or worse."
"Yes, ma'am." Nalrond could feel her gaze piercing him and hoped the Behemoth wouldn't somehow notice that he was a hybrid as well.
"Now be quiet, kids. Your life depends on it." Feela said, making all the remnants of her good aunt vibes disappear.
Another rune of the array lit up and this time even Faluel lost all of her usual warmth, making everyone understand how important their next guest was.
Or better, guests.
The two figures who walked out of the array were the Guardian of the Griffon Kingdom and the Guardian in charge of the Council's activities. Due to their territorial nature, Leegaain couldn't step inside Tyris's turf without being invited and accompanied by her.
"How many times do I have to tell you that he's not my son?" Leegaain said in response to Feela looking at his human appearance and then at Lith in search of any resemblance.
Leegaain had taken the appearance of a lean albino man in his mid-thirties, 1,75 meters (5'9") tall, with snow-white hair and skin. His eyes were purple and had a vertical pupil. He was wearing a lab coat over a set of pitch-black clothes.
"Do you realize that the more you deny it, the more you give credit to those rumors?" Tyris giggled.
She wore the uniform of the Royal Constables and looked like a woman in her mid-twenties, 1.76 (5'9") meters tall. Tyris had shining gold hair braided into a tress long enough to be twisted and knotted above her head, resembling a crown and her silver eyes sparkled like stars under the magical lights in the cave.
After meeting both Dawn and Night, Lith couldn't help but think that somehow they were related to the Griffon Guardian. Yet while they incarnated a different aspect of the day, Tyris's hair shone like the sun and her eyes looked like twin small moons.
'Is there a reason why Baba Yaga is called the Red Mother and Tyris is the Great Mother? Maybe the lore is wrong and Baba Yaga actually descends from Tyris or at least was her apprentice.' Lith thought.
The two Guardians emitted such a powerful aura that all the arrays inside Faluel's lair became visible and small flowers sprouted from the rocky ground.
"I'm really sorry to have failed you Captain Ernas." Tyris took Phloria's hands in her own, giving her a small bow and the Emperor Beasts a stroke.
A Guardian bowing to a human was an unprecedented act.
"If there's anything I can do as a Constable to help you, let me know. I also hope that once your trial is over, you'll reconsider your decision to quit the army. The Kingdom is always short of good people." Tyris said.
"I don't blame you for what happened to me, Your Majesty." Phloria's body kneeled on its own in the presence of the First Queen and founder of the Kingdom.
"I was aware that the enemies of my family would try to destroy my career at my slightest mistake. Deirus is just one of them and even if you take him out, someone else would take his place.
"I'm grateful to you for letting me live in a country where people determine their own destiny rather than being puppets in your hands. On top of that, even without the trial and without Deirus, it was only a matter of time before my Awakening forced me to quit the army.
"At least this way I have no regrets nor do I have to abandon a promising career in order to face this new challenge."
"Wise words for someone so young." Leegaain nodded.
Chapter 1133 A Change of Scenery Part 1
"I'm glad you'll take part in this journey, young Ernas. For too long the burden of responsibility has forced you to grow while worrying about others. To achieve true power, however, one must learn to be egotistical when needed."
Leegaain took a small wooden box out of his pocket dimension that contained four pins the size of a button.
"I am just lending them to you so I expect to get them back upon your return." He put one pin each on Tista's and Phloria's collar of their shirt, giving the remaining two to Lith.
"You should always remember that a hybrid counts double." Leegaain looked at Feela, but winked at Lith.
"What the?" All three of them suddenly had a splitting headache that brought them to their knees.
Countless words and idioms they had never heard before flashed into their minds, making them speak what sounded like gibberish but actually was a mix of dozens of different languages.
"A dimensional library of that size can be unpleasant at first, but you'll get used to it." Leegaain said.
"Dimensional libraries? Do they even exist?" Friya asked.
"Yes, child. Asking your friends to waste months to learn and practice multiple languages that they are going to use just for a few days would be beyond cruel. Each one of those pins holds the necessary knowledge to fluently speak all the languages on the Jiera continent." Leegaain loved seeing the thirst for knowledge burn in the eyes of youths.
"How is that even possible? I am a dimensional mage myself and so is my teacher, but I've never heard or even thought of such spell." Friya hogging his attention made Faluel, Feela, and Tyris scowl.
The Emperor Beasts because they found it improper for a youngling to address a Guardian in such a casual way, and Tyris because she knew that, with the right audience, Leegaain would talk non-stop for days.
"That's because you're a fake mage. Dimensional magic needs to be mixed with Spirit Magic to create a mind link with the storage space through a complex system like that the libraries use to index their books." Leegaain said.
"Are you saying that you can create mind links with things as well?" Friya knew what he was talking about because the Ernas's library used a similar device.
The thought that Spirit Magic, Forgemastery, and dimensional magic could work together in such wonderful ways reassured Friya to have made the right choice by not giving up on her apprenticeship with Faluel.
"Now step back and stay quiet. This might be rough." A wave of Leegaain's hand made everyone get away from him, leaving him enough space to turn into his true form.
His Dragon body now stood over thirty meters (100') tall, covered in black scales larger and thicker than a tower shield. Each one of his fingers looked like a pillar and ended in a claw bigger than an adult man.
His colossal size made it impossible to look at him as a whole from so up close, so they could only look at one limb at a time. Leegaain had burning yellow eyes with a vertical pupil, giving him a feral look only tempered by his calm.
He had dark bony protuberances on his head that resembled a crown, and a set of enormous membranous wings came out from his back.
The beat of his heart sounded like war drums and each breath he took produced gales so strong that Tyris had to conjure a barrier to protect her subjects from the unrestrained might of the Father of All Dragons.
A split second later, the air in front of Leegaain tore apart and a dimensional tunnel as big as the entire cave appeared. On the other end of the rift, a being of similar power and appearance scoffed his contempt.
"Took you long enough. Are you getting old or did you waste time with another of your ramblings?" Fenagar the Leviathan said.
His serpentine body lacked humanoid limbs and was covered in pristine white scales. Fenagar's size rivaled with Leegaain's and his ocean blue eyes were filled with fury and malice.
The resemblance went so far that he even had horns on his head that formed a crown, but made of golden curved bones that resembled fish hooks. On top of that, two massive horns came out from Fenagar's temples, giving the Leviathan a demonic look.
Gusts of ocean salty breeze blew from the portal, carrying the fury of a storm that only Leegaain's presence kept from sweeping all those present away. The heartbeat of the Dragon blocked the noise of the thunder just like his breath negated the wind, making the lair silent and safe.
"You're wrong as always, Fenagar. I just had to make sure that those poor souls wouldn't die out of the plague that your incompetence unleashed nor lose their minds trying to understand the gibberish that your people dares to call a language." Leegaain replied.
While the Guardians exchanged colorful insults, Lith noticed a couple of figures standing right behind the Leviathan on the other side of the dimensional rift.
"How long will they argue and who are those people?" Lith asked Feela, who in turn looked at Tyris.
"They'll go at it until they get bored. As for those people, they'll be your handlers on the other side of the ocean. Only Guardians can open such long-distance Warps and only the Council has the means to contact them." She said.
"There is more than one Council?" Tista's voice trembled at the idea.
"Each continent has its own Council just like it has its own Guardians." Tyris replied.
"Awakened like to keep things simple and care only about the places they can actually interact with. Each continent has different customs and languages, making travels impractical at best."
"Then why am I being sent there?" Lith asked and this time it was Faluel to reply.
"Because even though we don't know what you are exactly, you're still a hybrid. It stands to reason to assume that once you reach twenty years of age, you might be forced to choose between one of your three natures.
"Soon you'll be nineteen and I want you to experience first-hand how the Beasts' society works. Here on Garlen, it would take you too long to meet enough members of our race to understand how different our lifestyle is from the humans'.
"On Jiera, instead, the plague only affected the humans, giving the Beasts the opportunity to thrive and even establish their own country. I want you to go there and live like one of their own."
Faluel's kindness moved Lith. Even in his paranoia, he had always assumed that either his life forces would have merged or that he would remain human. The Hydra, instead, had taken failure into account and wanted him to experience both worlds in case he needed to make a choice.
"Except how to fight them, I know very little about Abominations, but I'm pretty sure that if you ask Xenagrosh she'll gladly give you a tour." Faluel said.
At those words, the Hydra's lair fell silent.
"I've heard about your lost daughter, Leegaain." Fenagar wore a cruel grin, enjoying the discomfort that name inflicted on the Dragon's face.
"After you failed her, I'm not surprised you're sending one of your hatchlings here. I'll take good care of him, better than you could ever do."
Chapter 1134 A Change of Scenery Part 2
"He's not mine and you know it. Now let them pass. We had enough of your yapping." Leegaain didn't lose his composure and stepped away from the Gate first.
The Leviathan didn't like how the Dragon had easily brushed off his words, yet he cleared the way as well.
"Do communication amulets work from a continent away?" Lith said.
"Regular amulets don't cover such distances unless you boost them with enough mana. On the other hand, your Council's amulet has a white crystal that makes it powerful enough to work in every corner of Mogar." Tyris said.
"The people you leave here will keep seeing your rune unavailable for all the duration of your stay in Jiera."
The group felt disheartened at the thought of being unable to talk with their respective families until they remembered about Solus's tower warp. They had no idea if it had limits, but they were eager to find out.
"How long do I have to stay there?" Lith asked.
"Until you feel there's nothing more you can learn. This is a matter of wisdom, Lith. You can't schedule things, you just have to let them happen. Remember what I told you about the violet core and stay on your guard.
"There are plenty of Xedros going around." Faluel said while thinking about her stupid son and the news that Scarlett had brought her.
The Hydra feared that Sedra's poor judgment had sealed his fate and she wanted to keep Lith from making the same mistakes.
The group stepped through the dimensional tunnel, feeling as if they had entered a different world. Everything from the smell of the air to the ground below their feet felt alien.
'This is akin to when I went back to Lutia from the extreme north of the Kingdom, just one hundred times worse.' Lith thought.
On the other side of Mogar, there were a handsome man and a frail, old-looking woman waiting for them.
"Which one of you is Lith?" The man asked while moving his gaze from Tista to Lith. Recognizing someone Awakened from an early age was easy, yet the gap in beauty and power between them made it hard to understand which one of them was the master.
"I'm Lith Verhen, hybrid and member of Garlen's Beast Council. Nice to meet you." Lith used only titles that would make sense in every corner of Mogar and gave the stranger a small bow to keep Solus from being discovered by a breathing technique.
"I'm Aren Dolm the Jǫrmungrandr, lesser Leviathan, and leader of Jiera's Beasts Council." He looked like a man in his early thirties, about 1.88 meters (6'3") tall, with light-blonde hair streaked of green, yellow, and blue all over.
He had clear green eyes and a cleft chin that emphasized his gentle features. Together with his muscular body and charming smile, there was enough to make most women turn their heads at his passage.
He wore a plain white shirt and a pair of brown linen pants over leather shoes that made him look like a farmer rather than one of the strongest beings of Jiera. Aren returned the bow while looking at Lith's companions.
Luckily, Faluel's lessons included Council's etiquette and it didn't change according to the continent. Awakened lived long enough and had enough resources to travel across the ocean if they wanted.
They had established common rules ages ago and a protocol to help those who wanted to move to or just visit a foreign land.
"These are my Woken. Tista Verhen, my sister, and Phloria Erna, a good friend of mine." Lith said, referring to them with the term that the Council used to define people whose life belonged to their master for one hundred years.
"Nice to meet you, sir." The girls said in turn while giving him a deep bow.
After a brief exchange of greetings, Lith turned toward the human woman, discovering that she had fallen asleep while leaning against the wall.
"Oh, gods. I'm so sorry." She said with a big yawn after Aren woke her up gently.
"It's just that I don't take a break in months and the Leviathan's squabble with the Dragon was soothing compared with the constant yelling of hundreds of voices that haunts my office every single day.
"I'm Gyrwin Isaar, human representative of the Council." She gave them a small smile, revealing to be much younger than she looked like.
Gyrwin wasn't old so much as exhausted and too thin. She had bags under her eyes and lots of wrinkles were due to exhaustion making her fall asleep over her paper-filled desk more often than on her bed.
Lith estimated that in better times Gyrwin would look like a woman in her late forties, but in that moment, she seemed to be at least twenty years older. She was about 1.75 meters (5'9") tall, with dirty white hair streaked blue, yellow, and orange all over.
Gyrwin wore a blue robe with an elaborate design that after stress had made her lose too much weight was now so large that it made her look like a beggar wearing second-hand clothes rather than a powerful mage.
"Is the situation in human cities that bad?" Lith asked, unable to contain his curiosity after noticing how differently the two Council leaders seemed to fare.
"It's worse." Gyrwin sighed. "People are never satisfied by nature and I never planned of becoming a feudal lord. Giving orders to powerful mages is easy, instructing grown-ups that behave like small children, it's not.
"Do you know why my hair looks like this?" She pointed at the grey mop on her head.
"This is what happens when you suffer from mana abuse for too long. The same happened to my body. I just need a few days of rest to recover but it's nigh impossible.
"Those bastards want to be treated like adults, but they expect others to take care of their problems, just like my teenage children!"
"I'm sorry, but why didn't you just ignore them?" Phloria asked.
"We tried that at the beginning and the result was the death of one-tenth of the survivors. Half died in riots for food, the other half committed suicide thinking that we abandoned them." Gyrwin clawed her hand in her hair, resisting the urge to pull them out.
"We didn't get to choose who would survive, child. Most of the remaining humans are those who were naturally immune to the disease. Only a few survived because an Awakened saved them.
"Humans of Jiera have lost everything. They are prone to violence and depression. There are countless things that we could try if we were dealing with rational people yet our subjects are all but.
"There are not enough Awakened to repopulate the Jiera continent and with each person we lose, humans get closer to extinction."
"Why do you say it as if it's a bad thing?" Aren laughed. "Worst case scenario, you are going to migrate to Garlen."
"And leave everything to you beasts and plant folk?" Fury lit Gyrwin's eyes, restoring part of her youth. "I would lose my home, my finely tuned labs, and worst of all, I would need to start from scratch in the other Council."
"Again, it sounds good to me." Aren's feral grin told Lith that the Jiera's Council wasn't any better than Garlen's.
Chapter 1135 Reghia Part 1
"If you're supposed to live like a beast, you should also look like one. Come on, show us your other face." Aren said to Lith, who shapeshifted into his hybrid form.
"Interesting." Fenagar's voice resounded for the first time since Leegaain had closed the Gate. "You really are an unknown hybrid and I'm the Lord of Discovery."
"Didn't you call me one of Leegaain's hatchling?" Lith didn't like the Leviathan nor his mood swings. Based on Faluel's lessons, priceless knowledge had gotten lost just because Fenagar didn't bother keeping records of his work.
"I'm sorry about that. I said it only to piss off that old coot. Leegaain's lecturing tone brings out the worst in me.
"He always talks as if he's the smartest guy in the room." Fenagar snorted.
Everyone else exchanged awkward looks but said nothing. Reminding the Leviathan that Leegaain was the Lord of Wisdom would have only made things worse.
"Yet I didn't lie about what I said earlier. I can treat you really well. If you allow me, together we can discover the secrets behind your existence."
"Thanks, but no thanks. I don't plan on staying in Jiera long." Lith said while giving him a deep bow.
'I'm no idiot.' He actually thought. 'If Fenagar gets obsessed with me, he will not allow me to leave until he is satisfied just to discard me the moment he gets bored. On top of that, there's no telling what he would do with such knowledge.'
"Suit yourself." The Leviathan's eyes became two fiery slits as he Warped everyone away.
"There would be nothing wrong with sending us to my domain if that wasn't actually my home!" Aren stomped his foot in anger. "Pissing off a Guardian right off the bat is never a good move, kid, but for that, you have my respect."
"Thanks, I guess. Where are we?" Lith asked.
"Welcome to Reghia, one of the main cities of the Beasts Empire." Aren waved his hand at the woods surrounding them, flabbergasting his guests.
"You call this a city?" Phloria couldn't see a single building as far as the eye could see.
There were several paths cutting through the green grass that had been carved with earth magic, but aside from that, there was no sign of civilization.
"Yes." Aren nodded. "This is a city that beasts made, not humans. We have no need for gardens because the world is our garden. We have no need for houses, we have lairs. Follow me."
The Jǫrmungrandr led them on a stone path, along which they encountered several road signs filled with so many words that one might think they contained a poem. The truth, however, was that each sign provided simple indications but repeated in several different languages.
The group was able to read them all thanks to Leegaain's pin. They worked exactly like Soluspedia, allowing the knowledge they needed to flow in their minds with but a simple thought.
The road sign they were currently following led to the housings. Tista looked around with Life Vision, discovering that the woods around them brimmed with mana. There was nothing special with the vegetation whereas the ground shone bright.
Aren brought them to a small hill that their mystical senses revealed to be heavily enchanted and protected by several arrays. Despite the fact that it looked like the perfect place to hunt rabbits, the ground was sturdier than most city walls they had ever seen.
"In case you are wondering, everything is protected with a special earth sealing array. It doesn't block dimensional magic but it keeps our enemies from making the ground collapse on our heads." Aren said while opening a small hole in the hill with a wave of his hand.
"Enemies?" Tista was flabbergasted. "The humans are barely alive and the undead have migrated. Do beasts wage war on each other?"
"No. But the fall of humans caused the monsters' population to increase dramatically and their foolish attempts to Awaken people created more Abominations in the last few months than how many are usually born in decades.
"On the one hand, Abominations helps us to keep the monsters in check. Both species suffer from endless hunger and destroy the environment so the moment they meet, only one survives.
"On the other hand, however, cities are nothing but a grocery shop to both of them. Sometimes an Abomination becomes the ruler of a monster army and that's when things get ugly.
"Chaos magic cuts through any defense easily and the monsters' innate abilities make them too strong for humans while their numbers allow them to overpower magical beasts."
"So you live underground because it's safer and easier to repair." Lith agreed with that logic.
"No, we do that because we're not trying to rebuild the human civilization nor to imitate it. This is our civilization, child." Aren shook his head, making Lith even more confused than he already was.
Yet the moment they entered the underground lair, everything became clear to them.
The ceiling had been enchanted so to let the sunlight pass freely. It spread its warmth to both the ground and the air which didn't smell of humidity nor moss. Thanks to earth magic, there was no need for pillars, giving the place a wide and spacious look that didn't feel like being underground at all.
When they looked up, they could still see the sky. Around them, there were several small buildings and roads that went deeper in the ground. Except for a few magical beasts, the entry hall was empty.
"I admit this is nothing like I expected a city to be. Where is everyone?" Lith asked.
"It's early morning, the busiest moment of the day. Aside from children and craftsmen, everyone else is outside doing their job. Which leads us to a very important question.
"How do you plan on contributing to our community? These are dangerous times and we have no food or houses to spare for those who aren't willing to pull their own weight, no matter their race." Aren said.
"Shouldn't you first explain to us the laws of your city and then maybe show us our house?" Phloria asked.
"The laws are simple. Don't steal, don't kill, don't do harm." Aren gave each one of them a small stone bead. "In case you are the victim of a crime, put a bit of your mana in the stone and it will emit a sound all beasts can hear.
"Help will arrive in a matter of seconds. I know you're all Awakened, but I prefer to play things safely. You're not allowed to kill humans without our permission, even if you think they deserve it.
"As for your housing, it depends on your role in society. Guards live here." He pointed at the small buildings nearby the entrance.
"Mages are free to live wherever they want as long as they build and take care of their homes. You can exchange your service to the community with furniture and other luxury items.
"If you want to mingle with humans, they live in their own district." Aren said.
"Why did you relegate them in a single district?" Lith couldn't believe that beasts would do such a thing and he was right.
"We didn't. Most humans had no idea we could speak their language, let alone shapeshift. Between the plague's aftermath and so many sudden revelations at once, the shock led them to isolate themselves.
Chapter 1136 Reghia Part 2
"Some of them dared to answer our hospitality with demands and contempt as if we're pets supposed to obey to a master. We kicked those people out in the wilds, which made things worse for those who remained.
"Even after all this time, only a few of them have realized that the world as they know it is over. They are scared of us and have a hard time understanding our way of doing things.
"At first, I let them grieve, then, I forced them to come out of their shell and earn their living. If you want to work with humans, you can teach them your language, work in the nursery, as police officers or healers. It's up to you." Aren said.
"What about working as Forgemaster? If you give me the right materials, I could craft a few tools that would make everyone's life easier." Lith described to Aren home appliances like stoves, central heating, self-cleaning toilets, and tap water he could provide.
"Interesting ideas." Aren nodded.
"For an Emperor Beast all those things require but a snap of their fingers, but to magical beasts or humans they could be really useful. You would become a Magus here, if humans could still bestow such title and if I allowed you to make such tools."
"What do you mean? You just said that they could work." Lith asked.
"Yes, but they would work against everything we're trying to do here." Aren shook his head.
"This isn't the Garlen continent and those people are not at peace. They belong to different countries that warred against each other for centuries. Those humans have different beliefs and speak different languages.
"The people we host here are survivors who are trying to overcome the shock of losing everything they had while resisting the urge to pin the blame for the plague on their neighbor and jump to their throats.
"I didn't give them water because that way they have to rely on us or on those with enough magical power to conjure it. It leads them to open up and seek help instead of drowning in self-pity.
"I didn't give them heating because they must learn to appreciate what they have now instead of obsessing with what they lost. Also, every time they ask one of us to sleep in their home to provide them heat with magic or simply by snuggling on our fur, their fear of the stranger fades a bit.
"Trust is something that can only be built slowly and sharing hardships is the best way to do it. Your inventions would be great for a community, but right now we only have a crucible of different individuals that will drift apart the moment they won't need each other anymore."
Lith pondered Aren's words, finding them true.
"Thanks to this pin, I can speak most of Jiera's languages. Do you need an interpreter?" He asked.
"What a wonderful invention." For a split second, the Jǫrmungrandr's eyes shone with envy while looking at Leegaain's gift. "Sometimes I really think that we draw the short end of the stick with our Guardians."
"As for the interpreter, there's no need for it, but we could use someone capable of teaching the Great Mother's universal language to the different communities."
Aren called a Tyr (bull-type magical beast) who gave them a tour of Reghia on the way to the human district.
The Tyr spoke a different idiom from Aren, allowing Lith's group to notice that each time they needed to access to a new language, the sudden flood of information caused them a brief headache.
The city was quiet, with no carriages moving along the roads nor the bustling activity of the merchants. Money had no meaning to beasts. In their society, only food and resources mattered.
"Don't you have things like bakeries or restaurants here?" Phloria asked.
She could see plenty of arrays, mana crystals, and short-distance city Gates spread throughout Reghia. Despite the presence of several magical marvels, she had yet to see a single shop.
"Those who like bread are free to make it and to eat you must first capture your prey. Why would someone bother to cook and serve you instead of eating themselves the fruits of their labor?" Meno the Tyr replied.
Tista couldn't argue with his logic, but at the same time, she found the city of Reghia to be glum and cold. At least until they moved out of the fortified zone and entered the workshops' district.
Huge magical labs of all disciplines replaced the small buildings assigned to those on guard duty. From their opened doors, Tista and the others could see groups of people too beautiful to be humans who discussed different magical topics and exchanged their workings with each other.
Arrays, alchemical tools, artifacts, and even spells were shared in broad daylight, making the group stop more than once to listen to those conversations. Beasts had no problem divulging spells up to tier four except for those belonging to Gravity and Spirit Magic.
Dryads and other plant folks had turned their homes into open gardens that, along with their ability to freely move through the ground, provided Reghia with fresh air, flowers, and fruits free for the taking.
Children of all races ran and played in the middle of the road, stopping only from time to time to drink from the fountains placed at every city block. Each one had three taps, providing a different potion instead of water.
A pink one for healing those who got hurt, a purple one for providing body enhancing to allow everyone to play on equal footing, and a white one of nutrients that tasted like honeyed milk for those who got hungry.
'We should ask for the recipe.' Lith thought after tasting the nutrients potion. 'No offense, Solus, but yours tastes like raw eggs blended with minced meat.'
'Much taken. Sorry if I'm no cook and if when I devised it, I was more worried about keeping you alive rather than to offend your sophisticated palate.' Solus replied while pouting.
"If you need silver, the mines are located in the south district while if you need mana crystals, you have to go to in the deep end of the north district." Meno showed them how to operate the Warp Gates.
Unlike those that Lith used in Belius, there was no security system. Even reaching the crystal mines required but a simple touch on the holographic display. The only problem was navigating successfully the language menu.
"Do you really give both crystals and silver for free?" Lith tried to sound polite, but the disbelief in his voice made it clear that he considered such a policy stupid beyond belief.
"Of course not. You go there, explain why you need them and how much you're going to take. Then, only if your request is approved do you get to take exactly the amount requested under supervision." Meno said.
"Isn't it dangerous to build a city so close to a crystal mine?" After her experience in Feymar that had led to her Awakening, Phloria didn't feel comfortable being so close to such a powerful mana geyser.
"I mean, raw crystals and spells don't get along well. A single undercover enemy could blow them up. On top of that-" A sudden pressure on her shoulder cut Phloria short.
Chapter 1137 Secrets and Plots Part 1
'Crystal mines are not bound to Awaken people, otherwise the secret of Awakening would have been discovered centuries ago by miners and Crystalsmiths.' Lith increased the grip on Phloria's shoulder while using a mind link.
'I know you must be scared, but don't forget that this kind of blunder can get us killed.'
"Our mines are no way a liability to the city, miss." The Tyr had waited for Phloria to complete her sentence, but after a while, he had gotten bored. "Reghia has been built here exactly because of the presence of both metal and gemstones.
"This way, the city is completely self-sufficient and can withstand both the rigors of winter and sieges. On top of that, mines only form in presence of exceptionally powerful mana geysers.
"Lord Aren harnessed the world energy it produces to fuel not only all the defensive arrays of Reghia, but also all kinds of magic cast within the city. Try casting a spell. Anyone will do."
Lith performed a small Silverwing's Hexagram and much to his surprise, it didn't fade the moment he stopped fueling it with magic. The mana flowing through the ground seeped into the formation, accepting it as part of the city and keeping it stable.
"This is amazing!" All three said in unison while Solus could only think it.
"It is." Meno nodded. "That's why houses are easy to build yet as safe as a Royal Palace. You're free to set your own home arrays without the need for crystals to fuel them. It reduces the maintenance magical formations need to a minimum.
"Also, don't worry about the mines, miss. They are protected 24/7 by our best arrays and ancient Emperor Beasts. By the way, we've arrived at our destination. This is the district you're going to live in." The Tyr nodded with its snout at their surroundings.
Unlike the city blocks they had seen until that point, there were a lot of empty spaces. Aside from a few houses of odd design, the rest of the buildings were made of wood and surrounded by lush gardens.
"Is this the human district or just that of the Awakened?" Tista could understand the beasts being wary of strangers, but she still considered such treatment rude.
"No, this is just the closest unoccupied space we got. You can go deeper in the city if you like your privacy, but then you'd be completely isolated." The Tyr said.
Before Meno left, they exchanged their communication runes and then the three started to pick the spot for their temporary home.
'This is the first time that you keep your hybrid form for so long. How does it feel?' Solus asked while Tista and Phloria discussed whether to build one house each or just live all together.
'It feels weird.' Lith replied. 'Walking on my talons instead of using shoes is uncomfortable while seeing everything through four eyes is making me dizzy. I can look at different things at the same time, but the split vision makes me sick.'
"Hey, lil bro, is it fine for you and Solus if we live all together?" Tista asked.
"Sure." Lith nodded after asking her.
"Excellent. Then we need a tall building like those in Belius." Phoria said while making the rocks from the ground rise until they touched the ceiling.
"This big?" Lith was flabbergasted. "There's only three of us. What need do we have for a ten-story building?"
"Don't worry and follow our instructions." Phloria winked.
Thanks to her upbringing, she had seen lots of palaces in the past. It allowed her to shape one wall after another, giving the overall structure a dignified look rather than the magical-caveman vibe the homes of their neighbors had.
While Phloria took care of the structure, Tista weaved several arrays that enveloped their new building. A Hush array to not be overheard, an earth blocking array to keep the rock from being tampered by others, and the array she had developed to not be spied in her room by someone with Life Vision.
It generated constant waves of heat, mana, and vibrations that blocked all kinds of mystical senses that she was aware of.
Looking at it from the outside, Lith had to admit that such a building would have not been out of place even on Earth and that after placing a few defensive barriers, it would meet even his paranoia standards.
"Great job, Phloria. We just need to ask one of the plant folks to put a bit of green in our lawn and maybe on the roof to make it perfect. By the way, why there are no windows on lower floors?" It reminded Lith of one of those office buildings with their own parking garage.
"First, no vegetations. There's no telling if plant folks can communicate with it or use them as surveillance devices. Second, get in and you'll understand." Phloria winked again, giving him a warm smile like during the old times.
'Well, Phloria seems to have forgiven me. Let's hope our cohabitation doesn't make things-'
"What the heck is this?" Lith's train of thought derailed when he saw a huge hole right in the middle of the building.
"Officially, this is our first layer of defense. We'll pretend to live on the upper floors and shape them accordingly. The truth, however, is that we'll live in Solus's tower." Tista said.
'They are right.' Solus thought. 'The rock blocks regular sight while the other arrays block mystical senses. I can use the world energy coming from below to assume my tower form.'
The process took longer than normal because even though the girls had chosen the nearest spot to the mana geyser, Solus absorbed the energy bit by bit to not arouse suspicions.
"Solus, can we tower warp home?" Lith asked.
"I think so." She popped into her humanoid form, happy to be able to talk again.
"But gathering the energy for the jump might take a while. Aren's array replenishes the world energy in the ground the moment it gets consumed, but it's likely that if I drain it too much or too fast, he will notice. That's why I formed the tower slowly."
"On top of that, if I have to keep a low power output, our mines will barely get any energy and so will our defensive systems."
"I don't care about that stuff. Prioritize restoring the tower core and your own. After that, just keep enough energy for an emergency warp, just to be safe." Lith said. "Excellent idea, girls. Now it really feels like at home."
"No duh, little brother." Tista hugged Solus, checking if she had enough energy to form her body properly. "I never liked cleaning, cooking, or decorating. This way I've got my personal chef, my comfortable bed, and my best friend. The full package."
Lith snorted at those words. He appreciated his sister's ingenuity but not her agenda.
"About that, I have something to ask you two." Solus said to Phloria and Tista. "Usually, outside of the tower, the only person I can talk with is Lith. Now, however, we know how to create a mind link with Spirit Magic.
"I would like to keep it open with you as well at all times so that I can talk to you and feel like a part of the group rather than just an extra."
Chapter 1138 Secrets and Plots Part 2
"Fine by me." Phloria yawned as the familiar place allowed her to relax. "Gods, with all that sunlight, I almost forgot that we departed past midnight. I feel so sleepy."
"Of course, you can, Solus." Tista said. "Just remember that we are not Lith. A too intense mind link could give us mana poisoning."
"Don't worry, I'll be very careful." Solus felt on cloud nine. For the first time in her life, she could share her thoughts and feelings freely. She wouldn't be just a voice in Lith's head anymore.
"I don't know you but all this traveling made me hungry. Who's in for our first breakfast in Jiera? My treat. And when I say my treat, I mean Lith's." Solus giggled.
The motion was unanimously approved because cooks didn't have voting rights.
***
Faluel's lair, at the same time.
Tyris and Leegaain left the moment the Gate closed to return to their respective duties. The members of the Queen Corps protecting Lith's house had reported the full conversation between Baba Yaga and the Abominations hybrids.
Tyris had been glad to discover that one of her lost sons was alive, but on the other hand, it made the situation with the Master even direr.
'Whoever it is, they know everything about Guardians thanks to our own children. The Master knows our powers, where we live, and even our habits. His hybrids are weak compared to us, but seven of them are too dangerous.' She said to Leegaain via their mind link.
'I agree. As it is, we only need Salaark to take care of all of them by ourselves, but as Baba Yaga said, their power grows by the day. I doubt we can summon the other Guardians from Jiera here without triggering another war with them.' Leegaain replied.
'You keep collecting all the data their spells left on Lutia and I'll examine them right away. Between my research with Balkor and seeing them in action, I think I'm getting closer to finding a cure for Zoreth, my daughter.'
Faluel had no idea that the Guardians had agreed with her plan of sending Lith to Jiera because they were aware of her ulterior motive and because they had more of their own.
Leegaain needed an excuse to come to Lutia and collect the residual energy traces of all the Abomination hybrids.
"That's it? They're gone on Council business, but what about us? I thought you were supposed to test us as well." Friya said.
"I mean to, but you're all too different and I don't know you very well." Faluel sighed. "The problem with wisdom is that unless a crisis arises, arranging a scenario for a single person is already hard. Let alone three of them."
"What if I give you one?" Nalrond asked.
"What do you mean?"
"There's no need to feign ignorance. You know that Werepeople live inside Fringes and I'm no exception. I could go back to my village and bring the others along with me." Nalrond said.
"Why would you do that and what would that prove?" Faluel said.
"Before I can start living again and planning my future, I need some closure. A Fringe exists only as long as Mogar needs a secluded space to pursue its agenda. If I'm the only survivor, then it should have disappeared the moment I left.
"Yet if the Fringe is still there, it means that either my tribe it's not extinct or that Mogar is not done with me and be more willing to communicate. By telling you this, I'm showing you my trust to you and the others.
"Maybe it's not wisdom, but it's still something.
"On top of that, if we find the Fringe, I'll show my companions how to access one of them. Meeting Mogar's will might allow them to grow as persons and if you take Friya as your Harbinger, you can ask her to share such knowledge."
Faluel pondered both Nalrond's words and intentions.
'I would love to go with them. Only a handful of Awakened ever stepped inside a Fringe and the few that returned to tell the tale always changed for the better. Yet I can't leave Lutia without breaking my promise with Lith to take care of his family.
'Nalrond knows it so it's obvious that he doesn't want me to come. It's too soon to say if he's wise, but he sure is cunning.' She thought.
"I agree with your proposal, but before taking my final decision we also need to hear Friya's and Quylla's opinion. Fringes are dangerous places for those who are not born there and they have the right to refuse." Faluel said.
"Are you sure you want me to come?" Friya asked. "As a potential Harbinger, you can't trust me more than you do Faluel. I bet there's a reason why your people didn't take guests easily and once I learn about it, I will not be able to defend your secrets."
"That's exactly the point." Nalrond gave her one of his rare, little smiles.
"Faluel has respected my privacy so far, just like she respected Lith's, Solus's, and yours. She could have extorted the Forgemaster wand from you or Solus's abilities from any of us, yet she didn't."
"I think it's time for me to return the favor and for you to realize how much you'll lose by becoming a Harbinger. Only fools never doubt."
His care for her flattered Friya, just like his words struck at her like a hammer.
'Dammit! I know nothing about Royal Forgemastery so I always assumed that aside from my silver wand, Faluel couldn't hurt Dad much. But if she gets access to my memories, then Faluel will learn everything I know about Solus and about Menadion's legacy.
'Becoming a Harbinger might give me the ability to follow my friends, but will I still have friends once I become a liability for both Lith and the Ernas Household? How could I possibly be this stupid?' She thought.
"What about me?" Quylla had never thought that Nalrond would show so much consideration for any of them.
Even though the Rezar spent most of his time in his human form, he seemed to trust only other hybrids. Nalrond had spent much time with the Ernas sisters, yet he didn't share with them much about his past nor did he teach them Light Mastery, no matter how many times Quylla asked him.
"How come you suddenly trust me so much? If I ever started growing on you, you sure made a heck of a job to hide it."
"I don't really trust you or your sisters because I never needed your help in time of need. So far, you're just colleagues to me, if not fair-weather friends at most." After months of living in Lutia, Nalrond's habit to never mince words didn't change.
'Good gods, he's almost as rude as Morok. The only difference is that Nalrond is much more reasonable.' Quylla thought.
"Yet I've come to at least respect you as mages and as people. I've never seen anyone with so much genuine passion for the study of magic like you, Quylla. People usually consider magic either as a means to an end or as a weapon, whereas you love experimenting even on the most insignificant spells.
"I didn't miss how you stare at me every time I use Light Mastery, trying to understand its secrets, nor how hard you worked to match our Awakened's companions results in the study of Spirit Magic despite the limits of your wand."
Chapter 1139 Odd Neighbors Part 1
"I think that it's a shame you can't become an Awakened because you're born for magical research. I'm thrilled at the idea of what you could achieve if you had the long life and the access to the seventh element that only Awakened have. I hope that the Fringe can give you this chance." Nalrond said.
"Also, I respect you and your sister for keeping all of Lith's secrets even though you'd have a lot to gain from doing otherwise. I'm taking a leap of faith in the hope you two will do the same for me."
"Well, our Nalrond sure is full of surprises." Faluel clapped her hands, drawing their attention on her.
"I approve of your idea. Friya, I understand that your life has not been easy, but you've been too lucky to be as lost as you are and have so little faith in yourself. Maybe you'll be as lucky as my grandmother and you'll find what you need in the Fringe.
"Quylla, I agree with Nalrond. You deserve a chance at Awakening. Yet I hope that even if it turns out to be impossible, you'll not consider becoming an undead. I can't argue with the power of Liches, but I think they are those who lose most of themselves in the process.
"Splitting your soul doesn't just give you immortality, it also means to put away a part of yourself in a place where no one, not even you, can ever find it again. If you decide to make this trip, let me know and I'll arrange your departure for tomorrow morning.
"I advise you to get a good night's sleep and then to put your business in order before you leave. I'm sure that having a guide helps, but Fringes are dangerous places and unlike Nalrond, you'll be unwanted guests."
"Faluel is right." Nalrond nodded. "I can get you in, but Mogar might treat you as intruders."
"Just one question. Did Acala reach the Fringe on his own?" Friya asked.
"Yes. It's one of the reasons why we trusted him. We thought that Mogar had recognized him as our kindred spirit as it had always happened in the past."
"Well, that means that either Mogar fucked up big time with him or that maybe your people and Dawn are not so different." Friya said.
"What?" Nalrond clenched his jaw and fists, feeling as if those words tainted the memories he had of his village.
"Think about it." Friya's voice held no malice, just cold reasoning. "You belong to a hybrid race who wants to become whole by harmonizing your human and beast essence, correct?"
"Correct."
"The same can be said for Dawn. She wants to erase the undead's weakness to sunlight and to do it, she needed a partner. By merging with Acala, they became a hybrid as well. Not like Lith, but like you and Solus." Friya said.
"You're right. Solus told me that with her mana sense she could perceive two cores in their body. Acala's mana core and Dawn's power core." The edge in his voice disappeared as Nalrond understood her reasoning.
"Exactly. My point is that they merged into a human-artifact hybrid whose goal is to reach perfection. If I'm right, then the key to a Horseman's task may lay in harmonizing the host's essence with Dawn's. Maybe Baba Yaga is right.
"Maybe the reason why Mogar didn't do anything against Dawn when she attacked your village is the same reason why the planet did nothing against those Abominations and is interested in Lith. Maybe Mogar really is experimenting on hybrids." Friya said.
"If you are right, then it means that all the people who reached our village were kindred spirits to Dawn and that she has Mogar's attention as well." Nalrond's words disturbed everyone, yet they sounded too plausible to ignore them.
"That's a creepy thought if I ever heard one, but even mulling it all night long will bring us nowhere." Faluel said. "If the Fringe is still there and you get to speak with Mogar, however, that's a question worth asking. Nalrond, I'll see you here tomorrow at sunrise.
"As for you girls, please, remember that this is a dangerous task that might accomplish nothing but endanger your lives. Nalrond is the only one that can get in and out of the Fringe safely so don't follow him unless you're sure it's the right choice."
***
City of Reghia, Jiera Continent.
After breakfast, Phloria went out on her own to clear her mind. On the one hand, she was excited at the idea of visiting another continent. On the other hand, however, being forced to leave her home to follow Lith spread salt over her wounds.
'Gods, I can't believe after all that jackass Deirus did I'm the one gone on exile.' Phloria thought. 'I've thought long and hard as to how even the score, but even with Mom's help, I failed to find a way that didn't involve getting my family into trouble.
'A direct attack would be idiotic and without any proof of his involvement in the Belin mines' coup, the law is by his side. I hate the idea of Deirus getting away with it as much as I wanted to kill him when he used Yurial's name to cover his sorry ass.
'Unfortunately, the only thing I can do right now is to bide my time and wait for an opportunity to put Faluel's teachings into action. Anything else would be just playing into his hand and ruining Mom's hard work.'
During her stroll through Reghia's streets, Phloria noticed that distinguishing between the home of a magical beast, an Emperor Beast, and a plant folk was easy.
Magical beasts still retained most of their feral nature and had no use for things like windows or doors. They lived in small artificial caves with just one room and one entrance the size of which depended on them having a family or not.
Emperor Beasts, instead, due to their ability to shapeshift and use all the elements, liked to build for themselves more complex structures. They had no use as well for most human's rooms like a dining room or a living room.
Emperor Beasts needed solely a place to sleep and used the rest of the space to arrange their magical labs. Their housings rarely extended upwards on multiple floors. Beasts preferred to dig underground to keep the nature of their research hidden.
Plant folks, instead, made their homes entirely out of vegetation grown and shaped according to their will. They had no walls nor rooms since plant folks had no concept or need for privacy.
The most complex buildings resembled stilt houses that were mostly used to host the plant folk's guests.
Phloria's neighbor, however, had created a building almost as big as her own with ample windows, several floors, and a solid structure that could easily accommodate dozens of magical beasts at once.
On top of that, even during their brief stay, she had noticed a constant flow of people belonging to all races, some of which she had never seen before, that came and went from the building.
'Maybe the rest of the city looks so dead because it's early morning but at least there is someone who seems to be sociable. I wonder if I can join the party or whatever they are doing there instead of brooding alone.'
Chapter 1140 Odd Neighbors Part 2
Phloria walked to the entrance, finding that it had no door.
She knocked on the wall, drawing the curious looks of those still on the ground floor. A humanoid figure appeared out of the vines that comprised the door's frame, taking the appearance of what looked like a bush shaped like a man by an expert gardener.
He was a Thorn, the plant folk born from bushes, that she had met back in Kulah and Laruel. They had no definite form and could shape their bodies at will as long as they didn't exceed their mass.
"Are you lost? The human district is quite far from here." He tried to sound as calm and reassuring as he could, even taking a form that the stranger could better relate to.
"Thanks for your concern, but I'm not lost. I'm your new neighbor, Phloria, and I've come to say hi." She offered her hand, yet her polite gesture received a contemptuous sneer from all those present.
"My name is Klodran. Welcome to my Garden of Knowledge, Phloria, but don't do that anymore. No one likes to be examined with Invigoration at the first meeting and many are not as forgiving as I am." He replied while inviting her to come in.
"I'm so sorry, I wasn't trying to examine you. I'm new here, like real new. Just a few hours. How did you know I'm an Awakened?" Phloria turned to a shade of purple while trying to explain her blunder.
"You are not afraid of us and you are far from the human district, so you're bound to be Awakened. Your ignorance about our customs would explain why you keep looking around trying to make sense of this place." Klodran said for his guests to hear.
Once they were reassured that the human harbored no ill intentions, they resumed what they were doing. Some read books while others had vines coming out of the walls connected to their ears.
"What's a Garden of Knowledge?" Phloria asked.
"The fall of the human race on Jiera brought disorder in the balance between the races. Without them, monsters encounter no resistance when pillaging the lands to increase their numbers, beasts have no way to learn magic if not by studying, and us plants have lost our only source of entertainment." He sighed.
"Beasts are good at many things, but arts aren't among them. Without the humans, plant folks lack the social interaction we need to not devolve into mindless predators. Your society helped those like me to find purpose in their lives.
"To stop monsters from reaching a number we can no longer contain we need more Emperor Beasts, but only a few magical beasts manage to evolve each year. With the sudden increase of our enemies and so much land to cover, the survival rate of young Emperor Beasts dwindles.
"Gardens are places where beasts and plant folk come to study magic up to tier four freely, in the hope to increase their chances of Awakening or at least their combat prowess.
"We also have a great collection of music and art pieces we've managed to salvage from the ruins of most big cities."
"Is that what those vines are for?" Phloria pointed at the several beasts with their ears plugged.
"I wish. Each book is written in a different language and there are so many languages that translating and printing each book in all languages is impractical. It's much easier to have the translation read out loud and stored inside a magic crystal." Klodran said.
Phloria walked along the isles filled with books for a while until the headaches forced her to stop. Each time she read a different language, Leegaain's pin filled her mind with the knowledge she needed to understand it, but there were so many that the process never stopped, causing her great pain.
'Gods, I would've never thought that just the fact that everyone speaks the same language would make so much difference in the quality of life. Tyris is probably the most unappreciated Guardian on our continent.' She thought.
After a while, she found out that the two continents had most spells in common and even managed to find a few useful techniques she had never heard about.
"Can I copy them?" Phloria asked Klodran.
"The knowledge here is free. Even humans can come here and try to learn magic. We have prepared the fake magic section for them, but they are so scared that they rarely come out of their homes if not to work."
"Where is the tier five section?" She asked.
"Gardens are for beginners while workshops are for masters. Neither plant folk nor magical beasts can use all elements, so there is no point in having such spells here. On top of that, tier five spell are forbidden for those who aren't recognized by the Council. They are too dangerous." The Thorn said.
Phloria took note of all the relevant spells she found and noticed how stressed everyone was. Magical beasts had a limited lifespan and weren't used to spend it fighting monsters every single day.
They were supposed to hunt, practice magic, and sleep while now they had become soldiers. The plant folks had nothing of the flirty and carefree attitude of those living in the Kingdom.
With their regenerative abilities, they had no fear of death, but the lack of social interaction made them cold and cruel.
Meanwhile, Lith had left Solus with Tista in the tower to take a stroll on his own. Keeping his hybrid form for so long had proved to be mentally tiring. Lith had to be always careful when he touched anything or anyone to not harm them with his claws.
He had no problem fighting as a Wyrmling, but living as one felt awkward if not alien. Lith wasn't used to the weight of his two sets of wings nor to the sound of his voice in that form.
'This isn't like my sexy role plays with Kami. Claws and talons are a hassle, not to mention how complicated it is to eat without lips. No matter how well suited to fight this form is, it's damn uncomfortable to live in.'
For the first time in his life, Lith appreciated what being human meant. Reghia was truly a masterpiece of magic, with natural sunlight coming from the ceiling and a fresh breeze keeping the air clean, but it still felt like a prison.
Not even the smell of flowers from the plant folk's houses and that of spring water from the several small lakes made him feel better.
'Wait a minute, what the heck do they need ponds for? Water is usually condensed with magic and creating underground rivers is a security nightmare.' After noticing a small group of odd-looking creatures coming out of the lake, Lith greeted them before asking for an explanation.
"Our channels are safe, you're just being paranoid." A female humanoid near the pond said, giggling at his worries.
She was about 1.78 (5' 10") meters tall, with shoulder-length emerald hair and eyes. Sky blue scales covered her from head to toe, turning of a pale white in the abdomen area and the palms, making it impossible to guess her age.
All the humanoids had faces with no nose nor ears. They breathed through gills on their necks and heard from two small holes on either side of their head. They had no lips either, leaving the row of pearly teeth in their mouth partially exposed at all times.
Chapter 1141 Merfolk Part 1
Lith assumed the odd creature was a female due to breast-like bumps on her chest and because her build was slender than those who looked like males. Her voice sounded as if she spoke while gurgling water, giving it a funny sound.
All of them had webbed fingers ending in small claws that, due to their bright colors, were clearly venomous and fins coming out of their spines and hips.
"You can't conjure water if the air is too dry and not all creatures feed on red meat or vegetables. Fish are necessary to add variety to our food stockpiles and to help humans to grow properly." At those words, Lith opened his eyes wide open in shock.
He would have never expected an evolved fish to feed their kin to other races with a smile on their faces. Protector snarled every time he saw a wolf fur and even after he had evolved from a deer into a Kirin, offering venison to Lifebringer meant looking for a beating.
"By the Great Mother, why are you looking at me so funny?" She giggled again, but now the gurgling had almost disappeared, allowing him to hear a pleasant, feminine voice coming from her mouth.
"What kind of Emperor Beast are you people?" Lith tilted his head in confusion.
At those words, the blue-scaled individuals looked at Lith as if was dumb, blind, or both. Some even laughed, calling him names.
"We're not Emperor Beasts." She shook her hair, making Lith wonder if its seaweed-green color was due to the life in the deep or to her affinity towards mana.
'I probably sound like an idiot to them already. In for a penny, in for a pound.' He thought.
"Werepeople, then? Also, do your green hair have a meaning?" He asked.
The crowd erupted into laughter, but this time there was no contempt in it, just hilarity.
"Man, I thought you were some kind of a rude prick, but you're just as ignorant as a baby. From what hole have you crawled out from?" A lean man with flaming red hair offered Lith a big fish in what he assumed was a peace offering after the earlier rude treatment.
"I wouldn't call the Garlen continent a hole, but I must admit I've never seen your kin earlier." Lith gave him a small bow as a thank you and stored the fish inside his pocket dimension.
Whatever his guests were, they stared in awe at the phenomenon, looking at Lith with newfound respect and admiration.
"Are you really one of the children of the Great Mother? I mean, your merspeak is flawless." A man over 2 meters (7') with shoulder-length purple hair named Zhen asked.
"No, I'm not blood-related to Tyris, but I live in the Griffon Kingdom." Lith replied, making them burst into laughter again.
"That's what he meant, silly. I'm Khalia and I'm glad to be your first merfolk." She placed her hand on his shoulder while sweeping her hair in a way that spelled trouble.
Lith had no idea that the combined effect of Leegaain's pin that made him able to speak like a native of the ocean, his seemingly draconic appearance, and the casual flaunting of magical items made him quite attractive to most species.
"I know it sounds like a stupid question, but what's a merfolk?" Lith smiled with his eyes since his mouth was still covered in scales and gently took her hand off his back.
"Fish people? Sea dwellers? Mermaids? I'm sure that even in the Kingdom they have plenty of tales about us." Khalia stepped forward, entering Lith's personal space.
"I always thought they were just legends. On top of that, in those stories, you are depicted as creatures with the upper body of a human and the lower half of a fish." Lith said.
"Well, humans always like to tinker with the truth and we usually prefer to stay away from them." Said another woman with a friendly voice, sky-blue hair, and a plump appearance.
"We are a proud race, but our magic sucks. It's the reason why we aren't considered one of the main races nor do we have a seat in the Awakened Council.
"Aside from water and light, we cannot use any other element while underwater. Air would either create bubbles or zap our friends, fire and earth don't work, and darkness attacks even water so it disappears after a couple of centimeters."
"Nice to meet you. My name is Lith and I'm a hybrid. What is exactly your role in the community and where do you live?" He said.
"A long time ago, the elves ruled the earth, the beasts the skies, and the merfolk the waters. Over time, however, the elves' inability to Awaken and their low fertility made them lose their supremacy to humans." A short man named Mal said.
"Awakened mages can multiply their numbers both by breeding and by taking disciples whereas each dead elf is an unreplaceable loss. By the time the two species clashed for resources, the humans won the war by attrition.
"Because of that, we lost our spot on the surface. We're not like magical beasts whose bodies are so strong that normal weapons inflict them no harm. Unlike elves, humans were afraid of our appearance and were unwilling to trade with us.
"Underwater it's impossible to mine crystals or extract metals, so our only source of such materials became sinking cargo ships. That until dimensional amulets and gates were created.
"After that, our need to come to the surface to train and the lack of resources forced us to hide underwater and emerge only in safe zones protected by the few beast allies we managed to make." Mal scratched his purple hair in embarrassment.
"The problem is that we don't have much to offer to the beasts so until the humans disappeared from Jiera, the only ones who helped us did it out of the goodness of their hearts.
"Now, however, there's plenty of space above. We act as scouts for Reghia, following the migration movements of the monsters, and provide our allies with plenty of food and natural treasures from the deep.
"In exchange, they are trading magic and minerals with us, giving our people a place to stay. We are the first to move into this district, but soon others will come."
"I'm sorry, but aren't there plenty of uninhabited islands? Why not just live there?" Lith asked, noticing that something odd was happening.
As his hosts dried, their scales disappeared, turning into the whitest soft skin he had ever seen. Soon all the merfolk turned in a bunch of stark-naked albinos with red eyes and hair of bright colors.
'Well, at least the little mermaid's lower body is good for more than just fried fish. One thing's for sure. Even if after they dry up they look like humans, the merfolk have no way to blend among humans without shapeshifting.'
He thought as two of his eyes stared at Khalia's face while the other two explored the rest of her lithe body for academic purposes.
"That's what we usually do to practice magic, but high tier spells like dimensional magic require labs to be safely experimented. On top of that, even to perform the simplest crafts with Forgemastering or teaching our youths, we needed tons of materials." Khalia said.
Chapter 1142 Merfolk Part 2
"Yet without resources, we couldn't craft the proper tools and without tools, we couldn't learn powerful magic and acquire resources. We've been stuck in this vicious cycle until the plague." Khalia said.
Lith pondered their words, finding them to be as ugly as they were true. Every lab needed to be shielded by external influences and each failed experiment usually exploded.
'I didn't have most of such problems because of Solus, yet I can't even count the number of times one of my experiments would have killed me if not for the tower's protection.' He thought.
"We are masters at using water and earth magic to create artificial underground flows. We use them to make Reghia completely self-sufficient and to travel safely from our city to here.
"We even created a thermal bath to keep the humans clean." Mal said.
"I would love to visit your underwater city one of these days. Reghia is way too boring for my taste." Lith wasn't thrilled at the idea of teaching the Kingdom's language to a bunch of strangers nor did he care to fight and protect Reghia from the monsters.
"I thought that Dragons didn't like water because it dampens the heat of your bodies and it temporarily weakens you." Rem, the plump woman said.
"I'm not a Dragon, but that's a theory I'm willing to test. As I said to you earlier, I'm a hybrid. The real issue will be breathing underwater." Lith put his scaled arm inside the cold water, feeling slight discomfort.
The moment he pulled it out, he felt it heavier than usual due to the water trapped in-between his scales that were now of a duller color than their usual pitch-black. It took them a few seconds to evaporate the water and a few more for the dulling sensation to disappear.
"I stand corrected. Maybe I'm a Dragon." Lith shapeshifted into his human form and immerged his right arm again. This time, his enhanced physique didn't even feel a tinge of cold.
"I'm sorry for the rude question, but are you a human or a beast?" Suddenly Khalia seemed to have lost most of her interest and now looked at Lith with suspicion.
"Both. I told you, I'm a hybrid." Lith could tell by their gazes that the merfolk had a deep-seated grudge against humans and he could easily understand why.
'I bet that beautiful people like Khalia or Zhen would be captured and sold as slaves, no matter if it's illegal. The others would be either treated as pets by nobles or turned into ingredients by mages. My money on their blood having a high affinity with water magic.'
"It was nice to meet you." Zhen said, but his tone didn't match his words. "Now we're sorry but we got to go."
The merfolk disappeared in the pond without even saying goodbye, almost expecting Lith to try and capture them.
'That went well. The good thing is that they said that the deep is full of natural treasures. If I can trade some dimensional amulets for them, I could net a huge profit. The bad news is that if Kami hears about another woman who finds my scales hot, she'll never let me hear the end of it.'
Lith was surprised that despite Khalia's stunning beauty had made him thoroughly check her out, the moment she had touched him, the only thing Lith could think about was Kamila.
Just like when he had met Faluel, whenever Lith saw someone beautiful, he would compare them to his girlfriend and find them lacking. Not because Kamila was that gorgeous or graceful, but because she filled the void in his heart.
'If I really feel this way about her, then I can't hide Solus for much longer. The more I wait, the more it will hurt her.' Lith thought while returning home.
The several layers of array cast by three different persons were a hassle to get through, but the reassuring kind of hassle. Lith could bypass those made by himself with a thought, but for the others, he needed to input a password with Spirit Magic.
By mixing Spirit Magic with arrays, not only was it possible to cast them faster, but also to add further levels of complexity and protections.
Faluel's lessons had provided all the members of the group with a knowledge exclusive to those born in Awakened bloodlines. Learning about the seventh element had expanded their horizons and helped to strengthen their foundations.
By understanding the importance of Spirit Magic and the role it played in all spells, even fake mages could better understand the limits of their magic and find ways around it.
Back inside the tower, Lith found Solus and Tista fast asleep in Solus's room.
'So much for staying awake and get used to the new time zone. I would love to give them a scare to teach them a lesson, but dreams are the only way Solus has to get glimpses of her past. If I were to interrupt something important, I would never forgive myself.' Lith thought.
***
Griffon Kingdom, City of Yardra, at the same time.
Trion Proudstar, once known as Trion Verhen, sat in the lounge of his favorite bar, the Golden Unicorn, drinking his alcohol slowly enough to not get drunk but fast enough to dull the constant pain that haunted his heart for months.
Phloria had kept her word and she didn't mess with his career, which made things even worse for him. Trion had now been promoted to Second Lieutenant, but he felt no joy in it, considering it too little and too late.
'My little brother started his military career with a superior rank and ended it as a Major after barely two years. A position that I might be able to reach only before retirement.' Trion sighed, yet there was no bitterness in his thoughts, just regret.
'Battling the Undead Courts for so long has shown me how stupid I have been all my life. Sure, magic gives people a great advantage, but it's also a great burden. So many mages died in front of my eyes in the front lines to protect us regular soldiers.
'I've been a fool thinking that I was the only one working hard to achieve my goals. Each one of those mages came from a pampered life, yet by hearing their stories and watching their sacrifice, I realized how hard the path of magic is.
'Lith worked that hard ever since he was able to walk, doing everything they did and everything I had to do at the same time, yet he didn't whine all the time as Orpal did.'
It wasn't easy for Trion to admit his mistakes, but time and good friends had lifted from his eyes the veil of hatred that he had inherited from his older brother.
"Families are complicated so I won't argue with you about getting along with your brother. Yet I don't see why you cut all ties with your parents. Even you admitted that they never mistreated you nor did they think any less of you because you weren't born a mage.
"If your brother is an ass, you have every right to be mad at him, but he's an Archmage ass nonetheless. By giving up your family name, you've cut ties with loving parents and given up on countless advantages."
Chapter 1143 Burden of the Past Part 1
"Do you have any idea how far you might have gotten in the army if your name was Verhen?" Almost everyone he knew had said such a thing to Trion more than once.
Trion would have liked to object that he wanted to rely solely on his talent, but that would make him a hypocrite. He and his colleagues whined on a daily basis about how easier it was for noble kids to become officials and wished they came from better families.
Thanks to Lith's achievements, Trion's family was now one of the most respected and influential among the new magical bloodlines, yet he had renounced all the power that the Verhen name bore just because of blind pride.
'I should change my name into Moron Dumbstar.' Trion thought. 'Only when I heard about Mom and Dad being besieged by the undead, after waiting hours to know if they were alright, did I realize how stupid I have been.
'The army refused to disclose any information to me because I'm not part of the family. I had to wait until the news came out on the army's interlink to know what had happened.
'I never picked Mom's contact rune, so even now that I've got my own communication amulet, I can't talk to her. What could I tell her anyway? Saying sorry now that Lith has become an Archmage and his family is under Royal protection would seem opportunistic at best.
'My new brother and my niece don't know me because I never bothered being part of their life. Heck, I don't even know if after two years I've got a new sibling or-'
"Do you mind if I sit here?" A nice-looking woman said.
There were plenty of empty seats that late in the bar so picking the spot right next to him had to be a pick-up line. Trion nodded as an adrenaline rush cleared his head and allowed him to take a good look at the stranger.
She was about 1.61 meters (5'3") tall, with shoulder-length light brown hair and eyes. Judging by her long pencil skirt and white shirt with a few small ink stains on its cuffs, she had to work in an office.
"Long day at work?" He asked while casually touching his breast pocket and activating a device that would buzz in the presence of undead.
The woman was very cute, but a bit too pale and with huge bags under her eyes. Trion suspected her of being a thrall fishing for information so he took care of not letting her touch him.
"You have no idea." She yawned, stretching her slender limbs and making her breasts push against the soft fabric of the shirt in a way that dried Trion's throat despite his paranoia.
"I'm just done with overtime and it's the third time this week that I have to stay up late. I'm sorry if I bothered you, but I need a drink and I'm afraid of being alone. Gods, reading reports about undead all the day plays tricks on your mind." She emptied her glass in one gulp, ordering a refill and something to eat.
Hearing her story put Trion at ease. Those days, many people sat beside him because the uniform he wore made them feel safe and after looking around the bar, he had to admit that in the woman's shoes he would have done the same.
Only drunkards and thug-looking men were left at that hour, making even a respectable bar like the Golden Unicorn a dangerous place for a woman.
"Proudstar?" The woman giggled so hard reading the tag on his breast pocket that she spilled part of her drink. "Let me guess, you picked it up yourself after one drink too many."
"Guilty as charged. My name is Trion, nice to meet you." He gave her a small bow, regretting how easy it was to guess the shameful origin of his family name.
"It takes a drinker to recognize another. Gerla Silvermoon, at your service." She blushed while saying her family name whose cringiness rivaled Trion's.
"And you dared to laugh at mine? This is a textbook case of the pot calling the kettle black." Trion smiled while pretending to check his amulet's notifications and requesting a background check on her.
"Guilty as charged." She giggled echoing his words. "The worst spent money ever. I promised myself countless times to have it changed, but it costs too much and money is always short."
"Same here." The similarities between them were too many to just be a coincidence, but the background check came back negative.
According to the army intel, Gerla worked as a clerk in a mid-sized merchant guild. She earned more than him and even had access to better intel thanks to her position in the administrative department.
Whatever she wanted, it wasn't money nor information.
They started talking about their daily life between a drink and a steak sandwich because Gerla was starving. She never asked him anything about his work, they only did small talk about their respective birthplaces and where they lived.
"Did you hear that, Master? He's not a Verhen he and doesn't live in Lutia." Gerla said once they were alone to one of her pockets, triggering a Blink that brought them on top of a tall nearby building.
"Which means that he's not protected by my mother's oath." The Black Night came out of the pocket in her crystal form, using all of her mystical senses on Trion to determine if his blood shared the same power as Lith's.
Trion tried to call for help, but an air sealing array blocked the communications.
"Don't be afraid, I've no intentions of hurting you." The Horseman said. "Otherwise, before learning that you cut all ties with your family, I couldn't have even come close to you. Do you know who I am?"
"Baba Yaga's mad dog. The Horseman of chaos." Trion said while leaping down the building.
The enchanted uniform would save his life and with the air sealing array, Night couldn't Warp nor fly. Unfortunately for him, she could still use Spirit Magic, rescuing him with but a thought.
"I wish the second nickname was true." Night sighed, now regretting as much as Dusk did their inability to use Chaos magic. "I need a host and a powerful one at that. I can make you into one of the most powerful mages the Griffon Kingdom has ever seen.
"I can give you all the power, the money, and the respect you've always wanted. The only thing I need from you is to know what do you think about your family."
"They are wonderful people and I've let them down too many times to buy your pitch." Trion pressed the alarm button non-stop, yet nothing happened.
"One final question. If I told you that your brother is actually a hybrid and that I can unlock the power lying dormant in your blood, what would you say?" Night asked.
"That Baba Yaga made you out of shit rather than a mana crystal because you're full of it. My mother would never cheat on my father. Never!" Slandering Elina had been the final straw.
Trion pulled a wand out of his belt and several Fire Seeds, alchemical tools each one of which could produce a fireball with the same power of a tier three spell cast by a Great Mage.
Chapter 1144 Burden of the Past Part 2
The darkness darts killed Gerla on the spot, leaving Trion flabbergasted.
'I thought that Night would protect her, giving me the time to escape, yet she abandoned Gerla like trash. No matter, someone is bound to notice the bursts of fire!' Trion threw a handful of fire seeds at the Horseman and jumped down the roof again.
Unfortunately for him, Night grabbed the seeds in mid-air with Spirit Magic the moment Trion tossed them, keeping them from exploding.
"Pity. I pegged you for an ambitious lad who would jump at the opportunity of getting even with his family, not a for a mommy's boy." Night said as a tendril of Spirit Magic touched his uniform and activated the Blank Slate spell.
Trion's uniform temporarily lost his imprint, making the fall lethal. Night destroyed Gerla's body and put the fire seeds back into his pocket along with the darkness wand in his hand before leaving, staging what looked like a drunken suicide.
Necromancy fixed Trion's body so that the only damage left on it was that the used charges of his wand would have caused. Night had made her homework. Trion's envy for Lith was well-known for years and so was his guilt for abandoning his parents in their hour of need.
'The only way I've left to get revenge on Lith is to get a host who will slaughter his family of their own will. That way, I'll be akin to a blade in their hands and not responsible for their actions.
'Let's hope it goes better with the other brother. I would love to see the terrified expression of the Verhens while they get ripped apart at the hand of their own son. On top of that, if every one of them has the potential to evolve into a Wyrmling, I could help Mom with her research. So many birds with one pathetic human.'
***
Solus's dream, now.
Sometimes, during her sleep, Solus would remember bits of her past so deeply etched into her brain that they had left a permanent mark even after being destroyed. Before Lith found her, she had been forced to give up on everything that made her human just to prolong her existence.
Just like Lith, she had been born thrice. The first time as a human, the second after Menadion had turned her into a hybrid, and the third when her bond with Lith had allowed her to awake from the slumber she had put herself into to make her damaged core last as long as she could.
Yet even if Solus managed to repair both her bodies as her mana core regained its full strength, her memory remained broken. There was no trace of the person she once was and she had no recollection of her life as a human or a tower.
To make matters worse, most of the memories she regained through sleep were about insignificant aspects of her past. Like hammering a piece of Davross to give it the proper shape but without having any idea where it came from or how the technique worked.
'Is it really possible that I was exactly like Lith? Why there is no memory of a boyfriend, a girlfriend, or even a single damn friend?' Solus thought while watching herself refine crystals, smelting metals, or casting spells.
Sometimes she used fake magic, others she used true magic, leaving Solus flabbergasted.
'I guess I was everything now I criticize Lith for. My life was all work and magic. That's why I died alone. I had no friend that knew about the tower or me. No one cared about my disappearance.' Solus started to sob.
Her sadness was so deep that honey-hued tears streamed from her energy body's eyes. The mana that comprised the tears quickly dissolved into specks of golden dust that made Solus look as if she cried pure light.
In response to her emotional distress, the vision changed into that of a sunny morning where she was looking into her closets to pick up a dress. Some looked funny like roman togas, others were gala dresses in use centuries ago, and she even had a few casual clothes. All of them were tailor-made and heavily enchanted.
For a moment, Solus hoped that her past self would look in the mirror. In all her dreams, she saw the world in a first-person perspective so the only part of her body she could clearly see was her hands.
Much to her disappointment, her past self not only didn't look in the mirror, but it also turned out that she hadn't picked the sleeveless dress with a knee-long skirt for a date, but just to take a walk around the tower. Alone.
'By my maker, how could I be so self-centered? There was nothing in my life but fancy clothes and work! Compared to me, Lith is a people person. At least he loves his parents whereas I didn't give a damn about them!' She started to hiccup in her sleep so hard that it almost awoke Tista.
Almost.
Once again, the vision changed but Solus didn't even bother looking at it. Only when she heard someone else crying as well did she dry her tears and looked up. In the new dream, Solus was walking along an unknown corridor in what she assumed was the lair of an Emperor Beast.
Everything was too big for human standards and aside from the necessary for magical experiments, the place was empty. It reminded her of both Faluel's lair and Scarlett's lab because it was filled with wonders yet devoid of warmth.
"Mommy, why are you crying? Did I do something wrong?" Those words froze her in terror.
'Did I have a daughter? What kind of monster I was for forgetting something like that?' Solus's fear turned into shock when she realized that the small high-pitched voice she heard was her own.
"It's nothing dear. One of Mommy's friends just passed away and it makes me sad." Menadion wiped her tears with a sleeve and tied her long hair that had covered her face until that moment in a ponytail, to keep it from being drenched in more snot.
Her long hair streaked with the seven colors of the elements all over.
'Menadion was my Mom?' The ancient Magus looked like a woman in her early twenties as she bent down to pick Solus up and made the baby sit on her lap.
'This isn't a beast's lair but our home. My home before the tower. It looks so big only because I'm a small child.' She thought.
"Aunt Loka?" Baby Solus asked.
"Lochra, sweetie, not Loka. And no, thank the gods she's fine." Menadion chuckled, blowing her nose before kissing the baby's head while holding her tight.
"Uncle Valeron is gone, sweetheart. You will not see him ever again." Menadion said.
"What happened to uncle Val? Why did he have to go?" The affection in her own voice surprised Solus.
'Did I just call the First King 'uncle'? When did this happen and how old I am?' She thought.
Menadion opened her mouth but no words came out.
Not even a master of deception like Jirni would have found the words to explain to such a young child that after Arthan's death, Valeron had stopped using the breathing techniques Tyris had taught him.
Without them, his white core had stopped burning world energy instead of life force and it had taken death just a few decades to collect a prize that was never meant to be hers.
Chapter 1145 White Cores and Crystals Part 1
"He was just tired and really, really sad. Now he can finally rest easy." Menadion sniffed again while thinking about all the pain and anguish Valeron had gone through because of a single mistake.
Back then, it wasn't Tyris to choose the new ruler of the Kingdom, but Valeron himself. The First King had faked his death after ruling for over a century because he firmly believed that his long life and Tyris's help had made him unfit to understand the needs of his people.
Mages wanted more power, commoners wanted more freedom, and nobles wanted everything to stay as it was. The moment Valeron realized that he was against the change as well, he abdicated.
According to his heart, the Kingdom was perfect, but his reason knew better. There was no such thing as a perfect state, just the fairest compromise under the circumstances of a given time in history.
The Kingdom had grown by leaps and bounds under Valeron's rule and it had become a utopian country compared to before its unification. Fair laws, no slavery, and a justice system that held even nobles accountable for their actions.
The problem was that "fair" was a relative term and that, over time, nobles had found countless ways to bend the new rules. Even though Valeron recognized most of those issues, he hesitated to enact the necessary changes because his attachment to the past kept him from worrying about the present.
Some of those laws had been written with the help of his best friends. To him, changing them meant to destroy their legacy, to admit to himself that the people he had trusted the most had been wrong.
He found it difficult to punish nobles as well because they were all descendants of the men and women he had handpicked to rule the Kingdom beside him as its pillars. Killing them or stripping them of their titles would erase the bloodlines of those who had shed their tears and blood with him on the battlefield for years.
As the Kingdom thrived and its people grew in number, Valeron recognized fewer and fewer faces, making him feel like a relic of a forgotten era. His memories and Tyris were the last things he had left from his human life.
His direct descendants were still alive, but unlike him, they became older and died if an accident befell them. Valeron lacked the strength to alter his own legacy so he made one of his children the ruler and helped them from the sidelines.
His heart bled with every new law and every time the borders moved, because the Kingdom changed faster than he could accept it, yet Valeron still rejoiced in seeing his people happy.
It gave him the strength to accept the burden and isolation of power.
Arthan's Madness, however, had destroyed all the confidence Valeron had in his ability to judge people. He felt responsible for putting Arthan on the throne and for forcing Tyris to publicly execute their great-great-grandson after exposing his crimes.
She knew that Valeron would suffer, but the Guardian also wanted to show the people of the Kingdom that no one was above the law, not even the Royals. After Arthan's death, Valeron had stopped using Mother Earth, Tyris's breathing technique.
Unable to recognize the Kingdom he had built anymore, with all his direct descendants dead, and the burden of having failed to stop Arthan before thousands of innocents died, he had lost the will to live.
"Are you really sad too, Mommy? Please, don't go away. I'll be good." Baby Solus had no concept of death, yet the thought of not seeing her mother terrified her.
"Don't worry, baby girl. Mom is not going anywhere. I'll always be there for you. Always." Menadion held her child tight, glad to not have been born a noble.
In the Awakened community, having children was one of the ways to keep ties with a world that became more alien to them by the decade. Valeron had stopped having children after abdicating to not cause problems with the line of succession.
"Why is mommy's hair of different colors while I only got silver and orange? I want green too!" Baby Solus said.
"I'm sorry sweetie, but such things are decided at birth. You already have two streaks and it means you're really talented." Menadion chuckled while looking at the little girl who played with her hair under the light, admiring its reflexes as if it was a multi-colored gem.
"Talented in what?"
"Light and earth. The elements of creation. You'll make a great Forgemaster when you grow up, just like your mom." Menadion replied.
"What about green? Can I get it?"
"Green is very, very rare. Only those with six affinities can reach it. Green is the color of mana and mana is nothing more than the six elements mixed with our life force." Menadion said.
"It's not rare. You and Aunt Loka have it. Even Dad!" Baby Solus pouted, putting her long hair beside her mother's and allowing Solus to notice that her human hair was of a shade of brown so light that it looked golden under the magical lights in the house.
"Dad doesn't have it. It's just paint that dirties his hair because of his habit of scratching his head with the brush whenever he gets stumped with one of his pieces. Gods, that man should shower more often." Menadion laughed.
'My Mom was Menadion and my father was a painter. I wonder if he ever became famous and what kind of man he was.' Solus thought.
"Normal people have no elemental streak at all. Just like Dad and even uncle Valeron. Those like you who have high affinity for both the elements of creation are said to be blessed by the light, sweetie."
Menadion conjured a hard-light construct of Valeron wearing the Royal Armor and wielding the Royal Blade. Since he had been "dead" for decades, Tyris would hold no funeral.
Making sure that at least his memory would live on with her child was Menadion's way to pay her respects to the First King.
In the hologram, Valeron looked youthful and happy, wearing a warm smile on his face.
"Did you make those things for him, Mommy? They look silly." Baby Solus said.
"No, dear. Those are the Sword and Armor of Saefel." Menadion replied.
"Who's Saefel and why did she do such a bad job?"
"Mommy is going to share a big secret with you, so you have to promise me to never tell it to anyone." With his death, the promise that Menadion had made to Valeron became irrelevant.
"Saefel is just another of Tyris's names. After they got married, uncle Valeron didn't like being forced to share her with the rest of Mogar. Awakened called her Tyris, people prayed to her with the name of Great Mother, and with her duties as a Guardian, she would often be away.
"So, uncle Valeron gave her a new name, Saefel, that only he would use whenever they were alone."
"I don't get it." Baby Solus said.
"It's a human custom, my child. When we have a baby or a pet, the first thing we do is giving them a name. It distinguishes them from all the others and allows us to claim them as ours. How would you feel if someone else called me mom?" Menadion said.
Chapter 1146 White Cores and Crystals Part 2
"They can't. You're my Mom! Mine!" Baby Solus treasured the few moments of the day she spent with her mother so much that she found outrageous even the idea of sharing them with someone else.
"Exactly. By giving her a name, he sealed their union and Tyris gave him those artifacts to make sure that Valeron would always return to her, no matter the enemy he faced." Menadion said.
"She doesn't love him much. She did a bad job. Maybe that's why uncle Valeron was sad." Solus pointed at the sword with a confused face.
"It's the second time you say that. What do you mean?" Menadion and her husband, Threin, argued a lot because she would often bring Solus with her in the Forge.
Threin often scolded the first Royal Forgemaster for not spending enough time with their daughter and for teaching her too much about Forgemastering and too little about everything else.
While her husband wanted Solus to have a normal life, Menadion was proud of her daughter's magical talent and nurtured it daily. Solus already knew the basics of Forgemastery, which made Threin furious and Menadion wonder why she criticized a Guardian's work so harshly.
"Red crystals are crap, orange are farts, and yellow are piss. A real Forgemaster doesn't work with them, they just throw them away." Baby Solus repeated the words she had heard Menadion say many times to her apprentices while teaching them Crystalsmithing.
Menadion turned to a bright shade of purple, thinking that Threin had got a point.
"Yes. I mean, no. I mean, please never say that again, especially in front of Dad." Menadion held Baby Solus's face in her hands, forcing the child to look her in the eyes to understand how serious she was.
'Mom's hands are so soft and warm.' The sleeping Solus kept crying, but this time it was out of joy.
Menadion's love filled the void that she feared her first life had been. She finally knew her origins and why in all of her memories she was so obsessed with Forgemastery.
'I just didn't want to let Mom down.' Solus thought. 'I'm proud and competitive even now so it's no surprise that back then I did my best to shine above her many disciples.
'In one of my earliest memories, Mom said that she wanted me to become the next Ruler of the Flames. Probably I worked so hard because I didn't want to lose to my rivals and I did my best to become the heir of her legacy.' Yet those joyful thoughts raised unsettling questions.
'What happened to my Dad and why do I have no memory of siblings?'
"I promise." Baby Solus's voice snapped her out of it. "But it's still a piss poor job."
"Don't say that either!" Menadion cursed her big mouth and promised herself to listen to Threin more. "Also, it's not a bad job. It's a masterpiece that even Mommy is trying to replicate to make her tower finally work."
"Then are red crystals good? Did you lie to your apprentices?" The more Baby Solus heard, the more confused she was.
"No, they are cr- weak." Menadion bit her tongue to stop herself in time. "Tyris would never use weak crystals for her husband, just like Mom does for your clothes."
Menadion tapped on the child's chest who lowered her head, allowing Solus to notice that all the buttons of her dress were actually violet crystals.
"Those on the Royal Sword are actually white crystals. The most powerful gemstones a Forgemaster can use and capable of replenishing their energy reserves almost instantly, no matter how many times you use them."
"Then why are they colored?" Both Solus asked in confusion.
"As I told you before, mana is comprised of the six elements plus your life force. That's why it's emerald green. When you mix all the elements without life force, you get the white color." Menadion mixed with Spirit Magic some of the paint that Threin had left around to give Solus a practical demonstration.
"This happens because the elements are perfectly balanced, but that doesn't mean that they are not there any longer. A truly powerful Forgemaster can imbue white crystals with their own willpower and enhance a single element.
"The more the element is enhanced, the more it stands out." Menadion added brushstrokes of red, making the white become pink first and then bright red.
"It's stupid because red crystals are c-" Baby Solus attempted to say, but Menadion's glare stopped her. "I'm sorry, Mom."
"It's not your fault, baby girl, it's mine. Anyway, changing a crystal's color doesn't weaken it in the least. Quite the contrary, it gives them incredible powers. Do you know that Mommy can barely make pink crystals?"
"Mom is the best! Pink is better than red because red-"
"Good gods! How many times did I say those words in front of you? Please, don't answer." Menadion couldn't believe to have led her only daughter to repeat such a vulgar catchphrase as if it was a nursery rhyme.
"Lady Tyris is incredible because she managed to make a white crystal turn bright red. It allows the sword to conjure even tier five fire spells without its wielder to spend a shred of mana nor time to weave them.
"On top of that, even though uncle Valeron had no mana streaks in his hair, as long as he held the blade, he was capable of using Domination. The six colored gems bestowed upon him control over all the elements while the white crystals on the hilt empower the enchantments the sword is imbued with."
"Why didn't Tyris add a green crystal as well? Uncle Valeron is helpless against Spirit Magic." Baby Solus asked.
"She could have created a green gemstone by adding her own life force, but that would have made the sword unusable to anyone but her. Adding life force to a crystal is not only incredibly difficult due to its inanimated nature, but it also creates a permanent imprint." Menadion replied.
'By my Mom, I mean maker, that's how Thrud could cast so many powerful spells even though she is a fake mage and how she defended against everything we threw at her.
'Lith and I have no white crystals, but if we learn how to infuse them with the elements, we could even add a gemstone for Spirit Magic. On top of that, since our energy signatures match, we wouldn't have the problem that Tyris had with Valeron.' Solus thought.
"Is Domination that important?" Baby Solus asked.
"Very. It's a secret technique that very few creatures know and that can't be used without a natural affinity to the elements. Thanks to my seven streaks, I could use Domination, if someone teaches me how to.
"Uncle Valeron, instead, had no streaks, so even after reaching a white core, he couldn't Dominate a single element without the sword." Menadion words confirmed Solus the existence of white cores, leaving her flabbergasted.
"I don't get it. How can a sword do what even you can't? You have colored hair!" The child sounded already bored, more interested in playing than listening, but she craved her mother's attention more than anything else.
"That's the beauty of Forgemastery, the art that I hope one day you will inherit from me. Normal magic requires mana, discipline, and great willpower. Even creating one of my holograms is impossible to most mages, yet all amulets can do it.
"Do you know why, pumpkin?" Menadion asked.
Chapter 1147 Preparations Part 1
Baby Solus shook her head. She didn't understand a word Menadion said, but she pretended otherwise because she didn't want to disappoint her mother.
"Because once a Forgemaster find the proper sequence of runes, any mage capable of executing the spells in the correct order can create an artificial mage that's programmed to do just a few things, but it does them to perfection.
"Runes have no stray thought, no distraction, nor do they make mistakes. This way, the Forgemaster that follows the blueprint only has to succeed once to create something that can exceed even their own limits."
"The pseudo core provides the mana that the runes channel exactly in the way necessary to fulfill their purpose. Tyris programmed the gemstones to use Domination just like I programmed the amulets to generate holograms."
At that point, Solus hoped that the workaholic Menadion would give her a demonstration of such crafting technique.
Much to her surprise, the First Ruler of the Flames prepared dinner for both of them and then tucked the young Solus in her bed before reading her a story. The fairy tale Solus had to listen to was cheesy, childish, and had to do with white crystals as much as any of Elina's recipes.
Yet to her it was the crown jewel of that dream.
***
Ernas Household, the day after.
With Jirni and Orion busy doing overtime in an attempt to find an opening in Deirus's plan, Friya and Quylla didn't even need to find an excuse to get away from home for a few days.
Before departing, however, they had to make sure not to leave any loose ends.
"Mom, is there anything we can do to help you with your investigation? Anything at all?" Friya asked during dinner.
"No, dear. The Royal Guards offer me plenty of protection and since the King suspended him from the Royal Court Deirus, had yet to make a single move, let alone a mistake. Thanks for the offer anyway."
Jirni was glad that her daughters had never given up on getting even with Yurial's father, but she was even more glad that they hadn't lost their temper and ruined her hard work.
Putting down an opponent of such caliber required patience. As long as Deirus followed the law, the Ernas had to do the same or risk to play into his hand.
"Do you have any piece of news about my ex-guildmates?" Friya said. Shutting the Crystal Shield had been painful, but it was the only possible move she had left.
Wyra, Friya's ex-second in command was now in witness protection while the others had been relieved from their duty. Without any link with Friya, they would be at least free from Deirus's grasp.
"All of them have left the Kingdom. They didn't trust the nobles nor the army anymore and losing their leader has been the last straw." The pain in Friya's eyes saddened Jirni, but she was actually happy of having got rid of them.
Not only were they a liability to her daughter's safety, but Jirni also suspected that, for the right price, Deirus might have turned against her, planting an assassin in their midst.
Jirni told Friya about everything the ex-members of the Crystal Shield had done before leaving the Kingdom. According to their information, they had moved to the Gorgon Empire, hoping that their status of mages would help them find a master and learn at least one specialization.
"Thanks, Mom. Is it a problem if I go to the Blood Desert for a couple of days?"
"It depends. Are you using the Kingdom's Gate network or the beasts'?"
"The beasts'. Master Faluel is sending us on a mission." Quylla replied.
"Then it's just perfect. Faluel will deal with Salaark and Deirus will lose your traces for a while. He's obsessed with you, Quylla. Phloria's disappearance already made him falter. If you follow suit, he could panic enough to make a fatal mistake." Jirni said.
"Deirus is not the only one concerned about Phloria, you know?" Orion grunted.
Those days, between the cold war with Deirus and his daughters spending so much time with the Hydra, Orion relieved his stress by playing with Lucky, the family dog who had evolved into a Ry.
The unlikely magical beast now sat beside the Lord of the house, begging Orion with his round puppy eyes for cuddles and food.
"Indeed. Where is Mom?" Lucky whined while looking at his already empty bowl.
Orion treated the Ry as one of his children, which meant regular exercise and a healthy diet. Ever since the dog had learned how to talk, people had the absurd demand for him to do more than sleep and eat all day.
"He's right, where is M- my little flower?" Orion asked.
"She's on another mission with Lith and Tista. If you want to know more, just ask her the next time she calls." Friya said.
"At least they are not alone." Orion grunted. "What about you?"
"We are accompanying our fellow disciple, Nalrond-"
"When are you going to introduce him to us?" Orion cut her short.
"Your father is right." Jirni nipped their complaints in the bud.
"In the last few months, you've spent a lot of time with that guy. We have the right to know your suitors and dispose of them if needed, as you did with that Morok guy."
Realizing that even her mother expected her to have already dumped him made Quylla blush and Friya almost choke on her food to avoid saying "I told you so".
"Don't worry, Mom. Nalrond's not interested in us more than Quylla is interested in that oddball." Friya spread more salt on her soup and on Quylla's wounds.
"Well, I want to know him nonetheless. I heard he can use dimensional magic and if Faluel has taken him in as an apprentice and Lith has yet to kill him, there must be a good reason." Jirni said.
Voices about the Light Mastery spells Nalrond had employed against the undead had reached her ears and Jirni could use a sane version of Manohar for her plans. The original had just disappeared once again, leaving her without one of her most precious assets.
Orion gave them the most detailed map of the Blood Desert in his possession, the contact rune of the Kingdom's ambassador in case they needed help, and a copy of the Code of Salaark, also known as the Desert's Survival Guide.
It didn't teach its readers how to find water or what signs to follow in order to reach a tribe. It only contained the laws people had to abide by unless they wanted an angry Phoenix chasing them down.
The following morning, after packing enough food to last for a few days, they reached Faluel's lair, where a surprise was expecting them.
"How could you tell him about the Fringe?" Nalrond asked Quylla while pointing at Morok who refused to leave.
"I didn't. I just told Morok that I would go away for a while and that he didn't have to worry if my amulet goes offline. The last time it happened after the attack on Lith's house, he came to my house to make sure I was alright and my Mom unleashed the Royal Guards at him." Quylla said.
Chapter 1148 Preparations Part 2
"Heck, I bet that Morok doesn't even know what a Fringe is." Quylla replied.
"I don't know and I don't care." Morok said with an indignant look. "What I know is that one Lith is enough. I'm not letting this pervert alone with Quylla for that long. Everyone knows how this kind of thing goes.
"One man goes on a mission with multiple girls, shit that leads to several life and death situations happens, and before you know it a harem is born."
"How dare you calling me a pervert? We've never met before. Besides, the stuff you're rambling about only happens in cheap bard tales!" Nalrond said.
"Can you look me in the eyes and tell me you never developed feelings for Lith after everything you got through together at the academy?" Morok asked Quylla, ignoring his alleged rival.
"I sort of had a crush on him, but it had nothing to do with danger." Quylla blushed up to her ears.
"Maybe Lith was too much of a gentleman or too young to take advantage of them, but I don't know nor I trust you. Hence I'm coming along." Morok said.
"Wait, why did you ask Quylla about her feelings while taking for granted that I had a crush on Lith?" Friya managed to not blush yet she almost failed to keep her right foot from hitting Morok's head.
Almost.
"You two are so edgy that either you've been separated at birth or you 'rubbed off' your attitude on each other. Since you look nothing alike, I'll go for option number two." Morok said, making Friya wish murder wasn't against the law.
Tired of hearing such nonsense, Nalrond shapeshifted into his Rezar form.
"Answer my questions. Are you really not aware of Fringes and are you coming just to protect Quylla from me?" Like all Werepeople, Nalrond's senses were so sharp that they allowed him to perceive even the aura of things like arrays and crystals even while he was in his human form.
Once he turned into his other half, his perceptions could literally smell fear.
"Respectively no and yes." Morok said while looking Nalrond in the eyes and shapeshifting as well, matching his height.
"Leave me here and I'll ask my master to warp me to your same destination and then I'll use all the powers of my species to track you down."
'His heartbeat is steady, no drops in the tone of his voice nor hesitation. He's telling the truth.' Nalrond thought.
"From a man who's got nothing left to another, I respect your dedication, but I don't know nor trust you as well. I'm not bringing with me my own master, why should I let a complete stranger follow me?" He said.
"Because there's two of them and one of you. If the Undead Courts attack again, a single true mage can't ward off many undead whereas two got a chance. Or maybe you were planning of running away on your own in the case something bad happens?" Morok said.
Those words made Nalrond join the blushing, but his scales kept it from being noticed. He had actually planned on looking out for number one. The girls, instead, felt powerless, remembering Lith's words about them being a liability in battle.
Fake mages needed to chant their spells, which meant they couldn't talk nor use weapons because they also needed to use hand signs, whereas a true mage could do everything with their mind.
On top of that, none of them could use a mind link without their Royal Forgemaster wand, making any kind of silent communication impossible as well.
"Fine. You can come with us and make camp, but I'm not bringing you inside the Fringe. I don't know if it's still there, but if that's the case, I'm not taking any chances.
"You could achieve enlightenment inside a Fringe and I don't trust you with more power than you already have." Nalrond said.
"Fine by me, but I have one condition." Morok said to Quylla. "If this Fringe thingy is not there anymore, it would be a waste of time to go there and back in a single day. During my stay in the Desert, I met these nice merchants that gave me this."
He handed her a small booklet titled "Guide to the most romantic oases".
"Did you really put up this farce just to ask her out?" Nalrond couldn't believe his own ears.
"Of course! Thanks for helping me look cool, brother." Morok winked with two of his four eyes.
"First, I'm not your brother. Second, Quylla is right here, hearing everything you say!"
"Can you please forget that last part? You weren't supposed to know that." Morok asked Quylla while Friya laughed her ass off.
"Let me know if you need a ride back." Faluel had enough of Morok for a week already, so she Warped them to the lair of Asphodus the Roc.
The lesser Phoenix recognized Morok from his last travel and warped them to the closest landmark without even letting the group say a word.
'I don't give a damn about the warm hospitality between beasts in the Desert. After that Tyrant almost emptied my beer cellar, if he touches another keg, I'll kill him!' He thought.
Nalrond had no idea what had happened nor did he care. The landmark gave him a starting point from which he could understand his position on the map. It took him just a few minutes before he could open the first of many Warp Steps that led them to their destination.
After closing each dimensional corridor, the Rezar used a dimensional spell that his tribe had invented to restore space and clear any trace of their passage. Even though he used no chant nor hand sign, Friya recognized it.
"Quylla, that's Restoration. The spell you used to save our lives when Nalear sabotaged the training room for dimensional magic. I thought its only use was to fix dimensional rifts. Nalrond, what are you doing?" She said.
"Dimensional mages can trace your Steps and follow you. This spell that we call Cover makes such eventuality impossible." Nalrond said, amazed by Friya's dimensional awareness.
"Really? That's amazing." She started to think about the possibilities that Nalrond's revelation implied and how to turn it into a weapon.
"More like terrifying when you're trying to run away." He said while opening the next dimensional corridor.
Nalrond refused to take turns and did everything on his own so that no one else knew their path or destination. By the time they arrived, he had exhausted his mana. His body felt like he had run a marathon and his head pounded.
"That's it?" The other asked in unison, giving him a splitting headache.
All around them there was nothing but dunes. The dry wind of the desert carried a fine sand that made them cough until they used their Skinwalker armor to cover their mouths and noses.
"I expected some big oasis overflowing with world energy or a choir of nymphs. This is underwhelming." Friya said.
Morok was about to agree on everything, especially about the nymphs when he remembered that Quylla was right beside him and shut up instead.
"If that was the case, Fringes would be easy to find." Nalrond clenched his head trying to make the pain stop.
Chapter 1149 Soul Projection Part 1
"A Fringe can be anywhere and those who live inside usually destroy any kind of landmarks near its entrance to make it as inconspicuous as possible. Now please shut up and let me rest." Nalrond said.
Morok Hushed the area around the Rezar and kept talking, instead.
"The guy has a point. You wouldn't give this place a second look if not for the weird wind that chills your bones despite the desert's heat."
"The wind isn't cold at all. It's hot and dry. On top of that, it's not just here, there's wind as far as the eye can see." Quylla pointed at the ever-shifting dunes around them.
"Agreed. We'd better keep ourselves hydrated or we'll faint from the heat." Friya used water magic to cool herself off and tried to conjure water, but the latter failed.
"Damn, I hope you guys brought enough water because all I have is alcohol and I don't think that's going to help us much, at least during the day. By the way, there's something off here. I can't feel the cold Morok is talking about but the space is weird. It feels like someone put a wool on the entire area."
If Nalrond could hear anything, his respect for Friya would have grown again. The entrance to a Fringe had no distinguishing feature and since Mogar wanted to keep it hidden, only two kinds of people could find an access point.
Exceptionally talented dimensional mages could perceive the alterations in the space around them, but they would never manage to pry open a Fringe. Mogar's backlash would make it the last mistake they ever made.
Those with a high affinity with three or more elements, instead, would feel an imbalance in the world energy only in the proximity of the entrance. They wouldn't be capable of entering either, because the imbalance was just the consequence of the different density of world energy inside and outside the Fringe.
Nalrond inwardly thanked his companion for that sudden silence and started to use his meditation technique to recover his mana at a faster rate than any fake mage could. Despite the barrier dividing his life forces, the synergy between his two mana cores allowed them to hasten each other's recovery.
"Let's see if I can find our way in." Friya had no idea of the danger that such an act implied and the Hush zone made Nalrond unable to hear or warn her.
"Since we are going to wait for the sleeping beauty there, I might as well give it a try as well." Morok shapeshifted into his Tyrant form, using his four eyes to draw the elemental energy inside his body and study it.
'Neat, now I'm the less talented one.' Quylla thought, angry at herself because she didn't feel anything but the sun's heat and the wind drying her throat by the second.
She conjured an array that lowered the temperature and increased the humidity by drawing what little there was in their surroundings before taking out her Royal Forgemaster wand.
'Based on what Faluel said, it's a matter of being attuned with Mogar. Spirit Magic is the closest thing to world energy a living being can produce. Maybe if I manage to feel the Fringe, I can synch with its energy signature and gain access.'
Quylla's plan was good, just like those of the others and those of all the people who preceded her. What every one of them never took into account was that Mogar had a will of its own.
To enter a Fringe, one had to knock at its door and politely ask for hospitality, not to pick the lock. After about an hour of failures, they gave up and conjured a few chairs to sit down comfortably.
"It's better if we save our strength. Otherwise we'll need to rest as well before entering the Fringe." Friya had still most of her mana, but the mental fatigue from deciphering the dimensional barrier gave her a headache.
She could sense the space twirling around her finger at her every attempt, but there were no runes to manipulate, just a willpower so intense that Friya risked losing herself the moment they came in contact.
"I guess this is as far as I go." Morok sighed. "It's too bad. I would have loved to-"
His sudden disappearance flabbergasted the girls who jumped up to call Nalrond for help.
"Wow, it's much better on the inside." Morok reappeared, throwing them fruits that resembled Earth's peaches.
They were sweet and juicy, quenching the girls' thirst for water but not that for answers.
"Did you just enter the Fringe?" Quylla said between bites. Stress eating always relieved her wounded ego.
"No, it just let me in. I didn't do anything." He said.
"How did you do it?" Friya put the seed inside her dimensional amulet, hoping that the Ernas gardener might grow a tree from it.
"As I sucked elemental energy through my eyes, I started to hear voices." Morok replied. "The more energy I took in, the stronger they become. For a moment, I thought I was going mad."
"Then why didn't you stop?" Quylla asked.
"Because they didn't ask me to murder you guys or cut my throat. The voices just wanted to talk." Morok said.
"What did they say?"
"They asked mostly dumb questions like who I am or what do I want. The rest was a long rambling about the meaning of life of which I didn't understand much so I just listened.
"The voices disappeared a few minutes ago and I thought it was over, but when they heard me thinking I would have liked to follow you inside, they invited me in." Morok gave Quylla a thumbs up as if she had helped him.
"Come on, it's easy." Morok disappeared again, without leaving any trace of his passage nor a gateway.
"How the heck are we supposed to get in?" Friya said, hoping that he could still hear them.
'I still have a way to go before regaining my full strength, but I'm surprised they managed to be quiet for so long, especially that Moron.' Nalrond took a few deep breaths before opening his eyes to prepare his nerves for the living nonsense that his unwanted guest was.
Much to his surprise, Morok seemed to have gone and the girls to have become mute. Nalrond could see them move their mouths but no sound came out.
"You idiots! What if someone attacked us? I would have been a sitting duck." He said, but the hush zone blocked every single word, forcing him to repeat himself once he dispelled it.
"Please, stop being such a pessimist. Our line of sight is free for kilometers and there's so much silence that we would hear a mouse trying to sneak up on us. More importantly, Morok entered the Fringe a while ago and has yet to return." Friya said.
"That's impossible." Nalrond looked at her as if she had gone mad.
"You don't get inside a Fringe just because you want to. Even those born inside of it like me need to be taught how to communicate with the dimensional barrier. Otherwise it's impossible to get in or out. The process is so long that I'm not even going to teach you."
"Believe it or not, that's exactly what happened." Quylla said.
Chapter 1150 Soul Projection Part 2
Nalrond refused to believe her and thought that Morok was just playing a prank on them. Blinking away was a cheap trick that anyone could do whereas only a few selected individuals could commune with Mogar.
He extended his hands in a similar way to that he had used back when Faluel had tried to teach him Spirit Magic. The Fringe was right in front of him and Mogar's essence was so strong that it took him a single attempt to establish a link.
A thousand voices flooded his mind, some ancient and other new, yet he could understand them all. A normal person would have become mad or died of shock due to the flood of different personalities talking at the same time.
The stronger one's ego was, the harder the impact would be. Resisting the stampede of foreign thoughts, experiences, and beliefs was impossible. Instead of fighting them, Nalrond let them flow while focusing on his own name.
A single word that encompassed his past as well as his future. Once most of the voices disappeared, only one remained. It asked him several personal questions, some simple, others more complicated, but to each one of them, he had to answer sincerely, no matter how painful it was.
'Why did you leave?' Mogar asked.
'For revenge. There was nothing left for me here.' Nalrond replied.
'Then why did you return?'
'To see my home one last time before moving forward and to help my companions.' Nalrond's last answer gave him access to the Fringe and to the surprise it held.
'Are they really so important to you?'
'No, but I hope they will be. Hope is all I have left.'
After Nalrond thought those words, he could see Morok standing a few meters from him, gesturing to the air as if he was having an argument with an imaginary friend.
"What the heck are you doing?" Nalrond asked.
"Trying to convince this jackass of a planet of letting the girls in, or at least Quylla. After I got back in, I understood that it doesn't make sense to get out again until- Great Mother almighty, what's that?" Morok pointed right above Nalrond's head.
A giant figure resembling his Rezar half floated in mid-air, clawing at the human half while weeping non-stop.
"It's just my Soul Projection. Everyone gets one inside a Fringe, even you." Nalrond looked above Morok's head just to see empty air. "How did you do it?"
"How did I do what?"
"Never mind." Nalrond returned outside, too shocked to waste any more time.
"I've got bad news and I've got good news. The bad news is that you were right, Morok somehow got in so we'll have to bring him along. The good news is that the Fringe is still here and looks exactly like I remembered it.
"Which means that either some of my clansmen survived or that Mogar decided it still has a purpose. Whatever the reason, before crossing over to the other side, I must warn you. Inside a Fringe, you can't hide your true nature.
"If you decide to get in, you'll be forced to confront with a part of yourselves you've probably avoided your entire life. To make matters worse, it will be visible to others as well." Nalrond said.
"What do you mean? Is it something like reading the mind of other people with a mind link?" Quylla asked.
"No. It's just that as long as you're inside a Fringe, you are also under Mogar's gaze. It causes a phenomenon that Werepeople call Soul Projection which's the manifestation of how your mind looks like.
"It can't speak or interact with the physical world, but it can still reveal your true feelings and thoughts. If you still want to follow me inside the Fringe, just take my hand one at a time." Nalrond closed his eyes and half of his body disappeared as if an invisible blade had cut him asunder.
Yet there was no blood nor visible wound, only faint traces of world energy where his missing body was supposed to be. The girls stared at him in awe, waving their hands in the empty space to look for a dimensional door but finding only air.
No matter how much she searched with her spells, Friya only sensed cold waves that became more intense the more she came close to Nalrond.
The moment she touched his extended hand, Friya felt a sensation hundreds of times worse than that she had experienced while deciphering the barrier. Mogar shared with her countless lives, forcing Friya to relieve every moment of them.
Joy, pain, love, and hatred for people that she had never seen before flooded her mind until she simply forgot who she was, becoming just one mind in a crowd of many. With oblivion came peace, reliving Friya from the worries of the living.
The sensation lasted barely for a second, but when she entered the Fringe, her entire life flashed in front of her eyes. As her self-awareness returned so did her memories, making Friya puke her guts out.
Happiness faded quickly whereas all the mistakes and failures that had scarred her in ways that even light magic couldn't heal them assaulted her mind at the same time until life seemed too painful a burden to bear it anymore.
"Careful with that blade." Morok's voice snapped Friya out of it while his hand stopped hers before she could hurt herself with a combat knife that was now millimeters away from her throat.
"I'm sorry Yurial. I tried to resist Nalear's orders, but I wasn't strong enough. It's all my fault you died. I don't deserve to live." Quylla had Bloodbind wrap around her own neck, to break it with a single squeeze of the Adamant chains.
"For the gods' sake, don't just stand there, Nalrond!" Morok shapeshifted into his Tyrant form, knowing that a flimsy human body had no chance to slow down the weapon, let alone stop it.
He put the hand that wasn't grabbing Friya's knife between the chains and Quylla's neck, as if he wanted to strangle her. Bloodbind's sudden grip managed to crack the Tyrant's hand, but thanks to his thick skin and dense muscles, Quylla didn't suffer a scratch.
"Oh gods, I'm so sorry. You shouldn't have done it." She said, snapping out of it the moment she saw his pained expression and heard the sound of breaking bones.
"It's nothing." Morok healed his injury with light fusion, yet refused to move his hand away until Bloodbind disappeared under her sleeves. "At least I got to feel your smooth skin. You've got a pretty neck, you know?"
"What?" Quylla blushed. "No, I mean you really shouldn't. After what happened with Nalear, my Dad always enchants our weapons so that they cannot wound a member of the Ernas family. Bloodbind can't hurt me nor Friya."
"What about Friya's knife?" Morok asked.
"Dad didn't make it. You saved her life." Quylla gave him a small bow of gratitude before turning to the Rezar in anger. "Why the heck didn't you warn us? We could have died right off the bat!"
"I did." Nalrond was pale as a ghost. Bringing two people inside had taken a toll on him. "I told you that you would be forced to face an ugly part of yourselves. I just didn't expect that your wounds run so deep that they would endanger your lives."
Chapter 1151 State of Sorrow Part 1
"What do you mean?" Morok asked while returning human.
"The moment someone steps inside the barrier, their consciousness is assaulted by Mogar's. Without the proper training, the mind of feeble beings like us gets crushed and our personality disappears.
"To let the girls inside the Fringe, I had to open a way while drawing on myself most of Mogar's attention. It allowed them to slip in unnoticed and to experience solely a split-second of pressure before the weight on their minds disappeared.
"On the other hand, even brief exposure to Mogar's will is dangerous. To separate their personalities from those imbued in the barrier, they had to relive all the traumatic events of their lives.
"Whatever made them the persons that they are today, they lived it all in one go, without a moment to grieve their dead or collect themselves. I knew it might be traumatic, but I never expected that two pampered noble ladies could carry such a heavy burden.
"The link that I used to protect the girls forced me to experience part of their grief along with my own, almost killing me." Nalrond said.
"Who gave you the right to pry into our past like that? You should have asked for our permission." Friya freed her hand from Morok's grip and pointed the knife at the Rezar's throat.
All the self-loathe she felt had turned into an unbridled rage that needed a way to vent. Nalrond's soft human skin made an excellent target.
"I didn't see anything. I only experience your pain." He replied while looking her in the eyes. "I'm sorry. I thought you and your sister were respectively a woman unhappy with her life and a magic enthusiast, not two walking sacks of grief."
"At least you are honest." Friya snarled while putting the knife away. "Don't assume that you're the only one with a sad past just because we don't wear our hearts on our sleeve as you do."
"Correction. Now you do." Morok pointed above Friya's and Quylla's head where now floated two spectral figures.
While Nalrond had an angry, weeping Rezar coming out of his shoulders, Friya's Soul Projection represented a young woman burdened with heavy chains secured by a lock.
The woman held the key in her hands, yet she just stared at it dumbly as blood tears streamed down her eyes. Quylla, instead, had an image of herself dressed with the deep violet robe of a Magus.
The Projection looked happy, yet as soon as it tried to cast a spell, her fingers turned into snakes that devoured her inside out. Then, the slithering mass of snakes turned into her body and the cycle started anew.
"Wow, straight for the Magus. Confident much?" Morok said.
"What the heck are those things and how do we make them disappear?" Friya asked while blushing up to her ears.
Aside from the chains, her avatar didn't wear anything.
"I told you, those are your Soul Projections." Nalrond's voice sounded cold, with no trace of his earlier guilt.
"You can't make them disappear until you resolve the issue they represent. I hoped that seeing them might help you both, but now I realize that bringing you are was a mistake. Feel free to leave."
"Why do you say that?" Quylla asked.
"Because that's exactly as Acala's Projection looked like." Nalrond pointed at the chained maiden above Friya's head.
"The image of a person burdened by the expectations of others. Someone who is so afraid of discovering they are the real source of their own misery that they prefer to keep wearing the chains."
Those words took Friya aback, making her rage turn into shame.
'Am I really the kind of person that would sacrifice dozens of innocent people just to feel good with themselves? I mean, sure, becoming Faluel's Harbinger isn't much different from bonding with Dawn, but at least I'm endangering only myself.
'At least until Faluel doesn't order me to kill people.' She thought, discovering that the parallel between her condition and that of the traitorous Ranger ran deep.
Both of them were so disappointed with themselves that they were willing to give up on their freedom just to fill the void in their souls rather than trying to fix their problems.
"What about Quylla's?" Morok asked.
"I don't know. The elders interpreted our Projections to help us overcome our limits, but even they failed to get rid of their own inner demons. The real question is how can you not have one?" Nalrond placed his index and middle finger on Morok's forehead.
The Rezar had lived most of his life inside the Fringe, making him an expert in manipulating the dense world energy filled with Mogar's will that surrounded them. With a deep breath, he conjured the planet's attention on Morok for a split second, making his Projection appear.
It looked like a perfect copy of Morok that moved and spoke in unison with him when he said:
"It's easy. Unlike you lot, I'm happy with myself." The two Moroks shrugged while becoming one again. "Now if you're done arguing, we might as well enjoy the scenery. This place is much better than that crappy desert."
With all that had happened, none of them had the time to notice the beauty of the Fringe. Tall grass with orange streaks grew under their feet, rustled by a gentle spring breeze carrying the smell of rain.
The luxurious green meadows extended as far as the eye could see, but they were far from empty. The group had appeared near several fruit trees with blue streaks covering their brown bark.
Their branches were filled with ripe fruits whose delicious smell made them hungry.
Small animals resembling silver furred chinchillas came out of their burrows while bright feathered birds came to look at the newcomers. The noise made them curious rather than scared because they had never met humans before.
"By the Great Mother, this is bigger than Lutia." Friya said while staring at their surroundings in awe. Discovering that Mogar itself was actually the first dimensional mage made her proud of her profession.
"Yeah. And those woods make Trawn look like a garden in comparison." Quylla pointed at the thick mass of tall trees visible at the horizon.
"What?" Those words made Nalrond snap out of his reverie. The contact with Morok had flooded him with peace, making the Rezar forget all about his newfound distrust for Friya and lose himself in past memories.
The scents, the sounds, and the sight of his lost home had triggered so many memories that Nalrond had failed to notice the warm tears streaming down his own eyes.
"There are no woods in this Fringe, just fruit trees. On top of that, I can assure you that it's not that big. Fringes never extend beyond what they need to host the creatures they are meant to protect." Yet he only had to follow Quylla's finger to realize that she was right.
The Fringe was as he remembered it, yet it was also different. Nalrond shapeshifted into his Rezar form, to use his animal senses to understand how deep the changes were. He could smell things both old and new.
The wind carried the scent of trees he had never met even in the outside world, of flowers that didn't belong to his home, but also the faint smell of freshly baked bread and the noise of children playing in the open.
Chapter 1152 State of Sorrow Part 2
Nalrond refused to believe that Mogar could be playing such a cruel joke on him and took flight to reach the distant source of those painful signs of life. He didn't care about leaving the others behind nor about them yelling for an explanation.
He crossed the few kilometers separating him from the ruins of his village in a few minutes, but not even all the spells he had woven in the case Dawn had returned to take the Fringe as her own could prepare him for what he found.
Houses instead of ruins and people instead of undead. The exhaustion from the long travel and one shock too many made him faint, plunging to the ground with the grace of a boulder.
***
Jiera continent, Fenagar's lair, outside the city of Reghia.
Fenagar the Leviathan, Zagran the Garuda, and Roghar the Fenrir sat together at a round table for the first time in a long while. All pieces of furniture were made from a single dead branch of the World Tree.
Veins of the seven colors of the elements streaked the wood, making it able to withstand the weight of the Guardians and, if necessary, their fury.
Baba Yaga in her mother form attended that meeting as an honored guest, along with another woman of equal beauty. Her silver-colored hair bore streaks of all elements, marking her as one of the few humans blessed with talent in all forms of magic.
Yet what made her worthy of the assembly was her eyes that carried the seven colors of the elements as well. Last, but not least, the holograms of the three Guardians of the Garlen continent appeared one after another.
All of the Guardians had assumed their respective humanoid appearance to better contain their powers and keep natural disasters from happening. There was a reason why the six original Guardians rarely met.
Words would easily turn into insults and if things got physical, many maps would need to be rewritten. That's why they had asked the two white-cored women to act as peacemakers.
With their powers, they could contain the anger of a Guardian long enough to calm them down or at least to prevent the ensuing destruction from spreading.
"Since I doubt that anyone here enjoys each other company, let's move straight to business." Fenagar said, obtaining only nods of approval in response.
He looked like a humanoid reptile covered in white scales, about two meters (6'7") tall, wearing a lab coat and gold-rimmed round glasses. Fenagar didn't like taking human form because people kept telling him how much he resembled Leegaain.
'The six original Guardians agreeing on something is a rare event, child.' Baba Yaga chuckled through the mind link while being careful that no one else but her companion could hear her thoughts.
'It's my first time seeing all of them together, so I'll take your word for it.' The woman couldn't stop sweating bullets just by looking at the table.
Even the holograms emitted so much mana that the air around them crackled with power, making it hard to even breathe.
'Build yourself a mage tower, child. Those like us who can't draw endless power from Mogar need all the edges they can get.' Baba Yaga shook her flaming red hair in disapproval while staring at her peer with her emerald eyes.
"The reason why I requested this meeting is simple. I want to discuss both the situation of Jiera and the anomaly. I don't like to admit it, but I think that Jiera might need help to contain the current crisis." Fenagar glared at Zagran who was already yawning.
She looked like a bulky woman in her mid-twenties, over 1.8 meters (6') tall, with shoulder-length blue hair, deep purple skin and eyes. Zagran wore a sleeveless shirt that left exposed her muscular arms covered in battle scars that she refused to heal.
"Contain what? The anomaly has yet to reach a power that might be considered threatening and he has never shown any sign of malevolence." Tyris asked.
"The anomaly is just a curiosity. Fenagar is talking about the lost cities." Roghar the Fenrir replied.
He looked like a handsome man in his early thirties about 1.65 meters (5'5") tall, with ashen grey skin, short silver hair, and grey eyes. He had the lean built of a scholar and wore an ample golden mage robe.
"The beasts are doing their best to keep all the living legacies contained, but some arrays are more easily destroyed than opened without the correct password. The disappearance of the human race on Jiera brought much trouble upon us.
"On the one hand, we don't want to fix the mess they made. Destroying a living legacy is never easy, especially after they had centuries to build their strength. On the other hand, however, the survivors have no way to stop them and no fault in their creations.
"If we leave them as they are now, life on Jiera will disappear."
"Then you would have failed your role as Guardians and everyone will migrate to our continent." Salaark's voice oozed ill-concealed wrath. "I hope you're not going to ask our permission to come along because I don't like having guests.
"I worked hard to destroy all the cursed objects in the Blood Desert and to make sure that the only fruits the research of forbidden magic would bear were those of the trees growing on the graves of those foolish enough to break my law."
"I worked hard, you mean." Leegaain said with a grunt. "I'm the one who had to research the proper way to dispose of them without turning entire regions into wastelands for centuries."
Even though the most dangerous living legacies drew their power from mana geysers, Guardians could easily dispose of them with sheer might. Alas, the deadly offspring of Forbidden Magic would usually spread their plague even in death.
The sudden release of wild energies after their destruction would taint the lands, making them inhabitable for prolonged periods of time unless someone knew how to do it properly as Lith did with the Black Star.
"No, I worked hard. You just keep your scaly ass glued to a chair all day long whereas I run an entire country and take care of dozens of millions of lives. Doing some research for me isn't that big of a deal." Salaark replied.
"Your judgment is as hasty and unfair as usual, Salaark." Zagran the Garuda said.
"We didn't fail as Guardians because our role is to keep the balance, not to babysit a bunch of noisy brats that like to spend most of their brief lives devising new ways to kill each other. It's not our fault if they don't survive their own success.
"I kept my turf in check and I even know all the passwords to the arrays. Living legacies are among the few opponents that don't die as soon as I glare at them. If someone else didn't do the same it's their fault. I don't see why I should bother with it."
"Because once one of them goes on a rampage, no one on either side of the ocean will be safe." Fenagar said. "Destroying them is easy, but if too many of them escape their confinement at the same time, the consequences might be dire."
The Guardians had no love for their respective counterparts, but refusing to help Fenagar would only endanger Garlen as well.
Chapter 1153 Shadows of the Past Part 1
The six Guardians pooled up their resources to find a way to contain the lost cities they had access to, to get rid of all those whose destruction would have minimal consequences, and to keep under control as many as the survivors in Jiera could handle.
All Guardians on Mogar used the lost cities as constant reminders of the consequences that Forbidden Magic had and of how even when it succeeded, its practice required a cost one hundred-fold greater than the result.
People who grew in their shadows would rarely dare to dabble in the Forbidden Arts while those who lived away from the lost cities would thank the gods for their luck and do all they could to keep things that way.
"What do you think of the anomaly? We agreed on sending him to your continent to allow you to study Lith and get your opinion." Tyris asked.
"Since he refused my offer for help, I can say that he's a moron." Fenagar's voice spoke volumes about his still hurting pride.
"Then he's as smart as I imagined. If he became your study subject, he would have died long before you let him go." Leegaain said.
"I don't give a damn about the anomaly." Zagran the Garuda said. "He's weak and insignificant, just like everyone but Salaark and I."
The Lord of Might would rarely provide a useful contribution so the others ignored her.
"I find him interesting." Roghar the Fenrir said. "This Lith is unlike Salaark who rules over death and rebirth or like me who deals with finding new ways to give life. From what I could see, his trade is not just killing, he deals with souls."
"What do you mean?" Salaark asked, intrigued at the idea.
"You use the darkness element to destroy something in order to create something else or make way for new life whereas he doesn't only kill someone, he also acts as a gateway for those who remained trapped between life and death."
"I noticed that his cracked life force exudes a powerful death aura. Do you think the two things are related?" Tyris asked.
"Indeed. Usually, the spirits of those who fail to move forward are doomed to linger around their deathplace, waiting for a Necromancer to create a suitable host for them. In Lith's case, however, the souls follow him and use him as a means to vent their anger.
"It makes Lith's potential enormous since even though those souls so far inhabited just shadows, he managed to feed them his life force through Spirit Magic, giving back to those souls not only substance, but also part of their memories." Roghar said.
"How is it different from my children?" Baba Yaga asked.
"Your children never truly died, while a common Necromancer simply gives a wandering spirit the means to interact with the physical world in exchange for all their memories.
"Based on my experiments, when the body and the soul aren't in synch, forming a bond between them erases the consciousness, making a greater undead akin to a newborn.
"The anomaly, instead, creates only a temporary bond that allows the souls to both retain their minds and to vent their grievances through battle. I theory, if perfected, such technique would allow a true resurrection.
"Yet since Mogar described him as the Lord of Destruction I doubt that is his intended purpose. What's truly interesting, however, is that amazing tower he brings along. It's an anomaly as unprecedented as he is." Roghar said.
"That's another thing that I failed to understand. The runt is way too young to craft something like that by himself and I'm sure that I know every single mage tower in existence. Does anyone know where it comes from?" Baba Yaga asked.
The Guardians from Garlen shook their heads even though they knew the truth, unwilling to put Menadion's Desperation at risk.
"I don't know its origin, but I sure like it. It's exactly the kind of tower I'd craft if I was so weak that I needed one." Zagran the Garuda said with a huge grin on her face.
"Even while we are talking, it's growing stronger. It changes and adapts to the environment to better support its master. If it keeps like this, one day it might match Menadion's tower, if not even surpass it."
Those words left Baba Yaga dumbstruck. Back when she had been Zagran's priestess and apprentice, the Blood Mother had soon learned that the Guardian would rarely make a compliment even to her peers, let alone to those who she considered inferiors.
"Why do you use Menadion's craft as a benchmark instead of mine? Ripha built her tower with outdated runes and Forgemastering techniques whereas I upgraded mine over the centuries with cutting edge magic." Baba Yaga could ignore the remarks of the ignorant, but not those of the Guardians.
"And yet yours is still inferior." Fenagar shook his head, while thinking back at all the amazing features of the lost artifact. "Not because your tower lacks power so much because you keep spreading your resources too thin.
"Menadion crafted her tower as the perfect lab and invested all of her resources on making it impregnable. You, instead, have created your tower as a means to offer your children a safe environment, with entire biomes inside to not make them feel like prisoners."
"All the energy that it wastes on commodities, Menadion's tower used it to grow her own crystals, to collect veins of rare metals, and even to farm her own natural treasures. She didn't waste world energy in playgrounds and sunsets."
"Taking care of your children is a commendable endeavor, Yaga." Zagran said, shocking all those present with the second compliment of that century so close to the first. "With your talent, skill, and heart, you should have become a Guardian."
"To what end?" The Blood Mother said with a scoff. "To be stuck in a continent far away from my own, without the possibility to get in touch with those I care for because my ego wouldn't allow me to coexist with any of you?
"To be forced to spectate you slaughter my people without being able to do anything? We've never fought seriously against each other so I've got no idea how powerful my white core makes me compared to a Guardian, but I know that it makes me free.
"Free to go wherever I want whenever I want. Free to save whoever I want, even those that the rest of Mogar knew as the accursed Odi, my people. There's a good reason why no race but beasts ever accepted to become Guardians.
"Mogar has no qualms killing her so-called chosen ones the moment they fail her and then burdens them with cruel tasks for the rest of eternity. Only a few of us managed to acquire a white core and escape her grasp, while only death awaited those who didn't bend the knee.
"That's why I created the undead. To give everyone the possibility to live forever, free from all constrictions, be they made by men, beasts, or even Mogar itself." Baba Yaga still remembered when Mogar had appeared to her under the guise of a female slave like those that her people were so quick to kill and replace like toys.
She had left the Odi because she couldn't tolerate a society that imposed impossible standards of beauty, power, and intelligence on its members.
Chapter 1154 Shadows of the Past Part 2
Yet when Mogar had made her its offer, she had refused it, finding it no different from what the Odi wanted from her.
"I'm sorry, but I agree with Baba Yaga. I refused to become a Guardian as well because after all I did and all the horrible things I witnessed during my travels, I couldn't stand the idea of living an eternity of duty." The silver-haired woman said while looking at Tyris in the eyes.
"You're both wrong." Leegaain shook his head.
"We are not slaves and Mogar never forced us to do anything. I started hoarding knowledge back when I was still a Salamander and saving species on the verge of extinction back when I was still a Drake.
"To this day, I've yet to do as a Guardian something that I wouldn't have done if I remained an Emperor Beast. Becoming a Guardian doesn't mean to embrace shackles, far from it.
"It simply means to share with the rest of the world what you love the most not to indulge your ego or receive praises, but just because it makes everyone around you better for it.
"Like you did with undeath, or like Lochra Silverwing did by inventing the specializations and giving birth to the title of Magus. Magi are the closest thing to a Guardian that humans manage to become because they are too obsessed with themselves."
At that point, Baba Yaga felt that any more words wouldn't be a discussion anymore, just bickering. She Warped away, quickly followed by the Guardians, until only the silver-haired woman and Leegaain remained.
"It's not every day that the Lord of Wisdom seeks an audience with a humble mortal. How can I serve you, Master Leegaain?" She said without trying to conceal her chuckle.
"How many times do I have to tell you, Lochra? It isn't funny now just like it wasn't funny the first time we met. Why the heck are you on Jiera? Do you have any idea how difficult has it been to find you?" Leegaain didn't trust communication amulets and even he couldn't establish a mind link across an entire ocean.
Yet there was little that the combined might of the Guardians couldn't achieve. He had asked for peacemakers not because he thought they would need them, but to have the opportunity to establish a mind link with Lochra despite the distance separating them.
"Garlen has too many painful memories. I came here hoping to make some good, but so far, I failed. Despite my best efforts, the humans unleashed the plague before I could find a cure. It made me regret to have ever invented specializations." She sighed.
"It happens to the best of us. Slave collars still give me nightmares, but that's not the reason why I looked for you. I just wanted to tell you that a few years ago, I found Menadion's Desperation.
"She's on Jiera as well so if you want to meet her, this is the perfect occasion."
***
City of Reghia, Jiera continent.
Seeing Solus crying in her sleep made Lith worry for her, yet he couldn't afford to wake her up. He stood guard the entire time and when Tista woke up first, he stopped her before she could interrupt what she considered just a nightmare.
'Even if it's really a nightmare, it might reveal the circumstances that led Menadion to turn her apprentice into a hybrid.' Lith said via their mind link.
'Can't you fuse your minds and check up on her? It has been hours since Solus fell asleep and she keeps crying non-stop.' Tista said, worried sick about her friend.
'Dreams are a frail thing. A noise or a touch is enough to alter them, let alone the arrival of a foreign entity. A mind link would be akin to talking while mind fusion would share my memories with her.
'Both would cause Solus enough distress to interrupt her dream.' Lith replied.
He didn't even dare to hold Solus's hand, afraid that the physical contact might mess up with her memories. The moment she woke up, Solus started to cry even harder and was unable to speak for a while as Lith lulled her in his arms like a baby.
She shared her dream with him via their mind link and later she described it to Tista and Phloria. She considered some details to be too intimate to show them even her friends.
"So you're not just Menadion's apprentice but her daughter? That's even worse. How could your Mom do such a thing to you?" The revelation shocked Tista.
"Someone must have killed Solus." Lith said.
"When Protector was dying in front of me, I would have done anything to save him, just like I would have done anything, even use Forbidden Magic to save you or any member of our family.
"Back then I was just a student, whereas Menadion was already an Archmage and a Magus. She succeeded where I failed. Fusing Solus with the tower must have been a last-ditch attempt to save her life without compromising either of their life forces."
"Then why did Menadion abandon Solus? How could she leave her own daughter in such a predicament without saying a word?" Phloria said in outrage. For being a mage of proverbial wisdom, Menadion seemed to have acted like a jerk to her.
"That's not necessarily true. Menadion might have left Solus a message or maybe they even spent some time together after she fused Solus with the tower, but we'll never know because of Solus's amnesia.
"If it was me, I would have hunted down whoever was responsible and I would have done all I could to kill them." Lith said with his eyes brimming with mana and fury.
"If my Mom was anything like any of yours, I bet that she didn't wait to recover before going on the prowl." Solus sighed. "Especially if Dad died at the hands of my assailant or if we had already lost him to age or to an accident."
"I think you're right. My Mom didn't slaughter the entire Deirus household only because I'm still alive and because she has other children to take care of. But if something happened to Dad and she had nothing to lose anymore…" Phloria couldn't finish the sentence and shivered at the thought.
The day that Jirni Ernas lost what kept her human would probably make Balkor's anniversary look like a holiday. Unlike the Blood Magus, she had spent decades preparing for the worst, she had a vivid imagination and enough money to build an arsenal.
"Yeah." Tista nodded. "I bet that Mom would be willing to do anything, even to become an undead if it meant getting her revenge."
Once they managed to set aside such gloomy scenarios, they discussed the knowledge that Solus had acquired through her dream. The group moved to the tower's mines, hoping that at least one of the violet crystals had started to turn white.
Unfortunately, even the orc shaman's crystal had yet to show any signs of further refinement. It had grown in size and spawned several branches, giving birth to more violet crystals, but nothing more.
"On the one hand, I'm bummed we don't have a white crystal to experiment. On the other hand, however, after using my only Adamant Forge on the Scalewalker armor, if we did have them, you would have seen me crying." Lith said.
Chapter 1155 Two Worlds Part 1
"You're always as greedy as a Dragon, lil bro." Tista said. "If I didn't know you better, I'd worry that keeping your hybrid form for so long is influencing your judgment. Stop thinking with your wallet and use your head.
"In the memory, Menadion taught Solus that a Forgemastered artifact is nothing but a perfect combination of spells. It means that by studying a pseudo core, it's possible to learn all the abilities that the Forgemaster imbued it with.
"This piece of information might help us to understand secret disciplines like Runesmithing, Light Mastery, and even Spirit Magic."
"Yeah, maybe that was true centuries ago. Nowadays Runesmithing applies cloaking runes that make it impossible to study a pseudo core. On top of that, Nalrond is teaching me Light Mastery and Faluel will teach us Spirit Magic when the moment comes." Lith replied.
"Well, you might be okay with things as they are because of Nalrond, but Solus's dream still gives me and Tista a shot at Light Mastery. On top of that, there are no cloaking runes on ancient relics like your gravity ring or those written in Huryole's Forgemastering book." Phloria said.
"Think about it. Gravity magic is as powerful as it's elusive and maybe from your double magic holding ring, we might learn how to cast two copies of the same spell at the same time.
"All we have to do is to find a way to craft their pseudo cores, break them down into the runes they are comprised of, and then convert them into spells that don't require an artifact to work."
Phloria's words opened countless possibilities to them. Now that they knew about runes and about how they could be woven to reproduce complex skills, even teaching props became relevant.
The effects they produced were worthless for an artifact but they could still teach them ways of manipulating the elements that only ancient bloodlines had mastered.
They spent so much time discussing where it was better to start from that they completely forgot about their duty as teachers until a magical beast knocked on their door.
Lith had Solus quickly go back to her ring form while the upper floors of the building slid down to give the impression that they had yet to finish working on their apartments.
"Seriously? A whole building for three people?" A yellow-furred Xogh (fox-type magical beast) said with disbelief.
"We quarrel a lot and we need our personal space." Lith's ability to make up bullshit at a moment's notice never failed to impress his companions, making also them wonder how often he did the same with them.
"Then maybe you shouldn't keep two females. One is more than enough and once the cubs start coming, things will only get worse." The Xogh said with a tone that implied he spoke from experience.
"I'm just their mentor and that's my sister!" Lith said in outrage while pointing at Tista.
"Right, sure. I wonder how I failed to notice the resemblance. Maybe you are my Dad as well." The Xogh poked at Lith's scales with enough sarcasm to fill the building.
"Listen, kid, I'm not interested in your personal life. Aren sent me here to remind you that humans aren't going to learn Tyris's language on their own. If you want to get a share of our resources, you have to contribute to the daily activities.
"Otherwise you are on your own, even for small stuff like food. Are we clear?"
"Crystal." Lith replied.
"Good. Then I suggest you send your girlfriends to do the job while you do something else. Most of those humans hate us and if they see you, things are going to get ugly. For them, of course."
"Just one question." Lith stopped the Xogh who was already turning around after delivering the message.
"As far as I know, the humans who reside here are those saved by Awakened Beasts and you don't hold them prisoners. Why in Mogar's name do they hate you?"
"Because they think that their saviors didn't do enough. All those who are here had befriended an Emperor Beast or an Awakened, but that doesn't mean that the fairy godparent cared for the human's entire family." The Xogh replied.
"Some had bad parents, siblings, or children that their Beast friend choose to not heal from the plague, considering them a liability that would only be put down later. Humans don't understand our logic and resent us for that.
"On top of that, we put together people from different countries and they don't like that either. They are still trying to find someone to blame for the plague and hate each other's guts almost as much as they hate us."
"Thanks for the advice." Lith shapeshifted into his human form, making the Xogh raise his tail in curiosity.
"Hey, now I see the resemblance. Sorry for doubting you earlier. These days there is more trouble in this place than fur on my back. Remember to use the alarm and count up to five before starting to pummel a human."
The magical beast then went to the Garden of Knowledge next door, to study the language of the Garlen continent on his own.
The group locked the building and the arrays before leaving. They had left nothing valuable inside, but the makeshift furniture wouldn't fool more than a casual look and they had no intention to explain where they really planned to sleep.
'I guess we'll need to split up.' Solus had linked them all with Spirit Magic, to take part in the conversation. 'Even though Leegaain's pins translate all languages for us, I doubt that they also work the other way around.'
'Meaning?' Phloria asked.
'That whenever you talk to each other you probably speak the language of Garlen whereas the pin activates only when you listen to another idiom.'
'It makes sense and also our job easier. A smaller class means a faster learning rate.' Tista said.
'I doubt that.' Lith said. 'Months have passed since the plague outbreak, yet those guys have still to get over their losses or even learn the basics of each other's language. In my book, it means that they not only are grief-stricken, but also unwilling to cooperate.'
'It's understandable. They lost everything and probably have issues adjusting to a new lifestyle. Beasts don't seem big on empathy.' Phloria said.
The city of Reghia reminded her of a military camp, tidy and filled solely with everything that was necessary to survive but devoid of what made life worth living. As a soldier, she appreciated such an environment because it was practical and helped her to remember what she fought for.
Yet it would remind a refugee of everything they had lost and slow the healing process.
Or so she thought until they reached the human district. Except for the streets, it looked like a meadow. The ceiling provided plenty of sunlight and a spring coming out of a wall formed a small lake where small furry rodents lived.
The animals nuzzled against the visitors' legs, staring at them with their big round eyes in the hope to receive cuddles, food, or both.
The combined effect of light and water generated a perennial rainbow above the lake, giving it a fairy tale look.
Chapter 1156 Two Worlds Part 2
Each house was bigger than Lith's and surrounded by a small garden filled with seasonal and fruit trees that spread a sweet scent.
'You're right. Beasts are heartless monsters. How could they force people to live in such a dump?' Lith thought while the others had a hard time believing they were still in Reghia.
'Okay, fine. I stand corrected. This place is wonderful and those people are likely to be ungrateful assholes.' Phloria said.
The group decided to follow Solus's advice and split up. Each one of them went to a different house, yet they all received the same treatment.
"What do you want, filthy Grenian? I've got no food to share with a savage." A woman in her mid-thirties with bronze skin said to Tista.
The woman looked at Tista's light olive-colored skin with spite, mistaking her for a citizen of the Gren Democracy with which her people had a centuries-long enmity.
"I'm not a Grenian and I don't need food. Aren, the leader of Reghia, sent me here to teach you the language of my continent, Garlen. Can you please bring here-" Not even Tista's best smile kept her host from cutting her short.
"I should have known you're not from around here. Too much meat on those bones and too many smiles. There's nothing to be happy about in Reghia. Not only those beasts let my husband die like a dog, but they also force me to work like a slave and my children to live surrounded by enemies.
"Tell that overgrown snake that I refuse to give up on the traditions that my forefathers gave their lives to protect and uphold and learn a foreign language. If he wants people to start acting civilized, then he should make everyone learn the Paclean instead of your gibberish."
The woman slammed the door in Tista's face, hurting her nose a bit.
Neither Lith nor Phloria had better luck with their respective marks.
"Where were you Garlen scum while our Gren Democracy died because of the plague spread by those Paclean murderers? You've got guts to come to my home and order me around. Maybe you're used to blindly follow your tyrant's order like a good soldier, but my people have rights!" A man in his mid-twenties yelled in Lith's face.
"And where were you pompous idiots when the Griffon Kingdom almost got destroyed by a plague?" Lith scoffed, holding the door open with his superior strength.
"Here, spouting bullshit as always I presume. I, instead, worked my ass off to save my country. Can you say the same or do you only know how to blame others for your uselessness?
"As for my so-called tyrant, the Royals kept us at peace for centuries and we're in civil relations with our neighbors, whereas only the plague stopped the wars on your continent. As for your rights, you have none.
"This isn't Gren anymore, Toto. This is Reghia. I'll make sure to report your behavior and have your food rations halved. We'll see if your nationalism can withstand hunger or if you're being arrogant only because you're sated."
Then Lith slammed the door with enough strength that the man who was still clenching the handle smashed his face against the wood and then landed ass-first on the floor, trying to stop the nosebleed.
"First, they mistook me for something called a Vargharian and blamed my alleged people for the plague. Then, when I explained I come from Garlen, they asked me to fuck myself." Phloria said. "How did it go for you?"
"Same." Lith snarled while shapeshifting into his hybrid form again. "I'm done with those jackasses. I'll go ask for another assignment. After all, I have to experience how it feels living like a beast and taking care of humans is not part of the job description."
"I'm sorry, Phloria, but I'm with Lith on this." Tista looked back at the house of the Paclean woman with anger.
"You can't be serious." Phloria said. "They are just traumatized from seeing their entire villages die and then be uprooted from their homes. Those people need our help and understanding, not our judgment."
"You would be right if the plague happened yesterday and not months ago." Tista shook her head.
"These people have everything they need, yet they just waste their time pointing fingers and bantering about their superiority over the others, calling them 'barbarians'.
"That's not grief but blind pride. Lith and I had much less when we were kids so I can't empathize with their foolish behavior."
She pointed at the kids playing outside with their magical beast friends. Unlike their parents, the children had no problem hanging out together and even tried to learn how to communicate with each other.
"Aren is right. If just having food and a roof makes them so arrogant, then it's better not to give them any magical commodity. Until the humans of Reghia set aside their pride and realize that they have to start from scratch, we'd be just wasting our time."
Lith and Tista went back to Reghia's command center to receive new assignments while Phloria visited one house at a time. Aside from the people whose entire family had been saved by an Emperor Beast, the others didn't even bother talking to her.
Even those who acted friendly and were willing to learn the language of the Garlen continent refused to leave the human district. They were too afraid of the beasts and of their own neighbors, trusting no one but the members of their own country.
Learning a language would have been a fool's errand if her students had no one to practice it with and kept talking their native idiom.
By the time she had run out of doors that could be slammed in her face, Phloria understood that the situation of humans on Jiera wasn't as bad as how Aren had described it.
It was much worse.
***
Blood Desert, inside the Rezar's Fringe.
Meanwhile, Nalrond crash-landed after the shock from discovering that his people might still be alive, the rest of the group ignored his outburst and kept staring at their surroundings in awe.
In front of them, there were grasslands as far as the eye could see and at the horizon woods so big that they dwarfed the Trawn woods. Yet behind them there was nothing but the silvery fog that separated the Fringe from the rest of Mogar.
It formed a dome that became visible only when up close. Even from a few meters of distance, the fog reflected its surroundings like a mirror, giving the Fringe the impression to be boundless.
The thick mist was comprised of pure world energy that allowed the distorted space to remain stable, no matter what happened both inside and outside the dome.
"This place is amazing. The amount of world energy is so great that the hair on my neck is standing up." Friya used first magic to conjure a small flame on her right forefinger, yet her entire hand turned into a scorching flame.
"What the heck? I just used first magic, yet the spell has a power similar to a tier one."
Quylla and Morok tried as well, confirming her findings. Every spell they cast had its effect raised by one tier thanks to the abundant world energy boosting all kinds of elemental magic.
Chapter 1157 Double-Edged Power Part 1
Inside the Fringe, tier five spells were not only easy to execute, but it was also possible to weave them with up to four elements with almost no burden for the mage whereas normally using two elements at the same time was the limit.
"This is both incredible and nonsensical." Quylla said. "With this much world energy, I would expect to find a lot of magical beasts and plant folk. I mean, I can feel it so well that it wouldn't surprise me if Friya or Morok Awakened."
"What about you?" Friya asked.
"Violet core, remember? In my case, we are not talking about Awakening, so much as of a close casket funeral." Quylla shuddered at the thought. Mages as powerful as her would explode like gruesome fireworks.
"I think that it's just a temporary effect." Morok smiled to reassure her, but his face was pale and he was holding his chest as if he was about to have a stroke.
"We come from outside, so the world energy overwhelms us, but for people born inside the Fringe this amount of elemental energy is considered normal. We should just sit back and wait to get used to it."
"Are you alright?" Quylla asked while casting a diagnostic spell that came out negative.
"I'm just a bit dizzy from taking so much world energy in and conversing with Mogar. There are so many voices in my head right now that it feels like being in the middle of a market." He replied.
"What do you mean, taking the world energy in?" Friya asked.
"Even though a Tyrant's powers are similar to a Balor's, they work on completely different principles. Balors use their eyes to drain their surroundings of the natural elemental energy whereas a Tyrant splits the world energy into its components.
"My eyes absorb the elements while I use the remaining energy for my spells, keeping the balance neutral. Then, I can use the stored elemental energy for attack or defense without the need to weave a spell." Morok said.
"Interesting. If not for the part where the world energy is split and stored inside your body instead of being refined by your mana core, I'd say you've just described an Awakened's breathing technique." Quylla said.
'By the Great Mother, she's right! That's why my body hurts so much.' Morok thought while barely holding his panic. 'On top of that, it explains what that asshole of my father meant when he said that I would Awaken only if I deserved it.
'My core can't process the energy coming from just four eyes, so it gets stored instead. It's the first time in my life that I'm happy to have yet to open my fifth eye, otherwise I wouldn't be able to stop the Awakening process.
'I already have no idea what I will do during the 300 years I'm supposed to live, let alone 3,000! Best case scenario, I'll live a sad and long life like Master Ajatar or Dad. Worst case scenario, I go crazy and get myself killed by the Council.'
"I think Morok is right." Friya said while opening several small dimensional passages as big as a keyhole to study their surroundings.
"I can't find any trace of creatures bigger than a regular animal nor the lush vegetation typical of the presence of plant folks. The evolution rate might be the same as outside the Fringe, if not even worse. Think about it.
"It's like being in the crystal mines. The pressure from the world energy around us exerts such a pressure that it probably makes it very hard to develop a mana flow to those who are born here whereas it invigorates foreigners like us. At least until we get used to it as well."
The sky inside the Fringe was clear blue and all the vegetation was bigger than one would expect from a plant of the same age, yet aside from the abundant world energy, everything else looked ordinary.
The three of them sat down cross legged on the ground. The girls tried to get in touch with Mogar to obtain some of the answers they were looking for whereas Morok did his best to cut the communication off.
As he slowly released the accumulated elemental energy, the Tyrant could feel the voices in his head disappearing one after the other, until only one remained. Unfortunately for Morok, it wasn't his own.
'Are we Awakening or not?' A voice that sounded awfully similar to Quylla's asked.
'Thanks, but no thanks. What about you tell me the secret of the Davross instead?' Morok's question made the final voice disappear, leaving his head as empty as usual.
After a few minutes of meditation, their bodies and cores got used to the new environment. Friya could no longer feel a slight burn in her guts so she had to give up on her hopes of Awakening on her own.
For the same reason, Quylla could finally sigh in relief at the idea that she wouldn't blow up while Morok learned how to use his eyes without drawing unwanted guests. All of them got worried when they noticed that even hours had passed, Nalrond had yet to get back.
"His rune is still online, but he isn't picking up his communication amulet." Friya was amazed noticing that despite the distance separating her from her family and friends, even the runes belonging to Lith's group were available thanks to the Fringe's power.
"I doubt that Dawn has left some of her spawns in here, but that doesn't mean this place is safe. Nalrond might have been captured or worse. Is any of you capable of following his tracks?" Quylla asked, relying on their expertise.
"It would be child's play if he walked, but he flew away and smells don't last long in the air." Morok shook his head.
"I can try something." Friya said. "I created this spell to find my guildmates in the case they went missing in action, but it turned out to be impractical due to the crystals empowering the amulets being too weak. Here, however, the Fringe supercharges them so my spell might work."
Friya cast a short spell and then she tried to call Nalrond again. This time, a thin golden tendril came out of his contact rune, pointing toward the direction he had disappeared and fading away after just a few meters.
"That's incredible! How did you do it?" Quylla asked.
"Amulets rely on dimensional magic to establish their connection. My spell simply amplifies the energy signature of the small Warp, making it visible. We can use it as a compass that always points at Nalrond's amulet." Friya puffed her chest out with pride.
The group took flight, following Friya's lead who cast the Compass spell from time to time and adjusted their course. It took them just a few minutes to find the village yet they didn't like what they saw.
"Those aren't Nalrond's people. He turns into a Rezar whereas both the children playing around and the adults working in the cultivated fields are Dewan (AN: rhinoceros Emperor Beasts). What if they are keeping him prisoner?" Friya couldn't find another explanation for Nalrond failing to answer their repeated calls.
"She has a point." Morok said. "If Nalrond flew here in human form, they might have shot him down."
Chapter 1158 Double-Edged Power Part 2
"Werepeople hate humans for using Forbidden Magic on them and for turning them into hybrids. You stay here while I go take a look." Morok said.
He didn't like shapeshifting back into his Tyrant form because just like a Balor, his eyes would naturally absorb part of the respective elemental energy they were attuned with. Morok feared that the voices might return or that he might Awaken.
'According to Master Ajatar, my mana core is blue. Awakening without external help could make me blow up just like it would happen to Quylla if Mogar doesn't give me a hand.' He thought.
Luckily for him, without the eye technique that his father had taught him, Morok didn't experience any discomfort. He leisurely strolled toward the village with the best next thing to a smile that his mouth filled with the razor-sharp teeth could make.
"Hi guys, I'm new here. I'm looking for my friend. He's an annoying man that can be this tall unless he looks like a Rezar and then he's this tall. Have you seen him around?" Morok used his milky-white hand to gesture both Nalrond's heights.
"Maybe." The man in front of him shapeshifted into a grey-skinned giant and emitted a low guttural sound that drew the attention of the entire village.
The man was now almost 2.5 (8') tall, with small black eyes barely visible behind the three horns on his muzzle and the two upward tusks coming from his mouth. His hands and feet only had four fingers and he was so bulky that, from a distance, the girls believed that he had turned into a rock.
His Soul Projection as a man resembled an angry Dewan, but after he had shapeshifted, it now looked like an even angrier man.
"I've never seen you or even heard about you, stranger. On top of that, Emperor Beasts usually don't wear fancy clothes like yours. How can I be sure that you aren't just a shapeshifted human looking for his runaway prisoner?"
"No duh you've never seen me before. I told you I'm new." Morok's four eyes looked at the Dewan with ill-concealed contempt.
"As for me being human what about this? Or this?" First, the Tyrant conjured a flaming fireball the size of a hot-air balloon and then he fired elemental beams from his eyes that opened four small craters in the ground.
"Awakened can use true magic, but the trick with the eyes is the real deal. I could feel the elemental energy coming from him rather than just being manipulated with a spell." A man in his late seventies said.
If not for the white of his hair and the deep wrinkles on his face, Morok would have a hard time guessing his age. The man had clear blue eyes and deep bronze skin due to the constant exposure to the sun.
Despite his slightly slouched back, the elder still had wide shoulders and arms thicker than the branch of an old tree.
Hybrids didn't live as briefly as humans nor as long as Emperor Beasts. Their average lifespan amounted to 150 years, but they aged well and due to their beast half, Werepeople would retain most of their muscle mass.
The village elder had such a keen mana perception that he managed to gauge Morok's prowess simply by looking at his spell. Among the many villagers, he was the only one lacking a Soul Projection.
"Yet there's no way to know if our Rezar brother brought you inside the Fringe willingly or if you forced him. Even Beasts covet our secrets so we cannot afford to trust a stranger. You'll be our prisoner until our brother recovers." The elder said.
"What do you mean, until he recovers? Nalrond was fine until a few minutes ago. What did you do to him?" Morok brought his hands to the hilts of his weapons, weaving his best spells while the Dewan slowly surrounded him and prepared their own.
"He arrived here flying and then he collapsed for no reason. We've tried to heal him, but the fever that plagues his mind resists the skill of our best healers. Are you saying that the Rezar's condition is not your fault? That you didn't work him like a slave?"
The elder looked Morok in the eyes, allowing the Tyrant to notice the mana glowing behind his pupils.
'The bastard is preparing something big. Nalrond chose the worst possible time for a power nap. There's no way I let them take me prisoner.' Morok thought.
"It's not my fault, but yours." He pointed at the still visible scorched ruins of the houses that the Dewan had failed to rebuild.
"We came here to see Nalrond's village after the Horseman of Dawn burned it to the ground. My friend must have mistaken you for his kin and is probably having a stroke at the idea that all his quest for revenge was for nothing."
His words made the Dewan open their eyes wide in surprise while they finally understood what had happened and why the Rezar had collapsed as soon as he had reached the village outskirts.
"Elder Bahn, is it really possible that we have occupied the village of the fabled Rezar people? The Lightkeepers?" The Dewan who had "welcomed" Morok asked.
"It's possible." The elder nodded.
"It would explain why our Fringe suddenly expanded and why there were only ruins but no corpses. The ashes of our brothers fertilize our fields, filling our harvest with death. It seems we have founded our village on cursed grounds."
"Also, I don't need anyone's help to get inside a Fringe. I can do it on my own." No one believed Morok's claim.
At least until Bahn asked him several questions about how he had come into contact with Mogar's will. The Tyrant replied in such detail that everyone failed to complete their spells as their jaws hit the ground in amazement.
"It seems we misjudged you, Tyrant brother. Someone who doesn't even emit a Soul Projection must be as powerful as he is wise. You'll be our honored guest until our Rezar brother doesn't wake up.
"Tell me, how many Werepeople Tyrants there are in your village?" The elder asked.
Morok understood that the Dewan had relaxed not because they trusted him so much as because they had mistaken him for one of their own.
"Thanks for the offer, but I can't trust your mood swings. Tell Nalrond to call me as soon as he wakes up." The Tyrant suddenly opened a Warp Steps and disappeared before any of the Dewan could move a single muscle.
Morok explained the situation to the girls who didn't like it one bit.
"Dammit, we're in trouble." Quylla said. "This tribe of Werepeople seems to hate Emperor Beasts as much as they hate humans. There are too many of them and just three of us.
"Our best line of action is to wait for Nalrond to wake up and vouch for us. If they treated even an Emperor Beast with such contempt, there's no telling what they might do to humans."
***
City of Reghia, Jiera continent.
Between the late start due to Solus's dream about her past and sightseeing the city while going to the human district, Lith's group didn't have much time left before dinner.
Chapter 1159 Cleansing the Land Part 1
Lith spent the evening looking for food stalls and restaurants just to discover that there were none. Tista, instead, had no idea what to do after giving up on her assignment as a teacher.
She went to the neighboring Garden of Knowledge and studied Jiera's version of the Battle Mage specialization.
"This place sucks." Lith said after setting up the table with mostly food from Garlen that he had stored inside his pocket dimension.
"They have no bread, no sweets, no processed food at all. The only things you can acquire are the basic ingredients. Everything else is up to you."
"Well, making bread is easy. We just need a bit of flour." Tista shrugged.
"Great. I'll leave it to you, then." Lith gave her a handful of fresh wheat.
"Are you saying they don't even grind it?" Tista was flabbergasted.
"Worse. Aside from meat, fish, and fruit, we don't even get spices or salt unless we get them ourselves." He replied.
"How much food have you brought?" Phloria started munching her spicy fried chicken slower. She feared it might be her last decent meal and she wanted to enjoy it at its fullest.
"Enough to last for a month. I don't think we'll stay in Reghia that long, but it still sucks. Eating local food is the same as taking a camping trip in the wilds back home unless we go to a human city. Yet I doubt they fare much better." Lith said.
"This sure explains why everyone in the human district is in a bad mood." Phloria said. "They have lost their homes, their family members, and even the small things that they took for granted."
"It still doesn't justify their attitude." Tista shook her head. "When I was little and still ill, even meat was a luxury. We would mostly eat broths and stews. I didn't have bread regularly until Lith went to the academy."
Phloria stopped eating and looked at them as if it was the first time. They were both so tall and good-looking that it was hard to imagine them having such a hard past.
"Tomorrow I'm going to the barracks and look for some work in the field. I'm sure there must be something that needs to be killed. What about you?" Lith asked.
"I'll try to beat some sense in those guys. Literally, if I have to." It wasn't the first tough nut that Phloria had to crack.
Most of the recruits in the army were commoners who didn't like nobles in general, let alone those who managed to start their career as officers.
"I'm not big on killing, but I'm sure that if I look around, I'll find something to do." Tista said.
"I'm going with Lith." Solus said. "With a bit of luck, we could find a mana geyser and check if it can allow us to go back home. On top of that, I'm curious to see how a Mogar without humans looks like. As for the bread…"
Solus let the wheat that Lith had brought home fall toward the ground, where a small hole opened. It allowing the others to see that they were right above the Alchemy lab, where a grind turned the wheat into a fine dust that was thoroughly filtered.
"I've done my part. I like my bread with a pinch of salt, otherwise it tastes too sweet with the jam." Solus handed Tista a flask filled with the whitest and purest flour she had ever seen.
"Did you really use an alchemy lab just to grind wheat? That's both overkill and cheating! The tower did the job, not you." Tista already regretted her offer.
"The tower is part of her body and so is the lab. You can't argue with the results, dear Tista. I like my bread without salt." Phloria said.
After taking their orders and cursing her own big mouth, Tista had to spend the rest of the evening trying to remember Elina's recipe to make bread dough. The others, instead chatted and played cards, enjoying the first true free time they had in months.
The following morning Lith returned to the city gates. They were the closest thing to a local branch of the army so he expected to find Aren the Jǫrmungrandr there or at least whoever was in charge of Reghia's defenses.
"Aren Dolm isn't the mayor of Reghia, son. I am." A huge Nue said with a tired voice.
Nues were chimeras specialized in the light and air elements. His height at the withers reached 2 meters (6'7") so his office was bigger than Lith's house in Lutia. There was no desk nor chairs, just bookshelves lined against the walls and round mana crystals embedded in the floor, each with a different purpose.
They allowed the mayor of Reghia of taking care of communications, real time external and internal surveillance, and inventory with but a touch of his giant paws.
The Nue had the head of a monkey, the body of a tiger, the wings of an eagle, and the front half of a snake for a tail.
"Being the Council representatives, Lord Aren and his Fae counterpart, Annis, are the sovereigns of the entire Jiera continent. You must be someone important if Lord Aren welcomed you in person. I'm Xoth, nice to meet you." The Nue said.
Those words made Lith ponder why both the Guardians and the Councils of two continents had gone such lengths just for the sake of his apprenticeship, making his paranoia sense tingle.
'Less thinking, more talking.' Solus snapped him out of his reverie after Xoth cleared his throat twice.
"Thanks, sir. I'm looking for something to do that could benefit the city and grant me access to its basic resources." Lith avoided mentioning Adamant and mana crystals right off the bat to avoid sounding too human.
"Judging from your smell, you can use Origin Flames. Are you interested in purifying a few batches of Orichalcum? There's only so much our Forgemasters can do with silver and most mining operations have stopped due to monster outbreaks."
The Nue could recognize the smell of sulfur and world energy that came out of Lith's mouth with every breath.
"I could give it a try, but I must warn you that I'm not that skilled. I'm still learning how to control Origin Flames and I still burn too much silver along with the impurities. Did you say monster outbreaks?" Those two words reminded Lith of Tezka, the Warg-Abomination hybrid, making him wonder if the Master's clutches reached even Jiera.
"That's too bad." The Nue sighed. "Usually, I would assign you a master, but our stockpiles are limited and I can't afford to waste precious metal. As for the monster outbreaks, they are a big issue that could use your help.
"Ever since the plague wiped out the humans, monsters are free to breed unchecked simply because there are not enough beasts and plant folk to patrol the entire continent.
"Monsters had plenty to eat thanks to all the human corpses lying around and to all the cattle that suddenly had no owner nor defense. We have gathered in places like Reghia because staying in the open is not safe even for Emperor Beasts.
"Waves of monsters wiped out entire forests and even though we always managed to kill them all, we suffered too many losses among our ranks."
Chapter 1160 Cleansing the Land Part 2
"Packs of magical beasts are incapable of handling a horde and there aren't enough Emperor Beasts to keep the situation in check.
"That's why we are systematically scouting the region and exterminating any monster we find. Missing even one means having an army of those bastards grow right under our noses." The Nue snarled.
"I've dealt with plenty of monsters in Garlen and they never amounted to much. How can you have so many problems with them despite the Council's help?" Lith asked.
"Son, Awakened are a minority whereas all monsters have powers and they spawn faster than you can sneeze. What you faced in the past were nothing but small tribes constantly kept on the run. Here we are talking about hundreds, if not thousands of them.
"With leaders, strategies, and when they found them, even weapons. Don't forget that not all monsters are brainless creatures. Balors and Orcs are the main threat because they can tame other Fallen like Goblins or Trolls.
"To make matters worse, Abominations are on their side. They protect the monsters from us Emperor Beasts and in exchange their leaders feed them with the dregs of their society." Xoth said.
"Is there any cleansing operation I can take part in?" Lith asked.
"Son, the only reason why Reghia isn't swarming with Emperor Beasts is that we're conducting cleansing operations non-stop just to keep this region safe. You're spoilt for choice."
Xoth pressed a small crystal placed in the middle of the floor that generated a hologram of the area surrounding Reghia. Several red blinking dots of different sizes covered the blue light of the hologram, each marked with a threat level and a rough estimate of the enemy's numbers.
"These are just today's threats that have yet to be dealt with. Teams have been dispatched on site already to recon before planning their attack. Take your pick."
"I'll take this one." Lith pointed at an invading army strong of a thousand units, with even cavalry and an Abomination. His choice made Solus shiver and Xoth scoff.
"Do you realize that they are trained, well equipped, and that a single Chaos spell can kill even one of us?" The Nue asked.
"Yes, that's why I wasn't planning on going alone so much as on joining the team taking care of the issue." Lith replied.
"Thank the gods. For a moment I feared the Council had sent us another brainless idiot." Xoth exchanged communication runes with Lith and then informed the leader of the assault team of his coming.
The crystals on the office's floor lit up in sequence, forming a Warping array leading Lith to his destination.
"Wait, what? Are we going to attack already?" Lith stuttered in surprise.
"No time like the present. Olua will debrief you in person. She was just missing one person for the assault. That old fart will be glad to skip all the finesse guerrilla warfare requires and fight the enemy head on." The Nue said.
"She will also kick Xoth's ass for calling her an old fart and yours as well, rookie, if you keep me waiting." A huge talon came through the dimensional tunnel along with the voice, dragging Lith to the other side, where his companions were waiting for him.
Olua was a Roc, a lesser Phoenix over 20 meters (66') tall that resembled a giant eagle covered in golden feathers streaked black all over. With each one of her breaths, world energy amassed inside her body, causing electrical sparks between her feathers.
'Bright blue core, just like you. She's physically much stronger and she's somehow accumulating world energy as I do in my tower form. How and why she does that are beyond me.' Solus said.
"A lesser Dragon? Too bad you're not a lesser Griffon, Bodya, otherwise we might have played Garlen's Guardians." She said to a huge snake over 22 meters (72 feet long). The entirety of his body was covered in bright blue scales streaked orange and blue all over.
Bone spikes came out of his spine and sides, making him resemble a living chain saw.
"You'd rather be thankful that we Nidhoggs have nothing in common with our forefather, or I'll waste the whole day bickering with the shortie about semantics." Bodya belonged to Fenagar the Leviathan's offspring, yet he had nothing against Dragons.
Lith was over 2 meters (7') tall in his hybrid form, yet he felt insignificant compared with the two Emperor Beasts.
'Deep violet core and with more strength in one of his coils than you have in your whole body.' Solus said. 'Dammit, I got used to your perfect body refinement to give you an edge over the competition, but I guess that only applies to humans.'
"Don't look so glum, kid. I was just joking. At least you're still a Wyrmling and have room to develop whereas adult Wyverns are bite sized." The lesser Leviathan's smile was one of the creepiest things Lith had ever seen his whole life.
It revealed a perfect row of fangs, each one bigger than War, from which dripped a dense brown liquid that Lith assumed it had to be saliva. At least until a drop as big as a potion flask fell to the ground, opening a hole the size of a bowling ball.
"Thanks, I guess. Where is the rest of the group?" Lith's question made them laugh.
"It's just the three of us, rookie." Olua said.
"First, my name is Scourge. Second, Xoth told me that your squad missed one member to be complete. What the heck of a difference does just one person make?" Lith asked.
"It's very simple. This is the enemy army." Olua drew a circle in the soil with one of her talons.
"While this is Bodya and I." She drew two smaller circles, one in front and one behind the enemy. "With just the two of us, the monsters can run to the sides and then spread, making it impossible for us to kill them all."
"With one more member, however…" A wave of her wing moved one of the two smaller circles to the sides and made appear a third, forming a triangle formation.
"… all we have to do is surround them and kill them faster than they can escape."
"That's it? That's your big plan?" Lith didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "What about the Abomination? Does your elaborate scheme take that into account as well?"
"Gods, Olua, the kid is right. We never discussed who's going to face that poor excuse of an Awakened." Bodya said.
"We can't just draw lots like the last time. When the Abomination ran away, the mission almost failed because I had to abandon my position. I'd say to make the Abomination decide." The Roc said and the Nidhogg approved.
"Meaning?" Lith regretted not having picked a simpler mission that he could handle on his own. Yet for the Scalewalker armor test run, he needed more than just a few dumb creatures that he could shot down from a distance.
"The stronger an Abomination is, the less they like taking risks. The moment they understand their little army is going to lose, the Abomination will sound the retreat and cut their losses by having their main army take head-on the one they deem to be the weakest of our group." Olua said.
Chapter 1161 Size Matters Part 1
"Once the main army starts to move, the other two of us have to focus on killing the monsters as fast as they can so that the Abomination is forced to fight their alleged prey one on one." Olua said.
"I think you're overestimating yourselves, underestimating Abominations, or both. I've seen those creatures in action and they are nothing to scoff at." Lith said while his mind replayed the combined attack of the Abominations hybrids against Night.
Even one of the Master's chosen was enough to take down the entire cleansing team with ease.
"We are not underestimating Abominations, Scourge, but from my aerial recon I didn't spot an Eldritch, just a Puppeteer. They are rarely old and powerful enough to be a threat to someone of our caliber." The Roc included Lith in her estimates.
A lesser Dragon capable of using Origin Flames and already with a bright blue core at such a young age was bound to have more than one ace up his sleeve.
"What's a Puppeteer?" Lith asked.
"A newborn Abomination looks like a shadow. It lacks substance and has constant need to absorb all kinds of energy just to keep itself alive." Bodya's words reminded Lith of the Wither, the first Abomination Lith had faced.
"After a while, they stabilize and can turn into two different types of Abominations. Empowered, who still look like shadows, have no physical body, but can talk, reason, and use magic properly." The description matched the Master's envoy that had tried to retrieve the Orc shaman's crystal from Lith.
"The second and rarer outcome is for an Abomination to find a proper host. Possessing a body, be them alive or dead, allows the creature to permanently stabilize its form and to get full control over the hunger.
"They are called Puppeteer Abominations because they pull the strings of their host from the inside. They are hard to identify because they don't leak Chaos energy like the Empowered and can last longer without nourishment."
Lith recognized the creature that had taken over the dryad's body at the academy as a Puppeteer, finally understanding why he had never met something like it until that moment.
"Puppeteer Abominations are stronger than Empowered and can use some tricks from the body they inhabit, but that's it. Both Empowered and Puppeteer can evolve into Eldritch, creatures so strong that we wouldn't dare face one without the help of the Council.
"Our foe, however, is so weak that he has to rely on monsters to survive. As long as we avoid getting hit by Chaos spells, it shouldn't be our match, neither magically nor physically." Bodya said.
"If it doesn't emit Chaos energy, how can you be so sure it's an Abomination and not just some kind of undead?" Lith asked.
"It's not an undead because it moves freely under the sunlight and feeds upon monsters. Don't ask me why, but the undead find a monster's life force to be so revolting that they'd rather feed on grass whereas Abominations are omnivorous.
"On top of that, the creature tried to drag me down to the ground with gravity magic at first and then used dimensional magic to attack me from a distance before realizing that I'm an Awakened." Olua said.
"I see. Undead can't use light magic freely." Lith nodded.
"If you're done asking questions, Scourge, start weaving your spells. We'll commence our attack the moment we are all ready." Bodya said.
"I'm not a clairvoyant and you dragged me here barely a minute ago. Before I can prepare my attack plan, I need to know against who I'm going to fight and how many enemies I must expect." Lith said.
"Can't you see from afar?" Olua looked genuinely shocked. "What the heck do you need all those eyes for then?"
"It's a long story." Lith instinctively touched his forehead, between his two extra opened eyes. Three were still closed and almost invisible amid the scales while the others were all of their natural yellow color.
"The situation is a bit odd, but it's what you have to expect when Abominations are involved. We're facing a mixed group whose main force is comprised of Orcs. They also have a heavy infantry of Ogres, goblin scouts, and even a shaman." Bodya said.
"What about the cavalry mentioned in the report?" Lith asked.
"That's the nasty part." Olua tapped the ground with one of her talons, turning the mud into a diorama.
It represented a man, sitting on a throne carried by several beautiful creatures with four arms each. A whole tribe of trolls followed the throne closely by walking on all four, each one of them mounted by one or more goblins.
"How did they manage to tame trolls?" Lith asked.
'And here I thought that we'd see goblin riders only in Dungeons \u0026 Looting.' Solus thought.
"Usually, different monster tribes never collaborate. Let alone trolls, who even resort to eating each other when too hungry. Yet a Puppeteer Abominations makes a perfect leader. It can hide among their ranks and uses its powers to pretend to be an envoy of the gods." Olua said.
"It used its constant need for light element to create a symbiotic relationship with the trolls, who instead have a lack of darkness element. The closer they get to the throne, the more they revert to their unfallen state.
"It keeps both the Abomination's and the trolls' hunger at bay, making also the rest of the army believe that as long as they follow their leader, he will undo whatever damage makes them monsters."
"Does the shaman have a crystal?" Lith asked.
"Only a few small ones that they found while pillaging the abandoned human cities. The shaman can still use them, but their effects are limited to a small range." Bodya said.
Before weaving his spells, Lith took flight to study the enemy formation from afar. His aim was to understand what elements would deal the maximum damage and would be the most difficult to defend against.
"Oh, crap."
A multi-colored mass of bodies occupied a plain the size of Lutia. It wouldn't have been a big deal if according to the Nue's map they were supposed to be in the middle of a luscious forest.
The monster army uprooted trees just to look for small animals and ate everything even vaguely edible they met on their path.
They set woods ablaze with magic, keeping the fire under control and making it disappear only when they smelled burned flesh. There was no method nor skill in their hunting technique, only desperate hunger.
Orcs were humanoid creatures, with an average height of 1.8 meters (5'11"). They were gifted from birth with a physique that closely resembled that of an Awakened after several breakthroughs.
They were stronger, faster, and sturdier than humans. Their skin was naturally resistant to most elements and they would hardly get sick. Rarely an orc would display a talent for magic, but when it happened, the creature would display incredible abilities.
Unlike humans, they were all bald, even the females. Their skin was brown as tree bark and almost as hard. Orcs also had enhanced senses that made it difficult to take them by surprise and were able to display short bursts of explosive strength or speed thanks to Fusion Magic.
Lith had faced them both in their natural state during his boot camp and in their reversed state in Zolgrish's lab.
Chapter 1162 Size Matters Part 2
'Except for the shaman, the only danger they pose it's their number. Unless the Abomination gifted them with some trick, of course.' Lith thought.
Ogres, instead, were all very tall, above 2 meters (6' 7") tall with muscular bodies that could have passed for humans if not for the deep green skin, the spiky red hair, and the long, pointy fangs protruding out of their lower lip.
They wore clothes, made out of the skin of other ogres, goblins, and whatever they usually had for lunch. Their natural strength surpassed that of a magical beast which combined with their ability to use a crude form of Forgemastery made them dangerous.
As for the trolls, they were those who worried Lith the most. They were over two meters (6'7") tall, with four arms and skin of a sickly white color. They had no eyelids nor nose, breathing from two holes right in the middle of their face.
They had no lips either, revealing their huge maw going from ear to ear filled with fangs. They were skeletal with a swollen belly as if they hadn't eaten for days. Their hands had long fingers ending in razor-sharp claws and their bodies were covered by odd-looking scars that were actually extra mouths.
Trolls would absorb darkness magic and become even stronger, neutralizing one of Lith's best weapons. They had incredible regenerative properties that allowed them to rebuild their whole body just from a chunk of flesh.
To make matters worse, according to the Kings of the woods who had fought them, a troll in its reversed state was capable of using Light Mastery and the Abomination's throne was surrounded by such creatures.
They resembled tall men with grey skin, perfect bodies, and gold-colored eyes that glowed with mana, reminding Lith of Life Vision. A reverted troll would lose their maws and unending appetite, but would regain their magic.
'As long as they are near the Abomination, each one of them might be as strong as an Awakened. If we kill the Abomination, the entire army will crumble, but the bastard is right in the middle of it. Solus, I'll prepare spells, you focus solely on arrays.' Lith thought.
'On it. Don't forget about the shaman, though. Even if they have just small crystals, they can still negate spells in their surroundings by affecting the world energy. They are the bane of all kinds of powerful spells.' She said.
"I'm ready." Lith waited enough time for Solus to complete two arrays and for studying the enemy's prowess.
Even with their powerful cores, none of the Emperor Beasts would survive if the monsters swarmed them, not even Bodya the Nidhogg. They had to strike fast and move even faster, to keep the Abomination from aiming its Chaos spells.
"Go all-out from the start and if you're in trouble, shoot a fireball upwards. We'll do the same." Olua nodded and Warped the three of them to their respective position.
Rocs didn't have access to Salaark's Origin Flames, but they could draw world energy nonetheless, using it to turn their bodies into Living Thunder. Each feather on Olua's body became a lightning bolt, emitting so much light that for a moment the plain was lit by a second sun.
The Roc swooped down and effortlessly pierced through the monsters' ranks, leaving only a trail of charred bodies in her wake. During the brief clash, she took enough hits and spells to kill her, but in her Living Thunder form they all phased through, dealing Olua no damage.
Unfortunately, such a powerful state couldn't be kept for more than a few breaths. She quickly got back up in the air as her body turned back into its material form and unleashed the spells she had prepared while keeping an eye on the Abomination.
'I don't have the time to accumulate world energy for a second Living Thunder, but the monsters have no way to know it. My first assault should have crippled their morale and lowered their blind loyalty to their leader. Acting god is a game two can play, pal.' She thought.
Bodya didn't have flashy abilities, but he knew how to make an entrance as well. The moment he came out of the Warp Steps, he extended his long body toward the sky while roaring with all of his might.
A simple earth spell made the ground around him quake, keeping the enemy at a distance as his figure blotted out the sun. The superstitious monsters quivered in fear for a second, but the calm and imposing figure of their god gave them strength.
"Kill them!" The Puppeteer inhabited an Orc's body, which allowed him to use the same powers of a shaman.
A flick of his wrist made the quaking stop and another produced a bolt of Chaos magic so fast that the Nidhogg managed to dodge it only thanks to the distance separating them.
Seeing the huge Wyrm drop down to the ground like a humble servant at a mere gesture of their god gave the monster the guts to ignore Bodya's massive size. A single Ogre was strong enough to uproot a tree and thanks to their plant nature, they could shapeshift them into massive stakes.
'Couldn't that moron take it on Olua while she was invulnerable?' Bodya cursed his bad luck as the wooden hail broke his scales and pierced his flesh.
He had no time to look and notice that, after her initial assault, the Roc kept her distance, using her superior aerial maneuverability to not offer an easy target while she unleashed one tier five spell after another.
The Ogres could feel fury burning through their bodies as they bathed in enemy blood. Or so they thought until they realized they were simply burning alive.
Bodya's roar had been more than a simple scare tactic. He had used the high ground to mix his venom with a water magic spell that had turned his saliva into a drizzle. The powerful acid dissolved all those who dared come too close to the Nidhogg along with the morale of those who witnessed the mass of Ogres melting like wax.
To make matters worse, Bodya unleashed a tier five spell, Mud Tide, that turned the battlefield into a swamp. His gigantic body boosted by air and fire fusion moved like a bullet train, unhindered by the now soft ground whereas the monsters were now knee-deep in mud.
It made it hard for them to even move a step, let alone dodge. With each passage, the Nidhogg swallowed dozen of enemies at the same time while spreading more and more of his venom.
'They are both insanely strong. Olua rules the skies, closing in to the battlefield only when she needs to strike while Bodya reshapes the ground into a deadly trap that he is immune to. Keeping up with their pace will be hard.' Lith thought.
Compared to the others, his body was too small to make an impression and most of his spells could match the power of those his companions used but not surpass them.
Most of his spells.
Lith walked slowly toward the enemy lines, spreading his four wings that unleashed a hail of Plague Arrows. A few Orcs and Ogres fell, but looking at the titans on the opposite sides of the battlefield, the others barely noticed him and thanked the gods for giving them such an easy opponent.
Chapter 1163 Puppeteer Abominations Part 1
Lith raised his right forefinger at the monsters, like a silent accusation they failed to understand. At least until a pillar of light came out of the black claw, mowing down several lines of monsters at the same time as the Wyrmling moved his arm back and forth.
The tier three Light Mastery spell emitted such heat that even those near its area of effect would get burns and their clothes took fire. Lith kept advancing, cutting deeper into the enemy army with each step he took.
The monsters stopped staring at him and charged forward, attacking the Wyrmling from every side with weapons and spells. Thanks to their Forgemastery skills, all Ogres wielded blades capable of piercing metal as if it was wood and of unleashing low tiered spells at will.
Lith only needed but one thought to boost the Scalewalker armor to make it form an invisible dome around him that blocked all the incoming attacks and another to unleash a Raging Sun on himself.
The tier five spell generated a blast of purple flames that opened a crater in the ground and gave Lith enough space to cast a Necromancy spell. All the fallen monsters rose from the ground and used the very weapons that their shamans had bestowed upon them against their own tribe.
Fear and superstition spread like wildfire, making some creatures attempt to escape just to be struck in the back by a well-placed spell. Lith wasn't as untouchable as Oula nor as powerful as Bodya, but he appeared to be inevitable.
While the other two Emperor Beasts wreaked havoc on the battlefield, not giving the monsters one second to think or strategize, Lith advanced slowly, aiming straight for the Puppeteer Abomination.
Yet the pause in-between his attacks only made him more terrifying. Lith let them come close only to wipe them out in droves and then have the corpses join his ever-growing army.
Some monsters threw away their weapons and groveled at his feet, just to be killed by the undead. Others tried to run away, but their companions killed them as punishment for their cowardice.
Then, it was their turn to face the walking death and to choose the way they wanted to die. If at his hand or at the hands of those who had yet to see Lith.
'Origin Flames are pointless and so is War. Our enemies are strong only if they coordinate their attacks but are otherwise irrelevant.' Body refining, mana core, equipment. Lith outmatched the monsters in every way.
His allies used only their bodies as weapons, yet they managed to pressure the army as much as he did. No matter the direction the monsters would run to, they would meet others as scared as they were who would run in the opposite direction.
Fear turned into panic and then into chaos. Members of neighboring battalions would murder each other, mistaking them for loyal soldiers trying to stop the deserters while the truth was that different units had chosen different escape routes.
'What about my arrays, then?' Solus asked. 'Keeping them at the ready while also keeping an eye on the battlefield is no easy task.'
'That's why I imbued the Scalewalker armor with Full Guard. Amid this kind of chaos, you must only worry about powerful enemies while I deal with the small fries. We need the arrays in the case we met the shaman or the Abomination.
'Once the real fight starts, there would be no time to prepare them.' Lith replied.
In the middle of the three-pronged attack, Westhar the Puppeteer Abomination regretted not being the god that everyone assumed him to be.
'The Roc keeps herself at such a distance that she can easily dodge even my fastest spell. The Nidhogg moves so fast while going below and above the ground that any attempt to hit him would only kill my slaves.
'The third guy should be an easy mark, yet I can almost feel Chaos energy coming from him. No matter which one of them I choose to face first, the moment I focus on them, the other two will slaughter my army.' He thought.
"Se'Haan! Stop wasting time and bless our soldiers. I'll take on the Demon while you keep the other two at bay. It shouldn't take me long." He actually said.
"But my liege, without a proper crystal, I'm no match for them. The gods-"
"My siblings will help us from above." Westhar pointed at the clear sky, where no one watched anything. "Receive the blessing of heaven!"
The Abomination clenched the purple crystal the size of a basketball that rested on his lap to extend the area of effect of his Scanner spell to all his most expendable minions.
Then, by using the power that his Orc body bestowed upon him and the knowledge acquired through the centuries, he used Body Sculpting to alter their life forces and reverted his minions to their state before the Fall.
On top of that, Westhar used the mana crystal to force the world energy accumulated inside of it to flood the mana cores of his minions, turning red cores into yellow, yellow into cyan, and so on.
The Orc ability known as Holy Blessing would further enhance their bodies and magic at the expense of their life span.
'They will die in a matter of minutes due to the side effects of my Chisel spell anyway so I might as well give them a little boost. Even if they survive the battle, I can always blame the "curse of the demons" for their demise.' He thought.
The monsters howled in joy seeing all their dreams to regain their former glory and power apparently come true. They rushed against the Emperor Beasts, certain that the heavens were on their side.
Westhar even gave the violet crystal to Se'Haan to give her more confidence.
He had chosen Lith because he was the smallest of the three and his Orc half only needed a small crystal to negate all kinds of magic from someone the size of a human.
The shaman rejoiced at the gift and used it to conjure tier three spells as powerful as tier five while also dispelling Olua's attacks. Attacking from such a long distance allowed the Roc to dodge any riposte but, on the other hand, it also gave Se'Haan the time she needed to counter everything Olua threw at the monster army.
"Shit!" The Roc and the Nidhogg said in unison.
Now that the rhythm of the Emperor Beasts' attack had been destroyed, the enemy regained their calm and started to push them back. Rocs weren't meant for melee fighting. Aside from their talons, they had no natural offensive weapon.
Nidhoggs thrived on the battlefield, but their huge bodies were also a huge target. If the shaman canceled Mud Tide as well, Bodya would be easily surrounded. Olua didn't want to pointlessly waste mana, but she knew that if she stopped her attack, the shaman would ignore her and focus solely on her companions.
She tried to Blink near Se'Haan and kill her, but the Orc noticed the exit point with Life Vision and hit the Roc with a blast of darkness element the moment she came out the dimensional door.
'Where the heck did that crystal came from? I'm certain that the shaman didn't have it when I scouted the area from the skies.' Olua attempted to Blink back to safety, just to discover that air magic had been sealed.
Chapter 1164 Puppeteer Abominations Part 2
The Roc couldn't know that the crystal belonged to Westhar, who had researched the powers of the Orcs ever since he had taken the body of one of their naturally Awakened members.
Luckily for Olua, even without air magic flying was second nature to her.
Her sudden attack didn't give Se'Haan enough time to conjure a big spell so the darkness blast had mostly hurt her pride.
"A hybrid!" Spite filled Westhar's voice when he recognized what Lith was. "How many times do I have to tell your Master that I'm not interested in their schemes? Maybe after seeing your corpse, they'll get the message."
Lith only saw the Abomination pointing at him a wand made of violet mana crystal before his tier four Light Mastery spell, Blightburn, disappeared into thin air. The same happened to his Plague Arrows and even to the Scalewalker armor's protective field.
'Fuck me sideways! The Puppeteer can use crystals even better than all the shamans I have ever faced. He can not only block spells, but also all externals energy manifestations.' Lith thought.
'The silver lining is that I have yet to employ a powerful spell and that if I get rid of that wand, he'll be nothing more than a regular Abomination in an Orc's body.'
Then, Westhar emitted from his free hand a tier four Chaos magic Howling Void so fast that Lith failed to dodge it completely. By sealing light magic the Puppeteer had also blocked dimensional magic.
The mana Lith had stored for a Blink dissipated along with his right wing as the Howling Void pierced through it.
"I can't have you flying around, boy." Westhar said with a smirk while distorting the world energy with his wand again.
'My money on him blocking air magic next.' Solus said.
'My money on me not caring.' Lith replied as he took War out of his pocket dimension amid a burst of emerald fire and hurled a jet stream of Origin Flames at the Abomination.
Westhar had no idea that Lith's omni pocked allowed him to ignore the dimensional seal so seeing the mystical sword appear out of thin air left him stunned. His surprise turned into shock when even after he drained the fire element, the bright blue flames didn't dissipate, hitting him with their full force.
Normal wounds couldn't harm a Puppeteer.
Their body was just a meat sack they used to hide their nature and keep the Chaos energy under control. Even losing a limb was just an inconvenience to them, something that could be mended with minimal effort and no consequences.
Origin Flames, however, attacked the Chaos energy that flowed through the meat sack as well as its flesh, causing Westhar great pain. An Abomination's true nature was that of an energy creature which made dealing with them hard.
Normal and enchanted weapons could hurt them, but that also meant exposing the metal to the powerful Chaos magic that would corrode them. That was the reason why when Westhar saw the blade aiming at his crystal wand, he didn't hesitate to use his free hand to block it.
War cut deep into his flesh, from the palm to the elbow, but that allowed the Abomination's corrosive blood to cover the metal. The angry blade sizzled as the living Chaos flowing inside Westhar's veins attacked at its Adamant body.
War's Counterflow ability, however, had been designed to keep the events that had led to the Gatekeeper's destruction from repeating themselves. The black blood turned against itself, evaporating before it could deal War any damage, and against its owner.
Westhar experienced agony as never before while the Chaos energy gone haywire ate at him from the inside.
"Charge!" His order made the battlefield tremble and turned the tides of the battle.
Even though the Puppeteer had never expected to be hurt so badly, his plan had still worked. The wand, the bravado, even the Howling Void, all of it had been a ruse to force the mysterious hybrid to focus on him while his reverted minions reached their position.
The trolls used their crude Light Mastery to block Lith's limbs inside overlapping constructs while the orcs used small mana crystals to make up for their weak cores and cast powerful tier three spells.
At the same time, the ogres who had regained their plant abilities conjured wooden vines that restricted Lith even more, slipping under his Scalewalker armor and draining his vitality.
'This is amazing. No wonder monsters are so powerful even though they have lost most of their original powers.' Solus thought.
'Trolls are probably the first Light Masters of Mogar, Orcs can use any crystal as if it was their mana core and Ogres can conjure wooden constructs that only need contact to harm a life force.'
'A little help here?' Lith used his own Light Mastery to break free of the constructs while activating the barrier ring to intercept the incoming spells and a Final Sunset from his magic holding ring to get rid of the vines.
'I'm working on it. I've never seen this kind of Body Sculpting before and the sheer number of data is giving me a headache.' She replied while unleashing a darkness blocking array around Westhar and neutralizing the tier five Chaos spell he was about to unleash.
Solus had timed her array so that it not only dispelled Soul Rend, wasting all the mana the Puppeteer had imbued it with, but the darkness blocking array also affected the still open wound, dissipating Westhar's true essence.
The Abomination cursed his bad luck as he sucked dry his nearest minions to close the wound and prevent the loss of even more Chaos energy. Black tendrils erupted from his open flesh, sewing the arm back into its correct shape.
Lith and Solus had never seen a Puppeteer before but they had seen that ability multiple times. It happened to Lith every time one of his limbs was severed, ever since the accident in the Dimensional Magic training hall.
Meanwhile, the other two Emperor Beasts weren't faring much better. They had never expected to fight an army with powerful mages capable of using rare disciplines like Light Mastery.
The shaman managed to nullify all of Olua's spells, leaving the rest of the army free to focus on the Nidhogg. Hard-light constructs and vines couldn't stop him, but they slowed his movements enough to allow battalions surrounding him to succeed in their attacks more and more often.
Neither reverted trolls nor ogres feared Bodya's acid spit because their regenerative abilities healed them faster than it could damage them. The ogres fed upon the Nidhogg's life force while the trolls ate their own allies.
Lith's initial assumption was wrong. Goblins didn't ride trolls, they were just emergency rations in case the voracious monsters got hungry.
'Dammit, this is quite a pinch.' Olua thought.
'If I keep my distance, Bodya has to deal more monsters than he can handle and once they are done with him it will be Lith's turn. Yet if I come close, that damn shaman can shot me down with her crystal.
'All my previous attempts to kill her with dive attacks failed because she always keeps an earth barrier at ready. Arrays take too long to prepare and a shaman can dispel them in the blink of an eye. I need to get creative.'
Chapter 1165 Chaos Force Part 1
Olua realized that she had been checkmated, but that didn't mean she had also been defeated. Unlike in games, the rules of a real battlefield could be changed. The Roc ignored the shaman and abandoned her position, opening a clear path of retreat for the monster army.
The creatures had yet to raise the first yell of victory that Olua unleashed her next barrage of spells against the reverted monsters who were restricting Bodya. A hail of fire and thunder bought the Nidhogg the time he needed to dive underground.
The flabbergasted shaman did her best to rush toward her enemy, but the Roc didn't wait for her and moved even farther away without ever ceasing the dive bombings. The only way Se'Haan had to keep up with Olua's speed was to fly, but fighting a Roc in the skies was beyond madness.
Without the sacrifice of her soldiers and the protection of earth magic, the shaman knew that she would barely last a second.
'A creature that big needs just an opening to swallow me whole.' She thought while chasing the Roc.
With the Nidhoog gone to heal his many wounds with Invigoration, Olua darted back and forth, hitting wherever the monsters gathered to keep them from coordinating their efforts.
Unfortunately for Se'Haan, she focused so much on Olua's movements that she failed to notice where the Roc led her.
The ground opened under the shaman's feet, letting her see the opened maw of the Nidhogg and the black abyss filled with venom that was his throat. Se'Haan conjured the earth dome that had protected her from the Roc, but it barely slowed down Bodya's charge.
Even rocks empowered by her crystal were frail compared to the lesser Leviathan's body infused with all the elements. The dome crumbled on impact and Bodya swallowed her whole, drowning the shaman in so much acid that she didn't feel any pain as she died.
Westhar felt his connection with the violet gemstone disappear and knew that everything was lost. A Nidhoog's acid could destroy inanimated matter easily, allowing them to feed on anything.
The shaman's death had not only deprived the Puppeteer of his second in command but it also caused him the loss of his most powerful mana crystal. Without it, his orc body was nothing but a sorry excuse for an Awakened.
Westhar focused his fury on the hybrid in front of him, using his wand to neutralize all of Lith's spells while his soldiers struck at him in weaves. Each one of their attacks was weak, barely able to put a dent in the Scalewalker armor but he took dozens of them at the same time.
The Abomination had dispelled Lith's Necromantic spell as well, turning the undead into food for his warriors. With each clash, Lith killed several opponents, but more stepped forward to take their place, without giving him a single moment of rest.
'Fuck me sideways! I had prepared to fight an Abomination, the shaman, or the army, not all three of them at the same time plus a bunch of reverted monsters. Where are the others?' He thought while attempting and failing to cast a fireball in the air for the eleventh time.
It was the convened signal for help in the case any of the Emperor Beasts was in trouble.
'They are winning their battle but it would take them a while to notice your situation.' Solus said. She had tried as well to cast any kind of spell that could help Lith but Westhar had negated them as well.
The Puppeteer was so focused on Lith that he didn't even bother getting out of the darkness sealing array, thinking that it would protect him from Chaos spells. He was unaware that even though Lith smelled like an Abomination, he had no such skill.
'Dammit, I really didn't want to do this. Solus, keep an eye on my life force.' Lith took a deep breath and unleashed a stream of Origin Flames all around himself.
It burned the troll's constructs and the ogre's vines alike, but it wasn't enough to stop the incoming wave of enemies. They smothered the flames with their own bodies and pinned Lith to the ground, leaving him open to a death blow.
Lith's scales lifted, allowing him to release the Origin Flames he had left not from his throat but from his whole body, burning all those who touched him to a crisp.
'That was bad. Emitting Origin Flames while keeping them from burning yourself took a huge toll on your body. You need a break to recuperate.' Solus could see Lith's getting weaker by the second.
Her only hope was that the enemies wouldn't notice.
"Keep attacking. He's almost done." Westhar said while conjuring the world energy through his wand and making it take the form of an energy blade comprised of all six elements.
Despite its form, it wasn't a means of offense so much as of defense. By keeping the elements at his leash, the Puppeteer needed but a thought to counter any spell from a distance, no matter how powerful it was.
The other orcs used their crystals to bury Lith under a hail of ice and thunder that the trolls ignored, covering themselves with hard light armor to not give the enemy a moment of rest.
Each one of their fists had the strength of a charging bull but Lith gritted his teeth and activated World Mirror, one of War's abilities. He snatched the control of the spells from the orcs and used them as his own, killing all the nearest enemies before Westhar could dispel them.
"Simply amazing. Your weapon will make a fine addition to my collection." The Puppeteer said without lowering his guard. "I admit that I had underestimated you. If not for my minions I would have already lost."
The hybrid had killed over a hundred of his reverted minions, but Westhar only needed to sacrifice a handful of crystals to make more of them. Without wings, Lith couldn't fly and without magic, he could only use Origin Flames, getting weaker with every breath.
Solus did all she could, but the Puppeteer didn't take any risk nor created any opening she could exploit. He focused solely on dispelling their magic thanks to the ability of his crystal blade to detect and counter any alteration in the surrounding world energy.
Lith's life forces went into disarray as his human side collapsed under the strain of the fight and that of the cracks which plagued it ever since Lith had saved Protector. Even his superior strength and his deadly blade were no match for the relentless attack of the monsters who sacrificed their lives just to let their companions strike at him.
Monsters filled with juicy life force and more light element than any Abomination could eat. Between his weakness and desperation, Lith allowed the abyss inside of him to take over.
The beast and the human life force stopped suppressing their Abomination counterpart, allowing it to feed for the first time. Lith's scales disappeared, turning into a liquid mass of darkness that devoured even sunlight.
Another wave of monsters hit him from every side, yet the damage they dealt was nothing compared to the nourishment they provided him with. Lith felt his strength returning as the pile of monsters turned into a pile of desiccated corpses.
Chapter 1166 Chaos Force Part 2
Even a troll core couldn't keep up with the endless hunger of a rampaging Abomination because the hunger typical of Abominations didn't come just from their black cores.
Their very life force was a bottomless pit that could only be kept at bay thanks to the balance that having multiple cores bestowed upon the Master's hybrids or in Lith's case, the fine-tuning between his life forces.
Back when he was a kid, before he achieved the blue core, his hybrid nature had been too weak to manifest. His growing body could barely handle the mana flow of his core so the Abomination side had remained dormant.
It had altered his body odor and helped him to mend his wounds from time to time, unable to do more without compromising the human shell. Only when the teenage Lith used darkness magic did the Chaos manage to seep out, draining the strength of his opponents.
After Lith reached the blue core, the Beast-Abomination hybrid life force had become as powerful as the human.
Due to the fact that the human life force suppressed the Abomination from the outside and the Emperor Beast did the same from the inside, however, its hunger was always in check.
The Abomination side could only manifest its powers through Lith's scales, painting them black and granting him nigh-immunity to the draining touch of undead and fellow Abominations that originated from their innate abilities.
It was only now, after the bright blue core had allowed the three different life forces to merge, that the Chaos energy manifested itself in response to a direct threat. The many wounds and repeated uses of Origin Flames had weakened the other two life forces enough to compromise the balance.
The energy Lith took from his victims empowered both his human and hybrid essence, but only the Abomination side could feed without limit. The Emperor Beast side was limited by Lith's mass while the human side was limited by the cracks plaguing it.
Just like too little energy made them fade away, too much made the life forces bloat. It was only a matter of time before only the Abomination side remained after swallowing the other two.
Lith's survival instinct was too strong to care for such details but Solus did.
She could see that while Lith ripped apart a wave of monsters after the other, his whole body became less and less that of a Wyrmling and more like that of one of his Demons of the Darkness.
'By my maker, those creatures aren't shadow soldiers so much as undead Abominations. Could be Lith really be some kind of Puppeteer as well? After all, he took over the corpse of the real Lith just like our enemy possesses that of an orc.'
Solus snapped out of her worries when an even bigger problem appeared.
'Dammit, Lith's body and his life forces can't take much more. The rampant Chaos energy is causing him almost the same damage it deals to our enemies, yet if I stop him now, he'll die anyway.'
Solus had to choose whether to have him die as a human or live as an Abomination and lose everything he had fought so long to protect.
'Lith, if there's something of you left in there listen to me. Cast as many Plague Arrows as you can, now!' She said.
Lith did as instructed and Solus dispelled her darkness sealing array.
The Plague Arrows lost their light element due to the black life force sucking even its own magic dry and became a volley of Chaos Arrows. Westhar managed to dispel a few but Lith's three remaining wings had a huge span and the wand could cover only a small area.
To make matters worse, each Chaos Arrow was as fast as a lightning bolt and dozens of times more destructive. They turned everything in their path into nothingness, destroying the crystal wand and riddling the Puppeteer with holes so big that one could see through them.
Yet it wasn't enough to kill him. Between the many gemstones in his hand and the huge amount of energy he had hoarded, Westhar wouldn't die as long as he had a speck of Chaos energy in him.
He sucked the crystals dry to mend his wounds and returned the volley with his tier three Chaos spell, Doom Hail. Lith tried to Blink, but Chaos replaced darkness and he had no idea how to use it.
The spell failed, leaving him stuck in place. He dodged some darts, others he used enemies to block, but took most of them in full. The Scalewalker armor cracked in multiple places and so did War in the attempt to divert the onslaught from its master's vitals.
"You fought well, but well it's not enough. Farewell." Westhar said while casting his tier five Chaos spell, Shattered Star.
He had lost most of his army in the conflict but it had been worth it. Monsters would take little time to breed whereas by killing the hybrid, he would teach the Master a lesson and get his hands on priceless equipment.
Two birds with one stone.
He never expected a third and much bigger bird made of Living Thunder to sweep the area. It turned everyone in an area of 100 meters (330 feet) into a charred corpse and interrupted the Shattered Star spell.
The only exceptions were Lith, who had been intentionally spared, and Westhar, who had survived again. His body had been turned into shreds by the attack, yet black tendrils had sewn it back into place at a speed visible to the naked eye, only strengthening Solus's fears.
"Good gods, Scourge, are you alright?" The Roc had gone to the rescue the moment she had perceived the alteration in the world energy.
"No, he's not." The Puppeteer had no time for another Shattered Star so he conjured Doom Hail again.
Olua Blinked both herself and Lith to safety in the nick of time while Bodya emerged from the ground and unleashed a tier five spell, Collapsing Volcano. Fire and earth mixed together, turning the ground under the Abomination into magma.
'I have to help them. I just need a bit more of life force. Just a bit more.' Despite all of his wounds, Lith didn't feel pain, only hunger.
'No, you don't. You need to get to safety and let them do their jobs.' Solus said.
'What are you talking about? I feel fine, I'm just hungry-'
'You're dying!' She cut Lith short and showed him the condition of his life forces through their mind link. 'If you really don't care for yourself, at least do it for your family and for me.'
Only then did Lith notice that War and Solus's ring were sizzling, but not because of the Puppeteer's spells or because of the Nidhogg acid. His touch was deadly to them as well, to the point that he was sucking Solus's life instead of nourishing her as usual.
Yet neither the angry blade nor her did leave Lith's hand, suffering in silence just to fight by his side. Lith went into a panic, but he had no idea how to get rid of the excess life force he had consumed.
His human and Beast side couldn't keep up with the Abomination and were slowly fading away.
Chapter 1167 Chaos Force Part 3
As Lith felt Solus's pain like his own, he remembered about his fight against the Odi and found the answer he needed. Lith conjured as much life force as he could in his mouth, emitting a blast of Origin Flames.
In their normal state, Lith's life forces balanced each other to the point of overlapping to perfection. Now, however, after restoring the human and beast side, the Abomination counterpart had fed on so much life force that it bloated akin to a boil ready to burst.
Lith couldn't decide how much each of his life forces would contribute to the Origin Flames, he could only hope that like all natural things, his body would seek to restore its internal balance.
The excess life force came out of his mouth, setting ablaze the world energy that the Puppeteer Abomination had gathered during their fight. Usually, a spark of life force was enough to turn his breath into a deadly weapon, but this time Lith used the equivalent of a forest fire.
With each iota of Origin Flames he emitted, Lith could feel his body hurting from his many wounds and he accepted it with a smile. The more pain he experienced, the more the hunger that had drowned every other feeling faded.
The living shadow that his skin had turned into reverted being pitch black scales.
'How is it going?' Lith asked while doing his best to keep the flow of life force under control. If he cut it off too soon, he might not have another opportunity whereas if he cut it off too late, his life span might shorten even more.
'Not as well as you think. Thank heavens we took shapeshifting lessons from Faluel. Without them, I wouldn't know how to alter your life forces so to protect the human ad beast side while making sure that only the Abomination part suffers from the strain of producing so much Origin Flames.' She replied.
'I don't care about that. I want to know how you feel.' Lith said.
'You've stopped hurting me.'
Solus used their tier five Healing magic spell, Scalpel, so that Lith's life forces only focused on recovering and suppressing their Abomination counterpart while the latter become weaker and weaker to fuel an attack akin to a volcanic eruption.
World energy was everywhere, but to produce Origin Flames Lith had to gather and compress it in his lungs before igniting it with his life force. The amount of power he was releasing set the plain ablaze, turning the air into a fire mist reaching several thousand degrees.
Instead that bright blue, the flames coming out of his mouth were deep violet and they turned brighter as Lith's life force mixed with that of the trolls, the orcs, the goblins, and everything else he had consumed in his frenzy, even the grass.
The battlefield turned into a white wildfire that spread as fast as the wind and consumed every living being on its path. Lith breathed and breathed until he felt too tired to continue.
'It's okay, you can stop now.' Solus said while interrupting the treatment and focusing on her own recovery. Lith's equipment was blackened inside out due to the Chaos energy Westhar had used to attack him and that he had emitted himself.
'Thanks.' Lith closed his mouth and the stream of flames ended.
His life forces readjusted themselves, making Lith feel as if someone had put him inside a blender. Great was the price that any living being had to pay to use the Chaos and only the oblivion that swallowed him relieved Lith from his agony.
Yet even after Lith had lost consciousness, the white fire spread, following every ounce of world energy that even the simplest spell conjured like a shark on a blood trail.
"I guess that's my cue. So long, sucker." Bodya had no means nor need to face the Origin Flames head on. He dived underground, closing the passage behind him and leaving Westhar no way out.
The Puppeteer cursed his bad luck and Blinked away enough to buy himself the time to open a dimensional passage. Fighting a Nidhogg underground was as foolish as fighting a Roc in the skies.
Yet dimensional magic required to conjure world energy. The spell worked akin to backdraft, drawing the hungry Origin Flames on both its entry and exit point. Westhar had no choice but to Blink non-stop to escape the encirclement but the flames kept getting closer until they caught up with him.
While the Abomination drowned in a sea of Origin Flames, screaming on the top of his lungs, Bodya reached Olua who was using her best diagnostic spells to understand how severe Lith's condition was.
"We need to get out of here and we can't use spells to do it." She said to answer his silent question. "The kid has bad cracks on his life force and needs immediate help."
***
Free country of Lamarth. Beyond the eastern borders of the Gorgon Empire, in the Headquarters of the Master. A few days before Lith left for Jiera.
Xenagrosh the Troll-Abomination hybrid looked at the gene tank where the body of Zogar Vastor floated for days in the nutrient liquid that provided his body with all the nutrients he needed to survive the change.
The Abomination tissues had spread all over his body and now only a few pink streaks were still visible under the blackness of the Chaos energy. Much of Vastor's belly had disappeared and he had grown several centimeters taller, making it hard to recognize him.
An Abomination's body was comprised of pure Chaos energy that they could reshape at will. Shapeshifting was second nature to them, which helped Eldritchs to hide their nature but at the same time made them lose their sense of self first and their sanity later.
"Damn, he's changing too much." Xenagrosh said. "The Master could have altered his appearance anytime he wanted, yet he never did. A slender body means he's losing the battle for dominance with his Abomination clone."
"Why do you call him Master even now? It's not like he can hear you." Nandi the Minotaur-Abomination said while keeping the flow of world energy that coursed through the gene tank in check.
"Because that's the name he chooses for himself, just like I choose Xenagrosh." She replied.
"I don't get it. My name is Nandi and I'm proud of it." The Minotaur shrugged.
"That's because you're a clone, like Bytra. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying you are inferior, just naïve. Your original self discarded his name because it reminded him of too many bad memories. The very same that cause you fits of Blood Madness."
"I-" Nandi attempted to say but flashes of his past cut him short.
He remembered when he had just turned into an Abomination, feeding on his own very clansmen who had tried to help him before moving on the others. He could still hear the familiar voices screaming and pleading him for mercy.
Back then, he only felt the hunger but now the remorse grew as he managed to give each voice a name, remembering how dear to him were his victims. Nandi cried in agony, wishing for the voices to stop and leave him alone.
Chapter 1168 Chaos Force Part 4
A powerful slap almost twisted his neck and snapped out of it.
"Are you insane? You almost broke the tank!" Xenagrosh's voice made the memories fade, returning him to reality.
Nandi found himself sitting on the ground of a room that looked out of a warzone. Everything that wasn't protected by the powerful arrays surrounding Vastor's version of Arthan's Madness had been destroyed.
Broken pieces of equipment were scattered throughout the room along with the wooden splinters that once had been furniture and the walls had more holes than swiss cheese.
"I'm so sorry. I-"
"Just got a glimpse of the burden that your name carries. Now get back here and fuel the machine. Our little scuffle almost drained the energy reserves." Xenagrosh cut him short.
Nandi focused on the living mana crystals decorating his skin to conjure the necessary world energy. He used it to restore the arrays, empower the gene tank, and fuel the base's self-repair abilities.
"Can I ask you something?" During the last few days, Nandi had learned the hard way why Baba Yaga never left him alone with the children and why she had sent him to the Master.
There were parts of his past so painful that he could speak about them only with those who had gone through similar experiences.
"As long as you're not asking me out, sure." She replied while fueling the tank with a constant stream of vitality from her troll core.
"Why do you blindly follow the Master? He's but a simple man whereas even before turning into a hybrid, each one of us had enough power to slaughter an army."
"It's complicated." Xenagrosh said.
"Try me."
"I met him about a decade ago, right after one of his dearest students, someone called Nalear, almost died because of what the academy considered but a practical joke." Venom filled her voice, making Xenagrosh want to spit in disgust.
"The Master had already researched Arthan's Madness for decades on his own, but until that point, he had always followed the Kingdom's law. He meant to use the knowledge gained from the Mad King to find a way to cure all diseases without the risks that Body Sculpting involves.
"After that incident, however, the Master had taken a more radical approach and considered humanity itself as the disease that needed to be treated. He needed people for his experiments with Forbidden Magic and I needed food.
"Our interests aligned and so we started working together. The pact was simple. He would use his resources to provide me with a safe house and a semblance of life while I would use my abilities to supply him with all the subjects and knowledge that his research needed." She said.
"That doesn't sound much like an Organization, more like a partnership." Nandi said.
"Neither of us was interested in the other except for how we could exploit our respective talents." Xenagrosh shook her head. "There was no trust nor bond between us, just business."
"Over time, however, the Master became intrigued by my ability to cast silent spells of all tiers, of never aging nor suffering any illness just like I got engrossed by the juicy amounts of energy his experiments generated.
"Each one of his failed attempts released so much life force and world energy to keep my hunger at bay for almost a day. Soon we started to compare notes and once I understood his potential, I offered myself as a test subject.
"The Master managed to create arrays that helped me control the Chaos energy coursing through my body and altered the machine in the attempt to sate my hunger for good. He failed, yet with each one of his experiments, I could feel my strength grow.
"It was the most amazing thing that might have happened. As you know, after reaching the state of Eldritch, Mogar turns its back to us and once we master our new state, there is no room for improvement.
"We become no different from fake mages, capable of learning new spells but limited in their execution by the power of the mana core. It was then that I offered him to find more of our kind.
"We Eldritchs accumulate countless resources through the ages, but we have no way to spend them because of the Chaos energy that courses through our bodies slowly corrupts everything we touch.
"We can't eat, drink, or even have intimacy without killing our partner." Her words triggered more of Nandi's memories that only a well-timed slap kept from having another episode of Blood Madness.
"With each Abomination that joined our cause, the Organization took shape.
"At first, we all considered the Master just to be our servant, but he was the one capable of creating arrays that we had never even thought about, he was the one crafting Forgemastering marvels that gave us new power while the best we could do was be his hunting dogs.
"Over time, he gained our respect and his kindness garnered him our loyalty. Thanks to his devices, we could attend social events from time to time, giving us hope and a purpose. The Master taught us how to speak and walk, even helping some of us to remember who they were.
"We taught him everything we could because we knew that if anything happened to him, the Organization would crumble and we would be back to be nothing but lumps of Chaos energy.
"At that point, none of us was content with surviving anymore, we wanted to live again. Every form of disrespect towards him was met with extreme prejudice and the most powerful of our kind would protect him 24/7, to make sure that no arrogant brat could ruin everything.
"It led the new members to assume that the Master was our leader and we let them believe that. We were his teachers, but he was our friend, our confidant, our only hope. With time, the lie became the truth.
"Yet we never respected the Master just for his power so much as for his undying will and determination." Xenagrosh said.
"If he's so kind, then where does that people come from? I doubt that they volunteered for the role." Nandi pointed at the gene tank on the left.
It was filled with humans whose life force was transferred to Vastor to increase his odds of survival and rejuvenate his aging body.
"Dregs of society. Filth that had no role but to make the life of others harder." The idea of such scum becoming part of Vastor made her sick, but Xenagrosh respected his will.
"Convict criminals?" Nandi said.
"No. Handpicking them would take too long. I'm talking about addicts, drunkards, thugs, gamblers, homeless bums. All people who have nothing to offer to society but more misery.
"Every city in the Kingdom, every slum, has so many of them that even when they disappear in dozens, no one reports it. By taking them out, the Master allows the three Great Countries to focus their welfare on people whose life is worth saving.
"It's what the Master taught Gadorf the Wyvern about choosing his prey and it would have allowed him to go unnoticed for decades if he didn't start dealing with the slave trade." Xenagrosh said while looking at her blinking communication amulet with worry.
She worried about her little brother, but with the life of her adoptive father at stake, she couldn't afford a single moment of distraction.
Chapter 1169 Shattered Dreams Part 1
During the last few days, Lith had attempted to call Xenagrosh multiple times to thank her for helping him to save his family, yet she had never answered. Xenagrosh devoted her full focus on the gene tank and on making sure that Nandi kept his sanity until the Master came out.
She had learned from Bytra that talking helped. The deeper the connection a Returner Abomination had with their allies, the easier it became to suppress their violent urges. Every time Lith called, she would just press Tezka's rune for a status report.
"Everything is fine." The dimensional mage Abomination had stayed in Lutia, to keep an eye on Zinya in the case Night found a loophole in Baba Yaga's slave contract.
"Then keep things that way. I don't know if the Master loves that woman or if he just cares for her. Zinya Yehval makes him happy and those feelings will help the Master to adapt to his new condition or will help us to control his clone in the case he fails."
Meanwhile, inside the tank, Zogar Vastor was fighting for his life against the Abomination who carried his genes but none of his burden. He was old and tired whereas his opponent was young and single-minded, caring only about survival.
Their life essences engaged a constant tug of war, one mind attempting to erase the other from the moment they had merged.
'I'll give you that you're relentless, kid, but if you knew what's waiting for you in the outside world, would you still be so eager to fight me?' Vastor said to his Abomination double inside the space they shared in their mind.
The creature's appearance was akin to the human form of an Emperor Beast, a projection of how Vastor perceived himself rather than how he actually looked like. The Abomination double was tall, young, handsome, and with thick hair like Vastor didn't have even at his prime.
The creature had come to life just a few days ago so he had no idea how to answer. His reply came in the form of draining a bit more of the Master's essence, tipping the scale even more in his favor.
Vastor had studied the merging process of a clone with his original, determining that the longer a double lived, the closer their prowess would get to that of their source material.
Yet despite all of his studies and preparations, the Master was the one on his back foot.
'Fine. Do you want to be Zogar Vastor, kid? Be my guest and take it. Take all that makes me who I am!' Instead of resisting the pull, the Master let his life force go.
The move took the Abomination clone by surprise, especially because Vastor made sure to add a big chunk of his mind to it. Being so young made the creature focused and unwavering, but it also made it susceptible to intense emotions.
He had never experienced pain or hardships. The clone's mind was a blank slate that could only mirror Vastor's feelings.
The creature saw the memories about Vastor being a short but promising youth as a student of the White Griffon academy. Regular mages took classes about one specialization, good mages like Lith took two, while three specializations were universally considered the mark of the true genius.
The young Zogar Vastor attended four specializations at the same time and graduated as the first of his year in each one of them. He became a Healer, a Warden, a Forgemaster, and even a Battle Mage.
His rise had sent all academies into an uproar. After graduating, he had become a member of the Mage Association, then a Royal Forgemaster, and even a Spellbreaker.
To learn any spell, he only needed to practice it twice and then he would create an improved version of the same spell that went beyond the expectations of its own maker.
He had never been good-looking, but after he managed to slay an Emperor Beast at the age of eighteen, all the noble families of the Kingdom threw their daughters at his feet.
Vastor dated for a while Keal Griffon, one of the Royal Princesses and Meron's older sister, and Tryssa Ernas, Jirni's aunt, but dismissed both of them thinking that such an early marriage would only hinder his magical research.
His talents made him an excellent candidate to become the god of healing and everyone expected him to become a Magus, but alas, Vastor hit a wall that he was unable to overcome.
His bright blue core made him a versatile mage, but without a violet core, he was incapable of crafting the most powerful pieces of equipment or of casting the strongest arrays recorded in the Kingdom's archives.
To make matters worse, even though Vastor had unparalleled learning abilities, he lacked creativity. His genius allowed him to improve the spells of others, but all his original creations turned out mediocre at best.
The passing of time only made his limits more evident and lowered the expectations that the Kingdom had for him. Soon the Royals considered him a potential god of healing only for the lack of better candidates and discarded him as a potential Magus.
Vastor's family forced him into marriage before his value in the eyes of the magical community decreased even further and when he achieved the title of Archmage at twenty-five, it garnered him more pity than admiration.
Everyone considered Vastor as a mage who had already peaked, as a magical wonderland that once explored, had no new marvels to offer and that had become no more interesting than your average botanical garden.
Marriage didn't make him better, only more bitter. His wife didn't love him and the feeling was mutual. To Vastor, she was the embodiment of all the filthy social climbers with no magical talent nor use who clung to him out of need, not out of respect.
When his children were born, he ignored them, considering them to be just more shackles that the ungrateful society of the Kingdom had bound him with.
The Abomination inside Vastor's mind experienced the emotional rollercoaster of his early life. First the undying determination as a student, then the boundless enthusiasm of the youth, and lastly the crippling desperation of the discovery that his magical career was already over before he turned twenty.
Vastor could feel the creature getting weaker, its grip loosening with the memory of each failure flashing in front of their shared consciousness. Yet it only lasted a second.
The creature's naivety also made its outrage genuine and gave it the strength to overcome the shock, eager to prove to the entirety of Mogar that Zogar Vastor was far from over.
'Not bad. I reacted the same way, but do you really think that rage is enough, kid? Maybe on the battlefield, but in a lab, it only makes you sloppy.' Vastor said while giving more of his essence and memories to the Abomination.
In the new visions, a now chubby Vastor had started to study Arthan's Madness. After drowning himself in comfort food and self-pity, a now thirty years old Vastor had accepted his limits.
It had led him to the realization that with his ability to learn and improve other's creations he might be able the crack the lost legacy of the Mad King.
Chapter 1170 Shattered Dreams Part 2
Arthan Griffon had been a monster, but also a genius who had reached an understanding of the healing arts that still baffled even modern mages.
Vastor believed that once he mastered the Madness, he would be able to set the foundations for new branches of Light magic and become a Magus just like Menadion did after improving Silverwing's work.
Alas, there was only so much that he could understand with the few fragments and blueprints of the Madness still available. On top of that, his ignorance about the Forbidden Arts made everything even harder.
To devote all the time that he could to Arthan's Madness, Vastor became a Professor at the White Griffon academy. Improving the teaching textbooks was child's play to him and gave him the perfect cover to look for people who might make up for his shortcomings.
Then, Vastor knew Duke Marth. Even as a youth, the future Headmaster of the White Griffon showed a talent and ingenuity like Vastor didn't have even during his heyday.
On paper, with just the Healer specialization, Marth was an average student. The truth, however, was that he not only aced every single class, but he also created and shared groundbreaking spells even during his fourth year.
Since their magical strength was similar, Vastor thought to have found a kindred spirit and waited for history to repeat itself. Yet even though Marth's bright blue core limited him, his brain made up for it by never running dry of new ideas.
He invented the Blood Resonance discipline that allowed to identify corpses on the battlefield and to recognize someone's bloodline. He perfected the regenerating arts and created new spells that made newly formed limbs able of adapting to their body.
Unlike Vastor, Marth's rise never stopped, allowing him to become an Archmage at twenty and a Professor soon after. To make matters worse, in the short time after his graduation, Marth had also learned Forgemastery and become a Royal Forgemaster with an ease that left everyone flabbergasted.
A few years later, when Manohar arrived at the White Griffon, Vastor knew he was facing a monster in human guise. Unlike everyone else before him, Manohar started the fourth year of the academy while barely twelve years old and gave lessons to his Professors more often than he received them.
He took the Battle Mage specialization only because it sounded cool and even though he soon got bored of it, Manohar still aced every one of his classes by barely skimming the books and with no practice.
After his graduation, he revealed to have also learned Forgemastery on his own. As a hobby, he said, because the academy's tools were too primitive for his taste and he couldn't trust idiots to do things properly.
Manohar's endless talent was only matched by his rudeness, yet despite the countless humiliations Vastor had to endure as Manohar dwarfed him on a daily basis, the two became friends.
Being a true genius, Manohar become engrossed by the mystery of the Madness and managed to fill many of the gaps in the blueprints. Unbeknownst to Vastor, Manohar discovered Light Mastery thanks to their work together.
Unbeknownst to Manohar, even though Vastor's understanding of the light element wasn't as deep, he still managed to improve each of Manohar's discoveries beyond what the easily bored genius could think, becoming the leading figure of the Body Sculpting field and even learning how to Shapeshift.
The Abomination's enthusiasm only lasted until the memory reached the part where it discovered that Manohar didn't mention such techniques solely because he had learned them on his own as a student by reading Vastor's books.
Then, the creature fell into desperation at the memories of how Vastor had been forced to become a Highmaster.
They were the secret weapons of each of the three Great Countries. Mages so powerful that they could start or end a war on their own. There was no honor in being chosen as the only Highmaster of his generation for Vastor.
The Royals didn't ask Manohar only because he was pathologically unable to follow the chain of command, let alone orders. Marth, instead, was in the middle of an important experiment that couldn't be delayed.
Vastor knew that those words were all polite excuses. That the truth was much crueler. They had picked him for the role only because they considered Vastor expendable.
Manohar and Marth were too precious to risk their lives in squabbles along the borders of the Kingdom. As a Highmaster, Vastor prevented countless wars by showing the prowess of the Griffon Kingdom to their neighbors.
He slaughtered entire villages overnight and thanks to Shapeshifting, he took down fortresses before their soldiers could even understand what was happening. All those feats reinforced the Kingdom's borders and damaged Vastor's mind.
His superiors in the army and the Association justified those murders with the greater good, but it was Vastor who had to raise his hand against helpless children, he who had to live with the images of the carnages burned into his eyes.
It was then that Vastor understood that the "greater good" was nothing but a lie invented by mediocre men just to keep their privileged positions of power. Life in the academy reinforced his convictions every day.
Those from magical bloodlines and even commoners would give their all to achieve greatness, whereas nobles would take everything for granted and put minimal effort into their studies.
'Nobles suck the blood of their subjects without giving them anything in return. They are useless parasites whereas, with those same sacrifices, a mage fueled by the Madness would live long enough to achieve great things.' Vastor said to his double who was wailing in pain.
The Master had spent years overcoming the traumas that the creatures now experienced one after the other. The Abomination relived all of Vastor's failures, his guilt for all the people he had sacrificed for years to no avail.
At least until he had met Xenagrosh. She taught him about the existence of Awakening and of what laid beyond: Abominations and Guardians. Abominations were similar to undead, but their potential was unlimited.
While undead would rarely achieve Awakening and be bound by Baba Yaga's faulty design, Abominations were the natural evolution of those who had reached the peak of existence through hard work.
Abominations were beings of pure mana, eternally young, and capable of accessing to Chaos Magic, something that no one else was able to do, whereas undeath was just a perversion of life.
Vastor despised the Guardians for not sharing their knowledge, considering them akin to the nobles who forced their subjects to live abject lives just to feel better about themselves.
Guardians protected an unjust balance and he knew that sooner or later his Organization would clash with them. To learn more about Guardians, he gathered their offspring and worked to restore their ancestral powers.
Together, Vastor and the Eldritchs progressed in restoring the Madness by leaps and bounds often with the unwitting help of Manohar, then of Balkor, and then even of Thrud.
The Blood Magus was a plague to the Kingdom but a source of inspiration for Vastor, who learned from him how to connect Abomination tissues to living beings and how to safely establish a hive mind.
His initial project involved the merging of several Abominations to form a creature with their collective wisdom and powers, but without a hive mind, there was only madness.
Chapter 1171 New Horizons Part 1
Meeting Thrud had been a blessing in disguise. It had given Vastor the opportunity to study a modern version of Arthan's Madness while Manohar's studies on her meat puppets had provided Vastor with the means to perfect his procedure for mixing different life forces.
The Master had never meant to use the Madness on himself. He planned to leave it as a gift for the future generations, like Lith who he had warned about the horrors of war or Quylla to whom he had shown the limits of fake magic.
Vastor had hoped that at least one of them would follow in his footsteps and complete his work. Yet after seeing what Lith had managed to achieve as a hybrid, after failing to protect Zinya, the Master had changed his mind.
'Unlike me, Lith never lacked conviction. He must have become a hybrid by experimenting on himself to fix the cracks in his life force. I've treated him as a student and I'm certain that he was just a human back then.
'If I want to be remembered as more than just a mass murderer, I must show the same resolve!' He thought.
The flow of consciousness and the streak of defeats it carried caused the Abomination double one fit of Blood Madness after the other. Its young mind was incapable of shouldering so many horrors and so much pain at the same time.
Vastor kept pouring his life essence and memories into the creature until his external body turned into a handsome shadow with but a speck of pink on its abdomen. Then, the darkness started to crack, forming a vortex that merged with Vastor's flesh, turning it into a shade of ashen grey.
The gene tank emitted a short buzz the moment the human-Abomination hybrid was born. It flushed out the nutrient liquid before opening the lid made of magic crystals to let the creature walk out.
Xenagrosh observed the newborn hybrid's movements with her heart full of fears. The wobbling of Vastor's knees could be due to the shock of the merging, but also due to the Abomination knowing the concept of walking but having no idea how to.
Its well-fed appearance was that of the Professor she knew and loved, yet there was a light in its eyes that didn't seem right.
"Master, is that you?" She asked.
"For once, I didn't fail." Vastor said while clenching and opening his hand several times to get accustomed to his new body.
"Now come with me to my apartments. Before I go back to the White Griffon, I need you to teach me the basics of true magic. We have much to do and little time to do it."
***
Rezar's Fringe in the Blood Desert.
Nalrond woke up, finding himself covered in sweat.
At first, while looking at the familiar environment of the stone buildings and smelling the familiar scents of his village, he thought everything that had happened during the past year had been a nightmare.
The longest, most terrifying nightmare of all his life.
'The village is safe and so am I. Dawn-' That name crushed his hopes, bringing him back to reality.
None of his beast form's enhanced senses could perceive either the arrays that were supposed to contain the Horseman or her magnificent aura. Instead, Nalrond could feel the presence of several unknown magical formations and failed to recognize even one of the voices he heard.
'Dawn killed them all.' Warm tears streamed down his eyes while he grieved his village again. 'I should have known it. Even if a few Rezars survived her attack, there's no way they could have rebuilt the entire village.
'On top of that, the only possible explanation for the presence of the woods and of so many people, is that two Fringes must have merged. A handful of survivors can't have children this fast unless they are monsters.'
After checking that he had no missing limb and that his hosts had put no restraints on him, Nalrond was sure that monsters weren't involved. He shapeshifted back into his human form and looked around his room.
It was a part of a cozy house made of square stones, about 5 meters (16.5 feet) long, 4 meters (13 feet) wide, and over 3 meters (10 feet) high. The room's furniture consisted of a bed, a closet, and a small chest for personal possessions.
A large fur rug occupied the center of the room and kept his feet warm while he walked to the windows to look at the village.
'Judging by the size of the bed and the room, this place has been built for someone bigger than a Rezar, but I remember to have seen only humans during my recon flight. Either this village is inhabited by Emperor Beasts or by another tribe of Werepeople.' He thought.
Nalrond closed his eyes for a second, silently praying all the gods whose names he could remember for at least part of the villagers to be members of his tribe. Yet all the children he saw playing in the fields had the form of a Dewan and none of the clothes hanging to the clotheslines had a familiar design.
Dewans were humanoid Emperor Beasts who looked like rhinoceroses. They were taller and heavier than Rezars, yet incredibly nimble thanks to their affinity for air and water magic.
Their thick skin and powerful muscles made them akin to heavy infantry units that moved as fast as cavalry. While hybrid Rezars had been developed for mining operations, Dewans were living weapons.
Some of the people noticed Nalrond and returned his gaze while pointing at his window. Soon he heard knocking on his door.
"Come in." He said with a sigh as his hopes shattered one after the other.
Everything from the furniture to the accent of his guests sounded alien to him, yet Nalrond didn't cry again. He had come for closure and had finally found it. The only thing left for him to do before looking for the rest of his group was to thank his hosts.
"I'm glad to see that you're feeling better. Are you hungry?" A man in his late sixties asked.
He was about 1.70 meters (5' 7") tall, with greyed hair streaked black and brown eyes. His bronze skin was mostly tan and from the cut eye, Nalrond could guess that the unknown tribe wasn't native of the Blood Desert.
He wore a simple white linen shirt and brown pants over poorly made leather shoes. Nalrond understood from both his guest's attire and smell that the man was a fellow hybrid.
Emperor Beasts would craft for themselves shapeshifting clothes whereas hybrids usually lacked the necessary ingredients to practice Forgemastery. Despite the fact that Fringes were rich in world energy, they didn't necessarily have crystal mines.
Quite the contrary, they usually lacked any sort of metal veins as well due to their artificial nature. Both gemstones and minerals required centuries, if not millennia to form whereas a Fringe would be created only under specific circumstances.
On top of that, it would only last as long as Mogar saw fit, making it pointless for the planet the add more than what was strictly needed.
The simple design of the clothes allowed Werepeople to shapeshift at will without worrying about the consequences. The stitches were loose on purpose so that they would rip easily without damaging the fabric, making it easy to mend.
Chapter 1172 New Horizons Part 2
"Thanks for your hospitality and concern. My name is Nalrond of the Rezar tribe and I'm starving." He gave the man a small bow while looking at his Soul Projection.
It looked like a curled-up Dewan holding his head between his huge hands while sighing often, something that usually manifested in teenagers experiencing their first crush.
If not for his age, Nalrond would have thought that his guest had romantic problems.
"There's no need to thank us. All Werepeople are family and you'll be our honorable guest for as long as you need. My name is Kimo of the Dewan tribe. Please, follow me." The elder said.
Nalrond didn't like how Kimo kept looking at him and his clothes nor did he appreciate the excessive kindness they had shown him.
'If a fully dressed Emperor Beas had crash-landed inside our cultivated fields, we would have chained and interrogated them before letting them roam the village. Sure, they don't seem to be protecting a relic as powerful as Dawn, but they should know that just because someone manages to enter a Fringe doesn't make them good people.
'Kimo's Projection is usually related to a deep yearning for something or someone. I have a few ideas why they are being so friendly towards me and none is good.' He thought.
The elder introduced Nalrond to his wife, Sephe. She was a kind-looking woman in her late sixties, about 1.6 meters (5' 3") tall with greying blond hair streaked blue and hazel eyes. Her Souls Projection resembled a Dewan who looked around like a scared animal.
Sephe offered him a fruit platter and oatmeal which Nalrond's stomach welcomed with enthusiasm. Between all the emotions and the long sleep, he didn't eat for over a day.
"I'm sorry for prying in your personal business, but someone looking like a Tyrant came to the village earlier. He claimed to be your friend. Was he telling the truth or is the village in danger?" Kimo had a worried look on his face.
"Don't worry about him. Morok is really an Emperor Beast and no one forced me to open the way into the Fringe. He accompanied me here to check if any more survivors from the Bright Day's escape still lived in my old village."
Nalrond saw his hosts sighing in relief while their Projections now looked at him as if he was their long-lost son, making him feel bad for doubting their honesty.
"I'm really sorry for your loss, child. When our Fringe suddenly expanded, we thought that Mogar had finally answered our prayers, giving us the land that we needed for our growing tribe.
"Yet when we found all those charred ruins, we knew that something terrible must had happened so we looked far and wide for survivors, but we found none." Sephe said.
'Dammit, between my sour mood and Lith's paranoia I've become a prick. If they met Morok, I can consider myself lucky he didn't trigger a manhunt. Werepeople are naturally suspicious of strangers and they must have been afraid that my condition was due to captivity.
'Soul Projections cannot lie. The shadows above their heads mean honest relief for Morok's presence and compassion for my tribe.'
"Then I'm not going to trouble you for much longer. I'll make camp in the plains far from the village and once my companions are done with the Fringe, you have my word that we'll never return nor disclose your position to anyone."
"There's no need to leave the village. You and your friends can stay here if you want. We have heard many great things about the Rezar tribe and we'd love to hear from you about the outside world. None of us has left the village since we escaped the humans." Kimo said.
"Thanks for your offer, but I don't think you understood my words. I'm the last survivor of my tribe and I met my companions while hunting for the Horseman of Dawn. They are an Emperor Beast and two human mages." Nalrond words made his hosts flinch in surprise and their Projections snarl, but it lasted only for a second.
"Do you trust them so much that you've brought them inside a Fringe?" Sephe asked.
"Yes. I've formed deep bonds with them and coming here wasn't their idea but mine. They are at a dangerous crossroad in their lives that needs enlightenment and I needed to make sure that our Fringe still existed. Two birds with one stone.
"As for the Emperor Beast, he managed to get inside by himself so you can rest assured that even Mogar trusts him." Nalrond didn't like to lie, but he had no other choice.
He didn't actually trust any of his companions that much. Nalrond had brought them along because he expected to either find an empty Fringe or no Fringe at all. The presence of another tribe of Werepeople changed everything.
'It's a leap of faith that I must take. The girls never tried to exploit me, but that Morok is a wildcard. He didn't know about Fringes or Werepeople, but once he gets outside and learns about the value of this place, the Dewans might be in danger.
'On the other hand, if I tell Sephe the truth, they won't let any of us come out of here alive.' He thought.
"Even if we've taken these lands after your departure, this is still your home, Nalrond. All Werepeople are family so if you trust them then we trust them as well. You and your companions will be our honored guests.
"You have my word as a village elder." Kimo extended his right hand while conjuring a broken rune of water on his palm which Nalrond shook after conjuring a broken rune of fire on his own hand.
Those runes had no real magical property, they were just the experimental serial number that the humans had used to identify the different tribes of Werepeople. The rune symbolized their shared past and its broken state was a memento of the day when they had freed themselves.
Even though tribes of Werepeople would rarely contact each other, the use of the broken rune allowed them to recognize one of them and guaranteed their sincerity. To all tribes, the act of breaking an oath taken upon their ancestral symbol was akin to stoop as low as humans.
"I'll go get my friends. You'd better prepare your people for their arrival." Nalrond said while opening a Warp Steps leading to one of the few spots outside the village he still remembered.
Once he made sure of being alone and that no one had followed him, he used the communication amulet to contact the girls and explain the situation to them.
"What do you mean, two Fringes have merged?" Quylla asked.
"It's exactly as it sounds. I never heard about it before, but even my tribe considered it a possibility. If a species grows its number past what the Fringe can sustain, Mogar has two choices.
"Either to enlarge the Fringe or merge it with another that has lost its purpose." He said.
"But your people lived in the middle of the Blood Desert whereas the Dewans look more like people of the Kingdom. Doesn't merging two Fringes so far away cost much more energy than just expanding their own?" Quylla asked.
Chapter 1173 Fear and Suspicion Part 1
"Merging two Fringes is quite simple if you assume that all of them are actually neighboring subspaces." Friya pondered.
"You can imagine them as a bunch of lands, each one with different entry points that Mogar keeps isolated from the outside world, but Fringes are actually close to each other and under Mogar's magnifying lens."
"I agree with Friya. Merging them required minimal effort while also leaving me a place to return to." Nalrond nodded. "The question now is if we want to stay or leave."
"Those guys are pretty edgy and this place is a pain in the ass." Morok could feel the dense world energy of the Fringe try to seep inside his body and trigger his Awakening. "I think we should leave."
"I would like to stay, but Morok is right. The Dewan have all reasons to hate humans and before leaving our camp, you clearly expressed your doubts about Friya. I'm grateful for this opportunity, but I don't want to take unnecessary risks." Quylla said.
Ever since her body had gotten accustomed to the Fringe's environment, she could almost hear a voice in her head every time she used magic. At first, Quylla had thought that she was going insane, but after sharing her fears with the others, she had learned that the same thing was happening to Friya and Morok.
While waiting for Nalrond's return, she believed to have found an explanation.
'After all, elemental magic runes can be considered like some sort of language with which a mage communicates with Mogar and borrows a fraction of the world energy. Spirit Magic runes and Royal Forgemastering wands, instead, allow the mage to communicate with their own mana core.' She thought.
'The mana core is just a part of myself while Mogar is so big and with so many mages casting magic at all times that it's normal the planet doesn't even bother answering so many calls. Yet inside the Fringe there's more than just elemental energy.
'Faluel said that by using Lifestream, the breathing technique of the Hydra's bloodline, her grandmother managed to learn bits of Mogar's wisdom. If I'm right, that happened because by assimilating the world energy, she also established gained access to part of the information stored inside the Fringe.
'I would love to stay here to see if with time and practice I can learn how to listen to Mogar. Sadly, between Nalrond's trust issues and the hatred that the Dewans have for humans, it would be too risky.' Quylla thought.
"I agree with Quylla, we should leave." Friya said.
"I think I'm nothing like Acala, but I understand you have no reason to trust me or my judgment. Just leave us outside. We'll Warp as far as we can before asking Faluel for help so the Fringe's position will remain hidden.
"You stay here and say your goodbyes or try to contact Mogar about your double core issue. After all, this is your journey, not ours."
'I can understand why even Awakened are desperate to find Fringes. I can feel a sting in the area where my mana core is supposed to be every time that I take a breath or I cast a spell.
'On top of that, I've never felt this strong before. It's like being under the effects of a body-enhancing potion that also boosts my magic. My mind has never been so clear before.' Friya thought.
"I'm really sorry for speaking so harshly, earlier." Nalrond sighed. "I didn't expect that the Fringe would be still here. It got my hopes up and seeing your Projection being almost identical to Acala's only made things worse.
"I admit that I don't trust you much, but I was aware of the consequences that bringing you here implied. On top of that, ever since we got in here, I can feel my cores being flooded by world energy.
"After staying outside for so long, I can feel Mogar's thoughts much more clearly than ever before. I want to stay and attempt the ritual to draw the planet's attention, but to do it, I need your help."
"Can't you just ask your rude friends and let us go?" Morok said.
"I was talking to them, not you! Feel free to leave anytime you want. You don't even need my help to get out since for some reason Mogar likes you." Nalrond snarled.
"And leave Quylla with mister tall, dark, and handsome? Thanks, but no thanks." Morok replied.
"Wait, Morok is right. Why do you need our help when you can just ask the Dewans?" Friya asked.
"Because each tribe of Werepeople has its own ritual. We may be friendly to each other, but that doesn't mean that I'm willing to share with them the secrets of my people." Nalrond said.
"I can teach you just the bits you need to play your part whereas if I show the Dewans my ritual, they'll be able to learn it and use it to complement their own. This might be hard for you to understand, but to me, the Rezar's traditions are the last trace of my people's legacy.
"I don't resent the Dewans for taking the land of a dead and buried tribe, but I don't like it either. I know it's irrational, but I feel like if I give up that last shred of my identity, this land will truly become theirs and every trace of my old home will disappear."
"How long will it take to prepare for the ritual?" Quylla asked.
"Just a couple of days. One to draw the ancestral runes Mogar welcomed my people with the first time we entered our Fringe and another to conjure the world energy. It works in a way similar to your Forgemastering circles."
After witnessing War in action and seeing how similar true and fake magic had become over time, Nalrond often wondered if great artifacts were born when the core of the Forgemaster reached Mogar through their work and obtained its blessing.
"Not to be the Lith of the situation, but before going there, we should prepare our spells and rings as if we're going into battle." Friya said.
"No offense to Werepeople, but with everything humans did to them, I wouldn't be surprised if our smell triggered them and they attacked us in a frenzy."
"I think you're being paranoid." Nalrond shook his head. "They don't smell a human from centuries. Judging from how their village looks outdated even compared to Lutia, they are no different from my people.
"We never left the Fringe so the only improvements we made over time were due to the knowledge that the travelers who managed to enter the Fringe on their own shared with us."
"That's exactly my point." Friya nodded. "People never stopped looking for Fringes and based on what they told Morok, the Dewans are aware that both human Awakened and Emperor Beasts can shapeshift.
"Yet you say that their village is old fashioned hence no one has ever shared with them modern customs. Have you wondered what had happened to those who entered here before us?
"Did the Dewans just chase them away or did they kill the unwanted guests to not leave witnesses?" Friya really did sound like Lith, yet her reasoning made Nalrond feel like an idiot for having failed to consider such a possibility on his own.
Chapter 1174 Fear and Suspicion Part 2
'Maybe the Dewans didn't attack Morok on sight because they knew that he would have Blinked away and they had no idea how many people he might have brought with him.
'Now that I think about it, the first thing they asked me wasn't how many Rezars survived Dawn's slaughter or how I escaped death.
'They only cared about Morok's identity and make sure that I didn't lead an invasion force inside the Fringe.' Nalrond cast a diagnostic spell on himself, discovering that he was still feverish from the shock of seeing his village rebuilt and inhabited.
"Oh, gods, you are right! There might actually have been other Rezars alive after the Fringes merged or at least some of our books. The Dewans might have kept them prisoners to learn Light Mastery from them and killed them when they refused." He said.
"Slow down. That's not even something that Lith would think. That's a straight-out conspiracy theory." Friya tried to calm him down, casting a few spells that would ease his nerves and the fever's symptoms.
"I get that Light Mastery is a powerful discipline and that your people treasure it dearly, but would it really be worth killing for? I mean, humans would surely do it, but Werepeople as well?" She asked while dabbing his sweat and cooling his skin with water magic.
First magic and physical contact caused an odd interaction between them. Friya felt his fear and anguish as if it was her own while he could finally understand why despite all the things she had Friya felt so inadequate.
He caught glimpses of the events during Nalear's attack that had changed her forever. The repeated rape attempts at the hands of her enslaved peers had destroyed her trust in strangers.
Her failure in saving Yurial had crushed her self-confidence and brought her to abandon the career of Healer not because she didn't love light magic, but because its practice reminded her of the horrors of those days.
Friya had been willing to accept an arranged marriage for the sake of the Solivar Household, but only because she had never understood what being loved felt.
After being adopted by the Ernas, after seeing how deep the bond between Lith and Kamila had grown, she had found herself yearning for the same affection that her parents and friends felt for each other, yet her trauma kept her frozen in place.
Friya's magic had improved tremendously from the days at the academy, but she had remained stuck as the scared little girl who couldn't approach anyone without keeping her hand on the hilt of her blade.
In a way, Nalrond could relate to her. After Acala's betrayal and the death of his entire village, he had sabotaged his relationships due to the fear of finding happiness again.
As long as he was alone, no one could hurt him whereas letting someone get close to him also implied the risk of getting hurt again. It was the reason why Nalrond had refused to become friends even with Lith's family and the Ernas girls.
Even after all Faluel had done for him and the respect she had shown for his secrets, Nalrond still refused to open up to her. He had managed to trust those who were hybrids as well, like Lith or Selia's children, only because they reminded him of his loved ones.
Now, however, the simple idea that the Dewans might be involved in the destruction of his village was enough to make him doubt another tribe of Werepeople that had shown only concern for him.
'Dammit, is this the effect of the Fringe or wasn't I ready to see my village again?' Nalrond thought. 'Whatever it is, if I keep letting my grief blind me, even if I manage to find a way to merge my two natures, I'll live a miserable life.'
"You don't understand. Light Mastery is more than rare." He sat down, letting Friya's spell cleanse his mind and body. "It's a discipline that very few creatures learn and even less manage to pass it down to their own bloodline.
"It requires a deep understanding of the light element to the point that even those who discover it on their own are incapable of explaining how it works."
"Then how come all people in your village knew it and you were even able to teach it to Faluel?" Quylla asked while pondering his words.
They explained why she had failed to teach both of her sisters how to make holograms. Whenever Quylla gave them a lesson, they kept saying that her words made no sense.
"Because we learned it from Dawn who is a receptacle of Baba Yaga's teachings. To relieve herself from the boredom of isolation, Dawn invented a method that allowed anyone to become a Light Master, even to a child.
"What I'm trying to say is that if the Dewans have heard of my tribe's unique ability, there's no telling what they are willing to do to get their hands on Light Mastery. Please, we need to go to their village and find out how much they know."
Much to Morok's dismay, the girls accepted to help Nalrond in his crazy quest and in setting up the array necessary for the ritual to communicate with Mogar. Once they reached the village with a smile on their faces and a spell on each of their fingertips, they discovered that all their precautions had been useless.
The Dewans treated Nalrond like a brother, Morok like an honorable guest, and the girls like their pet cockroaches. The Werepeople shapeshifted whenever Quylla or Friya approached one of them, to make it clear how they felt about their presence, but they never did more than glare at them.
Nalrond chose an isolated home as their residence and after telling Kimo about his intention to perform the communication ritual, he used it as a pretext to cast long-range Life Sensing arrays.
Nalrond had half hoped and half feared to find more Rezars held captive somewhere inside the village. On the one hand, it would have meant that he wasn't truly alone, but on the other hand, it would mean that he had put everyone's life at risk just to follow his obsession.
Luckily, the arrays came back negative and the Royal Forgemaster spells of the girls didn't detect the presence of a cloaked chamber within the village premises.
Such spells could block the arrays, but they would still be revealed by their wands simply because just as Nalrond had noticed during his first visit, the Dewans' knowledge of magic was quite outdated.
Having the same abilities as Emperor Beasts, they could practice all elements and specializations, but without ingredients their ability as Forgemasters, Wardens, and Alchemists were limited.
On top of that, just like Nalrond before meeting Lith, having spent centuries in peace and isolation had slowed down their magical research. The lack of any form of interaction with the outside world meant no threats but also no free exchange of information.
A few villages with a couple of thousands of members total couldn't compare with the development of three countries each comprised of dozen millions individuals who constantly competed with each other.
It needed Quylla a few walks around the village to notice that the Dewans had no concept of Runesmithing or Forgemastering spells, making it easy for her to study the level of their magical equipment.
Chapter 1175 Painful Past Part 1
Only after the girls' wands, Morok's eyes, and Nalrond's own arrays and senses failed to detect any trace of deception did the fever leave him, allowing the Rezar to relax.
"Back when I arrived here, you told me that at first, you believed your Fringe had expanded and that only later your tribe understood it had merged with that of my people." Nalrond said.
"Exactly." Kimo nodded.
"Yet I don't understand what need you have of a second Fringe. I get that over time your tribe grew in numbers to the point of needing more land, but even taking into account the other villages, there is few of you and a lot of woods.
"Why didn't you move there?" Nalrond asked?
"Because that's the territory of the elves, brother. It's not wise to mess with them unless strictly necessary. They are a wise and powerful people, but after everything they went through, they would rather die than give up on a single centimeter of their land." Kimo replied.
"Elves?" That word shocked Nalrond.
Even though he had lived inside a Fringe, he still considered them a myth, just like everyone else considered Fringes.
"Yes. They were already here when we entered. After hearing our story, they overcame our differences and allowed us to occupy the plains in exchange for the promise of never getting inside their woods.
"Over time, however, both our and their people have grown in number to the point that the Fringe couldn't sustain us all. We were even thinking of starting a colony in the outside world when your Fringe got added to ours." Kimo turned pale at the thought.
Without Dawn's massacre, he and everyone else in the new village would have been forced to leave.
"What differences? According to what little is known about elves, humans defeated them in a war millennia ago and forced them into exile just like they experimented on us, turning us into hybris just to better kill their neighbors.
"Elves may belong to a different race, but our history is so similar that they should treat us as cousins." Nalrond was surprised by how easy it was for him to use the word "us" even though he barely knew his new hosts.
He had never done that with Lith's family, not even after spending months with them.
"Alas, when the Elves see us, they can hardly go past our human half." Kimo sighed while thinking about how many things the two races could have learned from each other if only the elves managed to let go of the past.
***
City of Reghia.
After Lith had left for the extermination mission, Phloria and Tista had to find their own way to contribute to the beasts' society in order to get access to precious resources like enchanted metals and mana crystals.
Even though Phloria came from one of the most powerful families of the Kingdom, Adamant and Davross were outside her reach. The Royals had a monopoly of the Davross and Adamant was so expensive that Orion had forbidden her to use it for her crafts until he made sure that she wouldn't just waste it in failed experiments.
Tista was in an even worse boat than her. She had no access even to Orichalcum because it was too expensive for her and the Royals didn't trust her skills enough to provide her with the precious metal.
"You know, this is the first time that being Lith's sister bothers me." Tista sighed. "During my travels alone, I've fought a lot of creatures and earned a lot of merits, yet everyone treats me as if I've just graduated from the Academy.
"Do you remember the face that the Royals made when I asked for crafting materials?"
"Sure. Their faces looked like my father's when as a child I asked him for a pet Dragon." Phloria chuckled. "Don't worry, Tista. It's not because you're Lith's sister, but because you don't have any official recognition."
"What do you mean? I've done plenty of work for the Kingdom."
"No. You've done a lot of work for yourself, picking the missions that suited you the best from the Association. Sure, the Kingdom benefitted from your actions, but it was just a side effect.
"Lith and I, on the contrary, performed missions that benefitted only the Kingdom. We didn't get anything from them except for what our commanding officers decided to reward us with. In Lith's case, crafting materials and in mine, the Royal Forgemastering lessons from my father." Phloria said.
"I thought that Orion did it on his own authority." Tista said in surprise.
"He did, but if Quylla and I didn't have enough merits on our own, it would have been an act of treason. That's why he gifted the wand to Friya but didn't teach her anything about runes or Forgemastering spells."
Tista pondered her words for a while, wishing they could go to a bar, a tavern, or any place where to eat and drink. Reghia had no establishments and with Solus gone, they had no housing as well.
The two women could only stay in their makeshift home, using their earth magic spells while they talked to make it less makeshift.
"How are you doing after quitting the army?" Tista asked.
"Better than I ever thought I would be. Between Faluel's lessons and all the catch up I have to do with true magic, I don't have the time to indulge in what-ifs about my life or murderous thought about Deirus." Phloria said.
"By the way, can I ask you something?"
"Shoot." Phloria said.
"I noticed that for a long time you almost seemed angrier with Lith than with Deirus. It took you more to get used to Solus's existence than to get over the unfairness of your trial. Why?" Tista asked.
"Gods, Tista, sometimes your naivety is baffling to the point of being cute." Phloria altered the density of an armchair until it was comfortable before answering.
"I come from a rich and powerful family, having enemies has always been normal to me. People spread awful rumors about me at the academy and during my boot camp someone revealed my identity and turned my life into a nightmare.
"Yet I never took it personal, because compared with all the good that comes with my name it was small stuff. I didn't get even with Trion because he was just a pawn. I deeply resent Deirus for what he did and what he is doing, but you know what?
"He's an enemy, so I'm angrier at the thought of how he still abuses Yurial's name to cover his sorry ass than of his actions. You must understand that even if Deirus wasn't out for my blood, someone else would.
"Alone he couldn't have messed up with my career as he did. Let's be honest, Kulah was a disaster and it gave all those who resented me or my family the perfect opportunity to attack.
"You see me calm about it not because I don't care or because I forgave him, but only because I already did all I could. First as an army officer and then as an Ernas. Now, however, the fight has moved to a political sphere where there's no place for a fighter like me." Phloria said.
Chapter 1176 Painful Past Part 2
"It requires a finesse and a knowledge of the Court's power plays that it would take me years to learn. I know that my parents are working on the trial and I trust them with my life.
"Screaming and lashing out in revenge is something that only dumb children would do. My mother has fought and buried more people like Deirus than I can count.
"The best move I can do is to wait for an opportunity to arise and use that time to hone my skills so that if Mom needs help with dirty work, I will be able to perform magic as not even an Archmage can.
"Lith, on the other hand, is my best friend and my ex-boyfriend." Phloria said.
"So what? Deirus hurt you intentionally, whereas my brother only hid Solus's existence to protect a huge secret that could cost his life. I mean, a mage tower? People died for much less." Tista said.
"Tista, have you ever loved someone? That kind of love that makes you willing to risk your life for them, to accept that special someone even if he's a monster, to wait years for him to open up and yet meet only silence and lies in return?" Phloria asked.
"No. I've had a few boyfriends in the past, but I don't think I truly loved one of them." Tista sighed in envy. She could only imagine how painful it was for Phloria, yet she dreamed to experience such feelings at least once in her life.
"I know that back at the academy I had just come of age, but that didn't make my relationship with Lith less meaningful. On the contrary, it set the bar for all my other relationships.
"I broke up with him not because my feeling had changed, but because I was tired of waiting for him to open up. I spoke with him about it countless times, but he always avoided the subject.
"I thought that if our feelings were real, distance might help us both to figure out what we wanted. Even when he didn't contact me for two years straight, I didn't resent him because I thought that Lith had just moved on with his life and I was happy for him.
"Yet in my mind, he was always my precious first boyfriend, who didn't care if compared to me he was just a shortie with a killer glare, didn't resent me for being richer or stronger than him. Lith only cared for who I was, not for my family name.
"That's why when I dated other men, I refused to settle for someone who treated me like an object or that let his own feelings of inadequacy poison our relationship. Despite all of his shortcomings, I put Lith on a pedestal because at least he had been honest with me.
"Or so I thought until I learned about Solus. It destroyed everything I thought about him and tainted all the good memories made together with doubts. Suddenly he turned from the perfect first boyfriend into a complete stranger.
"How could I not resent him for sharing all the most intimate details of my life with another woman? How could I not feel betrayed at the thought that maybe the things I loved the most about him actually came from Solus?" Phloria asked.
"It's harsh." Tista nodded.
"It's more than harsh. When one of your enemies pulls a fast one on you, it hurts but you always know that in their shoes you would have done the same. I wouldn't ever expect such a thing from Lith.
"Not after the wonderful things he said and did for me over the years, like when we met at my Mom's birthday after so long or back in Kulah. Lith shared so much with me, even after we broke up, and yet he didn't tell me the most important thing.
"That his life is not his own and that any woman who gives him her heart is actually sharing him with Solus. I believe them when they say that he never cheated on me with her physically, but that's not the point.
"The point is that they ruined some of my most precious memories, turning what I thought to know about relationships into a lie." Phloria managed to hold back her tears but she clenched the armrests so hard that the stone cracked.
"I'm sorry, Phloria. I shouldn't have asked." Tista loved her little brother with all her heart, but she knew that Phloria was right.
If Lith had been his first love instead of just her brother, in Phloria's shoes she would still be putting the pieces of her heart together.
"Don't be sorry. Every time we talk about Lith and Solus, my sisters walk on eggshells to not hurt my feelings. I really needed to vent with someone, especially because there's only a handful of people I can talk about Lith's secrets." Phloria said.
Tista prepared a strong mint tea for them and took some pastries out of her dimensional item, letting her friend calm down before changing the subject to something less painful.
"You know, Tista, you may not be a good cook but your tea is truly delicious. You should teach me sometimes. Mine is nothing but hot leaves juice." Phloria said after the warmth of the beverage spread through her body and the sweetness of the cream eased her nerves.
"Isn't that what tea is?" Tista asked.
Phloria prepared another pot and gave Tista a cup.
"Oh gods!" Tista spat the liquid back into the cup after one sip. "I stand corrected, tea is so much more than that."
"Told you so." Phloria chuckled. "Are you still determined not to teach Tyris's universal language?"
"Yes, it would just be a waste of time. It's not like they can't, it's just that they refuse to learn it. We must find a better way to use our time here." Tista said.
They started discussing if it was better to join a workshop and share part of their magical knowledge with the people of Reghia or if to become part of the defense force of the city.
"You could use more combat experience, but I didn't quit the army just to join another." Phloria said.
"What do you mean, more combat experience? I'm a pretty good fighter and after sparring together for months, you should know it well." Tista said.
"I mean real practical experience, not sparring. Even before Awakening, I fought monsters, undead, and even Awakened." Nalear's image appeared in Phloria's mind for a split-second, but it was enough to make her shudder.
"During your missions for the Association, you always had solid intel, whereas when working for the army you have to respond to a crisis even when all you know are groundless rumors."
"What are you trying to say?" Tista asked.
"That you have yet to get used to facing a truly unknown enemy. As far as I know, it only happened in Othre with Thrud's meat puppets. How did you fare against them?"
"Badly. Their powers made no sense and back then I had no training with weapons." Tista sighed.
"Why? Do you think yourself an expert now? Do you have any idea how long your brother and I trained before he got a solid understanding of the basics?" Phloria's voice held no contempt, yet it managed to irk Tista to no end.
Chapter 1177 Battle Against Time Part 1
"I get that compared to you I'm green, but I never suffered any crushing defeat against you while we trained." Tista said.
"That's because I was still getting used to my new body and because my purpose was to teach you swordsmanship while Faluel taught you how an Awakened fights." Phloria replied.
"Only in a bard's tale do you learn by getting your ass whooped. For a defeat to be meaningful, you must have lasted long enough to make mistakes. That's why in the army we say that training teaches you how to lose, whereas combat experience teaches you how to win."
Phloria stood up and beckoned Tista to step forward while making the furniture disappear into the ground. She also took her rapier out of her dimensional item, assuming a defensive stance.
"Why did you take out your weapons but you're not using Fusion Magic?" Tista asked while wielding a short sword in each hand.
"Humans have no chance of defeating Emperor Beasts or monsters bare-handed, at least at our level. Bare hands are good in a tavern or if you want to capture your target alive, but on the battlefield, survival requires killing.
"As for Fusion Magic, you're shorter and lighter than me and your mana core is weaker than mine. If we use it, you won't even see my attacks." Phloria said.
"We'll see." Tista circled around Phloria, who only needed to pivot on her front foot to follow her every movement.
After failing to find an opening, Tista lunged to probe her opponent's defense. The moment she put her weight in the strike, Phloria stepped forward, using the tip of her sword to push Tista's away.
The movement was so quick and strong that to not lose grip on her weapon, Tista lost her balance for a split second. Long enough for Phloria to kick Tita's shin ad send her flying.
"Now tell me, what did you learn from such a quick defeat?" Phloria asked while moving around the fallen enemy like a vulture circling its prey.
"Nothing. I did everything right and yet…"
"And yet you lost. That's what training is for. Here you can afford to lose, while out there, defeat means death." Phloria said.
"You may have left the army, but you sure sound like a drill sergeant." Tista got up, resuming her stance. "Again, but this time go easy on me enough so that I last longer than a sneeze."
"That's up to you. Never put so much weight in a feint, otherwise it's no better than a lousy attack." Phloria said.
The two women sparred until they were both drenched in sweat, with Phloria raising the bar as soon as Tista got better, leaving neither of them a single second of rest unless it was requested.
"What is that?" Tista pointed at a dimensional fissure opening in the middle of the room. A split second later, a small figure covered in cracks and burnt marks came out of the Warp.
"Do you really think I'm going to fall for the oldest trick in the book?" Phloria scoffed at Tista's childish attempt to distract her.
"Quick, Lith needs help!" Solus's voice was as pained as it was worried.
"Good gods, Solus, what happened to you?" Tista dropped her weapons and caught the small stone ring in mid-air, instinctively casting a diagnostic spell that failed to provide her with any information.
Solus's stone body was still charred by the Chaos energy and it missed several small shards. Most of the damage was due to Lith's Abomination life force, only a few of her injuries had been caused by the Puppeteer.
"It's a long story and bringing you up to speed with a mind link would give you mana poisoning. I need you to Warp at the city entrance, where Lith's teammates will bring him for treatment." Solus said.
"Why did you leave him if he was in such a dire condition?" Tista asked.
"Because we worked with Awakened Emperor Beasts. They are bound to use Invigoration to assess his wounds and I couldn't afford to be discovered." Solus replied.
"How bad is he?" Looking at the stone ring's battered state, Phloria was once again shocked by how deep the bond between Lith and Solus was.
Even when she seemed to be at death's door, she didn't seem to care much about her own condition. Just like Phloria would.
"Very. His life force took a huge hit and I'm the only one that knows how to fix it. I need one of you to wear me and keep me as close as you can to him. That way, I'll mend his wounds and Lith will mend mine." Solus said.
'Thank the gods Faluel had me practicing Shapeshifting on Lith's life force for months. Not only do I know it like the back of my hand, but since Shapeshifting is just an enhanced version of Body Sculpting, I can use it to stabilize his two life forces until their natural balance is restored.' She thought.
"It's up to you, Tista. You're a much better healer than me. Let's use Invigoration to get our strength back and don't hesitate to use my vitality." Phloria put the ring at Tista's finger and opened a Warp Steps at the same time.
Tista nodded, realizing that Solus would need all the help she could get to not get her own life force damaged. On the one hand, thanks to her tower half, any damage she might take wouldn't threaten her life, only dissipate part of her mana core.
On the other hand, it would destroy years of patient wait and hard work to restore her physical body. Between her reforming tower core and Lith's bright blue core, Solus's features could almost be seen under her luminous skin.
Tista believed that getting back a fully human appearance was the last step before gaining a body made of flesh and blood. Aside from Lith, she was the one who knew Solus better, having spent with her most of the little free time she had.
Solus had shared with her all of her doubts, her dreams about the future, and the hope to one day become able to take even a single step on Mogar without the need of the tower.
'She's so damn close to achieving the dream of a lifetime. I can't let her lose everything once again. I know there's nothing that Solus wouldn't do to save Lith, but if she regresses back to a wisp, I don't know if her sanity will hold.' Tista thought while her mind spun at full gear trying to find a way to overcome the crisis.
Solus was still too weakened from both the fight and the Chaos energy that had ravaged her stone form to think clearly. Even though she was now separated from Lith, the still lingering darkness tainted the stone and made Tista's finger burn.
There was a good reason why Salaark the Phoenix had forbidden Balkor to even study Chaos magic.
While normal darkness magic affected matter and mana, Chaos could affect even the mind. To cure the effects of the former, it was necessary to cleanse the darkness and then heal the body through light magic. Treating the latter, however, required much more than that.
Chapter 1178 Battle Against Time Part 2
What made surviving to Chaos magic so hard, even for its caster, was the fact that it would strike at its target and drain it of all of its light element until the Chaos turned into darkness, making the spell hit three times.
The first damage would take place when Chaos struck, the second once the lack of light element would cause a toxic imbalance in the body, and the last when the darkness element produced from the Chaos would spread without encountering any resistance.
Casting a Chaos spell was not only so demanding in terms of mana that even Eldritchs took care of not using them indiscriminately, but also extremely dangerous. The slightest mistake controlling it would induce madness.
It was the reason why not even Guardians used it and why usually very few Abominations lived long enough to become Eldritchs. The effects of Chaos magic combined with their relentless hunger and isolation would turn them into mindless creatures, easy to find and even easier to put down.
Only those with outstanding mental fortitude and discipline could resist the effects of Chaos magic long enough to master it. Salaark believed that Balkor didn't fit the bill due to his cracked psyche, just like Lith.
Tista thought back at all the lessons about Body Sculpting she had followed at the academy, at home under Lith's guidance, and during Faluel's apprenticeship.
'Solus, connect with the city's mana geyser again and use it to recover as much as you can.' Tista said via their mind link while the three of them waited for the Emperor Beasts to return.
'By my maker, my condition must be even worse than I thought if I failed to remember about the geyser. Thanks, Tista.' Solus was so shocked at Lith's most recent transformation that she had a hard time thinking clearly.
She had come close to losing him many times, but even death couldn't compare to the horror of Lith being turned into an Abomination. Not just because of the agony she had physically experienced, but also because of what would happen if the transformation became permanent.
It would mean to be forced to follow the Master and to never be able to feel his touch again until a cure was found.
While they waited, Solus started to share with the mind link everything that had happened, using mostly words to avoid mana poisoning and resorting to images only when strictly necessary.
'Good gods.' Phloria used her best healing spells on the stone ring the moment she recognized the black energy typical of the Abominations.
During the monster outbreak caused by the Master's hybrids, the army had collected plenty of data about Chaos from the lucky soldiers who had managed to survive. It had taught them how to cure Chaos at the cost of several lives.
Light couldn't heal such injuries, but it kept them from spreading before it was too late. The light element flooded Solus, having no effect on her stone body just like Phloria expected.
Yet it turned the still lingering Chaos into darkness element that Phloria proceeded to destroy with surgical precision by using focused darkness pulses. Only then did all the aftereffects of Lith's Abomination form disappeared from Solus.
Her mind suddenly became clear and pain left her body, allowing her to absorb energy from the underground mana geyser more efficiently.
'How did you know it would work?' Both Tista and Solus thought in unison.
'Not everyone manages to dodge all spells like Lith usually does. The more the army fights against the Abominations, the more we learn. The reason you didn't hear about this kind of treatment is that it has only been recently discovered by the Balkor department.' Phloria replied.
Solus's stone body has just started to regenerate when a Warp Steps opened right in front of Xoth the Nue, the Mayor of Reghia.
"Dammit, we need help. I've never seen this kind of injuries or of life force. No matter what I do, the kid keeps losing blood, mana, and life essence!" Olua the Roc said while carrying Lith in her arms.
His body was limp and puffs of black flames came out from the many open wounds that refused to heal. The left wing had yet to regenerate, losing so much energy from its torn extremity that it looked like a torch.
Olua now looked like a woman in her mid-twenties, with wheat-blond hair and eyes, who was now drenched in blood, guts, and dirt from the fight. She had assumed human form solely to better take care of her wounded companion so she wore no clothes.
The few humans working at the defense outpost were so enthralled by her glossy golden skin and beauty that they barely noticed the Wyrmling. Everyone else just didn't care.
"Someone calls his companions! They must know something." Bodya the Nidhogg said.
He now looked like a handsome man in his early thirties, with ashen skin, raven-black hair and eyes. He had the body of an athlete at his peak, a living symphony of flesh and muscles that would have usually given the girls a lot to talk about, but time was of the essence.
"Leave him on the ground and I'll do the rest." Tista said while using Invigoration on both Lith and Solus.
'The good news is that ever since their arrival, your recovery rate is simply out of this world, Solus. The bad news is that I've no clue what I'm looking at.' She thought while examining Lith's twisted life forces.
The hybrid side was still in disarray and the damage was evident. Even though it lacked cracks or signs of permanent damage, the life force that usually looked like a burning star surrounded by a black sphere was deformed into a gurgling pot.
The sphere resembled a liquid egg whose surface boiled, oozing a black liquid that sizzled just before reaching the flame of the bright blue star.
The last time Tista had seen Lith's life forces, its three components had started to blend into each other, taking a new shape that her brother assumed it was a sign of him becoming a whole new species.
Now, however, there was no balance between them. The black of the Abomination covered everything like a thick shroud, threatening to smother the blue of the Beast. On top of that, checking on Lith's human life force was made even harder by the bloated sphere that completely overshadowed it.
'Being close to Lith is akin to Invigoration to me, just slower. Once I get also linked to a mana geyser, my strength becomes nigh-endless.' Solus replied.
'The problem here is that I can't take too much world energy without blowing my cover and that I need most of it to heal my own wounds. I only need a few minutes to fix my body, but Lith doesn't have that long.
'Tista, Phloria, I'll use your vitality first so make sure you time your Invigoration right. Wait until you've lost three-fourths of your energy or you'll not last long enough.
'I would use mine, but until my body recovers, I can't risk pain compromising my focus. Darkness fusion is ineffective on my stone body because in my case, pain means I'm in critical condition.' Solus said.
'Don't worry about us. Just tell us what you are doing so that we can help you in case something goes wrong.' Phloria said.
Chapter 1179 Conflicting Forces Part 1
'Okay. First, we need to stabilize Lith's human life force. I know that the Abomination side looks ugly, but the Beast side keeps it under control whereas if the cracks on the human life force spread any further due to the ongoing conflict, Lith might die.' Solus said.
She showed them how to listen to the melody of the different life forces and how to use it to find their real patient. Solus's Scalpel spell produced golden tendrils that bypassed the hybrid life force and found the human side that was getting weaker by the second.
The blue flame evaporated the black ooze, but the human life force had no defense against the noxious gas produced by their battle. Lith's original life force was supposed to look like a mix of red lego bricks and structures formed by an erector set, but now the dark mist dulled the red.
It seeped through the small gaps that allowed the single pieces to move and coated the surface of the red blocks with an ooze that poisoned Lith's body from the outside. Solus used the golden tendrils to form a blanket that stopped the fog from reaching the bricks.
She needed to constantly spend mana and vitality to fight the erosion caused by the Abomination side to Lith's life force. As soon as the golden barrier stopped the onslaught, the human side started to purge the black ooze and regained its vitality with a speed visible to the naked eye.
'Okay, this is the most important part. We need to keep Lith's human side stable and protected.' Solus said. 'Remember that we can't consider his life forces as separated as it happens with Nalrond. Here any action on one of them affects the others.
'On the one hand, it makes Lith incredibly resistant to effects like Huryole's slave spell. On the other hand, however, it means that the moment I start the procedure on the Abomination side, the other two might mistake me for an enemy and attack my spell. If that happens, I'll need your help to keep them at bay.' Solus said.
'Good gods! Do you really have already found a cure for his condition?' Phloria asked.
'That's what I hope. Even though I could do nothing to stop it, I watched the whole process of Lith going Abomination and back. While you're trapped in a stone body, incapable of doing anything, seconds seem to last hours.
'Despite the pain I endured, I never stopped thinking about how to help him. On top of that, I'm pretty good with the healing arts. My Mom even said that I'm blessed by the light.' Solus chuckled, thinking back at Menadion's words.
'By my Mom! That's it.' Solus suddenly realized how to further improve her technique. 'Earth and light are the elements of creation that balance darkness and fire, the elements of destruction. Chaos is still darkness, after all.'
She used earth fusion, but instead of making it circulate through her body, Solus used the earth element to coat the light that comprised her barrier. The orange energy of earth formed an external layer, greatly reducing the strain on Solus's mana consumption.
'Can someone relieve me from keeping the human side stable?' She asked after sharing her discovery with the others. 'That way I could fully focus on the hybrid life force and greatly increase my odds of success.'
'I'll do it.' Tista already had a splitting headache that only Invigoration and light fusion managed to relieve, but she didn't hesitate to further increase her burden.
Feeding Solus with the vitality she needed while also sustaining the information exchange necessary for the treatment via the mind link weakened her body and poisoned her core.
To make matters worse, Tista was a talented mage but keeping up with a genius required a lot of her focus already. Solus was so used to work with Lith that she shared every single observation she made and every idea that crossed her mind, bombarding her two companions with information that kept piling up.
Tista produced golden tendrils of her own and replaced Solus's. High tiered light spells were designed so to allow the imprint to be easily changed in the case the starting healer needed rest.
She only had until the orange layer crumbled to learn on her own how to channel pure earth elemental energy along with her spell. Otherwise the protective layer would crumble and the black fog would drain her energy faster than she could recover it.
Phloria noticed her distress and shared with Tista part of her own vitality without saying a word. Solus already talked for five people, oblivious of the mana poisoning she caused.
'Okay, now it's time to fix this mess. My first idea was to use light magic on the Abomination side, to make the still lingering Chaos turn into darkness and restore the balance.
'Then I remembered that Chaos feeds on light and that the Abomination side is alive. Light might just feed it and make things worse. We must consider it akin to a parasite or cancerous tissue and treat it with darkness.'
Solus coated her Scalpel spells with darkness magic and cut with them at the swollen areas of the Abomination side of Lith's life force. The burst of Origin Flames had failed to completely remove the excess of light element that had been absorbed during the fight and now caused the imbalance.
Solus had to make one small incision at the time because she had no idea how much energy the Abomination side still stored and she wanted to avoid inflicting an injury on Lith's life force.
No matter how careful she was, with each cut she made, Lith's body would experience a small seizure that forced Olua and Bodya to help Tista to keep Lith still.
'Can't you anesthetize him or something?' Tista asked while on the verge of tears. For a Healer, treating their own family from such severe injuries was a taboo because using Body Sculpting required a clear mind and a cold heart.
'Sorry, I can't. I've never worked on an Abomination and its life force is akin to a black ball of goo. Without studying Lith's reaction, I have no idea if I'm cutting too deep or too shallow.
'Too deep and I could give him new cracks, too shallow and we'll run out of energy before the end of the procedure. Either way, Lith would die.' Solus would have cried as well in Tista's shoes, but her concentration while using Scalpel left no space for emotions.
After each incision, it would take barely a second for the damage sustained by the Abomination side to heal, but Solus could see that it would also reduce the amount of black ooze it produced.
After a while, the hybrid life force started to return to its original shape. The more Solus forced the Abomination side to consume the excess energy to heal itself, the more ground the Beast side regained.
She would have rejoiced if not for the fact that her mana reserve ran dangerously low despite the mana geyser. Destroying the darkness element required to employ the same amount that plagued the patient, but Solus was dealing with Chaos.
The treatment was the same, but every time she didn't coat her Scalpels with enough darkness, the Chaos would feed on the light element and gaining more energy than what she had removed.
Chapter 1180 Conflicting Forces Part 2
On top of that, the Chaos would also devour the mana she had used, forcing her to cast the tier five spell again. If she used too much darkness, instead, the other life forces would react to the threat by sharing part of their energy with the Abomination to protect it.
The slightest mistake would just make the situation worse, requiring Solus to spend more mana than what she absorbed from the geyser.
'You did enough. Now get some rest while I continue the procedure.' Phloria said.
She could see thanks to Invigoration that Solus was on the verge of collapsing due to mana abuse. Solus had yet to recover from the damage that Lith's Abomination form had inflicted upon her.
Using so much mana while in a debilitated state had caused the black scars on her stone body to spread dangerously close to her life force.
'I can still go on and you never performed Body Sculpting on Lith.' Solus said, yet she was so weak that Phloria needed but a gentle push to force Solus's spells to back away.
'You're right, I didn't, but I've watched you long enough to understand what you are doing and why. I know I'm no genius healer, but I'm more than capable to buy you a few precious minutes of rest.' Phloria said.
'Let's see. It's all a matter of balance so what if instead of treating the Abomination side like a parasite I consider Lith's life forces akin to three warring states? They are at battle with each other, but they always reacted in unison when perceiving a common threat.'
Following that reasoning, Phloria performed cuts even smaller than Solus's, but each time she provided the other two life forces with part of her vitality. The approach allowed her to weaken the Abominatio side from three fronts at the same time.
Every time her Scalpel struck, it created an opening that the human and the Beast sides exploited to suppress the Chaos energy with minimal side effects on Lith. Phloria's technique allowed her to keep stabilizing him at the same pace as Solus despite the gap in their healing skills, but it also drained huge amounts of energy.
Unlike Solus, however, she could regain it by using Invigoration and she could perform the procedure without burdening neither of her companions. Solus appreciated both Phloria's help and ingenuity, using every second she got to reconsider her treatment.
At the same time, thanks to Lith's situation improving by the second and the rest, her stone body had almost fixed itself, allowing her to channel most of the world energy into her spells rather than to keep herself together.
'Phloria's treatment is foolproof but it consumes too much energy to be effective whereas mine is more efficient but it's also more dangerous. At least whenever she makes a mistake, Lith's condition doesn't improve but it doesn't get worse either.
'Maybe I can fuse the two methods into one.' Solus thought.
She reduced the number of cuts she performed at the same time and used the remaining mana to fuel the other two life forces as soon as she made sure to have destabilized the Abomination side.
This way, not only did she decreased the risk of mistakes by using less darkness energy, but she also made each cut last longer. The constant pressure exerted by the other two life forces kept the Abomination from healing, making it gradually lose ground until it was a perfect sphere again.
'Okay, Tista, it should be safe to let go of the human side now. With the Abomination under control, we can finally treat his injuries without our healing spells being absorbed.' Solus said via their mind link.
The moment Tista dispelled the barrier of light and earth magic that insulated Lith's life force, his external wounds started to close at a speed visible at the naked eye. All cuts disappeared and even his maimed wing regenerated until he returned whole.
"Did you do that?" Tista asked Phloria, too tired to sustain the small damage that the mind link inflicted them with each thought they shared.
"No, I thought it was you." Between their earlier spar and the healing, Phloria had used Invigoration so many times that the breathing technique had almost no effect.
They both looked at Solus for an answer, but now that Lith was out of danger she finally looked at them with mana sense. Their bodies were on the verge of collapse due to mana abuse and their cores ran on fumes.
To make matters worse, both girls had too much of Solus's mana coursing through their bodies because of the prolonged use of the mind link during the procedure.
'Damn, I talk too much.' Solus thought. 'Thank heavens I wasn't alone. I wouldn't have been able to handle that kind of wounds on my own, not even at the cost of my life force. I wonder what the heck has just happened.'
The answer was actually simple, yet exhaustion kept the three girls from thinking straight. Lith's wounds had remained opened despite Olua's and Bodya's best efforts because his Abomination side had hogged all the light energy that entered his body.
Now, however, with the balance almost restored, the human and beast side had squeezed part of the excess energy the Abomination still had, forcing it to heal Lith. This way they had fixed their body and further depowered the Abomination.
Two birds with one stone.
"I'm impressed, kid. Despite your young age, you managed to solve a problem that I couldn't even understand." Olua offered Tista her hand, who only shook it after making sure that Solus had slipped back at Lith's finger.
"It was all teamwork." She half said and half panted.
The Roc had seen the mind link with Life Vision, just like she could see that Tista could barely stand. Olua gave her as much vitality as she could spare while Bodya did the same with Phloria.
"Do you need a ride home?" The Nidhogg asked.
The reply came in the form of Solus opening a Warp Steps leading to their building.
"No, thanks. I would like to chat a bit, but my big brother needs rest and so do we." Phloria carried Lith in a princess carry, being careful that his wings didn't touch the edges of the dimensional corridor.
Bodya would have loved to exchange his communication rune with Tista, but unfortunately, no dimensional item was so big that it could fit his beast form and not impede his movements.
Belonging to the bloodline of a Guardian meant to inherit their power along with all the troubles of finding the massive amount of resources that their huge bodies required to make proper equipment.
"I'll drop by later to see how Scourge is recovering, if it's not too much of a bother." He said with a charming smile.
"Sure, see you tomorrow." Tista was too tired to realize the implications of his words or even to notice that Bodya was still stark naked. She replied out of habit, only wishing to reach her bed and not to get up for a few days.
"I'm not an expert on Emperor Beast, but that one sure looks nice. I never thought you would flirt on a patient's bedside, let alone your brothers." Phloria said with a chuckle as soon as the Steps closed behind them.
Chapter 1181 Inner Demons Part 1
Unluckily for Tista, her companions had enough energy to not miss what had just happened.
"First, I don't even know who or what he is. Second, I'm too tired to even care about him. Gods, this day has barely started and I can't wait for it to end." She replied, feeling the energy Olua had given her being drained by the second.
Once inside, Solus assumed her tower form to boost everyone's recovery ability, but to not get noticed by the arrays protecting Reghia, the transformation required much longer than usual.
Tista fell asleep on the ground as soon as one last diagnostic spell confirmed to her that her brother was fine while Phloria went to the nearest fountain to fill a few flasks with the nutrients potion from one of its taps.
'I'm too tired to eat anything, but we need to recuperate, especially Lith. It will be easier making him swallow something that tastes like honeyed milk rather than like crap.' She thought, wishing that Faluel had allowed Quylla to teach her the IV spell.
Once she returned home, the tower was finally ready.
"Thank you for your help, Phloria." Solus carried both their unconscious friends with Spirit Magic in their respective rooms while dripping the first potion in their mouths.
"Are you sure you can afford shapeshifting? You've gone through a lot as well. Maybe you should remain a ring until you haven't fully recovered." Phloria said with a worried look on her face.
The tower looked as big and strong as usual, but Solus appearing only in her wisp form made Phloria aware of how tired she was.
"Don't worry about me, I've seen worse." Phloria could have sworn that despite being just a wisp, Solus had just made one of the sweetest smiles she had ever seen.
Phloria gulped down a couple of potions and went to bed, too tired for arguing even a second longer. The moment she disappeared behind her door, Solus entered Lith's room to check on him one last time before going to her bed.
She rolled over his chest, feeling reassured by its rhythmical breathing and falling asleep without even noticing.
***
Blood Desert Fringe.
The Dewan tribe did its best to make Nalrond feel as one of their own so they didn't take it well when he refused to share with them any detail about the Rezar's ritual to commune with the planet and preferred to ask for the help of the humans instead.
They would even use Warp Steps to reach a location away from the village so that no one might "casually" stumble upon the ritual.
"I get that you must still be grieving your tribe, young man. I also understand that seeing a bunch of strangers living in your village mustn't be easy for you, yet I want you to remember that all Werepeople are part of the same tribe." Kimo, the village elder said.
"Thanks for your kindness, but I beg to differ." Nalrond shook his head. "Our ancestors share their origins, but that's not enough to make us family. Besides, I'm not planning to stay. There's nothing for me here."
"How can you say that?" Kimo could barely hide how upset he was.
"We may not be Rezars but we are still your people, just like this is still your village. As the last survivor of the Lightkeepers, you have a duty to uphold. Are you really going to let your legacy die with you?"
"That's exactly the reason why I want to speak with Mogar. Our people have got too used to live in peace and have forgotten the reason why we searched for the Fringes in the first place." Nalrond said.
"It wasn't just to hide and cower from the rest of the world like cowards. We came here to find a safe place where to research a way to undo what has been inflicted upon our people or to at least merge our life forces into one.
"We don't have the long life of Emperor Beasts, we can't Awaken, and we have to fight at all times with our other half. Rather than dooming someone else to this existence, I prefer to gamble on contacting Mogar.
"If I succeed, I'll dedicate my life to make sure that Werepeople become a proper race. If I fail and survive the meeting, I don't plan to stay here either. I've learned more in the year I spent outside than in my whole life inside the Fringe.
"If I decide to have children, I want them to grow free to experience everything that Mogar has to offer, to see the marvels of Forgemastering instead of spending their lives like frogs in a dignified well."
"What about Light Mastery? It's a great power that could give Werepeople the strength to fight our enemies. Can't you at least share its basics with us before attempting this madness?
"If Mogar kills you, centuries of your people's hard work will be lost forever!" Kimo tried to make Nalrond reason, but his words fell on deaf ears.
"My people did very little. All I know comes from Dawn." Saying that name made Nalrond spit on the ground in disgust. "The most important thing my new master, Faluel, taught me is that knowledge cannot be granted, it must be earned.
"I won't teach you anything because it would only make you conceited as it happened to my tribe. Besides, what enemies are you talking about? We have no enemies. The rest of Mogar has forgotten about us."
"I can see the damage that the outside world has done to you. You speak of Werepeople as 'us', yet you treat Dewans as strangers as soon as the power of Light Mastery is involved." Kimo said.
"That's because we are strangers." Nalrond Warped away, tired of hearing that nonsense.
He reached an ample clearing and from there he Warped again to an underground complex of caves. It dated back to the early days when the Rezars had entered the Fringe and had mined it in search of minerals or metals.
"Is everything alright?" He asked while checking the runes carved along the ground, the walls and the ceiling.
The group had covered the caves with magic circles comprised of six runes, each infused with a different element. By merging them together, once a circle was completed, it would generate an artificial flow of world energy.
"We're just bored out of our heads." Friya said with a sigh.
The circles were all the same so after a while, the initial enthusiasm had been replaced by the annoyance of doing the same thing over and over again. On top of that, they had also to regularly recharge the finished formations to keep them from fading away.
"Why are you so late? Did someone give you the speech again?"
"Kimo. The old man doesn't know when to give up." Nalrond stared in awe at the nigh-finished work.
Summoning Mogar's consciousness required so much talent and raw power that he had feared four people wouldn't be enough for the task. The runes they had employed were merely containers for the mana necessary to boost the energy signature of its user to the point that it would appear as powerful as that of a Guardian.
Chapter 1182 Inner Demons Part 2
"I don't like that guy." Quylla said. "Actually, I don't like anyone here. They all treat us like garbage and I don't think you should trust them. Their Souls Projections are weird."
Souls Projections were no mind-reading, yet thanks to them it was impossible to not notice how everyone in the Dewan village cared for the Rezar way much than it was appropriate.
The way the Soul Projections of the Dewans reached out for Nalrond whenever they saw him could either mean a great affection or a deep greed.
"I noticed it as well." Nalrond nodded. "They despise all of you, even Morok, just because you are outsiders, yet they treated me like a savior ever since we met. Today Kimo brought forward the Light Mastery topic.
"I think that they hoped I would stay here and entrust them my legacy."
"Speaking of legacies, before continuing with our job, there are a few things we would like you to ask Mogar in our stead." Quylla said.
"I know what you are about to say. How to survive Awakening with your violet core and what should Friya do with her life. Is there anything for you, Morok?" Nalrond asked.
"Yes. Ask how to act less of a jerk, because you need it. Do I speak like that as well?" Both men didn't mince words and meeting his equal had shown Morok how annoying he was.
"You are worse." The girls said in unison without a shred of hesitation, making the Tyrant slouch.
"Actually, there's something else that I'd like you to ask as soon as you are done with your personal matters. You are the one putting your life on the line for this so you have the right to question Mogar to your heart content, but in case it accepts only a few questions, my Awakening is not a priority." Quylla said.
"Same here. I've already got a lot to think about." Friya looked at her own Soul Projection pondering its significance.
After spending enough time with the members of the Dewan tribe, she had noticed that Projections were supposed to show their owner's most intense emotion according to their situation.
A hungry child would manifest a Dewan eating sweets, a tired farmer would show themselves resting, whereas what Friya did or how she felt didn't seem to affect her Projection.
The only thing that changed was the size and the number of the chains it wore.
'If what Nalrond said the day of our arrival is true, then rather than bothering the planet I should work on myself and accept my limits. After all, even Professors Vastor and Marth are nothing compared to Manohar, yet they have good lives.' Friya thought.
'My only problem with this decision is that it feels more like giving up than reaching inner peace. With my current strength, I'm no match for an elder undead and after all, I went through, I don't have the thick skin politics require anymore.
'Even if Faluel agrees on letting me go without fulfilling my oath, I still can't find a single thing I can do that wouldn't make me feel like a waste of space. Maybe I should go back to the White Griffon academy and become a Professor.'
Then, her eyes fell on Quylla's Projection, depicting her wearing the deep purple robe of a Magus. It would have been great, if not for the Projection casting spells that turned into snakes that ate her alive amid agonizing silent screams.
'Or not.' Friya sighed.
"Then what do you want me to ask?" Nalrond looked puzzled. He had noticed how everyone but him seemed to space out every now and then, as if they were trying to listen to a distant voice.
Quylla snapped out of her reverie and told him all about Lith's condition and about how anything but Forbidden Magic had proven to be useless in fixing his life force.
"I don't get what are you worrying about. Lith is an Awakened. He will still live a long life for human standards." Nalrond shrugged.
"I stand corrected, you're worse than Morok. He's unable to read the room whereas you just don't care!" Quylla blurted out.
"Thanks, sweetie." Morok winked.
"Don't call me sweetie!" She snapped. "As for you, Nalrond, you should take your head out of your ass or I doubt you'll survive your meeting with Mogar. Do you realize that if Lith didn't save Protector, you would have no place to stay?
"That despite your wise act, you are prone to judge others even when you don't know anything about them and that the only pain you really care about is your own? Sure, Lith might outlive me if I don't Awaken, but this isn't a matter of how long he lives so much as how well he lives.
"During my darkest hour, Lith has always remained by my side, doing everything he could to make me feel better. Right now he feels fine, but what if after a fight the cracks in his life force spread? What if they get worse just with the passing of time?
"I don't care how tough Lith acts, I can't just sit around and hope for the best while knowing that my best friend is ill and that I could have made something to help him." Quylla then told him about Death Vision and how the fight against the Odi had almost cost Lith his life.
Hearing how heavy was the burden of others shook Nalrond to the core.
'Quylla is right. I keep acting as if I know everything yet I am just a frog in the well. What happened to me is tragic, but it's still nothing compared to what Solus had to endure.
'Back when we entered inside the Fringe, I underestimated the girls' burden and the three of us almost died for it.' He thought while looking at his own Soul Projection, representing an angry Rezar who always wept blood.
'I'm so blinded by my pain that I quickly judged Friya only because her Projection resembles Acala's.
'I'm so angry at myself for having failed my people, for having survived while the others died fighting that I vent my frustration on others the moment they fail to reach my expectations. Every time I blame others, I'm actually blaming myself.'
"I'm sorry for being so rude. I'll ask your question first." Nalrond took a deep breath while mulling over those thoughts.
Much to his surprise, his Soul Projection calmed down and its tears turned from blood into water. It was a small improvement, but Nalrond felt like a weight had been lifted from his chest.
"Dude, that was weak. A real man doesn't even know the word sorry." Morok said.
"Guess that a real man can also start looking for a girlfriend somewhere else." Quylla said with a sneer.
"Yet he quickly learns it when the necessity arises." Morok rushed to say.
"How or why he's the only one without a Projection is beyond me." Friya said.
"Is there anything else I should ask Mogar?" Nalrond asked.
'Can you please ask for a way to heal Solus?' Friya said via a mind link to not let Morok overhear them.
'I don't want to even think what might happen to her if she falls into the hands of someone who treats her like a slave. Especially once she regains her human body.'
Chapter 1183 Magic and Superstition Part 1
'My problems will die with me, but hers will last forever if we don't find a solution. On top of that, even if she decides to not bond anymore after Lith is gone, her death would be slow and excruciating. No one deserves that once, let alone a second time.' Friya said via the mind link.
Nalrond's body shivered as ancestral visions of what had happened to his forefathers during captivity flashed before his eyes. He didn't actually witness them, but those stories were passed down from parent to child from a young age and imagination could easily fill the gaps.
"I'll ask about this first and about Lith second, if that's okay with you." He said.
"Thank you very much." The girls gave him a deep bow of gratitude before looking at their respective Projections, hoping to have overcome part of their own issues.
Alas, Rome wasn't built in a day.
While Nalrond had changed his mind after a deep self-introspection thanks to all he had experienced since he had started living at Protector's house, Friya and Quylla were just driven by the affection they felt towards their best friend.
Their decision wasn't based on what they had come to realize their issues were so much as something they would have done the day after Lith had damaged his life force anyway.
It didn't make their sacrifice any less important, but it didn't help them either.
"By the way, have you understood the meaning behind Quylla's Projection?" Morok asked.
"The only thing I can think of, is that she wearing the Magus robe and being devoured by her own spells means that Quylla is afraid of her own potential. That she believes that no matter how powerful she gets, she'll always be her worst enemy."
"That's actually pretty close." Nalrond opened his eyes wide in surprise.
Morok grinned at the shocked expression everyone else in the cave wore, refusing to believe their own ears.
'How can someone so stupid also be so wise from time to time? I swear, it's as if Morok just refuses to think about anything he doesn't consider important.' Nalrond thought.
"After explaining to the village's elders the meaning of the deep purple robe, they told me that such Soul Projection means that Quylla is a very ambitious person and that she knows it. Her ambition, however, is not backed by confidence so much as by self-doubt.
"They also said that Quylla's Projection is born from the fear that her powers will betray her when she needs them the most. Someone who holds back because she's scared of the consequences that tapping into her true potential might hold." Nalrond said.
While the others completed the last preparations for the ritual, Quylla thought long and hard about those words.
'The things Nalrond and Morok said hurt too much to be wrong. I am my worst enemy. Ever since Nalear forced me to kill Yurial, I refused to study offensive magic because I was afraid of what might have happened if someone controlled me after I became a proper warrior instead of a pipsqueak.
'Then, even after Kulah, I focused more on improving my physique than my magic because seeing what the Odi had managed to accomplish made me wary of Body Sculpting.
'Just like I didn't give my best to learn Light Mastery because I don't want to become like Manohar. A powerful mage whose ability only chained him and put him on more battlefields than most soldiers experience their whole life.
'People calls him crazy and undependable, but maybe he's just tired of being used. That would explain why he runs away so often. If I become anything more than a Mage, then I might receive the order to hurt someone I love.' She thought.
The robe of a Magus wasn't just a decoration, it was proof of how highly the Kingdom considered the mage and a reward for services rendered. Quylla knew that the moment someone wore such a robe, not only their power, but also their burden would surpass that of everyone else.
'I'm not really afraid of my powers so much as of how they can be used against me.' Only then did Quylla notice that the snakes her Projection's flesh turned into didn't have animal eyes but rather those of Nalear, of the Royals, of Deirus, and even of Jirni.
All people who she thought that wouldn't hesitate to exploit whatever ability she acquired in pursue of their own interests. At that realization, Quylla's Soul Projection changed. It looked the same as before, but now it hesitated before casting the spell as if it knew what would happen.
Yet the Projection cast it anyway and the cycle repeated itself endlessly.
Meanwhile, Nalrond made a small cut on his palm, and then he used earth magic to mix his blood with the ground inside each of the magic circles.
"The elders of my village taught me that while the six elements forming world energy serve to open a channel, this part of the ritual symbolizes how life comes from Mogar and to Mogar it has to return. A way to pay our respects to the Great Mother." Nalrond waved his hand at the circles.
"I'm sorry, but that sounds more like superstition than magic." Quylla pondered, noticing how a faint emerald green mist formed inside each circle where Nalrond had spilled his blood.
Yet no one else managed to see it until she pointed it out to them because of their lack of mana perception.
"Thinking back at Faluel's lessons about Spirit Magic, I believe that your elders were wrong. The blood is a powerful vessel for life force so it would make more sense if the whole ritual is nothing but a huge mind link."
"Think about it. Even by using six elements at the same time, no one can create world energy, because the real deal possesses the will of Mogar. By mixing life force to them, however, we can obtain the next best thing to Spirit Magic."
"Following this theory, you might amplify the effects of the ritual by adding your life force to the light and darkness runes after placing them at the opposite sides of the circle. This way, they can relay and spread the life force evenly."
Quylla showed him a hologram where the runes had been rearranged so that light and darkness were respectively at 6 and 12.
"You can't imbue life force into a rune, only willpower." Nalrond said.
"That's true for the other elements, but not for light and darkness. It's the same principle behind the spell we use to share our vitality with patients. Draw the other runes first and leave light and darkness last.
"Then, draw them at the same time, using light to hold your life force and darkness as a conduit." Quylla explained.
"Quylla, this ritual is hundreds of years old. The greatest minds of my tribe worked on it for generations to improve it and failed. Do you really think-" Nalrond drew a new circle just to humor her, yet the result made his jaw drop.
Even after adding his blood, normal circles were still comprised of six runes, each one of a different color, and only had a faint mist within.
The one obtained following Quylla's instructions, instead, not only did all of its runes turn into a bright emerald green the moment it was completed, but it also resonated with the nearest circles, dyeing them green as well.
Chapter 1184 Magic and Superstition Part 2
"By the gods!" That was all almost everyone managed to say.
Until that moment, Nalrond had always believed that the ritual allowed people to seek an audience with Mogar like a believer does with their god. That the blood spilled and world energy from the circle were an offering from the weak to the strong.
Yet Quylla's circle had proved centuries of history wrong. A mind link meant to meet Mogar as an equal and the great number of circles served as a shield to protect the caster's sanity.
"See? What are a few centuries of research in front of a true genius?" Everyone but Morok, of course.
He exploited the moment of amazement to praise Quylla and gave her a congratulatory hug that was returned instead of being rejected as usual.
'All according to plan.' Morok thought while sniffing her hair but being careful not to be noticed.
"Pervert!" Friya broke the moment and pushed him away.
"What do you mean?" Quylla looked at her sister as if she had gone mad.
Morok had been a true gentleman ever since the trip had started.
"Look at that!" Friya pointed above his head, where his Soul Projection gave him the thumbs up and gestured Morok suggestions to grope her.
"Dude, too soon!" Morok snarled to the Projection before turning to Nalrond. "When we got here you said those things are no mind-reading. Then how do you explain that?"
"My only guess is that since you're usually true to yourself, your soul has no message to express but the urges you're currently repressing." He replied
"Couldn't you tell me that earlier?" Morok's Projection gave Nalrond the fingers and disappeared again.
"Don't worry, I'm not angry. You can't control your thoughts more than I can control mine." Quylla said while pointing at her own Projection.
"Thank the gods! I-"
"The important is that you don't put them into action. Besides, there's no time to waste. Shut up and let Nalrond concentrate. The earliest circles are starting to fade again." Quylla cut him short.
Nalrond looked at the emerald green circle and regretted not having the time or opportunity to redraw them all.
'To do that, I would have not only to waste another two days, but it would also mean to use so much life force that I might not have the strength left to perform the finishing step.' He thought while sitting cross-legged inside Quylla's improved circle.
The rest was easy. Nalrond only had to practice the same meditation technique he used to draw upon the world energy and hasten the recovery of his twin cores. With each breath, he could feel the Spirit Magic of the circle and the world energy mixing inside his body.
With his mind now clear from stray thoughts, Nalrond could see a blinding light shining above him through his closed eyes. He extended his consciousness toward the light just like he had done to cross over the Fringe's barrier.
Once again, countless voices, sufferings, and experiences that comprised Mogar's mind assaulted his consciousness, but thanks to the circles Nalrond only needed a thought to push the mental pressure aside while waiting for his host.
At first, the light was distant, like the sun on a winter day, but soon Mogar noticed him. Suddenly, Nalrond found himself surrounded by a white space that extended as far as the eye could see.
He was standing up with his eyes opened, yet he realized immediately that none of that took place in the real world. There was no trace of his companions, he now wore the same clothes he had before Dawn's escape, and what he saw could only be explained with Mogar playing tricks on his mind.
The person in front of him looked exactly like Nalrond. The only difference between them was that the hair of the doppelganger was of the six colors of the elements.
"What do you want?" Mogar asked with a voice that sounded as if a man and a woman had spoken in unison.
"Greetings, Great Mother." Nalrond gave them a bow, unable to stand even the weight of such powerful gaze. "My name is-"
"I know exactly who you are. A human who came looking for answers. Don't waste my time with formalities because they hold no meaning to me. All the good manners in the world wouldn't have kept me from destroying you if you didn't pique my curiosity." Mogar cut him short.
"I'm no human. I'm a hybrid!" Nalrond found the strength to look up to the doppelganger thanks to the rage such words stirred up.
"Are you really trying to correct me?" Mogar laughed. "Do you know that the few who manage to meet me, always give me the semblance of the person or the thing they care the most about?
"Now tell me, who else but a human can be so arrogant to perceive me as themselves? Tyris saw me like the mother she never met. Baba Yaga as the slave she failed to save. The Horseman of Dawn as her mother.
"Only humans can't think further than their own skin." The spite in Mogar's words and the horror that assailed his mind made Nalrond fall to his knees.
"Did you give an audience to Dawn as well? Did you help her to escape?" He asked.
"Are those your questions?" Seeing such a cruel smirk on his own face almost broke Nalrond's focus.
Cracks appeared in the space around them and the air became too heavy to breathe. The fissures let in more of Mogar's essence than he could bear, slowly pushing him toward madness.
"No. They are not." Nalrond gritted his teeth and put his rage aside.
As his mind became more stable so did the space around them until all the cracks and the mental pressure that they caused disappeared.
'I've already wasted too much time and I don't know how much longer I can hold. Right now, my revenge is not a priority. It would only compromise my focus.'
"Why shouldn't I receive the Bright Day?" Mogar said as if she had just read his mind.
"Do you remember what did your smart friend say? Our communion has nothing to do with superstition. Dawn opened a mind link with me just like you did and since she didn't give me any reason to dispose of her, I listened to her ramblings. Just like I'm doing now."
"As for Dawn's escape, she didn't need my help for that. She knew that it was only a matter of time before someone stupid enough would break her out. She was more interested in things like overcoming the undead's weakness to sunlight."
"What did you tell her?" Nalrond tried to shapeshift out of rage, fighting the temptation of ripping the head of his double. Yet nothing happened.
"Is that your question?" Mogar repeated.
"Why do you keep asking me that if you're going to answer me anyway?" The stress of that conversation made the space crack again until he managed to calm down.
'Mogar is doing it on purpose. They want me to either end the link or die and so far, I took the bait like a moron.' Nalrond noticed that the pressure on his mind grew with each passing second.
The longer Mogar focused on him, the less the magic circles his companions had prepared managed to ward off the flood of world energy and with it the full brunt of the planet's consciousness.
Chapter 1185 Mindscape Part 1
"I want to know how to free Solus from her tower. How to fix Lith's life force. How I can turn from a hybrid into a complete being. How-"
"That's enough." His Mogar double cut Nalrond short. "Each question requires a complex answer and I doubt that your human mind can even grasp one of them."
With a wave of Mogar's hand, three small spheres of light appeared behind its back. Nalrond moved to take them, but the doppelganger stood in front of him.
"That knowledge is mine and you didn't do anything to deserve it. Do you understand as much?" Mogar said.
"Are you going to stop me?" Nalrond asked.
"Of course not. It was just a friendly warning." Mogar stepped away, leaving the path clear.
Nalrond had no idea what sphere answered what question so he started from the rightmost. The moment the Rezar extended his hand, the sphere shapeshifted into a man with sharp features, a well-groomed beard, and cruel silver eyes.
The unknown figure had both his hand and feet chained to his waist. He wore dirty rags that bore the insignia of a broken Griffon, the mark of traitors sentenced to death.
His body was dirtier than his clothes and it bore the marks of prolonged torture, yet the man stood as straight as an arrow. The authority the man emitted and his steel gaze intimidated Nalrond, making it hard for him even to meet the man's gaze.
"How dare a peasant attempt to touch the King?" Arthan said while slapping Nalrond so hard that the hit sent him sprawling on the floor.
Even though the Mad King had been dead for centuries and none of the events in the white space was real, Nalrond felt pain. In the real world, his lip split and his cheek turned purple as if someone had hit him.
With his sight still blurry from the shock, the Rezar approached the middle sphere. The moment it started to transform, he jumped back before what looked like a precious Forgemastering hammer bashed his skull open.
"You've got guts to try stealing my secrets, kid. Do it again and they will be all over the place." The woman wielding the hammer was quite short, barely 1.56 meters (5'1") tall, with hair of the seven colors of the elements that reminded him of Faluel.
Menadion was covered in wounds and blood, most of which belonged to her. Her disheveled head and ripped clothes made her look like she had just finished a fight to the death, yet the light in her eyes told Nalrond she was ready to start over.
"Let me guess…" He extended his hand toward the last sphere and dodged just in the nick of time before a clawed hand ripped his throat.
A Rezar had taken its place, but unlike the other apparitions, it didn't speak. A snarl conveyed everything it had to say.
"What does this mean? You agreed to answer my questions?" Nalrond said without taking his eyes off the spirits.
"When did I do that, exactly?" Mogar tilted its head. "I came here because you called me and I asked you what were your questions because that's the only reason humans seek me. To take what doesn't belong to them."
"For the last time, I'm not human. I'm a hybrid!"
"So says the man who literally thinks the world of himself and who can't even shapeshift inside his own mind." Mogar shook their head, annoyed.
"I'm not a library. This is how I process information. By recording the entire existence of all those who walked my surface. If you want your answers, all you have to do it's to touch them. One single touch will be enough."
"If they are just memories, how can they be so strong?" He asked.
"Death doesn't make a mind weaker. Those shades represent all they were and all they knew. To get what you want you must overcome them." The doppelganger said.
Nalrond tried to activated Fusion Magic, but nothing happened. Then, he tried to weave a spell to restrict the shades just to realize that there was no elemental energy to call upon.
'Dammit, I keep forgetting this is my mind. I don't get why Mogar even bothers receiving non-Awakened if anyone without Spirit Magic has no way to fight. Dawn has…' The thought struck at him like a hammer.
'Dawn has been inside the Fringe for centuries and yet when Lith and I faced her, she resorted to Odi technology to research a way to solve her problem. Why would she do that if she had already gotten her answer from Mogar?
'The good news is that if she failed, then there must be a way to succeed that isn't related to Spirit Magic. The bad news is that I don't know what it is.'
Nalrond rushed against the Rezar, the enemy that he knew best. The creature sidestepped the extended hand and slashed at his head with its 30 centimeters (1 foot) long claws.
Nalrond dodged the attack while following the enemy's movements. The other two shades didn't interfere in their fight, even returning to their pure energy form.
Nalrond felt reassured and pressed forward. In the white space, speed wasn't a matter of muscles, only of will. He almost grabbed one of the arms of the creature multiple times as he realized the truth about his condition.
With each failed attempt he made, Nalrond could feel ideas popping in his mind, reaching a clarity and understanding about hybrids like never before. The problem was that as soon as the Rezar got even one step away, all the knowledge Nalrond had gained would fade away, like memories from a dream.
After Nalrond's hand grazed one of its claws, the creature snarled and unleashed a spell that closely resembled Dawn's Daybreak. Scorching spears of light pierced Nalrond's limbs and chest while the cloud of darkness that surrounded them ate at his whole being.
Nalrond tried to conjure his own hard-light construct to defend himself, but failed. Life fusion didn't trigger as well, leaving him completely open to the attack. As his being started to fade, the white space cracked from every direction, letting Mogar's flow of consciousness in.
"You bit more than you could chew, human. Now come to me." Nalrond-Mogar said.
Nalrond could feel his mind going adrift as a choir of voices invaded his head. In the real world, his body had sustained the same injuries as his mind, bleeding profusely from wounds so big that his companions could look through them.
"What the heck is happening?" Friya started to heal his injuries the moment they formed, just like she had healed the damage from Arthan's slap.
Yet without the protection that only Quylla's circle had provided him, Nalrond would have already died on the spot like all those who had failed to commune with the planet.
"I guess he's failed and Mogar is claiming its prize." Morok said while doing his best to support her. Despite their best efforts, the Rezar's body was slowly dissolving due to darkness magic.
"Less chatting more healing. Go all-out." Quylla said while using her tier one healing spell, Injection, to spread nutrients potions and tonics directly into Nalrond's bloodstream.
Chapter 1186 Mindscape Part 2
"This is new." Mogar said while watching her prey returning to his original state.
With the last bits of willpower that he had left, the rejuvenated Nalrond managed to cut the mind link with the planet and returned to his body before the creature could resume its attack.
His eyes opened as his mouth coughed out the blood that drowned his lungs in the attempt to speak.
"Don't talk, use light fusion if you can instead. We need all the help we can get." Quylla said while using tier four healing magic on him.
Nalrond missed almost half of his body, but with three healers focusing on him and without taking more damage from Mogar's mindscape, he managed to survive long enough for light fusion to make a difference.
It evenly spread among the wounds the spells that his companions used, focusing them where they were needed the most, and sped up his metabolism, allowing the damaged areas to receive a constant flow of nutrients from the potions.
It took the three healers several minutes and all of their mana to keep Nalrond alive despite his several failing organs until his body was capable of working again without external help.
"Something went wrong, but I don't know what." Nalrond said amid pants. He had not moved a finger, yet he was close to fainting due to exhaustion.
"Don't talk. You need to rest." Friya said while checking him with a diagnostic spell. Between the wounds and the mana abuse from the healing, Nalrond's body was on the verge of breaking down.
He nodded, falling asleep as soon as he lost his focus.
While Quylla used Injection again, the others dispelled the magic circles to make sure that the Dewan couldn't find the Rezar's secret spot thanks to their heightened senses. They would need it in case Nalrond wanted to contact Mogar again.
"Can't you teach us Injection?" Friya asked. "You're the best healer among us. If one of us takes care of the potions, you could fully focus on the healing."
"I wish I could. Faluel forbid me to. I'm sorry." Quylla sighed while using a floating spell to lift their friend off the ground and move him without any bumps.
They Warped out of the cave and to the spot they had entered the Fringe before opening a Steps that would lead them to the Dewan village. Nalrond might need more healing and they were in no condition to help.
Unfortunately for them, the moment the Dewans saw the unconscious Rezar covered in blood, their prejudices against humans kicked in.
"I knew there is no way people like you could befriend one of us. What did you do to him?" Elder Bahn said while shapeshifting and calling for reinforcements.
"We didn't do anything!" Friya inwardly cursed at fake magic for the umpteenth time as the Dewans quickly surrounded them from every side, wielding enchanted weapons.
'Lith would be able to explain to them what happened while weaving his spells in the case these guys lose it due to the bloodlust of their beast half, whereas I can't cast a spell without risking to escalate things.' She thought.
"Nalrond attempted to commune with Mogar and almost died for it. He's alive only because we helped him." Friya said.
"What need does Mogar have to spill blood?" Yunma, one of the women said. "I think you just tortured him to get what you want, just like you did to get inside the Fringe. That's what humans do. Forcing others to pay the price for their dreams."
"Then why would we bring him back here instead of getting out of the Fringe?" Quylla said.
"Easy. Because you have no way to get out without him." The elder replied. "Kill them all and rescue or brother!"
The Dewan Blinked behind the girls' back to finish them off with one hit, only to get blocked by a wall of light hard enough to stop their attack and elastic enough to bounce the weapons back against their user, wounding the Werepeople.
"Are you dumb or what?" Nalrond's voice was a whisper, needing air magic to amplify it to an audible level. "If they ever forced me to do anything, I would have told you the moment I remained alone with you. They just saved my life."
"We have no way to be sure that they didn't put you under a slave item and they have yet to prove their innocence." Elder Bahn shook his head, pointing at the Rezar's battered body.
"Yes you do." Nalrond took off all the enchanted items he had and even his shirt. "If any of it was a slave item, I wouldn't be able to remove them. On top of that, how can someone prove that they didn't do something?
"Believe it or not, it was Mogar wounding me when I failed their test. I swear it on my ancestors."
Those words took the Dewans aback. The Werepeople considered it their most sacred oath. Refusing to believe Nalrond would mean making him their mortal enemy. Yet their hatred for humans almost blinded them to the evidence the Rezar had provided.
Almost.
"You're right. I apologize for our rudeness." Elder Bahn gave Nalrond a deep bow, disregarding the others.
No one missed it nor the fact that the Dewans didn't put away their weapons. Only once they got back inside their home and Friya activated the protective arrays did everyone manage to relax.
"Since all that yelling woke me up, I might as well tell you what happened. It will not take long." Nalrond said while fighting the exhaustion that made his eyelids droopy.
He quoted Mogar word by word, describing to them the appearance of his enemies as well as the fact that he had failed to use any form of magic during the battle whereas the shades had used both spells and equipment.
"Any question?" He asked, falling back asleep the moment he received a no for an answer.
Actually, they had many but they didn't want him to stay awake one second longer than necessary.
"I don't know anything about Rezars or a woman with a hammer, but the man that Nalrond described reminded me awfully of the Mad King." Quylla said.
"It makes sense. Arthan's Madness would probably be able to heal Lith's cracked life force but at what price?" Friya shook her head, considering the implications of Nalrond's visions.
"If that was the answer, then why didn't Mogar show him Thrud? According to both Professor Vastor and Manohar, she made tremendous improvements to her father's work." Quylla said.
"Maybe because she's alive while Mogar can access only to the memory of the deceased." Friya replied.
"It can't be that simple. Mogar is with every one of us every single day. It is bound to know everything about the living as well. I think that it depends on Arthan's research about life force. Remember that he was the first god of healing." Quylla said.
"How do you know so much about that madman?" Morok asked.
"Despite all the atrocities he committed, Arthan laid the foundations of Body Sculpting as we know it. During my time as Assistant Professor at the White Griffon, Professor Vastor showed me the records about the Mad King.
"The Kingdom keeps them a secret, but without them, making any progress with Body Sculpting would be impossible." Quylla said.
Chapter 1187 Long Waited Reunion Part 1
"Vastor had to give me access to Arthan's diaries to keep me from wasting time just to reinvent the wheel." Quylla said.
"There's one thing that doesn't add up." Morok said. "Nalrond saw a Rezar, but we have no way to know if the shade was an Emperor Beast or one of his ancestors.
"Either way, if a Rezar knew how to merge the two life forces of a hybrid, why didn't he share such knowledge?"
"We'd have to wait for Nalrond to wake up to answer to that." Friya said. "In the meantime, we'd better call Lith. None of us knows anything about Awakened or mind links.
"Maybe the woman with Faluel's hair was the Awakened equivalent of Arthan and maybe he could explain to us how to fight against the shades on equal footing." She took her communication amulet out of her dimensional item, noticing that all runes were lit.
Unbeknownst to them, the Fringe was akin to a giant mana geyser, allowing them to reach the others on the Jiera continent even when they were outside Solus's tower.
Friya turned the holograms off before calling Phloria. She didn't want to show her sister in a nightgown to Morok nor wanted to risk exposing Solus's existence before being sure that the Tyrant could be fully trusted.
"I hope this is important. Do you have any idea what time is it here?" Phloria had gone to bed for a few hours now, but she still felt like crap.
"No, I don't. Yet I wouldn't call you if this was anything but vital. We're on the clock here. The Fringe is far from uninhabited and we're this close to getting burned at the stake." Friya replied, explaining Phloria about the Dewans and about the failed attempt at communing with Mogar.
"Slow down. I'm still half asleep so I'm not understanding even half your words. On top of that, I can't ask Lith for help. Nalrond has been damaged in the body, but Lith had it worse. His life force is compromised and he needs rest. I can ask S-"
"Morok says hi to you." Friya cut her short.
"Hi, Quylla's tomboy sister." Morok had no clue why formalities mattered during such a moment but he didn't care enough to ask for an explanation.
"Do you really have yet to remember my name?" Phloria said. "Never mind, I'll call the others."
She went to Tista first, but Invigoration's effects had yet to reset and she was so tired that no amount of knocking on her door could wake her up. Phloria then went to Solus's room, finding it open and empty.
'I should have known that she wouldn't leave Lith's side no matter how tired she is. I bet that Solus has taken care of him ever since we went to sleep.' Phloria thought.
When she opened the door and found the Wisp resting on the Wyrmling's chest like a puppy, the scene moved her.
'It's really hard to even guess how deep their bond is. If I was in Kamila's shoes and saw this, I would be mad with jealousy, though.' Phloria shook Solus gently, trying to not wake up Lith as well.
The Wisp wobbled as she regained consciousness, turning beet red when Solus realized to have been caught red-handed. She didn't sleep with Lith ever since she had regained a humanoid body for obvious reasons.
"I'm sorry to wake you up, but Friya might have found something about your mother and I thought you needed to hear it first." Phloria whispered while casting a Hush Zone around Lith.
She thought to have recognized Menadion from the description, but she wasn't sure of it. Only Solus and Nalrond had actually seen the First Ruler of the Flames, the others had only heard about her.
At those words, Solus became wide awake. Between the mana geyser under Reghia and being so close to Lith, she had recuperated most of her strength.
"Can you endure a mind link?" Phloria asked.
"I can, but you're still too weak. We need to use words." Solus could see with her mystical senses that only sheer willpower allowed Phloria to stand.
"I'll let you speak with Friya, then. Be careful of what you say, though. The others went to a Fringe and there's Morok with them." Phloria said.
'Why didn't they wait for us? I could have learned a lot from a Fringe, maybe even get another talk with Mogar.' Solus thought. 'Unless Faluel sent them there as part of their trial of wisdom, I'm going to give Nalrond a piece of my mind when I see him again.'
"Hi, mysterious Lith's third girlfriend. Nice to hear you again." Morok said as soon as he recognized her voice.
"Friya, can you explain to me what's happening?" Not having the patience to put up with the Tyrant's nonsense, Solus ignored him.
After listening to everything that had happened since they had entered the Fringe, Solus tried to answer their questions to the best of her abilities.
"Quylla is right. The man was definitely Arthan. From your description, he wore the clothes and chains of the day of his execution. As for the woman, she was Magus Ripha Menadion, wielding her fabled hammer, the Fury." Solus remembered it from Orion's book.
The artifact had a too peculiar shape to forget about it.
"Did she say anything?" Based on Menadion's tattered clothes and her battle frenzy, Solus realized that just like Arthan, the shade was likely the depiction of the final moments of Menadion's life.
Any clue, no matter how insignificant, could help Solus uncover the mystery behind her condition and Menadion's disappearance.
"No, she didn't. Do you have any idea why the shades could use both magic and equipment whereas Nalrond only had his human body?" Friya said.
"I have never fought with Lith during our mind links, but I know how the mindscape works." Solus replied. "Everything that happens there depends upon your perception of yourself.
"The form you take in the mindscape isn't related to your physical appearance so much as to how you picture yourself. It's similar to how an Emperor Beast chooses their human form."
Even during their mind fusion, Solus wasn't able to see herself as a human because she had no idea of how she looked like before becoming a hybrid. On the other hand, Lith could take the appearance of Derek McCoy, of the Wyrmling, or that of his actual body.
"Let me get this straight. You think that the reason why Nalrond couldn't shapeshift nor use magic is that he sees himself as a normal man, correct?" Friya asked.
"Yes. If he considers such abilities as something that belongs to his beast half, then he can't rely on them during a mind link. On top of that, what the other Rezar used wasn't magic.
"It was a manifestation of its willpower, just like Arthan's strength or Menadion's hammer. Arthan pictured himself like a god while Menadion lived and died wielding her Forgemastering tool." Solus replied.
'Good gods, no wonder Lith managed to get this far in the academy and the army. We are all tired, yet Solus managed to put together the pieces of the puzzle like it was nothing.' Friya thought.
Chapter 1188 Long Waited Reunion Part 2
"Why do you think the Rezar that Nalrond saw never shared his knowledge with his clansmen? Werepeople are a tight-knit community, it doesn't make any sense." She asked.
"I have a couple of ideas about it." Solus's words made everyone open their eyes wide.
"First, Mogar has the habit to change its appearance based on the guest. Remember that Arthan and Menadion represented the answers respectively about me and Lith, whereas the Rezar was the only question Nalrond asked for himself.
"It's possible that just like Mogar took his human appearance, the answer took the form of the part of himself that he rejects."
"What about the second hypothesis?" Friya said.
"If the shade wasn't Nalrond himself, then maybe the Rezar was an Emperor Beast." Solus replied. "Maybe they tried to help the Werepeople but failed to find the Fringe to pass them the answer. If I'm right, then maybe the answer is out there, somewhere.
"Even if Nalrond failed, we have still learned a lot from his attempt. Lith's answer lies in Arthan's research, mine in Menadion's past, and Nalrond's just has to reach out to his Emperor Beast cousins."
"What if you are wrong?" Friya asked.
"Then it's even better. It means that all Werepeople have the potential to become one, just like all Awakened have the potential to reach a violet core. It's only a matter of understanding how." Solus said.
"I have an idea." Coming from Morok's mouth, those words sounded out of this world.
"What if I attempt a mind link with Mogar while mister crybaby recovers? If Lith's girlfriend is right, then by asking two questions for others and one for me, we can check if the answers change their appearance based on who asks the questions.
"On top of that, I'm the only one who has no self-esteem issues so I might be able to kick some solid ass." He pointed at the Soul Projections of the others that expressed how heavy they felt their respective burden.
"What does Morok mean, he has no issues?" Solus asked.
Friya explained to her the phenomenon of the Soul Projections, making Solus so curious that she activated the hologram function after hiding behind Phloria's back. Unfortunately, they weren't shown by the amulet.
Quylla solved the issue by using Light Mastery to project holograms of their respective Soul Projections.
"Dammit. I wish I was there with you. We could have finally solved a lot of mysteries." Solus wondered if her own would have shown how she looked like and if Lith's would clear the secret behind his life forces.
"What do you think of my idea, invisible woman?" Morok asked while looking around the projection of the tower's room without being able to find the source of the voice.
"I believe you are right. Based on your Projections and how the village elder interpreted them, you are the only one who might tap into his full potential in the mindscape. Remember that your real strength is not the limit.
"If you believe yourself invincible, you can make it true." Solus replied.
"Thanks. We'll make a second attempt as soon as we recover our strength. If Mogar is the asshole you described to me, then I think I can cheat my way to victory. Especially if we use Quylla's circles instead of the regular ones." Morok said.
Solus had no idea what he meant, but she was too tired to talk any longer. After wishing her friends a good night, she ended the call.
"I'm going back to sleep. Are you staying here?" Phloria asked.
"Yes. The closer I am to Lith the faster I recover. Also, his life force has yet to stabilize. If his condition gets worse, I'm the only one who can take care of him." Solus said while resting on his chest to use Invigoration on Lith.
She could see the doubt in Phloria's eyes, but Solus couldn't blame Phloria for questioning her true motivations since her own words didn't convince Solus as well. The tower was her body, staying in the same room wouldn't make her mystical senses more accurate nor her response faster in the case something went wrong.
"Try to get some rest. There's no telling when you'll need your full strength." Phloria closed the door and returned to her own room with her mind in disarray.
'After Balkor's attack, I stood by his side all the time together with Solus, yet back then I wasn't aware of her existence. Now, however, the same situation would be awkward.
"Not only because he already has a girlfriend, but also because the more time I spend with them, the more I realize how much of our relationship we shared with Solus. I can't believe how complicated things have become in just a few years.' She inwardly sighed.
Inside Lith's room, Solus thought the same things, but coming to a different conclusion.
'I hoped that the closer I got to obtain a human body, the clearer my feelings would become, yet they are only getting messier. The only silver lining is that my relationship with Lith can't become more complicated than this, can't it?' Solus thought.
Meanwhile, in the streets of Reghia, a lonely humanoid figure walked the streets while looking at what looked like a compass the needle of which was made out a pure white crystal.
'Dammit, I can't believe that Ripha screwed up this badly. The Pathfinder is supposed to point me at her tower the moment I come in a radius of 1000 kilometers from it, no matter if the tower has been imprinted or not.
'Yet the needle keeps spinning as if it can't recognize the tower core's signal.' Just like Menadion, Lochra Silverwing had no idea that fusing a living person to an artifact would alter its energy signature to the point of making the Pathfinder useless.
After several attempts, Silverwing stopped cursing her bad luck and started asking for directions. After all, the number of Wyrmlings who came from the Garlen continent and temporarily resided in Reghia amounted to one.
Once she found the building, Lochra remained impressed by the layers of arrays that made her Life Vision pointless and nullified all of her detection spells.
'Whoever did this sure has talent and cunning, but they must also be very young. Their formations have power but lack stability.' She thought while using Spirit Magic to alter the flow of world energy in the runes and stretch them just enough to slip through the arrays without triggering any of the alarms.
'If the tower could draw the full power of the mana geyser and the kid who stole it mastered its defenses, this would have been much harder. Luck is by-' Once she opened the door of the building, Lochra froze seeing how run-down Menadion's tower was.
Memories and reality overlapped for a second, making her shed warm tears.
'Good gods. The tower has never been so small, not even when Ripha had just finished the crafting process and it had yet to absorb the energy needed to tap into its full potential.
'This is all my fault. If I didn't go into seclusion for one hundred years just to finish one of my experiments, I would have answered that damn call. My disciple and her daughter would still be alive.' Lochra thought.
Chapter 1189 Long Waited Reunion Part 3
'Forgive me, Ripha. I can't change the past, but I can promise you that I will not let you down again.' Silvering wiped her tears and studied the tower with Life Vision.
None of its defenses had been activated and most of the energy that the tower absorbed from the ground was focused in a single room.
"Emergency override. Password: Loka, white, legacy, death, Menadion." Lochra sighed in relief when the tower recognized the ancient code and opened its door to her.
Once inside, she made herself both invisible and inaudible, checking the rooms one by one to estimate the threat level of her potential enemies.
'What the heck? How could Menadion's tower become an Awakened sorority?' After finding Tista and Phloria, even the other rooms clearly belonged to women.
'Well, the good news is that they are just weak kids. It shouldn't take much to talk some sense into them. The better news is that being all girls, they shouldn't have abused of- Oh, crap!'
All of Silverwing's hopes crumbled into dust when she opened the door to Lith's room and found Solus sleeping in the same bed as the Wyrmling while hugging him. The steady flow of energy from both Lith and the mana geyser had made Solus assume her humanoid form after she had lost consciousness.
Lochra's body flared with mana and fury, lighting the room akin to a white sun as the mana waves she released along with her aura made her robe flap as if she was amid a storm.
The sudden light and noise woke up Solus who immediately activated the emergency protocols, ready to smite the intruder before they could take another step. That until the tower core reported to her that Silverwing's override code had been activated, allowing Solus to recognize her foe.
"Aunt Loka? Is that really you?" She said while Hushing the room and covering Lith's eyes with a shroud of darkness to not disturb his rest.
Those words stayed Silverwing's hand and the spell she was about to unleash to kill the sick bastard who had enslaved her sweet, innocent goddaughter.
"Elphyn? Do you still recognize me?" The room plunged back into darkness as she rushed forward, lifting Solus in the air like she was a small child before hugging her and kissing her head over and over.
"Not really. I just read the tower's log. I'm sorry, but I've lost most of my memories. I've got no recollection of you or Dad. I barely remember Mom and I've no idea who Elphyn is. My name is Solus." She said while escaping from the awkward embrace of the stranger.
"What do you mean, you've lost your memories? What did that sicko do to you?" Lochra pointed at the Wyrmling with enough mana in her forefinger to turn the tower into a crater.
"Lith saved my life, that's what he did." Solus put herself between them. "I've waited centuries for someone to find me after Mom's death. Over time, the tower got so weak that in order to survive, I had to make sacrifices.
"What's your excuse for forgetting about me until now?" Solus's eyes brimmed, with rage and with as much mana as she could muster.
Her words hit Silverwing like a fist in the guts, making her realize how crazy she had to appear in Elphyn's eyes.
"I'm so sorry, Epphy." Lochra lowered her arm, doing her best to hold back the centuries of regrets that were seconds away from making her burst into tears.
"The moment I tried to get in touch with Ripha, her contact rune was already gone. I tried to find the tower, but this damned thing failed me." She showed Solus the Pathfinder and its needle that still spun like a fan.
"Your mother gave it to me in the case something happened to her. It was supposed to guide me to the tower, but only now did I realize it's broken. I visited all the mana geysers I was aware of, but I never found any trace of you.
"I thought that the same person who had killed Ripha, had also killed you and taken the tower. I never stopped searching for you. Why do you think I came to Jiera?" Everything from her tone to her heartbeat sounded sincere, making Solus lower her guard.
"Are you saying that not even you know who killed Mom?" Solus was flabbergasted.
"No one does. Otherwise every single Awakened on Mogar would have hunted them down to get their hands on Ripha's legacy. Either your mother died along with her enemy, or she hid the tower so well that neither her killer nor me managed to find it.
"Gods, you must have so many questions. Especially about your father." Silverwing said.
"What was his name and was he a mage as well or just a painter?" Solus asked.
"By the Great Mother, how can you know that your father was a painter but not remember his name?" Silverwing finally understood that Solus's memory was as damaged as the tower.
She had spoken out of sincere worry, but Solus's pained expression at those words made Lochra feel as if her heart was being squeezed in a vise.
"I'm sorry, Epphy, I didn't mean to be so insensitive. First, I'll answer to all your questions and then you'll explain to me what has happened to you. Deal?"
"Deal." Solus offered her hand, receiving another smothering embrace instead.
"Your father's name was Threin. He was just a painter who didn't practice magic except what he needed for his work and for taking care of you. He learned water magic to be able to draw exactly as he imagined, light magic to treat your baby colics, and darkness magic to keep you clean." Silverwing chuckled at the memory.
"How did Mom and Dad meet?" Solus asked.
"Your father was an oddball and your mother was even worse. Neither of them cared much for social status or etiquette. They met by chance at painting classes. I forced Ripha to get a hobby and to come out of her lab.
"Since she liked working with her hands and always considered herself an artist, they became immediately rivals."
"Was Mom that good?" Solus's eyes shined with pride at the idea.
"Gods, no. At three years you drew better than she did after several classes. It was just Ripha being overly competitive, like always. She could barely hold a brush properly her whole life.
"Your father never got angry with Ripha for her boasting and tried to teach her, but to no avail. The only thing he got from all those private lessons was to spend a lot of time with her until your Mom fell in love and asked him out." Lochra replied.
"How old were they?" Solus asked.
"Your mother was over 200 years old and your father was 22 when they started dating and they married three years later. You arrived after their 10th anniversary because your Mom always had a new project in the works and she was terrified at the idea of how much time taking care of a baby would require.
"Heck, to get Ripha out of her lab, your father requested my help more than once to kidnap her. Literally."
Chapter 1190 Long Waited Reunion Part 4
"I had devised this special set of chains to keep Ripha at a table long enough to have a proper date." Thinking back at those times when Mogar still made sense, Silverwing laughed with joy.
Her words conjured some of Solus's lost memories where she sat with her parents for their anniversary or birthdays and the chains kept Menadion from rushing back into her lab the moment she had a sudden inspiration until she finally gave up.
Those visions showed Solus how happy her family had been, making her laugh as well for a few seconds before stopping abruptly. Hearing so many details about her past brought Solus happiness, but also worry.
'My parents got married after three years. Lith's third anniversary with Kamila is drawing nearer by the day. Will it happen for them as well?' She thought.
"I have only a few memories left, but none of Dad. What happened to him? Did he die of old age?" Solus said.
"No. Against my better judgment, your mother Awakened Threin so that they could get old and watch you grow into a powerful mage together." At those words, sadness veiled Silverwing's eyes.
"He only used the breathing techniques to extend his life, but he never practiced magic seriously nor did he train his body."
"What do you mean, against your better judgment? What's wrong with Awakening the person you love?" Solus would have been outraged if not for the sincere sorrow Silverwing showed.
"For an Awakened, magic must be second nature because once the mana core goes past orange, each breakthrough becomes exponentially more dangerous. Your father needed help to survive reaching the green core and I warned them over and over that from then, things would only get worse.
"Yet your father had undying faith in your mother's skill just like Ripha believed she could control everything simply by keeping his condition in check. Threin started practicing magic only after Ripha Awakened you at the age of six and only to be able to fly with both you and your mother.
"You've always been a gifted child and with Ripha's teachings, it took you barely a month to learn the first three tiers of magic. You spent so much time in the sky and your mother was such an airhead that without Threin, you would've lost your way countless times.
"At some point, we all suspected that you did it on purpose, to get the attention of at least one of your parents." Lochra sighed. "It happened too fast for anyone to intervene. One moment you were playing tag with Threin, the next he was gone."
"Gone how?" Solus started to sob, feeling a forgotten sense of guilt resurface through the sands of time.
"The constant use of magic hastened his core development and he had already reached the bright green core. When the breakthrough to cyan started, it only took one pulse of mana to make his body burst."
"We arrived at the scene the moment you pressed the emergency call on your clothes, but it was already too late. You begged us to save him, yet all that remained of Threin was a newborn Abomination.
"His desire to not leave you was so strong that he refused death, at least until he saw me and Ripha shielding your small figure still covered in his blood with our bodies. Only then did Threin understand what had happened and let himself fade away."
"I thank the gods every single day for the strength he showed by not forcing me to kill him and you to see him die again." Silverwing's eyes shed warm tears but her voice remained firm and her face betrayed no emotion.
"Did I kill my Dad? Would he be still alive if I didn't fly around so much?" Solus asked.
"No, you didn't. It was just a matter of time and the reason why I didn't want Ripha to Awaken Threin. Yet you were too small to understand it. You blamed yourself for forcing him to play with you so often and your mother for being absent, like always, when your father needed her the most.
"Ripha blamed herself as well and never remarried. Since she couldn't give you any sibling, she took in many apprentices, hoping that they would fill the void in your lives and help you to overcome your grief." Lochra replied.
"What happened after that?"
"You smiled much less and studied much more. Even though you always resented your mother, you became just like her, spending all of your time practicing magic and training your body.
"You faced every breakthrough like a battle as if you wanted to get revenge for what had happened to Threin. You grew considering your fellow apprentices as rivals rather than friends and never let anyone into your life." Lochra said.
"Did I date?"
"Yes, but you refused anyone who had yet to reach the blue core, afraid that they would suffer the same fate as your father. It limited your suitors quite a bit since only powerful Awakened fit the bill.
"Most of them you dumped because they were just using you to get to your mother." Silverwing said.
"What about the others? The ones I loved and who loved me back?"
"You dumped them nonetheless. The more you liked someone, the more the scene of your father's death would flash before your eyes whenever you were…
"How do you kids say it these days? Getting intimate? Going for the fifth year? Letting them inside your chamber of secrets?"
"I get it, please stop!" Solus turned to a shade of purple and so did all the lights in the tower. "How do you know all this stuff about my personal life?"
"Because you told me, Epphy. Being your relationship with your mother complicated at best, who do you think you asked for advice about crushes, love, and sex?" Lochra said.
"How old I was when I… disappeared?"
"Twenty-eight and believe me when I say that you were a prodigy. You reached the violet core by yourself at twenty and your genius rivaled that of your mother. You were so ahead of your peers that I still don't get who or what could have bested both you and Ripha.
"Now it's your turn to tell me your side of the story." Lochra said.
Solus told her everything she remembered about the time before meeting Lith, which didn't amount to much. Silverwing shuddered every time Solus described the fear and isolation from her core getting weaker by the day to her.
Then, she met Protector and Lith. Silverwing expected her to express even more pain while recounting the time when she had no body and no freedom, forced to live in the shadows like an Abomination.
Yet Solus smiled a lot while talking about Lith's family and spoke about the years they had spent together with such tenderness that it sent cold shivers down Lochra's spine.
Solus made no mention of Lith's reincarnations, but shared with her godmother her worries about his life force and her plans to find a way to fix it. While they talked, Solus unconsciously searched for his hand more than once and she caressed his scaly head from time to time.
"Kid, I'm going to be honest with you. Are you insane or what?" Silverwing stood up so abruptly and her voice held such contempt that Solus instinctively started to weave her best spells.
Chapter 1191 A Worried Parent Part 1
Until that moment, Solus's long-lost aunt had spoken with nothing but affection whereas now she sounded like an angry parent.
"You've let this guy control your life for almost twenty years. While you lived like a pariah, he exploited your genius to pursue his agenda and rack merits that he didn't deserve.
"Yet even now that you're on the verge of getting your body back you want to make him immortal? Do you realize that once it happens, you'll be forever bound to him and with no chance of regaining your freedom?
"Your tower half makes you strong, but it also forces you to a condition similar to someone who wears a slave collar. If tomorrow he asks you to bark, you will bark, and don't get me started about much more disgusting stuff.
"This is not what your mother wanted for you. Ripha would never let you waste your life following Mister Murder here." Silverwing said.
"You don't know him! Your judgment is unfair. Lith spent countless hours trying to fix my condition or at least to offer me a real body!" Solus replied with anger.
"Really? And what did he achieve? Nothing! How much time did he spend caring for himself compared to what he did for you? We both know that the answer is: a lot. Do you think he would be as kind as you if your positions were reversed?" Silverwing asked.
"Maybe and maybe not. What I know for sure is that Lith did everything in his power to help me regain my strength, it's just that we have no idea what to do except for waiting. He offered to provide me with an undead body or a golem, but I refused of my own will."
"That's exactly my point!" Silvering couldn't understand how someone so brilliant could have turned out so blind. "He's a brat who has no idea what he's doing. Sure, not even I have a clue about what the heck Ripha did to you, but the difference between our prowess is the same between heaven and earth.
"My white core would make you recover much faster and by combining my centuries of knowledge with the power of the tower, it's only a matter of time before I come to a solution. Worst case scenario, you'd still be free.
"I'm already powerful as I am, I would never mess with your life, and I would never stop searching for a cure. You would still need to come to me to recharge from time to time, but once the tower goes back to full power, there's no telling how much autonomy you'll obtain.
"Your human body could last weeks, if not months. If you stay with him, instead, he'd always put himself first. Not only your recovery will be slow, but also there is no telling how much suffering you'd have to endure.
"You'd be forced to see him building his life while all you can do is watch from the shadows, holding back your feelings because no one can reciprocate them as long as you are stuck in this condition.
"To make matters worse, even if Lith managed to split you from the tower, would you really leave your mother's legacy, her masterpiece and final gift for you in the hands of a stranger?
"The best thing to do is to get rid of him now. If he ever achieves Guardianhood or even a white core, you might be bound to him forever. I'm not going to let my beloved goddaughter rot as the slave of this Abomination." Silverwing raised her hand while curling her upper lip in disgust.
"He's only one-third Abomination." Solus stood defiant in front of Lochra, shielding the unconscious Lith with her body. "I don't care what you think. He's my only family, my other half, and I love him more than words can express. I'm not going to let you kill him."
"Love?" Lochra echoed with contempt. "You've lost your memories, your personality, and got stuck to the first moron that picked you up. It's obvious that you convinced yourself you loved him. The mind does the strangest things to survive.
"I've seen it happen countless times with slaves before they got freed. They all 'loved' their master because it was the only way to make their misery bearable."
"I'm not a slave and my feelings are true!" Solus's voice seethed with rage.
"Really? How many people have you dated since you two have bonded? How many men or women have you let into your life that didn't receive Lith's approval just because you felt a connection with them?" Silverwing asked.
"None, but only because I didn't have a body. I-"
"You have no idea what love is, my child. You only know your cage and mistook the relief from loneliness and hunger for affection. Now get out of my way and I promise you that I'll give him a painless death." Silverwing cut her short and prepared one of her best spells.
She had no animosity toward Lith. Based on what she had heard, he didn't taint Elphyn's soul with inhuman acts nor did he force her to be his toy. Yet compared to the well-being of her beloved goddaughter, the life of morally questionable Awakened was irrelevant.
"You're not going to do anything like that!" Solus grabbed Silverwing's wrist, twisting it away from Lith while she channeled all the world energy from the tower into her body.
"Elphyn Althena Menadion, unhand me immediately." Silverwing found herself unable to move, let alone to break free from Solus's vise-like grip.
'It doesn't make any sense. She's shorter and lighter than me. On top of that, her beautiful bright violet core has been reduced to deep cyan whereas I have a white core. How can she be this powerful?' She thought while using her breathing technique, Ascension.
"I told you countless times, my name is Solus!" The small golden figure threw the silver-haired woman like a rag doll, sending Lochra to crash against the wall and squeezing the air out of her lungs.
'Good gods. Ripha, what did you do to your daughter?' Silverwing thought while Ascension provided her with information that didn't make sense.
Even though the tower had yet to fully recover, Solus's mass far exceeded that of a normal Emperor Beast, resembling that of the offspring of a Guardian. Moreover, she had both a mana core and a power core that worked in synch making it hard to understand the depth of her power.
"Who the heck do you think you are to barge here, inside my house, and tell me how to live my life?" Solus unleashed several pillars of golden hard-light constructs streaked with emerald energy all over.
They attacked Silverwing from every side, yet all she needed was a wave of her hand to shatter them and counter with a twin-headed spear construct of her own, aimed at both Lith's heart and head.
"This is how you mix spirit magic with Light Mastery, child."
Solus made the fragments of light reassemble into a thick shield comprised of several layers while attacking Lochra with the next best thing to a Raging Nova. Fire, air, and earth magic struck at the First Magus making the tower walls tremble, yet not a single ripple spread to the outside world.
Chapter 1192 A Worried Parent Part 2
Lochra's tier five Spirit Magic spell, Silver Spire, created a thick, tall barrier that not only dispersed the impact by spinning at high speed, but it also absorbed the shockwave, sending it right back to its caster.
The spear slowly pierced through the shields like a drill through a wall while the sudden blow from her own spell threw Solus off balance. She quickly recovered, unleashing a tier five spell against the spear.
'That barrier offers her great protection, but as long as she keeps it up, she can't attack either.' Solus thought as Stormnado created a whirlwind filled with darkness magic that engulfed the construct.
The spell both altered the trajectory of the spear and corroded it, reducing its power.
"Thanks for your help, child." Silverwing twirled his hand, making the spear spin so fast that it altered Stormnado's momentum, sending it through the shields and against Lith.
"You should have known that your own magic can't harm neither you nor your spells, but the same isn't true for hi-" She choked on her words when the spell passed through Lith as well, without doing him any harm.
"You should have listened to me earlier. I told you that we are as one." Solus said. "If you really care for me, then stop this madness. You could become our mentor, teach us what we need and work with us to find a cure to my condition."
"And give away my knowledge to someone I don't know, don't trust, and who could potentially hold you hostage forever? No thanks." Silverwing acted cool, but her mind was in disarray.
'This makes no sense. When Epphy told me about their fusion, I thought she referred to the tower's battle form. Artifacts can hurt their owners. I've killed lots of mages on their own blade, why is the tower so different now?' She thought.
Solus noticed her confusion and exploited it to switch to close quarter combat. Each one of her fists hit the barrier with the strength of a collapsing building, filling the Silver Spire with cracks.
'Even if I had access to a real mana geyser, my combat experience is insignificant compared to that of the First Magus.' Solus thought. 'My only option is to beat her with raw strength, playing as dirty as I can.'
"You'll never crack my barrier before- Oh, crap." For a moment, Silverwing had forgotten they were still inside the tower.
Solus could do more than just draw power from it. The room was shrinking so that the wall pressed against the Spirit Magic barrier from all sides but the front, where Solus kept hammering at it with the speed of a gatling gun and the strength of a titan.
Lochra had to use her full focus to keep the barrier intact while not letting the spear fade away.
'If I get caught by that flurry of fists, I can kiss my internal organs goodbye. I don't want to hurt Epphy nor reveal her existence to the rest of Mogar, otherwise she won't have a moment of peace. Luckily, I only need to hold out until my spear hits the target.' She thought.
Alas, she was right. Despite Solus's best effort, the hard-light construct had slowed down, but never stopped its movements. She could sense through her mystical senses the construct getting closer and closer to Lith.
Her eyes burned with golden mana as she turned her distress into a fury that gave more strength and speed to her onslaught. The whole tower started to hum with power as Solus's feelings flooded every part of her being.
Silverwing praised her efforts as her apparently bottomless energy made the First Magus wonder if Baba Yaga had been right to suggest she make her own tower.
'First, I need to give back Epphy her life. Then, I must find a way to let her have Ripha's legacy. I don't want to take the tower away from her, she's already lost too much.' She thought. 'What the heck is that?'
Lith's body stood up, his eyes burning with the same golden energy exuded from Solus's body. He lifted his right hand, unleashing a bolt of darkness that phased through the shields and shattered the spear before moving towards Silverwing with the speed of a bullet.
"Leave… Solus… alone." Even in his unconscious state, Lith shared her fear as well as her determination.
The still precarious state of his life forces turned the Plague Arrow into a quasi-Chaos Arrow that shattered what remained of the Silver Spire spell, allowing Solus to mercilessly pummel at her enemy before Lochra could realize what had happened.
Solus shattered Lochra's ribs, broke her collarbone, punctured her liver, and bashed her skull. Yet she was forced to leave the job halfway because Lith's condition started to get worse again.
"No. No. No! What have you done?" Solus yelled trying her best to keep the Abomination side from taking over the rest of the body. If that happened, even Lith's touch would become poison.
She would never feel his hand, lose herself into the warmth of his embrace, or even suffer the pungent smell of his sweat after a long day of work ever again.
"What I came here to do." Silverwing didn't need either healing magic or Ascension to take care of her wounds. Her body healed at a speed visible at the naked eye until no trace of her defeat remained.
"You have all rights of hating me now, Epphy. I can only hope that with time, you'll understand that I only did it for you." She placed her hand on the wall, ready to imprint the tower the moment Lith lost his life.
Lochra knew that becoming a full Abomination would cause a change in his energy signature that would break the imprint on all of his artifacts for a split second. She had seen it happen in the past when a hybrid chose between their two life forces.
The only thing she needed to snatch her goddaughter away was to be faster than her opponent.
"Stop calling me like that! You have no idea who I am and what I want. If you really cared for me, you would try to make my life better instead of robbing me of the little happiness I have." Solus lashed out, realizing that she couldn't do it alone.
Yet calling Tista and Phloria was pointless. They were still too tired and the effect of Invigoration had yet to reset. Even if that wasn't the case, messing with a complex Body Sculpting procedure would take Silverwing but a sneeze.
Solus couldn't fight and heal at the same time, not against an opponent of unfathomable power. Seeing the scales turning into shadows despite her best efforts, made Solus lose hope yet she never stopped fighting.
"Damn you, Silverwing. Why didn't you leave me alone?" Solus's voice created a shockwave that nailed the First Magus to the wall, incapable of moving a finger.
Lith's eyes were still golden while Solus's turned black. A blinding flash of light spread from them leaving the stunned Silverwing in awe.
Lith's body had disappeared and, in its stead, Solus stood over 3 meters tall. Her energy body had become that of a creature covered in golden and black scales, both with their edges blood-red from the heat sealed within.
Chapter 1193 Split Up Part 1
Two sets of membranous wings came out of Solus's back, one golden while the other was black and upside-down like Lith's. She also had two sets of arms with the same color pattern as the wings and all fingers ended with razor-sharp claws.
A golden tail as thick as a leg and almost twice as long came out from the small of her back, furiously whipping the air in outrage. Long horns that resembled thick tree branches rested on the sides of her head.
The creature also had seven eyes, six of which formed a perfect circle centered around the seventh that was right above the bridge of her nose and each one of them burned with a different element.
"What in Mogar's name did you do, Epphy?" Silverwing had a hard time believing what Life Vision showed to her eyes.
The creature had one life force, two mana cores, respectively deep purple and bright cyan, and one power core. They all worked in synch, generating a mana flow much greater than the sum of its parts.
"We told you that our name is Solus and we are one!" Unlike Lith, the creature was lipless and had no scales covering the fangs-filled mouth that gave them a savage appearance.
The simple act of speaking generated shockwaves that pushed the First Magus against the wall while white flames seeped among their fangs with each word.
"I'm not going to fight you anymore, Solus. I yield." Silverwing let her white aura fade away and raised her hands in the universal gesture of peace.
'As long as they are fused, any damage I inflict upon Lith would affect Elphyn as well. Killing him means killing her and I'm not going to lose my goddaughter again. I severely underestimated Ripha's grief after losing Threin.
'She must have researched a way to not just bind someone to an artifact so much as to create a nigh-immortal being.
'I don't know if she planned to use it on herself or just kept it as a contingency plan in the case the worst happened, but if not for Elphyn's cracked core, Ripha would have created the perfect life form.
'The cunning of a human, the mass of a titan among Emperor Beasts, and the ability to tap into Mogar's world energy at will of a mage tower. Yet due to the heavy damage sustained by her core at the moment of the fusion, when Lith imprinted the tower, he imprinted Elphyn as well!
'It's the only possible explanation to them having the same energy signature and their ability to merge into a single being. I can't free her from her shackles until I find a way to break their bond.' Lochra thought.
"Then get the fuck out!" Solus roared and punched the First Magus in the face, sending her flying through a Warp Steps.
It brought Silverwing dozens of kilometers away and from there the strength of the hit kept her in the air until she reached the ocean. The First Magus bounced off the ocean's waves like a smooth pebble thrown on the surface of a lake, crossing a couple of nautical miles before managing to stop.
'This could have gone much better.' Lochra spat out a mouthful of blood as her jaw regenerated and her teeth regrew. 'I underestimated both the severity of her memory loss and the power she gets from the tower, but it's nothing I can't handle.
'The problem is breaking their bond without Elphyn hating my guts. Otherwise even if I manage to kill him and bond with her, Epphy might choose to commit suicide just to bring me down with her.'
Meanwhile, after getting rid of the impending menace, Solus was on the verge of a nervous breakdown. She had to deal with her past, with her present, and with all the feelings that Lith had for Kamila that the fusion forced Solus to be aware of.
"Fuck us sideways! Let's hope that this thing didn't make Lith's life force worse." It was the first time that they used Solus's body as a base for their fusion since she never had one before.
They cast Scanner and used Invigoration at the same time to not leave any stone unturned. Yet both showed them how their combined life forces looked like, providing them with more questions than answers.
The black sphere had turned into an elliptical void, at the center of which burned a bright violet star. Countless smaller stars of different colors surrounded it, and each one of the stars shared some kind of link with the others and with the dark space around them as well.
The violet star received the energy from the smaller ones, amplifying it before sending it back, and they all pulsed in unison with the void. The darkness didn't just feed upon the stars, it also kept them apart so that each one of them could grow without colliding with the others.
'Is this a galaxy?' Solus thought.
'I don't think so. There are only stars with no planets or asteroids of any sort.' Lith replied. 'For what it's worth, I feel much better. How are you, Solus?'
'I'm a frigging mess. On the one hand, I'm happy that at least one member of my family is still alive and that she's willing to go to such lengths to help me. On the other hand, I want to kill aunt Loka for what she said about us and what she tried to do.' She replied.
'I can't really blame her for that. If you were my daughter, I would've done the same thing. Most of what Silverwing said is right and she had no way to be sure that I treated you as a partner instead that as a slave.' Lith didn't need to project a single image in her mind to make Solus shudder.
She had lived long enough to know what happened to those robbed of their free will. Quylla, the Odi's living golems, and the prisoners of all living legacies were an unforgettable memory of the madness that slavery caused.
'I guess you're right. I can't blame her for assuming the worst because it's the most logical scenario. Aunt Loka would need a long time to be sure that I'm really happy and not just broken by years of abuse.' Solus sighed.
'It's worse than that. She would have no way to distinguish between your will and the thoughts that I might plant into your mind through our mind link. Our relationship is so odd that it's really hard to believe.' Lith said.
'Yeah. My family thinks that I'm your slave while yours would assume that you are my puppet, like everyone but Tista did when they found out about me.'
'Don't get me wrong, I'm royally pissed off that Silverwing tried to kill me, just like I hate when people assume you're a monster because of your stone body. Yet I can understand their point of view.' Lith said.
'My family now knows all about cursed objects like Dawn, the Black Star, and the Golden Griffon. Every single living legacy I met tried to put me under their spell and my family wouldn't trust my word about you being different.
'On top of that, we are both humans, so everyone who loves one of us will always assume the worst about the other since we could be subjected to mind control.'
Chapter 1194 Split Up Part 2
'Enough with this please.' Solus felt on the verge of tears. 'I've dreamed about meeting your family for years and if they were to treat me as aunt Loka did to you, I don't know if I could take it.
'Right now, the only thing I want is to split up and get some personal space. This situation is too awkward.' Solus studied her image in the mirror, wondering why she looked so similar to Lith's hybrid form yet so different.
'Awkward how? If that was true, our fusion would've already broken.' Lith said.
'Our emotions are tangled up in what I can only describe as a warm embrace. I can't get angry because you calm me down. I can't cry for what just happened because you make me happy. Yet it also feels akin to standing completely bare in front of you in both mind and body.' Solus replied.
'Same here.' Lith replied. He didn't feel like plotting contingency plans against Silverwing while being outraged from the umpteenth undeserved bump in his path because all he felt was peace. 'Do you want me to take out the big guns?'
'Yes, please.'
Lith took out his communication amulet and stared at Kamila's rune. Their vision blurred for a second and then they found themselves back into their respective body.
"Wait. First I want to check your life force and I want you to tell me how I look." Solus grabbed his hand to delay the call.
"I'm sorry. Maybe it's because we've got access only to a fraction of the mana geyser, but you're no different than usual." Lith shared his vision with her and all Solus could see was a face made of light.
"Well, at least I've got good news." Invigoration showed them that Lith's life forces had returned to their peak condition.
The cracks in the human side were exactly as they remembered them while the Abomination and Beast side seemed to have further merged, becoming more stable.
"It seems that just like it happens for our cores, becoming one enhances our life forces as well." Solus said.
"I may not look different, but I feel different. I think that the excess light energy that still bloated your Abomination side has been absorbed by the tower, enhancing my recovery."
Lith nodded and pressed the rune, anxious to understand how much of what he was still feeling was Solus and how much depended on himself. It was the middle of the night in Jiera and almost noon for Kamila.
She was swamped in reports that she had to read while cross-referencing suspicious activities with Archmage Deirus's known associates, in the hope of bringing him down once and for all.
Alas, Jirni seemed to have finally found a match for her skill. Deirus lacked her cunning and ingenuity, but he made up for it with long preparations and obsession. Jirni worked as an Archon, making Deirus just one of her cases whereas the Archmage poured his full focus on her.
"That bastard wasn't just bragging when he told me I wouldn't find anything against him. I've looked into his affairs back to when Yurial was still alive and I've yet to find anything incriminating." Jirni said to Kamila, treating the Royal Guards standing in the room with them as if they were statues.
"He's even obeying the Royal decree that orders him to cut ties with his associates until further notice, but this might actually work against him. Remember, when you can't touch a tree's bark nor its roots, you can still scorch the earth around it."
She referred to a Royal Constable's tactic to ignore their real target and investigate their business partners instead. People like Deirus were thorough and meticulous, but the same couldn't be said for his retainers.
Best case scenario, Jirni would find proof of their wrongdoings and force them to give her whatever evidence they held against Deirus to keep him from using them as scapegoats in the case things went south.
Worst case scenario, she would erode the foundations of his political power and deprive Deirus of his most loyal allies. Despite all of his magic, even an Archmage was just one man.
Her plan was to drive him into a corner and force him to do something stupid.
Jirni's eyes carefully studied the footnotes of the latest batch of documents she had confiscated while her hands marked any inconsistency that she found yet her mind pictured only the moment she would get her hands on Deirus.
She could almost smell and taste his blood gushing out of a broken body.
Almost.
Kamila's amulet broke both Jirni's daydream and focus, yet she didn't mind because she recognized the rune blinking on its surface.
"It's about time. I want to talk with him once you're done." Jirni had no idea Phloria was on the other side of the ocean so not hearing from her in the last few days had made her fear the worse.
"Is it a problem if I take a break? This might take a while." Kamila knew all about their trip and she was worried sick.
"Take all the time you need because I'll do the same." Jirni replied
'I don't really believe the "out of sight, out of mind" saying, but the fact that Lith is living with his ex while surrounded by gorgeous looking Emperor Beasts is driving me crazy. Also, I need to tell him about what happened during his absence.'
Kamila thought while a Royal Guard accompanied her to a secure room where she could have some privacy.
Meanwhile, Jirni called Professor Vastor, hoping to finally manage to get in touch with him. She didn't know about him being the Master nor the reason behind his prolonged absence.
'Manohar is a fickle ally at best whereas ever since Deirus started to mess with Phloria's life, Zogar has been her staunch defender. Without him, the White Griffon would have never picked our side in the Court.' She thought.
"Archon Ernas, it's nice to see you again." Vastor replied, putting Jirni's poker face to the test.
His hologram was exactly as she remembered it, that of a short man in his mid-sixties barely over 1.55 meters (5'1") tall. The top of his head was completely bald while the hair he had left on the sides was snow-white and so were his waxed handlebar mustaches.
After becoming interim Headmaster, he had slimmed down enough to not look like an egg anymore, but his physique together with his pure white robe, made him still resemble a real-life Humpty Dumpty.
If Humpty Dumpty had suddenly turned from the character of a nursery rhyme to that of a horror story.
Jirni knew that behind Vastor's well-fed appearance hid one of the most well-kept secrets of the Kingdom and the only Highmaster of their generation, yet she had a hard time recognizing her ally.
Even through the hologram, his figure exuded a power that made the hair on the back of her neck stand up. On top of that, everything from his posture to the light behind his eyes didn't match how she remembered him.
There was no trace of his smoldering rage nor of his inferiority complex towards his colleagues. Vastor was dejected no more, brimming with self-confidence and moving with a vitality that not even Rejuvenation magic could grant.
Chapter 1195 The Devil You Know Part 1
"You got us worried, Vastor." Neither her voice nor smile betrayed Jirni's surprise. "Did you got your old ass kicked so hard by the undead that you needed a vacation to restore your wounded pride or what?"
"Or what." He replied. "To what do I owe the pleasure of this call?"
Jirni brought him up to speed before asking for his help against Deirus. She had no idea if she was really talking with Zogar Vastor or just with someone wearing his husk, but there was only one way to find out.
'If he really has fallen in love with Kamila's sister like the Court gossip says, maybe saving her life and the undead bringing him to the brink of death helped Zogar to overcome his weakness.
'That or the experience completely broke him and drove him insane. Whatever happened to him, I need to understand if it compromised his usefulness or if it just made him into an even better asset.' She thought.
"That damn fool. When will he understand that nothing can bring Yurial back, no matter what he does?" Vastor snarled, returning to his old self. He hated those who stood in the path of greatness of others out of petty reasons.
He was tired of seeing the mediocre thriving only because the Kingdom seemed to abandon talented mages the moment that they didn't serve their purpose any longer, just like it had happened to him.
"I might be able to help you with Deirus for good, but it requires patience and discretion. We should discuss such matters privately, away from prying ears." He said while looking at the Royal Guards.
"Fine by me. Just tell me when and where." Jirni doubted that Vastor could provide her with anything that Balkor and Manohar couldn't, but she had nothing to lose by trying.
"I'll call you as soon as I'm able to move again. My wounds run deep and have reached my life force." Vastor knew that not even Body Sculpting could fool someone like Jirni or Manohar.
Yet a damaged life force would explain any anomaly they might notice in his behavior which coupled with Rejuvenation was the perfect cover for his newfound physical prowess.
"There is no rush. Time is by my side. Take care of yourself, Vastor." Jirni ended the call and started examining every detail of Vastor's recent life.
Time was indeed by her side. The more Deirus waited to make his move, the weaker his social and political standing would become due to Jirni weeding out his foundations.
The more Vastor made her wait, the longer Jirni had to understand if she was still dealing with a devil that she knew or a new one that she had to subdue.
***
"Sorry if I didn't call you earlier. Things on Jiera are much worse than I assumed and I ran into one complication after another." Lith said.
"Don't worry, the important thing is that you are alright." Kamila sighed in relief hearing his voice calm and strong as she remembered it.
"Uhm, about that..." Lith had no idea how to break the news to her but he didn't want to lie either.
"I should have known it the moment I saw your scaly mug! You got in trouble and risked your life again."
"Yes, but-"
"No buts. Show me your other face so that I can understand when you're not telling me the truth." She cut him short.
Even though they spent a lot of time together, the scales made Lith's expressions non-existent and his hybrid form's voice sounded the same, no matter if he spoke sweet words or death threats.
Lith shapeshifted into his human form and told her all that had happened since their arrival, letting out only the parts about Solus and their clash with Lochra Silverwing. Keeping such a big secret from her pained him deeply and made him want to come clear with her at last.
She deserved it and so did Solus. Yet it would have to wait for their return.
"Good gods. How is your life force now?" Kamila asked.
"Much better than I could possibly hope. If not for the presence of so many Awakened who helped Tista and Phloria taking care of me, I doubt I would have recovered so quickly." Lith said.
"I must send a Hydra-sized lasagna to Faluel as a thank-you gift for her lessons about Shapeshifting." Kamila said with a chuckle.
"She gave your sister the opportunity to practice on your life force. Being unique is great only until the moment you need help. You should give her a nice gift as well since she's the only reason you're still human."
"I definitely should." Lith shuddered at the idea of turning into an Abomination and being forced to join the Master's ranks. "I'll craft something for her first thing in the morning-"
"Like heck you will." Kamila cut him short. "This is just like after Kulah so you'll follow Quylla's old prescription and take at least three full days of rest from magic. I forbid you to even light a candle."
"How am I supposed to pass my trial of wisdom without magic?" Lith replied in horror.
"Knowing when to take a break and avoiding unnecessary risks sounds pretty wise to me." Kamila's reply received a huge thumbs up from Solus, making Lith inwardly curse.
When the two of them agreed on something, it usually meant that he was dead wrong.
"I'll die of boredom. What am I supposed to do for three days?" He desperately tried to escape from his impending fate.
"First, death by boredom is not really terminal. Second, you could go out and know new people, learn a few recipes that we could try together, and last but not least, you could call me more often. I could use some company."
The pain in her voice made Lith understand that something had happened.
"What's wrong, Kami? What is that you're not telling me?" He asked.
"Compared to your condition, it's nothing. Don't worry and rest." She sighed.
The problem with having a boyfriend who risked his life every other day was that not only did Kamila worried a lot, but she also felt like her personal issues became irrelevant due to Lith's unique existence.
"Kami, I'm not going to be able to relax until you tell me what's wrong. I'm kind of paranoid, remember?" He said.
"Fine. It's my parents. They must have heard about your silver mines and now are trying to creep back into our lives." Kamila felt a huge burden being lifted from her chest.
"Our lives as in me and you or you and Zinya?" He asked.
"Both. You know Zinya. She has a soft spot for family and she feels guilty for not letting her children see their grandparents. I don't want to have anything to do with them, but she doesn't know them as I do.
"My parents always treated her like a princess because of her beauty and when they arranged her marriage with Fallmug, they convinced her it was in her best interest. Zinya's blindness made it impossible for her to have a normal life and my family couldn't afford the care she needed.
"I never told her that our parents only pretended to not know that Fallmug beat her, nor that they are the reason why I joined the army." Kamila covered her eyes while sadness made her shoulders slouch.
Chapter 1196 The Devil You Know Part 2
"Why did you keep it a secret?" Lith asked.
"How could I tell Zinya that her beloved parents had sold her like cattle just like they tried to do with me? She already had a hard life and I didn't want to shatter her illusion of having more than just her sister by her side." Kamila replied.
"After she became able to see and took my last name, I didn't tell her either because I thought it was the end of it. I would have never imagined that my parents would have the gall to come to Lutia and introduce themselves."
"They did what?" Lith had a hard time not making another call to put Kamila's parents on his hit-list. Many people in both the Kingdom and the Council would be glad to take out two shady merchants just to curry his favor.
"Those bastards used our incoming third anniversary to come and ask your parents if we were already planning something. Elina was so happy to have someone who would join her plea for a grandchild or two that I didn't have the heart to tell her the truth.
"Elina and Zinya were so happy and I was too ashamed of my family to do more than damage control. I'm sorry, this is all my fault. If I had been more honest from the start, none of this would have happened.
"You were right on our first date. Starting a relationship on a lie never works." Her voice broke, but she managed to not cry.
Lith had walked a marathon in her shoes back on Earth so he understood how Kamila felt. He had never talked about his first parents with anyone because he considered the matter closed after being emancipated, just like Kamila did.
"You didn't lie to me nor to my parents. I know all your story since our first date while Mom and Dad simply respected your privacy. They didn't talk to you about Orpal and Trion either, but not because they have any ill will, it's just that those names still bring them a lot of pain.
"Just tell them the truth and they'll understand. Our families have more in common than we would like." Lith smiled, trying to reassure her, before saying: "Do you want me to ask Faluel to eat your parents? Who knows, maybe they taste like lasagna."
"Thanks, but I think they taste like shit and I don't want to give her stomachache." Kamila said with a small smile. "I'll go fix this mess as soon as I'm done with work, it can't wait any longer."
They kept chatting, drawing strength from each other until the Jirni knocked on the door, tired of waiting.
***
Jiera Continent, ex-city of Hervor, inside Thrud's mansion.
After Jakra, the Emerald Dragon had joined her, the Mad Queen at first had thought about rebuilding her city and made it a safe haven for humans. To use Hervor as a field test about how to restore order after destroying the Royal Court.
Thrud didn't expect people to just sit tight and obey her every command just because she had killed the usurpers to her throne. She was aware that, without the Royals, the Griffon Kingdom was likely to split into three factions.
The Mage Association would likely push toward a ruling system similar to the Gorgon Empire, if not even being annexed to it. The Army, instead, would fight to seize the power for itself while the noble families that would try to restore the Kingdom by putting themselves on the throne.
"If I let the civil war happen, I can count myself lucky if I keep one third of the Griffon Kingdom. The Army would rather join an outstanding general like Salaark than submit to me and the Association would go to the Empire, leaving me with the crumbs.
"With no military strength nor magical knowledge, my newborn Kingdom wouldn't last more than a few weeks. To avoid that, I need overwhelming strength so to force the key members of all three factions to submit before the situation spirals out of control.
"Moreover, whoever emerges victorious will have to face the threat of the Undead Courts and the Master's Organization. If they have half a brain, they will not miss the chance to strike while the Kingdom is at its weakest." Thrud said.
"That's not true, my Queen. You already have overwhelming strength. The Golden Griffon academy will stand by your side and so will I. It will provide you with not only faithful servants, but it will also allow you to convert your enemies into allies.
"I already explained to you how the slave array of the academy makes all of its students submit to your will. The Golden Griffon has its own army, comprised only of powerful mages with centuries of battle experience and study of magic.
"On top of that, it only takes your most powerful enemies a brief stay inside Huryole to end up swelling the ranks of your army." Jakra said.
The Emerald Dragon stood by her side in front of a huge map of the Garlen continent and traced with his finger a path that would lead the lost academy to pass through the biggest army camps before reaching Valeron, the capital of the Kingdom.
"I considered that already, but it's not enough." Thrud shook her head, making her long hair hit his nose and making his mind go blank for a second with its sweet scent.
The Mad Queen was 1.78 meters (5'10") tall, with hip-length ash blonde hair that framed the delicate features of her oval face. Her rosy skin was flawless, emphasizing the contrast between her silver eyes and her full red lips.
Not even the thick training suit she wore to spar with her general could hide her soft curves or the sensual grace of every one of her moves. Thrud had inherited a big part of Tyris's beauty, which made her a gorgeous woman even before she underwent Arthan's Madness time and time again.
Not only did the machine refine her body similarly to what happened to an Awakened during a breakthrough, but it also filtered out the human portion of her blood while enhancing Tyris's with each cycle.
"No matter how powerful the Golden Griffon is, it's still an artifact as old as the knowledge it holds. Magic has progressed so much from its creation that to truly exploit the power of my soldiers, I first need to teach them modern magic.
"On top of that, I expect my opponents to go all-out. Which means facing Royal Guards and all the powerful magical items that the various factions have developed over time.
"I doubt I'll put even a dent on Valeron's walls if I don't provide my warriors with the proper tools. To do that, I need to hoard huge amounts of magical metals and powerful mana crystals so that as soon as I teach Royal Forgemastery to my subjects, they can start mass produce them." Thrud said.
Jakra would have liked to exploit Thrud's ego and make her underestimate the Kingdom, but the same spell that forced him to be loyal also made him appreciate her tactical mind.
Chapter 1197 A Powerful Master Part 1
"You are right. Huryole has plenty of books, but its vault is limited and before I made my escape there wasn't much left. The Headmaster granted Orichalcum and crystals only to the best students and our magic is outdated since we never shared our discoveries among ourselves. We treated each other as food." Jakra said.
"That's why I decided to not rebuild Hervor." Thrud said. "Jiera is a dead continent and to take care of my subjects, I wouldn't have the time I need to prepare for the final battle.
"We'll use my city to train ourselves and stockpile the resources we need. During my time as the local Lord, I discovered plenty of hidden mines of Adamant and mana crystal. They will give us everything we need."
"You did?" Jakra was flabbergasted.
"Okay, fine. I actually just bought the information about their location from the black-market smugglers and the clerks of the various countries." She admitted with a chuckle.
"I couldn't make use of this information before because there was no way to mine much by myself without getting caught. I couldn't afford to blow my cover nor could I face entire armies alone.
"Now, however, I'm the only one who knows where the mines are and the members of Jiera's Council lack the manpower to check the whole territory. I've already singled out the mines they aren't aware of and dug out enough to make your equipment."
Thrud shook a necklace made of dimensional rings, making a mountain of Adamant appear out of thin air, right next to another of violet crystals.
"Making a suit of armor for a Dragon is a waste of metal. It takes a powerful artifact to hurt me." Jakra would have bit his own tongue, but the slave spell forced him to be honest.
"Then my creation will make you invincible." Thrud said.
"I'm not up to date with the latest Royal Forgemastery breakthroughs, but between what my mother took away before our escape, what I learned by injecting my puppies inside the bodies of Forgemasters, and what I learned on my own I doubt that there are many on my level." Thrud said.
Jakra nodded, realizing that her plan could actually succeed. It had taken him just a few weeks to teach Thrud everything that he had learned in his centuries of unrelenting study of magic while he was captive inside the Golden Griffon.
After a few months of practice, Thrud had managed to master her newfound abilities, and then she had taught him modern magic. Not only did she help Jakra to realize how outdated his knowledge was, but she also improved all of his techniques beyond his wildest imagination.
The process had allowed Thrud to find the best way to write the books that would convey all the information about the modern world and magic that her subjects would need once freed from the array trapping them inside Huryole.
Once she brought her immortal army up to speed with the latest magical breakthroughs and provided them with cutting-edge equipment, stopping Thrud would take the strength of a Guardian. On top of that, the worst had yet to come.
Between the knowledge that Arthan had entrusted her about fake Awakening and that passed down the Emerald Dragon bloodline, Jakra was close to understanding the secret of Awakening.
"Why don't you wait for me to complete my research? Once you Awaken, your powers will be incomparable to now." He said.
"That would be too risky. You might survive Awakening if Mogar helps you, but I'd die for sure. I forbid you to Awaken until we unlock the Golden Griffon. Once we get there, we'll share the secret with the others and we'll use the arrays of the academy to make sure that everyone Awakens safely." She replied.
"My Queen, I'm not worthy of your attention. Why do you care so much for me?" Jakra's logical mind found it absurd her care for his survival. An Awakened Dragon would serve the cause much better than his current state.
He knew the risks that Awakening implied for someone with a bright blue core and Jakra actually wanted to live, but the slave spell made him willing to throw his life away for her.
"Because you're my first true friend, my loyal general, and the father of our child." She gave him a deep kiss before bringing his hand to her womb.
"It will be my final battle, but I can't let my lineage disappear in case of failure. Someone must carry the torch and learn from my mistakes. Besides, aren't you curious to see how our baby will look like?
"How powerful a being who carries both the blood of the Griffons and the Dragons can be?" She asked while making a spark of Life Maelstrom appear above their heads.
After her body had stabilized from the last cycle of Arthan's Madness, Thrud had discovered that her body had gone beyond the limits of humans. Tyris's blood coursed so thick in Thrud's veins now that she had the mass of a magical beast.
Jakra feared that she only needed a few more cycles to become able to use true magic if not even to shapeshift into a Griffon. To make matters worse, pregnancy didn't make a mage any weaker.
Quite the contrary, it temporarily gave them power beyond belief.
***
Blood Desert's Fringe.
After Nalrond's failed attempt to get some answers from Mogar, the group needed to rest for a few days. Nalrond to overcome the trauma of having his personality almost overwritten and the others to recover their strength before making another attempt.
None of them was an Awakened so they needed to get plenty of food and sleep to return to their peak condition. Quylla used that time to keep Nalrond's life force in check, to practice her cooking skills, and to research Light Mastery.
"You don't have any cracks, but if you don't take it easy for a while, you'll end up worse than Lith. The shattering of your mind went this close to spread to your body. If not for us treating your life force, it would have already been permanently damaged." She said.
"Thanks. Please, whatever you do, don't leave me alone." Nalrond half grunted and half said.
"Wow. First Morok and now you. I never thought that smart women could be this hot."
"Don't flatter yourself. I just don't want to eat anything cooked by Morok again or to have any more visitors." Nalrond had tasted better poison and he was starting to hate the Dewans.
It hadn't taken him long to understand that they weren't really worried about his health so much as of losing the knowledge of Light Mastery stored in his head.
"Would it have killed you saying that you enjoy my cooking and company? We don't need to be friends to be polite with each other." Quylla said.
"You are right, sorry. I'm an ungrateful jackass. I promise that as soon as the voices in my head disappear, I'll make it up to you." Being inside the Fringe didn't make the healing process faster.
The constant pressure that Mogar's will applied combined with the strain caused on his cores by the high-density world energy made Nalrond hear and see things that he hoped had never existed.
Chapter 1198 A Powerful Master Part 2
"How's our patient?" Friya asked while dabbing her sweat.
"Cranky, rude, and whiny." Quylla replied.
"Back to normal, then. His kind attitude during the last few days creeped me out. Do you mind coming outside for a while? I might use your help." Friya sniffed the soup's delicious smell, causing her stomach to grumble.
Yet her time for training was almost over and soon it would be her turn taking care of Nalrond. Lunch could wait a few minutes longer. Quylla nodded, walking outside the house and into the Warp Steps leading them to their secret training area.
After using the Restoration spell to keep the dimensional corridor from being opened again and a Life Sensing array to make sure that no one was around, they could finally relax.
"What's the matter?" Quylla asked.
"I'm trying a new dimensional spell, but Mogar keeps correcting me. I tried countless runes that make it work like a charm, but for some reason, she keeps grumbling every time I cast it." Friya replied.
"She?"
"It sounds like a woman to me." Friya shrugged.
"That makes the two of us. Does it sound like your own voice or someone else's?" Quylla asked.
"Sadly, it sounds like Mom's annoying, lecturing voice when she scolds us. Friya sighed. "I hoped so bad that it would sound like a man, instead. Maybe like someone I know."
"Why is that?" Quylla knit her eyebrows in confusion.
"Well, based on what Nalrond said, since Mogar takes the form of the person that literally means the world to you, I hoped to hear the voice of my true love or something like that. It would have helped my love life a lot."
"Who knows, maybe Mom's your type." Quylla chuckled as Friya produced retching sounds in reply.
"Gross! By the way, whose voice do you hear in your head?"
"Faluel. It must be because she's my mentor and the best mage I know." Quylla lied through her teeth.
She actually heard her own voice when Mogar talked to her, but she was too ashamed to admit it.
"Okay, here's how my spell works and what I tried so far…"
After they had finished treating Nalrond, the only thing they could do while waiting for him to wake up was to practice their magic in turns. Someone had to always remain by his side to make sure that his condition didn't get worse.
During that time, they had discovered one of the properties of the Fringe that Werepeople believed to be lost to time.
Whenever they created new spells, the moment they employed a rune that Mogar deemed to be subpar, she would mess with their thoughts in various ways. If the rune was close enough to the right one, Mogar would straight suggest it.
Otherwise, she would just scoff, click her tongue, or clear her throat with an intensity proportional to how wrong the planet considered the rune. At first, Quylla and Friya had thought to have gone mad.
They had never heard Mogar speak nor could they explain their condition without madness.
The voice existed only inside their heads, it spoke without their consent, and never replied to any of their questions. The phenomenon had scared them so much that they had tried to keep it a secret until they couldn't take it any longer.
As it had already happened several times since they had reached the Fringe, wisdom came from the most unexpected source.
"It's not a big deal. I hear it as well." Morok shrugged. "Mogar must be really bored to create a Fringe in the first place so it goes without saying that she answers to you whenever you talk to her."
"You are not making any sense." Friya replied. "If one could just talk with Mogar, what point would the whole ritual that almost cost Nalrond his life have? Besides, I already tried to have a conversation. It never answers after interrupting my focus."
"The ritual is to ask complex questions that can't be answered with magic whereas your spells are nothing but a way to conjure elemental energy. Guess who produces it?" Morok pointed at the ground, the sky, and then to the woods surrounding them.
"He's right! Runes are just the way mages have found to imitate Mogar and make use of the elements. In a way, runes are Mogar's language that we use to shape world energy according to our will." Quylla said.
"Then why we didn't hear its voice before? I mean, I've used a lot of spells inside the Fringe but nothing ever happened." Friya asked.
"Beats me. Maybe Mogar doesn't like you much but you're growing on her. I hear her voice a lot and she's very annoying." Morok shrugged, not wanting to share with them how he refused to open his fifth eye until they got out of the Fringe.
'I don't know why Mogar wants me to Awaken nor do I care. The good news is that it means that I will get her help and that the process should go smoothly even though my core is already blue. The bad news is that if I Awaken, there's no turning back.'
"I don't think that Mogar plays favorites." Quylla pondered for a while. "I'm pretty sure that the reason why Morok hears the planet's thoughts is the same that allows him to not have a Soul Projection.
"He's at peace with himself and his mind is like an empty room that makes even a small noise echo."
"That's a nice way to say that he's an idiot, but it still doesn't answer my question. Why does Mogar mess only with some spells?" Friya asked, receiving a finger as an answer from Morok.
"Isn't it obvious? It's because until now we've only practiced perfect spells." Quylla said.
"Meaning?" The others asked in unison.
"Gods, Friya, didn't you listen to Morok? He's been very clear. We cast a spell, we speak with Mogar. What do you usually do when someone close to you messes up with words when asking you a question?" Quylla said.
"Either I ask them to say that again or I try to clear it up by rephrasing the question." Friya answered.
"That's what Mogar does in a very rude way. When it understands the meaning of our spell, it produces the intended effect whereas when we cast it wrong, Mogar can't help but scold us.
"Which means that a Fringe is the perfect place to practice new spells because we can use Mogar itself as a teacher!" Quylla said.
"What she said. That's' exactly what I meant." Morok rushed to say while still in awe at the revelation. Until that moment, he had just tried to make Mogar shut up rather than listening to its voice.
From that moment, the three of them spent all of their free time practicing the most complex and difficult spells in their respective grimoire, exploiting Mogar's voice to solve problems to which even their Awakened mentors had no answer.
Friya and Quylla shared their findings with each other because of their bond of trust, whereas Morok did it as an excuse to talk to her and because he had no problem admitting that she was way smarter than him.
Even though Quylla wasn't able to use true magic and its runes, she could still offer him several different solutions that it was up to him to adapt to his spells.
Chapter 1199 Peace of Mind Part 1
"What do you think about my idea?" Friya asked after explaining to Quylla her latest creation.
"That you are too obsessed with dimensional magic. You should try something less complicated like Battle Mage spells."
"Those are easy to master. They require two elements at most and there's plenty of literature about them already whereas I make more progress here in an hour than after a month of practice in the outside world.
"I can't waste this opportunity to reinvent the wheel when I can create something never seen before instead." Friya replied.
"Hey, Quylla, nice to see you." Morok was drenched in sweat as well.
He had a grimoire filled with his unfinished homework and the projects that he was supposed to help his master, Ajatar the Drake, with. Morok intended to exploit the Fringe to cheat his way to the correct answers and then rub his "genius" in Ajatar's face.
"I'm almost done preparing the new set of mana circles. Just a few more, some rest and I'll be ready to have a chat with our grumpy planet. By the way, if both of you are here, who's keeping an eye on Nalrond?"
"I thought you called me here because Morok had started his shift!" Quylla said.
"I called you here because I've seen Morok Warp away several minutes ago. I assumed he had returned home." Friya said.
"I need privacy while taking a dump." He explained.
"It's nice to see that you're doing better." Kimo, the Dewan elder, said while stepping inside the house once his Emperor Beast assured him that no one would bother them.
'So much for not leaving me alone.' Nalrond inwardly groaned.
"Thank you for your kindness, elder. I underestimated the dangers of Mogar's mind and paid the price. The silver lining is that I learned a lot from my failure and the next time I'll do much better." Nalrond actually said.
He tried to stand up to properly greet his unwanted guest, but Kimo pushed him down to make him rest.
Even though he didn't like them, Nalrond needed to keep up with the appearances because he couldn't afford to anger the Dewan tribe.
They were his hosts and just by accepting humans among their fold, the Dewans showed him great kindness. Without the girls, Nalrond knew that he would be already dead and if the Dewan kicked the others out, he might as well leave the Fringe.
"The next time? I'm glad to hear that you are not going to let a single failure stop you and that you recognize your mistakes because I came here to offer you my help." Kimo said.
"How, exactly?" Nalrond asked.
"I'm not going to lie to you. I don't know how it was for your people, but we have long given up on asking Mogar's advice. Too many talented youths like you and old coots like me have died in the futile attempt to make this indifferent world see reason." Kimo sighed deeply while slouching his usually straight back.
Nalrond nodded for him to continue, partly understanding the elder's point of view. The Rezars had given up on Mogar as well, putting all their hopes in Dawn's teaching and in her ever-increasing mastery of light magic.
Even though Dawn was a monster, they could relate to her. Also, unlike how it happened with Mogar, thanks to the complex array system that Sinmara the Phoenix had taught them, the Rezars had been able to subdue Dawn at any time, forcing her to do their bidding.
On the other hand, after seeing the outside world, Nalrond had realized how foolish the Rezars' mindset had been. Trying to subdue a powerful entity was akin to playing with fire.
No matter how many precautions one would take, it was only a matter of time before getting burned. Mogar was dangerous but fair and it would only speak the truth whereas Dawn had led the Rezars by the nose, making them waste decades of research at a time until they realized her treachery.
It was the reason why Nalrond had decided to risk communing with the planet. Mogar played by its rules without cheating, he only had to understand them. Both the Rezars and the Dewans, instead, treated the planet like a mindless tool.
As if their needs surpassed those of all other races and Mogar had to help them.
"Yet all of our failures have taught us a lot." Kimo continued. "We can teach you the safest ritual that we have devised after centuries of research and hundreds of casualties. If you combine it with the Rezars', it should increase your odds of success.
"All I'm asking you in return is to become one of us and share whatever knowledge you might gain."
Nalrond wanted to scoff at such a ridiculous offer. Not only did he doubt that the Dewans' ritual might differ much from that of his tribe, but he had already seen centuries of tradition surpassed in a single moment by a brilliant mind not clouded by superstition.
Quylla improving the ritual's mana circle after just a glance, her understanding of how the whole ritual was nothing but a mind link had shattered his pride and opened his eyes to the truth.
The Werepeople had been so blinded by their grief that they had turned the safe haven that the Fringe was into a prison of their own making. By cutting all ties with the outside world and by relying on Mogar for everything, the Werepeople had clipped their own wings.
They kept not finding answers simply because they failed to understand that they were asking the wrong questions.
"Thanks, but no thanks. My companions already have helped me to improve the ritual and my failure is only due to my own shortcomings." Nalrond said.
"Do you really trust a couple of humans more than your own people? What would your ancestors think if they knew how low you have stooped? We've offered you a new home, a new family, yet you still treat us like strangers." Kimo said in outrage.
"Live is for the living, elder, while my ancestors are long dead." Nalrond replied with a stone-cold voice. "By locking themselves in here, my people wasted centuries, just like you Dewans.
"I've learned more in the couple of years I spent outside than in the 23 years I lived in my village. I've not stooped so much as I've made progress. As for your so-called offers, the only reason you want me to settle down here is to learn Light Mastery.
"You want to use me just like my people used Dawn. I treat you like strangers because that's who you are to me. Our forefathers shared a common past, but there's no bond between us."
"If that's what you think, then I won't waste any more of your time." Kimo stood up and left the house.
After a few minutes, Morok returned.
He ate all the soup that Quylla had prepared, took a long shower while singing a tavern's tune so loud that it made the walls tremble, and after dabbing his body with a set of Nalrond's clean clothes he finally sat at the bedside.
"Good gods, you look like crap. Your recovery might take longer than we feared." Morok used a diagnostic spell, trying to understand why Nalrond had bloodshot eyes and clenched his teeth so hard that his face was pale as a ghost.
Chapter 1200 Peace of Mind Part 2
Oddly, the spell found nothing wrong with Narlond's health. Aside from being hungry and tired, the Rezar appeared to be completely fine.
"Maybe it's because you ate my lunch, you made me wish to blow my own eardrums, and then you used my clothes as a towel. Again!" Nalrond's voice was a low snarl.
"What a crybaby. Unlike you, I didn't spend the whole morning sitting on my ass. I was hungry and that soup hit the spot just nicely. I'll cook you up something delicious in a jiffy." Morok replied.
"Gods, no! I'd rather drink a nutrients potion." Nalrond whined.
"As for the lack of towels, it's not my fault if we have to say here for so long and I didn't pack enough. Besides, after a shower, I'm as clean as a baby so no harm no foul. You can still wear your clothes after drying them a bit."
Morok showed Nalrond a crumpled shirt with several water stains and several hairs. Some long and straight while others suspiciously short and curly.
"See? It's as good as new."
Nalrond groaned, wondering if darkness magic would suffice or if only by cleansing the shirt with fire could such evil be destroyed.
Later, that afternoon, Quylla and Morok went back to the cave and double-checked everything before starting the second attempt at communing with Mogar. This time, all the magic circles had been drawn with Quylla's method and glowed with an emerald light.
"Are you sure you don't want Friya to be here as well? If you end up like Nalrond, I might not be able to save you on my own." Quylla asked.
On the one hand, she wanted to try the ritual just to see Mogar with her own eyes and learn what the planet thought about her. On the other hand, just looking at her own Soul Projection made Quylla doubt she would survive the experience.
"Don't worry, I'm not going to take unnecessary risks. The moment I understand I'm not up to the task, I'm going to get out of there. I just want to understand how much of the ritual depends on Mogar and how much on the mage."
Morok sat cross-legged in the middle of the formation, to shield his mind from external influences.
"Why are you doing this? You've got nothing to gain from asking questions for others." Quylla said.
"Because if I'm right about the nature of the ritual, I'll learn a lot about myself anyway." Morok said, leaving her flabbergasted.
She had expected some cheesy pick-up line or a heroic speech intended to be a pick-up line, not an answer that actually made sense.
Morok then went over his strategy with her for the last time before closing his eyes and opening his mind.
The mindscape was exactly as Nalrond had described it. A white empty space with only two people: Morok and Mogar.
The former was dressed in his old Ranger uniform and even had the Baby Fangs hung to his hips instead of the weapons that Ajatar had crafted for him. Morok had his human appearance, which surprised Mogar quite a bit.
"Don't you think you're trying a bit too hard for someone you know so little?" She said while waving at her body that looked exactly like Quylla.
The only difference with the original was the hair streaked with all the six colors of the elements rather than just silver.
"Not really. You've got no idea how hard it is to find someone who's even more messed up than I am, but in a good way. Besides, I wanted to look you in the eyes and tell you to mind your own business!" Morok snarled, losing his carefree attitude for a second.
"Oh my. Did I strike a nerve?" Mogar giggled in a cruel way that Morok found both scary and charming.
"A lot of them, actually." He honestly replied. "Enough chit-chat. You know why I'm here."
"What are your questions?" Mogar sighed.
"So much for being omniscient. I want to know how to heal the girl called Solus, how to heal Lith, and how to make Quylla Awaken without losing her life." He said.
"Not a single question for yourself. Are you that generous or just that stupid? You don't know anything about them. Why do you put your life on the line for them?" Mogar's eyes shone with interest.
"I'm just that stupid. As for your second question, I'm not doing it for them so much as for myself. I want to understand who I am and what I want, or I'll end up wasting my life like my father. No pain no gain." Morok said.
"You could've just asked me. Didn't you think of that?" Mogar asked.
"I did, but that kind of answers only makes sense if you find them by yourself otherwise they sound just like the ramblings of a fortune teller."
"Wise words for someone so simple-minded." Mogar snapped her fingers, making three spheres of light appear.
Remembering what Nalrond had told him, Morok closed in to each one of them, to make sure that the nature of their trial was the same. The first sphere summoned the battered figure of Menadion, the second the chained Mad King, but the third took him by surprise and almost snapped his neck with a single flick of the wrist.
Another Quylla stood in front of him, wearing the deep violet robe of a Magus and with Bloodbind slithering out of her sleeves like twin angry snakes made of Adamant.
"Does the answer look like Quylla because it's about her or because I like her?" Morok asked, wondering if three Quyllas were more than he could handle.
"Are those your questions?" Judging by her grimace, Mogar didn't seem to have liked his attentions.
'Now that I think about it, if this is taking place inside my mind, talking or thinking is the same thing.' He thought.
"It is, you creep." Mogar replied. "Now answer my question."
"I'm not going to waste my time on such a trivial matter. I'm more intrigued at the idea of how much control I have in here." Morok squinted his eyes as he focused and the white space around him suddenly turned into the garden surrounding a small cottage.
A square fence of wooden stakes held together by wooden planks separated the house from the rest of the world that was still white and empty. The cottage was a one-story building made of wood with a sloping roof and a door painted a deep green.
He could smell the eggs and bacon that his mother prepared him for breakfast on his birthday, but there was no trace of his mother or the food. The smell of the soap she used made the memory even more painful.
"How can you still long for the same woman who kicked you out of her life even though you were just an innocent child?" Mogar asked.
"She's still my Mom and I hoped to see if she's alright. Now that I've understood the ground rules, there only one question left." Morok delicately massaged his temples while focusing more than ever while staring at his opponents.
"You're a remarkable man, Morok Eari." Mogar said. "You accepted your past and the scars that it inflicted upon you without letting it ruin your life. It's no wonder that your soul is at peace."
Chapter 1201 Drawing Conclusions Past 1
"On top of that, you are the first person ever who tried to undress me and my shades." Mogar said.
"Too bad. I thought that maybe I could defeat your puppets with just my mind, but if I can't affect even their clothes, then I doubt that I can restrict them or inflict them damage." Despite his words, he had yet to stop his endeavor.
"I might consider your claim as a noble pursuit of knowledge if not for the fact that you're not even trying to affect Arthan or Menadion." Mogar scoffed at the blatant lie.
"You can't blame a man for trying. I just need to touch them, correct?" He asked.
"Correct."
Morok dashed forward against the Quylla-shaped answer who looked at him in disgust as if he was a worm she had found in her meal. He unsheathed the Baby Fangs, making them take the form of twin one-handed battle hammers.
He threw them one after the other so that the first eclipsed the second. Quylla had Bloodbind, the Adamant chains forged by Orion, form a defensive barrier around her, blocking the first hammer as well as her field of vision.
The second hammer flew under the makeshift barrier, hitting her right in the stomach and making her cough out blood. Yet instead of exploiting the opening, Morok just had the first hammer return to his hand and thew it again.
Quylla snarled as she stopped it with a hard-light construct shaped like a massive fist that came out of her robe.
"Nalrond was right. Your puppets cannot move and hits don't count as touching." Morok pondered.
"If they moved, you'd be already dead. If hitting and touching were the same, then any idiot who gets pummelled would get their answer, making this whole trial pointless." Mogar said. "I applaud you for mercilessly attacking the woman you claim to like."
"Please. Your two-bit imitation is nothing like the real deal. It lacks Quylla's kind eyes, the grace of her movements, and the lavender scent of her soap. I have no problems hitting a mannequin dressed like her." Morok said.
"That and the real Quylla is holding your shoulder even now, making it easy for you to separate reality from illusion." Mogar pointed out.
"Guilty as charged." Morok circled around shade-Quylla, trying to make his magic work while looking for an opening.
"How did you know about the trap?" Mogar asked with an amused expression.
"The Magus robe gave it away. I'm not fighting the real Quylla but either how she perceives herself or how I do. Either way, she's bound to be a tough nut to crack."
Morok threw his hammers again, but this time Quylla used her construct to stop them while conjuring the tier five Battle Mage spell, God of Water.
A full armor made of ice covered her body while four spheres of water the size of a disco ball orbited around her. They would allow Quylla to replicate the effects of all tier three and four water magic spells she could imagine without the need to cast them.
Yet the hammers dodged the construct and aimed for Arthan. Morok had lined them up so that he could attack them both and further check the rules of the game. Quylla froze in place and ignored the Tyrant while the Mad King snarled in outrage.
Despite the thick chains that restricted his movements, Arthan managed to catch the hammers in mid-air and throw them back at their owner.
"That's it? This is going to be a walk in the park!" Morok unleashed a tier Five War Mage spell, Collapsing Volcano, turning the ground under the three shades into magma.
Then, he shapeshifted into his idealized Tyrant form, with his body covered in mystical eyes instead of having just four eyes. Each one of them emitted a pillar of energy, striking at all the answers at the same time.
As a finishing touch, he also activated the tier five Battle Mage spell, God of Air. The stream of lightning bolts used the very armor Quylla wore to slip under her protections and hit her with their full strength before she could react.
The hammers thrown by Arthan hit Morok right in the chest, but they went through him as if they were just an illusion.
"I wield no hammers hence they can't harm me. Those are a part of me just like the clothes I wear." Morok said as the Baby Fangs emerged from his hands, already shapeshifted into longswords.
"Yet mine surely can. Get your filthy hands off my daughter, you ungrateful bastard!" Menadion said while charging at him with the speed of a missile.
Morok managed to block her hammer by turning the swords into shields, but the Fury shattered them, inflicting him a huge blow. As Morok had said, there were no shields, just parts of him.
Quylla exploited the opening to catch him by the legs with Bloodbind and unleashed constructs the size of a mountain.
"Even if you kill me, my legacy will live forever!" Arthan conjured both the Sword of Saefel and the Royal armor, activating all the six gemstones at the same time.
A rainbow of raging Griffons filled the air and continued their attack even after Morok dispelled the Collapsing Volcano. He had hoped that by changing the target, the shades would stop their attack and allow him to pile up damage.
Their reaction, however, proved that each attack triggered a counter that couldn't be interrupted, making his strategy pointless.
"That's my cue!" Morok waved Mogar goodbye and broke the mind link before the shades turned his psyche into dust. His relief, however, was short-lived. Somehow, one of the shades had managed to follow him to the real world and was clutching at his throat.
Too surprised to even curse at his enemy, Morok jumped back, crashing against the wall. Unlike the mindscape, the cave didn't extend endlessly.
"What's wrong with you? I was just checking your vitals." Quylla said, snapping him out of his combat frenzy.
"Dammit, I was so focused fighting against you that I forgot you are also my ally." Those words didn't make sense even to Morok himself, but he didn't know how to explain the situation in any other way.
He refused to answer any of Quylla's questions until they got back to their house inside the Dewan village. Even though he had taken little damage from the shades, the mind link with Mogar had taken a toll on his body.
On top of that, Morok needed some time to sort out his thoughts before sharing his experience. The fight had been brief, but there had been many things that he had noticed but couldn't figure out while pushing his mind to its limits.
"I think that either the game is rigged or we played it without knowing its rules." Morok said after quite some pondering. "Asking questions to Mogar only leads to a painful death.
"Not only in the Mindscape one has to focus to perform the simplest of spells or conjure their weapons, but also Mogar keeps bothering you with her ramblings."
"While resting I had a lot of time to think about my own conversation with the planet and I think you are right." Nalrond said. "Tell me everything that happened to you without leaving out any detail."
Chapter 1202 Drawing Conclusions Past 2
After Morok finished his story, Nalrond was quite pissed off with himself at the idea that his allegedly dim-witted companion had been able to conjure weapons, spells, and even to shapeshift whereas he had been nothing but a punching bag for the shades.
Yet he was glad to have brought the Tyrant and the girls along. Without them, he would have died at Mogar's hands while without Morok, it would have been impossible for him to gather so much information.
The Tyrant's carefree attitude and self-acceptance gave him an amazing strength in the Mindscape that would take anyone else years of training to achieve.
"Just like Solus said, those shades provide hints about the answer based on their appearance, but I doubt anyone can actually defeat them." Morok said. "They start weak, but they become stronger with each blow that you land.
"To make matters worse, I hoped to exploit their inability to move or attack you while you deal with another shade, but my prediction was wrong. Each time you attack them, they strike back and if you focus on another shade, they don't stop and strike you in the back.
"Fighting them one on one is impossible just like attacking them in turns. Shades regenerate the moment you change your target."
"I didn't get so far since every shade pummelled me with ease, but by comparing my experience with yours there are a few things that I'd like to point out." Nalrond said.
"First, the shade corresponding to a question about a thing doesn't change whereas asking about a person materializes their shade in the form that such a person would take once they have found their answer.
"Second, Mogar seems eager to talk, yet it often comments about your personality and asks you several times if you're sure about the answers you're seeking. Third, the insane strength of the shades makes it impossible to win."
"Are you saying that the legends about the Fringes are just a death trap? That coming here has been just a waste of time?" Friya asked.
"No. I think they are quite accurate. As soon as I get back on my feet, I'm going to have another chat with Mogar. If my hypothesis is right, I'll have all the answers we need." Nalrond shook his head.
"And if you're wrong?"
"Then I'll need all my strength to survive long enough to cut the mind link. That's why I need to rest." Nalrond said.
***
City of Reghia, Jiera continent.
Becoming one with Solus had stabilized Lith's life force, yet everyone agreed on him taking it easy for a few days. Even contacting Quylla for a second opinion ended up adding fuel to the fire.
"I can't diagnose anything from a hologram, but if the damage you took is even remotely similar to that you suffered in Kulah, three days might not be enough. My advice is to not use magic nor exert yourself until your life forces perfectly overlap again." She said.
"Quylla is right." Tista said. "Besides, you are not the only one who needs time to recover. Solus, the Scalewalker armor, and War all sustained a lot of damage while you turned into an Abomination.
"Adamant is tough and Solus is even tougher, but right now they are in a critical state. Even if you were already back to your peak condition, any more strain could prove to be fatal.
"While your equipment can always be replaced, the same can't be said for Solus. You forced her to fight Lochra frigging Silverwing while she was still licking the wounds that you inflicted upon her. What if Silverwing comes back?"
"Then I'm dead. Based on what we saw even if the tower could draw upon a full mana geyser, I don't know if we could be her opponent." Lith replied, yet seeing the cracks on both War and the Scalewalker made his wallet bleed.
He had kept them out of his pocket dimension all the time, to allow them to absorb part of his mana and mend their wounds, yet due to his exhausted state, there was only so much energy that his equipment could absorb without endangering his life.
On top of that, Tista was right about Solus as well. Fighting with Lochra had put so much strain on her already debilitated condition that if not for their fusion, she might have lost months' worth of energy.
"You and Solus stay here while we take care of the contributions to the community." Phloria said. "You need each other and the geyser to recover. I'll try to knock some sense into Reghia's humans while Tista could search for an open mana geyser while extermination monsters.
"That way, we can check if the tower warp can bring us back home and, if needed, ask Faluel's help."
"Yeah, one small problem, though. Crossing the ocean and getting here from Lutia required two Guardians. How do I explain to her that I'm capable of doing the same on my own?" Lith asked.
"That's a line I hope we'll never cross. Yet having a contingency plan never hurts and worst case scenario, we'd still provide you with all the energy you need to recover from your wounds." She replied.
Lith didn't like the idea much. Even if they did find the geyser, it would be hard to explain to Aren, the beasts' Council representative, why they had left the city. On top of that, Awakened were bound to know about mana geysers and were able to spot them.
Lith wasn't eager to put Solus's cloaking abilities to the test against such powerful creatures. If even one of them noticed the tower, it would be the beginning of the end for him.
"Fine. I'll play househusband until I fully recover while you two find a way to get our hands on the city's resources." He said.
After checking one last time Lith's and Solus's condition, the two women left the tower, both headed for the Mayor's office. Tista needed to join a unit of Awakened while Phloria wanted to ask free reins about the humans.
"Don't you think It would've been better if we brought Solus along? Meeting her godmother like that and learning so many painful details about her past must have left a scar. Solus could use a bit of distraction." Tista asked.
"No." Phloria shook her head.
"She really needs to recover her strength and the more Solus gets close to regain her body, the more complicated their relationship will become. Rather than being apart, they must stay together and set their respective boundaries before someone gets hurt."
"Are you talking about Solus, Kamila, or yourself?" Tista asked.
"About all of us. I'm starting to wrap my head around their crazy relationship and around the fact that Lith and I will never be anything more than friends again. Yet it's Lith and Solus I'm worried about.
"None of his past relationships lasted this long he has never opened so much with someone as he did with Kamila. I'm afraid that if they break up, he might close his heart forever. As for Solus, it doesn't take a genius to understand that she has feelings for him.
"Yet in her isolation, she's never got to learn that loving someone means letting them go, no matter how painful it might be. Like Lith and I did for each other. If two people are meant to be together, they'll find each other again." Phloria sighed.
Chapter 1203 Mana Geysers Part 1
Tista pondered her words in silence until they got to the Mayor's office. Xoth the Nue helped Tista to pick a mission suitable for her skills and gave Phloria free rein over the human district.
Meanwhile, inside the tower, after checking his equipment, Lith started to organize what he needed to prepare lunch and dinner.
"It's been a couple of lifetimes since I cooked without magic or Fire Vision. If don't want to eat charred food, you'd better give me a hand." He said to Solus, who seemed to be spacing out.
"Sorry, I was making sure that the tower doesn't have any backdoor that Silverwing can use to get inside without me noticing or to track us down." She replied. "By the way, don't worry about War.
"I checked it with Invigoration and the cracks are superficial. It should return to mint condition in a couple of days."
"What about the Scalewalker armor?" Lith asked while pointing at his clothes that looked like a patchwork between pajamas and a suit of armor.
"Between the Puppeteer's Chaos magic and your Abomination side going awry, it went close to annihilation as much as you did. The damage got this close to reaching the mana crystals so it's better if you don't shapeshift it until it recovers."
"By the way, during our last fusion, I couldn't help but notice that you've associated one of your favorite songs to all people you like the most. Why did you pick Like a Rainbow of the Tumbling Stones for me?" She said while sitting on the kitchen counter and nervously swinging her legs, careful to not make eye contact.
"If you read my mind deep enough to know that you should also know the answer to that." Lith shrugged while arranging the ingredients for a soup and a meat dish.
"I want to hear it from you."
"I picked that song after the first time you assumed your tower form because your emotions alter the color of the lights, like described in the lyrics. Yet it was only after we fought because you came clean to me about your lie about Protector's death that it became our song.
"While our minds were apart, I realized that without you, my world turned into a cold place. I could still feel the sun, but not appreciate its warmth. The same thing happened in Othre when I had to leave you behind to meet the Dawn Court.
"You are my rainbow, Solus. Like the girl in the song, you make my world colorful and magical." Lith said with a warm smile.
"Thanks." She replied while finally meeting his gaze. "Does Kamila have one as well?"
"Yes, but hers isn't very upbeat." Lith used their mind link to share the tune.
Solus found it fitting since it was a song about Demons written by Dragons, yet also very sad. It talked about a man who had decided to come clean with the person he loved to not taint them with his darkness, even though it meant losing them forever.
"I know you are a pessimist by nature and that my existence is a big secret, but Kamila chose to stay by your side after you told her about being a hybrid nor did she change her mind after learning about Awakening.
"Why should it be different this time?" Solus said.
"Because it's indeed different. All the secrets I shared with her so far were all about me whereas now she would have to accept the idea that there's basically a third person in our relationship.
"If she cares for me as much as Silverwing does for you, I don't expect her to react any better. Kamila will ask me to leave you and when I'll refuse, she'll break up with me." Lith said.
"I think you are underestimating her. Kamila already proved to be a kind and understanding woman. I'm sure that after the initial shock, everything will be fine." Solus wasn't a big fan of Kamila, yet the idea of destroying Lith's happiness made her stomach turn into a knot.
***
After warning the security of the human district about what was about to happen, Phloria went there, hoping that something had changed from her last visit. Unfortunately for her, everyone was still as stubborn as she remembered.
Unfortunately for them, this time she didn't care. Phloria hogtied and dragged out all those who tried to slam the door into her face with Spirit Magic, assembling them in the district square.
"Ladies and gentlemen, good morning. My name is Phloria Ernas and I'll teach you the common language of the Garlen continent, whether you like it or not." She said while giving them a small bow.
"I'm not going to let a foreigner-" A man from the late Gren Democracy attempted to say, before a strong push of Spirit Magic shoved his face in the ground and literally made him eat dirt.
Many others Grenians tried to verbally and physically assault her. The former got their mouth filled with dirt as well while the latter was beaten an inch from fainting. Even before being Awakened, Phloria would have needed but one hit to subdue an adult man.
Their numbers were pointless against an opponent that needed but a flick of her wrist to send them flying like paper dolls.
"It seems there is a misunderstanding here. The choice is no longer in your hands. I have changed your arrangements with the magical beasts' community. From now on, to receive food, water, and medical care, you can only use the common language.
"Those who are unable to speak it will receive every day the same meal, the minimum amount of water, and the bare necessary healing to let you keep doing your work."
"To eat a different dish, you'll have to say what you want and how you want it. If you want to be healed, you'll need to learn to describe your symptoms and to explain how you injured yourselves." Phloria said.
"After all we went through at the hands of our enemies, after all we do every day for those beasts, how dare you try and strip us of what little dignity we have left?" A young woman from the Paclean Kingdom said in outrage.
She pointed her finger at her neighbors who didn't understand a word she said, yet they reacted to her tone with hostility, trying to thew stones at her. Yet all the pebbles fell down onto the ground along with those who had cast them.
"First, you have no idea who spread the plague, otherwise you would have joined your forces against a common enemy instead of attacking each other like rabid dogs. Second, you aren't doing anything for the beasts because they have no need for your help.
"What you are doing, you do for yourselves, to not forget your trade or to learn one if you didn't have a job in your previous life. Yet all of it will be pointless if you are unable to communicate and help each other.
"There's not enough of you to rebuild the human civilization on Jiera if you remain divided." Phloria said.
"I'd rather die as a free woman rather than live as a slave among those who caused the death of my whole city." Said a young proud man of the Torin Kingdom, unaware that it had been his own people to unleash the plague on Jiera.
Chapter 1204 - Mana Geysers (Part 2)
"Then leave Reghia, but know that the moment you step outside the city, its doors will remain closed even if you change your mind. Here you have a house, food, and protection whereas outside you'll have only the clothes you wear.
"I bet that even if you don't meet any monster, you'll die in less than a week." Phloria said.
The man stepped forward, looking around to see who was willing to share his destiny, finding himself alone. All those in their right mind knew that without the proper tools or training, life in the wilds was akin to a death sentence.
"Until this moment, you have wasted so much time crying over what you have lost that you have become reliant on another race for everything. Food, shelter, protection, and even the education of your children.
"I can't force you to get along, but if you keep acting like pets rather than humans, I'll make sure you are treated as such." Phloria said.
***
Being Awakened for only four years and lacking any formal military training, Tista was aware of being the weakest in the group, even below Quylla who despite her almost as poor physical prowess at least had a violet core.
All Tista had learned about fencing and self-defense as a self-taught had allowed her to survive during her travels throughout the Griffon Kingdom, but only because she had faced non-Awakened opponents.
Only after joining Lith in his apprenticeship under Faluel, did Tista receive all the lessons that she needed. Even though she was shorter and lighter than her little brother, hand-to-hand combat was the discipline Tista was the most proficient with.
Just like Quylla, she didn't train long enough to find a weapon that suited her talent and build whereas even non-Awakened mages had to be proficient in martial arts. Otherwise all the magic and all the artifact on Mogar wouldn't save them from any thug with a decent weapon that managed to get close to them.
Between Professor Ironhelm's lessons during her two years at the White Griffon academy and Lith's self-defense lessons, Tista's skill in close combat surpassed that of most soldiers in the Kingdom.
Alas, such training gave her an edge only against non-Awakened human opponents without powerful enchanted weapons. Beasts had fusion magic as well and a physical prowess greater than most humans while a skilled opponent with a weapon capable of piercing her armor would have an easy time keeping Tista at bay.
It was the reason why both Faluel and Lith had given her a vast assortment of weapons, hoping that among them she would find something that suited her. The only problem with that was finding a real combat situation where she could employ them.
No matter how seriously she took it, sparring always felt fake and every weapon gave her more or less the same feeling. Hence Tista had chosen to perform several missions, each one of them with a limited number of enemies.
Olua the Roc and Bodya the Nidhogg fought with her, being careful to leave enough opponents to make the fight dangerous but not so many that the chaos of the battle would keep them from noticing if she needed help.
During each mission, Tista used a different weapon, yet even after slaughtering several tribes of monsters, she didn't feel like she had made any progress.
"Don't worry too much about it. You are still very young and you have already achieved a cyan core." Bodya said while coiling his snake-like body around his companions to protect them from sneak attacks while they rested.
"It took me decades to reach the bright blue core and even longer to learn how to shapeshift into a hybrid form after being humbled one time too many only because my opponent had an opposable thumb.
"Don't get me started about how difficult it was for me getting used to arms."
"Same here." Olua turned into her human form, looking like a woman in her early thirties, around 1.76 meters (5'9") tall with wheat-blond hair and eyes. Her skin was of a tinge of bronze so light that it looked golden under the sunlight.
"At first, Emperor Beasts rely on their powerful bodies for both protection and attack, but that only works with dumb enemies who remain in open spaces. Our size is nothing but a hassle when the fight moves inside a city or underground.
"Not to mention how our forms are unsuited to practice any kind of craftmanship or Forgemastering. For all of us, it comes a moment when we have to practice shapeshifting first and then get used to a puny body.
"Thirty years from now you'll be an amazing fighter, I'm sure of it."
Those words half flattered and half scared Tista.
"Thanks, I guess. You know, I still have trouble accepting the fact that I'm an Awakened. For humans, being 21 years old means being of marriage age, starting searching for a spouse, and maybe having kids. For Awakened, instead, I'm barely a child.
"You speak of thirty years as if they are a couple of months whereas I don't even know if my parents will still be alive by then." Tista sighed at the idea that her family might die before she could have the time to prove her worth to them.
"I know it's hard for humans. One of my friends once told me that the members of your race understand what being an Awakened means only after you lose everyone who knows you as a human rather than an Awakened. Until that moment, you are shackled by the illusion of having a normal life."
Tista pondered those words and understood their truth. She also got her stomach twisted into a knot.
"Is it me, or there aren't many mana geysers around here?" Tista had searched far and wide the areas of their missions, but she had yet to find one.
She was pleasantly surprised to discover that the words for mana geyser existed in other languages as well, wondering if they had the same meaning and what Awakened thought of them.
"They are rare by nature. Why do you need one?" Bodya and Olua didn't fail to notice Tista's desperate attempt to change the subject, but they decided to not push it.
"My little brother has already reached a bright blue core. By practicing Acc.u.mulation on a mana geyser, I can hasten my development and become stronger." She lied through her teeth.
"That's the dumbest idea I've ever heard." Olua said. "Nothing good comes from rushing things and I'm pretty sure you know it as well. What is your true goal?"
"What do you mean?" Tista looked honestly confused, not because she didn't have a hidden agenda so much as because she was certain that no one would suspect that she had a mage tower from such a simple question.
"Don't play coy with us, child." Bodya snorted and his huge nostrils emitted a fine mist that quickly dissipated under the sun's heat. "All Awakened know the value of mana geysers. Do you think we are so stupid that we didn't map them?"
"Why would you do that? It's a waste of time. I mean, sure if a mana geyser it's really strong it might produce mana crystals, but most of them are useless except that as training tools." Tista's honest surprise left the Emperor Beasts flabbergasted.
Chapter 1205 - Loose Ends (Part 1)
"She really doesn't know!" Bodya blurted out.
"Well, she's just a child, after all." Olua caressed Tista's head as if she was a small child, irking her to no end.
"Excuse me, I'm right here. What is that I'm not aware of?"
"Mana geysers are the reason why the Council awards its most outstanding members with a territory. Other creatures can only find them by chance, whereas Awakened can see them." Olua explained.
"Mana geysers are great places to build your lab or home, providing you with an endless supply of world energy for your arrays. On top of that, mana geysers can be used to identify the location of both crystal mines and enchanted metal's veins."
"Enchanted metals?" Tista echoed.
"Yes. Why do you think Reghia was built there?" Bodya nodded. "Over time, a powerful stream of world energy can turn any lesser metal into silver, silver into Orichalc.u.m, Orichalc.u.m into Adamant, and even Adamant into Davross.
"Silver forms close to the surface whereas the deeper you go, the stronger the geyser becomes, making it possible to find Adamant veins. Davross takes so much time to form that it's not worth the wait, not even for Awakened.
"Adamant is always mined as it is unless it has already started to gain both black and white shades that mark the turning point into Davross."
"Can all mana geysers do that?" Tista thought about the mana geyser where Solus usually took her tower form near Lutia and wondered why Faluel didn't pick such a spot to build her lair.
"I wish." Olua sighed. "You can't just dump silver or crystals inside a mana geyser and wait for them to grow. Either the process is natural or it doesn't happen."
Tista inwardly grinned at those words, thinking about Solus's ability to grow her own crystals and wondering if she could do the same for metals.
"Yet by mining the area around a mana geyser, Awakened can check the presence of magical resources and take them away before anyone else notices. The Council scouts each area before assigning them and divides the mining operations between the Lords of each region.
"After the Council takes its share, the rest is equally divided among the Lords who can choose if to hoard the resources for themselves or sell them to found their research."
"Then how can you explain that my Awakened mentor, a Hydra, lives near a mana geyser yet she didn't use it to build her lair?" Tista asked to make sense of Faluel's odd choice.
"There can be two possible explanations." Bodya said.
"If the Council has located a potential crystal mine or Adamant vein, if not both like it happens in Reghia, then no one would build anything over the geyser. Mining operations require countless people working together and no one likes to have strangers coming and going from your house at all hours.
"On top of that, it would force the Lord of the region to give the passwords for their arrays to all those involved, putting their treasures at risk. The second possibility is that your master uses her lair not only as a lab but also as a house.
"Raising children over a mana geyser is dangerous. The reason why Awakened at birth are just a myth, is that even if the geyser helps the baby to Awaken, their body can't resist such a massive flow of world energy, killing them the moment they develop a mana flow."
"The mana geyser is small and Faluel had many children so it should be option number two." Tista pondered. "Well, enough chit-chat. Time to get back to work. Who's our next target?" She took a longsword out of her dimensional item.
"A small tribe of Balors. Before attacking them, we're going to try reasoning with them. They are not mindless brutes and their strength might actually help us secure the area." Olua said.
***
Blood Desert Fringe.
After Nalrond completely recovered his strength, he performed the ritual to commune with Mogar for what he hoped was the last time. Thanks to Quylla's magic circles, forming the mind link put a much lesser strain on his mind compared with his previous attempt.
He could still hear countless voices echoing through his head, but it wasn't much different from the noise of Lutia's bustling market during the Spring festival. Mogar's flow of consciousness didn't feel like a raging river that would sweep him away at the slightest mistake anymore.
It felt akin to a gentle stream of water coursing around his body.
"Well, well, well. It looks like someone didn't learn anything from his last visit." Mogar still looked identical to Nalrond and its voice oozed contempt for it. "Why are you here?"
"For the same reason that brought me to the Fringe in the first place. To receive your wisdom." Nalrond replied.
"Are your questions the same as the last time?" A snap of Mogar's fingers materialized the three shades. Menadion, Arthan, and the Rezar that Nalrond suspected was his own beast side all stared at him in hatred.
"No. I have no questions. I have realized that I can't demand anything from you. I'm here to listen to whatever you are willing to share with me, no matter how insignificant." He said.
Based on both Morok's experience inside the Mindscape and his own, Nalrond had come to the conclusion that his people had never truly understood what communing with Mogar really meant.
During his first visit, the planet had shared with him many details about Dawn's attempts to learn from Mogar how to conquer the weakness typical of the undead. Despite her almost limitless power and nigh-indestructible body, even the Bright Day had come out of the Mindscape empty-handed.
'Dawn must have survived thanks to her nature of Living Legacy while I would have died like my clansmen before me if not for Quylla's magic circle protecting my mind and the combined efforts of my companions to heal my body.
'Dawn's failure means that raw power is pointless in here. Mogar's strength is too big to challenge even a shred of its consciousness. Morok's failure means that the trial isn't about accepting yourself or having a strong will.
'Despite all of our differences, the only thing all three of us have in common is that we came here making demands and yet we didn't listen to what Mogar attempted to say.' Nalrond thought.
"Then let me ask you a few questions." Mogar nodded, confirming his suspicions.
"Do you really think that your friend Lith is the first person to have their life force cracked? That no one else before you, be they Awakened or not didn't attempt everything they could to find a solution?" Mogar pointed at Arthan who even in death had a smug grin on his face.
"Just because you don't like an answer it doesn't mean that there is a better one. You can't bring back the dead just like you can't turn rotten food into delicacies because life doesn't come from nothing."
The Mad King's face twisted into a grimace of wrath as his body slowly faded away and Mogar absorbed him.
"A parent surviving their child brings terrible grief that sometimes turns into madness. The same grief and madness that brought Menadion to take away her own daughter's humanity to create an artificial unliving being.
Chapter 1206 - Loose Ends (Part 2)
"The real question you should ask yourself is: what was Menadion trying to accomplish by fusing a dying person with a tower? Is her work really flawed or did she actually achieve exactly what she wanted?" Mogar said while absorbing the shade of the First Forgemaster who cried in shame and regret.
"Last but not least, the matter about your other half. Tell me, what does he want? Where does all of his rage come from? How much of your life and your actions have been influenced by his presence?
"How can two so different beings become one if they are incapable of sharing even the most insignificant aspect of tier lives?" The Rezar disappeared as well and so did Mogar.
The Mindscape suddenly turned so dark that Nalrond couldn't even see his own hands. At least until he understood that the mind link had been broken from the other side and that he was still sitting cross-legged with his eyes closed.
"How did it go?" Friya asked while performing a diagnostic spell to make sure that he was alright.
"Very oddly. Mogar asked me many questions, but I don't think you would like them." Nalrond said before sharing with them his conversation with the planet. He glossed over the part about Solus due to Morok's presence.
He already knew about Menadion and if they mentioned the tower as well, even someone as simple-minded as the Tyrant would discover her secret.
"Based on what it said, Forbidden Magic is the only way to fix Lith's life force." Quylla shuddered at the thought.
There were few things that she wouldn't do for her friend, but sacrificing human lives was among them. She had researched Arthan's Madness under Professor Vastor's supervision and she knew how reckless the procedure was.
Forbidden Magic would require dozens of victims and the slightest mistake would enlarge the cracks instead of fixing them if not even destroy Lith's mind, replacing it with an amalgam born out of all the fused consciousnesses.
"What do you think Mogar meant with those questions about your other half?" Friya asked.
"Yeah, more like, do you even have one?" Morok shrugged. "I've been a hybrid until I became twenty, but I never heard voices inside my head nor did I have arguments with myself. More than any other teenager, I mean."
"Honestly, I don't know." Nalrond shapeshifted several times, trying to feel if another presence inhabited his body, but to no avail.
Ever since he was a kid, his elders had taught him about the history of the Werepeople, of how being fused with Emperor Beasts had made them different from any other race. Yet he couldn't remember a single time when he had felt anything but himself.
On top of that, after seeing Lith and Solus merge while fighting against Dawn, after spending so much time with them, he had witnessed what one living being split into two different halves looked like.
Not only did they have each their respective mana core and life force, but they also had different dreams and goals. Yet it didn't keep them from helping each other. Quite the contrary, they were so close that it was hard to tell where one finished and the other started.
"Wait a minute." He said after pondering the issue for a while. "The first time that I fought Dawn's undead, fear paralyzed me. The only reason I survived is that my body acted on its own, attacking with a fury that surprised me.
"The same thing happened when I had to cut through Night's army to reach Selia's house. I didn't need to think or plan my moves in advance. Every time an enemy stood in my path, instinct and fury guided me to the deadliest solution."
"Could I possibly be like Lith and-" A friendly nudge in the ribs from Friya cut him short.
"Nah, dude. You're nothing like Lith." Morok waved his hand to firmly deny the possibility. "I mean, sure, you are both grumpy, but I've seen him cut through two armies at the same time whereas you needed help to beat a couple of undead."
"Never mind." Nalrond said, ignoring the Tyrant's remark. "I meant that maybe, all this time my people worried about what the human mages did to us without considering that our beast half might be in an even worse condition.
"To have loyal soldiers capable of following orders, our makers couldn't have two conflicting personalities inside one body. The constant struggle for dominance would have driven us insane and made us useless.
"It's possible that they sealed the beast's mind, leaving the human side in control. If I'm right, then the reason why Werepeople never became a true race and are incapable of Awakening is that the barrier separating our two life forces also traps our beast half in some sort of slave contract.
"Because of that, not only our bodies, but also our minds can never be in synch." Nalrond said.
"It's a terrifying hypothesis." Quylla said.
The more she learned about the consequences Forbidden Magic had on its victims, the less she felt like considering it as a solution for Lith's problem.
"If you are right, then you should give up on the idea of becoming whole. There's no telling if your beast half has enough sanity left to reason once freed, nor what might happen if it doesn't recognize you as an ally.
"Best case scenario, it will be as naïve and ignorant as a baby and you'll have to take care for him for a long while. Worst case scenario, it's been awake all this time and it resents you for it." She said.
"I think you are right." Nalrond sighed.
"Before making any decision, I'll talk to Faluel. Maybe together we can come up with a solution, or at least with a way for me to communicate with my other half without tearing down the wall that has kept us apart until now.
"That said, I've got nothing more to do here and this place is filled with too many memories to be pleasant. Unless you want to communicate with Mogar as well, I'm ready to leave at any time."
"Thanks, but I've had enough of this place." Friya said. "Between my Soul Projection and the things that I learned by practicing magic here, I've got plenty of things to think about when we get home."
Quylla and Morok nodded at her words. They both could feel that after Nalrond's successful communion, Mogar had shifted its attention to something else. Morok didn't even hear the voice in his head prompting him to Awaken anymore.
"Then if we all agree, I'd say that it's better to leave without saying goodbye." Nalrond said. "Kimo and I didn't part on good terms and the way they acted towards you guys felt like just a charade to get on my good side.
"Once they hear that I'm going to leave the Fringe for good, they'd have no reason to hold back. If their real motive has been learning Light Mastery all along, things might get messy."
Having already stored their possessions inside dimensional amulets, they had no need to go back to the Dewan village. They had everything they needed safely literally at their fingertips so once the group left the cave, they went directly to the Fringe's border.
Chapter 1207 - Loose Ends (Part 3)
Nalrond extended his hand toward the silvery barrier that separated the dimensional space from the rest of Mogar, feeling the familiar stream of consciousness inside the barrier flooding inside of him.
Countless voices, experiences, and feelings that didn't belong to him coursed through his mind. The Rezar used his own name as an anchor against the stream and as a fortress against the psychic onslaught but this time it wasn't enough.
Not because learning about the possible existence of his other half had made his sense of self falter. On the contrary, the idea of having finally found the missing piece of his life that his forefathers had searched for generations, had given Nalrond a purpose.
Yet he had underestimated the burden that meeting a being as powerful as Mogar inside the Mindscape had put on both his body and focus. Even with the protection from the magic circles, the mind link had made so much world energy course through his body that he experienced the effects of mana abuse.
Nalrond felt as if his human form was about to break, forcing him to cut off the contact with the barrier.
"Dammit, I'll need to rest a bit before making another attempt." Nalrond said a second before so many short arrows pierced his back that he seemed to have turned into a porcupine.
"Leaving without even saying goodbye? After everything we did for you, it's time you return our kindness, dear Nalrond." Kimo's voice emerged from a Warp Steps along with several Dewans armed to the teeth.
"We offered you a home. We offered you to marry one of our women. We offered you even the sacred knowledge that our ancestors left us about the Fringe, yet every single time you threw our generosity back into our face."
Friya thanked her paranoia for having allowed her to keep many spells at the ready. Yet the reason why she didn't shut Kimo's mouth with a well-placed fireball was that she knew something was off.
Only when more and more people started to come out from both Warp Steps and the barrier did she understand why Kimo had wasted time talking. The arrows weren't meant to kill, so much as to incapacitate Nalrond and make it impossible for him to survive a trip through the barrier.
To make matters worse, only a small number of those who came from the Steps belonged to the Dewans tribe. The others all had slender bodies and long pointy ears like she had never seen before.
***
Jiera Continent, City of Reghia.
Lith spent the time his body needed to heal by studying the Odi books that he had collected in Kulah and in Dawn's lab, trying to replace the old technology with Runesmithing.
It was a tedious work that he could only perform when alone since the use of Forbidden Magic was frowned upon by every single mage Lith knew, Solus included. Luckily, Tista and Phloria spent most of the day outside, performing their respective tasks and leaving him all the time he needed.
On the other hand, not being able to even use chore magic made him completely dependent on Solus. He tried writing down his findings, but his penmanship was so horrible that when he compared his notes with books, he had an easier time deciphering the Odi language than his own.
"I guess I got too spoiled using water magic all the time." He sighed while Solus manipulated the ink to turn what looked like the scribbles of a madman into human language.
"Look, I'm not saying that we shouldn't look into body-swapping. Not after all it happened to you while fighting that Puppeteer." Solus touched his cheek to use Invigoration for the tenth time in as many minutes and make sure there was nothing wrong with him.
"There's plenty of awful people in this world that I wouldn't feel bad experimenting upon, but after now that we learned about Guardianhood and white cores, wouldn't it be better to focus on safer methods to prolong your life?
"I mean, making sure that the machine works will need both a lot of trial-and-error experimentation and getting to know our victims enough to determine if the body-swapping succeeded. We can check the status of mana cores and life forces, but we have no way to make sure that the mind is intact as well."
Solus sighed in relief seeing that the Abomination side of Lith's life force was almost back to normal. "Gods, I can't wait for you to be able to shapeshift again. I miss your face and voice."
"Welcome to the club." Lith said with his hybrid voice which always sounded as if a gust of wind howling through an abyss somehow uttered human words. "Mom almost cries every time she sees me and Rena is worried sick.
"As for the machine, I know it's a longshot, but I'd rather have a solid contingency plan than blindly rely on what-ifs. Guardianhood is more a death sentence than a path to immortality, otherwise there wouldn't be so few Guardians."
"White cores are more promising since after meeting them in person, we know thanks to your mana sense that both Baba Yaga and Silverwing achieved it. Yet the fact that even the Council considers it a myth speaks volumes about how hard it is to evolve past the violet core.
"I wouldn't care about body-swapping only if Silverwing offered me her help instead of trying to kill me. She is a genius mage blessed by all the elements whereas I'm no genius and I'm not going to live as long as a normal Awakened." Lith said.
It wasn't the answer Solus had hoped for but there was nothing she could say to refute his words so she got back to work.
"Thanks for your help and understanding." Lith looked at the sea of pages they had written, wondering if any of his ideas would work once put into practice.
"Heisenberg's beard, I wish I could use this time to practice Forgemastery or Light Mastery instead of sleeping, studying, and cooking all day. This is driving me crazy."
After employing the stick of depriving of their citizens' rights the humans who refused to learn the universal language, Phloria had used a tasty carrot to make it worth their while.
All those who actively participated in the lessons would receive a full course meal prepared by a certain Wyrmling chef. At first, only those who had been moved by Phloria's speech had joined the classes, but that all changed after the first lunch break.
Living in Reghia had made the humans used to simple food prepared only with basic ingredients and even those who had the magical skills to cook had no access to salt, sugar, or spices.
Eating properly seasoned hot food, tasty bread, and sweets for the first time in over a year brought most of Phloria's students to tears. Between the delicious smell and the happy faces of their neighbors, more people joined the lessons by the day.
Lith had been forced to turn the entire Alchemical lab into a huge kitchen to prepare enough food for everyone and even that wouldn't have been possible without Solus's help.
Alchemical tools were designed to mass-produce potions and tools, not food so repurposing them required quite a bit of work on her side.
Chapter 1208 - Loose Ends (Part 4)
"Well, the silver lining is that I'm learning how to cook and that by spending so much time together, we're both recovering much faster than usual." Solus used her holograms to project both Lith's life forces and the power core of the tower.
The former almost perfectly overlapped while the latter had become less hazy, allowing them to take a good look at it.
The complexity of the tower's power core still baffled them, but Lith and Solus hoped that by studying it, they would understand the method that Menadion had used to fuse Solus with the artifact and learn how to reverse the process.
A couple of days later, Lith was so bored that he called Friya to learn if they had learned anything about Solus's condition from the Fringe. During his recovery, he had already informed she and Quylla about both Solus's dream and the meeting with Silverwing.
"I'm sorry, Lith, but Nalrond is in worse shape than you are." She said while dabbing the sweat from her training. "Now that Morok isn't around, however, I can tell you we all think that Menadion's shade protecting the answer means that she had found a solution before dying."
"It makes sense." Lith nodded. "Judging by what we learned about Menadion, it's likely that she had developed the procedure to keep what had happened to her husband Threin from repeating itself.
"Since the core of a dying person always cracks, she must have taken that into account. We need to find out everything we can about Menadion. Maybe she left some of her notes to one of her apprentices or at least some clues.
"Silverwing said that Menadion had lots of disciples and they all lived inside the tower. It's likely that one or more of them even helped her with the project."
"Easier said than done. Menadion is a legendary figure. Almost all ancient households who practice Forgemastering, even the Ernas, claim that one of their ancestors learned from her.
"It's all bogus, by the way. At least for us. I can ask Dad to check the rumors, but with all that's going on, he's not going to put much effort in such a wild goose chase unless I give him a good reason to." Friya said.
"It's better than nothing, thank you." Lith ended the call and used Invigoration for the first time after almost a week.
According to Solus, his life force had perfectly recovered for a couple of days already, but with his life on the line, Lith didn't feel like taking unnecessary risks. First, he checked the cracks in his human side, finding no change in their condition.
He even looked through a window while letting go of Death Vision to make sure that it didn't get any worse. After seeing plants wither, rocks crumble, and his magical beast neighbor die several times in the span of a few minutes, he sighed in relief.
Death Vision was, for the lack of a better term, a curse that he had suffered ever since he had sacrificed his life span to save Protector's life after Balkor's attack. Ever since that day, unless Lith focused to keep it at bay, Death Vision turned the world around him into a gruesome nightmare.
'It's still as awful as the first time I experienced it, but at least I can deal with this level of mental pressure.' Or so he thought until his eyes fell on the meal he was preparing.
Vegetables turned into a mold while the meat rot and maggot spawned at a speed visible to the n.a.k.e.d eye. Lith closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths before opening them again. Everything was fine, but his appetite was ruined.
Then he conjured one chore magic spell for each element, keeping darkness magic for last. Only after making sure that it didn't turn into Chaos did he shapeshift back into his human form.
"How do you feel?" Solus asked.
"Much better. I can't wait to practice magic again." Lith said.
"That or we could go back to the Griffon Kingdom. Putting an ocean between us and Silverwing would allow me to rest much easier."
"I don't know. I didn't do much after getting here and according to Xoth the Nue, between the three of us we've racked enough merits to get our hands on some good stuff." Lith didn't care much for crystals, but he had a dire need for enchanted metals.
Lith and Solus spent the rest of the evening practicing Light Mastery until their companions returned from their respective duties.
Fighting on the front lines hardened Tista by the day, and having valuable companions that watched her back allowed her to learn from every mistake she made. She still sucked with every single weapon man had ever created, but her mastery over the Battle Mage specialization improved with each fight.
"I'm happy we came to Jiera." She said while wolfing down her food. "Here there are only Awakened and Emperor Beasts. For the first time in my life, I'm just a regular person since all Awakened are handsome and shapeshifted beasts are just gorgeous.
"Once we get back home, I want to hang out more with people from the Council. At least there no one will bother me for my powers or my physical appearance."
"I'm glad to hear that at least one of us is having fun." Lith said. "Tomorrow I'm going to visit the mayor and ask him about our rewards. Do you want me to request for something in particular?"
"I've already got all the mana crystals and Orichalc.u.m I need back home. Adamant would be wasted on me so feel free to take my share." Phloria said with a smile on her face.
Even though she had been forced to resort to the oldest trick in the drill sergeants' book, turning herself into the heartless monster that the recruits hated, she was happy with the results.
She had given the people who lived in the human district a common enemy that inflicted upon them the same hardsh.i.p.s. It allowed them to empathize with each other.
That along with sharing their hard-earned meals and the language barrier crumbling with each lesson they took, was slowly turning a bunch of refugees into a community.
"If you give me the Orichalc.u.m and the crystals I need for my experiments, you can take my share as well, lil bro. Until I get at least a blue core and much more experience with crafting, Adamant is wasted on me as well." Tista said.
After the meal, everyone went to sleep and the following day Lith went straight to Xoth's office to place his order.
"Adamant?" The Nue's monkey head managed to look as flabbergasted as any sane ruler would be after hearing such a request. "Look, son, not to be ungrateful, but it's not like you did much aside from sleeping."
"I was injured in the line of duty! You can ask Olua or Bodya if you don't believe me." Lith replied in outrage.
"It's not a matter of mistrust so much as that the reward for a single mission depends on how hard it is. You faced a Puppeteer Abomination, not an Eldritch." The Nue gave Lith a couple of ingots of Adamant, each one weighed about two kilograms (2.2 lbs).
Chapter 1209 - Faluel’s Ploy (Part 1)
Even smelting Adamant was an expensive and difficult job. After being mined, the metal would be simply molten with regular flames and turned into ingots without any purification of sorts just to make them easier to sell and move.
'F.u.c.k me sideways, if this works like Orichalc.u.m, the smelting will reduce the weight by at least one-fourth. That before using Origin Flames.' He thought.
"As for your two apprentices, Tista performed only minor missions so her contributions don't amount to much. On top of that, Olua and Bodya feel guilty for what happened to you and never leave her side.
"Sending three Awakened for a mission that a veteran could perform alone is a waste of manpower." Xoth gave Lith a single ingot for all her trouble.
"Phloria, on the other hand, is making an excellent job with the humans. Her merits are outstanding. I look forward to thanking her in person." Eight ingots appeared in front of Lith and his hands almost reached the Nue's throat.
Almost.
"Are you telling me that teaching a few words to a bunch of morons is worth four times my life and eight times my sister's?"
"Phloria did more than that." Xoth shook his head.
"Some of her students now perform their civil duty not because they are forced to, but of their own free will. They are leading the others by example and once the others see the benefits that being an active member of the community provides, many more will follow.
"Son, you've been sent here to learn how to act like a beast, yet you keep reasoning like a human. Killing is cheap whereas keeping the balance is priceless and the human race is an integral part of it. We need them just as they need us."
"Are you telling me that if Tista and I joined Phloria's efforts we would have gotten three times as much?" Lith pointed at the ingots.
Once properly purified with Origin Flames, the Adamant ingots would provide him with just enough metal to craft a sword and some rings. And that only if he got lucky. Lith had to take into account his average of failures and prototypes.
Assuming that every craft would go well, especially while trying his own original blueprints, would be more than optimistic, it would be straight-out foolish.
"No. You wouldn't have received any. Teaching Tyris's universal language is something that anyone can do. Your companion is being rewarded because she succeeded where we all failed.
"Phloria managed to make the humans of Jiera come out of their mourning and start their schooling. It will take some time to see if her method will yield results, but she has already achieved more than we did in months." Xogh said, making Lith sigh in relief.
All of his sufferings were only worth two Adamant ingots, but it was still two ingots more than what he would have obtained wasting his time babysitting the refugees.
"If you want to get some more resources, I've got just the mission that's tailor-made for you." Xoth took out eight more ingots, hoping to arouse Lith's greed, yet all he obtained was a suspicious glare.
"Look, as much as I'd like to double my rewards, you've already proven not being big on generosity. What's the catch? Do I have to fight an Eldritch? An Elder Dragon?" Lith asked.
"Nothing of the sorts. It's just a recon mission." Xoth said, trying to sound reassuring.
"How can "just a recon mission" be worth that much?" The more Lith heard, the fishier the situation seemed.
"It wouldn't, if not for your special circ.u.mstances that make you so valuable." Since the baiting had failed, the Nue decided to get it all out on the table.
"According to your mentor, you are familiar with Lost Cities, you are an excellent fighter, and you are capable of improvising. That together with your cracked life force and the pin that Leegaain borrowed you, makes you our first real shot at taking this thing down."
"Sorry. You lost me." Lith shook his head.
"Are you acquainted with the merfolk?" Xoth pressed a few mana crystals embedded in the ground of his office, generating the hologram of a magnificent city surrounded by a golden dome of light.
"I met them briefly. They didn't like my human half and never visited me after discovering what kind of hybrid I am." Lith replied.
"Well, they'll have to learn how to behave since it's their problem that requires your help."
"I beg your pardon?" Lith pointed at the people in the hologram walking on the street and at its cultivated fields. "Such a city can't be located underwater."
"And yet it is. I wouldn't care much if not for Kolga growing like cancer over time. Ever since its foundation, the cursed city has more than tripled its surface, and sooner or later it's going to pose a threat to Jiera." Xoth said.
"It grows? Then what good is the barrier and why didn't the Council take care of it? I mean, sure, destroying a living legacy can have terrible consequences but the fact that thing is on the bottom of the ocean should make things easier." Lith said.
"You would be right if it was the product of a cursed object. The Council has raided Kolga several times, but failed to achieve any real progress or valuable intel. That's why even a simple recon mission is worth this much."
"I'm still not following. Why do you need me?" Lith wondered if it was better to raise the price even further or to just fold.
"The barrier, like it happens for most lost cities, serves to keep its inhabitants confined. The root of our problem is that the ruler of the city didn't make use of a living legacy. The city is fueled entirely by Forbidden Magic." Xoth said.
"What?" Lith said.
"Kolga was founded centuries ago above a very powerful mana geyser. The mage who did it possessed the ability to harness the power of the geyser, and she used it to keep the water out of it while she mined for mystical resources.
"Her name is lost to time. All we know is that she sought isolation to conduct her research in peace. Over time, the merfolk discovered the city and sought the mage's help to have a place where they could practice magic just like the races on the surface.
"It's unclear if the prolonged isolation had driven the mage insane or if she just sought some company, the only thing we know is that she agreed to help them. For a while, Kolga was one of the ocean's jewels.
"A place where humans and merfolk peacefully coexisted devoted solely to the magical research. After the mage's death, however, a merfolk named Myrano achieved full control of the geyser and decided to settle the past grudges with humans.
"Instead of killing them, he used anyone who dared to oppose his rule as test subjects for his experiments. After countless victims, he found a way to provide all citizens of Kolga an extended life span, perfect health, and amazing magical powers." A touch of Xoth's paw made a small sun appear inside the golden dome.
"Why didn't people rebel and why didn't the Council intervene? Dealing with Forbidden Magic is their responsibility." Lith asked.
Chapter 1210 - Faluel’s Ploy (Part 2)
"Fighting someone who holds the full power of a mana geyser is a tremendous task, but it would have been feasible if Kolga's isolation didn't delay the discovery of its horrors long enough for Myrano to complete his ritual." Xoth replied.
"You see, that thing that floats about the city it's both the source of Kolga's inhabitants' powers and an effective means of defense. Somehow, Myrano's ritual completely splits the light from the darkness element and acc.u.mulates the light in the form of a sun.
"The ritual also cracked both the mana cores and the life forces of all the people inside Kolga, making them both Myrano's prisoners and slaves. As long as they remain close to the Forbidden Sun, the cracks allow them to absorb its energy.
"Those people can live for two hundred years, keeping a youthful appearance until the moment of their death. They don't get ill and any wound is almost instantly healed.
"On top of that, the crack in their cores allows the ritual to boost their magical abilities beyond their limits, giving everyone at least a green core. On the other hand, not only does such monstrosity require constant sacrifices, but it also makes it impossible for the people of Kolga to escape.
"Outside the area of effect of the sun, they die in a matter of minutes. That's why people don't rebel. Stopping the ritual is the same as committing suicide. As for the Council, we did intervene.
"The problem is that just like the sun feeds Kolga's inhabitants, it poisons everyone else. It induces mana poisoning and accelerated aging to those who have regular bodies.
"Every time we attack the city, we have to fight against the power of the mana geyser that Myrano's descendants still control and against time. The longer we expose ourselves to the sun, the weaker we become.
"To make matters worse, all inhabitants of Kolga protect the city with their lives. Fighting an army of mages, a mana geyser, and endure the effects of the Forbidden Sun at the same time always caused our failure." Xoth said.
"We sent many scouts to gather the intelligence needed to assassinate the ruler of the city, but because of the sun, they don't have enough time to do their job before being forced to escape. To make matters worse, Kolga's language has been lost to time.
"We can shapeshift ourselves to pass as natives, but the language barrier makes it impossible for us to learn something relevant.
"We need you because thanks to your cracked life force and your Awakened core, you might be able to absorb the light element without taking damage while using Invigoration to slow down the mana poisoning.
"Moreover, thanks to your pin, you've proven to be able to talk even the language of Puppeteer Abominations. Kolga's language shouldn't be an issue. As I said in the beginning, this mission is tailor-made for you." Xoth took a pause, waiting for Lith's reply.
"What do you want me to do exactly?" He asked.
"We don't need a fighter, we need a spy. There are a few questions that need an answer before we can devise a way to get rid of Kolga once and for all. First, we never understood how the ruler of the city has such fine control over the mana geyser.
"It makes it impossible for us to use the world energy to build our arrays. The golden dome you see is fueled by mana crystals and every time it fails, the city gets bigger. We know that it's not a Forbidden Spell nor an array thanks to our surveillance.
"Second, we need to learn the details of the ritual. We just need to disrupt it once to make the Forbidden Sun crumble. Without it, the ruler of the city will die along with all of their subjects.
"Third, there is the matter of all the darkness energy generated by the ritual that is not used to keep the unliving stable. We have no idea if it's used to generate artifacts or stored to be used as a last-ditch means of offense.
"Such an energy mass couldn't disappear into thin air and if it gets released all in one go, it might have terrible consequences." Xoth said.
"I understand." Lith nodded. "Do you want me to take my companions along or do you want me to go alone?"
"I'll be honest. I'd like for you to go together. They are all Awakened, they all have pins, and by moving in a group you'll cover much more ground at the same time. Kolga is so big that a single person would take weeks to gather even scraps of information.
"If the pins of your companions can be passed onto others, however, I'd rather send more powerful Awakened. The stronger their core, the more time a person can resist the effects of the Forbidden Sun before being forced to leave Kolga or suffering permanent damage."
Lith gave his pin to the Nue, but when either of them talked, they could only hear gibberish.
"Just as I feared. They are imprinted." Xoth said after returning the pin.
"It's up to you to decide whether to accept or refuse my offer. Before answering, consider this. Kolga's Forbidden Sun might repair the cracks in your life force or at least give you back a part of the life span you lost.
"After all, your cracks are not caused by the ritual so the healing effects of the Forbidden Magic might affect you in a different way from the inhabitants of Kolga. What I'm offering to you is not only the Adamant, but also the opportunity to experience a treatment based on Forbidden Magic sanctioned by the Council."
"What if the sun makes my cracks bigger or if the pin doesn't work?" Lith asked.
"Then you are free to abandon the mission the moment you feel that something is wrong and you'd still keep your advance payment." Xogh replied while splitting the Adamant ingots into groups of two.
"Two up front and two more for each mystery your group manages to solve."
"I'll think about it." Lith left the mayor's office with his mind in such a turmoil that he almost forgot about the Adamant ingots he had come to collect.
Almost.
After putting them inside his pocket dimension, he Warped back home, making Solus assume her tower form and laying an extra set of arrays just to be safe.
"Tailor-made my pale ass! This is the real reason why Faluel sent me here." Lith said after sharing with the girls all the details of the mission. "Now I understand why she wanted to know so many things about me and my tribulations before deciding the nature of my test of wisdom."
"Yeah, it all makes sense." Phloria nodded. "She knows about the cracks in your life force and in Solus's mana core. Together you are no different from Kolga's inhabitants. You might be even able to live there if you wanted."
"I bet my ingot on Leegaain knowing about the real purpose of this visit all along. Otherwise he wouldn't have prepared a pin for Solus nor would he make them this powerful." Tista said.
"This is no different from one of the missions the Kingdom gave me. I can't back out without failing my test and getting kicked out by Faluel. Did she really think that I wouldn't see through such a simple set-up?" Lith snarled.
Chapter 1211 - Under the Sea (Part 1)
"You are seeing the glass as half empty, as usual." Solus said. "There is no risk in trying. As Xoth said, we can leave at the first sign of trouble. Also, if this is really an attempt to trigger a tribulation, then it already failed.
"World tribulations don't happen if you want them to. Last, but not least, I want to believe in Faluel's kindness. If she sent us here, it's because she hopes that by helping Jiera we can also help ourselves.
"The Forbidden Sun will affect both of us and even if it doesn't cure our respective condition, it will provide us with invaluable knowledge about Forbidden Magic that we wouldn't be able to acquire without committing unspeakable crimes."
"And you are seeing the glass as half full, as usual." Lith replied. "You are right about the tribulation, but the problem is that I don't want it to trigger because I don't want to die, so the risk still stands.
"Whatever her reason for sending us here is, I hate being manipulated. She should have come to me and said everything straight to my face. The only thing we agree on, is that passing the opportunity to check on the effects of Forbidden Magic would be beyond idiotic.
"The Odi, Arthan's Madness, they all require a healthy individual to work with whereas my life force is already cracked. I can't overlook the possibility that all our planning might become useless if my condition causes side effects with those kinds of procedures."
"Yeah, right." Solus scoffed. "Faluel should have been upfront, just like you did your whole life."
Her words made the girls chuckle and made Lith even more gloomy.
"Faluel may have set you up, but she also left you a way out. If you don't want to do it, we can just get in, stay a few minutes, and then get out. If you claim to have experienced side effects, no one can question your words, not even Faluel.
"You can pass the test without even trying." Solus said. "This is how wisdom works. It's not about being always ten steps ahead or having an ace in the hole. Those things help, but what really matters is what you do with the opportunities you are given."
"Do you want to come along?" Lith asked to Tista and Phloria.
"I'd rather not." Tista shook her head. "During the last few days, I've seen so many horrors born from Jiera's plague that the only thing I want is to go back home and enjoy the peace of the Griffon Kingdom until I die of boredom.
"Yet I'm not going to leave you alone, little brother." She hugged him, trembling at the idea that what shocked her to the core was just a minimal part of what her brother had faced to become an Archmage at such a young age.
"We need to think about a contingency plan." Phloria didn't even consider the idea of letting Lith kick a hornet nest the size of a lost city without her watching his back. "Solus might lessen the burden on you, but she might also make it worse.
"We don't know if the Forbidden Magic ritual will treat you as a single individual or as two different persons. In the first case, you should be able to endure the ritual as long as you need, otherwise you might actually be forced to get out even faster than a regular person."
"You're right, Phloria." Solus sighed. "Not only is my core cracked, but also my life force has always been my weak point due to its link with the tower. Without a mana geyser to sustain my other half, I rely on Lith to survive.
"Worst case scenario, I'll double the strain on his life force instead of relieving it."
They spent the next couple of days over a mana geyser that Tista had found during her missions, preparing for every scenario they could predict and crafting the tools they might need.
Lith also used that time to put his body to the test and make sure that his life forces could endure even his most powerful spells. Only then did they return to Reghia and accepted the mission.
"I'm glad to have you among our ranks." Xoth the Nue gave them a nod and contacted the merfolk to pick the group up. "You need to swim to your destination because opening Warp Steps underwater would flood the city.
"Always remember that we're not sending you there to fight, only to collect information. If my assumption about Leegaain's pins turns out to be wrong, the language barrier would make your presence pointless." He said to Tista and Phloria.
"Lith, if you can endure Kolga's sun, use Life Vision to search for its power source. Otherwise leave the city as soon as you can. We have no need for heroes or martyrs." The Nue gave him two Adamant ingots as down payment and waited with them.
Their guides turned out to be part of the group of merfolk that Lith had met during their first day in Reghia.
Merfolk were a race of humanoids that lived underwater. They had faces with no nose nor ears and fins coming out of their spines and h.i.p.s. Sky blue scales covered merfolk from head to toe, turning of a pale white in the abdomen area and the palms, making them all look like the same age.
They were capable of breathing underwater and on dry land through gills on their necks and heard from two small holes on either side of their head. They had no lips either, leaving the row of pearly teeth in their mouth partially exposed at all times.
Their hands had webbed fingers that ended in small claws that, due to their bright colors, were clearly venomous. Female merfolk had b.r.e.a.s.t-like bumps on their chest and slenderer builds compared to males.
The moment they got dry, however, they would turn into a form that closely resembled humans, and only their oddly colored hair would give out their real nature.
"How much do they know, Xoth?" Rem, the leader of the group, said.
She was a plump woman with sky-blue hair and a voice that sounded friendly even though she spoke while gurgling the water still coursing through her gills.
"The minimum necessary. I leave them in your care. Answer all of their questions honestly. I take full responsibility for this mission." The Nue replied.
"Very well." She clicked her tongue at the sight of the humans, but her face remained neutral.
"Please, take our hands and don't leave them for any reason. Flying spells don't work underwater, but that's not really an issue. Just use water magic in the same way you would use air and everything will be fine." Rem said.
"We'd better move now so that you have the time you need to adapt your spells and we can gain speed."
"Why holding hands?" Tista asked.
"To breathe. All the stories about merfolk allowing humans to stay underwater by kissing them and passing them air are as romantic as they are ridiculous. It's not that we couldn't, but merfolk don't make out with strangers and even if we did, moving at high speed would be impossible". Rem said.
Chapter 1212 - Under the Sea (Part 2)
"How is holding hands supposed to help us breathe underwater?" Lith had considered several options to solve that problem, but had been forced to discard them after careful thinking.
Creating an air bubble around their heads would be idiotic. The mana required to hold it together under high pressure and high-speed conditions would be enormous and the bubble wouldn't last long.
Store air inside a dimensional item would have been dumb as well. Taking out the air and bringing it to the nose or mouth required fine tuning. With such a method, every time they had to take a breath they would also need to stop, making it a hassle.
Shapeshifting would give them gills, but they wouldn't work. Lith had no idea how to extract oxygen from water and then move it to his lungs without giving himself an embolus.
On top of that, his body had never learned how to breathe from gills so he would just die the moment he instinctively used his nose by mistake.
"It's easier if you see it with Invigoration while we move." Rem offered Lith her hand who promptly took it.
The merfolk shivered at the contact and the sides of her mouth curled up in an expression of pure disgust for a split second.
Mal, a short but fit merfolk with purple hair would take care of Phloria while Khalia, a female merfolk with emerald green hair and eyes of Tista.
The three pairs dived inside one of the water pools near the Mayor's office, but they didn't move for a while. The merfolk wanted to make their human guests get accustomed to both moving and breathing underwater.
Awakened were capable of holding their breath for a long time, but the merfolk couldn't afford them to panic the moment they needed air. Trust was the first step of their journey.
Lith never stopped breathing, discovering that somehow, the physical contact allowed Rem to share the oxygen that her gills filtered from the water. It wasn't an innate skill but a spell that channeled a stream of minuscule air bubbles.
The bubbles moved along their skin, filling Lith's nostrils with every breath Rem took.
"I'll do my best to match your breathing rhythm, but you need to give me a hand and stay calm. If your respiration gets messy, I'll bring you to the surface as fast as I can." Rem's voice came from her skin as well.
The words reverberated through her whole body as if it was a sounding board and physical contact allowed the vibrations to reach Lith's ears. He tried to reply, but he only emitted a gurgle.
"Yes, this is how merfolk communicate between them and no, you can't do it." Rem said with a chuckle.
Once everyone became able to breathe naturally, they started moving. Slowly at first because they needed to get out of the network of tunnels and faster once they reached open waters.
Moving at high speed required using magic to "kick" the water behind them while creating a stream in front of them to keep their eyes from being squashed by pressure, sand particles, or a random fish.
The deeper they got, the less light there was, making it almost impossible for them to see. Both Fire and Life Vision were pointless. The cold water surrounding them was much thicker than air and made everything look the same.
Lith finally discovered what the tenth of Solus's fourteen senses was for. It allowed him to see underwater as if he was in a pool and to make head or tails of where they were going, but the girls couldn't help but be nervous.
Their companion was their lifeline, their guide, and the only human contact in the cold blackness of the ocean surrounding them.
"Don't rely on your eyes." Mal squeezed Phloria's hand to reassure her. "An Emperor Beast friend of mine uses air magic to sense her surroundings. She says that sound spreads faster underwater."
Phloria knew about echolocation and despite the stress from her condition, she managed to improvise a spell. It allowed her to vaguely detect the shape of everything in almost 30 meters (100 feet around her) but it was better than nothing.
Solus had no such problems and by sharing her senses with Lith they could see underwater as well as on the surface. The ocean was filled with life and dangers in the form of animals and magical beasts.
The merfolk guided them along cold-water streams that most creatures avoided, needing only a well-placed spell to get rid of an annoying predator and a few words to sate the curiosity of the magical beasts they met.
Some had evolved from fish, others from water mammals but they all could breathe underwater and moved with the grace of a ballerina and the speed of a cheetah. Powerful sea creatures on Mogar were so big that in comparison sharks looked like pugs
'F.u.c.k me sideways, this is nothing like it was depicted in the movies back on Earth. Most of my spells either don't work or work differently from the surface. Life underwater needs not only you to completely rethink magic, but it also makes human senses unreliable.' Lith thought.
Even though all the creatures they met were way weaker than him, Lith doubted to be able to kill a single one of them. He had gotten used only to move in a straight line whereas predators could move nimbly in every direction and would easily escape.
The journey lasted for a few hours, allowing the humans to develop spells that improved their mobility and replaced their regular senses. Once they reached the merfolk city, Lith's childish dreams about Atlantis were utterly disappointed.
There were no lights nor monuments. The buildings were all made of stone from the seabed, giving them a plain appearance. The city had been built so deep in the ocean that there was no light, making everything look cold, silent, and grey.
If not for the bustling activity of the merfolk throughout the city, he would have thought of being in an underwater graveyard.
'What did you expect?' Solus said. 'Light would only make them an easy target, they have no need for colors since salt water would destroy them, and sound spreads differently.'
'I wasn't hoping for musician crabs, pet fish, or lantern jellyfish, but this is just sad. I wonder why they don't move to the surface.' Lith replied.
'Maybe because just like this place seems cold and silent to you, the surface world is blinding and deafening to them.' Solus shrugged.
The merfolk guided them to the top of a spire shaped building and made them enter from what Lith assumed was a window. Only once they got inside, did he realize that Merfolk had no need for stairs or doors.
Each person would build their house vertically, one room per floor, and just move through the openings in the walls, ceiling, and floor.
'I'm still thinking like a human. Here there is no need for a kitchen or a bedroom.' Lith thought.
Ren sealed the opening in the walls with earth magic while also emptying the room from the water and filling it with air from a dimensional amulet at the same time. Then, she used light magic to allow everyone to see.
Chapter 1213 - Under the Sea (Part 3)
"Welcome to our city of Zhen. Even though you might think this room is just an artificial cave, it's actually a place to host people from different races." Rem said while taking bathrobes out of the amulet and giving them to the other two merfolk before drying them with water magic.
According to Xoth, humans had issues with nudity, and speaking while her gills were still filled with water was a hassle.
"Is this your home? It seems a nice place to live." Tista said to be polite. All she had managed to perceive before Rem sealed the room with earth magic were a bunch of rocks and several moving forms that might as well be fish.
"Thanks for your kindness, but I doubt you can appreciate the beauty of our city with your human senses." Mal said, noticing her embarrassment.
"Since there's only so much air, it's better to not waste time with niceties." Rem scolded him. "The reason why we brought you here is to give you the final details about your mission.
"To infiltrate Kolga, you can't move around while looking like merfolk nor humans. The inhabitants of the cursed city have a different appearance and you need to shapeshift yourself to look like them before entering."
"Why didn't you take a few corpses to Reghia, then?" Phloria asked. "Studying their physiology and modifying our bodies will take time."
"For good reasons. Kolga has lots of inhabitants, but if a few of them go missing, they are bound to be reported. By kidnapping them at the last minute we are buying you time, not wasting it." Rem replied.
"Also, because of the link with the Forbidden Sun, the corpses would have disappeared the moment I took them out the dimensional amulet. Bringing them here is the best possible compromise."
She had just finished speaking when three corpses slowly came out of the ceiling which had temporarily been turned into a softer material with earth magic.
They looked like merfolk who had gotten stuck between their underwater and surface form. They had blue skin instead of scales, both noses and gills, and they had fins coming out from where ears were supposed to be.
More fins came out of their calves, elbows, and wrist. All of them had odd-colored hair that looked out of an anime. While examining the corpses with Life Visions, Lith noticed that they all had enchanted weapons and rings.
'This mission is much more important than I expected. Judging from the equipment, the merfolk captured nobles to give us more freedom of movement. I wonder how many people sacrificed their lives to give us this opportunity.' He thought.
The group quickly undressed the dead Kolgans, storing the clothes inside their respective Scalewalker armor to replicate them. Also, their diagnostic spells were useless on corpses.
The only way they had to study their physiology was by taking a good look on them before the corpses disappeared.
"If they got here so fast, I guess that we're near Kolga." Lith said without interrupting his work.
"Correct. Zhen is one of the closest outposts. We need to constantly check the status of the mana crystals fueling the arrays and replace them." Khalia said.
"How and why does Kolga manage to expand despite all of your efforts?"
"All the crystals in the world can't compete with a mana geyser." Rem sighed. "Kolga is surrounded by cities like Zhen, but the best we can do is to slow down its advance. As for the why it's simple.
"Their Forbidden Sun allows them to grow crops and bestows upon them a long life, but they need more food than what they have. They have to feed themselves, their cattle, and the people they keep as sacrifices.
"Every time Kolga expands, its inhabitants get more soil to cultivate." Rem said.
"Right, they cannot fish because even if there wasn't your barrier, they can't get far from their sun without dying." Tista nodded. "The only thing I don't understand is how did you manage to hold out for so long against a mana geyser."
"It's because Kolga needs most of its energy to keep the water out of the city, filter the air they need and fuel their defensive systems. It leaves them little world energy to spare, yet it's enough to make them gain ground after acc.u.mulating it for long enough." Rem said.
"Kolga is one of the reasons why merfolk have so little resources for their magical research. We use all we get from the sea and our allies to keep it from spreading. The bastard who turned Kolga from a safe haven into a nightmare was one of our own, and we took responsibility for his actions."
"If the advance is so slow and there is a shortage of food, then how can they feed such a powerful ritual?" Lith asked.
"I don't know. Sometimes one of our soldiers gets captured, but we are very careful never going too close to the barrier." Rem shook her head.
"One last question." Phloria had now pink hair, light blue skin, and moved awkwardly due to the ample bosom of her new form to which she wasn't used. "How do you know the password for the array on the other side?"
"There is no array on the other side. Only a few sentinels who look for cracks in our barrier in the hope to get some extra food. They welcome any outsider with the same joy of a shark that finds a dead fish." Rem replied.
"They are really arrogant." Lith now had flaming red hair. The creature he was mimicking was shorter and fatter than his human body, making him look like Vastor's lost twin. "Good gods, how does Vastor walk with his stumpy legs?"
"You can ask him the next time you see him." Tista laughed at him waddling with every step he took. She now had blue hair, violet eyes, and a much thinner body than her own.
She joined the others who were already walking around the room to get accustomed to their new body to not arouse suspicions once inside Kolga.
"It's not arrogance so much as confidence. Killing even one of them is really hard and each second spent inside the barrier feels like having hot poison running through your veins." Mal said.
"Then how did you kill those three guys?" Lith pointed at the three corpses that had already started to rot at a speed visible at the n.a.k.e.d eye. A quick darkness spell managed to get rid of the stench before everyone started puking their gust out.
"We didn't. We created a crack in the barrier on purpose to lure some of the sentinels out. One step outside Kolga is enough to turn those monsters into easy prey." Ren said.
After a while, Khalia started to feel dizzy and soon the same happened to the others.
"Ready or not, you got to go. We almost ran out of air." Mal said, taking Tista's hand again while Ren let fresh water flow inside the room.
They left the city and in just a matter of minutes, even the girls could see a light point on the horizon that became bigger and brighter as they closed in.
Thanks to one of Solus's fourteen senses that allowed him to see underwater, Lith was the only one able to understand the nature of the source of light before almost reaching Kolga.
Chapter 1214 - Under the Sea (Part 4)
Lith had seen plenty of powerful arrays surrounding lost cities and he knew that they couldn't emit such brilliance. The merfolk and Xoth had mentioned to the group the existence of a Forbidden Sun, but it would have been idiotic to waste its power to produce a light powerful enough to illuminate the seabed even from that distance.
A good mage would have focused its power so to guarantee the city protection and nurture the fields. Doing more would be pointless, wasting precious energy that could have been better employed to attack the barrier and further expand the city.
The source of light was Kolga itself. Tall buildings the size of a skyscr.a.p.er had been erected right behind the barrier and from most of their glass windows came multi-colored lights that were spread and refracted by the array, producing the dazzling glow that Lith's group had seen from a distance.
"We can't have you moving awkwardly inside Kolga or asking for directions." Each one of the Merfolk said to their respective passenger. "There is no such thing as tourists. One second of amazement would make you stick out like a sore thumb.
"We'll give you a full tour of the city from the outside to let you study Kolga's layout, to become familiar with what is supposed to be ordinary for the people you are impersonating and to point out to you the little that our previous scouts have learned during the past missions.
"If the sentinels spot you swimming with merfolk, your disguise will become pointless and the mission will fail before it even starts. We'll keep ourselves at the fringes of the light ring so that we can see inside while they can't see us, yet you should conceal yourself, just to be safe."
All the members of Lith's group wore a Scalewalker armor so it took them but a thought to have their clothes turn back into a layer of dull metal that covered them from head to toe, making them look like small golems.
Lith didn't need Solus's 360-degree vision to know that the girls were probably so shocked that they had forgotten how to breathe. He was sure of it because he felt the same way.
Kolga didn't look like a medieval city, quite the contrary. Even Belius, the most modern city that Lith had ever visited in the Kingdom, looked primitive in comparison.
The buildings weren't just as tall as skyscr.a.p.ers, they were skyscr.a.p.ers made of glass, rock, and metal. Each building was like a giant mirror, reflecting all light to the outside, making the city visible from far away.
Lith could see paved roads where people walked and what looked like neon signs and huge screens placed at the street level to inform the citizens about the latest events or advertise new establishment.
Lith counted a total of five concentric rings of buildings where people lived. Each ring was arranged so that it would spread rather than block the light coming from the sun in the middle of the city, illuminating the next line of buildings in a cascade effect.
People moved on foot to reach the nearby blocks and flying cars when they needed to reach the opposite side of the city.
'By my maker!' Solus's was so shocked that she forgot about Menadion being her Mom rather than her master. Ever since the dream about Valeron's death, she had finally started to consider herself as a real person.
'Those are not carriages, wagons, or stagecoach. Those are really cars! Whoever made them, imbued them with a simple float spell to make them weightless and then used a system that generates small bursts of air magic to propel them in every direction.'
Lith looked at the swarms of cars flying around the city. The simplicity of their design amazed him, making him feel as if he was suddenly back on Earth and watching a sci-fi movie.
The darkness surrounding Kolga was no different from that of space, giving the lost city the look of an orbital colony.
Cultivated fields and cattle pens took all the space inside the buildings' rings that had clearly been designed as the first line of defense. As Xoth had told them, long life was nothing but torture without food, making it the most precious resource.
Buildings could be quickly repaired with magic and so injured bodies whereas it would take months to grow a single carrot.
Right in the middle of the city, there was a tall tower that sent shivers down everyone's spine. It was taller, better looking, and perfectly preserved yet the design of its first two floors was almost identical to Solus's.
On top of the tower, there was a white mana crystal the size of an a.d.u.l.t man and above that, there was the Forbidden Sun. It was much smaller than anyone had imagined it, barely bigger than Lith's house.
Solus could see thanks to her mana sense that while the sun was linked to all the living beings inside Kolga, the tower was linked to the buildings that comprised the five rings surrounding the fields.
Each building had been placed so that it would form the focal point of a series of protective arrays that enveloped the inner rim. An invisible beam of energy departed from the mana crystal above the tower and reached the power core hidden inside each building, forming a complex network of spells that overlapped to perfection.
The tower was right above the mana geyser, absorbing every ounce of its power, making it almost invisible to Life Vision.
Not only did the tower use the world energy to generate all arrays that kept the city protected from both water and invaders, but it also provided the buildings with enough power to fuel elevators, lights, and home appliances.
The world energy from the mana geyser was amplified by the white crystal and then relayed to the buildings' power cores that further amplified it before spreading the energy evenly, not letting a single spark go to waste.
After the tour ended, the merfolk moved back to the seabed level, using low currents and muddy waters to hide their approaching to the city.
"Once inside, never let your guard down. Every inhabitant of Kolga is a skilled fighter. They may not be as strong as an Awakened, but their wounds heal so fast that decapitating them is the only way to kill them." The merfolk said.
"The first thing you need to do is to signal us if you can understand Kolga's language. If not, only Lith has to remain and check if his condition allows him to resist longer than regular creatures while Phloria and Tista have to leave immediately.
"If that's the case, call us on our communication amulet for one second and we'll come to pick you up immediately. If Leegaain's pins work, then you must all stay as long as you can. A call lasting three seconds will inform us of the occurring of the best-case scenario."
The merfolk huddled up, allowing the group to exchange communication runes with Rem.
"Remember that you can't leave the city nor Warp away on your own. We'll remain nearby for all the time it takes. Whenever you need to be rescued, just perform a one-second call and we'll come to the exact spot where we have dropped you." She said.
Chapter 1215 - Kolga (Part 1)
"It should take at least 24 hours before the friends and family of your aliases notice their disappearance. Use that time wisely." Thanks to the huddle, Rem could speak with everyone at the same time.
"Tista, Phloria, usually Awakened can last for about four hours before they are no longer able to hide the distress. Diseases do not exist in Kolga due to Forbidden Magic so a sneeze, cough, or even a small wince of pain will alert everyone around you.
"The moment you feel like you can't take it any longer, don't be a hero and get out. It takes about one hour to cleanse the body from intense levels of mana poisoning. Only then can you get inside again."
She told them the password of the array blocking the city and then the merfolk led Lith's group past the barrier one at the time.
The merfolk would pretend to replace an exhausted crystal, drawing the attention of the sentinels while their partner would find an isolated spot thanks to Life Vision and get inside the array without being seen.
Tista entered first, using an array detection spell to check for potential traps laid close to the barrier and a life detecting array to make sure that no one was rushing to her position.
The skyscr.a.p.er behind her provided the group with a perfect cover, but it also hampered Life Vision due to the intense flow of mana coursing through it. On top of that, the moment she stepped past the barrier, she discovered how poisonous of a flower Kolga was.
The relief from breathing air and seeing again didn't last long. The light of the Forbidden Sun prickled at her skin like hot needles that slowly pierced her flesh. She could see with Invigoration how the foreign life force seeped throughout her body, making even her hair ache.
It was still just an annoyance, but knowing that the pain would only get worse made her worry. On top of that, even casting two simple arrays had never been so hard. Just like it happened for her life force, foreign mana poisoned her more with each passing second.
Her Awakened core generated a mana flow that would slow down the process, but the poisoning would not only slowly weaken her core, it would also make it progressively harder for her to use magic.
Each time Tista cast a spell, she needed to spend enough mana to conjure the desired effects and to counter the external flow. If she remained inside Kolga for too long, the poisonous mana would acc.u.mulate inside her body to the point that even chore magic would be as mana expensive as a tier five spell.
As soon as Lith and Phloria joined her, Tista shared her discoveries with them.
"Four hours may be the limit for violet cored Awakened, but I don't think I can last that long." Tista said.
'That's not our only problem.' Phloria activated a mind link to connect the four of them while gesturing Tista to shut up.
'Even if the pins work, we need to be careful. As long as we speak among ourselves, we use Garlen's language. If the inhabitants of Kolga hear us speaking gibberish they might become wary of us.
'Only use mind links and pretend that we don't know each other. A group of people walking in silence would be suspicious as well.'
'But that way we will last even less!' Tista replied. 'We'll poison each other's core with every thought we share, adding oil to the fire.'
'Then it's better if we shut up.' Phloria said.
'Thanks for your concern. I'm moved.' Lith's reply reminded them of his condition.
'I'm so sorry, lil bro! how do you feel?' Tista had a hard time keeping herself from using the Scanner spell to check up on him, but casting a tier five spell in those conditions would cripple her strength.
'I feel great. Believe it or not, Death Vision is gone.' Lith could feel the foreign energy being absorbed by the cracks in his life force, nurturing it instead of poisoning it. 'On top of that, I'm not experiencing mana poisoning either.'
'That's because I'm taking care of it.' Solus said.
'It seems that the Forbidden Sun generates a strand for each energy signature it perceives. We possess the same energy signature so we can perfectly split the poisonous life force from the mana and neutralize their effects.'
'Good for you. At least the mission is starting on the right foot. Now we need to check if the pins work. Without them, we'd be only a liability for you.' Phloria looked into Lith's eyes, glad to see that the black veins of Death Vision had disappeared.
No matter what form he took or what he said, Phloria could always tell from his eyes how he felt.
'That's not necessarily true.' Lith grabbed Tista's and Phloria's hand. 'After all, both Solus and I are missing a lot of energy. Before moving forward, there's one thing I want to check.'
The blue skin covering her hand was thick and rough, but her palm turned out to be quite sensitive. The moment Lith touched Phloria, she felt blood rushing to her face while a pleasant sensation spread through her whole body.
'Lith, whatever you are doing, please stop. Think about what Kamila would think if-' The words died in her brain when she saw that Tista had a delighted expression as well. 'For the gods' sake, he's your brother!'
'I swear, it's not what you think!' Tista said, and it was true.
From his battle against the Puppeteer, Lith had learned how to use his Abomination side to drain energy on contact. He was now using that skill to rid both Tista and Phloria of Kolga's infection.
Lith had shapeshifted his human body to resemble a Kolgan so the cracks near the surface of his life force absorbed the energy before it could reach his underlying Abomination side, leaving Solus to feed off the mana plaguing the mana cores.
The pleasure both women were experiencing simply came from the sudden relief from pain as Solus healed their bodies of the little damage they had already sustained.
'My advice is to circulate both light and earth fusion to protect your life force from the Forbidden Sun, just like we did against Lith's Abomination side. It should also slow down the mana poisoning process.' Solus rushed to say after clearing the misunderstanding she had caused.
'Also, this kind of treatment doesn't seem to affect either of my life forces negatively.' Lith said. 'Whenever you feel like you have acc.u.mulated too much poisonous energy, we will cleanse it for you. This way you should be able to last as long as me.'
The three nodded and split a bit too fast for their own liking, still embarrassed for what had happened. They moved in different directions while being careful of not leaving the range of their respective mind link.
It took them but a quick stroll to one of the main roads to check how thorough Leegaain had been.
"I really don't understand why our merfolk cousins keep us trapped inside this stupid barrier." A female said. (AN: It's actually translated from Kolgan, courtesy of Leegaain.)
Chapter 1216 - Kolga (Part 2)
"Not only is their struggle pointless, but also if they joined us, they would be able to enjoy the same blessings that our King bestowed upon us. We would march from one geyser to another, conquering the seas first and then the mainland."
"I agree." The male walking by her side said. "Why be forced to choose between the land and the sea when we can have both? Beasts and humans have monopolized Mogar for too long. They are no different from the elves. Their time is over but they need a kick in the butt to realize it."
'Son of a gun!' Lith thought. 'I was right, Leegaain and Faluel conspired to get me here. The only question is if the Father of all jackasses and his granddaughter planned my trip to Jiera together or if they exploited each other's plan.'
'I wouldn't worry about that.' Solus activated the communication amulet in their pocket, sending the all-clear signal to Rem. 'Take a look at this.'
Solus shared with him what mana sense showed her. Every single one of Kolga's inhabitants wore enchanted clothes, a dimensional amulet, and had one magic holding ring on each of their fingers.
When Lith's group had noticed how well-equipped their aliases were, they had thought that it depended on their role as sentinels. Discovering that it was just standard equipment complicated things quite a bit.
'Devil's Souls almighty! This is not a mission, this is a living nightmare.' The situation suddenly reminded Lith about the forefather of self-punishing videogames that focused on the player experiencing grief rather than fun.
'Git gud, noob.' Solus took out of his mind the caring words with which its online community replied to any criticism about their favorite game. 'Jokes aside, now I understand why even powerful Awakened failed to put down whoever this King is.
'Everyone here is armed to the teeth, the tower is impregnable, and the fields are more protected than the Royal Palace. Otherwise poisoning the land is all that would take to bring the entire city down.
'On top of that, the constant mana and life force poisoning make it impossible for anyone but us to exert their true strength.' Solus said.
'Indeed. Fighting is not an option. The moment something goes wrong, we'd be swarmed. Stealth is our best ally here.' Lith thought while opening the mind link with the girls and sharing the information with them.
They had no mana sense and couldn't use Life Vision without drawing attention. They both cursed their bad luck for a while before regaining their cool.
'Okay, so we need to find out how the King controls the geyser, anything we can about the ritual, and what happens to the darkness element it releases.' Phloria said.
'If that tower is a mage tower, we're in a world of trouble. Solus is the only one who can check it so she should go there with Lith. Tista and I will look for a library or something like that.
'What we need is basic information. If Kolga works like the Kingdom, then it might be even taught in the schools. Our only problem is that we can't ask for directions.'
'You'll figure out something. If anything happens, call me on my amulet. Otherwise let's meet here again in a couple of hours.' Lith had crafted a pocket watch for each one of them after learning that the Forbidden Sun didn't rise nor set.
He would have liked to take off and reach the tower by flight, but everyone else moved only on foot or on the flying cars. He had no idea how to get a ride or drive one, so his only choice was to walk and hope to learn something useful along the way.
Meanwhile, the girls moved to the opposite side of the street to cover more ground, planning to explore one city rim at the time. They were amazed hearing people talk about their jobs, their children, or their plans for the future.
The same little things that humans worried about in the Kingdom. The girls had expected the citizens of Kolga to be bloodthirsty monsters and yet aside from their appearance, they were just regular people.
Thanks to their swim above the city and to Solus's memory, Lith knew Kolga's layout like the back of his hand. He walked briskly enough to keep people who might know his face from recognizing him but slow enough for Solus to listen to any bit of interesting conversation.
'Why do we never get to conveniently find the bad guy of the week while they thoroughly explain their plan so that we can learn its weaknesses straight from their mouth?' Lith inwardly griped after hearing people complain about boring aspects of their lives one time too many.
'Because in real life no one is so dumb. I've listened to a curry recipe that I'd like you to prepare for me, though.' She replied.
Reaching the tower from the building rings required to move in a straight line and the roads connecting the various districts of the city were perfectly paved, making the trip even easier.
Yet it took Lith quite some time to reach his destination on foot because he had no idea how to ask for a ride without writing the words "intruder" on his forehead.
The cultivated fields took the majority of the land occupied by Kolga and spread across kilometers. During their walk, Lith and Solus noticed that plenty of people worked in the fields, using magic to take care of cattle and plants alike.
They would use earth magic to till the fields, sending the external soil deep in the ground to keep it from exhausting, water magic to conjure fresh water, light and darkness magic to treat respectively diseases and parasites.
'This is interesting.' Lith thought. 'Despite their vastly superior cores, those people use their abilities exactly like Dad's farmhands while they could achieve much better results with forgemastered tools.'
'I guess that after food, the second thing they lack the most is resources.' Solus pondered. 'Ever since we got here, I didn't see any complex device. The cars are just metal with simple enchantments and the same stands for the standard equipment everyone wears.
'Their magic holding rings don't exceed the third tier of magic and none of the weapons we saw have mana crystals. Probably they keep enchanted metals for elite units, while everyone else has to settle for black iron and enchanted clothes.'
During the walk, very few farmers stood up to look at Lith, and even those who did paid him no attention. They'd rather focus on their jobs to get done with it and go home as soon as they could.
Along the way, Solus noticed several small groups of people.
"Please, tell me there is no risk of another famine." A woman with a terrified face asked one of the farmhands. Judging from her swollen belly and two life forces, she had to be pregnant.
"Don't worry, miss. This season we should have a bountiful harvest. I got a small devil on the way as well and this time, if the gods smile upon me, we'll be able to raise them properly." A man said.
The woman cried with joy at those words, yet they raised a few questions for Lith.
Chapter 1217 - Mages and Towers (Part 1)
'What does he mean, this time? If the harvest is good and there are no diseases in Kolga, then why does he worry about losing his child?' Lith thought.
'Maybe it's due to the ritual.' Solus thought. 'There's only one strand connecting the Forbidden Sun to the woman so she must be like us, taking the poisonous energy on herself and protecting the baby.
'Yet once it's born, cracking both its life force and mana core might prove lethal.'
'I find it hard to believe that after all this time they have yet to perfect the ritual.' Lith replied while looking around the fields and finding another inconsistency.
He could see barns, stockyards, but no building big enough to host the slaves necessary to fuel the Forbidden Magic ritual.
'The fields are big and we are on foot. Maybe it's somewhere else.' Solus had no better answer, focusing all of her attention on the tower that was getting closer with each step they took.
'Dammit, the energy from the mana geyser is blinding as if I'm staring at the sun, we need to get much closer if we want me to make heads or tails of the enemy's power.' She thought while Lith used his regular vision to check their surroundings.
The tower did resemble Solus, but the moment he got close enough to notice its details he could tell that something was off. Sure, the energy from the mana geyser was so intense that it made the hair on the back of his neck stand up, but the tower had no presence.
Even in its ruined form, Solus's tower had an aura of magnificence typical of Forgemastering masterpieces whereas the one in front of him felt like nothing more than a tall bunch of stones.
Even though the tower had been enchanted with self-repair spells, the energy from the geyser caused it to crack and reform non-stop. The damage was small, but big enough for Lith's heightened senses to notice it.
'I can confirm that this is no mage tower at all.' Solus said after studying the mana flow around them. 'Whatever controls the mana geyser it's inside the tower but it's not a part of the building. On top of that, the Forbidden Sun is different from what I expected.
'It's indeed powerful, but it's nothing compared with the Black Star. Not only is the Forbidden Sun weaker, but it also lacks any consciousness. It's just a mass of world energy, life force, and light element.
'Yet it lacks the infinite power of the Odi's Mana Reactor. Unlike the lost cities we've met, Kolga is a giant with weak legs. We're here for just an hour and we've already found two weak points.
'If we find a way to mess up with the geyser, the water dome will fall and destroy the fields. Even if the Kolgans are still able to breathe underwater, they'll die without food. Also, the lack of consciousness means that we can tamper with the sun as well.' Solus said.
'The second is not really a weak point. Placing the sun over a huge ass white crystal and the tower gives it all the protection it needs. How easy is to break inside the tower?' Lith asked, incapable of seeing arrays due to the geyser's blinding light.
He couldn't use an array detecting spell because it would make the arrays visible and blow his cover.
'Nigh-impossible.' She sighed. 'Too many defensive systems overlapping so that one wrong step triggers them all. Besides, we're here for recon, not fighting.'
'I don't plan on fighting, it's just that the geyser controlling device is inside. If we don't get so much as a peek at it, we're just wasting our time.' Lith replied.
"Do you need a ride back to the city?" A polite male voice asked.
"Yes, please." Lith turned around, noticing a male who wore such a colorful dress that reminded him of Harlequin. He had green eyes and bright orange hair, which coupled with his dress made him a crime against every dress code Lith knew.
The Harlequin emitted what looked like a firework and one of the flying cars reached their position.
"Thank the gods you called. I was sick and tired of driving around but I couldn't find a free parking spot near the tower." A woman said while coming out of the car.
From a brief exchange between the woman and the Harlequin, it turned out that even though anyone could use a car, it couldn't leave the highway unless the driver received the firework signal or parked it in a proper space.
To make matters worse for the Harlequin, a new designated driver had to accompany all passengers to their destination before leaving the vehicle.
'I guess this doesn't work like a taxi.' Lith thought, glad of not having attempted to call one of the cars before.
"Where do you need to go?" Harlequin took the wheel, swearing like a sailor as more and more people sat down and made their request.
Lith politely let them talk first, learning what directions he was supposed to give.
"Harstrom, on the second ring." He said.
"I'm sorry, did any of you manage to see the King?" A male passenger asked. "I waited hours to meet him, but he never came out of the tower."
'If the King lives inside the tower, then he's likely to be the one who possesses the artifact that controls the geyser.' Lith thought.
"Sorry, no." Lith actually said, quickly followed by the others.
"Problems with your job?" Harlequin asked.
"I'd never bother his Majesty for something so trivial." The man sneered. "I wanted to ask him to put me on sentinel duty. My wife is pregnant to term."
Instead of congratulating him, everyone turned somber and wished him good luck. Lith couldn't see how being a sentinel and becoming a father could be related, but he just followed suit to not arise suspicions.
Once he got out of the car, Lith had Solus check the clock in his pocket. More than two hours had passed since the group had split. If they didn't come back soon to be relieved of the poisoning, they might start showing its symptoms and be discovered.
***
Kolga, two hours earlier.
Tista and Phloria had a hard time moving around the building rings. They had no idea where they were going and they couldn't ask for directions. At the same time, they were afraid of meeting someone who knew the faces they wore and that might expose them as spies.
To make matters worse, even though Solus's suggestions worked like a charm to slow down the poisoning, they felt sicker with each passing second. A nagging pain followed their every move, spell, and even thought.
Darkness fusion couldn't negate it because the source of their illness affected more than just their flesh. The poison coursed through their mind, core, and body, making them feel as if white-hot worms moved under their skin.
Tista felt like she was back to being a sick child with lung issues. Pain was an old friend and masking it was second nature to her. Phloria had been healthy her whole life and had received the best medical treatment the moment she needed it.
Yet she was also a soldier. She had fought and survived while enduring terrible wounds. Compared to what her own core had done to her during her Awakening, the Forbidden Sun barely pricked her skin. Yet.
Chapter 1218 - Mages and Towers (Part 2)
Luckily for them, each building had a huge board listing the stores and establishments it held. Finding a library just took them a bit of time. Much to their dismay, the only books they found were about magic.
Paper was much more precious in Kolga than on the outside, forcing the underwater people to use it only when it really mattered. The only thing they could figure out by studying them was that despite their isolation, Kolga's inhabitants had researched the first four tiers of magic in a similar way to the Kingdom.
There was no trace of tier five spells, of light magic, of the ritual, nor of Forbidden Magic.
'This makes no sense. The whole city lives off Forbidden Magic, why they don't use it for anything else and why hide the existence of light magic?' Phloria thought.
'Maybe they don't need it thanks to the Forbidden Sun.' Tista said. 'Coming to the library didn't get us any leads on the city's history. We should try going to a school next.
'Children must be taught about the world they live in and we might learn what we need from those lessons as well.'
Yet no matter how hard they looked, there wasn't a single school in the first two rings they explored. The two hours at their disposal were almost up and the built-up pain put their willpower to the test, especially Tista's.
With her bright cyan core, she was the weakest in the group and despite her best efforts, she could sense that its color was about to get duller due to the poison.
'Let's find some place to sit down and use Invigoration without drawing attention.' Phloria knew that using the mind link would hasten the poisoning, but she had no other choice.
Talking with Tista would not only reveal that they were moving together, but there was also the risk that Leegaain's pin wouldn't activate and that they would talk the language of Garlen instead that of Kolga, blowing their cover.
They followed the signs inside the building to reach the theatre located on the 27th floor. There were no elevators, just two shafts that ran through the whole building. One for those who needed to go up and the other for those who wanted to go down.
To move quickly from one floor to another, people just needed to use a flight spell to reach their destination.
'Why can we use flight indoor but not outside?' Tista asked.
'I don't know. My guess is that it makes it impossible for spies to move quickly within the city. Being unable to fly and speak means that regular people doesn't have enough time to gather any intelligence before the Forbidden Sun cripples their strength.
'Also, it keeps people from getting near the sun without being noticed. It's a simple but effective protection.' Phloria guessed right.
It was the same reason why the use of flying cars had so many restrictions. That way, they couldn't be used for recon either.
The girls reached the theatre which didn't differ much from what they expected. It was a wide circular room with a raised stage in the middle, pitched floor, and several rows of seats arranged in a semi-circular shape.
Several people were already inside and only a few isolated spots remained, forcing the girls to seat in the back rows. They sat down, pretending to be interested while using Invigoration to revert the effects of the poisoning.
Due to the world energy inside Kolga being thin, the breathing technique lacked its usual potency yet it still managed to alleviate their pain and made Tista's core back to bright cyan.
Suddenly the lights went out, leaving only the stage lit. Contrary to the girl's expectations, no actor came out. The wall came to life as the image of human-merfolk hybrid appeared.
'What kind of theatre is this?' Phloria was flabbergasted.
The projection of the merfolk wasn't a hologram so much as a projection. If Lith were there and could share with them about his first life, he would tell them that place was a movie theatre.
"Greetings, citizens of Reghia. I'm Jyanu and I'm going to inform you about the latest events." The merfolk said before reading the news like an anchor-man.
Aside from the fact that Kolga's society was no less flawed than their own and a list of crimes, Tista and Phloria didn't learn anything. They exploited the darkness to check on their clocks and amulets without being noticed.
'Damn. There's not enough time to keep searching. Better stay here and rest while we wait for Lith's arrival.' Tista said via their mind link.
After the news came the propaganda. The anchorman spoke about the horrors of the surface and how the enemies of Kolga kept them locked inside the barrier because afraid of their power.
When the news ended, the lights were turned on again. Phloria and Tista were about to leave along with the others when they noticed a countdown on the screen along with the words "The foundation of Kolga".
They returned to their seats just in time to see a class of small children, each accompanied by one of their parents. While the children looked enthusiastic, the a.d.u.l.ts seemed to be bored out of their skulls.
Luckily for the girls, there were enough seats for everyone, but they still received several glares from the parents that didn't take their eyes off them until the lights went out.
The countdown disappeared, replaced by what looked like a cartoon.
"A long time ago, the powerful mage Ripha Menadion lived in the Garlen continent." The narrating voice said while the screen projected the image of a woman with her hair of the seven colors of the elements who wielded a hammer almost as big as her.
"Despite being a human, she was wise and kind, taking under her several disciples. Ripha imparted them her knowledge, but no matter how talented they were, her disciples couldn't match their master because her tower made her powerful beyond belief."
The screen showed Menadion in front of a colossal tower. Each hit of her hammer turned an ingot of metal into a weapon, an armor, or an artifact that after being basked in the light of the tower, gained the power to split the see and raze mountains.
'Yeah, right. I wish Forgemastering was that easy.' Tista had a hard time not clicking her tongue.
Her disciples stared at her in awe while begging Menadion for help.
"Menadion then bestowed upon each of her four most loyal disciples an artifact that would allow them to overcome their limits. Our ancestor, Asfell Kolga, received the Hands of Menadion that gave her the very power over mana geysers that still ensures our safety."
Even though the picture focused on a pair of gloves, the girls could still recognize the other three items. A pince-nez, a mask, and a helm.
The kids and the girls stared at the artifacts in awe.
"Kolga's skill reached new heights, but even with the Hands, her talent wasn't enough to craft a tower of her own yet she shaped her home to resemble Menadion's as a sign of her eternal gratitude.
"One day, however, tragedy struck. One of Menadion's disciples resented their master for not gifting them any artifact. In their rage, the traitorous disciple attacked and killed Menadion, obtaining both her tower and her hammer, Fury."
Chapter 1219 - Sacrifices (Part 1)
The image in the show depicted the murderer as a generic monster made of shadows that was so big and terrifying that no one in their sane mind would let it near their home, let alone accepting it as their disciple.
'That's bullshit! Solus didn't meet anyone before Lith.' The girls thought in unison, having now even more trouble to sort facts from propaganda.
"Dead set on claiming Menadion's remaining four artifacts as their own, the traitorous disciple hunted down the same people that once had been family to them. Kolga knew she had no chance to prevail so she escaped Garlen, hoping that the monster wouldn't find her at the bottom of the sea.
"She befriended our merfolk ancestors and after learning about the hardsh.i.p.s that humans put them through, Kolga used her powers to provide them with the perfect environment to practice magic without being forced to leave the protection of the sea."
The screen showed pictures of a small village built underwater that grew over time while Kolga used her powers to keep it dry and lit.
"She promoted peace between our races, taking a merman as her companion and inviting humans to our city. She shared her knowledge in exchange for their resources and for a short while, we flourished together.
"Yet just like for the traitorous disciple, a monster hid inside the hearts of both humans and merfolk, craving what didn't belong to them. They joined their forces and attacked Kolga in a foolish race to take the Hands from her.
"They managed to kill Kolga but Lyma, her oldest daughter, foiled their plans by taking the Hands and using their powers to protect our city. Yet she knew that the geyser alone wasn't enough.
"The combined forces of our enemies were too powerful and with most of the world energy from the geyser needed to keep our city alive, Lyma faced an impossible choice.
"Keeping the dome active meant suffering her mother's fate and dooming our city to be destroyed the moment the enemy stole the Hands for good. Deactivating the dome would allow Lyma to harness the full power of the geyser, but along with the invaders she would also destroy Kolga's legacy.
"Yet thanks to her genius, she managed to find a way out and saved our city. She devised a powerful ritual that allowed her to convert the light energy from the captured enemies into our Forbidden Sun, saving countless lives."
The screen showed Lyma that fought alone against an entire army. With each strike of her staff, the enemy soldiers were split into two. The light half rejuvenated her injured soldiers while black vengeful spirits helped Lyma defending the city.
The girls didn't miss how humans and merfolk were depicted as frenzied, bloodthirsty monsters, to the point that in comparison even the soldiers born out of darkness magic looked cute.
The children, instead, cheered for Lyma as if the battle was real instead of just a convenient depiction of past events.
"At the same time, she used the darkness released from the ritual as a weapon that mowed down the enemy forces, giving to our soldiers their second wind in the war. After our victory, Kolga started to expand thanks to the power of our sun and our future seemed bright.
"Yet the treachery of our enemies knows no bounds.
"They couldn't beat us in a fair fight so they trapped us inside the barrier, hoping that we would starve to death like mice. That the sun that gives us life would take it away.
"Despite all the odds, we still thrive. Ours is a life of sacrifice, but one day we shall be free. Each year, our city expands. Each year, our forces on the mainland work relentlessly to welcome our triumphant return with a country of our own and invincible guardians."
The image of a beautiful sunset over a city built with white stones whose walls and streets were protected by black soldiers appeared on the screen, making the kids gasp in awe at the luscious green surrounding it.
The projection ended and the girls left the theatre to meet Lith at the convened point. The poisoning had reached a point where even Invigoration could only slow down the process.
'Did you find something interesting?' Lith asked while using his and Solus's abilities to siphon the foreign energy from the girls' bodies, making their pain bearable.
'What a load of bullshit!' Lith thought with a scoff after hearing about the "history lesson". 'If really an assassin killed Kolga, then they would have taken the Hands for themselves.
'On top of that, no one can create a regular spell on top of their head, let alone a complex ritual like those required to practice Forbidden Magic. My money on Lyma killing Kolga and triggering the war after she finished her preparations.
'The ritual is tailor-made to be a tyrant's best friend. It makes your army unstoppable and makes it impossible for your subjects to betray you since their lives are bound to the Forbidden Sun.'
'Yeah. Also, what forces on the mainland can they possibly have? If they really had allies, they would use them to attack the barrier from the outside. It's all propaganda to keep people under the King's thumb.' Phloria nodded.
'Am I the only one that finds the part about the sacrifices mentioned in the movie odd? I mean, sure, not having enough food is a bitch, but I didn't see anyone starving. Also, look at Lith!' Tista pointed at the short and fat figure of his alter ego who resembled Vastor's merfolk twin.
'You make an excellent point, Tista. If this guy is so fat, he must be someone important. I could use his authority to find out more, but to do that I'd be forced to interact with the people of Kolga.
'I need a contingency plan in the case I blow up my cover.' Lith said.
After they shared their respective discoveries, they had many things to think about. Yet before deciding their next move, they had to make an important decision.
'Are we going to tell the Council about the Hands of Menadion?' Phloria asked.
'Absolutely not.' Lith replied in Solus's stead.
She was so shocked by the news that she was incapable of thinking straight.
'It's Menadion's legacy we're talking about. The moment we mention it, no one will care about the merfolk anymore. Even worse, the moment the King is defeated, I wouldn't get a chance of retrieving the Hands.
'Even if I did, the situation wouldn't be much different from blowing Solus's cover. No one knows what happened to the tower so it's likely that the most powerful members of the Council would think that the Hands can lead them to Menadion's legacy and kill me for it.'
'I was going to say that you have some twisted values, lil bro, putting an artifact above countless lives. Yet you have more than one point.' Tista said. 'I don't trust anyone with the power of the Hands.'
'Agreed.' Phloria shivered at the idea of what any competent Forgemaster could do with the power of a mana geyser supporting their creations.
They would either provide one of the three great countries with the means to start a war that would kill millions, or use the Hands for themselves and become like Balkor, but driven by greed rather than revenge.
Chapter 1220 - Sacrifices (Part 2)
'On top of that, what if the Hands can really lead to Solus? After all, Menadion gifted the four artifacts that comprise the set to her most loyal students.' Phloria said.
'It's possible, but unlikely.' Solus replied once she noticed the prolonged silence following Phloria's words and that all eyes were on her.
'Menadion wouldn't give away her location so easily and even if she did, my energy signature is different from the original tower. Even the artifact she had entrusted Silverwing to find the tower in the case something happened to us didn't work.
'Last, but not least, I didn't feel any pull to my consciousness ever since we got here. Even if once the Hands had a link with the tower, it's likely to be broken now.' Yet she accessed the tower's logs to make sure that no one had attempted to make contact with it, just to be safe.
Even though the mind link allowed them to speak quickly, it still took time and three people spacing out in the middle of the road were just a tad bit less suspicious than three people doing the same in the middle of nowhere.
There were too many sentinels near the barrier and without a distraction from the merfolk, there was no safe zone.
'We need to get out of here and tell Rem everything we've learned. Maybe she can point us in the right direction. At first, it was a blind mission, but now that we know that we can hold on for much longer than four hours, the situation is different.
'On top of that, I'm eager to check if the effects of the Forbidden Sun on Solus and I are temporary or long lasting.' Lith said.
He didn't experience Death Vision anymore and Solus's mana core had quickly evolved to bright cyan. The both of them had never felt that good. After sending the convened signal to the merfolk, the group returned to the city of Zhen.
"Whatever this is, it better be good. I don't' have many air pockets with me and you got out after only two hours. Too long for your pins to not work but too short to find something relevant. Did you mess up and need a change of 'clothes'?" Rem asked.
Before making them start their report, she opened a channel with Aren Dolm, the leader of Jiera's beast Council. Once Lith's group was done, all traces of nervousness were gone from the room, replaced by a mild optimism.
Yet the same couldn't be said for Lith. He could see Rem drown in her blood, rot as a corpse, and die out of deep stab wounds. As for Solus, her mana core couldn't hold the stored energy and was quickly going back to deep cyan.
"Glad to hear that the pins work and that Lith can prolong your stay for over four hours. This is a one of a kind opportunity." Aren said. "As for the information you provided, I'm sorry but it's nothing new.
"We already know that the tower isn't a mage tower from our past failed attacks, just like we learned that the current ruler has the power to control the geyser. What we need to know is if it depends on their bloodline or if it relies on an artifact.
"In the past, we sent squads of violet cored Awakened who in exchange of their lives managed to kill the ruler, yet Kolga didn't fall."
'It's no surprise. The owner of the arrays and the sun can be switched and as long as another person gets the Hands, everything goes back to square one.' Everyone thought.
"Do you have any idea why there are no schools and why everyone seems so protective toward the children?" Tista asked.
"No. The language barrier prevented us from reading the signs, let alone ask questions." Aren replied.
"If my sister is right and this body belonged to someone important, I could use his authority to find out more. I need to know where you captured him and an escape route in the case someone exposes me." Lith said.
"It's a great idea, but now we can do much better than that." Aren said. "No matter who you are, there are some questions that you can't ask because of the law and others that you're supposed to already know the answers.
"To overcome this problem, a sacrifice is needed. Your alias was on sentinel duty so if he manages to capture a merfolk, we'd finally get to learn what happens to our people after every failed raid and maybe even give you the opportunity to witness to the ritual."
At a snap of his fingers, Khalia, the merfolk who had courted Lith on the day of their arrival, stepped forward. Her human form was paler than a ghost, yet her body stood steady. Her hands didn't tremble, her lips didn't quiver, nor did her eyes betray any fear.
Then, Aren explained how sentinels sounded the alarm and focused the power of the arrays on a specific point of the barrier to capture an intruder.
"I ordered Ren to capture people living in the most external ring because they can perform sentinel duty from the windows of their own homes. Each one of you will go to their alias' respective home and find out as much as you can about their lives.
"Once you are done, Lith will capture Khalia with your help. Don't let anyone else get close to her, or her sacrifice will be pointless."
"Why didn't you tell us all those things earlier and how can you send one of our own to die or worse?" Phloria said in outrage.
"Because we didn't know if the pins worked and interacting with the merfolk hybrids was a pointless risk. Only the pins and Lith's unexpected ability to relieve the effects of poisoning make this desperate plan worth trying.
"Otherwise I wouldn't bet both Lith's and Khalia's lives on a maybe. Once they take her, her life is forfeit. If Lith is discovered while under the effects of a single elemental sealing array, the same will happen to him.
"Without dimensional magic, there would be no way out. Be careful and don't enter inside any array even if you think that your cover is intact. Khalia is replaceable whereas you are one of a kind." Aren said.
The group spent the remaining time before the air in the enclosed room ran out in silence. The girls needed time to heal their bodies without wasting any more uses of Invigoration and even Lith didn't feel like ruining Khalia final moments.
Rem and Mal quickly hugged her, shedding a few tears before leaving the room to make space for her parents and friends. People entered in groups of two, never saying a word.
At least, not in a way that humans could hear. Merfolk communicated with vibrations and each embrace lasted long enough for everyone to say goodbye to her. Khalia's parents had to be forcefully dragged out of the room while they screamed unintelligible words of pain.
Once the air became thin and everyone started to feel dizzy, Khalia took Tista's hand to help her breathe underwater. Yet once outside the room, instead of going toward Kolga, Rem led the group toward Zhen's central plaza, where a monument that looked like a huge seashell rested.
Chapter 1221 - Sacrifices (Part 3)
Lith could see everything clearly thanks to Solus's tenth sense, while the girls could only perceive through their spells that either there was a crowd around them or they were in an enclosed space.
Once they stopped, Lith shared Solus's senses via a mind link, letting them realize that the entire population of Zhen had assembled for some kind of ceremony.
The merfolk held hands, forming an upward spiral formation whose extremities lied at the monument on the seabed and at a height comparable to that of one of the tallest buildings.
The person at the top of the spiral started humming and the vibration spread down along the living spire, growing in intensity with each person it passed through. When it reached the seashell statue, the humming propagated to the rest of the city.
The phenomenon reminded Lith of whale songs, but being able to feel rather than just hear those sounds, he understood what was happening. The people of Zhen were celebrating Khalia's short life while also mourning her loss.
The formation allowed those who knew her to share their feelings beyond what words could express, giving them a substance that even a human could understand. The sounds reverberated throughout the city, echoing inside the buildings and giving the impression that they were crying as well.
'Gods, this is incredible.' Tista wept silently. 'When I first arrived here, I considered this place no different from an underwater graveyard filled with cold and darkness. Yet it's exactly because of it that the merfolk have learned to give color to their life by sharing their emotions.
'Mal was right. Until this moment, I wasn't capable of appreciating its beauty.' The humming allowed her to see the city even without Solus's senses. Every place relevant in Khalia's life emitted a different tune, almost painting her whole past.
The group could feel Khalia's joy while she played as a child, her efforts to practice magic as a teen, and the enthusiasms with which she had daydreamed about her future on the mainland once she became of age.
"May the Leviathan, the great god of the seas and of discovery accompany our sister's final travel toward the greatest of mysteries, death." Ren said before breaking the spiral and guiding the group toward Kolga again.
"You know, back when I first met your brother in Reghia, I thought to have finally found my Dragon Charming. A tall, handsome, powerful Wyrmling with his pockets full of magical wonders who would have taken me away and shared Mogar with me.
"Then, when I saw him turning into a human, I thought that I'd rather die than spend one more second with him. Now, however, I'm not so sure anymore." Khalia said to Tista.
'Why a Dragon and not a Leviathan? Isn't Fenagar the god of the seas?' Tista asked via the mind link. It would cost her mana and weaken her core before the mission even started, but she couldn't let Khalia spend those last minutes alone.
During most of her youth, every time Tista went to bed, she feared that her weak lungs would betray her and that she would die in her sleep, without anyone noticing until it was too late.
Back then, she thanked the gods every single morning for allowing her to live another day. Tista still remembered how the fear would come back every night, getting worse whenever the cough and fever sapped the little strength that she had.
Khalia stopped swimming for a second in surprise before answering.
'You Awakened are really amazing. Maybe I should have really given your brother a chance.' She inwardly sighed.
'As for your question, according to lore, Dragons are greedy creatures yet they are also wise and treat their beloved like the most precious treasure.
'Leviathans, instead, are self-centered jerks who love people like they love a tool, appreciating them more for their usefulness than for who they are.'
'Doesn't that go for most males, no matter their race?' Tista chuckled trying to lighten the mood.
'I don't know. I never left Zhen except that for visiting Reghia a few times.' Khalia regretted not having abandoned her city long enough to make some memories in a distant land.
Good or bad didn't matter. Everything was better than the endless what-ifs running through her mind.
Tista didn't tell her that Lith already had a girlfriend, nor that he wouldn't take seriously someone he didn't know nor trust. Dreams were all Khalia had left, there was no point taking them away from her.
Tista shared with the merfolk the memories of her favorite landscapes, the sensation of running through the snow, the sight of sunrise and twilight. They shed their tears in silence, invisible as they became drops in the ocean.
'Thank you.' That was all Khalia said before leaving Tista in front of Kolga's barrier and pointing to her the apartment that belonged to her alias.
After drying herself from the seawater to not arouse suspicions, Tista realized that her eyes were still wet and it took her a while to compose herself. Lith held her shoulder without saying a word, just making sure to shield her from the poisoning as long as he could.
Finding the right apartments was easy. Not only did they know the floor where their respective housing was located, but Life Vision also allowed them to spot the only door that had lost its imprint due to the death of the owner.
'I could imprint it myself, but I don't know if doing that might trigger some kind of alarm. Solus?' Lith asked, yet she was still in a daze.
He used the tier four Forgemastering spell, Phantom Echo, to study the door's pseudo core from a distance with a mix of earth and spirit magic. The lock was simple and so was the enchantment protecting it from burglars.
With no magical metals nor mana crystals, there was only so much a Forgemaster could do. Any more and the door would crumble under the strain exerted from the spells that were supposed to reinforce it.
'That's good news, but arrays have alarms as well and they don't burden their host.' Lith thought while activating an array detection spell focused solely on the door in front of him.
Alas, there were so many layers perfectly overlapping each other that they gave him a headache.
'Solus, I really need your help. Can I cross this door or not?' He asked.
'I don't know.'
'What do you mean, I don't know? You crack things harder than this for breakfast.'
'I don't know if I can live with the answer. If I say yes, that girl will die. If I say no, she will live, but this horror founded on my mother's masterpiece and on the lives of Mogar knows how many people will keep expanding until someone finds a solution.
'Whatever I do, someone is going to die.' Solus replied.
'None of this is your fault or Menadion's. This is just what happens when a madman gets their hand on a powerful artifact. Do you think that Tyris feels responsible for what Thrud does with Arthan's Sword or Silverwing for how her specializations are used?' Despite his words, Lith could understand her feelings.
Solus had yearned for so long to learn about her past, yet everything she learned about her family's legacy only led to more corpses.
'Every single day.' Solus didn't know Tyris or Silverwing well, but after meeting the two women, she had realized that the reason why they both had given up on helping people was because of regret.
Chapter 1222 - Sacrifices (Part 4)
Tyris's kindness had generated countless monsters like Balkor and Arthan. Silverwing's teachings had allowed forbidden magic to improve by leaps and bounds, culminating in the mass production of slave collars.
No matter how good the intentions of its maker, magic was just a tool and people would always find a way to abuse it.
Feeling Solus's emotional turmoil, Lith gave up on making her reason and focused on the arrays, studying them one at a time. Luckily, Kolga's magic had been developed from Menadion's teachings and the isolation limited their progress.
Once he made sure that there was no alarm based on the race of the imprinter, Lith made the house his own. Once inside, he searched the place for anything that might give him clues about his alias' name or personality.
'Based on his well-fed appearance and the many rooms of the house, my meat suit must have been as wealthy as he was alone. This is a bachelor house if I ever saw one.' Lith thought while studying his surroundings with Life Vision.
The city arrays fueled everything from the lights to the kitchen's stove. The living room and its many sofas took almost half the house. Lots of family paintings decorated the walls, leaving only one wide empty space that Lith assumed was destined to the future family of his alias.
Two hard-covered books were encased in glass and hung to the wall of the living room in front of the door as proof of the man's wealth. According to the girls' investigation, books were more precious than gold.
Judging from their titles they were history books, while from the dust on the back of the frame they hadn't been consulted in years.
The wet bar in the corner between the sofas was well-stocked, but all bottles were half empty. Lith found more bottles laying around the house, even in the bathroom. After searching the bedroom, Lith found a small booklet well hidden under the mattress.
It was hard covered as well, but this one showed clear signs of being regularly used and abused. The bent corners and extensive damage on the exterior could only be explained with the owner throwing it around in a fit of rage.
Lith put it inside Soluspedia, reading it in a few seconds. It was a diary, awarded from some kind of academy to one of their most promising staff members. Most pages were filled with the boring life of an enthusiast scholar, but the most recent pages had turned to a different mood.
"I'm goddamn Professor Jogu Thross, first chair of the Fire Pit so why I'm still single? I'm past 100 years old now and I have no heir. I can't believe that the Thross bloodline will die with me just because no woman can see past my physical appearance.
"My only hope is to capture one of the merfolk and gain so much prestige that no one will be able to ignore me anymore. I spent a lot of money to move into the outer ring, but once all those bitches that treated me like a fool grovel at my feet, it will be money well spent."
His ramblings went on and on for pages, alternating from curses towards the beautiful women who rejected him and long-winded self-glorification.
'This guy doesn't seem to realize that a nasty personality is a deal-breaker, especially if you chase women much younger and better looking than you.' Lith thought. 'Yet he should have found at least one gold digger.
'How is it possible that not one woman was interested in his money and what does have to capture a merfolk has to do with marriage?'
'Maybe there's population control due to the Forbidden Sun.' Solus said. 'Capturing a merfolk allows for a sacrifice, fueling one more life.'
'Good thinking. I wonder if Tista's and Phloria's aliases were wealthy as well.' Glad to see that his partner was back in the game, Lith tried to act as nothing had happened.
'Let's ask them.' Solus used her communication amulet to call both the girls.
"I'm supposed to be a self-centered asshole." Tista said. "She had no diary, but I know her name because she signed all the self-portraits in the house."
"Mine wasn't a painter but she was loaded." Phloria said. "All of her clothes are tailor-made and she had her name embroidered on everything, even those that clearly don't fit her body type."
Phloria's alias was actually a fashion designer. Her name was her brand.
"Did you imprint the door of your respective home?" Lith asked.
"I had to. A neighbor walked out and I couldn't pick the lock nor risk making conversation. Luckily nothing happened." Tista said.
"I had the time to study the arrays and they are all meant to defend the building as a whole, not the owner or the single apartment." Phloria said.
"Are you ready for phase two?" Lith asked, receiving a hesitant yes for an answer.
The merfolk from Zhen had helplessly spectated to the capture of many of their kin and had explained Lith how things usually went. After Ren received Lith's call, she sent Khalia to pretend to replace an exhausted crystal.
Removing a mana gemstone was the crucial step because it caused a crack in the barrier. The moment it appeared, Lith used two magical fireworks. One to signal the appearance of the crack and the other to request the intervention of the city guards.
Khalia pretended to fumble with the crystal, giving the sentinels in the nearby buildings the time to turn the crack into a hole with their spells. Then, she put the crystal back into place so that the hole wouldn't last long and swam away.
'If Lith misses the timing, I'm not going to let them get me. If the plan fails, my people will have to send someone else. Maybe I've still got a life-' Her hopes died when she saw Lith swimming in the lead of a small but fierce group of Kolgans.
They all used water magic against her to keep their prey from escaping. Khalia attempted to run, but she was trapped. Lith and the girls sucker-punched the competition the moment Life Vision told them that they were about to be backstabbed.
Only one of them would be rewarded, making teamwork last only so long. While the girls kept the Kolgans at bay, Lith grabbed Khalia and dragged her towards the hole in the barrier.
She fought so fiercely that Lith would have never thought it was just an act.
"Please, don't let go of me because if you do, I'll run away even if it means compromising the mission. I'm sorry, but I don't want to die." Her words revealed that she wasn't acting at all.
Despite the order she had received, Khalia struggled with all of her strength and magic, but she was no match for him. Lith used an electric discharge to stun her, dragging Khalia with ease.
Lith didn't feel guilty for what he was doing. Khalia had volunteered for the mission and there was no way to discover anything more about Kolga without a sacrificial lamb.
Yet he could feel a small piece of himself, one of those warm spots inside his heart that he had managed to create after years of struggle with his past, fade into nothingness, making the void stronger for it.
Chapter 1223 - Light and Decay (Part 1)
The coldness of Lith's heart turned into blazing fury when some merfolk hybrids tried to snatch his prey. His water spells turned them into swiss cheese, yet such ghastly wounds barely slowed them down.
'What the heck? Blood Cutter was supposed to shred them, but they healed so fast that the spell barely showed half of its prowess. Rem was right, the only way to kill Kolgans is to behead them.' Lith thought while rushing back past the barrier.
"Well, well, well. Look who we have here. Even slugs have their moment of glory." A male voice full of contempt said while Lith still struggled to get back to his feet. Lith had seen enough uniforms to recognize one when he saw it.
The man was about 1.75 meters (5'9") tall, with the lean and muscular build of a soldier. His bright pink hair was cut very short and barely visible under the army beret that identified him as a Captain.
He stood in front of five soldiers, each one of them had a full set of equipment made of magic metals and mana crystals.
The Captain of the guards misunderstood his ragged breath for lack of exercise. He was unaware that Lith couldn't breathe underwater and that the effort of fighting underwater with such a short body had drained him.
One of the soldiers took the still paralyzed and weeping merfolk, studying Khalia without bothering to conceal his l.u.s.t.
"What luck. This one is a female, Captain."
"Well done, Thross. Here's your permit to have one offspring." The Captain's voice and words didn't match.
Lith could only hear envy and spite coming from the Captain as he handed him a golden ticket.
"That's it?" Lith was honestly flabbergasted. They had bet everything on the reward being glory and access to the innermost layers of Kolga, not some family planning.
"Fine. Since you caught her, I'll let you be the first one to i.m.p.r.e.g.n.a.t.e her." The Captain said with laughter, soon joined by the rest of his soldiers.
"You should thank me for my generosity. All you have to do is to settle for a half-blood and your precious bloodline will live on." He threw a silver ticket at Lith's feet like spare change to a homeless man.
"How dare you? I'm Professor Jogu Thross of the Fire Pit! I'd never-" Lith attempted to jump at the neck of the Captain like his alias would have likely done if he was still alive, but the gap in height and build was overwhelming.
The Captain shook him off like an insect, kicking Lith while he was down.
"You'll just thank me and shut up. You failed to join the army because your body is trash, just like you failed to be accepted into the Light Torch because your mind is trash. A half-blood is too good for someone like you." The Captain turned around and left.
Unlike citizens, soldiers were allowed to fly freely through the city without the arrays shooting them down.
'What do we do now?' Phloria asked via the mind link as the other sentinels went back to their homes, hoping to spot another crack in the barrier.
'We need a flying car.' Lith replied.
'I didn't throw a fit because the mission failed. I did it to get the opportunity to put Solus inside the pockets of that gentleman. Khalia can't live long without the ritual hence they have to bring her to a magical facility as soon as they can.
'Solus can study and observe the process better than anyone else, but we need to rescue her once she's done. Our mind link has a limited range and the further she gets, the harder finding her will be.'
'It sickens me calling it good news, but they are moving in a straight line. Unless they move Khalia to an underground lab, everything should be fine.' Tista said.
***
The soldiers brought Khalia to the innermost of the five rings, where the magical academy of Kolga was located.
Even though the merfolk was still stunned by Lith's spell, she writhed in agony as the Forbidden Sun poisoned her body.
'I can't do anything for her without blowing my cover. I can only hope that the procedure is quick and painless.' Solus thought while noticing the words Light Torch written on a huge banner hung over the entrance of one of the buildings.
The Captain stepped inside the department in a hurry, showing his identification and prisoner.
"Don't worry, Captain N'Morr. The operating room has been prepared the moment you sounded the alarm. It's just a routine procedure, but I'm going to be extra careful to not ruin your catch of the day." A woman wearing a mage robe said while Khalia was moved onto a stretcher.
Everyone was so busy yelling orders and staring at the merfolk that Solus had no problems moving to the mage's pockets unseen. The woman took flight, reaching a room filled with beds and arrays that reminded Solus of the White Griffon's light department.
'She didn't Warp, yet there is no elemental blocking array. Maybe they never developed dimensional magic.' Solus thought while studying her surroundings.
The operating room had one table placed in the middle of both the room and the arrays, while four stretchers were lined up against the right side of the room on four more on the left.
Each stretcher was placed exactly above one of the array's focal points, increasing the magical formation's efficiency to absorb the essence of its victims that would be infused in the operating table with minimal losses.
The female mage chanted one incantation after another, revealing that not only the floor, but also the ceiling and the walls of the operating theatre were covered in arrays.
Solus didn't recognize any of them, she could only assess that aside from the formation on the floor, the others had been kept inactive to save energy. A powerful stream of energy from the mana geyser coursed through the room, creating an almost perfect magical insulation.
'It can't take nine victims to perform the ritual, otherwise it would be too expensive.' Solus thought. 'What are those other stretchers for?'
The team showed perfect coordination, moving Khalia on the operating table a second after the female mage was done with her preparations. Contrary to Solus's expectations, they left the room in a hurry right after constraining the merfolk's arms, legs, and neck.
The moment they closed the double doors behind them, another array appeared on their surface. The power of the six combined arrays sealed the room from all external influences to the point that Solus couldn't feel her bond with Lith anymore.
Fear of being stranded behind enemy lines made Solus freeze as the memories of Nalear breaking their bond opened an old wound that she believed closed for good.
Unaware of her feelings as well as of the presence of a guest, the female mage started chanting again. A stream of world energy struck at Khalia's life force and mana core until they couldn't resist the pressure any longer.
In a way, the procedure reminded Solus of what Lith had done to himself to save Protector. Yet while Lith had worked with surgical precision, burning only enough of his own life force to restore the broken core, what the female mage did could barely pass for butchering.
Chapter 1224 - Light and Decay (Part 2)
The mage didn't just crack Khalia's life force and mana core, she tore them apart without a care as the merfolk screamed at the top of her lungs, writhing with so much strength that the operating table trembled despite being bolted to the ground.
The Kolgan mage kept going until everything that made Khalia a person almost disappeared. Only then did she stop, letting the energy flow from the Forbidden Sun mend the wounds that the restraints had inflicted upon the writhing merfolk during the procedure.
For the first time since she had met Lith, Solus was happy of not having a body. Or rather, she would have been if she still had the presence of mind to notice that she was screaming as hard as Khalia.
What Solus had just witnessed wasn't a surgical procedure so much as a magical lobotomy. Khalia's eyes were now empty like those of a doll while her mouth remained open as she mindlessly drooled.
Solus wept for the living corpse in front of her. She had hoped until the last moment that, after retrieving the Hands of Menadion, by taking control of the Forbidden Sun it would have been possible to undo the damage.
Yet what lay in front of her wasn't a person anymore. Just a lump of flesh and mana kept together by the Forbidden Sun.
"Is it done?" A male mage asked after the arrays had been depowered and the female Kolgan had opened the doors.
"Of course. Bring her to the breeding center and bring here one of the oldest subjects for the extraction procedure. The specimen is young and healthy. She should provide Kolga with a bountiful harvest." She said.
Solus was so shocked that she barely registered her bond with Lith being intact. She wanted to scream but she had no mouth. Her stomach hurt even though she had none. Her stone body burned with an unknown pain, yet she didn't care.
Under any other circ.u.mstances, Solus would worry about Lith not being there to shield her life force and about the consequences that they both might suffer from the effects of the Forbidden Sun while they were apart.
Now, however, all she could think of was how the people of Kolga had abused her mother's legacy for centuries. None of what had happened to Khalia and to many others before her would have been possible if not for Menadion's Hands.
Solus used her shapeshifting abilities to blend in with her surroundings while she explored what happened inside the Light Torch. Being already in the surgical wing, all she had to do was to follow the screams.
A few corridors away, she found two female Kolgans sharing the same delivery room. The Forbidden Sun boosted the mothers' metabolism, making the labor last barely a few minutes.
The two mothers stared at each other with fear and compassion until their babies came out. They begged the healers to let them hold their child at least once after the umbilical cord was cut, but the mages didn't even bother replying.
They cleaned the babies with a water spell and enveloped them with a cloth that temporarily shielded them from the effects of the Forbidden Sun.
"There's no time for that. If we delay even for one second, both your children will die." The nurses said while pushing the beds out of the delivery room and bringing the mothers into two different rooms.
Just like Khalia, their limbs had been strapped to the metal frame to keep them from messing with the procedure.
Solus followed the healers as they brought the babies to another operating room filled with arrays. At the center of the chamber there was a perfectly normal cradle and what looked like a glass coffin the size of an a.d.u.l.t filled with a translucent violet liquid.
"Odd or even?" One of the healers said after pulling a dice out of his pockets.
"Odd."
The healer rolled a three and put the baby he was carrying in the glass coffin, where the infant started to breathe from its gills while the other healer put the remaining baby in the cradle.
Once again, the doors closed and several arrays lit up while the healers chanted their respective spell. The mage near the cradle first made the thread connecting the baby to the Forbidden Sun visible and then he manipulated it so that it would gently seep into the baby without dealing it any permanent damage.
The mage near the coffin, instead, called upon the power of the arrays and the mana geyser to safely split the darkness element from its light counterpart.
'Good gods! Mom, what the heck were you thinking when you created something capable of conjuring Chaos magic?' Solus thought.
Yet the healer shot the Chaos in the ground and kept the unnatural light. Solus stared in horror as the Chaos flowed through the array back inside Mogar before being pulled away with an energy signature that she knew all too well.
'Gods, what is that thing?' Solus had no idea that the other side of Chaos was Decay.
While Chaos magic broke all bonds, turning matter into atoms and exhausting all forms of energy, Decay magic pushed forward the clock. Used against a stone, it would turn it into sad.
Used against a muddy pond, in the presence of enough nutrients, it would boost life to the point that in a few minutes, life forms would evolve from unicellular organisms to tadpoles.
Yet there was no way to provide such an amount of nutrients so the only result would be death. Even if it was possible, Decay could generate only corrupted life forms with a metabolism so fast that their life span would last only for a few seconds.
Anything born from such magic would fade before anyone could register that it had ever existed.
Without their counterpart, all elements could solely destroy. Just like Chaos, Decay couldn't be controlled, only unleashed after being created.
The healer dropped the spark of Decay in the glass coffin where the baby lay submerged in nutrients, making it grow and age at a speed visible to the n.a.k.e.d eye. It took the baby a second to go from infant to a.d.u.l.t.
An a.d.u.l.t with a skeletal build for not having the time to properly absorb the food, with saggy muscles for never having moved a finger, with the mind of a child that had only know pain for her whole short life.
Yet none of that mattered to Forbidden Magic since her life force was perfect and ripe for the taking. The healer timed his spell to perfection, striking the moment his specimen reached its apex.
By conjuring the power of the mana geyser, he broke down the wretched woman into her light and darkness counterparts, killing her on the spot. The life force moved into the cradle, granting the other child a doubled life span, while the light element and the mana core became part of the Forbidden Sun, renewing its power.
The darkness, instead, plunged into Mogar and followed the underground path that the Chaos had earlier taken. Darkness moved much slower than Chaos, allowing Solus to confirm the presence of the familiar energy signature.
'That's the same kind of darkness energy that we saw coming out of the rift in Kogaluga during Lith's tour as a Ranger. This is where the energy that fuels the undead comes from.' Solus thought.
Chapter 1225 - Soul Vision (Part 1)
The lost city of Kogaluga was plagued by a dimensional rift from which darkness magic seeped endlessly for no apparent reason. Any living being who died within the city would immediately turn into an undead.
Those reanimated by the rift would all start as lesser undead, like skeletons and ghouls, but they would get stronger over time. The sons of Kogaluga would evolve into greater undead if not destroyed, yet even that would only force them to restart from scratch.
Suddenly, the images from the propaganda video that Phloria and Tista had seen at the theatre made sense. Kolga was Kogaluga's twin city and provided it with the power needed to build a stronghold on Garlen where the merfolk hybrids would live once they conquered the sea.
While Solus put together the final pieces of the puzzle, the two healers finished their job. They deactivated the arrays, bringing the healthy child to its mother, who wept with joy, and their condolences to the other woman, who wept with anguish.
Images from what Solus had just spectated made her feel sick to the core. Her stone body burned with rage, grief, and shame. Shame that came at the idea of using Forbidden Magic to treat Lith's condition.
Solus had studied both the Odi and Arthan's workings enough to know that no matter the method they would choose, their victims wouldn't die a painless death. She had just witnessed the consequences of her projects, of her theories put into practice.
Her stone body twisted in self-loathing and disgust as the pain for her condition got worse by the second.
'Is this how people from Project Manhattan felt after witnessing Hiroshima?' Solus thought. 'Or is this just the effect of the sun's life force flowing into me without Lith's protection? I need him. I don't want to stay alone a second longer.'
Yet tears blurred her eyes and her knees were so weak that she didn't manage to stand up even by leaning against the wall.
'What the f.u.c.k?' She thought, sniffling as slimy snot dripped on her arm.
"What the f.u.c.k?" A male mage said after stumbling into Solus.
On the floor in front of him, there was a petite, pretty woman in her early twenties, about 1.54 meters (5'1") tall. She wore nothing but a stone pin in her long hair that was streaked silver, orange, black, red, blue, and yellow all over.
Under the colored streaks lay a brow so light that her hair shone like gold under the magical lights of the hospital.
The member of any other race in any other city would have been enthralled by the vision, but the merfolk hybrid had no time to spare appreciating her beauty. The only thing he could think about was how the heck had a female human infiltrated Kolga.
***
Blood Desert Fringe.
Kimo, the elder of the Dewan tribe had hoped until the last second that Nalrond would see the light and become a full member of the tribe. Nalrond would gain a new home, a wife, and in time he would be the forefather of the new Rezar tribe.
In exchange, the Dewans would learn all the secrets of Light Mastery, becoming the new Lightkeepers. It would grant them the power they needed to leave the Fringe and build a country of their own.
Kimo and his people had long given up on merging their life forces but after almost being kicked out of the Fringe, they had realized the limits of their haven. The peace that a Fringe offered was a sweet poison, but a poison nonetheless.
With no enemies nor predators, the population grew endlessly while the space inside a Fringe was finite. Its abundant world energy was useless without the enchanted metals and mana crystals necessary to exploit its full potential.
Sooner or later, someone would be exiled from the Fringe, forced to walk Mogar again without the means to protect themselves. Before that happened again, the Dewans wanted to become so powerful that no one would enslave them again.
Nalrond had turned his back on them, forcing their hand. Dealing with the elves meant to allow a potential future enemy to grow stronger as well, but it was the only choice Kimo had left.
"Remember our deal." The Dewan elder said to his elven counterpart.
With Nalrond down, the two humans had no way out of the Fringe. As for the Emperor Beast called Morok, no one cared if he died or escaped.
The Tyrant lacked both the magical knowledge and the artifacts that both ancient tribes living inside the Fringe so desperately needed.
"I'm not a human, human. I don't go back on my word." M'Rael said.
The elf lord looked like a man in his mid-twenties, about 1.75 meters (5'9") tall, with shoulder-length chestnut hair and green eyes. He had a lithe build and delicate features that made him look effeminate compared to the burly man standing at his side.
M'Rael wore a green silk shirt and brown leather pants, both with small mana crystals for buttons and embroidered in Orichalc.u.m that further boosted their enchantments. The suit fit like a glove, emphasizing the grace of every one of his movements.
Only the long, pointed ears coming out of his hair and his light golden skin betrayed M'Rael's inhuman nature.
"In exchange for the prisoners and their goods, we'll teach your people Light Mastery and provide you with enchanted items."
Kimo didn't like the elf's high and mighty attitude nor being called "human", but he could only suck it up. Elves lived inside the Fringe for long before the Dewans' arrival and had the monopoly of the mystical resources that had formed over time.
The Dewan elder nodded, making the elf lord inwardly sneer at the human's stupidity. All Werepeople looked the same under his Soul Vision. A human and a beast fighting against each other while tumbling down a cliff.
No matter which one would win, the result would be the same. In their bloodl.u.s.t, both fighters failed to realize that the longer they struggled, the more likely was for the fall to kill them both.
On top of that, the beast and the man were partly fused together. If one of them died, the other would quickly follow.
The humans, instead, even with their corrupted morals and weak minds were far more interesting. The woman with plenty of fat on her bosom and bottom that for some reason humans found attractive looked like an embodiment of Mogar itself.
Soul Vision showed how the elements flowed in harmony inside her body and orbited around her in the form of a star belt comprised of six small suns of different colors.
The shorter, slenderer woman appeared as a being of pure light that was tainted at her core by a darkness that fought to consume her. M'Rael could see in it Yurial's agonizing face and recognize the deep sense of guilt that had tainted her life, smothering her potential.
The moment he lay eyes upon the Emperor Beast, however, the elf lord had to close and open them multiple times to make sure that they weren't playing a trick on him.
Soul Vision showed him the tall figure of a Tyrant whose six eyes were returning M'Rael's gaze as if it could see him, even flipping him the bird and moving to other more explicit obscene gestures once the Tyrant understood that the elf didn't know the meaning of the first.
Chapter 1226 - Soul Vision (Part 2)
<"Take them all alive and don't let the Tyrant escape. He will make a fine gladiator in our arena and an interesting specimen in our labs."> The elf lord said (AN: in elvish, ofc).
"What do we do?" Morok had no idea what those words meant, but he didn't like the sound of them nonetheless.
Suddenly, all those ballerinas that were slowly surrounding them from every side seemed to have become aware of his existence.
Quylla cursed their bad luck and not being Awakened as she took her Forgemastering Wand out of her dimensional item and established a mind link with everyone to not waste time talking.
'We fight or we die, no third option. If they capture us, escape would be impossible. Every one of those guys is at least as strong as an academy professor and judging from their equipment, they have no lack of resources.
'Our only hope is to take them down while they still underestimate us. Nalrond, you focus on recovering and pull us out of the Fringe as soon as you can. Friya, you and I must buy some time.' Quylla thought.
'What about me?' Morok asked.
'You should leave. One date isn't worth such a risk. Please, if we don't make it, tell Faluel what's happened. She's the only one with the kind of power necessary to break us out from any prison.'
Nalrond used a healing spell from one of his magic holding rings to force the short arrows out of his back, even though enhancing his metabolism also meant to hasten the spreading of the poison they were imbued with.
He couldn't fully heal himself nor cleanse the poison without becoming so weak that he would need to rest. There was no time nor need for that. He shapeshifted into his Rezar's body that not only was unscathed, but also had such a huge mass that neutralizing the effects of the now diluted poison barely affected his vitality.
The elves reacted to his metamorphosis by pointing their short swords at the group and encasing them inside hard-light walls.
Elves had no Awakened among their ranks, but all of them were capable of using true magic. Actually, they were incapable of Awakening without exploding like an overinflated balloon.
Their mana cores weren't faulty like those of monsters, undead, or Abominations, nor did they lack the ability to perceive the world energy. Elves couldn't Awaken because they were blessed by a very high affinity toward all the elements that didn't match the strength of their bodies.
There was a reason why magical beasts were limited to two elements and they needed to evolve into much more powerful forms to wield them all. Otherwise their bodies wouldn't be able to endure the surge of world energy that Awakening caused.
The two elements limit of the beasts was akin to what impurities were for humans, a protection rather than a harmful restraint. Elves, however, were born with perfect bodies that wouldn't produce any impurity, allowing them to freely channel mana and to live up to one thousand years.
On top of that, their mana cores would naturally evolve up to bright blue over time, making it impossible for them to survive the Awakening process without the intervention of an entity whose power rivaled with the Guardians.
That and their low fertility were the main reasons why they had lost the war against the humans millennia ago. The elves lacked the power of the violet core, of Spirit Magic, and the time humans needed to nurture a powerful mage was the same they needed to conceive a single child.
'I could Blink outside the cage, but those elves and their glowing eyes remind me of Lith's Life Vision.' Friya thought. 'As Quylla said, we only have one shot at this.'
She stepped forward, breaking the mind link to not have foreign mana mess with her spell. Going all-out right of the bat meant making a great impact on the enemy's morale, but it also meant that she wouldn't last long.
Her newest creation required such a focus that even the faint mana poisoning caused by the mind link might make it fail. Friya spread her arms, releasing a volley of energy bullets that phased through the constructs and hit the waves of incoming elves.
Soul Vision had the same effects as Life Vision and so much more, yet Friya's spell moved so fast that not even activating air fusion had allowed the elves to dodge the bullets.
'She's no Awakened and she had no spell at the ready.' M'Rael studied Friya from a distance, to coordinate his units akin to what Solus did for Lith. 'The spell she used against my soldier belonged to dimensional magic, but what can she hope to achieve with chore magic?'
Friya replied to his question by activating the tier four magic holding ring that Lith had gifted her. It unleashed the tier two Gravity Magic spell, Hard Fall. All those who had been hit by the projectiles collapsed onto the ground in a creaking symphony of broken bones and constructs.
Not even earth and fire fusion could enhance the joints of the elves enough to support their bodies that now weighed twenty times more than usual. They felt like a giant sat on them, making it hard for them even to breathe.
Yet the reality was much worse. Their chests were now so heavy that their lungs lacked the strength necessary to expand and draw air in. On top of that, the pressure made their faces slowly dig through the soft soil, filling their mouths and nostrils with dirt.
With their broken noses already bleeding profusely from the sudden impact on the ground, their death was a matter of seconds.
'That's impossible!' Enemies and allies thought in unison. 'Not only is gravity magic too hard to practice with fake magic, but it also affects a huge area. Such spells are dangerous even for its caster since gravity magic doesn't deal direct damage but only passive effects.'
They were right. Even powerful Awakened considered Gravity Magic akin to a riskier version of War Mage spells, something that could only be employed in an open field, away from both the caster and their allies.
Friya had thought for a long time how to tap into her true potential as a Dimensional Mage until she had realized that Gravity Magic worked according to similar principles.
Both disciplines required hexacasting and the ability to manipulate all the elements at the same time. Yet while Dimensional Magic required to focus into two spots to bend space, Gravity Magic consumed a lot of mana because its effects applied to a much larger area.
Friya had been forced to give up on the idea because she had no wish to be involved in large-scale wars and because in close combat Gravity Magic was more a liability than an asset.
Entering the Fringe, however, had given her project a second wind.
Mogar's help had allowed her not only to simplify Gravity Magic enough to use it with fake magic, but also to find a way to combine Gravity with Dimensional magic. Her earlier chore magic spell had allowed Friya to lock on the dimensional coordinates of the elves and unleash Hard Fall solely on the marked targets.
Chapter 1227 - Betrayals (Part 1)
Instead of unleashing a single powerful spell in a wide area, Friya's personal take on Gravity Magic allowed her to split it into several smaller spells that would affect only a specific target.
The coordinates set by the chore dimensional magic would constantly restrict Hard Fall without affecting Friya's focus who had already started chanting her personal tier five spell, Dimensional Ruler.
The downside of the technique was that Gravity Magic still required a lot of mana and time to be prepared. On top of that, even a tier two spell was actually the combination of six different elemental spells and needed a magic holding ring of two tiers higher to be stored.
Friya's ring had been crafted with Menadion's technique, allowing it to hold two spells at the same time so she only had one more left.
Now that the cage trapping them had crumbled, Morok shapeshifted into his Tyrant form and activated air fusion. The elves had received the order to capture him alive, whereas he had no reason to hold back.
He took his twin one-handed battle hammers out of his dimensional amulet and bludgeoned his way out of the Fringe. Elves had powerful bodies for someone with their build but they were no match for an Emperor Beast.
Most of them dodged his attacks by reflex while those who didn't were sent flying like rag dolls. Both the elves and the Tyrant had bright blue mana cores and were capable of using Fusion Magic, but it only widened the gap in physical prowess between them.
Morok's eyes allowed him to see in every direction and he moved so fast that constructs couldn't keep up with him.
M'Rael cursed out loud when the Tyrant escaped through the silvery barrier that separated the Fringe from the rest of Mogar.
'The silver lining is that I didn't mention him to the Parliament and that the initial plan was to kill him. No one will blame me for the loss of his equipment and with one less person to capture, my soldiers can focus on the real prize.' He thought.
The people in the Fringe were no different from those in the outside world. The l.u.s.t for power had led the Dewans to betray the bonds they claimed to hold sacred while politics had led the elves to get involved in such matters.
The safety of their haven had allowed the Elven race to repopulate to the point that their numbers exceeded that they had before the war. On top of that, they had never stopped working to improve their magical and military skills.
Yet the elves had never found a way to achieve Awakening nor to obtain a violet core. They were well aware that, despite all their efforts, history might repeat itself. The fact that the prolonged isolation and the lack of worthy opponents had kept them from putting their new abilities to the test didn't help either.
Their governing organ, the Parliament of Leaves, after much debating had been split into three political currents, and each one of them had more or less the same number of supporters among the population.
The members of the first current had given up on both achieving Awakening and returning to the outside world. The safety of the Fringe had allowed the elves to do more than just repopulate their cities.
It had given them a place where there was no war and no struggle for survival. A place where they could freely focus on arts and literature, making whatever they wanted with their lives with no worry for the future.
The members of the second current, instead, considered the Fringe akin to the perfect fortress. They proposed to gradually invade the outside world and seize the resources they needed for the final phase of their plan: the rebuilding of the elven kingdom.
Their supporters craved vengeance for the injustice their ancestors had suffered at the hands of the humans. Also, the fact that worst case scenario they could always retreat inside the Fringe where no enemy could follow, gave them confidence.
Elves were trained from a young age to get in tune with Mogar and learned how to get in and out from the silvery barrier separating them from the outside world whereas none of their enemies would be able to cross the border.
Even if a few of them might be enlightened beings like Morok, alone they posed no threat against a well-trained army. The only problem with this plan was revealing the location of the Fringe and that even if it guaranteed their safety, it didn't change their odds of victory.
The third and last faction didn't like the idea of staying in the Fringe until Leegaain said otherwise, but they also found it idiotic to put everything they had at stake. A full-scale invasion couldn't be based on wishful thinking and what-ifs.
It was the reason why the third faction insisted that before taking any action, it was best to compare the magical progress of the elven society with those of the outside world.
Going to war against an enemy that would always outnumber them was one thing, going against an enemy that might both outnumber and outmatch them was quite another.
The members of the third faction insisted on sending small scout parties into the outside world to capture human mages. Only after comparing the fake mages' magical prowess and equipment with their own could the elves make sure that they stood a chance.
The arrival of Nalrond's group had been a blessing for them. The human women were the perfect means to determine if the Fringe had sharpened the elves' skills or if it had dulled them.
Nalrond, instead, would teach them Light Mastery the way Baba Yaga had devised it, making it accessible to anyone. Elves had learned it on their own, but between the fact that only a few of them managed to practice Light Mastery and how mana expensive its practice was, they had failed to truly master it.
M'Rael belonged to the third faction and he had accepted Kimo's request for help because elves had actually more to gain from the intruders than the Dewans.
Best case scenario, after making sure that human magic was inferior to their own, the elves would learn from the women how to disguise themselves and how to go unnoticed while scouting their marks before an attack.
Worst case scenario, the women would become their teachers as well, allowing their magic to improve by leaps and bounds. That together with Nalrond's Light Mastery would give the elves the upper hand even against Awakened.
<"Release the net!"> M'Rael said.
Morok's escape had reminded the elf lord that taking the prisoners alive didn't require keeping them in one piece. Thanks to the elven master healers, as long as the humans drew breath, they could be saved.
The second wave of soldiers stepped forward while nocking their arrows and aiming above the enemy. Once they let go of the bowstrings, each projectile generated a trail of electricity that didn't disappear after their passage.
Quylla's group was surrounded from four sides so that by crossing their flying paths, the arrows generated what looked like a fishing net made of lightning that fell on them, leaving them no way out.
Chapter 1228 - Betrayals (Part 2)
'We can't just Blink away.' Quylla said via the mind link. 'Friya is too far to coordinate with us and if we leave her alone, she will get easily captured. On top of that, she must have a good reason for not Blinking behind the enemy leader and ending the fight before it started.'
'Agreed.' Nalrond replied. 'I've spent enough time around Awakened to know that glowing eyes are always bad news.'
He extended his arms, generating a dome of light that stopped the lightning net.
'This should buy us a few seconds, but we need at least a minute. I can't bring the two of you out of here at the same time. We would all die. Either we kill them all or we need some move crazy enough to stun them.' He thought.
Alas, the same barrier that protected Nalrond and the girls also kept them from striking back. Suddenly, another volley of arrows struck at the construct, piercing halfway through it.
'Since when is Light Mastery this brittle?' Quylla asked in shock.
Before Nalrond could answer, a second and a third volley came, filling the dome with cracks that spread along its structure and compromised its stability. Elves had the ability to infuse their equipment with the power of the elements without the need for any enchantment.
In the past, humans mistook them for demi-gods because even a tree branch would become as sharp as a razor if infused with air magic, just like a simple wooden shield could withstand a charging bull after being infused with earth and fire.
Nalrond realized that one more volley of arrows would be enough to destroy the barrier and then the lightning net would do the rest.
Instead of trying to repair the dome, he had it explode outwards.
The resulting shockwave deflected the incoming arrows and pushed the net away at the same time. On top of that, the razor-sharp fragments of hard-light caught the elves by surprise, wounding the first row of archers and damaging their bowstrings.
Nalrond's trick gave Friya the time to complete her Dimensional Ruler spell and the opening she needed to start the counter-attack. With a golden aura now surrounding her, Friya started to chant Full Guard while Blinking non-stop throughout the battlefield.
Once again, the elves could see thanks to Soul Vision where she would appear and even what kind of spell she was preparing, yet they were unable to understand her tactic until it was too late.
Friya didn't Blink to their backs nor tried to attack the enemy leaders Kimo and M'Rael. Her exit points appeared right in the middle of the enemy formations so that any attempt to stab or hit her with a spell would affect the elves as well.
They reacted almost instantly, surrounding the exit point from every side while aiming their attacks to avoid her vitals. Yet all they hit was each other before a powerful explosion sent them flying in pieces.
Friya had Blinked away a split second after her arrival, but not before using the perfect spatial awareness that Full Guard granted her to position the sparkles of golden light so that they would Warp the incoming attacks through her as if she was a ghost.
After she had left, the exit point and the new entry point she had just created collapsed on each other in a burst of flames with the destructive power of a tier four spell.
Dimensional Ruler was a tier five dimensional magic spell that used Friya's great mana perception and her talent for space manipulation to open countless small Warp Steps all around her.
Those small Warp Steps allowed her to redirect both energy and matter against her enemies.
Dimensional Ruler also granted Friya the ability to perceive anyone Warping near her and to make the space unstable at will. Friya could also use it as a means of attack or defense, but only within a short range.
It was the reason why she Warped among rather than behind the enemy lines. Each time she Blinked she also generated an unstable dimensional fissure that turned the elves' ability to predict her movement and surround them into a deadly trap.
Quylla exploited the ensuing chaos to unleash all the spells she kept stored in her rings. Yet aside from those who gave her the back, the elves came out unscathed. Soul Vision allowed them to recognize the elemental energy and react accordingly.
They would dodge darkness and earth, Blink to avoid lightning and fire, and intercept ice darts with their shields. Quylla moved her fingers from the index to the pinkie as if she was playing the piano and with each spell that she unleashed, the light of one of her rings disappeared.
The closest elves charged forward, aiming to take her and the Rezar down first. Quylla never stopped moving her fingers and the spells never stopped raining. The elves expected to be hit by chore magic so they just activated the defensive abilities of their equipment and didn't stop their advance.
Only when the barrage of tier two true spells knocked them off their feet did they realize their mistake. M'Rael couldn't believe his own eyes and so did Nalrond. Yet while Quylla's surprise had ruined the plans of the former, it created the opening that the latter needed.
Quylla was now chanting a fake magic spell, but the relentless waves of her attacks had broken the elves' focus, making them lose the spells they had at the ready and keeping them from casting new ones.
Quylla had devised such a strategy after watching Solus mix fake and true magic to assist Lith from the tower while he battled the undead army outside the Feymar mines.
Until that moment, she had always believed that beast and human magic didn't mix, like water and oil.
Yet after learning from Faluel about the differences between fake, true, and Awakened magic, Quylla had realized that even a normal human like her could learn true magic.
After all, magical beasts, Emperor Beasts, plant folk, and Werepeople all could use true magic without being Awakened. The practice of such discipline only required learning the proper runes and to have a powerful body capable to withstand its effects.
Quylla had started researching how to project mana from her core at will after Faluel's lessons about Spirit Magic, to try and use her wand to mix her mana with the other elements like the Awakened did.
Faluel's physical training had allowed her to reinforce her body enough to wield much more energy than before, but she had always failed to solve the main issue of her revolutionary plan.
She knew first magic, she knew fake magic, but she had no idea how to convert fake into true magic.
Asking Lith, Nalrond, and even Morok for guidance had been pointless. They were all born with such skills and couldn't explain to her how they did it more than a sighted person could explain colors to a blind man.
Asking Tista and Phloria had proved to be useless as well. After Awakening, they had naturally learned how to weave true magic as if it had always been second nature to them.
There was a reason why no fake mage had ever learned true magic. It wasn't a matter of talent, hard work, or even of how many colored streaks one had in their hair.
Chapter 1229 - Tyrannical Eye (Part 1)
True magic all came down to the deep connection with Mogar that those whose core had Awakened and those who bore the blood of magical creatures shared.
Quylla had to learn from experience and countless failures before giving up on learning it. Until she had entered the Fringe and discovered that every spell that she cast would receive an answer that actually made sense.
While Friya had used the time during Nalrond's recovery to improve her skills and to find a workaround to control Gravity Magic, Quylla had learned magic back from scratch.
She had to start from first magic and work her way up to the second tier of spells for every element.
While Quylla chanted, Nalrond gently grabbed her, making sure to not disturb her focus and Blinking them out of the encirclement. The elves recognized his energy signature and aimed their spells at his exit point, turning it into a crater.
The detonation was powerful enough to stop their escape but not strong enough to shatter the defensive hard-light construct that they had seen him prepare via Soul Vision.
<"Time to take the kid's gloves off! Maim them as much as you want. I want this over, now!"> M'Rael entered the fray right after throwing a disgusted look at Kimo.
The elder and his people just stood there without moving a finger in the attempt to preserve the last shred of their precious honor, putting the entire mission at stake.
'I knew that I couldn't trust the Dewans. During the conflict between my people and the humans, Emperor Beasts refused to help us, claiming that we were no different from our enemies. Both of the Werepeople's halves are rotten to the core.' He thought.
Thanks to Nalrond's protection, Quylla managed to complete the tier five War Mage spell, Crimson Hail, without ever stopping to release low-tiered spells to keep the enemies at bay.
Crimson Hail was a mix of water and air magic that turned all the humidity in the surroundings of the caster into a storm of razor-sharp ice crystals. Air magic would further enhance their edge by covering it in air blades and their piercing ability by making them spin like a drill.
The spell owed its name to the fact that the blood spilled on the battlefield contained quite a lot of water and it would bestow the ice crystals their characteristic color. On top of that, with each enemy hurt or slain by the spell, the projectiles would increase in size and number, like a swarm of deadly mosquitoes.
Quylla had Crimson Hail spin around them, getting rid of the nearby enemies and using the mass of the spell to hide from the elves' Soul Vision.
"I don't know why they are holding back, but if they start to use tier four spells and above, we're done for." Quylla said amid pants.
Casting a tier five spell while keeping active so many cantrips with true magic had drained her mana and put a heavy burden on her body. She didn't use tier three true magic not because she had no idea how to, but because every time she attempted it, her body writhed in pain.
"They want us alive, but if you and your sister keep slaughtering them like that, I don't think that-" M'Rael's arrival cut Nalrond short and cleaved Crimson Hail in two.
Both his longsword and his armor emitted such intense heat that the ice crystals evaporated faster than the spell could freeze them, yet the elf lord didn't seem to be affected by the flames that engulfed him and that charred the ground below him.
With enough training and skill, elves could do more than infuse raw elemental power in their equipment. They could even infuse magical metals with spells, giving them long-lasting effects based on the enemy that they were facing.
This way, elves had no longer need to consume mana to keep high tiered spells active because the mana crystals would fuel them. This ability also relieved the elves from the mental strain needed to control such spells thanks to the pseudo core controlling them akin to their own enchantments.
On top of that, mana couldn't affect their caster which allowed elves to fight without worrying about the effects of their equipment being turned against them.
M'Rael was enveloped by a Raging Sun that instead of exploding made every one of his movements produce a blazing shockwave. A single swing of his blade had been enough to melt all the crystals on its path and blast the others away.
"Enough with this foolishness! Surrender now or die. I've lost too many of my brethren to care about your secrets any longer." He didn't wait for an answer and took a lunge at the space between his prey instead.
Quylla managed to brace herself by boosting Orion's Skinwalker armor with mana and covering herself with Orichalc.u.m from head to toe, but Nalrond had no such protection.
The scorching air burned his lungs while the violent pressure made his eyes, nose, and ears bleed. The elf lord then punched Nalrond in the guts while activating a light spell from one of his rings.
The combination of damage and healing almost made Nalrond faint from exhaustion. Quylla tried to use her twin chains, Bloodbind, to block the enemy's blade, but fusion magic made M'Rael so strong that he only needed to flick his arm to drag her close and swat her to the ground like a bug.
Meanwhile, Friya wasn't faring much better. Now that she had lost the element of surprise and the enemies understood the limits of Dimensional Ruler, she was running out of tricks.
Whenever she Blinked, her targets would move away from the exit point while the others would unleash upon her volleys of elements-infused arrows so thick that she couldn't deflect them all.
Both using dimensional magic and boosting the Skinwalker armor to avoid being turned into a pin cushion drained her mana whereas using fusion magic barely affected the energy reserves of her enemies.
To make matters worse, the elves were slowly adjusting their position according to the range of her Blink. It was only a matter of time before she ended up in a trap, no matter where she moved.
'Dammit, I knew that winning was impossible from the beginning, but our aim has never been to kill all the elves, we only need to buy enough time to escape. Between my gravity magic and Quylla's tricks, we hoped that they would fall back for the surprise, yet they didn't flinch.
'We have overestimated our skills and underestimated the amount of training these guys underwent. I've got only one gravity spell left and the others are about to get captured. I must make it count!' Friya thought.
She unleashed her tier two Gravity Magic spell, Whirlpull, amid the enemy lines behind her and flew rather than Blink toward her companions. Her move made the elves smirk, thinking that she had run out of mana since she moved in a straight line and focused only on speed.
Yet to their enhanced vision further boosted by air fusion, she moved no faster than a bird. The elves aimed where she was going to be rather than where she was and unleashed a new volley of air-enhanced arrows so quickly that they had nocked a second before the first arrow hit.
Chapter 1230 - Tyrannical Eye (Part 2)
Yet none of the projectiles reached their target because an unknown force pulled them up, making the arrows miss the human by a wide margin. The smirk of the archers turned into a surprised expression when they felt their feet leaving the ground and heard the screams of their companions.
Thanks to Soul Vision, the elves knew that Friya's spell would create a gravity pillar, but such a move posed no threat to them. They could see the limits of its area of effect before it even formed and step out of it before the human's spell took effect.
The most paranoid among the elves had even prepared a tier zero gravity spell, in the case that there was some trick behind the Friya's move and they got dragged inside. It would have allowed them to lessen the effect of an increased gravity or to fly away in the case gravity was reversed.
They would have never expected that by adding chore dimensional magic Friya would create a hurricane. The gravitational component inverted the gravity after amplifying it tenfold while dimensional magic twisted its pull, creating a twister rather than a simple updraft.
Usually, to create a real-life tornado would require a combination of powerful tier five spells, but by combining gravity magic's raw power and dimensional magic's fine-tune control to focus her spell into a small area, Friya had almost obtained the same effect.
The loosed arrows were getting sucked up by the hurricane along with those still in the quivers, the quivers themselves, and the elves bearing them.
Those who still had their feet on the ground had to let Friya go and weave a flight spell to escape death while those who had one at the ready had to focus on rescuing their companions before the tornado turned them into shreds.
The elves' formation went in complete disarray, making it possible for Friya to safely Blink to her destination.
'I hate exploiting their care for each other. It makes me feel like I'm the bad guy here. Yet getting captured and becoming their toy or whatever they want from us would be much worse.' She thought.
Quylla sighed in relief at her arrival, hoping that Friya would turn the tables or at least buy them enough time to escape.
'Focusing on defensive spells kept Nalrond from counter-attacking and I'm at the end of my rope. We need to get out of here, fast!' She said to her companions via a quick mind link created from her Royal Forgemastering wand.
M'Rael stared at the silver thread connecting the humans to the hybrid with Soul Vision, trying to understand if it was a threat. The moment he recognized the energy signature of Spirit Magic, greed filled his eyes.
'By the Great Mother! The human isn't an Awakened, I can see it from her static mana flow. Yet that thing allows her to use the seventh element, the only one that is forbidden to the elven race.
'Screw Light Mastery. If I capture her and force her to teach us how to use Spirit Magic, we'll become more powerful than most Awakened. An entire race capable of using the seventh element can wipe out armies with minimal losses.
'Spirit Magic has no weakness and can be used for both offense and defense. We already know Light Mastery. Even though the Rezar's technique is more powerful, improving Light Mastery is much easier than learning Spirit Magic from scratch.' The elf lord thought.
M'Rael ignored Nalrond and moved towards Quylla, eager to fetch his prize. The Rezar finally managed to breathe again while he cursed his weakness.
'I should have asked for an armor a long time ago, even if it meant to owe Lith or Faluel big time. Me and my stupid pride. It's only because of me that the Dewans-'
'Less self-loathing, more crossing over. Get me out of here.' Friya cut him short.
'What about Quylla?' He could see her Skinwalker armor turning red from the heat emanating from the elf. Chore water magic couldn't keep up even with the side effects of a tier five spell.
'I trust her and so should you. Now get a move.' Friya took his hand while Nalrond extended his consciousness toward the silvery barrier that separated the Fringe from the outside world.
He let Mogar's voice flow inside his head, focusing on his own name to resist the onslaught of the myriad of memories and personalities that threatened to smother his mind.
Friya and Nalrond shared again the worst moments of their lives, but this time they were ready. A split second after, she was on the other side. Her mind was so focused on the grave danger that awaited her that she even managed to keep her Dimensional Ruler spell active despite the ordeal.
Friya didn't abandon her sister, she had moved forward to protect her. She knew that the elves had likely left another squadron outside, to capture them the moment they emerged from the Fringe.
It was what she would have done in their shoes, anticipating the worst case scenario and exploiting the confusion that a Fringe inflicted the prey to win without a fight. Yet what she saw left her speechless, filling her heart with dread.
The squadron was comprised of over thirty elves armed to the teeth. Or better, that was what she estimated from their remains.
A snow-white skinned humanoid figure over two meters (6' 7") tall was chasing the last five men unit, using its twin one-handed battle hammers to squash the enemies and block their arrows.
Morok's nose had disappeared, replaced by two slits on his face while his lipless mouth was twisted in a savage grin that revealed several rows of shark-like teeth. The scene made no sense to Friya.
She knew that the Tyrant was powerful, but no more than any other non Awakened Emperor Beast. He was supposed to be on the same level as Nalrond, maybe a bit stronger thanks to the army training, but not by much.
It took her a split second to snap out of it and even less to come to Morok's side to help him finish them off quickly.
"By the Great Mother!" Friya said after noticing that there was no trace of his four eyes on his face and shoulders.
"Yeah, I know. Those suckers too never bothered thinking why Tyrants are known as the Tyrannical Eye, singular." Morok replied.
His Skinwalker armor was open, revealing a single eye so big that it covered most of his wide chest. It had a vertical pupil and a five-colored iris that only lacked the silver of the light element.
The elves cursed their bad luck, shooting a volley of spells at the human and hoping to distract the monster long enough to Blink near the Fringe and get back inside.
"Have you really not understood how it works yes? And then people call me stupid." Morok said as the giant eye sucked the spells in before projecting them out in the form of a multi-colored pillar that blew the nearest elf to pieces.
Tyrants and Balors had many things in common. Among them, there was the ability to absorb the elemental energy of an enemy spell as long as they had the right eye for the job.
Chapter 1231 - Mana Poisoning (Part 1)
By fusing all of their eyes into one, the Tyrants made their ability to absorb the elements almost as strong as that of a Balor and lessened the strain on their mana core.
Sucking a spell meant to cleanse it from the enemy's energy signature and replace it with their own.
It cost mana and poisoned the Tyrant's core, but the surprise effect of the instant counter made up for it. On top of that, Morok didn't have to waste time or focus to prepare his spells because he could just use those of his enemies.
It was how he had butchered so many elves so quickly on his own. They had expected him to be stunned from crossing the Fringe's border, whereas he had come out clear-headed, unleashing a couple of tier five spells as a welcome gift.
After that, he had finally let his fifth eye open without the risk of Awakening. His superior physical prowess combined with the ability to turn spells against their caster had done the rest.
Friya didn't let the Morok's elemental pillar go to waste. She rearranged the golden light from Dimensional Ruler so that it Warped the attack throughout the battlefield like a pinball. Dodging the pillar only meant to have it Warp again and appear from a blind spot.
The elves tried to Blink away, but their entry points became unstable and exploded in their faces, leaving them open to the multi-colored pillar that tore them apart before their sensitive ears could stop ringing.
"Remind me to never piss you off." Morok said.
"Same." Friya said amid pants. "Quylla is messing with the head of an elf, but she could use a hand."
"What? If she's in danger, why did you leave her alone?" He said in outrage.
"For the same reason you did. To clear the path ahead and not go back to square one right after managing to escape!"
"That was my job! Did you really think I would abandon you? I'm not my father!" Morok said.
"Yes, I did and I'm sorry for it. Now, do you want to go help her or stay here and argue with me?"
Meanwhile, inside the Fringe, M'Rael didn't know that the moment he had turned toward Quylla, she had detached the silvery tendril from Friya and used it against the elf to affect his judgment.
The thoughts and the greed were his own, but Quylla used the mind link to fan their flames, turning them into obsession. Even her screams of pain were exaggerated to lull M'Rael into believing to have already won.
The pain caused by the Raging Sun that the elf had infused his equipment with kept her from weaving spells, but not from using her brain. Quylla slowly crawled back, trying to appear helpless and buy as much time as she could.
Nalrond needed a few seconds to get Friya out of the Fringe and a few more to clear his head before he could help her.
'I need that wand. Once we understand its workings, the elves will be able to take back their rightful place on Mogar. On top of that, I will shove it up my ass.' The last thought didn't belong to M'Rael.
He quickly realized that something was wrong with him and quickly turned around. Only then did he notice that Friya's hurricane was still butchering his men and that the silver tendril that once connected the two women was now stuck to his heel.
He froze in horror noticing that Friya was gone, the Rezar was casting a spell, and that for some reason, he was deaf.
"I Hushed your ears earlier, jackass. That's why you can't hear a thing." M'Rael could see Quylla's lips moving but nothing seemed to come out of them.
"If you're wondering why I'm not speaking via the mind link, it's because I want you to waste time thinking I'm casting a spell or something." She said while moving her hands in random gestures.
"Treachery!" M'Rael said.
Both the Rezar and the human were using light magic and he was right in the middle. The elf lord lunged at Quylla, piercing her chest and her right lung until the tip of the blade came out of her back.
He used the strength of the air pressure to slam her on the ground and the heat of his blade to instantly cauterize the wound, keeping her alive. Soul Vision reassured him that the pain had broken her focus, but it couldn't reveal that she had prepared solely healing spells to remain conscious.
Once his hearing returned, M'Rael infused his equipment with the tier Five War Mage spell, Devouring Nightmare. It was a mix of Darkness and Earth magic that after fully coating his armor, it would make him nigh-invulnerable to both magical and physical attacks.
Nalrond unleashed a flood of constructs that fell apart the moment they reached their target. Earth made the elf immovable while darkness ate at everything that came within one meter from him.
'That's it? It's too weak to be an attack, unless…' M'Rael turned around, noticing that part of the stream of hard-light had circled around him to pick up Quylla and move her close to the border.
He unleashed a tier five Light Mastery spell, Sunspot, from one of his magic holding rings. It created two sets of hands, each one as big as a car, enveloped by a shroud of darkness that dimmed the hard-light comprising them.
The first set of hands went to retrieve the human while the second stopped Nalrond's spell with their open palms and moved forward to capture him as well. The Rezar recalled all the constructs he had generated, breaking them down to reassemble them into a form more suitable for battle.
Ropes of light wrapped around both sets of hands, tightening their grip the more Nalrond clenched his hands. Using a tier four single elemental spell against a tier five that employed two elements required finesse.
The Rezar didn't have the time to weave something more powerful nor a single piece of magical equipment, forcing him to clutch at straws. Nalrond went as close as he could to the silvery barrier to buy one more second.
"It's useless." M'Rael said while his construct reached Nalrond's and grabbed Quylla by the legs, making her scream in agony. "The moment you get out, my forces stationed on the other side will capture you. Just like it happened to your friends."
The Rezar grunted with effort, without bothering to reply. Darkness needed time to damage the hard-light ropes, time that he used to gauge the skill of his opponent.
Elves had spent centuries honing their Light Mastery, but between their lack of real combat experience and the fact that their teaching method allowed only the most talented members of their race to learn it, Nalrond managed to spot flaws in the construct.
The ropes regrouped near the joints of the hands and attacked the area around them. Even an amateur would realize that flexible parts would be weaker than the rest and train until they found a solution.
Only a master, however, would know that doing that caused an imbalance in the structure. Just reinforcing the joints wasn't enough because it made the amount of light element in their vicinity thinner and more brittle.
Nalrond only needed to open a single crack to make the structure leak mana and get weaker, allowing him to open more cracks in a vicious cycle that turned Sunspot into a bunch of sparks of light.
Chapter 1232 - Mana Poisoning (Part 2)
"I have to admit that Kimo was right. You'll make an excellent asset." M'Rael nodded while unleashing two more Sunspots, one from his rings and the other weaved during their clash.
A one-handed battle hammer struck his head, barely making the elf flinch. The second one, however, hit the first hammer as if it was a nail, doubling its momentum thanks to the air magic that made them oppositely charged.
"Run, you fools!" Morok tried to recall his weapons, only to discover that M'Rael had trapped them inside a husk of earth and darkness originating from his armor.
"Insignificant fly!" One of the hands from Sunspot swatted Morok like a bug, two more grabbed Nalrond, squeezing the air and almost the life out of him, while the last one went for Quylla.
A silvery flash came from her sleeves as the Adamant chains of Bloodbind wrapped the hard-light construct long enough to allow Quylla to focus what was left of mana into a tier two Light Mastery spell.
The elf was already splitting his focus between his four constructs and three opponents so he couldn't react in time to a bolt of light faster than any bullet. The spell struck M'Rael right in the middle of his eyes, yet it dealt no damage.
Just like it had happened with Morok's hammers, the Devouring Nightmare spell infused within the armor protected the elf lord from any damage. Earth would block anything physical while darkness would devour even mana.
"What the-?" M'Rael attempted to say when he noticed with Soul Vision that the light beam actually carried something that was now engulfed in his own spell.
A silvery explosion cut him short and made him double over in pain.
Royal Forgemaster's wands were a state secret and as such, they were heavily guarded. To keep them from falling into the wrong hands, their owner could make a wand self-destruct after overloading its pseudo core with pure mana.
The resulting explosion would cause the mana poisoning of whoever was nearby and trigger a Clean Slate spell within the same area. M'Rael's equipment became nothing but a lump of metal while his focus crumbled and so did his constructs.
The Devouring Nightmare lessened the effects of the poisoning, but the elf had to stop his attacks until the pain subsided. His rings were temporarily dead and weaving spells while his core was tainted might have killed him.
"Get out of here, now!" Morok retrieved his hammers and kept at bay the soldiers that had come to help their captain.
Nalrond grabbed Quylla and extended his consciousness toward the barrier, leaving the Fringe.
"That's all, folks!" Morok had his back against the barrier, outnumbered and outmatched, yet he needed but a thought to go to the other side.
Some elves tried to follow him, just to meet Friya's blade while they were still dazed from the passage. Only people at peace with themselves like Morok didn't suffer from side effects after crossing a Fringe's borders.
Training made them last little, but killing someone who stood still with a rapier through the eyes took even less.
"We need to get away. Quylla's legs are rotting, Nalrond is not waking up, and I can't last for long." She said while more and more elves came out of the barrier.
"On it!" Morok opened a Warp Steps that led as far away as he could see.
Then, he threw his allies inside the dimensional corridor while picking their next destination. Friya pushed him inside and used the last bits of Dimensional Ruler to relax the space and delete every trace of their passage.
A couple of Warp Steps in a random direction later, Morok started to puke his guts out. Between mana abuse and the poisoning from the repeated uses of Tyrannical Eye, his body was on the verge of collapsing.
"F.u.c.k secrecy. I'm not letting my sister die here for those assholes." Friya took her communication amulet and called Faluel.
'Nalrond will be pissed off if you do that. It's still his home.' Morok wanted to say, but his mouth was filled with bile and emitted solely retching sounds.
"Better pissed off than dead. His flesh is rotting and with so many broken bones, without Invigoration it would take him days to recover, whereas we have minutes at best. If that elf finds us, we're doomed!" Somehow, Friya understood him anyway.
After receiving the distress call, Faluel needed a handful of seconds to reach them. The amulet provided her with their coordinates and she needed a single Steps to get there from the lair of Asphodus the Roc, her contact in the Desert.
"I knew that bringing Morok along was a bad idea, but I'd have never expected that he would piss off Mogar so bad that it would attempt to kill you. Once I report this to your master, Ajatar, you'll end up in big trouble, young man." Faluel said.
'Why does she assume that it's my fault?' Morok kept puking.
"Because usually it is." Faluel had to turn into her Hydra form to Warp around and heal them at the same time thanks to her seven heads.
Only after making sure that no one could retrace her path did she Warp back to Asphodus's lair and went back to Lutia.
***
City of Kolga, near the barrier.
After the soldiers had left with Khalia and Solus, Lith felt that something was wrong with his body. The cracks in his life force absorbed only part of the energy that the Forbidden Sun pumped into his body, while his mana core had now no protection.
Mana poisoning felt akin to having poison flow through your veins while small bugs slowly dug their way to your abdomen. Lith had a bright blue core which coupled with light and earth fusion made him the more resistant among the three disguised humans.
At least in theory.
Only a few minutes had passed since he had slipped Solus in the Captain's pocket, yet he could feel his whole body freeze while his brain burned. The plan was to infiltrate Solus inside the facility where the Forbidden Magic happened and so far, it had worked like a charm.
Tista and Phloria were looking for one of the flying cars while Lith focused on the bond he shared with Solus to never lose track of her. The good news was that until the very moment their link had broken due to distance, the guards had always moved in a straight line.
The bad news was that Lith felt worse by the second. He needed sheer willpower to not show his distress to the citizens of Kolga around him and blow his cover.
'This doesn't make sense. The girls withstood the Forbidden Sun affecting both their life forces and mana cores for hours whereas I got only half the poisoning for just a few minutes. Why do I feel so bad?' He thought.
'Are you okay, lil bro?' Tista asked via the mind link after noticing that he was already using Invigoration.
She felt like crap for handing over Khalia and for using so much mana during the battle, but she could still go a long way before needing to use the breathing technique. Lith's condition made no sense to her as well.
Chapter 1233 - Weakness of the Flesh (Part 1)
'No, I'm not okay. The odd thing is that using a mind link is supposed to make me feel worse, but I feel better instead. Where's Phloria?' Lith said via the mind link.
The answer came in the form of what looked like a vintage convertible that landed right next to them. The controls were so easy that it had taken her just a minute to learn how to drive it.
One button marked with an arrow pointing up made it take off, another with an arrow pointing down made it land, and a control yoke allowed it to steer and change altitude. A vertical lever regulated the speed, making the car go faster the lower it was pulled.
'What's wrong with you?' Phloria asked, giving him more relief.
'I don't know. It feels like a stream of cold electricity is coursing through my body, giving me the shivers.' He replied.
'Could this be a sign of the tribulation you feared?'
'No. Whatever it is, I never experienced something like this, not even in Kulah.' He said.
Normally, Lith would have cursed at every second that traffic and finding a parking spot made them lose while Phloria drove following his directions, but flying made his conditions even worse.
His body seemed to have turned into a block of ice and his eyes burned so bad that he was forced to blink often to see through the blur clouding them.
'F.u.c.k me sideways.' Lith thought after keeping his eyes open for as long as he could. He was now able to understand why he felt so bad and why going up only made things worse.
With Solus gone, Death Vision had returned stronger and stranger than ever.
In front of his eyes, Phloria and Tista died several times in the span of a few seconds due to mana poisoning or because their bodies couldn't hold the life force coming from the Forbidden Sun any longer.
The former manifested by making them seemingly fall asleep and then shapeshift back into their human form, with their skin tainted by the pallor of death. The latter, instead, filled them with blisters that made their flesh rot at a speed visible to the n.a.k.e.d eye.
And that was the only normal thing he saw.
The city of Kolga was filled with so many dead souls that they blotted the Forbidden Sun to Lith. Many of them clawed, punched, and bit at the energy mass trying to get back what they had lost, but to no avail.
Others followed the tendrils that went from the sun to all those inside Kolga, Lith and the girls included. The cold sensation he experienced was due to the constant stream of shades passing through him and somehow feeding on his mana.
Using Spirit Magic was akin to throwing chum into shark-infested waters. The shades would temporarily ignore him and swarm the unprotected mana tendril. The blurred vision Lith experienced was simply caused by the number of shadows moving in front of his eyes.
Despite the city lights and the l.u.s.ter of its modern buildings, Kolga was filled with more death than Lith had ever seen before. The dead whose life force was being consumed, haunted the living who fed upon it like parasites, while the others flew aimlessly, trying to escape the city borders.
'As long as Solus was with me, she drained the foreign mana while the energy flooding the cracks in my human life force suppressed Death Vision. Without her, however, I'm being injected with more than just mana, I'm also receiving the thoughts and feeling that it carries.
'Faluel taught me that only mana can channel willpower and the shades use the poisoning akin to a mind link. The problem is that I have no idea what they want from me.' He thought.
The shadows following the citizens of Kolga stared at them in hatred, plunging their ethereal limbs inside the bodies of the Kolgans to retrieve what had been stolen from them, but they always came up empty-handed.
Those near Phloria and Tista, instead, looked at them with pity, trying to protect them with their bodies from the tendrils coming out of the Forbidden Sun, but to no avail. As for Lith, there were so many shades surrounding him that he had a hard time seeing his own hands, let alone read their expressions.
The trip to the Light Torch department didn't last long. The merfolk had shown them the main flight path connections during their tour of the city from outside the barrier and the closer Lith got to Solus, the stronger their connection became.
The Light Torch was comprised of a tall, rectangular main building where the administrative offices were located, and of two long, rectangular wings where the city mages conducted the experiments related to light magic.
It would have resembled an Earth hospital if not for the fact that no one in Kolga could get ill. Childbirth was the only medical procedure necessary since no one would be born with their life force and mana core cracked.
Lith noticed the anguish in the faces of every woman passing by the building, but he had no idea that half of them would actually have a baby while the rest of them would just get a condolence notice before being dismissed.
'Solus is here. She's almost within the range of our mind link. I can't hear her thoughts unless I focus very hard, but I can feel that she's scared.' Lith said via the mind link while he massaged his temples trying to communicate with her.
He felt her fear turning into terror and then into horror. Whatever was happening to her, it kept Solus from thinking clearly, replying to his thoughts with raw emotions.
'I need to Warp to her, now!' The three of them split up, searching for a corner where Lith could use dimensional magic without being seen from the people walking down the street or from those flying above.
They drew a lot of unwanted attention, especially Lith. His stumpy body belonged to a Professor of the Fire Pit, another department of the academy, and he had no reason to be there.
Fearing that he had come to mess with their research, the people of the Light Torch kept their eyes on Lith, making him wish he could just blow everything apart.
***
Meanwhile, the Kolgan mage who had found the stark-n.a.k.e.d Solus sprawled on the ground kept moving his eyes from her to the alarm button on the wall.
'Is it an enemy or just a lost specimen? I don't want to put a colleague into trouble for a stupid mistake. The gods know how easily these mindless things from the breeding factory manage to escape the moment you turn your back to them.
'They run away out of instinct, but the moment the fear is gone, they become meek again.' He thought.
Solus looked at the hybrid with dread and tried to stand up, but too long had passed since the last time she had real legs instead of constructs. Will wasn't enough to move, she needed motor coordination and she lacked it.
'Why did this stupid body return now of all times?' She thought, struggling even to walk on all four. 'Even if I escape from here, there's no way I can go unnoticed. If this keeps up, I might compromise everyone's life.'
Chapter 1234 - Weakness of the Flesh (Part 2)
After watching Solus struggle to crawl on the floor and hearing her whimpers, the mage sighed in relief. He took his hand off the alarm and called a colleague for help.
"Xannon, I need a hand here. Some rookie must have gone overboard on their first procedure and made the specimen unable to walk." He whispered to not let the supervisor overhear.
"Again? How can they always f.u.c.k up? Do you need a mop or just a stretcher?"
"The stretcher will do. She has yet to relieve her bowels on the floor. Let's find the idiot who treated her and let them deal with their mess." The mage said.
"She? As in cute?" Xannon's interest was piqued.
"Sort of. She's really short and a bit overweight." At those words, Solus's fear was replaced by rage, but it only lasted for an instant.
"Good gods, Grem, what's wrong with her hair?" Xannon asked while pointing at the many elemental streaks.
Merfolk had bright colored hair by nature, making the mage think that Solus was a merfolk in her land form that had been experimented upon with Body Sculpting.
"Beats me. My guess is that some young rich idiot must have sent her here to make her suit his kinks but the procedure messed up with her head in more than one way." Grem said with a shrug.
The two mages lifted Solus without any kindness, one from the legs and the other from the shoulders, leaving her flabbergasted.
'What the heck? I'm supposed to weigh a lot due to my tower half, or at least that's how it worked for my energy body. Am I really that weak?' Solus whipped her arm at the man behind her.
Usually, even such a clumsy attack would have been so strong that it would turn him into a pulp, but now he barely noticed it.
"Shit, she is having spasms. Better check what kind of damage that moron did to her before it becomes permanent. If we lose a healthy female again, the entire department will get in trouble." Grem strapped her hands, feet, and neck, paralyzing Solus.
She tried to shapeshift as she did in her stone form, but nothing happened. Then, she struggled to get free, but the restraints were too strong. For the first time in her life, Solus felt completely helpless.
Even after being captured by Nalear, she had still retained all of her abilities. Now, instead, even if she used Spirit Magic to escape, her own body was her true enemy.
What point Warping away had if she could barely look around with her head? Be it flight or dimensional magic, all she would achieve by using them was to alert the entire city of the presence of enemies.
'At least thanks to Leegaain's pin I understand what they are saying. I must play along.' Solus's fear and confusion were sincere, giving the two mages no reason to doubt her acting.
"Poor things. She has no idea where she is or what is going to happen to her. Do you think she has feelings?" Xennon asked.
"Don't mistake base instinct for sentience. Merfolk are just animals compared to us." Grem said. "They are a relic of the past doomed to extinction. We're doing them a favor by easing the process and putting their worthless lives to use."
Solus tried to gain control of her limbs, looking at her hands while she flexed them to understand how mind and body were linked. It was then that she realized to be n.a.k.e.d. Between the shock of having her body back and of being as helpless as a child, she had forgotten that outside the tower she needed more than will to cover herself.
Fear and shame turned into terror when she understood to have been completely exposed the entire time and that any attempt to resist one of the men that considered her nothing more than livestock would blow her cover.
'Keep calm. If they really wanted to hurt you, they would have already done it. Focus on your arms and weave a few spells just to stay on the safe side. At least magic doesn't need me to-' Terror turned into horror as the mages pushed the stretcher inside the same room where Khalia had been lobotomized.
Gren positioned her in the middle of the room while Xennon started to activate the arrays.
'Gods, no! If they use a diagnostic spell on me, just by looking at my life force they'll find out that I'm not a merfolk. On top of that, I've no idea how those goddamn arrays might interact with me and no intention to find out.'
A small burst of Spirit Magic freed Solus while two air blades cut at the two mages' necks. She remembered Rem saying that beheading them was the only way to kill the inhabitants of Kolga.
The spell worked and blood sprayed everywhere, but the cuts were too clean, allowing the wounds to heal in the blink of an eye.
'Focus, Solus. You should have remembered about how their regenerating ability and how it weakened Lith's spells. I need to get mean!' Solus cursed herself while Hushing the room.
The two mages tried to scream, but not a sound escaped. Then, she unleashed several Plague Arrows, but the light energy coursing through the two men neutralized the Arrows before they could deal any damage.
She tried to use Spirit Magic to tear them apart and fire magic to cauterize the wounds, keeping them from healing properly, yet no matter how ghastly the damage, the two mages always recovered.
Solus was at her wits' end, trying to find a spell powerful enough to kill that would also not expose her presence. No matter how much she racked her brain, only tier four and five spells came to her mind.
If not for Spirit Magic holding them against the wall, Grem and Xennon would have managed to sound the alarm.
Suddenly, a Warp Steps opened inside the room and the merfolk version of Vastor needed just a glance to understand what was happening. Or better, the main source of Solus's distress.
Lith had no idea what purpose the room had nor how she had gotten her body back, but there wasn't enough time even for a mind link. Someone might be already looking for the two mages and Lith needed to clear every trace of their passage.
'Judging by Solus's desperation, she already tried and failed to get rid of them with magic. Rem said to behead them and my strength is more than enough to rip their heads off.' The short legs of Lith's disguise forced him to float to grab at the mages' necks.
He had filled his hands with the darkness from several Plague Arrows, to turn the heads into ashes as soon as decapitation neutralized the effects of the Forbidden Sun. Yet his flawless plan failed him.
Lith had assumed that the Forbidden Magic granting the citizens of Kolga worked akin to Odi technology rather than to trolls. Only Solus was aware of how the Forbidden Sun kept people young by turning them into unliving.
Creatures that fed of the light element and that had been stripped of most of their darkness, keeping just enough to preserve their natural balance. The moment Lith touched their necks, the sudden flow of darkness magic created a link between the three of them.
Chapter 1235 - The Eye and the Hands (Part 1)
Instead of destroying them, the Plague Arrows turned the mages back into living beings by balancing the scales. At the same time, physical contact allowed the souls that haunted Grem and Xennon to unleash their fury.
The bodies of the two mages constantly rejuvenated themselves thanks to the mass that had been bestowed upon them at birth by the ritual. The life force and light element that coursed through them had been stolen as well and kept in check by the Forbidden Magic empowering Kolga's sun.
The souls used the death energy flowing from the cracks in Lith's life force to get ahold of what belonged to them now that the Plague Arrows had temporarily disrupted the effects of the ritual.
Lith could feel the shades begging him to grant them substance and he did. By infusing them with Spirit Magic, the souls turned into Demons of the Darkness who used their powers to retrieve all that Forbidden Magic had taken from them.
It was the stolen life force that granted the Kolgans their long life and the ability to feed upon foreign mana and light element, absorbing them as if they were their own. Without it, the two mages withered.
The very ritual that until a moment ago had empowered them, now filled them with poison.
Death made the corpses of the Kolgans disappear, but the Demons had yet to finish their job. They grabbed at the tendril that had connected Grem and Xennon to the Forbidden Sun, sucking it dry of any trace of their life essence that it still held.
For a moment, Lith saw his Demons turn respectively into a young merfolk and a Shyf (puma type magical beast). They gave him a deep bow before darting upwards in the form of two small spheres of light.
Despite the many questions he had about what had just happened, a single thought eclipsed them all.
'Good gods, Solus, are you alright? What did they do to you?' Lith helped her to sit up on the stretcher and cupped her face, trying to calm her down.
'I think I'm fine. I didn't let them do anything to me, but this stupid body doesn't listen to my orders. Without your timely arrival, I don't know if I would've managed to kill those guys without alarming the whole city.'
Once Invigoration confirmed Lith that nothing had happened to Solus's life force and mana core, he sighed in relief, touching her forehead with his own. The moment they made contact, Lith felt the pain leaving his body while Solus's mind found relief from the horrors she had witnessed.
'About that, how did you get your human form?' He asked.
'Beats me. How did you open your fifth eye?'
'My what?' Lith let her go and quickly conjured an ice mirror.
The reflection showed three more eyes shining on the face of his disguise. His regular eyes had turned red and black, those on his forehead were blue and white, while the new eye on his cheek was bright orange.
He could feel a pull at his conscience, similar to that he had experienced in Kulah, but hundreds of times stronger.
The more Lith looked at his face, the less he liked that situation. Thanks to Faluel's teachings about the basics of Domination, it took him but a deep breath and some focus to close all the extra eyes.
Along with their light, Mogar's call faded as well.
'We don't have time for this. We need to get away before someone stumbles in here.' He turned around, finally noticing her condition. 'By the way, you look pretty… n.a.k.e.d. Wear something.'
'By my Mom, this isn't how I pictured showing you my real body. Years of dreams and preparation just went down the gutter.' Solus turned to a shade of purple and took her Scalewalker armor out of her pocket dimension.
'If it's of any consolation, it's close to how I pictured this moment when I was still a horny, single teenager. I expected it to happen sometime when we were alone in the tower, not in a death trap.'
'Gods, stop it.' Solus knew about such fantasies through their past mind fusions, but hearing him say it made her turn even more purple.
Lith needed a few tries to take her in a princess carry with a Vastor-like body, embarrassing her even more.
'I guess my dumb act worked. I need to take her mind off whatever had happened in here. I don't need a mind link to notice how scared and shaken she is. Solus is on the verge of a breakdown and before it happens, I need to bring her somewhere safe.' He thought.
Lith opened a dimensional opening the size of a keyhole to look at the place where the girls waited for him and to establish a mind link.
'Is the coast clear?'
'Yes. What took you so long?' Tista replied.
'It's a long story. Keep a Warp Steps leading to your apartment at the ready, we're going to need it.' Lith waited for his sister to give him the all clear before going back outside.
One of the perks of being short was that in his Vastor form Lith could easily hide behind two a.d.u.l.ts. When they had failed to find an isolated space to open the dimensional passage, the girls had just stood in front of a section of the wall, hiding him from view.
Then, Lith had used his mind link with Solus to look through her eyes and know where to go. The moment Lith stepped outside the wall, he fell down the Warp Steps that Tista had placed below his feet.
Phloria walked behind her, using the cover to disappear from sight and space, quickly followed by Tista. She only needed one step and a single moment when no one was around to vanish like a ghost.
"What the heck happened to you?" Phloria asked while looking at Solus's petite build and gentle features. Lith coming out of the lab with a woman instead of a ring had almost knocked her off her feet, but only now could she express her shock.
"Before that, give me your hands, please. I can see that using so much magic has put a toll on every one of you." Solus was getting the hang of her new form, but she still moved clumsily and her fingers trembled out of shock.
Tista held Solus's left hand while Phloria took the right. The contact drained the poison that tainted their bodies and cores, allowing them to recover their strength.
"I thought it was the combined effect of the crack in Lith's life force and in your core that cleansed the Forbidden Magic. Was it just you all along?" Phloria asked.
"Nailed in one." Solus nodded. "My centuries of isolation didn't cost me just my memories, but also my body. Luckily, the tower has my "blueprints" and it's rebuilding it from scratch.
"Ever since we got here, staying with Lith protected him but actually dampened the effects that the Forbidden Sun has on me. What is poison for you, is nourishment for me and it provides the tower with all it needs to give me back my human form."
Chapter 1236 - The Eye and the Hands (Part 2)
"Is it permanent?" Tista asked brimming with joy. She couldn't wait to introduce Solus to her family and finally be able to show her around Mogar.
"I doubt that." Solus sighed. "The tower it's still too weak to preserve my body. If not for the Forbidden Sun constantly plugging the damages in my essence while also nurturing me, the energy would leak and I'd return to my usual state."
"Do you feel like telling us what happened inside the Light Torch of do you want me to do it?" Lith said after reverting to his human form in the hope to give her strength.
Solus took a deep breath and opened her mouth to answer, but only a hiccup came out. Warm tears streaked down her eyes as the memory of what had befallen Khalia and of the fate of half of Kolga's children flooded her mind.
She had long dreamed to learn about her past, about Menadion, and her legacy. The First Ruler of the Flames had turned out to be more than her maker yet the revelation had also come with more pain than Solus could handle.
The Hands that Menadion had gifted to her apprentice had been twisted into an instrument of misery that fed upon the lives of others. No matter how irrational the thought was, Solus felt responsible for each death that had taken place in Kolga.
She started to sob and quiver, clenching at her friends with all the strength that she could muster. For the first time in her life, Solus wished to be just a magical ring, devoid of any feeling aside from that of serving its master.
Lith had their mind fuse, allowing her knowledge to flow into him just like his calm soothed her shaken nerves. On top of that, even though he couldn't pass onto her his muscle memory, the mind fusion allowed Solus to familiarize with her human body.
Lith moved her limbs along with his own, using the mirror effect to teach her the ropes and instill in Solus's mind how controlling the joints was supposed to feel. Then, he used Light Mastery to project a hologram of what had happened since the moment Solus had left with the city guards.
A mind link would have been faster and more detailed, but it would have also caused the girls mana poisoning and further delayed their recovery. That way, instead, as long as they touched Solus, they could recover from the effects of the Forbidden Sun.
"With this, we have cleared all of this mission objectives." Lith broke the silence that followed the grisly images. "The mana geyser is controlled by Menadion's Hands. The ritual is held inside the Light Torch, but unlike what the Council believes, it takes place every day.
"It's not something big and flashy like the Black Star that can be disrupted easily. It's way more subtle and it would require an army to take care of it."
"What do you mean?" Tista caressed Solus's hand, glad to notice that sharing her burden with Lith had allowed Solus to calm and relax.
All those emotions had exhausted Solus and her eyes drooped slowly until she fell asleep.
"The Hands of Menadion are of secondary importance while the Light Torch is the heart of the ritual. You have seen from Solus's memories how many rooms and arrays are needed to safely wield the energy released by the Forbidden Magic.
"Without it, every newborn of Kolga would die. Even better, if we mess with one of the procedures, we might corrupt the Forbidden Sun and make it crumble." Lith said.
"Last but not least, now we know what fuels Kogaluga. The lost city of the Griffon Kingdom must have belonged to accomplices of Kolga who unwittingly accepted to turn their lands into a toxic waste deposit."
"Do you think she did it on purpose?" Phloria was flabbergasted.
"It's the only explanation. You heard the movie. Kolga came from the Garlen continent and she was the only one with the necessary skill to craft a device capable of harnessing the darkness element that the ritual produces.
"Even worse, to have left the device in Kogaluga before coming here, it means that Kolga is also the creator of the ritual. Her descendants must have killed her once they realized that if mommy dearest activated the Forbidden Magic, she would have become nigh-immortal." Lith said.
"Yeah. With an Awakened's longevity, there's no telling how long Kolga would have lived thanks to the ritual." Phloria nodded. "We can only hope that she didn't share with her descendants the secret of Awakening, or things might get ugly for us."
"What do you mean, us? This is just a recon mission. We're done here. We can leave as soon as Solus wakes up." Tista said.
"Even if we don't share the information about Menadion's Hands, the moment the battle starts and the King joins the fray, the whole Mogar will learn about them. How many people do you trust with that kind of power? Even more importantly, do you think that Solus would agree to it?" Phloria shook her head.
"Exactly." Lith nodded. "Yet that's not the point. For what I care, we can even say that this mission has been a complete failure and leave without sharing any of what with learned with the Council."
"What?" The girls said in unison.
"You heard me. I don't feel like taking Solus's body away after all she went through to get it back. Despite all of its dirty secrets, you've seen how beautiful Kolga is. She could live here, disguise herself as one of the merfolk hybrids, and maybe even make a life for herself.
"In Kolga, she has no need for me. She can spend all the time she needs for a complete recovery here and only once she is ready to leave on her own terms would we share with the Council what we have learned today.
"Once Solus contact us, we volunteer for a second attempt that will be conveniently successful and that will provide us with the opportunity we need to recover Solus."
"Would you really leave her here?" Tista asked.
"If that's what she wants, yes. It's a sacrifice I'm willing to make. Some of the things that Silverwing said about me are right. Solus needs to have her space and her life instead of being an accessory to mine.
"You have no idea how long has she wished to be normal. Here Solus can sleep, laugh, and cry as much as she wants. Once she permanently regains her body, we'll meet as equals and maybe by then, she'll have sorted her feelings.
"Right now, her condition does to her what your congenital disease did to you, Tista. It's a cage that keeps her from spreading her wings and I don't want to be any part of that unless it's strictly necessary.
"Good or bad, Kolga is the first real chance Solus has for a full life. What we do next is her decision to make." Lith said.
Tista couldn't stand the idea of such a horror being allowed to continue, but both Lith and Phloria made good points. The Hands of Menadion couldn't be given to someone out of political gain.
All Awakened Lords of the Council had access to several mana geysers and with the Hands, any of them would become unstoppable.
Chapter 1237 - Dollhouse (Part 1)
Destroying Kolga would lead to a war that would tear apart the two continents, then the races of the winning Council, and lastly the members of the faction that came on top of the competition.
At that point, the other factions of the Council would attack their weakened enemy and start the fight anew. A single artifact would trigger an endless war.
'Good gods, how could Menadion be so stupid as to not put some kind of restriction on it? On top of that, Lith is right as well. So far, Solus lived on the crumbs of his free time. This place would be a start for her. Horrible, but a start nonetheless.'
Phloria instead, was old and mature enough to be unfazed by Kolga's dark side and immediately agreed with Lith.
'These kinds of things happen every day. Kolga is but a drop in the ocean of what people do to each other since the dawn of time. The Odi did much worse for much longer. The Gorgon Empire enslaved its own people.
'Arthan sacrificed countless lives in the name of his research. Even Balkor and Nalear are just symptoms of the horrors that still happen to this day in the Kingdom. Compared to what would happen if Menadion's legacy fell into the wrong hands, Kolga is the lesser evil.' She thought.
Thanks to the combined effect of the mana geyser and of the three streams of energy that she received from the Forbidden Sun through her companions, Solus woke up before the sun set on the Jiera continent.
She felt perfectly rested in the mind and body as if the events that had shocked her had taken place weeks rather than a few hours back.
'I know that I've seen a lot of bad stuff while traveling with Lith, but I feel way too good. Am I going crazy or what?' She thought while stretching her limbs and experiencing for the first time the pleasant sensation of wiggling her toes.
'Or what. What you have seen in there didn't shock me in the least so now that we're close, I'm your psychic fortress. Also punching me in the face it's not a nice way to say good evening.' Lith replied.
Only then did Solus realize that the uncomfortable bed that had given her back pain was Lith's arms. He had lulled her the whole time like a child after making her sit on his lap.
"Not only do you snore, but you also almost kicked me in the groin." Tista had barely dodged the surprise attack.
To avoid getting poisoned again and to get back to their peak condition without Invigoration, no one had left Solus's side. To make matters worse, they looked at her with that odd mix of worry and affection that parents show while looking at a newborn.
"You're going to have a problem with Kamila. Even if Solus died at twenty-eight, she barely looks twenty. Not to mention all her pretty streaks. I thought you had just silver and orange." Phloria referred to the combination of elements that was commonly known as the blessing of the light.
"It might be due to my tower having all kinds of elemental affinity or because of Lith. He has no streaks but he got seven eyes nonetheless. Maybe he passed them onto me thanks to our bond."
Solus tried to get up in a hurry to avoid further embarrassment, only to fall face-first on the floor.
"Aww, she's so cute! She reminds me of Aran when he tried to stand up for the first time." Tista said.
Instead of crying like a baby, however, Solus cursed like a sailor.
"Take it easy. One step at a time." Lith helped her to stand up, holding Solus by the h.i.p.s until she gained a stable footing.
"You really look like a doll. You are really short and your hair almost touches the ground." Phloria moved behind Solus and fixed her hair in a tress with Spirit Magic to keep her from tripping on them.
"I'm not short, you beanpoles! I'm taller than Jirni." Solus inwardly thanked Phloria for not making her pigtails.
Between the height gap and the need for help to even stand, she already felt like a child among a.d.u.l.ts. After a few attempts, she managed to stand up on her own and then quickly learned how to walk.
Solus had moved Lith's body in the past, she just needed a peaceful environment to put her experience to use. On top of that, the more her body stabilized, the easier it became to trigger her dormant muscle memory.
Lith let the girls take care of her so that later they wouldn't suffer much from the Forbidden Sun.
"Girls, Solus and I need to talk about our next move. Some things require a bit of privacy." He said.
Solus had no idea what he was talking about and seeing the others leave without a word only made her feel more confused.
Lith knew there was no easy way to tell her what he had to so instead of using words, he fused their minds for the second time in just a few hours.
'How can you even think of abandoning me here?' She said in outrage via their mind link.
'I'm not abandoning anyone. I'm just offering you a choice.' Lith replied.
'Are you doing this for me or just to get me out of your hair? It would make things much easier for you with both Kamila and the Madness.' Her thoughts were devoid of malice, expressing solely how betrayed she felt.
'That's why I fused our mind instead of talking. Thoughts cannot lie. I don't deny that after looking at your memories, I copied the schematics of Kolga's arrays. What she has done with just a mana geyser is outstanding.
'Her workings are the missing link I needed to rid the Odi's body swapping machine from most of that outdated technology and to mix what I know of the Madness with it.
'If I succeed, when I swap bodies, I'll have double the lifespan of a regular Awakened and regenerative abilities similar to what Silverwing demonstrated.' He said.
'After everything you've seen here, after witnessing what they did to Khalia, are you still willing to use Forbidden Magic?' His lack of empathy flabbergasted Solus.
'Solus, this isn't a bard's tale. There are no heroes nor villains in real life. Everyone only cares about survival, me included. Does it make any difference if I kill someone who attempted on my life with War or with the ritual?
'Do you really think that I would go easy on anyone who dares mess with my family? Look into my memories. What I did to Count Lark's brother-in-law, what I did to those knights who tried to stop me from getting my apprenticeship with Nana was much worse.
'If Deirus even tries to get close to Lutia, I'd make sure that once I'm done with him, hell would look like heaven to him. He would still die a horrible death, the ritual only makes it less of a waste.
'If that happened, would you try and stop me just because of what you've seen today?' Lith asked.
Solus didn't reply for a few seconds. Not even back when she had just regained her consciousness, had she been so naïve that she would consider all lives sacred, even those of their enemies.
Chapter 1238 - Dollhouse (Part 2)
Logic dictated that any threat to their existence had to be permanently removed and that was what she had helped Lith to do many times over the years. Solus had never objected whenever he experimented on his prisoners or tortured them to get the answers he needed.
Her sudden change of heart sounded hypocritical even to herself, especially after helping him to design several blueprints of a modern body-swapping machine.
'No. I wouldn't. Deirus has it coming for all the lives he has destroyed in pursue of his mindless revenge.' She said.
'That's my point. I'm not a wanton murderer but I'm no pushover either. I wouldn't use the ritual for fun nor would I pick my specimens randomly. I would use only those who I would have killed anyway.
'That, however, it's not important right now. What we have to decide is how much of what we discovered we want to share with the Council, what to do about the Hands, and if you want to spend some time here alone.' Lith said.
'What? Why in the gods' name would I want to stay here?' Solus's eyes were wide open in surprise.
'Because if you pretend not to know what lies behind its l.u.s.ter, Kolga is a nice place filled with regular people. Because here you wouldn't need to come to me every time you use magic. Because the Forbidden Sun might hasten your recovery more than I can.
'Most importantly, because it would give you the freedom you deserve.' Lith bent the knee to look Solus in the eyes.
Even without the mind fusion, he could feel that between the height gap and her sitting on an armchair due to her still wobbly legs, Solus was getting a stiff neck from looking up to him.
It was a small gesture, but it meant the world to her. On top of that, she knew from the mind fusion how painful it was to him even the thought of their separation, yet Lith kept putting her happiness first.
Even if it meant losing the tower's prowess for an indefinite time. Once again, Solus took her time before answering, to not let her emotions sway her.
'Thank you, but I don't want to stay here one second longer than needed. I understand that from your point of view Kolga might look like an improvement for me, but it isn't.
'My tower is a small cage, but it's filled with people I love and it allows me to travel wherever I want. Kolga may be bigger, but it's still a cage, and one filled with people I don't care about and fueled by nightmares that I can't stand.
'This place isn't freedom for me. It's a dollhouse built by a twisted mage that constantly reminds me of my mother's foolishness.' She said.
'What do you want to do about it?' Lith asked.
'Tista is right. Kolga must be destroyed and the sooner the better. Both the merfolk and the people of the Kellar region don't deserve to live under the constant threat of the monsters that the breaking of either barrier would unleash.
'However, Phloria is right as well. We can't let anyone learn about the Hands of Menadion. If what we heard from the inhabitants of Kolga when we first got here is true and the Hands can control more than one mana geyser at the time, there's no telling what might happen if they fall into the wrong hands.' Solus said.
'Do you realize that if we bring down Kolga thousands of people will die and that among them there are many innocents? They accepted the ritual to save their city at first and then simply because they had no other choice.
'Life is not black and white. No matter what you do, people will die anyway. Are you ready to shoulder such a burden?' Lith asked.
'I am.' She nodded. 'And I have a plan. It's risky and it requires that I face the King alone. It's the only way I have to make sure that in case of victory I'll be the one to retrieve the Hands and keep my mother's legacy from being abused again.
'Yet I can't do it without your help. Even if the Awakened target mainly the Light Torch, the moment the King comes out of his tower, they'll come to confront him if I fail to restrict him.
'At the same time, if I succeed, he's bound to call for reinforcements and turn the tide of the battle. The moment he slips away from me, the Awakened will intervene and all will be lost.
'If anyone comes close enough to recognize the Hands with Life Vision, we'll fail no matter if at the end of the day Kolga stands or falls.' She sighed.
'You know, after seeing what you did to those two crazy mages, I understood why even though Mogar has completely turned its back to Abominations it doesn't destroy them.
'They are not parasites so much as scavengers. They are the natural counter to all kinds of Forbidden Magic and unlike the undead, they can't reproduce so the threat they pose it's always limited.'
'Do you think that my ability to disrupt the ritual comes from my Abomination side?' Lith asked.
'Yes. If I'm right, Death Vision and the ability to conjure the Demons of Darkness come down to that. By mixing with the natural darkness element the bits of Chaos that you produce, you bestow upon wandering souls the form of a lesser Abomination rather than an undead.
'I know that I always asked you to keep that part of your nature sealed, but this time even Wyrmling Lith Verhen might not be enough. Would you be my Abomination, just this one time?' Solus cupped Lith's face, caressing his cheeks with her thumbs.
The feeling of his skin under her fingers was completely different from what she had experienced while under her energy form.
Just like savoring foods by sharing Lith's senses was second rate compared to tasting them herself, touching someone with her human hands felt akin to having finally taken off a pair of surgical gloves.
Solus cherished that moment, knowing that no matter if her plan failed or succeeded, she wouldn't have another opportunity to do it for a long time.
'Always.' Lith replied.
'Thanks. You have no idea what this means for me. Now I need everyone's help to get used to this stupid body, otherwise my plan will fail before even starting.' Solus stood up on her own and stretched her limbs to check how clumsy she still was.
'Before that…' Lith conjured a mirror made of ice, allowing Solus to look at her real face.
She had already seen it through Lith's memories during their mind fusion, but the vision shocked her nonetheless. She had taken her gentle features and bright eyes from her mother, making Solus think to be looking at another memory of Menadion.
Solus undid the tress to caress her hair and its softness overwhelmed her.
It reminded her of the dream where as a child she had played with Menadion's hair and the feeling that she was now experiencing was identical. While she caressed the six colored streaks, Solus felt like a part of her mother still lived within her.
Chapter 1239 - Mother of Wrath (Part 1)
The idea of losing her body again the moment the battle was over tore Solus's heart apart. Yet instead of crying, she used Light Mastery to create a hologram of her real self down to the last detail that would preserve that memory forever.
***
It took Solus several hours of practice and the help of the others to improve her hand to eye coordination. Over time, her body gained a mass superior to that of any human and the muscle memory from her previous life returned.
It meant that the tower had preserved everything she needed to regain all she had lost, but it didn't have enough juice to restore so much in the little time they had left. A little before the twenty-four hours that Aren had given them ran out, Lith called the beasts representative with the Council amulet.
"Are you saying that you've found a way to disrupt the Forbidden Sun?" The Jǫrmungrandr could barely contain his surprise and excitement.
"Yes. The key lies in the Light Torch department." Lith used the amulet to share with Aren the schematics of both the building and its arrays. "If completely destroyed, recharging the Forbidden Sun will become impossible long enough to make the city die on its own.
"Kolga isn't a cursed object. The mana geyser fuels the water dome and its defenses, but that's it. Without the sacrifices keeping the light and darkness amount stored inside the Forbidden Sun in check, the magic that empowers the city is likely to backfire.
"If darkness runs out first, the excess of light element might turn the inhabitants of Kolga into mindless trolls while if the Forbidden Sun lacks light, the crops will die and the regenerative abilities will disappear. Either way, the city will be an easy prey." Lith said.
Aren and the other members of Jiera's Council discussed for a while before nodding in approval.
"Thanks for your help. All of you have been an invaluable asset to our people. If only we had someone of Lord Leegaain's caliber on this side of the ocean, maybe we would have solved this issue centuries ago." Aren said with a sigh while looking at Fenagar, who snorted in reply.
The Jǫrmungrandr had many things to say about his ancestor and none of them was kind. Yet arguing with a Guardian would have brought him nothing but trouble so he let it slide.
"I'll immediately arrange for your retrieval. You've done more than enough and you deserve some rest in Reghia. I'll make sure that you are properly compensated for your efforts."
"Thanks for your offer, but I disagree." Lith shook his head, putting Solus's plan into action. "We are the only ones who have been inside the Light Torch. By combining our powers, we can create a Warp Steps that can lead you inside the building.
"This way, the attack force will avoid the external and internal defense mechanisms, dealing the biggest damage in the shortest possible time before the Forbidden Sun cripples their powers."
The greed in the eyes of the Council Members told him that he had almost got them where he wanted. Inside the city but away from the tower where Solus would face the King. After all, only an idiot would have passed up the opportunity of an inside job.
A surprise attack at the heart of the enemy base was something almost too good to be true.
"I appreciate your offer, but this kind of planning requires time. First, we need to study the arrays and find the best way to make the damage we inflict to them spread to the Forbidden Sun, and then we need to assemble our elite forces.
"I understand that once you leave the city the Warp Steps strategy will be off the table and the attack will be more difficult, but I believe that proper preparation will more than make up for it." Maeve the Morrigan, the plant representative of the Council said.
Lith inwardly cursed at their indecisiveness, but it was still within his expectations. Kolga had resisted many assaults in the past and the intel that he had provided was more than the Council had hoped for.
On the one hand, attacking from the inside would make the initial assault easier, but then the troops would have to face the entire population of Kolga while they were still under the full effects of the Forbidden Sun.
The number of casualties would likely be high, especially during the retreat since the Awakened couldn't leave the city with the same Warp Steps with which they had arrived.
On the other hand, attacking from the outside would force the army to fight every meter that separated them from the target. Yet thanks to the schematics Lith had shown them, after a bit of study the Council would be able to mess with the Forbidden Sun from a safe distance and weaken the enemy.
"I don't think that waiting is an option." Lith said. "Khalia's sacrifice allowed me to get inside the Light Torch, but to collect so much information, I had to overstay my welcome and I ended up exposing my real nature in self-defense."
"What?" Jiera's Council said in unison while each one of its members cursed their bad luck.
"It was that or coming out empty handed." Lith shrugged. Lying was second nature to him and even Fenagar couldn't detect his deception from a hologram.
"This way, at least we know how the ritual works and we have a shot at bringing it down.
"Yet if you don't act now, they could reinforce the Light Torch or create a back-up site for the ritual that would be impossible to discover with the same stratagem I employed even if you manage to get another pin from Leegaain."
"Why did you take such risk? Finding about the Light Torch was more than enough. In the end, the information you brought us about the arrays is pointless if we don't have the time to exploit it." Aren said.
"For several reasons." Lith used Light Mastery to produce a hologram of Khalia's fate followed by another showing what happened whenever a child was born. He made it so that instead of using another child, the mages of Kolga used a Shyf cub.
Light Mastery didn't project memories, but everything he wanted so doctoring the events was child's play for him. The images made even the most ancient and cynic among the Awakened want to puke.
"I've seen myself the internment camp where our kin is brought after being turned into meat dolls whose only purpose is to produce sacrifices for the rituals." Lith stared in the eyes of both the human and the beast representative to ensure that half the Council would be by his side.
"I couldn't let Khalia's sacrifice go to waste. Not after witnessing how the ritual affects my continent as well." Lith used the amulet to contact the Garlen's Council as well while he showed how the ritual disposed of both the Chaos and the darkness it produced.
"A constant flow of necromantic energies like that is bound to have pretty obvious effects. Does such a phenomenon ring any bell?" Lith asked.
"Oh, dear." Leegaain shivered while creating a mind link with Tyris.
Chapter 1240 - Mother of Wrath (Part 2)
"Is it true?" The rage in the voice of the Great Mother made the chamber of both Garlen's and Jiera's Council quake despite being just a psychic projection.
"I swear it on my family. I can even offer to share my memories once I get back to Garlen. The source of Kolga's and Kogaluga's misery is the same. I have purged the lost city enough times to know the energy signature of the fissure like the back of my hand.
"On top of that, based on the information collected by my associates during our recon, Kogaluga is meant to become Kolga's outpost on the mainland as soon as they get rid of the barrier blocking the city." Lith said.
The cold fury that twisted Tyris's face also made her long golden hair whip around like snakes, giving her a savage and cruel appearance.
"Did you know about this, Fenagar?" It was spoken like a question, but it sounded like an order.
The edge in her voice was fueled with so much mana that even Inxialot, the Lich King, and Breganoth, his Jiera counterpart, held their ears in pain while their dead eyes bleed.
"Do you have any idea how vast the ocean is?" The Leviathan snorted in annoyance. "Water covers over 60% of the planet, I'm not responsible for everything that-"
"I'm not asking about the whole Mogar, only about your turf. Did you know about this or not?" Tyris cut him short.
"I didn't know because after making sure that no Awakened was involved, I didn't bother investigating the matter." Fenagar tried and failed to be as intimidating as her. His total lack of care made him sound more bored than furious.
"That's your excuse for your incompetence? That since no Awakened was involved you let your people mess with my land and kill my precious children?" With every word she spoke, Tyris became less human.
By the end of the sentence, her voice caused hurricanes while the stomp of her foot triggered an earthquake that turned mountains into rubble and sent several tidal waves towards Jiera.
"Precious my scaly ass. Don't get your feathers in a bunch for such small stuff. Kolga has done to both our turfs negligible damage compared to your dear Arthan. You didn't check on him because he wasn't an Awakened and we all know how that turned out.
"On top of that, if I recall it correctly, the founder of the city even came from your continent so if you want to blame someone, blame yourself." Fenagar said with a smug grin, just a few seconds before the image of the Father of all Dragons abandoning the Council in a rush wiped it off the Leviathan's face.
"You shouldn't have pushed the Arthan button. Leegaain out!"
"That does it!" Tyris's roar sent everyone on their knees.
Lith and the others weren't affected like the two Councils only because Tyris didn't want to endanger their lives, yet Lith found himself swallowing multiple times, wishing that Tyris wouldn't look too deep in his memories if she ever decided to.
"If by the time I get there the attack hasn't already started, Jiera will need another Council along with a new Guardian!"
"You can't come here without my permission! I-" Fenagar's outrage disappeared when Tyris's psychic projection disappeared and her energy signature left Garlen.
'F.u.c.k me sideways, things just got out of hand and into the fire.' Lith thought. 'I think I can handle a normal Tyris since she's very kind, but not her royally pissed off version. On top of that, I never planned on making two Guardians fight.
'If things go as I predict and Fenagar finds out about my deception, the Jiera continent will be off-limits for me.'
"How much time do you need to prepare your strike force?" Lith asked the Jiera Council.
"How much time do we have until Tyris gets here?" Aren asked a Garuda with a knack for numbers.
"Judging from her speed, about ten minutes. Unless she Warps, of course." The Garuda replied while pushing her glasses up the bridge of her nose.
"Eight minutes." Aren said to Lith before gesturing the Garuda to take care of the rest of the conversation. He had already started shouting orders in his amulet, contacting the strongest members of the Beast Council.
The human, the plants, and even the undead representative took out their amulets with panic, calling to arms the greatest champions their respective race had to offer.
"How dare you refuse my call? There's my undeath on the line you ungrateful bastards!" Breganoth, the Lich Sovereign of Jiera, seriously considered ripping the traitorous heart of Vladion the Vampire, the Awakened ruler of his species.
"We left for Garlen almost a year ago, you dimwit!" Vladion replied with a fury that made his eyes shine like rubies. "We have no way to get back to Jiera so quickly and even if we could, our answer would be the same you gave to us when the plague brought us to our knees. Deal with it."
Only after Vladion hung up did Breganoth remember that Liches were the only undead species left on Jiera, be they Awakened or not.
"As you heard Lord Aren say, there are seven minutes left before the raid." The Garuda said with a professional smile that along with her glasses and blonde hair fixed in a small bun made her look like a secretary.
"In six, I mean five minutes we'll send a pulse to your amulet. It will be the signal to take your position. About a minute later, we'll send a second pulse to get both your coordinates and start the Warp Gate.
"All you need to do is to get in position in time and fuel the amulet with just enough mana to speed up the formation of the dimensional tunnel."
"We'll be there." Lith ended the call.
"What do we do during these five minutes?" Tista asked.
"We rest." Solus came out of hiding spot, touching her companions to siphon the little poison that already coursed through their veins.
"Are you sure you want to do this alone?" Phloria asked.
"It's not a matter of want so much as I must." She sighed. "In the case that someone spots me, you can't afford being seen giving me a hand. This way, I'll remain a mysterious outsider and even if someone witnesses as I take the Hands, they'll have no way to find me."
"Just one question." Tista said. "Let's say everything goes right. How do you leave Kolga? You can't use the Council gate with us, correct?"
"Wrong. That's exactly what I'll do if I can't use the tower warp in this form." Solus replied.
"If I manage to beat the King and retrieve the Hands, all I have to do is to fetch the white crystal atop of the tower. Without it, both the Forbidden Sun and the dome that isolates Kolga from the ocean will crumble faster.
"This will force the Council to open multiple emergency Gates to evacuate the strike force. Amid the ensuing chaos, it will be easy for me to slip through unnoticed. Once I get to the other side, the effects of Forbidden Magic on me will take but a few seconds to fade.
"Once I'm back in my stone form, it will be easy to slip at the finger of any of you and pass as a simple yet charming accessory." Solus showed Tista the two cloaking rings on her hand.
Chapter 1241 - Clash of Artifacts (Part 1)
Thanks to the cloaking rings, not only was Solus's mana core and life force invisible, but also her energy signature was so messed up that even from up close Life Vision failed to perceive it.
"When are you going to leave?" Lith asked while giving her his pocket watch.
"About one minute before you do. I need that time to lure the guards away from the Light Torch and get used to fighting for real before facing the King." Solus started weaving her best spells while she talked.
Her heart pounded faster by the second as the adrenaline rush made her hands tremble. It was the first time that she fought on her own and to make matters even worse, the thought of all the lives that would be lost in the case she failed weighed on her mind.
Suddenly the room felt small and damp. Solus didn't realize that it was just her being drenched in nervous sweat until she massaged her temples to calm down.
"Don't worry. It always feels like that." Phloria said while using water magic to clean Solus up.
"Do you mean the first time you go to battle?"
"No, I mean every time. People like me have simply learned how to manage their stress." Phloria said.
When the clock marked one minute before the first pulse from the Council, Solus opened a Warp Steps leading right in front of the King's tower.
The appearance of a human threw those who had come to plea the ruler of Kolga into a panic. Solus ignored their screams and their calls for the guards, focusing solely on the mana geyser below her feet.
The Hands of Menadion collected most of its power, making it impossible for her to wrestle for the control of the geyser from a distance. Now that Solus was so close to King Ykrah, however, she could finally put her mother's ingenuity to the test.
'Even if I'm unable to manifest it, the tower is still a part of me. I refuse to believe that my mother was so stupid that she would create something capable of messing with her own home.
'No matter if the tower and the Hands have similar effects on mana geysers, the tower must be stronger.' She thought as her consciousness spread through the ground with every breath he took.
Menadion had indeed made sure that none of her creations could threaten her, yet the situation was far from simple. The King's tower had been built exactly in the middle of the geyser to tap into its core.
On top of that, the Hands had perfect control over the flow of world energy. While in her human form, Solus could nibble at the geyser and slowly took over, but it would take her too long.
Also, she doubted that Ykrah would fail to notice her attack.
"Freeze! Hands in the air, now!" Solus turned around, hoping that she would face the same Captain that had taken away Khalia.
It would have been poetic justice and give her the opportunity to kill her first person without feeling any guilt. Alas, Kolga was big and plenty of people joined the army ranks for the power it granted them.
When Solus turned around, she didn't recognize the man in front of her.
"Your wish is my command." Solus raised her hands, unleashing the Ice Age spell.
All those around her became trapped inside thick ice crystals imbued with darkness. The cold slowed their metabolism, weakening the effects of light magic, while darkness ate at them from every side.
Their combined effect hindered the regenerative abilities that the Forbidden Sun bestowed upon the Kolgans so that when Solus snapped her fingers, not even being so close to the source of their power could save them.
A sonic boom shattered the crystals into hundreds of fragments and the ice surrounding them kept the small pieces of flesh from reforming. Guards and bystanders died on the spot, allowing Solus to observe how the Forbidden Sun retrieved their energy.
Mana sense showed her that now that the sun had fewer people to feed, the power of the remaining inhabitants of Kolga had increased.
'F.u.c.k me sideways! That's why even violet cored Awakened always failed to destroy the city. The more people we kill, the stronger our remaining opponents will get. I need to get rid of the Forbidden Sun first.'
Meanwhile, the others received the first pulse from the Council. Lith opened the Warp Steps and the girls entered first to take care of the witnesses. Neither of them was used to wielding a butcher's cleaver but the strength of an Awakened made them as light as feathers.
The thick blades produced a wide and rough cut on the necks of their victims, making it difficult for the injury to mend. The ice and darkness the cleavers had been infused with left the wounds open long enough to be fatal.
The two women Blinked non-stop, severing one head with each blow. Lith stepped through the Steps just a second later, yet ten Kolgan mages already lay on the ground. None of them had made a sound except for the thud of their bodies hitting the floor.
Lith Hushed the area and used Life Vision to check their surroundings. Once he made sure that no one would disturb them, he cast an array detection spell that confirmed his suspicions.
'The Light Torch has several underground floors. This should buy us enough time to retrieve the Hands, but I can't risk leaving Solus behind.' He thought.
When the second pulse came, the three of them had to pump their mana into the Council's amulet to turn it into a dimensional beacon for the Awakened on the other side of the spell.
Several Warp Gates opened in quick succession, letting Awakened of all races step through in their human form.
"Damn if I hate feeling puny. Status report, kid." Said a Treant that for the occasion had shrunk to just 2.5 meters (8'2").
Lith projected a hologram with all the information that he had collected thanks to his previous visit with Solus and his spells.
"I don't know how deep this place goes, nor how to get to the lower floors." He said. "You need time to level the Light Torch, but luckily the cracks in my life force allow me to exploit the effects of the Forbidden Sun.
"It should give me an edge against the guy who controls the geyser. I'll keep him busy as long as I can, but you need to send someone for me once you're done here." Lith didn't wait for a reply and Warped to Ykrah's tower as well.
"You heard the kid. Let's get a move." The Treant unleashed a tier three earth spell that barely dented the floor.
"What the f.u.c.k?" All the Awakened said in unison as they tried their own spells just to obtain the same result.
"The bad news is that the whole building is protected by some kind of Silverwing's Hexagram." A Lich said, making a single one of the many arrays around them become visible with a wave of her hand.
"Any non approved spell that hits the walls gets countered and loses most of its power. The good news is that the Hexagram can't do anything against this!" The Lich stomped the floor, opening a crater.
Chapter 1242 - Clash of Artifacts (Part 2)
She also triggered several safety measures that exploded in her face and a very loud alarm, but no one cared about it. Undead could take a lot of punishment before being hurt and the invasion force had never planned to be stealthy.
"We do this the old fashioned way." The Treant said with a nod. "We reach the lowest level and then we wipe out the entire structure by shooting up our best spells. Don't shapeshift into your true form unless it's strictly necessary.
"Destroying the upper levels is pointless and it might trigger too many traps at the same time, endangering the mission. Open only one passage per group." At his signal, the ground became swiss cheese.
'What do we do?' Tista asked via the mind link.
'We follow the plan and stay here to make sure that they don't forget about Lith.' Phloria replied before jumping down one of the craters.
***
Ykrah's tower, the same time.
The King of Kolga hated receiving visits, especially while he was busy hoarding the power that he needed to further expand the city borders. He didn't even notice Solus attacking the guards thanks to the soundproof spell surrounding his lab, yet he could feel that something was wrong.
The energy from the geyser that usually obeyed his every command as a well-trained dog had suddenly become unstable. At first, Ykrah thought it was due to the acc.u.mulated world energy nearing the critical mass, but according to his instruments, it was way too soon.
Then, the Light Torch's alarm resounded, making him lose his focus. Ykrah activated the city's surveillance devices to solve the conundrum at hand.
'How is it possible that the alarm started at the Light Torch instead of the outer rings? There's no way an outsider can reach the labs without being noticed.' Yet except for the magical academy, the rest of Kolga was at peace.
Ykrah opened the channels with the Headmaster of the Light Torch and with the Director of the Defence Force to have a status report, but only the latter responded.
"Don't worry, my Liege. The madwoman attacking your tower is already being dealt with." Said a middle-aged merfolk hybrid with thin crimson hair and a belly that made Vastor look like a fitness enthusiast in comparison.
"What madwoman? I want to know what the heck is happening at the light department, I-" Ykrah choked on his words when he felt the tower tremble and the power that he had painstakingly amassed slipping out of his control.
"It's nothing. One of those demented specimens must have activated one of the wards by mistake. I'm more worried about the human woman. Our efforts to keep her away from the Eye of Kolga have barely slowed her down." The Director mistook the pause for his cue to continue.
"A human?" Ykrah's eyes went wide in surprise as he lost control over another sliver of the geyser's power and another alarm triggered right above his head.
"I'll deal with the human, you send your forces to the Light Torch. If it was just a runaway specimen, the Headmaster wouldn't have been involved." The King hung up, feeling a cold shiver run down his spine.
A female human reaching Kolga could only mean that the greatest fear of his foremother had finally come true. The Usurper had come to reclaim the Hands of Menadion.
Ykrah would have liked to have some time to weave a few spells, but the alarm grew in intensity and so did the disturbance in the mana geyser.
After getting rid of the Guards, Solus had realized that taking over the geyser would have taken her too long.
'There's another way to win this battle without fighting. If I take away the white crystal that focuses the energy of the mana geyser and keeps the Forbidden Sun stable, the inhabitants of Kolga will die, including their King.' She thought.
After flying on top of the tower, she had tried and failed to store the crystal in her pocket dimension. The combined effect of the constant flow of world energy and of the complex spell from the Sun generated a rudimentary but effective force field that blocked dimensional magic.
Solus swung her Forgemastery hammer at the gem, but the barrier made it bounce without a scratch.
'Plan B it is.' She sighed and kept hammering at the tower in the spots where mana sense showed her the energy flow was at its weakest. Even though her hammer wasn't intended as a weapon, it was still made of pure Orichalc.u.m and capable of channeling her Forgemastering spells like an extension of her body.
To keep the water dome and the Forbidden Sun stable while fueling the hundreds of arrays that made everyday life in Kolga possible, the white crystal needed to be perfectly aligned with the flow of world energy coming from the geyser.
Even a slight tilt would make the Chaos energy released by the ritual damage Kolga instead of being sent to Garlen, causing a domino effect that would bring the city down.
Normally, getting near the Eye of Kolga was impossible. The closer one got to the Forbidden Sun, the greater its effects. From so up close even a violet cored Awakened would have died of mana poisoning in a matter of minutes without being able to exert even one-hundredth of their real power.
On top of that, even if a Kolgan went mad and tried to attack the crystal, the amount of energy incoming from the Sun was supposed to make them burst akin to a failed Awakening.
Unfortunately for Ykrah, the cracks in Solus's life force and mana core allowed her to feed upon the Sun's energy. Also, thanks to her damaged tower half, what was lethal for a living being was just a diet snack to her.
Ykrah came out of a Warp Steps with his eyes ablaze with mana and one tier four spell in each of his hands, yet Solus barely threw a glance at him without stopping.
'I wish I had Friya's Dimensional Ruler.' She sighed. 'It's the only spell that would make a difference here. Between the Sun and the amount of energy he has stored in the Hands, even a tier five War Mage spell would barely tickle.'
Menadion's artifact looked like a pair of thick silver working gloves with one mana crystal of a different color on each fingertip and a sixth in the middle of their backhand. The crystals went from red on the little finger to blue on the thumb.
The green was replaced by a bright silver while the gemstone on the backhand was black.
"Elphyn Althena Menadion!" Ykrah said, recognizing her from the painting that his family handed down from generations. "I knew that the voices about your death were just a lie! No one but you could have killed master Menadion!
"I won't allow you to destroy the legacy of Kolga. We've spent centuries preparing for the moment when you came to take the Hands and- Good gods, will you stop hammering?"
"No need. I'm great at multi-tasking." Solus's arm had never stopped moving, chipping away the tower's protective layers. "Feel free to continue with your speech."
Ykrah roared in outrage and unleashed the two spells that he kept at the ready.